twangster

Great photos! Looks wonderful!

Worst case - as soon as you board head to Boleros one deck down using the circular staircase right in front of you after stepping onto the ship. There you will find the box office staff in a temporary setup to book exactly these types of reservations. On a B2B in December I was first in line at Boleros and got all my reservations when they never showed up despite daily checking before sailing.

Specialty Restaurants tend to have more square tables because like a land restaurant it allows them to create longer tables for larger groups when needed but then smaller tables when needed. Hibachi has round tables? I've only seen square or rectangular around the cook.

Truth is I sail often in an interior cabin. Super Mario has over 7,500 points in the Crown and Anchor system. He lives on ships and he chooses interior cabins. Some people jokingly say once you've had a balcony or a suite you can't go back but I have and do all the time. I've had suites and they are great but that isn't what makes the cruise. My worst Royal cruise was in a junior suite. Don't ever feel you are missing out because you don't have a suite.

I'm pretty sure your kids are blocked from Alaska for the same different reasons.

I somewhat surprised you didn't get an email from the Suite Concierge. Maybe it's coming in a day or two. Feel free to reply to the concierge email with any questions and reservation requests. Anthem doesn't have a dedicated Suite Lounge like Oasis class so the 11am-11pm drinks don't happen on Anthem. There is a Concierge Lounge that Suite guests can use (also Diamond Plus and Pinnacle) that has evening happy hours. The Concierge Lounge is all the way aft on deck 12. And I mean allllll.... theeeeee...... wayyyyyyy aft. If you are all the way aft on another deck you'll burn a few hundred calories walking to the lounge as you have to go forward to the mid-ship stairs/elevators then all the back to the lounge.

See this post They haven't changed that I'm aware of.

Enchantment has dedicated Diamond and Concierge Lounges that are in the Viking Crown area but only occupy a small space leaving much of it available for anyone. It may at times have private functions such as a wedding that occurred on my recent cruise on her.

You can review the cruise compass from past guests here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=277 That will give you an idea what to expect including when the 70's party is typically held.

Here is a blog post that is a few years old now but contains great information for first timers: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/02/28/first-time-cruisers-what-you-need-know-about-taking-royal-caribbean-cruise You've picked a great ship and recently refreshed. Indy is considered a 'Freedom" class ship. Freedom of the Seas was the first. Liberty is the third sister ship in this class. They are widely popular and based off the previous class called "Voyager' class. These are the ships that really revolutionized cruising and set Royal apart. There is a lot going on and the Promenade at times is the heart of the ship. Watch for 70's and other parties there. There is an ice skating rink on board that features an ice show that is typically worth making a point to see. The main theater will have a broadway show plus other entertainment - it's all included. Every day a daily newsletter or guide will be left in your cabin with all things that are going on around the ship listed. You can see a preview of what your cruise compass might be like here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=276 The ones posted here are from past guests so your sailing may not be exactly the same but it will give you an idea of what to expect.

I never left. I did drop 10 cruises with Royal but Royal still has a great product, I've said that before. I do plan to spread my money better going forward, Carnival Horizon and Vista - gotta love decent beer at sea and moves me one away from platinum. I have some CUCs left over so Sky to Cuba - at least their old product is cheap with free booze. I don't mind sailing a run down ship if I'm paying a run down ship price. Enchantment isn't priced that way but should be. Empress is in much better shape yet a JS on Empress is cheaper than a JS on Enchantment. Enchantment would make a fine artificial reef somewhere. Bliss is calling my name (go-karts at sea) and it's easier and cheaper to hit the West coast from home. Oasis fresh off a refurb at 60% the cost of Symphony is hard to pass up.

I checked a cruise compass from a recent 3 night cruise and it also featured both 70's and 80's party. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=279

Well, I booked Oasis for 11/24/19, one of the first sailings after she returns to Miami from Europe. So far the transatlantic westbound is not supposed to have guests and it's rumored will be used to complete finishing touches. This might be one of the first cruises post-AMPED.

Very likely. Quantum class and Harmony has had these for years. Now Mariner. Self help excursions with one or two employees to float around and assist compared to a queue like at guest services. Makes a lot of sense. Mariner's new Shore Excursion area:

Royal runs different promos and sales that can vary sometimes week to week. It's possible at one point OBC was part of a promo but then a few days later a BOGO came along that didn't include OBC.

I also just sailed Mariner. You have now experienced one of the benefits of Royal Caribbean. They took a ship (Mariner) built in 2003, now 15 years old and updated it to create the experience you had. This is part of what Royal does. As other's have mentioned, trying other cruise lines is always a smart idea. We are all different and what "floats my boat (ship)" may not be what floats someone else's. Only by sampling them will you know if Royal is best suited for you. Royal isn't always the cheapest and for some people the cheapest cruise is the best. I suggest you research any ship from any line you are thinking about. Mariner is very different than Symphony. There are different classes of ships. Carnival's largest ships, even their newest ships are similar to size compared to Mariner albeit with a few more guests. Carnival, Norwegian and Royal all have smaller, older ships. Royal's Symphony of the Seas and the Oasis class in general are in a league of their and there is nothing like them on any other cruise line. By researching a ship you are thinking about booking, proper expectations will be set, regardless which cruise line you go with.

There are different types of OBC. OBC granted by Royal during the booking process is normally available for use prior to sailing (cruise planner) or onboard. OBC offered by a travel agency is typically loaded onto your onboard account on day two of the cruise and therefore only available onboard. When you log into the cruise planner, it should indicate if your have Royal OBC available. There may be a pop up message that tells you the OBC you have or if you have already used some of your OBC it will indicate the top of the page if you have OBC available. Going through your "Order History" and expanding any previous purchases will display where you have used OBC in the past.

Once in a while Anthem will sail past Lady Liberty, but don't count on it. It's up to the ports authority and depends on other traffic. Lot's of barges use that stretch. I was lucky enough to experience it once. Which Serenade repo are you doing in October?

Yes, I believe so. 80's party on the last night usually. 70's party the first night.

Royal has a solution for long lines... sell tickets. Don't laugh, the CEO of the company suggested it was a possibility to manage crowds on Indy when she was getting AMPED.

Congratulations on making Emerald!

I was on the cruise before you. Being from Colorado we have a saying that continued to pop into my head... "Rode hard and put away wet".

For my Cuba cruise a few months ago we did not surrender our passports, we kept them (after showing them during the check in process).

I'm now seeing both 'Surf' and 'Surf and Stream' Voom packages available in the cruise planner for U.S. based sailings. Historically for the U.S region the cruise planner has typically only offered 'Surf and Stream' with a few rare exceptions. To purchase 'Surf' in the U.S. region you typically had to wait to board the ship. Pricing is now consistent through the middle of 2019 for my sailings. SURF 1 device @ $9.992 devices @ $17.993 devices @ $24.994 devices @ $27.99SURF and STREAM1 device @ $11.992 devices @ $19.993 devices @ $28.994 devices @ $33.49 While Surf is a slower performing package, for basic internet chat and 'dial up' type access it may fit the needs for many who just want to keep in touch, or chat with friends and family at home. If nothing else, pay attention to which plan you are picking when making cruise planner purchases. This is the first time in a long time that Voom pricing has been consistent over a number of months. In my experience Surf is speed limited to 0.5Mbps down and 0.25 Mbps up while Surf and Stream has typically offered around 4mbps down and just under 2Mbps up. Surf Surf and Stream