Geoff P

Thanks Speednoodles, looks like a great view, I see what you’re talking about with the superstructure

Obviously not the biggest concern, but I can only imagine what the mood is like on that ship, both for passengers and crew as they're leaving that port and continuing on. Just a really sad situation all around, I know its a risk and we take risks all the time, but not something you really think about when going on vacation, honeymoon, etc.

I know Disney does this on their site, you can book the whole vacation package, flight and all, seems like it's much more convenient. It would be nice if we were able to do all of the planning right from RCI's site. I wonder if they would make some type of commission on flights/hotels etc booked through their site? There must be an incentive for others (Disney for one) to offer it.

I've seen posts on here saying how good and desirable these rooms are and that they usually sell out pretty fast and having never stayed in one I was looking at possibly trying one out. I was just curious, are there certain ships where they are better than others? I was looking at Freedom of the seas and I thought it was strange that on multiple decks all of the Aft balcony rooms were available, Aft facing I should say, except the suites were booked.

I have been on their site just to see what day passes would cost for the day we're there to price things out, haven't purchased the tickets yet, how do I connect them to MagicBands and what are the benefits to that? We planned on Magic Kingdom to get the most hours in the park we could.

I booked through the RC cruise planner

After I booked the transportation excursion I just looked at my calendar and it shows the times as 7:30-5:30. We're scheduled in port from 7a-7p, I'm assuming the 7:30 departure time may be a little ambitious, but who knows, maybe it's not, we figured if we were able to get more than half a day in the park we'd be happy, hit some of our favorite rides and walk around and whatnot. I think the park is scheduled to open at 9am the day we are there, which I believe is typical, so we figure we would be there around opening, if not slightly after.

We stayed at the Epic last year before our cruise and we liked the hotel, had a great room with balcony overlooking the canal. I think we booked through expedia and bundled with out flight so the cost wasn't too bad.

The first cruise we went on I didn't do a lot of research at all, ship, itinerary, excursions, none of it...we had a good time of course, but learned my lesson to do more research to really get the most out of our experience. For our second cruise and now our third on upcoming have done much more research and planning ahead of time and its been so much better.

For our Feb 2020 sailing on Anthem we were able to book The Gift, Spectra's and We Will Rock You at around 70-73 (don't remember exactly) days out on cruise planner. The shows don't show up on the app to book for me, is that normal? Also, at what point can we book some of the activities that require reservations such as NorthStar, FloRider and RipCord? The app shows times for these but there is no option to reserve and they are not in the cruise planner.

Anthem of the Seas - Feb 7-15, 2020

so jealous of this list...can't wait til February!!

Yea we bought the surf and stream, just wondering how well FaceTime actually works with it. This trip will be the longest we've been away from our daughter since she was born (she'll be just over a year old when we leave) so just want to make sure we can talk on a daily basis, but being able to use an app like FaceTime where we can see her would be ideal.

How well does FaceTime work with Voom?

we left it in our safe last time we were there, just needed our SeaPass

Off topic a little here, but is the voom included in the drink package the surf+stream? I can't seem to find it here

Good looking out, some items on our Anthem Feb 2020 sailing are down, beverage and internet packages I noticed at least

when do the black friday sales usually start?

We are sailing on Anthem in Feb and selected my time dining, we just always have, like the flexibility it offers. The other ships we have been on have the traditional MDR, but I noticed Anthem does not, as it has the 4 MDR options broken out. I was making dinner reservations based off prior cruise compasses and show times etc. and was curious how it works, does it matter which dinning room we go to? How would we know which one or can we choose?

Good to know, thanks!

Honestly, this blog is fantastic, I only wish I knew about it before my first 2 cruises. Now going on our 3rd, I've learned so much from reading all these different posts. I guess the only negative is the resentment my wife has towards it because I won't shut up about our trip or all the new things I've learned about cruising ?. One question I have, as many people here have recommended the use of a TA, (I have never used one and always booked vacations, whether it's cruises or flights/hotels etc. myself), is does it matter where you live and where the TA is located? I guess what I mean is that I live in Massachusetts, and many people have recommended MEI TA's, but I have no idea where they are located. Do you just do everything over the phone or through email? The idea of using a TA for future travel is tempting but having never used one, just unsure of how it works.

Thats a good point, I'm also wondering though it the ship plays a part in what the price is. It seems like after reading a few threads on here about the drink packages that the Oasis class seems to be more expensive, in the $65 range, where other ships are less. My trip on Anthem includes CocoCay and I've seen the drink package as low as $51, but hovering typically around $55

Yea we talked about renting a car but decided we'd rather just spend a little more on the transport "excursion" so we wouldn't have to drive or worry about it at all. The time for the transport says 7:30am-5:30pm...I'm assuming that means we would be leaving at 7:30 and then back at the ship for 5:30 right? I could always call to find out more details, as cruise planner isn't super helpful with some of these specific details, but figured I'd ask here first.

We're also doing the Disney transport when we are in Port Canaveral in Feb, but we are at the port 7am-7pm. We are planning on doing Magic Kingdom that day and just packing in what we can (we've been there a couple times so we kind of know what rides and whatnot we want to hit up), figured that with the ship in port for 12 hours we would maybe have 7-8 hours in the park, am I way off by assuming that? I don't think it will change what we do if I am, but just curious if anyone else has any experience with it

Seems like a lot of people are experiencing this, there have been a few posts here with people on January 2020 sailings (various ships) that have not been able to book entertainment yet. We're sailing in Feb 2020 and it isn't up for us yet either. Customer service said its usually between 60-90 days out, so I just check daily.