Irish13

I too was in this cruise and was sickened with the Noro Virus.

Before we boarded there were people here on Cruise Critic posting that on the previous cruise that there was reports of an outbreak. I was trying to be very cautious to wash my hands and use sanitizer as much as possible but by day 4 it hit my and I was down. I am so very thankful that so far out of the 7 of us that went I was the only one to get it. But I can tell you I witnessed them spraying two times and in addition spraying the door knobs to our rooms almost every night. There were so many people throwing up so how they are saying only 98 people had it I find very hard to believe. I will tell you like the lady reported on the news there were hand sanitizing stations that were empty and restrooms out of soap but I know I reported it right away and went to a different location to clean my hands.

The cruise staff was very aware of the situation because I talked to several staff members who told me they were advised to stay clear of public areas as much as possible and not to eat from the public areas so they did not cross contaminate the food.

I am an avid cruiser and have never experienced anything like this before and yes I am very disappointed and upset that I missed two days of my vacation and spending time with my family but I do believe they were doing everything they could to stop the situation from getting worse.

In addition there were over 1,000 kids onboard this cruise ....

They also delayed the next boarding till 12pm so they could again do another deep cleaning.

To all that were affected I hope that you feel better soon I know my stomach is still a mess.

Well then you would not want to go to Haiti I had to yell at this guy because he kept pulling me trying to get me to come to his little area to buy something. I was politely telling him I would be right there but he just would stop. After that I was done ...

The Straw market is terrible, my daughter was so upset after going there. The vendors are extremely pushy, and then one started insulting us when we politely declined purchasing anything. But that was just one, other vendors were not rude, just very pushy. I would not recommend going there at all.

Why do you say stay away from the straw market?

Yea Nassau port area is pretty bad, but the great thing about Nassau is there is a lot of options for a variety of budgets.

 

I actually enjoyed taking a cab to the free beach next to Atlantis last time. The waves were huge. Have also taken the jitney down to the Melia area and had a good time. I have taken the jitney to the fish fry and walked back thru Junkanoo.

 

Just stay away from the straw market and you will be good.

I think this is what we are going to do because there are no excursions that really interest me and we really just want to go to the beach. How long did it take you to walk there ? There will be one other ship in port so hopefully it won't be too busy.

Oh sorry....gosh I'm sorry, I was thinking of another thread I posted about Blue Lagoon. My apologies.

 

 

You just head outside the port and go right. Then you just follow the road, which will turn kind of left (no choice, that's how the road curves close to Senor Frogs) and then it will curve back around to the right. The beach is right around the corner from there basically. There's signs along the way so it would be very hard to get lost.

 

 

 

No I am talking agoing to Junkanoo beach..

How did you know how to get there ?

Here's the link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=42983253 The review starts at post #478.

 

 

We booked with the cruise line because our other option was to go on our own by going outside the terminal and having to catch a cab over to Paradise and then catching the ferry over to Blue Lagoon. We wanted to make the most of our day and take the easiest route, plus I liked the fact that when you do the cruise excursion, they pick you up (the ferry) right inside the gate and no worries about all the hassling you get from people outside the gate. A lot of other people go the cab route and then transfer to the ferry. You could do either way.

Thanks so much for responding..

I tried to click on the tab and it comes up as an error .. Can you send me the link ?

Also how did you get directions on how to get there ?

We went to Junkanoo fairly recently. It was an easy walk, no worries about safety to/from for us, beach was decent and great shots of the ships in port from the beach. It's definitely a cheap (can be free if you don't want to rent a chair or buy food/drinks) and easy day.

 

 

I did a full review with TONS of pictures and you can find it in my signature line. :)

I can tell you we went to Eagle Beach and it was nice until the wind blew ..

When the wind blew it made the sand fly and it felt like you were getting stung my kids were screaming their heads off..

This was post #193 - It does not seem there was any response to it. We will be in Aruba in late August 2017 via the Vista. Port time is 1:30PM - 10:30PM. We will be traveling with some small children and I recall that the beach in front of the Hilton and Marriott Ocean Club on Palm beach had a very sharp dip to get into the water. I actually had some difficulty getting in and out of the water. This was in early 2015.

I am therefore concerned to take the kids there. Besides answering the above questions about Reflexions, can someone comment on the water access on Palm Beach?

Thanks Lyn

Has anyone been to Junkanoo Beach and if so what was your experience? The reviews are so different it's hard to really tell.

The pirate tour may be fun with the museum, there's also a glass-bottom boat option. You'll get more ideas by posting on the Bahamas port forum.

I actually did look into that and it is not only extremely expensive but the reviews are horrible. Basically saying Day pass holders are treated differently than people staying in the hotel and that they have priority over the day pass holders. I don't want to spend all day waiting in line especially not for that much money.

I am really looking for a nice beach to go to if you have any suggestions.

Thanks for responding

Have you looked at the options for passes to the Atlantis water park?

And a tour of the Dig is worthwhile for everyone.

Looking for something to do with a 6 and 9 yr old when we stop in Nassau. I have not been there in about 12 years and it was not so great back then so looking for some safe too.

Thanks

Dining is at 5:30 pm

Is this a recent change? it was 5:30 pm when I cruised in March.

 

My notes on Anthem : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2477079

Similar thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2496005

How is Melia Beach Resort ? Would you recommend it and if so what is the price for a day pass ?

What are your thoughts on Nassau?

We've traveled here a couple of times, and find it to be one of the worst Ports of Call. You are harassed by the locals as soon as you leave the ship. Traffic around the pier is horrible. About 20 years ago this may have been a nice place to visit, but now is just a place to get drunk or buy cheap souveniers.

We have done the Atlantis and Melia Beach Resort a couple of times.

After our last cruise I told my wife we wont be getting off the ship next time if we go through here again.

Like everyone is saying make sure you book everything because if you don't you won't be able to do it.. Therr are so many people on board and you could try to do stand by but I saw a lot of people that wasted their time standing in line only to still be turned away. And the other thing is be early for your reservation if you come late there is a good chance your spot will be given away.

The dining room was not a good experience for us I felt like it was completely disorganized unfortunately and we found ourselves paying to eat at specialty restaurants or just eating at the buffet. I will tell you we loved the pizza place who doesn't love pizza right and they will make custom pizzas for you just ask. If you have any other questions just ask .. We are looking to book Anthem again in November just waiting for the prices to drop some .. My kids cried when we got off the ship they loved it so much !

Is there a thread that will teach me the basics of Anthem of the Seas? My 21 year old son picked this ship and it has a few more bells and whistles that I am used to.

 

Boarding

Room keys

On board account

Booking shows

The roads there were extremely curvey I was so nauseous in no time at all.

We were looking at this tour also? Did the roads seem really windy? Just a little worried about motion sickness. thanks

So after reading your review it made me realize how much I wanted to do Jewel of the Seas because it is the only Royal Caribbean ship that I could find that goes to St Croix which we really wanted to visit. My only concern is that we have to fly to San Juan and just checking some of the airline prices for this year they are rather expensive. I was kinda surprised because it is only like a 4 hour flight. We are booked for next year so I have a lot to research before we go.

I wanted to ask you what hotel did you stay at before your trip and was it nice would you recommend it ? How were the prices ? Also did you have to stay an extra day when you got off of the ship? As you know I will be traveling with an 9 yr old and 6 yr old so trying to make this as easy as possible :)

Thanks

I swore if I ever ended up at another place that had this, I'd do it. (I'm not ticklish anywhere, so it wouldn't bother me...I just had no idea what it was for or about when we went this time around).

 

Buy your own fish :eek: :D I never thought of that. Can you buy these fish? LOL

We are also not a fan of Jamaica ..

As of mother with young kids 8 and 5 I did not feel safe there one bit .. We took an excursion with RCCL and we were going to the beach when we got to the beach there were several people just lurking around. We went into the water and tried our best to keep and eye on things and even still they went through all of our things. Luckily I had all of the money I brought shoved in a pack of tissues so they never saw it.

Then on another trip we took there on the way to the beach they had us sign a waiver saying they were not responsible for anything at all that happened to you or your belongings and if you didn't sign they wouldn't let you off of the bus. And I should also mention this was also another excursion through RCCL.

It is beautiful there don't get me wrong but our safety is more important and when you are traveling by yourself that's one thing but when you are with smaller kids I would never take the chance agin and would just stay onboard.

Hello everyone,

 

We are planning our first cruise with Royal Caribbean for June, 2017.

It will be part of a month trip in USA: two adults (40+) and two kids (ages 8 and 13).

 

We are debating between two options:

1. Harmony of the Seas to Western Caribbean (Haiti, Falmouth Jamaica, Cozumel)

2. Oasis of the Seas to Eastern Caribbean (Nassau Bahamas, St. Thomas, St. Marteen)

 

We love beautiful white-sand beaches, and would like to have a swim with dolphins.

 

The younger child is not ready yet for a snorkeling tour, but the older child loves adventures (e.g. parasail etc.)

 

Which of these itineraries will be nicer? What about the weather in late June?

We have been trying to do Disney for years but I can do two 12 nights on Royal for the price of one Disney and I just can't justify doing that. How did you get such a big on board credit ? That's great !!!

It is so much fun to have friends sailing with you that's for sure we met a family through Cruise Critic years ago and really hit it off and have sailed and vacationed with them it has been great.

Haha, that is cute. I think our girls just didn't give Adventure Ocean a chance, and that they had their best of friends with them (4th time sailing together), they were happy wherever they were.

 

No, we didn't rebook onboard. We'll likely do another RCI but we want to keep things open in case we decide on a vacation that's completely different.

 

Yep, we took advantage of stacking 30% off and Kids Sail Free, was ~$3100 and received $425 OBC, total far less than any Disney we've done. I'm surprised they weren't more children on board, great promo.

I am really surprised your kids didn't like it .. My son is 5 and my daughter 8 and they always make such great friends that they always want to go there. My son met his first love he still talks about her almost on a daily basis it's too cute.

I booked Anthem again while we were onboard but they only had dates till April 2018 but the later dates are said to be coming out in the beginning of March so when they do I will be changing it. Also hopefully they do another kids sail free soon that's what we got on this cruise did you catch that sale ?

We also hit Diamond status on this last cruise so excited for our next cruise to get the perks 😊.

Did you book anything while onboard? If not in the future do it you can change the date as many times as you want as long as it is before final payment and also when you book onboard you get extra perks and only have to put a minimal deposit do its great I always have a extra booking out there.

Thanks! My kids have been on Disney a few times and they equated Anthem's Adventure Ocean to looking like a dungeon lol. I signed them up the first day, and they never went, and said no every time we offered. That said, this was also their favourite trip/cruise so far. It could be that they're older elementary now and physical activity appeals to them more, plus they never gave AO a chance.

 

My younger one just watched the video again this morning before school and had a big smile, took her iPod to show her friends. Where are you going next? We want to do another RC, definitely more than 7d, maybe a different itinerary.

Great Video

We were are the same sailing as you and often saw your family the girls were too cute and always seemed to be having a blast !! My kids were in tears as we were leaving they have sailed a lot but this was by far their favorite ship and can't wait to go back. I booked another sailing on Anthem while onboard but knew I was going to change it as soon as the later dates come out in March. Did your kids do the kids club at all ? My kids loved it and never wanted to come with us.

Thanks for the info ... When Royal Caribbean does the kids sail free it saves us so much money... More to spend on excursions ect...

We have not seen very many, if any "kids sail free" Carnival Promo's. We are certainly deal shoppers though. Carnival can be very active but like all ships not in all places all of the time. The main pool during the day is quite active but the back pool isn't. It is easy to avoid the activity or join in when in the mood. At least that is what we find. We do a bit of both so we like the option to be around some high energy. However, our favorite days are always when everyone gets off the boat at a port and we have the ship to ourselves.

Oh absolutely..

It was actually two counselors per age group. However, I think there were a lot more kids than usual since it was the Xmas/New Years sailing.

 

I would suggest you stop by Adventure Ocean to get an idea about the amount of staff per amount of children on the ship before making your decision.

Having at least a little non-kid time is so needed!!

 

 

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We have not ever tried Carnival mostly because I have heard that it can be rather rowdy and that is not for me at all. If there is a party or activity etc that is fine but I don''t want that around me all the time. I like to sit back and relax because after all I am on vacation and when the kids go to the kids club I just want to relax with my husband. When we are at home we rarely get to do anything alone so we do take advantage of it.

I do love the idea of pizza and ice cream all the time : I make our family take the steps every time and not the elevator that is our way of working off all the snacks we eat lol.

Do you know if Carnival ever does Kids Sail Free ... I have gotten some really amazing rates on Royal Caribbean with this promotion.

Wow, thanks for the detailed and thoughtful reply. You have not tried Carnival with kids? I can not speak for the other cruise lines but we have some thoughts on Carnival. They have some really kids kids programs from young to older kids too. They also have free, 24 hour ice cream and pizza! This is a HUGE bonus for us. The ships themselves are also quite high energy which allows the option to participate in or avoid the activity. Since we have early nights with out young kids, we find ourselves taking part of the rowdier part of the day. Before we had kids it was the opposite. Anyway, just a few thoughts.

They are supposed to have a counselor for each age group .. Safety is the most important thing and if I do not feel like they are adquitly staffed my kids won't be staying.

The Adventure Ocean staff was ok. They weren't great, but not totally disengaged. Truthfully, I just think they're understaffed. At most there were two counselors but at busy times one of the staff members had to be checking kids in/out. My 4 and 6 year olds both said they had fun and wanted to go each day for 1-2 hours - so that was good. I, however, was not overly impressed.

 

 

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Cute video and the kids really look like they had a blast we have been cruising with our kids too since they were only a few months old and have learned so much with each cruise my kids are now 8 and 5 and our next cruise will be their 7th and 6th cruises. When they were younger it was a bit more challenging but you need to just think outside of the box. We sail exclusively with Royal Caribbean and when they were very young they had a toy lending program which was great and as soon as the kids were bored with the toys we got you could go back and exchange for a new bag of toys. We would go to venues that were not in use and let the kids roam around where we knew it was safe. The pool situation was hard as they are not allowed in the water with any sort of diaper on. We were very skeptical about the kids clubs but we were given a tour and told there are more cameras in the kids club then there are in the casinos which made us feel a lot better and we also just randomly pop up from time to time and our kids usually start yelling no we don't want to go.

As far as traveling on the islands not having car seats is still hard for me to deal with but my husband has one kid by him and I have one by me always. I will tell you there have been instances where I have been more scared taking the kids on the little ferry or taxi boats then anything. One thing I can't stress enough is using sun block reapplying it all the time and keeping them covered as much as possible I have seen so many kids (adults too) fried and that is one sure way to ruin your vacation.

We love cruising as a family it gives it a lot of family time together but also some much needed adult time too while the kids have their own fun.

Swim Diaper. No she was not potty trained but she also does not have a lot of accidents. However, I do think it will depend on the ship and the crew at that time. You may or may not be asked to leave the pool. Another tip is to bring along a small blow up pool to play with it beside the pool. We did that for when they were both 7 months old, on their first cruise and it worked great! If I get a chance I can look for a picture to upload and post it on the board. Are you on Carnival?

Leaving in a few days on Anthem was wondering how your kids liked Adventure Ocean ? I have noticed from sailing that when there are not many kids on board the staff tend to slack off and don't do as much with the kids which makes me upset so I am hoping that this is not the case on this cruise as it was on our last cruise.

The ship is beautiful and spotless. We really had a wonderful family trip!!!

 

My overall reason for giving 4 stars instead of 5 stars is for the reasons below. Enjoy reading and please contact me if you need any other info!

 

We were in a balcony cabin (#9570) and had our kids (age 4 & 6) sleep on the pull out couch. It was great to have the angled larger balcony since there wasn't much space in the cabin with the four of us. I was under the impression that the sofa bed would get folded up each day to make more room --- However, it was left open for the entire cruise causing a very cramped cabin. With that being said - we hardly used the cabin so it wasn't much of an issue. However, I would seek out a larger cabin or a different set up (perhaps 2 adjoining cabins?) -- but only if the price made sense. Please note that the beds are super firm. We asked our cabin attendant to put a topper on it, and she did - which helped a little bit.

 

The public areas of the ship seemed crowded and cramped at times, but those crowded areas were easy to avoid. The Esplanade area of shops was a traffic flow nightmare and there were usually people wall-to-wall unless it was first thing in the morning. Again - this was easy to avoid, but worth noting.

 

Having 3 pools (one of which is adults only) was GREAT. This greatly dispersed guests and we were always able to find a lounger or two on the deck. If you prefer a chair (or group of chairs) close to the pool you will have to wake up very early (before 8am) and put personal belongings on chairs. Chair hogs were in full effect and the staff would not move these belongings even if the chair was not occupied for 30 minutes or more. So, you have to "play the game" if you would like a chair right by one of the pools.

 

The Sunshine Bar in the solarium was wonderful. One of the bartenders (from Ukraine, but I can't remember her name) would make the most delicious protein/banana/granola/almond smoothies for me each morning and they were WONDERFUL! (The smoothies are included on the Royal Replenish drink package.)

 

Dining was hit or miss. We ate in our main dining room Chic for 7 out of 10 nights. The dining staff worked very hard to accommodate everyone and really wanted everyone to have a positive dining experience. With that being said, the food was hit or miss. Sometimes the main dining room food was amazing, and sometimes it was simply not good. The positive meals definitely outweighed the bad ones, though.

 

We ate breakfast daily in 270. It was never crowded and the coffee was so much better here than in the other areas of the ship. The coffee barista here was amazing. He would make the most beautiful cappuccinos for me each morning.

 

Windjammer was always packed. Too many people all in one spot for my liking, so I never ate here. Plenty of other places to eat. 270 was great for a quick lunch. The dining room Grande had a really nice salad bar and sit-down lunch options too.

 

We ate in Chops twice and Jamie's once. Both restaurants are exemplary.

 

Overall, service on the ship was great. Yes, there were a few staff members that didn't seem to have much personality, but none of them were rude or surly. Only one staff member rubbed us the wrong way - I can't remember his name but he was one of the "Next Cruise" staff members. He was very annoyed that we were asking questions about future cruises and and he really didn't want to give us multiple price quotes on different future sailings. So, we left the desk and came back later in the day and worked with another agent who was very helpful and beyond nice. We ended up putting down a deposit for a future cruise with him. All other employees were really great.

 

I read many reviews on Cruise Critic bashing the bar staff on the ship. We never had a negative experience. Some of the bars are grossly understaffed (only one bartender during busy times) but that is not a knock on the bartenders, but on overall management. All alcohol is strictly measured out, so you don't have to worry about "short" pours.

 

We were on the cruise for Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years. All of the holidays were lovely and the cruise really tried to make it festive for the holidays with special event. They had menorah lighting ceremony every night, Santa giving gifts to all children on Christmas day, big NYE parties in multiple locations on the ship. (To note: even if your family doesn't celebrate Christmas they had a time during the day for the kids to pick up their holiday gift without Santa too!)

 

Cleanliness is paramount on this ship. They are constantly reminding people to wash their hands with a cute music video and jingle that is played over and over and over and over. I loved it! We had a very bad experience at a Beaches resort last year with a norovirus outbreak that was horrendous. The amount of cleaning and hand washing on this ship is so far and above anything we encountered at Beaches. I really think the Anthem staff is doing everything they can to minimize the spread of germs.

 

Entertainment was good. We Will Rock You had a terrible plot, but the music was fantastic. Even my 4 and 6 year old kids loved it! The live music that was on the ship was good but not great. My husband went to the Led Zepplin cover band and he said they were amazing. The ventriloquist was awesome. The house band "Synergy" is exactly what you would envision as an old-school house cruise ship band. We really enjoyed them.

 

My husband and I are in our late-30s and we traveled with my in-laws (early 70's) and our kids (ages 4 and 6). It's hard to make all generations happy --- and I think the Anthem did this very very well! Our 6 year old had a ton to do (iFly, rock wall, trapeze, bumper cars) but there was not much for the 4 year old as far as activities. However, she really enjoyed the kids' Adventure Ocean program. The camp staff didn't seem to have the best personalities, but my daughter was happy and requested to go play there, so I can't complain :)

 

As far as motion on the ship - yes, we felt motion at times. None of us ever got full-on sea sick, but our son got very nauseous one day when it was particularly rocky. We gave him a kids Dramamine and within a hour he said he felt better. He's not a kid who complains about that stuff, so the Dramamine must have worked. I found that taking "Sailors Secret" ginger pills helped me a ton. There was only one day out of the 10 that really bothered me - I think it was the 2nd sea day. Of course, this all depends on the wind and sea conditions.

 

Our North Star ride was cancelled for high winds and we got rescheduled to Day 10. However, when Day 10 rolled around, it was canceled due to high winds again. BOO!!! Of course, this was out of everyone's control. Oh well. Now we'll just have to sail on the Anthem again in order to try it out!!! ;)

 

As far as activities, you MUST pre-reserve your activities before getting on the Anthem!!!!!! I can't stress this enough. There are simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. Period. For the activities that you cannot pre-reserve such as bumper cars, rock climbing, trapeze -- you MUST show up 20 to 30 minutes before the "opening time" or else you will be waiting on a very very long line. Again, simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. This annoyed me, but my son and husband didn't really care so they would just show up half an hour early and hang out before the activity opened up. They both got to try all of the special "adventurous" activities on the ship except for the FlowRider because my son did not meet the height requirement :)

 

The Royal IQ app is a joke. Do NOT spend the $7.95 for text messaging. It simply is not reliable and does not work over half of the time. The phone calling to another passenger w/ the Royal IQ app does not work. Ever. The only thing the app is good for is to change/view/cancel any dining or activity reservations. Also good to view the daily Cruise Compass so you don't have to carry around the printed paper.

 

You must check your account statement and make sure you get credit for any reservations you pre-reserved and canceled. We found many many errors on our account and had to have them rectified. RCCL's pre-cruise website is absolutely terrible and we had many errors on our account. Just be on top of it.

 

We would not hesitate to go on the Anthem again. We live in NJ and it was so easy to get to the port and back. Bayonne has everything down to a science and both embarkation and disembarkation was totally smooth.