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Matt says: "Please no. The servers can't take it".

I've been checking the availability of ship activity and CK reservations daily for my Anthem cruise in October, and also checking the price of 2-device VOOM to see if it's moving at all. Well, today it dropped from $28.98 per day to $26.58 per day. Oddly, the label in the corner of the picture still says "20% off on-board prices" just like yesterday. Snagged it while it was there, so paid $132.90 instead of $144.90. That $12 saved is a reposado Margarita earned! ?

Now now, not everyone can (or should!) be a @twangster. ?

80's Party: Just returned. It is a great event. I highly recommend it if you sail on Symphony. CD Michele was excellent hosting it and the staff were very fun and high energy. It starts with about 30 mins where the DJ plays some songs to get the crowd in the mood. The Entertainment team then arrive although the first proper event of the show is a number by the Royal Caribbean Dancers. I always love watching them (although often for eye-candy ). Following the dancers, Michele, Margot and the Entertainment team (aka Youth, Sports and CD Staff) arrive and the official party begins. They do it for around 30-40 mins. It is great fun. Mostly rock music. There was also a number with the male members of the entertainment team and a few occasions where the staff tried to get people to dance. Definitely on par with 70's night, although I think that the CD can make or break this and we were lucky with the CD. Summary of today coming later. Ciao Ciao for now!

I knew there was a reason why I like you beyond your blogging prowess...

As simple as it sounds, bring a HIGHLIGHTER. It comes in handy to mark the things you want to do/see in the Cruise Compass.

I second this. doesn't have to be a big expensive one. something to cover you just "in case". bandaids, tweezers, antiseptic, a few motrin a few ibuprofin, maybe $7.00 at walgreens. will not only save you money, but will save you TIME running around on the ship to buy this stuff. we always take some downey wrinkle release spray for any wrinkled clothes. works pretty good considering you cant have an iron or steamer travel sunscreen ziplock bags. - great for wet clothes or carrying snacks out to port and it may seem like overkill but i always take copies of all health insurance stuff as well as a list of any meds with mg descriptions that my wife and I are taking. i barely remember my own meds but have no clue what the mg's are and even more clueless on her stuff. we had an instance on our first cruise where i had to go down to the sickbay and was glad i had that information. made it much easier for the medical team to assist us.

When I called to make the cabin change I thought that I would get the upgrade due to the lower rate but not the Money back for the difference in price, but when the rep told me I would get the difference refunded to my card I told him that I thought the policy was that no refunds in price after final payment and he said I would get the refund back on my card. When I hung up I was for sure thinking that I was never going to get the refund back. But 2 weeks later the refund was back on my card. I guess everyone gets lucky every now and then.

Again...holiday here in Canada...so bored and looking up randomness...Anthem shows up on the Port of Gibraltar schedule from June-Oct 2020. http://www.gibraltarport.com/schedules

With the latest July 4th sale underway naturally I was curious if any of my previously made purchases had dropped in price. Sure enough, one of my excursion is now on sale. You have the option to call Royal Caribbean to obtain the lower price or you can do it yourself online. Here is a guide showing how I just saved myself $29 using the online approach. While this is an example for a shore excursion, it works the same way for other Cruise Planner purchases such as Voom or Beverage Packages. For my cruise I visited the Cruise Planner and found my previous purchases. They are pretty obvious, it tells you that you purchased this item before: In order to see how much I previously paid, I went to the top of the page and found the "Order History" link. Clicking on this provides a complete list of any previous Cruise Planner orders (including free one such as My Time Dining). To see the details for an individual purchase click the "View Order Details" link: Look at that, I paid $289. Now it is on sale for $260! To cancel my purchase so I could re-purchase it at the lower sale price, I clicked on the "Cancel" link This brings up the next part of the cancellation process. Since I do want to save $29 I clicked "Yes". To make sure I really want to cancel it, it presents a review screen giving me the option to not cancel or to proceed. I clicked the "Confirm Changes" button. It then confirmed my original order was cancelled and how my refund would be made. (If I had used on-board credit for this purchase the refund would be returned in the form of on-board credit. ) Now I am free to re-purchase the excursion at the sale price. From here you purchase it again as if you had never purchased it before. Clicking the Next button steps you through the normal Cruise Planner purchase process. While it will take a few days for the credit card refund to process, I just saved $29 in a matter of minutes. One word of warning for excursions offered at multiple times. It is possible when an excursion is offered more than once that your original time slot may no longer be available. For example a snorkeling excursion might be offered at 10am, 11am and 12 noon. If you currently hold a 10am booking and you see there 10am is not currently available, don't assume that cancelling your order will immediately make the same time slot available for re-purchase. If you really desire to keep your original time slot you are best to call Royal Caribbean to have them re-price it.

Soda in the dining room would be covered. Also no need to bring the cup, they can check by seeing the sticker on your card. One thing to keep in mind is the selection in the dining room won't be the same as the Freestyle dispenser.

Nice work ?

Sneaky bot ?

No not really. I just though I dash the hopes of those eyeing the Icon class ships with something on the other end of the scale. I sale Empress at month's end and I am looking forward to it. I should get a glass block on her which I planned deliberately.

I heard they are moving Empress to Bayonne in 2020. ?

Wonderful blog and amazing photos. I loved reliving the entire cruise again with your live blog. Well done, sir!

At least for the glass-bottom boat cruises in Bermuda (the ones Royal offers, anyway) I've read more than a few reviews that say they aren't that great, and you really don't see much. Not sure if that will be the case for non-Bermuda offerings, but you may want to check TripAdivsor and see if you can find the one you're looking at.

Just checked my old notes -- Original price for 2-device VOOM was $30.83, so the actual savings is more like 2 margaritas! ??

I won't get my hopes up yet. March is still quite far away. Marc was suppose to be on Symphony but now they sent him to Liberty so anything can happen. His response on FB was, "On and off through 2019....but that can always change." With my luck, he will move to Symphony and I will end up with his replacement like last time lol. But that will be good for you ?

Mid level zooms are my favorite "walking around" lens.

I can't upload pics yet, not to mention that I only have phone data in port. Please be patient folks.

@Lovetocruise2002I am sooo jealous. We had Abe on Anthem in 2016. He is the BEST!! I have til Feb to cancel my Symphony...hmmmm? Nah, but I sure would love to see Abe again. Now..if they can just get Chris Hopkins back!! He was Abe's AM back then, then was temporarily made CD (I think on Brilliance??), but wouldn't keep him on as CD so he left. Abe and Chris were truly a dynamic duo! Fingers crossed for you, my friend! If you do get him, make sure to fill out the cards and then watch the morning show...How thrilled will your daughters be to hear their names on television!!??!!!

You might be thinking of Coastal Kitchen on the large ships but that's for guests in suites. That's a sit down restaurant.

That will in part depend on how tall the ship is, as it has to be able to clear the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Anthem and other Quantum class ships only barely manage that, with something like just a couple feet of clearance. According to this item that Matt posted earlier this year, Icon class ships will be higher gross tonnage than Quantum; that doesn't automatically mean they'll be taller than Quantum, but they're much closer in mass to an Oasis class ship than a Quantum class one, and that makes think they'll also be closer in height to Oasis class. Hope springs eternal, but I wouldn't count on seeing one of these ships in Cape Liberty any time soon after their arrival in the US.

Yes! I read on here last year to do this and it really helped us plan stuff. I took several colors so that we knew who wanted to do what.

Hi, Kelley. Welcome to the boards! Sorry to hear that you didn't have the best of experiences on Oasis. Others here have also commented in the last year or so on the removal of the egg crate foam; the explanation they had been given at the time was that it was being done for sanitation reasons, as the foam can't be cleaned and they were finding it to be getting into less-than-desirable condition more rapidly than expected. Regarding the lack of snacks and beverages being pre-stocked in the room refrigerators, this is a change that was made across the fleet maybe eight months to a year ago. Royal found that too many passengers with pre-stocked refrigerators were being charged for consumption of items from the fridge that they never actually took, most typically the bottled waters when the cabin stewards would find a bottle lying in the room and assumed it was from the fridge, not picked up by the passenger at one of the vending locations. They also didn't have enough people actually using the items stocked in the fridge to make continued stocking worthwhile, so between those two factors they just stopped pre-stocking the refrigerators altogether. I thought that you could still ask the cabin stewards to get items for you, but maybe Royal decided not to go this route as it could lead to people making further complaints of false charges for items they "didn't request". Certainly, if they leave it up to each passenger to get what they want in the fridge and put it in there, there is zero question about whether the passenger wanted it and paid for it. They do still offer pre-cruise packages like a dozen bottles of Evian, and those will be placed in your cabin (but not necessarily the fridge) before your arrival.

I like to have magnetic hooks for hanging stuff like lanyards, hats, etc...as well as something water proof for passports...I love the towel clips in this link...https://shop.cruisehabit.com/collections/frontpage/products/beach-towel-chair-clips-pack-of-4

That would be wonderful! Keep us posted on what you hear ?

This is exactly what I was trying to say, but you said it better. ?

He will be back early Sept to January and then off for 2 months. March 10th seems realistic to expect him back onboard. Fingers crossed!

@twangster, I brought a new lens 28-135, because I needed a mid level lens. I am grateful for all the camera advice you so patiently give. I will post pictures soon and feel free to critique.

That would be awesome! Cheaper for me to fly to New Jersey than Florida.

No diamond dining area. The diamond club has finger foods during the nightly happy hour. Some nights on Anthem they had wings in the DL and that became dinner.

I'm betting they won't make major changes for a seasonal shift from May to September but that is speculation on my part. Installing a Broadway show is a major effort. It takes weeks just to get the set installed. They are custom made for each ship. The ship is only in US waters for 5 months.

Thanks

@Matt - Thanks for suggesting on your last podcast that we reproduce this cruise review email in the discussion boards. Yeah, it's lengthy, but we hope some newbies, or others who have not tried Oasis-class ships, will find some helpful suggestions from our first cruise on this wonderful, ginormous vessel... My wife and I have greatly enjoyed your podcast and the awesome website as we got back into cruising earlier this year. Your advice and advice from others on the message boards greatly enhanced our cruise experience. We provide our key takeaways at the end. Prior to our eastern Caribbean cruise on Oasis this February-March, we had only experienced Monarch of the Seas as chaperones for a local high school group trip in early 2010. We were quite impressed with that ship--the biggest/best from 1990--when we sailed her almost a decade ago. But we could not fully anticipate the staggering hugeness of Oasis when we first walked up to and boarded her. You can view all the videos and see all the photos you want, but that can't replicate the visceral impact seeing this beautiful behemoth in person. We flew to Orlando the day before embarkation at Port Canaveral and took a van from a travel company from the airport to our hotel in Cocoa Beach--cost was equivalent to Uber and we were the only riders. Yes, heed the advice of many and arrive in town the day before if you can't drive to the port. Peace of mind for making your cruise on time without a panic-filled dash is worth much more than a night's hotel stay! Although Royal notified us to arrive at the terminal for boarding between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m., we took your advice and arrived early at the terminal, by 10:00 a.m., and were quickly processed and received our Sea Pass cards. RC staff want to get passengers processed efficiently and did not ask about our scheduled time-slot for boarding as we thought they might. We received a Gold C&A member boarding card (labelled "Gold-3" to be exact) and did not have to wait long in the main room for the boarding process to begin, starting with Suite guests and working down the C&A ladder from Pinnacle to Gold. It took maybe 30 minutes at most to get to gold member boarding. Being pretty geeked out by now, we got our photo taken while boarding and were on the ship by about 11:15 a.m. Entering the ship on the Deck 5 Royal Promenade--a cool, glitzy three-deck-high space running up the middle of about half of the ship--we noticed the Globe and Atlas Pub, which called to us to baptize our pre-purchased ultimate drink package. Based on RC blog advice, we headed first to a specialty restaurant in Central Park on Deck 8 to make dining reservations for the cruise--this was much quicker than waiting in line at one of the restaurant reservation desks temporarily set up in the Royal Promenade. We pre-purchased the 3-night specialty dining package and had already scheduled 150 Central Park for dinner on day 2. We had no line at the desk at Giovanni's and booked a dinner there and at Chop's for times later in the cruise that would work well with our show reservations. From there we strolled across Central Park and had lunch at Park Cafe with only a 10 minute wait -- yes, those roast beef sandwiches at Park Cafe are fabulous! We then went up top and regaled in the views from the solarium, and areas for the main pools and wave runners on Decks 15 & 16. Our stateroom was open around 1:15 p.m. We had reserved a balcony room (14204) at the start of the bump in the middle of the port side on Deck 14. On our previous cruise, we stayed on Deck 3 in a small stateroom with a small window. A balcony 14 decks up provides an awesome vantage point—almost vertigo-inducing! My wife's luggage had arrived by then -- not at our stateroom door, but a ways down the corridor with a group of other luggage. Mine was not yet available. We met our room steward who told us it might take until 6:00 p.m. for all luggage to be delivered, which seemed odd as our luggage was on the same cart to begin with and I had intentionally avoided bringing in any items I knew were forbidden by RC (more on that later). After we checked out our stateroom, we headed to the main dining room on Deck 4 to see if we could switch from My Time dining to traditional dining at the earlier seating (5:30 PM), because this would work better with the shows we had reserved, and from our perception through some podcasts that My Time dining could take a bit longer than traditional. We spoke to a head waiter at the desk near the entrance to the dining room and he had no problem assigning us to fill out an eight-person table for traditional dining, which worked well for us and gave us a good opportunity to meet some other cruisers. After a bit more exploring and checking for my luggage – still had not arrived yet – we attended the muster drill and caught some of the sail-away festivities from the Deck 14 forward wing viewing area (another Oasis tip we learned from the RC Blog website). One last check for my luggage before we headed down to traditional dining. After a nice meal, we headed back to the room before we were to go to our first show of the cruise, Cats in the Opal Theater at 8:30 PM. When we arrived at our stateroom door, I saw the dreaded notice that I had to go down to the security baggage checking area on Deck 2 before 8 PM to get my luggage and it was already 7:45 PM by this time. I dashed down to Deck 2 and was instructed to open my bag and learned, to my surprise, that a short three-outlet extension cord was the contraband item. I was well aware that any liquor (besides two bottles of wine) or any appliance that created heat or a power strip were forbidden. RC staff calmly put up with my dumbfounded protestations and showed me the fine print where it did indeed state that extension cords are not allowed. Mental note made and not soon to be forgotten. Back to the fun stuff! My wife and I were both intrigued by the entertainment offerings described in Cruise Planner and the large number and types of entertainment venues provided on such a huge ship-- traditional Broadway-type theater, various nightclubs, ice-skating rink, Aqua theater, jazz club, and casino, along with many interesting watering holes. Being theater buffs, we made reservations for all of the shows available in Cruise Planner. The first show we saw, Cats, did not disappoint, even though the length of this unabridged show and perhaps its lack of a single main storyline caused quite a few folks to leave the theater at intermission. We were greatly impressed by the high caliber of the performers at this show, and most other shows on board. It was rather refreshing to see the show again after about 20 years. We enjoyed opportunities to talk with actors from Cats after their performances at other venues during the cruise (Dazzles and Jazz on 4). We enjoyed all of the shows, and none of them were, in our view, mediocre or worse. The ice-skating show portrayed the story of Hans Christian Anderson and many of his fictional characters. Although the ice-skating rink was not large by any means, the skaters still reached high speed and did several spinning leaps (sorry – can't tell my sow-kow from a toe loop). The divers in the aqua show were great. We spent a few enjoyable evenings in Jazz on 4 and got to know the performers, including at the Prohibition Event, which was fun but a bit blurry in my recollection. Good turnout for this event with a full venue and everyone decked-out in crazy 20s fashions. This was my wife's favorite night of the cruise and the photos taken by RC photographers around the Royal Promenade from that evening are the nicest keepsakes from the cruise. Based on recommendations from the podcast, we sampled specialty restaurants by pre-purchasing the 3-night package. We ate at 150 Central Park, Giovanni’s, and Chops – all very good and worth the upcharge. But we ended up re-jiggering our dining schedule due to a fortuitous encounter with our main dining room waiter when he was working at Johnny Rockets over lunch the second day of our cruise. He spotted us as we looking around the Boardwalk and called us over to ask about our dining choices for the cruise – we had mentioned to him at dinner on the first night of the cruise we had purchased a 3-night specialty dining package. As it turns out, the nights we picked for specialty dining coincided with the two formal nights and the last night of the cruise – in other words, all the dinners when they have the best meal options in the main dining room including lobster night. At his urging, we went back up to Giovanni’s and were able to reschedule our specialty dining for other nights so we could experience the best the main dining room has to offer on the two formal nights and the last night of the cruise. Couple notes on our ports: St Maarten For our excursion on St Maarten we also heeded the advice of many and took a cab tour around the island. Matt, thanks for the tip about your friend Leroy Brown. We were able to reserve his cab for our tour and enjoyed his island banter and stories about different areas and beaches. He did focus quite a bit on the devastation from the hurricanes last year, including taking us by some damaged resorts and boats/harbors. Although Maho Beach at the end of the runway and the bar restaurant next to it were back up and running, the north side of the island was hit pretty bad. Nevertheless, we stopped at a lolo in Grand Case-Cynthia's Talk of the Town--and had a great lunch of chicken and ribs...more food than we bargained for, but we got to sample the grilling style on the French side of the island. San Juan We honestly were not expecting much for our short stop in San Juan (8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) and were originally thinking we might stay on board. But we were glad we ventured out -- the old town was a short walk from the pier and we strolled through the old Spanish colonial-style narrow streets with their brightly-painted buildings. Electrical power was spotty as the power cut out occasionally while we were in some shops, but was on a few doors down on the same block. We sampled mufungo at Cafe Manolin, a Puerto Rican fried plantain dish that was hearty and tasty. Labadee As first-timers at Labadee, we threw caution to the wind and road the Dragon's Breath, the huge zip line over Adrenaline Beach. Some have commented on the uneasy feeling on truck the ride up the hill and while waiting on the platform for the zipline. We did not have a bad experience in the truck ride up or while waiting on the platform. The ride itself was very smooth and the spring-cushioned stop at the end was not as jolting as we thought it might be. Our zip-line ride was scheduled at the beginning of the cook-out lunch buffet, and that was perhaps not ideal. By the time we returned from the ride, the lines were pretty long at the buffet, so we waited until near the end of lunchtime to go through the buffet line. Some Key Takeaways: Arrive in or near your departure port the day before you cruise. Reserve entertainment before the cruise—no cost for this! Check RC’s current policy on forbidden items--no more innocuous-looking extension cords for us!. Try specialty dining, but check out the main dining room on formal nights to sample some of the best food included in your cruise fare. Take a few minutes to get to know your main dining room waiter and room steward on the first day of your cruise. They helped us optimize our dining and entertainment schedules to get more out of our cruise. Get your picture taken at least a couple times by the RC photographers. Consider buying a drink package on a cruise that has several sea days plus a day at an RC resort. If we had had a more port-intensive itinerary with no stop at an RC resort where the drink package is included, we probably would not have bought the full package. But it was fun to sample a broad range of drinks, including several tasty dessert martinis at the Champagne Bar (just not all on the same night!). Use self-disembarkation for a couple or small group. Although we had to line up early in the morning, once the line started moving we were off the ship in a few minutes and to the rental car counter before the big crowds. Keep up the great work on the podcast and thanks to all members who contribute to the informative message boards at the RC Blog website! Roger & Carol Finally Thawed (And Now Baking) Tundra, WI

I shall try my best to get this done!

I am american. I live in Scotland (North Ayrshire). I have been here for 18 years. I sailed out of Harwich a couple years ago and found the British population onboard the ship very overwhelming. I sucked it up because, after all, I am in their country. I would never put down and call names to the people of the host nation. That is just bad diplomacy. Regarding the "Welcome home all Americans" banner: it was in America, in the Nation's Capital of America. If they can't say it, then there is something wrong with the country. I am retired US Navy, and I am often appalled at the way the UK treats their service members, both active and veterans. (I know that All Americans does not mean servicemen and women, but just go with me on this). Open your mind and see how other countries act and see if it can be used in your own country. Maybe if everyone did that, it would be a better world. Remember, it is an American company, sailing from America. It is going to cater towards the majority of their guests from that location, Americans. I've heard that cruises from Galveston are heavy on the Country music. They're Texans after all.

Where they were was not a transit area. Note dad's response was not "it's okay, we're just passing through".

Best Cruise Blog Moment It's the last night of the cruise in the R Bar. There are a handful of blog cruisers present. The R Bar is shutting it down soon. I've been drinking Kraken and diet cokes so I order one last drink before the bar closes. Bottle near empty it's the last of the Kraken so I get a generous pour. Meanwhile and unknown to me, Matt has been saving his last punch on the drink card for one more... Kraken and Coke. The bar tender apologizes and says "No more Kraken". The look on his face said it all. Like a child who was told they can't have that shiny new bike I thought for a brief second he might cry. Cost of drink package: $347 Look on Matt's face: Priceless