October 19 Sea day #2

    The storm continued overnight. The clocks were all put back one hour to be on Azores time. Awaking to Sea Day #2 there were puffy white clouds along the horizon. The sun took over an hour after sunrise to rise above the clouds. The temperature was 17° C, the waves still rolling about 3½ meters high and the wind was still faintly howling from the SSW about 62 km per hour. Anthem was about two thirds of the way between Vigo, Spain and Lisboa, the main outdoor pool showing on the TV had been drained. We found a website that shows the North Atlantic Weather Map. 

   Typical Day: 8 to 8:15 a.m. Larry’s COVID test, then wait 30 minutes or so for phone call, if there is a positive test result.

    About 8:45 a.m. - Larry goes to breakfast and either Room Service phones or Claire has already given her order for breakfast which takes 15 to 45 minutes depending if order includes eggs or pancakes.

    9 a.m. to Noon  - Larry walks for a while and may attend a lecture then take back specialty coffees to the stateroom for morning coffee break. Medic comes for Claire’s Vitals Check. Guest Services phones for Wellness Check. Room Service phones for lunch order which takes 25 to 45 minutes

   Noon to 5 - Larry goes to lunch and perhaps a 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. lecture and returns with coffee or milkshakes. There are quiz or trivia games at various locations during the mornings and afternoons. We might watch videos of yesterday’s Headliner shows or Anthem’s game shows from the previous day on Channel 1 of in-house TV, read the digital newspaper, surf Internet if Wi-Fi is working (difficult to connect today, this afternoon no W-Fi bars at all.) or take a nap.

   5 p.m. & evening  - Room Service phones Claire for her order dinner which takes 45 to 60 minutes. Larry goes to dining room for dinner with Jenny and Melvin at a table for six.  At 8 p.m. and 10  p.m. is the Headline Show either a comedian, magician, juggler or singer. There are also 50 minutes shows by the ship’s singers and dancers on some evenings. Plus Spectra’s Cabaret in Two70° for part of the cruise and the 110 minute Broadway musical, “We Will Rock You” for the second part of the cruise .There are other activities in the evening when several of the bars have dancing, karaoke or quiz shows. 

   The storm kept the ship rocking but as the storm was slowly moving north and Anthem was travelling south with the four meter waves diminished to three meters high. There were still white caps on the water at dinner time. There were clouds during the day, but a few sunny breaks. 

    At the top tier event this morning, Larry said that the Two70° theatre was full.  The captain said the ship was just under half capacity, just under 2000 guests, of which 1,824 were Crown and Anchor Loyalty members. He further broke the numbers into tiers: Gold (3 – 29 cruising days) 382; Platinum (30-54 days) 328 ; Emerald (55-79 days) 163; Diamond (80-174 days) 541; Diamond Plus (175 – 699 days) 359 and Pinnacle (700+ days) 51. Around 1 p.m. the Royal Caribbean meteorologist, James Van Fleet, appeared on a video on channel 1, explaining the weather of the past 24 hours and for the next few days. He said that sailing out of Southampton late Monday afternoon, he and the Captain Iv already had a plan in mind. Anthem has had to divert more south and east to avoid the worst of the storm. Captain Iv announced (in a low mumble) just after noon, that due to the diversion, there was a possibility that the ship would not stop at Ponta Delgada, Azores, as scheduled on Friday. Anthem would continue on to the scheduled stop in Halifax on Tuesday (in six days).  Late this afternoon Anthem turned southwesterly, still avoiding the worst of the storm. The geographical position was 38° 53.10’ N and 11°32.80’ W on course 218.

  Being in COVID quarantine it will be 11 days since I was on land. I wonder if I will have “sea legs” in Halifax when, I hope, we will be going off the ship to explore the pier and waterfront area.

   Room Service phoned for my dinner order just before Larry went to dinner. It was just Larry, Jenny and Melvin, the other seats were not filled. My dinner arrived within 30 minutes. The Beef Stroganoff was nice and warm. During dinner an announcement was made that due to the weather, the Two70° theatre presentation Spectra’s Cabaret was being postponed for two days.

   After dinner Larry popped in with drinks before going to the Headliner show featuring comedian Josh Daniels.

   After the show he stopped at the Casino bar to get out nightcaps.

   At 10 p.m. the geographical position was 37°22.52’ N and 12°32.80’ W on course 234. The wind was still blowing and the waves were three to four meters high.

   Claire made a point of carrying her cellphone for its pedometer and walking when the Internet connection vanished. The stateroom is 12 strides long.       Claire’s total steps 1,893.      Larry’s total steps 7,829