Cruising with Zay - A Jewel of the Seas Review

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Regarding the B2B process - did the have a special luncheon in the dining room for the Consecutive Cruisers? I have read in the past that this has been offered. I'm not sure if it's all the time, though.:confused:

[nseit1974]

yes - in windjammer towards the back. also DW said she saw one near the main pool area... but I can't confirm that as I don't remember seeing one there.

 

Thanks

[The Big Booper]

Yay, love the freestyle machines, mix and match 100+ flavors

[lv2bcruzin]

Suddenly, the wind starts blowing. All of a sudden, some of the chairs started moving towards our direction. Two of my guests decided to start having chair races. One of them took her shirt off and placed it on her chair. The chairs needed to make it to the end of the other side of the ship. That's how strong the wind was. I had so much fun with this group. It's amazing how busy we get in life. I couldn't believe how much fun I was having acting like a kid. In fact, we were all being kids on this last night together.

 

And for the record, I won! :D :p

 

 

 

The celebratory chair toss into the waters of the Caribbean to commemorate the victory! :p j/k There were no chairs harmed during the filming of this race. :D

 

Edited December 24, 2013 by lv2bcruzin

[TnomadX]

Regarding the B2B process - did the have a special luncheon in the dining room for the Consecutive Cruisers? I have read in the past that this has been offered. I'm not sure if it's all the time, though.:confused:

 

Yes there was. i'm going to talk about that when I start day 1 of the second cruise.

[TnomadX]

And for the record, I won! :D :p

 

 

 

The celebratory chair toss into the waters of the Caribbean to commemorate the victory! :p j/k There were no chairs harmed during the filming of this race. :D

 

 

Adam, you are hilarious!!!! Thanks for posting the pictures. They bring back memories man. What fun we had with those chairs.

[TnomadX]

So, we have said our goodbyes to our old pals, and are now preparing to greet our new pals. As I mentioned before, the consecutive cruisers had to go downstairs and go through customs to present our Passports or Birth Certificates, then we got back on board. We we wanted to go out and spend some time in Puerto Rico, we were given some cards that had the words "In Transit" on them. You present this card to a customs representative and they let you on through. I decided I would just stay on board the ship.

 

Once back on the ship, we had to take a new picture for our sea pass card. Once taken, we ran into the cruise director. I asked her if it were possible for me to interview her so that the new passengers could actually get to know her. The cruise director does a lot of interviewing of different staff members that you can view on the television. I thought it would be fun to take a few minutes just to interview her. She took my stateroom number and told me she'd give me a call later. I was very excited about that.

 

We went to our stateroom to check it out. It wasn't quite ready yet, but the room was much larger than our first one. It was about the size of a standard hotel room, which gave us plenty of room this time. We even had a balcony with an obstructed view, but we loved it very much. The bathroom was much bigger as well.

 

I left the room for a moment since it wasn't ready anyways, and went around the ship again taking some additional pictures. I then went to speak to the Matre' D as we were scheduled for My Time Dining, and I wanted second seating instead. He was very accommodating and found us a table for eight. I then went and found some of the staff on board and talked with them for a little while. Afterwards, I saw some of my cruise critic friends and talked with them for a while. We talked long enough to finally have lunch.

 

When you are a consecutive cruiser, they offer lunch to you in the main dining room. You have servers to wait on you and bring the food to you. I can't recall what was served, but it was very good. We shared a table with some of our cruise critic friends that we didn't get a chance to talk with on the previous cruise. It was great having lunch with them. They were so nice and full of knowledge.

 

After lunch, I went to my stateroom, but the card wouldn't open the door. I had to go back down to guest services, and they printed out a new card for me. While there, another couple was very frustrated because they went to open their room to find it already occupied. They were really trying to maintain their composure, but they were upset. The representative asked them to be patient with him as he worked to resolve the issue. He promised that he would get them a room, and explained that sometimes the computer does have glitches and will overbook a room. He promised that the problem is his to solve, and would rectify it as quickly as possible. I know that I would have been frustrated as well if I walked into an already occupied room. It's been my experience through these types of situations, that RCL makes up for it in some way or another. I can say I understand their frustration AND I understand the frustration of guest services as well. They were having to clean up something that perhaps should have been caught before the passengers got on board.

 

I finally went back to my room, and the key finally worked. I discovered that my friend's key didn't work either, so I took her key down to have it fixed. This time at guest services, another passenger was upset with guest services because they did not see their on board credit listed on their account. The representative told them that he saw there was on board credit, but it won't show up until the following day when the system is updated. The passenger was adamant about wanting the credit to appear immediately. He representative kept assuring him that he will be okay as the credit will appear soon. The customer was still angry, but did walk away. Meanwhile, I got my friend's card activated and headed back to the room. I remember thinking that this crowd is definitely different from the last crowd. The feel was definitely different around the ship. Not many seemed happy initially.

 

I decided to go down to Latte-tudes to get a coffee and talk to my friend I had met earlier in the week. He wasn't in, so I just sat near one of the computers just to hang out for a way and scope out some of the new passengers. I still had an uneasy feeling so I went back to my room. When I got there, my room key wouldn't work again. It turns out that my friend had to go back to guest services herself and got me a new key. Long story short, we had to go back to guest services once more, and I ended up with two keys for our room. I hope I remember to tell the funny story that happened later on that week as a result of having two keys...lol.

 

Our cruise critic group met at the pool bar on deck 11 at 4pm, and they showed up in large numbers. I was so happy to see so many attend. They were excited and ready for the cruise to get started. They were all just talking and sharing. It was an excellent pre-meet and mingle. We actually went out with a bang....literally. One of our friends brought some champagne to share, and a glass accidentally fell and shattered. the helped me understand why they say "no glass on the pool deck!" It was hilarious.

 

It was now time to get ready for the muster drill again. We were still a bit late starting, but everyone came closer to on time than the last group. If you recall from earlier, The muster drill is done both in English and Spanish. It appeared that the person who translated was very considerate of the time, so she spoke very quickly. It didn't seem quite as long as it was the week before.

 

After the muster drill, it was time for dinner. We headed to meet our new table mates at a different table this time. I was very concerned that the table group wouldn't be as good as the first one, but I was hopeful. We met two of the couples, and they seemed fine. We were off to a great start. We also met our new servers, and they were doing all they can to help us. What impressed me about our main server is that he asked our names and remembered them the rest of the night.

 

Now I had to step out for a moment to take care of an emergency back home. I may have been gone approximately 10 minutes, and thee was a new couple to join our table. Things appeared to be a little rocky when I got back. When our server came, I understood why things were rocky. The couple was so rude to the server. One of them would not smile or anything. It's like they felt that they were royalty or something. It was just a weird feeling and atmosphere. the whole mood of our table had changed so quickly. One of the couples ate very quickly and got outta there as fast as they could. The rest of us stayed behind and just dealt with their attitudes.

 

Dinner was finally done, and we headed back to the room. The Matre D' asked me how things were, and I told him how I felt about the table. While I was talking, another gentleman came up and said his server lost his Sea Pass card. He also said that he told the server that it's his problem, and that he wanted him to get another one and bring it to the room. The Matre' D explained that he couldn't do that, and that he could go to guest services to get another one. The gentleman then said that he was not doing that because he wasn't the one that lost it. The server was going to do it. The Matre' D explained again, but the guy was not hearing it. He was sure the server was going to get him a new card and that was the end of that. NEWSFLASH!!!! If your card is lost, whether by you or someone else, please go to guest services yourself and get a new one. No one else will be able to get your card for you as it is linked to you and you alone.

 

The welcome aboard show was around 10:30pm, so I decided to go check it out. It was a comedian by the name of Jeff Jenna. I stayed just to hear a snippet of him, and I wasn't really impressed. It could have been that I was already tired and wasn't in the mood for much comedy....I'm not really sure. I just ended up leaving and going to my room and headed to bed.

 

I'm not really sure how to feel about the first night. The first week went so well, and I just assumed that it would go well this week also. There was just something different and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It's a good thing I had my friend and the cruise critic family on board with me.

[newcruiser1573]

So, we have said our goodbyes to our old pals, and are now preparing to greet our new pals. As I mentioned before, the consecutive cruisers had to go downstairs and go through customs to present our Passports or Birth Certificates, then we got back on board. We we wanted to go out and spend some time in Puerto Rico, we were given some cards that had the words "In Transit" on them. You present this card to a customs representative and they let you on through. I decided I would just stay on board the ship.

 

Once back on the ship, we had to take a new picture for our sea pass card. Once taken, we ran into the cruise director. I asked her if it were possible for me to interview her so that the new passengers could actually get to know her. The cruise director does a lot of interviewing of different staff members that you can view on the television. I thought it would be fun to take a few minutes just to interview her. She took my stateroom number and told me she'd give me a call later. I was very excited about that.

 

We went to our stateroom to check it out. It wasn't quite ready yet, but the room was much larger than our first one. It was about the size of a standard hotel room, which gave us plenty of room this time. We even had a balcony with an obstructed view, but we loved it very much. The bathroom was much bigger as well.

 

I left the room for a moment since it wasn't ready anyways, and went around the ship again taking some additional pictures. I then went to speak to the Matre' D as we were scheduled for My Time Dining, and I wanted second seating instead. He was very accommodating and found us a table for eight. I then went and found some of the staff on board and talked with them for a little while. Afterwards, I saw some of my cruise critic friends and talked with them for a while. We talked long enough to finally have lunch.

 

When you are a consecutive cruiser, they offer lunch to you in the main dining room. You have servers to wait on you and bring the food to you. I can't recall what was served, but it was very good. We shared a table with some of our cruise critic friends that we didn't get a chance to talk with on the previous cruise. It was great having lunch with them. They were so nice and full of knowledge.

 

After lunch, I went to my stateroom, but the card wouldn't open the door. I had to go back down to guest services, and they printed out a new card for me. While there, another couple was very frustrated because they went to open their room to find it already occupied. They were really trying to maintain their composure, but they were upset. The representative asked them to be patient with him as he worked to resolve the issue. He promised that he would get them a room, and explained that sometimes the computer does have glitches and will overbook a room. He promised that the problem is his to solve, and would rectify it as quickly as possible. I know that I would have been frustrated as well if I walked into an already occupied room. It's been my experience through these types of situations, that RCL makes up for it in some way or another. I can say I understand their frustration AND I understand the frustration of guest services as well. They were having to clean up something that perhaps should have been caught before the passengers got on board.

 

I finally went back to my room, and the key finally worked. I discovered that my friend's key didn't work either, so I took her key down to have it fixed. This time at guest services, another passenger was upset with guest services because they did not see their on board credit listed on their account. The representative told them that he saw there was on board credit, but it won't show up until the following day when the system is updated. The passenger was adamant about wanting the credit to appear immediately. He representative kept assuring him that he will be okay as the credit will appear soon. The customer was still angry, but did walk away. Meanwhile, I got my friend's card activated and headed back to the room. I remember thinking that this crowd is definitely different from the last crowd. The feel was definitely different around the ship. Not many seemed happy initially.

 

I decided to go down to Latte-tudes to get a coffee and talk to my friend I had met earlier in the week. He wasn't in, so I just sat near one of the computers just to hang out for a way and scope out some of the new passengers. I still had an uneasy feeling so I went back to my room. When I got there, my room key wouldn't work again. It turns out that my friend had to go back to guest services herself and got me a new key. Long story short, we had to go back to guest services once more, and I ended up with two keys for our room. I hope I remember to tell the funny story that happened later on that week as a result of having two keys...lol.

 

Our cruise critic group met at the pool bar on deck 11 at 4pm, and they showed up in large numbers. I was so happy to see so many attend. They were excited and ready for the cruise to get started. They were all just talking and sharing. It was an excellent pre-meet and mingle. We actually went out with a bang....literally. One of our friends brought some champagne to share, and a glass accidentally fell and shattered. the helped me understand why they say "no glass on the pool deck!" It was hilarious.

 

It was now time to get ready for the muster drill again. We were still a bit late starting, but everyone came closer to on time than the last group. If you recall from earlier, The muster drill is done both in English and Spanish. It appeared that the person who translated was very considerate of the time, so she spoke very quickly. It didn't seem quite as long as it was the week before.

 

After the muster drill, it was time for dinner. We headed to meet our new table mates at a different table this time. I was very concerned that the table group wouldn't be as good as the first one, but I was hopeful. We met two of the couples, and they seemed fine. We were off to a great start. We also met our new servers, and they were doing all they can to help us. What impressed me about our main server is that he asked our names and remembered them the rest of the night.

 

Now I had to step out for a moment to take care of an emergency back home. I may have been gone approximately 10 minutes, and thee was a new couple to join our table. Things appeared to be a little rocky when I got back. When our server came, I understood why things were rocky. The couple was so rude to the server. One of them would not smile or anything. It's like they felt that they were royalty or something. It was just a weird feeling and atmosphere. the whole mood of our table had changed so quickly. One of the couples ate very quickly and got outta there as fast as they could. The rest of us stayed behind and just dealt with their attitudes.

 

Dinner was finally done, and we headed back to the room. The Matre D' asked me how things were, and I told him how I felt about the table. While I was talking, another gentleman came up and said his server lost his Sea Pass card. He also said that he told the server that it's his problem, and that he wanted him to get another one and bring it to the room. The Matre' D explained that he couldn't do that, and that he could go to guest services to get another one. The gentleman then said that he was not doing that because he wasn't the one that lost it. The server was going to do it. The Matre' D explained again, but the guy was not hearing it. He was sure the server was going to get him a new card and that was the end of that. NEWSFLASH!!!! If your card is lost, whether by you or someone else, please go to guest services yourself and get a new one. No one else will be able to get your card for you as it is linked to you and you alone.

 

The welcome aboard show was around 10:30pm, so I decided to go check it out. It was a comedian by the name of Jeff Jenna. I stayed just to hear a snippet of him, and I wasn't really impressed. It could have been that I was already tired and wasn't in the mood for much comedy....I'm not really sure. I just ended up leaving and going to my room and headed to bed.

 

I'm not really sure how to feel about the first night. The first week went so well, and I just assumed that it would go well this week also. There was just something different and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It's a good thing I had my friend and the cruise critic family on board with me.

 

Wow the vibe of the ship sounds crazy already. Your keeping me in suspense. I'm hooked. Can't wait to hear more.

Edited December 25, 2013 by newcruiser1573

[sunor]

Jay, I am enjoying your review. You have done already more cruises that most of us do.

 

We will be cruising on the Equinox B2B Jan 31 but you are touching some of the same islands.

 

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and your kids a Merry Christmas. Hope you are feeling better now.

 

Suz

[gfd_2]

TnomadX,

 

Thanks for the review! We'll be embarking in 59 days and 22 hours - not that I'm counting :D

 

DW and I love the Southern Caribbean itinerary.

 

Quick question on Dominica - did the ship moor on the pier downtown or to the more industrial area west (I think) of town?

 

And thanks for the tip on the Chops Grill - we'll have to ask about the tasting.

Edited December 25, 2013 by gfd_2

[TnomadX]

TnomadX,

 

Thanks for the review! We'll be embarking in 59 days and 22 hours - not that I'm counting :D

 

DW and I love the Southern Caribbean itinerary.

 

Quick question on Dominica - did the ship moor on the pier downtown or to the more industrial area west (I think) of town?

 

And thanks for the tip on the Chops Grill - we'll have to ask about the tasting.

 

It was more in the downtown area. t wasn't too bad there.

[TnomadX]

Jay, I am enjoying your review. You have done already more cruises that most of us do.

 

We will be cruising on the Equinox B2B Jan 31 but you are touching some of the same islands.

 

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and your kids a Merry Christmas. Hope you are feeling better now.

 

Suz

 

Hi Suz,

 

I'm so glad you stopped by. I'm going to follow your blog so I can hear about your cruises. How have you been? I hope you and Norm have a wonderful Christmas. I am feeling better, and I'm trying to finish this blog. It seems that every time I try to sit down and do it, something comes up.

 

Zay

[welshrich]

Hi, Great review, we are sailing B2B on her in March so loving the information. When you get chance to speak with Carly the CD again say hello from Rich and Steve from Wales and wish her Happy Holidays from us.

 

Happy Holidays to you, enjoy the rest of your trip

[TnomadX]

Hi, Great review, we are sailing B2B on her in March so loving the information. When you get chance to speak with Carly the CD again say hello from Rich and Steve from Wales and wish her Happy Holidays from us.

 

Happy Holidays to you, enjoy the rest of your trip

 

Awe...I'm sorry. I'm bakc home now, so I won't get a chance to talk with her. She is such a great person though, and you can tell she enjoys what she does.

[TnomadX]

Wow the vibe of the ship sounds crazy already. Your keeping me in suspense. I'm hooked. Can't wait to hear more.

 

The vibe of the ship was completely different. By doing a B2B, I learned that the passengers on board are the ones to make the sailing fun.

[TnomadX]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for being patient with me. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and are ready for the new year ahead. I know that I am ready to put 2013 behind me.

 

I wanted to mention before I go further that many of the staff had changed when we made it back to San Juan. There were quite a few unfamiliar faces on board. Because of the large number of new staff, they had lots of trainining going on. On day one, I forgot to mention that we had met our new room steward. It was his first day on board, and he had gotten to us late because of training. training for the staff can take anywhere from 2 hrs to 8 hours. The staff literally works all day long.

 

When new staff are coming on board, many of them are traveling long distances. For some, it literally takes two whole days to finally make it. That was the case for one of our servers on day one. He was extremely tired, and was working very, very hard on only surviving off of a couple of hours of rest. I felt so badly for him.

 

Okay...I'm getting ready to review day 2 (day 9) of my cruise. Here I go....

[TnomadX]

We arrived in St. Thomas around 8 AM. After waking up, we decided not to have breakfast because our plan was to have lunch in St. Martin at this place called Glady's. We had been to St. Martin earlier this year and tried a restaurant called Cuzzins, and wasn't impressed with the food at all. We thought we'd give Glady's a try this time.

 

I turned my television on, and the Shopping guide on board was reminding people about the time the stores downtown would close (2PM). Let me just say this about the shoping guieds on board any ship. They claim to give you the best deals at all the ports of call. They also claim to get you free stuff. Please know that these nice ladies and gentlemen are "SALESMEN". They will only lead you to the places that will make them money. They really don't have your best interest at heart. Now, if they do offer something free, go get it. Chances are though, it won't be real. You can also probably get it cheaper at home or online. Don't let the Shopping guide trap you.

 

We got off the ship around 12 and caught a taxi to the downtown area. The taxi ride was about $4 per person. We met some really nice people on board. The taxi driver was very nice to notice I was on a cane, and dropped us off right in front of the path we needed to get to Glady's. We walked down an alley that had lots of turns, so we had to be very careful and watch the signs. When we found it, we got very excited (and I got really hungry all of a sudden). The staff was very nice, warm, and friendly. They sat us near a window and took our drink orders. We ran into two of our Cruise Critic friends again, so we switched tables again so we could share lunch with them.

 

The food at Glady's was really good. The service there is phenomenal. The time we spent with our friends was priceless. The price of the food was on the steep side. Be prepared to pay approximately $25 pp. I'm glad to have had the experience of Glady's, but I probably won't go there again. I do recommend people go there to have the experience though. It's gives you an opportunity to try authentic caribbean cuisine, and it's worth it for a first time. I was just happy to spend time with some good people.

 

We made our way back to the ship. It had been raining for a while, but thankfully we missed that big downpour we saw from inside the restaurant. A couple of people needed to use the restroom, and it's actually outside of the restaurant. They also have a person standing outside to provide assistance getting in. They do that for security reasons. After they came out, we headed back to the taxi back to the ship. The downtown area was really a ghost town. Nearly all the stores were closed. They close early on Sundays because it costs them more money to have the stores open when there's not that many people coming inside. We were the only ship on a Sunday. We took some pictures as the driver took a scenic route back.

 

We made it back to shopping area near that ship (and they were all still open, and will remain open as long as the ship is docked). It started to rain again, so we stopped in one of the electronic stores. I just happened to look around for a while, and found that they have very reasonable prices. They had an underwater camera for $99, whereas I paid $300 for a very similar camera. The prices go up from there of course, but I still thought it was reasonable. After the rain died down, we headed back to the ship very quickly before it started up again.

 

We made it back to our ship just in time to get prepared for the Official Meet & Mingle provided by the ship at 5:15pm. Again, the timing wa a little off because it's formal night AND the first dining time is at 6PM. We ended up starting late because the activities manager had just completed another activity and came running over as quickly as possible. We had so many people to attend, and it was great!!! The activities manager introduced himself (Elvis) and asked for us to let them know if they could do anything to make our vacation more enjoyable. I believe he really meant that! Then we had us to introduce ourselves with our screen names and our real names. Afterwards, we did the drawings the staff put together and some received some very nice prizes.

 

There were people who had registered for the meet & mingle, but chose not to chat with us on the roll call. We're happy they came, but I must admit it felt a little akward for many of us as we had no idea who they were. They were following the conversations on the boards, but never introduced themselves. Please, please, please introduce yourself on the boards if you're going on a sailing with others and visiting the board rooms. All you have to do is just tell them your first name and where you're from. This way it won't be awkward for those in attendance...especially if the ship does drawings for the group. You'll never have to speak again, but please make your presence known.

 

The Meet & Mingle lasted for about 30 minutes or so, and then we went back to our room to get ready for dinner. They did offer the Captain's reception again this night, but we chose not to attend since we did it the week before. We just wanted to relax a little before going to dinner. We knew we had a long night ahead of us as we were not impressed with two of our table guests.

 

We made it to dinner. Our servers were definately prepared for us tonight. They greeted us by name as we walked in and seated us. There were just four of us. Our server gave us our menus, and we started off with a wonderful conversation. We were served our appetizers and main entree', and was getting ready to order our desert when one of the other couples decided to join at at 9:30PM. YES...they were an hour late to dinner. Our main server was already busy, so our assistant server came and took their orders. This couple complained and complained the whole time. They complained about the main server not acknowledging them (which he did, by the way), them not getting their food as quickly, and about anything they could complain about. They were horrible. Well...it was mostly the young lady. The guy was alright. They basically just ordered whatever I ordered.

 

Our head server came over to introduce herself to us, and I really appreciated meeting her. She was such a nice person. She recognized that we had a tough table, and did what she could to make it better. I really, really wanted to change tables, but I didn't for two reasons. I didn't want to leave the other couple alone to deal with that couple, and 2. I knew it would be hard to change since the ship was full. We rushed with our deserts and left for the evening. We have just one more night with them before we get to have dinner with other people as we had two other dinner dates booked for the week. Whew!

 

The headliner show tonight was Two Funny Guys again. I enjoyed them the last time, so I decided to go to the show. They offered two of them. One was at 9PM for the first seating diners, and again at 10:45 for the second seating diners. I was surprised that they told the same jokes as last time. I understood why, but I was hoping for some different jokes. The audience seemed to enjoy it a lot, except for the people they chose to make fun of. As I mentioned before, do not be late to their show and do not sit at the front. They WILL make fun of you. By the way, they do change the headliner shows on a weekly basis. The acts get to do two shows. On the first week and on the second week. They go home later in the week. If you are a back to back cruiser, you'll get to see something new.

 

I ended up leaving the show after 20 minutes or so and went to the guest services area and had a seat for a little while just to observe the crowd. It still felt different to me. I was trying to figure out what the difference was. One of the guest services rep came over and chatted with me for a bit. I asked him what he thought of the vibe. He told me to be patient becuase he believed it would change. He did say that it's like that at times. Sometimes we have a really good week, and other times we have a bad week.

 

I finally decided to go back to my room and call it a night. Next Stop is St. Croix.

[tigger-ttfn]

Zay! I'm sorry you aren't feeling well but so happy I found your review:D Clearly, you all had a blast. Wish I could have cruised with you all but Adventure B2B was really good too:) Thanks for posting the review, loving it and makes me feel like I on right there with you:D

 

Talk with you soon!

Hi Ginnie, so glad you had a great B2B. I have to tell you thank you for all the information on San Franciso. I did not go for my B Day in Aug. I went on a cruise to Alaska instead and had a great time. Zay gave me good advice on how to pack. Pat

[gxchan]

Hi Ginnie, so glad you had a great B2B. I have to tell you thank you for all the information on San Franciso. I did not go for my B Day in Aug. I went on a cruise to Alaska instead and had a great time. Zay gave me good advice on how to pack. Pat

 

Hi Pat! Oh girl, I would've cruised Alaska, too:D Glad you had a great birthday celebration. I just love cruising Alaska, going again in May:cool: If you ever get to SF, send me an email and we'll have a drink.

[gxchan]

Hi Zay! Loving your review. Yes, B2Bs can sometimes be a little disconcerting in that each leg can be completely different from the other but it sounds like you have well mastered the craft of taking lemons and making lemonade:) Sorry about the cranky dinner companions.

 

Can't wait to read more.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I'm sorry about the bad tablemates. After a similar experience we have made a decision to either cruise with a large group of friends and have our table pre-arranged with people we know we like or to do MTD where we can have new tablemates every night. On our upcoming B2B we booked leg one with a large group of friends so we have late seating and will have known tablemates. We then added the second leg on our own so we thought we would be by ourselves initially. So we booked that cruise as MTD. Within a week 8 of our great friends decided to join us on that cruise, too! So now our group has Late Dining on Cruise one and MTD on cruise 2. It should be interesting, LOL!

[TnomadX]

I forgot to mention that I spoke with my previous servers on the cruise when we re-boarded the ship. My main server had been moved to My Time Dining, and the assistant server stayed at the same table. We all hoped that we'd get the same servers again, but we were not lucky to. The servers and bartenders all rotate on either a weekly or bi-weekly basis. They may even get a new supervisor during the process. I honestly thought that they work together the entire time they're on board together, but they change as well. Can you imagine working with someone that you enjoy working with, and then all of a sudden it changes? I can certainly understand their frustration as well on that first night.

 

It appears that new staff members come on board each week. If your service appears slower than normal, please try to be patient. They may have had a long flight and are very tired as they have to get to work right away. Room stewards may get to your room late, but be patient with them as they may have had a training, and they're still required to get to everyone's room. More on that a little later.

[tigger-ttfn]

Zay so glad you are doing this review. It was great to have met you and Dee. I remember the breakfast in the main dining room with you one morning. You were telling me your baby sitter said she was out of dog food and you couldn't amagine how unless your kids were overfeeding due to each one feeding not know the other had already. Hope you didn't come home to an overweight dog LOL. I will tell you we had a great experience in the MDR for MTD. But an awful experience in Chops on the 2nd night. We were seated and no one even acknowledged use for 15 min with our menus. I went down from there. It took from 8pm to 915 before our meal came. At 1015 we finally left Chops. I complained to manager and then with no response to the guest relations. They said it was the chiefs fault. I can't believe that since everyone else was out in reasonable time. I cruise a lot and never had such poor service in a fee restaurant. And know one cared. Made a point of putting it on the survey. I have always had great care and response from guest relations.. keep the review coming. it is great. Pat

[TnomadX]

Zay so glad you are doing this review. It was great to have met you and Dee. I remember the breakfast in the main dining room with you one morning. You were telling me your baby sitter said she was out of dog food and you couldn't amagine how unless your kids were overfeeding due to each one feeding not know the other had already. Hope you didn't come home to an overweight dog LOL. I will tell you we had a great experience in the MDR for MTD. But an awful experience in Chops on the 2nd night. We were seated and no one even acknowledged use for 15 min with our menus. I went down from there. It took from 8pm to 915 before our meal came. At 1015 we finally left Chops. I complained to manager and then with no response to the guest relations. They said it was the chiefs fault. I can't believe that since everyone else was out in reasonable time. I cruise a lot and never had such poor service in a fee restaurant. And know one cared. Made a point of putting it on the survey. I have always had great care and response from guest relations.. keep the review coming. it is great. Pat

 

Hello Pat,

 

It was a pleasure to meet you too. LOL...No, the dog wasn't too fat when I got back thank goodness. They were over feeding her though. She really missed me while I was gone :)

 

I'm so sorry about your experience at Chops. I'm going to go into more details about Chops later in my review, but I do know that the two hours time-frame was about right. We ate there twice the second week, but they were careful and were checking on us along the way. They brought us our drinks and appetizer within 20 minutes or so, and then brought out our entrees. I'm sorry they didn't provide the same level of service they provided us. Thanks for sharing this as others may have the same type of experience and need to see it from different perspectives.

 

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. :)

[TnomadX]

I'm sorry about the bad tablemates. After a similar experience we have made a decision to either cruise with a large group of friends and have our table pre-arranged with people we know we like or to do MTD where we can have new tablemates every night. On our upcoming B2B we booked leg one with a large group of friends so we have late seating and will have known tablemates. We then added the second leg on our own so we thought we would be by ourselves initially. So we booked that cruise as MTD. Within a week 8 of our great friends decided to join us on that cruise, too! So now our group has Late Dining on Cruise one and MTD on cruise 2. It should be interesting, LOL!

 

That's a great way of planning the evening. When I take my family with me, we fill up a whole table. I usually get along with anyone. In fact, the couple started talking to me later on which shocked the heck out of me. LOL. Thanks for keeping up with me. I'm getting there. I promise.