cft8

Is the ship internet getting any better? Usually we get it, because we manage a large group and as leaders need to stay in touch with each other even on sea days, plus want our group members to be able to reach us. So, it's mainly needed for texting and email. But, your reports are making me feel like it might not be worth it this time, if no one is going to be able to use it to get in touch with us anyway! 

we were on the Anthem 5-day from May 4-9. Our formal night was night 2, and we did not have lobster tail for that, but we did have it a different night; I can't remember for sure if it was night 4 or night 5. 

3 hours ago, CC Help Jenn said:

See the hubs says it fits because it’s only 14 deep and 16 wide.  The length shouldn’t matter (which is 25-26)

 

so confused. A third dimension on the port website would have been helpful

He is probably right. We saw people carrying on large suitcases (of the size that you would have to check on an airplane) when we embarked on Anthem two weeks ago. We were commenting about it because we saw the 23 x 16 dimension on the website and assumed it meant that the carry ons needed to be airline carry-on size. It didn’t even occur to us that the length didn’t matter because there is no overhead bin to worry about!

I am thinking of getting the thermal suite pass, so I'd be interested in reviews of it.

We just used Carmel for Cape Liberty to Midtown and then back to Newark. 

 

For the trip to Midtown, we had 4 adults and 8 pieces of luggage (I counted our carry-on spinners as luggage. I would count anything you cannot hold on your lap/have at your feet). We booked and SUV and had a Suburban. They got all the checked bags and spinner carry ons in the cargo area but we had to hold our tote bags. 

 

For the trip to Newark, we just had 2 people, but we still had 7 bags, so we got a minivan. 

 

Both trips were fine. For the departure from Cape Liberty, I’d booked for 9;30. The driver started calling me at 8:15. We were still at breakfast, so I told him we would be out at 9:30. He called and texted a few more times, which was annoying, especially since I was trying to manage getting off the ship and it wasn’t easy to get to my phone. But, once we got off and told him what area we were at, he came right up. He had a sign in the window with my name. 

 

The pickup in Manhattan was super easy, he was right outside the hotel at the appointed time. 

We had the new cups on Anthem last week. They were ok. I liked the handle for carrying it around, and the fact that they came with a straw. They were not as easy to hold for drinking as the old ones, because they are larger. If you tuck the straw back in while you are walking around and not drinking, be careful when you pull it out, or you might splash a little on yourself or the person standing next to you. 

For those looking at Columbia jackets and that have a factory store nearby, I just got an email that their Memorial Day sale starts now (20%-50% off everything). If you spend $100 from 5/16-5/27, you get a $20 reward certificate that can be used 6/7-6/27. The reward certificates can be used online, and if you sign up for their rewards program, you get free shipping on online orders, so you can figure out what you'd want to buy with the $20, then order it during the redemption period if it's not convenient for you to get pack to the store. 

We did that itinerary last week, but I haven't had a chance to post any review. We only ate in the Windjammer for embarkation day lunch. I knew it would be insane, but we were taking a break from setting up in the Conference Center for our group event, and it was the closest option. We had our other breakfasts and lunches in the MDR, 270, or the Solarium bistro. They do not have as many options as the WJ, but they are so much more pleasant! 

 

The silent disco was a lot of fun. The did show virtual fireworks after that, but I don't know if they were the same as the ones they show on the last night. We did not make it to the Gift, which was only shown once. We did Spectra's Cabaret that night, and i was planning to high-tail it from 270 to the theatre to catch the Gift, but I was too tired. I wish I'd seen it because I heard it was amazing.

 

We did the North Star at 9am on the day we docked in Bermuda, because I wanted to see more than just ocean. We still had time to meet our group and get off to catch the 10:15 ferry to Hamilton.

 

My sister did the trapeze "school" which she said was fun. You only get one turn, though, so if you don't get the moves right the first time, that's it. 

 

Elevators were crowded after muster (as usual, but I can't do that many stairs on account of a knee injury) and so we barely made it up to Deck 15 before we went under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, but it was worth being up there. 

 

Muster Stations are indoors and ours was in Vintages; I wished I'd realized this because we would have gone down there a little earlier in order to be able to sit down. I ended up sitting on one of the low tables!

 

The ferry was great for getting to/from Hamilton. The second day we took at taxi to/from Horseshoe Bay - we had 4 people so it was not that much more than the mini bus. On the way there, we would have had to wait for a mini bus to fill, and after experiencing the curvy road, I didn't want to do the mini bus on the way back either.

 

If you want to go to St. Georges, I would go the first day; we wanted to go there, but we had something planned the first afternoon in Hamilton. On the 2nd day, the way the ferry schedule was, we would have spent 1.5-2 hours on the ferry getting to/from St. Georges and only had about 2 hours to explore, which we did not think was enough time. That's why we went to Horseshoe Bay, but I am glad I got to see the pink beach!

Looking forward to the review. I just sailed for the first time on Q class on Anthem last week and will be on Ovation for a Seattle round trip in September.

16 hours ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Is Horseshoe Bay Beach crowded?

It was fairly crowded when we were there last week, but if you don’t need a chair/umbrella, you can walk a little ways to your left (if you are facing the ocean) and go around the rocks to some quieter coves. 

The boards seem fine on Safari on an iPhone, but the Tapatalk app still just keeps making me log in over and over. 

We are also just back from the May 4 Anthem sailing. We definitely felt a lot of movement on the way down and on the way back. I wasn’t sick (I do take Bonine), but at times I had trouble walking!

Here is an article I saved about the best fish sandwiches. We plan to try Mama Angie’s!

https://www.gotobermuda.com/list/the-4-best-places-to-get-fish-sandwich-bermuda


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4 minutes ago, edgreenberg said:

Planning on rain jackets and hats just in case. We'll be in .bm land from Wed AM to Fri PM on Celebrity Summit.  http://weather.bm only shows out till Saturday at this time. What site gives wx out to Monday?

 

Ed Greenberg

 

I was using the Weather Underground app on my phone. But, it sounds like that's not a reliable choice. I'm hoping it's so unreliable that there's not actually going to be a huge thunderstorm on Monday! :-)

Are you sure they are being charged for tendering? Royal docks at King’s Wharf. However, to get from there to other areas of the island like Hamilton or St. George’s, one option is to take a ferry (a service run locally and not just for cruise ship passengers) that costs $4.50 each way (or $5 if you do not buy the ticket in advance). One of the lines does have a free ferry to St George’s; I can’t remember which one.

 

I have not been on Anthem before, but on other Royal ships I’ve been on, the restaurants closest to the pool have not been complimentary.

 

 

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I appreciate the feedback, but we want to use a car service because we will know in advance what the price will be (with the possible slight exception of different tolls on different possible routes) and not get caught in surge pricing. It also gives us the option to pay in cash, so each person can chip in rather than one person putting the entire cost on the card. We've asked for a 9:30 pickup, so we should be toward the end of the crowd and hopefully that will alleviate the sea of cars.

 

When you did use Carmel, how did you know what car to look for? Do they call/text you with a description? Do you just have to walk up to every driver and ask them who they're there for?

We are booked with Carmel for pickup when we return to Cape Liberty next week. (We have other transportation booked to the port from our hotel.) How do the pickups work? Will there be a driver with a sign as if we were being picked up at an airport? This may seem like a stupid question but I've actually never been picked up by a car service at port before - usually we just grab a taxi from the queue, but this time we decided that booking in advance worked better for our plans. I thought the confirmation, or the Carmel website, would have some detail, but it didn't. Of course I could call but with many people recommending them, I figured someone here would know!

It's good to know that rain is usually passing showers! We were wondering about that. Living in Colorado, I'm used to forecasts that change by the day (yesterday, it said it was going to snow here for the next three days; this morning, it's changed to rain; tomorrow, it could snow anyway. No one really knows). But, being a project manager by profession, I'm hard-wired to have a plan in case my original plan is not going to work. On this trip, I'm also leading a large group that will expect me to know what the plan is if it is raining, so I need to be prepared with alternate ideas. 

The forecast for next Monday (5/6) is dismal. :-( Now I’m trying to figure out alternate plans!

 

Our plan was the first ferry to Hamilton, walk around Hamilton and the head to the Hamilton Princess for our 3pm tea reservations. We are doing the tea regardless, but we might scrap the plan for Hamilton if it’s pouring rain.

 

I will be disappointed if we just stay on the ship for the morning, though. I am thinking of either heading to the National Museum for a few hours.

 

Is the tram running at this point in the season? I am thinking that is a good way to stay a bit drier if it’s pouring.

 

Is a taxi our best alternative to the ferry to get to the Hamilton Princess? Or do the mini buses stop near there? It seems to be about a 10-minute walk from the Hamilton ferry terminal to the hotel. The 12:30 ferry puts us there at 1:00, which is a lot of time to kill if it’s raining (and we don’t want to look like drown rats at our nice tea). But the next ferry is not until 2:15, putting us in Hamilton at 2:45, which is too close for comfort for me.

 

 

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Our USAA cards have chip-and-pin, but I know USAA isn’t available to everyone. The other card we used when we couldn’t buy two tickets with the same card in Oslo was a debit card. I’m reasonably sure my Citi card has a pin as well.

 

 

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23 minutes ago, Host Bonjour said:

 

 

Oh, and regarding Highclere/Downton, they only shot exterior mostly there, very little was filmed inside actually because your DH was correct, it never would have fit with cameras, lighting and actors spaced out across the rooms. They reproduced the various rooms on sets in studios...not sure which one, Pinewood perhaps, in London as it's one of the bigger studios in the UK. I have friends that lived just nearby Highclere in a village called Tadley and prior to the start of Downton one could visit the castle anytime, the roads were open, not congested etc. That is no longer the case!

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the review! Most of the interiors for Downton were actually shot at Highclere for the family living spaces. Only the "downstairs" areas - kitchens, etc. were at a studio because those parts of Highclere were too modernized. (The servants bedrooms might have been in a studio, too, I can't recall and that part of the house is not open to the public.) Many of the bedrooms have different furniture in the show, but they were shot in the house.

 

I originally wrote the review originally for a different group I'm in, and those people know that my DH is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. People on this board don't have the background to know that by that comment I meant that he was actually trying to figure out the angle at which he would shoot, or the type of lens he would use, in order to make the room appear bigger on camera. I probably should have given a bit more context or taken that comment out of this review! 🙂

5 minutes ago, cyncyn129 said:

 

We are sailing out of Southampton next month and would also like to visit Stonehenge on our way. Would you mind sharing what tour company/coach transportation you used? Thank you!

We had a group of ~60 people so we hired our own coach. It wasn't a public tour or anything, but if I remember right I saw options on Viatour and London Toolkit for similar transfers. Here's one: https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton-from-london-via-stonehenge.html

 

Of course I can't vouch for the service. 

That is because its impossible to make 2 purchases in a row with the same amount. 
That is some anti theft measures. 

That’s interesting and I hope we will remember next time. Luckily the tickets are inexpensive enough that the foreign transaction fee wasn’t significant since we only have one card with no fees.


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In Oslo we bought tickets from the machine, I think we bought day passes. I am not sure if we made the wrong selections, but we were not able to buy two passes in one transaction and we also were not able to use the same card to buy the second ticket.


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My first Quantum class is in two weeks on Anthem and we are also going on Ovation in September. I really want to try Oasis class someday!