Anthem Dec 13-22nd, 18th Royal Cruise, Loved It!!

[DrewFoundLander]

Not looking to be overly detailed but more to the point. All is my own opinion and experience and I realize others may vary.

 

Embarkation, was seamless, simple, courteous and on time if not early, arrived at 10:40 on shortly before 11am.

 

Drink Package, D+ beverage package for 8 days was $383.68 with 18% gratuity included. Drank like I was on death row, never once waited longer than 3 minutes for a drink and most often was less than 60 seconds. They were always nice to me too but I tip cash, it's a universal language.

 

Food, did not do any formal dining but the rest, WJ, JR, Sorrentos, Cafe 270, was very satisfying to excellent with a few truly wonderful dishes most especially if you like Indian cuisine.

 

Casino, I'm a slot player but of the $100 over the whole cruise kind. Not nearly as smokey as other ships.

 

Entertainment. 2nd time on Anthem, did them all last time, wasn't my thing but that only my taste. The talent is exceptional, I just have no class.

 

Cruise director/activities manager and cruise staff were engaging, friendly and fun! To be fair, my wife and I take part in everything, we are not observers we participate. We did most of the trivia's, battle of the sexes, foxtrot dancing lessons, karaoke, name that song, 60 seconds or less, north star, Ifly, bumper cars and dancing with the stripes (wife Shelley aka Cayman Turtle won and now wears the crown around the house). If anyone did not enjoy themselves, from our experience, it was through no fault of the staff.

 

Kids, we were with our 12 and 14 year old boys and yes there were lots of children on board however at no time did I see anything worth complaining about from them in fact I was a little surprised based on the number of them but plenty of good parenting and manners this cruise. There was the occasional adult who didn't get their nap but they are on land too.

 

Room, 4 of us shared a regular balcony stateroom with pullout sofa and took turns rotating bed and sofa bed. The sofa bed in ok, would not want to do anything longer than a week max, the bed was fine. floor space is quite limited while the sofa bed is pulled out but we managed and aren't cabin dwellers, it's a place to store your things while out having fun and come back once exhausted.

 

Guest Services, staff were fantastic and very helpful, had to go a few times but I have come to expect that, occasionally had to wait longer than I'd like but that's not their fault.

 

Diamond/Concierge lounge, never crowded or even close to it the times we were there. To be honest I like the perk but it is not central to my overall cruise enjoyment.

 

Summary, as the title says this was #18 with Royal and it ranks up there with the best but we've never had a bad one. I don't know why Anthem has gotten the bad reviews I saw leading up to this one but again everyone's experience is unique to them. I hope you find this helpful.

 

Cheers

 

Andrew

[easyboy]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise, as always. Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Do I understand correctly that you did not use the Main DIning Room at all?

[DrewFoundLander]

Do I understand correctly that you did not use the Main DIning Room at all?

 

That is correct. We find it causes us to over eat and spending two hours at a table tends to make me sleepy, which causes me to miss out on the evening activities. Nothing against the venues, food or staff, just prefer to eat a little less in a shorter amount of time. We've only started this practice on our last two or three cruises.

 

We have an Allure B2B booked for next summer with family who are first time cruisers and we'll be using the dining room then since it's a new experience for them.

[Clarea]

That is correct. We find it causes us to over eat and spending two hours at a table tends to make me sleepy, which causes me to miss out on the evening activities. Nothing against the venues, food or staff, just prefer to eat a little less in a shorter amount of time. We've only started this practice on our last two or three cruises.

 

We have an Allure B2B booked for next summer with family who are first time cruisers and we'll be using the dining room then since it's a new experience for them.

Understood, we have started to miss the dining room more and more too.

 

Thanks for the report.

[reallyhooked]

Enjoyed your review. When we did Anthem. We didn't do the MDR.

[OACAggie]

Thanks for your review. We are on Anthem for the first time in January and super excited. Like yourself, we will be with our two boys - 13 & 10 - also with a balcony. Glad to hear you managed with the same type of cabin and pull out sofa was ok. Is the pull out a queen size or smaller?

[BirdTravels]

We actually like the my time dining. Eat when we want. Spend as much or as little time in the dining room (usually on the little side). Really enjoyed our Anthem cruise a few mi the back.

[Merion_Mom]

Your review is very wel-done and right to the point.

 

Kudos!

 

:)

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed another nice cruise with Royal.

 

Keith

[nelblu]

Nice and concise review I can't believe that you did not eat in the MDR once. 2 hours, in all of our cruises we have never spent more than 1 hour at dinner time.

 

I agree with you that the check-in is a breeze and as far as I know it's the only ship/port where check-in is done via I Pads.

 

With regards to the shows, I was quite disappointed with them on our August '16 sail. Very acrobatic performers, but loud & noisy shows. To this day, I wasn't the only one, trying to figure out what the "Gift" was all about. Big let down as compared to the shows on the Quantum where Mamma Mia was playing. Will be on the Jan. 28th cruise and made no reservations at all. Hoping for a decent main headliner performer. Will be spending more of our time in the casino.:D

[bobmacliberty]

Entertainment. 2nd time on Anthem, did them all last time, wasn't my thing but that only my taste. The talent is exceptional, I just have no class.

Nice review. I particularly enjoyed this line ^

 

Our last cruise on Freedom we only spent 2 nights in the MDR (using MTD). The Windjammer was much easier and the food was surprisingly good. It was packed every night. Skipping the MDR could become a trend for us.

[DrewFoundLander]

Thanks for your review. We are on Anthem for the first time in January and super excited. Like yourself, we will be with our two boys - 13 & 10 - also with a balcony. Glad to hear you managed with the same type of cabin and pull out sofa was ok. Is the pull out a queen size or smaller?

 

It is definitely smaller than a queen, its more of a twin size. Was still adequate for our needs but felt a bit like sleeping in a travel trailer as one side is against the upper part of the sofa/wall. I slept on both sides and found the inside half which is the seat of the sofa is a little softer, the outside portion that slides out from underneath and then lifts and locks is more firm and has a wooden outside edge which is uncomfortable if you tend to have arms or legs out over the edge.

 

The 4 of us rotated through the outer sofa position taking turns. My wife and I (of average size in our 40's) found it a bit uncomfortable but not miserable. Our eldest son is 6' and 180 lbs found it a little small but managed, our other son is 5'6'' and 130 lbs never complained at all.

[OACAggie]

It is definitely smaller than a queen, its more of a twin size. Was still adequate for our needs but felt a bit like sleeping in a travel trailer as one side is against the upper part of the sofa/wall. I slept on both sides and found the inside half which is the seat of the sofa is a little softer, the outside portion that slides out from underneath and then lifts and locks is more firm and has a wooden outside edge which is uncomfortable if you tend to have arms or legs out over the edge.

 

The 4 of us rotated through the outer sofa position taking turns. My wife and I (of average size in our 40's) found it a bit uncomfortable but not miserable. Our eldest son is 6' and 180 lbs found it a little small but managed, our other son is 5'6'' and 130 lbs never complained at all.

 

Thanks again for the great info!

[LadyLion_AP]

Thanks for your review. I’m just 10 cruises in but Hubby & I absolutely loved the Anthem & can’t wait to sail her again! Just getting off the Allure. We had a great cruise but Anthem is still our favorite ship.

 

 

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[bananawindnj]

That is correct. We find it causes us to over eat and spending two hours at a table tends to make me sleepy, which causes me to miss out on the evening activities. Nothing against the venues, food or staff, just prefer to eat a little less in a shorter amount of time. We've only started this practice on our last two or three cruises.

 

 

 

We have an Allure B2B booked for next summer with family who are first time cruisers and we'll be using the dining room then since it's a new experience for them.

 

 

 

We eat twice as much in the WJ. and twice as fast as the MDR. Sitting down and having an even paced meal is what we look forward to every evening. After having almost 30 cruises under our belt, the entertainment appears to be so repetitive as just the faces and names change, so we don't schedule events to interfere with our dining schedule.

 

 

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