Sailing12Away

The misadventures of Wheel of Fortune…. We like the game shows. Maybe not in place of the Broadway shows, but when they’re executed well we’re fine with having them more on the ship. Prima had Price is Right and that was done really well. They swapped out the contestants after each round so there were many opportunities to be called up on stage to play the real games from the show. No charge to participate at all. Chance to win decent prizes (we saw a gent win $700 playing Plinko on our trip). With Wheel of Fortune, it was a complete flop. The fact that it wasn’t advertised well in the daily should have been the first clue. It wasn’t on the main first page which is where I usually just look to see what’s happening, it was just squirreled away on the What’s Happening Today section. Card sales started at 8:30, game started at 9pm in the theater. They didn’t tell you the prizes until after the game had started and until after you had bought your cards to ‘play’. We still have a lot of OBC, and based on what others have told us about bingo card sales and such being able to be used with non-refundable credits, we bought the 10 pack of cards for $50. Whomp whomp…. Nope, can’t use those with the non-refundable. So again, still have a ton of non-refundable credits to go through with only 1 day left now and am racking up our charges in fees I owe back to them. I believe it was $25 for 2 cards, $40 for 6 cards, and $50 for 10 cards. The other thing they failed to mention anywhere until it was too late was that you need a smartphone to be able to purchase cards and participate. You scan a QR code, or enter a website on your browser and get to the sign up page. No internet package needed, works on the internal NCL wifi I suppose. Enter your name, birthday, and cabin number and then pick your # of cards you want to buy. The cards were a combination of monetary values the contestants could spin and land on, and letters they could pick and choose. Each time they landed on your money amount or chose your letter, you got points. If you solved the puzzle on your own while watching the contestants play, you got additional points for that based on how fast you solved it. They had to restart the game 3x because it kept freezing up. Cruise director finally said if it doesn’t work this time we’re giving up – so still lots of kinks for them on the IT side to work out, and the theater wasn’t even full. They were finally able to get 3 “random” names picked, you had to show them your phone as proof it came through to you, and those were the only contestants for the 4 rounds of the game. The wheel to spin to see your money amount was all electronic, so the odds of landing on the ‘free cruise’ square were virtually none. And when folks were racking up decent amounts of money – oh what luck, they landed on bankrupt. So the 3 contestants are playing the real game, but the prize dollar amounts per letter were ridiculously low. Most were only $10 – 60. There was a single $100 square, a $150 I think, and the super skinny free cruise one between 2 bankrupts. The most any contestant won during a round was about $120 total. Whatever the grand prize winner of the 3 contestants won, they got in onboard credits (probably non-refundable with just one day to go). The other 2 got consolation prizes (never revealed, so probably just a koozie or keychain). Those of us in the audience, whoever was first to solve the puzzle on your phone won a prize each round (still have no idea what any of those were), and whoever had the most total points at the end of the game won a prize. The first round I couldn’t even participate in. The game was locked and frozen on my phone, so even though we knew the answer to the puzzle I couldn’t ‘buzz in’ to be able to solve it. So already I was short 1000+ points from everyone else for not locking in the right answer at all. So there went my chance of winning anything from the get go. 2nd round we knew the answer, but typing it in the keyboard kept jumping around, so we had a typo (THE became TIE when we typed it because the cursor moved back instead of forward and we didn’t catch it until after hitting submit). So 0/2 so far…. This game sucks. Even when we did get the puzzle right and what we thought was quick, turns out there were 10+ other people who got it minutes ahead of us when only 2 letters had been revealed. How, I don’t know, but at that point we hated the game and were pissed that we blew $50 on it, and doubly pissed when we found out it didn’t even come from the non-refundable credits. So yeah, skip Wheel of Fortune. Or go, but don’t buy the cards and just play along in your head. Grand prize contestant walked away with around $300 total OBC, the audience member with the most points won a $500 credit towards something in the Effy shop (useless to us anyway), and each round there was someone who was fastest to solve – they won a “prize”. The guy who won the most points also won at least 1-2 of the individual rounds, so again, good for him but sucky for the rest of us. Price is Right – loads of fun and free, absolutely sign up and go. Wheel of Fortune – save your money and skip it.

Internet is even worse today at sea than the other day.... so bear with me.

No promises. Those folks from the UK are very particular. Something about bin dippers and scausers....

Coming into Port if you go right there the pool with lazy river, kids water Park, Nathan's truck and a burger/Taco place. If you go left instead there the shops, an empanada truck, and a restaurant with some slightly more authentic food. I was chatting with some friends from back home about the job situation and it put me in a dark place, so headed back to the ship a bit early. Don't feel like we got a true taste of the DR, but it's a decent stop for an inexpensive pool day. This morning we asked the butler for only one tray of food, said it was too much. She brought two and we still have a giant plate of chips from the other day. So I'm having a pity party for myself on the balcony with my chips (crisps). Tonight is Wheel of Fortune, so curious to see how that works. We still have a ton of non refundable OBC to go through, so hoping it can be used to pay for that. What we did in the casino does not count for the non refundable. TV sucks as it doesn't tell you how much is left. Went from saying $0 to now us owing $22 but still having $200+ of credits to keep track of.

Nope, not at all. It was for the FB trolls complaining about "lobstergate" and lack of expertly crafted towel animals. Food choices are limited here unless you want Nathan's or other American fare. We sent Lando on a quest to see if there's an areppa to be found on the island.

Found a shady spot to sit near the pool and ordered a bucket of beers for $25. Swim up bar at the pool was charging around $11 per drink and $6 for beers. So the bucket is a good value if you've got some friends. The dance crew from burn the floor is all sitting next to us in this corner. Told them the show was great last night, glad to see they are getting some free time to themselves. Lazy river is about 4ft deep at it's deepest at the swim up bar. Had a guy offer us better loungers with an umbrella, pool floats, waterslide access, etc for $99. But since we only wanted shade are staying here for now for free. Guy walking past from the zip line said it was $48 for an unlimited pass. He's already on his way back for his 3rd flight.

Wine was fine.... after it had time to breathe. Made the mistake of trying to upload a video, so trying again without it this time. In the DR, Amber Cove. Walk and wander, no plans for today. Heard some bad news on the job hunting front, so I'll be in a funk today.

Headed to the back area of the Haven lounge as there's better seating for a large group over there. We grabbed the 2nd bottle of port that we brought from home and asked them for a few glasses. Sat and relaxed sharing our Cagney's story with the group, and them sharing their own. Chatted about the different NCL ships and how your experience can be so very different depending on which one you go on. Putu the bartender is nice, but not anywhere close to top that any of us have had. Lack of creativity or playful personality is one thing, but being afraid to tell us they are out of something and substituting on your own without warning is not ok. For me I give them lots of flexibility and just say "make me something refreshing", so I don't care what's in it. But when someone says Kahlua & coke, you have to use Kahlua. And if you don't have it, ask for another preference and make sure you have it the next night. The friends have made this trip fun, even if we only bump into them for an hour or two late at night. If we were just the two of us this trip would have been much worse. We would have been bothered more by the snafus and changes. We're having fun messing with the folks in the FB group for this sailing (apologies now if any of you are in both). There was a discussion about towel animals (lack of) so when we all got them the other night made sure to post photos. The trouble maker of our crew also posted a photo of a regular napkin crumbled on the table and said "Janet on deck 8 is still learning, but getting better". Some took it serious and said we should complain. About a towel animal not looking good. Are you kidding me. Some of you people need to remove the entitled stick from your bum before hopping on a cruise. Honestly a vacation is what you make of it. You can either go in with high expectations and be disappointed about something every day, criticize everything and walk around grumpy and nasty, or just be grateful for good friends, good weather, and someone else doing the adult chores for you. Would we prefer things to be the "old way", sure. But it's still leaps and bounds better than some of the other lines (they're all cutting back), and so long as we get a good value for our room we'll keep coming back. But yes, having friends to cruise with is by far the best way to ensure a good trip regardless of what else is happening.

At the end of dinner the somollier comes over to return my room key. He tried handing me an orange card. I said that's not mine. Then he handed me a teal one, said that's not mine either. Look of panic on his face as he ran away. Server came over to close out our bill and I told her we couldn't because the wine guy lost my card. She had some choice words for him and we gave her hubby's card instead. Wine guy comes back and admits he's given our card away to the wrong guest and he's going to have to go to guest services to cancel that one and issue us a new one. Never in my life.... I immediately knew it wasn't my card by the color. How in the world did these other people not know when they took it from him? Did they think they won a Haven lottery and got an upgrade on day 4? It was a stretch to think they would comp the bottle at that point, but would have been nice. Didn't happen, paid my $54 after latitude/beverage plan discount and we went to the Haven to share stories with friends. Turns out earlier before we got there a drunk belligerent man didn't have a reservation when he thought he did. He caused a big scene requiring security to come, so Cagney's was having a few issues last night.

Still rolling with the punches, but more weirdness at Cagney's last night. We had spoken to the head sommelier the other day to preorder a bottle for dinner. Have done this on the joy and even prima without issue. Get to the restaurant and there's a note on our reservation and the already decanted wine is brought over with the empty bottle. Last night we mentioned the wine when checking in and the hostess asked for our dining coupon. No, we're using a credit not the coupon. This wine isn't included, we're paying extra for it. She looked confused and brought us to the table. Sit down and within 2 mins the restaurant somollier comes over and says he's been waiting for us. Great, at least someone knows what we're talking about. Then he shows us the full unopened bottle to confirm it's the right one. Ugggg. It was supposed to already be open and airing out. It was just a $60 so we rolled with it and did we'd start drinking when the steaks came out. But if it was a fancier bottle I would have been pissed. What was the point of telling you ahead of time? Not because we wanted an aerator at the table, we wanted it aerated ahead of time so it was drinkable when we sat. Wedge salad has shrunk and barely had bacon which was sad, but still fine. Steaks were cooked well, mine was medium his was med rare. Shared just the one dessert because too much food overall. But service was great (outside of the wine incident) and fixings for the baked potato cake faster than our wait in the Haven restaurant.

We write a butler letter listing out some of the favorites we've had in the past. That helps ensure you get things you like. But there always seems to be some misunderstanding about how many to bring. Going to try leaving a note that says "just one tray today please". Since we're 3 in the cabin I can understand one sweet and one savory, but I don't need brownies and chocolate covered pineapple.

If we had more time we certainly would have. There were a few breweries we wanted to check out, but all aboard was 1:30. Still not sure why we got there at 6am when there was nothing to do at that time. Crew were running safety drills, so maybe something with that? The boys liked the mango more than I did, wasn't mango enough for me. But the pale ale was crushable and the shandy hit the spot.

Food overload.... Only need one a day, not 4. Geeze.

Leaving St Thomas, next stop DR. Not going to make a guess as to where we'll be pulling in as NCL pre cruise team has been wrong so far on every stop. No excursion planned, will wing it when we get there like we did today. I love that view from the shower though.

Lunch at the Haven restaurant. I asked for chocolate ice cream, they said "no problem, we'll get it". Whereas at dinner when I asked I was told the options were vanilla, vanilla or vanilla. So again, inconsistent.

Taxi open air bus was $6/pp to downtown, $8 if you wanted to go to havensight. Got lucky as it dropped us a block away from the brewery at the downtown stop. Having a taste then will figure out how to get back.

We were supposed to dock in Havensight. We're docked in crown Bay, completely opposite side. So our plan to walk off and go to the cable cars is now out. Thinking of going to a brewery but they don't open until 11 and all aboard is 1:30. Plus it would be a 10min drive to get there. Grumble grumble.

For breakfast we've been hanging the cards out at night for room service in the morning. They apparently don't look at them until 5 mins before you say you want your food. I had written down chocolate chip pancakes because I saw them on some other menu and I'm a glutton. Butler just called 10 to 8am and said I would have to preorder those. Um, didn't I do that last night with the card? I said forget it, just make them plain. They came sopping in syrup and bananas. I hate bananas and don't put syrup on my cakes, just butter. So when hubby wakes up he has surprise banana pancakes as I'm eating the potatoes, bacon and sausage instead. When she brought the food she offered to order them today for tomorrow but I said no. I get it, but I don't want to preplan what I'll be in the mood for tomorrow today. Also confirms they're not cooking any food fresh. It's pancakes. It takes two minutes literally to fry up. I can understand if I was asking for something complex and funky. But pancakes? Come on. St Thomas looks lovely though. We got here at 6am - no one understands why. Leaving early at 2pm, so barely any time to walk and wander. But we shall see if we even get off the ship.

Headed up to the Haven bar for a nightcap and dessert in alcohol form. Others have said that the bartender Putu is great, he's not. Nice guy, don't get me wrong. Maybe because he's newer he's afraid to go off script, but then he shouldn't be in the Haven. Haven should have your best staff, not just be another regular assignment. I asked for an orange creamsicle. They had no idea what I was talking about. So I suggested a mudslide ice cream base but with grand Marnier and something orange. Grand Marnier was supposed to be a $2 upcharge, receipt said $2.75 plus more for the grats. And no orange taste at all, tasted like cough syrup. It's the plain vanilla looking one in the photo. He's constantly switching drinks and not telling us until confronted about it. The other night our friend asked for Kahlua and Coke. Well they ran out of Kahlua and literally gave her a cup of coffee mixed with coke. Last night she asked for Bailey's on the rocks, they swapped it with salted caramel instead because he ran out. I get it, you don't want to run downstairs at closing time for one drink, but tell us and let us pick something else instead. Don't surprise us with things we didn't ask for. She's got the PPlus plan and only drinks those two things, so we keep telling them they better keep it stocked. They don't, and it's a constant struggle each night. Lots of little issues this trip but we're still having fun because it was about being with our friends. I'm just really surprised at some of the things we're seeing.

With the luck we had at the crane game winning ducks someone said we should try the one in the casino with rolls of cash. Didn't know it was there, but found it and won on the third try. Whole casino was cheering and a worker sweeping the floor couldn't pick his chin up. I'm guessing no one ever wins. 20 on the outside and a wad of 1s inside. Counted it back in the room and in total was about $100. Yeah!

We ate at Osheehans last night. Used to be one of our favorite spots on the ships. Not because it's amazing, but because it was simple comfort food. Sadly I don't think we'll be back. For the wings they confirmed they now marinate them overnight in a brine to season them. Lando doesn't tolerate any spice so prefers them naked and has been able to get them that way on other ships. We asked, they said no. They sent over the manager who explained what we already knew and said we would need to pre order to have them defrosted and saved outside the brine. No thanks, skipping the mushy wings. I got the sausage sliders. I knew it was considered an app, but they took have changed and downsized since last time. One sausage link cut into 6 thin slices across 2 tiny buns. And I challenge you guys to count the number of fries with hubbies hot dog. The fact that we could count them and after I stole one it looked like he had none was just sad. With all the snacks in the room we weren't starving by any stretch, just disappointed in all the constant changes and cuts. Would have asked for a separate plate of fries for the group to share, but they never came back around.

Hubby was taking a nap while Lando & I were on the balcony for sail away. He came running to us and said we needed to call the Ghostbusters. I thought he had too much sun out too much drink. But he kept going on about Zuul coming to get us from the tub. I go back inside and the bathtub is making gurgling sounds and filling up with bubbles from the drain. We haven't used the tub once yet. I want to, we just haven't had time yet really for me to have a nice soak. Called the cabin steward just to see his thoughts and he said several rooms share the same drain. So the bubbles we were seeing were coming from another cabin that used too many. He said he would sanitize the tub when we went to dinner, but ick. Especially when I know the kids in the room next to us had stomach bugs the other day.

Some more photos as we pulled away from San Juan.

First world problem complaint - the TV. Not counting the NCL promo channels, there's 1 sports channel, 1 kids channel, 1 "prime TV" channel, and 4-5 news channels. In Haven we get the movies and such for free, but there used to be a channel for comedy movies, action movies, etc on the normal tellie. We're just lounging waiting to sail away and it's nice to have background noise. But without resorting to the on demand stuff the choices are really limited.