Anthem of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,871 reviews

So much excitement. Then so much mediocrity, with a splash of disappointment.

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Anthem of the Seas
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Oshawapilot
10+ Cruises • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Dec 2019
Cabin: Ocean View Balcony

My wife and I went into this cruise with such excitement - our first completely solo cruise without our (now adult) children who have accompanied us on every one of our past cruises. A new class of ship (and just plain a NEW ship) that we were looking forward to sailing on. And a visit to a port we hadn't actually been to before and had high expectations of enjoying - CoCoCay.

I'll preface this review by saying that in the grand scheme, we did have periods of enjoyment during this particular cruise, however, it was not the overwhelmingly exciting or positive experience that we've experienced with every other cruise we've ever been on, with both RCI and Carnival. We are the last ones to complain while on a cruise (having dealt with others who did so in the past), but now having returned home with the experience complete, I'm compelled to write about the experience as a whole, including it's "Misses", of which on this particular cruise, there were many.

This is a long review. It is unabashedly mostly focused on the negatives because, well, there were more of then versus positives for both of us - take of that as you will, but we are not beginner cruisers, and frankly, we would simply *never* book another cruise on Anthem (or any Quantum class ship) ever again. For that matter, the whole experience with this ship, and Royal Caribbeans latest tactics to monetize seemingly everything physically possible has given us pause about even continuing to cruise with them despite being nearly Diamond status.

Cabin Review

Ocean View Balcony

Modern and well equipped - thoughtfully laid out compared to staterooms of old with plugs in all sorts of useful places, modern lighting and television setups, and a nicely equipped bathroom.

Port Reviews

Nassau

It's Nassau. Once you've been there a few times, unless you have an excursion booked, it's often a struggle to find any reason to bother disembarking.

Perfect Day at CocoCay

Sadly, the wind carried the ships exhaust fumes down over the island most of the day making it difficult for my wife and I to enjoy. Bad luck with the weather that day, or a lack of planning on behalf of RCI installing the pier upwind from prevailing conditions? We don't know. But we struggled to enjoy our day as a direct result despite the facilities being amazing.

Bayonne (Cape Liberty)

An efficient embarkation and debarkation port of call - they have a system here that works well short of unnecessary traffic lineups getting to and from the loading and unloading area.

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