Tatka

I honestly do not care what photo they use for identification. My photo I took at home were not the best too. 🙂 Lately I was so lazy to take photos (5 times a year!!!) I just photographed my passport photo! Quality was quire bad and they retook it at embarkation.

We rarely go on RCI excursions and for the most part we do not tip.

Why? Because you were nervous? We did check-in 12 times since restart of cruising, Never had to change password.

If they do not like your photo they will retake it.

5 is too early. We like Diamond lounges. We did arrive earlier than MTD opened and they put us in Traditional Dining room on several occasions on Anthem.

Classic section is gone, however if you see Royal sign near the dish it is Royal Classic dish.

No we are not over cruising by any means. It is even more convenient than other types of vacations now. I have no desire to fly anymore, so we cruise from our local NJ, Baltimore, Boston ports. Since 2016 we switched to 5 a year and now sail from September to end of May/beginning of June and we camp during Summers (Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire). We cruised since 2003 with 8 lines and this year will hit 60 cruises with 29 with Royal. We been through weaker and stronger times for various lines. Ironically food now with all changes is still better than on our first Royal cruises in 2004 Splendor and 2007 Explorer.

I wonder how it worked pre MTD?

Question is… why traditional is at 5:30? If it was at least at 6:15 more people would be booking it rather than MTD.

Solariums on Anthem & Odyssey are identical and better than on Oasis. Issue is Anthem has adjacent family indoor pool which makes Solarium less crowded and kids don’t usually get there. Also during really cold weather family pool provides buffer between open deck & Solarium.

I think it’s done not to please north easterners, but because they don’t have another similar ship nearby to make this switch, but need to send Anthem to dry dock. Maybe it’s a temporary change. We have two cruises book for November 2024 and January 2025… Hey, we just returned from Enchantment… that Solarium is no match at all.

As much as I like some features on Odyssey, I’m not looking forward to her from Northeast. Odyssey lacks indoor family pool. Anthem is better in this regard. When there is indoor family pool: 1. less chance kids get to Solarium 2. it provides buffer zone in colder climate making Solarium warmer in all of its parts. We were comfortably walking to indoor pool area, getting towels. It was warm even if lounger was located closer to en entrance.

Did you check Anthem’s solarium at night ? It’s extremely beautiful

For us people from Northeast Anthem’s is the best… Solarium is a reason we started cruising every Thanksgiving and now in January. Her solarium is a destination of itself. We live there. I especially like it during holiday cruises when there are less couples and more families… Families mostly use adjacent family indoor pool area while we can find loungers in Solarium 🙂 Just returned from Enchantment today … Solarium is cute… but we like spaces near large windows more and they have mostly tables with chairs there. On Oasis Solarium was mostly good, but not good during rain. Roof isn’t solid.

Also keep in mind that in buffet (Windjammer) many dishes repeat MDR, and with kids it is easier to eat there. Especially if line is long in MDR

We always use MTD and never had issues (with Royal we used it on Adventure, Anthem, Enchantment, Grandeur, Explorer, Oasis, Freedom etc) It is only two of us so maybe it is easier to find tables for 2. Now times are a bit later (it was 6:30 the earliest on Enchantment last week) .. we showed up around 6:15 and were given tables very soon.

I never seen Hyperlink activities before and we cruise 5 times a year. Have not seen it on Anthem in January... Even though we do not have anyone in this category I think it is a good thing. Many people in this category feel lonely and do not know where/how to meet people.

Edge class of Celebrity for us is a hybrid of Celebrity and RCI. The best of both. Interesting innovative ships, great entertainment and wonderful food. Edge class has 4 included restaurants with various cuisine. French, Italian, Mediterranean and Steak House. They have same menus + special cuisine section.

We are on Enchantment… and this cruise skewed toward older crowd (12 dayer, smaller ship), but daily program contains various events for 18-25 yo.

Also powerbank KaruSale 4 USB 50000mAh Portable Charger Power Bank High Capacity External Backup Battery Charger with LED Light for Cell Phone (Green) https://a.co/d/5lvk3RP

We bring Cruise Approved Power Strip Non Surge with USB-C, USB & 3 Standard Outlet Plugs - Cruise Essentials for Carnival, Royal Caribbean & All Cruise Ships https://a.co/d/gREU9s0

Interesting … Our last #9 cruise was in January 2023 and aside from short time of Dynamic dining in 2016 Silk & AIG were always MTD restaurants while Chic & Grande were for Traditional. We always do MTD and several times were seated in Chic or Grande, but it was rather an exception

Yes you can call, we do it all the time.

You realize you are discussing breaking rules. Read instructions. Keep in mind it may not work.

We kept cruising with 8 companies since 2003. 🙂 By 2016 we were Platinum, but started to cruise 5 times instead of 2 a year. Still we cruised not only with RCI, but also with Celebrity, Princess, Royal, Holland, Cunard, Norwegian... but more and more cruises were with RCI due to wonderful choices we have from Northeast. By November 2018 we were Diamonds. In January 2022 we became Diamond Plus a little bit earlier as we got double points during Covid. Since restart we had 10 cruises with RCI and 1 with Celebrity. We have 9 cruises booked, and many of then 9-12 dayers, Cruise more! Status is for cruising more. 😉