spacepotatoes

We were in 9510 on a cruise to Bermuda back in 2019. The water was calm for the most part. We did feel some motion but not enough to be bothersome. It was our kids' first cruise (they were 2 and 5 at the time) and they didn't really even notice it. The porthole was great. I'm not sure how it would have been in rougher seas but it worked out for us at that time.

Thanks for a very enjoyable review, @YVRteacher!

I actually read Project Hail Mary during our Disney Fantasy cruise at the beginning of July. It was just ok for me. I loved The Martian and Hail Mary didn't measure up to that. I did enjoy it but some parts of it were just too much. 

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your cruise 🙂

Yes, it should get approved. I was in the same situation for our July 2 Fantasy cruise. Uploaded vax info and marriage cert, it got approved with no issues. Just took a little bit longer.

We did the 5 night Bermuda cruise in August and it was night 4.

Those sunset pictures! Wow!

I've been following the NCL drama and I bet those passengers would have loved to have received a letter like yours at some point! Wow. Good on Royal for being on top of this one as best as possible under the circumstances.

Glad you're all safe and making the best of things! 

Glad you had a good cruise! 

Our MDR wait team a couple of weeks ago did talk to us about 10s on the survey. The Head Waiter alluded to it as well. I thought it was interesting that one of the questions in the post-cruise survey explicitly asked if any of the staff/crew spoke to us about high ratings on the survey. 

If you have early seating in the MDR, you can sign up for the kids club staff to pick up the kids from the MDR at 6:40 and bring them to the club so you can have dinner to yourselves. The meal for the kids is expedited. Alternatively, you can bring the kids to the Windjammer for their own dinner and then have an adult meal after you've dropped them off for the evening session in the kids club.

Re: the spacious ocean view cabins. This is 9510. It was perfect for us. Our steward made up the sofa bed for the kids every night and we still had plenty of room. Tons of storage space. No noise at all.

8 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

If you are going to skip the suit, please wear your shirt and slacks without the tie.  A tie without a jacket is déclassé.

Oops. I guess my DH did it wrong. 🤷‍♀️

On our sailing (Aug 10th-15th), most wore at least khakis and a polo shirt. There was a real mix of casual, business casual, and suits. No one cared. Feel free to leave the jacket at home.

Hi Andrew! Looking forward to following along. I've been quietly reading your live reviews for the past year as my family and I were preparing for our first Royal Caribbean cruise. They really helped sell us on the experience! We just got back last week so this review will help beat those post-cruise blues. Also nice to see neighbours here on CC! We're in north London 🙂 

Have a great time!

I tend to run cold and found it comfortable the majority of the time. I did have a light cardigan with me for the MDR and the theatre but didn't need it as much as I thought I would. 

Just now, little britain said:

If you have MTD and you make reservations you are generally seated in American Icon.....If you walk up without reservations, you are generally seated in Silk. The restaurants are opposite each other. Of course if one restaurant is very full and one is very empty they will seat you in a different one if you don’t have reservations. There is no need to make reservations.  We usually walk up and ask for a table for 2. 

 

The other 2 dining rooms are for those with set dining times (early or late).

 

All dining rooms serve the same menu which changes daily. Just the decor is different. 

Our experience last week was the opposite with reservations being directed to Silk and walk-ups to American Icon. Either way, the two dining rooms on Deck 4 are used for MTD. On our sailing, the wait times for walk-ups could be quite long. We did have several large groups onboard so that may have contributed. 

We were on the same cruise! It was our first time with Royal as well and the first cruise for our kids. 

It's funny that you joked about a ketchup shortage. They actually did run out of ketchup in the Windjammer and put out baskets of packets for the last 2 days! Our Windjammer experience was a better one, by the sounds of it. We liked the food the handful of times we ate there. On the Monday evening, we were there for dinner since the 5 PM ferry from Hamilton ended up being so late. The sous chef came out and chatted with every table, asking for feedback. We were impressed.

I hope you ended up enjoying the ship and the cruise! 
 

We just got back from the Anthem with a 2.5 year old and a 5 year old. Your toddler will be too young for any of the kids clubs but Anthem has a nursery and you can sign up to use that in the evenings. There is also a play space with lots of toys. You just have to stay and supervise as there is no staff supervising the play area, but it is open pretty much all day every day. My little guy really liked it. 

I have read that you can ask to borrow a bag of toys to keep in your cabin. We didn't do that, though, so I don't know anything about how that works.

The crew onboard was fantastic with the kids. They really love the littles and treat them well. 

On the Anthem, the dispenser said "Hair and Body Wash" and then it had another little typed label stuck onto it that said "2 in 1 shampoo". We just used it as a body wash and brought our own hair care products. 

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Elizabeth last week. There was a Courtyard by Marriott across the parking lot. It was nice and a good location. There were a couple of restaurants within walking distance and a big outlet mall across the street. 

We're just off Anthem yesterday. It was our first cruise with Royal and our first out of NJ. We loved it! Beautiful ship, amazing crew. To answer a couple of your questions:

Eateries - there is plenty to choose from without paying extra. We ate in the MDR or Windjammer every day and were very happy with the offerings. We also tried Cafe Two70 and the Dog House once each. They had a promo for 40% off at Jamie's one night and we had reservations, but we didn't make it back onboard in time so we never did get to try it. If you google the different venues + menu, you'll find them easily. 

My kids are 5 and under so I don't know what the teen activities were but there were a couple of areas dedicated to them and activities geared towards that age group at the Sea Plex. 

We didn't get around to making reservations for anything in advance except for We Will Rock You (recommend checking that out for sure!). iFly and North Star book up really fast online. There's a place where you can go once onboard to make reservations or you can use the Royal IQ app. My daughter and I really wanted to get on the North Star and I kept checking the app until a time that worked for us opened up. I also used that to make reservations for My Time Dining. It was really handy. 

18 hours ago, stevea36 said:

Anthem has an indoor swimming pool, solarium (for adults), seaplex (with bumper cars, roller skating, circus skills, indoor sports (not all at once)), the usual bingo, karaoke, trivia, etc.

 

and, of course, multiple places to EAT  and DRINK !!!

 

plenty to do !!!

 

I usually do solarium, trivia, and EAT/DRINK !!

 

Are the indoor pool and the Solarium the same place? Or are there actually two separate areas? We're traveling with 2 kids so I want to make sure I'm clear on where they can/can't go.

Thanks so much for doing this, Christy! Looking forward to the rest. We're leaving on the Anthem 5 day cruise this weekend. 

Quick question - lobster night in the MDR was night 4? So not on formal night? 

Welcome back! I always enjoy your reviews. Your honey mooon cruise is a bucket list itinerary for me!

On 3/19/2019 at 3:21 PM, fstuff1 said:

 

ahh.. just a renaming.

why sad? it's not mothballing/sold for scrap/sunk to make a coral reef

I think it's the nostalgia. The Hawaiian decor added some character and reflected her history.

My husband and I sailed on the Sky back in 2011. She looks beautiful now, but also like a completely different ship!

Thank you! We're doing this itinerary next August, very helpful!

Definitely contact NCL. There should be an emergency contact number on the NCL website. But I am a little confused, the Epic docked in Barcelona this morning. I know because my in-laws were on it. Tomorrow is a sea day.

Back in 2009, my mom and I returned to Toronto from Budapest and there was a dog sniffing around in the baggage claim area. It became very interested in my mom’s purse. She had brought a banana onto the plane but she did eat it. The scent must have still been there. The guard handling the dog did a thorough search of my mom’s purse and asked us both repeatedly about food products (we didn’t have any) before finally letting us go. They don’t mess around.

Thanks so much for taking the time time to do this review! I’m loving it so far and you seem like a very sweet family.

We’re taking our kids on Anthem next August and even though hubby and I have cruised before, I feel like I’m planning our first all over again. It’ll be our first on Royal Caribbean and first with kids. I’m sure they’ll cramp our style too Your kids are older than ours (they will be 5 and 2 on the cruise) but it’s still helpful to read about a first timer’s experience. Looking forward to the rest!