Anthem Of The Seas - British Isles Mini Cruise - Day 1 - Boarding Day

[Milpston]

So it was boarding day. I woke early with a bit of a fuzzy head. This was earlier than I expected to wake this morning. Sally woke too but the kids were still fast asleep.

I decided to get up and head down for a smoke. I did say I may go for a walk to see the Anthem in dock but headed down not planning to do so. As I stood out the back of the Premier Inn in the being socially distanced from the rest of the world in the smoking area I changed my mind.

It was just a short 5 minute walk down to the front. I crossed the road and walked past the Holiday Inn. as I arrived i couldn't see the Anthem anywhere. I thought I had it wrong and the Anthem wouldn't be docked exactly where I thought. I walked a little further onto a grassy area next to gate 8 of the port. I then looked to the left and saw the Anthem coming in. I'm sure I'd read elsewhere that it was to arrive about 02:30.

It was 05:44 as the Anthem approached me into dock. There were a couple of other groups that had risen early to see her in also.

As I stood watching her sail in I Facetimed Sally back in the hotel room. There was an air of excitement mixed with the trepidation of more Lateral Flow Tests for the kids this morning.

A family arrived that we had enjoyed a few drinks with in the bar last night. We had a brief chat as it started to get light.

I have to say the ship looks great but I still have to say it doesn't have quite the same presence as the Oasis Class ships. Part or the difference is probably that the last time I watched a Royal Caribbean ship at this time of the morning it was from the beach in Fort Lauderdale

At 06:13 the Disney Magic sailed past. At one stage I had paid the deposit to be boarding this today instead. I was happy we had changed our mind in favour of Anthem though.

I headed back to the room where the kids were now waking. We got ready and headed down for breakfast. The restaurant was open this morning having been closed due to staff isolating the night before. I was a standard Premier Inn breakfast which was just the job for the morning.

After this we decided to go for a bit of a wander. We walked over towards West Quay shopping Centre as I wanted to get a few $$ for any extra tips onboard. We soon found that nothing was really open until 10:00. So after a bit of a stroll the kids legs were aching and they were saying they were cold. It was actually a pleasant morning. We had a stroll down by Gate 8 of the port again telling the kids I just wanted to check where they had to go for their Covid Tests this morning. We told them their tests were in the terminal building and asked them if they fancied seeing if we could get on the ship for lunch if their Covid tests came back negative. Benjamin liked the idea... Emma said she wanted to get a Macdonalds. She was feeling a bit sad that we were going home this morning. We did tell her we would try to do something fun if their Covid tests were OK.

Once we arrived back at the room we transferred some of the luggage back into the car. The kids had done enough walking for the morning so I had a walk back into the shopping centre to get the $. I eventually found my way in through a car park and found myself in John Lewis. On arrival at the their foreign exchange, up about 5 escalators escalators, they needed photo ID to exchange using my bank card and I soon found out my driving license had expired so they wouldn't accept it. I went back out to find a cash point and returned with cash.

Sally called wondering if I had got lost and I soon returned back to the hotel. We got some drinks at the shop next door. The Premier Inn West Quay worked really well for us and I wouldn't hesitate to use it again if we sail from Southampton again. There was a car park just behind it which was a £5 for up to 24 hours so it worked well. After finishing loading the car we sat in the car for a few minutes with our drinks. We had a 12:00 barding time but decided to head down to get parked up a little early.

We were parked up at 11:05.

I certainly wouldn't consider parking anywhere other than ABP at Southampton. It was so quick, easy and convenient.

As we got out the car ABP staff appeared in a mini bus and took our luggage from us ensuring that we had not left any of our travel documentation in our luggage so that we had everything we needed to board the ship. We had attacked our luggage tags before leaving the Premier Inn. We did the same as years prior were we had laminated them and attached them using cable ties. Emma did ask why we were taking all the cases out of the car so I just told her we couldn't leave them in the car whilst they had their tests as they may get stolen

It was then the short stroll over to the terminal. Most guests were being guided into one entrance but families with children sent into another. I was carrying a file with hard copies of everything we would need (PCR test results, evidence of vaccination, insurance paperwork, cruise documentation, QR codes for the kids Lateral Flow Tests at the terminal). The only thing I hadn't printed was our set sail passes and this was only because they were saved in the wallet of my phone and our stateroom number was changed about a week before the cruise and I hadn't got around to re-printing them.

We entered the building and were guided through by lots of staff. There were very few other passengers going through at this point.

Emma and Benjamin were both guided to booths next to each other to have the LFT's simultaneously.

I had to get a photo Here's hoping an some point in the not-too -distant future that these will be a thing of the past! These photos were both taken at 11:15 so 9 minutes after getting our cases out of the car. We were told that our results would be sent to us by email and via the Trust one app.

We were led through to the next building where we rejoined the passengers without kids requiring LFT's. We were guided straight to check in desk 13 (the 'unlucky for some' was not lost on us as we were waiting for the results. We were checked in by a friendly lady that was having some ID problems. Our check in probably took twice as long as others around us. They re took our photographs as the ones i had taken in the middle of the night had all come through sideways apparently. Whilst checking us in I was connecting to the ship Wifi as I had read that you can connect from the terminal building and start booking things onboard. I managed to get connected and into the RC app but not enough signal to do anything. As we neared the end of the checking in procedure she asked if we had received the LFT results yet and I hadn't so we were about to be guided into another area to wait for those. I flicked the Wifi off back onto 4G and the results popped up immediately... thankfully they were both negative. We were told to have our set sail passes to hand and sent up to the escalators onto the ship.

On the walk up onto the ship, my memory is a little hazy, I think is when we told the kids we were going to be staying on the ship. The initial reaction wasn't what e had hoped for as Emma was worried that it would move away from the port They warmed to the idea very quickly though.

We dived straight into Boleros which was the first bar we spotted when arriving on Deck 4. We sat down and ordered some drinks. Sally and I had a Mojito to get started and the kids some soft drinks. These drink pictures were taken at 12:05 so exactly an hour from pulling up in a car to having our first drinks ordered and almost drunk. We actually stepped on the ship at 11:45 so pretty good really. If our lady hadn't been having IT issues it probably would have shaved minutes off this.

We wasn't massively desperate for a drink but I wanted to get booking bits and pieces we would want for the week. I had read lots on previous sailings that people were missing out on things by not getting them booked early. I also knew the number of guests on this sailing was a fair bit higher than on any previous one this summer.

I buried myself in the Royal Caribbean App and got the shows we would want booked along with a few goes on the bumper cars for Emma (We already knew that Benjamin was too young for them). I also went through the safety drill videos on the App whilst we sat and enjoyed our drinks.

We had a little explore along deck 4.

We immediately stumbled upon our Muster Drill station so headed in. Had a very quick chat with them and was given stickers to put on our Seapass Cards and wrist bands for the kids. The main difference between this and our previous RCI boarding experiences was that you collect your Seapass Cards from outside your stateroom whereas previously we have always been given them and the day 1 Cruise Compass at the check in desk (you can use your set sail passes to get drinks etc before you collect your cards). We kept the stickers given to us at the muster drill station to attach to our cards.

We had heard that staterooms were available to access at 13:00. We decided to head up to ours to see if we could get in.

I recalled the day on the lift floors from last time. Back then they were pieces of carpet that got changed each day.

Now, when we booked we had booked a balcony cabin on deck 6 starboard side near the Aft. It was basically the cheapest balcony cabin and we went Starboard as we had always been port side on each of our previous cruises. I had taken advantage of a couple of price drops and they had also brought out an offer with $100 OBC. They wouldn't add that to my booking until I said I wanted to change our stateroom. They then treated as a new booking so it worked out a lower price to move to midship on deck 11 AND we got to OBC added as well. We opted for stateroom 11196 was was midship portside. The main reason for the change was, for once, I hadn't done my research properly. Our original cabin was directly above the smoking area and I had since read review that along with the smell of smoke people in the smoking area could look straight onto the balcony and into the your stateroom from below.

30 days prior to our cruise I received and email regarding bidding for upgrades via 'Royal Up'. We were actually in our hotel room in London for a couple of nights away with the kids.

The stateroom you had booked then denoted which upgrades you could bid up to. We had the options of bidding on: Spacious balcony cabin (basically a hump balcony), a Junior Suite, a 1 bedroom Grand Suite or a 2 bedroom Grand Suite. Each one had minimum bids. I placed the minimum bid on all of the options and a little more on the 1 bedroom Grand Suite as this was the lowest one that gave you the suite benefits such as: Access to Coastal Kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner, access to the concierge lounge, access to the suite only sun deck, the surf and stream package for each guest, bath robes, upgraded bedding and toiletries etc. The other benefits such as behind the scene tours and priority show seating were not currently available due to Covid restrictions.

About a week before the cruise we got this email.

The final stateroom was 11242. It was perfectly located for us.

We were able to access our stateroom immediately and our Seapass cards were outside the room. We actually stepped in at 12:22.

The room was lovely and spacious. It was a lovely upgrade from a balcony cabin. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't have booked this other than via a bargain thought Royal up. It just wouldn't be worth pretty much double the cost of a balcony cabin for us. One of the biggest differences was the bathroom. It was lovely and spacious. It had a full bath with shower over and 2 separate vanity sinks. It was a big difference to squeezing in the shower in previous balcony cabins. I would live to a have one of these on a proper Caribbean cruise in the future but it's not going to happen. Hopefully I took some pictures of the bathroom at some stage.

Previously I have scanned by cruise compasses each day. This time I have some rubbish photos of some of them about half of them!

We went for a little explore around the upper decks.

We obviously included a stop off at one of the pool bars for a drink. Menus in most places were via QR codes but to be honest it was easier just to pull the menus up on the Royal Caribbean app rather than scanning them.

I had a Goombay Smash and Sally had a Pina Colada.

Our usual tradition when we boarded the Allure and Oasis was to head for beef rolls in Park Cafe. We decided to hit the Windjammer for some lunch. On arrival we were led through the hand wash area and shown to our table.

I have to say the food in the Windjammer was excellent. A really good wide selection and all really fresh hot and well done. The carveries were lovely. The food is all served to you rather than selecting your own but did not have any negative impact on experience at all. It may be a bit slow if they were sailing at any more than 50% capacity I suppose. We has a nice selection for lunch.

Obviously it would have been rude to have not took part in a couple of cocktails to wash it down with.

Sally definitely had a Mojito and I had a Long Island Ice Tea. I think we had another one each too.

This photo comes next which is Emma enjoying the comfortable chair in the smoking area.

For anyone with interest, there are two smoking areas on Anthem. One is deck 5 Starboard side Aft. It is pretty much between vintages and the Nex Cruise desk near to Cafe 270. The other is port side Deck 14 near to the main pool. I frequented both of these areas fairly regularly. I sooo miss the day of having a smoke of your own balcony... I know plenty of others don't

We obviously popped into Vintages for a couple of drinks. This probably became our favourite bar on Anthem. It was really chilled out, comfortable and excellent service. Their drinks were excellent too. A note on the bars, that may change, is that all bar stools were marked out of use and they wanted everyone sat having table service due to Covid.

I think Sally and I had a Posh G & T each. These were really good!

It looks like I had a 404 after which is another Gin cocktail and sally had an Espresso Martin. Both cracking options here too.

At some point this afternoon we also popped into Adventure Ocean. Hours were limited to booking a certain number of hours initially due to Covid. It was a bit of a pain in the bum as we ended up queueing for about half an hour to get their slots booked. The kids were not keen but we booked them in for 3 sessions over the next three days so that they had the option of going if they wanted to... spoiler - whenever we asked them if they wanted to go they said they wanted to stay with us. We think they may have enjoyed it but we were more than happy making th most of some family time together for the week.

We then made our way up for a Bumper cars reservation. Fortunately they didn't breathalyze Sally on the way on. Benjamin enjoyed watching along with me.

The bumper cars were really good fun. Minimum age is 5 years. If Covid restrictions stay the same get these booked straight after boarding. They get booked up quick and plenty of people couldn't get on them at all.

We took some pictures from up above the pool areas.

We had a little wander around the Suite Sundeck. Quite pleasant up there and the drink service around the pools was excellent as I have always found on Royal Caribbean.

We headed back to our room and got ready for dinner. Sailaway was 18:00. I honestly don't remember if we watched it or not. We had a table booked at Coastal Kitchen for dinner. Junior suite guests can eat dinner in Coastal Kitchen. Sky class (Grand Suite) and above can eat there for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Reservations are required for dinner. We made our reservation for dinner via the concierge on email a few days prior to sailing. Our reservation was 18:30.

Coastal Kitchen was really nice. The menus were a slight upgrade on what was available in the Main Dining Room. The setting and ambience were lovely with huge windows out to sea. The service was exemplary and we decided we would make the most of it this week. We didn't go to the MDR at all as we decided there would be plenty of opportunity in the future to use MDR's but maybe not Coastal Kitchen.

We were handed menus in Coastal Kitchen. I'm not sure if this was the case in MDR as I had read it was all QR codes but you could have a paper menu if you asked.

Like the MDR there menu changes each night but there are classics on there that are always available. Our server, Lourdes from Peru, couldn't do enough for us. If you wanted anything that was available on the ship it would be brought to us. Benjamin took advantage as he wanted chocolate milk. Lourdes got it from somewhere else and always made sure it was there for him every other time we visited.

We started with a selection of breads. This was given each evening.

Sally and I both had the crispy Pork Belly for starter, This was very nicely done.

Emma had toasted cheese and chips for main course and Benjamin just wanted chips.

For main course sally went for the Duck dish and I opted for the Filet.

These were lovely. My Filet was a little over done but didn't ruin it.

For dessert Sally had the Creme Brulee which has always been a favourite of hers on Royal. I had a Royal Cheese Cake. Bothe were lovely.

Benjamin had some ice cream and Emma and Benjamin shared a Royal chocolate cake... I think I ended up eating most of it.

Lourdes was great with Emma and Benjamin. She showed Emma how to draw an animal starting with a number. Tonight was a ladybird and Emma looked forward to her nightly drawing session with Lourdes.

After dinner we headed off to the main theatre to watch one of the headliner shows which we had booked. Tonight was 'The Eastcoast Boys'. They were really talented and well worth a watch if they are on when you sail Royal Caribbean.

The drink service was very good in the main theatre too. We did ask for a Posh G&T but they didn't do the Vintages one here. We told him to surprise us. He did... I've no idea what they were but they were strong.

The kids enjoyed the show too and at 55 minutes it was about right for them.

I'm not totally sure but I think we headed up to the room after the show as we were all pretty tired after a long day. The kids' bed had been made up in our absence and they climbed in about 22:30.

It had been a nice first day. We had done ok on the drinks package we were enjoying quality time with the kids.

Just as a final note we did OK on the drinks package today. I managed to keep a note of what drinks we had just to see if the package was worth it for future cruises.

These are the drinks we had today

Some of these drinks were slightly over £10 and some below but I would say a rough average would be £10 a drink.
So today the drinks package cost us just under £90 and and we drank approximately £170 in drinks so definitely worth it today.

[Melanie R]

Nice work on the cocktails - I can already see I missed out on trying some of them, must remedy that on my next trip!

Well done on the upgrade too - I looked at putting a bid in, but as a solo traveller I would have to pay twice as if there were 2 in the cabin, so declined!

Looking forward to the next days - it’s really interesting to read a report of the same cruise 😂

[Milpston]

Originally Posted by Melanie R

Nice work on the cocktails - I can already see I missed out on trying some of them, must remedy that on my next trip!

Well done on the upgrade too - I looked at putting a bid in, but as a solo traveller I would have to pay twice as if there were 2 in the cabin, so declined!

Looking forward to the next days - it’s really interesting to read a report of the same cruise 😂

See more...

We did have a couple of days where we hit the cocktails a bit harder 😂
I totally agree re the royal up bid when travelling solo. For us travelling as a family it worked out a great deal as we only paid the upgrade price for 2 of us.

[caitlinsmummy]

Such a beautiful ship, I bet you're glad you were up early to see that.

I'm sorry the kids didn't have the reactions you expected about the cruise the joy of kids.

Oh the room looks lovely and so spacious, that bidding did some good!

The food at Windjammers looks lovely and so much choice too. Loving Emma's Yorkshire puddings with pizza and chips, lovely combo

You fit so much in on the first day, that's amazing. Looks like the drinks package is worth it so far, you've certainly smashed through those cocktails x

[margyloveswdw]

That’s an impressive start on cocktails!