scottishcruisefan

I had small stud earrings in - I was made to take them out.

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I wore my glasses no problem under the goggles on anthem in January.

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I don’t eat fish / seafood and let them know first day of cruise. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and didn’t feel as though I missed out.

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Great review so far :)

 

Did you have to pay for room service?

No breakfast is no charge.

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Your review is giving me a nice reality check on what to expect on Anthem in 2 weeks. It's going to be cold, and I can see how that will affect where people go and what they can do. I'm going to bring a couple of games along for one thing. We enjoyed scrabble in the game room area above 270 but they didn't have much else. I think in my mind I was packing for a tropical vacation lol but winter clothes are needed for at least half the cruise.

 

I assume the outdoor pool is closed, and associated outdoor bars? No music? No movies on the big screen?

Yes outdoor pool closed nearly whole time. Snow on deck first 2 days and snowing last couple days too. Think there was one movie shown in theatre one afternoon. It would have been good if outdoor movies had been shown somewhere else.

For the majority of time most indoor areas cosy enough but certainly not hot.

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Thank you for sharing your experience on Anthem. We are sailing Anthem for the first time the end of March. How did the check in go? I noticed the online check in is a bit different, asking for pictures be uploaded in advance.

Check in very quick. No lines.

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Saturday 6 Jan

Long lie as I could see weather had was colder and no way was I braving the solarium today. Headed to Windjammer for breakfast around 10. Total zoo - packed, no seats, too busy! Turned round and headed off again to Solarium Bistro. We had a nice relaxed breakfast despite the more limited choices.

Captain just announced 20.f at moment with windchill much colder!! (Around. -6??)

Did 11.00 sports trivia. Poor member of staff despite being English struggled to read and pronounce the questions. We are currently waiting on 12pm Harry Potter quiz so can’t wait to see how she copes with that! Again Schooner packed out. Perhaps more entertainment needs to be laid on during adverse weather like this when no outdoor areas can be used?

Lunch at 270 then did “Royal Mystery by Puzzle Break”. Team cluedo type comp. Great fun and we did well despite just being 2 of of us. Needed our adult sons with us on this one lol!!

Wandered back through to Schooner for next trivia. As I said options limited when you can’t really go outside. Shopping galore going on in esplanade - crap shopping in other words. So called non bargains galore;)

Dinner at Solarium Bistro again tonight. Was very quiet. Great service and lovely food.

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Another few musings so far:

Formal night - first formal night was on 31 Dec . 2nd tonight so I can’t comment. Despite all the negative posts on here 99% of passengers were dressed very smartly and had certainly made a big effort to dress for the occasion.

Drinks: my order has often been wrong. I’m sure on a few occasions the actual alcohol is missing from my cocktail too.

Trivia’s - one of our guilty pleasures lol! I’m not being judgmental but...... RCI- Please choose staff who can actually read the questions and even slightly understand what they are reading !! I’m not talking about language issues, here the multi lingual staff do a fantastic job - just basic reading /comprehension ability.

No peanuts handed out in any bars??!! I like a salty snack now and again and have got them on other ships? I did ask and was was given a puzzled blank look?

Friday 5 jan

Another day a sea in cold windy conditions. After an early night we woke early and my husband headed of to the solarium just after 7am!! I headed to guest services worried about my airport transport on Sunday. Conditions look dire in New York and I wanted an assurance that RCI will get us to JFK. Unfortunately no guarantees can be made. Fingers crossed the weather improves.

Breakfast at 9 in solarium bistro - good as always. Lazed around most of day. Did a few Trivia’s in Schooner bar. Cold weather - everyone inside so chairs anywhere we’re at a premium! Large queues everywhere! At Starbucks, promenade cafe large waits.

We had 6.30 performance of “We will rock you “ booked. Arrived at 6pm and had pick of seats. Waiters very attentive so had a drink in our seat before the performance.

Chair hogging In full force again. Saw a man arrive same time as us and keep 5 extra seats all in the best row ( first row of blue chairs). By 6.30 and start of performance his companions had still not arrived! As show started I saw him remove the books he placed on the seats and allow others to sit down.

Show very good - thoroughly enjoyed it.

Straight after show we headed to our booking at Izumi. Bit of an error in my part as it was really to late for us to enjoy our food as we should have. However food was delicious and would recommend. Even myself who doesn’t eat any seafood found enough on the menu to suit.

Early night as exhausted by doing nothing and eating lol!

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Thank you so much for your detailed and enjoyable post! We're sailing on the Anthem in February and this came in handy, especially the Disney information. Any tips on doing Disney in that amount of time? Did you purchase tickets ahead of time? We're doing Magic Kingdom and it closes early anyways that day, so it helps ease the pain somewhat (price of tickets for 5 and leaving early).

 

 

 

Also, did you find the drink package worth it? I also love SB Frapps and lattes ;)

 

 

 

Any pics of the dining room menues? No worries if not. Just curious and slightly addicted to anything pertaining to my upcoming cruise lol. Ok, addicted to anything cruises.

Yes I purchased the Disney 1 day tickets ahead of time. Saved another queue. I left it too late to fast pass any rides before we went so we just decided to go with the flow. As it was so cold we enjoyed the indoor rides like It’s a small World. We haven’t been to Disney in 10 years and probably won’t be back for a while so enjoyed this very quick visit.

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Friday 5 jan

Another day a sea in cold windy conditions. After an early night we woke early and my husband headed of to the solarium just after 7am!! I headed to guest services worried about my airport transport on Sunday. Conditions look dire in New York and I wanted an assurance that RCI will get us to JFK. Unfortunately no guarantees can be made. Fingers crossed the weather improves.

Breakfast at 9 in solarium bistro - good as always. Lazed around most of day. Did a few Trivia’s in Schooner bar. Cold weather - everyone inside so chairs anywhere we’re at a premium! Large queues everywhere! At Starbucks, promenade cafe large waits.

We had 6.30 performance of “We will rock you “ booked. Arrived at 6pm and had pick of seats. Waiters very attentive so had a drink in our seat before the performance.

Chair hogging In full force again. Saw a man arrive same time as us and keep 5 extra seats all in the best row ( first row of blue chairs). By 6.30 and start of performance his companions had still not arrived! As show started I saw him remove the books he placed on the seats and allow others to sit down.

Show very good - thoroughly enjoyed it.

Straight after show we headed to our booking at Izumi. Bit of an error in my part as it was really to late for us to enjoy our food as we should have. However food was delicious and would recommend. Even myself who doesn’t eat any seafood found enough on the menu to suit.

Early night as exhausted by doing nothing and eating lol!

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Another few musings so far:

Formal night - first formal night was on 31 Dec . 2nd tonight so I can’t comment. Despite all the negative posts on here 99% of passengers were dressed very smartly and had certainly made a big effort to dress for the occasion.

Drinks: my order has often been wrong. I’m sure on a few occasions the actual alcohol is missing from my cocktail too.

Trivia’s - one of our guilty pleasures lol! I’m not being judgmental but...... RCI- Please choose staff who can actually read the questions and even slightly understand what they are reading !! I’m not talking about language issues, here the multi lingual staff do a fantastic job - just basic reading /comprehension ability.

No peanuts handed out in any bars??!! I like a salty snack now and again and have got them on other ships? I did ask and was was given a puzzled blank look?

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What was the cost of getting your nails done?

Soak off and re apply of shellac $45 which is pretty much what I pay at home.

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It's not an "Anthem thing". All of the ships have this kind of veryveryveryverycloseseating for the two-tops in MTD.

 

 

 

:)

Didn’t experience that at all in July on vision of the seas?

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Is the ship experiencing any problems sailing back to New Jersey? I imagine Seas are rough!!!

 

 

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Bit rough. This ship rocks and rolls more than any other ship I’ve been in! Including travelling through bay of biscay in rough seas! Not sure why?!

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$61 a day I think. Paid $570 including tax. As I said should have bought it before I went.

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A few photos from last night in wonderland.

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Even though the solarium is covered, is it warm enough to get into the pools with it being so cold out? Curious as we are sailing Anthem Feb and March this year and we love Anthem’s solarium.

 

 

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Everyone is sitting in the solarium covered in towels!! The hot tub is fine. Pool a bit cool. This is unusual weather though. The wind is very strong and no sun today as yet.

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Great review so far...thanks.

 

 

 

Question regarding the Disney excursion please...what time did the shuttle leave to head back to the ship?

 

 

 

We are on Anthem in a couple of weeks and although we are renting a car to WDW, just curious about the shuttle return time for reference.

 

 

 

Thank you.

Shuttle leaves 4pm sharp. Took about an hour and 15 mins to get back to port.

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Thursday 4th January

That brings me to today.....

Woke up today with the captain mAking an announcement directly into our cabins at 7.00am this morning. Once again the weather was having a dampener on this vacation. The waves etc were too bad for the tenders to run today so the ship couldn’t anchor at all off CocoCay.

The temp was also only about 12.c or 52f - not ideal for the beach anyway. I was very disappointed but weather can’t be helped.

We got ready anyway and headed straight for all solarium to make the most of the day. We were there for about 7.30am. Much to our further disappointment nearly every sunbed already had a towel on it! Very few people to be seen but plenty towels/books/bags on beds! We had to circle the whole solarium to get two beds together but while doing so saw signs on beds - last seen 7.15, possessions will be removed 7.45 etc etc. The sunbed police were out in force and quite rightly meant business.

I was entertained by watching the attendants stick to the half hour rule and clear beds!

We lounged all morning, red our books and snoozed in between nipping off for a snack and bringing it back to eat on the lounger.

I had thought extra entertainment might have been laid on to make up for the loss of a port day but that didn’t seem to happen.

At 12pm I went for a walk and got my nails done as a walk in. Great service, good value.

Lunch in solarium bistro.

Trivia in Schooner PM - practically standing room only due to not much else going on and cold weather. (The solarium was even quite drafty and cold). Stayed on for music trivia.

Dinner this evening was at Wonderland. Enjoyed it a lot. Great food. Excellent service. Lovely surroundings. I don’t eat any seafood and they worked round this perfectly.

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Ps excuse any typos - I’m posting on my phone from the ship.

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Another few random thoughts. I posted on here just before a travelled regarding problems printing out all my ship entertainment and restaurant bookings. I needed have worried! On this ship you can download the Royal IQ app on your smart phone. No need to pay for the internet package either - works without it! All my bookings were listed along with an online version daily of Cruise Compass. Very handy app!!

Since as i said in my first post , I purchased the drink package on board I have been enjoying a few Starbucks frappachinos! A guilty pleasure on mine as at home my nearest Starbucks is over 40 miles away!! Service in the La Patisserie cafe fast and efficient. Never been long queues either. Also enjoyed an odd slice of pizza at sorrentos - also very good!

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Wednesday 3rd jan

Nassau.

Ship not docking till 10.30 so had breakfast in windjammer for the first time.

We were ready to leave ship as soon as clearance was given.

I had booked a private tour through “islandz tours” a while ago. It was a two hour Rum walking tour. We had instructions to meet our guide at a pub called Smugglers. We walked off the ship and found the meeting place by 11 the tour start time with no problems.

It was fantastic to feel a bit of warmth for the first time on this vacation but unfortunately the rain was never far away.

Orchid was our guide today and there were just two others on this tour. She was an excellent guide and I would thoroughly recommend this tour. We started off tasting 5 different rums and Orchid explained about them and threw in lots of interesting facts about the history of Nassau and the Bahamas. We visited a local artist studio, Greycliffe hotel, the chocolate factory at Greycliffe and then John Watlings Distillery. We tasted many rums, rum cocktails, rum cake, rum truffles and conch fritters. Needless to say we are now both “rum converts” and went straight back to the local shops in Nassau to buy a few bottles to take home.

Very enjoyable day.

Back on board for a wee sleep before dinner in the Solarium Bistro. Really enjoyed dinner here. Service excellent - was very relaxing.

View of the ship in Nassau.

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Random question: Did you prepay gratuities?

 

_______________________

Carnival Paradise - August 2015 - 5 nights

Carnival Splendor - August 2016 - 6 nights

Carnival Magic - August 2017 - 8 nights

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas - August 2018 - 7 nights (booked)

Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas - August 2019 - 9 nights (booked)

Yes I prepaid.

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Few general observations-This is our first time on Anthem. It’s a lovely ship. Too big though for staff to recognise you or remember your bar order. Was on Vision in July and while some area of ship were “tired” compaired to this ship I feel the service was much more personal.

Cabin- we are in a balcony cabin on deck 13. Love the cabin. Well laid out, plenty of storage and due to being on a “hump”, a huge balcony. Unfortunately due to the awful weather we haven’t been able to sit on balcony at all. The cabin is very fresh looking.

Lifts - plenty of them and never long to wait.

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Main Street USA

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