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Anthem of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5
Verified Review
Anthem of the Seas

8 Night Bahamas (Cape Liberty Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 17, 2018

Ship: Anthem of the Seas

Cabin number: 12556

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Overall it was an okay experience. We have young kids. There was a serious lacking in kids shows and activities. The ship is designed for adults with skydiving simulator and bumper cars. With Skydiving, if you don't book early, you will not get a spot. With Bumper cars, you better get there early or be prepared to wait at least an hour. Instead of bumper cars and skydiving, they should really think of implementing something that more practical that requires less wait. Something a family can utilize on a whim. Not much for young kids. Even the arcade, had minimal appropriate games. There weren't even any shows geared towards kids. Overall, the food was not good. Not in the main dining room, not in the buffet, and not even in the specialty restaurants. The food in the main dining room can be compared to cafeteria food. Certainly not worth the wait. The restaurants have nice tables, and the servers do their best. There is a lack of grandeur that you get on other ships with grand dining rooms. This ship was designed to use dynamic dining. And then they dropped the dynamic part. So now all dining rooms have the same menu. One night I got the Filet (for an additional $16.95) and even though it was cooked well, they forgot the sauce and gave me some sad sides. Went to Chops one night and the food was certainly better, but they forgot one appetizer and the service was not great. They also recently raised the price of Chops to $49 per person. And because the holiday cruise was so busy, there was not much discounting. On another cruise, we got a 3 meal package for $75, which brings the cost per meal to$25. So at $25 per person, it is totally worth it. But once you are over $40 per person, I am not sure it is worth the price. The Buffet was hit or miss. But certainly more of a miss. The food seemed to be the same most nights. They had pork on the carving station probably half the time. There were days when I would find a great item but most everything else was just okay. Notwithstanding, the buffet was still a far better choice than the main dining room. Jonny Rockets: The burgers were good but they were expensive considering. A burger (single and not a double) was $4.95. That is not far from the cost on land. And the burger seemed small. The server also seemed inexperienced. I waited behind one woman for at least 10 minutes, and the staff could not seem to figure out how to enter her order on the register. Not the biggest deal but in the end, I would not recommend going to Jonny Rockets on this ship. Daycare: The daycare was okay. But ultimately the workers will call you to pick up your child if they don't adapt quickly. My son was shy and did not want to participate so they called us regularly. Ultimately, they have a lot of kids to watch over so they just don't have the capacity. Finally we left from NJ in November so we lost a day to the cold in the beginning and another day to the cold at the end. We also ran into some bad weather the second to last day. This cant be avoided sometimes, but they ended up canceling a bunch of activities we were looking forward to, and yet they didn't replace them with anything. So the day was left without much to do. In the end, we have found the Oasis class ships better in every respect. Going forward, we may just stick to that class.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

If you take a holiday Cruise, be sure to plan ahead.

Ports of call

Cape Liberty (Bayonne), New Jersey

3 out of 5

Port Canaveral, Florida

3 out of 5

Nassau, Bahamas

4 out of 5

Cococay (Cruise Line's Private Island)

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
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7 Comments

skstokes    6 years ago

Sorry you were so disappointed. We loved the Anthem. Although iFly tends to book up you can go by anytime and see if there are any openings. People always cancel. 2 and 3year olds can go. Traveling with an 11 yr old we always research what ships have and book accordingly. You should probably try Disney.

smille19    6 years ago

Woobiescoobie    6 years ago

Hope your next cruise is better. Disney would definitely be better for kids of all ages. We cruised on Oasis and didn’t perceive any grandeur, but saw an amazing variety of activities. Always a good idea to research the ship’s amenities before you book. But at least out of all the cruise you’ve enjoyed you know Anthem is not like Oasis Class.👍🏼

sugar64    6 years ago

I was at the same ship a year are 2 ago it was one my best ship ever food was great service was great I always research what is best for me. I cruise alot of ncl because of the perks and shows and specialty dinning. I hope your next cruise is better for you

CuriouzTravels    6 years ago

I’m on in 3 days!

royalcruisers    6 years ago

FriendlyCruiser    6 years ago

You want a cruise ship designed for little kids? Maybe try Disney?

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