Review - Sept 8-17, 2016 Canada/New England Anthem of the Seas

[dmlee1990]

Sorry for the late review. So much mail & laundry to catch up with, not to mention moving our DD into the dorms following our return.

Please let me first tell you a little about myself. I am 55 years old and sailed with my DH and 2 DDs, ages 23 & 18. We enjoy cruising and this is our first cruise on Royal Caribbean. Our previous cruises have been on Holland America, Princess & Carnival.

We flew into Newark Airport one day early and stayed at the Country Inn & Suites in Elizabeth, NJ. We chose this hotel because of the complimentary airport shuttle, WiFi, and breakfast. The staff is very friendly and helpful, however the rooms are a bit rundown. But for one night, it was fine. This hotel is located across the street from a large shopping mall (Jersey Gardens, I believe). You can also purchase a shuttle ride to the cruise terminal for $17.50/person. The shuttle to the cruise terminal worked very well for us. They have a shuttle that leaves at 10:00 am, 11:00 am & 12:00 noon.

EMBARKATION: This was the easiest embarkation we have ever had. We were on the 11:00 am shuttle and arrived at around 12:00 noon, (traffic to the port was awful), presented our set-sail passes to one of the RCI reps and we were set to go. However, for some reason, my photo did not upload correctly, so the rep had to take my picture again. Very short lines as we entered the large building and through security. Photographers took some photos of our family and we proceeded up the escalator and onto the ship!

Since our cabins (two inside connecting cabins with virtual balconies on Deck 7 Forward) were not ready until 1:00 pm, we found our way to Chops Grill to make dinner reservations. The gentleman at Chops was also able to make our reservations at Jamie’s, so that saved us time. By this time the cabins were ready, so we dropped off our carryon’s. In our cabin, we found our coupons from our travel agent (one set of coupons for each cabin): Specialty Dining for 4, one spa treatment, a soda package for each of us, and Johnny Rockets for 4. After checking out the cabin we went to Café @ 270 for a light lunch. We enjoyed the food here and had breakfast and lunch a few times during the cruise. (Tip….the roast beef sandwiches are very good as other Cruise Critic members have mentioned in their reviews.)

Following the safety drill at 3:30 pm, we went up on deck to enjoy the view as we sailed away from Bayonne. It was announced that the Captain was planning to give us a special treat by sailing passed the Statue of Liberty. Since we figured that the top deck would be crowded, we stayed on Deck 5 had a great view of New York, the Queen Mary 2 and the Statue of Liberty.

DINING: We selected early Classic Dining, which was scheduled for 5:30 pm. Our rotation was as follows: The Grande, Silk, American Icon Grill & Chic. Our waiter was Dine and he was excellent! You could tell that he was extremely busy, but was always friendly and gave us great service. His assistant, Marie, was also very good. We had no problem with service. I know that taste in food is subjective; we found that some food in the MDR was good, some not so good. We enjoyed the food in The Grande……lobster, Filet Mignon. Silk was our least favorite. Overall, we found the food in the MDR to be salty. At home, we try to keep salt to a minimum, so perhaps that is why I thought everything was somewhat salty. (However, to back up this claim, I noticed a bit of fluid retention in my ankles/feet the last couple of days on the cruise and on the flight home.)

Jamie Oliver’s was excellent! Our waiter, Marco, was very attentive and selected the appetizers for us. He wanted to give us a “tour” of Italy and selected several different antipasti, calamari, some sort of mushroom appetizer and risotto balls. For our main entrée, we had the lamb chops, which were wonderful. Also ordered the Truffle Tagliatelle (best pasta I’ve ever had!). Desserts were also yummy and decadent.

We also enjoyed Chops Grill. Service was a bit slower at this restaurant, but the Filet Mignons were so good!

The Windjammer was always very crowded, so we only ate here a couple of times for breakfast and once for lunch. It was difficult to find a table, so every time we entered (after washing our hands, of course), we tried to find a table first and 3 of us would get our food while one of us held the table. We would have eaten here more often, if it wasn’t so crowded. During lunch, we noticed some passengers just sitting at the table playing cards and not eating. IMO, there are plenty of other places on the ship to play cards and they should allow those who are eating at the Windjammer to use the table.

Johnny Rockets & The Dog House – Food was very good too.

CABIN: We enjoyed our cabins. This was the first time we had connecting cabins and it worked out well for us. However, we had 2 different cabin stewards. This didn’t really pose a problem for us, but if we needed something, we would have to ask the correct cabin steward. Kesna & Melville took excellent care of us. Both were friendly, hard-working and always kept our cabins clean. They also made us wonderful towel animals!

ENTERTAINMENT: The Gift & We will Rock You were not quite what I expected, so I didn’t enjoy these shows very much. The performers are very talented, but the storylines were difficult to follow, IMO. I did not attend Spectra’s Cabaret, but my DH and one of my DD’s did. They enjoyed this show the most.

Singing Group Savannah Jack was very good! They were very interactive with the audience and performed songs for all ages. Al Ducharme, Comedian, was very funny. Dan Bennett is a comedian & juggler. Although he is a great juggler, I did not enjoy his humor much.

VOOM WiFi: We pre-purchased (online) a one device internet package for the 4 of us. It was basically used to check our e-mail and Facebook. The wifi worked very well and was fairly fast. However, my Royal App did not work for half the cruise. It started out working well when we boarded, but did not work at all after day 5.

BIONIC BAR: This is such a fun place! We would sometimes just sit here and watch as the robots made drinks for the passengers. My DD wanted to purchase a drink just to watch the robot do its thing. BTW, the drink was very good!

CRUISE DIRECTOR: Abe Hughes is awesome! He is the best cruise director that we’ve ever had. Absolutely loved his Late Night, Early Morning Show. Watched it every morning. He was also visible around the ship and very friendly.

ACTIVITIES: Some of the other activities we enjoyed were Ripcord by IFly, the rock climbing wall, North Star, & bumper cars. We had reservations for the North Star, but also did standby several times. Tip…..when we were in port, we were able to go up in the North Star without a wait. Doing the North Star on a port day was better, IMO, because there is actually something to see. When you are at sea, nothing around but the ocean. The view is breathtaking 300+ feet above sea level.

Seaplex: The line for bumper cars usually went fairly quickly. Each bumper car session is about 5 minutes, with about 15-20 cars available. The ship also had trapeze classes for those who wanted to experience what it’s like to be on a circus trapeze. While we were observing one session, the majority of the passengers were unable to complete the full trapeze task, but basically swung back & forth. It seemed almost impossible to do with only a 5 minute training session.

PORTS OF CALL:

Boston – We took the Trolley Tour thru Boston. Overall, this was a good tour, hitting a lot of the historical sites. It also drove passed MIT, but we were disappointed that we didn’t get to see Harvard. The trolley dropped us off near Quincy Market. We walked around the market and made a small detour to Paul Revere’s house. Then we stopped by Mike’s Pastry for some of their famous cannolis. Later we caught the trolley back at Quincy Market to return to the ship.

At all the other ports of call (Portland, Bar Harbor, St. John & Halifax) we were able to walk around on our own for a tour of the cities. Right off the ship, we picked up some self-guided tour maps. All of these cities are very walkable. Bar Harbor is absolutely beautiful!

The weather was fairly nice for most of the ports. Portland was the only city where there was a lot of rain with thunderstorms for a couple of hours.

DISEMBARKATION: We chose self-carry disembarkation at 9:00 am. Everything went fairly smooth until we had to go thru Customs. The line was extremely long. Only 3 or 4 Customs Agents. Luckily, we had a late flight out of Newark.

Overall, we enjoyed the Anthem and had a wonderful time. It’s a beautiful ship! The only problem was that we were unable to walk from the aft to the forward cabins on Deck 7. We had to go to Deck 5, walk all the way to the Forward staircase and go up 2 flights to Deck 7. This was not a huge problem, but a bit inconvenient. However, I got more exercise because of this configuration. We would definitely sail with Royal Caribbean, particularly the Anthem, again.

Thank you to all of you who answered several of my questions before our cruise. This is such a wonderful forum with experienced cruisers. It's great to be able to chat with other cruisers and gain helpful information.

I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

[widallas]

Great review -- maybe one day we will make it on the Anthem. Thanks for sharing!!! :)

[dmlee1990]

Thanks, widallas! You will love the Anthem. Enjoy your upcoming cruise on the Liberty.

Edited September 29, 2016 by dmlee1990

[floatel_lvr]

Thanks for your review. Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip.

[kc320]

Thanks for the review...I'll be on this same cruise next Sept. Hope they are still doing a Sail By of the Statue of Liberty.

[crisndeefromde]

thank you for your review. We will get our chance to enjoy the Anthem in January. Can't wait to also to the New England trip as well.

[Ruthie1017]

I will be on the 10/6 sailing. What did you do in Bar Harbourb. We are trying to decide between using the Island Explorer or renting a car for more flexibility. Also, did you happen to save your Cruise Compass'? Thank you for the review!

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[reallyitsmema]

Thanks for sharing your review. We like Marko in Jamie's too. He was very attentive. We had him the second time we went there, we had Rim the first time and she was just as good.

[ecormier]

We were on this cruise as well! The weather was perfect and the seas calm. Loved the Anthem and will definitely sail on her again. So happy to hear you enjoyed yourself too!

 

Cheers, Betty

[lucymorgan]

Thank you! Like kc320 I will be on the cruise next september. Your review was very informative :)

[dmlee1990]

I will be on the 10/6 sailing. What did you do in Bar Harbourb. We are trying to decide between using the Island Explorer or renting a car for more flexibility. Also, did you happen to save your Cruise Compass'? Thank you for the review!

 

Hi Ruthie. Bar Harbor is a walkable town. We did not take any excursions, but explored the town on our own. There are a few Christmas shops in Bar Harbor with unique ornaments. There is also a good ice cream shop.....Jordan Ponds, with wonderful wild blueberry ice cream.

 

Unfortunately, we did not save our Cruise Compasses. But as I recall, many daily activities. Definitely something for everyone. Hopefully, Abe Hughes will be your Cruise Director. He is definitely the BEST. I know that Abe is scheduled to be on the Harmony soon, but not sure exactly what date.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[cyndepet]

Thanks for sharing your review - we are doing the same cruise in 4 days!

[Ruthie1017]

Thanks for the response. Our sailing is scheduled to be Abe's last onboard, so we will get to enjoy that experience. Again, thanks for posting. I always enjoy the Cruise Critic community.

[LilD]

Thank you for your review!! I am excited to try out the Bionic Bar in a few weeks :)

 

I just had a question about the shuttle you took from Country Inn & Suites. Did you arrange the shuttle privately, or were you able to request this through the hotel? Did the shuttle bring you to the airport after the cruise as well? If so, did you have to arrange a time that they would pick your family up when you disembarked?

 

Thanks!!

Danielle

[dmlee1990]

Thank you for your review!! I am excited to try out the Bionic Bar in a few weeks :)

 

I just had a question about the shuttle you took from Country Inn & Suites. Did you arrange the shuttle privately, or were you able to request this through the hotel? Did the shuttle bring you to the airport after the cruise as well? If so, did you have to arrange a time that they would pick your family up when you disembarked?

 

Thanks!!

Danielle

 

We arranged for the shuttle through the hotel when we checked in. I believe you can also arrange for the shuttle to the airport when you check in, but we forgot to inquire about the cost for the return ride. (You can call Country Inn & Suites before you arrive to inquire about costs and arrangements for the return shuttle.) Instead, we took a taxi from the cruise terminal to Newark airport. Cost was $68, included tolls. Depending on how many people you have in your party, the taxi might be less expensive. The shuttle charges per person.

 

When we disembarked, there were several taxis and Uber cars waiting to pick up passengers.

 

The Bionic Bar is amazing! So fun to watch. Enjoy your cruise in a few weeks!