Anthem Review: March 27 and April 10 B2B with a 6yo and 2yo!

[Dreamcruise27]

Background: 

Anthem was our first RC cruise in 10 years. Before Covid, we sailed on Celebrity once or twice a year as a couple and when our DS was born, as a family. Fast forward to 2022, we decided it was time to go on a cruise with our newest family member DD who was born in 2020! We decided to return to RC because at the time of booking, unvaccinated guests were not allowed off the ships unless it was with a ship’s excursion. We knew we would be spending most of our time on board so we wanted to sail on a ship with more kid friendly amenities.
 

Stateroom: 

We had booked an Oceanview balcony for both sailings and put in a Royal Up bid for a JS for the second sailing (I didn’t want to get a JS for the first sailing and then move to a smaller room for the second sailing). When our bid was accepted for a JS for the second sailing, I put in a bid for the first sailing right away! I kept raising the bid amount by a little bit, and happily our bid was accepted! The transition between the two staterooms between the sailings was seamless.

JS was a perfect size for our family of 4 and having two bathrooms was amazing. And the bathtub is HUGE!

My 6’3 DH slept on the sofa bed a few times with our DS and he said it was not bad at all. The main bed was comfy too.

 

Dining:

One of the biggest reasons we started sailing with Celebrity was because of the qualify of food. On the Allure 10 years ago, we were not impressed with MDR, so we were hesitant about booking Anthem BUT still happy someone else would be cooking for us for 14 nights.
We were very disappointed on our first night at the MDR on the Anthem,  Both DH and I ordered the fried chicken and not only were they completely different in flavour (mine was quite spicy and DH’s chicken was very bland), DH found so many broken bones in his that he could not eat it. 

We went straight upstairs to Coastal Kitchen and made reservations for the following night. 
 

Coastal Kitchen was AMAZING. In my opinion, the food is equal or better than Celebrity. The staff there were amazing with our children and had everything ready for us every night - bowl of fresh berries, tomatoes, cucumbers and our drinks. We had no problems reserving a table for the same time every night for the two weeks and we never left disappointed. A bonus was that it is located next to the buffet, so it was easy enough to grab something from there to keep the 2yo DD busy while we waited for our food.

 

Windjammer always had a variety of food and everything was fresh. I have to say, I was quite disappointed that it went back to self-serve for the second cruise. The unsanitary things cruisers were doing at the buffet on the first day of the second cruise was enough to keep us away for the rest of the week…

 

We ordered room service a few times and the food always arrived hot and fresh! Our favorites were the chicken wings, Philly steak sandwich, and pizzas.

 

Izumi was the only specialty restaurant we tried and we all loved it!

 

cafe 270 was also our go to place for breakfast and lunch. Especially for bags of potato chips that they had behind the salad counter at lunch. (You have to ask for them)

 

Ship:

Anthem is a wonderful ship! Yes it did get crowded in the Royal Promenade but just avoid that area during sales! 

I loved that there was an indoor swimming pool for the cold days at the beginning and end of cruise. The outdoor swimming areas for the kids were a lot of fun too (Our kids are not big fans of slides and water features. They were just happy to be swimming outside!)

 

Seaplex was a lot of fun and we spent quite a bit of money playing air hockey and arcade games 😂

 

DS and DD did not go to Adventure Ocean.

 

Bumper Cars was super fun. Once we got onboard the ship and connected to their network, we were able to reserve a time for all the sea days no problem.

 

DS and I did the complimentary North Star at Cococay and it was really fun! I booked it at 7:50am on the day of. It does book up quick so wake up early on the port day if you want to book a complimentary ride 

 

Medical:

Two days before the end of the second week, DD started 🤮 out of no where. I thought it might be due to the rocking ship but every time she ate/drank something, it came right back up. We were sent to Medical where the doctor gave her anti nausea medicine and sent us back to the room for 24 hours isolation. We were given complimentary movies and room service which was wonderful. Guest services and the medical team called to check on us often as well. They also arranged for someone from Eurofin to come to the stateroom to do my DD’s antigen test to get off the ship. 
 

Summary:

As much as we love sailing on Celebrity, for the next few years, I think RC is the better fit for us 🙂 Our next cruise will be on the Oasis and then Anthem again in the new year! 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Dreamcruise27