Review - NYC, Anthem to Bar Harbor and Halifax: June 26 - July 1

[Steveanaruss]

Living in Florida definitely has its perks, one of them being that you have a cruise port no more than 3 hours away, regardless of where you live in FL ;) However, as with anything that is readily available, you tend to get bored with going on the same ships/itineraries every time. So this summer, we decided to switch things up and take a cruise out of Cape Liberty on Athem. My wife and I are 37, and my son is 12.

 

We flew in on JetBlue to EWR a few days before the cruise. After doing some price research, we ended up booking 1-way flights, and getting a car service from EWR to NYC. The drive from EWR to NYC was not that bad, about 40 minutes and cost us $70 total with tolls. We did the touristy thing in NYC, visiting the Freedom Tower, Central Park, Yankee Stadium and getting lost on the subway! Just a tip for first timers to NYC, Express trains are called that for a reason...they dont stop at every stop. We accidentally boarded the express train from Times Square and ended up in Queens. We thought it was going to stop at Central Park :o. But we made the best of it, and enjoyed the people watching.

 

After we were done gallivanting around NYC, we took the same car service from the hotel to Cape Liberty for about the same price, a couple bucks more because it was a Monday morning and traffic was a little heavy getting out of the city. They picked us up around 9:15am and once we crossed through the tunnel, it was smooth sailing (pun intended) ;). We arrived to Cape Liberty around 10:15am and there was already a small line to check in. That process was very quick, luggage to a porter, Port employee checked us in on his tablet and we were seated in the waiting area. We had already done our photos ahead of time, and this seemed to save us from having to go into a separate line. Right at 11:00am they announced that boarding would begin. We were the 6th group to be called to board, but it moves very quick. We were on the ship by 11:30.

 

Being an avid cruise review reviewer (i think that makes sense), I knew to go directly to Cafe 270 for a "beef sammie", as i called them all week. They were delicious, and the bread kind of reminded me of cuban bread from FL. Hard/Crusty with a soft center. There is also a good, quiet, bar back in 270 that we had to ourselves until about 1pm, when our rooms were available.

 

Our Cabin was #11172, which is a D2 cabin. The balcony is slightly larger because it is the first cabin on the mid hump. Everything you read about storage on the Anthem is accurate. These rooms have so much storage, my wife was scared we were going to forget something in one of the many cabinets! If it looks like it doesnt move, give it a pull, its probably a cabinet ;p

 

On the first day, we did learn that the NorthStar is not for reservation, at least it wasnt on our ship. It is the only day that they had a line to use it. We just so happened to be at the NorthStar bar when they opened the line around 1:30. We were the first group up and the views are fantastic.Also on the first day, make sure that you go to the Theater if you want to book anything that you werent able to ahead of time. We werent able to get reservations for the Escape Room ahead of time, and they were booked when we went to the Theater also. We kept checking the Royal IQ app, and finally a spot opened up for the last Sea day. I think they only do them a couple times per cruise, but well worth it.

 

Dining: We are not typically MDR people. Not sure why, but I they remind me of weddings. Odd, I know, but just never really cared for them. Of the 5 nights we had on board, we ate once at the WindJammer, twice in Chops, once in Jamie's and once in the MDR. Chops is always fantastic. We had the BOGO dinner coupon and were assigned to Jamie's and Wonderland. We quickly switched night 2 to Chops (can be done at any specialty restaurant). My wife is not a very adventurous eater, and wonderland scared her a little bit, although I was trying to tempt her with the peanut butter dessert they have there.

 

Bar Harbor: Bar Harbor was great, a little chilly for us Floridians still. I think it was 65 the morning we got off the ship. This is where my only complaint of the entire cruise comes in. The tender ticket process that Anthem has is atrocious! They start handing out tender tickets at 7am in front of Cafe 270. The problem with this is the hallway to get there is very narrow and when the line backs up, it gets very congested. I got in line right at 7am, and there must have been a few hundred people in front of me. Several people were in line that had early excursions (before 10am), who did not need to be in line. Anthem either did not communicate with them very well, or they didn't listen. If you have a RCL booked excursion that is deemed "early", your excursion ticket is actually your tender pass. That night we heard several people complaining about missing their tour because they could not get off the ship in time. We did not have an excursion booked, but were still ashore by 9:30am. We rented bikes from Arcadia Bikes, took a quick shuttle to Eagle Lake, and rode about 12 miles around the lake and back into town. I definitely recommend this. The bikes only cost us $20 to rent, and it was the same tour that RCL was offering for $80 each.

 

Halifax: We did not do an excursion in Halifax. We knew that it was the same weekend as Canada Day and were happy with just getting off the ship to do some sightseeing. The port is going through a lot of construction right now, so plan on doing a lot of walking. It was a beautiful day, but I think we would do a tour if we ever go back. We ended up getting back on the ship early and had free run of all the activities.

 

SeaPlex: In the words of my son..."I can't believe they have this on a cruise ship!" That area is impressive. We saw everything in that area from Basketball, Dodgeball, Soccer, Roller Skating, Trapeze and bumper cars! The upstairs area has a dedicated XBOX room, 2 rooms for ping pong and air hockey. Downstairs also has the Hot Dog Diner for a quick snack. Just outside the Seaplex is the Rock Climbing wall, iFly and Flow Rider.

 

Debarkation: Very simple, however again if you are doing "self assist" departure, they have you line up in the narrow hallway by 270. They were a little delayed in clearing the ship by customs that morning, but we were off the ship and heading to EWR by 8:30am.

 

All in all, I was very impressed with Anthem. We did miss the typical Grand Atrium of many of the cruise ships we have been on, but with that said, the Royal Esplanade is beautiful. Several times we felt like we were at a Las Vegas resort, not a cruise ship.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer. Thanks!

[JAMESCC]

Doing this very cruise in late September and can't wait. Great review. Anthem looks and sounds amazing! I am so pumped to sail on her. Canada and New England are just gorgeous. We did the same cruise 8 years ago but on Explorer. It was the most fun and interesting cruise we have ever done and so we are doing it again.

 

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app

[Steveanaruss]

Oops. forgot to mention some specifics on food and entertainment.

 

Dining: At Chops, I had the 9oz Filet the first time and seared Ahi Tuna the second. My wife got the Petite Filet both visits. At Jamie's, I highly recommend the salmon. It was probably the best meal I had all week. Cooked perfectly and wonderfully seasoned. My son originally got the bolognese, but asked for the salmon once he tasted mine. Wife went with the lasagna and said it was really good. In the MDR, we both got the Osso Bucco and it was very good. My wife is a very picky eater, and I was surprised that she liked it as much as she did. Desserts all week were very good. The blueberry cheesecake in Chops was my favorite. My wife said the Red Velvet in Chops was her favorite all week.

 

Entertainment: The Gift = AWFUL. Walked out after 15 minutes. Didn't follow the storyline and just odd. Spectra's Cabaret = Weird. I know that 270 is very technologically advanced, but it seems like the show creator was just hell bent on using every piece of technology in that show, even if it didn't seem to fit. We Will Rock You started slow, had some odd parts, but the lead singer and closing were fantastic. Best show all week was the headliner, Earl Turner. Look him up on youtube, he is just a born entertainer.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Steveanaruss
updated info

[easyboy]

Great review! Thanks.

 

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

[pasodancer]

Great review!!!! I do have a question - did they have any good deserts in 270 (sorry, I just love a decant desert after my beef sammie)?

[Steveanaruss]

Great review!!!! I do have a question - did they have any good deserts in 270 (sorry, I just love a decant desert after my beef sammie)?

 

 

 

They have an assortment of different pastries at the coffee shop in 270. I usually went for the cinnamon sugar donut if there were any left [emoji16]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[baileymouse]

Great review, fellow traveler! You already know we totally agree on The Gift.

 

The bike tour sounds wonderful. If I were up to it I would have loved to have done that. Maybe next time. Glad you made it up from Florida for this, it was fun.

 

Those sandwiches were good, I forgot to mention that. It's too bad Cafe 270 closes early, the desserts there are better than the ones in Cafe Promenade.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review, thinking about booking this cruise, a little hesitate because it is only 5 days.