We chose this ship for Port of Call Bermuda and that I love Royal Caribbean Cruise line. I was Not impressed with this ship. Big disappointment. We sail 2 years ago on Oasis of the Seas and love it..and love everything about it. Anthem was like any Old layout ship on all of the cruise lines. Outdoors pool areas felt very crowded. Food was not up to what we have dine with Royal. Buffet seem to have the same items everyday. Dine in the Grande Dining room, the menu seem to have the same items, Fish was some fish I had never heard of and it turn out to be terrible. It seem that steak choice was Tender loin or Sirloin and both had gravy? who wants gravy and the same gravy every night. Even Chops Grill was not as good as on the Oasis. Never saw our room steward ever! However, the ship was very clean! Staff was not friendly. Read Less

This was my first time on Royal Caribbean. I have cruised with Carnival over 16 times. I have been told that I should not judge Royal Caribbean based on this ship, so I will try to bring out as many positives as I can. I do have another one booked on the Anthem of the Seas, so I will reserve a more general opinion of Royal Caribbean after that cruise. Here are my negatives about the Grandeur of the Seas: 1) the cabin shower was incredibly small. I have never been in a shower that small and it was difficult to take a decent shower. 2) On Carnival, I am used to seeing the Cruise Director a lot and even hearing the Cruise Director a lot. Although, the Cruise Director (Big Bob) seemed nice enough, he was not visible very much and you rarely heard him throughout the day. He seemed to come out at night for the shows in the main lounge. 3) The ship was dusty 4) Most of the food in the Windjammer and Dining Room is tasteless 5) Not a lot of activites. At night, it was a ghost town after 11pm. 6) The TV stations were all about Royal Caribbean...very, very, very few stations that were not about Royal Caribbean. Here are my positives: 1) Customer Service is great!! 2) Embarkation/Disembarkation processses were better than I ever experienced on a Carnival Ship. I have Platinum status on Carnival which allows me priority for embarkation and disembarkation but Royal Caribbean leads in this area hands down. 3) The cookies were fantastic, in fact, most of the desserts are very good. 4) the Casino was not smokey although smoking was allowed in a couple of areas in the casino. 5) The adult solarium is very nice Read Less

It’s a beautiful ship and we all had a great time during this cruise. However , I was little bit disappointed at the food selection and entertainment. There is no drinks in the refrigerator in the stateroom. If you want to get anything to drink,just water, you need to go to bars to get them and sometime it take a while to find one. I felt thirsty all the time. Water became a precious thing in this shop if you don’t buy the drink package. Food choice are limited in Windjamma compared to other cruises that I’ve been to. If you’re hungry or just want to sneak something after dinner time, the only place that is opened without charge is the PIzza place, we ate so many pizza this time since there is no Other choices. Food in the main dining room are ok. Shows in this cruise were all in small theater , boring , outdated . We basically only sit through one out of the three that i’ve Reserved. Lastly, we’ve so much effort to reserve, waited on the long line, many times to visit the customer service regarding ifly that this ship advertising the most, it was cancelled last minute because the wind was too strong. It was such a disappointment for all the kids. Read Less

Chose the ship for activities for my teenage grandchildren felt not enough for them to do on our usual celebrity ship. Itinerary suited for their first cruise. First time did a local departure so it was advantageous with children not to have to fly. Embarkation from Port Liberty was smooth and impressive. Treatment as a suite class getting on board was also pleasurable. Disembarkation in suite class is also excellent and leaving the ship and garage was easy and fast. The sky suite we had was great for kids to come on go without disturbing us. The suite was excellent with great views from back of the ship and well maintained. The amenities provided to sky suite passengers do not measure up to what we have experienced on celebrity eg. no q tips or cotton balls in the bathroom, no drink package for sky class. Given the cost of the suite it seems royal Caribbean nickles and dimes you compared to their other companies such as celebrity. Food was excellent in coastal kitchen and compares to any other suite specialty i have experienced The pool area is overcrowded for the number of people on the ship, other facilities are likewise packed at times. Read Less

Embarkation was the best experience. Completing paperwork ahead of time ensured a smooth quick process. The ship is laid out poorly. It always felt crowded. Our balcony cabin was comfortable however the balcony was next to the bed. On previous cruises on other ships the sitting area was next to the door. Food in the restaurants was wonderful however, the lines to get into the restaurants were long and the the hosts were disorganized. Requests for reservations were confusing and inconvenient. Food was TERRIBLE in the buffet however the ship does an excellent job ensuring all guests wash their hands before entering the area. The shows were very good. Special guest Tony Tillman was excellent. Cruise director Dennis was the most invisible cruise director ever. One of our favorite activities the Newlywed Game was done in the afternoon which is inappropriate for children. This is an adult activity. Our 6 previous cruises has the activity at night. I would cruise on Royal Caribbean again but, never again on this ship. Read Less

If you want overcrowding, long lines, bizarre entertainment, minimal activities and average main dining room food, this is the cruise for you! I have sailed at least 20 times and Royal Caribbean was always my favorite. The bloom is definitely off the rose. I brought 5 friends with me and was totally embarrassed for recommending this cruise. Anthem of the Seas may be a large ship, but it was unable to provide the quality experience that you would expect on Royal Carribean. For example, a 7:30 reservation in the dining room resulted in a 45 minute wait for a table. There were only 3 available shows and although the musicians and dancers were fabulous, the material they had to work with was bizarre, we actually walked out of one of them and during another, I noticed 2 of my friends nodded off! If you're sailing out of cape liberty, expect an additional 2 hours to get off the ship. It is not at all organized (long lines) and it was a massive mob of people. My departure time was 8:15, and I stepped off the ship at 9:55. Don't expect any special treatment if you have emerald or platinum level; you are thrown in the mix with everyone else as there is no cruise staff monitoring the departure numbers people were given. The activities were also scarce. It was the first time I perused my next days' itinerary and was disappointed daily. No parties under the stars on the top deck, very little dancing, minimal extra entertainment (such as comedians who only performed very late at night), only had one opportunity for karaoke and line dancing, etc. Basically, all the things that make cruising fun and distictive were absent on this ship. Finally, if you prefer to not to look at arm pit and chest hair from men wearing A shirts while eating in the main dining room, you better order room service. The dress codes are not enforced on this ship. Yuck! Read Less

Royal Caribbean is no longer the Top Shelf Cruise Line. They no longer pride themselves on great service and food. Most food was mediocre and most staff looked like they didn’t want to be there. Chops Grill was unable to deliver a steak medium rare. They tried three times and it was sent back three times. An Absolute joke, that a Steakhouse that you pay extra can’t cook a steak correctly. Only one outdoor pool for 6000 passengers, yet another joke. The only bright spot was the staff in the main dining room. Both the waiter and assistant waiter were outstanding. Cruise Director was also good, as was the entertainment. Most disappointing was the mediocre quality of the food. Cabin was nice with plenty of storage space, balcony also nice. Casino positive experience. Headline singing group and adult comedians were also very good. All in all, Pass on this ship and cruise line Read Less

4th time cruising, so far the worst. a few reasons why. 1) Need reservation for the iFly and North Star, which are the two biggest attractions on the boat. Spaces were gone almost immediately... Even the surfing needs reservation. Room escape looks cool, again, need reservation. What a shame! 2) Don't go in July/Aug as there are just way too many kids. The Bermuda route made it even worse because ship didn't make a stop until its arrival in Bermuda. Line is too long for bumper car, xbox, basketball... I have never seen people waiting for table tennis. Feel like a joke? 3) Kids club. My two kids are two years apart, 10 and 12. I was told that I can't put them in the same club as the older had to go to the teens club while the younger one had to stay with the 9-11 group. The policy is so stupid that RCL just refused to put them in the same club. Now I had to supervise them for the entire trip as neither wanted to go alone. So ridiculous! 4) Comparing to Allure which I liked the most, all the "named" restaurants on Anthem are "specialty" restaurants requiring extra payment. Allure had a few really decent ones covered by the basic package. 5) Shows are OK, personally I don't like the "Robots" themed cabaret, using big LED screen gimmick makes it cheap Read Less

There's a lot of good things about Anthem of the Seas, the ship is in great shape and the food is quite good. Best of all, all the staff we met are first rate and take great pride and care in your trip and making things nice for all. But as far as entertaining and making the trip interesting, this particular itinerary was actually quite poor. First off, the flow of the ship is very awkward. Most of your activities will be on the 3,4,5 level and on the 14,15 level, so if you are constantly shuttling up and down the ship. If you have any patience to wait for the elevators, then its no issue, if you are an impatient New Yorker like me, you will be doing a lot of stairs. Good exercise, but after a while it gets old. Secondly, the shows on this ship were terrible. After seeing 'The Gift' I thought I would never see such a complete mess of a show until the next day I saw 'Spectra' Cabaret, you will surely debate which is worse and it may be a running debate in your family for decades to come. "We will Rock You' was a good production and you will like it for sure if you like Queen music. It does run for 2 hours without a break and is about 30 minutes too long and most people walked out before the final act. Now for the Sports/Activities. This is an issue if you have older, teen aged children who like sports. Unlike Harmony of the Seas which has a dedicated sports area that is nicely woven into the teen room, Anthem makes a complete mess of this by sharing its Seaplex for activities such as Bumper Cars and Roller Skating. There were several days where the bumper cars and skating occupied the Seaplex for 6 to 7 hours a day and teenage kids literally had nothing to do except wait for long periods of time for the 3 ping pong tables. It also meant that little kids and adults were in the teen area, which is obviously not something teens want. Its a great example of RC trying to make everyone happy and thereby making no one happy. There are so many kiddy pools and other areas to make the under 12 crowd happy, your 12-17 year old will not like this cruise. Both of mine did and they loved Harmony of the Seas. So very limited basketball, soccer and virtually no volleyball (one day for an hour). The Vitality Gym is very nice and they also offer pay for classes if you are interested in cycling and other classes. The jogging track is kind of silly unless you do it very early in the am. Its in the middle of the lounging area, so once everyone is up and deckside, you can forget about running as its just chaos. Overall, Anthem is a nice ship and if you are with a big group and just want to hang out and eat and drink, this is a probably a good choice. If you are more of an active traveler who want to see things and have an active vacation with some competitive sports, its not a good choice at all. Some other tips and insights Embarkation at the Bayonne port is very very time consuming about an hour just to swing into the terminal. Either get there really early or really late. We came at about 12:30 and it was an absolute nightmare. If you have a suite, you have access to the Coastal Kitchen, it was a very good experience and the staff are first rate. Read Less

We wanted to take a five day cruise to Bermuda. We have aways been satisfied with Royal Caribbean and with this cruise we would not have to fly. Pros: Lovely ship with many interesting venues, fun amenities like bumper cars, Northstar, etc., Wonderful cabin service, Interesting shows in Royal theater, Bars-many available throughout the ship with excellent service, Very easy embarkation, Cons:- Horrible service in Grande dining room- food arrived cold after waiting a very long time, drinks took forever to be delivered, Food items in other restaurants were mediocre( not uncharge restaurants-did not try those), Ran out of items, Eating venues were not well staffed, Not as many activities led by staff on this ship, Attempting to reach guest services by phone was very difficult. Photos were available by room number only which is difficult when you had a large group. Overall, I do not think this ship is staffed for the number of passengers they are services. Dining is one of the pleasures of cruising and it was not always a pleasant experience due to lack of personnel. Read Less