Anthem of the Seas, July 21st to August 4th Review

[Grumpella]

I am traveling solo on the Anthem in a solo cabin, this is my 2nd RCCL cruise and my 18th overall.

 

I was picked up at London airport by Paragon Taxis, I can’t say enough about Adian and how nice and professional he is.  I stayed at the Holiday Inn in Southampton, very nice hotel.

 

I arrived at the pier at 11:30 and was on the ship by 11:40. The rooms were ready at 1:30 and you were discouraged from leaving anything in the room before then, even if it was ready. Luggage was delivered by 4:30.

 

I received a notice that my tour on the 2nd day in Lisbon was cancelled, as most tours were, due to a visit by the Pope.

 

I ate in the CafeTwo70 for lunch on the 2nd day. All sandwiches are pre-made so you cannot have anything customized. And they no longer have potato chips, I asked.

 

Cadiz-

excellent rccl tour to White Villages and Countryside, very beautiful and time for shopping.

 

Malaga-

excellent rccl tour to Village of Mijas, very beautiful and time for shopping.

[Grumpella]

Valencia-

rccl tour Valencia and Albuferra with lunch, very boring, skip this.

[Grumpella]

Ibiza- Ibiza island rccl tour

 

This tour was pretty good, got to see lots of areas of Ibiza. I think a beach tour would have been better.

 

Barcelona-Montserrat rccl tour

 

This tour was very good, Montserrat was beautiful.

 

Palma de Mallorca- Valdemossa rccl tour

 

This tour was very good, this place is very pretty.

[sandebeach]

Sorry your Lisbon tour was cancelled. 

[marys350]

Grumpella, how far in advance did you book Paragon Taxi?

[Grumpella]

I booked Paragon about 2 weeks in advance. He sent me an invoice to pay on Foursquare and then sent a confirmation email once I paid the invoice.

[Grumpella]

Lisbon- rccl shore excursion Sintra and Cascais. Very good tour, Sintra is especially beautiful. 

[marys350]

5 minutes ago, Grumpella said:

I booked Paragon about 2 weeks in advance. He sent me an invoice to pay on Foursquare and then sent a confirmation email once I paid the invoice.

Thank you! Enjoy your cruise.

[Grumpella]

RCCL cancelled my last day excursion to Windsor Castle and airport drop for Friday on Weds, without telling me.  I noticed the deduction in my account on Weds night.  Luckily, I was able to call Adrian at Paragon Taxis and he picked me up Friday am.

 

RCCL sent me a note on Thursday afternoon that the tour was cancelled, not enough people.

 

Debarkation went very well.   I signed up for 7:15 and my group was called at 7:22.  They tell you to watch the tv in your room for the groups, but they never update it.  You have to listen to the announcements, which are not broadcast in your room, so I cracked open the door.

 

Once my group was called, I was outside the terminal in 15 minutes.

 

I had a wonderful cruise.

 

My thoughts:

1.  I brought magnets to use as hooks as suggested by others, great idea.

 

2. The MDR menu had a different theme for each night of the cruise.  Some items were repeated.

    I thought the food was pretty good/good.  I had no complaints.

 

3.  Breakfast at CafeTwo70 was very good, I liked the egg mcmuffins.  Good selection of pastries too.

 

4.  Sorrentos Pizza was also very good and no lines.  

 

5.Bring pump soap for the bathroom.  They only have a bar soap at the sink and it was just a gooey mess the whole time.  

 

6.Room Service- you cannot order on the tv, you have to call.  If you want the Continental Breakfast, you have to call, they do not have the cards to place on your door the night before.  I felt this was their way of discouraging you from ordering the free Continental Breakfast.

 

7.  Guest Services was packed the first 2 days and the last 2 days.  I went at off hours which helped.  I thought some of the staff was poorly trained as everything was a slow process, but they might have been new.  On my last cruise on Voyager of the Seas, Guest Services was top notch.

 

 

 

 

;

[scooby1]

It was a great itinerary and good ship but very very busy as a cruise for us. Didn't quite meet up with our expectations unfortunately. Won't go into too much detail, we were at guest services once and I've never heard someone so upset with the way their cruise was going and how bad the felt the behaviour of some other guests were. Mainly some of the kids or I should say young adults seemed to have been the issue. 

 

Not sure how you felt about some of those parts. 

[Grumpella]

I understand what you are talking about with the kids/young adults. They were running up and down my hall making alot of noise every night. Luckily, I use a sound machine and ear plugs. 
 

I never had any other issues but don’t go to any entertainment. 2 people on my excursion were complaining about kids/young adults taking over some of the venues like singing, trivia, etc. They also complained about the running down the halls and the noise.

 

 

[scooby1]

Yeah it wasn't the best from that prospective, never ever had anything similar before but that sort of behaviour was daily. Really took the edge off the cruise that should have been special, nobody at RCL seemed to give a damn from those that raised it with them which was a shame. 

 

Some seemed to have taken the Adults only Solarium to be there's and many passengers were frustrated that RCL team didn't want to tackle it. We just avoided it in the end but the shouldn't have had to. 

 

We won't be going on that sailing from the UK again. 

[Jumping Cruiser]

4 hours ago, scooby1 said:

Yeah it wasn't the best from that prospective, never ever had anything similar before but that sort of behaviour was daily. Really took the edge off the cruise that should have been special, nobody at RCL seemed to give a damn from those that raised it with them which was a shame. 

 

Some seemed to have taken the Adults only Solarium to be there's and many passengers were frustrated that RCL team didn't want to tackle it. We just avoided it in the end but the shouldn't have had to. 

 

We won't be going on that sailing from the UK again. 

 

I wish they did this itinerary outside of school holidays, where it would be much more relaxed, even if it was on an older ship. I would never cruise inside of these dates due to some of the reasons above, but like the convenience of sailing from UK. I’m not blaming the kids for anything and some are actually really pleasant, but I just prefer a calmer experience overall.

 

We did the 2-week Mediterranean Cities cruise in June and it was busy, but not overrun by kids. The pool deck was incredibly quiet of a night, including the solarium, and we somehow always managed to find sunbed, but I think that was just pure luck!

[scooby1]

Speaking to the crew the ship was close to capacity I believe it had over 4800 guests onboard and theoretical max is about 4900 so you can see why there were so many issues. We have kids and have to go in the holidays and had been out of Southampton before on an RCL ship and it was a delight. 

 

However this most certainly wasn't. I'd read a previous thread of sailing out of the UK and didn't see the same. Having been on this one we won't be taking a Southampton cruise in the holidays again unfortunately.