JLMoran

SISTER?!?!? :: said in best Darth Vader voice ::

If Football ends up going to the semifinals, will Soccer end up getting treated as a solo cruiser? I'm assuming it's you and Mr. in room 1, Soccer and Football in room 2, and College / Cutie in room 3.

@RCVoyager, very sorry for your loss. And that was really classy of Gaelic Storm. So many performers wouldn’t interact or get so involved with the passengers, never mind remember them over the course of years.

So no duck lips selfie while holding up my food to fit in the picture? ?

This is just all kinds of awesome! ? Good luck to Football Ski and his team! And safe travels for College Ski!

The Forgotten Thought – Drink Package One thing I meant to talk about in my final thoughts and totally forgot about was the whole drink package thing. Specifically, was it worth it? I had never meant to buy it, figuring a five night sailing with an overnight port day where I might not be drinking on the ship at all might not be the best conditions for the package. And when I first looked back on it after getting home, I thought that buying it just because of the $42/night sale price was a mistake. I was feeling massive pressure to drink more the last two nights because of the fact that there was no bar option at Wonderland, so I ended up drinking hardly anything that day, exactly as I had thought might happen. But after working out the breakdown of what I really needed to "break even" every day on another thread, based on that $42/night, I've since realized that I wasn't ever "behind" on the package. What did I need? At $13 covered per drink, and everything alcoholic I had on board being that much or more, it worked out to one cappuccino and 3 cocktails (or glasses of wine) a day; that's one more alcoholic drink a day than I typically have at home. After going through my daily tally, I was actually ahead by four cocktails ($52) at the end of the trip, all of them from the last two nights. My worries about that were totally unfounded, and that pressure was all my own doing from psyching myself out. So, the drink package was totally worth it. I could have skipped out on those two extra cocktails that I felt I had to have each of the last two days, drank at my typical vacation level (including my daily cappuccinos and the odd OJ), and been totally fine. Will I buy it again, given I'm going back next year? It seems like $50 is the lowest people have been reporting so far for 2019 drink package sales. If I can get a rate at or slightly below it, I think I will do it again so I have that part of the trip paid in advance. The extra $8 per day would translate to a second cappuccino (which I was already having most days) and a couple of bottles of water, or one premium beer. I'd be OK with just the one extra cappuccino and leaving a few dollars on the table each day. Considering I typically indulge the most on embarkation day, I'd likely take care of any "gap" on day one and have nothing to worry about anyway.

I work with Heather from MEI Travel, who is a sponsor of the site. Very good TA, knowledgeable about multiple cruise lines and not just Royal. For all my bookings she's always been proactive in checking the sales, but never has a problem when I email her after my own daily obsessive price check and ask her to re-run the numbers. ?

My reasons for not looking at the Oasis class are more around the itineraries they offer than the ship's amenities or size. There just aren't enough ports capable of accommodating a ship that huge, so the itinerary selections are far too limited for me. It's basically the same 8-ish ports between eastern and western Caribbean, plus Labadee and Coco Cay, for every Oasis class ship, with nothing else available. I'm still too new to cruising to be OK with a "the ship is the destination" itinerary; I want to experience lots of destinations and lots of cultures and sights and activities -- the Southern Caribbean / ABC islands, the Mediterranean and Adriatic, Scandinavia, etc. Eventually, I'll be too mobility limited with my feet to do that sort of thing any more, and that will probably be the time when the O sisters start becoming more appealing. Of course, by that point I'll also be retired and most likely living a lot closer to Florida, so sailing on one of those sisters will be a lot easier, too! ?

Susie, depending on the ship you should be able to find a sale that brings the JS price much closer to the cost of a balcony. Granted, that math might require looking at the current JS price vs. your original balcony booking price, but it does happen. For my Anthem cruise that I just went on last month, I dug through my old emails to see how the pricing worked out. I had originally booked a 4D "on the bump" balcony room the day the itineraries were announced in late March, 2017, for $2,164.40 (which included Royal's trip insurance). At the time, a JS was around 1.75 times the price. But about 3 months later I caught a sale that dropped the JS rate down to a more comfortable premium, while the Balcony rates barely moved at all (only dropped $35 on that sale). I ended up being able to get our J4 JS room for a 35% premium (~$750 more) over my original 4D balcony rate, partly by switching from a refundable to a non-refundable deposit (which also got us $150 in OBC). Even after that original grab, I kept watching the prices and was able to drop my rate by another $200 while keeping $125 of the OBC by catching a BOGO60 sale when I was 3 months out from final payment. Final price was $2,719.14, just over 25% more than my original balcony rate (which still hadn't really changed over all these sales; I'd been tracking that, too, so I'd know how this change was working out for me overall). Key is to watch the pricing and at a minimum check at the start of each new promotion when Matt posts about it here. As soon as you see a price drop that puts it into your comfort zone, call your TA and ask them to price it out, and if it's still good then YOLO!

Whoops! Yup, I have yet to keep those two ships straight! ?

If Adventure were the only ship in town through the summer, then she'd have to cover the 5-night Bermuda and 9-night Eastern Caribbean sailings Anthem normally does during that time, which would mean no 6-night CA/NE trips alternating with 8-night Bahamas and Perfect Day. If we do get a Freedom class ship (and based on another thread here, the betting is on Independence coming here from Galveston while that port gets an Oasis class ship), then I'd imagine it would take the place of Anthem so that Adventure could continue her CA/NE trips through the summer and go to those ports that she's better sized for.

Final thoughts, in no particular order: I am not a fan of the WOW band. Every time I wore it, my wrist would sweat like crazy even when the surrounding area was chilly with air conditioning; it didn't matter how loosely I'd wear it, something about the band's material just doesn't agree with my skin. And while the tap terminals were all in reach everywhere I tried using it, it was awkward to do so unless I rotated the band to put the medallion on the inside of my wrist; and then I'd have to flip it back around when I wanted to unlock our cabin door. I gave up by Day 2 and just carried my Sea Pass card everywhere. The Junior Suite was absolutely a really nice splurge, and much nicer than a regular balcony. But I still had a couple of nitpicks. The separate tub and shower are nice in concept, but I was the only person to use the tub, and that was only once to soak my aching feet for a bit. The shower door can't be closed tightly from inside the shower, as there's no handle on the inside; even when it was as well-sealed as we could managed, the gap between the door and bottom of the door frame allowed a good bit of water to get out onto the bathroom floor, making for slightly slippery tile and a wet bath mat. I completely agree with what others here have said about the crowd flow in The Via on deck 4, and Royal Esplanade on deck 5; those areas have far too many choke points, which are worse on days that the shops have displays set up in the corridor. Generally, pretty small potatoes. On the whole, Anthem is a pretty good ship and I'm glad to have this option in my "backyard", so that I can take cruises without having to fly to Florida or another port. But how does Anthem compare to Freedom? Anthem didn't really feel all that much bigger than Freedom, or (when not in the Via or Esplanade) any more crowded than Freedom Anthem is much better when it comes to the top-tier headline shows (Spectra's Cabaret and We Will Rock You); but if I decide to sail Anthem regularly, how many times can I really see those before it starts to wear thin? I know they don't change out shows more than once every decade or so, when the ships undergo major refurbishments, and Anthem's only been in service for 3 years; a long way to go before there's a change on that front. At the same time, I felt Anthem's other available theater entertainment was a little worse than Freedom's (see The Las Vegas Tenors) Maybe short sailings like this one don't get as good a set of performers as longer sailings, and if I take a longer sailing I'll find that it's better overall. Certainly, after reading @firebuck's blog, that does seem to be a good possibility, as we had no cover band; no extra shows in Two70 besides Tonight at Two70, one robo show, and Spectra; and none of the other extra performances that he'd noted on his 7-night trip. North Star is a very nice feature on this ship, but the reality is that if you're not in port then all you have to look at from up there is the ship. But Freedom doesn't have it at all, so still a point for Anthem. Vintages on Anthem was a disappointment compared to Freedom. The wine selection was far smaller, and the vast majority of what was offered was only available as full bottles, not by the glass. Bearing in mind that I only had one experience with it, I found the American Icon Grille MDR on Anthem disappointing. I much preferred the multi-story grand dining room on Freedom, and I have to say that I'm glad the newer ships like Symphony are going back to that design. Hopefully whatever follows Spectrum of the Seas in the Quantum class will also follow suit. That said, I have no idea if my impressions would have been different if I'd eaten dinner in one of the other dining rooms like Grande or Chic. As a ship, Anthem's overall quality and design was for the most part quite a bit nicer than Freedom. While a modern ship, it didn't have the metal-and-glass ultra-modern decor and style of other new ships like Seaside, which I definitely appreciated. I loved the design and decor of Coastal Kitchen, that was definitely one of my favorite spaces on the whole ship. I thought the Solarium on Anthem was light years better and nicer than Freedom's; having four hot tubs instead of two definitely doesn't hurt It was nice having Izumi available on Anthem instead of the to-go cart that Freedom had There were small room details on Anthem that I really appreciated and others that I found a bit disappointing As weird as it sounds, the balcony door was a high point of the room. The ones on Freedom were an exercise in testing my strength, where the ones on Anthem slid incredibly easily while still locking securely. At the risk of maybe sounding a bit too much like @monorailmedic, I really appreciate the engineering and design that went into those balcony doors on Anthem The USB outlets, while nice to have, were the low-power variety that can only charge phones and other devices at a trickle; it was a good thing I still brought my Anker charging hub So speaking as an adult passenger, I have to say that Anthem wins this competition against Freedom. How would she rate, though, if it were my teenage kids sailing on her? Honestly, my older daughter probably wouldn't be any more impressed or enjoy the sea days any better. I know she'd almost certainly love Spectra and We Will Rock You, and she might appreciate the live band(s) in the Music Hall. But those are all evening activities.During the daytime, I think she'd still find herself somewhat bored since she doesn't like just sitting around at a pool doing nothing, isn't a trivia buff, and (oddly, given she's a singer) isn't into karaoke. My younger daughter would definitely love all the extra dining options and chances to try some different styles of cuisine. If we could get a JS for CK access she'd probably think that she'd died and gone to heaven. I'm guessing she'd also appreciate all the art on display throughout the ship, as she's the artist of the family, and would also enjoy the live band(s) in the Music Hall. We'd have to go on a sailing with more kids, though, as she would want to have some people to socialize with. So Anthem was definitely a winner for us. But far more than Anthem, Bermuda was the standout of this trip. It is such a beautiful place, and so different from the Caribbean island experience, that we left wanting to get back as soon as we could. There's still a lot of the island we haven't seen, particularly Hamilton, and we want to see some of the other beaches that are considered the best on the island. I hadn't really planned on doing another cruise for 2019, seeing as I'm holding out hope for a 2020 CA/NE cruise in the summer. But over the last two weeks we found ourselves looking at what our options were for getting back next October or November. And then the BOGO60 sale stuck around through November, and before I knew it we ended up booking this exact same trip again for October of 2019! Just a regular balcony this time, and only because we lucked out with a really good rate that keeps the monthly pay-down low. 2020 is still on the radar, just waiting for the itineraries to come out and any announcement from Matt! So that's all of it. Apologies for taking almost a month from the trip ending to finally get this wrapped up, especially when some of you have been looking for this ahead of your own upcoming sailings on Anthem; work and regular life have been keeping me tied up since getting back, and photo editing always takes longer than I expect. Thanks for following along! I'll be back next October for the repeat voyage!

Day 6 - Debarkation Day (a.k.a., The Day of Great Sorrows) I woke up at 6:15, much too late to catch us going back under the Verrazano but early enough that I got some great pre-dawn views of the New York City skyline and surrounding area. I saw the ferry crossing the river and remembered that it was Thursday; people were already up and going to work. Before long, we were pulling into the port, the sun still not yet risen. The sun came up, as it must every day, and we were that much closer to the time we'd be very politely told to please GTFO. I re-checked my folio and confirmed that the gratuities had indeed been removed. Our only charges were for the clothes we'd bought on board, my wine overages, and the tips I'd left. I emailed Heather so she knew that there was nothing more to worry about besides getting the charge properly applied so the staff could get the tips they'd earned. We grabbed our carry-ons, and after leaving Allen a much-deserved WOW envelope we headed up to the Windjammer for our final breakfast on board. It was absolute chaos there. I got cut off while trying to get on the omelette station line, and then when we were told there was another station that was basically empty, I think I may have inadvertently done the same to a woman who had been standing there; meanwhile, the other woman who had cut me off before... very deliberately and actively did it to both of us. Again, in my case! I shook my head, looked apologetically at the other woman who I was afraid I'd cut off, and very happily answered "no" when asked by her if the woman who'd cut us both off was my wife. After breakfast, we headed down to Two70 to wait for our turn to get off. We actually got there just in time to snag one last round of cappuccinos, plus a couple of bottled waters, with our packages still in effect. I overheard the couple in front of us on the coffee line comment that they were going to be right back on board, apparently doing the CA/NE sailing that evening. Ooooohhhh, was I jealous! The final GTFO call came at 9:50, sooner than expected. We headed off the ship and made our way back into the port terminal. The porters were calling out for anyone who wanted to get a porter and skip the long customs line, but the line was moving pretty quickly; with so little luggage to deal with, we (and most of the others we saw) just trundled our bags along and stuck with the main line. I'm guessing that porters are not big fans of these short sailings when it comes to the tips they were losing out on. When we got to the customs area, they were separating out people with passports from those who just had their driver's license and birth certificate. We got in the passport group and, like @firebuck on his sailing, we just had to look into a camera for a few seconds and were cleared to leave. Meanwhile, the no-passports line was crawling forward. People, when you go on a cruise, bring your passports! They really do save time and aggravation! Ship to curb was all of 30 minutes, tops. Once we got outside, I paid for our parking and we were on the road. We got home at 11:30, much to our older daughter's surprise. She had come home to walk the dog and wasn't expecting us home yet. Here's my sea pass. Now I just need to get a gold one and a purple one! And here is the sand from Horseshoe Bay that had gotten trapped in my water shoes, and that I found all over my suitcase when I unpacked that afternoon. I certainly wasn't going to just throw it away! You can clearly see the red flecks that give it that distinctive pink color.

No problem, @Susie. Have a great cruise!

Really! Official web site page said 10:30 when I had checked, so that's good to know for Round 2 next October!

Hi @Susie. I was also at Cape Liberty right around the same time as @firebuck, will try and help you out. The port opens at 10:30 AM, boarding usually starts by about 11:00 as long as the ship doesn't have any delays due to Coast Guard inspections or the like. My wife and I also went there on a Saturday, but we live only about an hour away from the port. We left our home a little after 10 AM, and even when we were getting close to the port around 10:45, the traffic was pretty much nonexistent until we actually got onto the side roads leading into the port. I would imagine that as you get closer to the afternoon hours, the traffic will steadily increase. If you don't plan on being there right when the port opens, which would mean leaving your house at 6 or 6:30 AM, I'd suggest shooting for a 12 PM arrival so you have a buffer for any random traffic accidents or other delays. The road that goes into the port and up to the passenger and luggage drop-off area is two lanes, both of them are fine for getting to the drop-off areas. Traffic moves very slowly but steadily. Pay attention to the port staff once you get through the port's entry gate, they are directing traffic and will tell you which drop-off station to use. Once you've dropped off your luggage, continue to follow the road past passenger pickup and you'll see the parking garage on your right.

I took a look at their web site, not sure that you can arrange a rental ahead of time over the phone or through their site but no harm in trying. From the pictures this is definitely the same outfit that we saw, including the rental booth on the beach. And they are the only outfit. Horseshoe Bay isn't so large a beach that they could set up more than one bar or rental booth, and the guy who set up our equipment showed us a rope line set up about halfway down the beach that he said they weren't allowed to cross with any of the rental stuff. And I believe they set up purely on a first-come, first-served basis wherever they have space. That's how it was operating for all the folks waiting in line while we were there. Again, might not be the case but they will likely confirm once you give them a call. If you have concerns about the grandkids getting bored while waiting, there is a small grotto / tidepool like area just to the right as you enter the beach. The water there is very shallow and calm, no waves at all as it's totally sheltered by large volcanic outcroppings. The grandkids and one or two of the adults could go there and have something to do while the rentals were squared away, and you wouldn't have to worry about the grandkids being at risk from a big wave or anything. My wife and I saw lots of little kids there with their parents, so I imagine they'd have no problems finding some other kids to play and have fun with. Then once the rental gear is all set up, you can go get them and bring them all over to enjoy the full ocean. Last comment is that people there all respected chairs or loungers with no one in them, with no stealing of unoccupied rentals; my wife and I left our one lounger for around an hour while she swam and I explored the beach and grottoes, with just our sneakers and water shoes left there, and it was untouched and unmoved when we came back. We offered it to a couple of other visitors when we left, since the rentals are all-day and we had to leave at lunch time, but if we hadn't done that it probably would have just sat there empty the whole time.

On my Anthem sailing a few weeks ago, we didn't even have to pull out the Set Sail pass to charge drinks or other items, at least at the Cafe Two70 coffee kiosk. Guy there was just writing down people's names and room numbers on a PostIt pad. Might have just been that his scanner was broken.

According to the article, one of the ship's stabilizer fins malfunctioned and caused the problem.

Day 5 - Sea Day (continued) We Will Rock You was abso-freaking-lutely amazing!! What everyone says about it starting slow is certainly true, and there's no denying it's one of the most contrived plots out there to get the songs to fit some kind of narrative. But man, what a show! All of the performers were great, and the band was phenomenal; their guitarist looks like she's still in her 20s but she was crushing it like someone who's been playing for over 40! The sets looked really good, and I'm amazed at how many set pieces they have for this one show that they swap out in really short order, some of them rising up out of or dropping down into the stage floor. After seeing @twangster's pics from the backstage tour for Hairspray and how crowded the backstage area was with all the set pieces for that show, I can only imagine what backstage (and under the stage) must look like with this one! One of the supporting actors had some mic trouble early on, which caused him to have to switch over to a hand-held mic in the middle of his scene; he totally took it in stride and just kept acting through the sound drop-outs until the hand-held was brought out to him, and spoke clearly and loudly enough through it that I think everyone in the theater could make out his lines. His cast-mates help get the mic out to him, moving as if it was all part of their choreography for the scene. Some definite pros at work, there. Apart from that one small technical glitch, the show went flawlessly. The actors who play Galileo Figaro and Scaramouche were absolute stand-outs, belting out song after song; they also looked like they had some good on-stage chemistry going, so parts like them falling for each other were more believable. They and all the cast and band members totally earned the standing ovation they got at the end of the show. If I had seen the evening showing, it would have been a fantastic way to wrap up the final sea day. But we saw the matinee, and we still had half of that day left to go. How the heck was I going to top that on-board experience? Well, before I could do that I had to spend a little more time on the gratuities situation. My TA had emailed me back during the show and she was not happy. Royal had no record of the charge for my gratuities and were saying that they must have never processed the charge. A quick check of my most recent credit card statement put the lie to that; that charge was literally the very first one on the page! I emailed Heather back and let her know that; she said that as long as they did indeed roll back the on-board charges for gratuities that I had requested, we'd be good and she would straighten it all out so that Allen and the wait staff would properly get their gratuities from me. So I put that on the back burner again, as I wouldn't really know about the reversal until the next day, and got back to enjoying my final day of this trip. We decided to get one last time in at the thermal spa, and spent about an hour up there. Had some nice conversation in the sauna with another New Jerseyan, who owned a shipping warehouse not far from where my wife used to work when our kids were younger. After taking advantage of everything the thermal spa had to offer, we checked out for the last time. Cathy got in three visits all told, while I had only gotten in twice; while it was nice to have this as another thing to do on our trip, we agreed we wouldn't spend the money on it again as we didn't really feel like we were able to use it enough to justify the price. Maybe on a longer trip with more sea days, but not this one. Remember how I said that the chefs at CK had almost pulled out all the stops yesterday. They saved the absolute best for last. Check out this menu. I'm not gonna like, I ate like a man on death row getting his last meal. I started off with a final round of escargots, plus the forest mushroom terrine... and the fennel soup... These were paired with a pinot noir, "Spy Valley". I've honestly been afraid to try pinot noir before, after seeing the movie "Sideways" with Paul Giamatti; at one point his character talks about how pinot can be really hit or miss, even from bottle to bottle within the same vintner, and I tend to believe that script writers don't usually put statements like that in there without doing at least some research on it first (lest the critics pounce on it); so after hearing that, I'd never felt like spending my money to try it out. Well, I had the drink package, and Amar recommended it as a good pairing with these entrees, so I figured why not? It was better than I expected, and I may get a bottle for at home at some point, but for now the one glass was enough. For my entree, I had the saffron linguine, and shared an order of the cauliflower fried rice with Cathy. Sorry, forgot to take pictures of those last two. I paired these up with a glass of my favorite Chianti, the Marchesi de'Frescobaldi Chianti Ruffina, "Castello di Nipozzano" -- aka "#684". ? Cathy changed up her appetizer from the usual Caesar salad and had the Pizzette, followed by the sirloin steak and the shared cauliflower fried rice. Everything was phenomenal, the chefs really outdid themselves tonight. And we hadn't even had dessert yet! Before I get to the desserts, let me give the final riddles of our trip. First up was this, which Cathy and I both had heard before and I'm guessing you may have as well: "Poor people have it, rich people need it; if you eat it, you'll die." We both just just needed a few minutes to dredge up the answer from memory, and shortly had two pieces of Dove chocolate to enjoy with our dessert. The second was another stick puzzle, which neither of us figured out. I'm not going to give the drawing this time, I'll just type it out since it involves numbers: | + | = || Pretend it's Roman numerals, so you have one and one equals two. Long sticks for the roman 1's, short sticks to form the plus and equals sign. Now, move just one stick so you get an expression or equation with regular decimal numbers that totals 130. Yes, it can be done, and yes the answer will have you smacking your head. So, time for dessert! The dessert menu was also a set of impossible choices. Cathy and I both had the Chocolate and Berries Sundae; mine with chocolate and strawberry ice cream, while Cathy got chocolate and vanilla. But I didn't want to miss out on the Dulce de Leche Crème Brûlée, so I decided to order that as well. With a cappuccino. The crème brûlée was fantastic, and while the sundae was also very good I just could not eat all of it. I finished off the strawberry ice cream part, and Cathy got to enjoy some extra chocolate on top of her own. While we enjoyed our desserts, Amar had one final gift for us for solving so many of his riddles over the trip -- It was a key ring that had small replicas of all the local currency notes from Mauritius, which he wanted us to have as a keepsake and reminder of our trip and time in CK. We really appreciated it, it was quite a unique key ring! He had some time for chit-chat, and we asked him how much time was left on his current contract. He told us he was on Anthem for just three more sailings -- the final CA/NE that was leaving the next day, followed by one more trip to Bermuda and then a 9-night Bahamas sailing. After that, he was going home for a little over 3 months before coming back to work on Anthem in March for his next contract. He said that while he was at home he'd be helping his mother finish getting her house remodeled, as the contractors working on it needed pretty constant oversight to make sure they were doing a good job. He was hoping they'd finish before he had to leave again, or they might end up leaving his mom with some shoddy work at the end. We also had a chance to talk more with our head waiter. We found out he was from India, descended from the British colonists who had stayed there after the country won its independence and who had married the native people. He was missing his family a lot, especially his youngest daughter who he wasn't getting to see grow up nearly as much as he'd like. It was tough to hear, and a reminder that the folks who make our trips so phenomenal are giving up a lot to have these jobs and support their families through them. Amar brought out the final check for me to sign to cover my typical wine overage. I had been tipping him a bit extra each night already, but tonight I made sure to give him an extra-large tip for all the great service he'd given every night. We had only gotten one WOW envelope, and I hadn't thought to pick up another from Guest Services, so this was the best way to be sure he got that extra. By this point I was rapidly realizing that I really should not have ordered so many things, or at least not eaten every last bite of them all. Between the sheer amount of food, guzzling down my cappuccino and getting a caffeine rush, and the ship starting to really rock and roll as the weather got worse through dinner, I was getting a little unsettled. Since we still had to pack and get our bags out for pickup, we went back to the cabin where I could be pretty sure the motion would be a lot less, and where the distraction of packing would help me get through the queasiness. We had both packed just about exactly the right amount of clothes and other stuff, so packing was pretty much just a matter of tossing all the dirty stuff into the suitcases. We had group 50 for our tags, which was close to the last departure group. While we were packing, we heard the wind positively howling outside the balcony door. The ship movement was modest enough in our room that I wasn't worried about taking a peek outside, and as soon as I opened the balcony door and looked down at the ocean, I understood why the movement was so pronounced through dinner. I couldn't take a picture, but just take the rough seas @Neaxan had put some video of in her live blog and change from day to night; you'll have a pretty good idea. All I could see around us in the bright moonlight was big waves and massive expanses of white froth. There wasn't any rain as far as I could tell, it was just tremendously windy and that seemed to be the main thing churning up the ocean. Packing done and our suitcases in the hall, I was feeling just about back to normal. And we still wanted to do our plan of getting in some hot tub time. So we threw on our bathing suits and headed over to the Solarium. I remembered a tip from JimZim in his YouTube review of Anthem -- if you go to passenger deck 13, and walk all the way forward, you can get into the lowest level of the solarium by the hot tubs without ever having to set foot outside. Well, we found the door, but neither one of us could open it! It wasn't locked, we could turn the knob and we saw the door shift a tiny bit if we really put our weight into it. But the air pressure difference was so tremendous between that hallway and the Solarium, probably because of the observation wing doorway that was right next to where this door opened up, that it flat-out would not budge! So, we walked back to the nearest stairwell and went up the one deck to the pool level. The automatic doors here were working normally, and we were able to get into the indoor pool area and finally into the Solarium. Being all the way forward, the ship was moving pretty noticeably; the pool are was roped off, but the hot tubs were still open and there wasn't a soul there. We chose one and got in, and enjoyed the hot water and the jets on our still-stiff legs. A handful of people came into the area after us, but there were still three unoccupied hot tubs and everyone got to enjoy their own private space. I made it about 20 minutes before the combination of the hot water and the ship's motion here got me feeling green around the gills again. I headed back to the room while Cathy stayed a little longer, took a quick shower to cool off and finally went to bed to just sleep it off. The final day's drink tally: 1 fresh-squeezed orange juice 2 cappuccinos 2 cocktails (my "She's a Geisha" from Izumi, and a margarita I had while watching We Will Rock You) 2 glasses of wine I definitely was feeling the drink fatigue by the end of today, amplified somewhat by my mild seasickness. I realize in hindsight that I let myself fall into the trap of worrying about "catching up" with my drink package and the "shortfall" from our first port day, when I needn't have bothered. Fact of the matter is that I'd had enough on the other days that I didn't need to have anything extra today, and I could have skipped the margarita and one of the two glasses of wine with no problem.

LOL! I think that's the first time I've seen "redpilled" used in any context outside The Matrix or a certain men's activism group.

That's awesome that you're up that much on day one! What's your casino game of choice? And can I ask you rub off some of your good luck next October when I'm back on Anthem? I need something to thaw out the craps tables when I show up. ?

I have to say that this wasn't an issue I ran into, thankfully. No real sound bleed to speak of, at least that I noticed. Maybe where we got seated there was more than just the curtain to help us feel more secluded. Won't argue that, the pictures make that clear as day.

@Lovetocruise2002, is your calculation right for the Deluxe + Refreshment line? You said Deluxe for $50 plus $18 for hubby's Refreshment package, so shouldn't the daily combined cost be $68? And because I got the mention here for the "spreadsheet"... ? My last two cruises, I've gotten the Deluxe package at $42/day, which seems to be the best that one could get for a 2018 sailing. 2019 doesn't seem to be going this low, but at $42/day I could easily break even just doing this: One 16oz specialty coffee with breakfast (about $4.50) Two glasses of wine with dinner, or one glass plus a Bailey's on the rocks with dessert ($26 total covered on Anthem, usually went a few bucks over per wine glass because wine snob ?) One sailaway margarita or other cocktail ($13) Total: $43.50 I have two beers or two glasses of wine with dinner at home just about every night, and a coffee every morning, so all I'm really adding to my daily routine is the sail-away cocktail. At $50 a day, which seems to be the going rate for 2019, I just need one more cappuccino (easily done, was doing this most days my last sailing) and I'm so close that I can deal with the $2 a day "loss". Long as you don't have too many port days, it's not that hard to "keep up" without feeling like you're overindulging.

Love your review of Wonderland, @Neaxan! The menu is a little different from the one on Anthem, so I'm wondering if changes are coming to the fleet (maybe in response to more guests than your husband not being big fish fans!). The decor there also looks far nicer and varied than what we saw on Anthem (e.g., bigger variety of chair styles and designs), not to mention that it looks much more brightly lit. Can I ask if the room was actually dark and you just used the flash or a longer exposure to get your pictures looking that well-lit, or was the restaurant lighting truly not all that dim? We felt like we were eating in a cave at times, it was so dim in there, and we had noticed they actually raised the lights a little as our meal was coming to an end. @twangster or maybe @monorailmedic, either one of you happen to know if Anthem was one of the first ships to have a Wonderland? Just wondering if the difference in decor is due to age, and maybe when Anthem goes in for a dry dock they'll do a small cosmetic upgrade to get it looking more in line with the other restaurants in the fleet.