MonaCK

We will be stopping at Port Canaveral as a port of call for the Anthem on Christmas Day this year.

Kennedy Space Center is an option, but I am not sure that I want to go there (been there several times over the years).

Will anything in Cocoa Beach be open?

Should we rent a car?

I know this is an older thread - I was gold with Mlife due to to being diamond with RCCL.. but when I logged into Mlife today I saw I was downgraded to sapphire. Does anyone know if they are still honoring this? And has anyone had luck doing the upgrade at Borgata?

That tour looked exciting so I went to their website and saw it consisted of all sea food which I do not eat. ☹️

Like Bob, that was not our experience. We had conch fritters and conch chowder, otherwise it was as described by Bob above. We also had a couple of cocktails. And rum cake.

You can also let them know that you have food allergies/aversions and they will accommodate as they can.

Just off the Anthem this morning.

We had a WONDERFUL time. However, we feel now we need an Anthem break ;) We have now spent 17 days on this ship, and will be back on her, but probably not until next year at the earliest.

A few thoughts:

* The service this time around was among the best we have EVER had on a ship. We had main dining (5:30pm) in Chic at table 182. Our team was ON IT. We were out of the room before 7 every night, and sometimes as early as 6:30.

* We did not do specialty dining this time around - when we were on for the holiday in December we did all of the restaurants, so did not feel the need to do it this trip. We did do the bottomless brunch and galley tour yesterday. The food was ok - but the same as what we could get in the main dining room. I guess I was sort of hoping it would include a sampler of specialty dining foods. I'm not sure we would do this again.

* Girl Named Jake was the piano bar entertainer. She is INCREDIBLY talented and hope to see her again on another cruise ship.

* We had fun at karaoke. However, it was a bit bizarre that many of us didn't realize we were in a contest until we got a call the afternoon of the finals letting us know we were in the finals. ;) I came in 1st singing "Where the Boys Are". My husband took 3rd with "Baby Got Back". It was a blast.

* We saw all of the shows in December. The only one we repeated this cruise was Spectra's Cabaret. It was just as good the second time around, even with a short technical glitch.

* Entertainment overall was... odd. There was a TON of trivia (our team actually took 3rd for the progressive which was 2pm every day). There were periods where there was a lot to do at the exact same time... or nothing at all. There was a lot of music around the ship, which was great. We really enjoyed Led Zepagain (ironically, they were ALSO the tribute band on our December cruise). I wish that the casino had more low level limit tables in the non smoking section. I didn't get to pay black jack all week because I couldn't get near a table. In the end, that probably saved me money, but... ;)

* The $10 sale is a LIE. Meaning, they will tell you it's for 1 hour only. It's not. It's all day. I promise. It's not worth waiting in line for.

* The transportation to and from Universal was spot on and on time. It's the only way I would do a park with this little time in port. I've historically rented a car at Port Canaveral, but can't do it when we are only there for 9 hours. If we do the cruise again next March when we are in port for the entire day, I might consider renting a car to drive around orlando a bit.

* I'm not a fan of tender ports. We had #25, and waited in no line going over for a little while to Cococay. We were lucky enough to get a tender coming back very easily. We were only over at cococay for about an hour and came back to enjoy the empty ship.

* I am also not a fan of Nassau. However, we booked a food tour with Tru Bahamian Food Tours that I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone who is a foodie and looking for something different to do

We have 3 more cruises booked in the upcoming year. August we are back on the Celebrity Summit, but then we are giving Harmony a try in December (maybe... still need to work out if I can get the time off for that). And right now I have a return trip on the Anthem booked for next March.

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask any questions - I am happy to answer if I can.

I do hope you make it there tomorrow. CocoCay was one definitely one of the highlights of our Cruise. Except that my shoulders and back are still peeling :cool: The Kids and I did the Scuba Diving Excursion and my wife and MIL did the Parasailing. They both said they would absolutely do parasailing again. They loved it.

 

In Nassau, we just walked to the Pirate Republic brewery and had a fw great beers. If you have any Hop Heads in your groupe. The Black IPA was rated at 83 ibu if I recall correctly. Hopheads will know what that means :beer-mug:

 

dp

Someone on another thread mentioned that they headed to Nassau and are overnighting there so it'll still be Nassau tomorrow.

The Cruise Director is Dru.

 

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Yay! We had Dru in December and he was awesome! I'm glad he's back. :D Very personable.

great review. i'm sad about north star. do you think on a 9 day december cruise they may go over the side?

10 day cruise last december over the christmas holidays, and north star did not go over the side of the ship, only up and down.

Following along, keep the info coming, we board the day you disembark :-)

So do we! Have a great week. :D

thanks to OP for the great review. it helped me choose my 1st anthem booking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i never did a holiday cruise but it seems soooo crazy to have them charge for additional things that are normally free (tables at two70)

 

 

 

regarding getting off the ship, ive been in NYC and there you want to pay the porter to bypass the long customs line and take your stuff to your car. is it the same setup in NJ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in my limited reading so far i had not gleaned this. so are you saying i cannot try any other dining rooms other than what they assign me? i'm assuming this is chic/grand/american/silk

Yes. You can pay the porter and bypass the line. Best $20 we spent for the trip.

The food is the same in all the dining rooms.

We were on the Anthem for the holiday sailing. We had early seating, and had a table in Grande every night. We were told that if folks don't come to their regular seating for dinner (if they are in specialty dining or at the windjammer that night) that they use Grande and Silk as overflow restaurants for My Time.

What was the earliest that you observed people debarking from the ship? Were taxis standing by ready to receive passengers leaving the ship? I ask because my wife and I are scheduled for 2 cruises- The Anthem from 2- 9 April and the Norwegian Getaway (Port of Miami) from the 9-16 April. As such, we have a tight window to fly to MIA or FLL between cruises. We will self assist our own luggage and standby near the gangway to be one of the first off the ship. There are a few available flights, however I would like to take the earliest flight from Newark to FLL, one which departs at 8am...if possible.

I don't think this is possible. Sorry. I would rethink this plan if you are not past final payment.

Thanks for the review!!!

 

We were on Anthem last New Year's. Turned off for two reasons doing it again. We really enjoyed Dynamic Dining and we didn't like them doing reserved seating champagne/table packages in most of the venues on New Year's Eve. They claimed they were limited, but you couldn't find a seat on the whole lower level in 270. Seem to us the were really breaking it off after already paying a huge premium in the cruise fare for this week.

 

Were they still selling the champagne/table packages in the venues for NYE?

 

Thanks!

270 was for VIPs only. They sold every table in there this year. There were also tables available for sale on 5 overlooking the Esplanade. My husband and I did not reserve anything, and were able to find great seats overlooking the Esplanade or the balloon drop. Tables started at $200, and went way up from there...

Thanks for the review.

 

When you arrived at the port in Bayonne, did you guys park and drag your bags or drop your bags off and hen park the car in the garage?

 

Still trying to figure out what is the best thing to do with a 5 & 8 year old.

We drove to the pier, dropped our bags, and then found a spot in the garage. With kids, I would probably do the bag drop and have one parent stay with the kids while the other goes and finds a spot. The garage is very close to the terminal. We had a porter take care of the bags when we got off the ship, and she met us on the ground level of the parking garage to load the bags after we got the car. VERY easy.

I got married on the celebrity summit in May of this year!

royal weddings can be a bit of a headache to work with - but if you stay on top of them they are responsive.

We got married in port in Bayonne so that we could have friends and families join us for the wedding, and then we sailed to Bermuda with 52 other people. It was a TON of fun.

We would do it again in a heartbeat.

Feel free to PM or email if you are looking for any additional info. Happy to help if I can!

The ship is beautiful and spotless. We really had a wonderful family trip!!!

 

 

 

My overall reason for giving 4 stars instead of 5 stars is for the reasons below. Enjoy reading and please contact me if you need any other info!

 

 

 

We were in a balcony cabin (#9570) and had our kids (age 4 & 6) sleep on the pull out couch. It was great to have the angled larger balcony since there wasn't much space in the cabin with the four of us. I was under the impression that the sofa bed would get folded up each day to make more room --- However, it was left open for the entire cruise causing a very cramped cabin. With that being said - we hardly used the cabin so it wasn't much of an issue. However, I would seek out a larger cabin or a different set up (perhaps 2 adjoining cabins?) -- but only if the price made sense. Please note that the beds are super firm. We asked our cabin attendant to put a topper on it, and she did - which helped a little bit.

 

 

 

The public areas of the ship seemed crowded and cramped at times, but those crowded areas were easy to avoid. The Esplanade area of shops was a traffic flow nightmare and there were usually people wall-to-wall unless it was first thing in the morning. Again - this was easy to avoid, but worth noting.

 

 

 

Having 3 pools (one of which is adults only) was GREAT. This greatly dispersed guests and we were always able to find a lounger or two on the deck. If you prefer a chair (or group of chairs) close to the pool you will have to wake up very early (before 8am) and put personal belongings on chairs. Chair hogs were in full effect and the staff would not move these belongings even if the chair was not occupied for 30 minutes or more. So, you have to "play the game" if you would like a chair right by one of the pools.

 

 

 

The Sunshine Bar in the solarium was wonderful. One of the bartenders (from Ukraine, but I can't remember her name) would make the most delicious protein/banana/granola/almond smoothies for me each morning and they were WONDERFUL! (The smoothies are included on the Royal Replenish drink package.)

 

 

 

Dining was hit or miss. We ate in our main dining room Chic for 7 out of 10 nights. The dining staff worked very hard to accommodate everyone and really wanted everyone to have a positive dining experience. With that being said, the food was hit or miss. Sometimes the main dining room food was amazing, and sometimes it was simply not good. The positive meals definitely outweighed the bad ones, though.

 

 

 

We ate breakfast daily in 270. It was never crowded and the coffee was so much better here than in the other areas of the ship. The coffee barista here was amazing. He would make the most beautiful cappuccinos for me each morning.

 

 

 

Windjammer was always packed. Too many people all in one spot for my liking, so I never ate here. Plenty of other places to eat. 270 was great for a quick lunch. The dining room Grande had a really nice salad bar and sit-down lunch options too.

 

 

 

We ate in Chops twice and Jamie's once. Both restaurants are exemplary.

 

 

 

Overall, service on the ship was great. Yes, there were a few staff members that didn't seem to have much personality, but none of them were rude or surly. Only one staff member rubbed us the wrong way - I can't remember his name but he was one of the "Next Cruise" staff members. He was very annoyed that we were asking questions about future cruises and and he really didn't want to give us multiple price quotes on different future sailings. So, we left the desk and came back later in the day and worked with another agent who was very helpful and beyond nice. We ended up putting down a deposit for a future cruise with him. All other employees were really great.

 

 

 

I read many reviews on Cruise Critic bashing the bar staff on the ship. We never had a negative experience. Some of the bars are grossly understaffed (only one bartender during busy times) but that is not a knock on the bartenders, but on overall management. All alcohol is strictly measured out, so you don't have to worry about "short" pours.

 

 

 

We were on the cruise for Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years. All of the holidays were lovely and the cruise really tried to make it festive for the holidays with special event. They had menorah lighting ceremony every night, Santa giving gifts to all children on Christmas day, big NYE parties in multiple locations on the ship. (To note: even if your family doesn't celebrate Christmas they had a time during the day for the kids to pick up their holiday gift without Santa too!)

 

 

 

Cleanliness is paramount on this ship. They are constantly reminding people to wash their hands with a cute music video and jingle that is played over and over and over and over. I loved it! We had a very bad experience at a Beaches resort last year with a norovirus outbreak that was horrendous. The amount of cleaning and hand washing on this ship is so far and above anything we encountered at Beaches. I really think the Anthem staff is doing everything they can to minimize the spread of germs.

 

 

 

Entertainment was good. We Will Rock You had a terrible plot, but the music was fantastic. Even my 4 and 6 year old kids loved it! The live music that was on the ship was good but not great. My husband went to the Led Zepplin cover band and he said they were amazing. The ventriloquist was awesome. The house band "Synergy" is exactly what you would envision as an old-school house cruise ship band. We really enjoyed them.

 

 

 

My husband and I are in our late-30s and we traveled with my in-laws (early 70's) and our kids (ages 4 and 6). It's hard to make all generations happy --- and I think the Anthem did this very very well! Our 6 year old had a ton to do (iFly, rock wall, trapeze, bumper cars) but there was not much for the 4 year old as far as activities. However, she really enjoyed the kids' Adventure Ocean program. The camp staff didn't seem to have the best personalities, but my daughter was happy and requested to go play there, so I can't complain :)

 

 

 

As far as motion on the ship - yes, we felt motion at times. None of us ever got full-on sea sick, but our son got very nauseous one day when it was particularly rocky. We gave him a kids Dramamine and within a hour he said he felt better. He's not a kid who complains about that stuff, so the Dramamine must have worked. I found that taking "Sailors Secret" ginger pills helped me a ton. There was only one day out of the 10 that really bothered me - I think it was the 2nd sea day. Of course, this all depends on the wind and sea conditions.

 

 

 

Our North Star ride was cancelled for high winds and we got rescheduled to Day 10. However, when Day 10 rolled around, it was canceled due to high winds again. BOO!!! Of course, this was out of everyone's control. Oh well. Now we'll just have to sail on the Anthem again in order to try it out!!! ;)

 

 

 

As far as activities, you MUST pre-reserve your activities before getting on the Anthem!!!!!! I can't stress this enough. There are simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. Period. For the activities that you cannot pre-reserve such as bumper cars, rock climbing, trapeze -- you MUST show up 20 to 30 minutes before the "opening time" or else you will be waiting on a very very long line. Again, simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. This annoyed me, but my son and husband didn't really care so they would just show up half an hour early and hang out before the activity opened up. They both got to try all of the special "adventurous" activities on the ship except for the FlowRider because my son did not meet the height requirement :)

 

 

 

The Royal IQ app is a joke. Do NOT spend the $7.95 for text messaging. It simply is not reliable and does not work over half of the time. The phone calling to another passenger w/ the Royal IQ app does not work. Ever. The only thing the app is good for is to change/view/cancel any dining or activity reservations. Also good to view the daily Cruise Compass so you don't have to carry around the printed paper.

 

 

 

You must check your account statement and make sure you get credit for any reservations you pre-reserved and canceled. We found many many errors on our account and had to have them rectified. RCCL's pre-cruise website is absolutely terrible and we had many errors on our account. Just be on top of it.

 

 

 

We would not hesitate to go on the Anthem again. We live in NJ and it was so easy to get to the port and back. Bayonne has everything down to a science and both embarkation and disembarkation was totally smooth.

Hi neighbor! We were on this sailing also, and enjoyed it so much we are possibly going back on in a couple of months.

Just had to laugh because we were in 9572. [emoji3]

So glad you had a great time also. I think your review was completely spot on.

Am onboard the anthem now.

Happy to report tribute bands are definitely back.

I was just informed that this is the entertainment lineup for the 10-day holiday cruise on Anthem (12/23 - 1/2), so they doesn't seem to be cutting much, and there's a tribute band as well:

 

AJ Jamal, Comedian

Tommy Green Jr, Pub Guitarist

Finis Henderson, Impressionist

Ronn Lucas, Ventriloquist

Led Zepagain, Tribute Act

Stephani Parker, Vocalist

Darrell Joyce, Comedian

Rick Novell, Juggler

Is that from sending an email? Sounds like they were just reconfiguring a bit, or are heeding suggestions.

Looks like a great lineup to me!

I too am on the holiday sailing.

I was not a fan of dynamic dining (experienced it on the Quantum) so I'm glad that we are back to traditional dining.

I have absolutely NO doubt that there will be plenty to do on the ship - hopefully the OP will go into the cruise with an open mind. I know that I will be!

I had the deluxe beverage package and used it there as well as at the Patisserie which served Starbucks drinks but was not a stand alone Starbucks. So the deluxe package will get you Starbucks drinks on Anthem since it is not a branded Starbucks store. I believe I saw the coffee card advertised at that location as well. I can ask my friend. She is on Anthem now and I think she was planning on buying it. One thing I noticed was that the fine print said it did not include the 18 percent gratuity so I don't know if that will get charged as well which would reduce the overall discount. I don't think the prices I quoted included that either but for me with my package it didn't matter. I will ask my friend what is happening to her on Anthem and update.

That would be awesome. Its showing up in my cruise planner now for my Anthem cruise next month - for $31 plus $5.50 in service charge. Trying to figure out if it would be worth it for us...

Can it be used at any of the specialty drink stands or just at the windjammer?

Also in my cruise planner. Any insight? Is it worth it?

Bottle of champagne gets you a table and an unofficial reservation...the was no shortage of chairs we had 7 at one point around the table.

The whole thing was very unclear and we never realised until the night BUT basically if you hadn't bought a bottle of champagne you couldn't get a table as all the bottles had been placed on them.

I hope this makes sense :)

Makes total sense. Thanks for the reply :)

Mona

Yes RCL sell champagne packages all week. Quite pushy on the sales. We had a drinks package so thought why bother.

Came out of dinner and every table was reserved with ice bucket of champagne on.

Spoke to our regular waiter in pub he explained situation bought a bottle(as seemed no choice) & with that the pub was extended as a table was brought over from Sorrentos in prime spot just in front of bridge.

Had a really good night was just $100 I had not budgeted for....at least though the £ was better value in New Year.

Was the $100 per table, or per person?

And do you think that they'd let you exchange the champagne for something else? I -hate- champagne...

My newsletter says 20% off if you purchase in advance.

I don't see anything in the flyer about 30-40% off for purchasing onboard...

Sorry - if prevailing rate is higher than what an agent's group rate is, there is no way that RCCL is going to honor it. This is why while price is important, it's not the most important factor when booking a cruise. If you don't trust the agent, do not book with them. It's worth it to pay more money to use an agent that you trust. Otherwise, if there is a problem, you will have big issues.