1stTimeRoyal

15 hours ago, cyrrwa said:

I was on this sailing and was really impressed with the staff at Pizza Pirate. There was a bit of a line at peak times but they were friendly, efficient and handled the crowds (and occasional stupidity) well. The pizza was great by Carnival standards. This is relative to recent cruises on Vista, Horizon, Panorama and Mardi Gras where the lines were consistently long and slow moving, and the quality was all over the place but usually really lacking.

 

I’ll echo OP on the MDR food as well – it was by far the best I’ve had since restart.

Yea, we found the pizza quality very good.  The 4 cheese one in particular was just made well each time it seemed like.   People also seemed to like the Caesar salads there.
 

We never really do cheers, but did this time, and the coffee bar next to pizza in the AM was great too.  You could get a latte, and then get a Gatorade or something to take out to the pool. And again, maybe 2-3 people in front of you, max?

16 hours ago, mjayp said:

Thanks for the report!  Did you notice/experience any long lines at Pizza Pirate?  This was cited in other threads, but am encouraged to hear your feedback!

No, not really.  Pizza, coffee bars…I mean, sometimes there was a line but nothing crazy. Longest food lines probably breakfast at like 10AM on buffet or maybe Guys Burgers when they open, but again, maybe like 10-15 min max.

8 hours ago, Laurab23 said:

How was the condition of the ship? People have complained about her sister ship being in rough shape. Any thing really in bad shape on Legend?

 

Laura

Didn’t notice anything in disrepair.  Ship looked good to me.

17 hours ago, Abr155 said:

Thank you for sharing!  We're on the Legend Oct. 9.  We've sailed a handful of times across several cruise lines (including Carnival), but this will be our first time with a toddler in tow.  Picked the Legend for her first cruise because wanted a smaller ship / less people, so VERY happy to hear about how it didn't feel crowded!

 

We're headed to Bermuda, so different itinerary but includes 3 sea days.  Did you do Sea Day Brunch?  Was it every sea day?

 

We did Your Time dining because - toddlers need flexibility.  Hope we don't regret it!

 

We're in an extended balcony...ALMOST switched to a premium balcony that opened up today, but it was $500 more 😞

We did not do sea day brunch, but yes, offered every sea day.  We did breakfast in the dining room before Half Moon Cay, it was pretty good.  Service was prompt.  In and out in about 30 min.

Lunch for us was usually Lido Buffet, BI Cantina, Chopsticks (the Asian food was good all week on the buffet) or Guys Burgers.  The cakes were great all week too.

13 hours ago, theanoy said:

We will be on the July 23rd cruise on Legend.  What nights were the elegant nights?  Thanks.

Second night and Seventh Night.  I actually enjoyed the second formal night more - filet was excellent. 

On 7/3/2022 at 11:02 AM, NJEMT29 said:

When we check in at the port does platinum and diamond guest have a separate area to check in and after we check in do we go to that room to the far left just for platinum and diamond guest where they had some drinks and snacks or do you sit in general population

thank you

Here’s how embarkation and disembarkation went for us (granted we aren’t diamond or platinum, but hopefully still relevant)

1) Embarkation - had a 1:30 arrival time.  Got there at like 12:50.  Parked with no line or wait.  They were boarding everyone at that time so we walked right in, they checked our VeriFLY, and then they ran the passports etc, and we were on the ship maybe 20 min after we parked.   We never sat.

2) Disembarkation - we were on Deck 8, carry on only, so we were the first group off after flights.  Ship got back to Baltimore an hour early, we were let go at 9:15 or so.  By 9:30 we were in the car driving out of Baltimore.  Couldn’t possibly be easier.  We never stopped once after getting off the ship - do they not do customs anymore???  In any event, easiest disembarkation ever for us.

4 minutes ago, Kellyann said:

Thanks for posting about your Legend cruise.  We're booked on it 10/1 and I picked this itinerary mainly so we don't have to fly and because I wanted to sail down the Chesapeake.  Anything memorable about this long trip down the bay.  Any tips about how to snag a decent spot and lounge chair on the islands.  How was the ocean if you managed to get to a beach?  I might continue to pick your brain as we draw closer but I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

On Half Moon Cay, with the size of this ship, there are no bad spots at the beach.  Again, super easy to get chairs.  On Grand Turk, we rented a golf cart and just explored the island. In Amber Cove, we stayed at the pool complex which was awesome.  Zip lines, huge pools, big water slides.   That was a fun day.  
 

The 2 things we did on this cruise which I will now do on every cruise:

1) Carry on bags.  We were off the ship so early, and if you pick the 1:30 embarkation time, you can just drop your bags off when you get on.  No lugging bags up to the buffet etc.

2) Late dining.  We had an awesome wait staff, and it’s so nice to have the same people each night.  But even better - between like 4 and 6, every day, the pools, Serenity, bars etc - all

empty.  It was like the magic hours.  With early dining, I feel like you are always scrambling to get ready, especially on port days.

also, one other recommendation - at least on the food.  The meats, soups, and pastas in the main dining room are almost always very good.  We didn’t do steakhouse, but a nice thing is just to order a steakhouse entree in the dining room.  It’s like a $30 savings, and you get the apps and desserts from main dining which were always pretty good.  I got the steakhouse lobster last night and it was really good.  

Any questions - fire away.

Overall an excellent cruise.  Friendly crowd, super staff and service on board, food was pretty good in most venues all week.  Entertainment was so-so in the main theater, but the variety of musicians (Alter Jamm!) around the ship more than made up for it.

Probably the best thing, IMO, outside of a ridiculous line to get off the ship in Grand Turk, nothing ever felt crowded all week.  Comedy shows were tight, but that’s always the case.  Buffet lines never that bad, deck chairs easy to get, pools fairly quiet all week.   Embarkation and Debarkation were about as fast as possible - again, just everything easy and relaxed.
 

And again, the service.  If you are fortunate to have Alvin, Sherwin and Jess in the main dining room, or Sherin in the Lobby Bar, or just about anyone else on this ship who work so hard, so quick, to make you have a great cruise, you will have a great time.

Weather was good all week.  We loved Amber Cove and this itinerary.  Not many complaints at all.  Sure, you can see some of the differences if you want to find them, some of the cutbacks (bacon on the buffet every other day etc) - but it’s still a cruise, and it was a great time.

1 hour ago, luvsboozecruises said:

I agree, just got off the r/c  anthem and carries 4000 guests just like the sunrise but was nowhere as crowded as The sunrise...We were on the sunrise in June, poor planning by carnival , we are diamond on carnival and will most likely never go back on that ship or the radiance, which will be the same refurb as the sunrise

I did the Anthem last summer and just got off the Sunrise.  We had a good time on both.  I thought the Anthem obviously felt more spacious, but outside of the buffet at peak times I never felt crowded on the Sunrise.   The layout is a little weird but it’s not anything major.  We got deck chairs fine, the kids never had a long wait on the watersides (Anthem doesn’t have them), and the thought the staff on the Sunrise was miles ahead.  The Anthem is newer, bigger, had more features...it’s hard to compare.  But the Sunrise was by far from the worst.  Good food, great staff, Great bands/piano bar.  We had a good time.

52 minutes ago, thesmiths said:

I'll have to try them.  Love a Lobster Roll.

 

 

 

 

You get two decent sized rolls.  I think they should tell you that because you could easily split the meal between two people.  We also had the fried clams and shrimp, also good.  People were ordering lots of crab legs.

5 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

I had read a lot about lido before we cruised.  Carnival obviously tried to make it as palatable (pun intended) as they could, obviously there is a limitation on space.  Where on most ships there are two sets (one on each side and one upfront and one aft) on this ship there is only one.  At breakfast it works just fine, with the 4 extra omelette stations (in addition to the two in the center of the lido food line) it plain works.  Lunch.... not so much, the deli (port side was always very busy).  Lucky bowl did not seem to be a hit, I did not try it.  For dinner there did not seem to be any problem. Frankly, for us, there was not an issue.

 

I for the first time got told a flat out no to a request I made to a Carnival employee.  It happened at the Sea Food Shack.  I asked for a Lobster Roll with butter instead of mayo (the CT way and the only real way).  He told it came with mayo, I asked again and he said no.  I was kind of surprised and said I had it multiple times that way on other ships, he said .....no.  

Lucky Bowl just seems like a waste.  I don't think boiling hot soup bowls is necessarily the most appealing thing on a caribbean cruise, I never saw a line there.   Frankly, they'd be better off with two delis.

Did they always have an international side for lunch?   I stumbled on the side by lucky bowl on the 7th day, and they had a mexican station.

I realize the mayo way might not be the proper way, but those lobster rolls were great.  Seafood shack seemed like it was a hit on this cruise.

Pizza was fine...I really liked the 4 cheese white.

4 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

If it were the wife and I I would probably agree.  

Our kids are 10 and 8 and finally old enough to help wheel around their own suitcase.

We left the room around 8:00, went to deck 4.  First time we ever did self-carry and i don’t think we can go back.

we were on the Anthem of the Seas last year and it was so bad.  This was so much nicer.   But, much like our not so great steakhouse meal, everyone’s experiences are different.

All in all we had a really good time.  Absolutely fantastic staff on the ship, and no problems bad enough to really interrupt our enjoyment of the vacation.  

1 hour ago, thesmiths said:

So the Best way is, self early?

 

 

 

Yes, absolutely.  We were in the car by 8:55 AM.

Easiest embarkation/disembarkation I’ve ever had, not even close.

I thought the steakhouse menu was good, I liked the onion soup.  My steak was just a bit over cooked and kinda came out lukewarm.   Not the end of the world.

i had the tomahawk pork chop in the Italian restaurant...that was legit.  I just thought for $15 that was one of the best values of the cruise.

i think we also had a great time because we love St Thomas and Grand Turk.  Weather cooperated for the most part all trip.

yea the layout of the ship is a little weird, but anyone who is like “I’m going to have to cancel my trip based upon the cruise critic reviews”...that’s crazy.   It’s fine.   You’ll have a good time.

I’m on this cruise as well.  I think most of the Sunrise complaints are vastly overblown.  Yea, the buffet lines are bad at peak times, but you can avoid that.  We haven’t noticed the show seating to be that different/more crowded than any other ships.  Staff is great, food has been pretty good overall.   We didn’t have a great meal in the steakhouse, but the Italian restaurant for $15 was fantastic.  MDR and Buffet quality of food very good.  Pizza decent, guys burgers and BBQ great.  Seafood shack lobster rolls worth the $$.

Hip Stars in the Red Frog, Eden in the piano bar, very talented.  

I’ll write a longer review when I get back but we’ve had a good time.

To the Op, did you notice a dessert buffet table with a chocolate fountain upon entering "The Grande" for lunch on sea days. Hope to enjoy this bevy of goodies and the buffet lunch on our upcoming Aug. 23rd sail.

Yep, it was there on the 6-14 cruise. They actually had 2 buffets in the Grande, a fondue/salad bar to the left, and a cake buffet to the right.

Lunch in the Grande was as good a meal we had all trip, and we ate at Wonderland and Chops, it was that good.

The single best meal top to bottom I had in tha MDR last week on Anthem was a lunch.

Shrimp Risotto

chilled Strawberry soup

Chopped salad from salad bar

Cod (Truffled Grilled Cheese also good)

Key lime pie

Everything in Coastal Kitchen was amazing, esp the Duck Belly entree and Lobster.

I know 26 was Rebel Yell, that was the only one we missed.

Our first time doing MTD was last summer on the Oasis. Loved it. Had dinner the same time, same table, and with the same waitstaff every night.

 

Booked it for this trip & it started out bad. When we arrived at podium, they had to search for a table. Night 2 they continued to search and ended up sening us downstairs. Night 3 we were placing bets on where we’d be. When they told me it would be a 20-50 minute wait, for our party of 5, I got steamed. My husband was very proud that I didn’t yell. Lol. I asked how it could be that I made reservations in February & they don’t have a table for me. She went to another computer to do more searching. When she came back, I again told her she needed to explain. Shortly thereafter, they escorted us to a table. The manger of MTD came over to apologize. He gave an excuse, but said it was inexcusable. Gave us a card & told us not to wait in line anymore. Just show someone his card & we would be taken care of. We had the same table & waitstaff the rest of the trip. He stopped by every night to see how we were doing. Also sent chocolate covered strawberries to both cabins. If we do MTD again, I’ll go to dining room on first day to make sure we have a table.

 

Did you do self carry for disembarkation? We were in 270 & the line was really long when we got down there @ 7:15. There wasn’t anyone organizing. That being said,we pulled out of the garage at 8:15.

 

 

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When I walked out of MTD on the third try, I had a head waiter practically running after me. I have no doubt they would have done the same for us as well, but at that point I just wasn’t into it anymore.

Like I said, coastal kitchen was amazing. Between that and speciality, the MTD was no big deal. But I’m just frustrated given how much effort, relatively speaking, was made to get the reservations months ago, only to have them really mean nothing.

Ohhh...one more thing. Lunch at the dining room was awesome! One of the best meals all cruise. Great salad bar and dessert bar, and a great menu. Chilled strawberry soup, cod, steak frites, shrimp risotto, key lime pie. It was sooo good, and empty. Definitely recommend.

Where were they offered? I didn't see it at any bars. I am assuming they setup a table in the Esplenade for a short time.

 

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I got one at the indoor pool bar on Day 8. I actually asked one of the drink cart guys on Labadee day, and he told me there were going to be selling them day 8, just ask a bartender. Definitely not advertised well.

We were on the June 14th sailing and the Escape Room is in fuel on Deck 15 port next to the Seaplex. It shows up as an option on IQ app but I never could find any openings. We just went to the room at a scheduled time and folks didn't show so we took their spot.

 

I agree, we could always find chairs on Deck 15 you just won't be by any of the action and will have to get up for drinks. A good spot for me was right in he corner off the Northstar bar on 15. Easy access to bar and there is some extra room so people are not walking on top of you.

 

No ten drink cards. Alchohol sales seemed to be booming so no need for them. It seemed like half the ship had a drink package, including myself.

 

I enjoy beer at the pools and will say they did a great job with pop up stands in a lot of places on deck 14. Very easy to get beer and water in about 15 seconds with no lines.

 

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They had the drink cards, I got one day 8. Pretty good deal for the 10 drinks, basically you save about $4 per drink.

Bernard's tours. It was excellent. We had a private van, we went to Maho Beach, Orient Beach, an iguana farm and shopping in Phillipsburg. Basically we had the van and we could do what we wanted for our 6 hours. My parents didn't really want to do much beach stuff so our driver took them to a casino nearby, it was really a nice tour.

The island is really ravaged by the hurricane, but you can tell its coming back. Orient Beach is still one of the nicest spots on the planet, but it got hit hard. I really liked St. Maarten, getting to see the whole island.

Just curious. What tour did you do in St. Marteen.

Bumper cars would get crowded at times, but the line moves fast. Go to the bumper cars when you first get on the ship, no line at all.

For trapeze and roller skating, they give out bracelets for times, so it spaces out the crowd. It was never too bad.

Pools were crowded I suppose, but for this many people it was fine. The indoor pool is usually much quieter than the outdoor pool, but if you go before say 10AM, there's plenty of spots everywhere.

Thanks for the review. How were crowds at SeaPlex activities? Was pool crowded? Too bad scheduled activities were less than other shops but glad you had a good time. We have it booked with our kids in 2020.

 

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Totally agree about the cruisers these past 9 days, just seemed like a good group. Everyone was friendly, no one I met was rude, just a very relaxed sailing.

We were on this ship too. It was our first time on the ship and we loved it! We agree about the entertainment and lack of eating venues later in the evening. The staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. We also felt there were tons of friendly cruisers. My 9 year old absolutely loved the kids club and always wanted to stay past midnight. Will sail this ship again in a heartbeat!!!

 

 

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Just got home from our 9 night cruise to Bermuda and the Caribbean on the Anthem out of Bayonne. We had a great time, and its a great ship. I thought I would give you the good, the bad, and the ugly, but I will preface this by saying everyone had a good time and none of the problems were trip-ruining, or even close.

THE GOOD:

- The ship. Beautiful, clean, spacious...everyone in our group loved the ship. For a full sailing it never felt packed until disembarkation. Even the buffet which I thought was going to be a disaster, but it was fine. Even though it didnt have the waterslides, our kids (9 and 7) loved the pool deck. Never a problem fining chairs. Solarium was nice as well. Seaplex was awesome, we did trapeze, bumper cars, roller skating.

- Coastal Kitchen. We had 2 meals there (my parents stayed in a junior suite and were able to get us lowly balcony cabiners in on a couple nights). The food was great, lobster perfect, chocolate tart on the final night best dessert of the cruise. Service was spectacular.....I think if I ever took this ship again, or maybe any other Royal ship, I would book whatever cabin necessary to eat here, at least for dinner. It was that much better.

- The Ports. We had amazing weather, so maybe I'm biased for this trip, but the islands were amazing. Bermuda we went to Horseshoe Beach, St Maarten we did a private all day tour, San Juan we walked around and did shopping, and Labadee we did aqua park, beach, and dragon coaster. Labadee was way better than I remember it from like 10 years ago, and I really liked how they have multiple huts for lunches, really spaced things out. This was probably, out of like 10 cruises, my favorite port stops, they just all were really nice.

- Wonderland and Chops. Had very good meals at both, certainly worth the upcharge IMO.

- Windjammer. My only complaint is that they should be open longer at night, or have some small buffet out so that you aren't stuck only eating pizza. Besides that, it was very good, and the different stations kept crowds down. We never had much trouble finding a table for 4.

- Kids Club. My kids couldn't stand leaving there at night, they had a great time.

- Shows. We saw Mosaic, and I think Royal flew them in from Vegas to do one headline show, and it was amazing, same with DSB the Journey Band. The Gift, Spectra's Caberet, and We will Rock You were all enjoyable as well. Different people in our group liked different shows the best, but they all were good.

-The Crew. Impossibly friendly, always courteous. I found this, by far, to be the most laid back cruise I've been on (which I like), no constant haggling for drinks around the pool..very relaxing.

- Ripcord, Northstar, Flowrider...just amazing you are doing these things on a cruise, all were very fun, esp the skydiving.

THE BAD:

- Activities. The actual activities are good, but I thought the schedule was a little light, which made trivia sessions jammed etc. Things like the ping pong tournament would fill up in 2 minutes and people would get shut out. This wasn't a huge deal breaker as we had a ton of fun just swimming and relaxing, but I've been on much smaller ships that I felt had as much, if not more to do. On a related note, we felt the Music Hall venue was awful. If there is anything you want to see there, get there early because half of the seats there you really can't see anything.

- Disembaraktion...kind of a mess. We were in the theater and it wasn't run well. We were off the boat early enough, but I've been on many ships where this was run smoother.

- Solarium for dinner. I really had my hopes up for this place, but the dinner entrees were bad. Spend the 20 to get the lobster, because the skirt steak is borderline inedible. Very nice buffet though for apps and desserts. If I did this cruise again I wouldn't go back here for dinner. Lunch was fine though.

- Sorrentos. The pizza was fine, but the crowds were pretty crazy though because its the only option past 9PM, unless you count the ridiculously small Royal Promenade cafe. I swear when I was on the Voyager a while back this cafe was a lot bigger, I dunno. (Cafe 270 had mixed reviews from our group. I loved it, but others found it confusing, esp for lunch.)

- Drinks. This is a weird complaint, I guess, but again, after like 9PM...unless you want to pay for a drink or have the soda card, your only option is a water machine on deck 4. I swear on other ships you could get iced tea/lemonade at the buffet much later than 9PM. I think if I did this ship again I'd almost have to get the coke package for the freestyle machines. We often talked about how thirsty we were., esp at night..I dunno. Bar staffs were great though, my wife loved the cotton cantini at 270.

THE UGLY:

My time dining: Bad. Really bad. I made reservations for most nights a while back, it didn't matter. The no-reservations line would often move faster. It is inecusable to have 5:30 reservations, get sat at 6:00, and not get waters until 6:15. Its the only time I ever walked out of dinner...at that point we gave up (this was the third night we tried it) and went to buffet. First two nights the food was pretty blah, and dinner was slow. After this third night with the awful wait and no service, we did specialty, buffet, and coastal kitchen. (we asked after day 1 if we could get a table for 8 same table same waiter, but we were told only if we would eat at 5:15..and that was too early).

Again, this didn't ruin the trip, but if I went back on this ship and didn't get traditional, I wouldn't even bother with any MTD nights.

So...we had a great cruise, one of my favorites that I've ever done. Apart from the MTD mess, nothing was really that bad, and the good parts of the trip were REALLY good.

We did just about everything on the ship, so if anyone needs any pointers, ask away. I don't have menus or compasses though, sorry.