Anthem of the Seas- Outstanding Crew!!

We just returned from a 9 night sailing on Anthem from May 5-14, 2016. We had an absolutely wonderful trip despite a rainy day in Bermuda and a few on board hiccups! We all loved We Will Rock You and all of the awesome activities like I-fly, Northstar, Bumper Cars, Roller Skating, Flowrider, Ping-Pong, etc.

That's besides the point though, I wanted to start a thread to recognize a few of the crew members we met while on board that went above and beyond all of our expectations and were absolutely phenomenal!! If any of you had the pleasure of meeting these individuals and had the same experiences feel free to chime in! I just feel that they greatly deserve recognition for all of their hard work.

Christian Luparu was our server the first night in American Icon and we were lucky enough to have him again the second night in Grande. We then rearranged our reservations later on in the cruise so we would be able to see him one last time in American Icon! He and his wife Catalina were efficient and knowledgeable when it came to dinner and were very friendly and conversational. They were a pleasure to talk to and we learned about their home, future plans, and personal stories over the course of the cruise. Every time we saw them, even out and about in other areas of the ship, they would say high with big smiles and wave.

We also met Asta Laurinaviciute at American Icon, as she was a Head Waiter there. After a rough first night and an unruly, rude fellow passenger seated next to us, Asta went above and beyond to ensure that we had absolutely anything we could ask for for the entirety of the cruise. She exuded leadership but was funny and personable all at the same time. I loved hearing her stories and running into her throughout the ship because she was always so genuinely friendly!

Saving the BEST for last.... we met Zouhaier Brigui, a bar server in Bolero's. The first night he told us to call him "ZouZou" and after that very first night we would go out of our way to make sure we got to see him at least once a day! ZouZou was nothing short of AMAZING! He had a radiating smile and outgoing personality that always had us coming back. I enjoyed spending many hours throughout the cruise talking to him and getting to know him, learning about his home country, his past, his future ambitions, plans, and dreams. I genuinely felt like ZouZou was a new friend who just happened to work at a bar!

By day 3, we wouldn't even have to ask and he would have drinks on the way. Every day he would create a new specialty shot for us and he even went out of his way to learn how to create a layered shot after I asked for it. He had never heard of it but I showed him a picture and he had perfected it after two attempts! He was always going out of his way to make fun and creative drinks for us or anything we could dream up!

He even ran to another bar one night to find us bottled water because they ran out at Bolero's and he went to La Patissiere to get coffee to make Irish Coffee because they also did not have coffee at Bolero's.

He is an extremely dedicated and hardworking employee who I genuinely enjoyed seeing every day and he would go out of his way to say "Hi", give a high-five, or hand shake if he saw me walking through the Esplanade. ZouZou is a shining example of superior service and my entire family loved him. He made us smile, laugh, and overall feel very special. His vibrant personality, bright smile, and extraordinary service are beyond comparison and I hope many others were lucky enough to meet him as well! I could go on and on about how consistently amazing ZouZou was on a daily basis but suffice it to say whether we were on Deck 15 at the Sea Plex, Deck 16 at the Fitness center, or clear at the aft or the bow of the ship, we would always make our way down to Bolero's on Deck 4 to see ZouZou and get a drink!

Sorry for the long thread, I just really wanted to take the time to recognize the amazing crew members we were lucky enough to meet! All of the crew we met were actually wonderful, but those that I mentioned definitely stood out! Thank you for reading! :D

:cool:

It's nice to read positive comments about crew members. Can you post a little more about your experience on this ship? What was your itinerary? What type of stateroom were you in?

Thanks!

:D

I can't wait

Excellent post!! I hope that you indicate on your survey those individuals that you loved. I will be on Anthem very soon :D and will make a point to try and find them.

Any other comments on the ship or shows? Anything to make sure I do and see?

It's so nice to see positive posts like this. Thanks for sharing!

Glad to hear this. I also find that it does not matter what amenities a ship has, or what the weather is like, or even how the food is, but if the crew and staff are great, everything else does not matter very much. The personality, friendliness and quality of the crew counts for about 90% of cruise or any other vacation enjoyment.

I always like to establish my "GO TO" bartender on the first day, and once I find him or her, I lay down a good tip, and tell them that I will see them repeatedly during the cruise. On Liberty last year it was Juxhin (Eugene in english) from Albania. We would also get drinks from other bars as well, but we always seemed to take the extra steps to go to Juxhin at the Hoof & Claw pub to get our pre-dinner drinks and any other time we wanted to just sit and people watch with an extra special drink.

I will probably try to seek out ZooZoo on our Anthem cruise and hope he is still there by then.

thanks for the info.

dp

It's nice to read positive comments about crew members. Can you post a little more about your experience on this ship? What was your itinerary? What type of stateroom were you in?

 

Thanks!

Sure! Our itinerary was Bermuda, St. Maarten, San Juan, and Labadee. It was a 9 night cruise. We ended up with an obstructed view balcony, which I will be posting photos of as soon as I get the chance to get all of my photos uploaded! It was cabin 6294.

The cabins had plenty of room for both of us to unpack all of our clothing and put it away in drawers and/or hang it in the closets.

We had beautiful, sunny weather in every port except for Bermuda! The Anthem has plenty to offer to do indoors in the case of bad weather though so there was never an issue of boredom! In fact, it was difficult to try to schedule and do everything, but we did our best! I think the only thing we were not able to do was rock climbing because they were shut down 85% of the cruise due to it being too windy, as it is located on the side of the ship!

Excellent post!! I hope that you indicate on your survey those individuals that you loved. I will be on Anthem very soon :D and will make a point to try and find them.

 

Any other comments on the ship or shows? Anything to make sure I do and see?

I made sure to point out the crew members we loved on the survey! In talking with them, it was explained to us that the surveys are pretty much the only thing that matters when it comes to demotions/promotions. Even a 9 out of 10 counts as a negative 1 when it comes to scoring their performances!

I would highly recommend trying the I-fly. Even if you are nervous, it is definitely worth it and the instructor is there at all times to keep you safe!

Also, Puzzle Break was a lot of fun! We managed to solve the puzzle before time ran out haha. Northstar was also cool to experience. Both I would highly recommend making reservations for ahead of time.

I'd also say try the Flowrider.... at least the boogie boarding! It was a lot of fun! We also loved bumper cars! It was a lot of fun and brings out the kid in everyone!

If you're into stuff like dodgeball, like my other half, then they had an adults vs. crew dodgeball tournament! The SeaPlex was a fantastic space. They had ping pong, foosball, roller skating, bumper cars, basketball, dodgeball, trapeze school...etc.!

Our entire group LOVED We Will Rock You. The performers are extremely talented and we love Queen music! It's also the same performers that do The Gift later on in the week. We also liked this show, it was just a sad story.

Spectra's Caberet was.... interesting! I couldn't find any real plot or story. It just seemed like a very randomly put together show. It was entertaining, but not for everyone!

The Anthem overall is an incredibly beautiful ship. You probably already know to check out 270 and Cafe 270 has the great roast beef sandwiches and many other goodies.

It may just be me, but one of my favorite treats are the white chocolate chip and cranberry cookies! I'm addicted to them haha

Also, if you check out Spaniel Lover's awesome Anthem review you will see how to get onto the wing that can be accessed at the very lower level of the Solarium. It was cool to get out there just to see the views.

The Bionic Bar was fun to create your own one-of-a-kind drink and on the same deck (deck 5) there was a fun art fixture that reacted to your pulse when you placed your hands on the podium.

The see through glass floor was in the stairwell on deck 13, I believe at the aft of the ship. So, if you were walking down the stairs outside of Windjammer it should take you right down to it!

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer. I'm trying to remember everything we did!

 

I always like to establish my "GO TO" bartender on the first day, and once I find him or her, I lay down a good tip, and tell them that I will see them repeatedly during the cruise.

 

I will probably try to seek out ZooZoo on our Anthem cruise and hope he is still there by then.

 

thanks for the info.

dp

That is exactly what we were doing when we met ZouZou! We were trying to find a place with a good vibe and when we met him we knew he would be our go-to guy! We didn't even put down a large tip at the beginning, we were giving cash tips on drinks sporadically just because he was awesome though! haha

I hope you are able to find ZouZou and that you enjoy his company as much as we did! Have a wonderful cruise!

Glad to hear this. I also find that it does not matter what amenities a ship has, or what the weather is like, or even how the food is, but if the crew and staff are great, everything else does not matter very much. The personality, friendliness and quality of the crew counts for about 90% of cruise or any other vacation enjoyment.

Over my last couple experiences in the MDR, I've had 4 different sets of servers. 3 were amazing. 1 was borderline bad. My food was great with the 3 sets of great servers. It was subpar at best with the poor servers. Coincidence? The good staff go out of their way to pick out the good plates and not leave them sitting under a heat lamp? Either way, a happy staff member can fix almost any issue if you ask me.

What a great post! I love hearing about the crew members. I will have to seek a few of these out on our sailing in two weeks.

One of our favorite things about cruising is getting to know the staff. While it is their job to serve, so many people forget to take the time to get to know who they are and even why they do what they do...

Some have some real amazing stories... some sad... some inspiring.

It is truly the world on a ship and that for us is one of the best parts or cruising.

We can't wait to make new friends on our upcoming cruise.

It's so nice to read a positive review about the staff. I'm very excited to sail this ship and have a chance to meet some of these crew members,

I like this thread so much, I've started a Google Doc that I will have with me. I'm keeping notes of all the crew members with honorable mentions and who nominated them. Once we board, I'll keep an eye out for them, and if I see them I will tell them that I seen them mentioned and praised for their exemplary job. And those of you who mentioned them, if you wish, I will pass along a "Hi!" from you.

dp

I like this thread so much, I've started a Google Doc that I will have with me. I'm keeping notes of all the crew members with honorable mentions and who nominated them. Once we board, I'll keep an eye out for them, and if I see them I will tell them that I seen them mentioned and praised for their exemplary job. And those of you who mentioned them, if you wish, I will pass along a "Hi!" from you.

 

dp

That's awesome! If you are able to find ZouZou we would love it if you'd tell him "Hello" from Ashleigh & Sam! You could also just tell him Ashleigh said "Whatever"... it was our little inside joke! He wanted to make me a drink before we left for dinner one night, I wasn't a huge fan of the first one and told him I was going to switch to something different, and he responded "Whatever".

I looked at him and laughed and asked, "Did you just say Whatever to me?!" He promptly grabbed my hand and said "Oh, no, no, no.... not like that... I mean I will make you anything, anytime, Whatever you want!" We both had a good laugh that night and each night after as we would both use "Whatever" when talking with one another. :D Whether or not he will remember that is a totally different story! haha

That's awesome! If you are able to find ZouZou we would love it if you'd tell him "Hello" from Ashleigh & Sam! You could also just tell him Ashleigh said "Whatever"... it was our little inside joke! He wanted to make me a drink before we left for dinner one night, I wasn't a huge fan of the first one and told him I was going to switch to something different, and he responded "Whatever".

 

I looked at him and laughed and asked, "Did you just say Whatever to me?!" He promptly grabbed my hand and said "Oh, no, no, no.... not like that... I mean I will make you anything, anytime, Whatever you want!" We both had a good laugh that night and each night after as we would both use "Whatever" when talking with one another. :D Whether or not he will remember that is a totally different story! haha

Duly noted. WHATEVER it takes:p

dp

We just returned from a 9 night sailing on Anthem from May 5-14, 2016. We had an absolutely wonderful trip despite a rainy day in Bermuda and a few on board hiccups! We all loved We Will Rock You and all of the awesome activities like I-fly, Northstar, Bumper Cars, Roller Skating, Flowrider, Ping-Pong, etc.

 

That's besides the point though, I wanted to start a thread to recognize a few of the crew members we met while on board that went above and beyond all of our expectations and were absolutely phenomenal!! If any of you had the pleasure of meeting these individuals and had the same experiences feel free to chime in! I just feel that they greatly deserve recognition for all of their hard work.

 

Christian Luparu was our server the first night in American Icon and we were lucky enough to have him again the second night in Grande. We then rearranged our reservations later on in the cruise so we would be able to see him one last time in American Icon! He and his wife Catalina were efficient and knowledgeable when it came to dinner and were very friendly and conversational. They were a pleasure to talk to and we learned about their home, future plans, and personal stories over the course of the cruise. Every time we saw them, even out and about in other areas of the ship, they would say high with big smiles and wave.

 

 

We also met Asta Laurinaviciute at American Icon, as she was a Head Waiter there. After a rough first night and an unruly, rude fellow passenger seated next to us, Asta went above and beyond to ensure that we had absolutely anything we could ask for for the entirety of the cruise. She exuded leadership but was funny and personable all at the same time. I loved hearing her stories and running into her throughout the ship because she was always so genuinely friendly!

 

 

Saving the BEST for last.... we met Zouhaier Brigui, a bar server in Bolero's. The first night he told us to call him "ZouZou" and after that very first night we would go out of our way to make sure we got to see him at least once a day! ZouZou was nothing short of AMAZING! He had a radiating smile and outgoing personality that always had us coming back. I enjoyed spending many hours throughout the cruise talking to him and getting to know him, learning about his home country, his past, his future ambitions, plans, and dreams. I genuinely felt like ZouZou was a new friend who just happened to work at a bar!

 

By day 3, we wouldn't even have to ask and he would have drinks on the way. Every day he would create a new specialty shot for us and he even went out of his way to learn how to create a layered shot after I asked for it. He had never heard of it but I showed him a picture and he had perfected it after two attempts! He was always going out of his way to make fun and creative drinks for us or anything we could dream up!

He even ran to another bar one night to find us bottled water because they ran out at Bolero's and he went to La Patissiere to get coffee to make Irish Coffee because they also did not have coffee at Bolero's.

 

He is an extremely dedicated and hardworking employee who I genuinely enjoyed seeing every day and he would go out of his way to say "Hi", give a high-five, or hand shake if he saw me walking through the Esplanade. ZouZou is a shining example of superior service and my entire family loved him. He made us smile, laugh, and overall feel very special. His vibrant personality, bright smile, and extraordinary service are beyond comparison and I hope many others were lucky enough to meet him as well! I could go on and on about how consistently amazing ZouZou was on a daily basis but suffice it to say whether we were on Deck 15 at the Sea Plex, Deck 16 at the Fitness center, or clear at the aft or the bow of the ship, we would always make our way down to Bolero's on Deck 4 to see ZouZou and get a drink!

 

Sorry for the long thread, I just really wanted to take the time to recognize the amazing crew members we were lucky enough to meet! All of the crew we met were actually wonderful, but those that I mentioned definitely stood out! Thank you for reading! :D

We returned from a 12 night cruise onThe Anthem on April 30th. Absolutely loved every aspect of this awesome ship and totally agree with you that they had the absolute best staff!!!

Marg

Another outstanding waiter on Anthem: Constantin Iuga

We too just got off the Anthem, and our favourite bar person was Heidi in Michaels. She also had time for a chat and lovely smile. Heidi will be going home in about 10 days for 3 months but will be back after that to the Anthem.

High 5 to Heidi, we too just hung out in that bar.

We found everyone on the ship to be very friendly, our room stewart was amazing and his towel animals we have never seen anyone do before. Like a large crocodile that span the full width of our bed and our course he was wearing sunglasses and had the remote in his mouth. Also a very simple towel rolled and hung on both sides of the toilet with a pair of shoes attached. I also had a fit I though some was sitting on the toilet when I opened the door.

Sue and Don

We just returned from a 9 night sailing on Anthem from May 5-14, 2016. We had an absolutely wonderful trip despite a rainy day in Bermuda and a few on board hiccups! We all loved We Will Rock You and all of the awesome activities like I-fly, Northstar, Bumper Cars, Roller Skating, Flowrider, Ping-Pong, etc.

 

That's besides the point though, I wanted to start a thread to recognize a few of the crew members we met while on board that went above and beyond all of our expectations and were absolutely phenomenal!! If any of you had the pleasure of meeting these individuals and had the same experiences feel free to chime in! I just feel that they greatly deserve recognition for all of their hard work.

 

Christian Luparu was our server the first night in American Icon and we were lucky enough to have him again the second night in Grande. We then rearranged our reservations later on in the cruise so we would be able to see him one last time in American Icon! He and his wife Catalina were efficient and knowledgeable when it came to dinner and were very friendly and conversational. They were a pleasure to talk to and we learned about their home, future plans, and personal stories over the course of the cruise. Every time we saw them, even out and about in other areas of the ship, they would say high with big smiles and wave.

 

 

We also met Asta Laurinaviciute at American Icon, as she was a Head Waiter there. After a rough first night and an unruly, rude fellow passenger seated next to us, Asta went above and beyond to ensure that we had absolutely anything we could ask for for the entirety of the cruise. She exuded leadership but was funny and personable all at the same time. I loved hearing her stories and running into her throughout the ship because she was always so genuinely friendly!

 

 

Saving the BEST for last.... we met Zouhaier Brigui, a bar server in Bolero's. The first night he told us to call him "ZouZou" and after that very first night we would go out of our way to make sure we got to see him at least once a day! ZouZou was nothing short of AMAZING! He had a radiating smile and outgoing personality that always had us coming back. I enjoyed spending many hours throughout the cruise talking to him and getting to know him, learning about his home country, his past, his future ambitions, plans, and dreams. I genuinely felt like ZouZou was a new friend who just happened to work at a bar!

 

By day 3, we wouldn't even have to ask and he would have drinks on the way. Every day he would create a new specialty shot for us and he even went out of his way to learn how to create a layered shot after I asked for it. He had never heard of it but I showed him a picture and he had perfected it after two attempts! He was always going out of his way to make fun and creative drinks for us or anything we could dream up!

He even ran to another bar one night to find us bottled water because they ran out at Bolero's and he went to La Patissiere to get coffee to make Irish Coffee because they also did not have coffee at Bolero's.

 

He is an extremely dedicated and hardworking employee who I genuinely enjoyed seeing every day and he would go out of his way to say "Hi", give a high-five, or hand shake if he saw me walking through the Esplanade. ZouZou is a shining example of superior service and my entire family loved him. He made us smile, laugh, and overall feel very special. His vibrant personality, bright smile, and extraordinary service are beyond comparison and I hope many others were lucky enough to meet him as well! I could go on and on about how consistently amazing ZouZou was on a daily basis but suffice it to say whether we were on Deck 15 at the Sea Plex, Deck 16 at the Fitness center, or clear at the aft or the bow of the ship, we would always make our way down to Bolero's on Deck 4 to see ZouZou and get a drink!

 

Sorry for the long thread, I just really wanted to take the time to recognize the amazing crew members we were lucky enough to meet! All of the crew we met were actually wonderful, but those that I mentioned definitely stood out! Thank you for reading! :D

OMG we had Cristian and Catalina when we sailed in April...They are the very best...my daughter and her boyfriend are meeting them in Boston when Anthem is in port and showing them around our city...They define what cruising is all about...meeting people from different cities/countries and becoming friends..

OMG we had Cristian and Catalina when we sailed in April...They are the very best...my daughter and her boyfriend are meeting them in Boston when Anthem is in port and showing them around our city...They define what cruising is all about...meeting people from different cities/countries and becoming friends..

That's awesome!! I hope they all have a wonderful time, they were truly great people! Sadly, I don't think they will ever be visiting Erie, PA! haha At least not from Anthem! :D

I made sure to point out the crew members we loved on the survey! In talking with them, it was explained to us that the surveys are pretty much the only thing that matters when it comes to demotions/promotions. Even a 9 out of 10 counts as a negative 1 when it comes to scoring their performances!

 

I would highly recommend trying the I-fly. Even if you are nervous, it is definitely worth it and the instructor is there at all times to keep you safe!

Also, Puzzle Break was a lot of fun! We managed to solve the puzzle before time ran out haha. Northstar was also cool to experience. Both I would highly recommend making reservations for ahead of time.

 

Our entire group LOVED We Will Rock You. The performers are extremely talented and we love Queen music! It's also the same performers that do The Gift later on in the week. We also liked this show, it was just a sad story.

Spectra's Caberet was.... interesting! I couldn't find any real plot or story. It just seemed like a very randomly put together show. It was entertaining, but not for everyone!

 

The Anthem overall is an incredibly beautiful ship. You probably already know to check out 270 and Cafe 270 has the great roast beef sandwiches and many other goodies.

It may just be me, but one of my favorite treats are the white chocolate chip and cranberry cookies! I'm addicted to them haha

 

Also, if you check out Spaniel Lover's awesome Anthem review you will see how to get onto the wing that can be accessed at the very lower level of the Solarium. It was cool to get out there just to see the views.

 

The Bionic Bar was fun to create your own one-of-a-kind drink and on the same deck (deck 5) there was a fun art fixture that reacted to your pulse when you placed your hands on the podium.

 

The see through glass floor was in the stairwell on deck 13, I believe at the aft of the ship. So, if you were walking down the stairs outside of Windjammer it should take you right down to it!

 

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer. I'm trying to remember everything we did!

We are sailing the same itinerary in July. Thank you for pointing out the highlights that you discovered, and we will definitely seek out ZouZou.

One quick question: Did you find long waiting times for the activities like the iFly, even with your reserved time? Also, is it ever possible to just "show up" at these places and get a chance to take the ride?

We are sailing Anthem in Nov and we are looking forward to it. Thanks so much for your comments - the staff makes or breaks a cruise. We need to hear more about specific staff here on these boards when they make our days truly special. We tend to hear only the negative comments about Anthem for whatever reason.

Thanks!

We are sailing the same itinerary in July. Thank you for pointing out the highlights that you discovered, and we will definitely seek out ZouZou.

One quick question: Did you find long waiting times for the activities like the iFly, even with your reserved time? Also, is it ever possible to just "show up" at these places and get a chance to take the ride?

You should be able to find him! He just told me yesterday that he will still be on Anthem until at least January/February 2017! We are debating possibly switching our Harmony 2017 cruise to a Southern Caribbean Anthem 2017 cruise. :D

We did not encounter long wait times with our reservations. Example: Our reserved I-Fly was 3:40-4:40. They ask you to show up 5 minutes before your reserved time and we were taken into the small room to watch the video at about 3:45! From there it was approx. a 3-4 minute video, you get some instructions and then everyone has to get their goggles, jumpsuits, and helmets. They had a lot of appointments that day because earlier in the week a lot had been cancelled due to water getting in the wind tunnel from the rain... so after getting suited up we did have to sit for maybe 5-10 minutes and wait for the previous time slot to finish but it was nothing major! The experience is definitely worth the small wait!

Another example: As I mentioned, earlier in the week I-Fly appointments were cancelled... our initial reservation was one of those on Day 4! We happened to see some reservations pop up on Day 7 after returning from Labadee so we ran up to the I-Fly area at like 4:10 to see if we could get into the 4:20 time slot. They scanned our cards and put our names on the list and then we just had to wait until 4:20 and it was the same process as with an actual reservation!

MAKE SURE you wear tennis shoes. You can't go in with flip flops or lose shoes. They will also make you take off any bracelets, necklaces, earrings (studs are allowed), watches, etc. They have little cubby bin/lockers you can leave stuff in but if you aren't comfortable doing so, plan ahead and leave it in your cabin or with a traveling partner!

I know the instructor did say that they had Stand By all day long on the last two sea days... we never went back to try and get into it again so I can't really say how long you may wait standing in an actual stand by line! We just happened to get really lucky and noticed two open spots pop up on the Royal IQ app and when we got up there they told us someone had cancelled but there was no one else standing around in a stand by line because we had all just gotten back from Labadee with an all aboard time at 3:30!

With all that said... I would highly, highly recommend making a reservation earlier in the week. That way if something should happen and it gets cancelled you have plenty of time to work around it! Also, if that should happen... I would recommend checking out the cruise compass to see if I-Fly has operating hours somewhat close to right after an all aboard time at port and you might get lucky and sneak in as well!

We were really happy to get to do it twice (no extra charge)!

We also had a reservation for North Star and just showed up like 5 minutes or so before our reservation. Everyone was weighed, which took approx 5 minutes, and then we all walked up the winding staircase and got on!

There was a standby line forming at that point in time already and we were the first reservation of the operating hours.

Again, I'm sure certain times are more popular than others but I would just suggest making a reservation.

If you have any other questions, I will do my best to answer them!

Happy Cruising!! :D