Anthem of the Seas - Norwegian Fjords - A trip report

[little britain]

10 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

 

No English bacon on a English cruise?  😞

There will be heaps of fatty slimy English bacon… it’s just that crispy tasty American bacon is so much better!!! 

[kernow]

Only just found this and caught up, very enjoyable review  thank you. 

 

We were on a Fjord cruise a couple of weeks before you on Virtuosa so interesting to compare your experience on Anthem (which we've also sailed on previously). 

We thought about doing the hike to the glacier but thought it might be difficult so opted for the open top bus instead. After reading your report wish we had done it as it doesn't look too bad, was there an actual path all the way?

[Sarah1974]

@jjsparkles thanks for your Stavanger pics - lovely place

[Another_Critic]

13 hours ago, little britain said:

There will be heaps of fatty slimy English bacon… it’s just that crispy tasty American bacon is so much better!!! 

I always look forward to eating English bacon when I visit the UK.  It's much better than the mostly fat American bacon.

[jjsparkles]

On 6/8/2023 at 8:40 PM, zap99 said:

We got the troll as well. You know how something puzzles you and you think..oh well ?. Our first RC cruise was on Indy a few years ago.  By about Wednesday,  I realised why, on boarding  the elevator was called Saturday

 

Lol, snap!

 

 

On 6/8/2023 at 9:44 PM, Another_Critic said:

 

No English bacon on a English cruise?  😞

 

It was probably in the Windjammer but we didn't go there for breakfast - the crispy bacon was actually very good 🙂

 

20 hours ago, wolfcathorse said:

do you remember who your captain was? Capt Srecko Ban or Iv Vidos?

 

Sorry, I've no idea who it was

 

13 hours ago, little britain said:

There will be heaps of fatty slimy English bacon… it’s just that crispy tasty American bacon is so much better!!! 

 

It was really nice

 

8 hours ago, kernow said:

Only just found this and caught up, very enjoyable review  thank you. 

 

We were on a Fjord cruise a couple of weeks before you on Virtuosa so interesting to compare your experience on Anthem (which we've also sailed on previously). 

We thought about doing the hike to the glacier but thought it might be difficult so opted for the open top bus instead. After reading your report wish we had done it as it doesn't look too bad, was there an actual path all the way?

 

Thanks for reading along, glad you're enjoying it. The hike did have a real path most of the way, but lots of gravel areas too. One part had some big stones to navigate, but there were railings at the very steep parts, and just above the waterfall there were also some steps, albeit a bit gravelly. You're definitely not walking on grass and actually hiking - but there are some steep parts.

 

6 hours ago, Sarah1974 said:

@jjsparkles thanks for your Stavanger pics - lovely place

 

Thank you, it was really lovely to see.

[jjsparkles]

4 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I always look forward to eating English bacon when I visit the UK.  It's much better than the mostly fat American bacon.

 

I'm sure there will have been some somewhere on the ship - maybe the main dining room just sticks to the crispy stuff?

[mac_tlc]

Really enjoy following along. Pictures are amazing. We head out on the Jewel next Saturday to Geirnager, Honninsvag (overnight),  Alesund, Flam, Olden, and Molde. 
 

I plan on doing a live-ish review that will probably start on Monday and will definitely report on the status of the Caesar salad!!!

 

I hope the internet cooperates. 
 

mac_tlc

Edited June 10, 2023 by mac_tlc

[smokey01]

I’ve just seen a YouTube review of the new menus done by 2 Brits Ben and David who have done many cruise ship reviews. On their 12 night Harmony cruise they had many evening menu items that were cold where they should have been hot (they were not just warm but cold). How have you found the food temperature?

 

Worryingly they compared the poor food to MSC standard and we have also been looking at an MSC Virtuosa cruise, so I guess food is not great on MSC.

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

3 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

I’ve just seen a YouTube review of the new menus done by 2 Brits Ben and David who have done many cruise ship reviews. On their 12 night Harmony cruise they had many evening menu items that were cold where they should have been hot (they were not just warm but cold). How have you found the food temperature?

 

Worryingly they compared the poor food to MSC standard and we have also been looking at an MSC Virtuosa cruise, so I guess food is not great on MSC.

We did the 7 nights Anthem cruise 28th May to 4th June and was pleased that all our food in MDR (silk) was served hot and on hot plates. 

[jjsparkles]

15 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Really enjoy following along. Pictures are amazing. We head out on the Jewel next Saturday to Geirnager, Honninsvag (overnight),  Alesund, Flam, Olden, and Molde. 
 

I plan on doing a live-ish review that will probably start on Monday and will definitely report on the status of the Caesar salad!!!

 

I hope the internet cooperates. 
 

mac_tlc

 

Thank you, glad you're enjoying it. Your cruise sounds fantastic, Flam was somewhere I'd also have liked to see but wasn't on our itinerary. Have a wonderful cruise, I'll look our for your updates 🙂

 

 

1 hour ago, smokey01 said:

I’ve just seen a YouTube review of the new menus done by 2 Brits Ben and David who have done many cruise ship reviews. On their 12 night Harmony cruise they had many evening menu items that were cold where they should have been hot (they were not just warm but cold). How have you found the food temperature?

 

Worryingly they compared the poor food to MSC standard and we have also been looking at an MSC Virtuosa cruise, so I guess food is not great on MSC.

 

I watch Ben and David too and have watched that series, I'm sure it was a transatlantic on Symphony. I know they don't often have negative comments about Royal, they usually have very good things to say so I took their review seriously. We were definitely looking out for cold food however I'm happy to say that every hot meal was served piping hot. I suppose all ships will be different because in the end it's down to the staff and how they manage things. Maybe they got unlucky with lots of new crew joining for the transatlantic and new season in Europe?

 

 

1 hour ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

We did the 7 nights Anthem cruise 28th May to 4th June and was pleased that all our food in MDR (silk) was served hot and on hot plates. 

 

That was our experience too 🙂

 

[jjsparkles]

Saturday 27 May – Sea Day & last day 😢

 

We both slept well again and had a really lazy morning. I got up and made us a cup of tea and we sat in bed with the curtains open watching the world go by. 

 

 

Perfect 🙂

 

It was lovely and calm outside and we’d decided to enjoy brunch again today. We headed to the dining room around 11ish.

 

 

We both had the express breakfast again and decided to be a bit indulgent and shared a serving of pancakes too. These were absolutely delicious, so light and fluffy.

 

 

Guest services was surprisingly quiet so we stopped by to settle our account. There was nothing we would buy tonight so thought we may as well get it sorted now. All sorted in minutes, we headed upstairs for our daily laps round the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We noticed that it could be perfectly calm at the back and sat here with the flowrider shielding the wind behind us. Don't be fooled by John with his winter coat on, lol. I just had my cardigan and was fine. It was definitely warming up a bit. However the wind really changed as you got to the bow of the ship. We called it the windiest corner in the world each time we went by, lol.

 

 

 

We lazed in the solarium for a short time, too hot for us in there when we didn’t plan to swim or use the hot tubs. We played cards again in the Music Hall for a while.

 

 

 

And then it was time for us to get into the theatre for the 14:30 showing of We Will Rock You.

 

 

It was around 2pm now and the theatre was already filling up. We found some seats at the end of a row in the downstairs section which already had a few people in it. The bar service waiter came round and we ordered our drinks. Slowly we realised some more people were arriving to join the other people in our row and they were trying to find some seats for them. I said to John we should move to let them sit together, so we moved to get up. Then I realised we’d ordered drinks, so John went off to find us a seat and I stayed there to make sure our waiter didn’t get confused. The people were so nice and thanked us for moving. They hadn’t asked us but I know if I’d been with our family I’d have liked us to be together.

 

Anyway, John ended up in the upstairs section and after our waiter returned, I went to join him. The theatre was buzzing by now, only 5 minutes until curtain up and we soon realised the seats were not great. For some reason the upstairs part of the theatre is all sectioned off with wood and glass and the angles are not good at all. Despite us being in the second row, we couldn’t see much at all.

It really didn’t matter too much though, the music was absolutely amazing. The musicians on the ship are so talented, as are the singers. Both our sons play guitar (our eldest son professionally) and we know the work that they put in to learning and rehearsing every single note they play. When songs are played to sound exactly like the records you’ve heard a million times, it’s so easy to forget that these are being played live, they make it look too easy!  The show was fantastic, I could have watched it all over again. Well done to everyone involved!

 

Back to the room we did the dreaded packing and got everything ready for the morning. It was around 5pm now. 

 

 

It was really warming up now, and too early for dinner we took another few laps round the deck. We sat in the sun for a wee while enjoying the warmer air and breeze. It really was lovely today, John even took his coat off!

 

 

 

 

We went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner and made our way to the main dining room around 6:30pm.

 

 

Again we had a lovely window seat. 

 

We both had the seafood cake to start, lovely. 

 

 

Followed by Spaghetti Bolognese, also lovely

 

 

And to finish, apple cobbler, delicious

 

 

We made our way back to our cabin to decide what to do for the evening. 

 

 

We sat on the balcony for a while and enjoyed it so much we decided just to stay there, before first nipping downstairs and grabbing some drinks. My indulgence all cruise had been the virgin pina colada - the Music Hall were the best at making it 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was  now that I remembered that I’d never managed to see the swing in the solarium! It had always been too busy, hot to be in there so we took a chance and wandered down not. It was after 9 now. 

 

 

 

Thankfully it was quiet and we enjoyed the solarium for a while. We loved the swing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jjsparkles]

Another look over the bridge wings

 

 

 

 

 

Then we went out onto the top deck to enjoy the sunset.

 

 

A nice fellow passenger offered to take our photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the cabin we caught our final glimpse of the sun setting 

 

 

And then it was all over 😢

 

Sunday 28 May - Hometime 

 

We were up around 6ish and didn’t bother going out for breakfast, instead just having some tea and snacks we had in the room.

Our view over Southampton – had it really been a week already?

 

It was another beautiful sunny day.

We watched the tv for our tag number to be called and were off the ship quickly, collecting our bags and in the car for around 7:15.

 

Something I really like about cruising in Europe is no passport control as you exit the ship, makes for a very easy departure.

 

The drive home was good, making a few stops for breakfast and lunch we were home early afternoon. Definitely an easier journey going home.

 

We’d had an absolutely wonderful time however I kept my sea legs for 3 or 4 days….I was completely exhausted and a bit dizzy for a few days, honestly felt like I was still swaying. I’ve read that this can happen if you keep moving after you leave a ship, eg get in a car and drive for 8 hours straight….which is what we did 🤪

 

Final thoughts

 

Ship

We both really liked Anthem of the Seas. Our only Royal comparison is to Harmony of the Seas, but it’s not a true comparison as we had sailed just after covid with only around 1500 passengers so it was a very different experience.

That said, I liked the layout of Anthem, we really liked Music Hall, 270 could get busy very quickly and the solarium was a bit of a no go for us. This was a disappointment as we’d spent a lot of time there on Harmony. But as I said earlier, it was just too hot and stuffy if you didn’t plan on stripping off for the pool/hot tubs.

Nice open areas to walk around outside and lots of indoor areas too. Only downside we noticed was that on rainy days the inside definitely felt more crowded.

The staff were all very nice, helpful and no problems with anyone at all.

 

Food

We liked the main dining room this time better than we had before. Everything served was piping hot and tasty.  The Windjammer was ok, nothing wrong with it but we struggled to find what we wanted in here. And it was always busy which kind of put us off and we didn’t really want to eat in a hectic atmosphere.

Sorrentos Pizza was great, but limited choices, only cheese, pepperoni and another mixed one I can't recall.

Café 270 was a great option for lunch too, really good salad bar and of course the roast beef sandwich.

 

Room

We loved our room. All the worry of being on deck 13 with the overhang was a worry I wish I hadn’t wasted time on. Yes, you could definitely hear people walking upstairs but it wasn’t overly noisy. Maybe it depends on which part of the deck you are on. We were just under the sunbeds in front of Johnny Rockets. We actually enjoyed the overhang on the balcony as it offered some shield from the wind and rain. And on the occasion it was sunny, we did get some sun too. We still benefited from some amazing views and being just below the pool deck, it was no hassle at all to nip up there if we wanted to. Great to have a kettle in the room for making a cup of tea. There are tea bags/sugar and milk pods in the room, but we just topped this up from the drink stations around the ship. We also ordered a carton of milk with our room service breakfast and kept this in the fridge.

We loved being able to nip up to the windjammer for drinks – I loved that they had barista coffee in there and our position made it really easy to get around the ship.

The bathroom was good too, shower was a good pressure and temperature. And we loved the storage, really easy to have everything put away. Would not hesitate to do this same cabin again, especially since it had been cheaper than an inside cabin when we booked. The only thing that let it down was the bed. I’ve moaned enough about that – but it really was like sleeping on a brick.

 

Norway

Stunning. I can’t think of enough words to say how beautiful it was. We didn’t have the best weather, mostly overcast, some drizzles of rain and other days sunshine and wind. But it didn’t matter. We really enjoyed all the ports. Everyone we encountered were really lovely, chatty, pleasant and very welcoming. 

 

Payment

I wanted to provide some info about using the travel card, Revolut for settling the account on the ship.  I wasn’t going to go into too much detail here because this will probably only be useful

to UK passengers, but I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to research this and in the end it was actually very simple. (I also don’t want this to be a ‘just use your credit card’ thread)

As UK passengers on a US ship, sailing out of the UK, it’s actually a bit of a pain to have to think about dollars when you don’t actually need physical cash. Conversion rates vary enormously with each bank, often having to pay a transaction fee, then a really poor rate. If you do exchange cash you have to guess how much you'll need, will it be too much, not enough? Our credit card is rubbish for other currencies (I know you can get others) so it really irks me that I end up paying more than I should. Anyway, wherever we travel, we use Revolut, which converts to whatever currency you want, as you use it.

Now, the issue is that Revolut works like a debit card, so the holds can be on much longer than a credit card – I’ve heard horror stories of duplicate holds for weeks because of the way Revolut works. This is how you get round it:

Input your Revolut card details into the app during the check in process, so that you’re not delayed when you board the ship.

As soon as you’re on the ship, before you purchase anything, go to guest services and ask for your card to be removed from the account and set up a cash account. You DO NOT need to put down any cash. You will have a limit of approx. $500 before you need to settle anything on your account.

Go to guest services on the last day, or before if you go near your limit and use your Revolut card to pay the bill. You must tell the agent that you want the bill in dollars, otherwise they may try to do the double conversion thing because the system will recognise a UK card.

Done – so simple. You pay your bill in dollars, using your card, at the best rate possible.

 

Currency /Tipping

We didn’t change any money at all. None. Every single shop and even market stall in Norway we went to took cards. Many of them even had signs to say ‘card payment preferred please’. Contactless is used everywhere or chip and PIN if you don’t have that on your card.              

 

We pre-paid our gratuities and then took some GBP to tip our room attendant and room service staff. Remember, this ship’s home port is Southampton at the moment so the crew will have opportunities to purchase things on land there. I’m quite sure they would also appreciate some Euros for the other cruises or NOK if docking in Norway. And there will likely be lots of people using dollars so the mix will, I’m sure be appreciated.

 

I suppose what I'm trying to say is don't go out of your way to exchange cash if you don't need to, card is used and preferred almost everywhere. 

 

 

 

We really did have an amazing time and feel very lucky to have seen beautiful Norway like this. Disappointed we didn't get to experience Geiranger but absolutely nothing we could have done about it. Our port fees/taxes were refunded and our third party shore excursion company also gave us a 50% refund which was good of them. 

 

For all you lucky cruisers who can drive to a port and enjoy a beautiful sunny cruise, I’m so envious! I absolutely loved being able to drive to get on the ship, so don’t ever take it for granted 🙂

 

Anyway, as I always say when I finish these reports, thank you to everyone who participates on these forums. I learn so much from them and find all the information vital to my holiday planning.

And thank you for all the lovely comments. Happy cruising everyone 🛳️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FionaMG]

Thanks very much for sharing your trip. It's been great following along. 🥰

 

I get what you mean about paying in USD on board the ship. I have that issue too, since my credit card is in euros.

I use Wise, which is also a debit card system with multiple currencies. I'm not familiar with how Revolut works but with Wise you can set up accounts in different currencies. So I have a dollar account on there and before I go on a cruise I work out roughly how much I'll need and pay that much into it from my credit card. Then on board the ship, after the initital +/- $100 that they put on as a hold, it just keeps updating each day until the end of the cruise. It's very convenient to it this way because there's no hold on my main credit card account.

[bigeck]

Great review, thanks.

I've used Revolut for a long time. I upgraded to premium and get free insurance along with other benefits. My son works off shore and he had a bag go missing. He was paid out within the week even though his bag turned up 2 weeks later.

I also like the way I can move currency around so I don't have loose change I might use for a while.

I like a stroll on top deck in the breeze. Us Scots are hardy pups

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by bigeck

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

A lovely review. We got on the day you got off. We also had a deck 13 balcony cabin which is really handy to nip up one flight to the pool deck. We ate all our evening meals in the MDR and like you had hot food served on hot plates. We ate breakfast in the Solarium restaurant which was surprisingly quiet and the choice was pretty good. Although the Solarium was a bit on the humid side it was where we spent our time whenever the wind on deck was too cold. Our favourite bar was Vintages. Like yourself we really enjoyed We Will Rock You- the singers and musicians were superb.

[Another_Critic]

5 hours ago, jjsparkles said:

And then it was time for us to get into the theatre for the 14:30 showing of We Will Rock You.

 

 

It really didn’t matter too much though, the music was absolutely amazing. The musicians on the ship are so talented, as are the singers. Both our sons play guitar (our eldest son professionally) and we know the work that they put in to learning and rehearsing every single note they play. When songs are played to sound exactly like the records you’ve heard a million times, it’s so easy to forget that these are being played live, they make it look too easy!  The show was fantastic, I could have watched it all over again. Well done to everyone involved!

 

I've seen WWRY 7 times ... most likely will see it for the 8th time on the fall transatlantic.

[alexgtp]

22 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Really enjoy following along. Pictures are amazing. We head out on the Jewel next Saturday to Geirnager, Honninsvag (overnight),  Alesund, Flam, Olden, and Molde. 
 

I plan on doing a live-ish review that will probably start on Monday and will definitely report on the status of the Caesar salad!!!

 

I hope the internet cooperates. 
 

mac_tlc

wife and I are the same sailing! so excited!!!

[jjsparkles]

6 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Thanks very much for sharing your trip. It's been great following along. 🥰

 

I get what you mean about paying in USD on board the ship. I have that issue too, since my credit card is in euros.

I use Wise, which is also a debit card system with multiple currencies. I'm not familiar with how Revolut works but with Wise you can set up accounts in different currencies. So I have a dollar account on there and before I go on a cruise I work out roughly how much I'll need and pay that much into it from my credit card. Then on board the ship, after the initital +/- $100 that they put on as a hold, it just keeps updating each day until the end of the cruise. It's very convenient to it this way because there's no hold on my main credit card account.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Sounds very similar to Revolut. Monzo is similar too, makes travelling so easy. 

 

6 hours ago, bigeck said:

Great review, thanks.

I've used Revolut for a long time. I upgraded to premium and get free insurance along with other benefits. My son works off shore and he had a bag go missing. He was paid out within the week even though his bag turned up 2 weeks later.

I also like the way I can move currency around so I don't have loose change I might use for a while.

I like a stroll on top deck in the breeze. Us Scots are hardy pups

 

Thanks for reading along. We’ve used Revolut for years too, so easy. 
 

The wind was a welcome break from the stuffiness inside when it was busy so we were out often. No fear of being blown away, lol. 

 

5 hours ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

A lovely review. We got on the day you got off. We also had a deck 13 balcony cabin which is really handy to nip up one flight to the pool deck. We ate all our evening meals in the MDR and like you had hot food served on hot plates. We ate breakfast in the Solarium restaurant which was surprisingly quiet and the choice was pretty good. Although the Solarium was a bit on the humid side it was where we spent our time whenever the wind on deck was too cold. Our favourite bar was Vintages. Like yourself we really enjoyed We Will Rock You- the singers and musicians were superb.

Thanks for reading along. Glad you had a great time too. 
 

4 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

 

I've seen WWRY 7 times ... most likely will see it for the 8th time on the fall transatlantic.

 

4 hours ago, alexgtp said:

wife and I are the same sailing! so excited!!!

 

It was really great, hope you see it again. Have a great time 😀

[Tree_skier]

Thanks for doing this.  I enjoyed your pictures.

[Jimbo]

Great review ! Your review is making us very excited for our 12 Night Cruise on Jewel in May 2024. We will be visiting some of the same ports you stopped at.  🙂

[teddie]

@jjsparkles

 

I so enjoyed your report and photos.  Your writing style is lovely and natural, so it's a pleasure to read.  

Safe travels!

 

Teddie

 

 

[jjsparkles]

21 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Thanks for doing this.  I enjoyed your pictures.

You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed it 🙂

19 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Great review ! Your review is making us very excited for our 12 Night Cruise on Jewel in May 2024. We will be visiting some of the same ports you stopped at.  🙂

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. I’m sure you’ll have a fantastic time 🙂

 

16 hours ago, teddie said:

@jjsparkles

 

I so enjoyed your report and photos.  Your writing style is lovely and natural, so it's a pleasure to read.  

Safe travels!

 

Teddie

 

 

 

Aww, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it 🙂

[latebuyer]

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your photos-I would like to go to norway sometime. Anthem looked nice. I was glad to hear you for the most part liked the food in the mdr as there are complaints about it and i am going to alaska in 2 weeks.

 

Does anyone know if the new environmental restrictions also affect smaller cruise ships? It would be a shame if no cruise ships could go there. I’m hoping they’ll allow ships brilliance of the seas size.

[RobinKS]

9 hours ago, latebuyer said:

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your photos-I would like to go to norway sometime. Anthem looked nice. I was glad to hear you for the most part liked the food in the mdr as there are complaints about it and i am going to alaska in 2 weeks.

 

Does anyone know if the new environmental restrictions also affect smaller cruise ships? It would be a shame if no cruise ships could go there. I’m hoping they’ll allow ships brilliance of the seas size.

 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

On 6/9/2023 at 8:27 AM, little britain said:

There will be heaps of fatty slimy English bacon… it’s just that crispy tasty American bacon is so much better!!! 

Lol theres no meat on american bacon just strips of fat, well over cooked....normally covered in an orange liquid cheese flavour lol 🤣🤢🤮