New ship hits all the right notes, almost

Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas sailed its inaugural from Southampton last week with 1,600 agents, media and dignitaries on board. There was singing and dancing all the way, including a special performance from the ship’s godmother, Thomson agent Emma Wilby, Welsh boys choir Only Boys Aloud, and the cast of the hit musical We Will Rock You. On board was TravelMole’s Bev Fearis, who shares this music-inspired review…

Pitch perfect: The entertainment.
Royal Caribbean aspires to Las Vegas when it comes to on board entertainment and I have to take my sparkly top hat off to them for achieving exactly that. With first class sound, lights and digital effects, coupled with well-designed venues, this is cruise ship entertainment at another level. The hit musical We Will Rock You, which will run this summer season, got a well-deserved standing ovation after one hell of a performance and Spectra’s Cabaret in the high-tech space, Two70, was just as exhilerating. The trio of headline entertainment was completed with by the five-piece boy-band-with-a-difference, America’s Got Talent semi-finalists Mo5aic, who used their vocal prowess to belt out tune after tune without any instruments. Genius.

Hitting the high notes: Ripcord by iFLY
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this much-publicised feature and couldn’t really see the appeal, but now that I’ve done it I would urge anyone on board to give it a try. It’s a slick operation, run by a professional but fun team, and as adrenaline-pumping experiences go I would put it up there with bungy jumping in Queenstown and climbing Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, although it’s a lot noisier (despite the ear plugs provided). I was a bit apprehensive about having an audience – other guests can sit and watch you as your face gets sucked up and pulled into funny places – but in the end I was so busy concentrating on my posture and technique, I didn’t even notice them. An amazing thrill, lots of fun and I immediately wanted to do it again.

In perfect harmony: The beds
Super comfy. Enough said.

Grand scale: The art
With a ship of this size, there’s bound to be a lot of walking along corridors and up and down stairs, but on Anthem there are so many quirky pieces of artwork, sculptures, light installations and digital features, getting from A to B is a lot more fun. There are even comical pictures in the lifts – perfect for a cheeky selfie .

Needs some fine tuning: Robotic bartenders
Although it looked great, the futuristic bar, run by two robotic bartenders, was a bit of a disappointment. I struggled to get to grips with the touch-screen order pad and even with the help of the human barman on stand-by, my vodka, lime and soda arrived (in a rather unglamorous over-sized plastic cup) with no lime. Those around me seemed to be having the same trouble. Even when the system was working well, there was a long wait for drinks. A great PR gimmick but needs a bit of tweaking.

Fell flat: hot-stone massage
The spa is immaculate and my hot-stone massage was excellent and left me feeling suitably chilled. Sadly, all the tension that had been released came back pretty sharpish when I found myself being given the hard sell by the masseur. Yes, I’m sure the Elemis seaweed products do a lot to release the toxins, and can help prevent cancer, and I know that it’s important to look after my health, but sadly my budget doesn’t stretch that far. At one point, I worried I wouldn’t be allowed to leave the treatment room unless I forked out. It was a rather awkward end to what should have been a wonderful experience.

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