Tin can

I don't know whether its because we book in the UK but our experience missing final payment couldn't have been more different. We booked a cruise that we couldn't ultimately go on, we don't get refundable deposits here so rather than spend an hour on the phone cancelling I just left it unpaid assuming the booking would naturally expire and be cancelled. Instead we had reminder emails and eventually a very polite call from Miami (bearing in mind we are UK based) to see if we had forgotten to pay and could they assist. We are only Diamond so we are nothing special in the booking stakes so maybe its different terms over here meaning that they can't just cancel the cruise.

With the cheap prices and ease of flying into New York from the UK we have done this many times. Personally I wouldn't book the whole trip with a travel agent, I would book the flights and hotel separately yourself. We are not London based so tend to fly Aer Lingus via Dublin which is excellent for New York as you clear US customs before you board in Dublin. From memory the flight time to Orlando is around 3 hours and the last time we did this a return flight was something like £120.00 and there is a good selection of flights from Newark and LaGuardia. Have a great trip.

Our media are vicious in the UK and in their eyes a load of freeloaders on a new ship which isn't available to the general public here will be slaughtered. I can also only think what the press department at MSC would make of it with them instead basing one of their new ships out of Southampton. Of course none of this will impact in any way the success of its intended market in America but I cannot see this type of event being a success. They would be best to go straight to the US.

For that or other uses, the Diamond Clubs are on borrowed time unfortunately following the success of the introduction of the drinks vouchers.

Been twice now, paid around $45 when it first re opened and $120 two months ago. I don't like the prices creeping up but I think the waterpark is fantastic, I could laze in the wave pool all day.

I disagree slightly, we were on Anthem the week before Easter with over 1800 children on board. We are from the UK so easy to get to New York and a lot of passengers (with children) like us were from Europe.

Being from the UK that is such a British statement to make 😄, made me laugh.

We have done both Universal and Sea World shore excursions with transport from Royal from Port Canaveral. Would do both again as we had a great time in the hours available, each visit was late August and no issues with crowds or queues. The time of year or lucky I guess but we found it worth it.

I'm not disputing your figures but we have not sailed a single Royal Caribbean ship out of Southampton or anywhere in Europe that were at anywhere near only 75% capacity (the return to sailing after Covid excepted). I just checked a random cruise from Southampton - Anthem 7th July to the Fjords. All categories sold out apart from interiors which is showing one cabin available and children haven't broken up from school for this sailing.

I'm not saying your original comments aren't justified, although your experiences haven't matched our own on Anthem, but our August 2024 UK Anthem sailing is almost sold out even with extremely high prices compared to 2022 and 2023. I'm not personally seeing Royal UK panic stations.

You can’t even get a paid drinks package now on a short cruise from the UK, Royal stopped them. I like a few drinks and a lively time but we try and avoid summer Royal cruises from Southampton.

I think it was 50/50 talkers and drinkers, I went between the two camps (probably more the latter if I'm honest 😄) It was a great atmosphere most times, as I say above noisy and crowded sometimes but there was a buzz. It pulled us together, now we are around the bars in our own groups with our vouchers. I like the convenience but I do think what we have lost is sad.

Completely agree and like you we only use the lounge in the morning now. I just have a feeling that with the majority of us using the vouchers round the ship the days of the Diamond Lounge are limited. I just have this nagging feeling that the Key and this new VIP pass that is coming is going to involve a new role for the lounge involving a fee to access. Hope I'm wrong..

I can't decide either way 😄 I do like the freedom of the vouchers but I also liked the lounge as it was. The buzz, mixing with the same people each night and getting to know the servers. Yes it was crowded and noisy, the groups of people there for the 'free' drinks made it a bit lively at times and that was its charm, all Diamonds together. Whenever we visit now in the evening it is empty which is a shame. The vouchers are convenient but its sad that we have lost something in the lounge that will never return.

The nearest we got I think was a UK 'all inclusive ' promotion of drinks and gratuities but that was many years ago and was never repeated.

They did, we were in the MDR every night and the staff and management read the room and act accodingly. Anthem with a predominently British crowd is very different to a 3 day anything goes Florida cruise. We are UK based but sail mostly with Royal from the States and I can say with some certainty that the average Brit is not quite ready for some of the attire (or lack of) that we have witnessed sailing from Florida. We love it though.

No problem 😄, this is a US forum and the Royal section is heavily Florida/Miami based and of course I respect that. These shorts or no shorts threads just explode and sometimes its lost that Royal is world wide and things in other places can be different. As it happens I don't really care 😄 what people wear but I would not like people turning up at Southampton for a cruise thinking its the same as Florida. We are quite a formal lot in the UK and to be honest Europe is not too dissimilar.

Not sure I want to mention this again as this thread has got a bit personal but there is on UK departing cruises. We saw people turned away last summer on Anthem. Just saying....

Thank you for that, much appreciated. I found them and they offer just what we are after.

What exactly is luggage forwarding? Ideally we would like to send our luggage home (UK) after departing Explorer in Venice so this sounds interesting if someone could provide some details. Thanks

Florida departing cruises yes, not necessarily the case for Royal departing cruises worldwide. Only mentioning because I saw folks turned away from the MDR on Anthem out of Southampton last summer.

Isn't Canada generally 19 years old and Quebec 18 years old for drinking alchohol? (Edit - just noticed that on cruises the age is 21 as the US)

We didn't find the app chat feature at all reliable or the wifi in general out of NJ. Apparently you can get notifications with the app messenger but we couldn't get it to work and most messages were not received or received the following day.

I might be wrong but I'm sure I read that Fred Olsen cruises even when US departing the age limit is 18. On P & O at age 16 you can drink beer and wine with a meal (presumably only on UK and European departing cruises) but even so a strange relaxation of the 'rules' when owned by a US company in Carnival. Probably like yourself we have been to the States many times and were on Anthem over Easter with a few days in New York afterwards. Still got caught out in one bar with service refused as I didn't have ID to prove my age, I am 50 and certainly look 50 even on a good day 😄. When in Rome though and all that, if that's the rules then that's the rules.

We are on the same cruise in August, really looking forward to your live review