Live! Anthem of the Seas March 24-31, 2023 with Dragon of the Seas

[Another_Critic]

39 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

One of the most crowded areas and the spot I will stay away from way the family indoor pool. 

---------

 

They are a pretty good group—but way too loud.  When they began my Apple watch alerted me that the sound level was above 90 decibels and can lead to temporary hearing loss. HaHaHa 🤣

 

 

I'm wondering what is going to happen on the cool days when Odyssey moves to Cape Liberty ... Odyssey does not have an indoor family pool.  I guess I will find out in November, when I sail the TA from Rome to Cape Liberty.

 

I have severe to profound hearing loss and the music is usually so loud that I can hear it at a comfortable level with my hearing aids turned OFF.  😱

[Fa-Li]

Thank you for doing this live. I remember following your other trip when your DH fell and I’m so glad he’s doing well and you are enjoying cruising again!  We will be on Anthem for the first time in May so I’m excited to follow along as you explore her. 

[clochette]

So glad to see you cruising again, and so glad that your husband is doing well.  We really enjoy Anthem and I am looking forward to your trip report

[K teacher heather]

Started my first full day at sea with a little walk around the track. Loved seeing  ocean from the track and the full moon over the water. It was a great way to start the morning. 
 

Then, i guess i decided i hadn’t had enough excitement , so i cut myself shaving in the shower on an old scar. Nicked a vein and bled all over the shower. Not trying to be the lady who passes out in the shower floor on day one i went to the medical center. They were super helpful and so nice to me. I’m all better. Just going to have this compression bandage on today. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

One of the busiest places on the pool deck was this drink stand.

 

 

 

but the most popular place hands-down was the soft, serve ice cream I counted 47 people in line. 🙄

[DragonOfTheSeas]

It’s a little rough today. But the captain announced that it would be improving during the afternoon. In his noon briefing, he said we were off the coast of Cape, Lookout, North Carolina.

 

There are lots of whitecaps and a definite, rolling motion. But is not enough to cause us a problem. 

 

 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Our happy place today was the solarium. There were plenty of seats when we first arrived but it’s getting kind of busy now. Nice and warm and we’re sitting on the sunny side.

 

 

 

Compare those pictures to this picture of the indoor family pool.

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We always select My Time Dining for our cruises.  I made reservations for dinner each night at 7pm when it opened. We can always change individual days if we need to. My reservations appear in my calendar on the app.  However, when we got to the dining room at 7pm last night they told us we actually had a fixed dining seating at 6:30pm. 

 

Sure enough, that was listed at the bottom of the sea pass.  I had checked the sea pass when I got it to see the muster station # and to make sure the name and cabin were correct--but I ignored the rest. Oops!

 

I have no problem with the time or having a fixed seating, It is a little less flexible, but it will not make or break our cruise. I double checked my cruise invoice, and it says My Time Dining. [a first world problem] HaHaHa However, they make such a big deal about their app.  Everything is accessed from the app and we are told to check the app every time I turn around.  Well, I did!  But it was not correct. 

 

I felt badly for our wait staff that we were 30 minutes late for dinner.  The waiter seemed very nice.  We had very quick service. He told us that today [1st sea day] would be a brunch in the American Icon restaurant beginning at 8:30am. He said the lines will be long and the service will be slow due to the large numbers.   He recommended we go to the Solarium Bistro for breakfast. 

 

We took his suggestion. The solarium bistro was a small version of the windjammer.  It had all of the typical American items--even an omelet station. 

 

Around noon we decided to catch the end of the brunch hours [8:30am-12:30pm] for lunch.  We prefer to be seated and served for our meals.  It just makes it easier. Here are the lunch items on the brunch menu:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25 by DragonOfTheSeas

[Another_Critic]

5 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We always select My Time Dining for our cruises.  I made reservations for dinner each night at 7pm when it opened. We can always change individual days if we need to. My reservations appear in my calendar on the app.  However, when we got to the dining room at 7pm last night they told us we actually had a fixed dining seating at 6:30pm. 

 

Sure enough, that was listed at the bottom of the sea pass.  I had checked the sea pass when I got it to see the muster station # and to make sure the name and cabin were correct--but I ignored the rest. Oops!

I read on here that they are testing a 3rd fixed seating time (between early and late).

 

I have 7 pm MTD reservations every night on Oasis next month.  It would be fine with me if they assigned me a fixed 6:30 pm time.

 

I'll need to remember to look at my SeaPass when I get to my cabin on embarkation day.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

19 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I read on here that they are testing a 3rd fixed seating time (between early and late).

 

I have 7 pm MTD reservations every night on Oasis next month.  It would be fine with me if they assigned me a fixed 6:30 pm time.

 

I'll need to remember to look at my SeaPass when I get to my cabin on embarkation day.

 

Yes, the time is fine--it was just a surprise.  

[Sunshine3601]

7 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

It’s a little rough today. But the captain announced that it would be improving during the afternoon. In his noon briefing, he said we were off the coast of Cape, Lookout, North Carolina.

 

There are lots of whitecaps and a definite, rolling motion. But is not enough to cause us a problem. 

 

 

 

 

 

We have always had choppy seas in this area, various times of the year.  Not sure why.

 

270 Cafe is a great place for lunch too!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

We have always had choppy seas in this area, various times of the year.  Not sure why.

 

270 Cafe is a great place for lunch too!

We will give it a try one day. Thanks

[maggieq]

9 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

 

I'm wondering what is going to happen on the cool days when Odyssey moves to Cape Liberty ... Odyssey does not have an indoor family pool.  I guess I will find out in November, when I sail the TA from Rome to Cape Liberty.

 

I have severe to profound hearing loss and the music is usually so loud that I can hear it at a comfortable level with my hearing aids turned OFF.  😱

@Another_Critic bad idea imo 

[perfect match]

9 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We always select My Time Dining for our cruises.  I made reservations for dinner each night at 7pm when it opened. We can always change individual days if we need to. My reservations appear in my calendar on the app.  However, when we got to the dining room at 7pm last night they told us we actually had a fixed dining seating at 6:30pm. 

 

Sure enough, that was listed at the bottom of the sea pass.  I had checked the sea pass when I got it to see the muster station # and to make sure the name and cabin were correct--but I ignored the rest. Oops!

 

I have no problem with the time or having a fixed seating, It is a little less flexible, but it will not make or break our cruise. I double checked my cruise invoice, and it says My Time Dining. [a first world problem] HaHaHa However, they make such a big deal about their app.  Everything is accessed from the app and we are told to check the app every time I turn around.  Well, I did!  But it was not correct. 

 

I felt badly for our wait staff that we were 30 minutes late for dinner.  The waiter seemed very nice.  We had very quick service. He told us that today [1st sea day] would be a brunch in the American Icon restaurant beginning at 8:30am. He said the lines will be long and the service will be slow due to the large numbers.   He recommended we go to the Solarium Bistro for breakfast. 

 

We took his suggestion. The solarium bistro was a small version of the windjammer.  It had all of the typical American items--even an omelet station. 

 

Around noon we decided to catch the end of the brunch hours [8:30am-12:30pm] for lunch.  We prefer to be seated and served for our meals.  It just makes it easier. Here are the lunch items on the brunch menu:

 

 

 

 

 

That’s not the Brunch menu we’ve had in the past! No breakfast items! I am not an early riser but I love breakfast food, so Brunch on our all or our post pandemic cruises were perfect for me. If they’re going to serve lunch, then call it that, but 12:30 is pretty early to end lunch. 
 

Do you know if they actually served breakfast foods at 8:30 when they first opened? If they did, and at some point switched from breakfast to lunch, do you happen to know what time they switched? 
 

Brunch was a very favorite thing for me. I know it’s probably not a big deal to most people but I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I will be if the later times that they’re calling Brunch are actually lunch. 
 

Yes, I know, first old problem and I know I won’t go hungry. It was or maybe 🤞🏻 still is one of those little things on our last few cruises that made my cruise feel special.

 

Rant over. Thanks for listening. 
 

on the other hand, I think I’d love the 6:30 dinner time. Unlike me, DH is a morning person. The older he gets, the earlier he’s ready to call it a day. I’m having to rearrange our usual dinner and show schedules so he will be able to enjoy our evening.

Edited March 26 by perfect match

[Another_Critic]

8 minutes ago, perfect match said:

That’s not the Brunch menu we’ve had in the past! No breakfast items!

She did not post the entire brunch menu.

 

Spoiler:  There are breakfast items.

 

Look up this week's cruise on the app, and you will see the brunch menu.

[ecslady]

22 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Speaking of cabins.  Here are our cabins.  We hoped to open our JS door and create a small apartment for the three of us.  that is working very well.  The cabin attendant let us use his door stop.  We close all the doors when we leave and at night.  However, all of the other time our door is open.  This would work well for a family. 

 

There is another door that opens onto the hall.  There is a key slot on that door.  It can connect to make the "family suite larger." but the attendant needs to unlock this door with his key.  So, they can not open the door to our hall on this cruise. 

 

Here is our cabin

 

 

 

Here is the studio. It is very "cozy."  😉

 

 

 

It has a virtual balcony--which is a nice feature.  

 

 

 

That's great to hear, because I have thought of doing that with my family.  Can you post a picture of the hallway area between your two cabins showing the door/entryway?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

10 hours ago, perfect match said:

That’s not the Brunch menu we’ve had in the past! No breakfast items! I am not an early riser but I love breakfast food, so Brunch on our all or our post pandemic cruises were perfect for me. If they’re going to serve lunch, then call it that, but 12:30 is pretty early to end lunch. 

Sorry, I guess I wasn’t clear. I did say here are the lunch items that were on the brunch menu. There were ample breakfast items, French toast, eggs, Benedict, pancakes, eggs, etc.

 

I didn’t post those because we were going to use it as our lunch
 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

3 minutes ago, ecslady said:

 

That's great to hear, because I have thought of doing that with my family.  Can you post a picture of the hallway area between your two cabins showing the door/entryway?

I am standing in our junior suite cabin, looking into the hallway, and the door to the deck eight is directly in front of me. You can see the lock door to the right, and our daughter’s door to the left.

 

This is working perfectly for us plenty of privacy, but also plenty of space for both of us. We keep the door propped open like this whenever we’re all in the cabin and closed when we are gone or sleeping. 

 

It is a narrow hallway, DH walker just fits through. 

 

[snaefell]

On 3/24/2024 at 3:29 AM, elizabethbp said:

 

 

   I also found some other cruisers pretty rude because of my using a walker,  but that is not the fault of RCCL.   I  do. not use the  walker all the time but it has amazed me how horribly people who are handicapped can be treated.

I can relate to that,I had a knee op back in December which has temporarily(I hope!) left me needing to use,first crutches & now sticks,it has shocked me how few people seem willing to accommodate people with mobility problems.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

48 minutes ago, snaefell said:

I can relate to that,I had a knee op back in December which has temporarily(I hope!) left me needing to use,first crutches & now sticks,it has shocked me how few people seem willing to accommodate people with mobility problems.

We actually have been fairly pleased. People have not been rude and we have been able to get on and off the elevator. Our tactic is to push the button in the direction we want to go, but if the first elevator comes and I can’t get on because many times, the elevators are so full that one person cannot even get on let alone walker. Then we take the very next elevator that comes with space going up or down and we ride it until we can get to our floor.

 

Before we started doing that. We sometimes have three or four elevators pass a spot before we can get on. That was a little frustrating.

 

DD and I find that the elevators are very slow anywa, even if we’re just trying to ride it as a single rider. Fo the last three days—at least one and sometimes two elevators have been out of service of the group near us. 

Edited March 26 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We are pulling into Port Canaveral now woo hoo!

 

 

 

 

there is a campground right at the entrance to Port Canaveral, and a beach nearby. 

 

 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We spent a good part of the morning in our happy place again.. . Otherwise known as the solarium.
 

I was taking a selfie on the swing when someone else came up and said they would take a picture. Our.DD always makes her 20 something send a picture when they’ve gone on a trip each day. She calls it the proof of life 🙄

 

Here is my proof of life for today

 

[RedSails1968]

2 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Sorry, I guess I wasn’t clear. I did say here are the lunch items that were on the brunch menu. There were ample breakfast items, French toast, eggs, Benedict, pancakes, eggs, etc.

 

I didn’t post those because we were going to use it as our lunch
 

 

You were clear, you said they were lunch items. 
We are on early dining in November and I would be thrilled to be moved to 6:30. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I purchased three tickets for the Ron Jon beach shuttle. It will take us to Cocoa Beach. Our time is 1:45 PM to meet the bus. We have a later port day so that’s not a problem and DH and I will probably only stay about three or so hours at the beach. Since we don’t have any suntan yet, we don’t want to scorch on the first day.

 

The later excursion time lets us have lunch on the ship, which is much easier to do for us, instead of finding a restaurant on the shore. I know many people enjoy doing that but we have to think about what works best in our situation. 
 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

4 minutes ago, RedSails1968 said:

You were clear, you said they were lunch items. 
We are on early dining in November and I would be thrilled to be moved to 6:30. 

Yes, it’s working out very well for us. Our waiter and assistant waiter are excellent. If they offer this in the future, we will certainly sign up.