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Anthem 8 NIght Thanksgiving Cruise- Gving This Another Try! :)


iluvwineandtravel

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Hi All,

Well many of you  remember that we attempted to get on Anthem in October for a 9 night tour of New England and Canada with my sister, but my husband had to have an unexpected surgery the day before.  I am happy report that I got 100% of my travel claim back from submitting a travel insurance claim on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, and we found an AMAZING price on Anthem for  an 8 day cruise to the bahamas and Cococay for Thanksgiving Week.    ( In fact, after all most 30 cruises, it is the cheapest price I have ever paid for a balcony cabin), plus the deal through the travel agent included free gratuities, an onboard credit, and a free dinner in a specialty restaurant.  ( I have been dying to try wonderland, and have not been on a ship with it yet). In addition, we have had no problems lately getting our additional OBC from being a Royal Caribbean shareholder.

Since we do not love this itinerary as much as Canada New England and will likely opt to spend more time exploring the ship this cruise, and since we are going to Cococay, we decided to get the drink package for this cruise vs. just relying on Diamond drinks like we have with great success on some of our recent cruises.  We are looking forward to really getting to explore some of the bars and music venues.  We tend to do this more with the DX than without, where we tend to spend more time in the Diamond lounge.

The other thing I have booked for this cruise is the Taste of Royal 4 course meal which is on day 2 starting at 11:30 am.  I am a major foodie, and a big fan of the Chef's table, but Chef's table is less of a value if you have the drink package, (unless you get a special discount like we did several years ago on Grandeur).  I think this will be a fun way to explore the first full sea day,  Get up, go to the gym, the taste of royal 4 course meal, and then we are booked for the "We will Rock you Matinee in the afternoon" that was rescheduled from later in the week. 

We booked a guarantee cabin, and got assigned a room on the 13th floor mid ship near the forward elevators.  I think this will be a good location, and is a quck walk to the secret doors and staircase that leads to the solarium. 

Friday, we fly to Newark and will stay at Hyatt house in new Jersey with a view of the NYC skyline.  My husband and I are burger connoisseurs so we plan to visit Left bank burger for an early dinner and happy hour, and will check out some local craft brew.    

Will check back in on friday for a review! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yay! So happy for you. Wonderland was maybe my favorite meal onboard, I didn't have high expectations, but it really was incredible. I was on the cruise that you missed, and while it was the best cruise I've ever been on, the weather was not the greatest, especially in Portland. I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

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Well I have been missing in action a bit this week,  but now catching up with the blog.  From Saturday through monday, I completely disconnected for the first 2 sea days and had my phone in airplane mode.  Yesterday, we were ported in Port canaveral so I had phone access even though we stayed on the ship.  Today, I am using my free day of diamond surf for 2 devices.  We will likely use my husband's credit tomorrow and purchase surf and stream for the duration of the cruse.  Today, we port in Nassau.  We will likely stay on the ship again today, but we will get off tomorrow in Cococay.

I will post some photos soon, but here are some thoughts thus far:

I really like anthem.  Our cabin is a balcony cabin on the 13th floor and we are right by the forward elevators.  The last 2 days have been gorgeous, and I enjoyed time both afternoon's at the north star bar! 

We love 270. We watched a movie there yesterday afternoon.  I had the Kummelwick on day 1.  From a flavor standpoint, I liked it better than on other shifts, we have just liked the roll it was served on better on other ships. 

We used our free dining certificate from the travel agent to eat at wonderland on night 2.  We very much enjoyed the experience, and let our waiter choose the apps for us.  For the main entree, we split the pork belly and the fish.  Both were great.  For all the other nights, we have eaten in my time dining.

Since this itinerary has so many sea days, and we have stayed on the ship for 2 of the port days, I am really glad I purchased the beverage package, despite being diamond.  It has given us more freedom, and I have also tried more drinks and shots and have been fine leaving them if I did not like them.  ( I don't really love overly sweet drinks).

I love the vintages on this ship.  They have my favorite Cava that is usually served at the beginning of the chefs table.

 Being thanksgiving week, there are lots of families on board this week so the seaplex is super crowded.  I have not felt crowds throughout the rest of the ship, but I think we are often doing things at different times than the crowds. 

The diamond lounge has extended into the music hall for happy hour.  Last night was a little annoying because there were many children that were allowed to roam free and were out of control at the pool tables or were throwing tantrums.  Since we have a drink package, we usually just visit the diamond lounge for a few snacks, but on sunday, It was the best place for my husband to watch the football game.  Tomorrow's game should be nice enough weather to watch poolside 

Our favorite things so far:

We will rock you ( we did the matinee show on day 2)

We will rock you singers performing in schooner bar last night ( It was Joyce from the piano bar's last night of her contract, so a special show)

Still to come:

Excited for Cococay tomorrow on Thanksgiving

Spectra show at 270 later this week

 

 

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 Today is debarkation day and we are sitting in the aiport until our 2 pm flight ( hoping the weather will not delay us back to Cincinnati. :).  I thought I would catch up on the blog.  Debarkation was super easy.  We always carry off our own luggage so that we can pack some last minute items in the am.  We slept in until around 7:30 and then headed to the windjammer around 8 for 1 last breakfast.   The windjammer is always crowed at that time on debarkation day, but we easily found a spot with a great view of the NYC skyline.    Overall,  we thought the windjammer on anthem was a lot easier to find a table than on other ships.  We do realize the crowd was different this week.  There was a record number of children on board for the holiday week, but it felt more compartmentalized with their activities in the Seaplex etc. compared to the Oasis thanksgiving cruise last year.  The last 2 seadays sailing back have been cold.

Yesterday morning the boat was very rocky, and I actually felt really sea sick which is unusual for me.  I think it was heightened by the fact that I was pretty hung over from staying up late for the Quest. ? . We attempted to grab some breakfast in the solarium bistro which was only 1 deck up from our forward balcony cabin on deck 13.  I found this location very convenient to the north star bar, gym, and solarium.  Often we would go out the forward door on deck 13 which exits into the bottom of the solarium in the very front of the ship.  

I forced myself to do the elliptical yesterday before lunch, and I did feel much better.  My husband wanted to go back to WJ for lunch.  I was not that hungry so I just got an iced coffee and settled for desert for lunch.   I went back to the cabin to do some pre-packing and then we went to the We will rock you singers concert in the theatre in the afternoon, went and picked out our complementary diamond photos ( a perk I sometimes forget to take advantage of), and then we went to hear the Royal swedes pan in the music hall at 4pm.  I thought the band was really outstanding, and I went back to hear them play from 10-12pm again that night.    I am really glad I decided to get the DX this cruise because of the itinerary with Cococay, and the fact that we had so many sea days and stayed on the ship in both Nassau and port Canaveral.   Yesterday was day 8 though, so I was feeling drink fatigued.  I started off easy with mostly champagne. :), and then had my usual glass of wine # 490 ( an Italian red) with dinner and 2 lemon drop martini's later while listening to the band.  I found it super easy to get our money's worth outside of diamond hours on this cruise, but I am on the fence about it for the RCL blog New Year's 2020 cruise because of the port packed itinerary.  I think we will just try to get buy with our diamond drinks, 2 bottles of wine, and will probably do chef's table on new year's eve. 

We stopped by the diamond lounge per usual for some snacks and a pre-dinner cocktail.  Most of the week, we set with another family in the extended lounge area roped off in the music hall.  It came with some entertainment, ( unfortunately most of the time the entertainment was family karaoke. :).   We prefer my time dining because with just 2 of us, we can usually get through dinner quickly in just over an hour.  For most of the week, we were set at the same table.  Unfortunately on Thursday night, we made a later reservation because of a scheduled show, and we were set in a different area.  Last night, we went at our usual time of 5:30, but Unforunately, the table we had been sitting at for most of the week was already o ccupied.  I understand this is not unusual in MTD, but it is still disappointment when you have established a relationship with a particular wait staff team.  The assistant waiter saw us when the performed the Goodbye song that evening and both he and the waiter came by our table to say goodbye.  Last night was my favorite meal of the cruise.  I love the lamb chops served with the mint sauce. :).  For an appetizer I got the asian pork tacos.  They were great, and were almost exactly like eating an asian pork bun like you would find in China town in most cities.  For desert I got cheesecake, and my husband got the tres leches.  More to come.  I will blog from the beginning to share more details of our really fantastic and relaxing week! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Overall Reflections:

Favorite hangout spots:

- North star bar in nice weather

-270 Lounge

-Schooner bar with piano music (loved show with "We will rock you and The gift singers")

-Music hall when band was playing

 

Loved Cococay (This was the longest that I have stayed out at a private island.  Chairs/umbrellas were everywhere and nice.  We were lucky on Thanksgiving that Anthem was the only ship in port.  Loved the pool party with music in the afternoon at the swim up bar.  Loved the chicken sandwich and mozarella sticks from the snack shack, and the drinks & music at captain jack's

They moved the taste of royal to day 8.  We ended up cancelling this, but I would like to try in future when we don't have a drink package (it comes with a special wonderland drink).

Another interesesting thing on Anthem is that Wonderland did not have it's own bar, so to order the wonderland cocktails, you have to order them at the 270 bar,  Wonderland uses the schooner bar for their drinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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19 minutes ago, Harper said:

That one pic with the empty pool, what happened? Surprised the indoor pool would be down

The pool was open in the solarium.  someone puked in the indoor pool and it was closed on day 2 of the sailing.  That was really a bad day for the indoor pool to be closed with all of the kids on board for thanksgiving.  By day 3, we had much warmer weather and both pools were up and running.

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10 hours ago, iluvwineandtravel said:

 Today is debarkation day and we are sitting in the aiport until our 2 pm flight ( hoping the weather will not delay us back to Cincinnati. :).  I thought I would catch up on the blog.  Debarkation was super easy.  We always carry off our own luggage so that we can pack some last minute items in the am.  We slept in until around 7:30 and then headed to the windjammer around 8 for 1 last breakfast.   The windjammer is always crowed at that time on debarkation day, but we easily found a spot with a great view of the NYC skyline.    Overall,  we thought the windjammer on anthem was a lot easier to find a table than on other ships.  We do realize the crowd was different this week.  There was a record number of children on board for the holiday week, but it felt more compartmentalized with their activities in the Seaplex etc. compared to the Oasis thanksgiving cruise last year.  The last 2 seadays sailing back have been cold.

Yesterday morning the boat was very rocky, and I actually felt really sea sick which is unusual for me.  I think it was heightened by the fact that I was pretty hung over from staying up late for the Quest. ? . We attempted to grab some breakfast in the solarium bistro which was only 1 deck up from our forward balcony cabin on deck 13.  I found this location very convenient to the north star bar, gym, and solarium.  Often we would go out the forward door on deck 13 which exits into the bottom of the solarium in the very front of the ship.  

I forced myself to do the elliptical yesterday before lunch, and I did feel much better.  My husband wanted to go back to WJ for lunch.  I was not that hungry so I just got an iced coffee and settled for desert for lunch.   I went back to the cabin to do some pre-packing and then we went to the We will rock you singers concert in the theatre in the afternoon, went and picked out our complementary diamond photos ( a perk I sometimes forget to take advantage of), and then we went to hear the Royal swedes pan in the music hall at 4pm.  I thought the band was really outstanding, and I went back to hear them play from 10-12pm again that night.    I am really glad I decided to get the DX this cruise because of the itinerary with Cococay, and the fact that we had so many sea days and stayed on the ship in both Nassau and port Canaveral.   Yesterday was day 8 though, so I was feeling drink fatigued.  I started off easy with mostly champagne. :), and then had my usual glass of wine # 490 ( an Italian red) with dinner and 2 lemon drop martini's later while listening to the band.  I found it super easy to get our money's worth outside of diamond hours on this cruise, but I am on the fence about it for the RCL blog New Year's 2020 cruise because of the port packed itinerary.  I think we will just try to get buy with our diamond drinks, 2 bottles of wine, and will probably do chef's table on new year's eve. 

We stopped by the diamond lounge per usual for some snacks and a pre-dinner cocktail.  Most of the week, we set with another family in the extended lounge area roped off in the music hall.  It came with some entertainment, ( unfortunately most of the time the entertainment was family karaoke. :).   We prefer my time dining because with just 2 of us, we can usually get through dinner quickly in just over an hour.  For most of the week, we were set at the same table.  Unfortunately on Thursday night, we made a later reservation because of a scheduled show, and we were set in a different area.  Last night, we went at our usual time of 5:30, but Unforunately, the table we had been sitting at for most of the week was already o ccupied.  I understand this is not unusual in MTD, but it is still disappointment when you have established a relationship with a particular wait staff team.  The assistant waiter saw us when the performed the Goodbye song that evening and both he and the waiter came by our table to say goodbye.  Last night was my favorite meal of the cruise.  I love the lamb chops served with the mint sauce. :).  For an appetizer I got the asian pork tacos.  They were great, and were almost exactly like eating an asian pork bun like you would find in China town in most cities.  For desert I got cheesecake, and my husband got the tres leches.  More to come.  I will blog from the beginning to share more details of our really fantastic and relaxing week! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_1072.JPG

IMG_1489.jpg

IMG_6566.JPG

IMG_8472.HEIC 666.19 kB · 0 downloads

Stay on the ship, your not gonna  like the Cincinnati weather, thanks for all the pics.

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On 11/27/2019 at 9:08 AM, iluvwineandtravel said:

Our favorite things so far:

We will rock you ( we did the matinee show on day 2)

We will rock you singers performing in schooner bar last night ( It was Joyce from the piano bar's last night of her contract, so a special show)

Did you happen to find out if Joyce Kuo isn't coming back after this contract, or if she's just going on her vacation break and will be back for another contract after? From what she told me about the process of getting the lead guitar for We Will Rock You, I'm sure anyone filling in on her vacation break will be more than good. But after seeing her on two sailings a year apart, and having a chance to chat with her this year after her set in the Schooner Bar the first night, I'm really hoping she'll continue to be in that role for the foreseeable future. Really nice person in addition to being a really talented guitarist.

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On 12/2/2019 at 2:02 PM, JLMoran said:

Did you happen to find out if Joyce Kuo isn't coming back after this contract, or if she's just going on her vacation break and will be back for another contract after? From what she told me about the process of getting the lead guitar for We Will Rock You, I'm sure anyone filling in on her vacation break will be more than good. But after seeing her on two sailings a year apart, and having a chance to chat with her this year after her set in the Schooner Bar the first night, I'm really hoping she'll continue to be in that role for the foreseeable future. Really nice person in addition to being a really talented guitarist.

Yes.  She said she returns in late January.    I agree.  I really liked her!!!

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