On the Anthem of the Seas 11/26/2023 Sailing

[teddie]

Hello,

 

I am currently on the Anthem 7 nights from Cape Liberty, which sailed on 11/26/2023, Originally booked with my husband, but he recently accepted new employment and couldn't get the time off. So, I went with one of my very good friends.  This will not be a detailed report, but wanted to share a bit here.  I was last on this ship in February 2023 with a similar itinerary.  I'll give a rundown of my impressions this time around.  Please feel free to ask any questions regarding this ship, and I will try my best. 

 

Embarkation

We had a 1030AM boarding time, and arrived at the terminal by 1000AM. I live about 15 miles west of Bayonne, so it's super convenient sailing from there. No one checked our boarding times. A quick scan of our boarding passes, security screening, and then were seated in the waiting area for approximately 15 minutes before being allowed onboard row by row.  It was truly painless, and we were quickly onboard.  Did the muster and headed to the Windjammer for a bite.  Staterooms opened by 1:30 PM. We happened to come across our luggage, which was parked about 20 cabins forward to our location.  I am thinking it was offloaded nearby and waiting to be delivered to our cabin door, but we brought it to our cabin ourselves so we could get unpacked and organized.  We brought 12 bottles of 17 oz Poland Spring water, and two bottles of wine in our carry on luggage.

 

Staterooms/Cabin Maintenance

We are in a balcony cabin with large balcony on deck 10 midship, directly off the aft elevators, starboard side. There is an electric kettle in the cabin.  Our "chiller" is truly working more like an actual  refrigerator. We met our cabin attendant, Mr. Anant on the first day, and we agreed on PM servicing, and double supply of towels each day. I like that he is friendly, responsive to requests, and seemed quite calm. We did request wine set ups, and a feather pillow for me--all requests were granted. There is no significant noise associated with our proximity to the elevators. One interesting issue is that there was no hairdryer in the cabin, and it took two days to finally get one.

 

Staffing

As noted, we sailed the Anthem this past February after a 7 year hiatus from cruising, and on that cruise, I was dismayed with a staff that seemed disengaged and exhausted. It's possible that we ran into a few bad apples, but to me it just seemed that the service level was on a downhill curve.   I am pleased to note that this trip, there is a 100% improvement in staff friendliness and attentiveness.

 

Dining

OK; here comes the subjective stuff:

Windjammer we found lots of good choices in the Windjammer for our our first-day lunch. Very well stocked, clean, lots of options.  Unlike my February cruise, there was a bustling number of staff clearing tables, and offering to bring the complimentary drinks to your table. We haven't been to the WJ for dinner so far.

Cafe Promenade--the usual tiny sandwiches, and a good place to gather your tea making materials to bring back to the cabin.  I travel with a box of those "Mini Moos" half and half creamers, especially after reading here about the cream contoversy.  With respect to the pitchers labeled "cream" "milk" and "skim milk", most of the designated cream pitchers were indeed cream (or a least half and half".)  I occasionally encountered a cream pitcher with contents that seemed more like milk.

My Time Dining is still kind of clunky, Reservations or not, the process is not smooth, and the host/hostess seem frazzled.  Beef tenderloin was delicious.  My friend's NY Strip was reportedly good. I love the Indian offerings too. Our bread basket was nicely stocked and while I've heard of pax receiving only 2 pats of butter, we have so far always gotten 3 pats. Haha. The servers are as accomodating as possible in an incredibly busy environment.

Beach Club before anyone gets bent out of shape about the need to spend ANY money on Coco Cay, we LOVE the Beach Club, so we choose to pay for it. We purchase directly after booking, and then check the prices daily.  If it goes down, we cancel and rebook.  I did this three times, and ended up with a Black Friday sale of $79 per person, which was half of the starting price. The luncheon is really excellent. Perhaps it's more special to us since we are not in a suite nor do we do much of the specialty restaurants. I mean, the appetizer platter is dang good as was the surf and turf (which was not on the Beach Club menu, but offered up by our server).  They are small Bahamian lobsters, but very tasty and the filet mignon was excellent. Generous portions, too.

Solarium Cafe We had breakfast there on Day 2 and this smaller buffet was calmer and much more of a relaxing experience when compared to the WJ. For a smaller buffet, it offered pretty much anything I would want for breakfast. Made to order omelets were available there as well.  The hours are somewhat limited.

 

Internet

Wow! it's pretty good and much better than when we sailed in February. I purchased one plan for 2 devices, and as Diamond, I believe I get a free day of internet.  I used my work VPN and streamed a show on Netflix without a problem. 

 

Ports 

Port Canaveral this sailing originally included Port Canaveral, which was removed about one month ago, and all pax received a credit to their sea pass account equal to one day of this cruise price.  That credit was reflected in our accounts, and ours were $141 each.  Later on Day 1 sailing, the Captain announced that Port Canaveral was back on the itinerary--and we get to KEEP the onboard credit! YAY!.  Well, after all that praise I just gave, we didn't get off the ship at PC--we booked massages in the spa instead.

Coco Cay with some jitters about wind and weather and the potential for a cancellation, today was indeed a Perfect Day at Coco Cay.  There were two ships in port, the Anthem and Liberty.  We made sure to get off the ship early, grabbed a tram to the Beach Club, and were fortuante to snag a very cozy and comfortable beach bed at the pool. We reseerved our lunch There is a small continental breakfast with danish and coffee.  Staff were so frindly and helpful. The pool was warm and lovely.  The ocean was serene, only a tiny bit chilly, and there were NO jellyfish.  But there were a few sharks of the harmless variety (or so we were told). Seriously, it was a relaxing, and beautiful day.

Nassau is next for tomorrow morning.  Last cruise we booked the Riu through Resorts For a Day, but we may stay onboard.  Haven't decided yet.  

 

Any questions, please chime in.

 

Teddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by teddie

[sadiwest]

34 minutes ago, teddie said:

Hello,

 

I am currently on the Anthem 7 nights from Cape Liberty, which sailed on 11/26/2023, Originally booked with my husband, but he recently accepted new employment and couldn't get the time off. So, I went with one of my very good friends.  This will not be a detailed report, but wanted to share a bit here.  I was last on this ship in February 2023 with a similar itinerary.  I'll give a rundown of my impressions this time around.  Please feel free to ask any questions regarding this ship, and I will try my best. 

 

Embarkation

We had a 1030AM boarding time, and arrived at the terminal by 1000AM. I live about 15 miles west of Bayonne, so it's super convenient sailing from there. No one checked our boarding times. A quick scan of our boarding passes, security screening, and then were seated in the waiting area for approximately 15 minutes before being allowed onboard row by row.  It was truly painless, and we were quickly onboard.  Did the muster and headed to the Windjammer for a bite.  Staterooms opened by 1:30 PM. We happened to come across our luggage, which was parked about 20 cabins forward to our location.  I am thinking it was offloaded nearby and waiting to be delivered to our cabin door, but we brought it to our cabin ourselves so we could get unpacked and organized.  We brought 12 bottles of 17 oz Poland Spring water, and two bottles of wine in our carry on luggage.

 

Staterooms/Cabin Maintenance

We are in a balcony cabin with large balcony on deck 10 midship, directly off the aft elevators, starboard side. There is an electric kettle in the cabin.  Our "chiller" is truly working more like an actual  refrigerator. We met our cabin attendant, Mr. Anant on the first day, and we agreed on PM servicing, and double supply of towels each day. I like that he is friendly, responsive to requests, and seemed quite calm. We did request wine set ups, and a feather pillow for me--all requests were granted. There is no significant noise associated with our proximity to the elevators. One interesting issue is that there was no hairdryer in the cabin, and it took two days to finally get one.

 

Staffing

As noted, we sailed the Anthem this past February after a 7 year hiatus from cruising, and on that cruise, I was dismayed with a staff that seemed disengaged and exhausted. It's possible that we ran into a few bad apples, but to me it just seemed that the service level was on a downhill curve.   I am pleased to note that this trip, there is a 100% improvement in staff friendliness and attentiveness.

 

Dining

OK; here comes the subjective stuff:

Windjammer we found lots of good choices in the Windjammer for our our first-day lunch. Very well stocked, clean, lots of options.  Unlike my February cruise, there was a bustling number of staff clearing tables, and offering to bring the complimentary drinks to your table. We haven't been to the WJ for dinner so far.

Cafe Promenade--the usual tiny sandwiches, and a good place to gather your tea making materials to bring back to the cabin.  I travel with a box of those "Mini Moos" half and half creamers, especially after reading here about the cream contoversy.  With respect to the pitchers labeled "cream" "milk" and "skim milk", most of the designated cream pitchers were indeed cream (or a least half and half".)  I occasionally encountered a cream pitcher with contents that seemed more like milk.

My Time Dining is still kind of clunky, Reservations or not, the process is not smooth, and the host/hostess seem frazzled.  Beef tenderloin was delicious.  My friend's NY Strip was reportedly good. I love the Indian offerings too. Our bread basket was nicely stocked and while I've heard of pax receiving only 2 pats of butter, we have so far always gotten 3 pats. Haha. The servers are as accomodating as possible in an incredibly busy environment.

Beach Club before anyone gets bent out of shape about the need to spend ANY money on Coco Cay, we LOVE the Beach Club, so we choose to pay for it. We purchase directly after booking, and then check the prices daily.  If it goes down, we cancel and rebook.  I did this three times, and ended up with a Black Friday sale of $79 per person, which was half of the starting price. The luncheon is really excellent. Perhaps it's more special to us since we are not in a suite nor do we do much of the specialty restaurants. I mean, the appetizer platter is dang good as was the surf and turf (which was not on the Beach Club menu, but offered up by our server).  They are small Bahamian lobsters, but very tasty and the filet mignon was excellent. Generous portions, too.

Solarium Cafe We had breakfast there on Day 2 and this smaller buffet was calmer and much more of a relaxing experience when compared to the WJ. For a smaller buffet, it offered pretty much anything I would want for breakfast. Made to order omelets were available there as well.  The hours are somewhat limited.

 

Internet

Wow! it's pretty good and much better than when we sailed in February. I purchased one plan for 2 devices, and as Diamond, I believe I get a free day of internet.  I used my work VPN and streamed a show on Netflix without a problem. 

 

Ports 

Port Canaveral this sailing originally included Port Canaveral, which was removed about one month ago, and all pax received a credit to their sea pass account equal to one day of this cruise price.  That credit was reflected in our accounts, and ours were $141 each.  Later on Day 1 sailing, the Captain announced that Port Canaveral was back on the itinerary--and we get to KEEP the onboard credit! YAY!.  Well, after all that praise I just gave, we didn't get off the ship at PC--we booked massages in the spa instead.

Coco Cay with some jitters about wind and weather and the potential for a cancellation, today was indeed a Perfect Day at Coco Cay.  There were two ships in port, the Anthem and Liberty.  We made sure to get off the ship early, grabbed a tram to the Beach Club, and were fortuante to snag a very cozy and comfortable beach bed at the pool. We reseerved our lunch There is a small continental breakfast with danish and coffee.  Staff were so frindly and helpful. The pool was warm and lovely.  The ocean was serene, only a tiny bit chilly, and there were NO jellyfish.  But there were a few sharks of the harmless variety (or so we were told). Seriously, it was a relaxing, and beautiful day.

Nassau is next for tomorrow morning.  Last cruise we booked the Riu through Resorts For a Day, but we may stay onboard.  Haven't decided yet.  

 

Any questions, please chime in.

 

Teddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello! Am also on this cruise with you. I know no one asked my opinion...lol...we have early dinner, so by the time we are done with evening activities, the only options are Sorrentos or Cafe Promenade.

What happened to the olden days when buffets were open late?

[teddie]

48 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

Hello! Am also on this cruise with you. I know no one asked my opinion...lol...we have early dinner, so by the time we are done with evening activities, the only options are Sorrentos or Cafe Promenade.

What happened to the olden days when buffets were open late?

Honestly, on my previous cruises, I was well-fed to the point that late night buffets were more for admiring than partaking. Lol.  I don’t miss them but I can understand if others do. 

 

Teddie. 

[sadiwest]

8 hours ago, teddie said:

Honestly, on my previous cruises, I was well-fed to the point that late night buffets were more for admiring than partaking. Lol.  I don’t miss them but I can understand if others do. 

 

Teddie. 

I'm in no way saying I'm in NEED of food. Just looking for a little something. Back on track next week 😁

 

But seriously i eat pretty frequently but less at each sitting....  so I eat later these days since I'm up later on vacation. No tragedy here. Lol

[Georgeny]

Teddie, Thank you for your quick but well written summary so far. We sailed Liberty in June and were sadly disappointed by RCL food and various service cutbacks. Because of that we are not booking RCL currently but we do watch and wait there hopefully eventual improvements. Just sailed Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam in October and the food was so better than RCL we haven't missed them yet. Sadly even on HA the service though good was few and far between. Dining staff really had little clue. I think all lines are having real problems getting and training staff.

 

Thanks again  George IN NY

Will look forward to whatever you to decide to add about this cruise.

[PigsCanFly]

Thanks for the summary.  We are on Anthem  on Dec 10th.  We are big fans of AotS and are glad that it seems to be still good.  We are looking forward to returning.  Love the WWRY show and we hear the new Spectra is good.  If only the casino folks will be kind (and generous) to us this time.

[teddie]

Back home yesterday,  Overall, it was an excellent time. Here are some closing thoughts:

 

Staff: extremely friendly and attentive.  This was a significant contrast to my February 2023 experience on this ship. Everyone was so pleasant this time around EXCEPT for the female individual at the entry to Guest Services, who was quite impatient and unpleasant to deal with.  After that first interaction with her, I simply got on the line without dealing with her.

 

Coco Cay: I will continue to book the Beach Club as long as the price is right for me.  Just like I have the option to pay less by booking an interior cabin, I have the option to pay for the BC. Since I rarely book a suite, BC elevates my experience to a level that I very much enjoy. So I will continue to book a balcony and BC.

 

Dining: This was my 10th cruise on RCI, and I utterly surprised myself because we only ate in the MDR twice.  It's kind of sad that the MDR no longer holds the allure of being a special dining experience for me.  Honestly, it was fine, but not memorable--gone are those days!  I feel that the Windjammer on the Anthem is extremely well-laid out and maintained, and the selections were huge.  I also note that the Solarium Cafe serves an excellent breakfast, and had everything we would want.

 

We had one Room Service dinner and two breakfasts.The food was hot, well-presented, and tasty. BUT the ordering process on the cabin TV is an adventure in goofiness!  If you order the complimentary continental breakfast, your beverage options, including coffee is displayed.  If you want to order American breakfast, there is no beverage option.  So for two passengers, we ordered two American and two Continental.  The server showed up with FOUR trays.  It was hilarious! The saving grace is that we did get a phonecall confirming our orders each time we used Room Service.  That application needs an upgrade!!

 

Cabin: Service once daily was fine. As mentioned, we requested double towels for each evening's service, and all was well.  I tipped our Attendant an extra $100 cash at the end--he deserved it. He cleaned our cabin thoroughly every night, and met all of our requests. Is it me, or is the cabin with large balcony smaller than a cabin with a regular balcony? Maybe it's because we had the beds separated into two twins...?

 

FOG! The last sea day was incrediby foggy! Fog horn blew every two minuttes.  Kind of spooky!

 

Disembarkation: on Day 6  I went to Guest Services to switch our 07:45 AM assigned departure group to the last group which was at 09:40 AM. We live not far from the port and didn't need to rush off the ship to catch a flight.  The only downside to this was the huge buildup of traffic arriving for the next cruise, which slowed down the arrival of our ride back home.  Oh.  AND IT WAS RAINING! BOO!

 

I will be sailing this ship and itinerary again in March 2024 , to make it up to my husband, who could not be with me this time. 😍

 

Teddie

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by teddie

[Tatka]

We sailed 1 week before you and I agree with your points.

We noticed improvements in service, food(buffet) and especially internet which was abysmal for Thanksgiving 2022 and January 02.2023.

[teddie]

17 minutes ago, Tatka said:

We sailed 1 week before you and I agree with your points.

We noticed improvements in service, food(buffet) and especially internet which was abysmal for Thanksgiving 2022 and January 02.2023.

I am so happy to have the friendly staff back--our February cruise was after a seven-year gap in cruising, and I was worried that I may not want to cruise RCI again after that experience.  

 

Teddie

[Tatka]

7 minutes ago, teddie said:

I am so happy to have the friendly staff back--our February cruise was after a seven-year gap in cruising, and I was worried that I may not want to cruise RCI again after that experience.  

 

Teddie

 

We had friendly staff even in January, but they were less organized.

[teddie]

7 hours ago, Tatka said:

 

We had friendly staff even in January, but they were less organized.

Curious how this change for the better came about--it was that noticeable--kudos to management for turning things around!  It was a great cruise.

 

Sailing the Anthem again in March 2024--I don't want to sail anything bigger, and Cape Liberty is so very convenient for us.

 

Teddie

 

 

[Denversail]

9 hours ago, teddie said:

Back home yesterday,  Overall, it was an excellent time. Here are some closing thoughts:

 

Staff: extremely friendly and attentive.  This was a significant contrast to my February 2023 experience on this ship. Everyone was so pleasant this time around EXCEPT for the female individual at the entry to Guest Services, who was quite impatient and unpleasant to deal with.  After that first interaction with her, I simply got on the line without dealing with her.

 

Coco Cay: I will continue to book the Beach Club as long as the price is right for me.  Just like I have the option to pay less by booking an interior cabin, I have the option to pay for the BC. Since I rarely book a suite, BC elevates my experience to a level that I very much enjoy. So I will continue to book a balcony and BC.

 

Dining: This was my 10th cruise on RCI, and I utterly surprised myself because we only ate in the MDR twice.  It's kind of sad that the MDR no longer holds the allure of being a special dining experience for me.  Honestly, it was fine, but not memorable--gone are those days!  I feel that the Windjammer on the Anthem is extremely well-laid out and maintained, and the selections were huge.  I also note that the Solarium Cafe serves an excellent breakfast, and had everything we would want.

 

We had one Room Service dinner and two breakfasts.The food was hot, well-presented, and tasty. BUT the ordering process on the cabin TV is an adventure in goofiness!  If you order the complimentary continental breakfast, your beverage options, including coffee is displayed.  If you want to order American breakfast, there is no beverage option.  So for two passengers, we ordered two American and two Continental.  The server showed up with FOUR trays.  It was hilarious! The saving grace is that we did get a phonecall confirming our orders each time we used Room Service.  That application needs an upgrade!!

 

Cabin: Service once daily was fine. As mentioned, we requested double towels for each evening's service, and all was well.  I tipped our Attendant an extra $100 cash at the end--he deserved it. He cleaned our cabin thoroughly every night, and met all of our requests. Is it me, or is the cabin with large balcony smaller than a cabin with a regular balcony? Maybe it's because we had the beds separated into two twins...?

 

FOG! The last sea day was incrediby foggy! Fog horn blew every two minuttes.  Kind of spooky!

 

Disembarkation: on Day 6  I went to Guest Services to switch our 07:45 AM assigned departure group to the last group which was at 09:40 AM. We live not far from the port and didn't need to rush off the ship to catch a flight.  The only downside to this was the huge buildup of traffic arriving for the next cruise, which slowed down the arrival of our ride back home.  Oh.  AND IT WAS RAINING! BOO!

 

I will be sailing this ship and itinerary again in March 2024 , to make it up to my husband, who could not be with me this time. 😍

 

Teddie

 

 

Am I mistaken on how it works? I thought you could get off with any group AFTER your assigned time. 

[Merion_Mom]

8 hours ago, Tatka said:

We sailed 1 week before you and I agree with your points.

We noticed improvements in service, food(buffet) and especially internet which was abysmal for Thanksgiving 2022 and January 02.2023.

 

Yes!!!! Internet is now top quality.

[teddie]

2 hours ago, Denversail said:

Am I mistaken on how it works? I thought you could get off with any group AFTER your assigned time. 

I suppose you could indeed do that, as there really was no one checking.  We were happy not having to be ready at 0745!  We sat outside Izumi, close to the gangway rather than the assigned Royal Theatre. It seemed close enough.

 

Teddie