A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 39 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Glad you were paired with some good tablemates for dinner. That can sometimes effect your meal too, so no worries that night! But that is strange about the letter H missing.... and only from some menus. Weird!
I guess maybe they have a dodgy printer on board?
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Cellar Masters looks like a comfy living room. Ahhh, relaxing.
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I am a bit confused. How does the dining system work exactely? You are not guaranteed a spot at any of the restaurants unless you make a reservation or are prepared to wait if you just walk up? This was the main restaurant where you didn't have to pay extra, right? Was it the only free option?
It was the only free option and I was told that we could have made reservations for a set time. They have two set times, just like Disney, in the downstairs area - we only found all this out a lot later in the cruise, as we were totally confused at this point. I'm sure Sara must've have asked us about this and we must've turned it down, but I have no recollection at all.
Then the upstairs is for reservations, but you can only reserve for the next night or after that, as I understood it. I was very confused by that system. If you don't reserve, you turn up and wait, although I was told by others that you either walked straight in or went to buy a drink and then your buzzer would go off and you'd be in. Yes, the whole thing was very bizarre.
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I may be slightly biased but I really love Disney's hassle-free dining rotation system.
Me too! That's what I missed most on our P&O cruise to the Norwegian fjords we took a few years ago and it was the same here, although that was partially offset by the excellent paid for restaurants and the superb counter service buffet upstairs.
That's one of the things I'm worried about with our upcoming Royal Caribbean cruise. For the nights we're in the main dining room (we did a 4 night specialty restaurant package, so 4 of the 7 nights we'll have reservations - that we can only make once on board!), I worry about how long we'll have to wait to be seated. Years ago when we cruised Norwegian, that really turned me off when compared to the ease of dining on DCL.
I hope it all works out Ok for you. My goodness, your cruise is coming up quickly isn't it? I can't believe it's just over three weeks til we see you!
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Dinner did look a bit cafeteria style in terms of the plating, but glad to hear it at least tasted alright. Your gnocchi certainly could have used some garnish, being so monochromatic.
It's not an easy dish to make beautiful, given it's just one thing essentially on the plate, but I'm sure there was something they could've done with it.
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And lucky you - so far both times being seated with others, you've had good tablemates.
Our luck did continue during the cruise with meeting people, but that's a story for later on in this trip report...
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I find it interesting reading your comments and then your ratings, as from your description I would have thought you would have had some lower numbers going! How weird to see such an empty restaurant below. We were always sat in the lower level, but we did the main dining rotation, and it was packed!
I find it interesting reading your comments and then your ratings, as from your description I would have thought you would have had some lower numbers going! How weird to see such an empty restaurant below. We were always sat in the lower level, but we did the main dining rotation, and it was packed!
That was what we saw from above that the lower level seemed to always be packed.
Wednesday 8 June – part six: we may not be able to dock in Stockholm
Eventually, I suggested heading up to the Sky Lounge, so we made our way through the casino. I still find it surreal to have one of these on a ship…
We grabbed the loungers we’d enjoyed so much earlier, and just took in the scenery outside, as the sun started to set…
As you can see, we were treated to a beautiful sunset, and it was so wonderful to just sit there and watch the sun sinking beneath the sea.
However, it was during this process that we got an update from the captain. I immediately had the feeling this wasn’t a planned update, and it wouldn’t be good news – and sadly, I was right. The captain informed us that, while we would still be heading towards Stockholm, the latest weather forecast from Stockholm was that high winds were expected. Apparently at present they were just under the limit, but if they got any stronger, that would be it, and we wouldn’t be able to dock in Stockholm. I assume that’s because of the passage to get there, which I know is through an archipelago of islands, and apparently amongst the most challenging in the world to sail through. The way the captain said it, I got the impression he was warning us, and getting our expectations ready, just in case the worst happened, but I thought he sounded like he was pretty set on still going, unless he got told he absolutely couldn’t. However, we’d just have to wait and see what happened in the morning.
Bear in mind that it was 10:00pm, and the sun had only just set. We eventually made our way back to the room, and the sky was still a stunning red…
We headed to bed, wondering whether we’d be in Stockholm, as planned, or having another, unplanned day at sea…
The weather today was dry, but cloudy, with temperatures in the high 50s. The best thing today was lounging around in the Sky Lounge! The worst thing today was being told we might not be going to Stockholm tomorrow after all. Today we tried the Moonlight Sonata restaurant And the result was the food was a lot better than breakfast (thank goodness!) and we may go back again… The most magical moment today was watching the sun set from the Sky Lounge.
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Wow, gorgeous sunset. And at 10pm!! That's crazy. Was it busy in there? I would imagine it would be busy. That's clearly a prime spot to lounge around.
Uh oh. Curious what tomorrow brings....
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Tanya
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That's what I missed most on our P&O cruise to the Norwegian fjords we took a few years ago and it was the same here, although that was partially offset by the excellent paid for restaurants and the superb counter service buffet upstairs.
My goodness, your cruise is coming up quickly isn't it? I can't believe it's just over three weeks til we see you! 
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