Live on Anthem to the Bahamas 11/22-11/30

[conandrob240]

I thought I was going to do a full live set of posts but am enjoying the internet disconnect.

 

We are a family group of 8 traveling for my parents 50th anniversary. We are having a great time and I'll be doing a few posts here and there rest of week and then a big review next week. A few thoughts:

 

Food in the speciality restaurants for dinner has been excellent. Service has been really mixed. Servers are great and super-friendly but they are badly understaffed. Heard that they had immigration/ Visa issues but I am skeptical because these exact same complaints happened over and over on Quantum. It seems dinner servers work alone with no partner. There is supposed to be a drink person but they are few and far between. Buffet food is fair at best and buffet is pretty crowded without enough seating. The pizza is a travesty. How on earth can this sail as a NY based ship and serve what they are calling pizza?!?! The lack of a late night venue for food is disappointing. Cafe 270 is great.

 

Drink service overall has been slow. Bars are okay but other than in evening venues, I haven't seen any roaming cocktail waiters during the day. Bars are extremely inconsistent with them often running out of stuff or not having the same set up at each bar. The piano bar which features a variety of "Collins-type" drinks was out of sour mix last night. The solarium bar which has a list of smoothies had no greens/veggies do couldn't make 5 out of the 8smoothies. Cocktail servers at restaurants seem really unaware of what drinks are available. Service, in general, is confused and they seem untrained. There is little staff cleaning up- dirty food dishes remain strewn about all the food/public areas for hours without being picked up.

 

The pools are awesome. Indoor pool, layout of outdoor pool and solarium are 1000x better than Breakaways. Activities are great- we've done bumper cars, North Star, roller skating, iFly and surf simulator. All were great. Seaplex activities are pretty crowded and a bit disorganized. Case in point- I've gone 3x to get a waiver for a teen ( since they have teen night things like Flowrider, bumper cars, etc. but no one knows what I am talking about. They keep telling me to come down with him when he wants to do them.

 

The ship is gorgeous. Public areas are beautiful. Not a huge fan of the rooms. Lots of design flaws I'll get into on future posts.

 

More tomorrow.

[Blondynka]

Totally hear you on the disconnect. I always look forward to putting my phone in airplane mode and not seeing my email for a couple of weeks. Enjoy your cruise!

[njmomof2]

I'm so glad you're on board now with some real time information.

 

The issue with waivers is a concern for me as well. I just looked to sign them in advance for my boys since we're sailing in 3.5 weeks and they aren't there. My boys are big flowrider junkies and like to get on as soon as possible. Since you sailed this week, can you tell me if you noticed (not sure if you did) whether the flowrider was open if the weather was below 50F? I simply don't remenber what the weather was like on Sunday but if you know, I'd love to hear.

 

And they told you to come down with the teen when they wanted to participate in an activity to sign the waiver? That makes no sense...what if I'm going to a show and they want to go to a teen activity? One of us is going to miss out if I have to keep running and signing.

 

Also, the continuing issue of understaffed issues in the dining venues is definitely a concern. I just printed out my dining reservations and I am definitely going to have to inform any staff that we have shows booked so we don't end up sitting there waiting for food, or alternatively have to walk out without finishing to make shows that we want to see.

 

I look forward to additional information you have to pass on about the ship.

[conandrob240]

We had a pretty cold sea day 1 because of a front up & down the east coast. I don't think it was as cool as 50 degrees-probably more 55-57 but flowrider was closed that day. No wind or other reasons-simply because it was too cold. It was open on sea day 2. No one seems to understand that I am looking to sign a generic sports waiver for the teen. I asked the sports people twice at Seaplex and got the "come down with him & sign him in for each activity" response which makes no sense because as a teen club, they do flowrider, bumper cars and so on. I asked at teen center, guest services and shore excursions and they said they didn't know. An example of the lack of training of the staff. It's like they just pulled up to the dock last week and staff got on without any formal training.

 

As for dining, it isn't that it has taken really long. Dinner is about 90-120 minutes total. It's more the lack of staff to refill water, replace bread, take drink orders- that sort of thing.

 

Okay, let's talk staterooms. After 10+ cruises on 3 other lines (NCL, DCL & Princess), these are my least favorite. Not enough storage. Sofa bed is terrible. Hard as a rock and it pulls out to a full bed which means you have literally about 7-8 inches to get past it to the balcony. Drawers cannot be opened when bed is open. Room steward thought it was okay to leave open all the time from first night she made it up. Told her no way- needed to be re-set to sofa all day. And the worst part- the walls are really thin. You can hear every conversation in adjacent rooms and everything in the hallway. This is with earplugs! The worst I have ever experienced. Bedding and pillows are cheap and uncomfortable. Haven't slept well yet. On a positive note, decor is very pretty and bathrooms are a reasonable size with decent storage. Balcony is a very good size.

[vrock]

What time did you get to the port for embarkation? Disappointed to hear that the beds are uncomfortable I found that to be the case on our last cruise as well. I am taking an air mattress just in case. :)

Have a great trip.

[njmomof2]

We had a pretty cold sea day 1 because of a front up & down the east coast. I don't think it was as cool as 50 degrees-probably more 55-57 but flowrider was closed that day. No wind or other reasons-simply because it was too cold. It was open on sea day 2. No one seems to understand that I am looking to sign a generic sports waiver for the teen. I asked the sports people twice at Seaplex and got the "come down with him & sign him in for each activity" response which makes no sense because as a teen club, they do flowrider, bumper cars and so on. I asked at teen center, guest services and shore excursions and they said they didn't know. An example of the lack of training of the staff. It's like they just pulled up to the dock last week and staff got on without any formal training.

 

As for dining, it isn't that it has taken really long. Dinner is about 90-120 minutes total. It's more the lack of staff to refill water, replace bread, take drink orders- that sort of thing.

 

Okay, let's talk staterooms. After 10+ cruises on 3 other lines (NCL, DCL & Princess), these are my least favorite. Not enough storage. Sofa bed is terrible. Hard as a rock and it pulls out to a full bed which means you have literally about 7-8 inches to get past it to the balcony. Drawers cannot be opened when bed is open. Room steward thought it was okay to leave open all the time from first night she made it up. Told her no way- needed to be re-set to sofa all day. And the worst part- the walls are really thin. You can hear every conversation in adjacent rooms and everything in the hallway. This is with earplugs! The worst I have ever experienced. Bedding and pillows are cheap and uncomfortable. Haven't slept well yet. On a positive note, decor is very pretty and bathrooms are a reasonable size with decent storage. Balcony is a very good size.

 

Well, this is just not good. I laughed at your comment about pulling up at the dock and getting on...funny but sad and disappointing at the same time. This is not their first rodeo, and they've introduced new ships for years. To have not only a brand new ship, but a completely new class, running as if no one has a clue, is just not acceptable. And from the NY/NJ area...I can't see people being willing to stand for understaffed, lack of knowledge, that sort of thing, for long.

 

And the bedding and pillows being cheap? Wow, that's not what I expect on a brand new ship. We've always found the bedding, while heavy with those comforters, to provide some of the most comfortable sleep. To hear that the entire thing was just not restful, especially with lots of noise leakage from the hall and other rooms, certainly puts a damper on my excitement for our trip over the holidays.

 

I don't actually know if my kids will notice it all that much, but I know my mom will. I hope that some of the kinks in service work themselves out over the next few weeks before we sail.

[conandrob240]

Embarkation was great. We arrived about 10:15. About 15 minutes to check us all in and we walked on about 10:40. I heard that systems went down soon after and people arriving at port at 11 didn't board until 2am. Not sure if that was the case for everyone but 2 different peoe told me similar stories.

[Turtles06]

I'm so glad you're on board now with some real time information.

 

The issue with waivers is a concern for me as well. I just looked to sign them in advance for my boys since we're sailing in 3.5 weeks and they aren't there. My boys are big flowrider junkies and like to get on as soon as possible. Since you sailed this week, can you tell me if you noticed (not sure if you did) whether the flowrider was open if the weather was below 50F? I simply don't remenber what the weather was like on Sunday but if you know, I'd love to hear.

 

And they told you to come down with the teen when they wanted to participate in an activity to sign the waiver? That makes no sense...what if I'm going to a show and they want to go to a teen activity? One of us is going to miss out if I have to keep running and signing.

 

 

I think you should stop stressing about the waivers. As I said in reply to you on another thread, they were easy to do in our cabin on the TV.

[conandrob240]

I am not stressing about anything merely commenting and showing as an example of the disorganization. As far as I could see, no opportunity to do it on the tv or on RoyalIQ

[sharktums]

We are also currently on the Anthem. We were able to sign all of our waivers on the tv in our room.

 

Agree about service being slow and inconsistent. Food quality has been great for the most part. We love the Quantum class rooms. So far we preferred our Quantum cruise last year slightly more than Anthem this year. They got rid of the hot, fresh baked cookies in Windjammer!!!

[conandrob240]

We are also currently on the Anthem. We were able to sign all of our waivers on the tv in our room.

 

Agree about service being slow and inconsistent. Food quality has been great for the most part. We love the Quantum class rooms. So far we preferred our Quantum cruise last year slightly more than Anthem this year. They got rid of the hot, fresh baked cookies in Windjammer!!!

 

I am going to check again on the tv- thank you.

[Yorkvillain]

 

Okay, let's talk staterooms. After 10+ cruises on 3 other lines (NCL, DCL & Princess), these are my least favorite. Not enough storage. Sofa bed is terrible. Hard as a rock and it pulls out to a full bed which means you have literally about 7-8 inches to get past it to the balcony. Drawers cannot be opened when bed is open. Room steward thought it was okay to leave open all the time from first night she made it up. Told her no way- needed to be re-set to sofa all day. And the worst part- the walls are really thin. You can hear every conversation in adjacent rooms and everything in the hallway. This is with earplugs! The worst I have ever experienced. Bedding and pillows are cheap and uncomfortable. Haven't slept well yet. On a positive note, decor is very pretty and bathrooms are a reasonable size with decent storage. Balcony is a very good size.

 

Are there two storage bins over your bed? We thought the storage in our Quantum room was the best we ever had.

[njmomof2]

I think you should stop stressing about the waivers. As I said in reply to you on another thread, they were easy to do in our cabin on the TV.

 

I think the issue of stressing about stuff is definitely personal. What seems like no big deal to some is important to others.

 

I appreciate your response on my other thread about the waivers. If I can do them all on the TV then I'm good. However, Connie has stated that she was not able to do so, and kept being told to accompany the teen to various activities to sign them up each time. That is not what I want out of my vacation (and neither do my kids). So for some, it doesn't seem important. To us, it cuts into valuable vacation time, as well as forces my kids to have mommy come with them every time they want to do something.

[conandrob240]

Are there two storage bins over your bed? We thought the storage in our Quantum room was the best we ever had.

 

There are two but one contains all the bedding for the sofa bed. So, only one can be used. And, yes, I asked to have it removed and the answer was "we have nowhere else to put it.

[Patsfan3]

We too are on this ship. We have been on 20 cruises. The decor on this ship is so elegant compared to others. I am not really a person who is into art but the wall art on the ship is amazing. The balcony cabins are nice, the bathroom especially. The sofa bed is very hard, on Oasis class ships they put a foam cover over them. They need to get them on this ship!

 

 

We are not fans of the new dining system. At least we signed up for classic so we know we have a table at the same time every night. I agree with others that in the dining rooms the drink service is not great. It just seems as if the whole dining process is a bit disorganized.

 

I love some of the new touches on this ship like the hallway lights brighten up as you walk down them. You must use your sea pass to turn on cabin lights. Makes total sense! But I am not a fan of the auto flush in public restrooms. It was a great idea to put the hand washing station going into the buffet. It does make for a bit of a line but if it helps keep all healthy I am all for it.

We bought the text/call package for 3 devices. The idea is great but I spent the first 2 days trying to get it to work. After several visits to the "communication specialist" I decided to have them cancel it. I hope they can get all of the glitches out and put it on other ships because the idea is great.

 

I did buy the $4.99 wow band for our son. It saves him from carrying his sea pass around.

 

The bumper cars are great. It just seems like some of the activities are tough to get into because of limited time.

 

Seaplex has been great for the kids. When there are no activities in there a lot of kids are there playing soccer and basketball. A great venue to have for a mostly cold weather cruise!

[Turtles06]

I love some of the new touches on this ship like the hallway lights brighten up as you walk down them. You must use your sea pass to turn on cabin lights. Makes total sense! But I am not a fan of the auto flush in public restrooms.

 

This made me laugh. We loved Anthem, but I too was not a fan of that auto flush system. It either flushed on me when I was still sitting down, or it hadn't flushed by the time I was leaving the stall, which is not what you want someone walking in on. In fact, I heard others leaving stalls saying to the next person in line "it hasn't flushed yet."

 

They need to fine tune whatever determines when the flush goes off. :p

 

BTW: I imagine you know that you can use any card (like an old hotel card) in the light "switch." No need to keep your sea pass card in there.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[Patsfan3]

I did not know you can use any card, my brain is on vacation!

[Dave85]

Are there two storage bins over your bed? We thought the storage in our Quantum room was the best we ever had.

 

Same here... I respect other people's viewpoints, but I feel like I'm reading a twilight zone review since it's basically the exact opposite experience I had on the very same ship on a cruise ending a few days ago.

 

With that said, there are many hundreds of more children on this sailing (per staff last week) so I'm not surprised to hear that things are a lot tighter up in the SeaPlex.

[sergeant655]

 

BTW: I imagine you know that you can use any card (like an old hotel card) in the light "switch." No need to keep your sea pass card in there.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

 

I am using a old hotel card. The cabin attendant will pull it out and then place it back in just resting on the toggle pusing down will turn the lights back on. The real fun is when someone does not know that the sea pass has to go in the slot as it is not labeled

[Guest maddycat]

I did not know you can use any card, my brain is on vacation!

 

I am using a old hotel card.

 

We used an old AAA card on the Quantum.

[phillygirl2400]

On the anthem right now. Complimentary restaurants are mediocre.

We Will Rock You show is very professional-worth seeing.

Entertainer, Richard Rubin, in the Schooner Bar is very good.

Rough seas overnight caused us to skip Coco Cay and arrive in Nassau a day early. Good decision by the Captain.

At least 1 million kids onboard-but haven't seen any problems.

Used frequent flyer card to keep the lights on ---Knowledge from previous travel.

[Turtles06]

On the anthem right now. Complimentary restaurants are mediocre.

 

I read this to my spouse (we were on the TA); she said you are being kind. :)

 

Happy Thanksgiving; sounds like you are enjoying things despite the food.

[Yorkvillain]

At least 1 million kids onboard-but haven't seen any problems.

 

Lol!

[phillygirl2400]

We're enjoying ourselves, but going back to Celebrity for our next cruise.

My husband thinks the Anthem's problems will cause RCI stock to fall.

[RuthlessBoss]

We're enjoying ourselves, but going back to Celebrity for our next cruise.

My husband thinks the Anthem's problems will cause RCI stock to fall.

 

To say they have problems is quite a generic statement. What problems?