We just returned from a 9-night cruise aboard Anthem and found it to be my perfect vacation! I have so many memories to process and pictures to sort, so I am going to organize my review by category. Feel free to jump around or skip what you are not interested in. I won’t be offended – heck, I won’t even know! I hope some of you will find it useful or even just enjoy re-living your own Anthem memories.
Warning: this is lengthy.
This was a much-anticipated trip for us. My Dad had suffered an illness through much of the fall and winter, and my husband had both a knee replacement and a spinal fusion within the past year. Now that they both seem to be on the road to recovery, we thought we would celebrate our family with a cruise. My sister’s family (sis, husband, teenage son and daughter), my family (me, husband, teenage sons), and my parents shared a wonderful week of pampering, partying, fine dining, and fun aboard Anthem.
This was my 9th cruise with Royal Caribbean, but my first on Quantum class. The Anthem is one beautiful, well-appointed ship, although it is hard not to make comparisons to the other classes. The biggest challenge for me was that there were certain times and places when the ship just felt too crowded. In particular, the outdoor pool area and Windjammer just did not seem to have the best layouts to accommodate the crowds. On the other hand, I loved the artwork around the ship, the quirky posters in the elevators, and most of the public spaces around the ship. Café 270 and the Solarium were two of my favorite places; both were beautiful, well-designed, and took great advantage of their location to achieve gorgeous views of the sea.
We opted out of the Voom package, as we all wanted to disconnect for a while. (Well, maybe not so much the kids, but they adapted quickly). It was so freeing to not be tied to screens through our vacation.
Dining: As a large group, we decided to eat all of our dinners together. We had MTD, but reserved a 6:15 mealtime for every night, on-line, through the cruise planner. We figured we could adjust the reservation if we chose to, but we so enjoyed our service team through dinner that we decided to keep the same reservation for the whole trip. We ate in the Silk dining room every night, which was quite lovely, if a bit on the small side. We missed the grandeur of the old-style main dining rooms, but I heard others say that it felt more intimate. I suppose it’s a matter of preference. Our head waiter was Alan, who was a delight. He stopped by our table multiple times each night, and along with checking on our satisfaction, regaled us with stories and jokes. Melwin was our assistant waiter; he was a bit shy, but quite sweet. He remembered the wines we liked and our preferences for coffee/tea/cappuccino. Our waiter was Edi. What a treat he was! Attentive without being solicitous, funny, responsive, and so great with the kids. Upon seeing that the kids didn’t care for the appetizers offered, he routinely made up his own to bring them. They got chicken fingers, French fries, grilled cheese – and that was just for appetizers! Edi always brought out whatever he wanted us to try; of course he always brought out what we ordered, but often that was accompanied by 2 or 3 other entrees, if he thought we would enjoy them. After dinner, Edi always had a puzzle to show the kids, asking them to return the next night with a solution.
I know there has been much discussion about MDR food. We all found most of our meals to be excellent. Many of the appetizers were creative, and all were delicious. From the entrée menu, I ordered what was new and fresh, and enjoyed most everything. Every night, about ½ of the appetizer and dessert menu and about 1/4 of the entrée menu remained the same. For my group, this was ideal because there was always a choice for them to fall back on if they didn’t care for the day’s new choices. Even for me, there were so many things I wanted to try that it was nice to see some options repeated.
For breakfast and lunch, we all did our own thing. I ordered coffee from room service every day early, and drank it on my balcony. After a workout in the gym, I usually headed to the windjammer. I can’t really comment on the quality of the breakfast food. I ate a yogurt and fresh fruit every morning. My boys did report that they felt the Windjammer’s pastries were stale(ish) but the waffles were good.
I got in the habit of grabbing a latte from La Patisserie after breakfast, and sipping it at the back of Café 270. What a great way to relax and take in the view. This was probably my favorite place on the ship.
I ate most of my lunches in the Solarium Bistro or Café 270. I found the selections good, the food tasty, and the lack of crowds inviting. Café 270 especially served some very nice sandwiches, wraps, salads, and desserts.
Bars: My sister, her husband, and I had the Deluxe Beverage Package. We took full advantage of it. The bar service was a bit lackluster around the pools, but exceptional in the bars we went to. The bartenders in the main bar at Café 270 were great! They were competing to see who could make us the best Cosmo, and WE were the winners!! We especially loved the team in the Brass and Bock. Susana was a hoot. Tell her hello from “the curly haired sisters” if you sit by her bar! This deluxe package was perfect for us, and I can honestly say that we all got our money’s worth.
Entertainment: We saw the three production shows, as well as the house band, and a Journey tribute band. The Gift was disappointing, to say the least. So much hype, and so little payoff. I thought the talent of the performers was wasted on such a poorly executed story-line.
Spectra’s Cabaret was a bit Avant-garde. The “Spectra” we saw was, herself, not a very strong performer, but the rest of the cast were power house performers, both vocally and physically. The acrobatics they performed obviously required great strength and discipline, and were very impressive. It was a fun show.
We Will Rock You was fun. All of the Queen music we loved wrapped into a production. The plot was a bit cheesy, but the audience was on its feet at the end. It was a feel-good show with some strong vocal performances, especially by the ladies.
We also saw DSB, a Journey tribute band. They were great fun, and the lead singer certainly has that Steve Perry voice.
Probably our favorite entertainment was the band The Royal Swedes. They performed almost every night, in different venues. They played a variety of contemporary music, and played it well. They played very few repeats, so it was a fresh, fun show every night.
Activities: We did not participate in a lot of evening activities. A few we tried to participate in were held in The Music Hall, which is a great space reminiscent of some of the old-style halls in NYC. However, for participation activities, or even viewing such activities, the Music Hall did not work well if you were seated on the upper level. After trying a few times, we just gave up and did not attend activities (other than music) in this space. We did do some daytime activities though, and found that there were so many options that we couldn’t get to them all! My favorite activity was Trapeze school. Who would have ever thought that I would swing upside down on a trapeze? And like it?!?! We also did family bumper cars (it got vicious), iFLY, and NorthStar. All were great fun with great staffing. My sons played soccer, basketball, ping pong, air hockey, and shuffle board, and loved the variety of options to keep busy.
Pool: I am definitely a pool person, while some in my party were not. I am also an early riser. After an early workout and breakfast, I usually got to the outdoor pool on sea days before 8 am. By that time, most of the chairs immediately around the pool in the sun had been snagged, as had the lounger/couches. Luckily, most in my family prefer the shade, and there were always shade chairs to be found at that time. I usually wound up in the Solarium by afternoon. It was, except for the first sea day when we had some unsettled skies, mostly uncrowded and very pleasant. I love the layout and peaceful flow of the Solarium design. And I loved the multi-level pools.
As a large ship, Anthem should have a better outdoor pool layout. Yes, I expected crowds, but the pool was simply too small to accommodate that volume of people. It was actually a bit unpleasant on two of the sea days. I was very thankful to be able to escape to the Solarium, and equally thankful that my kids did not care that they could not use that pool area!
Ports: We did not do anything ambitious in any of the ports. Horseshoe Bay in Bermuda; shopping and exploring in St. Maartin; walking to and exploring the forts in San Juan; Columbus Cove beach in Labadee. (I will say that I noticed a profound difference in many of the locals in St. Maartin: they were much more aggressive than I have ever experienced here. I know that this was a result of the hurricane, and that these people are still hurting for business. It made me quite sad). I enjoyed each stop, and enjoyed returning to a less crowded ship on a few of those days.
Overall: It had been a few years since my last cruise, so I especially enjoyed Anthem! While I experienced a few drawbacks, they did not lessen my overall experience. Anthem is a beautiful ship with a friendly and overall efficient staff. My nine-night cruise sailed by so quickly, and I am so grateful to have experienced it with my family.
I welcome any questions about specifics, or perhaps any area I didn’t cover, but it looks to me like I covered a lot! I wish you all a cruise experience as pleasant as mine was!
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