Nice ship, great itinerary, horrible food!

Anthem of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 162

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Anthem of the Seas

12 Night Southern Caribbean (Cape Liberty Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 14, 2017

Ship: Anthem of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 12536

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Great ship!  Lots of activities for family and parents alike.  Awesome for those who like a highly active lifestyle from iFly, rock climbing, or walking 10 laps around Deck 15 which is equivalent to 10,000 steps.  Entertainers work hard particularly days at sea, which made it all even more enjoyable.  6 consecutive port stops can be intense but most are small islands and easy to explore on your own or excursion.  Highly recommended beach is Raggae Beach (across from Carambola which is also awesome) in St Kitts.  For Fort de France, I suggest taking water taxi across to Pont de Bout where the beaches are pristine with fabulous French cafes and awesome bakery called Baguet Shop with great wifi, which are hard to find for most of the Caribbean.    Barbados - head to Holetown beach where you can take a local boat out to swim with turtles for $30 per person.  If you are into world class restaurants, when in San Juan, be sure to finish the evening off at Jose Enrique (7 min cab ride from Old San Juan) - and a drink at Marmalade just 4 minutes walk back to port.  Antigua - don't miss out Dark Wood Beach, it is crowded but it is huge with beautiful sand.

 

Food on the ship overall is highly disappointing considering the quality of the services provided - even for specialty restaurants.   Chops grill's steaks were always sinewy - borderline inedible.  Bad crab cakes that are filled with imitation crab meat.  Both My Time Dining are abysmal every single meal - though service is awesome and very attentive especially for older guests such as my mom who uses a walker.  Pastry program is bad across the board with the exception of breakfast pastries at Windjammer.  Izumi is abysmal in quality and variety for sushi and the a la carte pricing is rip off - unfortunately it's necessary for the dining plan to eat there.  Wonderland can be fun with enthusiastic staff, but the menu while interesting is really poorly executed.  Jamie's Italian can be great depending on what you order - decent lamb chops, good pastas, but strangely not popular.  Sad to say, most reliable dining option is Johnny Rockets burger, tho it is awkward having to pay additional for them.  The view at cafe 270 cafe is lovely.

 

Room attendants rock!  They are the friendliest and seem to be working the hardest on the ship!

 

Note: I am generally used to much smaller ships where both staff and guests are friendlier with more intimate environment.  This isn't such, but I notice if you like to imbibe, there are plenty of bars on the ship to hang and those crowds tend to be much friendlier!  Happy cruising!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
really bad. avoid wonderland and izumi. go to jamie's italian and johnny rockets

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
really spacious with fridge and lots of storage space. nice beds.

Ship tip

Download the app Royal IQ which is free on the boat. You can track all activities and bookings for dining or shows, which all need to be booked in advance. You can even receive incoming texts without having to pay for Wifi - just can't reply.

Ports of call

Cape Liberty (Bayonne), New Jersey

1 out of 5
awful in appearance. rude staff

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

St. John's, Antigua

5 out of 5

Fort-De-France, Martinique

5 out of 5

Bridgetown, Barbados

5 out of 5

Basseterre, St. Kitts

5 out of 5

Traveler Photos

i brought my personal humidifier
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4 Comments

TheCanadianCrui    7 years ago

Hi, noticed your picture had a humidifier .. is this by choice or do you recommend bring one as the room is pretty dry?

 

thanks

carolgrimaneliswatt    7 years ago

We've been on that ship twice and had a great time both times ... We ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch and in the dining room for dinner... Food was fine ... If you don't like something, ask for something else ... Cafe 270 has good food too. There plenty to eat ... No one will go home hungry .... A cruise is what you make of it ... Just sit back and enjoy ... Go with the flow ... Only the first day will be a little hectic, then it smooths right out ... Enjoy ... We have 2 more booked for that ship ... It's a great time!!!

wendibpreston    7 years ago

i have heard all bad reviews regarding the food. going in April with 3 kids and not really sure how itll be.

mbealle    7 years ago

Enjoyed your review. Thank you.

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