October 20 Sea day #3

   Sea Day #3 looks like a repeat of yesterday, but James Van Fleet, the Royal Caribbean meteorologist,  predicted that by this afternoon the waves will be half as high. At sunrise (7:36 a.m.) the geographical location was 36°25.86’ N and 16° 01.28’ W steering course 279°, a few degrees north of west. The temperature was 20° C, cloudy and still windy over 60 km/hr. We have sailed 1,189 nautical miles so far.

   Day 4 of Claire’s quarantine. The medic told her today that only seven people of the 140 continuing cruisers tested positive for COVID. All seven of us will be tested tomorrow. He said that there is a good chance that the Day 5 test will be positive, but I think I actually had COVID the day before Lisboa, October 13, when I had an afternoon nap. I am hoping that tomorrow’s COVID test will be negative and if the next day’s test is also negative I can roam the ship with a mask on.

    Lying in bed this morning, the rolling of the ship was as noticeable as during the night. If the bathroom door is not completely latched, it will silently, gently swing open. It just needs a good hip check to shut it properly.     

   Watching BBC World News, we are shaking our heads at the political turmoil in Britain for the past two weeks, then the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss. A former British MP died in office after only being there for 118 days back in 1827, which was the shortest term until today.

  At noon, Captain Iv Vidos announced that the ship’s position is about 225 nautical miles north of Funchal, Madeira, which is the closest land. We visited Funchal, Madeira, on October 9.  Just 395 nautical miles to go to get to Ponta Delgada tomorrow. The wind at noon is 55 km/hr, cloudy with three to four meter waves.  All the open desks, Deck 5, 15 & 16, are closed. He also said that Anthem will be visiting Ponta Delgada, Azores, but we will be arriving two hours later than originally scheduled.  He advised people with ship shore excursions that the team would be working on revised tours. The current tickets would be cancelled and new ones issued and delivered to staterooms later in the afternoon. Larry’s new excursion ticket for tomorrow arrived before dinner.

   There was a Next Cruise presentation recorded and broadcast on TV about a Round the World cruise starting in December 2023 for 274 days on Serenade of the Seas. You can also book one of the four parts. Part 1 Miami to Los Angeles via Antarctica; Part 2 Los Angeles to Dubai via Australia, China & India; Part 3 Dubai to Barcelona via the Suez Canal, eastern Mediterranean Sea & the Black Sea and Part 4 Barcelona to Miami via northern Europe. Larry looked in to the price for the Dubai to Barcelona part which starts at over $18,000 Canadian, which does not include airfare, but does include Wi-Fi, gratuities and laundry. It is 62 nights long. Once the ship goes through the Suez Canal to Athens on Day 19, we have been to most of the Black Sea ports, half of the Greek ports, most of the Aegean Sea ports, most of the Italy and Spain ports. The last 43 days would not be as interesting to us.

   There is a new ship under construction to be launched in the spring of 2023 called Icon of the Seas.  There was a graphic presentation in the Royal Theatre this afternoon. There were no actual pictures of the ship at the shipyard just computer generated images. Later in the evening, there was a “Welcome Party” for Icon at 11 p.m. in the Royal Esplanade, which we skipped. This was the marketing department’s introduction of the biggest ship in the fleet carrying 7,600 passengers and almost 2,400 crew members. https://thepointsguy.com/news/royal-caribbean-icon-of-the-seas-launching-2024/  We have been on an Oasis class ship, Allure of the Seas, which has capacity for over 6,700 guest and over 2,300 crew. We prefer smaller ships with less than 3,000 guests. Anthem has a double capacity of 4,180 and full capacity ( 3rd & 4th passenger) of 4,905. Currently it is only about half full. 

  It was just Larry and Jenny for dinner in the dining room, Melvin did not show.  Larry went to Variety Show in the Royal Theatre featuring the magician, Jamie Allen, The Anthem Orchestra and vocalist, Bradley Walwyn, from the ship’s We Will Rock You cast.

     After the show the distance sailed today was 238 nautical miles.


Larry’s total steps 9,347             Claire’s steps were 2,523 

location at 8 a.m. made the turn to get to Ponta Delgada




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