Review/Recap of Anthem of the Seas Bahamas and Florida: 11/2-11/9/19 (solo cruiser)

[TopDogSparky08]

2 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Thank you so much for your detailed review.  We are going on Anthem in March (for the first time) with same itinerary.  

 

Ship sounds great and its amazing how after a week, there is still lots you didn't get a chance to try.

 

I really appreciate hearing about the Orlando excursion as you don't hear much about it from personal experience.  This is the exact one that we currently have booked but I have doubts about it...especially with two kids (well, one is a shopper so she'll be fine, but the other is not).  Sounds like it was a bit of a pain with the bus location.  Do you remember how much time you actually got to spend at Disney Springs?  And when the bus left to return to the ship?  This is the main reason for booking the tour, but from the excursion description, it sounds like more time is spent at the Outlet mall.  I wonder too if it'll feel too long.  But we never made Disney Springs when visiting WDW last time, nor will we with a trip planned next year (post cruise) so it's a good opportunity.  Btw...I agree with the other poster and that the ship must wait for a ship excursion, so you shouldn't have worried (easy to say, I know , after the fact, and honestly I would feel the same as I'm a worrier).  This is the reason that we would never venture out 1hr away on our own and would only do this through a ship excursion.

 

Thanks again for the details.  Love your whole review.  Glad you enjoyed.  We look forward to trying Anthem.  And enjoy Oasis...that class of ship is amazing.

 

 

From what I remember, we got about 2-2.5 hours at both Disney Springs and the premium outlets. The bus left Disney at 7:15-7:30 to return to the ship. Like I said, it looked like we were one of the last groups back and I was pretty tired after that. I enjoyed the shopping options, but as a personal preference, I may not be as willing to do an all-day excursion again.

[tomservo]

Great review, thanks for sharing.

For those who have been on the Anthem before, if we want to be some of the first on board, what time should we get to the port? I was thinking 10am, but I'm not sure if they start boarding at 10:30 or 11am.

[Clarea]

11 minutes ago, tomservo said:

Great review, thanks for sharing.

For those who have been on the Anthem before, if we want to be some of the first on board, what time should we get to the port? I was thinking 10am, but I'm not sure if they start boarding at 10:30 or 11am.

 

10am should work.

[DaniDanielle]

We have boarded between 10:30 and 11 most of the time.  Once or twice around 11:30 forgot why.  11, 11:15 seems to be the most.

[dvond]

A question about dining room dress code,  can you and did you see men in shorts?

 

Thanks!!!

[dreamer976]

Thank you for the great trip report, TopDogSparky08!

 

It’s too bad that you were unable to see We Will Rock You during your sailing, as it’s an AWESOME show!  I enjoyed Spectra’s Cabaret while on board in October, but We Will Rock You just totally hit it out of the park for me and a few of my traveling companions. 

 

Hope you have a wonderful time aboard Oasis OTS. She’s an awesome ship (bring your most comfortable broken-in walking shoes 😉). 

 

Ellen

[SummerBeee]

I was on Majesty and we were at CocoCay at the same time 🙂

I didn’t do the waterpark, just hung out at the beach and pool. Was really surprised how many kids were on Anthem, there were a few in Majesty but but that ship doesn’t have as many bells and whistles.

My Majesty sailing was also a solo for me too. I did B2B for 9 nights total. I really enjoyed my trip too, but I think being on a smaller ship was beneficial for me connecting with others. I hope to sail on one of Anthems sister ships out of Fl sometime in the future. That’s great you can drive to the port, I always have to fly and Ft Lauderdale is an easy port to cruise from 

[mizLORInj]

Hello OP.  We are big fans of Anthem.   Love 270 as well.   Fabulous space.   So you said there were door prizes at the M&M?   Other recent posters have mentioned no prizes at all anymore on Anthem.  Last time I was Anthem, and the prior times, we were given tickets and RC items and wine were raffled off.  Did this happen on this cruise?  

 

Also, someone just this morning sent me a youtube video about Oasis enhancements during refurb and now I want to go on it--especially while out of Cape Liberty!    Looks fabulous and refreshed.     😁

[LuCruise]

On 11/10/2019 at 11:53 AM, TopDogSparky08 said:

From what I remember, we got about 2-2.5 hours at both Disney Springs and the premium outlets. The bus left Disney at 7:15-7:30 to return to the ship. Like I said, it looked like we were one of the last groups back and I was pretty tired after that. I enjoyed the shopping options, but as a personal preference, I may not be as willing to do an all-day excursion again.

Hi. Hope you don't mind another question about the excursion, but from a comment on another thread, I do have another clarification.  For the excursion, were there multiple buses where you could spend a short time at the outlet (or skip all together) and then spend more time at Disney Springs? And could you have returned sooner than you did?  Or in contrast...were you assigned a specific bus that spent the allocated 2.5 hours at each place?  (From another comment, it sounded like there were shuttles going back and forth and you could leave/transfer at your leisure so just want to clarify). Thanks!

[mjkacmom]

On 11/12/2019 at 1:39 PM, SummerBeeSweet said:

I was on Majesty and we were at CocoCay at the same time 🙂

I didn’t do the waterpark, just hung out at the beach and pool. Was really surprised how many kids were on Anthem, there were a few in Majesty but but that ship doesn’t have as many bells and whistles.

My Majesty sailing was also a solo for me too. I did B2B for 9 nights total. I really enjoyed my trip too, but I think being on a smaller ship was beneficial for me connecting with others. I hope to sail on one of Anthems sister ships out of Fl sometime in the future. That’s great you can drive to the port, I always have to fly and Ft Lauderdale is an easy port to cruise from 

It was because New Jersey schools had a shortened week due to NJ teachers convention and Election Day, always a lot of kids on cruises out of the NYC area the first week in November.

[TopDogSparky08]

On 11/11/2019 at 3:19 PM, dvond said:

A question about dining room dress code,  can you and did you see men in shorts?

 

Thanks!!!

Hi! I’m sorry but I don’t recall. I wasn’t paying too much attention to what people were wearing. 🙂 

[TopDogSparky08]

On 11/11/2019 at 4:35 PM, dreamer976 said:

Thank you for the great trip report, TopDogSparky08!

 

It’s too bad that you were unable to see We Will Rock You during your sailing, as it’s an AWESOME show!  I enjoyed Spectra’s Cabaret while on board in October, but We Will Rock You just totally hit it out of the park for me and a few of my traveling companions. 

 

Hope you have a wonderful time aboard Oasis OTS. She’s an awesome ship (bring your most comfortable broken-in walking shoes 😉). 

 

Ellen

Hi Ellen! I actually saw We Will Rock You my first time on Anthem two years ago. However, the seas were pretty rough the day I went and a lot of people were leaving the theater. 

 

I just figured since I’d seen it once, I would change it up and see Spectra this time.

[TopDogSparky08]

10 hours ago, mizLORInj said:

Hello OP.  We are big fans of Anthem.   Love 270 as well.   Fabulous space.   So you said there were door prizes at the M&M?   Other recent posters have mentioned no prizes at all anymore on Anthem.  Last time I was Anthem, and the prior times, we were given tickets and RC items and wine were raffled off.  Did this happen on this cruise?  

 

Also, someone just this morning sent me a youtube video about Oasis enhancements during refurb and now I want to go on it--especially while out of Cape Liberty!    Looks fabulous and refreshed.     😁

Hi! There were door prizes like free Bingo cards, baseball caps and backpacks but no wine. 

[TopDogSparky08]

4 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

It was because New Jersey schools had a shortened week due to NJ teachers convention and Election Day, always a lot of kids on cruises out of the NYC area the first week in November.

This is the first time I’d ever heard of the convention, and I think several of the cruisers I talked to were unaware of it too unless they were from NJ. Next cruise I am going to try to sail in September or October to avoid this. 

[TopDogSparky08]

5 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Hi. Hope you don't mind another question about the excursion, but from a comment on another thread, I do have another clarification.  For the excursion, were there multiple buses where you could spend a short time at the outlet (or skip all together) and then spend more time at Disney Springs? And could you have returned sooner than you did?  Or in contrast...were you assigned a specific bus that spent the allocated 2.5 hours at each place?  (From another comment, it sounded like there were shuttles going back and forth and you could leave/transfer at your leisure so just want to clarify). Thanks!

Hi! There were not shuttles or multiple buses or anything like that. It was one scheduled excursion and the same bus took us to both the outlets and Disney Springs and then back to the ship. There were only about 10 of us on the excursion...maybe 15? If you missed the bus or wanted to be on your own for any other reason, you had to take a cab but that was like $175 from the shopping to the ship. 

[Leeba25]

Great review - thanks so much for posting!

 

We’ll be on this itinerary next year, so it was fun to hear about your experience. 

 

I’m trying to figure out what to do during that day in Port Canaveral as well ... I woulnd’t mind a day at Disney Springs ... but I could probably do without the outlets specifically (I live near some pretty good outlets so, meh). So, IDK. 

 

Loved hearing your tips & review overall! 

[SuiteLady]

On 11/9/2019 at 9:26 PM, TopDogSparky08 said:

Anthem really seems cursed with guests with medical issues!

When I sailed on the Anthem, this past May, our 9-day cruise turned into a 10-day due to a medical emergency and needing to go 12 hours out of our way (one way) to Nassau!  The next day the Captain let us know that the person had surgery (heart from what I heard) and was doing well....

[SuiteLady]

12 hours ago, TopDogSparky08 said:

A question about dining room dress code,  can you and did you see men in shorts?

 

Thanks!!!

When I sailed Anthem this past May, I saw JEANS on formal night in the MDR!!  I can't say that I saw any shorts though.......The dress code has obviously relaxed!!  They might draw the line with shorts though.....

[TopDogSparky08]

15 minutes ago, SuiteLady said:

When I sailed Anthem this past May, I saw JEANS on formal night in the MDR!!  I can't say that I saw any shorts though.......The dress code has obviously relaxed!!  They might draw the line with shorts though.....

You scared me for a minute! I wore jeans to the MDR when I went but these were on non-formal nights. Formal nights I ate in the Windjammer...next cruise I might do one formal night and skip the other, but if you don’t want to dress up, it really is nice to not have to worry about crowds at the buffet for a change. 🙂 

[Clarea]

20 minutes ago, SuiteLady said:

 ... They might draw the line with shorts though.....

 

I doubt it.

[LuCruise]

15 hours ago, TopDogSparky08 said:

Hi! There were not shuttles or multiple buses or anything like that. It was one scheduled excursion and the same bus took us to both the outlets and Disney Springs and then back to the ship. There were only about 10 of us on the excursion...maybe 15? If you missed the bus or wanted to be on your own for any other reason, you had to take a cab but that was like $175 from the shopping to the ship. 

Thanks so much for confirming.  Sounds like they have changed the excursion, but that's what I thought based on the description.  That's a good group size as not too big.  Yikes, definitely wouldn't want to end up taking a cab back. 

[LESLIEKURZ]

On 11/11/2019 at 1:41 PM, Host Clarea said:

 

10am should work.

How did you find the traffic in the port lot at that time?  Last time we got there at 11 and it took a little while to get past the porters and into the garage.  

[stosto52]

We were on the same cruise as you.  I agree with pretty much everything you said.  The cruise was great, alot of kids, including my 2 young girls but I felt that the kids were mostly well behaved.

 

You might have missed one of the freestyle machines.  Its located in the Seaplex by the Hotdog stand.

 

Would definitly do a Anthem cruise again.  We booked Oasis next August for the Same stops.  Wish we would skip or change the Nassau and Canaveral stops.  However...the easy of access to Cape Liberty, Coco Cay and the Oasis of the Seas makes up for it.

[tomservo]

5 hours ago, stosto52 said:

Wish we would skip or change the Nassau and Canaveral stops.  However...the easy of access to Cape Liberty, Coco Cay and the Oasis of the Seas makes up for it.

 

I’d rather skip Nassau and do an overnight at Coco Cay

[cgags47]

6 hours ago, tomservo said:

 

I’d rather skip Nassau and do an overnight at Coco Cay

My thoughts exactly!