Just off Anthem (4th July Spanish med cruise)

Any questions just ask...?

I would like to say a few words....

The food was the best main dining room food I have had in all the crusises I have done. All meals piping hot and the themed resturants worked well. We opted for dymanic dining classic and it worked very well.

Shows and entertainment also very good; two70 is an amazing multiuse venue.

North Star was actually very interesting, we took a flight in the capsule twice and only waited 15 mins.

Internet speed was truly amazing. Whilst you are in the med it was running at a staggering 25mbs :eek:

Diamond lounge was very nice, our cruise had 450 diamond members, 100 diamond plus and 2 pinnicle members.

Overall I was impressed and would 100% cruise on a Q class ship again.

Glad you enjoyed Anthem as many mixed reviews so far

Really interested in the food comments as such an important part of the cruise. Did you find all four of the included restaurants of a high standard ? and did you stick with these for the whole cruise or use speciality as well ?

Also how did you find the restaurant and bar service as a few have reported poor service or lack of service due to low staff to passenger ratios ??

Generally I take the bad reviews with a pinch of salt as more people complain than praise generally but with Anthem so far there seems to be a higher than normal number of negative reviews ... could be as it only sailed April, new ship, new crew etc and hopefully from your feedback they're getting their act together now.

We sail in about 6 weeks and really looking forward to this new ship

Glad you enjoyed Anthem as many mixed reviews so far

 

Really interested in the food comments as such an important part of the cruise. Did you find all four of the included restaurants of a high standard ? and did you stick with these for the whole cruise or use speciality as well ?

 

Also how did you find the restaurant and bar service as a few have reported poor service or lack of service due to low staff to passenger ratios ??

 

Generally I take the bad reviews with a pinch of salt as more people complain than praise generally but with Anthem so far there seems to be a higher than normal number of negative reviews ... could be as it only sailed April, new ship, new crew etc and hopefully from your feedback they're getting their act together now.

 

We sail in about 6 weeks and really looking forward to this new ship

We tried Jamie's and Chops.

Jamie's was great and I would recommend going.

Chops was also very good however it wasn't as good as I have experienced on previous ships. This could have been due to the main resturants being very good overall and American Icon grill offering filet steak every night.

I did notice less members of staff walking around the open decks asking people if they wanted drinks, they might have walked around once an hour or so (having said that princess don't have any). All other bars seemed to be normal.

We tried Jamie's and Chops.

 

Jamie's was great and I would recommend going.

 

Chops was also very good however it wasn't as good as I have experienced on previous ships. This could have been due to the main resturants being very good overall and American Icon grill offering filet steak every night.

 

I did notice less members of staff walking around the open decks asking people if they wanted drinks, they might have walked around once an hour or so (having said that princess don't have any). All other bars seemed to be normal.

How did you find the menu choices in American Icon ? We're doing Dynamic Dining where we book each restaurant for any night .... after looking at the sample menus on RCI website I didn't fancy the American Icon menu. We have provisionally booked 5 nights Grande, 5 nights Chic, 3 nights Silk and only 1 night American Icon. We have rotated all 4 for the first 4 nights so if I don't like one of the restaurants particularly we can always switch reservations during the cruise.

How were the Royal Nights? And how many? Did people dress up or did most ignore them?

How did you find the menu choices in American Icon ? We're doing Dynamic Dining where we book each restaurant for any night .... after looking at the sample menus on RCI website I didn't fancy the American Icon menu. We have provisionally booked 5 nights Grande, 5 nights Chic, 3 nights Silk and only 1 night American Icon. We have rotated all 4 for the first 4 nights so if I don't like one of the restaurants particularly we can always switch reservations during the cruise.

Hi barney,

We were on the Anthem at the end of June and early July -- we too, booked 4 nights in Grande and 4 nights in Chic, but after two visits to Chic we switched out to more nights in Silk and the American Icon. I would rate Grande as the best, followed by Silk and the American Icon, but Chic was noticeably weak compared to the other three. (both food quality and service)

The menu looks great for Chic, but the execution was poor. IMO

Jamie's was wonderful and we had a great time in Chops. Many loved Wonderland, but the whole process didn't appeal to me. Maybe we should have tried it?

Our dining experience on the Anthem was a bit jaded, as we disembarked Celebrity's Reflection two days before boarding. Celebrity's food is noticeably better than Royal's and the service is upscale (of course Celebrity has a much better service staff to passenger ratio). We did have some great desserts and I would love to get my hands on another Roast Beef Sandwich from the Cafe in Two70!:p:)

The ship is spectacular and the entertainment was the best we have ever encountered. Enjoy your cruise!

Kel

Regarding DD Classic... You say it worked very well, but how would you rate the service? Comparable to the service one receives with a traditional dining time on a different ship?

We also got off Anthem yesterday - after our 2nd cruise on her this year...

We love her !

She is a very different ship to any of the other RCI ships we have cruised on...

We only ate Dinner in the 4 x complimentary restaurants and loved them. Most of our Dinners took around 1 and a half hours, with just the one taking 2 hours, so plenty of time to see all the Shows etc... We didn't have any reason to use the speciality restaurants as the food in all 4 was wonderful, plenty of variety and choice, with the menu's changing for the 2nd week. We had pre-booked all our Dinners for around 6.30pm as DD was the only option when we booked in Oct 2014. However we changed restaurants quite a few times so that we could eat with our friends and the staff at the desks outside the restaurant were very accommodating and it was never a problem to change or add our friends !

Imho however, RCI have made a big mistake in stopping the sea pass card checking-out for pool towels as this has resulted in towels being left on sunbeds and on the floor (as there is no need to check them back in) so this means you can't tell if sunbeds are available or not. Some friends of ours were subjected to some nasty 'sunbed rage' as they were told that some sunbeds with used towels rolled up on them had not been occupied for at least 2 hours. After my friends had been sitting on them for about half an hour, the original occupants returned and had a right go at my friend and then one of them actually went and sat on the feet of her 15yr old son :eek:

We were also told that around 60 people were thrown off Anthem during the cruise for bad behaviour. Never heard of this happening on any of the other cruises we have taken :eek:

I repeat, we love Anthem and all she has to offer - could improvements be made ? Yes ! But this was only Sailing number 8 for her so she is still in her shakedown phase...

OP: glad you had a good cruise, and thanks for taking the time to post. I do have a question for you or anyone else who has sailed on Anthem or Quantum: how was the storage space in the bathroom (regular balcony cabin)?

I've seen the photos, and the bathrooms look very similar to those on Celebrity's S-class ships (see photo below), except that the latter have a vertical wall of shelves in the bathroom that provide a ton of storage space. No need for "over the door" organizers or similar things.

Did you find the bathroom storage to be sufficient? If not, were there other good storage places in the cabin for the sorts of things you might otherwise keep in the bathroom that aren't necessarily used daily? (I'm thinking about thing like headache meds, "what if" drug supplies, and the like.)

Thanks!

(Celebrity S-class bathroom by turtles06)

OP: glad you had a good cruise, and thanks for taking the time to post. I do have a question for you or anyone else who has sailed on Anthem or Quantum: how was the storage space in the bathroom (regular balcony cabin)?

 

I've seen the photos, and the bathrooms look very similar to those on Celebrity's S-class ships (see photo below), except that the latter have a vertical wall of shelves in the bathroom that provide a ton of storage space. No need for "over the door" organizers or similar things.

 

Did you find the bathroom storage to be sufficient? If not, were there other good storage places in the cabin for the sorts of things you might otherwise keep in the bathroom that aren't necessarily used daily? (I'm thinking about thing like headache meds, "what if" drug supplies, and the like.)

 

Thanks!

 

 

(Celebrity S-class bathroom by turtles06)

Hi T06,

The bathrooms look 95% identical to the S-class ships (like your photo); sink was a square design and the cabinet lacked the glass front, otherwise the same. Oh, the shower door is a one piece "open/close" and does not slide side to side.

Cabins are very similar as well. No curved walls and the Anthem's cabins feel a bit wider. Better storage, as there is a cabinet next to the bed. Same above the bed storage, which we love as we are both tall. Very Celebrity like.

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Thanks Kel! So there's actually a set of vertical shelves in the Anthem bathroom as in my S-class photo, just without the glass fronts? That will be great! (I had seen a photo of a Quantum bathroom that did not appear to have those shelves.)

Thanks Kel! So there's actually a set of vertical shelves in the Anthem bathroom as in my S-class photo, just without the glass fronts? That will be great! (I had seen a photo of a Quantum bathroom that did not appear to have those shelves.)

Yep, the shelves are there. I don't think I have a photo, but I will look. Since we had just come off the Reflection (two days prior), the first thing my wife said was, "same bathroom, just no glass door on the four shelves on the right side. The cabin was all Celebrity and looked nothing like any other Royal Caribbean ship we've sailed on.

Enjoy!

Kel:)

How were the Royal Nights? And how many? Did people dress up or did most ignore them?

There was a significant uplift in the overall levels of formality during royal nights. Most guys opted for a shirt.

Regarding DD Classic... You say it worked very well, but how would you rate the service? Comparable to the service one receives with a traditional dining time on a different ship?

Yes the service is all down to what waiter you get and we had a very good one all cruise. DD classic worked very well for us as my Dad liked the traditional dining format and DD classic can provide that.

DD classic gives you the same table, head waiter, waiter, assistant waiter and wine waiter each night.

There was a significant uplift in the overall levels of formality during royal nights. Most guys opted for a shirt.

So dd they go bare-chested on the other nights?

Joking aside, I assume you mean they didn't wear jackets, and definitely not DJs?

Or even better do you have any copies of teen cruise compasses? We're on the same cruise starting 1st August.

Here is a picture of the bathroom:

Just a quick question. What time is classic 1 dining?.

I've seen the photos, and the bathrooms look very similar to those on Celebrity's S-class ships (see photo below), except that the latter have a vertical wall of shelves in the bathroom that provide a ton of storage space. No need for "over the door" organizers or similar things.

Hi - just wanted to add that we took our over door storage thing with us but were unable to use it as it did not fit over the bathroom door or over the wardrobe doors. When I say 'fit' it did go over the door but you were not able to close the door as on other ships.

Hi - just wanted to add that we took our over door storage thing with us but were unable to use it as it did not fit over the bathroom door or over the wardrobe doors. When I say 'fit' it did go over the door but you were not able to close the door as on other ships.

Thanks very much for that info. On another thread, poster kelmac, who recently returned from B2B cruises on the Celebrity Reflection and Anthem, said that Anthem does in fact have those vertical shelves in the bathroom that the S-class ships do, just without the glass doors. That would obviate the need for anything more, unless he means those totally open ones in CCFC's photo above. On a moving ship, those look like a recipe for a bathroom mess.

Thanks very much for that info. On another thread, poster kelmac, who recently returned from B2B cruises on the Celebrity Reflection and Anthem, said that Anthem does in fact have those vertical shelves in the bathroom that the S-class ships do, just without the glass doors. That would obviate the need for anything more, unless he means those totally open ones in CCFC's photo above. On a moving ship, those look like a recipe for a bathroom mess.

T06,

Yes, my wife corrected me -- the Anthem has those open shelves and the Reflection has the closed shelves, but lacks the glass door that you find on the Solstice, Eclipse and the Silhouette. The open shelves do have a little ridge on the sides and the front to keep things from sliding off. Seems to work well, but of course we didn't experience any rough seas. That one is on me -- sorry!

Kel:)

I bought little plastic bins to store my stuff on the shelves, everything tips over. The over door shoe storage is best to keep all the little things tidy.

T06,

 

Yes, my wife corrected me -- the Anthem has those open shelves and the Reflection has the closed shelves, but lacks the glass door that you find on the Solstice, Eclipse and the Silhouette. The open shelves do have a little ridge on the sides and the front to keep things from sliding off. Seems to work well, but of course we didn't experience any rough seas. That one is on me -- sorry!

 

Kel:)

I bought little plastic bins to store my stuff on the shelves, everything tips over. The over door shoe storage is best to keep all the little things tidy.

Thank you both! Too bad the designers couldn't work in that great part of the S-class bathrooms! :)

Can you share what the first night specialty restaurant offers were?

Thank you, enjoying your reviews