OK ... No Coco Cay

Anthem of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

CallanNY

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 96

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

8 Night Bahamas (Cape Liberty Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 15, 2019

Ship: Anthem of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 12656

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

My wife and I booked this “8 Night Bahamas” cruise in March of 2018 shortly before the work of the new Coco Cay was first announced. It was my second cruise ever, both have been with Royal Caribbean (we went on the Freedom of the Seas last February 2017 with our 2 children, my parents, and some friends from work), but this was our first cruise without our 2 children. Another plus side was that St. Patrick’s Day was occurring during our time on the ship which we thought was going to be very fun. We decided that we would get the beverage package this time and my wife was set to swim with dolphins so that was a "Must Happen." Then I selected the Kayak/Snorkel Combo in Coco Cay. Leading up to our cruise was hectic, we had a lot of unknowns going on throughout the year due to a waiting process for me for a job with a state law enforcement agency and my wife starting a new job herself. About a week before the cruise we were all set and knew for sure that it was all going to work out. However, then the email came in informing us that Coco Cay was no longer going to be a stop for us and we would be going to Miami instead. This turned our “8 Night Bahamas” cruise into a Florida cruise basically, due to us already having a stop in Port Canaveral. Getting onto the ship was VERY fast. We drove from Upstate NY to Newark, NJ the night before departure and stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Newark Airport. Our room was a park and go package so we were able to leave our vehicle at the hotel for the duration of the cruise for no additional cost. The morning of the cruise we simply took an Uber to the cruise port (left the hotel around 1050, got to the port around 1120), were dropped off, and went through the steps. I believe we were on the ship by 1130 and our room was in fact ready at 1300 as we were told with all of our bags already there. Our first few cruise days on the ship were fun. Exploring things to do, places to hang out at, bars to check out, etc. It was also a busy one because we had pre booked a time on the first day with the Ripcord skydive simulator and also purchased the 3 night dining package to try some of the specialty restaurants (we LOVE to try new food options). We bought the bracelet watch things to give us access to our room and also be used for drinks, it was about $4-$5 each. At the end of the cruise we both decided that we probably wouldn’t purchase them again. Getting off of the ship at ports you MUST HAVE your sea card so I usually carried them around with me anyway. The watches were mostly convenient if your hands were full trying to get into the room. With the 3 night dining package our first night was pre booked for us, the other nights we had to schedule. This was somewhat of a pain, the service member helping us just seem to be saying “Yes” to everything we wanted to do without looking into anything. So we booked all of our specialty dining the first day, for day 1, 2, and 3 (We changed the days eventually to space them out a couple of days later and it was fine and easy). Our first day we departed and went under the VZ Bridge which was VERY cool, definitely get to a top deck to see that, and it was great having an AMAZING view of the city while we went by. Later that day we were scheduled to do the Ripcord skydive simulator. THIS WAS AWESOME! I wish we scheduled more times throughout the cruise because we both had A LOT of fun but you only get 1 minute of flying time. I HIGHLY recommend scheduling this. Also, our first night dining was at Wonderland. We were not sure about this specialty dining restaurant. Prior to our cruise we read GREAT reviews but it seemed gimmicky. We figured it was our first night and that if it was bad, so what, and if it was good then great… IT WAS EPIC! Haha, Our waiter Vladan was awesome, made the dinner that much more enjoyable. The portions were small, but got bigger as you started from Appetizer to Entrée. I wish we did this again during our cruise. They had us select 3 dinners, which came with 3 appetizers, which came with 3 desserts. All were great, both of use were very satisfied at the end. Day 2 was more laid back, we checked out more areas of the ship, Two 70, Brass & Bock, the Solarium (we hung out for 3 hours) and then eventually made our way to dinner in the main dining hall. Dinner was good, it was formal night. One of our waitress seemed newer so she wasn’t very personable, and taking photos on this ship was weird. We planned to buy the photo package but towards the end decided not too. They made us do a lot of odd poses that we felt made the photos look cheesy. Day 3 was St. Patty’s Day, we had bought custom shirts before the cruise and I was very excited haha. We spent a good majority of the day at the Schooner Bar, met up with a GREAT couple and another GREAT family from a facebook group that was set up by some people we found prior to our cruise. Also, the Schooner bar has a lot of the trivia games and what not it is very convenient. On this day we also did the North Star which was great, and we tried lunch at one of the dining halls that was also enjoyable. We ended up checking out Brass & Bock for a while, they have a great selection of beer. I tend to enjoy IPAs and they have plenty. Also, Nazarii was our bartended, the guy is a savage. Works likes crazy, and is still super personable. He recommended beers, talked with us every chance he got, just a great guy, and worker. We ate at the main dining hall again this night and it was enjoyable. Day 4 was our stop in Port Canaveral. Gloomy day, but we figured get off the ship and check out some stuff. So we took a shuttle from the port into town and at lunch at this place called the Sandbar Sports Grill - it was good, they have great fish tacos. We also took time to go to some shops to get family members some things and then it began to rain so we went back to the ship and hung out in the Solarium again (about 4 hours). After we hit dinner at the main dining hall again and it was still good. Day 5… Miami… Gloomy… Rain… ALL DAY… SUPPOSED TO BE COCO CAY! It was a bummer to say the least. In all honesty, I wasn’t THAT upset about Coco Cay, some people were SUPER pissed - to the point it was ridiculous. My feeling was I was with my wife, away from work for a week. HOWEVER - I feel the way Royal Caribbean handled the change was very, VERY, poor. The only option they gave us was a free shuttle to and from the port to Bayside market place, and to and from South Beach. Our bummer with not being in Coco Cay was having the drink package that we could have used on the island and the fact that they would be serving us food. Now we got stuck in Miami on a rainy day - literally didn’t stop - And now had to spend more money on food if we didn’t eat on the ship, and drinks. I understand that we could have ate on the ship, but we just spent all of that time on it we just wanted to stretch our legs. We did take advantage of the shuttles and check out both areas. Bayside is literally a row of shops and South Beach was pointless due to no nice weather. I feel that Royal should have compensated us with on board credit maybe in the form of one day per person for the drink package and maybe one day per person to eat at one of their specialty restaurants. It is what it is, and like people pointed out it was raining there was probably raining in Coco Cay too haha. We made the best we could out of a lame option. This night we ate at our second specialty dining Chops Grille. It was OK - in our opinion NOT BETTER than Wonderland. However the mushroom soup we got was delicious and our steaks were cooked perfectly. Our dining experience was ruined a little though due to a couple behind us that came in MUCH later than we did. They must’ve been in a higher up suite compared to our balcony room because the maitre de cam in apologizing about a bottle of wine they ordered and stated that it was corrected once they saw their room number. Whatever their status was killed it because they ended up getting all of their food served before we were served ours. I don’t complain much about service but it was literally like we were forgotten about. Day 6 was Nassau Bahamas. THANK YOU! The sky cleared up, our excursion was to swim with dolphins at Blue Lagoon and it all went PERFECT! Blue Lagoon was great, almost literally its own private island. We took about a 30-45 minute tender boat to get there, totally worth it. The crew was great, they had drinks on board. Swimming with dolphins made my wife’s week, probably year haha. Sun was out - I got burned by it didn’t even care. We went back to the ship once the day there was over, showered, changed and went back into Nassau. Nassau is, not great. The little shops were already closed around 1700 even though we were still scheduled to be in port until 2200. We attempted a few stores on the first main street but didn’t do much else. I don’t like people bothering me on vacation so we ended up getting back to the ship around 1900. Dinner at the dining hall again was good and tonight was the RED Dance Party in Two 70. It was a little weird, Two 70 was PACKED but it was a bunch of people that came to sit and watch everyone that danced - a little weird. We went out for a few songs but headed out when it was over. The ship had some other surprises during though that was cool. Day 7 was a rough day at sea. The ship was ROCKING. We started the morning with the sushi rolling class which was fun, but my wife was bothered A LOT by the movement of the ship and she spent a lot of this day in the room. The night was the final formal night with prime rib and lobster tails for dinner - both delicious. Day 8 I got the call and accepted from the job I was waiting on in the morning before we tried lunch at Jamie’s Italian, so that was a great way to start the day. I liked it a lot - got stuck behind the same high class couple from Chops, but that was entertaining. However the food was good - again, nothing beat our experience at Wonderland. The weather was great so we tried to enjoy the upper pool areas a little. Much colder though so we hung out in the indoor pool area and then walked around some more. Two 70 had a Philharmonic music session that I liked, she wasn’t a fan, but Two 70 is a different entity of its own. That was our last dining night so we did Izumi. We liked it but we have a sushi place in our town that we a super biased towards so it was our best experience. HOWEVER I love Sapporo beer and they had it, that was awesome. Day 9 we got off the ship VERY fast, hopped in an Uber and headed back to the hotel to pick up our car. I have family that lives in Staten Island so we went there for a few hours and had lunch (Got some real pizza) prior to driving home.