Shows are available for reservations on Anthem Oct 13 to Bermuda

[JLMoran]

Northstar reservations are no longer showing in my Cruise Planner, so I guess it's already booked up. Very glad I made that reservation the day I saw it available!

And I finally reserved our seats for The Gift -- 10 PM showing on embarkation day. Not 100% sure we'll go, given people's comments about how the plot line is "weird" / hard to follow when you first see it, but with so many parallel comments about the music and production quality, I figured it'll be good enough for night 1. That said, if we find something more intriguing or interesting in the Cruise Planner for that time, we may do that instead. Spectra's Cabaret and We Will Rock You are our only two "must sees".

[LaurenS]

Hey there! I’m booked for anthem of the seas on September 15th, and our activities  still aren’t available to reserve. Being that this is our first time cruising, I was afraid we missed the opportunity to book so I called customer service. Got ahold of a manager and she explained that they’re no longer offering the opportunity to pre-book activities online? (and that it was a glitch they were even appearing). Very strange and not 100% sure that’s true. I’ll probably call back to get a second opinion. But as of now, Northstar and iFly arent bookable for September either. Got my shows reserved though! 

[Sweety]

7 minutes ago, LaurenS said:

Hey there! I’m booked for anthem of the seas on September 15th, and our activities  still aren’t available to reserve. Being that this is our first time cruising, I was afraid we missed the opportunity to book so I called customer service. Got ahold of a manager and she explained that they’re no longer offering the opportunity to pre-book activities online? (and that it was a glitch they were even appearing). Very strange and not 100% sure that’s true. I’ll probably call back to get a second opinion. But as of now, Northstar and iFly arent bookable for September either. Got my shows reserved though! 

My cruise is in December and we booked Northstar and iFly.

[JLMoran]

4 hours ago, LaurenS said:

Hey there! I’m booked for anthem of the seas on September 15th, and our activities  still aren’t available to reserve. Being that this is our first time cruising, I was afraid we missed the opportunity to book so I called customer service. Got ahold of a manager and she explained that they’re no longer offering the opportunity to pre-book activities online? (and that it was a glitch they were even appearing). Very strange and not 100% sure that’s true. I’ll probably call back to get a second opinion. But as of now, Northstar and iFly arent bookable for September either. Got my shows reserved though! 

First off, welcome to the blog boards, @LaurenS! What that manager said to you doesn't sound correct at all, given how several of us here with sail dates later than yours are seeing the option to make reservations online and have been for at least a little while now. Not sure what might be going on beyond possible typical web site issues.

[JLMoran]

Realized my booking for Spectra's Cabaret at 7:30 PM was on our only formal night, and I don't want to be rushed through dinner that night. Moved it to the 9 PM showing on night four. Sorry if that messes up anyone's efforts at a "mini-group meetup".

Also... Solarium Bistro has no reservations available for dinner on any night?? I realized that I wanted to book that just for one night to try it out, since it's a complimentary venue and not a standard option on most of the fleet, but when I just tried to add it I got a notice that there is nothing available (just like CK ). Does that venue typically book solid ahead of departure? Should I have jumped on that a lot sooner?

[twangster]

21 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Also... Solarium Bistro has no reservations available for dinner on any night?? I realized that I wanted to book that just for one night to try it out, since it's a complimentary venue and not a standard option on most of the fleet, but when I just tried to add it I got a notice that there is nothing available (just like CK ). Does that venue typically book solid ahead of departure? Should I have jumped on that a lot sooner?

I just checked Oasis, Anthem and Ovation in 2019 and Solarium Bistro was bookable for all three.  

Thanks for reminding me, reservations made for all. I'm might cancel Ovation though since I'll have CK access on that cruise.

For what its worth I was able to walk up to SB on Anthem and walk in for dinner one night.

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

Realized my booking for Spectra's Cabaret at 7:30 PM was on our only formal night, and I don't want to be rushed through dinner that night. Moved it to the 9 PM showing on night four. Sorry if that messes up anyone's efforts at a "mini-group meetup".

Also... Solarium Bistro has no reservations available for dinner on any night?? I realized that I wanted to book that just for one night to try it out, since it's a complimentary venue and not a standard option on most of the fleet, but when I just tried to add it I got a notice that there is nothing available (just like CK ). Does that venue typically book solid ahead of departure? Should I have jumped on that a lot sooner?

FWIW...I would not give up CK on any night for Solarium Bistro....

[JLMoran]

3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

FWIW...I would not give up CK on any night for Solarium Bistro....

OK, then. I'll take it as fate that this happened!

[JLMoran]

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

[mworkman]

@Lovetocruise2002 @twangster What's the menu like in the Solarium Bistro?

[twangster]

1 minute ago, mworkman said:

@Lovetocruise2002 @twangster What's the menu like in the Solarium Bistro?

This was in January on Anthem:

Also see this in the menu section of the blog:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/menus/solarium-bistro-menu-anthem-of-the-seas

 

[mworkman]

12 minutes ago, twangster said:

This was in January on Anthem:

Also see this in the menu section of the blog:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/menus/solarium-bistro-menu-anthem-of-the-seas

 

Thanks

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, mworkman said:

@Lovetocruise2002 @twangster What's the menu like in the Solarium Bistro?

I don't have a pic, @twangster might in his photo vault. It was nothing special. If I did not have access to CK then I might eat there for some variety. But if I had CK access, the quality is way better in CK.

[firebuck]

They're really playing with us on the Halloween Anthem cruise.  The shows were available just recently, but still no sign of Northstar or IFly... I've been checking multiple times a day haha.

[JLMoran]

9 minutes ago, firebuck said:

They're really playing with us on the Halloween Anthem cruise.  The shows were available just recently, but still no sign of Northstar or IFly... I've been checking multiple times a day haha.

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!

[mworkman]

i'm 142 days out and nothing is available for entertainment.  I can see CK, but its not available for booking.

[JLMoran]

3 minutes ago, mworkman said:

I can see CK, but its not available for booking.

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.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

 reservations are "based on availability"

While I understand this to be the reality, I think it is a bit deceptive for RC to advertise the CK as a JS perk when it apparently isn't.  If it's based on the leftovers after the suites have gotten all they want, then they need to advertise it that way.  It's kinda like flying standby.  If there's a seat for you....great !  If not, you go somewhere else.

[firebuck]

And like magic, they've appeared - I just checked earlier this morning. RCI is listening!

[JLMoran]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

While I understand this to be the reality, I think it is a bit deceptive for RC to advertise the CK as a JS perk when it apparently isn't.  If it's based on the leftovers after the suites have gotten all they want, then they need to advertise it that way.  It's kinda like flying standby.  If there's a seat for you....great !  If not, you go somewhere else.

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! 

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 minute ago, JLMoran said:

I just played it safe this morning and booked MTD reservations for 8 PM each night, just so we have something reserved. 

This has always been our strategy too when sailing in a JS.

[mworkman]

@JLMoran Best thing to do is head up to C/K and book reservations, last time i did this it was all over the place for times.  Some days weren't even available.  If i remember correctly we were able to make reservation twice on Allure for our sailing.  Hope you have better luck than we did.

[JLMoran]

Just now, mworkman said:

@JLMoran Best thing to do is head up to C/K and book reservations, last time i did this it was all over the place for times.  Some days weren't even available.  If i remember correctly we were able to make reservation twice on Allure for our sailing.  Hope you have better luck than we did.

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.

[ellcee]

I'm thinking it's possible the ship is fully booked now. I can't seem to pull up the sailing. Yesterday there were only suites left and today using two different browsers I can't even pull up the sailing. Might be a malfunction?

[JLMoran]

Just now, ellcee said:

I'm thinking it's possible the ship is fully booked now. I can't seem to pull up the sailing. Yesterday there were only suites left and today using two different browsers I can't even pull up the sailing. Might be a malfunction?

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...