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I would like to get on the ship as early as possible for our Easter cruise. I am a little confused. Are there assigned times to check in or can we get in line early and get on early? We have been sailing lately with Celebrity so this is our first RCCL cruise in a while We are gold members. Will be traveling with teenagers and seem to have missed the sign up for iFly and Northstar.

 

Any suggestions on the earliest time we can get in line at the port and get on? Thanks. Christine.

We had a 1pm checkin but got there an hour earlier and had no issue getting on

FYI - I am the consummate pre-planner. I signed up for IFly the day the reservations became available, but somehow they mysteriously disappeared from the calendar! And, I attempted to do it through the app when on board, but it was not working. I am glad you were fortunate enough to escape the lines, but for some of us, they were very real and had nothing to do with lack of research or planning.

 

With regard to the dining rooms, a crew member who works in Silk told us the MT dining rooms were exceptionally busy during this sailing.

Us as well, we pre plan everything. There was no option to reserve IFLy and like you the app did not work when on board. So you ask about lines

Lunch-40 minutes on 1st day

To reserve Ifly-45 mins and we were 1st

Wife got tender ticket easy night beforeand we had a good number but the organization was awful and slow, did not get on island until 11 after getting there at 9

Esplande was packed every night

Buying liquor in the shop took 45 mins on line

We got reservations for every night for dinner, showed up ontime and waited on a line then after giving our names waited additional time every night for dinner no matter the time

How long was your wait at American Icon? (MTD room for those with reservations)

Between 20 and 35 mins every night

What time did you go to dinner? I've been on the ship for 96 MTD dinners, and I never had to wait more than 5 minutes. I always went sometime between 6:30 and 7:30. I hope nothing has changed, as I will be going on my 13 sailing in a couple of weeks.

We went at 6, 6:30, 7, 7:30 and 8 Had different reservations at different times each night

Did you return the car after hours, and if so, how did you get back to the boat?

I was scammed by a 50 something year old guy in a white SUV waiting in the parking lot who claimed to the running as the Hertz shuttle. Upon arrival at the port, he charged me for the trip. He did not mention any charge until we arrived and I'm fairly certain he had no affiliation with Hertz.

We got an uber was $8 and yes a guy in a shuttle approached me and I declined. We got to the car rental around 8:30pm

The band in the Music Hall was One 4 One not All 4 One. They are a Royal Caribbean house band.

Thanks for correction, were not really memorable so why I mis-typed

OP: Thanks for taking the time to post your comments. We'll be on Anthem in February, and I'm sure hoping your reports of long lines and waits, even when you had dinner reservations, was caused by Jersey Week/lots of kids.

But dont they normally cruise pretty full? I would guess the umber of bodies would not change and honestly on those lines, there were not that many kids and families

i was on the same cruise.

 

Rock of Ages, don't waste your time on the other shows like The Gift and Spectra.

 

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Rock of Ages? We Will Rock You was on previously, surprised they would change to a show currently being performed on NCL Breakaway.

 

 

Im betting they meant we wll rock you which had great music and performed well

Cannot imagine going to Jersey Week on purpose.

Family likes to cruise and this is an easy way to fit in a 3rd one every year as well as being quite affordable....to each their own and you have to do what you have to do for your family

The idea of rotating dining rooms was part of Dynamic Dining, which has been gone for a year.

And we had different waiting on 4/7 nights and diff table

I forgot to mention the tender debacle- we had 12 and did not get to island till 11am

I have an i phone and I know how to text. Are you saying that if I have the Royal IQ app I just text as I would on land using the usual message icon

You dont need the app to use imessage, my wofe and son texted all week without it and just connected to wifi

The word is starting to get out in the press.

 

https://6abc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/6abc.com/amp/health/10-members-of-philly-family-get-sick-on-cruise-ship/2643101/

 

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We were on that sailing and never ever saw any place w/o soap or sanitizer

Jersey Week.

 

Beginning and end of explanation.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

9th year in a row for Jersey week, long enough when cruise lines had no clue what was coming nor did the pricing of that cruise. We have 3 more years to go :0

Thanks for the review. We are on Anthem in January. We are planning on renting a car to go to WDW for the day. Where did you rent from and did you do after hours drop off or were they still open to return the car?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Bob

Hertz, 1 mile from the port and van was waiting when we got off

We chose this cruise because we go away every year during jersey week as our son is off from school and its a 30 min drive from home;

Embarkation- The line of cars took over an hour as we arrived at 11am and did not check in till 12, once parked it was easy and a 15 min process.

Once on the ship waited on line for 40 min to eat lunch which became a running theme for the week. No sail away party, was a nice dice so not sure why.

Dining- We had reservations for my time dining every day, even with a set time, there was a long line every night, took 30 mins to get seated after our reservation then at least 90-120 mins to eat, an exhausting process. The food was very good, all steaks were cooked to order, service varied some spotty to very good. Breakfast in Windjammer was below par other than the donuts which was best in any of our 30 cruises. Did not really have lunch as was not hungry and could not deal with the craziness of the lines. Hot dog truck was awful and generic.

Entertainment- What we liked- the band Wanted-so much fun, We will Rock you-story is silly but cast sound the Queen songs well, Abba show was corny but fun. Comedians were fine, not great , not awful. House band was ok All 4 One. I fly while great was worth doing but is only 1 minute. What we did not like-while all the bells and whistles sounds great- the lines to do anything fun was just brutal and not making it worth it for us nor our teen. Indoor pool and Solarium were packed on the cold day, Walked out at Spectra after 10 mins- beyond awful. Did not see The Gift.

Staff-Cruise Director and staff were OK, nothing special but not bad. Nothing memorable to be honest.

Teen Club- Our son made friends which was good but the activities were awful, he called it one of the worst of his 25 cruises.

Main Pool- we had 2 nice days, very hard to find seats, only 1 activity by the pool, band was bland.

Drink package- I had it and my wife did not, took patience to get drinks and they were understaffed but I did not attentive waiters while sitting on the 2nd deck so that was a positive, Bionic bar was cute.

:Ports- Florida- We rented a car, went to Epcot on our own and had a great time. Coca Cay- Awesome warm day, went to the end of island away from everyone who get off and sit at a very crowded beach, floating bar so much fun even if drinks were limited. Fantastic day. Nassau- took a taxi to Melia, solid day

Cabin- Had a Handicap room, so large and great, room steward was invisible but fine.

Ship- Crazy crowded, lines for everything you can think of, not sure we would ever go on this ship again.

Over all good cruise but we will remember the norovirus, long lines more than anything else other than Wanted and We will Rock you. We were able to use imessage for free when connected to the wifi . Also had a free apps work as well and we did not pay for anything

Debarkation- We walked off our selves, ate breakfast at 8, then it took about an hour to walk off and get through customs.

Did you buy the RC app? Did this work at sea?

Thanks

I message is not an app, it is the way to text with an iphone. I downloaded the free Royal IQ app but others did not and we freely text freely

We were on the 11/4 sailing, knew all about the virus, made sure we washed hands extra and it seemed staff made huge effort to clean extra, sure they stopped fruit in drinks for last 2 days and they had to pour our soda, ehhh not a big deal, they also had no lunch buffet in dining room last day, another minor inconvenience.

I had othr issues that bugged me more that this but to each their own

Will write a full review later in week but when we were attached to the free wifi, we were able to imessage each other as well as others at home for no charge with airplane mode on.

Also the news app on my iphone worked as well as downloading my subscribed podcasts.

We did not buy wifi access, all above was free

Hope this helps someone

Hertz does allow you to drop off the car after hours. That is what we are doing.

We are doing the same and then taking Uber back to ship

We rented a car and going a day at Epcot, have done this before and all it takes is some planning to do as much as you can

"Best" would be a stretch limo with stocked bar, but Uber is probably the economical choice.

Thanks its looking like a sunny and 84 day and since we are only there 12-9:30pm, dont see it worth rushing to a park for a few hours.

Is there a nice part or best part of Cocoa beach?

Sunday Ticket did not work on Anthem this past Sunday. Sling worked but we could not get our local channels. Someone suggested a slingbox, which I think would work.

 

 

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What games did they show? Was it on big screen by the pool?

Thanks for the threads and menu, wondering if anyone has had the Chocolate martini? If so a bets place to get with the package?

We are the thinking of going for a few hours as this is our 1st cruise stop?

thanks!

What are the ingredients? We are on Anthem again in two weeks, will order one depending on what is in it.

http://westernliving.ca/recipes/2016/12/22/crescendo-cocktail/