teddie

Yes! And the special selections on Indian Night were excellent! Teddie

Part of the MDR experience that I dislike is the timing--I felt rushed, even thought the staff were very good. I don't think about dessert before even taking a bite of anything. It's lost its specialness, overall. Maybe it's the MTD? Is it the same for the regular seatings? Teddie

The WJ was heavily staffed, and attention to detail was very much present. Apparently, the human factor still seems to play a role amongst the bean counters up above. Teddie

Smart man 🙂

Thanks for your comments! I do miss the old "Deck 5" covered promenade around the entire ship, which for me adds to the character of any cruiseship. This class of ship is the largest I plan to sail. Just enough bells and whistles to keep me satisfied. Teddie

We are just not big enough eaters to splurge on the specialty restaurants. But we do like Izumi for sushi. teddie

My recent Anthem sailing (11/26/2023 - 7 Nights Caribbean/Coco Cay from Cape Liberty) was my 10th RCI cruise, and second on Anthem. but included many firsts: The first cruise without my husband--he couldn't get time off from his new job and I went with a good friend instead. It was fun and relaxing, but I still missed him! Only went to one show: the High C Horns tribute to funk and Stevie Wonder. Played trivia for the first time! (I aced the Beatles Name That Tune) Had a massage--first time ever! It was very relaxing! First time the internet was truly excellent MDR losing its allure -- only had two dinners there. I just wasn't wowed by the choices or the experience. Waiters were lovely though. Did not attend the second Formal Night--unheard of for me. First time breakfast in the Solarium Cafe--it had everything I needed for a good hot breakfast. Had most dinners in the Windjammer--Found the experience to be positive for the following reasons: flow of people/layout of the food stations, variety of choices, food temperature, and service. All very good. NOT A FIRST: I overpacked. Again! Teddie

We were just in 10644, which has a large balcony (unobstructed) and is right near the elevators. The large balconies are really deep! It has the bed near the door, though, and this is not my preference. Do all the large-balcony cabins have the bed near the door? Our Anthem cruise in March is in a regular balcony 9564, and the bed is near the balcony 🙂 Teddie

Off the Anthem last Sunday. Received 2 bottles of water in the cabin; later in the week, I received a "Chef's Gift" of a plate of petits fours/little pastries--they were quite good! Not sure if that was part of the Diamond deal, too. Teddie

Agreed. Our steward did a thorough job each evening, and left us double towels as requested. It was fine, and was the least noticeable change. Teddie

Absolutely. Off the Anthem last week and it was our 10th RCI cruises, What was really different was our choice of dinner venues. Most notable was that we only dined TWICE in the MDR--unheard of for us! Between the harried seating, even with a MTD reservation, the menu options, and the food itself, the MDR has lost its "specialness"-- I suppose first time or more recent cruisers may feel differently, not having experienced how it once was. I am that person that purports to love dressing up, yet my second formal night outfit stayed in the closet this cruise--I actually surprised myself, LOL! Instead, we had Izumi one night, room service another, and ate in the Windjammer for the rest. I find the WJ on the Anthem to be damned good, and the selections were huge. I am not going to spend extra $$ on the specialty restaurants, as we are not big eaters, and I choose to spring for the Beach Club on Coco Cay if the price appeals to me (think Black Friday sale!) and that will satisfy my upscale meal urge. It's a New Normal of RCI cruising now. I am adjusting. Teddie

THIS is why my trip insurance always includes the enhanced medical package that will ultimately transport to my hospital of choice! RN too. Teddie

I wonder if they are being purposefully vague...this gives them more flexibility on how they choose/NOT choose to enforce this. Teddie

I suppose you could indeed do that, as there really was no one checking. We were happy not having to be ready at 0745! We sat outside Izumi, close to the gangway rather than the assigned Royal Theatre. It seemed close enough. Teddie

Curious how this change for the better came about--it was that noticeable--kudos to management for turning things around! It was a great cruise. Sailing the Anthem again in March 2024--I don't want to sail anything bigger, and Cape Liberty is so very convenient for us. Teddie

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BHVKPC3?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_ct_4HC4VGR58PNXFP36BTZV This one is supposedly approved by the major cruise lines as it does not have surge protection.I have used this on our last two cruised. Teddie

Just off the Anthem yesterday. This sailing, as well as with our previous one this past February ---> Only Spectra requires reservations. They will open up closer to your cruise date, so check back on your app. Teddie

Honestly I don't care if other pax smoke pot. I'd prefer that over an obnoxious drunk anytime 🙂 Teddie

I was on your sailing as well. My hope is that karma bites them back. Teddie

I am so happy to have the friendly staff back--our February cruise was after a seven-year gap in cruising, and I was worried that I may not want to cruise RCI again after that experience. Teddie

Back home yesterday, Overall, it was an excellent time. Here are some closing thoughts: Staff: extremely friendly and attentive. This was a significant contrast to my February 2023 experience on this ship. Everyone was so pleasant this time around EXCEPT for the female individual at the entry to Guest Services, who was quite impatient and unpleasant to deal with. After that first interaction with her, I simply got on the line without dealing with her. Coco Cay: I will continue to book the Beach Club as long as the price is right for me. Just like I have the option to pay less by booking an interior cabin, I have the option to pay for the BC. Since I rarely book a suite, BC elevates my experience to a level that I very much enjoy. So I will continue to book a balcony and BC. Dining: This was my 10th cruise on RCI, and I utterly surprised myself because we only ate in the MDR twice. It's kind of sad that the MDR no longer holds the allure of being a special dining experience for me. Honestly, it was fine, but not memorable--gone are those days! I feel that the Windjammer on the Anthem is extremely well-laid out and maintained, and the selections were huge. I also note that the Solarium Cafe serves an excellent breakfast, and had everything we would want. We had one Room Service dinner and two breakfasts.The food was hot, well-presented, and tasty. BUT the ordering process on the cabin TV is an adventure in goofiness! If you order the complimentary continental breakfast, your beverage options, including coffee is displayed. If you want to order American breakfast, there is no beverage option. So for two passengers, we ordered two American and two Continental. The server showed up with FOUR trays. It was hilarious! The saving grace is that we did get a phonecall confirming our orders each time we used Room Service. That application needs an upgrade!! Cabin: Service once daily was fine. As mentioned, we requested double towels for each evening's service, and all was well. I tipped our Attendant an extra $100 cash at the end--he deserved it. He cleaned our cabin thoroughly every night, and met all of our requests. Is it me, or is the cabin with large balcony smaller than a cabin with a regular balcony? Maybe it's because we had the beds separated into two twins...? FOG! The last sea day was incrediby foggy! Fog horn blew every two minuttes. Kind of spooky! Disembarkation: on Day 6 I went to Guest Services to switch our 07:45 AM assigned departure group to the last group which was at 09:40 AM. We live not far from the port and didn't need to rush off the ship to catch a flight. The only downside to this was the huge buildup of traffic arriving for the next cruise, which slowed down the arrival of our ride back home. Oh. AND IT WAS RAINING! BOO! I will be sailing this ship and itinerary again in March 2024 , to make it up to my husband, who could not be with me this time. 😍 Teddie

Honestly, on my previous cruises, I was well-fed to the point that late night buffets were more for admiring than partaking. Lol. I don’t miss them but I can understand if others do. Teddie.

On the Anthem now. The Solarium restaurant has a nice breakfast buffet and I'll likely hit it again in the morning.Was that not offered on your cruise? Teddie

Hello, I am currently on the Anthem 7 nights from Cape Liberty, which sailed on 11/26/2023, Originally booked with my husband, but he recently accepted new employment and couldn't get the time off. So, I went with one of my very good friends. This will not be a detailed report, but wanted to share a bit here. I was last on this ship in February 2023 with a similar itinerary. I'll give a rundown of my impressions this time around. Please feel free to ask any questions regarding this ship, and I will try my best. Embarkation We had a 1030AM boarding time, and arrived at the terminal by 1000AM. I live about 15 miles west of Bayonne, so it's super convenient sailing from there. No one checked our boarding times. A quick scan of our boarding passes, security screening, and then were seated in the waiting area for approximately 15 minutes before being allowed onboard row by row. It was truly painless, and we were quickly onboard. Did the muster and headed to the Windjammer for a bite. Staterooms opened by 1:30 PM. We happened to come across our luggage, which was parked about 20 cabins forward to our location. I am thinking it was offloaded nearby and waiting to be delivered to our cabin door, but we brought it to our cabin ourselves so we could get unpacked and organized. We brought 12 bottles of 17 oz Poland Spring water, and two bottles of wine in our carry on luggage. Staterooms/Cabin Maintenance We are in a balcony cabin with large balcony on deck 10 midship, directly off the aft elevators, starboard side. There is an electric kettle in the cabin. Our "chiller" is truly working more like an actual refrigerator. We met our cabin attendant, Mr. Anant on the first day, and we agreed on PM servicing, and double supply of towels each day. I like that he is friendly, responsive to requests, and seemed quite calm. We did request wine set ups, and a feather pillow for me--all requests were granted. There is no significant noise associated with our proximity to the elevators. One interesting issue is that there was no hairdryer in the cabin, and it took two days to finally get one. Staffing As noted, we sailed the Anthem this past February after a 7 year hiatus from cruising, and on that cruise, I was dismayed with a staff that seemed disengaged and exhausted. It's possible that we ran into a few bad apples, but to me it just seemed that the service level was on a downhill curve. I am pleased to note that this trip, there is a 100% improvement in staff friendliness and attentiveness. Dining OK; here comes the subjective stuff: Windjammer we found lots of good choices in the Windjammer for our our first-day lunch. Very well stocked, clean, lots of options. Unlike my February cruise, there was a bustling number of staff clearing tables, and offering to bring the complimentary drinks to your table. We haven't been to the WJ for dinner so far. Cafe Promenade--the usual tiny sandwiches, and a good place to gather your tea making materials to bring back to the cabin. I travel with a box of those "Mini Moos" half and half creamers, especially after reading here about the cream contoversy. With respect to the pitchers labeled "cream" "milk" and "skim milk", most of the designated cream pitchers were indeed cream (or a least half and half".) I occasionally encountered a cream pitcher with contents that seemed more like milk. My Time Dining is still kind of clunky, Reservations or not, the process is not smooth, and the host/hostess seem frazzled. Beef tenderloin was delicious. My friend's NY Strip was reportedly good. I love the Indian offerings too. Our bread basket was nicely stocked and while I've heard of pax receiving only 2 pats of butter, we have so far always gotten 3 pats. Haha. The servers are as accomodating as possible in an incredibly busy environment. Beach Club before anyone gets bent out of shape about the need to spend ANY money on Coco Cay, we LOVE the Beach Club, so we choose to pay for it. We purchase directly after booking, and then check the prices daily. If it goes down, we cancel and rebook. I did this three times, and ended up with a Black Friday sale of $79 per person, which was half of the starting price. The luncheon is really excellent. Perhaps it's more special to us since we are not in a suite nor do we do much of the specialty restaurants. I mean, the appetizer platter is dang good as was the surf and turf (which was not on the Beach Club menu, but offered up by our server). They are small Bahamian lobsters, but very tasty and the filet mignon was excellent. Generous portions, too. Solarium Cafe We had breakfast there on Day 2 and this smaller buffet was calmer and much more of a relaxing experience when compared to the WJ. For a smaller buffet, it offered pretty much anything I would want for breakfast. Made to order omelets were available there as well. The hours are somewhat limited. Internet Wow! it's pretty good and much better than when we sailed in February. I purchased one plan for 2 devices, and as Diamond, I believe I get a free day of internet. I used my work VPN and streamed a show on Netflix without a problem. Ports Port Canaveral this sailing originally included Port Canaveral, which was removed about one month ago, and all pax received a credit to their sea pass account equal to one day of this cruise price. That credit was reflected in our accounts, and ours were $141 each. Later on Day 1 sailing, the Captain announced that Port Canaveral was back on the itinerary--and we get to KEEP the onboard credit! YAY!. Well, after all that praise I just gave, we didn't get off the ship at PC--we booked massages in the spa instead. Coco Cay with some jitters about wind and weather and the potential for a cancellation, today was indeed a Perfect Day at Coco Cay. There were two ships in port, the Anthem and Liberty. We made sure to get off the ship early, grabbed a tram to the Beach Club, and were fortuante to snag a very cozy and comfortable beach bed at the pool. We reseerved our lunch There is a small continental breakfast with danish and coffee. Staff were so frindly and helpful. The pool was warm and lovely. The ocean was serene, only a tiny bit chilly, and there were NO jellyfish. But there were a few sharks of the harmless variety (or so we were told). Seriously, it was a relaxing, and beautiful day. Nassau is next for tomorrow morning. Last cruise we booked the Riu through Resorts For a Day, but we may stay onboard. Haven't decided yet. Any questions, please chime in. Teddie

New furniture in my cabin? WOOT!!! Teddie