motherof

On Labadee, our mats were taken out of our cabana. And at one point, I turned just in time to see a girl sneaking up to take my replacement mat, while her mother watched. When I grabbed it away, the mother just shrugged and turned around. So a lot depends on your fellow passengers.

J3 (formerly FJS?) JS have the split bathrooms. At least, that was the case 3+ years ago.

My only experience was in 8132, which did have a pole, along with some noise of chairs scraping on the pool deck early in the morning. The pole really was not a problem, and was actually handy to grab onto when the seas got rough. I would not consider it to be a deterrent.

I was in a JS3 on deck 10 - directly above the block you are looking at. Spacious cabin, 1.5 bathrooms, tub/shower in one, refrigerator, lots of storage space. We had two dinners in Coastal Kitchen, which were wonderful. Nice sized balcony, made even better because my daughter was in the next cabin, and we were able to have the divider opened. JS also includes a kettle - important for a tea-drinker like me. 

In retrospect, my husband, adult daughter, and I probably would have been fine in one JS, but she wanted her own bathroom, and, since this cruise was for her, it worked out.

On 5/19/2019 at 12:52 PM, Truluv said:

This is probably dumb for someone approaching Diamond Plus (seems like I should know more about RCL), but is the food & service that much better (or unique) in the CK? 

My family ate in CK twice last December. The food was wonderful, but we had better service from our wonderful MDR servers. We had the early dinner service, with the same servers each time, so that probably made a difference. Plus, we were sailing with our adult autistic daughter, and the MDR staff was great with her.

They can't be used at port, but they can be used to purchase things on the ship, and unlock the cabin door. 

However, I found that, unlike the newer cards, they can de-rezz and stop working. Which can be a pain if you've just walked up six flights and can't get into your cabin. Ask me how I know... Fortunately, that only happened to us once, and Guest Services was able to get them working again. But after that we always carried our seapass cards as a backup. 

22 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Does that mean that a JS  guest can book CK  advance on Anthem?  

Not as of last December.

I was able to book through the app once as we got on board. Theoretically you can book any restaurant at any other restaurant. We tried that at Jaimie's (no line), but noticed that the reservations hadn't shown up in the app an hour later, so I booked through that.

4 hours ago, notyou said:

Hi - I was wondering - when you got the download link, it was only your photos, right? Did you purchase an "Unlimited" package?

I remember on board Explorer 3 years ago, I was able to use the on-board kiosks to find "missing" photos (ones with my son and his grandma) that the photo recognition missed, and then add them to my collection.

Did the website have any option for that (adding missing photos)? Or could you only download?

 

Thanks!

Only my photos, and it was an unlimited package. 

On the ship, I was able to view any photos that had been taken each day. There was one (that I know of) missing photo of my daughter on iFly. We were able to find and add that with the assistance of the photography staff. But there is no option once you are off the ship to search for any missing photos. Only the previously identified photos were available for download.

The J3 (former FJS) DH and I had on Anthem had one full- and one half-bath. That was great for us.

On 3/13/2019 at 1:50 PM, oddly excitered said:

started reading because that old dude with the dog in the canvas cart thing was on anthem during our cruise last month, over a year after your original post.

Does he live on Anthem? The two of them were on our 12/10/18 cruise.

1 hour ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

What is it misting, oil?  Does the oil leave residue on surrounding surfaces?  As a person with allergies, I am just wondering how these work as I know lavender is a popular oil and I am allergic.

About half a cup of water with one drop of oil, in my case. The mist is very fine, and there is no residue. I'm very sensitive to artificial fragrances, so I have to be very careful about the sourcing of my oils. They've become so popular that many have been adulterated with something less pure, and I'll start sneezing if they are used around me. 

The ones I use evaporate quickly, and I can't smell them within an hour after diffusing.

Lavender - I'm not allergic to it, but I can't sleep if I've been exposed to it within an hour of bedtime. But I have opposite reactions to a lot of things.

I have a small, USB-powered travel diffusor. No heat - just misting. No problem with it on Anthem.

I have a tiny crossbody purse - just large enough for my phone, sea pass, and lipgloss. I found mine at Vera Bradley - which often has discontinued patterns for half price. I was also able to use it for shore excursions, so I wasn't lugging a heavy purse. DH used a small backpack to carry the stuff he usually adds to my purse. 😜

USB fans are acceptable - and easy to pack. We had no problems bringing two of this on Anthem, along with a USB hub.

Any of the chilled fruit soups. On Anthem they had strawberry bisque and a lovely peach soup. Though the peach one was called something else. Served in the MDR for lunch.

On Anthem last December, we were told that the smokestack would be made retractable, so Oasis can fit under the bridge when she comes to Bayonne. Though that probably won't affect anyone's cruise experience, other than not being forever stuck at the bridge.😜

Theoretically, reservations can be made for CK at any restaurant. We stopped at the first restaurant that didn't have a line, and made them. An hour later I checked the app, and no CK reservations were shown for us. However, I discovered I could make reservations through the app once we were on Anthem. I was able to get them for 15 minutes later than I had originally requested. 

My recommendation is the check the app and make reservations once you board, rather than stand in line, or head up to CK.

The food was wonderful.

13 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Depending on the ship simply logging on with a new device will automatically log off the other device.

An Anthem last December, I had to log out on one device before I could log in with another.

Coastal Kitchen is available for dinner if you are in a JS. All meals if you are in any other suite. Dinner reservations are strongly recommended. Cafe 270 is my preferred venue when the MDR is closed. There are photos of the menu there elsewhere on this RCC board.

Not the entire divider - a portion closest the the railing. Plenty of space to walk between balconies, but you can't see the areas close to the doors.

My experience on Anthem with a 3-device plan (DH, myself, with DD next door) was that, while it didn't matter which three devices were signed in, one of them had to sign out before, say, a laptop could be signed in. We didn't have to worry about a device being booted off because one person tried to sign in a second device. A fourth device could not sign in until one of the three was signed out. Not just not in active use - physically logged out of the plan.

On our plan, the only way to log in was with the long, random code provided by Royal. No setting up an account with an easy-to-remember password. On my iPhone, I added the code as a text shortcut, so I only had to type in "xcode" to have the actual code entered. That saved a lot of time when I was switching between my phone and my laptop.

44 minutes ago, nelblu said:

 

 

In the future, contact special_needs@rccl.com

We did that on a previous cruise. And ended up at the next-to-the-last table - almost as far from the exit as it was possible to get. This time we were told to contact dining services. I wonder if the needs of autistic adults aren't taken as seriously as those of children.

We tried that for our autistic daughter, who needs to be able to make a quick exit when Happy Birthday is sung (long story). Requested a table close to the exit, so she could get in and out easily. The only response we received was a canned response, and we were seated far from the exit. Luckily The Dreaded Song was never sung while we were in there, though she hedged her bets by leaving immediately after dessert, while my husband and I finished at a more leisurely pace. And our dining staff was wonderful.

Before anyone flames me for allowing her to "run wild", she is an adult, and manages independently on the ship just fine without causing any disruptions.

I was on Anthem in December. No USB - a link to the photos was sent about a week after the cruise, with 30 days to download the photos. There was an option to download photos during the last day of the cruise, but the wi-fi (we had the full internet package) was so wonky at that point that I was only able to get a few of them. All photos from embarkation on were included.

My adult daughter was in her own cabin. We just made sure to have lots of photos of her taken that included my husband and/or me, so they went into our package.