chrisd596

We've cruised 7 times on dcl and after much research decided to try RC out of Bayonne to Bar Harbor and Halifax June 26-July 1st this year. The Anthem of the Seas is a really nice ship with lots of technology. The main dining rooms are fine, about the same as dcl. If u get to the dining room on time or about 10 min early, u will find a line. Getting there about 10 min late and you'll walk right in. I had lots of problems trying to book ifly and the northstar. Tried many times and received the answer that the online booking was all full and to book when u get on ship. I wanted badly to avoid waiting online the day we boarded. But I was never able to book online. On boarding, if you want these experiences head right to the box office .... try upstairs box office if there's a line on the 3rd deck....I think. We found the Windjammer to be very good, even better than dcl's buffet. Wide variety, multiple stations offering omlets, and other specials... Super special desserts were offered on the last lunch day. To us we didn't need the soda package. There was always flavored water and ice tea and lemonade and it was all very good. The Solarium was great. The pool is spread over 3 levels, the jaquizzs (sp) were rather large and there are 4 of them. There is a little cafe in the Solarium which has a limited variety of food, worth trying, but not comparable to the Windjammer or the main dining room. The Solarium is completely covered in glass and offers really great views of the ships forward motion. The Solarium is also an adult area and since it's covered in glass, it is not effected by weather...rain...wind. It stays warm and is open late. For the 5 day cruise, RC had 3 theater shows. (We didn't really understand them, sort of strange, but worth seeing.) We really liked the bars and small clubs because the live bands were great and RC switches them every night. For teenagers and adults theres' tons to do. Plus in the middle of the ship there's a huge activity area for basketball, that turns into skating, bumper cars, and also RC has a huge game of dodge ball. Everyone had a blast playing dodge ball, young and old. Those were our highlights. The areas that were on the down side for us was disembarking. I would report there at the time RC tells you. We did early disembarking, waited 1 1/2 after even arriving early. Friends of ours showed up at their assigned time and just walked off the ship. That's what I will do next time. Also Bar Harbor is a tendered port. So if u don't do a RC excursion, then you will be given a tender # and wait and wait and wait to get off the ship. Again we arrived early to pick up or #, and waited on a huge line and then once we were handed our #, we waited at least another hour and fifteen min. These are some of our impressions as we compared our dcl experiences to our first RC cruise. We were pleasantly surprised that we enjoyed RC a lot. The few problems were a learning experience for us. Checking in at the port was easy and 5 min. Getting on the ship was quick too. Final clue, come on the ship with your next RC cruise in mind. Even if u change your date or decide not to cruise again. Go through the quick process of setting up a time with the "next cruise" area. RC has a sign up book with times and dates right there. The reason why is cause you will pick up some on board credit and also only have to leave a $50 per person deposit for your next cruise. Of course, at home, you can change your cruise and RC will still use your $50 per person as the down payment. When we got home I researched more, found a much cheaper 7 days cruise, instead of the 5 day one I booked on ship, called RC and they changed it right away. You can always cancel your next cruise and get your deposit back before the cancellation time ends, but you can't leave the ship w/out a new reservation and book at home unless you pay the $500 deposit. Hope this helps. Chris

Thanks, I did try that and they mentioned that there allotment of times were already booked?? And that there would be more available once we "boarded." I told them that's exactly what I was trying to avoid. There is no way I want to wait inline once you board. Who wants to spend the first hour of boarding the ship standing inline. I just don't understand that type of situation. We want all the up to the deck that had the activites and no one was there, then to the box office and there was a huge line that didn't hardly move. Luckily we ran up the stairs to that box office area and there were only 3 people ahead of us. I just don't want to do that again. How to avoid that, when you know it's going to happen again, is a shame.

We cruised on The Anthem last June. I booked early and then continue to check online for the activity to open up for booking online. It continued to say it wasn't available and that I should book activities when we board. This is exactly what I tried to avoid by calling RC directly and checking online. Needless to say, it's a real hassel waiting in huge lines when u first board to book the activities. I really, really wanted to book online so we didn't start the cruise waiting in line. Is there some sort of trick to avoiding this. I was diligent with logging on frequently months out, and then as we got closer. People said wait until 90 days out, 60 days out. Any suggestions to booking activities online??? Thanks Chris

DCL has 2 specialty dining options...Palo and Remy's. Palo is relatively cheap compared to RC specialty dining. So one could get the experience of dining "in class" and not spend nearly as much as RC dining or the expensive Remy's. Years ago we did Palo and it was good, but maybe too fancy a food for us. I'm still ok with the main dinning rooms. I did mention that while both RC and DCL main dining quality is about the same, DCL does give the varied experience of rotating between the 3 "themed" dining rooms and also a more varied menu. Plus the presentation of the food, slightly better. But, to us, at this point, that really wouldn't make a difference in which cruiseline we decide on. BUT for a beginner in cruising, and with the ability to travel in the off season, outside a school schedule, i would suggest dcl, as a first time experience. For those who have done dcl many times, and are thinking about "trying" another cruiseline offering some different ports, I wouldn't hesitate trying RC. It wont be "Disney", but it's fine for a new experience. ....the dining cafe's it offers for a quick bite, the adult area being much bigger and nicer!!! That was a huge shock to me. Plus the Solarium which isn't effected by weather... the Windjammer buffet, the music at night at the different bars, the middle school and older activities offered.... these are a few of the highlights of RC and that's coming from a Disney person.

If you don't have an RC excursion then u have to wait until your number is called to go to the tender ships. When I researched this, people told me to get online for the tendering about 7:30am, since the ship docks at 7am. We'll we got there at 7:15am and there was already a Huge Line waiting for the tender #'s. Maybe we waited for 45 min just for the slip with our number on it. While waiting I kind of mentioned to my wife, why don't they just have someone passing the numbers out to us on the line instead of having us slowly proceed to a special station passing out the #'s. Funny thing was when we finally got to the station, one of the workers started walking down the line just passing out the slips w/out asking all the questions that the station was asking. Now after that 45 minute wait, we waited at least another hour or so to be called to the tender boats. That led to going down a few decks, and then, guess what, another line for about 10 min. Then on the tender boats which took another 15 min. We had an excursion, not w/ RC, but at 10am and remember we starfted at 7:30. We arrived at Bar Harbors port at 9:50. Like I mentioned earlier. I'm not into magnifying my complaints. It's just something I learned. Bar Harbor is absolutely beautiful and fun to walk around the shops and eateries. Coming bk to the ship was easy. And finally, any port that we've had to be tendered, I love eating a late lunch at the buffet area, while overlooking the harbor from the ship in the ocean.

We were on the Anthem and I thought it was a very nice ship. Look wise, it's a lot of WHITE! You'll be very comfortable on it, cause it's laid out interior wise, like the Disney's Dream. Deck 14 forward adult section, Mid and Back of Deck 14 kid pools and buffet Windjammer... decks 3 4 are the dining areas, forward is the theater. Pretty much similar layout. Chris

Didn't try specialty dining. Since it was our first cruise on RC, I wanted to try all 5 nts in the main dining to evaluate variety of the menu, etc. "One more question" you stated it exactly, didn't think another cruiseline could match up and being a Disney Vacation Club member, I have never really been disappointed in my experience with them. Over 20 years of vacationing in Disney and DCL, if I've ever mentioned a problem at the resorts or anywhere else I have been reimbursed financially very well for any inconvenience. I didn't want to spend $2000 to be disappointed in any way on another cruiseline. However leaving out of NJ, and the ability to skip flying, plus not wanting to be a person who wouldn't try another cruiseline push me in this direction. Leaving out of Bayonne and going under the Veranzano Bridge was really cool. Then cruising north, dcl doesn't do that much and when they do it, like twice a year or so, they can charge a bundle, so this worked for us. Rebooking a cruise next year for 7 nts to Bermuda and a stop at Boston, was perfect for us. The rebook was easy. The price dropped about $150 and i made a call to RC and they credited me right away. Calling RC to make changes and adjustments over the last year or so, is always easy. Hardly wait. They are very helpful. So in a way, the entire experience surprised me. Getting a balcony for the same price as a dcl inside room, is also a plus. .....It's the men's bathroom that needs to be addressed. Really no excuse for that. After the trip I know sometimes things go wrong, like I tried to do early walk off on disembarkment day, wow that was a mess. But people we ate w/ just walked off at the time they were suppose to, so I'll do that next time. Tendering to Bar Harbor was also a huge pain, but I decided not to focus on the negative, which is weird for me. Too many surprisingly nice things happened for us.

I writing my thoughts here cause it took a few years and a few rc canceled cruises to finally try RC. Yes we were reluctant to cruise RC. When we finally started our drive to Port Liberty I must say I had my mental clipboard in my mind ready to rate negatively every issue we encounted onboard RC Anthem of the Seas. So for my fellow dcl'ers heres my review: Checking In for Cruise: RC about 5 min DCL about 20 min Parking: Easy at both Entering ship: Very Impressive atrium on dcl upon entering ship, plus visually amazing every time u pass through it. Adult Area on Ships: RC seems about twice as large. 4 huge beautiful Jacuzzis. RC adult area on deck 14 is enclosed, which is a huge deal. Weather controlled. It doesn't matter if it rains, and is cold, etc. It's called the Solarium and that describes it. Warm, tropical and beautiful. Multi level mid size pools and u can just sit back and watch the path the ship takes.The Solarium is totally enclosed in glass There's even a very nice small cafe in this area. Very nice. DCL Jacuzzis are much smaller and "metal" looking. No where close to RC's. The RC Jacuzzis stay on all the time. Very rarely did we have to press the button. Jacuzzis open to midnight. Some pools open to midnight. For 10 and older: RC has tons of activities. The rock climbing, the surfing area, the Ifly which is also super fun to watch, the NorthStar. How about the FunPlex area: Huge inside area that has a full court basketball area, that turns into a skating area, also a bumper car area. However the dodgeball game held here was hilarious. Each side had about 50 adults/kids playing. The game I saw, a younger female adult dressed in formal outfit ending up beating everyone. It was amazing to see her catch the balls thrown at her in her outfit. Fun! Main Theater Show: The RC shows were extravagant with special effects, lighting, singing, etc, but for us, the shows were weird. However, everyone we spoke with loved them. So I guess we'll give it another chance next cruise. Disney Shows are of course Fantastic. Dining: Here of course was one of our main concerns. I didn't like that we couldn't visit all 4 of the different dining areas. Oh well. Quality of dinner I thought was about the same between RC and DCL. DCL does present it a little better, but no big deal. DCL has a bit more variety for the dinner menu as well. Service: I found the staff at RC to be very friendly and willing to assist. Of course DCL is pretty much fantastic, but after 7 cruises on dcl, maybe they are over the top! Too much. And dcl always hints to please give them a top rating, like almost every day. Windjammer vs. DCL buffet forgot the name? The first day dcl has the shrimp and crab legs and Windjammer doesn't. After that they are pretty much the same with these few exceptions: Windjammer has way more variety. The omlet station is much easy to deal with. A few different people are making omelets. I found I had to wait at dcl for a few people before me all the time on dcl. RC also had a few staff making spaggetti with vegetables of your choice and it was really good. Windjammer seemed larger as well, more international type foods. On the last full day of the cruise, Windjammer had "special" desserts. That was a nice touch as well. Pay for soft drinks: Not even a big deal for us. Besides ice tea, juice is available in the morning, plus flavored water drinks that were really, really good. Didn't miss the soda at all. Stateroom: Very, very nice. I think the size was 198 sq ft, a little smaller than the 214 stateroom were usually reserve on dcl. We reserved a bed topper months before so the bed was fine. Sheets were very comfortable similar to dcl. We did miss the split bathroom a bit, but did enjoy the glass shower. Night Entertainment: RC seemed to have way more and a better variety. At least 2 comedians during the cruise. Also the ship has 3 bars or clubs which rotated different bands on different nights. They were really good to watch and listen to. Public Restrooms: Ok here is the place where RC needs lots of work. The Men's Restrooms around the ship are dirty most of the time. My wife said the Lady's room was fine. I'm glad for that, or she might have jumped off the ship. Not sure if this is a male thing...but the public restrooms don't have a little button to override the automatic flush, when the auto flush doesn't know that someone has left. I think it is also confused by the fact that sometimes the seat isn't closed. I don't know what it was, but RC put the little button on the toilets, so guests can manually flush the toilets. I hated that and so no need for that at all. Rebooking: RC absolutely kills DCL on this. They have 4 or 5 stations for this. Plus a book to reserve a time slot. DCL used to have a drop off box. I always researched and knew my next cruise info, and when dcl discontinued that box, I had to wait a long time in line while people who didn't research would ask begining level questions like "What ship is cruising from what port??? All stuff u can find online before u take up 2 hours just chatting. Last dcl cruise I just left my info on the managers desk and said "book this or not and getting rid of that mailbox for next cruises is a disaster from those of us who know what we want to do. I don't want to give up 2 hrs of my vacation time, cause someone higher up isn't smart enough to make the right decision." All in all, forgetting the public bathrooms, we had a great time on the Anthem of the Seas. I went in trying thinking it would be horrible, but we had a great time, like strolling around the ship at night and watch all the people having fun. (ps- I don't know how so many people drink so much. I was so full from the meals, I couldn't keep up with the drinking. But everyone was having a great time.

I had the same problem with Chrome, I just used Edge instead and it worked fine.

Ok, thanks for the great info. Chris

Can u pick which days u want to sign up for internet, or does it have to be for the entire cruise. Thanks Chris

Thanks for the info... I'm planning on using my 24" small rolling suitcase. Just want to make sure I don't not confined to 3 ounce limitations like at the TSA. Thanks

It's not like the airport carry on, is it....? Like I don't have to remove my liquids or have limits of 3 ounces?? Or do I have to put those types of things in my checked in luggage. Thanks Chris

Perfect, thanks for the help. Chris

Do they carry distilled water onboard? Can it be ordered?? Thanks Chris

Sounds good. We're going doing the Canadian one, and the weather looks quite a bit colder, that I was hoping for. Enjoy.

Where's your cruise too? Where on the Anthem on Monday

How late do the pools stay open? How about the Solarium pool hours. Thanks Chris

I plan on arriving at 9!5, the parking garage opens much earlier, but online it says the port opens at 10. So do I just wait in my car until the doors open, or do they open earlier?? Thanks Chris

What would be your suggestions of things to do if we encounter rain on a sea day?? Thanks Chris

In Bar Habor, I believe tender boats are used. We have an excursion that we need to be at by 9:30. It's not an RC excursion. What is the process using the tender ships? If we get up really early, is there a trick to getting on one of the earlier tender boats?? Thanks Chris

If the windjammer is packed are there other places open when u first board the ship... Anthem Thanks Chris

How early are they allowed to let u off and proceed to customs??

Ok, how about if you're not in a rush, and choose to relax a little and wait for the crowd to leave. We are parking at the Port. Say we try to stay on until 9am, will the Mad Rush be over by then, or will there be huge lines and car pile up at the parking lot at Cape Liberty.?? Thanks

What is the best way to get off ship early w/out all the commotion ! I was thinking, keep all my luggage, eat early at windjammer, and then proceed to exit the ship. Which deck do u exit on? Thanks Chris