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Frugal Husband’s Anthem of the Seas Review


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How are the port security folks supposed to identify you with just a WOW band when you are going back to the ship?

 

Your picture comes up on their screen when you scan your card or band. I can't think of a reason other than they haven't equipped all their stations with band readers.

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Your picture comes up on their screen when you scan your card or band. I can't think of a reason other than they haven't equipped all their stations with band readers.

 

That is when you go through ship security. They have the reader. Port security does not have access to the reader. That is why you normally show some sort of photo ID and your card for port security.

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And then it begins. The start of the non-stop talking. She wants to tell us all about their day, tell us all about their family, all about their past cruises, all about their friends back home. They did NOT respect the space. Heck they might as well had been at our table! They talked the ENTIRE meal! And mostly about themselves! The kind of people who could of talked to the wall.

 

I’m not kidding when I say I may have gotten 15-20 words in to my wife that night. I was in disbelief. There was nothing I could do. I was trapped. An unwilling hostage to the verbal assault taking place next to me. It was as if she hadn’t talked to another human being in 3 years and didn’t know when she would meet another. As I said my wife and I like to recount our day. Talk about our night. And talk about our food. This was never an option. We were absolutely steamrolled. It ruined dinner. They would not stop talking. Ever.

 

 

OMG. Every introverts nightmare. I share your pain.

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I wasn't going to click on your report because we are not sailing on Anthem any time soon (Freedom next year), but I am so happy I did!!!

 

Your review is fabulous! I'm loving your writing style, your sense of humor, your photos, and all your choices of activities and dining!! We have many of the same interests, especially Disney. So far, I agree with absolutely every single comment you have made, regarding Amtrak, NYC, Anthem, etc...except your opinion of Spectra's Cabaret. We really enjoyed that show.

 

I sailed on Anthem last year with my adult kids and we had Drew Pavlov as our CD. He was terrific, as you know. It's about the CD, not the ship.

 

Looking forward to reading more. Thanks so much for sharing your adventures. You and your wife are adorable!

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How are the port security folks supposed to identify you with just a WOW band when you are going back to the ship?

 

 

 

I didn’t even think of the port security people! I was just thinking of ship security. Hmmm I mean they could do what Disney does and print your name on the band? That would require them to include them in the price of your cruise though.

 

 

 

 

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I didn’t even think of the port security people! I was just thinking of ship security. Hmmm I mean they could do what Disney does and print your name on the band? That would require them to include them in the price of your cruise though.

 

 

 

 

 

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Except you can have ANYTHING written on your Disney Magic Bands. I have 5 or 6 now and each trip I use a different "name" so I remember which trip I got it on. I'm not sure a WOW band with POOCH15 is gonna cut it

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How are the port security folks supposed to identify you with just a WOW band when you are going back to the ship?

I believe you can have name and sailing date printed on the band. Don't know how accepting the port security guys are going to be though. To be fair not even Disney cruise is doing this though

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Thank you to everyone for the kind comments. They keep me going! I had this fear I would start this looooong review and I would just be talking to myself!

 

Your comments are wonderful.

 

 

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Cruising and Disney commentary, two of my favorite things...loving it!

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At most they had the muster station on them - I think they even eliminated that.

Sorry Biker19. I was referring to whether it was possible to print info on the band, in general. Wasn't trying to implies that I've seen name/sailing dates printed in the wow bands.

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Love the comparison to magic bands! And we are like Pooch and put the year we have purchased the bands as part of our names. For us this is mainly because we want to make sure we phase them out when the long range batteries are likely to die..(we like our pictures!).

 

I plan to get a WOW band on ou Symphony cruise particularly for my daughter. I think that this will be easier than her always wearing her seapass Card. And hopefully I will get to use it again on a future cruise for a wow band equipped ship!

 

But - since I am PAYING for my wow band - I’m glad it’s reusable on future ships (which wouldn’t work if it was labeled). BUT - I am surprised that purchasing them and having them in your stateroom and labeled is not a prepaid option!!

 

 

 

 

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After North Star we got our suits on and headed for the Solarium. We were able to find a chair and there were several available. Not prime spots but still inside the Solarium.

 

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We jump in the hot tub for a while. We were getting hot so we tried to get in one of the cascading pools. That was too cold. But then I found one of those green body lounges and that was juuuuust right.

 

It is here where I did something I have never done while on a cruise ship. I napped. I think I’m officially old. I sat down, lowered my hat over my eyes and I drifted off. I did not intend to nap but I think the days prior had finally caught up with me. I napped for like 45 minutes. It was bliss. When I had drifted off my wife was sitting next to me. When I woke up and turned she was gone, I turned thinking she had switched sides. Haha nope! Some other woman was there. I was still in the groggy post nap phase so it startled me a bit.

 

These are the chairs I was talking about. So nice.

 

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The bands open your room and can be used for on board purchases. BUT, and this is huge to me, you STILL need your sea pass card to get off and on the ship. The band will do you no good. Huh?! That takes a huge convenience away. So even if I shell out $7 I still have to carry my sea pass card on port days...how does that make sense?

 

 

 

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My friend fell in St Thomas and knocked himself out. In his pocket were his FL drivers license, a credit card and his sea pass. No wallet.

Believe me, he was grateful for that sea pass when someone from the ship showed up in the ER. There were 4 ships in port that day.

Do the WOW bands have the ship’s name, and are they easily recognizable as belonging to a passenger?

 

 

 

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A few more pics from our balcony

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We headed to breakfast and I don’t have any photos of it so I’m not sure if it was Windjammer or Cafe 270. Sorry about that! I’m going to guess Cafe 270 because this picture has a time stamp of 7:40 AM. It is in The Via near 270. So if that’s the case I got the bagel with cream cheese-salmon-and capers. I love it. I try to eat as much of it as I can on the ships.

 

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Ok time to grab our things and head off the ship. Today we are headed to Horseshoe Bay. We went back and forth between doing this or doing the aquarium and caves. Ultimately we decided to do Horseshoe because we kept hearing how amazing it was.

 

Full disclosure, I’m not a beach guy. I wouldn’t say I don’t like the beach I just get bored at the beach. I can be there for 20 minutes but then I get antsy. I want to go zip lining or go karting or mini golf-something-anything!

 

I loved this picture. Made me laugh. Just made me think of walking the plank.

 

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Is there another Drew that is a CD? We had a Drew on our 2015 Oasis cruise, and we thought he was very lackluster. But, again, subjective. I enjoyed Spectre (didn't understand it, but appreciated the music, etc.). Didn't care for The Gift, but we were sitting on the side of the Balcony (our preferred seats) and maybe just couldn't see enough to be able to follow along.

 

I have to laugh at your not wanting to talk other people at dinner. I can be rather shy, but have learned to make small talk over the years and to include those sitting near us. I'm betting it was an "older" couple, married for a while, with nothing to talk about to each other! After being together for 48 years, DH and I always welcome new people to talk to. But I don't think if you were giving off vibes that you didn't want to talk, I'd still be talking to you. Some people just like to chat with new people, and since they'd seen you before, they felt you were old friends! Don't let it ruin the rest of your cruise!!

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Is there another Drew that is a CD? We had a Drew on our 2015 Oasis cruise, and we thought he was very lackluster. But, again, subjective. I enjoyed Spectre (didn't understand it, but appreciated the music, etc.). Didn't care for The Gift, but we were sitting on the side of the Balcony (our preferred seats) and maybe just couldn't see enough to be able to follow along.

 

I have to laugh at your not wanting to talk other people at dinner. I can be rather shy, but have learned to make small talk over the years and to include those sitting near us. I'm betting it was an "older" couple, married for a while, with nothing to talk about to each other! After being together for 48 years, DH and I always welcome new people to talk to. But I don't think if you were giving off vibes that you didn't want to talk, I'd still be talking to you. Some people just like to chat with new people, and since they'd seen you before, they felt you were old friends! Don't let it ruin the rest of your cruise!!

 

 

I don’t want to come off as a guy who thinks it’s rude to start of a convo with someone. But read the situation/body language haha.

 

 

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So we left the cell phones in the safe in the cabin and grabbed our Fuji Underwater Camera. There was no line to get off the ship. We walked down to the taxi/bus loop. We elected not to do the Royal Horseshoe excursion based on the many helpful tips I got here on CC. Boy am I glad we did. Getting there and back might have been the easiest self-beach trip we have ever done at any of the ports. Added bonus since we over-nighted in Bermuda there was zero chance of missing the ship.

 

So we are walking down the pier and the friendly Bermuda port workers are asking if we need any help finding anything. Pssh, I don't need any help, I read cruise critic, I don't want to waste their time. I know where I am going, I'm going to Zone 5 to pick up my mini-bus with curb to curb service to Horseshoe Bay. We approach the transportation loop and there is a line of maybe 10 people over by the Taxis (it was a little after 9 at this point). My wife asks if that is where we need to go, I assure her it is not because we don't want a taxi. We see the big Zone 5 sign and I am so thankful for cruise critic. We walk over to the median aaaaaaaaaand nothing.

 

There are the buses...but there doesn't seem to be anyone in them...and no one is approaching us...and we are the only two over here. My wife suggests we go over to the taxi line and ask the friendly worker. Ok fine. We go over there and he asks where we want to go and I tell him. He says "oh yes, the mini bus is only $7 a person each way! Let's get you on a bus!" So I follow him with my tail between my legs hahaha.

 

So $28 round trip total. What a deal. The drive is a bit of a hike. I'd say about 30-40 minutes. But this service does drop you off RIGHT at the beach. The public bus drops you off at the street and then you walk down a very tall hill to the beach. Not bad going down, but back up after a long day in the sun?

 

So once we get there we all file out and it's time to pay the driver. Here is just one tiny example of why Bermuda is now my favorite stop. When people handed the guy a $20 for two people he gave back change without even thinking about it. He even went so far as to chase down a guy to give him a $1 because his total was $14 and the guy handed him a $10 and a $5 and walked off! I have never seen that in any Caribbean Island. After seeing that I hand the guy a $20 and tell him to keep it because I was so impressed.

 

Our first view of the beach-apologies for my massive finger in the shot, but it's the only picture I have of this spot.

 

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When we first get there we make an immediate right and check out the little protected lagoon. Hardly any waves, it is perfect of those of you with little ones as the water stays shallow for a bit.

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We only spent a few minutes here. Then it was back out to the main part of the beach. The first thing we noticed was just how soft the sand was. It felt like walking on flour or powdered sugar. And yes the sand is pink. It has pink specks in it from when organisms die off at the reef and then get washed ashore.

 

Umm this place is kinda beautiful

 

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The beach was crowded and it was like like 9:45! But it was only crowded right at the entrance to the beach. We noticed if we walked to the far end there was no one there and it wasn't really that far of a walk. Maybe a couple football fields.

 

This is where we are headed

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This is looking back at where we had come from

 

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We get to the end and throw our towels from the ship down (yes we needed to check them in and out) and out beach bag and we get in the water. My goodness. I have never been in water so crystal clear before and I have been all around the Caribbean. I walk out so the water is to my chest and I can still see my feet! And the waves were perfect. They were those gentle bobbing type of waves that you just kinda float through and do a little jump to keep your head about water.

 

Apologies for some water droplets on the lens :(:(:-/

 

But look, you can see my whole body still!

 

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After a few minutes we noticed some people were walking further down and through some rocks...let's go check it out.

 

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We keep walking and see two huge rocks with a path in between

 

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This leads to another little lagoon and this part of the beach is almost deserted this early in the day I doubt many tourists know about it. When you get to Horseshoe just keep walking! The little lagoon its self wasn't good for swimming but on the other side of the massive rock the beach opens up.

 

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