Anthem 6/14 Review

Just got home from our 9 night cruise to Bermuda and the Caribbean on the Anthem out of Bayonne. We had a great time, and its a great ship. I thought I would give you the good, the bad, and the ugly, but I will preface this by saying everyone had a good time and none of the problems were trip-ruining, or even close.

THE GOOD:

- The ship. Beautiful, clean, spacious...everyone in our group loved the ship. For a full sailing it never felt packed until disembarkation. Even the buffet which I thought was going to be a disaster, but it was fine. Even though it didnt have the waterslides, our kids (9 and 7) loved the pool deck. Never a problem fining chairs. Solarium was nice as well. Seaplex was awesome, we did trapeze, bumper cars, roller skating.

- Coastal Kitchen. We had 2 meals there (my parents stayed in a junior suite and were able to get us lowly balcony cabiners in on a couple nights). The food was great, lobster perfect, chocolate tart on the final night best dessert of the cruise. Service was spectacular.....I think if I ever took this ship again, or maybe any other Royal ship, I would book whatever cabin necessary to eat here, at least for dinner. It was that much better.

- The Ports. We had amazing weather, so maybe I'm biased for this trip, but the islands were amazing. Bermuda we went to Horseshoe Beach, St Maarten we did a private all day tour, San Juan we walked around and did shopping, and Labadee we did aqua park, beach, and dragon coaster. Labadee was way better than I remember it from like 10 years ago, and I really liked how they have multiple huts for lunches, really spaced things out. This was probably, out of like 10 cruises, my favorite port stops, they just all were really nice.

- Wonderland and Chops. Had very good meals at both, certainly worth the upcharge IMO.

- Windjammer. My only complaint is that they should be open longer at night, or have some small buffet out so that you aren't stuck only eating pizza. Besides that, it was very good, and the different stations kept crowds down. We never had much trouble finding a table for 4.

- Kids Club. My kids couldn't stand leaving there at night, they had a great time.

- Shows. We saw Mosaic, and I think Royal flew them in from Vegas to do one headline show, and it was amazing, same with DSB the Journey Band. The Gift, Spectra's Caberet, and We will Rock You were all enjoyable as well. Different people in our group liked different shows the best, but they all were good.

-The Crew. Impossibly friendly, always courteous. I found this, by far, to be the most laid back cruise I've been on (which I like), no constant haggling for drinks around the pool..very relaxing.

- Ripcord, Northstar, Flowrider...just amazing you are doing these things on a cruise, all were very fun, esp the skydiving.

THE BAD:

- Activities. The actual activities are good, but I thought the schedule was a little light, which made trivia sessions jammed etc. Things like the ping pong tournament would fill up in 2 minutes and people would get shut out. This wasn't a huge deal breaker as we had a ton of fun just swimming and relaxing, but I've been on much smaller ships that I felt had as much, if not more to do. On a related note, we felt the Music Hall venue was awful. If there is anything you want to see there, get there early because half of the seats there you really can't see anything.

- Disembaraktion...kind of a mess. We were in the theater and it wasn't run well. We were off the boat early enough, but I've been on many ships where this was run smoother.

- Solarium for dinner. I really had my hopes up for this place, but the dinner entrees were bad. Spend the 20 to get the lobster, because the skirt steak is borderline inedible. Very nice buffet though for apps and desserts. If I did this cruise again I wouldn't go back here for dinner. Lunch was fine though.

- Sorrentos. The pizza was fine, but the crowds were pretty crazy though because its the only option past 9PM, unless you count the ridiculously small Royal Promenade cafe. I swear when I was on the Voyager a while back this cafe was a lot bigger, I dunno. (Cafe 270 had mixed reviews from our group. I loved it, but others found it confusing, esp for lunch.)

- Drinks. This is a weird complaint, I guess, but again, after like 9PM...unless you want to pay for a drink or have the soda card, your only option is a water machine on deck 4. I swear on other ships you could get iced tea/lemonade at the buffet much later than 9PM. I think if I did this ship again I'd almost have to get the coke package for the freestyle machines. We often talked about how thirsty we were., esp at night..I dunno. Bar staffs were great though, my wife loved the cotton cantini at 270.

THE UGLY:

My time dining: Bad. Really bad. I made reservations for most nights a while back, it didn't matter. The no-reservations line would often move faster. It is inecusable to have 5:30 reservations, get sat at 6:00, and not get waters until 6:15. Its the only time I ever walked out of dinner...at that point we gave up (this was the third night we tried it) and went to buffet. First two nights the food was pretty blah, and dinner was slow. After this third night with the awful wait and no service, we did specialty, buffet, and coastal kitchen. (we asked after day 1 if we could get a table for 8 same table same waiter, but we were told only if we would eat at 5:15..and that was too early).

Again, this didn't ruin the trip, but if I went back on this ship and didn't get traditional, I wouldn't even bother with any MTD nights.

So...we had a great cruise, one of my favorites that I've ever done. Apart from the MTD mess, nothing was really that bad, and the good parts of the trip were REALLY good.

We did just about everything on the ship, so if anyone needs any pointers, ask away. I don't have menus or compasses though, sorry.

Great review!! We too enjoyed our time. I also thought the Windjammer was always easy to access even with the masses there. Its the food islands I tell you! Carnival can learn from RCCL.

I too thought the activites had weird times, were not consistent, started late, ran out of paper for triva on numerous occasions (I mean come on bring a stack of 200 papers you know you can use them next time), and Karaoke was just a mess. They would schedule it for 45 mins, start signups most of the time late, spent 10-15 mins to do that leaving less than 30 mins for singing (which if you were there may have been a good thing for this cruise :) ). I did think most of the CD staff tried hard, Martin tried way too hard and at times just came across as arrogant but may just be his personality, he definitely tried hard at his job.

The CD Dennis is a long time veteran on RCCL and did a good job but but lacked some of the fire from the younger guys, but he did a good job. Tornado Tonya would make a good CD.

You can use the freestyle machines to get water and ice without a special cup. But I did miss getting speciality coffee late from Cafe Promenade as there was only regular coffee available after 11pm or so from the cafe. You should have come when I got pizza, I never waited in line more than 2 minutes, but also didn't go there after a show let out. The pizza was great as well and they kept it coming.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

Thank you for the review. I have often thought about trying out the Anthem but it is a bit far to travel to Bayonne for us.

I love when people tell the truth about their cruises including some of the not so great things!

Thanks for the review. How were crowds at SeaPlex activities? Was pool crowded? Too bad scheduled activities were less than other shops but glad you had a good time. We have it booked with our kids in 2020.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

I forgot to mention we did too get frustrated with the MTD setup. One line would seat 10 groups for the others one. We found the magic time was about 5:50pm and to ask for the same table every night.

For our situation they would sit most of the section at 5 so when we got there the other folks were getting main courses allowing for a good flow on our dinner. Also, be vocal (I am always polite) about your service to head waiter the first nights if you experience service not to your liking. I gurantee you they make note.

Ning, our assistant waitress, was awesome as she did whatever she could to make our meal great even finding a few bottles of Blue Moon as all the bartenders told me they were all out ship wide.

We found the meals to be good some days and not great some days (they get me everytime with the fried chicken smh) but we never went hungry!! I thought the Italian dishes they served were very good, and I am always entriqued by the pork tacos.

Bar service was excellent! Especially in Schooner. Those guys work hard! But it seemed like every staff member was happy to be there, great attitude by everyone and those are the guys who make the trip. It doesn't matter how great the ship is.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

 

 

- Windjammer. My only complaint is that they should be open longer at night, or have some small buffet out so that you aren't stuck only eating pizza. Besides that, it was very good, and the different stations kept crowds down. We never had much trouble finding a table for 4.

I SO agree with you about keeping the WJ open later. RC had promised to do that when the Quantum was launched, but didn't follow through.

This is true, of course, on all RC ships. At least on the Anthem, the WJ is open until 9:30. Would you believe, the Grandeur's WJ closes at EIGHT thirty?!?!??!

On a related note, we felt the Music Hall venue was awful. If there is anything you want to see there, get there early because half of the seats there you really can't see anything.

I just get the strange feeling that RC didn't expect the Music Hall to be so popular! I agree, poor design for a popular venue.

 

- Solarium for dinner. I really had my hopes up for this place, but the dinner entrees were bad. Spend the 20 to get the lobster, because the skirt steak is borderline inedible. Very nice buffet though for apps and desserts. If I did this cruise again I wouldn't go back here for dinner. Lunch was fine though.

 

I don't even bother with an entree. I can make a marvelous dinner out of the appetizers, salads, sides and desserts. :D

We were on this ship too. It was our first time on the ship and we loved it! We agree about the entertainment and lack of eating venues later in the evening. The staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. We also felt there were tons of friendly cruisers. My 9 year old absolutely loved the kids club and always wanted to stay past midnight. Will sail this ship again in a heartbeat!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Totally agree about the cruisers these past 9 days, just seemed like a good group. Everyone was friendly, no one I met was rude, just a very relaxed sailing.

We were on this ship too. It was our first time on the ship and we loved it! We agree about the entertainment and lack of eating venues later in the evening. The staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. We also felt there were tons of friendly cruisers. My 9 year old absolutely loved the kids club and always wanted to stay past midnight. Will sail this ship again in a heartbeat!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Just got home from our 9 night cruise to Bermuda and the Caribbean on the Anthem out of Bayonne. We had a great time, and its a great ship. I thought I would give you the good, the bad, and the ugly, but I will preface this by saying everyone had a good time and none of the problems were trip-ruining, or even close.

 

 

THE GOOD:

 

 

- The ship. Beautiful, clean, spacious...everyone in our group loved the ship. For a full sailing it never felt packed until disembarkation. Even the buffet which I thought was going to be a disaster, but it was fine. Even though it didnt have the waterslides, our kids (9 and 7) loved the pool deck. Never a problem fining chairs. Solarium was nice as well. Seaplex was awesome, we did trapeze, bumper cars, roller skating.

 

 

 

- Coastal Kitchen. We had 2 meals there (my parents stayed in a junior suite and were able to get us lowly balcony cabiners in on a couple nights). The food was great, lobster perfect, chocolate tart on the final night best dessert of the cruise. Service was spectacular.....I think if I ever took this ship again, or maybe any other Royal ship, I would book whatever cabin necessary to eat here, at least for dinner. It was that much better.

 

 

- The Ports. We had amazing weather, so maybe I'm biased for this trip, but the islands were amazing. Bermuda we went to Horseshoe Beach, St Maarten we did a private all day tour, San Juan we walked around and did shopping, and Labadee we did aqua park, beach, and dragon coaster. Labadee was way better than I remember it from like 10 years ago, and I really liked how they have multiple huts for lunches, really spaced things out. This was probably, out of like 10 cruises, my favorite port stops, they just all were really nice.

 

 

- Wonderland and Chops. Had very good meals at both, certainly worth the upcharge IMO.

 

 

- Windjammer. My only complaint is that they should be open longer at night, or have some small buffet out so that you aren't stuck only eating pizza. Besides that, it was very good, and the different stations kept crowds down. We never had much trouble finding a table for 4.

 

 

 

- Kids Club. My kids couldn't stand leaving there at night, they had a great time.

 

 

- Shows. We saw Mosaic, and I think Royal flew them in from Vegas to do one headline show, and it was amazing, same with DSB the Journey Band. The Gift, Spectra's Caberet, and We will Rock You were all enjoyable as well. Different people in our group liked different shows the best, but they all were good.

 

 

-The Crew. Impossibly friendly, always courteous. I found this, by far, to be the most laid back cruise I've been on (which I like), no constant haggling for drinks around the pool..very relaxing.

 

 

- Ripcord, Northstar, Flowrider...just amazing you are doing these things on a cruise, all were very fun, esp the skydiving.

 

 

THE BAD:

 

 

- Activities. The actual activities are good, but I thought the schedule was a little light, which made trivia sessions jammed etc. Things like the ping pong tournament would fill up in 2 minutes and people would get shut out. This wasn't a huge deal breaker as we had a ton of fun just swimming and relaxing, but I've been on much smaller ships that I felt had as much, if not more to do. On a related note, we felt the Music Hall venue was awful. If there is anything you want to see there, get there early because half of the seats there you really can't see anything.

 

 

- Disembaraktion...kind of a mess. We were in the theater and it wasn't run well. We were off the boat early enough, but I've been on many ships where this was run smoother.

 

 

- Solarium for dinner. I really had my hopes up for this place, but the dinner entrees were bad. Spend the 20 to get the lobster, because the skirt steak is borderline inedible. Very nice buffet though for apps and desserts. If I did this cruise again I wouldn't go back here for dinner. Lunch was fine though.

 

 

- Sorrentos. The pizza was fine, but the crowds were pretty crazy though because its the only option past 9PM, unless you count the ridiculously small Royal Promenade cafe. I swear when I was on the Voyager a while back this cafe was a lot bigger, I dunno. (Cafe 270 had mixed reviews from our group. I loved it, but others found it confusing, esp for lunch.)

 

 

- Drinks. This is a weird complaint, I guess, but again, after like 9PM...unless you want to pay for a drink or have the soda card, your only option is a water machine on deck 4. I swear on other ships you could get iced tea/lemonade at the buffet much later than 9PM. I think if I did this ship again I'd almost have to get the coke package for the freestyle machines. We often talked about how thirsty we were., esp at night..I dunno. Bar staffs were great though, my wife loved the cotton cantini at 270.

 

 

THE UGLY:

 

 

My time dining: Bad. Really bad. I made reservations for most nights a while back, it didn't matter. The no-reservations line would often move faster. It is inecusable to have 5:30 reservations, get sat at 6:00, and not get waters until 6:15. Its the only time I ever walked out of dinner...at that point we gave up (this was the third night we tried it) and went to buffet. First two nights the food was pretty blah, and dinner was slow. After this third night with the awful wait and no service, we did specialty, buffet, and coastal kitchen. (we asked after day 1 if we could get a table for 8 same table same waiter, but we were told only if we would eat at 5:15..and that was too early).

 

 

 

Again, this didn't ruin the trip, but if I went back on this ship and didn't get traditional, I wouldn't even bother with any MTD nights.

 

 

 

So...we had a great cruise, one of my favorites that I've ever done. Apart from the MTD mess, nothing was really that bad, and the good parts of the trip were REALLY good.

 

 

 

We did just about everything on the ship, so if anyone needs any pointers, ask away. I don't have menus or compasses though, sorry.

Just curious. What tour did you do in St. Marteen.

Bumper cars would get crowded at times, but the line moves fast. Go to the bumper cars when you first get on the ship, no line at all.

For trapeze and roller skating, they give out bracelets for times, so it spaces out the crowd. It was never too bad.

Pools were crowded I suppose, but for this many people it was fine. The indoor pool is usually much quieter than the outdoor pool, but if you go before say 10AM, there's plenty of spots everywhere.

Thanks for the review. How were crowds at SeaPlex activities? Was pool crowded? Too bad scheduled activities were less than other shops but glad you had a good time. We have it booked with our kids in 2020.

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

Bernard's tours. It was excellent. We had a private van, we went to Maho Beach, Orient Beach, an iguana farm and shopping in Phillipsburg. Basically we had the van and we could do what we wanted for our 6 hours. My parents didn't really want to do much beach stuff so our driver took them to a casino nearby, it was really a nice tour.

The island is really ravaged by the hurricane, but you can tell its coming back. Orient Beach is still one of the nicest spots on the planet, but it got hit hard. I really liked St. Maarten, getting to see the whole island.

Just curious. What tour did you do in St. Marteen.

If anyone wants an adventure-filled excursion in St. Maarten, I recommend doing the Amazing Race excursion. It was fun!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks for the review. Were you able to schedule iFly and Northstar ahead of time via the Cruise Planner? If so, about how far out (from the cruise date) did they become available? I'm hearing mixed reports on whether or not one is able to book ahead of time.

Also, you mentioned you were always about to get chairs on the pool decks, was this in the open area? (meaning not covered by a roof, indoor pool / solarium).

I couldn't reserve before hand, but was able to reserve everything as soon as we got on ship via IQ app on my phone. Plenty of times available at 11 when we boarded. I got to terminal at 1015. I had booked everything before I had hit the Esplanade.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

Also, you mentioned you were always about to get chairs on the pool decks, was this in the open area? (meaning not covered by a roof, indoor pool / solarium).

I always found plenty of chairs on Deck 15.

Thanks for your informative and concise review! We had the same complaint about the lack of food available on the ship after 9:30. My DH was really bothered by this as we were used to NCL ships which have a smaller selection of their buffet open much later at night. We had no idea this was not the norm on RCI when we went on the Anthem 2 yrs ago, which was our first cruise on RCI.

I'm hoping it doesn't bother us as much when we take our next cruise which is on the Anthem, since we know what to expect.

Thanks for the review . Sounds pretty good and looking forward to our first time in Anthem in September. It’s our first time with MTD so bit concerned it was a mess. But we have the four day dinning package and looking forward to trying Solerium for first time.

Can you remember if the 10 drink cards were for sale and how much for?

Did you happen to do the escape room? If so can you reserve that on the IQ app? I couldn’t reserve it on cruise planner.

Did you happen to do the escape room? If so can you reserve that on the IQ app? I couldn’t reserve it on cruise planner.

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.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Oh. So you have to sign up at the room location?

We were on the June 14th sailing and the Escape Room is in fuel on Deck 15 port next to the Seaplex. It shows up as an option on IQ app but I never could find any openings. We just went to the room at a scheduled time and folks didn't show so we took their spot.

I agree, we could always find chairs on Deck 15 you just won't be by any of the action and will have to get up for drinks. A good spot for me was right in he corner off the Northstar bar on 15. Easy access to bar and there is some extra room so people are not walking on top of you.

No ten drink cards. Alchohol sales seemed to be booming so no need for them. It seemed like half the ship had a drink package, including myself.

I enjoy beer at the pools and will say they did a great job with pop up stands in a lot of places on deck 14. Very easy to get beer and water in about 15 seconds with no lines.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

We were on the June 14th sailing and the Escape Room is in fuel on Deck 15 port next to the Seaplex. It shows up as an option on IQ app but I never could find any openings. We just went to the room at a scheduled time and folks didn't show so we took their spot.

 

I agree, we could always find chairs on Deck 15 you just won't be by any of the action and will have to get up for drinks. A good spot for me was right in he corner off the Northstar bar on 15. Easy access to bar and there is some extra room so people are not walking on top of you.

 

No ten drink cards. Alchohol sales seemed to be booming so no need for them. It seemed like half the ship had a drink package, including myself.

 

I enjoy beer at the pools and will say they did a great job with pop up stands in a lot of places on deck 14. Very easy to get beer and water in about 15 seconds with no lines.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

They had the drink cards, I got one day 8. Pretty good deal for the 10 drinks, basically you save about $4 per drink.

They had the drink cards, I got one day 8. Pretty good deal for the 10 drinks, basically you save about $4 per drink.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

 

 

THE BAD:

 

Disembaraktion...kind of a mess. We were in the theater and it wasn't run well. We were off the boat early enough, but I've been on many ships where this was run smoother.

 

 

 

 

 

THE UGLY:

 

My time dining: Bad. Really bad. I made reservations for most nights a while back, it didn't matter. The no-reservations line would often move faster. It is inecusable to have 5:30 reservations, get sat at 6:00, and not get waters until 6:15. Its the only time I ever walked out of dinner...at that point we gave up (this was the third night we tried it) and went to buffet. First two nights the food was pretty blah, and dinner was slow. After this third night with the awful wait and no service, we did specialty, buffet, and coastal kitchen. (we asked after day 1 if we could get a table for 8 same table same waiter, but we were told only if we would eat at 5:15..and that was too early).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, this didn't ruin the trip, but if I went back on this ship and didn't get traditional, I wouldn't even bother with any MTD nights.

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.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I couldn't reserve before hand, but was able to reserve everything as soon as we got on ship via IQ app on my phone. Plenty of times available at 11 when we boarded. I got to terminal at 1015. I had booked everything before I had hit the Esplanade.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

I always found plenty of chairs on Deck 15.

Good to know, thanks! :cool: