Live - Anthem of the Seas 4/9/17 - 4/17/17

[sromano516]

Thanks for the great review. Sounds like your family is having a blast. Glad to see the wiping down of handrails. Hoping they do the same with elevator buttons. I am very concern as we are boarding April 29 and recently had a bout of pneumonia. So my immune system is not what it should be. I will load up on probiotics and wash wash wash my hands like crazy. We too are celebrating a special anniversary.Happy anniversary to you and your hubby.

 

 

Thank you! The time goes so quickly, Day 3 already. I never see fingerprints on the elevator buttons so I assume they must be wiping them down. Hope you feel better; try increasing Vitamin C and take some echinacea to boost your immune system. Enjoy your anniversary!

 

 

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[M&Msmom]

I understand you are not planning on eating in the Coastal Kitchen. If you get the chance, only if it is not inconvenient, Could you please take pictures of the dinner menus? We are traveling next month and it would certainly help our planning. If its to much trouble I understand.

[luckyinpa]

Thank you! The time goes so quickly, Day 3 already. I never see fingerprints on the elevator buttons so I assume they must be wiping them down. Hope you feel better; try increasing Vitamin C and take some echinacea to boost your immune system. Enjoy your anniversary!

 

 

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there are little robots that come out when no one is around!

 

also on the Breakaway stairwells, there are full wall mirrors, i never saw any dirt at any time on them. they really keep an eye on them

 

i know its a silly request but if you can update us on your elevator usage from 10 id appreciate it. i know 1st day was hell for you. but i'm still mildly worried about my deck 9 room

[sromano516]

We ate at Coastal Kitchen for lunch. I loved their breakfast but the lunch isn't exactly my husband's type of food. I did enjoy the items we ordered though. We shared a Flatbread, I got a shrimp and spinach salad, my husband ordered a herb crusted chicken.

 

As for the elevator situation, we have had some long waits at times but nothing comparable to the first night. For the most part, it's been a reasonable wait.

 

 

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[clochette]

Great review thanks. I love the Anthem and it is bring back some fun memories.

[mikeynavery]

We just returned from this cruise. We don't have stomach problems but my husband and I caught severe cold and cough. Hope the other doesn't get us. What a way to spoil a vacation. Neither one of us were sick when we boarded

 

 

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We just got off the same cruise as you as well. We all started off not sick, my daughter got a nasty upper chest cold. My son is now sick with the same. They were disinfecting the hallways MAJOR from Thursday on.

[wolfganghowell]

The penne pasta on Oasis in CK is something I still think about!!! And that's been 18 months ago! Looks like the same menu and we loved CK.

[tangled1010]

Our grand suite (10642) is next to our kids balcony room (10644), they opened part of the balcony so we can be connected.

The kids balcony is actually pretty deep and big for a balcony room!

 

 

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Awesome!! Thanks for this. We will be in room 10648 in a few weeks and the balcony looks huge. I think 648 is even deeper. Have a great trip!! Thanks for taking the time to post :)

[maggie416]

Thanks for the great review. Sounds like your family is having a blast. Glad to see the wiping down of handrails. Hoping they do the same with elevator buttons. I am very concern as we are boarding April 29 and recently had a bout of pneumonia. So my immune system is not what it should be. I will load up on probiotics and wash wash wash my hands like crazy. We too are celebrating a special anniversary.Happy anniversary to you and your hubby.

 

Use your elbow to push elevator buttons! We never touch them, and do not touch your face!

Marg

[Trackhead37]

So I do have one little complaint over time management and doing things at right time. We stopped by the dog house earlier and now we're waiting for ice cream cone. At the dog house, a line formed really quickly behind us and the employee, thought it was the right time to restock napkins, as people mumbled behind us. Employee restocking ice cream, blocked both machines and proceeded to restock each, one at a time, despite the building line; probably would have made more sense to shut down one line and send people to the one machine which restocking so that the line could keep moving. Maybe they have to do things a certain way, not sure, but really didn't make much sense to me at least.

 

 

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[luckyinpa]

TY for elevator update. i guess i dont have to rebook after all :)

[maria1122]

I found that you can't compare the MD to Coastal Kitchen. The service and the quality of food is incredible in my opinion. I like that it is small, not noisy and food come out of the kitchen piping hot. I can't wait for your review on how you liked. Have the shrimp cocktail, they are 3 times larger then the MD and presented so nicely. We are leaving for our tenth cruise on her Monday.

Enjoy, enjoy.

[sromano516]

Good evening. I am completely exhausted even though I don't feel like we have done very much. Our day did start at 6:30 so that could be why. We have a big day planned for tomorrow at Universal Studios so we are going to bed early. The kids on the other hand, will probably have a tough time waking up tomorrow lol.

We did the Northstar today. I was a bit scared, my kids were too lol. It was a bit rocky/shaky during the ride. After being lifted to the top, the fear started to subside as you are distracted by the views. It's less than 10 minutes and worth the time and experience. The kids participated in teen dodgeball which seemed fun and slightly violent. My husband tried to get in on the adult volleyball but they must have started a few minutes early because they were playing when he arrived. We then tried to get an ice cream cone by the pool but the line was so long and as I got closer, a staff member stopped the line to refill all the machines which took so long that I couldn't stand there anymore. We went to Johnny Rockets and paid $4.50 for a milk shake which I would compare to getting a milk shake at Burger King. We discovered they use the same liquid dessert that comes in a carton, that they use to fill the soft serve cone machine. So we are basically paying $4.50 for the same thing that you can get for free in a cone. I guess it's up to you and what you like. I wouldn't do that again on this ship. I also prefer the sit down style of Johnny Rockets which we had on Independence of the Seas. Again, the way they have it on this ship is like Burger King/McDonald's in the way that you order your food at a counter and then take it to a seat yourself. I liked the sit down and be served style better, especially when they are making you pay for it. The prices for the burgers aren't bad so I'm not against that at all, I just personally don't like the way it's setup and wouldn't recommend the over priced milk shake.

Later on we met up with fellow cruise critic members at Two70 which was very relaxing with a nice atmosphere, comfortable seats and a beautiful view. It has been a pleasure making new friends and hearing people's experiences.

 

As usual, we went to the concierge lounge around 5-5:30 for appetizers and drinks. We have found that even though the concierge has been helpful, the service of the waiters in the concierge lounge is quite poor. We sit around for a while each night before being approached for our drink order. The lounge is very nice and cozy, I just wish the wait staff showed us a bit more personality and personal service. We had a great experience with the concierge staff on Independence so we do have something to compare it to. Typically the staff on the ship is friendly and enthusiastic so I find it odd that they would have anyone working in the Concierge lounge that doesn't present those characteristics.

 

As I already posted earlier, we ate our lunch at Coastal Kitchen. I had planned on dinner in the main dining room but my husband was not in love with the menu. I snapped some pictures for you of our preview.

 

We decided to give Coastal Kitchen a try for dinner. Again, I just didn't find it to be our personal taste. It was quieter but overall, I have not had a problem with the main dining room noise or food, it's always been great appetizers and entrees. So... Coastal Kitchen... my husband ordered the shrimp cocktail which was delicious. I ordered the scallops appetizer but I apparently didn't know what I ordered because it was thinly sliced and served cold in some bitter sauce. I couldn't eat it. We both ordered the Grilled NY Strip, cooked medium. Neither of our steaks were medium, maybe medium-well at best; no pink in mine. Overall, I did like the steak and potato that it came with. It wasn't nearly the best I've had but it was decent. It was a big portion of meat, neither of us finished it. Moving on to dessert. We both ordered the Ivory Mousse and enjoyed it. It was a beautiful presentation and delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

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[sromano516]

For the person that asked for a picture of Coastal Kitchen... sorry, it's not a great picture but I snapped one quickly when there for lunch.

 

 

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[soccer2010]

Two weeks ago, I had the braised beef duo in the Anthem MDR and it was wonderful.

[sromano516]

Two weeks ago, I had the braised beef duo in the Anthem MDR and it was wonderful.

 

 

That did look good! I was kind of disappointed that we didn't go to MDR.

 

 

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[AZbobkats]

Thank you for doing the review! We board on the 17th and are very excited since this is our 1st time on the Anthem! Enjoy your cruise :cool:

[tomtravel]

Thank you for doing the review! We board on the 17th and are very excited since this is our 1st time on the Anthem! Enjoy your cruise :cool:

 

AZ---it is also our First time on Anthem with you on the 17th Have learned plenty from these threads!! See you at M --and G--sorry mingle

[slyster]

Thanks for the continued dinner menu photos! I was eyeing the braised beef duo too! I'm sorry the coastal kitchen didn't meet your expectations.

 

Thanks for the review on The Gift. I was curious...I still don't know what its about LOL!

[Trackhead37]

Thanks for the continued dinner menu photos! I was eyeing the braised beef duo too! I'm sorry the coastal kitchen didn't meet your expectations.

 

 

 

Thanks for the review on The Gift. I was curious...I still don't know what its about LOL!

 

 

We sat through it and are still questioning what exactly it was about, lol. Even knowing how much of a hot mess it was, in terms of storyline, I would still go see it just for the great performances and maybe not bother trying to follow the story that's in there, hehe.

 

 

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[PortSideCruzan]

 

Thanks for the review on The Gift. I was curious...I still don't know what its about LOL!

 

We sat through it and are still questioning what exactly it was about, lol. Even knowing how much of a hot mess it was, in terms of storyline, I would still go see it just for the great performances and maybe not bother trying to follow the story that's in there, hehe.

 

Hi :)

 

The 'Gift' was beautiful, touching and had us feeling so many emotions, and even tears.

 

I'm very confused as to how many passengers do not get the storyline of the Gift as it is handed to you & fully explained within the first few minutes of the show. What a lovely, moving experience... I will never forget it.

 

 

:)

[Trackhead37]

Hi :)

 

The 'Gift' was beautiful, touching and had us feeling so many emotions, and even tears.

 

I'm very confused as to how many passengers do not get the storyline of the Gift as it is handed to you & fully explained within the first few minutes of the show. What a lovely, moving experience... I will never forget it.

 

 

:)

 

 

Explanation is pretty poor and while it explains where we are at the beginning, everything after it really doesn't make any sense and is never explained. I told my wife it was like watching Alice in wonderland on lsd. There's no character development, which is one of the major problems with it. I'm joking just a bit about the not knowing what it was about thing, as I went into it knowing that it was going to be confusing and hard to follow, from the multiple bad reviews of it. If you don't go in, expecting that, it's unlikely you'd be able to follow along, which is why many passengers don't get the storyline. Basically the show should be about 20 minutes longer, which would be enough time to make the story more coherent and allow better character development. With numerous poor reviews, I don't get how they haven't fixed it yet. I was wondering if maybe we hadn't seen as many Broadway shows as we have, if we would have enjoyed it more. But I realized that because of Broadway, we recognized how great the talent and performances were, despite the bad storyline. So, if not for Broadway experience, we probably would have simply disliked it entirely.

 

 

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[PortSideCruzan]

Explanation is pretty poor and while it explains where we are at the beginning, everything after it really doesn't make any sense and is never explained. I told my wife it was like watching Alice in wonderland on lsd. There's no character development, which is one of the major problems with it. I'm joking just a bit about the not knowing what it was about thing, as I went into it knowing that it was going to be confusing and hard to follow, from the multiple bad reviews of it. If you don't go in, expecting that, it's unlikely you'd be able to follow along, which is why many passengers don't get the storyline. Basically the show should be about 20 minutes longer, which would be enough time to make the story more coherent and allow better character development. With numerous poor reviews, I don't get how they haven't fixed it yet. I was wondering if maybe we hadn't seen as many Broadway shows as we have, if we would have enjoyed it more. But I realized that because of Broadway, we recognized how great the talent and performances were, despite the bad storyline. So, if not for Broadway experience, we probably would have simply disliked it entirely.

 

Hi Trackhead :)

 

There really isn't too much more I can say. The Gift's entire storyline is handed to you & fully explained within the first few minutes of the show by the head ghost narrator. Nothing after that first few minutes needs to be explained. A husband lost his wife too early in life, and now he and his son & daughter have grown apart from one another due to being grief stricken. The ghosts then attempt to guide the husband, son & daughter back to one another. The ghost narrator actually tells you this & explains what is to come during the first five minutes. There's nothing else to explain. Anyone that has lost a loved one will certainly be touched by the Gift. They simply have to pay attention to the narrator during the first few minutes.

 

But as I stated prior.........The 'Gift' was beautiful, touching and had us feeling so many emotions, and even tears. I'm very confused as to how many passengers do not get the storyline of the Gift as it is handed to you & fully explained within the first few minutes of the show. What a lovely, moving experience... I will never forget it.

 

 

:)

Edited April 12, 2017 by PortSideCruzan

[kandj05]

That did look good! I was kind of disappointed that we didn't go to MDR.

 

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I hope you do not feel the pressure to eat in the CK. Each dining venue has its good and not so good aspects. Thank you for both of you for doing this review!!

[finallyonboard]

Thank you for the excellent live review. I agree with you Trackhead. I am going back on in December and will not go to see The Gift or Spectras Caberet again. I did love We Will Rock You. Enjoy the rest of your cruise.