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Anthem 1/19/18 9 Night Bahamas


twangster

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Just now, Madelyn D said:

Thank you for all of the awesome pics and information! Nervous to do my live blog in a few weeks because it will not compare :8_laughing:

It's the thought that counts. I'm planning to do one on mine too on my cruise in March. I do have an older dslr camera and plan to get a GoPro clone for filming. @twangster what is your good camera? Would like to know for when I have money again (although which is more important another cruise or a new camera. :35_thinking: )

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10 minutes ago, LetsTryThisTech said:

It's the thought that counts. I'm planning to do one on mine too on my cruise in March. I do have an older dslr camera and plan to get a GoPro clone for filming. @twangster what is your good camera? Would like to know for when I have money again (although which is more important another cruise or a new camera. :35_thinking: )

The best camera is the one you have with you.  Seriously.  

It's like buying a boat.  Someone always has a bigger, faster, shinier boat compared to yours but that doesn't mean you can't have fun in whatever boat you have.  

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1 hour ago, Madelyn D said:

Thank you for all of the awesome pics and information! Nervous to do my live blog in a few weeks because it will not compare :8_laughing:

You should absolutely do your live blog! We all enjoy them primarily because it is a great way to live vicariously through others. While we all certainly enjoy a pretty photo, that's more "icing on the cake".  I know I speak for everyone when I say I welcome all live blogs!

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2 hours ago, Madelyn D said:

Thank you for all of the awesome pics and information! Nervous to do my live blog in a few weeks because it will not compare :8_laughing:

Lol!  I'm pretty sure @twangster is on a whole other level on his own.  I was thinking of trying out a live blog for March too but I'm putting the disclaimer on right now that it's not going to compare!

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I strongly encourage anyone to live blog their cruise right here on RoyalCaribbeanblog.com.  After all...

(stolen from my previous Anthem live blog)

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Seriously I enjoy reading other live blogs because they cover things I don't cover or think about.  I cruise differently which is what is great about cruising and it's nice to see things from another perspective.  

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3 minutes ago, twangster said:

Seriously I enjoy reading other live blogs because they cover things I don't cover or think about.  I cruise differently which is what is great about cruising and it's nice to see things from another perspective.  

I thought about that too.  That's why I'm considering doing one even though you have covered Anthem 3 times already.  I will likely be blogging from the "Mom" perspective.  Not sure if that's good or bad.   It might be quite boring.  WJ, pool, WJ, pool, ice cream, dinner lol.  And I feel that we all learn so much from one another I want to contribute back.

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4 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

I thought about that too.  That's why I'm considering doing one even though you have covered Anthem 3 times already.  I will likely be blogging from the "Mom" perspective.  Not sure if that's good or bad.   It might be quite boring.  WJ, pool, WJ, pool, ice cream, dinner lol.  And I feel that we all learn so much from one another I want to contribute back.

Well as someone who doesn't have kids yet but plan to soon it would be nice to see what they are like from a parents perspective to be honest. 

 

3 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Where/when are you going in March @LetsTryThisTech?

 

We are on the 8 day Freedom on March 3rd from Fort Lauderdale. (just over a month so freaking excited to be back on a boat)

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Day 5 - Miami

This will mark the first time Anthem of the Seas will have ever been to Miami and an inaugural visit of a ship is a big deal.  Somewhere on the ship, often in the bridge or elsewhere you will find plaques presented to the bridge crew whenever a ship makes a port for the very first time.  I suspect a new plaque was presented to the Captain today.

The day started out early for me and I made my way to a bridge wing way to catch the early signs or a sunrise.  

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We were still beyond the 12 mile territorial limit at this point as we slowly made our way to intercept the navigational path into the Port of Miami.

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They raised North Star to it's highest position which I later learned holds a Guinness Book of World Records as the highest viewing deck of any ship. 

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It was empty and would remain here for the rest of our arrival into Miami.

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The weather wasn't the best but it began to clear as we moved closer to the channel and picked up our pilot.

What isn't obvious in these photos is the distinct channel that leads to the mouth of the Port.  It isn't very wide and the Captain did a perfect job keeping us in the center all the way.

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We passed the new Royal Caribbean Miami terminal that is under construction.  This will be eventually become the home for Symphony of the Seas. 

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Several crew came out to the fore deck to take in this special occasion. 

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Miami is home to Royal Caribbean's headquarters and it isn't far from the terminals.

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Towards the end of this channel is a turning basin which barely looks big enough for a ship this size.

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Our Captain made it look easy and with our turn complete we were pointing 180° back in the direction we came from.

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Our terminal for today is located directly adjacent to the Royal Caribbean HQ building.

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Our bridge crew slowly nudged us to the pier and with that the first visit of Anthem of the Seas to Miami was officially in the books.

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Apparently along the way a water cannon salute was accomplished according to our Activities Director however I missed it.

A news helicopter did a fly past and we made the local CBS news:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/video/category/spoken-word-wfortv/3797274-cruise-capital-of-the-world-gets-glimpse-of-anthem-of-the-seas/

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29 minutes ago, LetsTryThisTech said:

Well as someone who doesn't have kids yet but plan to soon it would be nice to see what they are like from a parents perspective to be honest. 

 

 

We are on the 8 day Freedom on March 3rd from Fort Lauderdale. (just over a month so freaking excited to be back on a boat)

@twangster again nice blog and photos

@LetsTryThisTech im on the same freedom cruise 

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37 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

@twangster, out of reactions but love those pics!  Quiet on the bridge wings this morning?  Or did you have a "Radio" with you? 

It was quiet for a while, then a couple with GoPro's came out.  Then as we were in the channel a small crowd appeared.  Didn't hear any Radios though.

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@Matt this reaction thing is so bizarre. I was thinking for a while that @bcarney was into something when he mentioned the time zone thing. I started noticing that I was out of reactions during the day but by the time I logged on at night  I had more again. But then this afternoon after viewing @twangster's Miami photos I was out and now about 2hrs later I was able to give @JLMoran one on another post. That can't be a time zone thing can it?

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I stayed on the ship today and that decision would pay dividends for me.  In my last live blog I talked about a venue that is unique to Quantum class ships - Two70°. 

Here is the Two70° venue on Anthem of the Seas during its first ever visit to the Port of Miami with Miami as a backdrop:

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With Royal Caribbean's Headquarters right here they took an opportunity to introduce this Quantum class ship to many HQ employees and local travel agents who may not have had an opportunity to set foot on board one before since the other two in this class, Quantum and Ovation, are not based in North America.   Walking around the ship I saw numerous employees taking it all in.  Just before noon our cruise director announced that none other than Nick Weir would be doing a presentation in Two70° and guests were welcome to attend.  

For those that don't know Nick Weir, he is the Vice President of Entertainment for Royal Caribbean.  If you've seen a show on a Royal ship lately, you've likely experienced the work of Nick Weir and his team.  I follow him on twitter @NickWeirShowbiz where he occasionally leaks tidbits about the new entertainment coming to Symphony of the Seas.  For those that saw Project Atlantis, the RCTV production about the last time Allure went to the Freeport dry dock - that was Nick Weir hosting it.

Walking into Two70° today the room was rotating through some background scenes.  The room was filling up, my daily KümmelWeck from Café270 would have to wait. 

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Have you noticed how the color of the house lights change based on the content that is being displayed?  Also note this was at noon during full daylight outside.  Consider my first photo above and how this room has transformed since, in the middle of the day.  Cool stuff here.

Nick took the stage and began his presentation.

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Today Nick would be showcasing the incredible Two70° venue to an audience that consisted mostly of Miami employees and local agents - there were only a handful of ship guests other than myself in attendance.  The room cost an estimated $27M per ship plus the cost of content.  He discussed not only the evolution of these Quantum class rooms but the need to create content for them.  With eighteen individual projectors synchronized to produce the 'Vista Display' as it's called, it amounts to a 12k screen with a 5:1 aspect ratio (if you thought 4k was impressive, ha!).  The problem is no one has content for this screen size or resolution so Royal Caribbean Entertainment had to create it from scratch.        

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During Top Tier events I've seen the virtual fleet presented before.  Nick explained this was created for a Royal Caribbean Board of Directors meeting that took place on Ovation a few years ago.  Since it was such a hit, they have kept using it and made it part of the Crown and Anchor Society Top Tier event.

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During the presentation more and more of the fleet, old and new are brought to life on the screen sailing virtually behind us. 

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Nick stepped us through various pieces that were produced for this venue some of which simply don't photograph well since they combine both the Vista Display and six robotic screens that move and are choreographed with content on the Vista Display and each other.

One piece that stands out is called 'Dance In A Box'.

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They literally made two boxes the size of two robot screens and recorded dancers in a studio constrained to dance within those dimensions.  The robot screens move and rotate, separate and come together in three dimensions all choreographed to music.  This had never been done before.  It's one thing to make a robot that can build a car on an assembly line but Nick explained frankly it's quite boring watching a robot repeat the same move over and over all day long.  They needed to make the robotic screens performers themselves and that is what they have done. 

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I've seen many of these productions before on previous Anthem cruises but hearing their origins and how Nick and his team produced them brought new respect for each show.

I'm really not doing the entire presentation justice in this blog.  It's something you have to experience which is the magic of this room.  It's not just a video played on a big screen, it's the manner in which the technology of the room is used to immerse the audience into the production.  In the interest of brevity I'm skipping several pieces of great entertainment but Nick brought it to a close with a virtual fireworks show his team created for New Years Eve one year that was so popular they play it on all Quantum class cruises now.  Watch your cruise compass for it when you sail on one.

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Our Miami visitors had a lunch to get to in the dining room so the few guests like myself that attended then saw the virtual symphony orchestra on the Vista Display.

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I had an opportunity to meet Nick after the event and talk briefly with him.  Nick if you ever read this, I decided to spare you from displaying how you showcased the rotating stage using yourself as a prop in the process.  Well done sir!

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5 hours ago, Sweety said:

I am looking forward to my New Year's cruise with anticipation. I am going to the show. This was very interesting.

Look for a show on day 1 called "Two70 Tonight".  It's usually day 1 around 9:45pm although that could change over the course of a year. 

With all that's going on day 1 it's easy to miss this event that showcases Two70°.

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

Look for a show on day 1 called "Two70 Tonight".  It's usually day 1 around 9:45pm although that could change over the course of a year. 

With all that's going on day 1 it's easy to miss this event that showcases Two70°.

Does that mean if you have the 8:15 seating for dinner there would be no way to see it?

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8 minutes ago, PrincipalTinker said:

Does that mean if you have the 8:15 seating for dinner there would be no way to see it?

Depends on group size and how fast dinner progresses.  As a solo I'm often through My Time MDR right around the hour mark.  I've not done a late seating before but perhaps others who have can comment.

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37 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Is that the show that has the fireworks display?

I'd need to go through my past cruise compass and look but I think the Virtual Fireworks is also offered on it's own one night.  It may vary depending on cruise length since Two70° has a lot of different things going on at night.  

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6 minutes ago, twangster said:

I'd need to go through my past cruise compass and look but I think the Virtual Fireworks is also offered on it's own one night.  It may vary depending on cruise length since Two70° has a lot of different things going on at night.  

Ok.  I always thought the fireworks show was a show on it's own as well but then I got confused by your response to @Sweety.  What is "Two270 Tonight" about?

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