mixplix

I gambled each night of our seven night cruise (craps) - as I was keeping track for a review, I also kept track of gambling results - i finished up five nights, even one and down one, for a sum total of plus $800 or so.

mixplix

can you elaborate on "we bring our own drinks on board"?

thanks

mixplix

for those of you with waterproof wallets that actually work (I have had mixed success in the past), could you please post the name or an amazon link? thanks

mixplix

how is the quality of the WIFI on board? Is it really unlimited, or do they cut you off (I am not planning on downloading any movies, etc., just curious really).

Is the WIFI also device specific as it says? So if i log in on my phone, that's the device i am getting the WIFI on for the week? I cant log out and have my daughter log in on her phone?

Also, I presume a personal hot spot would incur whatever roaming charges based on what it picks up, correct?

thanks.

mixplix

Kudos for actually having a passport.

Ha - I didnt get my first passport until I was in law school. My spoiled children each had passports at 10 months old due to our vacation travel - must be nice.

mixplix

Same issue - we are on Anthem dec 2016 returning 1-2-17. My 13 year olds passport expires June 2017 so not quite six months later. Our cruise is closed loop and two of the four stops are US territories anyway. Should I bring her birth cert just in case? I am bringing everyone's passports of course.

Mixplix

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

So, my father in law booked us (13 of us total) for the Anthem sailing from Bayonne December 23, 2016. Dinner dining questions:

1) when do you make the decision between early, late or MTD dining? Now, or only once final payments are made?

2) we all have different reservation numbers (he booked through a travel agent) so does each person need to indicate what they want (i.e., are all 13 of us linked?)

3) I presume we will all sit together for dinner each night (its the least we can do :)) - how do we ensure that happens?

4) if we want to book specialty dining, again, when can that be done - now, or only after final payments are made.

5) i presume that this will be a fairly booked cruise - getting opinions from this group is like herding cats - when do you think we would need to have our decisions made and booked to make sure we have choices/options?

thanks

mixplix

Looks like we are booked - father in law got a suite for him and balconies for the adults with the kids

in inside rooms across from their parents (I wasn't thrilled with kids being in balcony rooms which weren't connecting which he initially booked) - my kids are 13 and 11 - the rest are older.

Spin question - clips or no? If clips, what kind?

Thanks

Oh, please don't misunderstand me, I do not necessarily want to hang out with (some) (any) (all) of my wife's family....

Thanks for all the advice - you are making me feel better about this! My problem with the sea days is that I am not a fan of fighting for chairs, trying to get the group to be able to sit together, etc. -

it seems like anthem has a lot to do, and maybe I can become a pro at the wave rider?

sorry, Anthem returns 1/2/17

Hi:

Looking for some advice. We (my family of four) has booked Jewel of the Sea for Spring Break April 2017, having been on Adventure for Spring Break April 2015. Looking forward to the Jewel refurbishment, seeing two islands we didnt see in 2015 and for my son and wife to experience the tour my daughter and I did in St. Lucia while she was at the orthopedist with him as he broke his arm the night before rollerblading on deck.

My father in law wants to take away his three kids and their families for his 80th Dec 2016. We all live in NJ/NY, so he was looking to leave from one of the NYC ports. The only one of the 10 cruises during December 2016 that works for the kids school schedules would be Anthem leaving on 12/23 and returning on 1/2/16.

Before anyone has any comments to make about looking a gift horse in the mouth, etc., I know, its an extremely generous gift (he's taken us away before, most notably a cruise from NYC over Thanksgiving week 9 years ago which never made it further south than Norfolk VA and had to return because of a broken pod or something). However, the Anthem is a 10 day cruise with 5 sea days, and days 2-3 and 9-10 will likely be cold weather, thus wiping out the use of the pools, etc., correct.

We like the Jewel and Adventure because there is only one sea day, with five consecutive ports. I am afraid that in cold weather we are going to lose our minds with four cold and one luke warm sea days. I know that Anthem is much bigger and likely has more things to do than either Jewel or Adventure, but do you think this cruise makes any sense?

thanks for any advice.

mixplix

I would order multiple apps and entrees every night. once, for dessert, I asked for a plate of the scallops I had for the appetizer, because they were so good. This is where a good waiter comes into play. Although we did MTD, we had the same table and same waiter every night. So when i ordered something on day four or five, he immediately said "no, you need much more food than that"

and he was right!

I dont know about you, but I would want that ring out of my pocket and on her finger as soon as possible, especially if you want to maintain the surprise.

One idea - propose on the plane on the way to the cruise ....I actually did this - well, technically, the pilot did - after take off, pilot does his "we'll be cruising at..." speech, and then said "if you direct your attention to aisle 10, there's a young man Mr. ___ who would like to ask ______ something special"...

ring's out of your pocket, on her hand, have a little champagne and off you go!

I do kinda also like the idea of doing it during a formal picture though - arrange with photographer in advance - take the picture - then say, no this wont work, how about one more - then you drop and do your thing - all the while, photographer is snapping away - sure, you will have to buy $1,000 worth of pictures, but that's kinda cool...

we did a Princess Cruise in 2002 - the first one of the season (so first or second week in May). We thought it would be cold, rainy, etc. We have great pictures of us sitting out on the deck in shorts and t-shirts in 75 degree weather drinking tropical drinks. Because we went early in the season, we got to do things that were not available once the snow melted (snowshoe excursion to a glacier, for example).

Dont be afraid of the earlier, cheaper dates!

While on board the Adventure of the Sea, my son fell rollerblading. We took him to the ship's doctor, who examined him, x-rayed and splinted him, and sent us to an orthopedist in St. Lucia.

I signed an authorization for payment form, but received no bill.

As of checkout, there was no charge on my folio for medical services.

Anyone have any experience in this regard? Should it have already been posted? Should I expect to receive something later down the road? We have private insurance to which we can submit, and we had travel insurance, so I am not overly concerned about the charge itself - just wondering if we slipped through the cracks or this is a "dont worry, they know about it, and you will recieve a bill"

thanks,

mixplix

beach was about two (long) blocks away - the embassy suites' chair area is about two blocks down. There are two decent "local" restaurant's close - Platos and Metropol. There are several restaurants in hotel along the way, including the El San Juan, Ritz, another big one right before the El San Juan and another hotel right in front of the Embassy Suites (cant remember names of either)

snack time in windjammer had nacho bar each day, as well as pizza

also, just an FYI - heard that a passenger from the ship passed away during an excursion in St. Lucia - apparently was snorkeling, something happened and CPR was unsuccessful. Not sure if there is a way to independently confirm, but when we returned to ship to give doctor documents from ortho, he said there was a "major incident" ship was dealing with - heard about fatality later than night, and put two and two together.

mixplix

Just got back from a great cruise - four of us, had connecting staterooms 3614-3616. Statement attendant Carlos was great, took care of everything we needed, and made some awesome towel animals.

Stayed at embassy suites in PR the night before - no issues, pool was fine, guy on beach with chairs got there late, which was annoying but minor.

arrived at ship @ 130 pm (our email time was 5 pm, but no one checked). Room was ready so dropped off stuff, asked Carlos to open door and remove tables so we had more room and checked out ship.

we had dinner each night (MYTIME) in Mozart on fifth floor, 745 each night - same waiters, same people around us, we liked it. Food was fine - I could always find something i liked and the kids usually got the stip steak if they couldnt.

Barbados - went to the Boatyard - awesome, lots of fun.

that night, back on ship, my ten year old hurt his arm rollerblading. We told him he was fine, but after he didnt sleep all night, took him to doctor in am - yup, fractured radius (non displaced thankfully).

St. Lucia:

My wife took him to orthopedic surgeon in St. Lucia ($350), who confirmed and gave us splint. They missed our tour however, with Real St. Lucia Tours, which was fantastic - Aldan was our driver, just the two of us, we picked among the options and stayed as we wanted, the way to go (supposed to be 170 for the four of us, ended up being 140 for the two of us)

Antigua - took cab to Jolly Beach, rented chairs, beautiful beach, weather was so so

St. Maarten - took cab to Orient Beach, chairs at Bikini Beach Club, lunch at Yellow Sub in town, chair rentals get cheaper as walk towards nude beach, fyi

St. Croix - rented car ($44 Budget at pier) and reserved day room at Buccaneer Creek Resort - about a 25 minute drive which took us 40 getting there. Beautiful resort, 150 for a day room for the day, which gives you rights to all amenities. For four dollars per person, you can use the beach. You can also make up a room number and use all amenities if you choose (pools, towels, floats, snorkels, chairs, etc.) - not that I am advocating that.

Gambling - played craps every night - $5 tables, but only single odds - finished up for trip, so that's a plus.

we had a $195 credit for each room, so our total bill was about $40 (we dont drink much on board).

Wife and son went to ice show - she liked it, he (the ten your old) said it sucked. Wife and I went to Quest for five minutes - there was a large group of singles on board - I know why they are single now...

I went to art auction - too much lead up, just get to art - painfully slow - many people walked out.

No Giovanni's or Johnny Rockets for us

Met some nice folks, and had fun besides the broken arm. Feel free to ask any questions!

Mixplix

thanks - figured we would check out of the hotel and go. Looking forward to warm weather. Will post a review when I get back.

Hi:

New poster, long time lurker - leaving this Sunday April 5 for cruise. We are arriving in San Juan on Saturday. We just received an email that for our deck (3) we should plan to arrive by 5 pm. Does that mean we shouldnt arrive earlier? Will we be able to get on the ship earlier?

thoughts?

thanks.