Currently on the Anthem, any questions?

We have just left La Spezia and have another week to go, it's the first 14 day cruise for the Anthem, this is cruise eight. Any questions?

I have done the access all areas tour and have a balcony on deck seven starboard. Marseille tomorrow and the weather has been perfect. One thing I have noticed is the lack of draught anything, it's Stella or Heiniken, not sure what happened to the rest.

We are on classic dining at 8:30, good but not brilliant.

How is the internet? How are the shows? The dining do the waiters move with you and is there confusion?

Thanks for posting. I'll be following.

How many in your party for Dynamic Dining? What is the sequence of restaurants that have been assigned? Let us know if you think the experience is like Traditional except with changing restaurants. I would imagine there may be confusion with going to a new restaurant every night and finding the right table.

I'm sure I'll have more questions as you go on. Have a good time.

Thank you Mike! Glad to hear you've been having good weather! What did you do as far as a tour from the port of La Spezia?

Thank you for taking time out of your vacation to post.

Is there a charge for room service?

Thanks for offering, what are the complimentary beverages onboard?

How is the internet? How are the shows? The dining do the waiters move with you and is there confusion?

The internet is faster than home, it's 10meg down and two up according to speed test.net well worth it for me. I have facetimed back home successfully while moving around the ship.

The shows are good when they are on, not every venue has a show on tonight, we wanted to see Spectre but missed pre booking.

Yes the waiter, yes waiter moves with you. His assistant disappeared on day two!

It's a bit late now and we have an early trip in Marseilles tomorrow, I will answer your questions once back on the ship with a refreshment to hand!

Is the Breakfast and lunch in Silk the same as American Icon grill menu?

If not. Do you think you can post menu for breakfast & lunch for Silk

thanks

Hi Mike, thanks for posting your trip. We are on Anthem in Sept for 13 nights. Would like to know when they have the Taste of Anthem Menu so that we can avoid it and go to the 4 restaurants for their full menus. We have already booked our restaurants, with Silk being on the second night of the cruise. Have heard from some people that they have the same menu in all places on the second night, so probably will have to change this.:(

Hope you have a fantastic holiday and will be following your posts,

thanks again

Mark. :)

Thanks for having time to comment questions during your vacation.

Have you had Royal night? Is the Taste of Anthem menu still valid on 2nd night of cruise - is it really so that normal menus aren't then available?

Thanks for posting. I'll be following.

 

How many in your party for Dynamic Dining? What is the sequence of restaurants that have been assigned? Let us know if you think the experience is like Traditional except with changing restaurants. I would imagine there may be confusion with going to a new restaurant every night and finding the right table.

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions as you go on. Have a good time.

We asked for a table of eight which we got however, only six of us (couples) came the first two nights which dwindled to four of us for the next few nights (the other couple were on an anniversary cruise). You get a card in the room with the first sequence of restaurants, ours was Silk, American icon, Chic and the Grande.

It's not completely like traditional dining but is as near as I think they can get, at each restaurant there are two lines, one for dynamic and one for classic which is mostly empty. We just walk up the middle, into the restaurant and ask for table 130, once you have done all four it's easy and quick! Apparently we get a new menu tonight as we are into the second week.

The weather has been perfect so far, it's all quite lovely.

Thank you Mike! Glad to hear you've been having good weather! What did you do as far as a tour from the port of La Spezia?

I've never been to La Spezia before and since i have done Pisa to death and Rome is that bit further than from Livorno we decided to DIY La Speziai. I have to say what a lovely clean, picturesque place it is. We wandered for four hours and went to some museums and the castle for great views. The locals provide a shuttle bus for free and avery handy pocket map with points of interest in English Would recommend if you don't want to travel afar.

Thank you for taking time out of your vacation to post.

Is there a charge for room service?

No charge for room service so far, though I think I read there is one for middle of the night requests, I'll double check for you. :)

Thanks for offering, what are the complimentary beverages onboard?

In the Windjammer there is tea, coffee, orange juice, lemonade and some tropical mixes.

Is the Breakfast and lunch in Silk the same as American Icon grill menu?

 

If not. Do you think you can post menu for breakfast & lunch for Silk

 

thanks

I'll see if I can find the menus for you as we have used the surprisingly spacious windjammer for breakfast apart from today when we had room service.

Hi Mike, thanks for posting your trip. We are on Anthem in Sept for 13 nights. Would like to know when they have the Taste of Anthem Menu so that we can avoid it and go to the 4 restaurants for their full menus. We have already booked our restaurants, with Silk being on the second night of the cruise. Have heard from some people that they have the same menu in all places on the second night, so probably will have to change this.:(

 

Hope you have a fantastic holiday and will be following your posts,

thanks again

Mark. :)

Thanks for having time to comment questions during your vacation.

 

Have you had Royal night? Is the Taste of Anthem menu still valid on 2nd night of cruise - is it really so that normal menus aren't then available?

Royal night was on night two of the cruise and people got mostly dressed up. We haven't had a taste of Anthem night, all the menus were the proper ones. may be due to the length of the cruise?

have a balcony on deck seven starboard.

Thank you for taking precious vacation time to answer questions. I hope you'll have perfect weather for the rest of the cruise :).

We also have a balcony on deck 7 starboard. I was wondering how is the view? Is it not too low on the ship :confused:?

Thank you for taking precious vacation time to answer questions. I hope you'll have perfect weather for the rest of the cruise :).

 

We also have a balcony on deck 7 starboard. I was wondering how is the view? Is it not too low on the ship :confused:?

We were just docked next to the Costa Diadema and our balcony was probably equivalent to their deck ten, for me it's a good height. To be honest we don't really spend much time there, currently lounging on deck fourteen listening to the band and watching marseille disappear slowly into the distance :D

I will mention some of the things that are not quite perfect so far, teething problems rather than issues.

The bionic bar is very hit and miss, some days they both work, usually one does, sometimes neither, it appears to always be under scrutiny.

The reservations system crashed the other day and took most of the customer facing equipment with it.

Several of the lifts are showing as not working every now and then.

Royal iQ got updated on my iPad yesterday and now it doesn't work, I don't think they updated the ship beforehand.

The ships information screens think Gibraltar is in Lincolnshire (which it is but not the one we are going to)

There seems to be a bit of a language barrier with some staff, they wifi ask you a question and when you reply with perhaps not what they were expecting they just look and smile. That's happened more than once!

On a non technical note we had an ambulance turn up at Gibraltar which had two staff enter the ship, we didn't hear any more about that.....

The next day, Wednesday we had a code alpha on deck eight in the evening.

Thursday we had a code bravo on deck eleven, nothing further on that either but I'm investigating.

These were not tests, we have had three of them too!

Can't believe you're in Marseille right now. My parents live there, I so would love to be knocking on their door and surprise them!!

Just to say that seeing Spectra. When we were on board last month, we were able to go on stand by. We'd already seen it, but loved it so much we wanted another go. We were told to queue early. We did but there were already many people so didn't think we would have a chance but we did, all got in and even still managed to get very good seat, so worth giving it a try if you are bothered.

I'm curious about the menu for kids at speciality restaurants. I know it's $8 for the kids at the restaurants, but it's supposed to be a menu similar to the adult's menu, right or wrong? Can you get a photo of the menus for kids? Trying to figure out if it's worth it or not to bring my kid to the pay restaurants. For all the haters out there, yes my kid is behaved, I just want to make sure he'll actually eat something!

I'm curious about the menu for kids at speciality restaurants. I know it's $8 for the kids at the restaurants, but it's supposed to be a menu similar to the adult's menu, right or wrong? Can you get a photo of the menus for kids? Trying to figure out if it's worth it or not to bring my kid to the pay restaurants. For all the haters out there, yes my kid is behaved, I just want to make sure he'll actually eat something!

Do you have a restaurant in mind, I will gladly have a look for you.

Thanks Mike for everything you are responding to!

Hey Mike, glad you're enjoying the cruise so far.

I'm curious as to the cost of the internet package for the 14-night cruise. Did they have different packages available?

Have you or will you try any of the speciality restaurants? I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on the quality of food between speciality venues and the inclusive venues, and compared to other ships (Princess you're familiar with?)

If you're on a drinks package, how do you find the Coke Freestyle machines. Are there a lot of them and are they well stocked? Are they like the UK ones or US ones in terms of selection (do they have Pibb Xtra, for example).

Have you tried the escape room? I haven't heard a great deal about it, but I love escape rooms. Can you go on your own and share the experience with others? Just wondering how it works!

What's the best place for a quiet drink with a book, a cocktail, and sea views? I normally like the high deck front observation lounges, but I don't think Anthem has one?

Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip :)