Anthem 6/14 Review

I was on the June 9th sailing, you can not reserve it online or on the app. You are forced to stand in line and they have a very few spots available at all. We were able to get in only after going to guest services 3 times about it.

It is a pop up escape room not like on some of the ships that have dedicated rooms for it.

That being said it was fun and we did finish in 40 mins.

 

 

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That is not the typical experience.

Many people have been able to book online. They only have so many spots that they release for online booking, so you may have missed that opportunity.

The same holds true for using the Royal IQ app.

I have actually found Guest Services the least viable way to reserve. ;)

Going standby also works.

You were on a five night cruise, right? That always stresses the availability of things like the Escape Room, iFly, NorthStar and bumper cars. So many people trying to 'do it all' in a very short time frame.

Not to steal the OP's post, but....We were also on that cruise and we had a great time, like the OP there were things that RCI (or maybe just the Anthem) can do better seemingly without too much extra effort. We've sailed Disney five times before and this was our first RCI cruise so my only other point of reference is Disney.

I thought the ship was overall in great condition, although I was surprised that most of the chairs in WindJammer had cracks in their seat cushions. The embarkation process in Bayonne was a snap and outside of Homeland Security only having 3 stations open upon our arrival back port, we though disembarkation was really easy and quick as well.

Our 14 year loved the climbing wall and the seaplex area. I wish the activities like the climbing wall and the flowrider had longer hours. Each activity only needed two staff to operate.

We were not happy with the limited amount of evening entertainment. Other than Day 8 (Thursday) there was very little going on after the late dinner that was to our liking. Lots of music options, so this is a personal preference thing, but on DCL they would typically have an "adults-only" session of one of their headliners nearly every night or an "adults-only" version of the newlywed game.

We are not particular about the food, and used the traditional dining (late) option in the MDR. We really liked the food each night and our waiter was great, the asst waiter tried hard and was friendly, just needs to keep working on her language skills. The pizza was not a hit with anyone. I really liked the brats for the DogHouse (when it was open)

We had wished there were more food options open late or open on the pool decks. The hotdog place seemed to have strange hours (like not open for lunch on a couple of port days) and unless you walked into WJ, there was no spot to just get a quick slice of pizza or fries without venturing into the ship.

For a ship this size, they need more ice cream dispensers and I never could understand why they had such short hours - most days 11am - 6pm. I remember one day it was open late (9pm ish), but why cut it off that soon?

As we expected, the lounge chair saving was in full force every sea day. Although RCI posts that after 30 minutes your stuff was subject to being moved to the pool towel area, I'm not the type of person to time someone's chair just to get a seat, but from our view, there were more chairs saved then people on either deck 14 or 15.

Those are really minor items and outside of the specific purpose of being critical, didn't have any material impact on our enjoyment. We would sail RCL again. We will just do a better job of looking at each ship's activities (i.e. the posted cruise compass') before we select a ship.

Where were they offered? I didn't see it at any bars. I am assuming they setup a table in the Esplenade for a short time.

 

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I got one at the indoor pool bar on Day 8. I actually asked one of the drink cart guys on Labadee day, and he told me there were going to be selling them day 8, just ask a bartender. Definitely not advertised well.

Our first time doing MTD was last summer on the Oasis. Loved it. Had dinner the same time, same table, and with the same waitstaff every night.

 

Booked it for this trip & it started out bad. When we arrived at podium, they had to search for a table. Night 2 they continued to search and ended up sening us downstairs. Night 3 we were placing bets on where we’d be. When they told me it would be a 20-50 minute wait, for our party of 5, I got steamed. My husband was very proud that I didn’t yell. Lol. I asked how it could be that I made reservations in February & they don’t have a table for me. She went to another computer to do more searching. When she came back, I again told her she needed to explain. Shortly thereafter, they escorted us to a table. The manger of MTD came over to apologize. He gave an excuse, but said it was inexcusable. Gave us a card & told us not to wait in line anymore. Just show someone his card & we would be taken care of. We had the same table & waitstaff the rest of the trip. He stopped by every night to see how we were doing. Also sent chocolate covered strawberries to both cabins. If we do MTD again, I’ll go to dining room on first day to make sure we have a table.

 

Did you do self carry for disembarkation? We were in 270 & the line was really long when we got down there @ 7:15. There wasn’t anyone organizing. That being said,we pulled out of the garage at 8:15.

 

 

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When I walked out of MTD on the third try, I had a head waiter practically running after me. I have no doubt they would have done the same for us as well, but at that point I just wasn’t into it anymore.

Like I said, coastal kitchen was amazing. Between that and speciality, the MTD was no big deal. But I’m just frustrated given how much effort, relatively speaking, was made to get the reservations months ago, only to have them really mean nothing.

Ohhh...one more thing. Lunch at the dining room was awesome! One of the best meals all cruise. Great salad bar and dessert bar, and a great menu. Chilled strawberry soup, cod, steak frites, shrimp risotto, key lime pie. It was sooo good, and empty. Definitely recommend.

We cruised the 9 day itinerary on Anthem the last week of May. This was cruise number 19 for us with Royal, and we had already sailed every class but Quantum and Empress.

We thought the ship was very beautiful and loved seeing some of the venues that are so different from the other classes, such as 270 and the area for bumper cars etc.

I agree that the appearance of the chair upholstery in Windjammer was awful--every chair had ripped and worn spots. I loved the careful planning of the design elements throughout the ship--carpets, lighting fixtures, wall ornaments, etc. A truly beautiful and not garish ship.

Our experience with MTD was awful, especially on lobster night! We waited over an hour, with the lines barely moving. We were not the only ones unhappy--they brought out some sparkling wine and offered glasses to people waiting. DH has decided that he won't book a cruise again unless we have traditional dining. Just this week I called to book a January cruise, was told I would be wait-listed, and had to ask the Royal consultant to escalate the request or I would not book. They came back saying we were confirmed.

We have sailed mostly Voyager Class(5x) Freedom Class(4x) and Oasis Class(6x with 2 more booked) and we found we prefer those over the Quantum Class.

I really missed the Aqua show.

Our embarkation and disembarkation on Anthem were wonderful, everything moved quickly and efficiently.

We loved the food, and found the windjammer to be very good, but we missed traditional dining at night. We also felt that while pleasant, the wait staff in MTD didn't try to get to know us like our previous experiences.

The shows were very good, with truly fabulous staging, costumes and performers, but the show in 270 was just too high-tech for our taste.

We also wish there were more options for late night snacks; DH is gluten-free and they do a respectable pizza on order at Sorrentos, but he would have liked some other choices after a show.

We are truly looking forward to our Med cruise on Symphony in September, and our January Oasis cruise. RCI--keep up the good work, but listen to all the requests for later food options.

Barb

We are truly RCI loyalists, but hopefully our next 2 Oasis Class ships with traditional dining will better suit our style.

We cruised the 9 day itinerary on Anthem the last week of May. This was cruise number 19 for us with Royal, and we had already sailed every class but Quantum and Empress.

 

We thought the ship was very beautiful and loved seeing some of the venues that are so different from the other classes, such as 270 and the area for bumper cars etc.

 

I agree that the appearance of the chair upholstery in Windjammer was awful--every chair had ripped and worn spots. I loved the careful planning of the design elements throughout the ship--carpets, lighting fixtures, wall ornaments, etc. A truly beautiful and not garish ship.

 

Our experience with MTD was awful, especially on lobster night! We waited over an hour, with the lines barely moving. We were not the only ones unhappy--they brought out some sparkling wine and offered glasses to people waiting. DH has decided that he won't book a cruise again unless we have traditional dining. Just this week I called to book a January cruise, was told I would be wait-listed, and had to ask the Royal consultant to escalate the request or I would not book. They came back saying we were confirmed.

 

We have sailed mostly Voyager Class(5x) Freedom Class(4x) and Oasis Class(6x with 2 more booked) and we found we prefer those over the Quantum Class.

I really missed the Aqua show.

 

Our embarkation and disembarkation on Anthem were wonderful, everything moved quickly and efficiently.

 

We loved the food, and found the windjammer to be very good, but we missed traditional dining at night. We also felt that while pleasant, the wait staff in MTD didn't try to get to know us like our previous experiences.

 

The shows were very good, with truly fabulous staging, costumes and performers, but the show in 270 was just too high-tech for our taste.

 

We also wish there were more options for late night snacks; DH is gluten-free and they do a respectable pizza on order at Sorrentos, but he would have liked some other choices after a show.

 

We are truly looking forward to our Med cruise on Symphony in September, and our January Oasis cruise. RCI--keep up the good work, but listen to all the requests for later food options.

 

Barb

 

We are truly RCI loyalists, but hopefully our next 2 Oasis Class ships with traditional dining will better suit our style.

Did you make reservations for MTD ahead of time via the Cruise Planner?

We were also on the June 14th cruise some other observations:

La Patisserie steamer for hot drinks was broken all cruise. You had to either go to Windjammer or Café 270 to get a hot mocha coffee and the hours they were open were a lot shorter than La Patisserie.

We also gave up on my time dinner and ate at windjammer all meals.

Smoking on balconies Especially the one below us.

8 year old granddaughter loved Adventure Ocean and went any chance she could. 3 year old grandson loved the free play area on deck 11 in Adventure Ocean.

No meet and mingle they claimed not enough people had signed up I guess another Royal boo boo.

Great cruise and great interaction with Royal employees.

... No meet and mingle they claimed not enough people had signed up ...

Probably because Royal kept deleting the M&M list every 3 days.

Probably because Royal kept deleting the M&M list every 3 days.

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