Ogilthorpe

Day 6 - Antigua
Or at least that was the plan...
When I woke I noted an NCL ship sailing close but in the opposite direction.    If we are sailing into Antigua, why is that ship sailing away from Antigua?  Things that make you go hmmm.
I went up for breakfast as we did a normal approach.  Sitting outdoors behind the WJ it was a beautiful morning.  Then we started to turn.  Then the wind that I wasn't aware of started coming across the outdoor seating area.  The wind was so strong it was blowing my almost empty glass of orange juice across the table.   Then my plate started to slide.  It was getting really windy.   We had been sailing directly into the wind so on the aft WJ seating area it had been completely sheltered.
Finished with my breakfast I carried my stuff to a sheltered food cleaning station because if I left it on the table, it was going flying.
St. John's is to the left in this picture, we had almost completed out turn back towards the sea.

That little spec to the right near an island is the pilot boat that came back and retrieved the local pilot.  Yep, we were skipping Antigua today.

The Captain came over the PA right at 8am to inform us it was too windy.  An NCL and a Princess ship both had skipped as well.  On to our next stop but at a more leisurely pace.  This was now another sea day.
Originally my excursion was supposed to be a helicopter ride over to the Montserrat Volcano.  Several months ago that was cancelled due to the tour operator cancelling.  That was a moot point because in these winds it would have been cancelled anyways and now that we skipped Antigua it really wouldn't have mattered.
None the less as we sailed South towards St. Lucia the Montserrat Volcano was on starboard. 

We are quite far from the volcano but with my telephoto lens I was able to get a pretty good picture of it.

You can really see the flows from the past several eruptions and where they reached the sea.

Still active you can see how this island is growing taller with each eruption.

Our CD advised us to refresh the app and that a new Cruise Compass would be distributed by noon.  New activities were planned.  Lot's to do.
They set up a waffle station in the Esplanade with all the fixings.  

Guess where dinner was.  Yep, Coastal Kitchen.

I went for the French Onion Soup from the Classics menu.

Braised Short Rib


Bittersweet Chocolate Tart Praline

Another great dinner and perfect sized portions.

I ended up never leaving the ship and before I knew it there was a sunset happening.

Soon it was happy hour so on my way to the Diamond Lounge I checked out the pier.  Oasis had a number of officers greeting returning guests.  Nice touch.

At one point I looked up from my balcony and saw something I did a few years back here in St. Maarten.   The America's Cup 12 metre Regatta boats "Stars and Stripes" and "True North IV".







They do somewhat simulate a race but I'd use that term loosely.  True North IV "won" this one.  It's more about just having fun and experiencing what these boats can do.  They are very agile.







It's a lot of fun 

Day 5 - St. Maarten
Not a bad view to wake up to...

Pilot boat approaching.

I told a client I would sit in on a conference call for them.  I just didn't mention where I'd join the call from...

As mentioned in the last post, we are sharing the pier with Oasis again today.

Fortunately we pulled straight in so my port side balcony had a perfect view of Great Bay.

Wrong. Raisin is the fate of all grapes that don’t measure up for being made into wine. Every grape knows this and grows up fearing being told they are to be cast into the fields of dry fire.
Now, back to my Zinfandel...

After dinner I ventured back out to try my hand at some night photography.  I also ran to the CVS to pickup up supplies I neglected to pack. 


Paseo de la Princesa was still lit up in Christmas colors.










Oasis started the Aqua show but her aft was out too far to get a good view of it from Anthem.  Not long later she started away from the pier.


Not long after it was our turn.

Once out at sea Oasis was off our port side but too far for a decent picture.  We share St. Maarten tomorrow she we'll sail together through the night.

I was on Oasis next to the famous @twangster and didn’t even know it! 

Following with great interest. You always write amazing reviews and we'll be on Anthem in less than 60 days. Can't wait.

Love those pics of Oasis!  I can see my room where I will be in 56 days!

San Juan Arrival
I spy the funnels of a familiar ship in the distance.


El Morro

I always love sailing into San Juan on a beautiful day.



A gate to the old walled city.

Just got off Symphony of the Seas this morning on the 11-18 Jan sailing out of Miami and my daughter has lost her precious Edward the Elephant plush toy. Have logged with RCCL but desperate to get him back. He has our email address on a little tag near his tail. If any fellow cruisers have found a stowaway please check and contact us.

The lawyer is grasping at invisible straws.

The following is an except from an article on the Fox News website.
 
Michael Winkleman, an attorney for the Wiegands, has since called Royal Caribbean’s motion to dismiss “baseless.”
“It is clear that Royal Caribbean’s tactic is to blame Chloe’s grandfather rather than to accept that Royal Caribbean did not implement industry standards for toddler safety aboard its ships which ultimately led to Chloe’s tragic death,” Winkleman said, in part, in a statement shared with Fox 43.
Winkleman further claimed that Royal Caribbean was supplying “two deceptive views from its CCTV cameras.”
On Friday, attorneys for the family filed two further motions: one to strike the video footage, claiming the "the authenticity of the videos" had not been established; and another asking the court to make Royal Caribbean "to produce all video footage from all of the cameras," of which Winkleman had said there were 13 in total.
 
The video footage seems pretty conclusive in my eyes. Even allowing for camera angles the grandfather was a long way outside the window. He would have banged his head on the glass if the window was closed.
The court would have received the videos directly from Royal Caribbean so I don't believe you can dispute their authenticity without implying some kind of conspiracy occurring in the background.
I suppose if you can exclude all the evidence that proves something to be true then anything is possible.

Back to the ship for a break.  With a 3pm arrival we have an 11pm departure so lots of time to come back out later.
Dinner in Coastal Kitchen.

I like the Caesar Salad so I decided to enjoy this classic again.

Cheese Tortellini.  Great flavors.


I decided to skip dessert tonight so I wouldn't be too full.

With no distinct plan I wandered off to see what  I could see.

Coming around the corner we see a familiar sight.  Today we are joining Oasis of the Seas in port.



The recently added Ultimate Abyss dry slide.

Talked it over with the kids....(12 and 9 now) 13 and 10 by December...and it looks like we are now booked on a Christmas cruise for 2020.  We were a little concerned they might have a problem being away from home.....
But my son was like "Back on the Anthem?  Awesome so I can get more Johnny Rockets!!!!"
And my daughter was like "On a boat?  In the Caribbean, on Anthem, listening to Queen music?  Heck yay Dad!"
Looks like the Mrs and Me were keeping them younger than they really are in our minds worried about Santa, Family Dinners and other holiday traditions that younger kids usually revel in.

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. 

Day 4 - San Juan
With a 3pm arrival day 4 starts like any other sea day.  The SeaPlex is a great way to pass some time on such a day.



I like to take a picture of the SeaPlex schedule displayed on the monitors so I can plan my days accordingly.  On this sailing these were the SeaPlex activities for the cruise.

The Journey tribute band DSB was back rocking it out in Two70° to a full house.

Dinner back in Coastal Kitchen


I haven't showed the breads that start dinner service every night so here they are.

Braised Beef Gnocchi

Veal Cannelloni


Chocolate Napoleon

Calm seas today and a nice day to enjoy a balcony with no humidity.

We changed time last night.

Top tier event in the main theater starts with guitar music from a band member in the Royal orchestra.

2782 total CAS
988 Gold, 352 moving to Platinum
520 Platinum, 175 moving to Emerald
272 Emerald, 86 moving to Diamond
598 Diamond, 35 moving to Diamond Plus
354 Diamond Plus, 5 moving to Pinnacle
50 Pinnacle
A feature I really enjoy is the outdoor seating for the Windjammer.  I eat many meals out here.

Day 3 - Sea Day
I'll use this lazy sea day to show the Esplanade.  As an early riser it's nice to find the Esplanade mostly empty of guests.  The Esplanade is similar in concept to the Promenade found on many previous Royal ships in the fleet as the heart of the ship.



The Loyalty Ambassador's desk is beside guest services.

The pub.  More on that later.



The Esplanade has a dog leg around the pub heading forward to additional shops and the Music Hall.

After lunch, we decided to try out the Perfect Storm waterslides. During minigolf, we were talking to a couple of older teens from Michigan about the slides, and they thought that the slides weren’t great, and that they were slow to the point of almost getting stuck in the tubes. But after we went on a few times, I have to conclude that they perhaps adjusted the water flow, because while the slides weren’t as fast as what you might find at an onland waterpark, they had more than enough speed to get you to the bottom in a hurry.
 If I had a gripe about the slides, it’s that there aren’t enough clear panels to let you see out of the tubes, especially where you travel to the edge of the ship. Really felt like a missed opportunity.
 After we went on the slides, the kids wanted to hit the pool, so they went there while my wife and I relaxed. While we were there, we had the fortune (misfortune?) to witness the Sexiest Man contest. This was definitely… something. Still not sure what, exactly, but it was something. All I will say is that the guy in the Rey Mysterio mask was robbed.
 
Our final dinner featured Rack of Lamb and Steak Diane, both of which were wonderful. It also featured “Asian pork tacos”, which based on the description, we guessed was actually pork bao. And that’s exactly what it was. I can’t say it was great.
 
An interesting note was that for the last day, they were trying to get people to go to Chops at a 50% discount. It was tempting, but at the end of the day my wife and the girls wanted lamb chops, and why forgo the included lamb chops in the MDR in order to pay for lamb chops at the specialty restaurant? For us, the value add was simply not there.
 After dinner, we did our final packing and set the bags outside the room. After everyone else went to sleep I took a final trip across the pool deck, where it was pretty quiet.
 


Going back downstairs, I went to the theatre to watch the comedian, Anthony Acosta. I had a bit of an incident where I wanted to exercise my 2-for-1 beer voucher (I think everyone gets this?) and the bartender was utterly confused by this, thinking I wanted a Diamond happy hour drink. We did get it sorted out and before the show started he came over to apologize to me. Which was nice, but completely unnecessary, since we weren’t arguing – just trying to sort out what voucher I was redeeming. In any case, he gave me another beer, so I ended up with 3 beers for the price of 1. Yeah, that was a lot. Thankfully it was a macrobrew as opposed to something with a lot of flavour, so I got through them all.
The comedian, Anthony Acosta, was pretty good I thought, but his style is quite edgy, self-deprecating and plays a lot off of his ethnicity, and could easily rub people the wrong way. If you watched his act and did not enjoy it at all, well, I wouldn’t blame you one bit.
After the show, I went over to Sorrentos to wash down the beer with some food, and headed to bed.