October 15 Sea day #4

The geographical location this morning was 41°31.55”N and 9°45.19’W, about halfway between Porto, Portugal and Vigo, Spain. We are cruising at about 25 nautical miles from the coast. There was a pink tinge to the clouds at sunrise before 8 a.m. There was a ferry about two kilometres away going the same direction which our ship kept pace with for over an hour. The temperature was 18° C, windy, rain clouds in the area and gentle swells in the ocean.

Anthem of the Seas has travelled 2,935 nautical miles in the past ten days. After a light continental breakfast in the Diamond Club, we picked up our jacket on the way to the Deck 15 Walking Track. It was wet and there was a barely perceptible mist which got more noticeable as the ship cruised toward some grey clouds. There was a brief moment of sunshine that produced a rainbow. After only four times around (3.6 km) we went inside. We saw four crew members suiting up in safety gear including heavy rubber jumpsuits, helmets, with masks and oxygen tanks for some maintenance work.

We had a Diamond Club invitation to Up Close and Personal with Our Entertainment Family in the Royal Theatre at 10:15 a.m. It was an informative half hour hosted by the Activity Manager with the Dance Captain from Spectra, a Canadian; the Stage Manager for the Royal Theatre, a South African and the Music Director, an American. While waiting for the event to start, there was a 21 slide presentation on repeat that gave some fun facts about Anthem’s theatres. One fact being that the Two70° Theatre Vistarama uses 18 4K projectors to create a 12K image across a 105 foot screen. This is 12 times the resolution of standard HD television. There was a prepared Q & A for the three entertainment people and then the audience asked questions. There were about 400 people attending. Due to the pandemic a lot of stage hands switched careers and now there is a shortage of riggers. Riggers are the people who maintain and operate the aerial equipment. As more riggers are trained Royal Caribbean sends them to ships with shows that require riggers. Because Spectra’s Cabaret has a “rough seas” version which has no aerial features, it is not a priority to send riggers yet. Many people who had seen Spectra’s Cabaret per-pandemic were underwhelmed with the rough sea version. The Anthem’s Royal Theatre was specifically designed in consultation with the copyright holder for the Broadway (and West End) Show We Will Rock You. A new five year contract has been signed. If Royal Caribbean decides that a market has seen a big production show often enough over several years, ships will change itineraries, rather than produce a new show for a ship, which should mean a trip to the dry dock to change the stage configuration. Sue and John attended the event. We were all going to get a coffee at the nearby Diamond Club, except there was a 15 person line for coffee, so we skipped that idea.

At noon, the captain announced that the winds were 25 knots (45 km/hr) and rain showers would be possible during the afternoon. Larry asked at the Voom Internet kiosk where the best Wi-Fi connection on the ship was and was told it would Deck 5 right near the Internet kiosk. He used our other complimentary 24 hour Wi-Fi to upload photos from the past few days relaxing in a rocking chair near the kiosk.

The dress code for this evening was Formal. There is a greater compliance to that idea on this cruise than the Celebrity cruise two weeks ago. We even decided to forego face masks to have a posed photo shoot before dinner. Sue and John were waiting for us, but had not ordered yet. It was lobster night. Unlike Celebrity, the feature main course was lobster with two lobster tails, rather than one, with baked potato accompanied by cooked broccoli and sliced cooked carrot. Baked Alaska was the feature dessert.

We went to the Music Hall to listen to the Evening Progressive Quiz and have a drink. The West End Musical We Will Rock You played for the third time, in the Royal Theatre at 8 p.m., where Sue and John headed. Then at the other end of the ship at 9:45 p.m. in Two70° was the Beatles Connection Dance Party. We stopped at Boleras where the Latin dance band, Marakas, was playing good latin dance music. We tried a nicely paced Rumba, but the ship we rocking so much, as it had entered the western edge of the notoriously rough Bay of Biscay, that it was difficult to keep your balance while doing a simple turn.

When we returned to our stateroom, there was a letter advising us that we needed to be COVID-19 tested; even though we received a letter addressed to us yesterday saying that we did not need to be tested since we are fully vaccinated (at least one booster) passengers. Then we noticed that the notice was for a different stateroom number, and only said “Dear Guest”. We returned the notice to the stateroom attendant’s station. Yesterday’s letter also stated that only not up-to-date passengers continuing on the next cruise needed to be tested. It gave instructions about checking in for the next cruise while onboard now. In Southampton, as most of the passengers disembark, we need to follow the procedure outlined after the other passengers have left, by 8:30 a.m. on Monday, to “depart” the ship and then “return” to the ship by bringing our current Seapass (key) card, COVID-19 certificate listing our vaccination dates, and our passport plus visas if applicable. If we wish to leave the ship, after being given the new Seapass cards for the new cruise, then we will be issued an “In Transit Pass” but cannot re-board the ship until at least 10:30 a.m., but just have to show the “In Transit Pass”, Government issued photo ID and the new Seapass card to get onboard past all the people checking in to board. This evening we shared the Wi-Fi as the ship continued its crossing of the Bay of Biscay. The towel animal in the stateroom this evening was a turtle.

Total steps 10,537