Jump to content

Second Anthem - NJ to Bermuda - Oct 19 to Oct 24 - LIVE(ISH)


JLMoran

Recommended Posts

Saw Joyce’s set, was 100% acoustic and 100% ballads. Really enjoyed it, and had a chance to talk with her after the show.

She’s been playing guitar for about 13 years, the last 3 on Anthem. She didn’t simply audition and get the job; she had to be personally approved by Brian May himself! And after that, she was taught and mentored by him for how to play the songs. She said he’s an absolute genius, really humble, a great guy all around to work with and learn from. And he’s really particular about who gets to be the guitarist in each production.

She’s only been doing acoustic guitar for the last few years; apparently Royal is expanding the number and variety of “intermissionists” (she said that’s the official term for the people who play those short 45-minute sets between the big performances). They want acoustic guitar players now, along with the piano players, horn groups, etc.

I did a short periscope for a few of the songs during her set, you can see it here:

https://www.pscp.tv/w/cHuV-zFXZ0VnYUdYbFdtS3Z8MW1uR2V6a1FQcVJKWLARq5Bi5-aQ4Z-8QV5rDFYhz9fsx6ojTTC5k_IYzKmr?t=3s

 

Off to dinner now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dinner last night was a lot of fun. We have 5 table-mates, although our solo companion left the table before the food was even ordered, saying he’s be right back but never showing again. The others at our table were great and we had some good conversations going the whole time. Royal did a good job of matching us all up.

As for the food itself, it was the standard Night 1 offerings:

C38D2EB7-8536-46D7-B800-965F0A6A8A26.thumb.jpeg.a4884137e2608a5ab1b2a39bf1be9d5c.jpeg

I had the creamy wild mushroom soup, escargots, salmon, and hazelnut chocolate cake. Cathy had the Caesar salad, spaghetti bolognese, and apple pie a la mode.

Yup, she fine with raisins in an apple pie. ?

I brought the Conundrum Red Blend to the MDR, and I have to say... it really doesn’t do it for me. Hard for me to say what exactly I don’t like about it, but it just didn’t work for me. I’ll finish the bottle (don’t want to waste the money, and it wasn’t that bad), but I won’t be buying it again.

As usual for the first night, service was a bit slow. But we still finished just in time for two of our companions to rush over to the 10 PM showing of The Gift, while cathy and I made our way over to Two70.

BE5E6F00-2CE6-41CB-9807-836D0D3A440B.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The schedule said that the RED night club experience didn’t start until 10:45, but at least in terms of the visual theme it was already in full swing.

BE5E6F00-2CE6-41CB-9807-836D0D3A440B.thumb.jpeg.701ab150beff4244de866792bb6b7785.jpeg

We tried one of the fruit juice concoctions they serve there, and it was quite tasty. Also covered by our Refreshment Package since it’s nonalcoholic. I like that each of the bars serves specialty “zeroproof” beverages along with the specialty cocktails.

The DJ was making some genuinely weird segues and cross-mixes, that just didn’t fit in terms of theme or styles. But the people who were there (not many ahead of the official start time) were fine to be out there enjoying themselves.

At 10:45 they official started up the RED experience, but it was still not particularly crowded. Cathy and I left around 11, went down to the casino to get our free lucky pull. Bupkis for both of us.

Since we had to set the clocks ahead an hour, we called it a night after that. Tomorrow we’re on Atlantic time and have our first full sea day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good morning, everyone!

Woke up at 7:30, tried to catch the sunrise that was due around 8 but I was too slow. Consoles myself with a nice breakfast in a nicely uncrowded Windjammer.

0A513F23-A32C-4AA1-923E-5B285725F835.thumb.jpeg.af06581be9807382026458d9b71511a5.jpeg

Off to get some coffee now, after being told the lactose-free milk in the WJ coffee bar appeared to have curdled overnight. ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Walking out of the Windjammer, I passed a station selling Bloody Marys. That reminded me that I wanted to try something @Matt did in one of his blogs:

B17C7EBF-B4E5-4B88-B7D7-80FA9D009FB0.thumb.jpeg.b20304e1cbbfa0c84a5ae4f777c11e83.jpeg

It’s already warm enough outside that I can on my balcony in shorts and t-shirt, with a good breeze from the ship’s motion, and I’m perfectly comfortable.

Espresso’s already done. Cheers!

3E9D1ADA-E30F-480C-8D69-DE33FC519673.thumb.jpeg.37698bd2fe1b4736f004adfea02b8ca9.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great first day.  Wonderful you ended up with great table mates (minus one) as that can make or break your evening dinners. 

Royal seems to always have the same/similar menu items but it's funny how on some ships, they designate a "Class Items" section (e.g. the salmon is on that section and so you can order it every night) and some they just lump everything together (and guess there are no daily items).

What is a RED show?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What?  No dinner food pics?  I am disappointed. lol

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

I brought the Conundrum Red Blend to the MDR, and I have to say... it really doesn’t do it for me. Hard for me to say what exactly I don’t like about it, but it just didn’t work for me. I’ll finish the bottle (don’t want to waste the money, and it wasn’t that bad), but I won’t be buying it again.

Yikes!  Can we still be friends? 

I like the Conundrum Red Blend because of how smooth it is.  I am not a big fan of wine, especially red, but I make an exception for Conundrum Red because of the smoothness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chalk up another cruise first for Cathy and me:

AF759B91-DC19-447E-A69B-447893AC759B.thumb.jpeg.f45ff97dca1a89c6ea7dcca841931ab8.jpeg

Our Sea Pass cards were pre-loaded with a free jackpot card with any purchase, so we figured why not? We each got the $39 pack with 6 boards per round.

Game starts in 10 minutes. Wish us luck!

 

And now I’m officially an old dude. ??

Not really, there are actually quite a few people here who look like they’re in their late 20s to early 40s. But I grew up with the stereotypical image that the only people who play Bingo are senior citizens gathered at the local Elks Club. As with most things, takes trying it out to find out the reality of a thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well this was... sorry, only words I can find are disturbing, scary, and gross.

Decided to go to the SeaPlex Dog House and try out the hot dog options. Checked out the menu, saw they had some German options...

B9A6627A-3018-448C-8404-49C6328C9F40.thumb.jpeg.85cfda59730b5ff9f33f351a8ba3530b.jpeg

Decided to give both the German and Smoke House options a shot. They were out of sauerkraut, but that’s fine. The longer one in this pic is the smoke house dog...

66A93753-464F-4F9F-89B1-07DFEB0801CC.thumb.jpeg.cb73c443e9b30b84dc162ca8f738ed02.jpeg

Decided to start with that one. Pretty good, nice smoky flavor and tastes like a good sausage mix.

And then my teeth bit down on something hard

I’m thinking it’s an usually large bit of bone, I’ve gotten that sometimes and no big deal. Just part of the sausage making process.

Nope.

It was a piece of metal! Not a tiny one, either, this was a quarter inch long and wide, basically the size of a large pine nut.

8B88BECA-A406-4CE2-8D61-947E5FA0788B.thumb.jpeg.1c472059bddb09819a683aaba94a5aa8.jpeg

I can only assume it broke off of the machine where the sausages were made. I showed it to the guy at the dog house and another crew member. They apologized profusely, I suggested really strongly that they talk with their supplier and maybe find a new one. Unsaid was that they might want to remove the remaining smoke house sausages from the serving bin.

I lost my appetite after that. No way I was finishing that smoke house one, who knows what else I might find in it and I’m wondering what was in it that I couldn’t see or taste. And I didn’t want to take my chances with the German sausage, either.

Glad I had a couple slices at Sorrento’s before this. They really have improved the pizza; still not New Jersey good, but way better than what I had on Freedom.

Currently sitting in front of the North Star bar while I type this up. It’s nice out, helping to offset my mood after that unpleasant food experience.

8E371297-1F4F-4B58-9007-01995928D6E4.thumb.jpeg.11b659d59bcabc8af22574a9b33ee8a8.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I decided I should formally report the sausage matter to Guest Services. Not because I’m looking for something — I’m not injured, not even a cracked tooth — but because I felt like that might be a larger safety issue to be looked into. Maybe nothing beyond an utterly random accident at the plant, but why take chances?

The senior officer working the line for quick triage items was visibly appalled when I showed her the picture of the piece of metal. She immediately thanked me for not just telling the guy at the Dog House, because she wanted to have a formal report of that on record that could go to upper management. Said also they would definitely be taking that up with the supplier.

Duty is done, back to cruise enjoyment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, the ship really wants to make amends over this.

I got a call from the Windjammer Manager about 20 minutes ago. Got another apology and thank-you for reporting the issue at Guest Services so they had the formal record. Was told not only are they going to speaking to the supplier, but also their own QC team that picks up the shipments.

After this, I was asked to confirm our table in the MDR, and then offered complementary specialty dining in any venue of our choice. Initially asked if we wanted it tonight, but we already had all of our plans timed out around MDR schedule so I asked if it could be a different night. Was told no problem, and that he’d send his business card so I could call him after I had a chance to talk with Cathy and figure out which night and venue.

It arrived about 10 minutes later, attached to this:

86A24DD4-2F38-4F3D-94F2-53B33CBDAE62.thumb.jpeg.5aaa1c21d967f7216162c5aacc96abc5.jpeg

Say what you want about Royal; when they are politely notified about a matter like this, with zero histrionics and no demands or even requests for compensation, they seriously go out of their way to let you know it’s being treated with all seriousness, and that you are part of that treatment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update to the above post: We’re now scheduled for Jamie’s Italian in place of our Solarium Bistro dinner on Night 4. And when I spoke with the manager, he asked if we drank alcohol and was prepared to get a bottle of whatever I wanted, but honestly I’m fine just bringing my other bottle of wine with me like I was already planning to do. Told him as much, although I’ve no doubt that if I had asked, he’d have given a bottle of the La Vite super-Tuscan I had at Chef’s Table and not batted an eye.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Challenging day in Bermuda so far today, thanks to the “busted wheel” I’m dealing with. Have some pics on the good cam, taking more in a little while when we do our sunset catamaran sailing.

May not have a chance to edit the pics tonight, but worse comes to worst I’ve got the last sea day to take care of things like that.

Oh, and I’m starting to enjoy The Caledonian Gambit. Been a long time since I read for fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Got some very nice sunset pics using the Sony camera. Sorry to be a tease, but trust me when I say that they came out better than anything I got on the phone.

And those of you who like clouds (@DDaley, was it?)... you’ll probably be quite happy. ?

It wasss me! 

I have literally hundreds of sunsets in my phone because I can never resist snapping them. ?

IMG_0781 copy.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good morning, all! Off to Horseshoe Bay this morning, in spite of some really heavy overcast that’s hanging around. Hoping to get some more pics this morning before we head back to the ship around lunch time.

After that I’ll be staying on the ship while Cathy goes to the Clocktower Mall for some shopping. And I’ll be doing photo triage and some initial editing, as I successfully pulled all of yesterday’s photos (well over 100) into the iPad!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes later and the beach to my right became a solid line of umbrellas, but still only a few people to my left. Ship excursion was due around a half hour later, and now it’s umbrellas all the way on my right, still only a smattering on my left, and almost no one sitting on towels in front of us.

Very glad that we asked for almost all the way to the “cutoff line” and all the way forward that umbrellas could go. No chance of losing our great sight line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just hit noontime. Current view to my right (towards the beach entrance / exit)...

9361BAFF-2F25-4067-86F9-BA1D6551475B.thumb.jpeg.e49725178f48e17381b3df4137a1c86f.jpeg

...and to my left.

220044FE-4427-4C9D-BED2-0F21AD8E0303.thumb.jpeg.786708e915ff5d28c8fc8c7de4037e43.jpeg

 

Seriously, folks. Get here as early as you can, on day 2 (or 3 if you’re lucky enough to get 2 overnights), and ask to walk as far down the beach and as close to the water as they’ll take you. And tip the guy 5 bucks for his trouble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/20/2019 at 8:35 AM, WannaCruise said:

Great first day.  Wonderful you ended up with great table mates (minus one) as that can make or break your evening dinners. 

That is so true. Royal once matched us up with two other Russian couples (who were friends/family) who spoke English fine, but spoke Russian to each other. They did apologize but it was easier for them to communicate in Russian. They also would translate some of the jokes for us which was nice. While we weren't offended by any means, it was just uncomfortable, and we ended up seeking other dining venues on most of the 9 nights. We never went back to traditional dinning again, we are 100% team mytime. Sad because we met friends at traditional dining and we are very close still to this day.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like you're having a great time @JLMoran, I am just catching up on all of this now! Really glad to see Royal's reaction when you weren't even complaining, just making them aware. They usually do a solid job of making it right, and that's what matters to me as a customer. Looking forward to the rest of your messages, maybe I'll even watch you sail away on the port cam!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back on the ship and have sailed out of Bermuda. Blog is going to get a little out of order now, as I continue giving little mini-updates in live manner while working on the photos taken with the good camera.

Off to see the sunset, then dinner at Jamie’s Italian.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...