A group of four of us, who have cruised on different ships about 6 or 7 times, picked Anthem of the Seas as it seemed to have many activities and great early summer ports ( Halifax and Bar Harbor).What we didn't know when we made our selection is that passengers had to take tenders to get to Bar Harbor. Imagine disembarking 4,000 guests on tenders ( some of which held as few as 64 passengers). Everyone lined up at 7 a.m. to get a ticket. That line was easily an hour long. This was followed by a second line when you number was called. But the staff was empathetic. One staff member commiserated with a guest and explained the staff had it worse. They had the same lines and to be back on board 3 hours earlier than the guests.: No time to enjoy Bar Harbor.

Now to the surcharges. I am accustomed to surcharges on cruises, but Royal Caribbean elevated this concept to a new art form. When dining at the steakhouse , which has a hefty per person charge, we learned that if you wanted the really good steak, there was an additional surcharge. The steak on the menu was of average supermarket quality.

The food? Quality varied from fair to poor. You would chose canned ravioli over The Spaghetti Bolognese. Options without surcharges were extremely limited. Read more