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.

11 minutes ago, 12thman said:

There's no commission gained from airlines or hotels.

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.

3 minutes ago, madeline236 said:

If you pre-buy your tickets to the park and connect them to MagicBands, you should get almost 7 hours in the part then assuming you go to Magic Kingdom or Epcot. 

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.

11 minutes ago, CruisinUpinLife said:

Is the transportation excursion booked via Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner or third party?

I booked through the RC cruise planner

21 hours ago, madeline236 said:

how did you find out the times for the transport? We are on Grandeur sailing in January and are in port 6am to 6pm but I cannot find times for the transport anywhere. The best I can find is the duration for the excursion is 10 hours so I am assuming off the ship for 10 hours which translates into about 7 hours of park time. I'm worried though since I've read comments on other forums that people were in port for 12 hours but the bus got them back 3-4 hours before they left port so they missed several park hours due to the transport system/schedule.

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.

7 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

We stayed at the Kimpton Epic.  It’s right next to the Intercontinental, which was over our budget.  We always book through Priceline or HotWire and get much lower prices than if we booked through the hotel. The trade off is that you don’t know which hotel you’ll get, but you choose the area and the star rating and what you’re willing to pay and we’ve never been disappointed.

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

18 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Forgot to do this yesterday, but Happy Sailing to all our December 2019 cruisers!

December 2019

1 - WAAAYTOOO (Oasis)

1 - ThinBlue103 (Liberty)

1 - Sarah M (Anthem)

1- Brenna (Anthem)

1 - Sparkymedic (Liberty)

2 - SpeedNoodles (Navigator)

2 - hmills96 (Navigator)

4 - dochedges (Enchantment)

5 - AJK (Independence)

8 - accio7 (Harmony of the Seas)

8 - Snotarni (Allure)

8 - Mrs. RoyalMoyal (Oasis)

8 - BrianB (Anthem)

9 - mworkman (Serenade of the Seas)

9 - Rob&Ana (Navigator)

12 - Escape With Me (Voyager)

12 - Big Tule (Voyager)

13 - Rob&Ana (Explorer)

14 - MoneyMan702 (Independence of the Seas)

14 - Farminger (Brilliance of the Seas)

14 - Dimension (Brilliance)

14 - Nora (Majesty)

15 - arebee (Harmony)

17 - Rose City Cruiser (Allure)

19 - Jolly Ogre (Independence)

20 - Jax (Anthem)

21 - Sharla215 (Vision)

22 - Sweety (Explorer of the Seas)

22 - flamtapgt (Allure)

22 - KristiZ (Spectrum)

23 - S.Marie (Mariner)

28 - Va4fam (Anthem)

29 - KristiZ (Spectrum)

29 - Matt (Freedom of the Seas), Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise

29 - DocLC (Freedom of the Seas), Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise

29 - Wilson (Freedom of the Seas), Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise

29 - mvannie (Freedom of the Seas), Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise

29 - Rede411 (Freedom of the Seas), Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise

29 - AshleyDillo (Freedom of the Seas), Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise

29 - Betatke1480 (Freedom of the Seas), Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise

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

17 minutes ago, MikeSD said:

I believe people have recommended the Surf & Stream ($$ Voom version) for apps like FaceTime.

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.

4 minutes ago, RockerDom31 said:

Do the drink package prices also depend on the itinerary? For example, drink packages are more expensive on itineraries that stop at CocoCay or Labadee (since you can use the drink package at those stops)?

The price for my upcoming Oasis August 2020 cruise (with a stop in CocoCay) has not budged from $65 pp.pd. Hopefully Black Friday brings some good sales!

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

8 minutes ago, codyh21 said:

While I've never booked this excursion, we just moved away from the area after living there for nearly 5 years.  I can tell you from the port to Magic Kingdom it's probably a 70-80 minute drive depending on traffic each way.  Factor in that plus they will likely have you back to the ship at least an hour before sailaway.  All that along with whatever the actual departure time from the port is and you're probably looking at 6 hours max IMO.  I don't know the cost of the transport there, but I would highly recommend at least pricing out a one day car rental.  There are multiple agencies in the port area and the drive there is pretty straightforward.

If driving there isn't your thing, just be aware that you may not get as much time in the parks as you'd like.  Not saying don't go (we do enjoy all the WDW parks), just set expectations.

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.