Quick Anthem review -- 4/14 to 4/21

Hi, All! Just wanted to post a quick review of our Anthem sailing, April 14-21. We've gotten so much info from all of your accounts, and I am hopeful that something here will pay it forward. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

First, a bit about us. We are a couple in our thirties, no kids. I am a teacher, and he is a restaurant manager... we cruise during Massachusetts spring break week, because we have no choice. I had heard horror stories about this, but I cannot say enough wonderful things about the children and parents on board (there were 1400 kids, per report). Never did we have an issue with children or parents, and for the most part, it did not even feel like a spring break cruise to us.

Embarkation: We live in Western Mass, so about three hours from port. It took us exactly this, and once we reached Cape Liberty, getting on the ship was a breeze. My boyfriend is a first-time cruiser, and he could not say enough how efficient the whole process was. Drop your bags with the porter, and park in the $20/day garage. From there, it took us about ten minutes to board the ship. Also, watching everyone leaving (and waiting!) as we were getting on definitely inspired us to choose self-debarkation. We are still on the ship, but the process begins at 6:30 tomorrow.

Rooms: Rooms are available promptly at 1pm on the first day. We had a balcony on deck 12 (D5), which we found more than adequate. Would we have liked a suite? Sure, but the rooms are all modern and well-equipped. The fridges are left empty nowadays, which is nice, and we were able to bring on our case of water by simply sticking it in a reusable grocery bag and putting a luggage tag around the handle. Also, because I found so many mixed reviews pre-cruise, I hope it helps someone to know that HDMI hookups are accessible on your tvs. They seem very bolted to the wall, but lift a bit and pull hard on the side that would angle toward your couch, and the back should expose itself. We were able to hook our laptops up no problem (we did bring a universal remote for this purpose, as there is no input button on the RCI remotes... though not sure whether or not there's a hack for that particular remote).

Ship: OMG, it's gorgoeus, and anyone who says otherwise is crazy. I feel a little like a rookie, because it's day seven, and I'm still learning my way around. There are plenty of venues that we did not get to experience, but you make that decision when you cruise -- it's either see everywhere once, or frequent one place and build a rapport. The whole ship is gorgeous, though.

Dining: Dining is an area in which I'm not sure how to react -- on one hand, everything was quite enjoyable. On the other, very little blew our minds. We had a four-night dining package, and were able to book all nights immediately upon boarding at Wonderland (FWIW, the hostess tried to tell us to walk around to each individual restaurant so it would be easier, because that way she wouldn't have to call everywhere). We had Chops the first night and enjoyed it as a nice steakhouse night, but were not blown away. A few nights later, Jamie's was fine, but the planks raved about by so many left us bored. My lasagna was great, but the other half could barely find something to order. Wonderland was phenomenal, both in quality of food and experience, but I do wonder if it is something to be done more than once. Izumi was also very good, but it felt a little like ordering sushi at the mall. We had two nights in MTD (reservations both nights, but for other times) with no wait, and prompt service. Food quality was good, but the experience rushed. I hate to say it, but the Windjammer shone through on this cruise, although at times we worried about the temperature of food served...

Have to head down to check on the other half in the casino and remind him that we need to wake up and go home tomorrow! Will post more in a bit! Any questions, feel free!

Great post so far! We board the Anthem in June!

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Nice start. We feel the same about the dining on other ships.

What was the cabin that you were in? Did the struts from the overhang bother you at all? We are booked deck 12 also in July so I am curious about the balcony.

Thanks for your review!

What was the cabin that you were in? Did the struts from the overhang bother you at all? We are booked deck 12 also in July so I am curious about the balcony.

Thanks for your review!

We were in 12592, starboard midship. The struts did not bother us or take up any balcony space, but I did find myself wishing we had been a deck or two lower to perhaps get a little more sun. The overhang is above deck 13, but definitely shades deck 12 as well.

looking forward to reading more - thank you for taking the time to share your vacation with us!!!

Just arrived home, so I'm back with a bit more! While it's fresh in my mind, let me rave about debarkation...

I have never been off a ship so quickly in all of my life. We chose to self-carry, which started at 6:30. At about 6:25, we walked down the hall to the elevator. About thirty seconds later, a lovely empty elevator arrived, and we were in line on deck 5 before 6:30. We waited about ninety seconds for the line to start moving, and walked through the gangway and terminal to the customs line. Never waited. After that, we paid our parking ticket, and took an elevator up to the third floor of the parking deck. I had had anxiety about all of the possibilities for backups this morning, but we were on the road 6:45 and I'm typing this from the comfort of my own couch shortly after 9 am. One thing that was undeniable on this cruise: RCCL runs an efficient ship.

Ports: This cruise was supposed to go to Port Canaveral, CocoCay, and Nassau. We had excursions booked for the latter two, but nothing stood out to us in Port Canaveral, so my boyfriend suggested that we just wing it (I am definitely the planner, while he prefers to figure things out as they come). I really wish that we had planned something prior for Port Canaveral, because aside from Kennedy Space Center or Disney, there isn't too much to do. We ended up grabbing an uber to Cocoa Beach Pier (readily available right outside the terminal) and hung out there for a bit. The beach is lovely, but it was a cooler day (about 70), and there's not a lot to see on the pier. I was expecting something more along the lines of the Hampton Beach boardwalk (while not the nicest place, still offers lots to see!), but really there were a couple of shops and restaurants. We headed back to the ship around 3 and enjoyed the extra space (and prepaid drinks!) onboard.

CocoCay, unsurprisingly, was cancelled due to wind. The announcement was made at about 8:30am, and the captain said that he had increased speed to get us to Nassau around 12:30pm. This way, we'd have all afternoon on Tuesday in Nassau, and the entirety of Wednesday. Let me tell you, people were salty about this. All day, and for days to come, the chatter around the ship was all about how we'd missed CocoCay. Let me take a minute to share my thoughts on this: what possible reason would Royal Caribbean have for deliberately skipping CocoCay? They own the island. All revenue for that day goes to them. Why would they actually want to have to refund all of the money we'd paid for excursions on the island? It makes no sense. It stinks to miss an island, but I give RCCL kudos for making the best of it.

As soon as the announcement was made that we would miss CocoCay, I ran down to the Shore Excursions desk. The line was already quite long, and not moving, as the staff was on the phone with representatives in Nassau trying to get excursions lined up for us last minute. They did not need to do any of this. I've missed CocoCay in the past and ended up with an extra day at sea. Instead, we got an extended stay in Nassau. We had had a snorkeling excursion booked for CocoCay, and we replaced it with the Seahorse Snorkeling excursion on our first day in Nassau. It was a lovely catamaran ride out to the snorkeling site, an hour of snorkeling, and a nice ride back. On our second day, we had the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Swim booked. I can't say enough wonderful things about this experience, from the ferry captains and staff on the ride over and back, to the dolphin trainers, to the facilities. We left at 8am, and arrived at Blue Lagoon around 8:40. Our session wasn't until 11am, so we had a couple of hours to enjoy the premises. As is true with nearly every beach, it is worth it to walk a bit. We found ourselves on a beach sort of overlooking the main beach, and shared it with only another couple for quite some time before others discovered it. Our actual dolphin swim was a great experience, and highly recommended to do at least once. We bought a couple of pictures (surprisingly, less expensive than ship photos!), had a snack, and took the first ferry back at 1pm. After arriving back in downtown Nassau, we ate at Senor Frogs and headed back to the ship.

More later...

Just arrived home, so I'm back with a bit more! While it's fresh in my mind, let me rave about debarkation...

 

I have never been off a ship so quickly in all of my life. We chose to self-carry, which started at 6:30. At about 6:25, we walked down the hall to the elevator. About thirty seconds later, a lovely empty elevator arrived, and we were in line on deck 5 before 6:30. We waited about ninety seconds for the line to start moving, and walked through the gangway and terminal to the customs line. Never waited. After that, we paid our parking ticket, and took an elevator up to the third floor of the parking deck. I had had anxiety about all of the possibilities for backups this morning, but we were on the road 6:45 and I'm typing this from the comfort of my own couch shortly after 9 am. One thing that was undeniable on this cruise: RCCL runs an efficient ship.

 

Ports: This cruise was supposed to go to Port Canaveral, CocoCay, and Nassau. We had excursions booked for the latter two, but nothing stood out to us in Port Canaveral, so my boyfriend suggested that we just wing it (I am definitely the planner, while he prefers to figure things out as they come). I really wish that we had planned something prior for Port Canaveral, because aside from Kennedy Space Center or Disney, there isn't too much to do. We ended up grabbing an uber to Cocoa Beach Pier (readily available right outside the terminal) and hung out there for a bit. The beach is lovely, but it was a cooler day (about 70), and there's not a lot to see on the pier. I was expecting something more along the lines of the Hampton Beach boardwalk (while not the nicest place, still offers lots to see!), but really there were a couple of shops and restaurants. We headed back to the ship around 3 and enjoyed the extra space (and prepaid drinks!) onboard.

 

CocoCay, unsurprisingly, was cancelled due to wind. The announcement was made at about 8:30am, and the captain said that he had increased speed to get us to Nassau around 12:30pm. This way, we'd have all afternoon on Tuesday in Nassau, and the entirety of Wednesday. Let me tell you, people were salty about this. All day, and for days to come, the chatter around the ship was all about how we'd missed CocoCay. Let me take a minute to share my thoughts on this: what possible reason would Royal Caribbean have for deliberately skipping CocoCay? They own the island. All revenue for that day goes to them. Why would they actually want to have to refund all of the money we'd paid for excursions on the island? It makes no sense. It stinks to miss an island, but I give RCCL kudos for making the best of it.

 

As soon as the announcement was made that we would miss CocoCay, I ran down to the Shore Excursions desk. The line was already quite long, and not moving, as the staff was on the phone with representatives in Nassau trying to get excursions lined up for us last minute. They did not need to do any of this. I've missed CocoCay in the past and ended up with an extra day at sea. Instead, we got an extended stay in Nassau. We had had a snorkeling excursion booked for CocoCay, and we replaced it with the Seahorse Snorkeling excursion on our first day in Nassau. It was a lovely catamaran ride out to the snorkeling site, an hour of snorkeling, and a nice ride back. On our second day, we had the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Swim booked. I can't say enough wonderful things about this experience, from the ferry captains and staff on the ride over and back, to the dolphin trainers, to the facilities. We left at 8am, and arrived at Blue Lagoon around 8:40. Our session wasn't until 11am, so we had a couple of hours to enjoy the premises. As is true with nearly every beach, it is worth it to walk a bit. We found ourselves on a beach sort of overlooking the main beach, and shared it with only another couple for quite some time before others discovered it. Our actual dolphin swim was a great experience, and highly recommended to do at least once. We bought a couple of pictures (surprisingly, less expensive than ship photos!), had a snack, and took the first ferry back at 1pm. After arriving back in downtown Nassau, we ate at Senor Frogs and headed back to the ship.

 

More later...

Great review!!! We took the same cruise over Easter. I agree with you on Port Canaveral. I could have done without it. The Blue Lagoon experience from start to finish is excellent!