NO LONGER PERMITTED TO BRING GUESTS TO THE COASTAL KITCHEN FOR DINNER ON THE ALLURE

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

And I thought it was 75 to 90!🤔😋

 

Cute

 

FWIW, I'm 56

[John&LaLa]

12 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

My post was just throwing out a set of ideas and options for discussion here.  You focused on one idea that I admitted was "out of the box".  I did conclude that the best way (IMO) to handle CK overcrowding is to comp any suite guest in specialty dining if they could not get a CK reservation.  Particularly since they paid already for CK in their nightly rate.  

 

Sometime no reservations available really means no reservations in their desired time slot😉

[TeeRick]

4 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Sometime no reservations available really means no reservations in their desired time slot😉

Yes agreed!  We sailed Harmony in January in a CL suite and at certain times the CK was completely full.  We just made dining reservations in advance and had to adjust our preferred times a couple of nights.  But we always were able to dine in CK if we were flexible.  Sometimes that is more difficult because of juggling with show reservation times which I think is another big factor in this discussion.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

26 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

FWIW, I'm 56 

A PINACLE baby! 🍼 🤣

[nashirak]

10 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

 

 

Did you remember to say hello to Maria?

[papaflamingo]

10 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

We had two P’s take our reserved seats one evening. They were told nothing was available and saw the empty table that was just cleaned for us, then said something like, we will just sit there and took the table. We were told they were P’s and they had their badges on. 

Completely unacceptable!  We were in GS's on Allure in March (4 of us, 2 in each GS).  We had a reservation in the MDR one night.  We showed up and they immediately led us to our table.  Turns out there was a young couple sitting at the table (to the complete surprise of the hostess who led us in).  They sheepishly looked at us then turned away.  A few tables down, near a waiter station, was a table for 2.  Clearly the couple had moved tables from the table for 2 to our table for 4.  We waited around for about 5 minutes while they found us another table.  The couple in our table looked very uncomfortable as we were standing near them waiting.   Fine by me.  Didn't say anything but it was clear they knew they'd been "busted."  

To the wait staff credit, they were very apologetic and "fell all over themselves" to make us very happy.  

Anyway,  I know that the staff should say something, but it's very difficult to reprimand a passenger, especially pinnacles.  I just wish people were decent enough to not put crew members into this situation.  Passengers should be adult enough to know they can't take tables that are not available for them on a crowded ship.  It's just plain rude. 

Edited May 18, 2019 by papaflamingo

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I get it, that would suck.  

 

I’m not sure it would suck, but I’d be looking at my options for sure.  

 

I’d also check to see who is on board that is know, before I swapped. I might stay with that sailing but I sure would not pay the premium for one of these sailings. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

2 hours ago, nashirak said:

 

Did you remember to say hello to Maria?

I guess that popped up when I took the picture. Lol

[STANMELB]

Update. Two other Pinnacle couples, not the ones I mentioned, have been able to bring guests in the Coastal Kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

So much for the new rule on the Allure.

 

 

 

[cruisegus]

Personally, I had trouble getting into CK on Allure for dinner when in a JS,  JMHO but RCI shouldn't even be listing it as a perk if it is only Space Available.  Of course no where in there advertising do they say that, just listed as a perk.

 

So they definitely should not be allowing Guests in, again only my personal experience.

Edited May 18, 2019 by cruisegus
spelling

[Milwaukee Eight]

10 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

M8 and John I’m OK with “Pinnacle Season”.  I not good with RC Hosted Sailings such as The Presidents Cruise. I’d avoid it like the plague as well as the sailings on each side of it. It wouldn’t matter if I was in a suite or Pinnacle. It is just not my thing.

 

I'm not really sure what I’d do if one of my fall cruises happened to become a special event sailing.  I do know that I would be looking for alternative sailings. 

Andrew, actually, the Presidents Cruise 2017 out of Barcelona, on Freedom, was an amazing cruise. One of the best cruises we have been on. Each port day had an excursion with MB. They were each one off excursions and simply wonderful. It was nearly the same people each day on these special excursions. The excursions were a bit pricey but well worth it to us. Royal went really overboard with the excursions. I think only 2 P’s were on the excursions. We only had if I remember correctly like 35 P’s onboard. 

 

It was great. We were hoping that 2019 Presidents Cruise/Birthday would have been on Oasis out of Barcelona.  We probably won’t do another cruise like the one on Harmony in the States. The boss got burned out with Royal after our cruise. We typically sailed 4-6 cruises a year. We haven’t cruised with Royal since. 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Milwaukee Eight

[Milwaukee Eight]

29 minutes ago, cruisegus said:

Personally, I had trouble getting into CK on Allure for dinner when in a JS,  JMHO but RCI shouldn't even be listing it as a perk if it is only Space Available.  Of course no where in there advertising do they say that, just listed as a perk.

 

So they definitely should not be allowing Guests in, again only my personal experience.

What was the date/timeframe and how many P’s onboard? 

 

I agree with you. 

[cruisegus]

early Feb 2018 and I don't recall how many P they said they had on board

[island lady]

On 5/17/2019 at 3:22 PM, davekathy said:

Pat, I'm sorry to hear of Miss Kitty's passing. She was part of the Royal DS family. 

 

Thanks, she was my little best friend, with permanent home in my heart.  🙂  Her real name was Katie, she is the picture on my Avatar.  Loved "cruising" with us in the land yacht.  

 

Keeping busy adding 7 more cruises to my line up, have 19 cruises booked now...have to keep my mind occupied on happier things.  😉 

Edited May 20, 2019 by island lady

[island lady]

On 5/17/2019 at 5:10 PM, TeeRick said:

Yes CK is limited in dinner seating in particular so what might they do?  1) They could eliminate Jr Suite guests entirely. Might not solve the problem since this is already being practiced by current prioritization. 2) They could just make it all suite guests (including Jr Suite) and exclude pinnacles. That would cause an uproar here I'm sure! 3) They could go Star Class only or Star Class plus Pinnacles.  Maybe that would be acceptable.  But Star Class already gets unlimited specialty dining so maybe another solution is to eliminate Star Class!  Just have them go to specialties for dinner.  That is kind of outta the box but why not?  4)It seems the most logical solution might be to add specialty dining deep discounts or outright free comps to those suite guests that cannot get a reservation in CK on any particular evening.

 

Simple supply and demand.  The demand out weighs the supply here.  Things had to change.  

[Thorben-Hendrik]

So much fuzz over mediocre food! 🙄

[torpeedo]

42 minutes ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

So much fuzz over mediocre food! 🙄

 

AMEN!  It's just slightly elevated dining room food in my opinion.  

 

[Thorben-Hendrik]

1 minute ago, torpeedo said:

 

AMEN!  It's just slightly elevated dining room food in my opinion.  

 

Now if they had pepper - grinders.... totally could understand the fighting ! 👍 😁

[torpeedo]

On 5/18/2019 at 8:41 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

Sometime no reservations available really means no reservations in their desired time slot😉

 

Everyone wants to eat at 5:30-6:30 and are not flexible and then complain..  The CK tries to accommodate everyone but not possible at those high demand hours.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, torpeedo said:

 

Everyone wants to eat at 5:30-6:30 and are not flexible and then complain..  The CK tries to accommodate everyone but not possible at those high demand hours.

 

We make reservations in advance when we get the email from the SL concierge.  Have never had a problem making and receiving our usual 6:30 dining time.  It works perfectly for us...showing up in the SL around 5:30 (never busy then or nuts like the over crowded DL), some cocktails before dinner...then host comes over to let us know our table is ready right on time.  🙂 

 

Sure...maybe not the world's best food, but a whole lot more relaxing than the noisy, crowded MDR.  😮 

[LMaxwell]

Good policy change, but really, Royal needs to decide if they are going to create a bespoke suite experience or not.  

[John&LaLa]

9 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

Good policy change, but really, Royal needs to decide if they are going to create a bespoke suite experience or not.  

 

I'm confused, I thought they have.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by John&LaLa

[ladysail2]

On 5/15/2019 at 10:18 PM, lovescats5 said:

Thought this thread was about the CK not the death of a loved animal.  And, no, I don't hate animals.  I had to have a cat put to sleep a couple of months ago.

 

 

The topic is about the CK, but let’s hope the thread isn’t about criticizing people who may need a bit of compassion. What harm does it do?  It’s nice to see compassionate people once in a while. The Boards are a place for friendly people and friendly responses. 

[Snowbird_in_training]

We just came off Harmony.   CK was pretty much packed the nights we ate there.  One night our waiter told us they had 172 reservations.   Doesn’t seem to be room for Star/Sky/Pins let alone guests.   

 

I also agree with the somewhat confusing initial email from the concierge.   I had replied with requested time for CK explaining that we were eating in specialty restaurants a few nights.  I wasn’t sure it was all correct, once we boarded we asked CK host to check our reservations.   I had done it correctly. Whew!   I agree that the welcome email could be a bit clearer.  

[Pratique]

On 5/18/2019 at 11:45 AM, STANMELB said:

Update. Two other Pinnacle couples, not the ones I mentioned, have been able to bring guests in the Coastal Kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

So much for the new rule on the Allure.

 

 

 

So it's basically at the discretion of the maître d', like before. Ask nicely, be reasonable, and maybe it'll be your guests' lucky day.