Fun-Loving? Enjoy New Things? Love to Complain? Anthem is the Ship for You!!

I almost did it. I almost let them get to me. After reading negative review after negative review, I actually started entertaining thoughts of cancelling our 12 nighter on Anthem. My DW and I had a good long talk about all of the alleged issues but ultimately decided that we could have fun together on a rubber dingy in the Caribbean so we'd roll the dice. We were rewarded for our leap of faith.

The Good, The Marginal, and the Entertainment of Cranky Cruisers

Anthem of the Seas 12-Night Southern Caribbean, January 3-15, 2016

The Good:

Anthem is absolutely gorgeous. Freedom class has always been our favorite and the Quantum class, to us, felt like a modernized Freedom class ship. Plenty to do, lots of bells and whistles, beautifully designed, and just the right size for us. The indoor pool area is excellent. The solarium is beautiful as well. Lots of glass, great views, protected from the elements (so nice to sail out of the NE in January and be sitting by a pool with water you can swim in). The Seaplex is such a great concept-- volleyball, dodgeball, soccer, ping-pong without chasing balls in the wind... Two70-- loved it and the concept. Great place to grab a bite, read, relax, or just enjoy the sweeping views. iFly-- an absolute blast. Northstar-- a neat diversion worth the 20 minutes of your time. There is so much that RCI got right with this class of ship.

Dining-- I'm not sure what all the hubbub is about, but we had great servers, generally great meals, and zero issues. When I sat down the first night to my perfectly cooked and downright yummy blackened snapper dinner in American Icon, I was almost giddy not to be ordering off of the same menu that I had memorized from the last six cruises. We definitely ran into a couple of inconsistencies (I'll discuss in The Marginal) but overall our dining experience over 12 nights was among the best we've had on RCI.

Cabin-- Balcony 12-206. Great cabin, plenty of room, good storage, great bathroom, ample charging outlets. Best cabin we've had on a cruise ship.

Did I mention the service? Dining room staff-- all personable, attentive, and efficient. We waited no longer for our meals than on any other ship. Cabin attendant-- excellent. Always there, always friendly, kept the cabin spotless, and always took care of anything we needed right away. Bar staff? Aces. Everybody we passed smiled, everyone said hello. No nightmares or miserable employees. Guest services was actually quick and efficient (welcome change), and Next Cruise and any other service we used was trouble free and pleasant as well.

The Marginal:

The food was, at times, inconsistent. With 12 nights you have the opportunity to enjoy something you liked a second time. This led to the appearance of some inconsistencies. That snapper that I loved so much the first night was underdone and bland the second time around, for example. We had a couple of other experiences along the same lines. Nothing earth-shattering or trip-ruining-- just inconsistent and noticeable. Ultimately, when the kitchen is on their game the food is really good, and when they fumble here or there it's not great, but I don't have to clean the kitchen and load the dishwasher. Truthfully, I could have written that last paragraph about several other RCI cruises we've been on pre-Dynamic Dining.

Just an observation-- the ship, while gorgeous, does feel very compartmentalized. Every class from Voyager up feels open and has a nice flow, imo. Quantum class is very boxy and segmented. It makes the ship feel smaller than it is if that makes any sense.

The Entertainment-- Biggest disappointment of the cruise for us. We Will Rock You just isn't very good-- mind you it's nowhere near as unbearable as Cats on Oasis, but it's not worth your valuable vacation time, imo. I know we're Broadway snobs, but we usually enjoy the shows on all of our cruises. Performers weren't anything to write home about and the show itself is just lacking (it's clear why it never made it to Broadway). Spectra's Cabaret-- I'm sorry, but that show looked like it was a thrown together afterthought just so they could use all of the fancy screens, robots, and tech in Two70. It was a bit painful to sit through. Can't comment on the Gift because we gave up after WWRY and Spectra. This is the first of 14 RCI cruises on which I didn't enjoy the entertainment. YMMV.

Cranky Cruisers:

I found the negative reviewers!! They were scattered all over the ship-- usually in the form of Diamond or D+ members (of which there were supposedly 600+). Honestly, folks-- I've never seen people work so hard to be unhappy. "I hate that there's no Promenade." "It's ridiculous that I have to make reservations for dinner." "I haven't seen the Captain once!"

My favorite exchange:

"We don't like this ship at all. We definitely won't be cruising on a Quantum class ship again."

"What don't you like about it?"

"We just don't like it. Everything is different."

Oh, ok. Gotcha.

And I don't want to invalidate anyone's opinion. We met some people who genuinely didn't like the ship and made the best. Nothing wrong with that. The humor was in the people who huffed and puffed all over the place complaining about anything that didn't look like historic RCI. It became the running joke between DW and I as we watched people try to articulate why they were so miserable on a 12 night Caribbean vacation. It seems Anthem is the perfect ship for people who like to moan and groan-- plenty of material for them!!!

Fortunately, though, we found many more people who loved the ship and exuded some positive energy. We met some great people both on the ship and on excursions who were having a blast and loved the ship. Several of the couples already booked the same trip on Anthem for next year (as did we).

To sum it all up: Anthem is beautiful, our food was generally great, our service was great, and we had one of our best cruises yet. Quantum is our new favorite class, and we didn't hesitate to book another 12 nights on her next year. Jump on in-- the water's perfect!!

Thank you for the review. I get nervous when I read all the bad stuff but I truly think it's all a mind set.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

Thanks for your review. We sailed 12 nights on Quantum last feb and I swear I was reading a review for our sailing too! DH and I LOVED it, and everywhere we turned we heard a lot of complaining from the more "experienced" cruisers (really? The hot tubs aren't hot enough?). Having already been on Quantum and having loved it, I took the negative Anthem reviews with a grain of salt because I expect DH and I are the target demographic (early 30s, young professionals) that these ships are trying to attract.

Looking so forward to our 12 nights on Anthem leaving on January 25th. We feel fortunate that we are even able to go on such a luxury vacation in the first place! Thank you so much for your review!

First I loved your tile - had me smiling before I even read one word of your post.

It is funny how some people can find fun in anything they do and others can create misery in what ever they do. I am not quite the first type and I am not immune from being the second type. I do strive to be more of the Fun finder then a misery maker.

Thanks for the post - really looking forward to my cruise - less then 3 weeks away. :-)

I almost did it. I almost let them get to me. After reading negative review after negative review, I actually started entertaining thoughts of cancelling our 12 nighter on Anthem. My DW and I had a good long talk about all of the alleged issues but ultimately decided that we could have fun together on a rubber dingy in the Caribbean so we'd roll the dice. We were rewarded for our leap of faith.

 

The Good, The Marginal, and the Entertainment of Cranky Cruisers

Anthem of the Seas 12-Night Southern Caribbean, January 3-15, 2016

 

The Good:

 

Anthem is absolutely gorgeous. Freedom class has always been our favorite and the Quantum class, to us, felt like a modernized Freedom class ship. Plenty to do, lots of bells and whistles, beautifully designed, and just the right size for us. The indoor pool area is excellent. The solarium is beautiful as well. Lots of glass, great views, protected from the elements (so nice to sail out of the NE in January and be sitting by a pool with water you can swim in). The Seaplex is such a great concept-- volleyball, dodgeball, soccer, ping-pong without chasing balls in the wind... Two70-- loved it and the concept. Great place to grab a bite, read, relax, or just enjoy the sweeping views. iFly-- an absolute blast. Northstar-- a neat diversion worth the 20 minutes of your time. There is so much that RCI got right with this class of ship.

 

Dining-- I'm not sure what all the hubbub is about, but we had great servers, generally great meals, and zero issues. When I sat down the first night to my perfectly cooked and downright yummy blackened snapper dinner in American Icon, I was almost giddy not to be ordering off of the same menu that I had memorized from the last six cruises. We definitely ran into a couple of inconsistencies (I'll discuss in The Marginal) but overall our dining experience over 12 nights was among the best we've had on RCI.

 

Cabin-- Balcony 12-206. Great cabin, plenty of room, good storage, great bathroom, ample charging outlets. Best cabin we've had on a cruise ship.

 

Did I mention the service? Dining room staff-- all personable, attentive, and efficient. We waited no longer for our meals than on any other ship. Cabin attendant-- excellent. Always there, always friendly, kept the cabin spotless, and always took care of anything we needed right away. Bar staff? Aces. Everybody we passed smiled, everyone said hello. No nightmares or miserable employees. Guest services was actually quick and efficient (welcome change), and Next Cruise and any other service we used was trouble free and pleasant as well.

 

The Marginal:

 

The food was, at times, inconsistent. With 12 nights you have the opportunity to enjoy something you liked a second time. This led to the appearance of some inconsistencies. That snapper that I loved so much the first night was underdone and bland the second time around, for example. We had a couple of other experiences along the same lines. Nothing earth-shattering or trip-ruining-- just inconsistent and noticeable. Ultimately, when the kitchen is on their game the food is really good, and when they fumble here or there it's not great, but I don't have to clean the kitchen and load the dishwasher. Truthfully, I could have written that last paragraph about several other RCI cruises we've been on pre-Dynamic Dining.

 

Just an observation-- the ship, while gorgeous, does feel very compartmentalized. Every class from Voyager up feels open and has a nice flow, imo. Quantum class is very boxy and segmented. It makes the ship feel smaller than it is if that makes any sense.

 

The Entertainment-- Biggest disappointment of the cruise for us. We Will Rock You just isn't very good-- mind you it's nowhere near as unbearable as Cats on Oasis, but it's not worth your valuable vacation time, imo. I know we're Broadway snobs, but we usually enjoy the shows on all of our cruises. Performers weren't anything to write home about and the show itself is just lacking (it's clear why it never made it to Broadway). Spectra's Cabaret-- I'm sorry, but that show looked like it was a thrown together afterthought just so they could use all of the fancy screens, robots, and tech in Two70. It was a bit painful to sit through. Can't comment on the Gift because we gave up after WWRY and Spectra. This is the first of 14 RCI cruises on which I didn't enjoy the entertainment. YMMV.

 

 

Cranky Cruisers:

 

I found the negative reviewers!! They were scattered all over the ship-- usually in the form of Diamond or D+ members (of which there were supposedly 600+). Honestly, folks-- I've never seen people work so hard to be unhappy. "I hate that there's no Promenade." "It's ridiculous that I have to make reservations for dinner." "I haven't seen the Captain once!"

 

My favorite exchange:

"We don't like this ship at all. We definitely won't be cruising on a Quantum class ship again."

 

"What don't you like about it?"

 

"We just don't like it. Everything is different."

 

Oh, ok. Gotcha.

 

And I don't want to invalidate anyone's opinion. We met some people who genuinely didn't like the ship and made the best. Nothing wrong with that. The humor was in the people who huffed and puffed all over the place complaining about anything that didn't look like historic RCI. It became the running joke between DW and I as we watched people try to articulate why they were so miserable on a 12 night Caribbean vacation. It seems Anthem is the perfect ship for people who like to moan and groan-- plenty of material for them!!!

 

Fortunately, though, we found many more people who loved the ship and exuded some positive energy. We met some great people both on the ship and on excursions who were having a blast and loved the ship. Several of the couples already booked the same trip on Anthem for next year (as did we).

 

To sum it all up: Anthem is beautiful, our food was generally great, our service was great, and we had one of our best cruises yet. Quantum is our new favorite class, and we didn't hesitate to book another 12 nights on her next year. Jump on in-- the water's perfect!!

Thank you for the review. I love when seasoned cruisers hate things for being different. Look at the deck plans - They show the ship is different from the others. LOL

I understand the compartmentalized comment. We were on Celebrity Reflection and I felt that way about the ship.

I'm looking forward to sailing her in Oct.

So glad to read your review and know that you WERE on the same cruise I was! I've read a couple others from the run and I wonder if they were on a different cruise.

I haven't been on any other RCCL ships since Sovereign and Majesty, so I can't compare. I like the layout of Anthem. And I agree that the service was good, and the staff and crew all seemed friendly and happy.

If I wasn't going to Australia next January, i'd have booked the same 12 day again too!

Despite the negative reviews, I'm actually looking forward to our cruise in FEB.

It's one of the reasons we skip the big tables at dinner, so that we don't have to listen as a captured audience. We like meeting new people too, and we do!... trivia games, art auctions......chef tables....

good review!

Thanks for your review. We sailed 12 nights on Quantum last feb and I swear I was reading a review for our sailing too! DH and I LOVED it, and everywhere we turned we heard a lot of complaining from the more "experienced" cruisers (really? The hot tubs aren't hot enough?). Having already been on Quantum and having loved it, I took the negative Anthem reviews with a grain of salt because I expect DH and I are the target demographic (early 30s, young professionals) that these ships are trying to attract.

 

Looking so forward to our 12 nights on Anthem leaving on January 25th. We feel fortunate that we are even able to go on such a luxury vacation in the first place! Thank you so much for your review!

We sailed on Quantum last year and loved it. Sailed on Anthem and loved it. Looking forward to a 12 night on Anthem in March. We are probably not in the demographic. We are retired school teachers in our late sixties. We are happy to be able to spend vacations with each other. I agree with you that we too feel fortunate to be able to go on these vacations.

Fantastic summary Keith. The cranky people on ships always crack me up.

Great review, thanks.

Which restaurants did you like most/least? Cruising in May & can't wait.

Great review, thanks.

 

Which restaurants did you like most/least? Cruising in May & can't wait.

We liked American Icon and Chic the best. Silk was our least favorite. We did Jamie's Italian one night and didn't find the food to be any better than the complimentary restaurants.

Most of the people we talked to ranked the restaurants the same. Silk seemed to be the one that everyone enjoyed the least. Our food wasn't bad there, it just wasn't deserving of a return trip.

Looking so forward to our 12 nights on Anthem leaving on January 25th.

Thanks for the post - really looking forward to my cruise - less then 3 weeks away. :-)

Have a blast!!

Fantastic summary Keith. The cranky people on ships always crack me up.

Thanks! Yep, it's like free extra entertainment!

We liked American Icon and Chic the best. Silk was our least favorite. We did Jamie's Italian one night and didn't find the food to be any better than the complimentary restaurants.

 

Most of the people we talked to ranked the restaurants the same. Silk seemed to be the one that everyone enjoyed the least. Our food wasn't bad there, it just wasn't deserving of a return trip.

Thanks for the info!

We were on your cruise as well. After reading all the negative reviews prior to sailing, we were pleasantly surprised. The service and food exceeded expectations. However, we all have different experiences. We liked the food in Silk the most. Apparently the cruise line listened to the many complaints and did something about it.

I agree with you about the production shows. What bothered me most were the extremely painful volume levels of We will Rock You and Spectra. The Gift was the best of them all, but like the other two, I had no idea what was going on. The Gift's sound level was tolerable. My favorite entertainers were Beatlemania, the first comedian and the comic pianist (I think his name is Richard Rubin) who reminded me of Victor Borge from the 60s.

I think it is fair to express our complaints as well as our compliments as we both have. A fair and critical review shares what we liked in addition to what can be improved.

Great review, thanks.

 

Which restaurants did you like most/least? Cruising in May & can't wait.

We enjoyed Jamie's Italian and Silk the most. There were no restaurants that we disliked except for the disorganized service and cold food for breakfast at American Icon. Dinner service, however, at all the 4 major restaurants, including American Icon, was refined and elegant.

We enjoyed Jamie's Italian and Silk the most. There were no restaurants that we disliked except for the disorganized service and cold food for breakfast at American Icon. Dinner service, however, at all the 4 major restaurants, including American Icon, was refined and elegant.

Thanks. They all "look" good to me on paper! On the 9 day in May, so we'll make the rounds...

First, I don't see anything wrong with complaining about not seeing the captain. I only saw him twice in 12 days -- once at the Top Tier C&A event and the other time at his Q&A session. Many Celebrity fans are used to seeing the Captain around the ship on a regular basis, happy to speak to guests, and some have even shown up at the Cruise Critic party. You also get a sheet with their bio and pictures in your stateroom and we did not get one here. I haven't been on RCCL much lately, so I don't know if it is routine for their captains to make themselves scarce. I understand that the captain's job is to operate the ship, but he has staff to do that and could get out and about. Any officers I passed around the ship e also didn't seem to be friendly, no one said hello as they walked by.

As for Silk, whether you thought it was great or terrible seems to depend on what you ate. I had very low expectations going in, but enjoyed it, somewhat, depending on what I ate. My wife had the steak and shrimp and loved it (as did Emile). I had the lamb chops and thought they were excellent. Neither is Asian food. The night with the "B" menu I went thru 3 entrees and none were very good -- the cod (way too fishy), the duck (the same overcooked duck as Grande but with hoisin sauce instead of orange, and a terrible scallion pancake) and the Kung Pao Chicken (no peanuts, tasted just like the terrible General Tso's chicken I tried the first night). The General Tso's wasn't grey as I'd read stories of here, but it still wasn't very good. Both soups I tried were terrible. The best dessert was the creme brulee, which also wasn't Asian, and didn't have any lemongrass flavor that it was supposed to.

I do hope that they get the food issues fixed since I will be back on the ship in August and do want to enjoy the food.