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Just checked airlines, and that is a fact, plus non-stop flights

According to the website, Short Caribbean should be released on or about Dec 3 and other Caribbean sailings on or about Dec. 10.

It seems I have more money than sense and patience, and knowing that the summer 2020 schedule is coming soon, I am concocting a plan...
I floated the idea of a cruise with my wife and I, and her two sisters and their husbands (sans all of our kids) in the not-too-distant future. My wife just rolled her eyes (but didn't say no) and at least one of her sisters is on board (pun intented).  2019 doesn't work, so it would have to be 2020. Also, this aligns with the 5th and 10th anniversaries of my two sisters in law.  We're tied to the summer, and specifically late June/early July due to work and school schedules.
So here's my plan: secretly book a cruise as soon as the announcements are made, and then present the plan as a fait accompli at an opportune time (did I just hear sleigh bells?). I have the cash flow to float the deposits for all three cabins, especially for a 4 or 5 night cruise, which would probably work best for all involved. Make refundable deposits, and no down side, right? I mean, other than my wife will probably kill me for not talking to her. Then she'll cool off, bring me back to life, and enjoy the cruise.
My question is then, which ship/itinerary would you recommend, especially since neither of the sisters has cruised before? We'll be coming from the midwest, so no port is all that more easily reached than another.
Being on these boards is such a bad influence...
 

That didn't take long?

I booked two cruises next year before telling my DW. One for our anniversary and her birthday; the other with our 4 kids, SIL and 2 grandkids - she got over it pretty quickly  

That didn't take long?

Great plan, IMO.  What could go wrong ?  ?
Maybe Mariner would be a good choice since it has all the new bells and whistles ?

It seems I have more money than sense and patience, and knowing that the summer 2020 schedule is coming soon, I am concocting a plan...
I floated the idea of a cruise with my wife and I, and her two sisters and their husbands (sans all of our kids) in the not-too-distant future. My wife just rolled her eyes (but didn't say no) and at least one of her sisters is on board (pun intented).  2019 doesn't work, so it would have to be 2020. Also, this aligns with the 5th and 10th anniversaries of my two sisters in law.  We're tied to the summer, and specifically late June/early July due to work and school schedules.
So here's my plan: secretly book a cruise as soon as the announcements are made, and then present the plan as a fait accompli at an opportune time (did I just hear sleigh bells?). I have the cash flow to float the deposits for all three cabins, especially for a 4 or 5 night cruise, which would probably work best for all involved. Make refundable deposits, and no down side, right? I mean, other than my wife will probably kill me for not talking to her. Then she'll cool off, bring me back to life, and enjoy the cruise.
My question is then, which ship/itinerary would you recommend, especially since neither of the sisters has cruised before? We'll be coming from the midwest, so no port is all that more easily reached than another.
Being on these boards is such a bad influence...
 

Day 8: Boooooooo!
We woke up early, and sadly packed our last things to carry off the ship. Leaving our bags in the room, we got breakfast at a semi-leisurely pace, and then went down to say goodbye to our cabins. We then did a lap around the pool deck, and started to head for the theater to wait for our disemarkation number to be called. A crew member saw us headed that way, and told us we could wait in the Centrum, and she would come find us when our number was called, which was nice. When our number was called, we walked off the ship for the last time, and into the terminal. We were able to quickly locate our bags and walked on out. A benefit of sailing through the European Union is there are no customs/passport checks while leaving the port (at least for US/EU citizens). Our car service met us right at the exit of the terminal, and whisked us to the airport. Unfortunately, we had to sit in the airport for about 4 hours waiting on our flight, but the girls barely noticed since they all had their iDevices and wifi. I dozed off a little on the short flight home, and before we knew it, we were in the van and driving home.
 
Final Thoughts:
- I really enjoyed our cruise, ship, crew, and port calls. I was concerned about being on one of the oldest ships in the fleet during an off-season cruise, but my fears were nowhere near founded.
- We were keeping a running scorecard of the Disney Magic vs. Rhapsody of the Seas, and I must admit that Rhapsody stacked up favorably. Even in the areas where the Magic won, I kept telling my wife "if we were on a bigger and newer Royal ship...."
- I cannot say enough about how much my girls enjoyed their time in Adventure Ocean. Even though there were not as many kids on this cruise, the staff kept up a high level of programming and gave my girls all kinds of personal attention.
- With the exception of the tender debacle in Kotor, embarking and disembarking the ship was smooth and painless.
- I can't wait to try the other ships and itineraries Royal Caribbean offers. I am fully a "cruise person" now and constantly schemeing for the next one. 
 
Thanks for following along!

Day 4: Athens
Overnight, the Rhapsody had made the long haul around the corner of Greece, and was headed towards Pireaus and Athens. I got up early to enjoy a cup of coffee up on deck and watch the sun rise.


We weren't scheduled to make port until noon, so we decided to take the girls swimming as soon as the pool was open. My wife stayed in the hot tub, and I got in and out of it as the middle girls decided to move between the hot tub and pool. Too late, we decided that we should have taken a picture of my daughter in the pool and the lifeguard wearing a coat and beanie hat. We let them swim for about an hour, and they had a great time, and turns out the pool water wasn't as cold as I was expecting- not bath water by any means, but definitely not frigid.
After the pool we went back to our cabin, got ready for the day, and headed up to Windjammer for lunch. While we were eating, we watched the ship dock and saw Athens in the distance. I could even see the Acropolis faintly. Later, while talking with our tour guide, she told us that the weather could not have been more perfect, and the visibility is just about as good as she'd ever seen in Athens...no smog or humidity, bright sun, and just enough breeze to blow anything out of the way. As we were leaving WJ, Captain Tobias informed us that we had been cleared to go ashore, so we quickly went to our cabin to grab our day bags and continued down to the gangway on deck 1. I had scheduled an independent, private tour of the Acropolis and Ancient Agora, including transfers for today, and we were met by our driver immediately upon leaving the terminal.
It took about 30 minutes to drive from the port to the Acropolis, with our driver pointing out things of interest along the way, mostly sights from the 2000 Olympics. He even pulled over at an overlook to let us take a picture of the harbor. We were delivered right to the bus parking lot at the Acropolis and promptly met by our guide. After purchasing our tickets (half-price because it was off-season, and kids under 18 free, by the way), we started the hike up the hill. Our guide, Marialena from Greeking.me, was fantastic and great with the girls. She took us all around the Acropolis, and stopped at various places to tell us the myths about this most important of places in Athens. Another benefit of being off season was that the sight was not crowded at all and the weather was perfect: sunny but not hot.
After we descended from the Acropolis, we walked past Mars Hill where the Apostle Paul gave his famous speech to the Athenians and on to the Agora. Our girls were enthralled by the stories of Greek myths and walking around the ancient marketplace, looking up at the Parthenon, I could put myself back in that time. All in all, it was a great tour and well worth booking a private tour (I feel like I may be becoming a private tour snob!). 





 
We then had some free time to wander for about an hour before our transfer back to the ship. Arriving back at port, we headed to WJ for dinner and watched as the Rhapsody pulled away and out of Piraeus. The girls went up on the pool deck to watch Incredibles 2, while my wife and I enjoyed some time alone and went to the Love and Marriage gameshow, which was hilarious.
It was by then time to turn in and get some sleep, with a lazy morning ahead of us again the next day.

Day 3: Corfu
We didn't have big plans for this day, just to wander the town at our own pace. We did set an alarm for 8:30, just in case, thinking that there was no way the girls would sleep that long (they never do at home). Apparently, though, the long days had already caught up with them, and we ended up sleeping until the alarm went off. Shortly after that, the captain made an announcement that it was 9:45 and the ship had been cleared by the local authorities...I'd forgotten to change clocks the night before- oops! But since we didn't have anywhere to be, we still were able to get ready at a leisurely pace and head up to breakfast. While eating, we gave the younger three girls the choice to stay on the ship at AO or go into town with us, and they unanimously chose to stay at the kids club. So we dropped them off and headed off the ship with our oldest with us.
We decided to walk into town, about 15-20 minutes from the port along the waterfront. The weather was gorgeous and the walk wasn't too bad. With nothing much in mind to do, we just wandered around the streets of Corfu town, going down side streets that looked interesting to us. We found a shop where the owner carved olive wood, talked to him a little bit, and bought a Christmas ornament. Next we saw a fish spa, the kind of place where you stick your feet in a fish tank and let them nibble at your dead skin. My wife was very tempted to try it, but ended up not, afraid of getting some kind of exotic fish-borne skin-eating disease, only half joking. From there we stopped at a Starbucks to add a mug to our collection (yes I know, cheesy and touristy, but it is our thing). My oldest daughter found wifi there, so she was happy, having starting to get withdrawal from the internet while on the ship. 
Finally, we reached our destination- the Old Fortress at the very end of the town. You buy your tickets and then cross the moat into the fortress. There is a very small museum with some well-preserved mosaics from Byzantine times and a brief history of the fort. The fortress was built as early as the town was settled, the moat was dug and the fortifications built up by the Venetians, and most recently (relatively speaking) was a British stronghold in the late 1800s. It was a bit of hike to the lighthouse atop the hill, but the pay off was well worth it. 

 



After our hike up the hill and back, we started back to the ship. We arrived back at the terminal just as two busloads of shore excursions were returning, which gave us confidence that we wouldn't miss all aboard, but made for a long ling processing back through the security checkpoint. We then grabbed a quick snack and watched as the ship cast off from the pier and sailed away from Corfu.
Tonight was formal night, which the girls always enjoy dressing up for. Service was excellent again in the MDR, although I made a bad choice for dinner (seafood pasta), I should have gone with a steak or the duck my daughter tried for the first time. Afterwards, we dropped the 7 and 3 year olds off at Adventure Ocean, the oldest went to watch Avengers Infinity War on the pool deck, and my wife, 5 year old and I went to the magic show in the theater. The magician was very good and we really enjoyed the show, even my wife who isn't big into magic. 
A bit more snacking and picking the girls up from AO, and it was time for bed. Tomorrow was the planned highlight of the trip: Athens and a tour of the Acropolis. 

Day 2: Kotor, Montenegro
Today was a day to sleep in a little bit after staying up so late last night. Everyone got ready and we headed to breakfast at WJ. All week we were impressed with the selection and quality of the breakfast, and we never left hungry. Last night the Cruise Compass said that tender tickets were going to be distributed starting at 9:30, but the cruise director announced 9:45 at the show. So I planned to get to the ticket distro early to try to get off the ship as soon as we could. I had arranged a private driver/guide for a tour of the local area, and wanted to get there as soon as possible. BUT, while eating breakfast, my wife asked me when the tickets were being handed out, and when I looked at my watch and saw 9:43, I immediately sprinted out of WJ for deck 6. Too late, as I got tender 14 tickets.
I must admit I knew nothing of Kotor, except for the pictures in @Traveler's blog. So at least we knew to be on deck to see the approach through the "Southern-most fjord in Europe." And it was worth it.

Scheduled first tender was 1:30, but it seemed like they started calling later than that. About the time they called the first tender, I turned on my phone, and already had a message from the driver asking where we were. Tenders tickets were sloooowly called, and I got more and more upset about not getting earlier tickets. At one point, I had to go for a cooling walk around the Promenade deck to gather myself. At 2:45, ticket 14 was finally called and we made our way ashore. After walking a little bit from the terminal, we met our driver and went out of our tour.
The first stop was Perast, home of the Our Lady of the Rocks church, in the middle of the bay. We opted not to go to the church, hoping to save a little time since the sun was going to set soon, and we wanted to see all that we could after losing an hour of time. Instead, we did a quick walk through the old town, which was so picturesque and cute. My wife found a little vender of pomegranate wine along the way, so we stopped to try it and buy a bottle.



From there, we drove back through Kotor and up the Serpentine Road above the city. The views from up there were absolutely breathtaking, and we stopped at two elevations for pictures and to admire the view. Our driver was very personable and talkative. He gave us a history of the former Yugoslav republics and an overview of Montenegro, which I knew little about. He also was more than willing to take all the pictures of us that we wanted, a bonus since we never seem to have pics of our whole family while we travel.
 
Rhapsody of the Seas and Riviera Princess in Kotor Bay

After taking several, several family pictures and various combinations of selfies and daughters, we headed back down the mountain to Kotor town. The sun had set by this time, and our driver dropped us off at the main gate into the Old Town. From there we were on our own. Kotor is a walled city, and is just a maze of small streets and alleyways. It was pretty all lit up at night, and the city walls extended up the hillside to a castle high about the town, which also was lit and looked a lot like torch light above us. We probably spent about an hour wandering the town, stopping into shops and churches, and just enjoying the evening.

With that, our stomachs told us it was time to head back to the ship and get dinner. We timed the return tender just right, and didn't have to wait at all to return. I'm too honest and surrendered our wine as we reboarded. We dropped our stuff at the room and went up to dinner. Our 7 year old wasn't feeling good, so my wife and I took turns staying in the room with her, while we dropped the younger two off at the kids club and my wife and oldest went to the Ballroom Fever show in the theater. When the girls got back from Adventure Ocean, they were so excited to show us their crafts and art work from the evening, and we started our collection of "treasures" that took up about 1/4 of a suitcase on the way home. All in all, it was a low key night, and we turned in around 10 or so.
Our impression of Kotor was pretty good. It was so pretty, and had so much natural beauty. I was (and still am) upset about my tender ticket miscue, so we missed out on about an hour of our tour due to that. Also, with the ship arriving in the afternoon, our touring time was shortened by the early sunset, too. I would have loved to walk the walls, but there was no way we were getting our girls up without complaining/leaving one up there.
Tonight was a time change +1 hour for Greek time, and tomorrow was Corfu.
 

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.

Day 0: Travel and Venice
I was up bright and early (actually dark and early in these parts) today, and finished the last minute packing and loading of the van for the drive up to the airport. It took a little over an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the airport, which is about the minimum time it takes to drive to Frankfurt from our place. We parked and then made the long hike from the parking garage to the check-in counter, hauling all of bags and corralling the 4 kids along the way. We were informed that the gate was the furthest away in the airport, and sure enough, it was at the extreme end of the terminal. We stopped for lunch and to let the younger girls play on a little playground in the terminal along the way. Boarding started about 10 minutes late, and it turned out that we were at a bus gate, so we had to go down the stairs and board a bus that then drove us the length of Terminal 1 and most of Terminal 2 (if you have ever been to Frankfurt, you know that this took almost 10 minutes) out to the plane. The flight was uneventful, and a perk of flying Lufthansa is beer and wine are included in the complimentary beverage selection, which both my wife and I took advantage of.
We collected our bags and made contact with the hotel to arrange a shuttle to get us there. We stayed at the Best Western Titian, which was about 5 minutes away from the airport. It was a very nice hotel, friendly staff, and pretty convenient for a place to stay the night before a cruise. After we checked in, we inquired at the front desk about the best way to get downtown Venice, and if it was still flooded. From there, we caught a bus just down the street from the hotel and rode it to the end of the line where we caught a water bus and headed down to Rialto Bridge. By this time, it was dark out, but cruising the Grand Canal is always special. We wandered around the bridge, and then went to our favorite hole-in-the-wall pizza place for dinner. It was excellent as always, and we went out in search of our favorite gelato. Bellies full, we continued our journey to St Mark's Square to take in the after dark ambiance and listen to the music from the various cafes around the square. Unfortunately, being there off-season, the bell tower and basilica were already closed by the time we got into the square, but St Mark's is one of the most magical places I have been in Europe, regardless of the time of day or year.
After taking the obligatory pictures of the Bridge of Sighs, we got back on the water bus (or vaporetto, if you prefer) and made our way back up the Grand Canal to the bus station and reversed our journey back to the hotel. We were in bed by 10, and at least I had a hard time sleeping with excitement for tomorrow's embarkation...

Sadly, sitting in the Venice airport now, full on in post-cruise depression. 
A few random thoughts as they are fresh in my head:
-Rhapsody is an older ship, but we loved her. The crew made all the difference. 
-The Kids’ Club was amazing! Two of the days, our girls opted to stay on the ship rather than go into port. The staff genuinely cared for the girls and made it a great time for them. 
-Ports ranked:
1) Athens 2) Argostoli 3) Kotor 4) Corfu 5) Mykonos
-Elvis, the cruise director was hilarious and so high energy. I think my favorite moment was the 70s Party when he dressed like the sailor from the Village People. 
-Chops was definitely worth the extra (booked on board and scored a 25% discount)
-I won a raffle at the Roam the Rhapsody presentation and walked away with a soda package- boom!
I’ll give a break down of the trip when I get home and download my pics. 

Day 8: Boooooooo!
We woke up early, and sadly packed our last things to carry off the ship. Leaving our bags in the room, we got breakfast at a semi-leisurely pace, and then went down to say goodbye to our cabins. We then did a lap around the pool deck, and started to head for the theater to wait for our disemarkation number to be called. A crew member saw us headed that way, and told us we could wait in the Centrum, and she would come find us when our number was called, which was nice. When our number was called, we walked off the ship for the last time, and into the terminal. We were able to quickly locate our bags and walked on out. A benefit of sailing through the European Union is there are no customs/passport checks while leaving the port (at least for US/EU citizens). Our car service met us right at the exit of the terminal, and whisked us to the airport. Unfortunately, we had to sit in the airport for about 4 hours waiting on our flight, but the girls barely noticed since they all had their iDevices and wifi. I dozed off a little on the short flight home, and before we knew it, we were in the van and driving home.
 
Final Thoughts:
- I really enjoyed our cruise, ship, crew, and port calls. I was concerned about being on one of the oldest ships in the fleet during an off-season cruise, but my fears were nowhere near founded.
- We were keeping a running scorecard of the Disney Magic vs. Rhapsody of the Seas, and I must admit that Rhapsody stacked up favorably. Even in the areas where the Magic won, I kept telling my wife "if we were on a bigger and newer Royal ship...."
- I cannot say enough about how much my girls enjoyed their time in Adventure Ocean. Even though there were not as many kids on this cruise, the staff kept up a high level of programming and gave my girls all kinds of personal attention.
- With the exception of the tender debacle in Kotor, embarking and disembarking the ship was smooth and painless.
- I can't wait to try the other ships and itineraries Royal Caribbean offers. I am fully a "cruise person" now and constantly schemeing for the next one. 
 
Thanks for following along!

Day 7: Sea Day
Continuing our trend for the week, we lazily woke up and headed to breakfast today. After we ate, my wife took the younger girls to the pool and my oldest and I went to the Captain's Corner. I really enjoyed hearing the senior officers talk about the ship and our thoughts about Captain Tobias were confirmed- he looked really young, and indeed he was only 4 years older than I am (of course, I still think of myself as a recent college grad, even though I just turned 40). The best question was about where is the brig. Turns out there are 2 brigs on board, but as the captain said, they usually prefer to put unruly guests in "time out" in their cabins until the next port.
Following that, we did some shopping at the 2/$20 t-shirt sale, and got the girls showered. The 5 year old and I went to Meet the Stars, a meet an greet with the singers and dancers. Most of them were on their first contract with Royal Caribbean, and all seemed to enjoy what they were doing. One of the singers was on her 6th contract. We then met up with my wife and the evens in the Centrum for a salsa lesson, which the girls enjoyed learning to dance, and that was followed by a Baggo contest. Much to my chagrin, I failed to advance past the first round, but my wife went 3 for 3 to advance. This consisted of trick shots from increasing difficulty, including trying to make a shot from the 6th deck balcony. Unfortunately, my wife did not make any more shots, but it was a lot of fun to watch and for her to have her 3 minutes of fame.
After lunch, we went to the Schooner Bar to play Family Children's Character trivia, which our family won on a tie-breaker. Our girls thought that was just the coolest thing ever to play trivia, and win. A couple of counsellors from AO were the emcees, and they genuinely were excited to see our girls- have I mentioned how awesome the kids' staff was? After trivia, we took the girls to Adventure Ocean, the teen ran off to meet up with her friends from the teen club, my wife went to workout, and I went to the hot tub and listen to the live music on deck. It was a nice sunny day, if a little windy up on deck.
We then all rallied to get ready for dinner and go play family bingo before we ate. Dinner was good, and we got our picture taken with our server, who also got a picture of us. We took the girls back to AO and went to the Centrum to watch Dancing with the Superstars. Some of the crew could legitimately dance! Then it was, sadly, time to pack our bags to get them out in the hallway. Packing at the end is so much easier that being neat and organized on the front end. Just dump everything in a suitcase and make sure it weighs less than 50 lbs. 
That done, we collected the girls from Adventure Ocean for the last time and got some photos with the girls and the counsellors, especially their favorite: "Tinkerbell" Tamara. Back in the room, we put the younger girls down to bed, and the teen stayed to watch them while my wife and I went to watch some karaoke. Someone sang "Friends in Low Places," which the Brit cruise staff member said she had never heard before...which I found hard to believe if she had hosted karaoke before tonight. Once that broke up, we headed back to the room, and turned in for the last night. 
Earlier, the captain had announced that we would arrive in Venice about 6 hours early, I think to beat the fog that was building up. So I was able to watch through the porthole of our cabin as we entered the lagoon and up the canal. We were on the port side, though, and the main sights were on starboard as we sailed into Venice.
Also tonight, we found a letter saying that some guests had experienced gastrointestinal illness during this cruise and asked if anyone in our cabins has experienced any symptoms. It also explained that extra sanitation measures had been taken throughout the week, which accounted for all the crew members I saw wiping down everything for the last few days. 
And with that, I finally fell asleep well after midnight, knowing that all good things must come to an end.

Day 6: Argostoli
Today was another late start day. We slept in again (which was so different from our Western Med cruise in May when we were up before 7 almost every day) and went to breakfast in Windjammer. It was actually more of a brunch, because we went so late, and were scheduled to take a 4 hour shore excursion starting at 11:45. This was our only excursion through Royal Caribbean, but I didn't know much about Argostoli, and a tour of caves sounded interesting. We made our way down to the theater to get herded out to the busses and on our way.
The port is very close to the town (about 5 minutes walk), so the bus had to get through the traffic before we were out in the wilds of Kefalonia (or Cephalonia or Sefalonia, depending on who you ask). It was a beautiful drive up and over the mountains that run down the middle of the island, even though this was the only day of the cruise with clouds and a little bit of rain as we got off the ship. After about 45 minutes, we arrived at the first cave and were given about 45 minutes to explore. The girls counted, and there were 120 steps down into the cave, and then back up again. It was really quite impressive underground, with stalactites and stalagmites all around. We were told that they even hold concerts in the large chamber because the acoustics were so good.

After we emerged from the cave, we grabbed some water from the nearby snack stand and boarded the bus for the short drive over to the "Cave of the Nymphs." This cave had an underground lake, and part of the roof had collapsed during an earthquake many years ago. There were boats that took you out on the lake and into the enclosed part of the cave. The water was amazingly clear and turquoise, and quite unlike anything I'd seen before. Our oarsman was very friendly, and let two of our girls take turns rowing the boat for a few seconds. It was a very enjoyable visit, and we all agreed one of the highlights of our cruise.

From this cave, we drove around the island, stopping at a scenic overlook of the most famous beach on Cephalonia for a photo op. The bus then wound its way back down the mountains and back to port. We had a few hours until all aboard, and asked the girls if they wanted to walk around town with us or go to Adventure Ocean. Of course they chose to go to AO, so we dropped them off (they would eat dinner with the counsellors, which was an awesome option) and our oldest elected to stay on board, also. So my wife and I took a walk along the water front, did some window shopping, crossed a famous bridge in town, and had a snack before we came back to the ship.

When we got back on board, we got ready for dinner, Chops Grill tonight, and went to the show. Tonight was Piano Man, a mixture of songs from Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and other "piano men." It was ok, but all I could think about was how every song it seemed that the singers and dancers came out in a different wig. My wife and I then went to Chops for dinner to celebrate my birthday. We really enjoyed the food, and the service was attentive if not great. We saw another waiter that was much more personable with his table, and felt like we missed out a little bit. For desert, they brought out a red velvet cake and sang happy birthday (which was the first time that has ever happened to me, mostly by choice). We even got a to-go plate with another slice of cake to take back to our room.
After dinner, we picked the kids up from AO, dropped them in the room, and then went to the Centrum to listen to some music for a little bit. 
Tomorrow was a sea day and the impending sadness of having to end the cruise.

Day 5: Mykonos
Today was another day without much of an agenda. Port time was 7-4, but we didn't have early plans, so we slept in a little bit and lazily got ourselves ready this morning. The 7 and 3 year olds (as we call them the evens) opted to stay on the ship while the odds (13 and 5 year olds) tendered into port with us. I had read that Mykonos was famously windy, and today was no exception. It was a bright and sunny day, but the wind was pretty brutal. We had been looking forward to this island for the postcard, whitewashed landscape. However, we were a little disappointed that the roofs were not all blue like Santorini. Expectation management, I guess. We did find a few blue roofs and got the obligatory pics near them.

 


We wandered through the maze of streets (no street names here, just find your way around) and up to the windmills that overlook the town. 

From there, we did some shopping, and my wife bought a pair of sandals, which apparently is what you do in Greece. Since it was the very end of the season on the island, she got a good deal. Next was a great quest for gelato, which is a family tradition for wherever we travel. Again, being the end of the season, a lot of places were closed, so we had just about given up hope when we found a place as we re-entered the port area on the way back to the tender. The tender ride was a bit choppy headed back to the ship, and my wife got some sea spray through an open door on the boat, but we made it back to the ship in time to grab a quick, late lunch at Windjammer.
Following lunch, we dropped our daughter off at Adventure Ocean, and the teen, my wife, and I went to watch the art auction for a little while (mainly for the free champaign). Then it was time to get ready for the second formal night of the cruise. Like I said, the girls love dressing up and we had a good time pretending to be fancy at dinner. The younger three went back to Adventure Ocean, and we went to the headliner show in the theater. This was American Dream, a Motown tribute band, and the show was really good, probably our favorite of the cruise. My oldest didn't know a lot of the songs (parenting fail on my part), but she enjoyed the high energy of it all.
Last night the seas were a little rough, and the motion was more pronounced than we had experienced on this cruise or our one before it. I'm going to blame the motion of the ocean for what happened...my wife and I were walking down a corridor, when the ship rolled a bit, causing me to stagger just a little. As I did, I rammed my watch into the end of the railing on the wall- shattering the glass, making my watch unreadable. So anyway, we ended up in the shops tonight, looking at watches, which was funny because while we were at the airport on Friday, I asked my wife "who buys watches on a cruise ship? I guess enough to be profitable for the ship." Well played Royal Caribbean, well played. But I do have a nice watch now...
Tonight was also the first night I became really aware of crew sanitizing all of the handrails and public spaces around the ship. Didn't think much of it at the time, but it all became clearer on the night before we disembarked (this is called foreshadowing). Unrelated- last night both my wife and I woke up with some stomach discomfort, but we wrote it off to the motion of the ship.
 

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!

Good work! My kiddos (7, 5, and 4) constantly ask me the same question. They even want me to open my cruise countdown for my wife and I's parents only cruise so they can see how long we have to wait.
I must admit, listening to @Matt's  podcast every morning driving into school may also have something to do with it, also.

Day 8: Boooooooo!
We woke up early, and sadly packed our last things to carry off the ship. Leaving our bags in the room, we got breakfast at a semi-leisurely pace, and then went down to say goodbye to our cabins. We then did a lap around the pool deck, and started to head for the theater to wait for our disemarkation number to be called. A crew member saw us headed that way, and told us we could wait in the Centrum, and she would come find us when our number was called, which was nice. When our number was called, we walked off the ship for the last time, and into the terminal. We were able to quickly locate our bags and walked on out. A benefit of sailing through the European Union is there are no customs/passport checks while leaving the port (at least for US/EU citizens). Our car service met us right at the exit of the terminal, and whisked us to the airport. Unfortunately, we had to sit in the airport for about 4 hours waiting on our flight, but the girls barely noticed since they all had their iDevices and wifi. I dozed off a little on the short flight home, and before we knew it, we were in the van and driving home.
 
Final Thoughts:
- I really enjoyed our cruise, ship, crew, and port calls. I was concerned about being on one of the oldest ships in the fleet during an off-season cruise, but my fears were nowhere near founded.
- We were keeping a running scorecard of the Disney Magic vs. Rhapsody of the Seas, and I must admit that Rhapsody stacked up favorably. Even in the areas where the Magic won, I kept telling my wife "if we were on a bigger and newer Royal ship...."
- I cannot say enough about how much my girls enjoyed their time in Adventure Ocean. Even though there were not as many kids on this cruise, the staff kept up a high level of programming and gave my girls all kinds of personal attention.
- With the exception of the tender debacle in Kotor, embarking and disembarking the ship was smooth and painless.
- I can't wait to try the other ships and itineraries Royal Caribbean offers. I am fully a "cruise person" now and constantly schemeing for the next one. 
 
Thanks for following along!

Day 7: Sea Day
Continuing our trend for the week, we lazily woke up and headed to breakfast today. After we ate, my wife took the younger girls to the pool and my oldest and I went to the Captain's Corner. I really enjoyed hearing the senior officers talk about the ship and our thoughts about Captain Tobias were confirmed- he looked really young, and indeed he was only 4 years older than I am (of course, I still think of myself as a recent college grad, even though I just turned 40). The best question was about where is the brig. Turns out there are 2 brigs on board, but as the captain said, they usually prefer to put unruly guests in "time out" in their cabins until the next port.
Following that, we did some shopping at the 2/$20 t-shirt sale, and got the girls showered. The 5 year old and I went to Meet the Stars, a meet an greet with the singers and dancers. Most of them were on their first contract with Royal Caribbean, and all seemed to enjoy what they were doing. One of the singers was on her 6th contract. We then met up with my wife and the evens in the Centrum for a salsa lesson, which the girls enjoyed learning to dance, and that was followed by a Baggo contest. Much to my chagrin, I failed to advance past the first round, but my wife went 3 for 3 to advance. This consisted of trick shots from increasing difficulty, including trying to make a shot from the 6th deck balcony. Unfortunately, my wife did not make any more shots, but it was a lot of fun to watch and for her to have her 3 minutes of fame.
After lunch, we went to the Schooner Bar to play Family Children's Character trivia, which our family won on a tie-breaker. Our girls thought that was just the coolest thing ever to play trivia, and win. A couple of counsellors from AO were the emcees, and they genuinely were excited to see our girls- have I mentioned how awesome the kids' staff was? After trivia, we took the girls to Adventure Ocean, the teen ran off to meet up with her friends from the teen club, my wife went to workout, and I went to the hot tub and listen to the live music on deck. It was a nice sunny day, if a little windy up on deck.
We then all rallied to get ready for dinner and go play family bingo before we ate. Dinner was good, and we got our picture taken with our server, who also got a picture of us. We took the girls back to AO and went to the Centrum to watch Dancing with the Superstars. Some of the crew could legitimately dance! Then it was, sadly, time to pack our bags to get them out in the hallway. Packing at the end is so much easier that being neat and organized on the front end. Just dump everything in a suitcase and make sure it weighs less than 50 lbs. 
That done, we collected the girls from Adventure Ocean for the last time and got some photos with the girls and the counsellors, especially their favorite: "Tinkerbell" Tamara. Back in the room, we put the younger girls down to bed, and the teen stayed to watch them while my wife and I went to watch some karaoke. Someone sang "Friends in Low Places," which the Brit cruise staff member said she had never heard before...which I found hard to believe if she had hosted karaoke before tonight. Once that broke up, we headed back to the room, and turned in for the last night. 
Earlier, the captain had announced that we would arrive in Venice about 6 hours early, I think to beat the fog that was building up. So I was able to watch through the porthole of our cabin as we entered the lagoon and up the canal. We were on the port side, though, and the main sights were on starboard as we sailed into Venice.
Also tonight, we found a letter saying that some guests had experienced gastrointestinal illness during this cruise and asked if anyone in our cabins has experienced any symptoms. It also explained that extra sanitation measures had been taken throughout the week, which accounted for all the crew members I saw wiping down everything for the last few days. 
And with that, I finally fell asleep well after midnight, knowing that all good things must come to an end.

Day 6: Argostoli
Today was another late start day. We slept in again (which was so different from our Western Med cruise in May when we were up before 7 almost every day) and went to breakfast in Windjammer. It was actually more of a brunch, because we went so late, and were scheduled to take a 4 hour shore excursion starting at 11:45. This was our only excursion through Royal Caribbean, but I didn't know much about Argostoli, and a tour of caves sounded interesting. We made our way down to the theater to get herded out to the busses and on our way.
The port is very close to the town (about 5 minutes walk), so the bus had to get through the traffic before we were out in the wilds of Kefalonia (or Cephalonia or Sefalonia, depending on who you ask). It was a beautiful drive up and over the mountains that run down the middle of the island, even though this was the only day of the cruise with clouds and a little bit of rain as we got off the ship. After about 45 minutes, we arrived at the first cave and were given about 45 minutes to explore. The girls counted, and there were 120 steps down into the cave, and then back up again. It was really quite impressive underground, with stalactites and stalagmites all around. We were told that they even hold concerts in the large chamber because the acoustics were so good.

After we emerged from the cave, we grabbed some water from the nearby snack stand and boarded the bus for the short drive over to the "Cave of the Nymphs." This cave had an underground lake, and part of the roof had collapsed during an earthquake many years ago. There were boats that took you out on the lake and into the enclosed part of the cave. The water was amazingly clear and turquoise, and quite unlike anything I'd seen before. Our oarsman was very friendly, and let two of our girls take turns rowing the boat for a few seconds. It was a very enjoyable visit, and we all agreed one of the highlights of our cruise.

From this cave, we drove around the island, stopping at a scenic overlook of the most famous beach on Cephalonia for a photo op. The bus then wound its way back down the mountains and back to port. We had a few hours until all aboard, and asked the girls if they wanted to walk around town with us or go to Adventure Ocean. Of course they chose to go to AO, so we dropped them off (they would eat dinner with the counsellors, which was an awesome option) and our oldest elected to stay on board, also. So my wife and I took a walk along the water front, did some window shopping, crossed a famous bridge in town, and had a snack before we came back to the ship.

When we got back on board, we got ready for dinner, Chops Grill tonight, and went to the show. Tonight was Piano Man, a mixture of songs from Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and other "piano men." It was ok, but all I could think about was how every song it seemed that the singers and dancers came out in a different wig. My wife and I then went to Chops for dinner to celebrate my birthday. We really enjoyed the food, and the service was attentive if not great. We saw another waiter that was much more personable with his table, and felt like we missed out a little bit. For desert, they brought out a red velvet cake and sang happy birthday (which was the first time that has ever happened to me, mostly by choice). We even got a to-go plate with another slice of cake to take back to our room.
After dinner, we picked the kids up from AO, dropped them in the room, and then went to the Centrum to listen to some music for a little bit. 
Tomorrow was a sea day and the impending sadness of having to end the cruise.

Day 8: Boooooooo!
We woke up early, and sadly packed our last things to carry off the ship. Leaving our bags in the room, we got breakfast at a semi-leisurely pace, and then went down to say goodbye to our cabins. We then did a lap around the pool deck, and started to head for the theater to wait for our disemarkation number to be called. A crew member saw us headed that way, and told us we could wait in the Centrum, and she would come find us when our number was called, which was nice. When our number was called, we walked off the ship for the last time, and into the terminal. We were able to quickly locate our bags and walked on out. A benefit of sailing through the European Union is there are no customs/passport checks while leaving the port (at least for US/EU citizens). Our car service met us right at the exit of the terminal, and whisked us to the airport. Unfortunately, we had to sit in the airport for about 4 hours waiting on our flight, but the girls barely noticed since they all had their iDevices and wifi. I dozed off a little on the short flight home, and before we knew it, we were in the van and driving home.
 
Final Thoughts:
- I really enjoyed our cruise, ship, crew, and port calls. I was concerned about being on one of the oldest ships in the fleet during an off-season cruise, but my fears were nowhere near founded.
- We were keeping a running scorecard of the Disney Magic vs. Rhapsody of the Seas, and I must admit that Rhapsody stacked up favorably. Even in the areas where the Magic won, I kept telling my wife "if we were on a bigger and newer Royal ship...."
- I cannot say enough about how much my girls enjoyed their time in Adventure Ocean. Even though there were not as many kids on this cruise, the staff kept up a high level of programming and gave my girls all kinds of personal attention.
- With the exception of the tender debacle in Kotor, embarking and disembarking the ship was smooth and painless.
- I can't wait to try the other ships and itineraries Royal Caribbean offers. I am fully a "cruise person" now and constantly schemeing for the next one. 
 
Thanks for following along!