Anthem of the Seas 5/6 Bermuda Sailing - Quick Review

[jlstwinmommy]

We got back last week from a great cruise on Anthem to Bermuda. Here is a quick review.

 

Traveling party: this was a girls trip with me, my mom, and my sister. Our last cruse was a family cruise last June on Adventurer where we had a FANTASTIC cruise and the BEST service ever. There was a little comparing of the 2 cruises. Note that my mom has many allergies and that led to her experience not being as great as Adventurer, but nothing that would keep us from cruising on Anthem again.

 

We live in MD and VA so we were able to drive to the port on the morning of the cruise. We arrived around 10:30, knowing they were performing a coast guard drill and we wouldn't get on until closer to noon. We were able to park and check in pretty quickly and were sitting in a section for Platinum/Emerald cruisers by 11:15. (really, they just put us in a row toward the front so we would get on after the suites but before some of the first time cruisers). We were able to board around 12:30.

 

We went directly to the Windjammer which was very crowded (as expected). They made regular announcements requesting those finished eating vacate their tables in order to make room for new diners. One note regarding the Windjammer - I know food is subjective but we found the food at the Windjammer on Anthem to be the best we have experienced in all of our cruises (including buffet food on Princess which we don't really care for at all). They had an incredible variety and we were always able to find something we really enjoyed. If we find ourselves on Anthem again, I think we may eat more meals in the Windjammer and less in the MDR. We found the food in the MDR to be ok, but thought the Windjammer was actually better - especially the desserts. Again, just our opinion for what it is worth. :)

 

After lunch, we wondered the ship a little and ended up near the bumper cars which were open with no line. Honestly, throughout the entire 5 days I never saw the long lines I was expecting at the bumper cars, but it may be due to the demographic on this cruise. While we saw many children, they were mostly very young children and not many school aged children which makes sense since school is still in session for most districts. Anyway - my sister and I rode the bumper cars which were fun (if you hit the back of a car just right, you can get a decent spin off those things). My mom did not ride as she has had back surgery in the past and didn't want to risk getting bumped and reinjuring her back.

 

Cabins opened at 1:30 and we went to drop our luggage as we had carried on everything except my mom's larger bag. We had a D2 balcony room (12172). I think the rooms are narrower than on other ships as we found ourselves occasionally climbing over furniture to get past others getting ready in the morning, but otherwise, plenty of storage and the rooms are laid out well for the furniture in the room. The beds were hard and I had trouble sleeping the first night until I adjusted. My sister slept on the pull out couch which she said was actually a little softer and more comfortable. :confused:

 

After the muster drill, we headed straight for the Solarium for sail-away. It was a bit chilly outside so we wanted to watch us sail under the bridge from an indoor location. It turned out to be a popular idea so I was glad we got there early and snagged 3 chairs right up front in the center. One thing I didn't like about this ship compared to Voyager class ships (which is the only other class we've sailed) - I like having an area where you can walk all the way around the outside of the ship and see the front and the back. While there is a track on Deck 15, you can only see out the back as the Solarium (and a big wall) are in the very front so the track doesn't go all the way to the front. You also can't walk around deck 5 like you can on Voyager and walk all the way to the front as that is a crew only area on Anthem. Not a big deal, just one of the differences I noticed that I didn't care for as well. Since we were only adults this cruise, we just spent more time in the Solarium if we wanted to hang out watching the front of the ship. We did go out to the wings off the Solarium, though it was a bit chilly and windy the couple of days we did that. I do have to say the Solarium on this ship is amazing. Great views, fabulous layout and lots of room to just hang out. I like that it is in front as well as kids don't walk through it like they would on a Voyager class ship.

 

More later - work is calling.....

 

:)

 

jlstwinmommy

[easyboy]

Following.

 

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[junior8]

Following. Going on Anthem in November

[Deb from NJ]

Looking forward to hearing more. Going to Bermuda on Anthem in August. :)

[gaylemh]

The track on deck 15 goes all the way around. I've walked it many times on my 9 Anthem cruises.

[jlstwinmommy]

The track on deck 15 goes all the way around. I've walked it many times on my 9 Anthem cruises.

 

 

It does, but there is a wall in the front so you can't see out the front like you can on a Voyager class ship on deck 5. That was our thing. We like to go to the very front and look out, but the Solarium is in the way on Anthem.

[jlstwinmommy]

So our first dinner was in the MDR. Now - on Adventurer (an experience we may never have again) - the head waiter came to greet my mother, go over her allergy list, and find her a meal she could eat that day. Every evening he came over and planned her next day's meal. If she wanted to eat in the Windjammer, he would tell her "just tell me what you like or what you eat at home and we will make it". When we did go to the Windjammer, all she had to do was give the server for that section her name and someone would bring her the meal that they had prepared. Now I will be the first to say that head waiter went way above and beyond (and was tipped well for that amazing service).

 

We did not have that experience on Anthem - though the servers were very nice and the head waiter did come by. On Anthem - the head waiter came by the first night and helped her find a meal she could eat. The servers (PuTu and Yayah) were super nice and took her order for the MDR for the next night. She was told if she wanted to eat in the Windjammer, she would have to find someone up there to help her. When we did go to the Windjammer, they did send us a chef to talk to and he did say he would make her something if needed, but mostly just told her what items out that she could eat. he did confirm the French fries where fried individually and not with other items (like shellfish which she is allergic to) so that was good as we really liked the fries up there. As it turned out, she just found stuff on her own to eat in the Windjammer. In the MDR, we are pretty sure the kitchen either lost her list or didn't reference it as she had to point out things from the menu that needed to be altered. As an example - one night she ordered a salad. The menu said it had tomatoes which she asked to be left off as she is allergic. No problem - but they brought her a salad with cucumbers (which is another of her allergies). That wasn't listed on the menu or she would have requested it be left off. On Adventurer, they would have noticed and left it off without asking. On Anthem - she just sent the salad back to be remade. Again - not a huge deal and certainly not a reason to never sail Anthem again, just an example of how the service wasn't as good as it was on Adventurer - who may have set the bar too high. :D We did not try any of the specialty restaurants as we enjoyed the food in the free venues so I can't answer questions regarding that.

 

Enough about food. On to other items - like reservations and the Royal IQ app....

 

So we had made reservations for the North Star and iFly before we left (about 100 days out). I never did see the puzzle room before we left so we did not get that. Before we left, the only reservations open were on sea days so that is what we booked. After dinner the first night, we decided to use the app to see what else was available. We found plenty of reservations for both North Star and iFly and moved our North Star reservation to the first night in Bermuda and our iFly reservation to our 2nd day in Bermuda (right before we sailed). I prefer that as we enjoyed being able to see the island from that vantage point and we actually ended up being in North Star during sunset which was beautiful. We were also able to see the NCL Dawn which was parked next to us. That was kind of fun. We didn't realize how huge Anthem was until we saw it parked next to the Dawn. Wow - what a difference in size. iFly was a lot of fun (well - mom didn't do it, but my sister and I did). The people they have working there were great and did a fantastic job with making sure everyone got the most of their time in the wind tunnel. We had a photographer for our session, though I know not every session did. Our instructor was super funny and was making faces and funny hand signals for some of the pictures. They took a ton of pictures (we didn't buy them as my mom videoed the entire experience on her phone). They did come out well though. We were not able to get a reservation for the puzzle room. I don't think we looked for it early enough. Oh well, next time.......

 

My mom did have the internet package so I'll make a note on that. We found the internet service in general (whether the app or her actual package) to be a little sketchy in parts of the Windjammer. Around the rest of the ship, we never had much of an issue. Now - she only used the internet to keep in touch with our families via text (mostly) and we did use it to listen to the hockey game that they didn't show anywhere on the ship (come on folks - it's the Stanley Cup playoffs - that should be somewhere). Somehow, and we don't know how, even though my sister and I had our phones in Airplane mode and only attached to the ships WiFi for the app, we got iMessages from our family (could not send, only receive) and my sister got her regular notices from her apps regarding the Caps game (stupid Caps - maybe they will win a game 7 someday). It was fun for her to get the notice of a score about 30 seconds before we heard it on my mom's phone. :')

[jlstwinmommy]

So for us this cruise was mostly about being on Anthem, but I will mention our experience in Bermuda.

 

My sister and mom had been to Bermuda before many years ago on the QE2. Back then - they tendered into Hamilton as the Royal Dockyard had not yet been converted to a cruise ship dock. I had never been to Bermuda and wanted to see a few sites so the first day we took the ferry to St. George. We missed the first ferry and ended up on the 11am ferry. Since it was Monday, there were more ferries to St. George than Tuesday which is why we elected to go that day. In St. George, we wandered around town, went by the church in town and the unfinished church, and walked all the way over to Tobacco Bay. I wanted to walk to the fort and tour it, but my mother and sister did not want to walk any further so we ended up walking back (I need to take my husband and family for those adventures - they are the hikers). My mom and sister are not beach people, so we didn't do the beach thing. I did hear from others that they did not see the Portuguese Man of Wars that I had read were out in the weeks leading up to this cruise - in any of the beaches so that was good.

 

On day 2, we took the ferry to Hamilton and went shopping. We bought some America's cup souvenirs for our families back home. We did see a couple of the racing boats there (I think Japan and maybe the United Emerites). One of them was practicing as we were on the ferry back from Hamilton so that was fun to see. Just a note - for us the long line to get transportation tickets and/or passes was in the visitor center by the ferry (which is where we got ours on day 1). In retrospect, we should have got them in the cruise terminal as there was not much of a line there. We ended up just getting tokens as we went only there and back and not around the island. We did buy our tokens for going to Hamilton in the cruise terminal on day 2 with no line.

 

A note on weather - it was cool the day we left NJ and the day we returned. We had a little storm we sailed through during the first night which caused a bit of movement on the ship, but nothing terrible (though we are not bothered by motion sickness as a rule). The way back was super smooth, though a bit chilly again. May is always a month of change for the mid-Atlantic so nothing completely unexpected though it would have been nice to have this week's weather. ;p The weather in Bermuda was perfect for walking around town (mid 70s), but would have been cool for me to do water activities. Our next cruise is on Liberty in November so I hope to get in the water activities then.

 

Overall - we thought Anthem was a beautiful ship with a ton of activities that my sister's and my children would have loved (well - we had fun as well ;)). We all agreed that if the itinerary and price was right, we would sail Anthem again. I would love to take her to Canada/NE as I think with all the indoor activities she would be perfect for that sailing. If anyone has questions - feel free to ask and I will try to answer. :D

 

jlstwinmommy

[TVLady3]

I see you were in cabin #12172, I'll be in the same cabin next month. Can you tell me where you facing the port or sea side in Bermuda? And was the bed near the balcony? Quite area? Thanks for your great review.:cool:

Also, is that a bigger balcony? On an angle?

[jlstwinmommy]

I see you were in cabin #12172, I'll be in the same cabin next month. Can you tell me where you facing the port or sea side in Bermuda? And was the bed near the balcony? Quite area? Thanks for your great review.:cool:

Also, is that a bigger balcony? On an angle?

 

We were facing the sea in both NJ and Bermuda (ok - in NJ we faced the Statue of Liberty rather than the port). The bed is near the door and the couch is near the balcony. The balcony seemed deeper to me than at least Voyager class balconies, but I'm not sure that it was any deeper than other Anthem balconies. It was on a slight angle so may have had a tiny bit more room. That said, we enjoyed the balcony as there was enough room for the 2 chairs and foot rests and it was covered so on the day it was raining a bit outside, we were still dry. :)

 

jlstwinmommy

[gaylemh]

It does, but there is a wall in the front so you can't see out the front like you can on a Voyager class ship on deck 5. That was our thing. We like to go to the very front and look out, but the Solarium is in the way on Anthem.

Yes the Solarium is one deck below on 14 so you can't see down to the water, but you can look out, except for the small section of wall in the very middle. The wall is there to protect you from the strong winds when the ship is moving.