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

[jonj]

I am not the OP and haven't been on the ship and cannot answer the question on arcade cost however the link below will have some photos. I have seen on the compass posted above that they had a free one hour arcade time and a 50% one hour window too

 

http://gallery.cruisecritic.com/ships/anthem-of-the-seas-706/challengers-arcade-184667/

[njmomof2]

Only 4 more days until we board for our Christmas cruise. Enjoying your review and hoping for more in the next couple of days as well.

 

I'm hoping for more information on how the food and service is in the included restaurants. It seems like some love it, some feel it is meh and others hated it. I'm hoping that all turns out okay when we go.

[klass2]

Thank you so much for this information. I don't see my 3 yr old with the 2 yr old group, but desperate times ...

I'm hopeful that things will be good when we go in 6 months.

Just last week, she's started to use the potty - still doesn't really know in advance when she has to go and we don't have #2 down at all. But six months is a long time at this age (right?).

Anyway - enough potty talk!

Other posts suggest that AO seems to be too small. I know that on Allure, it was a really nice size, but the ship was also bigger.

Did you find the space to be adequate?

Hope that you're enjoying your cruise and thank you again for your insights!

Have a wonderful day!

 

Oh yes, definitely large enough. We took our kids on the allure last year. I would say the rooms are similar in size. No worries about size. :)

[klass2]

Im also on this cruise. Must say the experience is nice, but I have an 11 month old with me and she definitely takes away from fun time. They have Adventures Ocean on Deck 11 for babysitting (6-8 dollars/hr depending on times), but you do feel guilty when you're having fun without your little ones lol.

 

Food is meh. Have mostly dined in Windjammer (buffet style) and Devinely Decadence. Windjammer can get busy at times, especially when the droves Asians (lol) decide it's time to eat.

 

staff is very kind. Rooms are more than adequate. Im on balcony deck 13 with splendid views. Advice for future cruisers. Bring seamotion pills. The boat rocks, even if it's subtle it'll eventually catch up to you.

 

Feel free to ask questions.

 

Hey there. :)

 

We cruised with our youngest last year and he was 19 months. We decided not to cruise Royal again until he was 3 and able to partake in free programs. So we did carnival this past September to try it out. But probably won't do carnival again.

 

I totally agree with the motion. This ship definitely rocks back and forth more than the allure or oasis or even the carnival breeze (3 ships I have been on the most recent). DH took some bonine.

 

It doesn't bother me but I am aware of constantly.

[klass2]

quote:

Originally Posted by matt1751 View Post

Hi, been following your posts. We are sailing in June with our 2 sons. First time on a cruise. Have your kids visited the Xbox room or the arcade. We were wondering if there was a charge for either of them. I see on your daily planner it lists some times for free arcade so I'm assuming there is a charge to play normally. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

 

We are actually cruising solo this time but I have 4 sons and the older 3 would LOVE the Xbox area. Each time we have been up in the sea plex there are kids playing. I haven't been up on the level right next to the Xbox room but I plan to check it out.

 

How old are your kids? It looked like they are playing call of duty from afar. I will check to see if there is a variety of games. I imagine most of boys, especially older ones will want the CoD.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

My 2 boys will be 13 & 15 when we sail and I think the xbox room and the arcade will be there favorite places. I saw another reply saying the xbox room is free. Do you know what the charge is for the games in the arcade. Any photos of those area's would be appreciated also. Please don't go out of your way to do so though. Enjoy your vacation.

 

Thanks

 

I will check the prices on the arcades. They probably aren't cheap. My oldest is 13 and I don't give him charging privileges on cruises. Lol

 

Today I saw a soccer video game being played in the Xbox room.

[klass2]

My photobucket app is being wonky. I haven't been able to upload a single photo today. :mad:

 

I'm still here. Just waiting on photobucket to work.

 

Today we did iFly and I had some flow rider fun before we got to Nassau.

 

Tonight is the quest.

 

Any other good photo sharing sites besides photobucket? I don't think drop box has bbc code links or does it?

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

My photobucket app is being wonky. I haven't been able to upload a single photo today. :mad:

 

I'm still here. Just waiting on photobucket to work.

 

Today we did iFly and I had some flow rider fun before we got to Nassau.

 

Tonight is the quest.

 

Any other good photo sharing sites besides photobucket? I don't think drop box has bbc code links or does it?

 

Can't wait for more photos! They're awesome by the way.

 

Hope your cruise is still going well.

[robtulipe]

My photobucket app is being wonky. I haven't been able to upload a single photo today. :mad:

 

I'm still here. Just waiting on photobucket to work.

 

Today we did iFly and I had some flow rider fun before we got to Nassau.

 

Tonight is the quest.

 

Any other good photo sharing sites besides photobucket? I don't think drop box has bbc code links or does it?

 

You could try tinypic dot com which offers a upload app. Here's the link

 

http://tinypic.com/

[cruzingduo]

My photobucket app is being wonky. I haven't been able to upload a single photo today. :mad:

 

I'm still here. Just waiting on photobucket to work.

 

Today we did iFly and I had some flow rider fun before we got to Nassau.

 

Tonight is the quest.

 

Any other good photo sharing sites besides photobucket? I don't think drop box has bbc code links or does it?

 

I cannot see the compasses you are posting from my PC. I have a question regarding 270. Is it open for lunch when the ship is docked in port?

 

Love your review.

[MisterBill99]

Ok I hate to admit it but I am not as smart as you are I did it twice before I figured it out - and will never do it again - If I hear "Diamonds International" or "Tanzanite" one more time it will be too soon. :D:p

My wife and I call them Crapazite International.

 

Interesting how they were claiming that it was becoming rare well over a decade ago. I guess they found new sources.

[MisterBill99]

At port Everglades you sit with your c&a level and they are vigilant about where you sit.

Except in my case where one of the people directing traffic neglected to see that I was Diamond and had me sit with the "non-privileged" folks, where I waited for 10 minutes before realizing that Platinum's were boarding and finally going to ask and being told we could have boarded already.

 

I have a favor to ask. Can you try to post a complete set of menus (at least for the 5 free venues)? I'm not sure if you have a smartphone but apparently you can view all of the menus using the IQ app and just take screen shots and post those (someone did that for an Anthem cruise earlier this year). For the free restaurants (except DD), there are 2 different menus and they alternate every 4 days. I'm not sure if the app only shows the current set or both. If they only show the current set, I guess you're out of luck unless you grab the first set today.

[AdvGirl]

My wife and I call them Crapazite International.

 

Interesting how they were claiming that it was becoming rare well over a decade ago. I guess they found new sources.

 

LOL - that is why my son was not interested it was not hard to get at all. :)

[AdvGirl]

I just want say thanks for the great information you have shared so far. Please Please have an amazing cruise. :cool::(

[Sanz]

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us. We're leaving in 18 days and I'm living vicariously through your thoughts and pictures. Wish I was on the ship right now - Have a great cruise! --- If you notice a "laundry special" please tell us. I have visions of hand washing underwear etc. instead of sugar plums dancing in my head.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Sanz

[klass2]

So back to yesterday. After breakfast we lounged around the solarium until our 1000 reservations for North Star.

 

I arrived at North Star at 0950 and was told that they only had one spot left for our group. One of us could go or we could go with the next group. I guess they overbooked or gave somebody a ticket to our group. So we had to wait for the next group.

 

More than likely people show up late and bump people to the next group. Kind of annoying but at least it wasn't crazy hot waiting out in the sun.

 

As we waited (about 30 min before our turn) many people showed up looking to ride. A few showed up who had 0930 spots and they persuaded the operator to let them on. They were in our group but I imagine this is how people get bumped from their booked time slots.

 

North Star was cool. I'd like to try it again. We did not go over the edge of the ship. But the view from the top is still pretty cool. And we were approaching port canaveral at the time and could see the Kennedy space center building in the distance.

 

The operator was a funny Irish guy and pointed out various safety features to us. Apparently they plan for everything. The pod has food, water and a place to relieve yourself should we become stuck up there. There is also a zip line emergency evacuation plan. The emergency stuff is located in boxes before these doors on the floor.

 

After the north star we went to the solarium (SURPRISE, surprise) and lounged and watched us sail into the port.

 

The majesty of the seas was there and so was the Disney Dream.

 

We arrived about and hour early to port canaveral.

 

We decided against doing anything in port canaveral for several reasons. First, this is supposed to be our budget cruise. I convinced my hubs to come on this (even though we had just cruised in September) only bc we would do it on the cheap.

 

I found what I thought was a good deal for an inside room with military discount, we used points for airfare and pre cruise hotel. The only thing we splurged on was drink packages.

 

So for budget purposes we decided to do nothing for all ports of call.

 

I considered going to Disney bc I have never been there (yes, I'm a 39 years old and haven't ever been to Disney) but I would want to spend more time there and I probably want to do Disney with girls who are 4 and 7 years old.

 

We also considered the space center but ultimately decided against it.

 

There really isn't much of anything within walking distance of this port.

 

There were quite a few people who must have had the same idea as us bc the ship was still busy the entire time we were in port.

 

We decided to try Johnny Rockets for lunch but when we went there it was closed to we tried our luck cafe 270.

 

I suppose everybody was in a rush to get food and get off the ship. It was packed.

 

 

I headed for the salad line and got a salad. They wee out of Caesar dressing so I had to make due with ranch. The worker gave me a very healthy helping of ranch. Lol.

 

 

After the lines died down I went to get a roast beef sandwich. It was ok. I prefer the oasis and allure version better though bc they have more of a gravy to go on top. This one had au jus that kind of looked like blood on my plate.

 

After lunch we went to explore the 270 area. This is the library area.

[Marylandteachergirl]

We just got home after being on the Anthem for the past 12 days.

 

She is an amazing ship with a fantastic crew. We loved everything and will give a score of 10 to everything on the Post Cruise Survey. :):)

 

I hope you have a great cruise.:)

 

 

Great to see some positive comments! Thank you, Beach Native. :)

[njmomof2]

I wasn't able to secure North Star reservations earlier and it's now closed for advance booking. Guess we'll just have to either do a walk up or see if we can book on the ship. For us, if the flowrider is open for stand up, that's where my boys are so I have to work around those times. We are an 8 night, so it takes us the extra day to get to PC; we have 4 full sea days, PC, Coco Key and Nassau.

 

We may try to head to Ron Jon's when in PC, since I ordered the boys shorty wetsuits for the flowrider. Older son is fine, younger one is like a gumby...tall and thin. Had to do the medium for the length, but I think it's a bit big overall and he doesn't like anything that doesn't fit exactly right. We may try and run over there and see about a different size or style.

 

Looking forward to hearing more information and seeing anything that you can post about restaurants.

[AdvGirl]

My beef sandwich on the Allure looked just like the one you got in Cafe270. So they must try different sauces. Yea your salad looked more like a clam chowder at first till I looked closer. :)

 

Have you tried the restaurant DD in the back of the Solarium yet. Seems so close to one of your favorite spots in ship. ;)

 

Funny before I started reading your posts I booked a 9:30 Nortstar on PC day same as you did may pay to get in line early based on what happened to you.

 

Are they ever getting Northstar over the sides of ship - read they are no longer going over side to save time. :rolleyes:

[CruisingChick]

I made on-line reservations for North Star for our upcoming March cruise for an 11 AM time slot.

 

Do I need to do anything else besides the on-line reservation I made?

 

Do I need to be there at 10:30AM so they don't give our spot away?

 

Thanks any tips you can provide.

[Turtles06]

I thought the roast beef sandwich at Cafe @Two70 was much improved by asking for an extra piece of meat and for horseradish on both sides of the bread. That made it a pretty decent sandwich, but no more than that. (Just my opinion, food is subjective of course.)

[ranchette]

I wasn't able to secure North Star reservations earlier and it's now closed for advance booking. Guess we'll just have to either do a walk up or see if we can book on the ship. For us, if the flowrider is open for stand up, that's where my boys are so I have to work around those times. We are an 8 night, so it takes us the extra day to get to PC; we have 4 full sea days, PC, Coco Key and Nassau.

 

We may try to head to Ron Jon's when in PC, since I ordered the boys shorty wetsuits for the flowrider. Older son is fine, younger one is like a gumby...tall and thin. Had to do the medium for the length, but I think it's a bit big overall and he doesn't like anything that doesn't fit exactly right. We may try and run over there and see about a different size or style.

 

Looking forward to hearing more information and seeing anything that you can post about restaurants.

What is the timeframe when you can make advance reservations and do you know when the best time to do it at sea or on a sea day?

[njmomof2]

What is the timeframe when you can make advance reservations and do you know when the best time to do it at sea or on a sea day?

 

I don't know when they stop allowing advance booking but I know I missed my window.

 

I've heard that they are no longer swinging the arm out from the ship to minimize the amount of time per ride (allowing more people to try the attraction). So, if they aren't going out, then I'd try for a sea day. Maybe earlier in the day before people are really up and about might be a good time to try.

[klass2]

Then we tried to walk the promenade but it was closed in most sections.

 

I will say that we miss having a promenade outside close to the water in the back/aft of the ship to sit and watch the wake.

 

But these spots look kinda nice to sit and relax.

 

 

And I noticed that the lifeboats on this ship have big glass like sliding doors. I don't recall that on the other ships.

 

We walked to the aft of ship and did the flow rider a few times.

 

I'm not real great at it to put it bluntly. I always end up wiping out and getting slammed against the back wall violently. DH is a much better than me and can get up on his knees on the boogie board. He's not good at the stand up version and I've only embarrassed myself trying that out once a few cruises ago.

 

No pics of flow rider today. Sorry.

 

 

Then we walked back through the sea plex and I wanted to do the circus school/trapeze time but it was pretty busy. I still want to try out at some point. So much to do, so little time.

 

And of course we headed back to the solarium to lounge the day away. While there this cool window washing apparatus was going around the solarium.

[klass2]

Can't wait for more photos! They're awesome by the way.

 

 

 

Hope your cruise is still going well.

 

 

Thanks. Yes, we are having a lovely cruise.

 

 

You could try tinypic dot com which offers a upload app. Here's the link

 

 

 

http://tinypic.com/

 

Thanks. I may look into that. I'm kinda thinking it may be a ship wifi upload issue or something. Just now I could barely get safari to load a Google search and posting my last reply took much long than it should.

 

 

 

I cannot see the compasses you are posting from my PC. I have a question regarding 270. Is it open for lunch when the ship is docked in port?

 

 

 

Love your review.

 

Yes, cafe 270 is absolutely open during port days.

 

My wife and I call them Crapazite International.

 

Interesting how they were claiming that it was becoming rare well over a decade ago. I guess they found new sources.

 

 

I like that name. :-D

 

 

Except in my case where one of the people directing traffic neglected to see that I was Diamond and had me sit with the "non-privileged" folks, where I waited for 10 minutes before realizing that Platinum's were boarding and finally going to ask and being told we could have boarded already.

 

I have a favor to ask. Can you try to post a complete set of menus (at least for the 5 free venues)? I'm not sure if you have a smartphone but apparently you can view all of the menus using the IQ app and just take screen shots and post those (someone did that for an Anthem cruise earlier this year). For the free restaurants (except DD), there are 2 different menus and they alternate every 4 days. I'm not sure if the app only shows the current set or both. If they only show the current set, I guess you're out of luck unless you grab the first set today.

 

 

Sure I am going to try to post them. The tv menus only show one set of menus as does the Royal IQ app. The first night the menus on the tv were not what we had in the silk restaurant.

 

But yes, I will try to get them all either screen shot or take actual pics of them.

 

I may not be able to get them all posted here nicely while I'm mobile but I will try.

 

I just want say thanks for the great information you have shared so far. Please Please have an amazing cruise. :cool::(

 

 

You're welcome. So far, so good. :)

 

 

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us. We're leaving in 18 days and I'm living vicariously through your thoughts and pictures. Wish I was on the ship right now - Have a great cruise! --- If you notice a "laundry special" please tell us. I have visions of hand washing underwear etc. instead of sugar plums dancing in my head.

 

 

I have not seen any laundry specials so far. I will let you know if I do.

 

My beef sandwich on the Allure looked just like the one you got in Cafe270. So they must try different sauces. Yea your salad looked more like a clam chowder at first till I looked closer. :)

 

 

 

Have you tried the restaurant DD in the back of the Solarium yet. Seems so close to one of your favorite spots in ship. ;)

 

 

 

Funny before I started reading your posts I booked a 9:30 Nortstar on PC day same as you did may pay to get in line early based on what happened to you.

 

 

 

Are they ever getting Northstar over the sides of ship - read they are no longer going over side to save time. :rolleyes:

 

 

We did not go over the side of the ship for our ride. They said it depends on wind. I'm not so sure about that. But yesterday when the helicopter was here flying all around the ship for a few hours they absolutely went over the sides. I'm sure they were wanting to make it look all sorts of awesome for whatever they were filming.

 

I have not tried DD yet. But I have seen lots of people eating the food out around the solarium. I walked in once and they had some turkey chili, pulled pork or chicken bbq that looked good. Some pasta and meatballs. It smells delicious.

 

And yes, food is so subjective. So I always take people's recommendations lightly.

 

Same thing with what people review on here. What is subpar service to some is ok for others

 

That's why I like reading reviews on here. So many viewpoints. And it's fun to see a review for the same sailing. Different perspectives are a good thing.

 

I made on-line reservations for North Star for our upcoming March cruise for an 11 AM time slot.

 

 

 

Do I need to do anything else besides the on-line reservation I made?

 

 

 

Do I need to be there at 10:30AM so they don't give our spot away?

 

 

 

Thanks any tips you can provide.

 

You shouldn't need to do anything else. You can just show up.

 

I would advise showing up early, but not sure how much earlier. IMO it's ridiculous to ask people to show up 30 min early. I thought 10-15 min early was appropriate.

 

 

 

I thought the roast beef sandwich at Cafe @Two70 was much improved by asking for an extra piece of meat and for horseradish on both sides of the bread. That made it a pretty decent sandwich, but no more than that. (Just my opinion, food is subjective of course.)

 

 

Food is def subjective. When I eat the sandwiches I only eat the bottom bun bc I don't care for all the salt on the top. And the bun is so huge, so I make it an open faced sandwich.

[klass2]

My upload issues have been frustrating me so I haven't been able to post much. I feel behind. But I have pics of all we have done.

 

My body is sore and aches. Yesterday I did ifly and lots of flow rider. Then we were up late for the quest. Today almost all of my body hurts so lounging around at coco cay was perfect.

 

We will eat at American icon tonight and see spectra's cabaret.

 

Bc of the Upload issues I may have to resort to daily postings and then add pics when I get home.

 

Fingers crossed I can get the issue resolved.