not your average blogger: Royal Caribbean: Anthem of the Seas 2017

We went to the Bahamas, this was 7 days.
Sailed out of New Jersey, Cape Liberty
The stops were:

Orlando, Florida
Cococay, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas

We went in end of November- December. They decorated for Christmas and it was absolutely beautiful.

First stop was Florida.

The beach was so clean and there was hardly anyone on it. The water was perfect temp to swim. Me and my husband got cheap boogy boards at the surfing company by Ron Jon surf shop. We had a blast with them throughout the cruise. They were about $12 maybe cheaper. Although once we got to the Bahamas it was hard to use them because the waves were so big.

My husbands sister rented a paddle board and I swear she never got off. The price on that wasn't that bad. There were surfing lessons available and they will tell you if it would be worth it that day or week to do it. We weren't able to do it due to no waves and weather. Also some of the excursions were Disneyland (or world cant remember) and the NASA space station. You only have a couple hours on land so I think its better to actually fly here for a week and spend the week in Disney instead of spending all that money to go for a couple of hours. The NASA one sounded fun but me, hubby and hubbys sister just wanted beach time.

Us and our boogy boards.
Pic credited to Michelle Nielsen

We were close the the NASA space
station.

Cococay

we were unable to stop due to weather and a lot of people were disappointed. But the cruise was only thinking of our safety. So no pics :(

Nassau, Bahamas

OMG!! absolutely beautiful!!

We stayed for 2 days here since we couldn't go to Cococay.

When you first walk in the building you get a ton of people trying to get you to ride in their taxi.

This was our cab driver. He was super nice to
me and showed me so much stuff.

We got one guy who was just super amazing!!! He stayed with us the 2 days we were there. On the second day he gave us a small tour of the city before we went to the beach. He was so nice and took us to amazing beaches that weren't that busy. I was the only one in our group that LOVES seafood. He showed us how they catch and gut conch shells and showed me huge coolers of live fish and lobster. I wanted to hold one and he handed me a live lobster!! He took my pic and had me stand by the ocean and act like I just caught it. Oh he was super nice and funny.

Here's the pic he took. Yes in the background that's all
Conch shells they have caught.

This was behind the gutting station.

Yes thats whats inside the shell

These 2 pics show the cracking and gutting of the conch shells.

The spinal cord looked like a clear worm. I was seriously debating on eating eat because the guy dared me.

I learned a lot from this. It takes hard work to get good seafood.

Batch of empty conch shells

Yes this is a guy playing a conch shell as an instrument.

One beach we went to was called "Love beach" it was so clean and there was a little bar there.We didn't stay long here and we didn't go back the next day. We liked it, there was just no waves.

Pic credited to random
by standard.

I love this pic of my hubby on
Love beach

Those buildings are part of Atlantis
water park.

Pic credited to Debra Nielsen

The other beach was over by were Atlantis water park was its "Cabbage beach". You can go to the water park for the time we were on the island. It did cost extra and it was expensive. Its not close but you could see it. It wasn't busy at all. Sand was so soft and the water was clear.

We had so much swimming and stuff to do that we ate at a Wendy's. Haha it was super cool; now I can say I ate Wendy's out of the U.S. If we do go again (which I think we will) I definitely wanna try the Conch salad.

Before we arrived at the beach, like I said before we went around town and looked at the buildings and tried rum cake. Oh! that cake was so moist, I can't explain in words how it tasted. Well kinda like eating a cloud full of rum... ya lets say that.

Stair case that goes down.
Was pretty steep.

Another stop was the queens staircase. It use to be called "66 steps". Named after Queen Victoria who reigned from 1837 - 1901. This was located in Fort Fincastle Historic Complex. Solid limestone rocks that was created by slaves in 1793. It created a straight path from Fort Fincastle to Nassau city.

You guys..... seriously... this place I could build a small house and live here. It was so green and there were a couple small waterfalls.

Pic credited to Niki
Nielsen

It wasn't a far walk from the stairs to the end. There were plants growing up the walls, small sitting area, and like I said before the beautiful waterfalls. Our cab driver dropped us off at the top and met us at the end.... how awesome is that. I could have walked through it a couple times, but we had much more things to see.

Highest point in Nassau. By Fort Fincastle

In town was small but lots of history. I couldn't get a lot of pics of the town because we were see and drive. Here are a couple I was able to get. The police station and government buildings were awesome!! The city hall was PINK!!! I loved it.

One of my drinks I ordered

Pros and Cons of the cruise and ship.

Pros:

Pic credited to random
Passenger.

Getting on the ship was smooth and fast. Every employee was nice and very helpful.
Staff was super nice and fast at cleaning up.
The food was just amazing!! not one disappointment.
Each port was smooth and fast to get off and on.
Rooms were very spacious and clean. We had the balcony and it was way worth it. There was so much room! and a huge T.V
COFFEE!! it was so delicious every time I got it.
There wasn't a super big line for the rock climbing if you got there right on time or before. I mean I only waited like maybe 5-10 min which isn't bad. Shorter line than the flow rider.
Waiters at dinner were fast and so nice. Ours was named Heather and she was so happy and kind. One day she surprised us with crab cakes to try. I was the only one who gobbled them up and they were delicious.
Gym was spacious and clean. Lots of equipment, weights, yoga mats, rollers, yoga blocks and room to do your cardio workouts.
Mixed drinks were very presentable and delicious.
The stores were in one location and easy to get to, but sometimes crowded.
Close to the end of the cruise one store has a 2 for $20 on shirts. There was a shirt I wanted in Nassau and forgot to get it. I got a much cuter and better one at the store. They had a big selection on shirts.
Seaplex dog house was delicious and not extra.
Overall ship was clean at all times. Would find a table and they would clean it immediately.
They'll go above and beyond for you:

Why? Well first their pastrami was DELICIOUS and I love pastrami! One day for lunch i wanted my pastrami sandwich. They didn't have it so I asked if i wasn't looking right. I happened to ask the manager and he said "ill take care of it". 5 min later he said he has called the main chef and he called the food storage people and asked them to bring me some. Can you believe that!? I told him it wasn't necessary. He excused himself and I saw him arguing with someone on the phone. I told him its not a big deal and that i can get it tomorrow. He said "no you want pastrami, we get you pastrami"

I waited at a table and he brought me this plate full of warm, fresh cut pastrami. I thanked him and told him he made my day and how much I appreciated. He bowed and said "a beautiful woman like you deserves to eat what she wants"

I was very impressed with this employee and all the employees who helped. This is a big reason why I will sail with them again some time. They will literally go above and beyond for you and do

This is the very top of the
North star

anything to make you happy.

The buffet had a lot of selections to choose from and the desserts were fresh all the time and delicious.
Water in every pool and hot tub was perfect temperature and always clean.
Tons of free activities. I participated in the Volleyball tournament and I had so much fun we lost in the championships but I was there to have fun, not win. They also had ping pong, basketball and more.
The racetrack is big and nice. They have 2 but I liked the one on top because its actually made for runners and its not the one that goes around the ship. You can run it but you'll get people in your way and annoying people yelling at you to move when your enjoying the walk, only if your on the wrong side. They have 2 sides, one for walking and one for running. Some people don't read what side to go on. Just stick with the one by the basketball court.... its easier.
They have a whole room for teens to meet and make friends.

Cons:

Rip cord. Pic taken by
Debra Nielsen

On sea days there were lots and lots to do, but everything was very busy.
I never got to go on bumper cars because the line was humongous and not worth the wait.
If you wanna do the Rip cord and North star viewing deck, you have to make a reservation. If you want private and longer session for the Rip cord, it cost extra.
There wasn't a huge line for the flow rider, but you still had to wait quite a while to have a turn.
Buffet was really busy, it was way hard to find a spot. I had a party of 7 including me, so we had to look a while to seat all together.
There are A LOT of kids on this ship. Babies to teens
Spin class, yoga and trainers cost extra.
Beer and alcohol was extra from the soda package. They were expensive, we got a couple here and there and they were good.
Every time we went to the bionic bar they were either cleaning it or it was closed. So we never got to try that.

The Flow rider
There were a couple restaurants that cost extra and were quite expensive. Like Johnny rockets and Izumi Japanese cuisine.
Where the stores were it was very busy and hard to get to a small cafe located by the stores.
Some shows I wasn't very impressed with. We will rock you wasn't that bad I felt it was to long and lagging to much. Spectras Cabaret wasn't that great, I got bored fast. The moving T.Vs were cool but that's about it.
Lattes, cappuccinos, specialty teas, and frozen drinks are extra.
Ice cream stops were always busy and always broken when we went.

The Mongolian grill where you build your own stir fry, at the buffet took forever. The guy acted like he didn't want to be there and he was super slow. Maybe he was almost done with his shift.

Robot bar.

Our guy who cleaned our room would put adorable towel animals in our room sometimes. He was so nice and an amazing towel sculptor.

He even used my sunglasses as a prop. The one on the left was our last night, the other was in the middle of our cruise.

One more thing. You can get key card wrist bands. Its $5 extra but you can reuse it on your next cruise. It was nice, but we still had to take our actual ship cards at port. I liked them so I won't be struggling to find my room key when its right there on my wrist. Well worth the money in my opinion.

Overall, I was very impressed with this ship. It was quite big and there are a ton of things to do. You will never get bored. I loved how organized everything was. Yes, it was busy, but we could get

through crowds fast.

Thank you for taking the time to read. I hope my experiences help you with your next cruise.

Below are more pics of our adventure!

All Pics taken by me and edited by me. Ones who were taken from somebody else was credited.