Anthem Grand Suites 1BR 12646 and 12642 pictures and some thoughts

[cindivan]

We were on the Anthem June 6th 9 day cruise in grand suites 12642 (22 and 18you sons) and 12646 (DH and me). It was a double graduation trip so a splurge on rooms for us. I tried to find info/opinions on whether star class suites were worth it on the Anthem. I found good info, but thought I might be able to provide additional thoughts.   Also some pics (sorry we already moved in before I thought you take them).   This won’t be a lengthy review. Many great reviews exist for the Anthem. I will try to highlight our suite experience. 

 

Embarkation. 

Everything in our family is a competition, so our kids decided the suite security line was too long and went to the standard line. They beat us. Mainly because the couple in front of us had their bags searched when they didn’t declare soda and wine bottles. But other than that very fast and efficient. 

 

We we chose this cruise for the class of ship. We love the Oasis and Freedom class but had yet to try the Quantum class.  Flying from NC to NJ wasn’t ideal instead of flying to FL, but we love theater so justified by spending a few days in NY to see some plays. 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by cindivan

[cindivan]

Pics of 12646. Our kids room (12642) was very similar.   The closet in the bedroom has one minor issue. The rod was just a few inches from the wall, so it made more sense for my smaller clothes to be hung there vs DHs more wide clothes. 

 

The two two desks was AWESOME.   We both had our personal room to get ready and work. The cabin was very spacious. We had been in a GS on the Navigator years ago and this seemed larger. We also loved the curtain we could pull to separate the bedroom from the living room area. This was great if one of us was up and the other wanted to sleep. 

 

The curtains to our balcony provided a good amount of darkness. DH was fine but I still used my eye mask for further darkness. 

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by cindivan

[cindivan]

This might help save some frustration. The temp control in the shower isn’t completely intuitive. There is a small button the knob (circled in black in first pic). In order to change temp you have to hold down the button as you turn it. Otherwise it just spins without any temperature change. 

[cindivan]

Our suites were very similar inside but 12646 balcony was significantly larger due to being on the bumpout.   Sometimes I look at the ship deck plans and aren’t sure what is artist rendering vs reality. 12626 is about twice as deep. These pics are of our balcony (second one is from kids balcony with sliders open between our balconies). 

[cindivan]

This is 12642 balcony. Still great, but not as deep as 12646. 

[cindivan]

More tomorrow. Please feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer 

[motheroftwocats814]

Thank you so much. Love the balcony size!

[cindivan]

Provided toiletries. I really liked them and I am somewhat picky. 

[cindivan]

Some paperwork in our cabins detailing our amenities. 

[cindivan]

By far the biggest disappointment about paying for a suite was the suite deck. It’s my fault for not doing research, but I just assumed it would be similar to suite decks on the Oasis class which are AMAZING!  This one was very small comparatively, no bathroom, no bar, super hot or super windy depending on if we were moving or not. 

 

Entrance is deck 15 aft and shown below. Took us a while to find it right beside elevators. No entrance from the main pool deck

 

last picture is the view from suite deck which was great, but all the other issues made it hard to enjoy. We spent very little time there and hardly saw anyone else there. 

[zooma]

Thanks so much for your review especially re Anthem's suite sun deck. Did you have a chance to use the suite/concierge lounge on Anthem? If so, how crowded was it? Any thoughts on comparing size of lounge with Oasis class ships' lounges?

[cindivan]

32 minutes ago, zooma said:

Thanks so much for your review especially re Anthem's suite sun deck. Did you have a chance to use the suite/concierge lounge on Anthem? If so, how crowded was it? Any thoughts on comparing size of lounge with Oasis class ships' lounges?

The suite/concierge  lounge was actually another disappointment.   It was on deck 12 aft and separate from the coastal kitchen. Kind of out of the way I guess for most, but convenient for us.   We went there maybe 4 nights for drinks and snack before dinner and it was not crowded at all. Always had many tables to choose from. The only night it was slightly crowded was the last night.   As far as size I would say it’s maybe slightly smaller than Oasis class lounge, but it’s been a couple years since I have been on the combined lounge/CK so kind of hard to remember exactly. 

 

  However, even though we had the drink package we could only get “diamond drinks” in there. Which is considerably more limited than the premium drink package. The snacks at night were not so great.   I would usually get a glass of the wine I like from another bar and go to lounge with DH.  We much prefer the combined lounge/CK but met someone else who said different so I guess it’s personal preference. 

 

Ricardo the suite concierge was awesome!    As were all the servers there. For us it was just an odd thing being separate from CK and not being able to get premium drink package drinks. 

 

They do have the coffee machine with cappuccino and latte etc so that is nice.  Breakfast was continental with various breads and toaster. A small offering but rarely saw many there. But I mostly went in just to grab coffee. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by cindivan

[zooma]

Not sure this next question even makes sense, but what would you consider being the biggest perk of being in a GS on Anthem? (I assume not the suite sundeck, not the lounge....)

[rgaley]

We have a grand suite on Anthem next week. Question about Barefoot Beach - are there umbrellas and lounge chairs for use? Just looking for some shade without having to book a cabana. Thanks!

[MadamG2U]

Thank you for the review.  We will be on the Anthem in September in an Owner's Suite.

 

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, rgaley said:

We have a grand suite on Anthem next week. Question about Barefoot Beach - are there umbrellas and lounge chairs for use? Just looking for some shade without having to book a cabana. Thanks!

 

Yes, there are attendants at Barefoot that will set up an umbrella for you.

[cindivan]

18 hours ago, zooma said:

Not sure this next question even makes sense, but what would you consider being the biggest perk of being in a GS on Anthem? (I assume not the suite sundeck, not the lounge....)

 

The service was PHENOMENAL on this ship. (Not exactly sure if it was because we were in a grand suite, or maybe it was because Michael Bayley was rumored to be on board. We did see a family at Jamie’s one night at a table that was highly attended to and several waiters were getting selfies with one particular gentleman who looked enough like Michael Bayley to make it very plausible, but I digress). 

 

We we have done over 20 RC cruises and we have never had such consistent and overwhelmingly great service. I do think being in a GS had a little to do with it. When we waited in line one night for MTD once we got up there the worker almost scolded us (in a friendly way) for waiting in line and told us to come directly to the front next time. We were seated at those fun tables with the huge high red backs. 

 

Second to then service for best perks I would say the room, which is spacious and so comfortable. 

 

A little off off topic for your question, but there is also a pillow menu which sadly I noticed the last day. So if you get a suite, make sure you explore all the little cardboard things around the table. I had just read the paperwork. 

 

Being able to walk into any show early without reservations was nice. I wasn’t too impressed with our reserved seating. Center balcony front few rows, but the chairs were set so far back I had to sit on front edge of seat to see stage.   This space was also shared with diamond plus and up. (Funny thing when went to sit there our cards were viewed by workers before we could enter area. We were debating whether we wanted to sit there and some lady starts demanding to know if we are diamond plus or pinnacle because this is their reserved seating. She probably thought she busted us because we all decided better seats were to be had on the lower level).   

 

The front rows in orchestra (main floor) were reserved for Key. We didn’t like that at all. Although a heads up if you want those seats wait nearby  until they open it up for general seating and you can then sit there. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by cindivan

[cindivan]

7 hours ago, rgaley said:

We have a grand suite on Anthem next week. Question about Barefoot Beach - are there umbrellas and lounge chairs for use? Just looking for some shade without having to book a cabana. Thanks!

 

We loved Barefoot Beach.   We didn’t arrive until about noon but were still able to get chairs partly in shade. We had floating mats so we didn’t spend too much time in our chairs. We had a couple seats in the shade under a tree and kids went off to explore so that was all we needed. But seemed to be plenty of shade, more so a little further from the ocean. And definitely tons of loungers. 

 

The lunch buffet was very nice.   The lobster wasn’t the best lobster I have had but it was at a lunch buffet so no complaints.   The chicken was delicious. 

[cindivan]

Coastal kitchen was amazing. Service and food at CK was one of the best perks about being in a suite. DH and I ate lunch  there a couple times and all of us had dinner probably 3-4 times. 

 

If I were to cruise in a suite with access to CK again I think I would make more of an effort to see what the menus are every day and book dinners accordingly. We had the same menu a couple times, and it was still great. But I think we might have missed some unique menus there.   We only had trouble getting a reservation one night when we decided to ditch MTD that morning. We could have gotten in but it would have been around 8:30, so we did Izumi instead which had earlier availability. 

 

Hard to to get a window seat at dinner even when we asked earlier in the week. Not sure why (although I some suspicions) and even at lunch we had to request an empty window table when they tried to sit us at a table far away from the windows.   A little disappointing but still a great experience.