First of all, let me start off by saying Bermuda was fantastic!! Loved every minute of it. We've always enjoyed RC and we love Bermuda so this seemed like a no-brainer. We arrived on the ship and were happily let on at 10:30 AM. We toured the ship a bit. It was very big and pretty but we were not fond of the narrow halls and Royal Esplanade in general. Seemed quite confined. The stores are broken up and weirdly laid out so they are very congested. Oddly, there was nothing in the store that said "Bermuda." It was all "The Caribbean and New England" so forget about getting any souvenirs that mention Bermuda. We found the clothing choices to be kinda gaudy and cheap looking, so I bought nothing until t-shirt day, which by the way the line was so long it took forever for people to even be able to get in and look as they were only along in a small amount of people at a time. But at least they had shirts that said Bermuda. Very little selection for gifts for kids. Usually I can always find stuff. Not this time. The entertainment was good, but the comedian decided to make it political which turned off half the crowd. I'm not on vacation to talk Politics! We will Rock you was canceled due to the weather, which was understandable. The food was very good, but a very limited selection for Gluten Free people, which has never been the case before. There was a nice area for GF food which had some good things, but nothing on the Esplanade deck. So If I wanted a snack it was a hike, or I had to wait a while and get an entire pizza. The Specialty dining was outrageously priced. Some was 75.00 PP. We skipped it. Now for the worst part...The room. It was so hot an stuffy. The air conditioner only went as low as 68 and you could barely feel it. We called maintenance. It was later in the night. After waiting a long time, we gave up and went to bed. They never even contacted us after that. The bed was rock hard. It felt like a cot. The room was NOT cleaned well. The phone had a layer of "gunk" on it, that my boyfriend had to scrape off. And then we found pills. One was a prescribed aspirin, the other, Alprazolam, a Class 4 Narcotic. Thank GOD we didn't have a kid in there because we found it on the floor. The other was on the sink of the bathroom. After that, my boyfriend, a cop, decided to check the room to make sure there were no more. He didn't find any, but the layer of dust and dirt under the chairs was disgusting. On our departure day, he decided to put a small "x" on the tag of the sheets. We went to breakfast. When we came back, the bed was already made. The "x" was on the sheets still, indicating that he never changed them... for the next people. All I can say is WTH?! Again, we've always had good luck with RC and hope this was an isolated incident. But its starting to feel like quality and quantity are going down hill. We have contacted them about the Pill thing. Hoping to hear back. Read Less

This is my 12th RCCL cruise and my 1st on Anthem (quantum class). After a few hiccups when we first got on...toilets were not flushing all over ship and even though we were told two years ago that our wrist bands (that we paid $5 for) were “always” going to be exchanged, we found out that no, they’re not excusing them anymore. They are a nice convenience but not if you have to pay each time you get on a ship. Now for the good, best snd teuly amazing: The food. Simply the best of any ship (this is my 20+ Cruise). The food is just unsurpassed. This ship is different. No formal nights (don’t bother to call RCCL customer service because they know NOTHING!!! They are now called “dress your best.” Which is everything between sport coat and nice trousers for men and cocktail dresses and nice dress pants for women. We did see a tremendous saint if people who dressed up guy if you don’t have to drag special shoes/jacket, etc for two nights then all the better. The cabins are smaller but CERY well organized. USB plugs are in every cabin. The best part for me is that this ship has 12 single cabins so I don’t have to pay for two people when traveling!! One can only hope as they dry-dock ships they introduce more single cabinets (also called studios). They are hard to find in the website so ask your travel agent to look for you. On Anthem, they are category 2F and 2W The entertainment is terrific. So many live music choices. Something fir everyone. In my opinion and observations, this ship is probably intended for colder weather itineraries. They have a pool with a retractable roof. The kids pool area is very small so I would say this isn’t the as good as some other RCCL ships (like Oasis, Allure and Harmony) but I was told that the Tern activities are by far the best on this ship. Getting in was the easiest if sny cruises. No waiting at all. No traditional d Big desks to stand at. If you have a chance, download the app and check on with it. You won’t even have to do a thing when you get to the pier. We took a Lyft from the airport. It was only $17 much better than the cruise line transfer if you have a couple of people. I love the four smaller dining rooms rather than the huge two story on other ships. Much better acoustics and less “chatter.” Read Less

We took the 9-day cruise from Bayonne to Boston, Portland, Bar Harbor, Halifax and Saint John. We were four seniors, as were 95% of our fellow passengers. We are Diamond on RCI. Boarding in Bayonne was quick, once we got through the traffic queue. It seemed to be badly organized and our taxi had to wait in the traffic line-up for over 20 minutes. After that, things improved. Indeed, the actual check-in was very efficient. Cunard could take lessons from Royal Caribbean. Contact time for check-in at Brooklyn six months ago was three times as long. Once on board, we headed up to Windjammer. Big mistake, what a zoo! Never went back. Service throughout the ship was excellent. We thought the food in MDR - American Icon - was much improved over our last cruise on Royal Caribbean. Speciality restaurants were excellent, and Wonderland in particular blew us away. Fantastic! If you are a meat-and-potatoes person, don’t bother, it’s not for you. Captain Srecko Ban is a gem, one of the best. He is very personable and has a great sense of humour. We were dining in Izumi one night when he came past and stopped by for a few words. That is rare and much appreciated. On leaving Bayonne, he headed up river then spun a 180 so we could all get a good look at the Statue of Liberty twice. We got on an elevator one day with two crew. In conversation, they were going through the ship removing chewing gum from the floor. I mean, really?? People, this is disgusting behaviour. That is when we began to think we are on the wrong cruise line. On our last ship, they had twelve bottled beers, all the same, none of them drinkable. This time - finally! - they had a good selection of beers including even Newcastle Brown on tap, Boddington’s and some IPAs. So what did we do all day? Flow Rider? Nope. iFly? Nope. Bumper cars? Nope. Pool? Nope. Rock climbing? Nope. Roller skating? Nope. Bingo? Trivia? Name that tune? Art auction? Nope, nope, nope, nope. Enrichment lectures? You’re joking, right? This is Royal Caribbean. We did have reservations for North Star but never made it. We were either on shore or the thing was shut down due to high winds or maintenance. OK, so we are seniors but the ship must have assumed we are all deaf. If we weren’t when boarding, we are now. The volume level for all performers is ridiculous. Why would a nice piano bar need to amplify a piano? Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman didn’t need mics so why would the big band have mics clipped on to trumpet and trombone? This ship is a monster, far too big. We miss the Viking Crown lounge which smaller ships have topside. Our waiter said that the ship was not full, we were 600 short. Thank goodness for small mercies. You can’t get away from noise. It’s everywhere, including the speciality restaurants. So in Jamie’s Italian, they might have some lovely Italian background music? Fat chance! The only one with no music was Wonderland. There is a reason for that. The door is wide open and just across from Boleros so whatever was blasting away there came straight in. As did all the exhortations for happy shoppers in the centrum from time to time. Departure was a breeze with a border control process that we have never seen before. We picked up our baggage and headed for the exit expecting a long line-up for presentation of passports (we are not American) and an interview by an agent. Not any more. There was a machine that you faced up to, no line-ups, it took your picture and you were on your way. 10 seconds maybe? Did we enjoy the cruise? We certainly did. We will we be back on Royal Caribbean? Unlikely. I think we have moved on. Read Less

Overall, loved this ship! The staff was amazing (compared to that of Adventure of the Seas)! Our room steward, Putu, was so personal and really made us feel at home. The ship was very clean and fairly classy looking. The bionic bar broke down a couple times, but staff was on top of it and got it fixed as quickly as possible. I enjoyed all 3 main shows, though, We Will Rock You could have been better (it was a little weird). Spectre's Cabaret was my absolute favorite! It was so much fun...almost like one big dance party! Loved Two70. It was nice to go in during the vistarama and just enjoy the atmosphere. Only two complaints: 1)the guest services staff could've been more accommodating...they seemed very put off by any passenger that had and issue 2)the port of Halifax was a waste of time, in my honest opinion...pretty dirty place and not much to do there. Read Less

Overall this cruise was all we expected and more. However, the onboard activities lacked planning. The overall age of the guests was around 62+ and the average evening temps were below 65. That said, why would you show children's movies outside after 9:00? We just didn't understand that. While on Caribean vacations in warmer climates this would be acceptable. I think there need to be some adjustments made for a destination, climate and age of guests. We have been on this ship the last 3 years and think it's time the shows change. How many times can you see "We will rock you" and "The Gift"? We enjoyed Steve White and the other nightly entertainment and wish they would go back to this type of format. We are not big drinkers so there really isn't a lot to do at night that is not centered around bar activities. We did enjoy karaoke but were shocked to find they didn't have any songs by Garth Brooks!? One of the top-selling artists in the world?! We have booked a cruise next year on The Oasis of the Seas and hope it has better nightly and daytime activities. We will see how things go on next years cruise before we decide to book anymore with Royal. It may be time to try another line. We do, however, enjoy leaving out of Baltimore and New York. Read Less

We went on this cruise to go to Bermuda. To start our cabin was 9692 right across from the service elevators. There was noise and the cleaning cart outside our door everyday! We booked our room through RC and was told by the travel agent was a great room! We tried to change rooms but were told they were sold out. The food was not good! So disappointed in the windjammer for breakfast. We tried all the other restaurants for breakfast and they were all mediocre. The entertainment was not what we had hoped for. Most of the shows we have seen on other RC ships have been fantastic. The best show was the comedian Kiwi Rogers! The “Gift” was an odd show and hard to follow. The only thing that was good were the special effects. Spectra’s Cabaret was way out there! Left the show after 15 minutes into it. The show “We Will Rock You” started out with a modern twist. It was long, one hour and 50 minutes. Too long in my opinion. It was good in the end with all the great songs from “Queen”! The last show we saw was “Revoiced”. This was good but too long too! The shows were geared more for an age group of 20’s to 40’s. The age range on this trip was 50’s to 70’s. The ship seemed crowded even though it is a smaller ship then Allure. The Allure ship didn’t seem crowded and the food was much better! Read Less

Day of Cruise Philly to Port Liberty Left home at about 7:45 AM and headed up the NJ turnpike to I-95 N towards NY. Following the car's GPS, got off at the Bayonne exit. After a short drive with just a few turns, arrived at the terminal at around 10 AM. After dropping off our one large bag, parked inside the main parking garage right next to the terminal. It was just a very short walk to the terminal with our two wheeled carry on bags. Check in was the easiest of all cruises we've ever taken! Check in, from start to finish, took only about 15 minutes. Since it was still rather early, we sat in chairs till it was announced we could board. Boarding started at about 10:45. Everything was so organized! One row of seats was called at a time. Therefore, there was no pushing, shoving, or bumping into others. Naturally, everyone made a bee line towards the Windjammer for a bite to eat so the elevators were rather crowded. That’s just the nature of Day 1. Muster drill was at 3:30 and just as soon as it ended, the lines were cast off and away we went. I have to mention that the skyline of NYC was awesome and seeing the Statue of Liberty was breathtaking. It was way cool passing under the VN Bridge! Lots of applause after we “barely” made it safely through. My wife and I started to explore the ship but it was set up a lot differently than every other Royal ship we've sailed on. The Allure was like that when we first sailed her but we got to be good friends after a few days. As time goes on, we will have seen a great deal of what this ship offers but by then, it will be time to end our vacation. Dinner on Day 1 was at Chops. What else is there to say except that the food was simply the best. Tomorrow night's dinner will be at Jaimie's Italian and we're really looking forward to that. Day 2- sea day After breakfast, hung out at the Solarium for most of the day. It's such a restful and beautiful place. We explored more of the ship and what we saw was amazing. Bumper cars at sea? Who would have thought? Although we didn’t go on them, it was fun watching everyone else really enjoying themselves! Dinner was at Jaimie's Italian. Could it top Chops? A very tough comparison, but they were both really great! We had a meat AND a veggie plank for starters and they were delicious. Our main dishes were crab fettuccini and another equally yummy pasta dish but the name escapes me. The lemon meringue cheesecake, for dessert, was out of this world. Day 3: Arrival at Bermuda. After breakfast, left the ship and grabbed a shuttle to Horseshoe Bay. It was only $7 per person which I thought was very reasonable. It was a very scenic drive of about 25 minutes from the pier. Upon entering the beach area, we took a right turn and stayed at the rock protected area where the water was like glass and only about waist high. Although slathered with sunscreen, the sun, in a cloudless sky, was extremely hot. After about an hour, we decided to leave before being burnt to a crisp. Our shuttle driver said the water temp was 83 degrees which sort of felt like being in a hot tub Tues. Day 4: Bermuda Spent most of the morning exploring the Royal Naval Dockyard. In particular, we concentrated on The Keep, a place steeped in so much of Bermuda's history. The Commissioner's House offered probably the best view of the port. There were old cannons pointing directly at the Anthem which was kind of scary even though they were inoperative. After that, off to the Dolphin Quest. Although we didn't participate, it was awesome to watch these magnificent animals perform for, and with the tourists. The hot sun had been beating down on us for a few hours now and was beginning to take its toll. Naturally, I forgot to put on sun block and didn't think to wear my baseball cap. Before we burnt to a crisp, we headed back towards the ship before noon. First, we stopped at a little pub for some ice cold beer (me) and bottled water for my wife. The A/C on the ship was very welcomed! Tuesday's dinner was probably the best of any cruise we've ever taken! It was prime rib and lobster night! First of all our six tablemates were the greatest and funniest people we've ever sat with! Nothing but jokes, laughs, and good conservation all night. But the best part was that after we began eating our entree, our server brought out a huge plate with three extra lobster tails per person! To say we were in heaven would be an understatement! It's tough to decide which was better- the specialty dining at Chops and Jaimie's or the MDR with the prime rib/ lobster combo. Day 5: Wed. Sea day Calm seas and smooth sailing on the way back to Bayonne. A bittersweet day knowing all this is coming to an end. We had breakfast at the Solarium and have decided that it's much better than fighting the lines at the Windjammer. At about 9:14, the captain came on the PA system and announced if we would all observe a moment of silence to commemorate the 18th anniversary of 9/11. You could hear a pin drop during the minute everyone thought back to that tragic day on a beautiful September morning. When the captain came back on the PA to thank everyone for their cooperation, there was still silence and people were still quiet as they reflected on the darkest day in our history. A very poignant moment aboard the Anthem. Back to our cabin where we saw those dreaded green luggage tags for Thursday’s debarkation. The reality that a great cruise was about to come to an end. We sat at a table for eight with some really great people! I remarked that Royal threw “all the bad apples in the same barrel!” Every night, we laughed so hard while sharing all kinds of stories. On Tuesday night, prime rib and lobster tails were on the menu. We all got the surf and turf. Our waiter, without being asked, brought out a huge plate with three extra lobster tails for each person! To say we left stuffed would be an understatement! All of us had so much fun that we were always the last to leave the 5:30 PM seating. Day 6: Debarkation. We opted for self-carry off since we were parked at the garage next to the terminal. So, at about 8:00 AM, we sadly walked down the gangway to the customs area. There wasn’t much of a line at customs, but we used a porter to save a little time. Customs was such a breeze! They used facial recognition which took all of .001 seconds and we were out of the terminal! I didn’t notice if there were agents or the facial recognition for those waiting in line, but it was sure a pleasant ending for a fantastic cruise. Final Thoughts and Observations: Port Liberty has things down to a science. It was the easiest and fastest boarding process I’ve ever had in my 16 cruises. Everyone who works there deserves a round of applause! All the other ports should use Bayonne’s model. Leaving the ship was just as easy with no stress at all. Most of the people I encountered were from PA (like us), NJ, NY, and other nearby states. Everyone, without exception, was fun, pleasant, helpful, and mannerly. For instance, people held the elevator doors for others, always had a “good morning” or “how are you?” for their fellow cruisers, and on and on. The September 7th sailing of the Anthem wasn’t just a good cruise. It was a GREAT cruise! Can’t wait to leave from Bayonne again! Read Less

Lets start with the false advertising...We booked this boat because of how amazing this boat looks on the RC website. Too bad it’s all fake! There’s NO H2O water park, there’s only half the restaurants they claim, no outdoor sports courts, no self leveling pool tables, no children’s playgrounds as displayed, only a couple of the shows they claim...it’s basically like they took all the best pictures of their entire fleet and all the best everything and pretend it’s on every boat. Things like the kilbasa, sausage restaurant literally being a tiny HOT DOG food truck in the corner of the arena. The bionic bar was just an afterthought, “slap a couple robots in the middle of a hallway with chairs”...The opposite of what the pictures show. 4 year olds CANT DO ANYTHING despite being 42 inches tall, must be 5 and up. How has no one sued them yet??? We requested twin beds. Only to arrive with a king and couldn’t be separated. No gifts for anniversary and birthdays. Don’t bother telling them your celebrating. WARNING!!!!! - They canceled the royal IQ app last month (yet still advertise it) so if you’ve already booked with family thinking you can text each other, FORGET IT. Seems like a game to make you buy internet. They cancel shows and move shows around just like everyone sais...we had 2 shows booked. One was canceled and one was moved forward which we missed because they didn’t announce it. My 4 year old was in tears because we booked the final showing and they canceled it. Soda machines out, no ice, no waiter getting you drinks during buffet meals, ice cream machine broke, HORRIBLE. If you’re an experienced cruiser, prepare for dissapointment. Awful awful ship. Very misleading and everything’s broken. Read Less

Best part: the shows, the food, Flowrider and Ifly, 99% friendly crew, the sunsets Worst part: lack of outdoor view points, glass in your view, practically no promenade deck, a LOT of walking, zero forward facing outdoor view except about half the time the wings over the bridge were open. Background: A dad in his 60’s traveling with adult daughter, ≈ 20 past cruises mostly on HAL and Princess, some RC and Disney. No hotel used but did use a bus (Yankee Trails) from Albany NY to the port. That is a nice service and makes the drive into the metro NY area much less daunting. Costs about the same as it would cost to park at the pier. Embarkation: went surprisingly well, we arrived about 11:30 and were processed pretty fast. They did use the ID photos we had uploaded per the RC website previously. Our room was available a bit after the promised 1:30, and our bags were visible in the hall so I went and got them. Room: Inside, was fine, probably the best bathroom and shower I’ve seen on a cruise so far. Very quiet, heavy door with weatherstripping muffled hallway noises well. The digital and accurate thermostat worked well but was slow to change. Always minimal outlets in rooms, and port security took my small extension cord and multi-outlet so plugging in my gadgets and CPAP was an issue, but solved. Nice TV, swings out from the wall, and the “virtual balcony” was something new I liked. It’s a large flat screen tv that runs a real time view out the stern. The image is a bit washed out most of the time due to being at a suboptimal viewing angle, but it was still a quick way to see the outside weather, seas, if sunny or cloudy, etc. At first we thought storage space was low but then realized the big wall cabinet over the head of the beds opened up, you could hide bodies in there. Food: excellent, mostly ate in the main dining rooms(s), had mytime dining but didn’t ever wait long as we generally went 8:30 ish, and got a small table for 2 (our preference). I’ve read some complaints about the tables being close together, but I thought it was just about right to either interact with your neighbor table(s) or not. Made some British friends at an adjoining table that way this cruise. Don’t miss the keylime pie. The cheesecake really good and big, we split it. My daughter liked the French onion soup, every night! Service was fast, most dinners took less than an hour. Again, I was surprised how well the dining room ran considering the number of guests. We also ate at all the other complementary venues with no complaint. I do recommend on embarkation to go to 270 or Solarium or even the hot dog place that first lunch. Formal night is gone, fine with me. They do have two “dress your best” nights, so you can dress up and have photos, etc if you want, and some did. But I don’t think you will get turned away at the dining rooms for jeans, shorts might even be ok. I wore dress pants and shirt only and was glad to leave the suit, jacket, at home. Entertainment: this is where I had high expectations, given the number of passengers, and thought the shows were really good! “The Gift” is different, but serves fine as a vehicle to do a jukebox musical with a bunch of familiar tunes. Spectra’s Cabaret excellent, and “We Will Rock You” was excellent. The comedians, ship’s bands, all very good. We did the Flowrider several times (most anyone can do the belly board, the standup was more of a challenge), and we did the Ifly! Both really fun and the staff very helpful and fun too. Practically got private lessons on the Flowrider when it wasn’t busy. Didn’t rock climb, the Northstar looks more impressive than the experience, like a glass elevator to me, the bumper cars were fun for a time or two, as was the Bionic Bar. Crew: all were friendly and helpful save for one photographer and one person at the counter in the Ifly area, but still 99% great. Excursions: did on our own each port. I did expect a hassle at Bar Harbor, due to being a tender port, and again was surprised how well it was handled, although I think we avoided peak times. The ship: The majority of time did not feel crowded. The Music Hall was always standing room. We had no problem getting in the production shows, and there were empty seats. May have been the older crowd that does the Canada/New England itinerary? Any negatives? Well some, but no deal breakers. The ship was the biggest one I have ever seen! I actually got a blister from walking. I think I prefer smaller ships, but a smaller ship won’t have as much to offer. I think for a person that won’t use all this ship offers, a smaller ship would be more enjoyable. I can live without bumper cars, rock climbing, and Northstars for instance, but did like the big shows and the Ifly and flowrider. The much touted Royal Caribbean app would not even download to my phone as it is a few years old and deemed incompatible. But we did fine without the app the old fashioned way (booked activities online before cruise, called for reservations on that weird old thing in the room by the bed that looks like a huge wired cell phone sort of…). I REALLY didn’t want to carry my phone around anyway, so no app was no biggy. I did have a complaint when the ship departed the Bayonne pier and we were still in our safety briefing. I very much wanted to see the departure out of busy NY harbor and pretty much missed it. By the time we got topside (huge elevator wait as everyone wanted up and it was 11 floors up) we had already passed under the bridge! I was not happy. There’s no reason to hurry out of port (ahead of the published schedule by the way) when the next day is a sea day and the ship really crawls from port to port on those sea days. BUT, all was forgiven when, due to weather, we returned to NY harbor Friday evening rather than Saturday morning and the ship cruised slowly up the Hudson and let us see the NY skyline at night, it was great. Nice slow pass by the Statue of Liberty too. I don’t think this ship configuration allows easy access to outdoor views. The wings over the bridge were often locked up for no apparent reason, I even went and got an officer once and he walked back with me and tried the doors and shrugged and left. There is no place outdoors where you can see forward and to both sides at the same time. The wings over the bridge don’t even allow that. If you are up on 15 you won’t be able to see forward, and if you want to cross to the other side it’s a bit of a path, and you only see out the back from the very back. Actually, the stern has better outside views than most anywhere, either on 15, the flowrider stands, and the rather small dining porch at the rear of Windjammer market place (lido buffet for all practical purposes but they don’t call it that) on deck 14, but it was often roped off. I ignored the ropes more than once and nobody seemed to care. I would not take this style ship to Alaska for instance, too difficult to view all angles from outside, and even when you are topside on deck 15, there is glass everywhere. A trade off, it blocks the wind, but you have to look through and take pictures through the gaps in the glass for the best view. When we slowly cruised by NY at night, folks were getting a bit pushy trying to get to the few gaps in the glass to take pictures. The solarium has nice views, but is warm and humid and noisy and not photography friendly taking pics through glass. Café 270 has a great rear facing view, but the only rear outside deck is the small, often roped off, dining area on deck 14 behind Windjammer. So I give it 5 stars, but yet it’s a toss up with me rather I liked this ship more than others. The size offers more options to keep you busy, better shows, but the outside viewpoints frustrated me and the thing is just huge to get around. But they did handle the large number of people better than I expected and we did have a lot of fun, and that's the main thing. For an older couple, I’d go smaller. But if you have all ages, young adults on down, in your party, then they are going to like this ship. When my grandkids get a bit older, this would be a good choice. But if my party is older, I’ll go smaller. I’ll try to add pictures but if not successful then check the boards I’ll put something there. Read Less

We have cruised a lot, like 24 times, with different lines, but the majority with Disney usually on the Magic. We do long cruises, so nine days was quite short for us. It didn't start well, as once booked I contacted RCL to see if they had my Crown and Anchor number, as I couldn't find the details. Although it was back in 2000, they had no record of us cruising with them. I sent them a photo of my old dated Compass copies, they couldn't accept these. I gave up, they did however have our Celebrity cruises listed! We stayed four nights in New York before the cruise. When we got on board, I found our drinks package wasn't showing. I went to guest services, waiting for 20 minutes and was told it wasn't there. I had purchased it, because it had gone up $40 within a few days on the website and I was worried it would go up again. At the time when it went up over night, I thought this was a bit unfair. Even more unfair was that the transaction hadn't gone through and once the cruise date comes, the information on your web log in, is wiped! We had to purchase the package on board, which cost us even more - an extra $12 per day per person! So now, I'm thinking this all seems a bit 'nickle and diming' and it doesn't feel a good way to start a cruise. The cabin was great, a standard balcony room. Very clean, good air con. However the cabin stewardess told us off for leaving the door open at night, we love the sound of the waves, 'as the flies come in'!! The ship is large, but inside doesn't appear as large as some of the other ships we have been on. However, the spaces are all a bit strange for their uses. The visibility in the theatre was rubbish from upstairs with perspex screens and bars in the way, even in the front row balcony you had to lean forward. The schooner bar was what should have been a lovely piano lounge had people walking through and lifts at the end. It also seemed to have lots of quizzes, which kind of spoiled the ambiance a little. The Music Hall was enormous and always empty. The bands that played were good, but it was dark and not somewhere I wanted to hang out in. The pub was just basic, no comfort, very plain, very small, nothing like a real pub although the service and attention we had here was the best on the whole ship. It was extremely uncomfortable and basic. There was Solero lounge, which was more of what we like, but always had a dance band in, with people doing ballroom and we felt that was the crowd that was in there,the music was always the same, a sort of swing waltzy type of music. The large area at the back, wasn't really a lounge bar, more of an area to eat from the sandwich shop, or to see the show on the big screen. Again, not somewhere to really sit and be comfortable, the seats are hard leather and the layout to get through to one area to another isn't easy. I felt a bit like I was in a maze! We had My TIme dining, which we tried to book a time for. However, we ended up having to queue for 15 minutes or more each night, it was bedlam! We were in Silk, which was again, dark and very cheaply decorated. The tables were so close and cramped we could hear every word our neighbours said. The service was shocking, cold food, water not refilled and waiting for wine to come, we were on mains, before it turned up. We ate in Silk twice and then ate up in the buffet after that. We love leisurely meals in lovely surroundings on our cruises, but the buffet was quieter and a much nicer environment to sit in. If you ever told me I wouldn't eat in a dining room on a cruise, I would not have believed it! We had breakfast in Silk, once, the experience was so awful, we didn't again. We ate at Chops, which was okay, although my sea bass was over cooked. The service was a little better. We ate at Wonderland, which was fun, but the service was poor. We had to ask each time for water to be refilled and waiting for wine. In fact my other half nearly went off to the bar to get it himself. The shows were okay. We will Rock You is great. The Gift has great costumes, staging and design, but was a little hard to follow the story - just a bit weird. Spectra was not at all impressive. The comedian was good, if a little 'near the mark', but that was it! Nine nights and we found ourselves wandering around, not knowing where to go, we don't do Bingo, we don't do quizzes, we don't do ballroom, so we went back to the cabin a lot of the time. It needs a nice quiet relaxing, comfortable piano bar, something a little more classy than a pub or music hall. The bionic bar was good and do the best cocktails ever, because the quantities are standard. Sadly the bar staff all make cocktails differently, thinking they are doing you a favour by putting an extra slug in for you, but it upsets the balance. I don't think one Sangria we had was the same as another. Other half drinks brown beer, but the only one they had was Newcastle Brown, which is the UK is a pretty cheap beer. The stuff that winos on the street drink, or 'lads on the lash'. This was only available in the pub, so wherever we were, he had to go and get one himself.. A few times we were up in the North Star bar, but he had to go down and get a beer. None of the staff offered to go for him, when he asked for it, which is unheard of on most ships. There were some good activities Ifly, Surfing and climbing. Dodgems had a huge queue and you only got about five minutes. Our teen said the kids clubs were disappointing and very plain and unexciting, with only a few X boxes, but she enjoyed going. The language of some of the children around the ship was shocking. I don't expect to hear the F word used as a matter of course and perhaps the counselors could have reiterated a code of conduct. My daughter said it was the same in the club! We only did one excursion, which was to Peggy's Cove and Hop on Hop off bus. However, once you get back from Peggy's Cove, there isn't really time to do the bus, so was a bit of a waste really. The excursions are certainly cheaper than those on other ships we have been on, although the guy selling them had no idea what they encompassed and told us that the bus went to the Titantic Cemetery too, which was next to the museum. I didn't think this was the case, as the museum was by the ship, but he insisted we could do the cemetery and museum - we couldn't! Getting on and getting off was fantastic, a well oiled machine and the best on any ship we have been on. The food was good in the buffet and probably some of the best we have seen, the layout in there was excellent. Othe rhalf wasn't happy seeing people go into dinner in the restaurant in skimpy shorts and vest tops, there should be a standard for dinner at least. Would we cruise RCL again? Probably not. It was very disappointing. As new cruisers after a long break to RCL it was their chance to 'get us in', they failed. As my grandmother would say, it was all 'fur coat and no knickers' Read Less

We flew into Newark 2 days prior to departure and stayed in New York City both nights. The morning of the cruise, we took an Uber XL (lots of luggage) from Manhattan to the port around 11:00 am arriving about 12:15 pm. Delayed about 30 minutes with backup at port. We had 4 in our group and paid $125 with tip. Once we dropped bags off with the porter, we were inside in just a few minutes. Cabins were not available until 1:30 pm (Doors were actually closed not allowing access to cabin hallways. Things seemed a bit overwhelming for the cabin steward in our section the first day to the extent we gathered up our own luggage from the hallway in a different section of the boat. Overall the steward in our area wasn’t around much or “Happy Happy” like we are used to. One day he totally missed cleaning our travel companions’ cabin and we were without wash cloths and bath mat a day. We wondered if he had more cabins to take care of than he could handle. We carried on a 6 pack of coke and a dozen small waters with no problem. Also bought 2 bottles of wine (each couple) while in NY and carried those on. If you pack wine separately in a couple of carry-on bags, I think 4 would be easy to bring on. The wines were taken to the Main Dining Room and we were NOT charged a corkage fee nor were our travel partners charged. The Dining Room saved our wine for the next day’s dinner like other ships. We had an inside cabin on deck 9 cabin 9139. We hadn’t had an inside cabin for a long time and wanted to see if we were satisfied as the cost is well below the balcony. The inside cabins on the Anthem are different than most ships; there is an interior hallway between the balcony cabins with inside cabins either side. The cabin was very tight along the bed and walls, maybe 12” or less clearance. On one side you have to step around the dresser making it very tight. The virtual portal screen is ok but more of a gimmick than a clear view however it was nice to see if you were docked at port without looking it up on the TV. The cabin had plenty of storage (always need more hangers) and the bathroom with a curved shower door was fine. The phone was on night stand on the tight side of the bed making answering it a chore. There are 2 outlets and 2 USB ports at the desk and an outlet at each nightstand light. There is only one chair to sit (no sofa) and one small desk chair thus one of us had to always be on the bed. The TV is on a side wall and you can only watch from one side of the bed and at that you are at an angle. Found out on day 8 that the TV swung out on one side some which made it a little better. Layout of room isn’t optimal. If you use a walker or a CPAP machine or need a large night stand this room will not work for you. We purchased the BOGO dining package and ate at Jamie Oliver’s on Day 1. Had a good dinner with everyone ordering the lamb which was excellent. We had a number of appetizers (the meat board was to die for) and some pasta side dishes. Had dinner at Chops as our 2nd BOGO dinner. Food was very good and service was good, but maybe a little slow. We spent a little over 2 hours and were close time wise getting to show. Most at our table had bone-in ribeye which was tasty, several around us had filets and said they were good as well. Would not recommend the salmon. Sides were good and portions were reasonable. As appetizers we had crab cake and shrimp cocktail both of which were tasty. For dessert recommend the key lime pie or red velvet cake. As a bit of a negative my wife and I both had cramps during the night. We paid $50.00 each for the BOGO dinners and felt it was a great price, for us paying full price would have felt like too big of an up charge. The only drawback was your dinners had to be on Day 1 and Day 2 – no exceptions. The main dining room menu was a bit limited, but food was well cooked and tasty for the most part. Not many long lines at our times which was mostly at 7:15. We ate breakfast at the main dining room most days where you have a lot of buffet items plus menu service. We ate breakfast and lunch at Two70 and the Solarium Café. Both were ok with limited menu. Pizza at Sorrento's was good and the hotdogs at the Sportsplex were tasty. Would not recommend Two70 for breakfast unless you want a bagel not toasted and very limited toppings. On the “At Sea” days we mainly spent out time in the Solarium which was an adult only area with pool, hot tubs, café, tables and chairs all enclosed behind glass. Since it was cooler weather when we went it was nice being in there but I would imagine it gets pretty hot on a hot summer day. My wife and her cousin used one of the Solarium area tables to play Mah Jongg. There seemed to be a good number of people playing card games, etc. Actually, they could use more tables for this activity. We got a Scrabble game from Guest Services one day to play at an “at sea” day. If the Library doesn’t have any games left to use, you can get more from Guest Services. The entertainment on the ship was in my opinion “fair”. Some nights there just wasn’t anything to do except an activity in the Music Hall which didn’t have enough seats for very many passengers. We really enjoyed “We Will Rock You” – it is a must see. The show The Gift was just hard to understand but the singing was good. Everyone seemed to be confused about this production. The Spectrum Show at Two70 was very high energy and interesting. Those were the three shows you had to make reservations. They had a couple of comedians that were pretty good The old dress codes have been changed on the Anthem. “Formal” nights are now ”dress your best” which equates to smart casual. The rest of the nights everything from blue jeans up is acceptable. They say no shorts, but we saw many diners in shorts. It would be nice if the Anthem let you know this ahead of time as their itinerary still shows “Formal” night. We knew someone that was on the ship the week prior and she clued us in on this. Some people still dress up formally but most not. Nice not having to pack a sports coat. We noticed that “Star” guests are given preferential treatment on the ship with reserved seats in the theatre, special time for the North Star Ride, etc. I don’t know how much of an up charge they pay, but in the old days it was first come first serve basis. There were plenty of chairs on the open decks, not exactly at the pool but close enough. Our early September cruise had cooler weather and we had an older population on the ship so the pools were not overly crowded. The ship has lots of things to do at the Sportsplex on Deck 15 with bumper cars, roller skating, ping pong, X-box, basketball, rock wall and Rip Cord I-Fly. On the other end of the ship is the North Star which is a glass enclosed viewing boom. It seems that 10-16 year olds or so could have a good time on the deck 15 area, our cruise had very few young adults. All these activities are at no additional cost. Reservations are required for the I-Fly and the North Star. The two ladies in our group did the Rip Cord I-Fly that last day of the cruise. They really enjoyed it and the instructor is inside to make sure you are safe. In Boston and Portland ports we had friends who showed us around. We did rent a car at Portland from Enterprise who picked us up at the pier just like their ad stated and returned us to the port after we returned the car. Walked the Freedom Trail in Boston as well as other area and drove to Kennebunkport (45 minutes) when we were at Portland. In Bar Harbor we did a 2 1/2 hour tour of Arcadia Park with Olies Trolleys. This was a great tour with our driver (Dennis) who gave a lot of historical information. Afterward we had a lobster roll at Side Street Cafe, was good but pricey at $30.00 for the lobster roll and a cup of chowder. In St. John, NB we rented an Avis car and drove to St. Andrews for the Jolly Breeze whale watching Tall Ship 3.5 hour tour. Avis was a 2 minute walk from the ship followed by a 1 hour drive to St. Andrews. The rental car was $55 US and the Jolly Breeze about $55 US. We had a good trip on the tall ship and did see 3 or 4 different whales along with porpoises, bald eagles and other wild life. The crew was very informative and worked hard throughout the cruise. The ride on the boat was very smooth and comfortable. The downside was we lost an hour due to time change and then had to be up early to get rental car and drive to St. Andrews, so we were from 8:00 am till about 3:30 pm to catch 8 or 10 glimpses of whales. Whales were not breaching. At Halifax, NS we did a tour with Aberdeen Charter Tours that included a tour of Halifax and Peggy’s Cove. The tour guide, Jonathan, did a wonderful job. The tour lasted almost 5 hours and was very interesting. Cost was $55.00 Canadian about $42.00 US plus tip. Departure was reasonably easy, we had luggage tag in the last group and were called at 9:15 am. Getting luggage was easy and we were outside by about 9:30. No Uber XL available, so we got a Lyft XL ride by 9:55 am and were at Newark airport by 10:15 am. Cost was $38.00 including tip. We don’t know if the area outside the terminal would have been more hectic if we had disembarked earlier or not. But when we got outside it was crowded but not overly congested and easy to spot your Lyft/Uber driver. 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We had an amazing time on the Anthem! My husband and I (mid-late-30's), our three daughters (13-11-6), and my parents traveled in three staterooms (two balconies and one interior virtual balcony for the older two children). The activities offered on the ship and ports on this sailing truly made for a perfect cruise vacation! Embarkation in Bayonne was quick and simple. We drove in from the Philly suburbs the morning of the cruise, parked our car in the garage at 10:30am, and were onboard by 11. There were lots of people waiting in the terminal, though, so I can only assume they did not do the online check in. With online check-in, there was absolutely no waiting, so that is a must! Once onboard, we were told that our rooms and key cards would be ready by 1pm and that until then, we could use our set sail pass that we'd printed at home to utilize our deluxe beverage package. We headed to Two70 for drinks and lunch while we waited. It was a pleasant, scenic place to hang out and get into vacation mode! Cabins and luggage were all ready in a timely fashion, so we unpacked and headed to the required muster drill before dinner. We had the early seating in the Grande dining room, which was beautiful (though we miss the enormous 3-story dining rooms of older ships). Our servers (Sachin & Carmi) were top notch and the food was generally very good! With our large group, we opted to dine in the main dining room every night rather than spend hundreds more trying the specialty restaurants. The Anthem is beautifully decorated and impeccably clean. There are So. Many. Activities. onboard for kids and adventurous adults to enjoy: iFly, Flowrider, NorthStar, bumper cars, and the trapeze were all fantastic. (Our tall six year old was too short for Flowrider, even though she has done it before on land, so be sure to check out the height requirements beforehand to avoid disappointment.) One small complaint I have about the ship is that there is not nearly enough space on the pool deck and there is only one very small outdoor pool. There is an indoor pool with a retractable glass roof that was never opened despite 8 out of 9 days of beautiful weather. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the Schooner Bar for piano entertainment (the lavender daiquiri was my favorite there!) in the evening, while our older two girls enjoyed the Living Room for teens (Note: it's 12 and up but 11 year olds can hang out there as long as their parents signs off), and our 6 year old was absolutely obsessed with the Adventure Ocean 6-8 year olds club. We loved being able to have a nice evening out while the children were happy and entertained and making friends! We did miss having a Viking Crown Lounge on this ship, which is usually our go-to place for quiet drinks and views. Of the 4 ports of call on this cruise, we had only been to Bermuda previously. We did the Horseshoe Bay Beach transport through Royal Caribbean, and although we arrived early, the beach was FAR more crowded than it was 13 years ago during our last visit. If you walk allllllll the way down to the left past the rocks, it is less crowded but still pretty packed with daredevils jumping off the rocky cliffs and Instagrammers trying to get the perfect shot. Absolutely beautiful, just more crowded than I like. At the next port, Sint Maarten, we did Royal Caribbean's Maho Beach excursion because we really wanted to see the planes taking off from Princess Juliana airport. After getting off the ship, we waited in line for a very long time waiting to get onto a bus to take us to the beach; I didn't love all the waiting so I would probably look into a private tour the next time. Once we arrived, though, we easily found a table at the little outdoor bar/restaurant there, ordered a few CHEAP buckets of Coronas (I think it was $20 for six) and some reasonably priced food, and enjoyed watching the planes land and take off (as well as tourists get blown down the beach). We ventured down into the water to get the full sand-blown experience, which was great! (Be warned that there are pretty aggressive hair-braiding vendors, little to no sand to relax on, lots of litter on the rocks unfortunately, & the sand really does hurt when a big plane takes off). Still, fun for big kids and plane enthusiasts! We had no planned excursions for San Juan, except that we wanted to check out Barrachina, the bar/restaurant that created the pina colada. Old San Juan is a beautiful, charming place for a stroll, and the Barrachina pina coladas (available with or without rum) and the Plaza de las Palomas (a little square with a colonial gate and hundreds of pigeons, plus a guy with pigeon feed and Purell, yay!) were highlights. Our final stop, Labadee, was heaven for us. I HIGHLY recommend booking an over-the-water cabana on Nellie's Beach for the day. Yeah, it's pricey, but having a private area to store your stuff, someone to bring you drinks, and towels & water waiting for you is invaluable if you hate crowds like I do. Maybe not for a couple, but for a group of 7 it's totally worth it. Our cabana, #3, shared access with just one other cabana to a rocky outcropping with a ladder that led right into 6-7ft deep water. Since all three of our girls are swimmers, it was awesome for them to be able to jump in or float on the included floating mats away from the throngs. We also did the Arawak Water Park for an hour, which was too long for me but very fun for the kids! Disembarkation back in Bayonne was as quick and efficient as embarkation. Our number was called early (despite an insane number of self-depart guests queueing up with all their luggage in tow) and we were back in our car within 20 minutes. Unfortunately, breakfast options and crew members were few and far between that last morning. Overall, it was a wonderful cruise! Port days and sea days were equally enjoyable and there was definitely something for everyone. Service was awesome all around and the ship was spotless. Highly recommended! (Sad to see her go in April!) Read Less

Cabin #10134 - deck 10 balcony room (just for reference). This is our 3rd trip on Anthem in 7 years. The good on the ship: Waiter in the English Pub was AWESOME! Big happy personality. Nearly all of the staff was very good aboard Anthem. Entertainment (with the exclusion of Spectra) was great. We Will Rock You is a must see. Most of the staff in the shops were very helpful and polite. Bathrooms were always kept clean, food plentiful and mostly good. Loved watching movies on the big outdoor screen... made for relaxing nights by the pool. What needs work on the ship: Went on Anthem 2 years ago - and the same stationary bikes in the gym are either broke or power down by themselves! The gym needs a bit of work in general. Classes are nice but my husband and I like the machines and weights - they have to maintain their equipment better. The Windjammer restaurant - food was good most of the time but by day 5 I was eating cereal for breakfast because the eggs were just awful - food became repetitive. Lastly - clean the balconies and refrigerator in the staterooms before the next guest. Nothing worse than spoiled fruit smell in the fridge. What was bad - attendance in one of the gift shops gave us rude customer service when we wanted to purchase about $80 worth of t-shirts and put it on a credit card rather than seapass. Made us use our seapass because it would be too much trouble to call her manager. Ports: Puerto Rico was wonderful. People, weather, food... just wonderful. Can't wait to return. St. Maarten was very nice just hot as heck. Labadee Haiti - ehh... didn't care for it either of us. Bermuda was nice but would NOT recommend going to the zoo. The alligator was kept in poor condition and plan on reporting the zoo. All in all the cruise was nice - I would recommend.... Don't go to the Zoo for the Bermuda excursion Go to the Frog and the Onion for lunch in Bermuda Tour Old and New San Juan in Puerto Rico - Enrique bus #15 was absolutely lovely! Visit Chesterfields for Lunch in St. Maarten Get a balcony room Read Less

We have sailed on Carnival several times, but were ready to take a chance on a ship that left out of New Jersey where we live. The fact that we did not have to book flights and hotels was awesome. We were a group of 49 family and friends. Embarkation was very smooth. We were on the ship in less than half an hour even given the fact that I neglected to print my son's boarding pass. We arrived at the port around 11am. My first impression is that it was a beautiful ship. The decor was nice. But it is HUGE! I was so overwhelmed on that first day. Having always sailed Carnival, you get to know the ship layouts as they are all pretty much the same. This was a whole different ball game, and that was all part of the fun. As noted in previous reviews, there are over 4000 passengers so a little crowding is to be expected. We first experienced this once we got on board and headed to Windjammer and had to wait in a long line to "washy washy." But that was the only time we ever really experienced that wait in Windjammer. Some people were frustrated having to wash your hands each time you entered, but with so many people, anything that can help to keep germs at bay is welcomed. The ship had tons of activities. I just think the schedule was badly put together. Who wants to wake up at 8am to join a line for roller skating or bumper cars? And these activities were not offered long enough. An hour or two is just not enough for the amount of passengers. Between my hubby, myself and three kids we able to do iFly, NorthStar, rock climbing, rollerskating, dodgeball, soccer, bumper cars and the escape room. Some we were able to book in advance which was great. SeaPlex is a great place for the kids. I gotta give RC credit for the amount of activities. Definitely a plus. Evenings were a little boring. Karaoke was only for an hour and finished at 8pm. Karaoke is always a hit so why they don't extend the time, I'll never understand. Pools and hot tubs were open late which was definitely great because they were always crowded during the day. I like that RC had life guards on duty. Never seen that on Carnival. We saw Specte's Cabaret and The Gift. Both featured some amazing singers and dancers, but The Gift was just weird and we spent most of the show asking each other what the hell was going on. The story line was not easy to follow. Two70 was an amazing space with great views during the day and awesome use of technology at night. The robot screens were just amazing. I only saw one comedian and he was great during both the adult and the family shows. The juggler guy was ok, but he needs to incorporate more into his act. The cruise director was so boring. You never saw him out and about on the ship talking to passengers or anything like that. Maybe that's just the RC way. The food was ok. Regular cruise food. Windjammer always had a good selection. Service was good. We had nice wait staff in the Chic restaurant. Fnu and Monicia were great, as was Keron, the head waiter. We ate at Jamie Oliver's and the food was awesome. It just kept coming. Same with Wonderland. Very creative and imaginative ways of displaying food. Having the pizzeria and cafe on the 3rd deck to me made no sense. It was not a large enough space. At night time it got crowded with people trying to walk through, get food, find some place to sit. I definitely missed Lido deck in the evenings because even though the buffet was done, you could still get ice cream, juice, hot chocolate, pizza etc. and still have room to sit and relax and talk the night away. Went to guest services three times and man were they miserable! I saw one happy lady who seemed to enjoy what she was doing, but the men I interacted with could barely crack a smile. Dealing with them gave me an instant attitude. We purchased Wow bands which was supposed to be more convenient to use around the ship, but a lot of places, mostly bars, didn't have scanners and so they would still ask for the seapass card, or your room number. That kinda defeated the purpose. Cabin was nice and spacious for four of us. Lots of storage space. Bathroom was roomy, especially the shower. TV sucked. On other ships we were able to get a lot of cable channels. Not so here. Balcony was roomy with a decent amount of furniture. I loved that it was a sliding door and we were able to keep it open and hear the ocean. Our steward Bawa, was awesome. Very clean and thorough. There were a lot of teens on this ship and they were noisy and loud. Running up and down the steps at all hours, hanging out in the hallways and stairwells. Never experienced that before. During the day there seemed to be a lot of security around, but not so at night. And I don't think the 1am curfew for kids was strictly enforced. Did the ziplining in Labadee. Phenomenal experience. Did our own tours on the other islands. Would I sail with Royal Caribbean again? Absolutely. I did miss Carnival for some aspects, but there are a few things both companies could learn from each other. Read Less

My family selected this cruise because we did not need to fly to get to NJ and because we did not want a long cruise. The ship was nice, but many of the characteristics of other Royal Carribean ship were missing. For example the Schooner Bar was a stripped down version and lacked the normal boat. Kids pools were not separate from the other pools and children were always in the hot tubs. The emergency drill was not well done. It was a childish video that did not easily communicate what to do in an emergency. Many people simply did not watch. The food was just ok in anytime dining. Service was good except for in the pool area where workers consistently did not give way of the paying guests, instead the guests needed to give way to staff. Ifly was outstanding. You likely have guessed by now that this was not my favorite ship. All this said, we had a good time and remain loyal to RC. Read Less

We booked a guarantee balcony only a few months before sailing and were very pleased with the cabin we were assigned, under a quiet part of Windjammer buffet. This was my first time on a Quantum class ship and wondered how it would compare to my favorite Oasis class ships. Here is what I found: Some things I really loved, and a few things I really missed. Typically I spend 90% of my at sea days in the Solarium, but because these ships are designed to sail out of northern climes in the winter, the Solarium is an entirely glassed in space, unlike its Oasis counterparts, where the glass is staggered with open air spaces. I can imagine that if you were embarking in January, it would be lovely to walk into a tropical space right away, but in the middle of summer, I really missed the fresh air. I found the promenade area more crowded as it was much narrower than Oasis class ships. But those are really the only negatives - this is really great ship with some very fun activities! We missed the pre-cruise online booking window when Ifly and NorthStar were offered, but did book all the shows ahead of time. Thanks to Cruise Critic community members, I knew that I could book Ifly and NorthStar as soon as we had checked in and had access to the Royal IQ wifi. We literally boarded the ship, rounded the corner, and stopped and made our bookings! I cannot tell you how much I loved Ifly! We even dropped by towards the end of the cruise and managed to snag a second fly, even though no time slots were being offered in the app. Worth mentioning is the fact that like Harmony, there is a hole in the firewall on Anthem, which allows IPhone users to IMessage throughout the cruise - even photos and videos worked! Bumper Cars, Roller skating and NorthStar were very fun. Get there early to sign up for roller skating, as they assign time slots and the spaces go quickly. Once again, Royal Caribbean outdid itself in the entertainment department. The Gift and We Will Rock You were incredible and the headliners were amazing. Particularly loved the U2 tribute band along with the Tribute Shmibute entertainer. Spectras Cabaret was the only show that I didn’t particularly enjoy, but there are always so many other options. We had great meals, both in the main dining room, the Solarium, and Windjammer. We diid not go to any specialty restaurants this time - Wonderland is such a spectacular venue on Oasis class ships and a must-go for me, but the physical venue on this ship was underwhelming so we didn’t bother. We did have a Chops steak in the main dining room and it was like butter. The staff for the most part were great - and the ports delightful. I also loved sailing in and out of New York harbour as that was a first for me. This is the first time in a few cruises that I didn’t purchase the drink package (which, if you want to buy one, get the Buy One Get one 50% off in the pre-cruise sales). I have to say, I really missed it. At $49 / day plus the insane 18% gratuity, it doesn’t take much to justify. I missed my smoothies, specialty coffees, specialty iced coffees, San Pelligrinos, waters and oh yes, martini’s! Even as a Diamond member, the non-alcoholic drinks can get you to $49 a day pretty easily so in future, that will always be my first choice. You know, there are always problems on any cruise. Life is never perfect and neither is cruising, so set realistic expectations. Overall, I would recommend this ship and itinerary highly to a friend, and would do it all over again! Read Less

A group of 21 family members ranging in ages from 7-69 just got back from a 9 night cruise on the Anthem of the Seas. While the trip was an overall success, we had issues on board throughout the trip. Our group had balcony rooms, most were connecting, and an inside room across the hall from my room. Next to them were two rooms comprised of college aged boys that were loud, ran through the hall (sometimes in only their underwear), banged on the walls, and slammed their doors. The first night my husband stuck his head out and asked them to quiet down. These behaviors persisted, each night with multiple family members asking the kids to quiet down. We had spoken to customer service who said to just call security the next time. We did, but security took awhile to respond and the kids never took anything seriously. The worst was the last morning, they had left a condom on a plate with some left over food in the hallway. I was horrified when my 7 year daughter saw it before the poor room steward had to clean it up. Another night, one of our rooms had been woken up by what they speculated was a domestic dispute around 2:30 in the morning. They tried to call multiple numbers for security and no one ever answered any of the lines. The food on the boat was great and servers were for the most part friendly, but it seemed like they could really use more staff to provide the attention that we had previously received on cruises. Especially in the dining room, the bar server regularly mixed up and would forget orders. My daughter had a great time in the kids club and doing all the activities on board. All the activity people were awesome. They were encouraging, especially with the rock wall and trapeze. We had rented two over the water cabins in Labardee. There were nice, but for the amount we paid, it would had really be great if we could had have lunch brought to us. The attendant was running around, but at times appeared annoyed that we asked him for drinks. I'm not really sure it is worth the splurge to get the cabin. Overall, we had a great time, but the lack of response from security is concerning. Read Less

Our first cruise on the Anthem!! This is our biggest ship we have been on and absolutely loved it! The style and decor is so wonderful! The pools are beautiful and the solarium so pretty! We had an ocean view balcony on deck 8 but would recommend higher as the life boats were just below. The stateroom has so much storage and modern decor. We loved wonderland but missed the grand feel of the main dining room with the smaller dining areas. The food was excellent in the windjammer- better than previous ships. We were only disappointed with Jamie Oliver’s dining and that we never met our stateroom attendant ! In the past they always come and introduce themselves. We loved the overnight stay in Bermuda and would definitely return there! Embarkation and debarkation were a breeze! Cruising out of the Cape Liberty port gave us a great extended trip in NYC! Read Less

My daughter and I had cruised Anthem 2 yrs ago on the 4 night to Bermuda and while there were some issues on the cruise, we decided to try the 5 night to Bermuda. Overall, I was very happy with the cruise. Room- We again had a room with the large balcony at a good location near the elevators. The room was spotless and our steward, Carlton was very nice and provided me with extra towels when I asked for them. The issue with the horrible beds continued, though we did ask for and get toppers for them. For the first time though in a while on RCCl we had very loud and obnoxious neighbors blasting music . Key program -We had The Key program- I was not sure how it would work out, but in the end the benefits we used were great and I would do this again. We got there at 11 so missed the early embarkation but the Key had a designated check in anyhow. We had lunch when we boarded in one of the dining rooms from the Chops menu. We left a carry on near the dining room when we boarded. During the cruise we got a fruit plate. We did not use the priority time for Bermuda. We were able to book North Star through the Key, though in the end cancelled but could have used Stand By. (It had not been available on the Cruise Planner). We got a discount at Izumi. We did not see any shows this time. Best was the departure. We had breakfast and getting off the ship was super easy, as the Key employee guided us off, through the pier , to the luggage and got us into a fast customs line. I would definitely do The Key again. Internet and Drink Package- I booked the Deluxe package with internet before I realized I had booked the Key months earlier ( forgetful sometimes....) and because I did not want to cancel and rebook, we ended up with 4 internet packages. This actually worked out well as I could use my phone and computer at same time, and daughter her iPad and phone. No, I would not do that again, but it worked well this time. The drink package is totally worth it. Food- there were some issues here but they related to booking only. I had booked the Chefs Table and 3 night dining package through the Cruise Planner. We generally only eat in specialty restaurants and before I always booked pre cruise, but decided to save money this time. I did not really like running around on the first day to get the restaurants booked. We went to a gentleman in Chops first to check on the 3 nights, and the first night he claimed we were in Jamie's at 9.30 when I had booked for 8 pm times but we switched it to Wonderland and then Jamies and Chops at the end of the week. However, when I checked several times before the second to last night when we had Jamie's, and even that day the reservation was either lost or at a wrong time. I will say that the food in all the restaurants we ate in was excellent. In fact, Wonderland, which had been disappointing 2 yrs ago, and on the Symphony in Nov., was fantastic and we ended up eating there the last night again instead of Chops. Our server , Gabino, was great. We had him as our server both nights. Instead of eating in Hamilton on the night in Bermuda, my daughter ate in Izumi and I joined her for a salad as I dislike sushi. Our server, Jofel, was also super. When I said I wanted a burger he went downstairs to the pub and ordered one for me and brought it back to me. He also brought my daughter back from that deck the special pineapple drink. I got room service in the morning as I like to drink coffee on the balcony. It came promptly each morning. We also ordered from the room service menu at the pool as we booked the sunbeds, and I thought the Greek salad was very good as well. Chefs Table was exceptional and food allergies and preferences were easily accommodated. Shows- we did not see any this cruise. Last cruise we walked out on Spectra's Cabaret as we both thought it awful. Bars- on this cruise, Boleros was definitely the best . The bartenders were friendly and helpful. I enjoyed the music at night also. Schooner Bar had one of the rudest bartenders. Pool- I splurged and we enjoyed the sun beds outside the North Star Bar area on the sea days.I had seen them 2 yrs prior and knew to book them as soon as I got on the ship. For us, this was the best deal on the ship. Though expensive, we had great service throughout the day from Abraham, bottles of water, a bottle of champagne ( which I took home), and lunch from the Room Service menu. The pool was jammed on sea days and the chair hogs were out. We were told that some people were out at 4.30 am putting towels on chairs. For the first time, though, we did see a pool worker confiscate towels and put peoples' possession in plastic bags after a long period of time had gone by, but that was only on the first sea day. Bermuda- we were not overwhelmed. The island is very expensive and because I knew transportation by taxi can be costly, and difficult from some areas, we had made plans to be in Hamilton one day and possibly a beach the second. We ferried over to Hamilton but were underwhelmed . My daughter had hoped to buy a pair of sandals at the specialty sandal shop where they are hand made for you while you wait. However, the clerk was very unfriendly and dismissive. We decided to go back to the ship and went to Snorkel Park. That too was expensive for 2 chairs and an umbrella ($40). Beach was tiny and dirty. When we left we went shopping in the Clocktower and had lunch at Frog and Onion which was expensive. The second day we did the ship excursion to Clearwater Beach which involves an hour ride to St George and back. The tour was ok, but not worth the cost. I was not impressed by the beach. The host for the beach, though, was very nice. Parking- drop off of bags and parking was not difficult. The crowd is predominately from the tri state area- NY, NJ Pa , and surrounding states. That said, some were very rude, some teens were horrible, some people cut in front of you , some just very unfriendly, ( ie. at Chefs Table where in the past we found people were usually friendly, one group of 6 moved their chairs so they could all sit at one end, and never spoke to the other 6 of us), but overall we just dealt with it and in fact, booked another cruise over the holidays. Read Less

I have sailed on Norwegian, Carnival and Royal Caribbean. By far RCCL is my favorite. Excellent service, great food, activities and entertainment. On this cruise we booked a balcony (#8572) and was able to book all our meals, activities and shows (The Gift, Spectra, We Will Rock You) ahead of time on the cruise planner. We were also able to book another viewing of We Will Rock You while on board through the app. Entertainment: All the shows were fantastic and started on time. Although I really did not know the story line to The Gift, I really found the performers to be quite talented. Spectra’s Cabaret did not disappoint and we saw We Wil Rock you twice! Schooners Bar also provided great piano/vocals and acoustic guitar. Comedians were very enjoyable and age appropriate. We also had a surprise performance by ReVoiced (acapella group). All in all, we enjoyed live entertainment every day. Food: We enjoyed most our meals in the Windjammer and especially liked all the options! Regional meals were exceptional. We also had dinner in the main dining rooms and found those meals just as good as at the Windjammer. Beverages: We chose the refreshment package and enjoyed frozen mocktails, soft drinks, juices, bottled water and Starbucks coffee and lattes the entire cruise. Not all the refill stations were up and running, so we just went to a nearby bar for refills. Room: We booked an ocean view balcony (#8572) with Josie as our steward. Josie was absolutely wonderful. I requested a contour pillow (which she provided) and she always kept our ice bucket full. She also made sure we had clean wine glasses each day. Our bathroom was immaculate and our room always tidy and clean. She respected our privacy and always seemed to be right there when we needed her. Josie you rock! Activities: We participated in a scheduled wine tasting (5 samples, but I found the samples to be small) and we had scheduled the All Access Tour of the ship, but cancelled a couple days ahead of time due to one of us not having long pants. Make sure you have long pants or at least pants that go past your knees! It was no problem to cancel and we were given a credit. Embarkation/Disembarkation: We traveled from New Haven, Connecticut via Amtrak to Penn Station Newark and then an Uber (Uber XL $17) to port. Embarkation was a breeze. Dropped off our bags, checked in and was on board within 30 minutes. We headed to the Windjammer and had lunch at 11:30. Our room was not ready until 1:30 after lunch we relaxed in Two70’s with a frozen mocktail and got to know the IQ App. Disembarkation was not has short as embarkation. We had the mindset to expect lines so we were not surprised that it took longer. It was about 45 minutes to disembark and go through US Customs. It was another 30 minutes to wait for an Uber (Uber XL $19 due to traffic) and then another 20 minute ride to Penn Station Newark. Fitness: Walked on the outdoor track nearly every morning with the exception of 2 mornings when it was too windy. I also went to the fitness center each day. Very clean facility and no wait on any equipment. Read Less

We chose this cruise first because it was to cruise out of Cape Liberty. The second reason we chose it was because it was a 9-day trip. We had cruised on a 7-day and a 9-day before having children. Last year, we cruised on the Adventure of the Seas with the children (for the first time) and they loved it, so we thought a few extra days would be great. We had a really great trip and the children (ages 7 and 9) enjoyed it, too. Their favorite part was going to Adventure Ocean. We did not take advantage of the specialty dining, spa, or similar opportunities, due to our budget. In order for us to travel every year, we have to be conscious of our spending. The only stressful part of our vacation was the pool area. It is a much smaller area than other ships we have been on. It was difficult to find chairs in safe proximity to the children's location, so my husband and I took turns staying at the chairs (that were very far from the pools). The chairs were reserved from early morning with towels and unless we watched the people like hawks, it was hard to find any in the pool areas. Other than that, we can't complain about the trip. The food was great, there were lots of opportunities to attend events on the ship. In regards to the Seaplex, in order to be able to attend the events there, it was important to arrive before the start time. We learned that early on. We thoroughly enjoyed our dining experiences. We went to the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch daily. There were many options, including salads, soups, and desserts. The food was of great quality. We chose the 5:30pm dining option. We would begin each night with an appetizer and our children would eat dinner. At 6:40pm, our children would go to Adventure Ocean and we would complete our meal in the dining room. Our waiters were amazing. They were not only very particular with all their tasks, they were also very friendly! After dinner, we would either see a show or watch a movie by the pool. The shows were all very good, especially the comedy shows. We also attended The Gift and We Will Rock You. The Gift is hard to follow without any background information. We Will Rock You was great. We love anything involving music. We also thoroughly enjoyed the farewell performance. We didn't shop much. The Anthem has a different shopping concept compared to other ships. It felt very crammed and quite frankly many items were not affordable. We tried to purchase some t-shirts; however, there wasn't much of a selection in the sizes we were looking for (Youth Small, Youth Medium, Adult Small, Adult 3X). Overall, we enjoyed our vacation on the Anthem of the Seas. Read Less

Believe it or not, but we chose a 9-night cruise for our first Royal Caribbean cruise not knowing if we'd even like it or not. To be honest, we had high expectations considering how amazing many people call the cruise line, so we were expecting a lot. Not only were our expectations met, but they were surpassed greatly and we couldn't have asked for a better vacation! To begin, our boarding was really smooth and I felt it was almost too easy! Although the ship was pretty crowded at some times, it never felt too much and you have to expect crowds on such a large ship with such a large person count. I felt the ship's outline was very different than others but there was nothing too dramatic or bad about it. I REALLY enjoyed the food especially at the main dining room, Wonderland, and Chops Grille. The main dining room was outstanding and we wish we went there more, but we wanted to try other restaurants like Wonderland, Chops, and Jamies. The Head Waitress, Maricris was super nice and visited us every night even though she wasn't our actual server and even though she had many things to deal with, so it was outstanding and so kind of her to do this for us. Wonderland had some of the most extraordinary food my whole family has ever tasted and some of the most interesting food my family has ever tasted. We definitely also enjoyed Chops and the layout of the menu that we did it once for dinner and also again for lunch! Yes, Jamies was amazing and had some pretty good food, but we felt that it could have had more Italian theme since it is an Italian restaurant. Moving on from food, me and my family (I traveled with my husband and one 14-year-old boy for further reference) all enjoyed most of the shows. My son and I were in love with Spectra's Cabaret, my husband not that much. We all hated The Gift and thought it was really hard to follow and made no sense even with having full concentration the whole show. The decorations and set designs and singing in The Gift was amazing but none of it made any sense even though we also did some research beforehand. Both the adult and kid-friendly comedy shows were outstanding and we all enjoyed it a lot. We will rock you is great for long Queen fans, so I really liked it but my husband didn't. Overall, entertainment was pretty good and we saw some shows we couldn't ever forget, especially the silent party which was extremely entertaining and enjoyable. Bingo was pretty good despite the same jokes being used each time in each game and the jokes got a bit annoying but we were barely bothered by it. There was so much entertainment that we had to cut some things out and we weren't able to attend everything we wanted to, which is odd considering you'd think everything would be spread out in a 9-night cruise. My son did the flow rider and rock climbing once or twice and enjoyed it, but the whole family really liked North Star and it was unforgettable with the pictures we also got from it. The Sea Plex had so much entertainment and activities that me, my son, and my husband all enjoyed especially bumper cars and my sons first-time roller skating! The ship overall was extremely clean and as I said before, it had a weird outline and I felt that it isn't the same as other ships but it was definitely something I liked and found interesting. The ship was fairly crowded at some times and at some parts including how hard it was to find a deck chair by the pool, but it was fairly empty above the pool deck 1 deck up and is just as enjoyable to sunbathing, listening to the live music, and watching people swim as well. The ship was just amazing and much bigger than we imagined in pictures! Moving onto our cabin, I found it very unique considering there was actually a charging slot on both sides of the bed as well and also a light switch on the side of the bed that turned off most of the lights in the room. I found this amazing since I didn't have to get up (lol!) and turn the lights off then make my way back to the bed. Our only problems with the room was that our comforter/blanket had a weird stain on it that we found really strange, however, it was dealt with swiftly and the same night we noticed it when we told our room stewardess. We also noticed that we only got a towel animal every other night, which was a shock but I guess that's what happens on a 9-night cruise (this was our longest cruise as well, the other longest being 7 nights). We only had a couple of problems that made us have to go to customer service, one being a clogged toilet and lost items, but they dealt with it fast and with no problem at all. The staff onboard are just so nice and it surprised me how much energy they have every single day considering they do this same old thing every week. Moving on from the ship, we REALLY enjoyed all 4 ports that we visited. Starting in order, we really enjoyed Bermuda, Royal Naval Dockyard. This was the tour that we booked with Royal Caribbean where we visited the Aquarium and Zoo for almost all of the day and the tour guides were just so hilarious and we couldn't say anything bad about the experience or tour guides. The map was larger than the place actually was and it was really small but the time they gave us at the place matched how long it takes to go around the place. After the tour, we just went some shopping and got rum cake that was REALLY DELICIOUS and is a must when going to Bermuda. Next up was Saint Maarten or Sint Maartin where we did a circle island tour that visited Maho Beach, Marigot, and some extra places as well. This tour was booked with Bernards Tours, which was off the cruise line and booked by me privately. We felt this tour was outstanding and we really recommend it to everyone! It took most of the day so we just went a little shopping near the port after and then headed back to the ship. The next port was Puerto Rico where we did visited the El Yunque rain forest with another tour, not with the cruise line as we didn't see any tour about the rainforest until after we booked this one. This tour was absolutely outstanding and there was even an extra part at the end where he brought us to an excellent restaurant where we had to get food to go because the tour took almost the entire day and we only had about an hour or so left. Finally, we visited Labadee, Haiti, the private island. Haiti was by far our favorite port and because it was just so beautiful and sooting for the whole family. My child loved the virgin Labadoozie and me and my husband enjoyed the one with rum but it was so delicious and I am currently craving one badly right now. Barefoot Beach was our favorite beach at Labadee and it was so calm. The water was amazing and so clear, it was one of the best we've ever experienced in a very long time. My son did the zipline alone and he said that it was a lot of fun and described it to be the best zipline he's ever done (he has done a LOT). He has never done an over ocean type of zipline so it was a cool experience for him, along with the dragon coaster he also did alone (me and my husband aren't as adventurous as him, lol!). If I had the choice to do it all again, I would definitely. Although it was kind of stressful sometimes rushing to dinner or the Windjammer and doing washy washy every time we entered, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way and the memories we made can never be forgotten. My son didn't go to the teens club despite me telling him to many times. He didn't really make any friends on board but he was fine with that and he just wanted to relax and explore the ship when my husband and I went to the adult-only events like the hilarious comedy show. Disembarkation was super smooth unexpectedly and once we got off the ship, the line to pick up our luggage and go through customs was extremely long, but it went really fast and it was super smooth and I'd say we got out completely in less than 20 minutes (yes, that fast!). Overall, to end this review, this 9-night cruise on Anthem of the Seas was outstanding and surpassed the entire family's expectations fully. We will definitely cruise with Royal Caribbean again and maybe even Anthem! Read Less

The ship was beautiful. We stood in Cabin 11606 it was a balcony cabin. The cabin was good, It was what I expected after seeing pictures online. I was grateful for the storage space under the bed where we put four suitcases. we had four people in our room, two adults and two children age 16 and 11. The children are too old to sleep on the same bed so we had the beds pulled apart and my husband and I slept on the sofa bed. Surprisingly, the sofa bed was very comfortable and I had a great sleep. The balcony was great as well we watch the sunrise which was beautiful and would relax there after a long day on the islands. My only complaint would be with the beds separate and the sofa bed pulled out to sleep two there was no room to maneuver. Otherwise it wasn't bad at all, I would prefer to have those bunk bed looking beds for the kids, if i looked around I am sure i could have found one but i wanted to stay on the same deck and area as the group we were in. Dining staff was amazing a child in our group had a peanut/tree nut allergy. They made sure everything was safe, allowed him to choose his meal the night before. We did my time dining at one of the dining rooms for the life of me i can not remember the name. Our server Made and Arvin was awesome! Arvin did a lot of magic tricks which was enjoyed by the kids and adults. I loved how they had conversations with us to about the islands, life, family etc. The food in the main dining room was great! My favorite was Day 8 where they had lobster tail! Windjammer food for breakfast, lunch and dinner was also a fav! The staff and food were awesome! I especially loved the hand washing stations..washy, washy...they would say that every time. It baffled me when people would refuse or complain about washing there hands before entering the buffet. Seriously? But the staff always stood happy! I loved the coffee place on the 4th floor in the Royal esplanade, the staff was great! Sorrentos across the way was sooooo delicious! It was not safe for the child with peanut/tree nut allergies though! The buffet had safe pizza so it all worked out. The hidden gem two70 cafe was good and an easy way to skip the line at the coffee place on the 4th floor, it was also nice to look out the beautiful windows in two70. Entertainment and activities was ok, If traveling with kids and families I prefer carnival. If it was just my husband and I with no kids I would do Royal. I felt like carnival had more fun activities shows and entertainment I also felt like the staff of all those including the cruise director was more involved. I barely saw the cruise director and he wasn't that fun! He needs to take a few tips from Matt Mitchum on Carnival. The bar/singing or comedy show entertainment was fun for adults. I thoroughly enjoyed quest put beware it can get very riskay..we saw some crazy things. There was a family quest with kids that was awesome as well! Spectre's cabaret was terrible, the performance and entertainers did a great job singing and dancing but the theme of the story was horrible and weird, our group kept looking at each other laughing and the kids were horrified. We didn't see the gift because of the bad reviews and after watching spectre's cabaret we didn't want to chance it. We will rock you was ok, not what i was expecting but i liked it! Again Carnival's shows are way better! As for the Ifly it was AMAZING one of the best experiences i have had, i wish i did it earlier in the cruise because i would have kept trying! The north star was ok a little scary being up that high in a glass ball but it was a nice view. The flowrider was cool but wear a tight bathing suit or you might lose a top or bottom. Bumper cars, roller skater were fun once but we didn't do it more than that. The kids were a little disappointed there weren't a lot of activities they pretty much played ping pong every day. The seaplex was a nice spot for them and they got to meet a lot of friends, it wasn't over crowded either they were able to play different games without waiting to long. A complaint I have is about the age range they group 9-11 year olds together and didn't have any basketball or soccer tournaments which our kids who were 10-11 years old wanted to do. Our kids are very athletic and would have loved to join the tournaments for 12-15 year olds. As for the Ports Bermuda was beautiful! We went to Horseshoe Bay and stood there all day i loved it! Labadee was pretty cool to, the kids did the aqua park and the slide the food there as ok! Considering it is there private island you had to pay for quite a few things unfortunately. San Juan was ok I use to love it but it was kind of smelly, we did get to go to La Fortaleza which was cool. St. Maarten was ok we stood at the beach and the guys got buckets of 5 beers for 10 dollars which they loved. We also got an umbrella and two chairs for 20 dollars. The shops around there were great too. Overall the ship was beautiful and VERY CLEAN and the ports were just as nice. If you want more family fun or fun in general i would go with carnival. Royal is more uppity and adult friendly. Oh and i don't want to forget to mention my stateroom attendant Jenin was awesome! Always cleaned and was super friendly! Read Less

I took this trip with 30 friends and family. I was a little scared to do Royal because I had a bad experience 11 yrs ago with them. The Anthem of the Seas changed me the moment I stepped on the ship. She is big,beautiful and clean. CABIN # 9510---front of the ship with a 6ft window. Cabin was larger than balconies. I had 4 adults in the room with plenty of storage. There was storage over both beds and we had 2 closets. The bathroom was decent size. Umroy --steward took great care of us. He made towel animals almost every night, always greeted us with a smile and asked us how our day was going. FOOD: We had My time Dining. We ate in the Silk dinning room 3 nights, American Icon -once, Solarium Bistro-once, Windjammer- twice, Chops-once and Jamies- once for lunch Service at everyone was top notched. waiters brought out extras for the table. If you wanted something that wasn't on the menu, they got it for you. The seafood tower at Chops is a must. Shawn at Jamies brought us all the appetizers out family style. He also did the same for dessert. Needless to say we did not eat dinner that night ENTERTAINMENT: WE WILL ROCK YOU---so nice I saw it twice THE GIFT--- The story is tough to follow but the singing and special effects are amazing. SPECTRA'S CABERNET: Great singing and acrobatics . Here is my one complainant----Parents with young kids---If you child can not stay quite or sit still for an hour, PLEASE do not bring them to the show. You ruin it for others, SERVICE: EXCELLENT all around. My bartenders at the Sunshine bar( Seon, Gary, Larry, Stephen and Hermit) I will never forget you guys. They were simply the best bartenders I ever had on 10 cruises. PORTS: BERMUDA: took a taxi( $7 per person one way) Horseshoe Bay -- watched friends renew their vows on the beach. ST MARTIN: Took taxi to Maho beach and got drinks at Sunset bar---great experience. At night we did a sunset catamaran cruise on the Golden Eagle--Capt Charlie and crew were the best. A big shout out to My main man Otis who kept the drinks coming even in the thunder storm. SAN JUAN: My sons and I did the ATV ride at Campo Rico--another great time, great staff and drinks. FYI-- bring another shirt because you will get dirty. After that we met friends for a great lunch at Restaurante Mi Tierra--about 2 blocks from ship. Great mojitos and mufungo . LABADEE: was surprised how beautiful this beach was. We did the Dragon coaster( 35 for all day pass) great views from the top . Food at lunch was very good and there were plenty of bars on the island. It is a shame that the ship is moving to Europe next year because I would love to do another 9 days with Captain Hendrik and his crew. Read Less

We booked this cruise on -line then called to make our restaurant choices, but were told we had to do that when we boarded. I also, asked about booking the North Star and was told they are all booked up due to varies groups being on-board so we would have to do that on-board as well. So first thing as we arrived, I went to Guest Services and was told a different story - as we were suppose to be able to book both when I called, but not the case when talking with foreigners on RC reservation line. Next our room was very well laid out, but not cleaned well - stuff was still in the refrigerator from the people before us that was rotten. Never saw our stateroom attendant till day 2 and by then we were both sniffling and coughing. I do not think our room was sanitized at all. Bed was hard as a rock and when I asked about getting foam or something to soften it up - no one ever came to do as they said they would, and our stateroom attendant said I can use the couple of flattened covers under the bed to help, but that was all he knew of to use? So by the end of the 9 nights, I was very sore glad to be back home. We did enjoy all the shows, especially We Will Rock You!! Dining went ok - loved the specialty restaurants, but our main dining room table got moved when we showed up the second day - so we were place elsewhere, but it worked. Casino was extremely smokey and the slot machines were next to each other for smoking and non-smoking - nothing to block or distribute clean air to non-smokers! Ports of call were enjoyable. Boarding and disembarking was a breeze if you got there early and carried off your luggage. The SeaPlex was full off kids and there was no "adult" time for the Dodge cars so waiting was a issue just to say you did it once. Also there was no one sanitizing hands before you got in your car and with kids picking their noses, and coughing, sneezing, I would think RC could do a better job - like they do when you eat!! Never saw anyone cleaning banisters or elevators to keep germs at bay either. We did like the North Star as something different to experience. All in all, just an average cruise - not really impressed. I would like to highly compliment the wait staff and bartenders who did an exceptional job at keeping us happy and well fed. I didn't find the Anthem to have many activities to do for adults - so we got bored at times. Since it was the holiday weekend/week - there were several kids running around and the pool area was totally packed each day. Thank goodness we had a balcony to escape and relax. Read Less