Capella Black

And that makes 26 - we are a go! (sorry, takes me ages to actually do these things!)

Most specialty restaurants don't appeal to me, as they just seem to be serving slightly better versions of the already perfectly nice MDR food. However, two exceptions for me:

Qsine on Celebrity - serves utterly bizarre food, and if you purposely aim for the most bizarre, it can be fantastic (our rule was anything we even remotely knew how to make, we couldn't order!)

Izumi on Brilliance - planning to try that out on our next cruise - my OH is a massive sashimi fan, and there is nowhere all that local to us that serves it, so always willing to pay a bit more for it!

So yeah, my answer would be generally the MDR is fine, but if we're in the mood to splash out, then somewhere serving very different food can be a nice change.

Soon!!!!!!! (Sorry, very very excited!)

Ok, how many people that walk past the hand sanitizer have the same issue as you? Zero? People walk past the hand sanitizer because they don't care about germs nor spreading them. They are perfectly content with pissing and pooping, scratching their rears and balls, not washing their hands and then grabbing the tongs for the food with you right behind them. That's the truth ......

No, not zero. Have been on cruises with family members with the exact same problem. Have a friend who had the same thing happening and didn't even realise it was the alcohol gel.

Also, alcohol gel only works on visibly clean hands. Someone with small amounts of faeces under their finger nails, from scratching etc, will be exactly as dirty as they were before.

We would do this with cokes and beers. Simple 3 step process:

1) Ask room attendant to clear your mini bar completely at start of cruise

2) Every time you go past a bar on your way back to cabin, grab an extra drink of choice

3) Spend lazy sea day afternoons/evenings slowly depleting your stockpile while gazing over the ocean.

Last cruise my OH and I had a drinks package, so one at a time we ordered a small glass of wine, both tried it, and then discussed. Went through most of the in-package white wine selection, learnt a lot about what we like and don't like. Very good afternoon.

You don't need to explain to anyone, or feel guilty..just say , "No, thanks" when it's offered.

I do, just thought it might be helpful for others on here who complain about people not using it to realise why some of us don't.

I do not use hand sanitiser. Ever.

The reason for this is that despite being an otherwise healthy non-smoker in my 20's, I have shockingly poor circulation. As a result, when I use alcohol based hand gel, my super fragile, blood-deprived skin occasionally splits open. Literally splits. So that my hands bleed. Unless I'm missing something, smearing blood around is kinda unhygienic.

If I instead wash my hands with warm water and soap, and then immediately moisturise, my hands are fine (well, better).

Why am I telling you all this? Because I think it can be easy to judge those not using sanitiser as "dirty" or "selfish". This might be true. Or it might be that they have a legitimate reason and find alternative ways to keep others safe. Unless you know them, you can't know.

I would guess it's for people like me who like an opportunity to wear black tie outfits - I used to wuss out and wear a cocktail dress so I didn't stand out, on my next cruise I will be taking ball gowns!

2 issues with pre-tipping:

1) If the aim is to get preferential treatment, it's a bit of a harsh thing to do to the rest of your fellow cruisers - "get my drink first", "give away RCI's liquor (thus reducing their profits and so upping my future costs)". There's only so much time and effort that the staff can lavish on us all, seems sneaky to try and hog it.

2) Tips are a way of saying thank you. Saying thank you before they do anything is thus completely insincere, so clearly can only be saying something else. It's no longer a gift, it's a... bribe.

Have done MTD on RCI for one cruise - think my longest wait was about 10 minutes... normally was a "2 of you? Happy to sit with others? Right this way" kind of thing. Thus, for our upcoming cruise we have the same - I'd rather wait for up to 10 minutes outside the restaurant than have to eat at a prearranged time every day (which might mean either waiting for said time when I was hungry 2 hours earlier, or having to eat too early).

To me, there are two points where a person is violating the drinks package concept, and thus being 'unethical'. The first is when by sharing, you cause more drinks to be made than otherwise would have - e.g. you order a drink for yourself, then a second drink shortly afterwards which is mostly or entirely drunk by someone else. People rationalise this by saying "by the other person wouldn't have bought the drink if it hadn't been free, so RCI lost nothing". This is untrue - they lost the cost of the drink raw materials.

The second is where you prevent a drink being bought - e.g. you buy a drink, don't like it and so give it to someone who would otherwise have bought themselves a drink. People rationalise this the other way - "the drink was already made so RCI lose nothing" - but RCI did lose as they didn't make the money on the drink the person would have bought.

If your version of sharing is to let someone try a sip of something that they wouldn't have bought and which you would otherwise have drunk, RCI lose nothing, and indeed likely gain from the later sale of a whole drink for the person. This is thus different not because of "the rules", but because of impact on RCI.

And yes, like everyone else, I only care about RCI losing out because they will pass said cost onto me. RCI's "cushion" is otherwise known as their profits, and they will want that to be as big as possible; they won't let it get eaten into.

20s, no. Personally I like the excuse to dress up. If there's no dress code it would be highly weird for me to turn up in a floor length dress. Bit like any black tie event - can only justify wearing black tie if it's the norm, wearing it on the beach or at work would be utterly awkward.

However, if the majority want it to change that's fine - for me the worst thing is that there's a code that's completely ignored, because again, while people can say "who cares what other people are wearing?" it's a simple fact that what others are wearing, and what is expected, affects how comfortable many of us feel. For example, you'll happily wear a swimming costume to the pool, but feel embarrassed if you ended up at work in it. The dress code defines the area as posh, having it not followed suddenly makes those following look weird.

I'm waffling. Formal fun (for me). Uniform clothing policies comforting.

Up to the line "50 times a day" I was onboard. Now I'm thinking OCD...

But also gain a number of other cruisers - I far prefer the idea of multiple venues, clearer dress codes, and the elimination of TD (because it's existence means that all the shows etc get arranged around it, and those dining between get much less!).

Knowing that there are people who disagree, I don't personally want it enforced on you guys who don't like the idea, and am sorry that your experience is being negatively affected. However, that doesn't change the fact that DD may attract a new cruising group - for example a lot of my friends are now thinking more about cruising.

I'm happy with pre-paying, like knowing it's all paid, and loathe having to hand out tips (it's a Brit thing - dislike actually giving people money for being nice to me).

"1.3 million people die in road crashes each year" http://www.asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics.aspx

Until Ebola is as likely to kill me as driving to my cruise, I'm going to assume the best.

Heya, sorry you didn't have a good time. Personally I love Royal, but have never sailed Carnival (due to the aforementioned not in Europe issue) so maybe I don't know what I'm missing! As people above have suggested, the 'wow' in each ship differs with Royal - my OH was spoiled by having his first cruise be on Liberty of the Seas, which has plenty of wow, a bigger buffet, and more gizmos and things to do than some other ships.

If getting to Carnival cruises is now a problem, I would suggest Liberty, or one of the new mega boats - Dynamic Dining in particular would seem to cater to a number of your issues (range of dining rooms, range of styles). If that also doesn't fit the bill, then Royal probably isn't the right fit, but I wouldn't base the whole line on one old small ship.

What is it to you? Have recently booked a balcony for our honeymoon next July, and in-between all the wedding stress I would love some ideas on what to get most excited for!

(for info, we're in our late twenties, have a drinks package, and have cruised a couple of times before, but never this ship or itinerary)

I have an irrational fear of being caught out, so probably won't myself, but LOVE the idea.

Hmm... I always like the "I invented X" idea... seasickness pills for example, or freezable eggs?

Or being a 'retired TV star' - doing the "oh, you don't recognize me? Wow, that's so refreshing!" bit, and making up ridiculous stories about actual celebrities.

Grr, rip off etc... RCI shouldn't increase the prices etc

Anyways, another vote here for the drinks packages - having had the premium on Celebrity last year, my OH and I will definitely be upgrading our complementary Select package to the Premium one.

As people have put above, the package makes us not care about the cost of a drink, and so not cheap out on things. Which, given that our next cruise is our honeymoon, is especially important. It's great that some people can buy by the drink and not care how expensive it is, but for us it always holds us back from what we really want - for example if it costs me more, I'll always get the slightly cheaper drink of the day, even though I might prefer a different one. When on a package, I'll get whichever looks tastiest, and so enjoy myself a lot more. This was particularly true for non-alcoholic drinks - if no package, I'd just have a lemonade, if yes package, I'll grab a shiny mocktail. Ooh, and having a different wine with every course of my meal - this is so worth doing but if I don't have the package we'll have ordered a bottle to share.

Never reached "bored of drinking" phase, and my Celebrity cruise was 12 days long, but then I am in my 20's, so maybe my liver is still a bit kinder to me. Or the variety is still a novel thing?

Oh, and in case people are worried about my drinking levels - I drink about 2 units a week for most weeks of the year, and am pretty sure sporadic heavy drinking will do no serious harm. Feel free to direct me to scientific evidence if I'm wrong.

322 days, but as that'll be my honeymoon and I've yet to get much of the wedding planned, it's plenty close enough!

The biggest benefit to me is not ever denying myself the nicer drink because of the cost. If I don't have the package, my bar bill will be less than the cost of the package would have been. If I have the package, the cost of all the drinks I'm no longer paying for far exceeds the package cost.

The difference? When I have a package I have posh lattes, not generic coffee. I have fresh OJ, not lemonade. I have yummy non-alcoholic cocktails, not iced tea. I have champagne, not the house white.

For me, that makes a package worth it - the freedom to just have what looks nicest, not what's cheapest, because otherwise I know I'll hold back.

Can't talk for Navigator specifically, but on the two RC cruises I've done (one when in early twenties, one aged 26) the night-life is definitely the least impressive thing. Having said that, I've always massively enjoyed myself, either because I've found an awesomely rowdy group of 50 somethings to have a cha cha dance off with, or because we've got chatting to another couple and made a night of it in one of the bars. Given your preference for relaxing I think you'll be fine, and everything else seems to be an upgrade over Carnival (food, hard-sells, quality etc) so it's a small price to pay!

Hiya,

Just booked this for our honeymoon - we get married the day before in Cambridge! Jess and George