Have you ever been on a cruise? Cruising is the best way to travel and see new places. Your room travels with you, and someone cleans and makes your bed morning and night! The food is delicious and abundant. There are activities planned, and evening entertainment all along the way.
Since I didn’t see any of you on our cruise, why don’t you sit back for a few moments and join us? I would love to take you on our Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas cruise from New Jersey to the Bahamas and back.
If you ever plan a Spring Break cruise, you may want to think twice about one that departs from New Jersey. We were “lucky” enough to choose a week in March when a snow storm moved through that delayed our flight from the early morning hours to the late afternoon. I am from Arizona so snow and I are casual acquaintances at best. But… I put on my coat and got ready to go anyway!
I highly recommend arriving a day or two early so you can visit New York City like we did. New York is a WONDERFUL city with so much to see and do that one short day is not nearly enough. BUT that is all we had, so here is what we fit in. I’m sure you can too!
You Can See The Statue of Liberty—
If you can only see or do one thing in New York City, this was our favorite. You need to call way in advance to get tickets to climb the steps all the way to her crown, but we were able to get tickets to the pedestal without too much waiting.
There is a museum in the pedestal with stories about the Statue and to scale replicas.
Oh, she is beautiful!! Pictures can never do her justice. There is nothing as heart touching as seeing her standing in front of New York holding her lamp for the world to see. It was an emotional experience.
Good bye Lady Liberty! I hope to see you again someday!❤️❤️
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You Can Walk to Stone Street and Get Some Lunch–
We walked from the ferry to the financial district and the oldest paved street in New York City called Stone Street!. Isn’t it quaint? The Dutch cobblestones have been there since 1658!
There is an absolutely WONDERFUL, family owned pizza restaurant here called Adrienne’s. Oh..My… Goodness! The food is good here!
We had a pizza that came out in a square pan and an order of eggplant parmesan. Really, they were to die for!!
If you go to New York, don’t miss Stone Street and Adrienne’s Pizza!
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You Can Break Your Wrist—
Well, I don’t really recommend this activity, although we did get to see a part of New York that we never would have seen otherwise. An Urgent Care Center is within walking distance from Stone Street.
I had to walk by the NY Stock Exchange and Federal Hall without stopping. (That really hurt!). But you don’t have to. They are right next to each other.
I would definitely stop there if I were you.:)
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You Can See the 9-11 Memorial—
Because of my broken wrist, we were only able to see this amazing memorial at night. Wow! They did a great job here❤️
- The fountain is in the foundation of one tower.
- World Trade One Building, the tallest building in New York, is built where the other tower was.
- Names are engraved on the fountain wall.
- The Oculus subway station and mall are right next to the memorial
Even at night, this is another “Don’t Miss” experience.
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You Can See a Play On Broadway—
The subway took us right to Broadway where we saw Wicked in the Gershwin Theater.
I have seen this fun play multiple times in Arizona and California, but there was something magical about watching it on Broadway. Maybe it was the tears in my daughter-in-law’s eyes as she watched it for the first time. That Elphaba, WOW! Can she sing!
If you are looking for a fun souvenir, we dressed up and got our picture taken.
What a fun day! I’m glad we started our cruise early and were able to enjoy a bit of New York City❤️. Aren’t you? When going in a cruise, I always recommend arriving a day early to visit the embarking city.
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Anthem of the Seas—
The time has come! We are here and ready to embark on our cruise!
There are so many things you can do on this wonderful ship! BUT let me put this in bold writing -Schedule your activities on your computer at home!!!! We did not. Even though we went immediately to get our reservations, we were lucky to get in later in the week and at night. I’m sure there were some cruisers who found that all of the slots were full. Sooo… once again, Schedule at home before the cruise!
Here are a few things you can do on the ship at NO EXTRA cost!
You Can Fly on a Trapeze!—
Really?! I did not get into the “swing” of this because of my broken arm. I am sure that had I been my two handed self, I would have been flying through the air with the greatest of ease and there would have been clapping and cheers along with a signing bonus, but, alas, the world will have to wait. Lol!
Even my beautiful young children had a bit of a challenge getting the “hang” of it. Kudos to them for trying though;)
You Can Experience an I Fly Sky Diving Simulator–
How cool is that?! My family LOVED this one. Once again, with a broken arm, I wasn’t allowed to try my hand at it, but it was good that I was available to take pictures.
I don’t recommend breaking your arm, but I definitely recommend splitting your group up so you can get those photos to share with your family at home.
You Can Watch a Movie Under the Stars–
This was a fun experience all except for the freezing weather. If you decide to enjoy the Stars and the movie like we did, I recommend taking your extra blanket from your room to have something to snuggle under.
You Can Roller-skate and Ride Bumper Cars—
The sports deck converts into a roller rink or bumper car rink periodically throughout the cruise. They only let a few skaters or drivers on the rink at a time so be sure to sign up early.
You Can Learn to Surf or Rock Climb—
Do you remember when I told you that a cruise from New Jersey in March may not have been the best idea? It was so cold and windy that we didn’t want to spend much time out on the deck of the ship. But you certainly can! I have done the Flow rider and rock climbing on other ships. They are really fun!
You Can take a Ride in the North Star—
The Anthem of the Seas has a large viewing bubble that lifts you over 300 feet above the ship for some very beautiful views.
We were only able to get a reservation on a Sea day at dusk. I hear that the best times for viewing are when the boat is in port so you get views of the city. We still loved it. I felt safe and secure even though a strong wind was blowing.
Of course there are a multitude of other activities available as well. These were just a few of the highlights and they are all FREE!
You Can Relax and Read or Sew-
If you want a chair by the pool in the Solarium , you need to get out early because it didn’t seem like there were enough chairs for the amount of people on the ship.
We opted for the huge inside viewing room at the back of the ship called Two70. It was AMAZING! I didn’t get much sewing done, but I tried.
There really is so much more to do that I could write about, but I don’t want this post to be so long that it takes all morning to read it!
The ship itself was BEAUTIFUL! The rooms were fairly spacious as far as cruise staterooms go.
I always enjoy coming back from dinner to my bed turned down with a cute towel animal on my bed. It is so cute!
The theme seemed to be cherry blossoms. The elevator shaft was decorated with a larger than I could imagine cherry blossom art piece.
While the evening food is delicious, the buffet and lunch menu was much to be desired. Royal Caribbean could take a lesson from Carnival here. Those Guy Fiero burgers and fries, the BBQ, and taco bars, along with never ending ice cream on the Carnival lines just can’t be beat!
But the evening dining is amazing on the Anthem of the Seas. There are four dining rooms that all serve the same menu. We paid a little bit extra and were able to eat at the four specialty restaurants as well. I highly recommend this. They offer a special if you book them on the first day. Do it! You won’t be sorry:)
We really enjoyed the Sushi, but Chops Steak House was equally delicious! My daughter in law even paid for a sushi making class. Fun, fun!
One of the best things about a cruise is the evening entertainment.
You Can See a Musical and Comedians—
Each night the entertainment was amazing. We enjoyed the musical “We Will Rock You” which reminded of me of “Mama Mia” but instead of using ABBA songs they used QUEEN songs to tell a story. It was cute.
The comedians are always funny. This cruise was no exception. It is like a dose of good medicine to laugh along with people you love.
And what would a cruise be if the shop didn’t stop at new and exciting places? Our first stop was at Port Canaveral, Florida.
You Can Go to Disney World—
Well, you can, but I don’t recommend it. Now that’s saying a lot, because my family LOVES Disneyland. But the same magic didn’t seem to be in Disney World.
We arrived at 10:00 am, stayed until 4:00 and were only able to ride 2 rides! The fast passes were gone early and the lines were long. We spent two hours waiting for one ride!
The gardens were very pretty though.
It is amazing to see what they can to with plants. Things don’t grow like this in Arizona!
So… my advice for Florida, Port Canaveral would be to skip Disney World and do something like enjoy the Port itself or go to the Missile Museum instead.
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You Can’t Go to Royal Caribbean’s Private Island, CocoCay—
Ok, you can, but we could not. We pulled in, right next to the island, but the weather was too windy, so we were not able to get off the ship safely. Good bye, CocoCay!! I’m glad there was so much to do and eat on the ship!
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You Can Swim with Dolphins—
We LOVED Nassau! While the boys went scuba diving down into sunken ships, my beautiful daughter-in-law, Sarah, and I went to the Blue Lagoon to swim with Dolphins.
Well, I didn’t swim with them , of course, but once again I was glad I was there to take pictures! I mean look at the love this dolphin is giving Sarah❤️. How SWEET!:)
If you decide to go here, be sure to sign up for the Dolphin Swim NOT the Dolphin Encounter. The Swim is where you are actually in the water and the dolphins give you a ride.
We had a relaxing morning into the afternoon here.
We met up with the guys later in the afternoon and did our final adventure
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You Can Climb the Queens Staircase and See Fort Fincastle-–
This little adventure seems to catch the essence of this island. It is free and is my “Don’t Miss” thing to do in Nassau.
We took a short mile or so walk from the ship through town to the Queen’s Staircase. It was built in the 1790s. When Queen Victoria died, they renamed it the Queen’s Staircase. There is one step for each year of her reign.
Just around the corner from the top of the staircase is Fort Fincastle
This is another very interesting piece of history with wonderful views of the island. The canons and prison cells are still here. Pretty cool!
A short walk down the hill and we are back at the ship. Wasn’t that so much fun?!
I’m so glad you joined us on our virtual cruise;). I promise there is so, so much more to do than what I posted here. If you get a chance to cruise down to the Bahamas and go to any of these places, I would love to hear about it❤️❤️
I will be back soon with more of my quilty self. Until then I hope you have Smooth Sailing where ever you go!
It's a T-Sweets day! 