Anthem of the Seas - Review - Bermuda & Caribbean - June 20, 2019 - June 29, 2019

[jimbri]

Great photos!

[Noreen411]

On 7/22/2019 at 10:58 AM, Arzeena said:

 Hey you are supposed to be KISSING under the moon gate!😊😉
I also see an orange St Kitts.!!! LOL!

HI

 

I didn’t know there was a tradition of kissing under the arch.  I just saw it and thought it made a cute picture.  I’m sure there was something explaining the significance and I went right by it.

 

Next time we’re in Bermuda I’ll try to remember to ask someone to take a picture while we kiss.

 

At least his shirts are different colors rather than all blue like they usually are LOL

[Noreen411]

On 7/23/2019 at 2:57 PM, tcmagnum said:

 

He absolutely has to go to the gym in the middle of the day!!

Great hit!!

And another great hit later in the week!!

 

Hi

 

It was very exciting.  I was very happy to get the royal flush.  To get another the next day was an even bigger shock.

 

Unfortunately, but not surprising, the trend of a royal flush a day ended

[Noreen411]

On 7/23/2019 at 3:46 PM, dreamer976 said:

Loving your review ... enjoying so much detail. 

 

I, too, will be aboard Anthem this October, my first time sailing Quantum class. 

 

Thank you you so much for taking so much of your time to share with us. 👍👍😁

You will have a great time.

Any questions, let me know and I’ll try to answer

[Noreen411]

On 7/24/2019 at 8:59 AM, stosto52 said:

Great review.. We are doing the Anthem in November and also staying in Junior Suite J1. Thank you for the pictures

Hi

 

Have a great time.  Happy to answer any questions.

 

The Junior Suite J1 is a great cabin.  The layout works well and the balcony is fantastic.

[Noreen411]

Day 4 Compass and Planner

 

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 6/23/19 - At Sea

 

We both went to the gym a little before 7am.  We are still thrown off with the time and what it should be.  

 

After stopping at the Patisserie, we showered and got dressed.

 

We filled a laundry bag to send out.  Considering how much we both overpack, we always end up sending out laundry too.  This is another great diamond plus perk that we each get a free bag to fill.  We are doing one bag today and will do another a little later in the trip.

 

We took a few pictures on our way to 270.

 

 

 

We hung out in 270 and got breakfast from Cafe 270.  I had a yogurt/granola parfait and fresh squeezed orange juice.  Yogurt and granola is one of my normal breakfasts at home and I like the ones they have at cafe 270.  Scott had hard boiled eggs and capuccino.  I forgot to take a picture of his eggs.  I don’t remember if he got the in 270 or picked them up and brought them here.

 

We looked at our photos in the photo area and noticed some were missing.  We were able to add the missing ones (the ones by the Wonderland chair).  We ordered two photos - the boarding photo and one of the photos in the Wonderland chair.  We each get a free picture being diamond plus so used those for these two pictures.  We would have bought them anyway but it’s even nicer receiving them free.

 

We went to the top tier party in the theater at 11am.  There are only 11 Pinnacle Members and 120 Diamond Plus Members on this sailing.  I don’t remember the stats for the other levels.   The theater was not crowded.

 

The captain made a funny comment about the time changes being finished and now we’ll all know what time it is.  I guess we aren’t the only ones that were confused.

 

We walked around on deck 5 and kept running into dead ends.  We found it very amusing.

 

We went to the casino for a little while.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Sunday 6/23/19 - At Sea - Continued

 

We had lunch at Brass and Bock.

 

 

 

We shared our food since we know the portions are large.  We had soft pretzel sticks, macaroni and cheese, and a burger.  We asked for no aioli on the burger.   The rest I can take apart and put back together the way I like.  I’m a bit of a finicky eater and don’t like things piled too high on the burger.  I also don’t like the inner part of the tomato but do like the skin so I cut that out and put the tomato skin back on my half of the  burger.  Scott is used to my food quirkiness.

 

 

 

We probably went back to the casino after lunch for a bit.

 

We went to 270 to watch/listen to the Virtual Symphony at 3:30.  

 

 

We saw another funny animal in the elevator.  Maybe a goat or a llama, I’m not quite sure what it is.

 

We went to the arcade.  They have skee ball.  This is new since I don’t remember seeing it in February.  We played a few games.   

 

You earn points for the games.  There is a redemption machine where you can get little prizes for your points.

 

Scott also played a shooting game and a flying game.  

 

This is probably the first time there have been other people in the arcade when we were there.

 

We walked around on deck 15 a few laps.  Scott wanted to go back to the gym for some stretching.

 

I went back to the cabin and read on the balcony and played on the IPad for a little while.

 

We showered and changed for the evening.

 

We had drinks at the casino bar.  I had a peach mojito and Scott had a gin & tonic.  

Edited July 27, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Sunday 6/23/19 - At Sea - Continued

 

We had dinner at Coastal Kitchen.

 

 

 

I solved today’s “question of the day” right away.  I don’t remember it exactly but it was something with numbers that you add and multiply.  Amar was surprised I solved it so quickly as I gave the answer as he was finishing the question.  I really should have written them down.  Some were really interesting and made you think.  A few were duds, but most of them were good.  

 

For appetizers we both had the crab cake.  Scott also had shrimp cocktail.

 

For our entree Scott had Eggplant Parmigiana from the dining room and I had the Barramundi from the Coastal Kitchen menu.

 

For dessert I had the vacherin and Scott had the chocolate and olive oil cake.  I like the vacherin.  I tried Scott’s cake and it was good but very rich.

 

After dinner we went to the casino.

 

We went to the Love and Marriage show at 10:15 in the theater.  It was odd that they asked the different couples different questions.  As usual, we played along from our seats and only got two answers right.

 

We went back to the casino after the Love and Marriage show and stayed until they closed.

 

When we got back to our cabin we had a towel animal - I think this one is a pig.

 

We watched an episode of Riverdale on the laptop.  That’s our new Netflix binge show.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Day 5 Compass and Planner

 

 

 

St Maarten Map

 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by Noreen411

[tcmagnum]

Loving all the dessert pics!! 

[Noreen411]

Monday 6/24/19 - St Maarten

 

We both went to the gym about 6:15am.  Then we walked a few times around the track on deck 15.

 

 

 

We saw another funny animal in the elevator - a giraffe.

 

After our normal stop at the Patisserie we showered and got dressed.

 

We had breakfast in the Windjammer.  

 

We didn’t dock until 12:30 or so in St Maarten.  We watched the ship dock from the top deck.  

 

Anthem is the only ship in St Maarten today.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Noreen411

[OceansOfTravels]

I am really enjoying your photo review! This has been an itinerary I have wanted to try for a while. Thanks for putting in the time both on and after your vacation to put this all together for us!

[Noreen411]

3 minutes ago, OceansOfTravels said:

I am really enjoying your photo review! This has been an itinerary I have wanted to try for a while. Thanks for putting in the time both on and after your vacation to put this all together for us!

Thank you for the kind words.

 

It’s a fun itinerary with a nice mix of ports and sea days.

 

I enjoy putting together these reviews.  It’s always fun to look back and remember the trip.

[Noreen411]

Monday 6/24/19 - St Maarten - Continued

 

Once docked we got off the ship.

 

We took the obligatory picture with the nearby St Maarten sign.

 

 

 

We took a cab to orient bay.  We originally asked the driver to take us to Bikini Beach but she dropped us off at Kontiki.  I was debating between the two of them so it was fine.  She will come back for us at 4:30

 

Kontiki turned out to be a great choice.  It was really nice and not crowded at all.

 

We rented cushioned lounge chairs with an umbrella and little table for $20.

 

After we got settled in our chairs I went to change into my bathing suit.  

 

When I got back one of the vendors walking the beach was trying to sell things to Scott.  She was selling hats which he needed anyway since he forgot his so we bought a hat.  Another vendor was showing him a towel that turns into a knapsack that he liked so we bought that too.  There were a lot of vendors and not that many people on the beach so they would all come to the few of us that were there.

 

The water was warm with some small waves.  There was some seaweed floating around so you just had to swim around it.  We had a lot of fun swimming and snorkeling in the water.

 

When we went back to our chairs for a bit, several more vendors came by.  Most of the items we weren’t interested in.  We bought a hand made (maybe) thing that you hang and can put stuff in.  The vendor had various dates on them and when he had one with Scott’s birthday on it, we bought it.  I forgot to take a picture of it at the beach, but took one when we were back on the ship and hung it up on a hook.

 

We swam some more and just enjoyed our time in the water.

 

We don’t normally spend too long at the beach but should have stayed here longer.  We were both really pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed Kontiki and will come back here next time we were are in St Maarten.

 

 

 

We changed when it was almost time for the driver to come back and stopped at the beach bar.  I had a guava berry colada.  Scott had a beer and a shot of tequila.  The bartender gave us shots of some sort of liquor infused with fruit.  It was too strong for me so I gave mine to Scott.  The driver was a little early so we bought her a smoothie from the bar (non alcoholic) that she asked for.

 

We left Kontiki and headed back to the pier.  It started raining as we were in the taxi driving back.

 

We browsed the shops at the pier.  I was disappointed that the chocolate store at the pier was already closed.

 

We found a T shirt for Scott.

 

We got back on the ship and stopped to grab some sodas.

 

When we got back to our cabin there were cookies from the casino.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Monday 6/24/19 - St Maarten - Continued

 

We had dinner at Coastal Kitchen.

 

 

 

For appetizers I had the Octopus, Scott had the tuna and a shrimp cocktail.  

 

Rueben (the manager) mentioned there was a donut bar in the Windjammer tonight.  I walked over to take a few pictures and see what they had.  It’s a good display with a lot of variety but none looked like a regular ring shaped donut, they were all filled donuts.  Nothing wrong with that, but I was surprised not to see any regular donut shaped donuts.  I just looked and took a few pictures and figured we’d come back after dinner and maybe get a donut or two.

 

For our entree I had the short rib, Scott had the flounder, and we shared the pasta.

 

For dessert we both had the Ricotta cheesecake.

 

Scott walked over to the Windjammer to get a donut from the donut bar and it was pretty empty.  They just had a few mangled looking donuts left.  It was popular.  Scott managed to find two donuts to bring back.

 

We dropped the donuts in the cabin and headed to the casino.

 

We went to the Hush Silent party in 270 at 10pm.  This was fun.  Everyone had headsets on and you can change between two different channels with different songs.  The songs they played were good and we enjoyed our time there.

 

We went back to the casino.

 

We stopped at the Bionic Bar and I got a Shirley Temple.

 

We stopped at Sorrento’s for a slice (or two) of pizza.

 

Back in the cabin we watched an episode of Riverdale.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Noreen411

[MadamG2U]

So enjoying your review.  We will be on her in September

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, Noreen411 said:

HI

 

I didn’t know there was a tradition of kissing under the arch.  I just saw it and thought it made a cute picture.  I’m sure there was something explaining the significance and I went right by it.

 

Next time we’re in Bermuda I’ll try to remember to ask someone to take a picture while we kiss.

 

At least his shirts are different colors rather than all blue like they usually are LOL

 

I thought that I took a close up of the blue sign - that explains the tradition of kissing.  😀

 

[Noreen411]

5 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

I thought that I took a close up of the blue sign - that explains the tradition of kissing.  😀

 

Thank you for sharing.  I am guessing we came from behind the arch and found someone to take our picture then just kept walking without looking back.  But now seeing it, I can’t believe we missed the sign.

 

Thank you

[Merion_Mom]

so.............I just went onto the internet and found a picture  🧚‍♀️

 

[Arzeena]

3 hours ago, Noreen411 said:

Thank you for sharing.  I am guessing we came from behind the arch and found someone to take our picture then just kept walking without looking back.  But now seeing it, I can’t believe we missed the sign.

 

Thank you

Noreen,

no better excuse to go back to Bermuda!!!!☺️

[Noreen411]

20 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

so.............I just went onto the internet and found a picture  🧚‍♀️

 

 

Thank you for sharing - we’ll make sure next time to kiss under it.

[Noreen411]

17 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Noreen,

no better excuse to go back to Bermuda!!!!☺️

 

We will go back to Bermuda 

[Noreen411]

21 hours ago, tcmagnum said:

Loving all the dessert pics!! 

 

Even with all the desserts, Scott ended up losing almost 10 pounds this cruise.  He spent more time at the gym than he gets to when we’re home.

 

I totally have a sweet tooth and always like to have something sweet after I eat.  It doesn’t have to be anything huge but I like something.  At home usually it’s a cookie.  I’ve gotten Scott into that habit too.

[Noreen411]

Day 6 Compass and Planner

 

 

 

Puerto Rico Map

Edited July 28, 2019 by Noreen411