bangzoom6877

Thank you so much for such a wonderful review!  I need to start making a list of drinks to have on the deluxe drink package!  But that cotton canditini  is calling my name. Wishing you safe travels as you return home to Florida. 

We’ve gotten thermal suite passes on cruises before and we usually end up spending between 30 and 60 minutes in there, and we come out feeling completely relaxed. 15 minutes would be way too short. 

Also, regarding my time dining, it is my understanding that even if you reserve a time for dinner, you can still show up at your leisure and they won’t turn you away. 

10 hours ago, aring75 said:

 

I’m pretty sure for our cruise right now it is $13 and under. I will make absolutely certain tomorrow. 

 

ETA - I think the max drink value can vary by sailing. 

Thank you so much!  Keep eating, drinking and being merry!  

Bar Harbor looks as beautiful as ever!  We were there in August 2003, after the big blackout up here in the northeast. It was only 42 degrees at night, which was a welcome relief after having no power for a couple of days in the August heat!

Thanks for posting the Schooner bar menu. Looks terrific. Just to clarify...drinks $13 and under are covered in the deluxe drink package, correct?  Sometimes I read that it’s $13 and under, some people say $14 and under, some say $12 and under. 

I’m so sorry for the triple post above. Then I couldn’t figure out how to delete two of them so I edited and just deleted the contents. I’m still getting used to the new CC lol. 

19 hours ago, aring75 said:

 

12 hours ago, RunnerGurl615 said:

 

19 hours ago, aring75 said:

 

12 hours ago, RunnerGurl615 said:

 

18 hours ago, aring75 said:

 

I haven’t really been looking as I’m not lactose intolerant, I just have to be careful of the amount of dairy I eat. (It’s a migraine trigger for me.) I haven’t seen any non-dairy ice cream, but I also haven’t asked for it. However I can tell you Jaime’s had sorbet on their dessert menu and I almost got it. It would have been perfect after such a big meal.

 

I will see if I notice any non-dairy desserts (other than those they have indicated by the little symbol on the dinner menu).

Thank you so much!  I carry lactase drops with me but I prefer to just avoid foods with a lot of dairy in them. I can eat things like cookies made with butter because butter isn’t a trigger for me, and I don’t need to take my drops for it. Ice cream kills me, and while the drops do help, it still makes me bloated and uncomfortable even with the drops. I can do hard cheeses...Swiss and cheddar without the drops, or mozzarella with the drops. Cakes depend on if they have cream in them. I’m sure I’ll do just fine!

12 hours ago, RunnerGurl615 said:

 

Hey Bangzoom.....DH and i did BOGO last year.  when we walked on, we turned right and went to Wonderland and asked what we were assigned.  We were then able to change from our assigned Chops to Wonderland and we kept Jamies as it was what we wanted.  so no worries, you can switch restaurants.  you may not get the exact time you wanted but you can certainly switch.  

 

Thanks for the tip!  I plan to go right to a specialty restaurant as soon as we board, to see what they give us. We’re flexible with the time, as we won’t have the kids with us this time. Just prefer not to sit down much later than 8pm. We are used to eating dinner earlier so if they only have an early time that would be fine. 

I love your review and all the pictures so far!  Thanks so much for taking the time to post pictures of the compasses, menus and your experiences. 

This is lactose intolerant girl is sooooo happy to hear that they will use almond milk for the specialty coffees!  I plan to take full advantage of the coffee options with the deluxe beverage package. My husband is very happy to hear that he can get a shake to go from Johnny Rocket’s on the drink package too. 

The trolley in Boston looks terrific. I’m sure we will end up doing that and checking out some of the sites where it stops. We were in Boston once, many years ago, on a New England road trip we had taken. We were traveling from Bar Harbor, Maine to Newport, Rhode Island and we stopped at Cheers for lunch. But that was it. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Boston when we go on the Anthem in April. 

The food all looks fantastic on the ship. Would you be able to tell me if they offer any dairy free sorbet as desserts, or dairy free “ice cream”?  

Im actually considering iFly after reading your review of it. My husband said he’s definitely not doing it because he’s actually been skydiving so he doesn’t think he would enjoy it much in comparison. But I just might give it a try. We’re definitely doing North Star. Trying to do that in Bermuda because it’s such a beautiful island. 

Cant wait to read more, especially how you like Jamie’s. I bought the BOGO 2-night specialty restaurant package which I’m giving to my husband next month as our anniversary gift, even though he has to wait until April to experience it lol. My hope is that we get into Wonderland because my husband is a huge Alice in Wonderland fan, and the tasting menu looks so unique. The other one I’d like us to go to is Chops Grille because we both love steak very much. But I’m also curious about Jamie’s. We’re Brooklynites and Italian,  and we have some of the best Italian restaurants here, plus I cook Italian food at home a lot, so Jamie’s really wouldn’t be our first choice.  But I did see the menu for Jamie’s on the Royal Caribbean website and they have some unique items as well as the typical Italian dishes. 

Keep enjoying!  Bar Harbor is an amazing place!  We had lobster at the docks there when we went there, and we loved Cadillac Mountain and Acadia National Park. 

I’m loving your review so far!  Keep enjoying!

i also can’t read the daily planners, too blurry. But I always enjoy ship photos, and of course drink and food photos!

I’m following, as I’m also curious about what some favorite dishes are. We go on Anthem in April. 

I saw the reply about RCCL generally having key lime pie on their ships. I love key lime pie. I hope they have it when we go. 

Looking forward to reading your review of the ship!  We are going on Anthem in April during Easter week, to Bermuda and Boston. This will our first cruise without our sons since we had them, they’re 11 and 13 but will be 14 and almost 12 when we cruise. Have a wonderful cruise, can’t wait to read all about it.  

On 10/16/2018 at 4:19 PM, Archangelclk said:

I am flying into Orlando 1 day before my cruise from Canada. Where can I get some of this Noro spray hand sanitizer from? Does walmart carry it? Ill be staying close to Port Canaveral and would like to pick some up before we embark.

I always buy it on Amazon. I haven’t seen it in a store yet. 

Exactly. There has to be 5 reported cases within 5 hours (5 in 5) for procedures to be put in place, even then it’s not referred to as an ‘outbreak’ at those numbers.

Every cruise a number of guests and crew will come down with noro and get quarantined. Doesn’t mean every cruise there’s a Noro outbreak!

Some people are so dramatic haha!

I guess this virus really has always been around...in schools, day cares, nursing homes, hospitals, etc. Anywhere there are people in close quarters. It’s in recent years that the media has been sensationalizing it. With something like noro, I fall for it every time, because of my fear of vomiting. Probably also because I’m a teacher and I have two sons of my own in middle school!

I was on the 9/28 through 10/5 cruise. I saw the barf bags but what I found odd was (1) the seas were NOT rough and (2) the barf bags were not at every stairwell. I've been on ships with rough seas and the barf bags were found at every stairwell on each floor. Odd to me.

That is pretty odd. I’ve also been on cruises during rough seas and as you said, barf bags by every stairwell/elevator. Maybe left over from the previous sailing?

I sailed the Song of Norway in 1974 and the Nordic Prince in the late 1980’s. There is nothing in service or food faintly close to what is offered today

Times change and RCCL is competing against the other big cruise lines. Although the ships are bigger with more frills, the days of that time in cruising are long gone for RCCL.

If u r looking for that, try Oceania or Regent

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Oh yes, I’m well aware that those days of cruising are long gone on the family friendly mass market lines. Just reminiscing about how things once were. I’m grateful that they’ve managed to keep the cost of cruises where they are today so we can afford to cruise. To me there is still no feeling like walking onto a ship on that first day and just saying, “Ahhhhhhh!” :)

Thanks, I’ll just keep checking!

We sail on Anthem in April. How far in advance can we book shows and activities? We want to try and reserve North Star for when we are in Bermuda, and there are a couple of shows we want to book as well. Thanks in advance!

During the chat with Michael Bayley on recent Presidents Cruise, he said some of the old menus would be used.

 

He also said midnight buffets would be prevalent

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

How old are the old menus that would be used? Did he say when this or the midnight buffets would happen?

I know this is old, but I just thought I’d chime in. I went on Nordic Prince to Bermuda in 1990, when I was 13. It was my first cruise and I loved it. My family and I still talk about that cruise. We all fondly remember the “King and I” salad dressing! It was amazing! What fine service and food was on that cruise. A lot of firsts for me since I was only 13 but many ended up becoming favorites of mine from that cruise forward...escargots, roasted duck, filet mignon, lobster...just to name a few.

Sorta. When I click on cruise planner it still says it's done for scheduled maintenance until 6. Its past 6 though

I just tried and got the same thing.

195 days until Anthem and I’m just happy we are under the 200-day mark!

RCCL uses Purell

Thanks for sharing this. I will be bringing my Germstar Noro, and we will be using that after we use the sink to wash our hands by the Windjammer when we eat there on Anthem. I think the sinks by the buffet are a great idea!

 

Oh boy! I can only imagine how much better the website will work after this maintenance period. :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I’m hoping it works, but who knows.

It's not really a very good noro-killer. Maybe twice as good as "known to be basically useless" alcohol sanitizer gel. Washing hands with soap is about ten times better than those wipes.

The only hand sanitizer that I know of to be effective against noro is Germstar Noro. I carry this sanitizer with me all the time (I work in a school). The gels do not work because the ingredient that makes it into gel form blocks some of the alcohol, and noro is resistant to it at that point. The one I use is a spray, not a gel. On Carnival I’ve seen Purell hand sanitizing gel. It’s useless against noro but effective against other illnesses like colds and flu. Not sure what Royal uses, as we’re going on Anthem in April and it’s my first Royal Cruise since 1992. On NCL, they had the Germstar Noro brand.

Washing hands properly is still the best defense. Emphasis on properly. How many times were you in a public rest room and someone simply gave their hands a quick rinse and shake? That’s not enough. Then there’s washing with soap but just for a few seconds. That’s not enough. The idea is to wash off and rinse the germs down the drain. It takes washing for 20 seconds or more. This is also the effective way to wash hands in defense against the flu and colds.

I use the Germstar Noro after washing my hands at school when I’m about to eat something or after using the rest room, for example.