We tied this cruise to the Canada cruise from the previous week. Anthem is a beautiful ship, but it is too large. We cruise on it because it goes out of Bayonne but we wish it was a smaller, more traditional ship. Our days of flying are over unless we can't avoid it. Our cruises are either Grandeur out of Baltimore, Celebrity Summit out of Bayonne or Anthem when we must.

First... The cabins are great with lots of storage. Something as simple as outlets and charge ports at the desk are welcome. The room stewards we have had on 6 Anthem cruises have been attentive and helpful.

Boarding headaches start when we fill out the questionnaire for the set sail pass. Then the speedy embarkation becomes crazy and the cattle drive ends with most people running to the buffet. We find that 270 offers a quieter lunch on the first day. Read more