Sanz

Called Puerto Rico Tourism - The Old Town Free Trolley is running.

After about 50 cruises we have noticed a trend to dress down, and be more comfortable. I'm all for that. Can got to most local places with a nice pair of slacks and a nice shirt....NO MORE TIES FOR ME....especially in the hot Caribbean environment...Yippie.

Not hot inside the ship. Usually quite cool.

Last time I was on Anthem there was no formal night. And that was fine with me.

 

Sounds like you were last on the Anthem when there was a different menu in each of the four dining rooms. One of the dining rooms was designated "formal night, every night". The dining rooms currently share the same menu. Formal night is back.

 

Yes, they still had the scones on our 11/11 sailing of Anthem. I think they had the one with the strawberries and cream in it, not sure if there were any others. We ordered them once but didn't eat more than a bite since they were more like a roll with fruit on it.:(

Thank you for the response. Sad news :(. In 2016 when they were made with whipped cream they were decent (not great) when we had them the first two days. Latter on in the cruise we had them one more time. They were not as fresh and then they disappeared. I guess cream filled stays fresher than whipped cream and I don't remember them tasting like a roll. :(:( In 2017 we had them once and that was enough.

A question for those of you who have been on the Anthem recently. Does The Cafe @ Two70 still serve scones and if so what are they filled with? When we were on the Anthem in 2016 they were filled with vanilla or chocolate whipped cream. In January 2017 the filling was custard.

Thank you in advance.

In San Juan next week aboard Freedom of the Seas. Only in Port from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. I've done both of the forts, a city tour and a walking tour of Old San Juan. I'm interested in doing a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. Does anyone have information on that? I'm not looking for the free trolley because I hear it's always full.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

Currently not operating due to Hurricane Maria: - Look at "More Details" on the web site:

https://city-sightseeing.com/en/82/san-juan

 

Free trolley is not operating - update 10/30/17:

www.puertoricodaytrips.com/free-trolley-old-san-juan/

 

 

Hello,

 

Thanks for the responses. We were out of the cabin most of the day as we were out and about on the ship. The balcony door was closed. I opened it for 30 seconds when we got back to the cabin when it was already dark out, to go look at the ocean. The insect infestation was from outside, and apparently "unprecedented". In that 30 seconds is when the insects entered. Given we were at sea, and it was dark out, I did not expect there to be that many insects out on the balcony when we were a few hours away from land.

Yesterday, while shopping, I met someone who just returned from her second Disney Cruise. She had a wonderful time and is looking forward to the experience again, except for bug bites all over her body. She was speaking to a sales person about what she could use for relief from itching (over the counter Cortisone did not work). She told me that she had bites all over her body, that she received on the ship. According to her she received them on the top deck, not in port!. She said that they were a few hours away from land (Bahamas) when she was bitten and that she was the only one in her family that received the bites.

no, no, no

agree, agree, agree. A cruise is suppose to be a vacation from housework.

And if you think the lines at Guest Services are bad now-- imagine standing on line for soap, towels and sheets. An interesting way to increase profit for the cruise lines - $1.00 for a wash cloth....

Yeah!!!! :D

I use Insure My Trip. I usually get secondary insurance. My current health insurance does not coordinate benefits. I do not like giving them a vacation, so I get secondary travel insurance.

Read the fine print of a policy and get the one that is good for you. I try to find a company that arranges medical payment through a Concierge Service when you have to pay for medical service before you have received any medical care.

That would be very appreciated. Feel terrible for them.

Look up Ukigirl's posts. Her trip was changed to Western Carribbean. Royal was going to Sint Maarten on Nov 11th. Then people who work for Royal visited the island to see what Sint Maarten had to offer. The first cruise going back to Sint Maarten is now December 17, 2017. The Oasis class ships and Quantum (Anthem) class are not going back until after the New Year (January 2018) because the dock (s?) that accommodate these size ships needs to be repaired.

happychippy, I have enjoyed reading your review. Thank you for writing it. We are considering the Adventure next year when she comes to NJ and we will be visiting some of the same ports that you visited when we are on the Anthem this coming January.

I had a horrific cold/virus/sinus infection on land over the past couple of weeks that drained me. Sorry to hear that this happened to you on your cruise. Hope that you are feeling better soon.

Glad to hear that you had a good time. We also think the Anthem is great. For the same reasons as heathermiller86nj, we considered experiencing the Breakaway for our winter 2018 cruise. Then we thought about 270 and the Solarium (there were a few other reasons too). We booked our third cruise on the Anthem.

In 2016 we drove to the garage and dropped our luggage off on the first level. There was someone at the elevator in the garage who checked us in.

In 2017 we had to stop at the terminal to drop off (or not drop off) luggage and we did not see anyone checking people in at the garage.

You can wear whatever you want. Anymore on Royal, you see a full range of attire, from shorts (nice ones) to tuxedo.

Yes, you can wear what you want and are comfortable with wearing. You will not be denied entrance to the dining room. I have cruised twice on Anthem in the beginning of January on 12 night cruises. One formal night a family of about 5 to 6 people were wearing shorts. One of them was wearing athletic shorts. I saw one other individual that evening wearing dress shorts in the the dining room (on other evenings saw many more men dressed like this, but not the majority). The majority of men were wearing suits, sports jackets, or dress shirts . Perhaps my memory is faulty, but there were very few men wearing golf shirts or polo shirts that evening. Most women were dressed either in cocktail dresses, "Sunday Best Dresses" or wearing pants with obviously dressier tops than I normally saw in the dining room. I observed one couple who were dressed causally. She was wearing capri pants and he was wearing dockers and a golf shirt. The woman had a distressed look on her face as she looked around the dining room. Perhaps she was looking for someone, forgot to pack more formal clothes, luggage was lost, or she was wondering where they would sit and did not like the availability. What passed through my mind at the time was that someone told her or she read that people do not dress up on formal night. The majority of people dining with us were wearing outfits that they were dressier (although perhaps not formal ) than they wore on other nights.

Well, that stinks. We have never liked the mystery goo in the dispensers, but the little white tubes of stuff wasn't all that bad. DH didn't bother to bring his own stuff for Anthem since that stuff was okay. Will have to remind him to pack some stuff if we sail Anthem again.

Agree about the "mystery goo". We will be on the Anthem for a third time. I now need to pack shampoo and conditioner for DH, who complains that I bring too many "sundries" until he needs something "unique" - which usually happens on every cruise.

Thank you for the information BirdTravels. We will store that info away for future use. We have decided to cruise with Royal and are saddened to learn that we missed their internet sale!.

Can you purchase the unlimited internet in the middle of your cruise?

Sorry for the double post. My computer appeared to have not posted it and I had to rewrite it (with the same grammatical error).

I am almost certain that the beds when pushed together are the same size in both the mini and reg balcony btw.

You are correct. I just read Norwegian's description. My TA was not correct.

This will be our first time cruising with Norwegian. Do their mini's and reg balconies usually have queen size beds when the twins are pushed together?

Have your cabin steward remove the tray with the coffee maker to get that extra space.

Thank you High Voltage. I had the same thought. Unlikely that we will use it. Now if it was a K-cup.....

Conditioning/forcing people to eat when they're not hungry is a good way to foster later obesity.

Or not - May cause some people to always leave a bit on their plate because they now are able to do so.

Thank you gizfish. We take a 17" laptop with us and the desk area in this room just about accommodates it. On our past cruises I have been able to use this area for other purposes as well. There is a lack of flat surface space in these two types of staterooms. Although it would be nice to have, extra surface space is not the deciding factor in our decision to get a balcony or a mini-suite for our cruise. We have to decide if the bathroom and a king size bed is worth the extra cost.

Thank you gizfish! We take a 17" laptop with us and the desk area in this room just about accommodates it. On our past cruises I have been able to use this area for other purposes as well. There is a lack of flat surface space in these staterooms when compared to staterooms from our past cruises. Although it would be nice to have, extra surface space is not the deciding factor in our decision to get a balcony or a mini-suite for this 14 night cruise. We have to decide if the bathroom and a king size bed is worth the extra cost.

Trying to decide between a balcony and a mini suite on the Breakaway. I know that the major difference is the bathroom and that there is a bit more space in the bedroom/sitting area in a mini-suite. Is the desk area slightly larger in the mini-suite?

We had a superior (regular -small balcony) on two 12 night cruises and we are considering a third. We prefer a larger room. Being able to tilt the chair back a bit with our feet up works well for us on this balcony. It was a tight squeeze when we placed the chairs side by side and fully inclined the chairs.