Live Review: Anthem of the Seas Transatlantic May 1st-12th, 2023

[jencruzin]

Just now, CatLadyFemme said:

You’re so welcome! Please let me know if you have any questions about things I can find out for you 💜

Thanks. This will be our 3rd time on Anthem, great ship! Love the pics of the food! 

[MJSailors]

I feel badly that you had to hear those remarks from the individuals sitting near you at lunch.

I always think how does someone benefit by making negative remarks about others who are trying to go about their business in a quiet way?

Do their remarks make them feel superior in some way?

Why cause hurt for someone?

Thinking such an experience through, I conclude that the person(s) making  the remarks is (are)the one(s)with a problem and , with such an outlook, I am blessed that I am not like them.

 I did experience someone making a remark, not quite as offensive as you experienced , but something that still caught my attention when my DH and I were having a snack in the buffet on a cruise ship.

Being mindful of eating something from my hands that may have been a bit germy even though I had washed them in the restroom prior to entering the buffet, I decided to eat a soft cookie with a fork so as not to touch the cookie.

A man sitting at a nearby table said to his lady companion”I guess there is a new way to eat cookies!”. He was looking in my direction when he said this.

I did not reply, but I should have said to him , “Why are you concerned how I eat this cookie?”.

Instead, I was quiet and also a bit embarrassed.

In retrospect, he should have been embarrassed!

Hoping that you can put aside this instance and continue to enjoy your journey on the Anthem.

MJ🙋🏻‍♀️

 

[dancersp119]

On 5/1/2023 at 2:54 PM, jeh10641 said:

I, too, would like to offer my condolences on the loss of your mom. both of my parents are deceased (Father 1994, Mother 2007) and I talk to them daily. I am 81+. We are on Anthem in October (like MrChips) so will really pay attention to your comments.

so sorry for your loss

 

[steve ch]

3 hours ago, CatLadyFemme said:

Once you get on the ship, you can do it. You just book them as you’d like, and then when you check in at the restaurant, you tell them you have UDP.

Great. Thanks.

[KmomChicago]

There is nothing new in the need some people have to simply be nasty. They were looking for an opportunity to be nasty and the decided they had found it and they commenced nastiness.  As @MJSailors mentioned, I tend to feel sorry for them. Something is seriously wrong with their soul, their mind and their heart, just as surely as we all are flawed creatures. They are as flawed as any they attack.

 

Hence we all could choose to behave so, as everyone could be disparaged for something (legitimate or imagined), should someone feel the absolute need, but ultimately what sets us apart is being able to pity and discount their opinions.  That is how they lose their power.

[KmomChicago]

So getting away from those mean hatahs (gonna hate hate hate), I see you mentioned a Kummelweck sandwich at 270. 

 

I will be on my first Quantum class ship in about a year, Ovation of the Seas to Alaska from Seattle. WILL IT HAVE THE KUMMELWECK?  I thought they were only on Oasis class.  And see, like, I ate a lot of food overall on Oasis class (the one and only time I tried it, 5 years ago), but I think I fell short of my Kummelweck quota. 

[mk-ultra]

19 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

So getting away from those mean hatahs (gonna hate hate hate), I see you mentioned a Kummelweck sandwich at 270. 

 

I will be on my first Quantum class ship in about a year, Ovation of the Seas to Alaska from Seattle. WILL IT HAVE THE KUMMELWECK?  I thought they were only on Oasis class.  And see, like, I ate a lot of food overall on Oasis class (the one and only time I tried it, 5 years ago), but I think I fell short of my Kummelweck quota. 

 

From what I've heard, 270 on Quantum has an "almost" Kummelweck in 270.  Same roast beef, au jus and horseradish -- but not on a Kummelweck bun.  I'll be on Quantum this Saturday and will report back in a semi-live thread. 🙂

[FLPirate]

Hiya. My parents are on the same cruise and he emailed me and said the ship is diverting to Boston for a medical emergency. I hope it’s not too serious but I can’t imagine they would divert for a not serious situation. Ship definitely appears to be turning. 
 

 

Can you please keep us posted?

Thanks in advance! 

Edited May 2, 2023 by FLPirate

[Ocean Boy]

40 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

 

From what I've heard, 270 on Quantum has an "almost" Kummelweck in 270.  Same roast beef, au jus and horseradish -- but not on a Kummelweck bun.  I'll be on Quantum this Saturday and will report back in a semi-live thread. 🙂

I really like the Two70 Cafe. The food is quite good.

[Biker19]

44 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

From what I've heard, 270 on Quantum has an "almost" Kummelweck in 270.

All Q class have that in 270 - the bun they put it on may vary, just like other ships.

[Btank]

On 4/27/2023 at 4:47 PM, CatLadyFemme said:

I'm CatLadyFemme, a professor at the University of Michigan...

Is that you with the NM Zia tat on your arm?

 

        --bruce T. (NMSU Alum)

[JamesEM]

8 hours ago, CatLadyFemme said:

Starting Day 3, we woke up and popped over the the conference room (so fancy! Have never been to one on board. Thanks @Yinster for setting that up!) to host the magnet exchange. I usually do this on all the ships I sail, and this sailing was without a doubt the most participatory with almost 50 people bringing magnets (some bringing 6+!)To trade. So lovely to get to meet so many folks.

 

After this, we headed to the Diamond Lounge to hydrate and cool down (me and my POTS were struggling after the warm conference room) and caffeinate (MxCatLady), and we just vibes there for a while before heading to our Chops reservation. 
 

Chops has the most comfy seating so far of all the places we’ve eaten, and while they didn’t have the beet salad from their dinner menu available at lunch, I was able to get both the wedge and the steak salad made GF and vegetarian. We were really there for the soup for MxCatLady, who says it is their favorite thing they’ve had on a cruise so far. They also got a steak Caesar salad (tasty), Mac and cheese (also a “Meh” for it, just as in Allure), tater tots (good, but not amazing) and for dessert, key lime meringue pie.

 

However, we wound up taking it to go, as two men (in truth, I cannot call them gentlemen) were sat next to us who were SO rude to their waiter, and then continue to spew homophobic and transphobic things (as well as misogynistic and fatphobic) from their mouth as they are and bad mouthed the waiter. Even with my Loops in, I couldn’t completely block them out, and I was reaching my limit of keeping my moth shut and not starting an educational lesson correcting their vastly incorrect statements…and/or having a full blown panic attack (welcome to being autistic), so MxCatLady took dessert to go and bundled me back up to our room to help me regulate. Honestly, it was the worst interaction I ever had with other passengers in 20+ years of cruising and I am still shaken. They also mentions our group on the book of fac€s, so now I don’t know who I can trust in that group, and am hesitant to connect with new people.

 

You never know who you are sitting next to. Perhaps don’t be an jerk? If I had been by myself, this could have ruined the whole cruise. Please be kind to your fellow cruisers. We are literally all in this together.

When we ate in chops I thought the tables were to close together, felt like we were sitting at a 4 top.

[sowhat]

8 hours ago, JamesEM said:

When we ate in chops I thought the tables were to close together, felt like we were sitting at a 4 top.

 

[Biker19]

We can assume the medical issue was resolved?

 

[Orsino]

Ouch. That looks like bad news to me. 
Edit: other thread says the ship met a helicopter. Wow, I didn’t realize helicopters had that much range. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Orsino

[CatLadyFemme]

Yes; we detoured last night (got the announcement around 8:30pm). Went to 100 miles off the coast of Boston and were met by MedEvac (picture from someone else who took it), and then back on route. Update at noon today to find out more. 

[CatLadyFemme]

11 hours ago, JamesEM said:

When we ate in chops I thought the tables were to close together, felt like we were sitting at a 4 top.

Ours were slightly further, but still not ideal.

[CatLadyFemme]

12 hours ago, Btank said:

Is that you with the NM Zia tat on your arm?

 

        --bruce T. (NMSU Alum)

Yep! It’s a memorial for my grandmother and uncle, who both lived in Socorro 💜

[Jrae550]

Enjoying your live reviews! My partner and I just got off Anthem on Monday and I’m  still feeling some symptoms of cruise withdrawal. The crew seemed excited to be heading back to Europe.

Hope you have a fabulous trip! Make sure to request a song from Rani if you see her roaming with the guitar - she is lovely. 🙂 

[NeepierRoad]

17 hours ago, FLPirate said:

Hiya. My parents are on the same cruise and he emailed me and said the ship is diverting to Boston for a medical emergency. I hope it’s not too serious but I can’t imagine they would divert for a not serious situation. Ship definitely appears to be turning. 
 

 

Can you please keep us posted?

Thanks in advance! 

My Mom, husband, and their two friends are also on board.  As they all are considered "elderly", my first hope was that it wasn't any of them (although they are mobile and have their faculties about them).  My Mom waited too long to purchase the internet package and it was too expensive to justify.  Now I wish she had it!  Oh well, no news is the best news! ❤️

[depplep]

On 5/1/2023 at 2:55 PM, CatLadyFemme said:

Boarding day!

 

Last night, I set up a Lyft XL to pick us up from the hotel between 9:30am and 9:40am. We called the wonderful Carmelo to come grab our bags, checked out, and then hopped in the fancy schmancy Escalade (with tip, about half the price of a cab) to take us to the port. It’s really nice to be somewhere with only one cruise ship, compared to how hectic say Miami or Ft Lauderdale is.

 

 

We got dropped off at 10:14, and were on board by 10:36. Checked into our muster station near Vintages (cannot overstate enough how much better this is than the old mister drills!), and went to Cafe270.
 

 

For MxCatLady, they tried the famous Kummelweck sandwich for the first time, with a crème brûlée, while I was delighted to see they had a GF tomato/provolone/arugula pre made, along with a GF no sugar cake. MxCatLady reported the sandwich (they had the first one of the whole cruise!) was delicious though perhaps overdone on horseradish and the crème brûlée was ok but oddly textured. My bread fell apart before it made it to my mouth (so dry and crumbly), but the GF/SF cake wasn’t bad. After relaxing in 270 a bit (along with air filter and our ARANET CO2 meter) we went to the MDR to see our table.

 

 

 

Eventually, went ended up heading to Jamie’s for lunch for our first UDP meal. Really excellent food; I had the burrata, a chef created GF pasta, and the eggplant parmigiana, while MxCatLady had the fancy garlic bread, the truffle arianchini,  also the burrata (not GF), the garlic prawns (at our server’s insistence), and a small order of the truffle pasta. They said everything was super tasty, there was just too much of it 😂

 

 

During lunch, we booked some of our other food stops for the trip using the app, rather than standing on a long line at one of the restaurants to do so. I don’t know if I’d get the UDP again on this class; it made a lot more sense to us on Allure, where we could eat at Sabor’s and 150 Central Park in addition to Chops (where I cannot really eat), an Italian place, and Izumi, but we found it for SUCH a good deal on this trip that we decided to go for it.

 

Staterooms were open by 1pmish, so we explored a little, and then headed up to our room. Luggage was already delivered, albeit much further down the hall; too far for me to do on my own. Now we are unpacking and taking a little siesta before sail away.

 

Love the review, love the photos and the hotel in NY looks super cool. But I just have to point out this picture. I thought you had your water bottle next to the toilet. Then I realized what it was. This just cracks me up!

[CatLadyFemme]

9 hours ago, NeepierRoad said:

My Mom, husband, and their two friends are also on board.  As they all are considered "elderly", my first hope was that it wasn't any of them (although they are mobile and have their faculties about them).  My Mom waited too long to purchase the internet package and it was too expensive to justify.  Now I wish she had it!  Oh well, no news is the best news! ❤️

Update through the grape vine is a solo traveller from the UK who had some friends looking out for him, and had a DVT clot that needed immediate care. Hope this helps you feel better!

[CatLadyFemme]

7 hours ago, depplep said:

Love the review, love the photos and the hotel in NY looks super cool. But I just have to point out this picture. I thought you had your water bottle next to the toilet. Then I realized what it was. This just cracks me up!

Omg that would be so gross lol 😂 

[CatLadyFemme]

Yesterday was first formal night, and if you have followed me before, you know that I (and MxCatLady) love love love to dress up. At the beginning of the pandemic, I bought a few ball gowns on major discount with the hopes to eventually wear them, and this was a perfect place to wear my red siren gown from Kiyonna. MxCatLady bought their first 3 piece suit and had it tailored (trans masc bodies are super hard to fit in suits, so I am extra delighted for them!).

 

We skipped dinner in the MDR after last night’s showing, and instead we to Spectra’s Cabaret.

 

 

It was about two thirds full, and our drink server (the watermelon mint lemonade was tasty!) told us upstairs was a better place to see from, and those couches were lovely. there IS an elevator too, in 270.
 

so…I was on meds that make me a little woozy, but that served in my favor. I liked the music mash ups a lot, and the digital backgrounds (at least after the Janet piece and before the weird appropriative piece) were similar to what I put on at home to mellow out before bed, so it was a nice vibe. However, then it bled into this weird piece in which they had two (apparently) white or at the least, definitely not South East Asian, women dress up in traditional SEA/Indian dress, with one singing in Hindi (and clearly not her native language), while an actually SEA woman was played on the screens on traditional Indian garb, with no context. It made me SO uncomfortable, and it just kept going (was one of the longer pieces). It literally felt like the white solan taking the voice away from and playing dress up while the silenced Indian woman danced for her pleasure. At least 4 smaller groups of people left during this.

 

Usually I love this kind of show, but that totally soured me on it. I could also see a lot of the very traditionalist passengers not liking it because it is too risqué (maybe for children? I would take my kids there if I had any) and because the main singer was in heels and some low key drag outfits (which I loved, but cannot imagine this doing well out of Florida given current political climate there). I’m just not sure who the audience is for this?

 

However, it was our first show, and I was glad to get to see something in Two70 finally. After this, we took a break on our balcony and then headed to Wonderland.

 

They didn’t show up quite as fully for me as they did on the Quantum Wonderland, where they literally made me a GF veg version of every little thing MxCatLady had, but they really showed up with the main dish; rice filled stuffed pepper and zucchini and potatoes. Filling and yummy! They *did* give me items with gelatin because they don’t seem to realize it isn’t vegetarian, so I ate around some of them, but all in all, really lovely. And they made a mocktail version of the cotton candy drink. So fun! Looking forward to going back. MxCatLady said the best two things they have had on this trip so far were the liquid lobster and the risotto in a spoon (followed closely by the mushroom soup at Chops). They also love the short rib, and the World desert.

 

After this, we walked around a little bit, listened to some more audio book, and eventually went to Sorrentos to get late night pizza. They had issues when I ordered a GF pizza; they knew the routine. There were some communication issues, and they forgot to actually *start* it in the back, but once we got it figured out and I got my hot pizza about half an hour later, everything was good.

 

and thus, with an Agatha Christine playing on my nightstand, ends day 2.

[Btank]

11 hours ago, CatLadyFemme said:

Yep! It’s a memorial for my grandmother and uncle, who both lived in Socorro 💜

I might have gone to the Owl Cafe more than a few times... 🍔

 

      --bruce T.

 

P.S. Readers, please humour me as I weep for my lost college years. 😄