Can't sleep! Too excited! Sailing the Anthem tomorrow!

[bobbie0253]

Sorry trying to type fast. Need to get the Internet package. Lol. He sleeps between us but in the past we have requested pack and plays and we're happy with them. We are in a balcony room but kind of wish we went for an inside. I would have loved to see the virtual balcony. Storage in this room is amazing.

Edited March 4, 2016 by bobbie0253

[champagne123]

We all just watched you going under the bridge. Have a great time and we all hope you report back with details..:) HAPPY DETAILS...LOL

[Emdancer11]

Looking forward to hearing more about what it's like with your toddler! We are sailing in September when my son will be 18 months. What are the times and frequency of the free playtimes for tots? And are little ones in swim diapers allowed in the splash pool? Have a great time!!

[tserface]

I always think it's fun to go on a new type of ship (that you haven't been on before). It's sort of like, in a small way, experiencing cruising for the first time again. You may love some of it and you may not love some of it as much, but it will be a fun new experience with new wonderful things to discover.

 

Quantum class is the only RCI type ship we haven't sailed and we're looking forward to our first time on Anthem in May. FWIW, so many people have told me it's an amazing ship so maybe some of the reviewers are just set in their ways or had start up experience issues since the ship is still pretty new.

 

And, of course, there's the recent bout of weather that got a bunch of people cranky.

 

If you do a review, I'd love to read it. Can't wait.

 

Tom

[Nhsaltshaker]

Looking forward to hearing more. Have a great trip!

[PGPrendy]

Have a great cruise! We will be sailing Anthem with a 6-year-old and 22-month-old, so I am interested in your review :)

[PGPrendy]

I think I let the " don't expect too much, so you won't be disappointed " train of thought get to me from reading of recent sailings. This class of ship is new to me so I wasn't going with a lot of hopes to LOVE the ship but I suddenly find myself WAY too excited to sleep. We sail the Anthem tomorrow :) I have been reading threads and taking "notes" of requests for info/pics. If anyone wants me to check anything out, let me know. Guessing we will have a decent amount of time to just wander around because we are traveling with our two year old who thinks his goal in life is to wander and investigate everything he sees. I have a feeling he will love two70. Fingers crossed he wants to "investigate" the nursery!

 

So I guess this is going to be my " live from the Anthem with a toddler" thread :)

I can't wait to see how he reacts to the ship. He was building Legos and kept calling his boat a "ship". I think he is ready!

 

Have a great cruise! We will be sailing Anthem with a 6-year-old and 22-month-old, so I am interested in your review :)

[Great 2 B at Sea]

Have a wonderful cruise and we can't wait to read your reviews!!

[kdnurs]

I think I let the " don't expect too much, so you won't be disappointed " train of thought get to me from reading of recent sailings. This class of ship is new to me so I wasn't going with a lot of hopes to LOVE the ship but I suddenly find myself WAY too excited to sleep. We sail the Anthem tomorrow :) I have been reading threads and taking "notes" of requests for info/pics. If anyone wants me to check anything out, let me know. Guessing we will have a decent amount of time to just wander around because we are traveling with our two year old who thinks his goal in life is to wander and investigate everything he sees. I have a feeling he will love two70. Fingers crossed he wants to "investigate" the nursery!

 

So I guess this is going to be my " live from the Anthem with a toddler" thread :)

I can't wait to see how he reacts to the ship. He was building Legos and kept calling his boat a "ship". I think he is ready!

 

You sound so cute!!! I look forward to reading the experiences of your little tyke :-) Have a great cruise.

[bobbie0253]

We "investigated" the nursery last night from 8:00pm-10:00pm. Got the call at about 8:15 that he wasn't settling down. Oh well. He's been super easy so it's all good. Anyways..... Back to the review...

 

After muster(our station E2 was in two70 and took longer than normal) we wandered and would up on the esplanade ( spelling?) it was busy! Didn't realize there was a sailaway party or we would have gone to that. Communication isn't exactly amazing on this ship unless you use the Royal IQ ap which wouldn't work for me yesterday. We had snacks in the cafe promenade ( amazing!) We saw the desk for WOW bands and got them. Waiting in line we saw the only visible damage from the storm. Some wood on boleros was taped on, maybe waiting for glue to dry? Who knows. We haven't been searching out damage though so there might be more but I am not trying to find it lol.

 

Then we went to the room to unpack. The ship was rocking IMO ( in our cruising experience) a lot but not so much that it seems to be bothering anyone. We went to play in the family play area ( open 9am-10pm) next to the nursery. Ryan LOVES it in there, it's what we have always hoped for when traveling with littles. Even when we were on Disney twice we kept imagining an area like this but never found a ship with it. There are a TON of toys and it's really quiet so far.

Around 4:00pm we gave Ryan kids Dramamine. Says ages two and up. He's 26 moths. Well he had so much fun playing on the walkway in the enclosed pool area that by 5:15 it knocked him out as we were watching the robots in bionic bar. Oops! Next time we will try half a dose. As he was sleeping on me I had a light bulb moment ( haha) try and go eat dinner! We are supposed to eat at 8:30 but planned on probably just skipping the dining rooms because of Ryan.

 

We went to American Icon and asked if they could fit us in. They happily showed us to a table in the back, in a super quiet corner. Well except for a bit of passenger complaining around us about typical cruise stuff. We had the most amazing HOT dinner while Ryan slept. Our server Jannet was one of the best we have ever had. Our assistant waiter wasn't seen after he was introduced but it in no way impacted our dinner. Jannet was on top of everything. The head waiter came and said hello and then came back for a genuine chat as did a few other servers. Food was almost too hot to eat and tasted great. Dessert wasn't very good but that's okay. ( creme brûlée)

 

Ryan was still passed out so we carried him to the show. Cant remember the name but it was the rock one where everyone says it's confusing. We actually thought it was good but came in late and didn't stay for the end so I have no clue what the "story" was. The singing and dancing was good so in the moment we were happy. Ryan woke up and was really into watching what was going on.

 

After that we tried the nursery thing. Fail.

 

We played in the family area again while he stopped sobbing from his crying. Poor guy! Won't do that again :(

 

Once he was back to his happy self we took him to Windjammer for a late dinner because to him pasta and ice cream makes everything better. Hand washing is in full effect and he loves "playing" in the water so it makes that part fun for him. Dessert was much better up there ;) it was fairly quiet in windjammer and enjoyable.

 

Then we wandered around a little more and I ordered a Cosmo from the bionic bar. Fun! Ryan loves those robots.

Headed back to the room and eventually ordered room service. Way too much food today but being a 3nt I think we wanted to try as much out as possible in this short a sound of time. Disappointed to see no fruit or cheese plate :( food was average but hot and came fast.

 

Went to bed. Complain alert!...... This mattress is hard. I read that. I should have been prepared and asked for a topper. Even so, we all slept great. The rocking helped.... As did the Cosmo ;) Ship rocking tends to relax me at night. As others have posted the night light in the bathroom is great! Such a small thing and it makes such a difference.

 

We woke up around 7:30 and took our time getting ready. Well after I sent my husband for coffee. Gotta have coffee. My body aches from that bed but Aleve took care of that. We saw our room Steward Jeffrey and asked for a topper. He said he could add a duvet. He is awesome in general. Finally around 10am we went to windjammer for breakfast. No fun. Way too crowded and about half of the food things were empty. Took us about 25 minutes to find a table. Only once or twice have we had such a negative experience in windjammer. I feel like it was our fault for being lazy today though. Not sure if we will attempt that tomorrow again. May just try a dining room.

 

After breakfast we went to two70 to watch the Robo show. We got there while Zumba was still going on. The little guy enjoyed watching everyone Zumba. I didn't know SO many did Zumba on a ship. It looked like a lot of fun. The instructor seemed great but I know very little about Zumba. We grabbed coffee in the two70 cafe and enjoyed the Robo show. There was some down time between the shows and a lot of people left thinking it was over. Glad we stayed. It was pretty cool.

 

 

After a failed breakfast ( pretty much none of us got to eat anything, just too stressful with a toddler in that chaos) were hungry and went back to windjammer for lunch. MUCH better and back to enjoyable windjammer. Ryan fell asleep at the table and we took him back to the room for a nap. And I am sitting here typing while him and my husband sleep. Nice and quiet!

 

Some other thoughts...

 

There is no toy lending library even though it says there is. Crew has been awesome. It feels like it was 10 years ago.

 

Everyone is helpful and friendly that we have talked to.

 

Ship is beautiful, clean and very very well thought out as far as I have seen.

 

Snow on a pool deck looks so weird to me!

 

We headed south instead of north and that made me super happy.

 

The captain has yet to identify himself in any address I have heard.

 

Our balcony stateroom has so much storage!

 

The ship is warmer than I expected.

 

Check in was soooo smooth. Literally no waiting when we got there around 10:30.

 

Passengers overall are fun, easy going and happy.

 

After the first day it's now easy to navigate how to get places on the ship.

 

Elevators are fast and lines aren't too bad.

 

There has been a line at Guest services every single time we walk by.

 

Feel like we still have so much to explore. :)

[bobbie0253]

After nap time we got ready for the Spectra show. We has reservations but still got there early. Glad we did! We ended up with great seats. Ryan made if just about to the end. The show was great! While in two70 we asked if drinks were still loaded to the seapass ( diamond members) they said no they aren't anymore. Disappointed! :( if they really did away with it we may not end up as loyal to Royal. That was a kinda big draw for us when choosing to book a ship.

 

After the show we went to Windjammer for dinner. Then we wandered around and caught some of the bartender vs. robot demo. It was fun to watch. We went to the seaplex and watched people roller skate.

 

The ship movement is really bothering me so I've had a few cosmos :) time for bed!

[gaylemh]

While in two70 we asked if drinks were still loaded to the seapass ( diamond members) they said no they aren't anymore. Disappointed! :( if they really did away with it we may not end up as loyal to Royal. That was a kinda big draw for us when choosing to book a ship.

 

 

I was on the ship in January, there were 3 drinks loaded to the card each night to be used between 5:30 and 8. You couldn't use them in the restaurants though. Maybe you can't use them during shows.

[bobbie0253]

Talked to the loyalty ambassador. Three drinks are still supposed to be loaded. Server in two70 was miss informed and she was taking care of it :)

Called guest services about in room baby sitting, was told to go down in person to book. Waited in line to be told it's not available on this sailing.

Windjammer for breakfast was 100% better today at 9:30am. Tried the dining room first but the line was crazy long.

 

9174 has a sofa but it doesn't pull out. I asked the room steward. It was open for cleaning so I snapped a pic from the hallway.

 

6198 wasn't open to see the view with the obstruction. A nearby room was though and it looks to be just the top of the lifeboat that you see.

[bobbie0253]

9174

[Yorkvillain]

Talked to the loyalty ambassador. Three drinks are still supposed to be loaded. Server in two70 was miss informed and she was taking care of it :)

 

Whew!

 

Thanks for the live report. Great job.

[bobbie0253]

Went to the diamond lounge to see the coffee status. Nope. Still down. The guy in there ( part of the loyalty staff I am guessing) said it was a regulation thing due to the last noro cruise. A few specialty coffees loaded to the sea pass would have been great instead but oh well. Had lunch in the solarium cafe. What a great place! Ryan fell asleep in the carrier on the way there so it was a nice quiet lunch. Food was similar to windjammer but with better "food grabbers". Lol. Silver salad tongs. Desserts still hit or miss but overall more hits than misses. If it's chocolate its been great :) we are now sitting in the indoor family pool area enjoying people watching and wondering if this ship has an ice cream machine. Haven't seen one. As we went to sit down on empty loungers some lady said " oh I am saving those!" It's 43 degrees out in the middle of winter ... Didn't expect that. I swear all I can do is laugh sometimes.

 

Some more randomness....

Real coffee cups instead of plastic are great! Nice touch :)

 

Everyone is still super friendly and no complainers on this cruise.

 

Saw some storm damage on the underside of the seaplex. Missing a panel.

 

Fitness center doesn't have a steam room or sauna. That's part of the spa and requires a thermal suite pass. Wasn't much... I think she said $30 for the three days. If we didn't have a little guy I would have done it for sure. I love thermal suites. Won't have any pictures of that area.

 

The room doesn't have the typical curtain divider to close off the sleeping area.

 

If room service says 1 1/2 - 2 hrs to deliver coffee it only took about 30 minutes. Yay! Same with at night said about 1 1/2hrs. Was there in 40 minutes.

 

The confrence center was kinda cool. Four separate rooms. Bathrooms outside of them. Would be great for those in surrounding rooms lol.

 

Solarium is packed.

Indoor pool is busy too.

[bobbie0253]

After nap time we wandered around again. Ended up getting coffee at The coffee shop for me, sorrento's pizza for Ryan and cookies from the cafe promenade for all of us. Heard the announcement that name that tune was starting in the theater. Headed there and holy wow that was fun! And a packed theater. Now we are letting Ryan play with toys in the family play area again. Will head to the room to pack and get ready for dinner eventually. Not sure where we will end up. Maybe the pub. Dining room might be too much for Ryan. He's getting crazy :/

[Overtyme]

Great review! Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[bobbie0253]

Free wifi from 5pm-6pm was just announced again. ( they did it yesterday too) lol they want happy Anthem reports out there it seems :)