Anthem of the Seas - Review - Southern Caribbean - Jan 28, 2018 - Feb 9, 2018

[Noreen411]

Saturday 2/3/18 - St Lucia Continued

 

Once back on the ship, we put on our bathing suits and went up to the Suite Sun Deck. We would also go down to the pool deck and go in the pool for a while.

 

Scott grabbed some burgers and cans of soda from the Windjammer and we had a little picnic up on the sun deck. We were up here for a while.

 

I’m not usually a big fan of the Wow bands but found myself using them more frequently. I would use them in the morning to open the cabin door after the gym. And it was convenient to jump in the pool with it on then use it to go back up to the sun deck without having to carry my seapass card.

 

 

 

There is a rain shower up on the sun deck if you just want to cool off quickly:

 

This was our little set up today:

 

 

Edited March 2, 2018 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Saturday 2/3/18 - St Lucia - Continued

 

We went back to the cabin to shower and change for dinner.

 

We saw the group at Boleros, hung out with them for a bit, and made plans to meet tomorrow to head to the beach.

 

I had Scott pose with this big statue. I’m still not quite sure what it is. It’s near Jamie’s and Vintages.

 

 

We had dinner tonight at Coastal Kitchen with Joe and Carol.

 

 

For appetizers both Joe and I had escargot

 

 

Scott and Carol both had Shrimp cocktail

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 2/3/18 - St Lucia - Continued

 

For my entree I had the Tuna. This was very good.

 

 

Both Scott and Joe had the Lamb

 

 

Carol had the Veal but she asked for no potatoes which is why her plate looks a little empty

 

 

I asked for a potato croquette which normally comes with the veal dish and Rajiv brought me a whole plate of them. I really like these croquettes

 

 

Rajiv also brought a bowl of the pasta for the table

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 2/3/18 - St Lucia - Continued

 

It was time for dessert.

 

 

I know Scott and I had the Dulce Le Leche Creme Brûlée which wasn’t really like a creme brûlée at all and was very rich.

 

 

Joe had vanilla ice cream. I don’t think Carol had anything for dessert.

 

 

Rajiv wanted us to try the matcha cake so brought that over too

 

 

We had a nice time at dinner with Joe and Carol. We don’t spend enough time with them.

 

Below is Rajiv. I’ve been talking about him a lot so now you can put a face to the name.

 

 

We have been running into a lot of people in Coastal Kitchen that we know so it’s fun to go there. I feel like the popular kid in school.

 

We saw the hypnotist show - Tyzen at 8:15. It was pretty funny to watch. It makes you wonder if it’s real or if the people are just pretending.

 

After the show we went to the casino. At one point Scott was hanging out with me at the poker slots and I hit a Royal Flush for $1,000. That was exciting and even more exciting that Scott was there when it happened rather than me just running over after and telling him/showing him the picture. This way he was part of the excitement since I was dealt 4 of the cards for the Royal Flush and only needed one (the Ace of Spades) so I closed my eyes and chanted Ace of Spades...Ace of Spades...Ace of Spades then hit the deal button and the Ace of Spades showed up on one of the lines.

 

 

We were planning to go to Name that Tune but were busy having fun in the casino instead.

 

We stayed until probably 1:30am then went up to the cabin. Scott ordered hot dogs from room service. I can’t believe I keep forgetting to take a picture of them.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Noreen411

[GalFitness19]

Ha! You keep teasing about the hot dogs and no pics. I don’t know why that tickles me so much..That’s hilarious!

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Ha! You keep teasing about the hot dogs and no pics. I don’t know why that tickles me so much..That’s hilarious!

 

 

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I know. I took pictures of some many silly things and forgot the hot dogs.

 

Scott is still teasing me that I never took pictures of them.

 

Guess you know the story of hot dog pictures now...I never got one. LOL

 

And he must have had 15 hot dogs.

 

 

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[Greenmomma]

After reading this, I'm gonna have to book Anthem again (6th time) just to eat room service hot dogs! Thanks Scott!

[Noreen411]

After reading this, I'm gonna have to book Anthem again (6th time) just to eat room service hot dogs! Thanks Scott!

 

 

 

Don’t forget to take a picture of them like I did.

LOL

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Day 8 Compass and Planner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Barbados Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/4/18 - Barbados

 

I went to the gym in the morning around 6am, but Scott slept in today.

 

Below is a picture of the row of ellipticals and the treadmills along the window in the gym (there are more on the other side too):

 

I stopped at the Patisserie on my way back to cabin.

 

Scott was all ready to go.

 

After showering and getting dressed we went to Coastal Kitchen for breakfast. We originally thought about trying the Windjammer for breakfast and walked in. It was crowded so we walked right out and went to Coastal Kitchen.

 

 

I had strawberry pancakes and bacon

 

 

Scott had an omelet and bacon

 

 

We are enjoying our breakfasts in Coastal Kitchen. We don’t usually eat such large breakfasts at home so it’s definitely a treat on vacation.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/4/18 - Barbados - Continued

 

We met the group at 9:15 and took a cab to Pirates Cove.

 

 

From the outside it didn’t look that great, but once we went in, it was beautiful.

 

I like this picture of the group that I took as they were headed to Pirates Cove. It was everyone’s first time there so when we were dropped off there was some apprehension. Everyone was very happy once we went in.

 

 

 

The changing rooms/bathroom area which we quickly stopped at to change into our bathing suits

 

 

We went to the Boatyard last year which I also really liked and was just slightly down the beach from here. The Boatyard was more crowded.

 

Lounge chairs with a Palapa/umbrella cost $15 for 2 chairs under one Palapa/Umbrella.

 

The water is a beautiful blue and we had a good time swimming and playing at the beach.

 

The bar area:

 

 

Some seats under an awning and you can see the set up of the chairs under the palapa/umbrella straight ahead of it towards the water. I forgot to take a direct picture of it.

 

 

It rained on and off throughout the day.

 

We had our cab driver come back for us at 1:30 and we went back to the pier. We shopped at the pier but Scott didn’t find any T shirts he liked. We still managed to find some other little things to buy like an ornament, postcard, etc.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/4/18 - Barbados - Continued

 

Back on the ship we stopped at 270 for a light snack. I like the strawberry scones since they aren’t what you expect. It’s more like a biscuit with some vanilla cream inside and strawberries. I could do without the raisins, but they are easy enough to pick out. I forgot to take a picture of it.

 

The were decorating for the Super Bowl with one side of the room green/white balloons (Eagles) and the other side blue/red balloons (Patriots). They will show the Super Bowl in 270, the theater, the pool deck, the casino, and in the staterooms. Basically you can watch the game all over.

 

 

 

We sailed at 4pm.

 

 

We went back to the cabin to shower and change for the evening. Scott wanted to bring his Mer Soleil wine so we can have some at dinner so I made him pose in front of the cabin door with it.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/4/18 - Barbados - Continued

 

We stopped at the Concierge Lounge for a bit and then went to dinner at Coastal Kitchen.

 

 

Scott’s expression here cracks me up. I was telling him to smile for another picture and he’s probably thinking “Not another picture of me holding a menu”.

 

Rajiv chilled the wine, brought out wine glasses and poured us each a glass. I’m not really much of a wine drinker, but this was pretty tasty.

 

 

For appetizer I had the short rib gnocchi. This is really good. Nice tender short rib and some gnocchi.

 

 

Scott had the scallop carpaccio. A much lighter choice than my gnocchi. He enjoyed this as well.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 2/4/18 - Barbados - Continued

 

For our entree we both had the flounder.

 

 

Since I was saying how good the gnocchi appetizer was, Rajiv brought an extra plate out for us to eat with our dinner.

 

 

For dessert I saw someone with a dessert that I couldn’t figure out what it was from the dessert menu. I asked what it was. It was the berry sundae which was from yesterday’s menu. Rajiv said he could bring me that.

 

 

Scott had the ivory mousse. I liked the Ivory Mousse but the cake part on the bottom was a bit hard and we laughed trying to use our fork to chisel a piece off. It was good just a bit hard to eat. Notice the little chocolate crunchy things by the ice cream. They put those on a lot of the desserts (kind of how the fava beans show up on a lot of entrees). I’m not complaining; those chocolate things are good.

 

 

This dinner menu tonight was a repeat of one we had earlier in the trip.

 

We saw Brian and Vic in Coastal Kitchen tonight. They asked for a beach recommendation for St Kitts tomorrow so I told them about Carambola Beach Club.

 

Rajiv corked the bottle of wine for us since we had plenty left and they stored it so we can have it tomorrow with dinner.

 

We went to the casino after dinner.

 

Scott popped in and out to watch parts of the Super Bowl.

 

We saw the late night comedy at 11:45pm - Jim David. It was a funny show.

 

We went back to the casino for a bit longer and probably went up to our cabin around 2am.

 

We had another towel animal - an elephant.

 

Edited March 4, 2018 by Noreen411

[JaniceB]

The desserts are making me hungry!

[NewfieGuy1972]

We are sailing on the Anthem on this cruise Feb 2019, and are in a Junior Suite, and were considering upgrading to a GS, but the cost is about $3500 more. Do you think it's worth it on the Anthem? That would bring the total up to about 9k for us for 12 nights, is that a good deal or?

 

Thanks...loving your detailed trip report!

[ticketsunlimited]

Seems a tad high to me.

[Phoenix1949]

We are sailing on the Anthem on this cruise Feb 2019, and are in a Junior Suite, and were considering upgrading to a GS, but the cost is about $3500 more. Do you think it's worth it on the Anthem? That would bring the total up to about 9k for us for 12 nights, is that a good deal or?

 

Thanks...loving your detailed trip report!

 

9K is probably as good as it is going to get for a GS. By the time you add in gratuities and cruise insurance you are closer to 11K I think. Bigger stateroom, access to CK for breakfast lunch and dinner, suite lounge some other perks that I can't think of right now.

[Noreen411]

We are sailing on the Anthem on this cruise Feb 2019, and are in a Junior Suite, and were considering upgrading to a GS, but the cost is about $3500 more. Do you think it's worth it on the Anthem? That would bring the total up to about 9k for us for 12 nights, is that a good deal or?

 

 

 

Thanks...loving your detailed trip report!

 

 

 

Hi

 

Earlier in the report someone asked about being contacted by the concierge. I posted a copy of the email he sent which listed the suite perks.

 

It’s hard to say if that’s a good deal. It’s very subjective.

 

Some of the perks may make the difference worth it. On top of the larger room.

 

The internet included has a $ value and if you were planning to purchase it, that’s an extra thing you won’t have to pay for.

 

Dinner in Coastal Kitchen you would have even with the junior suite but you will also be able to have breakfast and lunch there.

 

Access to the concierge lounge could be a nice perk for pre dinner cocktails or morning coffee but if you are diamond Plus you can go there regardless of cabin type. And if you already purchased a beverage package you can have cocktails wherever you like. It’s a nice meeting space though. And the concierge will help you with whatever you need eliminating the need to go to guest services.

 

The room service delivery charge is waived in GS

 

There are other perks that you may value differently than others

 

Suite sun deck. We thought it was great. We don’t spend all day at the pool so would not go down early morning to find a chair. If we wanted to head to the pool mid afternoon there was plenty of space on the suite sun deck along with comfortable chairs and towels readily available

 

Reserved seating at shows. If you want a good seat you don’t have to show up way in advance. The suite section is held until maybe 15 minutes before showtime. So show up 20 minutes before, show your card, and you have a great seat. Especially useful for spectre cabaret in 270 and we will rock you in the theater.

 

It’s very easy to get spoiled by these perks, and larger cabins.

 

Either way you will have a great time

 

I had a junior suite January 2017 on Anthem and that review is in my signature with cabin pictures too

 

 

 

 

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[FirstAnthem]

I love all the details in your reviews! Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Noreen411]

I love all the details in your reviews! Thoroughly enjoyable.

 

 

 

Thank you

Work gets in the way of me finishing as quickly as I would like to, but I should have another few days up this weekend

 

 

 

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[Ken Greco]

Following. We will be on the Anthem in October heading to Bermuda. Your review is outstanding.

 

 

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Will be going on the Anthem in 2019 to Bermuda look forward to your review

[Jasukkie]

Love your reviews Noreen. You are really selling me on Coastal Kitchen. Is the suite sun deck open to Junior Suites too? And the reserved seating at shows?

[Noreen411]

Love your reviews Noreen. You are really selling me on Coastal Kitchen. Is the suite sun deck open to Junior Suites too? And the reserved seating at shows?

 

 

 

Hi

 

No, sun deck and reserved seating is just grand suite and above

 

Sometimes at the shows they let diamond Plus in the reserved section but not always.

 

We really enjoyed Coastal kitchen

 

 

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