Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Live from the Anthem of the wavy seas - Sept 3rd, 5 nights

lor74

By lor74,
in Royal Caribbean International

 Share

Recommended Posts

lor74

lor74

Posted
Posted (edited)

The Internet package has already been paid for by the office (20% off advanced purchase) so I will probably do some live reporting from the ship. This will only be our (Lor & Ro) 2nd RCCL cruise, after the Allure last year. We originally had the NCL Getaway booked for October, but some unforeseen scheduling conflicts came up at work, and we had to cancel. Thankfully it was before final payment, and I was able to transfer my flight for my January trip. The Anthem seemed like a good replacement, as the price was right, and we could drive down from Montreal.

 

We left at 6am this morning. The drive went very smooth (except for the back spasms), and we arrived at our destination around noon.

 

We are spending the night at the Courtyard Marriott Edgewater. This hotel is newish, and the address will not even show on the map. It is on the NJ side of river facing Manhattan. They offer free parking, wifi, and shuttle service to the ferry. I booked the night by using 25,000 Marriott points. We will be coming back here for a night after the cruise as well. That night is via a free room certificate. I highly recommend the Marriott Visa card for anyone who can take advantage of hotel points. You can get up to 80,000 bonus points for the US card, and 50,000 points in Canada.

 

After dropping off our luggage, we drove to the Newport Mall in Jersey City. It took less than 30 minutes to get there. The GPS in my Altima worked beautifully today! We were both starving at this point, and went to the Cheesecake Factory. This meal did not go well! Ro ordered eggplant parm, and I got a burger and fries. I should mention, that I have been on a path to better health, and had not had a burger or fries since our last cruise in January! If anyone happened to follow any of my previous "live froms", I am now down 80lbs [emoji106]🏻. I had ordered my burger medium. When our food arrived, I cut it down the middle, and it was barely medium rare. I sent it back. It took around 10 minutes for another plate to arrive, and it was the same burger, which was now a piece of leather. That went back and I awaited a new burger. During this time Ro is very slowly eating her food, while waiting for me to actually have something in front of me. It took so long for the 3rd attempt, that I got very frustrated and asked for a manager. He was very apologetic, and besides not charging us, asked what he could do for us. Ro got a fresh bowl of pasta, and by the time my burger came back, it had been 30 minutes from the time the original order came to the table. This new burger was still more medium rare than medium, but I ate and enjoyed it as much I could under the circumstances. We left without any cheesecake [emoji22], and did some shopping before heading back to the hotel.

 

It has been a very long day, and we are in for the night. With Hermine, we have no clue what to expect from this cruise...besides rough seas. I can only hope for the best!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited by lor74
Link to comment
Share on other sites
oceanqueen101

oceanqueen101

Posted
Posted

Will be following closely. Thank you so much for posting. We leave out on another line on Sunday so interesting to see what tomorrow's weather brings for you. Congrats on the weight loss my husband and I have committed to a lifestyle change for weight loss when we get back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesEM Great Review Rare

JamesEM

Posted
Posted (edited)

Following along, I had a similar experience with my meal not being prepared correctly and after the second try I decided to cancel my order. The manager had left the building so I contacted Corporate and received a $25.00 gift card.

Edited by JamesEM
Link to comment
Share on other sites
lor74

lor74

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

We are in the terminal waiting to board. We had no problem driving here, dropping of our bags, parking, and checking in. People have already started moving upstairs. It is a cloudy day.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited by lor74
Link to comment
Share on other sites
maryanngup

maryanngup

Posted
Posted
Waiting for my sister to get here then we're hopping on the NJTP at 7A to get up to the port. See you soon, and thanks for posting live so our family can follow along!

 

Thanks for putting me on to this thread, Terry. I'll be checking it often. And thanks to the person who started it. I'll be anxious to see how the next few days go with the sailing.

Terry and Donna's Mom (maryanngup) my screen name

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lor74

lor74

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

We boarded at 11am. We headed straight to the theatre, and made reservations for Ifly & Northstar. We then went to the solarium to get some food....I am so looking forward to eating this week! I had salad & potatoes, and sampled the chocolate desserts. The chocolate chip cookie has been identified as my go to for the week....and ME SO HUNGRY FOR COOKIE! After eating, we started exploring. After checking out the pools, we walked through the Windjammer. The Allure left a real bad taste in our mouths for this venue, so we will avoid it as best we could. We sampled the pizza while passing through...feh!, all dough, no taste. We then made our way to decks 4 & 5. We had some samples while exploring: punch, frappacino, sushi. I has a look at Sorentos, and it looks like the same lousy pizza that was in the buffet [emoji22]. We went to the dinning room area, and made a reservation for Grande. I did not pack a jacket, but they said one would be provided to walk to the table. We made our way to 720. There was a long line for sandwiches. Ro got a scone, and I got a brownie. Both were good, and the server was surprised when we actually said please when ordering.....that saddens me, as these guys work so hard! Next was to the Internet area to get my pre-purchase activated. I had said in my original post that it was a 20% discount, but it was actually 30%. They advertise it as the fastest at sea, but so far I am hardly impressed. I have the streaming package for the week, and I am not even getting 4mb. At least the ship coverage seems pretty good, including our cabin. We have an aft section balcony on deck 8. We went in around 12:30pm, and the bags and cards were waiting for us. The cabin looks comfortable enough, with plenty of storage. The balcony is completely covered, and has an "obstruction" beneath, which is the roof from whatever is below us. We already had some crew standing on it......I opened the door and yelled for them to get off my lawn....they didn't hear me...good thing I had close on at the time. We are now relaxing in the solarium. I had a dip in the pool (heavily chlorinated), and took advantage of the opportunity to have a hot tub to myself.....my sore back needed that!

 

As of now we have a good impression of the ship. It feels very different than when we were on the Allure. I hope for more good things to come....

 

I have started posting random pictures to my Flicr. They are currently out of order and some need to be rotated, which will be done when I get back home.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited by lor74
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...