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Anthem of the Seas - March 9-17, 2018


Lovetocruise2002

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48 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

For @firebuck @SeasTheDayNJ, and @KLAconQueso in the name of research. My waistline is paying for this ?

Fried pickles: just ok, it wasn't spicy, it was fresh and hot. Basically just a breaded pickle. Rating: B

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Poutine: this was just ok too. As a Canadian, I have had much better poutine but it was by no way terrible. One step up from cafeteria poutine.  Rating: I say "B" but D1 says "A".

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And for @Sweety, look what we found! A super fancy one!

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Coffee card is $31 onboard.

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Thank you. It looks so good.

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Blue Lagoon Dolphin Excursion:  RC Excursion

This excursion is available in several forms.  There is the Blue Lagoon Beach Break.  This gives you access to beach only.  Then there is the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Swim where you can actually swim with a dolphin.  The one Hubby and D2 did was the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter, which basically lets you play with a dolphin in waist high water.

The excursion started at 7:45am with the meeting spot at Station 1 on the pier.  Hubby reported that it took a long time to actually get on the ferry to Blue Lagoon Island.  They waited pier side until about 9am.  People were separated into two groups (beach people, animal encounters) and bands are given out before boarding the ferry.  

The ferry ride to Blue Lagoon Island took about 45min.  Hubby and D2 reported a smooth, slow ride.  There is a washroom available on the ferry.  You can even purchase drinks and snacks on the ferry.

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After arriving on Blue Lagoon Island, there are a few dolphin locations and staff direct you where to go.  There is slight confusion but no one got lost.

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Once arriving in your location, there is a consent to sign off on.  Then your belongings are stored in a locker.  Hubby reported that these lockers are small and difficult to lock.  If you have a large backpack, it won't fit and you have to put it off to the side.  The locker can fit approximately a mid-size handbag.  Hubby says the locker is ancient looking and rusted.  It locks with a key.  After securing your belongings, everyone is provided with a life jacket.  Then you are taken to the area for the Dolphin Encounter.  Here the dolphin trainer gives instructions on how to interact with the dolphin and safety.  There are about 16 people in each group.  No personal cameras or recording equipment allowed.

Interactions with the Dolphin includes hugging, kissing, dancing, rubbing, and touching its teeth.  You are also given a fish to feed to the dolphin.  Sometimes the dolphin squirts and splashes you.  After, the dolphin does a few tricks and then you are given to have the opportunity to take a group photo with the dolphin.

Change rooms and showering facilities are available to clean off.

Kiosks are available in the gift shop for purchasing photos and videos. 

Single pics are about $14

Videos are about $58

4 pics + video is $97

All inclusive pics through email was $79

7.5% tax is charged on all purchases and if paying with a credit card, you have to show picture ID.

Beach time is included with the excursion and you have the option to take selected ferry times back to the ship.

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Overall thoughts:  Hubby felt this was worth the money.  We paid $119.70 CDN (on sale during Black Friday).  He reported that some parents had children who ended up being afraid and not wanting to go in.  So, buyer beware.  Know your children.

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Photo credit: all Hubby

Excursion recap:  Hubby and D2 ?

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1 hour ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Poutine: this was just ok too. As a Canadian, I have had much better poutine but it was by no way terrible. One step up from cafeteria poutine.  Rating: I say "B" but D1 says "A".

See, I knew you were the MVP!  I'll take Canadian B rated poutine and eat it with a "glowing heart"!  You rock, thanks for checking this out for me!

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Dinner photo dump:

Jamie's Italian tonight. What can I say? I love Jamie's. Everything was delicious! 

No menu pic as @twangster already included one. Here is the kids menu though.

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Vegetarian Plank:

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Arancini:

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Garlic Bread:

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Mini Sliders:

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Penne Carbonara:

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Eggplant Parmigiana:

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Funky Chips and Polenta Chips:

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Tiramisu:

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Lemon Meringue Cheesecake:

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Epic Brownie:

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Off to see We Will Rock You. I ate so much I can barely move! 

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24 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Dinner photo dump:

Jamie's Italian tonight. What can I say? I love Jamie's. Everything was delicious! 

No menu pic as @twangster already included one. Here is the kids menu though.

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Vegetarian Plank:

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Arancini:

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Garlic Bread:

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Mini Sliders:

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Penne Carbonara:

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Eggplant Parmigiana:

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Funky Chips and Polenta Chips:

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Tiramisu:

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Lemon Meringue Cheesecake:

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Epic Brownie:

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Off to see We Will Rock You. I ate so much I can barely move! 

Lemon meringue cheesecake looks yummy.

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34 minutes ago, KathyC said:

We sailed on Quantum when she was still based out of NJ and we went over the side on Northstar. It did NOT take 30 minutes, and they did NOT charge.  30 minutes?  That's crazy.  Less than 15 start to finish. 

It runs a number of different programs.  NorthStar has evolved in North America.  For what ever reason they kept it free in North America but due to demand they had to cut the duration to 9 minutes plus 6 minutes for boarding, de-boarding.  Up, slight left and right and back down.  

In other regions the duration is longer but there is a cost. 

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31 minutes ago, twangster said:

It runs a number of different programs.  NorthStar has evolved in North America.  For what ever reason they kept it free in North America but due to demand they had to cut the duration to 9 minutes plus 6 minutes for boarding, de-boarding.  Up, slight left and right and back down.  

In other regions the duration is longer but there is a cost. 

That is exactly what the operator said earlier today.

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Ending off the night with some thoughts about We Will Rock You.

We have now seen Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Grease, and now We Will Rock You on Royal Caribbean Ships.  All the shows have been good caliber, Broadway style shows.  If we had one complaint up until now, it would be the fact the the vocals (especially the leads) aren't as strong as one would hear on Broadway.  That changed tonight.  This was most definitely our most favourite show on any RC ship.  The musicians were amazing, so talented.  The entire cast had strong, vibrant voices.  Definitely a must see if you sail Anthem.  We are even thinking about seeing it again.  A warning to parents of young children.  There is some language in this show.  The cruise compass even says "Parental Guidance Advised".  Really, it's nothing school age children don't already hear on the playground.  I teach kids, I've been out there daily, I know.  A short conversation with your kids before or after is a good idea though.

The Quest is tonight.  That makes me sad.  It means our cruise is coming to an end soon.  Sailing back to NJ now....at sea for the next two days...

Goodnight all.

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31 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Ending off the night with some thoughts about We Will Rock You.

We have now seen Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Grease, and now We Will Rock You on Royal Caribbean Ships.  All the shows have been good caliber, Broadway style shows.  

 

This is one of the big draws for me and the big ships..seeing the shows.  I like the other shows but would love to see one of these.  Someday....   jane

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54 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Ending off the night with some thoughts about We Will Rock You.

We have now seen Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Grease, and now We Will Rock You on Royal Caribbean Ships.  All the shows have been good caliber, Broadway style shows.  If we had one complaint up until now, it would be the fact the the vocals (especially the leads) aren't as strong as one would hear on Broadway.  That changed tonight.  This was most definitely our most favourite show on any RC ship.  The musicians were amazing, so talented.  The entire cast had strong, vibrant voices.  Definitely a must see if you sail Anthem.  We are even thinking about seeing it again.  A warning to parents of young children.  There is some language in this show.  The cruise compass even says "Parental Guidance Advised".  Really, it's nothing school age children don't already hear on the playground.  I teach kids, I've been out there daily, I know.  A short conversation with your kids before or after is a good idea though.

The Quest is tonight.  That makes me sad.  It means our cruise is coming to an end soon.  Sailing back to NJ now....at sea for the next two days...

Goodnight all.

I am sooo happy to hear how much you liked We Will Rock You. After all my raving about it, I'd have felt really dumb if you didn't like it! We went back a second time to see the finale again.

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27 minutes ago, Skid said:

I am sooo happy to hear how much you liked We Will Rock You. After all my raving about it, I'd have felt really dumb if you didn't like it! We went back a second time to see the finale again.

It wouldn't be dumb at all! Entertainment is highly subjective too, just like food. But we did love it. Now I need to see Cats from Oasis to complete it. Such a shame Symphony is showing Hairspray.

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10 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

It wouldn't be dumb at all! Entertainment is highly subjective too, just like food. But we did love it. Now I need to see Cats from Oasis to complete it. Such a shame Symphony is showing Hairspray.

I agree. Another GREAT must see show is Million Dollar Quartet.  I was hoping for that on Symphony, but I think I read that it is being performed on another cruise line. The story line is about people you are too young to know much about (Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and, of course, Elvis), but it is a fantastic show. The local theater productions are obviously smaller but as entertaining as Broadway.

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35 minutes ago, Skid said:

I agree. Another GREAT must see show is Million Dollar Quartet.  I was hoping for that on Symphony, but I think I read that it is being performed on another cruise line. The story line is about people you are too young to know much about (Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and, of course, Elvis), but it is a fantastic show. The local theater productions are obviously smaller but as entertaining as Broadway.

We just saw this...im not a huge fan of the genre and i was blown away.  I want to read biographies of all 4 of these musicians now.  You would need a decent cast though to have it on a ship.  Jane

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Finally all caught up! I was sorry to hear that Anthem was unable to tender to CocoCay, but it sounds like you and your family had a great time onboard the ship that day. I am really excited about Royal Caribbean's revitalization plans for CocoCay, hopefully you'll be able to see it for yourself on an upcoming summer 2019 or beyond cruise!

How are you enjoying Anthem? I know we can't compare a Quantum-class ship to an Oasis-class ship (apples to oranges), but is this the right ship for your family? I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts on this. After reading @twangster's and now your live blog, Sabrina, I am more than convinced that I should book my 2020 cruise on Anthem (Bermuda, anyone?) :D 

Enjoy your final days at sea, sea days are truly my favourite part of cruising :) 

 

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9 hours ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Such a shame Symphony is showing Hairspray.

I know !  SOOOO lame.  I agree.  One of the BIG draws for me to the O class are the shows, even though I am not a show person.  At least the ones on the O class are reasonably good.  But Hairspray ?  UGH.  I cannot believe they couldn't come up with a better show for their brand NEW ship.

Cats is - L-O-N-G

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7 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I know !  SOOOO lame.  I agree.  One of the BIG draws for me to the O class are the shows, even though I am not a show person.  At least the ones on the O class are reasonably good.  But Hairspray ?  UGH.  I cannot believe they couldn't come up with a better show for their brand NEW ship.

Cats is - L-O-N-G

We all want more and new but few are willing to pay higher cruise fares to get it. 

The Broadway shows on Royal ships are a pretty significant investment that are licensed and tightly controlled by the original content holder.  Royal goes to great lengths to adapt them to work on a ship but all of that is under the control of the folks who own the rights to the shows.  Royal can't even move a show from one ship to another without modifying the contract, much like moving a Broadway show from a theater in Denver to a theater in Chicago.  Not all Broadway shows can be adapted to work on a ship or the people who own the rights to a show may not approve set changes required to make it work on a ship or even a different class of ship.

I loved 'We Will Rock You' and enjoyed it more each time.  I've heard they were trying to negotiate to add it to another ship.  As you can imagine it's much less expensive to duplicate an existing show compared to all the developmental costs to add a new show. 

'We Will Rock You' has a cast of 16 if I recall.  Each cast has an 11 month contract and will be replaced by another cast who begins to rehearse in Royal's Miami studios 2 months before they reach the ship to replace the current cast.  There is a separate cast of 11 for the shows in Two70° on Anthem.  Think about that for all the Broadway and other shows and all ships that have them. That's a staggering amount of human capital involved across the fleet.  On Anthem the same cast does 'The Gift'.  On Liberty the cast doing 'Saturday Night Fever' also do the Aerial show which is a completely different skill set. 

The cost for the cast alone is pretty significant for these shows that are included in the base cruise fare.  Invest millions more to bring a new show to a ship like Symphony or leverage a previous investment such as Hairspray?  Considering many cruisers are not even Broadway show fans and will pan any show I can understand why it's Hairspray.

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1 hour ago, accio7 said:

Finally all caught up! I was sorry to hear that Anthem was unable to tender to CocoCay, but it sounds like you and your family had a great time onboard the ship that day. I am really excited about Royal Caribbean's revitalization plans for CocoCay, hopefully you'll be able to see it for yourself on an upcoming summer 2019 or beyond cruise!

How are you enjoying Anthem? I know we can't compare a Quantum-class ship to an Oasis-class ship (apples to oranges), but is this the right ship for your family? I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts on this. After reading @twangster's and now your live blog, Sabrina, I am more than convinced that I should book my 2020 cruise on Anthem (Bermuda, anyone?) :D 

Enjoy your final days at sea, sea days are truly my favourite part of cruising :) 

 

I'm happy your enjoying this blog. I am actually having a good time with it too ? it's a great way to give back. Stayed tune...I'll answer your questions in my final thoughts. I've already been gathering them ?

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Good (late) morning all! It's day 7 ?

The ship is moving a lot today. Here is our current location (well sort of current lol) and temperatures.

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It is a shame it has cooled down so quickly again. Not much interesting to report this morning. Headed on the North Star again at 11am. We have reservations this time. Will have to take a Gravol (canadian version of Dramamine) first as I am already slightly bothered by the motion today. 

 

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5 hours ago, accio7 said:

I am more than convinced that I should book my 2020 cruise on Anthem (Bermuda, anyone?) :D 

Well, I'll be sailing Anthem to Bermuda in October of this year, so you can look for at least a post-cruise report here if not an actual live(ish) blog. Maybe that will finally tip the scales about the destination choice. :10_wink:

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Afternoon report:

Pretty lazy day at sea today. The ship is really moving today. The Captain came on earlier and reported that they are already taking a detour back to Cape Liberty but still warned everyone that this ship is going to move a lot more into the night as we pass by Hatteras. He also suggested that everyone takes their medication for sea sickness if needed.

After taking mine before going on North Star, I'm good with the motion but very sleepy. First afternoon nap I have had in years!

Here are some photos from this morning:

?: Hubby

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Photo evidence of the dedication to this blog ?

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It was interesting to be able to ride it today and yesterday in port. The experience was way better in port. Views were better and less motion. The operator said that winds were at 29 knots when we rode it. That capsule was moving! They shut the ride down at 46 knots. I also witnessed someone without reservations trying to get on the NS. No go. Completely booked. So make your reservations ahead of time. 

This was in our stateroom today ?

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Waiting for bumper cars to start. This was the line up at 20min prior.

Start of the line is at the pink arrow.  They run 17 cars at a time. The ride lasts 3 mins. The line now at 10min prior is 3/4 the way around the rink. 

Tip: Get here early!!

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You must be a minimum of 5 years old to be a passenger and over 42" to drive.

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?: Hubby

Random observation: something I've been wondering is how this activity handles Star Class guests. They made an announcement about 1-2 min prior to starting that SC guests did not have to wait in the line. They all went straight to the front. The dirty looks and comments were unbelievable! I know some of you may disagree with me, but I'm annoyed that people would think that all is equal when obviously not all fares are equal!

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CK Dinner - Night 7 - 2nd Formal Night

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Dinner was tough tonight as there are many good items to choose from on this menu. I started with the Classic Caesar salad and Hubby got the Iceberg Wedge and Seared Scallops.

Iceberg Wedge: This is basically a regular salad with a creative presentation. Hubby does not care for blue cheese dressing and they were more than happy to substitute for him. Rating: A

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Seared Scallops: Hubby rated this an "A".  He thought these ones were way better than the raw ones he had earlier on in the cruise. 

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Creamy Truffle Risotto: So delicious! I remember this dish from CK on Harmony and it did not disappoint. It was creamy for sure and heavy. The small portion it came in was more than filling. Rating: A+

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By this time, we were already quite full but we fought to continue. Can't pass up amazing food!

Buttered Poached Lobster: Just the right texture, not too salty. Sometimes lobster in the MDR can be hit and miss because it has been over cooked or dry from sitting out for a while. This one was perfect!

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Homemade Gnocchi: Another great dish. Problem with this one was that it was very dense. Very delicious but it was hard to eat a lot of it. Hubby polished it off but I only managed 1/3 of it. Rating: A

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Dessert!

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I did something really bad tonight....all desserts looked so yummy that I ordered 3! ? and ate most of it ??

Chocolate Crunchy Bar: This was amazing! Coated in dark chocolate, and inside was a rice crispy along with a chocolate mousse! I told D1 I was going to share this with her but it was more like 3/4 me and 1/4 her.  Rating: A+

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Baked Alaska: Great as always. Not much else to say other than if you don't like meringue, don't order this one. Rating: A

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Coconut Tapioca:  I am a sucker for anything tapioca so this was a must have for me. The coconut taste is quite faint with this one, but because of that, it makes and light and so easy to eat. It came with Mango Gelato which was even better! I want another one just thinking about it as I type this! Rating: A+

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The ship is rocking like crazy tonight. Hubby and kids are back in the Seaplex. After taking Gravol (Canadian version of Dramamine) for the motion, a couple glasses of champagne (complimentary in CK tonight ?), and eating so much that I can barely move...I am fading rather fast.  Might be time for bed...and it's only 9:30pm! 

Last day tomorrow. iFly and the dreaded luggage in the hallway awaits. 

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