Geoff P

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. 

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.

33 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

New Jersey is super easy.  Parking garage is right next to the terminal.  Biggest difference is that there aren't a zillion terminals like in Miami..downfall is that it's a two-lane road getting to the port which tends to get backed up..so definitely the earlier the better.

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

On 10/31/2019 at 11:03 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Unfortunately, Enchantment is scheduled to return to Baltimore to replace Grandeur.  Enchantment was here a few years ago before Grandeur.

I certainly hope they do some maintenance on Enchantment.  It truly looks like a rust bucket right now and as Twangster told us a while back, there are sometimes significant internal maintenance that needs to be done as well.

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.

3 minutes ago, KWofPerth said:

I had the same question for Quantum a while back. The response seemed to indicate approximately 75-60 days before sail date.

In my case, the North Star has still not appeared. Looks like I will be booking that one onboard.

RipCord and the paid FlowRider sessions appeared within that 75-60 days window.

One word of warning: the shows in 270* did not appear on the website cruise planner but appeared in the App. They booked out within 24 hours and I missed a spot. So sharpen your ninja App skills and be ready to make a booking for any shows you want to see. I am hoping that slots will re-appear either before sailing, or once onboard.

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.