Anthem of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
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.
Cabin Review
Ocean View Balcony
My parents, sister, and I had 3 balcony cabins, side-by-side, on deck 11. The stateroom attendant, who was simply wonderful, opened our balcony dividers for us. We loved slipping into each-other’s rooms through the balcony doors, and enjoying early mornings sipping coffee together out there. The cabin was quite spacious, with a seating area, two fairly large closets, and a desk area. My bed was by the balcony doors; the beds in the two other rooms was in the middle.
For our 2 pairs of teenagers, we booked virtual balcony rooms across the hall from ours (actually, while the rooms were directly across from ours, the doors were around the corner). The virtual balcony gave these cabins the sensation of being larger, and the kids enjoyed watching it; there was plenty of space for them to hang and store their things. We got copies made of the seapass cards so that we could access the kids’ room and they could access ours. It worked out perfectly. The kids enjoyed their independence, and we set up check-in times to keep in touch.
Port Reviews
St. Maarten
We took a water taxi to the Boardwalk area. My sons sis not want to go the the beach because we had such a negative experience in Bermuda, so we just walked around the town and did some shopping. Turns out, the beaches were not crowded, even the beach where the water taxi dropped us off. Oh well - next time. My biggest concern here was how aggressive the local people have become in trying to drive business. I totally understand that these people are still hurting from the hurricane, but it made me sad to see this happening to one of my favorite stops.
San Juan
San Juan has never been one of my favorite ports, but I do like to walk through the town and up to the fotresses, so that is what we did. We spent about an hour exploring each fort and enjoying the history lessons.
Labadee
My favorite stop, which surpised me. I expected it to be overly crowded, but the crowds were spread out across the beaches. I never felt crammed-in. We walked to Columbus Cove, got some chairs under the trees, and floated the day away on the rafts. Lunch was basic but fine, and the drinks were good.
The only real drawback here was the locals selling their wares. They sold my nephew a pair of gross, used goggles, and later physically tried to pry my niece (age 13) away from her Dad to take her to another booth. Very aggressive, yes. But NEVER should they place a hand on a child. We did report this to cruise line staff, as my niece became a bit frightened.