Live from the Anthem thanksgiving cruise: So far so bad

Awful experience so far. Huge line driving up to check in luggage. Huge line to check in within the terminal, apparently due to WiFi issues. My key wasn't there. Long lines for everything. Muster drill started 45 minutes late. But it's a beautiful ship. :) Internet and Royal iq not working well at all. And now they are charging for the wow bracelet.

On the plus side, it can only get better, right?

We just got off Anthem today, had a great cruise. We got to the port about 10:00 on day of departure and had no lines driving in or check in. Guess wifi issues will definitely slow things down. I was surprised to see the wow bands were $4.99. I hope you enjoy your cruise!

Awful experience so far. Huge line driving up to check in luggage. Huge line to check in within the terminal, apparently due to WiFi issues. My key wasn't there. Long lines for everything. Muster drill started 45 minutes late. But it's a beautiful ship. :) Internet and Royal iq not working well at all. And now they are charging for the wow bracelet.

 

On the plus side, it can only get better, right?

You can still get off the ship!:rolleyes:;)

Awful experience so far.... On the plus side, it can only get better, right?

My advice is to get offline and enjoy your cruise. :)

My advice is to get offline and enjoy your cruise. :)

Good advice. Forget about posting on cc until you return from your cruise.

Wow - I'm sorry to hear that first world problems are causing you grief. Sometimes stuff just happens and you need to go with the flow, no need to get uptight abt it all. You can only control what you can control and this isn't one of those times. Have a cocktails and a slice of pizza and you'll be fine!

What is a WOW band? Is there a benefit to this?

What is a WOW band? Is there a benefit to this?

It is a rubber/silicone/whatever bracelet that is encoded with the same information as your SeaPass card, and it can perform most of the functions of your SeaPass Card.

Forget the WOW Bands. You still have a card Key, why spend $5 more???

At least Cruisebaza is on the ship and didn't have to cancel.

The last person who posted on the roll call, for this cruise, said their connection in Chicago was cancelled and they couldn't get another flight that would get them to Bayonne, before the ship sails. The couple was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on this cruise.

Hopefully, they had cruise insurance.

It is a rubber/silicone/whatever bracelet that is encoded with the same information as your SeaPass card, and it can perform most of the functions of your SeaPass Card.

Thank you and I agree with the previous poster ... no way I'd spend $5 for that.

Thank you and I agree with the previous poster ... no way I'd spend $5 for that.

Neither would I, but I have been told that my WOWband from the Quantum can be reprogrammed on the Anthem, so I don't have to buy a new one. ;) :D

My advice is to get offline and enjoy your cruise. :)

Post of the day! :)

Wow - I'm sorry to hear that first world problems are causing you grief. Sometimes stuff just happens and you need to go with the flow, no need to get uptight abt it all. You can only control what you can control and this isn't one of those times. Have a cocktails and a slice of pizza and you'll be fine!

See, to me OP's post didn't seem "uptight". OP posted some legit concerns and the last line of the post was "On the plus side, it can only go up from here". To me that shows some optimism and that they aren't going to let it get to their whole vacation.

I keep seeing posts referring to "first world problems"...I get we should all be thankful and that we could all have it way worse, but it doesn't mean we also need to keep our mouth's closed when we receive sub-par service that we paid for. Hopefully RCI pays attention.

We got off Anthem today and found the WiFi to be spotty for the entirety of our cruise, both in cabin and around the ship. When it worked it was nice, but it wasn't always working. We decided that VOOM should be renamed MAYBE -- maybe it'll work, maybe it won't! RCI, get on that new marketing. ;)

Seems that the WiFi issues are contagious if they're now affecting the cruise terminal. I must say our check in for the November 10 cruise, once we got past a 20 minute wait driving up to the pier, was simply flawless and definitely our fastest check in ever.

I'm definitely enjoying the cruise and after all it is a vacation. Just reporting! Some beautiful views on the sail away.

By the way, anyone considering the parking lot a few blocks away, I would advise to be aware that shuttle service is very slow. It took some people an hour to get from the lot to the ship.

I saw that beautiful ship going under the Verrazano Bridge this afternoon from the Belt Parkway, glad my wife was driving so I could get a good look!

Wow - I'm sorry to hear that first world problems are causing you grief. Sometimes stuff just happens and you need to go with the flow, no need to get uptight abt it all. You can only control what you can control and this isn't one of those times. Have a cocktails and a slice of pizza and you'll be fine!

Some people are just rude and mean.

We got off Anthem today and found the WiFi to be spotty for the entirety of our cruise, both in cabin and around the ship. When it worked it was nice, but it wasn't always working. We decided that VOOM should be renamed MAYBE -- maybe it'll work, maybe it won't! RCI, get on that new marketing. ;)

 

Seems that the WiFi issues are contagious if they're now affecting the cruise terminal. I must say our check in for the November 10 cruise, once we got past a 20 minute wait driving up to the pier, was simply flawless and definitely our fastest check in ever.

Hmm, odd. I was watching almost all of Kcjarvis' periscopes, which all had great connections.

VOOM was great on Oasis, too.

We got off Anthem today and found the WiFi to be spotty for the entirety of our cruise, both in cabin and around the ship. When it worked it was nice, but it wasn't always working. We decided that VOOM should be renamed MAYBE -- maybe it'll work, maybe it won't! RCI, get on that new marketing.

Just got off the same cruise. 4 of us shared a sign-on, and we had no problems at all. Great speed in virtually all areas of the ship, including our cabins. We used an iPad, Galaxy Tab and Android phones. Never a problem.

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Just got off the same cruise. 4 of us shared a sign-on, and we had no problems at all. Great speed in virtually all areas of the ship, including our cabins. We used an iPad, Galaxy Tab and Android phones. Never a problem.

 

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Hmm, odd. I was watching almost all of Kcjarvis' periscopes, which all had great connections.

 

 

 

VOOM was great on Oasis, too.

How odd! VOOM worked great for us on Oasis too in May, no issues. We had issues with both my iPad Air and my wife's droid something-or-other phone. Maybe we were just unlucky and our cabin was in a dead zone between routers or something.

We just got off Anthem today, had a great cruise. We got to the port about 10:00 on day of departure and had no lines driving in or check in. Guess wifi issues will definitely slow things down. I was surprised to see the wow bands were $4.99. I hope you enjoy your cruise!

Wow, really wow, we got it for free when we were on Quantum this past April.

Not spending any money on these bands when we go on Anthem

next month, specially with a family group of 9 people.

Wow, really wow, we got it for free when we were on Quantum this past April.

Not spending any money on these bands when we go on Anthem

next month, specially with a family group of 9 people.

Did you see my post? You can take those same bands on Anthem and have them reprogrammed.

:)

How odd! VOOM worked great for us on Oasis too in May, no issues. We had issues with both my iPad Air and my wife's droid something-or-other phone. Maybe we were just unlucky and our cabin was in a dead zone between routers or something.

We were on the Anthem TA. Wi fi worked great in all public areas, but not in our cabin. The IT guy told me there's a router for every five cabins (hence you can be in a bad spot), and then told me to "step out in the hall." :rolleyes: They gave us 20% back on our internet package (unasked).

We were on the Anthem TA. Wi fi worked great in all public areas, but not in our cabin. The IT guy told me there's a router for every five cabins (hence you can be in a bad spot), and then told me to "step out in the hall." :rolleyes: They gave us 20% back on our internet package (unasked).

Makes sense, I bet our cabin was in a dead zone. Oh well -- I don't spend a lot of time on the internet while on vacation.