Neaxan

So when Royal Caribbean decide which ship to homeport in Southampton, I think that should give @Matt a good reason to sort out a Group Cruise for 2020!!
Just sayin'

According to the Captain of the Indy:  "A ship has a Captain, a boat has an unhappy husband".  

I've sailed on both (3x TUI, 1x AIDA), so if you've got any questions feel free to ask. Maybe by DM to not hijack this thread any further 

As an avid TUI cruiser and now looking forward to my first Royal cruise the target audience thingy is debatable  Just kidding, TUI Cruises is more or less restricted to the German speaking market as it's the official language on board - and let's face it, nobody wants to bother with German if it isn't your mothertongue anyway. Pullmantur is just the same, only for the Spanish market. Both lines don't have many international guests. Btw, CDF has ceased operations in 2017, if I remember correctly most ships have been transferred to Pullmantur as TUI Cruises is busy building their own ships (the 5th will arrive in 2018).

I stayed on the ship today and that decision would pay dividends for me.  In my last live blog I talked about a venue that is unique to Quantum class ships - Two70°. 
Here is the Two70° venue on Anthem of the Seas during its first ever visit to the Port of Miami with Miami as a backdrop:

With Royal Caribbean's Headquarters right here they took an opportunity to introduce this Quantum class ship to many HQ employees and local travel agents who may not have had an opportunity to set foot on board one before since the other two in this class, Quantum and Ovation, are not based in North America.   Walking around the ship I saw numerous employees taking it all in.  Just before noon our cruise director announced that none other than Nick Weir would be doing a presentation in Two70° and guests were welcome to attend.  
For those that don't know Nick Weir, he is the Vice President of Entertainment for Royal Caribbean.  If you've seen a show on a Royal ship lately, you've likely experienced the work of Nick Weir and his team.  I follow him on twitter @NickWeirShowbiz where he occasionally leaks tidbits about the new entertainment coming to Symphony of the Seas.  For those that saw Project Atlantis, the RCTV production about the last time Allure went to the Freeport dry dock - that was Nick Weir hosting it.
Walking into Two70° today the room was rotating through some background scenes.  The room was filling up, my daily KümmelWeck from Café270 would have to wait. 



Have you noticed how the color of the house lights change based on the content that is being displayed?  Also note this was at noon during full daylight outside.  Consider my first photo above and how this room has transformed since, in the middle of the day.  Cool stuff here.
Nick took the stage and began his presentation.



Today Nick would be showcasing the incredible Two70° venue to an audience that consisted mostly of Miami employees and local agents - there were only a handful of ship guests other than myself in attendance.  The room cost an estimated $27M per ship plus the cost of content.  He discussed not only the evolution of these Quantum class rooms but the need to create content for them.  With eighteen individual projectors synchronized to produce the 'Vista Display' as it's called, it amounts to a 12k screen with a 5:1 aspect ratio (if you thought 4k was impressive, ha!).  The problem is no one has content for this screen size or resolution so Royal Caribbean Entertainment had to create it from scratch.        

During Top Tier events I've seen the virtual fleet presented before.  Nick explained this was created for a Royal Caribbean Board of Directors meeting that took place on Ovation a few years ago.  Since it was such a hit, they have kept using it and made it part of the Crown and Anchor Society Top Tier event.

During the presentation more and more of the fleet, old and new are brought to life on the screen sailing virtually behind us. 

Nick stepped us through various pieces that were produced for this venue some of which simply don't photograph well since they combine both the Vista Display and six robotic screens that move and are choreographed with content on the Vista Display and each other.
One piece that stands out is called 'Dance In A Box'.

They literally made two boxes the size of two robot screens and recorded dancers in a studio constrained to dance within those dimensions.  The robot screens move and rotate, separate and come together in three dimensions all choreographed to music.  This had never been done before.  It's one thing to make a robot that can build a car on an assembly line but Nick explained frankly it's quite boring watching a robot repeat the same move over and over all day long.  They needed to make the robotic screens performers themselves and that is what they have done. 

I've seen many of these productions before on previous Anthem cruises but hearing their origins and how Nick and his team produced them brought new respect for each show.
I'm really not doing the entire presentation justice in this blog.  It's something you have to experience which is the magic of this room.  It's not just a video played on a big screen, it's the manner in which the technology of the room is used to immerse the audience into the production.  In the interest of brevity I'm skipping several pieces of great entertainment but Nick brought it to a close with a virtual fireworks show his team created for New Years Eve one year that was so popular they play it on all Quantum class cruises now.  Watch your cruise compass for it when you sail on one.

 
Our Miami visitors had a lunch to get to in the dining room so the few guests like myself that attended then saw the virtual symphony orchestra on the Vista Display.

I had an opportunity to meet Nick after the event and talk briefly with him.  Nick if you ever read this, I decided to spare you from displaying how you showcased the rotating stage using yourself as a prop in the process.  Well done sir!

From time to time I see people asking about what drinks are included in the Coca-Cola Freestyle drink dispensers. 
@Matt has written blogs on the Freestyle machines.  Here is one from 2015:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/07/20/coca-cola-freestyle-machines-royal-caribbean
While I am on Anthem I have some free time so I grabbed some pictures of all the Freestyle drink menus.  
Let's start with the main menu:
 
From here you can see the types of drinks available in each category.  First are two pages for the "All Drinks" category:
 
 
Here are the types of drinks available within each option:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And of course plain water:
 
The same drinks are sorted by "Low/No Calories" options:
 
The same drinks sorted by "Caffeine Free" options:
 
Finally the same drinks are sorted by flavor:
 
Here are the Cherry drinks:
 
 
Orange drinks:
 
 
Raspberry drinks:
 
 
Grape drinks:
 
Lemon drinks:
 
 
Peach drinks:
 
 
Strawberry drinks:
 
 
Lime drinks:
 
 
Fruit Punch drinks:
 
Vanilla drinks:
 
Cherry Vanilla drinks:
 
Mixed Berry drinks:
 
For those that are asking what is a Freestyle drink dispenser?  
Certain Royal Caribbean ships have these Freestyle drink dispensers.  See the blog above for a list of ships that have them.
 
Freestyle dispensers work only with special cups provided with beverage packages.  The souvenir cups have a chip embedded in the base that is read by the machine when you place the cup into the machine.  There are various designs that are provided.
 
When a cup is first used it is registered in the system and an expiry date is assigned.  The expiry date is usually a few days longer than your cruise.
 
The machines also function as ice dispensers.
Lastly, these menus were captured in January 2018.   It's possible that menus will vary over time and by ship.   
 

I've also read this quite a few times but in my CP for the Symphony TA in October the Dreamworks Character Breakfast has just become available.

Hotel Jazz looks great but is fully booked when we need it. Not so impressed with Colón especially considering the price. Hubby just booked us in Hotel Barcelona Catedral right between Las Ramblas and Barri Gótic. Recommendations sound promising and we got a reasonable deal for it (about 225 $). It's only one night so if it's not as good as it seems we will manage 

I'm also haven't booked a hotel in Barcelona for Symphony's TA. Can only tell you what NOT to book - Hotel SB Diagonal Zero Barcelona. We had a room for 3 nights in October and weren't impressed. The hotel is right next to a construction site and from the looks of it it won't be finished in October.
On second thought, on my CC roll call they're praising Hotel Continental so maybe that's an option for you. Not for me, it's already booked solid with TA cruisers 

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."
The Gingerbread Houses of Anthem of the Seas

Day -3
To blog or not to blog this is the question.
On one hand it was a nice experience last time , on the other hand this following cruise was just got excellent  live review from Matt , also blogging in parallel  to such nice blog from Anthem with pictures I can only dream to  take with my poor phone  …
But hey there is not such a thing as too much live blogs right ?!
 
So once again (and not so far from last time) we are planning to be on cruise.
This time a quick 5 days on Indi.
 
So let’s start from the whys:
After the last cruise we got a voucher from the Casino for a free cruise, the voucher allow you a free (well they call it  free, you still need to pay gratitude and taxes) to choose from a list that contains mainly Caribbean cruises.
If you choose not to use one of the cruises from the list you can use the voucher value for any other cruise you choose (only new cruises allowed  and it should be no later than one year from the voucher date)  
Why Indi – well I was looking for a bigger ship after our last cruise in the Voyager and a shorter one.
The main idea is for us to squeeze a cruise and some other activities in one week which will allow us to be back home/work at the next Sunday.
So the 5 days cruise was just perfect for that and I loved to find out short cruise on bigger ship (usually the shorter cruise are on the small ships for some reason).
Why now?  , We both need to consume some vacation days as the end of the year around the corner  and we both over the allowed accumulated quota.
The most important reason - its going to be my spouse birthday and I cannot think about  a  better  place to celebrate such occasion …
Besides that, does anyone really need an excuse why to cruising RC ?  J
 
As Usual (if I can call a second live blog usual) I am starting the blog few days earlier as the vacation starts now and I started my long journey to the US (currently waiting for my connection in a country which I will not disclose its name but its famous for its Swiss cheese , Swiss chocolates and Swiss clocks).
The plan was very simple, flying to Miami, take a car and drive to Orlando (I refuse to go to Florida and skip Orlando parks, sorry, if I am already there I will take advantage on it),
3.5 hours’ drive after a transatlantic flight is not something I am not familiar with and we planned to split the drive between us , its sounds like a good plan.
Plans are one thing and reality is another, my spouse was called few days ago,  urgently to some business meetings in the US.
It was perfect on one hand as it save us one of the reward airline ticket (all I needed now is one domestic ticket from the city the meeting are taking place to Orlando) on the other hand it means I will do the Miami – Orlando drive alone, well not totally alone, although  Matt still do not know it yet but he is going to make sure I will stay awake during driving by listen to a binge  RC blog podcasting I calculate after 8 podcast I should arrive safely, you can say many thing about Matt (just good thing don’t worry) but no one can say his  podcast  can be used as lullaby, especially with his enthusiasm,
Before you all ask why I did not fly directly to Orlando ?  well as I am using rewards  miles I cannot be too picky , in other words , it’s much easier to find international flight to Miami than to Orlando.
So now the plan is even easier , land in Miami , run to immigration and custom , pray that the lines are short and I am not stuck behind people from a flight of certain countries in Europe which the immigration officer love to question them for long period of time.
I will pick the car set the BT and start my way to meet my spouse so tomorrow we can visit Universal.
 
Currently still waiting here ,  after leaving a teenager to watch the apartment (he rather be left alone almost for the first time than joining us).
I just hope it will be ok as all we ask him  is (he is a teenager you know you cannot ask them much) :
We want still have the apartment when we are back.
No complaints from neighbors.
Alcohol bottles remain the same as they were , and no , to refill the Gray guess with water or the whiskies with teas does not count .
The cat should still be alive.
 
Not too complicated as I said, good we have insurance (and his grandmother to spy on him from a distance).
 
Here is the cat reaction after understanding we are again going to cruise without him .

 
 
Tomorrow visiting Harry Potter (I hope).

Day 5 - St Thomas
I woke up early to make sure I could watch our approach before our pier arrival.  I was happy to see much of this side of the island with power.  


The main power generating plant is not far from Crown Bay so it's no surprise the South East of the island was first to get power back.  
A line of showers moved through sending me into the Solarium but soon after we were treated to a nice sunrise as we approached the harbor.  This is one of the bridge wings on Anthem (the port wing has been closed for both sailings). 

Today we would be docking at the West Indies pier or what many refer to as Havensight.  
I wanted to wait for the sun to rise a little higher for it to set off the color in the water so I went off to the Solarium Bistro for breakfast.  As it turns out this early morning photo with the blue sky day would be one of the best of this area of the island.  The blue sky wouldn't last all day.


The Captain mentioned increasing chances for rain so I decided to head to Magens Bay for some pictures while the weather was good.  This photo was taken shortly after leaving the Havensight Mall area.

I took a 'Safari' taxi for $8 and joined 10 other shipmates on our way to the beach.  On the ride out of town I looked over and saw Oasis docked in Crown Bay.

That is Anthem far left and Oasis far right.



I had asked our driver if he could stop by Drake's Seat and he did.  This is the spot to get a great overview picture of Magens Bay Beach.


As we approached Magens Bay you could see large areas of forest that had been damaged by the hurricanes.  In the past this was dense and you couldn't see much of anything when you looked into the forest.  Now you could see many trees down, many with no tops and most with no foliage.  
Magens Bay is a preserve managed by the local USVI government and has a $5 per person entrance fee.  We paid at the gate.  Our driver then took us to the South end of the beach where they had set up a temporary bar, grill and beach shop while the centrally located building that used to house them is being rebuilt. It's cash only right now.  I tipped well and I hope you do too.




Chairs and umbrellas can also be rented here.  Otherwise it's a ship towel on the sand - don't forget one.  There are showers and a foot wash area as well as restrooms all working fine on this occasion.

Magens Bay Beach remains as beautiful as ever.
As I took this photo, Beatles Abbey Road popped into my head...

I was curious what the efforts were to repair the beach.  Royal Caribbean partnered with the local USVI authority that operates the park to restore it.  Beyond the obvious structures that were damaged and are being rebuilt,  you can see there are hundreds of new trees that have been planted recently each with temporary braces until they take root.  

This is the activity to rebuild the central bar, grill and gift store building.  It's looking close to completion.  Maybe another few weeks?   Hard to tell in the islands...







I wanted to stop by Charlotte Amalie for lunch so at this point I headed to the taxi stand to get a ride back into town.  Dark clouds were starting to move in and I sensed rain was coming and boy did it.   Safely in our Safari taxi me and a couple from Oasis watched the downpour as we made our way back into town.  There is an overlook with great views of the harbor but a traffic accident had closed that road and with the heavy rain it made no sense to try.  For each of these $8 ride I gave our drivers a $20 - they need the money.
Fortunately the rain stopped just as the driver dropped me off in Charlotte Amalie.  
Lunch today was at a favorite restaurant of mine 'The Green House' with views of the harbor.  




I was happy to see the "Blackened Mahi Caesar Salad" was still on the menu.  
On my first trip to St Thomas I found this restaurant and since then the Mahi salad has become a ritual meal.



A Bushwhacker and a beer rounded off lunch. 
With another line of showers coming this way I found another Safari taxi for the ride back to the ship.  
The stores in the Havensight Mall were all open and people were eagerly shopping. 


Back on board I jumped in the shower and made plans to take a nap.
Summary of my day on St. Thomas and some thoughts.
Some of the pictures I decided to include to illustrate how far the flora and fauna on St Thomas has come.  Talking with my friends who live here they told me in the days after the hurricane everything was brown.  There was no green anywhere.  It was very depressing.  Even they are amazed how quickly green has returned.  That in no small way is helping everyone get through this.  Life is normal one told me (even though he doesn't have power back just yet).
From a distance St Thomas looks like it always has but you don't have to look very far to see signs of hurricane damage.  Some people may never rebuild.  It was like this when I lived here and I recall stories of "that was from hurricane ..." when I saw a broken down building.  I imagine there will be similar stories years from now.
When the ship arrived I saw lines of utility trucks leaving their staging area near the West Indies pier.   At lunch I saw a truck pulling a trailer full of pole transformers drive by.   Maybe tomorrow my friend will get power back.
This morning I observed a cargo ship carrying dozens of luxury yachts enter the harbor behind us.  This is a thing.  People ship their luxury yachts and fly in to use them as a base to explore from.  Oh the lives of the rich and famous.  However it shows you even they are returning.  
I tipped a LOT more than I have in the past but they have been without income for way too long.  
St Thomas is back and there is no reason to avoid coming here.

Day 4 - San Juan, Scheduled Arrival 3pm 
As we approached San Juan our sunny day ended and it became apparent we would have some liquid sunshine, emphasis on liquid, to contend with.

We docked near the Sheraton in Old San Juan. Skies began to look better but radar showed another line or two approaching from the East.


After a few false starts to avoid getting drenched I finally ventured out.  

San Juan is doing much better than much of Puerto Rico.  On the surface it doesn't look much different compared to previous visits.
There were street performers waiting to greet us. 

I've eaten here before but was looking for something a little less corporate to visit tonight.

I ended up at Tijuana's bar and grill.  This is very close to the ship pier on this side of the harbor and I've walked past it many times before.

Today is the first day they have opened since Hurricane Maria.  They have a limited menu right now and are cash only but I'm glad I stopped by.
Beer and a burrito sounded pretty good to me with great views. 

The bill came to around $18.  I left them $40.
After this I wandered down the shore along the edge of the fort walls that used to protect the city in the days of old.

Another wave of rain moved through but it was light and refreshing.  They have festive lights set up.  San Juan is back and is ready to greet you. The rain soaked streets increased the contrast and made it especially pretty tonight.

 
I made it down to the fountain I've visited before but lighting wasn't very good tonight and some more rain was moving in so I doubled back to a restaurant and bar I passed along the way.

The Princesa Gastro Bar has the "It's Rum Time" sign that you'll see around San Juan.  On the outside it's a small bar but I was I glad I stopped by.



I talked to 'Angel' the bar keeper and he eagerly explained the island rum he had available.  It's quite a selection.  He arranged it compared to popular liquor such as Scotch, Bourbon and Vodka.  He explained that if someone likes a certain type of Scotch, they might like this type of rum and so on.  He was very passionate and he invited me into his bar.   


After discussing my likes and dislikes he recommend a couple for me to try.   He then presented them to me, complete with bottles to review as I sampled them.

I was impressed.  As a frequent Scotch drinker I appreciated the flavors and differences between the samples that I would not have noticed had I not discussed them with him.  Despite being a small looking bar, it's packed with some great island rum and other liquor if you just don't like rum  (Scotch, Vodka, Gin, wine, etc). 
This might not be the kind of place to seek a rum punch or frozen something but there is no doubt Angel could probably come up with something for you.
The ambiance in the shadow of the old fort wall combined with the restaurant next door is quite nice.

I won't say the ridiculous price he tried to charge me.  I had to do a double take with my old eyes but I tripled it in cash.

They say the trick to navigating is always look for the North star as it shines brightest in the sky.  This wasn't lost on me as I made my way home to Anthem in light rain with a belly full of rum.









 


Back on board I settled down in Vintages to write and post this. There's no place like home.
I was hoping for not just an adventure in San Juan but I also wanted to contribute to the local economy as they need our tourist dollars in the long road to recovery.  It's wasn't what I had in my mind but I'm quite pleased how it played out.
I went into the Walgreens to pickup a few things I forgot to pack.  I used my credit card.  My time in old San Juan all seemed very normal except the restaurants and bars were lightly occupied.  They need tourists to return.  Absent of money coming in some of these businesses will be forced to close if tourists don't return.
If anyone is concerned about booking a cruise with a call on San Juan, don't be.  Book it.

Brilliant! Now Symphony's TA will not only be represented by my shoddy pictures   Keep the Anthem pictures coming and my hubby will have to succumb to the pressure of me wanting to book Spectrum asap. 

And in even more unrelated news I booked the Symphony TA in October as soon as I re-boarded at the Next Cruise desk.  Symphony, here I come!  Somebody stop me!

I know these tours are commonly booked by those with later flights so that guests enjoy their day and don't have to worry about their luggage (which is held by the cruise line during your tour - not sure where).
Perhaps someone here has done one of these excursions without going right to a flight, but if not I suspect RCI will be able to tell you if you can simply get your luggage at the end (rather than having them forward it on).  I'd be surprised if this wasn't an option.  That in mind, if you'll be renting a car, you may opt to do an airboat/everglades tour on your own.  You can look into Everglades Holiday Park and Billie Swamp Safaris (to name just two of the many options).  It just seems that going at it on your own would be cheaper, you wouldn't be waiting on others, etc.  On the other hand, you'd want to make an extra stop before heading out on an excursion to drop of your bags and such at your hotel - so there is that extra step.
With regard to clearing customs and immigration, guests with excursions on disembarkation day will be processed either ahead of others or separately, as the cruise line doesn't want to risk long delays if the lines get long in the port - so I wouldn't worry about that.

In completely unrelated news, I am going to nominate @twangster for message board user of the year!

I don't always live blog my cruises,

 
But when I do I live blog on RoyalCarribeanBlog.com.  Live from my balcony.
Note to @Matt - need a full screen logo ?
 

I ended up having an impromptu lunch yesterday with our Cruise and Entertainment Directors in two70.  They had been pretty busy coming up with activities since we missed our call on Coco Cay.  Dennis Charles has worked on all ships except Ovation over the past 30 years.  You can tell he loves his job and Royal Caribbean.
The Kummel Weck in cafe270 remains a favorite sandwich for lunch.  
two70 is a nice spot to hangout and there were families, singles reading books and couples snoozing.  There is a Library off the 2nd level of two70.   I'm waiting for some better pictures of two70 before going on too much about two70 but it is a great venue and unique to the Quantum class ships.
We arrived into Nassau around noon.  A classic photo many people take is the lighthouse on the barrier island that protects the harbor.  Lighting wasn't perfect today but I knew we would depart after sunset tomorrow so I captured it anyways:

It was very humid and had rained prior to our arrival and I was treated to a rainbow off my balcony. 

Sunset was around 5:20pm tonight.  This guy on the Flowrider was pretty good.  

We had three other ships in port with us and since we are spending the night here we watched all of them sail away one by one like a parade of ships.  First to depart was a Carnival ship.


The Disney Wonder which I sailed a long time ago.

Finally the Disney Dream.

I enjoy spending a night in port, it gives you an opportunity to see things from a different perspective.



Back to the ship for my 8:30pm My Time reservation.  This was my first trip to the MDR, deck 4 American Icon.


 had the Duck Breast, Caesar Salad and Roasted Veal Medallions.  It was a very good meal.  My wait staff Jimy and Nives were very good but you could tell they were also very busy.  

I didn't feel like a rich dessert so opted for some orange sherbet.
On my way back to my cabin I popped into the music hall to see a bit of 'Groovy Town' the 70's dance party:

Like Indian food?  Ask your waiter for it in the MDR.  They’ll provide a vegetarian and non-veg dish – or more likely both.  If you are in the Windjammer for dinner, go all the way to the back of the line, and there will be several Indian options each night.  The two nights we ate there, they had four dishes to choose from, including a veg curry, Dal, fish curry, pork curry, pappadam, raita, and a few chutneys. . All were great!  Another night I had a butter chicken that may have been the best I’ve ever had.

Deluxe package is now 35,26 € (+ 18 % service charge) - down from around 49 € + 18 % - for our Symphony TA 2018. Immediately booked of course =) Coincidentally Spa offerings have just appeared - might be connected to Black Friday? As the offerings only appeared today I have no way to compare prices to be sure. As we weren't planning on booking Spa services I guess it doesn't really matter.

Breakfast today was in the MDR on deck 3, Leonardo's Dining Room.

A Canadian couple from Vancouver told us a Cozumel story at breakfast.  They went scuba diving in Cozumel booked directly as it was full through RCI.  Coming back to the ship the waves were up and the dive boat couldn't dock.  After several attempts to dock, it was clear they couldn't without smashing into the pier, so as a result they were going to divert to the a downtown pier and were told they would need to take a taxi to the ship, but it was getting close to 'back on board time'. 
Plan B was to jump in and swim to the pier where Freedom was, so they did.  Port security freaked out and there was much shouting back & forth between the dive boat staff and port security but in the end they were allowed up a ladder and onto the pier.  Absent of towels they boarded Freedom dripping wet but just in time.
They had a one year old in the nursery so missing the ship was not an option.   I've heard of pier runners, but this was my 1st account of pier swimmers. 

I'd always choose option B, especially because our bank doesn't charge a currency conversion fee and no matter where we used the card to pay or to withdraw money from an ATM, the conversion rate was always much better than with 3rd party services.

Thank you so much for this blog! I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now even more keen on Halloween on Symphony next year. Your blog has also finally convinced me to get the internet package - I'll be live blogging Symphonys TA so we can see how many decorations made it over the Atlantic 

Thank you so much for this blog! I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now even more keen on Halloween on Symphony next year. Your blog has also finally convinced me to get the internet package - I'll be live blogging Symphonys TA so we can see how many decorations made it over the Atlantic