MattG

Yeah, I’m sure it’s a corporate menu across the entire fleet - if they just called it a “crab cake”, I’d give it a pass. But don’t embarrass my state!

DAY 2, PART 1: Kids were up around 6:15am, got everyone dressed and hit up the Windjammer as they opened. Plenty of breakfast options available for everyone! We wrapped up breakfast around 8:30am, and as AO doesn’t open until 9am, went out the back of Windjammer to enjoy the view. As mentioned by many others, there are extra tables out here that are great to use when the weather’s not too cold (this morning was still a bit chilly and windy). We went up the stairs and scoped out the FlowRider, iFly, and the climbing wall. From there, we stuck our heads into the SeaPlex and checked out the first round of bumper cars until we realized AO was open! We hustled to the opposite side of the ship, and dropped the girls off in Aquanauts, and the boy off in Royal Babies. Both were very clean hand-offs, as all the kids were eager to go and play. After drop-off, the wife and I hit up the Fitness Center for a bit. All the equipment is pretty nice, plenty of variety for weights, cardio, yoga, etc. We did a mix of cardio and strength to try and offset what will be a lot of cocktails and ice cream . With some time left in our AO window, we went back, changed to bathing suits, and scoped out the hot tubs. We first checked out the Solarium, and while it’s warm, it’s a bit loud (lots of glass to reflect noise) and has a heavy chlorine smell. Moving back to the indoor pool is better, but the hot tubs were full. We ended up in a hot tub by the outdoor pool near the pool bar, which was one of the only hot tubs with a “lip” to store your towel, phone, etc. After about 30 minutes, I decided to check out the 11am FlowRider boogie boarding session. I ended up arriving a little late, and a line had formed. The staff were generous with time, as each person got about 4-5 minutes to practice bogey-boarding, no hands, knees, etc. I left the line after 30 minutes of watching to meet up with the wife, and go claim the kids from AO. AO pickup went very smoothly, the staff gave great updates on the kids, especially the little one (last diaper change, temperament, snacks). ALL of them want to go back (the littlest kept tugging back to the entrance saying “PLAY! PLAY!”), so we re-booked again for tomorrow morning. Lunch was back at the Windjammer, we got a table again towards the back. Everyone was worn out, but ate well. I volunteered to take the little one back to the room for a nap while the wife and nanny took the girls to the pool. Reports back from the pool was “the outdoor pool was too windy, and the indoor pool water was cold, like the heater wasn’t on”. The girls tried the hot tub, but deemed it too hot. Everyone came back to change and are out getting ice cream. The wife and nanny have some hair appointments tonight at the spa before formal night, so I’ll be on kid duty for a few hours. Should have another report with the rest of the day later tonight. Random thoughts: - Internet is working well, occasionally slow. Nothing to fret over. - Magnetic walls in the staterooms are a GODSEND! We got some “100lb” magnet hooks and two hanging shoe organizers just to manage all the little stuff that accumulates (coupes, remotes, masks, bracelets, bingo dabbers). Do yourself a favor and get a 10-pack of magnet hooks, even if you don’t think you have a need for them - you will find one by Day 2! - We packed everything in duffel bags, and that was a great choice - we just nested them inside each other and stuffed them under the bed. - The wife, brilliant as always, pre-packaged the kids clothes by day in ziploc bags, and that’s been a game changer as well. Dirty clothes go in one of the duffels we’ve assigned for laundry, otherwise they’re still in their bags until the right day. - If your in an interior room, a nightlight or two wouldn’t hurt! - North Star is exclusively “extended experience” during sea days ($29). No slots are opening up for the normal experience until day-of, I’m guessing that will be port days. - iFly appointments are also extended experience ($49), with normal experience not available today. There’s a small window for tomorrow during port, but that’s already booked up. I think they’re rationing it out. - Staff has been great. Main Dining Room last night was a little slow on service, not sure if that’s the norm or just day 1 jitters. - Virtual balcony has been hit-and-miss. The feed in both rooms gets a green, pixelated “flash” every now and then, which is super distracting in the middle of the night. We do pull the curtains closed, but it bleeds through a little. I only noticed it because I was awake anyway, but maybe it will be nicer when in port. - There’s a SpaceX rocket launch from the Cape at 1am when we depart back to NJ (Thursday morning, I think), with the flight path just north of the Caribbean. Gonna try and stick it out and stay up for that one!

Can’t sleep, I think I’m still getting my sea legs we’re an interior room, mid-ship, mid-deck and this boat is shimmying! Not wildly listing, but towels are swaying in the bathroom. I’m also a light sleeper, so there’s a lot of new sensory input that might take a day or two for my brain to adjust. timeline from yesterday: 11:30am arrival, immediate admittance 12:00pm COVID test for kids (minor wait) 12:45pm test results were in (AT&T signal is strong) 1:05pm in the windjammer Lunch at the Windjammer was busy! Entrance is on the right side (opposite Coastal Kitchen), and everyone found something they liked. Adventure Ocran wasn’t quite opened yet at 2pm, so we hit up the staterooms, which we’re ready! Found all of our luggage up and down the hallway, and rapidly unpacked. By then, AO was open We were told to go to the older kids room on Deck 12 to register, then to Royal Babies to sign up for times 12 hours per kid limit for now. All the kids were eager to check it out, so we signed up for a morning session for tomorrow. After that was a few laps around the ship to get familiar, then back to the rooms to prep for dinner in MDR. Our youngest fell asleep in the late afternoon stroll, so we carried him down to MDR where he stirred and found his home in the bread basket Day 1 menu was…okay. I was still full from the WJ, so I noshed on some apps. Wife and I got the “Maryland-style” crab cake - I put it in quotes because there’s nothing “‘Maryland” about it. The butternut squash soup was heavy on the chicken broth, and the steak was tough. Salmon was good, salad was fresh. After dinner, the wife and I had a stroll and checked out Majority Rules in the Music Hall. Pretty chill, quiet evening. Let’s see if I can get a few more hours sleep!

Onboard! All negative tests from the kids. We watched the muster drill while waiting for test results, and when we got onboard, went straight to the muster station for the last step. Lunch at Windjammer, then staterooms were ready. Unpacking now before heading to Adventure Ocean for registration.

EMBARKATION DAY! Drive up was uneventful. All reports about Bayonne’s ease is true: porter drop-off was painless, as was parking in the garage. As we walked up to the terminal, we heard an employee say passengers could enter regardless of arrival time (not sure if that remains true throughout the day), and people with kids can enter. We entered a line for kids to be tested, and first stop was a table to validate negative tests (no passports, no set sail passes). Kids to be tested received a sticker. Next stop was security (painless), then onto test registration. Everyone received a sheet to hand to the tester. All three kids were tested simultaneously. Third stop was a table to validate set sail passes and reaffirm the pre-board health questions. After that was an escort to the post-testing waiting area. Note: all bathroom breaks require an escort, so plan accordingly! Also, bring snacks and activities! now we’re just waiting for test results…

1 DAY OUT! COVID TESTS: Test results came in just before 10pm - all six are negative! Printing them out now and putting them with passports and hard copies of the Set Sail pass (great advice, so we’re not fumbling with phones). Up and early tomorrow for the 3-ish hour drive to Bayonne - first check-in time is 11:30am. 🛳

2 DAYS OUT! COVID TESTS: Okay, wake-up call to everyone: HAVE A BACKUP PLAN FOR TESTING! If you’re doing Binax tests, have a pharmacy rapid backup, and vice-versa. If you have kids who can’t do the Binax tests, have a backup appointment reserved. God forbid your primary test falls through (missed appointment, invalid result) and you can’t cruise! We booked rapid tests at a local pediatric urgent care that offers rapid tests for kids and parents, to be tested at the 2-day mark. On a whim, a friend says they’ve had great luck with another pediatric urgent care (PM Pediatrics) that can do 24-hour PCR turnaround (well, in before 3pm, results by 10pm - after 3pm means 10pm the next day) so we book those as backups. At our primary appointment time, we all roll up and we’re told there’s a FOUR HOUR WAIT. No less than 10 minutes after we find this out, our backup appointment calls us and says “uh, we’re really slow right now, you just want to come in now?” We haul ass over, get swabbed, and the six of us are in-and-out in 10 minutes. PM Pediatrics SAVES THE DAY! PACKING: Man, packing for three kids is exhausting! All credit goes to the wife, who individually packed each day’s clothes into gallon ziploc bags, so we can just pull out clothes and not have to deal with piles and piles. We’re also packing everything in duffels so they can break down and nest and we can tuck it in the corner/under the bed and not have a bunch of boxy rolling luggage.

I saw that - unfortunately the closest Walgreens to us that offers it is 60+ minutes away.

Preach! Finding a provider that can offer a 48-hour* turnaround on a PCR test for someone with no close contacts/no symptoms is HARD. * I know this age group is 72 hours before embarkation, but no parent should wait until EMBARKATION DAY for results!

(reposting here as the original thread is being deleted as duplicate) On one hand, I understand why Royal is doing this - to accelerate the boarding process in terminals. Rapid antigen can be as little as 15 minutes, versus the 40+ minutes for PCR. However, this passes an incredible burden onto the parents to find a PCR test right as the 72-hour window opens, especially if the window or departure are over the weekend. We have three littles that fit into this age group, and trying to find a place that can PCR test us (without symptoms, only for travel clearance) and get results inside 72 hours is difficult. Even getting rapid tests is REALLY hard, as a lot of places (except CVS with advanced reservation) are reserving them for close contact AND symptomatic. This rules out @Matts CVS trick, since that's a rapid antigen test. This ALSO means that if the PCR test comes back inconclusive, parents are SOL since they won't have enough time to get another test before departure. Another factor is this passively pressures parents to vaccinate their 5-year+ kids so they don't even have to deal with this in the first place, thus increasing the on-board vaccinated population.

Nope

Rotating on an iOS device: 1) open your photo in the Photos app 2) press the Edit button in the upper corner 3) click the rotate button on the bottom row (see “1” in the attached screenshot) 4) click the rotate button in the upper right (see “2” in the attached screenshot) 5) when done, click “Done” in bottom right

FIVE DAYS OUT! Our oldest just got her second COVID shot (woohoo!), unfortunately she doesn’t qualify as “fully vaccinated” until our last cruise day. Ah well, just means we have to cruise again! We’ve been watching the current Anthem sailing in the app to try and gauge when new activities and shows are added, so we can make sure we reserve in time (and start roughing in when we need to fill downtime with the kids) PRE-CRUISE PLANNER: All three adults took advantage of the “Black Friday-ish” deals in the Cruise Planner: Cancelled the DBP and re-booked DBP+VOOM, netting us Surf+Stream for $10/day (by far the best price I’ve seen), massage for me and the wife, hair appointments for the wife and 20F, and 20F set herself up with a manicure AND a killer discount for Thrill Waterpark ($38!). Super jealous. COVID TESTS: I booked mine as a CVS rapid test (as per @Matt’s suggestion) for Friday. Tomorrow, I’m going to book rapid tests for everyone else at a local pediatric urgent care that offers pre-travel rapid tests (they only allow bookings up to 2 days out). I have a backup rapid test scheduled at CVS on Saturday. Should be covered all around. PACKING: I’ve already started collecting everything for my own packing, and over the weekend did mountains of laundry so we’d have enough for the kids to get through this week as well as cruise week. The plan is to pack a few very large duffel bags that can fold up and disappear in the stateroom, as opposed to a bunch of bulky rollaway luggage. PRE-CHECKIN: All done, except for the last-minute health screenings. All of it was super easy, including the photographs of the vaccination records. ARRIVAL: Two of us have an 11:30am check-in, the other four have a 12:00pm check-in. Going to try to arrive around 11am and see if they’ll let us in a tad early to accommodate the 3x pre-departure COVID tests. Bringing lots of snacks and activities, and hope all the testing goes smoothly! ON-BOARD: Once on-board, we’re going to try to grab lunch at Windjammer before Adventure Ocean opens for check-in. We’re also going to try and book out as many activities as we can (Flowrider, Ripcord, shows if they’re open) as we’ve heard they fill up fast (sometimes before embarkation is complete!) Don’t really feel comfortable planning out much else prior to boarding…I’ll let you know if anything changes!

I also think it's for a bit of obscurity - people who don't know its affiliation will just skip over it.

Thank you for your live blog! With regards to the constantly changing schedule, we’re noticing the same as we prep for our upcoming trip on Anthem. The schedule in the app is pretty generic, but prior sailings have many more activities. Definitely frustrates the planner in me, but also forces us to be more spontaneous. For the regular, plan-heavy cruisers: is it common for the events/activities in the cruise schedule to fluctuate throughout the cruise, or is this a COVID thing?

Thank you for all of this. We’re hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst The extra details (V* vs E times at North Star, 8am release times for activities) is super helpful. We have an 11:30am check-in time, and have a 3-ish hour drive to get there. We’re preparing for the extra 45 minutes waiting for the test. We’re hoping the novelty of the ship, plus pools, plus people-watching for climbing/Ripcord/Flowrider, plus SeaPlex, plus Adventure Ocean is enough to keep us busy for a week. “We Will Rock You” and Spectra’s Cabaret would be a bonus, in addition to any kids activities added mid-trip. We’re already looking at doing the same trip but on Oasis in October, and am super jealous of the AquaTheater, Boardwalk, Splashaway Bay, Studio B (show and open ice skating), and amplified Adventure Ocean. Something to look forward to!

Are these Walgreens tests the rapid tests? Or PCR tests?

I originally booked the DBP at $50/day, and on the Black Friday deals I saw the DBP+Surf and Stream was $60/day, so I re-booked and basically got Surf & Stream for $10/day. Your mileage may vary.

VERY interested in following this - we will have sailed Anthem 3 weeks before your departure, and also have little kids (2, 3.5 and 5). Curious to see how the Genie works their magic with kids!

THAT'S impressive! What's the Waterpark price?

7-day Bahamas on Anthem in 10 days: Thrill Waterpark went from $83 to $43 Deluxe Beverage Package is at $50 (this is where I bought it earlier this year, haven't seen it lower - it's been hovering between $59 and $65 for the past few weeks) Unlimited Dining Package went from $230 to $196 Chef's Table is unchanged at $94 Chops went from $63 to $59 The Key went from $23-ish to $17.99/day PDCC Floating Cabana is $1,499 (not sure of original price) PDCC Chill Island Cabanas are $399 (SOLD OUT) PDCC Zip Line is $48.99 PDCC Balloon is $36.99

I'll always have my iPhone with me, so I just bought a Dockem iPhone wallet case - two card slots on the back of the iPhone. SeaPass card in one slot, not sure what will go in the other (if anything)

14 DAYS OUT! Like clockwork, we received emails from Royal Caribbean to book our Boarding Day PCR Test for our littles. It took about 20 seconds per child, super easy. Here’s the contents of the email for those interested: Dear Guest, As promised, we’re reaching out with details about scheduling your boarding day PCR test for COVID-19, which will be conducted in the terminal by our medical services partner, BioReference Labs, for guests between the ages of 2 to 11. All unvaccinated guests ages 2 to 11 are required to take a boarding day PCR test during check-in (plus, a debarkation antigen test, which we’ll share more details onboard.) It's important to register for your boarding day PCR test as soon as possible to avoid delays in your check-in process. If you're vaccinated, please do notcomplete this registration for yourself. However, you may have received this email because you'll need to register the guest below as they are between the ages of 2 to 11 and are unvaccinated. Lastly, please note, the above boarding day PCR test is in addition to the pre-cruise PCR test for COVID-19 that guests 2 to 11 years old are required to bring a negative test result for, which must be taken 3 days before sailing and before arriving to the terminal. (insert guest-specific reservation details here) Register for your test Each guest must use their unique Reference ID listed above when registering with BioReference Labs. If someone in your travelling party has not received an email including a unique Reference ID, please contact us at 954-628-9290 or 1 (800) 256-6649. Parents, you’ll need to register for your children using your child’s unique Reference ID. Issues registering for your boarding day PCR test for COVID-19? Contact us at 954-628-9290 or 1 (800) 256-6649. Click here to register with BioReference Labs to schedule your PCR test for COVID-19. Boarding day Testing is being held at the cruise terminal, where you’ll check-in. All unvaccinated guests ages 2 to 11 will be required to take this test in order to board. Guests under 2 years of age and vaccinated guests will not be tested at the terminal. It’s important that you show up exactly at your selected check-in time. Otherwise, you may be asked to return at a later time. If you're feeling unwell, please stay home and contact us at 954-628-9290 or 1 (800) 256-6649. We will gladly work with you to reschedule or refund your cruise. After your test Our testing partner, BioReference Labs, will provide your results via email. Please note, your results will also be shared with Royal Caribbean International. If your result is negative and you’re approved to sail, we’ll look forward to welcoming you onboard! If your result is positive or inconclusive, a pier agent will share next steps with you. Rest assured, we will take care of you. And remember, please stay safe – it's important to continue wearing your mask, keeping a safe distance from others, washing your hands often, etc. We’re looking forward to seeing you onboard! Sincerely, Royal Caribbean International

Kids schedule, you say? I would love to know where I can find this elusive, magical schedule… I 100% acknowledge things are different during COVID, especially around the cruise population still unvaccinated. I also know the cruise industry is under hyper-scrutiny and is being super conservative so as not to agitate the CDC and regress in any policies. My post was a concern about the conspicuous absence of a LOT of family-oriented programming. Great point on the Christmas-oriented programming. We’re going the week after Christmas, hopefully the pop up.

Everything listed was under “Entertainment” on the 2019 Anthem Cruise Compass. There IS a scavenger hunt listed on the current Cruise Compass, we’ll definitely do that one