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.

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.

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. 🙄

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.

Well, I am back. I have a couple of things from yesterday to post. The Anthem of the Seas is a large ship. DD and I explored the various public decks to orient ourselves. A sign says just under 3 laps of the track on deck 15 is a mile. I am sure we did the equivalent of that in our travels. My favorite spaces were the solarium and Two 70. One of the most crowded areas and the spot I will stay away from way the family indoor pool. Another popular spot was the Seaplex with the bumper cars. The line wrapped around each side and down the hallway. Before dinner DH and I went to Two70 for drinks and to listen to Caribbean Vibes. 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 🤣 After a few songs we took our drinks back to the cabin and watched March Madness.

This is all good we’re on board. I’ve already had my first adult beverage. The sun is shining.

Our family has always thought. We were a little crazy to cruise a couple times a year, which is all we really do. But sometimes those have been back to back. Our son and his family cruised for the first time last October and they loved it. So I’m sure they’re going to do it again probably not for another year or so because they have young children that are involved in a lot of activities. But DD has gotten into the empty nest stage. So we hope she gets the cruising bug.

There was all sorts of craziness in the roadway, trying to get in. People who were trying to get out we’re walking down the road to try to meet their ride. And others were getting out of rideshare and walking to the terminal for a pretty good distance. Once we got on the ship it was good. DH had wheelchair assistance to get on the ship. Our staff member took us right to our muster station. we got a board at 12:05 PM. Our check-in time was 1130 and we have gotten our Uber and we should’ve been here by 11 o’clock. not complaining just giving you an idea of what timeframe

That’s good to hear. Thank you.

We are stuck in traffic about 1/2 mile from the terminal. Someone has posted on Facebook that the garage is not open yet. But we are seeing a few cars leaving so that’s good. our check in time is 11:30 and we were going to get here plenty early. But we might be right on time.

We have an unusual combination of cabins. DD is in a solo cabin and we are in a large balcony JS. We think the solo has a virtual balcony--but, not sure about that. The two cabins open onto a small hallway that opens onto the main deck. So, that seems kind of private. We hope to open the doors and make it like a small apartment during the day. [8630 and 8632] However, we will see if this works out. I have watched the YouTube videos and it does not look like 8628 opens onto the same hallway. That would mess up our plans. 😉

Yowza! DH and I took a cruise from Baltimore once that came back to snow in March. We were lucky. Our DD dropped us off and picked us up. The port there is just off the interstates and the roads were clear. However, those that parked had to clear the car.

That is great! There is always room for two perspectives.

This is the actual itinerary. 😊 We have been to each of these ports, so we know what to expect. At Port Canaveral we have booked the Ron Jon shuttle. This takes us to Cocoa Beach. I was able to book this on Black Friday for ~$15/pp. Even with 3 people it is not that much more than RT Uber. YMMV This is a picture of Shepard Park. the bus drops off a parking lot just across the street from the park--which is really just a small square with a nice bath house. The small gray tent at the beach entrance is where you rent chairs/umbrellas. There is a restaurant beside the park and a 7-Eleven beside the bus parking. We have found this to be a very convenient location and not much parking. At Cocoa Cay we have day passes to Hideaway Beach. I originally bought the for $75 each on the day the opened. However, the priced dropped twice since then and we got them for ~$29. That seemed like a good price for an adults only area with a heated pool. Woo Hoo! perfect-day-map-marketing-reveal.pdf I will likely just get off and walk around the new port area in Nassau. It is not one of my favorite port. However, I want to see the improvements.

We were going to try to get a reservation for today in port. That us a great view!

Time for breakfast

I noticed this on the Bayonne cruise terminal site. It is clearly copied from the RCL site, and I have seen a similar mistake for other cruises. One thing about royal Caribbean their IT department needs some work. I bet you did not realize just how far this cruise travels. 😀🤣

One of the passengers on the Facebook group just posted this: "6:08am…An announcement has just been made that due to the heavy seas we experienced last night…we will be delayed arriving into Bayonne. Disembarkation is expected to begin at approximately 8:00am." I am not sure if this will have an impact on us. We have not gotten a text or email for RCL.

Well. it is finally cruise day. 😁 I never sleep well the night before a trip. I spend too much time trying to remember what I forgot. [I think only a couple of unimportant things] Today was no exception. Here are a couple of early morning shots of the skyline.

Thank you both. We have been to each of these ports and have planned our activities carefully. But we will be flexible.

DH can walk with a walking stick for reasonable distances. We felt we should bring it along since this is a bigger ship. . . . but I am sorry to hear you did not feel it was very accessible. Fingers crossed!

What a difference a few hours will make. The sky has cleared and we can see the city from our hotel. We are staying in the Doubletree Jersey City. It is a block from the river, and we have a corner suite. [not bragging--it was the only 2-room option to share with DD] The view is pretty impressive.

Yes, for us it only makes sense to take the train. . . . and after today's trip I don't think I would consider driving. 🙄

Thank you. we are glad to be cruising again. We are very excited about the Anthem.

Once we got off the train the adventure really began. The Newark/Jersey City area is getting a huge amount of rain which has led to lots of streets flooding. We tried to go down many that had deep standing water. 😱 The police were closing the ramps to the bridges. Our taxi driver seemed to be going in circles. . . but so were all of the other cars. After a while he just drove through the flooded intersections. Here are a few pictures. It is hard to capture just how deep the water was and how many cars. drove through. These are not great pictures, but you get the idea. When we finally got to the hotel DD said she always wondered why newscasters made such a big deal out of "turn around-don't drown." She couldn't imagine anyone driving through floods. HaHaHa We made it to the hotel. Do you wonder what that adventure cost? The driver turned to DH and said "that will be $100 + a tip."