I will break down my review of the Anthem of the Seas into different sections. Hopefully this will assist readers if they want to skip to different parts.

1. Background – I have been on a good number of cruises, mostly with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Princess. On this cruise I sailed with my wife, sister and mother. My wife and I had a superior balcony cabin on deck 12 mid-ship. My mother and sister had a superior balcony cabin on deck 6 forward. Our sailing date was January 15, 2016 from Bayonne NJ to the Eastern Caribbean. We were to return on the 25th but due to the Noreaster Jonas we returned a day late, on the 26th.

2. Embarkation – We had completed our online check-in about two weeks before boarding Anthem. We also reserved the main shows, restaurants and North Star before. (Some we reserved weeks before, some we reserved months before) I highly recommend for everyone to take the time prior to boarding to complete these items and to get familiar with the ship/cruise. All of our reservations worked out perfectly and it does not take long to set them up. However, I will say that anything can be reserved and scheduled on the ship itself. We made changes to our schedule on-board and we had no issues at all. As for the actual boarding process, it must have taken about 30 minutes to get on the ship after being dropped off curbside. The process went smoothly for the most part. The only delay was the actual drive up to the pier, due to many passengers arriving the same time. Read more