karl_nj

Thanks for all the great ideas. This gives me some good places to start my research.

Anyone have any Miami Hotel recommendations? Flying into Miami the day before our August cruise on Symphony. Don't plan to rent a car. There will be 5 of us, my wife and I, and my 2 kids and my mother.

Yes, but the airline won't compensate me for the cruise if the airline is unable to get me to the cruise on time. Just the flight. $250/per person for the flight doesn't really help if i'm out an additional $1500/person for the cruise. What is not covered by Trip Interruption insurance? ... Additionally, this insurance does not apply to any Accident, Accidental Bodily Injury or loss caused by or resulting from, directly or indirectly: 1) Common Carrier caused delays, unless they are as a result of an organized strike that affects public transportation; 2) travel arrangements canceled or changed by a Common Carrier, Tour Operator, or any travel agent unless the cancellation is the result of severe weather or an organized strike affecting public transportation;

I'm thinking about buying a new watch, so I happen to be familiar with current pricing for a few watch brands. Wasn't planning on buying anything on-board, but was curious about their pricing, so I went in and made a few inquiries at the watch store on-board Anthem. They appear to be an authorized Omega dealer. They were selling the Speedmaster Professional "moonwatch" for $5250. Current retail price is $5350, but I believe the price just went up in January. This watch has two models, one with a sapphire crystal, and one with a hesalite "crystal" (a/k/a plastic). You can tell the difference between the two because the hesalite has a steel caseback, vs the display caseback for the sapphire crystal model. The salesman claimed this watch had a sapphire crystal, but I politely corrected him and explained the difference. He then told me that they were willing to negotiate the price. I didn't bother because I know I can get a slightly used one for around $3750, or a new one for about $1000 off the list price. They are not an authorized Rolex dealer, but they do have a few used datejusts for sale. I was appalled that they were asking over $10k for a used 36mm two-tone Datejust from the 90's. You can get a brand new one for $11,200. Tourneau will sell you a used one for around $5500. If you shop around you can probably get one for even less. They only had datejusts, none of the "professional" models, like a Submariner. I did end up buying a Bulova watch for my wife from the "sidewalk sale" and I was happy with the price I paid. It was a little more ($19) then I would have paid if I had ordered from Amazon, but the saleswoman was very helpful with finding watches according to my wife's specifications, and they were able to remove a few links from the bracelet so it fit correctly. The last time I bought my wife a watch online, we always intended to go someplace to get the links removed, but we never got around to it. The jewelry store would probably have charged us $15-$20 for that service anyway. Plus now whenever she looks at the watch, she has the memory of buying it on the cruise. I always assumed the watches on the "sidewalk sale" where the ripoffs, and that perhaps could could get a better deal on a more expensive watch in the "stores". Turns out it's the opposite!

I forget if I saw it in April of 2018, but it was certainly there this time around. It's in the area that does the salads at lunch time. At breakfast it's a bagel station. I generally ignore bagels on cruise ships since I live in the NY Metro Area and can get much better bagels on land. But a toasted bagel-shaped roll certainly works as a lox delivery mechanism.

My "favorite" part is the BMX bike tricks in the middle of the show. I can't figure out which came first -- did the have an actor that could do BMX bike tricks and then wrote it into the show? Or did they write it into the show, and then had to find someone that could fit the role?

Yes, that would be fine. They will dressed better then some adults that are completely ignoring the dress code. For formal night we usually ask my 13 year old to wear a navy blazer along with the khaki pants and button down collared shirt. Sometimes I'll ask him to also put on a tie, and we usually have a pair of somewhat casual black loafers that fit him. But that is mostly since I try to take advantage of the cruise to get a family photo done on formal night. If we are running late or have gotten a good photo the first formal night, he often skips the tie. And if it turns out he grew out of his blazer, we just skip that for this cruise. Same thing with the shoes -- he also generally wears all-black sneakers, so that works fine too. I wouldn't stress about it too much. There will be some kid in the room wearing flip flops, a t-shirt, and basketball shorts on formal night.

Late has been typical for entertainment for Anthem sailings recently - Released March 19th for my April 13th cruise (just arrived back today). This wasn't the case for my April cruise last year. However, iFly and North Star reservations were released much earlier, like in past years.

My concern with the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel insurance is that it doesn't seem to cover any airline delays other then weather (and strike). It doesn't appear to cover any other reason why you wouldn't be able to fly... involuntary bumping, mechanical issue, 737-MAX grounding, etc: https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel What’s Not Covered This is not an exhaustive list. Examples include: Travel arrangements canceled or changed by a common carrier, tour operator, or any travel agency unless the cancellation is the result of severe weather or an organized strike affecting public transportation I feel it's enough coverage when am I driving to the port, but it seems lacking for flying.

Disembarkation this AM was amazing. I was home by 8:30AM, and I even had breakfast in the MDR this AM and used the traditional process where I had to pick up my luggage in the terminal. I didn't run into any issues with getting off the ship in ports, but I think I just randomly lucked out in finding the right way out. 50-50 chance. I did hear people getting yelled at by security down the hall, so it seemed like it was happening to many people. When we tried to do North Star, there was someone there to tell us that it was closed, but I did see them abandon their post later. You would think they would put up a sign or something. We were not able to rebook North Star, there were no slots left. We were told to try standby. Standby was a mess, since everyone else was trying to use standby too. I did go down to complain in Guest Services. I ended up talking to someone on the phone, and he claimed that they take 2 standby people on each trip up. But that is certainly not how the people operating the attraction were handing things when we tried standby. Standby was not moving at all. I agree, that old app is worse then useless. I'm hoping the newer one is better. I guess I will see this summer when we sail on Symphony.

Well, for their credit I thought they did a good job with Immigration in Boston. It was way more organized then my experience on Adventure last August in Bar Harbor. That was a disaster. Some of your points re: disorganization are valid: I had MTD but had the same table every night. Often I had to show the crew member bringing us to the table where it actually was. Announcing that formal night changed at 5:22pm was certainly interesting. I assume the kitchen knew this ahead of time, since they had to start thawing the lobsters earlier that day, would have been nice to tell the passengers. They should really have a backup plan for when they have to cancel your North Star reservation. That whole standby line thing is a huge mess. Many of the changes were due to weather issues, so I think we should give them a little slack on some of the last minute changes. Overall I really enjoyed the cruise.

At the port in Bayonne they always ask me for proof that I have two cabins, once they notice I have 4 bottles of wine in my wheeled carry-on.

A few random thoughts about dining, just disembarked Anthem this AM. This is our second cruise on Anthem, we also sailed one year ago, but the week after Easter instead of the week before Easter. Was much more impressed with the food. I still miss the "old" menus, but the food coming out of the kitchen this year was much better. Bread was not stale, like last year Fish of the Day was actually interesting. Last year the fish rotated with the same sauce and sides. This year every night was different. We were very pleased with this change. We got stuck with My Time Dining, but it worked out fine. I prefer to have the same wait staff for dinner. I reserved the same time slot every night, so the maitre'd seemed to be able to pre-allocate our table into the system. The only drawback compared to traditional is that you still need to wait in line, instead of going directly to your table, and you need to meet the rest of your party outside the restaurant, instead of at the table. I love Cafe Two70 for breakfast. All sorts of fun breakfast sandwiches. Smoked salmon is also available. My wife and I would run down and have a nice breakfast there most mornings, then grab some cereal for my son and some donuts for my daughter to bring back up to the room. Last year we only "discovered" Two70 breakfast on the last sea day.

I wouldn't worry about giving "too little" extra, since you are already paying the auto gratuity. I think it's more like when you go to a restaurant and they added the automatic service charge to the bill, but there is still a line for additional tipping. No worries about "shoddy tips" since you have already paid the standard tip. 2% would be a shoddy tip, but it's fine for the "extra tip" line if that 2% was to bring the 18% service charge up to 20%. I almost always give my dining staff a bit extra, my kids generally have some special requests that take extra time and effort for the wait staff. There was only one cruise where my sons special request was denied. I was very surprised. I was even more surprised that it was a Disney cruise, where they are used to kids, and generally have a good reputation for service. That was the only time I didn't give an additional cash tip to the wait staff.

Sorry to hear about all of your issues. I was hoping to be able to read good news about your claim today (just disembarked off Anthem this AM). I've never had to submit a travel insurance claim, so I can't say if any other insurance companies are better. But I can say that I've been happy buying travel insurance from a travel insurance broker: https://tripinsurancestore.com/ What I like about them is that you tell them all the information about our trip, and anything in particular you want to make sure you are insured against. They will run the numbers for all of the various policies they sell from multiple vendors, and will make their recommendation. They also say that they will give you advice on the claims process in case you do need to submit a claim. I kinda figure that similar to how it's better to use a travel agent then booking directly with the cruise line, it can't hurt to use an insurance broker instead of booking directly with the insurance company. At minimum they would be able to give some advice on what to do if I run into issues during a claim. Their website looks terrible, but they have been around forever. Back when they started most websites looked like this ?

Obviously you'll want to continue to attempt to use the travel insurance policy you have paid for, and it will take some time for your claim to be escalated, but if it ends up being denied have you looked into what other coverage you might have? Did you use one specific credit card for the entire cruise and airfare purchase?

My experience has been that if you are getting a small about of OBC already (e.g. $25 or $50) and you are "entitled to", say, $100 from the Shareholder Benefit, they have recently been giving you enough OBC to bump you up to $100 in total. So your best chances would be if you don't have any OBC from any other promotion. Carnival corp is much more generous with their OBC.

I don't believe bringing wine on board has anything to do with the drink packages. I do concede that between now and 1968 when Royal was started, the rules around what drinks you could bring on board have changed, and i'm sure the the rules will change again in the future. But the drink packages started around, what, 2013? You could bring wine aboard for years before that, and there was the potential for a corkage fee to be charged. There was a period of time when there was no corkage fee, but they brought it back again.

And this is why some other lines charge the "corkage fee" upon boarding... I could certainly see RCL eventually just banning bringing onboard any wine, as they do with beer and liquor.

Thanks! I now think I need to book a cruise to Cuba...

Yes, that is because BOYB restaurants in NJ are not permitted to charge corkage by law: https://www.nj.gov/oag/abc/faqs.html#4 Are non-licensed restaurants permitted to allow customers to bring their own alcoholic beverages (byob) for consumption with their meals? Unless there is a local ordinance prohibiting it, customers of an unlicensed restaurant may be permitted by the ownership of the restaurant to bring and consume only wine and beer. The restaurant can supply glasses, ice, etc., but may not impose a cover, corkage or service charge On the other hand, Royal Caribbean reserves the right to charge a corkage fee if you "consume their personal wine and champagne in public areas" https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/charge-corkage-fee It doesn't have anything to do with who opens the bottle or what specific type of closure is used.

I'm not really sure that one can compare a BYOB restaurant in NJ, which doesn't have a liquor license and doesn't sell wine, to the dining room on a Royal Caribbean ship, which does sell wine. If you bring a bottle of wine to a restaurant on land that is licensed to sell wine to customers, they are going to charge you a corkage fee no matter how your wine is sealed, cork or screw top.

Carnival tends to do 4 or 6 or 8 night sailings out of Manhattan, but I think that is mostly to avoid the NCL ships that have priority on Sat and Sun.

Quite an interesting theory! Of course, many other cruise lines are moving ships away from China, and I think Quantum class is way too big Antarctica. But it's certainly an interesting idea. I think if the larger RCL corporation wants to do Antarctica, they would probably built a very small ship, and leverage Celebrity, a la their Galapagos ships.

Well the ship won't be ready until Fall 2020. (https://www.meyerwerft.de/en/meyerwerft_de/schiffe/kreuzfahrtschiffe/royal_caribbean_international/n_n__2/n_n_7.jsp) Anthem is going back to NJ in November 2020. Perhaps it will replace Anthem in Southampton?