This is going to be a bit long winded, so grab a drink and read on.
#1 son Brian and mate Shanna came down and we loaded up the minivan and headed east. After a night in eastern Pennsylvania, we arrived at Port Liberty, New Jersey for a 5 day cruise to Bermuda aboard Royal Caribbean's "Anthem of the Seas".
We arrived at the port, went through the check-in process, and enjoyed a view of New York from the deck of the ship.
We were a couple miles from the Statue of Liberty.
After a lunch at the Windjammer buffet, we were given access to our staterooms.
We booked last minute and our stateroom was selected by the cruise line. We were on deck #13 just under the pool deck. I imagine many don't want that kind of location because of the potential noise from overhead. It wasn't an issue and we had a great view from that high on the ship. As a bonus, we were only one deck away from the buffet, pools and most activity venues. It was a bit of a hike to the formal dining rooms and theater.
In this photo, our cabin is above the 5th lifeboat from the front, then up to the highest row of balcony rooms where the angled braces are. The braces support the floor of the pool deck. The overhang provided welcome sunshade but did restrict vision skyward somewhat.
Walking around the ship is the Royal Esplanade. It's called a "Prominade" on all the other Royal ships. This must be "special".
The Esplanade is two floors and consists of a dozen or so retail shops, a few bars/lounges, and a café and pizza parlor.
Below the Esplanade is the casino.
All my luck was of the "bad" variety.
Forward, on the pool deck is the Solarium, an area for adults only.
There's a three tier pool, a couple hot tubs, and a café in that area. We ate breakfast there most of the time as it offered everything we wanted and was away from the crowds.
Over the Solarium was the fitness center. I wasn't there very much.
Aft on the upper deck was the "Seaplex". This was a fun spot. It was used for bumper cars, soccer, basketball, roller skating and had pods to the sides that housed table tennis, air hockey, and an Xbox gaming area.
Mid ship was an indoor pool.
Of course the center of activity is the main pool deck.
Throughout the ship was a half dozen or more lounges that provided drinks and entertainment nightly.
So that's a taste of the "hotel" we occupied for 5 days.
The food on this ship was very acceptable. My main entrees for the week included filet mignon, lobster tail, beef tenderloin, scampi pasta, and on our final evening, we discovered JUMBO peel and eat shrimp in the Windjammer. I pretty much filled up on those.
An ice cream bar was a new addition to us for a Royal Caribbean ship. There is always the soft serve machine on the pool deck, but hard ice cream was only available in the dining room or specialty shop.
There was a full selection of toppings as well.
There were a few production shows on the ship. The feature was "We Will Rock You" which plays off the Queen music. That show was decent. The others weren't my favorite but all were well performed. This photo is from their production called "The Gift" and shows the amount of technology that is combined with the human performances.
Daily sunsets were enjoyed. Since hurricane Dorian rolled up the coast the day before the cruise, we were shocked at the calm conditions we encountered throughout the cruise. It went from calm to calmer as we progressed through the week.
Returning to the stateroom in the evening, out attendant Daisy left us a towel animal and our next day's Cruise Compass.
So much for the preliminaries. On the second day we got into the swing of things. It was a full day of sailing so we enjoyed the ship, beginning with a ride on the "North Star".
It's kind of a gimmick thing but was entertaining for what it was. It's a pod on an arm that extends and elevates for a panoramic view.
Brian provided the rest of the entertainment as he demonstrated his skills on the Flow Rider. First on the knee board.
Once it's determined you're coordinated enough to handle the activity, they allow you to try your hand at surfing.
I was impressed that Brian was able to stay up unassisted long enough to snap a shot of him on the board.
Brian's next venture was into the gizmo called "Ripcord" It's a vertical wind tunnel that simulates free falling. Brian got trained and suited up.
Then entered the tube and "flew".
We did experience the bumper cars and played a little ping pong in the Seaplex as well during the trip.
The headliner show on this cruise was an A cappella group. They were decent but we had seen a group in Branson last fall called "SIX" that were better.
After a day at sea, we arrived in Bermuda.
We docked on the south end of the island at Kings Wharf.
The kids had read up on the area and suggested we find transportation and go to Church Bay to snorkel. OK, so we hired a taxi and went there.
We geared up and entered the water.
I'm always the first one in. I was off.
The water was extremely warm. It had to be in the 80's. The reef structure was everywhere from a few yards from shore to about 100 yards out.
There were some crabs tucked up into the rocks.
We swam for a couple hours then caught a taxi back to the ship. Bermuda is a very safe place compared to many other islands we have visited in the Caribbean. I was pleasantly surprised at what a nice island it is. We hired a taxi and told the driver about how long we would be there. He said to just hail a cab along the road when we were ready. We went to the road and wouldn't you know it, the same driver happened to show up.
We returned to the ship, had a snack (probably a three or four course snack) and went to the mall for some souvenir shopping.
The "Clock Tower Mall" is in the harbor area and had anything we might want to look for.
The housing on Bermuda is interesting.
They don't have fresh water wells. When they build a house, they excavate a cistern under the house to store water. The stone slabs that are excavated are used to build the roof. The walls are concrete and stucco. The roofs are cleaned and whitewashed and have been designed to collect and funnel the rainwater to the cistern. That is the source of their drinking and bath water. It's all unfiltered as they have some superstition around drinking treated water. Beyond that, these houses are build like a blockhouse so when a hurricane blows through, there's little damage. Many of these houses are 100 years old or more. The houses are handed down from generation to generation.
During our second day in Bermuda, we booked an excursion for some offshore snorkeling.
We boarded a boat to take us out to the reefs and ship wrecks.
We headed out that direction.
It was about a 5 mile run as I recall.
I'm not sure how often the ocean is this flat, but today it was certainly a pleasant ride. The water is incredibly clear. In this picture, the reef structure is likely 20 to 30 feet below the surface.
We arrived at the site, hooked up to a buoy and in we went.
The following are shots of the fish and wrecks we were over. Saying the water was clear is an understatement.
The kids were posing for Kathy.
It looked like this from her perspective.
Here's Kathy looking fashionable. Those are bags of cement that are on the bottom. That was the cargo on one of the wrecks we were over.
We swam for an hour or so and headed back toward shore via the scenic route.
We stopped in one area known for sea turtles...there were none.
We passed a wildlife sanctuary area on the way into the harbor area.
And returned to the ship.
The following day, we departed Bermuda with the seas still in a calm state.
So with that, we put Bermuda in our wake and sailed back to Port Liberty.
