Oh Canada!
June 5, 2025
Sea Day & Victoria, BC Canada
I personally LOVE Canada and the kids loved it too!
Morning
Natalie and I woke up around 6:30AM but it was actually 7:30AM ship time as we lost an hour during the night due to time change. The boys must have been REALLY tired as they were not awake yet and when I called their room I woke them. We all went to the MDR for breakfast hoping the service would be faster than the first day and it was. The food options were great and we were in and out of the MDR in 50 minutes. Once again, our growing boy had 2 breakfast entrees and 2 orders of pancakes- and ate it all.
The last day of the cruise always makes me sad!
Deck 5 near the Middle Elevators. The messages changed daily!
The MDR Breakfast menu!
The Breakfast Burrito-4.0
This is really good and has lots of meat and eggs.
Buttermilk Pancakes- 4.0
Traditional but yummy!
On the floor in the American Icon grill- I loved this!
We then went to the Royal Esplanade on deck 4 for our morning Starbucks before going to the Schooner Bar for morning puzzle and morning trivia. We did not win the general knowledge trivia but we stayed for the "Who Am I?" trivia and Chris actually won this trivia by a landslide. Natalie and I left a little early to go the Dunder Mifflin (The Office) trivia in the Music Hall and Chris joined shortly after. All 3 of us combined did very well and got 13/15 and took 2nd place. I was kinda bummed as I have won this trivia before but this guy chose practically every question from season 7 (the one where Michael leaves) and I am not as fresh on that one!
The pastry offerings at the Café Promenade on Deck 4.
Morning Trivia in Schooner Bar.
It is getting warmer... Yay!
Afternoon
We decided to try and make lunch "quick" by all going to the Windjammer. The kids LOVE this for lunch but I just don't enjoy scrambling for a table with 5K other people. But the food was not "terrible" so there's that! After lunch we went to walk around and ensure we have seen (and done) everything on the Anthem.
I love the celebrations Royal Caribbean does with things like this!
The Windjammer offered mussels and Luke took advantage. He had 4 plates!
Lunch views from the aft of the Windjammer seating!
We all went to the Star Wars trivia in the Music Hall around 2PM. Chris did very well and only missed one question but tied for the win. However, the OKLAHOMA Cruise Activity worker gave Chris a prize (Royal Caribbean keychain) anyway! #BoomerSooner Vincent!
My heart is happy... This is my favorite place to be!
This was the indoor pool at 4:30PM.
For the rest of the afternoon we lounged around the indoor pool decks and tried to soak in the very last bit of the rest and relaxation before tomorrow was disembarkation day. The kids swam for nearly 2 hours while I tried to pack our suitcases to be put out in the hallway before 10PM. TIP- Royal Caribbean offers 2 styles of disembarking: Self Assist or Luggage Assist. Self Assist means you wheel your own luggage off the ship and it is called by decks. This is the FASTEST and EARLIEST way to get off a ship. If you have somewhere to be or a flight to catch, this is a must! Luggage Assist means you place your luggage out in the hall the night before and Royal will take it off the ship for you and you will retrieve it once back on land at the terminal. This allows a more relaxed disembark experience and our most recent 10-12 cruises we have opted for this service. But it really boils down to what you and your family need!
Evening
The Anthem of the Seas was set to port in Victoria, BC from 6 to 10PM and arrived just after 5PM. It seemed as if everyone wanted to get off the ship in Canada and with a very short port window, the crowds came out. In fact, this is the ONLY time we felt crowds and all the people. However, the Anthem staff handled this incredible well and we were off the ship and on Canadian land by 6:15PM.
We did not purchase a Royal Caribbean excursion in Victoria as there is not much to do and the offers were VERY over priced for what you get. We opted to pay for the "Shuttle" into downtown Victoria where all of the shops and restaurants for $15/ per person (USD). This was CRAZY high and in hindsight we should have walked the 2.5 mile roundtrip into town but Luke was anxious about missing the ship and it just seemed more convenient. As my grandpa would say "that's how they get ya" and he would be right. $60 for a family of four to get to downtown is just too much but we paid it... They got me!
Once in downtown Victoria we walked to the Victoria legislative building and the surrounding area before hitting up the souvenir shops for any and everything Canada! The kids LOVED being in Canada and we all wish this stop would have been longer than 4 hours. Before getting back on the shuttle we grabbed some rolled ice cream and it was delicious. This Ice Cream excursion cost $56 for all four of us and it was just "regular" ice cream. Canada is EXPENSIVE!
Hello from the Canadian Legislative Building!
They loved getting to see all the architecture.
You could go in if you want but we opted to not since we were on a tight schedule!
The Davis Family loves Canada.
We loved Victoria!
Walking to the Legislative Building is this "Welcome to Victoria" greenery.
The Empress Hotel just north of the Legislative Building.
Welcome to Victoria.
This Orca greenery has been here since our previous trip in 2016.
Time for some ice cream... Expensive Ice Cream but it was yummy!
Greetings from Canada!
I really love this port and REALLY wish it was a longer port call!
The Anthem of the Seas was only in port for 4 hours.
The shuttle got us back to the Anthem of the Seas around 7:45PM just in time to play the American Anthem Trivia at the Schooner Bar. There were hardly any people there and I actually WON that trivia on my own while the kids played cards. That would be our THIRD win of the day and FOURTH of the cruise- our highest EVER!
The kids loved playing cards while we WON trivia!
We then went to our last dinner in the Chic Dining Room. The Main Dining Room looked like a forgotten place on this night as many were still in port. The service was once again EXCEPTIONAL and with so few people in the MDR, we were in and out within 45 minutes. We LOVED our waiter Remer and Shane- They were an excellent pair!
The Royal Caribbean Bon Voyage Menu.
Classic Shrimp Cocktail-4.0
This is always a winner and we all loved it!
The Greek Tapas Plate- 4.0
We LOVED the Greek Salad.
Seafood Cake-4.5
I REALLY liked this appetizer.
Flat Iron Steak- 2.5
I don't know why I was expecting a Chops steak and this was anything but.
Salmon Teriyaki- 4.5
This was cooked perfectly and very flavorful!
Apple Crumb Cake- 3.5
This was rich!
After dinner we went back to the room to place all of our suitcases in the hallway for disembarkation the next morning. Natalie and Luke went to play Ping-Pong while Chris and I went back to Vintages for an 11th hour cheers. We sat in Vintages too long but it felt GREAT. We called it a night shortly after midnight as we need rest for our terrible travel day to follow.
We loved this last day onboard the Anthem of the Seas and we all LOVED Victoria- in fact, it is Natalie's favorite port of this trip!
Day 7 was a success and we LOVED Canada!
Up Next... Our 24+ hour journey back to God's Country!
God is Good... ALL THE TIME!
Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas- March 2019
The Norwegian Breakaway- November 2018
Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas- 2018
Carnival Legend- ALASKA- 2016
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