On Anthem right now - pros and many cons

[parrotfeathers]

Yes, please do. I'm returning to Bermuda just for this ship next October.

 

After reading all this negativity , I'm just going to have to prove you all wrong the next 12 days:)

 

I am hopeful that this will be an enjoyable cruise and excited to experience the Quantum Class ships. I'll update with my humble opinion when we are back.

[cruisedancemom]

Just want to reiterate as we wait to disembark - The ship is beautiful and my family had a great time.

I just don't think this ship is for everyone. I'm sure service will improve as time goes on and sure service will be better on a non-holiday cruise.

 

I think the system still has a ton of bugs to be worked out and hopefully that will happen.

I feel people with kids will have an entirely different take on the ship vs. people without.

 

Having been on Celebrity, this feels like a true celebrity ship (minus the excellent service I've had on the summit)

I was really looking for my families first true "Royal Caribbean" experience and I don't think we got it.

 

But that's ok.....,.i guess I'll have to keep cruising!!

[conandrob240]

We just got off this cruise as well and, honestly, the biggest issue is the drink service at dinner. That is really the only issue we had. Our main dining room servers were mostly very good. One guy was clueless or didn't understand us and that was a bit of an "off" dinner. That was also Thankgiving night so it was extra crowded. There was consistently a lack of drink service at dinners but if that's going to ruin your vacation, then I think there are bigger problems. We never waited more than 5 minutes for our table at any of our dinners with pre-reserved times of either 6 or 6:30pm. I found the staff on the ship to mostly be adequately pleasant and helpful with maybe 25% going out of their way or providing exceptional service. There were no grumpy employees that I met. There was a distinct "that's not my job" kind of attitude amongst many. I was annoyed seeing all the dirty cups, plates around all the time and found it incredible that staff member after staff member would walk right past trash on the group or piles of cups/dishes everywhere. But, other than being annoyed just on principle, it didn't really affect my enjoyment.

 

I thought food was really, really good with the exception of the buffet for lunch & dinner. Not great quality or variety.

 

Pools, activities, seaplex stuff was amazing.

 

Our family had a fantastic time celebrating Mom & Dad's 50th! I wouldn't hesitate to book Anthem again.

Edited November 30, 2015 by conandrob240

[Georgeny]

Positives

Ship is stunning, rooms are beautiful and have a ton of storage. We have connecting insides with virtual balcony and I love the room and space!

Stateroom attendant is lovely and personable and works very hard.

Pools are beautiful

 

270 is beautiful

We will rock you is fantastic

 

Negatives:

Service is atrocious in the restaurants pretty much across the board. Many servers and crew seem miserable. Don't say hello and even when you say it first they don't seem interested.

Our waiter in the grande rolled his eyes at my 8 year old when she wanted to change her dessert.

Our waitress in American icon just told us the crew is unhappy because there is no system.

We can feel it! She is right, this sailing feels as though there is no system.

The food is average in all complementary restaurants (just my opinion obviously)

Adventure ocean isn't set up well - the rooms are tiny and the kids are on top of each other.

The lines for bumper cars, roller skating (everything in the seaplex are ridiculous.)

 

They could have planned better - they knew there would be a lot of kids.

 

We have had rough seas and the ship creaks very loudly! In the halls and in the rooms.

 

We had a great time as a family but even though I live about 35 minutes from port I wouldn't choose Anthem again.

Even though there is so much to do for the kids- it definitely doesn't feel like a kid oriented ship at all.

Snipped

 

The same our sailing of Quantum last year, I see RCL continues to fail getting this class ship to work, The staff was obviously over worked and confused on our cruise,this is not because of bugs in system but design of system!

 

Boy I miss the Voyager class!!! bring back the Explorer, the last decent RCL cruise we sailed on.

 

George in NY - Driving to Baltimore and taling old Carnival ship for Xmas, BETTER than sailing this design flaw.

[Dave85]

Thanks to those returning today for the reviews -- very interesting to read. Hopefully the new crew will get more up to speed on the new ship within the next few weeks.

 

While I respect divergent opinions, I will be very unhappy if they "bring back Explorer" or some other old, inferior ship in lieu of Anthem. If they do, you will find me on the Breakaway for my local sailings. I hope Anthem has many years ahead of her sailing from Bayonne. My $.02.

[grouchomarx]

We sailed Anthem 11/10-11/22 and had an amazing time. No major issues, all staff (even the ones who goofed up) were very friendly and pleasant to talk to. Only had a line (fast moving) for bumper cars. All the food was pretty good to excellent. Amazing how different people's experiences can be on the same ship a few weeks apart. I always wonder how much of it is actual problems vs perception/attitude. One can never know as we all have different mindsets about these things. I really wish people who sailed on Quantum quite some time ago would not compare it to Anthem. When Quantum debuted they had tons of IT issues with their Dynamic Dining, this is simply no longer the case and it worked seamlessly in every venue. I also wonder why those who love the old ships book the Quantum class when they know it will not be what they want.

[conandrob240]

I'll add that we rarely waited long for any activities. We did Northstar 3x ( once with a reservation), bumper cars twice, roller skating 5x, my sister surfed daily. No long waits except at the opening time for each activity. Go towards the end of the posted timeframes and you'll be fine.

[CVU]

Snipped

 

The same our sailing of Quantum last year, I see RCL continues to fail getting this class ship to work, The staff was obviously over worked and confused on our cruise,this is not because of bugs in system but design of system!

 

Boy I miss the Voyager class!!! bring back the Explorer, the last decent RCL cruise we sailed on.

 

George in NY - Driving to Baltimore and taling old Carnival ship for Xmas, BETTER than sailing this design flaw.

Did they replace the Head Waiters that I understand Quantum didn't have on the TA crossing?

We were on Indy at the time and they were approaching some HW to go to QOS we were told by a HW.

If they didn't replace the usual staff number, with Waiters and Assit Waiters and Head Waiters, then they would be over worked? Then you can see where it would go down hill........

[twopats]

Serenade pretty much consistantly has the best service in the fleet. I don't know why, but we have sailed her several times from 2007 - 2015 and it is amazing how friendly and efficient the staff is.

I agree about the excellent staff the Serenade has but on our migration cruise in October, the food offered in the main dining room was absolutely terrible! We are seasoned cruisers and can actually say this is the very first time when I wished we had booked the specialty restaurants every single night. We were not alone in this review as it seemed every time we mentioned the food, there was a chorus of agreement in the bars and shows. What happened, RCL?

Trish

[conandrob240]

Did they replace the Head Waiters that I understand Quantum didn't have on the TA crossing?

We were on Indy at the time and they were approaching some HW to go to QOS we were told by a HW.

If they didn't replace the usual staff number, with Waiters and Assit Waiters and Head Waiters, then they would be over worked? Then you can see where it would go down hill........

 

I didn't really understand what was happening in the dining rooms, honestly. All nights, we had a main waiter. Some nights, it seemed that person had a dedicated partner who worked with us. Other nights, it seemed like the only "help" they had was a food runner. One guy in the Grande did a good job on drinks. Every other restaurant, the drink waiters never came around when seated- you had to ask for them and they'd typically come once and not check back to see if you wanted another. I occasionally saw what appeared to be a dining room manager (the main one where I saw him most was in The Grande). In other venues, I didn't clearly notice a dining room manager or head waiter. There was no one coaching or guiding the service that was happening in the dining rooms.

[cot427]

I am hoping that things will improve come spring for my May sailing. I booked two new ships for next year and I'm hoping after some time, the service will be straightened out because as it looks on both, service is terrible.

 

I am saddened to keep reading how beautiful and wonderful these ships are, but have terrible service. It seems to me that the cruise lines are investing in ships, not people! I guess if you truly want good service, you need to book a luxury cruise and fork out the dough.

 

My issue with people using the "full ship/holiday sailing' excuse is this: the ship crew should be trained to deal with a full sailing every week! And then if the ship is not at capability, the service should be fantastic. However, we are reading that service is horrendous and these full sailings and then just okay/blah on non full/non holiday sailings.

[Submariner]

I was also on this cruise as the OP and have to agree with her almost entirely with respect to the Cons.

 

1. Food was very mediocre. Oh the repetition, the repetition... and very bland. In the restaurants, many tables, situated right near the busy, and noisy kitchen area with bustling waitstaff. In general now, the food portions are much smaller. The appetisers are a mere morsel, really.

2. Planning was BAD. many times, we had to queue and queue and queue. This was especially true at restaurants or waiting to go on the North Star or even get roller skates or bumper cars. I felt like I was at a Disney amusement park. No way to relax here.

3. Service.... what service? Only one, maybe two nights on our 8 day trip were the servers memorable. many times, our server forgot our orders, or in my case, brought me the wrong food.

4. Silk restaurant .... our ENTIRE party of 8 was utterly disappointed in the food quality in this Asian restaurant. That was the worst tasting General Tso's chicken ever! The head chef should be dragged into the street, shellacked and then fired!

5. I also agree with the 'something missing' factor. Its not a magical ship. Utterly forgettable.

 

On a personal gripe... No relaxing cigar lounge exists. Had to sit at the 'bus shelter' with the rest of the aficionados while the wind blew and hastened the demise of our fine stogies :)

I received an email to the link to the survey today. I intend to answer it honestly. Bottom line, none in our party said they will sail on a Quantum Class again. A few were put off RCL too after this.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Submariner

[sportsphotos]

This is why I am waiting till January to sail on her. All the snags should be worked out by then!

[dpostman]

This is why I am waiting till January to sail on her. All the snags should be worked out by then!

 

I just booked today for March 2017... The issues should really be dealt with by then.... right ?;)

 

dp

Edited November 30, 2015 by dpostman

[ellie1145]

Have you ever met anyone that had a razor that would fit in the specialized outlet?

 

Not that it really comes up in conversation, but I keep forgetting to ask gentlemen that we meet onboard. :)

 

My husband's razor works as does my electric toothbrush charger, both of which have UK plugs.

 

In the UK we are not allowed any outlets in our bathrooms, except for a special razor outlet which has a lower voltage, nor are we allowed switches for the lights inside the bathroom. These must either be outside the door or are operated by a cord pull.

[linkerbink]

This is why I am waiting till January to sail on her. All the snags should be worked out by then!

 

Boy, I sure hope so! My sister, BIL and I are booked for February. We got a good deal with the military rate. This will be my BIL's first cruise (other than with Uncle Sam's Yacht Club!) and this is his Christmas gift from my sister. My sister and I like the smaller ships (think Jewel of the Seas!) and the largest we have been on is the Freedom. I'm getting a little nervous about this ship after reading all these posts! It is convenient as we live in PA and really enjoyed the Explorer so we had high hopes about this. The thing that bothers me most is that I am prone to seasickness (I am a Navy vet but never served at sea) and the idea of sailing from NY on February on an unstable ship makes me green just thinking about it!:eek:

[grouchomarx]

Boy, I sure hope so! My sister, BIL and I are booked for February. We got a good deal with the military rate. This will be my BIL's first cruise (other than with Uncle Sam's Yacht Club!) and this is his Christmas gift from my sister. My sister and I like the smaller ships (think Jewel of the Seas!) and the largest we have been on is the Freedom. I'm getting a little nervous about this ship after reading all these posts! It is convenient as we live in PA and really enjoyed the Explorer so we had high hopes about this. The thing that bothers me most is that I am prone to seasickness (I am a Navy vet but never served at sea) and the idea of sailing from NY on February on an unstable ship makes me green just thinking about it!:eek:

 

Bring your seasickness meds and some sea bands. The seas on the return can be rough and make you turn green. We only had one day like that thank goodness but for me it was kind of bad Going down was fine, as we usually find it is sailing from NY/NJ. They did have sick bags hanging around the ship like in the staircases in case you need them. Apparently this ship is prone to a lot of movement due to some design elements. You will have a great cruise no matter what. I still went out the whole night I felt sick and ate and drank and was merry. And just a little nauseous :eek:

[conandrob240]

Some slightly differing opinons as another who just got off the ship. In green below.

 

I was also on this cruise as the OP and have to agree with her almost entirely with respect to the Cons.

 

1. Food was very mediocre. Oh the repetition, the repetition... and very bland. In the restaurants, many tables, situated right near the busy, and noisy kitchen area with bustling waitstaff. In general now, the food portions are much smaller. The appetisers are a mere morsel, really. I found the food portions (especially entrees) to be quite generous. And, it's a cruise, ask for more! I thought between the 4 different dining rooms where the menus changed after 4th night, there was tremendous variety. Each restaurant had around 4-5 rotating entrees that changed after 4th night and 2 signature entrees that stayed. Plus, 3-4 classic options (steak, salmon, chicken) that were the same on every menu. I really liked most things I ate and thought a few things like the lobster tails, the mushroom risotto, the rack of lamb, the osso bucco to be fantastic. Appetizers were usually good and desserts were great.2. Planning was BAD. many times, we had to queue and queue and queue. This was especially true at restaurants or waiting to go on the North Star or even get roller skates or bumper cars. I felt like I was at a Disney amusement park. No way to relax here. Hmmm. When we rode Northstar on reservation, we waited abut 15 minutes. On our two extra standby rides, we waited 5 minutes and then maybe 15 the other time. There was rarely an issue with roller skating if you went early and signed up. Bumper cars had a long line but it seemed to dwindle towards the last 45 minutes of the session. we waited 10 minutes once and then 25 another time. iFly was prompt. Surfing was dependent on group size- you might wait a while to get back up if more than 4 or 5 people were doing it- trip: do it when a little cooler and the crowd wont brave it. Never waited once for our pre-booked table at any restaurant. We ate early though- our reservations were 6 pm or 6:30pm3. Service.... what service? Only one, maybe two nights on our 8 day trip were the servers memorable. many times, our server forgot our orders, or in my case, brought me the wrong food. Out of 8 nights, we had 4 different fantastic waiters (one we requested twice). Two others were fine and one was poor (not remembering things, didn't seem to understand or care what we were asking for). Drink service was almost non-existant. Service around the ship on things like pickin gup dirty dishes was solely missing.4. Silk restaurant .... our ENTIRE party of 8 was utterly disappointed in the food quality in this Asian restaurant. That was the worst tasting General Tso's chicken ever! The head chef should be dragged into the street, shellacked and then fired! I thought silk had a great ambiance and really good appetizers. Entrees were terrible- all of them!5. I also agree with the 'something missing' factor. Its not a magical ship. Utterly forgettable. Sort of agree. It's gorgeous but it didn't have a "vibe" or personality. I wont find myself longing for her the way I do some ships that are part of my heart.

On a personal gripe... No relaxing cigar lounge exists. Had to sit at the 'bus shelter' with the rest of the aficionados while the wind blew and hastened the demise of our fine stogies :)

I received an email to the link to the survey today. I intend to answer it honestly. Bottom line, none in our party said they will sail on a Quantum Class again. A few were put off RCL too after this.

[sentryman]

Glad to hear someone else agree about the movement. I thought maybe I was imagining it! Another couple at the pool today on their 23 cruise said the same thing.

 

It is my understanding that the motion is partially the result of windage on such a tall ship, but also the narrower beam, vs. the Oasis. The creaking all over was weird from such an experienced shipbuilder. The dining situation was terrible. Waiters were rushing, doing the best they could while the "suits" were standing around. Food however was great, in our opinion. While the shows were very impressive, the audio was too loud on all stages for many age groups (not just older folks) from our conversations. We prefer Oasis and Freedom class.

[Merion_Mom]

Boy, I sure hope so! My sister, BIL and I are booked for February. We got a good deal with the military rate. This will be my BIL's first cruise (other than with Uncle Sam's Yacht Club!) and this is his Christmas gift from my sister. My sister and I like the smaller ships (think Jewel of the Seas!) and the largest we have been on is the Freedom. I'm getting a little nervous about this ship after reading all these posts! It is convenient as we live in PA and really enjoyed the Explorer so we had high hopes about this. The thing that bothers me most is that I am prone to seasickness (I am a Navy vet but never served at sea) and the idea of sailing from NY on February on an unstable ship makes me green just thinking about it!:eek:

 

I sailed on the Quantum out of Cape Liberty last February with ice on the roads and snow on my balcony. ;)

 

I have no recollection of a rough ride.

 

:D

[derftegel]

I wasn't going to start a thread but I feel compelled. This will be short and sweet.

I realize it's a Thanksgiving sailing so no flames please about how I should have expected lines during a holiday sailing.

 

I am sailing with three children under age 11 and my DH. We live in nj and didn't have to travel far.

 

Positives

Ship is stunning, rooms are beautiful and have a ton of storage. We have connecting insides with virtual balcony and I love the room and space!

Stateroom attendant is lovely and personable and works very hard.

Pools are beautiful

 

270 is beautiful

We will rock you is fantastic

 

Negatives:

Service is atrocious in the restaurants pretty much across the board. Many servers and crew seem miserable. Don't say hello and even when you say it first they don't seem interested.

Our waiter in the grande rolled his eyes at my 8 year old when she wanted to change her dessert.

Our waitress in American icon just told us the crew is unhappy because there is no system.

We can feel it! She is right, this sailing feels as though there is no system.

The food is average in all complementary restaurants (just my opinion obviously)

Adventure ocean isn't set up well - the rooms are tiny and the kids are on top of each other.

The lines for bumper cars, roller skating (everything in the seaplex are ridiculous.)

 

They could have planned better - they knew there would be a lot of kids.

 

We have had rough seas and the ship creaks very loudly! In the halls and in the rooms.

 

We have had personal issues related to shore excursions as have others/ don't need to get into details. Suffice to say one hand doesn't know what the other is doing often enough.

 

We had a great time as a family but even though I live about 35 minutes from port I wouldn't choose Anthem again.

Even though there is so much to do for the kids- it definitely doesn't feel like a kid oriented ship at all.

On this cruise also and agree with your assessment of the Anthem. Love the sea pass system. But,bring back the old Royal Caribbean. The Windjammer setup is terrible and the food is so so. Oasis is ten times better, as is Freedom and even Grandeur.

 

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[emileg]

... One guy in the Grande did a good job on drinks. Every other restaurant, the drink waiters never came around when seated- you had to ask for them and they'd typically come once and not check back to see if you wanted another. ..

Thank you for all the observations you reported. When you refer to the "drink waiters," are these people the same as the wine stewards (or sommeliers)? Or are there two different groups with one serving drinks and the other wine. If there are separate wine stewards, what was their service like? Thanks.

Edited November 30, 2015 by emileg

[conandrob240]

This was sort of confusing also. We only ordered wines by the glass but no one ever came over to offer/suggest bottles of wine. It seemed there was one waiter taking mixed drink and wine orders. Sometimes that person took the kids' soda order, other times, they looked really confused and told us our waiter got those. I think this convoluted explanation probably gives you insight into how confusing it all was. LOL

[derftegel]

The outside pool itself is a good size. But the loungers are so tightly packed next to each other that they are impossible to move around. You couldn't squeeze in between 2 loungers if you tried.

It's great there are so many loungers but horrible in reality in terms of actual usage.

I forgot to mention initially that there is a redundancy at the buffet.

It's pretty much the same food for lunch and dinner every day!

Lots of people with kids rely on the buffet to eat and it is boring!

I want to reiterate that we are having a great time because we are cruising and on vacation.

But I think there is something missing from this ship - I can't totally put my finger on it. It seems to be lacking in warmth.

That sounds like a weird thing to say - I know - but that is what comes to mind.

Agree

Not in any way intended to challenge or trivialize the OP's opinion, but I just want to add that we had a very different (much more positive) experience on Anthem's previous sailing -- the first 12-night Caribbean run. I wouldn't write Anthem off just because of service issues on a holiday sailing which, as the OP acknowledged, results in a ship packed to the gills. We didn't experience anything like what was widely reported from the early Quantum sailings and thought that, by and large, things ran smoothly.

 

Thanks OP for sharing your perspective. It's already interesting to read different viewpoints. If I were to make a prediction, I would say that there will be more positive reviews from sailings such as mine where the ship is less crowded, and less positive reviews from sailings such as yours where the ship is more crowded. Only time will tell if I'm right, but it seems that the guest experience on Quantum Class ships is greatly impacted by the level of crowding on the ship, which is in large part tied to whether school is in session.

 

 

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[billsgal]

They have not had sommeliers on Royal for a number of years.

 

We also sailed quantum last February and didn't notice any extra movement, but we are seasoned cruisers and rough seas have never bothered us.

 

Our service on Quantum was fine, no,problems, and we also had a very nice time on Anthem in November, but that was just a short pre. Inaugural cruise.