October 6 Sea day #1

October 08, 2022

It is Day 2 of the cruise. Overnight Anthem cruised through the English Channel into the Celtic Sea. At 7 a.m. the temperature was 16°C, mostly clear and it is going to be sunny. The sea depth is about 130 meters. The ship was rounding the most westerly coast of France, near Brest, to cross the large opening of the Bay of Biscay to go to the first stop Vigo, Spain. There was still almost 28 hours to go. The waves were about two to three meters, about the same heights of yesterday, however the wind was 50 knots per hour (92km/hr) . Crossing the Bay of Biscay, you can have rough seas.

There were notes in the Cruise Compass, the daily newsletter, that for the whole cruise time will be ship’s time. Vigo is in a different time zone but, time will be that of on the ship not local time. Larry saw two dolphins when he briefly looked from the balcony this morning. We had à la carte breakfast on Deck 4 in the American Icon, but could have gone across the hall to Silk for a buffet breakfast, Café Promenade on Deck 4, Café@Two70 on Deck 5 or up to Deck 14 to the Solarium Bistro or to the Windjammer buffet. Besides the hand sanitizers, the Windjammer has five sinks on each side of the entrances and hand washing is required and enforced by a staff member blocking entry and directing people to use the sinks.

I went to the Vroom internet kiosk to have one of the technical lads fiddle with my old iPhone 6 to get the Royal Caribbean app working to access the ship’s intranet. Now the ship’s daily planner is available on the phone, if I remember to carry it with me. We made reservations for tonight’s show Spectra’s Cabaret at 9 p.m. in the Two70° theatre via the app. The show will be performed on four different days, but reservations are suggested to guarantee a seat, as long as you arrive at least 15 minutes before the show begins.

We explored a little more before going to the Crown & Anchor Top Tier Event in the Two70° theatre where champagne, mimosas and some mixed drinks were served, while the cruise director and captain welcomed the higher tier Crown & Anchor members to the ship and presented certificates to the three top cruisers this sailing with the most days sailed. We met John and Sue as we looked for seats. An older woman, probably in her early 80s, had accumulated over 3,500 points (you collect one point per day). There are 2,392 Crown & Anchor members aboard (about half the ship) of which over 600 are Diamond, about 250 are Diamond Plus and 65 are Pinnacle. Technically, we only have Emerald status counting RCL cruises, but RCL’s Crown & Anchor and Celebrity’s Captain’s Club have a reciprocal agreement that Celebrity Elite status equals Royal’s Diamond status so we get the Diamond benefits.

After the event we stopped to get our jackets and climbed up to Deck 15 to walk the 900 meter long open air track one deck up for the pools. The outdoor pools, except for the hot tubs contained no water and were netted over. The waves were rolling about three meters and the wind was 15 knots (about 25 km per hour). One side of the ship was a lot winder than the other. You were almost pushed back at certain turns. There was a lifeguard for the outdoor pools and another lifeguard for the indoor pools. They were bundled into red track suits and carried a small paddle board. There were a few people in the water. The deck loungers inside or outside were almost completely occupied by people sunbathing, reading or napping. Your hair needed a good combing after you returned inside.

We tried the buffet in the Two70° theatre for a light lunch and found a table in the Two70° theatre to listen to the Bingo caller. Tonight’s suggested attire is formal. Returning to the stateroom after lunch the navigation channel indicated that the depth in the Bay of Biscaye was now 4,300 meters and we had travelled 362 nautical miles from Southampton. I read some more on my ebook. We found the ship’s library in the balcony level of the Two70° theatre. On a shelf there was a daily sheet with a Sudoku, Word Search and 5 question Trivia Quiz.

What a surprise when we went down for dinner to see so many people dressed up! There were many men in tuxedos or suits and women is gowns or cocktails dresses. It must be the British influence on this ship, with a majority of passengers from Britain. It was quite a contrast to the Evening Chic on the Celebrity Edge were there was little dressing up. John and Sue were already seated when we arrived, but there was not a third couple yet. We had a pleasant dinner starting with Calamari and ending with Grand Marnier Soufflé. We returned to the stateroom to get our earplugs for the Headliner show: The Jack Pack a male quartet that had been finalists in 2014’s Britain has Talent. It was a great show. The cruise director Joss, announced that because of rolling waves it was too dangerous for the performers of Spectra’s Carberet tonight and that the tickets were rescheduled for Day 6. He also said that instead, in Two70° theatre, the movie Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore would be playing at 9 p.m., so we walked through the Royal Esplanade (photo gallery and specialty restaurants section) and The Via (Bars and Next Cruise booking area to the back of the ship. We ordered the drink of the day - Limoncello Lemonade which we would not order again - and watched the movie.

Total steps 12,588 = 7.6 km