The trip to hell and back! Electric extension cord was promised to us,at noon, we needed for medical equipment didnt come until midnight Heater broken froze over night They blamed balcony door handle not closed then finally next day tech came and fixed it he had to clean out the equipment. Sink was clogged. Not enough hangers in state room. We requested coffee and Breakfast room service, we put tag out to com at 8am, THEY came at 6 am on the 1st morning woke us up and also called. In Florida no breakfast came even though we left tag out night before. Called room service and on hold for so long no one picked up we gave up Food finally came we we were gone. Not enough bar waiters Lagoon trip very disorganized Had to inquire about where was our group and then found out we needed wristbands had to go to the back of the line then the guy never gave us our lunch tickets On the blue lagoon boat the restroom was out of order.! Spoke with guest services and he took some notes and will have someone get back to me they offered us 20 % off. For that excursion. The coco cay island is geared for kids, no adult only beach, so be aware of screaming kids all day. Machines broken in fitness center. The balcony glass was dirty, i had to clean it myself. Otherwise they left a very bad taste Read Less

We've sailed RC before, and this ship 2x, and knew we'd have great service and lots of fun. We took our 15 and 16 year old daughters and they had a blast since there were tons of teens on board. We met up with cruise friends and enjoyed each and every day. Getting on board and leaving the last day was super quick and easy. Well done. We had the drink package and wish we knew that Starbucks and other special drinks, like fresh squeezed orange juice, were part of the package. They don't make that clear anywhere. We found out late int he trip. We skipped the water park and all the lines at Coco Cay - the rides were mobbed. Even with 2 ships on the island we had plenty of beach chairs and decent bar service. Our tip is to go all the way to the far end of the island, Chill Beach near the construction barriers was practically empty for us all day. We were close to food, which was great and had lots of options, and we enjoyed the gorgeous pool and swim up bar. When it comes to parties beyond NYE on the promenade deck don't expect much. They tried to do a sail away party from Nassau and it was lacking compared to other ships. Hardly anyone came, the music was just a bunch of line dances led by the crew with little guest participation, it was a dud to say the least. The shows... "The Gift" was good though the story was hard to follow. "Spectras Cabaret" had a lot of early departures - people came, gave it 10 mins, and left. "We Will Rock You" was great - though some felt it was a little long (the finale is fabulous!!!). We caught the second half of the "Quest" and wish we knew how fun it would be - we'd have gone for the whole event. I went to the gym and found it average - nothing special. Totally packed the first few days and then yo'd get room on the weights in the afternoons. You will find lots of people who never go to a gym there the first few days giving it a try, they however do not understand gym etiquette and don't clean up after themselves and hog the equipment. Wish there was more room for free weights. We will be back on Royal Caribbean...next time, Europe. Read Less

The ship was great. Plenty of nice places to hang out. Especially Two70 Cafe. The varied food options and locations were nice. Only recommendation would be to have more filler stations at various locations for those tithe the refreshment, soda, and drink packages. Sometimes the lines to refill soda were long due to only being located at Sorrentos or Windjammer. Service was excellent. Entertainment was very good, especially Stephani Parker’s Whitney Houston tribute performance. Found that not any one space was too crowded except for the music hall so it was easy to find a place to relax. It took 5 minutes to get through check in at Cape Liberty and boarding occurred an hour early. Food was good and had varied options. The esplanade is smaller than other ships I’ve been on so can get crowded easily during shopping sales. The only challenge we’re getting elevators. It seemed to take forever for one to arrive at your floor as they were either all going up or down at the same time. Ate at Jaimes and Chops. Both are excellent. Definitely go for the lasagna and lamb chops at Jamie’s. The salmon and steak at Chips were excellent. I didn’t do main dining as I didn’t want to dress up but did windjammer most nights. Good varied selection and was never too crowded. Was always able to find a seat Read Less

We sailed out of Cape Liberty, NJ on Dec. 28th, 2019, at 3:00 PM for an eight day cruise. We returned on Jan. 5th, 2020 to the same port at 6:00 AM. We had three ports of call; Cape, Nassau, Bahamas and Royals own Island "Perfect Day". We are long time fans of this Cruise Line. This was are 8th cruise in the last 15 years. Our last on the line was just three years ago. Historically, we would tell everyone who would listen what a great deal vacationing with Royal Caribbean was. We even carry their VISA awards card. So we have a history to compare this cruise to. First; they have changed their business model and not for the good. They now are pushing the drink packages on you. We discussed this option before leaving and not being big drinkers decided against it. We arrived the day of departure and I ordered a double vodka, with club. The cost for this drink was $19.00, which included an auto applied 18% gratuity. In the past the drinks on board had been priced pretty much the same as any on shore restaurant. So we buy the drink package for the week. The cost of the drink packages amounted to $531.00 per person. Or, as the sell the package, just $66.38 per day. Given that your really on the ship only seven days and eight nights this figure jumps to $75.86 per day. Again invoice states your gratuities for bar, restaurant, etc. are included in your fare, they add 18% to cover your bar bill in your drink package... The only shore excursion was to Cape Canaveral unfortunately it was booked full. We took the bus to Coco Beach. It was a rather windy day and not really a beach day. The food on this trip was not up to the past experiences. We found the portions to be small and the meal was just OK. Perfect Day Island is well done; they charge 12 service fee on any purchases. Our son really enjoyed the water park. We ate at both Chops Steak House and The Italian restaurants.On past cruises Royal gave you a credit for the dining room meal that you were passing on for the different dining experience. A credit is no longer being given. The price of the two restaurants was about what you would pay for an up scale city outing. We thought both restaurants were good but not great. Service was good, waiters were friendly. Read Less

This was my 14th cruise on Royal and my first time on the Quantum class. Overall, I was very happy with the ship. The staff was friendly and attentive. All the spaces were clean and looked modern and well-kept. The food was average to good and consistent with other Royal cruises. Royal has cut out a number of items over the years we really like. I really enjoyed this class ship. Lots of “inside” spaces to make up for bad weather or staying out of the heat. Shows were good to excellent except for the comedy juggler. We walked out on him. He was terrible. Act is 10 years old and tired. There were three ports on this trip 1) Port Canaveral, 2) Nassau and CocoCay. CocoCay lives up to its name. I thought it was great. Way better than Labadee. My kids are 14 and 17 and they had a good time. Lot of other kids to connect with. I liked Mitch the cruise director a lot. I took a spin class and thought the instructor was not good. Fitness room for spinning was very hot and instructor said the room has no air. Guest Services staff were helpful when needed. Diamond Lounge is nice because of the windows. Really liked the new cruise compass format. I would recommend the ship. Read Less

Sailed 5 times and Second Sailing on the Anthem this year and they made a very big change to App Since My last Sailing in April. For one they took away any Msg or IMsg service without notifying anyone. It will now cost you at least the min data package and with a family of 20 for the new Year Cruise we could of dished out over $2000 dollars for 8 days. They said there testing a new app on 3 other ships, but why they took something away before it was ready. Every Day there are to many announcements for passengers to contact guest services I was even woken at 5 am with announcements for passenger to contact the guest services. If they had Msg App they could just txt them. Pool side entertainment without the passengers being the entertainment is almost none during day time. Boat Band once played at pool deck for 20 min took 15 rest then played 20 more then left. Big Pool Screen TV repeats same cat dog video every 20 min Every Day, Every day. Only when Passengers are involved (sexy man, Belly Flop) is there entertainment Staff don't even try. There is no Party atmosphere around pool as you find on NCL, Disney Don't now why. April school break is coming and there is always more kids then adults maybe try and change something Get a DJ for pool side. Get back Chive tv. "The Gift" show no one understands and to long with people walking out during performance. I only went to the show for some new passengers and they asked me what was going on I could not tell them as I have never figured it out and until they said they had enough. Read Less

This was our second time on Anthem. I remembered the beds were uncomfortable the first time but this time, I ended up after three nights of sleeping in them, getting horrific back spasms that have continued. When I asked guest services for some sort of help, they were able to put extra bed comforters on top of the mattresses and that helped a little but not much. I went to the spa, desperate for help. They recommended acupuncture which cost $200! Not sure it made a difference. I called the medical office and they said I should take pain medicine. That wasn't helping, so I called again a couple days later and they said I had just missed the morning clinic and would have to wait 5 hours before the evening clinic started. I just spent the rest of the cruise sitting or in bed. A huge disappointment since we are normally walking all around the ports and/or the ship. We tried the bumper cars but the line was entirely too long. Got us discouraged from trying to do the other events in the sea Plex. Did not want to roller skate with a helmet and knee pads either. The food in the main dining room was okay but the specialty restaurants were much much better. The room attendant was nice but not as detail-oriented by any means as we had experienced in the past. I will say, it's very efficient getting on and off the ship so that is nice. We love the solarium and 270 is really cool. The shows are great as well. We planned this Cruise almost a year in advance. I had been finishing up my doctoral degree and was really looking forward to time with my kids and my husband. Unfortunately, I had to leave them in Nassa because the back spasms were so bad and then spent the rest of the next three days mostly in bed. Read Less

BAYONNE easier than going to NY but a BIG mistake so sorry I took this cruise' 1 bar of soap in cabin. No tissues towards end of cruise. Towels thread bare. Sheets & pillow cases used & ripped Put bath towels under pillows to plump them up Mattress uncomfortable & next door cabin when they closed the door hard, my room shook No one cared..I got "I'm sorry" from main office for every complaint I had.& 15% off next cruise… NEVER on RC again. Wasted time on the phone pouring my heart out & absolutely nothing was done about all the tipping I did to get things that should have come w/the cabin. RC got so cheap even w/food. My table had 3 lobster tails one night for dinner..they were inferior..& the size of my little finger. A gal in Customer Service could not even remember my name...called me Cheryl..then Rouse & sent me to the wrong cabin 3x. Even the final statement I got someone elses. Read Less

My wife and I went into this cruise with such excitement - our first completely solo cruise without our (now adult) children who have accompanied us on every one of our past cruises. A new class of ship (and just plain a NEW ship) that we were looking forward to sailing on. And a visit to a port we hadn't actually been to before and had high expectations of enjoying - CoCoCay. I'll preface this review by saying that in the grand scheme, we did have periods of enjoyment during this particular cruise, however, it was not the overwhelmingly exciting or positive experience that we've experienced with every other cruise we've ever been on, with both RCI and Carnival. We are the last ones to complain while on a cruise (having dealt with others who did so in the past), but now having returned home with the experience complete, I'm compelled to write about the experience as a whole, including it's "Misses", of which on this particular cruise, there were many. This is a long review. It is unabashedly mostly focused on the negatives because, well, there were more of then versus positives for both of us - take of that as you will, but we are not beginner cruisers, and frankly, we would simply *never* book another cruise on Anthem (or any Quantum class ship) ever again. For that matter, the whole experience with this ship, and Royal Caribbeans latest tactics to monetize seemingly everything physically possible has given us pause about even continuing to cruise with them despite being nearly Diamond status. Our check in / embarkation experience was spectacular - the new "pre approval" process (where you can do a lot of the check-in yourself at home) was a massive success, saving us time standing in lines as would otherwise be normal. From the time we walked into the terminal to the time we were headed towards the gangway was literally under 15 minutes, and we were aboard inside 20 minutes after stepping out of our Uber. If they're getting things ready to deal with the huge crowds of Oasis arriving soon, they've nailed it. The ship itself is indeed new(er) and (mostly) in excellent repair. After sailing on Explorer, Grandeur, and Enchantment (all older ships in the RCI fleet) Anthem seemed new and fresh in comparison - we were excited to be aboard! I didn't expect it to live up to our experience of the Oasis class, but being one of RCI's new flagships, I had expected it to be close. We got checked into our stateroom and met our ever-smiling stateroom attendant who was extremely friendly and anxious to help - he turned out to be of the bright spots on our cruise - a shining star - thank you Frederick! Day 1 at sea was soon upon us and we headed for the solarium to enjoy our first day after breakfast in the windjammer. It's design was much better than the typical RCI buffet setup so we were off to a good start, but after actually getting our first breakfast, we were a little underwhelmed - the much touted "new and improved" windjammer seemed understaffed, and a lot of food that should have been served hot...was, quite simply, not. But hey, we're on a cruise, relax...enjoy! It was just a one off I'm sure. Sadly, it was not. More on this later. After breakfast we headed towards our favourite place on all RCI ships - the solarium. My first impression of the solarium was that it was pleasant, if not noisy - unfortunately the makeup of the passenger load on this trip seemed to include a lot of volume challenged individuals and the usual serenity of the Solarium was often difficult to find. Not RCI's fault, but this was indeed a very packed cruise with a noisy group it seemed. It is what it is - enjoy the cruise I kept remembering - little things don't wreck the overall experience. Although my wife loves to sit and relax in a chair, read a book, and stare at the ocean, I often gravitate towards the pool and spas in the solarium. I was soon wondering who made the design choices of both - the spas were so incredibly shallow that when sitting on the seats the water was only 1/3 of the way up my chest - *many* others were commenting the same, especially those who were not first time cruisers like ourselves and had other ships to compare with. The only way I could actually get underwater up to my neck was to lay awkwardly with my knee jammed up against the hand rail to avoid sliding underwater, or to stretch out across the entire spa...and nobody wants someone else's feet that close to them. Sadly, the pool was not much more enjoyable - all 3 segments in the Solarium were only a few feet deep at most, and a new addition of a lifeguard who just stood there and persistently stared at passengers in the pool felt...odd. Others were clearly uncomfortable about it, and many commented that the clear glass at the edge of the different levels of the pools presented highly unflattering views of what few swimmers were actually in the pool to those in the pools below them, as well as other passengers walking by. Accordingly, I noticed that the "pools" (using the term loosely) were under utilized - empty or nearly empty most of the time, for that matter. Add into this whole situation the fact that the spas were so incredibly over chlorinated that it literally burned my noise when I was in them (and others were also commenting), by the end of the cruise I had only "Enjoyed" the spas three times for about 15 minutes each time. Usually I'd spend at least an hour or two a day relaxing in them. Disappointed. However, the solarium became one of our Go-To places (as always) even though the towel-on-chair reservation brigade were in full force (as usual) with seemingly no crew enforcement of the issue. But when we found a chair we enjoyed it there. Elsewhere on the ship I was left wondering about the design choices of various venues and common areas. The "Esplanade" as it's now called (Previously referred to as the Promenade on most other RCI ships with similar setups) was extremely crowded - especially so when the "Junk sales" (as much wife and I jokingly refer to them) were on in the middle of the space...which on Anthem, was basically ALWAYS. These sales have always frustrated me on every ship when they take place in an area of the ship that should be available for passenger enjoyment and free-flow of passengers from one venue to another, but on Anthem it was particularly annoying as it was seemingly non-stop, complete with the loud annoying announcements about "limited edition!!" or "one time sale!" this, that, and everything else. Want to get to the Patisserie for a coffee or a snack? Sorrentos for a slice of pizza? Or just want to actually get through the area from one end of the ship to the other to head to the Music Hall or another venue like the Schooner bar? Get ready to bump and grind shoulder to shoulder with others - I felt bad for anyone who was in a wheelchair or a scooter - it was simply unnavigable almost all waking hours and we soon started avoiding it like the plague, instead of enjoying it as another common area that should have been enjoyable. At least on other ships they pack up the sales during certain hours and the area is quiet, open, and enjoyable to sit and unwind for a few - on Anthem, it was a constant cacophony. Another public area turned into what was effectively a big retail store. The "British pub" that is common aboard RCI ships was at one end of the Esplanade, but again, the design choice of installing "grids" instead of windows meant that sound bled both ways to and from the pub. When there was a crooner or some activity going on it bled annoyingly into the Esplanade and Sorrentos. When you were in the pub trying to enjoy yourself, the annoying junk sale announcements (or just the high-volume crowds) bled over into the pub. You couldn't win in either venue. Speaking of venues, we enjoyed most of them, but unfortunately getting to and from often required running a gamut of photographers that were frankly, by the end of the week, incredibly annoying. On one walk from 270 to the Esplanade we were approached not less than THREE times - once by the "tuba" art installation exiting 270, once more in the area between the elevators (where they had the customary "Fake sunset" photos backgrounds out in full force) and once more on our way down the staircase headed to the Esplanade for a slice of pizza after a show. Honestly, is RCI not able to pay the fuel bill unless they sell enough photos every cruise? That's what it started to feel like. Worse yet, while docked in Bermuda, whilst walking down the pier we were yelled at by another Royal Caribbean photographer after (unknowingly) standing in her shot while trying to get a similar one of our own. I'm usually the last person to get into a verbal altercation with anyone, but I must admit that I had a few polite yet firm words directed at the photographer about the situation about how it was both an accident that were were there to begin with (we genuinely did not see her standing there before apparently walking into her shot), and also reminding her that we are as entitled as anyone else to take a picture with us and the ship in the background even if we weren't paying RCI for the results. This REALLY bothered me for hours afterwards, way more than it should have, but the photographer barking "Sir please move you are in my photo, I'm just doing my job, please move, I need to take this photo, please move, I'm just doing my job" is stuck in my head still as I sit and type this. So, the new "270" venue - RCI does have a hit on their hands with this style of venue close to the waterline on the stern, and with lots of glass - it reminded me of the Centrum on the vision class ships, but far better. The shows hosted there were hit and miss however - "Spectras Cabaret" left us scratching our heads a little as it was, frankly, just weird - no other way to explain it. We stayed up late one night specifically to attend the "Vistarama" which I mistakenly thought would include the use of the robotic television screens, something I had wanted to see in action. We were soon disappointed to learn that it was literally just 4 or 5 "vistas" projected onto the 270 windows, a few of which (IE, the "Waterfalls") that were just cut and paste repeated/duplicated images across the windows. It was cool to see, sure, but after about 15 minutes, particularly when the images started repeating, the venue emptied out, complete with groans from others who also expected more. And why did they want until 10:30PM to start this when 270 had sat empty for hours before? Other shows in 270 were better, but none "blew us away" as has been common on other RCI ships. I did finally get to see the robotics in action during another show - impressive. Lastly, the AV crew on Anthem have to be deaf - I was left with no other explanation on why the volume levels of every single show we attended were set at ear-piercing levels that crossed the line so badly during one show that I had to literally change seats to get further away from the speakers. We're talking eardrum damaging levels, easily. Elderly people sitting near the speakers had their hands over their ears. During downtimes between shows 270 was a serene and enjoyable venue to just sit and relax in one of the many comfortable chairs whilst watching the ships wake behind us. Until once again, as seemed to happen everywhere, the salespeople showed up (Diamonds, art, blah blah blah) and started barking on about their special deals over the PA system - serenity gone. Argh. All the passengers who were sitting and enjoying the amazing views and the quiet serenity packed up and left. Being interested to check out the non-traditional dining venues on Anthem (a result of RCI's failed "Dynamic Dining" legacy that is no longer) we attended dinner in the MDR all but 2 nights of the cruise. Our experience ranged from "What we expected" to "What the heck is going on here". On the high side, after requesting a new table in a new area our last dinner was great, albeit still not at the level we've experienced on other RCI ships. At the lowest spot, we were freshly seated at a table that was only partially set (half our utensils were missing), with no bread basket (which nobody even noticed until we asked for bread 15 minutes after being seated without anyone even acknowledging us up until that point) and the crew in the adjacent prep area seemed oblivious to the fact passengers were sitting nearby trying to enjoy an supposedly upscale dining experience, whilst they clanged and smashed plates, cutlery, and talked loudly. The assistant waiter was great. The main waiter, just passable, but not exceptional honestly. Others experienced cruisers sitting at tables nearby who we chatted up also expressed disappointment in the MDR whole experience thus far. Clearly the legacy dynamic-dining venue is not ideal for the now traditional dining service, and honestly, the small venues themselves left us yearning for the traditional MDR of other more traditional ships. I was not impressed in the whole setup honestly, although I can see how others who were on their first cruise and knew nothing else could find it quasi-upscale. We attended dinner in the Windjammer for 2 nights, and breakfast every morning. The one trend that become evident was universal in short order was that food was NOT being held at appropriate temperatures. At several points I bit into food that was basically lukewarm (after supposedly being a hot item) that I worried about basic food-safety - how much longer would this food be able to sit at this temperature before someone might get sick? Breakfast, lunch, and dinner...it was a constant trend - at least 1 or 2 items that I'd have on my plate were NOT hot when I got to our table a short time later. Food temperatures aside, I was once again reasonably disappointed in the Windjammer despite the "new and improved" promises that the Quantum Class ships boasted - it seemed to be mostly the "same old same old" for most meals short of dinner in which there was some minor rotation of new items. Lunch was equally underwhelming, although we typically ended up eating at other venues for lunch after the first few days aboard. Don't even get me started on the hockey-pucks that RCI tries to pass off as hamburgers across the ship - want an actually good burger? Get ready to shell out some money at Johnny Rockets. Speaking of which, Johnny Rockets seemed like a ghost-town most of the cruise - when will RCI drop the upcharge on this venue and make it a place that passengers can enjoy like Carnival does with "Guys Burgers", one of the more memorable (and ultra tasty!) memories our our past Carnival cruises. It seems silly that they continue to try to upcharge for a good hamburger on a cruise ship. Lobster or a premium steak in a specialty restaurant or upcharge in the MDR? Sure. A hamburger and fries? Honestly? What's next for upcharge restaurants - the hotdog stand in the SeaPlex onboard? I've always felt like being upcharged for a hamburger, despite the fact the surcharge is reasonably small, was nickle and diming passengers. It's a *hamburger*, not a steak. On the topic of food, we were once again mostly disappointed in the coffee aboard. We are admittedly both coffee snobs - a good cup of coffee in the AM is essential, and once again, it seems that RCI can't manage to brew a consistent pot of coffee aboard any of their ships - some carafes had adequate strength coffee with a passable flavour, whilst others had what could only be described as "slightly browned water" with no taste. How it is that on one of the most technologically advanced ships afloat that they can't seem to make a consistent pot of coffee dumbfounds me - we were left wondering once again if this is just another tactic to get people to spend money for the upscale coffee offerings while onboard to get a few more dollars out of our pockets? For us, it worked - the onboard Starbucks was a bastion of actually enjoyable coffee. Another score for our experience with Carnival however - their standard coffee aboard was not only fairly consistently enjoyable, but actually consistent around the entire ship from pot to pot. Our port days were a mix of mediocrity despite our excitement for CocoCay - given as how Labadee has always been one of our hands-down past favourites, we were both excited to see what CocoCay was all about. Port Canaveral is far from a particularly desired port for us, especially when it's a truncated day to begin with since we didn't arrive until lunch. I opted to do the Kennedy Space Centre excursion which was actually fairly priced and well run. The excursion was excellent aside from the reality that we were only given basically 4-ish hours at KSU itself before the busses were departing back to the ship - not even remotely close to adequate, but I did manage to squeeze in a ton of things in that time window. Nassau was, well....Nassau. It seems like the city has really cleaned itself up to some extent after the hurricane. We walked to and from the Queens Staircase from the ship, stopped in at McDonalds to have a drink and use the WiFi for a bit, and then returned to the ship. We had considered not even getting off the ship as we sometimes do in Nassau, but we wanted some exercise and amazingly enough hadn't actually seen the Queens Staircase during one of our many previous visits to the island, so it gave us something new to do. CocoCay, well....I wanted so badly to enjoy it. The actual island is incredible - for anyone who's been to Labadee, it was similar, yet different - the inland beaches and fresh water pool was great, albeit COLD, which probably explained why there wasn't that many people in it. TONS of beach chairs and umbrellas setup when we arrived, and big cozy comfy hammocks squirrelled away here and there. We got off the ship, found the nearest beach, got a hammock and a chair, and started relaxing. It was awesome! Until it wasn't - about an hour later the winds shifted and the exhaust from the ship started to blow down onto the beach area - for anyone who's ever smelled the exhaust from a ships engine, it's rather acrid because of the heavy bunker oil the engines burn, coupled with it's sulphur content. I roused my wife and said we had to move as the smell was giving me a headache and irritating my throat and sinuses - she agreed it wasn't exactly pleasant either. We moved to a different part of the island outside the area the exhaust was fouling, found two idyllic hammocks under some palm trees, climbed in, and promptly went back to relaxing again. Until the winds shifted again an hour or two later, and you guessed it....ship exhaust blowing back at us again. My wife was sleeping, but I got up and boarded the tram and toured the entire facility hoping to find another place to escape the fumes, but had no luck. I returned to my wife, said that the stink was really bothering me again, and about an hour later (after grabbing some food) we were headed back to the ship, having spent maybe a total of 4 or 5 hours ashore. I'm left wondering if our experience was one of two things - an unfortunate day during which the prevailing winds were abnormal, resulting in the exhaust blowing a direction it wouldn't normally go...or an epic lack of planning on behalf of RCI not taking prevailing winds into consideration. But it would certainly weigh heavily on any willingness to visit CocoCay again. I was so incredibly bummed after this being the one port I was so excited to visit - our previous trips to Labadee have been amongst the most amazing times we've had on cruises. Back on the topic of the ship. Out stateroom was excellent - we really enjoyed the new look of the Quantum class ships, and the bathroom and shower setup were both nice. As we had a "Guarantee" balcony stateroom we ended up being directly below the pool deck, however either the engineering of this modern ship, or the layout of the deck above meant that we heard virtually nothing at all above us, which was great, and rather unexpected - I had packaged earplugs just in case, but never needed them. Some noise was evident from the overhang above our balcony, but it wasn't terrible. As mentioned earlier, our stateroom attendant was most excellent - the *only* crew member we ended up tipping extra to. On the downside, RCI decided to not clean the balconies until well into our cruise (in the latter half of our second port day) meaning that almost every hour we were actually able to enjoy sitting on our balcony (which wasn't many as the temperatures weren't exactly spectacular for much of the cruise) left us staring through a thick crust of salt. I was glad we ended up only paying $100 over and above our previously booked interior for our balcony guarantee, as otherwise I would have struggled to feel like we would have got our moneys worth, but no complaints in the grand scheme. On the topic of the crew, we were again underwhelmed. Most food venues seemed chronically understaffed, particularly the windjammer - food stations were left unattended for periods of time (my wife was left standing for 4-5 minutes waiting for someone to cut some chicken for her at the carving table in the Windjammer during dinner one evening before eventually giving up), during some meal services food trays were empty in some areas (Breakfast was problematic in that regard), and tables were left dirty for extended periods of time - to the point where many passengers ended up stacking other peoples dirty dishes and such simply to get a place to sit. Many food venues had only 1 or 2 crew staffing large areas, leading to lineups. Again, we are not new cruisers, and this was *not* our experience on any other cruise with both RCI and Carnival - there was something seriously wrong on this particular cruise. The crew themselves also seemed tired and disengaged. I get it, working on a cruise ship is far from easy. Passengers can be, and often are, jerks at worst, or sometimes needy and cantankerous at their best. The hours are long. But once again, we are not new cruisers, and the crew on Anthem in particular seemed just indifferent in many areas. It wasn't the rule (many were friendly, smiling, and enjoyable to engage with), but many others were, well...not so much. We both try exceedingly hard while cruising to be the "non jerk" type of passengers when we vacation anywhere, cruising included - we go out of our way to be polite and pleasant to crew, staying patient and friendly, smiling, saying thanks whenever it's even slightly due, saying "Hello!" with a smile in the stateroom corridors and public places, and generally trying to avoid being a pain in the bum that the crew so often deals with, so honestly, it wasn't anything we were doing. But is this crew just burned out? Or is there poor management? Who knows. It did not live up to ANY of our previous experiences with Royal Caribbean, not even close. Entertainment? Mixed feelings. My wife loved 2 of the broadway shows she attended. Spectras Cabaret was just bizarre however - some cool effects and such, but the whole underlying premise was tough to digest. The new "Crazy Quest" (replacing "The Quest" as it was called previously) was pretty much standard fare for RCI, nothing particularly new and exciting for anyone who's attended it 4 or 5 (or a million) times, aside from a new name. I was left wondering what the heck was going on with the scheduling of many activities however, with long gaps in the evenings with little doing, only to have several activities squished so close together that passengers were left feeling that they could attend one or the other, but probably not both...if the wanted to get seats, anyways. Unlike many other ships were shows and such would be setup so that both early and late dining room seatings would have an opportunity to attend different shows at different times, on Anthem many shows were one time only, or worse yet, nearly overlapping. Drink pricing? It's a good thing neither my wife nor I are big drinkers - the unlimited alcohol package has zero appeal to us, but on the one evening during a show in 270 when we each decided to enjoy a beverage, one beer for myself and a strawberry daiquiri for my wife was $27!? The Daquiri was of course little more than the standard fare premix blended with ice and the rum just poured over the top of it in a big pool. No effort to blend or mix it. Not even a tiny piece of fruit or anything to dress it up. The bartender seemed put out that he was being asked to even make it. Had to ask for a straw. I got back to my chair only to find out that the beer was mostly warm...but the show had started and I wasn't about to make 20 people in our aisle move twice for me to trudge back and exchange it. Again, just more disappointment. And lastly, the monetization has reached insane levels it seems. Photographers...everywhere, and not all would take "No thanks" for an answer. Junk constantly on sale in the promenade plugging up foot traffic with it's customary loud annoying announcements. The broad selection of desert and snack items that you used to be able to enjoy as complementary in various venues across the ship are now gone, replaced by either cookies (oh, yay), or a small selection of slices of what were very clearly previously frozen cakes and such. But you can still buy some of the premium desert options at the Patisserie in the Promenade if you want, but be prepared to stand in a long line, and pay up for the privilege. We were hassled to book up-sell dining options during dinner in the Windjammer. The galley tour that was often free in the past on many other RCI ships was now an additional cost item for which we were also hassled to book during another meal. It just seemed to go on and on. We tired of it. Seriously. It was ANNOYING. On a positive note, the new Royal Caribbean app is excellent - we found it a useful tool for everything we could possibly need whilst on the ship, from booking dinner reservations to seeing the lineup of activities and such on the ship that day. It seemingly completely replaced the need for the printed "Cruise Compass" that is customarily delivered to you stateroom every night, but that still arrived regardless - it seemed like a waste of paper as we just tossed it most nights. I just wish that RCI would institute a messaging option through the app so that people could stay in touch with each other - I'd gladly have paid a few dollars for the privilege. The disembarkation process at the conclusion of our cruise was quick and fast - we opted for the 7AM self-disembark which helped I'm sure. Lets not get started on the disaster that was our Uber trip back to our hotel (to retrieve our car), but that's another story, and certainly not RCI's fault. I'm seriously losing faith in Uber here. ;) In the end, as my title suggests, we were quite frankly left completely underwhelmed with our cruise. I sit back now and ask myself if our expectations were just too high, or perhaps we were just so excited that even an average cruise would have seemed mediocre, but I genuinely feel that neither of those things came into play - it really just WAS an underwhelming cruise. Our excitement about the Quantum class ships is gone, and frankly, if this experience of ultra-monetization of everything possible points towards the future of what RCI is going to offer across their fleet, they will be seeing less of us, or we will simply go elsewhere completely - we are not the sort of cruisers who feel obligated to any sort of brand loyalty, and no, even the perks of our increasing Crown and Anchor status don't mater that much to us - Being able to sit in the Diamond Lounge or having reserved seats at a show in a special aisle doesn't cut it for us if - we are looking for an enjoyable overall experience. Sadly, Anthem did not deliver. Read Less

We wanted to try crusing on a newer larger ship so we picked the Anthem of the sea. They had the best shows we have ever seen on a ship. The ship did not ever seem overcrowded except at the Windjammer buffet on day one. That is to be expected though. The dining room service was not great. My wife's breakfast was served to her after I finished my meal on day two. On day one my escargot was not hot, not warm, it was room temperature. We got desert two hours after we day down. We gave up and only went back to the dining room on lobster night. The buffet staff were amazing. Clearing tables quickly and serving drinks as well. On other RC ships one could get flavored drinnks any time but on this ship only water, coffee, and tea were available when the buffet closed. If you don't want to buy a drink card take some kind of powder drink to add to your water for some flavor. We will go back to sail on a RC ship, but maybe a smaller one. 13270 Read Less

Second time sailing on Anthem, first in May 2018 and then a second time in December 2018. Our first cruise was on the 9 night cruise to Bermuda + Caribbean and this time around we did a 7 night Bahamas. The primary reason we took this cruise was to escape the cold weather, and to check out Perfect Day. I’ve been eyeing it up since it opened, but didn’t want to fly to Florida for a 3/4 night cruise. So when this cruise came up at a super affordable price, I pounced. Perfect Day was an absolutely perfect day. I could of spent 3 whole days there getting to see different parts of the island. Even three months later I dream about being there. I would love if Royal could do more offerings out of NJ with Perfect Day but no Port Canaveral/Nassau. The first time I sailed on Anthem I was not an absolute fan, I thought it was very nice but lacking in some way. This time around I absolutely can’t wait to get back on the ship. All the staff are amazing, and they do try to get to know you as best as you can. Special shoutout to Melanie and Janice in Bolores were my favorite. The gentleman who work at the Starbucks are also amazing. The ship is absolutely superb when it comes to sailing out of New Jersey in the winter. The weather will be cold the first day, and can be chilly the second so having the solarium and the other indoor pool makes this ship perfect for these cruises. Other than that 270 is a wonderful mixed use space, that makes the perfect spot for reading a book, getting a drink or watching a movie. The ship has many open use spaces for guests to just relax. You don’t need to worry about showing up to events 20 minutes before they start to get a good seat. There is always room at a bar to grab a drink and listen to the band. The Royal Swedes are the best, they happen to be on Anthem both times we were. The activities on the ship are pretty good. The free app makes it super easy to see all the goings on. It can get kinda repetitive, typically they will run trivia in the afternoon but just a few different kinds. Night time was better with a wide array of music, and shows. I agree with others it’s time to change out the shows. The Gift needs to go. The balcony cabin is the best out there. Royal really does make every inch of the space count. Plenty of space to hang up/fold all your clothes, shoes, etc. We booked a guaranteed balcony and ended up getting an obstructed view (6710) but for the money we saved it was well worth it. Not too much to see. My only complaint is dinner service in the MDR wasn’t so great as the last time I sailed on Anthem (May 2018). Our server seemed extremely busy, but his assistant barely did any work. Then there was a problem with the pace of dinner. It took forever to get the appetizers. Then the entree would come right away, and then desert would take forever. Also the food quality wasn’t quite up to the standard that I expected. Slightly disappointed with that. Leaving out of Cape Liberty is the absolute best way to start/end a cruise. We arrived at the port around 10:30, and there was a short line for unloading area. Not too bad, maybe 10 minutes or so of waiting. Dropped my plus one off, parked at the garage. This is the best part, I started a stop watch on my phone from the minute I started walking down the parking garage’s stairs, to the moment I got onto the ship...15 minutes. 15 minutes to get through security, check in and walk onto the ship. We were on board before boarding was even supposed to start. I’ve sailed out of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Manhattan and never once had such an easy experience. I will never sail out of Manhattan because that terminal is a mess, and the other cruise lines can’t do check in like Royal. Getting off the ship was just as easy. I think from the moment our group was called to the minute we made it through customs it took all of 10 minutes. We were back on 78 within minutes. Overall Anthem is a great ship for people of all ages. It has something to please the young, the old, and the young at heart. Read Less

We sailed on the Anthem of the Seas on Dec. 1, 2019 in stateroom 10702 which is a balcony room. The room was a decent size with lots of room to store your things. The washroom was tiny as was the balcony. The beds were not comfortable at all. Embarkation: We got to the ship at 10:30 am and from taxi to ship I think it took us 20 minutes. They scanned our set sail pass and we walked right onto the ship. Our room wasn't ready until 1:30 pm so we went to 270 for some lunch and walked around the ship to get a feel for it. We made our bookings for Jamie's Italian and Chops Grill on the app but because the app was glitchy had to go and speak to someone to make sure that our reservations were actually made. We went to the main dining room twice but due to dietary restrictions we decided to eat dinner in the Windjammer most nights. There was more of a choice for me. In the past, RCCL had a large menu in the MDR, but recently they have cut it way down to the point, if you don't eat meat or chicken or shellfish there isn't a lot of choice. We loved Jamie's Italian. The food and the server were so good that if it didn't cost extra we would have eaten there every night. Chops grill the food was excellent there as well. The food in the Windjammer was average mass produced food. They suffered from overcrowding and organizational issues. One of the nicest free places to eat was the Solarium Bistro. The manager there went out of his way to make our dining experience great. The food was excellent and our server really did a great job as well. The pizza at Sorrento's has improved greatly!!! Except on the first night when there are so many people trying to eat pizza at the same time, they couldn't keep up with the demand. Entertainment: There were 3 main shows, The Gift was very good. The singing and dancing was good. We will rock you was excellent. I think it was better than the play we saw on land. The singing and dancing was amazing!!! Then we saw Spectra's Cabaret and it was ok. The little weird. Service: The crew on the ship seemed like they were relatively new to this ship. I suspect that they just had a large changeover of crew. Many of the crew were just being trained. The big weak link was in the Windjammer and MDR. In both places the crew did not seem as polished and confident that we were use to. Our cruise took us to Orlando, Nassau and Coco Cay. In Orlando we did the Ron Jon shuttle to their store and then we walked around to the shops in the area. It was worth it for us to take this tour just for the shopping. In Nassau we didn't bother to do a tour as we had been to this island many times before. In Coco Cay we were suppose to do a kayaking tour, but because of big waves and wind our tour was cancelled. We just hung out at the beach and by the very large pool and had a great day. The Anthem of the Seas was a very nice ship, but we really missed the mini-golf and also there was no waterslide either. We did enjoy the bumper cars, roller skating, escape room, and all of the other activities that the ship has to offer. I'm not sure we would go on the Quantum class of ship again as we prefer the Freedom class better. Read Less

We got a great deal for this cruise and decided to go. We also wanted to try the private island and that did not disappoint at all! The ship was great 2nd time on Anthem for us. Staff was fine except for a few that we learned were brand new so asking questions that can't be answered was a pain. The Windjammer was very good and the food choices were good too. Finding seats at peak times can be a problem. Also there needs to be more table cleaning staff. We had to remove plates from the previous diners to sit a few times. Entertainment was great. The shows were all very enjoyable even though we saw them before. We did one shore excursion in Nassau that was fun. It was the Seaworld Explorer. 1.5 hrs and reasonably priced. Good for all ages too. The private island was perfect. There are plenty of lounges all over whether you want to sit by the pool or beach. No need to run off the ship when you dock to find the perfect spot. Plenty of bar staff constantly asking if you need service all day long. We had lunch there and it was fine. We got burgers from one spot on the beach. We didn't go to the water park, just relaxed all day. The pool is huge and you never feel crowded anywhere you go. Read Less

Absolutely LOVED this ship!! it was sold out for thanksgiving week - we had 2 connecting balconies but the rooms were on the 6th deck, right above the smoking area on deck 5 =( Booooo... we would often get a waft of smoke up to our room, so we really didn't use the balconies too much. it was weird cause we weren't looking straight down into the water like previous balcony rooms but all good. we did my time dining and it was amazing. the service was impeccable, food was obviously made by skilled chefs who love their job. we know the hustle involved and even with those long days, the staff went out of their way for us - at every turn. even giving us indian food at dinner without being asked, and telling us the night they had indian food in WJ - - and that was some legit indian food for real. never had a bad meal. Jamies italian was equally impressive and Wonderland was incredible. What a great experience. our room steward was Duvall who was awesome to deal with. service-minded and just a fun guy, caring, genuine. we totally LOVED the entertainment - all the shows were amazing. these cast members are so talented and work so hard - i just wish that the crowd gave them more noise for their efforts. WE WILL ROCK YOU was better than i expected, THE GIFT had some great covers of music tunes, and SPECTRA's cabaret was very very weird but the cast is amazing. Two70 room is simply incredible. the best use of space on the ship! Went there and chilled out a few times between shows, nice cafe attached, the sound in that room is sick!! the robotic-arm TV's were so cool, with all of the back screens in use.. sound quality was better than a movie theater. I would definitely recommend using this space. it took us 25minutes to get on the ship once we walked into the port - AMAZING!! it took us 20 minutes to get off the boat at the end!! So hassle-free !! Perfect Day was incredible. we had a cabana and access to waterpark and that was such a fun day. they need to spend more time in port at Perfect Day for sure...8-9hrs was not enough! Ifly was so incredible as well. but it's only one minute in the chamber =( .. what an exhilarating ride! Read Less

We booked this cruise because due to a job move, our summer cruise had to be postponed. We usually can only vacation during July/August, but this time we had a window of time open around Thanksgiving that we don't normally have so this cruise fit in perfectly. We're a family of 5 with three children between the ages of 10 and 14. Lucky for us, there were connecting balcony cabins available, so we took advantage of this since we work much better in two rooms than crammed into one (extra bathroom alone is worth it). We also purchased the Deluxe drink package for my husband and I and the Refreshment package for the kids. Anthem is a gorgeous ship. From the first look driving into port to the interior, it is a sight to behold. Everything was kept sparkling clean, there were handwashing/sanitizing stations aplenty and the staff was wonderful. Everyone was quick to serve and seemed happy. Another wonderful thing is how the Casino smoke doesn't affect much around the Casino itself due to its design. The shows on this ship were amazing. We saw all three - The Gift, We Will Rock You, and Spectra's Cabaret. Each one was fantastic - the singers, the dancers, the overall production. Huge kudos to all involved with these. We had a wonderful MDR experience during this cruise. We didn't even intend on eating in the MDR every night, but we ended up there anyway because we didn't want to miss out. Our waitstaff was probably the best I've ever had in any restaurant anywhere and I am not kidding. Even the manager was fantastic. Everything from knowing our names and preferred drinks by the second day to bringing our table extra things "just to try" to playing around with our kids teaching napkin folding, dancing, etc. Our MDR experience was by far the best part of our cruise. The ports we visited were nice - we went to Kennedy Space Center at Port Canaveral, booked an all inclusive pass at Melia in Nassau and did the waterpark at Coco Cay. I highly recommend the water park if you have kids that enjoy this type of activity. I'm not as big of a thrill seeker as my kids and husband are, but I had a great time at the wave pool while they tackled the biggest slides. Now for the not so great for us: The indoor pool is next to a smoking section door so every time the door opens a huge waft of smoke rolls in. Gross. Bar service was bad. The bartenders themselves weren't terrible people, but I swear no one knows how to make any of their drinks. You can order one drink and every single bartender will make it differently. Drinks that stated they had certain ingredients clearly did not or they were substituted. The complimentary food options other than the MDR were lackluster. I was very turned off by the Windjammer due to the crowd alone. It is very difficult to find a place to sit down and many times we gave up and just took our plates back to our rooms. Very disappointing. Also, somehow the eggs on the buffet were always disgusting. Didn't matter if they were scrambled, in an omelet, etc they all tasted nasty. How?? The Coke Freestyle machines were constantly out of service or simply out of most of the drinks. This is unacceptable when it is part of the appeal of the Refreshment package. There also needs to be more machines spread around the ship. The Piano Bar was a total snoozefest. We enjoy a lively party in the piano bar with a more adult atmosphere in the evening and this just did not come close. The kids clubs were boring and unorganized. They had a few scheduled activities at the Sea Plex, but they couldn't keep up with all the kids onboard and there wasn't enough to keep the kids busy for the length of the cruise. And most of the things on the schedule were sports related - mostly dodgeball and the like. What about kids that aren't into sports? By the end, my kids were hanging out in their room on their phones. There were way too many people - particularly children - on this cruise. This is part of our learning experience. I don't think we will ever cruise over a holiday again. I believe we were told there were around 1500 kids on this cruise. I had three of my own, yes, but when there are that many onboard, they are not all in a "kids club" or in the Sea Plex (which didn't even offer all the activities and many times the lines were insane)- they are everywhere! All hours of the day infants were crawling on the music hall floor, people brought their kids to the ADULT comedy show, the "adults only" silent disco, and they were just running rampant everywhere all hours of the day and night. Also, forget the Solarium being "adults only" - kids there too. Especially since Royal somehow considers a 16 year old an adult. Maybe it's just me, but there's something wildly inappropriate and uncomfortable with a 16 year old being in a hot tub *topless* (yeah, that happened) with adults. My husband and I felt there was no place or time on this cruise to "be an adult" without having to worry about other peoples kids. We generally felt like we were 10 years too young and 10 years too old for the demographic of this cruise. It was bizarre. There were just too many people in general. And some say summer is crowded? Oh no, nothing compared to Thanksgiving week. People regularly packed the Royal Esplenade and you seriously had to fight your way through to get anywhere. If you are lucky enough to get to your destination on time and find a seat (haha), don't you dare get up from that seat because there are so many people in a small space, you're not coming back to that spot. Like I said - learning experience. The other chunk of learning for us is the time of year/location. We all agreed that we won't sail out of the north again unless it is summer. We had beautiful balconies, but could not use them for the first few days and last few days of the cruise. It was just too cold. The days we could use them were port days so our use then was limited anyway. Same goes for the pools, or any other outside deck activity. We're just not a fan of that. We love sea days and spending time outside. We knew November would be a roll of the dice and the odds just weren't in our favor of nice weather. I know a lot of this sounds negative, but we did have a nice time. Like I said, Anthem is great, the shows, the main dining, the trip to Coco Cay... we had a wonderful holiday. But, cold weather cruising on a huge ship packed with kids on holiday break is not for us. Read Less

Hi everyone. We (2) have cruised Anthem 5x now, and this week we were joined by family and friends for a total of 8 of us—5 adults, two 10 year olds and one 13 year old. We arrived at the port around 10:45am. Short line to drop our luggage and then parked in the deck. Take your ticket with you and pay as soon as the ship gets back; you need the paid receipt to exit the parking deck. Inside the port upon arrival it was different from our last time there (2018) as now the check-in people are beyond the Security area only. If you had checked in on the Royal app, you could go to the very short expedited line for security. Found a check-in person after security and the people in front of us had not printed their boarding pass and there were some wifi issues, so their check-in was delayed as a paper boarding pass had to be printed. We had paper copies as a backup and it worked fine. Keep it handy as you will be asked to show it several times before you’re on the ship. Still, it is a quick and painless process at this port for the most part. Headed to the Windjammer and it wasn’t too crowded yet. Found a nice spot at the back of the room and all of us found food we enjoyed. Wandered around the ship to wait for our cabins to be ready. Some signed up for iFly. Cabins were ready around 1:15 I think and we dropped our bags off. Love the balcony cabin design and its ample storage space. We had the larger, angled balcony which was very nice although a bit tunnel-like. I didn’t like that there was a crew door across from us and it was quite noisy in the mornings with room service deliveries all coming through that door, and luggage the last night. Cabin is still in good condition and everything worked well. Love that the one light in the bathroom stays on to act as a nightlight. We did sailaway from the bar area in Two70 since it was cold outside. We love this spot on this ship, in fact, Two70 is so beautiful. Note there is a library on the top level. CC M&M was in Music Hall at 10am first sea day. There was a raffle for a few RC items and I brought a few donated CC items I handed out upon arrival, and also two CC tote bags to raffle off but it seems the host gave both to one person. Then bingo was setting up before our 30 min M&M was over so there wasn’t any time left for us to mingle. I believe a slot pull was done after this. We ate at the WJ for breakfast, lunch and dinner several times, a few times in the MDR with mytime dining although we had reservations for 2 of the 3 nights we ate there. Lobster night was on day 7, and our request for an oval or round table for our group of 8 was not honored and we ended up again at two 4-tops which is not the most sociable way to enjoy eating together. That was disappointing, even though I recognized that it was a request that may not be honored. Our dinner for eight that night took way too long—we were there for over two hours. We watched other people arrive, eat and leave in that amount of time. Not sure what took so long but even when we sat down it had to be 10 minutes till servers came over to us. Was not a great impression for those with us who were new to RC. And the talk about the survey. . .I wish DR staff would stop telling us how to rate them. This seems to happen every RC cruise. The last night we all ate at the Solarium Bistro which is much faster since appy and side dishes are buffet style with your main course off a menu. We all enjoyed the food for the most part. I think if you don’t find something you like onboard, you are too picky! When my bro and SIL tried to use one of their drink BOGO in the dining room it seemed to cause a tremendous amount of confusion to the point where they said forget it. One server said they had used it, another said they had not. I told them to go to GS to straighten out, but the next day when they ordered wine in the Solarium, the server brought the 2 wines and told them he used their BOGO. So clearly it was there but DR staff could not figure that out. Shows we went to were We Will Rock You which is excellent, although a bit too long in our opinion. Performers and musicians are fabulous. Spectra’s Cabaret I see every time on Anthem, if not twice. Just a great show and I love the songs. We skipped the Gift. There is a new kind of show called Red in Two70 which is dancers and a dj, and guest dancing as well. Resurrection, the Journey tribute band, was onboard and they were great. The guitarist Alex is excellent too. There were people performing in Bolero’s when we walked by a few times and they seemed very good for the short time we heard them. Speaking of Bolero’s, no 2for1 drink happy hour was offered on this cruise as we’ve enjoyed on past Anthem cruises. Booked NorthStar onboard and even went up a second time the second to last day since there was hardly anyone for the next trip up. This is why I tell people on CC not to panic if you can't make a reservation before you board. We always get to go on NorthStar without a reservation. We did use the Royal app onboard w/o paying for internet. Came in handy to see what was going on and also what our balance $ was. The kids all enjoyed spending time in the SeaPlex which is such a wonderful area of the ship. They didn’t go to the kids club at all. Games, bumper cars, skating, soccer, and basketball were all held there at scheduled times. Yes, the out pool areas are very crowded on sunny, warm days. Wish this ship had water slides. Fitness center is great. Lots of nice machines. One of us did the Thermal spa: Not once did another person enter the smallish dry sauna during the many visits (at least once each day, usually 8 AM & 8 PM) with temperatures ranging from 104 in the AM to 140 in the PM. The wet sauna was preferred by the guests and the tropical/cooling mist shower was also very nice but watch the tropical setting as it overheats slightly shortly after startup before settling into a more manageable temperature. The heated loungers are nice; the room is on the cool side, so bring a robe/towel. No one uses the laughably oversized complimentary men’s shorts. Plenty of towels available in the locker rooms and sauna area and plain and fruited cold water in a gathering area on the right before the locker rooms. Bring footwear as well as the wet sauna floor is hot, hot, hot. No Captains/Officer Q&A this cruise. Went to scarf tying class in Bvlgari which was cool—learned a new way to tie an oblong scarf. We went to the Top Tier party—in the theater this time—but same old boring drinks being passed—cheap sparkling wine, red wine, chardonnay or rum punch. I remember when I could get a cocktail made easily. Alex the guitarist was playing on the stage. We adults enjoyed some of the trivia (name that tune) and won some of the RC keychains. Always fun to participate, but it seems RC is really getting cheap with the prizes. I liked the NorthStar bag in a bag as that’s useful. Or some variety. Seemed keychains were given out for everything. Host of the 70s disco tunes trivia guy, Raz, was entertaining, but among his “rules” was his song names were right. While I realize he probably was not yet born when disco was out, if you’re going to say we have to play by your rules, at least have the song titles accurately. We also noticed that some of the games we watched were not fair to all players—some ended up getting more than one chance and some were not given that chance. So don't take the games too seriously. The prizes are surely not worth it! Karaoke is always fun to watch and some singers are so good—even little kids surprised us with songs they knew. In PORT CANAVERAL we rented a car and went to Kennedy Space Center. In NASSAU we went to the beach at Atlantis. Bought the beach pass online from Atlantis ahead of time and took a taxi there for $4pp each way. COCO CAY. Was our first visit there and we like it better than Labadee. It really was a perfect day. There were some areas of sea grass and a stingray was swimming near us. The food they served was a better variety than other cruiselines do at their private islands. Even had ice cream there! Enjoyed swimming out to the docks. There are some vendors selling local wares too. We look forward to going there again sometime. The family did the waterpark passes and had a fun time. Why do they scan our bags when we come back onboard from CocoCay—it is THEIR island! We had 2 sea days to FL and 2 back and we always found fun things to do. It was disappointing that no one but us showed for the Martini clinic so they wouldn’t do it. Later in the week we went to a Mojito “demonstration” at Bolero’s that did not show a “$” next to it as other events with additional cost do, and when the hostess told the maybe 12 who had shown up for it that it was $25, most left. They won’t do the sampling unless they have 5 people, and 5 did not stay so I had a mojito anyway. But it was disappointing that they made that error in the Compass as to cost causing them to have insufficient attendance. We did the Wines From Around the World which we had pre-purchased, and it was good and fun. Tried out our 3 free (Emerald C&A) spins in the casino but didn’t win. Sadly the return home day arrived. Ship was along the dock with lines tied by 6:30. We were in line to leave at 6:50, and in our car to head home at 7:10am. Everyone went through the facial recognition screening at customs/immigration and it was super quick. Cape Liberty has their act together which is great. Other random thoughts: I heard people complaining about the mattresses but we slept just fine. Carpet is coming up in various places and that will need attention so people don’t trip. When you arrive at CocoCay, wait about 30 minutes until the rush is over and walk right off the ship. Plenty of space from which to choose to sit on the island. Get to Two70 early for any event there if you want good seat. Please speak quietly on your balcony especially at night and early in the morning. And please—no yelling and fighting! Was a fun trip on a fabulous ship! Read Less

Avid cruiser in my 40's with a teen child. We have been on 10+ cruises, this a first on Anthem. Was worried after reading a few of the last reviews, however, we were thrilled with the experience. We were fortunate to be in a suite which provided some add'l perks that were well worth it. The higher pricing gave us the following: All meals in Coastal Kitchen (way better than pushing around the Windjammer and trying to find a seat). Concierge lounge VIP seating for shows Cocktail hours I can't say we ate at the main DR, but, everyone we spoke to love the food. Add'l info on specialty dining: Wunderland- eh, experience was interesting, but our 14 yo was not adventurous and meal took 3 hours. Chops- We loved every meal there and staff was excellent Izumi- fantastic sushi and great staff Jamie's- ate there once, decent, but a little bland. Vintages- we were there everday and Z (manager) was great and fantastic wines Coastal Kitchen (suite dining)- great food and service Excursions- FL- Did Cocoa beach and Ron Jon shopping Nassua- on ship Coco Cay- Wow, really impressed and plenty of seating to lounge by pools or beach. Our daughter did the water park and loved it. Entertainment: Spectra Cabaret- Fantastic show and entertainment We will rock you- Great singing, a bit too long though Lou Gazzarra- Wow, he was an amazing singer with a humbling story to fame. Lastly, we will definitely go back. Best cruise we've had in years! Read Less

We went on Anthem from Nov 16 to Nov 23rd due to a stormy weather situation our itinerary was changed twice. We spent two days docked at Bayonne then we were scheduled to go to Bermuda then that was changed to Coco Cay for one day. Everyone was given the opportunity to disembark and get full credit towards anther cruise at a future time. Some people left as late as Monday morning. With all of this we had a great time felt badly for those who flew in and with children who could not reschedule their cruise. We danced we ate used the Solarium saw the shows the entertainers enjoyed the Diamond club met a lot of wonderful people had a perfect day at Coco Cay. We made the best of this situation. We will go on Anthem again for sure our cabin was great food at main dining room, Solarium Bistro and Windjammer was very good Entertainment was great enjoyed the guest comedians especially Mike Pace.Service is always excellent on Anthem Read Less

this cruise was very unusual because of the weather. this was our 6th time on Anthem of the seas. In 1995 when we sailed Celebrity Horizon to Bermuda we were caught in a weather system for 48 hours. The waves were crashing over the front of the ship and all outside areas were closed off. We were listing the entire time, and most people were very sick. Having been through an experience like this once, we had no desire to repeat it. We were very thankful for the decisions that were made to keep us safe and comfortable. Captain Henrik did an excellent job of presenting the weather situation and explaining in detail how and why the decisions were being made. He also made himself available to answer questions. We stood by and watched as some people were very rude to him, and he treated them very respectfully in return. What a class act! Of course it wasn't the best itinerary but when you choose to cruise, you know that the weather is a crap shoot, and anything can happen. It can happen on a land vacation too! The ship was in mint condition every where I looked. She is being well cared for. I would cruise this ship just to see We Will Rock You! The cast is excellent and so are the musicians. We were on traditional dining first seating and had excellent service in the grande. Steven and Kadeem were the best. We had an excellent stateroom attendant, Daisy, and she worked extra hard to help us with a problem. the problem- when we entered our cabin for the first time, the perfume smell was overpowering. We immediately opened our balcony door all the way to try to air out the room. When our 'Daisy' was available we talked to her about this. She said it was something the previous passengers did in the room. possible spilled perfume? She offered to bring in some machine (ionizer?) to get rid of the smell. She set that up, along with the door open the first night, and we stayed out of the room. Unfortunately that didn't help. Second day at our request she thoroughly vacuumed under the closet where I could see there was a build up of dust and lint. that also didn't help. We were still keeping our patio doors open, and our room was very cold. We were docked in Bayonne at the time. Third day she brought in her supervisor. He offered us another room. We made the mistake of saying NO. Because #1 we liked Daisy, #2 we had an oversize balcony, and we thought the problem could/would be fixed. The third day the carpeting and furniture were all shampooed. there was a blower on all day to dry carpet. With all the air moving in the room, and now the shampoo smell too, it was hard to tell if the original perfume smell was removed. By this day I developed a nasty sore throat and headache. Will never know if it was a result of perfume smell, having doors open in the cold, or just a plain old cold. Once we were in warmer weather we kept the doors open all the time and it seemed like the perfume was less. Problem was when we headed home, the wind was blowing on our side of the ship, we couldn't keep the doors open anymore. And as soon as we closed up and the air/heat ran, the original perfume smell was back, strong as ever. And now with the sore throat and headache, I was REALLY minding it. Last night we finally did ask to move because I was feeling so bad and the smell was making it worse. Daisy got her supervisor back and he honestly didn't know what else he could do to fix it. He got us the keys to another room. He was very nice and sorry that he couldn't fix the problem for us. We had already put out our bags and just moved with out overnight bags. Just a few cabins down the hall. Can't tell you how it felt to walk into a warm room that did not have any odor! Like HEAVEN. I just spent the last night sitting in bed. To this day I am still having sinus problems unlike any cold I have ever had. It does make me wonder where that smell was coming from and what it was. I wish I knew how it was for the next people in our room. Lesson learned. If this would ever happen again, I would move immediately if possible... Read Less

Took this cruise with my best friend who was my cabin mate, and my husband and young adult daughter who were cabin mates. We chose the cruise because we wanted to sail on one of the larger ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet and Bayonne is just a bit over three hours drive for us. We had expedited arrival and embarkation was quick and smooth. From parking the car to being on the ship was about 10 minutes! THE SHIP ~ the ship is really nice, but I was disappointed in the Royal Esplanade and this was a personal thing. I was comparing to the Royal Promenade on the Voyager class ships which in my opinion has a much bigger WOW factor. That being said, it was the hub of activity and the variety of shops and venues was nice. We especially liked the Music Hall. CABIN ~ we had two balcony cabins; one forward and one aft which made for a lot of good exercise walking the corridor. Our aft cabin steward, Imade, was absolutely fabulous. Our two simple requests of ice each day, and extra bath towels were met and he was always friendly. Hubby's cabin steward was efficient as well, but just not as friendly. DINING ~ We enjoyed breakfast and lunch at the Windjammer Buffet on most days and there was a nice variety of items to choose from. Everything was very tasty, but all cruise lines need to do something about rolls for burgers and dogs ~ they always seem so dry! Maybe steamers would be a good solution for that. A personal favorite is the Coconut Ranger Cookies ~ they are so addictive. We had my-time dining and ate in the dining room six of the seven nights. The food there was also very tasty. I did have issue one night with a steak not being done to my liking, and my husband thought the turkey/stuffing/gravy was better at the Windjammer. After our first night, we requested Karim as our waiter. He and his assistant were very friendly and provided great service. One downside was the head waiter coming by the last night and asking that we give top ratings because it is beneficial to "our wait staff." Our party had nothing bad to say about our service, but this should not be something that is pushed. Another issue we hate is having the photographers come while we are eating dinner. We will just decline. Sorrento's Pizza is the bomb! Especially the Caribbean Pizza. ENTERTAINMENT AND ACTIVITIES ~ We enjoyed bumper cars, iFly, and North Star. iFly is such a cool experience but I can tell you for sure that I will NEVER skydive after that experience!!! The Solarium area was really beautiful and a nice place for the adults. Karaoke is not for us either by participation or listening, but to each his own. There was a BonJovi cover band who were spot on. We did really enjoy The Royal Swedes Band and went to see them numerous times throughout our trip. The final night they were joined by some of the members of the We Will Rock You ensemble and let's just say that Zak was too "over the top" and really didn't do the band any justice. "The Gift" was a different type of show than we are used to seeing on cruise ships, but the music selections pulled the story line together nicely and the ensemble was terrific. "We Will Rock You" did exactly that!!! The plot of the show was fun and the ensemble was just FABULOUS! Such talented singers and dancers throughout. "Spectra's Cabaret" ~ well, all we can say is WT????? Absolutely confusing and NOT entertaining at all. Wouldn't be surprised if that show doesn't last long. My husband and I spent a tiny bit of time in the casino ~ it is just too smoky. Another thing cruise ships need to work on. We are non-smokers and spend a decent amount of time in our local NON-SMOKING casino. Having a non-smoking section is just totally useless when there is absolutely NO separation between the two areas. In our opinion, it's just like it used to be in restaurants before smoking was banned. Really, if people want to gamble they will do it whether they can smoke or not, the same as when they go out to eat and have to go outside to a designated area to smoke. I don't need to get sick because of your addiction. Yes, I know we have a choice and so we choose to extremely limit our time ~ it's the cruise line's loss. PORTS AND SHORE EXCURSIONS ~ Our itinerary was changed twice due to weather issues. We didn't let that bother us because mother nature is the culprit. We figure we are not cooking and cleaning, but are having great meals and entertainment and activities, and our cabins is being taken care of so we still had a great time. We enjoyed our beach day at Coco Cay. All adults so we didn't do the water park. The barbeque lunch was good and plentiful, as were the island drinks. The CocoLoco is YUM!!! SERVICE ~ I saved this for last because this was the NOT SO ROYAL part of our trip. Due to the fact that we were docked in Bayonne for 2.5 days and the fact that we have unlimited service on our phones, the VOOM package that our daughter purchased was not necessary for those days. She requested that those days be refunded and was flat out refused. On top of that, the internet was very sketchy for the entire cruise and there were many times when she did not have service. Nothing like paying for a service and it doesn't work most of the time. The biggest fiasco, however, was the "ship's IT services" which seemed to always be down. We had to visit guest services 5+ times to get things credited properly when they weren't being applied to the proper person in our cabins, for when our daughter got charged three times for one drink when the bionic bar malfunctioned, and when they credited our NASA port excursion incorrectly. AND, they still aren't correct when reviewing our final statements!!!!! We don't understand how difficult it is when you have names and credit card numbers for each cabin. If they could just get this right from the beginning they would probably have 75% less people standing in line at guest services. They can build a $30 million dollar technologically outfitted show area ~ Two70 ~ but they can't properly charge a cabin account. One thing that frustrated MANY including us was all of the confusion for Sunday football and where the games would be shown. Come on people, we've watched football on every cruise we've ever been on. They started the game late in the Music Hall and we had to watch without sound on the upper level, because we were being tortured by karaoke on the lower level. Sorry, but that's just poor planning!!!!! Read Less

We have sailed on the Anthem previously (two years ago) and are Diamond cruisers with Royal. We have sailed on several other lines, but Royal is our favorite. We have never been disappointed on Royal. Embarkation was fast and efficient. We looked into the Key Program, but being Diamond level we already get those advantages. We had lunch on Embarkation Day in Jamies Italian Restaurant. The food was delicious, the service fast, and we did not feel as if we were rushed through lunch at all. Dinner in the Main Dining Room, second seating, was great, the service from Kendig and Voltan was efficient and prompt. While we are not gourmet eaters, we find the food extremely tasty. We ate two meals in Windjammer, the buffet, and the ONLY problem there is the other passengers that seem to ignore basic manners and step in front of you when you try to obtain food. This is NOT the lines fault, but the ignorance of people. We have been to the stops on this cruise before, and as a matter of fact, on our very first cruise in 1992 we stopped at Coco Cay. The transformation of this private island is amazing! While we only did the beach, the offerings here are enough for anyone to find something to do. If you have not been to the Kennedy Space Center's Visitors Center, take that excursion! I believe it was worth the money. Be forewarned, if you have not booked an excursion in Port Canaveral there is literally NOTHING at the port to do. If we had not booked our excursion, we would have been more than happy to stay on the ship. Read Less

My husband and I decided to go on this cruise for our honeymoon. What an absolute awful experience. We have both been on several other cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises as well and we both loved them so we figured this would be a perfect choice for our honey moon. We sailed out of Bayonne and getting on the ship was a breeze since we purchased The Key, if we hadn’t I’m sure it would have been an awful experience because when we arrived at 10:30am there was a ton of people waiting to board (even though our boarding passes said to arrive between 12:30-1pm, we decided to get there earlier) We had a balcony room and our room was dirty. The bathroom at times smelled like a port a potty. Our stateroom attendant seemed very overwhelmed and sometimes didn’t “clean” our room while we were out for breakfast and dinner so we would have to find her and ask her to make the bed. The beds are extremely extremely uncomfortable. After the second night my back was in agony. The food was atrocious. No matter which restaurant we went to, it was awful. Room temperature and tasteless. We also ate at jaimes Italian and chopps. I wasn’t impressed with either. Every time we ate, we were rushed. We would finish 3 courses in under 40 minutes. The buffet reminded us of school cafeteria food. Disgusting and every night it was like eating the same thing. The entertainment on the ship was awful. Shows that we were told were going to be amazing were mediocre and the comedian was awful and not funny. They didn’t really offer any new or different shows/comedians so by the 5th night after seeing everything, we didn’t know what to do. The staff were very rude/unfriendly and most of them barely spoke English so when asking them for a drink or simply asking them for information- they had no idea what we were talking about. Sometimes they even had to bring over another person to answer our question, which was very frustrating. Also, my husband and I went for a massage and after the massage was done, the masseuse came in and tried selling us products that they recommended for our “conditions” I have had a ton of massages in my life and have never experienced this before. They were so pushy and wouldn’t take no for an answer!!! It was so uncomfortable and ruined the whole massage experience. I’m guessing they make commission from these sales because the products were all over $100. The ports were nice. We went to Port Canaveral, which was ok. If you don’t plan on going to Disney or the Kennedy space center, there’s nothing else to do there. My husband and I just went to cocoa beach since we didn’t want to travel an hour to Disney and the space center tour was 8 hours. Coco Cay was amazing. We purchased a day bed and it was very nice and relaxing. Not many kids were in that area so it was nice and quiet and the free food that they offered was burgers, hot dogs and fries- which was honestly better than the food on the ship. Nassau was great too. We went to the Hilton hotel and got a day pass and spent the day there on their private beach. I recommend this to anyone who doesn’t want to go to Atlantis and deal with screaming kids all day. It was perfect! To sum it up, If anyone is interested in going on a cruise, look into another cruise line. It was not worth all of the money we spent on this trip. Read Less

I just want to warn anyone traveling on Anthem of the Seas, please learn how to look for bed bugs before you suffer the stress of being exposed to them. I am in constant fear that my home will be impacted. I experienced the horror of finding bed bugs crawling on the sheet of my bed. I killed one and scooped up another and took it to guest services in a plastic bag. We were exposed for days and it is absolutely unacceptable! We were moved to another cabin and our clothes were washed. I have reached out to Royal Caribbean to find out how my luggage was treated but they have not responded. My luggage is outside and will remain there until I decontaminate it myself or dispose of it. In addition to the bed bugs, the cabin sink drain and shower drain were full of mold. It makes me wonder if any cleaning took place at all. A far as the other aspects of the cruise, dining was okay. Some of the entertainment was good. Some was not so good. We did not like Spectra's Cabaret but The Gift was okay and We Will Rock You was good. My kids enjoyed the indoor skydiving as well as the activities in the Sea Plex. Getting on and off the ship was quick and easy. Service overall was fine but we did have difficulty making a reservation for specialty dining. We had a voucher that they would not honor. I had to go to guest services and have them intervene in order to make the reservation. I thought many of the excursions were on the expensive side and I also thought Co Co Cay was crowded when were there as two ships were in port. I took a while for us to find empty lounge chairs. I am not crazy about the fact that the ship visited Nassau as there is currently a travel warning about violent crime in Nassau. Read Less

When after contacting Royal Caribbean by phone several times and you hear mentioning all the time that it is the best cruise line and then you arrive and you find the opposite, then that's where disappointments begin. Let's start with the ship itself, where the decoration is a bit abstract, the lack of colors, or a beautiful staircase or an impressive esplanade...but no, only the exclusive of the Bionic bar or The bumpers cars, or The north star or the space to surf or the tunnel to fly, said ship would be very, very boring, the 3 main shows have my highest score also to mention something positive, "BRAVO" to We Will Rock You and especially the orchestra, a note that I can not forget, and that can be improved, is that the staff is a bit and sometimes very rude, especially in the Buffet restaurant, and at night in the main restaurant , the first 3 days, we were treated as if we were not welcome,luckily, on the fourth and remaining nights, we met the best waiters, their names Gede and Gilbert, who along with our cabin manager Ronolfo, I say thank you for giving us a good time for the rest of the week. Read Less

This was my 10 year old's first cruise, and it was amazing for her! I have been on multiple cruise lines, but have always enjoyed RCL most of all. The ship, though approaching 20 years old, is still in amazing shape. Our cabin, 8522, was great, and the only problem we had was that the couch was dirty, rock hard and broken, and really unusable. Everything else on the cruise was amazing. One point of info for anyone choosing this ship: In each room is what they call a refrigerator, but the label on the front states that it is only a cooler, and it does not keep anything cold. We just had our amazing cabin steward provide ice each day, and problem solved! The main dining room food was very good, and the staff granted every request within their power (Amal and Valary were amazing). Our only complaint was that despite booking a table for 2 in advance, and visiting the maitre d' the first day, they would not give us the requested table. We were seated by mistake with a traveling gambling group, and moved to another large table the next day, stating that they made a mistake. I really wish they would create more space for parties of 2 who wish for privacy. Overall, the rest of the cruise was amazing! Plenty to keep my daughter busy, and it was fun just exploring. Coco Cay was absolutely amazing, and renting a beach bed was totally worth every penny! We were the last ship to leave the island before they evacuated for Hurricane Dorian, but the staff did not pass along any of the anxiety or concern they must have felt to their passengers. Nassau leaves a lot to be desired, but our excursion to Blue Lagoon to swim with the dolphins was a dream come true! I would highly recommend this ship/cruise line to anyone looking for a fun, relaxing, exciting cruise. Port Liberty is a breeze for embarkation, and opens a whole new world of cruising to anyone hesitant to fly. Additionally, I think the humanitarian efforts RCL put into aiding the Bahamas post-Dorian is outstanding, and just makes me more of an RCL loyal fan! Read Less