Birdnutty

Wednesday, Feb 1 Catalina Island. Dominican Republic.Tendered in, took only about 5 minutes.  Tenders ran constantly all day.  A beautiful small island, with a walled off island for tourists, clearly set up for large cruise ships, as there was a buffet area available to be set up, a bazillion lawn chairs and umbrellas that they set up for a tip. Tenders were met with native dancers,  and they kept the music going all afternoon. Loved the Latin music background   Smallish snorkeling area off to the side, that was decent once you got out far enough, we saw the typical suspects as well as Bally hoo, a flounder , big blue parrot, eve saw a skate, more of the typical. Not the best and nowhere near as good as St Thomas.  But the water was crystal clear in the swimming area, a bit cloudier in the snorkel area. There is apparently a barrier wall just off to the right, as there have been snorkel boats there all day. But the water is so clear and blue. And chilly. Chilliest of tropical waters that I can remember.  From our balcony, looking back at the island, there appear to be at least 2 other clearings to be used by other ships. That’s on this side of the island only. Can’t see the other side. Back on the boat before 2.

Feb 2, Thursday, Aruba DePalm island Beach & Snorkel ship tour, NCL tour.  Different pier than we’d been to before. Busses right off gangway Meeting at 10:15  bus to ferry to island.  Left port at 10:15.  25 min ride to ferry.  The open air ferry boat/ skiff was loaded to capacity, and I was thankful it was a short ride.  5 minutes to the  island.  Very built up.  Chairs were included, and there were places where you could find shade.  There were private areas where palapas and chairs were available for a fee.  There were big water slides, free food & drink all day.

Walk in snorkeling area via metal stairs but today the waves were rough and water was cloudy, so not pleasant.  They said they provide a group snorkel tour but due to the waves I don’t think they did it. It was so shallow and rough  that I was apprehensive about being dashed into the coral. Got out after about 15 mins.. Normally it’s like glass, both smooth and clear, and given the quantity and size of the fish, it would be awesome. Huge parrots, lots of other larger sizes.  Coral is pretty beat up and sand covered, due to shallowness,  They feed the fish, keeping them around the stairs. Not great corals but it was shallow and would have been terrific.

Food was ok. Had a decent buffet in one building with salads, chicken, fruit, rice, potatoes.  Other building had hot dogs, burgers, fries & chicken tenders.  Self-serve soda machines, somewhat weak alcoholic drinks, but were endless and tasty. I had a Sex on the Beach.  I told the server I was old but not dead - she thought that was funny.

Water shoes are needed for swimming! There was a great deal of broken coral pieces and rocky areas near the shore that made getting into the swimming area of the cove difficult on the feet.  Note to self for next time!  We had about 5 hrs here. With the lack of snorkeling or swimming access, it was not as great as it could have been.  But I’d love to try it again with calmer water, water shoes and a blow up swim float. One guy brought a float with him and floated in the water literally all day.

They had a little enclosure with some turtles and tortoises in it, and quite a few hermit crabs of all sizes, both in the enclosure and wandering around the beach.    Great for the animal lover. The cute little cheeky bananaquit birds were ever present, stealing sips from unattended drinks, and grabbing food morsels everywhere.

Tuesday, Jan 31  Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. We had docked in Taini 

We had purchased the NCL Ocean World day pass.  Bus ride to get there, don’t remember how long.  Once there, told the schedule of events and let go.  Dolphin, sea lion, shark show, bird aviary, aquarium in which you could snorkel, man-made beach, slides.  We were surprised that it was such a commercial man-made place, much more like a Seaworld in FL. We were expecting a more natural environment, but this was beautifully done. You could walk on wooden boardwalks to get to the beach area, all the way in back, and passed between the dolphin enclosures.  The dolphins were very curious and friendly - they came right up to the edge to check us out and would keep returning.   The ocean on the other side of the sea wall was very rough. The aquarium that you could snorkel in had good size fish, with see through spots so they could be viewed from outside the tank.  It would take as long to get suited up and briefed as you’d be in the tank, so we didn’t participate.   Even though we had about 5 hours, time was shorter than we thought, as we had to arrange everything around the shows. We thought we could snorkel off the beach, but once we saw the beach we decided against it.  It’s strictly an inner lagoon, beautifully cordoned off from the rough ocean, but nothing there to see in the way of snorkelling.  We lugged all our snorkel gear for nothing.  But it was an ideal, safe kid area in the shallows.  Some big kid water toys to play on if you wanted in the deeper areas.  We did go part way into the water before we left, and the water was delightful.  Not enough time to really swim and dry off.  There were changing rooms and lockers available.  Had tall circular slides that did not appear to be in use.

There was a gift shop there through which you walked to enter and exit (of course).  There were no other vendors otherwise anywhere on the premises.

The shows were good, quite typical of a Seaworld or other aquarium quality.  The shark show consisted of  the sharks allowing themselves to be held.  The whole show was to watch people holding the sharks.  It was a lot of sitting in the sun, depending on the time and sun direction to wait for this to happen.  Fun for the first few, but then a yawner.

The other shows were typical but very good.  Dolphin especially, and they picked a little girl from the crowd to be in the show.  She with the trainer got pushed through the water, got kissed by both dolphins, gave directions to the dolphins, fed them, etc.  There was an excellent bird show - three Macaws that had been taught to do some unusual things.  They were amazing, and beautiful besides.

 The aviary was my favourite part - full of lovebirds that crawled all over us as long as we had food, which an attendant handed out readily.  (She did appreciate tips.)  On our heads, our hands, etc.  Very cool.  And Macaws that were on perches, that if you tipped the guide, you could take a posed picture with.  We opted out.  A pair of toucans in a cage. Flamingos in a separate area.

Had an ok, typical buffet lunch included, drinks were separate, but plenty of tasty food. We were given tickets in advance, and it was a one pass through only.  No returning for seconds.

It was a good way to spend a beautiful day, especially if you know what to expect..  The walk back to the port after the bus ride back was lined with shops, We had not walked through this on the way to the excursion.  Macaws, cockatoos, out on perches that you could get close to and take pix. A beautiful port area.  Wish we had more time to enjoy that part.  The pool looked so inviting.

Second day At sea. With Bermuda cancelled, there wasn’t a real lot planned as far as activities.  This was quite disappointing.  I thought that having several voyages previously changing itineraries drastically, dropping ports and adding sea days, that there could have been some activities schedules they could re-use.  That seemed to be a recurring theme.  I wished there was more activity scheduled.

Ship’s time changed overnight but the phones didn’t always. The elevators and pool clocks did not always reflect the time that “they” told us to set our clocks to.  That didn’t bother me much - “stuff” happens.   I use a watch and don’t rely on outside sources.   

Much warmer today. They have food at the great outdoors, and without wind, it’s capris weather. Sunny and smooth seas.

Hubby went to bed early, so I went to play at the casino for a while. I only play poker slots, and some of the machines were in horrible condition. One was so yellowed out, you could tell that it was very old, the buttons stuck like crazy, It sucked down my $10 at 50 cents a pop without a single win. Decided to cash out and try another machine, but it wouldn’t release the print out ticket.  Finally got that out, tried to put the voucher into another machine, but it just kept spitting the voucher out. Nor would it take any cash.  What’s up with that??  I tried three other machines, and each of them wouldn’t take the voucher that I had just gotten out of the first machine, nor would they take money.  This was perplexing and frustrating. Tried to get the attention of an attendant, but I swear they were  deliberately ignoring me.  Finally had to get up and walk over to a suit who directed one of them to help me.  The attendant was curt and not helpful, shrugging off my inquiry as to the unwillingness of the machines to take my money.  I guess I should have been grateful.  Finally found another machine that did work, was fairly new, and of course it was stingy. Gave up and went to bed.

Sunday, Jan 29 St Thomas.  $15 ea taxi to Secret Harbor in an overstuffed taxi where 3 people were stuffed into a two seat backseat, and half my butt was hanging off the edge of the back seat. It took great effort to keep me in the seat (no set belt to be found) and praying that the door did not slide open and empty me into the street. Driver was a mad man. Thankfully, we were the first stop.

The sun was out in patches, so not the best, but the rocks were close and easy to get to without getting smashed. It rained on and off, then the sun would come out.  Very calm water and warm enough for extended times. Nothing extraordinary, nothing really big. Most notable was cowfish, baby puffer. Lots of anemones spiny urchins, cushion urchins, and soft corals. Second time out we saw a turtle - a highlight. Others saw squid but we didn’t. Water was clear as a bell and deeper than it looked.  The sun came out once in awhile, making snorkeling beautiful. The water was so clear!

There is a hotel and dive shop here. The dive shop has its own boat moored off shore. We wanted chairs, so we had to rent them from the dive shop, which also had a supply of other stuff from sunscreen to Advil. We had to leave a $5 cash deposit which we were supposed to get  back after assuring that their chairs were dragged back to their homes.  The lady behind the counter said the dive shop closed at 4. We went to get our money back at 3:50, but the dive shop was already closed, so there went our deposit.  Word to the wise - be early.    

The restaurant, Sunset Grill seems to be very busy but the beach was not at all crowded.  We went into the lobby of the hotel to ask them to call for a taxi (which they willingly do), but there was a taxi waiting outside, so we got a private ride back.

That evening, we went to the one showing of Swing. The performers were fabulous (and were consistently that way through the entire cruise).They really put all of themselves into each performance.  Wish we had had a chance to see them more.

7 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

What time is it?

We had eight time changes across the B2B as we sailed around the Caribbean and Central America going from Eastern Time, to Atlantic Time, to Eastern, Central, Eastern, etc.  Every elevator on the ship had an electronic display with the ship’s name, picture, date, and time, but not once after a time change did the time display correctly in any elevator I was on.  It would take days for the time to change, if it did at all. 

 

In fact, the night before we disembarked in New York, the elevators were still on Atlantic Time.  Late in the cruise, I happened to mention this to Guest Services, who told me that the time in the elevators is supposed to change automatically when there’s a time change.  Well, it never did.  Guest Services said they'd get it fixed.  So if you're on the Gem now or in the near future, and the time in the elevators is correct, you're welcome. 😂

 

 

We had the same problem.  Fortunately, I was able to change my watch and cell phone by manually telling it where we were, so it always displayed the correct time.  Sure could be maddening!

To continue...  Part 2

Thursday, day 2 Jan 26 at sea.   On sea days, most times there was a “fun fitness class” around 8:30 AM in Spinnaker. Was happy about that. First of all for the class, and secondly the venue.  So many ships, if they have it at all,  are now transferring that activity to the Atrium, which I really don't like. I go to exercise, not to be on display in front of all the less energetic folk.. The first time was a dance fitness, aka Zumba, that was led by Emir/Aymir/Eymir - I don’t know the spelling of his name .  But he was my favourite of the entire CD staff.  Funny, an EXCELLENT dancer, put himself 150% into whatever he did.  Saw him everywhere, but he never did another fitness class.  Which was really a shame because he was that good.  Others took too much time teaching the steps (like we were in first grade) so that by the time the dance was taught, the class was over. Or they were painfully slow.  No fitness involved.  Some of the staff clearly were not adept at the fitness class thing (always to Latin or Caribbean music) but were good at games, etc.  Perhaps more experience or education is in order?.  As someone else mentioned, there was a bit of a language barrier with just a few of the CD staff.  They were friendly and energetic as could be, smiling, happy, but understanding what we were trying to say or us understand them could be challenging.  To be fair, they speak my language a helluva lot better than I speak theirs, but when it makes for an uncomfortable or frustrating activity, well….

M & G was at 10 in Bliss.   Officers came and introduced themselves, then left.  No mingling that I saw, or passing out of business cards, or encouraging folks to call if they needed something. That was a real departure from previous M&G’s (Have attended over 25). They used to make a real point of saying that if there was any kind of problem that a passenger was having onboard, they would prefer to know about it and deal with it at that time, and not read about it later on Cruisecritic.   A Covid thing, maybe?   It was well attended, maybe 100 people or so, and since there were seats for everyone, some of us got stuck in the back. Especially back there, nobody really mingled.  We tried, but the folks we tried to talk to either didn't speak English comfortably and therefore withdrew, or were not terribly interested in mingling in general.  NCL put out a nice spread of beverages and danish, which they refilled as needed.

The show was a comedian named Alex Ortiz, a funny guy who declared himself as being half black and half Latino -  so he said he was automatically born a suspect. We found him really very funny and kept us rolling for quite a while. He was funny without being dirty and wasn’t terribly derogatory toward anybody.  He poked most fun at himself.  We saw him literally all over the place during the whole trip. He was a familiar figure at karaoke, and made himself very visible and noticeable everywhere. Enjoyed conversing with other passengers.

The bed has been comfortable, especially after our room attendant changed out the 2 inch thick heavy comforter for a regular blanket. Why is it that we’re sailing to the tropics and they give us a blanket worthy of Antarctica?   We noticed this seems to be the norm even if not starting or ending in NY.  We’re down in 100 degree heat in the Caribbean and the blanket is worthy of Alaska.  It makes little sense to crank up the AC just to counteract your blanket. 

Figured out internet, which is simple to use once you understand it, but you have to remember to take the extra step to turn it off each time. It’s not intuitive.  We ended up using much of our time by mistake, but the internet guy was amazing, extremely patient and always got it back for us. He could tell how much time was actually USED by examining data flow, and would refund the minutes that ticked away while idle. It was very flaky however, and would be down for extended periods.  Days even.

To be continued....

15 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Glad to see your perspective on our shared cruise!

 

We'll have to agree to disagree about Moderno.  😂

I guess so.  It's one of those YMMV things.  But we agree with your assessment of Cagney's and Le Bistro.  That being said, it's still 100% better than anything I would cook at home, so it's wonderful.

Embarkation was a breeze.  We were on the ship within about 20 mins of arrival. (Being Sapphire level helped get us on a little earlier). Travelling with hubby on the 9th deck in a balcony.  We sailed the Gem quite a few times before, so were familiar with her look.  In her latest dry dock, they refurbished the public spaces and they are beautiful. However,  they took away the hallway fish, and I missed them.   Rooms, they haven’t touched and it shows. Black ring in toilet which we couldn’t quite figure out, but after a few days, it lessened considerably. Looked like it could have been charcoal residue? The safe worked, but you had to push the buttons in really hard. There’s lots of storage space but it’s weird, and being somewhat short, I couldn’t reach a lot of it. For us, the the shoe bag  and extra storage hooks on the closet door were essential.

Only two plugs in the room, plus one over the sink, way up, for electric shavers, I guess. Certainly not good for charging devices, and it was so old and loose that nothing would stay in it anyway.  Being an older ship, the Gem doesn’t have built in nightlights and was quite dark (that’s not a negative), so we put our little LED nightlight in the loose socket in the bathroom and taped it in so we didn’t have to use the overhead light, which was blinding in the middle of the night.  It worked perfectly.  Just enough light for an overnight visit to the loo, but not enough to blind you.  REALLY wish I had brought  2 three way plugs and/or multiple USB port chargers for the two plugs that were there. We were constantly swapping out chargers for our devices.  Also, make sure you have charging cords with adaptors, not just USB plugs.  There are NO USB ports in the room.  One woman we spoke to was so upset because there were no USB ports.  She'd only brought cables.  I guess she hadn't experienced many older ships, or she just doesn't travel as well prepared as she should.

There were 12 boxes of water on the vanity table, which took up an enormous amount of horizontal real estate int ehroom.  We relocated it wherever we could so we could use the vanity.

The hair dryer was attached to the wall in the bedroom there by the vanity.    Ours burned up (literally) the first time I turned it on.  Smelled like electrical fire and smoked pretty badly. Couldn’t unplug it because it’s hard-wired into the wall. Turning it off stopped the smoking process, thank goodness.  Terrified that we’d set off some smoke detectors and have the entire ship up at arms, we opened up the balcony door and the bedroom door, which gave the room a true colonic.  Whoosh!!!!  We told our room steward about the dead hair dryer, he contacted maintenance and we got a new one two days later.

Due to weather, they cancelled Bermuda and gave us an extra sea day. Stayed in NYC until 3 AM which got  us through the worst part of the storm.  Quite cold and blustery, and they closed off the outer decks.

Ate at Modernos, early, with our friends.  It was raining outside, and quite pretty to see NYC lights from the ship. Felt like we were eating at a fancy New York restaurant overlooking the waterfront.  Which we were, actually.  Moderno had the best exposure for this.  All those windows are looking out over the deck of the ship toward the city.  

 They’ve changed the menu from plantains to yucca, from lamb chops to lamb roast, we weren’t offered any sausage, but we saw some at a later time.  The beefs were excellent. Had my first pork belly which was tender to a fault and tasty but not my fave. The pineapple was wonderful, as always.  The servers were attentive but not hovering, the meat arrived hot enough.  Don't care for the metal serving dishes they bring the sides in, though, because the food inside gets cold far too quickly. But that's an item easy to forgive.  It was an excellent meal, typical of our experience in Moderno, regardless of which ship we’re on.  We rolled out after dinner, having eaten far more than we should have.  This is why we do Moderno on our first night if possible.  We're too full later on in the cruise to enjoy it.

I need to contact a certain crew member.  While on our cruise 3 weeks ago, I attended an iPhone photography class that was fantastic.  The guy who taught it is named Martin, who is one of the photographers and works in the photography shop.  He's the one I need to get hold of.  He showed us a technique that brought a background object much closer to the subject of the picture, visually almost closing the gap between the actual person that's the subject and the background.  Altho not very difficult to follow,(much harder to explain, too) I found it impossible to remember.  I went back and asked him to show it to me again, which he gladly did (he was very excited about being able to share and teach this stuff), but I promptly forgot how and dummy me, did not write it down.

All I want to do is contact him for this info.  I've Googled it to death, practiced unsuccessfully, and even the Geniuses at the Apple Store were completely stumped.  

Would be forever grateful if someone could get Martin's email so I can pick his brain again.  

Hi turtles06!  Was on the first leg with you, and am reading with interest how your opinions echoes or differs from hubby's and mine.  I LOVE THE PIX OF NYC at 3 AM!!  We were busily snoring away at that point, but I am happy that someone got to take advantage of that view.

I'll be posting my review soon, so you can compare notes too.  Stay tuned!!

I echo the feelings on the refurbished public areas, but I did think it was lovely anyway.  Whenever possible, we sat in the back of the Spinnaker on the tall chairs, so I, with my bad knees, did not have to deal with trying to stand up from being that low down.  I notice that everywhere lately - even at the Masonic home where my mom lives.  They replace all the serviceable, functional chairs with too-low, uncomfortable chairs.  What's up with that?  Is every designer 25 yrs old and have no clue as to what more people need?

And I miss the fish..  :(

On 1/6/2023 at 1:43 PM, long Island said:

Arriving NCL Gem ,February 1, 2023, Catalina island, Dominican Republic. Can’t find any information on things to do or where we dock .

any information would be helpful. 🌴

I just did a review in the Dominican Republic board under Ports of Call.  But I guess it's too late - you've already been.  

8 hours ago, disneylover89 said:

Thank you for the review!  Were you able to purchase add ons while you were there?  My daughter would love to swim with the dolphins or sea lions but the rest of us would not.  Is there a pool there to cool off in?  Was it crowded?

I don't know if add-ons were available on-site.  The excursions we were offered either included them for different prices, or was available as the general day-pass, which is what we did.  You could try contacting ocean world directly via their website and ask.

It was not terribly crowded the day we were there.  Busses arrived and left at different times, so there was an influx and out-go of people.  The shows were pretty filled up, but since there were several in a day, I think there are times when each would be less crowded.

I did not see a pool. but the beach and enclosed ocean swimming area were delightful.

We went to DePalm Island with an NCL excursion 2 weeks ago and really liked it.The busses picked us up about 100' from the gangway and since our tix were paid for and everything arranged, we immediately got onto a ferry (what I felt was overloaded) and in 5 minutes we were there.

 Unfortunately, the water was quite rough that day for snorkelling, the waves stirred up a lot of cloudiness, and tossed us around uncomfortably.  Like Mitsugurly said, the fish were amazing and snorkelling would have been awesome if it hadn't been so rough.The water is quite shallow throughout, so  I was much too frightened of being dashed against the coral and got out after 15 minutes.  A record for me.  I could last forever generally. The luck of the draw.

Everything else she said in her review was what I experienced - the food, the unending drinks, (we didn't do the Sea trek).  One thing I highly recommend is water shoes!!!   The beach swimming area, was much calmer than the snorkelling area, but is very rocky and making it uncomfortable to walk out into the water for the first 20 feet or so.  

 They had a little enclosure with some turtles and tortoises in it, and quite a few hermit crabs of all sizes.  Great for the animal lover. The cute little cheeky bananaquit birds were ever present, stealing sips from unattended drinks, and grabbing food morsels everywhere.

Looking forward to going back, hoping for less wave action.  

Since Mitsugirly covered everything else, here's some photos of some of the wildlife. 

Like so many others, I was frustrated before our trip, trying to learn more about this port.  There was no information!  So when the NCL Gem stopped there, I knew I had to write a report and fill the void.

Catalina Island, off the shores of the Dominican Republic is a beautiful small apparently uninhabited island, with a walled off portion for tourists.  I heard that most of the island was being preserved as a natural park, and judging by the walls erected around our area, it does seem that way.  This is a tender port, (less than 10 minutes)and reminded me greatly of Great Stirrup Cay, an undeveloped Coco Cay, etc. It was clearly set up for large cruise ships, as there were huge tents over what would be buffet areas if they'd been set up,  a bazillion lawn chairs and umbrellas that they set up for a tip. NCL provided us with box lunches that we could pick up in the buffet on the ship at breakfast time, so they did not set up a big elaborate affair on shore.  They told us there would be no food available on the island, so we were prepared.  Altho I did see someone walking with a styro container, so there might have been food available somewhere for purchase..  We had brought our own water and juice, so never investigated the availability of other drinks.

Tender boats were  met with native dancers,  and they kept the music going all afternoon. Present but not obnoxious. The swimming area sand was soft and beautiful.  Saw a few people with small blow-up floats that they had brought.  Wish I had thought of that!  In the small thatched hut there was a DJ playing latin music, and when the band that greeted us getting off the tender was done, they went there, and danced with some passengers. 

 Smallish snorkeling area off to the side, that was decent once you got out far enough, we saw the typical suspects as well as Bally hoo, a flounder , big blue parrot, a skate, more of the typical. Not the best and nowhere near as good as some other spots.  But the water was crystal clear in the swimming area, a bit cloudier in the snorkel area. There is apparently a coral barrier wall just off to the right, innaccessible to us,  as there had been snorkel boats there all day.  DIdn't see any lizards. The water is so clear and blue. And chilly. Chilliest of tropical waters that I can remember.  But this was January, so I guess we can't expect miracles.  It was 100% better than where I come from.  It was still quite swimmable.

Once back on the ship and looking at the island from a distance, there appear to be at least 2 other spots similar to the one we are at with chairs etc for other ships to utilise. Ours was the largest area. They were all isolated from each other, so you couldn't see one from the other.  Nor could you walk there.  The jungle came up to the water, and they had some men preventing people from going beyond the limits of our area.  That’s on this side of the island only. Can’t see the other side. 

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.  Ocean World day pass.  This was an NCL ship’s tour. we had docked in Taini.     Bus ride to get there, don’t remember how long.  Once there, told the schedule of events and let go.  Dolphin, sea lion, shark show, bird aviary, aquarium in which you could snorkel, man-made beach, slides.  We were disappointed that it was such a commercial man-made place, much more like a Seaworld in FL. We were expecting a more natural environment, but this was beautifully done. You could walk on wooden boardwalks to get to the beach area, all the way in back, and passed between the dolphin enclosures.  The dolphins were very curious and friendly - they came right up to the edge to check us out and would keep returning.   The ocean on the other side of the sea wall was very rough. The aquarium that you could snorkel in had good size fish , with see through spots so they could be viewed from outside the tank.  It would take as long to get suited up and briefed as you’d be in the tank.  Even though we had about 5 hours, time was shorter than we thought, as we had to arrange everything around the shows. We thought we could snorkel off the beach, but once we saw the beach we decided against it.  It’s strictly an inner lagoon, beautifully cordoned off from the rough ocean, but nothing there to see in the way of snorkelling.  We lugged all our snorkel gear for nothing.  But it was an ideal, safe kid area in the shallows.  Some big kid water toys to play on if you wanted in the deeper areas.  We did go part way into the water before we left, and the water was delightful.  Not enough time to really swim and dry off.  There were changing rooms and lockers available.  Had tall circular slides that did not appear to be in use.

There was a gift shop there through which you walked to enter and exit (of course).  There were no vendors otherwise anywhere on the premises.

The shows were good, quite typical of a Seaworld or other aquarium quality.  The shark show consisted of  the sharks allowing themselves to be held.  The whole show was to watch people holding the sharks.  It was a lot of sitting in the sun, depending on the time and sun direction to wait for this to happen.  Fun for the first few, but then a yawner.

The other shows were typical but very good.  Dolphin especially, and they picked a little girl from the crowd to be in the show.  She with the trainer got pushed through the water, got kissed by both dolphins, gave directions to the dolphins, fed them, etc.  There was an excellent bird show - three Macaws that had been taught to do some unusual things.  they were amazing, and beautiful besides.

 The aviary was my favourite part - full of lovebirds that crawled all over us as long as we had food, which an attendant handed out readily.  (She did appreciate tips.)  On our heads, our hands, etc.  Very cool.  And Maccaws that were on perches, that if you tipped the guide, you could take a posed picture with.  We opted out.  A pair of toucans in a cage. Flamingos in a separate area.

Had an ok, typical buffet lunch included, drinks were separate, but plenty of tasty food.

It was a good way to spend a beautiful day, especially if you know what to expect.

1 hour ago, pookel said:

Shows so far: Blazing Boots, comedy show, Divos and Divas, Get Down Tonight (that's tonight). Our itinerary mentions Swing! but it hadn't happened yet. 

That's very encouraging.  Have heard many reports of shows not happening on so many ships, and not just because of weather...  Hope they're still happening when we're on.  Thanks for all the great info!

11 hours ago, Mlake09 said:

Hello! We were in Bermuda port a week ago and NCL did run the St. George ferry. I don’t have a picture of the time but wanted you to know it was running. 

Thank you!

24 minutes ago, CazualCruzer said:

We had 5534 and 5536 - both had the demon bugs.

Ewww..  that really creeps me out.  Hope they were gone before the next set of pax came in.

Thanks for those pics!  Looking forward to your next entries.  

35 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

While you were in Bermuda were you able to walk around with just a shirt or did you need a jacket/sweater?

Probably needed pants, too.  Sorry.... couldn't resist.  

On 1/13/2023 at 10:49 PM, quendar said:

Thanks that helps. Also considering spending the night and catching an earlier flight on Tuesday.  Priceline has a good price on the Raddison Panama Canal

That's what we're doing.  Staying at the Crowne Plaza in Panama City (not the airport), doing a half day tour the next day and then coming home the next night.  Took all the stress out of the day and allowed us to spend some time in this fascinating city.  The Crowne Plaza had excellent prices (even cancellable!) for seniors, and said they'd allow us to leave luggage with them for the day while we toured.  

Thank you for your daily report.  We're getting more excited by the day - we get on when you get off.  If you have a chance, would you please be so kind as to post a picture or two of the dailies?  The activities part is what I'm most interested in, especially on sea days.

Any shows happening?

20 hours ago, CazualCruzer said:

The luggage has remained in the garage, where it'll stay for quite some time! TMI, but we also stripped in the garage and later bagged up all the clothing. Hopefully the little buggers didn't sneak in through other means!

Forgot to ask-what was your stateroom number?

7 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Isn't Google Fi great, using that this weekend and free hotspot tethering without restrictions, well worth it  - access from 200 countries in voice, text/SMS and fast data.  

Never heard of this.  May we have details, please?  It might be something we should look into.

13 minutes ago, AwesomO said:

Do you know if they have paper bus maps available when you're in port? or an online app or something? Trying to check the bus map online but I can't read it on my screen, and it doesn't allow me to zoom in.I don't think the route is too complicated, but as I've never been to Bermuda, I'd just like to prepare ahead of time.

They usually have them in the terminal as you disembark.  They did last time we were there.

7 minutes ago, pookel said:

So sorry, I was not at the ferry or looking for bus maps - I got straight off the ship and followed my group to the tour bus people with signs for my excursion. I will ask around for this stuff in case another passenger was paying more attention. 

I forgot to ask you last night to take a look today.  Our itinerary for the day depends on the ferry(s), so that's why I'm asking.  It would be great if you could find out.  I'd sure appreciate it!