Dibbadiane

Thanks Princeton.... sadly I have to admit I am a therapist but I tell my clients all the time that if they are anxious about something they need to check out the reality of their fears.  Fortunately it seems that this was not couched in reality. 

I did reach out to Blexie too.  According to him the Old Colonial Area is now a restricted area to independent companies (got the impression it either wasn't before or wasn't enforced before).  You have to meet a little further away, and they are giving you a code number to give to your guide.  This is reportedly more so people on your journey to the meeting spot don't try to convince you that they are Blexie tours and trick you to go with them on a tour.  

My daughter and I are supposed to take a cruise to Cuba in June.  Like many of you I would not have booked this ship if Cuba was not part of the equation.  I had arranged to do a tour with Blexie but I have to admit I am concerned about the risk factor of my teenage daughter and I getting swept up in some raid.  I could just be letting my anxiety take over my head but what is the risk factor to tourists? 

On 1/17/2019 at 12:54 PM, ncurcio said:

I had this identical experience. I am actually still waiting for it to be applied, but it should be any day. The three hours on the phone was exhausting, but it seems to have worked out.

I hope it works for you.  I was hoping that of the comments were on here somewhere it might save someone the aggravation.  I felt like I had a bunch of moving parts with this booking.  After I got the Raise.com applied I redeemed a popslots bonus.  In case you never did that, there are apps and Facebook games by My Vegas and you can earn points for onboard credit.  It has to be applied within the first 14 days of a booking.   I mindlessly play the games when I'm watching TV and without paying to play earned $100 OBC.  They want you to use the credit for gambling but you dont have to.  I dont really gamble.  

I purchased one and after a bit of runaround,  it worked.  You need to read the fine print which is in the picture attached.  The key is that it needs to be a new booking that is done directly with Royal Caribbean.   The part that they don't  tell you is that when you call to book the cruise the person will have no clue what you are talking about.  Finally after about 4 calls I got someone that knew what was up.  You have to make the reservation including a down payment and then email the following email address.  

sharedservicesgiftcertificateredemption@rccl.com

It was suggested that in the subject of the email you include the booking number.  When I sent the email it was in this format. 

I purchased a gift card through raise.com that is to be applied to a new booking.  The gift card is for $500 and the number is ##########.  I attached pictures for reference.  The agents at RC did the booking ####### but did not know how to apply the gift card.   After calling back I was given this email.   Please send me a receipt once this is applied.     

I was emailed the updated booking in 7 to 10 days.  

We just got off Anthem too. It was not a terrible cruise but other than our steward, who was amazing, the staff was not nearly as friendly as our cruise last year. My 13 year old daughter and I were the only two on our trip and I think we are pretty low maintenance but on the first night I was fed up. We only get the soft drink package as I rarely drink alcohol and our cups that are supposed to work in the soda machines were giving us error codes. I complained once to guest services and they sent us to a bar. Talked with bar staff who said maybe the system wasn't updated yet. I did not just buy the drink package, they were bought months ago so that made no sense. He offered us soda from the bar. At this point the bar was already jam packed and while I could deal with that I really didn't want my 13 year old daughter fighting her way through a bar scene on a regular basis. When the cups still didn't work we were back at guest services and it took me being nastier than I like to admit and amazingly out of no where two new cups that worked.

I agree that Clo was no great prize. At the CC meet and mingle she told the same joke twice and I don't think she even realized it. I found the woman at the comedy show amusing as she gave the finger yelling as she went.

Twice my daughter and I were having lunch in 270 and practices were going on. Once for Star's wedding and once the people in Spectas Cabaret that did the work hanging from the ceiling. In both cases I actually thought that it was interesting. A great deal of work went into both and for some reason I often am intrigued with the event more when I see some of the planning.

Windjammer was pretty full most days but we are dinners in two speciality restaurants and the MDR.

My daughter wanted me to add that the teen club was not as good as on Allure last year. She said the staff in Allure were big on getting the kids to have ice breakers to figure out who you had things in common with. On Anthem she went to the teens club because she couldn't find a teen compass anywhere. They told her they were still printing them so she felt that also didn't spur as much interest. Even when they did have activities planned they didn't always do them.

I remembered on the last night of our last cruise but after they closed. I was told no more access to them after they close and they are deleted.

Can you post how it went. I am considering cashing in some points of myvegas too and wondered about this exact scenario.

Nope, definitely not in a group. My TA was holding a balcony for me. Just after I hung up I got a price notification on my phone and Royal lowered its C1’s to the 2nd lowest fair available. I immediately called back and he didn’t know about it at all. He confirmed and we booked it. It literally lasted a day. The next day the C1’s were increased by over $1200.

 

So I guess I get penalized for finding a deal that lasted a day...

 

Oh well, it’s no biggy. We saved a ton!

Can I ask what service you use that notifies you of price drops? If that question is not allowed, sorry in advance.

This is sort of related....is there an issue taking things off the boat? We thought about taking baggies and few things because shuttles are often long to excursions and I don't want to become car sick.

Unless it guarantees a spot in the classes you want to attend it seems risky.

Good point

I noticed on Cruise Planner the option of an unlimited class pass for the fitness center. I am booked for a 7 day cruise on Anthem but there is an option to buy unlimited 4 days or less, 5 to 7 days, and 8 days or more. It seems odd to me that there is an option of something that is more days than the cruise is and it also makes me wonder if I were to pick 4 days if I could pick the 4 days. My concern though is that apparently some people have commented that they went the first day to sign up for classes and all of the classes were full with waitlists.

Has anyone purchased this plan and if so what was your experience like?

So glad I saw this. Every post I read seems to give different info about securing a reservation for the escape room. Anyone actually ever do it and can tell me where on Anthem to do this?

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll get lost elsewhere

Truthfully I plan to purchase nothing of any significant value in port. I'm way to skeptic to go purchase diamonds in another country. I have never had any interest at all in going. A few days ago though I was reading some thread entitled "hidden secrets of RC" or something like that and someone mentioned that you go to the port shopping talk and you can purchase some binder that also has coupons for services on the boat and half price drinks on the boat. I don't buy the drink package because I'm not really much of a drinker so a cocktail a few times on the boat is plenty. I might not go to a speciality restaurant for lunch but might with a good deal., etc...

But...if it's 1.5 hrs of my life that I'll never get back, I won't waste my time.

I saw in a really old post that at the port shopping talks there is a coupon book you can buy that might get you drink deals or other things. Despite searching I have not found an answer about if they still do this. Anyone have details on this? If not, is there any benefit to going?

Going on Anthem at the end of March.

Thanks in advance.

The port Shopping Talk at 11,

.

I had read in an older post that these often offer a binder of coupons for a great deal. Is that true and if so do you have details?

We are waiting until we board May 28 to book an excursion in San Juan so we can use OBC. Were the excursions booked up on board or were there still a lot of good options still available?

There were quite a few excursions still available on our cruise but some of the prime ones were sold out.

If you are on western, what night was quest.

I'm pretty sure it was day 5 . I will double check the schedule but right now I have insomnia and don't want to wake up the whole cabin.

Are the new menus for the MDR being used on the Allure?

I do not believe they are new. I researched them prior to going and they were what I had recalled. The line up was the following:

Day 1. Mojo

Day 2. Saffron

Day 3. Pimento

Day 4. Basil

Day 5. Jasmine

Day 6. Shiitake

Day 7. Pomodora

If you can request a fan for your cabin?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I heard of one person who got one but it was supposedly related to some medical issue. I'm not sure if anyone could get one.

If you did the First Night Done Right, were you limited to Giovanni's and Sabors?

 

Also, did you have any experience using the coffee card?

 

Finally, hope you had a great cruise!

 

Thank you.

 

~ Judy

First night done right was limited to Giovanni's or Sabor's. No one was able to switch to the opposite that I talked to without going to an obscure dining time....like 9pm. Another tidbit is that there was nothing in our room telling us which we got. We had to search that info out.

No experience with the coffee card.

If they sell drink cards, what day do they appear and the cost. Thanks.

Sorry I didn't see those.

I'm on Allure until tomorrow. I meant to post this earlier but does anyone have things I need to find out while I'm still on here?

I'm on Allure right now. We had 59 people sign up and 12 people show. That's pathetic.

Where did they announce this? I didn't get an email. Is there some Email List I need to subscribe to, to get these announcements?

I saw it on here first and then saw in on RC twitter page where people were very angry. Reality is that I probably would not have used room service but while they were tweeting about the change their website was still saying complimentary room service except for after hours. It is supposed to go into effect on 3/29 which is 2 weeks notice....not adequate at all.