starfish216

We had four cabins on the 10/28-11/4 of the Anthem. Only one cabin received the noro virus letter the day we were disembarking, luckily no one got sick.

We always notice the crew wiping door knobs, hand rails and tables down. In fact they were doing a more thorough cleaning as we were disembarking, they had yellow tape across areas with a sign stating something to the effect of 'keep out area sanitized'.

But what I have never noticed in public areas in the back and seats of chairs being wiped down. No matter where you go if you plan on sitting your hands will be touching the back of the chair or the seat. I've seen tables and the edges of the buffet station being wiped down and even drinks in the Windjammer being handed to you but I have never seen when a table is being cleared off and wiped down the crew wiping the back and seats of the chairs down. That is where everyones hand are, you pull out a chair to sit etc.

What about all those loungers by the pool, have they even been sanitized? What about all the seating areas with fabric, how is that sanitized? I can see these areas causing any virus to spread quickly. Maybe these areas are sanitized in the wee hours of the morning, I don't know.

We just came back from the Anthem cruise that visited Coco Cay and Nassau.

At Coco Cay RC will make money on resources they already have there like renting cabanas, floating mats, umbrellas, jet skis etc and excursions. The more these items turn over the more money RC makes, not to mention all the alcohol they will sell.

We have been to Coco Cay three times and were the only ship there. Now that the dock is being built I wonder if two ships will be there at the same time.

Been to Nassau so many times, last time we were there we went for a long walk and went back to the ship. Done most of the excursions in the past and none of them were worth repeating.

Also wondering if this change will effect the amount of dollars a passenger spends on port taxes.

I see so many people complaining about the cruiselines not giving them all their money back.

 

This is what Trip insurance is for. A cruiseline (or any vacation) is not there to hand money out if something out of their control happens.

 

We all should know the ramifications of booking trips and cancellation fees, and trip insurance is very cheap. I just paid 100 bucks for 3 of us for our Allure trip 10/1 a few weeks ago. So glad I have that peace of mind and will not be worrying about problems if they arise. That's my responsibility as a consumer.

 

Would you drive your car without insurance? I have been in the insurance industry for 30 years and have seen more people than I can count try to save a few bucks on insurance (of any kind) and pay an immense price for it in the end.

If you are getting trip insurance for three for a hundred bucks you must be young, lucky you.

Can you please let me know which provider you use.

When I purchase trip insurance for my family of 3 when we travel and it's always over $500. I use that popular insure my trip site.

We never travel without trip insurance, even if it means we must purchase the cruise lines insurance.

Thanks for the suggestion to clear cookies!

Clearing cookies on my Mac did the job. It's one of those things I forget to do once in a while.

Many of us use a travel agent website.

In the past I've used my travel agent (big box store) website since I know what month and where we wanted to travel.

This time around we're really flexible I wanted to see what all my options are for cruises leaving out of a specific port. They require a departure date and will only show cruise within two months of that date.

Wanting a longer window of browsing is what prompted me to go to RC website.

I hope RC spends some of their profits on a more user friendly website.

I've been trying for over 30 minutes to research and plan a new cruise.

No matter what link I click on (find a cruise or book now or search by ship) on RC website the page comes up blank. I even signed in thinking that would help but it didn't.

It's so frustrating using their website.

My browser is Safari, I don't seem to have any issues with other websites.

For now I just give up.

Just returned from Independence of the Seas that stopped at Le Harve.

As others had said Le Harve is an industrial area, you can not walk off the ship and go anywhere. You can purchase shuttle tickets that will take you outside the area, they sell them on the ship.

We hired a private driver to take us to/from Paris. It took two hours to get to Paris with one quick restroom stop. We stopped at all the popular places. The tour guide/driver will customize the tour to your needs or desires. The ride back to the ship was almost 2.5 hours because there was an accident on the road. We weren't worried since we allowed plenty of time for the ride back.

If you are interested let me know and I will send you the info.

Sailed on the Anthem twice and the Quantum. Going again in October because we like the ship so much.

This ship is made for cold weather sailings. There is a nice sized enclosed adult only Serenity area, they do keep the children out of this area. There is an indoor pool. Once the weather gets warmer there is also an outdoor pool. If lounging on a lounger is not your thing there are also many quite spots around the ship sit and relax. Two70 is a very nice place to sit and read. Also the promenade leading there is nice and quite.

There is a large sports complex on the ship which is good for those who are traveling with children or adults who just want to be more active.

As with any cruise ship expect peak times at the buffet to be crowded and finding a lounger in the Serenity area or by the pool late in the morning may be difficult. If you are not looking to be near the pool, there are plenty of loungers on the deck above the pool. This never effected me personally since I am an early riser, even on vacation.

I like that there are actual hand washing stations as you enter the buffet, I would rather wash my hands than use hand sanitizers.

Dining was easy. I usually make reservation before sailing, show up and wait to be seated. Never had to wait more than just a few minutes.

I like that the Esplanade is two levels. This allows us to travel from one end of the ship to the other if the main promenade is crowded with a parade or sale.

Also the cabins are better designed to have more storage space like cabinets above the bed and drawers under the sofa.

Give her a try you may like it. You'll still be on vacation so how bad can it be.

Shows and food taste vary from person to person so I won't comment on that.

That's the way I would go for sure as you never know about the Bayonne Bridge. Off the Turnpike at Exit 14A.

Always check the Port Authority link posted by others above to see if the Bayonne Bridge is closed during the time you are traveling. Since they have now opened part of the new roadway daytime closures are rare.

If you are coming over the Verrazano Bridge you pass the Bayonne Bridge before you get to the Goethals Bridge. There is usually a digital sign announcing if the Bayonne Bridge is closed. No need to directly head to the Goethals Bridge and travel the long way around.

The distance from he SI Expressway exit 9 to Cape Liberty via the Bayonne Bridge is about 7 miles. So it's a pretty quick ride.

If you travel to Cape Liberty via the Goethals Bridge the distance is about 20 miles plus an extra $3 for the turnpike toll. Going this way you also have a great chance on getting stuck in traffic, the road is heavily traveled.

Sorry to hear your bungalow got cancelled, I know is disappointing and frustrating.

You don't have to carry lunch from the ship, the ship provides a buffet on Coco Cay which you can go to at your leisure. It's available for a couple of hours and also has access to water and beverages you would normally find in the Windjammer. If you have a beverage package it also works on Coco Cay.

Let you toddler rest on the lounger.

You can still use the tram.

We were in the bungalows in December they are at the far end of the beach, away from everything. If the tide is out you will only have ankle deep water and loads of seas grass. Those clam shells are more centrally located near all the activity. Near them is a roped off area for swimming and a buffet.

Here is a photo of the water in front of the bungalows: the darker looking spots is sea grass. It is really not deep enough for swimming or wading unless your toddler wants to sit in it and splash. But closer to where the buffet is is an area deep enough to swim and play in.

Make sure you have something on your feet walking through the grass, the first time we visited my husband stepped on a sea urchin hiding in the sea grass and we had to go to first aide. This time we were wiser and walked in the water with water shoes or sandals.

Enjoy you day at Coco Cay!

The private lunch was severed when we were there in December. We ordered the hamburger and it wasn't warm/hot it was more like room temperature. You also have to wait for them to come to you to order and bring you your food. If you are exploring the island you can miss the opportunity to order lunch and then have to go and track then down and hope there is something you like available to eat. Once we saw they were taking orders for lunch we actually sat in our bungalow waiting for them to get to us. Then wait for them to bring us our food. Another option is to walk or take the tram to where the main buffet is set up. I can see them doing away with the whole lunch menu option., I personally didn't want to be restricted to a small window of time in order to get food.

Also, those beach beds and bungalows are at the far end of the island, away from everything. The water there was too low for swimming or wading especially during low tide, it was calf deep at best. As the tide went out we were left with a lot of sea grass in front of our bungalow.

We always book cabanas or a bungalow when we go to private island. We will be going back to Coco Cay in October and I am not booking a bungalow this time, unless they change location.

Just speculating here regarding price drop and lunch change. Maybe they are not being sold out hence the price drop. If anyone has ever followed the pricing of cabanas and bungalows they price tends to go up as the demand does.

As for lunch maybe there were too many complaints so they stopped doing it. Or on the positive side maybe, just maybe, RC set up another buffet there. I doubt this last option since there are not many guest down that end of the island.

Hope things work out for you.

Just looking to find out again can you use cash or do you use your sea pass when you're in the casino just looking to clarify thank you

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Forums mobile app

Sailed on the Anthem a couple of times.

The casino does take cash.

OP

Rent a wheelchair or scooter before you go. You can rent one locally where you live or see about having one delivered to the ship. If you rent a scooter just make sure it can fit through the cabin door, the doors are narrower than those at home. You are not allowed to leave anything in the hallways.

Since you may be unstable with your knee bothering you, you can contact RC special needs department and ask for a shower bench. RC has those and will delivery one to your cabin. You may feel more comfortable sitting while showering than worrying about the movement of the ocean.

I would keep the $200 OBC, don't worry about priority embarkation.

Our first cruise with RC was Explorer of the Seas out of Bayonne about 5 years ago. We arrived at port around 10:30 PM and was eating lunch by 11:30. After wedding parties, suite guest and guest with RC status everyone else boards in groups according to when they arrived at port. The process is fast enough definitely not worth losing $150 OBC.

The priority embarkation by AAA can mean anything and not necessarily that you will board first.

All this can vary by port or ship. What ship are you sailing on?

I've been to both ports, Cape Liberty is so much easier than Manhattan. The parking garage at Cape Liberty is right next to the new terminal. In December 2016 parking at Cape Liberty was $20 per night.

Both require patience since thousands of guest are embarking in a short period of time. I actually feel Manhattan port is worse especially if there is more than one ship in. All traffic there must flow the same way before it splits for drop off or parking. It just seems to take longer especially when you have to wait for the traffic light to change for cross traffic. Where as Cape Liberty all the times we were there, there was only one ship in port and no traffic light.

Here is a diagram of at Cape Liberty. As Baron suggested you must pass the drop off area in order to get to the garage. There is no direct access to the garage from the main road coming in.

HI, we are thinking about a bungalow, we have a person in our group that cant walk the whole way there but i notice there is transport so does that mean they take you all the way there or to the tram stop that seems a healthy distance from there?

We and every one is our bungalow were given priority tender access.

Yes they do have a tram to the bungalows. The distance from tram drop off to bungalows is about a half a block. We choose the bungalow near the restrooms since we were also traveling with two adults who have trouble walking long distances.

There is also a bar with limited drinks available, when we were there in Dec 2016 the bar did not have mixers to make speciality cocktails but did have some beer, soda and alcohol.

There is a food truck that brings food to the area. A server will come around and ask what you want from the very limited menu the bring you your food. You can order as much as you want.

Just so you are aware the bungalows are at the far end of the beach, there is not much down that end. The water when we were there was calf deep and as the tide went out later in the day in some places we just had sea grass. It's very quite down there.

The bungalows are not near the buffet. If you wish to eat at the buffet you need to take the tram back to where you were picked up or walk the beach to the buffet. The walk is about 10-15 minutes.

I have noticed a few CC members inquired about Cape Liberty Passenger Terminal.

Hope this helps guest arriving at Cape Liberty regarding the set up for passenger/luggage drop off and parking.

I have attached a couple of screen shots of the port area. I highlighted in red how the set up is.

All traffic must flow the direction of the arrows.

You can not enter the parking garage directly from the main road coming in, you must pass the passenger/luggage drop off area to enter the garage.

All this is accurate when we sailed in December 2016.

http://s989.photobucket.com/user/dragonfly94-2010/media/Screen%20Shot%202017-03-12%20at%208.51.47%20AM.png.html

http://s989.photobucket.com/user/dragonfly94-2010/media/Screen%20Shot%202017-03-12%20at%208.55.23%20AM.png.html

OP, since we live 20 minutes from port we drive ourselves to this port all the time.

In order to enter the parking garage or drop someone off you have to pass the luggage/passenger drop off line. That's the way it's set up. All vehicles (cars, busses, taxis and limos ) follow the same route to the ship.

We usually arrive at port around 10:30 AM. The line isn't that long and moves quickly. There are people directing the flow of traffic for luggage drop off, as you get closer you will see RC has more then one bay to drop luggage off. There is someone directing traffic into the bays as they empty out. Guest can also be dropped off here or a little closer to the building entrance. It's fast and efficient.

As you exit the drop off area you will see the entrance to the parking garage on your right. You cannot get to the garage directly from the roadway, you must loop around and pass the luggage/passenger drop off area. It's the way the road is designed.

One trip my sister arrived at port around noon with lines as long as the eyes can see, I was on the ship already and saw the long lines, it looked like it would take hours but in actuality it took 30 minutes.

We are on that sailing.

Port Canaveral has always been the port of call since we booked.

We have sailed equally on both lines. About 16 cruises in total.

Started with Carnival because it was more affordable with having to pay for a cabin for our kids. Now that are children are grown we gave RC a try a few years ago and we really enjoyed them.

On both lines the staff was friendly. We found food we liked and disliked on both lines . I feel Carnival has better comedy entertainment while RC has better Production Shows.

We like the public areas on RC. Carnival has tables on the Lido deck by the main pool, this area always appeared to be a mess with dirty plates and uneaten fool. Where on RC, at least the ships we have been on, there are no tables by the pool area, leaving more room for lounges.

Living in NYC our go to cruise line now is RC. We like the Anthem class ships of RC versus an older Carnival ship.

Me again, I didn't want to leave you with a negative impression of Coco Cay.

December was our second visit to Coco Cay. The first time we went we just got off the tender, walked to the beach and took a spot under a tree. The water in that area was deep enough to wade in. We enjoyed walking along the shore in the water looking for sea life as stated above.

So this time when we heard RC expanded and now offered Bungalows and Beach Beds further down the island we grabbed one. It was really for the comfort of my 87 year old dad to sit on a couch vs trying to get out of a lounge chair. It's beautiful, quite and relaxing down that end of the island. That's it. There is a tram that will drop you off in the area or you can do the 10-15 minute walk. There is a rest room behind the bungalows and a bar that offers soda, beer and some drinks but does not have the mixers for speciality cocktails.

Around lunchtime an attendant came by with a limited menu and asked what we wanted for lunch. A food truck is placed behind the bungalows and she will go and get you your lunch. If you want he full buffet you must get back to the area where the tender dropped you off.

Overall for our family it was nice, especially that my dad was able to enjoy the day with us. The first time we went he stayed on the ship. The weather wasn't hot, so we weren't looking to cool off or go for a swim. Nor did we have children with us looking to swim in the water.

We will be going again in October 2017 and I will only get the bungalow if my dad wants to get off the ship. Other wise I will take a spot somewhere under a tree.

Enjoy your visit to Coco Cay!

We had the Bungalows right next to the Beach Beds on Coco Cay in Dec 2016.

The beach beds are are past the bungalows. If you want a quite place to just lounge and relax this is it. There is nothing else down this end of the island.

Most of the water down that end of the island is very shallow - less than knee deep. There is a lot of sea grass in the water. As you walk along you can find an occasional sea cucumber, sand dollar, conch shell or sea urchin.

I haven't been in all the water but from what I saw it's really low or in our case as the tide went out there was no water and just sea grass. This photo was taken as the tide was going out, still had a couple of hours to go before tide was at it's lowest.

Here is a photo of the 'swim up bar' - the deepest it was when we were there was a little bit past our knees.

The water closest to where the tender drops you off appears to be a little deeper where you may be able to swim or wade. The water also appeared to be wadeable where the buffet is. I didn't go in it but saw guest in the water in that area.

So if you think you will be able to swim or snorkel in front of you beach bed you may want to reconsider that idea. But if you are looking for a quite place to sit and relax then go for it.

Wow... if that were true, one would get a free cruise in a balcony cabin after gambling just $96! :D

 

Every $5 played earns you 1 point.

 

According to the Allure of the Seas sign posted above, 250 points may be cashed in for $5 in free slot play.

This is the way I understood it to be. Every $5 played earns you 1 point when playing slots. Every $10 played earns you one point when playing Video Poker.

I'm looking at cabin 9570 on the Anthem. I'm noticing that it's right in front of the opening to the elevators. I called RCCL and multiple agents have told me that there is a door separating the hallway of cabins to the elevator atrium and there won't be any noise issues in the cabin. Is this true???? I'm sailing w/ my husband and two kids, ages 4 and 6. Thoughts?

It's true there is a door separating the cabin hallway from the elevator area and the stairs. The doorway to the cabin hallway usually remains open.

You hear no noise what so ever and I'm a very light sleeper. We stayed in cabin 9556 and 9560 and there was no elevator lobby noise. There are several floors between your cabin and the public areas both below and above you. We always try to pick deck 9 or 10 when we sail on the Anthem.

There are not that many passengers passing your cabin door, just a few.

A side note: Now on most Carnival ships I won't take a cabin by the Atrium Lobby elevator. My experience with them has been the Atrium is open to all decks going up, it's the way the ships were designed to give a vast expanse look for the Atrium. The cabin hallways near the elevator overlook the Atrium so any activity or band playing in the Atrium Lobby can be heard in the cabins near that elevator bank. And yes you can hear muffled music in your stateroom if it happens to be near the open hallways that over look the Atrium.

Here are my questions:

1 - Can I apply the value off a current booking made through my normal travel agent? It wasn't booked through the casino team. The sailing isn't until August so we are before final payment. If we don't think any of the sailings on either certificate will work, can we apply the valus from both to our next cruise

This comment is for a future cruise that has not reached final payment yet.

As far as applying certificates to a future booked cruise I was told RC (or TA in our case) will have to cancel my future booking and rebook the cruise at the current casino rate via the phone number on the certificate, then the certificates can be applied. But since I had booked my future cruise (Independence - July 2017) a year ago it wasn't worth using the certificates since the current price was $1400 more than when we had booked. Our savings would have only been a couple hundred dollars which is significantly less than the value of the two certificates.

If you don't want the cruise they offer you are allowed to combine the dollar value of the certificates (must be in the same household) and apply them to a sailing of your choice. I had my TA (big box store) call the phone number on the certificate. In fact our Dec 2016 cruise was mostly paid for from the certificates we received from our May 2016 sailing on the Anthem.

I actually ended up using the Dec 2016 Anthem certificates to book the Anthem again for Oct 2017. Living 20 minutes from Cape Liberty this will be an inexpensive vacation for us.

We always end up using the dollar value of the certificates since the free cruises just don't work for us.

4 - Can I still use my normal travel agent and link her in with the Casino team?

Yes you can if she/he is willing to call the phone number on the back of the certificate. Our TA (big box store) still gives us a rebate (gift card) based on what we pay. If you use a TA just remember that any changes to the reservation must be made through that TA and not RC.

All this info was as of Mid January 2017, for all I know RC might have already changed how they do things.