Splendor to Bermuda 10-23-15 Review

OK, so I didn't take a single note on this cruise. Blame it on having a cruise buddy rather than being solo and, well, just being lazy. Normally, I take notes and get very detailed but, really, no one wants to know what time I got up and what I had for breakfast, right? ;)

Background: I had sailed on the 1-time Glory to Bermuda from Norfolk on 10/16/11. We only had 1-1/2 days in Bermuda and that isn't nearly enough time to see and do very much since you can't wander too far away on that 2nd morning. So when I saw the Splendor itinerary, I knew I wanted to return. Rather than booking immediately, I kept my eye on the prices and waited until I was on Pride in May 2014 and booked while on board. I even booked the same cabin I had on Glory, 2217, since it's a great cabin for a solo.

Turned out that someone I met on the Pride sailing was also booked on Splendor and her travel companion backed out, so I moved from my 1A to a Spa Balcony. Yes, I lost my $100 OBC, but still came out a few dollars ahead and was very much looking forward to the spa amenities.

This was my 25th cruise, #23 on Carnival. Cruise buddy is also Platinum but sails NCL frequently and is Platinum with them, also, so I got a lot of comparisons during the week. I've never really been interested in NCL but I have no basis for that feeling. I imagine I'll give them a try before too much longer since I plan on branching out once I get my Milestone cruise benefit (I have #24 and #25 booked but probably won't use my Milestone OBC on #25 since I'm going as cheaply as possible since the other costs are quite high (Vista Inaugural)).

We booked a room at the Courtyard downtown. They offered a cruise parking package with breakfast, but no shuttle. Since Norfolk doesn't have a regular cruiseline there, it was rather difficult to find even a parking package. Cruise buddy flew down from Baltimore, and I left work at about noon on Thursday for the drive, which is quite pleasant. I take I-85 to South Hill and Rt 58 for about another 100 miles. Since I'd sailed twice from Norfolk, I didn't have any problems finding my way to the hotel.

The hotel was nice with comfy beds. We decided to just eat downstairs in their little bistro. They had menus items paired with drinks as a "package" deal. Buddy had a quesadilla with margarita; I had a French Dip with Stella. After that, we just went out and walked around a bit. Walked through the mall then down the street, almost to the pier. I had been insisting for months that walking to the pier would be easy to do, and I think it would've been. But since we were told that the base fare for a taxi was only $3, we decided we'd do that in the morning. Big mistake!

Friday morning, we headed down for breakfast at the Bistro, which was pretty busy. We had placed our order and were having coffee when the fire alarm sounded. Yes, we had to evacuate, but we were able to go back in before the fire trucks even arrived, so it must have been a false alarm. Then we got to wait a rather long time for the food as I imagine they had to shut everything down in the kitchen when the alarm sounded. It eventually arrived and was quite good and filling.

We went to the room and rearranged our bags, put our tags on, loaded our wine bottles into the carry-on, and went down to check out and have the desk call for a taxi.

Let me just say that if Norfolk wants to attract a regular sailing, they need to get their act together with the traffic. There were no cops directing anything except right at the entrance to the pier, which is right downtown. It was a mess with people trying to get in to pick up disembarking passengers and to drop off new ones; cars entering from side streets and trying to weasel their way into the line that we'd been sitting in for quite a long time; shuttle buses from the parking, shuttles from the airport hotels. It was chaos. So our $5 taxi ride quickly turned into $10. But we finally were dropped off, gave our bags to a porter, tipped him $5 for 4 bags, and headed up the stairs to the terminal.

Priority had a separate luggage scanner, then we were sent into a separate room to wait for check-in, which didn't take too long. By the time we were checked in, they were already boarding #10, so we were directed to go straight to the front of the line, skipped the photo, and onto the ship.

They didn't sell FTTF on this cruise but they still had the signs on the fire doors saying that Plat/Diamond could go to their cabins. We headed to 1106, our spa balcony cabin in Spa deck, portside. It wasn't quite ready, so we just dropped out bags in a closet and headed out for lunch.

Here are a couple of pics of the cabin. Same as every other balcony cabin except for the decor, which I didn't really like any more than the standard orange-ish stuff.

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Cabin had the yellow Serenity beach towels rather than the standard blue towels. Of course, we had the wonderful Elemis spa goodies in the bathroom- 2 ea of body wash, shampoo, conditioner and lotion.

The robes and towels were a little higher quality than the usual, and, of course, the luxury slippers!! Which I didn't wear but brought home.

We also had our Platinum pins, complimentary water, and drink coupons as well as a flyer explaining the spa amenities.

I think we had lunch from the burrito bar. I love Blue Iguana, but really didn't think this was much different. Same options for the burrito, you just don't have the separate toppings bar. But they had chips here, which they don't at BI, so that made me happy (although I'm not supposed to eat hard, crunchy things thanks to my stupid braces).

At some point we did a spa tour and checked in afterwards where they put a little sticker on our S&S cards that said "spa cabin." Luggage was quite late arriving and came in two deliveries. Got unpacked and went to muster drill.

My past couple of cruises, I asked to be relieved from standing there as I've had back issues, but I went with buddy and stood and waited and waited. We were there from 4:40 until about 5:10 waiting for two women to stroll up at least 15 minutes late. Know what I think? If you can't show up for the drill, you don't sail. Wait 10 minutes and start the drill and put the selfish, inconsiderate clowns off the ship, then set sail. I'm so tired of "the rules don't apply to me" mentality seen everywhere these days. So many rude, loud, inconsiderate, and oblivious people out there it's depressing.

Buddy had a spa appointment at 6 and we had steakhouse reservations at 8. When 7:55 rolled around and she wasn't back, I went in search of her. She came out right at 8, did a super-fast clothing change, and we speed-walked all the way forward to aft searching for a way in to the steakhouse.

I'd had the surf and turf on my last two sailings but I'm such a creature of habit, I wanted to try something different. Mistake! And this is exactly WHY when I find something I like, I stick with it! I got the strip, and while it was good, it wasn't "steakhouse good," if you know what I mean. We did manage to drink the entire bottle of Merlot, which is miles better than the free Chardonnay, imho.

It was fairly late when we finished. Don't know if I stopped at the Roulette wheel or not. Probably. Casino wasn't nearly as nice to me as it was last cruise, but that's OK. I still have enough winnings from that one to cover my gambling on the next cruise, too.

Great start to your review!

Loving it!!!!

Patiently waiting for more.:D:D

Off to a great start!!

Looking forward to more!

Kim

We had quite a discussion about ship time vs island time on the boards before sailing. I told folks that other than Bermuda and Hawaii, I couldn't remember EVER changing to local time. But when you're in port for 3 days, it only makes sense to change to local, especially since so any people rely on the public transportation in Bermuda.

There was NOTHING on Friday's Fun Times about a time change. But there was a blurb on the back page about "always keep your time on ship's time, unless otherwise notified." But when we returned to the cabin on Friday night and looked at Saturday's Fun Times, there was printed on the bottom of the front page "Important: Please note that the Ship's Time has moved forward an hour to reflect the local Bermuda Time. Always keep watches on Ship's Time."

Anyone else think that's a little vague? They should've had a BIG NOTE on Friday's FunTimes to turn you clocks forward an hour before going to bed, just like when the time changes at home.

Anyway, we were going to go to Brunch. We had an informal Meet & Greet schedule for 10:30 across from the Coffee shop. We're standing in line and look up and the clock says 9:10. Not 8:10 like my watch said, because I hadn't change it because the stupid FunTimes was so vague!

So we decided there wasn't time for brunch and headed up to Lido where I got my usual omelette. I like to eat up on Deck 10. Much less noise up there and no lines for the drinks.

Sure enough, we had people arriving rather late for our M&G thanks to not realizing the time had changed. We had a small group that wanted to do a slot pull, so we headed right to the casino. We each put in $15 and got $7 back, so we didn't win big but didn't wipe out totally!

By then, it was time for lunch! I do much prefer the Fish & Chips to the Rotisserie, but that's just personal preference. I imagine I had my usual turkey sandwich from the deli.

After lunch, it was time to check out the spa. Unfortunately, the waves in the Thalassotherapy Pool made it quite a challenge to sit there and soak. It has a long lounger-style metal seat along one side, and with the waves plus the jets, you had to hang on for dear life! So we didn't last in there very long. The aroma steam room was SO HOT and steamy you literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face, so we didn't last in there more than a minute or two. However, the next room with the heated ceramic loungers was wonderful. I had thought I'd read, but it wasn't comfortable since you're reclined, so I just laid there and tried to not doze off and drool on myself. The next steam room wasn't quite so hot, so I managed a few minutes in there. Sadly, the dry heat seating area (Laconium) was apparently Party Central for a bunch of people. There were a couple of empty seats, but the 6-8 people in there were all bellowing to each other just as they would've been sitting out by the pool, and some were even drinking wine. The spa is supposed to be quiet, calm and relaxing, people, NOT Party Central. Again, thoughtless, selfish, inconsiderate, and oblivious to anyone but themselves. We should've said something at reception, especially about the drinking and having glassware in there where people walk barefoot. :mad:

I have no idea what we did the rest of the day. Probably ate again during the afternoon.

I typically have late dining, but when I moved, buddy already had selected Anytime. I'd done it twice in the past, as a solo both times, and didn't particularly like it. Anyway, we went to dinner but had a bit of a wait. We were seated separately, but everyone knows how those 2-tops are only separated from their neighbors by just enough to squeeze into the seats. It was Elegant night, so I know I had the lobster and shrimp. I also purchased a wine package (mid-level). Got a bottle of Pinot Grigio, which we only partially consumed, so they labeled it and kept it for the next night.

I think we went to the 10:15 show "The Beat." I know people just rant and rave here about the shows. I don't dislike the Playlist shows at all. I don't think the live show band makes that much of a difference. The performance was good, not great. It was entertaining. I guess. I don't really remember. I think I remember thinking that the song selection seemed a bit random.

Don't remember whether I went to the casino or not but with the time change, probably not.

Sunday - 2nd Sea Day

I think we slept late. At least the clocks said so. Decided to have regular breakfast and do brunch at about 12:30. Ms. Creature of Habit never goes to Trivia, but buddy said we were going, so we did. The first was James Bond trivia. I didn't even try as I'm not much of a movie buff and haven't read a Bond novel since 8th grade (and that was a very long time ago!). We sat with a young couple; guy did pretty well but not close to winning. We decided a morning adult beverage was needed so ordered Bellinis. Yum. Next up was Ultimate Mind Game. These aren't trivia questions. They're riddles. I hate riddles. They're tricks. I'm not good at trickery. Needless to say, I did not do well.

But the next one was "Guess That 50s & 60s" with Kevin, our CD. Folks, I have to tell you, this was one of the funniest things I've ever seen on a cruise. I did pretty well, since I'm a music snob and can remember things from that era much better than whatever it was I did on my cruise last week!

What made this so entertaining, though, were the Elevator Dancers. When he started playing the answers back, and we'd sing along, there were people in the glass elevators dancing. Before long, every elevator was filled with the same people who were dancing up and down. It was hilarious!

We didn't stay for the Friends trivia since I've gone out of my way to never, ever watch a single episode. Have I mentioned how much I detest sit-coms?

Time for brunch. I reverted back to Safe Mode and ordered my usual: Huevos Rancheros and the cheesecake. But this time I also ordered cheese grits (someone had shared them on my last cruise and while I typically am not a grits eater, these are very tasty since they're loaded with cheese). Buddy got mac & cheese, which has always been good in the past, but this cruise, was very lacking in cheese (as it was also at the Rotisserie). Maybe they're putting it all in the grits and not the mac. Used our drink coupons for another round of Bellinis.

No idea what we did the rest of the afternoon. Maybe went to tea, but I think that was Saturday (and was very underwhelming; no regular scones!! Took forever to get milk for my tea; all I had was one little smoked salmon (but it wasn't like I was going to starve, right?)).

To dinner fairly early. Seated on the starboard side this time. Service was not great this cruise. These people are just spread so thin and every "special" request put them behind. I honestly think Anytime Dining is a big reason all the dinner dining has suffered. Think about it. Used to have two seatings, period. Yes, kitchen and waitstaff worked like crazy, but at least it was all at the same, predictable time. With ATD, there's no pattern to it. The kitchen is preparing for regular seating AND ATD throughout the entire evening.

This was probably the jerk pork night, which was very good. Since I've started ordering this, it seems to vary greatly, being either very good or practically inedible.

Back to the lobby for "Motown Challenge" with Kevin. After the morning's experience, I was expecting this to be even more entertaining. It was crazy! And I did very well on the trivia!

Would've done even better except we totally missed one question (which I knew) because we were asking a woman in front of us to stop shouting out the answers since some of us were ACTUALLY PLAYING. Sheesh, people.

Then it was to the show to hear "Motown and More with Marcus Anthony." He was very good. Buddy bought his CD afterwards, so we both got a pic with him. :D

Patiently waiting for Bermuda? Well, you'll have to wait a while longer. :p

I've missed my video games and haven't played since I got home on Friday afternoon! I'm currently playing Borderlands: the Pre-Sequel and just have to get in a few hours of gaming.

We were on this cruise too...dining room service was the worst we've ever had...not sure why..but it was awful..and food was cold most of the time....

I think the dining room folks are so overworked....

The one show we did attend was Marcus Anthony...he did a great job...really enjoyed it...but then love Mo Town..he even took requests from the audience...so we also got a little James Brown and he opened the show with Jackie Wilson..one of my favorites!!

Thanks for doing this review:):):)

There was NOTHING on Friday's Fun Times about a time change. But there was a blurb on the back page about "always keep your time on ship's time, unless otherwise notified." But when we returned to the cabin on Friday night and looked at Saturday's Fun Times, there was printed on the bottom of the front page "Important: Please note that the Ship's Time has moved forward an hour to reflect the local Bermuda Time. Always keep watches on Ship's Time."

 

Anyone else think that's a little vague? They should've had a BIG NOTE on Friday's FunTimes to turn you clocks forward an hour before going to bed, just like when the time changes at home.

I can't believe they didn't issue a second full page notice. We were on the Pride and the senior staff only found out about the Bermudian time-change law after we left Baltimore. We were notified at the Welcome Show, got a separate notice with our FunTimes, and it was announced the evening before we got into Bermuda.

Loving your Review so far. We got 24 hours in Bermuda and it feels like we didn't have enough time to see/do what we wanted.

OK, so I didn't take a single note on this cruise. Blame it on having a cruise buddy rather than being solo and, well, just being lazy. Normally, I take notes and get very detailed but, really, no one wants to know what time I got up and what I had for breakfast, right? ;)

 

Background: I had sailed on the 1-time Glory to Bermuda from Norfolk on 10/16/11. We only had 1-1/2 days in Bermuda and that isn't nearly enough time to see and do very much since you can't wander too far away on that 2nd morning. So when I saw the Splendor itinerary, I knew I wanted to return. Rather than booking immediately, I kept my eye on the prices and waited until I was on Pride in May 2014 and booked while on board. I even booked the same cabin I had on Glory, 2217, since it's a great cabin for a solo.

 

Turned out that someone I met on the Pride sailing was also booked on Splendor and her travel companion backed out, so I moved from my 1A to a Spa Balcony. Yes, I lost my $100 OBC, but still came out a few dollars ahead and was very much looking forward to the spa amenities.

 

This was my 25th cruise, #23 on Carnival. Cruise buddy is also Platinum but sails NCL frequently and is Platinum with them, also, so I got a lot of comparisons during the week. I've never really been interested in NCL but I have no basis for that feeling. I imagine I'll give them a try before too much longer since I plan on branching out once I get my Milestone cruise benefit (I have #24 and #25 booked but probably won't use my Milestone OBC on #25 since I'm going as cheaply as possible since the other costs are quite high (Vista Inaugural)).

 

We booked a room at the Courtyard downtown. They offered a cruise parking package with breakfast, but no shuttle. Since Norfolk doesn't have a regular cruiseline there, it was rather difficult to find even a parking package. Cruise buddy flew down from Baltimore, and I left work at about noon on Thursday for the drive, which is quite pleasant. I take I-85 to South Hill and Rt 58 for about another 100 miles. Since I'd sailed twice from Norfolk, I didn't have any problems finding my way to the hotel.

 

The hotel was nice with comfy beds. We decided to just eat downstairs in their little bistro. They had menus items paired with drinks as a "package" deal. Buddy had a quesadilla with margarita; I had a French Dip with Stella. After that, we just went out and walked around a bit. Walked through the mall then down the street, almost to the pier. I had been insisting for months that walking to the pier would be easy to do, and I think it would've been. But since we were told that the base fare for a taxi was only $3, we decided we'd do that in the morning. Big mistake!

 

Friday morning, we headed down for breakfast at the Bistro, which was pretty busy. We had placed our order and were having coffee when the fire alarm sounded. Yes, we had to evacuate, but we were able to go back in before the fire trucks even arrived, so it must have been a false alarm. Then we got to wait a rather long time for the food as I imagine they had to shut everything down in the kitchen when the alarm sounded. It eventually arrived and was quite good and filling.

 

We went to the room and rearranged our bags, put our tags on, loaded our wine bottles into the carry-on, and went down to check out and have the desk call for a taxi.

 

Let me just say that if Norfolk wants to attract a regular sailing, they need to get their act together with the traffic. There were no cops directing anything except right at the entrance to the pier, which is right downtown. It was a mess with people trying to get in to pick up disembarking passengers and to drop off new ones; cars entering from side streets and trying to weasel their way into the line that we'd been sitting in for quite a long time; shuttle buses from the parking, shuttles from the airport hotels. It was chaos. So our $5 taxi ride quickly turned into $10. But we finally were dropped off, gave our bags to a porter, tipped him $5 for 4 bags, and headed up the stairs to the terminal.

 

Priority had a separate luggage scanner, then we were sent into a separate room to wait for check-in, which didn't take too long. By the time we were checked in, they were already boarding #10, so we were directed to go straight to the front of the line, skipped the photo, and onto the ship.

 

They didn't sell FTTF on this cruise but they still had the signs on the fire doors saying that Plat/Diamond could go to their cabins. We headed to 1106, our spa balcony cabin in Spa deck, portside. It wasn't quite ready, so we just dropped out bags in a closet and headed out for lunch.

Our taxi driver drop us off about half a block from the port. He said if he got in that line, it could be an hour or more. The fare was $3, but we gave him $10 since he came for such a short distance. We walked back to the hotel straight down Plume Street.

Enjoying the review and eager for more!!:)

Pat

Apparently we missed Kevin's announcement about the time change (Pirate mentioned it in her review). Since I tend to tune out the announcements as much as I can, I guess I just didn't pay attention. Still, they absolutely did not make it loud and clear in the FunTimes. There are times when you simply don't hear the announcements, so that little blurb on Saturday's FunTimes wasn't sufficient (since we were losing an hour in the early hours of Saturday). Some people don't read the FT before going to bed.

I'm back at work this morning (ugh), so I'll try to add some more later.

The photos are too large, aren't they? I hate having to scroll back and forth to look at pics. Of course, I could move the window to my landscape monitor, couldn't I? :o

The photos are too large, aren't they? I hate having to scroll back and forth to look at pics. Of course, I could move the window to my landscape monitor, couldn't I? :o

pictures fine on my desktop...but I have a big monitor?? Not sure if that makes a difference...anyway...great pictures!

Hi NCTribe Fan,

I know you had cruise parking package with your hotel, but should you cruise out of Norfolk again, the City of Norfolk has 2 parking garages almost across the street from the cruise terminal #1 is called Town Point Garage you can access it from Main St & #2 is Plume St. Garage. Both streets are off Waterside Drive...we have used both when cruising out of Norfolk & they charge the same price as Carnival's parking lot.

I agree about the traffic in Norfolk when cruising from there....if you can it's better to walk. You can always have your taxi to drop you off on the corner of either street...Main or Plume :)

I thought when I first cruised from Norfolk (Triumph CTN in 2009) that the parking garages near the pier was more than the off-site parking (which is what I did since I drove up the morning of sailing). That may have changed since then, of course.

I do like sailing from Norfolk. It's a nice place. The problem is that unless you're sailing to Bermuda, it's the same issue as with sailing from Baltimore and even Charleston. You can only get "so far" and back in a week. If I only want the Bahamas, I'll just drive an extra hour or so to Charleston (which I love) and sail from there. I have no problem at all sailing a Fantasy-class ship, so that isn't an issue for me. Now, if they'd put a Spirit-class ship in Norfolk for regular sailings, I'd be tempted.

Hi NCTribe Fan,

 

I know you had cruise parking package with your hotel, but should you cruise out of Norfolk again, the City of Norfolk has 2 parking garages almost across the street from the cruise terminal #1 is called Town Point Garage you can access it from Main St & #2 is Plume St. Garage. Both streets are off Waterside Drive...we have used both when cruising out of Norfolk & they charge the same price as Carnival's parking lot.

 

I agree about the traffic in Norfolk when cruising from there....if you can it's better to walk. You can always have your taxi to drop you off on the corner of either street...Main or Plume :)

I was pleasantly surprised at the nearby parking...the guys dropped us off..and were back very quickly..our first sailing out of Norfolk involved parking a mile or so away and a shuttle bus..but this was right across the street from the terminal...when we got back on Friday our friend was back in about 10 minutes...he must have run to the parking deck!! But good info to know!! We did have a bit of a traffic jam getting there...but it still worked out well...the guys dropped us off..and we probably waiting maybe 15 minutes and they were back.

Enjoying your review! We love Bermuda so we can't wait to see your pics. Carry on!! :)

Yeah, sorry, I meant to write last night but I'm still feeling so tired! Plus, got new wires on my braces and my mouth is so very sore, I was just not feeling good.

Anyway, thought I'd mention that we did not have great weather on the way out or back. It rained a good deal of the day on Saturday, although there were still people out in the hot tubs at the aft pool. Sun came out on Sunday, but we were busy doing things. I'm not much of a sit-and-bake person, anyway.

Someone on the Roll Call started posting weather forecasts for Bermuda about a week before we sailed, which showed a good chance of rain every day, but I absolutely refuse to think about it since there's not a single thing I can do, right? That's why you pack a rain jacket/poncho/umbrella!

Looking at the route map, it was very strange. We sailed due east for a long way, then made a 90 degree turn south and sailed due south, then turned due east again. Now, we had 2 days going and only 1 coming back, but I've never seen the right-angle turns like that. People on social media were commenting about the hard turns and the ship shuddering. I didn't notice a thing, but then, I can be a little oblivious at times! :p

Monday morning and we're slowly approaching Bermuda. Ships have to take a rather circuitous route in and out of port, so I could see land a long time before we docked.

Finally got a little use out of the balcony! You can see the NCL Dawn docked in the distance.

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We headed to Lido for breakfast. I must admit that being on Deck 11 was very convenient, food-wise. A little too convenient! I typically stay on Deck 1 or 2 and take the stairs the entire cruise. Not this time. Blame Melody and my knees! Anyway, after breakfast, we returned to the cabin just in time to watch us dock, which I always really enjoy. Such finesse to maneuver these big ships!

Melody had set up our tour for the day with Winsome Tours. Over the months, the number of people who were interested continued to grow so she worked with the tour operator and it ended up that we would have two vans and with >20 people, we would get a price break that meant the original price would now cover the tour and most of the tip (10% is traditional amt in Bermuda (and much of the rest of the world)).

We were to meet between the two piers at 9:45 (we were at Heritage Wharf, not Kings Wharf, despite everything Carnival had published - not a big deal since they're at the same place, but, still. Some of us actually appreciate accuracy). By 10:05 (we were to leave at 10), we were still missing 4 people. Ralph had ended up hiring a driver who had a small bus to take us all, rather than be split into two vans. We decided to head out.

Because we didn't leave on time, he decided to reverse the order of the tour so we could reach St George in time for The Dunking. It's quite a long drive since it's at the opposite end of Bermuda. There are three main roads through Bermuda - North Shore, Middle and South roads - nice and descriptive!

(Apologies for the quality of many of the photos; they were taken from inside the van and have window reflections).

Once we reached Hamilton, we cut over to the North Shore road past Tobacco Bay and St Catherine's Beach.

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Tobacco Bay

St Catherine's

We made it to St. George right about noon (the dunking is at 12:30). This gave us time to claim our spots on the bridge and take turns visiting the very nice, clean, modern restrooms.

Town Crier in blue

The Gossip & Nag, pre-dunk

post-dunking

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Replica of Deliverance (can't see it from this angle but the mid-ship mast was broken; damage done in 2014 hurricanes)

We met our guide's wife (who was using their smaller van for a different group not on Cruise Critic). They both have Native American ancestors. Ralph gave us a ton of historical info during the ride. I'm afraid I didn't retain a lot of it, but I was surprised to find that Native Americans had been imported to Bermuda as slaves. Her ethnicity was pretty easy to see (she's a beautiful woman!).

We then headed off to the really-wealthy area, Tucker's Point (as opposed to the just moderately-wealthy other areas). David, our driver, was a long-time employee at one of the golf resorts there, so we got his insight on the history of that area. Apparently someone purchased the entire area, displacing the existing residents, and built the golf resort.

I'm not terribly interested in the hangouts of the rich and famous, so didn't take a bunch of photos. I mean, luxury golf courses pretty much look the same the world over.

Then it was on to the South Road and the beaches. I had stopped at the famous Horseshoe Bay on my Glory trip and was mildly disappointed that the "pink sand" beach wasn't really pink. The prior year, I'd cruised to Hawaii where the "black sand" beaches were actually black. Anyway, we were planning on taking the bus to Warwick Long Bay on Wednesday morning, which is supposed to be more-pink (and less crowded) than Horseshoe Bay.

Does that look pink to you? Warwick Long Bay Beach.

Horseshoe Bay Beach

Next stop was Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. This was a 5-hour tour but we didn't have enough time to climb to the top. Had my knees been happier, I might've been disappointed, but I wouldn't have been able to make the climb (up isn't the problem; down is what hurts).

Still, the views are gorgeous (except for the power lines). Going to shrink down my panoramic shots to see if they'll post. Somewhere in these shots there may be one or more of the America's Cup training boats

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Our last stop of the day was at Ralph's house. Unfortunately, I'm not sure exactly where it's located (south beach or west end). They have a VRBO apartment and I'd love to find out more about it! The views were gorgeous!

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There were a couple of parrot fish out there but they don't show up in the photo

Then it was back to the ship. Since the no-shows caused our group total to drop below the discount threshold, our price jumped back up to the original, which meant I hadn't brought enough cash to properly tip both Ralph and David. It was a very comprehensive tour and they both provided a wealth of information. This was their 5-hour "Signature Tour" and was definitely worth the money, even without the discount.

Dear People: If you sign up for a tour (especially when the organizer has gone out of the way to arrange for a large group and negotiated a discount), please have the decency to let someone know if you aren't going to make it! We had a Google Sheet with all the info about excursions. We had names and cabin numbers. A simple call to the cabin or a note left in the mailbox would've helped. If I ever take it upon myself to organize something like that, I'll insist on pre-payment from the participants and then pay the tour operator myself. But this experience pretty much convinced me to never volunteer to be the organizer.

So, back on board for FOOD! Bet I had a deli sandwich!