Ogilthorpe

Day 5 - At Sea
Final day. I hate final days, because you know you have get off the ship and head back to the Real World. Unless, of course, you’re Super Mario. But I think even he gets off the ships every once in a while.
Despite the late night, I was up relatively early, and we ate breakfast at WindJammer. The lack of speed in the MDR made us give up on them as an option, and besides, the buffet never seemed crowded. The only real drawback is that one could easily overdo things at breakfast, so I tried to limit myself to one pass at the buffet. Seemed to work, as I was able to load my plate but not to excess.
After breakfast, we took Olivia up to Adventure Ocean and… there were no kids in the 9-11 room. Curious. Since it was exactly 9 we figured that maybe some kids would come in later. Olivia didn’t want to be the only one there, so we took a walk around the upper deck and came back about 10 minutes later. Still no kids. Looking into the 6-8 club, there were very few kids in there as well. As a result, Olivia opted to hang out with the rest of us by the pool.
This was, to be honest, a bit of a strange phenomenon for the kids. During our August cruises, the kids clubs were usually full, so there wasn’t much concern about meeting new kids and having fun. But here it was the opposite, and I can see why Royal has started to move towards a merged 6-11 program.
Since Hannah and I had sushi making mid-morning, we opted not to swim and instead played a round of minigolf – something that I’d yet to do on a cruise. It was fun, as far as minigolf goes, plus the views were really nice at the front of the ship.
 
On A Roll took place, unsurprisingly, at Izumi. The idea here is that all the items you need to create your sushi are mise en place, and the chef instructs you on how to assemble each item. We made a California Roll, Shrimp/Avocado Roll, Spicy Tuna Hand Roll, and two Ebi Nigiri. As you can see from the pictures (and Matt has described before in the blog), this is a massive amount of food, which we then got to eat!
 


Note: We were not allowed to take the food out of the restaurant (apparently there is a health regulation against this), so I highly recommend you bring along a “non-participant” to “help dispose” of the sushi.
 

Once we were stuffed to bursting, we headed back upstairs to meet with my wife and Olivia. They were now hungry, so we headed over to Windjammer. Hannah and I weren’t all that hungry due to maki overload, but we still grabbed some veg in order to balance out our food pyramids.
 
I should note that at Windjammer they have an assistant waiter there with a guitar whose sole purpose is to sing songs featuring “washy-washy”. They are not great songs, but I definitely appreciate their attempts to hammer the point home about washing hands.

And all this talk of not getting our way with M & Ms, makes me want to ask for absurd stuff like this?:

Of course the lawyer wants the videos dismissed! This lawsuit is going to be a very fierce battle. BTW, I have had the nagging thought, as well, that the grandfather planned it, that he thought he'd be doing the family a favor by ending the life of this special-needs child, whose care and education was going to cost more money. She was probably the star of the family, and maybe was the center of his wife's attention, and they may have argued about money. I think I (or someone) could write a great mystery novel about a possible backstory.
 

+1 on that. We love the Intercontinental Miami. The view of the Bay is perfect from there!

Hope you stay at the Intercontinental and requested bay side.  I’m one of those weirdos that can’t sleep the night before and love watching the ships come in and witness the sunrise.  In fact, that’s why I’m awake now, checking out the port cam. ?

I totally understand,  One only needs to read a few trip reviews to know the inconsistencies in the Star Class program. It’s going to be an awesome trip!  I’m just happy Jack Daniels is not a “branded candy!”  I’ll post pics of that filet...

Wow this trip was amazing. It went by pretty quick, Luciano was outstanding. He went above and beyond for us. We will request him again for sure!
Quick tip for anyone coming in this room before refurb( and possibly after) bring a towel clip for the downstairs blackout blinds they don’t close properly and let a ton of light in. Also we said goodbye to champagne bar, we really loved it there. 
 
Izumi was delicious on this ship. I also added some photos of the desserts from the tapas menu at Vintages! 
 
So genie update, Anna is leaving Allure tomorrow to go to Quantum, they need her there so Agostina came back onboard Thursday and we got to say hello to her. Upon meeting Anna she was just so friendly and personable, it was nice to get to meet her. Lexi was beyond excited to see Agostina again. It was a really neat trip and thank you all for following along. 

 

Day 2 - Sea Day
Departing from Bayonne in the winter means the first and last day of the cruise are what I call "long pant days".  Fortunately Anthem is a perfect ship for cold weather and there is a lot going on around the ship.
The adult only solarium is 16+.

In this cabin the TV is mounted against the wall and it doesn't hinge like some other ships or cabins.  There is no way to access the HDMI inputs and with a border surrounding the TV you really can't do anything with this TV but watch the Royal channel lineup.

Dinner in Coastal Kitchen.

Maine Lobster Salad.

Roasted Veal Tenderloin.


Valrhona Chocolate Bar.

On this cruise there were high numbers of upper top tier Crown and Anchor so the Concierge Lounge was off limits to D+.  The expanded Diamond Lounge using the upper floor of the Music Hall works quite well for this purpose and I met many new friends on this cruise.  Here is a wide angle picture to aid in obscuring individuals for privacy purposes.  This is the Music Hall upstairs bar area during Diamond happy hour,

Tonight was a performance of The Gift.  I decided to leave the cameras in my cabin and take in this show with my eyes.  Luckily I scored a front row seat.  Just a quick smartphone pic before the show begins.

Pay attention for the first 30 seconds of the show since the storyline is revealed.  If you are talking or distracted it will be hard to figure out the plot of the show if you miss that brief introduction.

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...

Night 1 Dinner - Coastal Kitchen

Those who have eaten at CK know the drill.  Classics that never change on one side...

Daily items on the other side

Caesar Salad
Interesting presentation and very tasty.

Fillet Mignon - Yum.

The fillet remains to be the best steak in the fleet. 
Dessert menu

Chocolate Praline Tart

Coastal Kitchen remains a fantastic experience.
Back to my cabin my Crown and Anchor amenities have arrived.  Loyalty pays.  Who needs a drink package?

Cabin Tour - J4 Junior Suite 6240, Port side

No walk in closet but ample space.

Wow bands included with a JS.


Ample space in the suite.



The bathroom facilities are split with a water closet or toilet on one side:

And the bathtub and shower on the other side. 
Bathtub on the left...

Shower on the right.

Rainfall shower head (not pictured) as well as shower head sprayer.

Foot rest/shelf for shower supplies.

L'Occitane toiletries: 

I waited until we were under nicer skies to photograph the balcony.  It's a nice cabin with large windows and views to the sea.



The view down.  That's the deck 5 port side public sitting area below the cabin.  No impact to the balcony, smoking side is starboard.

The view aft.

The view forward.

I'm writing this in the past tense because, well, the cruise is over.  I knew I would be busy on this one so in fairness I'm going to skip a lot of things about this magnificent ship.  
I've always enjoyed Anthem and Quantum class in general as evidenced by this being my fourth time on Anthem.  I wouldn't keep coming back if this wasn't a great ship.
Itinerary:
Day 1 - Bayonne embarking
Day 2 - Sea day
Day 3 - Sea day
Day 4 - San Juan
Day 5 - St. Maarten
Day 6 - Antigua
Day 7 - St Lucia
Day 8 - St Kitts
Day 9 - Sea day
Day 10 - Sea day
Day 11 - Sea day
Day 12 -  Bayonne debarking
 
I've done a couple of previous Anthem live blogs, you'll find those here:
  https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/
    and
  https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5387-anthem-11918-9-night-bahamas/
Spoiler alert - I still love this ship after my latest cruise.
Without further adieu, let's get this started.

About the candy that is not found on board...it is my understanding that is entirely dependent on the Genie.  I cannot confirm for sure, but I have a strong feeling that some Genies will venture out and some will not. 
 
And @Rags1, proud of you for not passing on CK’s filer night like some others ?

Here is where we are at one week out:
Dinners:  In order it will be Coastal Kitchen to have a filet for @Lovetocruise2002, 150, Giovannis, Izumi Hibachi, Chops, 150, and Chops.  
Entertainment:  Allan sent us the schedule from this week and our week should be close to the same.  He also indicated that the schedule  was changed 3 times this week.  So at this point I’m not sure of that schedule each night.
Sail Away:  We requested some shrimp cocktails, chips and dip, etc which is not problem.
We have a reserved time on Thursday, I think, in the Escape Room.  I will do the bridge tour, alone, on the last day.  We have requested a backstage tour and Allan is looking into that.  Since Stacy and Kaitlyn are nurses they have also requested a tour of the medical facility.  No answer on that yet.  
And @Pookie, I did include in my last email that i was curious about the M&M thing since we had them the last two years.  The response was , “The M&M and other branded snacks were never included since the program started in May 2016.”  And there you have it.  
One week from tonight I will be posting from whatever hotel I’m booked into in Miami!! 

I’m also on the 8th of March cruise in a junior suite. The last Crown Loft suite was booked about 6 months ago. I watched the pricing for months but couldn’t pull the trigger. Down to 7 weeks now - can’t wait. 
I got a Royal-Up email about two weeks ago. 
 

I think my best bet will be to watch it on a daily basis and hope for the best.  I am waiting for a couple of people to get back to me, as they might want to join me!!!

Unfortunately, there do not have to be staterooms available in any category for Royal to send out RoyalUp offers.

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.
 

Bot malfunction? ?
I can beat both you @emsff02 and @twangster.  I have 785 days till Oasis 3/13/2022.  That is the #majorstarclasstakeover sailing! 
But I will bow out for fear of @Matt truly never letting me live it down. 
The honour for earliest start goes to Mr. Mentor Bot. ?

Day Three - At Sea
Woke up around 8:00am and got ready to get breakfast in the Windjammer. I wore my swimsuit and a sundress over top, as I knew I wanted to try out the pool and whirlpools before it got too busy. At the Windjammer, I got kiwi (again), cereal, bacon, and some breakfast tea from the coffee area. Sat in the same barstool area spot as the day before, looking out at the ocean while having my meal. 

It was a bit cloudy this morning, but was very cool to see spots of sunlight out in the ocean.
After breakfast, I went to the sun deck to enjoy the views, and used one of the hammocks for a little. Around 9:30am, I went to grab a towel from the pool station, and find a chair to keep my things while using the pool. There are notices not to reserve chairs on the pool deck, but I didn’t see evidence of this being enforced during the trip. The pool itself was a little too chilly for me, so I quickly made my way up to the whirlpools. At this time in the morning, there were only three other people using the whirlpools. I enjoyed the whirlpools, and all three seemed to be at different temperatures, so if you find one to be too hot/cold, try out one of the others.

The Little Towel Mermaid celebrating the New Year at the pool-side towel station.
After pool time, I went back to the stateroom to shower off. I took some time to look over the cruise compass and see what was going on today, before heading out and up to the library on deck 9 to grab the book I had started reading on embarkation day. I went out to the recliners along deck 6 to read for a while.

These recliners are a nice spot to be outside but still have a bit of shade.
Around noon I returned my book to the library and went back up to the pool deck. The selfie scavenger hunt was going on, so those involved were asking guests and staff if they had certain items on them that they could take a photo with. I briefly walked around up on the sun deck, finding it much busier now. No free recliners up there. Some of the recliners had been rearranged by guests, making it a little difficult to navigate.
I stopped into Windjammer to get a quick lunch (some of the vegetable curry & rice) and then to the pool bar to get the drink of the day, a melon mojito. Once I had my drink, I went up to the sun deck to get a spot overlooking the pool in time for the International Belly Flop Contest, starting at 1:00pm.

Drink of the day, a Melon Mojito. Good, but I think I prefer regular mojitos.
The competition started by having five contestants show off their best belly flop from the side of the pool. After each jump, the audience held up a hand with a score of 1 to 5 to rate the flop, with 1 being the worst belly flop you’d ever seen, and a 5 being able to feel the pain yourself. After two rounds, the top three contestants went onto a higher block by the corner of the pool to their final jumps. It was fun to watch, very enjoyable.

Excellent jumping form from the block.

The winning belly flop with an average audience score of 4.945737.
 

Front page, right hand side, down a bit.
They are sometimes called "Dress to Impress" or "Wear Your Best".
No Dress Blues on any occasion?

Where would Formal night be listed on the Cruise Compass?
Wife and three daughters are freaking out over whether there will be formal nights on our very first cruise, a 7 night Harmony sailing in Feb... (please dear god help me:)
I don't remember any formal nights during my year at sea on the aircraft carrier, lol.
BTW, thank you everyone for adding to this awesome blog, you all have answered so many questions!

Insomnia sucks! Since I cant go to sleep here are pics of my dogs. Getting worried about them more and more when we leave. Our oldest skye is 15. They dont have an issue with sleep 

Time has completely stopped.  Now this....
 
Is it vacation time yet?!?!? 

Cant trump that one....