RockerDom31

I second the idea that if you are going to get internet anyway AND it’s a good price, then it’s worth it. It wasn’t worth it for 39.99 pp/pd on our Aug 2020 Oasis Cruise when we first booked. But now, it is 21.99 so we booked the Key and canceled the internet packages. It is a bunch of little luxuries that might make for a smoother vacation.

Also, we were able to make two shows back-to-back on a sea day: WWRY and Spectra's. I believe WWRY started at 6p and Spectra at 8p. We had a quick Windjammer dinner at 5:30 and there was about 20 mins between shows - plenty of time to walk from the Royal Theater, grab a quick slice of pizza and a beer, and head to 270.

Your best bet is to probably book the 3 shows now to save your spots and make any adjustments onboard. We were on Anthem in August and we booked the 3 shows beforehand on the Cruise Planner. Fortunately, Anthem was just added to the RC app. We wound up changing all 3 reservations through the app once we saw the Cruise Compass onboard. On the app, there is a digital version of the Cruise Compass - including all the times for the bookable shows. It will preload all of your reservations that you made on Cruise Planner. If show reservations are available, it will say "Reserve Now". You can cancel your previous reservation and (quickly) reserve the new showtime - all through the RC app. We must've canceled, booked, re-booked the showtimes through the app at least 5 different times to make our day and dining work. Hope this helps!

We tipped the porter $5 on embarkation day - my wife and I shared one large piece of luggage. We did prepay gratuities on our last cruise. While I'm not sure if this was the spirit of prepaying gratuities (we also got the deluxe drink package, which included gratuities as well)...I must admit, it was nice walking around the ship without having to worry about carrying a wad of cash for tips. For most of the time, I walked around the ship with literally just the clothes on my back and my Seapass card on a lanyard. It made the experience that much more relaxing. I'm certainly no cruise expert, but after perusing through the boards, doing some online research, and asking my TA for advice...as long as your pay the gratuities (prepaid or daily charge), whatever you decide is going to be the right decision. I have come to accept the fact that cruise tipping will probably be one of those controversial "GM vs. Ford" topics for the rest of time!

My wife and I are both vegetarians. While we appreciated the fact that the Vegan menu was available in the MDR (it was also loaded onto the Royal App on embarkation day), we noticed a lot of the Vegan choices were available in the Windjammer anyway. Most nights, we ate at the Windjammer for timing purposes (it was hard to line up showtimes with dinner reservations). We did do the MDR one night and I must say, I was very impressed with the staff there. Without even telling anyone when we arrived at the MDR, the head waiter came to our table before we ordered and already knew that we were vegetarians. He pointed out the menu options that were vegetarian, offered us other choices not on the menu, and the vegan menu as well. He also checked on us to make sure that everything was going well with our dinner. I know that our TA noted it in our reservation that we were vegetarian so I guess somebody in Dining flagged our file in their system? We didn't tell any one on the ship so they must have found out about it somehow.

Our Oasis August 23, 2020 sailing from Bayonne currently has the Key for $24.99 pp/pd. This is how much it was on our Anthem to Bermuda sailing in August 2019. We had The Key for our Anthem sailing and there were Key crew members outside the MDR taking reservations for shows, iFly, North Star, Wall Climb, and FlowRider and also collecting carryons before guests went into the MDR for the Chops Lunch. My wife and I didn't do FlowRider or the Wall Climb. We booked the shows on the Royal App (note: the North Star times for The Key guests was during At Sea days. My wife and I decided that we'd rather do the North Star while ported in Bermuda. We just canceled The Key appointment and made a reservation on our own on the Royal App. There were plenty of slots open). As of right now, we do not have The Key for our Oasis cruise. It was nice to have on Anthem since it was our first Royal Caribbean cruise. We decided against it when we first booked Oasis because it was $31.99 pp/pd. We'll have to do the math and see if the lower price is worth it since we are getting the internet package anyway (the UDP + Voom Surf and Stream bundle).

Thanks! I have been perusing these forums, reading the blogs, and watching the videos for over a year now - I just finally got the courage to put up a post!

Ah I think I may have mixed a few details up We are currently using a TA who my wife and I have been using since our honeymoon and she has always been good to us (this is who we are meeting with next week). Recently, I got an email from NEA Member Benefits with the whole discount deal if we book an RC cruise with them. But I am hesitant to do that if means losing the services of our current TA. I was just seeing if there was a way to get the best of both worlds Sorry for the confusion!

That was kind of my gut reaction. As much as using those travel dollars would be nice, it’s hard to put a price on having a sense of security. Plus I’ve learned so many other ways to save money from this blog! Thank you all for your responses!

That’s what I’m kind of unsure about - when you book through NEA, I don’t believe you are assigned a “Travel Agent” - I think they are more of a “booking site”. I could be wrong though... They are offering $250-750 off, depending on stateroom category, of the lowest Royal Caribbean advertised price. We are having our pre-Cruise meeting with our travel agent next week so I was going to ask then if there would be anything she could do on her end. Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated! This website and forum is literally the best source of information for all things Royal. You guys are the best!

Hi all - My wife and I are going on Anthem in a few weeks and it’ll be my first cruise. If we like it (and if I don’t get seasick), we would definitely want to book our next cruise ASAP. I have Travel Dollars to use through the National Education Association’s travel program. But I would like to keep my current travel agent as she has treated us very well on our previous vacations. Has anyone tried transferring a reservation not directly booked through Royal Caribbean? I have a sense that it might not be possible but maybe there might be some people on the forum who are also NEA members or have some type of discount through their job? Thanks!

Hi all - Long time listener, first time caller here! First of all, thank you to all of you for the wealth of information that you have provided! My wife and I are looking forward to our Bermuda cruise on Anthem at the end of August! I’ve read all the posts and watched the videos about The Key and just yesterday, I listened to the podcast about what to pack in your carry-on. Which leads me to this question that I can’t seem to find the answer to: I understand that one of The Key’s perk is that they will deliver your carry-on to your stateroom so you don’t have to lug it around before it’s ready. However, If your carry-on has essentials like medications and travel docs, should you be giving your carry-on to them to hold onto? I imagine it would be okay if you politely declined this perk and held onto your carry-on anyway? thanks again! You are all awesome! Dom C.