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Cruise planner - first time cruiser


Nathan1260

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Good day everyone! 
First time cruise on Anthem of the seas in July sailing from Southampton, UK for 8 nights. 
A party of 4 of us are going so have booked two inside staterooms. Having booked the cruise over the phone direct with royal Caribbean I soon realised following email confirmation that each stateroom has been placed under a different booking reference. 
After looking on the email receipt it shows that neither stateroom had the other linked to the same booking.

I went to my online account and linked the bookings manually however I noticed that neither stateroom is linked to use the same cruise planner and instead extras need to be booked/paid for separately for each stateroom!?

Is there a way to link the booking references to the same cruise planner so we can all book activities/dining together? 

Also having linked the staterooms to the same booking via my online account, will RCI recognise this as the same booking and therefore group all parties together in the same dining room to eat together? 
 

Sorry for the confusion. Novice cruiser here ?

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14 minutes ago, Nathan1260 said:

I went to my online account and linked the bookings manually however I noticed that neither stateroom is linked to use the same cruise planner and instead extras need to be booked/paid for separately for each stateroom!?

Is there a way to link the booking references to the same cruise planner so we can all book activities/dining together? 

I've booked restaurants for other reservations via the cruise planner before. After you choose "add to cart" you'll see everyone under your reservation. To add people from another reservation there will be a drop down "Add guests from another reservation" and it gives you a way to look them up. I've attached a screenshot.

Hope this helps a little. Welcome to the forum and the world of cruising. 

image.png.4ffa657091dc3c7e98516e82bf49fcec.png

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On 2/3/2020 at 10:02 PM, sk8erguy1978 said:

I've booked restaurants for other reservations via the cruise planner before. After you choose "add to cart" you'll see everyone under your reservation. To add people from another reservation there will be a drop down "Add guests from another reservation" and it gives you a way to look them up. I've attached a screenshot.

Hope this helps a little. Welcome to the forum and the world of cruising. 

image.png.4ffa657091dc3c7e98516e82bf49fcec.png

Thanks very much, this helps!!

in regards to my second question, will royal Caribbean recognise that our two staterooms are travelling together and therefore group us together for main dining room. We have booked MTD but concerned that we will be assigned different rooms? 
My only reason for concerns is because the agent on the phone did not link the 2 reservations (even though booking and paying deposit at exactly the same time) together, and I linked the second reservation to my stateroom reservation myself online.

furthermore when booking activities once onboard the ship will it allow us to book both staterooms together so that we can all take part in the same activity/entertainment bookings together? 

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Dining Ideas

We were on a family cruise last year and I booked MTD seating times on the Cruise Planner. We were able to book them for different times each night.  There was a problem as our party was divided into smaller tables when we arrived at the dining room the first night.  But we were able to work it out after elevating our issue. We were a party of 10.  You would not have this issue with 4.

Should you not want to make dining reservations prior to the cruise and just arrive when you are ready, I have some suggestions.

1.  I am pretty sure I linked our reservations myself as well.  You may want to call Royal and tell them your concern about linking and the dining location.

2. I have not used this tip yet, but I plan to use it for my summer cruise.  Three weeks prior to your cruise, email Royal to let them know about your dining situation and ask them to place your parties in the same dining room.   rcldining@rccl.com

3.  As soon as you board, go to the greeter desk at the dining room and confirm that all parties are in the same dining room.  If you decide to make reservations, you may want stop by any way just to confirm that you are seated together. Only one dining room's desk may be open, but you can go to any MDR greeter/host desk.

 

Entertainment/Shore Excursions

As far as I am aware, you are not able to book entertainment on Anthem.  But if you book excursions, the on board cup cake class, and so forth, you would use the system above from sk8erguy1978 and add others to the booking.  Once I booked something and added the names, they would just populate and I didn't have to search for names again.

I have just one tip for you.  IMHO you may want to board as early as possible.  Then you would be able to go to the MDR to confirm your dining room and/or reservations. Hopefully, the line will be shorter the earlier you board. Regardless, I just want to have everything settled and enjoy my cruise. There are MANY strong and conflicting ideas about when to board the ship. I like to spend as much time on the ship as possible on my first day. I don't mind waiting at the port to board.  It is part of the excitement for me.  Again, this is my preference.

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If you know what time you want to eat each evening make your MTD reservations in the cruise planner and include the other cabin.  You can vary what time you eat each night.  We never got assigned a room for the MTD.  When we got there either for reservation or walk up they chose the dining room right then that had room for our party.

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9 hours ago, luv2sail said:

Entertainment/Shore Excursions

As far as I am aware, you are not able to book entertainment on Anthem.  But if you book excursions, the on board cup cake class, and so forth, you would use the system above from sk8erguy1978 and add others to the booking.  Once I booked something and added the names, they would just populate and I didn't have to search for names again.

I have just one tip for you.  IMHO you may want to board as early as possible.  Then you would be able to go to the MDR to confirm your dining room and/or reservations. Hopefully, the line will be shorter the earlier you board. Regardless, I just want to have everything settled and enjoy my cruise. There are MANY strong and conflicting ideas about when to board the ship. I like to spend as much time on the ship as possible on my first day. I don't mind waiting at the port to board.  It is part of the excitement for me.  Again, this is my preference.

We were able to book the main shows, the I Fly and North Star on Anthem last year, but only around 30 days before the date of sailing.

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