MaryS

Ok I guess I'll jinx myself like @Matt and start the live-ish blog early.  
So this cruise was many things to my husband and I.  First, it was a yolo black friday sale and I had been eyeballing cruises to take my husband on for a while.  He's not really the vacation-y type and I adore exploring and vacationing.  I've been very comfortable travelling solo but I really wanted him to experience a cruise.  He's a Marine so his idea of a cruise is hot bunking, doing fire fighting training onboard a carrier and being miserable while the Navy got him where he needed to go.  Vacationing to me is at least 4 star hotels, gourmet meals, relaxation, spa visits, etc.  We're like night and day when it comes to travelling.  His last experience with "Thyri Style" travel was our honeymoon in the Poconos doing the whole champagne glass whirlpool thing.  He needs to get out more.
I adore cruising, I adore the water.  I'm not married to any cruise line in particular but Royal does give us the option to sail out of Baltimore, which is a 20 minute drive from our house.  
So when the price was right on black friday, I asked hub, "can I book this PLEASE?  I need a vacation, WE need a vacation"  mega SWMBO guilt trip pouring on and he allowed it.
5 nights to Bermuda.  But it has to be "Thyri style".  So I debated for about 20 minutes between the Grand Suite and the Owners Suite.  I knew I didnt want or need the Royal Suite because well, my logic is I dont play piano.  The price difference wasnt too much, and the larger balcony just sealed the deal for me.  So I booked it.  
Then I found this blog and these forums and learned about MEI travel.  I was considering being my own travel agent for this but Pam Richter at MEI really has been a godsend.  She sorted me out on a name discrepancy on our tickets and our travel documents.  Hub's last name has a III at the end.  That wasnt on our tickets.  Pam to the rescue!  She also helped us sort out travel insurance.
I kind of was excited, relieved, and nervous at the same time.  I've wanted to go on a cruise with hub for a very long time.  I also must be the only woman on the planet who cant remember her anniversary to save her life.  I realized at the time of this cruise, it would be 15 years of putting up with each other.  
 
Fast forward to tax time.  I had expected my work bonus as well as my tax refund (YAY), and I just said the heck with it and paid off the cruise.  I wanted it done, I wanted it to be "complete".  I wasnt planning on changing cabins or ships.  I knew I could get the time off of work because I always book my time off so far in advance before anyone else can take it.  So now what else.
I decided to completely splurge and do the "as close to all inclusive as you can get on a cruise" method.  So there was a WOW sale that happened with a deal of $52 for the deluxe beverage package and the voom internet.  Ok that was a no brainer, I wanted a beverage package anyways.  I'm not a huge drinker, but I do like the convenience of being able to have that extra drink after dinner, or at a show, or a latte with breakfast.  I also wanted that convenience of knowing that was all taken care of before the cruise.  And the price was nice for both the drink package and the voom.  Then I started looking at specialty dining.  I knew I wanted to do that.  I kind of like doing a "pre dinner" at a place like Izumi and then go to Chops or Giovanni's for the real dinner.  Or have the option to go to the windjammer for pregame, go to Chops for the main course, and then maybe have dessert by room service.  Again this was more about the flexibility than it was "getting the most" out of specialty dining.  I'm sure my hub and I wont come close to making the ultimate dining package worth it, but its the flexibility for us.  Also I can devour a lot of sushi.
Ok with drinks and food taken care of.  I pivoted to excursions.  I really wanted to show hub the beauty of Bermuda, the history.  And about 24 hours to do it in, it would be challenging but I'd use this as a teaser to go on more cruises.  So I booked a snorkeling excursion and a glass bottom boat ride for our first day, and a history bus tour on the 2nd.  Well unfortunately the history bus tour got cancelled, so our 2nd day has become a free day.  Personally I want to explore more of the Dockyard this visit.  I really REALLY wanted to go to St George but with all of the activities booked on day 1, it just wasnt going to happen.  I figured that the first day it would give us something fun, and then something relaxing while really taking in the sights of Bermuda.  
I also decided to "treat yo self" and get a few things for the room as well.  I got the anniversary decorations gift thing, I got a bottle of champagne, 2 beach towels, a tote bag, rum and coke, and some sodas.  Since hub is a bit of a homebody, I didnt want him missing out if he didnt feel up to going out and about with me.  I wanted things to be as absolutely smooth as possible for his first cruise.  Excessive?  Possibly.  But that's just my kind of style.  
And that was it for the planning phase.  Then it was 10 months of waiting.  Stalking the cruise planner for better deals (except on the intern mistake day of course).  Reading the blog, chatting with other cruisers.  I was in full cruise planning mode and 10 months felt like forever.
 
Now its 10 days and I'm starting a blog.  I'll do my best depending on the Voom to post as many photos and details as I can.
At 10 days out I have not heard from my concierge yet.  But I'm expecting to hear from them in the next week to book dining reservations.  I do tend to be a little cavalier with my dining on a ship though.  So I just want to book Chops on the first day because hub desperately wants the seafood tower and I promised I'd get him one.  We even say to each other now "seafood tower?" and give a thumbs up.  I fear our little inside joke will happen onboard when we actually get it.  
But I'll do my best to share the suite life on a Vision class ship.  

I missed my session last year, so this will be my first chance to experience it. Not making the same mistake twice!

I loved IFly.  I was all set to sign up again before I even got my suit off but they said on the 5 day cruise you could only sign up once ☹️.  If I had known I would have given someone my phone to video me.  Oh well next time.

Photography
This year is going to be a bit different on the photography front. In addition to my now-rapidly-aging iPhone 6s Plus with Moment add-on lenses that I've used on the last two cruises, I'm going to be bringing a new camera with me. It's a first-generation Sony Cybershot DSC-RX100. Even though the camera was introduced about 4 years prior to my phone, this is still a big upgrade from my phone's camera, even though it's "just" a compact model that can easily fit in my pocket.
1" equivalent 20 megapixel sensor -- way larger than the sensor on my phone 3.6x optical zoom (28-100mm equivalent), vs the phone's fixed 28mm lens ƒ/1.8-4.9 variable aperture, vs. phone's fixed aperture Full manual mode along with Aperture and Shutter priority modes This camera is something special for me. It was a gift from @twangster, given to me just before last year's trip on Anthem; apparently he really wants me to get off the phone and step up my photography game! ? I've been learning how to use it for the last year, but I still have a ways to go before I feel like I've mastered it. Most likely for this trip I'll be sticking with the automatic mode for most of my shots, but when I'm able I'll also tinker around with one or two of the controls to see if I can get something better after taking an initial auto-mode pic.
Now, here's the rub -- I don't have a laptop or large-storage iPad; all I'll be bringing on that front is a 2013 first-gen iPad Air with only 16 GB of space, most of which is already used up. I'm mainly using that to read the eBooks I've purchased for this trip. But I will try and find my USB dongle for the thing so that I can at least try to offload the pictures from the camera so they can be edited and posted here. If that works without any friction, great! Otherwise, pictures will end up posted in two separate groups: Anything posted during the cruise will have been taken with my phone, while pictures taken with the new camera won't be posted until after I've gotten home and had time to transfer and edit them on my iMac.
Just to show what a difference this new camera makes for me, here are some pictures I took with it last fall, not long after I got home from the previous Bermuda trip. Chose these ones because of the depth of field that I can never get with my phone, plus the much-improved color, contrast and shadow detail:

Excursions
As with last year, we bought no excursions through the Cruise Planner because it's so easy to just go out and do our own thing. But that doesn't mean we don't have any plans.
Last year we started our day going to St. George's; this time around we're thinking we'll visit Hamilton and explore the city at our leisure. We'll likely get lunch there as well, and then make our way back to the Dockyard. Depending on the timing, we may check out the dockyard itself and the historic fort or some of the other sights in the area.
At 5:45 PM that day, we'll be taking a sunset catamaran cocktail sailing that I booked through TripAdvisor / Viator. This was very highly rated and looked to be more enjoyable than the sunset offerings the ship had, along with being appreciably less expensive. I won't be surprised to find, however, that there are some people from the ship with us who actually booked it through the ship. Because it's 90 minutes and leaves right from the Dockyard, we'll be back in plenty of time for our 8 PM dinner slot.
On our second day in Bermuda, we'll take the shuttle vans to Horseshoe Bay for a re-visit. This time around, we know we want to stay for a longer while so we'll be properly "geared up". But, I mentioned something about a complication...

As many here know, my feet are... pretty messed up. They've both had multiple surgeries that literally started when I was a baby, and that's led to some chronic annoyances over the years. In this case, the primary scar on the inside of my left foot has once again decided now was the perfect time to cry "uncle" and re-open for what I think is now the fourth or maybe fifth time. I've taken care of it like always, and it's not at all infected or anything bad; but it's also not really healing or filling back in.
So yesterday I finally got myself to the local wound care center to get it dealt with yet again. But this means I'm going to be wearing bandages for weeks, and that obviously means absolutely NO going into any of the ship's pools. I'd be grossed out if I saw someone with a big bandage go into the pool with me, and no way am I going to make someone else feel that way.
Never mind what might already be floating around in the water that's bad for me.

Most likely not going to be able to enjoy the ocean at Horseshoe Bay, either.

So my time in Bermuda is going to be carefully considered; the massive amounts of walking I did last year will probably have to be scaled back a fair bit, with more time spent on buses, ferries, or in taxis. That's a real unknown at this point, just depends on how much I heal and what kind of clearance the doctor gives me. And a lot of my time on Anthem is going to be spent sitting in loungers, soaking up the sun outside (when it's warm enough), hanging out at places like the Pub or Schooner Bar or Two70 Lounge, and making the most of it with everything else there is to do on board...

Day 9 Singapore.
I have been many time in this small city state, most the on business trip and I learned to like this crazy combination that exist here. It's a very orgnized country very clean and most of the time . There any attractions which are very close by , the only problem is the weather which is always warm and can be very expensive. We checked in to night before to the Marina Bay sands which is attraction by itself we got a wonderful room with excellent view on the gardens and the bay which I shared yesterday but here some more pics.

Another member to the family


It's not trees what you see in the window but some plants in the balcony.
We eat branch in one of the resturants and went to visit the garden by the bay. It's a very large gardens which are free to enter , there three things that requires admission : the skyway between the the trees , the cloud dome and the flower dome 
The path from the hotel to the gardens.

The tree structures and the , the yellow line is the skyway which you can walk between the trees


The skyway

We visit the gardens and went to the flower dome , the best thing is that they have a good air conditioning inside , it contains flower from around the world. 



Our next stop was the second dome ( we bought combined ticket) which is just near the first one , this is the cloud dome which contains a rain forest , not all the plants there are real but many are , very impressive , it contains also a small museum and a theater. If you choose to go to only one dome go to this one




After the visit we went back to the hotel for some pool time and took the subway to one of the center to buy some fruits in the supermarket , ear very late lunch in the food court and visit the lucky fountain.

We went back to the hotel , it was already dark so we returned to the gardens which are illuminated and looks total different. Evey hour they also have a light show with music , very recommended.




We took the elevator to the skyway which you need to secure time slot for. It's very beautiful view from up there but not recommend for people that fear from heights. 



We have one more day here before going to Thailand to continue our vacation .

Day 3 , still Osaka 
Today we are in port until 3:30 am so it's almost over night stay. We were back to the ship at 7:30 pm and went to eat dinner in the WJ for the first time as it was empty now . We took some noodles from the noodles station and some other Chinese food with some western add on. I must say , if I was from China I might complain about too many western options 





? And here is the finished product

Post dinner we went again to the port to take the big wheel. I had to convince my spouse to go up since she don't a fan of high places (unless she is just looking on it) , it took me some time but at the end she agreed not before she was saying that I am "selling" her for the blog . As if the only reason I wanted to take the ride is for the ship areal photo . Me no how can you think such thing. 
Here are some picture during the way up. We had private cabin which was nice .





And here is the Osaka city , although the smoke in port of Spectrum was very visible.


I heard they are planning to move her to smoke electronic cigarette but with the last incidents they keep her on regular one 


After we we went down from the wheel we went straight to the ship as it was time for Let it be AC/DC in the music hall. They are good , they were even better after finally we have done good use to the UDP. The only small issue was the small audience. Maybe due the fact that many still touring the city or it was not really to the taste of the Chinese audience.  We were something like 14 people , at one time of the show the lead guitar went down  and shake everyone hands saying "thank you for coming" Anyway it was allot of fun .





Immediately after this show the silent party started , which we had already enough alcohol to want and participate . No photos here , I run out of battery (good excuses) but as we were part of the entertainment I am sure you can find me as a star of some viral movies in the Chinese Facebook ?, if not I am sure my spouse will gladly post the movie she took as a revange for the big wheel. After the party and countless Chinese Red bulls we went to the next obvious station , Sorento , jus to see that what we all were hoping for happened , beside the Pizza they had also a section open in the WJ buffet adjust to the Sorento , it had sandwiches , salads and some noodles, whatever needed for post Alchool night. End of day 3 (well sort of).

Cruise Summary
This was a bucket list cruise for me and I am so glad I did it.  Like my first time to Alaska I suspect this may be repeated in the future.  
The newer O3b internet platform worked great over the length of the cruise.  
Ovation of the Seas once again did not disappoint.  
The sea days flew past and the three port days in a row including an overnight stop made the rest of cruise very enjoyable.  Debarking in Honolulu was a breeze.  I'm glad we had a day in Seattle to visit as a port of call and not simply as an embarkation/debarkation city.
Cruising to Hawaii is very different compared to cruising in the Caribbean, in a very good way.  The ports are very interesting with a lot to choose from.
I picked my excursions carefully and watched some of them fill up and become unavailable so I'm glad I booked them when I did and saved quite a bit of money by watching for sales as the months went by.  
The tendering process was mostly a pretty good experience other than that one night coming back late when there was a wait.  Still it was quite impressive to see them perform such a large tendering operation as efficiently as they did.
I'm torn between picking a smaller ship next time to Hawaii to gain a few more ports that only smaller ships can visit or repeat on Ovation.     
I wish I could have stayed on for the next cruise to Sydney but that will have to wait for another year.  
I hope you enjoyed following along and I thank you for viewing.

After 45 minutes in the water we were given some turkey wraps, chips and water or local fruit juices.  We were getting ready to leave when a pair of dolphins visited.






On the ride back to Maui more dolphins came by.



Pretty cool seeing them up close like this.

Finally it was time for the main event.

  As the sun dropped lower it reappeared from behind the clouds.





It was pretty magical and soulful.  
With that it was time to regain feeling in my frozen fingers so we boarded our bus for the drive to our restaurant just over an hour away. 

Today's excursion is called the Haleakalā Summit Sunset Experience. 
Our excursion met and we boarded a small shuttle type bus where we met our driver and guide.  We drove around 45 minutes to their business where we could get a coffee, snack, use the restroom and get a jacket for the summit.  

The summit is around 10,000 feet in elevation and the weather is very cool up there.  Today it was 41°F.  Jackets were highly recommended due to the strong winds and wind chill.
Menus were passed around for a post-summit dinner.  We picked our entree which was called into the restaurant prior to our arrival later in the evening.

Our bus ride continued up through changing weather and ecology.  Entering the Haleakalā National Park we stopped at the visitor's center for a restroom break and interesting talk about the type of plants in this area.   At this point we were above the clouds at around 7,000 feet.

We learned that many plants found here are endemic to Hawaii - they only exist here and nowhere else in the world.  Some are unique to each island and are not even found on other Hawaiian islands.

The Silversword is an example of one unique and exclusive to Maui.

We continue our drive towards the summit first stopping at a viewing area halfway there.

The sun was getting lower on the horizon.

Our guide tells us the story of Pele and Maui, both gods in Hawaiian culture.  Pele is the goddess of volcanoes and fire and the creator of the Hawaiian Islands.  Maui was responsible for the mountains rising from the ocean floor.  

This area includes a viewing platform for a view into the crater behind the summit.


Cinder cones were easy to spot on the crater floor.  These are from past eruptions.  Scientists believe Haleakalā has erupted at least 7 times over the past 1,000 years and they predict she will erupt again at some point.

From here we proceeded to the summit.

Another view of the crater from the visitor's center at the summit.

Not quite sunset yet the sun popped behind a cloud.  Looking closely you can see the shoreline of Maui before us.

Day -1 , Shanghai.
Today we foght to get up early to enjoy the breakfast which I heard it's very good at this hotel, the rummers were true. There are two main Islands , one western food and one eastern. The western includes fresh egg station , salads station and many fresh worm options.


The eastern contains many kind of dumplings, soups, fried vegetables and other good things.


I took one plate from each island 


Now that can be useful for busy days at the WJ buffet , just think oh simple life would be if we had this option

After the big breakfast we went to check the big  shopping street of Nanjin, my spouse wanted to buy some pearls  for her mother, we went to a pearls mall, found something we thought is nice and started to negotiate. I must it's easier for me to negotiate with our clients than the sellers there but we got a good price for two chains which per our request combined to one. The street itself very impressive.



We also passed this Royal Caribbean Blog caffe

We walked all the way to the famous  Bund street which as a perfect view on the Pearl tower and the other to towers.

This area includes also some monuments and nice small gardens




We wanted to cross to the other side of the river so we took the new small under the river train were we bought combo tickets for the Bund tunnel and Shanghai tower observation. The small tunnel trains take you into a tunnel full with light effects , nice but not a must:



We got out from the tunnel and haded to the tower (around 20 minutes walk) passing near the impressive pearls tower, near buy you also have the aquarium and many other tourist attractions which we decide to pass 

We finally got to the second biggest building in the world , the Shanghai tower , it's around 650 meters high with 128 floors. The amazing thing that in one year from now it's going to be only number 5 or 6 in the world.



At the ground floor you have some exhebition of how the build it plus the future and the past of skyscrapers. From there we took the super fast elevator (10 M per second) to the observation platform (118 floor) to watch the very nice view .






After the Shanghai tower visit we went back using the Bund tunnel to the other side and walking to the hotel , lots of steps . It was already evening so we went to the lounge to eat something , lots of options, I do recommend to book a room with access to the executive lounge.  

I must say we found Shanghai to be very beautiful

I am also on this cruise and I just added a pair of jeans some capris & long sleeve shirts to my suitcase (might throw in a sweatshirt too).  I'm ready wherever we go. 

Thanks, I'm pretty resigned to the fact that our Anthem cruise starting tomorrow is not gonna go to Bermuda. Just bad luck, it's the chance you take for a great fares this time a season. We still get to enjoy the gorgeous Anthem of the seas and I love Canada so it's not a huge thing. Thanks again for the latest track.

Power in Bermuda is back up & running.  The airport is open too.  

Oh, for sure when compared to Freeport and their absolute disaster, or what happened to Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, and the rest of the Caribbean in the wake of Maria.
But I'll say that Bermudians I spoke with when we were there last year said they pretty much shrug off hurricanes, even when "big ones" hit. The houses are all solid concrete construction; they said the worst they really typically deal with is the power outages and some lost storm shutters and broken glass. Even if something worse happens, they get supplies really fast and are able to very quickly rebuild.
Which, sad to say, is the difference between a tiny island nation that is a tax haven and central financial nation vs. one that just gets a bunch of tourists every year. ? 

Power in Bermuda is back up & running.  The airport is open too.  

Power in Bermuda is back up & running.  The airport is open too.  

@sk8erguy1978  My husband and I live in VA.  During Hurricane season we only sail out of NJ.  The reason is simple.  I can drive to Cape Liberty, no fear about flights being cancelled.  (yes, we always buy travel insurance).  We have done enough cruises that unless there is something really unique for an excursion, we prefer to just do it on our own. 
IE in Bermuda instead of doing their Horseshoe excursion, or taking the #7 bus, we get a taxi for a lot less than the RCL excursion price, and a few bucks more than the bus, but than we don't have to walk up  the hill for the bus.  We also have found that with a taxi we can get there before everyone else on the ship, so renting the loungers and umbrellas is a short line.
  I was just recently told that there is a better beach, the next stop on the pink bus.  So next yr I will try it. I will say at this time of year, Anthem is a much better ship to sail on than Adventure if they divert you North.  There are several reasons.  Please understand overall I like Adventure over Anthem.
 Anthem's Solarium is bigger,  better views, and has the Solarium restaurant attached.  No walking all the way to WJ.  Adventure has the open roof, so if it rains, life stinks.  Anthem Solarium is totally enclosed.  It can get steamy there, but their beach beds makes life good.  I also like their hot tubs more.    Anthem has a pool that is enclosed for all ages.  It is located between the outdoor and the Solarium.  Love this!  bc if it does rain, they do not have to open up the Solarium to everyone.  That happened on 1 of our cruises.    MUSTER on Anthem you have  a higher chance of doing it inside than on Adventure.  We did Adventure in July, it was 95 degrees.  Of course you heard names being called, and frequent cruisers knew the reason why they were being called.  You just got angrier with each second as you stood back to back shoulder to shoulder in heat.  On Anthem ours was in the 270.  Oh well, I am sitting in AC, not a biggie.  I can't imagine the anger I would have if I stood on deck and it was spitting rain at me.  We like Anthem more for sailing out than Adventure.  It is a taller ship, so you really feel like you could touch the bottom of the Verrazanno.   The location of the band/DJ is better located impo, since it is not in the middle, but the side.  You can even be on the pool deck, dancing and get this amazingly close feeling regarding going under the bridge. Weather wise, when it comes to sea days, I like Adventure more.  Adventure has a promenade and Anthem has a esplanade.  It really gets clogged by Sorrentos and the pub, especially with the tables out and the popcorn station.  Schooners lay out is the worst impo, way too small for the size of the ship, no window views, and located next to the photo station.  Northstar is great, but weather is an issue.  Anthem Northstar will not swing out over the ship.   
Fun thing on Anthem is their outdoor pool.  I would also say that for anybody with a handicap issue Anthem is great.  Their indoor pool (not Solarium) actually has the body lift to get passengers in and out of the pool.  Plus,  they have a kiddie pool located right next to the deeper pool.  This is great if you have a toddler and older children.  
OBTW,  if this is your 1st time on Anthem, make sure you do the look through floor.  I can't swear, but I believe it is on the WJ floor.  It is a 2x2, maybe 3x3 lucite square where you look straight down to the esplanade.  The WJ on Anthem is great.  They have outdoor seating.  
 

My wife said that today ... "I'll toss in jeans and sweatshirt just in case" ... the weather looks like high 60s and 70s up north so I'll still wear shorts, but a sweatshirt would be nice. ?

I am also on this cruise and I just added a pair of jeans some capris & long sleeve shirts to my suitcase (might throw in a sweatshirt too).  I'm ready wherever we go. 

FWIW, if they do divert you to Nova Scotia.  It is an amazing town.  One of our favorite ports.  We compare Halifax to Annapolis or Inner Harbor Baltimore MD.  It is a great walking town with some very interesting history.
 At the port that you come through there is a memorial.  I can't recall the name of the ship.  It was a history lesson I never knew.  A ship with Jews during WWII arrived and Canada did not allow them to immigrate.  They were sent back to Germany, and they have all the names of those that were sent back and died due to the Holocaust.  There is a great whiskey/scotch (not sure which) bar that is right across the street from where you will find the lobster roll trucks, and the docks for personal boats. For our DS that moves back home to baby sit the dogs, we always buy a bottle of specialty alcohol as a thank you gift to him.  The Titanic memorial is probably a 15 min walk from the ship.   Shopping wise
 As you walk from the ship to the Titanic and right in the thick of it,  close to the food trucks, there is an amazing silver store on the left side.  It is tiny.  We always give our kids a christmas ornament for the tree.  They had an amazing high quality unique ornaments at a good price.  I also got a unique necklace there that people always compliment me on.  It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive either.  They have an indoor specialty food/soaps/etc market close to the port.  I picked up unique soaps there.  Memory is a little foggy, but across the street there is a micro brew that you can get a flight of beer at a good price, and great quality according to my hubby.  I don't drink beer which is why I only can kind of remember its location.  Every place we ate, drank or shopped at took US dollars, but gave back the change in Canadian $.  The indoor market was our last stop, so the change he got from buying his lobster roll from 1 truck and poutaine for me from another, plus the beer flight was where we paid in the Canadian $.  We still had some money left, and my husband wanted to get a polar fleece at the market attached to the port.  Probably paid too much, but oh well.  He paid with the left over CAD and the rest on our credit card.  Only saying this, so you can see that you don't need to convert money.

When I read this thread title, I thought someone was husband-hunting. LOL

If you have never been to Bermuda before I would recommend that you take a tour of the Island.  There will be plenty of taxis & tour vans at the port.  Not sure of the rates bur rates are gov't regulated.  If you want to go on your own there are 2 public transit (ferry & bus) routes to use.
1) Take the Ferry to St George I think it leaves at 9:30AM.  once in St George go up to the bus stop heading to Hamilton (just ask any local for directions).  Get on the 10 or 11 bus always greet the driver with a good morning/afternoon and let them know that you want to get off at the Aquarium/Zoo. You can catch the 10 or 11 bus back to Hamilton then the ferry back to Dockyard.
2) Take the Ferry to Hamilton then walk 2 blocks up to Church St to the bus terminal and take the 10 or 11 bus to the Aquarium/Zoo. You can catch the 10 or 11 bus back to Hamilton then the ferry back to Dockyard.
If you are on Facebook join the Bermuda Bound group.  They are a wonderful bunch of locals and expert Bermuda visitors.
I am also on the Sept 21st Anthem cruise.

Cabin
Another story here….
After our Anthem of the Seas cruise in 2018, my wife, now unashamedly, is a suite snob. Frankly, I whole heartedly support this as well. So, when we booked this cruise, we booked a grand suite. The price was decent, done. The Owners suites were more than what we wanted to spend, and the 1 Royal Suite was WAY more. After the cruise was booked, I kept an eye on prices, made some adjustments here or there and the waiting game began. We thought, who knows, maybe we can try to see what could happen with a Royal Up bid
A few months ago, while doing a routine price check, I see a 2br grand suite is now available. A quick phone call to Royal, and we are now sailing in a 2br grand suite for about the same price as what we booked the cruise for originally.
A few weeks ago, we did get the Royal Up email. We had the option for an Owners Suite or the Royal Suite. We bid on the Royal Suite, but I’m not going to hold my breath since looking now, all the suites are sold out.
Pre-Cruise
Like I said, we are flying in a few days early. Friday 9/20 we are flying into FLL. Southwest flights were much cheaper and had more convenient times than flying to MIA. So, the plan is we will rent a car to use for the couple days prior to be able to explore around etc without a ton of Uber/Lyft charges. Embarkation day I will drop the family off at the port around 10, bring the car back to MIA and take the enterprise shuttle back to the port. I looked at dropping off at other locations near the port, but this was the most cost effective.
We are staying at the Gates Hotel South Beach. We picked this hotel due to its proximity to south beach and Heather wanted direct beach access without having to pay a super-premium price. She is a Hilton member through her job, so that also narrows the choices. This hotel also includes its own area for chairs and other activities too on the beach.
Post Cruise
This is where it also gets fun. After disembarkation, we will be taking the shuttle to MIA for another rental car which we will drive to Orlando with. Friday evening, we have tickets to Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s No So Spooky Halloween Party. Heather is a huge Disney fan and is really looking forward to this. Much to my dismay, she has us all wearing Hocus Pocus themed shirts for that night….yay…
Saturday, we have tickets to Universal Studios. Gotta check out the new Hagrid Ride…. And again, we have matching themed shirts. At least this time, they are Hogwarts/Harry Potter ones.
Sunday, we head home.
The Surprise
Like I said earlier, this whole trip will be a surprise for the kids. The plan to make this work is that we will be packing in secret. We will drop the kids off at school on Friday, then load up the car. We will pick the kids up at dismissal at school and go straight to the airport. At this point, We will let them in on a little bit of the surprise, which will be we are just going to Florida and will be on the beach. On cruise day, we will pack up the car and say we are headed to another hotel, but not tell them that the hotel is the cruise ship.
This is going to be so much fun. I plan on writing about our experiences at Disney and Universal as well so grab the popcorn and wine, its going to be a wild ride and thanks for following along!