Liked Anthem of the seas, has nice open public spaces, for a holiday cruise it didn't feel as crowded as I imagined. I would recommend it. We were lucky the weather was good since it was December, from what I hear it can get pretty rough going from NJ to FL and back. captain did an amazing job avoiding rough seas though and will change itinerary rather than drive through rougher seas so that was good to know. Coco cay was amazing, worth the cruise just to be able to visit that island! Much more to do on it than Disney's castaway cay, especially for teens. Wish they had a drink package just for wine drinkers that want wine for dinner and after dinner though, drink package too expensive just to have 3-4 glasses in the evening. Cabins were nice, clean, good storage options to put everything away. Eat dinner at main dining room, lunch at cafe 270 for the hot paninis and breakfast at windjammer or solarium. Didnt' bother with the extra cost restaurants since this was our first cruise on anthem, just wanted to get a feel for the food that was included in the price. Maybe next time if we go back on it. Kids loved the ifly and roller skating. Didn't get a chance to do the northstar, got booked up too fast. Skip the escape room, they need to upgrade it and make it more immersive. It looked to be an afterthought adding it in what looked to be a conference room. Didn't do bumper cars so can't say how that was. We also grabbed some slices at Sorrentos, the pizza was pretty good, great for a quick snack. Bingo was fun and so was the trivia games. Crazy quest was wild in 270, very funny. Casino was good, plenty of slots but way too smoky. Wish they had separate area for smokers, it really choked out the non smokers. Or just make it all non smoking. Another weird thing was they allowed the smokers to smoke on one side of the outdoor pool so it wafted over the pool area. And if you were on that side of the ship you had to walk through that area to get to windjammer. It should be in an area that isn't part of the public space in my opinion.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very quick and easy, we arrived at 11am and got right on the ship, super easy .
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Main dining room was good for dinner. We ate dinner at Windjammer one night, not as good, definitely go to the main dining room instead, better menu and quality of food. Windjammer is better for breakfast. cafe 270 a great choice for lunch, hot panini sandwiches made for you and nice salads.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
used the whirl pools a couple of times, never overly crowded. Used fitness center once, again, not overly crowded at the time I used it.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We will rock you was great! We never got to see the gift. The spectra's cabaret was eh, sort of weird, sort of like a crazy fever dream, I wouldn't recommend it. They had a great unicycle and juggler one night that was great, super funny interaction with the audience. The comedians they booked were also really funny.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
staff was very friendly, no complaints.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
I liked the openness of the ship. The main shopping mall area would get congested but there were plenty of other public spaces on the ship that you could hang out in instead of that area. The artwork around the ship was cool, especially on the stairwells. The ship was clean, except the public bathrooms which about 75% of the time smelled of urine, I think they need to clean them more often.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
I liked the location of our room on the ship. We were towards the front, quiet, not many people running past our room like it would be if you were mid ship. The balcony was nice, liked how we had foot rests for each chair and a small table in between. Wish there was a light on the deck so we could see while out there at night. We had connecting rooms so the room attendant opened up the balcony wall separator which made our balcony feel larger. I would recommend this room. We did feel some vibration and hear some noise when the ship would port at a dock.
Ship tip
Definitely do the Main dining room for dinners (we didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants for the extra fees). Do breakfast at windjammer or solarium and do lunch at cafe 270 for the paninis. See We will Rock you and skip spectra's caberet
It was an easy port to enter, lots of covered parking within yards of the terminal and super easy to board the ship quickly. Price was good for the parking, especially with it being covered and secure.
We rented a car from Hertz (shuttle picks you up from ship and takes you to car rental pick up location) and drove to Disney Springs to shop since the day is too short to do a disney park or universal.
Coco Cay did not disappoint! Don't miss it! It was clean, nicely laid out, had shoe drop cubbies next to each water park ride so you can walk around in your flip flops but not have to wear water shoes while on a ride. Lots of lockers to put your stuff in. Food was excellent, best tacos ever, yum. Water park rides were so much fun. We did the zip line. Good for beginners but for experienced zip liners it's just ok. Not worth the extra cost on top of paying for the water park ticket which is extra. The rest of the resort is really pretty, nice place to walk around. Definitely better than Disney's castaway cay island. Wish that Coco Cay had a fast moving lazy river like Universals Volcano bay or Sea worlds aquatica park has. Wave pool was fun. They need to add more family tube rides, line was pretty long for that and there was just 1 ship docked that day along with a tiny ship that didnt' have many guests on board.
RC still allows smoking in their casinos "if actively playing". I have heard that Celebrity and Virgin Voyages do not allow smoking in casino. I am shopping those options for next year.
please dont say smoking is allowed in casino on Anthem.
went on navigator and ut was all a smoking area.Couldnt bare it.
Went out of there stinking like an ashtray 😡.And could only stay in there for 30 mins max.Like you say the whole portside on indy was smoking on pool deck and it was awefull walking through.
come on RC get rid of this policy.Put a smoking area at the aft of the ship out the way of everyone.
So glad you enjoyed. We enjoyed our cruise on her a few months ago but decided for us since we are a little older and my husband walks with a cane she is a little bigger than we like.
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