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Occasionally Live from the Anthem TA featuring NY, London, Rotterdam, Ypres, Bastogne, Arnhem and Paris

xpcdoojk

By xpcdoojk,
in Royal Caribbean International

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xpcdoojk "Live from...." Rare

xpcdoojk

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LauraS
This post was recognized by LauraS!

"And another from xpcdoojk! Thank you for generously sharing your time at sea with everyone at Cruise Critic!"

xpcdoojk was awarded the badge '"Live from...."' and 5 points.

We fly this afternoon, to Newark.  I booked the outward flights using credits from Covid cancelled trips, so Krystal and I are on separate tickets, and of course, my luck being what it is I got upgraded to Business, and she didn’t.  So, I imagine she will enjoy my seat.  😂

 

We have a couple of activities for the city, going to the Play Six and eating at the Palm on Saturday night.  Sunday, we are doing the crown tour of the Statue of Liberty, and lunch at the pizza place if we can find it on Stone Street in lower Manhattan.  Monday we board the Anthem.   We have stops in the Azores, and Cherbourg and Le Havre before being dumped in Southampton.  We will take the train to London, and the Eurostar train to Rotterdam.  We will spend a couple of nights there before renting a car and going to the Keukenhof Gardens.  Then driving to Ypres to attend the Last Post ceremony.  Then to Bastogne to visit the museum there, and then to Arnhem to see a Bridge too Far museum.  We will drop the car back at the train station in Rotterdam and take the train to Paris.  We have dinner planned at Le Jules Verne (Eiffel Tower), train to Versailles, back to Paris, then visit the Louvre with dinner on a river boat in Paris before flying home.  

 

I will try to post as often as I can.  Hopefully the weather will be better than it looks currently, as the FlowRider is going to be less than appealing, and yet I will be there for hours.  😂

 

jc

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derorim

derorim

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50 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

We fly this afternoon, to Newark.  I booked the outward flights using credits from Covid cancelled trips, so Krystal and I are on separate tickets, and of course, my luck being what it is I got upgraded to Business, and she didn’t.  So, I imagine she will enjoy my seat.  😂

 

We have a couple of activities for the city, going to the Play Six and eating at the Palm on Saturday night.  Sunday, we are doing the crown tour of the Statue of Liberty, and lunch at the pizza place if we can find it on Stone Street in lower Manhattan.  Monday we board the Anthem.   We have stops in the Azores, and Cherbourg and Le Havre before being dumped in Southampton.  We will take the train to London, and the Eurostar train to Rotterdam.  We will spend a couple of nights there before renting a car and going to the Keukenhof Gardens.  Then driving to Ypres to attend the Last Post ceremony.  Then to Bastogne to visit the museum there, and then to Arnhem to see a Bridge too Far museum.  We will drop the car back at the train station in Rotterdam and take the train to Paris.  We have dinner planned at Le Jules Verne (Eiffel Tower), train to Versailles, back to Paris, then visit the Louvre with dinner on a river boat in Paris before flying home.  

 

I will try to post as often as I can.  Hopefully the weather will be better than it looks currently, as the FlowRider is going to be less than appealing, and yet I will be there for hours.  😂

 

jc

 

Have a wonderful trip.  I look forward to lots of pictures.

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h20skibum "Live from...." Rare

h20skibum

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I have been missing from the boards for a couple days, because “stuff” keeps happening.  I was looking forward to meeting you on this cruise, and almost thought about keeping this one when I was canceling a bunch last fall.  Given some recent events, I am glad I canceled then. We had booked the TA, plus the short 2 day cruise after, and our plan was to take the train to Paris and spend a few days there before flying home. 
 

So I will have to follow along, and hope that you show me everything I am missing. 
 

Have a great trip, and wishing you smooth seas. 

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allyfree

allyfree

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You should be aware that there are train strikes in the UK that weekend which may affect your travel to London ... National Express coaches are an alternative if you are stuck ... hope all goes well and you have a great trip !

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xpcdoojk "Live from...." Rare

xpcdoojk

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On 4/28/2023 at 5:36 PM, allyfree said:

You should be aware that there are train strikes in the UK that weekend which may affect your travel to London ... National Express coaches are an alternative if you are stuck ... hope all goes well and you have a great trip !

Keep us updated about the strikes.  I may have to go to plan B.  

 

I don’t have time to update much, although there is much to update about!  Very eventful flight day, and anyone in the New York City area, can attest the weather was not good yesterday.  Six was very enjoyable if completely silly at the Lena Horne Theatre from row D yesterday afternoon, standing in the rain around the block waiting for the doors to open was not.  Had a great breakfast lunch at a joint called The Grey Dog in Flatiron district.  Dinner at the Palm at 4:30PM probably tells you a bit about the travel day.  😂

 

We have to dress quickly this morning to catch the train in from Penn Station to Penn Station and then get down to the tip of the city to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty for our crown tour, from the 11th floor of the Double Tree Penn station the view is not going to be impressive!

 

jc

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Another_Critic

Another_Critic

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1 hour ago, ecslady said:

It's been a really rainy weekend in the area. So I hope you get to enjoy the Statue of Liberty in between the rain drops today.  Weather should clear up a bit for your sail away tomorrow.

Instead of singing in the rain this morning, I was mowing in the rain.  

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xpcdoojk "Live from...." Rare

xpcdoojk

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So, we decided after lunch and buying me a new pair of shoes that we would grab some food at a Whole Foods and catch the train back to Newark and our hotel room.  It started raining hard again, and we were done with that.  So, dinner tonight is sushi rolls, arugula salad, the double tree cookie, and a chocolate cake slice.  Breakfast, is a container of berries, a cherry danish and a scone.  Going to head down to the small bar & grill and get a couple of glasses of wine here in an hour or so.  

 

I have put the ship tags on the bags we are giving to the porters tomorrow.  I emptied my FlowRider bag of all except my little Nikon camera and tiny tripod, the board, my new Billabong wet suit, my board shorts, a rash guard, and my dry bag in case it is raining to keep a towel dry. I will be carrying it around a lot tomorrow.  

 

We have a 10AM check in tomorrow which seems really early.  We have the key so , we can dump the backpack.   I am guessing we will book an Uber just after 9AM. 

 

JC

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xpcdoojk "Live from...." Rare

xpcdoojk

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So, I will begin with the eventful portion of the first day.  We boarded our first flight that was a tiny bit delayed on American Airlines.  I am Gold and my wife is not with AA.  Our flights were purchased using cancelled flight credits during covid, so I didn’t book them technically together, but when they changed the original flights and I rebooked different flights I had them linked.  This was all months ago.  So, the night before our flights, I get an email from AA saying I had been upgraded to Business or first since there was no first on our flights.  I tried to get her an upgrade but failed.  So, when we boarded I went back to the middle of the plane in the first group to sit in her assigned seat.  She then boarded group 6 and sat up front.  Plane takes off uneventful, and I am sitting playing on my IPad listening to the Strawbs (you have to be old to know them)😂 on my noise cancelling headphones.  About 20 plus minutes out on a 105 minute flight the captain comes on but I can’t hear the announcement well, but it was not a normal announcement.  So, I pulled my plugs, and the stewardess said, everyone needs to return to their seats, and prepare for landing.  She said it is nothing serious yet, but we have a problem with the plane and we are returning to the original airport.  Crap.  We were already about 40 minutes late departing, and we had a two hour layover at Charlotte which was going to be perfect for dinner in the Amex Centurion lounge.  So we spent the next 40 plus minutes returning and circling the area.  By the time we finally went into our approach, we could have been to our destination or at least close.  

 

Originally we were to land at Newark about 9PM.  

 

Once we landed, we started texting, obviously AA knew we were missing our connecting flight, so we could rebook in the app.  She fought me for a bit while we were taxing into the terminal and then sitting at the terminal while they determined if we could fly this plane or not.  Another hour passed.  I realized that the only option to get to Newark was the last flight from Charlotte to Newark, as I had originally suggested.  So, I told her to book her ticket and I booked mine.  Finally, they had us deplane and after another 30 minutes in the terminal we got on a plane that previously had a problem, but was now fixed.  We finally boarded it, and waited another 30minutes for maintenance check offs.  Our flight took off for Charlotte.  We were scheduled to land around 9:30.  The Amex lounge closes at 10:30 with no more alcohol after 10 and no more food after 10:15PM.  So, we rushed to the lounge, I was able to get a couple of glasses.😆  Food was pretty picked over but adequate.  Since the lounge was closed and our new flight had been pushed back from 11PM departure to 12PM departure.  We went to the gate.  Sat in the uncomfortable chairs.  The gate agent then said, our crew had arrived, but the pilot was still coming in on a flight from Dallas.  So, we sat there, and sat there.  At 1AM the pilot arrived and we boarded shortly after.  We landed at Newark at around 2:50AM.  On the upside, the luggage was sitting at the carousel when we finally arrived from about a mile from baggage claim.  Grabbed bags, I booked an Uber that said it was 7 minutes away.  Turns out that wasn’t accurate it was more like 15 minutes.  Got in the Uber…. Driver misses a turn on the free way, and my map shows on my Iphone a blue line on both sides of the freeway.  We had to go about 5 miles the wrong way until we could turn around to the right way.  It ended up we got to the hotel at 3:30AM.  It was after 4AM when I finally turned the tv off and went to sleep.  

 

O, and by the way she complained about her seat in business class because the people in front of her were chatting with the flight steward the entire flight and she was unable to sleep.  I was in row 31 crammed into a broken down seat in the middle seat of two fat guys.  She, also, didn’t understand why it took e so long to get off the plane.  🤣

 

jc

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xpcdoojk "Live from...." Rare

xpcdoojk

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Back again to yesterday now.  It was awful in the rain, and I had decided to leave my ugly goretex tennis shoes at home and opted for an older pair of On Cloud shoes that are more comfortable, I was just trying to not take extra of anything.  When we first stepped out of Penn Station in NYC, I stepped into a deep puddle and had wet feet instantly.  While my shoes are not waterproof, I was surprised how wet they got my feet and socks.  That problem only got worse as we walked the city between about 25th Street and 48th Street and around.  

 

This morning, as I was putting on my shoes that I spent a lot of time drying out with the hair dryer, I noticed the bottom of the shoe was separating, but we were to be at the ferry terminal by 9:30AM and since it is Sunday it is not possible to buy new shoes.  So, off to the train station across the street (the over pass from the hotel to train station has been closed) boarded the train.  It was not raining yet but looked like it could at any point.  So, I looked at the map, and it said it was an hour and 20 minutes walking.  Crap, I had forgotten how far it was.  So, we found a subway station about 20 minutes into our walk, and took the 1 train to the South Ferry station.  Got there in about another 20 minutes, after the short walk in the rain, we got our wrist bands for the crowns and our tickets to board the ferry.  Went thru security.  Got on the ferry, grabbed a bottle of water and a pretzel for breakfast on the ferry. 

 

We had been on the ferry previously, and toured the island and museums, so our goal was to visit the crown.  So, straight to the check in for that.  We are told we have to put her umbrella (which had pretty much died) and her tiny purse in a locker before we could go in. We re-entered, and again got to go thru security.  We immediately climbed the 170 ish steps up the pedestal.  Walked around the top of the pedestal with a good burn in the legs.  Then we started the final 160 ish steps up the tiny helical staircase with tiny steps and a constant turn.  When we made it to the top there were two park rangers and about 8 people in there.  It is another tiny spot with very small windows.  At this time I was pretty smoking hot from the walk and the extra clothing and there was not much air movement.  I am really happy we did this in April when it was 50 degrees.  I can’t imagine doing this in the summer.  

 

After we retraced our steps down the other side of the helical steps we toured the museum in the base of the pedestal, then proceeded to the ferry.  

 

Krystal called her 96 year old mother to tell her where we were, since she had told her that she needed a vacation away from her mother. 😂

 

While riding the ferry to Ellis Island and back to the ferry terminal, we figured out the pizza place we ate at last time.  I did it by looking at pictures from that trip I had saved online ( Smugmug), and saw some local signage from next door places, and realized it was Adriennes Pizza that we wanted.  We walked in the rain to Pearl Street (not stone street, but in that section of town).  Had our pizza and a glass of wine each.  Then we went the Bowling Green subway station caught the subway to Union Square and 14th street which was the closest station on that line to Paragon Sports.  They showed they had some waterproof On in my size in stock (also found that out while riding the ferry).  So, tried them on, told them they could keep my old shoes, at this point both of the pair had completely died on the soles.  They were flopping around it is amazing that they really weren’t difficult to walk in. I will post pictures later.  

 

At this point the lovely K was tired, so we did the shopping run at Whole Foods, and the rest is history.  She has been sleeping the entire time we have been back in the room, I typed all of this, readied some of the baggage for tomorrow and watched the Indy Car race from Barber on TV.  Going to risk waking her now to go get a glass of wine and eat. 

 

For now, good bye!

 

jc

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