Royal Caribbean’s
Anthem of the Seas
We sailed on the wonderful Anthem of the Seas in 2019, on an 7 day itinerary that included an overnight stay in beautiful Bermuda and a stop in historic Boston Massachusetts. In this review we will talk about everything we adored about the ship, as well as some things we didn’t love. We will go over the ship’s dining options, entertainment, activities, bars, and overall layout. Of course we will also spend some time talking about our cabin! For more detailed information about our day in Boston click here (link coming soon!), and for our blog post about our overnight in Bermuda click here!
Dining and Drinking
First off lets talk about where you will spend most of your time when sailing this magnificent vessel. If you’re anything like us, it’s not your cabin - it’s wherever you can get food and drink! Anthem of the Seas features 18 dining options - 9 of which are complimentary:
The Main Dining Room - Serving breakfast, sea day lunch, and dinner.
Windjammer Café - The ship’s buffet, open for all meals
Solarium Bistro - Lighter options for breakfast and lunch
Café Promenade - Open 24/7 and serving snacks, coffee, and sandwiches
Sorrento’s - Pizza, Pizza, and more Pizza
Dog House - choose from traditional hot dogs, as well as brats and sausages
Two70 Café - Soups, sandwiches and salads
Coastal Kitchen - Free for suite guests and pinnacle members
Room Service - limited menu always available for a 7.95$ service fee
During our time on board - we tried all of the complimentary options. The main dining room on Royal Caribbean is always fantastic - and there was no difference here. We prefer traditional dining so that we can bond with our serving staff over the trip. The Windjammer is great as well with its theme nights, and seemingly endless options. The Dog House ended up being our favorite -the different Brat options were great for a quick lunch in between activities.
There are also several additional charge restaurants. We purchased the three night specialty dining package this cruise, and were pleasantly surprised with the experience. The additional charge restaurants are:
Chef’s Table: an upscale intimate 5 course table dinner hosted by a chef and sommelier
Wonderland: A fun restaurant where the food is as much fantasy as it is fancy
Jamie’s Italian: rustic classic Italian dishes served family style
Chops Grille: juicy steaks and hearty side dishes
Izumi: sushi and hibachi dinners prepared by a live chef
Vintages Wine bar: mostly a wine bar, but tapas and light snacks are served as well
Johnny Rockets: burger and shakes: what more could you ask for?
La Patisserie: Coffee and pastries
Michael’s Genuine Pub: offering fresh brewed beer and English pub favorites
Usually when we sail Royal Caribbean, we are perfectly satisfied with the complimentary options, but this cruise we treated ourselves. One night we took in the splendor at Wonderland. It was a captivating experience; from painting on our menus to eating food that was literally smoking - we thoroughly enjoyed it. For us, Wonderland is a special occasion or “new cruiser” is joining us type of experience. We also ate dinner one formal night evening at Chops. These steaks were as delicious as the ones on land. Our server brought us enough side dishes to fill an entire family. It was all delicious. The highlight meal of our specialty restaurant experience, and the cruise in general was our dinner at Jamie’s. We tried so many pasta dishes, some of which were recommended by our server, and the charcuterie board was out of this world!
What about the Bars?
There are seven dedicated bar venues around the ship, though it is never hard to find a beverage.
Bionic Bar: Royal Caribbean’s signature robot bartender serves up custom drinks via bionic arms
Boleros: Latin infused bar with a dance floor
North Star Bar: Located below the impressive North Star activity, this bar serves cocktails and beers
Pool bar: Serves drinks poolside
Schooner Bar: Royal Caribbean’s signature nautical bar
Sky bar: Deck top bar great for people watching
Vintages: Wine bar with an expansive list of bottles
Michaels Genuine Pub: The best place on board to grab a lager
In addition to above bar venues, most of the entertainment spaces like the casino, Two70, the theater and the music hall include bars as well. We tried all of them several times and our stand outs are Schooner Bar and Boleros. We would always head to Boleros when it was time for fun and Schooner bar when it was time to relax and listen to the piano. Those bars are our go to spots whenever on Royal Caribbean. Unfortunately, we were not as impressed with Bionic Bar and Vintages. Quite frankly Vintages seemed mostly empty whenever we passed by and it might behoove Royal to reuse that space as something else. Bionic Bar was definitely worth a trip if nothing else for the novelty of the robotic bartenders - but the lines were often long and the views of the robots were often blocked.
Entertainment
The Anthem of the Seas is a Quantum Class Cruise ship, the second largest class of ship in Royal Caribbean fleet. There are a wealth of entertainment options onboard this class of ship:
Casino - like every Royal Caribbean cruise ship there is a robust casino onboard
The Royal Theater - this multi use venue hosts everything from Royal Production shows, to Broadway musicals and game shows
The Music Hall - Live music venues with two floors of space spanning decks three and four
Two70 - the innovative new live show venue with incredible moving screens
Royal Caribbean has put a lot of money into providing guest entertainment, and our experience lived up to that. We have never been disappointed with the entertainment onboard Royal Caribbean ships, but Anthem certainly blew us out of the water with their offerings. The current Broadway show onboard, We Will Rock You, is a true complete production with live band, moving parts onstage, and incredible dance numbers. It was hard to believe they pulled it off at sea. Two70 was another surprise treat. We had not sailed a Quantum Class ship before and this new venue knocked our socks off. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but go see the show in Two70! The modern marvel Royal Caribbean has put on display with their robotic rotating screens is something to witness.
Activities
Just as there are several dedicated venues for incredible entertainment, there is almost an endless array of fun and engaging activities onboard.
Ripcord by iFly - You can sky dive - yes sky dive - on Anthem of the Seas
Rock-climbing Wall - Royal Caribbean signature treat for adventure seekers
Seaplex - a multi use space hosting everything from bumper cars, to circus school and roller skating
Pools & Hot Tubs - There are several pools and hot tubs, some even reserved in the adult only solarium
Spa and Gym - Relax or work out in the vitality spa and fitness center
Shopping - There are tons of stores onboard featuring duty free jewelry, designer hand bags, alcohol and more
Flowrider - Royal Caribbean’s signature surf simulator.
North Star - Mechanical crane observation pod that lifts guests high above the ship and ocean
We loved the activities available on this ship. The North Star was truly a feat to behold. Being so high above the ship and water provided such a truly spectacular view. Also how can we forget that the Quantum Class ships feature INDOOR SKY DIVING?! How awesome is that. After a brief introduction to the specifics of flying inside you are launched into weightless oblivion as you soar around the tube. It’s a really fun way to spend an afternoon during your sea day. There are also several kid friendly attractions as well. The adventure ocean kids club offers several activities daily for young children, provided by licensed staff. Teens also have exclusive areas onboard, and there is an arcade for the whole family!
What about our cabin?
We thoroughly enjoyed our cabin. We’re not ones who spend a lot time in our cabin, so if it means we get to cruise more, we will often book a less expensive interior cabin. On our Anthem of the Seas cruise however, we booked a balcony. It was fantastic. We were about midway down the aft third of the ship on deck 11. We had a great view, especially overlooking our arrival and departure from both Boston and Bermuda. We were a little concerned that we might feel the rocking of the ship being so high up and so far aft, but we didn’t have any issues. The cabin was spacious enough for the two of us, and we could have comfortably fit one or two more.
Verdict
We enjoyed our time on Anthem of the Seas. Quantum class is not our favorite class of Royal Caribbean ship, but it does have so much to offer in the way of entertainment, it is a great choice for a first time cruiser.
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