terpfan101

I did do the BOGO specialty restaurants and did Jamie's then Wonderland. Worked out well for Wonderland to be on formal night.

Just got off the Anthem last week on a five night cruise and had a great time. Anyway I thought that this would be helpful to some people as I had searched for it to no avail before my cruise.

https://app.box.com/s/kh5mzl83kzuajb40ztdqaqh4u7q9t3qo

Great review to relive my 5 night cruise last week on Anthem. Only wish it was longer and this review makes me wish I could do a 9 night cruise on Anthem, unfortunately, the Zika threat has us not wanting to go to the Caribbean until we finish having kids or it's eradicated.

You need to find someone willing to film/photograph during check in or reserve separate times.

 

Biker, who was the photographer for two couples who simply asked.

How strange I was just on last week and my wife and I went at the same session, I mentioned that I wanted to take photos of her and vice versa to the instructor (a nice English guy) he said no problem, my wife and another lady stayed outside of the tunnel while the rest of us went and they me and the husband of the lady went out to video our wives go.

Was on the Anthem last week and got the drink package before hand. Well worth it in my opinion, though I think it made me feel the need to drink a bit more. It was nice not having to worry about it though and a few times I got a drink which I didn't like, no problem just get another one!

Is this still accurate? On Anthem next week and got a 1:30-2PM "appointment" but was planning to get there closer to noon so would love to be able to board then.

Not much help as I don't have any input on MDR menus but I'm curious as well since we are headed on a 5 night berumuda cruise on the Anthem on June 3rd. Are you on the 5 night to bermuda out of Baltimore on the Grandeur or on the Anthem out of NJ? These are the only two ships I see with this itinerary.

 

Side note, we lived across from the Italian Store in Arlington for 7 years! Love NOVA.

Ha funny coincidence, though I no longer live in Arlington (I had lived very close to the Italian Store). Need to update my profile. We're on Anthem out of NJ (wanted the nicer ship).

Hello! Back on my first cruise in July since 2012...I've certainly missed cruising! Anyway was hoping to get some assistance so I can plan the 1 night to do a specialty restaurant. Does anyone have any relatively recent experience with MDR menus on a 5 night Bermuda cruise? For reference, here's a great review with the MDR menus. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2465882&page=9 Trying to determine which menus correspond to nights 1-5 on the 5 night cruise.

Thanks in advance!

I've never experienced many differences between the two decks. I was recently on deck 6 ( Oasis, very forward , second room from the front of ship), and did feel a slight bit of movement. I don't have sea sickness issues and this movement just lulled me to sleep.

 

If the travelers are used to deck 8, then perhaps that is the best deck to book.

 

good luck and enjoy

M

Yes my concern is that the front on 8 is probably worse than middle of deck 11.

Just curious if there'd be a meaningful difference between being on deck 11 in the middle of the ship and deck 8 at the front of the ship on the Anthem as far as seasickness goes. Traveling as a group of four and two have had mild issues never been that high on a ship usually stay around deck 8 and not had major issues.

Does each guest in a cabin have all of their charges grouped on the final stateroom bill? We're thinking of booking and switching two people and want to make sure we can isolate how the charges are billed.

Hello it's been ages since my last cruise (back in 2012) and on that cruise I paid $100 deposit for myself thinking I would use it sooner. Well 5 years later and it looks like I'll only be booking a 5 night cruise and get a $25 OBC. Anyway I'd like to go through my usual travel agency to get a nice OBC offer. How do I go about doing this? Do I call the agent and give them the certificate or do I need to contact Royal first? Thanks in advance!

I snagged multiple of these Amex offers across multiple cards/authorized users and am getting ready to book a cruise with a travel agent. Here are a few questions:

1) Are charges made with a TA are charged by RCCL as opposed to the agency?

2) Once I pay the deposit, how can I make multiple $450 payments towards my cruise? Through RCCL's website, the agency?

3) If I pay the cruise in full before final payment date and then need to cancel before the final payment date, I would receive a full refund?

Thanks!

Hey Victoria! I just wanted to say great review. I spent a good few hours reading it from start to finish late Friday night. I'm not really too keen on ever going on the Monarch or Majesty to be honest though and these views were confirmed after this review. To me the ship really shows its age and its a good thing Royal is going to replace these ships with newer ones! Glad you had a great time though and I do encourage you and your family to give Allure or Oasis a try at some point. I think you'd love it!

Thanks to all for the kind words! It's your encouragement that makes me continue to write these detailed reviews.

 

I do try to keep a positive spin on my trip reports - just because a few bad things here and there aren't going to put a damper on my vacation, and I don't want them to be a downer on my trip reports, either. I don't think I'm a Royal Caribbean cheerleader or a hater... I am just a fan of cruising. :)

 

If you're already anticipating my next report :D, it will probably be of our next Christmas cruise - not sure where we're going or what cruise line we're sailing, but I did overhear my parents talking about flights the other day! And if you need a 'LittleMiss fix' in between, check out my travel blog. I'm leaving for Hilton Head this afternoon (in a few hours and I haven't packed a thing - ack! :eek:), and I'm trying to squeeze another Disney trip in this summer.

 

I'm subscribed to this thread, so if you have any questions about the Monarch or the itinerary, feel free to ask, and I'll get back to you asap!

 

Until then, happy cruising! :)

Gah I'm guilty of having opened your post way back when it started only to not start to read yet as I know I'm going to need a lot of time. Now I'm really going to need a lot of time to get through it while continuing to finish mine. Have fun in Hilton Head!

Hey Victoria! I haven't had the time yet but look forward to reading this review as your Adventure review is what inspired me to write my current review of the Allure...check it out at the link in my signature! Hope you're having a nice summer break...I wish I still had those!!

No worries about not responding sooner! My holiday is not for quite a while. Sorry to hear about the frustrating experience with Royal Caribbean. It is disheartening when you receive poor customer service and when their representatives are rude and not easy to work with. Hopefully the families will do their own thing and you will not have to deal with them much, just the graduates will hang out. Thanks for the information about St. Croix, we were thinking of making it a beach day as we will be probably be doing tours of the other islands with some beach time. But the jeep tour sounds good, so we will keep that in mind. I heard that celebrity is good with better food than Royal Caribbean ( but I have also heard that they usually have an older crowd but that could depend on time of year you are going and where). My parents are doing a Scandinavian/Russia cruise this summer with Celebrity so I will see what they think. But I do not think Celebrity is as bad as Holland America in terms of average age of the people on board. I believe we were in Barbados and met this couple from England probably in their 60s and they found the age group on their Holland America cruise too old for them, mentioned there were to many people with walkers. Princess is good too, I have friends that have gone on and a close family friend just went on a Princess cruise in Feb and she really enjoyed it (she has gone on Royal, Norwegian and Princess). I was also looking to do a celebrity cruise (may be for Hawaii, just see which cruise has the best option).

 

Good luck with your Monarch trip and all of the added frustration.

I did the El Yunque rainforest tour with my family when I was 18 back in 2004. It was a cool place but not a rainforest like you'd imagine in South America. There were lots of plants/trees and some wildlife, but no exotic animals or anything like that. If you have plenty of time it'd be worth going to. I remember we did have a very good tour guide.

Hi everyone...has anyone used to NCL discount yet when not actually on NCL? Also what are thoughts on the middle package vs the royal swim? Middle package for 2 with 25% off is $50 less than royal swim, and I'm not sure if it's worth that to be able to have the pull and standing ride. (Royal swim also doesn't get the belly ride). So seems like it's just a net of 1 additional thing.

Incredible pictures and those islands look beautiful. Which camera are you using? I'd love to do that itinerary, even though I'm so close to Baltimore, I think I'd prefer to do it from San Juan/FL though since 12 days is a bit too long to take off of work.

Yes, they had the first welcome back party for all C&A members on the third night in Studio B (ice rink). That's when they showed us their new "The Sea is Calling" promotion. We also received chocolate bars with seashells on them - a new treat! They also recognized three couples for having the most cruise nights onboard and provided them all with a bottle of champagne.

 

The C&A party for Platinum+ guests was held on the 6th night, I believe. It was in the Imperial Lounge. They had a couple dance for us as entertainment (this was the first time I'd been to a C&A party with entertainment).

 

We received a letter in each of our staterooms at the beginning of the week, welcoming us back and highlighting the two parties as C&A events to attend. We also received invitations the night before each party with our cruise compasses which we took with us as a "ticket" to the event.

So is there one party for everyone (huge because golds are included) and one for everyone who's higher than gold? Was the gold and above one worth going to? I'm not even sure if they have them on Allure but it'd be nice to go.

Can't believe you're finally done Victoria...I enjoyed your review and you've inspired me to write one like this for my cruise on the Allure in June!

Great review and thanks for whomever brought this back from the dead as I had yet to see it and am going on her in June. Glad to see your son has an alright taste in food and was able to eat the mains at the MDR as it reminded me a bit of myself from 12-14 years ago

I'm glad you enjoyed my trip report! Lately, I've been spending wayyy too much time on CC, wishing I was still cruising the Caribbean. So all I can do is research for my next cruise. It's a big group trip with a lot of people who haven't cruised Royal Caribbean before (and several first-time cruisers), so I've been using Google Docs to store all of the information I find on the ship and the ports. I call it "productive procrastination." :D

 

I'm not sure when I fell in love with cruising. I went on my first cruise (Disney) when I was seven years old, but I think I was too young to fall in love with cruising itself. I also had a great time on the Alaska cruise we went on when I was 9, and several years later, we were looking for a vacation and the thought of cruising popped in my head. I remember sitting at the computer, 12 years old, having just picked out a cruise vacation and Dad said, "Book it!" But I think when we really fell in love was when we decided to cruise the Caribbean during Christmas time - it was a great escape, and we look forward to our Christmas cruise every year.

 

We've also found that cruising is a good way to kind of avoid crowds. There can only be so many people on a cruise ship. We love going to Disney World, but we don't like dealing with the spring and Christmas break crowds - so we visit WDW during the off-season and cruise during peak vacation time.

 

The southern caribbean route is wonderful - I really prefer it over eastern/western routes. Have a wonderful time on your cruise! :)

Thanks! I can't wait for the Allure...I've been amazed by the design/engineering of it since the Oasis was first revealed. You'll definitely have to get on one of those two ships at some point! I was just looking up Disney World info and as I only was there once when I was 8, I was shocked by the high prices during peak season! Give me a cruise any day.

So do you have any suggestions for the ports of Cozumel or Falmouth Jamaica (feel free to Ochos Rios/Montego Bay if you've been there). Thanks :)

Oh my goodness! My wife I just booked a Southern Caribbean cruise on RCI, so I was looking at your thread. As I was reading it, I realized I was at your parents wedding in Jackson MS!! Tell them that Pam and Doug say hello and give them our warmest regards!

 

Its kind of funny how things turned out... your dad and I worked together back in the day. We both were bachelors and ended up marrying Mississippi ladies. I have two daughters. Like you all, we love to go to Disney (in fact I have one daughter who went to school and is now working at Walt Disney World), and we also love to go on cruises.

 

I can tell you have a wonderful family (no surprise, given your parents!) and I know your parents are very proud of you. Man, it seems like yesterday your dad and I were single guys in Mississippi. And now, we both have families with grown up girls, going on cruises. And I run across this thread on an internet site. What a life! :)

:eek: Small world...not involving me but the fact that this happened blows my mind!

Victoria,

Great review...one of the best I've seen on CC, probably because you're around my age...I'm 26 and my girlfriend gives me a hard time for being on here so much and that I must be the youngest one posting on here. Glad to see several other 20 something users!

You and Rachel are adorable and I enjoyed seeing the fun you had with your family...it was so addicting that I spent a bit too long reading during work! Oops. Anyway your review has convinced me to do a southern route for the next cruise I book! Oh and how did you develop this deep love for cruising?

Jeremy

PS. I'm a UMD graduate...our basketball team plays you guys down there in a few weeks...rawr