My husband and I have sailed with Royal Caribbean 3 times prior to this cruise and had an amazing experience each time. This time we were looking for a new ship with new destinations. We vigorously researched many options and decided upon Anthem of the Seas when we came across a Buy one Get one 50% off offer in November 2015. We have been to Eastern and Western Caribbean on Freedom of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas. We have also sailed to Alaska on Radiance of the Seas. So we decided upon Southern Caribbean and 12 days to cover more islands over a longer period of time. We were very reluctant to choose Anthem because we recently saw many negative reviews on Cruise Critic regarding the dining, the weather, and technology issues. However, we worked with a cruise planner with Royal Caribbean for months to ensure all of our questions and concerns were resolved before making a final decision. We made our booking for March 27 to April 8 2016. Southern Caribbean ported in Bayonne NJ and traveled to St Maarten, St Kitts, Labadee, San Juan, Martinique, and Barbados and then returned to Bayonne NJ.

In the months approaching the cruise, we booked all of our excursions for the land days 4 through 9, booked our entertainment reservations and made all of our dynamic dining and specialty dining reservations. We rotated our dynamic dining among the four custom restaurants to include American Icon Grill (american cuisine), The Grande (formal dining), Silk (asian/chinese cuisine), and Chic (modern). We scheduled three formal nights at The Grande on days 2, 7 and 11 as we quite enjoy this part of the cruise. We also booked our drink package (as I'm obsession with caffeine) and purchased the photo package for $299.00 so that we could capture every moment on camera! I do this each cruise so that I can create a shutterfly book upon return detailing each day through pictures and adventures! Because this ship is the highest tech of all the ships, the photo package is electronic and available on jump drive for convenience. Jump drives could be picked up on the 12th day at 10pm.

In addition to booking the cruise, we booked an overnight cruise package with Embassy Suites in Elizabeth NJ which was about a 20-30 minute shuttle ride to the port in Bayonne. The stay included a King Suite with kitchinette and living room, complimentary breakfast, and transportation to and from the port for four. It also included complimentary parking for 14 days which was a steal! The shuttle service to the port was smooth. We arrived with plenty of time to spare to embark for our 11:30am embarkment time. The shuttle driver loaded all of our bags (all 8 of them) into the cruise loading zone and we didn't have to lift a finger. This was a relief as we had no clue how we would lug 8 bags and 2 carry-ons to board the ship. Read more