Written by Kim
Today we left Sydney on Anthem of the Seas on a 10 night cruise around New Zealand. We’ve been on Anthem 4 times now so know the ship well. This cruise was pricey but we booked it with my former colleague, Melissa. She’s awesome and saw a big price drop to make it more affordable. We booked a balcony guarantee for the first time which is where they pick your cabin also because the price was $900 a person lower. Our cabin is a bit obstructed but the location is good on Deck 6. It’s a bit lower deck than we normally have so a little noisier because it’s closer to the Music Hall and Esplanade but we are happy were midship.
Sailing from Sydney is as exciting as sailing from Cape Liberty because instead of the Verrazano & Statue of Liberty you have the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Sailaway was gorgeous!
The boarding process was pretty smooth. A bit chaotic on the pier but once we were upstairs we were onboard in a few minutes. We headed to 270 for some lunch before going to the pool deck for Sailaway.
We hung at the North Star bar, chatted with a bunch of Aussies and burned through our 5 free Diamond + drinks by Sailaway so needed a brief siesta before dinner.
Dinner tonight was at Chops, the steakhouse. We bought the ultimate dining package which gives us unlimited specialty restaurants when we got our big price drop. We like to go a few nights to the specialty restaurants and the price for unlimited was $300 so it just made sense since we’re alone on this cruise. We likely will eat lighter in each meal but can enjoy our favorites in the 4 specialty restaurants – Chops (steak), Jaime’s (Italian), Izumi (Asian), and Wonderland (unique). We’ve done Wonderland once and it was a bit weird but fun so we’re going to try it again since it’s included in our package.
I was craving something sweet so had a coffee and chocolate cake. I was expected like a lava cake but this one was sticky like a piece of fudge. It was ok but now I’m not craving that anymore
We went to the show, Spectra Cabaret, in 270 which is a neat venue but the technology stopped working part way through the show so we will have to try to see it another day
We are at sea the next few days so probably will post in another couple of days. Until then…
