Geoff P

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.

Not sure when you're cruising, but we're doing the swimming with pigs excursion on Coco Cay in February...not my idea but my wife really loves animals and wants to do it, so hey why not right? If you're going after that I'll let you know how we liked it.

We are fairly new to cruising, our 3rd cruise is coming up in a couple months, and one of the things we like about it is the things you can do on the ships, from shows to activities, different restaurants and whatnot. Our first cruise was with Carnival, and our second, which was last year was for our honeymoon and was on Enchantment of the Seas, and in February we are going on Anthem of the Seas. We liked RCI better than Carnival for a few reasons, but now looking at all the ships RCI offers, just wondering which ones people like the best. Would like to try an Oasis class just because of the size, but also intrigued by the smaller ships like Mariner of the Seas and also Independence of the Seas now that they have been Amped.

Great, thank you, I think Miami is pretty easy so its good to hear NJ is as well...I figured traffic going through NY and over the bridges would be a pain regardless so, it is what it is I guess ?

Also, this is our first cruise out of New Jersey, we've gone out of Miami a couple times and the port is fairly easy, how easy is the port in New Jersey? We live in Mass so would just be driving in and parking, is getting there and parking fairly easy? I'm assuming same tips would apply as other ports, get there early and whatnot...I'm guessing get there from between 10-10:30?

I called customer service a couple weeks ago because I was curious and was booking my shore excursions anyway, figured I'd book everything while I was doing those, and they advised it's usually once you hit that 90-day window, but apparently it varies once you hit that point based on what I've seen on these message boards

I agree, we were on Enchantment last year and while we had a great time, the ship has definitely seen better days. Hopefully they do a quick "refresh" if they're going to keep it around for a while.

Good to know, thanks! So on the app, to book a reservation do I just click on say RipCord for example and when it is available to book there will be a link or button to click on? Right now when I look at it there isn’t.