My family has only cruised Disney. We have been on 7 cruises and cannot find a
Disney cruise that works for us this summer. The RCCL out of NJ for 5 nights to Bermuda appeals to us. Is there fun family things to do on sea days? We love all eating dinner together and going to the show every night on Disney. My girls will be 21, almost 18 and 12. On Disney I am comfortable with them going off on their own to the movies, activities, mini golf, aquaduck. Is the Anthem so large I won't be able to find them? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
there are tons of family and teen things to do - bumper cars, trapeze lessons, puzzle/escape room, rock climbing wall, surf simulator, skydiving simulator (i've seen kids as young as 4 and folks in their 80s do this together), cupcake decorating classes, north star viewing capsule, indoor and outdoor pools, free xbox, an arcade (i think) and 3D movies, as well as the usual stuff like trivia, bingo, etc. there are teen and pre-teen clubs, and also meetups for folks 18-21, for when the kids want to do stuff on their own (and an adults-only area called the solarium for the grown-ups).
there are shows every night, 3 main shows and then a couple of "headliners" (comedians, cover bands, etc) on a 5-night cruise, much like disney does it. whether the shows are your cup of tea may depend - they are a little more modern, for lack of a better term, than disney's shows. one is "we will rock you", which is all set to the music of Queen; the other two are "the gift" which is probably closest to the disney-style shows but a littler...weirder, and the other is "spectra's cabaret" which is held in the 270 venue and combines cirque du soleil style acrobatics with singing and dancing. DH and i really enjoyed spectra's and the gift, but could have lived without we will rock you - we both like queen, but we didn't love the story line. but, some people really like it.
as for the size of the ship, it doesn't really feel any bigger to me than dream or fantasy, and i actually think it's a lot easier to navigate. royal's ships have a promenade down the center (called an esplanade on anthem) that makes it really easy to get from front to back, and serves as the "hub" of the ship - most of the shops and little cafes are there, so there's always something going on, and it's a convenient meeting place. after 4 disney cruises i am still confounded by their layout.
on royal, i usually know my way around after a day or two. we were on anthem last month and there were definitely small groups of teenagers off on their own.
i don't know if you've been to bermuda before, but it's beautiful. it will also take up 2 entire days of your trip, so you'll only have about 2.5 days on the ship - there's pretty much no way to get bored in that time.