Just off Anthem and cancelled my other 3 cruises on her

[CruisingChick]

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

 

I think Quantum might of even had something like 37% approval by CC.

 

Wow. Okay, thanks for the info.

[Beachdude]

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 just cruised two different RCCL ships in 6 weeks. The menus were the same, but the taste between the two differed greatly. Food preparation appear to be different from ship to ship in RCCL.

 

Burt

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

We just cruised two different RCCL ships in 6 weeks. The menus were the same, but the taste between the two differed greatly. Food preparation appear to be different from ship to ship in RCCL.

 

Burt

 

Yup. Unfortunately, Royal is not the most consistent cruise line.

[CruisingChick]

Yup. Unfortunately, Royal is not the most consistent cruise line.

 

Neither is Celebrity. Even the same ship. You can sail on it in May and then again in September and everything has changed.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Neither is Celebrity. Even the same ship. You can sail on it in May and then again in September and everything has changed.

 

Must be a family thing.. ;)

[Cruise a holic]

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?

 

Read the reviews that you can access above- member reviews- Quantum. The overall positive rating is about 48 %. If a ship isn't in the 80%, I will not sail on it ever again. You would think that after over 1 year all of the bugs have been worked out. Clearly they haven't

Edited December 2, 2015 by Cruise a holic

[AustinCruise]

We just cruised two different RCCL ships in 6 weeks. The menus were the same, but the taste between the two differed greatly. Food preparation appear to be different from ship to ship in RCCL.

 

 

 

Burt

 

 

I think it depends on how the head chef runs operations. Penny pincher vs quality oriented. Some better than others.

[funNsun4me]

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?

 

Hi, I was on your Liberty cruise and I agree, the food was the worst food I have ever had on a cruise but that being said, we sailed the 12-day on Quantum last January and loved it. A few friends were on the first sailing for Thanksgiving last year and it was one problem after another, there were a lot of bugs that needed to be worked out but they thought the ship itself was wonderful. There were a lot of bad reviews for the sailings in December as well and that had us worried but it all turned out well. We did sail with other couples and it was a nightmare for me to book all our dining and shows but once on the ship it all went well. Loved the new layout of the Windjammer, ship was stunning, loved the Grande. I will be sailing a 12-day on Anthem in February with a friend and I cannot wait. This time, since it's one 2 of us, we chose early Classic Dining. I am not going to let the negative reviews scare me away but you have to do what you are comfortable with.

[psupa]

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

 

I remember it was broken most of the time on the Explorer, although I don't use it

[MisterBill99]

Read the reviews that you can access above- member reviews- Quantum. The overall positive rating is about 48 %. If a ship isn't in the 80%, I will not sail on it ever again. You would think that after over 1 year all of the bugs have been worked out. Clearly they haven't

Quantum's early reviews were predominantly negative because people did not like Dynamic Dining. Since they introduced the rotational style (I always forget the name, is it DD Choice?) in theory that should not be as much of an issue. But the early reviews are still going to be included in that 48% number.

 

I wonder if the Anthem issues are related to a turnover in staff (both service and kitchen) when she came over to the US. I will admit I don't know how many holdovers there are vs. replacements.

[MisterBill99]

I think it depends on how the head chef runs operations. Penny pincher vs quality oriented. Some better than others.

I'm not sure that I understand this. The ingredients are going to be the same no matter who is in charge since everything comes from the same place. The head chef can influence how many of each item they order but he can't say "get me the cheaper quality beef".

[MisterBill99]

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 kept the old fashioned MDR that has worked with problems for decades and decades.

DD is just the next iteration of My Time Dining that they've been doing for years. They must know how much staff they need for that. Maybe they're just trying to cut costs like they have when they gave each stateroom attendant more cabins and each MDR waiter more tables. Or maybe the issue is in the kitchen. I do know that on Quantum it was reported that the CEO fixed the problem by adding more people, or so it was reported.

Edited December 2, 2015 by MisterBill99

[tiggypooo]

I'm 3 days into the sailing after the one that the OP was on and believe me, when I get back home and have my proper desktop computer that is easier for me to type on, I will be writing a detailed synopsis of my experience here.

In short I will never sail on again or suggest to my clients to sail on this ship.

If you love the Oasis class or even Freedom class, I would go as far to suggest that you will not like this ship.

For all of you dissing us that are giving negative comments, we are trying to help cruisers that use this site for information, to not make a mistake.

Stay tuned. ....

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

I'm 3 days into the sailing after the one that the OP was on and believe me, when I get back home and have my proper desktop computer that is easier for me to type on, I will be writing a detailed synopsis of my experience here.

In short I will never sail on again or suggest to my clients to sail on this ship.

If you love the Oasis class or even Freedom class, I would go as far to suggest that you will not like this ship.

For all of you dissing us that are giving negative comments, we are trying to help cruisers that use this site for information, to not make a mistake.

Stay tuned. ....

 

Can't wait... :rolleyes:

 

I've seen several comments from people who have sailed on the Oasis Class, yet still loved Quantum Class. But then again there's others that have sailed on Oasis, and felt that Anthem fell way short.

 

As has been said many times, not speaking of the service issues that have to be resolved, these ships can be very subjective. Some like their modern style, some like their flexible dining, some like their many activities. On the the hand, others prefer more traditional ships.

[F27TW]

most of your issues are not ship specific. Could happen on any ship

 

but they happened to the OP on THIS ship -- and have been echoed by many on here .. so why are you trying to debate her?

[Arzeena]

If you love the Oasis class or even Freedom class, I would go as far to suggest that you will not like this ship.

 

Sorry but that was not true in our case......... We loved the Oasis and we loved the Quantum.

[CVU]

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

I think if the machines are down they should allow you get a specialty coffee at another location on the ship, eg Promenade Cafe etc.

Oasis TA after dry dock, let us do that, as they only had 1 machine for ALL the Diamonds & D+ and Pinnacles. PCs had the CL as well but could use the DL. The ship had a very Large # of C&A on board that TA.:eek::eek:

 

I'm 3 days into the sailing after the one that the OP was on and believe me, when I get back home and have my proper desktop computer that is easier for me to type on, I will be writing a detailed synopsis of my experience here.

In short I will never sail on again or suggest to my clients to sail on this ship.

If you love the Oasis class or even Freedom class, I would go as far to suggest that you will not like this ship.

For all of you dissing us that are giving negative comments, we are trying to help cruisers that use this site for information, to not make a mistake.

Stay tuned. ....

Thank you & OP for posting your comments!!

 

We were booked on Anthem in April/16 but had to move it to 2017. Now we will watch to see if the comments improve over that time.

 

We love the bigger ships. Had a great experience on Explorer but some didn't. So, from hearing everyone's take on their cruise you can form your own opion.

 

Thanks for posting your comments good or bad.:)

Edited December 3, 2015 by CVU

[Dave85]

 

 

 

As has been said many times, not speaking of the service issues that have to be resolved, these ships can be very subjective. Some like their modern style, some like their flexible dining, some like their many activities. On the the hand, others prefer more traditional ships.

 

 

Agreed, this is becoming quite clear... The Quantum Class ships are obviously quite polarizing on these boards. We absolutely loved the Anthem and wholeheartedly disagree with many of the criticisms leveled on this board. Fortunately, RCI has many other more traditional ships.

[denatravels]

Agreed, this is becoming quite clear... The Quantum Class ships are obviously quite polarizing on these boards. We absolutely loved the Anthem and wholeheartedly disagree with many of the criticisms leveled on this board. Fortunately, RCI has many other more traditional ships.

 

 

The only thing that could ruin my anthem cruise is the issue with the movement and sea sickness-- anything else is go with the flow (hold me to it!! I'm DETERMINED to have fun)

[mets07]

The only thing that could ruin my anthem cruise is the issue with the movement and sea sickness-- anything else is go with the flow (hold me to it!! I'm DETERMINED to have fun)

 

We were on the Nov 10 Anthem cruise and only felt the movement the first night. We do take Bonine daily, so perhaps that helped, but we really did not experience what others are talking about.

 

Have a great cruise, denatravels!

[MisterBill99]

In short I will never sail on again or suggest to my clients to sail on this ship.

If you love the Oasis class or even Freedom class, I would go as far to suggest that you will not like this ship.

I'll be interested to read your review. Out of curiosity, do you like the Celebrity S-class ships? I've heard many people call Quantum/Anthem S-class ships on steroids and seem to say positive things about Q/A. I wonder if there's any correlation?

Edited December 3, 2015 by MisterBill99

[denatravels]

We were on the Nov 10 Anthem cruise and only felt the movement the first night. We do take Bonine daily, so perhaps that helped, but we really did not experience what others are talking about.

 

 

 

Have a great cruise, denatravels!

 

 

Thanks!! I do the patch and the seabands and I've been ok on my first four cruises! I may hold off on the drink package and just start with soda, though!

[Turtles06]

Agreed, this is becoming quite clear... The Quantum Class ships are obviously quite polarizing on these boards. We absolutely loved the Anthem and wholeheartedly disagree with many of the criticisms leveled on this board. Fortunately, RCI has many other more traditional ships.

 

We loved Anthem too. Sure, there were issues with the food and food quality, and I've posted about them, but they didn't ruin our cruise. The ship is stunningly beautiful with amazing and unique public spaces (Two70 in particular) and incredibly and unique things like North Star. I think RCI knocked it out the park with the ship itself.

 

In case it's helpful to others, my detailed comments about Anthem and photos are here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2277588

[tiggypooo]

Mr. Bill. Yes I have sailed the S class ships a few times and I love them.

I do prefer Royal though as they have bigger entertainment and more action after 11pm.

I'm a night owl and their ships suit my style more.

 

It's difficult to get any food after midnight on Celebrity. Every ship needs a Promenade Cafe.

As far as the ship decor, cuisine and service goes on S class, love it all.

 

My issues and the many that I have spoken to onboard (crew included) have to do with the food, general obvious cutbacks and poor service.

We all pay more to sail with Royal, because of the higher quality of a "Family style" ship.

If I want poor food and service, there are less expensive lines to sail with.

I and we all, should expect a certain level of quality from Royal and especially on a brand new ship.

 

If they don't fix their food issues, they're going to have a difficult time selling this ship in North America.

People have been complaining since Quantum arrived and they should have sorted it out by now.

I'm pretty disgusted that they haven't fixed it by now and my very expensive cruise vacation, has been negatively affected.

 

Of course there will always be the passengers, that will accept any level of quality from their favorite

cruiseline, but that won't be me.

[MisterBill99]

My issues and the many that I have spoken to onboard (crew included) have to do with the food, general obvious cutbacks and poor service.

We all pay more to sail with Royal, because of the higher quality of a "Family style" ship.

If I want poor food and service, there are less expensive lines to sail with.

I and we all, should expect a certain level of quality from Royal and especially on a brand new ship.

Will you be trying to speak to officers (F&B Manager, etc) about the food/service issues? It seems to me that these dining room issues are fairly new. I don't recall reading this many (and certainly not this level) of complaints when she was sailing out of the UK. In another thread multiple people have said that they had dinner at the WJ (something they would never normally do), and that it was better than some of the free venues. Yeah, it's a new ship here but it's been sailing for over 6 months, so unless they switched in an entire new crew on the TA, there's no way they can use the "it's a new ship" excuse.

 

I think that the ship appeals to many Celebrity fans and they're (myself included) not going to accept poor food/service (nor should anyone, of course). You'd think they would have learned their lesson on Quantum last year where they had to increase staff after the Adam Goldstein sailing (I wish I could find a thread where that was discussed since I distinctly remember reading about it here).

Edited December 3, 2015 by MisterBill99