kittysoul

I finished my first RC cruise last month... and have my next one coming up in May. I was on the Facebook RC cruising pages (various ones) and it seems that the tipping questions always come up (as they do in here, I know too)... people have made me feel nothing but horrible now... After hanging out in these boards for months, i am still confused about the tipping stuff.... on Anthem last month, I paid my prepaid gratuities...and then put 50 dollars in an envelope and left for our cabin steward at the end. I thought I had done right...and felt good about it... until today, I am in the Anthem of the Seas FB page, and all of these folks are in there shaming each other about what they leave... saying the prepaid gratuities dont even really get to your room steward, and so you must leave them at least 20 dollars per day extra... or at least 100 dollars at the end of the week.... it seems like no matter what you do, someone is always going to come along and shame you into feeling like it wasnt enough. I just want to make sure I understand what the real norm is before my Harmony cruise in May. Should I bump up my amount to 100 for the cabin steward.. I know, everyone should do what they can and think is right, but with so much conflicting information, i am overwhelmed with it all now.

ohh ok, gotcha.... thanks so much! ...... man, i cannot WAIT to go back!!

oh ok, cool.. yes this map is different/ updated from mine from just last month! Thanks !!

@AshleyDillo thanks! I was looking at the map that I brought back from there... that big beach where the floating bar was before (on the map ), is that the area that you mean is shallow.. or the south beach is shallow? I was just curious about that big beach that is directly behind the Oasis pool, because it looks really nice on the map :)

Hi everyone! I have a couple questions about Coco Cay.. i was just there for the first time over our NYE cruise on Anthem, but I will be going back again, on Harmony in May. My questions are... first, the big beach that is directly behind the Oasis pool, that has the swim up bar hut out in the water... it is to the left of the Coco Beach club ..does this beach have a name? My second question is , where is the snorkeling area ... the one where the sunken plane is located? When we were there, we went straight to that first little cove we came to at Chill Island..and now I am wondering if we might have found a little bigger and better beach if we had went a little further back .... thanks!

I hear ya there! For me, it was the appetizers that I was excited about having more of ... like a soup and a shrimp cocktail.. .usually thats how i did it.. a soup and a salady type of thing...which made sense to me... my son though, he would probably love the idea though of being able to get both the prime rib AND the mahi mahi... lol

thanks! I will do it at least once next time!! ?

Hey everyone! I know that Matt talks a lot about ordering more than one entree in the MDR... but do a lot of people really do this? I did not see people doing it so much when I was on Anthem last month, and so I just stuck to ordering 2 appetizers and never dared to order more than one entree! Is it REALLY a common thing to order multiples... my next cruise on Harmony, is with my 23 yr old son who loves to eat, and I want to make sure we know ... he would love to order a lot I am sure, but I also know he would be mortified to look like a pig too... ?

On my NYE cruise, with my aunt and cousin... we will also have a 5 yr old with us... 4 adults and a 5 yr old... and all of us are big time game nuts... we always have games at our NYE parties and other holidays and so we had planned on bringning UNO and a couple other games... but we thought we would be the only ones... pleasantly suprised that others do too! ?

I just read the new post about the 'after dark' festivities coming to the Coco Cay visits .... I am wondering if they will start extending some of the already planned cruises to maybe stay on the island later than originally planned...? I am booked on Harmony for the May 3 sailing, and according to the calendar in the cruise planner, we are to be there on day 2 , from 7am until only 4pm. Day 3 is a sea day and then Day 4 we are scheduled to arrive at PR at 10am. I was just thinking, it would be really nice if we could stay at Coco Cay later than 4pm.... and i wouldn't think that it would take 'that' long to get to Puerto Rico, 2 days later at 10am, that staying later would affect the itenerary.... thoughts?

@guittech you might want to also check out the Cruising with Wheels guys, Frank and Kevin...Frank is in a wheelchair and they have a youtube channel that has a slant particularly about mobility issues.... they are really funny too... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPdJZcTwRNLXmZKY-nc98rg

did you guys see this story..... very cool! Majesty rescued some folks Sunday... https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/18/us/cruise-ship-boat-rescue-trnd/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=fbCNN&utm_content=2019-09-18T22%3A32%3A14&utm_term=link&fbclid=IwAR1RJ36aBYUmUBHQEJ-rx6o74aCXYR0NLCi5OUeMyUKsYLtaijIOa7Q3_Z8

@Matt ...Thanks, Matt! That helps a lot!

so , @ChessE4 ... you have the option of either putting a credit card on file, or getting on board credit? I assume that if you get onboard credit, you have to settle up with them before they let you off the ship? lol

I was watching Morgan' on 'very offical travel guide', and he was in an Anthem cabin and showed on the television, his running tab/ bill on his account, and how it worked. He had a couple 'withdraws', where he said he took cash money out to use in ports or the casino. I am a little confused about what he meant here? I assume that when you get onboard, you either have a credit card as your payment for your online acct. or you go give them money to put on your acct? How does this work, and how / why would he be withdrawing money from his acct. kinda like an ATM? Just trying to understand how it works ...

wow.. it sounds like they are pretty hardcore about the rules with this... so probably is not worth it !! It is not even really that important to me to go in there... I don't drink very much and I don't mind buying my one or two drinks per night lol

I'm not even a religious person.... but.... At this point, i really dont care so much about what happens regarding my cruise... I just heard on tv, that when this made landfall in the Bahamas an hour or so ago, it did so , officially in a tie with the one that hit the Fl Keys in the 1930's, as THE worst / most powerful hurricane to make landfall there.. in recorded history ... ? Now is the time to seriously pray for the folks who live on those tiny islands

@JLMoran oh ok, well that makes sense I guess.... I guess its a good thing, so it won't end up being very crowded in there! I plan on getting there way early and so I can go straight in there and get mine. Thanks Joe! ?

I am 119 days out on my Anthem sailing, and I was wanting to add the thermal spa 5 day pass in the cruise planner. It will let me go in there, and I can purchase other spa offerings (manicure...pedicure...) but it will not let me purchase the thermal spa. It is there, and it brings up the select it page, but it says in a red box, 'your selection is not found', please try with a different search option'... Does anyone know what the problem is? Is it still just too far out to purchase the thermal spa pass for some reason?

ahhh, I see.... yes, that does make sense.... I guess its all marketing strategy...they all have an angle to make their money while appearing to have the best deals...

@JLMoran ahhh, now its starting to make some sense.... is interesting and fun just going through all of different cruise lines various things... just for something to do ..I guess the point is, you have to always look at the whole picture and the bottom line... no matter which line you are looking at...

oh cool, I will! I love Cruisetips TV..i hadn't seen that yet..Ill go find it! thanks!

I was looking at some of the other cruise lines, just to compare and see what the differences were with them.... out of curiosity. I saw that Norwegian's drink packages made RC's look fantastic.... those are some CRAZY prices ... 128. dollars A DAY?? whew... i won't be complaining about any of the RC prices anymore...sale or no sale... lol Those who have been on both lines... is this right?? https://www.ncl.com/onboard-packages/beverage-packages

wow...that is so suprising... what a bummer ...i mean Im sure you had a wonderful time anyway, but seems like a missed opportunity for a special event/ party lol

you will have to remember to pack abig folded up sheet of aluminum foil next time! haha I think i might have to remember to do that too...