Never seen so many unhappy people on RCCL Cruise - Anthem out of UK

[FamilyCruiserUK]

I am the same id choose indy over anthem anyday of the week. 👍

[John&LaLa]

On 6/22/2023 at 3:46 AM, Pandamonia said:

I knew I was going to be bad before I got on the ship?

 

anthem is 100% worse in every way than 8 years ago. There is NOTHING that is better. 
 

They put a price rise on EVERYTHING the week before we got on the ship. They cut the room change down to once without informing anyone about it. The increased the packages with one by 50%
 

The food is worse in every venue except maybe windjammer. There is a whole thread on the new cost cutting MDR. 

 

FWIW, we've been requesting once a day service for several years now.

 

Twice a day ties the cabin up to much, and it's really not necessary for us

 

Probably going to ask for every other day on the World Cruise,  but it will just be me in the cabin

[John&LaLa]

On 6/22/2023 at 4:14 AM, Pandamonia said:

mortgages just hit 6% here so that is the death of most families disposable income. 

 

Not those who already had a mortgage at under 3%😉

 

And if revenue drops, they'll just move the ships to markets that are more profitable

[John&LaLa]

On 6/22/2023 at 10:29 AM, BND said:

A "serving" of wine is 4-5oz so half glass (depending on size of glass) is at least a serving.  

 

Try and tell my wife that

[John&LaLa]

On 6/22/2023 at 10:48 AM, Pandamonia said:

the crowd has changed a lot since 8 years ago. Less young people more older people and much wider ones too. Clientele has dropped significantly. 

 

Curious how you attribute this to Royal?

[Pandamonia]

19 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Not those who already had a mortgage at under 3%😉

 

And if revenue drops, they'll just move the ships to markets that are more profitable

 

UK doesnt work that way. 2-5 year deals. 

 

150k people a month seeing 60-70% increase in mortgage payments now. Thats basically royals family market screwed for 12-24 months. 

[Pandamonia]

13 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Curious how you attribute this to Royal?

 

Its who they market to, the deals they do and the services they provide on the ship. 

 

This drives the demographic. 

 

There is very little to attract people in their 20's and 30's to these cruises. So they stopped coming. 

 

 

[zeberdee]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

@zeberdee Indie doesn’t sail from Italy ? 

My mistake, it was the Explorer. Too many cruises booked!😳

[RedIguana]

44 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Not those who already had a mortgage at under 3%😉

Just saw our new homeowners insurance rates. We will now be paying more for insurance than Taxes,  Principle and Interest.....

[Sunshine3601]

7 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

 

Its who they market to, the deals they do and the services they provide on the ship. 

 

This drives the demographic. 

 

There is very little to attract people in their 20's and 30's to these cruises. So they stopped coming. 

 

 

From my years of cruising not many folks in their 20s or 30s do the 12 night sailings.   They do mostly 7 nights or less.

And the sailings to canary islands are usually priced higher than others.

 

Let's Not forget you paid for an OV balcony and got a free upgrade to a balcony plus 3 Free bottles of wine and 4 free drinks as a diamond member that is equivalent to $56 USD per day based on average cocktail price of $14 USD.

 

Did you count lounge chairs on pool deck, solarium, indoor pool and the upper sun deck?  Pretty sure the total would be more than 1000 chairs.  Just curious how you come up with 1000 loungers.

 

I believe Anthem has a passenger count of something like 4250.  

 

Sorry you had such a bad cruise as we have always Anthem.    Sailed on her more than a dozen times.   Last one was April.   

 

Our favorite bartenders...Rajesh, Indy, and others at Vintages as well as casino waitstaff,  head waiter Domis always takes good care of us when they see us arrive.   

I'm looking forward to our next 11 night sailing in January on Anthem in our JS.   

 

[Pandamonia]

5 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

From my years of cruising not many folks in their 20s or 30s do the 12 night sailings.   They do mostly 7 nights or less.

And the sailings to canary islands are usually priced higher than others.

 

Let's Not forget you paid for an OV balcony and got a free upgrade to a balcony plus 3 Free bottles of wine and 4 free drinks as a diamond member that is equivalent to $56 USD per day based on average cocktail price of $14 USD.

 

Did you count lounge chairs on pool deck, solarium, indoor pool and the upper sun deck?  Pretty sure the total would be more than 1000 chairs.  Just curious how you come up with 1000 loungers.

 

I believe Anthem has a passenger count of something like 4250.  

 

Sorry you had such a bad cruise as we have always Anthem.    Sailed on her more than a dozen times.   Last one was April.   

 

Our favorite bartenders...Rajesh, Indy, and others at Vintages as well as casino waitstaff,  head waiter Domis always takes good care of us when they see us arrive.   

I'm looking forward to our next 11 night sailing in January on Anthem in our JS.   

 

 

What upgraded balcony lol? I got a GTE balcony and paid for it. 

 

I didnt come up with the 1000 chairs i got told this by the Hotel Services Manager 

 

This is the UK people like 2 week holidays not 7 days in the freezing cold around the British isles. Ive been on plenty of 14 night cruises to know what the demographic changes are.

 

The cost of the cruise was about the same as 14 nights around the med. 

[Mick B]

Talking of Vintages on the Anthem, You could do worse than to ask Indy to make you a Z Car. He introduced them to me a few years back which is a mix of Hennessy and Grand Marnier - guaranteed to stop any moaning!

 

Mick.

 

[KroozNut]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

FWIW, we've been requesting once a day service for several years now.

 

Twice a day ties the cabin up to much, and it's really not necessary for us

 

Probably going to ask for every other day on the World Cruise,  but it will just be me in the cabin

Can you request morning or evening on once per days?

 

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, Pandamonia said:

no it doesn’t lol and no I was on canaries we had sun for 12 days. One windy day where top deck closed. 
 

if they had enough there wouldn’t have been as many complaints would there? 
 

there is 1000 sun chairs for 5000 potential passengers. 

 

You counted them?

[John&LaLa]

57 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

 

UK doesnt work that way. 2-5 year deals. 

 

150k people a month seeing 60-70% increase in mortgage payments now. Thats basically royals family market screwed for 12-24 months. 

 

Ouch, how uncivilized 

[John&LaLa]

15 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

Can you request morning or evening on once per days?

 

 

Yes, but no guarantee

 

We like evening and generally get it. 

Might be our status that puts us to top of que

[HBE4]

26 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

I didnt come up with the 1000 chairs i got told this by the Hotel Services Manager 

 

Were the other 4,000 chairs locked away in storage? If not, where did they go?  I've never been on a cruise where they only have loungers for 20% of the passengers.

[Pandamonia]

3 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Were the other 4,000 chairs locked away in storage? If not, where did they go?  I've never been on a cruise where they only have loungers for 20% of the passengers.

 

Maybe they work on the basis not everyone is on the sundeck at the same time? 

[BND]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Try and tell my wife that

Oh, I didn't say I agree lol

 

[John&LaLa]

6 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

 

Maybe they work on the basis not everyone is on the sundeck at the same time? 

 

I would agree with that. 

 

Pretty much every venue on ship is that way with exception of lifeboats

[HBE4]

7 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

 

Maybe they work on the basis not everyone is on the sundeck at the same time? 

 

Interesting but makes sense.  Full disclosure: I've never sailed anything but the Caribbean so I'm unaware if the demographics of your cruise enjoy sunbathing or even if the weather was conducive to sunbathing.

 

I might have missed it but did you answer my question in post #314? I'll re-state it here:

 

"I did have a question about a statement you made with regards Royal sending their one of their worst ships to the UK. Would your travel to another country to try one of their more highly rated ships?

 

I saw you used up the last of your FCC's so it seemed unlikely but as a Diamond member, could you be lured to try another ship/destination?"

 

 

For the record, since several other of your fellow Brits echoed many of the same complaints (less aggressively worded, of course) that you had, I have no doubt that there are real and valid complaints.

 

 

[Pandamonia]

3 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Interesting but makes sense.  Full disclosure: I've never sailed anything but the Caribbean so I'm unaware if the demographics of your cruise enjoy sunbathing or even if the weather was conducive to sunbathing.

 

I might have missed it but did you answer my question in post #314? I'll re-state it here:

 

"I did have a question about a statement you made with regards Royal sending their one of their worst ships to the UK. Would your travel to another country to try one of their more highly rated ships?

 

I saw you used up the last of your FCC's so it seemed unlikely but as a Diamond member, could you be lured to try another ship/destination?"

 

 

For the record, since several other of your fellow Brits echoed many of the same complaints (less aggressively worded, of course) that you had, I have no doubt that there are real and valid complaints.

 

 

I’ve sailed out of Barcelona on oasis class ships

 

Some better some worse experiences. 
 

despite what people keep saying I don’t have BAD cruises. I just don’t think royal is that good. More like a 3.5 star hotel. Long way off 5 and even 4 in many respects

[Saab4444]

18 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

I’ve sailed out of Barcelona on oasis class ships

 

Some better some worse experiences. 
 

despite what people keep saying I don’t have BAD cruises. I just don’t think royal is that good. More like a 3.5 star hotel. Long way off 5 and even 4 in many respects

Royal has never claimed to offer 4-5 star cruises. This level is offered by no cruise line on big ships in the standard class. If you book Grill Class on Cunard or Yard Club on MSC you might get it but for sure for a lot more money than you paid for a balcony guaranteed on Anthem.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Saab4444

[gavvy]

6 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

I am the same id choose indy over anthem anyday of the week. 👍

 

Having been on both I found indy dated and in need of a good clean. I'd take anthem any day 

With all the new ships sailing from Southampton it will be interesting to see how well it goes. I won't be going anywhere near that 1990s looking bling bucket.

[John&LaLa]

7 minutes ago, gavvy said:

 

Having been on both I found indy dated and in need of a good clean. I'd take anthem any day 

With all the new ships sailing from Southampton it will be interesting to see how well it goes. I won't be going anywhere near that 1990s looking bling bucket.

 

Sailed Indy last summer on a 3 day. It was fun. The Playmakers venue is spectacular