BobK in NJ

What is the policy for bringing on soda or water?

3 hours ago, RuthC said:

If you want to use one phone at a time, you can do it with one plan; you would share a user ID and password.

It is only if you both want to be using your phones at the same time that you would need two plans.

2 hours ago, 65 Gator said:

You can use a TP-link and use both at one time.  Each device logs into the LINK and the link logs into the internet.

3 hours ago, highland cruiser said:

We bought one package on the Westerdam in January.  We shared the package with multiple devices  but only one of us could be on at a time.

Thanks for the clarification. The hotspot router certainly looks intriguing. It would work well if you use multiple devices within your stateroom.

20 hours ago, richwmn said:

The chart I posted several months ago, and has been copied many times seems to still be correct. I bought the middle tier for the entire cruse on the first day and it was $169.99. The premium package was $219.99

Is that for one device? If we have two phones do we buy two packages?

We'll be getting on the cruise as you get off.

Thanks for the detailed information.

Paul, What happened to your review in "Our Epic European Adventure: A Review"?

It abruptly ends on page 8 leaving us hanging.

Great review up to this point along with your review on Escape.

Not fake news. I'm a member of a group where someone reported the problem - including pictures. Lost power and propulsion. Some people on board were concerned. Because the fire doors closed, people could not return to their cabins. Was fixed fairly quickly.

Any report from Captain Marek as to the cause?

I looked on the marine traffic website that can show the track and the satellite data every two minutes and I don't see anywhere on the track that it slowed down. It did go to 7 knots but it was too early to get into port. It arrived in port at the scheduled time and left the port on schedule. So where did it lose power? Fake news?

The Rome in Limo experience was even better than expected. For the 02-May-18 sailing of Vision of the Seas, we organized a 6-person tour to Pisa and Florence. Nikki, our driver and tour guide was fantastic. Her knowledge of the local streets brought us in through the back gate in Pisa, only a few hundred feet from the tower. In Florence, she knew exactly how to get us close to all the sights and even (somehow) managed to get tickets to the Accademia for one of the couples in our group that forgot to buy them in advance. There is so much to see in these places and Nikki helped us to see more than anticipated.

Have you tried looking under the sheets?

Then again, maybe you shouldn't!

Bob,

Using Your link and checking the deck plans for Anthem, the deck number reflected does not appear to match the cabin numbers. Our cabin number is 11562 for an upcoming cruise, however it shows on Deck 12. Is this a website glitch or am I missing something?

 

Thanks,

Keith

Yes, there is a website glitch. They changed the way deck plans are shown and obviously one of their website millennials has trouble with details. Anthem's deck plans are off by one. 11562 is definitely on deck 11. Hopefully the deck plans will be fixed by time you board.

Starting from the Royal Caribbean homepage, click on plan a cruse, then search by ship, then pick a ship, and now the deck plan link appears on the top of the page. It used to be further down on the ship's page.

Most of us don’t. When we go, we get a hotel package with a car, and we go around the island on our own. Really not expensive at all. I just like some vacations where you aren’t hustling back to the ship every night. Especially in Maui where you have the joy of tendering. Most places I’m ok with cruising. Some places a cruise won’t do for me. My last post on this. Sorry for hijacking the Deployment thread.

Don't be sorry. This discussion about Hawaii is giving me some great ideas for a Hawaii cruise and land vacation!

Also, on our Anthem cruise this past May, Northstar was open on boarding day, no reservations and no line. They also have a standby line.

Could Anthem having the propulsion problems be the cause of the big ship shuffle?

It was reported here that Anthem staff were claiming they are off to Asia on a cruise last week.

I assume Anthem is too big for Freeport and the dry dock will be done in Asia or Europe.

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What Anthem propulsion problems?

We just got off the Anthem this morning on the 9-nighter. Cruising was done at 20.8 knots for most of the trip.

One of the videos on board showed the Oasis drydock in Freeport to replace an azipod bearing. It was the length of the ship that resulted in the Oasis sticking out from the drydock and led to the use of a cofferdam for the azipod.

As others have already said, Orient Beach is not a nudist beach. That's a common misconception. Pedro's is sort of the dividing line. If you're at Pedro's, the section of beach to your right is the clothing optional section. To the left it is not, but you may occasionally see a woman going topless. Don't worry too much about the clothing optional section. Many of the folks there will probably be close to the age of the grandparents with you. Your boys will quickly realize that gravity does indeed have an adverse effect on a maturing body.

You can go to Google Maps, zoom in on Orient Beach, then click on the little figure to turn on street view. There are no street views but there are a number of Blue Dot 360 degree photos to show you what the beach looks like.

Orient Beach is one of the nicest beaches we have ever been to.

Yes, has to Rhapsody in Sydney. Also in the stats below, it mentions "last refurbished 2012"... that was Rhapsody as Vision was 2013. If you remember when Splendour was sold, there was a picture floating around for about a year of a RCL ship for sale, and we came to the conclusion on this board that the picture looked like Grandeur more than any other of the Vision Class vessels. I guess we never know which exact ship RCL is targeting for sale, but Grandeur is a year older and 5000 tons smaller than both Vision/Rhapsody... maybe she's next

Grandeur was the first RCL ship we went on back when it was brand new. Grandeur is the ship that got us hooked on cruising. Been wanting to get down to Baltimore to revisit the ship. Looks like we'll have to hurry.

Can you tell me the port stops please?

 

 

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Same as Brilliance this summer. Nice, Pisa/Florence, Rome, Naples, kotor, Venice, And another Italy port - trying to do this from memory.

Just booked Vision 12 night out of Barcelona on the phone. Still not showing as available on the website.

Just booked Vision out of Barcelona in 2018. Had to call for the reservation and still nothing showing on the website.

Don't know about Quantum class, but I cannot think of a bad JS location on Voyager/Freedom/Oasis classes.

The JS on Anthem is nearly identical to the Superior GS. Went with several friends on Anthem last year and was surprised at the size of their JS compared to our GS. Nearly identical. Balcony size was the only real difference. Mid-ship locations are about the same. The GS on Oasis class and older ships are much better than on Quantum Class.

Do a search for Royal Caribbean?s Kummelweck Sandwich and watch the official RCI video for the history and making of them. Kummelweck refers to the type of roll. We always hit the Park Cafe or Cafe at 270 first upon boarding.

Our itinerary last May on AOS was also St. Thomas, St. Kitts, day at sea, Curaçao, Aruba, Day at sea. The formal nights were the two sea days. Having a formal night on your last day was a real pain since that is also packing night and get the suitcases out.

Was just in the Cruise Planner for our upcoming cruise on Anthem and the only Voom offering was Surf and stream. What happened to surf only or the basic Royal IQ text communication?

I will be going on the Anthem in February and was considering doing specialty dining one of the nights. What would you consider the best specialty dining and why?

"Best"? That's really hard to say since it is such a personal judgement. Lots of good choices.

After our cruise on the Quantum last year, the first restaurant we booked for our upcoming Anthem cruise was Jamie's Italian.

We were on Barefoot Beach 6 months ago. "Enhanced Buffet" is an oxymoron. The strip steaks were like shoe leather and there was nothing special about the shrimp skewers. The hamburgers and hot dogs were just like in the Windjammer and we thought they were the better choices.

The beach and the water, however, were really nice. The day on Labadee was one of the highlights of our Oasis cruise.

My daughter is getting married next year and I was just looking at schedules out of NYC. For some reason, there are no cruises from 11/27 to 12/11. Does anyone know why?

My guess is that it is related to the Customs and Border Protection recent rule change to enforce the requirement for a foreign port stop and eliminate the "Cruises to Nowhere" that NCL used to balance out their schedules.

Through this year, they offer late fall/early December 12 day cruises using 2 day CTNs to bring them back to a Sunday schedule. Since this rule change is recent, my guess is that they are re-arranging the 2016 schedule to comply with the new rules. Of course, I could be completely wrong, and some corporation could have chartered the entire ship for one of their Christmas parties.

On the Quantum, the Grande had the better food choices of the included restaurants. Jacket and tie is perfect for the formal look.

For some variety however, consider an up charge restaurant like Jamie's. It was really good.