Marmaduke

9 minutes ago, steverk said:

Thank you for explaining in detail. It brings your decision to life. It differs from my one and only Princess cruise, but I would probably be done with them after that as well!

I'm glad that wasn't your first cruise and we're happy to have you sailing on Royal and participating in the Royal Caribbean Blog message board.

Believe me, these are just a few of the disappointments.  there were lots more.  The smell off sewage onboard.   Deck attendants taking bribes to keep sun loungers back for people.  Staff failing to enforce rules such as "no diving or jumping" in the pool - Infact , what happened daily was a jumping competition from 10am until around 4pm by all the kids using the pool - some even performing somersaults.  

Sorry everyone - Promise I won't moan anymore.

Long live RC      

16 hours ago, Villageidiot said:

I've cruised with Princess and have a cruise booked with them now. Sorry you had a poor experience. We enjoyed our sailings with them. What made the difference this time? I know Royal is a much more "family friendly" line but the children we encountered on Princess all seemed to be having great cruises. Hope your next cruise is a much better experience.

Perhaps we just got unlucky - since getting back home I have had a call from Princess apologising for what they have admitted was a sub-standard cruise. Nice to get an apology but it doesn't help when we had spent around £9k, which is a lot of money for us.

Whilst I fully understand that mid summer cruises are extremely busy and I do not have any sort of issue with that, Princess have admitted that they were extremely short on sun loungers due to a very large quantity being broken.  We are not sun worshippers but do like to sit outdoors when we can.  Most of the passengers (including us) didn't get a seat outdoors the whole 14 days.  I felt desperately sorry for some elderly people who had resorted to sitting on towels on the deck.  Princess have also confirmed that they were very short staffed!  This perhaps explains why the staff were mostly unengaging and appeared stressed and unhappy.   The ship itself definitely doesn't have enough seating areas inside either (not when it is at full capacity anyway) and a lot of guest ended up just walking from venue to venue trying to find seats the whole evening - to no avail.

Overall we found the food very disappointing.  Presentation of the meals was beautiful but most dishes were extremely bland. 

The entertainment was well below par.  No "shows" like RC, just single singers or comedians.  Their main show "rock opera" displayed good singing...but for me it wasn't a "show".   When we were on Indy the entertainment was top notch with musicals, musicians, singers etc.

As I say, perhaps we were just unlucky with the staff shortages and the severe shortage of outdoor seats, but I would have expected Princess to have their seats fixed and available for a summer vacation.  There were many guests very upset and unhappy with their cruise.  One lady I spoke to said it was her 29th cruise and the worse she had ever been on. 

For us personally we feel gutted that we saved so hard for the cruise and were left wishing we had stayed at home.

As I said.... we will just have to save like mad again and stick to RC. 

19 hours ago, Mike.s said:

The rumour is we're getting Independence back again.

that would be GREAT !

Thank you Matt.   Any idea what ship will be sailing from Southampton in 2025?  will it still be anthem?  

Hi all, I used this forum/message board 4 years ago when I took my first ever cruise.  It was so incredibly helpful and we had a fantastic family cruise on Indy.   Unfortunately we do not have the finances to cruise often, but we saved up and went on another family cruise this summer.  Unfortunately the date of the Royal Caribbean sailings didn't fit in with the dates we had free (sailing from Southampton UK) and we therefore chose a Princess Cruises sailing.    What a horrible experience!   If Royal Caribbean was a 10 out of 10 on our last cruise then this had to be a 2 out of 10.

I know you are all dedicated RC cruisers and I just wanted to say......I can see why now!  Unfortunately it is going to be a couple of years before we will be able to afford to cruise again but when we do then I won't consider any other Company.

Stick with Royal Caribbean.

It would appear there are no sailings listed for 2024 from UK. Is this because they've not released which ship is sailing from UK that year?

Any thoughts or speculation on which ship it might be? 

Hi again. We sailed on Indy (first cruise) in 2019, staying on deck 7, balcony cabin 7668. We found the location good so this time around when looking to choose a cabin on Anthem We were thinking of booking a cabin location similar to our cabin on Indy. However I've read a few things on various sites saying that the lifeboats below on deck 5 or 6 can really affect views from deck 7.   Since views are important to us I'm now considering a cabin on deck 12. (Posted yesterday re a cabin near the Concierge club- thank you for replies)

I know everyone is different but I'd love to get some feedback here. We like to sit out on our balcony a fair bit and relax so don't want to risk any view spoilers. 

Thank you so much. This site is so good! I asked screeds of questions before our first cruise in 2019 and can honestly say that the tips and advice I received on this blog was invaluable.

Thank you everyone for your replies.  

36 minutes ago, Matt said:

I don't think I'd consider it to be a noisy cabin.  Certainly foot traffic, but that can very hit or miss as to whether or not it affects you.

Thanks Matt.  Is the Concierge club open during certain hours. It's really just late night noise we'd be concerned about. 

Hello all.  Is a cabin close to the Concierge club on Anthem of the Seas likely to be noisy? Is the Concierge club open late at night? Thanks everyone 

1 hour ago, F1guynz said:

Hi,

Our cruise finishes tomorrow and we have had a great time. I think overcrowding is more related to the time you cruise. If you are on board when school holidays are on then the wait times can be longer.

We have had no issues with overcrowding on this cruise, I was just able to walk up to the prefect storm and use it when I wanted. Same with the Sky pad. The gym was never busy so had plenty of treadmills to pick from. The pool deck did get busy on warm days but we don’t use them so it was not as issue for us. Not sure when they got busy.

we never had any problems finding a seat at Windjammers when we ate there.

If you want good seats for the ice show or Grease then go a bit earlier or if you are in a Suite the seats for both these venues are excellent. (If you don’t have a Suite and not all the seats in this area are not taken linger around the area about 10 minutes before the show starts and they will open the remaining seats to everyone. You should be able to nab one then)

I am sure you will have a great time on your first cruise and will immediately want to book another one, that’s what happened to us.

Thank you so much! Everyone is great on this site and without it I would have been completely clueless. We are not in a suite so thank you for the tip! I didn't realise that there were different seating areas. 

Great to hear you've had no crowding issues. We are travelling out with school holidays so hopefully will also be fine. Thanks again. 

21 hours ago, F1guynz said:

We are currently on Independence and I can confirm they are definitely separate.

There are six showers in the men’s changing room / sauna / steam room. All but one are cold water only.

Cold water???!!!

How is your cruise going? This is our first cruise and we are VERY excited (and slightly apprehensive) due to reading reviews about over crowding

Would love to hear any feedback or tips you may have. Thank you

Hello again, Our cruise is getting close! YIPPEE..... and I am starting to pack.  I always seem to pack way too much toiletries so I have a question regarding the showers at the Gym.  My husband and I will probably go to the Gym most days so we are thinking we'd possibly be best showering at the gym as this will mean that only the kids will need to shower in the stateroom and will ease the chaos!.   

Do you know if the Gym Showers are "mixed" or are the ladies and gents separate?  I'd like to know if my husband and I will need a bag each with shower gels etc or if we will get away with one set of toiletries as we will be in the same showers.  Thank you!  (we are sailing on Indy)

Perfect! I have ordered 2!  Thank you so much for your help 

Hi all,  I've read on this blog previously about bringing door organisers on board and I want to get one (or Maybe 2) ordered in time for my cruise in 7 weeks.

Can any of you suggest a good one? I'm in the UK and I use Amazon, so one from there would be ideal.  

This is my first cruise so I've no idea of the door sizes etc.

Thank you all once again.

Thanks again  everyone.   I'll just go Check in online.  As this is all new to me I'm not really sure what to expect at a cruise terminal.  I'm hoping it's a little better than an airport and that if we get there around 10am (We r travelling 600 miles the day before and staying overnight in hotel next to terminal) that we won't be hanging around for hours, or my husband will be cursing me for dragging the family there so early. Thanks again

Thanks for reply. So the expedited embarkation only applies to higher categories of stateroom/status or if you have purchased the key?

We are in a balcony room so sounds like we are not eligible. I did consider purchasing the key but it is way out of budget. I know many of you cruise all the time (lucky things) but the cruise is costing  £7k for us and the kids and that's a lot of money for us to be spending. 

Looks like I'll just Check in online then, probably not a big deal as we plan to get to terminal early so hopefully queues won't be too bad.

Thanks again for info.

So at last....I am within my 90 days and I can check in.  Yippee, its our first cruise and we are all very excited!

I've been glued to this blog for almost a whole year and I think I've read that if I check in via the RC App (which I have downloaded onto my mobile) then I can use expedited embarkation (we are on Indy from Southampton).  But If I check in online via a laptop I cant.  Is that right?

Here's the problem... when I login to my account on my laptop my check in is open, but when I look at the App every morning it keeps moving the check in date out a day.  So yesterday it said I could check in on the 13th, today it says the 14th.  Its been doing this since it hit the 90 days.

Is this normal and just down to a glitch in the App?  and am I right in saying that if I check in online I cant then get expedited embarkation?

thanks again everyone.

Thanks everyone for replies. We are on independence of the seas. 

Hello, we are embarking on our first cruise in a few months time. SO excited, but having a last minute panic (will no doubt have a few more of these as the cruise date approaches).

I have read somewhere about staterooms located towards the aft of the ship to have trouble with noise from the engines. We are on Indy, Deck 7, stateroom 7668.  Do you think we may experience engine noise in this location?  I am having a panic and wondering if I should see if I can move rooms.

thanks all

What is "expedited arrival" ?

Thanks everyone. I honestly don't know what I'd have done without this blog site. Such a wealth of knowledge.

I am sure I will have more questions before I eventually set sail....

Quick question regarding Towels for the pool.  (I am a newbie so bear with me!) 

I think I am right in saying that you can either bring your own along on the cruise or get one from a towel station somewhere on the ship?

I've seen on this blog previously that you get charged if you don't return the towels etc, but I am wondering if you are supposed to hold onto the same towel for the whole cruise and return at the end of can you return after each day and get another one next time you are at the pool? (bad for environment I know...)

thanks everyone

2 hours ago, leesam82 said:

Hello Everyone

I'll be going on my first RCI Cruise on the allure in August. I have purchased the deluxe drinks package and will be arriving at port asap to get on board. I know that rooms won't be ready till about 1. I know I will not have my seapass when i first board, but would still like to take advantage of my drinks package. How do I get a drink without my seapass initially? 

Thanks

Sorry, don't mean to hijack your post but I'm a newbie and I've got a question.

You mention that you won't have seapass initially.  When and how do you get your seapass? I'd stupidly assumed that we'd get them when we check in etc?

Perfect, thank you hayley_bopp!