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

[JLMoran]

Jamie’s was good, more so for the fact we didn’t pay for anything beyond gratuity. Service was great, as I’d expect for a specialty venue. But there were definitely some misses among the hits when it came to the food.

We started with three appetizers: the Burrata, the truffle arancini, and the “ultimate” garlic bread.

The arancini were fantastic, the burrata was very good, and the garlic bread... I’m sorry, but I am Italian (ok, if I’m going to be 100% accurate, I’m Sicilian); no self-respecting Italian would even think of making anything called garlic bread with “buttermilk biscuits”!! This is why I was worried when I knew it was a Brit whose name is associated with this venue.

Mains were a large helping of Truffle Tagliatelle for me, while Cathy had the Calabrian Chicken entree and a small portion of the Tagliatelle Bolognese. No photos, forgot to take one before we dug in. See, I knew how good the truffle Tagliatelle was, and just had to start in as soon as it arrived!

Just as amazing as when I had it at Chef’s Table last year. Cathy agreed it was really good. She also likes her bolognese, and said the chicken was good, too.

And now, dessert.

I had the Pavlova, with a small portion of tiramisu on the side there.

Cathy had the Epic Brownie.

Brownie got two thumbs up, but I found the Pavlova to be far too sweet for a dessert as large as it is. It’s a baked meringue, with raspberry, mint leaves, and crushed honeycomb. The meringue part is 100% a match for my Nonna’s forgotten kisses recipe, minus the chocolate chips she added. Those were really sweet as bite-size items; this dessert was at least 10 times as large, and I just couldn’t finish it.

The tiramisu wasn’t bad as such, but wasn’t great either. I still haven’t found one to match my mom’s, or my “great-aunt-in-law” Pam’s.

Our server, Foued, was fantastic; very attentive and helpful. Made sure to leave him a good tip based on what the meal would have cost if I’d bought it myself, as I’m assuming the wait staff gets no gratuity for complementary meals like mine.

Had the La Volte with this meal, was outstanding as always.

[JLMoran]

22 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

You should have put a big heart around your names !

The tide was coming in fast, and it was all Cathy could do to write it before it got wiped out by the next wave.

[JLMoran]

Lunch, appetizer, nuff said

[JLMoran]

...and main course, tonkotsu ramen.

[Ray]

24 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

...and main course, tonkotsu ramen.

I have tried some strange foods over the years in various countries including Dangitt ( photo of the fish) in the Philippines, but your pic i had to google to find out what it was and to be honest i don't think it's for me !! lol 

[ellcee]

Izumi's Ramen is gooooooood.

[JLMoran]

Lunch is done, met a very nice (and friendly ) Canadian couple while I was there. Their first time sailing Royal after sailing a few other lines, including Celebrity. No surprise, really, but they like Royal best now. Said entertainment is the best of the bunch.

Had to stop by my room, found these unfortunate reminders that all good things do come to an end.

Glad to see that they gave us the requested latest possible GTFO slot, at least.

As of right now, I’ve edited the photos of us wandering Hamilton’s main road. Lot of pics to go, so the story of our Bermuda day probably won’t happen until after we’re home.

[JLMoran]

28 minutes ago, Ray said:

I have tried some strange foods over the years in various countries including Dangitt ( photo of the fish) in the Philippines, but your pic i had to google to find out what it was and to be honest i don't think it's for me !! lol

Ramen is a fairly big thing here in the states, but mainly the cheap and sodium-smothered stuff that stereotypical poor college kids survive on. We’ve only recently started getting real ramen joints in NJ; although if you searched hard before now, you could find them in a couple of major cities that sit across the river from Manhattan as well as Manhattan itself.

It was... ok. The pork was dry and inedible on one end, no line of tender seared fat to give it flavor like you find in the better places. Vegetable selection seemed a bit more authentically Japanese than the NJ places use (I mean, who in Japan would put corn in ramen broth??), but the tonkatsu broth tasted... odd. Almost like it had a bit of peanut butter mixed in, or maybe they used peanut oil in addition to (or instead of?) sesame oil.

Overall, the meal was still better than last year’s disappointing sushi. But I may be done with Izumi at this point. Or at least I’ll have to try it on the first sea day and see if things are fresher / have better flavor.

[JLMoran]

The ship’s been moving pretty noticeably since last night. View from my balcony kind of shows why...

Pretty decent wave action out there, guessing wind-driven waves. Combine that with the ship’s ~18kt cruising speed and you get some pretty noticeable motion in the ocean.

[JLMoran]

32 minutes ago, ellcee said:

Izumi's Ramen is gooooooood.

I thought you liked the udon better?

[ellcee]

5 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

I thought you liked the udon better?

I probably did but the picture made me want it now!

[rjac]

2 hours ago, JLMoran said:

so the story of our Bermuda day probably won’t happen until after we’re home.

Looking forward to them!

[Boston Babe]

Just catching up Joe with your whole Blog!  Looks like a fabulous time, but I hope your foot is healing nicely!

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

I now want Izumi Ramen and that drink!  She's a Geisha right?

[DDaley]

3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Overall, the meal was still better than last year’s disappointing sushi.

Oh no! I had forgotten your Izumi report from last year and was looking forward to sushi and tonkotsu (although spicy sesame is my fave) on Oasis next May. For the price I am assuming I am better off sticking with my San Diego-based ramen and sushi hot spots. At least I'll get a free try of Solarium Bistro! 

[JLMoran]

42 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I now want Izumi Ramen and that drink!  She's a Geisha right?

Yup, She’s a Geisha.

[JLMoran]

Waiting for WWRY to start, hoping the ginger ale works it’s magic soon. Ship was really rocking for a while, seems better now. They probably slowed down / deployed the stabilizers for the show.

[JLMoran]

Ginger ale/ginger beer worked, was able to watch the show with no problem. (well, apart from having to run to the men’s room a few times for the expected reason after drinking so much fluids)

Show was great, as expected. Cast looks like it’s all the same as last year, with the possible exception of the leading man. Couldn’t stick around for the final number post-bows, had to get to dinner so we weren’t late for putting our suitcases out. Speaking of...

Wade doesn’t seem too happy being on hallway patrol when he knows I’m keeping Cathy company in the Solarium.

Sorry dude, you drew the short straw. Again.

Dinner was good, glad they had some relatively lighter options tonight. Just got the goat cheese and tomato tart, battered cod with curry, and no sugar added profiteroles. Cathy got Caesar salad as usual, spaghetti bolognese as an off-me I request, and royal chocolate cake. We said goodbye to our table-mates and our wait staff, and gave the latter their envelopes before heading up to tick off Wade with hallway monitor duty.

Ship is shimmying and bouncing again, hopefully won’t have a repeat of last year’s experience all the way forward, in the dark, on a rocking and rolling...

 

 

Kidding! So far, so good.

[YOLO]

Joe, sounds like you had a nice trip.  Thanks for paving the way for @heffy2 and I, even though we go to NE/Canada instead.  How were those edamame at Izumi?

[YOLO]

There is a crew drill scheduled for later this morning, so our boarding is scheduled to be delayed.  BUT, thanks for getting your luggage out early.  Preesh.  

[JLMoran]

7 hours ago, YOLO said:

Joe, sounds like you had a nice trip.  Thanks for paving the way for @heffy2 and I, even though we go to NE/Canada instead.  How were those edamame at Izumi?

They were good. I’m not a huge edamame fan, but I certainly had no complaints.

[JLMoran]

Caught our last on-the-ship sunrise with the good camera, along with some early morning shots of the skyline. In the Wind-zha-mehr now, guarding the table while Cathy gets her food.

[Sweety]

Fantastic blog.

[heffy2]

Thanks for the live blog! 

[ellcee]

18 hours ago, JLMoran said:

(I mean, who in Japan would put corn in ramen broth??)

It's actually common. I eat a ton of Japanese food (there is an excellent Japanese restaurant across the street from my home) - there are no set ingredients besides a base few. After that people use what they have.

[JLMoran]

Just now, ellcee said:

It's actually common. I eat a ton of Japanese food (there is an excellent Japanese restaurant across the street from my home) - there are no set ingredients besides a base few. After that people use what they have.

Here in the states I can see that. But I would have thought that in a traditional preparation, that wouldn’t be done since it’s not at all a Japanese vegetable. Even in Japan it can be prepared that way nowadays?

Honestly curious, since I do want to visit Japan one day and want to avoid the “stupid gaijin” label as much as possible when I do.

[ellcee]

 

@JLMoran I looked it up before I answered you just in case I pulled the answer out of my bottom.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/09/the-serious-eats-guide-to-ramen-styles.html

[JohnC71]

On 10/12/2019 at 2:05 PM, JLMoran said:

ll of that is before factoring in the live entertainment we'll have on board. So far, our regular performers will be:

• Joyce Kuo playing guitar early evenings in the Schooner Bar
• Jafar Curry, Marc McBride, and Pavel Boev will be taking turns playing piano in the Schooner Bar after the late dinner hour
• William Millar will be our nightly guitar player performing in the pub
• Mellow Mood will be playing Caribbean music in Boleros each afternoon...
• ...while Marakas will be playing their "Latin Fiesta" show nightly in Boleros
• And finally, the Royal Swedes will be returning to perform in The Music Hall

Hope you had a great time on your cruise.  Question for you, as I am sailing Anthem November 9th. 

 

Where did you see the live performer, prior to boarding? 

 

As I have looked everywhere in the cruise planner and the Royal app, and only thing I see are the main shows, WWRY, Spectra, and The Gift.  

[Dan Curtis]

Thanks for all the updates and safe travels, as I always say, welcome back to the real world. Cruising is awesome.

[JLMoran]

2 hours ago, JohnC71 said:

Where did you see the live performer, prior to boarding? 

As I have looked everywhere in the cruise planner and the Royal app, and only thing I see are the main shows, WWRY, Spectra, and The Gift.  

Nightly live performers and other entertainment won’t show up in the app until about 2 weeks before your sailing. Take any listing with a grain of salt, as it can change right up until sail date.

None of that will be on the Cruise Planner, as that’s reserved for stuff requiring actual reservations, which these activities don’t.

[PRebecca]

Loved following along, thanks for sharing your experience.

[JLMoran]

Something I forgot to mention yesterday -- We chatted with our waitress, Iryna, a bit after dinner and learned that she worked for Carnival before coming over to Royal. She only did one contract with Carnival and decided they were just too hard to work for, so she switched to Royal and has been working with them for 5 years now. Likes them much better and, if I'm remembering right and not just mixing it up with what @twangster had noted from a similar conversation with a Mariner crew member, that she felt like Royal was a place where she was being helped to succeed, instead of being held to near-impossible goals to meet with Carnival.

She also shared that she was one of only about a dozen Ukrainians on board Anthem. While the children in Ukraine today all learn English early on, and even get some TV programming in English that constantly reinforces it and gets them used to hearing it, the people her own age didn't get taught any English until around high school age and it was taught as something of an afterthought; as such, very few Ukrainians of her generation are proficient with it, which is why there are so few working on ships.

[JLMoran]

Back to the present...

Disembarkation was even easier than last time, which was surprising because we didn't actually stay on the ship until 10 AM as indicated on our sheet. Around 9:15, a crew member was walking the hallway by Vintages that leads to Two70; he was informing the passengers there that all luggage was now delivered to the terminal, even for the numbers that hadn't been called yet. He was also rather firmly (but very politely; maybe he was Canadian? ) asking that all passengers please disembark immediately. This seemed kind of odd to me given the printed schedule, but I had just read the comment here that there was a coast guard inspection / drill happening, so that was almost certainly the driver behind it. At least we were asked nicely to GTFO.

Ship to curb was 10 minutes, tops. We got a porter this time, but even without one we wouldn't have had much of a wait; the terminal was almost empty when we got off the ship and got our bags. Paid for our parking, got in the car, and we were back home in about 45 minutes.

 

And after getting home and finally syncing together my iPad, iPhone, and iMac for the photos, I was reminded of something very critical to do with any dedicated camera that doesn't have a GPS system in it for tagging photos -- make sure that the clock and location setting in the phone is accurate for where you're using it!

I never updated the clock on my camera since the day I got it, and it was still on Pacific time for all timestamps on the photos.The clock also drifted a bit, so instead of being exactly 4 hours off from Atlantic time, it was about 3 hours and 50 minutes.  Took me a little while to figure that out, but it was easy enough to fix in the Photos app on my iMac.

So, I'm back to editing the photos that I didn't get done yesterday, and should be putting up the posts of our time in Bermuda tomorrow or at latest Saturday.

[Lovetocruise2002]

@JLMoran thanks for blogging!  I really enjoyed following this one throughout the week.  I came and went so fast!  Hope that you are healing well...

[WAAAYTOOO]

4 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

It came and went so fast

It sure did !  Seems like they just boarded !

[Guy Gadwa]

Thanks for taking us along on your vacation.  Enjoyed!!!

[twangster]

I've made the same mistake with camera clock. It's worse with multiple cameras and a phone occasionally in the mix.  I started the journey with all devices in sync, then we changed time and my phone files were off by an hour.  Then one of the cameras connected to my phone with bluetooth and now one camera was off.  Needless to say once they all went into lightroom I was hunting and pecking all over trying to find pictures for one event.

You can use the 'touch' OSX command line tool to update a file's date.  I got that working for one file then copy and pasted it all into a text file to fix about 20 files one time.  This guy took it a step further and used automator to touch multiple files:

http://paulofierro.com/blog/2012/10/15/changing-dates-with-automator

Needless to say if you are going to mess with files, always make a backup first and mess with the backup files.  

[JLMoran]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

You can use the 'touch' OSX command line tool to update a file's date.  I got that working for one file then copy and pasted it all into a text file to fix about 20 files one time.  This guy took it a step further and used automator to touch multiple files:

http://paulofierro.com/blog/2012/10/15/changing-dates-with-automator

Needless to say if you are going to mess with files, always make a backup first and mess with the backup files.  

The Photos app on macOS actually has a nice "Adjust Date & Time" feature. You can select multiple files, go to the Image menu and choose that command, and you get a combination of a map (for selecting the time zone) and date/time fields to fine tune the actual date and time to enter for the first picture.

Once you've made the adjustment for the first pic, every other pic in the set you chose has the same calculated shift applied; so if the first photo was adjusted to be 10 minutes later, each of the other photos is adjusted to be 10 minutes later than the time stamp specific to each photo in the group. Any change in the time zone is also applied, and if the pics had any location data manually applied, that does not get overridden by the "closest city" value that's set with the time zone.

Not bad for an app that just comes bundled with the operating system. 

[GregD]

Glad you guys had a great time. Thanks for taking us along!

[JLMoran]

::yawn::

Man, this Windjammer breakfast doesn’t seem as good as...

Oh. Right.

::sigh::