tennislvr8

We didn’t get off the ship in Nassau, had a very relaxing day in the solarium. The past two sea data were great in the solarium as well. Yesterday for some reason there were fewer people at lunch and throughout the pool during the day. Today, the last sea day, everything was packed. They were monitoring chair hogs and had out signs telling people to collect their belongings at the towel station. I once again was relaxing in the solarium. Yep different families brought in crying babies. I don’t know why. They weren’t there very long but long enough to disturb several of us. 
The international food in the windjammer has been delicious. I have eaten so much new Indian food. All of it great!

we had a medical emergency that required the coast guard to rescue. 
I pray they got the medical attention they needed and their family is able to be with them and they make a speedy recovery. 
the detour won’t impact our arrival in Bayonne. 

5 hours ago, Beer Belly said:

Any idea how late the main pool is open till ?

I honestly don’t. I’ll try to find out though. I don’t do the pool. 

Dinner at Jaimes

The food was was delicious as always, the lamb chops and the carbonara. The service was excellent as well EXCEPT for the hostess. 
We had lunch at Jaime’s too and she was problematic then too. 
i Prepurchased Jaime’s and chops lunch as well as Jaime’s dinner. I reserved chops immediately once on board. It was a gift from TA that couldn’t be purchased ahead of time. When he scheduled chops he saw all of our other reservations.  

The hostess makes seating last too long. The line backs up and I’m not sure what she’s doing. Before she seats everyone she goes into the restaurant and looks around. Each and every time. The restaurant isn’t that big and if you just seated folks and looked you should know what’s available. It makes the wait very long. People in line aren’t happy
She did this at both lunch and dinner. At dinner she tries to tell me I didn’t pay. I have the email as proof. She won’t look at it. She then says ok, it’s ok. We eat, great food and service, then the check is 0.00. 
the next day we have a change for $120+ from Jaime’s. Down to guest services I go. Luckily there was no line. The person waiting on me calls someone tells them what I just told you guys. He says they will look into and let me know. In a few hours it was credited. 
 

We spent yesterday at hideaway beach in coco cay. It was worth every dime. So much so that my cheap DH had me reserve it for our cruise in June. It was not crowded at all. We got there early about 9:30. There were plenty of loungers available all day. We sat on the beach side by the pizza place. You could hear the music but it wasn’t too loud. The water was freezing. We also sat at the big bar I between the two pools. Service was great. The pool water was perfect. Might choose to sit at the pool in June. There were dancers shooting shots of champagne in the mouths of those in The pool. 
THERE WERE NO SEAGULLS. I REPEAT THERE WERE NO SEAGULLS

The food was good:

pizza - it wasn’t hot, it was warm and very good way better than sorentos. I tried the chicken. 
Empanadas- they were ok

the fish sandwich - a must try it was very good 

coconut shrimp - very good as well 

we will def go again. 
 

Today was a sea day. The solarium was PACKED. Standing room only. The pools were packed too, never seen them this packed. I was able to find to loungers at the outside pool that allowed me to listen to my books on tape and people watch so a good day. That’s pretty much all I did today, lounge and listen to books on tap, which is new to me and I like. It was cold today. The seas are rough I really feel the ship rocking bags aren’t out but it’s still felt. 

On 3/24/2024 at 7:17 PM, Another_Critic said:

 

We arrived in Bayonne about 10. Traffic was ridiculous. Anthem arrived an hour late, others said two hours late. It was a nightmare. Once we finally parked in the garage it was a breeze. We walked right in the terminal, through security and right on the ship at about 11ish. We checked in for muster made a dinner reservation for tonight that I couldn’t do online and headed to the windjammer for a quick lunch then to the spa for our massages. 
the couples massage was excellent. The room was small, we had to undress in the room and store our stuff there as well, it was right. But like I said the massage is self was excellent. My husband wants to do it every time now. There was a soft attempt to sell products. They took no easy and stopped with making either of us uncomfortable. 
It’s very cold today and since we have been on Anthem numerous times we didn’t feel the need to be outside for sail away.

It’s a spring break cruise and there are 1500 kids aboard this week.
We are diamond. We got a letter on our room saying due to the number of pinnacles and diamond+ onboard, we cannot go to concierge lounge for happy hour. It’s for diamond + and above only during happy hour. It’s available to all any other time. 

6 hours ago, Beer Belly said:

Looking forward to your semi-live review, will be boarding April 15. Interested in if it is possible to park in parking garage.

15 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

 

Join DH, our DD and me on our journey on the beautiful Anthem of the Seas from Bayonne, NJ to Port Canaveral, Coco Cay and Nassau.  The Anthem is part of a class of ship we have not sailed.  I have seen pictures of the ship, and I can ’t wait to get aboard.  . . . but, mostly I want to get away from the cold and rainy weather on the east coast today.  😞

 

 

 

It was a wet start as we boarded Amtrak train 88 at the BWI airport Station this morning headed to Newark Penn Station. It was raining cats, dogs, and anything else that could come from the sky. Our Uber XL driver was a Prince.  After playing Tetris with four suitcases, a walker and a bookbag we were off.  This will be our third time taking Amtrak to Bayonne. We drove the first time we sailed from here, but we did not love the traffic. With the tolls and $30/day parking at the pier the train pays for itself. JMHO

 

We are Alan [DH], Agnes [Me], and our adult DD [Heather]. DH and I are veteran cruisers; this will be our 40^th. However, DD is cruising for the first time. She is a teacher, so we are taking a spring break cruise.  We typically avoid school holidays.

 

We were not sure we would ever get to take this cruise. DH fell in our cabin on the first part of our B2B cruise last fall. So, we left the ship in Portland, ME. He has fully recovered. However, he still has some mobility issues and I will share a few of our experiences as they relate to that. On Amtrak you can request assistance getting your luggage on and off the train at manned stations. This was a huge help today.   Also, the conductor phoned ahead and had a porter waiting by our rail car to get our luggage from there.  They also provide wheelchair assistance--but we did not need that.

DH and I will be onboard with you. I started a thread too and yours is better by far. 

Good morning all,

We, DH (54) and myself (F53) are heading to Bayonne for our 9th voyage on Anthem. I love the view from 270 and he’s not a fan of flying so this is perfect. We left at about 8:15 and will arrive about 10:00. We are staying in a balcony, he got an incredible price, it was less than $2,000. We hoped and bid aggressively on a few suites but we didn’t win. It’s the risk you take and we are absolutely fine with a balcony room  This is purely a relaxation trip for both of us, work has been insane. As of right now the only show we are going to see is Spectra, because of Terry Lavelle. We have dinner and lunch reservations at both Chops and Jaime’s. We also have a massage scheduled for today at 12. I like to get on the ship as early as possible, he likes to arrive when the rooms open. The massage is a way to keep him busy while waiting for the rooms. In coco cay we will be at the adults an only beach. We will be Diamond plus after this cruise. I am not very good at taking lots of pics, I am also very good at starting a review then not finishing. I am going to do both this time because I am also using this to convince several coworker friends to try at least one cruise. Any questions I will do my best to answer. 

On 3/10/2024 at 5:21 PM, NJ&Ozzie said:

Hey All,

 

Looking to book a couple of back to back cruises in mid-April with some friends from Canada. There is so much talk in the news about things going on in the world right now (any number of possible scenarios).  There is concern about what would happen in the case of a sudden "event" outside of our control.

 

If we go ahead and book - how can we prepare?  Should we even be concerned?  

 

Appreciate any thoughts.  Thanks!

April of 2024 as in next month?  We have two cruises booked this year and two for next year. If you are truly that worried don’t go. 

I am type 2 and take two meds for it, one weekly and one daily. I do not have to check my levels ever. I watch my carb intake as I do at home but I also indulge because I’m on vacation and their bread has me in a choke hold. I also get the drink package but I absolutely do not drink anything with those sugary high carbs mixers. Be careful and enjoy your cruise 

3 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

It's been a while since I've ordered shrimp cocktail. It's kind of plain and usually there is something more exciting than catches my eye but I was craving a shrimp cocktail so went for it.

 

These were nice and fresh tasting, very plump living up to the jumbo in their name. The sauce was very good with a nice kick from the horseradish. 

 

Crab cake was still not quite to temperature and seemed to lack seasoning tonight. It was not bad, just sort of underwhelming.

 

I'm not a bread person, but this was fine. Nice and warm with a good flavor, just don't really need the filler.

 

Filet with peppercorn sauce 642.

 

What if any significance do the numbers after the name of the dish you are eating have?

My last 10 cruises have been out of Bayonne, DH doesn’t like to fly and a less than 2 hour drive. We do not get off the ship in port Canaveral or Nassau. There is so much to do on oasis that you won’t miss getting off the ship. 

20 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

Prosecco. 

Thanks. I remembered that thought it was something else. I’m taking my mobile bar too. 

What did you fill the mobile bar with, I have read every post and recall a reference to it but wasn’t sure what it was?

15 hours ago, jojo412 said:

Following along! Will be on the Anthem the week after Easter!  Hoping it won't be too crowded since it's in-between NJ spring break (1st week april) and NYC's  (last week April). I'm work in the education field as well 🙂

I am an educator as well and this is great to hear. Our spring break is mar 24 assumed it would be full of NJ and NY spring breakers. 

Thanks everyone. I felt like the price was comparable. It’s $275 for both of us, slightly higher but not by much in my area. 

Has anyone ever done the couples Swedish massage? I booked it for me and DH on embarkation day at noon. I like to board the ship as early as possible. He likes to board at 1 or 2.  I thought the massage would be a nice way to kill time while waiting for the rooms to open, his main complaint of boarding so early. 
Was it worth the money, did you have to leave immediately following the massage or can you enjoy the spa for a while? TIA

3 hours ago, Pratique said:

Thanks for your review. We also had a great time. Our loft attendants were awesome so at least your housekeeping experience was not part of a larger issue. The concierges escorted us to the gangway and we were off the ship five minutes after vacating our cabin. We ate a lot of specialty Giovanni's, Chops, 150 Central Park, but also had brunch in the MDR and BBQ twice and it was all good. As previously discussed the WJ is lacking these days as is the food setup in the suite lounge. It does feel like they are cutting corners on food in some areas. Cats and Aqua shows were great. The ship is clean and looks in excellent shape. The crew were all great too save for an indifferent bartender or two.

 

On the drive out my phone decided to take us on a "shortcut" to the NJT via Port Lincoln Rd and Port Jersey Blvd. Although it dumps onto the turnpike there is more truck traffic this way so probably not a good idea to listen to my phone sometimes. But I thought I'd give it a try anyway. YMMV.

 

I have PDFs of the compass for days 2-7 and I can take photos of the compass from day 1 if anyone is interested let me know.

That was our first negative experience with a steward. Last year we were in a loft suite and had excellent service. I'm usually not a fan of coastal kitchen but it offered the best meals. We also ate at Giovannis. We had a pasta dish the last night at coastal and it was the best meal of the cruise. 

Also, we stayed on deck 8 midship In a grand suite. We loved the location and will book it on future sailings that have central park. 

Our cruise has sadly come to an end. As always it was a great time. Was everything perfect, nope but it was still a great time. 

Our cabin steward was not the best, he didn't know our name and the room was not as clean as we have experienced it the past. The suite concierge was the best we have had. She was attentive and extremely helpful. My grands had an excellent time and want to go again.  

I thought everyone already knew they owned coco cay. 

Today was a good sea day, it was lazy except for the belly flop and Disney trivia. The belly flop was fun as usual. Disney trivia was in spotlight karaoke. It was entirely too small especially since people early came for Harry Potter trivia so they could.have a seat. It was still fun. I sadly didn't make.it to quest last night. Spending the day at coco cay was tiring. 

Out first day here a manager was helping out. He had paper crusie compasses. I asked for one. He told me he would make sure I got one everyday. We got our second one today.  Our stateroom. Attendant cleaned our room for the evening. We are out of soap, he didn't refill it, my husband saw him and asked. He gave a few bars of soap and said he had to ask someone. 

Again, I am still enjoying my cruise and will cruise royal again just sharing our experiences. 

1 hour ago, Pratique said:

One of the CocoCay tram attendants said today was the first good day in a long time. I guess we got lucky the weather held out. Yesterday they had the same thunderstorms that passed over Nassau and they had to shut everything down early.

 

As an aside I scraped my foot on a rock out in the water and paid a visit to first aid at Chill Beach to get patched up. She took good care of me.

Glad we got the good weather. Sorry about you cut but glad it was taken care of.