October 5 Embark Anthem of the Seas

This will be our last post for a few days. Today’s post will be added to in order to complete the day and then updated when possible.

We do not have internet on the ship for the next 24 days. We will try to post at ports, if the cruise terminals offer Wi-Fi. Most of the ports are islands in the Atlantic Ocean so Internet connections may be weak.

This morning we walked back to Above Bar Street for breakfast at Brunch and Barista. We took a slightly longer route, 15 minutes, on a few streets we had not walked on before. We passed the Holyrood Church Merchant navy memorial and noticed a huge anchor which was donated by Cunrad Lines from the QE2 ship, when she was retired. We were the only customers for breakfast. After breakfast we walked north toward the University of Southampton where Larry took a picture of the Guildhall. A clock tower is in the distance. Further along Above the Bar Street was the building “Tudor Building”. We cut through a park on our way to find the train station and did not realize that the rail tracks went underground in this part of the city. We overshot the station and realized it when we saw signs that we needed to change course. We walked over a bridge spanning the train tracks and saw a train. Over 9,000 train drivers are on a rotating strike today. From the bridge we could see the Novotel hotel, the Ibis hotel and IKEA. We had a good idea where we were. We chose a different street to head back to the hotel and passed the Police Station. The street took us to Gate10 of the port for berths 102 to 109 and we could see the Anthem of the Seas in port. There were lots of large delivery trucks heading into the port. We were right next to the container port. We turned towards the hotel less than a kilometre away, and IKEA was not far away. IKEA has a huge several level high parking garage attached to it. Across West Quay Road was the casino. We walked over to Mayflower Park to get a good view of th e Anthem of the Seas and saw that the bunker barge was fueling the ship. We had walked 5.35 km according to my GPS devise and over 8,000 steps on the pedometer. It was almost 10 a.m. so we returned to the hotel to pack up and checkout for 11 a.m.

Yesterday the concierge booked a taxi to take us from the hotel to the port which is less than a ten minute walk. There was a 90% chance of rain at noon when we need to leave. The drive should be less than five minutes.

The cruise terminal at Gate 8 Berth 101 is located on the River Test which flows south into The Solent. The Solent is the body of water that separates the Isle of Wight from the mainland. The Ship will cruise into the Solent turn and then go into the English Channel and head southwest toward to the Celtic Sea then across the mouth of the Bay of Biscay to go to the first stop Vigo, Spain. It will take almost two days to travel there.

We will need to change the time forward an hour to be on Central European Summer time until the last port, Lisbon, which is the same time zone as Southampton, Western European Summer time.

A taxi took us from the hotel to the port, a five minute drive, in the drizzle. As we entered the port gates the wind was strong and there were white caps on the water. We dropped off the suitcases to be loaded on the ship then taken to our stateroom. There was a few minutes wait outside under cover at entrance, with a couple of dozen others, then directed to security, quite similar to airport security, where there were over 100 people waiting to use the Xray conveyer. It only took about five minutes to zigzag through the railings. On the walls were signs advising to remove all metal objects and put them in carryon or jackets, remove laptops for carryon, then remove jacket to put in bins, as well as laptops. People were holding up the line to empty their pockets and remove laptops when they had plenty of time to do it while waiting in line. There was staff to direct us to check-in where several agents (of about 30) were available. The agent checked the boarding pass (on the phone, but we had backup paper copies), asked for our negative COVID-19 test results, checked our passports and then she explained where to go to board the ship. There were people in the large hall but it was not crowded. As usual, the photographers were set up for the All Aboard photos. A family was ahead of us and were organizing for their picture, so we continued onto the ship. There was no one on the ramps as we walked onto the ship, except staff directing the way. Once on the ship, there were lots of people milling around pulling their carryon suitcases or, like us, carrying backpacks. We went directly to the muster station for the safety check-in. Everything was completed for the boarding process. Next, we checked an inactive deck map by one of the five different elevator/staircase lobbies to find the Diamond Club Lounge. Since we have Elite loyalty status on Celebrity Cruises that status transfers to Royal Caribbean Cruises as their Diamond status. One of the benefits is the lounge and four complementary alcohol or specialty coffee/tea beverages per day. For us there is no need to buy a drink package. Within 30 minutes from the taxi dropping us off we were drinking expresso beverages and eating chocolate chip cookies in the 90 person capacity Diamond Lounge with about 30 others. It was quieter than in the crowds of people arriving on the ship. We eventually connected to the ship’s Intranet to use the app. We are among the few people wearing face masks.

Anthem’s double capacity is 4,180 and with third and fourth passengers in a stateroom it is 4,905. The passengers for this cruise are at least 4,500. On the Edge cruise, the ship had less than 45% capacity, only 1,200 passengers. Anthem is almost double the size of the Edge. A daily count of 10,000 steps should not be hard to achieve because of the distances to walk to places. Our Deck 9 balcony stateroom is on the port side just a little back from midship. An announcement was made at 1:30 p.m. that the staterooms were ready. The Seapass cards were in an envelope at our “mailbox” by the door. In the stateroom on the desk was today’s Cruise Compass daily newsletter that is encouraging passengers to access on the app. The stateroom is about the same square footage as on the Edge, except Anthem’s stateroom has a traditional balcony rather than the sunroom/balcony that we had on the Edge. Also, there was a welcome letter from the Crown & Anchor Society Loyalty ambassador, Andie, and a letter from the Diamond Club concierge, Stacey, both explaining Diamond club benefits. There was an envelope with tickets for the excursions that we had booked online plus a note that the Gran Canary excursion was cancelled because of damage to hiking paths by tropical storm Hermine last month. We were able to book another excursion which was cheaper and with a 15% discount for the inconvenience of having to re-book. There will be a credit on our account for the difference.

The system for delivering luggage to the staterooms is different than on other ships. The luggage is sorted by deck and delivered to each deck and then the various stateroom attendants must sort through scattered delivery spots to find the luggage for the rooms that they attend. Normally your luggage is delivered to your room in one step. Larry went looking for our luggage after we had been on board for two hours and found them on the other side of the ship almost at the back of the ship. Our stateroom attendant, Bonito from India, explained the system when he introduced himself to us and checked if there was anything we needed. He told us that he will be in our stateroom twice daily, once in the morning to make the bed and to clean, then in the evening to turn down the bed and to clean.

The captain announced just after 4 p.m. that some people still had not completed the safety requirements even though all aboard was 3:30. The Anthem set sail at 5 p.m. on schedule, going south into The Solent, past the Isle of Wight’s east coast, then into the English Channel, then into the Celtic Sea region of the Atlantic Ocean.

The captain’s announcement once exiting Southampton indicated that the start could be a bit rough as the winds were 30 knots (about 55 km) and waves could be two to three meters high.

There was pre-recorded ballroom dance music at 5 p.m. in the Music Hall on Deck 3 and 4 which was where we went before our dining time of 5:30 p.m. on Deck 4 in one of the four main dining rooms. The dance floor was wood that was about 20 meters long and 18 meters wide. There was one other couple dancing. The dances played were Waltz, which is the start music each session, then, Rumba, Tango and Quickstep. We left for dinner when the Foxtrot started.

We were seated at a table for 6, (#206) after moving from the first table (#203) that we had been assigned. Only one other couple joined us. Sue and John are from the Derby area in the Midlands of England. They drove down (south) to Southampton this morning, but were involved in a fender bender with a lorry at a roundabout which delayed them 90 minutes while sorting out details for insurance. Instead of arriving near 1 p.m., they arrived at close to 3 p.m. They just parked in the parking lot by the cruise terminal.

After dinner we wandered on desks 3, 4 and 5. Deck 3 has the casino, the dance floor level of the Music Hall, Chic Dining room and another main dining room. Deck 4 had the American Icon dining room, where á la carte breakfasts are served and daily dinners and the Silk dining room, where buffet breakfasts are served and daily dinner. Also, on deck 4 was the Café Promenade, Sorrento’s Pizza, Brass & Bock Pub, La Patisserie, Boleros bar, the Crown & Anchor Society Loyalty ambassador, the port & shopping desk, meeting rooms, and some retail jewelry and clothing stores in the Royal Esplanade. Deck 5 had Café@Two70; specialty restaurants –Chef’s Table, Chops Grille, Izumi (sushi),Jamie’s Italian and Wonderland; Vintages wine bar; Bionic bar where robots make the drinks; Schooner bar; art gallery; Bvlgari & Hublot boutique; photo gallery kiosk, Internet Assistance, Next cruise sales office, photo portrait gallery, excursions desk and the Box Office & Activities Reservation desk. Decks 6 to 13 are stateroom and suite decks. Desks 14, 15 and 16 have the big buffet restaurant - Windjammer, pools, hot tubs, spa, solarium and activities like wall climbing, flow rider, two level fitness center, North Star pod on an arm that rises above the ship, and sports courts for basketball, volleyball, pickleball or football (Soccer).

On Deck 4 in Boleros bar there was Latin music with the band, Marakas where we danced rumba, cha-cha, tango and salsa on the dance floor that was about seven meters long and 4 meters wide. There were two other couples dancing and a fourth couple made it very crowded since one of the other couples were flailing their arms and not taking smaller steps as a courtesy to the other people. They had a bouncy style. It was hot since the bar seating was at capacity, about 150, so we left.

We found the stairs to climb to the 14^th floor to explore the higher decks. From deck 15

Larry took a photo of the seven storey glittery mural wall of the glass elevator bank. We saw some of the areas on these decks. The doors to the outdoor were roped off because of the high waves, for the passengers’ safety.

Total steps 17,014 = 10.3 km (Southampton morning walk 8,305 and 8,709 steps the rest of the day)