Anthem 1/19/18 9 Night Bahamas

[Matt]

16 hours ago, LetsTryThisTech said:

This is the exact thing that pops up

Try again now. I think I found the code that checks the logic on that.

[Matt]

Here's a video of the Virtual Fireworks in Two70 on Anthem: 

 

[twangster]

4 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

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?

"Two70 Tonight" is much like Nick Weir's presentation showing off the capabilities of this venue.  It takes you through many different short pieces of entertainment created just for this room by Royal Caribbean Entertainment.  The virtual fleet is usually only shown in the Top Tier event.  The Virtual Symphony is often it's own event in the cruise planner one night.  Absent from Nick Weir's presentation were live performers that are part of the "Two70 Tonight" event on day 1.

In my last live blog from Anthem the Virtual Fireworks was offered on the last night at 11pm.

Here is the blog post for the "Two70 Tonight" show on December 2, 2017:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/&do=findComment&comment=50344

In my experience Two70 Tonight is only offered on day 1.  I missed it on my very first Anthem cruise in all the day 1 hoopla.

I recorded video of much of Nick Weir's presentation but I'm not sure which pieces may be subject to copyright so I'm not going to post that here.

 

[ellcee]

Love all of this - the pictures, the food, the info. Thank you.

[LetsTryThisPlace]

So my wife and I were thinking if we went bigger which ship we would try. After seeing this I think the quantum class might be better with all this. Thanks @twangster .

[accio7]

@twangster, I am really enjoying your live blog and I hope you are having a blast on Anthem! Are you cruising solo or with a group of family/friends? Loving your photos! 

[twangster]

47 minutes ago, accio7 said:

@twangster, I am really enjoying your live blog and I hope you are having a blast on Anthem! Are you cruising solo or with a group of family/friends? Loving your photos! 

Thanks!  I'm solo this cruise as I often am. 

Not many family or friends have the flexibility I do at the moment.

[Boston Babe]

@twangster always love your blogs! It makes you feel like your're right there! Enjoy!!

[ellcee]

What kind of room do you have? I'm always curious about solo traveling. I have my first solo room ever this summer.

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 hours ago, LetsTryThisTech said:

So my wife and I were thinking if we went bigger which ship we would try. After seeing this I think the quantum class might be better with all this. Thanks @twangster .

Sorry, hijacking again, but have you seen an Oasis class ship!  I am biased, completely in love with the Oasis class ships, so I am shamelessly promoting it! ?

I'll even provide you with a blog from @twangster lol

 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, ellcee said:

What kind of room do you have? I'm always curious about solo traveling. I have my first solo room ever this summer.

I have a standard balcony cabin.   The few solo (studio) cabins go quickly plus I was seeking double C&A points which you don't get in Studio cabins.

[Lovetocruise2002]

Out of curiosity, how many people does 270 hold for a show?

[accio7]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Thanks!  I'm solo this cruise as I often am. 

Not many family or friends have the flexibility I do at the moment.

I know the feeling, love solo travelling myself :D Looking forward to my first solo cruise on Adventure later in December!

[twangster]

15 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Out of curiosity, how many people does 270 hold for a show?

I think it's 350-ish.

Suites and Pinnacle have reserved seating during events upstairs where I took these pictures from.

[LetsTryThisPlace]

6 hours ago, Matt said:

Try again now. I think I found the code that checks the logic on that.

Just wanted to let you know seems good now. Thank You.

[twangster]

Day 6 - Nassau

We arrived early with the morning mist yet to be burned off as the sun began to rise.

First into port this morning.

Soon after we docked another Royal Caribbean ship entered the harbor.

That's Independence of the Seas executing a turn so she could back into the slip beside us.

Nice day here today.  Later in the day I was walking laps around the ship and caught Gigi looking whimsically at me with North Star looming over her shoulder.

[twangster]

I'm hearing whisperings of an overnight stay here in Nassau and a missed call on CocoCay for tomorrow.  Waiting for the Captain to announce it.  

[PrincipalTinker]

11 hours ago, twangster said:

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.

Thanks, you are helping me manage my expectations! 

[rjac]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

I'm hearing whisperings of an overnight stay here in Nassau and a missed call on CocoCay for tomorrow.  Waiting for the Captain to announce it.  

Please do tell when you hear from, El Capitano. Mucho Grass. 

[twangster]

Found a letter in my cabin.  Either the towel animal penned it or its confirmed.  No Cococay. Overnighting in Nassau.  Safety first.  

[J_Keeble]

I was gutted in November when we couldn't go, it seems like there are more and more occasions where ships can not tender to coco cay. roll on the new pier! But as you say safety first but it was a big shame for me coming all the way from England.

 

always next time!

[PrincipalTinker]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

Found a letter in my cabin.  Either the towel animal penned it or its confirmed.  No Cococay. Overnighting in Nassau.  Safety first.  

Is this common all year round? I am learning so much from your trip reports! Is this a winter issue or should I expect this could happen in April too?

[Matt]

10 hours ago, twangster said:

No Cococay. Overnighting in Nassau.  Safety first.

That stinks. January has not been kind to CocoCay. I know Majesty missed stops there on two previous sailings too.

Bring on the dock!

[twangster]

On 1/25/2018 at 6:51 AM, PrincipalTinker said:

Is this common all year round? I am learning so much from your trip reports! Is this a winter issue or should I expect this could happen in April too?

It's more of a winter thing.  It's also the reason why Royal Caribbean is building a pier at CocoCay which is scheduled to begin taking ships in June of this year.

What a lot people don't think of is that tender weather has to be perfect all day.  Even if weather is fine in the morning, a worst case scenario would be an island full of people and waves picking up mid-day.  They have to consider weather forecasts all day to ensure people can get back on the ship in the afternoon safely as well.

Stepping onto my balcony this morning it's pretty obvious why we skipped CocoCay.

It's been raining, wind is up.  Not the most pleasant day out there.

Last night we had a new comedian in the theater.  He was pretty good, worth seeing.  Met some folks at the Music Hall bar and ended up having dinner with them in the My Time MDR.

Time for breakfast... Windjammer here I come.

[rjac]

5 hours ago, J_Keeble said:

always next time!

Good attitude!

[LetsTryThisPlace]

2 hours ago, PrincipalTinker said:

Is this common all year round? I am learning so much from your trip reports! Is this a winter issue or should I expect this could happen in April too?

Living in Cayman we have a backup port on the other side of the island that is normally better tender conditions for when the main port is closed due to weather. You have the chance all year round for a port closure but normally its what we call northeasters (coming from the North with cold windy conditions that don't seem to like our warm climate.) These normally bring small craft advisories so no tenders. As the other port is right near my house and I can see the boats from my house as I head to work, I would say I have seen a lot more there since around November. So from that, I would say (at least this year) its been a *rough winter. No in April there might be some rain but I think you should be okay.

[accio7]

33 minutes ago, LetsTryThisTech said:

Living in Cayman we have a backup port on the other side of the island that is normally better tender conditions for when the main port is closed due to weather. You have the chance all year round for a port closure but normally its what we call northeasters (coming from the North with cold windy conditions that don't seem to like our warm climate.) These normally bring small craft advisories so no tenders. As the other port is right near my house and I can see the boats from my house as I head to work, I would say I have seen a lot more there since around November. So from that, I would say (at least this year) its been a worth winter. No in April there might be some rain but I think you should be okay.

On my Disney cruise last year, we were in Grand Cayman end of March and weather was really nice :) I really enjoyed my Stingray City excursion and am hoping to return soon! 

On an unrelated note, I received an email from my mother who is currently on a cruise and was docked in St. Thomas yesterday. It's just no fair goddamnit, it's -8 C (18 F) right now :( 

[LetsTryThisPlace]

9 minutes ago, accio7 said:

am hoping to return soon! 

Let me know and can help you with Island secrets.

[accio7]

Just now, LetsTryThisTech said:

Let me know and can help you with Island secrets.

Thank you! 

[Boston Babe]

11 minutes ago, LetsTryThisTech said:

Let me know and can help you with Island secrets.

OH I will be picking your brain!! LOL

[twangster]

Interesting Voom observation here on Anthem.

Without logging into a Voom internet plan certain iOS features work on my iPhone.  iMessage for one, notifications for another. 

I've read reports from users on other forums that iMessage worked for them without purchasing Voom.  I can confirm iMessage is working for me when my phone isn't logged in to my Voom account.  I've iMessaged several friends back home this way.   

I'm also getting app notifications, like news alerts on my lock screen although I can't use apps to access content behind the notification.   For example I received news alerts about the government shutdown and subsequent resolution while my phone wasn't logged into Voom.

When I read other users suggest this I assumed they were still in port or maybe the iMessage was coming in over 'Cellular At Sea'.  I've been very careful to test this and after several days I can confirm iMessage works for free.  I haven't tried any other wifi based chat apps.

Based on other user reports it's been this way for sometime and it's something they could remediate any day so don't count on it.  

No other ships work like this in my experience.  Maybe they are testing it to determine bandwidth impact.

[LetsTryThisPlace]

5 minutes ago, twangster said:

No other ships work like this in my experience.  Maybe they are testing it to determine bandwidth impact.

It also could depend on how their system processes the connections. I have seen similar before. Miami airport was one in particular where I had a similar experience. Whatsapp worked on my android but needed to log in to actually use the net. Maybe the hardware/software they are using on this ship is something different (probably cheaper as they always want to lower costs) and may not even know this was happening.

[iluvwineandtravel]

On 1/19/2018 at 11:08 AM, Sabrinaklai said:

This is pretty close to my itinerary in March (minus Miami) so I'll be following right along as usual.  Safe travels @twangster?

It is close to my itinerary in march too, except I also have Charleston! 

[twangster]

Day 7 - Evening

Windjammer for dinner, sadly no red velvet cake tonight.

In the main theater tonight would be "We Will Rock Rock". This marks my third time seeing it.

Once again I really enjoyed.  

[JLMoran]

Wow, looks like you were second row this time around. Really good shots!

Curve of the stage edge on some of the shots makes me think you were using wide angle lens for the full-stage pics, tele for the shots on small groups? Or was this a prime lens with a decent range of focal lengths?

[twangster]

Time for a Windjammer breakfast.

There are some small variations day to day but this pretty much represents the standard Windjammer breakfast.

[twangster]

10 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Wow, looks like you were second row this time around. Really good shots!

Curve of the stage edge on some of the shots makes me think you were using wide angle lens for the full-stage pics, tele for the shots on small groups? Or was this a prime lens with a decent range of focal lengths?

All taken with a 14mm fixed lens.  Some cropped in software later.

One thing about the second row - sound wasn't as good as a few rows back.  I think the speakers are focused towards mid-theater.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Ah yes.....the endless mountain of interconnected bacon product.  You cannot choose just one, or 10 or 150.  If you dare to pick up one strand you are obligated to eat the entire mound.

[rjac]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

If you dare to pick up one strand you are obligated to eat the entire mound.

So, is that a bad thing? I, personally, do not think so. May piss off the folks behind you in the bacon line, but hey, more bacon will come out from the kitchen.....evntually.

[twangster]

1 minute ago, rjac said:

So, is that a bad thing? I, personally, do not think so. May piss off the folks behind you in the bacon line, but hey, more bacon will come out from the kitchen.....evntually.

When I was a kid we had a game called 'KerPlunk".  The object was to remove sticks without the whole bundle of marbles crashing down.  

This is how they have presented the bacon mound in the Windjammer.  Try to pull out just one piece and you'll likely have the whole mound crash onto your plate. 

Good or bad varies betweens one's own perspective and that of your doctor's.