TnomadX

I don't think I'm going to say anything different than anyone else. I just wanted to add that I do prepay the gratuities because while they do say who the gratuities are going to, I feel like it doesn't really work that way. There are so many people who work on the ships that are not recognized for what they do, and I believe our tips are dispersed accordingly. I honestly just wish they include that in the total price so no one has to worry about it.

I have tried the tipping in advance thing, and that hasn't really gotten me any service that was different. I've tried that a few times and the service was still the same. I didn't get any better treatment than if I hadn't tipped in the beginning. There have been times when I've gotten bad service, but I talked with the individual directly and the problem was corrected. I've never had to go higher than that (so far).

Whichever decision you make, I know you'll have a great time. Happy Sailing!!

--

Zay

Today I decided to take advantage of the Sea Day Brunch. The Sea Day brunch starts around 8:30 AM and goes until about 1pm. I was actually hoping to be seated with other people since I was alone, but I was seated alone this time around. My servers were great and attentive. I decided to have the Chicken Salad, scrambled eggs, and steak. They give you LOTS of bread choices, but I left the bread alone. Everything was great, except I was hoping for grilled chicken for the salad. The chicken was a breaded chicken which didn't seem to go well with the salad for me. Other than that, everything was pretty good.

After brunch, I decided to meet with the group of people I met earlier and just hang out for a little bit. We spent some time at the pool and watched the harry man competition. Let me just say that it was fun to watch. Women get to choose the men they want to come on stage and compete, and they really enjoyed this job...lol. I thought the guys chosen were great sports too. Thy really got into character and made it so much fun.

Shortly afterwards, I met up with the family that were part of the wedding party and hung with them for a while. We had lots of fun. We went to the Love & Marriage game show just to see what it would be like. It turned out that the newlywed couple was selected, and another couple from the wedding party was selected as well. This made the game very exciting for us. All the couples on stage were great sports, and answered the questions honestly. I won't give away the questions so you can enjoy it, but it was a LOT of fun. I think this was the best newlywed game I had ever seen.

While I'm talking about the newlywed game, let me stop a moment and talk about the Cruise Director who was also the host of the show. I've been on quite a few cruises, and this guy was one of the best cruise directors I've ever seen. His name is Jeff Bronson, and I LOVE how he interacts with the guests. He was visible throughout the ship, and was not annoying in any way. You can clearly see that he enjoys doing what he does. I love how he communicates with children. My hats are off to him. I'll talk more about him later.

We also went to Hasbro the gameshow later on that evening. This is such a fun show. If you have not participated, please go by and check it out. It's life sized games, and everyone gets a chance to compete in some way. Not everyone will get to go on stage, but everyone does get a chance to participate if they want to. Another person from the wedding party got a chance to be a part of the gameshow, and it was so much fun watching her. Please trust me....the game show really is a lot of fun. Go check it out.

I decided to go have dinner after the show. II got a chance to meet another family that joined us for the last evening. They were a very nice couple, and I'm glad they were able to join us. They were so much fun and a wonderful addition to the table. As dinner came to a close, the wait staff did a farewell performance that ended with a dance. What a wonderful way to end the evening.

Carnival musters at the lifeboat stations on the other ships. On the Fantasy class some of the lifeboat areas (the furthest aft station) cannot hold all the souls on that deck so the majority of it is in the lounges.

 

I prefer knowing where the lifeboat is.

I'd rather have the muster drills at the lifeboat stations the entire time than to have the muster drill one place, then go to another place. Thanks for your input.

I woke up earlier than what I wanted to (7am). I decided to go up and have breakfast. When you decide to have breakfast, I would get my eggs at the egg station, which is on deck 10 (pook deck) just before you go into the buffet area. The eggs are much better there than the buffet. I would get an omelette made there, and then go to the buffet to get everything else. After breakfast, I hung around the ship for a while just to see if anything else was going on.

I looked outside and saw people gathering to go outside to get to Ensenada, so I decided to get off the ship and just walk to the downtown area (about a 5 minute walk). While I was walking into town, I was disappointed at how many of the families use their children (or even someone else's child) to try to get you to buy things. These kids are very push, and I became very irritated right away. Some will even pull your hand if you try to walk away. Be careful about that. There were women sitting on along the sidewalk holding babies trying to get sympathy as well. It was really an awful thing for me to see. I finally decided to walk back to the ship. I did buy a couple of hats on the way back, but that was it.

On my way back, I ran into some others from the ship who also decided to take the walk. They were very, very nice. They asked me about what was up ahead, and I explained what I saw warning them to be careful.

I got back on the ship and just relaxed for a bit until it was time to grab some lunch. I didn't have a big lunch today as I wasn't quite as hungry as I had been. After lunch, I ran into the beautiful women I had met the day before. We decided to hang out for a while and talk. We talked about what it was like in Ensenada and what we planned to do the rest of the night. They had invited me to dinner with them, and I planned to go with them. After I got back to my room, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until it was time for my dining time (they had my time dining at 7pm).

I decided to just go to dinner and call it a night since I was tired anyway. I had another couple to join me the second night. They were a very nice looking couple. I enjoyed sharing dinner with them, and the wait staff treated them like royalty as well. The wait staff on the ship is a great staff. It didn't appear that anyone was having a bad time on board with wait staff. They were all so easy to talk with and VERY funny.

I decided to call it a night after dinner and catch up on some missed sleep.

Hi all,

I would like to take a moment to review my experience on the Carnival Inspiration. I decided to book a back 2 back sailing from May 30 - June 6 because I found a really good deal. I was just needing some time to relax. I honestly had planned on sleeping the entire time I was on board because I had just been tired.

For the first 3-day sailing, I arrived to the port pretty early because my flight came in earlier than expected. When I arrived, I had a bit of a wait, and they don't allow you to check in early anymore. They began the check-in process about 10am. I had signed up for the faster to the fun so that I could board a little earlier. There happened to be two weddings that were happening on the ship, so boarding was a bit later than I had hoped. I wasn't able to get on the ship until about 12:30pm. Afterwards, things seemed to flow a bit more smoothly.

I went to my room and put my stuff away, and then went to grab something to eat (I purposely didn't eat before sailing because I wanted to wait until I got on the ship). The room was ready, and I got a chance to meet my room steward right away. He was such a nice guy, and I'm glad I got a chance to meet him as quickly as I did. I went to the buffet, and having sailed on the Inspiration before, I knew exactly what I wanted. The food was pretty good and met my expectations.

I decided to explore the ship a little bit more to see things I may have missed the last time. While exploring, I met some really wonderful people. We stopped and talked for a while before it was time for muster drill. the muster drill was a bit late because there were still people on board the ship that needed to debark before the ship to take off. This made sailing a bit late as well. The cruise director does the announcement for the muster drill, and he really tries to make it as painless as possible. No one really likes the muster drill because it can seem cramped and packed. The thing I really dislike about the muster drill is that not only do you meet in a particular location, but they also have to walk you up to where the lifeboats are as well. I've never done that before on any other sailing I've been on (if you have, let me know).

After muster drill, the party began. Everyone began to start to have fun. I honestly thought I was just going to stay in the room since I was alone this sailing, but there were too many people I met that just opened up their hearts to me and allowed me to hang with them.

My dining time was at 8:30 pm. I was seated at a table for 10, but no one showed up the first night. I was so disappointed. The wait staff really made up for that. They kept me entertained the entire time. I couldn't be sad at all because they kept coming and checking on me while making me laugh each time. They were so caring and compassionate, it was great.

I decided to go to the comedy show right after dinner. I wished I could remember the comedians names, but I can certainly tell you this. Comedians are hit and miss no matter where you go and see them. Before I get into that, I must tell you that I was sitting alone for a while. Then these beautiful women decided to come and join me. They were apart of the wedding party, and it was their first cruise. They were such sweet ladies, and I was very happy they joined me.

Now back to the comedians. The first comedian was great. He made me laugh quite a bit. He seemed to have original material that was really funny. The second comedian I didn't enjoy at all. I don't like it when a comedian decides to pick on someone out of the audience. It makes me feel that they have no material at all, and this guy only would pick on people from the audience or the staff. The ladies that joined me seemed to share my thoughts as well. In fact, we agreed that we wouldn't go back and see this comedian again because of how awful he was.

After the comedy show, I decided to call it a night and go back to my room and get some sleep. I thought it was a good day.

Zay, I want to wish you a very belated Happy Birthday! It sounds as if your celebration was wonderful. Right now I am really regretting choosing to go to Las Vegas for our anniversary instead of on the Sapphire Princess with you. (I don't know if you remember, but I popped into your Roll Call while I was considering that cruise). I know I would have really enjoyed meeting you.

 

As far as island tours are concerned, I almost always prearrange our tours with reputable guides (recommended here &/or on TA). I like the security of knowing that we have something planned. All of our days on our Jewel cruise this coming May are already arranged! But I admire your flexibility and sense of adventure each day. I am looking forward to the rest of your review.

Thank you so much. I usually do plan each day prior to me cruising so that I do have something planned. This time, I decided to try something a little different because I wanted to give people an idea of what to expect should they decide to just try a tour right off the ship instead of pre-booking. I'm so glad I did it because I learned a lot. I know that if I tour some of these islands again, I know which ones I wouldn't mind just getting off the ship and using a taxi and which ones I'll pre-book in advance. Martinique is definitely one I'll pre-book in the future should I have stop on that island again. The taxis there WILL take advantage of you if you're not careful.

Also...I won't be doing the Sapphire Princess in January. I chose to go with Carnival instead. I am taking my kiddos along, and Princess wouldn't allow me to arrange what I needed. I was so bummed. I think we'll have a good time on Carnival. It's only for four days, so we should be good.

So you going to Las Vegas for your Anniversary, eh? I used to live there 10 years ago. I loved it. I believe you'll have a wonderful time there as well. Hang on, and I do remember you popping in ;).

Zay so glad you had a good tour in Martinique. We just walk around town and thought it was OK but not something I'd do again. Wish I'd found you to tour with because the tour with the taxies are expensive. Love your review. Looking forward to more my friend. Pat

Awe Pat. I wished you could have come with us too. I know you would have enjoyed it with us. It was really great. We wanted some more passengers, and our tour guide was really nice. And YES....they were very expensive, but George gave us a break.

Enjoying your review! Did they have a pasta demonstration lunch in Portofino whiile you were on board? We did it on Serenade a couple of years ago and enjoyed it, hoping jewel has it, too.

They didn't have it this time. At least I didn't hear of it as I would have been there.

I just wanted to post a link to our photos from the 1st week of this same cruise. I sent a few photos of Zay to him, so if he wants to share that is up to him. :p The photos are mainly of the ship and the ports of call, but there are some photos of us in there as well.

 

The only port missing is Barbados (our favorite :D). I should be uploading those sometime this weekend.

 

You can view the photos here: Cruise Ship & Ports of Call Photos

Thanks for posting those Adam. They brought back some great memories.

Will you be posting any pictures of your selves? Always like to match a face to the travelers.

 

Our booked July 5th Jewel itin has all different stops then the following July 12th itin, except for St. Kitts. Seriously debating taking the second week so I am interested in your 2 week report. B2B are always interesting. We already will have paid the airfare and will use Marriott miles for pre and post cruise stays in PR.

I may post a pic or two of me. You'll enjoy your b2b. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the vibe of the ship of the two sailings.

I woke up a little early because it was my birthday. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get off the ship or not because I had heard some awful things about Martinique. Martinique is a French island, and I’ve been told on a number of occasions that the French don’t like Americans. I decided to go and have breakfast in the dining room today and give it some thought. I am so glad I chose the dining room for breakfast. It is cooked to order, and absolutely wonderful. It was definitely a much better experience than in the Windjammer. I’m not saying the Windjammer is a bad experience at all. I just enjoyed the dining room’s breakfast much better. If you love French Toast, you’ll love them here. Just know that you’ll probably only need one piece, as they are HUGE!! I was seated with some really great people, and one of them was from our cruise critic group. We had a great time laughing and talking.

I then decided to go ahead and make my way off the ship. I thought I’d be able to ignore any rudeness today because it’s my birthday ☺. Once off the ship, I headed for the shuttle to the island. The shuttle driver had difficulty getting through because so many people were walking in the street. There were two sidewalks to the island, but everyone seemed to ignore them. They were also very slow at getting out of the way so he could pass by.

We finally made it to the island, and I decided to brush up on some of the French I learned in school. I started speaking to some of the locals with a friendly Bonjour, and then they’d go into a full conversation in French. They quickly learned that my French was limited when they saw how big my eyes got when they started talking…lol. I’m sure they must have laughed at me when I walked away. The people you’ll meet as you enter the island are very nice. Many of them did indeed speak English. You may be told that they don’t on the ship. Just know that there are quite a few that do.

I decided that I wanted to take a tour of the island. I saw a guy who was offering taxi service. He told me that the tour would cost me 60 euros per hour. I thought…gee, that’s expensive. 60 euros when we made it to Martinique was approximately $50 USD. I decided to keep looking. I walked down to the ATM which is a few feet from the McDonalds on the island (It’s a good walk into town so be prepared if you need to use the ATM). After getting what I needed I headed back the direction of the ship. I met a very nice lady who was also a passenger on the Jewel, and we talked for an hour. I told her that I wanted to do a tour of the island, but it is very expensive. She offered to help me find someone to get us a tour, so we went off to find one. I went back to the guy I initially talked to, and interestingly enough, his price had come down. It was now 40 euros an hour. I decided to take it, but he said that he didn’t want to. He sent me to another guy instead.

I walked over to talk with the other guy, and he asked me what kind of a tour I wanted. I told him I just wanted to drive around and at least see the city. His name is George, and he was absolutely the friendliest guy I met on the island. He asked me how I would be paying hi m (euros or dollars). I told him euros, and he told me it would be 20 euros for two hours. I thought this was much better than what I was offered by the other guy, so I took it. He assisted me and my new friend on the bus and went to find just a few more passengers. After about 10 minutes we were on our way.

As I mentioned, George was the nicest person I had met on board. He had physically challenged people on board, and was very helpful to all of us. In many of the islands we had gone to before, not many of them stopped so we could get pictures very often. George stopped as often as he could. He took us to some of the best spots to take pictures. The island is absolutely beautiful. We made several stops along the way to get pictures, and each stop was more breathtaking than the one before. George knew exactly what to do.

We also had an opportunity to go to their Botanical Gardens. We didn’t go inside because it’s a bit on the expensive side, but I’m told it’s worth every penny. It’s a very large garden. We just stopped to take some pictures there and to get some drinks. Again…you may be told that they don’t take the American dollar. In many places, they do. While they will accept the American dollar, you may receive your change back in Euros. Be prepared for that.

We also were able to stop at one of their Catholic Churches as well. It was an absolutely beautiful church. You can see this church from a great distance away. It is definitely a must see should you stop here.

We then headed back to the ship. On the way, George noticed that we were taking pictures. He would stop so we could get a good shot. I really meant it when I said he was the nicest person we had met on the island. I am so glad that he was our tour guide on the island. I wished I had gotten his last name because I want to recommend him to others because of how caring and considerate he was.

Now…I’d like to recommend that you either have a pre-arranged tour prior to your cruise OR get a tour from the cruise line. I recommend this because The taxis on the island may give you different rates, and there’s no telling where they will actually take you. I believe they will show you some things, but I don’t know if they’ll show you something you’ll actually like. The next time I go, I will definitely get a prearranged tour.

When I made it back to the ship, I went to have lunch at the Windjammer. As I was getting it, I was surrounding by 5 servers. For a moment, I thought I had done something wrong. Then I heard my previous week’s server start a countdown. They all started singing happy birthday to me. This made my day.

I then went to go sit at my favorite spot (Latte-tudes), but didn’t have the cookies this time. I just wanted to sit and enjoy the view. I had a few conversations with some of the people passing by. Then decided to go to the room and rest for a bit.

Tonight we were going to Chops Grill for my birthday dinner. We had prearranged it with some of our cruise critic friends. Let me tell you that the night was so great. We had an excellent time. Our server was great and very attentive. Our dinner started at 7pm, and we were seated right away. A few moments later, My server for the week showed up just to wish me a happy birthday. I thought that was so nice of him. I thanked him very much for taking the time to do that.

Let me just say that in Chops, you are given so much food. One thing I’d like for people to know before going to dinner here is that the sides are large enough to share with everyone on the table. You’re not just getting a small order of sides. Everyone should discuss what he or she would like to share so that they are not wasted. Oh…and the mashed potatoes are the BEST!!!!! All the food was great!!! The food will come out a little slower because they cook the food to order. Please plan for that. One of our cruise critic friends did have longer than usual wait times. We may not have noticed because we were too busy laughing and talking. I do know that we didn’t leave out until almost 10.

After dinner, I was thinking about my kiddos back home. I was wondering if they were missing me like I was missing them. They were supposed to give me a call, but the phone never rang. In fact, I fell asleep trying to wait for them. I woke up around 2 in the morning and noticed I had text messages and missed calls. I went to the 4th floor (as that is where reception seemed to be the best) to call them. They ALL couldn’t wait to talk to me. It made my day even better. They all had something to talk about, and it was so nice to hear their voices.

I had a great day. It was indeed one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had.

Today was a very interesting day. We were excited about visiting Antigua. We got off the ship around noon and headed to the island. As soon as we got there, it appeared that many of the taxis were already gone. We wanted to do a ferry, but there wasn't a person there to help us. Finally, a guy by the name of Winston or Jarvis (he gave us two names) asked if we wanted a tour. We said yes and asked him how much would it be. He said that he would only charge us $30 each, and if we didn't like it, he would knock some of the price off. He also said that we would stop off for lunch. I asked if the lunch was included in the tour. He said for us not to worry, it would be taken care of. We said okay.

 

He told us to wait for him to go get the car. He led us to an area just past the entrance to the island, and we waited for him to return to us. We saw a young lady selling spices and jewelry, so I bought some of the spices. We were then approached by a young lady who was wearing leggings with the American Flag on it. She asked us (but was only looking at me) if we wanted a tour of the island. I told her we are waiting for someone to help us and should be right back. She told us to enjoy our tour, and turned and walked away slowly. Hmmmm....I wonder what that meant...lol.

 

Our driver finally came after waiting on him for 15 minutes. We noticed right away that he wasn't in a taxi. It was his personal car. I will admit I was a little worried at first, but I thought I'd try it. ALERT!!!! If your driver does not have an official taxi car, he/she is NOT an official driver. Do NOT do what we did. We basically trusted someone to give us a tour, and to bring us back on time. Anything could have happened.

 

When we got in the car, he started driving. He took us to one of their local colleges where we could take a few pictures. This was one of the few places we could take a picture at. He was a terrible driver. He drove very fast not giving us an opportunity to take pictures often. If you asked him questions, he would turn around to answer those questions not keeping his eyes on the road. We nearly had an accident a few times. I finally got the message and stopped asking him questions.

 

In the meantime, he kept talking about having a sick son. He talked about him so much, that I finally thought that perhaps he's trying to get us to give him an additional tip. He could have been an honest about his son, but it just didn't seem believable.

 

At any rate, he did take us over the island, then stopped us off by a beach. This is the place where we could stop and have lunch. I wrote down the name of it on my phone, then I had to reset it so now it's gone. :( We got a chance to try some of their fish, and the food was really good. the plates were about $10 including the drink. The drinks are not free refills.

 

Our driver told us that we would go and see some more sights. Instead, he took us back to the ship (which we didn't mind). He got us as close as he could, then parked the car. You could tell that he wanted more than what he asked for. We did give him a little extra even though we weren't very pleased with the tour. It may not have been what he wanted, but we didn't care about that.

 

After getting back on the ship, I went to my usual spot Latte-tudes. I talked with my friend about what happened. We just laughed about it and moved on to something else. I then went walking around. Not much was happening around the ship during this time, so I just chose to relax until it was time for dinner.

 

We had made prior reservations for the Mystery Dinner Theatre for 6PM. This was so much fun. Without giving it away, it's a great show that is held in Portofino. It start's out in the Safari Club where you are given a glass of Champagne while you wait for the show to start. Once the show starts, it gets your attention right away.

 

After about 30 minutes of show, we were escorted to our tables in Portofino, and then were served. You are sat with a group of people. Some you may know, and others you may not. It worked out great because the people you are seated with are a team working to solve the mystery together. After you're served, the show continues a couple of times. At the end of the meal, the case is solved. It is a fantastic show, and I know you will enjoy it very much. If you are able and it is offered, please sign up and go. It is a bit pricey at $55 per person, but you'll get your money's worth out of it. It takes about 3 hours from beginning to end. The best time I had all week.

 

Afterwards, a group of us went to the Love and Marriage game. The contestants were put through the same things as the contestants from the previous week's show. It's amazing how you could ask different people the same questions and get an entirely different show. This one was by far more funnier than the previous show. The contestants were really into it. I think we laughed so hard because of the answers the contestants were giving. I was so glad to go with a group of our friends. It made the show and the week better since the week was off to a rocky start initially.

 

Today was really a great day, and I am glad things were starting to turn around. It was very easy to fall asleep tonight and get some rest.

Can't believe I forgot to add something to day 4 review. After the Love and Marriage Game, I went to the pool party because I wasn't quite ready to go to sleep. They had a very nice setup for snacks and drinks. There were quite a few people there, and they really looked like they were having a good time. I wanted to dance myself, but my foot was still bothering me. I ran into our dinner mates, and they were talking up a storm to me. I couldn't believe these were the same people who were being so rude. They were really nice tonight, and very talkative.

It started raining really hard, so they moved the party to the Vortex Night Club. Most of the cruise director staff was there, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. There were people making requests, and the DJ honored all of them. Then...the unthinkable happened. My table mates had gone over to the Activities Manager to have him announce that it was my birthday. At Midnight, he said that we'd like to say happy birthday to Jason...lol. He was looking at me, and I looked in the same direction he was because my name isn't Jason. He came and pointed at me, and everyone celebrated my birthday with me for a few minutes. It was one of the nicest things my table mates had done. For must a moment, I felt a little guilty about how I felt about them. For some reason, they really liked me.

Afterwards, I went to bed...lol. Sorry about forgetting this piece of information.

Hi Zay,

 

I remember Greg London from the NCL Dawn. He was OK.

 

We'll be in an Oceanview, Deck 2, on the Explorer in March. Were you able to see any marine life from that level?

No, it was above sea level. There were times we could see flying fish though.

--

Zay

Today was a very interesting day. We were excited about visiting Antigua. We got off the ship around noon and headed to the island. As soon as we got there, it appeared that many of the taxis were already gone. We wanted to do a ferry, but there wasn't a person there to help us. Finally, a guy by the name of Winston or Jarvis (he gave us two names) asked if we wanted a tour. We said yes and asked him how much would it be. He said that he would only charge us $30 each, and if we didn't like it, he would knock some of the price off. He also said that we would stop off for lunch. I asked if the lunch was included in the tour. He said for us not to worry, it would be taken care of. We said okay.

He told us to wait for him to go get the car. He led us to an area just past the entrance to the island, and we waited for him to return to us. We saw a young lady selling spices and jewelry, so I bought some of the spices. We were then approached by a young lady who was wearing leggings with the American Flag on it. She asked us (but was only looking at me) if we wanted a tour of the island. I told her we are waiting for someone to help us and should be right back. She told us to enjoy our tour, and turned and walked away slowly. Hmmmm....I wonder what that meant...lol.

Our driver finally came after waiting on him for 15 minutes. We noticed right away that he wasn't in a taxi. It was his personal car. I will admit I was a little worried at first, but I thought I'd try it. ALERT!!!! If your driver does not have an official taxi car, he/she is NOT an official driver. Do NOT do what we did. We basically trusted someone to give us a tour, and to bring us back on time. Anything could have happened.

When we got in the car, he started driving. He took us to one of their local colleges where we could take a few pictures. This was one of the few places we could take a picture at. He was a terrible driver. He drove very fast not giving us an opportunity to take pictures often. If you asked him questions, he would turn around to answer those questions not keeping his eyes on the road. We nearly had an accident a few times. I finally got the message and stopped asking him questions.

In the meantime, he kept talking about having a sick son. He talked about him so much, that I finally thought that perhaps he's trying to get us to give him an additional tip. He could have been an honest about his son, but it just didn't seem believable.

At any rate, he did take us over the island, then stopped us off by a beach. This is the place where we could stop and have lunch. I wrote down the name of it on my phone, then I had to reset it so now it's gone. :( We got a chance to try some of their fish, and the food was really good. the plates were about $10 including the drink. The drinks are not free refills.

Our driver told us that we would go and see some more sights. Instead, he took us back to the ship (which we didn't mind). He got us as close as he could, then parked the car. You could tell that he wanted more than what he asked for. We did give him a little extra even though we weren't very pleased with the tour. It may not have been what he wanted, but we didn't care about that.

After getting back on the ship, I went to my usual spot Latte-tudes. I talked with my friend about what happened. We just laughed about it and moved on to something else. I then went walking around. Not much was happening around the ship during this time, so I just chose to relax until it was time for dinner.

We had made prior reservations for the Mystery Dinner Theatre for 6PM. This was so much fun. Without giving it away, it's a great show that is held in Portofino. It start's out in the Safari Club where you are given a glass of Champagne while you wait for the show to start. Once the show starts, it gets your attention right away.

After about 30 minutes of show, we were escorted to our tables in Portofino, and then were served. You are sat with a group of people. Some you may know, and others you may not. It worked out great because the people you are seated with are a team working to solve the mystery together. After you're served, the show continues a couple of times. At the end of the meal, the case is solved. It is a fantastic show, and I know you will enjoy it very much. If you are able and it is offered, please sign up and go. It is a bit pricey at $55 per person, but you'll get your money's worth out of it. It takes about 3 hours from beginning to end. The best time I had all week.

Afterwards, a group of us went to the Love and Marriage game. The contestants were put through the same things as the contestants from the previous week's show. It's amazing how you could ask different people the same questions and get an entirely different show. This one was by far more funnier than the previous show. The contestants were really into it. I think we laughed so hard because of the answers the contestants were giving. I was so glad to go with a group of our friends. It made the show and the week better since the week was off to a rocky start initially.

Today was really a great day, and I am glad things were starting to turn around. It was very easy to fall asleep tonight and get some rest.

I slept until about 10 this morning and skipped breakfast. I knew I had some tests to take for school, so I went out to try and find some WiFi. When I got off the ship, I noticed it was a pretty good hike to the island, and I didn't see a shuttle coming or going like I had at other islands. I almost changed my mind because my foot was hurting, but I decided to go ahead and head out there.

It was a nice little walk to the island. When I finally made it, I just took a look around the area. It was definitely a little different from St. Thomas. I thought about doing a taxi tour first, but I didn't see anyone willing to do a tour right away. I just continued to walk around for a bit. I finally found this little shop that offered free wifi if you bought something. I ordered bacon, eggs, and orange juice thinking it wouldn't be all that great....especially for the $8 I paid. to my surprise, it was very good.

They gave me the password for the wifi, and I connected my computer and began working on my assignments. I kept getting distracted because this little place was very popular. It's where most of the staff from the ship goes to access wifi and order as well. I got a chance to see some of the production singers and dancers, and some of them recognized me from the previous week. Please don't be afraid to approach them. They are all very nice and will welcome you to say hello. Also, people would come and join me and initiate a conversation. This is when I realized that there were some very nice people on board.

I must have stayed at this little restaurant for about 4 hours because the internet connection was slow and kept breaking, and it was a great place for being social. I thought I would remember the name of the little place, but it escapes me right now. You won't miss if should you visit this island. It's a very nice place, and perfect if you need wifi for an extended amount of time like I did. It is a U.S. Virgin Island, so US residents will have not problem using their phones.

Around 2 or so, I headed back to the ship. On the way back, guess what I just happened to see running? The shuttle train. Apparently there was a mechanical problem with it earlier that they were able to fix prior to the ship leaving. I decided just to walk anyways because I enjoyed the walk up. I went to Latte-Tudes to get some cookies (really, this cookies are absolutely delicious), and got a chance to meet a guy by the name of James Brown. This is one of the nicest guys I've met. We talked for quite some time about where we are from, where we've been, and where we plan to go. He gave me some great advice about where I could go for my next cruise. James works on the ship, and I remembered his name because he has a very popular name. If you are on the ship and see this guy, please tell him his friend in Alaska says hello. I appreciated him for taking time out of his day to just talk with me.

I then decided to go to have lunch and met another couple from Los Angeles. They had not been having a good cruise so far because they had been having problems with motion sickness. It was there first cruise, and they thought they wouldn't cruise again. One of the servers came by and heard part of the conversation, and gave them some advice on what to do to make it better for them. It was hard for me to understand him, but I believe the couple got the message and promised to give it a go.

I was headed back to my room when I ran into the person who set up our Meet & Mingle prior to us boarding. She let me know about another activity they were planning for our Cruise Critic group. It was scheduled for Thursday around 5:15 after we left St. Lucia. She promised that there would be more prizes given away. I was very excited.

I remembered that we were supposed to have a slot pull for our Meet & Mingle group. I've never really organized a slot pull before, so I was really nervous about it. I thought that a good time to do a slot pull would be during our sea day, as this was a port heavy itinerary. I ran into a cruise critic member who made friends with the staff in the casino. She told me she would talk with the manager and get back with me.

I went ahead to my room to finally get ready for dinner tonight. I'm sure you've figured out that I wasn't so excited about going due to bad table guests. We made it to the dining room and one of the couples were there already. We quickly talked about how rude we thought the other couple was. We told them that we wouldn't be eating there for the next couple of nights, as we have prior reservations in the specialty restaurants. We were hoping to get our food prior to them joining us. No such luck. They still arrived late, but only thirty minutes this time. Right away they started complaining about things. They said they weren't late because they get there when they get there. They started to give our head waiter a hard time again, and you could see that it was bothering him. The assistant server started working with them to take some of the pressure off of him. They started having a conversation with me about their day and asked what I ordered. Of course they ordered the same thing I did.

The other couple decided to depart as they just didn't want to continue eating with them. I continued my conversation with them to be nice. I had learned that they lived in New Jersey, and that they were not a couple. They are just friends who work together. They had cruised on NCL most of the time, and they could go eat whenever they wanted to. I was thinking about telling them about My Time Dining, but they continued talking about everything under the sun.

I finally left them for the evening. On the way to the room, I stopped to listen to some of the Latin music that was playing in the Atrium. They were really having a great time. I loved seeing the people having so much fun. I really wished I spoke Spanish just so I could really enjoy them.

I was thinking about going to the Headliner's show tonight (Jeff Jenna), but I really didn't want to go. I know he probably had the people laughing hard, but I just wanted to relax the rest of the night.

Not too much happened today as you can see. It was much better than before though. Now moving on to Day 4.

Hi Zay! Loving your review. Yes, B2Bs can sometimes be a little disconcerting in that each leg can be completely different from the other but it sounds like you have well mastered the craft of taking lemons and making lemonade:) Sorry about the cranky dinner companions.

 

Can't wait to read more.

You know? I've gotten a chance to see what the staff on board experiences. One week they could have a great crowd, then the next can be a complete opposite. it gets better as the week goes on thank goodness...lol.

I'm sorry about the bad tablemates. After a similar experience we have made a decision to either cruise with a large group of friends and have our table pre-arranged with people we know we like or to do MTD where we can have new tablemates every night. On our upcoming B2B we booked leg one with a large group of friends so we have late seating and will have known tablemates. We then added the second leg on our own so we thought we would be by ourselves initially. So we booked that cruise as MTD. Within a week 8 of our great friends decided to join us on that cruise, too! So now our group has Late Dining on Cruise one and MTD on cruise 2. It should be interesting, LOL!

That's a great way of planning the evening. When I take my family with me, we fill up a whole table. I usually get along with anyone. In fact, the couple started talking to me later on which shocked the heck out of me. LOL. Thanks for keeping up with me. I'm getting there. I promise.

Zay so glad you are doing this review. It was great to have met you and Dee. I remember the breakfast in the main dining room with you one morning. You were telling me your baby sitter said she was out of dog food and you couldn't amagine how unless your kids were overfeeding due to each one feeding not know the other had already. Hope you didn't come home to an overweight dog LOL. I will tell you we had a great experience in the MDR for MTD. But an awful experience in Chops on the 2nd night. We were seated and no one even acknowledged use for 15 min with our menus. I went down from there. It took from 8pm to 915 before our meal came. At 1015 we finally left Chops. I complained to manager and then with no response to the guest relations. They said it was the chiefs fault. I can't believe that since everyone else was out in reasonable time. I cruise a lot and never had such poor service in a fee restaurant. And know one cared. Made a point of putting it on the survey. I have always had great care and response from guest relations.. keep the review coming. it is great. Pat

Hello Pat,

It was a pleasure to meet you too. LOL...No, the dog wasn't too fat when I got back thank goodness. They were over feeding her though. She really missed me while I was gone :)

I'm so sorry about your experience at Chops. I'm going to go into more details about Chops later in my review, but I do know that the two hours time-frame was about right. We ate there twice the second week, but they were careful and were checking on us along the way. They brought us our drinks and appetizer within 20 minutes or so, and then brought out our entrees. I'm sorry they didn't provide the same level of service they provided us. Thanks for sharing this as others may have the same type of experience and need to see it from different perspectives.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. :)

I forgot to mention that I spoke with my previous servers on the cruise when we re-boarded the ship. My main server had been moved to My Time Dining, and the assistant server stayed at the same table. We all hoped that we'd get the same servers again, but we were not lucky to. The servers and bartenders all rotate on either a weekly or bi-weekly basis. They may even get a new supervisor during the process. I honestly thought that they work together the entire time they're on board together, but they change as well. Can you imagine working with someone that you enjoy working with, and then all of a sudden it changes? I can certainly understand their frustration as well on that first night.

It appears that new staff members come on board each week. If your service appears slower than normal, please try to be patient. They may have had a long flight and are very tired as they have to get to work right away. Room stewards may get to your room late, but be patient with them as they may have had a training, and they're still required to get to everyone's room. More on that a little later.

We arrived in St. Thomas around 8 AM. After waking up, we decided not to have breakfast because our plan was to have lunch in St. Martin at this place called Glady's. We had been to St. Martin earlier this year and tried a restaurant called Cuzzins, and wasn't impressed with the food at all. We thought we'd give Glady's a try this time.

I turned my television on, and the Shopping guide on board was reminding people about the time the stores downtown would close (2PM). Let me just say this about the shoping guieds on board any ship. They claim to give you the best deals at all the ports of call. They also claim to get you free stuff. Please know that these nice ladies and gentlemen are "SALESMEN". They will only lead you to the places that will make them money. They really don't have your best interest at heart. Now, if they do offer something free, go get it. Chances are though, it won't be real. You can also probably get it cheaper at home or online. Don't let the Shopping guide trap you.

We got off the ship around 12 and caught a taxi to the downtown area. The taxi ride was about $4 per person. We met some really nice people on board. The taxi driver was very nice to notice I was on a cane, and dropped us off right in front of the path we needed to get to Glady's. We walked down an alley that had lots of turns, so we had to be very careful and watch the signs. When we found it, we got very excited (and I got really hungry all of a sudden). The staff was very nice, warm, and friendly. They sat us near a window and took our drink orders. We ran into two of our Cruise Critic friends again, so we switched tables again so we could share lunch with them.

The food at Glady's was really good. The service there is phenomenal. The time we spent with our friends was priceless. The price of the food was on the steep side. Be prepared to pay approximately $25 pp. I'm glad to have had the experience of Glady's, but I probably won't go there again. I do recommend people go there to have the experience though. It's gives you an opportunity to try authentic caribbean cuisine, and it's worth it for a first time. I was just happy to spend time with some good people.

We made our way back to the ship. It had been raining for a while, but thankfully we missed that big downpour we saw from inside the restaurant. A couple of people needed to use the restroom, and it's actually outside of the restaurant. They also have a person standing outside to provide assistance getting in. They do that for security reasons. After they came out, we headed back to the taxi back to the ship. The downtown area was really a ghost town. Nearly all the stores were closed. They close early on Sundays because it costs them more money to have the stores open when there's not that many people coming inside. We were the only ship on a Sunday. We took some pictures as the driver took a scenic route back.

We made it back to shopping area near that ship (and they were all still open, and will remain open as long as the ship is docked). It started to rain again, so we stopped in one of the electronic stores. I just happened to look around for a while, and found that they have very reasonable prices. They had an underwater camera for $99, whereas I paid $300 for a very similar camera. The prices go up from there of course, but I still thought it was reasonable. After the rain died down, we headed back to the ship very quickly before it started up again.

We made it back to our ship just in time to get prepared for the Official Meet & Mingle provided by the ship at 5:15pm. Again, the timing wa a little off because it's formal night AND the first dining time is at 6PM. We ended up starting late because the activities manager had just completed another activity and came running over as quickly as possible. We had so many people to attend, and it was great!!! The activities manager introduced himself (Elvis) and asked for us to let them know if they could do anything to make our vacation more enjoyable. I believe he really meant that! Then we had us to introduce ourselves with our screen names and our real names. Afterwards, we did the drawings the staff put together and some received some very nice prizes.

There were people who had registered for the meet & mingle, but chose not to chat with us on the roll call. We're happy they came, but I must admit it felt a little akward for many of us as we had no idea who they were. They were following the conversations on the boards, but never introduced themselves. Please, please, please introduce yourself on the boards if you're going on a sailing with others and visiting the board rooms. All you have to do is just tell them your first name and where you're from. This way it won't be awkward for those in attendance...especially if the ship does drawings for the group. You'll never have to speak again, but please make your presence known.

The Meet & Mingle lasted for about 30 minutes or so, and then we went back to our room to get ready for dinner. They did offer the Captain's reception again this night, but we chose not to attend since we did it the week before. We just wanted to relax a little before going to dinner. We knew we had a long night ahead of us as we were not impressed with two of our table guests.

We made it to dinner. Our servers were definately prepared for us tonight. They greeted us by name as we walked in and seated us. There were just four of us. Our server gave us our menus, and we started off with a wonderful conversation. We were served our appetizers and main entree', and was getting ready to order our desert when one of the other couples decided to join at at 9:30PM. YES...they were an hour late to dinner. Our main server was already busy, so our assistant server came and took their orders. This couple complained and complained the whole time. They complained about the main server not acknowledging them (which he did, by the way), them not getting their food as quickly, and about anything they could complain about. They were horrible. Well...it was mostly the young lady. The guy was alright. They basically just ordered whatever I ordered.

Our head server came over to introduce herself to us, and I really appreciated meeting her. She was such a nice person. She recognized that we had a tough table, and did what she could to make it better. I really, really wanted to change tables, but I didn't for two reasons. I didn't want to leave the other couple alone to deal with that couple, and 2. I knew it would be hard to change since the ship was full. We rushed with our deserts and left for the evening. We have just one more night with them before we get to have dinner with other people as we had two other dinner dates booked for the week. Whew!

The headliner show tonight was Two Funny Guys again. I enjoyed them the last time, so I decided to go to the show. They offered two of them. One was at 9PM for the first seating diners, and again at 10:45 for the second seating diners. I was surprised that they told the same jokes as last time. I understood why, but I was hoping for some different jokes. The audience seemed to enjoy it a lot, except for the people they chose to make fun of. As I mentioned before, do not be late to their show and do not sit at the front. They WILL make fun of you. By the way, they do change the headliner shows on a weekly basis. The acts get to do two shows. On the first week and on the second week. They go home later in the week. If you are a back to back cruiser, you'll get to see something new.

I ended up leaving the show after 20 minutes or so and went to the guest services area and had a seat for a little while just to observe the crowd. It still felt different to me. I was trying to figure out what the difference was. One of the guest services rep came over and chatted with me for a bit. I asked him what he thought of the vibe. He told me to be patient becuase he believed it would change. He did say that it's like that at times. Sometimes we have a really good week, and other times we have a bad week.

I finally decided to go back to my room and call it a night. Next Stop is St. Croix.

Hi all,

Thanks for being patient with me. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and are ready for the new year ahead. I know that I am ready to put 2013 behind me.

I wanted to mention before I go further that many of the staff had changed when we made it back to San Juan. There were quite a few unfamiliar faces on board. Because of the large number of new staff, they had lots of trainining going on. On day one, I forgot to mention that we had met our new room steward. It was his first day on board, and he had gotten to us late because of training. training for the staff can take anywhere from 2 hrs to 8 hours. The staff literally works all day long.

When new staff are coming on board, many of them are traveling long distances. For some, it literally takes two whole days to finally make it. That was the case for one of our servers on day one. He was extremely tired, and was working very, very hard on only surviving off of a couple of hours of rest. I felt so badly for him.

Okay...I'm getting ready to review day 2 (day 9) of my cruise. Here I go....

Wow the vibe of the ship sounds crazy already. Your keeping me in suspense. I'm hooked. Can't wait to hear more.

The vibe of the ship was completely different. By doing a B2B, I learned that the passengers on board are the ones to make the sailing fun.

Hi, Great review, we are sailing B2B on her in March so loving the information. When you get chance to speak with Carly the CD again say hello from Rich and Steve from Wales and wish her Happy Holidays from us.

 

Happy Holidays to you, enjoy the rest of your trip

Awe...I'm sorry. I'm bakc home now, so I won't get a chance to talk with her. She is such a great person though, and you can tell she enjoys what she does.

Thanks for the info. I have never cruised NCL before, always Carnival or RCCl. I know they have juice dispensers in the buffet and out near the pools. Do you remember if the have free ice cream machines.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

They do have the soft serve ice cream that was free.

Jay, I am enjoying your review. You have done already more cruises that most of us do.

 

We will be cruising on the Equinox B2B Jan 31 but you are touching some of the same islands.

 

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and your kids a Merry Christmas. Hope you are feeling better now.

 

Suz

Hi Suz,

I'm so glad you stopped by. I'm going to follow your blog so I can hear about your cruises. How have you been? I hope you and Norm have a wonderful Christmas. I am feeling better, and I'm trying to finish this blog. It seems that every time I try to sit down and do it, something comes up.

Zay