Anthem is Awesome - live holiday sailing

Hi all,

Checking in live from the Anthem.

For anyone sailing on the Anthem soon, you have a lot to look forward to. Out of 15 cruises on all major lines including several on the Oasis and Freedom classes, this is without a doubt our favorite cruise. Ship is beautiful, food is good, service is A+ and entertainment is plentiful. Katrina Love and Synergy are one of our favorite house bands, One Love is one of our favorite reggae bands and the other various live music is plentiful and spot on. Ron Lucas is tonight as is a Led Zeplan tribute concert at 270. Dining is working out fine, a couple menus can use some tweaking but quality and service is good. We love the unique activities compared to the rest of the fleet, especially the updated 70s night and name that tune with the incorporation of the Anthem orchestra.

It is as if we are on a vastly different ship than some recent reviews with a different tone. Thanks to the entire Anthem team for making this the best vacation yet!

It is as if we are on a vastly different ship than some recent reviews with a different tone.

Kinda like the reviews on the MDR food.;)

Posts like this make me so excited for our Anthem cruise in March. Unique activities are just what I am looking for!

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Amazing how much reviews of Anthem vary

Don't understand how some people sound like they're on a different ship to others!

Glad you're having a great time :D

I just got off the Anthem a couple weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised. From

The horror reviews I've read. I was a little concerned.

I thought the food was as good as any other RCCL cruise I've been on. In fact

The scrambled eggs in the Windjammer were excellent. Most cruises, including

Recent RCCL cruise the scrambled eggs tasted like powered eggs. We were on

The second sailing that did away with Dynamic Dining. I made a standing

reservation every night for 6:45 pm and was seated quickly every night.

The ship as beautiful, I had a Studio balcony cabin. I loved the new bathroom

Design. The shower seems larger than other RCCL ships, and had a modern

Feel to them. My balcony was huge, probable the size of the cabin itself. A

Friend had a regular balcony cabin, his cabin was beautiful.

I was so impressed, I'm thinking of booking another Anthem cruise in the

Spring, just so I can be Diamond for my Jewel Transatlantic I have booked for

Next November.

Just returned from the holiday sailing. Favorite cruise of 15 (half of which have been with Royal on Freedom and Oasis-class ships).

Will post a review in the next few days, feel free to ask any questions that I can answer in the meantime.

For anyone sailing soon - you have a lot to look forward to.

Just returned from the holiday sailing. Favorite cruise of 15 (half of which have been with Royal on Freedom and Oasis-class ships).

 

Will post a review in the next few days, feel free to ask any questions that I can answer in the meantime.

 

For anyone sailing soon - you have a lot to look forward to.

I absolutely agree, that was our 14th cruise and the best! A day after returning we booked again for this year, 105 days to go, been counting from 355!!

Marg

We are also just back from this wonderful cruise.

When I booked, I was expecting to experience Dynamic Dining and was not sure of what to expect as the transition to traditional and My Time had just happened.

So, just a little about about our experience with dining:

We were quite impressed with the My Time Dining. As a party of three, we never made a reservation and ate there most evenings with very little wait at all! The non-reserves were seated in Silk.

We also found the food to be quite good and the portions were not skimpy. The menu was different each night and we found the variety to be interesting.

We also dined at Chops (my favorite) which still has much of the same menu. Jamies Italian was quite good and we enjoyed sharing a plank appetizer for a little of everything.

We had one dinner in the Solarium Bistro and while pleased with the food we did note the service to be quite slow. Our waiter apologized that they were so busy. However, looking around it was not at all full.

Most breakfasts (although we didn't have breakfast every day) were in the Windjammer.

We didn't go to breakfast in Solarium Bistro until the 2nd to last day and were very sorry that we had missed out on it! A nice buffet in a calm, peaceful atmosphere.

There were also delicious breakast pizzas and burritos available in Sorrento's along with fruit cups and yogurt parfaits.

Anthem is doing food well in our book.

As you can see from my signature, I love Anthem. Part is due to it being only an hour away, but the ship is amazing, especially the Music Hall.

Good to hear.

I think the vast range of reviews is because of Anthems sailing port such a range of different people cruise her.

JMO but I think she is more geared to young, family, thrill seeking, tech savy, reservation making active kind of cruiser.

There will be lines there will be waits, not everything you order will be the best meal ever. If you don't reserve some activities you might not be able to do it (rip cord and Northstar) with out a long wait or persistence.

I cruised Anthem Thanksgiving '15. All kinds of crazy reviews. I fell in love with the Anthem. Im trying to figure out how to get back on her. Sure wish they would move that class to Galveston. My friends laughed at me for flying to NJ to cruise to the Bahamas. But I'm glad I didn't allow them to persuade me.

I love the 270 venue. I stayed in there all day. Breakfast, lunch, drinks and snacks plus fresh squeezed OJ. Comfy seats. Watch the ocean go by. My my my LOVED IT!!

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I was so impressed, I'm thinking of booking another Anthem cruise in the

Spring, just so I can be Diamond for my Jewel Transatlantic I have booked for

Next November.

Go ahead and do it! We're on Anthem in less than two weeks just so that we can be D+ for that Jewel TA in November. The things we do for status!:D

We were on The second sailing that did away with Dynamic Dining. I made a standing reservation every night for 6:45 pm and was seated quickly every night.

Can I please ask you to elaborate on this? From my understanding they no longer offer a pair of set seating times. You just make reservations for both the free and pay venues. Is that correct?

Can I please ask you to elaborate on this? From my understanding they no longer offer a pair of set seating times. You just make reservations for both the free and pay venues. Is that correct?

on the Anthem the Grande and Chic dining rooms are for first and second sittings. Silk and American Icon are now for My Time Dining. I made a reservation each night for My Time Dining at 6:45pm. We switched off from the two My Time Dining Rooms. The only time I've eaten in Grande was for lunch.

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Wow, this is the second positive review of Anthem I've read today. It seems like lately, most of the reviews have been so negative. Now I can't wait to get on this ship and experience everything for myself!

on the Anthem the Grande and Chic dining rooms are for first and second sittings. Silk and American Icon are now for My Time Dining. I made a reservation each night for My Time Dining at 6:45pm. We switched off from the two My Time Dining Rooms. The only time I've eaten in Grande was for lunch.

 

 

 

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So when the rep I booked with told me that they are no longer offering set seating times he was cuckoo. I'm assuming they have the same menu at all of the free venues then right? I only ask and have concerns because I have a life threatening food allergy. Traditional cruises work well for me because after the 1st day the waitstaff knows what is and isn't safe for me. They also allow me to preview the next night's menu and pre order so my meal can be made safely and away from my allergen. This new arrangement quite frankly is scary for me. It'll either go beautifully, I'll die or I'll end up with plain steak and dry baked potato every night. Anyone else have any insight to offer? I'd love to not have to cancel this trip.

So when the rep I booked with told me that they are no longer offering set seating times he was cuckoo. I'm assuming they have the same menu at all of the free venues then right? I only ask and have concerns because I have a life threatening food allergy. Traditional cruises work well for me because after the 1st day the waitstaff knows what is and isn't safe for me. They also allow me to preview the next night's menu and pre order so my meal can be made safely and away from my allergen. This new arrangement quite frankly is scary for me. It'll either go beautifully, I'll die or I'll end up with plain steak and dry baked potato every night. Anyone else have any insight to offer? I'd love to not have to cancel this trip.

The "new" dining is the same as all the regular Royal Caribbean ships. The only difference is the Anthem has four smaller dining rooms instead of one large three story one. I would book one of the seatings, first or second. You will get the same table and server every night. The menu was the same in all four dining rooms. They did away with the theme menus. I booked my time because one friend likes to eat second sitting and the other friend wanted first. So I told them. I booked 6:45pm every night. One night we went to see a show. And went to the dining room at 9 pm. And we were seated right away. Hope this helps. RCCL changed the dining format on the Anthem the sailing before mine. I went Dec 9, 2016

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We were also on this cruise and loved it! Will try to get a review out but some early thoughts:

The ship was beautifully decorated for holidays. Midnight Mass in the theater on Christmas Eve, and a Rabbi leading a menorah lighting ceremony for each night of Hanukkah. New Years Eve was a blast, with parties in several locations.

North Star was fun. For our sailing it was fully booked. They took standby's only if people didn't show up or if groups did not want to be broken up (14 people can go at a time.) There is a minimum height requirement to accommodate a zipline harness in the case of an evacuation.

Loved Wonderland and glad we did it. Super interesting and innovative concepts. We were stuffed!

Lucky enough to eat at Coastal Kitchen for dinner this time. Fantastic. Calm, quiet atmosphere, with wonderful service. For breakfast and lunch, went to Windjammer occasionally but ate more often in the MDR. They have the fruit soups for lunch!

Tried Solarium Bistro once. As someone mentioned above, service was slow. Our waiter was overworked, handling a very large table. Offerings were mostly grilled seafood or chicken, with lobster for $20 and lamb chops for $10.

Wonderful brunch in the MDR on New Years Day.

Dru Pavlov was the Cruise Director and was terrific. Very visible and friendly but not over the top. He reminds me of an old time movie star like Cary Grant -- debonair, sophisticated.

Captain Srecko Ban was also very visible. His noontime announcements had a lot of information not only about our immediate location and weather but also about nearby land. (e.g. "Atlantic City's boardwalk is 4 miles...")

Any questions, happy to help. (Thanks OP for starting this thread!)

So when the rep I booked with told me that they are no longer offering set seating times he was cuckoo. I'm assuming they have the same menu at all of the free venues then right? I only ask and have concerns because I have a life threatening food allergy. Traditional cruises work well for me because after the 1st day the waitstaff knows what is and isn't safe for me. They also allow me to preview the next night's menu and pre order so my meal can be made safely and away from my allergen. This new arrangement quite frankly is scary for me. It'll either go beautifully, I'll die or I'll end up with plain steak and dry baked potato every night. Anyone else have any insight to offer? I'd love to not have to cancel this trip.

My daughter has a nut allergy... I suggest you email the "guest with special needs department" as soon as possible and explain your situation, stating you would like to have the same wait staff/ time each night due to your issues. They worked with me on the harmony and it was a lot less stressful than changing it on board like I did on a previous cruise. You definitely want the same wait staff each night with allergies!

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Did they have any pool side movies ?

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Did they have any pool side movies ?

There was on the two 12 nights cruises we did on Anthem last winter.

Below is a shot of the outside pool with the movie screen on the ship's port or right side of the shot.