On Anthem right now - pros and many cons

[CanadaRob]

I don't know where all this negativity comes from, but I've cruised almost 50 times and have NEVER had a bad cruise. Anthem is my favorite ship and anyone thinking about booking her should definitely do it.

 

Isn't that the punchline for a number of jokes?

 

"There is no such thing as bad sex" or "there is no such thing as a bad beer"

[emileg]

I don't know where all this negativity comes from, but I've cruised almost 50 times and have NEVER had a bad cruise. Anthem is my favorite ship and anyone thinking about booking her should definitely do it.

 

Isn't that the punchline for a number of jokes?

 

"There is no such thing as bad sex" or "there is no such thing as a bad beer"

The Anthem in January will be our 31st cruise. We too have never had a bad cruise. Even our cruise on the Carnival Legend, which would rank #30, we would rate as very good as the bar is so high. The other cruises ranged from excellent to spectacular.

 

Even if we experience all of the hiccups mentioned on this thread, we would still have a great time. If we don't, I'll let you know. If we do, I will let you know that too.

 

Happy Sailings.

[A&L_Ont]

Anyone else surprised that this Anthem thread gets to live another day, on the main boards, while others are shunted to gnome man's land (contdown to Quantum) to die?

 

I knew it would make it here.;)

[Biker19]

If I played Xbox this ship would make me very happy but I don't play it lol.

 

I was in the same boat (pun intended) until I saw some teenager on Facebook on the xbox. I'm not sure if it has changed since we sailed, but at the time the console had an Internet connection.

 

Biker, who surfed the net free on the SeaPlex xbox console.:cool:

[OTownNick]

The Anthem in January will be our 31st cruise. We too have never had a bad cruise. Even our cruise on the Carnival Legend, which would rank #30, we would rate as very good as the bar is so high. The other cruises ranged from excellent to spectacular.

 

Even if we experience all of the hiccups mentioned on this thread, we would still have a great time. If we don't, I'll let you know. If we do, I will let you know that too.

 

Happy Sailings.

I'm pretty sure we're in the majority. When someone is a "glass half full" person, they usually take the cruise experience with this mentality.

[Biker19]

I'm pretty sure we're in the majority.

 

Somehow, I don't think so. If the criticism of these "Anthem sucks" threads translated to the overall Anthem cruisers, that ship would either sail fairly empty or the prices would be below Carnival's.:cool:

[dpostman]

I don't know where all this negativity comes from, but I've cruised almost 50 times and have NEVER had a bad cruise. Anthem is my favorite ship and anyone thinking about booking her should definitely do it.

 

I quite admire your positivism/optimism. I've only been on 2 cruises so far and really enjoyed both. I'm booked on a 3rd cruise on Anthem. However, had I been one of the unfortunate cruisers on the 2013 Carnival Poop cruise, I think that would qualify as an exception to your rule about every cruise is a good cruise. I don't think I could be THAT optimistic ;)

 

dp

[Trainman52]

Do you mean less greenhouse gases?

And how long have you been cruising?

[Trainman52]

Somehow, I don't think so. If the criticism of these "Anthem sucks" threads translated to the overall Anthem cruisers, that ship would either sail fairly empty or the prices would be below Carnival's.:cool:

Our cruise actually dropped $900.00 from our initial booking. Just to set the record straight, there are many things that we enjoyed about our cruise on Quantum. There were many lessons to be learned by RCi from that roll-out. Unfortunately, it seems that not all of them were learned.

 

Yes, we did enjoy the concept of dynamic dining. The way it was implemented, was not well thought out. You had to choose your dining slots before the entertainment schedule was announced. Once the entertainment came out, many people had to alter their dining plans. Unfortunately, there were no slots left for them and they ended up in the Windjammer.

 

The distribution of tickets for the Northstar was also not well planned. The first few days the tickets were given out at the Northstar itself. They then moved it to the Bionic Bar. It finally ended up at Cafe 270. People waited on line and when they got to the front they were given a specific time based on their spot. If they didn't like the time, they were told to go to the back of the line and come around again. Does this make any sense?

 

Following our cruise on the Quantum, I sent an email to Adam Goldstein outlining our feeling as to the positives and negatives of the cruise. I also suggested a focus group with some of the passengers to get feedback from the people who were actually taking the cruises. A focus group was in fact held on one of the subsequent cruises and the feedback was used to implement changes going forward.

 

No, I don't feel that being honest can be equated to being negative. If things need to be changed, the right people need to hear it.

 

Look at the reviews of the ship on Cruise Critic. 49% loved the Anthem, 46% loved the Quantum. By contrast 81% loved Oasis, 77% loved Explorer, 70% loved Norwegian Dawn. These are numbers from people who sailed, not from me.

[John&LaLa]

And how long have you been cruising?

 

You must be new to Crizer2's humor.

[Trainman52]

You must be new to Crizer2's humor.

Must

[John&LaLa]

Must

 

It's an acquired taste

[Sascol]

The distribution of tickets for the Northstar was also not well planned. The first few days the tickets were given out at the Northstar itself. They then moved it to the Bionic Bar. It finally ended up at Cafe 270. People waited on line and when they got to the front they were given a specific time based on their spot. If they didn't like the time, they were told to go to the back of the line and come around again. Does this make any sense?

 

This has changed for Anthem. We booked NorthStar on line before the cruise. Did it, enjoyed it. Then, later in the cruise we walked by and there was no line so we just got right on. This would indicate to me they're working on things to make them better.

[Trainman52]

This has changed for Anthem. We booked NorthStar on line before the cruise. Did it, enjoyed it. Then, later in the cruise we walked by and there was no line so we just got right on. This would indicate to me they're working on things to make them better.

Good news, thanks!!

 

The other system was making everyone crazy including the employees.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

This has changed for Anthem. We booked NorthStar on line before the cruise. Did it, enjoyed it. Then, later in the cruise we walked by and there was no line so we just got right on. This would indicate to me they're working on things to make them better.

 

Haven't been on Anthem myself, but from what I have been reading, it seems to me that they really are trying to make things better.

 

I've gathered that the more technical things have begun to be worked out (technology, reservations, etc). However, it seems that service is still struggling, but maybe its sort of hit and miss? I've read reports of service being very good, while others say its horrible. With the service problems straightened out, I think a lot will change for these ships.

 

I'm considering switching my Dec 2016 cruise to a Feb 2017 Anthem sailing. I'll probably book it, and keep an eye on the reviews through mid-2016, particularly service wise, and decide whether I want to stick with Anthem, or switch back to a smaller ship, whose prices will probably still be relatively the same as they are now, whereas Anthem's prices may increase greatly.

[Biker19]

Look at the reviews of the ship on Cruise Critic. 49% loved the Anthem, 46% loved the Quantum. By contrast 81% loved Oasis, 77% loved Explorer, 70% loved Norwegian Dawn. These are numbers from people who sailed, not from me.

 

....and yet, the ship sails full every sailing and at average prices higher than the fleet average (and higher than NCL).

[poncho1973]

Look at the reviews of the ship on Cruise Critic. 49% loved the Anthem, 46% loved the Quantum. By contrast 81% loved Oasis, 77% loved Explorer, 70% loved Norwegian Dawn. These are numbers from people who sailed, not from me.

 

This just in! 99% of peanut butter lovers will eat peanut butter!

 

I would suggest the book How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff as good reading.

 

The sample sizes of people who have sailed on Anthem or Quantum v. the number of people who have written reviews of them on CC isn't an indicator of whether the ships are successful or not.

 

As Biker pointed out, the bookings prove more than percentages on a forum.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

As Biker pointed out, the bookings prove more than percentages on a forum.

 

Hence why Royal has Ovation coming out in May, and 2 more Quantum Class ships on order.

[Cuizer2]

And how long have you been cruising?

 

Sixteen years. Why do you ask?

[Cuizer2]

It's an acquired taste

 

Kind of like eating snails?

[John&LaLa]

Kind of like eating snails?

 

Sure

[cynt]

After all the time I spend on CC I'm still bewildered by people who go on a new cruise ship that is a totally different style of cruising than what they're accustomed to and the opposite of what they love, and then they turn around and criticize everything about it. If you're here on CC researching cruises you would easily expect plenty of kinks to be worked out on a brand new cruise ship. This is par for the course. If you think you can't handle that or the new style of cruising (dynamic dining, etc) please stay home or cruise elsewhere. Our Caribbean inaugural cruise on the Anthem had some snags, like bars being out of ingredients or dining room menu items not in stock and we expected that were fine with it. Everything else was fantastic. (I'm disgusted with myself for chiming in on this very stale thread but it's a slow afternoon here.)

 

DITTO! DITTO! DITTO!! I said the same thing in my post Just Boarded Anthem 112215. I LOVED THE ANTHEM! Yes there were some glitches but this is an amazing ship. My new Favorite class!!

 

If anyone is pondering booking this ship JUST BOOK IT!! Don't let the naysayers change your mind. The GOOD far outweighs the bad. Wait a year and book it if you're on the fence.

 

And I'm still puzzled about people talking about the food. OMG!! If you don't like one restaurant go to another one. I didn't care for Silk. Guess what? I never went back. But no negative comments from me about how poor the food was. I just didn't like it. My tablemates loved Silk. They went twice. I suggested change Silk to Mexican. They got all up in arms saying they don't want a Mexican restaurant on a cruise ship. LOL! I live in Texas and have good Mexican food twice a week so I had no idea why they wouldn't want a Mexican restaurant over Silk. LOL! But it's just different taste and backgrounds. Everyone's different. That's why I love this class. Sooo many options. I thought all of their broth soups tasted the same and weren't spicy. LOL!! Guess what? I stopped ordering the soup. It's not rocket scientist and you can change your mind and order something else. For every one thing I didn't like there were 20 that I did like. And the COCONUT RANGER COOKIES are too die for. :D

[poncho1973]

Hence why Royal has Ovation coming out in May, and 2 more Quantum Class ships on order.

 

Yes, there was a thread that a search isn't finding (maybe it went to that weird place angry threads go to) where someone said the launch of Quantum had been SOOOOO bad that Royal was basically scrapping Anthem and starting fresh. Something about how this line of ships was being canned because everyone on the entire planet hated it so bad that it was universally seen as the biggest marketing mistake since Bruhq the caveman marketed square wheels as the next big thing in transportation.

 

That poster basically said Quantum was the Edsel of cruise ships and would disappear from history except mentions in cruising folklore.

 

Then Royal announced a 3rd ship.

Then Royal announced a 4th ship.

Then Royal announced a 5th ship.

 

They are either in extreme denial or reaping some solid cash from this cow.

[Colonialdame]

....and yet, the ship sails full every sailing and at average prices higher than the fleet average (and higher than NCL).

 

Off Anthem's Thanksgiving cruise on Nov. 30. We were told by our concierge that this was the first time out of Cape Liberty that the ship was booked to capacity as compared to the week before which had several hundred fewer passengers. I can't speak with accuracy about future bookings but heard that they are quite healthy at or near capacity. One would hope that staff is able to make any adjustments needed to increase passenger satisfaction.

 

The ship is beautiful and I fully understand its appeal. I also understand and appreciate some of the negative comments that have been made. Why is it so difficult for some participants in these forums to accept the opinions of of others as valid -- good, bad or "meh". Methinks some just enjoy stirring the pot!

[mrswright]

We were on the Thanksgiving sailing as well, we were a party of 14 people traveling with 6 kids.

 

The seaplex was such a great concept, but so poorly executed. I waited on line with 4 kids to roller skate for the session beginning at 3pm, no one showed up until 5 minutes to 3 to start giving out wristbands and skates, by the time our kids got on the floor it was 320 and I was told they had to get off at 330!

When I went to the desk to inquire about the system the girl was very rude and told us if we were paying attention we would of noticed she got there at 7 minutes to 3! I did speak to the manager and they were not prepared for a sailing with 1000 kids! They added more sessions the rest of the week to try to accommodate.

 

We do a lot of cruises and aren't particularly loyal to any line, we have done NCL, carnival and Disney and my 7 year has done the kids club on all of those ships no problem, all the kids we were with hated the kids club and refused to go back after the 1st night that they went. The venues they had the activities in were way too small. They had a dance party in fuel and had almost 70 kids in that tiny room.

 

Overall we had an amazing time and I would try it again on a none holiday week, maybe in a few months and hopefully all of the kinks will have been worked out.

 

On a positive note, we all thought the food was very good and our wait staff was amazing! They waited on the kids hand and foot, they had appetizers on the table waiting for them every night.