Monthly Archives: October 2025

…is somewhere I could live. Sunny everyday, occasional sprinkle, 5 beaches within walking distance, a laid back vibe, friendly courteous people, wild chickens.

So we have been everywhere and this is one place I would choose to live. Just had the best of family vacations there in a 4 bedroom house. Six plus days to get into the local vibe: grocery store, shrimp trucks, Catholic Church, ocean sunsets every night, all within walking distance.

The Shaka is the Hawaiian sign used in the surf culture to mean great, compassion, friendship and understanding. Read all about it here. That sums up everything here. Just sayin’

If you ever get a chance….

A change of heart, this cruise was a solid 4 out of 5.

After a few lacklustre days, we finally had some very good times on the Anthem of the Seas.

We went to the matinee performance of the We Will Rock You show. The story was a bit confusing at first but we really liked it in the end.

It is a futuristic story taking place in 2325. The world has forgotten all about rock and roll. A guy has some dreams and strange words pop into his head, the titles of famous songs like Blue Swade Shoes etc. He eventually remembers a bunch of Queen songs, this engages everyone and they get into it.

It’s hard not to like the music and the dancing. They did a great job putting the show on 3 times so everyone could see it. Will remember this one. Apparently it was a massive hit musical with audiences around the world but the critics panned it due to its thin storyline.

Then, the next night they had Maine lobster tail and baked Alaska in the dining room for dinner. Yum. And they did a dancing parade of all the dining room staff. Pretty impressive.

And finally on the last day, they had a hula hoop contest and a lady from Canada won. Lots of fun on this cruise. 9 days all the way to Hawaii!

What we liked about AotS

• Cleanliness and layout of the ship
• Food was generally good in both the Windjammer buffet and the main dining room
• Service in the cabin and dining room was excellent
• Kids camp and arcade for the grandkids was great fun
• Bigger ship had more to do yet never felt crowded
• People very polite and well behaved
• Less focus on alcohol drinking
• Value proposition high due cheaper fair
• No high end ship within a ship cabins so not as class oriented like Celebrity
• They held daily Mass onboard with a great priest from Victoria, BC

Not so liked

• The daily entertainment guide had some errors and omissions
• The 2 device internet account was awkward to switch back and forth
• The numerous cutbacks – no turn down at night – no chocolates – no high end foods like pickled herring, no hard ice cream in the buffet, fancy cheeses, peanuts at the bars
• Upsell for e.g., specialty restaurants
• Some confusion finding the birthday cake I had preordered
• You have to sign out towels to your cabin now
• So far, not impressed with the shows or theatre compared to Celebrity Edge
• Captain had no personality we were aware of as we never actually saw him
• There was an extra hour time change that they forgot to tell us about

We much prefer Celebrity in general and the Edge in particular however for a best value family cruise, RCL is hard to beat