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ANTHEM Sept. New England - Trying to decide whether to do North Star on sea day or


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We did it while in Port, I would do it then as while at sea you only get to see the Sea and the ship which will be crowded, on a Port day you can get some good shots, also, I don't think they go 'over the side' anymore, only up and down.

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There is a risk of being cancelled on a sea day. If winds are too high, they won’t operate. We just got off Anthem and were told ‘over the side’ is prohibited on US sailings due to US law.

 

Does this mean while only at U.S. ports or the whole cruise? Does it go over the side if your docked at a port, say Labadee?

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Making reservations for 6 for North Star. Can't decide whether to do on sea day or while in Halifax. Wondering if any downsides or upsides for either. Thanks for any info!

 

I would do it in Halifax. Such a cool place, but especially with the Citadel. I actually have it booked (for my upcoming cruise) on a sea day and after reading so many reviews, am going to try to do it on embarkation day. Everyone seems to say its so much better in port.

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It means the whole cruise. We were on a sea day when told this.

 

Who told you it is against the law?

 

They shortened the NorthStar rides to up and down and a little turn side to side because that only takes 9 minutes as opposed to the 15 minutes it takes when the go over the side. This allows them to offer more rides each day, giving more of the passengers a chance to ride. This change was made after many complaints about so few people being able to ride NorthStar.

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I would do it in Halifax. Such a cool place, but especially with the Citadel. I actually have it booked (for my upcoming cruise) on a sea day and after reading so many reviews, am going to try to do it on embarkation day. Everyone seems to say its so much better in port.

 

We did it on one of our Anthem cruises just after we went under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. We had a beautiful view of the city. We were able to book a reservation using the Royal IQ app right after we boarded the ship.

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Are you limited to how many times you can ride NorthStar?

 

You can only have one reservation at a time, but you can make another one, if there are any available, after you have completed your ride. They also take standbys at times, so just walk by and ask if there is availability.

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We were going to do it embarkation day, but then decided to hold off until the last sea day. Darn thing broke down on day 3 and was out of service for the whole rest of the cruise, for whatever reason.

 

I'd book it earlier than later if possible.

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Are you limited to how many times you can ride NorthStar?

 

 

You can only reserve it once in your My Calendar per cruise but can do other rides on a stand by basis. I was able to do two more trips after the reserved one on the Anthem cruise we did last month. I simply asked to be on as a stand by when I noticed not many in line for the North Star. Once was when I stayed onboard while in port at Cape Canaveral, DW and grand kids went on an air boat excursion and other time was a sea day back to Cape Liberty. Also have done more than one trip on stand by on the other four Anthem cruises we've done.

Edited by robtulipe
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Who told you it is against the law?

 

They shortened the NorthStar rides to up and down and a little turn side to side because that only takes 9 minutes as opposed to the 15 minutes it takes when the go over the side. This allows them to offer more rides each day, giving more of the passengers a chance to ride. This change was made after many complaints about so few people being able to ride NorthStar.

The attendant operating the North Star told us. Perhaps he was just blowing smoke, who knows.

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You can only have one reservation at a time, but you can make another one, if there are any available, after you have completed your ride. They also take standbys at times, so just walk by and ask if there is availability.

 

You can only reserve it once in your My Calendar per cruise but can do other rides on a stand by basis. I was able to do two more trips after the reserved one on the Anthem cruise we did last month. I simply asked to be on as a stand by when I noticed not many in line for the North Star. Once was when I stayed onboard while in port at Cape Canaveral, DW and grand kids went on an air boat excursion and other time was a sea day back to Cape Liberty. Also have done more than one trip on stand by on the other four Anthem cruises we've done.

 

Good to know. Do they accept reservations for embarkation day, or is it stand by?

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We just got off Anthem and were told ‘over the side’ is prohibited on US sailings due to US law.

Hmmmm,,, we were recently on the Anthem. We were told that they discontinue "over the side" to reduce the ride time. With an Up, Turn, Down, they can do 2 trips every half hour (vs. one trip per half hour). The change doubled the capacity of the ride.

 

We booked our NorthStar as we were leaving New Jersey (after the bridge :) ). And then we went stand-by at one of our ports of call. With 2 trips every half hour, they fill the cabin on the first trip. Leftovers (latecomers) go on the second trip with stand-bys if there is room.

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I'd recommend going on North Star while in port, or at least while close to land. I scheduled it on a sea day and unfortunately it was foggy so you couldn't see much. Note that it closes while in Boston due to the proximity of the airport.

 

I haven't heard of Ripcord being closed due to high winds, unless it's simply unsafe to be out on deck. In our case it broke down a couple days before our cruise ended and they were unable to fix it at sea, so those people had their bookings cancelled. I'd recommend going early, because if you like it there's usually room to go again later in the cruise.

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I'd recommend going on North Star while in port, or at least while close to land. I scheduled it on a sea day and unfortunately it was foggy so you couldn't see much. Note that it closes while in Boston due to the proximity of the airport.

 

I haven't heard of Ripcord being closed due to high winds, unless it's simply unsafe to be out on deck. In our case it broke down a couple days before our cruise ended and they were unable to fix it at sea, so those people had their bookings cancelled. I'd recommend going early, because if you like it there's usually room to go again later in the cruise.

 

Good to know. Seems like the consensus is earlier rather than later for both North Star and iFly.

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