Somewhat live Anthem of the Seas Spring Break 4/14/18-4/21-18

They really need to complete that dock at CocoCay. Not being able to stop there happens all the time and it does matter to your overall experience.

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 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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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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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 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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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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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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Great thank you! We purchased the BOGO for dinner the first two nights and thought the kids would have more fun playing than sitting for a long dinner.

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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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They might have changed the color of the stickers, but they were yellow on our sailing and were placed right above the cabin door if the people were quarantined. We knew our area had lots of stickers and we saw our cabin steward coming out of one cabin in a hazmat suit.:eek: We were also woken up one night by noise and talking in the corridor around 1am and it was two men in hazmat suits fogging the corridor. We came back to our cabin one afternoon to find our cabin steward washing the walls and all hard, flat surfaces in the cabin. Not sure if it was because I had gone to medical or if it was because we were directly beside two cabins that were quarantined.

If it gets really bad, they will have a crew member operating the freestyle machines and coffee in Cafe Promenade and Cafe 270 won't be self service anymore.

Hope your family stays healthy!:)

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

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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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Loving your review so far! We are also from CT (New Milford!!).

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.

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.

Any idea if the numbers of folks affected? Seems like a bigger outbreak than described. We are sailing on the next cruise and got an email stating a small number of folks have Norovirus.

They are doing an extra cleaning and asking us to board later.

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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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Posting from the other thread:

No quarantine. With my daughter, it was so mild (vomiting once with no fever) that we both assumed it was food poisoning or sea sickness. The next night, I threw up once and then was fine. At that point, I suspected it was viral, so I laid low even though I felt perfectly fine. My son has been in his room all day, but none of the the staff has enforced a quarantine even though I mentioned he was ill to the cabin steward. I am going to have him stay in until the cruise is over at this point, poor guy.

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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Hello first time posting and on the ship this Sat. Do you have a sense of how bad the norovirus is as they are delaying our check in time on Sat. Are there many quarantines? Wonder if the stewards would tell us if a cabin was quarantined or not.

Hello first time posting and on the ship this Sat. Do you have a sense of how bad the norovirus is as they are delaying our check in time on Sat. Are there many quarantines? Wonder if the stewards would tell us if a cabin was quarantined or not.

If there is a "yellow" dot sticker above the cabin door, it means someone is quarantined. Happen last year on our Anthem sailing and only increased on the following sailings in spite of the visible cleaning going on and servers giving out food and beverages in WJ.

MARAPRINCE

On the Anthem right now and have not seen any stickers, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Seeing lots of disinfecting going on, but nothing out of the ordinary. If I had not received the letter in cabin about Noro I would have never known. Quite a few are sick, though, due to rough waves

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On the Anthem right now and have not seen any stickers, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Seeing lots of disinfecting going on, but nothing out of the ordinary. If I had not received the letter in cabin about Noro I would have never known. Quite a few are sick, though, due to rough waves

 

 

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Thank you.

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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Thanks for a great live review, OP! Glad to hear that no one in your family got sick, hope you made it home safely :)

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