Anthem of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

busy ship, plenty to do or just relax as we did. We were with family and able to share times with everyone together and separately Food was great as was service All staff was very attentive and we did a walk off and it was fast and smooth as was check in.

We were worried about how things would run for dinners and entertainment with almost 6000 passengers, but RC has set up a system of reservations and a staff that makes it run smoothly.  First time traveling with a disability. But it was easy because of staff and facilities.  Best embarkation an disembarkation ever in our more than 20 cruises with different lines.

Have you ever gone to your favorite place and had an experience that wasn’t up to standard?  This is how we felt on our recent April 30, five day, cruise on the Anthem of the Seas.  We are loyal platinum turned emerald Royal Caribbean members on this cruise so we’ve been extremely Wowed previously but unfortunately not on the Anthem. 

Previously I had looked up parking on the pier and it was $20.00 a day.  We drove to Bayonne but when we got to the dock, I had no idea where the parking was.  I pulled into any empty spot in front of the terminal and ran up to a staff member and they directed me where to park.  If you’re facing the terminal, the multiply level parking garage is to the left just steps away from the terminal.  It was easy to drop the bags off at the terminal and park in the garage and walk to the terminal, just a matter of minutes.  A suggestion is to have a diagram where the parking garage is in location to the terminal would avoid this confusion for the next customer and possibly interest them to use the facility if they knew how close it was. The terminal is beautiful and getting on board the ship is a breeze. 

I like tradition.  When cruising, I like dinner at 8:30, seeing people dressed up at formal nights and eating in a formal dining room which was a tradition on the Royal Caribbean.  When I signed up for the cruise, they had talked about the eating arrangements but I didn’t really understand the concept but instead of one dining room, they now have four.  For the classic dining, you have a freer time to enter into the restaurant but what happens is each night you go into a different restaurant but you will have the same wait staff.  On the fifth night it starts from the beginning again.  Each restaurant has a different menu.  The Grande Restaurant is the only one that requires a sport coat for the gentlemen and has the best menu.  I think this dining experience concept bothered me the most.  The food wasn’t that good.  I remember the first night I had order warm donuts for dessert.  I tried to take a bite and physically couldn’t chew through it and had to pull it out of my mouth.  By the way, the first day of the cruise was my wife’s birthday and the following day was our anniversary.  Both events were noted on our cruise paperwork.  From previous cruises I noticed the staff would announce your birthday or anniversary when they brought your dessert.  So the first night, nothing happened for my wife.  The second night, nothing happened for our anniversary and I thought possibly would happen on the third night which was the Grande Restaurant and still nothing happened.  A day or two latter I happened to turn on to hear the cruise director and he happened to mention someone’s birthday so I’m not sure if that is where it is announced or it just so happened it was someone on the staff’s birthday.

No recognition party for previous cruisers but did have a recognition party for platinum and above.  They use to have drinks and hors d’oeuvre at this event but now they just offer the drinks.  As a platinum member robes are supposed to be available in your room but I haven’t seen that for several cruises.

I felt the evening entertainment was lacking.  There were several private functions going on with music so that cut down where you could go.  No 70’s night disco party like they had on other cruises.  I preregistered for the three evening shows.  The Spectra was great but we walked out on the Rock of Ages.  The Gift was beautifully done but I think they could have done something else with this time. 

Also I found out that people preregistered for the North Star and the Rip Cord so when I wanted to go, it was all booked.  Another disappointment!  Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t that great sailing back and it was early in the morning.  The people who had registered didn’t show so I was able to go on as a stand by on the North Star.

The art work on the boat was strange.  In the lobby they have an oriental theme but on the wall it looks like a deer appearing through a window.  On the thirteen floor where we stayed, they had posters of people in 1950 era.  Just strange.  Our room was good size but you could hear creaking going on and Wednesday night it was raining out and by my side of the bed it sounded like water running down pipes.

We still had a great vacation but felt the food which is a big draw, just wasn’t there.  I hope Royal Caribbean doesn’t give up on their loyal customers and still supply the standards they had been known for in the past.

We have sailed many times with Royal Caribbean, and with other cruise lines as well, we LOVE cruising, but this is the first time we ever felt such disappointment and regret. We did not enjoy the Anthem at all. The boat itself is a beautiful ship, but wow we felt that the anthem was lacking in SO MANY areas!! 

For one, the food was terrible. Never had a problem with food except for this ship. Not only was the selection of food limited in the windjammer, but the quality of food has gone terribly down hill. We think we could have gotten better food at an Applebee's. My husband was stuck eating a burger every day for lunch. I enjoyed the salad and pasta bar, but other than that you are stuck with two tables that offer you nothing more than mostly sides and then one or two main dishes to eat. No real food and no special WOW factor on this ship when it came to the food either... no special theme nights, no chocolate night, no late night snacks, nothing!! The food in the dining room was better but not by much. Many of the appetizers tasted as though they were previously frozen. The options and variety were also few and limited. Some of our desserts were stale and hard (like the cakes from Chic and beignets from American Icon Grill) The "NY Strip Steak" was nothing more than a thin skirt steak. Fish had no taste. Many meals lacked flavor. Do have to say best meal was at Grande though, where we had lobster tail and that was the highlight of our trip. Cafe270 reminded us of a typical cafeteria that you find in hospital setting with your pick of pre-made salads or tiny little tasteless wraps. Even the pizza shop only gave you choice of Cheese or Pepperoni and no additional selections. 

Second problem, nothing for entertaiment!! I guess they expected you to be entertained with just the North Star, FloRider, and I-fly, but those last ten minutes? Two days of Bingo and three shows that was it. Everything else was trivia... Karaoke.... Sales to get you to buy crap you don't need... A character meet&greet here and there. Thats it. We were so bored. There was no contests, no fun interactions with the staff, no hairy chest contest, no pool events, no poolside BBQs, no parade, not even "QUEST" which is the most fun. So many Royal Caribbean favorites no where to be found. And not even any movie channels in your stateroom. 

Third, Room service a joke. You only had two options for adult food (italian wrap or veggie wrap). 

Fourth problem, OMG THE BEDS were the worst!! My husband had severe back pains during the last two days of our vacation and I am willing to bet it was from those hard beds. They were so uncomfortable. 

I don't know if Royal Caribbean was just cutting corners but it did not meet our expectations. There were some good things I will point out: Easy check in was real nice. Getting off the ship was also easy. Bermuda was fun. The staff on ship is amazing and try to accommodate you in every way possible. And our balcony room was nice and roomy, but I didnt really spend all this money to sit in my room. We wont be sailing with the quantum class anymore.

The included restaurants menus were  all the same except two added a hamburger. Not what I would order.  The change of scenery was the only change.  Service was very good except the Grand. SUB PAR.. My wife odered a sirloin at chops the extra money venue and did not realize she had to pay MORE for the better sirloin, dissatisfied,. My filet mignon was very good.Her sirloin was SUB PAR. Jamie's Italian was excellent and our waiter was FIVE STAR...I believe the prices of the mid range wines were over priced. 

I did not care for this type of dining, even though the wait staff came along with us.  The food did not have a big variety.  We ate 3 times in 4 different dining rooms.  Most of our group did not like the one dining room (Silk).  The ship did not have that wow factor, and it was to large for us.

WE had a great time and appreciated all the help on this cruise!  Next time I take a cruise I will call the vendor directly due to the back and forth....nobody's fault, but is much easier!

Anthem of the Seas is a beautiful ship with plenty of things to do. However the 2 things that my sister and I did not like was the changing of the restaurants every day. Each night we had to go to a different restaurant to eat, and we were not crazy about the one called "Silk." Very dark inside. The menus were the same in each as well. Also, on these larger ships, it seems that we get less amenities. We love the steam rooms, and on these larger ships, you have to pay for the steam room, and a very hefty price. So we booked a cruise on the Liberty of the Seas.

The good:

Anthem of the Seas is a beautiful new ship. Plenty of activities and high end entertainment on board. The idea of the virtual balcony in the inside cabins is fantastic. We found the Windjammer, the buffet on the 14 deck, to have many good and savory choices for breakfast and lunch. The 12 nights Southern Caribbean itinerary is good, although we didn't care much for Labadee and Martinique.

The bad:

Food in the complimentary restaurants is not good. Royal Caribbean pushes heavily the packages for the pay restaurants. Didn't we pay for good food already? The center of the Explenade, the concourse on deck 4, is occupied with a few mobile sales counters, very busy every day with the sale of junk items. It resembles a flea marker more than an elegant town square, which the ship deserves.

Overall it was a nice ship, staff were very friendly and ready to assist. Food quality and selection can be improved. It would also be nice if they catered to the guests in regular rooms, the same as the guests in suite.  Adult section can be improved.

The ship was quite rocky and even the employees were making comments, we wondered if the ballasters were damages when it went through the storm. 

It was a wonderful experience to be enjoying the lovely leisure of the islands. It was a long trip so, one must pace themselves for all of the walking to go to the beaches. Yimaz was the head waiter and did a wonderful job making sure we were well taken care of. Alexandra was found to be friendly in the solarium. Make sure you put out the do not disturb sign on your door or the house keeper walks right in. 

Enjoy your stay, we did and remember to tip in cash. 

We enjoyed the cruise though the activities were geared to younger people.  The restaurants were just OK.  The ship was immaculate and our cabin was great.

All in all the Cruise was great; some of the food at the buffet was not always hot. Will use BJ's travel again to assist us; Dee Smith was GREAT!! Keep up the good work.

Overall, we had a wonderful cruise.  The production numbers we did not enjoy as much. "Spectra's Cabaret", "The Gift" and "We will Rock You" were more for a younger crowd.   Just my opinion, although many people we heard gave a similar opinion.   I believe that a large majority of cruisers were over 50 on this and probably most cruises, and Broadway musicals/singers are more our style.   Mamma Mia was spectacular on the Quantum!!  Female comedian was great. I would have given it a 5 star rating had it not been for the production numbers.

I sailed on the Anthem from 4/8 - 4/18.   First, I would like to compliment the captain and crew on keeping us informed on a daily basis of weather conditions and re routing of the ship.  We ate the first night at the Grande - I had the osso bucco and it was ok.  My husband had the seafood pasta and it was not edible - the pasta was like mush.  We tried the Grande a few days later and it was even worse - I had the gnocchi figuring there was no way they could screw this up. The gnocchi was had the consistency of stale/hard bread with no flavor at all.  My husband chose the safe route with Pork loin - it was edible, but tasteless.   A few days we had breakfast at the WIndjammer - the omelets were excellent. The waffles and pancakes were dry and hard around the edges - a couple of days there was no syrup available.   We ate a few specialty restaurants - Chops was just ok - service was fantastic!  We chose to pay up for the dry aged steaks in addition to the restaurant charge and it was not worth it at all.   We also ate at Jamie's which was good - the pasta sauces were way to heavy and rich, they can lighten up on that a bit.  The lamb chops were fantastic.   So in a nutshell - the food at the restaurants can use improvement.  We didn't bother to eat at Silk, Chic or American Icon Grill as we heard horror stories on those as well.  We ate 2 nights at the Wine Bar Vintages - ordered the cheese plate from Jamies for an extra charge.  We also ate at Michaels Pub for an extra charge and had the cheeseburger and fried chicken - both were delicious and the service at both of these bars was excellent.   Now to the outside bars.  The first obnoxious thing about the pool area is that unless you reserve a chair by 9 a.m.  you are basically out of luck.   We were in the solarium bar on the 1st day of sailing and I literally stood at the bar for 25 minutes waiting for a drink.   There were 2 bartenders for approximately 40 guests.  3 times someone walked up next to me, said "hey buddy" to the bartender and were served before me.  Finally I spoke up and the bartender said "im waiting on someone right now" then after he finished serving the passenger - walked into the back room now leaving just 1 bartender.  This was the experience at all pool bars during the day.   I usually just went down to the 4th or 5th floor and got my drinks there - a bit of a hassle, but better than getting aggravated.  Usually there are pool servers walking around making it much easier to get a drink.  My thought is that since everyone seems to have the liquor package, there was no incentive to the bartenders to expedite any type of service.     As far as getting on and off the ship - they did a very good job.

It was a great ship and service was great. I just didn't know about making reservations for the shows before I left home. I missed the RC Dancers in the headliner shows.

I loved my cruise, I got to rest and do what I wanted to do....this ship is gorgeous...I think the expense of cruising is a little out of hand now...I was on a 12 day cruise and never saw the Captain because you needed to be a good or silver card holder to do a meet and greet with him and his commander's...

The service is good, Stateroom is clean and comfortable.But food is horrible everywhere. The only good restaurant  is Izumi, but you have to pay. My grandson eat every day hamburgers and pizza, because was nothing to choose from. Fish (salmon and other kind of fish) was overcooked and difficult to eat. This cruise is very overpriced. We'll never recommend this cruise.(((((((

The shows on the ship were fantastic. We also had great servers at all of our meals and we loved most of the meals.The captain and his crew did a fantastic job to avoid a storm that we were heading into.All and all we had a time.

The Anthem was nice, my wife and I agree that we like Oasis and Allure better, but Anthem was not disappointing.  The North Star and IFly Ripcord were both very cool.  The biggest drawback to Anthem is its lack of Promenade space compared to Allure and Oasis -- less room makes for more crowding at shopping opportunities or even just trying to get around those shoppers.  We also missed the "Central Park" deck found on Oasis and Allure.  Despite those items we had a great time -- we wanted to spend several days in New York before leaving and going out of Cape Liberty afforded that opportunity.  Having said that, be prepared for much rougher seas the first couple of days and last couple of days when you cruise from the northeast -- if  you are not from the area or interested in seeing New York we suggest leaving from Ft. Lauderdale to skip rough seas and boat rocking along with much colder weather topside during those 4 days at sea.