October 17 Cruise #1 ends and Cruise #2 starts

By 6:30 a.m. the bunker ship was alongside of Anthem of the Seas to fill the 460,000 ton fuel storage to capacity for the next cruise across the Atlantic. The total distance travelled for the first Anthem of the Seas cruise was 3,663 nautical miles. Anthem was docked at the Gate 8 Berth 101 cruise terminal. This morning the sky was cloudy, there was a slight breeze and the temperature at sunrise was 14° C.

There are 140 passengers continuing on the next cruise including us. Over 4,000 disembarked between 6:30 and 9 a.m. Larry went to the Deck 14 Windjammer buffet for breakfast, while Room Service delivered Claire’s breakfast at 7:20 a.m.

As of October 1^st, the ArriveCAN app has been scrapped and there is no longer a need for negative COVID-19 test to enter Canada. However passengers boarding Anthem of the Seas today do need a supervised COVID-19 test negative result to join the cruise. When we boarded on October 5^th, the COVID-19 test did not have to be supervised but did have to be negative.

The morning was spent waiting. Shortly after 8 a.m., a paramedic came to administer a COVID test to Larry, the first for five consecutive days, while Claire is in quarantine. Then Larry went to the Grande dining room for his official disembarkation of the Canary Islands cruise and his official embarkation to the Transatlantic cruise. He was given both of our new Seapass cards. It was another 90 minutes before someone from Guest Services accompanied by someone from Security came to officially clear Claire from the last cruise and add her to the Transatlantic cruise. Half an hour later, someone from Housekeeping came to take us, our suitcases and clothes on hangars to the new stateroom on Deck 10, seven staterooms closer to the back of the ship than our Deck 9 stateroom, still on the port (left) side of the ship and across from the crew internal staircase entrance. It was an upgrade from a Deck 3 Oceanview stateroom we had originally booked many months ago. The dining room assigned for this cruise is the same dining room as we had on the last cruise even though we had asked for a change of dining rooms . We played a game of Five Crowns while we waited. Larry had the winning score again.

The stateroom is the same size, but the bed is placed on the opposite wall and midway in the room, rather than by the balcony like the previous stateroom. The furnishings are the same. The desk had all the usual welcome aboard information, including the tickets to the excursion that we booked for Ponta Delgada, Azores. Claire will miss it since the tour occurs on Day 5 of her quarantine. There was also a 60 ml bottle of hand sanitizer and two white 3-ply face masks with the Royal Caribbean logo on them. (170 cruise days). An added Diamond benefit for this cruise was one complimentary Specialty coffee per day that does not count as one of the four complimentary drinks of the day.

There were two invitations to Crown & Anchor Diamond Loyalty and higher events. One at 4:30 p.m.today in Deck 14’s Solarium and another on Sea Day #2 at Two70°. An announcement to the crew just before we switched staterooms said that when the ship arrives in Boston, Immigration and Customs officials will board the ship to process everyone to entering the U.S.A. The announcement also stated that there were 53 Pinnacle level guests (at least 360 cruise days) and 400 Diamond Plus guests (at least 170 cruise days) on this cruise. At the Sea Day #2 Two70° event, attendees will be told the number of Diamond level guests (at least 80 cruise days) and the guest who has the most points in the Pinnacle level. Watching the ship’s TV channel, we have a new cruise director, Mario. Last cruise’s cruise director was Joff. The Crown & Anchor Diamond Concierge is new too. The concierge was Stacy and now it is Tomislav. Stacy had mentioned yesterday that her contract had been extended to the end of this cruise and that she would be training for the job that she will have when she returns from her leave.

After Larry left for the continuing passengers lunch in the Grande Dining Room, Room Service phoned to take Claire’s lunch order which was delivered 40 minutes later, just before Larry returned. During the lunch wait, there was a knock on the door and the staff person had a Diamond complimentary snack – four cookies. After Room Service delivered Claire’s lunch, from the balcony window she saw the bunker fueling ship, Whitonia, pulling away. It took almost six hours to fuel the ship. There were container ships passing the ship either going to or leaving the nearby container port. The ships passed quite close to the ship, within about 200 meters, but there was a tugboat alongside of the vessel between it and our ship.

The afternoon was sunny with wispy shite clouds a wind of 18 km/hour and the temperature at 3 p.m. was 18° C. Larry met the stateroom attendant, but the room will not be cleaned nor the bed made by the attendant until the quarantine in finished. It will be like home, making our own bed. The room service tray goes into a spot in the hall to be taken away.

There was a Diamond members and up informal invitation only Meet and Greet in the Solarium with champagne and mimosas. Larry took a picture of the Helicopter “Winch Only” area from the Solarium window facing the bow of the ship. John, our table mate from the previous cruise, told us about one of their cruises on the Anthem of the Seas where several patients were winched up to the helicopter in baskets and the nurse was winched up in a chair. Larry took a picture of Mayflower Park from the ship. We had walked there several times when we stayed in Southampton two weeks ago. It had a good view of the cruise ships in port.

Sail-away was just after 5 p.m. Anthem maneuvered into the River Test which flows south into The Solent. Anthem cruised into the Solent turned east around the Isle of Wight and continued west south west into the English Channel toward to the Celtic Sea then out into the Atlantic Ocean en-route to our first stop four days from now in Ponta Delgada, on the volcanic island of São Miguel, part of Portugal’s Azores archipelago.

Larry went to a table for six in the Chic Dining Room for dinner. The only other person who showed up for dinner was Jenny from near Exeter. They had a nice dinner together. Claire ordered from the same menu from Room Service which took about an hour to deliver a good dinner. Larry stopped at the Music Hall Bar to bring drinks back to the room for our after dinner drink. Cole, the medic, arrived around 7 p.m. to take Claire’s temperature and oxygen level and check on her current symptoms, just a stuffy nose and an occasional small cough. Tomorrow morning he will start his rounds regularly at 9 a.m. to about 11 a.m.

Later, Larry took both Seapass cards to the casino to redeem the Promo free play as it is only valid for a short period of time and then banked the money for later play. On the way back he picked up drinks for a nightcap. Around 10 p.m the ship was cruising north of Cherbourg, France and Gernsey, UK

While Claire is in quarantine and has free internet posts will be more often.

Larry’s total steps 13,718 Claire had less than 1,000 steps