Thoughts and Ramblings on Last Week's 5 Night Bermuda Cruise on Anthem.

[mulliner99]

After reading many reviews in preparation for our journey, I thought I would throw my hat in the ring with some observations and opinions on our 5 day Bermuda cruise on the Anthem last week. This was our 4th cruise and second on Royal Caribbean, but, more significantly, our first with our 18 month old daughter!

 

 

One reason we chose this cruise was because it left from Bayonne, which is about a 30 minute drive from where we live in NJ, and with the baby was much more convenient than flying to another port. Also 5 days seemed a good start for her first cruise.

 

EMBARKATION AND ROOM

 

 

There was a wait to drive up to the ship, but once we dropped off a bag and parked in the garage it was very smooth through check in,security, and getting onto the ship. Since you board onto the 5th deck, and rooms would not be ready until 1:30 (we were onboard about 1:00) my initial thought was to grab lunch at the Café 270, but it was very obvious as pulled near that a lot of other people had the same idea and the line stretched on quite a bit, so we turned around and took the elevator to the 14th floor to check out the Windjammer,which was not too bad, in as much as we were able to secure a table pretty quickly. Windjammer food is OK, making up in quantity and diversity for what it may lack in quality. Some foods seemed OK (like a beef and mushroom stew they had) and others (like the Hamburgers) very definitely lacking. Desserts weren’t bad though (a decent caramel cheesecake). My expectations weren’t high so I wasn’t disappointed and it serves its purpose as quick go to meal.

 

 

We had room 6644, which had an unobstructed balcony and sofa bed. I guess we were given a room with a sofa bed because we had a 3rd guest in the room, but obviously our daughter wasn’t going to sleep in it so we never tried it out. Room had a lot of storage and a nice empty refrigerator to store drinks and snacks in. Bathroom had all the expected amenities, though one thing I did notice is that there are no tissues available, so you may want to bring some if needed.

 

 

RESTAURANTS

 

 

We did the BOGO package and was assigned to Jamie’s for the 1st night. This was the restaurant I was most looking forward to,but perhaps my expectations were too high, as while the food is decent, there wasn’t anything special (no “wow” factor). We had the Cured Meat Plank (and I don’t know about you, but I always prefer my meat to be cured of whatever was ailing it before it is served to me), Giant Green Olives, and the wife also had Crab & Avocado Bruschetta. Main dish was Tagliatelle Bolognese which was decent but not that much better than the Spaghetti Bolognese you can get every night in the main dining room. One thing I will say though, and this goes for every dining room we ate in, is that the servers were always very good with our daughter, paying a lot of attention to her and never made us feel uncomfortable about bringing her to any restaurant. She was always well behaved, but I can’t say that the floor below her after we ate was always spotless…

 

 

Second night we did Chops as that was what was assigned to us, but when we got there they didn’t know anything about the reservation. I would recommend confirming your second night reservation when you arrive if you order the BOGO package. Fortunately the restaurant wasn’t busy (it was 5:45 on formal night) and they seated us quickly. Food and service was very good and our daughter smiled at and thoroughly charmed the servers and other diners so we felt a bit relieved. I think she feels he has a reputation to preserve, as when we are alone in the room she is a bit of an imp. I’m not sure how many times I had to grab the room phone from her and apologize to whomever she called by picking up the phone and pressing which ever buttons caught her fancy. Eventually I disconnected the phone, so if you tried to call me and didn’t get through you now know why, but I seemed to have digressed here a bit.

 

 

 

This is going on longer than I anticipated and I need some coffee, so will continue this soon. As well, and questions I will try to answer to the best of my abilities. I also posted the Daily Activities to this thread if interested…

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2496355

[maggie416]

Just to let you know you should have Kleenex in your room, just an oversight by your cabin steward.

Marg

[Clarea]

Just to let you know you should have Kleenex in your room, just an oversight by your cabin steward.

Marg

I have noticed them taking the tissues out of the bathroom lately. I find the tissues in a drawer in the vanity. We were told it's to try to minimize guests throwing them in the toilet which supposedly messes things up. I'll leave the truth of that up to our resident Chief Engineer.

[voyager70]

I haven't had tissues in the bathroom for a while now, and on Allure last month there were none to be found at all. I'll bring my own from now on (and of course, not flush them down the toilet!).

[Kamloops50]

After reading many reviews in preparation for our journey, I thought I would throw my hat in the ring with some observations and opinions on our 5 day Bermuda cruise on the Anthem last week. This was our 4th cruise and second on Royal Caribbean, but, more significantly, our first with our 18 month old daughter!

 

 

One reason we chose this cruise was because it left from Bayonne, which is about a 30 minute drive from where we live in NJ, and with the baby was much more convenient than flying to another port. Also 5 days seemed a good start for her first cruise.

 

EMBARKATION AND ROOM

 

 

There was a wait to drive up to the ship, but once we dropped off a bag and parked in the garage it was very smooth through check in,security, and getting onto the ship. Since you board onto the 5th deck, and rooms would not be ready until 1:30 (we were onboard about 1:00) my initial thought was to grab lunch at the Café 270, but it was very obvious as pulled near that a lot of other people had the same idea and the line stretched on quite a bit, so we turned around and took the elevator to the 14th floor to check out the Windjammer,which was not too bad, in as much as we were able to secure a table pretty quickly. Windjammer food is OK, making up in quantity and diversity for what it may lack in quality. Some foods seemed OK (like a beef and mushroom stew they had) and others (like the Hamburgers) very definitely lacking. Desserts weren’t bad though (a decent caramel cheesecake). My expectations weren’t high so I wasn’t disappointed and it serves its purpose as quick go to meal.

 

 

We had room 6644, which had an unobstructed balcony and sofa bed. I guess we were given a room with a sofa bed because we had a 3rd guest in the room, but obviously our daughter wasn’t going to sleep in it so we never tried it out. Room had a lot of storage and a nice empty refrigerator to store drinks and snacks in. Bathroom had all the expected amenities, though one thing I did notice is that there are no tissues available, so you may want to bring some if needed.

 

 

RESTAURANTS

 

 

We did the BOGO package and was assigned to Jamie’s for the 1st night. This was the restaurant I was most looking forward to,but perhaps my expectations were too high, as while the food is decent, there wasn’t anything special (no “wow” factor). We had the Cured Meat Plank (and I don’t know about you, but I always prefer my meat to be cured of whatever was ailing it before it is served to me), Giant Green Olives, and the wife also had Crab & Avocado Bruschetta. Main dish was Tagliatelle Bolognese which was decent but not that much better than the Spaghetti Bolognese you can get every night in the main dining room. One thing I will say though, and this goes for every dining room we ate in, is that the servers were always very good with our daughter, paying a lot of attention to her and never made us feel uncomfortable about bringing her to any restaurant. She was always well behaved, but I can’t say that the floor below her after we ate was always spotless…

 

 

Second night we did Chops as that was what was assigned to us, but when we got there they didn’t know anything about the reservation. I would recommend confirming your second night reservation when you arrive if you order the BOGO package. Fortunately the restaurant wasn’t busy (it was 5:45 on formal night) and they seated us quickly. Food and service was very good and our daughter smiled at and thoroughly charmed the servers and other diners so we felt a bit relieved. I think she feels he has a reputation to preserve, as when we are alone in the room she is a bit of an imp. I’m not sure how many times I had to grab the room phone from her and apologize to whomever she called by picking up the phone and pressing which ever buttons caught her fancy. Eventually I disconnected the phone, so if you tried to call me and didn’t get through you now know why, but I seemed to have digressed here a bit.

 

 

 

This is going on longer than I anticipated and I need some coffee, so will continue this soon. As well, and questions I will try to answer to the best of my abilities. I also posted the Daily Activities to this thread if interested…

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2496355

 

 

Most servers like the kids because it reminds them of the ones at home. This way they enjoy the kids they are missing.

[Marty48]

We're doing this same cruise starting Saturday 5/20 and are trying to figure out restaurant schedules. Someone else posted the Cruise Compasses for the just completed Bermuda cruise, and I didn't see times listed for either Silk or American Icon. My question: were either of these restaurants operational?

Thanks very much

 

==========================================

 

 

After reading many reviews in preparation for our journey, I thought I would throw my hat in the ring with some observations and opinions on our 5 day Bermuda cruise on the Anthem last week. This was our 4th cruise and second on Royal Caribbean, but, more significantly, our first with our 18 month old daughter!

 

 

One reason we chose this cruise was because it left from Bayonne, which is about a 30 minute drive from where we live in NJ, and with the baby was much more convenient than flying to another port. Also 5 days seemed a good start for her first cruise.

 

EMBARKATION AND ROOM

 

 

There was a wait to drive up to the ship, but once we dropped off a bag and parked in the garage it was very smooth through check in,security, and getting onto the ship. Since you board onto the 5th deck, and rooms would not be ready until 1:30 (we were onboard about 1:00) my initial thought was to grab lunch at the Café 270, but it was very obvious as pulled near that a lot of other people had the same idea and the line stretched on quite a bit, so we turned around and took the elevator to the 14th floor to check out the Windjammer,which was not too bad, in as much as we were able to secure a table pretty quickly. Windjammer food is OK, making up in quantity and diversity for what it may lack in quality. Some foods seemed OK (like a beef and mushroom stew they had) and others (like the Hamburgers) very definitely lacking. Desserts weren’t bad though (a decent caramel cheesecake). My expectations weren’t high so I wasn’t disappointed and it serves its purpose as quick go to meal.

 

 

We had room 6644, which had an unobstructed balcony and sofa bed. I guess we were given a room with a sofa bed because we had a 3rd guest in the room, but obviously our daughter wasn’t going to sleep in it so we never tried it out. Room had a lot of storage and a nice empty refrigerator to store drinks and snacks in. Bathroom had all the expected amenities, though one thing I did notice is that there are no tissues available, so you may want to bring some if needed.

 

 

RESTAURANTS

 

 

We did the BOGO package and was assigned to Jamie’s for the 1st night. This was the restaurant I was most looking forward to,but perhaps my expectations were too high, as while the food is decent, there wasn’t anything special (no “wow” factor). We had the Cured Meat Plank (and I don’t know about you, but I always prefer my meat to be cured of whatever was ailing it before it is served to me), Giant Green Olives, and the wife also had Crab & Avocado Bruschetta. Main dish was Tagliatelle Bolognese which was decent but not that much better than the Spaghetti Bolognese you can get every night in the main dining room. One thing I will say though, and this goes for every dining room we ate in, is that the servers were always very good with our daughter, paying a lot of attention to her and never made us feel uncomfortable about bringing her to any restaurant. She was always well behaved, but I can’t say that the floor below her after we ate was always spotless…

 

 

Second night we did Chops as that was what was assigned to us, but when we got there they didn’t know anything about the reservation. I would recommend confirming your second night reservation when you arrive if you order the BOGO package. Fortunately the restaurant wasn’t busy (it was 5:45 on formal night) and they seated us quickly. Food and service was very good and our daughter smiled at and thoroughly charmed the servers and other diners so we felt a bit relieved. I think she feels he has a reputation to preserve, as when we are alone in the room she is a bit of an imp. I’m not sure how many times I had to grab the room phone from her and apologize to whomever she called by picking up the phone and pressing which ever buttons caught her fancy. Eventually I disconnected the phone, so if you tried to call me and didn’t get through you now know why, but I seemed to have digressed here a bit.

 

 

 

This is going on longer than I anticipated and I need some coffee, so will continue this soon. As well, and questions I will try to answer to the best of my abilities. I also posted the Daily Activities to this thread if interested…

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2496355

[Megdgr8]

you said you had a room for 3.. did you request a pack & play/crib for your daughter? For our upcoming cruise in June, we too have a room for 3, but we are getting a pack and play/crib for my 15 month old...

[mulliner99]

you said you had a room for 3.. did you request a pack & play/crib for your daughter? For our upcoming cruise in June, we too have a room for 3, but we are getting a pack and play/crib for my 15 month old...

 

Yes, we did request a pack and play, which they brought during the afternoon we boarded.Unfortunately the sheet they gave us was a little small and kept causing the "mattress" to buckle when we tried to put it on. They eventually found what they called "the biggest sheet we could find" and it was a little better, but I forgot how thin the mattress is on the pack and plays as we had replaced the one at home with a thicker mattress when we bought ours. You may want to consider bringing a sheet with you to use as the sheets we were given had seen better days.

[mulliner99]

Continuing on with dining...

 

 

The main dining room seems to get a bad rap, but we ate there the last 3 nights of our cruise and found the food, for the most part, to be good. My biggest exception would be the French Onion soup which was pretty bad, very watery and tasteless (and really, how hard is it to make a flavorful French Onion soup?). As I mentioned previously, the Spaghetti Bolognese was good and became my standby option if nothing else looked good. My wife really like the Tiger Shrimp she had the last night as well as the escargots (I can’t believe spell check didn’t need to adjust that when I typed it), and the Steak Diane I had the last night was also very good. Only one time did the waiter shake off my dinner choice when I was going to order the Gnocchi (he suddenly had a serious look on his face and sadly shook his head, I nodded that I understood and we spoke no more about it).

 

 

We also had lunch in the dining room on the last full day and again the choices and quality were very good, and a nice alternative to the Windjammer or café. Only the one breakfast we had in the dining room was disappointing as the service was a bit slow and the menu choices not that diverse. I had an omelet with toast and a side of corned beef hash. The side turned out to be a very small scoop on the plate and the one slice of toast was brought to me by the waiter with tongs.

 

We had breakfast and lunch one day at Café at 270, again fora change of pace. Breakfast and lunch sandwiches are good, but are very small,so you it’s best to order a few. Also Sorrento’s is good for a late night slice of pizza, as long as you keep your expectations in line. This is pizza that may struggle to hit Domino’s levels, but at 11pm when everything else is closed it suddenly becomes the prettiest pizza in the room. They generally have 3 varieties at a time, though cheese and pepperoni always seem to be 2 of the varieties.

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

I have to admit I was not overly impressed with any of the shows I saw. The first night they had only one Welcome Aboard show, which was scheduled at 7:15, and as we had dinner reservations for 6pm, it would not work(and those of you with 18 month olds know that dinner time is not negotiable).It actually seemed like an odd time to have the show as it impacts anyone having dinner between 5:30 and 8:00. I thought normally they do 2 shows.

 

 

Later that night I did go to see The Gift. I had read enough about the show from other posts to get the gist of the story, but I also have to admit that I was nodding off a lot during the show so I am not sure how fairly I can review it. I’m also not sure if a lot of the music was original for the show as the only song I recognized was “Don’t Stop” (The Fleetwood Mac song). Thankfully they did stop after 45 minutes, and refreshed from my nap I explored a bit more of the ship and grabbed a coffee at La Patisserie before settling in for the night (by the way, the wife wanted to stay in with the baby at night but gave me full permission to explore the shows at night).

 

 

On the 4th night I saw Spectra’s Café at the 270.First off this is a very nice theater (if that’s the proper description) and I spent a few nice afternoon hours there sitting comfortably with my Kindle and a cup of coffee (again this was during the baby’s nap time, and my wife would prefer napping with the baby so she stayed in. I know it seems like I’m leaving them behind a lot, but looks are deceiving!). One afternoon they had a virtual orchestra concert which I think was the only time my daughter sat still for 10 minutes. Anyway, back to the show, the emcee, who seemed very talented, and seemed to have modeled his look on Grace Jones, starts singing Ian Dury’s “Hit Me With your Rhythm Stick” and we’re off. There followed about 50 minutes of music and dance which totaling seemed unrelated, ranging from 70’s disco to the Beatles “Within You, Without You” There are some special effects but not as much as I thought from reading other reviews, and the whole thing passes along pleasantly enough, but, again, nothing dazzling. It killed an hour on the ship.

 

 

The last night I caught “We Will Rock You” My complaint here is not the cast, which seemed talented and enthusiastic enough, but the play itself which must have taken Ben Elton about half an afternoon to cobble together the book to try to link the songs into some kind of plot. It runs about 2 hours straight through, and the best part of the show is the playing of Joyce Kuo who does an enviable job of replicating Brian May’s guitar work. Most entertaining part of the show were the two older people in the back of the theater who were screaming and trying to pummel each other before security stepped in. Queen can have that kind of effect.

 

 

There was also a Journey tribute band called “DSB” which seemed to play most nights in different locations. Though I never went to see them perform, I passed by the venues they were playing at 3 times and every time they were playing “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’”. I assume they played other songs as well, as it would be a very short concert otherwise, but timing is everything.

 

 

 

I will post final thoughts on the cruise a little later on.I type with one finger and it sorely needs a break.

[njmomof2]

Continuing on with dining...

 

 

 

 

The last night I caught “We Will Rock You” My complaint here is not the cast, which seemed talented and enthusiastic enough, but the play itself which must have taken Ben Elton about half an afternoon to cobble together the book to try to link the songs into some kind of plot. It runs about 2 hours straight through, and the best part of the show is the playing of Joyce Kuo who does an enviable job of replicating Brian May’s guitar work. Most entertaining part of the show were the two older people in the back of the theater who were screaming and trying to pummel each other before security stepped in. Queen can have that kind of effect.

 

 

 

I must say that I felt the same way about We Will Rock You when we saw it over Christmas 2015. I love Queen, and I loved the music, but unlike Mamma Mia that we saw on Allure last month, to say the storyline is thin is an understatement. It seemed like someone tried hard to come up with a storyline to link the music, and sadly missed the mark. We did not have guests engage in a fight, so perhaps that's why ours was less entertaining LOL!

[mulliner99]

I must say that I felt the same way about We Will Rock You when we saw it over Christmas 2015. I love Queen, and I loved the music, but unlike Mamma Mia that we saw on Allure last month, to say the storyline is thin is an understatement. It seemed like someone tried hard to come up with a storyline to link the music, and sadly missed the mark. We did not have guests engage in a fight, so perhaps that's why ours was less entertaining LOL!

 

Yes, I agree they should consider incorporating this into future productions.

[mulliner99]

Some final thoughts...

 

 

On the last day I attended a wine tasting at 2pm, which was held in the Chic dining room (don’t be alarmed if you sit in a chair in Chic and feel something like an octopus molesting your legs, it is just the beads hanging off the seat of your chair swishing around). The tasting was supposed to last 1 hour but started 15 minutes late as they were not prepared for the turnout) and ended 15 minutes early as we were told people had shows to go to at 3pm (which is kind of a weird excuse if you ask me). The tasting paired 5 wines with different fruits and cheeses to see how they react with each other.It started off leisurely enough but by the 5th wine it was “take a sip of the wine, try the cheese, you like? Thank you, have a great rest of the trip” before I even got the glass to my lips. Still, I met some very nice people at the table and it was a fun one off experience, if not particularly educational.

 

 

We passed by the Bionic Bar and decided to give it a try while it was comparatively empty. I don’t remember what drink I ordered but it was green and cost $12.00. I just mentally wrote it off as entertainment expense as my daughter got a kick out of watching it. It is a novelty and fun to do once, but it isn’t really a place to sit and relax for too long as it is a walk through area. Plus Julianna was fascinated by the ipad like device and was pressing a lot of buttons and I was afraid she might order me another drink so daddy bottomed up and away we went.

 

 

I did like the Guest Assembly drill, at least compared to some other ships. On Carnival we had to line up single file, about 4 deep and wait about 15 minutes before they started and we couldn’t see anything because everyone standing in front of us were taller. On Anthem you basically sit in a lounge area and watch everything on a TV and then the Captain welcomes you and you leave. Be aware you cannot drink any beverages during the drill (although this could have because they were trying not to upset the Coast Guard inspectors who were on board).

 

 

My kid developed a fascination with the “Wash Your Hands”song and she was transfixed during the 2 minutes it would play. I was hoping there might be a 30 minute dance mix or something I could use to keep her happy for longer periods! Now that we are home I play her the video off of YouTube.It’s amazing what you can find on YouTube.

 

 

If you have kids and prone to seasickness, try to bring a non-drowsy formula. Sleepy parents and highly energetic toddlers are not a perfect match.

 

 

Also, If you have kids and want to stay with them, as we did, they have an open playroom in the Adventure Ocean where you can spend time with them. While there is a good selection of toys to keep them entertained I noticed that not one battery operated toy was actually working, which blunts the impact a bit. They also have photo ops with Dreamwork characters every day on the ship. Photo prices are $79.99 for 5 pictures (digital on USB stick or prints) or $150.00 for 10. What do you think the profit margin is on those?

 

 

Elevators can be a pain. Sometimes they look like they are parked on floors. If I was holding my daughter I preferred to use the stairs to get around to save time, though when we had the stroller that wasn’t a realistic option. The one nice thing about being on the 6th floor was having the theaters and cafes just one of 2 floors down which gave us some flexibility.

 

 

Debarkation was pretty painless. We decided to walk off the ship, though I was having trouble decoding the zones, so we just went down when we were ready (about 8:30) and was off the ship pretty quickly. Going through customs was quick and it was nice to be able to just get in the car and head straight home. We would definitely consider doing this again.

 

 

I have a few pictures I could post, but most of them feature my wife and daughter, which is great for me, but doesn’t offer a lot of information about the ship. Although if you want a photo of the Steak Diane, I think I’m your man.

 

 

Anyway, that’s about all I can think of to add to all the reviews I read in my preparation for this trip (which I greatly appreciated). Any questions feel free to ask.

[hp_slash]

Thanks for the review!

[Pandabear90]

did you goto the music hall at night?

[gaylemh]

We're doing this same cruise starting Saturday 5/20 and are trying to figure out restaurant schedules. Someone else posted the Cruise Compasses for the just completed Bermuda cruise, and I didn't see times listed for either Silk or American Icon. My question: were either of these restaurants operational?

Thanks very much

 

==========================================

 

Silk and American Icon are used for My Time Dining. Chic and Grande for traditional early and late seating.

[gaylemh]

I was also on this sailing. My 9th on Anthem. If you didn't get to see Rock the Boat, you missed a great classic rock band.

[ColoradoGurl]

How was Bermuda?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mulliner99]

did you goto the music hall at night?

 

Only briefly when I stopped in to watch some of the Journey tribute band. They were performing there most nights along with a cover band called Rock The Boat.

[Megdgr8]

Yes, we did request a pack and play, which they brought during the afternoon we boarded.Unfortunately the sheet they gave us was a little small and kept causing the "mattress" to buckle when we tried to put it on. They eventually found what they called "the biggest sheet we could find" and it was a little better, but I forgot how thin the mattress is on the pack and plays as we had replaced the one at home with a thicker mattress when we bought ours. You may want to consider bringing a sheet with you to use as the sheets we were given had seen better days.

 

 

We already have sheets to bring with us, we saw this recommended on on of the family cruising pages...

[jlstwinmommy]

Continuing on with dining...

 

 

The main dining room seems to get a bad rap, but we ate there the last 3 nights of our cruise and found the food, for the most part, to be good. My biggest exception would be the French Onion soup which was pretty bad, very watery and tasteless (and really, how hard is it to make a flavorful French Onion soup?). As I mentioned previously, the Spaghetti Bolognese was good and became my standby option if nothing else looked good. My wife really like the Tiger Shrimp she had the last night as well as the escargots (I can’t believe spell check didn’t need to adjust that when I typed it), and the Steak Diane I had the last night was also very good. Only one time did the waiter shake off my dinner choice when I was going to order the Gnocchi (he suddenly had a serious look on his face and sadly shook his head, I nodded that I understood and we spoke no more about it).

 

 

We also had lunch in the dining room on the last full day and again the choices and quality were very good, and a nice alternative to the Windjammer or café. Only the one breakfast we had in the dining room was disappointing as the service was a bit slow and the menu choices not that diverse. I had an omelet with toast and a side of corned beef hash. The side turned out to be a very small scoop on the plate and the one slice of toast was brought to me by the waiter with tongs.

 

We had breakfast and lunch one day at Café at 270, again fora change of pace. Breakfast and lunch sandwiches are good, but are very small,so you it’s best to order a few. Also Sorrento’s is good for a late night slice of pizza, as long as you keep your expectations in line. This is pizza that may struggle to hit Domino’s levels, but at 11pm when everything else is closed it suddenly becomes the prettiest pizza in the room. They generally have 3 varieties at a time, though cheese and pepperoni always seem to be 2 of the varieties.

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

I have to admit I was not overly impressed with any of the shows I saw. The first night they had only one Welcome Aboard show, which was scheduled at 7:15, and as we had dinner reservations for 6pm, it would not work(and those of you with 18 month olds know that dinner time is not negotiable).It actually seemed like an odd time to have the show as it impacts anyone having dinner between 5:30 and 8:00. I thought normally they do 2 shows.

 

 

Later that night I did go to see The Gift. I had read enough about the show from other posts to get the gist of the story, but I also have to admit that I was nodding off a lot during the show so I am not sure how fairly I can review it. I’m also not sure if a lot of the music was original for the show as the only song I recognized was “Don’t Stop” (The Fleetwood Mac song). Thankfully they did stop after 45 minutes, and refreshed from my nap I explored a bit more of the ship and grabbed a coffee at La Patisserie before settling in for the night (by the way, the wife wanted to stay in with the baby at night but gave me full permission to explore the shows at night).

 

 

On the 4th night I saw Spectra’s Café at the 270.First off this is a very nice theater (if that’s the proper description) and I spent a few nice afternoon hours there sitting comfortably with my Kindle and a cup of coffee (again this was during the baby’s nap time, and my wife would prefer napping with the baby so she stayed in. I know it seems like I’m leaving them behind a lot, but looks are deceiving!). One afternoon they had a virtual orchestra concert which I think was the only time my daughter sat still for 10 minutes. Anyway, back to the show, the emcee, who seemed very talented, and seemed to have modeled his look on Grace Jones, starts singing Ian Dury’s “Hit Me With your Rhythm Stick” and we’re off. There followed about 50 minutes of music and dance which totaling seemed unrelated, ranging from 70’s disco to the Beatles “Within You, Without You” There are some special effects but not as much as I thought from reading other reviews, and the whole thing passes along pleasantly enough, but, again, nothing dazzling. It killed an hour on the ship.

 

 

The last night I caught “We Will Rock You” My complaint here is not the cast, which seemed talented and enthusiastic enough, but the play itself which must have taken Ben Elton about half an afternoon to cobble together the book to try to link the songs into some kind of plot. It runs about 2 hours straight through, and the best part of the show is the playing of Joyce Kuo who does an enviable job of replicating Brian May’s guitar work. Most entertaining part of the show were the two older people in the back of the theater who were screaming and trying to pummel each other before security stepped in. Queen can have that kind of effect.

 

 

There was also a Journey tribute band called “DSB” which seemed to play most nights in different locations. Though I never went to see them perform, I passed by the venues they were playing at 3 times and every time they were playing “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’”. I assume they played other songs as well, as it would be a very short concert otherwise, but timing is everything.

 

 

 

I will post final thoughts on the cruise a little later on.I type with one finger and it sorely needs a break.

 

We were on the same cruise and at that show as well. I was wondering what was going on back there as we couldn't see what the fuss was about from our side vantage point... :')

[jennygirlmt]

Sort of random, I know ship photos cost a ton, but are you not allowed to take your own photos with the characters? I assumed it was like Disney. My daughter loves Po but I'm not spending $80 for her to have a photo with him [emoji6]

 

 

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[gaylemh]

Sort of random, I know ship photos cost a ton, but are you not allowed to take your own photos with the characters? I assumed it was like Disney. My daughter loves Po but I'm not spending $80 for her to have a photo with him [emoji6]

 

 

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Yes you can take your own photos, but there will be ship photographer there also taking pictures. You just don't buy them.

[mulliner99]

Sort of random, I know ship photos cost a ton, but are you not allowed to take your own photos with the characters? I assumed it was like Disney. My daughter loves Po but I'm not spending $80 for her to have a photo with him [emoji6]

 

 

 

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We only bought the photos that had all of us together with the characters as we weren't able to take those ourselves. They do a good job and put a nice border around them. As Gayle mentioned there is no harm in having them take some photos since you are not under any obligation to buy any of them.

 

 

 

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[jennygirlmt]

Thanks! I'll just snap my own of her and Po. She's panda obsessed [emoji23]

 

 

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