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


firebuck

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22 hours ago, Boston Babe said:

@firebuck, can you let me know if the beach bungalow might be accessible vi scooter or wheelchair?  You got me very excited about Kennedy Space Center! Thank you! 

I honestly think it may be tough for a conventional scooter or wheelchair to get to the bungalow area.  The bungalow area is all the way at the end of the island, and while they do offer transportation via golf carts and trailers pulled by tractors, it doesn't seem like a scooter or wheel chair would fit on the carts unless it can fold up pretty well. The bungalow area from where they drop you off is very sandy as well, so that may present a bit of a challenge.

That said, I did see wheel chairs being offered on the island with the large, fat tires that should be able to navigate the sandy paths to the bungalow. The pusher will just need to be ok with pushing all the way to the end of the island. 

 

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20 hours ago, Susie said:

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. 

No drink card as of day 4 - I will let you know if I see it pop up later on.  The bars have been super packed this time around, so they may be getting enough sales as it is right now without the card.

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9 minutes ago, firebuck said:

No drink card as of day 4 - I will let you know if I see it pop up later on.  The bars have been super packed this time around, so they may be getting enough sales as it is right now without the card.

Thank you so much. : )

How is the weather so far? Does it cold in Florida, Cococay, and Nassau?

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Day 4 - Coco Cay

We woke up early and decided to skip conventional breakfast today. The cruise director stated the previous night that the Captain should have  us ready to tender early, and he did. After donning our swim gear and grabbing a cup of coffee, we were in line for the tenders.  On Anthem there are two tender locations, one aft, and one forward.  We were in the aft line when a crew member suggested we go forward as the first tender was there and it had plenty of space.  So we heeded his advice and headed on up.

We were indeed the first tender to make it to the island.  We immediately hopped on the cart to head to the bungalow area.  Once there, we checked in with the concierge and into our assigned bungalow by 9:15 AM.

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You can tell I need some sun...

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At this time in the morning, even though the sun was shining down, the water was freezing!  Once you "ripped the bandaid off" it wasn't horrible - just get everything wet at once.

On day 3, my wife noticed in the cruise compass that they offer a Swimming with the Pigs excursion. The excursion said that it lasted an hour and a half and left at 12:30. Even though we already had a bungalow, we all agreed that this was an experience we couldn't pass up. I never saw this excursion online in the cruise planner.  Come to think of it, a lot of excursions offered on board were never offered in the pre-cruise planner online... 

Our lunch was scheduled to be delivered to our bungalow between 11:30 and 12:00 so we knew we'd need to scarf it down pretty quickly to make our swimming pig excursion. Lunch arrived at about ten minutes til noon.  My wife had the chicken tacos, and the rest of us had jerk burgers.

With that, we headed back to the excursion desk to meet up for our swimming pigs tour.

We took a quick 5 minute boat ride to "Treasure Island" where we saw the crew coaxing pigs down the ramp to the beach area.

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The swimming area was fenced in, and there were about 8 pigs that were willing to swim with us for apples.  After some brief instructions on how to hold the apples away from your body (pigs do bite) we were able to get down in the water.  Side note - if you do this excursion, I HIGHLY recommend water shoes - the area down to the beach was solid rock and it killed my tender bare feet.

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We swam with the pigs for about 45 minutes when one of the crew members who was snorkeling came up with a small sea turtle!  They called him flappy.

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The crew was very funny and entertaining.  All in all, it was a neat experience and we all had fun.

We were back to our bungalows around 2:15 and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and relaxing.

The last tender back was at 4:45 and we opted to come back around 4.

Pier Progress:

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After swimming with pigs, we decided to quickly shower and hop in the solarium pool - since pigs sometimes have accidents (which the crew quickly attends to) we figured the extra chlorine from the pool won't hurt ?

After yet another shower, we headed to Izumi fro dinner at 6 since my brother in law really wanted sushi.  The rest of us got ramen. After dinner we sat in the Schooner bar for some entertainment.  It was a long, fun day in the sun and we were all pretty wiped out so we retired to the room by 10 PM

 

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28 minutes ago, Susie said:

Thank you so much. : )

How is the weather so far? Does it cold in Florida, Cococay, and Nassau?

The weather has been beautiful!  Coco Cay was perfect... I'd say in the mid to high 80s with a nice breeze?  Florida was the same, maybe slightly cooler.  The sun was hot, but it wasn't a humid oppressive heat.  I'm sitting on my balcony right now sans shirt and the breeze is amazing.  It's 77 right now and not expected to go past 84.  In the morning the water is chilly, but it gets nice around 11 or 12 once the sun has a chance to beat down on it.

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Day 5

Happy Halloween! Today is Nassau.  We don't really have any plans except to walk around the port area a bit and grab a flight of beer at Pirate Republic Brewing.  Tonight is Jamies Italian for Dinner.  

My view of Atlantis from the balcony this morning.

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We may try the MDR for breakfast this morning if we can get there in time. 

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43 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

 I worried that their sharp hooves would scratch you (unintended, of course) if you got too close.  Any issues with that ?

There is definitely a risk involved.  They do swim up really close to you, and I got gently kicked a time or two (no scratches though).  The crew was very good about keeping the pigs away from you if you get overwhelmed.  A few pigs seemed to be a bit more aggressively in your face than others.  There were probably 20 or so of us  in the water plus 5 crew, and I didn’t hear of any incidents.

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41 minutes ago, ellcee said:

How did you all like it? I had it but wasn't impressed. The udon I had the next time was so good though.

I wasn’t impressed either, but Izumi is really not my thing - I did, however, like the hibachi at Izumi on Oasis.  We had already planned to hit the Windjammer afterwards in case I didn’t get my fill. ?  I was thinking about getting the Udon, but as a picky eater, I think there was something in it that I didn’t like - probably seafood lol.

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1 hour ago, VacationCrazy! said:

The views from 270 look amazing.  I can't wait to see the views from this venue next year on Ovation in Alaska.  It will be our first time on a Quantum class ship.  Great blog!!

Thanks!  We are actually looking to do the same next year!  Hopefully around peak Aroura Borealis season.

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Day 5 continued

We hopped off the ship around 11:30 and walked around the port area a bit.  Pirate Republic Brewing company is just a short walk down the street, right before the straw market. 

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 They offer a 3 beer flight for 8 dollars (You can only choose from the first 4 beers).  I had the Captain Kidd’s Kolsch, the Gold & Haze of Piracy and the Island Pirate Ale - all were very good. 

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Afterwards, I had a pint of the coconut porter which I remember from last time we visited was my favorite, and it certainly didn’t disappoint this time.

A little more walking around, and we were ready to get back on the ship and hop in the Solarium pool which thankfully wasn’t very crowded.  After the pool, my wife and I had Johnny Rockets for lunch - it was very good, and the milkshakes included in the refreshment package and above were a nice treat.

Dinner tonight was in Jamie’s Italian. The food and service was excellent!  The waiter suggested that he bring out all the appetizers including a hybrid veggie and meat board for all of us to share. 

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For entrees, the ladies both had the lasagna, I had the carbonara and G had the salmon.  The waiter even brought out an additional pasta entree for us to try. There was no way we were possibly finishing everything, especially since we knew dessert was coming.  Again, the waiter brought out a board filled with everything, and again everything was out of this world delicious. 

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We couldn’t possibly finish it all, and the waiter boxed up my wife’s favorite, the cheesecake with meringue for her to take back to the room.

After dinner, I put my halloween costume on, and we headed down to the haunted house that they had set up in the Music hall.  The crew did a great job - they got a jump and little scream out of my wife, so job well done!

The halloween party was in 270 at 10 PM so we made our way over. They had a halloween themed projection on the screens at 270 which was really cool.

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The party started out with a costume contest with three categories - scariest (which I entered), most creative, and funniest costumes.  So many people dressed up for tonight, I was surprised to see so much participation.  I was a finalist in the costume contest, so that was pretty cool!  My costume was a take on the plague doctor.

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It was starting to get super crowded, so I decided to head up to the room change clothes and find a bar that was still open and not crowded.  G and I ended up at the Schooner bar until they closed.  We then found that the party had moved to the Music Hall where a DJ was performing club music.  G and I hung around there until about 3 in the morning getting the most out of our drink packages - ahh vacation.

Today is the first of two sea days, so I'm thinking we're just going to take it easy and relax.

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Day 6

Today was a lazy morning - mostly spent in the stateroom or on the balcony.  I wasn't really in the mood for breakfast, so I didn't go. Despite my willing it away, and washing my hands like 50 times a day, I was developing a sore throat since maybe day 4. Today, I pretty much lost my voice and with it, my ability to order drinks.  It's a little bit better today, but I sound like a squeaky frog when I try to enunciate haha.

I had my heart set on lunch at the Brass and Bock pub for lunch - my mission: try the poutine.  I'll have to say, @Lovetocruise2002 it was pretty good. The fries were nice and crispy, the gravy was on point... BUT They didn't have real cheese curds!  It was more like some melted cheddar on top... had it offered the proper curds, I would have given it at solid A... but unfortunately this lack of curds dropped the grade down to a C.  I still enjoyed it, but I was expecting some nice "squeak on your teeth" cheese curds to bite into.

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I also had the beer cheese soup which was absolutely amazing.  It was really spicy too. 

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My wife got the nachos...  they were ok, but more like a thick fried flour tortilla than corn chips.

We had reservations to see We Will Rock You at 2:30 today, so we made our way to the main theater to get good seats.  After 6 days of attending shows and events, we've learned that you need to get there at LEAST 30 minutes early on Anthem if you'd like to have a good seat.  The show started on time, but very shortly after, the lights came back on and it was announced that they were having technical difficulties... after about another 30 minutes, the cruise director came out and said that the issue was with a health issue with one of the performers, but thankfully she was ok, and the show resumed.  We all thought it was the best show of the three main shows offered.  Great band and good singers.

After the show I did some walking around and tried to go to some spots I haven't visited much on this cruise. 

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Next, I found myself sitting at the solarium bar for a bit this afternoon and squeaked out my orders for kraken lava flows and other various drinks.

Tonight was karaoke in the music hall, and we all decided to go down to the windjammer for dinner.  It was formal night, and I wasn't feeling like getting out of my t-shirt and shorts.  The Windjammer was a really good decision because they were featuring Indian food.  I'll tell ya - the butter chicken was next level good.

Tonight was karaoke in the Music hall, so we staked out some good seats for that.  After Karaoke, the band "The Royal Swedes" performed.  They were really good. 

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Tonight was also the Hush dance party.  Watching people silently dance to different music is always entertaining, but there was an adult comedy show in the royal theater coming up soon.  I went back to my stateroom to try to sleep this silly cold off while the ladies went to the comedy show which they said was really funny (I don't know what happened to G!) 

Hush dance party

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I'm feeling a bit better today. My voice is still froggy but I've been sipping on tea and lemon hoping that helps!

* side note - Voom isn't as... Voomy on day 7.

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2 hours ago, firebuck said:

After Karaoke, the band "The Royal Swedes" performed.  They were really good.

These guys were also on the Oct 13 sailing to Bermuda, played almost every single night. It's interesting, I thought these bands just stayed for one or maybe two sailings and then moved on to the next gig, but it looks like maybe they're a regular band for Anthem?

I have to say, your 9-night sailing has had way more activities and events going on than we had for the 5-nighter to Bermuda. No Hush party for us, or any major events in Two70 besides Spectra and the first-night tech preview; no comedian or cover band, either. I guess it makes a certain bit of sense when the ship only has two sea days to entertain people for and will go pretty unused on the two days in Bermuda, but it's still making me a little envious.

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43 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

I have to say, your 9-night sailing has had way more activities and events going on than we had for the 5-nighter to Bermuda.

I wish it were a 9 nighter!  Tonight is the final night. We are sitting in 270 taking in the gray skies and coming to terms with the realities of November in New Jersey.

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Day 7

Much of the morning was spent in the high-back chairs of the 270 lounge watching the gray skies and waiting for Cafe 270 to open so I could grab a final kummelweck sandwich.  While I was in getting my sandwich, my wife said that a fighter jet flew low and right across the aft of the ship.  Several other people were also commenting that they saw it fly by - guess I missed the air show!

I met up with my Brother-in-law on the way to the rooms and we decided to head to the Schooner bar for awhile for some final day Johnnie Walker Double Blacks.  It's been our tradition to enjoy a glass of Blue label on the final night and have a cuban cigar that we find on a port of call, but none of the bars carry Blue Label any longer.  We asked the bartender why that was, and he explained that too many guests thought it was somehow included in the drink package, so they stopped stocking it in the bars.  I think in the past it was about a $20 upcharge per glass which wasn't horrible for Blue label.

After a bit, I decided to head down to the casinos, and somehow I turned $20 into $45.  (I usually donate $20 to the slots and stop).

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* side note - this gentleman in the casino bar was the absolute fastest bartender I have seen.  He powered through people's orders like a champ.

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Tonight was dinner in Chops again, but we couldn't get reservations until 8:30. I decided to try the NY strip this time rather than the filet - I think I definitely prefer the filet.  The ladies got the filet, and G had the prime rib.  We all enjoyed our last meal onboard at chops. Dinner lasted until around 10:00 that night and we were running out of time.  G and I grabbed a glass of Double Black neat and headed off to the smoking area in deck 5 to continue our tradition.

Coming back to the room, I found that my wife had most of our stuff packed (she's awesome like that).  We all opted to do the self carry option at 6:30 AM the next day.  And just like that, our 7 night cruise was coming to a close.

 

Day 8

We woke up around 5:45 AM and got ready and put the final items into the bags.  We headed down to deck 5 around 6:10 AM which was very shortly after the ship had docked.  There were already over 100 or so people queued up with lots more on the way.  By the time we cleared customs around 6:50, the line stretched all the way from the midship elevators down into 270 and back up again.  I think most people had the same idea!  There was also another departure line near the Royal Theater, but I'm not sure how long that was.

Once we started moving, it went super fast.  Clearing customs was nothing but a camera that you stood in front of and if you were good to go, a green light would appear on the top.  We didn't even need to have our passports out, declaration forms... nothing.  I'm sure there were random spot checks, but I didn't see any.  Either way, I'm glad that this process has been even further streamlined.

We met up with the others outside and headed out to the parking garage where we had no issues whatsoever getting out.  

Including a stop at Wawa, we went from stepping foot off of the ship at close to 7:00AM to home at 9:30 AM - not bad at all!

 

Now we are in dry dock until next year.  Right now we are really thinking about an Alaskan cruise and hoping for a good Black Friday sale.

 

Thanks so much for reading my live(ish) blog!

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