Just off Anthem and cancelled my other 3 cruises on her

Isn't this whole forum designed to discuss first world problems? It is a place for us to talk about good AND bad experiences so we can make smart decisions with our vacation dollars. I, for one, appreciate the insight of others.

 

 

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The funny thing is if you check that posters recent posts they said they would never sail out of Galveston because it is too much of a pain. How ironic they tell someone else to get a life and yet they were just complaining about something petty.

As conandrob said, they are only a very short distance into the casino. I confirmed with the deck plans.

 

And if one is still not happy with that, they can go up a set of stairs and go the bathrooms that are in the hallway on deck 4.

 

:)

Oh, I can picture the entrance into the restrooms in the casino, as discussed.

I just remembered that there were bathrooms in EVERY elevator lobby on non-residential decks. But maybe I am remembering wrong, or maybe Quantum had this and Anthem does not?

:confused:

OP, sorry about your experience, but wow, I have heard the same complaints from several cruisers on Anthem about creaking, cleanliness, and a lack of concern with the staff.

We're on Anthem in June. I hope things have improved by then!

I wonder (and hope) that RCL execs actually read these boards? I almost feel obliged to write to them in advance and voice these complaints so that they actually do look into the problems and fix them.

So did you like anything on your cruise? Did you bring your problems to someone in management? How were others on your cruise reporting that they were onboard a little before 11?

Sorry you had disappointments and issues, and hope that your other cruises will be better. Just an FYI, we have seen the coffee machine down on many different ships. Sometimes it is down in both the Concierge and Diamond lounges. One cruise both machines were down the entire cruise.

 

M

Espresso machine was broken in Chops on our Brilliance cruise. They went to Cafe latitude to get our coffee each morning.

Thank you. I am looking forward to 28 days of warm weather on the Vision:)

We just got off the Vision and it was one of the best cruises we have ever had. We booked another cruise on her for next year. Hope you enjoy her as much as we did.

We just got off the Vision and it was one of the best cruises we have ever had. We booked another cruise on her for next year. Hope you enjoy her as much as we did.

We also got off Vision recently, and have two other cruises booked on her. Excellent ship with outstanding service.

Thank you. I am looking forward to 28 days of warm weather on the Vision:)

Sorry you had such a bad experience and were disappointed. It's a shame when you spend so much money and your vacation time is a let down.

Good that you are still giving Royal a chance and trying a different class ship. Enjoy your cruise.

Unfortunate that OP had issues. However I do agree with others that all of which was stated could happen on any other ship/

For what it's worth I book cruises on new ships similar to buying a new model car. I never purchase a car the year the model is first introduced as wait for a least a year for the kinks to be worked out. Same approach when booking on new ships ..... I wait a year for things to become more synchronized and staff is more acclimated to the new working environment.

I keep reading all reviews for Anthem and wonder, when some people saying that it had happened on any ship - yes, it can, but seems that it is keep happening on Anthem more than others. Bad food, bad service, rooms are not clean - that is just not acceptable for the company who sells the WOW factor.

I am booked on Anthem - April sailing and still concern with all negative reviews.

I think the only time RC will step up and do something to improve the food and service is when they will see a dramatic cancellations. Until then, not much will change. I can see a lot of people will be canceling future cruises they had booked. I just might do that myself after cruising experience in April.

Back to Celebrity

I see you booked smaller ships. I'm in total agreement. The largest RCL ship I've sailed was Freedom and I found her too large. Voyager is the biggest class size I enjoy. I have not tried the Oasis Class, but if I found Freedom too large, why would I like BIGGER ships?

I know it's ONLY my opinion/experience, but I feel that the smaller ships:

• Provide more interaction with the SEA because they tend to be more outwardly focused, rather than inwardly focused. Initially, it's cool to be walking in a park-like setting aboard a ship. But I can't say that a park is really what I'm looking for on my cruise ship. I want to see the OCEAN. That's why I'm on a SHIP.
  
• Provide superior service.
  
• Are less crowded, despite the smaller size. When there is a major event/activity that draws the majority of the ship's population to one location, and the ship's population is enormous, there is no way around being packed together like sardines.
  
• Provide activities that are more interactive. (For Example: Quest on the small ships is more participatory, less of a spectator event.)
  
• Provide a more intimate experience, encouraging interaction between guests.
  

I'm sorry you were disappointed by your vacation. You gave the mega-ships a try and discovered they're not for you! I'm glad you were able to make the switch to cruises on smaller ships.

ENJOY!

OP - Wise choice in canceling those cruises, I think you will enjoy the Vision. The weather will certainly be better in January and February in Tampa. Enjoy!

I see you booked smaller ships. I'm in total agreement. The largest RCL ship I've sailed was Freedom and I found her too large. Voyager is the biggest class size I enjoy. I have not tried the Oasis Class, but if I found Freedom too large, why would I like BIGGER ships?

 

I know it's ONLY my opinion/experience, but I feel that the smaller ships:

 

• Provide more interaction with the SEA because they tend to be more outwardly focused, rather than inwardly focused. Initially, it's cool to be walking in a park-like setting aboard a ship. But I can't say that a park is really what I'm looking for on my cruise ship. I want to see the OCEAN. That's why I'm on a SHIP.
  
• Provide superior service.
  
• Are less crowded, despite the smaller size. When there is a major event/activity that draws the majority of the ship's population to one location, and the ship's population is enormous, there is no way around being packed together like sardines.
  
• Provide activities that are more interactive. (For Example: Quest on the small ships is more participatory, less of a spectator event.)
  
• Provide a more intimate experience, encouraging interaction between guests.
  

I'm sorry you were disappointed by your vacation. You gave the mega-ships a try and discovered they're not for you! I'm glad you were able to make the switch to cruises on smaller ships.

 

 

ENJOY!

Freedom is not a whole lot larger than Voyager. Maybe about 15% larger

Second bold paragraph is only an opinion on what you've heard

I keep reading all reviews for Anthem and wonder, when some people saying that it had happened on any ship - yes, it can, but seems that it is keep happening on Anthem more than others. Bad food, bad service, rooms are not clean - that is just not acceptable for the company who sells the WOW factor.

Agree. When it's this many people citing similar problems on the same ships (some on Quantum too), it's really unfair to dismiss them, especially since like you said, Royal advertises itself as the WOW vacation. Not to mention the WOW prices you pay for the mega-ships.

I wonder (and hope) that RCL execs actually read these boards? I almost feel obliged to write to them in advance and voice these complaints so that they actually do look into the problems and fix them.

I would suggest emailing the list to mbayley@rccl.com. I would not expect it to be read here.

The thing that most bothers me (which is only partially addressed on this list) is the word I'm hearing about how terrible the free restaurants are, both food and service. The service issues sound eerily similar to what Quantum had last year before Adam Goldstein reportedly sailed on a cruise, saw the problems first-hand, and added a bunch more staff to the dining rooms, which apparently solved the problems. Could they be trying to cut back to the original staffing levels again?

And I am booked on Anthem twice next year -- the first one is in less than 5 weeks. So I'm not going to be happy if the free dining room issues are as bad as I've read from multiple people.

From reading this, it seems Dynamic Dining doesn't work unless you have enough help. Since cruise lines want to keep cutting staff seems they should have kep the old fashioned MDR that has worked with problems for decades and decades.

We have a cruise booked for March 7th and now wondering if I should cancel. We have 3 weeks before final payment is due.

One of the reasons we loved cruising was the great service and food, but seems RCCL has neither of these.

One of the reasons we loved cruising was the great service and food, but seems RCCL has neither of these.

IMO, that's still the case on almost every other ship in the fleet. Food and service might not be amazing, but they've always been very good to excellent for me.

We have a cruise booked for March 7th and now wondering if I should cancel.

I always wonder why any sane person would ever cruise (on any cruise line) after reading threads on Cruise Critic. I mean, if you read everything here and it must be true and hear all the problems, no one would ever book, right?

I always wonder why any sane person would ever cruise (on any cruise line) after reading threads on Cruise Critic. I mean, if you read everything here and it must be true and hear all the problems, no one would ever book, right?

We have been on 2 prior RCCL cruises, Explorer and Liberty (just got off Liberty November 1st). Food and service in MDR on Liberty was not good at all. Explorer was a bit better but Windjammer on Explorer was terrible.

Friends of ours sailed Quantum and loved it and are sailing Anthem, so we decided to join them, but I am reading a lot of not good reviews. If you go on the Cruise Critic Member review site out of 254 reviews only 49% loved it.

We have been on 2 prior RCCL cruises, Explorer and Liberty (just got off Liberty November 1st). Food and service in MDR on Liberty was not good at all. Explorer was a bit better but Windjammer on Explorer was terrible.

 

Friends of ours sailed Quantum and loved it and are sailing Anthem, so we decided to join them, but I am reading a lot of not good reviews. If you go on the Cruise Critic Member review site out of 254 reviews only 49% loved it.

But many Anthem reviews are almost identical to those of Quantum. So if your friends liked Q, they'll probably love A.

I've come to the conclusion that you either love or hate these ships.

But many Anthem reviews are almost identical to those of Quantum. So if your friends liked Q, they'll probably love A.

 

I've come to the conclusion that you either love or hate these ships.

I just really care about overall food and service on a ship. We loved Liberty it was a nice ship. I'm sure Anthem will be beautiful. But I don't want to have to wait in long lines do to things and I really don't want to wait in line to eat when I have a reservation.

I just really care about overall food and service on a ship. We loved Liberty it was a nice ship. I'm sure Anthem will be beautiful. But I don't want to have to wait in long lines do to things and I really don't want to wait in line to eat when I have a reservation.

Then maybe Anthem isn't for you. That's your decision. By the time you sail, there may or may not be problems with food and service. No one knows.

My previous post was more directed to your comment about how your friends liked Quantum, but Anthem had poor reviews on CC.

I had booked my Anthem cruises prior to doing the Quantum inaugural and one other Quantum sailing. There were lots of problems and dislikes with Quantum that I won't go into here, but I decided to keep the four sailings I had booked with Anthem in the hopes that by my Thanksgiving sailing, many of my dislikes would be resolved. A few were, but many not and so, despite the convenience of not having to fly to board her, I opted while still on board her to cancel my other cruises on her and book other RC ships for the same time periods. Two of the cruises cost me more than the Quantum due to the late booking, but I am happy I made the switch.:)

 

Some of the problems on the Anthem Thanksgiving sailing:

 

• level of service among many of the crew
  
• poor stateroom prep despite special needs notifications: no shower stool
  
• no bathrobes in room - took 2 days to get them
  
• 2 broken elevators - one for the entire length of the cruise
  
• coffee machine in the Concierge Lounge broken for the first four days of the cruise
  
• cabin door repeatedly would not close or was extremely difficult to open - despite repeated attempts to fix it
  
• long lines for activities (yes I know it was a holiday sailing but the allocated times could have been better planned out)
  
• Hit and miss in the Specialty Restaurants - Thanksgiving at Chops took almost 2 1/2 hrs. - had to keep reminding our waiter that we ordered drinks, needed bread, etc.
  
• Lots of creaks and noises- one being a loud repetitive thumping
  
• limited number of bars made frozen cocktails due to the lack of a blender
  
• embarkation time was 11:30 - got on board at 2:05 due to Wi-Fi issues
  in addition: Windjammer was not open 24 hrs as stated; and there was a charge for WOW bands despite the new policy going into effect AFTER final payment had been made and set sail pass said it would be in stateroom
  

We were on the Quantum a few months ago- in a suite. The suite was beautiful and the suite lounge great. Everything else about the ship was very a big dissappointment. I love the RC Oasis and Freedom class ships- but the Quantum class ugh! Too many people, poor crowd control, the layout of the ship terrible- the robot bartender is a gimmick and made horrible drinks in paper cups! Lines for everything and beepers for restaurants- are you kidding me! We cancelled our Anthem cruise as a result of the experience. I had read the Quantum reviews and foolishly decided to try out the ship on anyway- Big mistake. We will be sailing again on the Allure in a couple of weeks and have booked the Harmony of the Seas next year.

Then maybe Anthem isn't for you. That's your decision. By the time you sail, there may or may not be problems with food and service. No one knows.

 

My previous post was more directed to your comment about how your friends liked Quantum, but Anthem had poor reviews on CC.

I don't remember reading so many bad reviews about Quantum food and service did they have all these problems also when they came out?

I don't remember reading so many bad reviews about Quantum food and service did they have all these problems also when they came out?

I recall some Quantum reviews to be much worse than these.

I think Quantum might of even had something like "37% loved it" on CC. (I could be wrong with that stat...)