c breeze

16 hours ago, FamilyCruiseDiva said:

 

Hi!  First, I apologize if I'm posting this question in the wrong spot.

 

From what I am reading on RCI's website, the Deluxe Beverage package currently includes the Coca Cola souvenir cup and access to the Freestyle machines.   Is that correct? 

 

We're sailing on Allure in less than 2 weeks so I just want to be sure I know what's included and what's not.

 

Thanks in advance! 

I don't know if this will help you, but here is a post with a picture of the the soda machine, and the options that you will have at that machine.  It is an older post, but I don't think the choices have changed. https://www.*****.com/2015/07/20/coca-cola-freestyle-machines-royal-caribbean

3 hours ago, BillOh said:

 

I'm familiar with Coke Life (usually a green logo?)  But I haven't noticed it available. Sometimes I'll fill up on Coke Zero and add a splash of regular coke. 

Thanks.  I was trying to see if any of the beverages had stevia instead of artificial sweeteners (as in the beverages I mentioned), but I suppose that is doubtful, since stevia is generally a bit more expensive

Does anyone know if Fuse Meyer Lemon Black Tea (a Coke product) or Coke LIfe is available on these machines (Anthem of the Seas)?

https://www.coca-colaproductfacts.com/en/faq/reduced-no-sugar-substitutes/what-drinks-contain-stevia/

You say you have zone 3 tickets. That is not the terminology used. There are two types of tickets, 3 Zone tickets and 14 Zone tickets. The 14 Zone tickets are good for all zones. The 3 Zone tickets only for short rides on the bus and on the Pink ferry route. So for the Blue or Orange route ferries from the Dockyard to Hamilton and St. George you need 14 Zone tickets. If you have 14 zone tickets you are good for 7 trips. If you have 3 Zone tickets then it depends where you are going. They won't be good for the ferry from and to the Dockyard and they will only be good for long bus trips.

Thank you for the clarification. We have 3 zone tickets, so if I understand this correctly they would be good on the #7 bus between Hamilton and Elbow Beach or Fairmont Southampton or Horseshoe Bay, but not all the way back to the Dockyard. I am aware that you must have exact change for buses and ferries, and that for buses you must have coins. Must you also have coins for the ferries, or can you use $5 bills? Thanks!

We purchased the 15 ticket transportation booklet in May 2016. As stated, we purchased it at the post office in St George. The tickets never expire, and we paid $37.50 US dollars...this works out to be $2.50 per ticket.

 

As we live in NJ and can hop on the Anthem with little advance planning, it works out for us. The tickets are one way and good on any bus or ferry in all 14 zones.

Thanks so much for this info. We purchased a booklet of zone 3 tickets in 2014, and have seven remaining, and I could not remember or figure out if we might need more than one ticket per person for a bus or ferry. This is great, as we will only be there two days, and will most likely only use the buses/ferries one day. So if there are two of us and we need round trip ferry rides and round trip bus rides (zone 3) we need 8 tickets, correct? It appears that we have 7, so would either need to purchase another book in Hamilton, or buy a token or have exact coins for one of the trips for one person, correct? And if paying in coins, it appears that the zone 3 bus would be cheaper than the ferries.

Also, is the restaurant at Elbow Beach (Mickey's) covered?

Thanks!

Thank you!

I have not sailed out of Cape Liberty or RCCL in years, so have a question regarding carrying your luggage on to the Anthem of the Seas.

On Norwegian out of NYC, you are permitted to carry your own luggage on to the ship instead of checking it at the pier. Once on the ship, there is a central spot in a lounge that is where attendants will take your luggage, give you a receipt, so that you can pick it up when your cabin is ready. This way, you do not have to wheel your luggage around the ship until the cabin is available, but do not have to check it and worry about it getting lost.

Is something like this available on the Anthem out of Cape Liberty? Are you required to check your luggage at the pier? I do realize that most people check their luggage, and I also realize that not doing so requires you to go through security screenings with the luggage. My question is whether the ship has a location on the ship to drop your luggage and get a ticket for it until your cabin is ready.

Thanks in advance for any info on this!

Has anyone done both the Coco Reef and Elbow Beach day passes on different trips to Bermuda? If so, what are your thoughts on each. I do realize that the Coco Reef pass includes lunch and use of the pool. It is imperative that I have shade while visiting, and both offer spots with umbrellas. We have been to Coco Reef several years ago, but never to Elbow Beach. Do the umbrellas at Elbow provide enough cover to keep all/most of you out of the direct sun? Any comparisons would be most helpful. Thanks!

You will be assigned to one of the main dining room restaurants.

 

It would be courteous to others to cancel your reservation once you know you won't need it.

Thanks! I have read so much conflicting info, and some posters have said that they were moved to a different main dining room on certain nights, and others have said that they have requested a different main dining room some nights and were accommodated. The literature I have says the The Grande is formal only, and we were not planning to bring formal wear, so didn't know how that worked. If The Grande is no longer formal only, and there is a formal night in all MDR one night, can we be seated if my husband has a collar shirt and tie, but no jacket? Really trying to pack light, since this is such a short cruise!;)

So... haven't been on RCCL since 2005 and just booked the Anthem for Sept 5 day sailing to Bermuda. Trying to understand the My Time Dining. "Reserved" a time for every night of the cruise. Does this mean when we get on the ship we are assigned to one dining room for the entire cruise for dinner, or can we show up at any of the four main dining rooms at the time reserved and be seated?

Also, must reservation be canceled if we would opt at the last minute to eat in Solarium/Windjammer or other included dining venues?

Thanks!

I tried to scan the compasses as a single PDF but the file was too large to upload. I have divided the files into two - days 1-2 are in one file and days 3-5 are in the other.

Thanks you so much for posting these! We just booked this cruise for Sept, and haven't been on RCCL since 2005, so trying to learn as much as possible in advance about how things are on RCCL and this ship/itinerary. We generally don't cruise on ships this large, so lots to learn!

I am not sure if this has been answered someplace before. If you use point that are about to expire for a double meta cross upgrade on a booked cruise that is a year and a half away, and then at some point in the future would need to cancel this cruise, what happens to the points that you used for that upgrade? Do you lose all the points that would have expired, or are they returned to your points balance?

I am trying to figure out if I should just cash out some of the points now, and then use some of the points to upgrade that cruise, or just use points to upgrade that cruise now. I do not want to lose the points if we would have to cancel, since the cruise is so far in the future and it is hard to predict what will happen that far in the future. Thanks!!!

No, even the fine print excludes afts. one reason is those are sought after cabins and there is not a large supply of them

 

Steve

Thanks, Steve! I must have not read through all the fine print.:D:D:D

Just another aft balcony question.... If you book an inside category I-A, can it be upgraded (double meta-cross) to an aft balcony category B-1? There are a lot of posts that this is not possible, but most site the fact that there is not an equivalent category from an inside to a balcony for this, but on some ships it appears that there is. Thanks!

I just used some of my points (60,000) to do a double meta upgrade from interior to balcony on an Alaska cruise in May 2018. The whole process was very easy.

 

I called NCL and talked to a PCC and made the reservation for an inside cabin. Then they transferred me to a World Points rep who took care of the upgrade. She found me a starboard cabin on deck 10. The whole thing only took 24 minutes.

 

This was my first time to use points and I was very pleased with the whole process.

Thanks for this. This is exactly what we hope to do for an Alaska cruise in 2019!(y)

Thanks again. I have android and don't intend to use it to make calls (think that part only works with i phones). I believe as long as I put phone in airplane mode and then turn on WiFi only when using WiFi (have 250 minutes), I should be set.

You can also book dining with the stateroom's interactive TV - the UI is slow & sluggish, the iConcierge App is a little more responsive and it should work, regardless of how slow satellite internet is - as that's primary inTRAnet based with ship's internal server & hardware.

 

NCL's own website has a FAQ; and, once downloaded for free, usage is free EXCEPT for inTRAship calling & texting, plain & simple. Calling off the ship, if offered & available, was priced at 79 cents a minute and you do NOT need to pay the one-time, per device, activation fee (***) - turn off cellular/roaming data, turn on WiFi & follow instructions, etc.

 

Free help onboard from the internet cafe staff on duty during their office hours.

 

*** AF varied by ship, could be as high as $12.99 to 14.99 USD from recent reports. WiFi package fees & offers, also, varied by ship & itineraries. Suffice to say, they are the leader of being the most expensive for the industry ... yes, satellite-based.

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Thanks!

Did it work for shore excursions and dining reservations, or could this be done from the cabin TV?

QUOTE=disneygirl;51129428]WE tired to do this

on our Cruise on the Gem Aug.19th Sailing.....it never worked, NCL refunded us the $9.99 to use it. That was just so we could unlimited Text each other while onboard. There were 6 of us traveling together.

WIFI different packages and well sometimes it was good other times it was slow.

Thanks you!

Short answer, yes it does - it is the same free App that you download ahead of your cruise, install and then, once connected to ship's WiFi inTRAnet, you activate and use.

 

InTRAnet on the GEM is reported, most recently, to be working & reasonably well ... not fast, despite the claimed upgrade to 4X faster a/k/a SpeedNet - your results will vary.

 

Unfortunately, there aren't many facts-based review with supporting statistics and technical numbers to confirm and/or validate the extent of improvements and better performance of the inTERnet. InTRAnet that run the iConcierge is fine. The APP itself hasn't been updated in more than 9 or 10 months and many features could use major upgrade to keep it current.

Does the Gem have i-Concierge (app)? I have found conflicting info on the NCL website as to whether this is available on the Gem or not.

Thanks!

If I have charged let's say 3,000 towards our cruise, final payment hasn't happened and I need to cancel the cruise, Would I only get this money as a Credit on my NCL card? I know that going through insurance I would get it back through them, But if it's before time where I woud loose money for cancelling... I think I already know the answer... but I might be wrong

I am not 100% sure I understand your question. If final payment has not happened, you usually get all your money returned the same way you paid for it - if you paid on your NCL credit card, then it would be credited back to your card. I don't believe travel insurance would even be involved with this, until there might be some sort of financial penalty for cancelling. In any case, it would always be to your advantage to cancel before final payment if you know you have to cancel.

We just visited Portland for a short stop also. There was plenty to do within walking distance of the ship. We really didn't have time to get out and about. Loved what we saw of Portland and plan to go back.

Thanks!

Those "best of" tours are very long & expensive.

 

Portland is not as scenic as other ports on that NCL itinerary (which I just finished on the 18th).

 

I rented a car in Portland and drove around to various lighthouses, but honestly, it's not worth spending that much money to see Portland in my opinion.

Thanks for your response. I had heard that Kennebunkport was quite beautiful, which is why we are considering this tour. Perhaps we will reconsider.....

Has anyone taken the tour "Best of Portland & Kennebunkport" on NCL or any other cruise lines? If so, do you feel that it was a worthwhile tour. This our first time in the port of Portland, and we usually do a ship's tour the first time we visit a port. We enjoy outdoor scenery, and are less interested in indoor/historic sights. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.