Anthem of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The Anthem of the Seas is a beautiful ship and the staterooms were great with tons of storage. The crew was amazing as they always are with Royal Caribbean and the excursions we participated in were fantastic! Especially the swim with dolphins excursion in philipsburg st martaan. The only negatives I have that keep me from giving this ship/trip 5 stars is the food at the specialty restaurant Wonderland was absolutely awful, their "new age" style of cooking and flavoring was horrid and almost made me sick. Great concept but horrible execution. As for the main dining hall food, we were also underwhelmed compared to previous cruises. The staff was great but the food has definitely slipped in quality. Lastly I would have to say because of the number of passengers the ship carries, finding a chair to lay out by any of the pools was an everyday challenge no matter what time you went out to find one. Too many people, not enough chairs.

Sailed from Jan 2 to Jan 14 -12 day , loved the ship and the service , our waiter and assistant waiter were excellent. (Buffet windjammer great buffett) Love being served -tired of freestyle . RCCL allow you to go to guest services, cancel your 13.50 off you bill each day per person,and you can tip cash to your waiter assistant and steward, and most staff aboard rather have it that way. Thats why Ill never cruise on Noreweigen again. Everything was top notch  and postive ,the only draw backs were landing in Martinque on Sunday -everthing is just about closed -except Church -The drink packages are around $800 per person including there %18 gratuity they charge you , On the other hand if you buy a Pina Colada its around $13 a beer is $8, etc, The robot bar is a unique novelty , but still prefer the real talking human bartender with large melons, looking at a hunk of twirlling Terminator  steel does not do it for me. All the toys are great -bumper cars flow rider -sky -rock climbing etc

I liked that it leaves from Bayonne. The ship was beautiful. The service was excellent. The seating at dinner could use some improvement. We like to sit with other people. We chose My Time dining because the only other alternative was 8:30 which is too late. However, it seems to be very complicated.

Everything else was wonderful and the above is only trivial.

The boat was so overcrowded nothing could be enjoyed. It was impossible to get near the pools. The chairs were sat so closely together it was a challenge just to sit down. The soda package comes with a cup that must be used to get the drink, however there are few machines that you have to go a good distance to get to and they were often not working. The machine told me on several occasions I had to wait over 50 minutes for a refill, otherwise it would force me to wait ten. Because of the weather I was unable to do any of the "extras" on the boat such as the north star, the sky diving simulator, and rock climbing. The boat was so crowded I was unable to reschedule. Getting a drink at any of the bars could take upwards of a half hour. The food was so/so. Any time we went to one of the sit down places they pushed food that cost extra. When going out for an excursion I was given a hard time about asking for 2 bottles of water. The internet which I paid extra for was difficult. It would constantly disconnect and would have issues logging on. The staff was friendly, however often gave incorrect and inconsistent information. 

Overall my cruise experience was wonderful with the exception on the uncomfortable sofa bed.  Everyone of the staff was extremely nice and helpful, not one person was rude or looked unhappy with their job.

The prices for soda, water, alcoholic beverages was totally overpriced.  I did not like the idea of an automatic $27.00 per day for tips, in addition to the "service charge" for drinks, etc.

For the amount of money we have spend for our family vacation, was very disappointed in the crew member service.  Not a friendly crew at all.  Terrible service in the photo dept...  The ship was not at all worth the amount of money we spend.  

Good stuff- The ship is really beautiful, high tech and has lots to do. The two70 auditorium is remarkable. Also, the rip cord (sky diving wind tunnel) is super exciting). The Flow-rider, bumper cars and roller skating are also fun.

The Bad- We had lots of kids on our holiday cruise. Not good. Also, the staff seem really burned-out and were not really that friendly. To me this is unusual as most of the cruise ship staff are trained well to be chipper and engaging.

Must do's- Pay the extra $ and do the behind the scenes tour. Well worth it. Also, attend some of the virtual concerts in two70. Amazing!

The overall trip was great and the service was quite good. There were lots of activities and the youth program is wonderful. Remember to reserve your time for top activities such as north star, ripcord, and escape from future as these are gone really fast. 

The room was very good.

The food was terrible and in the extra pay restaurants was just as bad.   Everything tasted over salty.  I don't like such a huge ship.  It's too impersonal and impossible to meet people.

Getting luggage on and off was well organized

The taxi's which I had to take home were disgusting..and way overpriced.  I had to pay $102 for a trip that cost me $25. getting to the ship.

There was a lot to do for children, but not for older adults.  I was hoping to meet someone to play canasta with, but "not".

I did not like the cruise and only went because I was with a group of family members.  I would never recommend this ship...way to big.

This ship offers lots of entertainment and many programs. We were all very happy.

The food was good, the Italian speciality restaurant was exceptionally good, and all the staff was kind.

A large ship with lots to do, register for activities and get to enjoy every moment of time with minimal wait. The staff was great, the food was good, the water was warm and we had a fun. Enjoy

Very easy to get to the boat parking was fantastic right next door in the parking garage however cruising from the north was not a pleasant experience I prefer cruising from a warmer climate in the winter 

I would definitely recommend this cruise to others. 

One of my favorite parts of the cruise was to finally do the onboard activities. 

My❤ was the late nite Jacuzzis, they stayed open until 2am. 

The entertainment was excellent. The scenery was impressive with the latest technique incorporated on the ship. The services made you fell like royalty. If you had any concerns, the staff addressed them.

I was so deeply disappointed with this cruise.  This was my third RC cruise, and I loved my other two.  My goal for this trip was mostly to de-stress and relax, and I’ve found cruising to be ideal for that because of the emphasis on excellent service.  There was excellent service on this trip, BUT it was the exception rather than the norm.  Most of the crew seemed beleaguered and unenthusiastic, and I had a few instances of pretty astonishing rudeness.  I am sensitive to why – the ship is very crowded and I did sometimes see guests addressing the crew in ways I felt to be impolite at best.  It is hard to act joyful when you are overwhelmed.  However, here is an example of one of the rude exchanges.  Me, upon realizing that the disembarking lounge indicated on my manifest was closed, to guest services member:  “I’ve had issues like this every day on this trip.”  Guest services member: “oh, did you go to guest services about those problems, or just complain to other people”?  Me (admittedly getting upset now) “I tried, but there were always long lines at guest services.”  Him: “Well, you have lines at the bank and the airport.”  I never felt like I got to relax and got off the ship at least as stressed as when I got on.  This has never happened to me on a cruise before. 

The good: 

Lots to do on the ship, including great unique activities like iFly, wave rider, rock climbing and bumper cars. 

The running track is actually a good length, so you don’t have to do tons of laps to get to a mile. 

Stateroom attendant was outstanding, and dinner service in the main dining room was great as well.

Ship was very clean, with a clear commitment to keeping it that way.

The bad:

Crowded everywhere at all times.  Elevator wait times were long and constant, particularly since a number of them were not functioning.  Very difficult to pass through the common areas of the ship because of narrow passageways and crowds.  Also waits for tables in the dining rooms during the day and difficulty finding tables at the buffet. If you are an avid gym user  this can also be a problem because there is no changing/showering area in the gym, so figure in an extra 20 minutes just to get back and forth from your room if you don’t want to go to the buffet (near the gym) gross and sweaty. 

Lots of “small” service problems, e.g., ordered breakfast room service, which arrived without sugar for the coffee or salt and pepper, went to the dining room for lunch – requested a sharing table but put at a single (didn’t request to be moved because already waited for a while), and then ignored once seated for at least 15 minutes, no information about what to do about reserved activities (e.g., North Star, iFly) that were cancelled on the first day due to high winds, etc. 

The worse:

The tender situation to get to Coco Cay was a disaster.  It is done by distributing tender tickets.  The ship was slated to dock at 10, with tickets available about an hour before that.  The line for the tickets stretched around the deck and once you had your ticket, you then had to wait at least an hour for your tender to be called.  Then on to another line in a crowded hallway to get on the tender.  I tried to avoid the morning crowd and went down to get my ticket at 11:10.  I was told a half an hour, but didn’t get to the island until 1:00.  Worse, a bunch of us getting on that tender did not see the person who was supposed to be distributing towels on the gangway (she may have been hard to see due to the crowds).  We asked the officer checking our cards to disembark to the tender, and were told there would be towels on the island.   I didn’t see any towels on the island, so I asked two people in RC collared uniforms driving a golf cart where I could get towels.  They said “on the ship.”  When I told them what I was told exiting the ship, they shrugged and drove off. 

My favorite part of this cruise was the large solarium area for adults.  I loved the layout of the adult area.  It was enclosed with a tropical feel.  The 3 tier level pools were filled with warm water that cascaded down like a waterfall.  I did not care for the quality of food on this cruise.  The selection was large, but compared to other cruises, the taste was not at the higher standards that I have experienced on other ships.

Nice décor, great staff, really good food.  But, part of choosing a ship for us is that there is an Adult Only area.  Which was advertised for Anthem of the Seas.  Then, when we get there they allow children in the Adult Only area.  So there is not actually an area where Adults can go and to hear crying, shouting of parents because the kids have misbehaved, and getting splashed while in the pool.  I call this false advertising!

THIS IS OUR SECOND SAILING ON ANTHEM AND  WE WOULD NEVER GO ON ANTHEM AGAIN.  IT IS THE WORST SHIP WE HAVE EVER BEEN ON EXCEPT FOR OUR CABIN STEWARD.  WE HAVE BEEN ON MANY SHIPS AND HAVE SAILED OVER 30 TIMES, THIS AND QUANTUM ARE THE WORST ONES.

Overall a great trip. Service, cleanliness and smiling faces all 5 stars. Food 10 stars if I could. Dinners in the Grande were fantastic every night. New menus were awesome! The ports of call could be better. Not much to do in any of them, especially Nassau where we did not feel safe walking around. But we did not choose this cruise to sight see so it was OK. We just wanted to relax so we were fine with the ports. Coming back for a 12 day in Feb., looking forward to that one. The only other item I would like to change is that you had a stretch class at 5.30 every nite, that's dinner for us. Would like to see one earlier in the day and not 7 am either. Thank you RC