Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas Cruise Trip Review
I recently enjoyed a seven-night Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas cruise from Southampton, England, to Norway and Belgium. Before my cruise, I was constantly searching the internet for reviews and information to make the most of it, so here is my take on this amazing trip to hopefully help you out!
This post is my honest Anthem of the Seas review, sharing my experience, tips, my video tours of the rooms and ship and what I wish I knew before sailing.
Rooms
Interior King Virtual Balcony
I decided to try it out and save nearly $1000 compared to booking a full balcony cabin. In this Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas Virtual Balcony review, I’ll share what worked and what I might consider next time. Here's a summary of my impressions:
The Good
- The room felt very spacious!
- The storage was very impressive! I was able to completely unpack my suitcases and store them out of sight under the bed. There was a spacious closet with plenty of space for hanging clothes. The closet also had shelves, drawers, and hooks, very convenient. There were more drawers in the room's dresser and cabinets above the king-sized bed.
- The bathroom was a decent size, with some shelf storage and hooks. The shower water pressure and temperature were impressive!
- I liked having a desk with drawers, multiple outlets, and a mirror in front so I could do my hair and makeup and work on my computer comfortably.
- The “easy chair” in the room was pretty comfortable, though it doesn't recline.
- The “Virtual Balcony” was pretty cool! It's a floor-to-ceiling monitor with a fake balcony railing imposed on it. It shows a live view of what is happening outside the ship. So it was pretty handy to see what the weather was like, how light or dark it was, and whether we were in port or not! There are curtains so you can cover your Virtual Balcony up at night. Especially when I was just getting ready or relaxing in the cabin it did give me the feeling that I had a window.
The Bad
- No fresh air! Obviously when you stay in an inside cabin there are no windows, thus no fresh air. Once I started thinking about it, it bugged me a bit, but then I remembered that usually, if you are staying in a hotel, you don't get fresh air, so what was my prob? Still, next time I take a cruise, if I can afford it, I will probably go for a room with a real balcony so I can get some fresh air.
- When I first arrived in the room, it looked clean, but I noticed there was no soap or toilet paper. It made me question how thorough of a cleaning job was done. I opened my door and saw a housekeeping person in the hallway and asked for TP and soap. She said I needed to wait for my own steward to come, and he should be checking in within an hour or so. 🙁 I ended up calling Housekeeping, and my steward showed up right away.
- The image shown on the Virtual Balcony was rather blurry, so if you were looking right at it, it didn't feel like you were really looking outside (or maybe like you were looking outside without your glasses on!). By the way, the lines in the sky in the photo below appear because it's a photo of a screen. To the naked eye, they don't appear, but the image is a little blurry.
If you're considering the Virtual Balcony like I did, I found it to be a great way to save nearly $1,000 compared to an ocean-view, and still enjoy some natural light and live views. You can check prices for Virtual Balcony rooms on Royal Caribbean here.
(BTW, I actually booked my cruise through this company and saved quite a bit! I ended up signing up to be one of their affiliates, so if you book through my link I will receive a small pittance, and no extra charge to you!)
Ocean View King Balcony
My friends stayed in the Ocean View Balcony cabins, which are one of the most popular Royal Caribbean cruise room options for travelers wanting fresh air and scenic views.
If fresh air is a must for you, the Ocean View Balcony rooms offer beautiful private outdoor space. Many cruisers I spoke with said it's worth the splurge for morning coffee or evening views. See the current deals for Ocean View Balcony cabins here.
Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas Video Tour: Rooms, Ship, and Amenities
In this full Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas video tour, I walk you through both the Interior Virtual Balcony room and the Ocean View Balcony, along with key ship features like the Solarium and dining areas. If you're considering an Anthem of the Seas cruise, this walkthrough will give you a real sense of what to expect.
Cruise Activities
The ship offers a huge variety of entertainment and amenities on Anthem of the Seas, from iFly to FlowRider to the relaxing Solarium.
All Access Ship Tour
I took the Behind the Scenes All Access Ship Tour on one of our sea days. Click here to check out my review of this 2 hour tour of the ship!
Spectra's Cabaret
This show is in the Two70 Lounge. The Two70 Lounge has 3 levels from which you can watch the show. We sat in the second set of seats back on the ground level (Deck 5). This wasn't ideal because much of the show is performed on the actual stage floor which is difficult/impossible to see from our vantage point.
Though others in my group enjoyed the show, I thought it was a bit dated.
Comedian Goronwy Thom
One of the highlights of the Royal Caribbean cruise activities was the headline comedian Goronwy Thom. He really gives his all, and we didn't stop laughing! If you're lucky enough to have Goronwy on your cruise be sure to catch him!
Brass & Bock Pub Quiz
One night, I was excited to see that the topic of one of the Pub Quizzes at the English Pub onboard was the Beatles! Being a lifelong Beatles fan, I knew I was finally going to achieve my destiny! 😀 The quiz turned out to be “Name that Tune”. The host played a couple of seconds from (usually) obscure parts of various Beatles songs. Participants had a paper to write down their answers. I was so proud to get 100%! I was one of 3 winners, and our prize was rather underwhelming: Royal Caribbean zipper pulls! But still, it was a fun activity!
Vitality Spa
I booked a 75 minute Swedish massage which cost $160. Though I wasn't super wowed by the Spa itself (the Spa Relaxation Lounge reminded me of a dentist office waiting room), I would count this as one of the best massages I've ever had! Just the right amount of pressure and length of time.
Having had such a great massage experience I shouldn't complain, but I will 😀
- Lounge was dentist office waiting room reminiscent.
- The bathroom area was very plain. No lotions, hairspray, etc like high end spas often have.
- The Upsell: at the end of my massage once I got dressed my masseuse came back in to talk about her recommendations. I fell for it thinking she'd give me stretching tips. No, she had a list of products she wanted to sell me. On the positive side, she did stop as soon as I told her I was not interested in buying anything.
RipCord by iFLY
Though I didn't try this skydiving simulator several of my friends on the cruise did. Apparently, it varies by ship and destination, but they paid around $50. They have you sit through some training; then the instructor will go in the “air tunnel” with you for each of your two minute long “flying” sessions. They loved it and got the hang of it quickly!
Even if you don't want to try it yourself, it's fun to watch! From this location, you can turn the other way and observe the daredevils on the surfing simulator called Flowrider.
Ports
Stavanger, Norway
Our first port on our Norway cruise itinerary was Stavanger, Norway. (Stavanger rhymes with “anger. “) I took the “Lysefjord Cruise” excursion through Royal Caribbean. It cost $104 and lasted about three hours. It was an overcast day. We sat on the top open deck, which provided incredible views; however, it was freezing! I had to move inside after a while because I was so cold, despite my thick hoodie and raincoat cinched tight!
The boat had a coffee bar with snacks available. It also included a stop where we all disembarked and were served coffee and Norwegian waffles with strawberry jam and sour cream. It's an odd combination, but very good!
I recommend this tour, not too long, lots of beautiful scenery and info about what we were seeing broadcast over a loud speaker.
Olden, Norway
Another astoundingly beautiful town and area! I took an open-top bus tour with a third-party company because the Royal Caribbean excursions offered didn't appeal to me. The $35 tour was called Open Top Glacier Sightseeing with Olden Adventure. Their booth was located right on the pier where the ship docks. The tour is only one hour long and runs throughout the day, so you can choose when to go. Beautiful scenery, followed by a 10-minute stop halfway through to get out and take photos.
Olden has a few shops and restaurants to visit, as well as a grocery store.
Flam, Norway
Flam was my favorite of the Norway stops. I just found it so beautiful and loved the little town. I had reserved a space on the Leisurely Flam Railway excursion, but decided to skip it and enjoy the nearly empty ship, then explore the town of Flam. My friends told me that the Leisurely Flam Railway excursion was not very good. They said they were crammed into the train, and it was hard to see the sights. Also, if you didn't choose to do the extra pancake feed option, you still had to wait for the people who did.
See views of Flam from the ship in the photos below.
Flam has lots of little shops, and also a railway museum that you can browse.
Flam also has a very cool-looking historic hotel, the Fretheim Hotel, which was built in 1870.
Bruges, Belgium
The Bruges cruise excursion was a highlight, giving us a charming taste of Belgium. Go here!! Its truly a fairytale come to life!
Bruges is inland about 9.5 miles (15km) from the port. So you have to take some form of transportation to get into town. (Well, I guess you could walk if you really wanted to) It looks like you can take a train and it only takes about 15 minutes.
By the way, I kept seeing it spelled either Bruges or Brugge. Apparently, both are correct. Bruges is the English spelling and pronunciation, Brugge is the Flemish spelling and pronunciation.
We signed up for an excursion through Royal Caribbean. The nice thing about taking an excursion through the cruise line is the ship is not likely to leave without you if something goes wrong! The down side is their excursions are probably more expensive than doing it on your own or finding a 3rd party tour.
Anyway, we signed up for the nearly five-hour Bruges Sightseeing tour ($159). About 30 of us boarded a bus that took us into the city. We had earphones to hear the tour guide. It was interesting to learn the history of the area as we drove to and from Bruges. The city itself is charming and magical! It's like you've stepped into a fairy tale, with weeping willow-lined canals dotted with white swans.
The only bad part of this tour was it walked us past lots of interesting churches, museums and buildings but we didn't go into any of them! There is a 1/2 hour canal ride included and it kind of felt like we were rushing to get to that in time. In order to go inside a couple of buildings and browse the shops more I broke off on my own and skipped the canal ride. I'd love to go back to Bruges and spend more time there!
Dining
In this part of my exciting Royal Caribbean dining review, I’ll share my thoughts on the Main Dining Room, Windjammer, and other onboard options.
We ate dinner most nights in the Main Dining Room. This is included in the price of your cruise. The menu changes each night. If you want, you can order multiple entrées, desserts, or whatever you'd like! Overall I found the food to be good, but nothing was really spectacular.
Oddly, the butter they serve with the bread struck me as delicious! I'm not a butter-freak or anything, but each time I had it I exclaimed about how good it was! I'll have to try to get some “President” butter.
The other large scale included dining option is the huge buffet restaurant, Windjammer Marketplace. Huge selection of food, lots of choices!
You can also choose from one of the “not included” specialty restaurants on board. I overheard some fellow passengers say they were tired of having wedding food in the main dining room, so they were going to try one of the other restaurants. I thought that was a pretty good description of the Main Dining room actually!
I only tried the pizza at the British Pub, Brass & Bock. Pretty good! Wonderland looked like a fun place which I think I'd try if I went again.
Overall Impression
This was my first Royal Caribbean cruise ship experience, and it was a fantastic introduction for anyone considering their first Royal Caribbean cruise as a first-time traveler.
Though I don't have much cruising experience, I must say it is nice to not have to worry about transportation, packing/unpacking every couple nights, finding things to do and eat!
My Interior Virtual Balcony room cost $2,370 or $338 per night. Not bad when taking into account that included my lodging, all food and drinks (except alcohol), shows, and transportation to 2 countries with a total of 4 stops!
My favorite part of the cruise was hanging out in the Solarium section, an adults only pool area full of trees and plants with lots of seating and chaise lounge options.
Would I splurge on a real balcony room next time? Probably. The Virtual Balcony was good, but a little fresh air might have been the icing on the cake!
I knew I'd be writing a blog post to share my thoughts on the cruise, but I thought it would be interesting to gather feedback from other passengers. Be sure to check out this post to see what my fellow passengers thought of the cruise!
Happy Cruising to you!
