Anthem of the Seas Review 9 Nights - 6/2-11 2016

[espo56]

I have been using this site for the past 7 years. I find it an excellent source of information when planning for a cruise vacation. I have never written a review but I am going to write one now. I cruised on the Anthem of the Seas from June 2-11, 2016. Because the reviews were so poor I almost cancelled but because I was travelling with a group of friends I decided to give it a shot. We are glad we did. We are 61 and 62 and we have travelled with Princess (5), Celebrity (5) and one previous cruise on Royal back in 1990.

 

We live in NJ so we took a 10-passenger van to the terminal. There was traffic but it wasn’t too bad. Our driver dropped us off and gave the long shore man our bags and when to the attendant for the Ipad check in. From curb to ship it took about 15 minutes.

 

The ship is gorgeous. Beautiful venues all around. Spectacular artwork. Lots of places to sit and relax. 270 was beautiful.

 

Following the recommendation of others on this site, we headed to 270 for lunch. It was empty and we had no problem getting a seat. Food was great and we dined there several times during the cruise for breakfast or lunch.

 

Our cabin was on Deck 7. #7646. Close to the elevator and nicely decorated. There was tons of storage.

 

After entering our room we saw a letter listing our diner reservations and times. They were all wrong. We spent 3 hours 4 months ago planning everything and every one of them was wrong. We went to the Guest Relations Desk and had them all corrected to the right times after waiting more than an hour. This was the only problem we had all week.

 

Our days were spent mostly at the pool and solarium which is really peaceful and beautiful. Pool attendants were removing towel in the early hours but not later on in the day. We played a little trivia.

 

For entertainment we saw The Welcome Show. We Will Rock You – if you are a Queen fan you will love it. Comedians: Jessica Kirson, Rondell Sheridan, Al Ducharme, Ronn Lucas (he was the best). We also saw DSB the Journey Tribute Band, Liars Club, the Marriage Game Show. I participated in the Name that Tune Game which was great.

 

We also, saw Spectra’s Cabaret, The Gift and a number of shows in the 270 lounge.

We found the entertainment to be exceptional.

 

For our meals we went to Jaime’s, Chops, Chic, American Icon, the Grande, and Coastal Kitchen (our friends had a suite so they had access and brought us along). We had a few of our breakfasts at Chic and the Grand. The Windjammer was our choice for lunch on a few days. We also had lunch at 270 and at the Solarium Bistro. We dressed semi formally (husband wore jacket and dress pants I wore a nice glittery top and black pants) on the first night at the Grande. We were told that on the first and last nights one could dress casual so we did and there was no problem. My husband wore silk dress shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt to 4 of the restaurants and there was no issue. On our formal night at the Grande, we observed someone wearing shorts and a tee shirt.

 

We found the food to be very good. Not as good as Celebrity but not as bad as some of the reviews we read here. The desserts were not that good. The coffee was terrible. I treated my self to gourmet-iced lattes a few times, which were great. We enjoyed all our meals for the most part.

 

Port Days: Bermuda, spectacular Horseshoe Bay by Taxi $7 pp. St Marten by ferry for shopping and a quick stop at the beach (not enough time to go to Orient), San Juan (stayed on board), and Labadee where we took a ferry to the beach at the end, which was gorgeous. We made the mistake of walking after we got off the ferry instead of taking the shuttle bus, which we did take back to the ship security entrance.

 

We brought our own wine but I did have a few martinis, which were good.

Service around the ship was pretty good. Sometimes they made mistakes but it wasn’t a big deal.

 

Our cabin attendant was Janice Young and she was outstanding.

We took advantage of the 1st Day spa sail away special, which was amazing.

 

We booked the North Star but it was broken and we never made it back to our rescheduled time. My friends did the bumper cars and loved it. I was afraid of hurting my knees.

 

We were not impressed with the Next Cruise staff. We booked the Anthem again for next year but the staff was not very helpful in our opinion.

 

We departed the ship at 9:30 am.

 

Please feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer them.

Edited June 12, 2016 by espo56
title Change

[jonj]

We were on the same cruise - I have to say that the coffee in Cafe Promenade was good. The coffee in the restaurants was too strong for my liking

[jerseyjjs]

We were on the same cruise - I have to say that the coffee in Cafe Promenade was good. The coffee in the restaurants was too strong for my liking

 

 

 

 

You were on the ship for 9 days/nights and that's what left the biggest impact on you??

[jonj]

You were on the ship for 9 days/nights and that's what left the biggest impact on you??

 

 

No but I was responding to a comment the OP noted. I posted my own review and you comment was uncalled for

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[espo56]

We were on the same cruise - I have to say that the coffee in Cafe Promenade was good. The coffee in the restaurants was too strong for my liking

 

I found this to be just the opposite. The coffee in the restaurants tasted like water to me. Even the tea was weak and terrible. The gourmet coffee was fabulous.

[gbcruise]

How rude jerseyjjs