AbeFroman2

Hi all,

Longtime first time here, as my girlfriend and I spent many days and nights reading CC leading up to our Feb. 19-26 seven-night sailing to the Bahamas aboard the beautiful Anthem of the Seas. I'm hoping this review will help answer many of the questions we had, and my PM box will now be linked to my email so feel free to send any followups, as well.

Some brief background: It was my GFs first cruise and my third (previously Disney to Caribbean, Princess to Bahamas, and RC to Alaska), but so much has changed since I saw Alaska in 2008. Both mid-20s, and of course we sailed out of Bayonne, N.J.

We drove in morning of, getting there about 9-9:30 a.m., and after sitting for about 20 minutes to get to the front of the baggage drop off line, we dumped our checked luggage and went to the garage to park. Getting in and finding a spot was no hassle, and it's just a short walk to booking.

We got through security and check-in by about 10:40 a.m., and then waited about 30 minutes to board the ship. Some folks get pretty riled up during any and all of these stages, but with a little bit of patience and wherewithal to realize just how much is going on to get 4,000-plus passengers off one vacation and onto another, plus day visitors for the crew, and you'll realize it's all going much quicker than you may have imagined!