Four-year-old Steven Luke of Plymouth, England, gets instruction on the RipCord by iFly skydiving simulator. Photo Credit: Tom Stieghorst
The Anthem of the Seas, which debuted in April, continues a long line of Royal Caribbean International ships built around sports-oriented activities.
The Anthem reprises some of the line's trademarks, such as the rock-climbing wall and FlowRider surfing simulator, while adding a few wrinkles of its own.
Unique to the Anthem and sister ship the Quantum of the Seas is the RipCord by iFly skydiving simulator perched high above the water, looking out over the ship's wake. Essentially a vertical wind tunnel, iFly generates winds of over 100 mph to levitate flyers in a simulation of freefall from an airplane.
Sandra Davis tried the experience on a recent Anthem cruise that sailed roundtrip from Southampton, England.
"It felt amazing," said Davis, a care assistant at a home for the elderly in Sheffield, England. The only trouble was remembering the hand signals used by iFly instructors.
The skydiving simulator is free. A training and suiting-up session takes about 20 minutes.
Steven Luke, of Plymouth, England, weighed only 47 pounds, so operators dialed down the winds to the 70 mph range. The 4-year-old attends Mary Dean's Church of England Primary School and likes to play soccer when he's not airborne like his favorite superhero, Spider-Man. Youth flyers can be as young as 3. Adults can weigh no more than 250 pounds.
Another hub of activity on the Anthem is the SeaPlex, where bumper cars are the headline attraction. A two-hour session one evening attracted James and Catherine Dixon, retirees from Bellshill, Scotland, who rode in a formal dress and tuxedo.
James Dixon said they were on their way to dine in the Grande on the second-to-last night of the cruise. "We didn't know if we'd have another opportunity," he said.
The SeaPlex also becomes a roller rink, where Hollie Clements, a 21-year-old medical student at the University of Dundee in Scotland, took a spin on roller skates. "I'm not very good, but it was fun," said Clements.
The Anthem, which comes to New York Harbor in November, is similar to the Quantum, but one new feature is the "classic" version of Dynamic Dining, which includes fixed seating times and a team of waiters that rotates with diners. In my experience, it solved all of the problems that had been reported with Dynamic Dining on the Quantum. My reservations were tracked perfectly, and we never waited in line to be seated.