jjsparkles

My Dyson will only work using the EU socket, I take an EU plug adapter with me. This socket has a higher voltage. Worked for me on Harmony and Anthem. Good luck 🙂

On 7/17/2023 at 2:42 PM, Bonniegirl1 said:

Thanks for a great review and all the info. I’m on same itinerary 3rd September and want to ask what the temperature is like in the evenings in public areas and restaurants. I usually find the aircon is too cold when I’ve sailed previously in hotter climates. I’ve got a balcony guarantee, only booked a week ago and it was lower price than an inside cabin,fingers crossed we get a great room like you! 

Thanks for reading. We found the temp inside to be ok, except the solarium, which was too humid for us. Hope you get a great room. Have a lovely cruise 🙂

 

On 8/1/2023 at 5:41 PM, aubreyc1988 said:

On the same sailing as you! I am so excited

 

And thanks to the OP for the review, bummer about one of your ports being canceled, really hope that doesn't happen to me. I would understand, but the would be very disappointed because of how excited I am to see everything and coming all the way from Texas. 

Thanks for reading. Hope you have a great cruise and don’t have any missed ports. Just one of those things we can’t plan for unfortunately 🙂

 

On 8/1/2023 at 10:50 PM, sellwingri said:

Excellent review!  We’re doing this cruise on Sept 3rd after our previous cruise to Spain and France.   Anthem is my absolutely favorite ship (amid I’ve been on all but 3 Royal ships) and am excited about both of our upcoming cruises and spending 14 days in a row on board.

Thanks for reading. Hope you have a great cruise 🙂

On 6/23/2023 at 12:38 AM, preb said:

Thank you for your wonderful review!  We are sailing in September and loved your sneak peek on what to expect. 🙂

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Have a wonderful cruise 🙂

On 6/19/2023 at 12:51 PM, #55worktoplay said:

Great review and pics. The scenery looks amazing. 
 

Thanks

Thanks for reading, it really was stunning 🙂

 

On 6/21/2023 at 7:23 PM, aubreyc1988 said:

Thank you very much for the review! I am from Texas and doing this itinerary in early Sept, taking my in-laws with us!  They haven't sailed Royal Caribbean before and I hope Anthem will make a good first impression. All of us haven't done this itinerary and we are so excited! It looks beautiful! Sad about your Geiranger experience 😞

 

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Hope you all have a wonderful cruise 🙂

 

 

12 hours ago, Roybthered said:

Thanks you for a really good review, we are on Anthem again in October (was on her in May for 2 nights) and are looking forward to sailing on her albeit to sunnier locations! Oh and you are right about only having to drive to the port rather than having to fly, it's so much better.

 

 

Thanks for reading, hope you have a lovely cruise with some nice sunny weather 🙂

On 6/15/2023 at 3:36 PM, Sarah1974 said:

@jjsparkles thank you for your great review.  I need to get myself booked on Anthem!

Thanks for reading along. Hope you get to enjoy Anthem soon 🙂

On 6/13/2023 at 6:35 AM, latebuyer said:

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your photos-I would like to go to norway sometime. Anthem looked nice. I was glad to hear you for the most part liked the food in the mdr as there are complaints about it and i am going to alaska in 2 weeks.

 

Does anyone know if the new environmental restrictions also affect smaller cruise ships? It would be a shame if no cruise ships could go there. I’m hoping they’ll allow ships brilliance of the seas size.

Thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed it. My understanding re the environmental issues is that no current cruise ship, big or small meet the new proposed regulations. But the regulations don’t affect all ports, only the UNESCO heritage sites such as Geirangerfjord, so I think it may mean itinerary changes rather than no cruises at all. If you do a Google search you can find more info. Have a great cruise to Alaska. 

On 6/13/2023 at 5:07 PM, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Lol theres no meat on american bacon just strips of fat, well over cooked....normally covered in an orange liquid cheese flavour lol 🤣🤢🤮

Didn’t detect any cheese, lol, that wouldn’t have been good 🤪

21 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Thanks for doing this.  I enjoyed your pictures.

You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed it 🙂

19 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Great review ! Your review is making us very excited for our 12 Night Cruise on Jewel in May 2024. We will be visiting some of the same ports you stopped at.  🙂

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. I’m sure you’ll have a fantastic time 🙂

 

16 hours ago, teddie said:

@jjsparkles

 

I so enjoyed your report and photos.  Your writing style is lovely and natural, so it's a pleasure to read.  

Safe travels!

 

Teddie

 

 

 

Aww, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it 🙂

6 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Thanks very much for sharing your trip. It's been great following along. 🥰

 

I get what you mean about paying in USD on board the ship. I have that issue too, since my credit card is in euros.

I use Wise, which is also a debit card system with multiple currencies. I'm not familiar with how Revolut works but with Wise you can set up accounts in different currencies. So I have a dollar account on there and before I go on a cruise I work out roughly how much I'll need and pay that much into it from my credit card. Then on board the ship, after the initital +/- $100 that they put on as a hold, it just keeps updating each day until the end of the cruise. It's very convenient to it this way because there's no hold on my main credit card account.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Sounds very similar to Revolut. Monzo is similar too, makes travelling so easy. 

 

6 hours ago, bigeck said:

Great review, thanks.

I've used Revolut for a long time. I upgraded to premium and get free insurance along with other benefits. My son works off shore and he had a bag go missing. He was paid out within the week even though his bag turned up 2 weeks later.

I also like the way I can move currency around so I don't have loose change I might use for a while.

I like a stroll on top deck in the breeze. Us Scots are hardy pups

 

Thanks for reading along. We’ve used Revolut for years too, so easy. 
 

The wind was a welcome break from the stuffiness inside when it was busy so we were out often. No fear of being blown away, lol. 

 

5 hours ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

A lovely review. We got on the day you got off. We also had a deck 13 balcony cabin which is really handy to nip up one flight to the pool deck. We ate all our evening meals in the MDR and like you had hot food served on hot plates. We ate breakfast in the Solarium restaurant which was surprisingly quiet and the choice was pretty good. Although the Solarium was a bit on the humid side it was where we spent our time whenever the wind on deck was too cold. Our favourite bar was Vintages. Like yourself we really enjoyed We Will Rock You- the singers and musicians were superb.

Thanks for reading along. Glad you had a great time too. 
 

4 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

 

I've seen WWRY 7 times ... most likely will see it for the 8th time on the fall transatlantic.

 

4 hours ago, alexgtp said:

wife and I are the same sailing! so excited!!!

 

It was really great, hope you see it again. Have a great time 😀

Another look over the bridge wings

 

 

 

 

 

Then we went out onto the top deck to enjoy the sunset.

 

 

A nice fellow passenger offered to take our photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the cabin we caught our final glimpse of the sun setting 

 

 

And then it was all over 😢

 

Sunday 28 May - Hometime 

 

We were up around 6ish and didn’t bother going out for breakfast, instead just having some tea and snacks we had in the room.

Our view over Southampton – had it really been a week already?

 

It was another beautiful sunny day.

We watched the tv for our tag number to be called and were off the ship quickly, collecting our bags and in the car for around 7:15.

 

Something I really like about cruising in Europe is no passport control as you exit the ship, makes for a very easy departure.

 

The drive home was good, making a few stops for breakfast and lunch we were home early afternoon. Definitely an easier journey going home.

 

We’d had an absolutely wonderful time however I kept my sea legs for 3 or 4 days….I was completely exhausted and a bit dizzy for a few days, honestly felt like I was still swaying. I’ve read that this can happen if you keep moving after you leave a ship, eg get in a car and drive for 8 hours straight….which is what we did 🤪

 

Final thoughts

 

Ship

We both really liked Anthem of the Seas. Our only Royal comparison is to Harmony of the Seas, but it’s not a true comparison as we had sailed just after covid with only around 1500 passengers so it was a very different experience.

That said, I liked the layout of Anthem, we really liked Music Hall, 270 could get busy very quickly and the solarium was a bit of a no go for us. This was a disappointment as we’d spent a lot of time there on Harmony. But as I said earlier, it was just too hot and stuffy if you didn’t plan on stripping off for the pool/hot tubs.

Nice open areas to walk around outside and lots of indoor areas too. Only downside we noticed was that on rainy days the inside definitely felt more crowded.

The staff were all very nice, helpful and no problems with anyone at all.

 

Food

We liked the main dining room this time better than we had before. Everything served was piping hot and tasty.  The Windjammer was ok, nothing wrong with it but we struggled to find what we wanted in here. And it was always busy which kind of put us off and we didn’t really want to eat in a hectic atmosphere.

Sorrentos Pizza was great, but limited choices, only cheese, pepperoni and another mixed one I can't recall.

Café 270 was a great option for lunch too, really good salad bar and of course the roast beef sandwich.

 

Room

We loved our room. All the worry of being on deck 13 with the overhang was a worry I wish I hadn’t wasted time on. Yes, you could definitely hear people walking upstairs but it wasn’t overly noisy. Maybe it depends on which part of the deck you are on. We were just under the sunbeds in front of Johnny Rockets. We actually enjoyed the overhang on the balcony as it offered some shield from the wind and rain. And on the occasion it was sunny, we did get some sun too. We still benefited from some amazing views and being just below the pool deck, it was no hassle at all to nip up there if we wanted to. Great to have a kettle in the room for making a cup of tea. There are tea bags/sugar and milk pods in the room, but we just topped this up from the drink stations around the ship. We also ordered a carton of milk with our room service breakfast and kept this in the fridge.

We loved being able to nip up to the windjammer for drinks – I loved that they had barista coffee in there and our position made it really easy to get around the ship.

The bathroom was good too, shower was a good pressure and temperature. And we loved the storage, really easy to have everything put away. Would not hesitate to do this same cabin again, especially since it had been cheaper than an inside cabin when we booked. The only thing that let it down was the bed. I’ve moaned enough about that – but it really was like sleeping on a brick.

 

Norway

Stunning. I can’t think of enough words to say how beautiful it was. We didn’t have the best weather, mostly overcast, some drizzles of rain and other days sunshine and wind. But it didn’t matter. We really enjoyed all the ports. Everyone we encountered were really lovely, chatty, pleasant and very welcoming. 

 

Payment

I wanted to provide some info about using the travel card, Revolut for settling the account on the ship.  I wasn’t going to go into too much detail here because this will probably only be useful

to UK passengers, but I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to research this and in the end it was actually very simple. (I also don’t want this to be a ‘just use your credit card’ thread)

As UK passengers on a US ship, sailing out of the UK, it’s actually a bit of a pain to have to think about dollars when you don’t actually need physical cash. Conversion rates vary enormously with each bank, often having to pay a transaction fee, then a really poor rate. If you do exchange cash you have to guess how much you'll need, will it be too much, not enough? Our credit card is rubbish for other currencies (I know you can get others) so it really irks me that I end up paying more than I should. Anyway, wherever we travel, we use Revolut, which converts to whatever currency you want, as you use it.

Now, the issue is that Revolut works like a debit card, so the holds can be on much longer than a credit card – I’ve heard horror stories of duplicate holds for weeks because of the way Revolut works. This is how you get round it:

Input your Revolut card details into the app during the check in process, so that you’re not delayed when you board the ship.

As soon as you’re on the ship, before you purchase anything, go to guest services and ask for your card to be removed from the account and set up a cash account. You DO NOT need to put down any cash. You will have a limit of approx. $500 before you need to settle anything on your account.

Go to guest services on the last day, or before if you go near your limit and use your Revolut card to pay the bill. You must tell the agent that you want the bill in dollars, otherwise they may try to do the double conversion thing because the system will recognise a UK card.

Done – so simple. You pay your bill in dollars, using your card, at the best rate possible.

 

Currency /Tipping

We didn’t change any money at all. None. Every single shop and even market stall in Norway we went to took cards. Many of them even had signs to say ‘card payment preferred please’. Contactless is used everywhere or chip and PIN if you don’t have that on your card.              

 

We pre-paid our gratuities and then took some GBP to tip our room attendant and room service staff. Remember, this ship’s home port is Southampton at the moment so the crew will have opportunities to purchase things on land there. I’m quite sure they would also appreciate some Euros for the other cruises or NOK if docking in Norway. And there will likely be lots of people using dollars so the mix will, I’m sure be appreciated.

 

I suppose what I'm trying to say is don't go out of your way to exchange cash if you don't need to, card is used and preferred almost everywhere. 

 

 

 

We really did have an amazing time and feel very lucky to have seen beautiful Norway like this. Disappointed we didn't get to experience Geiranger but absolutely nothing we could have done about it. Our port fees/taxes were refunded and our third party shore excursion company also gave us a 50% refund which was good of them. 

 

For all you lucky cruisers who can drive to a port and enjoy a beautiful sunny cruise, I’m so envious! I absolutely loved being able to drive to get on the ship, so don’t ever take it for granted 🙂

 

Anyway, as I always say when I finish these reports, thank you to everyone who participates on these forums. I learn so much from them and find all the information vital to my holiday planning.

And thank you for all the lovely comments. Happy cruising everyone 🛳️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 27 May – Sea Day & last day 😢

 

We both slept well again and had a really lazy morning. I got up and made us a cup of tea and we sat in bed with the curtains open watching the world go by. 

 

 

Perfect 🙂

 

It was lovely and calm outside and we’d decided to enjoy brunch again today. We headed to the dining room around 11ish.

 

 

We both had the express breakfast again and decided to be a bit indulgent and shared a serving of pancakes too. These were absolutely delicious, so light and fluffy.

 

 

Guest services was surprisingly quiet so we stopped by to settle our account. There was nothing we would buy tonight so thought we may as well get it sorted now. All sorted in minutes, we headed upstairs for our daily laps round the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We noticed that it could be perfectly calm at the back and sat here with the flowrider shielding the wind behind us. Don't be fooled by John with his winter coat on, lol. I just had my cardigan and was fine. It was definitely warming up a bit. However the wind really changed as you got to the bow of the ship. We called it the windiest corner in the world each time we went by, lol.

 

 

 

We lazed in the solarium for a short time, too hot for us in there when we didn’t plan to swim or use the hot tubs. We played cards again in the Music Hall for a while.

 

 

 

And then it was time for us to get into the theatre for the 14:30 showing of We Will Rock You.

 

 

It was around 2pm now and the theatre was already filling up. We found some seats at the end of a row in the downstairs section which already had a few people in it. The bar service waiter came round and we ordered our drinks. Slowly we realised some more people were arriving to join the other people in our row and they were trying to find some seats for them. I said to John we should move to let them sit together, so we moved to get up. Then I realised we’d ordered drinks, so John went off to find us a seat and I stayed there to make sure our waiter didn’t get confused. The people were so nice and thanked us for moving. They hadn’t asked us but I know if I’d been with our family I’d have liked us to be together.

 

Anyway, John ended up in the upstairs section and after our waiter returned, I went to join him. The theatre was buzzing by now, only 5 minutes until curtain up and we soon realised the seats were not great. For some reason the upstairs part of the theatre is all sectioned off with wood and glass and the angles are not good at all. Despite us being in the second row, we couldn’t see much at all.

It really didn’t matter too much though, the music was absolutely amazing. The musicians on the ship are so talented, as are the singers. Both our sons play guitar (our eldest son professionally) and we know the work that they put in to learning and rehearsing every single note they play. When songs are played to sound exactly like the records you’ve heard a million times, it’s so easy to forget that these are being played live, they make it look too easy!  The show was fantastic, I could have watched it all over again. Well done to everyone involved!

 

Back to the room we did the dreaded packing and got everything ready for the morning. It was around 5pm now. 

 

 

It was really warming up now, and too early for dinner we took another few laps round the deck. We sat in the sun for a wee while enjoying the warmer air and breeze. It really was lovely today, John even took his coat off!

 

 

 

 

We went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner and made our way to the main dining room around 6:30pm.

 

 

Again we had a lovely window seat. 

 

We both had the seafood cake to start, lovely. 

 

 

Followed by Spaghetti Bolognese, also lovely

 

 

And to finish, apple cobbler, delicious

 

 

We made our way back to our cabin to decide what to do for the evening. 

 

 

We sat on the balcony for a while and enjoyed it so much we decided just to stay there, before first nipping downstairs and grabbing some drinks. My indulgence all cruise had been the virgin pina colada - the Music Hall were the best at making it 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was  now that I remembered that I’d never managed to see the swing in the solarium! It had always been too busy, hot to be in there so we took a chance and wandered down not. It was after 9 now. 

 

 

 

Thankfully it was quiet and we enjoyed the solarium for a while. We loved the swing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Really enjoy following along. Pictures are amazing. We head out on the Jewel next Saturday to Geirnager, Honninsvag (overnight),  Alesund, Flam, Olden, and Molde. 
 

I plan on doing a live-ish review that will probably start on Monday and will definitely report on the status of the Caesar salad!!!

 

I hope the internet cooperates. 
 

mac_tlc

 

Thank you, glad you're enjoying it. Your cruise sounds fantastic, Flam was somewhere I'd also have liked to see but wasn't on our itinerary. Have a wonderful cruise, I'll look our for your updates 🙂

 

 

1 hour ago, smokey01 said:

I’ve just seen a YouTube review of the new menus done by 2 Brits Ben and David who have done many cruise ship reviews. On their 12 night Harmony cruise they had many evening menu items that were cold where they should have been hot (they were not just warm but cold). How have you found the food temperature?

 

Worryingly they compared the poor food to MSC standard and we have also been looking at an MSC Virtuosa cruise, so I guess food is not great on MSC.

 

I watch Ben and David too and have watched that series, I'm sure it was a transatlantic on Symphony. I know they don't often have negative comments about Royal, they usually have very good things to say so I took their review seriously. We were definitely looking out for cold food however I'm happy to say that every hot meal was served piping hot. I suppose all ships will be different because in the end it's down to the staff and how they manage things. Maybe they got unlucky with lots of new crew joining for the transatlantic and new season in Europe?

 

 

1 hour ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

We did the 7 nights Anthem cruise 28th May to 4th June and was pleased that all our food in MDR (silk) was served hot and on hot plates. 

 

That was our experience too 🙂

 

4 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I always look forward to eating English bacon when I visit the UK.  It's much better than the mostly fat American bacon.

 

I'm sure there will have been some somewhere on the ship - maybe the main dining room just sticks to the crispy stuff?

On 6/8/2023 at 8:40 PM, zap99 said:

We got the troll as well. You know how something puzzles you and you think..oh well ?. Our first RC cruise was on Indy a few years ago.  By about Wednesday,  I realised why, on boarding  the elevator was called Saturday

 

Lol, snap!

 

 

On 6/8/2023 at 9:44 PM, Another_Critic said:

 

No English bacon on a English cruise?  😞

 

It was probably in the Windjammer but we didn't go there for breakfast - the crispy bacon was actually very good 🙂

 

20 hours ago, wolfcathorse said:

do you remember who your captain was? Capt Srecko Ban or Iv Vidos?

 

Sorry, I've no idea who it was

 

13 hours ago, little britain said:

There will be heaps of fatty slimy English bacon… it’s just that crispy tasty American bacon is so much better!!! 

 

It was really nice

 

8 hours ago, kernow said:

Only just found this and caught up, very enjoyable review  thank you. 

 

We were on a Fjord cruise a couple of weeks before you on Virtuosa so interesting to compare your experience on Anthem (which we've also sailed on previously). 

We thought about doing the hike to the glacier but thought it might be difficult so opted for the open top bus instead. After reading your report wish we had done it as it doesn't look too bad, was there an actual path all the way?

 

Thanks for reading along, glad you're enjoying it. The hike did have a real path most of the way, but lots of gravel areas too. One part had some big stones to navigate, but there were railings at the very steep parts, and just above the waterfall there were also some steps, albeit a bit gravelly. You're definitely not walking on grass and actually hiking - but there are some steep parts.

 

6 hours ago, Sarah1974 said:

@jjsparkles thanks for your Stavanger pics - lovely place

 

Thank you, it was really lovely to see.

Soon we were off to our reservation at Izumi. 

 

 

We had a nice outside table overlooking the Royal Esplanade

 

 

 

We shared our starters, vegetable fried rice and crispy chicken kara-age

 

This was absolutely delicious and we both said we could have ate this as a main course. 

 

Next we both had Chicken Teriyaki, again really nice.

 

We also ordered a crispy philly roll to share

 

 

This was good too, but actually it was too much food so we didn't finish it. The Chicken Teriyaki was deceiving as the rice was really filling. Full up we didn't order desert and left feeling very satisfied.

 

We strolled around the Royal Esplanade having another look around the shops, but nothing much we wanted.

 

We finished our day in the music hall listening to the band.

 

 

They always did a great job of creating a good atmosphere and we enjoyed a few hours listening to them. 

 

Another great day over, we landed in bed around midnight and were soon rocked to sleep. Was it really our last day tomorrow already 🥹

 

 

Friday 26 May – Stavanger

Well, would you believe it if I told you we’d both had a good night’s sleep? Well we did! Amazingly we’d managed to stay in the bed and slept so well. I was so relieved to actually feel rested when I woke up.

 

A peek outside and we were right beside beautiful Stavanger old town.

 

 

We didn’t have any excursions planned today and were going to explore Stavanger on foot. With no rush we didn’t want to be out too early, but we also didn’t want room service breakfast or to battle the windjammer so we made our way to the dining room around 9am.

 

 

We both had the express breakfast with some toast and tea. It was all piping hot and delicious.

 

 

 

 

Back to the cabin we grabbed our coats and got organised for the day ahead. By now we were realising what a great location our room was in. Up one deck was the pool deck and windjammer which was great for grabbing a drink quickly if needed. The lifts near us took us directly to the gangway on deck 2 and also the restaurants/music hall on deck 4. It was a really handy spot.

 

We wandered out into Stavanger, again we were lucky with our cabin on the side of the ship that overlooked the port. It was a bit of a grey day but wasn't too cold. 

 

 

Stavanger is really easy to explore on foot, mostly flat and beautiful buildings all around the harbour. We took our time and enjoyed the surroundings.

 

 

 

 

We made our way into the town and along to Ovre Holmegate, a beautiful street with colourful buildings

 

 

 

 

Then time to say hello to Mr Troll

 

 

 

 

We could see some folks getting ready for a rib boat tour. Brave people, the wind was getting up again!

 

 

 

I wanted to pick up some souvenirs for the kids and a Norway Starbucks mug, so we headed into the shops and I managed to get a lovely Stavanger mug in the Starbucks there. We also stopped by a small outdoor market and got a lovely hand painted picture of the beautiful white wooden houses in the old town. Everywhere was asking that payment be made by card, even the market stalls, so there's no need to have cash.

 

On our way back to the ship we explored the old town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was really beautiful and we'd had a lovely morning exploring.

Back on the ship I got a latte and John a drink from windjammer and we headed to music hall to play cards. We really liked it in here. The bar didn’t seem to open until the afternoon, but the pub was right next door so really easy to pick up a drink from there. Then we went up to the top deck and enjoyed the views over Stavanger.

 

 

 

The solarium was quieter with lots of people still out exploring, so we grabbed some drinks and put our feet up for a while. 

 

 

 A bit hungry for food now, we did try the solarium bistro but it was closed for some reason, so headed to windjammer.

 

 

After our lunch we grabbed some cookies, another latte and headed back to the cabin to enjoy the balcony for a bit of a rest.

 

 

 

 

 

We headed to the Music hall to do a Netflix quiz around 4pm which was actually really difficult. I think the winner got something like 15 out of 30,  we only got about 9! Then into the Schooner bar for another quiz, this time Cher vs Prince. Then we watched a bit of the sailaway from deck 5 and up to the top deck to enjoy the views.

 

 

 

 

We did a facetime with our youngest son to check he hadn’t wrecked the house, lol, and enjoyed an ice cream. We did go back to the room to put our feet up, but it was being cleaned so we popped to deck 5 and sat outside Vintages for a while. Back to the room, we got ourselves organised for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

On 6/3/2023 at 9:59 PM, dani negreanu said:

 

Same here.... "Riiiiichard !!! mind the bicycle...."😉

 

So glad you've found your glasses. Really annoying when a favorite item gets lost.

 

Sorry I missed this earlier! I was over the moon to find them 😍

 

On 6/5/2023 at 8:26 PM, Jasukkie said:

Apparently a fleet wide problem with the Caesar salads. It's like they dress them and hold them in a warming tray before serving.

Thanks for sharing your cruise, love Anthem. So many nice nooks and crannies to spend time in if the weather isn't cooperating.

 

Yes, it seemed to be a tad warm. We really liked Anthem too 🙂

 

 

On 6/6/2023 at 1:16 AM, teddie said:

@jjsparkles, I am thoroughly enjoying your report, and your photos are wonderful!  Thank you so much for taking the time to create this.

 

Teddie in NJ

 

PS My husband requested vinegar for his fish and chips, too 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you. They need to up their vinegar game 😆

 

On 6/6/2023 at 4:01 PM, Sarah1974 said:

Loving your review.  It's a few years since I've cruised but my friend and I are looking at the Anthem for this year if we can find dates that work for both of us.

 

Thank you, hope you find something 🙂

 

On 6/6/2023 at 5:20 PM, little britain said:

The Caesar salad on Enchantment was limp and soggy too. At least it’s consistent fleet wide! 

 

Ha, ha, yes at least there's that 😁

 

On 6/6/2023 at 5:20 PM, vjw1218 said:

Your trip journal has been so enjoyable to read! Thanks for sharing. We'll get to experience the Anthem in all her glory in August and we're looking forward to it. 

 

Thank you, glad you're enjoying it. Hope you have a fantastic time 🙂

 

On 6/6/2023 at 6:33 PM, zap99 said:

Nice review. We were on Anthem last year and are deciding what to do with RC next year. That must be the most photographed giraffe at sea.🤣

 

Ha, ha, yes, got to get a photo of the giraffe!

 

 

 

Apologies for the delay folks, next installment coming soon.....

19 hours ago, Cherful59 said:

@jjsparkles Beautiful pictures of Olden.  I am cruising the fjords next year, so I am enjoying your review.  
 

P.S. I agree with you about the Caesar salads.  Mine was just as pitiful when I had it in February!

Thank you. The salad really was terrible 🤭

7 hours ago, smokey01 said:

John in particular always looks cold outside, so is it wise to take a winter coat in May, June or September (or earlier/later)?

John is always cold, lol. It was colder first thing but as we climbed up higher even John took off his hat and gloves. Layers are the key I think. The wind can be cold but it changes very quickly. 

 

3 hours ago, alexgtp said:

Bummer about Gerainger! But at least you managed to go down this log Fjord on  Anthem and enjoy the scenery,  was RCL giving out blanket's, to stay warm?

Didn’t see any blankets. Don’t think it was cold enough for them. It was only when the wind caught you that you felt the cold. I was fine in my lighter jacket, light hoodie/jumper. 

We’d worked out that by now our cabin would be cleaned between 5 – 6pm so we left the room around 5ish and went to the Music Hall for some drinks and to play cards. We managed to nab one of our favourite tables again. There was also a quiz of some sort going on downstairs.

 

 

 

We had a wander around windjammer but nothing took our fancy so went back to the cabin to change for the dining room.

 

 

It was around 7pm and we got seated with minimal wait, another lovely window seat.

 

 

 

It was Italian night tonight so we ordered the lovely mozzarella sticks again – wait, oh no we didn’t! They weren’t on the menu, on Italian night! So John had the minestrone soup and I had the caeser salad.

 

 

John enjoyed the soup but the salad was not good at all. I don’t know if you can tell from this photo but the cheese had stared to curl and had a bit of a sweaty glaze over it. The lettuce was completely limp and there was no crunch at all. I didn’t eat much of it.

 

 

For mains John had lasagne and I had the chicken parmesan. Both were again piping hot and absolutely delicious.

 

 

 

For dessert I had a chocolate/hazelnut pudding and John played it safe with vanilla ice cream. With the exception of my salad, this had been another enjoyable meal.

 

 

As we were eating and looking out the window, the waves were getting really high and the other diners near us were talking about how rough it had been the night before.

 

We finished up in here and headed into the Music Hall to play name that tune Queen songs. We got a very respectable 18/20 and again enjoyed the fun and atmosphere in here. As we were right next door to the theatre we headed in here once we'd finished to watch the show with a singer from the We Will Rock You cast and comedian Mick Miller. He's an old school British comedian and I’m sure many of the jokes went way over the heads of the non-brits. Anyway it was a nice way to finish the evening.

 

 

The ship was rocking and rolling again and we staggered back to our cabin. As we walked along the corridor to our cabin, John was behind laughing at me banging into the walls. It turned out he was videoing me and as I reached the door and turned round I burst out laughing when I realised. Then the joke was on both of us when we realised there had been a guy behind John who was laughing his head off at both of us 🤣

 

 

In good spirits, after such a bumpy start, the day had turned out to be fantastic and we were both still on a high after seeing the glacier. Off to bed happy we were looking forward to tomorrow where we’d be in Stavanger.

Thursday 25 May – Olden

We had enjoyed the view so much last night that we kept the curtains open slightly so we would be able to see the sail into Olden in the morning. However, we had the roughest night’s sleep ever. I woke up several times throughout the night with the ship rocking and rolling all over the place. At first I thought I was dreaming because I was rolling from one side to the other. I promise I am not exaggerating when I say that John had to grab hold of me to stop be rolling out the bed! There were also noises aplenty the whole night, doors creaking, something opening and closing in another cabin or in the hallway. I don’t know what it was but it was a bit of a crazy night. Thankfully I didn’t actually feel sick.

 

I was awake around 4:30 and with it being so light outside, hoped it was time to get up. I managed to doze off but did get out of bed around 5:30 as my back was so sore. I sat for a while, had a cup of tea and then got back into bed. Thankfully managed to doze off but was woken around 7:30 with room service letting us know breakfast was on the way. Oh, I could actually have slept another few hours. Isn’t that always the way 🙃

 

A peek outside and we could see we'd docked in lovely Olden.

 

 

 

It looked like it had been raining but could have been worse.

 

Room service breakfast arrived and the toast was freezing cold and could have been used as a doorstop. Never mind, we had our tea and got ourselves together for the day ahead.

 

When I’d been planning our trip to Norway, one of the things I’d wanted to do most was the hike to the Birksdal Glacier. I watched so many videos about this and hoped we’d have decent weather to enjoy the day.

 

 

 

We were off the ship around 9ish and just into the port was the desk for Olden Adventure who we’d booked our excursion with. It cost us £76.92 for both of us and included return coach transfer to the glacier.

 

 

We were soon on our way. The drive took around 30 minutes. The views again absolutely stunning.

 

 

 

The sun was starting to poke through the clouds.

 

 

We were dropped off at the foot of the glacier where there is a shop, café and some toilets. Just after 10am we were on our way up the mountain. Our driver said the return journey would be at 12:00 so we had 2 ours to get up and back down.

 

I am going to admit here that I am not fit. At all. I have put on a good amount of weight in the past few years and was quite worried that I wouldn’t be able to do this. The first part of the hike is very steep and after about 10 minutes I seriously questioned if I could actually do this. John said it would be fine to just go back down but I knew I’d be annoyed with myself if we didn’t do it. So, we plodded on, taking frequent breaks.

 

 

 

The beautiful scenery definitely spurs you on 

 

 

Proof that I'm there, lol

 

 

Once we passed this waterfall and got up the next part of the mountain, it flattened out a good bit with only some shorter peaks along the way.

 

Here are the sleeping trolls....(one for the Frozen fans)

 

 

 

 

We rounded a corner and caught our first glimpse of the glacier - nearly there!

 

 

Signs along the way told us how the glacier used to come to - it would have been in around 1800

 

 

This photo taken from the same spot - it has receded so much

 

 

 

I've checked the time of our photos and from this point it was another 15 minutes to get to the glacier lake.

 

We did it!

 

 

 

 

The water was so clear and this is the first time I've seen ice that is actually blue, amazing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The estimated time to reach to top is 45 minutes and we did it in 50 minutes, so I wasn’t that much longer than I initially thought. I was so proud of myself but it’s made me resolute in getting myself into shape again.

 

There is an option to book Troll cars to take you up but there is still a decent bit of walking to do once they drop you off.

 

We started our decent and enjoyed some more of the spectacular landscape around us

 

 

 

 

 

We got down much faster, in about 30 minutes I think and popped into the shop where we got a nice magnet to remember the day. Our bus was waiting for us and we enjoyed the views on the way back.

 

 

There is a small shopping area in Olden where the bus stops first. We got off here and enjoyed the 10 minute stroll back to the ship. You can just stay on the bus if you want to and it will take you right back to the port.

 

 

 

 

 

We did consider getting tickets for the Loen sky lift. These can be purchased in the port. The bus journey is only 5 minutes so it is doable to do both in the same day. We were tired and getting hungry now so decided not to do the sky lift. It was around 13:00 by now. 

 

Back on the ship we put our coats and stuff back in the cabin and headed to Café 270 for lunch. We both got the beef sandwich again, but this time the meat was so raw you couldn’t even bite into it. Neither of us could eat it. I should have asked for side/end pieces when it was being cut but with the light shining on it, it was difficult to see the colour. We left here and went to Sorrentos and ordered a cheese pizza for us both. Delicious. We didn’t have our cups with us but I went to the pub and got us some drinks instead.

 

 

After this I picked up a latte and John got a hot choc sachet from Café Promenade. We took them back to our cabin and rested up, both tried from our busy day and lack of sleep the night before. I actually slept for an hour or so and felt so much better when I woke.

 

We stayed in the cabin and I had a bird’s eye view from our balcony of all the latecomers back to the ship. I’m amazed at the nonchalant attitude of people wandering around a good half hour after all aboard time. The people I saw were very lucky that the ship waited for them.

 

About 40 minutes late, we were soon leaving beautiful Olden. This has got to be one of the best sailaways ever – the pub on the dock set up their speakers and played us out with some Rod Stewart,  Sailing, Time to say goodbye (not sure who is singing in this version) and for some crazy reason, Rockin' all over the world by Status Quo!

 

 

Everyone on the dock was waving flags, cars beeping horns and even people in their houses were waving things. It really was fantastic and we were so lucky to be on the starboard side of the ship to see it all from the comfort of our own cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Your pics of Geiranger are beautiful. What a shame you didn't get to go ashore.

 

Thanks, yes I know it was a disappointment definitely. 

 

6 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

I'm loving this... It's been almost 10 years since I've been in Norway.  I loved our cruise up the Gerainger Fjord.  My Father's home town was Aalesund. I plan on doing one of these Norwegian cruises soon. 

 

Glad you're enjoying it - hope you get to go back soon 

 

3 hours ago, little britain said:

Just booked Anthem for next summer to see it again before rules change! 

 

That's great, hope you have a great time

 

 

 

As we stood out on deck a few jets flew by. I wonder if there is an airbase nearby?

 

 

Off to the Schooner bar to get a seat early for the name that tune trivia. This one was all about naming songs with a colour in them. Again, the bar was really crowded and we had fun once more playing along and enjoying some drinks.

 

 

We didn’t want lunch as it was getting close to dinner time, so we just had some more drinks and I think we picked up a cookie from windjammer too. The cookies really are lovely.

 

When this was done it was time for our North Star experience. We had left the dock by now and I wondered if it would still go ahead or if they’d only be doing the longer, paid extended experience. We needn’t have worried. Our name was on the list and we got on within minutes. They also let some people on who had turned up early because there was plenty of space. If you can’t get a reservation, just pop by the desk, you never know there may be some no-shows and you’ll get on without a problem.

 

 

 

 

I found it difficult to get photos without glare. One of the crew put her phone down on the ground, leaning on the window to do a timelapse so John did the same. It was a wonderful view up here. So glad we managed to do it, especially as we hadn’t been able to do our excursion.

 

It's so high!

 

 

We popped back to the cabin now and enjoyed some more views from our balcony. 

 

 

 

The landscape definitely reminds me of being at home. We live about 5 minutes away from Loch Lomond and if you’d told me I was sailing somewhere in Scotland today I’d have believed you. From the green plushness of the surroundings to the snow on higher ground, it reminded me that we really should explore Scotland more and not take it for granted so much.

 

We didn’t fancy anything on the main dining room menu tonight, nor did we want to tackle the windjammer so as Johnny Rockets was just upstairs from us, we headed there and decided just to take it back to our cabin.

 

 

This was really nice, piping hot and just what we needed today. 

Wanting to make the most of the views and our balcony, we sat on the balcony for hours tonight drinking tea and just enjoying the views. Our daughter had let us borrow her Dry Robe (the joys of driving to port!) and it proved very, very useful tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you believe these photos were taken after 10pm? Looks like first thing in the morning, lol.

 

We definitely get longer sunsets in Scotland too – I recall being gobsmacked the first time we were in Florida and it went pitch black so early. But we don’t get it quite as bright at home as it was here. It was just stunning and I could have sat out here all night.

 

Tomorrow would be our day in Olden and we had an early start with an excursion booked for 9:30 (if we managed to dock!) so we didn’t want to run the gauntlet in windjammer again. A slice of toast would be better than nothing so we booked room service breakfast on our tv and settled down for the night.

 

 

Wednesday 23 May – Geiranger

For the third night, I really didn’t sleep well. I don’t think it could have been worse if I’d slept on the floor honestly. But again, I know this is personal preference so would just need to get on with it. 

 

We weren’t due in port until around 11:30 today however the fjord goes on for miles, taking hours to sail through so we opened the curtains to see the beautiful view.

 

 

 

The captain had said that we should be near the seven sisters waterfall around 10am and he’d stop the ship and do a 360 turn.

 

I had booked the Panoramic Bus tour independently which would take us to 3 viewpoints on a tour lasting approx. 3 hours. The tour started at 13:00. Given the later port docking I thought it would have been useful to have a brunch option or at least a later breakfast time in the dining room. But, for some reason breakfast finished at 9 or 9:30 today. I wanted to fill up with something just before we got off the ship but didn’t fancy a breakfast and lunch before 12:30 which is when we’d need to get off for our excursion. Room service breakfast hadn’t been amazing, so, we, like the rest of the ship, headed to the windjammer in the hope of finding something.

 

First we wanted a better view of the fjord and went upstairs to the top deck

 

 

It really is stunning scenery.

 

Off into the Windjammer, there were no seats to be had anywhere. Staff were advising to find a seat before getting food and advising that everywhere was full up.

 

So we headed to solarium bistro. We did find a seat ok actually but the queue was out the door for hot food. We settled instead for some cereal, toast and drinks.

Back to our cabin to pick up our coats we headed up to the deck 15 to enjoy the amazing fjord views and the seven sisters waterfall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at this cabin nestled amongst the trees....

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found the best place to stand was actually at the very back of the ship, just behind the flow rider – stunning views and we were very lucky it didn’t rain!

 

The wake as the ship made the 360 turn

 

 

 

 

It was really wonderful to see and surprisingly the deck didn't feel too busy so we got a spot without a problem. It was lovely to see lots of the crew come up to see too.

 

We headed off now to get some drinks to warm up and into the Music hall to find a spot to play cards whilst we waiting to dock. We really liked these tables beside the windows at the back of the room and took advantage of the quietness to play a game of pool.

 

 

We hadn’t played this in a few years so had a good laugh. I was awful but John soon remembered what he was doing. The balls did roll slightly but it was fine.

 

 

 

Conscious that we’d soon be getting off the ship and would be out for the afternoon, John wanted to grab some pizza, so we did this and took it back to our cabin and enjoyed it on the balcony whilst waiting to dock.

 

 

It was about 11:50 and they had said the gangway should be ready around 12:00. I could see the Sea walk moving back and forth and a boat trying to get it into place. The cruise director came over the speakers saying they were having problems with the sea walk and would update soon.

 

 

 

We enjoyed the pizza and the view over the small village. Around 12:15 I started to see lots of activity around the lifeboats below us. Would we be tendering instead?

 

Further announcements from the cruise director saying still trying to get the sea walk attached. I could see clearly that the sea walk had been put back onto the dock and all the people working there had gone. This was around 12:30.

 

 

Given this, I knew it would be a while before they could sort the tendering out so I did the only thing you can in this situation, we had a cup of tea and a kit kat 🙂

 

 

We played cards for a bit in the cabin, waiting for announcements and watching the boats outside which had now launched. Sometime after 13:00 the cruise director said they were still trying to get the sea walk attached/fixed – no they weren’t.

 

Around 14:00 there was an announcement that tendering would take place and for people with the Key to head to the theatre so they could benefit from the first tendering. They also said we’d stay in port for an hour later tonight to make up for the time we’d lost.

 

However at 14:15 the captain made an announcement to say that they could not do the tendering either and the port was unfortunately cancelled. He said that the Sea Walk has two engines and both had failed. Due to the swells in the water they couldn’t safely attach it to the ship. Whilst they did try tendering, again the swells in the water were making this too dangerous. He said a large ship in a small port will always present problems and one of their tie ropes had already snapped so he considered it too dangerous to stay.

 

What was slightly odd was that the HAL Rotterdam was further out in the fjord and tendering to the port with ease. I’ve read a few reports on what happened and the general opinion is that it’s very different tendering from a smaller ship.

 

Anyway, I’m not qualified on any of this and put all my trust in the captain and crew to make decisions as they see fit. So whilst we were disappointed, there was nothing we could do about it and accepted we’d have another sea day, albeit in an absolutely stunning location.

 

So we lost out on our excursion – we had paid around £91.44 for both of us. I know this is one of the risks in not choosing a Royal excursion, so I wasn’t too bothered. Just one of those things. If there had been a big crowd of us and we’d lost hundreds more then I may have been more annoyed. I emailed the company anyway to see what the policy was.

 

I was more annoyed that we’d only had a slice of toast and pizza and could have had something nice to eat by now, lol.

 

I grabbed a coffee in windjammer then we went outside again. The captain said he’d do another stop at seven sisters waterfall on the way out the fjord to make up for the failed port. We went up on deck to get a view of Geiranger. It looked really beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAL tender boats....

 

 

 

On 6/2/2023 at 8:07 PM, alexgtp said:

following!! as we are headed to the Fjord's in 13 days and counting. 

Also one of our favorite British Las Vegas vlogger's were on this sailing. Hoping i see their content before we leave on trip!

 

Hope you have a fantastic time. 

 

I know the vlogger, I watch him too. First video is already up 🙂

 

We nipped back to the cabin for a bit as we were sailing away.

 

 

And then took another stroll up on deck, to the opposite bridge wing

 

 

The wind was getting up so we headed into the Seaplex and the dodgems were on! We joined the queue and waited around 10 minutes – we had a good laugh.

 

 

 

 

I love being outside on the ship, so again we did another lap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’d already decided to eat in the main dining room tonight so went back to the cabin to change. Still a bit early for the dining room, we passed by the Schooner bar and played along the name that tune 70’s quiz.

 

 

 

John is a music superfan but they only played one or two beats of each song so it was really difficult. We did ok though and enjoyed taking part. I noticed it was always packed in here, not the best venue for the quiz with so many people wanting to take part. There were always lots of people sitting on the floor. 

 

We had my time dining and every time I tried to go onto the app to reserve a slot it was always later than we wanted. Dining is supposed to start at 18:45 but we arrived around 18:30 and asked if we were too early. They said no, we could eat now which was great. There was no queue and we were seated quickly. Well, when I say quickly I mean we got into the dining room quickly, but the person showing us to our table didn’t have a clue where it was, so we lapped it a few times, lol. Got to get those steps in!

 

Anyway, finally we were seated and with it being ‘British night' we both ordered that classic British dish, mozzarella sticks 😄 They were served piping hot and delicious.

 

 

For our main course we both picked the real British classic, fish and chips. Again served piping hot, we both really enjoyed this. I was actually amazed at how nice it was. Really nicely cooked fish and plenty of it. I'm not a fan of mushy peas so didn't try them, but they looked more pureed to me.

 

 

John can’t even think about having a fish supper (that’s what we call it in Scotland) without vinegar for his chips, so he asked the waiter for some. He looked a wee bit puzzled but did come back with some…..in a bowl 😄

 

 

John just used a teaspoon to try and drip it on. We had a wee laugh about this, but it was no problem, at least he got some. Surely we can't be the only people to have asked for vinegar?

 

For dessert I had the sticky toffee pudding and John had chocolate cake, again really nice.

 

 

 

Top marks to the dining room tonight!

 

Heading out of here we wandered the Royal Esplanade and considered going outside, but it was really windy by now. Again I started to feel a bit woozy and thought it best to take it easy. We would be in Geiranger tomorrow, one of the ports I was most looking forward to. I managed to make a reservation for the North Star for 16:45 tomorrow and at some point today we also made reservations for Izumi for Friday night which we were looking forward to. 

 

We'd had a great day in Haugesund and around the ship and settled into the balcony for some views before having an early night. I forgot to mention earlier that the internet had actually been ok - it was enough that we could call the kids, send whatsapp messages and we even managed to watch some tv shows on our ipad. It would buffer at times but wasn't as bad as some of the experiences people had on the cruise prior to us. I also managed to hook the ipad up to our tv so we didn't have to watch Keeping up Appearances on the BBC channel  night after night, lol. Although I do have a soft spot for Hyacinth Bucket 😍 (one for our UK readers)

 

Night, night