gaylemh

5 hours ago, twangster said:

Bayonne, like Baltimore and Galveston is geographically challenged as far as ships go.  Ships can't move that fast so with a cruise starting so far North there are limited destination within reach.  

 

The quintessential American vacation is one week.  Once you go beyond 7 or 8 nights the target audience reduces in size quickly.  Anthem occasionally does some 11 or 12 night runs to the Southern Caribbean but that length of cruise has a smaller demographic to market towards so they have a harder time selling them out.   

 

In 7 nights they just can't go to any other ports of call.  That leaves Port Canaveral, Nassau and CocoCay as the reachable destinations from Bayonne and that's not going to change anytime soon.

 

For Oasis Bermuda is off limits due to the narrow winding channel through the the shallow reefs.  She is too big to go there.    

I've sailed on probably 8 - 11 or 12 night sailings on Anthem and they have always been sold out.  More so than the 7 night cruises when school is in session during the winter.  

On 12/12/2019 at 12:49 PM, coffeyk said:

I would also like to thank you for the review.  One question, do you know if the pools were heated, we are going over Christmas.

Did you go to Warwick?  Was the pool heated?

Has anyone ever done the Deluxe Sailing excursion through Royal? 

15 hours ago, bigeagle12 said:

Bob,

 

I am concerned about losing OBC offered by travel agent.  I am 30 days out from sailing. 

The OBC comes out of the TA's commission.  If you take the reservation away from them, they no longer get a commission, so you would lose the OBC>

I find the fridge on Anthem keeps my water and soda very cold.

I had originally booked the Beach Club day pass for $65-$79.  On 11/27 all my cruises went down to $50.99.  Cancelled and rebooked at the lower price.  Some of my dates were $85 last time I looked.  Does anyone know how any passes they are selling for each day?

1 hour ago, mom1965 said:

Does anybody know the cover bank on the Anthem for 2/8/20?

 

 

 

 

LA Vation is the band for 2/7/20.  There is no Anthem cruise that leaves on 2/8.

5 minutes ago, icsys said:

 

Phoenix - are they the band based out of Las Vegas, self labeled as "the best cover band you will see anywhere"?

As far as I know yes.  Royal listed them as Phoenix (Las Vegas)

1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

Yo, Delta!  Mitch is staying on for one more cruise, apparently, until January 16.  I'll update his replacement as soon as I find out.

 

@DELTABLUE

I saw somewhere on FB that Mercedes, whoever that is, is replacing Mitch.

3 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I do not go to FB.I was told by an RCI employee that they choose the songs.

Sorry I have to disagree with that one.  I have requested songs from tribute bands and the house band, and if they knew it it would be played.

From the FB page.

4 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Thank God!  😉 😄 

Love Led Zeppelin. I had asked for a Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd song.  Mikael said he couldn't do Zeppelin because his voice was iffy.  He did do a great Pink Floyd song, that they performed for the first time on the 12/8 cruise.

4 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Blame RCI,they were hired to do songs of the 60’s to 80’s.

Not RCI's fault.  If you go to their FB page. They advertise the show that they do.  There are hundreds of songs from the 60's - 80's that they could have done different shows every night.

9 minutes ago, jptoz said:

My wife is going on Anthem 2/15 with some girlfriends. Shes dying to know who the tribute band is.  Any idea. Thanks 

Sorry, I only know the dates that I'm sailing on.

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

We've had No Quarter (Led Zeppelin tribute) on board Oasis for the last 3 days. The first 4 days we had Beatlemaniacs. 

I wish Anthem had two tribute bands.  

22 minutes ago, Crism said:

 

I'm in the same spot. I'll enjoy some free drinks in the casino that I can't get for the nightly Diamond benefit, but other than that, I won't be playing. Consider it saving up for Prime 2021-2022.

 

Does anyone know exactly when you can book the prime cruise? I keep getting told the "first 2 weeks of April" but I have specific cruises I'm looking for. Should I call the minute they open on April 1 or are they not loaded in for a few days?

The free Prime cruise probably won't be listed in your offers until mid April.  I think it was the 3rd week of April this past year.

19 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I googled Rookie and read that they are the Number one tribute band in Toronto.

What I didn't like about Rookie, is they did the exact same shows, including the same moves all three nights.  What I love about Led Zepagain, my favorite tribute band,  is they do different shows each night.

54 minutes ago, later said:

So essentially the certificates earned are worthless unless you book a new cruise.

I've had some where the price didn't go up or actually went down a little.  I book all my cruises when they are first released, so most of mine have gone up.  If I get a free balcony certificate, I sometimes luck out and it's on a cruise I already have booked in a balcony.  Most of the time I just use the $1000 off.  There have been cases where the $1000 off turns out to be only a couple hundred off because of price increases, but still better than letting the certificate go to waste.

1 minute ago, later said:

Can you use the certificates on an existing cruise and if so will they reprice the cruise?  We have 20 cruises presently booked so I don’t want to add another for the next 12 months.

Yes the cruise will be repriced, and you will lose any promotional OBC that's no longer being offered. 

The ones I know of are: 

  Wanted (Bon Jovi)  1/27/20

  LA Vation (U2) 2/7/20

  Rookie (Cover Band) March 1, 2020

 Slippery When Wet (Bon Jovi)  March 8, 2020

 Phoenix (Cover Band) March 29, 2020 

 DSB April 5, 2020

Royal Swedes is the house rock/dance band and will be on until April.  They are excellent.

On 12/26/2019 at 8:24 PM, lenquixote66 said:

We just got off the Anthem.The tribute band Rookie was fantastic.They are the number one tribute band in Toronto.

Rookie was very good, but they aren't a true tribute band.  They are a cover band that plays all different groups, not one group like a tribute band.

10 hours ago, Captain Billy Bob said:

I'll believe it when I see it.

Emails have already gone out for those sailing on January 5th.

3 hours ago, LorraineP said:

Did you hear that from the concierge in the concierge lounge?

It was told to my friend by the concierge. 

52 minutes ago, nivek82 said:

Adding to the new questions as I couldn't find the answer.  On my last cruise I became prime on the last night and got a sticker, etc.  Now the host said I would be prime the rest of this year and all of next but will I get the "free" cruise this year and next or do I have to wait until April 1st to book the free cruise.  I also took a picture of the points because I'm worried that the last night points won't be counted for some reason.  I "upgraded" the $off cert to the free cruise cert but none of those dates work for me so I'll just use it as a $off but I'm planning some cruises soon and wasn't sure if I got a free cruise before April 1st for getting to prime this year or if that's for "next" year.  

If you just got Prime, your free cruise will be after April 2020. 

On 12/17/2019 at 9:16 PM, maria1122 said:

We will also be on the 1/27 cruise.  The email came this evening.  5 days into the cruise we will be pinnacle so I guess we can then go to the concierge.  As diamond plus and having a jr suite we have been going into the concierge for quite sometime.  This is a very popular cruise.  Last year it was so crowded they brought in more chairs but it was standing room only.  I have a feeling this will not be for just this cruise.

I’ll also be getting my Pinnacle on 1/27 Anthem.   I’m on Anthem now and heard for all the January cruises will be the same. 

On 6/8/2019 at 11:14 AM, wolfcathorse said:

It varies from ship to ship, depends on the LA. On our VIsion Panama Canal cruise there was a lady who reached Pinnacle and the guy told her it would be celebrated on her next cruise. On Explorer, our friends turned Pinnacle and it was celebrated that sailing at the Top Tier party. At RCI's website, it states that it's supposed to be recognized on the voyage you make it on. Apparently not all LA's read the fine print.

Where on Royals website does it say that you are recognized on the voyage you hit 700 points?   I'll have 704 points on my Anthem cruise in January, and there are some friends that booked to see me recognized at the top tier. I just want to have something in writing, just in case I have a problem with the LA.