Royal Caribbean – Anthem of the Seas….8 Nights!

Here’s the itinerary!

Cape Liberty, NJ – Sea Day – Sea Day – Orlando (Port Canaveral) Florida – Nassau, Bahamas – CocoCay – Sea Day – Cape Liberty, NJ

Day 1!

There is nothing like the anticipation and anxiousness the night before your cruise 🚢, but don’t stress! It will all be worth it when you arrive at your port! We arrived at Cape Liberty in Bayonne with the Anthem of the Seas sitting there waiting for us to board! I literally had butterflies in my stomach hoping there wouldn’t be any issues with the boarding process. As my wife is not a US Citizen, but a permanent resident, her boarding process was a bit different. I’ll make a future post about this.

The boarding process was rather smooth at Cape Liberty! Once you’re past security you will find yourself sitting in a huge room with a lot of other passengers. They will allow you to board once passengers from the previous trip are disembarked. We found ourselves at the cruise port sometime around 9:30AM and was on board the ship by 11:30AM. The whole process was very fast and organized!

We boarded Anthem of the Seas mid ship on either deck 4 or 5 which is The Royal Esplanade!

In the Royal Esplanade you will find unlimited pizza at Sorrentos, the Bionic Bar which can make you drinks, and many other shops. You can grab drinks in this area at Michael’s Genuine Pub. You will find yourself coming through this section a lot throughout your trip.

**Anthem of the Seas pool deck before the crowds!**

Before the ship sets sail, you do have to attend a mandatory Muster Drill. The Muster Drill is just a fairly quick explanation of what to do in the event of an emergency. The location of your muster station seems to be dependent on where your room is. Our stateroom was in the rear of the ship, so our muster station was in the Two70 theater-a few decks below us. It was soon after the muster drill the Anthem would embark!

Going under the Verrazzano Bridge

You won’t be able to go to your stateroom right away as they’re still cleaning and preparing the room for you. There will be an announcement letting you know when the rooms are ready, they should have your luggage delivered to your room at the same time as well.

You’ll spend the rest of your day exploring the ship and enjoying its many activities. Swim, relax, eat, explore, play. There is no shortage of activities on board!