Tatka

Our first room was OV ... we discovered that it is the least useful room out of all. Windows are not panoramic and rather small, so it is not convenient to use them. Most of them are also on lower decks.

We would probably avoid those, as they as so see through. IMHO not much privacy

It is actually quite good. You have a nice view of the port (better than on TV) without going out on balcony. On Anthem absolute majority of interior rooms have VR. But on Odyssey it is not a case. We won't pay for upgrade to VR,

On one of our favorite and most cruised ship Anthem we love interiors even more. It has VR. My video... Some fun. We never book GTY cabins. We like to pick our locations so it is convenient to everything and higher than promenade deck.

We do not like to eat in our room, even on balcony. We need to walk for our food 🙂 and also more choices in Windjammer. I love smoothies on some ships like Anthem and other stuff that is not delivered by room service. We love looking for stars. This why we walk to outside promenade or other places. Walking is essential for us as we cannot survive in good shape cruising 5 full size cruises a year. I am often in gym by 6 am so I see sunrise there or on my way back to cabin via pool deck.

We cruise in inside cabin some years up to 5 times and feel absolutely terrific about it. By the way I have claustrophobia, but I never felt it in inside rooms. They are well ventilated with enough space. On older ships they are a bit smallish, but on new ships they are pretty spacious. We do not spend much time in cabins no matter what type they are including balconies and some starter suites. We checked this. Outside OV room does not make any sense for us too. We gladly spend our time in Solariums, observation lounges, music lounges/bars or theater. We will have balconies for Thanksgiving and Southern Caribbean cruise on Anthem this and next year, but something tells me that we again will step on it 3-4 times for 5 minutes each time. We just do not have a time for it! Of course it works better to dry swimming wear, but to have it for this purpose? 🙂

This is why I used "generally", although all our 7 cruises with X exceeded 26 experiences on RCI. We love RCI and switched to it almost exclusively. Our last 10 was with RCI and next 10 will be with RCI, but this is a reality. The thing is ... Celebrity is more expensive overall and it spends more on providing better service and food. RCI concentrates more on entertainment and all amusements. RCI still provides good enough food and service and overall works better for us wanting to cruise mostly from Northeast of US without flying.

I’ve also see some people in shorts in MDR on my 26 RCI cruises. I also saw people in MDR in basketball shorts, in baseball hats. They were not prohibited. Nobody stopped people who were wearing them. What conclusion should I make? RCI staff is not confrontational. Cruising 5 times a year for the last 7 years I see many things …

About 45 out 57 of my cruises were with 7 American massmarket cruise lines to Caribbean/Bahamas/Bermuda. I’m pretty familiar with what people wear.

I never seen people in shorts in evening restaurants in Europe, Asia and several countries of South America I’ve been.

Forget tablecloths. Do you see that shorts are listed for breakfast and lunch? Why is this? You are sayijg that outside of US in similar evening restaurants you see people in shirts… right? What type of countries you are describing?

Hah.. so why shorts are not listed as Acceptable OPTIONS for dining room during dinners? Or it’s even specified that shorts are welcomed for breakfast and lunch. To me it’s a clear hint that shorts aren’t that welcomed during dinners.

I am not policing anyone. Just discussing etiquette. 😉 If somebody shows up nude technically it shouldn’t matter to me either. And to you. I bet it will be discussed over and over. Why cannot this be discussed if it’s even suggested by cruise line?

I travel a lot outside of US and thus seems to be pretty much a standard for evening restaurants of this type. Royal Caribbean International seems to agree with me 😉 Of course they won’t be confrontation, but this is from their page

I am not dining at Golden Corral so I cannot comment. But I wonder why not bathing suit? Why stop in the middle?

You can request paper copies of Compass from your steward. I think you can choose between morning and evening service. I think most massmarket lines are switching to 1 service per day. Losses in revenue + inflation made them make some cuts, and there are some difficulties hiring people.

It is not really an opinion, but global standards. Whether they are adhered or not is another thing. Although I have not visited such restaurants in Carolina. Maybe they are very casual with tablecloths. I am talking about restaurants similar to ship's restaurants. With Maitre D, sommeliers and such.

Really should not be. This is pretty standard for such restaurants.

I agree with your wife. 🙂 My husband does not wear shirts because he thinks even black jeans or casual pants are more appropriate for such restaurants. I agree with him. Not too difficult to wear them. Of course on Queen Mary 2 ... we followed their dress code which required at least a sport coat every day for men.

I think formal is a reach, but nicer clothes for special nights are fine. For casual nights causal pants/not torn jeans/skirts/sundresses etc are fine. Shorts? Well... do people wear shorts in local restaurants with tablecloths? I do not think so. So we do not wear shorts when attend ships' restaurants in the evening.

For two of our upcoming cruises on Anthem Obstructed View Balcony was cheaper than Interior and similar price so we booked it. We are not very interested in balconies because we do not use them so we rarely book them, but why not if it similarly or lower priced? As for Interior vs OV ... for us Interior above promenade .. and preferable two or three decks under Pool deck is more valuable than OV under promenade.

Yes

There are actually 11 menus. We had only 1 (Italian) repeating on our 12 days cruise in March on Enchantment Welcome Aboard A Taste of France A Taste of Italy A Taste of UK A Taste of Caribbean Welcome to Mexican Night A Taste of Asia A Taste of Mediterranean A Taste of USA Welcome to Royal Night Welcome to Bon Voyage

Summit is very nice! And sailing from Boston is beautiful…

Maybe because Jazz-on-4 was created for Jazz and has fabrics on the wall?