Basic RCCL Questions

[asamklove]

I have been reading through these threads over the last few months, but I still have some questions that I’m hoping for some insight...

1) Dining - We have My Time Dining, but there are (and always have been) limited times to reserve for the MDR. Am I doing something wrong? We have a party of 7, so a little pre-planning is necessary (at least for our group).

2) I reserved our shows. Can anyone tell me more about lining up for a show? Should we arrive early? Do you still have to stand in line if you have reserved a spot?
Can you save spots in line (like 1 of the 7 hold the line placement) or do people get twitchy about that?

3) We are sailing Harmony. We are interested in doing slides (dry & water), zip line, flow rider, etc. What are the wait times like for these things? Any tips?

Mostly, I just want to set expectations and be as prepared as I can to make it a smooth experience.

Thanks for any advice - especially any info about dinner dining - what I asked, and also what it might help to know.


Appreciate it!

 

[msjprincess]

I have been reading through these threads over the last few months, but I still have some questions that I’m hoping for some insight...

1) Dining - We have My Time Dining, but there are (and always have been) limited times to reserve for the MDR. Am I doing something wrong? We have a party of 7, so a little pre-planning is necessary (at least for our group).

2) I reserved our shows. Can anyone tell me more about lining up for a show? Should we arrive early? Do you still have to stand in line if you have reserved a spot?
Can you save spots in line (like 1 of the 7 hold the line placement) or do people get twitchy about that?

3) We are sailing Harmony. We are interested in doing slides (dry & water), zip line, flow rider, etc. What are the wait times like for these things? Any tips?

Mostly, I just want to set expectations and be as prepared as I can to make it a smooth experience.

Thanks for any advice - especially any info about dinner dining - what I asked, and also what it might help to know.


Appreciate it!

I've found that many times prime dining times aren't available to book beforehand. Last month on Allure I had no problem changing dining times once onboard for our party of 6. A couple of times I called that night and they were able to switch me to my preferred time.

 

[starvenger]

1) I’ve never done MTD so I can’t answer this one

2) If you get to a show about 15 minutes before you’ll get a seat. In the main theatre there’s usually more seats available (and less competition for seats) in the balcony than there is on the main level.

For ice and aqua shows it might be better to get there around 20 minutes before showtime. I’ve never seen people get uppity about waiting for the doors to open, but people will be annoyed if you save seats in a prime location for shows. This is probably true across all cruise lines.

If you’re late for the aqua show the standing view is not that bad. I’d recommend this over sitting in the very front.

3) Slides. I never saw a long line for Abyss (dry slide). The “standard” water slides usually had a 5-10 minute wait. The funnel/toilet bowl slide was longer, since people had to clear the bowl before the next person went.

The line for zip line is usually short, but getting the harness and shoes can take some time. Same with the climbing wall. Haven’t tried Flow Rider yet. If you want to do any of these three things, you should go right when it opens. Alternatively, do the Abyss then do the climbing wall (since you’re down there anyway).

Also, even if you’ve signed the waiver online you’ll need to get a wristband indicating as much. Go up to the Flow Rider area (I believe it’s on the starboard side) to get that done.

For the dry rides (Abyss, zip line, wall), they don’t want you to have anything in your pockets so you may want to have someone else hold your stuff for you. A bit problematic for Abyss but someone could wait at the bottom for you. For clothing, you need to wear a sleeved shirt on Abyss. Long sleeved shirt might be a better idea in case you brush the walls. Zip line and wall require that you wear socks.

 

[nkereina]

This is based on my experience with Oasis about 18 months ago....

1) Dining - We have My Time Dining, but there are (and always have been) limited times to reserve for the MDR. Am I doing something wrong? We have a party of 7, so a little pre-planning is necessary (at least for our group).

We were a party of 4 and didn't exactly have our choice of times for the main dining room in advance, but did manage to book around 7-8pm for the three nights we wanted. As soon as we boarded, we secured reservations for the specialty restaurants we wanted and had no issue there except for Izumi, where I had to change my preferred night. So, I don't think you're doing anything wrong and its likely a combination of your larger party size, availability, and Royal potentially holding back some availability for reservations after boarding, day-of/walkups, etc.

2) I reserved our shows. Can anyone tell me more about lining up for a show? Should we arrive early? Do you still have to stand in line if you have reserved a spot?
Can you save spots in line (like 1 of the 7 hold the line placement) or do people get twitchy about that?

There were two queues - one for people with reservations, and one for standby. We had reservations for all the shows we attended and got in the reservation line about 30 minutes before show time. On Oasis, they began letting the standby line in roughly 15 minutes before showtime. So you'll definitely want to be in line ahead of that so you have your choice of seat.

As far as holding the place in line for the other 6, for what purpose? You won't need to stand in line for very long as they will let the line in and you can take your seat. I suppose you could save seats for the others once inside, but that may be difficult in the smaller venues, like the comedy club. I assume the comedy club is small on Harmony like it is on Oasis.

3) We are sailing Harmony. We are interested in doing slides (dry & water), zip line, flow rider, etc. What are the wait times like for these things? Any tips?

Can't speak to Harmony but on Oasis, the waits were never bad. Go early and at the start of the window that the attractions are open. We had the zip line and flow rider shut down for a while due to weather (wind), and they were both only open certain hours - not all day.