Traveler

Never tried 10 am but did many time 10:45 without any issues. I think most likely you can get off the ship at 6:30 with your luggage , 6:50 you will be at the airport. no immigration or custom in Barcelona. Unless its not Sunday , which will take more time.

Yap , seems that they gave RC IT department to design it. C&A dose not need to be in prime location . I guess the poor concierge will be busy sorting people in. Also bad location during raining/cold days to grab a coffee.

First of all they going to take the tax from people that take hotels on the Island and maybe even from people that will use the ferry. But when I was visiting Santorini and two ships left early you could really feel the difference.

Well they can invest in adding second cable line to Fira as the lines to the cable car are crazy. They can use the money to shutdown the donkey operation by given some money to the operators and building a donkey farm for the retire poor donkey. They can develop the second harbor and force ships to tender over there. They can control the number of people in Oia and much more.

Just saw it was already published in the blog main page - https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2024/09/10/greece-taxes-cruise-ship-tax-passengers-overtourism

On one hand Santorin and Mykonos economy is relaying mainly on tourism on the other hand when I visit Santorini during the summer time it was so crowded and not allowing you to enjoy your visit there so they need to find the balance.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greece-tax-cruise-ship-arrivals-protect-popular-islands-overtourism-2024-09-08/ This will mean 40 Euro extra Per Person on a Greek Island cruise. This tax will start next year to control the over tourism issues in the poplar Greek Island. Santorini also wants to limit the number of of people that visiting the Island as part of a cruise to 8000 per day.

During Oasis top tier event today (only 3 pinnacles) the hotel director said, one of the Icons will sail from Barcelona. Since we already know Star will sail from the US most likely Icon 3 which should be ready on Q2 2026 it make sense its the one.

The prices are quite high/crazy in the city , you can try some hotels near the airport or Southcenter and to use a shuttle to port/city.

If people will invest same time in research prior to cruise as they invest in writing complains after they cruise maybe they will enjoy better or cruise somewhere else...

Yes you get royal up offer and yes upgrade happens . We had 3 successful upgrades on comp rooms , but that was during the restart period.

Although late , but better then never. Last day and recap: Our flight was around 3 PM so we had allot of time to travel to the airport. the option to go to the airport are : 1. Train - you need to go to London and from there to connect to the Elisabeth line , Piccadilly line or to use the Heathrow express from Paddington Station , not the best option if you have allot of luggage. 2. Take the national express buss - This bus station is around 20 minutes walk (more and less like the train station) , the cost is depends when you book it , if you book it 5-6 month before the travel date , you can pay around 15 $ PP . Unfortunately, I tried to book it too later so it was around 70 $ PP and the time slot which worked the best for us was not longer available. I think its not a bad option as it will go directly to the airport (which is better than first go to to London). 3. Reserve a car - that actually what we done using BlackBerry car service , you can pay with paypal or credit card as long as you pay at least one day before. The cost was 160 GBP. We had a 8 AM disembarkation time , we left our suitcase a day before (since we had allot of time to spare and I did not want to wait 30 minutes for the elevators). We went for a quick breakfast at the WJ, we even found a table , but maybe because it was very early (6:45 am). around 7:40 we left the cabin and went to wait near 270. at 8:15 they announced our number and we disembark. Funny but this was the coldest day from all out trip , I even used my light coat for the first time , missing warm Norway The driver called us around 9 and we even got a link from the car company to track were he is , very comfortable. He picked us up without any issues and we started the way to the airport. It was an easy drive and it took us around 50 minutes. We found some spot to seat and wait for the airline counter to open. Flight back went OK without any issues and 30 minutes after landing we already got our luggage and catch the train back home. Recap : The itinerary - Wow , defiantly a must , the view is amazing , the ports are easy to navigate and easy access to all main activities , I know we were very lucky to have amazing weather but I must admit we liked it better than Alaska cruise we have done half a year ago , again maybe because the weather which most of the time grey in Alaska or we just did not book the right excursion. If you try to take this cruise , try and catch one that goes to Geiranger , its an amazing place and soon Norway will not allow most of the cruise ships to access. The ship - Anthem looks good , its clean , cabins looks updated and as always we liked the music hall , less like the fake "promenaded" and the lack of ice ring. Food - We had one lunch in Jamie's , which was very good , two dinners in the Main Dinging room , which were not bad , slow but we mostly enjoy it . Rest we took our dinner in the WJ which was not bad , not the best we ever encounter but we always found something to eat. Elevators - Maybe because the ship was not full or maybe because we did not had many kids , we did not had to wait too much for the elevators nor they were too crowded. When we could we used the stairs, Entertainment - We saw Spectra which was nice , maybe because the extra close seat we took, we skipped the gift and the headliner and we saw We will Rock you which was wonderful and we would like to watch again. Casino - Always crowed (with the advantage that its non smoking as any cruise our of the UK) , the slot machine are just dated , very old and the poplar machines were never available always occupied. Cabin - we had a 13 floor ocean view cabin , it was large with allot of space , the only problem was that the balcony was covered with the roof from the 14 floor deck (the pool deck) which prevent us from heaving perfect view. Next time I would try to avoid this floor if I have a balcony. The cabin was quite , we did not had any noise from the upper deck. Southampton Terminal - Both embarkation and disembarkation were very easy , we did not had to stay at the terminal as we went directly to the ship. The cruise terminal is in a walking distance from the train station (15-20 minutes , mostly flat). Shore excursion - Adding to what other people already saying , no need to take any shore excursion from RC , everything is very near to the port and in each port there were companies who offer shore excursion on the spot and less costly. The electric small cars is better to reserve ahead of time as they are poplar. The other things which you might want to reserve is the ability to go to the glacier using the trucks . thanks for joining our journey, until next time

Day 7 - sea day. I always like the last day to be sea day which we can relax and try to enjoy the end of the cruise. We started our day in the CL , it was not busy . For coffee we used once again in the ship Starbucks. The coffee machine in the CL is not producing Amy good coffee, unfortunately the good machine that was there got broken on the first day. We went to the captain corner, it was fun and informative, but nothing about project nexus. The weather started to be colder but still good enough for many people to enjoy the pool. Spent some time in the balcony before it was time for a short WJ visit. They served fresh Salmon from Greinanger so it was nice and different I have spent some time in the casino it was better this time and had some good run, next was to run to the guest service to pay par of the bill. We got so e rest and went to join a trivia game. For dinner again we choose the WJ . This night was Indian night and they even had tasy Dosa station (although Dosa is a morning food it was nice) lots of Indian food that I saw for the first time in RC ship, even fresh Jalabi sweet. We went to see the tribute band which was good , it followed by the battle of the sex game.

Day 6 , evening We grabbed another quick dinner in the WJ as we wanted to come early and catch good seat for the "We will rock you" . It was spanished night at the WJ and they offered taps and other good things , overall not bad. We came 30 minutes before the show started and got middle seat on the 3rd row. The show was excellent, it had good performance, good familiar songs and easy to understand plot. We really enjoybit. For sure obe of the best musicals in RC .Strange enough after the show was ended no one from the cruise director team came to thank the performances or to say what is next. More time in the casino , frustrating not be able to play any favorite slots or even fine a place in the tables, oh well save some money . Next was the quest , as always funny with many participants. I guess people did not understood the no suited for children message or they just did not had some one to watch them. By the end if the game when each team should have bring one tall person and one short they offered there 3 or 4 years old girl as the short one . I guess they did not really understood the game... Lucky for us the cruise director stopped it on time .

Well at least our team won , people came prepared, all the things I brought was not in use

Definitely the best thing on Anthem (besides the itinerary)

Yes , Norway is a beautiful, reminded me Switzerland but with the fjords that adding allot to it.

Day 6 - Haugesund. Another wonderful sunny day welcome us to Haugesund. As promised by the captain we came to the port 3 hours earlier than scheduled. We had WJ breakfast and went to the city. On the way I saw those interesting flowers , they were big which made me think what is going on here. To get to the city center you need to cross the bridge , around 20 minutes walk. The town is not big but quite nice. We walked around and enjoy the atmosphere, it is after all constitution day here (AKA - ID) . Many street food stands but most of them non traditional one. We enter quietly to the town church, there was some ceremony and they all singing some songs. After enjoying the town , we sat to try some traditional bakery, here is what we tried hoping it had some local pastry We did our way back to the ship for lunch, this time it was hot dog with a beer. We then went back to the city to watch the day parade. It seems all the local took part in this parade , if it's schools , clubs , organizations and other. Adults and kids in traditional Norwegian outfits. It was fun to watch , hey when ever we will sea it again ?

Day 5 - final part . After we came back from visiting Greinanger we went to grab something to eat in the WJ. Food there is OK , Indian food is good , some spreads and salds. We had appointment to the north star . Apparently , every day at 6 PM they open the slots for the next day. I guess it is for reducing allot of no shows, I booked our reservation at early morning. We went up to get one more view of Greinanger, please RC , have someone clean the north star glass... We had a short visit again to Greinanger, who knows when ever (and if) we will go back to visit here. All aboard was 3:30 PM , the captain told us that he is being contacted by people from our next port who asked him to expedite our arrival so we can celebrate with them the Norway ID. We are now arriving 4 hours earlier. It was time to rest and once again enjoy the view from our balcony: We had reservations for the laser tag this evening, love the fact you can reserve time for it on the ship. Surprisingly, we weren't the oldest people in the session. As always it was fun . The laser tag here is much more bright comparing to the one in Symphony we attendant last time: Even view from the WJ is amazing. And the sunset in Norway.

Day 5, continue. So we got our small car and some information how to operate it . We took turns on the driver seat , I must say It felt comfortable also on the back seat. Our first station was to the view point with the crown chair "Flydalsjuvet" . We were almost alone there and could spent as much time as we wanted. Overall it felt nothing like a big ship is in port. We also stopped near some waterfalls, endless waterfalls Seems we were not the only one that enjoying the sun After this stop (that also have clean bathrooms) we went into the second view point in some farm with a restaurant. Some one asked us for how long we are going to park , we said 5 minutes and he said no problem. If you want to park longer you need to buy something in continued restaurant or pay parking fees (at least that what I was reading) From there we continued to the last point on the other side of the villages, that is actually located on the road outside Greinanger. All in all it was very nice experience. With the amazing weather we had I think it was a good choice. We did our way back to the car shop, total around two hours.

The only problem is that Geiranger itinerary becomes very rare, hopefully RC will find a solution for that.

Day 5 - Greinanger Another perfect weather day. Too many pictures hard to de ide what to upload. Again I was up around 4 am with stunning view of the the fjord while the ship was doing its way to Greinanger. Took some pictures and tried to go back to sleep. Around 7:15 the captain was doing 360 around the seven sisters waterfalls so we went up to deck 15 foe close view. Many people done the same so it was crowded. The waterfall looks amazing . The gangway was opened at 9 am and we rushed to take our E car. Lines were on the non organized side but we got the car and some explanations how to drive it. They only served people with reservations although some people tried anyway which made the lines even less organized. Was so happy for reading/hearing @Matt blog ehich he recommended to book the car ahead of time.

After some required rest we just decided to seat at the balcony and enjoy the view . For sure this I'd the cruise which you want to have a balcony. We saw countless of water falls and snowing peaks. We went again to the MDR , our table is near the window and the view continued (sunset is only at 10 PM). I tried the Greek salad and the ossobuko which wad good. On the MDR I always try slow cooked dishes as they better for mass produce compare to a steak and fish. I went to the casino which was again a pure madness, it was better fir me this time but still , something is not really there, can't put my finger on it. Tomorrow Geiranger .

Thanks , weather In Geiranger should be around 65 F with clear sky's so I think it should be perfect

If it's Anthony's port o think it's a bus.