Horshamflyer

Has anyone check-in on the Anthem lately? My set sail pass says our sea pass card will be outside our stateroom door. My question is will I be able to get my sea pass before the rooms are ready. My arrival time for check-in is 11am. Usually rooms are not ready till 1 or 1:30.

There's usually one outside and the other is on the bed. You still can't get to the staterooms as the main corridor doors are closed.

And we'll see how this goes from there! I'm starting this with the intention of following through to a complete "review" or walk-through of our vacation, but we have a lot going on besides the cruise right now so please be patient and forgive me if I have to quit before I'm done! :eek:

 

Today marks just 11 days to embarkation! The anticipation of cruising is *almost* as fun as the cruise itself, and this one is no exception, but we have a big move happening before & after this vacation, so my brain is going crazy! We can't wait to board Anthem at Cape Liberty next Thursday and RELAX after what I know is going to prove to be a stressful couple of weeks.

 

My family is DH (30), me (27), and DS (1.5), and we are traveling with my mom and dad (not posting their ages out of respect :p). We try to do a vacation each year with them, but haven't done a cruise for a few years because we got a little tired of the same Caribbean ports. We actually booked this cruise right after our last vacation together in northern California about a year ago, and are really looking forward to the NE and Canadian ports. My parents will be staying in a Grand Loft Suite and we will be a few doors down in a balcony room on the 8th floor. It'll be interesting to hear what their thoughts are of the genie and other Star Class perks. And to see how we, as their traveling companions, are affected by them (if at all). I should mention, we begin with no expectations that we will see any benefits at all from their genie, since we are not Star Class, other than ease of confirming reservations for dinners that are with them. Just being together and not cooking or cleaning makes an enjoyable vacation for us!

 

We have booked everything in advance... well, kind of. iFly, North Star, Puzzle Room, and all 3 bookable shows are reserved. We also have the 4-Night Dining Package. My parents have booked reservations for specialty dining through RCL Dining for themselves (Wonderland on Day 1, then Chops once, and Jamie's twice later in the cruise). Once we get onboard, they will ask their genie to add us to their reservations for each of those 4 nights. We will not have any drinks packages, as we aren't big drinkers, and this is our first cruise as Diamond members, so we plan to use the lounge for specialty coffees, and happy hour for drinks. Beyond that we don't mind paying for maybe one additional special drink each day for DH and I.

 

We have not booked any excursions or tours through RC or otherwise, but we do have vague plans in mind for each port. Scratch that, we've reserved 4 bikes and a bike trailer in Halifax, but otherwise we plan on doing our own thing, which I will tell you about afterward.

 

Last week we did a lot of cruise shopping, and this weekend we've been trying to get our house purged and packed up. We have furniture being picked up for donation later this week, and our 2 U-Boxes being delivered on Thursday! Tomorrow I'll start doing laundry, and by Wednesday I hope to have all of our cruise suitcases packed up (so nothing for the cruise gets accidentally put in storage!). So exciting! ...Better go now, I'm supposed to be working on packing up the kitchen today, the worst room to pack!

Hiya

If you have a chance on your next cruise could you find out what time we have to get off if we do the "stay awhile" on disembarkation day? We are going on the 10/6 cruise. RC just say it depends on the ship.

Good Evening All,

 

Just a mere 12 hours from now we'll be strolling up the gangway at Cape Liberty to board the mighty Anthem of the Seas.

 

We sailed Quantum two years ago and fell in love with her, looking forward to spending some quality time with her younger sister. I will be reporting on the excitement on board, from Dynamic Classic Dining to the Behind the Scenes tour. Planning to post frequently and include some pictures too.

 

Hoping to get a spot on the ultra-top secret Puzzle Room and take bounce on the bumper cars.

 

If you have any questions I will do my best to answer them for you. See you from the high seas.

 

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan

Could you find out how long you're allowed to stay onboard with the " Stay awhile" option? We are on Anthem for the Canada/NE cruise Oct 6th. RCCL have only said it's determined by the cruise staff and from $33.09 each. Trying to decide whether to do the above option or get a day room at EWR before our evening flight.

Thanks

Great review! As far as chair hogs - no, RCI crew don't enforce the rules because they don't want to upset any guests. (And that goes for ANY rule, not just the pool chairs.) I think the rule should be if you are not physically in the pool or on the chair - no reserving! That would end that issue. Or....make people pay per hour! On our recent Serenade cruise the pool guy told me that he takes everything off a chair if no one has been there within 30 minutes (like the posted signs say). I didn't really believe him but then again it was a Baltic cruise so there was only 1 day when this was an issue.

 

We sailed the Oasis last August and it was just way too crowded. Lines everywhere were such a turn-off and I hate the things that you mention like people holding seats in the shows. I also am not a fan of having to make reservations for everything. Takes the spontaneity out of my vacation![/quote

 

 

 

 

 

I've sailed on Anthem twice and will joining her again in Oct for the Canada/NE cruise.

 

On our previous cruises on her,we found that the pool butlers in the Solarium were very good. They constantly patrolled the pool area to make sure passengers didn't hog the loungers. I saw many an argument with passengers who had come back after being away for hours only to find their belongings had been taken to the towel pick up for safe keeping. They saw nothing wrong with hogging the vacant beds when others were trying to find seats. I felt very sorry for the PB's with the verbal abuse they got.

I have to believe it as due to the strikes. It affects taxi drivers and shuttle is drivers. Without those it would be tough to get around

We didn't get into Marseille two years ago due to strikes. We were on a much much smaller ship. We went to Sanery sur mer instead. Much nicer. Can't believe the strikes are still going on. I thought they'd stopped a couple of weeks ago.

I'm on Harmony now. The captain came on yesterday to tell us that due to the strikes, we would not be able to make Marseilles. He extended the stay in Palma until midnight and tomorrow will be an at sea day.

 

 

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Was it just the strikes or because of the unrest with the football hooligans ?

Of course the media will hype it all up but still doesn't look too good there. We are on Harmony next week😊 Wonder if we'll go there.

We kept looking at the Palma port cam wondering why HOTS was were still there.

Suites get bath amenities from L'occtaine. I was lead to believe they are fairly high end ...

We did 22nd of May first cruise on the Harmony and although we were missing lots of things in our suite we did actually have the upgraded soaps.

And to reiterate these cruises were sold as the 4 night getaway and the 3 night getaway.

RCIs spin that these are some sort of Preview or Shakedown cruise was not reflected in either the marketing or the pricing.

 

 

 

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How right you are. They were never marketed as discounted shake down cruises.

Regarding Fine Line, I agree about the bizarre spinning man. We sat in front of one of the directors of the show and she was telling us how amazing he was and that he goes into a trance to do the act. Didn't do anything for me. They need to ditch him.

That's so funny about the spinning man. We watched part of the rehearsal on the 22nd of May cruise and wondered what on earth his talent was meant to be. We go back on Harmony on the 19th of June and my husband said if he's still in the show I'm not wasting my time,we'll sit at the back so we can leave.

We also saw the ice show. Great skating but as with the other quotes,we came out of studio B wondering what the story line was all about.

Tenors of Rock were excellent.

Regarding Fine Line, I agree about the bizarre spinning man. We sat in front of one of the directors of the show and she was telling us how amazing he was and that he goes into a trance to do the act. Didn't do anything for me. They need to ditch him.

That's so funny about the spinning man. We watched part of the rehearsal on the 22nd of May cruise and wondered what on earth his talent was meant to be. We go back on Harmony on the 19th of June and my husband said if he's still in the show I'm not wasting my time,we'll sit at the back so we can leave.

We also saw the ice show. Great skating but as with the other quotes,we came out of studio B wondering what the story line was all about.

Tenors of Rock were excellent.

I was on the three nighter and still haven't heard anything from RCCL about future cruise certificate. Booked with them direct.....how do I go about contacting them please?

I wrote to RCCL on their " contact us" part of the website,customer service. A week later I still hadn't heard anything back and that was after speaking to a human as well. Eventually I rang them but not on the expensive number. It was an 01932 number. I spoke to a very nice lady called Ashley Lloyd. Her direct e-M is alloyd@rccl.com. She sorted out our complaint straight away.

Hope this helps.

Was it you who tried to book CK before you sailed (which can't be done by anyone as far as I'm aware). Did you actually go along to CK whilst you were onboard and got turned away as I would have gone straight to GS or spoken to the Concierge at that point.

 

You say you found out once you got back, so I'm a bit confused :confused:

I tried to book before left but we were told because we only had a JS we didn't qualify to eat there. On previous occasions on RCI, Anthem last year and Jan this year we were told the JS is only a larger cabin and doesn't entitle you to eat in CK or any of the other suite benefits. We've had the argument with RCI over the years that the JS shouldn't be called a suite if get you nothing other than just a larger cabin. I just thought I'd try it again but to no avail. At that point I just accepted we couldn't.

When we returned home I looked up what Sea class was entitled to. That's when I saw we could eat there. We had no information in the suite regarding dining venues.

I didn't go to the CK as I had been told we couldn't dine there. We had great food and service in the Silk restaurant any. It's just the incorrect info that's annoyed me. All our booking said was just JS,nothing about Sea class.

First of all thanks very much for taking so much time out of your cruise, loved both your vlog and blog, it will make planning for our cruise in October so much easier.

 

May i also say that i think that somebody who has payed as much as people on this cruise, have a right to their opionion and the way that it effects them personally, both good and bad, after all this is an open forum.... personally i have to agree with you that you should be made aware of the fact that a lot of the service you pay for would not indeed be available. RCI sound in this case as if they have just got greedy... the arguement of "would you rather they would have cancelled would not wash with me im afraid, in my opionion this could have easily been resolved by an email, asking if you would like to cancel or they could have offered people onboard credit before they boarded and the reason for this offer RCI are not new to this game and surely they that this is going to leave a sour taste in people's mouths, and as said a lot of people are not aware about cruise critic or have not read about shake down cruise before.

 

Anyway thank you very much for your very detailed and informative live review i have enjoyed every minute of it. :) cheers Mandy x

That's all it needed from RCI was an e-mail BEFORE we sailed advising us of the ongoing work and the various areas of entertainment that weren't working. I agree with you,I have a right to my opinion about the ship. It seems the "powers that be" in RCI chose to just take the money and ignore customer service.They let the very hard working patient crew take the flack. By now there should've been an apology by e-mail at least from HQ. Instead,Ken Rush,the most senior Cruise Director in the company to stand up on stage and say it for them!

An article in today's The Mail made it sound like the cruise from hell. Now, I don't know how much The Mail embellishes their stories, but the photos they published made the ship look really bad. One woman claimed that 90% of the children's areas were not operational. There was a photo of what looked to be a couple hundred unopened boxes stacked to the ceiling in a public venue. And people claimed that safety glass on the top deck wasn't installed. Another passenger said the cruise was sold as an inaugural cruise, but RCI now claims it was never advertised as such, but only as a shakedown cruise.

 

Another passenger claimed that they were offered £204 per cabin (They booked 5 cabins), as on board credit. She claimed that they weren't happy with that since they had an all inclusive cruise and could never spend that amount on board.

At least she's been offered some form of compensation. We've had nothing back from RCCL despite calls to MIA & Uk Guest relations. We had no hot water and sometimes no water. We booked a suite and still weren't allowed to book the suite restaurant. Having returned home I've now found out we should've been allowed in.I've been on first cruises before and the ships have been great,just the odd niggle but there was a lot more to finish off on the Harmony.

No you cannot book online before hand if you are in a JS. I was set to go up there and make reservations but they automatically appeared in my RoyalIQ.

 

I had also heard robes were on request but in both cabins they have been there waiting. Even got 2 when I was travelling with my first timer friend.

 

 

 

 

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Interesting to hear that. No reservations appeared in ours. It's only a little thing but we'll see if they appear on our next cruise on the 19th.

Hi I think the concierge service is for sky class suites eg GS and above - apparently JS can dine in Costal Kitchen evenings only and you need to pre book? I downloaded a suite brochure which explained all the different perks, they should have given you a leaflet on boarding explaining your entitlement though

 

 

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Not a thing in the suite. Didn't even get the Diamond robes. Apparently they're on request now and they didn't have any. The RCCL one was so small for my hubby 😊

I tried pre booking before we went as soon as dining became available. We're back on the Harmony 19th of June in a balcony cabin. Can't say I'm really looking forward to going on her again. If I could switch to another ship I would but I'm so restricted with time off work. So this time I can't use the CK anyway.

Is there a curtain that separates the living room area from the bedroom area? They have had this in the other JS's we've been in...but I don't see any evidence of this in the picture you sent.

I know what you mean about the small table on the balcony. We kept looking at the Boardwalk balconies and wondered why they had large tables and JS had a tiny coffee table. It's not like the JS balconies couldn't fit a bigger table on there! We love to dine out there,on warmer days of course not like the Rotterdam cruise ❄️

Other JS comments: no clothes line in the bathroom ( nor in the Broadwalk balcony either).

The plug in the bath is very raised and it is directly where you stand under the shower..... You will stub your toes!

As mentioned huge balcony but no loungers and only a very small table so not suitable for dining.

 

Kettle and coffee machine with 2 bags of Starbucks Seattle Pike Place roast. Tazo trabags do get your own Tetleys from Park Cafe.

3 USA plugs, 1 European and 2 USB ports.

Huge walk in wardrobe.

Fabulous room with access to CK for dinner too! Despite the compass still saying CK is for GS and above....

Wine was free flowing and complimentary in CK last night. Not sure if this is the norm or whether we just were lucky.

Food and service were superb.

 

 

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We had tried to book CK before we went. Not allowed in there. Annoyed that it appears we could've used it.

Here you go, we got our welcome aboard email yesterday HM_Concierge01@rccl.com and HM_Concierge02@rccl.com hope that helps

 

 

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Was that service only available to GS and above? I know we didn't get anything in a lowly JS. 😕

We had " Royal suite class " sea class on our sea pass cards. I tried booking CK before we left.Not allowed . However after returning home and checking out the sea class info it says we can use CK. Annoyed about that.

We've just done the 22nd of May cruise.

We had 8240 JS and no curtain. We commented on that while we were onboard.

No luggage tags. I asked when we dropped out bags as had expected the rfid tags.

 

I have seen a couple of wow bands but not sure where people have got them from. There was non in the room or any information on how to get one.

 

 

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Not 100% sure but we had them in a junior suite. Perhaps it's only suites now that get them? We had them on Anthem last year in a balcony cabin.

I got it at a good price - W gty and they gave me a GS!

It was nice having access to the CL and to CK.

When I'm on in 2 weeks it is back to reality and a balcony!

Lucky you getting the GS from Gtee. We only got a JS on our upcoming 4 night cruise. So no added benefits for us but if you've paid a solo price you deserve a GS!

Just wondered about location as we're up the A24

I noticed the diamond lounge looked a bit too rammed. A bit like the schooner bar just before the start of a quiz. Not my cup of tea really, but each to their own.

At a rough guess,assuming they haven't changed the size of the DL on Ovation,it was around 60-70 guests if every seat was sat on with the sofas. We rarely got a seat in there on the Anthem and ended in the over flow Music hall each night.

The waiters get to know your face and come out to offer you drinks.

https://vimeo.com/163368279

 

A video of my Grand suite.

 

 

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Hi Little Britain

Thank you for the pictures and the video. I've been showing them to my daughter who sails on the 22nd.

Just out of interest,where in Sussex are you ?

Did you find the divider more restrictive in the Grand suite? I think I liked the previous spacious design on the Voyager class. It seems a lot smaller or is that just camera angle?

Just done a test in the solarium.

 

I find it hard to believe these figures as it is pretty fast for me. No problems opening and replying to these posts for example...

We've cruised on Anthem twice and the speed and signal has been better than I get on my BT broadband at home. I was even face timing from the North Star over the side of the ship with no freezing of signal.