Dawn, Nov 25, 2012 in review

[omc329]

My friend has requested I do one of my reviews here from our last cruise. Nothing like reliving memories again and again. ;)

 

First an overview.

 

We are early 50's traveling with sis, ds and our friends of 30 some years. This was our 3rd NCL cruise, and our 5th cruise total, (two Carnival). We chose this cruise for location out of Tampa and for the purpose of relaxation. It worked. As I put it to my sis on the way out of port, I felt like the cat who ate up all the cream and was curled up inthe corner licking it's whiskers.

 

Overall impressions

 

Food was ok. I had one steak I couldn't chew and gave up on. The rest of the food was edible enough that I gained my usual 5 pounds. :p We had planned on perhaps trying a specialty restaurant this cruise, but never got around to it. The regular dining venues were sufficient to our needs.

 

Service

For the most part, dining venues were slow as molasses. We did have one truly great server the day we arrived, and had her one other time in the Aqua, otherwise, slllloooooow.

 

They did keep the lines moving in the atrium at the desk area. NEVER a wait. Very prompt and courteous.

 

Ship

 

It is showing it's age, but I had no complaints on the ship as a whole. Easy to get around, lots of entertainment venues, promenade still around, etc.

 

There was a problem with temps on the whirlpools. One evening was almost too hot to get into, the next night, it was no warmer than the swimming pools, which with a cool breeze, was downright cold!!! First time I've had goosebumps in a hottub!!!

 

Entertainment

 

Loved Arte Diem, JD Daniel, (piano, Gatsby's) and Duo Luna,(atrium)

 

Other shows in the theater were ok.

 

The band Jump, imo, stunk.

 

Missed having a grand finale show the last sea day. Some comic was in there. If you like comics, I understand he was great. Not my cup of tea, and not my grand finale I've come to expect.

 

Activities

 

Didn't do a lot. Ds and I did line dancing one day in Spinakker. VERY poor choice of location. Dark, crowded, no space to move, no line of vision to see what we were supposed to be doing, etc.

 

Ds did the singles meetup the first day. Only one other young person showed up, (he's 27). They did however hitch up for the duration and had a great time together.

 

Ds went dancing almost nightly and had a great time. We are early to bed, early to rise folks.

 

CC meet would have gone better if I hadn't screwed up with the time. Ooops! On the plus side, it gave latecomers a chance to arrive before the officers showed up. Less than half of those who said they would attend showed. I was a bit disappointed with that, but still not a terrible turnout, maybe 30 or so folks?

 

We had a great cabin crawl following the meet and later in the week some of them met up for a slot pull.

 

Favorite shipboard memories

 

Cookies and tea on the balcony.

Arte Diem

Shipboard lunch in the Venetian on arrival.

Dinner with dh, sis, ds, 2 friends, and ds's new aquaintance.

Dancing to Duo Luna with one hand grasping dh's hand, while he sat with his leg, (torn meniscus), up. A little low on the underarm twirls, but it worked. Who says I can' t dance with dh simply because he has a bad knee?! *L*

Going under the skyway bridge.

Native Choice tour of Chakchoben ruins with Mayan experience following.

 

More detailed review coming.

[omc329]

Starting the adventure.

 

We spent Thanksgiving in Orland with sis, and headed out to Tampa from there the morning of the 25th. We arrived around 10:30ish. Sis went online the day before and prepurchased a cruise pass for the port parking area. We passed the parking lot on our way in, did a once around the circle and back, then turned left into the parking. No problem. The internet prepurchase worked fine. We parked and did a short walk across the way to the ship, (5 minutes or so), luggage in tow.

 

We chose not to check our baggage. We headed in, filled out the usual illness forms and stood in line for a few minutes. They allowed ds to go in the latitudes line with us, though I offered for us to go in the regular lines. They were all short, so no biggie either way. We were given boarding #7. I thought it odd, as we were some of the first to arrive. Of course I laughingly blamed ds.

 

We sat around and joked and talked until boarding started maybe 20 minutes later or so?

 

They called #1. A small bunch loaded.

They called #2. A couple trailed through. They called it again, and then again. Noone else.

They called #3. Noone came up.

They called #3 again. And again. Nobody.

They called #4. NOONE!

They called #5 NOONE!

They called #6 PRESTO!!!! Finally! A small group formed and loaded in minutes.

 

Number #7 turned out to be a rather early # after all! :eek: All I can guess is they somehow misplaced all the early boarding numbers????

 

Well, we all got a good laugh and merrily made our way onto the ship. Luggage in tow, we headed back to the Venetian. They had luggage storage there at the Spinakker entrance, next to the Venetian, so we unloaded our larger bags before going to lunch.

 

We had the best server and service of the week at that lunch. It is such a pleasant way to start a trip. She even took a pict of the 4 of us, (not yet met up with friends).

 

I thought the lunch was good. Sis was unhappy the fish wasn't fresh, but who would expect it to be? They have to keep that fish for 2000 folks, and edible for a week to boot!

 

Dh got the fried calamari, end really enjoyed that. He and I both enjoyed a cheesecake for desert. DS had his first of many steaks. He DOES like steaks!

 

After lunch we picked up our luggage and headed to our cabins to unload and unpack. DH and I had a balcony, forward section, deck 9.

 

 

This last pict I took to show the aging of the ship. It didn't detract from our vacation at all, but it is definitely not a new ship, with rust and aging showing from the salt water air.

 

Muster was held around 3:45pm or so, in the Stardust theater. Quick and painless.

 

We then headed out to watch sailaway from our balcony.

[omc329]

Tampa is a nice port from which to sail.

 

In port, from our balcony.

 

Heading out.

 

City off in the distance as we traversed the channel out.

 

After setting sail, we decided to catch a bite in the Blue Lagoon before going up and watching for the skyway bridge. Food was ok. They did mess up the order a bit and never offered up refills on water or anything, but it was quick, easy and we were pleasantly full so back up top, before we miss the bridge!

[omc329]

We watched as the sun slowly set and we approached the bridge.

 

 

Everyone applauded as we went under. It never ceases to amaze me how close that thing looks to the top of the ship as we go under.

 

 

We went up to the buffet afterwards and had some of those much spoken of crepes. Mmmmmm.....

 

We followed that with the free liquor tasting in the stores. Sis and my friend both ended up with bottles of Godiva to take home.

 

Sis and friend bought the $5 lanyards in the shops while there for their room cards.

 

After this we headed to Gatsby's to hear JD Daniel and his version of the Beatles. It was GRrrrreat! I had a grand ole time dancing away, (though I was rather noticably the only one dancing?!:eek:). Oh well! I LIKE to dance!!:D

 

We capped our Beatles concert by heading to the Atrium where I danced a bit more to Duo Luna. Man could that guy play a guitar!

 

Just a side note, we had no robes our first day. I asked our steward and they were delivered the next day. Keep in mind, larger men like my husband might not fit in them very well. One size fits all......not quite. *shrug*

 

I'll try to get back at this Thursday. I have a 10 hour day tomorrow, so likely won't get to it. Hope ya'll are getting some enjoyment from it.

[jdvmd]

We watched as the sun slowly set and we approached the bridge.

 

 

Everyone applauded as we went under. It never ceases to amaze me how close that thing looks to the top of the ship as we go under.

 

 

We went up to the buffet afterwards and had some of those much spoken of crepes. Mmmmmm.....

 

We followed that with the free liquor tasting in the stores. Sis and my friend both ended up with bottles of Godiva to take home.

 

Sis and friend bought the $5 lanyards in the shops while there for their room cards.

 

After this we headed to Gatsby's to hear JD Daniel and his version of the Beatles. It was GRrrrreat! I had a grand ole time dancing away, (though I was rather noticably the only one dancing?!:eek:). Oh well! I LIKE to dance!!:D

 

We capped our Beatles concert by heading to the Atrium where I danced a bit more to Duo Luna. Man could that guy play a guitar!

 

Just a side note, we had no robes our first day. I asked our steward and they were delivered the next day. Keep in mind, larger men like my husband might not fit in them very well. One size fits all......not quite. *shrug*

 

I'll try to get back at this Thursday. I have a 10 hour day tomorrow, so likely won't get to it. Hope ya'll are getting some enjoyment from it.

 

What beautiful pictures! Sometimes NCL has photo contests announced on their Facebook page. Please submit them the next time one come's around!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[debnjoe1438]

About what time did you pass under the bridge?

[Mistizoom]

Thanks for the review, looking forward to hearing more.

[Unknotted]

Thanks for the review. I'm waiting/hoping to hear about your Chacchoben Mayan Experience. We'll be doing it in March and I'd sure like to see photos if you have any.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying the review of your cruise. Looking forward to more.

[omc329]

Glad folks are enjoying the review. In response to the skyway bridge time, I'm not positive, but I'm thinking it was around 6ish. The ship's bridge announced it as 6:15pm as we set sail, but I remember thinking they were way off, and folks would have missed it if they hadn't been looking out for it.

 

Monday was our first sea day. I was determined to keep up with my excerise program, but it wasn't going to happen that morning. We were still on Central time, and chewing up an hour that morning just wasn't going to work for me by the time we got up. I will note however, that I DID only take stairs the enitre week, minus the morning we dragged our luggage up to the room.

 

Dh and I headed to the Venetian for breakfast. We ate there most mornings. I had scrambled eggs, french toast, bacon and peaches. The peaches were to eat with the french toast in lieu of syrup. I also had tomato juice. I've never liked the idea that NCL serves fruit "cocktails" vs actual juice at breakfast. Tomato juice always seems like a safer bet.

 

One other note about eating at the Venetian is that dh could always order eggbeaters. Although we are not super strict about what we eat on a cruise, it is nice to adhere to some things when possible and minimize the overall damages to our systems. :rolleyes:

 

After breakfast we headed back to the cabin where I made a HUGE ooops! :o

Our CC meet had been set online for 10:30-11:30am. Well, I was CERTAIN it was supposed to be at 11!!!! I called the contact person who reset it so the crew would show up half an hour later at 11:15. Great! Until I realised my oops later. *sigh*

 

It all worked out in the end. We were allowed to start early at 10:30, and we had many latercomers, so I guess it was meant to be? We had maybe 30 or so attend of the 70+ who said they would attend, of the 100+ on the roll call. I really do try to give NCL a somewhat accurate number, but folks don't make it easy to do so.

 

We had 45 minutes to eat up before the crew showed up thanks to my oops. I attempted to keep things rolling until the officers did their thing.

 

I asked the chef about the fruit soups which I hadn't been able to find and was told they were in the buffet for lunch and dinner. Sure enough, when I checked later, there was a bowl on ice with cherry soup in it. Turns out, they change flavors during the day. I had a fruit soup smorgasbord through the week! :D

 

We had a sign up sheet at the meet for cabin crawl and slot pull. Immediately following the meet those who wanted the cabin crawl headed out. We had a nice variety, inside, balcony, minisuite, aft penthouse, forward suite, and we managed to catch a sideways inside being serviced as we passed by. I definitely liked the layout better than the standard inside we had on our last cruise!

 

After all of that it was time for lunch. Back to the Venetian for a club sandwich before heading on to the theater for the latitudes gathering. I was somewhat dissappointed in the gathering, as I swear it was designed to keep folks from getting more than one or possibly two drinks. I had meant to go to the silver plus gathering the last sea day to compare, but forgot all about it until Saturday evening. Oh well. There's always our next cruise!

 

Ds and I went line dancing after that. It was a lot of fun, but holding it in Spinnakers was a big mistake. The crew director, for starters, could not be seen by 2/3 of those participating. It was dark, crowded and hot. Keep the line dancing, but move it to a more appropriate venue, and make certain all that are participating have a clear view, or perhaps add more crew members at various points around the room. Regardless, I had fun and a few laughs to enjoy.

 

I ordered steak for dinner at the Venetian that night. It was the only truly inedible meal I ate that week, but inedible described that steak to a T. YUCK! I could NOT chew that thing, and I don't swallow food whole. I gave up on it and left the bulk of it on my plate.

 

Now there is a major difference between my first cruise 5 or so years back, and today. I don't think it is just NCL either, it appears to be across the board from what I read. My first cruise, I ordered duck and found out I don't like duck. My waitress was all over my case to order something else when she saw I wasn't eating it.

 

On this night, noone ever asked if my steak was ok. Noone asked why I left most of it on the plate. Honestly, I go to any standard restaurant in town and if noone ever asks if I'm happy with my steak, I'd short the tip!

 

Thankfully, that was the only meal I had any major complaint about the whole week. I could have asked for another meal, but prefer to eat with everyone, not after the rest of the group so let it go. I'm glad it was a one night issue.

 

The show that night was V, a variety show. It was ok. I could take it or leave it. Dh and I hit the whirlpool afterward and called it a night.

 

We took turns with the bathroom and balcony. It was a gorgeous night and so very relaxing. I was very tempted to leave our door ajar simply to enjoy the sounds of the ocean to lull us to sleep. Everyone talks about the AC and energy drains and all that, so I reluctantly closed it just before lights out. I could still feel the gentle roll of the ship though, as I drifted contentedly into sleep.

[omc329]

Tuesday morning and we docked in Roatan. I had prebooked a tour with Victor Bodden and managed to get the much sought after Tex.

 

Tex was fine. He was friendly, informative and all that folks talk about on here. The problem was our group. We had several who didn't really want anything to do with the beach, be it sand fleas or inablity to do things like snorkeling. Frankly, if you cut out the beach, there isn't much left on Roatan.

 

We did the scenic overlooks.

 

We did a bit of shopping.

 

And did Carambola gardens

 

Carmbola was a major flop and defintiely NOT worth the entry price! It was green. It was a place to walk around. A public park would have offered better scenery. There were hardly any flowers. And one had to really search for the few pretty photos we got. As we were being drizzled upon, we kept our stroll there fairly short.

 

Tex chose a restaurant for us at our request. It was good food, EXCELLENT view and environment, (especially given the pouring rain at that point!), and meals were around the $11-15 range pp. Dh and I opted to share a meal, which actually worked well for us. Portions are too large for us these days. We also ordered the infamous banana soda. Yum! It took me back to the banana popsicles we ate when we were little. Our friends asked to stop and purchase some to take back to the ship for later.

 

Tex drove us all over the island, but again, if you aren't doing the beach scene, hang it up, go back to the port and go shopping. It didn't help that the weather was rather dark and damp as well.

 

Roatan was not our favorite day. I would go back, but either I would schedule some snorkeling, or plan more time shopping in the market just outside the port area, or perhaps both.

[HOTROD1]

Read your earlier review and pulled out paper and pen for notes. We sail Dec 23 on Dawn.

 

Great pics. I LOVE sunset pics. Can't wait for more

[boopsahoy]

Great pictures-looking forward to more!

[omc329]

We arrived back at the ship around 3:30pm. We had planned on shopping before heading back on, but the weather was miserable so we dragged our damp, soggy selves back onboard. DH and I headed to the buffet, had some peach soup, (slurp!), and got some fresh baked cookies, (oatmeal raisin and sugar w white chocolate), to take back to our cabin. We kept a daily supply of cookies in a ziplock in our cabin from therein.

 

That, and I took down some of the good tea, ie, earl grey, back to the cabin as well. Strange thing on that though, I found if I didn't hide the tea bags in a drawer, our steward kept taking them! I've no idea why. They were unopened tea bags. It happened to our friends as well. If you want the good tea, HIDE it so your steward doesn't take off with it! :eek:

 

Another note on the day, although I usually tell folks to think of mahogony and wood in Roatan, if you like cameos, don't forget to hit up the cameo shop. Prices start for untrimmed pieces as low as $20 and the sky is the limit from there. I purchased a piece, (naturally), of a dove with a silver setting.

 

Supper was in the Venetian, pot roast, potatos, tomato quiche, string beans with bread pudding for desert. I must say, if my sis hadn't made such a big deal of it the first day, I would never have tried the bread pudding, but glad I did. It was GOOD! Slurp!

 

Service in the Venetian was SSSllllllooooowww this night. Good thing we were in no hurry. If we'd wanted to make a show, give it up.

 

The stardust was doing deal or no deal that evening, which we skipped. We wandered, enjoyed our balcony, enjoyed some of the music out and about, had some crepes, (yummy), and hit the whirlpool.

 

Of course, we ended the day once again, listening to the ocean and rocking gently to sleep.

 

And so came Wednesday, Belize.

 

I took no pictures this day, as ds and I were off to go cavetubing and my camera is not waterproof. Dh stayed onboard for a chill day. Sis went to Lamanai, (we did that last year), and friends also stayed onboard and chilled.

 

Ds and I booked the cavetubing through the ship. I'm just as glad we did, despite everyone talking about all the private excursions being better.

 

We waited less than 5 minutes in the Stardust when they called our tender. At port we easily found our guide and waited maybe another 10 minutes for the group to form. Another wait of 15minutes or so inside the AC's port area, and onto our tour bus.

 

The driver kept up a good commentary through most of the ride out. Many of the passengers were unaware there would be changing facilities and brought no change of clothes, just the suits they wore. Others did not have appropriate footwear and rented some.

 

You DO need proper footwear for this excursion, preferably swim shoes. The walk is about 45 minutes on large, round gravel and very hard on the feet and ankles. You also cross through the river 3 times. Moreover, you wear your shoes in the river and need them to stay on.

 

When we arrived at the cavetubing site, we hit restrooms, got ready and broke into groups of 8. We all carried our own tubes. Our guide gave commentary as we went, and slowed down here and there to discuss an herb, tree, spider or what have you while the group would reform.

 

Other groups had helmets on, including others from our ship. We did not. Fine by me. We did have lifejackets and head lamps.

 

We boarded our group of 8, linking feet to armpits. It wasn't the height of comfort, but not horrid either. Our guide mentioned they have the newer tubes ordered that link together without the foot/pit system.

 

ALL the cavetubing companies seem to load in the same area. Our group of 8 headed off. It was relaxing and enjoyable. It was also VERY crowded, bumper to bumper tubes through those caves! It was still very cool to do. Ds and I really enjoyed it.

 

At the end of the caves we were told we could unlink and free float our way back to where we started. If we started going off course, our guide came over and gave us a gentle push back to the middle. It was nice to just casually float on down, and far fewer bumper pushes at this stage.

 

Back at the loading site we headed the short walk back to the facilities, changed and were served a traditional american buffet meal of potato salad, cole slaw, fried chicken, hamburgers, fruit etc. Then it was on the bus for the long haul back, no commentary and a bit dull as I wasn't tired enough to nap.

[omc329]

We caught a tender back to the ship and rejoined as a group once again.

 

Supper was in the Venetian. Service was slow, but not as bad as the previous night, only 90 minutes for dinner this time. The chicken pao that I ordered was severely oversalted and I only partially ate it, but I enjoyed the spring rolls and pear salad appetizers, with chocolate cake for desert.I gave up on getting my tea that I had ordered to go with desert. We didn't have time to waste waiting on tea. Tonight was arte' diem in the stardust!

 

Arte' diem, in my book, was the best show of the week. I'm surprised it wasn't held back for the final night. It is part dance, part circus, vaguely similar in style to cirgue du soleil shows. I enjoyed it, as did the others in our group.

 

After the show I tried the Beatles by Jump. YICK! Skip it. Gatsby's had some good music, but not good dancing music. I got some blueberry/peach streusel in the buffet and then headed back to the cabin to unwind.

 

My first balcony, and am I sold! It made the trip so much more relaxing, every evening, just sitting out and enjoying the peace.

 

[omc329]

Thursday morning and we were in Costa Maya. Today is our Native Choice excursion for Chakchoben and the Mayan Experience. We had a quick and easy breakfast in the Blue Lagoon.

 

We headed of the ship about 5 or 10 after 8am. We made our way through the port area and out the gate, following the directions online. There was someone right there on the other side of the gate to direct us in the correct direction.

 

 

We got to the Native Choice office, paid our bill and received wrist bands to mark our tour. 10 minutes later we were on a bus with a total of 12 passengers, (including ourselves), plus guide.

 

Our guide gave info all the way to the ruins. She was a fountain of information. We stopped and bought some fresh cut pineapple at a roadside stand for $1. Delicious!!

 

At Chakchoben we changed guides. I don't recall the gal's name on the van, but we got Joel for our guide at the ruins. WONDERFUL! Informative. Interesting. Detailed. Photo folder to show comparisons. Info I'd never received on a Mayan tour before, and this was my 3rd one. I was impressed!

 

Our guide Joel.

 

[omc329]

Because we arrived at the ruins so early, we beat out all the big tours and had the place largely to ourselves. It was niiiiccce! We had plenty of time to take picts, explore and learn.

 

Following the ruins we reboarded our bus, this time with Joel and headed to the town of Chakchoben to learn more about their heritage. We learned about the way they live now, merging of languages, and dichotemy of seeing a modern refrigerator in a thatch roofed hut with push away hammocks for sleeping.

 

As we unloaded from the bus, we were greeted by gorgeous floral displays.

The red in this photo is a pointsettia tree in bloom for Xmas.

 

 

We learned to make tortillas.

 

We then learned about their various spices and backyard fruits and veggies, followed by a good, hearty meal of beans & rice, chicken, veggies and celantro served on the side. They had a traditional custard style dish for desert. Hibiscus tea was served for the beverage. All very good.

 

They also keep a display of local goods for sale if one wishes to purchase a souvenier.

 

All in all, it was a great day. We were concerned at the end of the day with tipping, given all the wonderful people we had caring for us that day. Joel said we could tip him and all would be split amongst them, including driver, guides and family. They DESERVED every penny!

 

By the time we made our way through the port markets and back on ship, we were ready to eat yet again. Pineapple soup!!! Oh so good! We took a fresh batch of cookies back to the cabin for snacking.

 

We went to the Aqua for dinner that night and who did we get for a server? Why, the gal who greeted us our first day out! She was great, and so was service that night. I had spaghetti, salad and soup. All ok. Coconut sherbert was on the desert list. OOooooo! My favorite!!!!! I was tempted to go back for seconds later that night, but ended up back at the buffet instead for pear soup. Just can't get enough of those fruit soups.

 

Showtime, vocal variety was listed for the Stardust. We opted out. I did listen to Duo Luna for a while. Dh and I did the whirlpool and headed back for another quiet winddown with the moon shining down.

 

[omc329]

Breaktime. I'll try to finish up this weekend.

[boopsahoy]

Really enjoying! thanks!

[HokiePoq]

Thanks for the great review! We're going January 6 and you are providing wonderful information.

[portwineboy]

Great review, I'm doing this cruise at the end of January, so this is helpful stuff. Thank you for your time and effort!

[Half Pint Mini]

Thanks for posting...great review!!

Looking forward to more.

[c0reyann]

Loving this as I'm going in February! Keep it coming :D

[vtoria98]

Thank you for your review so far. I am looking forward to trying NCL in February. I have a question about Costa Maya, would you recommend the ruins tour? Is it really only approx 1 hour drive to Chacchoben?

 

Thanks so much looking forwad to the rest of your review.