JLMoran

For a Caribbean sailing like this, you absolutely made the right call. You are going to be amazed by the color of the ocean once you get out into the deep water; it's not a color you see anywhere else. Have a fantastic trip! It sounds like you've done a great job of planning and prepping, so now just sit back and enjoy it all! ?

The Irish 25% of me cried when I read this. I learned this is the right way to go after my first cruise last year, on Freedom. Dunno why bar service is always so abysmal in the MDR, no matter the ship. ??

Welcome @Avljkb22 Alex and Jaimee! From everything I've read in the live blogs here since she got updated, you're going to absolutely love Mariner!

What are these? First one looks like something with Blue Curacao and either Kahlua or Bailey's (and... vodka? gin? on the bottom). I'd say the second was a traditional Black and Tan (that was extremely light on the Bass Ale), but as I recall the pub doesn't have Guinness on tap, only in cans.

Did you try their "She's a Geisha" specialty cocktail? ?

Well, this is the Celebrity and Azamara forum after all. ? ?

Awesome! Be sure to check out the various bars on board -- each one has at least one signature drink that you'll only find in that bar.

Infinity is one of the 4 Millennium-class ships. Her sisters are Millennium, Summit, and Constellation.

You're very welcome! By the way, are you / your family purchasing any drink packages (either alcoholic or non)? Just want to be sure you're aware that while there are many basic beverages included in your cruise fare -- coffee and tea served in the MDR or at Cafe Promenade; water from just about any place that isn't bottled but served from a pitcher or tap; many of the beverages served in the Windjammer; etc -- things like bottled water, soda (even fountain soda, IIRC, but could be wrong on that), specialty coffees (espresso-based drinks like cappuccinos, lattes, or frappuccinos), and all "mocktails" carry a fee unless you have the appropriate package. And of course, all alcoholic beverages are up-charge items as well.

Also La Patisserie, which is right across the walkway from Cafe Promenade and along with Cafe Two70 are the only places I found to get specialty coffee. There will be indications in the daily Cruise Compass which venues are a fee, noted by a "$" by their name and hours of operation. In addition, if any venue is primarily complementary (like the main dining room or Cafe Two70) but has some items that carry a surcharge, that will be clearly marked on the menu.

Hey there @Snoopy. (love that handle, by the way!) Not a silly question at all. Anthem bucks the usual trend with MDR space due to a change Royal tried to implement on her when she was built. It was called "Dynamic Dining", and had you rotating between four different dining rooms with different decor and menus. That was ultimately abandoned after a lot of negative guest feedback, but the ship was already built and they had to work with what they had. The four main dining rooms are Chic, The Grande, American Icon Grille, and Silk. The first two are on deck 3 and are reserved for traditional dining, while the other two are on deck 4 and used for MyTime Dining. American Icon Grille is also used for breakfast each morning. All of these are included with your cruise fare, and you'll be assigned to one of them based on whether you have traditional or My Time dining. As for the other complimentary restaurants and places to eat, you have: The Windjammer Cafe Two70 (located right outside of the Two70 lounge at the back of the ship) Sorrentos Pizza Cafe Promenade The Dog House (located by the SeaPlex) Solarium Bistro (reservations required for dinner) Coastal Kitchen (for suite guests only, including Junior Suites) I may have missed one or two, but that covers the majority if I did.

I will agree this is the one time I'd consider it on a non-Q / non-O class. That said, neither of my cruises to date (one on Freedom, one on Anthem) had JS cabins available for anything remotely that good vs. regular balcony prices. On both of my Anthem bookings it's pretty consistently been several hundred more per person, about +75% to +100%. Freedom, from what I remember, was around +50% to +75%, still not good enough to make me jump with the much-reduced benefits vs. Anthem. Won't argue with this. Happy wife, happy life! ??

Just re-checked my credit card statement. I was actually charged $13.50 per person per night, so now I really don't know which rate that was supposed to be. Either it's the new regular cabin rate and I wasn't grandfathered like I should have been for pre-paying and booking prior to Jan 1, 2018 (seems the most likely now), or the suite rate was $13.50 pp/pn.

Hmmm. That seems different than what I remember from my last sailing. I was grandfathered on the old gratuities rate as I had pre-paid, but I was charged the legacy $14.50 per day suite rate (vs. $12.50 per day for regular cabins).

I checked the article that @ThyriC linked to and verified this wasn't answered, so will answer here -- You do pay the suite gratuity rate even though it's still "only" a Junior Suite. My $0.02 -- a JS room isn't worth it unless you're on a Quantum class or Oasis class ship and can get the Sea Class perks; mainly Coastal Kitchen, which is almost like having a specialty dining restaurant every night; others here may disagree, but the filet mignon they serve on night 1 is better than the filet served at Chops! On other ships that don't have the Royal Suite program and Sea Class benefits, all you're really getting is a glorified balcony room that happens to get you double points with C&A.

Yes, you'll need to do as the others here have advised and call Royal or your travel agent, and ask to be put on the wait list for MyTime Dining. Sorry for not understanding your situation right! If you find that you still end up with the 8 PM slot and the children are taking part in Adventure Ocean, you can always take them to the Windjammer for an earlier dinner and then go back to AO while the rest of you have an "adults-only" dinner. Not ideal if you're looking to have dinner as a family, but a possible fallback option you could use if they get tired or cranky and definitely can't hold out until 8pm some day(s).

Hi @Wubar! Good info given already, just wanted to add a couple more details specific to your current situation. Sounds like you and your dad were OK with the 8 PM traditional dining slot and were looking to use MyTime Dining on just one or two nights. I don't think that specific case is allowed, since your Sea Pass card will have your assigning dining room printed on it and they do plan on a certain number of passengers to be sitting in the MyTime section of the main dining room vs. those assigned to traditional dining. You can get more or less the same setup by switching over to MyTime Dining, then making reservations in the cruise planner for 8 PM every night except the one or two where you expect some conflicts. By reserving in advance, you should end up seated in the same section each night and given the same wait staff, which will give you the bulk of the traditional dining experience. And if you find on night 1 that your wait staff isn't to your liking for some reason (e.g., very slow service), you can request to be moved to another table for the other nights. If you don't have a reservation for MyTime Dining, then it's just like showing up at a restaurant on land -- You'll be given a wait time, they'll take your name and party size, and you'll have to wait until a table opens up. Several of the folks here do that and have reported the wait is rarely longer than 10 or 15 minutes, although it can be longer at peak times like 6:00-6:30.

Since you specifically mentioned wine, I can reassure you that it is very easy to meet the DBP threshold as a wine drinker. Most wines that I would consider at the nicer end of "low" range (e.g., Ravenswood Zinfandel, or a decent Chardonnay) go for at least $14 a glass. I would regularly order Tuscans or other wines from the "adventurous reds" section that were at least $17 a glass, so I was paying the overage (plus gratuity). If you expect to drink 2-3 glasses of wine with dinner every night, you will have no problem meeting the $27 extra per day for the DBP.

If you read @twangster's latest live blog on the AMPED Navigator, he did observe that when Playmakers is open, the Schooner bar is much less crowded unless the live musician is there and performing. So having both on the same ship does seem to have had a bit of a "dampening" effect on the Schooner Bar's appeal. Might just be because Playmakers is the new shiny, and over time the two will get more of an even balance as people try it out and decide the "old" pub is more their style. Will have to wait and see.

Thanks for another great blog, @twangster, and all those amazing photos! Will repeat everyone's thanks for taking the time you do out of your vacation to figure out which pics to post, doing the post editing and then typing everything up.

Have a great Cruise! Looking forward to seeing your reactions to all the Star Class pampering! ? EDIT -- Forgot to say, be sure to include a pic of hubby's expression when you and the girls tell him that from now on every cruise must be Star Class, because it's spoiled you for anything less! ?

No, that is not an option. Generally the drink package is offered when you board and for some number of days after; buying after day one will get you a prorated price for only the remaining days of the trip. Around 1/3 to halfway through the trip, they'll stop offering it; possibly sooner if they meet whatever quotas they have for package sales. If you would prefer to just have an option that could cover a couple of days, keep an eye out for the drink card instead of the drink package. It's a punch card that covers 10 drinks, and unlike the packages it can be shared with other passengers. It is not offered at the start of the cruise, and isn't guaranteed to be offered on every single cruise; no one really knows what drives when a given ship or itinerary will offer it, although it's likely that overall beverage sales on board to that point play a role. If it's offered, it usually goes for around $79, and is best used for more-expensive drinks like cocktails or wine. If you mainly drink beer, you have some other options there; sometimes a 10-beer card will be offered at a lower price than the regular drink card, sometimes you'll get daily specials for buckets of beers. No way to predict those, though, so it will be a bit of a gamble.

Have a safe and uneventful flight! I’m assuming you’ll be going to La Bamba for dinner, so have a perfect margarita or two to kick things off right! ??

BAAAAAAHHH HA HA HA HA HA!! OK, @twangster, there's no way you're a bot. Bots don't know how to do ironic humor like that!

I take that notice to mean they had an outbreak of some sort, however minor (it hasn't made the network news... yet). Better to have the ship thoroughly sanitized than for you and the family to come down with norovirus or something just as bad! And no, @Lovetocruise2002, there is no way you can pack enough of those hyper-cleansing wipes I know you bring on every trip to scour the entire ship!!