Anthem of the Seas 9 nt sailing June 28th

Just returned yesterday from a 9 nt sailing on the beautiful Anthem. We are a Family of 4. 8th cruise across multiple cruise lines.

Embarkation was so easy. We drove to port from Long Island and arrived to port around 10:30. We boarded ship at 11:30 and headed to Windjammer for lunch. The buffet was surprisingly not crowded at all. After lunch we headed straight to bumper cars. Minimal wait. Great fun. Throughout the cruise we were able to do bumper cars multiple times and sometimes back to back. Rooms are ready at 1pm. Sea pass cards are held outside your stateroom.

We booked a balcony room on deck 11 aft. I was surprised with how much space there was to unpack. Plenty of closet and drawer space for 4 people. Stored suitcases under bed. After we unpacked. Walked ship. Nicely laid out and interesting artwork.

Dining: we book traditional dining at 5:30. We like the early seating with the same table and wait staff every day. I like not waiting to be seated...just walk in to your assigned table. Our servers were exceptional. They had our favorite drinks waiting on the table before we arrived and our waiter remembered that my son wanted apple pie with vanilla ice cream every night. I didn’t even have to order my cappuccino after the second night. Food in dining room was also very good.

Now, even though the food and service were excellent, we found the variety of food in the dining room lacking. I just wasn’t WOW’d by the menu offerings in the dining room. But that’s purely subjective. We ate one meal in a Chops Grille. Also excellent all around.

Entertainment: We enjoyed all the shows. We booked the three main shows way ahead of time and were not disappointed. Even my husband who doesn’t care for Broadway style shows enjoyed them. RCL’s entertainment staff is fantastic. We also found their two comedians hilarious.

The Windjammer was great for breakfast. We are early risers, so breakfast at 7:30 was not crowded at all. Plenty of tables. We had breakfast in dining room twice, service kinda slow.

Seas days at the pool were crowded. Chairs right around the pool were gone extremely early, but I just walked up to top deck. Plenty of chairs up there. It was waaaay to hot to sit outside in the sun for us anyways. Plus, rolling bar travels up and down deck. No need to even get up. Lol.

One thing I noticed on the Anthem, it’s very casual in the dining room. Every night, with the exception of Formal night the attire was Casual. Worked good for us, because my husband has to wear a suit every day to work. Last thing he really wants to do is get dressed up every night on vacation. It was different seeing everyone in t-shirts versus collared shirts.

Formal nights were day 2 and 8. Lobster on day 8.

We got the drink package. Just made sense for us when you do the math. My husband is not a big drinker, but he made use of all the water and refreshments and probably broke even on his package. Each bar on board offers their own signature or speciality drink, so we would go “bar hopping “, sampling all the different drinks. Our favorite was the Cherry Orchard in the Brass and Brock pub. Yum!

We did the North Star in Labadee and iFly. All great.

Disembarkation was so easy too. We were slotted to leave at 8:10. We had breakfast beforehand and around 8 headed to deck 5. There were no tremendous lines, no bottlenecks, no pushing and shoving to squeeze thru tiny hallways. I have no idea where everyone was, but it was great. We were off the ship and in car by 8:45.

Overall, Anthem was amazing. Service was excellent. And didn’t find ship overly crowded either, like I’ve heard others say.

Thanks for your review.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise.

Looking forward to sailing on her in October.

Welcome to CC.

Wow! Sounds like an amazing cruise. Glad you liked the Anthem and thanks so much for taking the time to write such a detailed review. It really helps as we will be sailing on her for the first time in September.

Thanks for your thoughts. We are on this cruise in 2 weeks. We also chose traditional dining but second seating. I like not waiting for a table and the staff know us.

Enjoyed your review. Anthem is a nice ship. We really liked the solirium.

Thanks for your thoughts. We are on this cruise in 2 weeks. We also chose traditional dining but second seating. I like not waiting for a table and the staff know us.

We'll also be sailing on the 26th!! Hope you guys have a great time. :D

Thanks for the review. Hearing you enjoyed the food, was able to find deck chairs, and didn't find the ship to be too crowded puts some of my worries at ease!

 

Now, even though the food and service were excellent, we found the variety of food in the dining room lacking. I just wasn’t WOW’d by the menu offerings in the dining room. But that’s purely subjective. We ate one meal in a Chops Grille. Also excellent all around.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences. I enjoyed reading your post. I am so glad that you enjoyed your cruise on the Anthem - I really like her, too. :)

About your comment about the food: Alas, it's not the Anthem, and it's not really subjective. The number and variety of choices HAS shrunk. Many of us have noticed and are not pleased.

I am guessing that you didn't do the Escape Room, or you would have mentioned it.

Again, thanks, and welcome to Cruise Critic.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences. I enjoyed reading your post. I am so glad that you enjoyed your cruise on the Anthem - I really like her, too. :)

 

About your comment about the food: Alas, it's not the Anthem, and it's not really subjective. The number and variety of choices HAS shrunk. Many of us have noticed and are not pleased.

 

I am guessing that you didn't do the Escape Room, or you would have mentioned it.

 

Again, thanks, and welcome to Cruise Critic.

We did not do escape room. It was booked by time we thought to look into it.

In 2015 we were on the Oasis and thought the menu options were much more varied, that might have changed now too though.

I was on this cruise as well, and definitely agree the choices for dinner seemed limited. We did My Time, but requested the same wait staff each time we went to dinner. Pande and Julius provided excellent service. We only had to wait one night. I read reviews that suggested the My Time no reservation line moved quicker than the reservation line, and I have to agree. We purchased the 3 night dining package and Chef's Table prior to getting on the ship. The menu from previous chef's table experiences on Serenade and Freedom were pretty much exactly the same, but on Serenade the meal was more personalized. On Anthem the menu was totally different, and the Filet was to die for. We ate a Chops twice and Jamie's Italian once. Enjoyed those meals very much. This was my second cruise as Diamond, and I definitely took advantage of the Diamond Lounge!