nancy drew
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2005
Other than that I have no complaints. The ship is gorgeous, the service (aside from Chops) is amazing, and we are happy and fortunate to be on vacation. Feel free to ask any Key or Symphony questions!
I have a couple of questions:
- did you get wifi for every person you paid for the Key for?
- did you get early access to you room? (I thought I read that somewhere)
- has the early disembarment for the port days been an advantage?
Thank you for sharing your experiences!
I will say that the ice shows almost always fill up. Same with the aqua shows.We attended the 1977 skating show today. We had to have reservations. People without reservations were turned away. We were guided to the Suites/Pinnacles section. We arrived at 3:50 and were told there were 5 seats left. We were lucky to find 3 together, though one seat was crowded by the suites sign. At 3:52 they removed the sign and allowed anyone to sit in that section. There were no seats available, though. I would recommend showing up at least 15-20 minutes early for shows. We will see Hairspray tonight and see if it is any different as far as seating.
Last cruise we spent about 1.5 hours at Giovanni's for our free lunch (we were in a CP balcony). Circumstances were slightly different though as we were already at sea and as such we weren't exactly in a rush to do anything. It was also a prix fixe menu so I'm thinking that these things are par for the course with regards to the "free" premium lunches.Lunch at Chops was a disaster. We spent 1.5 hours in the restaurant. The menu is significantly limited, with 3 choices for appetizer, main, and dessert, and they still took 1.5 hours to serve us. Unacceptable. If this is a "privilege" they should not be holding us hostage.
I have a couple of questions:
- did you get wifi for every person you paid for the Key for?
- did you get early access to you room? (I thought I read that somewhere)
- has the early disembarment for the port days been an advantage?
Thank you for sharing your experiences!
Nancy Drew - thanks for sharing your symphony experience! I am following this closely (Are you also posting on cruise critic?).... We are traveling April 13 on Symphony.
My questions are on the priority access to events...is it all the time like Suites? Or just some of the hours?
Also - did they put signs for priority this week?
If you do use the perk - please share how it went!
I consider this to now be like Express Pass at universal...if I think about it that way - it won’t feel as bad as ‘cutting the line’.
Hope that the show seating and ship debarkation on day 8 work out well. Sorry that Chops was longer than you hoped - my last meal at Chops was a torturous 2 hr 25 min ordeal for no good reason so I understand your angst there. I will talk to my group and maybe we will speak to the waiter to let them know we are not looking for it to be too long...or maybe we will explore first and go to lunch a little later so we aren’t as antsy...but I think an 60-75 minutes should be sufficient.
I totally agree with that. I will always book shows where that option is available. I was wondering if others have expectation with the Key that they can just show up a few minutes before the shows and still have a nice selection of seats. That was not my experience last year so I do not know if something has changed with this new program.
My stance has been that you should book shows irrespective of what the cruise line is telling you.
I totally agree with that. I will always book shows where that option is available. I was wondering if others have expectation with the Key that they can just show up a few minutes before the shows and still have a nice selection of seats. That was not my experience last year so I do not know if something has changed with this new program.
Where is the Key available to purchase? I don't see it in my Cruise Planner anywhere but it might be too early. (Jan 2020)
I would just like to comment on the priority seating if I may and please someone correct me if I am misunderstanding. We sailed on Oasis last year in a grand suite and I made reservations for the shows just because that is the Type-A personality I am and they were not necessary for suite guests. I have no problem making reservations for the shows for our upcoming cruise on Harmony in September with Key. We always arrived 30 minutes before the shows just because I like to have my choice of seats (even within the reserved area) plus order drinks, get settled and not feel rushed. So I do not anticipate we will have any problems doing the same with the Key. Am I missing something? I know the seating is "reserved" for Key holders but I do not have expectation of having choice seats if we arrive a few minutes before the shows start.
If someone (nancydrew) or anyone else that has experienced Key seating at shows can comment that would be great! I just want to adjust my expectations if needed.
'Where is the Key available to purchase? I don't see it in my Cruise Planner anywhere but it might be too early. (Jan 2020)
So, we have had a hard time getting to shows on time (thanks to 2 teens who have no concept of getting ready for things quickly). We arrived to 1977 (skating show) 10 minutes early and the Key section was also the suite section. There were 5 seats left. 2 minutes later, the sign and the "guard" left and the section was open to anyone. So if priority seating is important to you, get there very early (which kind of defeats the purpose especially since they originally said you did not need reservations for shows). .
I'll be sharing my final thoughts about The Key in a full review of our sailing. I imagine some will appreciate it more than others.