ANTHEM OF THE SEAS Gets Her Close Up In Southampton
ANTHEM OF THE SEAS, the second of three 167,800-ton, 4,180-passenger Quantum class Royal Caribbean cruise ships, with 2,090 cabins including 375 virtual balconies — inside cabins featuring real-time views of the ocean and destinations visited.
She begins her maiden voyage from Southampton today, Apr 22 at 4:30pm, calling at Vigo, Gijon, Bilbao, Le Havre and arrives back in Southampton April 30 at 5:30am.
ANTHEM OF THE SEAS was delivered to Royal Caribbean on April 10, 2015. She arrived at her first homeport, Southampton on April 15, 2015, to prepare for her maiden European summer season. Photographer Si Newall witnessed her first arrival in the port on April 15th.
At the naming ceremony held in Southampton on April 20, 2015, she was christened by Emma Wilby, a British travel agent chosen after a search for a travel agent who could sing, “and also because she exemplified grace, beauty, and a sense of adventure.” The ceremony took place in the vessel’s Royal Theatre attended by 1,300 guests. It began with a procession, followed by performances by the Reading Scottish Pipe Band, and Only Boys Aloud, a boys’ choir from Wales.
ANTHEM OF THE SEAS will spend her maiden European season cruising from Southampton to the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, and the Canary Islands. Beginning in November 2015, she will operate seven- to twelve-night itineraries to the Caribbean and Bahamas from Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey.
MaritimeMatters UK-based writer Peter Newall will be filing a ANTHEM OF THE SEAS mini cruise report shortly.
Thank you to Photographer Si Newall
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Ouch… seeing this monstrosity made me click away and scroll back down to Peter Knego’s report on the peerless ROTTERDAM (59) so fast that I think I sprained a finger.
Hello Peter.
If you judge a book by its cover you will miss a lot. ANTHEM is the most amazing ship I have ever been on and is a real game changer. I had dinner aboard ROTTERDAM in 1960 and people dismissed the ship out of hand because of the design of her funnels. Change happens and thank goodness it does otherwise we would be condemned to being stuck in a permanent time warp.
Peter
I will have to agree with you Mr Kohler,
Though the interiors are nice i don’t fancy staying inside a floating crate with 5000 other souls, bigger is not always better
Mall of America or any other big mall – hateful and distasteful to many this ship probably is – as for me this ship does nothing for me. When I want anything that Royal Caribbean owns I sail Celebrity Cruises and the ships in that stable.
Now, as for the SS ROTTERDAM , it is really dated, and lovingly so, to have sailed her is to know, however, I have not liked anyhing I have sailed in with HAL since the MAASDAM.
I quite agree Peter, this and all like her, are a monstrosity, and in my opinion not even ships!
There should be more talk (& action) about what’s happening with the QE2 ?
What I got from most of the previous comments:
O…M…G….Anthem of the Seas is like….so totally horrible and wicked and yucky. I mean totally it’s not even a ship. Let’s throw stones and big words at it and maybe it’ll go away and the cruise lines will like totally build old ships again like the QE2 than that no one wants and has been sitting idle for nearly a decade and apparently has no future. Yes, let’s bring back those ships with pointy bows and look like Titanic. Then everyone will see the error of their ways and will stop enjoying themselves on these massive new fantastic cruises ships and we can send all of these new non-ship things to the scrap yards. Like totally.
Pathetic.
David, can I take it you have Never been on a Cruise Ship before ?
Coz if you consider these Monstrosities as Cruse Ships then I fear you are some what mislead.
These are Resorts on Water, you may as well be at a Scandals Resort somewhere in the Caribbean.
And I very much doubt, can even guarantee that none of these newer Ships will ever want to be saved after 25 years service (if they last that long) but will go straight to Alang. never to be remembered.
I saw my first adv. for this ship on TV this morning and I must say, it was right on for the lively passenger they will hopefully have booking this product and this ship and its class of ship.
However, it did not and can not convey the massiveness and the huge number of passengers the ship may hopefully sail with upon her cruises, even in HD 1080 on our very large TV screen. When UD HD becomes more available then a truer experience at home may be the key. Good ad for the ship and all it offers.
This ship and all others are built and designed and equipped to sail with the passenger compliment that seeks what is offered on board this applies to today’s, yesterdays and tomorrows ships- period – regardless of he exterior interior or any other design offerings.
This ship, while not appealing to all will indeed appeal to a great deal of loyal and prospective RCI passengers alike.
Hi Steven, yes, I have been on a cruise ship before – 50 cruises to be exact – and my last several were: a B2B on the new Royal Princess; a B2B on Allure of the Seas and Ruby Princess; a B2B on the Celebrity Millennium; a 9-nt Bahamas cruise on Celebrity Mercury; and so on, and so on. I’ve been on Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland-America, Cruise West, Princess Cruises, Cunard, Celebrity Cruises, and Royal Caribbean. I’ve been ships as small as the Spirit of Discovery, as large as the Allure of the Seas, medium-sized ships like Rotterdam VI and the Galaxy, and dozens of cruise ships of all sizes in between.
What you have to understand is that your narrow interpretation of a ‘cruise ship’ is not the text-book definition, but how you have chosen to limit your views. How you spend your time onboard a cruise ship may be completely different than how I spend mine, and that’s why so many amenities and features are offered. These new cruise ships may be ‘resorts at sea’, but they are still cruise ships. Like it or not.
And, no, most of the cruise ships probably won’t be around in 30-50 years, but who cares, we’ll both be dead and a whole new generation of cruise ships, and cruisers, will be reminiscing about the days we are living in now. Or not. Maybe they’ll be having too much fun to worry about it.
As a fan of Royal Caribbean, and whose favorite ship in the fleet is ENCHANTMENT OF THE SEAS, I am more than speechless. I wish them well but won’t be booking passage on ANTHEM anytime soon. Vacationing with 4178 other folks isn’t my idea of relaxation. Even a Transatlantic crossing on NAVIGATOR was a bit much with just over 3,100 passengers! Now this is like 3 blocks of Park Avenue apartments sailing along.
Joe Sturges