Guy Gadwa

Update: College Ski made it in.  Football has had close first half but now a rough start to the 2nd half.  Barring an incredible comeback, Football and Mr Ski will be on the cruise. Sad but happy, is that even possible? 
We are at the Springhill Suites by Marriott airport and cruise port. It’s a dated but clean hotel.  We just need a hotel to sleep as we typically come in late the evening before.  I like a free breakfast especially when traveling with kids.  We ordered from Uber Eats when we arrived and food came in about 20 minutes.  
Pictures of the 2 queen suite. 

 
 

HI all,
I am in port Canaveral sitting in my hotel room this morning and excited to board Oasis of the the Seas today.  This is my 27th cruise, but our first time on an Oasis class ship so I am super excited.  I have had this cruise booked for a year now, after getting an unbelievable on cyber Monday last year so I have $400 OBC this cruise.   This is also our first cruise as diamond, so our first time not getting the drink package in a while.  The OBC will help.  Because it is a holiday cruise, their were no specialty dining packages available in the cruise planner.  We will be stopping in Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten this cruise.  I am excited.  I have not been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten in a while.  I have 2 excursions booked outside of the cruise.  For St. Thomas we are doing the "Taphus sips and bites tour" and for St. Maarten, we are doing the Bernard's island tour and then will likely come back to the boardwalk and get some drinks. In Nassau,  I plan to just get off and have some drinks and appetizers.  Starting at our favorite restaurant in Nassau, Athena cafe.  My plan is to get conch fritters and their basil martini. :). 
We stayed last night at the holiday inn vacation club in port canaveral.  I am an IHG credit card holder, so I used my annual certificate to redeem the room.  The fee to maintain the card is $75, so I feel that I got a bargain on this room for $75.  We arrived here early yesterday morning from Cincinnati.  Lyft from MCO to the hotel was $61.72, and super easy!   Our room was not ready yet so we checked our bags at the resort, and headed to Grills for lunch right next to where Navigator of the Seas was parked. I had the fish tacos which I was able to choose my fish for.  ( I got fresh tuna, sushi style) and an IPA.  The tacos were delicious.  DL got the burger which also looked great!   After lunch, we caught an uber to the taproom and Florida beer company which was a great atmosphere with lots of TV's.  I enjoyed their southernmost wheat beer and DH got a flight and then purchased some IPA's for the hotel room.    
The weather is amazing in florda today, 60's and breezy so I wasn't as inspired to go into the amazing pool and lazy river at the hotel.  Once they called and said our room/villa was ready, we headed back to the hotel.  I sat out by the pool bar for a while and listened to the band, which was great.  I also had a $3 mimosa, and they had a happy hour starting at 4.  Our room was perfectly situated facing the channel so my favorite thing about the hotel was watching the cruise ships depart and come into the channel this morning.  Yesterday, we watched Carnival breeze, the norwegian EPIC, the Disney fantasy, 2 other ships, and lastly Navigator of the Seas.  This morning I woke up early, and saw Oasis come in about 5:30 am.  Since then Carnival liberty and Carnival sunshine also sailed in.  The lighting was perfect for the Sunshine. 
My plan is to head to the gym now and then possibly take a float in the lazy river prior or check out the beach prior to boarding oasis this morning.  We are less than a mile from the port, so it will be an easy uber or lyft ride.   The hotel also has a tram to the beach every 15 minutes, but I have not yet been.    I don't have Wifi onboard, so i will update the blog, but it will be delayed.  I am hoping to do Chef's table tonight or tomorrow night if I can get a special offer on board and since we have so much OBC.  I am also tempted to take the Guacomole class at Sabor on one of the sea days.  I did the sushi class on our grandeur of the seas cruise in march, and really enjoyed it! 
 

Day 13 - Disembarkation ?



Time to say goodbye - unfortunately. After our last breakfast at Park Cafe we waited in the Theater until our number was called. At least disembarkation was a breeze - no immigration, no costums, we just walked off. Wish I could say the same about getting to the car rental station. While the new terminal looks beautiful, they apparently didn't think traffic through. Bus and shuttle have serious problems turning and have to reverse out of the berths - this takes time and only worsens the chaos. Additionally, there are no lines for the bus - it's survival of the fittest. Took us 1.5 hours to get on a bus, but getting our car took 5 minutes once we arrived at the rental station. The day was spent shopping at the Disney store and Walmart. When it was time for checkin, we went to our Hotel - Sense Beach House in South Beach. It's a nice little hotel on a quiet block of Ocean Drive.


As promised, we went to South Pointe Park for Symphony's sailaway. We also got to watch Mariner's sailaway and the fireworks for Symphony. Sad to see her go, but we'll be back with Oasis 5 ?




















A little stroll around South Beach:







For those who made it that far: thanks for following along, I really enjoyed blogging for you. I'll do our final verdict (and a little comparison to Princess) later, probably when I'm home.

Day 12:
The last full day of this cruise and only our second port of call – Cape Canaveral. As we booked the Kennedy Space Center Guided Tour, we had an early breakfast at Park Cafe. Meeting for the excursion was in the Royal Theater at 8 am. As we’d arrived early, we were already in line to get off the ship at 7.50 am. Unfortunately, this didn’t help much. Immigration in Port Canaveral was mayhem for non-US citizens. We stood in line for 2.5 hours, shortening our 8h tour to 5.5 hours. This was our first major gripe with Royal. While they can’t speed up the immigration process, their organisation was truly disappointing. They sold way too many full day tours resulting in thousands of people trying to get through immigration at the same time. And instead of reserving the first hours for full day tours, they also let half day tours and passengers without any tours off the ship at the same time. Never seen such a bad organisation and we’ve already done immigration in Russia.
 
On the bright side: our tour guide Doug did everything he could to show us as many things possible within the shortened time frame. I’m sure we’d have enjoyed KSC more hadn’t we been so tired from standing in line for hours – maybe we’ll just try another time. At least we saw some alligators on the way back to the ship ☺️













We were finally back onboard at 4.22 pm (all aboard 4.30 pm), so our first stop was the pool bar for some much needed alcoholic drinks. We managed to get first row seats in the Solarium for sail away. Symphony’s arrival in the US generated quite some interest, we had 2 helicopters documenting sailaway and hundreds of people watching. Guess Carnival Liberty never had a bigger audience ?
 







Before dinner we finished packing, then we went to Solarium Bistro. I have to agree with Twangster here, it’s a pity we only did this on the last day. Well, as we were able to share, we had a significant advantage: we managed to try everything we wanted! We tried Greek Salad, Ceviche, Tomato & Bocconcini, Tzatziki & Pita Bread, Seafood Soup, Stuffed Zucchini, Greek-style Roasted Potatoes, All-natural Grass-fed Skirt Steak with Horseradish, Chicken Kebab, Lemon Pepper Roasted Chicken, Kofta, Moussaka, Grilled Salmon, Fresh Mussels, Grilled Shrimp, Chocolate Nocciola, Loukoumades, Torta de Mele, Tarte Tropezienne, Panna Cotta à la Romana, Galaktoboureko. I wouldn’t recommend the Chicken Kebab but everything else was really good.



Feeling completely full we changed clothes and headed to the pool for some laps and just relaxing in the hot tubs. We fled when it started raining – yes I know we were already wet, but our cover up clothes weren’t ? The evening ended with some final drinks at – you guessed it – Playmakers.



Side notes:
15k steps
Nearly forgot to pick up our pictures – fortunately it suddenly dawned on hubby before they closed the foto shop.
We’re missing Symphony soooooo much ?

A safe place to start with any camera you don't know is to use "Auto".  On most Sony cameras there is a dial on the top right of the camera that rotates.  One choice should be "Auto" in green.  
For low light situations the camera will automatically adjust the ISO but in extreme circumstances that will create a lot of noise or grain in pictures.  The camera will try to remove some of this when it creates the JPEG file but sometimes you need to use software to further reduce the noise in low light photos.  You'll have to experiment and try different settings. 
For action photography such as the ice skating show you will want to use Shutter mode with shutter speeds of 1/200 or higher, such as 1/400 to capture people who are moving.  
The camera should have 'Scene' mode using that same dial that has Auto on it.  Once in scene mode you can choose a particular scene such as 'sunset', 'landscape', 'night scene', 'portrait' , etc.
With any new camera you will need to experiment and try different settings in different situations.   You learn just as much from screwing up and not getting a perfect shot as you from picking the settings and getting it right.  Take lots of pictures and learn what works and what doesn't by trial and error.
 

Writing quickly as I'm about to pick up Soccer and Cutie early from school and head to the airport.  We'll get in around dinner time and I plan on just using Uber Eats.  If anyone has a suggestion for Uber Eats near FLL, I would love to have it!
As of now, College Ski's flight out of the northeast is on time and I'm happy to see an earlier flight already departed from the airport.  In 10 hours, we'll find out the fate of Mr Ski and Football Ski!  
Excursions
Day 2 - Cruising and I scheduled the On the Roll Sushi class for myself, College and Football.  It is at 11:30 so a perfect lunch!  
Day 3 - Labadee.  The ship is here from 7:30-3:30 which is quite early to me.  We have the Dragon's Breath Flight Line scheduled at 7:30 for 3 of us and the Beach Bungalows.  Both of these IMO were a great deal.  $78 each for the flight line and $197 for the bungalow.  It was just a random sale and I haven't seen it that cheap again.  I actually have 2 bungalows booked and need to cancel the more expensive one.  I couldn't figure out online how to cancel only one and not both.
Day 4 - Falmouth - No plans.  We've done Blue Hole and loved it but didn't want to make the drive again.  I was thinking of the white water river rafting but never booked it.
Day 5 - Cruising
I never saw any Sky Pad reservations on the Cruise Planner.  I plan on asking once onboard.
Dinner Plans
We love MTD and plan on eating in the MDR each night.  I am not sure what I did but I didn't book the MTD reservations accurately.  The first night I included all 6 of us but the other nights I didn't.  When I figured that out the 6:15 slot wasn't available and we'll be eating at 7:15.  It may actually work a bit better for us as it gives us more time to enjoy the pools in the afternoon, get a snack without feeling like you could ruin dinner, etc.  We'll see if it works for the shows too.  
Trip Insurance
Some of you may be wondering if I have Trip Insurance and I do.  I do not have Cancel for Any Reason Insurance.  I did investigate and read the fine print but from what I saw I would need to cancel at least 3 days in advance of the trip under the Cancel For Any Reason clause.  For this trip, I would need to cancel about 18 hours prior to the cruise.  We knew the risk and we were accepting what could happen.
 
 

Day 5 - Sea Day
Another beautiful day on a ship. We really spent today together as a family, and I totally took zero pictures... I’m updating this from my phone since I have no pics, and we are off to Nachi soon. 
We woke up and had Solarium Bistro for breakfast. It was serviceable. I do like that it is less crowded than Windjammer. After that, V went to AO, I went to the casino, and Abby went to run the track. We all got back together for lunch in the Windjammer. The food so far there has just been ok. Nothing to write home about. While we were there, one of the managers was making balloon animals, and made V a butterfly. That made her happier than anything so far this trip. In a small flash forward, it gave me a heart attack when it popped in our room at around 11 pm when we were just about to sleep...
After lunch we went to the pool deck for a while. V loves the swirl pool thing. It’s actually warm. The rest of the pools are a little chilly. We were having some waves yesterday, so the pools were a little sloshy, but nothing too terrible. After the requisite pool deck ice cream cone, it was back to the room for a nap, and to get ready for another formal night. 
After Giovanni’s last night, we decided we’d go again tonight, this time taking V with us. We had seen the kids menu, so we thought we’d give it a shot on a walk in. They found us a table immediately, and we got to ordering quickly since we were going to the 7:30 show. 
We got V the butter noodles. For apps we got beef carpaccio, which was pretty tasty. Pastas we had the tagliatelle again. For our mains, I had the filet this time, and Abby had the prawns. The filet was just as good tonight. Virginia decided she wanted the prawns instead of her noodles. Our waiter was amazing with her, and when he saw this, he brought out an order of prawns just for her. It has been awesome to see all of the staff interact with her. For dessert, V got ice cream, and both Abby and I got the chocolate torte with ice cream. After eating it again, this has been the best dessert we’ve had. It is amazing, and not too rich. 
I can say that we are definitely #TeamSpecialtyDining. 
After dinner it was off to see the shows. First was Come Fly with Me. There was a little delay as the shipped experienced a blackout for a few minutes, and they had to restart the power system completely. 
The show was ok. Talent was good, but again there was not real story line. I was shocked at how rude so many people in the audience were. Many of them holding conversations at normal volume. It was very annoying. Due to the delay, we missed the start of Frozen in time. We got over there to see most of it though, and it was spectacular. In terms of storytelling, this was the best show, and very impressive athletically as well. Of all the shows, I would watch this again. 
On the way out, we had to grab a $3 box of popcorn. Seems silly to charge that much for a small box of popcorn...
all in all it was a very nice sea day. V is still asleep this morning. She’s having so much fun. Going back to school is going to be rough on her. 
 

Day 11
FINALLY! This is the first day with nothing planned in the morning – well, tbh we’re skipping the final choir meeting. Instead, we’re having a pool morning. Breakfast was in the MDR as we had the time to do it. Then it was up the stairs and on the waterslides. Unfortunately I only did one waterslide – the blue one. That was enough to wreck my swimsuit & waterproof bag for my asthma inhaler. Lesson learned: don’t take the bag with you on a waterslide – in other words, don’t go on the waterslide as I wouldn’t risk going anywhere without the inhaler. At least I can report that hubby did enjoy the waterslides immensely. I took the opportunity to swim laps in the pool while he was having fun on the slides. Unfortunately, the sports pool’s correct name should be „stand in the damn way pool“ so after half an hour I had enough. As we’d climbed the stairs already, we had lunch at El Loco Fresh. We really like the nachos and build your own tacos.
At 3pm it was finally time for the postponed Hairspray matinee. Wow, what a brilliant performance! The cast is amazing and I’d haver never thought they could do all that on a moving ship. We really liked Hairspray, even  though it’ll never be our favourite musical – these are still Phantom of the Opera and Dance of the Vampires.














Time until dinner was spent at Playmakers again. I can report that on day 11 we finally managed to empty Symphony’s stock of Guinness. Guess the provisions master miscalculated a bit. While we were at the Boardwalk anyway, we finally managed to go on the carousel – must’ve been the first time for at least 20 years. We also managed to spend our arcade credit on Mario Kart – I won every time ?
Tonight’s dinner was in Izumi – sushi night! If you’re on the drink package, try the Sake cocktails, they’re really yummy. For starters, we had the shrimp firecracker spring roll (sorry, forgot to take a picture). As main course we had five different rolls: Champagne Lobster in Yuzu Wrap, Crispy Philly, Izumi Spider Roll, Surf & Turf and Izumi Ryu Futomaki. The latter roll was the best sushi roll we ever had, the others were also very good, even though not really Japanese sushi. Apparently American sushi is more bells & whistles ?

As planned, we went from Izumi to the MDR for dessert. This was a good opportunity to say goodbye to Baptiste and Juan – and to realize what we’d missed on our other visits. We had Tiramisu, No Sugar Added Coconut Rice Pudding, Royal Cheesecake and Royal Chocolate Cake – the latter was soooo good!




After dessert we hurried to the Royal Theatre for the last headliner show, Adam Kario, a juggler and comedian. We were a bit late so we wouldn’t have gotten the best seats anyway, but as we were thinking of skipping the show (the other headliner shows weren’t really to our liking), we chose seats at the end of the row to sneak away if necessary. Much to our surprise, this headliner was by far the best, really funny and we definetely regretted our choice of seats.




From the theatre we hurried to Studio B for The Quest – our first I might add. I came close to being forced to be the female captain of our team – luckily someone else volunteered eventually. I can report that Bobby did a brilliant job with The Quest, we had so much fun and were howling with laughter. I won’t get into details here as you know – what happens at The Quest, stays at The Quest ?


After The Quest it was back into the Theatre for the last adult comedy show – we sneaked out halfway through as it was mostly the same material as the last time. Instead of bar hopping, we went to the cabin to start packing.
Side notes
11 k steps

Day 4 - Falmouth
Not a whole lot to report today, and I didn't really take too many pictures.  Today we were in port in Falmouth.  We woke up a little later, and headed to Windjammer for breakfast.  Unless I am missing a section of the restaurant, the Windjammer on Majesty is much bigger.  Food was ok, nothing great to report.  We miss having all of the assorted pastries to eat.  Then it was up to AO for Virginia, and Abby and I headed off the ship.  In Falmouth we mainly just walked around a little bit. We hit up a shop to get some coffee and Havana Club rum.  I was going to get some cigars as Casa del Habano, but I thought I remembered a discussion that the one in Cozumel was better.  After some more walking around it was back onto the ship.  Disney Fantasy was in port with us today, and Abby commented that all of the kids in port from that cruise look like they had been brainwashed, and were walking around like zombies...  I can't say I disagreed with her.  Definitely a little "cult-ish".  
Back on board was a light lunch at Park Cafe, then to the thermal spa for a while to relax.  After that we spent some time in a cantilever hot tub, before getting Virginia and getting cleaned up for the night.  

Tonight's entertainment was "Oasis of Dreams".  The story line must have been from an LSD filled dream, because I could not follow it at all.  However, I will say that the athleticism on display is absolutely amazing.  This was an all new cast, and it was their first performance.  I could see some hesitation, but it was still amazing.  We had seen some of the divers on the beach at Labadee, and at least one had an Olympic Rings tattoo, so I think it's great for those athletes to have something to do, get paid, and still practice their sport.  Virginia does swimming and gymnastics at home, and we've talked about starting her in diving after she turns five.  We haven't mentioned this to her at all, and after the show, we asked her what she though.  Her response: "I want to be a swim-gymmer!"  I guess that means we're heading for diving lessons.
After that, we grabbed some pizza for her, and then took her to AO for Pirate Night.  Abby and I had reservations at Giovanni's.  We rode the Rising Tide a few times before our dinner, and then prepared for some Italian. We had the plank to start, and it was ok.  Nothing as good as the ones in Jamie's look.  For pasta, we had the bucatini bolognese and the tagliatelle carbonara.  Both were amazing.  I preferred the tagliatelle.  It was cooked perfectly, and seasoned very nice.  For entrees, I had the osso bucco, which was very tender and flavorful.  Abby had the filet, and we both believe it was better than the filet at Chops.  It seem more tender, and a little more flavorful.  It's splitting hairs, but I would go back to Giovanni's for the filet before I went to Chops.  Plus, everything else was seasoned much better in Giovanni's.  For dessert, we split the tiramisu and the chocolate torte with vanilla gelato.  The tiramisu was ok, but the torte was amazing.  Dessert edge goes to Chops, but just slightly.  
Then it was up to AO to get Virginia, and head to bed for an early night.  Day 5 is a sea day, formal night, and we have 2 shows scheduled to go see, Come Fly with me and the Ice show.  

T-2 Packing and stressing out 
Who?  
Welcome to the Skis crazy family travels.  I'm Mel, married to Mr. Ski and we have 4 kids:  DD18 College Ski, DS15 Football Ski, DS12 Soccer Ski and DD7 Cutie Ski.
I'm not a great blogger and I'll be without my computer this trip.  All updates and pictures will be on my Iphone.  I'll try to remember to upload the daily activity sheet and I'll send Matt the Cruise Compasses after the cruise.
Where?
This sailing will be Independence first regular Caribbean cruise after her TA and the "Bliss" clothing optional cruise.  Yes, I have medical grade sanitation wipes to wipe down the stateroom.  This 5 night Western Caribbean takes us to Labadee and Falmouth.
Why?
Why this cruise instead of the amazing group cruise on Symphony also going on this week?  I'm having a bit of FOMO but this works better for us.  We typically go to WDW every 2 years this week and I just couldn't do it again!  WDW is the exact opposite of a relaxing cruise vacation.  So in January, I looked at cruises and felt that we got a good deal during a school holiday for 2 connecting Junior Suites. Also, in the mix was College Ski.  She wanted to spend some time at home seeing friends.  So the 5 night was a compromise.  I want my kids to want to vacation with us as we will most likely only be able to do family vacations with everyone for a few more years.
What could go wrong?
Flying separately on 3 flights over 2 days.  Soccer, Cutie and I will fly out tomorrow.  Weather looks good.  I'm not worried which probably means I should be!
And here comes the drama(s).  When I booked in January, I knew there was the slimmest chance Mr. Ski and Football Ski would not make the cruise.  That slim chance has become a 50-50.  DS HS football team is in the quarterfinals (awesome) and if they win Friday night Mr. Ski and Football Ski will not be on the cruise (bummer).  I have to root for the win even if that means missing the cruise.  If the team loses tomorrow night, they will fly out Saturday morning.  A day of the cruise flight and it would be horrible to lose and then miss the cruise due to a flight delay. 
Next, College Ski is in the path of the nor'easter that is hitting today.  Hopefully by Friday night, it looks that by tomorrow night it will be dry.  This is her first flight by herself to somewhere other than home and school.  I've checked the aircrafts entire path for tomorrow and other airlines flights out to FLL.  Fingers crossed.
Starting to question the decision to take this trip.  Too much pre-cruise excitement and I haven't started packing!  Speaking of packing, I should start!  I'll come back with plans, excursions, etc.  It will be my reward for packing.  Brothers Osborne "It Ain't My Fault" is my packing theme song!
 

Day 1: Embarkation Day
Once again, I was up early and excited. Since we had to have two, non-adjoining rooms at the hotel, my wife and I had to text each other to coordinate our morning plans and get the girls up and ready for breakfast. Breakfast was really good, one of the better we've found in a European hotel, and we all got filled up for the morning. By the time we got back to our rooms and re-packed our bags, the front desk called and said that our driver was waiting for us downstairs. We were in the van and on the road by 10:00. The drive was very quick to the port, and we were walking into the terminal at 10:20. 
There was no one in line, and even the photographers were still setting up. We got boarding group 7, and found seats to wait to be called. No sooner had the girls pulled out their iPads to pass the time did the boarding commence. It quickly advanced to group 7, and we went through security and on to the Rhapsody of the Seas by 10:40. I must say I was really impressed with how quickly everything went and how soon we were on board! And thanks to every one who advised getting to the port early!
We boarded and were immediately shepherded into the Centrum for the girls to get their wristbands with out muster station on them and we sat down to get our bearings and figure out a plan of attack- still 45 minutes until Windjammer opened! Meanwhile, my wife made friends with an older couple from Canada who were sitting nearby...apparently traveling with 4 girls draws attention- who knew?!? We then headed up to the pool deck and jogging track for a lap around the ship and see what we could see. Granted, I have only sailed out of Barcelona, but I can't imagine a better port to sail from than Venice.

Pictures and selfies taken, we headed down to WJ for lunch, and were quite happy with the selection and quality. Following lunch, we went down to the Promenade deck to kill more time before rooms were ready and we could register the girls for Adventure Ocean. I've become a bit of a cruise geek, and have been watching lots of documentaries about the behind the scenes of cruise ships. I also have indoctrinated my girls to watching them with me (so I have more firepower when talking to my wife about future cruises), so they were fascinated watching the loading of provisions and luggage. Right at 1:30, we went down to deck 2 to check out our staterooms, two connecting ocean view rooms on the port side. We met our cabin steward, Yerri from Indonesia, and got him to open up the door between the rooms and told him that we wanted the one room made up for the 4 girls to sleep and the other one just for my wife and I. Yerri was great and had already learned all of our names before we got there, which was a nice touch.
 
At 2:00, we headed up to Adventure Ocean to get the 3 younger girls registered. We had be preparing the girls that the kids club on this ship would be a lot different than on the Disney Magic and to try to temper their expectations, but spoiler- we shouldn't have worried about that. From there we went to the Roam the Rhapsody presentation in the theater, where I won one of the raffles: a soda package! In my opinion, that was the best giveaway of the presentation. Plus, I won on a raffle ticket that was left over from the previous talk that some guy handed me on the way out of the theater. After the presentation, we went back to our cabins to find our bags outside, so we quickly changed for dinner, and headed up to the top deck to watch the sail away from Venice. I said it before- leaving Venice at sunset was worth the price of the cruise.

Once we passed St Mark's Square, we hustled down to the MDR for dinner, only getting there about 5 minutes late. Dean, from the Philippines, was our server, and he was great all week. 
The rest of the evening was wandering the ship, letting the girls go to AO and the oldest to check out the teen club (turns out only she and 2 other teens showed up all week, from Australia of all places, but they became good friends), and watching the Welcome Aboard show. The show was fine, but after the elaborate Broadway-style productions on DCL, kind of a let down, and I thought the entertainment was a bit inconsistent across the week.
Since the show let out at 11:30, we were all ready for bed after that, fortunately, our first port call wasn't until 1:00 the next afternoon.

The Forgotten Thought – Drink Package
One thing I meant to talk about in my final thoughts and totally forgot about was the whole drink package thing. Specifically, was it worth it?
I had never meant to buy it, figuring a five night sailing with an overnight port day where I might not be drinking on the ship at all might not be the best conditions for the package. And when I first looked back on it after getting home, I thought that buying it just because of the $42/night sale price was a mistake. I was feeling massive pressure to drink more the last two nights because of the fact that there was no bar option at Wonderland, so I ended up drinking hardly anything that day, exactly as I had thought might happen.
But after working out the breakdown of what I really needed to "break even" every day on another thread, based on that $42/night, I've since realized that I wasn't ever "behind" on the package. What did I need? At $13 covered per drink, and everything alcoholic I had on board being that much or more, it worked out to one cappuccino and 3 cocktails (or glasses of wine) a day; that's one more alcoholic drink a day than I typically have at home.
After going through my daily tally, I was actually ahead by four cocktails ($52) at the end of the trip, all of them from the last two nights. My worries about that were totally unfounded, and that pressure was all my own doing from psyching myself out.
So, the drink package was totally worth it. I could have skipped out on those two extra cocktails that I felt I had to have each of the last two days, drank at my typical vacation level (including my daily cappuccinos and the odd OJ), and been totally fine.
Will I buy it again, given I'm going back next year?
It seems like $50 is the lowest people have been reporting so far for 2019 drink package sales. If I can get a rate at or slightly below it, I think I will do it again so I have that part of the trip paid in advance. The extra $8 per day would translate to a second cappuccino (which I was already having most days) and a couple of bottles of water, or one premium beer. I'd be OK with just the one extra cappuccino and leaving a few dollars on the table each day. Considering I typically indulge the most on embarkation day, I'd likely take care of any "gap" on day one and have nothing to worry about anyway.

Thanks for the post cruise blog.  Enjoyed!!!

Day 2
I'm realizing that I'm not all that great at remembering to take pictures...  I'm also realizing that it would probably be easier with a real camera, as I have conditioned myself not to be on my phone much, so it's hard to remember to get it out to take pictures...
Either way, today was our first sea day.  I was concerned about having the 7:45 am Character Breakfast since we had a late night last night, however my body woke up at 6 am anyway.  Also, we are deck 6 aft, and the breakfast was in Silk, so just one floor down.  
If you have young kids, it was definitely worth it.  The breakfast menu is the same as a standard MDR breakfast, but with catchy names for the kids.  It was $10 per adult, but free for kids.  We waited in the waiting area of Silk, and then were seated at our own table, with the waiter from Solarium Bistro from the night before.  After placing our order, they had all of the kids come up and dance to shake out the wiggles, and then three characters came out individually.  We had Shrek, Puss in Boots, and Princess Fiona.  After each character came out and danced, they came around to each table and took pictures.  Virginia expressed her desire to not have us in any pictures.  We also learned she is scared of Shrek.  

 


After that, it was up to Adventure Ocean for the morning session.  Virginia has had a lot of fun every time she's gone.  There's been no crying when we drop her off, and it takes some coercing to get her to come with us.  We're very impressed with all of the staff and programming.  
While Virginia was in AO, Abby and I had our mud scrub scheduled as part of the Ultimate Thermal Pass.  While I'm not normally a Spa type of guy, it was $199 for the 2 of us to have the thermal suite all week, or $250 to add a 1 hour private mud scrub and a 1 hour private jacuzzi.  We took the upsell.  While very weird at first, I will admit that the mud scrub was very relaxing.  They take you to a private room, where you use multiple levels of exfoliant.  Then you apply the mud mask all over your body and enter a steam room.  The steam room has 2 seats that face each other, and after about 20 minutes of steam, water starts to fall from the ceiling so you can get completely clean.  Once finished, you apply moisturizers.  My skin felt amazing afterwards, and it was nice to have a relaxing 60 minutes with just my wife and I.  I'm not sure I would clamor to do it again, but I would think about it.  
After getting cleaned up, we picked up Virginia and had lunch at Wipeout Cafe.  We figured it would be less crowded, and we could eat quick and head to the pool.  The water in the pool was extremely cold, but after doing the circular wave pool, we went to a hot tub and felt much better.  
Then it was time for a nap, so Abby and V took a rest while I went back to the casino, and proceeded to give them back what I borrowed from them the previous night.  I played for quite a while, but ran into some pretty lousy hands at UTH.  I went for a walk around the jogging track, then thought I'd go back up to CK and see if I could rouse anyone.  I knocked on the door, and two people in the suite lounge just looked at me through the crack, then turned their back.  I guess no riff-raff mingling with the suite guests.  I plan to go back up Day 3 around 5:30 and see if I can get reservations, although the Day 3 Cruise Compass still lists it as Star, Sky, and Pinnacles.  
After that adventure, it was back to AO to pick up Ginny and get ready for formal night.  While we don't go full CLR style, we like to get a little dressed up.  Before we went back to the room, I took Ginny to Sorrentos to get some pizza, and we just happened to run into one of Ginny's favorite characters.

Night made, we headed up to get changed.  Again, our cabin is in a great location.  We got changed and were on the promenade around 5:30 to get pictures, with very little lines anywhere.  Later in the evening it was a much longer wait.  We took our pictures at several locations, and then went back up to change Virginia into regular clothes for AO.  Another quick stroll through the promenade, picture with Captain Goran, whom Ginny had already met earlier in the day at AO, then time for a kid free date night.  

Dinner tonight was in Chops.  This was our first Chops experience, and I was very excited.  With my current diet, I am limited on red meat and carbs, so I was saving myself for the filet.  It was absolutely amazing.  Better than a lot of land-based restaurants.  The service was amazing.  None of my pictures turned out very well, except for the Red Velvet cake that we had to get for @Sweety.  Abby told me to order, since I "have the inside scoop".  I had the peppered bacon app, and she had the crab cake.  The bacon was pretty good.  The crab cake was on the dry side, and very crumbly.  Flavor was nice though.  Next was a Caesar salad for Abby, and the mushroom soup for me.  The soup could have used a drop of creme fraiche to balance the earthiness of the mushrooms, but was nice.  Both of us had the filet for main, and our sides were baked potato, mushrooms, cheesy tots, and mac and cheese.  Baked potato was the best, as we seasoned it ourself.  The rest of the sides suffered from lack of seasoning.  This must have been common, as the table next to us asked for some sea salt to garnish their sides as well.  Service was spectacular however.  Dessert was the red velvet cake, and warm apple pie a la mode.  Bother were excellent.  (I should mention, Abby and I met in culinary school, where we trained to be pastry chefs.  Neither of us do this professionally anymore, but we still dabble.) 

After dinner, we decided to call it a night, pick up Virginia, and head to bed.  We had big day at Labadee planned for Day 3 in a beach bungalow.  
 
 

Day 3
After a nice sea day to start the journey, and get used to where everything is on Oasis, we docked in Labadee for the day.  We woke up a little later, and headed to Johnny Rockets for breakfast.  There was no wait, and we started eating after we were docked, so by the time we were done, it was easy to head down the stairs to the gangway, and go immediately off of the ship.  Breakfast was very good, and I wish I could bring a cook home with me to show people how to properly cook over-easy eggs.  As we were disembarking, Virginia saw her favorite teacher from AO, and had to give her a hug.  It makes it very comforting to know that she's having such a great time in AO.  
We had a beach bungalow booked for Labadee, so we headed for the water taxi to Columbus Cove.  We had just missed it leaving, so it was a short wait for the next boat.  A short ride and walk later, we were at our bungalow.  We spent half as much on the bungalow as we would have a cabana, and I think it was perfect.  If we were in a real suite, and had access to barefoot beach, I would probably do that, but the bungalow was perfect.  The beach was not very busy, it was near the food and bathrooms, and there was great service.  Plus, we had 6 bottles of water waiting for us when we got there.  We had bungalow 3 out of 8 or 10 total.  Very nice and relaxing.  





 

 
After plenty of relaxing and swimming, we had lunch.  It was typical BBQ food, and did the trick.  They had Coconut Ranger Cookies, so Abby and I were happy.  Back into the ocean for more fun, then it was time to head back.  We took the tram back to the ship.  We thought about walking, but we were glad we didn't.  Nothing in the artisan market looked of interest to us, and we could tell they were a little aggressive in their sales.  It would have been tough to keep Virginia from wanting something.  Through security and back on the ship in no time, so we headed upstairs for a nap and shower.  

 

After a nap and shower, I had to print some documents for work, and I wasn't sure where the printers were, so I went and asked Guest Services.  While I was there, I asked about CK, and they gave me a weird look as to why I even asked if JS could eat there.  They gave me the number for the manager, since it was after 4 pm.  I printed my documents, then went back to the room.  We were a little tired from the day, so we thought we'd just pop onto the Boardwalk and eat at Sabor.  The food was excellent, and the service was great also.  We had a little wait between apps and entree, but that helps my stomach digest, so I was ok with it.  There was no wait to sit down, we just walked right up with no reservation.  It is amazing to me that with this many people on board, it does not seem any more congested than we were on Majesty.  We have had very little waiting in lines, or claustrophobia moments.  
No pictures of food from Sabor, but we had the beef empanadas, calamari, and chicken stuffed jalapenos as "small plates".  They should change that moniker, as they are by no means small.  The calamari was some of the best I've ever had.  Abby even ate it, and she hates calamari.  We also had some guacamole.  Neither of us are guac fans, but this was pretty good.  Abby got the sweet and spicy marg, and it was quite good.  For our mains, I had the spicy chicken and pulled pork tacos.  The chicken was good, but not very spicy.  The pork was too fatty for me.  We asked if they could do just a plain beef for Virginia, and they were able to.  Abby had a quesadilla.  The tortillas, made on-site, are very good.  After dinner, we were stuffed, but the waiter had promised Virginia a special treat if she was good, so he brought her some churros.  Of course, mom and dad had to try one also, and they were very good.  
There was a small wait between apps and entrees, as I mentioned, but nothing I would complain about.  When the waiter brought the check, he apologized for the wait, and had taken 20% off of the bill.  He also had not charged us for Abby's margarita, even though she doesn't have a drink package.  I tipped heavy, since he was very good with Virginia.  
Then it was off to do some shopping on the boardwalk, and another trip around the merry-go-round before we took V up to AO for the night.  While she was there, Abby and I made another donation to the casino.  Someone hit a jackpot on slots while we were in there for $19,000.  She was very excited.  What struck me as odd was that they came and paid it to her in cash.  In land casinos, it would be in a check.  I'm not sure I'd want to have $19k in cash, but I guess I'd just be too happy to care.  It was amazing watching the stacks be handed to her on the casino floor.  
We wandered up to the Focus gallery and checked out some shots from the week so far, and ended up purchasing the all-inclusive package.  On Enchantment, we will stick with just a couple of photos.  
Then it was back up to AO to get Ginny, where it had been Superhero night, and we ended up picking up Wonder Woman!  

Then it was off to sleep for our big day in Falmouth.
 
-Again, it is amazing how much room there is on the ship, and how little we feel crowded. 
-All of the staff has been great with Virginia, and she is having an absolute blast.  She's definitely hooked on cruising, and hopefully the post-cruise depression isn't too bad.
-After breakfast today (Day 4), I went by CK and got in.  I spoke with a manager to get reservations for dinner.  Everything they have available conflicts with shows we have booked, but she went ahead and put us in, and said she would call us if they got an earlier time on Day 5.  I asked her about the cruise compass not saying anything about Sea Class, and she said that must be a typo, and she would have it corrected immediately.  If I would have pushed harder earlier in the trip, I'm sure we would have been able to get reservations.  It was never the main reason we booked the JS, so I didn't push too hard, and it definitely has not impacted our experience.  Hopefully we get to try it.  If not, we can go on the Anthem GC, or next time we're on Oasis.  
 

Day 6 - Debarkation Day (a.k.a., The Day of Great Sorrows)
I woke up at 6:15, much too late to catch us going back under the Verrazano but early enough that I got some great pre-dawn views of the New York City skyline and surrounding area.



 
I saw the ferry crossing the river and remembered that it was Thursday; people were already up and going to work.

 
Before long, we were pulling into the port, the sun still not yet risen.

 
The sun came up, as it must every day, and we were that much closer to the time we'd be very politely told to please GTFO.

 
I re-checked my folio and confirmed that the gratuities had indeed been removed. Our only charges were for the clothes we'd bought on board, my wine overages, and the tips I'd left. I emailed Heather so she knew that there was nothing more to worry about besides getting the charge properly applied so the staff could get the tips they'd earned.
We grabbed our carry-ons, and after leaving Allen a much-deserved WOW envelope we headed up to the Windjammer for our final breakfast on board.
It was absolute chaos there. I got cut off while trying to get on the omelette station line, and then when we were told there was another station that was basically empty, I think I may have inadvertently done the same to a woman who had been standing there; meanwhile, the other woman who had cut me off before... very deliberately and actively did it to both of us. Again, in my case! I shook my head, looked apologetically at the other woman who I was afraid I'd cut off, and very happily answered "no" when asked by her if the woman who'd cut us both off was my wife.
After breakfast, we headed down to Two70 to wait for our turn to get off. We actually got there just in time to snag one last round of cappuccinos, plus a couple of bottled waters, with our packages still in effect. I overheard the couple in front of us on the coffee line comment that they were going to be right back on board, apparently doing the CA/NE sailing that evening. Ooooohhhh, was I jealous!
The final GTFO call came at 9:50, sooner than expected. We headed off the ship and made our way back into the port terminal. The porters were calling out for anyone who wanted to get a porter and skip the long customs line, but the line was moving pretty quickly; with so little luggage to deal with, we (and most of the others we saw) just trundled our bags along and stuck with the main line. I'm guessing that porters are not big fans of these short sailings when it comes to the tips they were losing out on.
When we got to the customs area, they were separating out people with passports from those who just had their driver's license and birth certificate. We got in the passport group and, like @firebuck on his sailing, we just had to look into a camera for a few seconds and were cleared to leave. Meanwhile, the no-passports line was crawling forward. People, when you go on a cruise, bring your passports! They really do save time and aggravation!
Ship to curb was all of 30 minutes, tops. Once we got outside, I paid for our parking and we were on the road. We got home at 11:30, much to our older daughter's surprise. She had come home to walk the dog and wasn't expecting us home yet.
 
Here's my sea pass. Now I just need to get a gold one and a purple one!

 
And here is the sand from Horseshoe Bay that had gotten trapped in my water shoes, and that I found all over my suitcase when I unpacked that afternoon. I certainly wasn't going to just throw it away! You can clearly see the red flecks that give it that distinctive pink color.

Final thoughts, in no particular order:
I am not a fan of the WOW band. Every time I wore it, my wrist would sweat like crazy even when the surrounding area was chilly with air conditioning; it didn't matter how loosely I'd wear it, something about the band's material just doesn't agree with my skin. And while the tap terminals were all in reach everywhere I tried using it, it was awkward to do so unless I rotated the band to put the medallion on the inside of my wrist; and then I'd have to flip it back around when I wanted to unlock our cabin door. I gave up by Day 2 and just carried my Sea Pass card everywhere.
The Junior Suite was absolutely a really nice splurge, and much nicer than a regular balcony. But I still had a couple of nitpicks.
The separate tub and shower are nice in concept, but I was the only person to use the tub, and that was only once to soak my aching feet for a bit. The shower door can't be closed tightly from inside the shower, as there's no handle on the inside; even when it was as well-sealed as we could managed, the gap between the door and bottom of the door frame allowed a good bit of water to get out onto the bathroom floor, making for slightly slippery tile and a wet bath mat. I completely agree with what others here have said about the crowd flow in The Via on deck 4, and Royal Esplanade on deck 5; those areas have far too many choke points, which are worse on days that the shops have displays set up in the corridor.
Generally, pretty small potatoes. On the whole, Anthem is a pretty good ship and I'm glad to have this option in my "backyard", so that I can take cruises without having to fly to Florida or another port. But how does Anthem compare to Freedom?
Anthem didn't really feel all that much bigger than Freedom, or (when not in the Via or Esplanade) any more crowded than Freedom Anthem is much better when it comes to the top-tier headline shows (Spectra's Cabaret and We Will Rock You); but if I decide to sail Anthem regularly, how many times can I really see those before it starts to wear thin? I know they don't change out shows more than once every decade or so, when the ships undergo major refurbishments, and Anthem's only been in service for 3 years; a long way to go before there's a change on that front. At the same time, I felt Anthem's other available theater entertainment was a little worse than Freedom's (see The Las Vegas Tenors) Maybe short sailings like this one don't get as good a set of performers as longer sailings, and if I take a longer sailing I'll find that it's better overall. Certainly, after reading @firebuck's blog, that does seem to be a good possibility, as we had no cover band; no extra shows in Two70 besides Tonight at Two70, one robo show, and Spectra; and none of the other extra performances that he'd noted on his 7-night trip. North Star is a very nice feature on this ship, but the reality is that if you're not in port then all you have to look at from up there is the ship. But Freedom doesn't have it at all, so still a point for Anthem. Vintages on Anthem was a disappointment compared to Freedom. The wine selection was far smaller, and the vast majority of what was offered was only available as full bottles, not by the glass. Bearing in mind that I only had one experience with it, I found the American Icon Grille MDR on Anthem disappointing. I much preferred the multi-story grand dining room on Freedom, and I have to say that I'm glad the newer ships like Symphony are going back to that design. Hopefully whatever follows Spectrum of the Seas in the Quantum class will also follow suit. That said, I have no idea if my impressions would have been different if I'd eaten dinner in one of the other dining rooms like Grande or Chic. As a ship, Anthem's overall quality and design was for the most part quite a bit nicer than Freedom. While a modern ship, it didn't have the metal-and-glass ultra-modern decor and style of other new ships like Seaside, which I definitely appreciated. I loved the design and decor of Coastal Kitchen, that was definitely one of my favorite spaces on the whole ship. I thought the Solarium on Anthem was light years better and nicer than Freedom's; having four hot tubs instead of two definitely doesn't hurt It was nice having Izumi available on Anthem instead of the to-go cart that Freedom had There were small room details on Anthem that I really appreciated and others that I found a bit disappointing As weird as it sounds, the balcony door was a high point of the room. The ones on Freedom were an exercise in testing my strength, where the ones on Anthem slid incredibly easily while still locking securely. At the risk of maybe sounding a bit too much like @monorailmedic, I really appreciate the engineering and design that went into those balcony doors on Anthem The USB outlets, while nice to have, were the low-power variety that can only charge phones and other devices at a trickle; it was a good thing I still brought my Anker charging hub So speaking as an adult passenger, I have to say that Anthem wins this competition against Freedom. How would she rate, though, if it were my teenage kids sailing on her?
Honestly, my older daughter probably wouldn't be any more impressed or enjoy the sea days any better. I know she'd almost certainly love Spectra and We Will Rock You, and she might appreciate the live band(s) in the Music Hall. But those are all evening activities.During the daytime, I think she'd still find herself somewhat bored since she doesn't like just sitting around at a pool doing nothing, isn't a trivia buff, and (oddly, given she's a singer) isn't into karaoke.
My younger daughter would definitely love all the extra dining options and chances to try some different styles of cuisine. If we could get a JS for CK access she'd probably think that she'd died and gone to heaven. I'm guessing she'd also appreciate all the art on display throughout the ship, as she's the artist of the family, and would also enjoy the live band(s) in the Music Hall. We'd have to go on a sailing with more kids, though, as she would want to have some people to socialize with.
 
So Anthem was definitely a winner for us. But far more than Anthem, Bermuda was the standout of this trip. It is such a beautiful place, and so different from the Caribbean island experience, that we left wanting to get back as soon as we could. There's still a lot of the island we haven't seen, particularly Hamilton, and we want to see some of the other beaches that are considered the best on the island.
I hadn't really planned on doing another cruise for 2019, seeing as I'm holding out hope for a 2020 CA/NE cruise in the summer. But over the last two weeks we found ourselves looking at what our options were for getting back next October or November. And then the BOGO60 sale stuck around through November, and before I knew it we ended up booking this exact same trip again for October of 2019! Just a regular balcony this time, and only because we lucked out with a really good rate that keeps the monthly pay-down low. 2020 is still on the radar, just waiting for the itineraries to come out and any announcement from Matt!
 
So that's all of it. Apologies for taking almost a month from the trip ending to finally get this wrapped up, especially when some of you have been looking for this ahead of your own upcoming sailings on Anthem; work and regular life have been keeping me tied up since getting back, and photo editing always takes longer than I expect.
Thanks for following along! I'll be back next October for the repeat voyage!

Day 5 - Sea Day (continued)
We Will Rock You was abso-freaking-lutely amazing!! What everyone says about it starting slow is certainly true, and there's no denying it's one of the most contrived plots out there to get the songs to fit some kind of narrative. But man, what a show! All of the performers were great, and the band was phenomenal; their guitarist looks like she's still in her 20s but she was crushing it like someone who's been playing for over 40! The sets looked really good, and I'm amazed at how many set pieces they have for this one show that they swap out in really short order, some of them rising up out of or dropping down into the stage floor. After seeing @twangster's pics from the backstage tour for Hairspray and how crowded the backstage area was with all the set pieces for that show, I can only imagine what backstage (and under the stage) must look like with this one!
One of the supporting actors had some mic trouble early on, which caused him to have to switch over to a hand-held mic in the middle of his scene; he totally took it in stride and just kept acting through the sound drop-outs until the hand-held was brought out to him, and spoke clearly and loudly enough through it that I think everyone in the theater could make out his lines. His cast-mates help get the mic out to him, moving as if it was all part of their choreography for the scene. Some definite pros at work, there.
Apart from that one small technical glitch, the show went flawlessly. The actors who play Galileo Figaro and Scaramouche were absolute stand-outs, belting out song after song; they also looked like they had some good on-stage chemistry going, so parts like them falling for each other were more believable. They and all the cast and band members totally earned the standing ovation they got at the end of the show.
If I had seen the evening showing, it would have been a fantastic way to wrap up the final sea day. But we saw the matinee, and we still had half of that day left to go. How the heck was I going to top that on-board experience?
Well, before I could do that I had to spend a little more time on the gratuities situation. My TA had emailed me back during the show and she was not happy. Royal had no record of the charge for my gratuities and were saying that they must have never processed the charge. A quick check of my most recent credit card statement put the lie to that; that charge was literally the very first one on the page! I emailed Heather back and let her know that; she said that as long as they did indeed roll back the on-board charges for gratuities that I had requested, we'd be good and she would straighten it all out so that Allen and the wait staff would properly get their gratuities from me. So I put that on the back burner again, as I wouldn't really know about the reversal until the next day, and got back to enjoying my final day of this trip.
We decided to get one last time in at the thermal spa, and spent about an hour up there. Had some nice conversation in the sauna with another New Jerseyan, who owned a shipping warehouse not far from where my wife used to work when our kids were younger. After taking advantage of everything the thermal spa had to offer, we checked out for the last time. Cathy got in three visits all told, while I had only gotten in twice; while it was nice to have this as another thing to do on our trip, we agreed we wouldn't spend the money on it again as we didn't really feel like we were able to use it enough to justify the price. Maybe on a longer trip with more sea days, but not this one.
Remember how I said that the chefs at CK had almost pulled out all the stops yesterday. They saved the absolute best for last. Check out this menu.

I'm not gonna like, I ate like a man on death row getting his last meal. I started off with a final round of escargots, plus the forest mushroom terrine...

and the fennel soup...

These were paired with a pinot noir, "Spy Valley". I've honestly been afraid to try pinot noir before, after seeing the movie "Sideways" with Paul Giamatti; at one point his character talks about how pinot can be really hit or miss, even from bottle to bottle within the same vintner, and I tend to believe that script writers don't usually put statements like that in there without doing at least some research on it first (lest the critics pounce on it); so after hearing that, I'd never felt like spending my money to try it out. Well, I had the drink package, and Amar recommended it as a good pairing with these entrees, so I figured why not? It was better than I expected, and I may get a bottle for at home at some point, but for now the one glass was enough.
For my entree, I had the saffron linguine, and shared an order of the cauliflower fried rice with Cathy. Sorry, forgot to take pictures of those last two. I paired these up with a glass of my favorite Chianti, the Marchesi de'Frescobaldi Chianti Ruffina, "Castello di Nipozzano" -- aka "#684". ?
Cathy changed up her appetizer from the usual Caesar salad and had the Pizzette, followed by the sirloin steak and the shared cauliflower fried rice. Everything was phenomenal, the chefs really outdid themselves tonight. And we hadn't even had dessert yet!
 
Before I get to the desserts, let me give the final riddles of our trip. First up was this, which Cathy and I both had heard before and I'm guessing you may have as well: "Poor people have it, rich people need it; if you eat it, you'll die." We both just just needed a few minutes to dredge up the answer from memory, and shortly had two pieces of Dove chocolate to enjoy with our dessert.
The second was another stick puzzle, which neither of us figured out. I'm not going to give the drawing this time, I'll just type it out since it involves numbers:
| + | = ||
Pretend it's Roman numerals, so you have one and one equals two. Long sticks for the roman 1's, short sticks to form the plus and equals sign. Now, move just one stick so you get an expression or equation with regular decimal numbers that totals 130. Yes, it can be done, and yes the answer will have you smacking your head.
 
So, time for dessert!
The dessert menu was also a set of impossible choices. Cathy and I both had the Chocolate and Berries Sundae; mine with chocolate and strawberry ice cream, while Cathy got chocolate and vanilla. But I didn't want to miss out on the Dulce de Leche Crème Brûlée, so I decided to order that as well.
With a cappuccino.
The crème brûlée was fantastic, and while the sundae was also very good I just could not eat all of it. I finished off the strawberry ice cream part, and Cathy got to enjoy some extra chocolate on top of her own. While we enjoyed our desserts, Amar had one final gift for us for solving so many of his riddles over the trip -- It was a key ring that had small replicas of all the local currency notes from Mauritius, which he wanted us to have as a keepsake and reminder of our trip and time in CK. We really appreciated it, it was quite a unique key ring!
He had some time for chit-chat, and we asked him how much time was left on his current contract. He told us he was on Anthem for just three more sailings -- the final CA/NE that was leaving the next day, followed by one more trip to Bermuda and then a 9-night Bahamas sailing. After that, he was going home for a little over 3 months before coming back to work on Anthem in March for his next contract. He said that while he was at home he'd be helping his mother finish getting her house remodeled, as the contractors working on it needed pretty constant oversight to make sure they were doing a good job. He was hoping they'd finish before he had to leave again, or they might end up leaving his mom with some shoddy work at the end.
We also had a chance to talk more with our head waiter. We found out he was from India, descended from the British colonists who had stayed there after the country won its independence and who had married the native people. He was missing his family a lot, especially his youngest daughter who he wasn't getting to see grow up nearly as much as he'd like. It was tough to hear, and a reminder that the folks who make our trips so phenomenal are giving up a lot to have these jobs and support their families through them.
Amar brought out the final check for me to sign to cover my typical wine overage. I had been tipping him a bit extra each night already, but tonight I made sure to give him an extra-large tip for all the great service he'd given every night. We had only gotten one WOW envelope, and I hadn't thought to pick up another from Guest Services, so this was the best way to be sure he got that extra.
 
By this point I was rapidly realizing that I really should not have ordered so many things, or at least not eaten every last bite of them all. Between the sheer amount of food, guzzling down my cappuccino and getting a caffeine rush, and the ship starting to really rock and roll as the weather got worse through dinner, I was getting a little unsettled. Since we still had to pack and get our bags out for pickup, we went back to the cabin where I could be pretty sure the motion would be a lot less, and where the distraction of packing would help me get through the queasiness. We had both packed just about exactly the right amount of clothes and other stuff, so packing was pretty much just a matter of tossing all the dirty stuff into the suitcases. We had group 50 for our tags, which was close to the last departure group.
While we were packing, we heard the wind positively howling outside the balcony door. The ship movement was modest enough in our room that I wasn't worried about taking a peek outside, and as soon as I opened the balcony door and looked down at the ocean, I understood why the movement was so pronounced through dinner. I couldn't take a picture, but just take the rough seas @Neaxan had put some video of in her live blog and change from day to night; you'll have a pretty good idea. All I could see around us in the bright moonlight was big waves and massive expanses of white froth. There wasn't any rain as far as I could tell, it was just tremendously windy and that seemed to be the main thing churning up the ocean.
Packing done and our suitcases in the hall, I was feeling just about back to normal. And we still wanted to do our plan of getting in some hot tub time. So we threw on our bathing suits and headed over to the Solarium. I remembered a tip from JimZim in his YouTube review of Anthem -- if you go to passenger deck 13, and walk all the way forward, you can get into the lowest level of the solarium by the hot tubs without ever having to set foot outside. Well, we found the door, but neither one of us could open it! It wasn't locked, we could turn the knob and we saw the door shift a tiny bit if we really put our weight into it. But the air pressure difference was so tremendous between that hallway and the Solarium, probably because of the observation wing doorway that was right next to where this door opened up, that it flat-out would not budge!
So, we walked back to the nearest stairwell and went up the one deck to the pool level. The automatic doors here were working normally, and we were able to get into the indoor pool area and finally into the Solarium. Being all the way forward, the ship was moving pretty noticeably; the pool are was roped off, but the hot tubs were still open and there wasn't a soul there. We chose one and got in, and enjoyed the hot water and the jets on our still-stiff legs. A handful of people came into the area after us, but there were still three unoccupied hot tubs and everyone got to enjoy their own private space.
I made it about 20 minutes before the combination of the hot water and the ship's motion here got me feeling green around the gills again. I headed back to the room while Cathy stayed a little longer, took a quick shower to cool off and finally went to bed to just sleep it off.
 
The final day's drink tally:
1 fresh-squeezed orange juice 2 cappuccinos 2 cocktails (my "She's a Geisha" from Izumi, and a margarita I had while watching We Will Rock You) 2 glasses of wine I definitely was feeling the drink fatigue by the end of today, amplified somewhat by my mild seasickness. I realize in hindsight that I let myself fall into the trap of worrying about "catching up" with my drink package and the "shortfall" from our first port day, when I needn't have bothered. Fact of the matter is that I'd had enough on the other days that I didn't need to have anything extra today, and I could have skipped the margarita and one of the two glasses of wine with no problem.

Day 10:
This day was off to an early start, therefore we had breakfast in our beloved Park Cafe. Why the early start, you might ask – the All Access Ship tour, of course! At 119 $ each, we had a YOLO moment when booking this. Hey, when will I be ever able to get a behind the scenes tour on the biggest cruise ship in the world? Our tour guide for the morning was Charly from Shore Excursions, who gave us some insight into crew life on Symphony. First stop of the tour was the engine control room where we were lucky to meet the chief engineer. I don’t want to bore you with a multitude of numbers so here’s the highlights: of 6 generators for the engines, Symphony uses 4 on a transatlantic sailing compared to only 3 when on normal Caribbean itineraries. Symphony has enough fuel to immediately return from Miami to Barcelona without refueling – but we’d lack food and drinks ?


Our next stop was the MDR galley on deck 5, where we got all information from one of the sous chefs. The MDR has 3 galleys (one on each MDR deck) – deck 5 is mainly responsible for soups, sauces, salads, cold plates and breakfast room service. The sheer amount of food that has to be prepared here is really impressive. Royal uses a computer system to predict the amount of dishes they’ll need for each seating – interesting to see this in use.



Down from deck 5 it was back into the bowels of the ship, taking the I-95 to provisions. On I-95, we saw the crew activities board. I’m really quite angry about the amount of money the crew have to pay for internet – in my opinion, it should be free of charge for them as it’s the only way to stay in contact with their family at home. And Royal should be aware that a happy crew makes for happy cruisers!  But on to a more lighthearted topic – provisions: Symphony’s provisions master took care of all our questions. As we still got a few days left, the walk in refrigerators were well stocked - nobody can starve on a cruise ship. For the European season, Symphony had to restock in Barcelona and Civitavecchia on each sailing – not because of the longer advance booking periods but because all goods arrive on (wooden) EU pallets and have to be reloaded on the steel pallets that Royal uses! That’s why Symphony only needs restocking once a week (in Miami) for Caribbean cruises – it just takes less time. Our time with the provisions master also answered another question: how does Symphony dock in Miami? Always on the starboard side, as they can use 2 doors for loading instead of only one when docking portside. Unfortunately, this means that Symphony will always turn in the basin when entering the port – so in the middle of the night most likely.



From provisions, we ventured even further down the ship. The laundry is as far down as you can get on Symphony (assuming you don’t want to take a swim in the fuel tanks). The laundry master explained his department to us and also showed us the use of some of the machines. You can even stumble upon Captain Rob in the laundry ? Most interesting information: crew’s uniforms are cleaned free of charge, but they have to wash their private clothes themselves.


Our last stop on this tour was the bridge, where we met one of the First Officers – and Captain Rob again. It's amazing how approachable and chatty the Captain is – what a nice experience. Best thing about the bridge is the unobstructed forward view, but all the instruments on the bridge wing were also quite interesting. We were even lucky to have not one but two ships in our safety corridor when on the bridge – in the middle of nowhere in the Atlantic! The route is completely at the Captain’s discretion so we took a southern route on this crossing for better weather. Even though the southern route is longer than the northern route, it’s more fuel efficient due to winds and drift.


#


After this illuminating tour, we went to the MDR for an early lunch. We were seated with Americans, Brits and a couple from Taiwan. This mix made for some very interesting political discussions. (Hey, I thought you don’t small talk about politics and religion?!) Fortunately, we don’t mind political discussions as we like to hear opinions from all sides. In fact, we’ve redpilled quite a few fellow cruisers on the topic of Germany on this crossing ? As for the food, can’t remember the exact names (and forgot to look them up before disembarkation ?). Hubby had the Greek Salad, Chicken Sandwich and Chocolate Cake, I had the Tortilla Salad, Steak Sandwich and Apple Pie.






The next event of the day was the Guest Talent Show. The choir's This is Me was the first act, the song was enhanced by a choreography from the progressive dance class. Other than that, it was mostly musical acts. We were quite surprised about the confidence of some of the participants but a few acts were REALLY impressive. The best act was a guy singing New York by Frank Sinatra – in fact this guy was on par with headliner Gary Williams. No surprise he won progressive karaoke.

As we’d had an early lunch and were planning a late dinner, we had a 2nd lunch at Playmakers – again Base Loaded Potato Skins but this time accompanied by Pulled Pork Sliders. From there it was on to Laser Tag. Sadly a session only is 10 minutes, but considering the long lines it’s understandable. Due to the de-icing of Studio B there were only 4 sessions on this 12 night cruise - the first two on one of the first sea days, session 3 on day 10 during formal night dinner and session 4 during sailaway from Port Canaveral. We had other plans for the first two sessions and didn't want to miss sailaway so we chose the lesser evil. Our team didn’t win but at least we were the team’s top players.
Day 10 was the 2nd and last formal night, so we went to the cabin to change into more formal wear (so not playing laser tag in dress and heels!) and then get some pictures taken on Royal Promenade. Dinner in the MDR consisted of the Mediterranean Tapas Plate for starters, Seafood Linguini and Broiled Lobster Tail for entrees and Chocolate Profiteroles and the Artisan Cheese Plate for dessert. Feel free to guess who ordered what ? Verdict on the food: to us it feels as though MDR food is better on Formal Nights – so a good reason to dress up. When leaving the MDR we were advised to come back the next day for dessert (we have a reservation in Izumi and the dessert isn’t really our cup of tea). After a few drinks at the pub we went to bed.





Side notes:
10.3 k steps – most of them on the tour ?
If anyone wondered, yes, drink fatigue is a thing. Well, for me – not for hubby. Food fatigue is also getting real, guess we’ll have a breather in Miami.
Can't really call this a towel animal, can I? ?

 

-Day Three Labbadee Haiti- 
`By FlowBro Ty
I Got Up At Seven To Watch The Sail In To Labbadee. We Docked At Seven Forty Five And Then We Saw The Workers Arrive To Work. Via Jet Ski And Speed Boat.
 
After That I Met Up With @Twangster Fan At The Windjammer For Water. I Did Not Want To Ruin My Island Barbeque So I Had Just Water. After My Met Up With @Twangster Fan I Headed To The Flowrider For The 9:00 Session. I Hit The Flowrider Until 10:15 Then Headed Of The Ship. First Stop The Dragon Rock Café. It Was The Same Choice As On The Freedom In April. The Mac And Cheese Was So Good I Had Thirds. After That I Got On A Tram To Columbus Cove. There I Did The Aqua Park And Dragon Tail Coaster Combo. The Aqua Park Is Pretty Small But Since I Was Here On The Freedom They Added Three New Inflatable's. One Of My Favorite New Inflatables Are This Clift Jump / Slide Inflatable. Here's A Photo Of It. 

After The Aqua Park I Headed To The Dragon Tail Coaster. I Rode It Once And The Ride Was About Three To Four Minutes Long And The Line To Get On The Coaster Was Over Five Minutes Long. The Coaster Was Very Fun And I Would Recommend It To Anyone. After That I Headed Back To The Ship. I Notice That They Painted The Pier Brown. And They Added Better Speaker On The Pier

Here's A Photo Of Our Ship. The Oasis Of The Seas.

Back On Board I Went To The Pool And Spent And Hour In The Hot Tub And Grabbed Some Ice Cream . When I Heard The Horn I Went To View Our Sail Away From Labbadee Haiti. We Kick Up A Lot Of Dirt From Engines. The Sail Away From Labbdee Is One Of My Favorite Sail Away In The Caribbean From A Port.


 In Two Hours We Passed Through This Channel. There Were Land And Sail Boats On Each Side Of Us. It Was So Cool. Here's A Photo Of Our Path Out Of Labbadee.

Here's A Photo I Took Of Mainland Haiti From The Channel.
 
 

Day 1
Travel day was relatively uneventful.  SWA is always very easy to deal with, plus we are TSA Pre-check, which is always better.  TSA was a little delayed since a cat had attacked a woman just before we got to the airport, and there was apparently blood all over, so they had to move the regular line to the Pre-Check line.  Luckily our daughter handled it well, and got a nifty Jr. Officer sticker, and who doesn’t love stickers?

 

 
 
National Rent-A-Car was easy in Orlando.  If you are an Emerald Club member, you just go to the garage and pick any car you want.  We were out of the airport about 5 minutes after getting our bags, and on our way to Port Canaveral.  Checked into the hotel and then headed out to dinner.  We ate at Cocoa Beach Ale House per @Matt recommendation.  It was very good.  Abby and Virginia shared a pizza, which was very tasty.  Dough and sauce both made in house.  I had the Mahi Mahi sandwich, and it was also very good.  After dinner was dessert at Twistee Treat?  It’s soft-serve ice cream from a building that looks like an ice cream cone.  Then it was back to the hotel to get to bed.  
We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites near the port.  Originally, I picked this hotel both due to the proximity to the port, and because it has on-site laundry, and we would stay there again in between cruises.  The room we had was a queen bed for the adults, and then two twin beds in a separate area, almost like an alcove, for Virginia.  It was kind of a cool concept, but the bed was pretty rough, the walls were thin, and I’m not sure I would stay there again.  Being right across from the elevator I’m sure didn’t help much.  
The next morning was cruise day!!!  The upside of our room was being able to see Lady O from our window:

 

We were up early, and needed to kill time, so we went and ate breakfast down the street at Southern Charm Café.  It was very good, and I highly recommend it for breakfast.  Their cakes and pies were homemade and looked delicious.  We may try lunch here on “turnaround” day.  Then it was to the port to return the car and board.  
With the Jr. Suite, we went through the suites line for security and check-in.  We got to the port at 10:20, we were checked in by 10:36, and after a short wait in the holding pen, we were on-board at 10:45.  It was absolutely amazing to step into the promenade, and the breadth that is an Oasis Class ship.  We loved Majesty, but I feel like you could almost put her inside the promenade.
 

 
 
We explored the promenade some, and then went straight up to 17 to try and get reservations for Coastal Kitchen.  I had some concerns about this due to a couple of factors.  The biggest of which was from recent Cruise Compasses that showed CK as Star and Sky Class only, and Pinnacles. We went up to CK, and our card wouldn’t work in the door.  We waited for a while to see if there was anyone inside, or to try and catch someone, but had no luck.  Virginia was getting anxious, so we decided to come back and try again closer to dinner.  Luckily, Paul was at Grills, so we were able to connect via the Insider group on Facebook, and we headed to Deck 5, Aft, where Paul got this picture of us.  Great thanks to Paul, and it shows how being an Insider is so great! (Shameless Plug).
 
 
Off to Central Park we went to update our 3 night dining reservations, with no issue at all in getting our choices.  Then it was to Park Café for a Kummelweck Sandwich, extra horseradish and mustard.  Just as tasty as advertised.

 

Neither Abby nor Virginia wanted one, so it was off to the promenade for Sorrentos.  They both thought it was pretty good.  Virginia liked it so much that we had to go back for two more pieces after muster drill to take to the room for “pre-dinner”.  
After some more exploring of the ship, taking a spa tour, and getting a stern talking to from Virginia that I didn’t pack swimsuits in the carryon, it was around 1 p.m. so we headed to the room.  Luggage was outside the door about an hour after we got in the rooms, and thankfully nothing was in the naughty room.  Muster went relatively quickly.  As I type this, the “wash your hands” song is now invading my brain again…..
After muster, Virginia needed a rest, so we went back up to the room for sail away and sat on the balcony.  Then it was time to get her to lay down and unpack.  After a fight, we got a successful nap, and then she woke up not knowing where she was.  Once we figured that out, it was all good, and time to head back up to try Coastal Kitchen.
We did confirm that the CC said Star and Sky class only for dinner.  We get to 17, try our card… No luck.  Confirmed that the first few nights it is only for Star and Sky.  It might be open later in the week to try.  We decided we would go try the Solarium Bistro, as we didn’t want the hectic mess of the Windjammer.  This ended up being for the best, as Virginia didn’t handle dinner well, and it would have been tough in CK.  
Dinner was good.  Our waiter, Angelo, was very attentive.  Due to V’s issues, I didn’t get any pictures of the food.  The appetizers were very good, my favorite being the mushrooms.  I had the grilled shrimp as an entrée, Abby had the salmon, and V had the chicken kebabs.  It was definitely nice to have a lighter meal.  The desserts were also very good, and V’s serving of chocolate cake turned the night around for her.  

 
Then it was off to play a windy round of mini-golf before Adventure Ocean opened up.  The check-in for AO took about 20 minutes, mainly due to a long line of people who had not registered yet, as well as some kids that were having separation anxiety.  V took off like a freight train with no care in the world, so I headed to the casino as Abby took here ritual first night early bed time.  At 10 o’clock, I left the casino up more than double, so it was time to go get V.  Then it was off to bed early so we could be ready for the Dreamworks Character breakfast tomorrow morning.  
 

Random Thoughts
-It astounds me how many people were buying the drink package on-board.  Do some research!
-The Pineapples walking around with their nametags on makes me giggle a little.  If I ever reach that status, I don’t think I could have the ego to walk around with the badge on…
-We were bummed about CK, but hopefully we can try it in the future.  Solarium Bistro was good, and it was a peaceful option compared to the Windjammer.  
-We purchased the Ultimate Thermal pass for the spa.  For two people, it includes unlimited use of the thermal seats, a 1-hour private mud bath/scrub, and a 1-hour private jacuzzi.  
Tomorrow is a sea day.  We have the character breakfast in the morning, then the mud bath, and dinner at Chops.  As I type this, I’m on my balcony enjoying the nice breeze.  Vacation is great.  
 

 
Step count:
13,200 (half of which I had V on my shoulders.  Should count for double)

 

 

Day -2 - Pre-cruise
As I looked out this morning, the weather in beautiful St. Louis, MO confirmed that it is indeed time for a cruise.

Nothing like a dreary day with the first flurry of snow for the year covering the roof tops to remind you that it's been 364 days of dry dock, time to start the live-blog, and offer a miserable picture to test out how to insert them into the blog and have them sized correctly. 
Sailings
We will being a pseudo-side to side on Oasis and Enchantment out of Port Canaveral.  Oasis will be a 7-night Western Caribbean starting November 11 through November 18.  One night spent in Port Canaveral, then a 4-night Bahamas sailing on Enchantment from November 19 through November 23.
Itinerary
Day 1 - Port Canaveral, FL
Day 2 - Sea Day
Day 3 - Labadee
Day 4 - Falmouth
Day 5 - Sea Day
Day 6 - Cozumel
Day 7 - Sea Day
Day 8 & 9 - Port Canaveral
Day 10 - CocoCay
Day 11 - Nassau
Day 12 - Sea Day
Day 13 - Port Canaveral
We have a beach bungalow booked for Labadee.  Falmouth we will probably stay in the cruise terminal.  Cozumel we will be going to Nachi Cocom, then heading downtown to Coz Coffee and Chocolateria Isla Bella.  CocoCay we have a Cabana booked, and then probably the cruise terminal again in Nassau.  
Who is Sailing:
It will be my wife, Abby, our 4 year old daughter, and I on this sailing.  I cruised once when I was a kid on the Big Red Boat.  My next cruise was last year with Abby on Majesty of the Seas, and went to Grand Bahama and CocoCay (which we missed due to weather.)  I get cruise incentives from my land-based casino, so we booked that cruise after final payment date on a whim.  It was right before we left on the sailing that I found RCBlog, and now I am fully indoctrinated.  This will be our daughter's first cruise, and she's been counting down the number of "sleeps" left since we were at 20.  She can't wait to meet new friends in Adventure Ocean, and has been trying to convince us that all of her friends from school can come with us.  So while this is our second RC cruise, it will be our first 7-nighter, first Oasis Class, and first just about everything else including first time in each of these ports.  
Other logistics
Packing has been ongoing for about a week.  Hoping to get it all finalized tonight.  We fly out tomorrow from STL to MCO via Southwest.  Tomorrow night will be in the Country Inn & Suites near the port.  We will have a rental car from MCO to the hotel, returning it at the port.  For the night in between cruises, we had the same hotel booked, choosing it originally due to the on-site laundry facilities.  After @Matt posted the blog about the Holiday Inn Beach Club, we changed our stay there, due to in-room laundry, as well as everything else on property.  Possibly even taking the rental car to Publix to cook dinner for ourselves.  After we debark Enchantment, we are taking a shuttle from PC to MCO for our flight back.
Cabins
On Oasis we have a JS on deck 6 booked.  The location should be great for it's location, and we envision Johnny Rockets for breakfast most mornings.  On Enchantment, I've done the best I can do to ensure that my daughter will become a full on suite snob by booking a GS.  The pricing was great for the upgrade, plus we got a great deal on the Oasis sailing by booking during a WOW sale last year with KSF and free gratuities.  (Although I feel like I'm probably heading to #suitesnob status as well.  Looking at booking Oasis again in Feb of 2020, and my eye is on a Crown Loft Suite...)
Other thoughts
-We will be #TeamNoDX.  I had weight loss surgery in February and can't really drink much (down 200 lbs in about a year).  My last drink was 2 weeks before surgery, but I imagine I may have to have at least a sip or two while on the ship or at Nachi.
-We have the 3 night dining package booked on Oasis.  We plan on being #TeamCK (more influence from our favorite Stubborn Canadian (wouldn't let me tag @lovetocruise2002 for some reason).  If we can't do CK, we may opt for Solarium Bistro.  On Enchantment we don't have any specialty dining booked.  We'll either see if there are deals available, or take advantage of the MDR service in our room, especially on Thanksgiving Day.  
-Pictures will be with my iPhone 8 and the moment lenses.  I'm opting not to bring my DSLR this trip, just so I can enjoy the journey, and work on shot selection vs. shot quality.  Once I get a better idea of what shots to take on a cruise, and how to frame them, I move to bringing my DSLR.  
-We are excited for our daughter's first cruise.  This will be her second time flying, but the first was with Grandma and Grandpa, so we're looking forward to that also.  We are doing the Dreamworks Breakfast on Oasis, and the girls will be doing the Cupcake class on Enchantment.
Finally, I'm hoping to do the live blog justice.  Lots of great influences on the site, and I hope I hold a candle to some of them.  We do have VOOM, so I'll try to be as interactive as possible.  If there are questions, I'll try to get them answered.  
Now it's off to iron my best shorts and t-shirt for formal night and finish packing.  
-Lance

Wonderland:
Wonderland was our most anticipated restaurant – spoiler alert: rightly so. To fully enjoy Wonderland, you have to appreciate the concept and be a bit of an adventurous eater. We loved the whole atmosphere of the place – it’s a real trip down the rabbit hole with everything including the waiter’s uniforms or the Mad Hatter’s conversations fitting in. We even found a little Alice ?





As we were planning to get the most of this experience, we ignored the menu even though painting your own menu was a nice touch. We let our waiter Sorina chose our courses as we only had good experiences with following our waiter’s recommendations.



For starters, we got the whole ride: Citrus Seas, Crispy Crab Cones, Mad Hatter‘s Purple Potted Shrimp, Liquid Lobster, The Chicken & the Egg. We loved all of them! When forced to pick a favourite, I’d go with the Citrus Seas even though the Liquid Lobster was the most surprising taste.






For entrees, Sorina hadn’t forgotten that hubby isn’t that much into fish as a main course. So we got Snap, Crackle & Pork and The Rib ‚I‘ Luscious Short Rib (aka Chocolate Brownie ?). Personally, I prefered the latter as the pork is quite greasy. Hubby did enjoy the pork so it might just be my pet hate talking. I can thoroughly recommend the short rib – I liked it even better than 150 CP’s main course!


For dessert, we were in for a surprise! As I’d hoped, we got The World – it’s not only a visual treat, it’s also absolutely delicious. Our second dessert was the Forbidden Apple, also very good but just not as perfect as The World. On the other hand, the Forbidden Apple was decorated for an anniversary that we still don’t know about ? Guess it was a mix up in the kitchen as neither me nor hubby had informed Royal about an anniversary. Instead of worrying, we just went with the flow and got nine times Happy Anniversary from Sorina and the Mad Hatter. We’ve been married 9 years now, it’s only we married in August, not in November. Who would voluntarily marry in the German winter season?


Back to the topic: we loved the whole Wonderland experience, it is easily our favourite restaurant onboard! In fact, we enjoyed this kind of imaginative and adventurous cuisine so much, that we’ll take the leap and try some fusion cuisine at home. If you only want to try one speciality dining venue – I’d chose this one as it offers the most different experience. We’ll definetly be back on another ship!

Day 4 - Bermuda (continued)
The shuttle bus left Horseshoe Bay at 1:30, but we didn't get back to the Dockyard until almost 2:30 because of traffic and rain. With our all-aboard time at 4:30, we didn't have a lot of time to finish up our day. And we still needed to eat some lunch, we were both getting pretty hungry. Rather than burn a lot of time at any sit-down restaurant in the dockyard, we went back to the ship and just grabbed some small items at Cafe Promenade to take the edge of our hunger and let us get back off-ship ASAP.
We headed back out to the dockyard with about an hour we could safely spend without risking being pier runners. Even with that decent amount of time, we were kind of hurried to get our shopping done. We ended up only making it to the craft market, where we got our traditional souvenir holiday ornament and a couple of prints, and one other store where we got some limited print coasters and a few t-shirts. After that, we made our way back to the ship, cutting it a little close as we boarded at 4:15, but not all pier runner territory. To our surprise, as we waited in the security line we heard one of the staff holler down from the card scanner area to the people at the entry booth that there were still over 250 passengers not yet on board! We looked back and there were nowhere near that many in line to board, so it was looking like there'd be at least a few pier runners today!
I have no idea if that ended up being the case or not. Our room was on the opposite side from the dock, and all I wanted at that point was to enjoy my traditional sail-away margarita from our balcony and take in one last sight of Bermuda.

We sailed away promptly at 5:00, so either everyone made it on board in time or there were some people (possibly happily) left behind.
We had to get ready for dinner in CK, as we were eating a bit earlier to make the evening's showing of Spectra's Cabaret. As it happened, while this night wasn't formal night it was still the night when the kitchen pulled out almost all the stops. That's right, almost all the stops...

This was a set of impossible choices. There was no way I could decide between salmon sashimi or the risotto, nor could I choose just scallops or lobster. So, I did what every enterprising cruiser does in this situations... I got 'em all! Sorry, escargots, but there is only so much room in this stomach and you got the short stick; considering Amar brought me a second lobster tail without prompting, I was glad I left them behind. Appetizers were paired, at Amar's recommendation, with the "Conundrum" blend from the "Adventurous Whites" section; yes, I actually had white wine and I enjoyed it! It was very dry, which I appreciated, and only a little fruity with a slightly spicy finish. With my entree's I also had white wine, this time the "Mer Soleil" Chardonnay; also very nice, and I have to say after having this and the Chardonnay served at Chef's Table back on Freedom that I do like that kind of white. I may have to pick up a couple of bottles for at home when I have meals that traditionally do get served with a white wine rather than a red. 
Cathy kept it far simpler than me, and just had her favorite Caesar Salad and the gnocchi. She said the gnocchi was very good, not too heavy and really good flavor.
Then it was time for dessert. Cathy got the crunchy chocolate bar, which had her back in heaven again; we're all chocolate lovers, and she said that was a really good dessert. I had the Baked Alaska and, as usual on this sailing, an iced Bailey's and coffee. Here's the Baked Alaska.

And lest I forget, our meal once again came with riddles! First was this one: "The one who makes it, sells it. The one who buys it, never uses it. The one who uses it, never sees it." I actually figured this one out after a very small hint from Amar, with confirmation that "it" was a real thing and not some metaphysical concept or the like. After this, we got another stick challenge – There are 12 sticks arranged into a square, like so:

Moving exactly 3 sticks, change the four squares into three squares; you cannot double up any sticks, and you cannot have any sticks jutting out on their own. This one neither Cathy nor I was able to figure out; when Amar showed us the solution, I shook my head again. And the solution he showed isn't the only valid one; we showed this puzzle to our kids and my older daughter came up with a different solution that was still valid.
And now, it was time for...

We arrived a solid hour early, actually getting to Two70 as the first show was ending. This was good, as it gave us our pick of the available seats. Make note -- if you want to have a chance to see the cast up very close as they leave the main stage area in a couple of parts and walk around the perimeter, then find the third ring of seats, which are a set of tall couches and love seats. Cathy asked to sit here as her back was bothering her and she wanted something with a taller back than the other seating, and wow was it the perfect place to enjoy the show!
I respected the "no photography" announcement, so I can't show you anything of the actual show, but both Cathy and I were very impressed. This was the kind of show we'd been waiting for, and it really was incredible how they blended the singing, dancing, aerialists, robot displays, and projection wall into one seamless whole. It's not Cirque du Soleil, as I had first imagined it to be. It's something all its own, and you really do have to see it to appreciate it. And if you sit where I indicated, you'll have two times that either the emcee, Spectra, or the full show cast walks past and you can fully appreciate the costuming and the performers' talents. Spectra actually took time on his pass-through to say hello and shake people's hands, including mine, which I thought was a very nice touch. When the show ended, we gave the cast a huge round of applause. And we were even more excited now at the prospect of seeing We Will Rock You the next day, as that show was supposed to be even better!
Not wanting to go to bed quite yet, we decided to wander the ship a bit. There were some interesting chairs laid out in front of Wonderland and by the Music Hall, so we decided to have a goof and do our best Game of Thrones impressions. Cathy played Circe Lannister.

I, on the other hand, was Ned Stark.

After having our bit of fun, we went up to the pool deck and Solarium to see how they looked at night. The Solarium was surprisingly empty.


 We contemplated getting our bathing suits having a private dip in the Solarium's hot tubs, but didn't want to take yet another shower before bed when it would be really late; we figured we'd do that on our sea day tomorrow.. 
At this point, Cathy was ready to call it a night. I was still pumped up between my evening Bailey's coffee and Spectra, so I continued to wander for a while. I stopped off at Boleros and tried out a Royal Mojito; not at all bad, but not as good as the one I had in Old San Juan back in April. While I sipped my drink, I decided to finally pay a visit to the casino and see how the craps tables might treat me. Not nicely, as it turned out. As soon as I joined the table went cold, and I lost to 8 shooters in a row; I ended up leaving before I could even get a chance to be the shooter, having lost $40 in about 10 minutes. I saw the same thing happen towards the end of my trip on Freedom, and I'm starting to wonder if I make any table I join colder than a Polar Vortex hit in January.
Just for grins, I put $10 into the one $1 Double Diamond slot machine they had, as that has been a somewhat reliable slots game for me. No luck here, either. Out $50 total, I cleared out of the casino and decided it was time for me to get to bed as well.
 
Tonight's drink package tally:
2 cappuccinos 2 glasses of wine 3 cocktails Definitely ahead tonight, but still "making up" for yesterday's big shortfall.

Day 5 - Sea Day
I was glad today was a sea day, because when we woke up the skies were completely overcast and it was threatening to rain at any time. Would definitely be a day to stay indoors and take advantage of Anthem's accommodations for inclement weather. Unfortunately, I had to take care of a couple of unexpected issues, like the sewer stink that flooded out of our bathroom this morning when we opened the door! Nothing like what @twangster had happen; this was only a stink and no sewage backlog. But good lord was it pungent in there!
The other unexpected problem was that I found Royal had been charging me the daily gratuities, even though I had pre-paid them through my travel agent. With two of the days looking like I had been charged twice!
Before dealing with that, we had to get down to breakfast before things closed. I wanted to change the venue this time, as I was a little tired of Cafe Two70, so we decided to go to the Main Dining Room. On Anthem, this meant going to the American Grille room, and it was a madhouse! The place was packed, and even though we had asked to be given a shared table so we could have some companions and conversation, we ended up seated at a two-top. Granted, the tables were really close-packed so we had no trouble talking to our neighbors. They were a very nice couple from Buffalo, NY, who were on their honeymoon. We talked about Bermuda and agreed it was gorgeous, and that we had to get back as soon as we could. We also talked about our experiences on this ship so far; it was interesting to get their point of view, as they had previously sailed only on Carnival and this was their first time on Royal. They said Anthem was definitely a good bit nicer than Carnival's ships, and that it definitely had better food and a nicer crowd (not nearly as many drunks as they tended to find on Carnival, and they liked that it wasn't such a constant party atmosphere). But, they felt Carnival had the edge on activities.
For us, the food in the main dining room wasn't really any better than if we'd gone to the Windjammer, and it took a long time to both place our orders and then get our food. My pancakes were actually cold; not just room temp, but like they had been in the refrigerator and not quite reheated enough to reach room temp. On the other hand, my omelet was totally fine, probably because it was cooked to order. Cathy had the buffet, and felt it wasn't as good as the one on Freedom; fewer choices, and what was there also just on par as if we'd gone to Windjammer. I was able to get my fresh-squeezed OJ, at least, and it was as good as I remembered.
So, with breakfast out of the way, it was time to go and visit Guest Services. For the sewage smell issue, the person I spoke with was very apologetic, and paged both our floor attendant and maintenance to check it out. He also looked up my reservation and said he had no record of my prepayment on the gratuities, but after showing him my invoice and confirmation email from my TA, he offered to remove the gratuities without any further action on my part. I still wanted to get to the bottom of this part, so I emailed Heather and asked her to look into it.
While I was doing all of this, Cathy was at the logo store taking advantage of the two for $20 t-shirt sale. She scored a few more t-shirts, including one for me, and caught up with me just as I wrapped up with Guest Services.
With that out of the way, we went back up to our cabin. Our floor attendant was already there and taking a look at the problem. He agreed there was a smell, and shortly after we arrived Allen, our cabin attendant, arrived. He checked and told us the problem was that the ship had run into some bad weather last night that had been tossing a ship a fair bit (which was surprising, because we never felt that once); all the movement caused some rooms to have the bathroom floor drain's trap clear out, allowing the sewage smell to come up through the now cleared pipes. He poured some water down the drain to re-fill the trap portion, and left to check on some other rooms. And then maintenance came by not half an hour later, to further follow up on the problem. The timing was good on that as I was just heading out for my iFly session.
By this point, about 11 AM, it was actually raining, albeit lightly. So we stuck to the indoor paths as much as possible for getting to iFly, stopping at La Patisserie along the way so Cathy could get another latte. I should have asked her to just meet me there rather than waiting, because by the time we got to the checkin area my group had already been taken inside and my spot was given to someone on the standby line. There were no other openings for iFly that day, unless I wanted to wait around for my own shot at a standby slot, but I was OK with this. My feet were still sore from all the walking over the last two days, and I wasn't sure how they'd hold up being buffeted by the simulated winds inside the iFly chamber. Plus, the day was already feeling a bit rushed and it was good to have a chance to slow down.
Since the weather wasn't great, we went down to the Solarium to just relax and enjoy a beverage or two. I got another Lava Flow, but I had to make do with another rum; somehow @twangster had teleported from Adventure of the Seas onto my ship and run off with all the remaining Kraken! ?