Va4fam

Probably too soon still.

We were happy to enjoy the sunshine and the waves.   Relaxing was our only goal that day.
the lawn bowling and beach bean bag chairs were fun!
The loungers IN the pool=also fun. 
The floating bar is still there.
 

Hopefully this experience was a "one off" given that it was a Holiday/NYE cruise and not going to give it additional thought.
Grateful to be able to take time off and have a fun vacation on a cruise ship and will continue to stay loyal to Royal!

@ashonthesea, definitely enjoying following along but just realized that you were at CocoCay the same time we arrived there on Anthem.   We got the same pic of the 2 ships side by side and were at the Snack Shack at noon and in the pool right after that (the water was cold).    Small world!
 
Can't wait to sail on Empress next month. 
 

Day 5 - Miami Debarkation Day  ?

Finishing up our cruise course
On the last morning of the cruise, I woke up at 6:15am. I packed up the last few of my things and then took my camera and went to the sun deck to watch the sunrise. It reflected beautifully off the buildings in Miami as we got closer to port.

Sun rising over Port of Miami

Joining us in port was the Navigator, a Carnival ship, and a Norwegian ship
I grabbed a quick breakfast from Windjammer and sat out on the pool deck to eat while watching the ship come into port at Terminal G. Royal let guests know that they were providing a shuttle to the Terminal J parking area for anyone that had driven to port. The Empress came into port around 7:00am. I finished up my breakfast and popped back down to my room to gather my things before heading to the centrum. Once in the centrum, I was directed by staff to line up in the Royal Theatre once I had everyone in my party together. Check. In the Royal Theater, everyone placed their bags in a line, and then took a seat while we waited for debarkation to begin.

Waiting in the Royal Theater for the self-assisted debarkation to begin. Bags are lined up, rather than people.
We didn't have to wait very long. We got clearance to debark at 7:45am, and I was off the ship by 7:50am. Staff directed us down towards customs, which I got through in about 15 minutes. I was easily able to request a Lyft once outside. My Lyft arrived at 8:15am, and dropped me off at my departure terminal at the airport 20 minutes later. I had plenty of time before my flight, so I wasn't worried when I saw what looked like an intimidatingly long security line. It went much quicker than I thought it would though, and I made it to the end of security by 9:00am.
Post Cruise Thoughts
I really enjoyed my first cruise, and am glad that I had it with Royal! It was a fun trip and I would definitely do it again. I would probably give myself the extra day to get to port ahead of time if doing air travel, or make sure to utilize Air2Sea to make sure if there is a delay that Royal would get me there, as mentioned by @JLMoran. I think if you're a light sleeper, ear plugs are crucial. And I think it's completely possible to have an enjoyable cruise vacay without needing to shell out the big bucks for additional excursions!
I hope you all enjoyed this recap, and if you have any other questions feel free to ask!

Laser Tag
Ok so here is a mini review about the laser tag on the Mariner OTS. So this was my second time ever doing laser tag on a RCI ship. The first time I did it was back in 2018 on Mariner when she first got it right after dry dock. Now back then the line was very short. And when I say very short. I mean no line at all. But today there was about a twenty minute line to get in. So right after you walk into Studio B. You are greeted by your first look's of the Laser Tag area.

Right after that they do make you sit down and wait on the team that is playing now to finish before you are let down to get your vest on and view the safety film. In this film they do a good job of telling you the rules and giving you the backstory about the game. 
And the right before they let you out to play the commuter will automatically pick your team. The two teams are the aliens and the robots. And then right after that it is time to play!
The game last about five minutes. But the whole experience takes just over fifteen minutes to do. Overall it is a great fun thing to do onboard the ship. And a matter of fact I did it a second time after that!

The Best Tip I Can Give To Anyone Is To Ask The Sports Staff For Help On Stay On The Wave. The Other Tip Is To Just Relax.

Great pics with the new camera.   15 times on the Flowrider in one session?!!! You must be an expert at it.  What tips/techniques do you suggest for those of us who have only done it once and were happy just to hang on?
 

Ok  well I did not take a lot of photos from our sail away. But I did take a photo of Space X faring chancing ship the Go Ms. Tree.

Well I did not ride the wave this afternoon due to the line being so long. But I did got to play mini golf. It was very fun and is worth the walk to get to it.
When I was playing golf the NCL Sun pulled up beside us.

After golf It was time for dinner in the MDR. 

Tonight I got the seasonal fruit melody. It was very good for this whole cruise. 
And the creaser salad.

And I also got the spaghetti.
Well folks that is it for day number one. 

Thanks @Twangster for posting trip details and great pics.  Your pictures are outstanding and capture a lot of the great features the Quantum class ships offer.    That junior suite looks impressive. 
Our first trip on Anthem was just a couple of weeks ago and she really is a great ship.   I asked my wife if she would be willing to go on Anthem again and it was an enthusiastic "yes."   Now let's see what she thinks about Empress when we sail her next month. 

Costa Maya- When Maya Chan is sold out OR just at Costa Maya for a short time we always go to the Tropicante at the Mahahual Malecon.  Food is GREAT!  Basically just need to send Stave an email. He will reserve you some loungers/table and you just have to eat/drink from there. http://www.sandalsandskis.com/tropicante.html. Just have to take a cab to to Mahahual and that's about it.
Belize City- I've been to the Lamanai ruins twice. Belize has the best Mayan ruins...not nearly as commercialized as those in Mexico.  Tour consist of a pretty long bus ride, a very adventurous boat ride, and then the tour of the ruins. We went thru the ship and it takes all day.
Chuck

Cruise Summary
When ever I sail a Quantum class ship I'm reminded about how much I love this class of ship.  I was just on the newly amped Oasis and that is a great class of ship but there is something about Anthem and Ovation that is really appealing.  I prefer both the balcony and junior suites on these ships more than Oasis class.  The balcony cabin layout and bathroom is just about perfect on this class. 
As it has happened to work out 80% of my 2020 cruises are on Quantum class and I'm okay with that. 
On this trip I hardly used the pool deck and for the first time I didn't use North Star or iFly.  I don't know where the time went but other than walking through the Solarium a couple times I lived on the lower decks this cruise.   I'm not a sun worshiper so that plays into equation.   I may dig through some of my older Anthem picture galleries to post some pictures because the Solarium is one of the nicest in the fleet and the indoor pool area for families is perfect for this ship.  I wouldn't be doing her justice to not show them off.  
I did walk through the SeaPlex with the goal of visioning how Playmakers will work on Odyssey when she arrives later this year.  I'm really looking forward to sailing on that ship with the evolution that has come with operating these ships for a number of years now.  I was disappointed when Spectrum went straight to Asia but was thrilled when Odyssey was placed in Florida for the end of this year.
A lot has been said about Diamond Plus being restricted from the Concierge Lounge.  I seem to pick my sail dates with increased number of top elite so that is something I've experienced a number of times on both Anthem and Ovation.  I've got to say the expanded Diamond Lounge has always worked really well for me on both ships.  I met some new friends and saw a many of them night after night.  As a solo cruiser I love that the Music Hall bar is available for happy hour.  It's much easier to meet and talk with new friends at the bar seating compared to a table somewhere by myself.  For me losing access to the CL is a non-event.  
The crew were amazing once again on Anthem.  I've sailed with Captain Srecko before and will always look forward to sailing with him again.   
Coastal Kitchen once again was a star and a highlight of the cruise for me.  The night one filet is one of the best steaks in the fleet.
I am really glad they occasionally do these longer itineraries on Anthem.  It's such a nice ship a 7 or 8 night is too short and the ports are more interesting on these longer runs.  Having to wear long pants on the first and last day in the middle of winter is trivial.
Bayonne or Cape Liberty is a great home port.  With sub $20 rideshare transfers it's second only to Fort Lauderdale for fly-in convenience.  Facial recognition is a welcome update since my last Bayonne departure that makes the debarking process so easy.
I'll post the specialty dining menus I have soon and I may go through some of my older Anthem pictures to find the best one to show off a few areas I missed this time around.
Until then I hope you enjoyed following along and I thank you for viewing.  
Cheers!

I'm very sorry you had to endure this rude behavior. The ineptness of the GS really doesn't help. I'm not sure if this is an option , but another thing RCCL could do, since they know the cabin number is see if they cause further problems on future cruises. If this behavior continues then possibly  ban them?  I'm not suggesting to immediately ban guests either, but when a guest causes problems a message needs to be sent.  They obviously didn't take any of the " warnings" seriously.

Might try Jamies or Blue Cay if you're looking for a beach day. Both get good reviews.

If you or your TA has made a note of it, sometimes your room steward will make a fuss as well. Ours did on Ovation last June for my husband's 50th (she had 2 people sneak in and make an elaborate towel cake, complete with towel candle) - we accidentally interrupted the process, so they sang an impromptu Happy Birthday to him.  I miss that woman.  She was just the best.

Night 1 continued...
After dinner I wandered and found DSB in the Music Hall.  They are a Journey tribute band and very good.

I've seen these guys before on Anthem and was pleased they would be back.


It wasn't long before the audience was on the dance floor.




Meanwhile in Boleros The Royal Swedes were also rocking it out.

Getting late The VIA was empty.

Aft or midship elevator bank. 

Anthem really is a pretty ship.
Enough for day 1, more to come...

Let me know how the Empress goes. I hope you enjoy it!

Day Three - At Sea
After the belly flop competition (and a cone of soft serve ice cream), I headed down to the Schooner Bar for the Game of Thrones Trivia at 1:45pm. The trivia consisted of 15 questions. Each team got a paper to write their answers on, but there were a limited number of pens, so I’d recommend bringing one with you just in case. Each question was read twice and given about 15-20 seconds to think of the answer before moving on to the next question. Once all 15 had been read, teams swapped papers to go through the answers. For being a team of one, I did pretty well with 13 of the 15 questions right! Top three teams got Royal Caribbean keychains and pens.
I stopped by the casino after trivia. No luck for me on the slot machines or coin pushers. The rest of the casino was reasonably full, but definitely not as packed as it had been on NYE. After a bit of roulette watching, I went back to reading, this time in the sitting areas on deck 8. The library on deck 9 has sitting areas as well, but is a little noisy when the pool deck is busy as you can hear chairs moving around. Around 3:00pm I stopped by the Win A Cruise Royal Bingo happening in Boleros. I didn’t catch how much the cards were, but my understanding was that however many cards you purchased was for each of the three rounds. Only one round was for the cruise, but you have to participate in all three, can’t just play the cruise round.  I went out the rear door of Boleros to the seating area on the deck. It has chairs and tables, as well as some very high back chairs that I liked. They reminded me a bit of peacock chairs. I relaxed out there with my book until the sun began to set. 

Sunset from the rear of the ship, the seating area behind Boleros.
I went back up to the sun deck to catch some more photos of the sunset. The reflections off the water were stunning. It soon got very crowded, everyone wanted to grab that perfect sunset shot.

Sunset from the sundeck.
I decided to get dinner at the Windjammer this night, as I wanted to see the Headliner Showtime happening at 8:45pm. I got some food, which included some delicious empanadas, and grabbed a table outside so I could see the beginning of tonight's poolside movie, Aladdin (the new live action one). Once the movie was finished, I spent some more time reading in the library briefly before the start of the show in the Royal Theater. 
The headliner show tonight featured a male a capella group called The Edge Effect. They were great performers and are very talented! This night, I sat in the very back row, close to center, of the upper level. It's not really possible to see the stage from that point, so I wouldn't recommend that seating for anything that you really need to see the stage for. I was still able to enjoy the music though.
After the show, I did some more stargazing from the hammocks on the sun deck before heading back to my stateroom. Another towel friend tonight! I did some planning for the following day at Coco Cay, before heading to sleep for the night.


Our cruise course so far.
 

We did the cave tubing in Belize a few years ago. It was very fun but is a long ride out into the mountains from Belize City. I'd do it again.   We did Maya Chan this past December. It was okay. The food, drinks and service were outstanding. The water, not so much. It is very shallow a long ways out, 300 yards or so, and nothing to see but sea grass. Not sure I would do it again.

We also really enjoyed Maya Chan in Costa Maya. We did find the sea grass to be a slight issue on the day we were there, though staff at Maya Chan warned us about it, and even offered the option of a refund & return to port if we found we couldn't handle it once we arrived. The resort is beautiful, food is delicious and drinks plentiful. The staff are extremely attentive and really do care that you enjoy your day there. In addition to the beach & water sports, massage (additional cost), they also have a fresh water pool that was, quiet honestly, the deciding factor in our decision to tough out the odor of the sea grass. Each party has their own assigned seating/lounge area so everyone isn't just lined up in rows. We will definitely be going back to Maya Chan the next time we're in CM.

For Costa Maya, I highly recommend Maya Chan.  We were there in 2018 and will be back NEXT WEEK!! (we are on Rhapsody departing Tampa Jan 25).   Maya Chan usually fills up (they only hold around 100 or so people) so you'll want to reserve online.  Go to their website and request a reservation.  If they have space, they will send you a Paypal invoice.  It cost $59 pp (less for return visitors) and includes all the food and drink you can handle.  As another poster indicated, the water in Costa Maya can be icky (is that a word?) and they do have issues with sea grass.  However, that didn't stop us from having a great time.  They run a great operation and do a great job of making everyone feel welcomed.  I even reccently bought the book that Jane Ostrow (the matriarch of the family) wrote.

Buy a day pass for the vaporetto and use them like a hop on hop off bus. Go out to Murano and Burano if you have time. Eat pizza and gelato. Visit St Marks but don’t eat or drink in the square. Walk a few streets back. There is a department store near Rialto bridge which has a roof terrace you can visit for free. Views over Venice are outstanding, prices in the shop extortionate. Make sure you are on deck for the sail away. If you are lucky one of the staff will be on the bridge pointing out the names of the different churches and famous buildings that you are passing. It’s the best sail-in or out you will ever experience. We are lucky enough to have done it several times and I get choked up with emotion every time. I just love the place and I hope you will to.

MANY years ago we did cave tubing in Belize and I don't remember that much about it.  I do recall that we had to carry our own tubes  fairly long distance which seemed to be a bit of a hassle and I remember that my daughter was a beautiful shade of purple by the time we were done...the water was freezing !
Costa Maya is a great "just hang out" port.  The port area itself is about as nice a one as you're going to find anywhere...but for very little money you can catch a shuttle over to Mahahual and hang out on the beach anywhere.  The shuttle over is actually free but it will cost you a few bucks to come back as the shuttle only runs one way.  I guess the only caution about the beach at Costa Maya is to let you know that sometimes they can have a terrible issue with seaweed.  I guess we've been lucky and never had a seaweed issue at CM but many others have.  Aside from that, CM is one of my favorite ports.

So I got totally sidetracked by the title and thought RCI had come up with a new amazing aqua theater show where someone is "walking on water."  
 

So I got totally sidetracked by the title and thought RCI had come up with a new amazing aqua theater show where someone is "walking on water."