WAAAYTOOO

We were having dinner in Chops and lo and behold up sneaks Yen to say “hi”. She kind of startled me but it was great to see her. I have no idea how she managed to find us within hours of boarding but she did. Those Genie tracking skills are a bit on the creepy side. ?? She said all of her SC guests were either onboard or on their way so it doesn’t seem like there have been nearly as many cancellations as I thought there might be. When were in the Concierge lounge earlier, Alex (Concierge host) said that, to his knowledge, only 5 suites has cancelled. The truth is, though, they won’t really know how many cancellations they have until boarding ends tomorrow afternoon. BTW, they are still excluding D+ from the CL even with the modified itin. On our way to 270 for the tech presentation. ??

We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard in downtown Newark. The hotel itself was excellent. Absolutely no hesitation or concerns. The room was comfortable and clean and the mattress was very, very comfortable. The neighborhood.....(or maybe I should say”the ‘hood).....however, was very sketchy. We ventured out a couple times to eat but frankly, I was not comfortable (for one thing it was effing freezing) so we mostly stayed in the hotel. We kept having people come up and beg for money. We picked this location b/c, as I said in an earlier post, we were under extreme duress to find a place in a hurry. Likely we could have made a better choice, but it was well within the $200/day allowance that a Royal was reimbursing so we are happy, looking back.

Probably not. The water that usually provide is in plastic bottles. I think there is a water package that provides Avian.

I would never buy any expensive jewelry on the ship.

No time limit between drinks. As long as you have 2 seapass cards (and both people have the UBP) you can get 2 drinks.

Exactly the same for us for Anthem.

Thanks, Ellecee. We are finally on Anthem ! Embarkation was a breeze. Slightly disappointed with our Grand Suite. Much smaller and feels closed-in compared with any GS we’ve ever had - even Grandeur ! We’ll survive. Better than a stank hotel in downtown Newark !

Yes, we are looking forward to ships food ! I’m certain the casino will be closed 7ntil later tomorrow afternoon but that’s ok. Just glad to get out of here !

Funny you mention Frances. We told him last year that he would make a great Genie. He said he was “too far along in his career”. I still think he would be a great Genie. Were you in the Royal Suite ? I know the RS often gets that kind of personal service.

I do not believe so.

Just a short musing on the Star Class bennies added to other ships. Back when SC was first implemented, it was my understanding that they intended to integrate this “all inclusive” concept to the [at least some of] the other ship classes....but that has never happened and I have not heard any further rumors of it happening. This actually surprises me, given the popularity of SC. There must be a good reason why this program has not developed beyond the O and Q class ships. My guess (and that’s all it is) is that they could not figure a way to introduce the a Genie ?. To me (laughable I’m sure) it seems like it would be fairly easy to do but I guess it isn’t. Granted, the other ship classes do not have the elaborate SC suites, but adding the all inclusive benefits and some sort of Genie lite doesn’t seem like it would be that hard !

No worries. That group was a mixed bag but we are all in the 50-60 age group and mostly average in mobility. I’m sure that if you are all even moderately fit you will be fine.

S: Good, actually, great news about your Anthem of the Seas sailing Good morning! Late last night, we sent you an email sharing the news that the New Jersey Health Authority advised us that they received the results from CDC, and the individuals tested negative for novel coronavirus. (We decided it was a little too late to text you.) The good news, our departure from Cape Liberty, New Jersey will remain the same, at 3:00 PM EST on Monday, February 10th. The even better news, our team has been tirelessly working and has advised you can board the ship today! So, come start your vacation early with us. The terminal doors will open at 3:00 PM today and boarding will take place today from 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST, or Monday from 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM EST. Please know, since stevedore availability is limited today, you may need to bring your bags onboard with you, so it may be a good idea to pack lightly. We really appreciate your understanding during this unexpected and very fluid situation. Our top priority is your health, safety, and wellbeing. We would never put you at risk, especially when it comes to health. So, thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you later today, or tomorrow! Yippee ! Boarding today at 3:00. Ready to get this party started !

We have been notified that we can board Anthem today (Sunday) beginning at 3:00. Still sailing tomorrow at 3:00.

I could be wrong, but it seemed to me (if I’m reading the screening guidelines correctly) that you will receive these “extra” screening parameters ONLY if you qualify via the “China” questions. In other words, if you have not been in contact with anyone who meets those (list) of conditions, you will not be subject to the extra screening. I will find out later today, as we board Anthem at 3:00.

Good luck !

To make a bad situation even worse, we have a dead crew member on Anthem https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crew-member-dies-for-unrelated-reasons-on-virus-delayed-cruise-ship-sources/2282940/

OBC from the RCCL Visa card will be available prior to cruising and available for use via the Cruise Planner.

Update:

We are getting texts and once in a while, emails. Still waiting for the “no-later-than-5:00” update (it’s 5:16 right now).

Actually, I have not seen any Star Class “specials” since that first one years ago. I never even knew about the one you found for this cruise, Sabrina. Good job in finding it !

Update: S: Here's the latest concerning your sailing on Anthem of the Seas. We're still waiting for the results from the CDC. As we shared on our 11 AM update, if we do not have confirmation of when we can expect results by 1:30 PM, we are going with our alternate plan. At that time, we will provide you with updated boarding times, itinerary, and compensation. If we have to delay further, and you no longer want to sail, we completely understand, and you may cancel and receive a full refund. We will share another update at 1:00 PM EST or as soon as we hear from them, whichever comes first. Thanks for your patience and apologize for this situation.

Update: S: Here's the latest concerning your sailing on Anthem of the Seas. We're still waiting on the conclusive results from the CDC from their office in Atlanta, GA. We're planning to announce the status of boarding at 1:30 PM EST today. If we do not have confirmation of when we can expect results, our plan is to delay boarding until tomorrow. If we do end up needing to delay boarding until Sunday, we will provide you with updated boarding times, itinerary, and compensation at 1:30 PM EST. If we have to delay further, and you no longer want to sail with us on Sunday, we completely understand, and you may cancel and receive a full refund. We are hopeful that we will not need to delay your vacation further, but we also don't want to have you start to make your way to the terminal only for us to find out that we won't have the test results this afternoon. We will continue to provide updates every hour. We greatly appreciate your patience and apologize for this situation.

No, we don’t have a car and decided to just stick around the hotel. I will say, downtown Newark is quite an experience. At least we will be thrilled to get out of here and get on the ship finally. No new updates so it looks like 5:00 today for boarding and 10PM departure. Yippee !

No more updates for now so hopefully things have stabilized. At this point they are refunding 2 days of cruise fare, 2 days of prepaid packages and reimbursing hotel and food up to $200. They’ve cancelled Nassau (yippee) and cut out 1 sea day. IF things go smoothly tomorrow I think all will be well. I have a 4:00 checkout at the hotel so if they begin boarding at 5:00 that should work out.