Overtyme

Can you tell me where the adjoining door is? When I was on the Explorer the adjoining door was next to the head of the bed, and we had a chair instead of a sofa. On the Liberty the adjoining door was opposite the foot of the bed next to the TV which was the best/easiest configuration. I've heard on the Anthem the rooms are not mirror images, and that one room will have the sofa near the bathroom and next door will have the sofa near the balcony. So I have trouble imagining where the door would be.

 

 

 

We board on the 14th and my married kids have adjoining rooms, both have babies. We plan on helping out by babysitting both babies some evenings with each baby in its own room with the door open between. Just trying to figure out the configuration of the rooms. One room is a D2 one is a D5.

I was going to cover this later, but since you asked [emoji4]

From 10186 looking at the doorway to 10184:

The door is opposite the bathroom in both 184 and 186.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

A few minutes before lunch on day six, so I'll try to wrap up day one.

Muster Drill wrapped up at 4:30, down to our cabin to get dressed and then to Grand for dinner.

Our wait staff has been terrific. They really have gone out of their way to make every one happy.

We are classic dining I at 5:30.

Because we're traveling with little ones, having a routine dining time has been great for us.

I'll cover more about our dining experience at another time, but a tremendous amount of credit goes to Flora Beth and the wait staff for making each night feel special.

There were lots of activities on day one.

I just didn't get to take part in them because well, did I mention that I'm traveling with 3 yr old? [emoji51]

Also, the captain and crew for the tremendous job they did in balancing the needs of those affected by the day one tragedy and the vacation that they hope they can deliver on going forward.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Day 1 (Cont'd)

After (mostly) unpacking, we made our way to our muster station in the Schooner Bar.

Muster Drill was at 4:00, a washy, washy song/video and then roughly 4:25 we left Bayonne.

If you're doing a classic dining rotation, be aware that you won't know which night is your formal night until you get into your cabin.

In our case, night #1 was formal night, except that it isn't enforced on the first and last nights due to luggage/packing constraints.

If your first night is formal night, you'll see some people dressed to the nines and then others dressed more casually.

I suspect not everybody received their luggage in time to get dressed up only an hour after muster drill.

Off to get ready for dinner. More about day one later on.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Looking forward to it!

 

Any chance that you'll be uploading the compasses?

 

Enjoy the rest of the cruise!

Definitely!

Once I get back, I'll scan and upload the compasses.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Day 1 (cont'd)

As I mentioned, boarding was a snap.

We headed straight for Cafe Two70 for lunch.

There was a virtual symphony playing and there was almost no line for food at Cafe Two70.

That venue is simply amazing!

There's nothing like it at sea.

I've now seen several shows and even though the story lines haven't been the best, the talent, format, effects have been top-notch.

Don't miss the virtual symphony!

Day 1 always go so fast!

At 1:00, we made our way to our cabins.

We have adjoining cabins 10184/10186.

The cabins are spacious and really well laid out.

Our luggage had made it to the cabin by the time we got there a record for us!

We had the divider on the balcony removed and the door better the cabins unlocked for easy access.

We asked for the beds to be separated in one of the rooms, with the intention of putting the two girls in one room and my wife and I in the other.

I'll post some pictures of this configuration later on.

It worked out really well!

It's currently day 4 and we just docked in St. Maarten.

I'll continue to build this review as time allows.

To set a few expectations, a lot of you have read about the unfortunate incident that took place during day one of this cruise.

I will not be commenting on this because I think that there has already been enough discussion on this topic and frankly it has no place in this review.

Also, I am not a sales rep for Royal Caribbean and am it is not my goal to sell you on this ship or itinerary.

It is my goal to offer what I hope is an objective perspective based on my experience on board.

I'm here to simply give you one person's perspective where each person will have a difference of opinion and experience.

Before I forget, I'd like to wish everyone a happy and a safe Independence Day!

More to come later.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

And finally, the first moment you cross over from gangway to ship:

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Day 1 (Cont'd)

As I mentioned, boarding was smooth and mostly without incident.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I think after they dropped they family back off, they headed back out to sea to continue the cruise but I will let OP verify.

In summary, we headed back, dropped almost 50 passengers off in Bayonne, headed back to sea around 2:30 am and made a delayed arrival in Bermuda at 10:00AM on day 3.

We also made a later departure from Bermuda at 6:00PM, with the rest of the itinerary continuing as scheduled.

We sailed close to 25 Knots then entire way and made up almost 10 hours of time.

Pretty amazing!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

It's the end of day three and I'm relaxing on my balcony.

There are plenty of takes on this ship, from the highly unfavorable to the over-hyped and many in-between.

So I figured, what's one more?

Also, at my age, I figure that the only hope I have of remembering this is to put it in text.

Okay - so the journey begins on Thursday at 8:30 AM, Waze is set to go, the car is packed and my wife, older daughter (9) and younger daughter (3) left Long Island for Bayonne.

Some brief background:

My wife has been with me on Adventure, Serenade and Allure previous to this.

Our last cruise was 6 years ago (CRAP), on Allure.

My older daughter was with us on Allure as well, and our youngest, well, she wasn't in the picture yet.

For the 6 months leading up to this trip, I was trying every trick in the book to get my (then) 2 3/4 year old potty trained.

Why not, her sister was potty trained by this point.

But her sister was also not nearly as stubborn and determined to prove us wrong.

Needless to say, Adventure Ocean was not in the cards for the younger one with potty training being a requirement.

Neither is swimming in the pool.

But I digress.

We got to Bayonne, dropped off the luggage (curbside) and into the garage.

There were no lines at 10:40 when we arrived.

We had checked in online and uploaded photos for each of us well ahead of arrival.

This may have been the easiest arrival that we've ever had.

Royal Has gotten this down (mostly) to a science.

The only glitch was that boarding was delayed due to something with the fire doors and testing onboard.

Even with that, we were onboard by 11:30.

More about day one as time allows [emoji482]...

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

How do I know if I've pre-paid them? Is it possible to pre-pay them when we board on Thursday if we've missed the cut-off?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I think today we ate breakfast in the Windjammer. The Windjammer is never overbearingly crowded and we always found a seat. This morning we walked out all the way to the back and got a seat outdoors! Before you enter the windjammer you must walk through a hand washing room. They have many sinks you can use or you can walk through and use the Purell. There is a crew member standing there to make sure you all wash your hands and they sing the "washy washy" song, hahaha! The "washy washy" song will get stuck in your head and now it is stuck in mine once again as I'm typing this! :rolleyes: It may seem like a bother, but it is just helping us in the long run and doesn't take too much time.

 

 

 

Today I went on the FlowRider. I have been on that thing since our cruise on Freedom in 2006. I just love the FlowRider! I only boogie board, but will probably trying surfing on the next cruise. We ended up in the Solarium to see our other favorite bartenders we met back before sail away in NYC: Travis, Duane, and Jaime. Great guys and easy to talk to!

 

 

 

Solarium

 

The Solarium is truly awesome on this ship. Definitely the best solarium on any RCI ship besides Quantum and Ovation. The pools are actually pretty massive and cascade into each other (see Day 1 pictures). I liked to sit in the middle of the 3 pools and lean my back up against the glass of the top one to feel the water from the top pool flow over my shoulders, very refreshing! Usually one of them is always shaded if you want to escape from the sun too. The glass is tinted very well and you most likely aren't going to get a tan in here. There is a cool swing chair in the very front that is popular. Never saw kids in there besides passerby's.

 

 

 

We got ready and did our pre-dinner routine of going to Schooner Bar to see Jelena and Lambert... and to drink of course! Jelena knew I like sweeter drinks and made me a few special concoctions. Delicious!!! A lady at the bar told my mom that she thought I was a handsome boy and then Jelena was like "Ummm aloha, back off he is mine!" and the lady goes "oh goodness he's too young for me (while laughing)". Jelena goes, "you never know, it's the 21st century!" hahahaha! :p I forgot to mention that I ended up buying the premium package earlier at the Solarium bar with Travis. I paid $417 since it was Day 4. Now it would only cost you that much for the whole trip if you purchase it before the cruise. Lesson learned although my mom had purchased it before, so at least she saved some money. Here are my drink package thoughts...

 

 

 

Drink Package

 

I think the premium package is great if you like to drink. I don't like to get obliterated every night, but I did recently turn 21, so it is a new and fun thing for me. I made my money's worth every night by a good amount and I was never really drunk. The thing is that cocktails are typically $11.99 and come in small glasses compared to on land. If you don't think you'll have more than 4 or 5 per day then maybe it is not worth it to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lavender Daiquiri

 

 

 

Question about the drink package:

We purchased the ultimate package, just because we don't want to think about costs where it's avoidable.

That package is really expensive on a 9 day cruise, but comes with one advantage. Gratuities are built into the package.

So my question is (finally), did you add an additional tip with each drink or did you sign and smile?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

What if you're not sure about what size you are?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

It's very much a convenience if the people you are traveling with are staying in the next cabin and you don't have a connecting door.

Fair point.

What I should have said is for me, it's not a convenience/inconvenience issue.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Some of you commented to mention the wait staff by name on the review, and I did do that when I got to the page where I could comment. I agree that is more important than the 10 on the survey.

 

 

 

I hope RCI either drops the waiter parade or keeps it to one night. I am relieved that I am not a real scrooge about this, or not the only one. ;)

 

 

 

The asking for a 10 won't go away since it comes from the top and the wait staff seems to be under pressure to get the 10.

 

 

 

If this is running people away from the MDR, RCI needs to change it.

I'm going to have a conversation with the team on the first or second night in the hopes that we don't have to be subjected to the speech on the last night.

I suspect some are more professional about it than others.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Depends on the ship, the conditions..and what the Captain wants!

 

Some ships have NO ability to open dividers...some are able to be opened, but they don't always allow it.

 

It's a SHIP....you would rather be safe, than convenient....right????

Safety first!

It's not even a convenience/inconvenience. It's more of a nice to have.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

They are just reading from a "playbook."

 

 

 

As previously stated, just talk to your cabin steward. S/he will give you the correct story on your particular ship and your particular sailing.

It may just be a tactic, but the woman at C&A said "I haven't ever had that request, but let me put you on hold and find out".

I'll let you know how it goes after we speak with the steward.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

While I agree with others that you should not have a problem please do come back after your cruise and let us know your results. We have 2 adjoining (not connrcting) balconies on our upcoming Anthem cruise and expect we will be able to open the divider.

I'll definitely post the outcome on here.

We set sail on 6/30.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

From your signature, it looks like you are going on Anthem. Generally, on Anthem, requests to have the dividers opened are usually granted unless there are very rough seas or some other unusual issue.

 

It's Mariner and Navigator which have the "safety concerns" because the balcony dividers swing open and have to be attached to the railing.

 

The Freedom/Oasis/Quantum class ships have dividers that slide into themselves (like sliding shower doors) which don't have the same concerns.

 

The landside people at the call center have limited knowledge of what really happens onboard the ship. Just ask onboard

Thanks Donna!

That's great to hear.

We'll be on Anthem in a little more than two weeks.

I'll ask the attendant once we board.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I just spoke to C&A to find out if it was possible to request the removal of the balcony divider between our adjoining cabins in advance of our cruise.

I expected that they would probably tell me to request this from the cabin attendant once on-board, but what I was told I was not expecting.

I was advised that they no longer do this because it is a safety concern.

Has anyone else heard of this?

Why would it be any less safe than with the divider still up?

It's not the end of the world, but it's something that we were very much looking forward to doing.

When did that go into effect?

Looking forward to your impressions!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I've been considering the same, and have some thoughts that I'd like to add to this thread.

I wonder if RC isn't pricing themselves out of this market, but rather positioning themselves to be in more of the premium market.

That would force them to reposition Celebrity as a premium plus category (if there is such a thing).

Additional considerations however is that they are selling out at this price point, indicating that people, including us are still willing to purchase even at this price point.

Capitalism would dictate that at least for now, prices will remain the same or possibly even increase.

I considered that at this time of year, there is also an up-charge. I wonder what the same cruise goes for in September, for example.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

20 days until Anthem

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Hi Megacruiser,

Thanks for coming back to finish your review. It is nice to see the subtle differences between Quantum and Anthem.

Thanks again. Are you planning any future cruises?

 

Take care

Mark. :)

MegaCruiser,

Im so glad that you're back and doing better!

Thank you for your continued wonderful review.

I'm really interested in this topic in particular.

It's typical for design flaws identified late in the process of one build to be resolved in the next build.

For example, when Oasis came out, electric outlets in the cabin bathrooms were placed under the vanity.

When Allure came out, the outlets were placed at a reachable level so that people don't have to bend down to plug things in.

It's a small detail that made people very happy.

Some changes are purely aesthetic, but some are also functional corrections.

What changes were made between Quantum and Anthem?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Seems like a trivial topic, was asked what type/brand yogurt is available on Anthem.

We have two crazy yogurt eaters in our house.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

We were not able to and we cruised last week. But the OBC was on our account when we boarded, so all was well. Does it make sense that some can see it and others can't on their reservation -- no.

When do you see your OBC summary first?

Is there something that they hand you upon boarding or do you have to wait to view it on your TV in your cabin?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app