FionaMG

Joff Eaton was leaving Anthem on 17th of October for his holidays. I don't know who took over.

Where did you go to in the end?

Tonight's MDR menu DH's pumpkin soup Arancini. This was my first ever time trying arancini and I liked them a lot but they were VERY filling. I could easily just have had them along with a garden salad and I wouldn't have needed a main course. Steak au poivre, medium rare, very tasty and tender. I've generally found that you need to go for the medium-rare in order for it not to be too dry. DH wasn't very hungry after eating THREE ice creams over the course of the day, so he had the herb-crusted salmon, for something light (he passed on dessert). I did NOT pass on dessert. I had the warm cookie à la mode and it was amazing. I thought I'd died and gone to chocolate heaven. If the arancini hadn't filled me up so much I might have ordered a second one. After dinner, while DH went off to make his nightly contribution to the casino, I popped into the theatre to catch the last 20 minutes of We Will Rock You. It looked like it would have been a good show. And on the way back to the room at the end of the evening another piece of random artwork caught my eye.

I have not been to San Francisco and I wouldn't have remembered this if you'd not mentioned it. Hopefully one day in the not too distant future.

Day 6 Today we were in Lanzarote. We have been here on several occasions for land holidays and once before on a port call. It is a great island, one of our favourites, with some very interesting places to visit and if you've not been here before I'd recommend going to Timanfaya National Park. It's one of the island's main attractions and there will be ship-sponsored and locally-provided excursions available. We decided just to make it a beach day and with this in mind booked Royal's beach transfer during a sale (real for once). The price for the two of us was about what it would have cost round trip in a taxi (about 27 euros each way), so for groups of more than two people a taxi would be more cost-effective. Note that while you can get to Puerto del Carmen (the beach in question) by public transport, it's quite a faff. For a start you have to get to the marina entrance, which is a long trek (about a mile I think) and then the local bus stops dozens of times along the way, turning what is a 20-minute drive into 40 minutes. In the pic below, taken as we were arriving into port, you can see the line of white taxis waiting. If you wanted to walk to the marina entrance you have to follow the wall around in the direction the taxis are facing. After the easy drive to Puerto del Carmen, we were dropped off on the seafront promenade at a spot where there is a ramp and a set of stairs down to the beach, and where there are public toilets. We didn't really notice any changes since the last time we were there (maybe 20 years ago now, that's scary!); it's your typical seaside resort, with the long beach on one side and shops, bars and restaurants on the other. We had about 3 and a half hours here, which was perfect for spending some time on the beach and then wandering around the souvenir shops and having an ice-cream before getting the bus back to the ship. We decided we need to come back here again for a short break in the winter. Some local plant life next to the ice-cream kiosk. According to Google this is a crown-of-thorns And this is a golden barrel Back on board, I took the plunge and used the spa voucher to get my nails done. I am absolutely not a spa girl and they would not have got me in the door without the voucher. Naturally, you had to book something that cost more than the face value of the voucher, and a manicure was the obvious choice, since pretty much everything else was over $100. I reckon for the $20 it cost me it was fine.

Something that might influence your decision is the time of your arrival into Miami. If you're getting in early enough to go for a wander and a meal you'd want a location where that's possible but if you're arriving late and only need somewhere to sleep then an airport hotel might be a more convenient option.

I thought that rule applied to actually disembarking (never to return) at a port prior to the final disembarkation port, which would potentially involve the need for customs and immigration, hence the additional charge to do so in the past. But what happens if someone misses the ship? Are they not allowed to catch up with it under their own steam and reboard anymore? In the OP's case, they're planning on driving from one Schengen Zone country to another so there would be no involvement of authorities. Fir the sake of argument, what if they called the port agent in Vigo and said they'd got themselves lost and no way were they going to make it back in time for sailaway (thus avoiding the scenario of inconveniencing the entire ship potentially waiting for them)? Would they be denied boarding if they turned up at Lisbon having not reboarded in Vigo? Of course, it's a huge risk anyway because if for any reason the ship didn’t make its scheduled call in Lisbon then they would be stuck playing catch up at the next port after that.

It really is. We had no idea it would be so nice when we ordered it for my great niece. It definitely exceeded our expectations.

There was no show for us tonight because it was We Will Rock You and while I would have liked to see it (DH could not have cared less) the timing meant that the performance went right across our dinner time. In fact BOTH evening performances were held at exactly the same time 7.45 pm, which was completely useless for anyone with traditional late dining or who would normally eat later. The only other performance was the very first one, which was at 2 pm and people were already lining up for it at 1 pm while we were in the Schooner Bar doing the flag trivia. The CD had suggested the evening before that they should do this. I was incredulous. I don't care how good a show is, there is no way I would spend an hour waiting in line to get in. Anyway, with two more cruises already booked on Anthem for next year, maybe I'll get the chance to see it then. Instead, we decided to head over to Two70, where the Big Music Game Show was going to take place. We were not planning on participating, just spectating, so we had intended on getting seats near the door to make a discreet exit if it was rubbish. Fat chance! We got there 25 minutes before and it was already packed, so we ended up in the middle of a row on the balcony about as far from the door as was physically possible and still be in the same room. Anyway it was quite entertaining and we lasted until the end of round two, by which time some other people had already left so we didn't have too many legs to clamber over. I think, in total, we recognised about three songs between us while we were there! In retrospect, if we had realised what a great entertainer Perry Grant in the Schooner Bar was we would probably have gone there instead. We really only discovered him by accident one evening as we were heading back to our room and stopped to watch him for a few minutes, so I don't have any pics of him in action but he is definitely worth watching. I also took the opportunity to snap a few more pics of the artwork. I particularly liked these ones at the entrance to the Via: This sculpture outside Two70: And these colourful pieces which were lurking in a corner with a sign above it saying "Art Gallery" and which I think was an optimistic name for the place where they keep the artwork that will (potentially) be sold at the art auction:

Day 5 - At Sea As predicted by our next-door table-mates yesterday, the pool deck was heaving this morning. Since it was a beautiful sunny day this was only to be expected but there just seemed to be people everywhere. After a fair bit of hunting, we finally managed to find a single lounger in the sun to share. View from said lounger We stuck it out until 1 pm and then headed off to the Schooner Bar, as I had noticed on the Compass that there was going to be a flag trivia. I watch a LOT of international athletics and since it's pretty much a worldwide sport I'm pretty good with my flags, which I proved by winning the quiz. Go me! The prize was a $200 discount voucher for the purchase of something Effy. Sounds good? Sure, but there was a minimum purchase of $600 required to redeem it! Um, thanks but no thanks. I'll just bask in the glory and be grateful for the free little pendant that also came in the prize envelope. By the time we'd finished doing the quiz the lunch crowd at the WJ had thinned out considerably so it was fairly quiet and I managed to find a very tasty, albeit it rather large, steak and kidney pie. In the afternoon, there were plenty of open loungers in the sun. I guess by that time, all the morning sun worshipers had had their fill of golden rays (and were probably turning a nice shade of lobster pink to judge from quite a few that I noticed). This meant we were finally able to get two loungers together in a nice sunny spot and there I was, soaking up the sunshine, when suddenly a massive cloud blocked it out... except it wasn't a cloud; it was the north star doing one of its over-the-side journeys! It was quite impressive to watch. On my way back to the room after my gym session, I popped into the spa to pick up a price list since, for some unfathomable reason, we had had a $50 discount voucher delivered to us to commemorate "our special day" (no idea which special day they were talking about as we certainly weren't celebrating a special date on this cruise). And I also snapped a photo of this artwork which is at the top of stairs as you come out of the gym, just because I liked it. We were treated to a lovely sunset from our "obstructed" balcony this evening as we were getting ready for dinner. Tonight's dinner menu Artichoke and pea salad. I had this for the first time on Odyssey in May and really liked it. It didn't disappoint this time. Very nice. DH's cheese plate Lamb pot pie. Delicious but it was so BIG. I couldn't finish it; had to leave room for dessert. DH's pork shank (with a side of fries!) Chocolate souffle, one of my all-time favourites and which tends only to show up on longer cruises. I was so stuffed when we left the restaurant!

Have an amazing time!

Tonight's MDR menu, not one of our favourites. The seafood puff pastry, which was better than I was expecting. Mojo marinated pork chop. This was the first time we'd tried it even though it's been on the menu since we started cruising away back in 2001. However, the sauce was a bit too sweet for our taste, so we'll be unlikely to have it again in the future. Bananas foster And the classic chocolate cake (my go-to dessert if the day's offerings don't include anything with chocolate in it. A dessert isn't dessert without chocolate!) Both were delicious. While we were eating, we heard the people at the next table discussing their strategy for the next day, which was a sea day... "We'd better put the towels out before breakfast. There's going to be a fight for the good sunbeds." (They were right!) Tonight's show was a variety show with a couple of numbers by the royal Caribbean orchestra, 3 songs by one of the cast members of We Will Rock You and some more tricks by magician Jamie Allen. He really is excellent. And speaking of shows, the only one that required bookings was Spectra's cabaret, which was done on board. I did it in the app but I think you could also do it at Guest Services. All of the others were first come first served with no reservations required.

While we were having breakfast, the ship was on her final approach into Lisbon so we headed off up to the top deck to watch our arrival. It felt rather strange to be arriving by cruise ship into a place that we can drive to from home in under 3 hours! Welcome to Lisbon. The ship docks close to the centre, about a 20 minute walk, half of which is on the zigzagging ramps between the ship and the terminal exit. There is not much in the terminal itself but you can get hoho bus and tuk-tuk tour tickets there. The hoho bus was 25 euros pp and someone I was speaking to while we were manoeuvring to the dock said the ship price was 60 dollars so it's definitely better to wait and buy on land. We enjoyed our wander around Lisbon. We had a typical quick, cheap and tasty Portuguese lunch of freshly-made vegetable soup and bifanas (pork steak in a roll) and DH had a custard tart. He bought a couple more to take back to the ship. I always recommend visitors try them out and they are pretty much a trademark of the country. Note that you don't have to go all the way to the Belém area of Lisbon to get them (this is where the original recipe is supposed to come from); as you wander around the city centre you will see numerous cake shops that make them on their premises. Look for the places with big piles of them in the window. They are just as good as the "originals". On the way back to the ship, there was a small but nicely laid out shop in the terminal selling souvenirs, food and drinks. Sailaway from Lisbon is pretty spectacular as you have to sail under the 25th of April road and railway bridge, and you feel sure the top of the ship is going to hit the underside of the bridge. We got ourselves a good spot on one of the little outdoor sections of the solarium. We were literally sailing into the sunset at this point, which unfortunately resulted in some lens flare in my pics as we headed towards the bridge. (I had never heard of this before that little green dot turned up in my beautiful sunset pics!) However, after we had gone under the bridge and were heading out to sea I managed to get a great one of it behind us.

Day 4 Today we decided to try the buffet breakfast served in the MDR (Silk) and finally found our go-to breakfast spot. Obviously, it is a much smaller buffet than upstairs in the WJ but if you usually only want the basics it has everything you need. Note that nothing other than toast is made to order so if a freshly-made omelette is your breakfast favourite, then this is not the place for you. On arrival you are escorted to a table. This is so much better than having to do the rounds in the WJ hunting for somewhere to sit. Once you've been accommodated, roving waiters come round with hot drinks and juices. Where the coffee was concerned, this meant there was a tendency for it to be lukewarm, so we got into the habit of asking for a jug of hot milk and that way our coffee was always nice and hot. The hot items in the middle are your usual "ready-made" bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and beans, as well as French toast and pancakes.

They only have a certain amount of them per sailing. It's worth checking back though because, like everything else on the Cruise Planner, people can cancel and that would put it back into inventory.

Great niece loved it. Note that they must be purchased through the cruise-planner; they are not available in the stores on board. Having seen the one we purchased, we wanted a second and couldn't get one.

Typical Royal "sale"

Halloween sale is up. No savings for me.

Back on board after our adventures in Vigo we did our normal hot tub/gym thing before dinner. Day 3 MDR dinner menu Seafood cake. I liked it; DH didn't care for it. He thought the sauce was too acidic. Mushroom risotto and pan-seared sole. We both liked our choices. DH's lemon curd tartlet. And my Mississippi mud pie. Very yummy and definitely worth giving up my royal chocolate cake for. Tonight's show was a comedian, Josh Daniels. To be honest, if I'd realised it was a straight-up comedy show we'd have skipped it because with DH's first language not being English, comedy in English often goes over his head, and that would have been especially true of this show by a British comedian catering to an almost entirely British audience. Unfortunately, because we didn't arrive an hour before start time () it was packed and we got stuck in the middle of a row, making slinking out discreetly an unviable option. In the end, I enjoyed the show and DH helpfully had a nap!

Backtracking somewhat, the fact that we were arriving later into Vigo gave us the chance to try the MDR for breakfast. It was generally open rather later than I remember being the case on previous cruises, often 8-10 and I think only on two days when we had earlier arrival times in port did it close earlier. There were two breakfast options in the MDR - à la carte in American Icon and buffet in Silk. Since there were a couple of items on the breakfast menu that I'd been hankering to try, we did the à la carte this morning. Power wrap, one of my "targets" and although it doesn't look like much it was actually very tasty. DH preferred a more traditional breakfast! The only issue we had with this breakfast option is that the service was very very slow. Even though we arrived before 9 am (as recommended by our waiter at dinner) it still took ages to place our order and get our food and we're not really leisurely breakfast types so we were getting a bit antsy while we were waiting. Definitely not the best option if you're in a hurry. That said, it was still much nicer than battling the crowds in the WJ. I had been hoping to see the brunch option that had been cropping up on some ships and sailings but it never materialised on our sailing and because of the timing we never made it to the MDR for lunch so I can't comment on how good or bad that was. After we had finished breakfast and since we still had time before our arrival in Vigo, we stopped by the loyalty ambassador's desk to introduce ourselves and make sure we were on the crystal block list, not least since the reason for being on it was that we booked this cruise during the double points promo. He confirmed to us that we were on his list and double-checked our address since they had none on board. I suppose that means we will eventually receive it but if we haven't by the time our next cruise comes round (in April 2023, again on Anthem) I'll be chasing it up! This is our very first crystal block so I'm not giving up on it!

Day 3 - Vigo, Spain This was one of the only two ports on the itinerary that we had not been to before and with this in mind I had booked on one of those "free" walking tours with a local provider just to get an overview of the city. Unfortunately, it was not to be. First of all Royal made changes to the itinerary, not the ports themselves but the amount of time in each, and where we had originally been slated to arrive in Vigo at 8 am - plenty of time for an 11 am tour - the new arrival time was precisely 11 am. I contacted the provider to ask about the possibility of the tour starting later, given that at the time only we and another couple from our CC roll call were actually booked on it. It was agreed that we would check back nearer the time and at this point it was a go with the start time being changed to 12 noon to accommodate our later arrival into Vigo. However, there was more to come. After the evening show on day two, the CD announced that the arrival time of 11 am was ship time and not local time, meaning that our 12 noon start time would be untenable as Spain was an hour ahead of ship time. Although the others who had also booked contacted the provider to alert them to this, there was no reply. DH and I decided we would make the effort to get to the meeting point in case the tour was still going ahead. Now, usually I'm pretty good with technology but for some reason trying to use google to get me anywhere completely short-circuits my usually excellent navigational skills and we got hopelessly lost. We tried to phone the provider but got no reply so gave up on the whole thing and set off for a wander. Luckily we were still able to enjoy our time in port. The weather was nice and sunny and more by accident than design we found the "castle". There's really not much of it left other than some walls but it's a great vantage point for views over the city. Note our ship in the background too. Back down in the centre, and again by accident, we found the 9-metre tall merman statue. This was where were supposed to have met for our ill-fated walking tour. I expect there's a story to it that would undoubtedly have been explained on said walking tour but I hadn't researched it so it'll have to wait for a future trip. Heading back towards the port we drifted slightly off the more touristy streets and came across a place where locals we're having lunch. When in Vigo... It was a great choice. Iberian ham and cheese, followed by veal tenderloin. Absolutely delicious. So all in all, despite the rocky start, it turned out to be an enjoyable and undemanding port call.

This is kind of like us, except the opposite way around. We were thinking of doing Panama Canal in 2024. I have an open booking purchased recently on Anthem; I have until the 2nd of December to convert it and still qualify for the OBC, so I'm holding off to see what else might be announced by then before making a decision.

Even DH wasn't up for braving the inevitable pandemonium in the WJ at lunch, so we skipped it and had some pizza from Sorrento's instead, which was fine. I didn't think the little salad fixings that you can get along with your pizza were as good on Anthem as they were on Odyssey, so although we went back to Sorrento's a couple more times, we stuck with the pizza and ignored the salads. After lunch, we went searching in vain for two loungers even remotely close together in the solarium (it still wasn't warm enough for us to venture outside in shorts and t-shirts, let alone swimwear). We ended up with two single loungers about as far apart as you could physically get and still be in the same room. This would essentially be par for the course for the entire cruise and, although there were a few loungers occupied only by a towel or a hat, the vast majority were being used by actual people. At about 4 pm, DH headed off to the hot tubs and I went to the gym. As a new ship, Odyssey's gym had been equipped with nice shiny new machines; on Anthem, it was clear that some were badly in need of maintenance. The treadmill I chose on this first visit had a sticker along the bottom of the screen telling you how to unblock the screen if it blocked (which it did, several times) . There were several others that also had this sticker. Luckily, on subsequent visits, I found some sticker-free machines and they were fine. A few pics to keep the fitness freaks happy (are there any of you out there or am I the only one?): I didn't see much in the way of classes going on in the gym, just a short evening stretching session a couple of times, and as usual - soap box moment (I'll keep it short) - apart from the instructor taking those classes, who arrived at the start time and left immediately afterwards, I never saw an instructor in the gym. A gym is an accident waiting to happen and there should be an instructor on duty at all times during opening hours, but there isn't. Rant over. Once we were all hot-tubbed and gymed out it was time for dinner. This was the only night of the cruise when we were seated in the American Icon. On every other night we were given a table in the same section in Silk. The ladies at the welcome podium outside the MDR were absolutely lovely. We especially appreciated Auren who remembered our names after just a couple of nights and always had a huge smile on her face (we could tell from her eyes even though we couldn't actually see it because the crew were still having to wear masks at this point). Day 2 MDR menu: We didn't fancy any of the starters so we ordered the stuffed Portobello mushrooms as a starter instead. They were ok but had a bit too much cheese on them for our taste, so we weren't able to finish them. For mains I had the curry and DH had the tenderloin. He dug in too fast for me to get a pic of his but he said it was very good. I enjoyed my curry too. The waiters seemed to be rushed off their feet this evening, probably because it was the first formal night, and we had to wait about 20 minutes for dessert. I had my favourite royal chocolate cake and after waiting so long I completely forgot I was supposed to be taking a picture of it. By the time I remembered, there was only one bite left! Oops. Not a problem though, as I would be having it again several times over the course of the cruise. I don't seem to have a pic of DH's dessert so I'm not sure if he had the cheesecake again or if he was so stuffed that he didn't have anything (Note that I ALWAYS leave room for dessert!). At this point it's worth mentioning attire. This being formal night, there were lots of folks really dressed up to the nines, definitely many more than on our Odyssey cruise in May. I think this is likely down to demographics as 96% of the passengers on board this particular cruise were Brits who still like to get the glad rags out (plus on Southampton sailings they mostly don't need to worry about baggage allowances). The headliner tonight was a magician called Jamie Allen and he was very good. I definitely recommend seeing his show if you cross paths with him but on this ship, if you want to secure a seat that doesn't have obstructed sightlines you need to get there early (again, we weren't up for this), so between pillars and overhangs, we weren't always able to see everything that was going on on stage, which was a pity. Our first port of call would be the next day in Vigo and it's worth mentioning the question of "port time" versus "ship time" here. We stayed on ship time for the whole cruise. I had pretty much expected this because it made sense for this itinerary. Out of all the ports, only two - Vigo and La Coruña - are in a different time zone to the UK, and they were our first and last ports of call, so we would have been zig-zagging between time zones if we hadn't stayed on ship time. This, unfortunately, would partly impact our visit to Vigo, as I'll explain in my next post, as soon as I have time to get it done.

Day 2 - At Sea I love when the first full day of a cruise is a sea day. It really gives you the chance to get into cruise-mode proper and relax while you explore your new surroundings. Having sailed on Odyssey back in May, we were familiar with the layout of Anthem but since it was our first time on board this ship and given that she is an older sister, we found that there are several significant differences. Our first breakfast on board was at the Windjammer - DH is usually a fan; I am not, as I find it too crowded and don't care for the pandemonium. However, it was so bad on this particular morning that I would be able to convince him we should try elsewhere going forward, especially considering the length of the cruise. I promised that if he absolutely hated every other breakfast venue we would return to the WJ! This was followed by the Top Tier event at 10.30 am in Two70, which was not as well organised as it had been on Odyssey, where they made use of the robot screens to post information rather than just reading it off cards (stuff like the number of cruisers on board in each of the different C&A tiers). On this cruise there were something like 608 D, 332 D+ and 40 pins, with six new pins being acknowledged. The Loyalty Ambassador read the points total of the top cruiser off his card too fast for me to be able to note it down. After the event, there was a massive log-jam of people as the many attendees at the Top Tier Event tried to get out of Two70, while dozens of bingo fans were trying to get in. As we weren't in a rush to get anywhere, we sat down at one of the long tables and just waited until it had eased. The weather was starting to clear up a bit after we came out, not warm enough for us southern Europeans to put our bathing suits on but still nice enough to wander and take some pics to prove there were blue skies over the Bay of Biscay. In fact, we had pretty smooth sailing across the Bay and the Captain had actually remarked at the Top Tier event that he was expecting a smoother than normal crossing. One thing that we didn't like seeing as we wandered around the outside decks were the dirt-streaked loungers outside the seaplex. I know soot can be an issue once you get aft of the funnels but I have never seen so many dirty and obviously uncared-for loungers on any of my past cruises, so that came as a bit of a shock and a reminder that while the post-Covid recovery is underway we are still not back to "normal".

I watched quite a few of the vlogs by different vloggers. There were so many of them on there that were practically falling over each other.