WAAAYTOOO

10 minutes ago, Miznikki2u said:

am I able to upgrade one of the Soda Packages to the Deluxe Beverage Package, and if so how much would it be. 

Unfortunately, no.  These neighborhood comps are not upgradeable 

We put luggage tags on our carry-ones b/c half the time Dan has no idea what our cabin number is !

34 minutes ago, rjac said:

2 bits, 4 bits 6 bits a dollar.....all for Michelle, jump up and HOLLER! Sorry, couldn't help doing that, but, she is great! 

Hip, hip, hooray !!!

2 minutes ago, jefro said:

we have adjoining rooms for our cruise in May

the guys on one side,the girls the other.

two part question...

first, who and or when, can we let rci know we d like the the king bed to be split into 2 and..

who and when do we ask if the divider on the balcony can be opened between our rooms

thanks for the answers

 

If you used a travel agent, he/she should be able to take care of the bed situation for you immediately. If youbooked directly with RCCL, just call and let them know you want the beds separated. If it still doesn’t get done ahead of time, let the room attendant know as soon as you can and they will separate the beds for you.  If the balcony dividers can be opened up, the room attendant must do that for you.  Just ask as soon as you board.   

Sounds like Ike a fun cruise !

1 hour ago, Choozin Cruizin said:

The cruise planner price right now is $12.99 so from looking at the spreadsheet, the cruise planner price might be the way to go then. Doesn't help me use my obc, or should I rephrase that, wish I could apply my obc towards it as it absolutely irks me to pay that much money to check my email once a day, just to make sure everything is good at home. Thank you for the great spreadsheet. More awesome information!!

You should be able to use your OBC for purchases made prior to sail date UNLESS it’s travel agent OBC.

1 hour ago, MikeK said:

 Even if you have to sell your first born  child go on the longer cruises with a precruise.  You wont regret it.

Yeah....they're nothin' but trouble anyway.

15 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

I am envious of anyone that lives so close with so many options...good luck!

Me too !

Make it unanimous !

Contact Michelle Cunningham at :

[email protected]

703-986-0661

3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The waiting is forever. Then the week goes by way too fast.

Truer words have never been uttered !

14 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Now you've got me wondering if it was the same tribute band that @WAAAYTOOO saw on Anthem and blogged about. Was the lead singer having difficulty keeping his pants up? 

YES !  That is the same group.  Hopefully he was able to keep his britches on better than 2 weeks ago !

When we were on Anthem a few weeks ago in Coco Cay they opened the casino in the evening but never during the day.  Would have been nice if they had, as I did not get off the ship either time !

So glad you guys had a great time.  Great blog !  Thanks for taking us along.  Safe trip home.

Whichever port you decide on, just be sure you know what you’re getting.  A dolphin “experience” or dolphin “encounter” is often NOT a “swim with the dolphins”.  If your daughters are interested in interacting with the dolphins in the water, just make sure that is what you are getting.

Also remember that if you are dining in a specialty restaurant but there is something on the MDR menu that night that you really want (lobster tails or lamb shank comes to mind), you can always ask the specialty restaurant waiter to bring you something from the MDR.  We do this often. No need to miss your favorite MDR dish just b/c you are dining in a specialty restaurant that night !

1 hour ago, Drcruise said:

Can we order frozen drinks in the main dining room? We have always ordered wine with our Deluxe package but never cocktails or mixed drinks. We will be sailing on the Harmony of the Seas in June.

 

Yes but it often takes a LONG time to get cocktails (of any kind) in the MDR. In fairness, this is often true in the specialty restaunts that do not have their own bars as well.

25 minutes ago, mishadimd said:

After your child hits 18 is there a certain amount of time they need to cruise or will they loose their status?

Under the current C&A rules, once a tier level is attained (even if it is “inherited” from a parent or significant other), they retain that tier level forever or until they attain the next higher level on their own, based on actual cruise points earned.

1 minute ago, Traveler said:

Actually Sky class will not gain you access to diamond lounge , unless you are diamond. the only class that might gain access is the Star class as I guess if they will ask the Genie they will arrange them access (not sure why they will want it) this is why I marked it in the table for SC.   

Even Star Class will not have access to the Diamond Lounge unless they are at least Diamond level.

Access to the Diamond Lounge is restricted to those who are Diamond level or above.   Suite guests do not have access to the Diamond Lounge unless they are also D or above.

Wow.  I guess I missed all of the excitement !

On 3/16/2019 at 6:19 PM, JLMoran said:

Very curious why you didn't try out CK any night since that's included with your SC level. I know you said in earlier posts that you're really not a fan, but I would have thought that if you were getting tired of the specialty dining venues that CK would have been at least a half-decent fallback option

I guess I left that out !  We did eat at CK -twice. It was the first night on both legs - filet night.  I really don’t mind the CK.  I guess when you get specialty restaurants complimentary, you just tend to visit those first.  Quite honestly, I kinda forget about the CK as a dinner spot since we almost exclusively use it primarily for breakfast. You’re right, of course.  It certainly is a good option as their menu changes nightly rather than being static. 

13 minutes ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

I personally enjoy the ease of prepaying gratuities, however, the premise of fixed gratuities is greatly flawed as the definition of a gratuity is 'something given voluntarily or beyond obligation'. I find it amusing that they chose to continue to use the term gratuity rather than call it a service charge or something like that.

I agree with you about the gratuities really being a service charge.  If it is a true gratuity, it is optional.  Anything required is a charge.  Period.

26 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

Would be interesting to know if RCCL has a set budget for the genies to spend on each guest in a SC cabin. 

Yeah...I have no idea.  I suspect, however, that they pay for these gifts out of their own pockets.

What did we do on the ship ?

So I had a bit of a break as I was on a biz trip last week but I have one more installment to complete this very short cruise blog. 

We were on B2B cruises on Anthem with almost identical itineraries.  The only difference between the 2 was that on the first leg we went to Nassau first and Coco Cay second and on the second leg we went to Coco Cay first and Nassau second.  Our other stop was at Port Canaveral.  I will make the descriptions of what we did at our ports of call very simple.  Other than getting off at Port Canaveral to conduct some quick business, I did not leave the ship. Dan got off briefly on the first leg at Coco Cay but that was it.  Nothing to see here...

While on the ship, we thoroughly enjoyed the shows, specialty dining, dining in our suites and of course, the casino.  We skipped many of the headliner shows, only seeing 2 comedians and a juggling/magic act which was pretty lame.  We saw The Gift once.  Once was enough.  Also pretty lame.  But we LOVED We Will Rock You.  We went to see that twice - once on each leg. The first time Yen sat us right up front, which is where Dan usually wants to be.  The second time I asked her to move us back some and I enjoyed that location much more than being right up front.  I think Dan still prefers to be up front.  We each got what we wanted.  Always a good thing.

There were 2 tribute bands - 1 on each of the legs.  The first one was a Journey Tribute band (can't remember their name) and we saw them at 270.  I thought they were ok but I wasn't overly impressed. I was in a constant panic that the lead singer was going to lose his trou.  They were so low and so loose that every time he would hop about, he would have to grab them to keep them from going to his ankles.  He once jumped from the floor to an raised area on the stage and I thought it was all over for sure.  He barely caught them in time !  The second tribute band was Wanted, which was a Bon Jovi cover band.  I enjoyed that one much more, which is odd b/c I am much more of a Journey fan than I am a BJ fan but I just thought the second show was better.  We saw that show in the Music Hall.  Of course, Yen reserved prime viewing seats for us for both of these events (recalling that she was hesitant to do so at the Music Hall, but did anyway, in the end).

We went to see the Spectra Cabaret twice (once on each leg).  That was a very interesting and different kind of show.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  We really liked 270, period.  I think it is a GREAT venue and we liked going there during the day, at night and during shows.

We ate at every specialty restaurant except for Wonderland, which we detest.  Next time, however, I AM going to get one of those World things !!!  The food was consistently good at Chops and when I finally found something that I really liked at Jamie's (mushroom fettuccine) I enjoyed going there, too.  It shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone that I enjoyed the mushroom fettuccine....it is nothing more than a thickened version of the cream of mushroom soup, poured over fettuccine noodles.  LOL  It is good though !  I also liked Jamie's tiramisu.  I think it is much better than Giovanni's...and it is the ONLY thing that I think Jamie's does better than Giovanni's.  One really cold and rainy day on our way back on the final leg, I wanted Johnny Rocket's but since the JR on Anthem is a store front only it was much too cold to eat there.  So we ordered our food and then asked Yen to have it delivered to our suite - which she did, joyfully.  I visited Starbuck's every day in the AM before they divested themselves of the yummy chocolate croissants and even had Dan drinking hot chocolate with me there before the end. Neither of us are coffee drinkers but I do enjoy a good cappuccino.  I even broke "the cappuccino rule" and had one after 10:00AM a few times.  I found out, from my many trips to Italy over the years, that it is considered very bad form (especially for MEN !) to drink cappuccino after 10AM. Who cares.  I'm not Italian !  We ate at Izumi a LOT b/c that is probably  Dan's fave restaurant.  I will say....after 16 days of eating at the same 4-5 restaurants, it was getting a bit tiresome.  I never thought I would say that out loud...but I do think it's true.  We never went to the MDR but we did go to the WJ twice (both times for lunch) !  We had room service most mornings for breakfast and had room service for dinner a couple of times.  On the last night, Dan had the lamb shank and I had a Maine lobster - delivered to the suite.  It was kind of like a "last supper".  Very somber affair....

We did the bumper cars once on the first leg.  Once was enough for them.  Yen took us to the front of the line, we got in, bounced around for a while and got out.  'Nuff said.  We did North Star 3 times.  Once in the open ocean (boring), once in Port Canaveral (better) and once in Coco Cay, which was the best, IMO.  We really enjoyed going up in the NS.  I am really not that brave and I thought I might be afraid but it was so smooth that you hardly even notice that it's rising.  The last time we caused something of a stir, I guess.  I didn't know this until it was over but apparently they were running a bit behind schedule and there were some people who had been waiting over 30 minutes for their "reserved" ride on NS.  Of course, Yen just walked us up to the front and put us on the next evolution and apparently there were some who were not too happy about that.  I had no idea.  I certainly wouldn't have minded waiting if I had known that they had been waiting for a while.  Dan did not do the iFly even though he is a very experienced sky diver.  I don't know why he didn't do it...he just didn't.  Maybe it's for the same reason that he had no interest in doing the flight simulator in Nassau.  I guess once you do the "real thing" a simulator just doesn't do it for ya.  Whatevs...

As a gift, Yen gave us a sushi making class on the last day.  We didn't have the heart to tell her that we had already done this once on Grandeur so we went.  I was much better at it the second time than I was the first time so maybe doing a second time wasn't a complete waste of time !  I absolutely hate that dried seaweed (YUK!) so I decided that this time I was NOT going to use it.  My rolls were a bit - um - flaccid - because of the lack of the seaweed wrap but they sure tasted better !

The casino was the casino.  Not much more to say there.  The staff was very good...we made good friends with all of the pit bosses and a few of the dealers.  We lost money - as we always do but much less than normal, especially considering that it was a 16 day mega gambling spree. These were the final 2 casino events for this casino year.  We will not be on another cruise until after the new casino year starts on 1 April.  We both qualified for Prime several cruises back but never even came close to qualifying for the next higher tier, which is Signature.

It was a great B2B Star Class cruise.  We enjoyed it so much that we are doing nearly the exact same itinerary next year.  We are starting 1 week earlier than we did this year but will still be doing 2 Grand Loft Suites on 2 consecutive weeks in February 2020.  YIPPEE !!!!

The tiramisu is the ONLY thing that I think is better at Jamie's than at Giovanni's.

2 hours ago, Andrew72681 said:

Yoi never know, once one an around the world trip, a hotel in Hong Kong had checked out my social media presence and a solid chocolate airplane with edible runway was waiting for me in my room. That’s the difference between good and great service. 

Reyno did the same thing on our first SC cruise with him.  I do not have a FB page so he found nothing on me BUT Dan has a blog dealing almost exclusively with his Military service and military associations.  Reyno found that, recognized that Dan was a "milit'ry man" <in my best South African accent>.  Reyno was also a military officer (in the SA Army) so they had that kind of soldier-bond-thing going on from the beginning.  At the end of that cruise, Reyno gave Dan a solid bronze, antique ship's compass, which I thought was an extremely personal and considerate gift.  The Genies really do their homework and try and make your experience very very special.