DancinDaisyDuck
Nothing left for me to do but dance
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2007
UPDATE: We are booked!
Hello there DIS Cruisers. DH and I are considering a President's week 2021 cruise with our two teens. We'd be on the Anthem sailing out of Bayonne. We picked this itinerary for a couple reasons: 1- the ship! Husband and I have only been on 1 cruise before a couple years ago on the Rhapsody. What a level up to the Anthem! We think the teens will have plenty to do on this ship. 2 - the location. We don't have to fly to the port and that helped me justify this trip to Husband. Imagine the savings!, I said. We won't have to fly!, I said. You can take me to dinner at Wonderland!, I said (sneakily into his ear while he slept). 3 - A balanced itinerary of Port stops and sea days. On our Rhapsody cruise in the Mediterranean we were all about the ports, and the ship, while it holds a sweet place in our hearts as our honeymoon trip, was really just our transportation. She didn't have all the bells and whistles Anthem does, and since this itinerary is 3 ports and 3 and a half sea days, I am looking forward to busy days on land (drinking at Coco Cay sounds like it takes a lot of energy) and exciting yet relaxing time on board exploring and playing.
So the couple things I wanted to get some perspective on. What is February like at sea en route to the Bahamas and then coming back? We are in central NY and know what February feels like. I expect it to be chilly so we'll probably stay mostly indoors on departure day. The first full day we are cruising, Next day we dock at Port Canaveral at noon. Next Day Coco Cay, Then Nassau, and then 2 full days at sea back to NYC. I want a balcony for Husband and me (kids will share an interior room across the hall somewhere) but he thinks we will have more cold days than warm and won't use it enough to justify the price. He'd prefer an Oceanview. How to convince him we'll use it on days 2-6? I am also wondering why it will take a day and a half to get to Florida, but I suspect that has to do with the port schedule and when we can dock there. Anyway, in February south of the Mason Dixon line, how warm will it be and is there a chance of rough-ish seas at this time of year in the Bahamas? It's not hurricane season but that doesn't mean storms don't happen. I've never been to this part of the world before except Florida so I'm trying to think about this ahead. What are temps like at this time on Coco Cay and Nassau?
This itinerary is during President's Week and Mardi Gras. Virtually all schools in the Northeast have vacation this week. I doubt folks will fly up to NYC from Louisiana just to take this cruise, but you never know. So we anticipate a nearly sold out ship. How well does RCCL manage crowd control?
I am curious about dining times. I know it can vary. We had late seating on our last cruise because we wanted to be posh and European but we quickly realized it was too late for our stubborn American habits, lol. What time is the first seating? I struggle with this because on some cruises it's 5:30 and that's too early for us, but 8 p.m. is too late. We'd do My Time for 6:30 pm but we don't want to schedule it so we can't make either the early or later main shows. We also liked having the same servers when we did the standard dining time on our last cruise and we made great friends with our table mates and loved seeing them every night.
And now the biggest question of all - when should we book this? There's a promotion now for 50% off a second guest. Since we'd have 2 staterooms on 1 reservation do we get 50% off just one person or more? It's so far into the future I am hoping we still have some time to mull it over. I know Husband wants to wait but since it's a vacation week I want to act soon and at least put a deposit down. Disney opened 2020 packages today so I don't want to overwhelm my travel agent with this booking if we're not serious about it. I mean, the worst that happens is we deposit $1000 and get it back if we have to cancel before applying any additional payments.
Thanks for all your wisdom!
TL;DR: I'm planning a cruise with my family very far in advance.
Hello there DIS Cruisers. DH and I are considering a President's week 2021 cruise with our two teens. We'd be on the Anthem sailing out of Bayonne. We picked this itinerary for a couple reasons: 1- the ship! Husband and I have only been on 1 cruise before a couple years ago on the Rhapsody. What a level up to the Anthem! We think the teens will have plenty to do on this ship. 2 - the location. We don't have to fly to the port and that helped me justify this trip to Husband. Imagine the savings!, I said. We won't have to fly!, I said. You can take me to dinner at Wonderland!, I said (sneakily into his ear while he slept). 3 - A balanced itinerary of Port stops and sea days. On our Rhapsody cruise in the Mediterranean we were all about the ports, and the ship, while it holds a sweet place in our hearts as our honeymoon trip, was really just our transportation. She didn't have all the bells and whistles Anthem does, and since this itinerary is 3 ports and 3 and a half sea days, I am looking forward to busy days on land (drinking at Coco Cay sounds like it takes a lot of energy) and exciting yet relaxing time on board exploring and playing.
So the couple things I wanted to get some perspective on. What is February like at sea en route to the Bahamas and then coming back? We are in central NY and know what February feels like. I expect it to be chilly so we'll probably stay mostly indoors on departure day. The first full day we are cruising, Next day we dock at Port Canaveral at noon. Next Day Coco Cay, Then Nassau, and then 2 full days at sea back to NYC. I want a balcony for Husband and me (kids will share an interior room across the hall somewhere) but he thinks we will have more cold days than warm and won't use it enough to justify the price. He'd prefer an Oceanview. How to convince him we'll use it on days 2-6? I am also wondering why it will take a day and a half to get to Florida, but I suspect that has to do with the port schedule and when we can dock there. Anyway, in February south of the Mason Dixon line, how warm will it be and is there a chance of rough-ish seas at this time of year in the Bahamas? It's not hurricane season but that doesn't mean storms don't happen. I've never been to this part of the world before except Florida so I'm trying to think about this ahead. What are temps like at this time on Coco Cay and Nassau?
This itinerary is during President's Week and Mardi Gras. Virtually all schools in the Northeast have vacation this week. I doubt folks will fly up to NYC from Louisiana just to take this cruise, but you never know. So we anticipate a nearly sold out ship. How well does RCCL manage crowd control?
I am curious about dining times. I know it can vary. We had late seating on our last cruise because we wanted to be posh and European but we quickly realized it was too late for our stubborn American habits, lol. What time is the first seating? I struggle with this because on some cruises it's 5:30 and that's too early for us, but 8 p.m. is too late. We'd do My Time for 6:30 pm but we don't want to schedule it so we can't make either the early or later main shows. We also liked having the same servers when we did the standard dining time on our last cruise and we made great friends with our table mates and loved seeing them every night.
And now the biggest question of all - when should we book this? There's a promotion now for 50% off a second guest. Since we'd have 2 staterooms on 1 reservation do we get 50% off just one person or more? It's so far into the future I am hoping we still have some time to mull it over. I know Husband wants to wait but since it's a vacation week I want to act soon and at least put a deposit down. Disney opened 2020 packages today so I don't want to overwhelm my travel agent with this booking if we're not serious about it. I mean, the worst that happens is we deposit $1000 and get it back if we have to cancel before applying any additional payments.
Thanks for all your wisdom!
TL;DR: I'm planning a cruise with my family very far in advance.
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