Anthem of the Seas - Time to Sound off

[Baron Barracuda]

When Quantum debuted there were many complaints about slow dining room service. Much of this was blamed on Royals decision to eliminate most asst waiters. This required waiters to take on added responsibilities like bread, drinks and clearing dishes. Royal seemed to recognize their mistake and by the time we sailed Quantum last March they had added back a couple of hundred asst. waiters. Dining room service on that cruise was fast enough, though it was obvious that many staff were new to the job and required additional training. Just curious whether Anthem is suffering from a similar asst waiter shortage. We'll be on her in June. Hope things improve by then.

[ISABELLA]

Ok since I am booked on the Anthem of Seas Feb 2016 I have been reading all the reviews and must say was surprised at how many RCL loyalist where very unhappy with thier cruise on the Anthem. I was watching the reviews since the Anthem returned to New Jersey and overall they are not that good. Even the ones with good ratings have lots of negatives. The compalints can be broke down to three major areas:

 

1. Service/Staffing

 

2. Food Quality

 

3. Cleanliness

 

So here is my suggestiong to all of you that have had a bad experience on Anthem - please send something to RCL and "Sound Off" about what you did not like about the cruise and also what you did like. If they get enough people saying the same thing - my guess is they will be taking action to correct it. It is not in RCLs best interest to provided bad service. I do believe they want us to have a WOW experience. :)

 

So please "Sound Off" to corporate - I think they will appreciate the feedback.

 

P.S. If you have already communicated with corporate your concerns - thanks! - it may very well make my cruise and that of future Anthem cruisers much better. :D

Just to show how little complains mean to RC - I wrote CEO an email about 10 days ago with concerns regarding negative reviews for bad food and slow service, because I will be sailing in April. I got an answer that I will be contacted in a few days to discuss. Going on second week - still waiting... stay tuned. I probably come back from my cruise and still would not get a respond.....

[DaniDanielle]

I think you will hear soon. When we I emailed about our Quantum cruise I received an email saying they would call after reviewing all concerns. It seems that Royal received a lot of complaints. Anyway, I did get the call and was on the phone quite awhile discussing the cruise. We were offered compensation which made us book more cruises, one being the Anthem in March. Royal did make some changes on the Quantum and future cruisers seemed much happier.

Hopefully, Anthem will improve also.

[JuliaNicker]

Royal seemed to recognize their mistake and by the time we sailed Quantum last March they had added back a couple of hundred asst. waiters.

 

When reading this, it seemed incorrect, but then a hundred or so assistant waiters seems about right.

Its a lot, considering they have to find them cabin space, uniforms, crew food etc.

[AdvGirl]

Most of the reviews I've read complain about service in the dining room. There are other things, but I think this category is by far the most prevalent.

 

I think this is because we tend to focus a main part of our vacation on food and eating. I mean after all, we all love it. To have an experience like that diminished because of poor service is upsetting. I agree with the OP - everyone who was unhappy with it, contact the cruise line directly so that they can keep track of the bad experiences and hopefully implement changes. Obviously these changes are not going to be made overnight, or next week, or maybe even next month but eventually I think we'll see an improvement (at least I hope.)

 

Yes! That is exactly the point of the post - I have 4 cruises under my belt - small number compared to many on cruise critic - but not one was perfect but all where very enjoyable. Telling RCL what went well and what went less well only helps everyone that cruises. I have no doubt they care and try to make changes that move the high bar in the right direction when the can. :D

[AdvGirl]

Just to show how little complains mean to RC - I wrote CEO an email about 10 days ago with concerns regarding negative reviews for bad food and slow service, because I will be sailing in April. I got an answer that I will be contacted in a few days to discuss. Going on second week - still waiting... stay tuned. I probably come back from my cruise and still would not get a respond.....

 

Sometimes things drop through the cracks - I would start with normal communication channels - going with CEO may not always be the best route - they have people that filter their communications.

 

I think one thing that may have an impact is you have not been on cruise yet - so your concern is about what you have read not what you have experienced. Since this is for an upcoming cruise I would try again with sales department. They would be the most concerned about how negative reviews are affecting future bookings.

 

Be positive - just have to get your concern in front of the right people and for now I really think that would be cruise sales.

 

Good luck and please do let us know if you get any feedback on your question. :D

[TwoTimer81]

For instance, this is my first Royal, the most recent trip was my honeymoon on Crystal. We do not expect anything like that so we expect a downgrade. I booked lots of specialty mostly because of dietary issues but also coming from Crystal to have a soft landing. In fact the only free venue I have is DD. Everything else is Chops/Wonderland/Izumi.

[BillOh]

Ok since I am booked on the Anthem of Seas Feb 2016 I have been reading all the reviews and must say was surprised at how many RCL loyalist where very unhappy with thier cruise on the Anthem. I was watching the reviews since the Anthem returned to New Jersey and overall they are not that good. Even the ones with good ratings have lots of negatives. The compalints can be broke down to three major areas:

 

1. Service/Staffing

 

2. Food Quality

 

3. Cleanliness

 

So here is my suggestiong to all of you that have had a bad experience on Anthem - please send something to RCL and "Sound Off" about what you did not like about the cruise and also what you did like. If they get enough people saying the same thing - my guess is they will be taking action to correct it. It is not in RCLs best interest to provided bad service. I do believe they want us to have a WOW experience. :)

 

So please "Sound Off" to corporate - I think they will appreciate the feedback.

 

P.S. If you have already communicated with corporate your concerns - thanks! - it may very well make my cruise and that of future Anthem cruisers much better. :D

 

I remember similar, but maybe not to this magnitude about Freedom and Oasis when they were brand new. Since I don't plan on sailing this ship or any other Quantum class before 2018, I'll keep watching.

[CVU]

It's important to note that 'Classic" on Anthem will differ from what you experienced on Allure. On Allure, you had the same MDR menu no matter what deck you were on. On Anthem, each venue has it's own distinct type of food.

That maybe the Main reason we won't sail on Anthem. Not what we want to do. The American Icon would be our choice but the same menu each night isn't appealing?

 

We are picky eaters and I am on GF. Sounds like it won't work for us? Or we would be in Classic Kitchen? I like to be served and not do the WJ for dinner every night, so that isn't a nightly option. Being on GF it would be a problem in the WJ anyway. So, we will pass on Anthem until it appeals to us I guess......

Edited December 21, 2015 by CVU

[heffe97]

I see all be negative posts about the Anthem of the Seas! Is it really true?

[Biker19]

I see all be negative posts about the Anthem of the Seas! Is it really true?

 

It wouldn't be Cruise Critic without lots of complaints. How about some common sense and ask yourself - would 4000+ people on each sailing have paid that much money if they thought the ship is that bad?:cool:

[Biker19]

We are picky eaters and I am on GF. Sounds like it won't work for us? Or we would be in Classic Kitchen? I like to be served and not do the WJ for dinner every night, so that isn't a nightly option. Being on GF it would be a problem in the WJ anyway. So, we will pass on Anthem until it appeals to us I guess......

 

Like the answer above - do you think there are not other picky eaters with GF issues that go on these sailings? Like on other ships, RCI has things in place to accommodate folks with dietary issues.

Edited December 24, 2015 by Biker19

[AdvGirl]

I see all be negative posts about the Anthem of the Seas! Is it really true?

 

First remember it is a vacation - do not go looking for things you do not like. There will be a ton of things you love on any cruise spend as much doing those activities and you will have an amazing cruise no matter which ship you ⛵ sail.

 

I have read all the stuff as well and I for one am very excited to be cruising on her in Feb!

[skizmann]

Ok since I am booked on the Anthem of Seas Feb 2016 I have been reading all the reviews and must say was surprised at how many RCL loyalist where very unhappy with thier cruise on the Anthem. I was watching the reviews since the Anthem returned to New Jersey and overall they are not that good. Even the ones with good ratings have lots of negatives. The compalints can be broke down to three major areas:

 

1. Service/Staffing

 

2. Food Quality

 

3. Cleanliness

 

So here is my suggestiong to all of you that have had a bad experience on Anthem - please send something to RCL and "Sound Off" about what you did not like about the cruise and also what you did like. If they get enough people saying the same thing - my guess is they will be taking action to correct it. It is not in RCLs best interest to provided bad service. I do believe they want us to have a WOW experience. :)

 

So please "Sound Off" to corporate - I think they will appreciate the feedback.

 

P.S. If you have already communicated with corporate your concerns - thanks! - it may very well make my cruise and that of future Anthem cruisers much better. :D

We were on the Anthem in November and had no big issues with the service. The food was good except they ran out of salad numerous times in the buffet during lunch.

[fletch1027]

Did you have traditional dining book pre-cruise and switched to My Time after sailing? We have always done My Time and reserved our different times before leaving and have never waited more than 5 mins to be seated. Circumstances sometimes dictate having to change plans, but I can also see that being an issue with their system - like trying to be "fitted in" to a last minute doctors appointment (hope that analogy makes sense)... :)

 

 

 

I just gt off the Allure yesterday-there are problems with the My Time Dining there too.

We started at the 6:00 Traditional Dining-the service in a nutshell was very poor so we asked Angel(concierge sp) to change our table-This was the first time we asked to change tables in over 50 cruises. We were offered and took a 6:30 dining time

knowing we would not be at same table every night.

Average wait was 40 minutes. The service by the new wait staff was great-the whole My time Dining seemed a little disorganized to me-there was consistantly people there that were upset about somthing. I know on the Allure and the Oasis they spent millions to change to Dynamic Dining and it never happened. This was my first taste of My Time and I cant wait to go back to traditional.

Is there a option to have traditional dining on the Anthem?

 

Side note-I think crew moral starts from the top-Captain Johnny runs a tight ship and he will be going to the Harmony this spring-I will be booking the Harmony-plus the grandkids will love the water slides!