Anthem of the Seas is a Quantum-class cruise ship owned by Royal Caribbean International (RCI) and the second ship of her class. The Quantum class is the third largest class of cruise ships behind MSC Cruises's Meraviglia class and Royal Caribbean International's Oasis class by gross tonnage.

Concept and construction

On 11 February 2011, Royal Caribbean announced that they had ordered a new class of ships from the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, the first of which was scheduled to be delivered by autumn 2014. At the time, the project was code-named "Project Sunshine". Later that year, two 20.5-megawatt ABB Azipod XO propulsion units were ordered for that ship.

On 29 February 2012 the company announced that a second "Project Sunshine" ship had been ordered and would be delivered by Spring 2015, and ordered identical Azipod propulsion units shortly thereafter. Just under a year later, on 31 January 2013, Royal Caribbean announced the official name of the new class of ships, Quantum Class, as well as the names of the first two ships in the class, Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas.

Service history

Anthem of the Seas was delivered to Royal Caribbean on 10 April 2015. She arrived at her first homeport, Southampton, England, on 15 April 2015, to prepare for her maiden European summer season. At a ceremony held in Southampton on 20 April 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, a social conscious (sic) and a sense of adventure." In addition to being a travel agent, Wilby is a military wife who sings in the Military Wives Choir in Kinloss, Scotland.

The christening ceremony took place in the vessel’s Royal Theatre in front of 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. Wilby then sang Katy Perry's hit song "Firework", after which she pushed a button to send a very large bottle of Perrier-Jouët champagne down a zipline on the ship's top deck, from the North Star gondola thrill ride into a wall bearing the ship's name.

Anthem of the Seas departed from Southampton on her maiden voyage, an eight-night cruise to France and Spain, on 22 April 2015. She has spent 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, United States. In 2016, Anthem of the Seas will sail year-round out of New Jersey, sailing to the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Canada/New England. Anthem of the Seas will become the largest ship ever to cruise Canadian waters. Beginning May of 2020, Anthem of the Seas will homeport in Southampton, UK and will return to Cape Liberty in November of 2020.

Facilities

Anthem of the Seas has 16 passenger-accessible decks with a total of 2090 passenger cabins. Her facilities include a Wave Loch Flowrider surf simulator, a rock-climbing wall, a skydiving simulator, swimming pools, a solarium, a Spa and Fitness Center, a theater and a casino.