Good Time Travelers, sailing of Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas!

We departed Honesdale on an Avery's coach with 40 people. As always, when Dennis is driving, you can count on a safe trip down to Bayonne. When arriving at the pier it was a quick check-in and we were on the ship in no time. The Anthem is a pretty big ship at 167,800 tons. It holds 4,180 passengers and it was sold out for this sailing.

The ship has many things to do including the Ripcord by iFly, FlowRider, cooking demonstrations, Northstar, Sea Plex (bumper cars, trapeze, roller skating, video arcade and ping pong), trivia, rock climbing wall, swimming pools, hot tubs, solarium, and many shows in the theater and the Music Hall. There are four main dining rooms which are American Icon, Chic, Silk and the Grande. This time, I tried three of the specialty dining restaurants, Jamie’s Italian restaurant, Wonderland and Chops grille. It is fine dining at its best. You certainly will not walk away hungry!

Ports of call during our cruise:

1. San Juan, Puerto Rico- I have been to San Juan several times. This time we found a great restaurant “greengos” where the food was good and so were the mojitos. Others did tours while there. They had good luck with the Bacardi Rum tour, Ziplining Adventure at the Hacienda Campo Rico and the An evening at Window Cave.

2. St Maarten- this was our day of shopping. The damage done by the hurricane was pretty substantial. Many of the buildings suffered damage but they are coming back. There were plenty of ships in port to help the local economy. Many enjoyed the beautiful beaches that St Maarten has to offer.

3. Antigua- this is the day to do the beach for us! We went to Turner Beach which is stunning. There was hardly anyone there! After we enjoyed the restaurant, which was right there before heading back to the ship. Many on the group took tours of the island, catamaran even swimming with the stingrays.

4. St Lucia- This is one of my favorite islands. The island is very lush and the Pitons are so majestic. Here we took a great excursion to try and see the Dolphins and Whales an added bonus was seeing the spectacular shoreline. It was great talking with some of the friendly people of St Lucia. It really makes this island special.

5. Barbados- I took a great 4X4 safari tour to the caverns. I heard great things about Andromeda Gardens, swimming with the turtles and of course the great beaches.

6. St. Kitts- The tour of the day was certainly the train ride. Rave reviews of this trip! A great way to see the island.