Neaxan

Yep. We have an 8 day sailing to Bahamas/CocoCay in Feb and a 12 day Southern Caribbean in Dec, both on Anthem out of Port Liberty.
We got a great deal on the Dec sailing in this past weekend's sale and my better half is super happy as both of our adult sons and their partners, along with good friends of ours (a family of four who will be cruising for the very first time ☺️), have also booked to join us ? 
Given that this trip is a lot more involved than our usual couples booking we entrusting the arrangements to @michelle at MEI for the first time, to whom I must give a big shout out for sorting everything so efficiently at such short notice (replying to my initial enquiry on a Sunday and then liaising with me here in the UK re the details on the very last day of the sale).
It remains to be seen whether our Oct 2020 Canaries cruise out of Southampton (also on Anthem... it's just the way the cards have fallen) happens of course, but we are determined to stay positive! ?
 

A piece of paper thats says 3 days ago you were negative is pretty useless.  You might even get infected while at a testing center to get your test.  

Yum, Rauchbier!!!  

I agree, Franconia is a nice region with pittoresque villages and towns. We live north of Ansbach, nearer to Bamberg. We regularly see US helicopter training flights around here.

I agree, Franconia is a nice region with pittoresque villages and towns. We live north of Ansbach, nearer to Bamberg. We regularly see US helicopter training flights around here.

As a matter of fact, we sailed in a D6 Ocean View Balcony on 8 April 2018 on Allure !!  If it hadn't been cancelled, we were going to sail in a <heaven forbid> Oceanview room on Majesty in May.  We are sailing in a JS in August on August.  So there !!
?

Just booked our 2nd Royal cruise yesterday. Odyssey Eastern Med Sep 19 2021

I agree, Franconia is a nice region with pittoresque villages and towns. We live north of Ansbach, nearer to Bamberg. We regularly see US helicopter training flights around here.

@Neaxan, I noticed you are located near Nuremberg -- I was stationed in Ansbach (and Katterbach) in the '70s and '80s.  Such a great area and such great memories!

Just booked our 2nd Royal cruise yesterday. Odyssey Eastern Med Sep 19 2021

Us poor people go to the windjammer for a cheese burger.

We got UDP for Odyssey - 12 nights (4 sea days) for 210 € - about $237. We originally wanted to buy the 5 night package but  couldn't say no to this deal. Will rebook it if it gets even lower.

We got UDP for Odyssey - 12 nights (4 sea days) for 210 € - about $237. We originally wanted to buy the 5 night package but  couldn't say no to this deal. Will rebook it if it gets even lower.

Just booked our 2nd Royal cruise yesterday. Odyssey Eastern Med Sep 19 2021

Just booked our 2nd Royal cruise yesterday. Odyssey Eastern Med Sep 19 2021

Just booked our 2nd Royal cruise yesterday. Odyssey Eastern Med Sep 19 2021

Just booked our 2nd Royal cruise yesterday. Odyssey Eastern Med Sep 19 2021

Wonderland on Symphony is amazing and the mad hattter is to best in the fleet!

Sorry I'm a bit late, but instead of post cruise depression I managed to get a post cruise cold. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
There were two major drawbacks for us on Royal: the class system (also called C&A) and the shortage of waiters in bars and lounges (Playmakers being the notable exception). I'm hoping that it isn't that bad on normal cruises with less top tier cruisers. As for the missing waiters, well at least you get to know your bar tenders.... Apart from that, we were really happy with our first Royal experience. The food was better than expected, staff was phenomenal, entertainment top-notch and the ship amazing. We also liked the international mix of cruisers. TLDR: we'll be back - for Oasis 5 transatlantic and we're also looking at Anthem cruises from Southampton.
 
Regarding our cruise with Caribbean Princess: we can't recommend it. The ship is old and looks the part (we've sailed on ships 10 years more senior that looked better) and there isn't much to do. Caribbean Princess also has some major problems with vibration - your plates and glasses are constantly moving in the buffet (deck 15!). Food in the MDR is way worse than on Royal, so bad that we only went twice. We liked the buffet better than the Windjammer so we spent most dinners there. As for speciality dining, Sabatini's was on par with Jamie's, but Crown Grill was way inferior to Chops Grille. Yes, Crown Grill is cheaper than Chops Grille, but I'd prefer paying a bit more for better quality.  We liked Planks (part of the buffet that sells barbecue dinner for 12$ per person).
Regarding service, Princess was also inferior to Royal - there were A LOT of staff but they prefered to chat among themselves, therefore you often had to get drinks yourself. I didn't mind that much on Royal but if there is enough staff around, why don't they work? We also had a bad cabin steward who forgot the water for my CPAP even though I prebooked it (took some reminders) and who was capable of overlooking empty dishes and glasses for up to 3 days in a row. I just stacked them up until even he couldn't not notice anymore... Other bad service examples include Princess not providing German menus or cruise compasses even though they advertised it beforehand (no problem for us but we met some fellow Germans that were really struggling). Another thing that really annoyed us was the amount of advertisements and sales. You were constantly plagued by staff trying to sell mimosas, speciality dining, pictures... or even schnapps glasses in the MDR after dinner. And trust me, they weren't subtle about it, it was really rude at times.
There were a few good points about this cruise: the Caribbean (yes, we'll have to do it again), the super comfy bed (way better than on Royal) and in part the medaillon. When it worked, your stateroom door was unlocked when you approached - a real plus when carrying food or drinks. You could also order drinks from anywhere you set via the app - well, at least when it worked... it's still quite buggy. Funny enough, while the app manages these more complicated things, it's impossible to show the MDR menu of the day, or any day in fact.
Guess the comparison between good and bad points says it all - we'll definetely never sail Princess again, we were indeed very happy when we finally could disembark. Descriptions can't do it justice to say how bad it was. On the bright side, the flight home was actually rather enjoyable. I fear I'm now spoiled and will never fly economy on intercontinental flights but well... at least I'm willing to go to the US again!

Sorry I'm a bit late, but instead of post cruise depression I managed to get a post cruise cold. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
There were two major drawbacks for us on Royal: the class system (also called C&A) and the shortage of waiters in bars and lounges (Playmakers being the notable exception). I'm hoping that it isn't that bad on normal cruises with less top tier cruisers. As for the missing waiters, well at least you get to know your bar tenders.... Apart from that, we were really happy with our first Royal experience. The food was better than expected, staff was phenomenal, entertainment top-notch and the ship amazing. We also liked the international mix of cruisers. TLDR: we'll be back - for Oasis 5 transatlantic and we're also looking at Anthem cruises from Southampton.
 
Regarding our cruise with Caribbean Princess: we can't recommend it. The ship is old and looks the part (we've sailed on ships 10 years more senior that looked better) and there isn't much to do. Caribbean Princess also has some major problems with vibration - your plates and glasses are constantly moving in the buffet (deck 15!). Food in the MDR is way worse than on Royal, so bad that we only went twice. We liked the buffet better than the Windjammer so we spent most dinners there. As for speciality dining, Sabatini's was on par with Jamie's, but Crown Grill was way inferior to Chops Grille. Yes, Crown Grill is cheaper than Chops Grille, but I'd prefer paying a bit more for better quality.  We liked Planks (part of the buffet that sells barbecue dinner for 12$ per person).
Regarding service, Princess was also inferior to Royal - there were A LOT of staff but they prefered to chat among themselves, therefore you often had to get drinks yourself. I didn't mind that much on Royal but if there is enough staff around, why don't they work? We also had a bad cabin steward who forgot the water for my CPAP even though I prebooked it (took some reminders) and who was capable of overlooking empty dishes and glasses for up to 3 days in a row. I just stacked them up until even he couldn't not notice anymore... Other bad service examples include Princess not providing German menus or cruise compasses even though they advertised it beforehand (no problem for us but we met some fellow Germans that were really struggling). Another thing that really annoyed us was the amount of advertisements and sales. You were constantly plagued by staff trying to sell mimosas, speciality dining, pictures... or even schnapps glasses in the MDR after dinner. And trust me, they weren't subtle about it, it was really rude at times.
There were a few good points about this cruise: the Caribbean (yes, we'll have to do it again), the super comfy bed (way better than on Royal) and in part the medaillon. When it worked, your stateroom door was unlocked when you approached - a real plus when carrying food or drinks. You could also order drinks from anywhere you set via the app - well, at least when it worked... it's still quite buggy. Funny enough, while the app manages these more complicated things, it's impossible to show the MDR menu of the day, or any day in fact.
Guess the comparison between good and bad points says it all - we'll definetely never sail Princess again, we were indeed very happy when we finally could disembark. Descriptions can't do it justice to say how bad it was. On the bright side, the flight home was actually rather enjoyable. I fear I'm now spoiled and will never fly economy on intercontinental flights but well... at least I'm willing to go to the US again!

Sorry I'm a bit late, but instead of post cruise depression I managed to get a post cruise cold. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
There were two major drawbacks for us on Royal: the class system (also called C&A) and the shortage of waiters in bars and lounges (Playmakers being the notable exception). I'm hoping that it isn't that bad on normal cruises with less top tier cruisers. As for the missing waiters, well at least you get to know your bar tenders.... Apart from that, we were really happy with our first Royal experience. The food was better than expected, staff was phenomenal, entertainment top-notch and the ship amazing. We also liked the international mix of cruisers. TLDR: we'll be back - for Oasis 5 transatlantic and we're also looking at Anthem cruises from Southampton.
 
Regarding our cruise with Caribbean Princess: we can't recommend it. The ship is old and looks the part (we've sailed on ships 10 years more senior that looked better) and there isn't much to do. Caribbean Princess also has some major problems with vibration - your plates and glasses are constantly moving in the buffet (deck 15!). Food in the MDR is way worse than on Royal, so bad that we only went twice. We liked the buffet better than the Windjammer so we spent most dinners there. As for speciality dining, Sabatini's was on par with Jamie's, but Crown Grill was way inferior to Chops Grille. Yes, Crown Grill is cheaper than Chops Grille, but I'd prefer paying a bit more for better quality.  We liked Planks (part of the buffet that sells barbecue dinner for 12$ per person).
Regarding service, Princess was also inferior to Royal - there were A LOT of staff but they prefered to chat among themselves, therefore you often had to get drinks yourself. I didn't mind that much on Royal but if there is enough staff around, why don't they work? We also had a bad cabin steward who forgot the water for my CPAP even though I prebooked it (took some reminders) and who was capable of overlooking empty dishes and glasses for up to 3 days in a row. I just stacked them up until even he couldn't not notice anymore... Other bad service examples include Princess not providing German menus or cruise compasses even though they advertised it beforehand (no problem for us but we met some fellow Germans that were really struggling). Another thing that really annoyed us was the amount of advertisements and sales. You were constantly plagued by staff trying to sell mimosas, speciality dining, pictures... or even schnapps glasses in the MDR after dinner. And trust me, they weren't subtle about it, it was really rude at times.
There were a few good points about this cruise: the Caribbean (yes, we'll have to do it again), the super comfy bed (way better than on Royal) and in part the medaillon. When it worked, your stateroom door was unlocked when you approached - a real plus when carrying food or drinks. You could also order drinks from anywhere you set via the app - well, at least when it worked... it's still quite buggy. Funny enough, while the app manages these more complicated things, it's impossible to show the MDR menu of the day, or any day in fact.
Guess the comparison between good and bad points says it all - we'll definetely never sail Princess again, we were indeed very happy when we finally could disembark. Descriptions can't do it justice to say how bad it was. On the bright side, the flight home was actually rather enjoyable. I fear I'm now spoiled and will never fly economy on intercontinental flights but well... at least I'm willing to go to the US again!

Sorry I'm a bit late, but instead of post cruise depression I managed to get a post cruise cold. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
There were two major drawbacks for us on Royal: the class system (also called C&A) and the shortage of waiters in bars and lounges (Playmakers being the notable exception). I'm hoping that it isn't that bad on normal cruises with less top tier cruisers. As for the missing waiters, well at least you get to know your bar tenders.... Apart from that, we were really happy with our first Royal experience. The food was better than expected, staff was phenomenal, entertainment top-notch and the ship amazing. We also liked the international mix of cruisers. TLDR: we'll be back - for Oasis 5 transatlantic and we're also looking at Anthem cruises from Southampton.
 
Regarding our cruise with Caribbean Princess: we can't recommend it. The ship is old and looks the part (we've sailed on ships 10 years more senior that looked better) and there isn't much to do. Caribbean Princess also has some major problems with vibration - your plates and glasses are constantly moving in the buffet (deck 15!). Food in the MDR is way worse than on Royal, so bad that we only went twice. We liked the buffet better than the Windjammer so we spent most dinners there. As for speciality dining, Sabatini's was on par with Jamie's, but Crown Grill was way inferior to Chops Grille. Yes, Crown Grill is cheaper than Chops Grille, but I'd prefer paying a bit more for better quality.  We liked Planks (part of the buffet that sells barbecue dinner for 12$ per person).
Regarding service, Princess was also inferior to Royal - there were A LOT of staff but they prefered to chat among themselves, therefore you often had to get drinks yourself. I didn't mind that much on Royal but if there is enough staff around, why don't they work? We also had a bad cabin steward who forgot the water for my CPAP even though I prebooked it (took some reminders) and who was capable of overlooking empty dishes and glasses for up to 3 days in a row. I just stacked them up until even he couldn't not notice anymore... Other bad service examples include Princess not providing German menus or cruise compasses even though they advertised it beforehand (no problem for us but we met some fellow Germans that were really struggling). Another thing that really annoyed us was the amount of advertisements and sales. You were constantly plagued by staff trying to sell mimosas, speciality dining, pictures... or even schnapps glasses in the MDR after dinner. And trust me, they weren't subtle about it, it was really rude at times.
There were a few good points about this cruise: the Caribbean (yes, we'll have to do it again), the super comfy bed (way better than on Royal) and in part the medaillon. When it worked, your stateroom door was unlocked when you approached - a real plus when carrying food or drinks. You could also order drinks from anywhere you set via the app - well, at least when it worked... it's still quite buggy. Funny enough, while the app manages these more complicated things, it's impossible to show the MDR menu of the day, or any day in fact.
Guess the comparison between good and bad points says it all - we'll definetely never sail Princess again, we were indeed very happy when we finally could disembark. Descriptions can't do it justice to say how bad it was. On the bright side, the flight home was actually rather enjoyable. I fear I'm now spoiled and will never fly economy on intercontinental flights but well... at least I'm willing to go to the US again!

Sorry I'm a bit late, but instead of post cruise depression I managed to get a post cruise cold. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
There were two major drawbacks for us on Royal: the class system (also called C&A) and the shortage of waiters in bars and lounges (Playmakers being the notable exception). I'm hoping that it isn't that bad on normal cruises with less top tier cruisers. As for the missing waiters, well at least you get to know your bar tenders.... Apart from that, we were really happy with our first Royal experience. The food was better than expected, staff was phenomenal, entertainment top-notch and the ship amazing. We also liked the international mix of cruisers. TLDR: we'll be back - for Oasis 5 transatlantic and we're also looking at Anthem cruises from Southampton.
 
Regarding our cruise with Caribbean Princess: we can't recommend it. The ship is old and looks the part (we've sailed on ships 10 years more senior that looked better) and there isn't much to do. Caribbean Princess also has some major problems with vibration - your plates and glasses are constantly moving in the buffet (deck 15!). Food in the MDR is way worse than on Royal, so bad that we only went twice. We liked the buffet better than the Windjammer so we spent most dinners there. As for speciality dining, Sabatini's was on par with Jamie's, but Crown Grill was way inferior to Chops Grille. Yes, Crown Grill is cheaper than Chops Grille, but I'd prefer paying a bit more for better quality.  We liked Planks (part of the buffet that sells barbecue dinner for 12$ per person).
Regarding service, Princess was also inferior to Royal - there were A LOT of staff but they prefered to chat among themselves, therefore you often had to get drinks yourself. I didn't mind that much on Royal but if there is enough staff around, why don't they work? We also had a bad cabin steward who forgot the water for my CPAP even though I prebooked it (took some reminders) and who was capable of overlooking empty dishes and glasses for up to 3 days in a row. I just stacked them up until even he couldn't not notice anymore... Other bad service examples include Princess not providing German menus or cruise compasses even though they advertised it beforehand (no problem for us but we met some fellow Germans that were really struggling). Another thing that really annoyed us was the amount of advertisements and sales. You were constantly plagued by staff trying to sell mimosas, speciality dining, pictures... or even schnapps glasses in the MDR after dinner. And trust me, they weren't subtle about it, it was really rude at times.
There were a few good points about this cruise: the Caribbean (yes, we'll have to do it again), the super comfy bed (way better than on Royal) and in part the medaillon. When it worked, your stateroom door was unlocked when you approached - a real plus when carrying food or drinks. You could also order drinks from anywhere you set via the app - well, at least when it worked... it's still quite buggy. Funny enough, while the app manages these more complicated things, it's impossible to show the MDR menu of the day, or any day in fact.
Guess the comparison between good and bad points says it all - we'll definetely never sail Princess again, we were indeed very happy when we finally could disembark. Descriptions can't do it justice to say how bad it was. On the bright side, the flight home was actually rather enjoyable. I fear I'm now spoiled and will never fly economy on intercontinental flights but well... at least I'm willing to go to the US again!

Sorry I'm a bit late, but instead of post cruise depression I managed to get a post cruise cold. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
There were two major drawbacks for us on Royal: the class system (also called C&A) and the shortage of waiters in bars and lounges (Playmakers being the notable exception). I'm hoping that it isn't that bad on normal cruises with less top tier cruisers. As for the missing waiters, well at least you get to know your bar tenders.... Apart from that, we were really happy with our first Royal experience. The food was better than expected, staff was phenomenal, entertainment top-notch and the ship amazing. We also liked the international mix of cruisers. TLDR: we'll be back - for Oasis 5 transatlantic and we're also looking at Anthem cruises from Southampton.
 
Regarding our cruise with Caribbean Princess: we can't recommend it. The ship is old and looks the part (we've sailed on ships 10 years more senior that looked better) and there isn't much to do. Caribbean Princess also has some major problems with vibration - your plates and glasses are constantly moving in the buffet (deck 15!). Food in the MDR is way worse than on Royal, so bad that we only went twice. We liked the buffet better than the Windjammer so we spent most dinners there. As for speciality dining, Sabatini's was on par with Jamie's, but Crown Grill was way inferior to Chops Grille. Yes, Crown Grill is cheaper than Chops Grille, but I'd prefer paying a bit more for better quality.  We liked Planks (part of the buffet that sells barbecue dinner for 12$ per person).
Regarding service, Princess was also inferior to Royal - there were A LOT of staff but they prefered to chat among themselves, therefore you often had to get drinks yourself. I didn't mind that much on Royal but if there is enough staff around, why don't they work? We also had a bad cabin steward who forgot the water for my CPAP even though I prebooked it (took some reminders) and who was capable of overlooking empty dishes and glasses for up to 3 days in a row. I just stacked them up until even he couldn't not notice anymore... Other bad service examples include Princess not providing German menus or cruise compasses even though they advertised it beforehand (no problem for us but we met some fellow Germans that were really struggling). Another thing that really annoyed us was the amount of advertisements and sales. You were constantly plagued by staff trying to sell mimosas, speciality dining, pictures... or even schnapps glasses in the MDR after dinner. And trust me, they weren't subtle about it, it was really rude at times.
There were a few good points about this cruise: the Caribbean (yes, we'll have to do it again), the super comfy bed (way better than on Royal) and in part the medaillon. When it worked, your stateroom door was unlocked when you approached - a real plus when carrying food or drinks. You could also order drinks from anywhere you set via the app - well, at least when it worked... it's still quite buggy. Funny enough, while the app manages these more complicated things, it's impossible to show the MDR menu of the day, or any day in fact.
Guess the comparison between good and bad points says it all - we'll definetely never sail Princess again, we were indeed very happy when we finally could disembark. Descriptions can't do it justice to say how bad it was. On the bright side, the flight home was actually rather enjoyable. I fear I'm now spoiled and will never fly economy on intercontinental flights but well... at least I'm willing to go to the US again!

Great job, thanks!!!