JLMoran

The one I'm on is five nights. If I had picked an even later offering in November, or chosen a sailing on Grandeur, I could have done 7 nights, but I felt that was too late in the year. I had seen that Celebrity offering after I'd booked this one on Anthem and was really torn. I want to build up loyalty in C&A so I can get at least Platinum transfer benefits with X before I start booking with them, but at the same time I thought that with just the wife and me, X might have been a nicer and dare I say more enjoyable option for us, especially as I'm a foodie and wine lover. But, I also booked Anthem to get an idea what she's like and see if it will be a ship the angsty, "sea days are boring" teenage kids will enjoy more than they did Freedom, so we can do some sailings from our home port and not have flight expenses to deal with. If I didn't have them to think about for future cruises, I'd have probably booked Adventure to Bermuda rather than Anthem. Expecting Oasis comment from @Lovetocruise2002 in 5... 4... 3... ?

I saw the same thing yesterday, just a couple of high-end suites left. So yes, at this point it may well be fully sold out. If it is, and if Anthem is still a ship where they allow the JS guests to book CK online, I guess I'll know in a few days to a week if those reservations have opened up for me the others in a JS. Just have to keep checking! For another 42 days, when Cruise Planner locks out... ?

Oh, man. And the ship is almost completely sold out now for this trip, so I'm sure all of those last-minute suite bookings have made their reservations. Maybe when the ship is 100% sold out they'll enable online booking for JS rooms, but I guess they figure if they have a suite to sell, they're not going to give away a slot at CK to a lowly JS room. I will be bummed if we can only get CK for just one or two out of four nights (we have night 3 set aside for Wonderland, assuming they have the expected sale offer for the overnight port day; so far Wonderland has every available dinner slot open that night, so I feel the odds are good there). If we can't get it at all, I'll be severely bummed.

Is this the 7-night Bermuda-only sailing that I've seen Celebrity offer out of NJ? Two nights / basically 3 full days in Bermuda, plus a couple of sea days on either side?

I've had enough people comment to me privately or in this or other posts how they were in a JS and had no trouble booking CK on embarkation day that I'm not worried about it. It's really just about the surprise factor -- my wife still doesn't know I upgraded us to the JS, and I wanted to not only surprise her with that when we board, but then when she thinks it's still the regular dining room each night, come out with, "Surprise! We get our own special place every night with a better menu!" and just have it already booked for 6:30 or 8:00 or whatever. I just played it safe this morning and booked MTD reservations for 8 PM each night, just so we have something reserved. I have to say, if CK's advance reservations are anything like MTD, there will be absolutely zero reservations available for 6:30 or 7:00 PM and we'll have to eat at 8:00 each night. Good thing we learned on Freedom that we're totally OK with that time slot! ?

Same here, and I'm only 45 days out now. I tried calling C&A to see if they could manually book CK for me, and they said I have to wait on board; as a JS booking, I was told reservations are "based on availability", and as such I have to wait until I board so all the "full" suite guests get their chance to pre-book online. ?

If shows only became available recently, then it may be another couple of weeks before Northstar and iFly show up. As you can see from this thread's history, there was a pretty decent gap between the two. But I'm surprised they're cutting it so close!

Originally I was. But I've had some ongoing expenses that have made doing any kind of cruise booking for 2019 impossible. Next year I'll be in drydock, and 2020 will be the soonest I can look at cruising again. And originally for 2020 I was looking at the 11-night Southern (Eastern) Caribbean offering in January, as that would like right up with my b-day; but due to the kids' schedules with college and high school, plus it being the second half of the year when homework tends to be more heavily loaded up (at the high school, anyway), and the fact that it's an $1,800 deposit for two cabins that I'd have to book pretty much as soon as the itineraries come out in November or very early next year... well, it just stopped being an option. So I pushed the CA/NE out to 2020, as that could work nicely both for summer sailing with the full family (and hopes for joining a group cruise) or the fall foliage option.

Have a great trip, and I hope both you and your husband are able to just de-stress and enjoy the time away! Will definitely look forward to the recap after you're back!

I don't see a fall foliage cruise being a group cruise any time soon, unless Matt's wife was OK with him going solo. All of those cruises happen only after school has started, and as I recall from some of Matt's podcasts and live blogs, the grandparents are all up in the New England area. Would also be impossible for folks like @Boston Babe, @Lovetocruise2002, I think @whitsmom or maybe @mom2mybugs, a fair number of others due to teaching commitments. This is why I say it's my fallback plan if there's no July 2020 GC to CA/NE. And if there is one, I may well book one of these foliage tours for 2021 or 2022; by 2022, the older one will be a senior in college and younger one a senior in high school, and both probably would be fine skipping two weeks of school at the start of the year for that experience. If they weren't... well, the wife and I could probably swing a Grand Suite in that case! ?

Umm... @mworkman...you know @Matt doesn't like to fly right...That would be a really long trip back from Barcelona. lol I just figured if that happened, Matt's plan was going to be to (a) go solo, and (b) work remotely from Barcelona until the return TA sails at the end of the summer. ?

Yup, no sale, everyone gets the basic "20% off on-board prices" for VOOM. And those on-board prices, as @twangster noted, are steep.

Sounds like your pricing was for single device VOOM. Mine was for two devices, so makes sense that it's about double the price during a non-sale window. Seems the multi-device plans only give a half-decent per-device rate during sales; in non-sale periods, it's pretty much linear. ?

Wow! Sale is over now, and 2-device VOOM for my Anthem sailing is now back up to $30.38/night!! That does work out with the banner that says it's 20% off on-board price rate, given the prior 50% off on-board sale rate of $18.99 I got, but holy cow that's a big jump for someone who missed that sale window! ?

This Peak Foliage Predictor link showed up in my RSS feed today. It's currently for 2018, but my understanding is that it's updated yearly as the same link showed up in my feed at this time last year. For anyone looking to plan a fall foliage sailing for 2019 or 2020, I think this can be a useful reference to get an idea of when you really should try to book if your goal is to see the absolute peak colors. I've definitely noticed that the colors are coming much later than I've been used to for New Jersey, not really showing up until early-to-mid October the last few years, and that lines up with what this foliage predictor shows. Based on the current prediction, the 2019 Snowbird Migration itinerary would be the absolute best time to see the colors in the region. It starts right when this site predicts peak colors for the northernmost New York area, which is only a little south of where Quebec is located, and by the time it gets to the New England and Mid-Atlantic states in the US, they will have reached their peak colors as well. While I had been thinking of trying to book the southbound open-jaw itinerary for 2020 that goes from Quebec to NJ, based on the expected peaks and the current timing of the 2019 itineraries, that would actually be the second-worst time to go for colors (worst being the first northbound route), as nothing will be more than patchy at any point in the cruise. Since the Snowbird Migration route really wouldn't be a great option for me with the need for a one-way flight from Florida, I'm looking now at the last northbound open-jaw route before the Snowbird one; since I learned I can easily drive home from Quebec, taking this option would mean we'd get somewhere between patchy and partial colors on the way up through New England, be just at peak by the time we arrive in Quebec, have that overnight port day there to fully enjoy the colors on display while we explore the city and surroundings, and then have a spectacular display for the drive home through New York, which should be entirely in peak color at that point. I'll have to see (a) if there is any group cruise in June 2020 to CA/NE (I know, broken rec... broken rec... broken record), and (b) when the 2020 fall foliage itineraries get scheduled relative to these current predicted peaks. But assuming those itineraries go at roughly the same times, I think that will be my goal for a 2020 booking if there's no July 2020 CA/NE GC.

I agree with @melski94. If your kids aren't adventurous eaters, or for that matter if they're not big fans of seafood (the menu tends a little stronger to that side for the appetizers, from what I've seen), let them have dinner on their own. There are a few videos on YouTube that show off pretty much the whole menu as its served. I think this was the one I showed my wife that convinced her to give them a try on our upcoming Anthem cruise in October:

Holy cow, that's fantastic! Congratulations!

47 days out and my cruise docs / luggage tags are available!!! ??

Loving the pictures and blog, @Traveler! I've been eyeing the Adriatic and Greece as a future destination, and I agree with @Lovetocruise2002, I'm going to have to find a way to the Mediterranean before I visit Alaska, liking the cold less and less as I get older be damned! Only tough choice now is whether to do Med or Norwegian itinerary first. Both are European but boy are they different experiences!

In the course of tracking prices for my Anthem cruise, I've seen not one, not two, but three suite guarantee rates come up, all on the Royal site, and all but the first one showed up after final payment date: JS Guarantee -- was priced around $1,400, which was higher than my original booking rate for my specific J4 room; when it showed you could no longer book an individual JS room. Grand Suite Guarantee -- was priced about the same as the GS rooms I'd seen individually (around $1,999 for the guarantee rate), and again you could no longer book an individual GS Owner's Suite Guaranteee -- Pricing was around $2,999, no idea how that compares since I was never tracking OS or higher rooms; once again, that actual room type can't be directly booked now None of these are offered at this point, as the ship is pretty much sold out. But they also never made any sense to me; if the actual rooms were sold out, why were they selling at that class level as a guarantee rate, rather than a guarantee rate on the higher room class? If the rooms weren't sold out, why not offer them for individual booking instead of forcing people into the guarantee class (at what seemed comparable or more expensive pricing)?

Everyone re-check your prices on VOOM again, before this sale ends. I happened to look just now to see if the sale had ended and prices went back up, but in fact the sale is still on and my price for 2-device VOOM went down another dollar to $18.99/night!! Canceled and repurchased for the second time in as many days, saved another five bucks. Or as I like to call it, 2/3 of a beer or 2/5 of a margarita. ?

As mentioned in the other thread about travel agents, there is a second loyalty program with Royal, called Casino Royale. This is the program specifically for people who gamble regularly in the casino. They recently overhauled the program to the point that you basically get into it just for walking into the casino and putting a few dollars into the slot machines; but for people who are "high rollers" and bet a fairly high amount there each time they sail, they can get some fairly decent discounts by booking through the casino service number instead of the regular booking number. A travel agent can also book a cruise for you in this way, as long as you tell him or her up front that you're a member of Casino Royale. One or two of the agents at MEI have built up a bit of a legend here for scoring really good deals for some of the more serious gamblers here on the boards, which make the regular promotions look like pocket change and are even better than the people were quoted when they called directly.

Hi Lynda, welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog forums! AAA is the American Automobile Association. It's a paid membership group for residents of the US, and was originally known for their automobile assistance services, particularly no-cost towing. But they also have travel services at their local offices and are used by many as a general-purpose travel agency. MEI is a sponsor of this web site and a dedicated travel agency, who specialize in both cruise travel and also trips to Walt Disney World / Disneyland / other Disney properties. Several of us here use them as our cruise travel agents, not so much for savings we get over direct booking as for the help they provide in various ways after the booking: checking for lower fares when a new promotion comes out, dealing with mistakes made by Royal (e.g., incorrectly canceling someone's excursion or whole cruise), fighting with Royal when a ship charter causes a booking to be canceled and no good alternatives are offered, and so on. Those of us who use them are quite happy with the service they provide. There's nothing wrong with using cruise.com if you find they give you the best rates and that's your primary goal. Just be aware that if a bad situation arises, like some of the examples I gave just above, you could be on your own for trying to resolve them. It depends on what kind of level of customer service cruise.com provides after the initial booking. Be aware that the base cruise fare is not really something that travel agencies are free to modify. If you see a rate that's lower than you find on Royal Caribbean's web site, it usually means the agency is giving up some of the commission that they receive from Royal in order to give you that lower rate. And if they do that, there is some chance that it may translate into a lower level of after-purchase service, since they now have less money in their own pockets for paying their agents to go those extra steps. It's not always the case, but it's something to keep in mind. A local agent may not necessarily give you the same discounted price as the online person. They do, after all, have physical office space to pay for in addition to the regular expenses for staff, salaries, insurance, etc. Honestly, I don't know anyone here who uses a truly local agent that they go see in person; all of MEI's agents are in various parts of the US, and we communicate by email or phone. Side note: I kind of view leaving behind some up-front discounts on my cruise fare as sort of buying insurance; the extra savings I'm "leaving on the table" is my insurance policy towards good post-booking care. If something goes horribly wrong, or I just need to follow up with my agent on a bunch of things because I'm going somewhere totally unfamiliar to me, I know that I can count on my agent to be there answering my questions or going to bat for me; and that means less stress when the bad stuff happens. Not to mention the good news times when I get an email saying that the latest promotion just saved me another $100, or gave me $75 more on-board credit (OBC)! This is the reputation that MEI has earned over the years, and for my personal preferences about what I look for in a travel agency, this counts for a lot! There is nothing wrong with having this goal! I think most of us here would like to be on a ship as many times a year as possible! ? MEI, as noted, won't be giving you any real up-front discounts on the base cruise fare. However, they will constantly be checking the newest promotions as they come out and seeing if that will save you money. If you tell them up front that having a lower base fare is more important than having a lot of On Board Credit for the trip, they will make sure to get you the lowest fare that the promotions make possible. If you happen to be a regular at the ship's casino and are part of the Club Royale program, there is at least one agent with MEI who has a reputation as a miracle worker for getting incredibly low fares on suites and other cabins! They also do on occasion provide small gifts that will be delivered to your cabin after boarding, sometimes on the second day of your cruise. For instance, my family and I had our first cruise ever this past April, and part of the reason was for our 20th wedding anniversary. My agent had a box of red velvet cupcakes delivered to our cabin from the on-board cupcake shop on the second day of our cruise. It was a very nice surprise! Others here have likewise had similar small gifts delivered depending on the circumstances around a particular booking. I hope this all helps!

Welcome, @4ensic!

What strikes me about that is that I had read here and elsewhere that booking a sailing that departs right after New Years was almost always going to be much less expensive than booking the same sailing if it meant you'd be at sea on New Years. I guess Royal has decided that right after that holiday is "close enough" to still charge the premium price. I guess while that may apply to the base cruise fare, it doesn't apply to add-on purchases. ? Which is even weirder when New Years for 2019 is on a Tuesday! I could maybe see charging the premium if the departure date fell somewhere inside the "holiday long weekend" period, but with New Years on a Tuesday, and people who want extended time off having to take Dec 31, it makes pretty much no sense. That sailing is squarely outside of any kind of time period you could call inside the holiday window. Only thing I can think of is that with Mariner now just doing shorter "weekend getaway" and early week cruises, the fact that it's still inside the winter break period for college students is playing a part in how they're pricing everything. @KLA, I'm curious -- how does that same sailing's base fare compare to what you've paid if you were booked on 1/11 or 1/18 instead of 1/4? Most colleges are back in session by 1/18, would be interesting to see if this "weekend getaway" ship is being premium priced because of that.