mpdahmer

We are heading to Nassau on the Anthem in November and want to go to a nice beach with options to buy drinks and food. Don't mind taking a cab but don't want to be rushed to get back to the ship. Have been to Nassau many times in the past and have done Resort for a day type thing but was hoping to go to a public beach. Was thinking Cable or Cabbage beach. I have heard that the locals at Cabbage don't stop bothering you to buy things.

I agree...we have several JR'S around where we live and rarely if ever go. We're not fans of the crowds and chaos of the WJ for breakfast and prefer sitting down and being served (which is "our" definition of vacation). For lunch we do venture into the WJ or enjoy just grabbing something at one of the other included venues. We are glad that there are so many options as it helps spread out the masses. While I stated my opinions I don't begrudge anyone else of theirs. I do enjoy reading these kinds of posts as it shows us other options and different points of view.

I was wondering the same thing regarding the Anthem... We sailed on her prior to Covid and enjoyed "We will Rock you" show but will be sailing on the Anthem again this year and wondered if it is still the same show. We will be traveling with another couple who was on the sailing in 2019 and two other couple who have not been on the Anthem before. We will most likely go to it with the other couples but wondered if they add other shows as well.

Along these lines I agree that it is a general maintenance issue if they are cleaning the rooms less often. Will this lead to cabins that are generally dirtier than normal. If the staff is short as it has been and the have double digit cabins to clean and each cabin takes longer to clean either it will take longer for the cabins to be ready or the overall cleanliness will suffer. As far as the tips go they will never reduce the amount because this does not only go to the cabin stewards but the wait staff as well. Let's say you don't ever step foot in the MDR on a sailing should you pay tips to the Maitre d; head waiter and waiter/s? The cruise line will tell you that these staff members also work in the buffets and the tips are spread out amongst them all. The short answer is that you can always remove the automatic tipping and either change the amount +/- or pay individuals in cash. While I do enjoy how casual cruising has become, I do miss the more formal and pampering that came with cruising...

Living so close to both Newark Airport and Port Liberty I am almost tempted to offer a park and ride service from my house...

This will be us on our next cruise...

Living in NJ this is why my wife loves sailing out of Bayonne, NJ (Not NY). She can pack extra and not worry because we are not flying. 15 minute drive to the pier makes it so easy for us.

If flying in the day early I don't think it would be a problem at all. We live in NJ and have flown out of LGA several times in the past 30+ years. 10 years ago I would say it was a problem but they have completed most of the work at LGA and it's really not far (17 miles) from the EWR (Newark Airport) / Cape Liberty area. Depending on the time of day the worse case scenario would be about 1 to 1 1/2 hour commute. With no traffic (very early morning / late night) could be less. If coming in the day early and you are not under pressure to get to the port then it wouldn't be so bad IMHO.

It is my understanding from doing this same thing in the past that in order to link accounts both parties have to agree to it. You could have an annoying neighbor/relative/friend who booked the same cruise without you knowing and link accounts and now are awkwardly stuck with them for the entire cruise. On one cruise I had my nephew take the place of my son who couldn't make it on the sailing. It was easier because I knew where he was and he kept his distance knowing where we were. Then he sent a photo of us to my kids...at first they were like, that's weird, Sam just sent us a photo of us standing here by the pool...after a few seconds they caught on and they scanned the deck for him until he came out from behind us. IMHO I would stay in contact with one of their group that you could trust to not spill the beans and plan a surprise somewhere on the ship like sail away. Towards the previous posts, not sure if your cabins are near each other but if you have the same Muster station you might accidentally bump into them. I think they will be just as surprised whether you do it at dinner or after getting on board. At least you will be able to enjoy sail away together...just my opinion.

I remember the golf driving off the back of the ship in 1992 not sure they were still doing the skeet shooting but it does sound familiar.

Are you referring to bringing the extra cash on the cruise in case of emergency? While on board don't you have a CC linked to your account? We always bring a backup CC in case there is an issue with the one we brought. Generally, we always bring home cash that we have left over (maybe we bring too much) but I guess this was our emergency fund all along. Also, as a reminder to those first time traveling out of the country, it is best to contact your CC company to let them know you are traveling. Most CC websites have a section for this now. We learned the hard way a long time ago when one of our cards was repeatedly declined. When we got home we had several calls from the fraud department letting us know that they were sending us a new card because someone was using out of the country and they couldn't reach us. I had to explain to them that they couldn't get in touch with us because we were the ones trying to use it while out of the country...

The current price is $165 PP for our November sailing on the Anthem OTS. Not sure there is anything there worth $330. We have the drink package and have enjoyed the free beaches/pool on past visits. Am I missing something or does anyone else truly feel that this is a must?

While I don't buy into the separate bottles under the counter story I do believe the drinks aren't as strong as they are off the ship. We were on the Anthem OTS (pre-covid) and had the drink package. While I'm not a professional drinker but I am no amateur. I had my share of drinks daily and never felt I was getting close to that line or had any kind of hangover. Thinking my tolerance was at an all time high I had two drinks in Bermuda and almost fell off the chair. I am in no way complaining, I mean I had the drink package so if it took me 20 drinks to get where 10 does at home, who cares. My wife enjoys Michelob Ultra and she said they seemed to be the same as far as effect. I have also seen them open bottles in front of me so if they are weakening the alcohol it might be some magic trick. Possibly just smaller shot glasses...

coneyraven: We will be on the Anthem OTS in November doing the same itinerary. I look forward to hearing your take on this trip after you return. We have been to all of these ports over the years and we are pretty sure we know what we are doing in Nassau and Coco Cay is a no brainer but we are looking for suggestions on Port Canaveral. My brother lives in Melbourne and we have met him on past trips just not sure it will work with his schedule. I have been reading that even though our scheduled time of arrival is 12:00 they have been getting there around 3:00PM. Not sure we will want to even get off the ship at that point.

I agree it could take some time getting through customs and getting luggage but not sure when it would "In Theory" take 30-45 minutes to complete a 17 drive. I drive these roads daily including the weekend and there is never traffic from the cruise port towards the airport. The traffic in the morning is always the other direction towards Jersey City/New York. That said I would try for a later flight to be safe as well...

Twangster: Thanks for posting the menu. We actually started going to the MDR for breakfast on the Explorer in 2013. We sailed out of Bayonne, NJ in March. For the first couple of days it was cool outside so we were in no rush to get anywhere. When we went to the buffet it always seemed as though they were closing a buffet line as soon as we got in it. Then we had to find a seat then go back and get a drink/coffee, make another trip back up for something I missed...so we decided to try the MDR. We went and were greeted and brought to a table with a view and then were treated to the most peaceful breakfast we have had on a cruise. On this cruise it was only my wife and I but we enjoyed it so much that we made it a standard on our next cruise with a larger group. Everyone agreed that it was much nicer and more like vacation to have someone serve us instead of having to run around, protect a table or join additional tables.

Thanks for the reply. Yes we are a group of 8 and have all sailed on cruises several times. This is the first on RC for most of our group.

We were on the Explorer of the Seas many years ago and started going to the MDR for breakfast. The buffet was either too crowded or too much of a hassle with a large group. Our group will be sailing on the Adventure of the Seas in June and we all plan to go to the MDR for breakfast. Is this still an option and does anyone have menus posted? TIA, Mark