twangster

Seems more like a Holy Mackerel. Congrats!

Headliners are different than the production and/or Broadway type shows. Headliners tend to be changed very frequently, in some cases there are more than one headliner on a particular cruise. The Broadway type production shows do not change often. They are massively expensive to install on a ship and on a typical cruise more than 50% of all guests have never sailed Royal let alone that ship. Of the C&A returning guests many have not been on that ship. In reality the repeat cruiser coming back for a second cruise on the same ship are the minority, probably around 20% - 25% of the ship guest count. It takes up to two months to rehearse and place a new cast onto a ship. It can take a month just to install the set on a ship. The cast on some ships can be 25 to 40 performers on a ship like Odyssey with two theater venues. There can be dozens of backstage crew supporting each show. Not all ship theaters are equal. Some shows just can't be placed on certain ships due to limitations or the design of that theater. The most significant costs for the production style Broadway shows are the initial licensing and setup costs. Once they'd laid out millions to get a show from development into production they definitely want to keep that show going a very long time to cover the costs associated with creating a new production. There are 26 Main Theaters, 5 Aqua Theaters, 5 Two70 venues and 13 Ice Skating Studios with more coming. Many of the venues have two shows. To change the shows on every ship in the fleet every six months in every venue with new shows and new cast being trained and rehearsing would probably cost $50 million a year assuming you could actually accomplish it which can probably could not be done. It's just not worth it for 20 - 25% of the guest count going on the same ship. There are frequent cruisers who have been on many different ships many different times. It would be impossible to change the production shows fast enough to accommodate this group.

Fewer suites for one.

Some of my fall/winter Anthem trips reports: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/&tab=comments#comment-49894 https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5387-anthem-11918-9-night-bahamas/&tab=comments#comment-54447 https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/17677-anthem-jan-5-2020-11-nights-southern-caribbean-recap/

You can in most ports. I'm only saying most ports because there was a time when certain ports didn't want B2B off due to protocols but that was early in the restart. Most of the time the letter for consecutive cruisers will instruct you to visit guest services before a certain time like 7:30am. You'll get your new seapass card and an in-transit card. Once you leave the ship you can't come back until general boarding has commenced for the new guests. So if you want to slip out to a car in the parking lot at 8am you're stuck outside until the ship starts boarding at 11:30am or later. You still have to go through security when you come back like everyone else checking in but you don't have to repeat all the remaining check in steps. If the ship is already boarding when you return do go through security and then onto the ship. When you get tested on board they will email you the results so if requested you've got the negative test results to show them. Very few people leave the ship during the B2B so terminal workers are in mass mode repeating all the steps like asking for a test letter. The in-transit card *should* satisfy that but terminal workers are not Royal employees and they don't understand all of the nuances of a select few who might do this so, they are in repeat mode - test letter first step.

That depends on the sea conditions for your cruise. Even the largest ships in the world will have motion with the right sea conditions. Some sea conditions combined with the speed and heading of the ship can produce motion that some people feel more than others. In some cases as with roll (side to side) the front or back don't make a difference while higher decks are impacted more than lower decks. In other cases with pitch or a porpoising motion the front and back do have more motion compared to midship. Ship stabilization systems can improve roll but have negligible effect on pitch. There is no way to know what the swell will be like on any given day. Swell can caused by a weather system a thousand miles away and there can be different sources of swell reaching the ship at different angles. Waves tends to be generated by closer weather situations such as wind. Wind from one direction with two swells from other directions relative to the heading of the ship at a specific moment in time are a lot of variables that go into how much motion is felt and where on the ship that motion is felt. People like to draw conclusions that are easy for them to sum and store in their heads. The general thoughts are that lower, midship are the cabins least impacted but that still depends and doesn't guarantee no motion will be felt, it all depends on the unique sea conditions your experience while on board. Some people are susceptible to the up and down lifting effects that large low period swell can create where the entire ship is lifted and lowered as the swell passes through. These types of motions impact the entire ship equally and even the largest ships in the world are impacted by them so there is no escaping this motion on any ship in any cabin. So to answer your question... if you experience flat seas there will be very little motion all the way forward but if you experience different sea conditions there may or may not more motion forward relative to midship, or maybe the same motion as midship.

The parent company is liquidating so the cruise line fell because of that. Other Genting companies built the pier and resort in Bimini so Genting has its ventures in many areas that all have incurred losses. With no ships coming into their pier and no people to the resort/casino that is also a source of lost revenue that impacted the overall company. https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/10370-genting-breaks-ground-on-new-hotel-and-cruise-ship-pier-in-bahamas.html This is probably why they chose that location to end the cruise. They may also owe money to other ports, longshoremen, fuel suppliers, etc. so in choosing Bimini the parent company owns the pier. In the world of shipping it's not unheard of for a ship to be seized due to unpaid bills or even crew wages. Given the international nature of shipping and the fact that ships have propellers and can leave port quickly it can be hard for creditors to seize a ship. Some ports are in countries that recognize other country claims and warrants while some countries don't so a cargo or tanker ship Captain may chose ports to avoid detention and seizure while they continue to operate and earn revenue they hope can satisfy the creditors they are running from. That generally doesn't end well but it's not unheard of for some other non-cruise ships to play this catch me if you can game as they evade the law.

Conventional cans. Flip top like a can of soda.

Day 8 Sunset I spotted a cruise ship on the horizon near the sun. I imagine it's a lot hotter over on that ship. That Captain better be careful, it's heading straight for them. The clouds save the day. Added bonus: Balcony sunset 360 photo featuring a guest appearance from the North Star

Moving cabins between cruises so I have to pack up tonight. I'm moving up in the world! I chose a deck 13 balcony for my next cruise as it was cheaper than the obstructed balconies I'm in now. My current cabin is occupied next cruise so if I have to move I'm taking the opportunity to check out something higher, see if there is pool deck noise and if I like the location. It's only a 6 night and was pretty reasonable so I'll survive no matter what.

Onboard now and tested negative this morning for the consecutive cruise. The ship is in great shape and everything operated normally on the current cruise. All shows and all ports executed as planned.

Negative test results received by email. I'm clear to carry on the next cruise.

We were overtaking another ship in the early hours. Captain's Corner this morning. Crown and Anchor: Up Close and Personal With Your Entertainment Family A one hour presentation and Q&A session with the cast and backstage crew. At these events you always learn some tidbit of information and get insight what's it like for the cast and crew right now. Normally the cast spend a month or more at the Royal Caribbean Studios in Miami rehearsing a show. Right now they are sent to a ship, go into quarantine and learn the show over video. Once out of quarantine they meet for the first time and put all the pieces together into the production we see. Amazing. Simply georgeous sea day! Talk about calm seas...

Day 8 - Sea Day This morning at 7:30am was my test for B2B cruisers. With that done I headed to Cafe270 for breakfast. Some of the breakfast options in Cafe270: Not on Odyssey. I asked today just to be sure.

Tonight The Effectors is in the main theater so I went early to be near the front of the line. First come, first seated. The drone scene in The Effectors is pretty awesome as the drones fly out over the audience. Great as always! Our progress: