carnival03

Thank you for your thoughts :) We have about a month left and are getting really excited!

1 minute ago, sparks1093 said:

1. 6am to 1 am

2. deck chairs on the upper deck seemed to have a good availability except on sea days when it could take time to find a lounger.

3. a pretty good variety of sing alongs, trivia, karaoke, etc.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like you enjoyed yourself. This will be our first RC cruise too, so we appreciate the help!

You mentioned crowding, what was lounge chair availability like? 

Did you dine in the MDR? If so, how long was dinner service on average?

Thanks for the thoughts :)

Thanks for the review! We'll be on her in just over a month! How did you find the availability of lounge chairs during the day?

Thank you for sharing this, glad you enjoyed the trip! 

Although I'm looking for experiences specific to Anthem, any RCI experience would be better than none. I have a few questions concerning bar service:

1. On the wine dispensers in Vintages, is the Deluxe Beverage Package valid on them? Meaning you don't have to pay? I'm not sure how they work...

2. Do all bars carry all basic cocktails? I've glanced at the bar menus online and it seems all the bars are tailored to a certain theme. I'm specifically looking for where I can get margaritas, or more specifically, as raspberry margarita 🙂 

2. At dinner in MDR, can you order a glass of wine from your waiter, or do you have to bring it with you? On Carnival, they had one specific bar waiter and it would take forever from him/her to make their rounds. Any experience with this?

TIA 

I have another...

What time is the welcome aboard show?

Hello! How great to start a thread like this. First off, I hope you have a wonderful and safe trip! We'll be on Anthem in just about two months for the 9 day sailing. I'm wondering...

1. What are the hours of the fitness center?

2. What are your observations on deck chair availability? We're mainly interested In sitting on deck 15 (above pool). 

3. Other than the standard shows, what other entertainment was offered?

Thank you 🙂 Happy cruising!

1 minute ago, cruisingalong2018 said:

This is our first cruise.  We are going on Anthem in June.  The entertainment just came on cruise planner.  I booked the shows.  Does IFly come up on the cruise planner before the cruise, or do you have to book on the cruise?

For us (cruising in May), iFly and Northstar became available a day before entertainment (about 120 days out). It's possible that the times are already booked; however, I doubt it since the entertainment just became available. Keep checking like two times a day! Nonetheless, I heard that you can book via the app once your within the terminal.

I'm going on her this May. From my research, no, it's a very rare occurrence 😞 

Thanks for sharing. We'll be there in May for the first time and I'm planning out what we want to do and Barrachina is on our  list! 

Has only been this year yet? Our trip is growing closer and I wanted to see if the shops and bars are open along the stretch near Holland House?

1 hour ago, tinkr2 said:

 

So I have always done late seating. when doing my time do you have a choice to sit by yourselves or be seated at a large table of "strangers". On Azamara we always just chose first available which was always with other couples. is this the case on RCCL?

I'm also curious. In my experience with Carnival, those using MTD was always seated restaurant style, meaning you only sat with your party.

1 hour ago, WisCruiser2 said:

Absolutely! There's waitstaff who come around to the loungers and take orders, too. 

Excellent. Thanks again for the info! 

13 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

The water was nice when we were there in December. I did snorkel, but there was not much to see near shore. I did swim out to the area that many of the catamarans were stopping  at, but it wasn’t very clear and I didn’t see much. The spot they stop is a few hundred yards from shore near the point to the left of the beach if you are looking out towards Saba.

 

There were nice restrooms available, a restaurant and bar service on the beach in the area we were in. I don’t know about WiFi, since it wasn’t of interest to me.

 

 

Excellent! Thanks for the info. 

11 minutes ago, WisCruiser2 said:

1)Yes, we were able to use the very nice restrooms inside the main building.

2) Wifi was available, ask an attendant for password. 

3) You're dropped off right in front (or behind?) the main building, easy to get to the beach.

4) There were taxis waiting when we were ready to leave. I think the fare was about $10 total each way, including tip, but someone else might have more accurate info.

We also had lunch from the beach bar and grill, good food! Enjoy your day there!

Thank you so much for the info. So from what you said, I assume the bar is right there for non-guests to freely walk up to and order drinks?

Is the beach area / water nice and clear (generally)? I know this is sometimes a problem close to the port. Also, I assume you're allowed to use the restrooms? What about wifi?

On 2/11/2019 at 10:54 AM, WisCruiser2 said:

Thanks, SnorkelAway, for your tip. We enjoyed our day at Divi! Saw some fish while snorkeling along the rocks (even saw a flounder for the first time). There were a lot of people on the beach but it was very relaxed. We went to the Aquamania hut to pay for our chairs, then found the attendent. Wish we were back there now!

Would you be able to tell me if they had restrooms and wifi available for your use? Also, was it easy to find your way to the beach from where the taxi dropped you off? How about getting a ride back to port? Do you remember the taxi fair?

A lot of questions, I know, but we're visiting in May and would appreciate the more recent information. TIA

We've already made reservations for MTD on our upcoming Anthem cruise in May. We reserved the same time almost every night, although some nights we switched it up by only 15 minutes to a half an hour. Is it possible to email ahead of time to request a table for three by a window since we practically have the same reservation each night? 

3 hours ago, pghsteelerfan said:

On our last cruise, which was in 2015, we spent several hours at Divi Little Bay.  Although Great Bay is an easy water taxi ride from the ship (also walkable) and looks gorgeous, I had seen posts here, on Cruise Critic, about pollution in Great Bay.  Some days the water quality is fine but there is know way to know from day to day when the water will be safe.  I think I saw it explained, here, and why.  There is a pond that overflows and spills into a canal, and that canal empties into Great Bay.  That's usually from rain, but if you're on a cruise and stopping for the say, there is know way of knowing when it rained last before you arrive.  If you weren't interested in going in the water, then it's not an issue.  I haven't seen those posts warning about the Great Bay water quality lately, so who knows, maybe they finally resolved that issue.  This pollution does not affect Divi Little Bay.

We enjoyed Divi Little Bay.  Easy to get there by cab and it only took about 10 minutes and most of that was going through Philipsburg (traffic and lights).  We were dropped off and just walked down to the beach and there will be someone setting up loungers/umbrellas and we just went to him, paid and he set up loungers/umbrella for us.  Even though it is a resort, no need to check in at their front desk.  You can get food/drink at their restaurant.  They have restrooms inside in the lobby area that were nice and very clean (at least when we were there).  It was quiet the beach was nice and we really enjoyed it.  They did sustain damage from the hurricane in 2017 but I've seen many reports that they have been back up and running since last year.  We didn't snorkel the day we were there, but I've seen reports here that the better snorkeling is over to the left (if facing water) along the rocky area.  There were others there but it wasn't crowded and was quiet.  The water was fairly calm the day we were there but I don't know if it's always calm.  Attaching a few pics.  Very easy to get a cab out front when you're ready to leave.  We had our drive drop us off in Philipsburg on the return trip so we could do a little shopping and we took the water taxi back to the ship.  It's been a while, but I think we paid $5 pp each way.

Thanks for the beautiful photos, it helps with the decision making. Yes, I've also read about the pollution in Great Bay and that is the main reason I started looking elsewhere and stumbled upon Divi Little Bay. The resort/beach area looks nice 🙂 Thanks for the info! 

1 hour ago, traveler1980 said:

This is also already sold out on our cruise planner for the all day pass.  Is this something that they might have available again once onboard?  Maybe a better question to ask, will my kids see this if we are spending the day at Columbus Cove and want to ride it?  

The coaster is located on the opposite side of the resort from Columbus Cove, so my guess is that they wouldn't be able to see it.

14 minutes ago, Sitzmark said:

having watched the videos of this ride, I really don't understand the appeal.  It seems wildly overpriced.

I get where you're coming from. However, if you ever get the chance I would try it once. We have one in MD at a ski resort and it's a pretty unique experience. 

3 minutes ago, Max and Ruby said:

This July's cruise on Anthem has it for $30 all day.  Last October's cruise on Oasis I paid $28.

 

 

Interesting. Our May cruise on Anthem was selling for $33.75. 

59 minutes ago, E23NK1 said:

 

Go to the excursion desk on the ship when it opens...we had to do that on one cruise because we needed an additional all day pass that was sold out online and they were able to accommodate us...Good Luck.

 

Do you remember what you paid onboard for the all day pass? I'm hoping it will come available again in the Cruise Planner so we can get the "pre-cruise price."

11 hours ago, candlegirl said:

We did not have to watch the safety video every time.  They actually let us go in front of single riders who had to watch the video.

Good to know, thank you! Unfortunately, I noticed that the all day pass is now sold out in the Cruise Planner... I didn't realize it was one of those items that sold out. So I guess I'll go with the single ride pass unless more open back up. 😕

12 hours ago, brookeq said:

They had very nice restrooms.  I don't remember if they had wifi or not.

Thank you. I read that portion of your Carnival Breeze review and it looks like a very nice place!