masonpips
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Thank you!
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We are flying into Zurich for our Christmas Market cruise out of Basel. We built in an extra day to get over jet lag and are spending the night in downtown Zurich. I booked our tickets on a specific train the next day from Zurich HB to Basel SBB for about 11 Swiss Francs (supersaver rate, have to take a specific train). Once off the train, we'll take Tram #11 which will take us within a 2 minute walk tot the boat. It really couldn't be any easier and we're excited to have the night in Zurich to see their markets as well!
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Hi, I'm booked with my mom on their Christmas Market cruise Basel to Cologne. I have some general questions that I figure I can get answers here more quickly than going through our TA.
1) In Cologne, we will be taking the train to Frankfurt to visit extended family. My understanding is we can leave virtually any time we like on the last morning? We are open to a taxi or doing it on our own (I've checked the tram schedule) but are going to book the train in advance so I wanted to make sure a mid-morning (10 am) departure is fine
2) I've looked at the "Already Booked" section of the Uniworld site which lists the daily activities for our cruise. Will we receive anything else before we board the ship? Do we receive "cruise documents"? (I am used to ocean cruising). No "Set Sail Pass" or anything like that?
3) My mom has switched credit cards since we booked and paid. She tried to contact Uniworld to update the info, but never got through on the phone. I'm thinking she can just wait until we board and put her card down then (not that we expect to have changes, esp since we have some OBC from our TA)
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We booked a day room right by the airport. Free shuttle to the airport after an Uber ride to hotel. Hung out at pool, had lunch, freshened up in room before heading to airport
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One last thought - Cafe al Bacio needs major process improvement. The service was friendly and decent, but during busy hours they should have someone dishing out the snacks and others making drinks. I typically was getting both, but felt badly for the folks just wanting a cookie needing to stand in line. And then if you were "to go", you got a piece of cake (btw, the Strawberry Chiffon was EXCELLENT) in a paper cookie holder with a gelato stick on top. They need paper plates; it's not rocket science. I felt like the workers did the best they could, but someone needs to step in and make some service changes!
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7286 backside of the hump
Another, last morning
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Hey Tom, great review!
Was on the same sailing. My random thoughts/adds:
We flew in the first day (ACK!) but had a direct flight that landed at Miami by 9:30 am. We took Lyft and were picked up at 10:07 and dropped at 10:35 (driver missed the tunnel the first time so it took a bit longer). Price was $18.01
We, by chance, met our friends by the porters and all proceeded in to the check-in. Dh and I are Elite (courtesy of RCCL Diamond +) so we were checked in first (although there were no lines). We were directed to the Elite waiting area, watched our friends walk by to the regular area and then started boarding. I posted a pic of myself w/champagne at 11:03. Super efficient!
We waited for our friends, hit the buffet and then changed into swimsuits until the rooms were ready (1:05 or so?, they had said 1:30). We were on 7, hump balcony (I'll post a pic after I post this from my phone). Excellent location and our room attendant was great (Melvyn from India)
We did Select Dining and ended up with a table for 14 that we hated (we had 9) because it was too big, moved to a table for 10 (round, that we couldn't get the 2nd night) and then found the "just right" table for 8 where they added a chair. The chairs were huge but we made it work and ADORED Nelson and Jose the rest of the week.
The food was good to VERY good all week. The filet was amazing. The lobster was great and plentiful, Nelson's recommendations were spot on. We ate at buffet one night and it was good/easy/casual. We LOVED the pool grill for lunch. RCCL needs to add this! The Windjammer gets so old in comparison. The breakfast buffet was better than average and the made to order eggs were served quickly.
Dh and I only got off the ship at St. M - we all took the Water Taxi to Front Street area and snagged beach chairs. It was a great day, although we were sad to miss Orient Beach this time. Our private day sail was canceled in St. Kitts due to wind (we were fine with that) and we've BTDT to San Juan many times (have visited St. Kitts 3x as well). So we had total relaxation on the ship for many days and it was wonderful!
Had the premium drink package and enjoyed a "double shot" on the frozen drinks at the pool, unlimited diet cokes, and MANY martinis. Those guys were great. Gastropub was "ok" service wise (agree that they seemed unfocused and the one night the Martini Bar was down, the guys were totally clueless in making ANY martini (like a Cosmo)).
World Class Bar was ~meh~ for me, I tried to go there first when Martini Bar was down, was told they could only make drinks in their menu (:rolleyes:) and then seemed unhelpful when I glanced through and made a decision. The Pool Mast Bar service sucked. We had great service for the guys wanderiing the pool deck (Egbert, Lennox I think), but it was pulling teeth to get service AT the bar. The Pool Grill bar (beer/soft drinks) was good (Jorge usually).
Was underimpressed by the ship shops. We had significant OBC from our booking 2 years ago and struggled to spend it. Eventually cashed some in at the casino (blue chips) and ended up winning (red chips) that I cashed out.
Our first Solstice class and the Lawn Club is major wasted space IMO. We saw the first show (weird and the guys were all "wth was that?"), Franki Valli show (liked), the Divas (girls only went and we had so much fun) and that was it. We are young 50's and saw few to no kids (nice), sailed with friends from 32-64 and we all had a blast. The late night scene was fun, but seemed repetitive after a while. The DJ could play disco or rap it seemed - not a huge variety if you went several times.
Spacey was fun, but not seen other than the scheduled events. He did awesome for the Disco show (the dude had to burn some calories). I didn't like the Grand Foyer set up for that type of a show (missed the Promenade) but they don't have a lot of choice. The ship was beautiful and well kept.
We booked the 9 night to ABC islands (plus Cayman) for next April on the Sihlouette. I really think I liked Millenium class a little better (of course I was in a Sky Suite and had Luminae that time so I may be biased) but the overall package on Equinox was delivered in style and the atmosphere and feeling of Celebrity is nice for us!
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Thanks so much! We’re also on 2/17 and can’t wait. Hope your trip home was smooth!
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Hi, My mom and I are considering a River Cruise in December. We are both 20+ ocean cruisers (7 to 15 nights, she's done transatlantic, I've done NE, Alaska, Europe and Caribbean).
We've read a lot of reviews on river cruising and are kind of considering the 5 night Avalon.
My thought process (please chime in on your agree/disagree/things to consider thoughts):
- Perfect amount of time to see if we enjoy river cruising
- Allows us to have days before/after on our own and stay within a 10-ish day total trip
- 3 countries visited (Germany, France, Switzerland) so a nice sampler
- Not feeling we didn't get enough land time since it's only 5 nights (one of the things I've read re: river cruising)
- Cost per day is comparable to a longer cruise, can use the $ not used on cruise extra days on land hotels, excursions (on our own)
- We are very comfortable doing our own thing before/after, including getting to/from the ship
- Only real con: changing rooms a couple times (nights before, cruise nights, night after)
I guess I'm looking for validation that a 5 night isn't TOO short given what we're looking for? Any thoughts? Thank you!
- Perfect amount of time to see if we enjoy river cruising
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Cruise with RC Leaving Cape Liberty on Oct 23, 2017. Thinking of flying into Newark 1-2 days early no car. Where is good reasonable place to stay. Also best options for getting from airport to hotel and hotel to cruise terminal. If we come 2 days early would like to see Statue of Liberty or maybe do the hop on/off bus tour. Is that possible? How easy would it be to do either of those.
We just did this. Took uber to Robert Treat Best Western. Room was $100 a night. That was on Thursday.
Friday we walked to NJ Penn and took Path train to World Trade Center and walked to Statue Cruise. Book those tickets in advance (like now) and get Crown Access if available. Amazing. We took subway to Chinatown afterwards, had lunch and grab pastries in Little Italy. NYC was getting 3" of rain that day so we didn't do anything else. Took train back to NJ Penn and walked to hotel.
We took uber to terminal ($18 on a Saturday) and to Newark on Thursday ($26).
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Were you able to check out the Music Hall at night where the DJ played, was it packed?
Sorry we did not
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Thanks for the review!
Interesting that they suggested moving BOGO to days 2/4 instead of sticking to 1/2. What time did you eat dinner at Chops and Wonderland? I'm glad the specialty restaurant head handled the situation well. How does one find the specialty restaurant head? I usually get officer contact numbers/names at Meet & Mingles during intros.
Wonderland was 8 or 830. We were among the last to leave. It seemed fairly empty. Chops was 830 but we got there about 820. We were seated immediately. It was about half full. At 845 it was packed. I really think they had too many people that night.
I think DH just went and asked at guest relations or the loyalty desk
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We are cruising on Anthem next week...Where is the Diamond lounge located????
It is forward on the starboard side near the theater. Either 4 or 5. You come out in the new live music arena on one end
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We cruisedAnthem 5 night to Bermuda –Saturday 5/6 through Thursday 5/11 on our firstQuantum ship and first as Diamond Plus members. No photos, more of a general dump of info.
We arrivedin NJ on Thursday 5/4 and spentThurs/Fri nights at the Robert Treat BW in NJ. Easy to Uber everywhere and we took the Path train to WTC and hit NYC onFriday, during the 3” rainstorm day. Ittook 4 days on the ship for my Sperry’s to dry out!
Saturday - boarding: wehad received an email that the ship would be having a Coast Guard drill so wedidn’t rush over to the ship. RequestedUber from hotel at 10:40, we were picked up at 10:46 and dropped at the port at11:22. The cost was $18.70. I would say we were at the port at 11:15 but theywere letting in approximately 8-10 cars at a time (there was space for MANYmore) and I think it was probably due to the delayed boarding because by thetime we checked in (super fast) and went to stand in a holding room, it wasPACKED. We started boarding right at 12
We wandered the ship as it was new to us andwhen we walked up to the bumper cars they were loading so we jumped on. SO much fun. LOL! We ate a roast beef sandwichfrom Café 270 and just wandered. Roomsopened at 1:30.
We were in 12282 on starboard side. Manuel was our attendant and he was great. Brought us robes without asking! We had 2 Coronas and a bottle of Cabernet inour room upon arrival. Really liked theroom, the bathroom and the air-conditioning was AWESOME. It was freezing in our room the entire weekand AMAZING. Best on a ship. Ever.
We had our luggage withinan hour or so, unpacked and had items ready for pressing. Muster station was in Jamie’s and packedbeyond belief. We stayed at the frontand wandered our way to the edge of the crowd towards the end. There was literally no one else on the stairsas we “ran for it” once released. Hitthe gym for a workout, then showers and Concierge Lounge. Gym: was HOT all week. Why can’t they pump in some cool air? Even on the freezing outside days (boardingday and last sea day) the gym was SO HOT. There was a slightly bigger than Voyager class weight area, but 1 set of15 lb dumbbells, 1 of 20 lb and a few of the other “lower” weights so whensomeone had those there was a lot of waiting (pun?) around! The treadmills worked well.
The Concierge Lounge thefirst night was DEAD. We wereshocked. It was pretty, the snacks werethe usual and they made Lemon Drops. Allgood. It was close to our room which I loved and I occasionally popped in for the cappuccino, including the last am. We also hit the Diamond Lounge andit was more hopping (Lemon Drops there too). We had dinner with MTD (we had booked the BOGO specialties, but moved toNight 2/4) and our waiter was great. Theprime rib was good (cooked correctly, medium rare) but service was slow and itseemed chaotic. Typical “first night”and “MTD” experiences for us. We wentto the Journey tribute band show givingup our seats for “The Gift” (which we never did see). The Journey band was good and entertainingand people were out dancing like crazy by the end. Fun night!
Sunday – sea day: we had tickets for North Star at 9 and iFly at 11. Both canceled due to weather. It was ROCKING on the ship. We rescheduled both and grabbed poolchairs. It was sunny and warm and if youcould stay out of the wind, it was fantastic. That night we had Wonderland. Weenjoyed it. Our waiter was great and theCaptain actually came around and said hi to everyone! Super nice guy and great customerinteraction. We went to part of Spectre(stood in the back after it started) but decided it wasn’t our thing so wewandered ship.
Monday Bermuda day 1:. We had our rescheduled iFlyexperience. I was scared to death. It was a super small group of me and 4 guys(including my dh). The other 3 wiveswouldn’t do it. LOL. I had slightly tweaked my lower back so madethe decision to watch the others and chicken out or call foul due to my back onhow they did. I went for it and it was AMAZING. One of the most awesome things I’ve evertried. Not at all scary and SO MUCHFUN!
We left the ship after thatand wandered the port area. At somepoint we went back to the ship and changed and decided to rent a scooter. Thus resulting in the most terrifying 2 hoursof my life. It’s not that I don’t trustmy dh (and I do think we would have been happier on our own because he saiddriving 2 was way harder than being alone). We took a terrifying ride to Horseshoe Beach and Hamilton and parkedthat sucker. We shopped, had a snack anddrink and took the ferry (with the scooter) back! ENOUGH. LOL. The weather wasn’t greatthat day so we did have a fun time just wandering and exploring versus a beachday.
We did the WJ that nightand they had the Mongolian Grill station and we loved it. If they would offer than on “known” nightswe’d always go there.
Tuesday Bermuda day 2: Wehad our rescheduled Northstar that am. LOVED it. Dh had been willing toskip it, but he was thrilled we did it too. We did swivel at the top, but no “over the side” movement. It was an awesome day and we spent themajority of it at the pool. We went backashore later in the day and did the souvenir thing. We had “We Will Rock You”that night before dinner. OUTSTANDING. As good as anyBroadway show I’ve seen on land. Lovedthe story, the cast and the music. Itwas so good that we went back the last night and caught the last houragain!
We then had Chops and itwas disappointing. It took FOREVER,service wise and our steaks were completely overcooked. We both ordered medium rare and mine hadabsolutely 0 pink inside (dh’s was slightly better). It took forever to get them so we didn’t wantto send them back. I think they satunder the lights and “cooked through” while we waited. The waiter apologized but then was gone foranother SUPER long stretch of time. Ileft because we had been there 2 hours by then and didn’t want to wait fordessert. The waiter never came back butthe lady who seated us did and gave dh the check. He told her the steaks were completelyovercooked (they still were tender and tasted good) and she brought him the checkfor $84. He said (for the second time)that we had the BOGO (which they ALLOWED us to move nights on, and in factsuggested we do so) and that was resolved.
Dh, the next day, went andspoke to the specialty restaurant head – he explained we knew we didn’t waitaround for them to make it right (new steaks) but she didn’t even apologize andmessed up the bill. He completely erasedour charges for BOGO and sent 2 plates of choc covered strawberries to ourroom. WOW. Dh was not ugly about it at all but hadexpressed his disappointment in the service/food and the guy was completelywonderful and gracious.
Wednesday sea day: It was FREEZING and windy. Yet, we struggled on (lol) and found slightlywind-blocked sections and hung at the pool part of the day. We did some shopping and had a drink in 270near the window wall. Packed some andjust relaxed. We decided on dinner againat WJ and they had the Mongolian station again! Yay! We caught the end of theshow again.
Other random thoughts:
Concierge Lounge picked upafter the first night but was a sedate crowd. Diamond Lounge crowd was more active and out going. Drinks were plentiful and strong in both. Getting Diamond drinks at bars was easy andthe pool bar guy gave me 3 Miller Lites (unopened) at once! We ended up leaving a couple in the fridge.
I had a $5 free play at Casino and won $10 so I quit. Dh played poker a lot of late nights (noreport on his winnings so I expect they weren’t great J). The staff overall wasgreat. Dh went on the Galley tour (whichthe Loyalty Ambassador sent us a message on and was messed up because no oneelse showed up and they tried to sell us the “lunch brunch tour”) He ended up being the only person and lovedit. He also did the Bridge tour.
Thewomen in the make-up/perfume shop were too “in your face” (that has neverhappened before). We got our 2 freephotos easily. We loved the ship lookand feel (reminded us more of Celebrity). Had one slice of pizza from Sorrento’s. Got nightly hot water/tea on the way to bed. Café 270 lines the worst. They need to separate you before the roast beef (everyone had to shuffle through that line to get to salads) and the salads onOasis have way more choices. Bionic Barwas fun for one drink. Poked our head ina virtual balcony room and loved it!
Thursday heading home: We chose toself-disembark. Options were Deck 5theater or Café 270. We chose theaterthinking it was closer to front exit. They put everyone through the middle doors (from front and back ofship). We left room about 7:25 and gotin line right by elevators. We startedmoving by 7:30 and I had Uber pulled up on my phone while waiting in Customsline and the second we walked away I requested one. That was at 7:51. He arrived at 8:12 (he called twice to makesure we weren’t in a huge rush since he had traffic on the way over) and wewere at Newark at 8:37. That cost was$26. Our back up was to take a taxi orshared shuttle if no Ubers had been available. My dh’s flight was at 12:30 so he had 4 hours to kill. I had an Amtrak at 9:56 so we both had plentyof time!
Wewould love to cruise Anthem (or another Quantum) class again but we are bothover the shorter cruises. Too much to doand you feel slightly rushed all the time. We never saw The Gift and no other shows were offered (than I mentionedabove) due to 5 nights. I didn't bring home any paperwork and we didn't reserve a new cruise as we have a Fall Break one out of Galveston and a couple's group for Celebrity next Feb already lined up
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We got off on Thursday from a 5 night cruise. We got in line to self disembark by 7:25 and we're off the ship by 7:40. Earliest time listed was 7:30. We were at Newark by 8:15
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Don't forget that if you have trouble getting an Uber at Cape Liberty, the taxi dispatcher can get you there in a shared shuttle for $20/pp.
This was our backup. The guy with the clipboard was directing folks to the taxi and shared shuttle line
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What time did they let you off?
Also what time did you contact Uber?
There was a long line (everyone self disembarks) but I would say we were off the ship by 7:38 and through customs. I had uber pulled up on my app and as we walked away from the customs desk I hit the button. Took him about 15 minutes to get to us
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Another uber update. Did self disembark off Anthem this am (Thursday am). Uber picked us up at 7:51 (prob a 15 minute wait for him to get to the port) and dropped us at 8:13 at Newark, Terminal C. $26.66.
We had only 2 people and one bag each (plus backpack) and it was a Chevrolet Suburban. We just requested regular uber
Was highly impressed with entire uber experience in NJ. I jumped on Amtrak at 10 and my DH has a flight at 12:30.
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Wow! That's an incredible Uber price! What time did you leave the Robert Treat?
Thanks for reporting back.
10:40 per my app. We went a little later than we normally would due to the Coast Guard inspection email. Boarding began right at 12 so we didn't have to "hang out" long in the terminal.
We were thrilled with the Uber. Hoping it's as good come Thursday back to the airport!
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At the port waiting to board Anthem. We used Uber and it was $18.70 from Robert Treat BW to the port. Took about 30 minutes. They were only letting 8-10 cars unload at a time. I think due to the Coast Guard drill and the ship not letting people on yet. So controlling the traffic.
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Safe travels!
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Thanks for posting! We board tomorrow!!!
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Thank you! If so it seems to be the 2nd night so we'll be specialty. We'll do our fanciest that night!
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A couple of general Uniworld questions
in River Cruising
Posted
No we’re on Antoinette on Dec 5