Just booked Anthem for next year...

[Cruising Forever!]

While on Celebrity Equinox from 3/16-3/27, I decided to give my old favorite, Royal Caribbean ,another try. We sailed on the severely tattered Explorer last September and this was no "WOW" experience at all. (I still have nightmares about how we had to rearrange the cabin furniture to be able to get into bed in our comically small inside cabin.) I was so dismayed by this cruise, I haven't even posted a review yet of the Explorer sailing.

 

I was excited to read about Quantum, but Equinox's itinerary drew us away. I have read reviews that are about 50-50 on the Quantum. Yikes! But I decided to give Royal one more chance to truly "WOW!" us. So, as I said, we went ahead and decided to book Anthem.

 

I've read that Dynamic Dining has been the biggest flaw. I also heard from Royal that they will be offering "Classic Early" and "Classic Late" seating on Quantum ships going forward along with DD. I asked how the "Classic" modes work considering that there is no Main Dining Room (MDR) on these ships. He wasn't sure. (I will say that Celebrity Equinox's "Select Dining"... their version of Dynamic Dining... was a miserable failure for us. Fortunately this was offset by outstanding food!) Still, we are going to be a group of eight... so I'm guessing the "Classic" option will be best for us. Getting reservations in DD for 8 will probably be tough?

 

Any other thoughts on Anthem gleaned from those who sailed on Quantum would be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Paul

[swiss2619]

We booked Quantum last July and sailed on her January of this year, so we were one of the earlier sailings for the Quantum. We were a group of seven. I rebooked all our dinner reservations online back in the Fall and just a bit of difficulty time-wise with a group of seven, but everything worked out fine. We changed a few times and restaurants while onboard with no problems. We thoroughly enjoyed the ship and all it had to offer. On our eight day cruise, we were unable to enjoy everything there was to do but enjoyed what we did. The staterooms were lovely and nicely furnished. The food was definitely above that on the Explorer and the specialty restaurants were wonderful. There were definitely people complaining about this, that and the other thing - but to be honest, I have seen this on every cruise I've been on. Just my opinion but the seven of us all agreed, we are booking Anthem for 2016 b/c we loved the Quantum in 2015! Enjoy! Swiss

[Cruising Forever!]

Swiss- thank you for the positive report. Were they offering Classic seating times on your sailing, yet?

Edited March 29, 2015 by Cruisin' Forever!

[Guest maddycat]

You might want to start reading the cc Quantum of the Seas board and the Count Down to the Quantum board. The links are below.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=872

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/royal-caribbean/quantum

 

From what I have read the classic dining is like traditional dining. However, your entire party will move nightly, along with your wait staff, from free restaurant to free restaurant through out the cruise.

Edited March 29, 2015 by maddycat

[swiss2619]

Swiss- thank you for the positive report. Were they offering Classic seating times on your sailing' date=' yet?[/quote']

 

No, they were not offering Classic seating times as you described. However, we were able to pre-book or book onboard at Grande any time we chose. The various restaurants were amazingly effortless in changing times, etc. even for a party of 7! We absolutely loved it!

Swiss

[kruzerci]

While on Celebrity Equinox from 3/16-3/27' date=' I decided to give my old favorite, Royal Caribbean ,another try. [b']We sailed on the severely tattered Explorer[/b] last September and this was no "WOW" experience at all. (I still have nightmares about how we had to rearrange the cabin furniture to be able to get into bed in our comically small inside cabin.) I was so dismayed by this cruise, I haven't even posted a review yet of the Explorer sailing.

 

I was excited to read about Quantum, but Equinox's itinerary drew us away. I have read reviews that are about 50-50 on the Quantum. Yikes! But I decided to give Royal one more chance to truly "WOW!" us. So, as I said, we went ahead and decided to book Anthem.

 

I've read that Dynamic Dining has been the biggest flaw. I also heard from Royal that they will be offering "Classic Early" and "Classic Late" seating on Quantum ships going forward along with DD. I asked how the "Classic" modes work considering that there is no Main Dining Room (MDR) on these ships. He wasn't sure. (I will say that Celebrity Equinox's "Select Dining"... their version of Dynamic Dining... was a miserable failure for us. Fortunately this was offset by outstanding food!) Still, we are going to be a group of eight... so I'm guessing the "Classic" option will be best for us. Getting reservations in DD for 8 will probably be tough?

 

Any other thoughts on Anthem gleaned from those who sailed on Quantum would be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Paul

Holy exaggeration...

[Cruising Forever!]

maddycat- thank you for these links! I will check them out! Glad that they are tweaking the system in response to complaints.

[Cruising Forever!]

Holy exaggeration...

 

 

Um... Ok. Not sure what you are referring to, but whatever...

[riclop]

Good for u .