Anthem ~ 9 Night ~ July 14, 2016 ~ Review

I noticed hotels are doing that overseas now. Came across the switch in Norway. Had to call down because there was no sign or anything telling you what to do and never seen it before. Just stuck a business card in there that was on the table and left it the entire stay. I could care less about their green goals. It's really just about savings money for them, increasing profits, selling it as "green" and not passing the savings on to you, that's for sure.

That's a really bad statement to make. At least they are trying, and maybe they are passing the savings along to you and you just don't know it.

We got a great price on our cruise... :cool:

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The kids compasses will be left in your room if you are traveling with your children. I never received one in my cabin, but my daughter (who was traveling with her girls) received one every night.

Thanks for mentioning this! I was surprised when we met a teen and her Mom on the last sea day complaining that they had only just discovered the teen compass at Guest Services that morning. I wondered why they weren't delivered to staterooms of kids/teens that were registered onboard. Good to know that they normally are delivered to the cabins!

We were on the same ship with you guys. We found that 270's music totally sucked! A lot of the music sucked. I actually passed the Dj a note and asked him to play 70s and 80s songs. It took him a while to actually get it together, but he finally did and we got ONE dancing night out of the 9. I was quite disappointed, but whatever, I could dance with my iPhone. It was an enjoyable cruise and we had fun!

The DJs were disappointing for sure. I never understood why, when the few times there was a full dance floor, they would completely switch up the style of music. You could see all the dancers stop, look around clueless and then leave the dance floor. Also, their transitions between songs were often rough. I'm with you though, despite the sad party scene, we still had a blast on this cruise!

...

 

I must be tired as I had to re-read the aforementioned line several times .. as I was thinking boy, six buckets of beer ... that's an awful lot of Coronas - rotfl ... :D

OH my goodness, too funny! No, it was 12 beers total between 4 people while we were at Maho. I'm pretty sure if I had drank a bucket and a half of beers myself, I'd still be in the St. Marteen hospital recovering!

Thank you all so much for the positive feedback on this review! I'm flattered! Truly! It's been fun for me to go down memory lane, but also makes it worth it to know others are enjoying it too!

I'm at work now, but hopefully I'll be able to post about our Puerto Rico day after we get the kids to bed tonight!

OH my goodness' date=' too funny! No, it was 12 beers total between 4 people while we were at Maho. I'm pretty sure if I had drank a bucket and a half of beers myself, I'd still be in the St. Marteen hospital recovering![/quote']

 

Lol - you never know - always reading about young couples letting loose on holidays while their kids are back home!

 

It's unfortunate that Chic didn't live up to its name in re: to service ... like you, I'm also a planner ... I need to ensure that things are properly arranged ahead of time due to DW's health ... but planning for me is 1/2 the fun of going on a holiday. Hiccups do occur but we don't let it ruin the rest of our holiday so kudos for keeping a positive outlook.

 

Can't recall if you mentioned anything about your drink package ... how did you and your hubby like it - worth it? Re: Sorrento's, do you recall how late it is open to? I remember back in the day the midnight buffets aboard the cruise ships ... it was nice ... did both of you try room service at one point for late night snacks?

Love the review. We are doing this trip in October. Can't wait!. Thanks for the tip on St. Marteen, it's our first time there and both dh & I are airplane geeks so we are looking toward Maho

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Lol - you never know - always reading about young couples letting loose on holidays while their kids are back home!

 

It's unfortunate that Chic didn't live up to its name in re: to service ... like you, I'm also a planner ... I need to ensure that things are properly arranged ahead of time due to DW's health ... but planning for me is 1/2 the fun of going on a holiday. Hiccups do occur but we don't let it ruin the rest of our holiday so kudos for keeping a positive outlook.

 

Can't recall if you mentioned anything about your drink package ... how did you and your hubby like it - worth it? Re: Sorrento's, do you recall how late it is open to? I remember back in the day the midnight buffets aboard the cruise ships ... it was nice ... did both of you try room service at one point for late night snacks?

My motto with planning is you do it the best you can, and then sit back to enjoy the ride. :)

DH and I got the Premium Drink Pkg. We'd never previously done a drink pkg, but figured we'd feel like letting loose this trip, so we went for it. Since we're more wine / cocktail drinkers, the break even was 5-6 drinks per day. DH doubled that and I did a little better than break even. It's easy to do with 1 or 2 at the pool, 1 or 2 with dinner and a couple after dinner. So, for us, it was definitely worth it.

I think Sorrento's was open until 1 / 1:30am. We never did Room Svc late night partly because we didn't want to wait for it and partly because there's a charge late night. I definitely remember the midnight buffets! Such amazing presentations, but also a big waste of food. That being said, Sorrento's was packed every late night around 11. So there is a demand. RCI definitely should make use of a single Windjammer station as an alternative option.

Day 6 – 7/19, Tuesday @ Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

This was another two for one deal! We spent the morning in port, and the afternoon at sea. Once again, we docked Starboard, but the view was beautiful from our port side balcony.

DH and I had been to Old San Juan several times in the past, but our friends had never been, so we let them lead the way today. Since it was such a short port visit, they decided to just get off the ship and start walking around with no real agenda. Had I known we were going to walk SO much of Old San Juan in a couple of hours, I would not have worn my flip flops! LOL!

We did room service for a light breakfast before getting off the ship around 8:30. First, we walked to El Morro and toured the fort. I’d say it was a very hot 20 min walk to get there, although we did see a tram that runs from the dock to the fort. From El Morro, we walked down to El Catedral (one of the oldest churches in the Americas) and then stopped in Barrachina to grab a Pina Colada to-go (the apparent birthplace of the Pina Colada) on our way to Fort San Cristibal (your ticket into El Morro is also good for San Cristibal). It was a delicious Pina Colada, but that may have had more to do with the fact that it felt like 120 degrees outside! Oh, and it was pricey at almost $8 for a small cup. Google Maps was definitely our friend getting us around town today.

Back on the ship, we headed to the Puzzle Break room. As I mentioned before, the 4 of us were put on a wait list by Guest Svcs on Day 1. Well, 3 of us had the Puzzle Break room appear on our calendar for 12:30pm today (we correctly assumed the missing 4th reservation was a tech glitch). The timing worked out well since that was the same as All-Aboard time. We got to the room at 12:15 (located just outside of the SeaPlex) and a long line quickly formed behind us. Most of them were Stand-by. At 12:30, a single crew member started checking us in. If you had reservations, you were allowed to go into a special waiting room once checked in. So, in we went. They can only take 12-14 people at a time in Puzzle Break, and I believe the minimum age is around 14. So, we go in the waiting room and then all heck breaks loose for the next 30 minutes. To make a VERY long story short, an additional 12 people on the wait list were called by someone in Guest Services telling them to come at 12:30. Only, they really didn’t have reservations for 12:30. The poor crew member was completely bombarded by, understandably, very upset passengers. Eventually, a Guest Svcs rep came up and spoke to the group and organized a new reservation for them.

So, by the time we finally got into the actual Puzzle Break room, we were all a bit on edge. It was 4 of us, with a family of 3 and a family of 4. You absolutely MUST work together as one team, and the crew member is inside with you to help guide you along (they want you to succeed). I will say, the family of 4 had a young boy with them (maybe 6 yrs.?) and he was VERY excited to be there. So much so that we would be holding a piece trying to solve it and he would literally come up and yank it out of our hands. It was frustrating to say the least. This would be why there’s a minimum age requirement. Nonetheless, we succeeded in 38 min and walked out with our medals.

Afterwards we grabbed some lunch in the Windjammer, and then headed over to iFly for the boys (booked online pre-cruise). I have personally done the real deal before, so I didn’t want to try the stimulation skydive. But DH and our friend were super excited to try it. Their reservation was at 3, but they didn’t come up on deck to fly until about 3:25. My girlfriend and I watched 2 other groups of 8 skydive before they came up. Each person gets 1 min in the tunnel and then the instructor does a 30 sec trick show (very cool to watch). There’s also a class you can pay for to learn some tricks! DH LOVED iFly and he’s super excited that they’re building one just 20 min away at home so he can do it again.

As soon as the guys were done, my friend and I headed to the Spa for Mani/Pedi’s (a previous birthday gift to her). It was nice and relaxing, although it obviously cost more than it would have at home. Maxine, my manicurist, did a very nice job!!! I’ve actually never had a gel manicure hold up this well. 11 days and going strong! I got to chat for a while with her and learned that she works 14-hr days, 6 days a week, on a 9 month contract. I don’t know how the she does it! But, she has done this for 12 years!

Tonight was our Formal Night in the Grande @ 8pm. We thought the food was good, but our service was terribly slow (almost nonexistent). After dinner, we bar hopped once again. It seems the same bands rotate between Boleros and the Music Hall. They’re good, but at this point we felt the entertainment really needed to be mixed up a bit. I’m not quite sure what happened to the Glow Party in the SeaPlex, or the White Party in the Solarium, or really any night club type party in the SeaPlex (there’s definitely a DJ booth in there). I even packed glow sticks and a white dress for the occasions as so many recent cruisers had posted on CC about them.

What a great review - I love all the details. A lot of good information :)

Day 6 – 7/19' date=' Tuesday @ Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

So, by the time we finally got into the actual Puzzle Break room, we were all a bit on edge. It was 4 of us, with a family of 3 and a family of 4. You absolutely MUST work together as one team, and the crew member is inside with you to help guide you along (they want you to succeed). I will say, the family of 4 had a young boy with them (maybe 6 yrs.?) and he was VERY excited to be there. So much so that we would be holding a piece trying to solve it and he would literally come up and yank it out of our hands. It was frustrating to say the least. This would be why there’s a minimum age requirement. Nonetheless, we succeeded in 38 min and walked out with our medals.

 

 

I'm happy to hear that there was a younger kid with you in the Puzzle Break room. I'm not happy that you had a bad experience, but our nine year old is dying to do this and has participated before. I promise we wouldn't let him act the way the other kid did though!

Following along, we'll be on Anthem in October! Couple of questions.

 

1. We're considering upgrading our room if a better one becomes available after final payment is due (which is coming up on 8/6) but our most unhelpful travel agent said that we'll be penalized if we change rooms after final payment. Can you elaborate on your experience?

 

Thank you!

It's probably a rule from your TA on the penalty. If you booked worth Royal it may not be an issue. The TA I used this time will do upgrades if the price drops, but the one I used last time wouldn't because they said it would be canceling the reservation

 

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We have upgraded many, many times after final payment and there was no penalty from RCCL. Our TA does not penalize either thank goodness!

I'm surprised the Windjammer wasn't open 24 hours as it was on Quantum. Thanks for your review. Can't wait until November to check her out!

Thank you for sharing :)

Hello Cruising Newlyweds! We were on the same cruise and enjoyed it very much. I agree with you as far as the CD and Activities Director is concerned. They were very lack luster for sure.

Congrats on your 10th anniversary and your surprised tanzanite ring. We celebrated our 37th which was actually embarkation day. I was surprised with a tanzanite necklace in St Marteen

Day 6 – 7/19' date=' Tuesday @ Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

 

This was another two for one deal! We spent the morning in port, and the afternoon at sea. Once again, we docked Starboard, but the view was beautiful from our port side balcony.

 

 

DH and I had been to Old San Juan several times in the past, but our friends had never been, so we let them lead the way today. Since it was such a short port visit, they decided to just get off the ship and start walking around with no real agenda. Had I known we were going to walk SO much of Old San Juan in a couple of hours, I would not have worn my flip flops! LOL!

[b']I "hear" that San Juan is a tad quieter - lot of empty storefronts - now ... what was your opinion? We too have been to San Juan several times so DW is not keen on going back ... [/b]

 

We did room service for a light breakfast before getting off the ship around 8:30. First, we walked to El Morro and toured the fort. I’d say it was a very hot 20 min walk to get there, although we did see a tram that runs from the dock to the fort. From El Morro, we walked down to El Catedral (one of the oldest churches in the Americas) and then stopped in Barrachina to grab a Pina Colada to-go (the apparent birthplace of the Pina Colada) on our way to Fort San Cristibal (your ticket into El Morro is also good for San Cristibal). It was a delicious Pina Colada, but that may have had more to do with the fact that it felt like 120 degrees outside! Oh, and it was pricey at almost $8 for a small cup. Google Maps was definitely our friend getting us around town today.

 

 

Back on the ship, we headed to the Puzzle Break room. As I mentioned before, the 4 of us were put on a wait list by Guest Svcs on Day 1. Well, 3 of us had the Puzzle Break room appear on our calendar for 12:30pm today (we correctly assumed the missing 4th reservation was a tech glitch). The timing worked out well since that was the same as All-Aboard time. We got to the room at 12:15 (located just outside of the SeaPlex) and a long line quickly formed behind us. Most of them were Stand-by. At 12:30, a single crew member started checking us in. If you had reservations, you were allowed to go into a special waiting room once checked in. So, in we went. They can only take 12-14 people at a time in Puzzle Break, and I believe the minimum age is around 14. So, we go in the waiting room and then all heck breaks loose for the next 30 minutes. To make a VERY long story short, an additional 12 people on the wait list were called by someone in Guest Services telling them to come at 12:30. Only, they really didn’t have reservations for 12:30. The poor crew member was completely bombarded by, understandably, very upset passengers. Eventually, a Guest Svcs rep came up and spoke to the group and organized a new reservation for them.

 

 

So, by the time we finally got into the actual Puzzle Break room, we were all a bit on edge. It was 4 of us, with a family of 3 and a family of 4. You absolutely MUST work together as one team, and the crew member is inside with you to help guide you along (they want you to succeed). I will say, the family of 4 had a young boy with them (maybe 6 yrs.?) and he was VERY excited to be there. So much so that we would be holding a piece trying to solve it and he would literally come up and yank it out of our hands. It was frustrating to say the least. This would be why there’s a minimum age requirement. Nonetheless, we succeeded in 38 min and walked out with our medals.

What is the max time you have to get out ... I wasn't too interested in doing this at all ... until you mentioned you get medals ... oooohhhh ... are they nice or just fake plasticky ones ?? Lol ...

 

Afterwards we grabbed some lunch in the Windjammer, and then headed over to iFly for the boys (booked online pre-cruise). I have personally done the real deal before, so I didn’t want to try the stimulation skydive. But DH and our friend were super excited to try it. Their reservation was at 3, but they didn’t come up on deck to fly until about 3:25. My girlfriend and I watched 2 other groups of 8 skydive before they came up. Each person gets 1 min in the tunnel and then the instructor does a 30 sec trick show (very cool to watch). There’s also a class you can pay for to learn some tricks! DH LOVED iFly and he’s super excited that they’re building one just 20 min away at home so he can do it again.

Yeah - nothing beats the real terror of witnessing the door roll up on the plane and then sitting on the edge looking all the waaaaayyyy down before you "depart" into the wild blue yonder, praying all the while that the chute will work and that you don't end up going splat like Wile E. Coyote - LOL ...

 

As soon as the guys were done, my friend and I headed to the Spa for Mani/Pedi’s (a previous birthday gift to her). It was nice and relaxing, although it obviously cost more than it would have at home. Maxine, my manicurist, did a very nice job!!! I’ve actually never had a gel manicure hold up this well. 11 days and going strong! I got to chat for a while with her and learned that she works 14-hr days, 6 days a week, on a 9 month contract. I don’t know how the she does it! But, she has done this for 12 years!

 

 

 

Tonight was our Formal Night in the Grande @ 8pm. We thought the food was good, but our service was terribly slow (almost nonexistent). After dinner, we bar hopped once again. It seems the same bands rotate between Boleros and the Music Hall. They’re good, but at this point we felt the entertainment really needed to be mixed up a bit. I’m not quite sure what happened to the Glow Party in the SeaPlex, or the White Party in the Solarium, or really any night club type party in the SeaPlex (there’s definitely a DJ booth in there). I even packed glow sticks and a white dress for the occasions as so many recent cruisers had posted on CC about them.

Did hubby have to wear a jacket to Grande?

I'm hoping that the absence of the Glow or White Party you talked about is just a one-off ... as one option we are looking at next year is combining the 9 night Canada/New England with the 5 night Bermuda aboard the Anthem ... wouldn't want things to get that repetitive on just the 9 day one.

Thanks for the info re: the drink package and late-night snacking ... it's kinda nice to know what the break-even point is to determine whether the drink package is worth it or not ...

Hello Cruising Newlyweds! We were on the same cruise and enjoyed it very much. I agree with you as far as the CD and Activities Director is concerned. They were very lack luster for sure.

 

Congrats on your 10th anniversary and your surprised tanzanite ring. We celebrated our 37th which was actually embarkation day. I was surprised with a tanzanite necklace in St Marteen

Congrats on both your anniversaries. We celebrate our 22nd while doing this cruise in Oct. I may need to tell my husband that it's tradition to buy tanzanite jewelry ;)

First ... Thank you!!! This was a fantastic review! I took a notes. We leave in 8 days and we are newbies. Our 16, 13, and 8 year old are going with us. Your water explanation solidifies that it is t a big deal and arrives at your room!

I plan to do more research but is tanzanite a St Maarten thing? I have heard about the guavaberry liquor and spices? Do you have suggestions of what the "it" thing is from each country.

I was also puzzled by puzzle break. I have no idea when it mysteriously appeared on the cruise planner but it was all booked by the time I saw it. Hopefully, we will have your luck. Glad your saw a younger child. My 8 yr old daughter certainly would be in big trouble if she acted like that.

Lastly, how did you find out how many ships would be in port??

And Happy Anniversary!! Our 22nd was 7/23 but this is a 20th anniversary cruise for a group we belong to.

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First ... Thank you!!! This was a fantastic review! I took a notes. We leave in 8 days and we are newbies. Our 16, 13, and 8 year old are going with us. Your water explanation solidifies that it is t a big deal and arrives at your room!

 

I plan to do more research but is tanzanite a St Maarten thing? I have heard about the guavaberry liquor and spices? Do you have suggestions of what the "it" thing is from each country.

 

I was also puzzled by puzzle break. I have no idea when it mysteriously appeared on the cruise planner but it was all booked by the time I saw it. Hopefully, we will have your luck. Glad your saw a younger child. My 8 yr old daughter certainly would be in big trouble if she acted like that.

 

Lastly, how did you find out how many ships would be in port??

 

And Happy Anniversary!! Our 22nd was 7/23 but this is a 20th anniversary cruise for a group we belong to.

 

 

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Just a couple tips. Pack swim suits and sun screen in your carry on so after lunch your kids and you can hit the flow rider and pools best time to swim. Most people are walking around checking out the ship.

Have your teens go to teen club the first night its the night the cliques form. Everyone is looking for someone to hang out with. We make rules like always breakfast and dinner with us but they are free besides that. Its their vacation after all, different families different rules. Some teens are totally free to never see their parents all week.

Cruise ships have been selling the charms of tanzanite for years. JMO but if your actually looking at buying jewelry research it at home so you know what a good price it. You can get pretty cheap tanzanite on ebay FYI.

If you looking to bring stuff back from your cruise let me recommend Sheridan's. They will sell it in port and on ship. Its white chocolate and coffee liquor that layers and its YUMMY. You can not buy it in the US.

There are websites that show your ships in port this is the one I use.

cruisetimetables.com

Sure! The Anthem is a "green" ship. So' date=' just inside each cabin is a card holder. The idea is to place your Sea Pass card here while in the room to operate the AC and lights. Then, when you leave the room and take your card with you, you don't accidentally leave lights on, etc.

 

We kept an old casino loyalty card in there the whole time so the room would be cool when we came back to the cabin. We'd always be mindful of turning off lights and turning up the air temp a bit before we left for long periods, in keeping with the green goal.[/quote']

 

Forgive me for being a Debbie Downer here but, The use of a card or any other method of keeping the air running while the cabin is empty to me is an abuse of the $$ to cool, and a drain on the environment not "Green" to me at all.

 

I think the stewards should remove the card. Just saying. :(

Is there more?

Forgive me for being a Debbie Downer here but, The use of a card or any other method of keeping the air running while the cabin is empty to me is an abuse of the $$ to cool, and a drain on the environment not "Green" to me at all.

 

I think the stewards should remove the card. Just saying. :([/QUO

It is more cost effective to leave it on and turn it up than to try to cool a hot room. :cool:

Forgive me for being a Debbie Downer here but, The use of a card or any other method of keeping the air running while the cabin is empty to me is an abuse of the $$ to cool, and a drain on the environment not "Green" to me at all.

 

I think the stewards should remove the card. Just saying. :([/QUO

It is more cost effective to leave it on and turn it up than to try to cool a hot room. :cool:

 

Not so, at least, not according to my husband who worked in the field for 40+ years.

Just a couple tips. Pack swim suits and sun screen in your carry on so after lunch your kids and you can hit the flow rider and pools best time to swim. Most people are walking around checking out the ship.

 

Have your teens go to teen club the first night its the night the cliques form. Everyone is looking for someone to hang out with. We make rules like always breakfast and dinner with us but they are free besides that. Its their vacation after all, different families different rules. Some teens are totally free to never see their parents all week.

 

Cruise ships have been selling the charms of tanzanite for years. JMO but if your actually looking at buying jewelry research it at home so you know what a good price it. You can get pretty cheap tanzanite on ebay FYI.

 

If you looking to bring stuff back from your cruise let me recommend Sheridan's. They will sell it in port and on ship. Its white chocolate and coffee liquor that layers and its YUMMY. You can not buy it in the US.

 

There are websites that show your ships in port this is the one I use.

cruisetimetables.com

Sheridan's used to be available in the US. Remember my grandma buying it for holidays. Nice memory. Think I'll get a bottle to put away for Christmas. My family will be surprised. Oh the little things lol

And most definitely packing an old Sea Pass card. No hot room on my vacation!

 

Not so, at least, not according to my husband who worked in the field for 40+ years.

 

Ever lived in Las Vegas? Check with NV. Energy they will tell you different.

I know because of the bills we receive and the cost difference. :cool:

Forgive me for being a Debbie Downer here but, The use of a card or any other method of keeping the air running while the cabin is empty to me is an abuse of the $$ to cool, and a drain on the environment not "Green" to me at all.

 

I think the stewards should remove the card. Just saying. :(

Sorry don't care. I want my room cool. We turn off the lights and close the curtains since the Balcony doors heats up the room more than anything else. If my room temp is constant the air won't turn on.

I have had a steward take my card out before and if it happens a 2nd time I politely ask him to leave it in the slot only had to ask 1 guy out of maybe 4 or 5 with this feature.

 

Ever lived in Las Vegas? Check with NV. Energy they will tell you different.

I know because of the bills we receive and the cost difference. :cool:

 

No, I've not lived in an intolerably hot climate. But, it isn't the same elements. Your home will have built up unrelenting heat not being sandwiched between floors of other units. The windows in your home are numerous. We do not leave the air on when in hotel rooms once we've left for hrs either. Drapes drawn are sufficient to keep the room warm at best, and not too long after we arrive back, to cool it. ;)

 

My understanding is needing to use a card to keep the strm cool while we are away would be redundant if the Cruise Line didn't think it favourable for the ship's design. :)