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Just back from Anthem today


JAMESCC
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Thanks for the review, agree with everything except the Esplanade. I hated that area when they had the sales tables out because you couldn't move. When it was open it was great. solarium is great but can get crowded.

 

My 2 cents on Breakaway. I've been on her twice, she gets super crowded and as others have said the flow is extremely poor. Since we wanted to do the 7 days in Bermuda, our choices were Breakaway or Celebrity Summit. Because of all the NCL promos we went with them. My dh doesn't want to do that ship again. We might try Gem because it's smaller.

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Thanks for the review, agree with everything except the Esplanade. I hated that area when they had the sales tables out because you couldn't move. When it was open it was great. solarium is great but can get crowded.

 

My 2 cents on Breakaway. I've been on her twice, she gets super crowded and as others have said the flow is extremely poor. Since we wanted to do the 7 days in Bermuda, our choices were Breakaway or Celebrity Summit. Because of all the NCL promos we went with them. My dh doesn't want to do that ship again. We might try Gem because it's smaller.

Yeah those sales are a pain in the Esplanade. It seems they had less if those than on Explorer and that really messed up the Promenade as well.

Same here with Breakaway. We did it because we wanted that extra time in Bermuda and those crazy promos. Don't get me wrong, we had a compete blast but ship left us not loving it. We may try Escape though, see if passenger flow is better but we REALLY hated that Manhattan terminal! I mean hated! That weighs on the decision.

 

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The secret to having a good disembarkation in Manhattan, is to travel light enough to carry all your own bags off...you get off early, and avoid the backup when they start disembarking those who have to claim their bags in the terminal.

 

I will admit that Bayonne flows much easier, and so does Brooklyn, for that matter...

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The secret to having a good disembarkation in Manhattan, is to travel light enough to carry all your own bags off...you get off early, and avoid the backup when they start disembarking those who have to claim their bags in the terminal.

 

I will admit that Bayonne flows much easier, and so does Brooklyn, for that matter...

Yeah that would be nice if you can do that. I had an issue with personnel their too. They yelled at each other, and yelled at passengers. Now I know cruise passengers can be jerks but I got a very bad vibe from the people working at that terminal. I also had lengthy talk with NCL about how bad that terminal is and that they should try and move up Brooklyn. Share it somehow with Cunard or whoever owns it. Find a place they can build up like Royal did with Cape liberty. That would be my advice.

 

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Thank you for your review. I will be on the November 11th cruise, and was concerned about the food after looking at recent reviews. As we have been to all of the ports on our itinerary many times over, this cruise is about the ship. I am generally not easy to impress, but it sounds like I may be "wow"ed by Anthem!

We will be on the November 11th cruise with you. This will be our 3rd time on the Anthem. Can't wait.

 

Aileen

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We plan to do Anthem many, many times. Next one we want to do is Florida/Bahamas.

 

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It's funny, I have said all along that Anthem is not our favorite ship, Oasis class is our favorite, yet we keep coming back to Anthem and comparing every other ship to the features we like on Anthem.:o

 

Anthem is only a 4 hour drive away for us and the prices for the sailings we have booked have been dirt cheap. If this trend stays around, I can see us booking Anthem again in the future. There is still so much on Anthem we haven't been able to do due to circumstances on our last sailings (bad weather and travelling with an 80 yr old on one sailing and DH recovering from surgery on the other). I really hope our November sailing will finally give us a chance to do more of the more physical activities that we had to skip in the past.:)

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Anthem has a really good kids program and a really cool playroom that is again decorated really awesome and fun. Our son spent a good amount of time in that playroom. It's a great ship, we really loved it.

Do you remember if adventure ocean was open on the first night for drop off. If so, what time?
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Do you remember if adventure ocean was open on the first night for drop off. If so, what time?
That I'm not sure about, sorry. Our son played in there at lot during the trip but wasn't in any programs. I bet it was though, don't see why it wouldn't.

 

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We're booked for our second trip on Anthem in December. Sailed the Christmas sailing in 2015, repeating it again this year.

 

That said, she's not my favorite class. That is Freedom. But, since we're local here in NJ, and there is no airfare involved in the winter, especially when the cost of a holiday cruise out of Florida is more than Anthem (not including air), it's a no brainer to do it again.

 

I really hate the itinerary. It's boring and repetitive. However, we don't go for the ports much, and just enjoy the ship. Kids love the flowrider and mom and I enjoy the indoor pool space for relaxing.

 

I wonder what the prices are going to be for Escape when she comes up here. My kids won't sail her since there is no flowrider, but maybe mom and I can find some date to give it a try.

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Great review, Thanks.

We did our 1st. cruise on the Freedom in March & booked onto this ship for March 2018, can't wait.

Just not too sure if the wife & I are going to try the Wonderland, not big fan of unknown foods.

But with the special on now for 2 restaurants for price of one or less will do chops &&??

Oh when do you book your choice of restaurants when booking online months before your trip?

 

Thanks

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Great review, Thanks.

We did our 1st. cruise on the Freedom in March & booked onto this ship for March 2018, can't wait.

Just not too sure if the wife & I are going to try the Wonderland, not big fan of unknown foods.

But with the special on now for 2 restaurants for price of one or less will do chops &&??

Oh when do you book your choice of restaurants when booking online months before your trip?

 

Thanks

Wonderland is a fun experience. I recommend it even if it's just once to try it.

 

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We love the Anthem too! Agree completely with everything you said. We are on the January 7th sailing and will probably book another on her for 2019! It may not be the ship for everyone but it is amazing!

 

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Hi chrisby! We’re on this sailing with you, and we are waaay too excited! This will be our first time on this ship and can NOT wait!!

 

 

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Thank you for your review. I will be on the November 11th cruise, and was concerned about the food after looking at recent reviews. As we have been to all of the ports on our itinerary many times over, this cruise is about the ship. I am generally not easy to impress, but it sounds like I may be "wow"ed by Anthem!

 

 

I'll be on the cruise with you and I was a bit worried after seeing all the reviews about how terrible the food was as well. This is our third time on this same itinerary as well but instead of one day at sea we now have four.

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  • 2 weeks later...
We are booked on the anthem on nov. 4 and nov. 11 (btob). We have been on the anthem before and really liked the ship. We are also going for the ship as we have been to the Bahamas many times.:)

 

I will be on the nov 4 cruise as well. For my mom's 84th birthday. Cruised Anthem to Bermuda last summer, big ship, lot's of fun.

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Great review, Thanks.

We did our 1st. cruise on the Freedom in March & booked onto this ship for March 2018, can't wait.

Just not too sure if the wife & I are going to try the Wonderland, not big fan of unknown foods.

But with the special on now for 2 restaurants for price of one or less will do chops &&??

Oh when do you book your choice of restaurants when booking online months before your trip?

 

Thanks

Definitely try Wondeland! My mom was not a person to my anything odd or different but we made her go and she loved it!!!

 

 

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Great review, Thanks.

We did our 1st. cruise on the Freedom in March & booked onto this ship for March 2018, can't wait.

Just not too sure if the wife & I are going to try the Wonderland, not big fan of unknown foods.

 

We thought Wonderland was kind of fun but we didn't love the food. Definitely some odd choices that we didn't care for. We really liked Chops and would definitely do it again.

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I saw a few people comparing the Breakaway and the Anthem. I love both of them to be honest. Even though they are both large ships newer to their respective fleets, they do differ. Anthem is definitely more tech driven. The layout too doesn't make it feel like it was super crowded and we were always able to find seats near the pool relatively quickly. Although I love the Breakaway, the layout did make it feel like there were a lot of people on the ship and it was very hard to find seats even remotely near the pool. They are both totally two different experiences, so I would recommend trying both. Anthem was my first ship on Royal Caribbean and it left a very good impression for the line. You should look now that the Breakaway is leaving and the Escape is coming. That's a newer ship for NCL and may be more comparable to the Anthem.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I saw a few people comparing the Breakaway and the Anthem. I love both of them to be honest. Even though they are both large ships newer to their respective fleets, they do differ. Anthem is definitely more tech driven. The layout too doesn't make it feel like it was super crowded and we were always able to find seats near the pool relatively quickly. Although I love the Breakaway, the layout did make it feel like there were a lot of people on the ship and it was very hard to find seats even remotely near the pool. They are both totally two different experiences, so I would recommend trying both. Anthem was my first ship on Royal Caribbean and it left a very good impression for the line. You should look now that the Breakaway is leaving and the Escape is coming. That's a newer ship for NCL and may be more comparable to the Anthem.

Unfortunately, the Escape is the sister to Breakaway but with more cabins...ugh..does that mean more crowded on an already very crowded ship.

 

We much prefer the Anthem to Breakaway but having said that will try Escape next year for their 7 day Bermuda cruise-our favorite island. Wish RCI would add 7 day Bermuda to their Anthem cruises since 5 day cruises are not long enough to enjoy this beautiful island or the ship.

 

 

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Unfortunately, the Escape is the sister to Breakaway but with more cabins...ugh..does that mean more crowded on an already very crowded ship.

 

We much prefer the Anthem to Breakaway but having said that will try Escape next year for their 7 day Bermuda cruise-our favorite island. Wish RCI would add 7 day Bermuda to their Anthem cruises since 5 day cruises are not long enough to enjoy this beautiful island or the ship.

 

 

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I agree with this every post. Definitely the 5 day Anthem cruises are just not long enough, 5 days isn't long enough. I wasn't a fan of Breaking, beautiful ship but weird, weird layout, but the 7 day Bermuda cruise are much better than 5 days. We might try Escape but prefer Anthem and Royal in general.

 

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