teddy

I’ve never participated, but it’s a lot of fun to watch…..although our youngest was a team co-captain when he was 19 and he had a blast. It was the highlight of his cruise.

I’ve been checking for a week or so for our February 4 sailing. Up until last night, I kept getting the spinning icon. Last night we were able to bid even though it’s over 30 days out. In the past, Royal Up was unavailable until within the 30 day mark. Others have been available well before that.

We did this once thinking we were being smart since we both drink a lot of water. We quickly decided it was worth the money to have a case waiting in the room for us.

We just lucked out and were able to book it at $79 pp for our February 4 sailing on Anthem. After our first visit, we decided that $100 pp would be our cutoff, but I suspect we would have booked at $103. We’re pretty frugal, and the Beach Club is quite a spurge for us. We don’t do specialty dining or stay in suites, so we find the lunch and atmosphere to be amazing. My wife likes to get there early to grab one of the beds at the infinity pool, however I’ve never seen any problems in finding chairs/loungers. We’re early risers so it’s not a big deal for us to get off the ship when the gangway opens. If you get there later in the morning, the beds may all be occupied, but there will be plenty of alternatives. When we’ve been there in the past, we were asked to make a reservation for our lunch as we entered. Since we haven’t been there post Covid protocols, I’m not sure if this is still a thing. There is a covered area to eat in. As far as being there if the weather is poor, I’d say it’s like being at any beach when the conditions aren’t perfect, but there are areas to get under cover. We spent our first couple visits to CocoCay exploring and doing the beach thing in the complementary areas. We had a great time, and if we couldn’t book the Beach Club at our preferred price, we would have no qualms enjoying the complementary areas again. The whole island is great.

I use Thinksport spf 50. It’s even on Hawaii’s approved list. It’s thick but works great on my easily burned skin.

My first thought was “what happened that the Next Cruise manager felt the need to call Security?” This is a red flag saying we aren’t getting the complete rundown. That being said, I’ve interacted with enough customers over the years to know that some are absolutely certain they have “rights” that just don’t actually exist. I’ve seen people escorted out of supermarkets by local PD because of their behaviors, so I can only imagine how difficult a customer can become in an environment such as a cruise ship.

Wow. I’m glad I did all our purchases before I left for work….at 330 this morning

Anthem 2/4/23 Coco Beach Club Day Pass - $78.99 pp Down from $159.99 pp

Coco Beach Club day pass is showing $78.99/person this morning.

I wasn’t trying to come across like a jerk or arrogant back up there and I’m sorry if I did. I was expressing my amazement at how much lobster tails cost vs. how much the whole lobster is locally. I know it’s not apples to apples.

Never bought one, so I have no idea. They sell in stores for $3.99-$4.99 each.

I get it that it’s not a bad price when you’re not purchasing them in the area lobsters are brought in to port. I’m sure people from the Pacific Northwest are dumbfounded by what we’re willing to pay for wild caught Sockeye Salmon up here in northern New England

Lol. Nope. Nor are the cans of Coke I buy onboard $4 at the stores.

$16.99 for a lobster tail makes me chuckle. Lobster are $7.99/lb at the supermarket I work at, and that’s more expensive than local lobster pounds.

We just paid the change fee to move from a Feb ‘23 cruise on Mariner out of Port Canaveral to Anthem out of Cape Liberty. In our case, there’re only two of us, and we come out ahead by not having to pay for flights and a room the night before.

Sorry. I should have been more clear. I was referring to overindulging and minimal healthy choices, not the offerings in Labadee. I agree with the difference in food between there and CocoCay I feel that the majority of people want to be able to eat as much as they want whenever they want while on a cruise ship….at least on the mega cruise lines sailing in American markets.

They’re giving the customers what they want.

We stayed two nights pre-cruise at the Home2 Suites back in January. It’s on the edge of a residential area and we felt safe walking around. There’s a shopping center a short walk away with a Publix and other stores/restaurants. Sidewalks and crosswalks made the walk simple.

Well how 'bout that. I just looked after I read your reply and I have the new one now too.

We found a different “too good to pass up” offer elsewhere, so Alaska will have to be in the future. We’re in to 2025 for vacation planning now, so now we have a longer wait for itineraries to be released.

We’re on Anthem this coming February to get out of the cold. 86 or 87 days from today. We’ve been at CocoCay in January and February and the temperature was comfortable for us. My wife and I both went in the pool and the ocean. After a couple tries, we’ve decided we will never cruise in the Caribbean during the summer again. It’s just too hot for us . I can relate to snowplowing and taking a cruise. On our first cruise I had to walk our son through replacing a blown hydraulic hose on my plow truck….via a Voom WiFi connection and FaceTime.

There’s a box that can be checked when doing a booking (or mock booking) online. It’s in the same place you can enter your C&A number. There’s also a drop down menu to enter your state as well as a couple other options.

In the mid-80s when I apprenticed as a butcher/meat cutter, we used no-roll beef to cut up for cheap hamburg sales because….well…it was cheap. It was also extremely inconsistent as far as quality. I haven’t seen no-roll in decades, everything is choice and prime nowadays where I work. I can’t imagine what would possess a business to use it for steaks.

That’s too bad Coastal Maine is all about tourism. The loss of any income can make for some tough off seasons.

I feel your pain. We did the waiting game for 2023 Europe itineraries last year, and will be doing the same this year for the '24/'25 sailings....although a "too good to pass up" Alaska sailing my entice us to go there instead.