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Cruisers & Losers Breakaway Part 1

Fineaswine

By Fineaswine,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

Posted
Posted
Was on the same cruise, still working on my review but I had a few thoughts based on the OP's review so far.

 

1. I never realized the women or men near the entrances to the buffet area were there to give you hand sanitizer. They were never once pushy with me, they would occasionally smile at me but I don't recall them ever saying anything other than "Hello." Sometimes I would use the self-serve sanitizer station, sometimes I wouldn't. I'm not crazy about touching things that have touched by thousands of cruisers including "jam hand" children so I do wash my hands often just out of habit for disliking the hygiene habits of most of society.

 

2. The buffet is not my preferred method of dining. Some of the food is good, the people watching is both horrifying and amusing, but it's the glutenous attitude of it that bothers me. Far too many people just pile the food on their plate never asking themselves if they'll eat everything, or close to everything on their plate. Nor do they seem aware that they can go back up for seconds, thirds or fourths. I'm a heavier guy, I'm sure people see me at the buffet and they assume I'm going to "Homer Simpson" that entire area but I try to minimize the food I may end up throwing away. Sometimes you'll be adventurous and try something you end up not wanting to finish but I see way too many full plates of food just being left for the servers to clean up.

 

At the buffet I'd also like to see more parents watching their children. Not only do they cut in front of you with little regard to what's going on around them but far too many of them feel the need to "finger" the food, especially the desserts, and then just walk away. I stopped taking food that was within reaching distance of the kids and started taking food from the back of the station.

 

3. I wasn't expecting to like the Cirque show but it was one of bigger surprises of the cruise. I thought the food was descent, not fantastic, but it is a dinner show so my expectations were lowered somewhat. I didn't find the seating arrangement diminished my enjoyment of the show. The thing I struggled with the most was my juvenile sense of humor mixed with form fitting outfits and a lot of face to crotch interaction.

 

The Cirque show was also where an old man decided to back up his scooter without looking behind. He proceeded to hit me with enough speed that his scooter was stuck on top of my foot. He wasn't even aware he had hit me, he looked around when his family started freaking out and asked, "Did I hit something?" I didn't make a scene, accidents happen but a lot of people on those scooters shouldn't be driving at all, scooter or car. I proceeded to lift him and the scooter off my foot, luckily no damage was done to my shoe but there was a little blood in my sock and some skin missing. Sort of sad when the shoe handles a scooter accident better than human skin.

 

4. I'm not a smoker, nor I am I a heavy drinker and we didn't run into nearly as many problems as the OP did. Did I notice a faint smell of tobacco occasionally? Yes. Did it bother me? Not really. Same thing with the drinking. One day on the ship I had six cocktails, a large amount for me but I never saw anyone falling down drunk or being anymore disruptive than being a little bit louder they what was necessary.

 

I'll cruise with you anytime; you are my kind of passenger. As for me; the buffet is the place to go if you are in a hurry and just want something decent, but not expecting anything great, just like at home. And yes, the fun part is people watching. To us, the best meal at a buffet is breakfast as long as you skip the prepared eggs which hubby calls plastic eggs.

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suesings

suesings

Posted
Posted (edited)
Is it wrong that my favorite part of the review so far is the throwaway comment that the OP was wearing a Casio watch?

 

I love that too! I also love the part "I pulled myself out of my current Atrium chair and scooted toward another that i so cleverly secured through my Atrium Seat Security technique (for more information on this, please refer to my above entries)." as well. So many funny, detailed parts!

Edited by suesings
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C-line

C-line

Posted
Posted

Getting some good laughs from this review. Looking forward to day 4. :) (Especially looking forward to your thoughts on Rock of Ages!)

 

(To my fellow readers: This kind of reminds me of the book "A Confederacy of Dunces." It sounds like a review written by the main character, Ignatius J. Reilly. If you enjoy the writing style of this review you might enjoy the book.)

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babs135 Great Review Rare

babs135

Posted
Posted
The last posting has been removed. Fine had posted during the night UK time. I read it about 4 hours ago.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I read it as well. Can't understand why it's been removed. Nothing wrong with it as I remember

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Gregor4500

Gregor4500

Posted
Posted
The last posting has been removed. Fine had posted during the night UK time. I read it about 4 hours ago.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Seriously? I was looking forward to the next installment.

 

Maybe the OP can continue his review elsewhere and just post a link.

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cml4958 "Live from...." Rare

cml4958

Posted
Posted (edited)

Day 3 Fresh Air: Between the end of Deal or No Deal and dinner, I thought that I would take a break and go topside to watch the water and make another attempt at the buffet. The elevator wait was mercifully short this time and I was soon breathing in the fresh ocean air. The sun had broken through the clouds for the moment and all seemed well, until I found myself downwind of the smoking cage adjacent the pool. It was not the rank stench low grade tobacco that I found so offensive, but the particularly disturbing conversation taking place within. A rather boisterous tattoo'd man was going on about a "fat man" who was being "punk'd" by a unicorn at the Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy dinner. The others inside laughed riotously as he strung each sentence to the last with swearing with a clearly NYC accent. The man sat in a seat pretending to be a much huskier shaped, Stephen Hawkins-esque caricature struggling to avoid an incoming invisible horn. I saw that I was outnumbered and dared not make a stand. I rolled back to the elevator and took it to my cabins deck. I thought some television would clear my head, but the remote seemed counter intuitive and non-responsive. I gave up, finding myself stuck on the Breakaway channel which played events taking place on board. When my wife arrived shortly thereafter to get ready for our reserved seating in the Manhattan Room, she asked why I looked upset as it was clearly apparent. I said the first thing that came to mind; "The buffet was fresh out of crapes[sic]"

 

This is what was posted earlier. Hope I cleaned it up appropriately.

Edited by cml4958
edited to add context
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lgdesign

lgdesign

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Thanks so much... that's what I was referring to... (thought the deleted post might have been about Day 4 but it's clearly a continuation of Day 3). The poor man's humiliations continue...

Edited by lgdesign
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Fineaswine

Fineaswine

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A special thank you to cml4958 for cleaning up my prior post and reposting it. I don't know what got into me, perhaps it was the horror of recollecting those soul scarring events, or perhaps it was the Goslings Black Seal rum that I purchased here in the states as opposed to Bermuda...

 

Day 3 The Manhattan Room: After watching the cyclic on-board events played on the Breakaway Channel, I got ready for dinner at the Manhattan Room. I was aware of the restaurants location at the aft of the ship and, considering my admiral ranking membership in my local Star Fleet chapter, I should have anticipated the turbulence at the rear. We arrived dressed casually smart expecting to be immediately seated as per our prior reservations. Instead we were met by yet another line. Several people were clothed as though they were coming from a wedding! I felt a bit under dressed with my short sleeved button up shirt and "suns out buns out" tie. We patiently waited, but soon saw that there was a second line forming to our starboard side. A flock of elderly woman rudely pushed past and demanded their reservations be honored by the hostess working the front of the house. Seeing this, I too moved ahead. The young woman soon seeing that she was quickly being overcome by those who had the forethought to reserve quickly found tables for the elderly group. Shortly thereafter we too were seated...at the very rear beside the stage. As we sat awaiting our server, I felt the ship rising and falling acutely. I made the mistake of looking out the aft window to the rocking dusk touched ocean and became suddenly ill. I knew i needed to reach the nearest public rest facility as surely I could not not make it to the cabin, not with the outrageous elevator delays. I didn't say a word to my family, for there was no time, as I backed out and rolled as fast as I could to the exit. In doing so I struck a nearby table, spilling a fancy looking drink complete with a skewered baby gherkin, celery and an olive. The couple sitting there were blessedly understanding. I made it to the nearest bathroom without further incident just in time. For the first time during the trip I was without appetite. I decided to go out on deck eight for some air, it was dark and I crashed into the giant chess set. Thankfully I was alone when it happened. I breathed deeply as I rolled away from the toppled pieces, hoping that Rock of Ages would turn this day around.

 

(To be continued)

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