Another Anthem mini review..from a Non Brit

[xxHadleyxx]

HI all...we are just back from the 5-12 September sailing on Anthem of the Seas so I thought I would write a short review from the perspective on a Non Brit on the ship.

 

Pre Cruise (this is all for Non UK residents who are vaccinated):

Travel to the UK is a pain with their current procedures.  Even coming from a Green list country, and beign fully vaccainted we needed not only a test pre flight (this I totally understand and support) but also a "2 day test" after arrival (which is just sillly given that people can wait two and a half days to take it and results can take a long while to get in and in the meantime people can be out and baout, so it isn't truly stopping any spread so far as I can see).  This test must be prebooked and prepaid before you fly (you get a number when you book it that has to be put into the UK passenger locator form before you fly).  The test can be schedueld for the day you land or either of the two days after that.  The test you get before baording the ship is different and and cannot be used as the day 2 test.

We used Express test at LHR for our day 2 tests...we scheduled a time about half an hour after we were meant ot land.  Our flight was delayed (because others did not have tests pre scheduled and the forms needed and were denied boarding and we had to wait for their bags to be removed) so we got there about 45 minutes late, but it was no issue at all.  We were tested and on our way in less than 5 minutes.  We paid 69 pound for those, which seems to be as good or better than other companies, and being able to do it ŕight at the airport made things so much easier.  The results showed up in our emails about 7 pm the next night (we were at dinner on the ship when they arrived)...there is no need to have or show the resutls of the day 2 test in order to board the Anthem).  

 

A note about the passenger locator form: you need the address of everywhere you will stay the first ten days of your trip (in our case then the entire trip).  For Anthem I just filled in the ship name and the cruise terminal address in Southamptom and that worked fine.

 

For RCI, you get an email a couple of weeks prior to sailing with a link to click to register...it is confusing because you do step one and then are prompted to go to  step two which is really only for Brits and prompts you to schedule a PCR test in the UK 2-3 days prior to sailing.  You can ignore that part.  You should get, from having done step one, an email from Trust One App with a QR code.  That QR code IS the registration for the antigen test RCI gives international travellers at port...print or screen shot that and bring it with you.  Also, download the Trust One App and sign in,..you will get your results faster that way than in email on the boarding day.

 

Boarding:

Boarding was super fast and easy.  We arrived around 11:15 for out 12:30 boarding time thinking we needed to allow time for the testing.  We were sent over to the testing area and swabbed within minutes.  Then taken to a waiting section and workers started processing our check in while we waited on thetest results (all while wesat comfortably),  In about 15 minutes my results came and my husband got results for someone else'S name but sent ot his email!  I got an employee's attention and they got that sorted in only about 3 minutes, amazingly enough.  About 25 minutes after we first got to the terminal we were walking onboard the ship.

We had the Ulimited DIning Package and could see on the App that Jamie's was open for lunch so we headed there to dine and use the app to book our other meals, North Star, etc.  

 

Food:

We are not breakfast eaters, so I cannot say a thing about that.

We dined in Windjammer once for lunch and honestly really liked the set up where they escort you to a table and then you go up to the stations and  crew ask you what you want and plate it for you.    The foood was fresh and tastey and there was a lot of variety.

We stayed in a junior suite and had one dinner at Coastal kitchen (we could have gone most nights, it was not difficult to get in).  It was fine, but we didn't think it was all that amazing and are unsre where the repuation comes from.

Having the unlimited dining package most of our meals were eaten in the specialty locations.  We really loved Jamies and had more meals there than anywhere else.  Izumi was also delicious (we had planned our final dinner there, but the restraunt was closed all day due to a "technical issue" so we got rebooked into Jamie's again instead).  Wonderland was very well done and SO MUCH FUN, but we chose to only dine there one night, it didn't seem like a repeat in the same week would be as special.  Chops had great service and the filet was good but everything else there continues to go downhill.  I am not a steak eater and find it frustrating that the other option is a very similar chicken or Branzino fish whether in Chops, Jamie's or Wonderland (Jamie's also has good pasta's, eggplant and made me a chicken burger that was fabulous though).  Someone should tell the RCI chef's designing specialties that there are lots of ways to prepare fish and chicken.  And Chops REALLY needs to bring back a GOOD and truly green salad...I used to go as much for the excellent salad as anyhting else.  

 

Johnny Rockets is also included and is right on the pool deck...we split one combo meal a few times as an after port "light/late lunch" and it was fresh and tasty and we enjoyed the location.  

 

We also got snacks once in the pub...these are not included but were very good and it opened early enough for us to get a bit of food on a day when we had things scheduled through the normal lunch times so it was worth it to me.  The cheese soup was yummy.

 

Overall, other than Chops we have nothing but great things to say about the food and also nothing but great things to say about the food service everywhere we went.

 

More later.....non vaction life demands are calling.....

[Guest BigRoger]

Really cool mini review…. Thanks for doing it.

 

As you recognise the experience of a steak eater in chops is different - the filet is simply divine! Interesting re IZUMI we were on for 2 weeks and apart from 4 days IZUMI was closed due to ‘technical issues’…. (Isolation/ quarantine….. allegedly!!!)

[rojojacko]

Thanks for the review. We are Brits sailing on the 19th September We also have a 12.30 boarding and we’re aiming for that but may turn up a little earlier as they let you on early. A couple of questions; was there shampoo available in the bathroom; was it easy to book activities using the app; are the ifly and North Star and dodgems free to book and use and, lastly, were there any excursions available on the dock in Belfast (if you went there!), specifically to the Giants Causeway. 
 

Thanks in advance.  
 

Rob

[xxHadleyxx]

57 minutes ago, BigRoger said:

Really cool mini review…. Thanks for doing it.

 

As you recognise the experience of a steak eater in chops is different - the filet is simply divine! Interesting re IZUMI we were on for 2 weeks and apart from 4 days IZUMI was closed due to ‘technical issues’…. (Isolation/ quarantine….. allegedly!!!)

My husband is a steak eater, which is why we go there at all...but he also feels the sides and apps have gone downhill as well as the desserts. Which makes it not much of an experience for the price  Worth a trip or two with the UDP but our least favourite of the options.

Izumi was open 6 of 7 days for us, thankfully.  We had two lunches and a dinner there.  Mmmmm

 

 

53 minutes ago, rojojacko said:

Thanks for the review. We are Brits sailing on the 19th September We also have a 12.30 boarding and we’re aiming for that but may turn up a little earlier as they let you on early. A couple of questions; was there shampoo available in the bathroom; was it easy to book activities using the app; are the ifly and North Star and dodgems free to book and use and, lastly, were there any excursions available on the dock in Belfast (if you went there!), specifically to the Giants Causeway. 
 

Thanks in advance.  
 

Rob

I will try to answer those activity questions in the review on that subject.  We had a Junior Suite, which gets upgraded amenities and had L'Occtaine brand shampoo and conidtioner as well as shower gel and body lotion in the room.  On previous cruises shampoo has been in all rooms.

Belfast...sorry I didn't look at what was on offer...we just took an uber intow town and wandered on our own.

Edited September 13, 2021 by xxHadleyxx

[xxHadleyxx]

Activites: Many things required being booked and we could do that with the App once on ship's wifi (we could not get on that from the terminal as others have reported).  

 

Free bookings on I-fly were available on port days.  I think they released more on each of those days.  We did not do this one.

 

Free bookings on North Star were also on port days only and released on the day.  My husband did this on boarding day (the only bookings were while i was getting my nails done, having booked that beforehand) so he went without me to see if it was worth paying for (we think not).  Technically you are limited to one free ride per cruise.  On our Invergodron port day more slots became available.  We booked me into one...as it turned out I was literally the only person booked in, so they let my husband go up with me even though he had already been.  It was fun.

 

Bumper cars have to be prebooked also  You can book one slot and then after that slot has been done you are able to book more slots later in the cruise.  We did three slots.  Our last one, on the afternoon we were in Belfast, so few people were there that we got to go several rounds and even stay on in between a couple of them.

 

Table tennis has to be booked in half hour time slots via app or in person in Sea Pleax and you have to wear closed toe shoes in order to be given the paddles!  Such overkill OMG:

 

Xbox is another resevre on the app or in person in Seaplex...techincally for 20 minute time slots.  The one time we did it, none were being used (there were only 33 kids on this sailing and most were under age 3) so they said to take it for an hour.  Given that it took nearly 10 minutes to get a game loaded and up and running we were glad it was not limited to 20 minutes.

 

Flo Rider was running often and no reservations necessary.  We found minimal waits the one sunny day we chose to go up and got to do 5-6 good runs that afternoon.

 

Joff Eaton was the CD, but we barely saw him.  After day 3 we never saw him again, not even introducing a show.  Maybe he got sick?  He seemed pretty good.

 

Cruise Director staff were good but not great...they honestly seemed a little bored and rarely brought much energy to what they were doing (Andy was the best about it).

There were several little game shows and lots of trivie (always grade your own, thankfully people seemed both honest and chill about it, not the agressive "win a key chain at all costs" stuff some cruises end up with).  There was progressive trivia on all the sea days.

 

All pools were open, we never saw the limiting numbres, but then again we never saw a busy pool.  Loungesr were always available.

 

There were no themed parties or dance parties or quest, etc.

 

Entertainment:

 

Shows also need resevred with the app...you can see each one once:

 

Spectra's Caberet: this is a super high energy show with a very talented cast.  It's meant to showcase the venue and doesn't have a plot...it is a caberet as the name implies.  We enjoyed it quite a bit.  Probably my favourite night of enterntainment in the week.

 

We Will Rock You: Again, a super talented cast.  We thought it was fun, but had not known the plot beforehand and were surprised by how poorly written it is..it felt more like a show written for a ship with a sad attempt to tie several songs together than a West End hit.  It was fun though, and the cast was excellent.  (also, the who has a strong "kids get off my lawn" vibe about newer music and it is super ironic that it is so screen heavy in persentation while railing against screens lol).  Absolutely worth going to, especially if you love the music of Queen.

 

Other acts on our sailing were:

 

Beatles Celebration: A fun evening.  Talented, funny, upbeat.

 

Graffitti Classics: String Quartet with comedy and dancing woven in....really well done and enjoyable

 

We skipped the croooner (Gary something) ......just not in the mood for a lot of slow songs, but based on his performance in the end of cruise variety show he was very talented.  

 

There was also a comedian.  I don't remember his name.  He started off with jokes about shooting his wife and hitting a cat with a rail and we left.  Not interested in laughing at that kind of thing.

 

Overall there was a good variety and plenty of stage shows for the week.

 

The house band, The Dukes, was really good and had a huge variety of music.  Dancing was allowed...they put little spotlights on the floor and each couple is asked to dance in a light bubble.

 

DJ April was great, played lots of upbeat music from different eras including lots of new stuff (thankfully...so many only play 70s all the damned time on RCI).  Dancing was the same light bubbles as for the Dukes.

 

There was a Piano player in Schooner and Guitarist in the pub and both seemed popular when we walked by.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by xxHadleyxx

[rojojacko]

Thanks Hadley. That’s really helped us. We are so looking forward to the cruise. Thanks also for the show info. 

[pdawson30]

1 hour ago, xxHadleyxx said:

Activites: Many things required being booked and we could do that with the App once on ship's wifi (we could not get on that from the terminal as others have reported).  

 

Free bookings on I-fly were available on port days.  I think they released more on each of those days.  We did not do this one.

 

Free bookings on North Star were also on port days only and released on the day.  My husband did this on boarding day (the only bookings were while i was getting my nails done, having booked that beforehand) so he went without me to see if it was worth paying for (we think not).  Technically you are limited to one free ride per cruise.  On our Invergodron port day more slots became available.  We booked me into one...as it turned out I was literally the only person booked in, so they let my husband go up with me even though he had already been.  It was fun.

 

Bumper cars have to be prebooked also  You can book one slot and then after that slot has been done you are able to book more slots later in the cruise.  We did three slots.  Our last one, on the afternoon we were in Belfast, so few people were there that we got to go several rounds and even stay on in between a couple of them.

 

Table tennis has to be booked in half hour time slots via app or in person in Sea Pleax and you have to wear closed toe shoes in order to be given the paddles!  Such overkill OMG:

 

Xbox is another resevre on the app or in person in Seaplex...techincally for 20 minute time slots.  The one time we did it, none were being used (there were only 33 kids on this sailing and most were under age 3) so they said to take it for an hour.  Given that it took nearly 10 minutes to get a game loaded and up and running we were glad it was not limited to 20 minutes.

 

Flo Rider was running often and no reservations necessary.  We found minimal waits the one sunny day we chose to go up and got to do 5-6 good runs that afternoon.

 

Joff Eaton was the CD, but we barely saw him.  After day 3 we never saw him again, not even introducing a show.  Maybe he got sick?  He seemed pretty good.

 

Cruise Director staff were good but not great...they honestly seemed a little bored and rarely brought much energy to what they were doing (Andy was the best about it).

There were several little game shows and lots of trivie (always grade your own, thankfully people seemed both honest and chill about it, not the agressive "win a key chain at all costs" stuff some cruises end up with).  There was progressive trivia on all the sea days.

 

All pools were open, we never saw the limiting numbres, but then again we never saw a busy pool.  Loungesr were always available.

 

There were no themed parties or dance parties or quest, etc.

 

Entertainment:

 

Shows also need resevred with the app...you can see each one once:

 

Spectra's Caberet: this is a super high energy show with a very talented cast.  It's meant to showcase the venue and doesn't have a plot...it is a caberet as the name implies.  We enjoyed it quite a bit.  Probably my favourite night of enterntainment in the week.

 

We Will Rock You: Again, a super talented cast.  We thought it was fun, but had not known the plot beforehand and were surprised by how poorly written it is..it felt more like a show written for a ship with a sad attempt to tie several songs together than a West End hit.  It was fun though, and the cast was excellent.  (also, the who has a strong "kids get off my lawn" vibe about newer music and it is super ironic that it is so screen heavy in persentation while railing against screens lol).  Absolutely worth going to, especially if you love the music of Queen.

 

Other acts on our sailing were:

 

Beatles Celebration: A fun evening.  Talented, funny, upbeat.

 

Graffitti Classics: String Quartet with comedy and dancing woven in....really well done and enjoyable

 

We skipped the croooner (Gary something) ......just not in the mood for a lot of slow songs, but based on his performance in the end of cruise variety show he was very talented.  

 

There was also a comedian.  I don't remember his name.  He started off with jokes about shooting his wife and hitting a cat with a rail and we left.  Not interested in laughing at that kind of thing.

 

Overall there was a good variety and plenty of stage shows for the week.

 

The house band, The Dukes, was really good and had a huge variety of music.  Dancing was allowed...they put little spotlights on the floor and each couple is asked to dance in a light bubble.

 

DJ April was great, played lots of upbeat music from different eras including lots of new stuff (thankfully...so many only play 70s all the damned time on RCI).  Dancing was the same light bubbles as for the Dukes.

 

There was a Piano player in Schooner and Guitarist in the pub and both seemed popular when we walked by.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Hadley for this great review and all your advice.

FWIW The healthy sail center still says this which contradicts the British Gov/Airlines website about only needing an antigen test to get into the UK?

 

[gumshoe958]

@xxHadleyxx Yes I was also wondering what happened to Joff. He did the boarding day PA announcements and hosted the theatre show on Day 1 but then seemed to vanish.

 

I wondered whether he was tied up sorting out the technical issues with We Will Rock You which required a complete rewrite of the entertainment schedule. But maybe he was sick - it’s very unusual for a Royal CD to keep such a low profile.

 

You’re right - Andy, who seemed to stand in for Joff a lot, was great - a very dry and uniquely British sense of humour. And I loved Daniel the piano bar singer who had a full house all night, every night. Totally knew his audience and gave them what they wanted.

[LuCruise]

Thank you so much for this report.  We have Anthem booked for Dec out of the US.  Your report is extremely helpful and you've answered a lot of my questions about activities and signing up, etc (I think you've also responded to some posts on the other Anthem UK thread...really appreciated). 

 

I do wonder if they will open up things like escape room and rollerblading when it returns to the States (as escape room is running on Oasis and I'm pretty sure I saw ice skating on another review).  Not sure if they just didn't have the staff to run these in small groups?

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise.  

Edited September 13, 2021 by LuCruise

[xxHadleyxx]

1 hour ago, pdawson30 said:

Thanks Hadley for this great review and all your advice.

FWIW The healthy sail center still says this which contradicts the British Gov/Airlines website about only needing an antigen test to get into the UK?

 

I'm glad you are finding this helpful and you're welcome. 

To be honest I only ever looked to RCI to tell me what THEY required and went diretcly to the UK gov websotes for information on that....I know governments change things ALL:THE:TIME, and figure it's too easy to get for a third party entity (especailly one which is dealing far more with other countries) to get something wrong.  I DID ask here for advice about the "day 2 test" as it was not immediately clear on the UK government site that I could take that prior to 2 days after landing...and I couldn't figure out how that would work if I was on the ship by then, but  some friendly Brits on here explained that to me (and sure enough, once I clicked through further it can be taken any time UP TO 2 days afterwards).  It is defintely a complicated process though...the UK's system is the hardest to figure out of any of the ones I have seen.  

32 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

@xxHadleyxx Yes I was also wondering what happened to Joff. He did the boarding day PA announcements and hosted the theatre show on Day 1 but then seemed to vanish.

 

I wondered whether he was tied up sorting out the technical issues with We Will Rock You which required a complete rewrite of the entertainment schedule. But maybe he was sick - it’s very unusual for a Royal CD to keep such a low profile.

 

You’re right - Andy, who seemed to stand in for Joff a lot, was great - a very dry and uniquely British sense of humour. And I loved Daniel the piano bar singer who had a full house all night, every night. Totally knew his audience and gave them what they wanted.

Yeah...we saw him at teh top tier party on Day 2 and then he was making the announcements before We Will Rock You's planned matinee that afternoon...and we never saw him again after that.  We thought maybe the stress of moving things around was that was keeping him out of view...but we figured he would at least tehn introduce We Will Rock You on the final day or something, but nothing.  WHo knows?  I hope whatever it is wasn't something particularly bad.

14 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Thank you so much for this report.  We have Anthem booked for Dec out of the US.  Your report is extremely helpful and you've answered a lot of my questions about activities and signing up, etc (I think you've also responded to some posts on the other Anthem UK thread...really appreciated). 

 

I do wonder if they will open up things like escape room and rollerblading when it returns to the States (as escape room is running on Oasis and I'm pretty sure I saw ice skating on another review).  Not sure if they just didn't have the staff to run these in small groups?

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise.  

We absolutely had a wonderful cruise.  I'm glad you are finding this helpful and i hope you have an amazing time in December.I hope you can rollerskate by then too.....I soooo wanted that to be availbale for us.  I would have packed my skates in a heartbeat.  Oh well.  You can't have everything.

Edited September 13, 2021 by xxHadleyxx

[DaniDanielle]

Was Anthem refurbished at all?  We were on in December 2019 and things were starting to look shabby.

Thanks 

[xxHadleyxx]

Safety: On our sailing there were about 1500 passengers (I was told anywhere from 1300-1600 depending on who I asked) .  Of those 33 were children (lots of babies and toddlers) and 90 came from outside the UK.

 

With such a very small percentage of the ship being unvaccianted (just those kids), plus tests for everyone within a few days of boarding or at port, I felt much safer than I do most of the time at home.  Masks are required when walking around the ship.  Most people complied with that.  They are also supposed to be worn in the theatre/270/bars if not eating or dirnking but most everyone took them off as soon as they sat down.  People mostly danced without masks too...but I don't think there were ever more than 4 couples on the floor and all well spaced out so it seemed fairly safe.

Generally I was happy with the Covid measures on the ship.

 

The back to back cruisers were all tested on day 7 and you could talk to guets services and arrange a free test for yourself that day as well of you needed it for travel home.  I think that is a nice thing RCI offered.

 

I will say the embarkation city of Southampton and the port of Belfast has VERY few people wearing masks and were defintely the riskiest part of the trip for us (in Scotland maks were worn and people seemed much more careful overall).  Our Southampton hotel lobby was full of maskless people, stores had noone in masls, etc.  It was quite a shock arriving from Germany to that.  

 

We really liked the new safety briefing procedure with the video you watch on the app and then you just stop by the muster staiton after and check in.  Very smooth and effecient.  This would have been so nice when my kids were younger and my autistic one was having a rough day...wow what a great improvement this is, especially for disabled people.

 

Ports: On our sailing vaccinated guests were allowed to go into port on our own. Unvaxxed children could not.

 

Invergordon: This is a very little town in Scotland.  We opted  to just wander in town but many people took the bus or train our to Inverness.

The church was super friendly and the locals had set up free coffee and tea and toilets there for everyone which was so kind.

 

Kirkwall: In Kirkwall the port provides a free shuttle into town...otherwise it looks to be about a 20 minute walk.  My husband had reserved a rental car for us.  We took the first shuttle in and then the car rental place was only 2 minutes' walk to the rental agency.  We were SO glad we did this.  We drove and toured all the neolithic sites while dodging the arrival of the busses from the ship so we never had many people around, then drove out to a car park near a walk along the seaside cliffs and had a lovely hike...passing only one other couple, out walking their dog in the two hours we were there.  Next we looped to Stromness for fish and chips right on the pier and a short walkabout, before we returned the car, had some whilsey in Kirkwall and took the shuttle back to the ship.  All in all an excellent port day.

 

Belfast: the ship operated bus is $15 roundtrip.  There is a taxi queue right at the port and we planned to take a taxi, but the line up was long and slow moving when we got off, so we ordered an uber instead.  That could also pull up right to the ship and cost 8 pound to the city center.  We explored on our own for a few hours----I highly recomend the free exhibition in the city hall, it's well done and a great chance to get into the building and see the lovely stained glass, etc.  

[xxHadleyxx]

 

19 minutes ago, DaniDanielle said:

Was Anthem refurbished at all?  We were on in December 2019 and things were starting to look shabby.

Thanks 

I have no idea when she was last refurbished but nothing felt shabby to us.

[Biker19]

19 minutes ago, DaniDanielle said:

Was Anthem refurbished at all?  We were on in December 2019 and things were starting to look shabby.

Must be a rust bucket by now - but to answer your question, no, nothing too obvious done during her dry dock.

[xxHadleyxx]

Drinks:  Bar servers were plnetiful evreywhere (by pools, in bars, in the theatre) and we rarely waited more than a couple of minutes for drinks.  The only exception was near teh pools around 5-5:30 every evening the servers seemed to disapeer for a bit, we figured there was some sort of redistributoin going on.

Drinks were good and using the Diamond vouchers went really easily if you happen to have those.  We are D+ and loved the freedom to get any cocktails at any time and anywhere...this ia  great improvement.

 

Room: we had a spa junior suite and really liked it.  That room is spacious and we so appreciated the seperate shower not in the tub area.  We liked teh larger balcony and nicer balcony funrishings.

 

Our room steward was really nice and very good.  He left towle animals every night too.  We had a coffee maker and a tea kettle in the room as well as a fridge.  Our D+ amenity of a bottle of wine as well as sodays adn water and wine glasses were waiting when we arrived...wine glasses were replaced every time one was used and coffee was restocked as well (we never used the kettle of those supplies)

 

I have aboslutely no complaints about the room or service in this area at all.

[*Fudge*]

I am loving your review.  It’s very helpful and informative 🙂

[ententecordiale]

Just to add a bit from my experience. Table tennis, we just showed up, hadn't booked and were given bats and balls. Not told about any time limit. It was very quiet when we went.

 

I don't agree about 'we will rock you'. It was my fourth time on Anthem and fourth time watching it. There is definitely a story and it is actually very well written but it is full on and not so easy to follow fully first time. I picked up new things each time I watched it. I never get bored of it!

 

Another tip for Belfast. There is a local bus a few 100 metres outside of the cruise port that stops both within walking distance to the Titanic Museum and into the city centre. It does however only stop every 1/2h and I believe stops after 5pm. On the way back, there were a few of us on the driver stopped us right outside. It cost just over £4 for a unlimited day journey so much cheaper than the ship operated bus. 

 

I too wondered what had happened to Joff. He wasn't even alongside the captain for question time. Andy was indeed superb and made the quizzes and game shows areal laugh. 

[PJL1973]

A good reivew of Anthem OTS - am definitely looking forward to going on there in October. The testing requirements for entering/leaving the UK are a pain right now, which is why I'm not doing any international sailings, just sticking to the UK for now (which is fine, as crusing is still a novelty for me). 

Edited September 13, 2021 by PJL1973

[xxHadleyxx]

14 hours ago, ententecordiale said:

Just to add a bit from my experience. Table tennis, we just showed up, hadn't booked and were given bats and balls. Not told about any time limit. It was very quiet when we went.

 

I don't agree about 'we will rock you'. It was my fourth time on Anthem and fourth time watching it. There is definitely a story and it is actually very well written but it is full on and not so easy to follow fully first time. I picked up new things each time I watched it. I never get bored of it!

 

Another tip for Belfast. There is a local bus a few 100 metres outside of the cruise port that stops both within walking distance to the Titanic Museum and into the city centre. It does however only stop every 1/2h and I believe stops after 5pm. On the way back, there were a few of us on the driver stopped us right outside. It cost just over £4 for a unlimited day journey so much cheaper than the ship operated bus. 

 

I too wondered what had happened to Joff. He wasn't even alongside the captain for question time. Andy was indeed superb and made the quizzes and game shows areal laugh. 

Oh I know most others aboslutely love everything about We Will Rock You.  I am glad you all do.  It does have some plot, yes (pretty much the storyline ot Rush's 2112..one of my favourite songs)...it just felt very contrived and lacking in character arc, etc and full of cheap shot jokes to me ....20 years of sell out crowds on the West End disagree with me, which is fine.  But even with my lack of enthusiam for the writing of the show, I think it is an excellent choice for on a ship....overall feel good/happy with lots of recognizable music, that will appeal to a wide range of people.  Plus insteresting costumes and dancing and sets.  I am just surprised it has the off ship apeal it does.

 

Funny about the table tennis.  Seaplex was virtually empty when we were in it and we basically signed up for a slot by walking up and asking (though I had to run back to the room for closed toe shoes.....I still find that weird and amusing, flip flops are fine on the bumper cars, but for ping pong my toes were somehow in danger?!).  Even though Seaplex was still open for a while after our half hour was up, and throughout only one other table was ever in use we were still told it's limited to 30 minutes.  I am guessing it depends on who is working the desk in that moment.  

Half an hour was really about the right amount of time for us anyway, so no problem there.  Just interesting.  

[xxHadleyxx]

Spa: So far as we could tell everything in the spa and gym was on offer. (massages, acupuntcure, medispa, hair and nail services, etc)

 

The room with the heated loungers, etc (I keep wanting to call it the Rainforest Room but I think that is the name on Disney?) was available for 140$ for a couple for the 7 nights of 80$ for one person.  You would have to prebook half hour time slots to use it if you bought the pass.

 

The gym was open until 10 pm each night..also with prebooked slots (though I suspect in most cases you could probably walk up and book for immediately if you wanted).

 

Every day people were out offering deals on massages.  There was never a written deal in the cabin though...I might haave booked one if I could read about it and choose without having to stop in the hallway and try to finangle my scheduel on the fly.

 

The only service we used were a mani/pedi for me.  I prebooked it before boarding for 1:45 on boarding day.  The price when I got in to book was lower than the "from $$$" listed on the main menu ...I think it worked out to $115 for both for the firce and ice manicure and fire and ice pedicure.  It's not actually much more than the going rate where I live (they're pricier in Germany than the US) and I love the feeling of luxury of getting on board, having lunch and then getting my vacation nails done.  Plus, right now there was the added benefit of less possible exposure to covid before boarding.  I have no complaints about the spa service at all.

 

Park West: The only part of the cruise I found annoying (no surprise, right?).  They were everywhere. Often tried to stop us as we walked by and left letters in the room every.single.day.  And called the room and left lengthy voice mails four times (one left at 9:00 pm...we were out and about, but had my in laws been sailing with us they'd have been going to bed then).  Nothing overly bad, but eye roll worthy anyway.  

 

Shops: Some early reviews of the UK cruises said the store was lacking in basics.  This is no longer the case.  Toiletries, etc were all in plentiful supply, for the higher shipboard prices.  All the store shelves were well filled if shopping is your thing.

 

We never set foot in teh casino so I know nothing about what it was like.  And are youngest kid is 22 and wasn't sailing with us so same goes for the onboard kid's clubs.

 

 

I think I have covered just about everything.  In summary...it was lovely to be back on a cruise, it felt safe, and the crew did a fabulous job.  We were very happy with our experience.

[matt1]

5 minutes ago, xxHadleyxx said:

Oh I know most others aboslutely love everything about We Will Rock You.  I am glad you all do.  It does have some plot, yes (pretty much the storyline ot Rush's 2112..one of my favourite songs)...it just felt very contrived and lacking in character arc, etc and full of cheap shot jokes to me ....20 years of sell out crowds on the West End disagree with me, which is fine.  But even with my lack of enthusiam for the writing of the show, I think it is an excellent choice for on a ship....overall feel good/happy with lots of recognizable music, that will appeal to a wide range of people.  Plus interesting costumes and dancing and sets.  I am just surprised it has the off ship apeal it does.

I’ve never been into “jukebox musicals”, which this seems to be, so I’m really on the fence on just skipping it. From the clips I’ve see on YouTube and other websites, it just doesn’t look like anything I’d be interested in.  I’ve seen quite a few shows on Broadway over the years, as well as having season tickets in Pittsburgh for the Broadway National Tours, for which I’ve also travelled to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Cleveland to attend. Never been a big Queen fan either.  It’ll be a last minute decision for me I’m sure. But right now it’s not looking good. 

[ententecordiale]

Ultimately, everyone will have different views on the shows. I found Hairspray very boring, and wasn't  too impressed with Grease either. I found both to be too close to the script,predictable and the quality of the singing much below par compare to WWRY.

 

Nothing much to add to the great feedback. I got a £50 voucher for the spa, but frankly, I found the prices massively inflated compared to my local massage/treatment place, so even with it, I wasn't interested.

 

A few things to add that comes to mind. The gym doesn't open until 8am which is a bit annoying for the early risers. Thankfully, the weather being very kind, I took to running outside.

 

Also, the outdoor films. Saw 4 out of 5 and really enjoyed it. They had big warm covers to use to keep us warm. I personally love watching films outside under the stars. It was only us though except for the last one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[xxHadleyxx]

4 hours ago, matt1 said:

I’ve never been into “jukebox musicals”, which this seems to be, so I’m really on the fence on just skipping it. From the clips I’ve see on YouTube and other websites, it just doesn’t look like anything I’d be interested in.  I’ve seen quite a few shows on Broadway over the years, as well as having season tickets in Pittsburgh for the Broadway National Tours, for which I’ve also travelled to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Cleveland to attend. Never been a big Queen fan either.  It’ll be a last minute decision for me I’m sure. But right now it’s not looking good. 

It really is just a Jukebox Musical.....I guess Queen's popularity. combined with Brian May sometimes being at the venue is what keeps this one going so strong for so long.  

If you want the option to see the show, under current conditions, I suggest you prebook one showing on the app at least a little beforehand, you can always cancel if you decide not to see it but might not be able to go the other way.  

[xxHadleyxx]

16 minutes ago, ententecordiale said:

Ultimately, everyone will have different views on the shows. I found Hairspray very boring, and wasn't  too impressed with Grease either. I found both to be too close to the script,predictable and the quality of the singing much below par compare to WWRY.

 

Nothing much to add to the great feedback. I got a £50 voucher for the spa, but frankly, I found the prices massively inflated compared to my local massage/treatment place, so even with it, I wasn't interested.

 

A few things to add that comes to mind. The gym doesn't open until 8am which is a bit annoying for the early risers. Thankfully, the weather being very kind, I took to running outside.

 

Also, the outdoor films. Saw 4 out of 5 and really enjoyed it. They had big warm covers to use to keep us warm. I personally love watching films outside under the stars. It was only us though except for the last one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

See..I thought Hairspray was the best one they have had on the ships. lol

[claireybel78]

On 9/13/2021 at 2:47 PM, rojojacko said:

Thanks for the review. We are Brits sailing on the 19th September We also have a 12.30 boarding and we’re aiming for that but may turn up a little earlier as they let you on early. A couple of questions; was there shampoo available in the bathroom; was it easy to book activities using the app; are the ifly and North Star and dodgems free to book and use and, lastly, were there any excursions available on the dock in Belfast (if you went there!), specifically to the Giants Causeway. 
 

Thanks in advance.  
 

Rob

Hi Rob, I’m on the same cruise as you and just booked a tour with Odyssey tours in Belfast to giants causeway and the titanic experience. Pick you up at the port and is £53. Still have availability as I only booked this morning.