Raina's Blogging again - Navigator, Harmony Anthem

[AussieVisi2r]

16th November – Saint Martin and Sint-Maarten.

 

There was also an ugly oil refinery and power plant, but I suppose it has to go somewhere. Us tourists like air conditioning and petrol.

 

 

One of the things I noticed was that there was heaps of solar all through all the places I have been. Large Solar arrays, many small wind turbines. Tiny one on private place….What have we not got these yet????

We saw the Brown Pelican, the national bird. The brown looks so weird.

 

 

The houses are brightly coloured and many are fairly small on a decent sized block. Most are two story and these guys love their Balustrades. They absolutely love them. Big heavy concrete ones. If they can possibly use them …..they will.

 

 

 

Maho beach – the famous airport beach to watch planes. Like all the beaches it was standing room only. I saw a few planes come in and take off. They have changed the fences, cause tourists are dumb, to stop people standing right behind the large planes as their have been a few deaths. One was blown back and smashed her head on the big gutter, another was blown under an oncoming taxi!

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

16th November – Saint Martin and Sint-Maarten.

 

Then to the French side. Great food and slow and relaxed. No high rise. Most of the business is on the Dutch side. This guy was cooking ribs out in the park. Talk about how to get people to your restaurant.

 

 

 

And they were great.

 

 

 

Off to another pretty beach. This is where all the action happens – para sailing, jet skiing, snorkelling, bach cabanas, chairs and umbrellas, nude section, hair braiding, haps of music, more bars etc. The beach was a bit like human soup.

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

16th November – Saint Martin and Sint-Maarten.

 

Then back to Phillipsburg. Stunning place. Even with the tourist shops.

 

 

 

 

 

Caribbean is very cool. Fun and hot – hot – hot.

 

 

Then three lovely sea days back to New York.

Best thing is that the weather is cooling down. Yay.

[AussieVisi2r]

17th November

Wandering around the ship.

 

 

 

And then a bridge tour. The Captain comes up and greets every bridge tour.

 

 

The bridge is huge! so wide.

 

Got my parking window shot.

 

 

1,200 cameras on this ship. There are signs around the ship saying "Smile, you're on camera". You certainly are!

 

 

 

[Coralc]

Great review and photos! It is nice to see a lovely photo of you Raina, you are very red, but at least you aren't all drippy! A lot of us don't do well at all in the heat and humidity. :D I always look like I just came out of the shower.

 

Interesting about the new idiot fence at Maho beach! :D Thanks again!

 

~Patti :)

[reney313]

Yes, I'm so happy you decided to come back and pick up at NOLA through the Anthem cruise. Thanks again for all the effort!

[AussieVisi2r]

Thank you!

[AussieVisi2r]

18th November Around the Anthem

 

 

And then down to the Bumper cars. Fantastic. At one time the controller said, “If you think this is ‘Driver Education’ you are wrong. It’s Bumper Cars”. And it is awesome.

You will need to be there at least 30 minutes before the advertised time. But worth the wait.

 

 

We had so much fun smashing into each other.

 

Then Wonderland for dinner. Another night of amazing food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wonderland is definitely worth a visit.

[Magicat]

Hi Raina,

Absolutely love all of your pics and your comments. It was nice to have met you on the Harmony - did you ever find out where the escalator went??? Hopefully one day we will sail again with you and I may need to ask some questions about Southampton!

Happy travels,

Tracey & Mike

[rcclfanbp]

When we sailed the Anthem out of Southampton, we rode the Bumper Cars twice. Initially, folks were reluctant to bump each other (not proper I guess by UK standards - lol). Well, being from the US, I was not as reluctant. I started bumping others and then everyone joined in. It was a blast! It really took me back to my childhood. Raina, I am sure you were not a bashful "bumper". :)

 

I too enjoyed meeting you on the Harmony and following along. I hope you enjoy the rest of your journey.

 

Brian

[AussieVisi2r]

19th November

Not too much today. More trivia. More fun. More great food. Captain Corner – with some more 'interesting' question.

 

 

My room is lovely. It's a 'L' category. An inside with virtual balcony. A virtual with never replace a real balcony, or even an O/V, but sooooo much better then an inside. You are able to get some idea if the weather.

 

 

The bathroom was great. The shower was huge with a large glass screen - like a home bathroom.

 

It is turnaround day tomorrow. Everyone is packing…but not me. I get to stay of for one more week. And there is still lots more to be done.

 

We were getting close to New York, and the weather had been dropping. I went out side tonight and it was cold. Beautiful. A gale. Icy. There is a big snow storm in the central west…so it has blown over this was a bit. Lovely.

 

No one else thought so...but I certainly did.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

20th November - Turn around day.

 

 

Sail in was very early!!!

 

 

Turn Around day. End of cruise 4, start of cruise 5. Everyone got off the ship and seven of us got to stay. AT 10am we all marched out and back onto the ship. There was nowhere to go. The traffic into Bayonne Port is terrible and New York City is close to $150 each way in a taxi. So - it was back onto the ship. By 10.30 I had gone to my new room – an obstructed balcony on deck 6, unpacked and gone up to the Solarium to stare at NYC. I snuggled up in one of the pods and enjoyed.

 

 

 

The back to back people got to go to the “Coastal Kitchen” (suites restaurant) for lunch. Which is always wonderful.

No time for a sleep as sail away was at 3pm.

Sail away out of Bayonne – across from New York City was pretty amazing. It was good to see the Bayonne Bridge – used in the movie “The War of the Worlds”. I’ve always called it “The Fake Harbour Bridge” but apparently it is called Bayonne Bridge.

 

 

Going under the Verrazano Narrows bridge the ship had a few metres clearance.

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

20th November - Turn around day.

 

Amazing. It is the longest suspension bridge in the Americas.

Past the end of Staten Island – where New Yorkers like in the suburbs in grand old houses then off down the Jersey Shore…so I did get my trip to the Jersey Shore after all.

 

 

 

I had a lovely quiet night and didn’t even go to dinner. Just took Concierge Lounge food and off I went.

My room is an “Obstructed Balcony”. I knew there was a life boat right outside my room…but you an be lucky. I am at the end of one row of life boats and beside the superstructure and cranes, is a huge gap…with a perfect view, to sea. And it is straight in line with me head on the pillow! Nice.

 

 

21st November – At Sea.

A fun day at sea. Lots of trivia. We won the Movie quotes trivia. 100%.

 

 

Had the C&A top tier event. William does a great job. I was given my glass block. And I am the third top cruiser in this voyage! I got to catch up with Captain Wendy from Radiance. She is the Staff Captain on board. She asked how Sarah’s head had recovered from Tahiti. Amazing.

 

 

 

I ate at The Grande. The formal restaurant. Lovely. Very Grande indeed.

 

 

I am absolutely shattered that they have stopped Dynamic Dining. This is the last cruise with it. It is brilliant. I know many people didn't like it. But many did. But as is the way - - the haters complained and whined, and the lovers just said "Wow, this is good". And as we all know "the squeaky door gets oiled". Moral of the story is I think if we like something we need to let Royal know.

 

Why did I like it so much? I used it like MTD. I just walked up and asked for a seat. I absolutely loved Silk. Food from India, Japan, China, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and more. It was amazing. So much better then Izumi. Get rid of Izumi and put Silk back in I say.

 

Grande was also lovely. Lobster every night if that's your thing and lovely food.

 

Chic - I didn't really get. Apart from metal tassels on the chairs. And American Icon was nothing too fancy either.

 

My plan......make one floor traditional and MTD, on the other floor leave Silk and Grande.

 

Regarding Izumi's. I didn't eat there as it look horrid. It is built on a corner - almost an "L" shaped room. And no solid walls. A few slats separated you form the foot traffic. It was very food court like.

 

Jamie's and Wonderland were fantastic.

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2016 by AussieVisi2r

[AussieVisi2r]

21st November – At Sea.

 

After lunch I went to see The Gift. I don’t know why I continue to be blown away….. but the quality of the shows on these big ships is mind blowing. So very good. The sets and costumes are amazing and the athleticism is stunning. Truly Broadway quality. Fantastic.

 

 

 

 

I forgot.....

The C&A top tier was in 270. That is the entertainment area at the back of the ship. And is phenomenal. The 270 degree glass wall is all windows. Fantastic. Brilliant spot to spend time during the day. At the flick of a switch they change to a screen. A really high quality screen.

 

There is also 6 large robotic screens - made by the company that did the bionic bar. They move around, dance, twist and are really part of the show.

 

 

 

They showed a 5 minute show about De Vinci. Fantastic.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

22nd November – Port Canaveral, Florida.

 

WeE didn’t arrive in Port Canaveral until after 12 noon – so it was off the ship and onto an adventure. So many things to do here – Go to Universal Studios to Harry Potter World……go on a boat trip to see Manatee and Dolphin or go to Port Canaveral. I decided on Port Canaveral and the NASA JF Kennedy Space Centre.

Into a taxi shuttle and off I went. (there were plenty of taxis waiting at $30 return.) It was about 30 minutes from the dock and was an interesting drive. Florida is very flat and water. Channels and swamps everywhere. But sadly no Manatees today.

 

 

Near NASA there were a stack of new palm trees – too replace the ones torn down by the hurricane a few weeks ago. A a cost of many thousands of dollars each.

 

 

The driver pointed out the lack of street lights. We were in the middle of nowhere…but street lights must be a thing out of town. There had been lights…but when they had to move one of the shuttles to a new building, they took all the light poles down and never hooked tham back up. But the wires were there under the orange cones.

He also pointed out how dangerous driving was here. There were no shoulders on the roads!!! He best not come to drive in Australia.

 

 

And then we arrived at NASA. How exciting. Sadly (for me), they did a launch of Saturday night….so I wont get to see one tonight! How exciting. Cape Canaveral launch site. The place of so many amazing achievements – and a few sad ones.

 

 

And I now know how they fund the Space Program. Tens of thousands of tourists a day at $50 each. But WOW. I was walking around looking at Space Shuttles, Rockets, Command Centres, and many other pieces of equipment.

First thing was a bus ride out to Apollo Saturn V Centre – the first of many many queues! It was like Disneyland for geeks. Queues and waiting – the vast majority of time went it these two activities.

Past the Vehicle Assembly Building – the biggest single story building in the world. And one of the biggest in the world by volume. This was used for final processing for the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. It has now been redesigned for the latest.

 

 

That US flag is 21 stories high!!!! Yes 21 stories.

We passed the Launch Control Centre and onto the Apollo Saturn V Centre. WOW – Rockets are huge.

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

22nd November – Port Canaveral, Florida.

 

Here we got to see the command centre that was used for the Apollo missions. Not a mock ip – the real things. A movie played telling the story. When actual audio was used, a spotlight would illuminate the desk that had been talking. Cool. And not terribly high tech at first.

 

 

 

Past launch pads.

 

 

After that I went back to the main centre – with amazing stuff every where.

The best part – for me – was the space shuttle gear. So many of my favourite movies feature them…especially Armageddon.

 

 

To see the famous or infamous tiles up close was amazing.

 

 

But the best part was the Shuttle Simulation! When they launched it, a number of astronauts rode in it and said it was very realistic.

You walk in and sit in a ‘chair’ like a roller coaster. We had to strap in and each seat belt was tested by staff. There was lots of warning about the noise, the shuddering, the jolting etc. And even before starting they gave us a chance to bale out again. Yes I did say a number of Armageddon quotes – “………Helga’s house of pain” and “……..to the lowest bidder”.

Then into count down we went. The engine started and everything shuddered and wobbled. Then lift off and it really shook and bounced. A crash as we lost the fuel boosters and then we went up. Our ‘seat pod” went up and up until we were lying on our backs. I tried lifting my arms and sitting forward but it was very hard. We shook, rattles and the engines screamed. We went up to 3 G’s. I had a necklace on with a big ball that was sitting on my throat. I had to push my arms forward and move it as it was pushing so hard on my throat. Then we cut the engines and were just floating in silence. The roof opened up and we had a view of space. We then rolled and had a view of floating over Italy. Amazing. Then the mean people ended the ride. In 8 minutes we went from sitting upright to taking off and hitting space. What a sensational ride. No cameras…but here is a google image.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

22nd November – Port Canaveral, Florida.

 

And then more looking around.

 

 

 

And then the day was over and it was time to go back to the ship. In my 5 hours I barely saw anything. The people I came out in the shuttle with booked there return trip after 90 min. Guess they will be able to say “Yes, Been there”.

 

And I did catch up with some of my "Harmony Friends". A group of them did the Harmony TA, then hopped on a plane, flew back to London and did the Navigator TA. And we were in Cape Canaveral together. So exciting.

 

 

 

Back on board I raced to dinner then the lounge. Great day.

Limited parking space outside the dinning room. Hahah

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

TA 52 – Coco Cay, Bahamas.

 

RCI owned a few private island in the Caribbean. Coco Cay is one of them. They own the island and all the infrastructure. Its a lovely little flat island. They have made a small harbour and had a number of tender boats – large ones that load really fast. When they pull up to the ship, they are level. Not even one step. Same getting off on the island.

 

 

They have toilets, bars, food places and then all the activities. Snorkel hire, floating mat hire, wet suits (hahaha). And lots of boat activities – snorkel trips, parasailing, glass bottom boat.

 

 

They have sand wheelchairs People come across in their own wheel chairs then transfer into the sand chairs. (They can also go into the water!) Fantastic service.

All the normal bar services work on the island. If you have a drinks package, it works. Everything else you pay for on your sea pass card.

 

 

 

 

They have a life guard on the tower and have another out on a jet ski patrolling.

A mini Windjammer is set up with salads, burgers, BBQ, ……. And then deserts. Fruit and water, iced tea etc available all day.

 

 

And rows and rows of hire chairs.

[AussieVisi2r]

TA 52 – Coco Cay, Bahamas.

 

But the best part…..is the Cabana Area. A fenced off area with cabanas – beach shacks! Each cabana has an enclosed area and a deck. The inside part has a lovely lounge with the best air flow. The deck has two lounges with thick mattresses. Then there are four sun lounges on the sand. Private toilet block, bar and food place with all the normal food plus more. Prawns on sticks, huge fruit platters, bottles of water – delivered in an esky to your cabana. They also get the floating mats, snorkel gear and towels.

Pretty fine deal for 4 or 6 people ($280).

 

 

 

I sat all day, listening to music and staring at the ocean. I did get up and go for a walk around the area, but then returned to my cabana! I didn't even go for a swim. It was so lovely.

Maybe the beach isn’t that bad after all! Lovely. When I decided to go back, I saw how long the line was for the tenders, so set my alarm and had a snooze instead.

 

 

The temp was in the 30’s, but the shade and the strong breeze was glorious. I ended up spending six hours there.

 

 

Sensational.

[AussieVisi2r]

TA 54 – At sea. Busy

 

10.00 General Trivia – We won. Yay for us.

 

11.30 Theatre Tour was great. The theatres on these big ships are amazing. So big, with such fancy back stage areas. One of the shows – The Gift- had a giant Dragon puppet. $200,000 worth.

 

Everything is of such high quality. And so technical. The back stage area is massive. Corridors leading everywhere.

 

As we were starting the tour the BMX guy from The Gift was practicing. He is a National Champion with World placings.

 

 

‘We Will Rock You’ had nearly 100 wigs. And the detail of the props! One scene had a few of the Bohemians standing on some 44 gallon drums. The drums are all welded together and the cuts and holes in them all have rolled edges.

 

 

The scaffold piece was huge. And Solid. At times it has about 20 people climbing on it so has to be incredibly strong, but also has to move backwards and forwards, and then into storage.

 

 

12.30 Escape the Rubicon – A Puzzle Room.

 

 

I raced up and joined a group of random’s for this activity. The group gets locked into a room and had 60 minutes to get out. This one was a space theme.

 

The puzzles are really hard to describe...but basically it is impossible to try to do it without team work.

 

It is really hard to explain – but we walked in and there were lots of star charts, moon calendars, and various object like pieces of angle iron with little lugs on them.

After a few minutes of bumbling around we started to see bits of rhyme and reason. By solving one clue, we could open a chest with the next clue.

 

It was this solid until we finished.

 

 

One example was we worked out the pieces of angle fitted into holes. I found a torch and worked out it created a shadow word. Some was maths, some deduction etc. But nothing could be done alone. It all took team work.

We solved it in 34 minutes. A record for this trip. Yay – we survived.

 

 

So much fun.

 

 

1.30 Lunch with others. Ships always to a ‘Solo’ travelers lunch. This voyage had some great people and we had fun together – including lots of the trivia matches.

 

2.00 Progressive Trivia – another round of progressive.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

TA 54 – At sea. Busy

 

3.00 And yet another Bridge Tour. Cannot help myself. I love going up there.

 

 

Captain was there to greet us all again.

 

I got my bridge window photo.

 

 

3.30 I then had to rush down to the Bumper Cars. There were only a few sessions and the queue was huge – Well over one hour long. After about 15 minutes, they had an odd number of riders and walked along looking for a single person. So in I went. And again it was great fun. Slamming into people you don’t know. Everyone laughs hysterically and having a ball. So much fun.

 

 

4.00 Musicals Trivia. So much fun. Lots of yelling and fun. ‘The Gay Guys’ (as they called themselves) sat near us and everyone knows that they are Broadway and show tune geniuses. Before the quiz we kept telling them that the answer was “Evita”. All answers were Evita. Of course the first question was 'What musical features the song ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’'. Yay Evita. So much yelling out of 'Evita, Evita' the whole game.

We beat them in a sudden death and got the prize. Yay – we won hats!

 

 

Then dinner and relax time. And sleep.

I woke up at about 3 am and went outside for a look. I was sure we were not moving. Next day someone said – did I hear the helicopter flying around at 3am and why did they announce for no one to go near deck 14. Ahhh. I had not gone made. It was a medivac – no helipad on this ship – a winch operation so someone must have been very ill.

 

In 56 nights on ships we only had a few medivacs and one call for “males blood donors with O neg blood”. (Women cannot give O blood in case pregnancy has triggered the rhesus factor – so they just don’t take O whole blood from women anymore). Quiet a few ambulances doing the early morning transfers as well.

[AussieVisi2r]

TA 55 – At sea. Busy

 

10.00 Galley Tour. Not the best galley tour I have done – but interesting to see the four separate kitchens for the Dynamic Dining set up. There were 30 people in the group. 6 or 8 kids who complained about “the heat”, “the noise’, being “bored”. And the lady with the pram was not fun. But the cook who lead the tour had very little English and did not project his voice at all. So the four people at the front heard things. Oh well, I was lucky to got to see the kitchen.

 

12.00 was the Meal with the Officers. This is one of my favourite perks and I sat with two lovely guys. Leland, the head of Guest Services Desk.

 

And Bogdan, the Head of Hotel Maintenance, who was so funny. We came up with a new plan for Royal. We are going to enhance the Virtual Balconies. He will rig up the air conditioning and the sprinkler systems to the live cameras. If it is cold the temperature will drop. And when we hit waves, the sprinklers will splash you. We thought it was a great idea.

 

There was a problem with my C&A gifts. I selected the bottles of Perignol Sparkling Water. But they have recently changes the bottles to crown seals.

I told him that on the older ship there is the bottle opener on the wall of the bathroom. The newer ships don’t have it. I asked the room steward – “No, ring room service”. Room service said “No, but they will come and open it when every I want”. “So I could pay the $5 nighttime room service fee if I wanted a bottle at night”. I ended up giving them to Francisco the concierge, along with my left over bottles of wine.

But I did mention the problem to Bogdan – since he looks after the hotel part. We laughed about my first world problems.

 

2.00 Progressive Trivia. Final round. We have a fun team. We came third out of about 35 teams.

 

2.30 I then dashed late, down to see We Will Rock You again. A new cast boarded the ship three weeks ago – and today was their first performance. And it was great again. Such a cool story. I think a few of the principal actors were better than last week.

 

 

As I’ve said many times….the productions are of such a high standard.

 

 

.As this was set a few hundred years into the future, The Bohemians had found ‘relics’ and based their lives around them. One of the incredibly repetitive lines was the video tape pronounced “Vid –ehhhh –ohhhhh Tap Eyyyy”. The more they said it the funnier it became.

They had all based themselves on rock n roll posters that were found, so were usually the wrong sex. The lead man was Brittany Spears. Another was called Blink 182.

Fantastic show.

 

 

6.00 Dinner was with one of my Trivia buddies and another couple. They had made a permanent booking at “The Grande”, the formal restaurant – so I often joined them. I didn’t have lobster this night I had had enough. Hahah.

 

 

Then goodbyes and tips. People can be such horrors. The Concierge Lounge was never terribly full, but over only 30ish people there at any time. The bar people were very attentive and lovely. The Concierge was great. But when I got up there at 7.30….there were two other people there. I asked Francisco if it had been like it all night. “Yes”. Was it because it was tipping night? “Yes”.

If people choose not to tip they should still go to the lounge and say thank you! Just my opinion.

 

 

It was then luggage out and to bed on the final night of this amazing journey.

 

Hong Kong, England, Canary Islands, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, France, US, Puerto Rico, St Thomas, St Kitts, St Matreen, St Martin, Orlando, Bahamas.

My SEVENTH continent on a cruise ship.

My SEVENTH continent in 2016.

MY SIXTH CONTINENT WITH ROYAL CARIBBEAN (- THEY ONLY DO 6)!

The worlds Biggest cruise ship – Harmony. And newest, widest, heaviest and largest capacity.

The worlds Greenest cruise ship – Anthem. And the second largest class of cruise ships

[AussieVisi2r]

]TA 56 – The Journey Begins[/u]

 

We arrived in New York at about 5.30 am and they were taking people off before 7.

 

 

Not a bad view from my 'obstructed balcony'. Room 6276 - right at the gap between the lifeboats. More than 50% of the view was clear.

 

 

 

As I was leaving the ship this morning there was a present at my door. From Bodgen. A shiny new bottle opener. How lovely.

 

Getting off the ship was not to bad at all. Straight through immigration.

 

And then only 15 minutes for a Uber car to arrive. Oh dear. Much too early.

 

The taxi quoted me $110 plus $25 in tolls. Uber was a flat fee of $73.

 

My driver didn’t realise how far it was so we had to stop for petrol.

 

Out drive to the airport was a southern route – not through New York. Sad. But we did cross the Bayonne Bridge (the War of the Worlds one), the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (the one I sailed under). We went across Stratton Island. Not a small island in the harbour, as I always thought. But a huge chunk of land seperate from the mainland. It is one of the big suburb areas of NYC. Then though Brooklyn and into Queens. Good to see so many of the se places you hear about all the time.

 

 

 

 

I was at the airport at to to nine at a grand total of $70 and some cents. I love Uber. And my driver was funny. Not quiet the sharpest tool. I don’t think he had been over to this side of the bay before. He asked where I had been – St Kitts, St Thomas, San Juan, and Orlando. “Gee, you have done almost all the states.” And in Queens – which to my surprise had lots of open land – we passed a ‘Riding Academy’ with people getting ready for a trail ride. “That’s where they train the jockeys. I know that because it says ‘Riding Academy'”.

 

The Qantas counter didn’t open until 1.30 and there was no coffee shop in terminal 7 – so I hoped on the Skytrain and went to another terminal – – for 4 hours.

Then did a bit more Skytrain riding.

 

It was then onto the plane. at 6pm.

 

6 hours to LAX, 90 minutes between fights, then 14 hours to Melbourne. A 2 hour wait then a one hour flight to Canberra. I was home at lunch time.

 

AN AMAZING TRIP. So wonderful.

 

I am indeed a spoilt brat.

 

Raina

[Wildcatfish]

Thank you for sharing your amazing adventure!

 

Spoilt brat? Hey... at least your willing to share!:) Thanks again.

[dani negreanu]

Thank you, Raina.

 

I've relished every post :):)

 

Can't wait for your next adventures.

 

I've tentatively booked a Radiance cruise out of Sidney for January 2018. A looong looong flight :D