I have just returned from the Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas 2 night pre-inaugural cruise and all I can say is wow, this ship is awesome!
This brand new ship is the second Quantum Class ship that Royal Caribbean have produced, it is very large and modern, in fact Royal Caribbean call it a “smart ship”.
Instead of using key cards around the ship we instead had wristbands that have a chip embedded in them. You can use the wristband to unlock your cabin door or interact and buy things with it. You do also get a key card that you can also use though.
We stayed in a balcony cabin number 7594 in the mid-ship section of deck 7.
The cabin was pretty much what you would expect from a balcony cabin, it certainly had everything we needed. The balcony itself wasn’t too cramped, the shower cubicle in the bathroom was quite spacious, there was an electronic safe, a large smart tv, a fridge, plenty of wardrobe and storage space and a large sofa. The décor was tasteful, luxurious and modern in my opinion.
I thought the ship had very luxurious feel to it, it was also very modern and there were interesting things to see and do everywhere. There is definitely quite a techy feel to the ship. This is definitely not a ship you could accuse of being dull or boring. I got the impression that whilst Royal Caribbean wanted their new ship to feel very luxurious they also wanted to make it feel fun and a little bit wacky even. The elevators for example had funny animal pictures.
I think this ship will really appeal to the more active and young at heart type of cruiser. I felt that it was like a combination of Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises best elements on steroids! There will be some more traditional old fashioned types of cruisers that this ship might not appeal to, but there are plenty of other decent more traditional ships to sail on. I think if you are looking for something fun, quite busy, modern and luxurious then this ship will appeal to you. This ship certainly appealed to my taste. I commend Royal Caribbean for trying new things rather than just sticking to a lot of the more traditional tried and tested cruise ship formulas.
I was a little bit disappointed that I couldn’t try the ripcord sky diving simulator as I had been looking forward to giving it a go but unfortunately by the time I had boarded all of the places had been reserved, it was entertaining to watch it for a while though.
I didn’t get to see one of the major theatre shows whilst on-board but I did go and watch a comedy showcase with Chris Ramsay and Alistair McGowan who were both very entertaining. The live music in the Music hall was also very good.
I did have a go at ordering some drinks from the robotic bartenders. You can order pre made cocktails or even make your own from scratch. I made a couple of my own which was fun. Personally I feel that you can’t beat a cocktail made by a good barman but the whole point of the robots is really to put on a bit of a show.
The food on the ship exceeded my expectations which were quite high to begin with having previously dined on many good ships and know what Royal Caribbean have to compete with here. I thought that everything tasted really good and was cooked to perfection whether it was a pizza from Sorrentos, a breakfast or lunch from the Windjammer buffet or a multi course a la carte meal from one of the main restaurants. For all of you cookie lovers, the fresh cookies baked on-board pass the bend test, hard cookies just aren’t any good if you ask me.
We were so lucky with the weather too, I managed to spend a reasonable amount of time sat in a hot tub out in the sunshine whist drinking cocktails. It doesn’t get much better than that as far as I am concerned.
I was excited about going on this ship and I am so glad that I haven’t been disappointed. In fact I would go as far as to say it is one of my favourite ships that I have ever experienced. I would definitely go for a cruise on this ship again given the opportunity. If I was booking a cruise out of my own pocket I would have no reservations at all about booking on the Anthem of the Seas.
I have quite a lot of my passengers booked on the maiden voyage, I will be interested to hear about their experiences when they return. I hope they all enjoy this ship as much as I have.
The Anthem of the Seas will be replaced by the Independence of the Seas next year for Southampton departures. My advice would be to book now before she leaves.
I took lots of pictures while I was on board. I hope you find these helpful and entertaining.
