Anthem of the Seas - Review - Southern Caribbean - Jan 28, 2018 - Feb 9, 2018

Bedroom pictures:

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Few more bedroom pictures:

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Bathroom pictures:

Balcony pictures:

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The cabin is nice but a bit choppy/fragmented with the wall separating the living room from the bedroom.

The bathroom with the double sinks is very nice and roomy.

There is a lot of storage (and we both overpack) but the storage is also broken up with some in the living room and some in the bedroom.

I’m not complaining about the room - it’s a great cabin and we would totally book the grand suite again.

We unpacked the carry on bags and I looked at the various papers that were left in the cabin. I took pictures of some of them.

Diamond Plus onboard savings:

Diamond Plus Drinks

Diamond Plus Letter:

Officers:

Diamond Plus Tours invite:

There was a separate book that listed the various suite benefits in it that I forgot to take a picture of. Each day the dining room dinner menu would be left in our cabin in case we wanted to order dinner in.

Day 1 Compass and planner:

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We walked around the ship a bit. I wanted to get pictures of the kids club for a friend of mine who will be traveling with her daughter soon but they don’t allow pictures for safety reasons.

The muster drill was at 2:30 in American Icon so we headed over there. It’s nice that the muster is held indoors with people seated comfortably rather than when we used to line up outside. The movie is a bit silly and I’m not sure people would know what to do in a real emergency.

We walked through the casino and saw the host to introduce ourselves an get our stickers put on our cards. The casino VIP stickers give us free drinks in the casino and waives the fee for taking money out against your seapass in the casino (otherwise it’s 5%).

Back at our cabin the luggage arrived so we got unpacked and met our cabin steward, Ruelo. I forgot to mention that with the papers on the desk we each had our letter with the code for the internet.

We went out to the top deck to walk around a bit and watch sail away. I’m always amused by traveling under the Verrazano Bridge. It was kind of chilly out so we didn’t linger too long.

We had dinner at Chic with the group tonight. It was nice to see everyone since we haven’t seen them since last year’s Anthem cruise (January 2017).

For appetizers I had the friend shrimp. Scott had the friend shrimp and a shrimp cocktail.

For entrees I had the prime rib and Scott had the turkey

For dessert I had the berry cobbler and Scott had the cheesecake.

We both had soda - Sprite for me and Diet Coke for Scott.

The food was OK, but I’ve found that the first night menu is usually one of the weavers ones.

Brenda gave us a packet that had a door sticker, some valentine’s candy, and a list of everyone’s cabin number. I went to drop that in the cabin and couldn’t figure out how to turn the lights on. I was able to turn the bathroom lights on but not the rest of the cabin. Luckily, Ruelo (our room steward) as in the hallway so he showed me how to work the lights.

We went to the casino for a little while.

We went to the Welcome Aboard show at 8:30. They had two showings of the Welcome Aboard show tonight and it was packed. The comedian, Paul Okata, was funny.

We went back to the casino for a few hours.

We were up and down at the 3 card poker table and the poker slots.

This was a pretty good hand.

We stopped for a slice of pizza at the promenade before heading up to our cabin. Scott was still hungry so he ordered room service. He ordered a hot dog and fries. He enjoyed it very much and kept saying that it was a great hot dog.

I didn’t take many pictures tonight.

Forgot to mention, at some point during the night a fruit plate was delivered. Probably when we were at dinner or the show. We didn’t order it, it just arrived.

We ended up snacking on it for the next few days.

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Thank you, Noreen! Can you also post the Compass for days 2-12?

will be following since we are planning on visiting some of these islands during our Oct Freedom cruise.

Thoroughly enjoying your review Noreen!

We board the Anthem on Sunday.

Following! Great review so far!

Looking forward to how you made out in St Marteen

Day 2 Compass and Planner

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Monday 1/29/18 - At Sea

I was very confused about the time change. I thought we moved ahead now, but it’s not until Monday night into Tuesday.

We woke up late today - about 7:05 and thought it was 8:05 (but it was really 7:05 after I figured out I was changing times the wrong day).

We went to the gym and it was pretty crowded.

I stopped at the Patisserie and got an iced caramel macchiato and a few bottles of water. The barista, Sam, is a great guy. We had a nice chat. Going forward he remembered me each morning when I came down after the gym.

We showered and got dressed and that’s when we realized that the time change doesn’t happen until tomorrow.

We went to Coastal Kitchen for breakfast. We both had French toast and bacon. Scott also had some slices of smoked salmon. I had a coke while Scott had freshly squeezed orange juice.

I forgot to take pictures of our breakfast food.

We chatted with a nice couple from Queens at breakfast. They are also in a Grand Suite and had the same comments about it that we do. They also mentioned that the Concierge Lounge was packed last night and it took them an hour to get a drink. They reminded us about the Suite Get Together At Vintages and that they planned to mention how overcrowded it was last night.

We walked down the Esplanade and I had Scott sit in one of the cute teepee chairs.

We ran into Brenda and Charlie so we chatted with them for a bit.

The Suite get together was started at Vintages and we didn’t plan to go originally thinking it would be all pretentious and not really our scene but we saw the couple from breakfast and ended up stopping in. I was actually very nice. The Captain came around to say hello to people. I ran into people I knew from cruise critic for years. Scott was surprised when one of the ladies mentioned that she follows me on cruise critic. He commented later that it made it sound like I was a celebrity so he teased me about that.

At 12 noon we went to the casino to play in the slot tournament. This was one of the qualifying rounds. Scott came in 1st place and I came in 5th place. The finale will be the final sea day. If they get at least 50 new participants (not people rebuying) the prize is a free cruise where you play in that slot tournament and that winner wins $50,000. If they don’t have enough people the prize for winning the finale on this sailing will be $500. We have to keep an eye on the leader board throughout the trip to see if we get bumped off.

We stopped back at the cabin and it was windy out. The seas are slightly rough but not too bad.

Northstar isn’t working in the windy weather.

At 2pm we went to the Schooner Bar for movie trivia. The movies were all rally old shows so we didn’t know any of them.

We looked at ship pictures that we took so far since we were near the photo gallery and some of them came out cute.

Monday 1/29/18 - At Sea - Continued

We stopped at the Bionic Bar and had a drink made. A Merry Cranberry which is tonic and cranberry juice. I was taking pictures as the robot makes the drink and then took one as it slid the drink towards me. I didn’t take the drink out of the slot quick enough (too busy taking pictures) that it went back. Scott laughed at me, but it came right back. The drink wasn’t bad, but was sort of tart.

We played in the casino for a little while.

Scott wanted to take a bath in the bathtub in the cabin so we went back upstairs. A cheese platter was delivered to our cabin. This wasn’t something we ordered, it just showed up.

We both got showered and dressed for dinner.

We asked someone to take a picture of us as it’s hard to get pictures of both of us together since I’m usually busy taking the pictures.

Monday 1/29/18 - At Sea Continued

We had dinner at Coastal Kitchen

There is a classic side of the menu that is the same every day.

Then there is the daily menu that changes

Since I can only put up to 6 pictures per post, I am breaking this up into several posts trying to group the pictures as logically as I can

Monday 1/29/18 - At Sea - Continued

For appetizers we both had the lobster cocktail.

Our waiter recommended we try the chicken leg confit so he brought one of those for us to share

For entree I had the veal tenderloin

Scott had the crab and shrimp crusted pollock

.

We both enjoyed our food. The chicken leg confit which we wouldn’t have ordered was actually pretty good.

I had Sprite and Scott had Diet Coke

Monday 1/29/18 - At Sea - Continued

It was time for dessert - the menu has new things at the top each day and then regular desserts that are available all the time

I had the chocolate bar

Scott had the Mascarpone Cheesecake.

I liked his cheesecake better than my chocolate bar. The chocolate bar was good but so rich.

We were supposed to see The Gift tonight but it was cancelled due to the rough weather. I think Scott was happy since he didn’t really want to go see it. We have seen it a few times already so while I enjoy it, it’s OK not to see it again.

We went to the casino. We played Let It Ride and 3 Card Poker at the tables. I also played some poker slot machines. Scott found this cute penny slot with Ghosts so he played that for a while. It was more something he started playing thinking it was cute and silly and made lots of noise but he ended up winning on it.

We went back to the cabin around midnight and had our first towel animal.

Scott said he was feeling lucky so went back to the casino for a bit. He came back around 2am and was hungry so ordered room service. He is loving the hot dogs from room service. I forgot to take a picture of them.

We turn the clocks ahead tonight (not last night like I originally thought).

PLANNING

 

While we were on the Anthem January 2017, I wanted to book Anthem for January 2018 with the group but we held off for two main reasons. We have the Celebrity Reflection booked for April 2018 and Scott wasn’t sure if he could get away both January and April for longer cruises (12 nights and 11 nights). Also, there were no suites available.

 

During our Anthem January 2017 cruise, we became Casino Royale VIPs. I kept mentioning the Anthem cruise and saying maybe we should see what type of casino rates we could get.

 

When Scott still didn’t seem too interested, I looked into some other ideas for a winter trip. I talked about doing one of the Run Disney events in February 2018. Maybe we would start with something short like a 5K run.

 

While he initially seemed interested in the run, a day or so later he said we should look into the cruise as long as we’ll have some flexibility to cancel if it’s not going to work.

 

On Thursday 3/30/17, I called Casino Royale, conferencing in Brenda (my friend and travel agent who will also be on the sailing) and asked about the cruise. The only suite available is a Grand Suite Guarantee. The price was very good. And the consultant mentioned that as it gets closer there may be additional rewards or money off available and we can keep checking. The price won’t go up but could go down. Since it’s a Grand Suite Guarantee, the minimum we’ll get is a Grand Suite. I don’t want to get my hopes up that we’ll get anything except the Grand Suite.

 

On June 6, 2017, I received a voice mail message from Brenda (friend and travel agent) asking if I’ve checked my January reservation lately. I knew that had to mean that my cabin was assigned so I anxiously waited for the people that just walked into my office to leave so I could log on and check. We have cabin #8634, a Superior Grand Balcony Suite.

 

The Itinerary:

 

The Anthem Itinerary is as follows:

 

Sunday - Leave from Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne, New Jersey

 

Monday - At Sea

 

Tuesday - At Sea

 

Wednesday - San Juan, Puerto Rico - 3pm-11pm

 

Thursday - St Maarten - 10:30am-7pm

 

Friday - Antigua - 7am-5pm

 

Saturday - St Lucia - 7am-6pm

 

Sunday - Barbados - 7am-4pm

 

Monday - St Kitts - 10am-6pm

 

Tuesday - At Sea

 

Wednesday - At Sea

 

Thursday - At Sea

 

Friday - Return to Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne, New Jersey

 

 

Transportation:

We live in Northern New Jersey (Bergen County) so will drive down to Bayonne for the cruise and park at the pier.

Following.

This will be my retirement cruise with my hubby. Going February 3, 2019.

Aileen

Great review. We will be on the Anthem in Sept 2019.

Ken and Noreen

Day 3 Compass and Planner

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Tuesday 1/30/18 - At Sea

I went to the gym just after 6 this morning. Scott didn’t come with me today.

After my workout I took a few pictures

The inside pool

The solarium

The Outside pool

A Life Ring

The Esplanade

I stopped at the Patisserie and Sam already remembered me. I switched my order slightly and went with the Iced White Chocolate Mocha (no whipped cream) along with a few bottles of water. That became my standing order each morning.

Tuesday 1/30/18 - At Sea - Continued

After showering and getting dressed, I thought we should skip breakfast since we have our sushi class at 10am. Scott said he wanted to get some breakfast but we an eat light.

We went to Coastal Kitchen.

Since I’m always asking Scott to pose with the menu he hid behind it initially

I tried the Muesli and did not like it. I ended up eating light just because I didn’t eat what I ordered and didn’t bother getting anything else.

Scott had French Toast with sausage.

I drank coke and Scott had coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice

Following.

 

 

 

This will be my retirement cruise with my hubby. Going February 3, 2019.

 

 

 

Aileen

Congratulations on your retirement.

Even though we were booked for Harmony next winter, we booked Anthem for 2/3/19 also. You will hear how that came about later in the report.

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Loving reading your review. Interesting and enlightening. Thank you,