We chose this cruise as our one year anniversary. My partner had never been on a Royal Caribbean cruise before and I had hoped this would be an amazing experience. I have done this cruise before on Explorer of the Seas and had the same service and food expectations.

Unfortunately, the Anthem of the Seas did NOT live up to the hype. The bigger ship only resulted in longer lines and slower service. The Bayonne pier was a nightmare, and it took us over an hour to get to the ship. We were however able to access our room earlier than expected and our bags were at our door an hour later. The housekeeping staff was very polite, but often times did not get to our room until early afternoon. The event staff was friendly, but there were long lines for all events such as trivia and piano shows, and often times we were too late to get a seat despite arriving 15-20 minutes before start time.

The shows were very well done, but due to the booking requirements for the 3 main shows we only saw Spectra through obstructed views after waiting 20 minutes into the show. After 3 attempts we gave up on seeing the entire show. We were lucky enough to book a spot in the Gift but that was during one of final cruise days. Read more