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Anthem of the Seas - Port Canaveral, Coco Cay, Nassau. 10/27-11/3


firebuck

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Hi all!

I'm planning to try my hand at live(ish) blogging my upcoming cruise.  As of right now, I'm just 3 short work days (including today) away from setting sail!

Who's cruising

Myself (Phill), wife (K), Sister-in-law (C) and her husband (G).

We all caught the cruising bug back in 2014 when we enjoyed our first cruise on Explorer of the Seas - a 9 nighter out of Cape Liberty. Since we had such a wonderful time, we pretty much decided that cruising should be an annual event! This will be our 4th cruise (The wife and I didn't cruise in 2017 since we went to Disney & also St. Martin).  It's now just over 2 years since we've set sail, so needless to say, I am ready!

Cabin

Both couples are booked in balcony rooms right next to each other on deck 12 near the mid-ship elevators (12654 and 12656)

Itinerary

We live in Southern New Jersey across the bridge from Philadelphia, so Cape Liberty is about an hour and 45-minute drive for us.  G works in Newark so we will be able to park at his workplace and hail an Uber or Lyft to the port.  We embark Saturday the 27th, (just in time for the huge Nor'easter to roll in!) and will be at Port Canaveral on Monday the 29th, Coco Cay on the 30th, and Nassau on Halloween!

Cruise Planner Bookings

G and I both have the drink package (look out!) and my wife and her sister have the refreshment package.  We also booked the 3-night dining package starting on night 2.  We are thinking Chops, Jamie's Italian for sure, and the other night is up in the air!  I may get brave enough to try Wonderland... we'll see.  We are booked on NorthStar for day 2.  As far as the shows go, we booked The Gift on night 2, Spectra's Cabaret on night 3, and We Will Rock You on night 6. Whether or not we go to all of these shows remains to be seen, but at least we have the option!  We purchased the 2 device plan for Voom Surf and Stream to share between the four of us.

Excursions/Plans

In Port Canaveral, we are planning on hailing an Uber/Lyft and heading to Kennedy Space Center - we also have a friend that lives in the Orlando area who will meet us there.  For Coco Cay, I was able to get a great deal on a bungalow, so we booked that for the four of us - hopefully, we will be able to tender as this will be my first time at Coco Cay!  In Nassau, we will most likely walk around the port area and I will most definitely be hitting up Pirate Republic Brewing Company https://www.piraterepublicbahamas.com/  We visited when we were on our Oasis cruise in 2016 - they had some great brews!

Blogging

Most of my blogging will probably be done in the morning while my wife sleeps in and I'm sipping coffee on my balcony ?

Let me know if you have any Anthem questions and I'll try to answer them. Thanks for following along!

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Just now, Susie said:

My Anthem cruise on Nov 17 will bego to the same places but we will be at Orlando from 7am-7pm. and the next day we will be at Nassau 10:30 am - 10 pm. Why so much different?

I just realized I misspoke on the Orlando time - I'm pasting the info from my Edocs below :

 

           

SAT

27 OCT

CAPE LIBERTY, NJ (NY METRO)

D

 

3:00 PM

SUN

28 OCT

CRUISING

C

   

MON

29 OCT

ORLANDO (PORT CANAVERAL), FL

D

12:00 PM

9:30 PM

TUE

30 OCT

COCOCAY, BAHAMAS

T

9:30 AM

5:00 PM

WED

31 OCT

NASSAU, BAHAMAS

D

7:00 AM

6:00 PM

THU

01 NOV

CRUISING

C

   

FRI

02 NOV

CRUISING

C

   

SAT

03 NOV

CAPE LIBERTY, NJ (NY METRO)

D

6:00 AM

 

 

Even still - your times are definitely different than mine - strange.

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3 minutes ago, Susie said:

That kind of strange. It is leaving from the same port at the same time and same itinerary but a different time. 

Perhaps they are adjusting due to the fact that the Nassau port day is on Halloween, and they may be planning some activities onboard that occur in the evening?

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All packed up and ready to get to the port bright and early tomorrow!  I think Annie knows that we're going on vacation without her... annie.thumb.jpg.947184c543a7a96def6f10e0fddd9d5f.jpg

 

Last minute change of logistics: G's work does some business with the cruise port and through some of his work connections, he's netted us free parking at the port -now we won't need to Uber over!  

Also, I've read that captain Henrik has decided to bring the Anthem into port early due to the nasty weather coming in tonight/tomorrow morning... hopefully it won't be so terrible getting there.  Either way, next time I post, I'll be onboard!  Soooo excited!!

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We got right on the ship as they opened the doors at around 11:15ish.  Since we have the 3 night dinging package, we went directly to wonderland and changed our dining reservation tomorrow to Chops from the default assigned restaurant.  Then we hit up the shockingly empty Windjammer for a bite to eat.D0489F30-301F-488F-B7BC-1B9CEC9E0058.thumb.jpeg.c2a7e35bca15c8d151ccf6504b8dcf44.jpeg

I was immediately offered a rum punch when we walked in, so who am I to say no?  They bartenders kept cruising by and offered me another.  Why not? I’m on vacation now.  

We then explored the pool deck and solarium for a bit and right at 1:00 they announced that the rooms were ready.

I’ll  update more and add more pictures later when I’m not in my phone.

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Embarkation day continued

Apparently there was a lot of logistical issues today which made me glad that we were able to get to port so early.  Muster drill was delayed until 3, and folks were still getting onboard at that point. We heard stories of the line of cars waiting to drop off just not moving at all. The weather was just nasty, so I know that wasn't helping.

It was a suuuuper crowded day one, owing largely to the weather I'm sure.  The elevators were a logistical nightmare, but as expected, that got better as the day progressed.  I'm sure once we get into some warmer weather it will be even better.

Our muster station was in Vintages, and after the drill we made our way to 270 and heard a reggae band setting up. We sat there for awhile and enjoyed some Bob Marley songs and sipped on some adult beverages.

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We all had a My Time reservation for 5:30 in the MDR, so we decided to explore a little more of decks 4 and 5, which means I needed to sample a drink from each bar along the way :D.  The place to get your Wow bands, at least before the shops open, was Boleros.  We all purchased wow bands - they're pretty darn convenient!  No need to go rooting around for a sea pass card, and its much more convenient to open doors.

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner.  As we were getting ready to head out, we saw the Pilot boat coming in from our balcony... it was really struggling out there.

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We were sat at a table for 4 in Silk.  Here's a horrible picture of the menu (lighting was tough in there!)

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I had the mushroom soup which was good, and steak which was... meh at best.  My wife had the french onion soup chicken marsala, and I was a bit jealous, so she shared! G had the mushroom soup and fish of the day (I can't recall what it was - something tilapia-like) and C had french onion soup and the spaghetti which was pretty darn good.  The head waiter asked if we wanted after dinner shots. Sure!  I'm not sure what it was, but it was citrusy and pretty good.

Here's a pic of my definitely not Chops steak.

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After dinner we decided to explore the ship a bit more and become a bit more familiar (most likely grabbing a drink along the way if my hand was empty).

The ship was really rocking last night - it was getting harder and harder to walk a straight line... and it wasn't even due to the drinks that I had!  I always enjoy that feeling though - sometimes you forget that you're actually on a ship, and what better to remind you?

Here's a view of the conditions yesterday afternoon from our balcony - we were passing a cargo ship.

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My wife and I decided to try the hot tub in the solarium as it was pretty empty - it was definitely nice and relaxing.

After the hot tub, we showered up and headed to bed.

I'm not going to do this for every day, but to give you an idea of how beneficial the drink package is for me, here's a breakdown of day one:

Rum punch x 2, Captain and diet x 5, a "What's Kraken" x1, a Kraken Lava Flow x 1, Some sort of citrusy shot x 1 Goslings and diet x 1, an IPA at the pub.

I'm conservatively estimating a total of $110 for day 1 - about a third of the way for breaking even for the entire cruise. ?

 

 

 

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Day 2

Seas are much calmer - the skies are much clearer.  

Here's my @twangster style balcony pic of the day

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I'm going to get dressed and grab some coffee - we've got NorthStar booked today at 11:30... looking forward to it!  

Dinner tonight will be in Chops, and we also reserved "The Gift" a bit later tonight.

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Day 2 Continued

We all decided to visit the Windjammer for breakfast this morning - the food was good, but boy was it crowded!  The only available tables were in the breezy, cold, aft outdoor seating area.

After breakfast, we decided to explore the ship a bit more and see what all she had to offer.

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The Anthem really is a beautiful ship, but I've got to say - it seems to be the most crowded ship we've been on thus far. Since the weather is much nicer today, we figured the Pool area /Solarium would be crowded, but golly was that the understatement of the year!  My wife and I went back down to the music hall and found the self-leveling pool tables and played a round. We are both horrible at pool ?

We had reserved the Northstar for 11:00 AM today, but it had to be rescheduled due to winds - the only time they had left for us all to get on at the same time was day 7.

After exploring the Seaplex for a bit, My wife and I went down and sat in 270 for awhile.  The views there are absolutely breathtaking. 

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Lunch in Cafe 270 opened around 11:30, so we grabbed a Kummelweck and some soup.  How do they make the bread taste so good??  We decided to check out cafe 270 for breakfast the next day.

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After was more exploring, and then more relaxing.

The bartender at the Schooner bar insisted on taking my picture along with the oddly shaped bottle of rum that I wanted to try.

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Dinner tonight was in Chops.  The waiter suggested that he likes to bring out a small bowl of each side (a total of 8 ) for us to share family style.  My sister-in-law and I had the filet, my wife had the chicken, and my brother-in-law had the prime rib.  We all really enjoyed our meal tonight.

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After dinner we got changed and headed up to the Royal Theatre for "The Gift" at 8:45 pm.  The cast did a great job, but I was glad the show lasted only about an hour... I just didn't really get it.

The cruise director, Drew announced that the Led Zeppelin tribute band was performing at 10 PM in the music hall, so we made our way over there to catch it.  The band was pretty good!  But after a bit we decided that it was getting late and we decided to turn in for the night, but not before a stop at Sorrentos - yes they've definitely improved over what I remember on Oasis.  Especially if you get a nice, hot slice right out of the oven.  Is it the best pizza I've ever tasted? Hardly... but it's some darn fine cruise ship pizza.

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Today is day 3, and we're due to arrive in Port Canaveral around noon.  We're heading to the Kennedy Space Center, and I've never been so I'm pretty excited.

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I can't wait to try Anthem for the first time in Feb.  Somehow we have just never gotten around to sailing in a Q class before this and since our B2B in Feb has turned into B2B star class cruises I am doubly anxious for Feb 15 to get here !!

I have heard other say the same thing, about the Anthem feeling "crowded".  Explanations I have heard usually deal with the ship's general design not allowing traffic flow as readily as some of the other classes and then there's that whole thing about it being a "cool weather" ship where everyone is mostly inside vs outside.  Guess I will find out in a few months !  Can't wait.

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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I can't wait to try Anthem for the first time in Feb.  Somehow we have just never gotten around to sailing in a Q class before this and since our B2B in Feb has turned into B2B star class cruises I am doubly anxious for Feb 15 to get here !!

I have heard other say the same thing, about the Anthem feeling "crowded".  Explanations I have heard usually deal with the ship's general design not allowing traffic flow as readily as some of the other classes and then there's that whole thing about it being a "cool weather" ship where everyone is mostly inside vs outside.  Guess I will find out in a few months !  Can't wait.

It was a little better this morning - I think people are starting to spread out a bit more.  Definitely want to do Star class - Having access to CC alone will eliminate a lot of the crowded venue issues.

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Day 3 continued

Breakfast in the Solarium Bistro was a bit more organized and a lot less crowded- they of course didn't have EVERYTHING that the Windjammer had, but it was pretty close.

My inlaws decided to stay on the ship today and relax, so just my wife and I were getting off today. We decided to get off of the ship around 12:30 to give ourselves plenty of time to hail a drive share service and get to Kennedy Space Center to meet our friend there between 1:30 and 2.  There was a long line to get off, but it went rather quickly, and before we knew it we were on land!  We looked at both Uber and Lyft, and Lyft was a few dollars cheaper, so that's what we chose!  Once we requested a ride, the gentleman was at the curb at the port in less than 3 minutes.  The ride to Kennedy Space center only took us about 20 minutes, and cost around $32.00.  We arrived just a little past 1:00 PM.kennedy.thumb.jpg.56e080805b5f96acb32fbb942c046da7.jpg

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Our friend arrived shortly after, and upon the suggestion of the lady selling the tickets, we opted to take the bus tour first.  This tour takes you through the restricted areas of KSC and some of the highlights are seeing the VAB or Vehicle Assembly Building - a huge 526 foot tall building where they build the rockets and launch towers.

Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)

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Launch Pad

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We also drive by the SpaceX rocket assembly building and the launchpad that they lease from the space port (I believe the guide said that SpaceX has leased that building and launch pad for 20 years).  We also drove by several launch pads including those that sent the Apollo missions to the moon.

The bus tour then concludes at the Apollo/Saturn V exhibit.

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Once back at the main visitors center, we ventured into the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit.  This exhibit opened in 2013 and houses the Space Shuttle Atlantis - it's quite a site to take in, and pictures do not do it justice.  It's something you need to experience in person.

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Unfortunately we were running out of time as the Space Center closed at 6:00 PM. I had never been to Kennedy Space Center, and would definitely recommend going if you have any sort of interest in space travel - it was very informative, and we all had a great time.  

Our friend was kind enough to drive us to a dinner destination that he suggested - Dixie Crossroads restaurant in Titusville Fl which is a popular seafood destination.  I'm not a big fan of seafood, but I knew they'd have some killer chicken tenders, and they did!

All aboard was at 9:00 PM, and we arrived back at the port shortly after 8:00.  We had 9:00 PM reservations for Spectra's Cabaret.  I thought it was a very well-done show and really showcased what the 270 venue could offer - I would definitely recommend this show over The Gift. 

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The cruise director announced after the show that there was an adult comedy show at 11:15 PM, so we decided to take it in.  The comedian did a great job, but I was pretty darn tired afterwards, so with that it was bed time.

 

Today is Coco Cay!  I'm excited.  We have a beach bungalow, and we also booked a last minute excursion that I'm really excited about!  I will blog about it later, but for now I need to get coffee and get ready to tender!

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Enjoy your blog. I will visit the KSC too on our coming trip in 2 weeks. My husband and I went there once but it will the first time for my 6 years old. I think it will be great for him. How is the weather on your trip so far?

Do you see any drink card sales at the bar yet? We both got the refreshment packages and we will get 3 free drinks in the evening like 4 pm-8.30 pm. but I try to make the decision should I buy the drink package for my husband. It is about $26 different/day from what I already paid for a  refreshment package. 

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