Anthem of the Seas - review

[shepherdqueen]

After an insane week at work, I finally had the time to write my review for our week on the Anthem of the Seas, the October 28, 2017 sailing. As a little background, this was our 7th cruise, a first on Royal Caribbean. Our other cruises have been on NCL and we were becoming disillusioned. Traveling with my husband and I, my dear (older) friend came along with us.

 

We live in upstate New York and it was an easy 3 hour drive to the port. My husband dropped our friend and I off, the porters took the luggage from the car, and it was very easy for him to park in the garage and meet us in the building. While my friend & I were standing with our canes, waiting for an agent with an ipad free up, another agent approached us and sent us through the handicapped security line and we were able to check at the handicapped/wheelchair embark waiting area. This was a breeze compared to Manhattan.

 

I am handicapped and my husband and we had an oceanview accessible cabin on deck 3. The bed was very firm,and after the first night when I woke hurting, we asked our steward for a mattress topper. That did help and made it bearable. Not the most comfortable bed to us. We did have plenty of storage and the cabin was fine in any other aspect. I did miss not having a coffeemaker, and after the first two mornings, we had complimentary room service deliver coffee and pastry prior to meeting up with our friend. Room service was very prompt, and always called before delivery. We did not try room service at any other time. Our friend had a solo cabin on deck 11. Though tight, it was clean and adequate, with a very nice bathroom. She actually had a better view with her virtual balcony then we did with our window.

 

Thanks to the recommendations of past cruisers here on CC, we did the BOGO Specialty Dining for the first two nights. As soon as we went on board, we went straight to the two restaurants we wanted to dine at and changed the dining times. This was very easy. The first night the three of us ate at Chops. I have an unusual food allergy and the waiter was 110% on making me happy,telling me what was possible for me to eat.

 

The next morning our friend had a medical issue that needed attention. The medical center is not marked on the elevators, so we had to call guest services to find out where it was (deck 2 mid ship). There, they took her right in, and she ended up having to stay there for most of the day. Due to this,we missed our CC Meet & Greet. The doctor was able to treat our friend, though if the medications didn't work she would have been sent to a hospital when we reached Florida. Thank goodness for travel insurance.

 

Due to my friend's medical issue(at this point she could only eat soft food for the rest of the week)she did not join us that night at Wonderland. This had to be my favorite meal of the entire week. I do not like seafood and fish but I did enjoy most the tasting courses that was offered. My husband raved about the beef entree. Because I did not notify them of my food allergy ahead of time, I was unable to eat many of the main entrees,but our waiter brought me a filet from Chops. The service was stellar!

 

 

The rest of the week we ate breakfast and lunch at the Windjammer buffet or at the Solarium. The head chef at the Windjammer was stellar! He was able to point out what I could not eat and he made sure my friend had eggs, jello,pudding, applesauce, etc. at each meal. Our friend dined at the buffet the rest of the week and my husband and I had early seating in Chic. There I was able to pre-order my meals for the next day. The food was good, but did not compare with the outstanding meals we had at Chops & Wonderland. The service everywhere we went was top notch. The garlic bread at Sorrento's was fabulous – realslivers of garlic – YUM! The pizza on the other hand, never seemed to be cooked all the way through. We were not a fan.

 

We have done this itinerary before but still wanted to explore a bit. In Florida, we used Uber for the first time and went to the Exploration Tower. There was a launch scheduled for that afternoon, so we could not stay for long as they were closing for launch viewing. But, it was a nice outing and a cute museum. When we returned to the ship, by the time we got to the top deck, the rocket had blasted off, but we were able to still watch it fly into space.

 

We are not beach people so we did nottender to the private island. From the ship, the island looked verypacked. We took advantage of a quiet ship to relax. We did go tothe shore excursion desk to ask about a shutttle from the ship to an excursion in Nassau, but there was none. It was too far of a walk, in the hot sun, from the ship to the main street so again we stayed on the ship. That was disappointing as I know we are not the only handicapped people who do not need a scooter the majority of thetime.

 

Every morning we enjoyed the Solarium. We did make reservations for the three shows – the shows were fineand we enjoyed the entertainment. But, not having a stage show for 3nights was disappointed to us as we enjoy that type entertainement. We also enjoy watching movies on the ship, which consisted of amovie now and then at the pool. Of course, the only seating in a viewable area was the low lounges, that are not handicap friendly. I wonder if they could have brought up a chair with arms, but I didn't think to ask. They also scheduled the movies during the early dining... this will make me do my time dining next time we cruise with RC so we can enjoy an activity if it compes up at a conflicting time. We wanted to go on the North Star if it was in port, but it only seemed to run while at sea. I was not up to going on, being scared of heights, to get a view of just the ocean.

 

Overall, the service was 110% better than on any other cruise we have been on. The entertainemnt I think was lacking, heck we watched a movie on TV the last last night in our cabin. Bet we really enjoyed the service and the Solarium which may be the deciding factor to keep us with Royal for our next cruise.

[easyboy]

Glad your dietary requirement was handled so well by the staff.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Tin can]

Thank you for the review, we are back on Anthem to Bermuda in 2019 so all reviews are really useful.

[Maraprince]

After an insane week at work, I finally had the time to write my review for our week on the Anthem of the Seas, the October 28, 2017 sailing. As a little background, this was our 7th cruise, a first on Royal Caribbean. Our other cruises have been on NCL and we were becoming disillusioned. Traveling with my husband and I, my dear (older) friend came along with us.

 

We live in upstate New York and it was an easy 3 hour drive to the port. My husband dropped our friend and I off, the porters took the luggage from the car, and it was very easy for him to park in the garage and meet us in the building. While my friend & I were standing with our canes, waiting for an agent with an ipad free up, another agent approached us and sent us through the handicapped security line and we were able to check at the handicapped/wheelchair embark waiting area. This was a breeze compared to Manhattan.

 

I am handicapped and my husband and we had an oceanview accessible cabin on deck 3. The bed was very firm,and after the first night when I woke hurting, we asked our steward for a mattress topper. That did help and made it bearable. Not the most comfortable bed to us. We did have plenty of storage and the cabin was fine in any other aspect. I did miss not having a coffeemaker, and after the first two mornings, we had complimentary room service deliver coffee and pastry prior to meeting up with our friend. Room service was very prompt, and always called before delivery. We did not try room service at any other time. Our friend had a solo cabin on deck 11. Though tight, it was clean and adequate, with a very nice bathroom. She actually had a better view with her virtual balcony then we did with our window.

 

Thanks to the recommendations of past cruisers here on CC, we did the BOGO Specialty Dining for the first two nights. As soon as we went on board, we went straight to the two restaurants we wanted to dine at and changed the dining times. This was very easy. The first night the three of us ate at Chops. I have an unusual food allergy and the waiter was 110% on making me happy,telling me what was possible for me to eat.

 

The next morning our friend had a medical issue that needed attention. The medical center is not marked on the elevators, so we had to call guest services to find out where it was (deck 2 mid ship). There, they took her right in, and she ended up having to stay there for most of the day. Due to this,we missed our CC Meet & Greet. The doctor was able to treat our friend, though if the medications didn't work she would have been sent to a hospital when we reached Florida. Thank goodness for travel insurance.

 

Due to my friend's medical issue(at this point she could only eat soft food for the rest of the week)she did not join us that night at Wonderland. This had to be my favorite meal of the entire week. I do not like seafood and fish but I did enjoy most the tasting courses that was offered. My husband raved about the beef entree. Because I did not notify them of my food allergy ahead of time, I was unable to eat many of the main entrees,but our waiter brought me a filet from Chops. The service was stellar!

 

 

The rest of the week we ate breakfast and lunch at the Windjammer buffet or at the Solarium. The head chef at the Windjammer was stellar! He was able to point out what I could not eat and he made sure my friend had eggs, jello,pudding, applesauce, etc. at each meal. Our friend dined at the buffet the rest of the week and my husband and I had early seating in Chic. There I was able to pre-order my meals for the next day. The food was good, but did not compare with the outstanding meals we had at Chops & Wonderland. The service everywhere we went was top notch. The garlic bread at Sorrento's was fabulous – realslivers of garlic – YUM! The pizza on the other hand, never seemed to be cooked all the way through. We were not a fan.

 

We have done this itinerary before but still wanted to explore a bit. In Florida, we used Uber for the first time and went to the Exploration Tower. There was a launch scheduled for that afternoon, so we could not stay for long as they were closing for launch viewing. But, it was a nice outing and a cute museum. When we returned to the ship, by the time we got to the top deck, the rocket had blasted off, but we were able to still watch it fly into space.

 

We are not beach people so we did nottender to the private island. From the ship, the island looked verypacked. We took advantage of a quiet ship to relax. We did go tothe shore excursion desk to ask about a shutttle from the ship to an excursion in Nassau, but there was none. It was too far of a walk, in the hot sun, from the ship to the main street so again we stayed on the ship. That was disappointing as I know we are not the only handicapped people who do not need a scooter the majority of thetime.

 

Every morning we enjoyed the Solarium. We did make reservations for the three shows – the shows were fineand we enjoyed the entertainment. But, not having a stage show for 3nights was disappointed to us as we enjoy that type entertainement. We also enjoy watching movies on the ship, which consisted of amovie now and then at the pool. Of course, the only seating in a viewable area was the low lounges, that are not handicap friendly. I wonder if they could have brought up a chair with arms, but I didn't think to ask. They also scheduled the movies during the early dining... this will make me do my time dining next time we cruise with RC so we can enjoy an activity if it compes up at a conflicting time. We wanted to go on the North Star if it was in port, but it only seemed to run while at sea. I was not up to going on, being scared of heights, to get a view of just the ocean.

 

Overall, the service was 110% better than on any other cruise we have been on. The entertainemnt I think was lacking, heck we watched a movie on TV the last last night in our cabin. Bet we really enjoyed the service and the Solarium which may be the deciding factor to keep us with Royal for our next cruise.

 

There indeed was a free shuttle to and from the ship in Nassau to the main gate. It was running when we left the ship for our morning tour. We took it on the return to the ship because after our Atlantis tour and brief shopping in town I do not think we could have walked to our pier since it was the last ship docked. While it was not announced on the ship, there were people in the port asking if you wanted to ride on the free shuttle that took you to the main gate which was only steps away from the shopping areaa. Sorry you did not get to use it. It was available to all the cruise ships docked in Nassau.

 

MARAPRINCE

[shepherdqueen]

There indeed was a free shuttle to and from the ship in Nassau to the main gate. It was running when we left the ship for our morning tour. We took it on the return to the ship because after our Atlantis tour and brief shopping in town I do not think we could have walked to our pier since it was the last ship docked. While it was not announced on the ship, there were people in the port asking if you wanted to ride on the free shuttle that took you to the main gate which was only steps away from the shopping areaa. Sorry you did not get to use it. It was available to all the cruise ships docked in Nassau.

 

MARAPRINCE

 

Now we are really disappointed. You would think that the shore excursion desk would know this! We were willing to pay for the ship excursion just to get on the shuttle.