Cruisin' with THE YAKS - 9/29/12 Carnival DREAM Photo Review - Spa OV Cabin 11202

[rockbock]

WHAT AN AMAZING CRUISE!

 

Today I will begin my comprehensive photo review of this cruise. It might take several days, since I like to provide a lot of details and a lot of photos.

 

We were on the Western Itinerary, which included the ports of Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Costa Maya. I traveled with my family of 5 (I'm 42, DH 50, DD16, DS 15, and DS15) and my parents (both 64). My family had already been to Cozumel, but the other three ports were new for all of us. My parents had not been to any of these ports.

 

Before I even begin to review the cruise itself, I have to give a big shout out for my roll call. What a crazy, fun, amazing bunch of characters they are! I've never really gotten involved in the roll call for my previous cruises, other than introducing myself in the roll call thread. However, this time it was impossible to not get "sucked in." This group was so much fun! Over time, most of our interaction migrated from CC to Facebook, and we're just as active a group now as we were before the cruise. "The Yaks," as we came to be known, were all strangers before this cruise, but I think many lifetime friendships were probably formed. Many of The Yaks are even making plans to cruise together again in the future.

 

Many roll call events were planned throughout the cruise (meet & greet, cocktail party, slot pull, cabin crawl, bar crawl, and mailbox drop). I'll touch on each of those events in this review and offer our tips and experiences on how to plan these events for your own cruises.

 

It wouldn't be fair of me to start this review with any photo other than one of "THE YAKS." In the photo below, my husband is the one in the front left (wearing the shirt with the Yak on it...more about these shirts in a later post!) and I am the one standing behind him in the green and black dress.

 

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Next, a bit of background on how I ended up in an AMAZING OV SPA CABIN:

 

I initially booked this cruise back in April. My kids were off from school the first week of October for fall break and I wanted to book a 7-night cruise. I booked a Deluxe Oceanview Cabin for my family of 5, since that is the only cabin type on the Dream which will accommodate 5 passengers.

 

In June, my parents decided to join us on this cruise. The Early Saver option was no longer available for them and they are not past guests of Carnival, so I moved my daughter into their cabin so that they could qualify for the past guest rate (I'm a TA, so Carnival waived the $50 fee for changing my daughter's reservation). My daughter would still be sleeping in the cabin with my family...her "move" was simply a "paper" move so that my parents could get the better rate.

 

Three weeks before sail date, somebody cancelled a reservation for two Oceanview Spa Cabins (#11202 and #11204) and they were placed back into inventory at an AMAZING rate. Cabin #11204 only accommodates 3 passengers, but #11202 is a quad. Since my daughter was no longer listed on the same reservation with the rest of my family, we were able to upgrade to quad cabin #11202. The upgrade cost me a grand total of $3.60 more than the original cost for our Deluxe Oceanview on the Riviera Deck. The grand total for this cruise for my entire family of 5, including taxes and fees (but before tips), was $2,300. The net cost was right around $2,000 after my TA commission and a statement credit from my Carnival Mastercard. What a bargain!

 

The only "complication" would be that we'd have to bring a small airbed from home for the 5th person. It seemed like a great trade-off, considering we'd be getting an oversized spa cabin on the Panorama Deck, with a semi-private balcony. It ended up being MORE than a great trade-off.

 

NEXT UP: Getting to the port!

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My parents live about 15 minutes from Port Canaveral, which is very convenient for cruising out of this port...no need for a hotel; no need to make plans for a dog sitter, since he can stay with my parents; and no need to find a shuttle service to the port, since my parents can drop us off and pick us up. I was sooooooo excited when my parents decided to join us on this cruise, but it added some obvious complications our original plans. We also had some delays in actually getting from Tennessee to Florida, but it all worked out in the end.

 

We lined up a dog sitter here in TN, but about 3 weeks before the cruise that plan fell through. I didn't want to leave my dog in a kennel for 9 days, so my best option was to bring him to my sister's house in Florida for the week. My sister lives about an hour from my parents and it's not along the way.

 

I was hoping that I'd be able to pull my kids out of school on Friday 9/28, so that we could get on the road after school on Thursday 9/27. This would get us to my sister's house in the middle of the night. We could crash with her until morning, then continue on to my parents' house and have most of Friday to relax and recouperate from the ride.

 

Well great plans don't always work out as planned. We ended up having to send the kids to school for most of the day on Friday. We didn't get on the road until 2:30pm on Friday. After dropping the dog off with my sister and continuing straight on, we arrived at my parents' house at about 4am on Saturday morning...just enough time to sleep for about 3 hours and then get up to get ready to board the ship!

 

Since my parents would be coming with us, I had to arrange for parking/shuttle service for the week. I'll discuss the company we used in my next post...

[rockbock]

I made a reservation for the 7 of us with Cruise Parking Of Port Canaveral (CPOPC).

 

 

This was the cheapest reputable parking/shuttle service I could find. The normal parking rate was $5.99 per day, with free shuttle service. They DO charge for 8 days if you have a 7-night cruise, but most parking places also charged the same way.

 

The rate was $4.99 per day for seniors over the age of 55 and veterans. My parents are both seniors and my dad is also a disabled veteran, so we qualified for the lower rate.

 

I received a call the day before the cruise informing me that the standard rates only apply to the first 6 passengers. Since we were a total of 7 people, we would be charged $1.00 extra per day. I didn't mind paying the $5.99 per day, but I wish they would have called me sooner to let me know, since I made the reservation about 6 weeks prior.

 

We arrived at CPOPC at 10am. I've gotta tell you, one of the biggest challenges of this entire cruise was actually getting to and from CPOPC. My vehicle is a Chevy Trailblazer. It seats five. We had to fit 7 passengers in this car, along with all of our luggage. We ended up having to strategically pack the luggage into the back of the car. The luggage that didn't fit in the back was piled onto the laps of the four passengers in the small back seat. I sat on top of the center glove box, straddling the gear shift. The ride was so horrible, that it was actually laughable and created a memory that none of us will ever forget.

 

Here's a view of the back-seat passengers!

 

 

 

The process at CPOPC was quick and painless, other than one slight glitch in the pricing. We pulled up and unloaded our bags. We then waited inside for about 5-10 minutes for the next shuttle. Complimentary coffee and donuts were available during our wait.

 

The pricing problem was that they charged me the $6.99 rate, instead of $5.99. They DID have it noted in our reservation that we were 7 passengers and would have the $1.00 surcharge, but they did not have it noted in our reservation that we were booked at the senior/veteran rate. They originally charged my credit card for $59. Rather than process a credit for the difference, the attendant just handed me $60 in cash and re-charged my credit card for the correct amount. This was fine with me.

 

The shuttle ride to the port was comfortable and took about 10 minutes. We arrived at the port at about 10:30am.

[oncruisecontrol]

I made a reservation for the 7 of us with Cruise Parking Of Port Canaveral (CPOPC).

 

 

 

We arrived at CPOPC at 10am. I've gotta tell you, one of the biggest challenges of this entire cruise was actually getting to and from CPOPC. My vehicle is a Chevy Trailblazer. It seats five. We had to fit 7 passengers in this car, along with all of our luggage. We ended up having to strategically pack the luggage into the back of the car. The luggage that didn't fit in the back was piled onto the laps of the four passengers in the small back seat. I sat on top of the center glove box, straddling the gear shift. The ride was so horrible, that it was actually laughable and created a memory that none of us will ever forget.

 

Here's a view of the back-seat passengers!

 

 

 

Your description of your ride to the parking facillity cracked me up. You guys are packed in there like sardines. Great start to your review.

[rockbock]

EMBARKATION

 

For the most part, embarkation was a breeze. We planned to be SMART this cruise, and we made sure that we packed a giant, wheeled carry-on for all of the soda and wine. Last year, we put the soda and wine in a bag which wasn't wheeled and it was VERY heavy for my husband to lug around until our cabin was ready.

 

I made sure that there were no size limitations for carry-on bags before I left home. I learned that the only limitation was 16" high x 24" wide, with no maximum length. I even had a printed copy of the information with me (http://www.carnival.com/Funville/forums/p/204159/1190745.aspx)

 

Well, we were stopped and told that we couldn't carry on the large suitcase. I went to another security person and he also claimed that it was too large. The printed sign at the terminal said 16" x 24" maximum, but it didn't indicate that part about their being no maximum length.

 

I explained to security that the bag contained seven 12-packs of water/soda and 4 bottles of wine. He said it wouldn't be a problem checking the bag. I questioned him about how it's (1) supposed to be in the carry on bags and (2) contains beverages for 7 passengers who don't all share the same cabin. He assured us that there wouldn't be a problem. I was convinced I'd be at the Guest Services Deck later that night begging them to deliver my beverages, but all was well. The bag showed up in my cabin with no problems at all.

 

The rest of the embarkation process was a breeze. We walked straight up to the check-in desk with no line whatsoever. We presented our passports (or BC/DL for some) and received our cards. We were provided with a card for Embarkation Zone 7. My mother uses a walker and is slightly mobility-impaired. When they realized this, our zone was changed to 2, which probably saved us about 15-20 minutes in boarding.

 

We were on the ship before 11am!

 

 

 

[rockbock]

Based on all of the reviews I read here on CC, I suggested that we all make a bee-line for the Pasta Bar, since it would be the only time all week that the lines would be manageable.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the Pasta Bar. To be honest with you, I didn't take many food photos at all on this cruise. So I apologize in advance to all of the foodies, but there won't be any food porn in this review, other than a few photos of the Chocolate Extravaganza.

 

I'll be honest...I wasn't as impressed with the Pasta Bar as I could have been. Don't get me wrong, the quality of the food was very good. However, the service was horrible.

 

We were the second family to arrive at the Pasta Bar. We placed our orders and then we waited more than 30 minutes for our food!!! The area was almost empty, so I have no idea what the chefs were doing back there, but it certainly wasn't preparing our meals!

 

Since we had just boarded the ship, we wanted to eat quickly and begin exploring. Instead, we had a long, long lunch! In retrospect, I wish we just went to Lido, since there were no lines there either at the time that we arrived.

 

Another thing that was a little frustrating was the fact that we left (i.e., gave up) our table in the Pasta Bar to get our desserts (which were on floor down on Lido). By this time, the ship was PACKED full of people, so there were no available tables on Lido.

 

I know it sounds like I'm complaining, and I guess I am, but it is EXPECTED that lunch will be crowded on the first day, so it's not really a complaint which soured my attitude about this cruise.

[4hunters]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Looking forward to the rest! :)

[rockbock]

CABINS

 

Ok, I'll admit it...we're one of those families who can't wait until 1:30pm to check out our cabin! At about 12:15pm, we walked down one flight from Lido to find my parents' cabin. They booked a standard inside cabin on the 9th deck, right next to the elevator. My mom is slightly mobility-impaired and prone to motion sickness, so she wanted a cabin that was midship, close to the food, and close to the elevators. This location worked out PERFECTLY for her.

 

My dad needed to use the restroom badly, so he ran a bit ahead of us to their cabin. When we got to the cabin he had entered, it didn't seem right to me. There was a motorized scooter in the cabin and I had previously told Guest Services that my mom would not be renting one and she would just use her walker. I thought maybe they gave her the scooter at no charge? But then I noticed something even more strange...the balcony! I quickly called into my dad, who was already using the bathroom, and asked him what their cabin number is. He had gone into cabin 9364 instead of 9362!!! So if the occupants of cabin 9364 are reading this and noticed that their bathroom wasn't perfect when they checked in, you now know why!

 

So after escaping from that embarrassing situation, we made it to the correct cabin. My parents were pleasantly surprised by the size of their cabin, but their prior cruising experience had only been on RCCL.

 

I, on the other hand, was shocked at how SMALL their cabin was. My previous cruising experience was with inside cabins on Fantasy Class ships. Now I know Carnival claims that the inside cabins on both ships are 185sf, but I can promise you that this is not the case. The inside cabins on the Fantasy class ships are about 1.5 times the size of what my parents had on the Dream.

 

Aside from the surprise of the size, my parents' cabin was clean and had plenty of storage space. My parents never heard any noise from the Lido Deck above. They said the cabin was very quiet. They also never experienced "the smell" (nor did we when we visited my parents' cabin). Some of our fellow YAKS who had cabins in the 9440 - 9450 range reported that they experienced "the smell" frequently. Maybe it's just one of those smells that some people are sensitive to and others aren't???

 

Sorry, but I didn't take any photos of my parents' cabin.

 

NEXT UP - My cabin

[rockbock]

Ok, my cabin was nothing short of AMAZING. All I can say, is that I am now spoiled. Cabin 11202 looks large in the photos below, but the photos actually make it look smaller than it really is.

 

Let's start out with a diagram of the Panorama Deck, so you can see exactly how enormous the four Spa Oceanview cabins are. If you look at the diagram below, the standard-size spa cabins (inside and balcony) are shaded in dark blue and green. The larger teal-blue cabins (e.g. #11206) are the Spa Suites. The four largest cabins, shaded in light blue, are the Oceanview cabins. My YAK group had a GREAT cabin crawl, which included two Spa OV cabins, one Ocean Suite, and one Grand Suite. Although the OS and GS were "fancier" looking cabins, the Spa Oceanviews were the two LARGEST cabins.

 

Also note in the diagram below that the red-colored cabins are NOT spa cabins.

 

 

 

So now let's explain how these cabins look once you're on the ship. Assume you are getting off of one of the elevators in the diagram. It looks like there might be "space" where you can walk in between the green (inside) cabins. You can't. You need to choose one of the narrow hallways (even cabins or odd cabins).

 

So let's assume that you choose to walk up the hallway with the even cabins. You reach the end of that hallway, so 11206 is on your left and 11208 is on your right. This is your view:

 

 

Notice how you can either turn right or you can "sort of" continue straight ahead. If you continue straight ahead, you will pass cabin 11204 on your left and the hall will dead-end into a door which leads outside to the semi-private walkway balcony. Here's a view of that hallway:

 

 

 

If you had made a 90-degree right turn from the first photo, you would be in a different hallway, with cabin 11202 on your left, cabin 11208 on your right, and an access door to the Cloud 9 Spa straight ahead. Here's a view of that hallway:

 

 

 

 

You might have originally thought from looking at the deck plan that all four of the Spa OV cabins are in the same hallway. They are, but only sort of. You have to walk through two sets of doors separating out the Cloud 9 staircase in order to get from the even cabins to the odd ones.

 

 

And one last photo...a close-up of the door to my cabin:

 

 

 

 

NEXT UP: TOUR OF THE INSIDE OF CABIN 11202

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So when we walked through the door of Cabin 11202 for the first time, the sofa was already made up into a bed, but the upper bunk was not pulled down yet. On the main bed, we had a pair of Cloud 9 Spa Slippers and a "storage pouch" for them. Two large, heavyweight robes were hung in the closet. The beach towels in our cabin were the yellow Serenity towels, instead of the standard blue Carnival towels. The Elemis items are a big nothing...they are normal hotel-sized sample products. Nothing special and the steward didn't refill them at all during the trip. The bathroom was extremely large, since this is a handicap accessible cabin.

 

It should be noted that there is always a slight risk of getting "bumped" when booking one of these cabins, since it is a handicapped room. The good news is that you have to be "bumped" to an equivalent or better cabin, which means you would still have spa access and you'd likely be "bumped" to a balcony or suite. Personally, I like this cabin better than any balcony on the ship, but it's not like it would be horrible to get bumped to a balcony instead.

 

Here are a lot of pics of the cabin taken from different angles, at different times during the trip. Some have the upper bunk down, so you can see how the cabin looks with all four beds made up. I can't show you any photos of how the cabin looked with the sofa, because there was never a time during the entire week that the sofa was made up like a sofa. The steward kept it as a bed all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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So next, let's talk about the "obstructed oceanview with semi-private walkway balcony." Let's just say, I'd take this setup over a typical balcony every day! Sure, it would be nice to have a private balcony, but they're so small that I'd likely never really use it much. There's barely enough room to sit on them. This arrangement, on the other hand, was SPECTACULAR. On embarkation day, a handful of people walked out onto the Panorama deck, presumably because they were touring/inspecting the entire ship. After the first day, we probably only saw somebody out on that deck once or twice a day. Nobody really used it at all. It was so nice and spacious...within just a few short steps, you had your choice of a front view, port view, or starboard view. There are a couple of wooden benches on the deck...not exactly comfortable lounge chairs, but they were ok. I spent a lot of time out on this deck. I used it every morning before most people on the ship were awake (5am). I also used it to watch for pier runners at each port. And it was so convenient to get great shots of every port from right outside my cabin. Ok, enough chatting about the deck...here are some photos:

 

First, this is the obstructed view if you look directly outside the cabin window:

 

 

 

Now, to access the "secret" deck. All I needed to do was exit my cabin, turn to the right, then immediately turn to the right again. The door to the deck was right at the end of that short hallway. It was literally about 15 steps to get from inside my cabin to the outside deck.

 

Beware of wind when you exit the door to this deck. Most of the time, there was no problem at all. However, one morning when I went outside it was rainy and windy. The wind is more powerful on this deck than anyplace else I experienced on the ship.

 

The next photo is kind of important. It's an example of the view from the outside deck into my cabin window. Carnival will try to tell you that the windows with walkway views are tinted. They are. However, they aren't tinted enough to give you privacy. This didn't bother my family at all. We just made sure we pulled the shades closed when we were getting dressed.

 

 

 

This next photo is the access door to the outside Panorama deck. The window right next to the access door is the window to my cabin. That should give you an idea of how conveniently located this cabin was.

 

 

 

 

 

[rockbock]

CLOUD 9 SPA

 

I wrote a separate review of the Cloud 9 Spa Facilities. It is very long and very detailed. Those of you who won't be using the Cloud 9 Spa amenities, should feel free to skip over the review linked below. If you are interested in the Cloud 9 Spa, I invite you to re-direct your attention to the thread linked below, which includes tons of photos and videos of the spa area. You should consider skipping to Post #12 before you start reading, since the earlier posts in that thread were already re-posted here.

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1721126

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[jules815]

I'm really enjoying your review and pictures!

[rockbock]

CABIN STEWARD

 

Our assigned steward was named Suaro. He was not impressive. I'm not the type person who is going to let a bad experience with housekeeping taint my overall vacation, but let's just say Suaro was not a highlight of this trip. Here are some of the things that I didn't like about Suaro:

 

(1) When I first met him, I asked him to unlock our refrigerator and to please remove the contents of the refrigerator from the cabin for the duration of the cruise. Suaro unlocked the refrigerator and suggested that we just remove the contents ourselves and put them into one of the drawers in the cabin. I explained to him that I needed the storage space in the cabin for other items and that I'd also be more comfortable not having all of the small bottles of alcohol in the cabin at all, so I knew there would be no chance of any billing mistakes. Suaro told me that billing is never an issue as long as we don't drink them. I again asked him politely to remove the items, this time stating that I also didn't want the small bottles in the cabin with my teenagers (not really a concern, but by this point I was a bit ticked off at Suaro). He reluctantly returned to the cabin about 30 minutes later with a bag for me to empty the contents of the refrigerator into. Interestingly, our next-door neighbors, who were also part of our YAK group, had a similar experience when they asked Suaro to empty their refrigerator.

 

(2) Suaro left almost no samples in the bathroom (I know other cabins got a lot) and he never refilled them.

 

(3) Suaro NEVER removed dirty dishes from our cabin when he cleaned. After the third day, we started placing them on the floor outside our cabin door instead. Even when we put them there, it sometimes took 8 hours before they were removed.

 

(4) Suaro only did a cursory cleaning of the cabin. There were some bathroom issues and spots on the floor which should have been cleaned and/or vacuumed, but were not. The cabin was clean when we arrived...I just think he could have done a better job keeping up with the day-to-day maintenance.

 

(5) On two different occasions, Suaro left only two beach towels in our cabin (which had four registered passengers)

 

(6) Suaro was not skilled in towel animals. He chose the simplest designs only, made them sloppily, and even repeated one of them.

 

(7) If we happened to be in the cabin when Suaro was turning down the beds at night, he would just hand us the chocolates, rather than placing them on the bed.

 

(8) On one of the sea days, one of my kids slept until after 11am. We had the "Snoozin'" sign on the door until he woke up. I guess 11:30am was too late for cleaning service, because Suaro only came once that day...in the evening.

 

(9) There was one other huge problem with Suaro, but I've decided to not sure it with this group, because it might be considered controversial to some and I really don't want to deal with having drama in my review thread.

 

 

Overall, Suaro kind of sucked as a room steward. I would have reduced his tips at the end of the cruise, but I didn't want to deal with the long Guest Services line, so I guess he got more than he was entitled to.

 

 

 

,

[rockbock]

Not even close to done...

 

Just taking a break. Will continue tonight or tomorrow.

[kbad]

Oh gosh! Here is to hoping I don't get Sauro as my steward next May! I have a Inside Spa Cabin booked.

 

Thanks for the great reveiws.

[meatloafsfan]

thank you for doing this review. You have a great style - very easy to read and it's like we're there with you.

 

Keep up the great work - I know it's a long haul to do a such a detailed review but it is very appreciated! :D

[KrusII]

Great job..........keep it up........

[JaniceB]

Enjoying this part of your review as much as the spa one.

 

Thanks for writing it.

[rockbock]

I'm back sooner than I thought because I just realized that I forgot to write about another major problem we had with Suaro. I figured if I don't type it now, I might forget it again later.

 

On the last evening of the cruise, I got a knock at my door. It was Suaro delivering a bottle of brandy to my cabin. I did NOT purchase any brandy during this trip and I even made a comment something like, "What is this for?" when he delivered it. He asked me to sign for it, so I did. He left.

 

I then looked closely at the bottle and the bag it came in, to see if there was a note indicating who sent it to me. It was surprising, but since I had organized a lot of the Roll Call events for this cruise and moderate the Facebook page for our group, all I could think of was that somebody very generous must have sent it to me as a thank you gift. However, it was very odd that somebody would send a gift without a note. My husband and I discussed the possibility that it might have been delivered to the wrong cabin? We just didn't know what to make of it.

 

Fast forward to a few days after the cruise.

 

The ladies in the cabin next door to me were part of our YAK group. One of the ladies made a post on Facebook about the problem she had on the last night of the cruise, when her bottle of brandy was not delivered to her cabin. Apparently she was dealing with Guest Services until the wee hours of the night, trying to get to the bottom of the issue. Eventually, she was apparently told that they accidentally delivered the bottle to my cabin. She thought they were lying, since she knew that my husband and I weren't big drinkers and she figured we would have declined the bottle. However, I was assuming it was a gift, so I accepted it and signed for it even though it was a product that neither my husband or I would particularly enjoy.

 

Long story short, I went home with a bottle that belonged to my dear new friends from Florida. My friends were reimbursed for the cost of the bottle by Guest Services, but they missed out on being able to enjoy the product that they purchased.

 

But what really makes no sense at all is this...

 

I can understand that Suaro made a mistake by delivering the bottle to my cabin. Mistakes happen. But once he KNEW he had made this mistake, why didn't he call my cabin or knock on my door to let me know what happened? I would have given the bottle right back to him and made sure it was delivered to the rightful owners. It was so wrong of him to NOT do everything in his power to recover the bottle for these ladies.

 

Ok, enough about Suaro...he just sucked big time as a steward!

 

More later tonight or tomorrow...

[oncruisecontrol]

I'm back sooner than I thought because I just realized that I forgot to write about another major problem we had with Suaro. I figured if I don't type it now, I might forget it again later.

 

 

 

But what really makes no sense at all is this...

 

I can understand that Suaro made a mistake by delivering the bottle to my cabin. Mistakes happen. But once he KNEW he had made this mistake, why didn't he call my cabin or knock on my door to let me know what happened? I would have given the bottle right back to him and made sure it was delivered to the rightful owners. It was so wrong of him to NOT do everything in his power to recover the bottle for these ladies.

 

 

 

More later tonight or tomorrow...

Regarding what I've highlighted in red: Receiving a bottle of brandy that you did not order is not a major problem if you haven't been charged for it. The steward (or more likely the Bon Voyage Dept put the wrong cabin number on the card). If you had refused it (hindsight is 20/20 here), Carnival would have reconfirmed to whom it was supposed to go. If, indeed, it was to go to you, it would have been redelivered. Since that is not what happened, I hope you enjoyed the brandy.

 

Regarding what I highlighted in blue: I cannot speak for Suaro, but I can say this: I work in a large, somewhat upscale restaurant and, because of the number of entrees that our kitchen is turning out, sometimes an entree or side dish is delivered to the wrong table. When this happens, and the guest accepts the incorrect dish, staff are forbidden to go back to the table and retrieve the dish. We just let that guest enjoy the item on us. You would be surprised how many guests would take offense to us trying retrieve the dish from them. It would put the staff and the management in a very uncomfortable position. Our guests might take it like we were accusing them of stealing. Besides, even if we did get the dish back from them, it's not like we could re-serve it to the party that actually ordered it. Suaro, had no way of knowing (if he ever even realized that a mistake had been made) whether or not you'd opened the bottle or what your reaction would have been had he tried to get it back from you. Just a different perspective for thought. BTW, your review is awesome.

[JaniceB]

Any item I have bought from bon voyage has had a tag on it and the bottle was wrapped with the tag tied to it. Strange it didn't have any of this.