FionaMG

This is us exactly. Most of the specialty dining venues have items on them that we would love to try but we're full after a starter and a main or a main and dessert and there's no way we're going to pay upwards of $50 for that. We would definitely visit some of those restaurants if they had an à la carte option.

That sounds like it might be the one DD did on our recent cruise, where you learn to make some cocktails? She enjoyed it. It was $31. We didn't have the drink package so I can't say if it would be covered.

I do occasionally get a fancy coffee if I'm in the WJ and the coffee is even more shockingly awful than usual.

100% of mine and DH's Soda, OJ and water.

I do too. They used to hand it out at Captain's Corner along with the ship info sheet.

If there's a particular ship you're interested in, I guess you could post on an upcoming roll call for that ship and ask if anyone is planning on going to Captain's Corner and if they would mind posting back on their return. The Captains always talk briefly about their lives and careers at that event. One thing to bear in mind is that captains work 10 weeks on and then have 10 weeks off so the one on your ship today might not be the one during your cruise.

Yes, good point.

It's very unlikely to be a problem. Someone at check-in may have to spend a few seconds manually overriding the system when it squeals but that should be it. I almost always get this because, cultural thing, being married to Portuguese husband I have two surnames but my account with Royal was set up years ago using just the last one. I think the longest it ever took to sort it was about 5 minutes and that was only because the person checking us in was new and had to ask for help because they didn't know how to deal with it.

Yes, that's the one I was looking for.

We have stayed twice at the Best Western Plus Oceanside Inn and are booked there again for February. It's not fancy but it is steps from the beach, walking distance to shops, restaurants and the water taxi, if that might be of interest, and has a pretty decent included breakfast. The last time we were there was just prior to covid, so hoping it will still be as good as it was before.

It definitely didn't go through the Panama Canal. I remember that as I was watching it at the time in the hope it might. It repositioned without passengers and went the long way round as @smokeybandit suggests. I can't remember the exact route but I want to say it went through the Suez Canal and round past Singapore. Of course, I may be having a complete brain meltdown. @twangster do you remember? I tried to find the thread where I know it was discussed but came up empty-handed.

I guess they're still rolling it out across the fleet. When I sailed on Anthem at the end of April, it was still the old menu, with the prawns. When I sailed on her again, just last month, it was the new menu with no prawns.

@WAAAYTOOO, I have filed away your suggestion for my first opportunity

I'm 2 points short so will make the jump on my next cruise and this is the perk I'm most looking forward to.

Had the new menu for lunch on my recent Anthem cruise and although I was sad to see the garlicky prawns gone it wasn't a deal breaker, although it might have made more of a difference if we had been having dinner, given how much more expensive dinner is. I absolutely loved the salmon dish on the new menu and thought it was definitely better than the one on the old menu.

It's the first step on the casino loyalty ladder. It means she's played a little bit while you haven't (or not enough to get noticed).

Hi @Dean285 and welcome to the boards. First off, the official currency on board Royal's ships is the USD so all onboard prices are in that currency regardless of sailing in Europe. You should be able to find the prices of specific drinks in the bars and lounges tab on the app. If you're not familiar with the app, let us know and we can explain how to do this. Water on the refreshment pack may be bottles or cans and the brand may depend on what's available locally. On our recent Norway cruise we had bottles (can't remember the brand but pretty sure it wasn't Dasani), whereas on our last Med sailing it was in cans (again can't remember the brand but think it was an Italian one). Either way, there's no problem taking some back to the room with you. I don't know about pop, I'm afraid. As for the pre-paid water packages, I have heard but can't say from first-hand knowledge that you can buy them more cheaply by going into the "gifts and gear" on your cruise planner as opposed to the beverages tab. Also on that tab and in case you might be interested, there is a very nice cooler bag offered that can be bought with a variety of "fillings". The cheapest one comes with water and, if you get it during a sale, is priced at around $23. I love mine. I can't remember how many bottles were in it; I want to say maybe 8 half litre ones (some generic brand).

I can't remember, sorry.

@berkeleykel, my pleasure. Glad to be of assistance.

You can do it in the app after you board. I did it on my recent Anthem cruise and it worked fine. When the stateroom attendant came to introduce herself she already knew we wanted the beds separated. First, click where it says "Welcome aboard! Hints and tips as we set sail". Then scroll down until you find "Stateroom requests are just a tap away" (you might have to scroll a long way down. This screenshot is from a Symphony sailing and it's all the way down at the very bottom. On my Anthem sailing it was about halfway down. Click where it says "Tell us" and it opens up a list of requests with a space for you to insert your stateroom number. Note that it does not work until you are connected to the ship's WiFi.

Saw it at Bristol too, less than a fortnight ago. And they had one of those scanner things you get at US airports too. I didn't have to do either; I guess they didn’t think a 5'0" 60-something little old lady in flats was worth bothering about. Curiously enough, exactly the same happened (or didn’t, depending on your perspective) at Newark earlier this year.

Getting to that viewpoint was very easy. It's at the top of the Loen Skylift. This is from the port of Olden. There's a shuttle bus that takes you to the Skylift from the port (5 minute ride). You can buy tickets online ahead of time (slightly cheaper) or from the Olden Adventures Office right where you get off the ship (the benefit of waiting till the day of means you know what the weather's like before you buy). You can do a number of different hikes at the top and there is also a zipline. The zipline's opening hours are 1 pm to 6 pm so although DD was keen, we didn't want to hang around until then. https://www.loenskylift.no/ https://www.oldencruise.com/shore-excursions/loen-skylift-including-transfer/ Another great viewpoint was in Bergen: This is from the top of the funicular. You can ride up and back down, ride one way (up or down) and walk the other, or walk both ways. DD and I did it the hard way! We were extremely lucky with the weather in Bergen, which is one of the rainiest cities in Norway. The area at the top of the funicular gets very busy (too busy, in fact). We walked a little bit farther on to a place called Lake Skomakerdiket, where we had a traditional pancake. I had mine just with jam but DD tried hers with the famous Norwegian brown cheese and jam. If you want to ride the funicular here be sure to buy the tickets online ahead of time. The queue for tickets was gigantic! https://www.floyen.no/en/floibanen https://www.floyen.no/en/food-and-beverage/skomakerstuen-cafe/ In Geiranger, we were unlucky with the weather. Low cloud the whole time, so although we enjoyed our hike up to Westeras Farm, we weren't able to see the fjord when we got to the top. If you decide to do this walk, go as early as you can. By the time we came back down, the first section of it (up a long staircase beside a waterfall) was absolutely packed with people, making it decidedly unpleasant. View from part way up: View at the top!

Your pics are beautiful! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. We had an amazing time too and are seriously considering going back again next year, at which point the glacier will be on our "to do" list. If you and hubby do do the Dubai-Singapore cruise, I guess you'll have to "compensate" youngest daughter with another cruise later on that she can join you on!

Oh wow. I wish I'd realised. It would have been fun to meet in person. Off topic for this thread but did you enjoy the glacier? We did the Skylift and it was great. As for the repo, it's probably priced so outrageously because it's such a unique itinerary. They'll be targeting people with both time and money on their hands so I can't see it coming down in price much, unless maybe the first leg with its snoresville itinerary. I might have considered doing the Rome-Dubai segment but am not tempted by either the itinerary or the .

Anthem cruises from October 2024 to March 2025 are up. The repositioning cruise is split into three segments: