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How Crazy is Christmas (Anthem)?


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We lost our March cruise on Anthem so we rebooked for December of this year over first week of Christmas holidays.  But now I have doubts that the cruise will be running by then.  Canadian/US borders may be closed for awhile and covid numbers are going the wrong way. 

We're thinking of trying to Lift & Sift to next December if we can.  With next year's dates, there is only one cruise over the school holidays (vs this year where new years cruise is also when schools are still closed). 

Thus, I'm wondering how crazy will the ship be?  Anyone cruised at Christmas before, and on Anthem?  Will lines up for Sea Plex be out the door and swimming pools overcrowded?  We are coming with our kids who will be 15 and 11 but I imagine so will many others.  Never traveled at Christmas time before.

We are also double booked for the following March to have Anthem as a back up, but then we would have to give up our current Oasis cruise.

Also I assume that not all events will be Christmas related?  (Or maybe they are on the 24th and 25th).  We aren't Christian so the holiday stuff isn't meaningful to us (but I still think it's a very nice time of year as people are very joyous and happy and its really pretty with the lights and decorations).  

Just wondering others experiences.  Thanks.

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I can't say for Christmas, but we were in Anthem this past New Years. 

 

It was a full ship, but the only lines we encountered were for My Time Dining. Everything else was manageable as long as you planned accordingly (try signature activities on port days!).  For the actual NYE, the Promenade was packed. It made for a celebratory atmosphere, but was quite crowded, so we celebrated on our balcony. 

The cruise was amazing, and everyone was there to celebrate! We'd absolutely do it again

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I cruised on Independence over Christmas one time and it was a very good experience.  There will be more kids but for the most part they were well behaved on my cruise.  Some families have made it a tradition year after year and some kids from different families knew each other from past Christmas cruises together.  

The best thing about a Christmas cruise is that everyone is happy!  It's a magical time but they tend to be more expensive because traditionally demand has been strong for Christmas cruises.  It's strong because people like it.  

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

I cruised on Independence over Christmas one time and it was a very good experience.  There will be more kids but for the most part they were well behaved on my cruise.  Some families have made it a tradition year after year and some kids from different families knew each other from past Christmas cruises together.  

The best thing about a Christmas cruise is that everyone is happy!  It's a magical time but they tend to be more expensive because traditionally demand has been strong for Christmas cruises.  It's strong because people like it.  

That certainly is a nice tradition to start. 

Thanks for the feedback of your experience on Independence. Can definitely see everyone being more happy overall as it's that time of year.

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We have cruised over Christmas and New Years many times.  I completely agree with @twangster.  Everyone always seems happy.  More kids ?  Yes, but it is not overwhelming.  I highly recommend holiday cruising.  It especially takes the stress out of the Holidays, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

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We have done one over Christmas, we were not on Anthem but on a MUCH smaller ship and I can tell you that even though the ship was at capacity and much smaller there wasn't a big crowd feel whatsoever.  To be honest I was actually impressed, I got onboard with the expectation that it was going to be absolutely insane and did not expect much at all, and by the time we were done we all agreed that the service that we received and the whole experience was one of the best cruises we have ever had.  The ship we were on was Majesty of the Seas, and like I stated earlier I came onboard expecting the worst and it turned out being one of the best we have had.  So my advice?   Book the cruise and get onboard with a good attitude and I  almost guarantee you that by the time you get back you will have had a great time!  ?

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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We have cruised over Christmas and New Years many times.  I completely agree with @twangster.  Everyone always seems happy.  More kids ?  Yes, but it is not overwhelming.  I highly recommend holiday cruising.  It especially takes the stress out of the Holidays, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

Very true.  Great way to remove the stress of the holidays.  Also nice to get away from the snow (well, on Anthem...at least a day or two in the middle should be nice weather...lol)

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1 hour ago, bhageerah said:

We have done one over Christmas, we were not on Anthem but on a MUCH smaller ship and I can tell you that even though the ship was at capacity and much smaller there wasn't a big crowd feel whatsoever.  To be honest I was actually impressed, I got onboard with the expectation that it was going to be absolutely insane and did not expect much at all, and by the time we were done we all agreed that the service that we received and the whole experience was one of the best cruises we have ever had.  The ship we were on was Majesty of the Seas, and like I stated earlier I came onboard expecting the worst and it turned out being one of the best we have had.  So my advice?   Book the cruise and get onboard with a good attitude and I  almost guarantee you that by the time you get back you will have had a great time!  ?

Really want to try Anthem so definitely good attitude.  But it's my kids (long line ups) and DH (hates crowds) that i'm questioning.  However, after losing 3 cruises this year (2 for sure..most likely this one), I think they'll get over any waits...ha ha.

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We were booked for NYE so I figure Christmas can’t really be that much worse than what we had already signed up for. ? My 13 and 15 year olds will be cruising with me as my hubby will (hopefully) have to work over the holidays.... Not happy that he has to work basically all holidays, but he’s in aviation so that’s why the “hopefully” comes into play right now. 

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We spent Christmas 2019 on Anthem and loved it! There was a good balance of Christmas/non Christmas themed activities and entertainment.  Ship was nicely decorated. Sailing out of NYC in December, weather was cooler at the beginning and end of the cruise so it didn’t feel like the pools were overly crowded and there is so much to do indoors.  The ship was full so it’s best you prebook activities like Ifly, Northstar where you can. There were a few last minute schedule changes on the holiday cruise that we were told was not the norm but they were manageable. We sailed star class so our experience may be a bit different but I think it will be great!  

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8 hours ago, BunnyHutt said:

We were booked for NYE so I figure Christmas can’t really be that much worse than what we had already signed up for. ? My 13 and 15 year olds will be cruising with me as my hubby will (hopefully) have to work over the holidays.... Not happy that he has to work basically all holidays, but he’s in aviation so that’s why the “hopefully” comes into play right now. 

Yeah, I remember your post from last week.  I'm 97% sure we are going to try to Lift and Sift this Anthem cruise to next Dec.  Guess we have a few weeks to decide.  Fingers crossed.  Sorry that your husband can't join you.

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6 hours ago, Jax said:

We spent Christmas 2019 on Anthem and loved it! There was a good balance of Christmas/non Christmas themed activities and entertainment.  Ship was nicely decorated. Sailing out of NYC in December, weather was cooler at the beginning and end of the cruise so it didn’t feel like the pools were overly crowded and there is so much to do indoors.  The ship was full so it’s best you prebook activities like Ifly, Northstar where you can. There were a few last minute schedule changes on the holiday cruise that we were told was not the norm but they were manageable. We sailed star class so our experience may be a bit different but I think it will be great!  

Thanks.  Love hearing of Christmas experiences and helps too hearing Anthem.  Yes, we would pre-book whatever we can. I know my kids will love that SeaPlex area so can imagine that will be very busy.  I think there is an indoor pool for the cooler days?  We also love the scheduled activities (e.g. scavenger hunts, etc) so those can spread out crowds too.  We have also been trying ot get to Kennedy Space Center, which can see having large crowds that week.  And yeah, for us it would be balcony rooms, but that's still nice for us. ?

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Anthem is a great ship and perfect for cooler weather cruising.  Best solarium in the fleet and a large indoor pool area for families helps to keep the solarium adult only.  

Loads of pictures in my past Anthem trip reports:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5387-anthem-11918-9-night-bahamas/

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/17677-anthem-jan-5-2020-11-nights-southern-caribbean-recap/

They tend to put up the Christmas decorations just after Thanksgiving so you'll see what Anthem looks like at Christmas in that first thread.   They put a lot of effort into their gingerbread houses.  

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

Anthem is a great ship and perfect for cooler weather cruising.  Best solarium in the fleet and a large indoor pool area for families helps to keep the solarium adult only.  

Loads of pictures in my past Anthem trip reports:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5387-anthem-11918-9-night-bahamas/

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/17677-anthem-jan-5-2020-11-nights-southern-caribbean-recap/

They tend to put up the Christmas decorations just after Thanksgiving so you'll see what Anthem looks like at Christmas in that first thread.   They put a lot of effort into their gingerbread houses.  

Thanks for the great links.  DH and I were on Adventure in December (before Christmas) and they also had a nice tree up in the Promenade.

The indoor pool area looks really nice.  Good size.  And Anthem seems to have a great Solarium. Thanks for sharing. 

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4 hours ago, WannaCruise said:

Thanks.  Love hearing of Christmas experiences and helps too hearing Anthem.  Yes, we would pre-book whatever we can. I know my kids will love that SeaPlex area so can imagine that will be very busy.  I think there is an indoor pool for the cooler days?  We also love the scheduled activities (e.g. scavenger hunts, etc) so those can spread out crowds too.  We have also been trying ot get to Kennedy Space Center, which can see having large crowds that week.  And yeah, for us it would be balcony rooms, but that's still nice for us. ?

Thought I would share the link to my live blog in case you want to scroll through the pictures or get a better idea on the activities we did.  

 

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1 hour ago, Jax said:

Thought I would share the link to my live blog in case you want to scroll through the pictures or get a better idea on the activities we did.  

 

Thanks so much.  I remember following along at the time. ?  Just did a re-read.  Great cruise!  Seems like they had non-Christmas stuff too as you mentioned.

This is the same 8 night we currently have booked for this December (except I see that your itinerary got changed). Next year's is a 7 night but still would be similar.  Thanks for sharing.

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