Better Late Than Never: Our Anthem Journey 21 February 2016

Our nights sleep was interrupted by flashing blue lights reflecting off the ceiling at about 4:00 AM.

In my groggy state I was wondering if the cops had pulled the ship over for speeding.

I went out to the balcony and saw that we had stopped and were very close to land and a harbor pilot was alongside.

A quick check of the TV showed we had made a sharp right towards the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

I believe we stopped because of a medical emergency but never heard anything official. :(

Thank you so much for your review. And thanks for posting the balcony pics. We have the exact same cabin on deck 12 opposite side so I was really interested to see how it compared to others. Hopefully, being down one deck will have a little nicer view although I can see by pictures that those overhang bars seem to go down to deck 12. Maybe someone who has sailed on 12 around the humps can answer better?

We have 12250 on an upcoming Anthem cruise. I was very happy to see these photos. :)

Our nights sleep was interrupted by flashing blue lights reflecting off the ceiling at about 4:00 AM.

 

In my groggy state I was wondering if the cops had pulled the ship over for speeding.

 

I went out to the balcony and saw that we had stopped and were very close to land and a harbor pilot was alongside.

 

A quick check of the TV showed we had made a sharp right towards the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

 

I believe we stopped because of a medical emergency but never heard anything official. :(

Was on this sailing with you. Unfortunately there was an emergency call in the music hall that night, I think a man may have had a heart attack. They cleared us all out of the hall but I heard they were not able to revive him and he did not make it and I am sure they were off loading him and his family. We were also starboard on deck 8 and it woke us up as well. My friend thought we were being pirated :p

For lunch here we had some pressed sandwiches and soup as well as our first drink of the cruise.

 

The bar team here in Two70 was outstanding and the service in Café Two70 was also very good. The menu at CafeTwo70 was the same as the Park Café on the Allure of the Seas. We were especially looking forward to the soups which were delicious on the Allure of the Seas, especially the Black Bean.

 

I didn't realize that Cafe 270 had the same menu as the Park Cafe. Does it have the same roast beef that they have in the Park Cafe?

Was on this sailing with you. Unfortunately there was an emergency call in the music hall that night, I think a man may have had a heart attack. They cleared us all out of the hall but I heard they were not able to revive him and he did not make it and I am sure they were off loading him and his family. We were also starboard on deck 8 and it woke us up as well. My friend thought we were being pirated :p

I'm so sorry to hear that. I knew it wasn't anything good. :(

By the way, how are you?

 

I didn't realize that Cafe 270 had the same menu as the Park Cafe. Does it have the same roast beef that they have in the Park Cafe?

Yes. They do indeed have the same roast beef sandwiches. They were just as good. :)

Don't you love those reviews where the reviewer gets up at the crack of dawn and takes pictures of the sunrise and the empty ship?

The bad news is that I'm not one of those reviewers. I believe getting up early on vacation is best avoided whenever possible. :p

The good news it that my husband LOVES to get up early and take pictures of the sunrise and the nearly empty ship.

And we all get to benefit from it!

Of course, since I was blissfully sleeping, I was unaware that the sunrise was dud due to clouds. Nevertheless, it was apparently quite beautiful:

He also got some shots of the elevator lobby with the looong tapestry:

And some of the pools.

The solarium:

The kids' pool area:

The outdoor pool:

The Bionic Bar was still asleep. Like me. ;)

Very nice photos, thanks.

Great photos, excited to read the rest of this!! Thanks For Posting!!

Thanks for the review. It's making me very excited to try out this ship!

Looking forward to the rest of cruise review.

Don't you love those reviews where the reviewer gets up at the crack of dawn and takes pictures of the sunrise and the empty ship?

 

The bad news is that I'm not one of those reviewers. I believe getting up early on vacation is best avoided whenever possible. :p

 

The good news it that my husband LOVES to get up early and take pictures of the sunrise and the nearly empty ship.

 

And we all get to benefit from it!

 

Of course, since I was blissfully sleeping, I was unaware that the sunrise was dud due to clouds. Nevertheless, it was apparently quite beautiful:

 

Cracked me up. This is us on a cruise. I like to sleep in while dh will go for a walk around the track.

Eventually I did get up.

Our Meet and Mingle was at 9:30 AM, but we had some time to walk around on the upper decks.

That was when we noticed that the NorthStar was open for standby rides.

Although we had an appointment for Day 4 (as we were departing Labadee), we decided to check it out.

We got in line but had to wait for more folks to join us before we went up.

But eventually we got to go. You enter from the back:

First you go straight up very smoothly.

Watch out! Don't step on the joggers!

Then we started moving over to the port side.

I was excited about going over the water because I know that they aren't always able to do this.

It's hard to demonstrate in still pictures but it feels like you are flying in the air alongside the ship.

More from the North Star:

I had no idea how much fun that was going to be. LOVED it!

thanks for the review, can't wait to read more.

I'm so sorry to hear that. I knew it wasn't anything good. :(

 

By the way, how are you?

 

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You are so sweet for asking and don't mean to hijack. Took awhile to get rid of the upper respiratory illness, it just hung on but much better. Now if only summer would get here.

 

BTW, great pics, love re-living our cruise through them. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better.

Scott got the horrible URI bug too, although it happened about a month after we returned. So he definitely caught it somewhere else.

Somehow I managed to avoid getting it <fingers CROSSED!>

I love the pictures from North Star! At first I wasn't sure how much fun this would be, but after seeing the pictures I have to try it.

Glad you're enjoying this!

The unexpected trip in the North Star was terrific but unfortunately made us late for the Meet and Mingle.

Luckily it was still happening when we got there.

It was hosted by Abe, the cruise director, and Alyse, the activities director.

We even won a hat!

After the Meet and Mingle we rode the bumper cars:

The line was pretty long and we almost gave up. Fortunately we stuck it out. As luck would have it, the bumper cars were closed down later in the cruise due to a Noro outbreak. There would not have been another opportunity to ride them again.

The seat belt has a pad on it. I didn't know what it was for and didn't use it.

As a result I learned the hard way that it was to protect my collarbone from bruising when I bumped someone else.

The bumper cars were still fun but OW!

TIP: Put the pad over your collarbone, unless you aren't any good at bumper care and won't hit anyone. :p

We headed back outside. This was day 2 and it was getting warmer.

The line for the North Star was getting longer:

But the sun was starting to peek out:

After some basking and wine in the sunshine we headed down to Two70 for lunch.

They were rehearsing for the Red Party which would be held later in the cruise:

It was time to head over to the theater for We Will Rock You.

On the way we passed this sculpture in the Via:

Am I the only who thinks it may need to be pixilated? :p

So, for those of you with more delicate sensibilities:

Here are some shots of the main theater before the show started:

These glass boxes to either side of the stage held the live band which played during the show.

We really enjoyed the show. The cast is very talented and we always appreciate good LIVE music.

But, if you aren't a fan of Queen, this may not be the show for you.

Our next stop was dinner. Chic was next up in our rotation.

I don't remember what we had but it was an improvement. I guess we chose more wisely.

Now here's how our rotation got messed up...

The nice couple at the table next to us had asked for a big table when they booked and were instead seated at a two-top next to ours.

They had asked the maître d' to move them to a big table with but, as was pointed out by our waiter, we would get another waiter if we moved.

So I thought we all four decided to stay where we were since the tables were close enough that that it made no difference whether they were one or two table. They really were only about 6 inches/15 centimeters apart.

But after we said good night and walked out my husband wasn't with me!

After a few minutes I went back to look for him and it turned that the maître d' had turned up to talk with the couple at the next table and Scott somehow wound up as part of the discussion.

Since the discussion was over by the time I came back, I had no idea if anything had changed. And Scott wasn't sure either, even though he was there. :confused:

Since the other couple were going to be at a specialty restaurant the next night, we couldn't just show and ask them either.

Scott and I decided to simply show up on Night 3 at the Grande at the same table number (the numbers follow you when you have classic) and hope for the best.

The rest of the evening we spent time in the casino, had our picture taken with the captain:

We also enjoyed a Journey tribute band in the Music Hall:

A word or two about the Music Hall.

It's a beautiful venue but very little of it has sightlines to the stage.

On our cruise people were dragging chairs closer to the stage. Which inadvertently caused a series of impenetrable chair barriers making it impossible to even find standing room in front of a pillar or get onto the dance floor without actually climbing over people (which we didn't do, because...well...one doesn't ;)). Maybe that isn't so much an issue on other cruises with other demographics.

The upstairs is very spacious but you have to be right at the railing to see the stage.

It's a great venue but maybe not for bigger stage events that attract a crowd.

As we wandered around the ship we noticed something about this art piece:

We were having trouble reading what it said.

Scott pointed his camera at it and, lo and behold, it was more legible in the view finder. Here's a thumbnail of the picture above which shows this:

We went back to the schooner bar for a while and, when we finally went back to our cabin, we found a little friend had been waiting for us all night.

Just as an aside, I realize this review is taking me forever to do. I apologize for that; it's happening between other things that *have* to do.

But I'm having a lot of fun doing it whenever I get a chance. And I'll keep going, although I hope I'll be done before I take my next cruise!

Hey! I'm back.

Anyway we've finally made it through Day 2.

Day 3 started the same way. Scott got up nice and early to take pictures so I didn't have to. ;)

This time he got a bonus. Sunrise with a side of moonset.