Occasionally Live from the Anthem TA featuring NY, London, Rotterdam, Ypres, Bastogne, Arnhem and Paris

[Ocean Boy]

Hope you have a great trip and safe travels.

[John&LaLa]

What, no pictures🤔

[xpcdoojk]

12 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Same here.

Jc enjoy your vacation.

You will appreciate this, on the red eye flight, there were 5 empty seats in Business class and I was stuck in the middle of row 31.  

 

On another correction early on I mentioned we were on the 11th floor of the Doubletree, it only has 10 floors, we are on 9 with a lovely view of the train station entrance.  😆

[xpcdoojk]

10 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

What, no pictures🤔

I post with my iPad and I don’t carry it around, all the pictures are on other devices, will update later.  I need a keypad to post.  Hate fingering around, and you all know how windy I am.  😘

[BecciBoo]

15 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

She, also, didn’t understand why it took e so long to get off the plane.  🤣

OMG you must have the patience of Job!  Soooo sorry!.

[BecciBoo]

14 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

 Had our pizza and a glass of wine each.

Was it as good as you remembered.  I do that lots of times with years in between and it always turns out NOT as good as I thought it was.  Hope it was tasty!  You deserved something going right!

[Mrs.Dukes]

Sorry you were in NY on such a lousy weather weekend. Hope the rest of your trip is terrific!

[xpcdoojk]

Here on board, in the DL.  No key, fortunately people inside let us in.  We were the first to the Key check in at about 10:20, nobody there.  Krystal found a deck in the lobby between Chic and Grande.  Somebody needs to tell me what we are supposed to do with it.  She took a picture of it and needs to identify the find and relocate.

 

jc

[Ocean Boy]

51 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

Here on board, in the DL.  No key, fortunately people inside let us in.  We were the first to the Key check in at about 10:20, nobody there.  Krystal found a deck in the lobby between Chic and Grande.  Somebody needs to tell me what we are supposed to do with it.  She took a picture of it and needs to identify the find and relocate.

 

jc

I found a duck in one of Odyssey's elevators. I took the easy way out... I ignored it.

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, xpcdoojk said:

Here on board, in the DL.  No key, fortunately people inside let us in.  We were the first to the Key check in at about 10:20, nobody there.  Krystal found a deck in the lobby between Chic and Grande.  Somebody needs to tell me what we are supposed to do with it.  She took a picture of it and needs to identify the find and relocate.

 

jc

 

Write the latitude and longitude on it, then toss overboard. Scientists love ducks

[Jimbo]

19 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

So, we decided after lunch and buying me a new pair of shoes that we would grab some food at a Whole Foods and catch the train back to Newark and our hotel room.  It started raining hard again, and we were done with that.  So, dinner tonight is sushi rolls, arugula salad, the double tree cookie, and a chocolate cake slice.  Breakfast, is a container of berries, a cherry danish and a scone.  Going to head down to the small bar & grill and get a couple of glasses of wine here in an hour or so.  

 

I have put the ship tags on the bags we are giving to the porters tomorrow.  I emptied my FlowRider bag of all except my little Nikon camera and tiny tripod, the board, my new Billabong wet suit, my board shorts, a rash guard, and my dry bag in case it is raining to keep a towel dry. I will be carrying it around a lot tomorrow.  

 

We have a 10AM check in tomorrow which seems really early.  We have the key so , we can dump the backpack.   I am guessing we will book an Uber just after 9AM. 

 

JC

JC, what was the Uber Cost from Double Tree to the Port?

 

Right now we are booked in TRYP by Wyndham Newark Downtown which isn't far from Double Tree but right now Double Tree is twice the price of Wyndham.

 

Both Hotels are very close to each other.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Jimbo

[h20skibum]

Looks like you are underway.

 

From the webcam…..

 

[Luckynana]

23 hours ago, helen haywood said:

Whew!!  I’m exhausted just reading about your day!!

LOL!  I was also going to say the same thing!☺️

[Luckynana]

@xpcdoojkBon Voyage!!!!  Have a great cruise!

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

I post with my iPad and I don’t carry it around, all the pictures are on other devices, will update later.  I need a keypad to post.  Hate fingering around, and you all know how windy I am.  😘

 

Here is your sailaway 

 

[maggieq]

7 hours ago, Jimbo said:

JC, what was the Uber Cost from Double Tree to the Port?

 

Right now we are booked in TRYP by Wyndham Newark Downtown which isn't far from Double Tree but right now Double Tree is twice the price of Wyndham.

 

Both Hotels are very close to each other.

To all booking pre Bayonne hotel cruise stays look into trip advisor please.  Marriott by the airport seems to review well and hotels by the outlets in Elizabeth.  Hyatt in jersey city also rates pretty well. Consider the reviews please.   

[Jimbo]

30 minutes ago, maggieq said:

To all booking pre Bayonne hotel cruise stays look into trip advisor please.  Marriott by the airport seems to review well and hotels by the outlets in Elizabeth.  Hyatt in jersey city also rates pretty well. Consider the reviews please.   

Not coming in on a plane,we are arriving  on a train at Penn Station Newark. Need hotel near the train station.

[maggieq]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Not coming in on a plane,we are arriving  on a train at Penn Station Newark. Need hotel near the train station.

Newark is not a place I would recommend regardless of coming in by train or plane.    Safest option I see is the Marriott on the airport property.  

[xpcdoojk]

18 hours ago, Jimbo said:

JC, what was the Uber Cost from Double Tree to the Port?

 

Right now we are booked in TRYP by Wyndham Newark Downtown which isn't far from Double Tree but right now Double Tree is twice the price of Wyndham.

 

Both Hotels are very close to each other.

With tip it was 33, this was for a 9:10 pickup, as our scheduled boarding time was 10.  Our driver had to fill up his car.😂  So, we got to the port at 10:04.  Star Class got on the ship at 10:20, we followed with the Key about 2 minutes later.  I booked the Double tree using 50,000 points and money came to $342.  Since I have the Amex Centurion card, I got a $15 dollar a day food and beverage credit.  I used about $20 of my $45 on 2 glasses of wine in the small bar.  The connection to the train station was never open during the weekend.  Do not buy round trip tickets from the machines and the ticket taker takes your ticket as if it was a one way ticket.  When I argued I got the blank stare fortunately they didn’t take my ticket on the return, because no ticket taker got around.  I am 100% convinced they would have!

 

10 hours ago, maggieq said:

To all booking pre Bayonne hotel cruise stays look into trip advisor please.  Marriott by the airport seems to review well and hotels by the outlets in Elizabeth.  Hyatt in jersey city also rates pretty well. Consider the reviews please.   

We wanted quick easy access to NYC.  I am sure there were better hotels in the area.  At least I hope there are.  The DT was fine, the neighborhood not so much.

[xpcdoojk]

22 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

Was it as good as you remembered.  I do that lots of times with years in between and it always turns out NOT as good as I thought it was.  Hope it was tasty!  You deserved something going right!

The Pizza was pretty much as I remember, but due to the weather and the time of the year we weren’t eating on the little street.  Of course the last time we were here K didn’t have alpha gal, and I am sure the multi Italian meats that I probably ordered tasted better than grilled chicken and artichoke hearts.  🤣  It was a nice lunch, and it was fun to search it down.  Mini adventure that I love being a full type A personality.  

[xpcdoojk]

So, as I mentioned in my reply to Jimbo, getting on the ship was easy and quick.  I am sure I have never boarded a ship that early.  We were boarding while people were still disembarking with luggage from the building.  

 

We booked all of our dinners (UDP) for the whole cruise based on show times and port times.  I think we booked 6 Chops, 4 Jamies and 1 Wonderland.  Probably have sushi for lunch one time if it is open then.  The DL this am is busy and noisy, but not insane like some TAs we have done.  

 

I am going to try to log into work on my Mac now, as I was struggling with the two factor authentication and reached out to my IT guy to turn it the heck off for me.  

 

JC

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, xpcdoojk said:

With tip it was 33, this was for a 9:10 pickup, as our scheduled boarding time was 10.  Our driver had to fill up his car.😂  So, we got to the port at 10:04.  Star Class got on the ship at 10:20, we followed with the Key about 2 minutes later.  I booked the Double tree using 50,000 points and money came to $342.  Since I have the Amex Centurion card, I got a $15 dollar a day food and beverage credit.  I used about $20 of my $45 on 2 glasses of wine in the small bar.  The connection to the train station was never open during the weekend.  Do not buy round trip tickets from the machines and the ticket taker takes your ticket as if it was a one way ticket.  When I argued I got the blank stare fortunately they didn’t take my ticket on the return, because no ticket taker got around.  I am 100% convinced they would have!

 

 

We booked only One-way train tickets from Roanoke, Va.  to Newark Penn Station. Booked online so don't even have paper tickets printed out? Just like a barcode on my phone? Do I need paper tickets too? I probably can go back on the Amtrak site and try to dig one up I guess if need be. What do you recommend ?

 

After the cruise we are renting a car for the way home to visit our Son in South Jersey, will also be visiting some of our relatives we haven't seen in 2 years since we moved to Virginia.

 

Reserved the hotel(TRYP) a while ago and got a King Bed for $139.00 all in including all taxes and fees(only staying one night). We can either take the free shuttle the hotel offers or just grab an Uber if need be to get to the hotel from the train station. Shouldn't be any more then 15 bucks or so I would think, maybe less. We would walk if we didn't have luggage for a 14 night cruise. I think it's only about a 1 mile or less from the train station.

 

Couldn't see paying over $300 for the Double Tree when we are only going to grab something to eat and crash at the hotel for the night. Not doing any sight seeing or going to Manhattan. We have been to NYC plenty of times when we lived in NJ.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Jimbo

[Ocean Boy]

10 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

We booked only One-way train tickets from Roanoke, Va.  to Newark Penn Station. Booked online so don't even have paper tickets printed out? Just like a barcode on my phone? Do I need paper tickets too? I probably can go back on the Amtrak site and try to dig one up I guess if need be. What do you recommend ?

 

After the cruise we are renting a car for the way home to visit our Son in South Jersey, will also be visiting some of our relatives we haven't seen in 2 years since we moved to Virginia.

 

Reserved the hotel(TRYP) a while ago and got a King Bed for $139.00 all in including all taxes and fees(only staying one night). We can either take the free shuttle the hotel offers or just grab an Uber if need be to get to the hotel from the train station. Shouldn't be any more then 15 bucks or so I would think, maybe less. We would walk if we didn't have luggage for a 14 night cruise. I think it's only about a 1 mile or less from the train station.

 

Couldn't see paying over $300 for the Double Tree when we are only going to grab something to eat and crash at the hotel for the night. Not doing any sight seeing or going to Manhattan. We have been to NYC plenty of times when we lived in NJ.

 

 

 

 

I take Amtrak to Boston when I go to the city. I can't remember the last time I had a paper ticket with me. They just scan my phone.

[little britain]

7 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Reserved the hotel(TRYP) a while ago and got a King Bed for $139.00 all in including all taxes and fees(only staying one night). We can either take the free shuttle the hotel offers or just grab an Uber if need be to get to the hotel from the train station. Shouldn't be any more than 15 bucks or so I would think, maybe less. We would walk if we didn't have luggage for a 14 night cruise. I think it's only about a 1 mile or less from the train station.

 

Couldn't see paying over $300 for the Double Tree when we are only going to grab something to eat and crash at the hotel for the night. Not doing any sight seeing or going to Manhattan. We have been to NYC plenty of times when we lived in NJ.

 

 

 

 

We are also staying in TRYP prior to our Jewel cruise… don’t forget about the excellent Portuguese restaurants in Newark Ferry St area  

[John&LaLa]

Looks like JC and friends are headed to Boston. Medical emergency according to FB