mom2mnem

It is cold and windy here now. The outdoor decks are wet and slippery. Saw a few people almost fall. I had my drink.... A cottoncandytini. Not bad. My boys are exploring and making plans. My daughter has declared this the worst cruise ship ever and she hates this ship and wants to go back home. When she was on the Anthem we booked her a teen massage while we did Chefs table ( she was 12) . She belongs to a gym at home and wants to continue her workouts. I went to the gym to sign her waiver and was told she can not use the facilities unless I was with her anytime she was there( she is 15 ). I tried to book a teen massage and was told it could only be done if I was in the room with her. She is most unhappy and it is only day 1. This is going to be a looooong week with this teen of mine!

Lisa

We boarded the Anthem this AM for a 5 day Bermuda cruise. The cruise port was easy to navigate as was the parking garage. Plenty of help throughout the process. Quick and easy check in. My sons picture didn't load fast enough so a new one was quickly snapped. Boarding started just after 11. We were on by 1130. The ship is beautiful. Ate at Cafe 270. Nice variety on sandwiches etc.. Friendly staff. Joking with my 17 yr old son....made him laugh. Met Christopher, the young man in charge of filling up the mini fridges. Super nice also with a great sense of humor. Haven't met the room steward yet to have the kids bed arrangement changed and ask about opening the balcony divider. Hope to meet him soon.

Lisa

We flew into Ft Lauderdale and took SAS to Miami. We stayed at Intercontinental Miami and when we were ready to go to the port there were plenty of cabs waiting to take us.

Lisa

Panda - where on Long Island are you traveling from? (South shore?)

 

We're in Massapequa. You need to consider that the Bayonne Bridge is closed on weekends, and it is only open during rush hour during the week. It's not a big deal - when we arrive on a weekday, we plan to be on Staten Island and over the Bayonne bridge before 9am. If that's not possible, then we take the Goethals to the NJ Tpke north two exits to 14A and over the Newark Bay bridge to the port - it adds about 20 minutes or so to the drive.

 

If we are disembarking on a weekday, then we self-disembark and leave ASAP so we can be over the bridge before it closes at 9am.

My DH is originally from Massapequa!

Lisa

Donna, we are from Port Jeff/ Mount Sinai!

 

Ahh okay that's good to know

We are leaving in 3 weeks and are from Miller Place. We are driving in day of and plan on leaving around 7-730 and. Since we are already North , we figured on the usual Northern route of the GW to the NJ tpke and avoiding the Bayonne bridge.

Lisa

We will be on a 5 day in a few weeks due to time constraints. We usually do a 7 day and my kids don't want to to end. 5 days is never enough, but its better than 0 days!

Lisa

Thank you! Amazing Video! We have only been on 2 cruises ...with our 3rd coming up in July ( unfortunately only 5 days on Anthem). So far we have loved both ships ( Allure and Breeze) and we are looking forward to Anthem!

Lisa

What is the C&A balcony discount? Do you have to be a certain level to get this? We are only Gold but have an ocean balcony and a Central Park balcony booked on Oasis next April and not sure if I got this discount. We booked during the 30% off sale and so far since that sale I haven't found it cheaper yet.

I am only Gold and I have a balcony discount applied to both of our rooms for our July Anthem sailing

Lisa

With the new "instant savings" deal I just saved another $80 on my booking (though the instant savings claims to be $100 per stateroom. Either way thats most of a massage covered if you ask me!!

Congrats on the deal!. I called this morning to check on that deal. Turns out mine would be a $50 saving per cabin, but would void the C&A discount which was a better discount ( $96 for our room and $101 on the kids room)

Lisa

So I called back this morning , after being told last night that the only 60% off sale available was for military. I spoke to a very nice gentleman ( too tired still to remember his name). I managed to save $171 on my d7 balcony and $139 on my d3 balcony for our July Anthem cruise. I went ahead and applied the credit to add pre paid gratuities--which ended up costing me $27.50 after the credit. I am happy with all of this.

Lisa

I did a mock booking on Royal to see if my cruise went down. It applied the 60% off and for my kids room 60% plus 30% because they are 3. When I called to get the discount, I was told the 60% off was a Military discount only. ??????

Lisa

We live in Massapequa, and it's about an hour to the port from here. Usually leave around 9am, just after rush hour. We take the Southern State to the Belt, over the Verazzano. (We usually take Rt 440 north over the Bayonne Bridge up to the port, but the bridge is closed for construction) Then, over the Goethals to the NJ tpke north to exit 14A, over the Newark Bay extension bridge - after the tolls we follow the signs to Rt 440 south to the cruise port. This detour adds about 20 minutes to the trip.

Thank you, Donna! My Dh grew up in Massapequa! We have add about an hour to our trip as it takes us almost 20 min just to get the LIE or even more to the N State. The S State is even more annoying to get to as we are so far North. We can actually stay North and use the GW which may avoid the Bayonne Bridge. Depends what time we actually get rolling.

Lisa

We'll be sailing with you! I'm packing right now.

 

I got that message, but still plan to get to the port between 10:30-11am. We are driving there from Long Island and would rather get there and wait, otherwise I will be anxious all morning.

 

See you onboard!

Donna...we will be driving in for our trip in July. Eastern Long Island. Would love to hear what time you left and how the trip was so I can better plan our departure. We have a 1030 am boarding as well. ( see you at check in dedosr)

Lisa

Thank you! Sailing this itinerary in July. Would love to see the cruise compasses so I can better plan the trip! LOL.

Lisa

Looks like whatever glitch was there is now fixed. For a few days I have not been able to purchase a beverage package for my kids. I could select it and add it to the cart, but no checkout. I would get an error message. At the same time, alcoholic beverage packages were showing as 6 choices. The regular 3 packages and the same 3 packages with a 20% discount. I cancelled my original package and rebooked with the 20 %. I checked my cruise planner today and it is showing that I purchased the "discounted ultimate beverage pkg". For a 5 day cruise, with fees, that is $556....so that would be about $47/day plus fees. In addition, there is no more showing of a 20% off deal, just the regular pricing. I was able to purchase the kids packages today as well.

Lisa

I purchased my package yesterday and it was regular price, today there was a 20% off offer. Still can't book the package for my kids. still getting an error message. I find it quite funny that when I got to the beverage package choices I have a choice of the package at regular price and a choice of same packages at 20% off. Hmmmmmm.....which one should I chose?? Should I be daring and go for the full price package or should I chose the 20 % discount?

Lisa

I was trying to buy the drink package for my kids for our July Anthem cruise ( no discount) and it tells me that it can't add to my cart. I did read somewhere on another thread recently that there is a glitch in the system

Lisa

Your Welcome!

Lisa

It shows in my cruise planner. When I click on the reservation number , it brings up my info. Scroll down to cruise planner and it tells you how many beverages, dining, shows etc were purchase.

Lisa

When we did chefs table my husband wore dress pants and dress shirt with a tie and sport jacket. I wore a dress. We were the odd ones. Everyone else just had a dress shirt and pants for the men and a nice pants suit or dress pants and dressy shirt for the women. My husband ended up removing his jacket.

Lisa

We cruised on the Allure a few years ago in July. There was a huge Quinceanera group. All part of a company that specializes in these things ( they wear matching t shirts). There were 26 girls ( and their families and friends) all celebrating on that cruise. my kids found this out ( I believe from meeting some of the celebrants in the teen club). The tour group was based out of Mexico. If you didn't see the tshirts on embarkation and all the garment bags containing the hoops and dresses , you wouldn't know you had this on the cruise. The were just part of the passengers you would encounter. Formal night pictures were awesome...looking at the girls in their elaborate gowns, the pride on their families faces as they were taking their pictures. We also had a group on our Carnival cruise the following year. Didn't get much info from my kids on that one. They have a celebration party one night in a private room ( we heard the music and laughter on our carnival cruise) it sounded like they were having a blast. I really don't thing our cruise would have gone differently with or without them.

Lisa

I hav only been on 2 cruises --1 Royal and 1 Carnival. Pretty much what everyone else has said. We like the food on Carnival better and my kids felt they had more and better free selections. They like Royal for the atmosphere, shows, activities They felt like they made friends that they hung out with regularly on Royal vs Carnival. They liked the sports court on Royal better. Mine are teens and found the Royal teen clubs better. They thought the Carnival ship was nice. We book for the ports since we are new to the Caribbean and want to see as many as we can.( mostly did amusement parks, aquariums, national parks around the US until recently).

Lisa

Allure was our first cruise in 2013. My kids were 12,14,and16. No dietary or medical issues so I can't comment on the services there. My kids loved the cruise so much they begged to do another one. We also did Eastern and had connecting oceanview balconies. The only problem we had ( which you won't because your middle one is 15) is that my middle guy was only 14. He couldn't go into the club with his older brother and refused to go into the "baby" club with his younger sister. He spent most of his time on the basketball court, but the friends he made were 15+ and went into the club at night so he spent his time in the cabin or with me and DH. My daughter isn't a fan of meeting new people and wouldn't go into the club alone so she also spent time with us. Fortunately there was so much to do. We did another cruise the year later ( tho on Carnival) and will be doing another one this summer ( back to Royal). My daughter is the only one not happy as she still hasn't changed her min on meeting new people , although she would be able to be in the same club as her brother and it would be the older club ( they are 15, 17 , and 19 now)

If you have any questions I will try and answer them ( if my memory hasn't failed!)

Lisa

I forgot to add that one thing we liked on Breeze was the self serve laundry.My kids brought enough clothes for a week with some extra on Allure, but ran out quickly due to sweating ( the sports court) and changing clothes as well as getting sandy from the beach excursions, . Some days they stayed a little smellier than others ! LOL . On the breeze , my oldest son took advantage of the washers/dryers and did some laundry during the trip. He was able to pack lighter that way.

Lisa