Anthem of the Seas - Transpacific Crossing: Sydney to Honolulu
Anthem of the Seas closes her Australian season with a 16-night eastbound crossing from Sydney to Honolulu, breaking the long Pacific sea days with a three-port run through Tahiti, Moorea and Raiatea.
Price Range
$
Budget
*Prices vary by cabin type, sailing date, and availability. Confirm rates with Royal Caribbean before booking.
Ship Details — Anthem of the Seas
View full Anthem of the Seas details
Year Built
2015
Tonnage
168,666 GT
Passengers
4,180
Crew
1,500
Decks
16
Class
Quantum Class
Itinerary & Route Map
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Where this cruise calls, day by day
5 ports and 12 sea days over 16 Nights.
- Day 1Sydney port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
Sydney
AustraliaDepart Day 2 · At sea
Day 3 · At sea
Day 4 · At sea
Day 5 · At sea
Day 6 · At sea
Day 7 · At sea
Day 8 · At sea
- Day 9
Papeete
French PolynesiaPortPapeete is the administrative and shipping capital of French Polynesia rather than the postcard version of it, and most Tahiti itineraries begin or end here. The quay is right in town, so you step off into traffic, gendarmes and a French-Polynesian city that works for a living. The scenery people came for is mostly on the other islands, or up in Tahiti's interior valleys.
- Marche de Papeete, the two-storey municipal market for vanilla, monoi and pareu
- Les roulottes, the food-truck park at Place Vaiete that fills up after dark
- Point Venus and Matavai Bay, where Cook observed the transit of Venus
- Musee de Tahiti et des Iles at Punaauia for Polynesian navigation and tattoo history
- Getting ashore
- Docked at the Quai d'Honneur in the middle of town; the market is about a block away and no shuttle is needed.
- Best months
- May-Oct (dry season)
- Day 10
Moorea
French PolynesiaPortMoorea is 17km across the water from Tahiti and looks like what people imagine Tahiti will look like - two deep bays cut into a ridge of jagged green spires. Ships anchor off and tender in, usually near Opunohu or Cook's Bay. The interior is the draw as much as the lagoon here, because the road climbs high enough to look down on both bays at once.
- Belvedere Lookout above the saddle between Cook's and Opunohu bays
- Snorkelling with stingrays and blacktip sharks in the shallow lagoon
- Magic Mountain 4WD track for the view over the barrier reef
- Temae Beach, the island's best public stretch of sand
- Getting ashore
- Tender in to a small pier in Opunohu Bay near Papetoai, or occasionally into Cook's Bay; either landing is a minor village, with the main commercial strip at Maharepa a good 10-15km away, so arrange transport.
- Best months
- May-Oct (dry season)
- Day 11
Raiatea
French PolynesiaPortRaiatea matters more than it looks. This was Hawaiki, the departure point for the voyaging canoes that settled Hawaii and New Zealand, and its great marae is a UNESCO site. Ships tie up at Uturoa's town wharf, which is rare in French Polynesia - no tender queue. The island shares a single lagoon with Taha'a next door.
- Taputapuatea marae, the most important pre-European religious site in the Pacific
- Boat trip up the Faaroa, the only navigable river in French Polynesia
- Uturoa market, busiest on Wednesday and Friday mornings
- Fifteen-minute ferry across the lagoon to Taha'a for vanilla and pearl farms
- Getting ashore
- Docked at the Gare Maritime in the centre of Uturoa - one of only two real cruise berths in French Polynesia; the town starts at the terminal door.
- Best months
- May-Oct (dry season)
Day 12 · At sea
Day 13 · At sea
Day 14 · At sea
Day 15 · At sea
Day 16 · At sea
- Day 17Honolulu port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
Honolulu
United StatesArrive
What to know about this sailing
The one traveler thread pairing Anthem of the Seas with the South Pacific never mentions this crossing; these notes come from the route data, 10 threads about Pacific crossings on other ships and 260 about the ship generally.
Seven straight sea days out of Sydney, three island calls on consecutive days, then five more sea days to Honolulu: twelve of the sixteen nights are spent at sea, with Moorea the one tender among the three ports. It is a repositioning that ends Anthem's Australian season, and in this catalog it is much the cheaper direction to cross: the westbound Honolulu-to-Sydney version on the same ship runs two nights longer at close to double the fare, and Celebrity Edge's 19-night westbound run over the same five ports also costs a good deal more. That makes this the least expensive way in the catalog to set foot on Tahiti, Moorea and Raiatea, cheaper even than a single week on Windstar's Star Breeze or Wind Star among the islands, which is the honest trade: three island days bought with twelve at sea, on a ship whose sea-day facilities matter more here than on any other route it runs.
The route threads are about other ships on the same crossing, and they agree on how to choose. A 2023 honeymoon thread weighing Celebrity Edge's Tahiti crossing against a Princess version got the advice that with this many sea days the decision should rest on which ship you would rather live on, not on the ports, and one reply called crossing the date line by ship something you do not forget. A 2026 poster who had sailed the Honolulu-to-Sydney direction warned that French Polynesia is nothing like the Caribbean: the islands are remote and the ship is typically the only one in port; a poster on the following Celebrity leg said many Australians book both legs and that menus repeat on a voyage this long. A 2024 account from Celebrity Solstice on this same Sydney-to-Honolulu repositioning lost ports to an embarkation-day problem and gained more sea days, a reminder that a crossing has few places to make up a miss. The 2020 thread asking whether a Hawaii-to-Australia crossing was worth it got a qualified yes from the top reply, if you can handle the days on board, plus a reminder that visas are the passenger's problem and can mean denied boarding. It suits people moving between Australia and North America who prefer sixteen nights to a flight, and confirmed sea-day cruisers; it is not for anyone who wants Polynesia as the destination, where Windstar spends the whole week among the islands, or who would find seven days without land a trial.
Questions about this sailing
Is a transpacific cruise with twelve sea days worth doing?
The posters who have done long Pacific crossings say yes, with conditions. The top reply in a 2020 thread called it a good way to reach the South Pacific if you can handle the days on board, a 2023 thread advised picking the crossing by the ship rather than the ports for exactly that reason, and a 2022 poster on a 35-night Holland America Pacific voyage said five- and six-day stretches never got boring with a walking deck, gym and daily program. The same threads warn to check visas early and to expect an older crowd on the longest sailings.
Onboard Amenities
Cruise Highlights
About the Ship
What Travelers Say About Anthem of the Seas
Reviews of the ship itself — the same for every Anthem of the Seas sailing. Distilled from 272 traveler threads, passenger reviews and travel blogs.
Anthem of the Seas is Royal Caribbean's globe-trotting Quantum-class veteran - the longtime New Jersey favorite that now splits its year between Alaska summers from Seattle and South Pacific seasons from Sydney. Its identity is 'the indoor ship': the North Star capsule, iFLY skydiving, SeaPlex sports arena, indoor pool and Two70's tech-heavy shows were designed for cool-weather cruising, which is exactly why it thrives on the routes it sails today. Ten years of reviews average out remarkably steady - around 4.2 - for a ship that has hauled millions of passengers.
What People Love
- The North Star capsule - a glass pod rising 300 feet over the sea - is free on sea days and repeatedly called the best view in cruising, especially on scenic routes
- RipCord by iFLY indoor skydiving and the FlowRider give it a thrill lineup no similarly-priced ship in its markets matches
- Weather-proof design: the indoor pool, Solarium and SeaPlex make it the rare big ship that stays fun on cold or rainy days - a huge plus in Alaska
Common Complaints
- The Windjammer buffet is undersized for 4,180 guests and turns into a scrum at breakfast on port days
- Signature attractions (North Star on port days, iFLY, FlowRider lessons) can carry fees or long waitlists - book immediately or miss out
- Pool deck is smaller and more enclosed than Oasis-class ships; on warm-weather itineraries outdoor space gets tight
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