Anthem of the Seas January 2 - 11 day Eastern Carribean

[SbbquilterUT]

15 hours ago, pittnh said:

recommendations for San Juan port stop?  Are things pretty walkable from the pier?  Is it better not top book any ship excursions there?

Such an easy walking port.  Straight uphill from the dock is One of the two forts on the ocean side.  It is a National Park so bring your card if you have one.  Then walk along the ocean, visiting the hauntingly beautiful cemetery and finally up to the second fort.  From there we wander through the colorful buildings looking for locals heading into a tiny restaurant and eat a bite.  

[Piperandleroy]

On 1/13/2023 at 4:42 PM, Jcol5786 said:

Just got off Anthem this morning. Had a great 11 day cruise and we really enjoyed going to San Juan, St John's Antigua, St Kitts, St Lucia and St Marrten. Not doing a review but am happy to answer any questions about the ship and the ports.

We are doing that cruise in a week. Who was the cruise director?

[Jcol5786]

11 minutes ago, Piperandleroy said:

We are doing that cruise in a week. Who was the cruise director?

The cruise director was Mario. He mentioned that he not been a CD for that long but I think he did a good job.

[Jcol5786]

1 minute ago, Jcol5786 said:

 

We really enjoyed this cruise. Have a great cruise.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Jcol5786
Wrong quote

[Piperandleroy]

1 minute ago, Jcol5786 said:

The cruise director was Mario. He mentioned that he not been a CD for that long but I think he did a good job.

Thank you. Yes I had Mario. He does a good job.

[Arzeena]

On 1/14/2023 at 9:36 AM, mets07 said:

We were on same cruise (Jan 2 Anthem) as OP.  We were directed to the garage. No questions asked. 

Us too.

[Arzeena]

10 hours ago, Jcol5786 said:

 

 

 

I also visited this cathederal. What a nice one!

[Piperandleroy]

2 hours ago, Jcol5786 said:

We really enjoyed this cruise. Have a great cruise.

Thank you!

[mets07]

Mario went on holiday after the Jan 2 cruise. I understand the current cruise director as of Jan 13 is Joff. 

[mets123]

Keep in mind that the ship doesn't get to Puerto Rico until 3 and you probably won't get off until 3:20. That doesn't leave you with much daylight to explore.

[Piperandleroy]

11 hours ago, mets07 said:

Mario went on holiday after the Jan 2 cruise. I understand the current cruise director as of Jan 13 is Joff. 

That's great. We love Joff! 

[Oceansaway17]

On 1/13/2023 at 10:04 PM, Airbear232 said:

Never had the experience at Cape Liberty.  Always drive right into garage.  Has this happened to you more than once?

yes both times I was unable to park in the garage,

but folks who arrived 1 hour or so later did.  I stood at the back of the ship and counted over 50 cars parking in the garage and on top.

 

They want all the workers to fill up the flat lot first.  

I also talked to other passengers and some said they borrowed handicap tags or signs to use and get the garage.  wow 

[Giantfan13]

We were also on this cruise and had a great ti me. It was our first time on the Anthem and if I had to mention one thing about her it was the friendliness of the crew. Wherever we went, from the guys washing the deck to any officer we encountered, they all greeted us so pleasantly and always asked if there was anything they could do for us. 

We didn't park there rather had our son drop us off and pick us up. Major traffic jams trying to pick people up with all the Ubers and Lyfts there. 

Ports were OK but since we do not do beaches, and have been to every port before, we just wandered around a bit and improved the economy of some ports. If anyone wants to buy Liquor, St. Marteen is the place. We bought several bottles of Capt. Morgan Rum for half of what the ship sells it for.

 

As far as dining, we had 6:30 MTD reservations, we asked if it was Ok if we showed up early, like 6:15 and was told no problem. We ended up with the same table every night and we usually walked there ourselves rather than being shown the way. 

 

Cheers

Len

[Jcol5786]

Just wanted to add that as others have mentioned the crew was doing a great job. Everyone was friendly and working very hard from our room stewart to our dining room staff. We recently started doing early traditional after having done My Time for most of our previous cruises however MT started to become crowded and unpredictable so we opted for early traditional 3 cruises ago and it works well for us. We show up between 5:30 - 5:45 and walked right to our table each night.

 

As for our room we had the most forward obstructed balcony on deck 7 starboard side. The obstruction is simply the fact that the balcony has a very large port hole type of opening. The opening provided a lot of privancy and coverage but it still felt like a real balcony room and the savings were significant.

[Jcol5786]

Here are some othe random photos from our cruise.

[vadersprincess12]

On 1/14/2023 at 7:06 PM, toad455 said:

I'm on the Anthem now. Did you deal with long lines to enter the MDR? Between 6:30-7:30 it takes up to 20-30 to be seated. And that's with a reservation. Only issue so far with the current cruise. We're rocking tonight due to a coastal storm off of the Carolinas. Should be smooth sailings starting tomorrow.

We sailed the Enchantment a couple of months ago and were so disappointed in how the "your time" dining works.  What's the point of "your time" if you have to make a reservation.  Even with a reservation the wait was nuts some nights.  We also sail Carnival with "your time" dining and DO NOT need a reservations; just have to check in about 10 minutes before you go to the dining room.  For our upcoming Anthem sailing we just chose the early dining so that we won't have a wait!

[toad455]

I know COVID was brought up in this cruise, but according to my cruise's FB group, several guests tested positive for COVID either midway through the cruise or a day or two after.

[Jcol5786]

I think there are and will be COVID cases on most cruises. We have done 5 cruises now since the restart and have not caught Covid on any of them including this last one.