Anthem live review 12/12-12/19/2015

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

So far I'd totally recommend you book that cruise. :)

 

I see you've also been on Oasis and Allure. So far, how would you compare Anthem to them? We love the Oasis Class.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post all of this.

Edited December 13, 2015 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[klass2]

After our quick snack we headed to the sea plex. It was about 1130 at that time and they were still setting up and setting stuff out.

 

So it was time to grab our first drink of the cruise. Always on my mental highlight reel from each cruise. We headed to the sky bar by the outside pool. I had my choice drink, the strawberry lava flow. DH had a vodka frozen lemonade. Don't tell anybody but I think he likes to cruise so he can drink frozen fruity drinks and not get crap for it as he does when we are not on a cruise ship. ;)

 

 

 

Then we headed back to sea plex and had a turn at the bumper cars. We LOVED it. I felt we had adequate time to enjoy them and at this time the line was not long at all.

 

[klass2]

After bumper cars we went walked outside deck 15 to say hi to Gigi and then headed to the pool bar for another drink.

 

 

 

 

We decided to buy the internet package so we can check in with our lovely kids (6 kids 13 years and under--no multiples--just me pregnant for pretty much a decade since all 6 were born in about 10 years). We also buy bc we like to be connected. I know lots of people don't but we do. From streaming music to checking email to reading what to do at ports if we don't research before, the Internet is a big part of our life. DH is a techie by trade so yeah we are addicted I suppose.

 

We bought the 2 device package. $15/day for one device. BOGO 50% off and then we are platinum crown and anchor members. Our total was $153.

 

So it was almost 1300/1pm about this time. I checked the royal iq app and it showed out luggage had been delivered.

This is a screen shot of the app earlier while the tracking was in place.

 

On the way to our stateroom we found this guy in the elevator.

[klass2]

We have always had balcony cabins. Twice we booked balconies and with price drops we upgraded to junior suites for little to no cost. We have had regular balconies too and like them a lot. We really love seeing the water and enjoying the sound of the waves.

 

I had a boardwalk balcony on the oasis for a solo cruise that j went on and I did not enjoy it for the price. I would have preferred an interior room. Not necessarily for the view but bc of the noise. It wasn't very relaxing due to the shows at the aqua theatre and I heard the thump thump of people running around above me. My room was under the mini golf area.

 

For this cruise I decided to try out an interior room. What better way to try it out than with a virtual balcony room?

We have a category K room that I was able to secure for a nice rate with my military discount.

 

One sea pass card was sealed in an envelope outside our stateroom. The other was on the bed and our luggage was in the cabin rather than in the hallway.

 

Here it is:

 

 

The virtual balcony so far is just ok. While in port there wasn't much of a view. After sailAway when we went back to the room it was dark out so nothing to see.

 

I feel there is ample space for all of our things.

We both hung items up and I gave DH the shelves in the armoire. I took the ones in the desk/dresser thing. And there still was space above the bed and ok the nightstands next to the bed.

 

I really like how there is a plug on one side of the bed.

 

After unpacking we went to explore the ship some more. We still had not been down to the royal esplanade.

 

We found this outside 270.

[njmomof2]

Thanks for posting a live review this week. We'll be boarding her when you debark next Saturday for the Christmas cruise. Looking forward to your thoughts on restaurants and food. Not sure if you or your DH are interested in the flowrider, but if you can during the week, can you check it out and let us know about lines and whether they open it up in the cooler weather (although it's possible you'll have mild temps your entire trip).

 

Oh, and BTW, that photo of you is lovely. That color on you is really flattering!

[Miketxx]

You are welcome. I learned so much from cruise critic before my first cruise. I felt to much more prepared thanks to all the tips, reviews and pics on cruise critic.

 

I'm a little bit type A...

 

I'm the same way; just have know and research everything in advance.

[klass2]

After we unpacked we went to explore the royal esplanade.

 

There was a table set up in front of guest services to pay for them. The line moved quickly as some people were irked to know you had to pay for them. And we met others at various bars who had no clue what they were. And others who were peeved bc they still thought they would be waiting for them in their rooms.

 

We decided to spring the $4.99 for the WOW bands. Since getting them I haven't carried my sea pass card at all. So yeah, I would have to say I like them. Sure you have to take them off at some locations bc they don't have the little scanners to bring to you. But it's really no big deal. And I would have to dig around to find my sea pass card to pay for the drinks anyhow.

 

I chose to get a yellow one and DH got black. Black and yellow, our college colors. Go Iowa Hawkeyes!

 

I digress. DH had a hard time putting his band on and I made fun of him for poor fine motor skills. I had to eat my words bc his band was defective. The metal clasp thingy that pokes into the holes of the band was reversed and could not be fixed without some tools which we don't have.

 

After dinner we waited in line at guest services to get a new band. But this time they were out of black bands. Not sure if I believe that or not since the lady didn't go and look. I suppose she was out of them from her desk drawer. Bummer. DH had to settle for blue.

 

I really think they should have left the table out for WOW bands the entire first day bc the people behind us and in front of us were also there for wow band issues.

 

While waiting in line we we noticed a cool piece of art. The little squares on this art flip back and forth to mimic what the sensor above it picks up. So it was kinda like a big pixelated photograph. It was fun to play around with while we waited in line.

 

 

Let me jump back to exploring the esplanade. We ended up in music hall. I tried a drink there called the wink. It was pretty blue bc of the Curaçao and tasted pretty good. Yes, I love fruity drinks and I drink them every chance I get.

 

While we were relaxing in music hall the announcement for muster came across the speakers.

 

Fortunately for us, we had station A1 and our location was right at the Royal theatre so we didn't have to go far. Unfortunately that meant that we got there quickly bc they kicked us out of music hall and we had to wait. And wait. We got there about 2:16 and they didn't start until at least 2:40

 

But the presentation is quick and after a few announcements we were dismissed.

 

Leaving muster is probably one of my least favorite times on a ship bc the crowds are ridiculous.

 

Once we got to the stairs it was fine. Everybody was going for the elevators. Not us. We climbed our way up to deck 15 and settled at the North Star bar for sail away.

 

The DJ was pumping out some decent tunes. There is a strong New York presence on this cruise and they cater to it. Which I think is a good thing. Now if they could only figure out a way to make better pizza in sorrentos...

 

The mood for sail away was great. People were singing and dancing when they played Sinatra's "New York, New York" and a few even broke out into a high kick line (ok, maybe low kick). They played the boss "born in the USA" and even a little "Empire State of mind". It was a good mix.

 

I tried a drink called the love connection based on the recommendation of a fellow cruise critic friend from our roll call. Not too shabby! Thanks Tyron. :)

 

We watched the New York skyline slowly disappear

 

I have never sailed under a bridge before so that was neat. Everybody was cheering when the 2 high points (North Star and the smoke stacks) made it under the bridge. I was taking a video so no pics. Sorry. :(

[denatravels]

something like this:

(Not anthem though-- Liberty cruise this summer). Hoping that my February anthem cruise is warm enough to be outside-- last February it was 3 degrees. My very first cruise and had to do sailaway from inside!

[Kisigi]

We're also from the Chicago Burbs and we'll be on Anthem for the 12 day sailing starting on January 3rd. Your review is great so far and I appreciate you taking the time.

[klass2]

I see you've also been on Oasis and Allure. So far, how would you compare Anthem to them? We love the Oasis Class.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post all of this.

 

 

 

We are very curious to see how we feel overall about the quantum class vs the oasis class as well.

 

So far the littlest thing that's the most obvious and we haven't gotten used to is the sound of the bell tone that rings for announcements. It sounds different than on the ships I have been to most recently (oasis class). The freedom class Liberty ship I have been on was so long ago I can't recall the exact sound. But it's different here on this ship. Kinda tribal but I suppose we have been trained like pavlov's dogs to hear that tone and recognize it.

 

Major things that DH misses are the huge promenade, Central Park and the boardwalk.

 

But the 270 area is amazing and vast. We've only been in there for a few minutes and were blown away.

 

I think it's too early to judge which class we like best so far. But I plan to do a pros/cons list at the end of the cruise.

 

I will be honest and say I was getting a little nervous about this ship based on reviews. But so far we have only had good experiences that we expect from Royal.

 

Thanks for posting a live review this week. We'll be boarding her when you debark next Saturday for the Christmas cruise. Looking forward to your thoughts on restaurants and food. Not sure if you or your DH are interested in the flowrider, but if you can during the week, can you check it out and let us know about lines and whether they open it up in the cooler weather (although it's possible you'll have mild temps your entire trip).

 

Oh, and BTW, that photo of you is lovely. That color on you is really flattering!

 

 

Thank you. I love purple jewel tones. :)

 

We love the flow rider too. We plan to take part at some point. Today about 0900 as I was getting ready for our meet and mingle I had my tv turned to the channel with the voyage map/stats/ship cameras. There was one on the flow rider that cycled through and people were out there doing it.

 

 

We're also from the Chicago Burbs and we'll be on Anthem for the 12 day sailing starting on January 3rd. Your review is great so far and I appreciate you taking the time.

 

 

Cubs or sox? We love the Cubs and wow, what a season.

We live in Geneva, so the way far out west suburbs.

 

I had my eye on that January 3 cruise but decided it was too long to ask my mom to watch our kids. She's a trooper for watching them as it is.

[klass2]

Let's jump back to dinner. We have dynamic dining choice. We have had my time dining on every cruise that we have been on except for the carnival cruise we took in September. Because we had a party of 9 it was recommended we go with traditional dining so we did.

 

For day 1 we had reservations at 6pm at Silk.

Here's a random photo for you. Nobody has mentioned it so I thought I would share. While we were getting dressed in our room we noticed this crazy effect. The light over the desk area on our round mirror was turned on. While illuminated it puts this crazy white circle in the Iris of your eye. Kinda makes you look possessed or something. Silly, but we took a pic.

 

Here are the menus for silk. Note that we had the lotus menu, but that our tv menu and the Royal IQ app showed the blossom menu. So if you are planning to wing it and check menus before you decide where to eat each night the correct menu may not be displayed.

 

 

We aren't very adventurous eaters. I will admit we probably fall into more of the picky eater category but we have always found something to eat every night on a cruise.

 

Before dinner we stopped in vintages to grab a glass of wine to bring with us to dinner bc we heard drink service was spotty.

 

I chose the egg drop soup and Vietnamese pork tacos. The soup was excellent. The tacos, just eh.

 

 

DH chose the fried rice. He said it was good but not the best he ever had.

 

For our entrees we both chose the sweet and sour chicken with jasmine rice (they served it on the side). The rice was moist and fluffy. The dish was good but not the best I ever had.

 

 

Food is so subjective though.

 

We had a 2 top table and it was next to another 2 top. Very close. It was very intimate. We may as well have been at a 4 top. But we met a lovely couple and enjoyed talking while we waited for our food.

 

By the way. We were seated at 6. Had our apps and a drink off the menu by 620 and our entrees by 640. The service was excellent. Not over the top service like you get at chops but more than adequate so no complaints from us.

 

For drinks I chose the passion dragon. It tasted pretty much like a Mai tai so I liked it. DH had the masala sour. It was kinda heavy on the ginger so he did not care for it.

 

But that's one of the things we love about the drink package. We love trying new drinks and if we don't like them we don't feel like we need to choke down a $10 drink.

 

We aren't dessert people, so we left without dessert but here's the menu.

[klass2]

After dinner we walked around the ship some more and did some good people watching.

I am going to try my best to try out all the elevators to check out the fun elevator art. They are a fun surprise when the elevator doors open up.

Here are some more elevators:

 

We went back to our room to hang out for a bit and the hubs took a power nap. Oddly enough when I cruise without my kids I seem to have a crazy amount of energy and can stay up late and wake up early. Maybe it's bc I don't have the kids sucking the energy and life out of me. Kidding. I love them to bits but it sure is exhausting staying at home and tending to the needs of 6 little kids.

 

After we freshened up for the night we headed to music hall at 9pm and parked ourselves in a chair for a few hours.

We watched adult karaoke for an hour (some people on this ship can sing!), then played majority rules and finally the Journey tribute band called resurrection played. We stayed for 2 songs only bc we were tired. They were pretty darn good though.

Music hall during majority rules:

 

We left music hall, stopped at sorrentos for some pizza. Not the best but as they say any pizza is good pizza--except St. Louis style pizza. If you don't know what STL pizza is, you probably don't want to know. We lived there for a decade and tried it once and decided NEVER AGAIN! Native St Louisans love it though.

 

The Royal esplanade as we walked back to our cabin more than ready for bed.

 

This concludes day 1 on the anthem of the seas. All in all a pretty great day. We are living the anthem so far.

[RDAJ23]

LOVE your review so far! We are looking forward to our Dec 27 sailing...2 weeks from today! Yay!

 

What drink package did you choose? My DH wants to get one if the packages, for exactly the reasons you've stated. And also so we can grab a drink everywhere and not worry about costs going forward. He wants the Ultimate but I think the Premium is good enough. There's a $10 a day difference.

 

Thank you for your replay and please keep the reviews coming!!!

 

Robin

[Kisigi]

Cubs or sox? We love the Cubs and wow, what a season.

We live in Geneva, so the way far out west suburbs.

 

I had my eye on that January 3 cruise but decided it was too long to ask my mom to watch our kids. She's a trooper for watching them as it is.

 

It's always been Cubs God help me. But this was a fun season. We're in Palatine (Northwest Suburbs not far from Arlington Park). Our kids are older. They're both home from school on winter break so we are all going on the cruise. I picked two of the same type of inside cabin as you, so thanks so much for the pictures. I guess "intimate" would be a way to describe the space.

 

Echoing an earlier comment I'm interested to hear your feedback on the drink packages.

[FirstCruise2331]

LOVE your review so far! We are looking forward to our Dec 27 sailing...2 weeks from today! Yay!

 

What drink package did you choose? My DH wants to get one if the packages, for exactly the reasons you've stated. And also so we can grab a drink everywhere and not worry about costs going forward. He wants the Ultimate but I think the Premium is good enough. There's a $10 a day difference.

 

Thank you for your replay and please keep the reviews coming!!!

 

Robin

 

Ultimate doesnt differ from premium in terms of the alcohol options. Both cover all alcohol drinks up to $12 (this will get beers, nice wines by the glass,

Prosecco, frozen cocktails, nice spirits, etc). The extra items covered by Ultimate are premium coffees (lattes, etc.) and I think bottled sparkling water.

[FirstCruise2331]

Thanks for taking the time to do the review. Very much enjoying so far!

[klass2]

Ultimate doesnt differ from premium in terms of the alcohol options. Both cover all alcohol drinks up to $12 (this will get beers, nice wines by the glass,

 

Prosecco, frozen cocktails, nice spirits, etc). The extra items covered by Ultimate are premium coffees (lattes, etc.) and I think bottled sparkling water.

 

 

Yep. This is pretty much it.

 

We don't drink coffee at all. Kinda surprising considering we have lots of kids. But we get our caffeine in the carbonated form.

 

We always go with the premium package. All of the beer and premium cocktails we like are included and we get a bottle of water to stay hydrated every once in awhile and also to take off the ship with us. We have always found a wine in the package price range as well.

[klass2]

It's day 2 of our cruise.

 

I slept pretty good last night. We turned off all the lights in our cabin and is DARK. Tonight we plan to sleep with the virtual balcony on so maybe the sun rising will wake us up.

 

DH isn't impressed with the virtual balcony. We both think it's nice but just ok. I don't know that we would pay extra for it or go out of our way to book one but I think all interior rooms have them on this ship so it wasn't a big deal.

 

Maybe we will change our minds about this as the cruise progresses and we see different views on the screen.

 

I woke up about 0715, which is 0615 my time. My internal alarm clock was ringing and ready to go. DH wanted to sleep some more which is the norm when we cruise.

 

I made my way to the windjammer to check out the breakfast options. I keep forgetting to take pics of the WJ. It can get busy up front bc nobody knows about the back. Walk your way to the back and there is plenty of seating and an outdoor seating area which I can see myself hanging out in the future.

 

In the back there is a made to order area and I had an omelet made. There was no line at all.

 

Then I headed downstairs to deck 5 to visit cafe 270 to wait for DH. He didn't want to eat which surprised me bc on the oasis class ships he loves park cafe and gets a bagel every morning there. Cafe 270 is pretty much park cafe with a different name.

 

We went back to the room to get dressed for the day and head to our cruise critic meet and mingle. More on that in a bit.

 

Right now I'm lounging in the solarium with a fruity drink and it's time for me to be lazy and read my book. Aaaaaahhhhhh, vacation life. :)

 

Before I go, here is the day 2 cruise compass:

[klass2]

And the day 2 daily planner:

 

[klass2]

I have a few minutes before we head back to our cabin to get dressed for dinner. I just woke up from a quick power nap. The white noise of the solarium always lulls me to sleep.

 

On our way to the meet and mingle we stopped and checked out this huge chandelier. It pulses and throbs to heartbeats. Kinda techy chic.

 

Our meet and mingle was scheduled for day 2 at 0930 in music hall. I think we had 115 people or more registered.

 

I have never seen so many people show up for a meet and mingle. I've been to one on every royal cruise I have been on and oddly enough I don't ever recall them having bubbly and mimosas for us to drink. They do at the welcome back party and top tier party but never at a MnM that I have been to.

 

There was plenty of swag to give away. 4 bottles of wine, 4 hats, 4 water bottles (DH won one--yay!), zipper pulls, reusable shopping tote bags and a 2 backpacks filled with everything above.

Can you see the table of swag to the right?

 

 

As usual we rec'd a blue notebook lanyard thingy to add to our collection.

[klass2]

After the meet and mingle I decided that it might be fun/different to go and check out the port shopping talk.

I was wrong. That's 1.5 hrs of my life I won't get back. Sorry to those who like it. It just wasn't for me.

 

But here's why I went. I have never attended one before on any other cruise. But on our last cruise my older daughter found a charm from diamonds international in the streets of st Maarten. My youngest daughter was insanely jealous and it led to a meltdown. We went to a DI store to try to get another one for my daughter. Only it didn't match the one my daughter found. So that drove my 4 year old in tears and my 7 year old would not share. So I have both of the charms in my possession at home.

 

I thought it might be nice to get one of the free bracelets and charms from this cruise for our girls. I even made my DH go with me. Poor guy. He was even more miserable than me. I think he fell asleep at one point.

 

But I now have the vouchers to get 2 free bracelets for our girls and all the tips I need to "save big on diamonds and watches" while I shop the Caribbean.

 

By the time we finished the port talk we were hungry. We headed to the windjammer. We decided to graze and then get a hot dog from the sea plex before heading to the solarium to waste the day doing nothing.

 

The sea plex dog house had a long line and only one guy working. Poor guy. He was working his butt off. They really need 2 people there.

 

After that we headed to the solarium and I spent the day reading and lounging around until about 5pm.

 

The pools were still a bit chilly and the hot tubs were filled up but we were able to find 2 loungers with ease.

 

I forgot to mention that on my way to breakfast before 0730 there were people with towels out to save their spots/chair hog. Some things done change ...

 

I like the peace and tranquillity of the solarium. I like having a covered pool area just for adults (that was sorely lacking on the carnival breeze, IMO). I have seen kids in the solarium over and over on this cruise.

 

Not just kids who are looking for their parents and leaving quickly but parents sitting with their kids on their laps or hanging out. The kids haven't been in the pools or hot tubs but one of them (about 4 years old) climbed up the edge of the top pool and was trying to monkey her way onto the mechanical thing that is used to help people with special needs in and out of the pool. She almost fell in and finally a bartender ran up to her and told her to get down. The mom was about 20 feet away chatting away not even paying attention.

 

Still those kids weren't ruining my vacation or anything. Just an observation. Had they been running around and yelling I may have said something to somebody but that wasn't the case.

 

This is how I spent my afternoon. It was pretty overcast and the perfect temp in the solarium. The solarium is noticeably warmer than the covered pool area. Just an FYI.

 

 

 

At the end of the afternoon the crowd thinned and we went to the front of the solarium to watch the sun set. Before heading to dinner.

 

 

I really love all of the pool space in this solarium. The solarium pool on oasis class is way too small. It's always packed. This one has a few different levels and lots of seating in the pools too.

[denatravels]

I expect the parents to be oblivious about kids in the solarium, but disappointed to hear that Royal wasn't on top of it. They were on my other cruises.

[Dave85]

Loving your review! Bringing back some great memories from our Anthem cruise last month. :)

[dani negreanu]

Thanks. Through your review I'm reliving fond memories.

 

P.S. Your mother should be awarded the Medal of Honor :)

[RenaeG]

I expect the parents to be oblivious about kids in the solarium, but disappointed to hear that Royal wasn't on top of it. They were on my other cruises.

 

 

I am so anti kids to begin with and if one turned up in a child free zone I would have to say something to the parents and then a staff member. People always think their kid is ok......

 

It's the same a lighting up a cigarette in the middle of the promenade.... You just don't!!!

Edited December 14, 2015 by RenaeG