Lots of "i's" to dot and "t's" to cross

Anthem of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 43

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Anthem of the Seas

12 Night Southern Caribbean (Cape Liberty Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 27, 2016

Ship: Anthem of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8210

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

This cruise ship has a lot of potential if only the officers just paid more attention to details.  The non-mgt. staff were excellent in delivering the services and goods the ship provided but their hands were tied in many other respects.  Please see list below for examples:

The outside balcony had no lights to turn on.  How were we supposed to sit outside and enjoy the view or read in the evenings without lights?

Lights over couch did not have separate controls. This is important because while one passenger slept, the other could read in the area where the couch was located.

Lamp on dresser / bar is fixed in an awkward position and therefore the space above the dresser cannot be fully utilized.

Talking points before arriving at our ports-of-call consisted of 3 minutes of useful information (where to pick up taxis, etc...) and 30 minutes of Diamond International, Tanzinite, etc.... In fact, ALL talks before each port-of-call consisted of the same plug-ins for the same vendors.  It became a running joke among passengers.

There should have been more academic type of lectures on the next island / port-of-call we would be visiting.

On the 3rd day of the cruise, the ship ran out of pina colada mix. They did not run out of the alcohol but the mix itself. Think about how ironic that is: a cruise in the Caribbean and no pina colada!

A sign in the pool area stated that towels left unattended would be removed (so as to prevent passengers from reserving select pool-side chairs for hours on end). Unfortunately, this rule was NOT enforced by the ship's staff.  It should have been.

Food was not that tasty. We have had better tasting food on other cruise lines.

The restaurant staff did an excellent job in serving us and attending to our needs.

We checked our on board expenses the night before arrival with Guest Services and all charges were accurate and accounted for. Upon returning home, we were charged $5.84 for using the mini-bar when it was empty throughout our trip and our $75.00 onboard credit was removed from our final charges.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
1. The outside balcony had no lights to turn on.  How were we supposed to sit outside and enjoy the view or read in the evenings without lights? 2. Lights over couch did not have separate controls. This is important because while one passenger slept, the other could read in the area where the couch was located. 3. Lamp on dresser / bar is fixed in an awkward position and therefore the space above the dresser cannot be fully utilized.

Ship tip

Book any ship sponsored tours well in advance.

Ports of call

Cape Liberty (Bayonne), New Jersey

5 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5
Do not understand how the ship ran out of Pina Colada (mix) in Puerto Rico of all places!

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

St. John's, Antigua

5 out of 5

Bridgetown, Barbados

5 out of 5

Fort-De-France, Martinique

1 out of 5
Ship arrived on a Sunday and just about the entire city was shut down. Worse of all, those few vendors that were open, did not accept dollars nor pounds - only Euros. Royal Caribbean should have given us warnings about this unexpected scenario so we could have taken appropriate measures.

Basseterre, St. Kitts

5 out of 5
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