thewilfords

I just did my first one last week. I like being connected. I decided to do it so that I had a journal of all the things we did. I can go back to it and remember what we did on each day. My hubby is creating a video to post with all of the videos we took.

Our cruise group for the sailing that ended on Saturday has more and more reports of people sick at the end of the week and even this weekend upon returning home.

Just off Anthem. Lots of folks sick and more cleaning being done than I have ever seen on a ship. Also talked to people who had it. If one person in a cabin had it, they did nothing to contain or quarantine others in the cabin. Also heard from someone they were denied food, not allowed mashed potatoes, waited for hours in room for water to be delivered.

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Day 7-

We start with breakfast in the WJ of course. We have the soda package for 4 of us. Suddenly 3 of the cups are telling us that we can only use them every 2 hours. I hear this is happening to others as well. They tell me they will replace the cups. I end up waiting 20 minutes for this to occur. It’s cold on the pool deck so we avoid it.

We play bingo. I won the jackpot a few years ago on Freedom so this always sucks me in. Ha! Then I do some packing.

For lunch we have Johnny Rockets. We bring it inside since it’s so cold outside. The kids then head to kids club and we go to the love and marriage show. It’s funny as always. We then play the final Bingo session.

We then pick up the kids and go to dinner. There is nothing on the menu that appeals to any of us. Hubby, I and the 2 oldest end up paying $80 for filets. The strip steaks we have had earlier in the week were dry and tough and none of us like lamb or turkey, etc.

After dinner the kids head back to the kids club. I do some more packing to get it all out of the room. We go to the farewell show. Comedian was funnier this time. Then pack to finish packing.

We realize we are missing something. Don’t believe it to be intentional. It’s really not worth anything monetary but sentimental.

We go to the fireworks show which is kind of cool and see the end of karaoke too. Great singers on board!

I stop by guest services about the missing item. The way I am treated leaves me in tears. He basically says I’m lying. I’ve found guest services to be less than helpful every time I’ve come. I leave because I’m so upset by his comments.

Head to bed. Message the main social media page of royal. They assure me they will help. I’m told guest services will reach out. They never did.

I’m awoken at 545 due to the sounds being made by the ship docking. Very loud.

Lay in bed a while messaging with online customer service. Then get the kids up. Hubby and kids go to breakfast while I go to guest services. Still no resolution. I express to management my displeasure with treatment and they apologize but no real resolution. If they find my item they will ship it to me.

I walk off the boat crying and disappointed it ended this way.

We get a porter and are quickly through the terminal and customs. I tip him well just for avoiding the long customs and checkout line to be brought to a short porter only line. Stop to get the power strip they took from the oldest on day 1 check in. A porter is the only way to leave the ship.

Overall, we had a lot of fun. Anthem has a lot of fun activities to offer. Many of the staff are nice and work hard. Guest services leave a lot to be desired though. I’ve been loyal to royal up to now but not sure that will continue after this experience with guest services. I would not choose this itinerary again. Port canaveral and the Bahamas just didn’t have a lot to offer. I like getting off the boat and sight seeing and excursions and this just did not live up to it in that sense.

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Day 6-

We slept in and We let the kids sleep in and went to breakfast. Same as usual. I like the breakfast potatoes and the pancakes and bacon.

The freestyle soda machines are an issue and have been all week. The Coke Zero is constantly out. Diet Coke too. And they are out for hours on end. There are 5 on board- 2 in Sorrentos, 2 in the windjammer, and 1 in the sea plex.

After we ate we came back and woke the kids at 10am and made them eat.

We took a whirl on the bumper cars again. They are a lot of fun. The line moves quickly. Today they were wiping down all the railings and steering wheels between rides as well as doing around the hand rails on the walls. A warning- the hits are hard. We love the bumper cars but they are hard. Early in the week I hit head on with one of the kids and ended up with a mark on my neck, seat belt burn. Only lasted a few hours but still hurt. Also, they make an announcement that no one under 5 can ride but no checking. They have not checked ages since day 1. Also rules are supposed to be age 8 to drive alone but my 7 year old has since Day 1.

Someone in a social media group for our sailing is complaining about being quarantined. Said they are only given 4 bottles of water to last the 2 of them the first 12 hours. Then only some broth and white rice. They were threatened they can’t leave heir cabin and are being watched. Room service knows they are quarantined and won’t bring them more stuff. They asked for mashed potatoes and were denied. They said you are quarantined for 24 hours after feeling better.

We went to our Northstar appointment early at 12. Glad we did. On day 2 it was cancelled due to wind. They had a piece of paper and were writing in new appointments. Those were lost and they were taking people first come first serve. I had taken a picture of the sheet and they were not interested in using my pic. I did however let them know that we better be on that 1230 trip that I had an appointment for and we were.

I enjoyed Northstar which surprised me. I have a fear of heights. I won’t go on any amusement park rides that leave the ground. I was worried I’d chicken out but I didn’t. It was cool even if all there was to see was ocean and looking down at the pool.

We decided to go to the pool. We use the indoor one as the outdoor is packed and sexiest man competition is happening. My daughter brought her dive sticks and within a minute random kids are grabbing them without asking. Like 8 kids descend on these 6 sticks without even asking. Her mask gets kicked off so I take them away. There are a lot of kids with no adult supervision. I know this as I’ve met some of these kids are their parents through the week and the parents Are no where to be seen. Initially we had no seats but are able to grab some shortly after while in the pool. After a while we go down to flowrider to let them get in a ride. About a half hour wait in line so they only ride once. Staff are nice there and help the kids a lot.

We head back to the room to start prepping for formal night.

There is a line waiting for the doors to open at 5 for formal night. We let our staff know we’d like to be out quickly tonight to get to a show. They make it happen. Lobster tails are ok. I’m a New England girl and like Maine lobsters. These are not Maine lobsters. caprese salad is good and molten cake is ok.

We head to we will rock you. I wasn’t sure how I’d like it and the beginning had me ready to ditch it but I’m glad I stayed. I ended up enjoying it.kids didn’t go to it since it said parental advisory and we are glad we didn’t bring them due to some of the comments and innuendos. The teens drop the younger ones at kids club at 7 for us. Plenty of empty seats to see the show. They didn’t even check reservations as they said it wasn’t working.

We head back to the room to change. We know the quest is later and Want to be comfortable and prepared.

We walk through the casino and watch a little play. Take our free slot play for gold members and lucky pull. I get a T-shirt from the pull machine and we get nothing from the slot play. I’m truly surprised the casino is not as smoky as I expect. We are both pretty sensitive and are not overwhelmed.

We head to late night comedy at 1030 with Dan Wilson. He was ok. A couple funny jokes but not as funny as the guy earlier in the week. We suck out at 11 so we can head to Quest.

Quest is hilarious as always. Hubby and I are team captains. Our team is 2nd place. I know we would have been first but these women would not give up their bras. No fun. Haha. Terry Lavell is the host (Spectra) and he is so funny. We really have a good time and laugh a lot. before it began I was trying to warn a mom about the adult content. She had sat down behind us with 2 kids- about 4 and 10. She didn’t want to leave but they asked her to.

We stop to dance a few songs after in the music hall and come back to the room to crash. Ship is really rocking tonight headed back to NJ.

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I am on this cruise and can confirm norovirus. So far 3 of the 4 of us have had it on three different nights and I have heard others talking about getting sick. My daughter had it Monday night, me Tuesday and my son on Wednesday. My daughter and my cases were quite mild, but my son is pretty miserable. We have all been religiously washing our hands, but honestly, with the way this ship is set up, it is a lost cause. The real only way to control it would be if they didn’t allow you to exit your bathroom or stateroom door without washing your hands. All of the elevator and touchscreen buttons are just spreading the germs. Plus there are lots of small kids on this very full ship.

Did they quarantine you all?

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They have run out of vanilla ice cream. Only chocolate and strawberry. This might be a crisis. Just kidding

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Came to our Northstar appointment. It had been cancelled on Day 2 due to wind. Glad I took a picture of the sheet as they can’t seem to find the write in sheets that they signed us up on. It’s a mess here with them not knowing who is supposed to have appointments.

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We were on Anthem in November when there was Norovirus. Our deck had lots of cases and quarantined cabins. If there is a yellow sticker above the cabin door, that cabin is quarantined. You will also notice everything in your area is dripping disinfectant all the time and your cabin door handle is wet. We never got noro, but I got sick because of all the chemicals in the air.

I have not seen the stickers. I heard there is green stickers above doors. All of the railings are dripping and they are all over the boat. They were just cleaning the bumper cars before every ride and wiping down the railings in sea plex. The stair railings are dripping. There is employees with buckets wiping down everything constantly. I think it’s pretty bad.

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I noticed you said you dropped the kids at AO on the first day? What time did they open for drop off and do you know if the nursery was also open the first night? Thanks very much.

 

 

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It was open from 7-10pm for drop off and up till 2am for extended care at $7 an hour per child (7-10 is free) every other day it’s been 9-12 noon, 2-5 and then 7-10.

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Day 5- got us for breakfast and headed to the windjammer. They were replacing all of the tongs at 8am (changing black for red). I assume they are switching them out constantly between the 2 colors while the other is being sterilized. No salt and pepper shakers on tables- now packets you ask for.

Did hear from multiple others that they did not get the notice of norovirus and that’s concerning. We have seen them cleaning stuff down.

Headed off the boat for excursion to Atlantis. Had to meet on the pier for 915. We then stood there for almost an hour waiting. I found out later it’s because the buses were busy taking the people from the NCL Gem there. Once there they still didn’t let us go for 20 minutes. It was irritating. We lost a lot of time for an expensive excursion.

We enjoyed Atlantis a lot. The kids had fun. Everything is expensive. Some food spots do not take cash. The aquarium was awesome. We walked through it at the end to dry off on the way to the buses. They loaded us onto busses with folks from the Gem trying to get everyone back. One big long line. If I were to do it again, I’d go on my own. Too much time wasted by the shuttle folks.

Once onboard we went to dinner. Steak Diane was blah- steak was tough. Same steak as the strip loin with some gravy on it. The tiger shrimp was just ok too.

Not sure if someone got left but I know we were waiting during dinner. Captain announced they had 15 minutes and we were then leaving them. We couldn’t see from the dinning hall so not sure if it happened or not.

Dropped the kids at Adventure ocean and hubby and I went to see Spectras cabaret. He liked it a lot. What I saw was good but I’m exhausted and was falling asleep. I have not been sleeping well on the cruise. Bed is too hard for me but I like a very soft pillow top. I’m headed to bed early tonight. Lack of sleep and all the sun today has me exhausted. 2 more sea days to go.

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Day 4 continues—— once on the boat we took the kids to Trapeze school and they decided against it so they went rock climbing instead.

Had dinner. Eggplant parm was pretty good and the shrimp scampi was too.

Dropped the kids at adventure ocean- the 7 and 9 year old love it there.

Came back to the room to find a Norovirus notice with the new cruise compass. Ugh.

Hubby and I walked around and then went to family feud- watched it for a little while and then headed to watch Matt Yee again. He’s super funny. Stayed there until about 11 and then went to bed. Crew is washing down the boat.

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Day 4- got up and got ready for Coco Cay. Went to breakfast. We were supposed to be on the first tender since hubby was scuba diving. As we left breakfast the Captain announces conditions mean we cannot tender. There was not a wave in sight but knew this was possible. He says we will be in Nassau around noon to dock. We grab some deck chairs and swim for a while then head to flow rider. we have a lot of fun boogie boarding and then change to dry stuff and try to decide what we are going to do in Nassau today. We hit Johnny rockets for lunch and decide to just get off the boat and walk around. We have Atlantis tomorrow already and don’t want to spend a lot. We are told the beaches are just ok and no where to snorkel by the dive instructor. We ended up getting off and taking a horse and buggy ride around town. It’s pretty run down and no where we want to see so we get right back on the boat to hang out.

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After dinner we dropped the kids at kids club and headed to the windjammer. Dinner had been blah and tonight was Jamaican food in the WJ so we went up there and had some awesome food. Oxtails, plantains, rice and beans, beef patties. Not sure why we bothered with the MDR. My 13 yr old tried to do rider and was told his wow band was not enough and he needed his sea pass card. Apparently if you loose your card and have it replaced you need to have your wow band redone. We were not told this when getting the new card so spent another stint in the guest services. We tried to go see The Gift. Last night it had been cancelled due to rough winds and had been told it would be tonight. A ton of us were outside of the royal theatre at 845 standing around. No show. Went to guest services again- they say we are all wrong (we all apparently misheard the announcement) and it’s tomorrow night. starting to become frustrated with many issues of wrong or incomplete info from staff. I researched this cruise for a year and they are confusing me left and right.

Stopped by to see some Matt Yee again but no seats. decided to pick up the kids and then turn in and read my book.

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We headed straight to dinner. I had to ask for a manager to see if our table we had been sitting at was available. I knew no one was at it. The hostess told me no someone was sitting there but there was not. After I got a manager we got our table. Dinner was ok. Service is great. Food is eh. I had lasagna al forno. Hubby said beef short ribs were ok. daughter was not impressed by the steak they gave her. At 9 she knew it was dry and tough. Ha.

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Day 3- had breakfast and then hit the bumper cars. The line was long halfway around the rink. But there were a lot of cars being used and it went quickly. About a 15-20 minute wait. We tried to do the rock wall but it was closed due to wind. Brought the youngest 2 to the dreamworks party but they thought it was boring so we left and sat at sorrentos talking and snacking. Then we got in line to get off the boat. Thankfully we discovered that on our own as our excursion tickets said to just meet on the pier.

We took the bus to Kennedy. Took about 30 minutes and no traffic despite rocket launch schedule. We liked Kennedy. It was busy but kids found it interesting. About 4pm they scrubbed the launch and park started to clear out. We left at 6 and was back on the boat around 645.

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Day 2 Afternoon- after lunch we decided to do A Royal Mystery- it was such a fun “who done it”. It was in 270 and we got together in groups and had to figure out puzzles and get new clues. Took a little over an hour. We had fun doing that.

Dropped the 2 youngest at kids club. Then hubby and I curled up in the Hershey kiss chair and read our books.

Ship rocked all afternoon and evening. Really rough seas. Hubby and 2 kids needed to put on sea bands.

2 teens spent time playing basketball. then watching TV. Tons of teens on the boat but they say the teen stuff in the living room is lame. No one really there (lots of groups on board so thinking the kids are already paired in groups). They say the staff is not engaged either and just sit there.

My 9 year old likes kids club on Freedom better. She’s having fun in kids club but doesn’t feel like the staff here are as fun or nice. And there is only 2 in there for 50 kids. On freedom there was 5 staff in there with 20 of them. Kids club is understaffed.

We decided to try the line dancing class after reading. Lots of fun. Though crowded doing it in the small area outside of Sorrentos on the royal esplanade. We really laughed a lot doing the electric slide, wobble, and more. Instructor was good and fun.

Next we got ready quickly and went to dinner for formal night. We had 5pm reservations. Beef tenderloin was good. Hubby says seafood linguine was ok but sauce kind of bland. Same staff was nice. We like Millicent a lot.

Apple pie is horrid. It’s cold. It’s gross. We love apple pie and wanted to gag.

The line for people without reservations was long and slow from what I saw. We had my time dining and had reservations so we were good but I felt bad for folks without.

We did some formal pics after dinner and then took the younger ones to kids club.

Decided to go to La Patisserie to get a dessert since apple pie was so bad. Not much of a selection. Most of the Ben and Jerry’s flavors on menu they don’t have in stock. I got a cupcake and it was kind of dry.

Decided to go up to pool deck as the ship is seriously rocking. Outside pool was fairly quiet. A few people watching Thor. Spray from pool was crazy hitting us. Inside pool looked fun. A serious wave pool due to rough seas. Kids having fun up there. Solarium pretty quiet but there were kids running around with no sign of staff.

We swung by the Schooner and watched Matt Yees adult sing along. He was fun. good jokes and songs. Headed to pick up the young ones at 10 and brought them back to room to put them to bed. Teens returned from playing more basketball to watch TV and the younger ones.

We headed back out and watched more Matt yee. Then headed to late night comedy with Rondell Sheridan. We laughed a lot. He was pretty funny.

Headed to bed for the night. I tried to read a little but ended up feeling nauseous due to the rough seas.

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Every main dining room should have kids menus..unless this is something new. Just ask your waitstaff

We asked and the guy said no. This was for lunch.

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Day 2 morning- my husband and 13 year old did the Try Dive program and enjoyed it. My husband is a volunteer search and rescue diver and my 13 year old has been wanting to learn to scuba dive so this was a good way for him to try it before we invested in a full program.

We had breakfast in the windjammer and then tried to head to Northstar. It was too windy so they have rescheduled us to Day 6. So we headed to the indoor pool. The teens took off to hang out and do whatever. My husband and I and the little ones swam in the indoor pool. Water was cool and it was pretty crowded. Only stayed an hour. Most chairs occupied and not just towel covered but we were able to get chairs near the pool at 10am. Lucked out.

Went back to the room and changed and relaxed a little and now having lunch. We stopped by Grande and looked at the menu but nothing the little ones would eat and no kids menu so we ended up at the windjammer again. The chili is pretty good. I had a little yesterday and today with lunch. Sugar free lemon cookies are also yummy.

Captain has warned of rough seas and rockiness. Told people to take their medicine if prone to sickness. We seem to be doing ok so far but can feel the boat rocking.

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Thanks for doing a live thread on Anthem - looking forward to the rest of it!

 

We are on her for the New Years cruise and have the same category corner cabin booked (9110). We are excited for all the extra space! Glad to hear the movement isn't all that bad.

 

I would interested to hear if your kids will be participating in any of the teen club activities. My daughter turns 14 on the cruise and my son will be three weeks shy of 12 (we are hoping they let him in the teen club to be with his sister).

Yes! They will! I’ll be sure to update!

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Is this the typical week for spring break in CT? Where I am schools either do the week before or the week after Easter. I would have thought this might have been a lighter week for school breaks.

Yes it is. Also Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

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Just woke up after Day 1 yesterday and wanted to start my review so I don’t forget anything! Welcome to my little review of our Spring Break vacation in Anthem.

Hubby and I are in our early 40s from CT. We are with our 4 children, ages 15,13,9, and 7. We are in 11510 and 11508 connecting ocean view at the front of the ship.

Rooms- HUGE!! 11510 is a huge corner room with an awesome porthole window. It’s plenty big enough for the 4 kids. 11508 is also a good size with a nice big porthole as well. You can feel a good amount of movement here at the front but it’s a gentle rocking and not making us sick. The connecting hallway is pretty awesome and gives us even more room to spread out. Our room steward Berata is very nice and we like him so far!

Embarkation- got to the port about 1015 and it was busy already. Lots of people leaving still so I think that added to the chaos a little. Dropped luggage and parked. About 5 minutes in line through security. They took my sons power strip. Then another 5 minutes in line to check in. While in line to check in they announced boarding. We were near the suite access lounge so they told us to go in that way which was nice. Slow moving to get in on the gangway.

Once on we spent about 30-45 minutes at the box office theatre trying to change reservations for ifly. Once we took care of that we headed to the Windjammer for lunch. Had a nice lunch.

Next we rode the bumper cars. About 15 minutes in line waiting, not too bad. They were a ton of fun. We laughed a lot. Headed to our room and checked it out. Stopped by dining to request window seat.

We went to muster drill and sat through the videos and then headed up to sail away.

Next up we had Ifly- what a fun and awesome experience. I highly recommend it. A little tip- break your group into 2. We did this so that my husband could record and photo myself and my oldest while we did it and then we recorded him and the younger kids while they did it. It made the whole experience 2 hours doing it back to back sessions but it was worth it for the photos and videos. The youngest was scared and backed out. Staff told us if he changes his mind and decides to do it later in cruise to come find him and he’ll get him in.

Dinner was next. I had to remind them at check in of the window request. They honored it and we have a great table for the week in American Icon. Our wait staff was awesome. I had the prime rib and it was yummy. But of a rowdy party near us. I’m all for fun but one of these guys had way too much and was getting mad at someone in his group. Also barely anyone dressed nicely. Everyone dressed for the windjammer but eating in dining room. I guess I’m a little old fashioned and like to follow the guidelines.

After dinner we walked around a little and then dropped the 2 youngest at kids club. Glad we got there early. This is a kid heavy cruise with all of the northeast on break. I am sure they hit the limit and turned people away. Line was long as we left from dropping off.

Hubby and I went to the welcome aboard show. Teens took off. Cleo is the cruise director and she seems funny. The comedian Rondell Sheridan is funny. Looking forward to his whole show.

Picked up the kids and hit bed. Didn’t sleep the night before the cruise due to excitement so we turned in early.

Please let me know if you have questions and I’ll try to answer at next update.

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Boarding her tomorrow, how horrible for that entire family. Prayers he is found safe, please keep us posted

Us too. So sad...

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How was the movement in your room? We are in 11510 on the opposite side in a few weeks. Did you feel the ship movement a lot?

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I won the jackpot on the last day on freedom in July 2015. Had to split it as someone else got it too. Still walked out with 1800. Paid for the cruise.

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