Anthem Of The Seas Review w/ 112 photos & 17 videos!

[Cancruizer]

Great review and pictures. Thanks for sharing!

[Got2gogirrl]

Spaniel Lover, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! What a great, informative review of Anthem!! I will heading out to Bermuda on her in less than a month. You have given so much info and photos......after reading everything I am even more excited about my upcoming adventure!! I am a smoker and i appreciate you including what areas I can smoke in besides the casino !!! I saw you had posted about being from California , what part?? I'm also from Cali, just north of Santa Barbara ...but now living as a Floridian ....[emoji53]. Anyhow thank you again!!

 

 

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[WISH2CRUZAGAIN]

Wow! Thank you so much for this awesome review. Looking forward to our August cruise. Pictures and videos are fabulous. Especially enjoyed the cabin tour.

[cruisenuts4life]

Thanks for the great review, we are sailing on June 25th,can't wait!!

[Leslie K]

 

In my pre-cruise research, I had noticed something about Anthem Of The Seas that I couldn't figure out. You can see it in this next photo. Take a look at the top of the ship, to the right of the big yellow giraffe... and see if you can guess what those two rectangular blue structures are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The answer to the mystery is that those two blue thingies, awkwardly sticking out at the top of the ship, are just little game rooms that are part of the second floor of the SeaPlex. There are two on each side of the ship, and they contain things like ping-pong tables, air hockey tables, and a nice little game room full of X-Box consoles.

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Perhaps you're wondering about that big giraffe in that picture earlier.

 

Her name is Gigi, and she lives next to the rock-climbing wall.

 

 

 



 

 

 

Here's a better picture of Gigi...

 

 

 



 

 

 

I was impressed that Gigi survived that big storm back in February without any damage.

 

She must REALLY be anchored down well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying reading your review.

 

I was on Anthem during the storm and Gigi was damaged -a gash in her neck. Thankfully not enough to cause decapitation. Glad to see her looking better.

 

Oh, and as s guy you missed the feature in the shower women love-there's a foot rest in the corner of the shower that's perfect for shaving ones leg.

[Leslie K]

Great room tour. The cabins that don't have the bed near the window will find it between the two closets where your couch was. The desk/dresser are closer to the balcony. One of the closets only has hanging space (2 bars) while the other has the shelves you showed sand a small hanging area plus 2 drawers underneath. I believe the 2 room configurations alternate allowing more space for more cabins as the rooms are not perfect rectangles.

 

Great review. Loved how you did it by theme as well as port.

[Leslie K]

 

Hope this works-photo of Gigi after the storm with damage visible.

[cruisebirdie]

Hi Jim, thanks so much for a wonderfully prepared review with pics, narration and videos.

 

We were on the Anthem after your cruise, April 18-30th, and thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. After reading your review, I learned something new about the Anthem, “…the Solarium's secret little features: the viewing platform, directly above the bridge, with spectacular views.” I saw people above the bridge, but was not sure how to access it.

 

We enjoyed watching your cabin video, where you pointed out the neat features in the stateroom. We were in Cabin 9222 (JS). We loved the modern room with the quiet self-closing drawers, quiet closing balcony door, the USB ports, the plugs that allowed us both to charge our camera batteries at the same time and so much more. And, the biggest surprise, we had 1 and ½ bathrooms. Our stateroom configuration had the bed between the two closets (additional larger closet on opposite wall) and the couch near the balcony.

 

BTW…While we were on our cruise the workers repaired Gigi. They removed the red scarf, patched and re-painted the damaged area. She looks great!

 

Again, your review was excellent and I look forward to reading future ones.

[Konnie39]

One question which you can probably answer: I have always enjoyed the Lobster on usually the last day of the Royal Caribbean cruises. Do any of the restaurants still do that or is it only the specialty restaurants now. I know the dining room usually did that but since that is gone, is this tradition out now?

[Clarea]

One question which you can probably answer: I have always enjoyed the Lobster on usually the last day of the Royal Caribbean cruises. Do any of the restaurants still do that or is it only the specialty restaurants now. I know the dining room usually did that but since that is gone, is this tradition out now?

I believe Grande serves the "free" lobster now.

[BigMikefromTexas]

Clarea,

 

We just got off this ship last week and I can confirm that. Or rather I should say my wife can.

 

Still talk of possible conversion to traditional dining on this ship. Mostly a problem with restaurant reservations, as in people not making them before they get on the ship. I have to add that service was hit and miss, and some food arrive at the table not cooked correctly, some due to staff ordering and some cooking related, but when they are informed it isn't like you ordered it, they will go overboard to correct it.

[Clarea]

Clarea,

 

We just got off this ship last week and I can confirm that. Or rather I should say my wife can.....

Thanks for the info.

[joand452]

I have a question about this : "We find that a little inconvenient, so we just bring a spare keycard with us from a previous cruise

and leave it in the slot at all times."

 

I think this is a great idea and I already have our "previously cruise card ready)..What does your room steward think about this? Doesn't he/she need to put their own card to activate the temp when coming in to clean etc..? I also heard somewhere that it's used in a similar fashion for the lights as well.

 

Any kind of card of the correct size works. We used at Staples Copy Center card on this particular ship, and it was fine. I don't think the steward cares one way or another -- probably just as glad not to have to remember to put in a card.

 

Jim, we were on the same cruise, I believe (March 27-April 8)! It was a great cruise, and we love the Quantum-class ships. I believe the red scarf around Gigi's neck was from damage suffered during "that storm." Recent photos have showed her healed and no longer sporting her red bandage.

 

I enjoyed your review and search through your photos to see if I could see us. I believe I saw the back of DH's head at one of the omelet bars in the WJ!

 

Post a link here if you do a review of your Viking Ocean cruise. I'm afraid I won't remember to check by then.

 

BTW, we didn't enjoy "The Gift", either. While the talent was good, the story was just boring.

 

Happy cruising!!

[mj]

Thanks for the wonderful review.

[Irish Mafia]

In the process of reading your awesome post but quick question, did you use that video camera for all your video? it's awesome and I am looking for something like that. Does it use your iphone? so you could use it for video and than use the phone for pictures? correct?

[mom2tcdx2]

Enjoyed reading your review. I can't wait until October when we get to do a Canada cruise for the first time. Guessing the temps will be cooler, but we would just love to see some new places. The ship looks terrific and now I can tell my son I know where the XBox stations are.

 

I keep reading about the changes in dining and making reservations, though if looks like if you buy a dining package you can't make reservations at the places ahead of time using the package. Hoping it will still work out ok, we only have a party of 4 and we usually eat later anyway. I did make 3 reservations ahead of time for our 9 day cruise at the free restaurants. Was going to leave the rest to see how we can book the others and then see what we have left.

 

Totally went for the drink package since it was 30% off on our sailing, really think that makes it work it with the prices of the drinks. Though my son will be 21, he doesn't drink so he will just have a soda card.

[PrettyHazardous]

Thanks for this review. We are avid CCL cruisers and have done 2 NCL cruises. I'm pregnant with our first child so we wanted to try a line with more options for babies. We live in MD and don't want to fly with a baby either so thanks as we were looking at driving to NJ for the Anthem. Do you know if the Embassy Suites has parking for our truck during the cruise? Also we heard that RCCL is boring and everything shuts down at 10pm, but that didn't seem to be the case per your scooper. What do you think? As compared to CCL?

[lovelife]

Category DO: Obstructed views

Category D8: Balcony cabins on decks 6, 7, & 8

Category D7: Balcony cabins on decks 9 & 10

Catebory D6: Balcony cabins on deck 11

Catebory D5: Balcony cabins on deck 12

Catebory D4: Balcony cabins on deck 13

Catebory D1: Balcony cabins on deck 6 & 7 with unusually large balconies

 

Generally, the cabins that are on higher decks are more desirable than the ones on lower decks... so the price for a D5 tends to be slightly higher than a D8, for example. D1 will usually be the most expensive and the first to book up... as they have larger balconies.

 

I have two D1 balconies booked and they are on Deck 9. Sure hope they didn't change categories on me!! :D There are D1s on Decks 7 through 13 but I don't believe Deck 6 has any. If I'm wrong, it won't be the first time....

 

Thanks for taking the time to do your review. Much appreciated.

[champagne123]

Thanks for this review. We are avid CCL cruisers and have done 2 NCL cruises. I'm pregnant with our first child so we wanted to try a line with more options for babies. We live in MD and don't want to fly with a baby either so thanks as we were looking at driving to NJ for the Anthem. Do you know if the Embassy Suites has parking for our truck during the cruise? Also we heard that RCCL is boring and everything shuts down at 10pm, but that didn't seem to be the case per your scooper. What do you think? As compared to CCL?

 

Ashley....CONGRATS on the baby. I don't know where you heard that RCCL shuts down at 10 and is boring, but OMG.....nothing could be further from the truth. :):):)

[PrettyHazardous]

Thanks I heard this in a CCL fb group. Granted they are quite biased and die hard CCLers. But most ppl gave both positives and negatives. Looks like we're booking the Anthem!

[linkerbink]

 

On our way back to New Jersey, Anthem Of The Seas hit some rough weather off the coast of the Carolinas. This was something I expected, as that stretch of the Atlantic is known to be a bit nasty. About 7 weeks before our cruise, Anthem Of The Seas made national news when her Captain, Claus Andersen, made a bad decision to sail directly in to a storm that was much stronger than he realized. The ship encountered 30 foot waves and winds over 100 miles per hour. Four passengers suffered minor injuries, as the rocking of the ship overturned furniture and caused damage in public areas and cabins, as well as rendering one of the ship's two Azipod propulsion units inoperable. They had to cancel the rest of the cruise, and limp back to New Jersey with just one operable Azipod.

 

We were on that cruise, and the sloshing had just started when the staff cleared everyone out of all the pools, including the Solarium. They seemed to have gotten most of the cosmetic repairs done before we even got back to Bayonne. The azipod, of course, was another matter. You could tell by the wake that there was something really wrong with the propulsion system. But we had a great time....hey, we were on a cruise! And we already booked our "do over" for that one, same ship, same itinerary, same month, next year.

[shonandsuzie]

And that's it! That was my review of our cruise on Anthem Of The Seas... a pretty great cruise ship. You should definitely check it out.

 

If you'd like to read some of my other cruise reviews, you'll find links in my signature, below. Or just head over to my web site at www.jimzim.net

 

Now it's your turn to chip in with comments and questions.

 

Go!

 

OMGosh! Thank you so much for this. The details were perfect for us as we await our turn! And Shon is uber excited about your cookie description!!

[cruiserone]

Getting ready for our Anthem Cruise and came across this thread. So thrilled I clicked on it!!

 

Thank you...:D

[grod316]

What a fantastic review! Thank you for all of the wonderful pictures and videos. I will be sailing the Anthem in September as a first time Royal cruiser and your review has made me absolutely excited for it.

[Cruisin Around]

Going on Anthem in October. Thank you for this review!