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“The Starry Neighbor (Neighbour?) Chronicles: Pining for the Fjords” – Anthem of the Seas, July 8th-15th, 2022


Lovetocruise2002

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After Hubby returned from his sunrise photos we were deep into the fjords and by about 7am, I stepped out onto the balcony and was greeted by these sights. Quite breathtaking. We spent about an hour taking photos. This was one of those times that I was actually glad Hubby brought a tripod. We ended up with some really beautiful family shots. As it got closer to 8am, the lighting was perfect!

Another massive photo dump ahead. Photos all by Hubby. 
 

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This morning we had arranged with Leroy to have breakfast delivered to the room to avoid the fiasco of Hubby and the kids scrambling at the last minute to find something to eat before we headed off. This turned out really well as it gave everyone a chance to watch the sail into Flåm and eat at their leisure. 

Shortly afterwards, we were off to meet Leroy and @GregD and the gang to ride the Flåmsbana train. Not going to bother to describe it as Greg already did in an above post. The train ride was a good way to see many sights but agreed that it goes by quite fast. There is only one opportunity to get out and take pics (at the waterfall). These pics were taken from inside the train.

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Dinner brought us back to Jamie’s again tonight. Great food as usual. We saw WWRY tonight and we have plans to see it again tomorrow.

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Joff Eaton has been hilarious so we decided to give The Love and Marriage Show a try and it did not disappoint as usual. 
 

Off to bed now finally! Lots of motion again tonight. While I still love cruising, I am not sure if cruising the North Sea is for me in the future. 
 

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9 minutes ago, MicDay said:

@GregD and @Lovetocruise2002 such gorgeous pictures, thank you so much for sharing!

I have to ask, does it sometimes feel like you are in Alaska, even the towns remind me of Alaska?  

This is on my list as a must do but I was wondering that as I look at your pictures.

I have never been to Alaska but many have compared the Fjords to Alaska by saying that the Fjords is Alaska on steroids. Hopefully someone who has done both can chime in. 

I can say that there is a lot less snow here than I expected. 

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Another whirlwind of a day, where do I start? Left off this morning with us getting ready to go on the Lysefjord cruise excursion. The weather was not on our side today. Had it been, it would have been even more impressive.
 

The walk from the ship to the boat (for the Lysefjord cruise) is a quick one. Less than 5 mins. If one ever does this excursion, try to sit on the left side of the boat, that is where most of the sights are. Or go up top.
 

Because it was wet and raining on and off, The Boss and I sat inside, @GregDand Hubby braved the elements and went up top, and the kids roamed around most of the time.
 

Some photos from the ride down Lysefjord. Somewhere in the mist/clouds is pulpit rock. 

📸Hubby

 

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The cruise was about 3 hours long with a 30 min stop for waffles right before the boat enters the Lysefjord. The kids were drenched from the boat ride so we headed back to the room after the cruise so they could clean up. This is what we came back to. Leroy has been so thoughtful along the way. D15 almost 16 loved it and she wore the necklace to dinner already! 
 

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Back to why the kids were drenched after the boat ride…

This ride takes you not only to Pulpit Rock but also takes you right up to some of the rock formations and waterfalls. One waterfall in particular the boat was able to get really close to. So close that a crew member takes a bucket right up to it to fill, then they pass out cups so they you can have a sample drink if you wish.
 

My kids decided that they would sample the water too, in the form of a shower. They went to the front of the boat and pretty much got right under the water. Had this teacher been on supervision duty, she would have cared. But I am on vacation, so if they wanted to sit in wet clothes, well their problem, not mine lol.
 

D13 did manage to get some pretty cool pics before the shower though. 
 

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I think @GregD and the Boss had a way more interesting and entertaining evening than we did. We are now back in the room. I am writing this up and Hubby and D13 are streaming Star Wars again. D15 is once again chatting with her friends back home because like typical teens, they are awake now back in EST lol. 
 

I was commenting to Greg today over waffles that I have not been able to maintain this blog as I normally do due to the itinerary. I realized last night that I have barely been around the ship, and I have barely discussed anything star class related.

Tomorrow is a sea day, if anyone has anything to ask that we have not covered, or if you want me to find out something for you around the ship, please let me know, this is assuming I can stay upright tomorrow. Sailing in the North Sea is no fun 😕

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What a day! This has been a whirlwind of a cruise. Since we did the same excursion as @Lovetocruise2002i won’t add photos because they will be essentially the same. 
 

I agree, it’s been tough to keep up with this one because there isn’t much down time, but that’s what this cruise is about. It’s more for the adventure. I feel like if you come to Norway to relax, you are doing it wrong. 
 

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As was eluded our day was exciting for a few reasons, good and bad. 
 

Our day started as per the usual, with our early AM North Star appointment. I really like getting the birds eye views of the port. 
 

We followed this up with breakfast at Cafe270. We lost track of time, and forgot CK breakfast ends at 9:30….lesson learned.

We headed off the ship for some shopping and got a few things before our excursion.

The excursion was really fun. I didn’t mind the not so great weather. I was also glad I didn’t do the hike to pulpit rock because it would have been pretty miserable today. The waffles were delicious today as well. We all sat at a nice big table and enjoyed each other’s company.

Following the excursion we also headed off to explore more of the area around the port. This is where our day went off the rails a bit.
 

My daughter suddenly realized she lost her seapass card. She was pretty sure she dropped it when taking off her sweatshirt while walking around. With this in mind we hurried back to the ship to get a new one. Thankfully, I’m sure she isn’t the first one to do this. At the first security stop the officer just asked our stateroom number and he called to verify she was a passenger, and to deactivate her current card. We also had her passport with us so he took a brief look at that. Once at the gangway, we told that officer our tale of woes. He was able to look her up on his console, and we were allowed on board. Two minutes later we had a new card at guest services. I had a message to Leroy ready to go in case there were any troubles but didn’t need to send it. Moral of the story, parents, hold onto your pre-teens seapass cards, and if lost, it’s easy to deal with.

With new card in hand we ventured back off the ship to continue exploring but didn’t get too far because we lost some time dealing with the lost card. 

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Once back of board, dinner was in CK. It was lobster night and our server took care of me🤣 five lobster tails later, I was stuffed! 
 

After dinner we also went to WWRY. I second everything about this show that @Lovetocruise2002 said. If you have not sailed on Anthem and seen this show, stop reading here, go book a cruise on Anthem then return to keep reading this blog, don’t worry, I’ll wait…………

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Now that we have everyone back, here is where the night got really interesting. After the show, the kids headed back to the room. The Boss and I headed down to the music hall to watch “The Perfect Couple” game show. 
 

The intention was to watch, but we ended up as contestants! This was well outside the normal comfort zone but we went with it. 
 

The game consists of four challenges that aren’t exactly PG.

The first was The Boss had to move a ping pong ball from the bottom of one pant leg, to the bottom of the other, with just her hands. Sounds easy enough, except the ball was inside the pant legs. As you can imagine, this conger interesting. We had the lowest time! One point in the bag!

Challenge 2, was we stood next to each other with our arms around each other, so my left, and her right arm were free. We then had to blow up a balloon and tie a knot. We were only allowed to use our free arms, and couldn’t talk to each other. Of course, to make it interesting, was the balloon was a prophylactic…..We again had the lowest time! Two points! Things are looking up!

Challenge 3, were the men were seated in a chair blindfolded. Then your arm was stroked by three people, one being your partner, and you had to guess which one was your partner. I managed to guess correctly here too!! 3 points! On a roll!  
 

Challenge 4……I knew I was doomed on this one. The Ladies were sat in a chair, and the men had to dance for them, and the audience would be the judge. Well this white boy can’t dance, and now was being told to give a lap dance to The Boss that was being judged by the audience. I knew that I would fail miserably here, and even the pity applause was pretty pathetic, but that’s okay because winning the first three challenges was enough and we won!

Our prize was two RC gold medals and a RC aluminum (aluminum?) water bottle, plus the embarrassment of having to give an admittedly horrible lap dance in front of hundreds of people 🤣

Well, I can cross that off the bucket list…..not that I even knew it was on there 🤦🏻‍♂️

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Here are a few photos of the day that aren’t duplicates. 
 

This guy wore proper gear for a waterfall, unlike some kids I know🤣

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Tucking in for some waffles!

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Sometimes we take a nice picture 

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There may have been a comment made by The Boss regarding Lydia and Trolls or something? Regardless, add another embarrassing photo to the collection.

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Old watch tower for the city.

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Regent cruises, Seven Seas Splendor was here too. This ship has a suite with a $200,000 bed that costs 11k a night, but needed to be helped out of port with tugs.

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2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Tomorrow is a sea day, if anyone has anything to ask that we have not covered, or if you want me to find out something for you around the ship, please let me know

Yes.  I have a question.  

How is it that @GregD always seems to be up early and able to post first as you enter a port?  🤣

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On 7/11/2022 at 4:23 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

After the museum, the bus took us back to the port. Hubby stayed behind to walk around town on his own. Kids and I had enough and headed back to the ship where Leroy had my favourite room service chicken wings waiting for us. 😋

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Yassss The room service chicken wings are soo good! I can not wait to order them again. 🥰

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8 hours ago, twangster said:

Yes.  I have a question.  

How is it that @GregD always seems to be up early and able to post first as you enter a port?  🤣

What can I say? I wake up before the crack of dawn 10 months of the year. July/August I like my sleep lol

7 hours ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Not a question but a request for a waffle count from each family.

7 I think.

2 hours ago, GregD said:

If you count each individual waffle we are at 8, though if it were up to my son, that number would be much higher.

It might be 9 for you. Yesterday, on our way back out to the Fjords, D15 grabbed an extra plate for us and your daughter. We literally had to eat it on the go lol

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10 hours ago, GregD said:

I was also glad I didn’t do the hike to pulpit rock because it would have been pretty miserable today.

This is such a good point. I've already been eyeing up excursions for next year and was pretty torn between the fjord cruise and the hike. I think you've made my mind up for me!

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Just did the North Star again. Today it went off the side of the ship! Many people know that for many years that wasn’t a thing with the response being “it was a privacy thing” From our vantage point, you can see their point! I talked with Leroy about this and he wasn’t aware of when or why there was a change.9C3FCC29-3881-4EE9-A614-752BF906B664.thumb.jpeg.21f808766b4dc557e917874f3293c5f2.jpegD5E88555-0620-4E8B-8579-D66DAF6443B3.thumb.jpeg.e2d8ecc11a296f49d0efd49bc909345c.jpeg2D33AA55-0365-45B4-BD6C-7F584D495549.thumb.jpeg.d3eeb9e9068f0580ac0dfe9a79db15b3.jpeg66ACDA12-209C-405A-99D8-A3FF942EB191.thumb.jpeg.841141a7e925bb1889eb2d3999dbd907.jpeg

We also have some albatrosses escorting us home.

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Izumi lunch today after we finished bumper cars and North Star with @GregDand family. 
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Now at Harry Potter trivia in 270. This one is a whole lot more difficult than the one we did on Oasis. Good thing we have a major fan here because I have no clue about the answers to any of these. 
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13 hours ago, GregD said:

Once back of board, dinner was in CK. It was lobster night and our server took care of me🤣 five lobster tails later, I was stuffed!

Thanks for confirming that they are still serving lobster tails in the CK on lobster night...at least, on Anthem.  I know there has been some conflicting info on whether or not they are serving food from the MDR outside of the MDR.  Great news.

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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Thanks for confirming that they are still serving lobster tails in the CK on lobster night...at least, on Anthem.  I know there has been some conflicting info on whether or not they are serving food from the MDR outside of the MDR.  Great news.

I had choices too. On the normal CK menu was buttered poached lobster, but our server recommended the regular tails from the MDR.  They were delicious and cooked perfectly.

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Dinner at Chops tonight and Leroy had some nice things for us. It was a great way to end this cruise. What The Boss didn’t know was that Leroy reached out to me and asked for pictures of the two of us together and this was the result.

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For dinner, The Boss had shrimp cocktail and the goat cheese salad. The camera forgot it’s bite there. I had the wild mushroom soup that everyone apparently loves. For me it was just okay. We both had the petit fillet, and I added the lobster. I was informed that they didn’t have the full lobsters and just had the tails. No big deal for me!

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A gorgeous sunset to cap off a beautiful vacation.
📸Hubby

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We feel incredibly blessed. There were a lot of hurdles to clear to take this trip and everything went so smoothly, right down to perfect weather even on days that we forecasted to be not great. Someone was definitely watching over us.
 

Over the last two weeks, we have experienced so much as a family, it’s going to take us a few days to get home and really digest and soak in what we saw. 
 

Meeting @GregD and his family has been a real treat! It is always great to meet and sail with people you have gotten to know over the years. Our cruising community is small, goodbyes are just a “so long for now”. 😊

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