XoS- Another 2/24-3/5 review

[JulieRose]

I actually wrote most of this while we were on the ship. Some of it is going to make me very unpopular among the cheerleaders and I wasn't even sure if I was going to post it. It is extremely long and it will take me awhile to post it all since I would like to put pictures in it. We're not the "live to eat" types so don't expect a ton of "food porn" pics. I don't recall even mentioning food much unless it was spectacularly good or spectacularly bad. Anyway, here goes...

 

Sunday February 24, 2013 (Day 1)

 

 

· Location- Bayonne, NJ

· Drink of the Day- Bahama Mama

 

 

We woke up early at the Newark Airport Marriot Courtyard. After dressing, packing and a $4 bottle of water, we met the rest of our group (who, unbeknownst to us, we would end up hanging out with quite frequently) in the lobby for the ride to Cape Liberty. We used Independent Driver to transport 12 of us. They sent 2 vans and split our group and luggage between them for $10 pp (+tip, of course.) We had a quick and uneventful ride to port where we got our first look at the Explorer of the Seas. At first glance, she seemed reasonably well maintained and around the same size as the Crown Princess which we sailed last year.

 

 

 

 

We had express check in so we whizzed right through security and check in and joined the other passengers in the lounge to wait to board. We were issued a card with the number 2 on it which indicated our boarding priority. After what seemed like forever though was probably less than 2 hours the ship finally cleared customs and we boarded the XoS. There was a problem with my security photo so they insisted on retaking it on the gangway. It was rather disorganized and I wasn't even sure what they were asking me to do or why because of language barriers. (I learned on this trip that I am not as good with certain accents as I thought I was.)

 

 

 

Finally, after retaking the photo, we were permitted to board. Since the lines for the elevators were, as usual, excessive, we opted to take the stairs to the Royal Promenade on Deck 5. We stopped briefly at Guest Services to have them punch a hole in our sea passes for our lanyards and then got our first glance at the Royal Promenade . At first the Royal Promenade is nothing if not impressive. 4 stories straight up of gleaming metal and colored lights and we were the only passengers in sight! The crew was still setting up their tables with the typical day 1 offerings so there wasn't a lot to see just yet except the Drink of the Day guy who we told we were most certainly NOT ready to "Start *our* vacation" at 12:30p with a Bahama Mama and the one selling the soda packages.

 

 

We politely told the gentleman selling soda packages that we had already purchased them and showed him the preprint on our cards but he insisted we check out the machines and we were in complete awe as he showed us the variety of choices available even for those who, like us, only drink diet sodas. DH fell in love with the Diet Raspberry Coke and Diet Barq's Root Beer. I tried Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke and Diet Orange Fanta but quickly resorted back to regular Diet Coke. There were some people who were really enjoying trying all the options but I am just fine with regular old diet coke so, while, I appreciate the convenience, I see little need for all of those options. One note about the Freestyle Machines; it seems that only 1 of the 4 that we have found so far are working properly. It is the one on the right on the Royal Promenade. Both machines in the Windjammer have been giving us problems and I think that DH has probably only gotten the machine on the left in the Promenade to work once.

 

 

 

From there we went to the Windjammer. What a mistake. Even though we were in the first groups to board, we had problems finding a seat and were nearly tripped multiple times with carryon luggage being rolled behind people or sitting in the aisles. I really only ate enough to keep my blood sugar from going all wonky and trying to keep my spirits a bit higher since I was feeling grumpy due to lack of sugar as it was. The food was acceptable but nothing to really write home about. I enjoyed the honey stung chicken, mashed potatoes and a roll baked onboard but I found finding silverware to be a frustrating task. Now that we know where to go for essentials, we should enjoy the Windjammer a little more, I hope. After our quick lunch we returned to the Royal Promenade and had a drink at the Crown & Kettle while we speculated which Promenade view cabin was ours (we were wrong. Ours turned out to be this one.)

[JulieRose]

Day 1 continued:

 

 

After awhile, people started to clear out and we realized that it was likely because the cabins had opened. We found our way to our cabin and were happily surprised at the size of the cabin overall but were equally disappointed at the shower "capsule" as we came to call it. It reminds me of the tiny stall shower I had in college at best, a coffin at worst. We are both small people (neither of us is over 5"6' or 150lbs) but we still found it a bit of a project to get used to. You have to learn to swivel the spray towards the wall when you are not using it, move it up and down when necessary and remove the sprayer completely to reach certain areas. When I figure out how to shave my legs properly without leaning on the wall, I will be glad to write about it. Until then...

 

 

 

 

Since our bags had not arrived yet we decided to go back out for awhile. We explored the ship and found Dizzy's and some fellow CC members to hang out with. We stayed on deck 14 until sail away to watch as we passed under the Verizano bridge. It's amazing how close the ship seems to come to not making it under! After sail away we went back to the stateroom to find that my luggage had arrived but DH's luggage was still missing. It's probably good that we didn't get our luggage at the same time because it was difficult enough moving around and unpacking one at a time let alone simultaneously.

 

 

We went to dinner at the Windjammer which proved to be just as frustrating as lunch. Difficult to find a table and decent but not phenomenal food. After a few photos on the Royal Promenade we retired to our room for the evening. DH found that his luggage had made it safely aboard the ship and I dosed while he unpacked into the limited space I left for him.

 

[ibcnusoon]

Subscribing! Looking forward to reading more on this ship. Thanks!

[JulieRose]

Monday February ,25, 2013

 

 

· Location- At Sea

· Drink of the Day- Caribbean Tea

· Towel Animal-Bunny

 

 

There were a lot of things on the Cruise Compass that interested us today so we kept running for a good part of the day. We started the day with breakfast in the Windjammer which was probably my first "proper" breakfast in months. I usually start each day with a yogurt and granola bar or some fiber cereal mixed in so eggs, bacon and toast are a treat for me.

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as breakfast was over, we headed to Maharajas for the CC M&M. There were only a few names I knew there so we didn't stay for very long after the raffle. All total, I think they gave about 10 prizes of either 2 in-stateroom movies or 50 credits of internet usage. As is typical, we didn't win anything. After leaving there, we grabbed our kindles and made our way to the Aquarium Bar for some reading. I was so excited to actually be here that I didn't get much reading done. We had a beautiful, secluded spot by a porthole and I much preferred to watch the waves and the few people walking on the traditional promenade than be bothered with reading some chick-lit novel.

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed a late lunch in the MDR complete with Tutti salads. My lamb kabobs were very good and we had a good laugh at DH's "steak sandwich" which, we are told, was exactly what someone not from Philadelphia would expect when ordering a steak sandwich.

 

 

 

 

 

At 2pm, DH participated in the Adult Wii Bowling Competition. Although he is generally very good at it, there were more practiced hands in the crowd so he walked away empty handed. Our muster station was assigned the 4pm show of Spirit Of The Seasons which was a very nice production. The costumes and music choices were appropriate for the crowd and you could tell that the performers were top notch skaters. There wasn't a single fall or obvious mistake that my untrained eye caught.

 

 

 

 

After the show we returned to the room to prepare for the Captains Gala and our first formal night. Dinner was very nice. We took the requisite pictures and I received more than one complement on my dress which is interesting because I generally cannot afford to purchase a formal gown that I know will only be worn once. (okay, I can, I just choose not to.) The gown I wore was originally custom made for someone else. I found it in a thrift shop for $12 and spent about $25-$30 altering it. I cannot stress enough to the ladies in the crowd that you can wear something beautiful for an affordable price if you know where to look.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, we took our photos and went up to the cabin so that I could get out of the heels I was wearing. We were greeted by a towel bunny and at that point, decided to and build my "Pet At Sea." He's a bunny we named Captain Hopalong Wigglynose. I know it's a bit childish but I never did the build-a-bear thing before and thought it would be a cute souvenir.

 

When we returned to the cabin, we noticed from our window some people we knew at the Crown and Kettle so we decided to go down to join them (after changing into casual clothes.) They were enjoying the music of Marty Daniels, a singer/guitar player on the ship. We had fun singing along with him into the wee hours of the morning.

 

 

[narrow56]

I can't wait for more! I'm going on the Explorer in about 11 days!

[JulieRose]

I can't wait for more! I'm going on the Explorer in about 11 days!

 

Say "Hi!" to Marty for me! He's tons of fun.

 

Tuesday February 26, 2013

 

 

· Location- At Sea

· Drink of the Day- Mango Montego

 

 

We woke up late after our shenanigans in the Crown & Kettle on Monday evening. Around noon we went to the Windjammer for lunch. We found a table about as far aft as you can get and took turns going to the buffet, which we learned was the only way by watching a table turn over between 3 separate parties- 2 of whom never even ate there but tried to reserve it with various items. Finally, they had a delicious Paneer Mutter. The Paneer was slightly over cooked but that is typical of Indian buffet paneer. (I cannot recommend the Jade section of the buffet enough.) That and a small piece of cheese cake is all I needed.

 

 

 

At some point the music suddenly started and 2 crew members dressed as parrots appeared to lead a parade of the servers around the floor to the tune of Gandam Style. It was amusing and people were dancing but it was yet another severe departure from the understated elegance of cruising we enjoyed with Princess.

 

 

 

 

 

Once finished at the buffet, we explored the ship a bit and found the peekaboo bridge before going out to the pool deck to try to find some chairs. The worlds sexiest man competition was starting and there were no chairs to be found anywhere except the uppermost deck where the wind was just unbearable. Luckily we were able to find a few loungers available in the Solarium where I am typing this now. It's beautiful here and relatively quiet. Too sunny and warm to be February, in fact. The bar attendants are plentiful tempting us with today's drink of the day. "Wakie wakie! Yummy, yummy! Drink of the day here! Enjoy a nice Mango Montego to cool you off?"

 

 

 

 

No, I probably shouldn't be standing up there... Oh well.

 

 

 

 

 

After our short sunning session we went to the Flip camera scavenger hunt. They issue each team a Flip video camera and set them loose to collect footage of the things on the list. We had expected this to be more of a "find the item on the ship and video tape it" sort of thing but it required us to do certain tasks like all squeeze into a shower and hold a door open then ask for a tip. It was a lot of fun and we ended up winning the bronze (in a competition of 3 so, yay! We participated!) But DH ended up with a "Funniest Actor" award of a magnet set for his imitation of The Crocodile Hunter. We then went for a drink at the Crown and Kettle and then back to our room for a nap before dinner.

 

 

After a much longer nap than we had anticipated, we went to the Windjammer for dinner. It was very empty which makes me think that either 8pm is the "sweet spot" or we missed something awesome in the dining room. There were lots of officers dining in there this time which we also found a little odd, not that we felt they shouldn't be there or anything like that but we hadn't seen that before. We were also a bit surprised that some of the officers dates seemed to be a bit intoxicated. Again, it's a cruise ship so why the heck not, just not something we had seen before.

 

 

 

After dinner we went to Battle of the Sexes which is a game show style audience participation game in Studio B. We had a blast answering questions family feud style, making paper airplanes and passing a hula hoop around one another. The men "won" but I call shenanigans since we were way ahead going into the final game but winning the final game seemed to determine the winner of the competition. :p We ended the evening with a few more cocktails at the Crown and Kettle listening to Marty playing his guitar and leading sing-alongs.

 

 

[JulieRose]

Wednesday February 27, 2013

 

 

· Location- San Juan, Puerto Rico

· Drink of the Day-Pear Tree

· Towel Animal- Elephant

· Dock Photo Character- Parrot

 

 

We slept through breakfast so after the regular morning routine, we trekked up to the Windjammer for lunch. Again, not bad just nothing special. They did have a very nice cucumber salad in the Jade section which I should mention. If you see it, try it. DH has been eating nearly every meal from the Jade section of the buffet and has had few complaints.

 

 

We realized just in time that we had forgotten to change our watches so we practically ran to the martini tasting at Dizzy's. It was a fee of just $15 (+gratuity) and we got to try 4 different martini recipes (probably equal to about 1.5 drinks.) Eco, the bartender/presenter, was very knowledgeable and entertaining. We learned all kinds of fun facts about martinis as he showed us the proper way to mix them. We were each given a souvenir martini glass to keep at the end.

 

 

Near the end of the martini presentation we saw our first glimpse of land in days, San Juan, Puerto Rico. We quickly collected our souvenir glasses and dropped them off in the cabin before heading to the helicopter landing at the front of the ship to watch as we joined the Disney Fantasy and the HAL Westerdam at the dock. We grabbed a quick souvenir shot glass from one of the vendors at the pier and a couple tee shirts from Senior Frogs before joining our ship sponsored Bioluminescent Bay kayaking tour. We boarded a very clean and well maintained mini bus and learned a few things about the bay on the hour long ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is about where things went south for me. We had never kayaked before and trying to maneuver a kayak through a bay filled with mangroves in the pitch blackness is not exactly my idea of fun. We constantly were hitting the sides of the channel because you simply couldn't see them. At one point, half of our group got so far ahead of us and the other half so far behind that we were alone in the dark Puerto Rican jungle. Once we finally made it to the bay, it was absolutely beautiful. At first you think that you're looking at just white foam where the water is being stirred up but after awhile, the "glowing" becomes more clear and you can actually watch what look like little fireworks in the water. It was a very unique and interesting experience but I could have done without the frustration of getting that kayak through the narrow channel with so many other tourists and mangrove branches you cannot even see until you crash into them. The current was so strong on the way back that I'm surprised I'm not still out there trying to get back to shore.

 

 

 

Another thing we found curious about the excursion was that we were not told to bring towels. We were all soaked from the waist down and not a single one of us brought a towel or change of clothes. We were forced to sit in our wet clothes for the entire hour long ride back to the pier. I'm sure there are other ways to get out into the bay than paddling your own kayak. Over all, if you are an experienced kayaker, I might recommend it but beginners who have no idea what to expect from a kayaking expedition, seek out another way!

 

 

 

 

On top of this, we asked for a restroom after the excursion I was handed a roll of toilet paper and lead to the the most disgusting restroom I've ever seen. It had 2 toilets, only one that worked and that one didn't even have a toilet seat. There was no sink to wash up in afterward. DH reports that, upon seeing it, a teenager he entered the restroom with said "I hate Puerto Rico." (Which, at that point, we agreed with and became a bit of a joke between us for the rest of the trip.) We did report the things we did not like and thought should have been better explained to us when booking this excursion to the excursions desk upon returning to the ship but there was no offer or expectation of any sort of refund.

 

 

 

We returned to the ship and were delighted to find a towel elephant on our bed but disappointed to find that the only food available onboard was Cafe Promenade, room service or Johnny Rockets (for an additional fee.) We ordered a few salads, some spinach dip and a pepperoni pizza from room service. The salads were quite nice, though small, but the rest was nearly inedible. I ended up getting 2 tuna salad sandwiches from Cafe Promenade and combining their contents on one roll to make one still rather small sandwich. I feel like it would be nice if they would keep the Windjammer open a bit later on days with a late port so that people don't come back after an excursion only to find such limited options for dinner. We aren't starving though so I guess that's a win(?) With the train wreck the rest of the day has been, I would have really liked a sufficient meal just to feel like something had gone right... We've just ordered our breakfast and are probably going to head to bed soon. We arrive in port early tomorrow, St Thomas.

 

[JulieRose]

Thursday February 28, 2013

 

 

· Location- St. Thomas, Charlotte Amalie

· Drink of the Day- Tropical Sunset

· Dock Photo Character- Pirates

 

 

 

 

Room service breakfast came right on time but they did not call first, which we had expected. After breakfast we wandered into St Thomas. We really enjoyed the shops right at the pier. They had a great selection and no pushy sales people. We already have all the "stuff" we need so we traditionally only buy a tee shirt each and a shot glass in each port we've never been to (I have an extensive shot glass collection.) We found what we wanted quickly and were able to fight our way through the widespread construction zone to get to the lift that takes you up the mountain. It was $21 each. Since we found that to be a touch expensive and we didn't know for sure how much time we really had, we decided against it and headed back to Senor Frog's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We giggled at all the signs for a few minutes and took a seat at the bar. This is when we were informed that they would not open until 11am. I thought this was Senor Frog's of "Sorry, We're Open" fame? No booze before 11? Where the heck am I? (I kid, of course.) Since we didn't have a watch, we had no idea that we had only walked around for about an hour. Instead of waiting, we decided to return to the ship to try to make a few phone calls. We both have Virgin Mobile prepaid phones and successfully made calls from both Puerto Rico and St Thomas, though I was told that the connection wasn't great in St Thomas.

 

 

After a drink of the day each, the Tropical Sunset, on the outdoor promenade deck we headed out to the pier for our ship-sponsored tour. Here is where things went oh so right. We were met at the pier by Jordan of the Doubloon, a "pirate ship" type of schooner. She lead us around the pier to the boat and we boarded a vessel that was every bit as pirate looking as you would want. We got a nice view of the NCL Gem, the XoS and the Carnival Freedom as we headed to our snorkeling spot, turtle cove, approximately 4-5 nautical miles away. On the way, the crew worked very hard to learn everyones name and make sure that everyone who wanted water had it. They also asked for volunteers to help raise the sail which I think was mostly just a fun sort of thing to do and aesthetically pleasing but completely unnecessary since it is a powered vessel.

 

 

 

 

 

When we arrived at turtle cove, we were disappointed to see so many other snorkelers there for fear that the turtles may be scarce but our crew came through for us. Steve was able to show us many turtles and even a barracuda that happened to be nearby. He had tons of great information about the turtles and seemed to be very knowledgeable about the area. On our way to the coral reef, DH and I made a stop back at the doubloon for our Sea-Doo power units. It's basically a very easy to use "big fan" that propels you through the water. We caught up with the group and listened to the end of Steve's explanation of the reef but were much more interested in our new found freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the "free swim" portion of the tour we scooted around and saw many more turtles but honestly we were very entertained with the idea of being able to find them so quickly using our scooters. All too soon the crew yelled out a 10 minute warning so we headed back to the boat. The return trip from things like these often feels long and forced but this one was just another highlight of the trip. A rum drink called a "Painkiller" was passed around (soda and water for the non-drinkers) and we enjoyed some chips and salsa. After volunteers were taken to raise the sails, Captain Boomer allowed some people to sail the boat for us while we danced to tunes by Jimmy Buffet and the like. Steve went around to each person and applied an official Doobloon pirate tattoo which (to my surprise) everyone accepted. He ended the actual sailing part of the tour by treating us to a fashion show of all the souvenir shirts available (including the ladies styles!) Although I had already purchased a shirt at the shops in port, I bought another because this tour was just that great.

 

 

 

 

 

We fired up the engines and headed back to the ship listening to music and dancing the whole way. As we pulled into port, people from all 3 docked ships came out to wave enviously at us as I am sure it was obvious what a good time we were having. Once we were docked we headed back to the ship for a shower, a drink and a long nap.

 

 

Jordan and my pirate tattoo

 

 

 

While on the Doubloon, the crew suggested that we fill out comment cards on the excursion at the excursion desk. I thought this was a great idea since we had done 2 ship sponsored tours and had completely opposite feelings on them. Before we laid down for our nap, I went to guest services and requested comment cards. We were told that they did not have comment cards but were prompted to give our comments to the desk attendant. I told her how much we disliked the tour in Puerto Rico and how much we loved our tour in St Thomas but she seemed only interested in hearing the bad.

 

 

We were still so exhausted from being up so late the night before an being in the sun all day that we simply couldn't do much more than grab some dinner at the windjammer and go back to bed for the evening. This may have been a mistake, though since neither of us slept well and were actually thrilled when the alarm rang to wake us for our day in Samana, Dominican Republic.

[JulieRose]

Friday March 1, 2013

 

 

· Location- Samana, Dominican Republic

· Drink of the Day- Blue Caribbean

· Towel animal- Peacock

· Dock Photo Character- Sailors

 

 

We awoke at our first alarm and room service was there promptly. I felt like I didn't order enough today since I misunderstood the toast order. I thought I was ordering 2 orders of 2 slices each but when I wrote a 2 on that line, it appears that I was only ordering 2 slices of toast. When we left I still felt a bit hungry but I knew the staff was already busy with breakfast pre-orders so I didn't want to bother them and I knew we had lunch on our tour so I didn't worry about it much.

 

 

 

We went down to the Royal Promenade to collect our tender tickets and, although we were there before tenders even started, we were issued tickets with a number 10. We retreated to our favorite area of the Aquarium bar to wait and apply our sunblock. When numbers began being called, they were calling 2 or 3 at a time so our wait was really fairly short. We boarded our tender and were in Samana in what felt like just minutes. At the pier, we met our tour group of a family of 9 who were also "Tour[ing] Samana With Terry" on the ATV excursion. Once situated, the drivers of the ATVs were given a short tutorial on their operation and a "test" by the guide to show that they understood the basics and we were off! We traveled through the busy port area and it was actually a bit scary at times with motorcycles and tour buses all trying to reach their destinations.

 

 

After just a few minutes we were at Terry's office where we were offered cold non-alcoholic drinks and had the opportunity to use the rest room and purchase tee shirts before we left. We took them up on all of this but I wish I had taken the opportunity to purchase something from the shop next door. She had a nice selection of souvenirs and there was no pressure to buy, which, as we would find out later, was much different from the tents near the NCL Gem's tender dock.

 

 

We left the office and traveled through town a bit but the traffic eased quickly. At one point, DH and I were even chased by a stray dog and moments later were passed by a motorbike with 2 men on it. One driving and one casually holding a machete by his side. This did not really make us nervous but it did reinforce the fact that we were not in Philadelphia anymore. By looking behind us, the riders (not the drivers, obviously) were afforded a beautiful view of the ships over a lush dense forest of palm trees. After awhile we left the roads entirely and traveled over dirt roads through some very poor looking residential areas where children ran to the street to greet us. We even crossed a river or two but if we picked up our feet, they didn't get wet at all.

 

 

 

Eventually, we reached Rey De Los Cigarros and were encouraged to try a drink called Marijuana and a cigar as we watched an older gentleman roll them by hand. We just quit smoking cigarettes a little less than a year ago so we did not try them but others in our group did and approved. The marijuana was simply a rum and herb based liquor but it was quite yummy. We were given the opportunity to purchase cigars, which we did for a cigar aficionado friend back home who asked for a few from D.R. I believe they were $50 for 10 in a nice wooden box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all got back on our ATVs for a trip to what we were told was a typical residence and grocery store. That's right, both residence and grocery. Here we looked at a meager selection of foodstuffs available for locals to purchase and were offered a chance to try fresh cacao beans right from the pod, fresh coconut slices, papaya, chocolate covered plantains, locally grown coffee and the best hot chocolate I've ever had. While we tried these things, baby chicks and kittens wound around our feet, not looking for scraps but just saying hello. Once everyone had their fill of the samples, we were back on the road to the waterfall.

 

 

 

 

 

[JulieRose]

Day 5 (continued)

 

 

 

We found our way, still over dirt roads to a waterfall were local guides met us. This part made me a bit uncomfortable since they insisted on holding our hands, presumably to catch us if we stumbled but DH and I could have done that just fine had they not separated us for the walk. It only took a few minutes to hike through the forest to a beautiful waterfall where we swam and played for a little while. My suggestion is to stay in the water as long as your guide allows because otherwise you will be bombarded by about half a dozen vendors trying to sell trinkets they all claim that they made but oddly, I found a small wooden statue one of the vendors said his grandfather made the next day in Labadee, Haiti. Grandpa sure gets around!

 

 

 

 

Finally it was time for lunch so we made our way to a restaurant on the beach. We passed the restaurant at first and were given a few minutes on a beach to play on the ATVs before returning for a lovely buffet style meal. We had fried plantains, chicken, fish, potato salad, a type of cole slaw, bread and rice and beans. It was all very good. We were sad to leave the beautiful beach to return to the tenders but we had used almost our entire day so we had little choice. As we were getting ready to go we were queried by yet another vendor who wanted us to buy things he "made." It was very difficult to say no to his hard sales pitch as that was not the answer he wanted. I ended up walking away quite angry that they allowed so much of this to go on to the point that he was interrupting our meal telling us to come look at his wares.

 

 

 

 

 

Another beautiful ride back through the countryside found us back where we started only slightly worse for the wear. Once there we were again offered cold beverages but now beer was added to the offerings since we would no longer be driving. To those intending on taking this tour, I have this advice for you: Wear your bathing suit under your clothes since there is no chance to change, do not wear any white clothing since the dust gets everywhere and will quickly turn it brown, wear water shoes or shoes you can trash (we both ended up throwing out our sneakers) and bring as little as possible - just a towel, camera and other essentials and then stick them all in the most airtight bag you can find to protect them from the dust.

 

We had returned to the tender dock without my requisite tee and shot glass. We knew that we only had a short period of time but decided to take a quick walk up to a tent village of vendors by the NCL Gem's tender dock. It took a bit longer than I had expected to get there but they had a decent selection of souvenirs so often mass produced for this type of thing. I ended up with the shotglass and a sundress printed with a beach scene and the words Republica Dominca printed on it which is very cute and was reasonably priced. I didn't haggle with these people and knew that I could have saved a few dollars if I had but I also knew our time was short so I didn't want to waste it on that.

 

We returned to the ship on our tender and the ship departed within the hour after that. It is a bit closer than I usually like to cut it but we made it so I'm going to chalk it up as a win. Once back we were so exhausted again that we couldn't help but napping almost immediately after cleaning ourselves up. Although there was plenty to do, we simply got dinner in the windjammer, had a drink at the Crown and Kettle and returned to the cabin where we watched some TV and backed up our digital photos and video camera before going to bed.

[CruiseKeeper]

Flyers fan that also had Flyers jersey hanging in our 2007 Explorer promenade window subscribing!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JulieRose]

Saturday March 2, 2013

 

 

· Location- Labadee, Haiti

· Drink of the Day- Pirates Hurricane

· Dock Photo Character- Pirate Girl

 

 

 

 

 

Again, I just had to schedule things early! We were due to do the dragons tail coaster at 9am so we had a quick room service breakfast and got off the ship soon after it docked. Our first stop was at Dragons Square to reserve a locker for the day. The lockers are really quite cool. They put a wristband with an RFID chip in it on you and that is your key for any locker on the island all day. That is, you can lock any one available locker at a time and unlock only that locker with your wristband. If you want to move to another part of the island, just remove your things from the locker, find a new one in the area you want to be in, put your stuff in and you're off.

 

 

So we relieved ourselves of our things and hopped on one of the convenient trams all the way to the Artisan Market. Once there we found the pavilion where we filled out our waivers and exchanged them and our ticket for our passes. We had booked one ticket for the both of us with DH as the driver and me in front as his passenger so when they played the introduction film for us, I didn't pay much attention. This was a mistake.

When we walked up to the carts, the attendant said to us, "you know, we're not really busy." Which was a huge understatement since there wasn't another soul around. "Would you each like to take your own cart?" We considered this for a second and then each climbed into our own carts with DH ahead of me. It seemed like even for two small adults such as us, it would have been a tight squeeze. Luckily the attendant checks that you do know how to break before he lets you go off so I was able to work that out quickly.

 

 

 

The ride to the top is slow but that just gives you time to look at all the lovely vegetation around the track. Once you reach the top, look out! You can go as slow or as fast as you want but I barely touched the brakes for most of the ride. When we got off, DH who normally hates roller coasters wanted to go again so, if it's in your budget, you may want to consider a day pass.

 

 

As wild as it was, it was not even a warm up for what would come next, The Dragons Breath Flight Line. As most of you know, the Dragon's Breath Flight Line is the longest zipline over water in the world. You can check in or buy passes in dragons plaza. Our tickets were for 10:30 but when I asked if we could go a little early (10am) she was more than happy to accommodate us. After filling out our forms, we were told to go to the hut behind the check-in where we were fitted with our harnesses. We had a short wait behind the hut before our safety briefing. We were shown how to complete the fitting of our harnesses and lead to the little dragon flight line which is a smaller "warm-up" line near the harness shack. The guide gave another short informational briefing and started sending us down in groups of 5. When I saw the impact that people made on the other end, I was terrified. I have a neck injury from a few years back so I hung back but there were a few other people in the same situation, including a woman who had broken her neck in the past few years who all did it with no problem so I gave it a shot. They were right! What looked like a violent impact was more of a swinging which was completely painless.

After our practice run, we were taken by safari vehicle to the top of "Big" Dragon's Breath Flight Line. It was a short, bumpy, steep ride to the top where we could see a little part of the coaster and the platform for the flight line. We climbed onto the platform where the guide gave us a little more information about it and split us up by numbers which corresponded to which line we would be on. We were asked for volunteers to go first and I immediately jumped at it. Standing there was scary, the flight line, not so much.

 

 

I climbed out onto the platform terrified of the drop and she hooked up my harness to the line. It was a nerve wracking few minutes but before I knew it, I was unclipped and soaring over the beaches and water of Labadee. Now, I am terrified of heights but I was not for one second scared while on this line. It was nothing but beautiful and exhilarating and I would recommend it to anyone. At the bottom the photo staff took a quick photo and we were unclipped and begging to go again. I watched DH and a few friends we had met onboard come down the line and walked back to the shack to return our harnesses.

 

 

 

 

We retrieved our stuff from our locker and took the trolley back to the opposite end of the beach where we found another locker and ventured out into the water. It was cool and refreshing but not nearly as cool and refreshing as the Labadoozies that were being sold on the beach. I sent DH to collect some and as he did, he ran into another on board friend lounging in a chair sitting in a few inches of water. This seemed like a great idea so we tipped a beach attendant to pull up a few lounge chairs for us when the ship friends we had done the flight line with wandered across us so they also pulled up chairs and we chatted until lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch was simple. Hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs and a few sides. Not the most impressive showing as far as variety but there was plenty of food and it was all quite good. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing on the beach and a short period spent shopping only in the artisan market. (We tried to venture into the flea market but we just couldn't deal with the pressure to buy.)

 

 

We returned to the ship, grabbed an early dinner in the windjammer and laid down for the night... or so we thought. At about 10pm some loud disco music woke us up and sent us flying to our promenade window. It didn't take us long to figure out that we had forgotten 70's disco night. The dancing in the promenade went on for 30-45 minutes until the real street party began. It seemed like everyone on the ship was down there and we were quite glad not to be mixed up in the mayhem. They threw t-shirts and light up rings to the crowd while playing loud 70's music. The ships photographers were even wandering around taking photos of the crowd but judging by the number left on the last day, I don't think too many people bought them. It was probably after 11:30 when the promenade became quiet and we were able to lay down to sleep again.

[JulieRose]

Sunday March 3, 2013

 

 

· Location- At Sea

· Drink of the Day- Tropical Lemonade

· Towel Animal- Monkey

 

 

The day began a bit later than we had intended and we went to breakfast in the Windjammer just a little while before they started tearing it down for lunch service. We returned to the room to begin packing a few things we knew we wouldn't need (like our laundry) when DH noticed activity on the Promenade. I checked the Compass and found that we would be celebrating the 600th voyage of the Explorer. A balloon drop was set up, the confetti cannons were in place and a cake bigger than any I had ever seen was brought out so we knew we had no choice but to go. The captain gave a speech and welcomed some members of the crew who had been onboard since the beginning onto the bridge. There was, of course, balloons and confetti and complimentary champagne and cake.

 

 

 

 

 

After the celebration, we hid out in the Crown & Kettle until the crowd cleared and then made our way to the Pool Deck to purchase our walk for wishes t-shirts. It was quite a windy day so they modified the walk and didn't want anyone to walk to the front of the ship for fear of injury. We struggled against the gusts to complete our laps and then posed for a picture in front of the pool. By this time, the seas were so rough that they had closed the pools and began draining them.

 

 

 

Since we couldn't spend the day outdoors as we had planned, we decided to go to the Ships Clues Scavenger Hunt. This is a game where you run around the ship collecting information about it and the rest of the fleet. Honestly, I didn't really like the way this was run. We were all handed a list of questions and told to be back in 20 minutes. We worked quickly and were back in 10 and we were surprised to find the guy running the hunt absent. Since there were so many teams, we had assumed that time would matter so we felt a little stupid for trying to do it so quickly when we could have taken our time. Once everyone had returned, we were told to switch papers and they were "graded" by another team. Of course, all the teams "graded" them differently and the team who "won" was not the one with the most correct answers but the one with the most correct parts of answers. The guy running it didn't seem to care and practically threw their prizes at them before running down the steps and out of sight. Now, I'm a big girl so I don't really care about the prize but I do feel if you're going to run something like this you should run it fairly for the enjoyment of everyone involved. I heard more than one other team talking about what a disappointment it was that this was allowed to happen this way.

 

 

We were so close to Studio B that we decided to check it out to see if we wanted to go ice skating. The seas were rough and DH had never been ice skating before so we decided that maybe his first time should be on a full sized rink on dry land. Instead, we returned to the cabin to relax, shower and get ready for formal night. This formal night was much like the first, the requisite photos, including one with Captain Nyseter, a pleasant dinner complete with Baked Alaska! After eating and a drink at Crown & Kettle it was time for The Quest game show in Studio B.

 

 

 

 

 

One neat thing to point out was that in the beginning of the game, Cruise Director Richard Spacey came out to explain that since Quest was so popular, they were also going to do a raffle beforehand where you had to be present to win. He called a name and the first person called just happened to be there. He brought her out to the center of the floor and sent someone to get her prize. It was her boyfriend complete with an engagement ring and a sweet, short proposal. Thank god she said yes! After that the game began and we were soon all laughing hysterically. For those who don't know about The Quest, I think all I am allowed to tell you is that "it's the wildest, craziest, loudest & wackiest game on the high seas!" After all, what happens at Quest stays at Quest.

 

 

 

We ended our night as we like to end all our sea days on this voyage by listening to Marty Daniels in the Crown and Kettle. When the lights came up, I decided that I was hungry so we went to Cafe Promenade for a bite to eat. This evening they had ham and cheese paninis that were the first and only really good food we tried there. We toted them back and enjoyed them in our stateroom with a soft drink before bed.

 

 

[JulieRose]

Monday March 4, 2013

 

 

· Location- At Sea

· Drink of the Day- Tradewind Cooler

 

 

We woke up a bit later than usual and went to our last breakfast in the Windjammer. We took our beach towels up with us to return them to the pool deck and were surprised to find that the top decks were completely closed and they were collecting pool towels by the stairwell outside the windjammer instead. Our breakfast was as we had come to expect from dining there so often.

 

 

 

There was little of interest in the Compass today so after breakfast in the Windjammer we returned to our room to get packed. We only bring one suitcase each and don't buy too much while on vacation so it wasn't too difficult get everything in the bags just time consuming because of wrapping breakables, etc. We had intended to do Johnny Rockets today but with the limited indoor seating and no one allowed on the top decks due to wind, we probably will not get the opportunity. Before the early dinner seating we were treated to one last farewell parade in the promenade which we watched from our cabin.

 

 

We took some time in our favorite spot in the aquarium bar and just lounged around the ship until it was time for a final farewell to our newfound cruise friends and favorite crew in the Crown & Kettle. We sang and laughed until the wee hours of the morning and were all sad to say goodbye.

[JulieRose]

Tuesday March 5, 2013

 

 

Location-Bayonne, NJ

 

 

We woke up to take quick showers and throw the rest of our stuff in our carry ons. Since we were #30 to disembark, we knew we had some time to get breakfast. We were some of the last to be seated in the diningroom before they cut off breakfast for the morning. We had a good but rushed breakfast before returning to our cabin to pick up our stuff.

 

 

It was sad walking through the ship that final time, seeing the crew readying her for the embarking mob outside. We sat in Studio B waiting for our number to be called which happened just a few minutes later than expected.

 

 

 

Once we disembarked we were put on the bus that was filled to capacity and rather uncomfortable but at least the ride is short. We quickly found our luggage and went through customs. The tent was absolute pandemonium. We struggled to find our driver from Independent Driver but once we did, it was a quick ride to the airport. Since the group we rode with on the way to the ship chose self disembarkation, they were already at the airport but the driver was kind enough to give us the group rate anyway. It was a quick trip before we were on our train home.

 

 

Overall- we did not enjoy RCI as much as we did Princess. We felt that the ship was a bit dirty and showing her age. She could really use some sprucing up in dry dock. Would we cruise RCI again, probably. Would we choose the Explorer again, probably not.

 

Food- We also thought that the food was not as good as we experienced on Princess. We generally enjoy the buffet but on the final night of this trip, the selection and quality of the food in the Windjammer was so bad that we ate only a few bites before deciding to leave and go to the MDR. Something we never even considered doing before. We're "eat to live" type people, not "live to eat" so the quality of the food didn't really affect our enjoyment of the cruise all that much.

 

Activities- While we felt that there were a lot of activities that interested us on this ship, we also wern't really thrilled with how some of them were run. (i.e.- Some of the crew running the activities didn't seem to even want to be there at times and, often, it seemed like a random winner was being chosen.)

 

Excursions- We never did ship sponsored excursions before this trip so I can't really compare that but we both the best and worst excursions we have ever done were booked through RCI.

[Newsbuff16]

Thanks for posting....enjoyed your review!

[beachnative]

Thank you for posting the review.:) Your points were interesting and helpful.:)

[relaxatsea]

Thanks so much for your great review and photos!

 

I enjoyed "sailing" with you!

[njmomof2]

Did you eat any meals in the dining room? We are embarking on Sunday and plan on most meals in the main DR, so I'd like to get a recent perspective on the food. We simply don't enjoy WJ for dinner but I've done the new menus before; simply would like your thoughts on service and timing if you went there.

[rednancy1]

Nice review. Thank you for posting. :)

[JulieRose]

Did you eat any meals in the dining room? We are embarking on Sunday and plan on most meals in the main DR, so I'd like to get a recent perspective on the food. We simply don't enjoy WJ for dinner but I've done the new menus before; simply would like your thoughts on service and timing if you went there.

 

In fact, we did. We had breakfast and lunch in the MDR both of which were rather quick affairs. The breakfast was pretty standard and we didn't find it much different from the windjammer or room service. Lunch was another story, I highly recommend the Tutti salad. Very good indeed. I also thought the quality of lunch was better than at the Windjammer, though, the options seemed a bit limited for my taste.

 

We had 3 dinners in the MDR, 2 formal nights and our last night on board. All of them were good and the servers couldn't have been better (we had a few different ones since we had MTD.) We did have a reservation for the formal nights so we were seated right on time. I remember the food and the selection being pretty good. Nothing to complain about but nothing to write home about either. I know DH had a dish that he didn't like (I don't even recall what it was) but he simply asked for something else and they got it for him quickly.

 

As far as service goes, it was a lot faster than my experience on Princess. They don't seem to make as big of an affair out of dinner just feed you and go. But on the last night we were sitting at a table next to a group (at an adjoining table) loudly and rather rudely discussing DH's hometown. I was already not thrilled about the experience at the Windjammer and could feel my BP rising so, rather than cause a scene, we quietly asked to be moved. They did it immediately and without question. After that, they were even nicer (if that's even possible) insisting on bringing DH 2 deserts, constantly apologizing that we had been offended, (as if it was their fault!) etc. We could not have asked for better service in the MDR.

[greek princess]

Hi

I notice you did the doubloon excursion. I don't see it listed as an shore excursion on my cruise. We are taking Oasis in 2 weeks. Maybe was it called something else? Or maybe we waited too long and all sold out :(