jencruzin

On 3/6/2023 at 10:24 PM, Pete Cruise said:

Yes outside the UK everyone has to book though Vacations to Go.  Vacations to Go doesn't promote P & O well.  I found my cruise on the P & O website and was given the Vacations to Go phone number.  

 

 

Ugh, this is very discouraging then. We were looking into a P&O cruise, but I will not book through "vacations to go" because they are very shady scammers. Thanks for saying this, at least it helps me not waste my time any longer looking into P&O!

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

Glad to hear you are done drinking in excess on cruises.  Your negative comments about Anthem mean nothing to me, a non drinker who avoids the sun decks.

Hey, glad you decided to chime in and give us your charming, inspiring thoughts😁

6 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

I don’t think anyone who was on that ship would disagree in general with things I said.  Each persons experience will vary and as I said before my experience wasn’t a bad one in general I just don’t think anthem is a good ship design for me or the UK in general. 
 

what I did forget to say in my review was that there were 2 couples which got off the ship and never come back saying they hated it. Bit extreme for me but each to their own. I’ve never heard of that before. 
 

this cruise there were more negative people than  I’ve ever seen. Which was kind of the point of my post. Most of the poor experiences I had are not unique to anthem either. This is why I’m trying P&O and maybe MSC next year. 

After meeting the Brits this cruise, we're looking into P&O as well. We just turned Diamond on this cruise but our days on Royal are finished. They nickel and dime customers too much!

18 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Tell me you don’t understand the business model without telling me you don’t understand the business model. 

Actually, it's the other way around after reading your troll statement.

On 6/18/2023 at 8:20 AM, Nell Gwynn said:

We were on the June 4 cruise out of Southampton to the Canaries and I totally agree with Pandemonium. 
 

The price of the drinks package was utterly ridiculous.  The cocktails and other drinks were all overpriced and looked cheap - seriously only a quarter of a slice of lemon! I know it's petty to mention that but it goes to show the level of penny pinching involved.

 

The sun bed situation - yes agree again although I personally sometimes prefer to sit in the shade.  The promenade deck on other ships has always been a good place to sit for a different view and some peace, but on Anthem you can't do a complete loop and there was no seating available.

 

As to the tips, my husband got severe diarrhoea on this cruise and I understand he wasn't the only one.  He was stuck in the cabin for three days and missed 2 ports of call - based on that maybe housekeeping earnt their money! 

If yours ate the black pudding - it was STEAMED and red inside (it was raw). Mine ate his at windjammer and had the same results, only for one day though. 

When I first began reading your review, I thought, "oh boy, here we go" but as I read on, I couldn't agree more! You pointed out things I forgot to talk about on my review. Bravo on the sunbeds bit, I thought people must have been spending the night up there just to save suntan beds!

The seating arrangements in the bars, agree! Jamie's, we found it to be very good, Chops, not so much. We were on the June 4th sailing. We found that the British clientele were far better and friendlier to sail with than the usual American lot, much more friendly, down to earth people, we made a lot of UK friends onboard, and we are definitely using Southampton as a choice departing port because we found it so much more easier and the terminal staff were absolutely wonderful and well organized MUCH MORE than Cape Liberty in NJ.

VERY WELL done and accurate review here. Never mind the naysayers! Who knows, we may have met on Anthem? We were Jen and John! 

22 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

No transfer!

😁

It's hit or miss; they'll reply, or they won't. But most always, you'll get what you asked for!

However, for all of us reading this, best to maybe add:

"can you please acknowledge receipt of this and let me know"

maybe we'll be lucky. We have to send ours this Sunday as that's the two-week out from cruise date they ask when to send seating requests.

2 minutes ago, Cigar King said:

If this happened to you, there must have been some other circumstances.  As you can see, many of us have done the same thing, and have never had a 10% fee,  In addition a 10% fee does not even sound right.  It's a lot higher than the costs for credit card transactions.  Clearly, at this point, you must see that.

Clearly do, was talking with hubby a moment ago, he swears there was some kind of a "service fee" where it had to do with left over OBC with the credit card. I wish now I could remember the cruise, now he's thinking it was that one Carnival cruise, it got us into making sure there was never a credit card involved and we only do cash accounts.

22 hours ago, Biker19 said:

How long ago are we talking about and are you sure it was RCI?

I don't know if maybe I am referring to the same thing, but there was a time, just a few years ago, if you had a credit card account and you wanted your left over OBC back onto the card, it was a 10% surcharge/service fee (something like that). When they told us this on one of our earlier cruises, DH went and dumped the leftover OBC onto a slot machine and cashed out. 

Maybe this is something that's just never been noticed? Yet I am not sure if they're still doing this?

On 5/5/2023 at 8:54 PM, LoveCruise71 said:

I will be cruising Alaska in August and I was wondering if the water package (you can buy 12 bottles or 24 bottles) is worth spend money on water,  we are 3 people, myself, my husband and my son.  Do you think is it worthy buy water?  Do they have free water in the ship?  What brand they sell?  I need a lot of water since I go to the gym and I need it for my supplement.  Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water onboard is better than the bottled water you'd be buying. And, it is free.

1 hour ago, steveru621 said:

Never

YES, THEY DID. Maybe we're not clear with each other on this. But I know they were doing a 10% charge if you wanted the spare OBC back on the credit card. It happened to us on one cruise, after that, we only do cash accounts and withdraw the card account because we never overcharge and just use the OBC.

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I see where you're going -- but I will probably spend less than my OBC, so it would be nice not to have to fiddle around with writing a check and being refunded OBC.  A matter of money in one pocket vs. the other pocket.  

You're asking about fees if they refund a portion of OBC to your credit card?  

No, no fees.  I know for sure because I have left the ship having spent less than my OBC, and I've seen the refunded money hit my credit card ... took a couple days /less than a week.  All very fair.  

I'd rather have the cash, so I'll just cash out at the casino on a slot machine, play a little maybe, and cash out.

3 hours ago, steveru621 said:

 

There is no service fee.

...no more, I gather, but there used to be.

23 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Very unlikely with most credit card issuers.

RCL does it, not the card issuer. Well, at least they used to.

1 hour ago, luckyinpa said:

i read a few different forums and cant remember if it was royal or someone else that will stop you at the ship exit and force you to go to guest services to get cash instead of the OBC being put on your CC.

When you say "CC" do you mean credit card, as in placing remnant OBC back on it? You'd rather have cash, because if they place it back onto your credit card, there is a certain percentage service fee, so you wouldn't want it back on the credit card!

Never had problems using google docs.

5 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I see your point, but in their defense, it’s not just Royal. For example, Disney decided to take away the free fastpass option for attractions, and now charge what I last heard was $35 per day, per person for Genie +. And of course that’s over and above the ridiculous ticket price just to get in the park.  And a bottle of water like over 4.00 I think.And extra for lightning lane attractions. And people are saying they can’t even get on rides AFTER they paid the extra $$. 
It’s not just Royal.

Our main reason for moving - Besides ONE time we strayed off to do a Carnival cruise (never again) we've been with Royal ever since and nothing else. Overall, time for a change. I know, Celebrity is part of Royal, but we'll give that one a go, already eyeing the idea of going Sky Suite and inclusive drink package.

It's clearly understood that all the cruise lines have probably increased gratuities, but this is just one of the reasons we're moving on after this voyage. We will take the benefits from becoming Diamond on this one cruise, it's irony but we're saying goodbye to RCL after this one next month. Other reasons include poor entertainment provisions, loss of food quality onboard, and the general nickel and diming going on. Example, there was a time when north star on Anthem was free, now they charge $20 each! Goodbye, Royal!

OP has valid points - but, are these "shows" really worth the time? On our last cruise (AOS) they had....a JUGGLER. Imagine that. Not a decent band, but THAT. I don't know who is behind the helm of cruise ship entertainment, but come on, get real. And this "spectra's cabinet" or whatever it is, it's been long played out. I have heard people snoring!

16 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

I took it to mean they just discovered this thread.

 

Just realized the other day this thread is an old one. I am relatively new in CC.

The water on the ship tastes just fine to me. And, it's free. Actually, tastes better than bottled!

LOCKDOWN? Is this covid thing happening again????

13 hours ago, keishashadow said:

Is it possible that line was the MTD that didn’t make reservations? 

Who knows? It was still a line containing the same people that was in it before and after we ate early seating.

Just now, CatLadyFemme said:

You’re so welcome! Please let me know if you have any questions about things I can find out for you 💜

Thanks. This will be our 3rd time on Anthem, great ship! Love the pics of the food!