Just back from the Anthem.

[gumshoe958]

10 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

I’ve been wondering if pax who have been concerned about overcrowding have ever sailed on ships at full capacity pre Covid 🤷‍♀️

Exactly - before the world went mad 2,500 on Anthem would have been considered empty!

 

As for the entertainment venues feeling ‘unsafe’ - by maintaining some level of social distancing and requiring masks, Royal’s playing it far safer than West End theatres, many of which are now selling every seat and packing them in just like the old days.

[gavvy]

I think the difference is although passengers are low, capacity in the bars pools and theatres have been lowered too, so 2500 maybe feels a lot more busy, i.e if the bars and pools are capped at the same proportion as passengers compared to a full sailing  then is is going to feel like things are full.  I have no idea though id this is the case but it could be why things feel really busy despite there being a lot less on board.

[Guest BigRoger]

6 hours ago, 3StepDam44 said:

We were on last week's Sailing where there were 2,500 Passengers, 800 of whom were Children.  To say we feel stressed and certainly not relaxed is an understatement.  The Ship felt overcrowded.  The only place where we could find some peace was our Balcony and the virtually empty Diamond Lounge.  I understand that this is the School Holidays and we only sailed because of my Husband's Big Birthday, but the Ship was very, very, full and to us, it felt unsafe.  The Mask Policy (wearing inside when not eating and drinking), was mainly implemented, but most people once seated decided to leave the Masks off.  This included the Theater, Art Auctions, Two70 and so on.

 

There were some very unruly Teenagers onboard who decided to run riot all over the Ship, including the Lifts, Corridors, banging on Cabin Doors and certainly not wearing the Masks they should have been wearing.  The Staff were unable to stop this from happening and at times the Staff seemed overwhelmed by the vast amount of Passengers compared with 1000+ on previous Sailings.

 

The Ship is beautiful with lots of interesting Artwork, Bars and Restaurants.  The Staff, as ever are wonderful and every Staff Member we encountered could not do enough for us.  Our Cabin was kept spotlessly clean at all times and the Main Dining Room Staff were all wonderful.  The Food in the Main Dining Room, was a bit hit and miss, but the Windjammer Food was wonderful.  We only ate there for Breakfast and sat at the Back outside which was a lovely space.

 

The Entertainment was exceptional, as usual with Royal Caribbean but more often than not, we had to leave the Venues because they were very overcrowded and just felt unsafe for us.  There are sort of Marshalls who make sure there is space between Passengers, but all the Rows were completely full even though the Shows had to be booked in advance.  In this scenario with no Masks being worn by most Passengers, again it felt unsafe.

 

We were on the Virtuosa in June and it was a completely different Cruise experience.  There were only 1000 Passengers and it certainly felt more comfortable.  MSC also Status Match so we were offered their Diamond Status which offered everything apart from the Top Tier Event.  We had a Speciality Meal, Bottle of Bubbly in the Room, Robes and Slippers and so on.

 

Royal have now removed most of the Diamond and above Perks, right down to the Amenity in the Room.  The Open Bar during Happy Hour is gone and non of this was made clear prior to booking.  They are saying it's because of Covid and Safety in the Diamond Lounge, but all the other Bars, Lounges and every other space on the Ship was full to bursting most of the time, so I guess it really is a cost cutting exercise.  Some people we met have cancelled their up coming Cruises with Royal because they are upset with the Cuts to the Loyalty Program.

 

Overall, it's wonderful to be back at Sea, and the moments I will remember from this Cruise were the ones sitting on the Balcony admiring the Sea.  We have taken over 30 Cruises and sadly this was one of the worst.

Thanks for this - whilst we would agree with some of your comments for balance I would also add some other perspectives. We were on the same cruise and the one before and whilst the feel was not ‘as safe’ or as free as the first week we did not experience the same sort of concerned you clearly did (or certainly not to the same extent).

 

1. Whilst the ship did feel ‘busy’ it was not ‘overcrowded’ - of course compared to 6,000 passenger Virtuosa with only 1,000 passengers (which we did in May too) it would have felt a lot busier than that. We could always get seats and never struggled with Anthem shows.

 

2. It’s true diamond lounge was quiet compared to the old days but it wasn’t empty. We didn’t experience a sense of having lost any of the diamond benefits at all - cookies, wine was in cabin, 2 beers in room, water, 5 drinks a day, 50 percent off, free wash and fold, robes…. 2 Bogo speciality dinners….It was all good.

 

3. theatres - it’s true that for some reason even though there were announcements to say keep masks on…. 90 percent ignored this… and there was a very deliberate minority who were determined to not wear masks at all including when walking around the ship when masks were mandatory. In the theatre there was as you say no row left between each row but there was 2 seats left between each travel group and we saw this being genuinely enforced at every show.

 

4. MDR and windjammer - as a couple who have always done dining packages for years now and haven’t been to the MDR in years we were really impressed to try it this time…. We became (re)converts for breakfast and dinner (we’ve actually cancelled dining package for one of our future cruises as a result).

 

5. Bars were busy and family group did spread but if you picked your times then even in busiest bars there was comfortable potential for some distancing.

 

6. Diamond and pinnacle members we met….no one was talking about cancelling cruises because of RC crown and anchor changes…. Indeed many were really enjoying the flexibility the new approach gave (just as we ourselves did)

 

7. Not sure of any evidence of cost cutting indeed given the enormity of the shows on offer (compared to the total rubbish on MSC - we say that as MSC fans) they must have spent a fortune.

 

i could go on and on but I guess it comes down to what your views are and what you personally experience. We were not fans of anthem previously but we had a great time over the 2 weeks. You are right that the ‘feel’ for the 6 nighter was a lot more ‘Holiday camp’ than the week before which I suspect you would have enjoyed much much more (just as we did). You would have felt a lot ‘safer’ too. (Albeit even with the irritations of kids being bored, parents taking no notice of them, ignoring mask and lift protocols etc we never felt ‘unsafe’). But frankly your comments on the crown and anchor are 180 degrees different to our experience as d+ members (and others we spoke to).

 

As a post script we tested today after 2 weeks on board and were negative.

 

just a post script as I think of it - clearly staying secluded on your own balcony is a personal choice but there was a super amount of space in the adults only solarium to sit, read and sunbathe…. All safely and with distance between loungers. We never went near the open decks and family solarium ‘holiday camps’)…. The adult one never got busy until after 10am and it was actually much better than the ‘better’ week before in terms of deck lounger hogs not claiming them and then leaving - we spent the best part of 5 days in there and didn’t actually use our balcony!

Edited August 31, 2021 by BigRoger

[Guest BigRoger]

5 hours ago, 3StepDam44 said:

Yes the Drinks are on the Card, but some Bar Tenders took too many away and we had to call to Guest Services on a couple of occasions.

 

The Amenity was not there and we called Guest Services which again was a nuisance.

That’s strange - This is also something we never experienced - quite the opposite - on one of two small occasions (generally when we ordered water rather than. Alcohol) they only took one voucher rather than both of ours…. I’ve written on previous post that we got a huge amount of ‘free stuff’ in the cabin and on the cards.

[Guest BigRoger]

5 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Just think, in normal times you would have had 4,500 passengers on that same sailing.

It would have been awful…… this is why they abandoned the free drinks package promotion in UK…. It would have been a nightmare

[Guest BigRoger]

5 hours ago, snowbeast93 said:

Wow, I thought that ships were capped at 30-50% capacity. This makes me slightly nervous for my upcoming cruise; we booked specifically because all of the COVID and capacity restrictions make it sound like a safer experience. I'm sorry to hear that you felt actively unsafe at times, especially with everything going on right now.

There is no need to be nervous the protocols and cleanliness was excellent on board - the OP is right there was a small minority of (add your own word) parents and kids left to be bored and make up their own fun… but generally it was good and RC did a top job in our view. Bottom line is those who are nervous should think it though and decide whether they might leave it to 2022. 

[Sunshine3601]

5 hours ago, snowbeast93 said:

Wow, I thought that ships were capped at 30-50% capacity. This makes me slightly nervous for my upcoming cruise; we booked specifically because all of the COVID and capacity restrictions make it sound like a safer experience. I'm sorry to hear that you felt actively unsafe at times, especially with everything going on right now.

This ship was sailing out of the UK and I think the max capacity for Anthem is 4905 sounds like they were right at the 50% capacity for this particular sailing.    Other sailings have been around 35% but I guess since this was a school holiday they had large turnout of families booking.    

 

Separate note:   OP mentions

I haven't seen people sitting at a table to eat wear a mask while waiting for food, is that required on the Anthem?    I hadn't heard that as being required.   I thought once you were seated you were allowed to remove your mask to eat or drink without having to fiddle with putting mask on and off.    

 

Sad the OP did not feel safe and kids were misbehaving.    

[Guest BigRoger]

2 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

 

 

Separate note:   OP mentions

I haven't seen people sitting at a table to eat wear a mask while waiting for food, is that required on the Anthem?    I hadn't heard that as being required.   I thought once you were seated you were allowed to remove your mask to eat or drink without having to fiddle with putting mask on and off.    

It wasn’t a requirement at all…… the protocols were that when seated at a table eating or drinking it was appropriate to remove masks

[CaroleC]

30 minutes ago, BigRoger said:

wine was in cabin, 2 beers in room

Do you have to ring Royal to arrange these diamond benefits or can it be done online? We’ve been D+ for a number of years, however, have only recently learned of these perks via CC 🙈

[kernow]

4 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

Do you have to ring Royal to arrange these diamond benefits or can it be done online? We’ve been D+ for a number of years, however, have only recently learned of these perks via CC 🙈

You used to be able to choose online but now you have to call.

[Guest BigRoger]

1 minute ago, kernow said:

You used to be able to choose online but now you have to call.

You can also email (dw says that the email address is supposed to be in Ts and Cs of the C&A benefits table - if that means anything to you!)

[Guest BigRoger]

Just a quickie of one we forgot about or didn’t know about…. If you are D and above provided you are reserved for shows etc you are allowed in 15 mins before everyone else (ex suite guests). We stumbled on it by accident when going to WWRY matinee and saw a line of people when they had said there was no standby line… the lady from the cruise director staff asked if we were D and let us last them all…. We could feel the glares of hate………

[CaroleC]

7 minutes ago, BigRoger said:

You can also email (dw says that the email address is supposed to be in Ts and Cs of the C&A benefits table - if that means anything to you!)

Thank you, tell your DW I’ll take a look when I find the time. We’re on the Harmony from Barcelona in 12 days (only just booked after Italy dropped its quarantine restrictions) and the amount of paperwork that has to be completed online is mind boggling. I may just forego these extras this time around and arrange them for the next cruise in October on the Anthem. 

[CaroleC]

9 minutes ago, BigRoger said:

We could feel the glares of hate………

Haha, I bet you could! 😁

[ticketsunlimited]

6 hours ago, snowbeast93 said:

Wow, I thought that ships were capped at 30-50% capacity. This makes me slightly nervous for my upcoming cruise; we booked specifically because all of the COVID and capacity restrictions make it sound like a safer experience. I'm sorry to hear that you felt actively unsafe at times, especially with everything going on right now.

Odyssey is on an 8 day cruise and has reported 500 guests this week.  If you got your mind made up that your are going to be miserable before you board you might as well cancel.

[Guest BigRoger]

13 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

Haha, I bet you could! 😁

Hiya how was Virtuosa 3rd July? We are still frustrated we had to miss it due to the policy change….

Edited August 31, 2021 by BigRoger

[ukrccl_a]

6 hours ago, Rockyroyal said:

 

6 hours ago, Rockyroyal said:

‘Does anyone have an idea of what the capacity is for the September sailings?

It’s remaining at 50% - which it has been since the limit was raised from 1,000 earlier in the summer.

 

Bookings for many future cruises are not even approaching that 50% occupancy so will have many sailing with less , but that’s what they’re capped at.

Edited August 31, 2021 by ukrccl_a

[CaroleC]

12 minutes ago, BigRoger said:

Hiya how was Virtuosa 3rd July? We are still frustrated we had to miss it due to the policy change….

Busier than when we sailed on her previously (4 nights 24th May) but that was expected as capacity was well under 1,000 then. I heard there was between 1,500 and 1,800 on the sailing you missed but not sure how accurate that was. It certainly was a bit difficult to find a seat in the popular venues at prime times. Disappointing we couldn’t dock in Scotland, had an extra sea day instead. Weather ok, had a couple of really good days, the rest were just mediocre interspersed with rain. Typical British July I guess lol.

[sellwingri]

I’m on Anthem on Sept 12 so the issue with kids shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve heard that passenger counts will be going way down to under 1000 which is fine with me.  I was on Odyssey 2 weeks ago and Adventure in June and it was wonderful having less passengers; no waits for elevators, easy to find show seats, no crowds getting off the ship at ports, and more.  We got to know more people and had a great time on each.  

[little britain]

Sadly issues with kids going feral and running wild on board is well known on the ex-UK summer cruises. The little cherubs go back to school this week leaving the decks clear for the rest of us! 

[gumshoe958]

7 minutes ago, little britain said:

Sadly issues with kids going feral and running wild on board is well known on the ex-UK summer cruises. The little cherubs go back to school this week leaving the decks clear for the rest of us! 

Yes, looking forward to a relatively cherub-free cruise next week!

 

And kudos to Virgin for banning them!

[3StepDam44]

11 hours ago, BigRoger said:

That’s strange - This is also something we never experienced - quite the opposite - on one of two small occasions (generally when we ordered water rather than. Alcohol) they only took one voucher rather than both of ours…. I’ve written on previous post that we got a huge amount of ‘free stuff’ in the cabin and on the cards.

This was not the experience we had.  I emailed our Amenity request prior to boarding and nothing apart from 2 small tins of Water was in the Cabin.  Guest Services said it was too late and could not do anything about it.🙄 

[3StepDam44]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

Sadly issues with kids going feral and running wild on board is well known on the ex-UK summer cruises. The little cherubs go back to school this week leaving the decks clear for the rest of us! 

Yes, this is why I said we did not feel safe.  800 Un-vaccinated Children (some of whom were running riot) was a risk in this current Climate.

[3StepDam44]

7 hours ago, sellwingri said:

I’m on Anthem on Sept 12 so the issue with kids shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve heard that passenger counts will be going way down to under 1000 which is fine with me.  I was on Odyssey 2 weeks ago and Adventure in June and it was wonderful having less passengers; no waits for elevators, easy to find show seats, no crowds getting off the ship at ports, and more.  We got to know more people and had a great time on each.  

Sounds wonderful.  Enjoy your Cruise.

[Guest BigRoger]

8 minutes ago, 3StepDam44 said:

This was not the experience we had.  I emailed our Amenity request prior to boarding and nothing apart from 2 small tins of Water was in the Cabin.  Guest Services said it was too late and could not do anything about it.🙄 

Mmmm strange difference in experience given we got ‘loads of stuff’ even though we had 2 different cabins over the course of the B2B but who knows why…. The ‘2 small tins of water’ are the standard water size now… we found that disappointing but it is what it is…..