For a 28-year-old cruise sceptic, the holiday changed the moment Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas pulled away from New Caledonia and set course for Vanuatu. With 4,000 passengers aboard the 170,000 gross-ton, 350-metre-long cruise ship, the week-long trip on the 16-deck floating resort offered something the traveller had not expected to enjoy: space, calm and a sense that every detail had already been handled.
The traveller had a private balcony, a complimentary robe and uninterrupted ocean views, while a partner slept in an air-conditioned stateroom nearby. The holiday felt different because there were no frantic airport runs, logistical headaches or the exhaustion that can shadow the start of a land-based trip, the traveller said. Inside the room, there was a comfortable double bed, a large sofa, ample storage and a TV loaded with movies and live channels. The traveller also said they could watch live NRL and AFL games from bed in the middle of the ocean.
That ease mattered because the ship was not a stripped-back ferry or a basic tour boat. Anthem of the Seas is built as a near 170,000 gross-ton floating resort, and the trip made that scale obvious in the Windjammer buffet, which served rotating international cuisines including Chinese, Italian, Greek and British pub favourites at breakfast, lunch and dinner. For travellers who usually think of cruises as crowded and predictable, the appeal here was not just the destination but the way the ship turned the journey itself into the main event.
That is also where the friction sits. The same size and self-contained comfort that won over one former sceptic is the feature that leaves others cold, especially those who want a more direct connection to the places they visit. The traveller's account shows why cruise holidays keep finding new fans: once the ship leaves port, the experience can become less about getting somewhere and more about how completely the voyage takes over. Related reports on cruise ship health fears have also put attention on passenger movement and onboard conditions, with coverage of a hantavirus outbreak involving Australians due in Perth today and earlier stories about quarantine and evacuation. But this journey was about something simpler — a traveller who boarded doubtful and came away impressed.
For this passenger, the takeaway is hard to miss. On a cruise ship this large, the luxury is not only the balcony or the buffet, but the feeling that for one week, the schedule belongs to someone else.
