Virtopia

I've done a TA before and had 5 sea days in a row. I absolutely loved it, which surprised me. I slept in and skipped breakfast, woke up for lunch and sat by the pool with my book, napped on my balcony, got ready for dinner and then enjoyed the night life the ship has to offer. It definitely allowed me to relax and come back home refreshed. My upcoming cruise is a 8 night sailing but only has 3 port stops including 2 sea days prior to disembarking. I cannot wait.

I'll be heading on my 11th solo cruise this September and I can't wait.

The hardest part for me honestly is getting good pictures taken. I'll have some people stop and take one half decent picture and that's it. I appreciate it because they don't have to but when I tend to take pictures for people, I put in an effort to take 4 or 5 shots with different angles.

On one of my solo cruises, I went to a beach in Aruba for the day and shared a taxi with a family from a Carnival ship. One of the ladies in the group saw me taking a selfie and said catch me later and I'll take a picture for you .... she literally ended up taking about 50 pictures of me walking up and down the beach. It was fantastic and so appreciated. She said just because you're traveling solo doesn't mean you can't make your friends back home jealous LOL

I’m on my way back to New Jersey now - actually sitting in the Windjammer looking out the window. It’s been a fantastic cruise - they said we had about 1,855 passengers on board and I never felt unsafe in any way. I got off in 3 of the 4 ports and as of this moment, I have no symptoms and should have a successful negative test in the next few days.

I just printed all my documents for my Anthem cruise on Monday - never hurts to have a backup.

4 hours ago, GTJ said:

To rate the hotel as "good" is rather subjective, for there are so many criteria to use. The hotel itself I am certain will be sufficiently comfortable. But you will be a prisoner of the hotel given that it is completely surrounded by an expressway and a highway . . . it might be legal to walk along U.S. 1 & 9, but doing so would put your life at risk. (Ironically, perhaps, on the other side of the expressway is literally a state prison.) If you're only staying the night, then you will be able to make do with the hotel restaurant or delivery. Here's a suggestion for delivery: Campino Restaurant (it is Portuguese, about six minutes away, and Uber Eats delivers). But if you have the full day there, then you might be disappointed in not having much to do nearby. And for getting to the port the next day, the lack of any walking facilities and of public transportation service leaves with no practicable choice but for taxi or taxi-like service.

 

Perhaps we will see you next week onboard the vessel!

Thank you! My guess is I won't be at the hotel until after 6pm so I'm sure it will do; if I was coming in earlier, I probably would've stayed in New York for the night. I also did plan to take Uber to the port in the morning.

I will check that place out!

I'm traveling solo on the Anthem next week and this thought did cross my mind should something happen. I am accustomed to traveling alone so I believe I'd be fine. If anything, my fear would be the financial impact for ordering in!

My return to cruising after a 2 year hiatus will be on the Anthem in exactly 1 week! Booked in an obstructed balcony and looking forward to warmer weather!

On 1/21/2022 at 11:15 AM, Starry Eyes said:

And if the JS was the result if a RoyalUp upgrade, one does not even get the e tra point per night.

 

Cabin stewards can generally provide robes to any cabin upon request.

I didn’t realize this -  makes me tempted to cancel my RoyalUp offer.

I saw this for my upcoming 1/31 Anthem sailing but only on the Jr Suite category.

I had already bid on Saturday and found it odd that the promotional price was now the same as my low ball offer.

6 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

If a sandwich gets it done, you could also just pick one up at the airport airside on arrival. 

This thought crossed my mind and I probably will end up doing this to make things much easier.

Thanks for the help everyone! I will just order in for the night - always a good way to start vacation in my book 🙂

7 hours ago, Janet524 said:

Just got the notice that my bid for a balcony on the 2/5/22 Enchantment cruise was accepted. I was pleasantly surprised because I bid under the "recommended" price.

I just did this for my upcoming sailing next Monday so hoping for the best!

Yes, that's the one.

Thank you for letting me know that no food options are in the area. Do you know if the restaurants are walking distance? My flight gets in early evening so don't need anything major - a Subway would be perfect actually.

Also, have reactivated my Lyft to get to the airport. Thanks!

So glad I came across this thread!

I'm traveling on Sunday to board Anthem on 1/31and had ordered the Switch Health kit at the beginning of the month, thinking I'd be good as I'm traveling solo and the kit has 2 tests.

However, i've just booked a back up test at Shoppers for Sunday morning in case I have issues with the test. I plan to get in the queue by 7am Sunday morning which I hope is enough time for a successful test and to cancel the booking.

This is a fantastic review and the pictures are incredible! Thanks for taking us along 🙂

I'll be sailing on the Anthem on 1/31 but will be flying in one day before and staying in the SpringHill Suites. I've sailed out of NJ before but it's been a few years and previously stayed in the Country Inn & Suites, which I didn't enjoy.

Is this a good hotel? I'll be traveling solo and looking for something that's comfortable for the one night. Also, is the best way to travel to the port using Uber/Lyft?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for this live reporting - I'm on the 1/31 sailing and barring any last minute complications, I'm looking forward to my return to cruising. My last sailing ended December 2019 so it's been a long time coming!! Also, I've never been on Anthem before so it will be nice to have all this time to explore a new ship.

Dumb question but will still ask - as I'm traveling solo, would I only pay the per person rate or would I be double charged?

I went to do a Royal Up to a JS on my upcoming sailing and instead of the $315 it was showing me, the total price was $630.

4 hours ago, Missusdubbya said:

Onboard:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2796046-diamond-plus-welcome-benifits-letter-in-cabin/
 

Email them to choose your in-cabin amenities (a range of gifts/beverages):

https://dlxffu6hwewxp.cloudfront.net/cas/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/18063159_CAS_MemberBonus_Amenity_List_v3.pdf (this link is thanks to @twangster)

 

 

If I have exactly 175 points, can I pick something from the larger list? Would love to get a bottle of wine!

I'm on this sailing as well and it's a go with the flow attitude for me. A lot of my excitement comes from the anticipation but I realize these are different circumstances, so I'm being optimistic that everything happens as it's supposed to - I've told myself that once I see the ship, I can let all the excitement boil over.

See you onboard! 🙂 I'll be the one in the mask LOL

These pictures are gorgeous! I've just booked with Lawrence so I'm excited!

Jessy, your detail of the events has been tremendous, so thank you very much for sharing. I feel so bad for your family, especially the boys who would've been flying out in the morning sigh.

As a Canadian that will be traveling on the 30th to Cape Liberty for the Anthem sailing, this gives me a lot to think about. I didn't realize they were cutting the time down to 10 days to get back into the country. Also, seeing how much Royal is covering is tremendous and puts me a bit at ease.

Please take good care and hope Paul feels better soon!

Sigh, guess it's time to ration out my 5 vouchers for the day. Let's hope I can stick to starting to drink around noon and pacing myself - thanks for the confirmation!

18 hours ago, foxgoodrich said:

Any drink you want is approved...if it costs $13 or less, your vouchers on your Sea Pass will cover it.  If it costs more than $13, you pay the difference plus gratuity on the difference.

 

Works great!  I think you'll enjoy your new freedom with your free drinks.  If you go to the DL, there are hors d'oeuvres during happy hour, but you use vouchers for drinks.

Did this change? I thought it was unlimited drinks as long as you remained in there. I would usually go in for 2 or 3 drinks and then go to the bars to start using my vouchers.

This review has been tremendous - thank you for sharing!!

For your stop in Antigua, do you have contact information for Lawrence? I'd like to get to some beaches if I can.