Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog podcast, a week of look into the world of Royal Caribbean cruising.

I'm your house Matt Hodgeberg, and this is episode number 118. Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog podcast, a week of look into the world of Royal Caribbean cruising. I'm your house Matt Hodgeberg, and this is episode number 118. Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas has gotten a lot of attention since she debuted earlier this year, and she's arrived in New York City area just this week where she'll find her brand new home at Cape Liberty. I have the pleasure of taking a quick two-night cruise aboard Anthem of the Seas this weekend, And so on this week's podcast episode, we're going to preview my plans on Anthem of the Seas,

as well as discuss what I have planned on board, and discuss why Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship

is so darn exciting. I also have a very important announcement to make in this episode,

and we have some great list of feedback to share. Here we go.

When Royal Caribbean launched Quantum the Seas last year, just around this time, in fact,

there was a lot of attention for her, but her time in North America was very quick and fleeting.

In fact, by April the following year, she was already on her way over to China to find her

new home there. And so I think for a lot of people that listen to this podcast, I think a lot of people that are English speaking, that's primarily our audience, you know, that ship was almost a flash in the pan in the sense that it was here one day and gone the next. And I think a lot of people liked it, but it was just so quick. Everything happened very quickly, and it was just over before we knew it.

So enter Anthem of the Seas, her sister ship, and Anthem of the Seas is a much longer stay here.

In fact, Royal Caribbean has Anthem the C's plan to be staying in the New York City area indefinitely, at least for all the plans that we're aware of.

And there's basically all indications to show that. That is definitely the plan.

And so with Anthem of the Seas arrival, this is really our first look at a quantum

class ship the second time around, if that makes any sense.

And I look at it that way because, you know, again, quantum of the seas was so different

and so new, but it was here so briefly, really, in the grand scheme of deployments, that she just, we never really got a chance to know her very well before she went over to China. So with Anthem of the Seas, I look at this almost as a second date, if you will. The first date, you go to the movie, you don't talk a whole lot, but the second date, you got to really start to know somebody, or at least that's what I thought I told myself when I was in college and tried to date, being the geek that I am. Anyway, so this week we're previewing my upcoming careers on Anthem of the Season. I got to tell you, Anthem of the Season has got me very excited, and I I think a lot of people as well, because it offers a lot. It's coming into a prime area right here in the New York City area, and it's going to be a ship that's going to be staying here for a while, and boy, it's really Royal Caribbean's best step forward right now in terms of what they can offer. And, you know, even with some other newer ships around the corner, nonetheless, Anthem of the Seas is going to be a really major factor for Royal Caribbean.

For the... And, you know, even with some other newer ships around the corner, nonetheless, Anthem of the seas is going to be a really major factor for Royal Caribbean, for the foreseeable future, certainly. And we're talking about my cruise. And, of course, I'm on a two-night media cruise, essentially. It's a preview. I'm a guest of Royal Caribbean. And it's a cruise to nowhere, sailing out of Cape Liberty, New Jersey, going nowhere for two days and then coming right back. So it's a quickie. And certainly knowing that, based also on my previous experiences, I was on the quantum of the seas for a two-night cruise, which you can reference our show notes for today's episode. And I'll be able to link to you back there. So you can listen to my thoughts before and after on quantum of the seas, give you an idea. So a two-nighter cruise, and this is true for any cruise out there, it doesn't matter what class of ship. Boy, is it, it's the best of times and it's the worst of times. And I mean that because it's the best of times because, hey, I'm going on a cruise. Nobody is going to complain about going on a cruise. But of course, it's only two nights, and it's very quick. And you really, you know, after one night, your first full day on board, day two, that's it, it's over. You're going off the ship the next day. So it's a very quick experience. You only have a little amount of time to see things, and certainly I'm cognizant of that. When I was on my two-nighter of quantum visits, I never made it over to the gym or spa. I never saw a lot of facilities because, you know, you just only have so much time on there. And in addition to that, because of the nature of this cruise, this is in sort of a vacation in the sense I'll be sitting by the pool all day. This is a working media cruise, believe it or not. and my obligation is to you to be able to report on it, to be able to research the different

venues, someone's got to eat the sushi, and explore the ship really to be able to give you

firsthand knowledge and accounts of what Anthem of the Seas is all about.

Now, in my staying here on Anthem of the Seas, I have right now a stateroom on deck six.

It is a D3 category balcony state room.

And this will be who doesn't enjoy a balcony, certainly.

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