gladdie

Thanks for your help.   We sailed in May on Royal Caribbean on a Baltic cruise.   They offered a sale and we rebooked the excursions and saved several hundred dollars.

It isn’t worth the stress to me booking independent tours in a country I don’t speak the language.    We have been on tours in Italy and they have had engine problems.

We are comfortable taking taxis in the Caribbean.   About 10 years ago, we were in Acapulco and a taxi driver said he would take us to good shopping - six of us got in his van, before he started driving, his buddy jumped in.   We look back and think we were lucky we didn’t end up in a warehouse!

Does anyone know if Princess ever puts shore excursions on sale?

Ben - I noticed you joined cruise critic in Sept., 2010 and call yourself “cool cruiser”. I have a really tough time believing you didn’t understand how gratuities work. Seriously, not checking your entire cruise for any added charges? I think you planned on taking the daily gratuity charge for four people off, but forgot! Lesson learned the hard way.

My husband and I were on the November 10 sailing on Anthem of the Seas. Our cabin was located on the 13 floor and 4 cabins from the front of the ship. The first night sailing out of NYC was rough, but we did not get seasick. We thought the bed was the best we have ever experienced on a cruise ship. Our room was beautiful and the attendant did a great job and was very pleasant.

The ship was beautiful, and we thought all the public areas were immaculate. Always people cleaning.

We normally sail on Celebrity Cruises and we thought the food in the complimentary dining rooms was fantastic. However, the service was poor. Just getting escorted to your table was a job trying not to get run down by staff with rolling carts and trays. Never an apology....We had lobster tails in the Grande and first time ever that the waiters on 2 occasions did not take the lobster out of the shell. The shells remained for a long period on our butter plates before they were removed. Another table near us had 4 people eating, 3 people left and the fourth person finished his dinner surrounded by dirty dishes.

Even after he left, the table remained dirty for another 20 minutes.

In Chic, the waiter argued with me when I told him my prime rib was too well done. His boss brought out my new prime rib, but the waiter never came back to see how we were doing until it was time to serve dessert. In my 20 plus cruises, I have never experienced such an arrogant server.

Even with service issues in the dining rooms, I would love to sail again on the Anthem.

We also got off the anthem yesterday. Being diamond members we were each able to get 24 hours of free internet. It was the fastest I have ever experienced.

We did buy the wow bracelets and liked them for the ease of getting into our cabin.

We got off the anthem today. Most men were wearing jackets in grande. Did see a few tuxedos. Women were wearing floor length gowns, short dresses, or slacks and a dressy top.