letscruise

One of our rooms on Anthem recently was a virtual balcony and I wasn't impressed. By the time the sun set, it's just a big black fuzzy screen. We would pull the curtain b/c it's pretty distracting to look at. Going forward, I'm not sure I would pay more for a virtual balcony vs. a simple interior room.

We always buy the drink package and find that we generally give at least an extra $1 tip when we are at the Solarium and ordering drinks (I think we feel guilty for literally sitting near the bar and still using the bar staff to serve us!) and in the bars in the evening (if not every round, at least every other). When we cruise, it's the one time we ensure we have cash on hand to get us through the week, and to especially take care of those serving us drinks.

Hi - I'll try to remember to do this for you. Would I do this transaction at the cashier?

That was actually the only show we enjoyed on Wonder, so as another poster commented, I would arrange your schedule so you can attend this one.

I hadn't seen anything on this issue, but did do a search of this site and see it now. We don't have any excursions booked at PC or Nassau, but agree skipping PC is fine with us. Our last 2 cruises were from there, so we are more than familiar with that port. We've never been to Nassau, but will just get off the ship and walk around. If you purchase an excursion on the cruise planner and they cancel that port, I'm certain Royal would credit you the charge. Check in is this week! It's going to be here before we know it!

How nice! I'm sure you will have a great time and if you found this site, you will find great information for new cruisers. Let me know if you have any questions, I was beginning to think we'd be cruising alone since no one had responded!

I absolutely agree with this one! In fact, it's one of the recent excursions, to include the Pirate Museum & Sky Ride in St. Thomas, that has made me now vow to only do private drivers and avoid RCL/organized excursions going forward. We just don't well in a large group environment, forced time at places, etc. When I want to leave, I want to leave....if I want to go back to the ship after only spending half my time somewhere, I want to be able to do that. With respect to Peggy's Cove, we could have definitely shortened the time spent at the Titanic cemetery to be able to spend more than the 30 minutes we were allotted at Peggy's Cove (an hour would have been much better though our bus broke down, so that probably cut into our time). In all, I think all of the excursions are too long and while I'm on one, I can't stop thinking about how I'd much prefer to be back on the ship.

No, there weren't any outlets. I think it's standard that there aren't outlets in cruise ship bathrooms, though I could be mistaken. In our balcony cabin, there was a very nice vanity right outside the bathroom and that's where I got ready with the hair dryer.

I spent time in the casino on our recent cruise watching my spouse play video poker. I really would have loved to spend time playing the slot machines, but don't know how to play and am too intimidated to practice with real money (or ask anyone - everyone seems so serious!!). I tried reading the descriptions on the machine, but that wasn't helpful to me. So, my question is - how do I learn to play? I did put $20 in a machine and "accidentally" lost it all on one play because I had no idea what I was doing and must have hit max bet. I have attended a couple of slot pulls, so I do kind of understand how that game works (I think it was Wheel or Fortune), but don't really understand the other games that people look so knowledgable playing. Does anyone have recommendations for slots (and the name of the game) that I can see if there is a "how to play" YouTube video or other recommendation so I can get a little smarter? Starter slot suggestion? How did you learn? Thanks!

I slept so well on Mariner and Liberty and loved the firm mattresses! On Wonder, I hated the beds (too soft!), so I guess it's impossible to please everyone. I enjoyed reading your recap - we really like Mariner and would likely choose it over Wonder. Please come back in May to recap your Icon cruise!

Super easy! You should search the board b/c there have been a few posts about Cape Liberty (parking, hotels, transportation, etc.). I'm looking forward to sailing from there again in December.

I am guilty of the t-shirts and those zipper "wet bags"/toiletry bags, which I use to store and pack all sorts of stuff in! How many toiletry bags does one person need to buy?! Quite a lot apparently, based on how many came home with me from my last cruise!!!

Thanks for taking the time to write your re-cap, I really enjoyed reading it. I was on Mariner last year and we really enjoyed the ship. Good suggestion on moving trivia to the Star Lounge. Another poster (or maybe you) mentioned the frustration with drinks not tasting great if you do not have the DBP so you can easily get another--good point! I'll be sure to keep that in mind as I continue to weigh buying the DBP or not (I always buy it!). It's a good safety net without the hassle of trying to explain why a drink doesn't taste right, etc.

Thanks so much for the helpful responses and the photos, which are great! I didn't realize you can pull the curtain open and closed, that's pretty cool.

Is anyone able to offer a review of the virtual balcony rooms? I've put my teens in a VB for an upcoming cruise on Anthem and they have only ever had a balcony room. Are they going to hate it (i.e. complain the whole time?!)? What is the view that is displayed on the VB monitor? Is there also a TV in the room? They are worried about that...thank you!

It's for sure a ripoff if you lose, like me! I will share that there was a $2,000 winner on our last sailing for one game - I'm sure that person didn't think it was a ripoff. That was on Wonder and I don't care for the bingo set up in the Royal Theatre. It is really hard to play on your lap; I've much preferred playing on smaller ships when it's hosted in the Star Lounge. In fact, we would have played each day it was offered on Wonder, except once we realized we were sitting in the rowed seating, we decided we weren't going back. Bingo is definitely something we enjoy doing and at least will play once. Also, since it's 4 of us, I try to factor out the per person price just to make myself feel better about the cost.

I have both and definitely prefer the bands for towels on chairs and use the clips for hanging our wet clothing on the balcony so they can dry without fear of them blowing away. They each serve a great purpose, so if you can get and take both, that's what I recommend.

Based on my last 2 cruises during this summer, the lowest price package started at $49 with package options above that amount. Bingo was incredibly popular and a full venue. Unfortunately, I haven't won yet!

There is a helpful thread on this topic if you can do a search to find it. I highly recommend parking at the port - it's super easy and convenient. I was impressed with how organized it was upon arrival. It also felt great to get off the ship, walk to the car, and hit the road. All other cruises that we've been on have involved flying to FL. We're sailing out of Bayonne in Dec., and I'm looking forward to it.

For convenience, I would put the bulk of your snacks in your checked luggage. Personally, I would avoid carrying around delicate snacks like chips in my carryon for hours on end. I just returned from a cruise and packed a lot of snacks for the teen's cabin - chips and candy - and had no problem with them being in our checked luggage. Of course, I did have some open candy bags in my backpack from traveling, and those were fine as well. Snacks are now on my standard packing list as a result of our cruise last summer in which my teens wanted regular snacks while they were in the cabin and playing video games, and were pretty much out of luck. Our cruise last month we were plenty stocked and even had a couple items make the return trip home. We had a bag of Doritos make a round trip to FL, Coco Cay, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and home again and they weren't even crumbs when we finally opened the bag! Hope you are enjoying your cruise - I see you have already departed, but hopefully this post helps someone else.

I came off Wonder last week and am supposed to receive robes per my C&A. They were not provided in room; I could have asked for them by stopping at the desk, but it was so warm, I really didn't need to use one. I also had to ask for robes on Liberty and they brought them--at MIDNIGHT when I was sleeping (I had put in the request early in the day). I would not expect to have robes waiting for you, but upon request, I'm sure you'll receive them. Have a nice trip!

+1 on this recommendation! We used Skippy for the second time and just returned home yesterday. Fantastic experience and I don't plan to use any other service going forward.

I was in the less than 20 days countdown when I was assigned my room on a GTY on Liberty in June. I don't recall that my luggage tags ever were able to be printed with the room assignment, I ended up writing in my last name and cabin number myself. If you are eager, you can print the tags now, knowing you can add your cabin number once you have it. I like your idea of multiple tagging just in case!!!

Thanks for the info and enjoy your revised cruise on Adventure! I haven't been on that ship, but haven't sailed a bad one yet!

Hi--Just booked this cruise and am already looking forward to it! Having never sailed from Galveston, would love any tips or info on where to stay. We'll fly in 1-2 days in advance.