JLMoran

I'll see your comment and raise you... Michael Bolton is still popular?!?!?

::Rubbing hands in gleeful anticipation of smoked tomato soup on Anthem in 77 days::

Thanks for sharing the CK menu! Not sure if you know, but is CK like the MDR, in that all ships with a CK have the same menu, or does the menu vary by ship? If Anthem has the same CK menu, I will absolutely be having that smoked tomato soup! I suspect it's the same recipe that was served at my Chef's Table dinner on Freedom, and that was SOOOO good that I would love having a chance to have it again!

Whoa! Way better than what I suggested! ?

And maybe before trying any pill, see if the combination of candied ginger slices and some green apple is enough to do the job. Real ginger works absolute wonders on an unsettled stomach, even if it’s something like ginger capsules and not the sort you chew.

So I book all my cruises with Heather at MEI. If, hypothetically speaking, @Matt we’re to announce a CA/NE GC for 2020 in early October, and I were to book for said hypothetical GC at the Next Cruise desk, I know that it would automatically be transferred to Heather. BUT, as I recall Matt always has his agent, Annette, handle the GC bookings. So would Heather be able to transfer the booking to Annette for proper inclusion in the GC? Could the booking stay with Heather, since they’re both at MEI, and Annette could just record it in the books that I’m part of the group? Truly, it’s all purely hypothetical. Current rumors say those 2020 itineraries won’t be out before November. But if they come out sooner, and Matt had enough time to work it out with Annette to make such an announcement, it would be good to know what my options were with the Next Cruise desk.

Safe flight, and an uneventful transfer! Even though it’s light packing, will this be like your last short cruise in terms of bringing only your iPhone for photography? Or was that a “lesson learned” moment and you’ll be bringing some form of your usual kit in addition to your carry-on / suitcase? Either way, we know great pictures are heading our way! You could shoot with a pinhole camera and it would come out great!

That rep is full of it. I only use safari, and not even in private mode. Works exactly that same as both Firefox and Chrome.

I just checked and Dragon's Breath is "more than 2600 feet long", per Royal's marketing page, so 2800 for this new activity isn't that much longer in terms of raw linear footage. I think you're right that this might be a multi-line setup, and it may also not be as steep or fast as Dragon's Breath (note how DB makes a point of the 40-50mph speed, where this activity has no speed listed). Given you're going head-first, you most certainly do not want to be brought to a jarring stop when traveling that way, so while it's probably still fast, it's not the crazy speed of DB. I guess we'll have to wait for someone to take a trip to Labadee and try out the new offering, or see the inevitable GoPro video on YouTube, but at least after seeing the additional details the price doesn't seem quite so ridiculous relative to DB. And I'd imagine that like DB, this new line will also have sales that bring the price back down to a somewhat more reasonable level as sailings get closer and Royal is looking to fill up those booking slots.

Will just add on to this that, if you are a serious gambler and you sail with Royal often enough to get your casino "loyalty" points up into their second tier in Casino Royale (I want to say it's called "Select", but @WAAAYTOOO or one of the others who are comparative CR high-rollers can confirm), then the fee Matt mentioned is waived.

Also, given that your sailing is still 300 days out, I would suggest holding off using your OBC to pre-pay your gratuities until you're closer to sail date and the chances of a re-pricing in your favor are lower. If you used that OBC and then re-price on a new promotion that has less OBC, you could end up either unable to reprice or having whatever was purchased with the OBC auto-canceled (since repricing is really a cancel and immediate rebook). I've had OBC available for pre-sailing purchases twice now, and haven't used it either time. I know there's more than enough on the ship I'm likely to spend money on that I'd rather just pay on the credit card for all the pre-cruise stuff, including my tips. The most recent time that Royal raised the base tip rate, they did grandfather all bookings made before a specific date (Jan 1, 2018 in this case), provided they pre-paid the tips before boarding; those who still chose to pay at the end of their cruise were charged the new rate. Hopefully if the rates go up again for 2019, they will offer the same grandfathering for passengers like you who booked far in advance.

I've now seen $42 for both my Freedom cruise last April and my upcoming Anthem cruise in October. As far out as you are, it will definitely fluctuate a lot as sales come and go. Highest prices I saw were $48 for Freedom, and I believe $52 for Anthem (just the Deluxe package, not the combo Deluxe + VOOM offer); the Anthem price was at the beginning of the packages being offered, and the non-sale price has slowly dropped to $48/night.

I definitely never saw that leading up to my cruise last April. I guess they're building something new for those who want zip lining but not the extreme of the Dragon's Breath. Price looks ridiculous, though. That's more than they charge for Dragon's Breath without a sale; on the best sale I was able to catch, the Dragon's Breath line went down to $79 pp.

Great live blog, Haley, and great pics to go with it! Sorry I had to miss all of your scopes, work has been nuts this past two weeks.

Perhaps, then... CraftyCat05's Cacophonous Yet Coherent Cerebrations ?

Awesome news! Glad you had a great time and great weather!

@mworkman, you're following the same trend line I had for 2 devices when I was as far out as you. ? My notes showed $30.83 per night for two devices when I was first tracking, about 9 months out. Around 6 months it dropped to $28.48 on sale, and with the most recent sale pricing of $26.58 that I have, the $28.48 price is now the non-sale "regular" price.

VOOM 2-device for my October 2018 sailing is holding steady at $26.58/night when these sales are active, and $13.99/night for single device. Been that way for the last two months or so. @mworkman, the price you see for single-device is same as I've been seeing during non-sale periods this whole time for my 2018 cruise, so I don't think the prices have actually gone up. If your cruise is in January, give it a few more months. I didn't see VOOM prices start going down for sales until around 4-5 months out.

Site got hacked by some spambots, @Mljstr. We need @twangster-bot to give them a stern talking to in their own language so they know to Go 'Way, NOW.

I got my e-docs with the luggage tags 45 days out. Email sent to me a with a link to the PDF.

My wife and I will be taking our first cruise without the kids in October, and first vacation of any sort without them in about 15 years. And since they'll be 18 and almost 15, we're leaving them in charge of the house while we're gone! ? They're both very responsible and we know they won't burn the house down or throw any wild parties. And the grandparents are only 15 minutes away, so if something truly bad happens they'll be able to help out. But it'll still be a little nerve-wracking when the ship is sailing away; I'll be rapidly downing a couple of margaritas that day, for sure!

I second the recommendation to try a "propah lobstah" if you get the chance. It's funny, the further north you go on the Atlantic coast, the tastier the lobster gets. Newport, RI lobster is good. Boston or Cape Cod, MA lobsters are better. But nothing beats a fresh lobster roll made just about anywhere in Maine. I spent four years there for college and never had better or tastier lobster.

If your ship is in St. Maarten from 8 until 5, and you're up for an all-day outing with both snorkeling and beach time, take a look at either Random Wind or Soualiga Destinations. Both are third-party excursions you'll have to book directly, but they both have a great reputation and rating on Trip Advisor. Random Wind got hammered when the hurricane blew threw, but IIRC they've restored the ship and are doing business again. I did Soualiga Destinations this past April and it was fantastic. Wrote a review of them, and you can see photos of the trip on the live(ish) blog I did:

Thankee sai!

Still did when I was on Freedom in March/April of this year. I had a grande cappuccino every morning after breakfast and sometimes in the afternoon, and found it to be better than what Starbucks usually serves; not as bitter as the SBUX espresso. I can't comment on the number of punches for the grande, although I confirmed when I bought the first one that it's 2 shots of espresso for that size, as I had the deluxe package and my coffees were covered under that.