Anthem of the Seas – Nassau Bahamas

Beware hardcore peddling here! These guys will spot you from across the street, and chase you down offering their many goods! We had to politely decline many cigar and scooter offers. There was a gentleman that followed us for quite a while just yelling “Cigars”! Be aware of your surroundings out here!

There is a ton of shops in the area right outside of the cruise port. Large crowds, peddling, gift shops, traffic – it’s all here! If you want to spend some coin and grab some souvenirs for your friends and family back home, this is the area. Gucci, RIP Curl, Tag Heuer – there is a lot of money you can spend in this area. All shops in this area seemed to be backed by Royal Caribbean.

**The shopping area near the cruise port.**

We had booked the Atlantis excursion through Royal Caribbean along with a whole lot of other passengers. The group in the designated waiting area was huge! The whole process going forward was very unorganized! There was a whole lot of confusion and waiting going on. A few Atlantis employees would show up taking our tickets and giving out wristbands. After this, there is just one Atlantis rep shouting directions to our group which is just too huge for anyone to hear and understand.

We were to be shuttled over to Atlantis which was only about a 10 – 15 minute ride from port, but the shuttle buses seemed to have been running late. After waiting for about 45 minutes they would arrive and take as many people as they could fit. We were dropped off outside Atlantis and told the last shuttle back for our excursion would be 4pm. We are now greeted by our new tour guide who would take us through the beautiful Atlantis! There is a LOT to see here and the guide is to show you around for about 2 hours. Then you’re given some time to free roam on your own. There is just not enough time to see all that Atlantis has to offer. If you want to see Atlantis, I think you’re better off planning the trip yourself than through the cruise line. The place has so much more to offer than a 2 hour quick run through!

All these fish!

We only had a little bit of time left after the tour to do our own exploring. We would quickly hit the Atlantis beach and make our shuttle back to the cruise port. We never had time to check out the waterpark! This is not included in the tour.

We were dropped off at the cruise port and still had a lot of time to kill. We would then take a taxi just down the road to Junkanoo Beach! Junkanoo Beach was not only free, it also wasn’t too busy! We would spend some time here swimming until we were ready to head back to the ship!

Cruise port view from Junkanoo Beach!
The Anthem is the middle ship.

Overall it was a good day. I just wish we didn’t waste so much time during the “tour”. There was a lot we didn’t get to see! The next stop….the beautiful CocoCay!