Karen4120

Can anyone confirm that Royal is allowing final payment 30 days before May cruises? Thanks for any info. Karen

Thanks again for all input.

Thanks All! Today I found a great rate for Country Inn and Suites in Newark, NJ. It was $92 for Oct. That's a win for sure! I know its under renovation but we can deal with one night of whatever for the price and a cruise the next day :) Thanks everyone for all the input.

Yes the directions we have are 84 to 684 to 287. I believe when I checked the Emb. Suites the prices were out of our budget. We will be arriving around 10 ish so it really is just a nice clean place to sleep that we are looking for. I will check their prices again. Also will check out the other suggestions listed here. I really appreciate all the feedback.

Hi We will be cruising out of NJ 10/27 on the Anthem. We will be driving down the night before from Boston area (close to RI border). WE will be driving in via Tappen Zee Bridge . This has been the highly recommended route for us. Does anyone have a good hotel recommendation in the vicinity of the port. We will be driving in and parking our car at the cruise port. We will be 2 couples requiring 2 rooms. We are hoping to get a place that is easy on/off the highway and hopefully free parking and includes a breakfast would be nice. As far as price I have seen many options under $150 range and hoping to stay in that ballpark. Our travel agent recommended the Fairfield in North Bergen. Someone else said we should stay in Paramus which is a little longer drive the next morning. How is staying along the Garden State Parkway? Is that a good commute into the port? Is it better to get as close as possible on Friday night? Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Karen

and Yes we are sailing on Anthem

Thanks for the reply. So I gather I do have a set time and its not really at my leisure LOL! Bummer I was hoping we just could show up whenever. Its really hard to plan dinner when we haven't even seen the day's activities I booked what I thought might work but I'm sure I will change it all again once on board. On NCL we pretty much showed up for dinner anytime we wanted. Sometimes we had reservations and sometimes NOT. The wait was under 15 minutes for a table for 2. Royal works a bit different I hear. I did try t link my friend's reservation with mine but I got an error code. Real odd. Thanks to everyone for the reply.

I called Royal yesterday to make dining reservations. I choose my time dining and all nights of the cruise were booked with an exact time for dinner. I received an email confirmation. When I log into my planner, I just see "My Time Dining" and in the time spot they have "at your leisure". I had actual reservations with a set time. I am very confused. This is my first cruise with Royal in a very long time and my last few cruises were on NCL. Does anyone have any input on this? We are going on a cruise with another couple and we were hoping to link our reservations together. When I called they said they couldn't do that because my reservation was part of a "group". I booked with a travel agent but thought I'd be able to link with my friend (she booked with a different travel agent). Customer service advised me to have my friend call and make the exact same reservations that I did. Just seems like a pain and then to have it show up as "at your leisure" is crazy. Thanks for any guidance. Karen