Anthem Review - 10/29/16 sailing

[BillOh]

Sorrento’s – Bar pizza. Nothing more. Will fill you up at midnight.

 

 

Does Sorrento's offer a made to order personal pizza like they do on the Oasis class?

[GW248]

Tribute Bands - Two of the tribute bands that were supposed be on the sailing were not there. Apparently, Royal quietly cancelled them starting on the cruise prior to ours.

 

Did you happen to hear who the two cancelled tribute bands were?

[davy jones]

Does Sorrento's offer a made to order personal pizza like they do on the Oasis class?

I can not give a definite answer, but I suspect that they do. I just grabbed a slice.

[davy jones]

Did you happen to hear who the two cancelled tribute bands were?

 

I don't recall the names. One was a Journey tribute band and the other was an Aerosmith band.

[davy jones]

Weather - we could have not asked for better weather or sea conditions. It was almost perfect. I did not feel any motion until the morning of day 12. There were some minor swells for a few hours. The motion seemed a bit excessive for the sea conditions, but was not bad at all. I suspect that the stabilizers were not activated.

 

VOOM - We had the surf package. Our cabin location may have been in a weak signal area. We seemed to get stronger signals in other places throughout the ship. Despite this, it worked well enough for our needs, even in the cabin. We used it for email, to check websites, access websites, social media, and to keep in touch with family via Skype.

 

Cabin Steward - did a good job.

 

CD - Dru seemed to be a nice fellow with a relatively low key and genuine manner.

 

Captain - We did not attend any of the events that the Captain normally appears at. We did see him a few times around the ship and he seemed to be quite personable.

 

Royal IQ app - I didn't find it to be very useful. On embarking day, it would not leave me change a WWRY reservation to a different showing. It could also not be done at the kiosks. After sailaway, I was able to quickly change it at the "box office" in the Schooner bar.

 

The iced tea and OJ concentrates used on this ship are terrible. I ended up skipping OJ at breakfast and drinking more lemonade.

 

Coffee - I drink black coffee and found it to be fine.

 

The self serve frozen yogurt was good. It did seem like one of the machines was broken frequently and vanilla yogurt was scarce late in the cruise. Longer hours for the machine would be nice.

 

Crowds - This sailing did not feel overly crowded. 270 was overflowing once or twice, but otherwise, seats could be found in the venues. We seek out lounge chairs in quieter, "less desirable" areas, so chair hogs are not an issue to us.

 

There were a lot more scooters on board than usual. Some places needed more scooter parking.

 

The "passengers as entertainment shows" trend appears to be increasing. The usual Love and Marriage and Quest shows have been joined with Name That Tune, a Karaoke Stars contest and "Dancing with the Stripes".

 

There was a Halloween costume contest in 270. I don't know how some people manage to pack the elaborate costumes along with enough stuff for 12 days.

[TeeRick]

Did you eat breakfast/lunch in the Windjammer or in 270?

[davy jones]

Disembarkation - This was worse than embarkation. The details are in another thread. It's my opinion that Cape Liberty can not efficiently handle a ship the size of the Anthem.

 

Executive Summary

 

We had a very good cruise. It was not perfect, there are hiccups on every cruise. We will sail Anthem again.

 

Embarkation and Debarkation are a mess. I recommend arriving very early and opting for the early self departure groups to avoid long delays.

 

I know that the reviews of Anthem have been mixed, but it worked very well for us. I don't know how it will work next month when it returns to traditional dining with MTD.

 

DD choice worked for us, but we made most dining reservations months in advance. I think that was very important. I saw how those boarding without dinner reservations can be very frustrated. We found the food in the complementary restaurants to be good to very good and the service to be fast and friendly, but it has lost some of the polish from past cruises.

 

Food in the casual venues was generally good, with a few misses.

 

The ship did not feel crowded at all. I did see the potential for long lines in some areas on cruises with a large number of families.

 

Overall score - 4 to 4.5 stars for the cruise itself. Embark/Debark drops the score to 3.5 to 4 stars. (out of 5)

 

We enjoyed the entertainment onboard. Some of the shows may not be for everyone, but the performers were talented.

 

Service elsewhere throughout the ship was good. We did not encounter any unfriendly service and a few crew members went over and above expectations.

 

The weather was close to perfect for all 12 days. It's very easy to enjoy the cruise when the weather and seas are favorable.

 

We enjoyed all of the ports except Falmouth. Next time, we will book a ship excursion or stay onboard.

 

Thanks! - Thanks to all who posted, reviewed, and shared information about the Anthem prior to our cruise. The information gave us good tips on things to do, things to avoid and how to go about them. I wrote this with the hope that the information may help future Anthem sailing. I know it is a bit dry. Thanks to those who followed along.

 

I hope I didn't miss anything. I was writing from memory. Please feel free to ask questions.

[davy jones]

Did you eat breakfast/lunch in the Windjammer or in 270?

 

I would say that we had 3 breakfasts and lunches in 270, one breakfast in the Solarium Bistro, and the remainder in WJ. We did not have breakfast or lunch in the MDR (Grande on this sailing). Twice we went to Grande for lunch, but ended up going elsewhere. One day, the line was too long for our liking. On the other day, the menu did not seem to strike our fancy.

 

270 is good for a quick breakfast. It has continental breakfast offerings, a bagel bar (looked like supermarket frozen bagels) and some premade breakfast sandwiches that are heated on a Panini press.

 

WJ breakfast is the usual WJ breakfast. I gravitate toward made to order omelets and eggs with fruit and a little meat. I did splurge on a waffle with strawberries and whipped cream as a treat. DW eats oatmeal or museli with some protein. We typically went around 8AM and the WJ was more crowded than we typically experience at that time on cruises. That said, we were able to easily find tables in the back of the WJ. The outside seating usually did not fill up.

 

The Solarium Bistro breakfast is a mini buffet. All of the hot food is premade, including the omelets. It opens a little later, but is very quiet.

 

Most of the lunch sandwiches in 270 are premade and short on fillings. The exception is the roast beef, which was pretty good. The salads can be made to order.

 

WJ lunch is the typical stuff. Hot dishes, a pasta bar, an Asian bar, breads, salad bars, fruits, hot dogs and hamburgers, a 'taco bar' and desserts. You will find something there to eat.

 

I would like to see Royal to have an outdoor grill with quick food, at least during sea days.

[RCJM]

What about the New York Deli ?

[TeeRick]

I would say that we had 3 breakfasts and lunches in 270, one breakfast in the Solarium Bistro, and the remainder in WJ. We did not have breakfast or lunch in the MDR (Grande on this sailing). Twice we went to Grande for lunch, but ended up going elsewhere. One day, the line was too long for our liking. On the other day, the menu did not seem to strike our fancy.

 

270 is good for a quick breakfast. It has continental breakfast offerings, a bagel bar (looked like supermarket frozen bagels) and some premade breakfast sandwiches that are heated on a Panini press.

 

WJ breakfast is the usual WJ breakfast. I gravitate toward made to order omelets and eggs with fruit and a little meat. I did splurge on a waffle with strawberries and whipped cream as a treat. DW eats oatmeal or museli with some protein. We typically went around 8AM and the WJ was more crowded than we typically experience at that time on cruises. That said, we were able to easily find tables in the back of the WJ. The outside seating usually did not fill up.

 

The Solarium Bistro breakfast is a mini buffet. All of the hot food is premade, including the omelets. It opens a little later, but is very quiet.

 

Most of the lunch sandwiches in 270 are premade and short on fillings. The exception is the roast beef, which was pretty good. The salads can be made to order.

 

WJ lunch is the typical stuff. Hot dishes, a pasta bar, an Asian bar, breads, salad bars, fruits, hot dogs and hamburgers, a 'taco bar' and desserts. You will find something there to eat.

 

I would like to see Royal to have an outdoor grill with quick food, at least during sea days.

 

Thank you again. All very helpful. We leave on Nov 27.

Edited November 18, 2016 by TeeRick
mistake

[davy jones]

What about the New York Deli ?

 

I did not see a New York Deli onboard.

[kkfw1994]

I too was taken aback by the hull color. I have not sailed on Anthem yet, but we were docked with her in Bermuda this spring. Every picture I had seen of her DID look white. So, it was with quite a bit of interest that I approached the ship - and sure enough - it IS blue tinged. It was a surprise to me...

 

No - your eyes are not going crazy - thanks for mentioning this. I've never seen it mentioned anywhere else.

 

Oasis Class have a lighter blue, I never noticed it until another forum mentioned it, now I can't believe I ever thought it was white.

[CruisingChick]

I did not see a New York Deli onboard.

 

Supposedly in the Windjammer:

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/818/a-bite-of-the-big-apple-royal-caribbean-brings-a-new-york-deli-to-anthem-of-the-seas/

 

Guests onboard Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas can get a real taste of New York when they dine in the Windjammer's New York Deli. Experience specially prepared deli favorites like pastrami sandwiches, rye bread and kosher pickles that the Big Apple is so well known for.

[Kylie]

Thanks for the review. I appreciate people that take time to write about their cruise!

[CaroleV]

Come to think of it, there were some pastrami fixings last year on the Anthem. Just a small area with the stuff laid out & something that indicated ruebens. Nothing to get excited about, at least to me.

[davy jones]

I do recall seeing a man making "ruebens" one day. He was making them with roast beef, which may make NY deli lovers cringe. If that is what they are referring to, I agree that it is nothing to get excited about. Carnival's deli is far better.

[Guest maddycat]

I did not see a New York Deli onboard.

 

Supposedly in the Windjammer:

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/818/a-bite-of-the-big-apple-royal-caribbean-brings-a-new-york-deli-to-anthem-of-the-seas/

 

We were on the Oct. 20 sailing. We asked several of the supervisors in the WJ about the deli. They didn't know what we were talking about. In fact, they didn't even know what a deli is. We had to explain it to them.

[DaniDanielle]

My husband spent nine days looking for the "Deli"[emoji10]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[RCJM]

Their site say's it's in the WJ ????