My family of 4 went on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas out of Cape Liberty in Bayonne, NJ. We booked 2 Virtual Balcony Inside cabins. Our itinerary was to Port Canaveral, FL, Nassau and their private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay with 4 sea days-8 night total.
By using the Royal app, we were able to expedite our checkin at the port and we were on the ship in no time. Our only wait was because we did arrive earlier than ship was clear for us to board and we had to wait for suite, Diamond, Platinum and Key passengers to board first. But I would say our total time was maybe 30 min. Once they started the boarding process, it was more like 5-10 min.
Once on the ship, we immediately went to the Music Hall where we registered for the amenities we weren’t able to pre-book before the cruise. Actually, while I was on line, I self registered for the North Star and iFly using our Royal app but had the staff register us for the Escape room. You can also book your shows if you didn’t do it before. I highly recommend booking these three activities once onboard (whether on app or in person) as soon as you board because spots close quickly.
Cabin– As stated, we decided to split our family into 2 virtual balcony interior cabins. Being we were leaving out of NJ in the winter and we were having 4 sea days in the colder
temperatures, we thought we would save some money and go in the interiors. I’m not usually a fan of interiors because when I was in them in the past, I felt a bit claustrophobic in them. But I thought I would give it a try because of the 80 ft LED screens they have. The screens gave us live footage of outside. So although we couldn’t get any fresh air, we were able to know if it was
daylight, dark or where exactly we were. I have to say, I was extremely happy in this cabin. Not only was I not claustrophobic but the cabin was a really nice size for 2 people. Lots of storage, cabin space. In fact, I can swear it was the same size as our balcony room on the Encore.
Food– For us, the food on Royal Caribbean never disappoints us. This is our third Royal cruise and we have found that the main dining room has the same menu on all of the ships 
that we sailed. Some notable favorites are the lobster tails, the short ribs, the prime rib, and the gnocchi. The desserts were good, but not the best. We did not try any specialty restaurants and Anthem has 7 of them. For breakfast and lunch, we decided to not go into the Windjammer for the buffet. We did this to avoid crowds. Instead during those meals we either ate at the main dining, two70 cafe or the Solarium Bistro. All of these venues offered a wonderful variety of food that was perfect for us and no crowds–YAY! I personally had to go to two70 cafe everyday for lunch to eat the slow roasted roast beef sandwiches and for a snack their tuna salad wrap. Oh my- so delish.
Activities– All Quantum ships, which Anthem is part of, have 3 unique amenities which I think are fantastic additions to the ship. The Sea Plex- this is an indoor area where they had a place for kids, teens and adults too have fun while playing basketball, soccer, dodge ball. They also had times for bumper cars (our favorite thing to do on the ship), roller skating, trapeze lessons, foosball, and ping pong. All things mentioned were included in your cruise fare. They even had a hot dog stand that was open late for snackers that served NY style and specialty hotdogs & bratwursts. Being we were coming from the cold, on sea days we were unable to go outside, this Sea Plex was a fabulous place to have fun or just chill! Other activities we tried, when temperatures warmed up, which are unique to the Quantum class ships was iFly (simulator sky diving) and NorthStar. Northstar brought you 300 ft above sea level to see some amazing views. Again, all was included in the cruise fare and were fabulous activities to do. Being this cruise we took was really about our ship experience and not our ports, these features I mentioned made the cruise fun, different and I highly recommend experiencing them.
Entertainment– Anthem had 3 shows to pre-book and a number of headliners for the remainder of the cruise. The first show we saw was Spectra’s Cabaret. This show was performed in Anthem’s two70 lounge. The lounge was my favorite part of the ship. It was just beautiful. During the day, this 2 deck lounge had 270 degree sea views from the back of the ship which was wonderful to just sit and eat a sandwich ; ) and by night, they closed the windows and used 12 projectors to turn the window into a large projection screen. Coupled with additional robotic screens and unique entries for dancers & acrobats to enter and leave the stage from the ceiling or the floor, the evening entertainment truly encompassed the whole room with technological advanced elements. Spectra’s Cabaret was my favorite show for the week. The other two productions that were done in the Royal Theater, The Gift and We Will Rock You, were quite disappointing. But all of the headliners they brought on which included comedians, impersonators and singers and vantriloquist were just fantastic.
The Anthem was enjoyable for us as a family and I would sail her again. If you have any questions about what I wrote or didn’t cover above, feel free to send me an email. I will be happy to help!
