Cruising at it's worst. Do visit Bermuda! Do visit NYC! And do choose another cruise line! This one is just too big, the food is too bad, and upper management seems to only be concerned with squeezing as much money out of you as they can.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
No problems during embarkation. Staff at the port was not always the friendliest, but that's not Royal Caribbean's fault.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
The food was just not good! The staff tries to save the day with great service but I think the ingredients are just cheap. There are lots of stations at the buffet, but very little variety in food. No fresh berries, no seafood, upcharges for things that are complimentary on mist ships. I finally paid $30 extra for lobster on the last night of the cruise and it has about 5 bites of meat on it. Additionally, you are confined to one section of an underwhelming dining room unless you want to wait with all the other complaining customers for a table or pay for the for-fee restaurants.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Lots of great things to do but completely unrealistic set-up for actually being able to do them. Most of the activities are in one section that serves many purposes so for example, if your child wants to do bumper cars, you wait with a plethora of other passengers for one of 7 bumper cars. And bumper cars are only offered for a few hours on selected days because that area also serves as the basketball court, the soccer court, the acrobat studio, etc. My son is an avid basketball player and he was never able to even shoot hoops because it was always jammed packed during the times basketball was offered. Additionally, there are crazy rules like extremely rigid age limits for kids club (our 5 and 7 year old weren't allowed to be together in kids' club because they wouldn't budge on the ages allowed in the same room). We have loved all of our other 7 cruises because it's fun for all of us and down time as parents but this cruise was not at all that way. One day we had our older kids wait in line for rock climbing only to be told they needed an adult signature (most cruises do a blanket waiver because they're actually concerned about passenger happiness). My sister-in-law went to sign the waiver because she knew I needed a break from our not-so-fun vacation. They wouldn't allow her to sign the waiver because she wasn't a parent. I had finally found a minute to order a drink and relax but I went to sign the kid's in since she wasn't allowed. They told me I wasn't allowed to sign them in because I brought my (completely full) drink with me and they couldn't let someone who was consuming alcohol to sign a waiver! It would be completely unrealistic to think that MOST people who signed waivers had not consumed a drink or more - it's a cruise! They encourage you to buy bottomless drink packages! So the guy whose been sitting at the bar all day can sign a waiver but not the one who brings his or her drink with them?
Entertainment
2 out of 5
This would have been a 1 star also if it weren't for the guy signing in Michael's Pub - he was great! We missed most of the shows because we were standing in line for activities our kid's wanted to do but we did see Spectra. The space used for that show is spectacular, certainly a plus. However, the show was unfortunately mediocre at best. Several people walked out. The performer would introduce "live performances from friends around the world", which were actauly taped recordings of no-name performers. It seemed really elementary and those performers didn't really do anything. It leaves the impression that the cruise line spent all of their money on constructing the ship and is trying to make it up by cheating out on other things. We didn't see the
Children's Programs
1 out of 5
Our children didn't participate because they were separated by age, even though they are only 2 year's apart.
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
See above for a review of the staff at the rock climbing wall - service was clearly poor there. The staff in our dining room were the shining stars - they were great. Our room steward seemed like such a hard-working nice guy like anyone who takes on the job of working on a cruise ship but I actually only saw him 3 times - he saw us in our stateroom and gave us a long talk about the rules - no smoking, EXACTLY what can and can't be flushed down the toilets and their strict towel policy. We finally told him we appreciated his effort to let us know the rules, but we were late for dinner so we had to interrupt him. The second time we saw him, he said he needed to talk to us again about the rules because he was afraid he hadn't gone over everything the last time we saw him since we had to leave for dinner. We tried to tell him we really are not smokers and we understand what we can flush and not flush as well as what to do with towels. The third time I saw him, he knocked on the door to clean and we told him to come on in because we were leaving. He said he was not allowed to enter a room with someone in so he would come back - we never did get our room cleaned that day which on a ship is inconvenient because the bed is pulled out in way that passengers cannot get it back in so we were tripping over it all day. I don't blame the room steward but I do think there is an upper management problem that passengers are treated this way.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
This is a beautiful ship but every ship we'be been on has been pretty and I fear this one must have been so over budget that they're nickel and diming passengers once they are on board. It constantly felt crowded and the activity spaces were designed in away that only a small portion of passangers can participate in them.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
We had adjoining rooms, which we liked. Otherwise the cabin was very standard for other ships we've been on although this one was more expensive than other ships we've been on. Of the other 7 cruises we've been on, we stayed in a suite on all but one. We didn't stay in a suite on this cruise because it was so over-priced.
Ship tip
The biggest tip I can give is not to take this cruise! Although we cruised with Royal Caribbean one other time and had a wonderful experience, this cruise really swayed our opinion in a negative manner on the brand. We will be sticking with Disney and Norwegian from now on!
Again this was so far below the standard for cruise lines. We've never had such a slow disorganized disembarkation experience. You could not get seats in the limited dining options the morning of disembarkation. We waited three hours in a hot room with not even as much as a water fountain before being allowed off the ship.
ð³ð³ð³ð³ did you not know the Anthem is one of the largest afloat? I chose this ship because of its size and what it has to offer. I won't choose a small ship again
Love Royal Caribbean. Such a great relaxing loving atmosphere. I am humbled and satisfied and grateful. Thank you for all my cruises so far and for those ahead.
you don't give a lot of reasoning for your very general claims. can you provide some perspective? I have had nothing but positive experiences with RC. I love the big ships, in fact Anthem is smaller than the Oasis class ships I usually sail and find the food to be great in the dining room and restaurants.
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