Pandamonia

I knew I was going to be bad before I got on the ship? anthem is 100% worse in every way than 8 years ago. There is NOTHING that is better. They put a price rise on EVERYTHING the week before we got on the ship. They cut the room change down to once without informing anyone about it. The increased the packages with one by 50% The food is worse in every venue except maybe windjammer. There is a whole thread on the new cost cutting MDR.

the outdoor one twice and 2 hot tubs. I actually saw the projectile red vomit comet come out in to the main pool and a women swim right through it face first.

We have a name for your cruises too... The brawling bogan banquets.

for thinking cheddar cheese on a menu shouldn’t come out of a bottle and in liquid form? I guess so then.

funny. It’s call cruisecritic isn’t it here? not cruisefanboi.com dont get upset just because my standards are higher than yours. We don’t all enjoy squeezy cheese.

I didnt go in the pool on Anthem. It was the floating child vomit and turds that somehow made it less than appealing. It spent half the time closed or drained it seemed to me. There is also nothing more relaxing than having a small child play in the hot tubs like like its bath time.

I dont like tipping. I have no problem with bribes 😆

So there is a list given to Johnny Rockets and i noticed that when i went to order he didnt take my card and i said how do you know if i have UDP as you never scan my card unlike in chops etc.... He showed me the list of room numbers which have the UDP and basically there were 18 lines on the spreadsheet. So possibly 36 packages or 18 rooms or it could be just 18 packages as they ticked the names off actually when i think about it.. The UDP was priced at 300 GBP and they sold 2 full A4 sheets of UDP on previous cruise and on this cruise they put price up to 455GBP luckily id already bought mine. This is why i think dynamic pricing is basically fake. There is no intelligence behind it whatsoever. Its just randomised up and down pricing to drive fake sales periods as there is not a chance they would increase price by 50% with only 18 cabins on UDP and have all the restaurants mostly empty. Each day restaurants had 5-10 tables and johnny rockets was basically a milkshake vendor with a few exceptions.

I used to think this but basically you dont really get to experience them you get to sample them. I dont really enjoy each port. Especially in Europe where basically they are mostly industrial ports then you have to get on a coach or something and by time your back you are wiped out. This 100% 👍 I dont see cruising as a luxury expensive holiday. I never have and i doubt i ever will. I see it as a value holiday and when that value is lost there is no reason for me to do it. Luckily MSC and P&O are offering that value still where Royal is becoming a floating amusement park. Overpriced concession stands with questionable quality. If you look at their ships they actually resemble theme parks now more than cruise ships.

This is how we did it, some days we actually didnt even use them all. As i said its done me a favour in some ways as its broken a habit of drinking each day for the sake of it.... Feel bored? Get a drink. Want a random cocktail you might not like? get it.... The biggest difference though was now i view calories like money. If i spend money i also spend calorie budget and i know when im back ill have to go without to lose the weight. So in my mind im now not only only saving HUGE sums on drinks packages im also coming back with only a coupe of KG to lose which is far easier and less depressing. Before the above id feel forced to drink Gin and Vodka with diet mixers all the time because everything is so high in calories. Now im only have a few drinks per day most days it doesnt really make much difference what i order within reason. Also a pocket full of single dollar bills seems to make the 4 vouchers go MUCH further 😆

The username looks like the social media managers account for royal UK.

Just to keep the Americans happy who I have upset I do think the solarium is good on anthem. still don’t understand why in the great weather the roof stayed shut the whole cruise though. I was under the impression the mid section was a roof which opened up? Just to balance out my positive with another negative though I’m wondering why they had the deck party in the freezing cold Atlantic east cost and the solarium party in the red hot canaries. Maybe I expect to much common sense from people….

I doubt that. if they did they would not have only sold 18 UDP on my cruise and had all the restaurants empty for 12 nights?

To be honest I don’t really care what they make. All I know is they are making it in a way that is unlikely to retain loyal customers. if new cruisers are now their core business why bother with the relentless survey scores and loyalty schemes? it’s clear the average cruiser spends less per cruise than even the cost of a drinks package. So why price the drinks package so much more than the average spend? Seems counter productive. It’s their loss as I said they saved me £1400 and I still got drunk enough to feel like I didn’t miss out.

well for a start record bookings don’t take in to account the billions in FCC credits people are using and when they run out we will see what the real demand looks like. I’m guessing the FCC credits are hidden in the 24 billion debt pile as liabilities it’s easy to spend big on a cruise when your cabin was covered by a FCC. let’s see what happens when FCC are gone people are paying full price and rates hit 6% and recession arrives. $560 usd per person average on board spending seems low considering drinks packages alone are now $80 per day.

Are you sure? There must have been something in my post which was relevant experience to your sober cruise in the shade.

best experiences I had were on freedom class but they messed up a lot of good things after the refit of independence but did add some good things too. I also think oasis class would be great but I’ve never seen them do it before. Might be a technical reason for not doing it. im convinced they only put oasis class in the med because they need to go dry dock or something. They really don’t want it there unless they have to have it there. im sure the newer quantum class would also be better but I’ve not sailed them yet. They need to maximise the sun deck for the UK market and offer all inclusive like they used to. Last year I paid £40 a day for deluxe this year they wanted £80. It was £50 until New Year’s Day that said personally I think I’m done with drinking to excess on cruises. My gf is a lightweight and never gets the value out of them and now we are diamond it’s even harder. I still don’t understand why they don’t offer diamond a big discount on deluxe package to make it worth upgrading.

you just declared something you know very little facts about as factual and indisputable which I find hilariously ironic

my dad sailed this ship and rated it highly. I went and looked at their ships online and they looked much better than I expected. I visit Italy a lot and I’m used to that kind of customer service so I know what to expect on board. typical euro customer service. They don’t really take notice until you start shouting at each other. 🤣 how did you find the food on board compared to royal?

I don’t think anyone who was on that ship would disagree in general with things I said. Each persons experience will vary and as I said before my experience wasn’t a bad one in general I just don’t think anthem is a good ship design for me or the UK in general. what I did forget to say in my review was that there were 2 couples which got off the ship and never come back saying they hated it. Bit extreme for me but each to their own. I’ve never heard of that before. this cruise there were more negative people than I’ve ever seen. Which was kind of the point of my post. Most of the poor experiences I had are not unique to anthem either. This is why I’m trying P&O and maybe MSC next year.

I didnt have a bad cruise i said it was OK. Royal had very little to do with the fun i had. They mostly just spoil the fun with their incessant upselling and grifting. For example a new one for me was being photographed in Chops and then having him print the photo and asking for 30 USD in front of other diners in this weird pressure selling situation. What i really love is being pressure sold whilst im paying a surcharge to eat in speciality dining. I dont know why Royal doesnt just hire the lucky lucky men from the port to come on board with their fake watches and handbags to harass the guests whilst they are eating. Anthem is a weird ship and experience. You can literally sit looking at vintage LV or Chanel handbags costing 5000+ USD whilst they serve you some nachos covered in cheese that came out of a squirty bottle for 4$.... 10 foot apart you have REAL Chanel and FAKE Cheese! Couldn't make it up.

I wish they were. They are not. Im 100% sure as i used to work with MKN who make the ovens and ive done the tour of the kitchens and seen them in action. They are cooked in the oven and finished on grill but they can be held in the oven for many hours. The steam inside the oven stops them drying out but they do slowly continue cooking and also if they are not all same density and size some cook more than others and ones near the fan also cook more.

35% of their revenue comes from on board spending. Average spend per passenger is around 1600 USD per person. So thats only 560 USD per person. Between the drinks, wifi, excursions, casino etc it doesnt seem to me like most Royal cruisers spend much over the cruise fare. Id argue that a small percentage props that average up considerably and the real average per person spend is 30-40 USD per day or possibly less. These policies seem to impact only the people who do spend much more on extras than the typical person who eats in the Windjammer 3 meals a day and has one or two beers on an evening. Im a perfect example of this. Until this year i had Deluxe drinks, UDP, Wifi and i used to go casino too. Last cruise i went UDP and 50 USD of Wifi only. No deluxe drinks and didnt step foot inside the casino. We even refused the 20 USD charge for the shuttle busses opting to walk instead. All speciality was 80% empty, even excursions had availability the day before. I only met one person with drinks package and only 18 people bought the UDP.

The steaks are cooked in the oven. MKN branded German steam ovens and they are finished on the grill for effect. This is why the meat is overcooked and lacks flavour much of the time. Its technically called reverse searing but its not because they hold the steaks for hours in the wet oven which robs them of the flavour and they keep cooking slowly. My problem with this is the 130USD charge for 2 people to eat it. Someone at Royal thinks this is OK but the restaurants were mostly empty so people are voting with their wallets in Europe. Im not convinced the US market is so fussy though...

Was the sun out? - Yes Was the (over priced) booze wet and got me drunk? - Yes Did the (overcooked) Steak covered in red wine sauce taste ok? - Yes Was some of the entertainment fun to watch? - Yes I can get the above for 50% of the price and have just as much fun without paying Royals prices or their 18% staff tax subsidy. When i starting sailing Royal 9 years ago it was because it was supposed to be more upmarket than P&O or MSC and younger crowd than most cruise lines. As far as i can remember it was both and it was also fairly priced with $30 drinks packages and $20 to eat in chops. We are at the stage now where Royal is cutting Sushi Rolls in half to cut costs..... Yes some rice and a few prawns in speciality with 5 tables out of 30 occupied needs to cut the portions in half whilst increasing the set menu to 40 USD.... Yet in the WindJammer you can load up 5 plates of food and leave them all on the table to go cold.... Explain me the logic and why people who pay for the upgrades should get worse things for more money.