Anthem UK cruises in the summer?

[Rex008]

Me and DW just got back from 12-19th sailing, and really enjoyed it. 1100 passengers including about 20 kids. Very quiet, but not a ghost town. No waiting for lifts, even with max 4 capacity! Shows were very good, glad we got in the first WWRY as they cancelled after that ("technical reasons") and they shifted Spectra about in the schedule, although did end up putting on 3. Ports were nice, did ship bus tours from Greenock and Kirkwall, which were ok. Belfast we booked ourselves into Titanic museum early and got a local taxi waiting at the rank outside (well hidden!). Driver was nice and said he also did tours himself, so when we got out of museum (which was superb) we phoned him up and then he drove us round Belfast for 3 hours, which was an eye-opener. £40/hr, which we thought was a bargain.

Staff were great as always. Food was good. Windjammer closed for dinner which didn't really bother us, we're perfectly happy with MDR.

[ConnieTact]

5 hours ago, Rex008 said:

 Shows were very good, glad we got in the first WWRY as they cancelled after that ("technical reasons") and they shifted Spectra about in the schedule, although did end up putting on 3. …….

Staff were great as always. Food was good. Windjammer closed for dinner which didn't really bother us, we're perfectly happy with MDR.

Thanks for review- glad you enjoyed it. We are looking at a five nighter in October.

do you think the technical reasons are covid?

Also, was buffet closed for same reason? 
I’m suspecting cases onboard among staff…..😅

what do you think?

[xxHadleyxx]

6 minutes ago, ConnieTact said:

Thanks for review- glad you enjoyed it. We are looking at a five nighter in October.

do you think the technical reasons are covid?

Also, was buffet closed for same reason? 
I’m suspecting cases onboard among staff…..😅

what do you think?

I was on the 5-12 September sailing.  We wer all seated for the first WWRY show and then techincal glitches caused it to be cancelled.  Cast was in costume and ready to perform....no one missing and ill, 

Later that day they cancelled the evening performance as well (they were able to make both up on the last night).  Talked to crew....the technical system which runs the screens for that show is very glitchy and per the contract RCI is not allowed to run the show at all if those are not working.  They had a couple of people up for hours on end on calls with the company that created it for WWRY land and sea trying to fix them....seems like there are ongoing non covid  issues there.  

 

 

Windjammer buffet is only open for dinner when the ship is at more than 50% occupancy.  This has been the standard all summer.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by xxHadleyxx

[ConnieTact]

9 minutes ago, xxHadleyxx said:

I was on the 5-12 September sailing.  We wer all seated for the first WWRY show and then techincal glitches caused it to be cancelled.  Cast was in costume and ready to perform....no one missing and ill, 

Later that day they cancelled the evening performance as well (they were able to make both up on the last night).  Talked to crew....the technical system which runs the screens for that show is very glitchy and per the contract RCI is not allowed to run the show at all if those are not working.  They had a couple of people up for hours on end on calls with the company that created it for WWRY land and sea trying to fix them....seems like there are ongoing non covid  issues there.  

 

 

Windjammer buffet is only open for dinner when the ship is at more than 50% occupancy.  This has been the standard all summer.

 

 

Thanks that’s really cleared things up! Great info….thanks for taking the time to clarify.

[JJWW]

5 hours ago, Rex008 said:

Me and DW just got back from 12-19th sailing, and really enjoyed it. 1100 passengers including about 20 kids. Very quiet, but not a ghost town. No waiting for lifts, even with max 4 capacity! Shows were very good, glad we got in the first WWRY as they cancelled after that ("technical reasons") and they shifted Spectra about in the schedule, although did end up putting on 3. Ports were nice, did ship bus tours from Greenock and Kirkwall, which were ok. Belfast we booked ourselves into Titanic museum early and got a local taxi waiting at the rank outside (well hidden!). Driver was nice and said he also did tours himself, so when we got out of museum (which was superb) we phoned him up and then he drove us round Belfast for 3 hours, which was an eye-opener. £40/hr, which we thought was a bargain.

Staff were great as always. Food was good. Windjammer closed for dinner which didn't really bother us, we're perfectly happy with MDR.

Hi, can you confirm if seating at the bars was allowed? thanks

[CaroleC]

23 minutes ago, xxHadleyxx said:

We wer all seated for the first WWRY show and then techincal glitches caused it to be cancelled.  Cast was in costume and ready to perform....no one missing and ill, 

Later that day they cancelled the evening performance as well (they were able to make both up on the last night). 

 

Windjammer buffet is only open for dinner when the ship is at more than 50% occupancy.  This has been the standard all summer.

 

 

Just got home off Harmony sailing from Barcelona (haven’t even unpacked yet but here I am on CC, how sad am I? 🙈). Grease was abandoned midway through the show last night due to technical issues, so glad we saw it earlier in the week. Just imagine how disappointing it would be for that to happen on the final evening of your cruise!
 

Windjammer wasn’t open on Harmony either. There was only approx 1,500 pax on board so nowhere near 50% capacity. Loved not having to wait for lifts, no queues anywhere, sunbeds always available even on beautiful hot sea days. I would be quite happy if ships never sailed at full capacity again, not sure Royal would agree with me though 😁

[ConnieTact]

1 hour ago, CaroleC said:

Just got home off Harmony sailing from Barcelona (haven’t even unpacked yet but here I am on CC, how sad am I? 🙈). Grease was abandoned midway through the show last night due to technical issues, so glad we saw it earlier in the week. Just imagine how disappointing it would be for that to happen on the final evening of your cruise!
 

Windjammer wasn’t open on Harmony either. There was only approx 1,500 pax on board so nowhere near 50% capacity. Loved not having to wait for lifts, no queues anywhere, sunbeds always available even on beautiful hot sea days. I would be quite happy if ships never sailed at full capacity again, not sure Royal would agree with me though 😁

Welcome home Carole! 1.500 capacity sounds great. There was much much more on Virtuosa this time so it seems RC are doing well keeping it low numbers for now.

Good job you saw the show earlier in the week!

Where next for you?

 

[CaroleC]

19 minutes ago, ConnieTact said:

Welcome home Carole! 1.500 capacity sounds great. There was much much more on Virtuosa this time so it seems RC are doing well keeping it low numbers for now.

Good job you saw the show earlier in the week!

Where next for you?

 

Thanks Terri. Yes it was great having only 1,500 on a ship of that size although it never seemed empty strangely enough. We’re off again in three weeks, this time on the Anthem. It was originally an 11 nights Canary Islands cruise when we booked, however, the itinerary got changed to 6 nights around the British Isles 🙄. What about you, when’s your next one?

[Rex008]

According to the Q&A, they're currently allowed 70% capacity, but our sailing was only about 25%, hence the Windjammer not open for dinner. And yes, think the technical issues were really that.

Really enjoyed the WWRY show, very impressive. Spectra I was not so fussed by. But the other performers were great, we watched Grafitti Classics twice, they were really good. And the pianist from one of the bars put on a impromptu theatre show on day 6, with a loop machine, which was also very very good.

Thought Joff was a very good CD - nicely English understated sense of humour :).

[Rex008]

2 hours ago, JJWW said:

Hi, can you confirm if seating at the bars was allowed? thanks

Some bar tables closed for distancing. Same in theatre and 270. Never had a problem finding a seat with reduced numbers. If you're talking about seating at bar itself, not entirely sure, we always sat at tables. There were definitely seats at the bars, can't actually remember seeing anyone sitting at one tbh. With crew:passenger ratio so high, there was never any wait for drinks though!

[CaroleC]

5 hours ago, JJWW said:

Hi, can you confirm if seating at the bars was allowed? thanks

Certainly was on Harmony this last week although at most bars every third seat was not in use to allow for social distancing. In the casino however, all seats were being used.

[ConnieTact]

13 hours ago, CaroleC said:

Thanks Terri. 

What about you, when’s your next one?

Carole-I can’t decide! It’s a toss up between a 5 nighter on Anthem or 3 nights on Celebrity Silhouette! We want to stick to British Isles so choice is limited.

We’ve been on RC four times but not for ages and never tried Celebrity before.

I’d be interested to know what anyone thinks! 🤔

[CaroleC]

1 minute ago, ConnieTact said:

Carole-I can’t decide! It’s a toss up between a 5 nighter on Anthem or 3 nights on Celebrity Silhouette! We want to stick to British Isles so choice is limited.

We’ve been on RC four times but not for ages and never tried Celebrity before.

I’d be interested to know what anyone thinks! 🤔

We’re (usually) loyal to Royal lol but have sailed on Celebrity Equinox albeit seven years ago around the Greek Isles. I always think of Celebrity as being the upmarket arm of Royal with prices to match which is probably why we’ve only done the one cruise with them. We’ve sailed on Anthem twice before and love this class of ship, we’ve got a Junior Suite next so looking forward to that. I honestly think you would enjoy both ships but personally I would opt for the longer cruise on Anthem. For me, three nights wouldn’t be enough, especially on a ship I didn’t know. Let me know what you choose Terri.

[ConnieTact]

8 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

We’re (usually) loyal to Royal lol but have sailed on Celebrity Equinox albeit seven years ago around the Greek Isles. I always think of Celebrity as being the upmarket arm of Royal with prices to match which is probably why we’ve only done the one cruise with them. We’ve sailed on Anthem twice before and love this class of ship, we’ve got a Junior Suite next so looking forward to that. I honestly think you would enjoy both ships but personally I would opt for the longer cruise on Anthem. For me, three nights wouldn’t be enough, especially on a ship I didn’t know. Let me know what you choose Terri.

That’s helpful Carole. The other good thing about Anthem is we can get off at Liverpool and Belfast where with our last two trips there on Virtuosa we would have had to pay for a bubble tour! We want to do our own thing in ports. Today I am veering more  towards the Anthem! Shame we would just miss you as we are looking at 20th sailing! Would love to have met you with you again!

Junior suite eh? Going up in the world! Enjoy!! 

[sgmn]

50 minutes ago, ConnieTact said:

 

We’ve been on RC four times but not for ages and never tried Celebrity before.

I’d be interested to know what anyone thinks! 🤔

We went on our first Celebrity (Silhouette) a couple of weeks ago. Normally we cruise RC.

Liked

The sunset bar

The solarium 

The buffet 

The clean understated decor in the staterooms and big bathrooms and showers

The food was probably a little better than Royal Caribbean 

Our agent was selling the basic price and the always included deal and the difference was minimal so no brainer,  thus our total bill at the end of the week was only about $30

We like that celebrity have guest speakers giving lectures on various subjects . The only time I've noticed Royal doing this was on transatlantic's 

 

Disliked 

We really enjoy walking right around the ship on the promanarde deck and the one above the pool but we couldn't find any decks on Silhouette where you could do this.

The entertainment was OK but not up to the standard of Royals bigger ships, not so much day time entertainment either. 

The lack of storage,  drawers etc in the staterooms 

The shops were really high end luxury brands,  hence we bought nothing

The 'always included' Internet was very weak and couldn't download or send pictures in whatsapp

 

Summary,  we enjoyed the cruise and would sail again on Celebrity if the cruise and price were right 

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by sgmn

[CaroleC]

1 minute ago, ConnieTact said:

That’s helpful Carole. The other good thing about Anthem is we can get off at Liverpool and Belfast where with our last two trips there on Virtuosa we would have had to pay for a bubble tour! We want to do our own thing in ports. Today I am veering more  towards the Anthem! Shame we would just miss you as we are looking at 20th sailing! Would love to have met you with you again!

Junior suite eh? Going up in the world! Enjoy!! 

Yes I’m looking forward to being able to get off and wander about on our own. We were allowed to do this in Palma last week and it was great. Couldn’t do it in the three Italian ports though and the ship’s excursion prices were astronomical I thought. We’d done the exact same itinerary on the Symphony three years ago so just stayed on the ship. A lot of other pax also appeared to remain on board going by the numbers around the pool on those days.

 

We got a great deal on the JS when we booked  back in December 2018 for October 2020. I think I mentioned it was originally an 11 nighter to the Canary Islands and the price even included a drinks package. We did a Lift & Shift last year to this October but then Royal did the itinerary change last month. We’ve still got the DP included so all’s good I guess lol. Yes it would have been nice to meet up again Terri, pity you’re not looking at the sailing on the 9th.

[CaroleC]

Terri, another thing I should have mentioned is the solarium area. Not sure what it’s like on the Silhouette but on the Anthem it’s fabulous. It’s got tiered pools which are lovely plus a main pool and bar. Not sure about you but I intend spending a fair amount of time in there unless a miracle occurs and we get a heatwave in October lol. I’ve attached a couple of pics so you can get an idea what it’s like.

 

 

[sgmn]

39 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

Terri, another thing I should have mentioned is the solarium area. Not sure what it’s like on the Silhouette but on the Anthem it’s fabulous. It’s got tiered pools which are lovely plus a main pool and bar. Not sure about you but I intend spending a fair amount of time in there unless a miracle occurs and we get a heatwave in October lol. I’ve attached a couple of pics so you can get an idea what it’s like.

 

 

And of course the covered inside family pool. It really is a great cool weather cruise ship

[gumshoe958]

Always surprises me how many people rave about the solarium. I find it hot and stuffy, and the chlorine smell is horrible. Each to their own though.

[CaroleC]

29 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

Always surprises me how many people rave about the solarium. I find it hot and stuffy, and the chlorine smell is horrible. Each to their own though.

We’ll probably be grateful for hot and stuffy on a cruise around the British Isles in October! 🥶😁

[CaroleC]

31 minutes ago, ChC said:

 

Could you imagine 4000 people all wants to be in the solarium?

With capacity restrictions there’s going to be nowhere near that number of pax on board 🤞😉. Tbf it’s not somewhere we generally use that much as we prefer to be out on deck, however, I don’t think there’s much chance of that on a cruise around the British Isles in October 😁

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by CaroleC

[CaroleC]

15 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

Deleted double post

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by CaroleC

[sgmn]

1 hour ago, gumshoe958 said:

Always surprises me how many people rave about the solarium. I find it hot and stuffy, and the chlorine smell is horrible. Each to their own though.

It's a great space if its cold and rainy outside 

[JJWW]

We're doing a maiden voyage on 20th Oct. Can anyone advise on the packages? Can't decide on whether to do the dining package as put off a bit by the idea of having a first night dictated to us in advance and then needing to book everything on arrival. Whereas if not using the package and, say, using speciality dining a few times, we can book in advance for preferred times and restaurants and pay as we go - even if less cost effective. Any thoughts on that? I suppose with smaller capacity it won't be such a problem booking dining times on arrival?

 

I was also fussing over the UK cruise issue of drinks package as the prices I've seen for many cocktails seems to be over the value limit of $13 stated for the package on the cruise planner pages. No problem if we simply pay the extra dollar or so for the more expensive drinks but not if they are totally excluded. Others have said that's not a problem but would appreciate any recent experience as I was afraid that they may have raised prices on the UK trips specifically to take them out of the package as part of a profits strategy as they get back online.

 

 

[Biker19]

51 minutes ago, JJWW said:

I was also fussing over the UK cruise issue of drinks package as the prices I've seen for many cocktails seems to be over the value limit of $13 stated for the package on the cruise planner pages.

The vast majority of drinks will be covered by the package - ignore any stated limit.