Anthem of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

it was ok, the food was not hot and the same menu all the time cabins were nice, just to many people didn't like the way you had to make reservations for everthing

ship was nice, not as nice as other RC ships, menus and dining venues were lacking. food was not up to the normal standards I have had in the past with RC.

The ship is beautiful, the staff is awesome.  Whatever you need or want someone will try to help you. The ports of call were amazing and beautiful. We a had a very restful and adventurous vacation

 The dining and food could use some attention. We had several items served to us that were not up to par,,,dishes missing key ingredients like balsamic reduction on a watermelon - feta salad...the reduction makes the salad and requesting it resulted in a long wait and a bottle of vinegar.  A salmon filet with holandaise had approximately 3 drops of sauce amounting to less than a teaspoon and the fish was very dry and overcooked and needed the sauce badly. Towards the end of the trip the food seemed to improve but there were items throughout that I would have ordered again but avoided from not caring for it the first time. That being said, I probably could have had the whole meal replaced but have a problem asking for that.  Also there are far too many passengers for the number of seats in the buffet and some people were running quite short on patience in the lines, things were not pleasant there..Also there were times during the day when you could not get something to eat! There was pizza and pastries but a diabetic and gluten free diet was very hard to satisfy, say at 3pm or after 8 pm, sometimes one needs to eat at those times and there were not choices available like fruit or vegetables.

 The shows were fantastic and we never ran out of things to do onboard, always had plenty of entertainment and choices. 

The first few days were a nightmare. This new smart ship idea is like your smart phone.  Anything you wanted to do had to be set up on IPADS throughout the ship. That's means you had to coordinate your dining times, with your excursions and your entertainment. You had to make appts to see some of the shows. If you didn't, you didn't get in. Not a fan of this, too much thinking involved.  The entertainment they had was good but not much variety. Be careful where your storeroom is. We were on the 7th floor forward.  The music hall on the 3rd and 4th floor. Every single night until 2am or later we could hear the base beat of the music in our cabin. Because the DJ started at midnight until......as stated in the cruise compass.

We enjoyed our first cruise with Royal Caribbean. They were able to accommodate my food allergy and made my dinners more enjoyable.

There was so many things to do on board that we were never bored. 

Guest services quickly resolved any issues that we had, and did it with a smile. The waiters in the buffet weren't very friendly though, and most of the bartenders weren't friendly either.

Photography was a big disappointment. Most of the photos that we had taken didn't show up on our photo pass. 

The room was spacious and clean.

Abe, the cruise director was awesome!

I would travel on this ship again.

stateroom was  roomy and very clean.  Lil  Sinclair our room steward was excellent.  the food was hit and miss ranging from ok to very good, depending on the restaurant.  most of the staff was pleasant and helpful, but it's clear everyone doesn't buy into the program.  the ship is beautiful.  i'd like to see more room in the dining venues,  most of the time we were so close to another table that the servers could not navigate between them without their posterior in your face or on your table. at the beginning of the cruise i swore i would never cruise with royal carribean.  by the end of our cruise i thought i would give it another try.

Pros:  beautiful ship, fun activities, friendly and efficient staff (mostly), excellent spa services.  Some food is very good or excellent.  Bingo was fun.  Shore excursion to Disney was fun, but don't know why it is not longer, as the ship was in port for 4 hours after we returned.  We Will Rock you was excellent, as were the comedians.  Casino was fun and slots paid out.  The Music Hall was great - excellent bands.

Cons:  Port Liberty in Bayonne - a real pain to board.  Many high tech features did not work (bionic bar, Two70, cruise calendar on app, etc.  Actual dining time once onboard were different than those informed at time of booking (5:30 p.m., not 6) leading to conflicts with spa appointments and show schedules.  Making appointments for dinner and shows was a hassle.  The solarium pool was cold, and the hot tubs were warm.  Ship store selling RCCL merchandise has a very poor selection.  Some of the shows (Spectras Cabaret, The Gift) are very strange.  Shore excursion in Coco Cay was cancelled without notice or alternatives being offered.  The constantly hassling of people to wash their hands and use hand sanitizer (before boarding the North Star - really?) is annoying.  The spa rescheduled/changed appointment times without consulting us and seemed to have many technical problems - like appointments booked online (and prepaid) were not available onboard.

The main problem with this cruise is that it is round trip from New Jersey, which means that the first two and last two days of your winter/spring cruise will be cold, leaving the indoor pool and solarium mobbed.  And the back up to get into the port is a real hassle.  Forget about your recommended boarding time; go EARLY so you don't miss the boat.

We love cruises and the Anthem of the Seas is a terrific ship. This was our 4th cruise with Royal and 7th overall. The iFly, Northstar and bumper cars are a must on the ship! Compared to the Allure and the Oasis, this was not quite up to that standard but is certainly a fun ship! Food, service, activities and shows were fabulous! 

The anthem is a beautiful ship but far too big, seniors for the most part  get around the ship with the motor power.  The food is good and especially good in the up charge Restaurants .   I Highly recommend Wonderland, worth the up charge and is something you will remember for a long long time.  The handicapped areas in the  Theater are bar none the best.  Getting on board with the new Bayonne terminal and parking garage is the best ever.  Last day we were out of our cabin @ 6:30AM down to deck 5 WITH ON waiting for the elevator, escorted with wheelchair assistance @ 7AM out and thru the terminal down the elevator got our bag with no problems, thru customs and NO ONE was there.  We were escorted wheel chair and porter to the side of the parking garage bags in car and out the parking garage @ 7:30AM.  On the turnpike and home by 8:40AM.  There were a lot of very good things about the ship but I found that being so big some of the personal touches are not there.  Every thing on this ship is about money.

The boat was beautiful. My husband and I had a great time on the cruise, but for us what was most impressive was the staff!! We never saw any RCL staff ever sitting or not doing something. What a hardworking and dedicated staffCudos to the following:

Margarita (from Honduras), Milan Maric & Tun La Pyae from the Winjammer Café.  All served with Kindness, friendliness and grace.  We love them... Also to our cabin person Desmond--whatever we wanted or needed, Desmond never mad us feel as if we were a bother to him.  What a Joy.

Abe Hughes--the best Cruise Director ever....

Everywhere u turned, there was more fun to be had. Whether u are looking for a relaxing vacation or total stimuli, they accommodated !  The buffet was BLAH, same food every day and nothing to write home about. The restaurants (except Silk) were top notch. The entire crew is truly pleasing, wonderfully social and the best, funniest  cruise director we have ever sailed with ! We had a balcony for the 2 of us and it was perfect. We did see some with 4 in a balcony and that may be a bit much but they seemed to have enough room in square footage.

The ship was sparkling clean, we were all worried about Virus' from their past sailing and Purell stations at every entrance. 

The entertainment was mostly Broadway worthy and the comedian Darryl (?) was a huge hit.  We did not utilize the kids area but we did roam around there. if I was a kid I would never come home there was so many scheduled activities and free play !

It is NOT the ship from the TV commercial, the back of the ship is not open so that was a disappointment but overall its  a 9 of 10 !

taken 5 plus royalcaribin,all were top shelf,this one fell short of what we expected.the food in main dining rooms need attention for quality,top chefs should eate what thay sereve,the meat need to have better cuts, intertainment were so so,music in clubs could be better,smaller ships for us,we have booked our next cruise on freedom of the seas

Good atmosphere, tasty food, best entertainment, good dining program, good service in all areas, a lot of kids programs what could be better to spend the time during this vacation.

We just returned from an 8 day cruise from Bayonne to Florida/Bahamas.  We had a really wonderful, relaxing and memorable trip.

The Ship: This cruise is a work of art.  The design of each space is purposeful and beautiful. 

Activities: There is no shortage of activities for adults and kids, indoor and outdoor.  They have a seaplex with bumper cars, sports activities, roller skating, arcade, game room, rock climbing, surfing simulator, sky diving simulator, 3 theaters, a ton of restaurants and lounge areas and really so much more.  The room was spacious and every inch of the ship was CLEAN and very well maintained.

The staff: I love the mixed international staff, I think that's a really nice touch and everyone was so helpful, kind and pleasant. The cruise director and activities team were all very fun and a joy to see, they deserve a lot of credit because they truly make the cruise fun for all the guests.

The restaurants:  There is no shortage of complimentary and specialty restaurants.  They do away with the traditional huge dining hall for those who get the classic dining packages and replaced it with smaller, more intimate themed restaurants, which I loved.  You still keep your waiter who meets you at the different restaurants each night. The buffets have a mandatory hand washing station prior to entering, which I loved!

Shows:  The shows were very elaborate and visually impressive.  The stories were a bit weird, but the productions were grand and still worth attending.

Advice:

*Some activities are VERY popular (ie Trapeze, bumper cars) so make sure you get there an hour BEFORE the scheduled time if you happen to be on a full ship or a ship with a lot of younger kids to make sure you get a spot. We went during spring break, so we had a full ship.

*Book your excursions on your own!  RCL charges too much and the excursions are shorter than if you go on your own.  We went to Atlantis through bahamasdaypass.com and it was significantly cheaper per person for the same activities and we were able to stay at Atlantis for 2 hours longer than if we had booked with RCL, getting a taxi was very easy right outside the port and only $4 per person.  We went to Gatorland with RCL, which was great as an excursion, but booking it on our own would have allowed us to stay at the park much longer, which was needed because we did the ziplining which takes 1.5 hrs and left us no time to explore the park. The 3 hr excursion was waayyy to short to catch the RCL bus back to the ship at 1:30 when we were staying in Port Canaveral until 8 pm.  We did not realize that when we booked and next time we would just rent a car or take a cab as both are easily available right at the port.

*A March cruise is hit or miss with the weather sailing down/up the coast.  We had cold weather the first 2 days and last 2 days so we had to spend a lot of time inside the ship.  There are a ton of things to do inside, so we never felt cooped up or bored, but it would have been nice to enjoy all of the outdoor deck activities as well on those sail days, which were either closed or too cold to attempt even when they were open.

Anthem of the Seas – Feels good to be back with Royal Caribbean. As a Royal Caribbean’s CA - Diamond member and the competitor’s Latitudes - Platinum member, my comments are solely based on my experiences from the past sailings.

Registration – The ability to upload your own pictures and input your credit card info for onboard expenses in advance is great.  I have not seen this process on past RCL and the competitor’s sailings. 

Drop off – For some reason, it was a painful experience to be dropped off at the port. There are two lanes leading to pier but it took about 20-30 minutes sitting in traffic to get to the pier.  If I was in a taxi with a meter running, it can lead to a bigger bill.  There are also two lanes on Pier 88 in Manhattan as the drop off process was very easy and efficient than at Cape Liberty.

Check-in – Dropping off the bags with the porter at the pier was very easy. They issue a bar code receipt that you can use to track your bags.  Similar technology used by the airlines. BTW – My bags were delivered before I arrived to the cabin.  Upon entering, the terminal, you have to go through a formal check-in even if you had done advanced check-in online.  RCL need to better explain the process (I may have missed it) for guests going into the terminal. We were told that I needed to stand “over there” but over there was just a bunch of people standing around. It was a little chaotic and it seemed disorganized. But once we found a RCL staff, he scanned our boarding passes and confirmed that everything was in order. Going through the X-Ray and boarding the ship took about 15 minutes after that.

Cruise Food – The food was fine at the Windjammer but the food served at the free dinning venues left a lot to be desired.  Chicken Marsala at Chic, was too salty and too much dark brown gravy.  I had the American Icon Grill’s specialty, the hamburger (medium), it came out dry. At Silk, for appetizer, I had the salmon sashimi. It was served without wasabi and soy sauce.  But I had the duck and it was good.  Café @270 has one of my favorite sandwiches, the beef on salted bread. It was delicious!  Solarium Bistro was one of the only free dinning venues where the meals were great. I would highly recommend it for everyone.  I had also dined at Jamie Oliver, the food was good as expected from specialty restaurants.

Crew  - The crew was great and very friendly. The stand-out was with Raja Senthurpandi (waiter) and the team at the Solarium Bistro were very attentive.   

Décor – The overall décor on the ship is a modern and minimize design. All of the admin stations: Loyalty desk, NextCruise, photo studio, and Excursions desk have tablets in which the guests can use.  The 270 is a beautiful place to sit and relax. The free dinning venues all have its unique theme.  The decorations all meet its primary theme such as Silk is an Asian restaurant and it contained Asian décor. The Chic is an American cuisine with a white layout and chairs with beads.

Shows – We saw “We Will Rock You” and “Spectra’s Cabaret.  Both were good shows. We missed the “Gift” and will be planning to see it when we return to the Anthem.

Sportsplex – The complex is indoors and it allows activities such as bumper cars, roller skating, trapeze, basketball, dodge ball, and etc. to be enjoyed without fear of weather. On the second deck of the Sportsplex is ping pong tables, an XBOX room and fuss ball tables.

Elevators - Special mention on elevators as it was double the size of a typical one found on cruise ships. Love it!

Pools – There is an indoor and outdoor pools. The indoor pool and pool in the Solarium (Adults only) are perfect for the winter weathers.

Additional Activities -  Wall climbing with auto belay machines and RCL provides climbing shoes. Ripcord by iFly is flying without a parachute. A large wind tunnels keeps you aloft in an enclosure. RCL provides jump suit, helmet and goggles. Flowrider, a signature ride on RCL for at least ten years is a wave ride with water boards. There is only one on Anthem. North Star, is an observatory that brings the guests 300 feet into the sky. All of the activities were great and are free. Make sure you make reservations in advance.

Departure – It was easy and we were the fifth group to depart the ship. No issues.

Overall, we had a great time on the ship and are planning to return again.

Overall the sports and children activities were very unorganized and poorly staffed.    Not able to do all the activities due to long lines and nit eniugh staff.   Also no barbecue sauce on entire ship.    This is ridiculous.  

The ship is beautiful and for the most part, never feels "crowded".  Of course the Windjammer buffet area was crowded most of the time but with families camping out at the tables playing cards and other games during mealtimes.  The shows were wonderful and the Seaplex was unbelievable with the amount of activities.  We did enjoy our minute of flying at Ripcord and the view from the Northstar.

This was a spring break cruise and there were over 450 children on board.  most of them participated in the youth programs and very few came onto the adults only areas.  Our first Royal Caribbean cruise and we'll be back!

We enjoyed the Anthem of the Seas, the ship is beautiful and well maintained and  the staff was very friendly.  The  overall environment was perfect.

The other guests were also outgoing and enjoyed the opportunity to speak with new people.

The service in the restaurants was quite good.  We ate at Chefs Table several evenings and the chef and server made sure to change up our menu. The server at Chefs Table was absolutely wonderful. 

We are Kosher and every restaurant that we visited made sure we were accommodated.

The Kosher food was excellent when we reserved in advance, but the food that is provided in the plastic sealed trays is completely inedible.

Our cabin was really kept clean and well attended.

The shows were definitely entertaining and the musicals were top notch,  enjoyed the Spectra show a lot and loved the 270 lounge.  We visited the Music Hall each evening after Chef Table and the band was great.

There are a lot of activities to choose from and there always was a chair or lounge available to sit in.

We also tried the spa and the services there were okay.  After you finish a message and are relaxed it is a little obnoxious to have products sold,  there is a big push to sell in the spa.  I had 2 products in a bag and was charged $300 for these 2 products which I did not want but said ok to because of the timing that it was sold to me.  I did return them a day later.

The docking times at port were really precise and we went into every port.  We did feel that the time allowed in Cayman and Honduras was on the short side. 

The only complaint was that most of the staff when asked a question, could not answer or would send us to another person or location for help,  it happened often and we spent a lot of time running around to get questions answered or for service.  There were also constant picture taking which was annoying to us but we assume the passengers really like this.   We checked out the photo gallery and could not believe the pricing for a digital album so we passed.

I hope this information was helpful!

Tammy Cohen

We had a wonderful vacation with our family on the Anthem of the Seas.  There were so many activities onboard for all age levels.  Some activities and areas were for young children only, teens only and adults only.  Other activities, like Karaoke, were for the whole family.  There were two theaters every night, one for young adults and one for the older adults. There was rock climbing, wave surfing, bumper cars, table tennis, pool, volleyball, flying in an air tunnel,roller skating, dodgeball,trivia,bingo, dance lessons, soccer, baseball,basketball,art lessons,outdoor movies,flying trapeze, circus school, full Gym, full Spa,full Casino, art auctions, and North Star, the arm that takes you up in the air over the ship for beautiful views of the ship and the ports that you visit. Great ship for families of all ages.

Was excited to begin my birthday/vacation cruise, however with all the youthful activities such as rock climbing, roller skating, boogie boarding etc., Anthem of the Seas  was quite boring and geared more towards senior citizens.  Activities weren't ongoing or had to be reserved. There was absolutely nothing to do after midnight. Unlike the itinerary the times at selected destinations were shortened.  NOT QUITE WHAT I EXPECTED FOR A BIRTHDAY CRUISE....