Anthem of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

the dining was terrible!! You waited for everything in the dining rooms, the waiters were different every night. Almost impossible to get dining reservations for the restaurants , a lot of people were stuck going to the windjammer every night for dinner.

We had a wonderful overall experience on our vacation. The ship is beautiful and the staff could not be better. All were very professional and friendly. Our stateroom was wonderful. The various dining venues were top notch. I would definitely recommend travelling on the Anthem to my friends.

I think this ship could have offered a lot more than it did. The have a beautiful venue called The 270 but they really do not put it to use with different shows. It is the same live show again and again.

The ship ran out of lemonade two days before the end of the show. Why and how could they run out of lemonade, the one drink that is free? And, of course, nothing was offered except water. 

There was not one dance party of the pool deck.

There was not one midnight buffet.

This is very disappointing as far as a big ship is concerned.

The cruise was wonderful.   The food in the restaurants (we used both complimentary and specialty) was very good.   DON'T MISS WONDERLAND, it was a great experience.   The staff was responsive and very glad to help.    We went to customer service twice for a couple of questions and waited in line less than 5 minutes.      We have travelled on many of the bigger ships (Oasis and Allure) and found this ship was just different; not as open as the others.   Someone explained the Anthem was a 'cold weather ship' vs the Oasis and Allure that are both 'warm weather ships'.   That made sense and explained why it was designed differently.      Getting on and off the ship was a breeze.    Really liked the persons who were identified as agents vs. standing in line.     

I had no favorite part of the cruise I enjoyed it in it's entirety.  Great cabin, food, service and entertainment. Only problem, Dining room chairs were hard to move on carpet.

Inconsistent service in dining rooms, food quality average, entree portions very small, dining room staff not well trained. The entire dynamic dining process needs improvement, we witnessed many guests complaining to management and other guests. You must book your dining reservations prior to your trip on line or over the phone or you will only be offered dinner reservations after 9pm in the complimentary restaurants.  The staff does not work as a well coordinated team, not many smiles or greetings by staff, they all seemed frustrated with the complaints. Most evenings we waiting on line (with a reservation) to be seated  only to be passed off to 2-3 hostess before seating and then waited an additional 45 minutes before our waiter appeared to take our order causing us to miss reserved shows.  Long lines in Guest services - not enough staff to handle the number of guests - especially the first few days when you need them the most. Discounts for Crown and Anchor level membership not automatically applied to my bill, requiring a long wait in guest services. Check your bill carefully especially if you prepaid for certain dining upgrades or spa services. Staff very focused on selling additional services and products versus providing exceptional service to their guests.  Staff seemed unfamiliar with the ship, I asked (2) security guards where the spa was located before one of them walked me to the spa so she could learn herself for the next time - this seems dangerous to me.  In Bayonne we waited in a traffic line for close to an hour to get to the boarding area to drop off luggage - despite having a reserved time for boarding. Issues (never explained to guests) when we arrived back in Bayonne caused an hour delay in getting off the boat, we witnessed several guests complaining that they were going to miss flights and staff seemed unprepared in how to handle. Entertainment shows were excellent with a good variety of options.  Balcony cabin spacious and well maintained.

The itinerary was nice.  Loved the islands.  Embarkation was a breeze, debarkation on the other hand, was a little crazy.  We pulled into port at 7:15 and we were supposed to be debarking a couple of zones by then.  If you have an early flight, don't do it.  1/2 way through the cruise, I started getting bites and they were itchy.  SInce we were in the tropics, I assumed mosquitos.  I was wrong.  When I got back home, I went to the Dr because the itch was so intense.  He told me it was bed bugs.  Ugh.  I had to wash everything in HOT water, decontaminate my luggage, etc.  We have been back for 3 weeks and I am still itchy!  As far as the dining, there were only 2 meals we enjoyed.  The rest were mediocre at best.  The Dynamic Dining does not work.  We were a party of 2 and had difficulty getting a reservation.  Our steward was great.  I felt all the activities were limited.  Please be sure to book them before you get on board!  Tried to book the puzzle room when I got onboard, but it was fully booked.  I didn't see it in my cruise planner either.  Bumper cars were fun, but it was an hour wait.  We were never able to get a chair near the pool.  Always available one deck up however.  I have sailed 15 cruises now, and would not consider another Quantum class.  To each his own. 

Bionic Bar never worked.....at all.  Drinks were terrible. 

Cruise prices was $1350 PP but I guess you are paying for the ship.  However, if you want to do anything free, there are plenty of amusement park like lines to wait in and if you want to do something without lines, there of course was a charge. 

My friends found it more exciting to play cards are the pub and drink ourselves silly since we already paid for it. 

Cruise Total $3200!  Hop on Carnival for $2000 (same room) or Princess for $2600 (same room and drink packages)

Our 4th RCL and the last.  We've had enough.

The ship is impressive with lots to do. However, the billing and on board accounting was shabby. I was over billed on several occasions including double charges by ship stores to the total of $350.oo

It was difficult working with on board personnel to make corrections as it consumed many hours of our time taking away from our vacation. In the end one crew member in guest services was attentive and helped us resolve our problem. However, as of this writing I'm not certain we received the proper credits to our account.

The various activities on the ship were amazing though my grand children did not participate in any of them. The shows were amazing. The main issue i had with the ship was the elevator situation. They would finally come up to the floor the door would not open it would go down then return after a delay the doors would open. I do hope they can figure out a better system.

Thank you

Wonderful 5 night Bermuda cruise on Anthem of the Seas. From the boarding to the food, to the entertainment, to the service!  Excellent! Comfortable suite cabinet and concierge club amenities were a plus!!! Would do it again!!!

Love the view from 13th floor. The ship itself is beautiful.

Will not go on such large ship again especially during summer vacation months.

We felt as we were at a amusement park full of kids and not on a ocean cruise.  

As more traditional cruisers we look forward to open air adult only pool and deck while at sea.  

Already booked our next cruise on a smaller ship.   

Many lines and not enough activities for all. Soda machines always broken. Food is good, but not great, Ship is basically a floating, high end shopping mall and everything is designed to sell you something.

Enjoyed the cruise although I can't say it rates as my favorite ship. It felt more like a hotel rather than a cruise. Waiting time for boarding was painless as well as getting off. 

Cabins(balcony)we're roomy with lots of storage for extras such as luggage, snorkeling gear etc.

THEY  NEED TO BRING BACK THE EXPLORE OF SEAS CLASS SHIP .  YOU ARE GOING TO SEE A LOT OF PEOPLE NOT BOOKING . I'M LOOKING TO CHANGE TO ANOTHER CRUISE LINE  I BOOK 2-3 A YEAR .. SORRY . 

I really enjoyed our day in Labradee, Haiti. The ship had really good shows and music events. The cabin was cleaned throughout the day. Food was good but not outstanding by any means. The crew was pleasant and helpful. There were unforeseen emergencies that happened which some what put a downer on the cruise. I did not like the mixed drinks so I stuck with wine, glass was not always properly filled. Our cruise was a full ship so I got frustrated with having to wait for everything. Royal Caribbean provided a nice cruising experience.

Favorite part of cruise: The ambience of the ship.  The ease of accessing information. The cabins are large and lots of space.

The entertainment was good, the food was okay.

 I prefer longer trips, but this is great for a quick getaway.  The ship is massive, yet easy to find your way around.  Shows were very good, lots of things to do while onboard.  

my family and I had a great time on this trip. Some things left me disappointed. The new meal plan really sucks, I missed the traditional dining where you got to know your service staff and they got to know you! I was unhappy with the fact that to do things like the ifly you couldn't book until on the boat but then when we got on it was completely filled up. They advertise a list of things for teens but only have a very limited times for roller skating or the bumper cars or rock climbing etc. Didn't like that we had to wait in a lot of lines for drinks. No pool side service until the last day. Bars ran out of common things, like strawberry mix, rum, dark and stormy ingredints. The bar servers were understaffed for no waiters.   I will cruise with Royal again but not on this ship and I will check to make sure they have a better dining plan. 

We've cruised with Royal Caribbean in the past and thought it would be nice to try one of their newer and bigger ships with updated amenities and fine dining etc.  However, we thought the Anthem of the Seas was too big and there wasn't enough staff to help the passengers.  Many of the crew members we came across were unfriendly (not very smiley or welcoming), unlike other cruise ships we sailed with before .  Other passengers we met on the ship had similar complaints.  Some of the featured shows were not that great either, ie: The Gift, the storyline was didn't make any sense and the choice of music did not go with the story.

The first day was the worst when we saw the MOB of people waiting on line for the customer service area.  We purchased the drink package online and was told by one of the servers at La Patisserie that we can obtain our souvenir coke cups from the various stations selling drink packages.  When we went over to the guy selling the drink packages in front of Boleros inquiring about the souvenir cups, he told us that we DO NOT get them at his station; he then proceeded to speak in a REALLY LOUD TONE asking me WHO TOLD YOU to come here because that's not true.  He then told me to point out who is the person who told me this information.  The whole situation was unpleasant and unnecessarily confrontational.  I think Royal Caribbean needs to train the staff on how to better serve the customers. 

When we tried to reserve seats for one of the Cabaret Spectra shows, we were told that the show was totally booked and no tickets were available. We were signed up for the Dynamic Dining Classic for the 8:15pm seating, but was told previously that we would be able to make changes.  We WERE NOT told that ANY change to our reservation would CANCEL the rest of our reservations and by that time, most of the passengers already had reservations to the various restaurants. 

Although the ship was big and new, there weren't that many FUN things to do other than go to the pool.  They advertised that they have bumper cars, but it's only open for  limited hours.