AshleyDillo

I guess the virtual room tour excursions are sold out for now. ?

I never tried room service coffee on Anthem but the La Patisserie coffee is a step up from the self serve in the Windjammer. They have espresso-based specialty coffees and they state they use Starbucks..but it's like any restaurant that states they proudly serve Starbucks..just using the branded beans. Anthem also had a specialty coffee bar in the Windjammer and Cafe 270..so that gives you a chance to hop around to find your favorite option. I think those 2 used Seattle's Best.

Air2Sea will either hold the ship up for you or fly you to meet the ship if something happens with your flight. I would call and ask about possibly arranging something early and point out how close that is cutting it and see if they can do anything.

I see that they resolved the issue, but I don't see how they admitted they were in error. Actually looking at what you quoted it appears they very carefully side-stepped admitting to an error. They even stated you were the one with issues ? I find corporations' attempts to CYA pretty hilarious most of the time. They honored the original price and offered up some FCC..sweet deal..way to stick it to the "man" ? For what it's worth..I checked a cruise planner of mine and it said From $89.99 but NONE of my days even have an $89.99 spot available..guess they all got snatched up already if they existed. Nothing with Royal's pricing surprises me anymore..and I know to always check and double check before I click checkout, especially with them.

In all fairness..that is only one day selected that is showing prices.. There could be $89 figures on the other days. Is it a deliberate, intentional marketing strategy? More than likely..and it isn't unique to Royal or the cruising industry.

On our first Star Class we brought back food from each port...cannolis in Boston, doughnuts in Portland and then in Bar Harbor, ME we brought back an empty lobster box and put a water bottle in it (for weight) and a little lobster keychain just to be funny. For our next Star Class cruise we didn't plan on giving gifts, but our cabin steward was admiring @CGTLH's USB hub charger and had asked where he got it from, so we just gave it to him at the end of the cruise with his tip. Our Genie had also mentioned that she burned herself by sitting on her curling iron one day and we had a laugh about that. My mother brings these silicone mats that she lays her hair appliances on, so she gave that to the Genie at the end of the cruise. Cash is always, always king..but it's nice to be able to able to do something that shows you were paying attention. I'd like to think the Genie gifts to passengers express the same sentiment. I know @CGTLH got a set of nautical themed whiskey rocks as a gift from the Genie..and I know that bar bill of his showed plenty of Gentleman Jack ?

Complete this form and they supply one as well as the distilled water: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/allaboutcruising/guestSpecialNeeds.do

The helipad was almost scarily dark on Mariner and you could see plenty of stars. If you're on an Oasis or Quantum class I would try going as far forward as you can on the front of the ship and then up as close to the bridge as you can. It tends to be a little darker in those areas so they can see better out of the bridge.

Everyone can get regular coffee, tap water, milk, juices (at breakfast) and iced tea for free in the restaurants. With the package you can get soda, sparkling water, specialty coffee and in the morning fresh-squeezed OJ. The suite lounge will have a fancy coffee machine that will do espresso-based drinks that you will have 24 hour access to. Milk and juice may not be out any time other than breakfast, but if someone is in there you can ask and they would likely get it.

1. Symphony 2. Anthem 3. Mariner 4. Radiance 5. Vision This is my ranking based on ship only..it would be more difficult for me to rank them based on favorite cruises because I had an incredible time for different reasons on Mariner and Radiance.

Future note, do not use Allianz for insurance. We used CSA Travel Protection and had a good experience. You would think with Allianz being as large of a company as it is...but perhaps that's the problem in itself.

They're 16oz aluminum cans most of the beers on board. Miller Lite and Coors Light I know for sure fit the standard 12oz can koozies. Michelob Ultra, Budweiser and Bud Light I are taller and skinnier, so they might need the bottle-sized koozie. Or you could just drink faster...?

You get the package cup to use at the FreeStyle self-serve machines. Those machines won't dispense anything but water without using the special cups. At the bars they will pour over ice out of a can, 2-liter or gun..whichever they happen to be using. You can ask for the can and sometimes they will give it to you.

Amen...$35 at Playmakers goes a looooooong way. If all the a la carte stuff really is included and you can visit multiple restaurants, the Ultimate gives me my favorite part of the Star Class experience. I like being able to pick and choose single items rather than have a long fully involved meal. And if I can sell them on giving it to me to go so I don't take up a seat in the restaurant, even better deal for me.

They were giving away the corner suite that was down the hall from ours at BINGO. They had it opened up for tours so I got to see it. I wouldn't pick it over the normal loft layout, but I would sail it if it was heavily discounted, of course!

Old school flat iron for clothing...no heating element, so this form of a flat iron would be allowed too ?

This should be a fun read..love the writing style and humor already. Anthem was my first Star Class experience as well.

Yes..they have them and they are priced per person. Of course Royal won't list the price and wants you to call them: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithHero.do?pagename=transfers But with four people, I would highly suggest you consider UberXL or Lyft. I wouldn't imagine you would find shuttle service less than $20 per person and even UberXL will be less than $80 to go from MIA to the port.

I would recommend a dedicated trip to Orlando to really experience Disney. It's just quite a ride to/from Port Canaveral for a only a one-day port stop. You could make a day of Disney without entering the parks by using the Disney transportation and visiting the various resorts and Disney Springs, but you have to be mindful of your time as it takes a lot of time to get around the Disney area. I grew up in the Orlando area and I live only 4 hours away now, so it's easy for me to get down there which skews my perception a little bit. I would look into the Kennedy Space Center as an alternative. It's a lot closer to the port and you can catch a taxi, Uber/Lyft there and do it on your own. The ship usually has excursions for this as well if you are more comfortable with that. I used to visit there as a kid and always enjoyed it and it has many more attractions and things to do now than it did when I visited back in the 1980s!

The only drinks that aren't covered with your drink package are the Coco Locos they serve in a pineapple. You would pay an upcharge for that..but if you still want the drink, ask for it without the pineapple and it IS covered!

2/2 failure for me with them. However, I've lost substantial weight since my passport photo was taken which may have something to do with it. The line for those who have to show passports isn't long since so many people get to bypass it with the facial recognition. It only took me a few minutes longer than my travel partner to get through.

If everyone else in the room is underage, then it should let you cancel and rebook one deluxe and the rest refreshment packages. It will be a refund to your credit card in a few days. However, you need to check and see if the refreshment package price has increased from when you booked it. If that's the case, I would suggest calling Royal and doing it over the phone.

That's what kept us in limbo for so long for our airline claim..we saw on the news that the airport was going to be closed but I wanted to make sure we had the cancellation notice from Southwest in writing. I didn't want to book the over $2K worth of plane tickets for the new flight until I knew we had the piece that would "prove our covered loss" occurred. We were going to be booking on a different airline and I was worried the availability of flights was going to dry up due to all the cancellations. If we wouldn't have found a flight, we would have ended up having to file for all the costs associated being stuck in New Jersey..not to mention we'd be..stuck in New Jersey.

That's when they charge you the $25!

Cruising is sort of the only vacationing I have ever done. Most of my other trips have been to visit friends or family or for concerts. I grew up living near Disney World. I was fortunate to have a job out of college that put me on the road to see the US, so I haven't really done any dedicated sightseeing trips. I live close to a lot of places in the southeast that I've done extended weekends. I had family in New Orleans and visit there often, so probably my favorite place to visit in the US. I'm do have Hawaii on my bucket list..and in my road tripping I have managed to miss South Dakota and Vermont, so I need to find a reason to hit those to take care of the 50 states. And I'm eager to start on international travel, but it's a bit intimidating..so I always figured a cruise would be a good way to sample that..so back to cruising again ?