Overtyme

Thank you all for your feedback!

It sounds like it might even be okay to break out a pair of shorts by the second Sea Day going South!

I just checked out monthly weather forecasts.

It looks to be in the mid-70's by the time you hit Central Florida and Low 80's in St. Lucia!

I'm not sure if that's quite beach weather, but it sounds really comfortable!

adding to my questions above, I'd also love to know if someone knows where the 3rd BreakawayPlus ship will home port and possibly what the itineraries will look like.

I think that the NY Market has been great for Breakaway. I wonder if they would consider bringing a Breakaway Plus ship in to compete with Anthem.

We just took a 9 day RC Anthem cruise out of NJ and had a great time.

The time of year was perfect for us, and we realized that a longer cruise is just what we needed.

Up until now, we've only done 7 day cruises and are now in the market to look for a 9+ day cruise for 2018.

That said, I've heard amazing things about the Breakaway and am willing to step out of my comfort zone from RC and try new ships.

There are some great 12 - 14 day cruises out of New York, but they're all in the height of Winter!

That means that at least my first 2 days and last 2 days are going to be FREEZING, leaving me with little time to enjoy the ocean and the pool decks.

We're a family of 4, living in Long Island, NY and would much prefer to take a longer cruise and not have to fly to Florida or San Juan.

I'm looking to validate this and to get some input from people who have taken similar itineraries.

East of Atlantic City, headed to Bermuda.

Seems like there was a really late departure. Any idea if that was the case and if so, why?

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Unless my app is not refreshing, it suggests that Anthem is still in NJ.

Isnt she is supposed to leave NJ earlier today on a 9 day?

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I decided to get the RCL credit card after receiving their offer of 10,000 points after making first transaction on this card. I did so end of May and the points still aren't showing.

 

 

 

I read this re: their offer:

 

Bonus Points are credited to your account approximately 6-8 weeks after you qualify

 

 

 

Called Bankofamerica and points have not been put on yet. It is just over 8 weeks.

 

 

 

Has anyone else had a delay in getting their points?

 

 

 

Thanks

I got the points in 5 weeks.

There's a link that you have to visit and then then request 2 $50 OBC.

They coordinate the rest with RC.

Once I get home tonight, I'll post the link here.

It's the BOA link for your credit card.

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Oof! I'm better of with my 5% on my Chase Freedom. I can redeem for cash and then put the cash towards vacation

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It's a bit confusing.

So I we have a plan to go on a cruise in about 5 years.

I have a company that spends a decent amount every year.

I got the RC Visa for the free $100 OBC on my last cruise (came in handy).

My thinking is that by charging my every day business expenses that I can redeem for a free cruise in 5 years.

What's not clear is am I just booking the cruise and redeeming for credits to use on board (means I'm still paying for my cruise), or am I redeeming credits against the price at the time of booking to ultimately bring the price down to $0?

How many points to pay

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No annual limit. Points expire 5 years after you earn them.

[emoji4]

In theory, I can accumulate points over the next 5 years and then use them for a free cruise (or two) as long as I use the points to book the free cruise in the next 5 years.

Next, I have to calculate how much I have to spend on my Visa to get two balcony cabins.

[emoji849]

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I'm thinking of using my RC Visa as my corporate card for company purchases and travel.

Is there an annual limit where they stop giving you points or a time frame that you have to use your points by?

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Definitely too large for Baltimore. I suspect they could get into Cape Liberty, however I don't see an Oasis class ship based there instead of Quantum class, because Oasis class is not a cold weather ship. Don't know about Boston.

Rumor was that she wouldn't be able to clear the Verazzano Narrows Bridge.

I'm just not sure if that's fact or myth.

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Fact or Myth? Oasis Class Ships are too large for the Northern US Ports (New York, Baltimore, Boston)

Will Oasis 4 be US based, Europe or Asia bound?

We're looking ahead at our next cruise which won't be for another 3 years out.

Hoping to find one of these closer to home in the future (NY)

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Day 3 - Bermuda (improved photo resolution from Flickr)

As I had mentioned, due to a late start towards Bermuda, despite going full-speed ahead, we made it to port about 3 hours later than the original scheduled time.

I think people were just happy that we made this stop, and the captain gave simply tacked on 90 minutes at the end of the day, so we left later than scheduled.

https://flic.kr/p/KqBrsR

Some observations:

We were the only ship in port, but there are times when NCL Breakaway and possibly other ships will be there at the same time.

Getting off the ship as soon as possible will mean that you'll have an easier time getting a taxi to your destination. Same goes for getting a cab back to the pier. Don't wait until an 90-minutes before you have to be back, or you'll end up on a :40 line for a ride.

It was a bit chaotic trying to get transportation, and I can't imagine what it's like when there's another 4,000 passengers trying to get transportation.

In fairness though, part of this was due to a lack of a plan on our behalf and as we had learned later on, only a portion of taxis came to the pier because there was some confusion as to if the ship was coming to port at all.

Please make a plan ahead of time.

Right near the pier is every form of transport: water taxi's, buses, individual taxis, mini vans (shared taxis).

https://flic.kr/p/KnNdhj

Bring Plenty of cash if you plan to rent beach chairs and umbrellas.

I can't remember exactly how much, but I want to say that we spent $50 for a pair of beach chairs and an umbrella at Horseshoe Bay.

Okay, back to on-task, my review:

I have to say, I had been looking forward to this stop for over a year now.

I was so glad that we made it there. I had been there before, but this was the first time that I had been there in a looooooooong time.

People will think that I'm crazy, but the blue water there is just a different color than the blue waters in the Caribbean and it's gorgeous.

As for the pink sand, "pink" is a real stretch. There are some flecks of pink in the sand, but not enough to give the beach the appearance of being pink.

https://flic.kr/p/JtsSxC

In the past, I had gone to Hamilton, which is a great place for shopping and walking. But that was also when the ship used to dock on Front Street in Hamilton.

I also used to go to Elbow Beach, which I understand is still beautiful.

We docked around 11:00. Because we're traveling with a 3 year old, we decided that it would be wise to not keep her in line for :45 while everybody else made headed for the gangway.

As a result, leaving the ship was easy, but finding transportation was not as easy.

Beach towels are always available either as you leave the ship or right on the pier (as was the case in Labadee).

This time in, we hopped a mini-van (shared taxi) and headed over to Horseshoe Bay.

It was breath taking (my photo's didn't do it justice).

https://flic.kr/p/KgkoEu

https://flic.kr/p/JudyYv

https://flic.kr/p/Kgko6J

There is a cafe at the entrance to Horseshoe Bay, which serves burgers and some simpler food.

It wasn't great, but it was convenient.

We had lunch there, sat out on the patio and watched the ocean and the birds, which my older daughter took a liking to.

At 4:00, we headed to towards the restrooms to wash our feet off and then to get on line for a taxi.

There was about a :30 minute wait to get a cab on this cruise. This may have been an exception, but give yourself plenty of time.

We were back on-board by 5:00, took a quick shower, then up to dinner.

More about day 3 shortly...

NOTE:

You may need to sign-in (or create a Yahoo! (Flickr) account in order to see these. I moved them to a public album to see if this makes a difference.

Anyone else share photos through Flickr? I like it because of the hires images and the free 1 GB of storage. The images can be seen in the post a few entries above, but the quality was horrible. The links will take you to the full resolution photos.

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Day 3 - Bermuda (improved photo resolution from Flickr)

As I had mentioned, due to a late start towards Bermuda, despite going full-speed ahead, we made it to port about 3 hours later than the original scheduled time.

I think people were just happy that we made this stop, and the captain gave simply tacked on 90 minutes at the end of the day, so we left later than scheduled.

https://flic.kr/p/KqBrsR

Some observations:

We were the only ship in port, but there are times when NCL Breakaway and possibly other ships will be there at the same time.

Getting off the ship as soon as possible will mean that you'll have an easier time getting a taxi to your destination. Same goes for getting a cab back to the pier. Don't wait until an 90-minutes before you have to be back, or you'll end up on a :40 line for a ride.

It was a bit chaotic trying to get transportation, and I can't imagine what it's like when there's another 4,000 passengers trying to get transportation.

In fairness though, part of this was due to a lack of a plan on our behalf and as we had learned later on, only a portion of taxis came to the pier because there was some confusion as to if the ship was coming to port at all.

Please make a plan ahead of time.

Right near the pier is every form of transport: water taxi's, buses, individual taxis, mini vans (shared taxis).

https://flic.kr/p/KqBsv2

Bring Plenty of cash if you plan to rent beach chairs and umbrellas.

I can't remember exactly how much, but I want to say that we spent $50 for a pair of beach chairs and an umbrella at Horseshoe Bay.

Okay, back to on-task, my review:

I have to say, I had been looking forward to this stop for over a year now.

I was so glad that we made it there. I had been there before, but this was the first time that I had been there in a looooooooong time.

People will think that I'm crazy, but the blue water there is just a different color than the blue waters in the Caribbean and it's gorgeous.

As for the pink sand, "pink" is a real stretch. There are some flecks of pink in the sand, but not enough to give the beach the appearance of being pink.

https://flic.kr/p/JtsSxC

In the past, I had gone to Hamilton, which is a great place for shopping and walking. But that was also when the ship used to dock on Front Street in Hamilton.

I also used to go to Elbow Beach, which I understand is still beautiful.

We docked around 11:00. Because we're traveling with a 3 year old, we decided that it would be wise to not keep her in line for :45 while everybody else made headed for the gangway.

As a result, leaving the ship was easy, but finding transportation was not as easy.

Beach towels are always available either as you leave the ship or right on the pier (as was the case in Labadee).

This time in, we hopped a mini-van (shared taxi) and headed over to Horseshoe Bay.

It was breath taking (my photo's didn't do it justice).

https://flic.kr/p/KgkoEu

There is a cafe at the entrance to Horseshoe Bay, which serves burgers and some simpler food.

It wasn't great, but it was convenient.

We had lunch there, sat out on the patio and watched the ocean and the birds, which my older daughter took a liking to.

At 4:00, we headed to towards the restrooms to wash our feet off and then to get on line for a taxi.

There was about a :30 minute wait to get a cab on this cruise. This may have been an exception, but give yourself plenty of time.

We were back on-board by 5:00, took a quick shower, then up to dinner.

More about day 3 shortly...

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Day 3 - Bermuda

As I had mentioned, due to a late start towards Bermuda, despite going full-speed ahead, we made it to port about 3 hours later than the original scheduled time.

I think people were just happy that we made this stop, and the captain gave simply tacked on 90 minutes at the end of the day, so we left later than scheduled.

Some observations:

We were the only ship in port, but there are times when NCL Breakaway and possibly other ships will be there at the same time.

Getting off the ship as soon as possible will mean that you'll have an easier time getting a taxi to your destination. Same goes for getting a cab back to the pier. Don't wait until an 90-minutes before you have to be back, or you'll end up on a :40 line for a ride.

It was a bit chaotic trying to get transportation, and I can't imagine what it's like when there's another 4,000 passengers trying to get transportation.

In fairness though, part of this was due to a lack of a plan on our behalf and as we had learned later on, only a portion of taxis came to the pier because there was some confusion as to if the ship was coming to port at all.

Please make a plan ahead of time.

Right near the pier is every form of transport: water taxi's, buses, individual taxis, mini vans (shared taxis).

(In this photo, you can see taxis, the water taxi, mini vans and buses waiting as we pulled into port).

Bring Plenty of cash if you plan to rent beach chairs and umbrellas.

I can't remember exactly how much, but I want to say that we spent $50 for a pair of beach chairs and an umbrella at Horseshoe Bay.

Okay, back to on-task, my review:

I have to say, I had been looking forward to this stop for over a year now.

I was so glad that we made it there. I had been there before, but this was the first time that I had been there in a looooooooong time.

People will think that I'm crazy, but the blue water there is just a different color than the blue waters in the Caribbean and it's gorgeous.

As for the pink sand, "pink" is a real stretch. There are some flecks of pink in the sand, but not enough to give the beach the appearance of being pink.

In the past, I had gone to Hamilton, which is a great place for shopping and walking. But that was also when the ship used to dock on Front Street in Hamilton.

I also used to go to Elbow Beach, which I understand is still beautiful.

We docked around 11:00. Because we're traveling with a 3 year old, we decided that it would be wise to not keep her in line for :45 while everybody else made headed for the gangway.

As a result, leaving the ship was easy, but finding transportation was not as easy.

Beach towels are always available either as you leave the ship or right on the pier (as was the case in Labadee).

This time in, we hopped a mini-van (shared taxi) and headed over to Horseshoe Bay.

It was breath taking.

There is a cafe at the entrance to Horseshoe Bay, which serves burgers and some simpler food.

It wasn't great, but it was convenient.

We had lunch there, sat out on the patio and watched the ocean and the birds, which my older daughter took a liking to.

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Can you share what you did in this port? Trying to figure out what we will do specifically if we will go on our own or on a ship excursion. Thanks again and I hope you had a great time!

Definitely!

I'll elaborate on this point in a bit, but my advice: don't rush off to Front Street, unless you want to buy jewelry.

On past cruises, we went to Orient Beach, which is one of the nicest beaches that I've been to.

Be aware, however that there are some people (not common, but you may see one or two) that go au natural.

We didn't find it to be a big deal, but I personally kept my clothes on out of concern for the welfare of the locals.

Maho beach is a popular beach. I haven't been, but I believe that this beach is right next to the airport. You can Google or YouTube Maho Beach and you'll see pictures and video of people standing next to the runway when the planes pass right over their heads.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for posting them. My daughter is even more excited after reviewing them and making plans for what she wants to do. Three more days!:)

She's a beautiful ship. Enjoy your time, and don't try to do everything. It'll give you a reason to come back, and it'll also make for a more relaxing time on-board if you don't get stressed out over trying to make every activity.

It's a vacation, not a convention.

You're day doesn't have to be jam-packed.

If you happen to be lucky enough to have Floribeth in the dining room, please tell her that Scott and Jen say hello!

The biggest challenge that we found is that for the things that we didn't have reservations for (specifically North Star and iFly), it was rough, but we were able to do things on the last day.

Please make sure that you've made reservations for these things before you've left, if you haven't done so.

Here are the 9 days of Planners, Compasses and Adventure Ocean Planners for this cruise. Enjoy!

https://flic.kr/s/aHskDKt4wB

I hope to update and complete my review next week.

Sorry for the delay.

Day 2 (Sea Day)

Day 1 ended with me going to sleep somewhere around 1:30 in the morning, still in Bayonne.

There was a lot of speculation around the ship that night about our stop in Bermuda being cancelled and that we would be heading straight for St. Maarten.

When I woke up around 8:00 the next morning, I stepped out onto my balcony to see that gorgeous deep blue water!

Breakfasts throughout this trip were split between the Windjammer and the Solarium Bistro, which was much less crowded.

With the kids, we were just not able to make it to a sit-down breakfast.

The Solarium Bistro is open to all ages and is a nice change from the Windjammer.

It didn't offer the full selection, but was more than enough and the service was vastly improved over the Windjammer, mostly due to a much lower volume of people and tables for the staff to manage.

Our sea days are largely broken up in this fashion:

Breakfast and then something in the morning, then lunch followed by either my wife or I taking turns bringing my three year old to the cabin for nap time, while the other one goes out and has fun with our 9 year old.

We took turns with this, and to be honest, this vacation was so relaxing no matter what we did.

While my little one napped and It was my turn, I sat out on my balcony and took a nap of my own surrounded by the sound of the ocean and the sea breeze.

Our Evenings and Nights were typically composed of family dinner in one of the four dining rooms, follows by a show and then one of us would retire early with the younger one while the other stayed out.

To some, this may sound like a waste of a vacation, with all of the separation, napping, early bedtime, etc.

But it was just the opposite.

My wife and I both have very busy careers and we balance that out with our family time (also stressful at times).

This cruise was all about going with the flow.

We didn't try to do it all and we had set our expectations accordingly.

More about day 2 later on. Family time calls...

[emoji4]

Thank you all for your patience. I've been swamped with work (sad, but true) and have not had time to focus on this as much as I would have liked.

Let me put a cap on day 1, from where I left off- getting ready for dinner...

As I mentioned, if you have a Classic Dining rotation, day 1 dining room will be different for everybody.

For us, day 1 was in Grande, which means that we technically had 3 formal nights (Days 1, 5 & 9), but Days 1 & 9 are not strictly enforced because some people won't have received their luggage on day 1 and some people will have packed their formal wear away on day 9.

I didn't take a lot of pictures of food (shocking for me) or of the dining rooms.

Classic 1 dining is at 5:30, so it's been a non-stop food-fest from the time that we boarded, headed for Cafe Two70 for lunch and a Virtual Symphony, Muster Drill (ended at 4:30) and then dinner!

We met our wait staff - Floribeth was simply amazing. Her attention to detail and her never ending smiles when she greeted us made this trip!

More about the food and the staff as this journey progresses.

As you know, and can read and speculate about the incident elsewhere, sometime during Classic 1 dining, the announcement came, and then not too long after that the Captain came on and announced that we were turning around.

I went to sleep for the night around 1:30am and we were still in NJ.

I believe that we headed for Bermuda, full speed ahead sometime around 2:30am ET.

Day 2 to come tomorrow.

I also have started to scan the Cruise Compasses. I'm not sure exactly how to post them. The files are a bit larger than what is allowed by Cruise Critic.

I'll continue to scan them and will probably just upload them and provide a link.

I just booked the Anthem. I'm curious how they deal with food allergies. I am booked under dynamic dining for now but a bit nervous about it.

Good afternoon!

We're on the last leg of our trip now.

I did inquire with our wait staff about how they manage meals for those with food allergies.

For the more common ones (Gluten, eggs, dairy, peanuts, the assistant waiter will work with you to find you an appropriate dish.

Where it gets more complicated is when there are less common allergies or people who have multiple food related allergies.

In those cases, the head waiter will work with you and the kitchen to come up or identify an appropriate meal.

Hope this helps!

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Question: When your eating in any of the dinning rooms, does Soda come with your meal? or is that charged separately. I know it is extra, or you have to have the package to have soda most everywhere, but just uncertain about in the dinning rooms.

 

I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to by my kids the soda package or not. They both would like to have a Shirley Temple or Soda with their dinner, but not really much soda other than that.

 

Thanks!

Soda will need to be purchased separately or through a package.

Apologies for the delay in my review.

Too much to do, too little time.

I will update my review once I get home (no rush)

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One more quick note about our balcony cabins.

This is the first time that we've booked adjoining cabins.

We booked one adult and one child in each cabin, knowing that actual occupancy would be two children in one cabin and my wife and I in the other.

I had some concerns about safety.

What if one. Child went out on their balcony in the middle of the night, climbed up on a chair and fell overboard?

I haven't seen anything posted about this, but if you look at the top of the balcony door, you'll see that there is a child safety-lock!

When the door is locked, you can engage the safety lock by pulling it out (note the red band that's exposed when it's engaged.

Simply push the knob back in (hiding the red band) to dis-engage the child safety lock on your balcony door.

Between the opening between our cabins and balconies and the safety locks, I slept like a baby each night with no worries about their safety.

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10186 has the bed closer to the bathroom, but not too close. It's on the same wall as the couch. The couch is closest to the balcony. 10184 is flipped with the bed closest to the balcony and the couch on the wall after the bathroom.

These are laid out really well.

I'll post more pictures later on.

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