cindivan

18 hours ago, zooma said:

Not sure this next question even makes sense, but what would you consider being the biggest perk of being in a GS on Anthem? (I assume not the suite sundeck, not the lounge....)

The service was PHENOMENAL on this ship. (Not exactly sure if it was because we were in a grand suite, or maybe it was because Michael Bayley was rumored to be on board. We did see a family at Jamie’s one night at a table that was highly attended to and several waiters were getting selfies with one particular gentleman who looked enough like Michael Bayley to make it very plausible, but I digress). 

We we have done over 20 RC cruises and we have never had such consistent and overwhelmingly great service. I do think being in a GS had a little to do with it. When we waited in line one night for MTD once we got up there the worker almost scolded us (in a friendly way) for waiting in line and told us to come directly to the front next time. We were seated at those fun tables with the huge high red backs. 

Second to then service for best perks I would say the room, which is spacious and so comfortable. 

A little off off topic for your question, but there is also a pillow menu which sadly I noticed the last day. So if you get a suite, make sure you explore all the little cardboard things around the table. I had just read the paperwork. 

Being able to walk into any show early without reservations was nice. I wasn’t too impressed with our reserved seating. Center balcony front few rows, but the chairs were set so far back I had to sit on front edge of seat to see stage.   This space was also shared with diamond plus and up. (Funny thing when went to sit there our cards were viewed by workers before we could enter area. We were debating whether we wanted to sit there and some lady starts demanding to know if we are diamond plus or pinnacle because this is their reserved seating. She probably thought she busted us because we all decided better seats were to be had on the lower level).   

The front rows in orchestra (main floor) were reserved for Key. We didn’t like that at all. Although a heads up if you want those seats wait nearby  until they open it up for general seating and you can then sit there. 

32 minutes ago, zooma said:

Thanks so much for your review especially re Anthem's suite sun deck. Did you have a chance to use the suite/concierge lounge on Anthem? If so, how crowded was it? Any thoughts on comparing size of lounge with Oasis class ships' lounges?

The suite/concierge  lounge was actually another disappointment.   It was on deck 12 aft and separate from the coastal kitchen. Kind of out of the way I guess for most, but convenient for us.   We went there maybe 4 nights for drinks and snack before dinner and it was not crowded at all. Always had many tables to choose from. The only night it was slightly crowded was the last night.   As far as size I would say it’s maybe slightly smaller than Oasis class lounge, but it’s been a couple years since I have been on the combined lounge/CK so kind of hard to remember exactly. 

  However, even though we had the drink package we could only get “diamond drinks” in there. Which is considerably more limited than the premium drink package. The snacks at night were not so great.   I would usually get a glass of the wine I like from another bar and go to lounge with DH.  We much prefer the combined lounge/CK but met someone else who said different so I guess it’s personal preference. 

Ricardo the suite concierge was awesome!    As were all the servers there. For us it was just an odd thing being separate from CK and not being able to get premium drink package drinks. 

They do have the coffee machine with cappuccino and latte etc so that is nice.  Breakfast was continental with various breads and toaster. A small offering but rarely saw many there. But I mostly went in just to grab coffee. 

Rome in limo was also great for us. 

 Not sure what your interests are but we have used Context Travel several places including Rome. Their tour guides are super knowledgable, often phds or history majors. We did the Vatican and coliseum while in Rome with our then 12-15yo kids. Our guide had an iPad and several books and as we were touring she was pulling up artist renditions of various statues and pictures or architecture that depicted what it looked like when originally sculpted, painted etc.     Super interesting vs just looking at it now.   

If you can get an underground tour of the coliseum that adds an extra interesting level,  no pun intended. Hard to get though because numbers are limited. Or at least it was when we went several years ago. 

We have also spent several days wandering around Rome on our own and there is plenty to see and do that way. 

By far the biggest disappointment about paying for a suite was the suite deck. It’s my fault for not doing research, but I just assumed it would be similar to suite decks on the Oasis class which are AMAZING!  This one was very small comparatively, no bathroom, no bar, super hot or super windy depending on if we were moving or not. 

Entrance is deck 15 aft and shown below. Took us a while to find it right beside elevators. No entrance from the main pool deck

last picture is the view from suite deck which was great, but all the other issues made it hard to enjoy. We spent very little time there and hardly saw anyone else there. 

Some paperwork in our cabins detailing our amenities. 

Provided toiletries. I really liked them and I am somewhat picky. 

Epi-pens and auvi-qs are way too expensive/important for me to pack in bag that may or may not be temperature controlled.    Will they still work?   Not sure where they have been.   

 Or lost. And i bring about 4 per child with allergies so 8 on a regular trip so it does take a bit of room and often gets pulled aside at TSA. More on longer flights.  But never an issue with needing the Rx box. Once I tell them it’s epi-pens I’m on my way.   (My allergic kids are 22 and 21 and we are frequent travelers including NZ, Africa, many trips to Europe, don’t let allergies stop you!).   Me and my quart ziploc bag with 8ish epipens and an additional ziploc with several Auvi-qs in someone else’s carryon. 

YMMV. Personally just used to counting on the room for them in my carryon. 

More tomorrow. Please feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer 

This is 12642 balcony. Still great, but not as deep as 12646. 

Our suites were very similar inside but 12646 balcony was significantly larger due to being on the bumpout.   Sometimes I look at the ship deck plans and aren’t sure what is artist rendering vs reality. 12626 is about twice as deep. These pics are of our balcony (second one is from kids balcony with sliders open between our balconies). 

This might help save some frustration. The temp control in the shower isn’t completely intuitive. There is a small button the knob (circled in black in first pic). In order to change temp you have to hold down the button as you turn it. Otherwise it just spins without any temperature change. 

Pics of 12646. Our kids room (12642) was very similar.   The closet in the bedroom has one minor issue. The rod was just a few inches from the wall, so it made more sense for my smaller clothes to be hung there vs DHs more wide clothes. 

The two two desks was AWESOME.   We both had our personal room to get ready and work. The cabin was very spacious. We had been in a GS on the Navigator years ago and this seemed larger. We also loved the curtain we could pull to separate the bedroom from the living room area. This was great if one of us was up and the other wanted to sleep. 

The curtains to our balcony provided a good amount of darkness. DH was fine but I still used my eye mask for further darkness. 

We were on the Anthem June 6th 9 day cruise in grand suites 12642 (22 and 18you sons) and 12646 (DH and me). It was a double graduation trip so a splurge on rooms for us. I tried to find info/opinions on whether star class suites were worth it on the Anthem. I found good info, but thought I might be able to provide additional thoughts.   Also some pics (sorry we already moved in before I thought you take them).   This won’t be a lengthy review. Many great reviews exist for the Anthem. I will try to highlight our suite experience. 

Embarkation. 

Everything in our family is a competition, so our kids decided the suite security line was too long and went to the standard line. They beat us. Mainly because the couple in front of us had their bags searched when they didn’t declare soda and wine bottles. But other than that very fast and efficient. 

We we chose this cruise for the class of ship. We love the Oasis and Freedom class but had yet to try the Quantum class.  Flying from NC to NJ wasn’t ideal instead of flying to FL, but we love theater so justified by spending a few days in NY to see some plays. 

Our family (which includes 3 boys who are 22/21/18 and have been sailing since Allure came out) all agree sorrentos took a nose dive a few years after we first tried it and as recent as December (symphony) and June (anthem) it has not come close to recovering. It’s good to fill a gap when nothing else is available, but not even close to anything we would choose to get back home. 

We just booked using next cruise and they said “current promotion is better than d+ discount” so no additional discount.   So stupid. What is the point of the loyalty discount when the general public discount is almost always better than loyalty discount and not combinable?

Thanks for everyone’s replies. I wish it were closer in cost but I agree. 2k is tough to justify for 150 vs 250 sq ft. 

Besides a bigger room, are there any benefits of a grand suite over junior suite?  I don’t see a coastal kitchen, we get the drink package so concierge lounge doesn’t mean too much. And we typically plan our meals and show ahead so that benefit doesn’t help us much either. But we have never been on this class of ship so not sure if I’m missing something.  

just not sure it’s worth an extra 2k per room. I think I would rather have that for excursions and dinners 

TIA

45 minutes ago, Canadian Disney Mom said:

I have not seen angry orchard for over a year on any of our sailings.  It might be even longer than that.  I have only seen Strongbow and Cripsin for ciders recently.  I am not a fan of Crispin.  I cannot comment on the Hard Seltzer piece - I did not know that was a thing.  Is that like a pre-bottled G&T?

It’s not a premixed drink. I think it’s brewed similar to how beer is brewed.   Most have 5% alcohol so similar to a domestic non-light beer. 

White claw and Truly are some of the more popular brands. They are flavored seltzer water with flavors like black cherry, raspberry, lime, grapefruit. They are very light and refreshing.   I like putting them over ice. They have gained a lot of popularity among the college crowd. They are generally more expensive than domestic beer (we can get a 12 of white claw on sale for $14).     Guys drink them as well and at least in our area of the country no one claims there are a fru fru for girls. 

You will have a fantastic time!  There is no min or max age or group number for enjoying what a ship offers. It sounds like you have done your homework and know what you like and you chose wisely. 

Any ship will have families of course. We sailed Symphony last Christmas and are going on her again for New Years, and there is a big mix of couples, families and everywhere in between. 

 Enjoy!

9 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

You can use your drink package in the SL/CK 

  I just meant that we only feel we are “competing” for suite privileges in the CK and deck areas. 

46 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Beside the bowl of bananas near the ketchup.....😂

Why are the bananas being segregated from the other fruit?  That is a disaster. 

I can’t speak about mangoes directly. Two of our kids have severe peanut/tree nut/shellfish allergies.   We have cruised a lot with RC and in the MDR they are excellent as long as they know. Specialty restaurants require a little more work because you don’t go there regularly. Or at least we don’t. 

The only time one of them had a bad experience (which required an epi-pen, sent him to the infirmary, hives ALL over his body, passed out from the meds for pretty much the rest of the day) was at the windjammer buffet. They try to label, but I guess it’s sometimes missed. 

I wish our kids would avoid buffets. But they need to decide that out for themselves at their age (22, 21).  

I would guess mango is less common in food buffets, but can’t speak directly to that allergen.   I would be more concerned about blender drinks 

I will not enter into a debate of who deserves to be where.     But it does affect my cruise planning. If we do a suite on RC in low season it will be with some trepidation. We will most likely never make pinnacle, and we feel suite privileges are diluted when there are a lot of pinnacles sailing.  Not saying it’s right or wrong, just our observation. We always get the drink package so it’s not about free drinks or even the suite lounge.  It’s more about CK and suite/pinnacle deck areas. 

Soon on to be empty nesters we will be doing more cruises with Celebrity and other lines  where suite guests rarely compete with non-suite guests for “suite privileges.”  

I would be very curious to hear if the key really allows people to jump the line at any time and get the same privilege as the Star class for the Florider. I understand people want privileges If they buy the key. But based on how many keys it seems RC is selling allowing this would IMO create a lot of unhappy riders and further dilute the value of any suite outside of star class. 

Only one of our kids still enjoys the florider, and it often already is such a long wait. If this is really a thing it would make more sense to me to just buy a couple private/semi-private sessions and avoid all the drama. Although times for those are pretty limited as well.  

I can’t see an issue as far as RC is concerned. DH and his family all dropped of their bags a few years back  and went to a local sports bar to watch their team. Barely made it to the ship in time for sailing but their bags got to us no problems. I don’t know how RC would have any idea who boarded with their luggage or not.