To celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary...
My wife and I are going to be sailing on this beautiful ship:
Anthem Of The Seas
Royal Caribbean's newest and most advanced ship.
And even though we've been on 34 cruises since 1996...
We're kind of excited about this one!
Royal Caribbean has 7 different classes of ships in their fleet.
Anthem Of The Seas is in the Quantum class...
And that's their top of the line...
Incorporating all sorts of brand-new technology.
So, I'm really interested to see what the state-of-the-art cruise ship has to offer.
In this video, I'm going to show you some of the things about Anthem Of The Seas that I'm most excited about.
She's got some very unusual features... ones you won't find on other cruise lines.
And if you're into cruise ships, you've probably already heard about some of them already.
Like North Star... a capsule at the end of a long robotic arm...
That gets lifted up above the ship to give you some amazing 360 degree views.
This is such a great idea! And it's nice that Royal Caribbean doesn't try to nickel and dime the passengers by charging extra for a ride.
It lifts you up about 300 feet above the level of the ocean, for some spectacular views.
Another unique feature that's been getting a lot of attention is called Ripcord.
It's a skydiving simulator. I don't think I'm actually going to try this myself...
But I can't wait to watch!
This is definitely something you'll never see on the Cunard Line.
Another onboard attraction you may have heard of is the Bionic bar.
The media seems to love this.
You make your drink selection on a little tablet computer and then a robotic bartender does the rest.
Is this the future of bartending?
Probably not, but it's fun to watch.
They've spent a huge amount on technology on Anthem Of The Seas.
If you've been on cruise ships before you know how slow the internet connection usually is.
But not on this ship! She's got the fastest internet connection at sea.
There's also a smartphone app that you can use onboard...
To do things like making dinner reservations or getting tickets to a show.
But the coolest part is that they attach RFID tags to your luggage...
So the app can tell you exactly when your luggage is delivered to your cabin.
Such a great idea!
I hope all cruise ships get that sometime soon.
But if you want to see the most amazing use of technology on Anthem Of The Seas...
Just head to the back of the ship to the place they call 270.
During the day it's just basically a lounge, but at night it totally transforms...
And comes alive in one amazing display of entertainment technology.
Performers don't just walk onto the stage from backstage, because there isn't a backstage.
They either rise up to the stage on elevators built into the set...
Or they drop down to the stage from above.
I can't wait to see it.
Here's something else I'm looking forward to...
Only Royal Caribbean would put bumper cars on a cruise ship.
There's an impressive list of things that Royal Caribbean has put on their cruise ships...
That no one had ever thought to do before.
Rock climbing walls
Ice skating rinks
And then there's the FlowRider.
Now I've been on a couple of other Royal Caribbean ships with FlowRiders...
And even though I have no interest in actually trying the FlowRider myself...
I really always enjoy watching other people on the FlowRider.
We'll be onboard Anthem Of The Seas for 12 days and that's a lot of hours to try to fill up.
Whenever I can't find anything else to do, it's always fun to go watch the people on the FlowRider.
The thing I enjoy the most? It's watching the wipeouts!
Now let's talk about the big production shows... with all the singing and dancing, amazing sets, lighting, and special effects.
I mentioned that we've sailed with four different cruise lines over the years.
Royal Caribbean does the best job of putting on those big stage shows.
If you like going to see a big production show Royal Caribbean is definitely the line for you.
One of the things I really love about cruising is all the live music.
And on Anthem Of The Seas, they built a great new venue for it called the Music Hall.
I'm really looking forward to hearing and seeing some great live music here.
I just love watching a live musical performance.
Back at home, I never get to do it. On a cruise ship it's so much fun to see.
Another thing I really enjoy about cruising is spending time in the water...
Either at a warm beach or back on the ship in a swimming pool or Jacuzzi.
It looks like Anthem Of The Seas has some really nice pools onboard.
And since it sails year-round out of New Jersey, where the winters can be a bit wintry...
They were smart enough to build two different pool areas that are fully enclosed in glass.
I think this is going to be my main hangout. It's called The Solarium.
It's an adults-only area at the front of the ship.
Look at all that glass letting the sun in by keeping the wind out.
This is an idea that Carnival really needs to steal.
Carnival has an adults-only area called the serenity retreat...
And on most of their ships it's right up at the front of the ship.
When the ships underway, it's just too windy up there.
Royal Caribbean was really smart to take their relaxing area at the front of the ship and enclose it in glass.
Now let's talk about food and dining.
The whole dining experience and especially the variety and quality of the food that the ship offers...
Makes a huge difference in the overall cruise experience.
If you spend 12 days on a cruise ship and you don't like the kind of food they offer... that's a big problem.
One thing I've learned after 34 cruises is that I really like the newer and bigger cruise ships...
Because they offer the widest variety of food and dining options.
Royal Caribbean has a really nice steak house called chops Grill.
Every meal I've ever had at Chops Grill during a Royal Caribbean cruise has been a winner.
So, we've already made reservations to eat there twice during our cruise.
Once at the beginning of the cruise and once towards the end.
I'm pretty sure I won't be wearing my skinny jeans when I get back from this cruise!
Another thing I like about Royal Caribbean is that at their pizza place Sorrento's...
You can either get pizza by the slice or they'll make a custom pizza for you.
I always find that when I get a pepperoni pizza on a cruise ship...
There's nowhere near enough pepperoni on it.
So, I like to be able to have them make up a special one with extra pepperoni.
Anthem Of The Seas is a beautiful ship and I really like what they've done with the decor.
It's so much more sophisticated looking than many of the other cruise ships I've been on.
But there is one goofy thing that they've done.
I guess what they were trying to do was be whimsical and fun when they came up with this idea.
They decided it would be great to put a 32 foot tall giraffe up on the top deck.
Now perhaps you remember that back in February Anthem of The Seas cruised right in to a giant storm off the coast of the Carolinas with hurricane-force winds.
That giraffe must really be anchored down well... because after all that, he's still there!
What you're looking at here is one of the most expensive suites on the ship.
We've been very fortunate and have stayed in some really nice Suites during a few of our cruises...
But this time we'll be enjoying a much more affordable standard balcony cabin.
Maybe someday I'll get to experience one of these two-level suites... but not this time!
Anthem Of The Seas cruises out of Cape Liberty cruise port in Bayonne, New Jersey.
Right across the bay from New York City.
This will be our first time cruising from there, so I don't know exactly what to expect.
Most of the pictures and videos I've seen of Anthem Of The Seas in the New York area have been these beautiful night shots, but...
Our departure's scheduled for 3 PM, so I suspect it won't be quite as romantic as these pictures make it look.
What you've seen in this video today is my expectations for what our cruise on Anthem Of The Seas will be like.
Be sure to check back in with me after the cruise to see how it all turned out.