Anthem of the Seas Feb 23 - Mar 1

[Jcol5786]

Hello,

My wife and I just returned from this 7 night cruise on Anthem. This is our 8'th cruise with RC and our 3'rd on Anthem. I'm not planning to do an in depth review as others are far better at that sort of thing then I am however I will say we had a very good cruise and am happy to answer any questions that people might have about our experience on this cruise.

 

Thanks

[Jcol5786]

Here are some general observations about our cruise on Anthem. We arrived at the terminal at 10:15. After going through security and we made our way toward the check in lines. We are met by a person with an iPad and did our final check in on the spot. He took our pictures with the iPad and confirmed that we had a printout of our Set Sail Pass. There were a few extra questions about our recent travel history and general health. We were then directed toward the general seating area. After getting to our seats within 5 minutes the started the boarding process. This was around 10:35. Earlier than I recall on our previous cruises. We had a bit of a wait before general boarding started. We stepped on the ship at 10:55. Very smooth and quick process.

 

One thing that I noticed about this cruise is that the ship seemed to be fully booked and there were a lot of children on board, We cruised on the same week last year and I don't think there were nearly as many kids on for that cruise. I don't mind cruising with kids, just surprised about how many younger kids were onboard. I was also surprised that the ship seemed fully booked in light people cancelling. But as  I mentioned it was a very good cruise.

 

[beccaewert]

Did they take your temperature?

 

I and my son have seasonal allergies.... my worry is he is in a new state and different allergens will set him off and hes sneezing.... I hate to be denied boarding if its just allergies......

 

 

[icsys]

Hi,

 

We're on Anthem later this month, possibly the same itinerary.

Who was the CD and did you see who the house/tribute band was? They usually perform in the Music Hall.

[Biker19]

20 minutes ago, beccaewert said:

Did they take your temperature?

No. 

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, icsys said:

Hi,

 

We're on Anthem later this month, possibly the same itinerary.

Who was the CD and did you see who the house/tribute band was? They usually perform in the Music Hall.

Info available in the app. 

[icsys]

I can't see any info on guest entertainers in the app, only an overview of the venues themselves and the main 'Royal' shows, so I'm either looking in the wrong place or the app hasn't been populated with that information yet.

Edited March 2, 2020 by icsys

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, icsys said:

I can't see any info on guest entertainers in the app, only the venues themselves and the main 'Royal' shows, so I'm either looking in the wrong place or the app hasn't been populated with that information yet.

Pick an earlier sailing- that kind of detail doesn’t show up till week before your sailing. 

[grouchomarx]

We were on this cruise with you! It was wonderful. There was a very good energy on this sailing.  Passengers were friendly and cool, kind and courteous to one another. Staff were simply amazing top to bottom.

[Jcol5786]

They did not take our temps. The cruise director is a young lady from Argentina. Her first name is Mercedes, I don't recall her last name. She was fine. The first tribute band was a Journey cover band from Toronto. I got the impression they were a late add on. While I like Journey I felt that the lead singer did not have the voice to pull it off. A few others agreed that they were not as good as other tribute bands. I think that they got off in Nassau and a 3 piece Bob Marley tribute band came on. We only saw them once in 270 but I thought they were very good. The Royal Swedes were present in both the music hall and in Bolaros. We enjoyed them as well.

1 hour ago, grouchomarx said:

We were on this cruise with you! It was wonderful. There was a very good energy on this sailing.  Passengers were friendly and cool, kind and courteous to one another. Staff were simply amazing top to bottom.

 

I agree, the staff were all top notch and the sailing was wonderful. I was afraid I would get bored as this is our second time with this itinerary in less than a year but I would go back on tomorrow if I could.

 

[grouchomarx]

10 minutes ago, Jcol5786 said:

I agree, the staff were all top notch and the sailing was wonderful. I was afraid I would get bored as this is our second time with this itinerary in less than a year but I would go back on tomorrow if I could.

 

I agree!  I'm already shopping for an Oasis cruise in May, same itinerary.  

[LuCruise]

Thanks for sharing.  We are on Anthem for the first time in a couple weeks. Great to hear you had a wonderful cruise.

 

Did you go to Schooner's Bar at all?  If so, how was the piano player?  Depending on the person, it can make a fun event too.

 

Also curious if you saw We Will Rock You?  And if so, what time and was it hard to get a good seat?  Our cruise doesn't have any good times (conflicts with early dining time or a matinee), but we'll also have lots of kids on board so curious how that affects crowds.

[Jcol5786]

7 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Did you go to Schooner's Bar at all?  If so, how was the piano player?  Depending on the person, it can make a fun event too.

 

We didn't spend as much time in Schooner as we usually do. There always seemed to be an event on when we were walking by. Lots of Trivia matches. We did see one of the guitar players from We Will Rock You play an acoustic set. Her name was Joyce and she was very good. There was also an adult comedian/ karaoke person most nights in Schooner. He played piano and he seemed to be very popular. Every time we walked by the bar was packed so we only heard him while walking past but judging by the number of people in the bar I think he was very popular.

 

We did go to We Will Rock and enjoyed it. We saw it on our first Anthem cruise last year as well. This was a new cast who I thought were a little better than the first cast but that's very subjective. We went to an afternoon performance that started at 2:30. This was on day 6 which was a sea day. We had reserved our seats and arrived 20 minutes prior to the show and got seats in the second row to the left of the stage. Very close.

 

Have a great cruise.

[grouchomarx]

The guy in the Schooner bar was Matt Yee, he was a blast. We saw him several times. He was quite popular. One of my favorite piano guys I've seen on a cruise.  We were singing along like fools each time.

[LuCruise]

Great to hear about the Schooner Bar. We had a comedian guy on Navigator who was so funny. Our kids enjoyed him too, so great to hear Anthem's person is great too.  Sounds like lots of other things happening there too.

 

Thanks too for the feedback on We Will Rock You. Those are great seats for arriving 20 min before.  We booked one of the dinner time ones so wonder how it will compare.

 

Sounds like overall you had great entertainment.

Edited March 2, 2020 by LuCruise