Just off Anthem 12/23 holiday sailing! Detailed review here.

[Rachelmle]

Are the smoothies part of the deluxe beverage package ?

 

The package I had was called "Royal Replenish". It included all premium non-alcoholic beverages including smoothies, all hot and cold specialty coffee drinks, bottled water, soda, etc.

 

I'm not sure about the "Deluxe" package... I don't remember that package option.

[Clarea]

Are the smoothies part of the deluxe beverage package ?

 

The package I had was called "Royal Replenish". It included all premium non-alcoholic beverages including smoothies, all hot and cold specialty coffee drinks, bottled water, soda, etc.

 

I'm not sure about the "Deluxe" package... I don't remember that package option.

The Deluxe package now includes everything that the Replenish / Refreshment packages include(d).

[TeeRick]

Hi there! Coffee is VERY important to me - so I will give you my two cents:

 

- The regular coffee in 270 is very good. With that being said - this was the only place on the ship that brewed this particular coffee in the whole ship (to my knowledge). (I think it's Seattles Best.) Anyway - with that being said, I also nabbed the "Royal Refreshment" package while it was on sale a number of weeks ago and I'm pretty sure it was $16/day when I booked it. It was WELL worth $16/day for just premium coffee drinks, fresh juice, bottled water, and smoothies for me. However, I'm not sure I would have bought it for the $26 or $28 per day for the usual charge. My suggestion would be to watch this price and book it when they are running a sale.

 

- The coffee in the main dining rooms was not very good, and the coffee available at locations around the ship was terrible. Very watery. If I wanted a regular cup of coffee, I would usually either walk to 270 or just wait in line at the Starbucks. There were times when the Starbucks line was very slow though. They usually only had one barista there.

 

- The Royal Replenish worked on ALL specialty non-alcoholic drinks on the entire ship. Zero extra fee for frappachinos, mocha, cappuccino,smoothies, bottled water, etc.

 

- With Royal Replenish you can get one specialty drink at a time or two bottles of water at a time.

 

I hope this helps!!

 

The coffee in 270 was very good on our recent cruise - it was Lavazza.

[rrraydon]

Thanks for the review! :)

[MonaCK]

The ship is beautiful and spotless. We really had a wonderful family trip!!!

 

 

 

My overall reason for giving 4 stars instead of 5 stars is for the reasons below. Enjoy reading and please contact me if you need any other info!

 

 

 

We were in a balcony cabin (#9570) and had our kids (age 4 & 6) sleep on the pull out couch. It was great to have the angled larger balcony since there wasn't much space in the cabin with the four of us. I was under the impression that the sofa bed would get folded up each day to make more room --- However, it was left open for the entire cruise causing a very cramped cabin. With that being said - we hardly used the cabin so it wasn't much of an issue. However, I would seek out a larger cabin or a different set up (perhaps 2 adjoining cabins?) -- but only if the price made sense. Please note that the beds are super firm. We asked our cabin attendant to put a topper on it, and she did - which helped a little bit.

 

 

 

The public areas of the ship seemed crowded and cramped at times, but those crowded areas were easy to avoid. The Esplanade area of shops was a traffic flow nightmare and there were usually people wall-to-wall unless it was first thing in the morning. Again - this was easy to avoid, but worth noting.

 

 

 

Having 3 pools (one of which is adults only) was GREAT. This greatly dispersed guests and we were always able to find a lounger or two on the deck. If you prefer a chair (or group of chairs) close to the pool you will have to wake up very early (before 8am) and put personal belongings on chairs. Chair hogs were in full effect and the staff would not move these belongings even if the chair was not occupied for 30 minutes or more. So, you have to "play the game" if you would like a chair right by one of the pools.

 

 

 

The Sunshine Bar in the solarium was wonderful. One of the bartenders (from Ukraine, but I can't remember her name) would make the most delicious protein/banana/granola/almond smoothies for me each morning and they were WONDERFUL! (The smoothies are included on the Royal Replenish drink package.)

 

 

 

Dining was hit or miss. We ate in our main dining room Chic for 7 out of 10 nights. The dining staff worked very hard to accommodate everyone and really wanted everyone to have a positive dining experience. With that being said, the food was hit or miss. Sometimes the main dining room food was amazing, and sometimes it was simply not good. The positive meals definitely outweighed the bad ones, though.

 

 

 

We ate breakfast daily in 270. It was never crowded and the coffee was so much better here than in the other areas of the ship. The coffee barista here was amazing. He would make the most beautiful cappuccinos for me each morning.

 

 

 

Windjammer was always packed. Too many people all in one spot for my liking, so I never ate here. Plenty of other places to eat. 270 was great for a quick lunch. The dining room Grande had a really nice salad bar and sit-down lunch options too.

 

 

 

We ate in Chops twice and Jamie's once. Both restaurants are exemplary.

 

 

 

Overall, service on the ship was great. Yes, there were a few staff members that didn't seem to have much personality, but none of them were rude or surly. Only one staff member rubbed us the wrong way - I can't remember his name but he was one of the "Next Cruise" staff members. He was very annoyed that we were asking questions about future cruises and and he really didn't want to give us multiple price quotes on different future sailings. So, we left the desk and came back later in the day and worked with another agent who was very helpful and beyond nice. We ended up putting down a deposit for a future cruise with him. All other employees were really great.

 

 

 

I read many reviews on Cruise Critic bashing the bar staff on the ship. We never had a negative experience. Some of the bars are grossly understaffed (only one bartender during busy times) but that is not a knock on the bartenders, but on overall management. All alcohol is strictly measured out, so you don't have to worry about "short" pours.

 

 

 

We were on the cruise for Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years. All of the holidays were lovely and the cruise really tried to make it festive for the holidays with special event. They had menorah lighting ceremony every night, Santa giving gifts to all children on Christmas day, big NYE parties in multiple locations on the ship. (To note: even if your family doesn't celebrate Christmas they had a time during the day for the kids to pick up their holiday gift without Santa too!)

 

 

 

Cleanliness is paramount on this ship. They are constantly reminding people to wash their hands with a cute music video and jingle that is played over and over and over and over. I loved it! We had a very bad experience at a Beaches resort last year with a norovirus outbreak that was horrendous. The amount of cleaning and hand washing on this ship is so far and above anything we encountered at Beaches. I really think the Anthem staff is doing everything they can to minimize the spread of germs.

 

 

 

Entertainment was good. We Will Rock You had a terrible plot, but the music was fantastic. Even my 4 and 6 year old kids loved it! The live music that was on the ship was good but not great. My husband went to the Led Zepplin cover band and he said they were amazing. The ventriloquist was awesome. The house band "Synergy" is exactly what you would envision as an old-school house cruise ship band. We really enjoyed them.

 

 

 

My husband and I are in our late-30s and we traveled with my in-laws (early 70's) and our kids (ages 4 and 6). It's hard to make all generations happy --- and I think the Anthem did this very very well! Our 6 year old had a ton to do (iFly, rock wall, trapeze, bumper cars) but there was not much for the 4 year old as far as activities. However, she really enjoyed the kids' Adventure Ocean program. The camp staff didn't seem to have the best personalities, but my daughter was happy and requested to go play there, so I can't complain :)

 

 

 

As far as motion on the ship - yes, we felt motion at times. None of us ever got full-on sea sick, but our son got very nauseous one day when it was particularly rocky. We gave him a kids Dramamine and within a hour he said he felt better. He's not a kid who complains about that stuff, so the Dramamine must have worked. I found that taking "Sailors Secret" ginger pills helped me a ton. There was only one day out of the 10 that really bothered me - I think it was the 2nd sea day. Of course, this all depends on the wind and sea conditions.

 

 

 

Our North Star ride was cancelled for high winds and we got rescheduled to Day 10. However, when Day 10 rolled around, it was canceled due to high winds again. BOO!!! Of course, this was out of everyone's control. Oh well. Now we'll just have to sail on the Anthem again in order to try it out!!! ;)

 

 

 

As far as activities, you MUST pre-reserve your activities before getting on the Anthem!!!!!! I can't stress this enough. There are simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. Period. For the activities that you cannot pre-reserve such as bumper cars, rock climbing, trapeze -- you MUST show up 20 to 30 minutes before the "opening time" or else you will be waiting on a very very long line. Again, simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. This annoyed me, but my son and husband didn't really care so they would just show up half an hour early and hang out before the activity opened up. They both got to try all of the special "adventurous" activities on the ship except for the FlowRider because my son did not meet the height requirement :)

 

 

 

The Royal IQ app is a joke. Do NOT spend the $7.95 for text messaging. It simply is not reliable and does not work over half of the time. The phone calling to another passenger w/ the Royal IQ app does not work. Ever. The only thing the app is good for is to change/view/cancel any dining or activity reservations. Also good to view the daily Cruise Compass so you don't have to carry around the printed paper.

 

 

 

You must check your account statement and make sure you get credit for any reservations you pre-reserved and canceled. We found many many errors on our account and had to have them rectified. RCCL's pre-cruise website is absolutely terrible and we had many errors on our account. Just be on top of it.

 

 

 

We would not hesitate to go on the Anthem again. We live in NJ and it was so easy to get to the port and back. Bayonne has everything down to a science and both embarkation and disembarkation was totally smooth.

 

 

 

Hi neighbor! We were on this sailing also, and enjoyed it so much we are possibly going back on in a couple of months.

 

Just had to laugh because we were in 9572. [emoji3]

 

So glad you had a great time also. I think your review was completely spot on.

[xcell]

Great review -- we go on the Anthem in March 2017.

 

Quick question: what bonus do you get on booking on board for your next cruise?

[ClemsonTiger96]

What a fantastic review, and thank you for taking the time to post it. It's reviews like this that make me excited to try this ship out!

[cruisin0504]

The smoothies look great - are the only in the solarium bar - or does 270 have them too?

[sockmonkeygirl]

Our North Star ride was cancelled for high winds and we got rescheduled to Day 10. However, when Day 10 rolled around, it was canceled due to high winds again. BOO!!! Of course, this was out of everyone's control. Oh well. Now we'll just have to sail on the Anthem again in order to try it out!!! ;)

 

As far as activities, you MUST pre-reserve your activities before getting on the Anthem!!!!!! I can't stress this enough. There are simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. Period.

I'm starting to freak out about my Feb 19th sailing, because we have not been able to reserve RipCord online. There was only 1 reservation available for NorthStar, and that was during the same time as the sea lion excursion in Nassau. How do I get on these?? Should I cancel the NorthStar for the sea lions? I'm bummed already. :(

[CruisingChick]

I'm starting to freak out about my Feb 19th sailing, because we have not been able to reserve RipCord online. There was only 1 reservation available for NorthStar, and that was during the same time as the sea lion excursion in Nassau. How do I get on these?? Should I cancel the NorthStar for the sea lions? I'm bummed already. :(

 

Don't freak out, please. NorthStar is not that big of a deal in my opinion. They should have "open times" for NorthStar, just pay attention to your daily planner, they will list it. You could also just go by and ask if you can go on "stand-by". It never hurts to ask.

 

As for IFly, keep trying now before the cruise, if not when you board the ship see if you can make a reservation. Go up to the SeaPlex and inquire.

 

Don't be bummed.

[omarchs]

Thanks for the review!!!

 

We were on Anthem last New Year's. Turned off for two reasons doing it again. We really enjoyed Dynamic Dining and we didn't like them doing reserved seating champagne/table packages in most of the venues on New Year's Eve. They claimed they were limited, but you couldn't find a seat on the whole lower level in 270. Seem to us the were really breaking it off after already paying a huge premium in the cruise fare for this week.

 

Were they still selling the champagne/table packages in the venues for NYE?

 

Thanks!

[scoochy12]

On what deck do you board the ship?

[Merion_Mom]

On what deck do you board the ship?

 

 

Deck 5

 

 

 

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[scoochy12]

Deck 5

 

 

 

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Thanks!

[site41]

Thanks for the review.

 

When you arrived at the port in Bayonne, did you guys park and drag your bags or drop your bags off and hen park the car in the garage?

 

Still trying to figure out what is the best thing to do with a 5 & 8 year old.

[Irish13]

Leaving in a few days on Anthem was wondering how your kids liked Adventure Ocean ? I have noticed from sailing that when there are not many kids on board the staff tend to slack off and don't do as much with the kids which makes me upset so I am hoping that this is not the case on this cruise as it was on our last cruise.

 

 

The ship is beautiful and spotless. We really had a wonderful family trip!!!

 

My overall reason for giving 4 stars instead of 5 stars is for the reasons below. Enjoy reading and please contact me if you need any other info!

 

We were in a balcony cabin (#9570) and had our kids (age 4 & 6) sleep on the pull out couch. It was great to have the angled larger balcony since there wasn't much space in the cabin with the four of us. I was under the impression that the sofa bed would get folded up each day to make more room --- However, it was left open for the entire cruise causing a very cramped cabin. With that being said - we hardly used the cabin so it wasn't much of an issue. However, I would seek out a larger cabin or a different set up (perhaps 2 adjoining cabins?) -- but only if the price made sense. Please note that the beds are super firm. We asked our cabin attendant to put a topper on it, and she did - which helped a little bit.

 

The public areas of the ship seemed crowded and cramped at times, but those crowded areas were easy to avoid. The Esplanade area of shops was a traffic flow nightmare and there were usually people wall-to-wall unless it was first thing in the morning. Again - this was easy to avoid, but worth noting.

 

Having 3 pools (one of which is adults only) was GREAT. This greatly dispersed guests and we were always able to find a lounger or two on the deck. If you prefer a chair (or group of chairs) close to the pool you will have to wake up very early (before 8am) and put personal belongings on chairs. Chair hogs were in full effect and the staff would not move these belongings even if the chair was not occupied for 30 minutes or more. So, you have to "play the game" if you would like a chair right by one of the pools.

 

The Sunshine Bar in the solarium was wonderful. One of the bartenders (from Ukraine, but I can't remember her name) would make the most delicious protein/banana/granola/almond smoothies for me each morning and they were WONDERFUL! (The smoothies are included on the Royal Replenish drink package.)

 

Dining was hit or miss. We ate in our main dining room Chic for 7 out of 10 nights. The dining staff worked very hard to accommodate everyone and really wanted everyone to have a positive dining experience. With that being said, the food was hit or miss. Sometimes the main dining room food was amazing, and sometimes it was simply not good. The positive meals definitely outweighed the bad ones, though.

 

We ate breakfast daily in 270. It was never crowded and the coffee was so much better here than in the other areas of the ship. The coffee barista here was amazing. He would make the most beautiful cappuccinos for me each morning.

 

Windjammer was always packed. Too many people all in one spot for my liking, so I never ate here. Plenty of other places to eat. 270 was great for a quick lunch. The dining room Grande had a really nice salad bar and sit-down lunch options too.

 

We ate in Chops twice and Jamie's once. Both restaurants are exemplary.

 

Overall, service on the ship was great. Yes, there were a few staff members that didn't seem to have much personality, but none of them were rude or surly. Only one staff member rubbed us the wrong way - I can't remember his name but he was one of the "Next Cruise" staff members. He was very annoyed that we were asking questions about future cruises and and he really didn't want to give us multiple price quotes on different future sailings. So, we left the desk and came back later in the day and worked with another agent who was very helpful and beyond nice. We ended up putting down a deposit for a future cruise with him. All other employees were really great.

 

I read many reviews on Cruise Critic bashing the bar staff on the ship. We never had a negative experience. Some of the bars are grossly understaffed (only one bartender during busy times) but that is not a knock on the bartenders, but on overall management. All alcohol is strictly measured out, so you don't have to worry about "short" pours.

 

We were on the cruise for Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years. All of the holidays were lovely and the cruise really tried to make it festive for the holidays with special event. They had menorah lighting ceremony every night, Santa giving gifts to all children on Christmas day, big NYE parties in multiple locations on the ship. (To note: even if your family doesn't celebrate Christmas they had a time during the day for the kids to pick up their holiday gift without Santa too!)

 

Cleanliness is paramount on this ship. They are constantly reminding people to wash their hands with a cute music video and jingle that is played over and over and over and over. I loved it! We had a very bad experience at a Beaches resort last year with a norovirus outbreak that was horrendous. The amount of cleaning and hand washing on this ship is so far and above anything we encountered at Beaches. I really think the Anthem staff is doing everything they can to minimize the spread of germs.

 

Entertainment was good. We Will Rock You had a terrible plot, but the music was fantastic. Even my 4 and 6 year old kids loved it! The live music that was on the ship was good but not great. My husband went to the Led Zepplin cover band and he said they were amazing. The ventriloquist was awesome. The house band "Synergy" is exactly what you would envision as an old-school house cruise ship band. We really enjoyed them.

 

My husband and I are in our late-30s and we traveled with my in-laws (early 70's) and our kids (ages 4 and 6). It's hard to make all generations happy --- and I think the Anthem did this very very well! Our 6 year old had a ton to do (iFly, rock wall, trapeze, bumper cars) but there was not much for the 4 year old as far as activities. However, she really enjoyed the kids' Adventure Ocean program. The camp staff didn't seem to have the best personalities, but my daughter was happy and requested to go play there, so I can't complain :)

 

As far as motion on the ship - yes, we felt motion at times. None of us ever got full-on sea sick, but our son got very nauseous one day when it was particularly rocky. We gave him a kids Dramamine and within a hour he said he felt better. He's not a kid who complains about that stuff, so the Dramamine must have worked. I found that taking "Sailors Secret" ginger pills helped me a ton. There was only one day out of the 10 that really bothered me - I think it was the 2nd sea day. Of course, this all depends on the wind and sea conditions.

 

Our North Star ride was cancelled for high winds and we got rescheduled to Day 10. However, when Day 10 rolled around, it was canceled due to high winds again. BOO!!! Of course, this was out of everyone's control. Oh well. Now we'll just have to sail on the Anthem again in order to try it out!!! ;)

 

As far as activities, you MUST pre-reserve your activities before getting on the Anthem!!!!!! I can't stress this enough. There are simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. Period. For the activities that you cannot pre-reserve such as bumper cars, rock climbing, trapeze -- you MUST show up 20 to 30 minutes before the "opening time" or else you will be waiting on a very very long line. Again, simply not enough spots for the amount of people who want to participate. This annoyed me, but my son and husband didn't really care so they would just show up half an hour early and hang out before the activity opened up. They both got to try all of the special "adventurous" activities on the ship except for the FlowRider because my son did not meet the height requirement :)

 

The Royal IQ app is a joke. Do NOT spend the $7.95 for text messaging. It simply is not reliable and does not work over half of the time. The phone calling to another passenger w/ the Royal IQ app does not work. Ever. The only thing the app is good for is to change/view/cancel any dining or activity reservations. Also good to view the daily Cruise Compass so you don't have to carry around the printed paper.

 

You must check your account statement and make sure you get credit for any reservations you pre-reserved and canceled. We found many many errors on our account and had to have them rectified. RCCL's pre-cruise website is absolutely terrible and we had many errors on our account. Just be on top of it.

 

We would not hesitate to go on the Anthem again. We live in NJ and it was so easy to get to the port and back. Bayonne has everything down to a science and both embarkation and disembarkation was totally smooth.

[Rachelmle]

Thanks for the review.

 

 

 

When you arrived at the port in Bayonne, did you guys park and drag your bags or drop your bags off and hen park the car in the garage?

 

 

 

Still trying to figure out what is the best thing to do with a 5 & 8 year old.

 

 

Good question. We didn't drive and park. Instead, we had car service take us to and from the port and it was super easy. At embarkation it was essentially curbside service for our bags. At disembarkation we flagged down a luggage cart guy (there were a bunch) and he set us up at one of the zones for pick up. I called the car service and relayed to them which zone we were located. Super easy.

 

 

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[Rachelmle]

Leaving in a few days on Anthem was wondering how your kids liked Adventure Ocean ? I have noticed from sailing that when there are not many kids on board the staff tend to slack off and don't do as much with the kids which makes me upset so I am hoping that this is not the case on this cruise as it was on our last cruise.

 

 

The Adventure Ocean staff was ok. They weren't great, but not totally disengaged. Truthfully, I just think they're understaffed. At most there were two counselors but at busy times one of the staff members had to be checking kids in/out. My 4 and 6 year olds both said they had fun and wanted to go each day for 1-2 hours - so that was good. I, however, was not overly impressed.

 

 

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[Rachelmle]

Thanks for the review!!!

 

 

 

We were on Anthem last New Year's. Turned off for two reasons doing it again. We really enjoyed Dynamic Dining and we didn't like them doing reserved seating champagne/table packages in most of the venues on New Year's Eve. They claimed they were limited, but you couldn't find a seat on the whole lower level in 270. Seem to us the were really breaking it off after already paying a huge premium in the cruise fare for this week.

 

 

 

Were they still selling the champagne/table packages in the venues for NYE?

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

Indeed - they were doing the packages. However, in order to go to the 270 party you had to buy a table. There was no standing room only option.

 

The "free" large parties on the ship (from what I remember) were:

Seaplex for family fun

Music Hall for 18+

Big countdown in The Esplanade

 

There were smaller areas in the ship such as Boleros and Schooner that had live music also.

 

 

 

 

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[MonaCK]

Thanks for the review!!!

 

We were on Anthem last New Year's. Turned off for two reasons doing it again. We really enjoyed Dynamic Dining and we didn't like them doing reserved seating champagne/table packages in most of the venues on New Year's Eve. They claimed they were limited, but you couldn't find a seat on the whole lower level in 270. Seem to us the were really breaking it off after already paying a huge premium in the cruise fare for this week.

 

Were they still selling the champagne/table packages in the venues for NYE?

 

Thanks!

 

270 was for VIPs only. They sold every table in there this year. There were also tables available for sale on 5 overlooking the Esplanade. My husband and I did not reserve anything, and were able to find great seats overlooking the Esplanade or the balloon drop. Tables started at $200, and went way up from there...

 

Thanks for the review.

 

When you arrived at the port in Bayonne, did you guys park and drag your bags or drop your bags off and hen park the car in the garage?

 

Still trying to figure out what is the best thing to do with a 5 & 8 year old.

 

We drove to the pier, dropped our bags, and then found a spot in the garage. With kids, I would probably do the bag drop and have one parent stay with the kids while the other goes and finds a spot. The garage is very close to the terminal. We had a porter take care of the bags when we got off the ship, and she met us on the ground level of the parking garage to load the bags after we got the car. VERY easy.

[Rachelmle]

I'm starting to freak out about my Feb 19th sailing, because we have not been able to reserve RipCord online. There was only 1 reservation available for NorthStar, and that was during the same time as the sea lion excursion in Nassau. How do I get on these?? Should I cancel the NorthStar for the sea lions? I'm bummed already. :(

 

 

Def don't cancel the sea lions.

 

IFly and NorthStar *should* let you ride as a standby passenger. However, I did not see any open times listed on our cruise compass.

 

 

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[umpisoccer]

We have My time dining on the Anthem Feb. 19th. Do you know if you are assigned a dining room or do we need to make reservations in advance? Online reservations are not available on our RCL site

 

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[Clarea]

We have My time dining on the Anthem Feb. 19th. Do you know if you are assigned a dining room or do we need to make reservations in advance? Online reservations are not available on our RCL site

You will be assigned a dining room. You will not be able to choose the dining room, you can only choose the day and time.

[TVLady3]

We have My time dining on the Anthem Feb. 19th. Do you know if you are assigned a dining room or do we need to make reservations in advance? Online reservations are not available on our RCL site

 

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I'm on the Anthem a week after you and I made all My Time Dining reservations weeks ago! You'll need to log into your reservation.

[Irish13]

They are supposed to have a counselor for each age group .. Safety is the most important thing and if I do not feel like they are adquitly staffed my kids won't be staying.

The Adventure Ocean staff was ok. They weren't great, but not totally disengaged. Truthfully, I just think they're understaffed. At most there were two counselors but at busy times one of the staff members had to be checking kids in/out. My 4 and 6 year olds both said they had fun and wanted to go each day for 1-2 hours - so that was good. I, however, was not overly impressed.

 

 

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