PQI

My experience with this same package was different on Anthem. They booked two restaurants for me, Chops in the date and time I had selected (I don't know if it was just a coincidence or by design) and another one the day after in another restaurant (if I recall it was Jamie's). When I got to my cabin there was a paper in there showing reserved times and restaurants.  I didn't want Jamie's, so I just went straight to one of the specialty restaurants (any one will do) and changed the reservation to Wonderland.

One thing to keep in mind is that this was right after boarding, as soon as I saw which reservations had been made, so there were still some slots available. The next day, however, I wanted to change the time I had booked in Wonderlands so I could watch a show that had been rescheduled and it was all booked up already. I just showed up at Wonderland by the time I wanted that day and asked the hostess if there was any seat available. She replied there wasn't, but that I could wait fifteen minutes and if anyone didn't show up she could seat me. I stayed at the Bionic Bar right in front of Wonderland and alas, someone didn't show up and I got the time I wanted. Turns out, from my experience in that cruise, that several people book slots in specialty restaurants and never show up, because all the time I was both there and at Chops they were far from being full despite being all booked up all the time.

By the way, taking the opportunity to ask a question to those with more expertise in this forum: I have a cruise departing on November 26. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Cruise Planner sales usually go live on Wednesdays or Thursdays, right?

Considering the sail date is on a Saturday the day after Black Friday and that purchases must be made 48h before sailing, how likely am I to be able to score a possible Black Friday deal on this cruise?

9 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

The price on the ship is almost always higher (usually significantly) then buying it in advance. Don’t fall into looking at buy one get one 50% off, 30% off for everyone, etc. The key is to check the current price of the package. RCI is always changing the price of the deluxe package so looking at percentages is more or less worthless. 

+1

I believe waiting to buy once onboard is the worst possible scenario, considering you can always cancel and repurchase before the cruise. First, you'd have to try your luck at sale happening onboard or not. Second, it is way more likely for them to jack up the prices during the cruise, and maybe present it with a fake "sale" tag, than it is for you to find a better price at anytime prior to cruise.

I'd say to only wait to buy onboard if you really don't want/need the DBP, so if by any chance a real sale happens to be going on you can take advantage of it. If it is a must-have, your chances of scoring a good price are way higher by purchasing in advance and cancelling and repurchasing if it goes lower anytime before the cruise.

There isn't a best time, you need to keep looking at prices and buy it when it reaches the price you want. There was recently a Labor Day sale where the DBP for my cruise dropped from 77.99 USD pppd to 72.99 USD pppd with a BOGO 50% offer. Now it is back at 77.99 USD pppd with a 20% off "sale". 

Just keep track of the price and purchase it when you see one you think matches what you are willing to pay. And after that, keep tracking the price and if it ever goes down cancel and repurchase. And  don't look at the "sale" tag but rather the final price you're paying, Royal can get quite creative with their math.

Next big sale should be for Black Friday, but since you're cruising in November depending on the sail date you may not get that one in time. 

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

And too few in Silk.

I found Silk to be awesome. The one I found most underwhelming was American Icon Grill, the only thing worth returning there for in my opinion was the cookie skillet.

They used to have the WOW bands, which are wristbands that you could wear that would replace the SeaPass cards. I used them on Anthem a few years ago and found them to be extremely handy instead of carrying around the SeaPass cards. I think, however, that it went away during COVID and hasn't returned yet.

Some people that had it from past cruises said they were able to reprogram it for their current cruise, though, so maybe if you find a used one on eBay or something that could be a solution if the ship you'll be sailing on supports it.

Menus seem to have changed so that Izumi is now fixed price instead of a la carte, allowing you to order one small plate, two large, and one dessert. 

29 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Has it happened to you?

Saw this happening myself on Anthem. Itinerary had a late departure from one port, and several people on Early TD missed their dining time and decided to enter the MTD No Reservation line. There was a HUGE line that day, and as most people on MTD scheduled a later dinner due to departure time the MDR was packed and they were turning away anyone that was on TD. People on MTD without reservations or with earlier reservations were allowed to wait for a table, but there were plenty of people in that situation that night.

2 hours ago, poocher said:

My grandsons will tell you I don’t no CRAP about this stuff but aren’t there games that are downloaded so they wouldn’t need an internet connection to play them?  And of course there are actual disks that can be used.  Those don’t require internet either right?  I get the “they’re on a cruise, go out and enjoy it!!!”  But I don’t think OP is talking about 24/7 gaming, just something to keep them occupied for a few hours.  Really how is this different from me reading a book on my balcony for a few hours?

That's true that games are either downloaded or played through a disc, but most kids and teens nowadays play games that are meant to be played fully and exclusively online as they are massive multiplayer experiences. If your kids or grandchildren scream that they can't pause the game when you call them over for dinner, this is probably the kind of game they are playing.

That said, as was said before the Internet on the ship won't provide a good online gaming experience, even if you purchase Surf and Stream, because it is a satellite connection. Games require small packets of data to be sent back and forth very quickly to update what's going on in the game. Satellite connections, however, are built to sent huge packets of data but less frequently due to the time it takes for the signal to go back and forth. It is the exact opposite of what you'd like for online gaming because it generates extreme amounts of lag.

And then there's the issue of connecting to the TV. I used to travel a lot for work and bring my PS4 with me to plug to the hotel's TV, but in each hotel I had a different problem:

- the way the TV was wall mounted blocked access to the HDMI ports;

- the remote control in the room lacked controls to change the input source and the TV had no buttons on it;

- the TV was a special type called Hospitality TV made for hotels where every port, if there's any, is disabled;

- no power outlet close enough to the TV;

List goes on. If they are cool playing offline, perhaps gaming solutions for which a TV is optional would be better, such as an iPad, the Nintendo Switch, a Steam Deck, a PS Vita or anything of that sort.

9 hours ago, Namelocg said:

21 days out and still no assignment. 

In the meantime, I've had mine assigned since booking date, 310 days out approximately. Timing for GTY assignment is indeed all over the place.

I'm booked on Harmony in October and I've been able to book since I made the cruise reservation in November last year.

I've posted this in another thread, but there should be a Jet Ski - Passenger option as well in your Cruise Planner, as posted above by SAmome. This is what it looks like on my Cruise Planner:

There should be two options in your cruise planner, the Jet Ski Driver and the Jet Ski Passenger, as in the picture below which is what shows up for my upcoming cruise that stops in CocoCay. You would then have to purchase two Drivers and two Passengers. 

Keep your reservation, and whenever you want to ride just show up and ask to stand by in case there is a spot available. Turns out several people book and don't show up, and generally you don't have to wait a lot to get in. You'll probably just have to wait around two or three runs before a spot shows up.

Also try confirming if you actually got My Time Dining and not Traditional Dining. I was not given an option upon booking, could not find it among the booking confirmations I received and "My Time Dining" didn't show up in the Cruise Planner. After calling the TA, turns out I was set for late Traditional Dining. As soon as they changed it in the system My Time Dining showed up in the Planner. 

Just now, EDiamond22 said:

the price per person that shows under the sale banner already reflects the "discount". when you add it to the cart and divide it out you'll see its 55 pp per day + 18% for tip so really aprox 65 pp per day 

Yeah, just noticed that when I added it to the cart and edited the post above with the correct info. Thanks!

On my sailing there seems to be some pretty good deals. Harmony Oct 11 - 18:

• Deluxe Beverage Package: BOGO 50% OFF at approximately 55.80 USD per person per day (65 USD with gratuities)
• Ultimate Dining Package: down by approximately 35 USD for a 7-night cruise from the last time I saw the price. It went from 209 USD per person to 174 USD per person, so 25 USD per day. (29.50 with gratuities)

I wasn't tracking the exact price of other stuff, but The Key went slightly up for me. Internet packages didn't seem to show too much of a difference, but SURF + Stream for 2 devices is now around 17 USD per day, so more or less 8.50 USD per device per day. Prices for activities in CocoCay seem to have gone down as well, and I can see the Coco Beach Club Day Pass for around 46 USD and Thrill WaterPark Full Day Pass for around 68 USD per person.

One thing to note: I'm in Brazil, so all prices I see are in Brazilian Reais. The prices above I have converted using Google's exchange rate, but Royal Caribbean is fairly benevolent in their exchange rates so if you are in the same cruise and note that the prices in USD are slightly higher than what I posted, it could be because of that.

On 11/19/2019 at 11:20 PM, dvond said:

What do they play in the Music Hall?  

When I went on Anthem in 2016 there was a Led Zeppelin tribute band, Led ZepAgain, which is recognized as being one of the best Led Zeppelin tribute bands. They were amazing.

2 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Yes, RCI killed off Dynamic Dining.

Ah yes, I was aware of that, it was not very long after my cruise. I feel lucky I got to experience it, though. Too bad they have done away with it, my (now) wife was let down when I told her it would not be Dynamic Dining in this cruise. It was the best dining experience I had in a cruise.

I didn't get a PDF this time (last cruise I did). Must've been either because of the new system in Brazil that works through an intermediary or the Special Offers booking website. Anyways, seems like I'll have to get in touch with them. I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks!

Hello everyone!

It's been a while but I have finally booked another cruise. I will be sailing on Harmony October 11th 2020. Thing is, my last cruise was on Anthem in 2016 and apparently some things have changed since then, especially Royal Caribbean's system. Also, back then even though I am in Brazil the cruise was booked directly with Royal Caribbean in the US and now the cruise is booked through an intermediary in Brazil. Last time I also booked the cruise much closer to the sailing date. And just to complete the mess, this time I booked the cruise through an offer that's been going on here where I just had to select the cabin class and put in a few details.

This offer is for a GTY cabin, and the offer booking system did not allow me to select whether I wanted Traditional Dining or My Time Dining. What I think is weird is that right after I booked, as soon I as was able to enter the reservation number into Royal Caribbean's system, I found out that my cabin number was already assigned, 324 days in advance! And since the system has been completely changed, I can't seem to find where to find out if I have TD or MTD. It just shows my cabin number, allows me to go into Cruise Planner and that's it.

By going into Cruise Planner, I am able to book all the non-complimentary restaurants, but the Main Dining Room doesn't show up in the list. If I go to my schedule and manually ask to create an activity and select "Dining", it shows the MDR as an option but the "Add to cart" button is greyed out. Does this mean I have Traditional Dining?

Happy to be back here at the boards here in CC!

Does anyone else find it amusing that the lovers of DD coming here to complain about the whiners are now "the whiners"?

 

Life is full of disappointments...move on.

Not whining. Grieving. As far I understand no one who liked DD will stop cruising or are threatening to do so because of this, unlike the peevish DD-haters who for most the part never got to experience it, and actually refused to do so, and complained about it.

And that's what we're doing, moving on. At least some of us got to experience a good thing while it lasted.

Not quite sure how you figure you'll be stuck with "one" choice. You still have specialty restaurants, as well as MDR and the other dining venues. One of the reasons we have chosen not to cruise on the Quantum Class was BECAUSE of Dynamic Dining. We didn't want to be "forced" into DD. I am sure there are others who feel the same. We love the MDR and do not find it boring at all... being on vacations, we don't like having to make reservations for everything. We do our late dinner seating and enjoy the menus (though I am excited for new ones as it has been a while). We look at the menu each day ahead of time and if it is something no one in our group is excited about, them we go somewhere else.

 

I'm sorry that you enjoyed DD and now it is being taken away. I know the changes are frustrating, no matter what they are. I was fine with never going on a DD Ship but, was soo glad when they decided not to do it on the Oasis class. At least, you still have MTD and other dining choices, even if some have a charge.

 

RCL has nearly 6 million passengers a year to please. Obviously, they can't please everyone, but still need to run a profitable business and make as many of those passengers happy, and coming back. I am sure ending DD was not a decision made lightly, but one that they feel is best. Some things, you just have to roll with it.

 

I, however, am just happy to be able to enjoy my cruises as often as I can. So long as the food is good, the service is amazing, and the ship sails....I am happy! =)

Given all other options are for charge, then yes, everyone is now stuck with a single option of menu or go to the Windjammer. DD was great because you had four different menus to choose from without having to pay extra. Now, if you don't like that night's menu, you have to either go to Windjammer, Sorrento's, or any other free place unless you are willing to spend extra.

If you don't like making reservations and enjoy the traditional, same time seating everyday, you could have just chosen DD Classic and have an early or late seating, the only difference being that instead of going to the same MDR every night you would go to different restaurants. You still would only have one single menu, which you could ditch and go eat somewhere else if you didn't like it.

I do believe DD Classic was a great solution for many of the issues the traditionalist cruiser had with DD. Even those people with DD Classic took advantage of the flexibility DD allowed on my cruise when we had a port stop in St. Martin until 8pm, which meant those with early dining would either be required to return early to the ship or miss their dining. Instead, they took advantage of DD and many of them were able to get seats and choose one of the four restaurants even though their time for dining had long passed.

Therefore, I don't see any advantage for us cruisers on this outcome. The only advantage is for Royal, who can now save money by being able to keep a single menu every night instead of having to prepare four different ones, especially given that there won't be lobster available every night now.

Can someone please give a more detailed description of the food in Wonderland?? Like for instance, what exactly is liquid lobster?? The menu seems quite funky to me and I think I might be a little afraid lol!!

Don't be afraid! Be adventurous! :D

I find it tough to describe the food in Wonderland. All in all, it is nothing like you'd likely find anywhere else. It's all very innovative, with unexpected combinations that in the end turn out to be surprisingly good.

I went there on the Anthem and it was by far the best gastronomic experience of my entire life. But you do need to go open-minded and willing to try all sorts of different things. The liquid lobster for instance is a small piece of lobster served on a spoon into bone marrow and topped with caviar, but to be sincere it was quite mundane near the other stuff we tried. :p

Also, when we went there, instead of us selecting the dishes we wanted to eat, the waiter just asked whether we had any allergies or anything we really didn't like, and then assembled an entire dinner for us. I think we must've eaten almost everything from the menu on a single sitting. Everything on the menu is to share.

Unless you are really picky with your food, I'd highly recommend going to Wonderland. I have never seen an experience like that on land, and it is well worth the price.

Thank you all for reading my review!

What a fantastic review! Very detailed and accurate!! We sailed on the awesome Anthem in April, it was our 14th cruise and the best. 2 days after returning home booked again for next year, same cruise, 12 nighter. So glad you were not disappointed especially after taking the journey to the US!!

Marg

I envy you, I want to do it again as well! Hahaha I actually had been to the US before, but only to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I was supposed to go to NY last time I've been in Vegas past January as I got a flight with a two-day layover there for the weekend, but that snowstorm hit just the exact day of my flight... So glad I managed to go this time! I loved the city!

Thank you for your review! I know how time consuming they can be to do so I truly appreciate the time it took for you to do it!

 

First, I hope you enjoyed your bucket list trip! One of of my best friends from high school was from Rio (moved from Rio to the states and then back to Rio post school) and now lives in Espirito Santo!

 

I enjoyed your review very much. Hoping we luck out and get Chops and Jamie's for our BOGO dinners (although I was made aware that I could change my reservations if I didn't like the ones I got assigned). I find that people, in general, are just more selfish nowadays. Unless they were brought up to think of others, I'm afraid that trend is universal. I also try to cruise to while school is in session to limit the number of kids on board. Here in the US, that's usually Sept-June.

You're welcome! I really wanted to write as I don't think the Anthem deserves all the negativity it's been receiving. If I can inspire more people on trying it, or at least get them to know what to expect as to avoid frustrations, my job is done! Hahahaha

That's great, guess your friend really likes here then! Come visit him and take a cruise in Brazil someday, the ships are small and simple, but the atmosphere is great nonetheless! :D You can easily change the restaurants simply by going to the host of the one you want to dine and asking for him change, just make sure to do that as soon as you board as reservations go out pretty quickly.

Very good review - thanks so much for taking the time out to post. After being on the Anthem and MSC, do you think Royal Caribbean Cruisers would like the New MSC Seaside that will be coming out? What are your thoughts, we've never been on MSC before

Thank you! So, that's a tough question. I did see the new MSC Seaside, and it looks stunningly beautiful, and I actually talked my father about it to check if I could get him hyped up about going on a cruise abroad.

What makes this question difficult to answer is that, so far, I've only been to the small ships on MSC that come to Brazil, such as Sinfonia, Orchestra and Magnifica, so I do not know how the MSC experience is on a bigger and newer ship. Although I would definitely like to know MSC Seaside, I think Royal spoiled me a bit. To be sincere, I always thought that my MSC Cruises consisted always of doing the same things every night, and going to the same places. On Royal there was so much stuff to do that I sometimes had trouble deciding. Besides that there's the matter of the food that I stated on my review, which I think is subpar on MSC when compared to Royal, but it might be different on the newer and bigger ships, or on cruises sailing out of the US.

I would, however, try another cruise on MSC if it were to go on either Preziosa or Seaside. Otherwise I'd be more willing to try the Allure. But I think everyone should at least try new things every now and then, just like I did with Royal! Hahahaha I've seen a few reviews of people here in the RC forum that tried MSC and liked it, especially the ones who prefer the more classic cruising atmosphere which is quite different from the Anthem, so I'd say go for it! And then write a review to let us know what you think of it ;)