Okay, so after our return to cruising with the 3-night cruise on Scarlet Lady and combined with the fact we had to cancel our South Africa trip for the second year running, we had a big rethink about staycation cruises, and with holiday time booked from work, we decided to fill one of the spare weeks with this cruise. With 3 possible cruises to choose from, we selected Anthem of the Seas because if we had to stay on board, then we thought there would be more to do on this ship, the other two itineraries were very similar and were on Celebrity Silhouette & Regal Princess.
At the time of booking, the only way to get off the ship was to take an official excursion (a bubble tour), but within days of our taking the plunge, this changed with Royal Caribbean following Celebrity’s decision to allow passengers to get on and off the ship with the need to take a ship’s excursion.
Our cabin selection was simple enough and we decided on cabin 10244 which has an extended balcony, hopefully, our optimism will be rewarded with some reasonable weather with which to enjoy it a bit.
The itinerary has presented us with 3 new ports even though we won’t actually leave the British Isles. Neither of us has been to Liverpool or Greenock/Glasgow but I have been to Belfast many years ago, so we will be up for a bit of walking and exploring at each of the ports.
The Covid testing is a little different this time with Royal Caribbean requiring a negative PCR test within 3 days of boarding, all complimentary courtesy of the cruise line. Mask wearing is required when moving around the ship interiors but can be removed once seated. On the open decks, you are not required to wear a mask unless you are in a busy area so things are not unlike the UK rules that were used in 2020.
| Date | Location | Arrival | Departure |
| Sunday, September 19, 2021 | Southampton, England | 6:00 PM | |
| Monday, September 20, 2021 | At Sea | ||
| Tuesday, September 21, 2021 | Liverpool, England | 5:00 AM | 3:10 PM |
| Wednesday, September 22, 2021 | Greenock (Glasgow), Scotland | 5:20 AM | 5:50 PM |
| Thursday, September 23, 2021 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 9:45 AM | 9:30 PM |
| Friday, September 24, 2021 | At Sea | ||
| Saturday, September 25, 2021 | At Sea | ||
| Sunday, September 26, 2021 | Southampton, England | 5:30 AM |
So, here’s to cruise number two post lockdown, and because you are reading this then the good news is that we have both tested negative and are green to go.
I should have added that Anthem is on of our favourite ships and I’m sure you’ll have a blast.
Don’t forget they’re bumper cars and not dodgems…get stuck in.
My OH was like a mad woman.
Yes, the bumper cars were great fun. We must easily have had 30 minutes on them because there was nobody waiting to get on.
Full steam ahead! Hope you have a fun time onboard and enjoy visiting some new ports.
Thanks, we will. Funny thing is when the cruise lines first announced these staycation cruises, our initial response was no way. Now on the eve of getting onboard, we are really looking forward to the experience.
Hi Wans
I’ll do the usual and cross post on Cruisedot if you don’t mind
Be my guest Garf