We chose this trip as our 10th anniversary gift to ourselves, and the 12 days away from the cold were perfect. We had only cruised once before (different line), and the experience was much better this time around. Embarkation and disembarkation at Bayonne was a breeze. Anthem of the Seas is large enough with so many activities that our concern around so much sea time (6 days total) was misplaced. In fact, we thought the 3 days to "get ready to island hop" and 3 days to "recover" turned out to be a very pleasant part of the trip.

We enjoyed the ship a lot. We found ourselves in the Solarium frequently and at various hours of the day. At peak times during the seas days, the prime lounge chairs in all places are tough to come by. After the first couple days, evenings in the Solarium were almost for ourselves, and we enjoyed multiple trips to the hot tubs where we were all alone.

We saw The Gift, Spectra's Caberet and We Will Rock You, and found each to be of terrific quality, even if they are not the tightest "stories" told (something we read on this site before our trip). Read more