Anthem of the Seas - Review - Jan 26, 2017 - Feb 7, 2017

[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/5/17 - At Sea

 

I went to the gym in the morning while Scott slept.

 

We had to meet at Silk at 8:50am for the All Access Tour. The instructions we received said long pants, closed toe shoes, and no bags. We followed the rules. It was so weird not having a bag with me.

 

The All Access Tour was shorter than they used to be - it was listed as two hours for $99. I was disappointed overall with the tour. Last year on Anthem, I received invitations for a Galley Tour, a Bridge Tour, and a Theater Tour (no charge). I signed up and attended all three. They were interesting. They were separate tours.

 

The Bridge portion of the All Access Tour was pretty much identical to what I did last year. The Galley portion had a lot of the same elements but a few new ones such as going in the freezer. The laundry room was interesting and I also liked seeing the I95 corridor. However, after seeing some reviews of the older 3 hour All Access Tours, we didn't get to see several interesting places those covered.

 

The tour ran a bit over and we didn't get finished until about 11:30. They took back the lanyards so no little souvenirs for taking the tour (other than any pictures we took). I don't mean to sound overly negative about the tour. There were definitely some interesting components. I was just disappointed it didn't measure up to some of the great All Access Tour reviews I've read on cruise critic.

 

Since we didn't have breakfast, we went to the dining room for an early lunch around 11:45. We started with the tutti salad bar which was good. We asked for smaller salads and didn't finish them since we also ordered the lobster/seafood roll. When the sandwiches arrived, they were terrible. We didn't eat them and didn't want anything else.

 

At some point (not sure if it was today or last night) the captain came on the speaker and announced what nice smooth sailing we have and that people are still out on the sun decks. For this time of year it was unusually smooth sailing.

 

We stopped at the photo place to see about the new and improved remake of the Boarding photo. They did a decent job and I was glad they tried to make it right for us. We paid for our new photo.

 

At 2pm we watched the Love & Marriage show in the theater. It was pretty funny. We played along from our seats but didn't get many of the answers right.

 

We me the group at Boleros at 5pm for a drink.

 

At 6 Scott and I had dinner at Coastal Kitchen. Joe and Carol were seated near us so we spent dinner chatting with them. I don't remember our appetizers or dessert for but our entrees I had the Short Rib and Scott had the Orecchiette Bolognese. This was the best short rib I have ever had. I like them but normally they are too fatty and I end up leaving most of it. This one was great with hardly any fat.

 

After dinner they gave both me and Carol a plate with chocolate covered strawberries and some chocolates. We were all stuffed from dinner so were just going to put those in our refrigerators in the cabin.

 

The Super Bowl was going to start at 7:30 and it was just about that time when we were finishing dinner. I have no interest in it. I wanted to see Joe and Carol's Spa Junior Suite to see what that looked like so they invited me down. It's nice, but smaller than the regular junior suite we have. They have a smaller balcony (no lounge chairs, just chairs with ottomans) and less closet space. But they do have more drawer space in the dresser. And the split bathroom with the shower/tub in one and toilet/sink in the other.

 

Scott wanted to watch the Super Bowl. Our plan was for him to watch at whatever venue seemed the most fun. They were showing it in several places. I was planning to go to the casino. Surprisingly, Scott stopped in the casino a few times to check on me.

 

After the game ended, he met me in the casino and we stayed there until they closed.

 

When we went back to the cabin, we received a second bottle of wine compliments of the casino. We received one earlier in the week as well.

[Noreen411]

This is the new remade boarding photo. It's a picture of the picture already in a frame.

 

 

This is two pictures of the pictures on my camera from the All Access Tour

 

 

A picture of me with our waiter Milan from Coastal Kitchen

 

Two good hands on the poker machine

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[A Pisces]

The remake photo is much nicer!

[Noreen411]

The remake photo is much nicer!

 

 

Thank you

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Monday 2/6/17 - At Sea

 

We went to the gym together in the morning, showered, got dressed and headed to breakfast in the Windjammer. We thought about having breakfast in the dining room but after our disappointing lunch there we just stuck to the Windjammer.

 

We walked around the jogging track and it's a bit chilly out but sunny with very calm seas.

 

We stopped at the casino for about an hour. That's unusual for us to go to the casino during the day on a cruise, but it's the last day so why not.

 

We went back to the cabin to get the bulk of the packing done so we can enjoy the rest of the day.

 

When we were up by the pool deck and coming back inside there were ladies from the spa promoting a last day special - 75 minutes and it included: Back, Neck, and Shoulder massage with hot stones, Mini facial, Scalp massage, Foot and ankle massage, hand and arm massage - for $99. Scott kept encouraging me to go do it since I enjoyed my last spa experience on board.

 

Since it was almost 3pm by now and we were meeting the group for dinner at 5:30 I didn't think I had time. We stopped at the spa and they were able to take me right away so I had the last day special. I really enjoyed my spa experience again. I asked if the therapist from my first treatment was available but she wasn't, however, the second therapist was also very good. Of course they tried to sell me some products at the end but I said no thank you.

 

As much as I enjoyed the spa experiences, one thing that's a bit odd and very different from the spa at home that I go to for massages and facials is the pre and post treatment. At home, you are greeted, given a robe and slippers, shown into a locker room to change. There are showers, a sauna, a nice waiting area where you wait for your therapist. After your treatment you are brought to a relaxation room (for lack of a better word) where they have chairs and tables as well as beverages, fruit, muffins, and you can order a meal if you want one. Then you go back to the locker area and can shower, enjoy the sauna, before getting dressed and going out of the spa. So you kind of ease out of the relaxing experience. On Anthem, when you check in you go to a waiting area, your therapist meets you and brings you to your treatment room. She steps out so you can undress and get on the table under the sheet. At the end of the treatment she steps out so you can get dressed, then she walks you down the hall and out a door and BAM you are right in the hallway by the elevators. I know there are spa passes to use other areas of the spa on the ship. I don't mean this as a complaint just an observation. I enjoyed my treatments, but there is no lingering, when you are done, you are done.

 

I headed back to the cabin to shower and get ready for our final dinner on the ship.

 

We stopped at the Concierge Lounge to give a tip to Ricardo (the concierge). Whenever we visited and had a drink we would tip the person who brought us the drinks each time. I left an extra tip for our cabin attendant. In Coastal Kitchen we left a tip for our waiter each night and also tipped at Chops and Jamie's when we went. We did pre-paid gratuities as well. The spa ladies received additional tips after each service. Throughout the trip we regularly tipped the bartenders, casino dealers, and the barista at the Patisserie (coffe shop). We probably over tip but that's our choice to do so. I'm sure there are others we tipped as we went along.

 

We met the group in the dining room for dinner. Almost everyone was there tonight.

 

For appetizers Scott had the Tuna Carpaccio and I had the Corn Fritters. The fritters were terrible, they tasted like and were the consistency of saw dust.

 

For entrees we both had the grilled shrimp with risotto and this was very good.

 

For dessert we both had the strawberry/cream thing.

 

We chatted away for a while. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone since we don't see them that often.

 

We saw the farewell show with Carl Banks which was pretty funny. He has a later show tonight too (a different show) that I'm planning to see at 10:15.

 

We finished our packing and put the big bags out in the hallway.

 

We went to the casino. I got involved playing and missed the 10:15 show with Carl Banks that I wanted to see.

 

The casino host gave us free cruise certificates. We have to use them (book a cruise) within 30 days of receiving them and it's for specific sailings. Or you can get money off a cruise if the dates of the "free" sailings don't work for you. Scott received a free cruise for two in a balcony cabin (or $1,000 off a cruise) and I received a free cruise for two in an ocean view cabin (or $750 off a cruise). I don't know the ins and outs of how that actually works but we'll figure it out and hopefully can take advantage of these certificates.

 

We were in the casino until they closed then went up to our cabin to bed.

[Noreen411]

Not the best picture but there was a sneeze guard above the cake. This was in the Windjammer when we went for breakfast Monday morning

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 2/7/17 - Disembark - Bayonne NJ

 

We had #4 tags which were scheduled to be called at 7am. We didn't go to the gym this morning, just got up, showered, dressed, packed up any last minute items and left the cabin by 7:15.

 

We exited the ship quickly, got a porter, got our bags, went through customs and were in our car with the luggage pulling out of the pier by 7:40am. Getting the porter was a great thing to do. Besides the fact that we had lots of luggage and needed help getting it out, the porter brought us to a separate line for customs ahead of many people waiting in a much longer line. Well worth it for the cost of a tip to the porter.

 

Unfortuately we hit rush hour traffic driving home and what should be a 45 minute to an hour ride took almost two hours.

 

Once home we checked on the cats and the fish - they were happy to see us.

 

We started unpacking and got laundry started.

 

I'll separately post some final thoughts.

 

I also have compasses that I can take pictures of and post

[A Pisces]

I enjoyed reading your review! Lots of good information!

 

About the spa, the one you go to regularly is much better than any I have been to either locally or on vacation, ship or land. It has always been your done, now get out, basically.

[Noreen411]

Final Thoughts

 

We really enjoyed this cruise. It was great to get away. We had so much fun together. The Anthem is a great ship. The convenience of cruising right out of Bayonne NJ and not having to fly to the ship is a huge plus.

 

I need to do a better job of taking notes throughout the trip. I jotted down a few things to help me remember to write the review, but need to do a better job of it.

 

Now that I see how easy it is to post pictures from my phone, I'll make sure to take more pictures with my phone on the next trip.

 

I think we're a bit spoiled now with the extra room in the Junior Suite and the few extra perks of having it. It will be difficult to go back to a regular balcony room again (except maybe for a short cruise).

 

Coastal Kitchen was a really good pleasant surprise. We enjoyed going there for dinner. I haven't been cruising for as long as many on cruise critic have (my first cruise was in 2003) but dining here reminded me of what the dining room was like on my first few cruises. The same waitstaff who got to know you and knew your beverage choice, joked around with you - it was a nice personalized experience. This was only Scott's second cruise so while he never experienced that before, he heard about it and was surprised we didn't have that when we went on Quantum two years ago. Coastal Kitchen was pretty much a reminder of the traditional dining I remember from my first cruises.

 

Visiting the different beaches was fun. We realized that neither of us like the structure of an organized tour, but prefer to do things on our own schedule. I'm normally more type A and need to run around and see everything there is to see (probably why I love going to Disney World too), but I'm trying make sure Scott has a chance to relax and recharge since he works so hard. I've also done most of the tours and hit most of the highlights on the islands we've gone to. I would throw out tons of suggestions of the highlights or things to do, but we kept coming back to doing things on our schedule.

 

We had a lot of fun in the casino and are now Casino VIPs. We look at it as entertainment and really enjoy spending time there. The lights, the sounds, there is usually a lot of energy in the casino. We met a lot of the same people in there and it was fun to hang out with them and root for each other. The dealers and bartenders in the casino were fantastic. We made sure to acknowledge many of them by name in the post cruise survey. I mentioned earlier, but the Casino VIP status gave us a sticker on our cards for free drinks in the casino and waiving the fee to take money off your sea pass card. This is why it made sense for us not to upgrade Scott to the alcohol package after all. He enjoys a few drinks while gambling. Me - I'm a lightweight when it comes to drinking. If I have one frou frou drink a night that's enough for me. I did try to have something different each night though. The bartender would get creative and knew it had to be fruity and not too strong. He also knew each night as I left the casino I liked a bottle of water. I know we'll also be able to call the Casino Royale booking department and possibly get good rates on future cruises as well.

 

The Royal Replenish package (or whatever it's new name is) works great for us. I like to drink soda but don't like it when it gets flat. I like bottled water. I also like some of the specialty iced coffees. And the fresh squeezed OJ is good too. The baristas at the Patisserie knew me by name and each morning would make my iced white mocha (or maybe iced caramel macchiato) and hand me my bottles of water. I tipped them a few dollars each morning but was also friendly and would chat with them daily.

 

The spa treatments were very enjoyable. I know the spa often gets bad reviews, but I had two really good experiences there. I could do without the push to sell products at the end of the treatments, but they are just doing their job and I can say No. The treatments themselves were really enjoyable and getting the different specials made them very affordable. Even the regular spa prices for massages and facials were cheaper than what I pay at home.

 

I'm thinking about doing the Anthem again next late January (same 12 night itinerary); the group is going again, however all the suites (including Junior Suites) are all sold out. We have a cruise next April on Celebrity Reflection and Scott isn't sure he can be away from the business for two longer cruises so close to each other. So I'm still up in the air on this one.

 

I'm sure there is tons of stuff I'm forgetting.

 

Please ask any questions and I will be happy to answer. I love talking about my trips.

[Noreen411]

Hi

 

Just wanted to give an update on what happened to the free cruise certificates from the casino...

 

The dates for the different free cruises didn't work for us unfortunately. Scott had a certificate for a free balcony cabin for two (or $1,000 off) and I had a certificate for a free ocean view cabin for two (or $750 off)

 

We have another cruise on Anthem this summer (5 nights to Bermuda) and it's a cruise for my niece's Sweet 16 so there are a bunch of us going. The adults are all booked in balcony cabins and the teenagers are all booked in inside cabins.

 

When I called the Casino dept, I conferenced in my travel agent since I booked with her and they were so helpful. They were able to apply our certificates (the discount amounts) to our previously booked cruise. However, in order to do so, they needed to re-price / rebook the cruise through the Casino program. The cost of the cruise is more now than when we originally booked it, but with casino pricing and applying the discount certificates we were able to get a great price. They applied both of our certificates.

 

We were going to change to a junior suite since there was still one available and it would have been cheaper than what we originally paid for the balcony, but we won't be able to enjoy the perks of it (other than more space) since we'll be with the family on the trip so we stayed with our balcony cabin.

 

Since we booked through the casino program, we'll automatically be on the list the casino host has and the first night should stop by to get our stickers for free drinks in the casino and no fee for taking money out on the card.

[Noreen411]

I am going to attach some of the documents I saved from the cruise.

 

A list of the officers on board

 

 

The basic boarding compass they hand out when checking in

 

 

And the other side of the page

 

 

Letter in the cabin from the Diamond concierge. We never met her as we only went to the diamond lounge once. We spent more time in the concierge lounge

 

 

Document in the cabin listing diamond plus onboard savings, two sided document

 

 

Side 2

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Guest maddycat]

Thanks, I really enjoyed your review.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Noreen411]

Don't miss the fun flyer

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Compass day 1 - Thursday 1/26/17 - Embark Bayonne NJ

 

 

 

 

 

Daily planner day 1

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited March 19, 2017 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Compass day 2 - Friday 1/27/17 - At Sea

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Planner day 2

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited March 19, 2017 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Not sure why the daily planner for day 2 are sideways so I will repost them

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Compass day 3 - Saturday 1/28/17 - At Sea

 

 

 

 

 

Daily planner day 3

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Compass Day 4 Sunday 1/29/17 - Puerto Rico

 

 

 

 

 

Daily planner day 4

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Port shopping map - Puerto Rico

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Compass day 5 - Monday 1/30/17 - St Maarten

 

 

 

 

 

Daily planner day 5

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Port shopping map - St Maarten

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Compass day 6 - Tuesday 1/31/17 - Antigua

 

 

 

 

 

Daily planner day 6

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Port shopping map - Antigua

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Noreen411]

Compass day 7 - Wednesday 2/1/17 - Martinique

 

 

 

 

 

Daily planner day 7

 

 

 

Sorry but I don't have the port shopping map for Martinique

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums