Anthem of the Seas - Review - Southern Caribbean - Jan 28, 2018 - Feb 9, 2018

January/February 2018 - Royal Caribbean - Anthem of the Seas - 12 night Southern Caribbean Cruise

Who are We?

Noreen - 49 years old; Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking Firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report

Scott - 48 years old; my husband; Independent Contractor and co Owner of BounceU in New York.

The Group - There are a group of people that I met in February 2011 on the Explorer of the Seas that I’ve cruised with several times. Sometimes it’s the whole group, sometimes parts of the group. When Scott and I were on Quantum February 2015 and also Anthem 2017 many of the people in the group were on those cruises as well.

General Comments...

I took a few notes in the beginning but am doing most of this by memory and by looking through my pictures to remind me and by looking through the compass. I will include some pictures as well.

I like detailed reports with a lot of info, some of which not everyone will care about. Expect this to be long and rambling.

Personal History:

Scott and I were married August 2013. It was the second wedding for both of us. If you have read my prior reports you may remember that my first husband Paul passed away unexpectedly in 2010 at the age of 42. Scott was divorced from his ex-wife. Scott’s first cruise was February 2015 on Quantum of the Seas. My first cruise was on Voyager of the Seas in 2003.

January/February 2018 - Royal Caribbean - Anthem of the Seas - 12 night Southern Caribbean Cruise

 

 

Who are We?

 

 

 

Noreen - 49 years old; Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking Firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report

 

 

 

Scott - 48 years old; my husband; Independent Contractor and co Owner of BounceU in New York.

 

 

 

The Group - There are a group of people that I met in February 2011 on the Explorer of the Seas that I’ve cruised with several times. Sometimes it’s the whole group, sometimes parts of the group. When Scott and I were on Quantum February 2015 and also Anthem 2017 many of the people in the group were on those cruises as well.

 

 

 

General Comments...

 

I took a few notes in the beginning but am doing most of this by memory and by looking through my pictures to remind me and by looking through the compass. I will include some pictures as well.

 

 

 

I like detailed reports with a lot of info, some of which not everyone will care about. Expect this to be long and rambling.

 

 

 

Personal History:

 

Scott and I were married August 2013. It was the second wedding for both of us. If you have read my prior reports you may remember that my first husband Paul passed away unexpectedly in 2010 at the age of 42. Scott was divorced from his ex-wife. Scott’s first cruise was February 2015 on Quantum of the Seas. My first cruise was on Voyager of the Seas in 2003.

Will be following!

ROYAL CARIBBEAN Anthem of the seas 2019

CARNIVAL LIBERTY 2017

CARNIVAL LIBERTY 2016

PLANNING

While we were on the Anthem January 2017, I wanted to book Anthem for January 2018 with the group but we held off for two main reasons. We have the Celebrity Reflection booked for April 2018 and Scott wasn’t sure if he could get away both January and April for longer cruises (12 nights and 11 nights). Also, there were no suites available.

During our Anthem January 2017 cruise, we became Casino Royale VIPs. I kept mentioning the Anthem cruise and saying maybe we should see what type of casino rates we could get.

When Scott still didn’t seem too interested, I looked into some other ideas for a winter trip. I talked about doing one of the Run Disney events in February 2018. Maybe we would start with something short like a 5K run.

While he initially seemed interested in the run, a day or so later he said we should look into the cruise as long as we’ll have some flexibility to cancel if it’s not going to work.

On Thursday 3/30/17, I called Casino Royale, conferencing in Brenda (my friend and travel agent who will also be on the sailing) and asked about the cruise. The only suite available is a Grand Suite Guarantee. The price was very good. And the consultant mentioned that as it gets closer there may be additional rewards or money off available and we can keep checking. The price won’t go up but could go down. Since it’s a Grand Suite Guarantee, the minimum we’ll get is a Grand Suite. I don’t want to get my hopes up that we’ll get anything except the Grand Suite.

On June 6, 2017, I received a voice mail message from Brenda (friend and travel agent) asking if I’ve checked my January reservation lately. I knew that had to mean that my cabin was assigned so I anxiously waited for the people that just walked into my office to leave so I could log on and check. We have cabin #8634, a Superior Grand Balcony Suite.

The Itinerary:

The Anthem Itinerary is as follows:

Sunday - Leave from Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne, New Jersey

Monday - At Sea

Tuesday - At Sea

Wednesday - San Juan, Puerto Rico - 3pm-11pm

Thursday - St Maarten - 10:30am-7pm

Friday - Antigua - 7am-5pm

Saturday - St Lucia - 7am-6pm

Sunday - Barbados - 7am-4pm

Monday - St Kitts - 10am-6pm

Tuesday - At Sea

Wednesday - At Sea

Thursday - At Sea

Friday - Return to Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne, New Jersey

Transportation:

We live in Northern New Jersey (Bergen County) so will drive down to Bayonne for the cruise and park at the pier.

Following!

I am getting an error trying to load pictures so let me try to figure that out.

The pictures are on my phone and when I hit the button to include them it’s telling me they are whatever size (bigger than the maximum) and it gives me option to either optimize or best. I’ve tried both and keep getting an error.

If anyone has any suggestions let me know

Thank you

Noreen

following along

Following

Did this same intinerary in January.. best trip ever! Following along

This is the itinerary I'd love to do at some point.

Maybe try uploading pictures through Tapatalk?

I am going to try to attach a picture using Tapatalk.

This is the itinerary

Dining/Beverage:

When I booked the cruise, we were put in Anytime Dining and waitlisted for Early Fixed with the group. We fairly quickly got through the waitlist and are confirmed for early fixed dining. We will probably eat several dinners at Coastal Kitchen since we enjoyed that last year. We may also eat in Chops.

I booked Coastal Kitchen for dinner in the Cruise Planner on July 27, 2017 for many of the nights. I left the first, last, and night we are in Puerto Rico open, but booked all the other nights at 6pm in Coastal Kitchen.

I purchased the Refreshment package for both of us on September 4, 2017. There was a sale over Labor Day weekend and it was on sale for $18 a day rather than the usual $26 a day. We like this package and have gotten it on the last few cruises. We’ll use it for specialty coffee, bottles of water, soda, and some fresh squeezed OJ. I’m not a big alcohol drinker, maybe 1 a night on vacation. We get free drinks in the casino as well as the drinks in the Concierge and/or Diamond Lounge and the 3 drinks a night on our card. That is more than enough for me. Scott drinks a bit more alcohol than I do, but he would only really drink either pre dinner or in the casino and both of those are covered.

Entertainment:

I booked the sushi class for us in early October for January 30. The odd thing is that it starts at 10am. It’s an hour so I’m thinking 11am is kind of an early/odd time to eat sushi. But we’ll give it a try. This costs $30 per person.

I booked Northstar for January 29 at 1pm. We’ve done this a few times but I like to do it when it’s available and we can get a reservation.

I booked the shows even though we’ve seen them all and may or may not actually go to the them.

We Will Rock You - 2/6 at 8pm

Spectre’s Cabaret - 1/30 at 8:45pm

The Gift. 1/29 at 8:45pm

I was about to purchase the surf & stream in the cruise planner since we liked having it last time, but it’s included with the suite so didn’t have to book it separately. That is a nice perk.

Excursions:

We aren’t fans of organized excursions. We prefer the flexibility to go at our own pace and do what we want. We had a good time visiting different beaches on our last cruise. I started researching some of the options of what to do on the various islands.

Puerto Rico - We visited the forts on a prior cruise so we would normally just do some shopping and have dinner at Barrachina. With the recent damage from the hurricane, we aren’t quite sure what we’ll do.

St Maarten - Little Divi Bay, where we went last year and really liked, won’t re-open after hurricane damage until maybe May so that’s out. The whole French side of the island isn’t ready for visitors yet I’m hearing. So we’re sort of up in the air about St Maarten too.

Antigua - We are going to Beach Limerz with Brenda and Charlie and some of the others in the group. This will be a new place for us. Last year we went to Valley Church Beach.

St Lucia - We are thinking of Vigie Beach. This will be new. Last year our St Lucia stop was changed to Martinique.

Barbados - We are going to Pirates Cove with Brenda and Charlie and some of the others in the group. This willl be new. Last year we went to the Boatyard.

St Kitts - We are going to Carambola Beach Club with Brenda and Charlie and many others in the group. We have been here a few times and like it.

About a month before the trip - December 2017:

Normally I wouldn’t post information about what we were doing a month or so before the trip since it’s usually just the regular holiday preparations and enjoyment.

However, on Friday 12/22/17 (the Friday before Christmas weekend) I fell down some stairs in my house and fractured my toe. At first I just put some ice on it and figured it’s would be fine. As the day went on it turned purple and got swollen. Given the timing, I couldn’t get in touch with a regular foot doctor since he was gone for the holidays, but I took my first trip to an Urgent Care place. I was pleasantly surprised by the place. I had X-rays, they wrapped my foot and taught Scott how to wrap it for me, told me it was fractured and what to do (rest it, keep it up, don’t walk too much, and see an orthopedist). I used a boot for a bit, but it’s healing. With family coming over Christmas weekend I didn’t rest it as much as I should have.

Almost a week later I was able to see an orthopedist who reviewed the X-rays, confirmed it’s fractured, and said we’ve done everything correct so far. The full healing process takes 6-8 weeks so I was worried about how this would impact the trip. I can’t wear high heels and probably won’t be able to for at least another month if not longer. I couldn’t get right back to running but was able to start using the bike and elliptical machine and needed to ease into running. Some things are taking longer than they normally do but there shouldn’t be too much impact to the trip.

If you are squeamish you may want to skip the below picture of my purple toe.

The week before the trip - January 2018:

The week before the trip we started pulling out some of our clothes and doing a little fashion show for each other to decide which outfits we like. My shoe selection will be more limited than usual with my fractured toe.

I got an Amazon Kindle Fire. The only time I ever get to read books is on vacation and normally I bring a few books with me and just leave them in the library on the ship when I’m done with them. I’ve been very hesitant to get an E Reader. For this trip since we’re driving to the pier, it’s not a big deal to do what I normally do, but I started thinking ahead to my birthday cruise where I have to fly to Florida to get on the ship. Do I want to lug a couple of books with me then too? Of course I have to learn how to use it but I’m kind of excited about giving it a try. I will bring my paper books too this cruise since I already have them.

Scott had a dentist appointment the week before we left and the dentist slipped with the drill and cut a hole in the bottom of his tongue. He was in some pain but it healed within a few days. It was the oddest thing though - an actual hole and you could see into the inside of the tongue. You could see glands and veins and all sorts of things. I know, probably TMI, but I’m fascinated by that stuff. Scott didn’t want me to take a picture so you are spared the gory visual.

One week before our cruise we received an email from the concierge on Anthem of the Seas. It’s pretty much a standard form email letting us know his name and that he can assist us as well as telling us the special amenities we receive summarized.

The Day Before the Trip - Saturday 1/27/18:

Today was a pretty typical day before vacation when that happens to fall on a Saturday (rather than a work day).

I went to the gym in the morning.

Scott went to work for a little while.

I went to the spa in the afternoon to get my manicure and pedicure for the trip. I did a pretty Caribbean blue on my toes. It’s called Viva Antigua by Essie. I really like this color for a cruise since it matches the color of the water in Barbados and that’s what it always reminds me of. For my fingers I did a shellac manicure so it will last throughout the cruise in a nice sparkly peach color (I don’t know the official name of it).

We finished our packing. We both overpack but I didn’t think this was too bad. We have 4 big bags to check and then we each have a rolling carry on bag.

Thinking about this cruise for 2020....anxiously following along!

I love your detailed reviews Noreen, looking forward to reading more.

Sunday 1/28/18 - Embarkation - Bayonne NJ:

Cruising out of Bayonne is super easy for us so the morning was a pretty typical Sunday morning. I went to the gym and ran a few errands.

We left the house around 11am and hit a little traffic driving to the pier. It took us just over an hour to get to Bayonne. There was a line of cars to drop luggage and pull in.

The first glance of the ship is always exciting, even if it’s a rainy and gloomy day.

We dropped our luggage with the porters then pulled into the parking garage. They direct you to spots similar to what they do at Disney World.

Just pulling our carry on bags now, we headed to the terminal. We walked straight through the suite line, took our boarding photo, and headed onto the ship very quickly. There was another boarding photo station set up so we took that one as well.

I’d say we were on the ship by 12:30. We looked outside and the line to get into the drop off area was gone now so we much have arrived at a busy time.

Cabins weren’t ready yet and since we didn’t have any breakfast today we went to Coastal Kitchen for a light lunch. I had the beet salad and Scott had the salad with shrimp. We both had soda - Sprite for me and Diet Coke for Scott. They were surprised that was all we ordered.

I took a picture of the lunch menu but forgot to take pictures of our lunch food.

Following! Enjoying your review. Look forward to hearing about your cabin. We are in 13634, also a Superior Grand Suite the end of March. Did the Concierge contact you prior to boarding?

Following! Enjoying your review. Look forward to hearing about your cabin. We are in 13634, also a Superior Grand Suite the end of March. Did the Concierge contact you prior to boarding?

Hi

Yes, we received an email a week before boarding from the concierge.

I just pulled it up and took a picture. I had to do it in pieces but I am attaching below

When we were on board the concierge was Ricardo even though the email came from Francisco

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe try uploading pictures through Tapatalk?

Thank you, this worked and I have been using it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interested in your experience at Beach Limerz. I did the ship's beach excursion (Antigua Beach Extravaganza) and it was super crowded. Since we're going back to Antigua next year we want to try something else.

Sunday 1/28/18 - Embarkation - Cont...

After lunch the cabins were ready to we made our way to our cabin - Superior Grand Suite #8634 to drop off our carry on bags. We looked around the cabin and took some pictures. Scott wiped much of the cabin down with Lysol Wipes. I know it may be overkill but it makes us feel better to take that extra step.

I’m trying to get some pictures loaded but having some issues again with that. Will get them up as soon as I can

Room # Picture:

Living Room Pictures:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Few more Living Room Pictures:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk