MITSUGIRLYS EPIC CRUISE--2nd time around-1st from Port Canaveral

[ABQrobin]

I do agree with you... cruising is cheaper than a land-based dive trip. Especially if you go to an all-inclusive resort, like we prefer. Its about double, but you can get in 3-5 dives per day depending on your ambition. We used to do that... then we got old. LOL

 

We have now done 5 cruises in 2+ years, mostly due to the fact my hubby had hip surgery (injury repair) and couldn't dive for awhile. Then the surgery needed to be redone twice... cuz my great hubby doesn't know how to take it easy and let it heal properly. So we haven't been able to do a real dive dedicated trip for 2+ years. And now we are BOTH hooked on cruising. LOL

 

Daughter was apparently right behind me... guess I was zigging when she was zagging.

 

And quite honestly, we just don't have the energy level to do our dive-dive-dive trips anymore. It wears you out after a few days.

 

i do think you should go ahead and get scuba certified though, even if you only do 3-4 dives per year. Once certified, you will be able to go to really great dive sites and see much more fish than you can imagine. It is waaaaay better than a shallow shore dive with water all stirred up and tiny fish.

[SquishTheWhale]

 

Yes, time zone's can be beneficial for that reason. :D

 

I really hope you get to try out the scuba in Costa Maya. <----You get to go there??? My Escape says the same old route we just did (Tortola, St Thomas, and Nassau). I would much rather go to Costa Maya instead of Nassau. Eh. Hopefully you can talk your partner into going with you. Amazing experience!

 

The baby shampoo=amazing. I didn't have one bit of fog the entire time! I'm definitely going to mix me up some to take with me from now on. They just poured a bunch in our mask and let it sit. Then just pour out, quick dip in the water and you are done. No wiping it out or scrubbing. It was just amazing!

 

I tried out that full face mask when Sakari was taking her scuba class because I was thinking about buying it. It was weird to say the least. You have to keep your head a certain way or the snorkel (since it's hard) will go under water and you get no air. I kept freaking out because I couldn't breathe and couldn't understand why. Then once I discovered why it was doing that...I had to laugh. I do like that it didn't fog up or get water in the mask at all. But, I opted to just buy a really nice and (more expensive) scuba mask this time around instead.

 

 

 

The Escape is doing a couple of Western itineraries next October (and possibly other months too, I only looked at October) which is the main reason we booked it! I've never done the Eastern itinerary either but just fancied the Western one more. It's going to Roatan, Cozumel, Costa Maya and Harvest Caye- you even get a full day in Harvest Caye which seems to be a novelty!

 

I'm yet to try out my full face snorkel in water so I'll need to see how I get on with it- but I tried it on and immediatley I feel more comfortable with it than a normal snorkel mask. I hate the 'sucking' feeling you get from a tight snorkel mask or goggles over your eyes. I did read about the float valve meaning you get no air if the fixed snorkel goes underwater- hopefully as I know about it in advance I won't freak out.

 

The green picture thing is a bit odd. I've just looked back at our most recent holiday snaps when I first got our TG-4 to see if I notice anything like that. This isn't the clearest pic in the world as the water was a little stirred up, but you can see how blue it is:

 

 

And I'm not even convinced I had it on underwater mode as I'd just jumped of a boat into the sea and had probably forgotten to change it. So I have no idea how they managed to get green pictures like that!

 

And this one also no green:

 

 

Although now it's amusing me that I spent ages stalking this one fish to get pictures when you had hundreds of tropical fish all around you- that's the difference in snorkelling between Tenerife and St Thomas I guess :p

Edited December 1, 2016 by SquishTheWhale

[SLRoth]

Hi Kim,

 

Loving the review. We were on the Getaway the same week as you. We went to Little French Key, but it rained the WHOLE day. We stayed under the palappa while the kids swam and we got tipsy. It was a blast. We just booked the Escape for the same week next year. We've never been to Tortola and we typically shop in St. Thomas so I can't wait to try Coki! What cruises do you have planned for the comming year? Also, do you have a trick for finding the best rates to make your decision? We'd like to cruise more, but between everyday life and paying for private school our dream may need to wait.

[mitsugirly]

WOW I just discovered your wonderful review - have not got fully caught up with it but just had to jump in.

 

We just got back from our 14 day Canada cruise on the Dawn and had a great time.

 

I can't believe your embarkation process - and that they did the safety drill without everyone even onboard.

 

Your day one experience at O'Sheehan's was much like my experience at the Blue Lagoon on the Pearl in 2012 - slow, never got the order right, and just down right poor. The opposite of my experience at O'Sheehan's on the Dawn this time - great food and fantastic service.

 

The breakfast menu there looks a lot like the one for the suites in Cagney's.

 

I also bought a new camera before the cruise - another Cannon but one with a rechargeable battery, and modern SD card with lots of storage - it also has a 50x optical zoom - which came in handy while on tours. A neat feature of the camera is it' ability to transfer pics to smartphones via a wireless connection. This way I was able to share my vacation photos on facebook as we went.

 

I will be reading your review - along with Doug Out's Dawn review.

 

Glad you found the review and glad to have you here.

 

Yea, you would think with the slow process they had that day and late leaving that they would have postponed the safety drill so that everyone could attention and not have to take time out of their day, on a sea day, to go to it. :(

 

What kind of Canon did you get? I had 2 of the Canon D10's prior to getting my Olympus Tough cameras and loved them...they just didn't last long for some reason. Yea, my camera has the wifi on it as well and can also be used as a trigger for pictures as well. I thought that was a neat feature, but I haven't read the directions on the camera yet to see what all it does...or played around with it. I'll have to do that some time soon.

 

 

Kim! You went diving! I am so glad you were able to relax and enjoy the dive! Your pictures came out great, too! Did the rest of the family enjoy diving? Who wants to get cretified now? How did Sakari enjoy her bubblemakers dive? How about Brayden?

 

Definitely take your log books with you whenever you go diving, or even think you might. You will want a record of everything you have done when you decide to get certified, and it makes a lot of sense to have it all in the same place. It also makes for some great memories looking back at where you have been and what you have done.

 

I'm really proud of all of you guys. You may have had some trepidations about scuba, but you decided to go for it! Sounds to me like everyone did great! Hope you will continue with your scuba adventure. :D

 

As far as I know everyone enjoyed the diving...except for the husband having issues with wearing out and having to go back. But what he did get to do, I think he liked it. Sakari loved it and was talking about it yesterday actually...but she gave me this sad face and said "I want to do what you did and go out where you did and see everything you did" (we were looking at all of my pictures from that day.) She was especially sad about seeing us hold the starfish and the arrow crab. You know what an animal lover she is and just knowing she missed out on this really makes her sad. Then of course she finished her sad statement with "I know...I have to learn to pop my ears first". I'm really not sure how Brayden felt about it. Kendra (or B) never did say. But Kendra was inquiring about the cost of doing the PADI Seal team like Sakari did...so maybe he told her he liked it and wants to continue.

 

No one has said anything about getting certified yet. So, we'll see.

 

Looking at my log book though...it appears that this book is only for this place I believe. There's no other pages in it that has a place for other places to fill out dives. It's a 33 page book, but everything else in there is about the equipment, skills, hand signals, next steps to getting certified and other information. But I'll still take it with us every time, just to see.

 

When I bought Sakari's PADI Seal packet, it came in this really nice, somewhat waterproof, zippered package and we keep everything related to it in there. It's pretty big.

 

**update, Kendra just messaged me (when I ask her how he liked it) and said "Yea he did. He wants to do it every time lol" So I guess there's our answer. hehe

 

Fantastic underwater photos. They look like from a science book.

I am not a fan of Le Bistro. I always have difficulty finding something I like there. But too bad you did not stay for dessert. They probably have the best desserts on the ship with fondue. You are right about the price. They are insane. Just think if you would have paid for the wine, appetizers, main entre and dessert. It would have been $150 for 2 of you with the gratuity :eek: And to top it off you have to book weeks in advance to get the time you want, etc. Its just way too expensive and the crowds too much IMHO.

 

Thanks so much. I thought they turned out better than I expected. They just needed a little light and then they ended up fine.

 

I can't imagine (and would refuse) to pay $150 for the 2 of us for what we got. That's just crazy. I wonder if it was that expensive back before they started running all of these crazy promotions with the free dining package.

 

I do agree with you... cruising is cheaper than a land-based dive trip. Especially if you go to an all-inclusive resort, like we prefer. Its about double, but you can get in 3-5 dives per day depending on your ambition. We used to do that... then we got old. LOL

 

We have now done 5 cruises in 2+ years, mostly due to the fact my hubby had hip surgery (injury repair) and couldn't dive for awhile. Then the surgery needed to be redone twice... cuz my great hubby doesn't know how to take it easy and let it heal properly. So we haven't been able to do a real dive dedicated trip for 2+ years. And now we are BOTH hooked on cruising. LOL

 

Daughter was apparently right behind me... guess I was zigging when she was zagging.

 

And quite honestly, we just don't have the energy level to do our dive-dive-dive trips anymore. It wears you out after a few days.

 

i do think you should go ahead and get scuba certified though, even if you only do 3-4 dives per year. Once certified, you will be able to go to really great dive sites and see much more fish than you can imagine. It is waaaaay better than a shallow shore dive with water all stirred up and tiny fish.

 

I know what you mean about getting worn out. You see what happened after that day? We were in bed by 7:30pm!!! That never happens to us. LOL

 

We were discussing our options, about getting certified, the other night. We still have some issues with that. :(

 

 

The Escape is doing a couple of Western itineraries next October (and possibly other months too, I only looked at October) which is the main reason we booked it! I've never done the Eastern itinerary either but just fancied the Western one more. It's going to Roatan, Cozumel, Costa Maya and Harvest Caye- you even get a full day in Harvest Caye which seems to be a novelty!

 

I'm yet to try out my full face snorkel in water so I'll need to see how I get on with it- but I tried it on and immediatley I feel more comfortable with it than a normal snorkel mask. I hate the 'sucking' feeling you get from a tight snorkel mask or goggles over your eyes. I did read about the float valve meaning you get no air if the fixed snorkel goes underwater- hopefully as I know about it in advance I won't freak out.

 

The green picture thing is a bit odd. I've just looked back at our most recent holiday snaps when I first got our TG-4 to see if I notice anything like that. This isn't the clearest pic in the world as the water was a little stirred up, but you can see how blue it is:

 

 

And I'm not even convinced I had it on underwater mode as I'd just jumped of a boat into the sea and had probably forgotten to change it. So I have no idea how they managed to get green pictures like that!

 

And this one also no green:

 

Although now it's amusing me that I spent ages stalking this one fish to get pictures when you had hundreds of tropical fish all around you- that's the difference in snorkelling between Tenerife and St Thomas I guess

 

Hmm, our Escape cruise is also in October and doing Eastern. That's why I'm not sure I even want to keep it.

 

I know what you mean about just going in the water and forgetting to look at the settings and snapping away. I have done this so many times and later discovered that this happened. I usually discover it before it's too late and get all bad pictures, thank goodness.

 

If snorkeling in Tenerife means only seeing 1 fish, I'm glad I stick to the Caribbean. LOL

 

 

Hi Kim,

 

Loving the review. We were on the Getaway the same week as you. We went to Little French Key, but it rained the WHOLE day. We stayed under the palappa while the kids swam and we got tipsy. It was a blast. We just booked the Escape for the same week next year. We've never been to Tortola and we typically shop in St. Thomas so I can't wait to try Coki! What cruises do you have planned for the comming year? Also, do you have a trick for finding the best rates to make your decision? We'd like to cruise more, but between everyday life and paying for private school our dream may need to wait.

 

Thank you and glad you are enjoying it.

 

Aww, sucks it rained all day at LFK. That place is just gorgeous, but hey, I would take it in rain as well and just hang out in the water.

 

Yes, definitely give Coki a try. Amazing snorkeling/scuba there.

 

So far, the only cruise I have planned (well...actually booked) is the Escape in the fall. However, it was a "dummy" booking that I booked while we were on a cruise and they picked the date. So, I'm not sure if I'll keep it or not. I'm currently planning for April (Spring Break) at the moment. I believe I have picked out where I want to go and the ship, but I just haven't booked yet.

 

No tricks, I just go when I can. I have no choice for Spring Break, because that's when Sakari gets out of school for the week and it's set in stone. Then for summer, that's pretty negotiable and I just have to make sure it's not when I'm in class and I'll take one of the 5 week classes off during the summer. So, I will just search and see which is the cheapest week to go (which is usually toward the end of August). Then in the winter, we usually just go anywhere between October-December and that is also based on price. Of course it also depends on any "goodies" I may get when booking as well.

[mitsugirly]

I know everyone was wanting me to do some final thoughts on scuba at Coki...so here goes. I'll try to keep it short, but you know me, I'm long winded. :D

 

I was so apprehensive about doing this and went back and forth with many people on here assuring me it would be ok.

 

I'm COMPLETELY satisfied with my decision to go ahead and give it a try. We had a BLAST! After getting over the dry air in the mouth/throat and salt water mouth and controlling my breathing, it was fine. I just needed to get past that and out there with the coral and fish and I completely forgot about it.

 

I would HIGHLY recommend using Coki Dive Center. They were great from beginning to end. We all gathered a big tip from everyone and presented him with it. (At least I hope it was considered a decent tip) What do people usually tip dive instructors??? If I ever went back to Coki, this is exactly what we would do again. However, you know me, I like to experience new things, so I would probably try out Aqua Action Dive Center at Secret Harbour next time, just for a new experience and place. They are a little more expensive though. SH is $90 pp no matter what age or what program (Bubble makers or Discover). Coki was $85 per adult and $65 for child.

 

I am kinda sad that we didn't see more "extras" while we were under there. I have seen so many pictures of huge Angelfish, stingrays, turtles, eels, octopus, puffer fish and so on. So many things out there to see and I felt like we basically seen the "normal" fish you see when you are snorkeling. But, the coral was amazing. Of course this is no fault of the dive center...they can't control those type of things.

 

I'm really sad that my hubby didn't make it out there with us. We both really need to get into shape so that we can do more things. Although I'm very active when cruising, at home, fagetaboutit. I stay busy all the time, just not "active busy".

 

I have decided that when we cruise, I will definitely be searching for places to do the Discover Scuba Dives. I really loved it. We have not decided on getting certified for several reasons.

 

So...on to the issues/reasons/problems.

 

Of course, Sakari would have to do what she did this time and not be able to go out with us due to her age AND her ears. She must learn to clear them or she won't progress with this...whether it be learning about it or just an age thing.

 

Next...Kolin did not tell me until the other day that his ears were hurting really bad when he went down deep. Obviously he did not equalize them and didn't bother to tell anyone or the instructor. Geesh. So, since he has been home, he says one ear feels like it's blocked and "mumbly" and he bought ear drops the other day and used them and there haven't been anymore complaints from him.

 

Next...the hubby. Yes, he had a previous ear injury when he was young. Had an ear infection since his teens that he didn't take care of until about 4-5 years ago. I "believe", but can't remember, that the specialist said he didn't have an eardrum? I honestly can't remember and he didn't explain it well. But they cleared up in the infection and constant drainage and he has never had a problem since and they said he was "good to go" and he never returned for anything. So, since this dive, one of his ears has been hurting. If you put drops in them (which contain alcohol) it drops him to his knees in pain and the tears flow. That's how bad it is when he does ear drops. So...he may need to head to the specialist again. He believes if he could just have put ear plugs in, he would have been fine in that ear. However, of course I had read that you can't wear earplugs when diving because then you can't "pop" your ears. His reply is "I don't have an eardrum, so what am I going to pop?" He can do this really weird thing with his ears and if he holds his nose and blows (like you are popping them) then his ears whistle. I believe that's just the perforated/ruptured eardrum, but it seems like his tympanic membrane hole is permanent (which is why the doctor said no eardrum????). He did NOT go down deep and stayed closer to the surface. Will he ever be able to dive if his ear is permanently like this? This is why I'm thinking he may not be able to get certified no matter what.

 

Me, on the other hand, I never once did anything other than swallow-due to the dry air and salt water, and my ears equalized. I had no issues at all and never once had to hold my nose and blow. I don't think I even realized they were popping the entire time because I was always swallowing from the salty taste. I guess I would be a perfect candidate for scuba then. :D

 

There is one thing that I forgot to mention. When we were done with scuba and came back to the beach, I would learn that during Sakari's class, she was biting the regulator so hard that it created a hole. They had to get her a new one. Yikes! I have no idea why she was doing this. She never had any problems before in class. Maybe she thought the harder she bit down the less salty taste getting into her mouth. LOL

 

So will we ever get certified? Time will tell. It will probably be entirely up to Sakari in the future. I wouldn't want her to get certified and us not be there with her. It was the hubby's dream to get certified (way before Sakari started talking about it) and he honestly might not ever be able to. That would just leave me to be the one to get certified and dive with Sakari, therefore...leaving the hubby behind, which is something I'm not sure we should do. But, we'll see. :)

[mitsugirly]

I thought about wrapping Christmas presents, but I guess this review takes priority since I really want it done and over with. So, hopefully Sakari's elf, Trixie, will help me with the presents later.

 

THURSDAY: SEA DAY

 

 

 

 

It was officially "sleep in" day so I didn't wake up until 9:30am. Sakari was up shortly after that and we tried to wake daddy up, but obviously yesterdays activities wore him out. So we left sleeping beauty.

 

Sakari and I headed out and had breakfast because that's a meal I refuse to miss! After that, we met up with Kolin, Courtney and Kendra and decided to wonder around for awhile. It was a sea day. We were bored. It was raining outside. Yuck. Nothing worse than a rainy sea day when you can't go swimming. Everything was closed...like it had been the entire week when we went to things.

 

Kendra looked at the dailies and tried planning our day out. Well, I had noticed they were having a "Canvas By U" painting class that morning. I had REALLY wanted to do this, so we headed down to Headliners to sign up. It was $35 per person. When we got there, we were told that they were on "standby". Oh my. I mean I don't know why I would be shocked since you have to stand in line on standby for everything else on this ship, why not to paint too right? Ugh! They took my name and I ask if Sakari could do it too. They said "Um, well, you would have to pay the same price as an adult and be here with her the entire time". Well duh, I planned on both of us doing it. I know she would just LOVE this and I really wanted something to bring home showing we did a painting. These people looked at me like I was nuts for signing up a child. They just didn't understand. :(

 

The "wait list" was long and we sat down with our fingers and toes crossed. Others were on the standby list before us and I was losing hope. One of the reasons that no one got to do this is there was a family of like 8 people that were taking up the original seats. I don't know how many people they have per class, but it looked to be about 10 desks set up. But, this family was missing 2 people who were "on their way down". Well, they had a certain time to start by and the guy gave them 5 minutes. The countdown began. They did not make it. He said times up! YES! So...then he replaced those. However, the first 2 people on the list got the spots. I was devastated. Sakari was devastated. Sigh. No painting for us. Darnit. You would think that NCL would realize the popularity of this event and create more seats. They could potentially make a lot more money. $$

 

So we headed to O'Sheehans and Kendra decided we were going to watch the towel folding demonstration in the atrium. So watch we did.

 

 

 

Of course Kolin wasn't really into the towel folding demonstration and talked Sakari into a little more air hockey.

 

 

 

The demonstration was over and they had about 10 different "species" on the table. Ok, cool. But, on Carnival at least they hand out the towels and you get to follow along with them and make them yourself. Much funner IMO.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We headed outside to see if it was still raining and it was. This would be the first time I even went out on the deck, other than stepping foot onto the ship on day one with no welcome party or greeting.

 

So shuffleboard it was. Now we have never played this game before, but it "almost" looked like it was self-explanatory. You take this stick, with branching fingers, and you push the over sized checker. If you get on a number, you get points? If you knock someone's off, they lose points? Kolin decided you go in the negatives. LOL I'm not quite sure that is right.

 

 

 

Notice how wet the deck is? It made for an interesting game. Push, move a few inches and the suction would make it stick. Try again, it got air on top of a rain droplet and would make it all the way down the hall to the other game. Sigh. It wasn't working out very well.

 

 

In the end, we decided it's not the best choice to try to attempt to play this game on a wet deck. We gave up after several laughs and me almost peeing my pants over it. We walked on down the deck, slipping and sliding and found that we were not the only crazy people out there trying to play in the rain on the deck. I think they were having the same issues as us.

 

 

 

 

Well, Kolin is hungry again. I think I have seen him eat more food on this cruise than he's had at home the entire year.

 

[mitsugirly]

We were going to be brave and try O'Sheehans out again. LOLOLOLOLOL

 

Let's start this out with a drink because I have a feeling we are going to need it.

 

 

 

Tick tock, tick tock...waiting on the waiter to return to take our order. Let's all take pictures and look like we are having the most boring, I mean best time ever in this beautiful hot sunshine, I mean rainy cold weather.

 

 

 

The waiter finally took our order and we waited and waited and waited. Then our wings finally came out.

 

 

 

But, that wasn't our complete order. We had ordered some of that scrumptious fajitas again. Once again, waiting and waiting and waiting and drinking and waiting.

 

Finally the rest of the food would arrive and although good, it didn't quite taste as good as it did the other day. I'm not sure why.

 

 

I finished off with desert because I had not ordered desert the last time and I wanted to get some cheesecake. There has been talk on the boards about them changing the type of cheesecake over the years. I had never noticed any change in the past, other than they offered it with strawberries on the top with syrup and I have always requested that they leave that off.

 

This time, it said something about a brownie, marshmallows and caramel syrup. Of course I ask if it could just be plain and they told me no. I can completely understand this if everything is premade. However, if it's already made, why does it take them 15 minutes or longer to bring it out? Kolin said he had tried this cheesecake the other day and it was good. So, he talked me into it.

 

 

This time, we spent 2 hours in there again but hey, we had Kolin to entertain us.

 

We headed upstairs to, once again, check out the weather. There we would run into the boys...all of them, sitting by the pool and having drinks. It was mid day (maybe 2 or 3) and the hubby had that look on his face like he had lost all hope of finding me that day. He said he looked in all my normal places (I totally forgot to ask him where these places are because I had no idea I had "normal places").

 

He breathed a sigh of relief that we were reunited only for us to decide we (the girls) would head back to the rooms to get socks on and try out rock climbing again. I had promised Sakari that she would get to do this again today after she had her water-works flowing the last time when she didn't get to make it to the top. Well, today was that day to redeem herself. Off we went, back to the rooms and left the boys back at the pool bar tending to their drinks.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Well, all of a sudden Kendra yells "WAIT! I HAVE TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING!!" Her and Courtney start to giggle and then before I knew it, we were on a wild goose chase. We got off the elevator and walked way down the hall to the other side of the ship..."Wait, this isn't the right floor", got on another elevator, stopped at the next floor, they peeked their heads out of the doors when they opened, "nope, not this floor" and this ritual would continue for several floors. Ok, what they heck were they doing or looking for. Kendra squealed with excitement and jumped up and down while clapping her hands (no seriously, she did and does this a lot) and said "Just wait until you see it". Well, we wasn't finding "it" and honestly, my legs were getting tired.

 

"No wait" she said, it's on the other side of the hallway by the other elevators. BOOM! Found it. And she presents me with this picture.

 

 

 

"See????" she said. "I told you I wasn't the only one that does the socks with the flip flops. I'm a super star". Oh my! I did all this walking for this? Geesh. Imma get her back one day! (So this all comes from our last rock climbing adventure where she would walk around with her socks and flip flops on, because you have to have socks for the rock climbing...remember that day and picture?).

 

She was so proud of herself.

 

 

 

 

We made it back up to the pool deck, hubby giving me this look like he thought he had lost me again forever because we had been gone too long. I look at him and shaking my head back and forth and said "don't ask".

 

We (the girls and the kids) headed to the rock climbing wall..............CLOSED! Wait, what? Why? It's not raining anymore. Things are dried up? Why????? The worker said "It's too windy". Wait, what? There's no wind back here at the moment. The day we (and by we I mean the kids) did climb...now THAT was windy. We didn't feel anything now. What a disappointment. Is anything ever open on this ship?

 

We headed up to the Spider Climbing Contraption and the Trampoline Bounce You To the Sky, But there's a Bungee Holding You Down....CLOSED. Sigh. This is ridiculous. What is open???

 

As we hung our heads, listened to Sakari moan, we passed the "water" (lol) putt putt, which was never a water putt putt because they never had it on. Hmmm, ok, let's play putt putt minus the water. That'll work.

 

Sakari started the game out and then the rest of us joined in.

 

 

 

All of a sudden I see Sakari slam her putter down and starts stomping and says "I'm not playing with you guys ever, I'm done" and trots off back in the direction of the guys still holding their spot steady at the bar. Um....ok. I have no idea what just happened and when I tried to stop her she ran. Alrighty then. I.have.no.clue

 

This was a major meltdown. But I had no idea just how major this meltdown would be...until later.

 

 

We continued to play because when her meltdown involves not allowing me to talk civil to her about it, then it's no longer considered my meltdown problem solver. Dad can deal with it. I've had her all morning entertaining her. Play ball.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We are in the "tunnel", still playing putt putt and we catch Sakari out of the corner of our eyes and see her playing her own game of putt putt at the beginning. Ok, she must have recovered and daddy babied her and she's back.

 

I went over to ask if she wanted to join in with us and.....SHE STOMPED OFF AGAIN. What the heck is wrong with this child? She wouldn't talk to me. She ran. She hid under the stairs where I couldn't reach her because there were bars and lounge chairs stacked up against it. So now I'm getting pissed. It doesn't happen often, but when she acts like this, I'm not going to deal with it. I can't reach her, I can't hug her, I can't talk to her. Adios.

 

I walk back to the bar with the guys and tell daddy what is going on. He tells me that she was crying because B told her that she couldn't go on to the next round of putt putt while we were still on the first putt. Um ok. THAT caused this? Because B told her she had to wait on us to finish before starting another? I find this hard to believe...but whatever. I told him I wasn't going to chase her and he's on "daddy duty" now. Daddy makes everything better.

 

Before long, we would see her climb out from under the stairs, when she noticed we had all left and wasn't about to baby her or climb after her...and she slowly started making her way back to the bar area....slowly...walking a slow pace, waterworks starting to come on, she was mad that no one was taking the time to chase her down and baby her, tear drop, drip, drop, POUR....oh geesh. So now she's walking, crying, has her arms up to her face like she's scared. Great show kiddo.

 

We are all just sitting at the table and watching her. Then something I hadn't considered happened...people feeling sorry for her and thinking she was lost started approaching her. Oh my word! Just the attention she was looking for. They thought she was lost and crying. They were running to get a staff member. Oh Geesh! I wasn't about to go chase her because I knew she would run off again in an attempt to get me to chase her. So, I sent Courtney and the hubs. Yea, now she had made us look like bad parents for not watching our kid. Just great. Who on here came back and reported the wild, rampid kids running free on the ship while their parents weren't watching them? Yea, I'm sure they thought that I was that parent. I assure you, I never let her out of my sight but she also knows I don't deal with this behavior and it is unacceptable and I won't chase her.

 

Daddy sat her in his lap and loved on her and babied her, like he always does, and momma gave her that eye and told her that if she didn't straighten up, she would just go back to the room. Well, she perked right up. It's a miracle. So now we were going bowling and everything was good in Sakari's world.

 

Off we went to O'Sheehans again. Bowling is $7 pp for 1 game. They killed the bank when we played that day.

 

 

 

 

They only had 2 lanes open for some reason. Yep, another thing not working. Maybe if they could just fix their shiznit and had things open...that would be nice.

 

Well looky there, she wants to hang out with the family again.

 

 

 

 

Kendra, I'm pretty sure you dropped that ball way before you should have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

Billy is a crazy bowler. He's one that will throw the ball half way down the lane before it hits the floor and get a strike. He's one that spins the ball and does all kinds of crazy crap with it. I've seen him bowl close to 300 before. Tonight was not his night. We kept yelling at him to stop with the craziness because people were watching every time they heard the loud THUNK on the floor from the ball when he hurled it.

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari is trying to do impressive things like Billy now. Between the legs it goes...and it rolled down the lane so slow that it knocked all but 1 pin over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Sakari elected herself to be the ball watcher and organizer. She would organize the balls each time they came up. She could name each size by the color of it. "You need a 7? It's purple". "Here Kolin, you need this ball?" Kolin-"Just let me get my own ball Sakari geesh". He needed another Angry Orchard obviously.

 

 

 

 

 

Well isn't that the worse game you have ever laid eyes on? I'm sure it was all the drinks and the motion of the ship. Yep, that's my story and we are ALL sticking to it. I can tell you that the hubby won and I came in second place and Sakari was third. LOL

 

 

 

 

We had RESERVATIONS tonight, on this FREESTYLE cruise, to see Burn the Floor. We headed back to the room to freshen up and then off to the theater we went.

 

 

 

 

I can tell you I honestly don't remember what this show was about. I really don't care for just a song and dance show. Yes, the dancers are talented and amazing, but once you see a show with it, you feel like you are just watching the same thing over and over to different music.

 

The only thing I can remember is during one of the routines, there was a girl that got her dress caught in her heel. It was real obvious because the dress was ripped and hanging down low at the heel only in that area (the rest was short). We were all watching her the entire dance. She didn't miss a beat, nor did her dress come undone. It was pretty amazing at that point. She gave new meaning to "The show must go on" and it did and she never stopped. I can't believe she didn't rip her dress completely off. At the VERY END she did this huge, strong kick...off it came and they dipped her and the routine was over. Isn't that a bunch of crap that it stuck until the very end? Poor girl.

 

[mitsugirly]

After the show we all headed to the buffet for some dinner.

 

Somehow I ended up with pizza and giant shrimp. What a combo right? I didn't really care for the pizza that night, but Sakari was still living on it. The shrimp looked good, but was a little bland to me.

 

 

Honestly, not much was appealing to me tonight and my appetite just wasn't with it. I decided to head to the crape station.

 

 

 

That would end up being dinner.

 

After "dinner" we headed out to the pool for some drinks.

 

 

 

 

I really wish Blue Man was still on this cruise.

 

 

 

I had overtime built in today with my munchkin and it was time to off-load her on the kids club. The hubby took her around 9:30pm and when he returned, I ask him if he told them that he wanted after hours sitting. He said "No, but I did mention that I was going to the White Hot turned into the Glow Party and they didn't say anything". Um ok. Let's try that again shall we? This is actually something you need to TELL them and SIGN UP for. As in on-a-list. You don't just assume that they assume that you need sitting.

 

We all headed back to the rooms to get ready and the hubs headed back to the kids club to make things right...not like it was far. It's our neighbor on the same block as us.

 

I did not plan for this party. I did not bring anything for this party. I did have a white shirt I could wear but guess what? I sent my Platinum laundry off that morning to be washed and it was in that. So...nothing for me to really wear. Normally we have always sent our laundry off in the morning and they return it to us in the evening...unless they happen to lose some of the things or decide not to do the laundry. (Long story, different review).

 

At 10:45 we headed to H20 to see what was going on.

 

 

Closest thing to Blue Man I'll see on this ship now. Everything and everyone was blue.

 

 

[SuiteTraveler]

Those socks with sandals are special socks with the big toe divided from the rest of the foot. They are called Tabi and were invented in the 15th century. Those are not just any thong sandals, though, they are worn with traditional wooden, rice straw, leather, rubber or cloth thong sandals (Geta shoes). White is the most formal. Women sometimes wear patterns. Men sometimes wear black or blue when traveling. There is also Jika-Tabi for workmen made of studier fabrics. Would you believe these are the socks and shoes Samurai would wear reinforced with fine chain mesh?

 

When we were living Hawaii, back in 1967-68 (when I was 6 and 7 years old), these were pretty common there and I owned several pair of the socks and shoes. Typically, we went barefoot in the house, so I'd dump the thong shoes off on the front verandah and just wear the Tabi in the house. The ones I owned were not stretch fabric though, but a patterned silk-like material with a white sole. I wore these with rice straw thongs sandals pretty much all the time. Looks like the modern ones are stretchy line normal socks - much better!

 

Maybe a Christmas present for Kendra? These are easy to find on Ebay or Etsy or in Japanese online shops.

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

They were handing out glow sticks to everyone. They were huge and made out of syrofoam and you turn it on at the bottom. There's several different settings to make them flash different ways.

 

 

 

We were having a good time.

 

 

 

Kolin was getting creative. "Let me get a picture of your shirt all lit up Kolin."

 

 

"Well crap, that didn't turn out because of the flash. Do it again Kolin."

 

 

 

"No wait, I'm not sure that turned out. Do it again Kolin"

 

 

 

He kept falling for it. It went on for awhile, then he caught on. LOL

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

The funny thing about these glow sticks is that you can remove this little plug in the bottom (to replace the batteries), but everyone was jumping up and down and waving these around and all of a sudden Kolin looks down and noticed all these "plugs" all over the entire floor. I mean they were everywhere. I should have taken a picture. But, when we discovered them falling out, all we had to do was reach down and grab one off the floor to plug ours again. It was like those bubble parties they throw...only with styrofoam instead. LOL

 

 

Our professional picture.

 

 

 

I always hate that they have these parties on a night before a port. Like it's the dumbest thing ever, but that's what they ALWAYS do. If we want to stay out late at a party, it should be a sea day the following day so we can sleep in.

 

The DJ and CD "claimed" they were partying all night until they arrived at Nassau the following day. Yea, I wonder how that worked out for you. It was already clearing out when we decided to leave after being there for 1 1/2 hours.

 

I was now out of my stock of pop in the fridge and we stopped by to grab one out of the game room, which is right there by H20. Only problem is, they didn't stock that vending machine with diet. I would be forced to drink regular (yucky to me and leaves a bad taste in my mouth forever), but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

 

We headed back to pick up Sakari from the kids club and it was now going on 12 midnight. Normally the kids club will either charge you on the full hour or for that half hour. So, sitting services are $6 per hour. It starts at 10:30pm. We picked up at 11:50. Not quite a full hour and a half. Most kids clubs would round it down to 11:30 and charge you 1 hour and the rest you can donate to tips. If it's over the 1/2 hour mark, they would round it up to the next hour. Or...some will charge you for the half hour at $3. However, this time they charged for a full 2 hours. Weird...but that is the rule I believe. Just most don't do that.

 

When we got back to the room, this was our towel animal. One that we had seen earlier that day in the towel demonstration.

 

 

 

I would head to the shower and come out to find other towel creatures were being born.

 

A wolf according to Sakari.

 

 

 

Half bird half frog? It's a hybrid.

 

 

She was definitely busy coming up with different creatures and I guess even though Kolin had pulled her away from the towel folding demonstration, she did pick up on some of it.

 

I packed our beach bags for the following day, called the kids to give orders about tomorrow and say good night, then off to bed we went.

 

 

 

 

[SMSACE6]

Just wanted to pipe in a bit. Loving every bit of your review, both on board ship and off, and including the scuba diving, which is something I could never do with my fear of "fish":eek: LOL. Love eating them though.

 

also, with regard to putting ice in your wine, or your wine over ice:D, either way. I have been doing this for some time now. I can drink my diet coke/pepsi room temp no prob, but wine? Well, I do happen to like my wine cold, and when put it over ice, it is usally among friends, family who know my quirks, but also have reached an age where if I am out in a restaurant and my wine is too warm, I will ask for ice. Yes have gotten a few "looks", but since I am getting older, I am getting good at giving those looks a good "back at you look".:D

 

Love the review, and your family is wonderful. So much fun, and even when one is unhappy for a bit, they quickly recover and join back into to the family fun. Hope you never give up writing cruise reviews.:)

Edited December 2, 2016 by SMSACE6

[mitsugirly]

Oh gosh, I completely forgot about my time lapse vidoes from our day at St Thomas. See, I knew there was something I was missing just couldn't put my finger on it.

 

So I did a quick time lapse coming in to St Thomas. I haven't read up on them yet and was just playing. The camera only seems to take so many of them and then stops (which it isn't long). We were following another ship in and remember the delay? It was because of this ship.

 

hoboPKjOie4

 

Here's another of us passing the dock and turning around to back in.

 

j9sJTir5Mrg

 

 

Then there's also a video that I took when scuba diving and I guess I didn't realize it. At the end is the "encounter with the shark" :D

 

 

P2ea-lNmTLE

 

 

 

 

[retiring soon]

HI all!

 

mitsugirly ~ so glad you took your camera with you on the scuba adventure.:D Those pictures were AMAZING! It's like a jewel box under the ocean & something I'll never see.

 

You should change your Escape cruise to Oct 14 & come to the 4 ports squish & my cruise is going to on the western route.;) It also has one sea day at the beginning & end.

 

I've been doing Carnival & NCL cruises about equally lately & look forward to NCL again for the chocolates (& the platinum benefits).

 

Loving your review as usual & looking forward to the next day.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[Crzy4my2]

Love your TR. Thank you. Your pictures are awesome! We cruise on the Epic in Feb..and our room number is 14048 :)

[ncklhaus]

Hey Kim,

I just wanted to let you know how much I have been enjoying your review. There's something about them that makes me forget all the crap going on in our lives even if only for a little while. This review has been a great help, my Mother-in-law passed away on November 20th, so I've been using it as an escape. Thank you. 💖

We are cruising on Breakaway again in January, doing almost the same itinerary as we did last year, but this year it is 13 days instead of 14 and instead of 8 ports it has 7. It's bittersweet because we are leaving on her birthday. :(

Thank you Kim for your wonderful review. Keep it coming.

[bonvoyagie]

Kim,

 

Must say I loved the scuba story and pics. I agree that something was off with their camera during your adventure - esp when you compare them to others taken at Coki.

 

I have a PowerShot SX530 - I also have an AP that lets me run the camera remotely - I have not used it except to play. I also have not used half of the features the camera offers - and probably never will :)

 

We have also seen where tables at the restaurants go empty and they swear they are full - I have always thought it was more of a staffing issue rather than a capacity issue.

 

Although on this last cruise we could not see all of LaCucina but what we could see was full. We used the concierge to arrange the reservations.

 

I see you tried the White Zinfandel again - while I like most white wines my wife only likes Rose' and therefore White Zinfandel.

 

I agree with more ports and less sea - however our last cruise had only 2 sea days out of 14 - the rest were ports - enjoyable but also a bit tiring - we really did not partake in the nightlife that much.:D

[mitsugirly]

Those socks with sandals are special socks with the big toe divided from the rest of the foot. They are called Tabi and were invented in the 15th century. Those are not just any thong sandals, though, they are worn with traditional wooden, rice straw, leather, rubber or cloth thong sandals (Geta shoes). White is the most formal. Women sometimes wear patterns. Men sometimes wear black or blue when traveling. There is also Jika-Tabi for workmen made of studier fabrics. Would you believe these are the socks and shoes Samurai would wear reinforced with fine chain mesh?

 

When we were living Hawaii, back in 1967-68 (when I was 6 and 7 years old), these were pretty common there and I owned several pair of the socks and shoes. Typically, we went barefoot in the house, so I'd dump the thong shoes off on the front verandah and just wear the Tabi in the house. The ones I owned were not stretch fabric though, but a patterned silk-like material with a white sole. I wore these with rice straw thongs sandals pretty much all the time. Looks like the modern ones are stretchy line normal socks - much better!

 

Maybe a Christmas present for Kendra? These are easy to find on Ebay or Etsy or in Japanese online shops.

 

Thanks for the little history with the "socks". I knew that it was probably a culture thing (as did Kendra), but we just thought it was hilarious that she was actually able to find a picture showing her "style". LOL I'll have to look them up online and see if I can come up with anything for her. :D

 

Just wanted to pipe in a bit. Loving every bit of your review, both on board ship and off, and including the scuba diving, which is something I could never do with my fear of "fish" LOL. Love eating them though.

 

also, with regard to putting ice in your wine, or your wine over ice

, either way. I have been doing this for some time now. I can drink my diet coke/pepsi room temp no prob, but wine? Well, I do happen to like my wine cold, and when put it over ice, it is usally among friends, family who know my quirks, but also have reached an age where if I am out in a restaurant and my wine is too warm, I will ask for ice. Yes have gotten a few "looks", but since I am getting older, I am getting good at giving those looks a good "back at you look".

 

 

Love the review, and your family is wonderful. So much fun, and even when one is unhappy for a bit, they quickly recover and join back into to the family fun. Hope you never give up writing cruise reviews.

 

YES, a fellow ice in the wine lover. :p I'm glad I'm not the only one, but I just can't drink it if it's warm. I really didn't care what they thought of me, but the looks this lady was giving me....ugh. I need to learn to do the "back at you look". LOL

 

Thanks for the nice comments and hopefully I'll never have to give up cruising to give up reviewing. :)

 

 

 

HI all!

 

mitsugirly ~ so glad you took your camera with you on the scuba adventure. Those pictures were AMAZING! It's like a jewel box under the ocean & something I'll never see.

 

You should change your Escape cruise to Oct 14 & come to the 4 ports squish & my cruise is going to on the western route. It also has one sea day at the beginning & end.

 

I've been doing Carnival & NCL cruises about equally lately & look forward to NCL again for the chocolates (& the platinum benefits).

 

Loving your review as usual & looking forward to the next day.

 

~ Jo ~

 

I was VERY happy they allowed me to take my camera diving. I just cringe at the thought of missing out on all of those coral pictures I was able to get. I know there was some talk prior to us going about they would probably not allow me to take my camera due to having to concentrate on our scuba and learning. But, so glad they did.

 

I honestly might just have to change the cruise. Are you both on that particular cruise on Oct 14? I does sound more appealing than heading back to the Eastern side and only 3 ports. I know the family has been wanting to do western for a long time. Kolin and Courtney have never done it and seem to get stuck on the eastern ports every single time they go. I'm going to have to look up pricing.

 

Yea, that's the only thing I miss about NCL when I cruise Carnival, is the perks that I have managed to build up now that I am Platinum. However, sometimes you don't get those "perks" as promised...like this cruise. :(

 

 

Love your TR. Thank you. Your pictures are awesome! We cruise on the Epic in Feb..and our room number is 14048

 

You are welcome and thanks for commenting. I hope you have a great cruise. Do you have a bigger room? From the blue prints, it looks like it, but the balcony is not one of the bigger balconies?

 

 

Hey Kim,

I just wanted to let you know how much I have been enjoying your review. There's something about them that makes me forget all the crap going on in our lives even if only for a little while. This review has been a great help, my Mother-in-law passed away on November 20th, so I've been using it as an escape. Thank you.

We are cruising on Breakaway again in January, doing almost the same itinerary as we did last year, but this year it is 13 days instead of 14 and instead of 8 ports it has 7. It's bittersweet because we are leaving on her birthday.

Thank you Kim for your wonderful review. Keep it coming.

 

Thanks so much Joann. I have been thinking about you since I read about your mil. My condolences to you and your family. It's always a rough time around the holidays and I'm glad I have been able to take your mind off of it, even for a small moment.

 

While I love ports, I'm not sure I could handle a 13-14 day cruise with 7-8 ports. I would be WORN OUT! We did a back to back a few years ago and it equaled out to be a long vacation (with a day before and a day in between) and I said anything over 10 days is just too much for me. I start to want to come home and have some normalcy. Although our last San Juan cruise with the extended stay before and after was the best vacation I think we have ever had and loved it. So, I guess dividing between land and cruise works for us.

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip on the Breakaway and please please continue to take good care of yourself beautiful lady.

 

 

Kim,

 

Must say I loved the scuba story and pics. I agree that something was off with their camera during your adventure - esp when you compare them to others taken at Coki.

 

I have a PowerShot SX530 - I also have an AP that lets me run the camera remotely - I have not used it except to play. I also have not used half of the features the camera offers - and probably never will :)

 

We have also seen where tables at the restaurants go empty and they swear they are full - I have always thought it was more of a staffing issue rather than a capacity issue.

 

Although on this last cruise we could not see all of LaCucina but what we could see was full. We used the concierge to arrange the reservations.

 

I see you tried the White Zinfandel again - while I like most white wines my wife only likes Rose' and therefore White Zinfandel.

 

I agree with more ports and less sea - however our last cruise had only 2 sea days out of 14 - the rest were ports - enjoyable but also a bit tiring - we really did not partake in the nightlife that much.

 

I am seriously going to remember this concierge thing for reservations next time. Do I just go to the guest services to find out who my "person" is to contact? I'm not sure why I have never received this information in my stateroom before.

 

Yep, did the White Zinfandel again because it's really the only thing we have found that we (I) could handle.

 

I can't imagine having that many ports in a 14 day cruise. I would be worn out! But I will definitely be looking into cruises with at least 4 ports from now on.

[Sissaaaaaa]

I'm sorry if this was already asked ... but do you remember who the CD is?

[retiring soon]

HI all!

 

Kim ~ you made me LOL! :D Yes, I am retired, coming up for 10 years in February. That was a poor choice of name but what was on my mind at the time!

 

Yes, we're both on the Oct 14 Escape cruise going to Roatan, Harvest Caye, Costa Maya & Cozumel. There's the sea day at the beginning & end plus at least 8 hours in each port. Check it out, I'd love to meet you ( & the family).

 

I'm following it up with 6 days on Conquest as I like to make the airfare count plus I do have the time.;)

 

I didn't get the behind the scenes perk on my 1st platinum cruise so will be looking to do that on Getaway in May.

 

Have a great weekend! I'll be turning 70 on Sunday & can't really believe I'm that old!:o

 

~ Jo ~ :)