First Time Star Class 8 night Holiday Bahamas Cruise Anthem 12/20/19

[Booscruize]

15 minutes ago, Jax said:

I honestly don’t know where to start....today has been a whirlwind. But in a really good way!! 
So many firsts:  getting to know the layout of Anthem, establishing rapport with Andres, unpacking and eating has kept us busy!! 

Transportation to Cruise Terminal

Very impressed with Dial 7.  Driver arrived 30 minutes early. Our pickup was set for 9:20am. Arrived at terminal within 30 minutes. Clean SUV.  Driver drove safe. A big shout out to @WAAAYTOOOfor her advice on cruise terminal arrival and luggage. Our driver was stopped and redirected but I insisted that we were not leaving the SUV until we reached Zone 6.  It worked!! We went on to Zone 6 and went directly into the terminal and met with the Star Class attendant   The luggage was a bit strange as we were required to put our luggage through security screening device (We received an apology from the star class attendant; it sounds like they were short staffed and this isn’t the norm). 
Andres met us within 10 minutes or so, stayed with us until we boarded at around 10:30am. He toured us around the ship eventually leaving us at Chops for lunch. He picked us up at 1pm and took us to our stateroom.  
 

Sea Pass card and Wow bands 

Sea Pass cards for Star Class are purple and Wow bands are black. Wow bands complimentary.  No lanyards included. We forgot our plastic pouches and had to buy the lanyard with pouch. 2 for $20. I think Royal could splurge for a couple lanyards for star class guests but that’s probably me comparing them to DCL Concierge. 

Lunch at Chops

Our first experience at Chops was outstanding!! Alberta has some of the best beef and our standards are high but Chops didn’t disappoint.  We had the Dry aged steak burger . Unfortunately for you guys I had eaten my Caesar salad and burger before realizing I hadn’t taken any pictures   I will try to do better!

 

Are the WOW bands a different color for non Star class? Just curious if this is yet another way for the amazing crew to know who is STAR? What an amazing start!

[Booscruize]

3 minutes ago, Jax said:

Stateroom #10320 Grand Lift Suite 

After lunch at Chops Andres took us to our stateroom at 1pm.  Timing wasn’t the best as the rooms were just opened to other guests. Because we are aft we had to navigate many people and luggage as we made our way to our room. But in the scheme of things not a big deal. We now realize we are going to make the walk from aft to midship elevators/stairs many times each day! If only Andres could grant my wish for elevators/stairs aft.  

Room didn’t disappoint: pictures below. 

Laundry: Filled 2 bags already. This is a new feature so I will let you know how it goes.  Complimentary for star class guests. 

This room is STUNNING! Can’t wait to stay in our Star Loft Suite on the Oasis Of The Seas!!!! Thank u for this awesome blog! 

[Jax]

Sail Away

Took advantage of our aft deck and  stayed in our state room. Great views of Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.  Andres had us scheduled to go up in North Star at 4pm immediately following passing the last bridge. Unfortunately, cold weather resulted in cancelling North Star for the day.  We will try again tomorrow but we will miss out on the NY skyline.  

[Jax]

Supper at Jamie Italian

Another great meal!  Andres popped in to check on us. I was a bit better about taking pictures. I forgot the appetizers.
The linguine Alfredo was not on the menu but they were happy to whip it up for me.  Hubby says Caesar salad, garlic prawns and squid was very good. Reyd had meat plank. 
 

Evening pictures 

They had 3 or 4 backgrounds set up throughout the evening at midship deck 4. 

[Jax]

Possible Itinerary change due to weather

Poor weather in Florida and CocoCay may necessitate an itinerary change. Their plan B is Labadee and Nassau, in which case we would miss Port Canaveral and Coco Cay. I will update more on this tomorrow.  We would be so disappointed to miss out on our Chill cabana at Coco Cay so we will keep our . I have told Andres that we do not want to miss out on a cabana regardless of any itinerary change — if we go to Labadee we want a cabana. He assured me he would take care of this. I sense a genie is invaluable in these situations. 

[Jax]

Andres goes above and beyond

In our genie questionnaire I mentioned that Pepsi was a favorite drink of mine. Andres said he would try to get me Pepsi even though I assured him I was fine with coke.  Look what was waiting for me.  

[Jax]

49 minutes ago, Booscruize said:

Are the WOW bands a different color for non Star class? Just curious if this is yet another way for the amazing crew to know who is STAR? What an amazing start!

I will ask Andres and report back. For some reason I think black is for star class guests.  

[Jax]

10 hours ago, Harper said:

Have fun! We go the 28th and can’t wait. If you happen to snap a picture of the seaplex schedule would love to see it. There’s not many 8 night itineraries to compare to

Andres reports that the sea plex schedule is not set and changes daily but I will try to get some pics. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

What a wonderful start !  So glad the pre-arrival tips were helpful.  I never get tired of that NYC skyline from the river.  I always get chills.  I’m very surprised that your suite wasn’t ready until 1PM. I’ve never had to wait that long. There must have been an “issue”.  Looks like the SC food coma is well under way.  Great job. Be sure and order your seafood towers at Chops. It’s a right of passage for SC.  Bumper cars tomorrow ?  
 

I hope your itin doesn’t get hooped up (see, I can speak Canadian !).  Very happy to hear that Andres can still get you a cabana, if you have to settle for Labadee.  I assume that means that there would not be any other ships there that day.  Lucky.   

[Jax]

4 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

What a wonderful start !  So glad the pre-arrival tips were helpful.  I never get tired of that NYC skyline from the river.  I always get chills.  I’m very surprised that your suite wasn’t ready until 1PM. I’ve never had to wait that long. There must have been an “issue”.  Looks like the SC food coma is well under way.  Great job. Be sure and order your seafood towers at Chops. It’s a right of passage for SC.  Bumper cars tomorrow ?  
 

I hope your itin doesn’t get hooped up (see, I can speak Canadian !).  Very happy to hear that Andres can still get you a cabana, if you have to settle for Labadee.  I assume that means that there would not be any other ships there that day.  Lucky.   

I don’t think there were any issues with the stateroom. Andres felt it would be best to eat lunch before going to our stateroom.  We were fine with whatever he wanted (this may have worked better for his schedule onboarding his guests) but we would have preferred to unpack first thing.  Lunch followed by unpacking, drill and sail away was jammed.
 
I had similar thoughts of another ship being in Labadee ... honestly Andres may have been appeasing me in the hopes an itinerary change doesn’t happen.  Time will tell......he said we would know more tomorrow.  

[Jax]

14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

What a wonderful start !  So glad the pre-arrival tips were helpful.  I never get tired of that NYC skyline from the river.  I always get chills.  I’m very surprised that your suite wasn’t ready until 1PM. I’ve never had to wait that long. There must have been an “issue”.  Looks like the SC food coma is well under way.  Great job. Be sure and order your seafood towers at Chops. It’s a right of passage for SC.  Bumper cars tomorrow ?  
 

I hope your itin doesn’t get hooped up (see, I can speak Canadian !).  Very happy to hear that Andres can still get you a cabana, if you have to settle for Labadee.  I assume that means that there would not be any other ships there that day.  Lucky.   

Yes bumper cars and I fly scheduled for tomorrow.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

Did the luggage porters take your luggage upstairs for you ?

[Jax]

10 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Did the luggage porters take your luggage upstairs for you ?

No, luggage was delivered to stateroom by the time we arrived at 1pm. Thankfully we have a strong 14 year old boy! 

[Jax]

Will check in tomorrow. 

[Jax]

Breakfast Update - ”I Told You So Moment“ 

I have been telling Lindsay and Reyd that Coastal Kitchen is a great breakfast choice for us. They have not fully embraced the benefits of star class and keep talking about Windjammer  Well this morning off they went to Windjammer (I did not go) to grab breaky. According to them the experience was awful, it was jammed with people, lines everywhere, no where to sit. A total gong show.  They walked out and into Coastal Kitchen  They said Coastal Kitchen from now on.  I told them they need to embrace the benefits of star class.
Sadly they didn’t capture the gong show with a picture.  

[Lovetocruise2002]

13 hours ago, Jax said:

Laundry: Filled 2 bags already. This is a new feature so I will let you know how it goes.  Complimentary for star class guests. 

You will love this perk of Star Class.  I don't trust anyone with my clothes but Hubby used this every day!  He got so used to it that the next cruise we were on, he started putting things on the couch to be washed and forgot that we were only Sky class on that one. 

13 hours ago, Jax said:

if we go to Labadee we want a cabana. He assured me he would take care of this. I sense a genie is invaluable in these situations. 

Most definitely!  That is the "value of a Genie that is hard to quantify" as @WAAAYTOOO has mentioned in the past.

12 hours ago, Jax said:

I mentioned that Pepsi was a favorite drink of mine. Andres said he would try to get me Pepsi even though I assured him I was fine with coke.  Look what was waiting for me.  

Wow!  We tried on Harmony and even super Genie Araceli could not manage this one.  We will try again in 84 days lol.

12 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I hope your itin doesn’t get hooped up (see, I can speak Canadian !).

This Canadian here has never heard that phrase before.  Guess I am not Canadian enough. 

13 hours ago, Booscruize said:

Are the WOW bands a different color for non Star class? Just curious if this is yet another way for the amazing crew to know who is STAR? What an amazing start!

Not sure if it is recent change or just a coincidence, but to my knowledge so far, there is not a designated colour for Star guests as far as Wow bands go.  But maybe it's a recent change?

[Lovetocruise2002]

6 minutes ago, Jax said:

Breakfast Update - ”I Told You So Moment“ 

I have been telling Lindsay and Reyd that Coastal Kitchen is a great breakfast choice for us. They have not fully embraced the benefits of star class and keep talking about Windjammer  Well this morning off they went to Windjammer (I did not go) to grab breaky. According to them the experience was awful, it was jammed with people, lines everywhere, no where to sit. A total gong show.  They walked out and into Coastal Kitchen  They said Coastal Kitchen from now on.  I told them they need to embrace the benefits of star class.
Sadly they didn’t capture the gong show with a picture.  

Live and learn. That's all. lol

#notteamWJ

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 weeks ago on Oasis, Dan had a white WOW band and I had a blue one.  He used his, I did not. I don’t think there is a SC distinction for WOW bands.

[Jax]

Itinerary Update 

We are experiencing our first Itinerary change. The Captain made the decision today to go with Plan B. Visits to Port Canaveral and Coco Cay are cancelled.  . Plan B includes a stop at Labadee.  Nassau is unchanged.  All shore excursions will be refunded. And guests will have to rebook Labadee excursions once cruise planner is updated later today.  
Andres said guests that had cabanas booked will be given priority. I honestly have no idea what to expect. Will Royal honor the price I paid for the chill cabana. I booked well in advance at a great price. I paid $509 less OBC $400 = $109. Chill cabanas are now as high as $2K so not sure what kind of pricing to expect at Labadee. For now I am putting my trust in Andres. Not much I can do. He knows the cabana was a “must have” for us. I should know more by 5 pm.  Although disappointed we totally understand that safety must come first but there are a few disappointed families onboard.  The captain has been excellent at communicating throughout this time and Andres reached out within minutes of the announcement.

[Lovetocruise2002]

Just now, WAAAYTOOO said:

2 weeks ago on Oasis, Dan had a white WOW band and I had a blue one.  He used his, I did not. I don’t think there is a SC distinction for WOW bands.

That's pretty much what I have heard from others too lately.  Although, slight change of topic, I am sort of bothered that Oasis class ships have rolled out a different colour scheme for Sea, Sky, Star seapass cards.  It messes with the collection.  That's the Type A in me talking.  First world problems, I know.

[WAAAYTOOO]

4 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That's pretty much what I have heard from others too lately.  Although, slight change of topic, I am sort of bothered that Oasis class ships have rolled out a different colour scheme for Sea, Sky, Star seapass cards.  It messes with the collection.  That's the Type A in me talking.  First world problems, I know.

I’m with you.  On Oasis our sea passes were the color that Sky class used to have (kind of a purplish-red).   Nobody got the deep purple (almost black) ones. I can’t actually recall seeing any Sky level sea pass cards so I don’t know what color they were.  I prefer it the old way but it truly did not impact my experience in any negative way, so....

[Lovetocruise2002]

4 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’m with you.  On Oasis our sea passes were the color that Sky class used to have (kind of a purplish-red).   Nobody got the deep purple (almost black) ones. I can’t actually recall seeing any Sky level sea pass cards so I don’t know what color they were.  I prefer it the old way but it truly did not impact my experience in any negative way, so....

The Sky Class ones are now the blue colour that Sea used to be.  No idea what Sea class is now.  I vaguely remember seeing somewhere that they are now silver?  But that could be wrong.

[CGTLH]

8 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The Sky Class ones are now the blue colour that Sea used to be.  No idea what Sea class is now.  I vaguely remember seeing somewhere that they are now silver?  But that could be wrong.

Sea I think is blue green color, that is what I got on Symphony.

Silver will depend on ship: Navigator is using that for full suites. While Mariner is using gold. Flipping back to Navigator Pinnacles are given gold cards. Standard has been JS given silver card (non Royal Suite class ships).

Card from Symphony 

[CGTLH]

25 minutes ago, Jax said:

Andres said guests that had cabanas booked will be given priority. I honestly have no idea what to expect. Will Royal honor the price I paid for the chill cabana. I booked well in advance at a great price. I paid $509 less OBC $400 = $109. Chill cabanas are now as high as $2K so not sure what kind of pricing to expect at Labadee.

Labadee historical been cheaper on the Cabanas. Sure you'll not have an issue getting one. Two advantages working in your favor. Barefoot Beach is Suite and Pinnacle only. Then Star class normally gets priority on Cabanas.

[Curt From Canada]

Thanks for all of the detailed information.  Although we do not get on Anthem until FEB, I am tricking myself into thinking we are on now.  Your postings help me with that delusion.

During the early to late evening, if you could notice where some of the better dancing opportunities are it would be very helpful.  I think we have focused on the Music Hall, Boleros, and even the Schooner Bar in the past.  We are most interested where they set up the live bands.  We can pretty much dance to anything, so we are mostly interested where the live bands are.  For some reason Two70 is never a real option (even though it could be quite a large dance floor).

Any scouting is greatly appreciated ...

Curt from Canada

[Jax]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Live and learn. That's all. lol

#notteamWJ

Lindsay said it should be called “PeopleJammer”.

[Lovetocruise2002]

55 minutes ago, Jax said:

Lindsay said it should be called “PeopleJammer”.

The WJ on Anthem is one of the worst ones out there.

[Jax]

On 12/20/2019 at 11:43 AM, Harper said:

Have fun! We go the 28th and can’t wait. If you happen to snap a picture of the seaplex schedule would love to see it. There’s not many 8 night itineraries to compare to

Sea Plex schedule attached. There may be slight changes due to our itinerary change but it should give you an idea.  

[Jax]

Cabana Update

It didn’t take us long to experience the benefits of star class. Itinerary change announced at 10:30 am and by 1:15pm Andres was with shore excursion manager offering us a choice of hillside, oceanfront or overwater cabanas.  We picked an over water cabana and have been told they picked us a winner.   $$ wise it cost us slightly more but we feel the upgrade to an over water cabana is worth it.  I have done no research on Labadee overwater cabanas but we are looking forward to a great day! 
Options available: hillside $595, ocean front $595, over water $695 with us paying the difference.   

[Jax]

Izumi Lunch

Lindsay and Reyd had Izumi for lunch today. 
They ordered a variety of everything and thought it was all outstanding!! I am not a sushi eater and Andres arranged for me to order from an alternate menu. Sorry guys, I only caught a few pictures. 
Andres had scheduled the boys in the sushi making class (complimentary for star class) but after seeing it happen today while we were eating lunch they decided to cancel it.  It takes place over lunch during a busy time for the restaurant and the table was super crowded. If paying for it not sure I would recommend. Probably better to order your food off menu. 

[Jax]

Onboard Activities

Andres scheduled us for Bumper cars and I Fly today. It’s nice having preferred access to these. The lines for bumper cars was long. 
North Star:  Closed again due to weather

Here is Lindsay on his first I Fly.

[WAAAYTOOO]

I think you will be happy with your O-T-W cabana choice. It is a wonderful experience.  ....and think about it....how many people who booked cabanas, bungalows and clam shells for Coco Cay are going to NOT be able to get a corresponding experience on Labadee ?  There are waaay more of these facilities available on CC than Labadee.  Some people aren’t going to get them.  Star Class WAS a huge advantage for this change of itinerary.

[Jax]

4 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

You will love this perk of Star Class.  I don't trust anyone with my clothes but Hubby used this every day!  He got so used to it that the next cruise we were on, he started putting things on the couch to be washed and forgot that we were only Sky class on that one. 

Most definitely!  That is the "value of a Genie that is hard to quantify" as @WAAAYTOOO has mentioned in the past.

Wow!  We tried on Harmony and even super Genie Araceli could not manage this one.  We will try again in 84 days lol.

This Canadian here has never heard that phrase before.  Guess I am not Canadian enough. 

Not sure if it is recent change or just a coincidence, but to my knowledge so far, there is not a designated colour for Star guests as far as Wow bands go.  But maybe it's a recent change?

Omg LMAO on laundry comment.  

[Jax]

Someone had asked for information on teens. My son is not doing any of the teen activities so I thought this teen schedule may be helpful. I can’t seem to find their original post. Hope you are following and see this. 

[Jax]

8 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The WJ on Anthem is one of the worst ones out there.

I told Lindsay “rookie mistake”.  

[Jax]

Review of The Gift 

Reserved seating was the best! Pop, popcorn and water were waiting for us. Andres reserved great seats and asked that we meet him there 20 minutes before (to avoid upsetting other guests due to star class reserved banners). 
The show itself was confusing and we and many others left halfway through it. It just wasn’t our thing but glad we gave it a try.  

[Jax]

Maintenance Issues with HVAC System 

Our grand loft suite is 2 stories and the 2nd level has been sweltering. We woke to 75 and rising.  with the thermostat set at 68   Throughout the day maintenance has been called 5 times with various outcomes ranging from a main floor temperature of 61 to get 2nd floor to 68.  2nd story thermostat was changed on 4th visit. We returned tonight to 2nd story at 76 and rising  Maintenance has been here for an hour and is still here trying to fix the problem. I have emptied the upstairs closet to allow the men access to the HVAC panel.  I thought it was time to update Andres and have sent him a message. I jokingly said we may be sleeping on the deck tonight   or all 3 of us on the hide a bed. Stay tuned as we may have an interesting night!! 

[Curt From Canada]

9 hours ago, Jax said:

Review of The Gift 

Reserved seating was the best! Pop, popcorn and water were waiting for us. Andres reserved great seats and asked that we meet him there 20 minutes before (to avoid upsetting other guests due to star class reserved banners). 
The show itself was confusing and we and many others left halfway through it. It just wasn’t our thing but glad we gave it a try.  

We have seen The Gift twice.  We understood it more the second time ... and we still have no idea what it was about.  Very little energy, drippy songs,  and I can only have emotional experiences when I understand what is going on.  We have seen tons of great shows on RC Ships.  This was definitely not one of them.  It will be a "miss" for us from now on.

Curt from Canada

[NC350]

16 hours ago, Jax said:

Someone had asked for information on teens. My son is not doing any of the teen activities so I thought this teen schedule may be helpful. I can’t seem to find their original post. Hope you are following and see this. 

 

Thank you so much!!!! It was me :). I am following along....... I am taking a lot of your tips for our trip! The transportation and hotel info is great for us since we will be traveling form Calgary Too :) Thanks so much :)

[Jax]

Daily/Evening Planners
Thought these planners from Day 2 and 3 may be helpful @Curt From Canada as they highlight music and dancing options.