Anthem of the Seas - 5-night Bermuda Inaugural - LIVE-ISH Blog!

[mpcaruth]

They like cabins to be vacated no later than 8:30AM.

Thanks! I really enjoyed your review.

[kenandcindyc]

First let me say THANK YOU so much for taking the time to do this review/blog! So helpful and such a great job. My family is going on the Anthem 9 night in July and this will be our first cruise ever. This positive review has helped me get excited for our cruise!

 

I watched the Anthem pull into Bermuda via webcam! So great to see your wonderful photos from the ship of the docking! Awesome.

I’m kinda bummed our balcony is on the starboard side Still a nice view. Thanks for posting photos.

I think I kinda want to make a sign that says “HI Webcam Viewers” and jump up and down on the dock with it. LOL

I’m wishing our itinerary was staying overnight in Bermuda…. We only get 8 hrs. in that lovely place.

 

A few ?s:

1) I have hard that the WOW bands are only free to Suite guests…. Do you know if that is true?

2) Was your ship listed as “full” Our July 14th sailing is full, justing wondering how busy it feels.

 

Thanks, Cindy

[CapitalKyle]

Ship to curb in 20 minutes, waiting for a shuttle to Newark Penn Station now.

 

I'll answer more questions and start posting the compasses when I get on the train in a few hours.

 

Goodbye love. It hurts to leave but I'll be back someday!

 

 

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[CapitalKyle]

What time do you have to be out of your cabin on debarkation day? We usually do self assist and try get off the ship as soon as released by customs (to start are long drive home). For our upcoming Anthem, we are staying in NYC a few days afterwards and will not be in a hurry.

 

And thanks so much for your great review!

 

Also, I had read on CruiseCritic about changes to the bus system, and that single trip tickets or tokens will not be available at the Dockyard. The posts indicated that they would be offering single day passes only. However, based on your post earlier, it does not appear this has been implemented. Did you hear any info on this?

 

 

As for the busses, we did not try to take the local bus route so unfortunately I cannot give you a solid answer on that one. We did speak to a woman who says she had purchased a day pass though. I seem to remember reading that what was being removed were the three-day passes.

 

Someone already answered about the time to be out of the cabins, but I'll add that we ended up sitting on the Esplanade from the time we left the cabin until we debarked at 10:15. They do cut off coffee service in Cafe Promenade and La Patisserie at 9ish, I think to try to encourage people to get the heck out of there!

 

 

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[CapitalKyle]

First let me say THANK YOU so much for taking the time to do this review/blog! So helpful and such a great job. My family is going on the Anthem 9 night in July and this will be our first cruise ever. This positive review has helped me get excited for our cruise!

 

I watched the Anthem pull into Bermuda via webcam! So great to see your wonderful photos from the ship of the docking! Awesome.

I’m kinda bummed our balcony is on the starboard side Still a nice view. Thanks for posting photos.

I think I kinda want to make a sign that says “HI Webcam Viewers” and jump up and down on the dock with it. LOL

I’m wishing our itinerary was staying overnight in Bermuda…. We only get 8 hrs. in that lovely place.

 

A few ?s:

1) I have hard that the WOW bands are only free to Suite guests…. Do you know if that is true?

2) Was your ship listed as “full” Our July 14th sailing is full, justing wondering how busy it feels.

 

Thanks, Cindy

 

 

Thank you so much for those kind words :) I'm excited for you and your family to experience Anthem!! For your first cruise, it's going to be quite the experience! You picked a doozie :p

 

Your questions:

1. Yes, WOW bands complimentary for suite guests only. Can be purchased by other guests though.

 

2. The captain announced that we were actually over the double-occupancy capacity on this sailing. So you could say "over-full" :p

 

I'm really glad you asked this question, too, thank you. I wanted to address the fact that, even at greater than double occupancy, this ship never felt crowded to me. Not once. The only times I recall seeing a queue were at peak dinner times, and on the last night the standby line for Spectra's Cabaret. Major positive marks for that, in my opinion!

 

 

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[Peeker28]

No issues getting transportation to the train station? I'm hoping there will be plenty of cabs. Also if you can let me know how long it took to get to the train station. I have train tickets for 1:40 pm and want to plan accordingly.

[CapitalKyle]

Interested to hear how debarkation went, and if you traveled to Newark Airport how long did it take

 

 

Debarkation was very smooth for us, though I'm sure you'd get a different story from someone with one of those early tag numbers. It was a mob scene as I mentioned before, but that wasn't Royal's fault, the port wouldn't let them start debarking on time.

 

Ship to curb in 20 minutes, add in a little time waiting for the shuttle to fill up with people, and we were dropping people off at Newark airport by 11:15 give or take 5-10 minutes. Was $25/person for the shuttle. Follow the signs for the taxi stand, the shuttles leave from the same spot.

 

 

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Edited May 5, 2016 by CapitalKyle

[CapitalKyle]

No issues getting transportation to the train station? I'm hoping there will be plenty of cabs. Also if you can let me know how long it took to get to the train station. I have train tickets for 1:40 pm and want to plan accordingly.

 

 

No issues, though they did say that it was going to take 45 minutes to get a cab. Not sure if that's a common occurrence or just a shortage today in particular. We were able to hop onto a shuttle primarily dropping people at Newark airport. Just pulled up to Newark Penn and its 11:50. For a 1:40 train you should be done doing what we did.

 

Timeline was roughly this:

 

10:15 - got in line to debark Anthem

10:35 - walked out the door after passing through customs

11:15 - dropped people off at Newark airport

11:50 - got off the shuttle at Newark Penn Station

 

 

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[janeyzee]

Ship to curb in 20 minutes, add in a little time waiting for the shuttle to fill up with people, and we were dropping people off at Newark airport by 11:15 give or take 5-10 minutes. Was $25/person for the shuttle. Follow the signs for the taxi stand, the shuttles leave from the same spot.

 

That's great to know, we plan to walk off too and are in no hurry since our flight is at 2:25pm. Did you have to arrange for the $25 shuttle beforehand, or just walk up to it and get on?

[kenandcindyc]

Kyle,

Thank you for answering my questions. I appreciate it.

I'm excited and nervous for our first cruise. :)

 

Cindy

[Brocktoon623]

Just catching up, but wanted to say thanks for posting such an amazing review with a lot of great pics.

 

My Anthem cruise is still 6 months out, but I'm getting pumped seeing what I can look forward to.

[sddsddean]

Just a quickie to say thanks for doing this. I've been following since the start, as we recently booked the Anthem for August/September....2017!!:eek:. Hope not too much has changed by then!

 

Thanks again

 

Simon

[crc825]

Thank you so much for your wonderful review of Anthem! We sail in October and reading your review and seeing your pictures are so crazy excited!!! Thank you again for taking the time. The information will be so helpful!:)

[ZambiniGold]

I'll add to the thanks - appreciate your interaction with all of us and answering questions / providing great pics. Glad you enjoyed your cruise, and looking forward to checking out the Cruise Compasses this afternoon (assuming your train is leaving soon if not already) :)

[DonnaK]

Good morning all. It's a sad day, saying goodbye to your new favorite ship! :(

 

We decided to walk off with our luggage, but not at the 7:15-7:45 window. Our train is not until 12:30pm, so our plan is to wait until they kick us out :rolleyes:

 

When we went down for breakfast in Two70 at 8:10, they had not yet released any luggage numbers to go ashore, something about the port facility being super-busy and not permitting the ship to debark. Self assist did get off, because I saw them on the gangway from our balcony.

 

Anyway, because no one could leave, it was packed wall-to-wall people from the Esplanade all the way through the Via.

 

We fought our way through and had a nice breakfast sitting in Two70, enjoying it for the last time this trip. They finally started releasing groups to go ashore at 8:30.

 

Speaking of Two70, we saw Spectra's Cabaret last night, wow! It was a great show and really showed off the versatility of that space. It is definitely a must see!

 

 

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Just as a point of reference, we did self-assist and got on the line about 7am. We were as far back as the Two270 cafe. The line started moving at 7:20am, and by that time, the line had looped all the way through 270 and back to the esplanade. Still, it only took us 15 minutes to get off the ship, through customs and into the parking garage.

 

The ship needs to re-evaluate how they line the people up for self-disembarkation, especially on shorter cruise when more people choose this option. There isn't enough space for everyone to line up in a loop down the via and through 270 and back. People start forming their own lines, and those coming off the mid-ship elevators aren't sure where to go as they enter the via in the middle of the line. It gets very chaotic and people aren't so patient or tolerant.

[CapitalKyle]

Just as a point of reference, we did self-assist and got on the line about 7am. We were as far back as the Two270 cafe. The line started moving at 7:20am, and by that time, the line had looped all the way through 270 and back to the esplanade. Still, it only took us 15 minutes to get off the ship, through customs and into the parking garage.

 

 

 

The ship needs to re-evaluate how they line the people up for self-disembarkation, especially on shorter cruise when more people choose this option. There isn't enough space for everyone to line up in a loop down the via and through 270 and back. People start forming their own lines, and those coming off the mid-ship elevators aren't sure where to go as they enter the via in the middle of the line. It gets very chaotic and people aren't so patient or tolerant.

 

 

Hi Donna! I hope you guys had a fabulous time, the debarkation line notwithstanding?! And thanks for the additional perspective, I know it can be really different depending on when you get there.

 

 

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[CapitalKyle]

That's great to know, we plan to walk off too and are in no hurry since our flight is at 2:25pm. Did you have to arrange for the $25 shuttle beforehand, or just walk up to it and get on?

 

 

We did not have to arrange ahead of time, just followed the signs for the taxi stand and they were in the same area. You do have to cross the street to get there, once you reach where the parking garage is.

 

 

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[CapitalKyle]

Well guys, the internet was TERRIBLE on the train and so after fighting with my work laptop to check emails I had no time to do the compasses. But they're coming now!

 

First, Coastal Kitchen menu from last night. AMAZING meal, the best we had on the ship. We were also able to invite three non-suite guests to join us without a problem, which I was under the impression wasn't possible going into the cruise.

 

Even the 'classics' were prepped in a special way. The Caesar salad came out not in a china bowl but in a crispy thin bread bowl with a toasted Parmesan crisp on top. Delish!

 

 

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[CapitalKyle]

Cruise Compass - Day 1

 

 

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[SportsFanatic]

I just wanted to say thanks so much for taking the time to send all these wonderful pictures and update us on the cruise. looks like according to the weather you got out just in time! Some heavy rains and wind coming in glad you had a great time and thanks again so much

[CapitalKyle]

Cruise Compass - Day 2

 

 

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[CapitalKyle]

Cruise Compass - Day 3

 

 

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[CapitalKyle]

Bermuda shopping insert from Day 3's Compass:

 

 

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[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Thank you so much for the compasses.

 

I hate to be a pain, but would you mind adding the afternoon/evening activity schedule for Day 2?

[CapitalKyle]

Cruise Compass - Day 4

 

 

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