Royal Caribbean is adding additional time for guests to enjoy two of the premier attractions on Anthem of the Seas.

In an effort to enhance the overall guest experience, Royal Caribbean is adding support staff onboard to accommodate expanded hours of operation at Ripcord by iFly and North Star attractions.  This will allow more guests to experience these popular attractions than ever before.

The expanded hours for these attractions will be in place for sailings beginning November 27, 2016.

Royal Caribbean is also adding more convenient line-up of show times that complement the evening dining options. For guests in the early dinner seating at 6:00pm, their evening show will be at 8:30pm.  For guests in the late dinner seating (8:30pm), their show time will be at 10:30pm.

The additional hours are part of the changes Royal Caribbean is making to Anthem of the Seas that were announced this week, including a notable change to dinner.

Royal Caribbean will be discontinuing its Dynamic Dining program on Anthem of the Seas, beginning with sailings on November 27, 2016.

The reason for the change is feedback from guests indicated a preference for a dining program that combines traditional seating with the option for flexibility.  As a result, Royal Caribbean will offer on Anthem of the Seas My Time Dining program, with traditional and flexible options, as well as introduce new, upgraded dinner menus. The four main restaurants – Chic, Grande, Silk, and American Icon – will now become the main dining venues to support the My Time Dining program and will all feature the same upgraded dinner menu each evening. My Time Dining flexible venues will be located on Deck 4 in American Icon and Silk, while Chic and Grande will be designated as the early and late seating restaurants on Deck 3. The name and décor of each venue will remain unchanged.

All Anthem of the Seas sailings departing on-or-after November 27th, 2016, as well as sailings departing November 23rd, 2016 through April 14th, 2017 onboard Ovation of the Seas, will be impacted by this change.  In addition, beginning November 27th, 2016, Anthem of the Seas will offer either one or two formal evenings per cruise, dependent upon sailing length.

All active bookings on-or-after November 27th, 2016 on Anthem of the Seas will automatically convert to the new dining program, respecting all pre-selected times, party sizes and other reservation features.

Traditional Dining will occur in The Grand and Chic restaurants and choose between early (6:00pm) and late seating (8:30pm).  Traditional dining includes a fixed dining time, fixed venue, fixed table assignment and same table companions each evening.

Flexible Dining will occur in the Silk and American Icon Grill restaurants. Guests in Flexible Dining choose a preferred dining time and are seated on a first come, first served basis and include a variable dining time with fixed venue and flexible table assignments.

Families with small children can take advantage of My Family Time dining benefits while sailing onboard Anthem of the Seas. This is available as part of the traditional dining experience during the early seating time and can be reserved pre-cruise via Cruise Planner or once onboard. My Family Time dining allows children ages 3-to-11 to enjoy their meal within 40 minutes of seating before heading to the evening’s Adventure Ocean activities.

New, upgraded dinner menus will be introduced each evening in all four main dining restaurants. 

The decision to change how guests dine on Anthem of the Seas marks a tremendous reversal in fortunes for the Dynamic Dining program, which at one time was arguably heralded as the future of cruise ship dining. 

Back in March 2014, Royal Caribbean had previously announced its Quantum-class cruise ships would usher in a radically new dining program called Dynamic Dining, where there would be no main dining room and instead would offer a combination of complimentary and specialty restaurants for guests to choose from.  Then in August 2014, Royal Caribbean announced Dynamic Dining would spread to Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.

Guest feedback changed Royal Caribbean's plans, and Dynamic Dining was postponed indefinitely for the Oasis-class ships and a more traditional Dynamic Dining option was added.

The last day of any cruise is bittersweet and waking up today, we all felt a sense of tempered happiness knowing our 7-night cruise was nearly over. Still, we have a full day onboard to enjoy.

We all slept in after a few days straight of waking up early, and did not get up to the Windjammer until 10am.  It was quite refreshing never having much issue with crowds in the Windjammer on this cruise.

My oldest daughter went upstairs to Adventure Ocean for part of the morning session, while the rest of us strolled the Royal Promenade before taking time to record a live podcast episode with everyone in the group cruise.

It was fun sharing stories from our week together and I think it is safe to say we all had a lot of fun on this cruise together.

For lunch, we all had something different, with my wife and youngest eating in the Windjammer, my oldest daughter having take-out Johnny Rockets and I opted for a couple of sandwiches from Cafe Promenade.

The take-out Johnny Rockets was a new experience, and I walked into a very busy restaurant and placed a take-out order. Twenty minutes later, my food was ready to go in a bag.

In the afternoon, the weather improved and the sun came out and turned into quite a nice day.

I also noticed this one day drink package option.  And for those wondering, no drink card spotted on this sailing.

I also noticed in the casino that Royal Caribbean has its own brand of scratch-off lottery cards for $5 each.

To wrap up our cruise, I will share some final thoughts on the experience based on different aspects of the cruise.

Crew

The crew were outstanding.  Truly great all around and offered the kind of service Royal Caribbean is well-known for.  Many thanks to them for making us all feel like part of their family.

Specialty Dining

I managed to dine at 2.5 specialty restaurants (take-out Johnny Rockets counts as a half) and greatly enjoyed it all.  Sabor was my favorite of the lot, but Chops Grille is a solid experience all around.

The Izumi Express was a good option to have, although they seemed to run out of the popular rolls quite quickly. Do not wait if you want to enjoy some yourself.

Entertainment

My wife saw most of the shows onboard, but I thought the activities and shows were quite good. The Cruise Director (Cuddy) had a great personality and I enjoyed hearing and seeing him around the ship.

The top two shows on Freedom of the Seas remain Once Upon A Time and the Freedom-ice.com skating show.

Ports

We visited four ports and other than Falmouth enjoyed them greatly.  Falmouth suffered from bad weather (rain), so not much that be done about that.

While I love Cozumel, our private yacht in Grand Cayman made that day my favorite day of the cruise and we had a blast onboard!

Drink Package

The question I have been asked a lot is if buying the drink package was a good idea.  I feel I broke even financially in terms of drinking enough per day, although that number is skewed by the fact that having the drink package I would order more drinks than I might have had otherwise.

That being said, I really enjoyed not having a bar bill at the end of the cruise and I think the real value of any drink package is pre-paying your drinking tab ahead of time. I will strongly reconsider the drink packages for future cruises because of that reason.

Conclusion

Overall, we had a great time onboard and I really enjoyed this cruise.  Enjoying a Royal Caribbean cruise with friends from Royal Caribbean Blog was a lot of fun I cannot believe how quickly the week went by.

Freedom of the Seas offers so many great things to do that I really believe it is one of the best ships in the fleet and an equally great value.

Thank you to everyone that followed along with this live blog and I cannot wait for my next cruise already!

Today is our last port stop and it is in Cozumel, Mexico.

We were scheduled to dock at 10am, so we took it easy this morning and got ourselves going and to the Windjammer for breakfast prior to our arrival in Cozumel. 

We dropped both kids at Adventure Ocean and then my wife and I went to see Cozumel. 

Immediately, we took notice of the weather because it was very hot and humid, with little to no breeze.  Unlike any other port stop on this cruise, it was plain hot outside without much relief.

We took a taxi downtown and had breakfast at a bakery just a few blocks from the main street area. We each had a pastry for $1 total.

Next up, my wife went to get a massage and I opted to grab a bite to eat and beer to drink. 

Usually I do more exploring while my wife gets her massage, but it was so hot and humid, I could not even think of walking around.

Eventually I had to leave to meet up with my wife, and we tried to do some walking around but again, the heat was so tough on us that we decided to eat lunch and return to the ship.

We wanted to try a new spot for lunch but they were not open for lunch, so we ended up returning to our favorite restaurant in Cozumel.

After lunch, we took a cab back to the ship and bid farewell to Cozumel until next time.

Back in the wonderful embrace of Freedom of the Seas' air conditioning, we got the kids and decided to enjoy an afternoon ice cream break at Ben & Jerry's on the Royal Promenade.

We returned to our staterooms to relax and get ready for our evening.

Following a well-deserved nap, we got the kids dressed (it was PJ night) and up to Adventure Ocean just as our ship departed Cozumel.

The pre-dinner entertainment for this evening was in the Schooner Bar, trying out the take-out guacamole from Sabor.  The other day, we spotted that guacamole was available from the Schooner Bar, so I wanted to try it out. For "research."

All you have to do is go to the Sabor desk and order guacamole and/or margaritas. Believe it not, this was a single serving of guacamole and salsa and it was $10.

Our dinner plans for the evening were to try out Chops Grille.  I struggled to remember the last time I ate at Chops, so we made a reservation earlier the cruise.

Chops was packed, and deservedly so.   The food was terrific and I really enjoyed everything I ordered.  Another lovely meal at Chops!

It was 70's night tonight, but we were all tired from our Chops adventure (Chops Grille is an adventure), so we called it a night.

Tomorrow is our last day and it will be a sea day.

Stray Observations

• Best bet for a taxi in Cozumel when there is any kind of line is to walk next door to El Cid resort and pick one up there.  Done that twice now and no waiting.
• If you want to find great restaurants in Cozumel, walk at least 2 blocks away from the main street along the ocean. In my opinion, if you can see the ocean, you are too close to it.
• Debarkation was very quick, despite the late docking time. The crew really has debarkation down to a science and it makes things very efficient.
• Saw this on the elevator randomly today
  
• I noticed this deal on future cruise excursions. Other than this, I am not aware of any discounts on Royal Caribbean shore excursions
  

Drink Count

2 drinks and 2 coffees

We love sharing Royal Caribbean photos that our readers send in because they are so much fun to look at.  We want your photos too, so send us your best Royal Caribbean photos to share with the world.

Our first photo this week is by Wayne Gonzales of Jewel of the Seas docked in St. Croix USVI. Love the sunburst! 

Wendy shared a photo from her Western Caribbean evening oboard Allure of the Seas. Evenings are always so lovely when on a cruise.

Next up, is a view of Grandeur of the Seas, through Jack Pine in Bar Harbor, ME, by Julius Lacano. That is quite a vista!

Santana Little sent this photo, taken from another beautiful day on Labadee.  I think everything is better when you're on a floating mat in Labadee, right?

Cake! Jan-Arild Knutsen sent us this photo of Rhapsody of the Seas celebrating her 18th birthday in the South Pacific with Captain Gustavo cutting the cake. 

This photo is from a winter day aboard Quantum of the Seas, by Norman Sutton.  Not exactly what guests had in mind when they booked the cruise (but I bet it melted quickly).

Let's warm things back up with a shot from Jennifer's St. Thomas sailing excursion via Freedom of the Seas.  Fantastic view!

If we didn't include your photo this week, then that means you need to send it in to us for use on a future Friday Photos post.  We want to see your favorite Royal Caribbean cruise photos and you can use this form to send them to us.

After a many year absence, I have returned to Grand Cayman today and I had grandiose plans.

There is no dock at Grand Cayman, so Royal Caribbean tenders guests to port and in order to avoid any kind of delay, I was first line line for the tenders at about 7:15am and literally first person onboard at 7:30.

The tender ride to Grand Cayman was  shorter than I remembered and I was in Georgetown shortly thereafter.  Since Grand Cayman is an hour behind ship time, not much was open at that hour, so I found a coffee shop to sit and relax in until it was time for our plans.

Our plans were simple: we reserved a private 55' yacht for everyone that booked into the Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise group. I did this to reward folks that support this blog by supporting our sponsors, and this was a joint, "thank you" on behalf of Royal Caribbean Blog and MEI-Travel.

Promptly at 9am we boarded our beautiful yacht for a day's worth of adventure.  

The yacht was, well, wonderful and the crew were at our service for the day.  We basically indicated what we were interested in doing, and they made it happen.

We made four stops on an absolutely stunning day.  We went to Starfish beach, snorkeled, went to Stingray City and then snorkeled again.  

Everyone had such a fun time onboard swimming, talking, exploring and enjoying the fabulous weather.

After the excursion was over, it was time to head back to the ship in order to get on one of the last few tenders.

My late afternoon activities mostly consisted of going in and out of napping in our room.   I think the sun and swimming caught up with me and no level of my kids playing could disturb me.  

For dinner this evening, we decided to go back to Sabor because, well, we love it there and wanted another opportunity to eat there without the kids.

The food was just as good, and I was able to try two new menu items that I had never tried.  Don't worry, I also went with my tried and true favorites as well.

The first was the Mezcal margarita, which is not on the regular menu but had a wonderful smoky flavor to it.  

I also tried the duck burrito, and I am not a big duck fan, but this had really awesome flavor to it.

All in all, another great meal at one of my favorite Royal Caribbean specialty restaurants!

To round out our evening, we took in a classic Royal Caribbean show, the Quest!

Tomorrow, we will be in Cozumel.

Stray Observations

• The tendering was very easy and no one reported much of a wait across many times.
• Speaking of tendering, there evidently was a special line to return tender for Diamond, Diamond Plus, Pinnacle and Suite guests, although I did not see it in action.
• I learned today one can make a NextCruise reservation for someone not on the cruise.  So you can buy cruises for friends or family without having them onboard or you in the reservation.
• I mentioned I was on the first tender of the day.  I got in line about 7:15 and was on the 7:30 tender.

Drink Count

5 drinks, 1 coffee and 1 bottle of water.

One of the most popular spots to visit on a Royal Caribbean cruise to Grand Cayman is Seven Mile Beach for the clear water, beautiful beach and amazing views.  Across Seven Mile Beach, you will find lots of hotels, beach bars and other establishments that offer different experiences for guests to enjoy while there.  One such location is the Royal Palms Beach Club, which can be a great spot for those looking to spend some time on Seven Mile Beach with some extras included.

The Royal Palms is a quick taxi ride away from where Royal Caribbean's tenders drop guests off.  Simply exit the tendering area, go past the shore excursion area and into the parking lot.  From there, you can take a taxi that will be a short 9 minute ride for $4 per person.

The Royal Palms has a $2 per person entrance fee, and then it is up to you to pick and choose what you want. There is plenty to see and do at Royal Palms, and this means you can customize your day here to suit your needs.

Umbrellas will cost you $15 per day, beach chairs $10 and beach cabanas are $100 for the day.  There are also other optional activities that are available to purchase, such as jet ski rentals, snorkel gear, paddleboards, parasailing and more.

The Royal Palms has a restaurant and bar, which you can order from and enjoy the food on the beach or at the bar.

There is also a pool available for use.

Thanks to Royal Caribbean Blog reader Ken Jarvis for providing these photos and details for anyone interested in checking out the Royal Palms for themselves.

Royal Caribbean is looking for the right person to be godmother to its newest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas.

Harmony of the Seas will make her debut in the U.S. In November when she arrives in Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and to celebrate the cruise line has partnered with South Florida ABC affiliate Local 10 to find a woman who is inspiring the next generation to dream big and think differently.

South Florida residents are encouraged to visit www.local10.com/godmother and nominate a mentor, educator or teacher whose passion for education and a better tomorrow inspires students to make a positive impact on the world. The winner will not only be honored as godmother of Harmony of the Seas during the ship’s official naming ceremony on November 10, 2016, but a $25,000 grant will also be awarded to her school or non-profit organization to fund education initiatives that will further her mission to inspire South Florida’s youth.

In addition, the godmother will have the opportunity to host a “field trip” for those whose lives she has influenced to be her guests at the Harmony of the Seas naming ceremony, and will set sail later that evening with three guests on a two-night pre-inaugural cruise.

She will also receive a future seven-night cruise for two onboard the ship.

The contest is open to volunteers, full- and part-time employees at of a school or educational organization in Miami-Dade County, Broward County or Palm Beach County. Self-nominations are also accepted. Nominees must be legal residents of Florida and 21 years of age or older at time of nomination and nominators must be 13 years of age or older as of date of entry. Official Rules can be read by visiting www.local10.com/godmother. The Entry Period for nominations ends on September 23, 2016.

“Royal Caribbean’s legacy is built on a dream that began in a small trailer on Biscayne Boulevard,” said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “That’s why when we thought about the godmother for Harmony of the Seas, a ship that is not just the world’s largest, but the ultimate expression of our history and future, we knew that we wanted to pay tribute to our roots and community with this designation. Who better to welcome Harmony home than an outstanding woman who is inspiring the dreamers and innovators of South Florida’s next generation.”

A maritime tradition and honor historically reserved for heads of state, politicians and celebrities, godmothers not only break a bottle to christen a ship, but also serve as guiding spirits to its guests and crew. Royal Caribbean looks to capture the essence of the role by choosing women whose life lessons and achievements illustrate the kind of courage, dedication and determination that are an inspiration to all. For more information on the maritime tradition of ship godmothers, visit www.royalhometownhero.com.

Today we are in Falmouth, Jamaica and we did not have any excursions planned so we decided to just "go with the flow."  

On our last visit to Falmouth, we tried a nearby beach excursion but the kids did not love it and wanted to take it easier this time. 

Our ship did not dock in Falmouth until 10am, and so we took this opportunity to sleep in and take a little slower.

After breakfast in the Windjammer, it was time to head down to Falmouth.  Disembarkation was simple and we were able to get ashore with no wait.

Once in Falmouth, we went to Margaritaville, which is right inside the port area and has no cost for entry. Plus, it has a nice pool for the kids.

This was our first time here, and it was about what we expected. The pool was nice, although it lacked a shallow end (3 feet deep everywhere), but it has a fun waterfall feature.

We had a few drink and some chips, but the kids started to get crabby around lunch so we decided to head back to the ship for lunch at 1pm.  

Lunch was in the Windjammer, and they had some interesting choices, like an Asian soup station and a make-your-own pasta station.

After lunch, we stayed on the ship but the weather started to go from cloudy to rain.  It rained the rest of the day, making a return to Falmouth unlikely.

I did get off the ship to head to Dairy Queen for our "Blizzards in Jamaica" meet!  

All in attendance enjoyed a Dairy Queen blizzard treat and it tasted great!

The rest of my afternoon we spent back in the afternoon and took it easy. I think a lot of the fun from the last few days started to catch up with all of us.

Our evening was pretty similar to past few evenings: Fed the kids, brought them to Adventure Ocean and then enjoyed some drinks and dinner (not necessarily in that order).

Stray Observations

• We discovered today that one can order guacamole from Sabor at the Schooner Bar without paying the cover charge. It costs $15 and consists of two servings and it's only available during regular Sabor hours.
  
  
  
• The Cruise Compass lists tonight's dress code as "Tropical Casual". Not only have I never seen this dress code mentioned before, I have no idea what it means.
• The schedule of activities today reminds me of embarkation day because of how few there are.  Our late departure (6:30pm) seems to be the likely reason.

Drink count

There is a phenomenon among drink package guests that I call "drink fatigue," where after a few days you start to lack the desire to order drinks because they may have indulged so much earlier in the cruise. The reason I bring this up is because it has started to hit me.  I did not have a drink today until the evening and today I felt less inclined to order a drink.

4 drinks + 2 coffees

Today might have been our family's best day in Labadee!

We arrived in Labadee just around 8am and our family got up around that time to get ready to for a day of sun, beach and ocean fun.  

Breakfast was in the Windjammer at around 8:30am, and it was busy, but we opted once again to dine in Giovanni's Table because it is reserved for Diamond and Diamond Plus guests.

Our plan was simple for today, we reserved a beach cabana at Nellie's Beach.  Usually, I opted for the over the water cabanas but with the young kids, the beach cabanas are a better choice because the over the water cabanas have steep stairs between the cabana and the ocean, whereas the beach cabana has much easier ocean access.

We walked off the ship and right to the golf carts waiting to take us directly to Nellie's Beach.  I love the private transportation service you get with the cabanas, especially with the kids.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the beach cabanas were on the beach, but at the back of the beach in a reserved area.  Whereas the beach cabanas at Barefoot Beach are right on the beach near other guests laying on the beach, these cabanas at Nellie's Beach were in the back to provide more privacy.

We got settled in quickly with our cabana attendant and then it was straight to the ocean!

Our group cruise meet for today was a meeting of the "Labadoozie Appreciation Society." I was surprised to see a brand new Labadoozie cup design that came in four colors, although it does not have the word "Labadee" written on it anymore.

We enjoyed our Labadoozies and headed back to Nellie's Beach for another swim.  

Lunch was the usual Labadee BBQ, and I ordered veggie burgers, which I enjoyed quite a bit.  

After lunch, we went to the beach for some more relaxing and swimming.  The kids enjoyed alternating between time in the ocean and playing in the sand.  It seemed like we struck the right chord on this visit of fun, good weather and the ultimate X-Factor, kids in a good mood.

I also took this opportunity to walk over to Columbus Cove and check out the water slide, water park and the new beach bungalows.

The bungalows look quite nice, and are very similar to the cabanas.  Coming in at $225, they are cheaper than the cabanas, but the trade-off here with the bungalows is they are spaced closer to each other and lack a third wall.  Not a big deal, and the beach views are quite nice.

By about 1:30pm, the kids were starting to "hit the wall" and we decided to bail before any meltdowns.

I know the cabanas are expensive ($399 for what we reserved), but considering the fact we split the cabana with friends, and had it for the entire day, the breakdown in hourly cost per person is more than a deal. And having a private retreat to enjoy was really nice, especially with our terrific cabana attendant.

Back onboard, everyone showered and I made a quick stop to Starbucks for much-needed caffeine. 

This evening was the Top Tier Crown and Anchor Society event, which is a welcome-back party for the Platinum and above members.

I really enjoy these events because I find it refreshing as a customer to have the company take time to recognize its most loyal customers.  Sure there are some complimentary alcoholic drinks here, but the idea of the event is what brings me back.  Plus, sometimes you pick up interesting tidbits or news from the Captain or another officer.

Following the event, I took my daughters for dinner at Sorrentos (of course) and then dropped them off at Adventure Ocean and the Nursery for the evening.

Prior to dinner, we opted to enjoy drinks in my favorite bar on Freedom of the Seas, R-Bar.  I love the hand crafted cocktails here and it is one of the best bars for people watching.

Dinner in the main dining room was lovely, and I enjoyed the Greek moussaka. 

Our evening activity was checking out the 80's dance party in Studio B.  I had never seen one before and it was fun to hear songs we all known the words to and watch folks dancing. 

Tomorrow we will be visiting Falmouth, Jamaica.

Stray Observations

• The Labadoozie cup with the drink package is an out-of-pocket cost of $3.50.
• When in the Labadee BBQ line, look for shorter lines because there are multiple lines at each BBQ station.  
• Always remember to bring cash for tipping non-Royal Caribbean staff at Labadee.
• The best, yet under appreciated, reasons to book a cabana: towels provided for you, so no hauling them back and forth from the ship.  This means our beach bag is about half the size it might otherwise be.  Also, the golf cart shuttle to/from your cabana is just plain awesome, especially with kids.
• I was concerned about it being oppressively hot and humid today, but the humidity felt lower than what I was expecting and a nice breeze made for a fabulous weather day, especially for this time of year.
• I was informed that if you are from England and have a English hair dryer, be sure to bring a European power adapter to make it work.

Drink count

8 drinks + 1 coffee