OrcaGirl

I got triple points on the Bliss to Alaska this summer, booking it a bit last minute. (Booked in mid-May for a mid-June sailing.) I usually just check the Latitudes past guest offer page on the first of the month.

If we book that one, it’ll be purely for the ship. We’ve done that itinerary sooooo many times.

I spaaaaaaaaahed until just before noon; Sleeping Beauty waltzed into the spa just as I was leaving, so we headed back to the cabin for me to get dressed and then off to the buffet. The pineapple glazed ham was good, but otherwise I thought the lunch choices were pretty lacklustre. (And tuna salad on pizza is a crime against nature.) After lunch, we headed to the Atrium for a cocktail and the Future Cruise presentation ‘cause I’m a sucker like that. They briefly mentioned the Aqua but didn’t mention where it’s going to be sailing so I guess I need to do some Googling later. Then it was to the fitness centre for a quick workout (for him) and walk on a treadmill (for me). Want to have a big appetite for Cagney’s tonight. Random observations: Not sure if it was due to the waves or a problem with the filters, but the thermal spa pool was weirdly dirty this morning. Several clumps of black gunk floating around, and one Lifesaver (the candy, not the floatation device). Don’t step directly on the plastic grate around the hot tub. One dude broke it. I went to grab an unoccupied stone lounger (it just had a rolled up towel pillow as they often do in the morning) only to have a guy two loungers down shoo me away. Apparently his nowhere-in-sight daughters were using them. I explained the whole ‘staff said no saving stone loungers’ but he was adamant and I’m a good Canadian who doesn’t like a confrontation so he got to keep his three unoccupied loungers in a row. Super fun how I get to feel like a passive-aggressive b*#%* for the rest of the morning, and they get prime loungers when they eventually show up. 🤣 The Norwegian Aqua looks amazing. My husband won’t discuss our anniversary trip plans for 2024 until we’re back home, but there are two NCL itineraries on my shortlist: a 14-day Star cruise in South America or a 7-day Caribbean itinerary on the Viva out of San Juan.

On the Escape right now and the Platinum and above BTS tour was at 7:50am on the first sea day. Closed toe shoes required, no beverages allowed. So many Platinum and above folks showed up for our BTS tour that they split us into three groups of 20-some people each, so I don’t imagine they would also plus-ones. If your sailing has fewer Platinum + guests, then maybe at the discretion of the CN hosts.

Dang, I missed it… it was at 10:30 to 11 according to the Freestyle Daily, but it wasn’t included in the What’s Happening section of the app, so I spaaaaah’d right through it.

Good morning from the Saragossa Sea. The skies cleared overnight but the swells continue (I slept like an over-excited toddler at Disneyland) and we’re cruising at a snail’s pace (if snails ever cruised 🐌) on our way back to NYC. I popped down to the Atrium Cafe intending to get just one iced Americano but alas the staff are just too good at their jobs and already know my name and usual morning order so they had two Americanos being made before I even made it up to the till. ☕️ So I popped back to the cabin to drop off the other Americano for Sleeping Beauty who requested a sleep-in today, and then up to the buffet for a quick breakfast. Still no hash browns. There’s a Q&A with staff in the Atrium this morning; dare I ask where have all the hash browns gone? I returned quickly and quietly to the cabin to change into my swimsuit and then up to the thermal spa. Any bets on what time the husband will join me? The water in the thermal spa pool is shifting back and forth, up and down. 🌊 The differential goes from ‘my belly button is exposed’ to ‘going up on my tip-toes to avoid getting water in my nose…’ 🤣 Random observations: Picked up our luggage tags this morning. 😢 Which means I’m getting the ‘must start planning my next cruise’ twitchies. (Except my next cruise is already booked — Bliss to Mexican Riviera with my mom in February 2024 — so I guess it’s actually the next-next cruise twitchies.) The buffet staff were really pushing the poorly-named “Oriental Dinner” during breakfast service. The adult pool was closed this morning but the hot tubs were open.

We headed back to our cabin by way of the pool deck bar for a BBC. Lots of people were out on their balconies watching for pier runners. My view was obstructed but based on the hooting and hollering, I’d say there were at least three groups that made it by the skin of their teeth. All aboard was 3pm, sailaway was 4pm, and this was around 3:50pm. 😬 Waters and skies are calm. Beautiful day. We took a little rest listening to the waves, then got ready for the evening. First up, a stop at the Prime Meridian bar for cocktails. I first learned about the pistachio martini from a CC poster who was on the Escape last week, and yeah… it’s as good as they said it was. (It was around this time that the calm seas turned to more rocking and rolling. Wheeeeeeee!!!!) We took a quick lap on the Waterfront before heading to dinner. Dinner tonight was in the Manhattan Room. There was a nice musical duo performing a set as we were seated but they left a few songs after we were seated and there was no music after that. We ordered the Caesar salad (him) and the stuffed mushroom caps (me); the salad was good and very creamy, the mushrooms were lacklustre compared to my memories of past sailings. For our main, we each ordered the short rib ragu, which was just as good as I remembered if not better. The only issue is that the portion was huge. Next time we eat in a main dining room we might ask for half portions. We shared a Black Forest something or other for dessert. Pretty good. One highlight of dinner was our waiter, Erick. I spoke a few words of bahasa Indonesia to him, and that spurred a whole conversation about where he’s from, recommendations for scuba diving, his experience as a free diver, etc. He’s been on the Escape for just three weeks and I was the first passenger to speak Indonesian with him. After dinner, we caught just a few minutes of the speed trivia in the Atrium (intense!) on the way to the Pour House for “family friendly” karaoke. It was… okay. Too loud. But I was impressed that it wasn’t just the old standards. Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo are a nice change of pace from hearing yet another rendition of My Way or Fools Rush In. (Is Taylor Swift the new Frank Sinatra? Three songs by Tay-Tay in the 40 minutes we were in there.) We headed down to the theatre to grab seats for Wheel of Fortune. (It was around this time that we noticed the rain had started and the Waterfront was closed.) It was a pay-to-play game: We crossed our fingers that the husband didn’t get called up on stage; he’s not awesome under pressure or in front of an audience. 🤣 The instructions for the audience participants were long and complicated. They really need to streamline that part. The three selected contestants play four rounds. The audience participants earn points each round, cumulative by card (?), based on if the wheel lands on a matching dollar amount (2) and if the puzzle contains matching consonants (2) and vowels (1) (or was it if the contestants called those letters? Again, it was confusing.) Audiences could also win ‘their own Wheel of Fortune’ for the fastest solve on their phone. The husband declared it ‘fun’; I thought it was painful and have no desire to play again. Neither of us felt like returning to karaoke (especially since my Just Ken refused to sing ‘Push’ for his Captain Barbie…) so we headed back to the cabin for bed. (It was around this time that we noticed the howling wind and creaking walls. Weirdly, I love this and will probably sleep like a baby tonight.) Random observations: If I can see the dude blatantly smoking on his balcony, why can’t NCL personnel? Not cool, dude. The cruise director kept asking for ‘continents’ instead of ‘consonants’ and it was driving me crazy.

Day 5 Freestyle Daily: escape-day5.pdf

Even cruise staff get vacations occasionally?

I woke up around 8am, went for coffee and — lo, the sun was out and the weather was… pretty darn nice. (Again, for a Canadian.) Sat out on the balcony for a bit watching the Disney Dream cruise in. (I would love to take a Disney Cruise someday except they’re sooooo expensive and I really dislike children in large quantities and for extended periods of time.) 🤷‍♀️ Breakfast time. Up to the buffet we went. Still no hash browns. 😢 But a nice view… Apres breakfast, we headed out to explore more of the Dockyard. (We didn’t feel comfortable taking the ferry to St. George’s given the schedule.) We went to the Bermuda Museum and walked all around. Very neat. But watch out for sheep poop. It’s everywhere. After we were done touring, we stopped in at the Bone Fish for lunch (one fish sandwich shared between us) and drinks (a couple of Blue Hawaiians, pina coladas with blue curaçao). The drinks were good, and the fish sandwich was tasty enough (though on a future Bermuda trip I’d like to try it at a more local spot). Back onto the ship we went, to relax in the thermal spa until it’s time for sailaway. The steam room is once again super-eucalyptusy after being just regular steamy for the past two days. 🐨 Random observations: Wifi was pretty 💩 this morning. Lots of hacking coughs on board, and very poor coughing etiquette. I’m very glad the husband and I were both able to get the updated COVID vax shot last week before the trip. I’m surprised they don’t post the ferry schedule to St. George’s so guests can just take a photo, but no, you have to pick up a physical copy at Guest Services. I’ve been having a much harder time falling to sleep these last couple of days, and I think it’s that we’re not at sea. I need the motion of the ocean. 🌊 The NCL app continues to annoy me. Most other cruise lines manage to have the nightly MDR menus on their apps, why can’t NCL figure it out? Playing “My Heart Will Go On” on a cruise ship is a little weird, non? If you forget your ID, the Bermuda port security will accept a digital scan of your passport. (And then you should buy your wife a treat for having digital versions of your passport in her Dropbox.)

Ha! Actually the NCL birthday email came in this morning, a day late and a good offer short. At least Celebrity gave me a birthday code for $100 off my next balcony cabin if I book this month.

4pm according to the revised itinerary. The Freestyle Daily listed all aboard as 3:30pm but the sign on the dock said 3pm.

We get them in grocery stores in Canada. I’ve also seen them at CVS in Los Angeles. They are very good.

No hashbrown sightings on the Escape so far this week, and none on the Bliss in June. What I don’t know is if they purchased the hash browns frozen (so cost-cutting) or if galley crew make them (so labour-intensive compared to country potatoes)?

We headed back to the room around 6pm to get showered and napped and ready for the evening’s frivolities. We grabbed seats in the Atrium for Sing It If You Know It; very busy again, all of the regular seats and folding seats full and still people ended up sitting on the floor. It was… confusing, at first. And then fun. And then eardrum-perforating… (Seriously, preteen boys should not be allowed to scream-sing YMCA into a mic.) My birthday dinner tonight was at Teppanyaki. It was fun and delicious as always but also too much food (as always). We skipped dessert and headed out to Atrium catching the tail end of an interesting movie trivia game, where one person sees a movie title and has to give the other person clues to guess it without actually saying the title. My husband and I tried to play along while waiting for drinks. I didn’t guess his “not ugly and ugly” clue (Beauty and the Beast) but all he had to grunt was “family” for me to correctly guess The Fast and the Furious. Meanwhile, he correctly guessed “Superman vs Batman” based on my clues of “it’s a bird, it’s a plane; I can’t turn my head; they’re fighting”… 🤪 We spent a few minutes in the casino, each making a small contribution to NCL’s bottom line, but we were tired and quickly headed to bed for the night. Random observations: I hope NCL switches over to TimePlay trivia eventually. Lots of people have been celebrating their birthdays onboard this trip. Yay Scorpios!!! 🦂 My husband gave me Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups with the potato chips inside for my birthday. He knows me well. I got birthday email offers from Princess and Celebrity today, but nothing from NCL. 🤔 The casino area is unpleasantly smoky. Zero stars, do not recommend. And someone was vaping while walking through the main casino thoroughfare which I didn’t think was allowed.

Yay, I got a birthday rainbow! 🌈

By the time we started thinking about drying off and heading out, the rainy weather had rolled in. So we decided to skip the ferry to St. George’s and scrounge for lunch on the ship instead. Glad we had our one good day of weather yesterday for the excursion. Don’t think the husband is going to be able to try the ropes course today. It’s supposed to open at 3pm, but I don’t see that happening. Lunch was fine, but I do miss the wider selection on the Bliss/Encore. The bread pudding was [chef’s kiss] though. We stopped by the O’Sheehan’s arcade area for a quick game of Space Invaders. That was intense, and the husband destroyed me. Then to the Atrium for general knowledge trivia. It was very busy, and we ended up sitting on the floor. We ended up scoring 16/22… not our best, not our worst, but not good enough to win any prizes. Interestingly, NCL seems to be going the way of Celebrity in that you now accumulate points for each activity you win, and then exchange them for a prize at the end of the cruise. (On my Bliss cruise in June my friend and I won a deck of cards outright for winning one trivia session.) The weather had lightened up a bit, so we went for a short walk through the Dockyard, on the hunt for a souvenir t-shirt for my mom. Once that was acquired, we hustled back to the ship ahead of the next wave of rain, and back into the thermal spa. Random observations: As we approached the ship, I could hear a siren and overheard two crew asking about where the ambulance was supposed to park. 😬 An older gentleman was complaining to the poor woman staffing the towel return station about how “in the old days” NCL used to have a tent up with cool towels and glasses of water outside. My dude, we’re lucky it’s not a full-blown hurricane; tons of people are just staying on board, and you’re gonna make the staff stand around in the rain and wind? Still lots of stone lounger hogging and loud voices in the thermal spa. Boo. The spa staff don’t seem to be enforcing the rules very consistently.

Day 4 Freestyle Daily: escape-day4.pdf

Good morning from Bermuda, part 2. We slept in after all the Halloween shenanigans, and it was 9:30am by the time I headed down to not-actually-a-Starbucks. People were coming back on board wearing rain ponchos and various plastic bag-type coverings. ☔️ After rousing the husband, we headed to The Local, I mean, O’Sheehan’s for breakfast. We were seated in the bar area and eavesdropped on the morning trivia while having our breakfast. Based on the weather, we decided to head to the thermal spa for the rest of the morning and then reassess later if we want to try to head out to the Dockyard or St. George’s for a late lunch. They’ve been doing crew drills all morning, and for the first time in all my cruises it’s involved the thermal spa staff while I’m actually in the thermal spa. Good to know they check all the saunas and steam rooms when an abandon ship order is called. Random observations: The maître d at O’Sheehan’s wouldn’t seat us in the main dining area because my husband was wearing a tank top. And yet I was also wearing a tank top, as were the women behind us who got seated no problem, so what’s with the double standard? Today was the first time this trip that I’ve seen people chair hogging the stone loungers in the thermal spa by leaving their towels or cover-ups… tsk, tsk… Someone had way too much fun last night; I thought I heard a bang/crash sometime around midnight, and woke up to this right outside our cabin. Mudslides may be the perfect spa drink.

Halloween was a blast and I’m so glad we decided to stay on the ship instead of going for the revised sunset catamaran. Not to be immodest, but I was especially happy with how my costume turned out. I didn’t manage to sneak onto the bridge but several crew addressed me as Captain and/or saluted. 🫡 So many people were dressed up, either in full costume mode or in something at least thematically on point. I can’t even narrow down my favourites. But the family of King Triton, Ursula, Sebastian and Flounder with little baby Ariel in the stroller was fantastic, and I loved the two Mrs. Ropers from Three’s Company. 🤣 And many of the crew were in full costumes, especially in the casino. I saw Chucky, the Joker, flappers, priests, escapes prisoners, and more. We did a few tours of various bars, drinking and people-watching. The casino opened around 9pm and was packed. We went to the haunted house in the Supper Club, and well… I loved it, I thought the crew did an amazing job and it was appropriately scary for all but the youngest kids. Except… I’m married to a very jumpy 54-year-old. (We went inside a haunted house on our second date, and he ended up throwing me into a wall. Reader, I still married him. 🤷‍♀️) The haunted house was A BIT TOO MUCH for him. At one point he stepped on a poor crew member (in fairness, he was already sprawled on the ground) and then near the end he got a jump scare just after another crew member said to watch his step, and he ended up tripping and banging up his knee and one toe pretty bad. 😫 So yeah, we declared a moratorium on all future haunted house visits. After that we hobbled around a bit longer and eventually made our way up to H20 for the costume contest. Unfortunately it was a bit too crowded for my liking, and the wind was really starting to pick up (I feared for the safety of my Captain’s hat, all $9.99 of it) so after failing to find a good perch for my Just Ken to rest his poor leg, we decided to bail. If anyone was there and knows who won, I’m dying to know!!! We did one final lap across the Atrium and then retired to our cabin for the evening. This Barbie needs her beauty sleep.

Day 3 Freestyle Daily: escape-day3.pdf

I’ll have to finish up Halloween shenanigans and post the Freestyle Daily in the morning; the wifi is 💩 right now.

(This is going to be a little out of order.) We got back to our cabin around 4:30pm, which made for a long day. The husband chose a disco nap over trying to rush to make the 5pm Thriller dance class. (He’s a former Thrill the World participant so he takes his Thriller dancing seriously. If you don’t know what that is, search for it on YouTube.) We had dinner in one of the main dining rooms. Taste? Savor? I don’t know. 🤷‍♀️ I had the roasted beet salad and he had the Caesar. Both good. For our mains, I had the pork loin after remembering how good it was on the Bliss, and he had the shrimp fettuccine Alfredo. Neither of us could finish our mains; my pork slices were huge and way too thick, and I could only finish one, and his pasta looked like a nicely sized portion but was deceptively large. Dessert was the lava cake for him and the tiramisu cake for me. Both excellent. Before heading to the MDR, we also perused the buffet. Much like Celebrity, it seems like NCL is scaling the dinner buffet waaaay back, and just over half of the buffet was open. But the highlights were the Halloween-themed desserts and displays. And later in the evening, we went back to the buffet so the husband could have another crepe.

Oh yeah, the husband and several others went for a swim. One dude was swimming really far out. Most of the others described the water temperature as ‘brisk until you got used to it’…

Our excursion today was the “Caves and Waves” tour. We got checked in and placed on a tour bus. The ride to the caves was about 45 minutes, and the driver pointed out various sites and sights along the way. The caves themselves were awesome. It was high tide so the floating boardwalk was up and even regular height people had to duck frequently… the poor 6’5” husband and the other actually tall people had to really get low to avoid bonking their heads. (Many more photos will be posted on my Instagram Stories.) After emerging back to the above-ground world, I had just enough time to run to the washroom (but not the gift shop 😢) before being herded back onto the bus. Another short bus ride took us to the Clearwater Beach, where we spent two hours. Our first stop was the beach bar, for two incredibly strong pina coladas and two hot dogs…. Alas, the fish sandwiches weren’t available. The only food available were hot dogs, hamburgers, and fries. Guess I’ll have to go out in search of fish sandwiches tomorrow. After lunch, we headed down to the beach. We didn’t bother renting chairs, just laying down our NCL towels and popping a squat on the sand. I dipped my toes in the water, but didn’t swim. The temperature was lovely, at least by Canadian terms. It was around this time that my phone decided it needed a vacation too, and overheated and shut down. 🤷‍♀️ Our tour left the beach at 2:15pm for the drive to St. George’s for the NCL ferry back to the Escape. We got to St. George’s with about 30 min to wait for the ferry. The line was already long so we just found a bench on the waterfront until we could see the ferry approaching. We boarded, grabbed seats on the upper, outer deck and settled in for the ride back to Dockyard. Random observations: Check your tour numbers. Four people were removed from our bus since they were on a different tour. Our (white) guide really wasn’t comfortable answering a Black guest’s question about when the African population was brought to Bermuda. The verbal gymnastics he performed to avoid saying slavery or enslaved peoples was actually pretty impressive. (The answer is 1617, I looked it up once back on the ship.) Also maybe don’t tell your passengers about how you lost your ambulance driver license for speeding (twice) before we even leave the dock. Free wifi provided by the tourism association was available at the bar and near the ferry stop in St. George’s. At least one dude from the Escape didn’t realize the ship had changed to Bermuda time last night, and didn’t understand why everyone was lining up at 1:45 for a 3:15 ferry. ⏰ (It was 2:45…)