For in in for it’s already welcome to another Sunday night here at Howe Cruise thank you all for joining us are you I’m muted down here are you muted over there I just said we’ve never been so ready we’re actually counting down the timer never happens so
We’re all so we’re all ready and all dressed up no place to go um Katie’s like Mom why’d you rip your T-shirt because I like the neck open whatever oh boy uh well it’s it’s been it’s been a a bit of a busy week um made
Sure we got all unpacked oh no we didn’t we didn’t do that yet um we’re adjusting to getting home we got home exactly one week ago it feels like it was a year ago guys it feels like it was forever ago but yeah we just got home from the
Anthem the Seas last Sunday yeah so for anybody who’s new joining us this week uh hopefully some of you from the ship are joining us if you are hash Anthem in the chat I’m Brian this is Julie welcome to how we Cruise uh if you’ve stum if you found yourself here uh mistakenly
Too bad you’re stuck here for the next hour you’re gonna have stick around so um if you can hear I still have a little bit of cruise cred I I I got a little Cruise cred is that is that what they’re calling you now it is I don’t know like
I I do I have a little bit of a cough a little bit of congestion but um it didn’t hit me until a little bit after we were home and uh and Katie came down with it today so I don’t know yeah but it’s fine it’s
It’s been a busy week it’s been a long week getting the the kids back to school back to their Sports back to all the stuff that goes on at home when you’re not enjoying yourself on a cruise ship and uh just life and one week till Thanksgiving I was say
Thanksgiving is this week month till Christmas and six 69 days until icon whoa um yeah there’s so much to do and tomorrow we’re heading into the city because tomorrow I have a a quick test because as if we didn’t have enough to do I have to have a minor procedure a quick little
Surgery uh a week before before Christmas um it’ll be fine it’ll be quick it’ll be easy but but if you know you know yeah we got a lot to do we got a lot to do we do love you but but a bunch of people have taken time out of their
Sunday night to come in and say hello to us so uh we do want to talk tonight tonight we are talking about The Last Ship that we were on um The Good the less than good and we want to know your thoughts so as we talk about it please
Make sure you’re commenting in the chat let us know what you think um was it your favorite ship if you were on the ship with us was it your favorite ship if you’ve ever sailed on anthem of the Seas before uh top ship not top ship
Let let us know what you what you’re thinking here uh but first in the chat we had the cruise nuts so thank you guys for joining us uh Kyle is here with us as well mom is with us this evening uh mom make sure you get to bed on time so
That way you can watch the kids in the morning mom’s gonna be here nice and early so we can get into the City by 8 AM we live an hour hour outside of the city so um Michael and maray are here nice to see you guys we are gonna have to have
Dinner sometime soon we got to take care of that definitely we love to do that Mr Chris cram joining us all the way from the snowy north is it snowing up by you right now um let’s see Julie Amos is here from sunny sunny sunny California
Me and the kids we just having we’re all over the country tonight a conversation about that tonight about how snowy we’re g to have a winter I don’t know Shana and Mark are here happy thank Thanksgiving to you as well thank you uh Richard says Julie you better kick that by Thursday
Uh are we seeing you again are you stopping by um because no I know I need to kick it it actually it yeah it’s it’s on its way out I mean it’s just a little bit of Cheryl’s here cruising is fun at anytime thank you for joining us thank
Good to see you uh Lori is here as well and Amy is here we have a great cruise on the anthem so thank you for joining us in the chat we wanted to hear what you have to say so let us know um we asked the kids earlier we wanted to know
What they had to say um is this a kid ship is this an adult ship is this what’s going on with this ship this this anthem of the Seas that spends half of its time in Bon New Jersey and the other half of its time over in the UK uh and
It’s headed to Alaska right now no not right now but it’s going to be heading to Alaska um but long 1 million per a cold weather ship best time hey we’re only we’re only five minutes in we already got the best comment of the night ready ready ready here it is ah Yay that’s so happy guys like nobody ever says that they find them I know that they’re found because we can’t ever like know they’re always gone but well either somebody’s throwing over board or we hide him really well or something I don’t know so no that’s awesome that’s
Good where’d you find it if you remember I don’t know because Ian we don’t remember where we find them the kids sometimes remember where they find them um that’s awesome so happy to have you here thanks for coming in hey willg uh so yeah so but you know so anthem of the
Seas uh um it was our first Quantum class it was our first CL so we haven’t been on any of the others but you got Odyssey Quantum Spectrum Spectrum okay yeah and then Anthem I think that’s it right this for anyway it was our first it was our
First qu class and um I mean we love leaving out of bay own I love the decor of the ship it’s beautiful it’s a really pretty ship so we’ll start it with okay so we have oh wow we’re so right out of the gate here Julie I could have been I
Think I could have enjoyed Anthem I I think I can read I think I could have enjoyed what the anthem offered more without so many kids not that they were bad or anything just lines for the fun stuff uh of lines for the funa great
Ship though you know we that was one of the things we were talking about and so yeah what we did so well let’s let’s preface it with we went on what we call in New Jersey Jersey week okay nobody else even people from Jersey don’t don’t necessarily know what Jersey week is
What Jersey week is is uh it’s the first week in November the Thursday and Friday um all the public schools have off because there’s teachers convention so they want to allow the teachers that are teachers union wants to allow the teachers to be able to participate in in
That uh so all the schools have off it always coincides with election day on Tuesday and a lot of the schools are polling places so where you laughing I’m not yeah you’re talking so anyway a lot of the schools are pulling places our kids missed two half days of school we try
Not to miss a lot of school um some schools have off the entire week so it’s kind of like fall break for New Jersey so we call it Jersey week so we called this gr this group Cruise Anthem takes Jersey week because typically people used to go down to Disney World they
Still do they still do but you’re right but we just took with us dude we can get on a cruise out of Bayon why would we fly down to Disney and go spend all that money down there when we can hop on a cruise so we called it Jersey takes or
Anthem takes Jersey we right so uh us along with 4700 almost of our closest friends uh embarked in Bayon and headed down to the Bahamas uh inclusive of 1700 kids 1,700 kids were on this ship guys the ship holds what 4, 4500 40 technically 4 4900 and it was 1,700 of them were
Kids guys that means under the age of 18 yeah uh according to Royal perian statistics uh Shaina says we enjoyed parts of the anthem but are excited for new ships to come I love the company the most I couldn’t agree more and most of the entertainment was really good um you
Know I think that was so that’s one of the topics we kind interviewed the kids tonight before we came on we actually we prepared no Chris there was no spreadsheet um there’s always a spreadsheet it’s kind of a there’s there’s no formulas were on the phone yesterday and you’re literally on on a
We were having a conversation and he opens up his computer and starts a spreadsheet in the middle of the conversation it was relevant guys it was relevant it was a spreadsheet for everything uh um but no he he he actually used pen and paper for this one Chris said Anthem was okay doesn’t
Compare to Oasis Miss boardwalk and playmaker and you know that’s that’s definitely one of the things that you know right on spot on people always ask us what’s your favorite chip and every single time I give the same answer I can’t tell you my favorite ship until I’ve sail them
All but we do learn things on each ship that we go on and on each class of ship that we go on we learn what works for us and what does doesn’t work for us and what may work for others how we cruise is not necessarily how you cruise but
How we cruise is I don’t think Anthem is a top of either one of our lists we did not like it like I said it was gorgeous it was beautiful and we’re going to talk about all the highlights of it but it’s definitely not our favorite ship it’s
Not my favorite ship I won’t speak for you Amy said they had six eight and 16 year olds on the ship they cruised Oasis in may they Hadis and they liked Anthem as well that’s two comments it’s it’s thing there um we were also do you like better did
You like Oasis better or did you like anthon better it’s like asking who your favorite child is not really I like Oasis better we because we’ve SED Oasis fa child too apparently no I don’t but I do like OAS might not will be asleep yet I like
Oasis better than I like Anthem and I’ll tell you why let’s tell them why so what do you want to talk about first Michael said Michael and Maria say I had a great time but prefer the Oasis class ship so let’s first so before I want to get to
These last I’m gonna take I’m gonna go upside down I’m gonna go I’m gonna do this last you you leave I’ll follow so why Julie says the shows were fabulous I only didn’t care for one of them so let’s start with entertainment let’s start there since since Julie brought it
Up we’ll go right down that path what did you think overall of the entertainment did you see what I did there I asked him first and then he tried he still tried to Strongarm me no what do you think what did I think I think that everybody has a place on the ship
Where they enjoy napping wow I didn’t think you were gonna go there um I do have a picture of you taking nap we we we I love Royal Caribbeans entertainment I think their performers are topnotch every and even the shows that I don’t don’t enjoy uh we’ve said before
That we we’re not a fan of cats but the performers are phenomenal I I and I am not in the majority here because everybody I talk to love love love entertainment read the comments I know that there’s people in the comments that are going to say that
How much they loved entertainment um I didn’t particularly care for the entertainment on the ship I thought that the performers were spectacular I thought they were phenomenal that’s that’s kind of acoss the line except for Rices REO revoiced they were I absolutely love them they were because I
Love Acappella they were an Acappella group and they were just awesome um because I I love Acappella um but the other shows but I was in the minority even amongst our own family so well and I tell you what so Royal Caribbean one of the things they
Do really well is entertainment uh they do hire the best performers and we we’ve been on different lines and I will say um I personally feel that the performers on Roy reian are are the best I think I think that’s true I don’t necessarily enjoy every storyline or every show or
Every everything but I mean I give all the performers on all the lines like super top credit I mean they’re all amazing uh just I feel like with the shows that we’ve seen recently on on both Royal and on different lines I feel like that’s where Royal’s putting their
Money like they’re like some of the other lines are putting their money into other places like we’ll talk about food in a minute because I don’t think that’s where Royal’s putting their money um but the entertainment is definitely top-notch so spectre’s Cabaret I thought
It was a little weird for the kids um no the kids they just saw dancing and whatever I love those wigs I’m not even kidding I think that me and and Cindy and Jay like have our Halloween costumes for next year guys I’m not even kidding
You J’s not he’s not in here yet he might pop in but I’m trying not to L kid you those wigs were killer there’s some good comments that I don’t want to lose but but we’re but we’re on topic so so we’ll just pause very very briefly to
Say uh Amy said it was an amazing ship and a great Cruise granted we are new to cruising but we are hooked and if you’re hooked Amy you need to reach out to us because next Jersey week come with us you want to come with
Us and and only do it for a minute on reran Freedom of the Seas I hate the ticker at the bottom of the screen well it doesn’t all fit at once so I have to scroll it well we’re doing it again next Jersey week but this time we’re going to do it
Out of Florida so it’s warm the whole time as opposed to just three a um and we have other group cruises too so yeah other other stuff coming up and other we got we got we spent a lot of time working on that today actually so that’s
That’s uh all right we’ll hide this thank you have questions about Freedom of the Seas you have to message us because Julia doesn’t like the ticker I don’t like the ticker so um but let’s see here uh so uh the entertainment we will rock you uh was a great show it’s
It’s a show it’s it’s a Broadway style show it was in the main theater um lots of great music lots of great performance awesome music awesome great yeah like great performance really good stuff I didn’t care for the story line I love the songs I love the singing so I
I guess I was good I’ll preface it too Save Rock and Roll yeah I was I was a little off my game too because Kev got a bloody nose like right before the show so like I was a little on edge before we watched it we did watch it two at like
Um at two actually we watched it at two o’clock at a mattine which we don’t normally do so I think everything about it was a little off of what we typically how we typically cruise I see what you did there we see see what I did there
But I mean it was a good it was a good show but what did the kids say because we because we pulled them asked them to give us stars on five a five star scale and and three all three of them give We Will Rock You five out of five well Kev
KN did a half point he said he was jump on it too like they were like Katie’s like jumping out of her seat she like five five five and then Brian’s like yeah definitely five kev’s like yeah definitely five they loved it Katie actually said it’s the first show that
She’s ever watched first performance she’s ever watched where she followed the storyline and she understood the whole thing like she’s getting older she’s eight she’s getting older but like she not only appreciated the music and liked watching the show but she actually followed the whole story line and
Appreciated it for what it was so I thought that was really cool uh let’s see here looks like we had some new people join us oh there it is uh we had uh Sharon C has joined us nice to see you guys feel like it’s been forever
Since we’ve talked uh Laura from five hungry travels is here um says they’re going on wonder of the Seas next and I’m worried it won’t be as much entertainment as I want oh I don’t know if you have to worry about that have to worry about that I think you’ll be okay
I mean it’s not going to be your virgin voyages style entertainment but we haven’t been on wonder yet but I can’t wait to hear what you think about it so please let us know we we have to talk to them we haven’t talked to you in forever
We have to talk to them about joining us November 3rd of 2024 on Freedom of the Seas from for do um Shaya said should we jump to this since we’re kind of un entertaining so we’ll stay we’ll stay now we missed the GI well we saw part of
The gift but ching with kids sometimes we just got to know when to punt we had an argument this day okay so this is what happened we all we I like trying happened was I like trying the shows I really enjoy entertainment I love supporting the performers but really I
Enjoy watching the shows and the kids do too so we’re gonna go to the show so um Brian actually decides he’s gonna watch with Grant with Granddad he’s watching the football game and me and Katy and Kev and you and other people from our group decide to go to the show well we
Wanted to get a good seat so we we go down and we realize the seats in the theater on Anthem in the like in the middle are very very low not conducive to kids and like they literally could not see like their their heads were like
Level with like the seat in front of them because we were towards the back in the middle down on the bottom uh so we we knew that we had to move excuse me sorry Cru gr um so we get up and we when we move further down but
Off to the side definitely still in the spot where we could we we always with kids you just have to like you have to know that you have an escape plan because you just never know what’s going to happen even just potty breaks right you don’t want to distract the performers so we
Couldn’t sit right on the end because all because all the seats were filling up so we were a couple people in and um the show starts and it’s got like kind of like a skeletony kind of vibe like it was like starts with the story of like
Goat like start as soon as they said the word soon as it started K like no way I’m not watching this Mom I’m out peace out so I’m like okay uh what do we do now she’s telling me this as she’s sitting on my left you’re on my right Kevin actually
Katy’s my left it’s me it’s Kevin and then it’s you and then there’s two other people I think two on your other side two or maybe three but there’s another Gentleman on Katie’s other side and like he is not happy that I’m like and I’m like so I realized like this is
Not going to work like okay we have to quietly respectfully peacefully Escape guys this happens so for all of you naysayers that are like I can’t believe people got up in the midd of sh like listen it would be more distracting for us to stay so we had to
Leave but I was not happy that we had to leave I was not happy that the kids decided that they were going to see the show and then decided they weren’t going to have it I was not happy that we moved our our seats three times I was not
Happy with you you moving our seats so overall and I took it out on Brian I’m like Brian I can’t believe this like I I I was not I was just not happy overall thumbs up or thumbs down on the entertainment on Royal Caribbeans anthem of the Seas it’s not my favorite entertainment
For Royal Caribbean but the kids seem to love it yeah except for the gift um I loved REO so yeah so Shana makes a great comment Danny was a great Cruise director now typically when you talk Cruise directors the first thing that comes to mind is Carnival H they’re they’re they’re
They’re they’re loud they’re in your face they’re a lot of fun they’re they’re they’re bringing the party they’re they’re they’re they’re making your vacation a lot of fun uh Royal Caribbean cruise directors are typically a little bit more uh behind the scenes a little more subdued a little bit more
Coordinator kind of thing and Danny was a lot of fun he was involved in the in the games at the pool he was involved favorite Royal Caribbean cruise director that we’ve had so far by far um yeah which was a little atypical for Royal Caribbean but we’re have now
Granted we are gonna be on I of the Seas You great if we can ever find your social media then maybe you’ll see this but you’re hiding so we’ll find you um but um we will be on icon of the seas in January for the inaugural sailing and we
Have heard that Mike who’s the cruise director for Icon is one of the best so I’m I’m excited to hear uh I can’t imagine they would put anyone but yes we met a lot of crew one of the things that we heard about icon because we were we
Talked to a lot of crew we love we met a lot of crew that are good at the on icon guys we cannot wait to see you again I hope you’re watching yeah um we’re definitely prob busy working I’m sure they’re busy working but we’re definitely gonna say hello I know that
Yeah we definitely um we definitely connected with some people that’s really awesome can’t wait to see you but what they said is that um icon is encouraging the staff that’s on to be staff that has already been on ships that have been new yes so like uh what do you what do you
Inaugurals but like the the you know bringing ships about delivering ship yeah deliver ships so um so yeah that was really cool we we met some really awesome Stu and I was surprised how many that we met that were going to be on iphon um and we’re not I
Mean maybe it’s weird to follow crew members around but we know that there’s other friends of ours that um we can and we remember you if we’ve talked to you as a crew hold on hold on we remember you Richard and we talk about you in our
Home I’m very proud of you Richard because you were able to recognize from the glass uh that we’re we’re we’re kind of celebrating quietly celebrating tonight because I have I still have water we are we are dropping our little hints as to what’s coming up
But uh we shall see I do have my Martin here 1792 here Cheers Cheers 1792 may be a little bit of a hint um Tracy thank you for joining us Tracy nice to see you uh says they have Anthem again in April and Symphony in August now we may do
Symphony can’t wait syphy we have not we’ve on Harmony and Oasis we might try July I don’t know we’ll see okay well there’s a reason all right but we’ll see anyu you want to dat me on Shanda says I’m glad you get to see ashin again he was great yes we’re glad
We get to so cool ah nothing like bringing your bartender with you to your new cre anybody else do that anybody anybody else bring their bartender with them uh oh are you doing Symphony in May the eth day I saw Tony Diaz in here earlier I don’t know if I said hello to
You yet Tony hello but Tony recommended uh the first sailing of symphony in May where it’s actually gonna hit laa D and Copo K and that’s an awesome itinerary like we have to find a time that we can do that itinerary we’re getting off topic okay sorry keep us on let’s go the
People that are for the people watching the replay we’re going to get back on top now so thank you for not fast forwarding too much what did you think of the food the food is great I love the food what was your favorite so we asked
The kids and let us know down in the comments if you were on if you were on Anthem with us what was your favorite food what was your F could be your favorite meal your favorite place to eat um oh no Tony um oh we so want to do that one but like
It’s right in the middle of the kids baseball season please keep begging him because I’m telling you he’s the one you have to convince that week is though but that week is like everything going the kids have a concert and Katie’s got a gymnastics and the baseball and Katie
Had her first competition this past weekend it was yesterday she did so awesome thank you all for your kind comments on Facebook yeah she did so awesome I was so proud PR of her and she didn’t realize how good she did she really did she she did well yes Chris is
Right now now we’re really in off Chris says get back to the spreadsheet um yes sir the food was great I thought the lobster night was probably our best lobster night ever the lobster was really good I don’t always like the Lobster on Lobster night because I feel like they rush through it
And sometimes it’s rubbery and they don’t whatever I thought that the lobster was amazing um and I we like the main dining room I just love the main dining I I love the atmosphere of the main dining room but I got to be honest with
You that setup on that ship for the main dining room was not my favorite layout it was not it was well I first didn’t like it which fortunately we were able to fix but they had our entire group in one dining room and us somewhere completely else which to all of you who
Were part of the group I swear and promise to you that was not done intentionally and we fixed it we so when you do a group you know with with royal what we do is we fill out a form ahead of time we let them know we
Do it’s almost like a wedding seating thing we we we say like you know how we want things to be like organized um at least in general right so I mean we know they’re going to work their best but we don’t expect that you’re going to take
Everybody put them in one area and then take one table and put them in an entire different dining room we asked for one table of 50 and they said no I’m not really sure why um no no but it worked out they they and they’re they’re so awesome they work
With us super super fast and they fix it right the first night which doesn’t always happen sometimes you have to wait a night sometimes they say I’m sorry we can’t fix this until tomorrow but they actually fixed it day one which was amazing thank you uh Trac says it looks
Like next year they took Lobster off the main dining room menu wow I did not see that Tracy thanks for that head up they’ been talking about doing that but that second formal night usually they try to pull it off I’ve heard that it might be
There but it might be for a charge um it won’t be I think it’ll always be there for a charge because I think people want that option but um I could yeah well yeah so let’s see so oh so let’s but so loved the food oh Trac said they
Replacing it with shrimp I’m okay with that I love shrimp whatever um but so anyway we asked the kids on their food well hold on what okay okay go ahead no go ahead well because I’ll let you talk about this in a minute okay um but so
Brian said his favorite was still the the main dining room um Katie’s favorite was her morning room service where we order donuts and coffee to the room because we get donuts and coffee and Katie eats three donuts for breakfast now I know this is a surprise only on vacation guys I know
It’s a vacation that OU I I know this is a surprise my favorite with sentos I love the sentos on the ship and I that’s because you made friends with Gustavo oh yes I love it you have to make sure you’re following Gustavo on social media what’s inst social media
Yeah we’ll have to we’ll have to tag it in um we’ll tag it below after this we add his we’ll put his link um but Gustavo was awesome but no I’m not even kidding you it was a different dough I’m with 1 million per for as many times as
I’ve been on Oasis I’m telling you right now it is not the same Pizza that I’ve had on Oasis Oasis has like a a like it’s got like you could tell like it’s like a a Frozen with like holes in it like whatever dough this was I’m sure
Same what but it didn’t have those holes and it was better Pizza it was better Anthem better Pizza we’re getting a lot of votes uh in the comments here for Taste of Royal uh Mike and Maria said they enjoyed it Shaya is a fan and Chris
Kem says they’ll be doing uh Taste of royal on their next Cruise which would will be getting back in touch with you on so um we have your you guys they did well that’s where I was gonna get to so now nobody nobody I don’t think anybody tried Wonderland we
Got a couple votes in here for chops and uh did Wonderland who did Wonderland um uh course they yeah they did Wonderland uh Amy says they did J Jamies and chops and love both um we’re definitely a fan of those uh as well but there is one
Thing that we tried on this ship that we have not gotten the opportunity to do before and I’ll let you start with that before I lead into my one of my favorite things so go ahead with you so we got to eat in the Coastal Kitchen so we we only
Opted to do this one night we because we were we were in a suite so we were able to go to the Coastal Kitchen so we made a reservation um Michael Maria did Wonderland um Michael Maria did okay awesome um I remember talking to somebody who said who said that it was a
Good a pleasurable experience to try but they wouldn’t do it again I don’t remember who said that though anyway Coastal Kitchen so absolutely loved our location I loved their seats I love the atmosphere and I love the service the food was awesome as well food was very good
Um I’m so glad that we did it I liked it I I don’t need to do it every night and I still love the main dining room so I mean we had a phenomenal servers and uh that was a night that actually Brian little briy he he excused himself
He was feeling a little seasick um and he excused himself and he actually we actually took his dinner to go and brought it back to him at the at the room an Anem was a little less stable than the other ships we’ went on Grant we’ve been on Oasis class ships a lot
More frequently and those things are kind of wide but uh uh Tony says chops is always favorite and less on an oasis class then it’s 150 Central Park now we have not gotten we hav’t done 150 we have to we’ll have to add that to the
List one uh we’ll have to add that to the list definitely uh but um we saw CRS and Coastal Kitchen yeah Laura has a question do you think Coastal servers are more attentive I do I’m going to say yes but I’m not going to say I’m going to say
Yes but they also have less tables there I was that’s I think you’re absolutely correct there there’s I think there are less tables um I don’t necessarily think they’re more attentive I think that they’re more responsive because and and this is not a negative to any server in the main
Dining room but I do think that there’s things at the main dining room because maybe because they have more tables or because of whatever and they’re so busy they can’t always accommodate you for things and I think that they’re a little bit more willing to go the and I
Mean it’s because it’s a different Cate you know like these are people who are either you know diamond or up and or in sweets or whatever so they make some more exceptions I don’t I I don’t I don’t know I don’t know how to say that without sounding whatever but I
Just so yeah I do I think they’re a little bit more not not not attentive just there’s more exceptions so I’m watching the comments here and it looks like the resounding response here is the best best meal was taste o so we’ll have to we will have to
Try it we have not tried and I looked at at every cruise but it’s always at a time that yeah is difficult for us with kids traveling with kids is definitely we don’t get to try everything I mean this was our first opportunity uh to try
Uh Coastal Kitchen which uh Tracy has a question that we’re gonna have to get back to on so I don’t know if I have a straight answer so if anybody in the in in in uh Tony Tony you might have the anwers you stayed in more sweets than us
Uh my son has a junior sweet and I’m in a balcony while I be able to get into Coastal Kitchen with him for dinner now the Coastal Kitchen is meant for sweet guests only however I am gonna say this I think if they if if he made a
Reservation I think if he went and talked to the talked to the Mater day or whoever is at the the whatever if if you went and and if he made a request because you’re traveling with him I I think that they would accommodate that no problem I don’t think it would be
Every night I don’t think it would be all the time I don’t think it would be whatever but I definitely think that they would make that accommodation for you I think that’s just a guess though I mean I’m not a role representative either are you but but I play one on TV
But I did stay at a holiday and express last night um it’s so funny I have to highlight this before we get off of food because I want to move off of food because I have some other things I want to talk about but before I
Get off of food I have to show this one comment because I am not a foodie Julie is the one that we revolve our nice meals around I let her pick the nice meals but uh Chris says Brian’s looking H Chris says uh Chef’s Table is
Awesome if you can swing it now we did uh Chef’s Table on Oasis for our anniversary dinner yeah um and it was I want to come back to that one uh one of the uh best meals that I’ve had on a ship and that’s mainly because for those
Of you who don’t know most of you I believe do I am a pretty picky eater and when I saw what that menu was for a chef’s table I’m like this is going to be terrible I’m doing this for I’m doing this for my wife I’m going to go there and every
Course had SE make sure she’s happy except for the FL and game I don’t even know they sat down and normally I just say I’m allergic to Seafood now if you SE that’s his easy out he’s not allergic well maybe I am maybe you are go back
And watch go back and watch the New Orleans vs there’s a there’s a you might have a sensitivity because when you actually did try it you had a reaction no no no but um not good um but that but you just said no seafood and they brought you out course after course
After course that had zero seafood and you absolutely loved it and and it was some things that I had never tried before and but it was all good it was not not a single thing that I ate that was not good um but yes Tracy we will
Look into that and send us a send us a message through Facebook and we’ll we’ll find an answer for you on that one uh Tony says Brian don’t get up I have never booked a suite I rather spend my money in other places Tony we were
Talking about this let me just tell you the reason that we booked the site was because because we’re a family of five we have three kids and it was legit when we booked because you know prices fluctuate there’s prevailing rates when we booked it was cheaper to put our
Family of five in a junior suite than it was to put us in one cabin of five or two cabins that were close to each other um or ad joining or next to each other hey you know what they call that a segue I’m gonna sneeze
One of my favorite things on that show the only reason we did it was because it was cheaper for us to do it that way which was really cool so yeah one of the things that got us uh into this travel agency business um is the fact that we travel as a
Family of five and I mean usually if you well yeah when Julie leaves me behind and goes on chips by herself um but when when you travel as a family hey Mom are you still in here can you watch the kids uh when you when you travel as a family of five
Uh it’s very difficult to find a affordable cruise ship configuration now we like Royal Caribbean uh because of their kids sale free deal uh so our kids are all under the age of 12 so when we go and put them in one room not for long
Yeah we got about a year left um six months left as long as they’re in one room they are just port fees and taxes when that sale is running so that’s a good value for us um but on this ship uh the only five passenger rooms were Junior Suites
And well and sweets there were other suits but uh we booked that junior suite and let me tell you we could have done two rooms next to each other but it was cheaper to do us oh both in one room best room we ever had best best
Room I’ve ever had in and it had nothing to do with it being a junior site it was just the best room we ever had for a family of five if you’re traveling with kids if you’re traveling whatever with extra people five of us super roomy super comfortable
We had two bathrooms now there’s two different configurations of these Junior sweets because some of them were Spa class that were converted some of them have a tub and a shower and then another shower and toilet and the one that we had was like a half bath
Where it just had a sink and a toilet and then another toilet and a shower was not a super huge fan of the shower but loved having two toilets with a family of five oh my God it was like somebody could be taking a shower and somebody
Else could be brushing their teeth or going to the bathroom or whatever what do does your your brain ever move faster than the person you’re talking to his mouth as Julie said one person could be taking a shower and I thought she was going to say and the other could be
Taking I crack myself up H yeah 14 years what did [Laughter] bless hey Chris Chris nice to see you um five Hungry Traveler says this by now can’t wait for a room tour now we we we actually did this right on on this one um yeah when we first got on the ship
You went back to the room and did a room tour while I took the kids out yep so we do have a nice room tour and Brian’s gonna practice his editing skills yeah and I am gonna I am G to edit the so guys when it’s late it’s not me this time
I’m also going to edit the ship tour because I did a ship tour one early one morning so we got we got a we got a ship tour and we got a room tour so we’re we’re deling out of our comfort zone of of the daily Vlog and we’re gonna add in
Uh we’re gonna mix it up a little bit we’re gonna add in a ship tour we’re gonna add in a room tour and on we’ll see if we can get those out now Julie’s current schedule for releasing the Vlog for so are you planning on releasing the
Embarcation uh of Anthem before or after my retirement I am currently working on finishing our June Cruise right now I have I I was I was thinking of combining the last two c days but I I think it might still have to be divided into day
Six and day seven I’m not sure because I’m still working on it um that will be up very very very soon um and then I can work on this one Richard says when will these be released not tonight I mean oh this struggle is real we’ve been we’ve been taking editing lessons from
I’m G to have a lot more time to be able to sit in front of my computer though when I’m recing so I yeah like if you if you missed in the very beginning I said A week before Christmas I do have to have a minor procedure so um or I don’t
Know if it’s super minor but it’s fine I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine but I do have to so I’ll be I’ll I’ll be sitting in I’ll be C so Julie said this sing was so different for everything I did so I could be with the group and that was
Great and I tell you what that was one of the things that we said about this ship was it was so different from what we are uh used to and and we sell a lot of Royals so that was even uh interesting for us but I tell you there were I did
Have a few favors I do want to bounce back to entertainment just for a minute because there are three entertainment venues that we spent a lot of time in and I I would say two out of three off the charts go for it so we’ll start with now I
Typically love the pub when we’re on class ship I love going into the pub I love the sing alongs with the guitar guy um this Pub was not quite as alive as the pub on class I wonder if it’s because it just maybe or maybe it was I mean
Was good he was good he wasn’t bad at all wasn’t he was good um I don’t know but yeah you’re right we always get a better Vibe on the Oasis class ships I mean when I walk into the pub on an oasis class ship people
Cheer um it it’s in the Vlog so it’s true it’s on the Internet it’s true you have to find it in the Vlogs um but it was uh nobody cheered when I walked in I was I mean we were not we were not welcomed in that PG no it was pretty last night
It was pretty empty every night it was actually like it was never like hopping the only time it was hopping I think is when we did like our Awards thing last hey we bring the party we bring the party um but um there were two other music venues on
That ship that I think were well above average and one was the Music Hall which is the two venue um that was the best music hall we’ve ever been in we well yeah no hands down that was definitely the best music hall we’ve ever been in it was the most
Hopping it was the best band it was tobly the band you had a very good what they were called were they called ionic fan they were fantastic you guys were amazing I mean iconic fan was phenomenal they were they just played every demographic they were great with the
Kids they were great with the adults they it was awesome they were super awesome you had a really good EXP experience on Oasis with arom myth though which was less than a good experence when they were but that was just like their little set yeah and then
It was over like iconic band was there like they were there all the time and they were playing like crazy and they were there just like and they did every set like all the time and it was just the place to be so we’re referring to the brass and Bach
That’s down in the deck four royal Esplanade yeah um and it was just it it was right outside of sarentos so we would go get our pizza and then we wanted to go in and grab a drink we actually would eat our pizza sometimes in the in the pub yeah um Julie says
Didn’t care for the Music Hall it was so crowded but the music was good and I’ll tell you what it was crowded it was yeah because the music was good because the music it was now if you went upstairs there were some pool tables in the back and there
Was a bar upstairs and some nice seating and the music wasn’t quite as loud and it wasn’t crowded it was it was nice back where you could see things going on but a bunch of other people that we were traveling with like were like the dancers of the cruise and loved being
Out on the dance floor and they were just you know they were tearing up a rug they were they were dancing everywhere involved in everything it was awesome to see one of my favorite venues on a Royal Caribbean ship is the scoer bar yeah I love and on embarcation day I got really
Bad news oh yeah I know I had heard that my buddy viny was GNA be on the ship in the scooter bar and I was so excited that he was going to be there because we had met him on a previous sailing and and he’s awesome if you get the opportunity to uh
Be fers ship he’s he’s one of the best um but I tell you Nick gave you a run for your money Nick was awesome too Nick was really really good Nick what Nick did was he had so many of these like mashup songs where he would just put
Like part of a song here and part of a song there and put them together and like he was really talented at that really really good uh and we love sco bar and I loved the layout of this scoter bar so much better than some of
The others um both I you know I can I can speak for Liberty of the Seas Liberty is in a weird spot I can speak for Oasis of the Seas I can speak for harmony the Seas but like the the layout of this um scooter bar was just very
Flowing the was in the middle there was open seating sorry guys it was just really easy so all right so that’s our now we didn’t the one thing we didn’t really talk so let’s let’s take two minutes real quick and talk about the clex because the clex is
A unique venue to the quantum class ships that we really didn’t discuss much and when we talked to the kids we said give us your top three favorite things give us three things that he didn’t like so much and all the kids said that they really like the clex but I felt like
Favorite thing the clex had some very high Pros but also some some some some cons because the things that they do in that clex you’ve got your bumper cars you’ve got your roller skating you’ve got your cornhole tournament you’ve got your laser tag uh what else did they do
That was really cool to see them set up in tear down because they did this whole but those those events um a lot of people want to get into them and the Royal Caribbean app needs some work it was very difficult to sign up for some of these things um and
That includes that includes iFly that includes Northstar uh that includes a lot of these things where we had and I know a lot of people members of our group had the same difficulties getting reservations for these uh there are times that these things are complimentary you just have to reserve
Them in advance um and I actually talked to the sports manager who said that they were he was he’s the he’s like I’m the one who releases them at six o’clock and I’m like well you didn’t do a very good job well he did but what happens is you
Have to close out of the app and reopen the app and if you don’t know that you don’t get a reservation so like literally we knew it was going to open we knew we were going to be able to try to do it and then we couldn’t uh Tony
Says I like Quantum class ships but hate the clex so what we felt this clex was missing is what they’ve fixed on the quantum the ultra Quantum class ships so I feel like that observation area above the clex needed a venue it needed a place to sit and hang out like a
Playmakers which is on any kind of like I think what would have been nice is to have like a bar and any kind of like snack venue now the hot dog place was like downstairs and off in the corner very awkward very very weird and just
The layout of it just didn’t flow no it wasn’t you know the there were tons of kids in there the whole time they had the Xboxes going they had the pingpong going they had the Foosball going so the kids were having a blast but the complaint out of our
Kids well they didn’t have a complaint they loved it well they loved it but when when you talk to Bri about a lot of these things you know our kids for as I’m good now for as outgoing as they are they can also often be shy and yeah it’s difficult for them
To work their way into a crowded venue and with 1700 kids on that ship it was difficult I think you know we were talking to some kids that said they they went to play basketball and they got to shoot one shot you know like it it’s it’s you know
It’s it was a lot of crowd for that week and a lot of a lot of lot of scheduling bumper cars was only offered at 4M which is a very kid-friendly event oh yeah a lot of kids go to the early seating which is at 5 that that
Was a horrible time there was no good time to do the bumper cars and like our kids really wanted to do that we wanted to do it it was fun it’s fun want to do it but when they only offer it at four 4:30 and literally you have to be at
Dinner at 5: like how do you do that like you know so I we did do it I don’t even remember how we did it first same thing with the scheduling of the Northstar now we were fortunate enough to get up in the Northstar most of us
Katie freaked out so I stayed down below but Northstar I went up with the boys fun thing uh yeah iFly um you know again some some difficulties with scheduling but we were fortunate enough to get in there for a minute until until there was a medical evacuation and they resched us
But you know again prayers to prayers to that person who had to be evacuated and you know I’ve never seen anything more amazing than uh than that Coast Guard helicopter getting that person off that ship that was that was an amazing thing to watch yeah on coast guard for that
Because they were able to get the person off the ship they were able to do it safely and we know they were flying in windy conditions it was it was scary scary scary amazing um but we did ask the kids we said what were your top what
Were your TP things and I’m surprised none of them said Flow Rider even though Brian got to go with the team club the one night three times they had reserved times just for the teen club to go on the Flow Rider and Brian went back there
For a little bit and that was that was pretty cool he got to do that with some other teens his age uh I was happy that he was involved in the team club finally because he they they don’t always participate in that stuff but he was
More into it I think maybe because there were like older activities and and other things he could do but he definitely was more involved than ever before in in the teen club or the kids club so uh Julie said it was we did the bumper cars the
Night that we didn’t eat in the main dining room I thought we did eat in the main dining I thought we went right from the bumper cars to the main dining room it was it bumper cars to close to Kitchen I don’t remember I’ll have to
Look through our our look it up you’ll see it in the Vlogs you’ll see it in the Vlogs definitely it’s amazing how much you remember I I’m not kidding you this Cruise feels like it was a year ago I can’t believe it we were we were just
Getting home one week ago all right I’m not kidding you I it feels like it was forever well top three top three what were your favorite so we asked the kids so we want to know if you if you’ve sailed on anthem of the Seas let us know in the
Chat what were your top three favorite things about the anthem of the Seas we now we’ve talked about the entertainment we’ve we’ talked about the food we’ve talked about the music props to the cruise director uh the crew was fantastic uh we didn’t really talk much
About 270 which was a really unique I loved 270 and we didn’t get to spend a lot of time on it we did not because we were busy doing other things but I absolutely loved that venue I really did I I loved how it converted from like
Bingo to like Night Show and like you know there’s people rising up out of the flooor and there’s like the everything’s converting and changing oh you just LED hun Lee made a nice Martini I just I loved 270 I thought it was a really good venue um I’m sorry
That we didn’t get to appreciate it more because we really were not there that often no the sailway party was even there but the sailway this was the best sailway we ever had oh the weather was fantastic it was perfect weather it was actually really warm for November we
Were outside hot and in t-shirts passing the Statue of Liberty I mean nobody wants to be inside in n70 so we all stayed outside so Shane’s top three are one the group a a uh two most of the Crew Entertainment and three the amazing sailway so uh Shaina thank you much for
Your for your kind words there and uh if you would like to join the group uh next year again will’ll be on the Freedom of the Seas on November 3rd of 2024 and maybe just maybe the 22 25 group Cruise might be planned I I think there’s there’s definitely something coming up in
2025 but it may be stay tuned it may we’ll have the details may be available within potentially within the next week all right stay tuned guys is any thumbs up if you’re looking for a 2025 group cruise that you might be in interested in just just saying um uh Julie Amos
Said her three favorites were Schooners shows and Northstar and Julie we understand that you didn’t want to steal Shane’s number one by putting us in so we understood that you took numbers two three and four Julie for you uh um so what you go through and you
Read the comments what people are saying but I’m gonna say y yti has joined us hello yti than you for thank you for joining us Amy Says indoor pool was great and we actually talked about it we were going to say that was a negative
For us that was that was negative for me we just didn’t go we didn’t utilize it because the weather was so nice we didn’t need to which is surprising November out of New Jersey right um it was less crowded than the other pool it definitely was as she said indor pool
Was great and the bar crew in there were awesome yes we also loved Coco K now we love we always love Coco K and South Beach Cabana and the sailway nothing like cruising by Lady Liberty that you know what the captain did a great job of getting us up phenomenal Captain we did
The kids all got to meet him too and which was really nice but like we had a really good Captain I really liked him um so Brian little BR he’s our oldest he said that his favorites were the North Star U he likes get me him and Kevin got
To go up there um the iFly which they didn’t get their second turn they didn’t get to do whatever and the SE Flex hold on time out what sugar already you’re all booked up for 2025 already and you didn’t book anything with us stop um we’ll just have to book something
With her then you let us know where you’re going we’ll come with you so yeah so Northstar I fly and clex where Brian’s c um Kevin said that he liked the North Star too which is funny because both boys absolutely loved it Katie was too
Scared to go up in it she was yeah ter terrified she’s like I am not going up there and even one of the crew members came up to her and was like I’ll take you up there speedy oh Joanna was so sweet yeah she’s like you know you could
Be with me and I’ll take care of you and Katie still was not having it she was just not going to go up there but it was really cool views I loved being able to see the shift from up there um so yeah U Kevin said Northstar iFly also which
Again was interrupted by the medical emergency that we had um but they did get to do it briefly and like very briefly and then the C+ um Kev also like the food but he likes so I guess Bri and Kev are the same more star I fly and sex
Um and Katie’s favorites she liked those bumper cars in the clex uh she said she also like the I fly but her number one is going to be the same number one that she has on cruise ship hold on we said Katie what was your favorite thing on
The ship and she said ice cream ice cream ice cream now she claims to have had 100 ice cream cones on this trip I don’t know if I believe her or not uh first of all they are very small and she doesn’t really need the cone so she
Basically takes two bites of ice cream but at the same time um she did not have that many on this one she she’s had quite a bit on other ships um Can can I say What She Likes about this different lines yeah I don’t remember what it was
Oh you don’t remember so we said K we were asking the kids you know what cruise lines they like and what they like better or whatever and Katie goes well on Carnival I’m allowed to make my own ice cream cone but on Royal they they make it for me so I think Kat’s
Vote is for Carnival because she gets to make her own ice cream con yeah so Katie’s favorite is definitely ice cream um what did you like uh what did I like well I already said I like the scooner bar I just I I like sitting down and just talking to
People and and enjoying a drink and listening to piano music and uh singing along to the piano player and you know this time I didn’t I didn’t you know I wasn’t made to to dance like Vincy made me dance so I didn’t have to dance in
The Spooner bar this time um yeah but you didn’t request way to the world I I did actually multiple times oh he didn’t play it he didn’t know it yeah that’s right he knew a lot of great stuff and he had was really good at what he did
Yeah wasn’t going to play that one I loved our room that was that was our room had a stay tuned for the room tour guys it was a really good room it was perfect for family and five and the one thing that we really didn’t get to spend
Enough time on and I I say this we both agree we we both said this this is funny because we didn’t spend any time there at all uh Daniel field says we made it hey welcome in hi Daniel hi Nancy but um the solarium we don’t
Typically get to spend any time in we don’t get to we have three little kids and you know what like we’re not going to send them off on the ship where they can’t reach us and you know we’re not the parents that aren’t watching our kids we’re watching them um and we’re
With them there were there were some on this ship that were not watching their kids there were some on this ship where the kids should have been watching the parents I think anyway um we both said that we both really liked the salarium on this
Ship a very good I did do a short so if you guys go into our shorts you can see like I do like a whole walkr in the morning got to wave high to to YY who was the the bartender in there we forgot about this one but um Amy said how about
That Whirlpool pool my kids around around then around then around then around then around I thought I’d get dizzy and I was surprised that I didn’t so so they yeah they have a whirl poool that just it’s like this round pool and it spins and you just go in and you swim
Around for like they give you like 10 minutes in it and then they make you get out that was that was fun interesting my but my favorites was I love the salarium I love 270 it just happens when I talk of course and I really like the Northstar
So yeah yeah but uh but yeah it was it was a new ship for us it was uh it was an interesting ship for as often as that ship goes out of bay uh and us living in New Jersey that was definitely a new one
For us and uh seeing a lot of comments uh here about Shaina next year’s all about new ships for them uh yti says next year is all about new ships for her the icon twice Odyssey and then Utopia um but uh I saw somebody else say something about
But yeah new ship so we we have a very exciting uh 2024 coming up uh icon of the seas in 69 days um another group cruise on Freedom of the Seas in November we’re GNA plug some other stuff in the middle um already looking at announcing that 2025 group Cruise so
Uh Richard asked if we’re going to be on the coupe cruise in March of 2025 I don’t know I don’t know unfortunately though I probably not I don’t think probably not because of the kids their activities and and things like that that’s not the right weeks for
Us yachty says wait you guys are on the inaugural oh oh yes yachty yes we are and I hope you are too uh because I know you said you’re gonna be there icon so we have not gotten the opportunity to cruise with you yet uh but we would love
Uh for that to happen so uh we will see Daniel field says we have nine booked and two unbooked oh two unbook that will happen I Daniel I hope one of those two is Freedom of the Seas November 3rd 2024 uh with the Howe Cruise group
Cruise uh out of Fort Lauderdale uh but we we shall see we shall see we shall see but in the meantime uh we have a very busy week uh we have to get a very very early tomorrow for your test uh then we have a lot of planning to get
Done we have some uh things to square away some ducks to get in a row uh uh uh stuff we got stuff that we got to take care of um uh yachi says to the Shakedown a few weeks before the inaugural as well well yti if you can
Get an extra invite let Royal Caribbean know because ours must have gotten lost in the mail uh we asked asked them several times where our invite was and uh they’re not answering the phone so uh we’ll have to uh get back in touch there so
Um Julie says next year I will also have my first side by side the Howe cruise and second part of will be the how we Cruise group cruises the second part of the side by side so it just goes to show you uh even if you have other cruises
Booked as long as it’s not the exact same days as aru you should come with us um so uh that said that said let’s get some sleep let’s get everything put together let’s get the rest of the details of our 2025 group Cruise put together so that
Way we can get that announced within the next week and have a nice week stay tuned watch the channel make sure you’re subscribed and have that notification Bell on because you never know when we’re going to pop up and give you information that you want to know uh but until then see on
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