Never seen so many unhappy people on RCCL Cruise - Anthem out of UK

[Pandamonia]

Well RCCL seems to be doing their best to upset the European market as best as they can. I had a pretty mediocre cruise which was made as good as can be by the fact that the staff were brilliant and the food edible in speciality (except rubbish Jamies Italian) 

 

Im convinced that underperforming ships are now sent to Southampton and other Euro ports as punishment for bad customer reviews. I was told that Anthem is the 3rd worst ranked ship in the whole fleet for customer satisfaction. This is both from the US market and the UK market so there is no better performance when they are being tipped better by the US customers. Your experience is clearly just as bad as ours even when you pay the 16 USD per day staff tax as well as extra on all of the services and drinks. 

 

It seems that nobody in the UK i met liked the Anthem or the Quantum class in general. Whilst its not my favourite ship i personally dont mind it but its got some stupid design choices and just isnt suitable for UK sailings. 

 

The biggest complaint was the sunbed situation. OMG this just ruined so many peoples holiday and its purely Royals fault. Never enough sunbeds and there is loads of space to put them in they just dont have them or have them in totally useless locations such as in the shade. Entire sections of deck had nothing in them which meant that people would just hog them all day for fear of losing a place to sit in the sun. Even the sky bar has space for about 50 high chairs or more but it seems like there is about 10-15 and a load of standing up space???? Only after a complaint did the staff start policing sunbed policy but this doesnt actually fix the problem it just means that you cannot leave to go lunch or anywhere because your bed will be gone. So people felt their experience was being ruled by having to keep the sunbed. So much of the top deck is now wasted by chargeable gimmicks such as Northstar, iFly, and the very poor deck design of quantum that there is just limited places to sit in the sun in general. This means that people are need the same space if the sun is shining in a particular direction or the wind is being a nightmare down the self generated wind tunnel that quantum has created with the annoyingly placed walking track. 

 

Second biggest complaint was the total lack of seating in most of the bars with the entertainment in them. The music hall isnt too bad but basically they had the same band on all week and with such a limited vocalist most of the songs were hard to listen to and the dancefloor was basically a play ground for children below school age. The chance of getting a seat in baleros was basically zero, same with scooner bar but vintages was fine but nothing happens in there anyway so its pointless. 270 was ok if you wanted to sit through Spectras show for the 10th time in your life and you wanted to have the view obscured by one of the most annoying locations for a giant glowing LED lamp you have ever seen. But basically if there was something on you didnt have a seat until it finished and then you sat in an empty location with nothing happening. 

 

Entertainment - i went on this ship 8 years ago at launch and im amazed to see Spectra 8 years older performing the same show 5 times per week as was the case at launch.... Seriously.... STILL? The only upside was the show is so forgettable that at least id forgotten most of it. The robot screens are just no longer very impressive though. Has We Will Rock you seriously been on this ship for the whole 8 years as well? Is there anyone on this forum NOT seen this show multiple times by now?  

 

Food - Windjammer seems to be vastly improved and service seemed excessive. Its gone from cant get a drink to they wont let you fetch your own coffee without catching you on the way to the self service coffee cart.... Not sure how i feel about it as it just seems like someone has dumped a load of staff here to 'improve service' but its basically service i dont need. If im fetching my own food i may as fetch my own juice. 

 

Speciality dining -

 

Jamies Italian  - Needs shutting down just like the bankrupt franchise that it was.

Chops Grill - Food generally good but stick cooking steaks in the oven which results in overcooked steaks 70% of the time. Order them rare and you get medium a lot of the time.

Izumi is the latest Royal scam introduced. price increased to 39.99 USD and you get 50% less sushi rolls now. So the fixed priced menu is now actually more expensive than if you ordered the same items a la carte. Yes you can now pay 40 USD for 30 USD of food. As we had UDP we didnt really care and the staff knew it was a scam and give us what ever we asked for anyway as they just wanted a good survey score and the food and service was always good. 

Wonderland - Same menu for 8 years running.... Food was ok, getting bored of same stuff though. Can they really not think of anything else to serve?

Pub food - Was good 8 years ago. Terrible now. wouldnt eat there again. 

Vintages - for some reason cant eat on UDP so dont know. 

Johnny Rockets - Nice burgers and fresh chips. Terrible chicken tenders which were also in Windjammer for free and Milkshakes are not great. Milk, icecream and Syrup = artificial high calorie synthetic tasting gloop. Is it really that hard to use some real strawberries instead of Hershey's Syrup? 

Chefs table - Probably the best bit was the wine. 2 of the 5 courses were from other restaurants. Fillet Steak from chops and the World Dessert from Wonderland we had the day before! Guess what.... they over cooked that steak as well. He marinated the steak in olive oil overnight.... lol.... for tenderness he said? Well im pretty sure that didnt do anything. After eating it i was sure it did nothing. Pretty lazy to serve 2 courses from other speciality dining restaurants. 

 

Staff told me it was good i wasnt on there a couple months ago as the complaints about the food were crazy bad. One 10 year veteran waiter told me that hes never seen the food so bad but a new set of chefs were sent on board to improve things. Thus proving things can always be worse. 

 

Royals Price hiking has found its limit -

 

UDP was cheaper on the week before we sailed resulting in 2 pages full of UDP guests on the Johny Rockets UDP list. Royal raised price by 50% on my sailing resulting in 18 guests with the UDP thats pretty poor and shows Royal dynamic prices has zero to do with sales its just a game the system plays to keep you guessing. The speciality dining was dead nearly all of the cruise. 20% of the tables full on any given night. Revenue must be tanking.

 

Drinks package - Never seen so few people with it. Everyone said 68 GBP pre cruise was a joke and 80GBP on the cruise even worse. Irony is that now i dont have the drinks package there seems plenty of waiters asking if i want a drink! The revenue must be down massively on this. 

 

Drink prices - Laughable. 68 USD per bottle for the cheapest sparking wine on the ship? With just one choice under 100USD? 15 USD for a cocktail now... 8.25 for a bottle of beer. 13 - 15 USD per glass of wine. I have never seen so few alcoholic drinks consumed on a cruise in my life. Probably helped by the fact nobody could sit at the outdoor bars to drink anyway as the few chairs were camped in all day by sunbathers not drinking.

 

Royals drinks package would have cost us 1630 GBP for 12 nights. That's over 2000 USD.  My bar bill was 200 USD by end of the cruise.  Well done Royal. Im sick and tired of drinkers subsidising the price of the cruise for none drinkers. Im not playing this game any more. Raise the cabin prices, remove the staff tax per day and price the drinks reasonably like MSC or P&O. This isnt the US market. You cannot get away with it here. I bet the revenue proves it. 

 

Diamond status - The ONLY reason id ever consider sailing with Royal now. 4 drinks per day each, free days wifi, Diamond Lounge with free Coffee and nice food and a relaxing place to sit and listen to people talk about how bad Royal has gotten it seems. 

 

16 USD per day Staff tax now includes only 1 room clean per day. Going Fleet wide!. 4 USD goes to Stateroom attendant they said. Stateroom guy told me he gets 3 USD per day. 5 USD is going to something called 'Hotel Services' What part of the ship deserves more than my room attendant who literally folded all my clothes every day i left out? The tumble drier? the washing machine? How much do i get for fetching my own towels every day from the ONE open towel station at the other end of the ship? 

 

I think now all my FCC are used up its time to explore other cruise lines and holidays and from the sounds of it other people will be doing the same going forward. 

 

Im sure the Royal fans will come down on the above but you got to remember that this isnt the US, this isnt the newest or best ship in the fleet and some of the above are common themes from many guests and it was YOU the US market which scored them down to the 3rd lowest score in the entire Royal Fleet! 

 

 

 

 

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

All I can say is…….wow……

[parpot]

Very true, accurate review. We’re on Symphony in two weeks. Went on it in its first year and it was amazing. I just hope standards have not slipped on there too. 

[rolloman]

Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln? 

[little britain]

@Pandamonia - don’t worry.. if rumours are to be believed you’ll be getting that claustrophobic overcrowded Independence back in Southampton shortly… how many times have you seen Grease? 

[Nell Gwynn]

We were on the June 4 cruise out of Southampton to the Canaries and I totally agree with Pandemonium. 
 

The price of the drinks package was utterly ridiculous.  The cocktails and other drinks were all overpriced and looked cheap - seriously only a quarter of a slice of lemon! I know it's petty to mention that but it goes to show the level of penny pinching involved.

 

The sun bed situation - yes agree again although I personally sometimes prefer to sit in the shade.  The promenade deck on other ships has always been a good place to sit for a different view and some peace, but on Anthem you can't do a complete loop and there was no seating available.

 

As to the tips, my husband got severe diarrhoea on this cruise and I understand he wasn't the only one.  He was stuck in the cabin for three days and missed 2 ports of call - based on that maybe housekeeping earnt their money! 

[Sunshine3601]

Wow!   We have sailed Anthem many times over the years, most recent being end of March into April and have always enjoyed the ship.

I enjoy a sun lounger aft where I am able to read and relax with a great view and plenty of lounge chairs are available.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise.  At least you got a great price with free upgrade for a OV Balcony.

[vwlmember]

"I was told that Anthem is the 3rd worst ranked ship in the whole fleet for customer satisfaction."  By who?

 

My wife and I sailed on Anthem in April 2022 and were impressed by the ship design. Especially the amount of entertainment available on board and the fact that we could experience I-Fly and the Northstar at no cost. Would I want to see the same show five times? No. That's why they have multiple Quantum class ships. Try a different one. Find an itinerary that you like on another version of the Anthem. Or another line. 

 

Our favorite restaurant was Jamie's and we are particularly hard on Italian restaurants as we have a house on Sicily and know Italian cuisine intimately. 

 

Honestly,  the worst food I have ever eaten was in London and it was not in just a single venue. We ended up eating in American based chain restaurants. I have eaten at tiny roadside "restaurants" in Tokyo that put  Gordon Ramsay "Michelin star" restaurants to shame. Not sure Brits know good cuisine. Hell, they used to load up the buffet at Ponderosa in Orlando years ago, and that food sucked. 

 

I take this review as a grain of salt. 

 

 

 

 

[BND]

We love Anthem and miss having her  in NJ year round.  BTW, drinks packages are just as expensive on the other ships.  No one makes you buy it lol.  That seems to be the crux f your issues.  It's an easy fix.  Pay as you go.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

An interesting read and a lot i agree with.

Royals prices for the extras are getting crazy. Whilst this will work for the cash cows around cococay and back, it dosnt work in Europe. The price difference between a cruise from miami around cococay and back is very cheap compared to a week out of the uk around northern ports. Then you start to add the "extras" it becomes expensive. Royal has so much more competition in europe and even the uk now. However if they are selling out then so be it. 

 

The anthem class of ship is just too squished together. Little open space onboard like other classes, oasis, feedom etc. I stated this on a review i did years ago out of new york. 

 

My last three royal cruises.

Anthem from uk around the uk in the pandemic. Didnt enjoy the layout of the ship. Ifly fab, the rest not so much. 

 

Brilliance out of ravenna. Stunning itinerary but ship old and nothing much to do on it for families. 

 

Oasis of the seas out of miami.

Great ship, lots to do and space. Didnt feel crowded at all.

 

I do enjoy royal ships, esp oasis and freedom class but their prices are now at a point where we are looking elsewhere. P&O, MSC, NCL etc. They are catching up fast with ship designs and better pricing. 

[Pandamonia]

11 minutes ago, BND said:

We love Anthem and miss having her  in NJ year round.  BTW, drinks packages are just as expensive on the other ships.  No one makes you buy it lol.  That seems to be the crux f your issues.  It's an easy fix.  Pay as you go.

 

Well maybe between RCCL ships but the drinks on P&O and MSC are almost half price with offers on them also and drinks package is 40 GBP fixed not dynamically priced. 

 

Im Diamond now so i dont ever see myself buying it again. Quite honestly i didnt realise how much i used to drink for the sake of drinking due to package and at least this time i enjoyed drinking when i did have a drink. 

 

first cruise ive ever had where i didnt wake up with a hangover but this time i got a chest infection and a bad cold for 5 days instead!

[Pandamonia]

23 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Wow!   We have sailed Anthem many times over the years, most recent being end of March into April and have always enjoyed the ship.

I enjoy a sun lounger aft where I am able to read and relax with a great view and plenty of lounge chairs are available.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise.  At least you got a great price with free upgrade for a OV Balcony.

 

People were dragging sun loungers the 50% of the length of the ship to put them there and because they did they they layed them out in such a way nobody else could sit there and made it like their own person sun balcony.

 

The people made this ship worse than it could have been. 

[Pandamonia]

29 minutes ago, little britain said:

@Pandamonia - don’t worry.. if rumours are to be believed you’ll be getting that claustrophobic overcrowded Independence back in Southampton shortly… how many times have you seen Grease? 

 

From when 2026? I thought odyssey was coming next? 

 

I cant imagine what state indi is now in after doing those short cruises which must be mayhem. It at least cant be worse than Anthem. 

 

Chops and Giovannis has a better location with sea views. Izumi has Teppanyaki and the playmakers was better than the one on Wonder but who knows by now. Still has the Champagne bar too. Fish n ships at least is ok if they have a decent cook in it. 

 

The only reason they would be considering this is because revenue has totally tanked on Anthem and they likely know any old bucket can do those coco sailings and people will fill it. 

 

With regards to Grease, it is my least favourite show ive seen so not exactly happy its still on there. 

 

Looks like MSC and P&O are getting my business for a while. Im on Arvia for 2 weeks from barbados in December. 

[mjkacmom]

If it makes you feel better, that’s how much drinks cost at my local bars and restaurants. We are 10 miles from NYC where the drink prices are triple ours. 

[little britain]

@Pandamonia rumour they have replaced Odyssey with Indie for summer 2025.

[Pandamonia]

Just now, little britain said:

@Pandamonia rumour they have replaced Odyssey with Indie for summer 2025.

 

Sounds like panic stations from Royal UK HQ. I bet they will throw all inclusive back on the ships too when it comes back and cut back on the waiters. 

 

This year MSC didnt do all inclusive drinks and basically they are having to give away cabins instead. Tui all inclusive is constantly sold out in comparison. 

[Pandamonia]

5 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

If it makes you feel better, that’s how much drinks cost at my local bars and restaurants. We are 10 miles from NYC where the drink prices are triple ours. 

 

Well pricing should be based on market. Especially since Magners or Bulmers cider is made in the UK which makes US prices irrelevant for a UK cruise. A bottle of bud in the UK is 15 GBP for 20 bottles. im still trying to understand how it becomes 8.25 USD when it gets from the UK port to the ship bar. 

 

Id love to meet the braindead Royal manager who put together the pricing scheme for Euro sailings. Its like they got the interns to put the menus together this year. Never seen anything like it. 

 

 

[mjkacmom]

15 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

 

Well pricing should be based on market. Especially since Magners or Bulmers cider is made in the UK which makes US prices irrelevant for a UK cruise. A bottle of bud in the UK is 15 GBP for 20 bottles. im still trying to understand how it becomes 8.25 USD when it gets from the UK port to the ship bar. 

 

Id love to meet the braindead Royal manager who put together the pricing scheme for Euro sailings. Its like they got the interns to put the menus together this year. Never seen anything like it. 

 

 

So a beer at a bar costs $1 (US)? Your bars and restaurants provide alcohol at the same price you can buy it at a store? If I buy a 12 pack of bud from my liquor store it’s about $1 a bottle, if I order a bottle at a bar it’s around $8.

[smokeybandit]

These types of posts are always good for a laugh.

[firefly333]

Lol your useless loungers in the shade exactly what I couldn't find on oasis. I want one in the shade. Couldnt find one in the shes. 

 

There have been multiple threads about prices for everything. I booked some lunches and izumi a month or so ago, 28.99 plus tip 34.99 total. A week or so later went up $2. Now the base price of all I booked is 39.99 minus 10%. 34.99 I think plus tip. Anyway went up $7. ..in a month. Booked 5. While $35 not huge, it's a big price jump. Udp jumped over $100 on all my cruises for this year. $200 ish to about $350 pp plus tips. 

 

Clearly they are seeing what the market will bear. Most of your complaints are prices and sun loungers. Overcooked steak. They usually undercook mine but radiance last time was perfect. Best I ever had. Varys by ship I agree. I'm good with 4 pieces of sushi and a 2nd large dish and a small dish like soup and dessert. It's all I can eat.

[little britain]

21 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

. Its like they got the interns to put the menus together this year. Never seen anything like it. 

 

 

A Taste of the UK menu is always fun with that well known British starter of mozzarella cheese sticks!!! 😆 At least they got the chicken tikka masala on the menu… but my mum needs to teach them how to make a Yorkshire pudding! 

Edited June 18, 2023 by little britain

[goldfish65]

 

 

Your next punishment for complaining so much will be no Royal ships sailing from the UK 😂

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Just now, goldfish65 said:

 

 

Your next punishment for complaining so much will be no Royal ships sailing from the UK 😂

Wont be a massive loss tbh. Plenty of competition now from the UK. Europe is just across the water just over two hrs flight time to barcelona. 

Like most cruise companies the same ship doing the same ports with the same entertainment is getting boring now. Granted not for new sail passengers but for repeat customers.....

[SummerBeee]

Never seen Spectra. Only saw We Will Rock You once and that was on land.

 

Also haven’t ever sailed on Anthem. It appears you need to pick a different departure port

[The_Big_M]

Nope, haven't seen We will Rock you, or Spectra ever.