Our friends wanted to go on a Royal Caribbean Ship since they have never done one on RC. This was our 13th. We are not loyal to any cruise line but have preferred to sail on Royal Caribbean due to ports and ships themselves. It was a 9 day to Canada/New England. Older passengers, had only 100+ children. Lots of scooters, walkers, and passengers with canes. Not complaining as that could be me someday, actually, I love watching those passengers having a great time. Weather was not in our favor. Booked IFY and North Star before we got on the ship weeks ahead. IFLY was cancelled due to a mechanical problem so they say, and when we went up on North Star, it was so foggy, we only saw the ship but the experience was nice anyways. Cant control the weather. Did not care for the excursions. You can only see so many lighthouses. Shops on the ship were way too expensive and no selection. Employees were too pushy for sales. Royal Caribbean went wrong with that on the Anthem. Narrow areas to walk through. Some passengers who walk SLOW or want to hold hands to savor the moment should walk to the side and allow others to pass instead of walking down the middle of an already narrow area. Never took the elevators, walked up and down the stairs the whole 9 days. Some passengers need to be banned from cruising if they don't know how to act or mistreat others. One woman was almost vapor locking when she wanted to sit at a table in the 270 that had dirty dishes on it. She was screaming and yelling as if her name was on the side of the ship. The poor employee was trying to clean tables and could not get to her fast enough. I wanted to hit her over the head with a plastic plate she was so nasty. Passengers not washing their hands coming out of the bathroom or even in the wash station going into the windjammer. DISGUSTING!!!! No wonder there are viruses on ships Its because of those dirty, disgusting, nasty, people. People arguing in trivia over other teams getting points and winning the highlighter or key rings Really????? Food was excellent in Grande. Was not able to eat and enjoy food at any of the specialty dining since our friends did not want to. did not get to experience any activities in the sea plex because they didn't want to do that either. The ship, Anthem was a nice ship, not my favorite as so far I love the Allure/Oasis ships and look forward to sailing on Harmony or Symphony next. Entertainment was good. The staff was sometimes pleasant and sometimes not. It depended on who you talked to. I found this ship to have the least friendly staff but that doesn't mean they were awful, it just means they were not the friendliest I have experienced. Some looked over worked.

This was the first time I had to wait in an area to board the ship. I have always walked right on after checking in. Maybe its because I was early to the port, but really, we didn't wait hardly long. We also did not go to the area of where our status was since we were with our friends who were new to RC. Didn't matter to us anyways we are not all into red carpet treatment and horns blowing to announce our entry like some are. Keep it real!! We never go on the same ship twice but will encourage other friends who like to cruise to try Anthem. It was a pretty ship with new experiences. I am just grateful I can cruise.