Bubbis3

Does anyone know if Harmony has a separate seating area at breakfast, in the dining room, for Diamond/Diamond Plus/Pinnacle?  I remember on one of my past cruises on an Oasis class there was a separate seating area.  Thanks inadvance to anyone who might know.

Can anyone advise me if there are lockers on Labadee that you can lock up your personal belongings?  I have a jet ski excursion and don’t want to bring my room key or wallet with me.

Bob (the other Bob)

4 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Of course. 

John,

how are are they handling the casino?  Is it open and everyone is wiping down every slot after every use and they’re washing all the chips? I’d think there would be too much of a financial impact to shut that down.  Even though you’d think that’s the one venue where germ spreading would be more rampant.  I’m on Oasis in 4 weeks.

Bob (the other Bob)

Hope the passenger will be OK.

I was just wondering, with all the reports of flu in the past 2 weeks on the news, are there many on board with flu symptoms?

I agree with what other people have posted. When I came on board 12 days ago, my dad and I were perfectly healthy people. Knowing what can happen on a ship (I call it a pietry dish), I take precautions prior to boarding. I keep hand sanitizer in my room and use it coming and going. I bring medications with me just in case. I also follow all ship recommendations on cleaning. Well we both got the flu about six days in. We self medicated immediately and also self quarantined ourselves for a couple of days. I missed a couple of shore excursions that I’d otherwise have written about here because of this. We are both better now. But there’s a clear sickness going on currently. And it’s not norovirus.

Bob (the other Bob)

I have been absent from writing more about this cruise. I will have a lot more to say once home. I wanted to give everyone a quick update as to what’s happening on board. Right now, we are heading back to Bayonne at full power, all engines running. We were expected back on Friday morning but the captain thinks we’ll be in Bayonne by 4:00pm tomorrow. We currently have a medical emergency which requires a passenger to get off as soon as possible. This puts my count on medical emergencies requiring a return to port at 5, for this cruise. More on that when I get home. We are only pulling up to the pier long enough to drop that passenger off, then we are heading back out to sea, at least 3 miles out, so RC can continue on with ship operations. We will return to port at our normal time Friday morning.

It really should not impact you. The "bus stop" has a roof and sides. It does a good job of containing the smoke. Which cabin? I can tell you how close you are to it.

 

Now, I can not make any claims about your fellow passengers...............I was shocked at how many people were smoking on their balconies on the Anthem on my past cruises. :o

What I found funny was the day of embarking there were several people smoking in the casino and outside on deck 5. They had to make an announcement over the intercom “could all guests refrain from smoking, in all areas. We are trying to refuel the ship.” :o

I would just like to verify that they provided the snorkeling equipment.

Yes they provide the snorkeling equipment

We will be on Anthem 8/23/18 9 night sailing to Canada. We have My Time Dining. I don't like to make reservations. Do you know if Diamond + are allowed to bypass the wait line to get into the Dining Room? I recall on our last Oasis cruise, that was the case. Oasis was not busy, so it wasn't an issue. I certainly don't want to tick off fellow cruisers. Having MTD, and then having to make reservations for each night, kinda takes away from the spontaneity of the cruise.

From what I can see, on this class ship, Dimond+ doesn’t get the same type of benefits that you can get on an Oasis class ship. The separate line for check in’s is for suite and pinnacle members.

Bob: How was traffic in the Bayonne Bridge area on the way to the port? I know they have a big roadwork project going on there and last time we cruised out of there, about 1 yr ago,,they had some detours in place and traffic was heavy. Just wondering how the progress was going on the roadwork there.

Peter, I did notice the road work. Especially just past the toll both. We traveled down on a Sunday morning. There really wasn’t any traffic to speak of at that time. No construction going on. I drove straight to the terminal without delay. I’m expecting Friday morning, when we return, to be a completely different story.

Bob

I'm also from an ocean community. I live on the beach at the Jersey Shore. I love being in the water, but I'm not really a swimmer. How far is it to the beach? Can you just wade in? I would be happy just floating around with a noodle by the boat.

My estimation is about 100 yards in to shore. If your not a strong swimmer, use the noodles provided.

Was the catamaran excursion booked through Royal Caribbean or outside company?

 

Thanks for the update on San Juan and St. Martin.

I booked through RC during the Thanksgiving sales.

Were you on the Golden Eagle catamaran? I booked it for my 1/28 cruise. How was it? Was the beach OK that they brought you to? How much time do they give you at the beach? Thanks.

The beach was great. It’s just past Majo beach. Lots of sand. Again, there’s high end hotels in that area that are completely destroyed.

Were you on the Golden Eagle catamaran? I booked it for my 1/28 cruise. How was it? Was the beach OK that they brought you to? How much time do they give you at the beach? Thanks.

Yes I was. There are 2 catamarans. If yours is captained by Sam, she’s fantastic. You snorkel for a half hour. No experience necessary. They will teach you everything you need to know. Then you head down the coast to the beach. You have to swim in from the boat to shore. They have noodles if your not a strong swimmer. They give you about 45 minuets at the beach. Then on the way back, they serve sandwiches. It’s more of a snack. Also, they will keep you hydrated with a soda or adult beverage. And you can drink as much as you like. Hint for you. If you’re on Sam’s boat, I sat in the front of the catamaran and absolutely loved it up there. I come from an ocean community town and love being out on boats. It was choppy coming back so you will get splashed if you sit up front and that’s the case. If that’s not your thing, the other option is under cover below deck.

A quick note on San Juan and St. Maarten:

As everyone is aware, these two ports were heavily damaged due to hurricanes this summer. I did see significant damage in Old San Juan but not enough to stop me from going into town. I’ve heard others make mention of the lack of power in PR. This did cause some people to have delays getting back to the ship for departure. So if you’re going on an excursion not sponsored by RC, plan ahead and leave extra time to get back to the ship.

This is the first time Anthem has been back to St. Maarten since the hurricane. The shops at the end of the pier were wiped out. Dimonds International had their grand reopening yesterday while we were there. There were several reconstructed shopping buildings there. Some have not been completed yet but shouldn’t be to long before ready. A lot of vegetation is gone. Having been to this port several times, I can remember lush, tropical vegetation on the hill sides. A lot of it is now brown. There are still many, many buildings with significant damage to them including many hotels. I did a shore excursion on a catamaran and was able to see a lot of the damage first hand from the crew. They had before and after pictures they were showing everyone onboard. If your the type of person who is bothered by distruction and people living through hardship, you may want to stay on the ship. But like I said, the shopping at the end of the pier, the government has done a good job to date restoring that area. Also, in the past, there’s been 3 water taxi’s between the ships and the town. I only noticed 2 running yesterday.

That's a good deal, many days to use the card. Sometimes on a 7-day cruise, the cards don't become available until day 5, and there may be two port days left.

Bob, here is the direct quote from Day 6 of the cruise compass:

Beverage Special - 10 drinks for only $85 Save on your favorite drinks during this sailing with our special onboard promotion. Pay one low price and enjoy 10 drinks at your choice of onboard bars, Restraunts and lounges. Your discount card is valid for purchase of most beers, glasses of wine and cocktails up to $12. You may use the card to purchase multiple drinks at once - so treat yourself, your family or new friends and raise a glass to savings. Visit any bar onboard to purchase. 18% service charge will be added.

Bob (the other Bob)

No beer on tap at the Solarium bar

Maybe this was a one off for me?

Any chance that they serve Heineken Light or Amstel Light on tap in the Solarium. Looking forward to be onboard the Anthem of the Seas next week.

 

Thanks for taking the time to go live.

I don’t know about Heineken Light but they do serve Amstel Light. I usually get it in a bottle however.

I'm on the next sailing of Anthem, with MTD because that's what we had to take. I'm going to have to mentally adjust to this concept. One of the things I love is just walking in to my usual seat, no lines, and being welcomed by the same staff etc. I can live with slow service once seated, but I hate lining up like cattle and having to listen to people bitch about line cutters and all that. Did you notice if there are times the line thins out? I don't mind eating later, but maybe earlier is easier? I made reservations just to have them, are the two lines pretty much the same?

The line seems to be down by the time I leave from dinner. Usually that’s just after 7:00pm.

Thank you--we're scheduled to be on this same cruise next year! Who is the cover band on board? Do you know how many times they'll show We Will Rock You?

 

Thanks!

The cover band is DSB - Journey tribute band. They were excellent but it was loud and many older people didn’t stay. I loved it. I think the we will rock you show is showing 3 Times.

I mentioned last night that we had to do a turn around in PR for a medical emergency. They had to take someone else off in St. Maarten by ambulance today. Hoping everyone stays safe for the rest of the voyage.

Is the Solarium Bistro open for kids under 16 for lunch on sail away day?

Yes you can take kids to the Bistro for lunch. The doorway to that Restraunt is right inside the solarium door. Shouldn’t be an issue.

DINING

My family has had Mytime dining. I like traditional dining better but it seems like the past few cruises I haven’t been able to get that. No big worries. I did my reservations online before boarding. I made all of those reservations for 5:30pm. Here’s a little hint, Mytime dining opens their doors around 5:15pm and they’ll seat you if you show up early. The lines are long. Their are 2 lines. The line on the right side is for walk in’s. The line on the left is for reservations. Because my sister is in a OS, there’s a third line that’s just inside Silk that take suites. This line is small. However, as we have learned, you will anger a lot of people who you pass to get to the suite line. On night 1, we were told to just bypass the line and go directly to your table by the dining room staff. We did this and we were chastised by several other guests for “cutting the line.”

I’m not going to give a review on the food. As you can read in just about every review on Cruise Critic, no 2 people will feel the same about it. I do want to mention my observations on what’s transpired since my first cruise with RC some 14 years ago and now. The first thing I noticed is the assistant waiter was bringing rolls to the table and dropping them off. In the past, there was an assistant waiter who brought a tray of rolls over and you picked out what you wanted. Gone are the little pumpkin rolls (they were small, square things) that my father absolutely loved. We asked about what happened to those and were told, they stopped them on this ship. They didn’t know why but the Head Waiter speculated that it was a cost savings measure. More on the Head Waiter in a minute. The other thing is the assistant waiter was taking our drink order. In the past, there were separate bar staff who took your drink order. The last thing is it seems the staff is waiting on more tables than the past. All of this I noticed on day 1. The cumulative effect is that IMO, the staff is overwhelmed. It didn’t take me that long to reach that conclusion. Some people are good at certain things. I have this weird ability to analyze a situation quickly and figure out what’s going on. Thus, I can tell you Service is slow in dining. Again, this is not a deal breaker for me. I’m on vacation. It might be for someone with small children who can’t sit still for long periods of time or if your figity. The other thing I thought was strange is the Head Waiter on every cruise I’ve been on has come over to say “hi” or just find out if everything is going alright. This didn’t happen here. In fact, I had to ask our waiter to send him over. He did immediately come over after asking him to do so. I did Bring up with him some of these points, and he all but admitted to me that the reasons for these things are cutbacks from corporate. I work for a large cooperation so I understand cutbacks and downsizing but RC used to stand for certain things in the cruise Industry and I feel like the one thing you shouldn’t cut back on is Service. Especially in a hospitality industry. By the way, the Head Waiter has come over every night since I said something. And he’s made his way over in the Windjammer also.

The only specialty Restraunt I’m going to is Chops and that’s not until night 11.

If anyone has any specific questions on dining I’m more than glad to find out for you.

ROOM

As stated previously, I’m in a JS. I love the extra large balcony facing forward. Also, it’s centrally located not to far from the rear elevator banks. What Royal did is take all 3 rooms that make up a family suite, and break them down into 3 different rooms. The larger of those rooms is the JS. The other 2 rooms are a balcony and an interior. There’s a doorway that opens up in the hallway that makes a small corridor that all 3 rooms use to access their individual rooms. Our cabin steward has been attentive but not usually visible. That’s the way I like it. Around when you want them to be and not around when you don’t want them to be. The room itself is plenty big for 2 people. I wouldn’t mind having a family of 3. I think 4 would be stretching the limits. The reason for that is there’s less storage space in this room then I’ve had on other RC JS’s. Plus, this being a winter sailing, I had to bring extra clothing than if I sailed from a FL port. So that might be taking up more space. There’s also not a lot of storage space in the bathroom. There’s really only 1 shelf besides the small vanity top. The in room safe is small. You wouldn’t be able to fit a Ipad or laptop. Perfectly functional for money, jewelry, wallet or casino chips :D. The one thing that is different on this ship, then other classes of ships is there’s no exterior outdoor light. So sitting outside to read at night is an issue. I really wish they had that. The refrigerator is small but big enough to fit a couple bottles of water and my fathers medicine. The beds, as advertised on other reviews, are firm. If you don’t like firm, you won’t like these. It’s not an issue for me, as I’d be happy to sleep on the floor. I’m on a cruise!

When you do the online check in -- it asks for your middle name (if it's on your passport) -- just curious -- would that show up on your booking/sea pass card to differentiate you from your dad?

It won’t appear on your setsail pass or your room card. I book my reservations through club royale and they told me they didn’t have the ability to add a middle initial.

Following. Question, even when it's fridged out, are the indoor pools useable? I'll be on next week with my kids. They love swimming. Will they be able to swim on day 1 or 2?

They certainly will be able to use the indoor pool on day 1 and 2. The solarium pool is for 16+ only. There were several people using it on both those days. The outdoor pool was filled sometime later on the day on day 2. IMO it’s still to cold for that pool at that time. Lifeguards will be on duty.