First Cruise
Anthem of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean
14 Night Italian Mediterranean (Southampton Roundtrip)
Sail date: June 20, 2015
Ship: Anthem of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 9 years ago
Review summary
ANTHEM OF THE SEAS – ROYAL CARIBBEAN
Seeing the ship for the first time as we got to gat 8 at Southampton was a real WOW – at the sheer size of her! Despite the grey skies!
Getting on board was fairly straight forward process and we had our first glasses of Prosecco as we boarded. Made our way to our room and the first disappointment was seeing a double bed instead of Twin beds which is what we booked. Then there was only ONE bathrobe – not two. I rang Guest Services a total of 3 times in about 4 or 5 hours. One of the drawers was dusty and not been cleaned. There was also a pot of fruit which i thought was complimentary but appears someone had left it! OH DEAR!
We unpacked and went to dinner and when we got back it had been sorted – finally!
The Air Con on the ship was too cold and many people said the same. SO much so that I got a bad cold and Nina got bronchitis!
There were no coffee making facilities in the room – only tea. The mini bar had nothing in it for two days and when they did stock it – it was not free not even the water despite having taken out a drink package!
There was no complimentary water in the room or any WELCOME treat!
The room was very compact for what was described as Superior Balcony sea view Stateroom. But at least the cases fit under the bed out of the way.
So sadly, first impressions were not as great as expected.
There was no pen and paper in the room or postcards or binoculars (which I know you get on P&O)
Would have been nice to be served nibbles when you order a drink.
All these little touches matter.
They tried to charge us for things we didn’t have ie a can of Sprite out the mini bar!
The TV was great but poor choice of channels and no radio stations.
On the Plus side – the food choice was good and the entertainment excellent. Staff on the whole friendly and helpful.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Ship tip
Plenty to see and do so - can be a little cold at times as Air Con was on high!
Ports of call
Traveler Photos
18 Comments
MisterBill99 9 years ago
The welcome gift would have been from your travel agent. Royal doesn't give one on their own. As for the bed configuration, that is really a minor thing because a cabin is a cabin and as someone else said, you just ask your stateroom attendant (who you should have met soon after arriving in your cabin) and they will fix it. Are you sure that was even in the reservation?
Sauspud 9 years ago
Sbell12 9 years ago
Gratz 9 years ago
This was my personal experience and opinions - I was not nit picking - but to answer some of the comments - as it was my first proper cruise on what is meant to be one of the best ships and companies (Royal Caribbean) - i was disappointed with some of the things that i was expecting to be better. I booked and paid for a TWIN room and I expected to walk in to a TWIN room - I did get the beds seperated and I did get the second bathrobe after a few calls - but they should already have been there. No i did not look at measurements of the room - again ...I expected a Superior Ocean View Balcony Stateroom to be bigger than a normal twin room. My mistake clearly!Having spoken to quite a few people they all had something to gripe about and they had something to compare it to having been on other cruises. There were also positives - which i stated. But would i rush to go back on Anthem? no.
NickB1414 9 years ago