Anthem - August 11 Review (9 Night Bermuda and Caribbean)

[fligster]

PORTS OF CALL / EXCURSIONS:

 

 

BERMUDA: We decided to try something different and do the Bike and Beach excursion. This wasn’t that great as we got a very late start after getting everyone on bikes and having to wait for one of the tour guides. It was about an hour from the start time until we got going. There seemed to be more stops and talking than biking. The bikes weren’t in the best condition, some the brakes or gears had issues. My wife couldn’t shift the one set of gears and had a slightly flat tire. My front brake wasn’t working great, and my sons back break didn’t fully work. You ride on an old railway trail so you don’t really see much of Bermuda. We were supposed to have a beach break after, but because we started so late, this ended up being less than 10 minutes, which sucked. I would not recommend this excursion.

 

 

ST MAARTEN: We have been here before so decided to do the Adventure ST Maarten race, which is an “Amazing Race” like adventure. We only had 3 so were teamed up with another 2 players. This was fun but there was more just walking around than expected and less “challenges”. I would recommend it if you are looking for something different to do. Our team came in 3rd out of 9 teams. One thing was they said we would get a beverage and a snack at the end. The beverage was a choice between: beer, punch, rum punch, or water. The snack turned out to be 4-5 French fries each, which was ridiculous, it would make more sense to just offer the beverage.

 

 

After the excursion we went swimming for a little bit by the beach right there. We had a wristband from the excursion to take the water taxi back whenever we wanted to.

 

 

SAN JUAN: We decided to just walk around Old San Juan and go to El Morro fort. This is a great fort to walk around and there are good views. It was very hot though. I bought a shave ice off a street vendor and we stopped at Ben & Jerry’s for my wife and son. While at the fort, a Carnival ship was coming in and I shot this time lapse video. (The uploaded quality isn't that great)

 

 

https://vimeo.com/179679418

 

LABADEE: I had decided to splurge and rent an over the water cabana at Nellies Beach. They really don’t want you to find this beach, as it is not listed on any of the directional signs. We finally found the beach and where to check in for the cabana. The cabanas were pre-assigned as I saw the cabana numbers printed on the listing. We had cabana 6. Someone arrived in the cabana next to us and was complaining because they had 2 cabanas and they weren’t next to each other like they asked. They left and someone else came there, so they must have been able to have them switched. The cabana was great and came with 6 large bottles of Evian water, 4 towels and the use of 2 float mats. We asked our cabana attendant and were able to get 2 additional float mats. If you have the extra money, I would highly recommend a cabana and would get one again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEXT UP: Summary and Disembarkation

Edited August 21, 2016 by fligster

[fligster]

SUMMARY and DISEMBARKATION:

 

Overall I had a good cruise vacation, but pretty much any cruise is a good cruise from my perspective. The ship is beautiful and it never felt really crowded. There were plenty of places to sit and relax.

 

Royal Caribbean does seem to push shopping heavily, as every message on the Television and most announcements had to do with shopping. I do think they have too much space dedicated to high end shopping on the ship, as these stores were hardly ever crowded, and most times had nobody in when we walked by.

 

 

They have a 2 for $20 one-hour sale at 9:30 on the last day. They stress this is for one hour only and there were maybe 200 people lined up at 9:25 so we skipped it since we had the Northstar at 10 am. Turns out, the sale does go all day, you might just not get first pick of sizes or designs the later you go.

 

We had selected an 8:00 am departure time. They provide a list of where you should wait based on your number, we had the Royal Theater. They called our number around 8:05, we waited in a short line to exit the ship, found our luggage right away and waited another few minutes at customs. We were in our car and on our way by 8:25 am. Unfortunately, there was an accident on 78 westbound and we were jammed up getting out of Bayonne and onto the Turnpike. Once we got to the bridge and after the accident we didn’t encounter anymore traffic, stopped at the rest stop, picked up the dogs and were home by 11:30 (took a while at the dog sitter). I do like being able to drive home from the ship.

 

My sister and her wife had selected a 9:10 departure time. Apparently a bunch of people with higher numbers went when they weren’t supposed to and clogged up the gangway, that they shut it down for 30 minutes. So, they didn’t get off the ship until a little after 10:00 am.

 

 

This concludes my cruise review, I hope you enjoyed it. Here are a couple of random pictures

 

 

 

[toad455]

Thank you for your review. Agree about everything you said about the Windjammer. The food just isn't good(or hot). I always get an omelet for breakfast as they're made to order & it's hot, otherwise I'll head to 270 for breakfast.

[qanderson]

Very nice, well written review. Thank you for taking the time!

 

 

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[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Iluvmypuggle]

Thanks for taking the time to write this.. I laughed out loud looking at the picture with 4 French fries!

 

It sounds like things run, but are a little disorganized with all of the booking options for dining & activities. scheduling beforehand was a little chaotic as I was trying to get my hands on the cruise compass to anticipate show times (like The Quest) before booking dinners & the other shows.. I booked my cruise too late to book iFly in advance so hoping it's easy to get a scheduled time once we board.

 

Is the pool water cold?

[fligster]

The pool water wasn't "cold", it was comfortable to get in, no shock value. I spent more time in the hot tubs than the pool. My sister didn't have any trouble adjusting dining once on board, we even added them to our 3 person reservation one night. They also showed up 45 minutes to an hour earlier than their later reservation and were seated right away.

[joand452]

Thank you for taking the time to give us such a thorough review!

[Iluvmypuggle]

The pool water wasn't "cold", it was comfortable to get in, no shock value. I spent more time in the hot tubs than the pool. My sister didn't have any trouble adjusting dining once on board, we even added them to our 3 person reservation one night. They also showed up 45 minutes to an hour earlier than their later reservation and were seated right away.

 

Thank you!

[Jenjer]

Can I ask ho much was your cabana? Would you say if the over the water ones are the best easiest to get into the water or the beach cabanas?

 

Did you order cocktails from your attendant? how much is a "normal" tip. Did you tip extra for the extra mats or where you charged the normal rate?

 

 

How far is from the cabanas to the bathrooms, aquapark, water slide and lunch?

 

 

We are cruising with my 78 YO FIL and I know he will want to get off the ship but sitting in the sand on a lounge chair will not work well for him. He is not disabled but can not walk far. He won't get in the water but the rest of the family will. So I am thinking a cabana might be perfect.

[fligster]

The cabana was $495 which is expensive but I would do it again .

 

Most of the over the water cabana have a ladder or stairs to get into the water. The ladder was slippery and had thin rungs. But you could walk over to the beach area to enter the water. From this perspective the regular cabana would be closer to walk into the water.

 

There is a one way from the ship water taxi that docks at Columbus beach that is right next to the cabanas at nellies beach. You could probably get a golf cart ride back to the ship.

 

The bathrooms are very close to the cabanas and nellies beach. The aqua park is right next door and I could see from my cabana area. The lunch was a little distance away but the cabana attendant got us a golf cart ride over. I tipped the driver $5. I believe there was a slide by the water park.

 

I only ordered one round of drinks and gave the attendant $10 cash tip. When he brought the mats I have him $5. We didn't get charged for them.

 

We didn't really use the attendant much so when we left I gave him $30. So in all I have him $45. Had we used him more I would of given him more.

 

 

 

 

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Edited August 23, 2016 by fligster

[Jenjer]

Thank You

 

I think your right its expensive but will make the day work for him.

 

My cruise is not until next June and the cabanas have not come up yet only the new beach bungalows.

[fligster]

Thank You

 

 

 

I think your right its expensive but will make the day work for him.

 

 

 

My cruise is not until next June and the cabanas have not come up yet only the new beach bungalows.

 

 

 

FYI there was also an electric outlet in our cabana in case you need to charge or plug anything in

 

 

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[Tracy Po]

I didn’t make any reservations for The Grande, and didn’t realize it was casual the first and last nights.

 

Wait -- it IS???

 

I haven't read this anywhere before now, and it will definitely affect how I plan our reservations. Thanks for the info! :)

[fligster]

Wait -- it IS???

 

 

 

I haven't read this anywhere before now, and it will definitely affect how I plan our reservations. Thanks for the info! :)

 

 

 

"Smart Casual". Also, I did see shorts in the regular restaurants. One night in the windjammer there was a woman with a bathing suit top on and a crew member did tell her she would have to leave.

[Donna111]

Thank you for the very informative review. Your pictures were all great.

Your balcony pictures are very helpful, as we have a balcony nearby

and your pictures give a great aft, straight ahead and forward view.

 

Did you use a zoom lens and a selfie stick? It looks like you would have had

to lean out to get those balcony side views.

 

Did you notice if they had the Penny Press Machine still in front of the

American Icon restaurant?

 

Glad you had a good vacation.

 

Thanks again for the info.

 

Donna in New Jersey

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the review and photos.

[fligster]

.

 

 

 

Did you use a zoom lens and a selfie stick? It looks like you would have had

 

to lean out to get those balcony side views.

 

 

 

Did you notice if they had the Penny Press Machine still in front of the

 

American Icon restaurant?

 

 

 

 

 

 

No selfie stick. Just stuck my arm out. We were on the end of the forward "hump", so the aft shot appears farther out.

 

I don't recall the penny machine, but I seem to remember my sister say something about it when at dinner.

[easyboy]

Nice shots. Thanks for your review.

[Donna111]

No selfie stick. Just stuck my arm out. We were on the end of the forward "hump", so the aft shot appears farther out.

 

I don't recall the penny machine, but I seem to remember my sister say something about it when at dinner.

 

Thanks for the info.

Really great pictures and review!

 

Donna in NJ

[galleycook]

Thank you for the very informative review. Your pictures were all great.

Your balcony pictures are very helpful, as we have a balcony nearby

and your pictures give a great aft, straight ahead and forward view.

 

Did you use a zoom lens and a selfie stick? It looks like you would have had

to lean out to get those balcony side views.

 

Did you notice if they had the Penny Press Machine still in front of the

American Icon restaurant?

 

Glad you had a good vacation.

 

Thanks again for the info.

 

Donna in New Jersey

 

Yes the penny machine is in front of American Icon. And the pennys are free!

[joand452]

Yes the penny machine is in front of American Icon. And the pennys are free!

 

 

I got one of those pennies on our Anthem cruise. Have no idea where it is!

 

Maybe it will turn up when I start packing for our next trip. [emoji849]

 

 

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[Donna111]

Yes the penny machine is in front of American Icon. And the pennys are free!

 

Yay for pressed pennies! I got the pressed penny addiction at Disney Land and World many years ago.

 

Thanks for the confirmation.

 

Donna in NJ

[galleycook]

Yay for pressed pennies! I got the pressed penny addiction at Disney Land and World many years ago.

 

Thanks for the confirmation.

 

Donna in NJ

 

You're welcome. We have been collecting them for my daughter (from wherever we see them) for years. This is the first time I have seen one for free though.

[Yorkvillain]

Outstanding recap. Thank you.