Brocktoon623

Are they putting them in suites or do you have to buy them at what cost?

For Star, Sky and Sea Class (Jr Suite and up) they are free and should be waiting in the rooms. For anyone else I think they were ~$5 each.

I think it's ridiculous that they charge people for these when Disney gives them out for free...

Disney gives them free for people who stay on site. Off-site guests still have to buy a magic band if they want to use them. I'm not saying you can do an 'off-site' cruise, and I also think RCI should give the WOW bands for free (I think they were initially free for everyone) but Disney does make a lot of $$$ off their themed magic bands and all the wacky accessories that guests pay extra for.

I think Carnival's system may end being more integrated like Disney, as you have an ex-Disney guy working with Carnival who knows the tech.

Do you really need to remove them for bar service? Kind of defeats the point don't you all think?

As long as you're physically at the bar, I think most of the bars had a scanner near the register where I was able to sort of lean my arm over to scan. But each person getting a drink needs to have each band scanned. It got comedic at the Solarium pool and hot tubs when would take turns getting rounds. Basically we all had to take our bands off, and someone would take them to the bar for the drinks, and then keep the who's who of bands straight after bringing back the drinks and bands.

For any of the shows in the theaters, you had to hand over your card or take off your band and give to the server.

RCI hasn't mastered the wireless reader tech that Disney uses with their MagicBands. The plus was that they were waterproof and didn't have to worry about pockets when hitting the pools.

We got ours free with staying in a Jr Suite ... don't know if I'd actually pay for one

I recommend hitting the bank before the trip, as the availability of change on the ship can vary. On my recent 10 day Anthem cruise many guests were having trouble getting smaller bills by around day 7.

I just got a bunch of $1s and $5s from the bank before hand. Kept them in our room safe and replenished my stock when needed.

This seems to be more the norm recently. On my Nov 10th Anthem Cruise I believe we had 6 ships in port, with two of them being the Anthem and Harmony ... so we're talking big ships.

I had relatives that took one look at the packed water taxis and went back to the ship ... I had a pre-booked an excursion and had a great time!

What decks were you folks on that you experienced some rolling?

 

I'm on Deck 6 for a future cruise on Anthem and have a room for my mother on the same deck. She is really prone to seasickness (at least on a plane). This is her first time on a a boat of any size. I'm hoping she does not get sick.

I was feeling the rolling on deck 14 especially towards the front and back at the Solarium and Coastal Kitchen. I had taken Bonine and did fine though. My Dad didn't take anything when I warned him and he got sick. The movement didn't feel quite as bad on the lower decks and it looked like most people were fine.

Keep in mind that the ship movement was really only strong on the last sea day as the Anthem was moving around storm systems and strong weather changes so I don't think it's that typical. It wasn't bad enough that they had to put out any sea sickness bags, but they did have to shut down the pools due to the water/wave movement.

Awesome review! Personally I felt the dining was a bit hit/miss, and there was some confusion with our RC excursion on San Juan ... but besides that it was an overall amazing cruise! I wish the Anthem would have more longer Caribbean cruises planned (they do have a few), but it looks like they may be trimming back for more Bermuda and Bahama runs.

We were one of the groups that never got our Meet/Greet notice. Once on-board I asked 3 times about the meet/greet at guest services and was given different answers each time. Luckily I did eventually get the correct info to drop by and win the pair of blue cruise critic bags.

I though I did well at 80s music trivia, but you must have been on the team that had the perfect score! I was the idiot that showed up late for Bob's Schooner show before the trivia and still got him to play me some Rush ... doing 'La Villa Strangiato' all the way through! Bob was a huge highlight for me and became my go-to entertainment for quite a few nights.

I agree that the iFly can be a workout. I messed up my hand and leg balancing and got my butt kicked, flipping me and pinning me against the wall. Right before they almost shut down the fan (as i was stuck), I finally managed to lunge off the wall to basically launch myself back toward the doorway. Quite an experience ... I think once may be enough for me.

I really enjoyed hanging out in the cushioned seats near the North Star Bar with bar service, but the Solarium quickly became my day long hang out after excursions and on sea days. The Solarium on the Anthem was the perfect mix of relaxed while still being social. I was able to do everything from a late breakfast, lounge and read, hit the pool or hot tube all in once place.

Bar wise the solarium bar was my main hangout during the day, but during the evenings I would drop by Micheal's. Being a beer geek it was great to get Brooklyn lager on tap, bottles of Victory Storm King and Rouge Dead Guy (on a cruise ship)!

I'm a newbie cruiser, but I though the Anthem was rocking a bit on our last day sailing back. I think we were hitting some bigger waves. They closed most of the pools that afternoon due to the rocking and I had a family member go down for the count and missed lunch and dinner due to being sea-sick.

We were on this cruise and had a great time. The dynamic dining situation was a disappointment though. I got all my reservations months in advance was really looking forward to the dynamic dining system. I came away from the cruise with the opinion that it's a broken situation ... the servers are rushed and overworked with an emphasis on table turnover ... the food in the MDRs seemed too similar even with the varied menus. Our dinner at the Grande was flat-out horrible, and we got better food and service at Chic and American Icon. It didn't ruin our enjoyment of the cruise in any way, but we came away understanding all the complaints over the Anthem dining and why they are working on the upcoming change ...

Thankfully Coastal Kitchen was excellent, and we ended up eating dinner there 4 times over the cruise. We also enjoyed Jamie's and the Solarium Bistro. The Bistro had a great breakfast and brunch that was a nice alternative to the Windjammer when it got crowded.

The cost is per device, not by cabin. It's a one time charge covering that device for the entire length of the cruise.

Hurricane Sandy crushed the NE on October 29th. I remember it well and it has me thinking about my early Nov Anthem cruise this year.

Yes, and with Anthem having fewer overall dining seats in ratio to passengers, it probably makes even more sense to make reservations than on other ships.

 

Now that I think about it, MTD might get worse on Anthem compared with DD Choice before it. Currently with DD Choice I think somewhere around 60-70% of the seats are allocated to DD Choice. Once the switch is made only 50% of the seats will be MTD.

Yep ... for the folks who didn't like making reservations for DD, there's a pretty good chance things may only get worse. Unless they jam in a ton more tables, you're still going to have the MTD diners fighting for dining times. I potentially see either long MTD waits, or they keep the reservation system which means booking far in advance just like you currently would with DD but now it will really depend on the tables and seating arrangements in the 2 MTD venues.

As many others have said, the Anthem just wasn't designed for this type of system.

Portable Bluetooth speaker ...

Please be respectful of the volume level especially on a balcony ...

But, given the repetitive cabin TV programming that may drive some folks mad ... having the ability to stream your favorite music while relaxing or getting ready for the evening is invaluable

I believe Chrome is soon going to default to disabling flash.

Although it's a few versions down the road ... FireFox is also starting auto block various Flash content. I think the target is to have Flash 'click to activate' and off by default by 2017. HTML5 has wiped out a large need for Flash, but I know many web based games still keep a need for Flash and Java

Yep ... it's related to the flash adds on the boards. The Flash ads will slowly chew up the browser memory until it crashes. Restarting the browser will free the memory until it crashes again.

There are various ways to block Flash depending on the browser. But once it's blocked the issue should go away. I run Chrome and FireFox, but prefer FireFox for this site as you can click on the 'lego block' in the address bar and block flash for that specific site.

Thanks for the replies folks!

It sounds like I'll bring it along and decide to use it based on if I really think I need it. Otherwise no harm in keeping it in my cabin. If the Coke cups are insulated and have a cap I'll probably be fine. Sort of like the Disney World resort mugs ... they worked out pretty well.

It's a good point that I'd still have to carry around two cups if I want to use the freestyle machines. But again good to know that I'd be able to use my own bottle if needed.

We've got our 1st Royal cruise coming up on the Anthem in November and have the premium drink package which includes the Coke freestyle access. From what I understand the cups are chipped so to use the machine you'll need to use the cup provided.

If a bring along a good insulated beverage bottle like a hydroflask for keeping things cold ... am I OK with filling my Coke cup and then transferring to the hydroflask to carry while on the ship? I wouldn't want the crew to think I'm trying to sneak any liquids or cheat the system ... just would like to use a good insulated container

The same sort of question with water or soda from the bars ... would they fill up an insulated water bottle or do you need to use the provided containers?

It's not the end of the world if we're not allowed, but at least I'll know not to bother bringing my hydroflask on the trip

......and if you read this thread, you will see that they really don't enforce the formal dress code even at the Grande.

Yep ... that's why I've now switched to the 'requested' term

is there a formal night on the 5 night cruise on Anthem

Anthem doesn't have dedicated formal nights. The Grande is a formal dining room, so whatever nights you eat at the Grande formal dress is requested ... except for the 1st and last nights where the dress code is relaxed due to formal clothes possibly being packed away.

Yep, could be any day now. Our Anthem dining opened up ~ 9 months out. For others it was only 2-3 months in advance

On Princess we took the train and went back by sailing catamaran.

There were two Scenic Railway excursions offered -- one back by catamaran -- the other back by bus.

 

RCCL probably offers the same thing.

 

LuLu

Yep ... RC does offer the train and catamaran as a package ... they call it the Scenic Rail & Sail. We've got it booked for our Nov Anthem cruise.

Just wanted to chime in and thank everyone for the info on using the Royal IQ messaging function, as it's answered a bunch of questions I was wondering about.

I think the text function of the app gets lost with all the Voom package offers that are pushed. While it sounds like the text/chat may not be perfect ... for $8 per device it's still a pretty good option for on ship communication for those that don't need a full internet package

The App is free, but the messaging capability will cost $8 per phone. Not also that the messaging capability works only between devices using that app on the same ship. If you want to message home for example, you must have an internet package.

Will the messaging on the app work between different OS devices? My Dad and I were planning the purchase $8 messaging for Royal IQ on the Anthem, but I'm running an iOS iPhone, and he'll have an android Galaxy. I'm figuring since it's through the app there won't be an issue?

I've gotta feeling this may be affecting a lot more people. I'm on the Anthem in November. My calendar was fine last night as I just booked North Star reservations.

As of this morning my Cruise Calendar is blank. My 'order history' is also blank, and we've got 10 dining reservations, excursions, drink packages etc ... currently nothing showing.

Sounds like it may be a system wide issue?

If you think cruise ships are bad try going to disneyworld. You plan everything down to what ride you will ride at what time, what time you want to eat lunch and where, what park you will be at daily. Much harder to just show up and go with the flow.

Exactly! And this is also more of a general trend in the tourism industry that while folks may not like it, they'll just have to get used to it.

To build share holder value and maximize profit vacation centric operations like Disney and Royal want you to 'lock-in' early with reservations. Of lot this helps them run a lean staff and keep costs at a minimum knowing how and when to allocate resources.

Then the next step is to keep adding on 'premium' options and events for additional charges.

I'm not saying I'm a fan of this trend, but this is where the model is headed and many other companies will follow along if they haven't already

Thanks for posting the video review! Also a Bucks County resident here, and I'll be sailing on the Anthem in November

Preparing myself as much as possible by checking out all the reviews and really enjoyed how thorough your coverage was.

Google "DisBoards" for a WEALTH of knowledge from true Disney nerds.

 

I'd 2nd this recommendation.

I've been visiting DisneyWorld at least once a year for the past decade or so. In the past few years planning has become a crazy process with all the online dining and fast pass reservations.

Best plan would be to download and setup the 'My Disney Experience' app and check out the DisBoards

On the plus side, learning to plan for Disney has made cruise planning, even on the tech and reservation heavy Anthem a cakewalk.