We are getting excited about this trip. It is going to be so different for us seeing the middle east and so unlike areas we have seen in the past.
We booked all our “Anytime” dining reservations in advance. We really didn’t plan to do that but when we went on to reserve 7pm for the first two days of the cruise it was completely booked! We did get 6:45pm dining times for those days, and that is fine. We just don’t like missing sail away times from ports as we get such a good prospective of the port and landscape when either entering or leaving an area. Anyway, I was surprised about the dining time slots being full so we went ahead and booked a tentative time for each day working around excursions and times in port. We can cancel or change later if we want. At least we have a “time” and we supposedly won’t have to wait if we have a reservation. We opted for the “anytime” dining instead of a set meal time, which we could have done, because we like the flexibility. We have even talked about trying to eat our larger meal at lunch time and skipping the dinners unless something we “really want” is being served.
This ship is completely booked from what I’ve heard. I’m glad we have a balcony so we can have private outdoor space if we feel crowded or anything. However, we’ve been on full ships before and find one can usually find quiet areas on any ship. Being an 18 days cruise this time of year I doubt there will be many children or young couples on board, no doubt just the “retired” or “tired” group. LOL
