JLMoran

Good point, Candie! I'd say consider Freedom class as well, since they have quite a bit going on for them and could be a bit less (potentially) overwhelming for a first-timer. Of course, @Matt did happen to write a whole article about Oasis vs Quantum for first-timers, so yeah... One other thing I just remembered was pointed out to me in one of my first questions -- I was warned that an 18 to 20-year old might find it a little frustrating getting involved with ship activities. The teen-oriented activities cut off at age 17, so he can't get into the teen club at Adventure Ocean or other events on the ship geared to that social group. But the activities geared to adults generally are for people 21 and older and he may not be able to take part in those, either. This may not be as big of an issue on the Oasis or Quantum class ships, which are so much larger and have so much more going on throughout the day. I know you're planning to contact Heather, so ask her about that if you get a chance.

I'm on the March 31 Freedom sailing. If you're disembarking that day, we'll have to wave at each other as you're leaving the port and I'm driving in!

Actually, in the Wikipedia article about Tilapia that I was reading, it said that they're one of the lower mercury-containing fish. I guess because they eat plants and not other fish, so no chance for buildup. Now, if that poop they're eating happens to be loaded up... bring on the CHUDs!!

Well, that's news to me! I just read about them after seeing your post and see that they're plant eaters (algae, some "bottom plants" and other vegetation) and not bottom-feeders, so this would be a big surprise to me. That said, I've found the flavor of Tilapia less and less appealing over the years and generally don't order it any more. Maybe I've been getting some of those poop-eating farm-bred fish of late!

That said, you also have the option of tipping extra for your cabin steward, head / assistant waiter, etc. if you feel they did a bang-up job and deserve a little extra. Same thing if you bought a drink package (which tacks on gratuities up front), and you want to give a little something more to your favorite bartender(s) for keeping your glass full.

Hi jqueen, welcome to our group! I'm a fellow first-time cruiser, not departing on our first trip until the end of March next year. I can definitely provide some advice based on my own experience picking our first cruise, as I agree that it's pretty overwhelming! The main advice I would give is to not try and figure this out on your own. i did it with my family and it caused far too much stress! It's my biggest "If I had it to do over again" bit of advice: Find a travel agent who specializes in cruising, and work with him/her to work through figuring out a good ship for your familiy that works with the time frame you'd like to go. The travel agents know the ships, usually know multiple cruise lines, and will work with you to narrow it down with a lot less stress. I didn't find Heather until after we had settled on this cruise and was just working with her for booking it, but then leveraged her a lot to pick a second cruise that we also booked for later in 2018. I can highly recommend my travel agent, Heather. If you'd like her contact information, I can private message you the details. Full disclosure -- Heather is an agent for MEI Travel, which is a sponsor of this site. But she's very good, quick to respond to both emails and voice mails. Also, importantly in your situation, I think, she's fine with taking time on the phone to talk about ships, itineraries, cabin options, etc.

Doc, any link to the original article on the Telegraph?

One thing that I learned when I activated wifi calling on my phone. At least with Verizon, and I'm guessing all carriers, you have to set up the first wifi hot spot you connect to as your home location (for 911 handling or something similar, as I recall). So be sure to enable wifi calling before you leave home for your trip; I doubt you'd be able to make it work on the ship.

What screw ups? I'm booked on Anthem for October next year, just a short 5-night to Bermuda to try her out. @Matt's review didn't mention anything in terms of "screw ups", so I'm hoping just tech glitches that were more common in her first year and not anything related to service quality or other non-tech stuff.

Believe me, we air gripes here quite a bit! You should have SEEN when Royal announced that room service would no longer be complimentary, or when shorts would be allowed (briefly) in the MDR for all but formal night. For myself, I never have a problem hearing an opposing viewpoint, but I do ask that it have some evidence I can look at and review to back it up. I was a scientist before making a career change 25 years ago, and those habits run deep. ?

Ditto

I feel like that needs one of those asterisks followed at the bottom of the page by a nice paragraph of small-type legalese... $300 price reflects purchase of inside studio stateroom with optimal promotional package applied. Price does not include port fees or taxes, which let's be honest will be more than the room price on this ultra-cheap room. Price does not include land or air transportation to / from port, parking fees, or other travel costs. Price does not include mandatory gratuities of $18.69 per day, or obligatory tipping to porters even if all you brought was a backpack with a single change of clothes and a toothbrush in it. And let's be honest, you're having at least 3 labadoozies; we know it, you know it, stop trying to pretend it won't happen.

Speaking as a first-time cruiser who hasn't even taken his first cruise yet (so feel free to take this with as many grains of salt as you want), I have to say that I find your statement that you're "paying a premium" for the RCI cruise to be really perplexing. I priced out Disney and RCI cruises, and Royal was always significantly less expensive for trips of the same length and cabin type, with the same (or often greater) number of port stops. That's not "paying a premium" by any stretch in my book; that's saving a lot of money for the other parts of the cruise that matter to me and my family that we consider not optional (mainly shore excursions). We originally looked at both Oasis and Harmony, and Disney was consistently 1.5 - 2 times the cost for the same level ocean view or balcony cabin. We ultimately went with an itinerary on Freedom that we felt was better, which cost even less. Everything else in terms of the packages offered is 100% optional. If you don't drink soda, no need to pay for a package. If you drink soda but don't plan to have more than 1 or 2 a day, you can pay for them individually instead of buying the package and still come out ahead compared to Disney's price. And if you drink 3 cans of Coke with breakfast, a couple of Mountain Dews at lunch to charge up, and then 2 more Cokes at dinner with Cherry Coke at dessert every day; well then the package is your best friend in the whole world! Same goes for the alcohol packages, the internet packages, etc. @coneyraven summed it up best -- it's "a la carting" your trip. I really debated including this next part, but in the end I felt like I had to call out the fallacy of your "paying a premium" statement. 7-night RCI cruise on Allure of the Seas (priced just now, with a "60% off second guest" promotion currently in effect) Four ports, no private destinations Leaving April 1, 2018 2 D1 deluxe ocean view with large balcony cabins (equivalent class) $4,174.10 (incl port fees and taxes) 8-night RCI cruise on Freedom of the Seas (the cruise I actually booked, price reflects all adjustments since booking for better promotions) Four ports, including private destination Labadee Leaving March 31, 2018 2 D1 deluxe ocean view with large balcony cabins (equivalent class) Includes $200 onboard credit as part of the last applied promotion $4,894.92 (incl port fees and taxes) 7-night Disney cruise from Port Canaveral on Disney Fantasy (priced just now on the disneycruises.com site) Four ports, including private destination Castaway Cay Leaving March 31, 2018 2 verandah cabins $10,611.36 (incl port fees and taxes) But RCI is making me "pay a premium" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One caveat about Adventure -- she'll be re-homing from San Juan to NJ spring / summer next year to do NE / Canada cruises and some other itineraries where Anthem can't go due to her size. In her place, Freedom will re-home to San Juan. So depending on your time frame, that could affect your decision. I think I read that Adventure would return to the Florida / San Juan ports for the winter months and not just be in NJ for those seasonal cruises, so you may still be able to sail her if you have flexibility with your travel times.

In addition to the link @Matt provided, you may want to do a search on Cruise Deck Plans for the different ships you're interested in. They have the accessible rooms marked clearly, and by hovering over a particular room on the deck plan, you can see if there are photos or videos submitted by members of the site showing that particular room. I used this to get a view of a Junior Suite I was considering upgrading to before pulling the trigger and calling my TA. I do recall that they limit what videos and pictures are visible to non-members, so you may have to spring for a membership on the site to see everything that's available for a given room. But they seem to make a decent amount of material visible to non-members, and often I've found that videos are visible by first clicking on the video link, then clicking the "cached copy" link they provide below the popup video panel.

Heh, at least in my case the wife already knows about the cruise (I learned years ago that she HATES having surprise trips sprung on her). I'm pretty sure something like a cabin upgrade won't tick her off any, especially after finding out that it was done in response to a promo that didn't appreciably increase the cost. ;) Of course, I'm hoping for another promo or two that will lower the cost back down to what I originally booked the balcony room for, or at least give a little more OBC than the $50 I just gave up to do this rebooking.

Huh, I didn't think reservations would be needed since it's a complimentary dining venue. Makes sense, though, if it's more of a "my time dining" option and doesn't take the place of any traditional dining slot. Thanks for the tip, as well as the feedback about the food / service! How early is "early"? Should I book via Cruise Planner as soon as it's available, or just a day or two ahead once onboard? Will be hard to keep the surprise if I have to ask my wife what days she wants to eat there, since she's watched a few "guided tour" videos of Anthem on YouTube and now knows it's a suite guests only restaurant. ;)

So Matt just posted about the 60% off second guest June promo, and I checked to see if there were still any JS rooms available for my Bermuda sailing next October on Anthem. There were indeed a few and I saw on the RCI web site that it would only cost about $550 more to upgrade to a J4 (Spa Junior Suite) on deck 7 from our C1 (Deluxe w/Large Balcony) on deck 9. So as we're so fond of saying here: "YOLO! Book it!" I spoke with my TA and confirmed the price, and I'm now switched from our old C1 room (9244) to the J4 (room 7238). Still port side, so we can enjoy the view of Manhattan during sail-away from our room and not worry about being in a huge crowd if we don't want to. Not going to tell the wife about this; I'm figuring I'lll do like another member here recently posted about, and keep it a surprise until we're getting on board and she sees us directed to the Suites access line. Now I have to figure out how to keep my mouth shut for the next 499 days! I already know she's going to love having the spa-style tub to lounge in, not to mention the larger balcony to better appreciate that sail-away view! And we can now enjoy Coastal Kitchen for dinner one (or maybe several) nights. Can anyone comment on the menu / food quality in CK vs. regular dining room menus on Anthem? I re-checked @Matt's live blog from his 7-night trip on Anthem not long ago, but looks like he only did breakfast and lunch there, no dinners.

Oh, OK. I thought she was following up on the comment about lack of a main dining room from @DutchmanOfTheSeas. I took it as her saying how with the MDR you have the same table and wait staff, and on Quantum class that has no MDR you lose that. Which was why I got confused, since Quantum class does now have fixed table seating and staff again for those who choose traditional dining.

I thought Anthem reinstated traditional dining, and you were assigned to either Grande or Chic for the whole time so that you once again had a fixed table and wait staff? Even before that, wasn't there "Dynamic Dining Classic", where you still had the same wait staff even though you rotated between the restaurants? https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/09/12/royal-caribbean-abandons-dynamic-dining-anthem-of-the-seas https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/07/16/everything-you-need-know-about-dynamic-dining-classic

Ah, OK. So not until the Icon class comes out. ?

I'm booked with Capt Bob for my trip next March. Glad to hear someone else went with him and had a good experience. It's one thing to read a bunch of positive reviews on Trip Advisor, another to hear directly from someone who confirms all those reviews.

How long does a ship have to be in service before it's no longer considered the "new shiny"? Quantum is 3 years old, Anthem 2, and Ovation is the baby at 1 year. I see that Anthem still has a definite premium on it, although I'm not sure if that's because it's the only RCI mega ship going to the Caribbean out of Cape Liberty or because it's still "young" relative to all the other ships (or a little of both). And it seems like all of the Oasis class ships still carry a premium, with Harmony having the highest of the bunch. I just find it odd that these ships carry such a high premium over their smaller, older sibling when you pay a price in the much more limited itineraries they offer. But, I'm still a total cruise noob, so maybe there's a reason that explains it that doesn't boil down to "capitalism".

@mom2mybugs, do you have flexibility with that March date next year? If you can go on March 31, that's an 8-night Eastern Caribbean on Freedom (the one my family and I are taking). Goes to St. Kitts, St. Maarten, San Juan, and Labadee, with four sea days.

Hi Stephanie, welcome to our little community! I live in New Jersey, but can't really recommend a specific hotel. I can say that I've had good luck with Comfort Inn & Suites in several places as a good budget option, and the Wyndham line as a more upscale option. This is an article I found on eatsleepcruise.com that may help with choosing a hotel, based on their experiences: Top Hotels Near Cape Liberty Cruise Port. While I haven't stayed in any of these particular hotels, I can recommend Embassy Suites and Westin as good brands that I've used in the past. Someone else here with a little more experience cruising than I have should be able to answer your question about shipping items from the ship to your home.