thoughts on Anthem after 11/27 12 night sailing

[XTC5]

My husband and I really enjoyed our cruise on Anthem and would not hesitate to sail on her again. One thing I really liked was the Muster Drill on this ship. We got to sit inside and in comfort instead of standing outside in the hot or cold all squished in with a bunch of other passengers. The ship also changed time to match the time of the islands that we visited.

 

-Embarktion day eating - We were on the boat by 11:30am. Windjammer packed, Café 270 and 270 itself were also packed. We went to Sorrentos and it was empty along with the park café. We stayed in Sorrentos til 1pm and it never got busy. Soda was in sorrentos and water, tea and coffee were in the park café.

 

-New Dining - we did my time dining and had reservations each night. They had people with reservations go to american icon and people without reservations went to silk. I never saw a line on either side except on lobster night (4th sea day). It wasn't busy at 7:30 when we went but when we left at 8:30 both lines were very long. There was a new menu every night. For the most part we loved the food. My husband really loved the ribs and I really liked the mac n cheese from the kids menu. The lasagna was the only thing that I really did not like. All the chef recommendations were good. We had several different waiters and they were all great.

 

-Solarium Bistro - We ate here our first and last night. We really liked the food. The appitizers and desserts are served buffet style and the entrée you order and it is brought to you. The menu is the same every night so I would not eat here to often unless you find that you loved it. Be careful not to fill up on appitizers as we did the first time. Would not come here if you have picky kids. there is no kids menu. It was never busy and had a nice relaxing atmosphere.

 

-Breakfast and Lunch - Like others have stated the seating in the Windjammer on this ship is limited. From 8:30am to 3pm it was always difficult to find a seat. We ate outside 90% of time which was ok with us. Getting food was not a problem even during the busiest times. We tried going at all different times for breakfast, lunch and snacks and always had trouble finding seating after 8:30. Café 270 was great for breakfast. they had bread products, cereal, and hot breakfast sandwiches. It was never busy and there was plenty of seating. I went here for lunch twice but unless you like salad, there didn't seem to be a good selection of things to fill me up. They did have bags of chips (lays original only). Went to sorrentos and park café for lunch and snacks and they were never really that busy. Have not liked sorrentos on other ships but decided to give it a try and it was a lot better on Anthem.

 

-ICE CREAM - My biggest complaint about the ship (and RCI in general) they only had one soft serve station for the whole ship. there were two machines but one was almost always broke. If that wasn't bad enough, it is also only open for 5 hours each day and closed on Embarktion day. Why are they so stingey with the soft serve? On the plus side, I find it very entertaining watching people make their ice cream cone. I'm amazed at how many people just cant figure out how to get the ice cream on the cone properly.

 

-Balcony cabin 9534 - I really liked the rooms on this ship. lots of storage and the bathroom has a nice design with a good sized shower. There is not a drying line in the shower though. Our bed was by the door not the balcony. Really liked the interactive TV as it actually worked unlike other RCI cruises we have been on. We could order room service and check the menu for the main dining room each day. Also the doors for the Inside cabins were not across the hall. there was a separate hall for the inside cabin doors which was nice because then you hear less door slamming.

 

-Bumper Cars, Climbing Wall, and IFLY - bumper cars are a lot of fun. kids have to be at least 5 to ride and 8 to drive. If bumper cars are running in the morning then the line will be short at the beginning and get longer as time goes on. If bumper cars are in the afternoon then the line will be long for about the first 90mins then it will be short the rest of the time. The Wall may be closed on sea days if the ship is rocking too much. There was never a line that I saw. IFLY is fun. I felt very safe and never really felt like I was falling.

 

-People - I found the crew to be very nice and helpful at all times. However, I can see why some people have said they seem less friendly than on other ships. It is because of the class of passengers that they have to deal with on a daily basis. I have never seen more rude people on a ship than on this cruise. I saw so many people being very demanding and ordering the crew around without so much as a please or even a nice tone of voice. Sometimes, no matter what the crew did people were never satisfied. It was very infuriating to see so many of these people treating the hard working crew with such little respect. I would have to say that if I had to deal with people like this on a daily basis, I might not be as friendly either.

 

-FYI if you travel on Navigator or the sister ships- If the ship is in port and there are other ships docked next to it, the passengers of the other ships can see through the large tinted windows of the men's bathroom on deck 11 when it is dark out. I apologize to those of you I watched peeing, but I wasn't aware of what I was watching until my husband came by and told me what I was looking at.

 

-PORTS - San Juan, if you want a drink (as my husband and I did) go to the right when you get off the ship. There is a sharp curve and just around it is a café and several bars. none of which were busy even though there were multiple ships in port.

St. Marteen, give yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship if you take a taxi somewhere. We went to a beach and it only took 10mins to get there but it took over 30mins to get back to the port because of traffic.

Antigua, We did a Segway Tour on our own and it was fabulous. If your board of the same old thing then I highly recommend giving this a try. They will meet you at the pier and the taxi fare is included in your price. They are also near a nice beach if you want some beach time too.

Barbados, It is illegal to wear camo in Barbados and they won't let you out of the terminal if they see you wearing any. Don't plan on the Boatyard if you are not the first ship in port. It fills up fast. Traffic is also an issue here when getting back to the ship. If you have your heart set on swimming with turtles then you need to find somewhere besides Carlise Bay to this. We did a turtle swim with people who approached us on the beach and when they took us out, there were already 5 or 6 other boats out there and probably over 50 people in the water looking for the turtles. We did not see any turtles and the boat people said it was because that many people will scare them away.

Martinique, people have talked about ferries near the pier that will take you to Point de Bout, but beware because there are two different piers where the ship may dock. We were docked by the Simon Hotel and the ferries were right next to our pier. I'm not sure if there were ferries at the other pier where another ship was docked.

St. Kitts, nice shopping area. many stores have Wifi if you buy something from them. You will also see people walking around with monkeys. for a fee you can hold them.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.

[cruisin0504]

Thanks for the great info. How do you make dinner reservations?

[easyboy]

Thank you for your review.

[Noreen411]

Hi

 

Thank you for the review of Anthem.

 

Can you tell me a bit more about the segway tour in Antigua you did on your own. What company was it with? Did you need to book in advance? Any other info?

 

It sounds like something my husband and I may be interested in.

 

We are also doing a 12 night on Anthem next month and have been tossing around ideas for Antigua

 

Thank you

Noreen

[skyhawk352]

Thanks for the great info. How do you make dinner reservations?

 

You can make reservations in advance by logging into you account on the Royal Caribbean website and selecting the cruise. It'll give you the opportunity to select dining as well as shows in advance.

 

XTCS, yes, St Maarten was a tad busy. Not the best scheduling to have 5 huge ships in port at the same time. There were over 18k cruise passengers with us on the island that day. Being that we were the last to arrive, that's why we lucked out with the light traffic in the morning. Unless you returned back to the ship after 5:30pm (the last of the 'all aboard' times of the other ships), traffic was inevitable unfortunately. Could have been worse though, two days prior 7 ships were in.

[dpostman]

Thank you very much for your review. We are boarding Anthem in March, and I plan on spending much of my time in the solarium including lunches. You mentioned that there were no kids menu, but it is my understanding that the Solarium is an adults only venue. Is the Solarium Bistro open to kids and not the pool area? Just wondering as my daughter is 12 and has been already informed that the Solarium is off limites to her but the Solarium Bistro is very much the types of food she likes... I know... strange for a 12 year old.

 

If the Solarium Bistro is open to kids, my daughter will be very happy. She already inquired if I would smuggle food out from there to her room for her ;) after I showed her pictures from different food venues.

 

BTW, she is already looking forward to just relaxing and ordering room service...

Thanks

[Jenjer]

Thank you very much for your review. We are boarding Anthem in March, and I plan on spending much of my time in the solarium including lunches. You mentioned that there were no kids menu, but it is my understanding that the Solarium is an adults only venue. Is the Solarium Bistro open to kids and not the pool area? Just wondering as my daughter is 12 and has been already informed that the Solarium is off limites to her but the Solarium Bistro is very much the types of food she likes... I know... strange for a 12 year old.

 

If the Solarium Bistro is open to kids, my daughter will be very happy. She already inquired if I would smuggle food out from there to her room for her ;) after I showed her pictures from different food venues.

 

BTW, she is already looking forward to just relaxing and ordering room service...

Thanks

 

The restaurant is open to children no need to smuggle food out. :-). My kids also loved the food on Quantum. Anytime the kids entered the Solarium we just asked that they be quiet.

 

At night time I saw plenty of kids swimming in the Solarium, no one ever kicked them out. During the day I did see staff tell parents that the area is for 18 and over.

[Jenjer]

One more thing we kids included would go to the Solarium bar to get fresh juice and real fruit and Veggie smoothies.

 

The Solarium bar and restaurant are on the Top of the Solarium so its easy for kids to pop in and not be disruprive

[dpostman]

One more thing we kids included would go to the Solarium bar to get fresh juice and real fruit and Veggie smoothies.

 

The Solarium bar and restaurant are on the Top of the Solarium so its easy for kids to pop in and not be disruprive

 

Thanks. My DD will be very happy to hear this. Our staterooms are located in the forward section of the ship and only a few floors below the Solarium so it is very practical for us to use this venue.

 

My son (17) on the other hand would probably not touch the Solarium Bistro offerings with a 10ft pole :o

 

dp

[Aldeya]

TShe already inquired if I would smuggle food out from there to her room for her ;) after I showed her pictures from different food venues.

 

 

Do you have links to some of the pictures? I'd love to see what kind of food is offered in Solarium Bistro and Wonderland.

 

Thanks.

[dpostman]

Do you have links to some of the pictures? I'd love to see what kind of food is offered in Solarium Bistro and Wonderland.

 

Thanks.

 

I just showed her pics that I was seeing from CC reviews and what is in the cruise planner restaurants section.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/category.do?pagename=onboard_cat_dining_options

 

There was also a blog someone posted with lots of Wonderland food pics. I'll try to find it and post it.

 

dp

[dpostman]

Here it is... about half way down the page:

 

http://www.smallworldtastes.com/day-5-civitaveccia-italy-rome-harmony-of-the-seas/

[Aldeya]

Here it is... about half way down the page:

 

http://www.smallworldtastes.com/day-5-civitaveccia-italy-rome-harmony-of-the-seas/

 

 

Thank you so much! :)

[cruisin0504]

One more thing we kids included would go to the Solarium bar to get fresh juice and real fruit and Veggie smoothies.

 

I noticed the package for juices and other non-alcohol beverages. How were the smoothies? Were they included in the package? Are the fresh squeezed juices only at breakfast? Thank you!

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[extracruises]

We were on this sailing as well. DH and I thoroughly enjoyed. We also heartily agree about the entitled attitude of too much of the clientele. I met some great people, but we witnessed some who were downright obnoxious.

 

One particular woman sadly seemed to take great pleasure in informing us of the most unfortunate deaths on the sailing :(

 

On the way home I said, "I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Midwesterners."

Edited December 17, 2016 by extracruises

[dpostman]

Thank you so much! :)

 

Anytime.

 

My DW and I are looking forward to our Wondrland visit coming up in March.

 

dp

[sdpete]

In regards to your comments on the rude passengers: We found the same problem on our Quantum of the Seas cruise a couple of years ago. We did not find the same level of rudeness and aggressiveness by passengers out of Florida or Canada.

[XTC5]

Noreen, Segway of Antigua is the name of the company we used. You can look them up on trip advisor and see many more reviews and they have a link to their website. We did book in advance and I would recommend booking in advanced because the tours before and after ours were filled. They have an online form to fill out so that u can book in advanced. I would book at least 2-4 weeks in advance.

 

 

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[RCJM]

Are the fruit smoothies included in the beverage replenish package ?

[Noreen411]

Noreen, Segway of Antigua is the name of the company we used. You can look them up on trip advisor and see many more reviews and they have a link to their website. We did book in advance and I would recommend booking in advanced because the tours before and after ours were filled. They have an online form to fill out so that u can book in advanced. I would book at least 2-4 weeks in advance.

 

 

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Thank you for the additional information

Noreen

[SportsFanatic]

Are the fruit smoothies included in the beverage replenish package ?

 

 

Yes

 

 

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