brklyn78

Hi all

We are about to be on Harmony on the Seas next week and have put in a request for a transfer bench (for suite bathtub) and a raised toilet seat. Does anyone have pics of what this Royal Caribbean-furnished equipment looks like?

When we booked the suite my husband didn’t need the accommodations. Recent events have necessitated additional support.

Thanks!

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just wondering, been having some walking issues and checking to see if available on ship? Thanks :)

There are two main companies that rent them and deliver to the ship, Special Needs at Sea — as mentioned by Tee & Chilli — and Scootaround (they go by another name too that I can’t remember right now). If you check out the special needs cruising boards here you will find more info. If you use a travel agent, they can book it for you.

You can arrange for the cruise line to give you a wheelchair transport on and off the ship on the first and last day — but be prepared to wait... and wait... and wait. You can often also get assistance down the long piers in some ports, but this isn’t guaranteed. In both cases, be prepared with tip money. As Host Clarea noted, they aren’t going to give you a scooter or chair to use on board.

Also, if you rent a scooter, remember it needs to be stored INSIDE your room. If they have space they *might* let you store it at guest services, but you cannot, under ANY circumstances, leave it in the hallway. So you need to make sure it can fit through the door (using one of the companies above helps resolve this) and that you will have room in your cabin. If you are planning to share an interior cabin with three other people, for example, you won’t have room for a scooter. We always get a junior suite to make sure we have room — wider doors and more “parking” space. ;)

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To all my fellow coffee lovers...

 

 

 

What are some of your favorite premium coffee drinks on Royal Caribbean? We’re going on the Anthem OTS in April and we bought the deluxe beverage package. We plan to have premium coffee every morning and afternoon.

Try decaf cappuccinos after dinner [emoji6]☕️

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We all booked independently and my sister has all our confirmation numbers which she says will allow her TA to arrange for our set table for 8 each night.

 

 

 

Do you think it would be a good idea to book a specialty restaurant the first night? Is it 50% off? How far in advance can we book that?

I know it’s too late now, but if you do another trip, use the same TA if you can. It makes life easier when you have a group like that.

We’ve done the BOGO but not as a group — though I see no reason it couldn’t work. You don’t pick your first restaurant when you book online, but on day one you can change it if you don’t like where you were assigned. You’d just have to have them link everyone when you got on board, or buy it together (i.e. one person puts everyone on their card) and link reservations when you purchase.

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There are only 9 Star Class suites on Harmony - 6 2 BR ATS, 2 Sky/Star Loft and 1 Royal Loft.

You forgot the Villa suite.

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I’ve heard that bringing a clock is really, really helpful in those rooms. Having the ambient light from the TV on all night might get annoying. It’s probably worth bringing a bedside clock (like a cheap alarm clock or something) for the adults room.

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We couldn't find an HDMI port on our TV on Anthem.

I was on the Anthem in a JS a few months ago and the port was tough to find — but I was very determined. It’s in a tough spot to reach so it wasn’t easy to do. Once I got it set up, I needed a remote to change the input. The “channel 3” trick did’t work.

The way the TVs are attached on the Anthem (Quantum class) means you have to be pretty motivated to get it done. For me it required standing on a chair, using one cell phone as a flash light and another cell phone as a camera to view the parts of the TV I couldn’t see from the front.

I set it up so I could watch my favorite TV show before bed each night, but it came in handy when I got sick one day and basically spent half a day in bed while on the cruise.

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Do they have squat rack, do they have a bench press, do they have a dumbbell rack and do they have a leg press. Not the machine one I know they have that but a free weight type of leg press.

 

 

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The ship gyms are nicer than your typical hotel gym, but they don’t usually have squat racks, Smith’s machines, or barbells of any kind. There are free weight dumbbells that go up reasonably high in weight (if you google pics, you may be able to find how high), benches, and lots of machine weights to cover the major muscle groups. The newer ones have TRX straps as well.

You can get some nice workouts in, and watching the ocean while you do your cardio/warm-ups is very awesome, but it’s not going to be the same as your home gym and you’ll need to make adjustments. If you are used to very heavy weights, you may need to switch to smaller weights with more reps for the week.

This article provides some other workout options on board for you to consider: https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2019

I hope that helps.

P.S. I stand corrected on the Smith’s machine. good to know.

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For reference, I found this picture here on Cruise Critic where you can see the Starbucks counter to the right and the logo clearly displayed on the menu board:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/adventure-of-the-seas-192/cafe-promenade-363863/cafe-promenade--v16533533/

Another way to tell the difference is that, as seen in the picture you shared, the location is called something other than Starbucks. Cafe Promenade, or La Patisserie on Anthem, serve Starbucks coffee but are not called “Starbucks.” On the Oasis class, the sign says “Starbucks” and that’s the name of the location.

It’s the difference between a licensed location (Oasis class) and an eating facility that participates in the Starbucks food service program (all the other ones). The cafeteria at my office participates in the “Proudly serves Starbucks” program too, and I can assure you that it is no Starbucks.

A second giveaway is that the cups are different. Cups used by locations that “proudly serve Starbucks” have a colored band around the bottom to distinguish them from the real ones. Example:

On Anthem I heard employees refer to the La Patisserie as “Starbucks” but it’s still not Starbucks.

It’s just like on land when a Barnes and Noble Cafe sells Starbucks but isn’t a real Starbucks, while a Target may actually have a real Starbucks location inside.

In summation, Ken and Bob are right, and just because a venue purchases their coffee from Starbucks doesn’t make them a Starbucks.

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Very good info. Just one small caveat to add...

On board last week, I found that it only worked for some texts (SMS), but it was great for calls. I didn’t know WiFi calling worked for SMS so I was surprised to get any. I have an iPhone so I knew that iMessages would work, but I received a few SMS group texts while on WiFi as well. When I returned to cellular (a few times on this trip because their were two Florida stops) I would get the rest of the SMS messages that didn’t go through. I have no idea why some worked and others didn’t, but just wanted to add that people shouldn’t count on receiving SMS or MMS texts (regular and photo texts - “green bubbles” for iPhone users) over WiFi with this set up.

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Greetings from a drizzly-but-better-than-working day aboard the Anthem of the Seas. I’ve located five (5) freestyle machines in four (4) locations. One on either side of the Windjammer on Deck 14 (Aft), one in the Seaplex on Deck 15 (Aft), and two in Sorrento’s on Deck 4 (Fwd).

Photographic evidence below. [emoji6]

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For all the times my husband asks me to carry things in my purse for him on land, I figure it’s only fair to have him carry my seapass card on formal nights and at the pool. [emoji6]

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I was on a cruise during the last shutdown. While I’m a nonessential federal employee, one of my traveling companions was an essential employee for a federal law enforcement agency in DC. Because she already had leave scheduled, she had to work it out with her supervisors, but she was able to go. Your wife should talk to her superiors about the situation. It’s possible she will still be able to go, especially if there are others that can cover for her, the way they would when it’s not shut down. Hang in there. You may still be able to work it out.

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My Set Sail Pass is ready . . .

Is there an app that displays the Set Sail Pass?

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It's showing it at $18 right now on my cruise planner. Hopefully it's still there tomorrow when I have a chance to discuss with DH.

 

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That $18 sale seems pretty common, but to be safe you could always buy it now, then cancel it if he talks you out of it. [emoji6]

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I wasn't thinking of the flavored water option of the freestyle. Gives me some options.

What about Labadee? Any freestyle there or pretty much just cocktails?

 

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No freestyle machine on Labadee, but they have soda in cans. The more fun option there (I don’t drink either) is the non-alcoholic Labadooze. It’s this frozen slushy fruit punch type thing that is delicious. The NA version is included in the package as long as you ask for it in a regular cup and not the souvenir one.

In addition to what everyone else has mentioned, I like being able to get tea lattes on board with the Refreshment package.

At night before bed, on Allure, my favorite thing was going to cafe promenade and grabbing one of the free decaf black tea bags (I can’t drink camomile and they didn’t have a decaf black tea in the specialty section behind the counter) and having the baristas turn it into a decaf black tea latte (specifically, a decaf London Fog). Without the package this would be completely stupid because I’d be paying for what is essentially a free tea with extras added in (steam milk and sf vanilla syrup), but because I had the package it didn’t matter. I could get exactly what I wanted and not worry about it.

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The person, propped up so likely breathing on their own, was just put into the ambulance, and two other guests disembarked as well.

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My husband and I decided to drive by to see the ship pull in. It is already docked, there is an ambulance waiting and staff offloaded someone’s belongings with a luggage cart. We saw a stretcher go in. I’m hoping the fact that they seem to be taking their time means the person is stable.

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There have been some updates here and on another social media site indicating a change of plans. Since they got back later than expected, they aren’t going back out to sea.

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Hmm. [emoji848] The black hole persists. [emoji79][emoji87] I’ll be on her tomorrow and will see what I can find out.

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I’m going to be ON this sailing with you and I’m STILL excited to follow your review because your reviews are THAT good. [emoji106][emoji16][emoji898][emoji568]

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I’ve searched several times and I cannot seem to find menus for the Coastal Kitchen on Anthem. Most of the threads about CK tend to be about the Oasis class ships, and I’ve seen a few notes indicating that CK is “different” on Anthem as compared to the Oasis class ship, but I have yet to find any recent menu photos, or even food photos, from dinners at CK on the Anthem.

It’s not like CC to have such a black hole, so I’m sure I’m just searching wrong or something. Can someone help me out here? What gives? Where would I find info on what’s served in CK on Anthem at dinner?

Thanks in advance.

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Our TA gave us a "free" specialty dining for two with our reservation. Well, that's great. However, we're sailing with our 2 children so, in order to use it, we would have to spend exactly what we would be saving. Since we are completely okay with eating at the free venues, this really doesn't appeal to us. The TA said there is no other perk that she can offer other than the specialty dining so we're stuck with a perk we do not plan on using. My question is, is there a way to gift the perk to another guest on the cruise? I hate to waste the reservation but I see no reason to spend money in order to save money. I really wish she could give us something else we would actually use.

I don’t know if it will work, but I have an idea for you...

If it’s the same kind my TA gives, even though it isn’t just an OBC the way others get (though you should check for this), it does become a “credit” if you use it in an a la cart restaurant like Izumi or Sabor. So if the four of you went to an a la cart place and used the credit, I think they would essentially give you $70-ish toward your bill. If you chose to use it at lunch time, that would likely be more than enough for the four of you.

Check with the specialty dining people to make sure before you try this.

Also, regarding the gifting, when I use those credits they take my info at the beginning, but then scan my card at the end. So even if you gave the credit to someone, you’d probably have to be there at the end for them to reconcile with your card. I think it would be pretty messy.

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Biggest downside will be the astronomical number of C&A members onboard.

Yes, we have a few in our group who will be Diamond for the first time on that cruise, so it will be interesting to see how their experience differs from the norm. But, we also have a star class suite on that one, so they will probably be too busy absorbing the star privileges to notice. I worry it’s going to be tough to go back to our regular balconies and JS rooms after this one.

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