General Questions about RC

[Compass Rose Monica]

Greetings,

I recently booked the Anthem of the Seas for 8 April 2016. DH and I have not cruised with RC since the late 90’s. Since that time, we’ve done mostly Celebrity (love the S-class ships) along with one Princess and one NCL cruise. I know this will be a very different cruise experience with a lot more bells and whistles, and we’re looking forward to it!

 

I have been reading the many postings on the RC forum to get a better idea of what we can expect for our cruise. I know the ship is not yet built but hoping I can get some answers from RC experts here who have sailed on the megaships or those close in size to the Anthem (167k tons).

The Anthem is not that much larger than the Celebrity S-class ships, but has the capacity of 4,905 passengers versus 2,850. Will we find any areas of the ship crowded?

I know RC is more family/kid friendly than Celebrity. Are there lot of kids on an April cruise? I know our cruise will be after spring break and Easter and close to the end of the school year.

 

Will it be difficult to get into the specialty/paid dining venues? I read the Fast Facts of the ship and the dining venues don’t hold a lot of people. I know everyone doesn’t eat at the same time but are there any specific venues that are very popular that should definitely be booked in advance?

Do we have to book all of our dinner and entertainment reservations in advance? I’ve been reading the postings for Quantum and many people have booked their dinners for every night of their cruise. Is this the norm for RC cruises? Or can one book a few nights and wing it for the other nights once on board? If I have to book all nights I would have to figure out the evening entertainment hours to cooridinate everything.

 

Is there a dedicated lounge for the nightly (5-8pm) Diamond happy hour (we’re elite+ with Celebrity)? Lately on Celebrity they have been giving 3 coupons per person per night that can be used in most lounges/bars (due to the large number of elite passengers and especially on the transatlantic). Does RC use coupons too?

 

Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

Monica

Edited August 13, 2014 by Compass Rose Monica

[UCF_Knight]

I know RC is more family/kid friendly than Celebrity. Are there lot of kids on an April cruise? I know our cruise will be after spring break and Easter and close to the end of the school year.

 

You'll be sailing 2 weeks after Easter, so I would imagine there won't be too many kids on your sailing.

[reedprincess]

Greetings,

I recently booked the Anthem of the Seas for 8 April 2016. DH and I have not cruised with RC since the late 90’s. Since that time, we’ve done mostly Celebrity (love the S-class ships) along with one Princess and one NCL cruise. I know this will be a very different cruise experience with a lot more bells and whistles, and we’re looking forward to it!

 

I have been reading the many postings on the RC forum to get a better idea of what we can expect for our cruise. I know the ship is not yet built but hoping I can get some answers from RC experts here who have sailed on the megaships or those close in size to the Anthem (167k tons).

The Anthem is not that much larger than the Celebrity S-class ships, but has the capacity of 4,905 passengers versus 2,850. Will we find any areas of the ship crowded? No one knows yet, as even Quantum (Anthems sister ship) has not sailed yet, with or without passengers. No one has any idea yet of passenger flow, etc. Having sailed on the mega-ships of Oasis and Allure - they feel much less crowded overall than Solstice Class ships - the passenger flow is amazing. However, whether this will hold true for Quantum/Anthem class remains to be seen.

I know RC is more family/kid friendly than Celebrity. Are there lot of kids on an April cruise? I know our cruise will be after spring break and Easter and close to the end of the school year. There will be some kids, but probably not overrun with children, similar to a Celebrity ship during summer holidays probably.

Will it be difficult to get into the specialty/paid dining venues? I read the Fast Facts of the ship and the dining venues don’t hold a lot of people. I know everyone doesn’t eat at the same time but are there any specific venues that are very popular that should definitely be booked in advance? Again, no one knows yet as neither of these brand new class of ships with the Dynamic Dining has debuted yet. It will be anyone's guess how the new dining concept will work out, and how much affect it may have on specialty dining reservations. My guess (pure guess) is that specialty dining will be similar in booking as it is now - usually not a problem.

Do we have to book all of our dinner and entertainment reservations in advance? I’ve been reading the postings for Quantum and many people have booked their dinners for every night of their cruise. Is this the norm for RC cruises? Or can one book a few nights and wing it for the other nights once on board? If I have to book all nights I would have to figure out the evening entertainment hours to cooridinate everything. Reservations are recommended in advance for both dining and entertainment (main shows). However, again - no one knows how the stand-by system will work, etc. As neither ship has debuted, it impossible to predict at this point.

Is there a dedicated lounge for the nightly (5-8pm) Diamond happy hour (we’re elite+ with Celebrity)? Lately on Celebrity they have been giving 3 coupons per person per night that can be used in most lounges/bars (due to the large number of elite passengers and especially on the transatlantic). Does RC use coupons too? RCI has begun doing the 3 drink coupons also on most all ships, in addition to dedicated lounges. Whether this will be the case on Quantum/Anthem has yet to be seen - as once again, no one has sailed her, and this type of info has not been released!

 

Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

Monica

 

See answers above. Most - impossible to answer at this point, as Quantum class ships have not sailed yet! Quantum just had it's sail out today, no passengers have sailed her, so no one knows yet how passenger flow/crowding is, whether Dynamic Dining is a hit or miss, or has any affect on Specialty dining, and so on. Will have to wait and see on those answers till after Quantum has a few sailings under her belt!

[UCF_Knight]

The Anthem is not that much larger than the Celebrity S-class ships, but has the capacity of 4,905 passengers versus 2,850. Will we find any areas of the ship crowded?

 

Nobody knows what areas of the ship will or won't be crowded until Quantum sails with passengers in a few months. I will say you are comparing apples and oranges, though, with your numbers. You are quoting the double-occupancy capacity of Solstice while quoting the maximum occupancy of Quantum class (with all 3rd and 4th bunks filled until the ship reaches lifeboat capacity). Also keep in mind later Solstice class ships carried more passengers.

 

Double-occupancy for Celebrity Solstice is 2,850

Double-occupancy for Celebrity Reflection is 3,046

Double-occupancy for Anthem of the Seas is 4,180

 

 

So at double-occupancy the stats would be:

Solstice: 2,850 passengers in 122,000 gross tons = 42.8 tons per passenger

Reflection: 3,046 passengers in 126,000 gross tons = 41.4 tons per passenger

Anthem: 4,180 passengers in 168,000 gross tons = 40.2 tons per passenger

 

Not a huge difference... about 6% less volume per passenger on Anthem compared to Solstice. And about 3% less volume per passenger on Anthem compared to Reflection.

 

BTW, maximum occupancies (maximum passenger lifeboat capacity), which would be hit in Summer, the peak of Spring Break, and during Christmas vacation season, are:

 

Solstice: 3,148 (38.8 tons per passenger)

Reflection: 3,480 (36.2 tons per passenger)

Anthem: 4,905 (34.3 tons per passenger)

[Compass Rose Monica]

Thanks for the comments. I know it's a best guess at this time. Wasn't sure if the Q class ships are similar to the existing RC ships.

 

As for number of passengers, I was looking at one web site that had those numbers. Didn't think about 4/cabin.

 

Looking forward to reading the reviews after Q has sailed a few times so so. :)

 

Monica

[FLACRUISER99]

You probably should either re-post or dig this one up closer to your sailing date since neither Anthem or Quantum has sailed and no one yet knows what to expect.

[CruisinBarb63]

I would not say there won't be that many kids on board. It gets pretty cold up here in the North, sometimes thru May so we are looking for a warm break. Our breaks are different than southern and western school breaks. In NY, our kids don't start school until after Labor day and go to school until the end of June. Our 2015 spring break is the week of April 6. They don't necessarily work our break around Easter anymore. We usually have our break the first or second week of April.