starfish216

Last year we rented a Cabana on Nellie's Beach and we had a cooler with bottle water supplied along with towels. My dad was also able to be driven via a golf cart to our Nellie's Beach Cabana.

This year I again reserved a Cabana at Nellie's beach but the description does not mention anything about bottled water or the use of a golf cart attendant.

We will be in Labadee again in a couple of weeks, do they still provide still provide a cooler with bottle water and is a golf cart attendant available to take my dad to the Cabana?

From the past I know the upgraded buffet was not included but I just read on CC that some folks at Nellie's Beach were able to access the upgraded buffet....is this true? If so, how was it decided who gets to go?

Thanks.

From Novicetravller "The ship didn't leave port until an hour late. Not a massive issue as I know that we will make up the time. I am assuming this is something that happens often. If the assumption is correct, I am wondering if Anthem should leave 1 hour late as a permanent thing?"

We are on the May 5th sailing and our cruise doesn't leave until 4 PM. We sailed several times in May and it always left at 4 PM. Maybe it's a seasonal thing.

Thank-you, I had not seen this before.

 

All I got with regard to DD was that they were going to "relaunch" it (but no details other than renaming) and that 35% of the guests prefer traditional dining.

If only 35% of guest prefer traditional dining why are they doing away with DD? That leaves 65% of the guest not getting the dining they prefer. Looks like RC is going bacKwards to me.

He really didn't say much about DD just that the name may change to MTD in the coming weeks or months.

I more curious to know with MTD whether or not we will be able to pick what free restaurant we want to eat in every night or would we just be assigned to one of them for the duration of the cruise.

HI - Found this on the Loyal to Royal sight for Anthem.

Not all Anthem intinerarys but some for the Bahamas.

 

Now if I could only find the Bermuda and the Caribbean :)

 

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2017_2018/16050231_Anthem_Caribbean_Deployment_Flyer.pdf

That's what I am waiting for, for May 2017. We like sailing that time of year.

Sorry, off topic, but at work, and I cant find a thread! I remember printing out colored luggage tags my last cruise. I just printed mt set sail pass, but dont see tags. Did they change this? June 2, Bermuda & E. Caribbean out of Bayone. Thanks!

Log into RC and click on your reservation number. This should bring up your 'Vacation Summary' in Cruise Planner.

Once there on the right, below you reservation number is a link that says 'On line check-in' ...click on that

Then you will see the status of you on line check-in process in 'Steps 1-4'.

Underneath those steps is a link that says 'Print Paper Luggage Tags' you can print the luggage tags before you complete the on-line check in.

I agree with the above poster. Wonderful video and well done. You do have a great voice for narrating.

When where you on the Quantum? We sailed on her last year over Easter

I know it wasn't over Easter.....no need to do that anymore since the kids are grown. lol

We sailed on the QOS March 13, 2015

First we heard it started April 30th, now it may be 6 weeks , I'm on the May 5th cruise, I hope it doesn't change till after that, I don't want to be the Guinea pig for this new change

Six weeks from now is the best news I heard regarding DD change! That will actually be on the cruise that embarks when we disembark.

We too are sailing May 5th and are looking forward to DD.

We had it on the Quantum and loved the concept.

Firstly, I'm not on about menu entries, I'm on about the concept as a whole, the entire Anthem of the Seas site has a whole section on dining which is classed as advertising. The UK brochure also has a section on dining aboard Anthem.

 

Either way, the dining changes represent a significant part of the holiday, for Royal to change this upon people is poor, and as such I won't be very happy after shelling multiple thousands of pounds for them to just change things like that.

 

You can quote the booking terms and conditions all you like but they will have tactical discounts/goodwill gestures lined up for this circumstance. It won't be given to everyone, it will be given to those who make a point.

 

I chose Anthem based on my like of Dynamic Dining on Quantum, to change it so vastly I'm not very happy.

Well said and I totally agree. I booked the Anthem based on the DD we experienced on the Quantum. Changing that dinning experience is significant to me, part of what I purchased will not be there. I liked the idea of eating in a different venue every night.

I am not looking for OBC, I want the cruise experience I paid for....all the other unique offerings (i.e. Bumper Cars, I-fly etc) the Anthem offers is not of interest to me. Since we sail in four weeks cancelling is not on option.

We are scheduled to sail Anthem in May.

 

The reference to My Time Dining sounds like they are making a change. However, I just looked online and you can still make reservations at the various restaurants. Have they been using this email all along - or did they previously have one that used the term Dynamic Dining?

 

Count me among those that will be disappointed if it changes.

We are sailing May 5th. We haven't heard anything yet. All our dinning reservations are still as we planned them.

Sounds like they are doing away with DD. No mention of it in the email they sent you, they refer to MTD.

Also, they only mention "you can enjoy dinner the comforts of the dinning room at any time you choose" suggesting to me we will be assigned one dinning room.

My family too was looking forward to dinning in a different venue every night. We were lucky enough to experience it on the Quantum last year and loved it. That is why we booked the Anthem....to experience a different dinning venues every night.

What a bummer if DD is truly taken DD away.

I think having every restaurant split every night between Classic DD and DD is difficult for the cooks and servers. This in effect creates not optimum service in the dinning rooms.

I think RC should make any two restaurants Classic DD on any giving night, meaning the whole restaurant is Classic DD for the night. Then the other two could be DD for the night. As RC rotates the Classic DD dinning room each night, then that will free up two other restaurant for DD.

For example: Let's say the four venues are Grande (G), Chic ©, American Icon (AI) and Silk (S). If there are two restaurants serving Classic DD on any given night.... lets call them Groups 1 and 2

On night Group 1 & 2 will dine in venues G & C for Classic DD and venues AI & S are DD

Night two Group 1 & 2 will dine in venues C & AI for Classic DD and venue S & G will be DD

Night three Group 1 & 2 will dine in venues AI & S for Classic DD and venue G & C will be DD

Night four Group 1 & 2 will dine in venues S & G for Classic DD and venue C & AI will be DD

This rotation will repeat. The serving staff assigned to Groups 1 & 2 will move from restaurant to restaurant with their group.

This would be similar to what is being done when they introduced Classic DD to the Anthem except now on any given night only two restaurants will be serving Classic all the others will be DD.

Most dinning times will remain as booked except the venue where we dine may change. This will allow everyone an opportunity to try every dinning venue as advertised.

For example my family is doing DD, we have the Grande booked for night one. According to the schedule above I would not be able to eat in the Grande until night 2 or 3. I am OK with that, I just don't want to be assigned to the same Restaurant every night......that is not what I purchased. I don't care what night I eat in any venue I just want an opportunity to try them all at least once!

It's not the menu's I will be missing...the same menu can be served in any venue.

What I liked about DD was going to a different venue every night. To me it was like going out to a new restaurant every night. Different decor, ambience and servers.

We booked our May Anthem sailing specifically because we enjoyed eating in different venues when we were on the QOS last year....so I am hopping it's all rumor.

I woudnt like that, so Choice /MTD will get the pretty plain decor in American Icon Grill or the over the top and inappropriate to traditional dining decor in Silk. Classic/Set Time diners will get the much nicer decorated Grande or the plain but modern Chic. What a mess.

Totally agree!

I booked the ship because of the different dinning venues that were offered. Now having the potential to be assigned to one room isn't what I paid for. There is a huge difference in the decor between the venues. American Icon being my least favorite.

They should keep the dinning concept the way it was intended to be done. All this mass confusion started when RC brought Classic Dynamic Dinning to the Anthem. RC had no problem filling the ship when it was just DD....Guest know ahead of time the dinning concept of the ship, if you don't like it don't book it. Sail on a different ship.

The last thing I am looking for is OBC....I want the cruise dinning I booked and paid for 13 months ago.

DD is what made this ship so great!

Hope they don't change anything before our May 5th sailing.

After talking with the Maitre'd of all restaurants this evening, I can confirm that Dynamic Dining will be coming to an end. When I tried to get her to commit to a date, she said it would be after we disembarked the ship which will be April 30th.

 

The 2 dining rooms on Deck 3 will be Traditional with 2 seatings and the 2 dining rooms on Deck 4 will be MTD. Yes, Formal Nights will be reinstated on Anthem. Coastal Kitchen and the Solarium will be for Suite Guests and Pinnacle Club Members. Suite Guests and PC Members can also have Traditional or MTD.

 

When I asked the question "WHY", I was told that there were so many complaints from C&A Members.........and this was all levels, and not the higher levels as was posted earlier, that Upper Management listened and is making the change to satisfy its guests.

 

This change will only affect Anthem and not Quantum or Ovation.

Sailing on the Anthem May 5th, will be disappointed if they do away with DD. That's what we loved about Quantum class. That's why I was willing to pay more for the uniqueness in dinning the ship had to offer.

We did it on the QOS and enjoyed going to a different venue every night. Some we liked more than others but that was OK.

It was part of the cruise that was exciting, now it will be boring eating in the same venue every night. To me there is a huge difference in the decor of the dinning venues....American Icon reminds me of a dinner. I didn't mind eating there for one evening but to have the potential to be assigned that room for the duration of the cruise is not right.

We are 7 adults between 4 cabins and it took me a while to coordinate the dinning times with show times. I just hope things don't get messed up.

 

This makes the most sense. Have each guest assigned to one of the dinning rooms for the duration of the cruise, then rotate the menus.

 

We don't do traditional dinning since we don't always eat in the dinning room. Hate to have a table for 6-8 people sitting empty because we choose to eat somewhere else.

The Solarium does not have a retractable roof but they do have an 'indoor' pool area with a retractable roof.

As for whether or not they open it during warmer weather I will soon find out....I'll be sailing on her in May.

When we sailed on her sister ship the Quantum last March, the roof remained closed the whole time... even when we reached the Caribbean.

They also have an outdoor pool area.

We have sailed on both lines, some of the ships we have sailed more than once. We live in NYC. We are in our late 50's and no longer have to sail with children or when school is out.

Carnival - Destiny, Pride, Inspiration, Sensation, Miracle, Glory and Freedom

Royal Caribbean - Explorer, Oasis, Radiance, Quantum and Anthem (coming May)

We started with Carnival about 15 years ago and about 5 years ago we tried Explorer of the Seas (we live 20 minutes from port). All I can say is we fell in love with RC and rebooked Explorer again for the following year. Since then we have sailed on various RC ships listed above.

Last year because of a good casino rate discount offer Carnival sent us and a free cabin for dad, we booked two Carnival cruises - one left from NYC and the other from Baltimore. We figured we liked Carnival in the past so what do we have to lose (except our money in the casino...lol). All I can say is even the free cruise offer they gave all of us at the end of our October cruise, it still couldn't convince us to pay for airfare to fly to Florida for that free cruise. The offer was good for sailings before April 2016, none were out of NY area. All members of our family in three separate cabins received the offer. None of us took it.

There is just something about RC that we love. The ships themselves and the entertainment. Maybe it's because we are older now but the guests on RC seem more maturer.

RC tends to clear the tables off quickly in the buffet and the pool area always appears clean since there are no tables around the pool deck. Where as on Carnival since they have tables out by the pool area the tables are always littered with dirty dishes. Just our observations.

What we do like about Carnival is the Comedy Club.

On both cruise lines the staff was very friendly, never an issue with cabin or cabin steward.

As for food, we always found something to eat on both lines.

For now RC is the way we prefer to sail, even over free offers from Carnival.

Frozen drinks are covered by both. The Ultimate package "adds" specialty coffee and fresh sqeezed OJ. If you are OK with black coffee, and regular OJ in the morning, than go with the cheaper package. Having whipped cream in my coffee is not worth the extra $10.00

Thanks for the info.

I figured that was the case, but it's not clear in the above description. The Premium drink package is 20% off for our cruise making it only $39 per day plus gratuity.

I have no need for the extra's the Ultimate package offers.

I am trying to figure out what package i.e. Premium vs Ultimate will cover the drinks I prefer to drink.

While cruising during the day I like to drink those frozen cocktail type drinks...Miami Vice, Pina Colada etc.... along with Malibu Bay Breeze.

Does any one know which package will cover these drinks?

It looks like the frozen drinks are only covered by the Ultimate Package, is that correct?

It may be worth it for me to purchase the Premium Package especially since RC is offering 20% off certain drink packages for our cruise if frozen drinks are included.

Here are some of the details from a Royal Caribbean Blog dated Jan 8, 2016:

Premium Package - $57.82 per guest, per day (includes service charge)

Guests that purchase the Premium drink package can choose between premium cocktails (up to $12 value), unlimited beer, non-alcoholic cocktails, wine by the glass (up to $12 value), fountain soda with Coca-Cola souvenir cup.

Guests will also receive 20% off bottles of wine.

Ultimate Package - $69.82 per guest, per day (includes service charge)

Guests can choose between beer, wine by the glass (up to $12 value) , mixed cocktails, frozen cocktails along with premium coffee, premium tea, bottled water (sparkling and still) , fresh squeezed juice, fountain sodas with the Coca-Cola souvenir cup.

According to this blog frozen drinks are only covered under the Ultimate Package. Does anyone have recent experience with purchasing frozen drinks with a package?

Do they serve them only on day 1? or every day?

thanks

The Roast Beef sandwich in Cafe 270 are served every afternoon, usually noon to 5 PM. They also have a salad bar in which staff can customize a salad for you.

From our sailing on the Quantum last year Cafe 270 was not open for dinner but was also open early morning for bagels, coffee etc.

Cafe 270 is not a buffet but just another place to get drinks, salad, sandwiches and a snack.

The hours are posted in the cruise planner, they may vary from day to day.

The $388 grats for 2 for 7 nites seems high. It works to 24.25 per day, per person. The normal is $12.95 per person, per day. ??????

Great catch! I just checked the invoice it's says $12.95 pp for gratuities but the math doesn't add up, guess I will be making a phone call to Club Royal to get clarification.

Just got off the phone with RC they apologized and adjusted the gratuities accordingly. Now I am paying even less, only $207.20 for the two of us.

This catch saved our family over $500! We have three cabins booked.

The numbers I quoted were what the rep read back to me after we were done. I booked late last night and didn't have a chance to look at the invoice until you mentioned it. It's our first European Cruise I just thought gratuities were higher because of that. But it says it right on the invoice $12.95 pp per day.

Thanks again.

I was able to book a D2 (mid-ship balcony) on the Independence of the Seas 8 nite Northern Europe Cities for 7/7/17. Round trip from Southampton, England with stops in Brussels, Oslo, Hamburg and Paris/Normandy.

I called Club Royale and received a discount on top of the 30% off for a grand total of $3333.88. The breakdown is as follows: cabin fare for two is $2518, port taxes $249, gratuities $388 and vacation protection $178.

All our previous cruises (over a dozen) have been to Alaska, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Wanted to try someplace new.

I happen to think this itinerary is great! You have 12 or more hours in each port with a sea day between ports. Now just hoping the airfare remains reasonable.

I can't speak for the cruise line but I would carry on sealed bottles of the nursery water.

I would bring whatever my child in comfortable consuming and not risk the cruise line supplying anything for my child. A childs system is more sensitive than an adults.

The key word is 'sealed' so no one can suspect filling the bottles with alcohol.

Enjoy your family vacation!

Been on over a dozen cruises in the Caribbean and always book a balcony.

Our family had three aft balconies on the Radiance Northbound the last week of July 2014 for our Alaska cruise. It rained or poured all day for five consecutive days, the fog was so low we couldn't even see the horizon. So visions of sitting out on our balcony watching the beautiful scenery and looking for wildlife were non existent. The furniture and railing on the balcony remained wet all the time. If you stood at the railing to look out, the water from the balcony above us would just drip on your head.

We finally had a beautiful day for Hubbard Glacier and spent most of our time up on deck or the public areas anyway. It was beautiful!

We did run back to our cabin once our side of the ship was facing the glacier only to say, let's go upstairs and view from the upper decks. It was nice sharing the view with all the other passengers. We took their photos with the glacier in the background and they took ours. This happened several times. We would of never had those photo opportunities if we stayed in our cabin. It was great sharing the excitement and awe with everyone.

I quickly looked at the pricing for Alaska this summer and said to my DH if we go again this summer I would book a window stateroom and save over $1500. I think he was shocked, since I am the one who always wants a balcony.

The public areas on the Radiance have a lot of glass which makes public viewing very easy.

Just my opinion, you can't always count on good weather to use the balcony. Coming from NY we are used to the cold weather so we were prepared to be cool but not for the unrelenting downpours. Balcony was useless to us with the constant rain. I am looking to cruise Alaska again but this time I am looking at window staterooms.