New member saying, "hello". Also, review our plan for Bermuda trip on Anthem

[Thirstday]

Greetings members,

 

Below is bit of a long post so I apologize in advance if it is too much of a read. Cruise critic seems to be one of (if not the) most active of cruise forums. So, I joined and wanted to introduce myself.

 

My wife and I have booked a 5 night cruise on Anthem of the Seas to Bermuda in September 2018. I am so glad I have found this forum to get tips and info. I have discovered a lot about the current cruising experience by lurking on boards like cruise critic.

 

I used to live in Florida so I have been on a number of cruises when I was younger. But I have not set foot on a large cruise ship (although, I have been on a few dinner yachts) in over 15 years. I know by my recent research that the ships are obviously much larger and more advanced than when they were 15 years ago. Anthem will be the largest ship that I will have travelled on. My wife, on the other hand, has no experience on any cruise at all. This will be her first cruise and, yes, she is excited.

 

The reason we choose the Bermuda trip is because we live just a 2 hour drive away from the Port, so we will not have to worry about booking a flight. Also, I like the idea of porting in one location for more than one day. This gives us one full day for touring the island and one day for beach bumming/ water activities. We are still debating on which shore excursions to take but we still have plenty of time to decide on that.

 

Now since it has been a long time since I have cruised you can imagine how many times my eyebrow raised at the price change at each process of booking. We knew we wanted an ocean view so we ignored the $599 price of the interior cabin and focused on cabins with views. We saw a deal where we could get a balcony cabin for the same price as an ocean view cabin, which was $749. After selecting the balcony cabin, I discover that the options at that price are only for “obstructed view” balconies. I immediately searched Google and YouTube to see what obstructed view meant and found out it is at the bottom of the ship where the life boats are hung. The “unobstructed” view balcony cabins were going for $825. So, I figured, “What the heck” and jumped on it. But after selecting the cabin I noticed we were on floors that were closer to the bottom of the ship. And if I wanted to get a balcony view cabin on a higher floor, the price would increase $12 - $14 per passenger. By this time, I knew it was looking less like a “deal”. But it didn’t matter. My wife and I want to enjoy a cruise and we are willing to pay for the extras.

 

We have been to many vacation resorts in the Caribbean and have enjoyed the luxuries of all-inclusive eating and drinking. Like I said earlier, it has been a while since my last cruise and I vaguely remember eating for free in certain areas. I really can’t remember ever drinking for free on a cruise. This is because I am not a heavy drinker. I kind of expected that there might be a charge for alcoholic drinks but what took me aback was there are no complimentary drinks outside of tap water and coffee. Not even soda. I don’t want to get into a debate on whether the deluxe drink package is worth it (there seems to be many ongoing threads about it already) but we ended up agreeing that while we do not need to drink a ton of alcohol, we would like to have a nice selection of nonalcoholic beverages and deal with alcohol as we desire to.

 

Below is a summary of our plan and itinerary. Let us know what you think.

• 5 night Bermuda cruise booked through RCI. Balcony cabin. 10th floor.
  
• We have picked MTD as we like to have the option of eating as early or as late as we want. Also, there may be a night or two where we may enjoy room service and dine on the balcony (weather permitting).
  
• I will get the Voom package that my wife and I will share to keep in touch with the family, friends, and … oh yeah, the kids. ;p
  
• We choose to skip the Deluxe beverage package and my wife and I will each get a refreshment package instead.
  
  • We are not heavy drinkers at all but do enjoy drinking so during the cruise, we will purchase drinks as we go and plan on using our cabin credit towards drink purchases.
    
  • We plan on bringing 2 bottles of our favorite wine (1 red and 1 white) for dinner on cruise nights
    
    • I would like to have our Red wine when dining at Chop’s and have the white wine at another restaurant that has yet to be decided.
      

    [*]We plan on keeping an eye out for the 10-drink card. This will allow us to try some of the specialty drinks.

  [*]Day 1 at port we plan on touring the island and dining at local restaurants

  • We are still deciding on excursions so any suggestions would be appreciated
    

  [*]Day 2 at port we plan on being on the beach(es)

  • I would like to also do some snorkeling.
    

This is pretty much it for now. Like I said the cruise is booked and we are excited to go. Cruise critic has a ton of threads to keep me both entertained and informed. We just hope there won’t be any more policy changes from RCI that will affect us before our sail. Look forward to posting with everyone.

[JohninDC]

Welcome to the boards! :D

 

Be sure to come back after your cruise and let us know how it all worked out and any lessons learned.

[LeeW]

Couple of quick points:

 

There is actually a lot to drink for free on the ship. Coffee, tea, plain water, milk, juices at breakfast and some flavored waters in the buffet. We drink soda, so the soda package is enough for us and lots cheaper than the refreshment package. Both will get you access to the Freestyle soda machines that serve a wide variety of waters, sodas and energy drinks. But if you like fresh squeezed juice, bottled water and premium coffee/tea you probably want the refreshment package.

 

The big ships have a lot of activities and many can be reserved in advance. Shows have a standby line that lets in about 15 minutes before the performance if you don't have a reservation. Once you get onboard you can do this with the Royal IQ app on your phone or with pads on the ship.

 

Current policy is that the two bottles you bring on are for consumption in your cabin. If you take them to a restaurant they are supposed to charge $15 corkage. They may or may not actually charge you. If you don't finish a bottle they can store it for you and it will be available in any restaurant the next night. Telling the waiter where you will be helps them store it.

 

BIG SHIP. Prepare for sensory overload. Your yacht will fit in the atrium. You won't see the whole ship or do everything in five days. Explore, have fun and enjoy the experience.

[Thirstday]

Thanks so much for he info on the wine, LeeW. Learned something new already. I did here about the corkage fee but thought we could take the unfinished bottle to the cabin. No worries. If we don’t finish we can use at another time. But this also gives us an option of having one bottle for dining and another for the cabin.

[TPCRUISER2]

You will Love Bermuda! Just a reminder, Bermuda is British and restaurants may be expensive! Enjoy!:)

[Pstreet12]

Sounds to me like you've thought out the options quite well. Just a note, sometimes they have a discount on the specialty dining on the first night on board, which may be unadvertised. You could stop by as soon as you board and ask--never hurts to ask.

 

Be watching the website for your cruise, your account. They may offer a special on dining or drinks that turns out to be a good deal for you. If they do, you can cancel what you already have booked and book the special instead.

[ARandomTraveler]

Your post makes me wonder something about the refreshment package. If you have that, and order, say, a piña colada with it, can you buy just the shot of rum to put in it? Or do you have to pay for the whole piña colada?

 

If it’s the first option, that might save you some money. I’m contemplating buying that package for myself as well, if it goes back on sale. And if you can pay only $3 or $4 for a shot of rum vs $13 or $15 for the whole piña colada, that might make it even more enticing.

 

 

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[champagne123]

Welcome to CC. Wow, I am very impressed by all of your research. May I just make one suggestion? I have cruised to Bermuda many times. It is the easiest Island to navigate. (and the most amazing and beautiful Island). You absolutely do not need to book pricey excursions. You can do everything on your own. In port, they sell 1-2-3 day bus and ferry passes for a small amount of money. You can get to anywhere you want to go. It is great! I hope you and your wife have a wonderful time. You picked a great ship and Island for her first cruise.

[Clarea]

Your post makes me wonder something about the refreshment package. If you have that, and order, say, a piña colada with it, can you buy just the shot of rum to put in it? Or do you have to pay for the whole piña colada?

 

If it’s the first option, that might save you some money. I’m contemplating buying that package for myself as well, if it goes back on sale. And if you can pay only $3 or $4 for a shot of rum vs $13 or $15 for the whole piña colada, that might make it even more enticing.

 

Shots are around $8 to $9.

[5soonerfans]

We took this cruise last summer and loved it. We had a snorkel trip booked with Snorkel Bermuda, but the weather was not cooperating and we couldn't go either day. I cannot remember his name, but the owner was very nice. He even drove us to Woody's. The fish sandwiches are very good and I recommend eating there. Everyone in Bermuda was very friendly and I would love to go back. It is true that everything is a little more expensive.

[ARandomTraveler]

Shots are around $8 to $9.

 

 

[emoji15]

 

 

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[Thirstday]

Thanks everyone for the welcome and replies. I am definitely keeping an eye out for deals and price drops on RCI's website.

 

Welcome to CC. Wow, I am very impressed by all of your research. May I just make one suggestion? I have cruised to Bermuda many times. It is the easiest Island to navigate. (and the most amazing and beautiful Island). You absolutely do not need to book pricey excursions. .

 

My wife and I was thinking of this. We were actually thinking about getting bus passes and researching the best places to see on our own.

 

We took this cruise last summer and loved it. We had a snorkel trip booked with Snorkel Bermuda, but the weather was not cooperating and we couldn't go either day. I cannot remember his name, but the owner was very nice. He even drove us to Woody's. The fish sandwiches are very good and I recommend eating there.

 

Thank you so much for the recommendation. I love fish sandwiches. This has been added to our list of options.

[LadiDicruiser]

Greetings members,

 

Below is bit of a long post so I apologize in advance if it is too much of a read. Cruise critic seems to be one of (if not the) most active of cruise forums. So, I joined and wanted to introduce myself.

 

My wife and I have booked a 5 night cruise on Anthem of the Seas to Bermuda in September 2018. I am so glad I have found this forum to get tips and info. I have discovered a lot about the current cruising experience by lurking on boards like cruise critic.

 

I used to live in Florida so I have been on a number of cruises when I was younger. But I have not set foot on a large cruise ship (although, I have been on a few dinner yachts) in over 15 years. I know by my recent research that the ships are obviously much larger and more advanced than when they were 15 years ago. Anthem will be the largest ship that I will have travelled on. My wife, on the other hand, has no experience on any cruise at all. This will be her first cruise and, yes, she is excited.

 

The reason we choose the Bermuda trip is because we live just a 2 hour drive away from the Port, so we will not have to worry about booking a flight. Also, I like the idea of porting in one location for more than one day. This gives us one full day for touring the island and one day for beach bumming/ water activities. We are still debating on which shore excursions to take but we still have plenty of time to decide on that.

 

Now since it has been a long time since I have cruised you can imagine how many times my eyebrow raised at the price change at each process of booking. We knew we wanted an ocean view so we ignored the $599 price of the interior cabin and focused on cabins with views. We saw a deal where we could get a balcony cabin for the same price as an ocean view cabin, which was $749. After selecting the balcony cabin, I discover that the options at that price are only for “obstructed view” balconies. I immediately searched Google and YouTube to see what obstructed view meant and found out it is at the bottom of the ship where the life boats are hung. The “unobstructed” view balcony cabins were going for $825. So, I figured, “What the heck” and jumped on it. But after selecting the cabin I noticed we were on floors that were closer to the bottom of the ship. And if I wanted to get a balcony view cabin on a higher floor, the price would increase $12 - $14 per passenger. By this time, I knew it was looking less like a “deal”. But it didn’t matter. My wife and I want to enjoy a cruise and we are willing to pay for the extras.

 

We have been to many vacation resorts in the Caribbean and have enjoyed the luxuries of all-inclusive eating and drinking. Like I said earlier, it has been a while since my last cruise and I vaguely remember eating for free in certain areas. I really can’t remember ever drinking for free on a cruise. This is because I am not a heavy drinker. I kind of expected that there might be a charge for alcoholic drinks but what took me aback was there are no complimentary drinks outside of tap water and coffee. Not even soda. I don’t want to get into a debate on whether the deluxe drink package is worth it (there seems to be many ongoing threads about it already) but we ended up agreeing that while we do not need to drink a ton of alcohol, we would like to have a nice selection of nonalcoholic beverages and deal with alcohol as we desire to.

 

Below is a summary of our plan and itinerary. Let us know what you think.

• 5 night Bermuda cruise booked through RCI. Balcony cabin. 10th floor.
  
• We have picked MTD as we like to have the option of eating as early or as late as we want. Also, there may be a night or two where we may enjoy room service and dine on the balcony (weather permitting).
  
• I will get the Voom package that my wife and I will share to keep in touch with the family, friends, and … oh yeah, the kids. ;p
  
• We choose to skip the Deluxe beverage package and my wife and I will each get a refreshment package instead.
  
  • We are not heavy drinkers at all but do enjoy drinking so during the cruise, we will purchase drinks as we go and plan on using our cabin credit towards drink purchases.
    
  • We plan on bringing 2 bottles of our favorite wine (1 red and 1 white) for dinner on cruise nights
    
    • I would like to have our Red wine when dining at Chop’s and have the white wine at another restaurant that has yet to be decided.
      

    [*]We plan on keeping an eye out for the 10-drink card. This will allow us to try some of the specialty drinks.

  [*]Day 1 at port we plan on touring the island and dining at local restaurants

  • We are still deciding on excursions so any suggestions would be appreciated
    

  [*]Day 2 at port we plan on being on the beach(es)

  • I would like to also do some snorkeling.
    

This is pretty much it for now. Like I said the cruise is booked and we are excited to go. Cruise critic has a ton of threads to keep me both entertained and informed. We just hope there won’t be any more policy changes from RCI that will affect us before our sail. Look forward to posting with everyone.

 

Hello - and happy cruising....if I may add some tips for you.....first, the ship docks overnight in Bermuda, so the 1st. day would be good to hit the beach as there is no rush to get back to the ship.....the second day I believe it is all on board by 3 -4 PM....

 

 

The bus system is very good, or the ferries for that matter....most people head to Horseshoe Bay Beach....gets a little crowded, but it is very beautiful...

 

 

What I sometimes do, is book a room at one of the hotels that has a beach for the 1st. night...get off the ship early and head right to the hotel....then, check out the following day and head back to the ship....I know that negates the price you pay for the cruise, but makes for an enjoyable trip to Bermuda.....

[Cruisegirl6]

Welcome!

[LeeW]

Thanks so much for he info on the wine, LeeW. Learned something new already. I did here about the corkage fee but thought we could take the unfinished bottle to the cabin. No worries. If we don’t finish we can use at another time. But this also gives us an option of having one bottle for dining and another for the cabin.

 

Once you buy a bottle in a dining venue it is yours - you can take it with you or they will store it for you. If you take your own bottle they may or may not charge you corkage but they still will keep it for you if you want them to.

[andrew2346]

My fave day in Bermuda (have been 3 times) is to take the bus to Gibbs lighthouse...climb to the top and go out the tiny door. Walk to Church Bay and rent chair/snorkel equipment from the man in beach hut (local). Sometimes the surf can be rough so you can't always snorkel. You have to go down a hill with a ton of stairs so be ready for that. It is beautiful and uncrowded. Then we catch a bus to the Swizzle inn South shore and drink two pitchers of run punch (insanely good), two delish entrees and a big a$$ piece of chocolate peanut butter pie. Stagger across the street to catch the bus back to dockyard. Stop at Frog & Onion for an other drink. NAP. Dinner : ) Best day ever.

[BigHouseFootball]

I’ll go ahead and throw this question out here since I am doing this cruise in August. We want to head to Horseshoe Bay one day one and I have found some mentions of a minivan service instead of the main bus?

 

Would some one mind explaining this further? Where do I find these and do I just pay the driver in Us cash?

 

Thanks! I’ve posted in the bermuda forum but it hasn’t been all that helpful.

[LSKC]

We are thinking of booking this cruise for September for our 20th anniversary. I'd love to see Bermuda and it would save us flights by driving to port (longer drive, we are in Ontario)... my only concern is hurricane season. It's the only thing that has stopped me from booking. Anthem looks like a great ship to me. I wish they had a 7 day with Anthem during august/September. I'm a beach lover so 1 day at the beach doesn't feel long enough.

 

Will follow along and learn from advice you are being given. :) Happy planning.

[champagne123]

We are thinking of booking this cruise for September for our 20th anniversary. I'd love to see Bermuda and it would save us flights by driving to port (longer drive, we are in Ontario)... my only concern is hurricane season. It's the only thing that has stopped me from booking. Anthem looks like a great ship to me. I wish they had a 7 day with Anthem during august/September. I'm a beach lover so 1 day at the beach doesn't feel long enough.

 

Will follow along and learn from advice you are being given. :) Happy planning.

 

Totally understand. Although the Anthem is a wonderful ship, one day in Bermuda is never enough. Why not check into the Celebrity Summit for September. 3 days in Bermuda. It is amazing. Yes, the Summit is an older, smaller ship than the Anthem, but the service and food is wonderful. Also, if you book higher than an "inside" cabin, you get one perk. We always get the beverage package. Cocktails!!! Lol. Here is the website if you want to check it out.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/itinerary-search?dates=2018-09&destinations=BERMU&departures=BYE

[andrew2346]

I’ll go ahead and throw this question out here since I am doing this cruise in August. We want to head to Horseshoe Bay one day one and I have found some mentions of a minivan service instead of the main bus?

 

Would some one mind explaining this further? Where do I find these and do I just pay the driver in Us cash?

 

Thanks! I’ve posted in the bermuda forum but it hasn’t been all that helpful.

 

Can't answer your question about the minivan but the bus system in Bermuda is fantastic. We in the US could learn a thing or two. Bermuda is clean and beautiful and they keep their buses that way. Most that I have ridden are driven by a grandmotherly type woman who will make sure you don't sit on her seats in a wet bathing suit and that you DO get up for an elderly person. : ) If you don't you might get kicked to the curb. It is so inexpensive and convienent.