Tin can

Said in jest I'm sure but we flew to New York pre covid and cruised to the Bahamas on Adventure over August for less than sailing out of Southampton on Anthem at the same time.

That is exactly my thought. We had a large balcony junior suite over Easter on Anthem but it felt dark unless you sat near the balcony so just felt a bit pointless.

Itinerary for us, too many new places to experience. We are UK based and rarely sail with Royal out of Southampton as we have been there and seen that. It makes things expensive flying and cruising out of new ports but you can't take it £ $ with you 😀. We were on Anthem from NY recently and met a couple who didnt disembark at any of the three port stops, for them it was just the ship and good luck to them. We laughed over a drink in Boleros that they couldn't understand why we had flown from the UK and we couldn't understand why they didnt get off the ship. Thats the beauty of cruising I guess, each to their own.

I have read on here about reluctance from excursion operators to take you if you don't speak the language for this very reason and more importantly I guess from a litigation point of view for safety instructions.

I'm not sure if you are saying the badge was on the trunks or the t shirt but I have actually seen the Pinnacle badge on Speedo's. An American chap with his wife on Adventure out of Cape Liberty I like seeing the badge and if I ever get there I will certainly wear it with pride but does it really need to be a gold beacon drawing you in to someone unmentionables 😀

We have a friend (bit of a free spirit) who very recently stayed at the Cormier Beach Resort about 2 miles from Labadee whilst touring the north coast from the Dominican Republic. Had a few issues with the power and water there but otherwise had a great time and apparently beyond our fence the beaches and scenery are lovely.

It tends to be two hybrid formal night/dress your best type nights. We are also on Explorer out of Ravenna later in the summer, I'm expecting it to be very formal judging by the comments of the many Italians on our sailing FB group.

That sounds a nice trip.

You're right, I've just checked the tonnage and passenger capacity of Anthem and Euribia. Pretty much the same size but a vastly higher passenger capacity of Euribia. Fair points you make about winter cruising from Southampton but I think it will be a big success for MSC.

You say that but MSC is launching Euribia from Southampton which I think is nearly Oasis class size (I might be wrong). I think they are starting year round cruises as well from Southampton, I'm really surprised that Royal has never given this a go from Southampton.

We stock up on the milk cartons and put them in our fridge.. They aren't very cold though so we ask for an ice bucket from the room steward and always keep one on ice 😀.

From my research both pools are free including the lazy river in Puerta Plata. Puerta Plata overall looks quite fun, in my opinion La Romana less so and I think we will take an excursion there.

If anyone is thinking of getting the train from Venice we booked 'Executive' for £70 which I guess is around $80. There is only 10 seats in the carriage with lunch and drinks at the seat, as long as you are comfortable changing at either Ferrara or Bologna it may be an alternative option for some.

The poster is probably right, wine attracts no excise duty in Italy (perhaps for obvious reasons), beer does and spirits is about five times as much as beer. Its all relatively low though so things must be tight at NCL.

Great review, we were on Anthem 2 - 9th April and our thoughts are very much the same, we had a fabulous time. A lot on our FB group though had serious complaints about the food but we thought it was great.

This is an interesting post to read for me today. I booked a cruise two days ago and got a good deal. Yesterday email to say sorry there was a glitch here's the proper price and your new confirmation invoice. Spent a very heated hour on the phone and no movement. It was a good deal but not in the realms of an obvious error. Bait and switch was my thought.

Thank you for the heads up. Venice and Ravenna I am quite comfortable with from research but yes its the transfer between the trains where I think it may be testing.

Any sort of orchestrated formal MTD area to me would imply Icon will not home port in the States which obviously it is. Its been a long time since I have cruised from Miami but if its anything like sailing from the Florida ports the Maitre d' and his waiters would be sat in the formal side of the restaurant on their own.

Spend quite a bit of time in the casino and never won a hand pay or seen a hand pay in all our Royal cruises. Three weeks ago on Anthem there were regular hand pays..... sadly I'm still waiting but there were a lot of big winners.

Absolutely, I think you posted this whilst I was typing my post and I couldn't have put this any better.

Perhaps it's just me but I am not seeing Venice to Ravenna as a problem. I am really looking forward to Venice and equally looking forward to the train. I am not in the first flush of youth 😀 but think it will be good for me and the family to be outside of our comfort zone a bit and see and experience something new.

That’s what we are doing, train from Venice and changing at Bologna rather than Ferrara for Ravenna. I’m sure it will be a bit of a hassle but equally I’m quite looking forward to it. I just couldn’t face potentially 3 hours on a coach.

We have only cruised on Royal and love Royal but I think that is a very good point. There will be a tipping point with prices and traditional loyalty to the big two.

I don't think there is but hopefully someone else will chip in. You could buy arcade credit separately before the cruise in the planner at a discount but that wouldn't be limited to a certain amount per day.

With respect to a lot of 'typical' cruisers some are not experienced with travel. Travel to some is visiting the resort/village built at the port behind the fence then back on the ship. Thats not for me or my family and we will certainly be venturing out in the DR. I was amazed at our recent cruise stop in Nassau on a Royal Caribbean ship the number of people we spoke to back on the ship who were literally scared to step off the ship. As you say though, everyone is different.