Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

3 night Anthem Review

CasinoCruzGirl
 Share

Recommended Posts

CasinoCruzGirl

CasinoCruzGirl

Posted
Posted (edited)

Over the past two years I have exclusively sailed NCL through casinos at Sea. I live in NJ so it's very convienet for me to sail on Breakaway or Gem. When I heard the Anthem was going to offer a 3 night cruise from Bayonne I thought it was great that I would have another option so close to home.

 

I contacted a casino host junket person with friends of mine and we were able to book a Jr. Spa Suite for under $100 each and also receive a drink card for the casino. All was great in the world. About 10 of us booked months ago and were excited to try out a new line and ship. Unfortunately the Anthem suffered that storm and then after that the cruise was cut short due to missing a storm and Noro. Not a great start to this new ship but hey I wasn't on those so sit and wait for my turn.

 

March 4th arrived and my son drove me to the port about a 35 minute drive from central NJ. However once we got to the terminal there was another 35 minutes just waiting to get to the ship with the traffic. I was surprised it took so long considering there was no debarkation that day due to the ship being bs k 2 days early. The port is pretty ugly looking but I'm not staying at the port am I? I'm heading to that beautiful ship. Once inside the terminal we were greeted with a purell dispenser and told to use it before we went any further. Great. Then found a roving check in person. Since I already had placed my credit card and uploaded a photo check in was easy peasy. Onto the ship we go. Rooms were ready right away because of Early debarking two days prior.

 

Went straight to my cabin and it was a Jr. Spa Suite - beautiful and roomy. It had so much storage and real draws (ncl doesn't have real draws). There was one bathroom with a walk in shower and a bathtub and sink. On the other side of the entrance was another bathroom with toilet and sink. We had asked for our beds to be separated since I was rooming with a girlfriend that wasn't done but found our steward Teddy who did separate them for the evening. He was very pleasant and a nice guy. Our balconÿ was roomy with 2 cushioned chairs and 2 foot stools and a small table. I felt the beds were very uncomfortable. I always got a good night sleep on NCL in very comfy beds, Royal not so much. Also because we were Ina suite we had wow bands in our room to use. Nice touch.

 

Once we unpacked we wanted to get some lunch we went to one of the MDR and the line was way to long so we decided to try cafe 270. What a mistake. Premade wraps and sandwiches - awful. Ok so let's explore the ship. Very pretty oh there's a pizza place let's try there since 270 was a bust again awful. I'm hopeful I'll find somewhere good to eat tonight.

 

As casino guests we were invited to a cocktail party in the music room. We went had a drink and received our stickers for our sail card to show we can get drinks for free in the casino.

 

Stopped in the casino and I was so excited to see they had my favorite game (4 card keno). I couldnt wait for the casino to open so I could play it. By now it was dinner time. Since we're were suite guests we could have dinner in the Coastal Kitchen. I ordered a shrimp cocktail, onion soup and a steak, shrimp and soup were good, steak not so much. They put the steak on top of mashed potatoes with some kind of brown sauce. I'm not a fan of my meat on potatoes and not a fan of sauce on it. Again meal is a bust.

 

By now the casino is open. Yay I get to play my favorite game....ummm no????? Hey wait a minute it shows a picture of it on top why isn't it listed? No one can tell

Me or help. <sigh> Well we played for a while some other games and by 10:00 we were exhausted and went to sleep.

 

The ship seemed to rock quite a bit back and forth side to side. I have never felt so much motion and I have cruise several times in winter months.

 

In the morning we saw on the TV that we had actually headed south instead of north to Halifax. Hmm why didn't we hear an announcement. Oh well it's all good. I'm happy we went south instead of north maybe get some better weather. We ordered some Danish and coffee from room service and heading down to the casino and met up with our group of friends. Lunchtime we went to chic. 3 of us all got the salad bar they have set up whcih was ok not to many choices but good enough yes a steak on the menu maybe I can get a good steak? We all ordered it. One friend never received hers until after the other 2 of us were done other friend ordered hers rare it was still mooing I ordered mine medium hockey puck anyone? And tasteless. Omg where am I going to get a good steak so now I'm on a mission to get one someplace on this cruise. Dinner that night was at american icon (all MDR had same menus so didn't matter where we ate). Oh wow surf and turf on the menu this has to be good right? Not so much. Again steak is place on mashed potatoes 2 small (and I mean small) shrimp covered with some type of brown sauce. No no no. I love shrimp but couldn't even eat them they were so bad. Casino night again.

 

The last day we went to we will rock you. I really didn't understand the script and I loved rock of ages in the Breakaway. The ship really seemed to be rocking a lot this day. There's something wrong with the design that they need to look into in my opinion. We were hungry around 4 pm and headed to the buffet it's closed????? Really????? Ok let's go get hot dogs get there oh sorry out of hot dogs for at least a half hour. Omg I can't go back to 270 again but we have no choice. Ok we will give it another try ummmmm never again lol no better the second Time. That night we went back to coastal kitchen and I specificslly say I want the steak on a plate by itself no potatoes on the plate no sauce. Nth eh got half right no potatoes but Yep there was some brown sauce Eh. So food not royals strong spot.

 

I will say the solarium is beautiful and it's a perfect feature for a ship that leaves out of the northeast in winter months. Great idea. There is a ton to do if your a young active person like bumper cars, ifly, and many other things. For someone like me with major back problems it stinks I couldn't use them.

 

Anyway it's back to ncl for me but it was worth the try and experience.

Edited by FootballParent
Link to comment
Share on other sites
DonnaK

DonnaK

Posted
Posted

I was on the same sailing, in a regular balcony cabin. We had Classic (traditional) dining and thought the food was wonderful. We also enjoyed the Windjammer choices at breakfast and lunch. No complaint about food or service from us!

 

We do agree that of all the musicals ever made, We Will Rock You isn't such a great choice for a NY/NJ sailing (maybe it was better for the British crowd on a Southampton sailing). The performers were very talented, but the plot was very weak and the dialogue was hard to follow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CasinoCruzGirl

CasinoCruzGirl

Posted
  • Author
Posted
We were on the same sailing. A lot of your review I could have written myself. This cruise was not typical RCCL :( food was hit or miss for us. We spent a lot of time in windjammer.

 

I wish I would have tried the Windjammer sounds like that was the place to go. Was it all carte or a set price?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ryano

ryano

Posted
Posted
I wish I would have tried the Windjammer sounds like that was the place to go. Was it all carte or a set price?

 

The Windjammer is the buffet. Its no charge. Included in your cruise fare

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CasinoCruzGirl

CasinoCruzGirl

Posted
  • Author
Posted
The Windjammer is the buffet. Its no charge. Included in your cruise fare

 

Lol oh Duh on me. We did end up there one day actually. I needed to get something on 3rd day felt a little queasy and wanted a green apple. I did like the set up how it has different stations and not like cafeteria style

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jusstice

jusstice

Posted
Posted

On the same sailing. The ship is gorgeous, but felt like I was in a mall. The rooms are bigger than NCL, so I can see taking the family with me next time. The solarium was the best. I wanted some announcements for any reason. Tell me what's going on. Where's there a bingo- a sale- a show- a change in course- something.

 

I had better luck at food than you, as I did frequent the buffet! I like the lattes I could get with my drink plan just about anywhere. Regular drink service was slow, and really hit and miss at times.

 

Liked the casino, only because I actually saw plenty of people winning. Otherwise, would have liked to see more tables with reasonable limits.

 

I found that ship was really rocking the whole time. That just can't be right.

 

I would go RCL again, just to take the kids. NCL for me still king.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CapnKimo

CapnKimo

Posted
Posted

Ugh, you had to remind me of the "surf and turf"! I was hoping mine was a fluke, but since that was back on the New Year's cruise, I guess not. I was so looking forward to a good meal in American Icon and mine was just like yours. I am not that picky but I couldn't even describe it as steak and the shrimp were like something you would see in those noodle bowls you microwave. The good steak was in Chops. The Dry Aged Ribeye was one of the best I ever had. The carving stations in the Windjammer were always really good.

 

You were sailing to the south to avoid weather, I suspect the seas were heavier than normal. We had normal weather for our week long trip and I could barely ever detect we were moving. We always pick a room in the middle of the ship on one of the middle floors. In my opinion the best deck on this ship would be deck 8 or 9. They are high enough over the life boats for good views and easy to take the stairs to the upper action decks or the shopping and shows on the lower ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CasinoCruzGirl

CasinoCruzGirl

Posted
  • Author
Posted
It seems everyone is saying that the ship rocks a lot. I wonder if the stabilizers were damage in the storm and they never repaired them. Just a thought.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

A lot of people myself included had the same thought.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CasinoCruzGirl

CasinoCruzGirl

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Ugh, you had to remind me of the "surf and turf"! I was hoping mine was a fluke, but since that was back on the New Year's cruise, I guess not. I was so looking forward to a good meal in American Icon and mine was just like yours. I am not that picky but I couldn't even describe it as steak and the shrimp were like something you would see in those noodle bowls you microwave. The good steak was in Chops. The Dry Aged Ribeye was one of the best I ever had. The carving stations in the Windjammer were always really good.

 

 

 

You were sailing to the south to avoid weather, I suspect the seas were heavier than normal. We had normal weather for our week long trip and I could barely ever detect we were moving. We always pick a room in the middle of the ship on one of the middle floors. In my opinion the best deck on this ship would be deck 8 or 9. They are high enough over the life boats for good views and easy to take the stairs to the upper action decks or the shopping and shows on the lower ones.

 

 

Lol right? The surf and turf was a very very thin piece of filet on top of mashed potatoes with 3 very small shrimp covered with some type of brown gravy. Oh it was bad!!!!

 

We were on deck 10 midship and movement was a lot. I have been in forward cabins on the breakaway and never felt it like I did last week

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MattInFLL

MattInFLL

Posted
Posted (edited)

I know a lot of people that felt the rocking, but there were a lot of us on board who have posted in other threads and in other social media outlets and are scratching our heads.

 

Like what are all these reports of bad rocking?

 

We did not feel the rocking was any different than you would feel on any other large cruise ship dealing with the swells in the wake of a passing storm. Most of Saturday we were stationary off the coast of North Carolina and not moving at all (in any fashion). North Star and ifly were operating from about noon on on Saturday and were operating all day Sunday. They can't operate if there is too much movement. For one thing, North Star's computer shuts it down in such cases (or so we were told). Yes, there were a couple of bumps, and there were a couple of hours where you knew you were on a ship on the ocean... but this was just not out of line to many of us. Two storms had just passed off Cape Hatteras and totally churned up our part of the Atlantic. It's Mother Nature, not the ship.

 

One thing I will say is that Anthem creaks a lot, especially near the aft elevators.

Edited by MattInFLL
Link to comment
Share on other sites
c-legs

c-legs

Posted
Posted
It seems everyone is saying that the ship rocks a lot. I wonder if the stabilizers were damage in the storm and they never repaired them. Just a thought.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Bingo ! :( You got it....They were indeed damaged...and RCL will not be in a hurry to have them fixed= IMO, these can't really be fixed '' on the go'' or at wetdock As long as the ship remains in active service, damaged stabilizers will not !:o

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gerig

gerig

Posted
Posted

I was on that cruise. The ship moves like any other cruise ship. I've cruised Carnival, Celebrity, Royal and Princess. I actually thought it was a smooth sailing considering the weather conditions on Friday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
akcruz

akcruz

Posted
Posted
It seems everyone is saying that the ship rocks a lot. I wonder if the stabilizers were damage in the storm and they never repaired them. Just a thought.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Can't find it right now, but I have seen posts from cruisers back in January stating that the captain had told them during one of his talks that one of the stabilizers was damaged back then. They had someone coming to meet the ship back in Bayonne and were hoping to get it fixed. With one out the other couldn't be used. Sounds like they could not fix it.

 

So yes, there are issues with the stabilizers but it is not storm related.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...