lisa6191

Thank you. I had seen some tips about having breakfast in the Wipeout cafe and I was noting that for our May Oasis cruise, but I guess I don't need to since it won't be on the ship anymore. I wonder if they will have the made to order eggs and omelettes in El Loco Fresh for breakfast now?

Or is that two different venues? I tried to search but couldn't find an answer.

Looks like a hammerhead shark.

On 10/11/2019 at 12:12 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

To further confuse you, some of the ships that don't have Hibachi will offer hot rocks to cook tableside. We did that on Serenade this past spring. We did that as part of a 3 night dining pkg

 

Oh, and you're welcome. Enjoy Royal

Did you like the hot rocks? What sorts of things do they cook on them? I have never seen that before.

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

It is supply and demand and in our experience they do try and push sales on Board with discounts ranging from 20-50% offered.

We always do the D+ BOGO for the first and second night and we are on Explorer now and paid $39 total in Chops Grill for 2 and $32 total for 2 in Giovanni's.

Just to clarify - was the BOGO only for Diamond+ or was it available to others?

On 9/8/2019 at 2:05 PM, Noreen411 said:

Final Thoughts

 

This was a great trip.  It was short but a lot of fun.  We are sad to see Anthem leave for Europe even though she’ll be back.  It was odd getting off the ship knowing we won’t be back on Anthem soon.  

 

Comparing the different types of Junior Suites we have had on the Anthem we both agree that we prefer the J1 - Junior Suite with Large Balcony over the J4 - Spa Junior Suite.    This was a very nice cabin but if we have a choice would choose the other one.  We weren’t a fan of the split bathroom as they are both small and you end up going back and forth.  We liked the stand up shower in the J4;  it was roomy and had both a rainhead and handheld shower wand as well as a seat that we used to keep bath products on.  We missed the large balcony with true lounge chairs.  This balcony had reclining seats with footstools that were comfortable.  I did appreciate the additional drawer space in the J4 over the J1.  There were more drawers and they were larger.  This isn’t meant to be a criticism of the cabin; it’s very nice.  The other one just works better for us.  

 

Bermuda is beautiful.  Exploring and finding that secluded beach was great and we’ll do more of that type of stuff in the future.

 

The employees on Anthem make the trip for us.  We feel special as we know many of them and enjoy chatting with them.

 

Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to answer.  I love talking about cruising.

 

 

Thanks for your detailed reviews Noreen! I am trying to decide between the 5 night Bermuda and the 9 night Bermuda/Southern Caribbean for next summer (these would be on Adventure, not Anthem). Since you just did both of those itineraries, do you have any thoughts comparing the two? Pricewise we are a bit more limited than you, I am looking at a Panoramic Ocean View on the 5 night, and a Promenade view interior on the 9 night (no panoramic rooms available). I'm leaning towards the 5 night - I like the idea of 2 days in Bermuda, and I'm not sure about having an interior cabin for 9 nights. Also, the 5 night would be in either September or October and the 9 night would be in August. But is the 5 night too short? Help!

On 10/3/2019 at 7:21 PM, John&LaLa said:

 

See if you can get one of the pie shaped OV's near the aft elevators. They're awesome 

7664, 8664, 9664 are the best

7164, 8164, 9664 are almost as good

Are those rooms available for 2 passengers or only for 3 and up?

5 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Perks for a JS on Explorer:

 

Bathtub
Walk-in closet
Priority check-in and boarding
Tea kettle and coffee maker
Bathroom amenities
Robes
Extra C&A point per night
Silver Seapass card (no significance other than distinctive color)

 

What are the perks of a Grand Suite on Explorer? Trying to decide whether to submit a Royal Up bid on that.

My birthday falls during our cruise and I was going to choose one specialty restaurant to book for that night. It's the last night of the cruise. Do you think I am safe just waiting to see what discounts I can get once we are on the cruise? We are not too picky about time but prefer earlier, which I gather is less popular anyway. Do the restaurants ever "sell out"? We are on Explorer.

3 minutes ago, 123funcruiser said:

Yes you can tell the Zone your cabin is in.

OK, maybe I should have been clearer - how can I tell? Is there a chart somewhere?

I've tried to search for this answer but I'm not having any luck. We have a GTY cabin and our Set Sail passes are showing a muster station for the first time today, B11. Is there a way to tell which cabins go to that muster station on a particular ship? It's Explorer of the Seas, if that matters.

They didn't honor it for me either. It doesn't help that in the confirmation it is still called "day pass", even though it made me choose how many cabanas and assign it to one guest when booking. I didn't have the patience to wait for a supervisor so I just dropped it.

As far as I can see it has been fixed.

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Not really, the original CSR you got just didn't know that what you got from the supervisor is the rule.

Also, is that actually the rule? That they will honor a price difference within 24 hours? If so that is good to know.

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Not really, the original CSR you got just didn't know that what you got from the supervisor is the rule.

Yeah, the original CSR was pretty clueless, and kept using the script "I'm sorry you're disappointed", "you are getting the best price", etc. etc. I am finding that the CSR's for whom English is clearly not a first language are more difficult to deal with. It probably makes sense to just call back when I get one of those, but the hold times today are ridiculous.

I upgraded my 11/19 interior cabin on the Explorer to a balcony guarantee yesterday at a total price of $999 for two of us. I looked today and the price had gone down to $911. I know they don't do price adjustments after final payment date, but I was hoping they would at least offer me something since it was just a matter of hours. The customer service rep basically said I had the best price available (no I didn't) and that all she could do was "upgrade" me to an oceanview cabin (no balcony) for the lower price. Um, nope. After going back and forth with her for a bit (pleasantly, I don't ever yell at customer service reps), I asked to speak with a supervisor. I had to wait on hold for nearly 45 minutes, but it was worth it - the supervisor said since it was within 24 hours of when I upgraded, she would refund the $88 difference to my credit card. I was thrilled - I had really only been hoping to get a gift or two thrown in to make up for my disappointment.

So I guess the moral of the story is, if you don't get the answer you want, ask for a supervisor!

I have no idea why my 5/24 Oasis sailing has prices so much higher than everyone else's! 

Thrill cabana - 999

Chill Island, Oasis Lagoon or South Beach cabana - 1299

Coco Beach day pass - 69

Coco Beach cabana - 1199

Over water cabana - 1499

Some of those prices are simply ridiculous.

So in another thread, someone pointed out that if you purchase your specialty dining in the cruise planner, there is no gratuity added, but if you wait to purchase onboard, they do add the 18% gratuity. Is this correct? If you purchase in the cruise planner, is there no gratuity added at any point unless you give one yourself voluntarily? It seems like it would be better to purchase ahead of time in that case, although I guess the price on board could go low enough to compensate for the extra 18%. I had been planning to just wait and see what we feel like doing on board, but maybe it's worth it to plan ahead.

Does anyone know if it works the same way for spa treatments?

4 minutes ago, dsvd79 said:

No price drop for me too, including my 2021 cruise.

 

Oh well

My May 2020 cruise is actually more expensive than when I booked a month ago.

3 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 

I don't even see where it says the type of cabin you are getting with a "We pick your room" option.  Say, in the case of an Interior on the Majesty, I have two options:

 

1 - "You pick your room" for an interior, which doesn't let me choose and actual cabin, but rather kicks me to and "Interior Guarantee"  which is listed as 2v, 4v or 6v

1 - "We pick your room" for an interior.  (This option doesn't say what level of cabin, 2v, 4v, or 6v, but how could it be any different?)

This was exactly my question. When you do "we pick your room" you go right to the checkout pages, and there is no indication of which level cabin you are guaranteeing. On "you pick your room", the guarantee says it could be 1D, 3D, 5D, 6D or 7D. This includes the "worst" cabins as described above by timf2001. Why would the second option be $50 more, since both seem to guarantee a 7D and up? It makes no sense.

6 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

 

Explorer has class D (regular) and class B (spacious) balcony cabins.  The lower numbers are considered better locations, with 1B being the best and 7D being the worst.  Even number categories fit only 2 people, while odd number categories can fit additional guests.  Class E only applies to Quantum class, which is obstructed view balcony.

Thanks! Once they assign me, will it say what the category is?

2 hours ago, timf2001 said:

The "We Pick Your Room" categories are the guarantee-specific categories (WS, XB, XN, YO, ZI).  The "You Pick Your Room" categories are specific stateroom categories that have gone into guarantee status.  If you book the former, you can get assigned to any room in that category.  With the latter, you are guaranteed no worse than the category specified.  There's not always logic behind the pricing, as factors such as Going Going Gone can make certain categories cost more or less than their typical hierarchy.

 

For example:

If you book a category XB, you can get assigned any type of balcony from class 1A-2E.

If you book a category 6D guarantee, you'll never get assigned to a 7-8D or a class E, but could still get as high as a 1A (or whatever the best balcony cabin the ship has).

I'm a newbie, can you explain what 7-8D and class E would mean? Do all ships have all the categories? This is on the Explorer.

They are both guarantee cabins, right? So why is the "you pick your room" one showing up as more expensive? This is in the balcony category, if it matters.

54 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

Yes....but you “may” be able to pay for an upgrade after final payment date 

I was just able to upgrade from interior to balcony guarantee after final payment date.  Only $100!

5 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

@lisa6191 I flew direct (aka nonstop) DCA to MIA. We landed earlier than planned and even with a medical situation on board were off prior to our expected time.

Departed 7:52am (7 minutes early)   ==>  Landed 10:08am (36 minutes early)

Great, thank you. We are booked on a nonstop flight from philly that is supposed to land at MIA at 9:45 am. I was assuming that was totally fine until I started reading these boards and started second guessing myself LOL. It's the first flight of the day and a nonstop and not in snow season, so I can't imagine we will have a problem. (I know, never say never). Glad to hear it went well for you, makes me feel better.

Jenny - What time did your flight land on embarkation day? I assume you flew into MIA?

Thanks!