Skid

I agree with you and thanks for sharing your experience. Now I know not to bother with it.

Very true, DocLC, but keep in mind that by getting that card (no annual fee) and making just one purchase (it can be a cup of coffee) within 65 days you get 10,000 bonus points which is good for $100 OBC. So if you and and family members each get a card, you have a few hundred dollars.

If it's a new card and you are getting the thousands of bonus points, that's great. However, the RC card pays only 1% on purchases other than for RC. Other cards pay 2% on everything. Why not double your cash back and just pay for the drink package?

The really deceiving part is the banner. The price for VOOM has been and is the same exact price since I booked in June for our May 2018 cruise. Today it shows up with 20% off onboard price banner.

We have been using buyreservations.com for a few years now. https://buyreservations.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6vyJm_7m1QIVF7bACh2cAwV6EAAYASAAEgIMJfD_BwE

Love it!

Agreed that Voyager class may be a good next step. We have sailed on Adventure and loved it. Actually sailing on her again in May out of Cape Liberty (of course that won't help you since you're already booked on Grandeur). However, I bring that up because if you are willing to drive to NJ and sail on a larger ship you can take your 25th anniversary cruise on Anthem and save the cost of airfare. Anthem is a beautiful ship (we have sailed on her also). If you have never been to Bermuda or to the Bahamas (or want to go again) here is a link to Anthem sailings out of Cape Liberty in April/May 2019. They don't have June 2019 listed yet, but Anthem also does a 9 night Bermuda/Caribbean itinerary. Plus, FYI, the entertainment on Anthem is unbeatable! Enjoy. https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/cruises?departureCode_BYE=true&dates_minDate=04%2F01%2F2019&dates_maxDate=05%2F31%2F2019

Maybe not new to others, but I found this interesting site that lists which ship will be in what port for 2017, sorted by location. http://crew-center.com/cruise-ship-port-schedules-2017

Thanks for letting us know!

I emailed Matt for posting on the Compass board but figured I'd post this link here in case the email didn't go through. Embarked from San Juan. Visited St. Thomas, Curacao, Aruba and St. Kitts. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8IxXYFC0sUVMUxVeUgybmo4dW8

Great. Let us know how it works out.

Thanks for posting! Love it.

That is correct as of May 2016 when I had it. What I did was make a payment on line. When the payment processed I called and asked them to make sure the insurance became effective immediately and to email a new invoice/confirmation, which they did.

FYI, I emailed them and got a reply that table assignments on the ships are done 50 days before sail date and to resend the request around that time frame. Again, address is [email protected]

We have requested a table for 2 in the main dining room several times and it has always worked out well. As far as location, we usually go to the dining room as soon as we board to make sure that our assigned table is, in fact, a table for 2 and that we like the location. The staff has always been very accommodating and we have never had to switch. We loved our spot last time and will be on the same ship again next cruise (Adventure). So we will email a few weeks ahead to request the same table. I think the address is [email protected]

I see your point, Matt. However, the group I encountered couldn't even answer basic questions. I agree they should not be expected to be experts, but when they are so new and inexperienced as this particular crew was, they should at least be working along side a "veteran" or two. To be clear, I was not annoyed at them personally. I felt badly for them for the position in which they were placed. I was just wondering how often this had happened.

Anthem has iPads. The staff knew absolutely nothing. They sat down with us, looked at the screens, and read what they saw out loud, as if we didn't know how to read. We wished it was a gag. Of course, now we research excursions prior to sailing!

Wait, it's not the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling????? :)

After seeing the post from an Adventure OTS cruiser that I copied below with my reply, I am wondering if this type of occurrence is more prevalent than I ever would have expected. Has anyone else experienced this?Other staggering thing- stopped by the Excursion desk afternoon before St. Lucia. 2 ladies working there actually told us they have no idea about the island- they had never been there themselves, and had only been working for 3 weeks. They were certainly honest, but didn't expect to be told "Uh- your're on your own!".This same thing happened to us on Anthem in 2015 and it was even more ridiculous. The only 2 people from the excursion department were both on vacation at the same time. The rest of the staff was new (literally the third day for one of them) and not one of them had ever been to that particular port (Barbados). Fortunately, the guy from the jewelry port shopping desk knew everything and did a great job in guiding us. We informed corporate of his extra effort. I think I will start a separate thread. Will be interesting to see if this has happened with any type of regularity.

Great post! Your favorite, to me, is/should be the definition of cruising.

Just saw this new post on another site-good news: Hi. I was on Anthem sailing July 15, 2017 and there were no Evian water bottles in the cabin.I asked the cabin steward and he said they don't leave them anymore.

That is a great question Jane! My first instinct is to book the new ones, then cancel the old. But I'm guessing the website wouldn't allow 2 bookings for the same person. Maybe by calling, a rep can put in the new order while cancelling the old??? Does anyone know the best way to handle this?

Although I have been on only 3 of Royal's ships, I believe your thinking is correct.

Although you may not want to lay out the money this far in advance, booking it now will protect you from any future price increase. If/when the sale happens, you can cancel it and buy at the sale price.

You can get sodas anywhere on the ship at any bar, venue or dining room. They will serve in regular glasses or fill up your cup if so desired. Do not have to carry the cup around. However, FYI, those cups are the only ones that work in the freestyle machines. Glasses, etc. will not work in those.