Anthem Adventures - Day 2 Sea Day

[Melanie R]

After a reasonably early night last night, I was awake early this morning. I’d slept really well, the bed was really comfy and I particularly loved the sheets – they felt particularly silky to sleep on 😍
I chilled for another hour or so, checking the multiple alerts I’d received from 3 – they seemed very confused where I was, as I was in France (allegedly!), then on a ship – all of which is covered in my contract anyway!

I got up, showered and dressed and decided to head to Windjammers Marketplace, the buffet restaurant for breakfast.
I’d obviously picked a very busy time (9am) as when I got there, there was a small queue outside waiting to go in. I joined the back and one of the servers came down the line with a guitar and started to sing to entertain us while we waited! I was only waiting around 5 minutes before I was being asked to scan my cruisecard and was ushered towards the hand washing station, before heading in to be greeted by another crew member who escorted me to a table.

I then headed into the buffet to see what was available. The layout reminded me very much of Tusker House for those who have dined there in Animal Kingdom – there were lots of “stalls” in the centre all serving up different options – fruit, hot items, cereals etc., and towards the back there was a station manned by a single server where there were pastries and toast available. I could see straight away if I wanted any toast, this was going to be a little time consuming as there was only 1 toaster, and it was all being made fresh to order – it was also set so that the bread had to pass through twice! I really fancied a cinnamon roll and some toast, so I joined the back of the small queue. It was quite slow moving as the server was taking orders and making the toast, but it was a sea day and other than a spa appointment later that morning I had nowhere I needed to be, so I couldn’t bring myself to get worked up about it – unlike the lady who joined the queue a few minutes behind me. She was REALLY not happy about the wait, and was making it clear to everyone around her that the system was unworkable, they needed far more toasters (to be fair I do think another one would have been helpful!) and only having 1 server was beyond ridiculous. She was flagging down every crew member she could see to complain, and was very loud in her opinions!
The lady in front of me just sighed quietly, and turned to me to comment on how the crew were working so hard for everyone and that the lady complaining was simply getting herself all worked up and putting herself in a bad mood for the rest of the day – all over a piece of toast!

I was served mine and headed back to my table having also collected some fruit and a hot breakfast when I realised there was someone else sitting there! This (as I found on my last cruise) was the main downside to cruising alone – there was nobody to stay at the table while you collected your food 🤔 I flagged down a crew member and was quickly shown to another table, provided with some orange juice and tea and I settled down to enjoy my breakfast. It was all lovely, and I particularly enjoyed the orange juice, so ordered a second to go with my cinnamon roll 😋

I’d taken my time over breakfast and when I checked it was around 10:15 – I had an appointment booked that morning for a pedicure at 10:30 so I made my way up a deck and headed to the spa. I had also booked an appointment for a manicure online, but couldn’t remember what time it was for. For some reason, the spa appointments don’t show on the calendar in the app. I knew it was for early afternoon as there hadn’t been any appointments available directly after my pedicure, but the team had already spotted the 2 appointments and moved them so they were together 😃
I filled in the pre-treatment questionnaire and was then taken over to the chair for my pedicure – I was with a lovely therapist called Anneka who was from Jamaica and was telling me all about how pleased she was to be back on the ships, but how she was missing her husband and family while she was away again. The time went really quickly and she was soon moving on to my manicure.

While we were chatting I had mentioned I had considered getting a massage as I had been having problems with my shoulder, but all the treatments were for full body which I didn’t really want – within minutes she had called her friend over and she agreed to do a back and shoulder massage instead for me if I wanted – I arranged a time for later in the week and that was quickly booked in! I realise it was a massive upsell, but it was just what I was looking for so was more than happy to go for it 😊

Nails sorted, I headed out of the spa and checked on the daily planner to see there was a Harry Potter quiz due to start in 30 minutes, so I picked up a cocktail from the pool bar and headed down to the Music Hall for the quiz.

I did really well on the quiz, but was pipped to first place as I didn’t know the opening sentence of the first book – I mean really, who has time to memorize that level of detail! (Other than the person who won…….. 😉 )
I’d enjoyed the quiz but fancied chilling for the rest of the afternoon on my balcony, so I headed out of the Music Hall over to the Starbucks concession and picked up a latte and some coconut cookies to take back to my stateroom where I spent a very relaxed afternoon with my kindle just watching the world float by 😍
I had booked the show We Will Rock You this evening in the Royal Theatre which was a 2 hour show starting at 7:30, so I knew I wanted an early dinner, but there were no available early slots to reserve, so I decided to get changed for dinner and head down to see what the queues were like as the restaurant opened. I was ready around 5:30 so headed to the bar and ordered a cocktail while I was waiting – an Appletini – delicious!

I wandered over to the restaurant at 6 and joined the no reservation queue – I was served very quickly, scanned my cruisecard and was escorted to a table where my drinks order was immediately taken – I opted for a Seabreeze cocktail tonight.

I had already checked out the menu on the app, but was still given a menu to review – as I was checking it out, I had a message from my sister asking how my nails were looking, so sent her a quick pic!

I didn’t particularly fancy any of the starters tonight, so went for a beef tenderloin main course followed by carrot cake and a cappuccino. The food tonight was just fantastic – the beef was so tender and I think the clean plate pics show just what I thought of the entire meal!

I thanked the waiter and headed out of the restaurant and along to the theatre where I again scanned my card and was then shown to a seat. They are leaving 2 seats between parties to conform to social distancing, and they ask that you wait at the end of the show for them to release people by section to prevent everyone leaving together. I have to say the protocols worked very well and the vast majority of people complied with no issues 😊

The show started on time and was amazing! It was real West End quality and probably the best show I’ve ever seen onboard a ship! I would have loved to see it again, but reservations were limited to 1 showing per person, which is fair enough!
I headed out of the theatre and popped into Boleros bar where a Caribbean band were playing and ordered a gin & tonic – I will be honest and say I’m convinced it was 75% gin! I have neve had such a strong one before – and my dad has a very heavy hand when he pours gin!

I finished my drink and headed back to my stateroom, collecting a coffee on the way (sadly not Starbucks as they closed at 9) I was greeted by a towel animal thanks to my lovely cabin steward 😍

I changed into my pjs and chilled on the balcony for a while – I was really wide awake (maybe coffee wasn’t the best choice!) and was there until around 2am when I decided I really ought to head to bed – the end of another fab day ❤️

[mobeckwith]

loving this report.

[Milpston]

What a great chilled out day.

[WIGGYSMUM]

A lovely day , your cake looked delicious 😋

[disneypars]

Loving the cocktails 🍹

[unixgirl]

This sounds like a fab trip - thanks for writing the report.

[margyloveswdw]

A perfect chilled out day!