karmacats

DH and I do not drink at all, and royal is our favorite cruise line. never have i felt pressured to buy drinks, nor have i been surrounded by rowdy drunks or anything like that (and we are often on the promenade or in a club until 2 or 3 a.m. - we are night people). sure, we've seen drunk people, but that holds true for all 4 cruise lines we've been on, as well as pretty much any time we go to dinner or a show in the city. certainly nothing overwhelming or out of hand, and no one totally blotto.

fwiw, my hard-drinking friends prefer disney. weird, but true!

we ate at jamie's 3 times on quantum. the first time it was fantastic, the second time pretty good, and the third time fair-to-middling-to-meh (two of us even had to send our dishes back). so, in addition to personal taste leading to differing reviews, i'm guessing they have some consistency issues to work out.

we do plan on eating there for lunch our first day on anthem, though - so much nicer than schlepping the carryons around windjammer! and i'm guessing we will do the same on harmony.

i loved the lunch lasagna at giovanni's so i'm sad to see that go, but i'm hoping jamie's will be a worthy successor.

Hello are salon services (ex wash & blow dry) available at the spa on anthem and if so what is the price?

they were on quantum, and told me the services would be the same on anthem. sorry, not sure of the price. i had my hair washed, cut and dried on quantum and it was seriously the best cut i've ever had (and i've gone to some chi-chi places here in DC).

i think the guy who cut my hair was named marko - if he's moved on to anthem, i'm totally getting my hair done again aboard in dec. :)

I have checked the first 10 weeks of sailings in July/Aug 2016 for suites on the Harmony on rccl.com but only the Junior Suite is available to book. There are lots of other types of suites - are they sold out? withheld? awaiting final specs/pricing? How are you guys booking suites already?

probably sold out. bookings opened quite a while ago, and suites were very reasonably priced during a sale in june, so it's likely they are all taken. keep checking the website - people may cancel, especially right around final payment time!

I was just going over our reservation for the TA on Harmony of the Seas.

 

We'll be in GS 8660. The stateroom image shown is different than the layout. Image shows the tv mounted on the wall, similar to what we had in a GS on Freedom class. The "layout" graphic shows the tv in a structure that separates the living and bedroom, similar to an OS on Freedom class. Does anyone know which will be accurate?

I'm also in a GS on the Harmony transatlantic and would be curious to know.

We were in a GS on quantum, and while we loved the decor, we didn't like the layout as the wall between the sitting area and bedroom made it feel very cramped. i really hope harmony has got the quantum decor (which the rooms seem to) but with the more-open freedom-class layout. we thought we'd prefer the wall since it provides more separation of the rooms, but really, it just got in the way. the plus side i guess is that it provided lots of storage space. since i brought about 8 pairs of shoes on our most recent 5-night cruise, i can't imagine how much i'll bring on a 14-nighter. :eek:

I just logged in and every dining reservation I fought so hard for, evwry entertainment reservation and iFLY is ALL GONE from my cruise planner for the 11/22 Anthem cruise!!!!!

This happened right before our quantum cruise last year, but when i called it was all in the system, and when i got onboard everything was right. keeping my fingers crossed it's just an IT glitch for you, too.

so you mean we could wait for Day 3 if we felt it would be good at that point and only buy it for the number of days used?

Yep. you would pay for days 3-7.

If you have the Replenish pkg can you get non alcoholic drinks at Labadee, like a virgin piña colada ?

yes, i've gotten virgin pina coladas and even virgin labadoozies. they will be in the tiniest plastic cups you've ever seen :p, but they are included. make sure to tell the bartender you do not want the souvenir cup, or else they will still charge you for it.

You could also buy OBC and purchase the package on the ship with the OBC instead of paying a la carte for drinks.

this. on embarkation day, there are tables set up selling the packages, and they are very obvious - sometimes they are right on deck when you first step on the ship, and sometimes right in front of the windjammer. locations should be listed in your first day compass, also, the one they give you when you board. so, i'd buy the OBC, and then use it to purchase the package on the ship.

for about $8, sounds like it would be worth it, based on what you've said previously. i can see where $11 would be a stretch. funny how a couple bucks makes a difference - i used to purchase the replenish package when it was $20, but now it's about $23 and i'm having trouble biting the bullet for my upcoming cruise.

also, you can wait and purchase the package on day 2 or 3 (i think there needs to be 4 days left in the cruise in order to purchase it). so you can see how much your husband drinks the first day or two, or if he's looking longingly at the freestyle machines :D , and then purchase it later and only pay for the remaining days of the cruise if it would be worth it. on our last cruise there were people selling the package in front of the windjammer for a couple of days; if not, the compass will tell you where to buy it, or you can ask a bar manager.

Thank you all. I guess if it's $2.50 a soda, then he would have to drink 4.4 glasses a day. Sounds a lot to me, but for him, it's probably under...at least on sea days.

the soda package usually comes out to about $7.50/day once gratuities are added in, so 3 sodas/day to break even.

royal seems to be futzing with some of the drink package prices right now, though not the soda package as far as i know, and obviously if you have an exchange rate (not sure where you're located) the price will be different. but in the past it's been 3 sodas/day to hit the break even point.

fwiw, we are not big soda drinkers at home, but on the ships with the freestyle machines we find ourselves drinking a lot because the machines are just kind of fun.

if there is no availability in your category then you would have to switch to an available category in order to take advantage.

ok, thanks, that's what i didn't know about. i don't think i've tried to apply a sale to a sold-out category before.

we're on the 12/12 cruise, so the sale applies, and final's not due yet because it's not considered a holiday cruise. i'm not willing to lose my room, though. :D we got a pretty good price, anyway - booked on the day that anthem bookings opened, and were onboard liberty so got our $200 OBC for booking onboard - so i won't stress about it.

Are you paid in full? If not, you can always cancel and re-book but yiu have to be willing to possibly switch categories

Final payment is due next week, though i've already paid it. i'm not willing to risk losing my room, though - we have an OS next to our friends' OS, and ever since we booked a year and a half ago we've been planning on opening up the balcony dividers to form a mega-balcony . :D

it sounds like the sale is being applied to existing bookings, though, so i can't imagine why i wouldn't be eligible - even if they couldn't figure out if there's a price drop since my category is sold out, they should at least be able to apply the OBC and free grats (and then i think that would reprice it, so they could see if there's been a drop...).

I may call back tomorrow to see. i think the woman i talked to today was kind of clueless - she also told me another room on a different cruise did not have a price drop, and looking at the website it pretty clearly did. so, i think i will just try to talk to someone else. if it doesn't work or isn't possible, i'll live. :D but it doesn't hurt to try.

if you get the package, in addition to the freestyle machines, he will be able to get soda from any bar, as long as it's the gun/syrup soda (i.e., not a can). almost all bars have coke, diet coke, and sprite in the gun; some have additional sodas, too.

i think single sodas were about $2.50, but i'm not 100% certain.

keep in mind you can only use the freestyle machines if you get the package. you can't just pay $2.50 and get a drink at the machine. so if using the machines will be a plus for you, you'd need the package.

and yes, you can get coffee all day at the cafe promenade. :)

On the Anthem in 3 weeks. What does Anthem have that is something like The Promenade Cafe where we can get early morning/late night coffee.

if it's the same as quantum, cafe promenade still has the usual sandwiches and sweets. the self-serve coffee and hot water dispensers (for tea and powdered hot chocolate) are also there. they are open from early until the wee hours, though unlike other ships they did close for a couple of hours overnight on quantum.

right across the esplanade (which is basically the promenade with a fancy name) is la patisserie, which is where you get your specialty (starbucks) coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. they also have candy and baked goods for a fee. they have decently long hours, but not as long as the cafe promenade. iirc, they closed around 11 pm or midnight, but i could be mistaken, and i can't find my compasses.

as someone else noted, cafe 270 also has coffee in the morning and afternoons. and windjammer is open 24/7, even if it appears closed - just go towards the back and you will find the open section.

If you are booked for Anthem in December and haven't paid final yet- check your reservation! Huge sale and price drops today. $799 pp balcony rates with free gratuities and $200 OBC

this is the third or fourth time i've heard this (had some folks on my roll call and elsewhere post it, too), but when i called to ask about a price drop/OBC/gratuities for my dec anthem cruise, they told me i couldn't get it because my category was sold out. does that make any sense?

Karmacats and others, thank you so much for sharing your experiences! My mom and I have both been nervous about our upcoming cruise, especially since it is much more expensive than we were ever anticipating, but this valuable info puts me much more at ease. I'm going to read her your comments to boost her confidence about the whole thing. :)

 

So excited! We cruise in just about 55 days.

 

Oh I forgot one question -- when do you find out what session you're in? Do you choose in advance or do they assign you or what? Thanks!

I'm glad the info has been helpful. We also could find very few recent reviews or first-hand accounts; i may write something up for the disabilities board just so the info is there, too (since dialysis at sea works with celebrity and hal as well as royal, so not everyone may be looking at the royal boards).

i agree with janet524 - just give them a call and ask. we were not assigned a time immediately when we booked the first cruise, but they called us a couple months later to choose a time. they do it based on when you booked - the first person to book through them gets first choice of dialysis times, second person to book gets second choice, etc. when we booked the second cruise, because they knew my mom preferred the early slot, and i guess they didn't have many people booked yet, they assigned it to her right away. In any event, they will let you know waaay before you get onboard. :)

i can't remember for sure, but i think the times for the first cruise were 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. on sea days. they had enough rooms that most people made it to the first session; i think they only had 2 people going at 10. for the second cruise, early time will also be 6 a.m. on sea days.

Hi all

 

Does anyone have any experience of having dialysis at sea on board any of the RCI ships? We are shortly taking my Dad on a New England and Canada cruise and he will be having his HD on board.

 

Many thanks,

Gill

Just did a dialysis at sea cruise with my mom on Liberty OTS on Aug 8. it was great. she was soooo thrilled to be able to cruise, and the experience was seamless.

on the first day there was a short (maybe 20 min) orientation meeting in one of the conference rooms after sailaway, which families/traveling companions were also invited to attend. there we met the nephrologist and the 3 dialysis nurses; all of the nurses worked at various davita clinics, and my mom also attends a davita clinic at home, so she felt confident they would be good, which they did turn out to be. one of the nurses had something like 20 or 25 years of experience, and had done dialysis at sea cruises a number of times.

after the meeting, they took us as a group to the medical center to see where the dialysis would be, and because if you're in the super-early session the med center technically isn't open yet so they wanted to show us the side door the early folks would have to use. the med center itself is right off of the rear elevators, so very easy to get to (i can't remember which floor, but way down near the bottom, maybe even floor 1). the dialysis itself was done in beds, with two beds in each room. each bed had pillows, blankets, etc - my mom usually brings her own blanket but didn't need it on the ship. on liberty the rooms had tvs, but i don't know about all of the ships; also, the tv in my mom's room was broken, which was pretty much her only complaint, though she had the 6 a.m. session so she mostly slept anyway. she said the dialysis sessions went very smoothly, and to be honest she often has a lot of trouble at home (very low bp etc), so i was glad to hear it.

my mom loved it so much we booked another cruise with her while we were onboard (we had taken a list of the 2016 dialysis at sea cruises with us). we were able to book it onboard and get her the onboard booking benefits (on-board credit and lower deposit), list dialysis at sea as her travel agent, and then contact dialysis at sea once we got home to get their price and pay their bigger deposit.

on both cruises (the one last month and the one we're doing next year) we found the dialysis at sea price to be about $1000 more than royal's, plus $650 per dialysis session. just a heads up that they bill for a minimum of 3 sessions, so $1950, even if you're on a short cruise with only 2 sessions - probably won't affect the OP since you're on a longer cruise, but in case anyone reading this is considering a short cruise, i wanted to mention it. i found the person i spoke to most often at dialysis at sea (brandie) was very open about the pricing, so even though it was high, and i was kind of annoyed about paying for 3 sessions when we only got 2, nothing was a surprise. she said they had to make bringing on the machines, maintenance, etc worth it, and just didn't recoup the costs unless they charged for a minimum of 3 sessions, so we dealt with it. :)

from what i understand (and this is from talking to a dialysis nurse i was chatting with in a hot tub years ago, so not straight from dialysis at sea) the extra fare you pay goes to paying for the fare for the nephrologist and dialysis nurses. so the drs and nurses basically get a free cruise in exchange for working every other day, which is how they entice them to work on vacation. :)

all in all, we were very pleased with the whole process, my mom thought it was great, and as i stated we're doing it again next year, this time on a longer cruise. :) if you have any particular questions, just let me know!

I made it ALL the way down to Peach Colada, 2nd on the list, and I was hooked!!

I tried Rosewater Lemonade in Two70 when I was looking for something with no alcohol, and it was good... VERY sweet, like almost too sweet (if there is such a thing). If you do get that far down your list, I suggest when you order it, that you ask for a glass of water as well so you can water it down as needed.

 

The one thing that I have never had on the list that is popping out at me, is your favorite... I have never had a Peach Pina Colada. I think that will have to be my first drink when we sail in December! :rolleyes:

These just made me smile because both the peach pina colada and the rosewater lemonade were my contributions to your list! :D LBD, i'll buy you a peach colada on our harmony cruise!

OP, sounds like most of your questions were answered, but just a couple more points:

On quantum (so presumably it will be the same on anthem) we could get fresh squeezed OJ all day from the solarium bar. They also served real fruit smoothies there, but those were not included in the replenish package.

Also on quantum, La Patisserie had starbucks and Cafe270 had seattle's best. i normally can't tell the difference (all i get are super-sweet frappuccino-type drinks) but i found the drinks at la patisserie to be waaaay better than the cafe270 ones, though i'm not sure if that was from the different coffee, or from the person making the drinks. i suspect it was the coffee, as sometimes different employees made my drinks.

at la patisserie, all of the gourmet hot chocolates are included. if you like hot chocolate, i highly recommend them, especially the banana one (sounds weird, but it's delicious).

you can only order one drink at a time, but most places will give you a bottled water at the same time as your gourmet coffee or your virgin cocktail. they will not, however, give you 2 cocktails, or 2 coffees, or a cocktail and a coffee. getting the water at the same time as another drink is handy, though.

fwiw, i did the package on allure and quantum and loved it, but i skipped it on liberty because they did not have the freestyle machines and because we were in bermuda for a good chunk of the cruise (so off touring around and not on the ship) and i saved a lot of money. i am planning on doing it again for my upcoming anthem cruise because of la patisserie hot chocolates, the freestyle machines, and i will probably be onboard to get drinks 6 out of our 7 days (our itinerary kind of stinks :p ). i do not regret getting it on allure or quantum, but i will say that by day 5 or 6 i had to take a day off from all those drinks, plus i'm pretty sure i lost money on it (though not much - maybe a couple bucks a day). for me, the all-inclusive feel of it and the convenience and not having to ask "do i really want to spend $5 on a hot chocolate?" made it worth the extra money.

Saw the Journey cover band Resurrection on the Liberty of the Seas last month.

Sounded awesome and loud. Drummer had been a Journey drum tech and had played a few shows. While docked bow to bow with the NCL Dawn in Bermuda I could here rock music coming from her pool deck and was thinking I wish RCI had more rock as well. Resurrection that night fit the bill.

We also saw resurrection on liberty last month. ran into a couple of them at sorrento's the next day and had a chat - they were super, super nice. when we got home, my DH went to their webpage and it turns out they will be on our upcoming anthem cruise this dec. i'm hoping they are in the music hall rather than the huge theater - we saw the bon jovi cover band on quantum in the music hall and really liked the smaller space as opposed to the theater. also, music hall usually means multiple shows over multiple nights, as opposed to one night in the main theater. i will admit to seeing the bon jovi band 3 or 4 times. :o

as far as more traditional headliners, we tend to avoid the comedians and older bands/musicians - just not our cup of tea. we use those nights to go night swimming/hot tubbing.

i enjoy a capella so we did go to see mo5aic and enjoyed them a lot. DH can juggle a bit so he always drags me to the juggler types, too - i wouldn't be upset if i missed them, but they are usually somewhat entertaining.

I love coconut and there are a few items on this menu that sound delicious. Just wondering if this is an "extra" menu that is used for cruises longer than 7 days or if it is included on standard 7 day cruises now, thus replacing one of the 7 original menus that have been offered the past couple of years.

It was on my 5-night bermuda sailing on liberty in early august. it replaced one of the menus that's normally on that itinerary, though i can't recall which one. it was served on night 3 instead of the menu with the chicken marsala (pimento menu?), and that chicken marsala menu then got pushed back to night 4. i know because i had chops reservations on night 4 and missed my chicken. :p

i had the steak diane, which was ok (good sauce, meat quality was meh), and the polenta feta bake, which was surprisingly good. the coffee cream mousse was good, too, though iirc it was one of those weird desserts that's shaped like a log or fat worm or something. we had so many of those, i can't keep them straight. :D i do remember the coffee taste being delicious, though.

Thanks, Karmacats! Those prices seem very reasonable by RCCL drink price standards.

i think so, too. on my liberty cruise last month i didn't even bother to get the drink package (i'd been getting the non-alcoholic royal replenish package) - since they upped the price of the package a little, it didn't even really seem worth it for a short cruise with a lot of port days (it was a 5-nighter to bermuda). i just bought the drinks a la carte.

i happened to stumble across my bill today - my pina colada from the on air club was $4.72 (including the automatic 18% gratuity), and my frou-frou frappuccino-like coffee drink from cafe promenade was $5.02. my second pina colada, which i bought from a waiter in the main theater, didn't make it onto this copy of the bill because i got it the last night, but it was about 25 cents less than the first one, so maybe $4.50 or so.

I also would be interested in knowing what virgin tropical drinks are available and also the average cost of them on FOTS. Thanks.

As far as cost, they are generally $4 to 5. On my liberty cruise last month I got 2 virgin pina coladas; once I was charged a quarter more than the other time for no discernible reason. Each was around $4.50 . on my quantum cruise last Jan they were pretty regularly $4.

There's been no word that the garage has opened yet. Here is a thread with photos following the progress of the garage.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2241596

FWIW, when we were on liberty a couple of weeks ago, the porter who took our luggage to our car said the rumor is the garage will open oct/nov. the outside looked completed, but they were still working on the inside.

We have booked WWRY and the Gift for our November 30 asking but do not see the option to book Spectra. Does that show up under the entertainment tab?

Yep. When i opened the entertainment window, it had all three shows listed as options on the left, and all three were included in the main day-by-day lists.

it's possible they just haven't figured out the schedule for your sailing yet, even though it's before ours. there wasn't much choice on ours, as we're only on a 7-night and we're docked late at a couple of the ports (11 pm and midnight) so they wouldn't have the main shows those nights.

Was able to book we will rock you, the gift, and spectras cabaret today, for the Dec 12 anthem sailing. Seems like the bookings just opened around midday today. No headliners listed yet.

Right, I was on Indy 2 weeks ago. In the helipad, located deck 5 forward. Access is from deck 4 all the way forward through the open deck you will see the steps go up 1 floor.

If you're not so good with steps, on liberty you can go into the sphynx on deck 5 forward, and on each side of the room is a door that leads out to the the 5th floor deck very close to the helipad. the door is about halfway back into the room and doesn't look like one you should go through, but it's ok - it's for passenger use. once out on deck, head towards the front, and you will only have to go up the last few steps to the helipad, rather than taking the very long set of steps outside from deck 4 to 5.

DH and i just did this twice on the aug 8 cruise. our room steward told us about the doors, after we mentioned we walked up the long stairway from 4 to 5 for sailaway (not a big deal for us, but my mom was with us and it was rough for her).