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On Anthem. Waiting patiently for sail away!!

mom2mnem
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mom2mnem

mom2mnem

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I think I left off with day 2..the first full day on the ship. Sh still wasn't feeling too great after dinner, but we decided to see the show "The Gift" anyway. We cancelled our plans for Spectras Cabaret for later that evening. The kids were off with their new found friends. The show was ok. If was very Dicken's like. A lot of special effects as most things on this ship . It was a short show , at just under and hour. We did notice that the boat was not rocking anymore. After the show we headed to the room as we were both exhausted and DH just needed a rest. We were going to be setting the clocks ahead an hour and we needed all the sleep we could get.

 

We all woke up on Day 3 feeling 100% better. No motion at all. This was Monday and our first day in Bermuda. I had booked us all on a mini-bus tour that would take us up one side of the island and back down the other, giving us a chance to see as many tourist attractions as possible. The tour was great, loved our tour guide. It was a long tour that started at 9:45 and brought us back around 3:30. Everyone seemed a bit tired--and we caught our kids nodding off from time to time ( as well as some other tour guests). From there we explored the shops in the port and then headed back to the ship

 

I had read about the "Bonfires on the Beach" and thought it would be a nice thing to do. My middle son went to meet his basketball friends and the other two decided to come with us. We did not do the ships excursion as I had known that it was better to walk there on our own. WARNING>>>>>>>DON"T BOTHER WITH THIS AT ALL!!! It was awful and a waste of money!! When we got there we were informed it was $25 entry fee ($15 of amy daughter). It would include 2 rum swizzles, a smores pack and entry to the night time bar/disco party. I wasn't sure this was a god idea as I know we wouldn't be going back for a disco party. My son ( age 19) was planning on returning, however. DH decided we should just do it and catch the sunset etc... What a waste of time. We each had our rum swizzles....hadnt eaten since lunch on the tour and I didn't even feel a buzz. The smores pack was a joke. It was a little plastic sandwich baggie. Mine had 2 graham crackers, 2 small pieces of chocolate, and 2 marshmallows. Everyone else had 1 graham cracker, 1 small piece of chocolate and 2 marshmallows. Bonfire??? non existent.

 

We finally headed back so my daughter could meet up with friends. My son had wanted to go out to one of the bars , but not alone. He hadn't run into any kids his age other than the first night that we encouraged him to go to the 18+ meet up at the Bionic bar....no one showed up. just 2 young men ( brothers). He decide dot try and find some kids his own age, and we ended up eating some pizza for a snack and wondering into the Royal Theater.

 

We were glad we decided to go to the Royal Theater. They had a group called "Edge Effect" that were fantastic. They were an acapella group and we thoroughly enjoyed listening to them. Afterwards we tried the casino for a bit then went back to our room as DH likes to be well rested before a dive.

 

Lisa

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mom2mnem

mom2mnem

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This was now Tuesday and DH had to leave by 8:15 for his dive. I was planning on letting the kids sleep late then heading to Horseshoe Bay. Dh warned me that storms were coming sometime around 1pm and I should rethink my plans. I woke up the kids and said "lets go". We stopped for coffee and cinnamon buns first then headed to find a shuttle. No problem. Big signs that say " Horseshoe Bay Shuttle $7"

 

We arrived around 10 am and rented 4 chairs and 2 umbrellas at a cost of $80. The beach wasn't too crowded at that point and for what we are used to on our Long Island Beaches, it never really seemed to get too bad. There were plenty of chairs left, but no umbrellas as the day went on. We only stayed until 12. The beach was beautiful. We walked for a bit in both directions and explored. So many private areas to lay your town or place your chairs.

 

When we left we found the shuttle to take us back very easily. The rain started coming down as we were driving and let up by the time we got to port. We took a walk to the Frog and Onion and had a nice lunch before returning to the ship. (When we got to the gangway there was an ambulance and we were redirected to the other gangway.) The rest of the day it just poured.

 

***A note on the gangway... this was our first time that we were on a ship that docked in port so we were clueless. When we left the ship for the second time on Monday we went down to the "gangway" and there was no exit. We weren't the only ones either. I found someone to ask about it and was told we had to go midship and I was given directions. Like the pied piper, they all followed me and we found the mid ship gangway.***

 

DH had finished his dive. He had a good time, but was surprised at the lack of sea creatures to be seen. He grabbed some lunch and we ended up on the Balcony watching for late comers. Not much action there.

 

The kids were off again and we had a dinner booked for Wonderland. It was an interesting experience and I ate things I would never normally eat ( tuna tartare for example, duck liver). We walked out full and enjoyed the experience. we finished close to 930 so we missed another performance of "Edge Effect" in the Music Hall.

 

We finally had the opportunity to see if our oldest son found people to meet up with. He did...seems the casino is the place to look. He found a nice group which included the 2 young men from the first night and he hung out with all of them for the rest of the cruise. ( when he wasn't in the gym or using the hot tubs)

 

Another quick trip to the casino and all was good. ( I didn't win big, but on penny and quarter slots I made $30 each of the two nights playing on a $20 bill)

 

Lisa

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FireStation46

FireStation46

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First and last, enjoy your cruise. If you want, you can always have room service. I get a kick out of 15-year olds, especially girls. Mine thought I was dumb as a rock. 10 years later, now she thinks i am smarter than a rock and even.....pretty cool.:)

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dpostman

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Thanks for your review. Glad to hear that your DH got to go diving. My son(17) and I just got our open water certification a month ago, and my DD(12) will complete hers next weekend. We are going on Anthem next March and hope to book a diving excursion in Coco Cay. That particular excursion does exist, but it is not yet listed for purchase on our cruise planner yet. I'm hoping it opens up soon, cause it cost me a small fortune to get all 3 of us certified.

 

I'm looking forward to reading more of your review.

 

dp

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mom2mnem

mom2mnem

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Sorry , but I have been MIA. A lot has been going on since we got back. We had a wedding that weekend,work started again, the dog seemed to have tummy trouble, my daughter fractured her ankle, DH and middle son just left for 10 days to attend an encampment at Stratton Air Force base ( as members of Civil Air Patrol), and I have been spending time with my mom who had surgery a week before our cruise ( and was released from the hospital the day before we left).

 

We spent our last day on the ship just relaxing. We started our morning with the kids having breakfast at Chic/Grande. I had the french toast and 2 of the kids had the nutella crepe. DH had an omelette and one son had biscuits and gravy. My french toast and the kids crepes arrived almost instantaneously. Guessing that, once again, pre made chafing dish items. The other two dishes took a bit longer. The first time we had the nutgall crepes there was a little packet of nutella included on our plate. This time they gave the kids syrup. They asked for the nutella and it the waiter said he had to see if he could find any. It took a while, but they finally got some. Later on, DH and I tried some Bingo. They had it in the music hall instead of the theater. It was not too convenient in the music hall. Very limited seating. We spent some time on the balcony just lounging around, and getting our packing started. Later that evening, as I mentioned in another post, we went to Solarium Bistro for dinner then we jut watch the sun setting from some loungers in the solarium. Afterwards we caught a showing of Spectras Cabaret. It was different. Visually appealing. It was a pretty quiet day, not much to report. I hope to be able to add some pictures soon.

 

Lisa

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mom2mnem

mom2mnem

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Thanks for your review. Glad to hear that your DH got to go diving. My son(17) and I just got our open water certification a month ago, and my DD(12) will complete hers next weekend. We are going on Anthem next March and hope to book a diving excursion in Coco Cay. That particular excursion does exist, but it is not yet listed for purchase on our cruise planner yet. I'm hoping it opens up soon, cause it cost me a small fortune to get all 3 of us certified.

 

I'm looking forward to reading more of your review.

 

dp

 

I hope you enjoy your dive with your kids! My kids have not expressed a huge interest in diving, but occasionally they mention it. It is a big expense!! DH got a gift certificate for scuba lessons on competing his graduate degree 25 yrs ago.he tries to dive at least once on each vacation. He has gotten some great pictures!

 

Lisa

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mom2mnem

mom2mnem

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First and last, enjoy your cruise. If you want, you can always have room service. I get a kick out of 15-year olds, especially girls. Mine thought I was dumb as a rock. 10 years later, now she thinks i am smarter than a rock and even.....pretty cool.:)

 

We kept forgetting about room service this trip!! I don't know why. My son and some of his friends ordered it and he even showed us pictures, yet we still forgot!! I can't wait until my kids appreciate how smart I really am!!

 

Lisa

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mom2mnem

mom2mnem

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I am trying to remember anything I can add to this commentary.

 

Anthem is a beautiful ship. Visually appealing, technologically advanced. That didn't really do much for us. We all agreed that we preferred the Allure cruise we took. We liked the "neighborhoods", Dh missed the Aqua Theater.

 

Bionic bar was interesting. Only one arm was working throughout the cruise. No one was really ever in there. Just a small handful of people at any given time.

 

When we went to the Welcome Aboard show, we arrived 30 min early figuring there would be a line. Nope. No lines. No one really showed up early to any of the shows we saw. The theaters never got very crowded for any of the shows we saw.

 

I know you can't always predict if a ship with be docked Starboard or Port, but do take into consideration that there is a Pirate Ship ( party boat) at the end of the dock. There is also a restaurant/bar not too far away. If you are sensitive to noises, this could bother you if you have a balcony that faces port ( not sure if the sound carries over to the other side). It didn't bother us at all, but it was loud enough that you did hear the music ( not clear enough to hear words, just the sounds and the beat) and the occasional screams of the partiers.

 

My kids tried Johnny Rockets. Everything you read is true. Slow, Slow, Slow. The first time my son tried it he just ordered a burger. it took so long he was given fries for free. All 3 of my kids said the same thing...about 30 min to get the food.

 

We didn't get a chance to eat in the dining rooms and we weren't as thrilled with the food as we were when we were on the Allure. . ( Carnival wins on this topic). The pizza we enjoyed on Allure, was not so appealing this time around.( actually every time we passed by the smell was sickening). The best food we ate was in Cafe 270, Izumi, Wonderland, and Solarium Bistro .

 

If you have older teens/ early 20's with you and they want to meet up with others their age , it seems like the casino was the place to find them. My son went to the meet and greet and no one really showed up. when we docked in Bermuda, he wanted to go off the ship in the evening but not alone. He wandered into the casino and met up with a group in his age range and ended up with them the rest of the cruise.

 

If I think of anything else, I will post. If you have any questions I will try and answer and I am sure there are plenty of experienced cruisers that can help with any questions as well.

 

Lisa

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mom2mnem

mom2mnem

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Wow. My memory is so bad. I completely forgot that on day 5 we saw the 2:15 showing of We will Rock you. It was 2 hours long, but it really went fast. With all of the visual effects and song after song, you didn't feel like it was dragging along at all and the performers were very talented. My daughter enjoyed it as well.

 

Lisa

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mom2mnem

mom2mnem

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Our welcome aboard photo. Yes we do them and we buy our pictures. Dh won't have it any other way.

 

RAN_48_13800609_503164_zps5zs2ibyw.jpg

 

 

We had 2 balcony cabins. We had them open the balcony divider for easy access to the kids room. This is our cabin 9552. the kids had 9550.

 

IMG_0835_zpsjqmjf4to.jpg

 

IMG_0841_zpscvrvh7a1.jpg

 

Lisa

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