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

[mitsugirly]

I spy...some purple feather dusters

 

 

 

 

Awww, a baby sea urchin

 

 

Kendra has managed to lose the plastic clip that holds the snorkel to the mask and has to hold her snorkel up every time. LOL She's been doing this for about the last 3 cruises. I think I would have gave up by now and just bought another.

 

 

 

 

There was a lot of colonies of the purple feather dusters on this in various places.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

I spotted a beautiful Juvenile French Angelfish. This striped yellow and black fish will grow into a massive huge beautiful black fish with yellow marks all over it. It's amazing how these fish look so different when they are young.

 

 

Another juvenile Beaugregory. They are so pretty, but feisty little fish, and you can find them in colors that resemble blue or purple on the top. The sad part is, once they mature, they really aren't that pretty anymore and seem to lose most of these amazing colors.

 

 

 

More coral with purple feather dusters

 

 

 

A Spotfin Butterflyfish, which was really weird to only see one of these. You usually see them in a pair.

 

 

 

I see a lot of little fishys hanging out

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Obviously they think they are hiding, but their tailfins are a dead giveaway that they are under there. It reminds me of a baby putting a blanket over their eyes and thinking you can't see them during peak a boo

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where the fish party is being held.

 

 

 

 

 

Ok I have to show you this amazing macro picture I managed to get. For some reason I decided to change the settings on my camera to macro and I ended up with a pretty sweet picture.

 

 

So here's the reason I never do macro pictures....

 

On my Olympus 620 and 830, if you put them on macro, what it does is ZOOM into what you are pointing it at. I kept trying to use it when we were in Grand Turk and getting pictures of this octopus and I would dive down and take a picture only to find out that it would get the eyeball or chop half the picture off. So, when I started noticing this, I would stay up at the top of the water, turn on macro, and take the picture and it would just give me a close up. If you tried to take a macro picture (like on land) of something, it had a hard time focusing if you were right up on it. You had to pull back a bit for it to focus. So, I finally gave up on close up shots and if there was really something I wanted you to see closer, I would just crop it.

 

HOWEVER, the macro on this TG4 is pretty amazing. I did try out a few macro shots before leaving for vacation and it was just awesome. But, I didn't think to use it while on vacation because I was so use to not using macro. This would be my first and last attempt and I have to say I'M IN LOVE. I will be practicing this more for any upcoming cruises or "dives". hehe

 

Bluestriped Lizardfish

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We had made it around a few piers and the further you got, the worse the visibility was. So, we decided to call it quits. Kendra gave me this look of "Do we really have to swim back? I'm tired". We decided to get out and walk the beach back instead.

 

 

 

We spotted the family up on the pier.

 

 

 

 

 

When I made it back to our spot, I noticed Sakari was hanging on the side of the pier and looking like she was going to jump. She's such a daredevil and as tired as I was from snorkeling for so long, I headed back out into the water to use my negotiation skills to talk her down off the ledge.

 

 

 

Please Sakari, we love you and don't want you to jump.

 

 

 

Sakari gave me her mermaid pose and then Brayden appeared as if he was going to jump. It would be a double jumper alert.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

"I swear I'll do it" No, no, don't do it. Save yourself.

 

 

 

Ok, so maybe I need to brush up on my negotiation skills.

 

 

 

Then came Brayden

 

 

 

This kids and their snapchat

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

After rescuing the double jumpers, we headed back to our spot.

 

The last time we were here at Junkanoo was in 1998 I believe and on Royal Caribbean. Kendra was 10 years old at the time and we did a cruise with her entire gymnastics team. They held a competition in Florida and then the next day the entire team and their families went on a cruise. We had no idea what there was to do here and it was long before the internet so...we just got off and started walking around.

 

We would come to this beach and it was a small beach with nothing there. We didn't even have our bathing suits.

 

I would take a picture of Kendra standing in the water with the ships in the background. Kendra wanted to recreate this same picture...18 years later. However, she couldn't figure out what pose she had done.

 

 

 

Oh yea, maybe it was this pose. It had to be some type of "cutesy" pose...we know that for sure because Kendra has always had the same personality.

 

 

 

When we got home, we would discover she was all wrong. But hey, at least we got something right?

 

 

Everyone started saying they were hungry and I ask if they wanted to eat there or head back to the ship. Kendra had other plans. She wanted to go to Senor Frogs for lunch. She really liked the spaghetti meal that she got when we were in San Juan and wanted Billy to try it out. He loves Italian and pasta. So...we would gather our things and head out.

 

 

 

Goodbye Junkanoo. We had a decent time here and you are pretty for a cheap day.

 

 

 

 

The hubby would head to the bar and use his one free drink coupon and bring me an alcoholic drink from the bar for the walk back. Great, just what I need while trying to walk. But I appreciated it and drank it all the way back.

 

[perfect match]

OK, I'm caught up again. :D

 

I hope you are able to work out your issues with scuba and get yourselves certified, especially your hubby. He seems to be really interested, so I hope his ear issues will not prevent him from diving. Of course, if no one from your family does end up getting certified, you can always bring me along to dive with Sakari! He, he! :D

 

We have not been to Junkanoo Beach yet. Maybe one day if I'm not planning on diving, we will give it a try.

 

You'll have to add me to the list of people who probably will not to to the Baths on Tortola. While they do look beautiful, I do not think my replacement knees and hips would like climbing over those rocks very much. :eek: I think you did mention some people who swam in from a boat. That might be something I would try, since I swim better than I walk, especially on uneven rocks.

 

I hope you decide to cruise on the Escape. I don't even care about which itinerary you choose. I just want to hear your take on the ship. :D

[Stinger-pr]

Oh Lord, Kim!! You and your reviews!!! You always get me hooked...lol. I knew from your Fascination review that you were going on this Epic cruise. So I came specifically looking for the scuba diving part at Coki in St. Thomas, looking forward to seeing your underwater pictures. I was at Coki this past October and snorkeled as well. I'll be posting my pics soon but yours blow them away. Due to that, my wife now hates you (just kidding!!) because I started an "I want one, I want one, I want one" rant. All because of that TG-4. After my cruise I started looking for a replacement for my old Nikon AW100 camera and your pictures have me convinced that's the one I want. My wife says my Nikon is working perfectly well so I hope one of these days I just doesn't come on at all so I can buy the Olympus.

 

Anyway, thanks for the explanation about how you take your pictures because you saved me a lot of asking questions. I had good lighting for most of my snorkeling but on the deeper parts I had to free dive (with no flippers, mind you) to get close enough to things so that colors and sharpness were acceptable. I also do a bit of color correction using Lightroom but since the AW100 shoots only .jpg, You can't play too much with the pics. By the way, I am surely NOTY leaving my flippers at home on my next cruise. After all the free diving I had to do, I was spent by the time I came out of the water, especially at Sapphire beach in St. Thomas and at Jalouise beach in St. Lucia.

 

Great review, as usual. Even though I'm not sailing on the Epic anytime soon (too bad...I know) I'll be following this one until the end.

[mitsugirly]

Kim, I wish you had spent a little more time on our roll call. NCL did post Nassau excursions for Blue Lagoon and Balmoral about 10 days before we sailed. I posted it as soon as I saw it. I haunted the NCL site for excursions and changes.

 

The MSC Divina looks like the Epic because it was built as the sister ship to Epic but NCL cancelled the order and it was sold to MSC. I happened to catch the technical Q&A as I was walking Headliners one morning.

 

Patti

 

Patti, I'm thinking you were the one that came on and said that they had opened the excursions and then I went and looked and it was all gone. Nothing there. I was checking faithfully every day, but after 2 phone calls to NCL and them telling me that they were not going to open them and we would have to book once on the ship, I stopped checking...until you posted that. But I still had no options at that point and they were blank. :(

 

I new that the Epic was supposed to have 1 or 2 sister ships and that they cancelled it after the first one and about all the problems they were having with building the first. I remember stalking that ship day and night and the fires and "mishaps" that were going on. But, I didn't hear that they actually built it and then sold it. Where can I find out more information on it? I can't seem to locate anything. I don't think the ships really look the same other than the size. When you look up MSC Divina it talks about her years of construction and how she was build identical to her sister ships and so on. I'm also reading that when they announced they were building this ship, several changes were made to make her bigger. It just sounds like this ship was built from the very beginning by and for MSC. :confused: I would love to find some information otherwise.

 

OK, I'm caught up again.

 

I hope you are able to work out your issues with scuba and get yourselves certified, especially your hubby. He seems to be really interested, so I hope his ear issues will not prevent him from diving. Of course, if no one from your family does end up getting certified, you can always bring me along to dive with Sakari! He, he!

 

We have not been to Junkanoo Beach yet. Maybe one day if I'm not planning on diving, we will give it a try.

 

You'll have to add me to the list of people who probably will not to to the Baths on Tortola. While they do look beautiful, I do not think my replacement knees and hips would like climbing over those rocks very much. I think you did mention some people who swam in from a boat. That might be something I would try, since I swim better than I walk, especially on uneven rocks.

 

I hope you decide to cruise on the Escape. I don't even care about which itinerary you choose. I just want to hear your take on the ship.

 

I hope he gets his situation worked out with the ears as well. This was really his dream from many years ago. I think "if" Sakari continues and decides she will get certified, I will probably end up having to do it as well. But, I have a year and a half to figure this out I guess.

 

But, I was talking to Kendra yesterday and she was asking me about the PADI Seal class (price, how long, when, what's involved) and I believe she plans on getting Brayden the package for Christmas and having him become a PADI Seal. She said he's been talking a lot about it lately and wants to do it. I did ask Kendra if she would be interested in getting certified and she did say yes. So, maybe Kendra and I will do it with the kids and just leave the boys behind on the beach if that happens. :)

 

Yea, I have read others talk about an excursion that will bring you in by boat and you have to swim in. But then again, to me, that's pretty much just taking an excursion by boat and swimming to a beach. Even though it's at the Bath's, unless you go into the Bath's, I just consider it another beach. If you're not going to go into the Bath's I personally think it would be kinda pointless and defeating the purpose of going there (although I guess you would get to see the huge boulders from the outside). I don't know, it's just something I probably wouldn't do just to go to the beach.

 

Oh Lord, Kim!! You and your reviews!!! You always get me hooked...lol. I knew from your Fascination review that you were going on this Epic cruise. So I came specifically looking for the scuba diving part at Coki in St. Thomas, looking forward to seeing your underwater pictures. I was at Coki this past October and snorkeled as well. I'll be posting my pics soon but yours blow them away. Due to that, my wife now hates you (just kidding!!) because I started an "I want one, I want one, I want one" rant. All because of that TG-4. After my cruise I started looking for a replacement for my old Nikon AW100 camera and your pictures have me convinced that's the one I want. My wife says my Nikon is working perfectly well so I hope one of these days I just doesn't come on at all so I can buy the Olympus.

 

Anyway, thanks for the explanation about how you take your pictures because you saved me a lot of asking questions. I had good lighting for most of my snorkeling but on the deeper parts I had to free dive (with no flippers, mind you) to get close enough to things so that colors and sharpness were acceptable. I also do a bit of color correction using Lightroom but since the AW100 shoots only .jpg, You can't play too much with the pics. By the way, I am surely NOTY leaving my flippers at home on my next cruise. After all the free diving I had to do, I was spent by the time I came out of the water, especially at Sapphire beach in St. Thomas and at Jalouise beach in St. Lucia.

 

Great review, as usual. Even though I'm not sailing on the Epic anytime soon (too bad...I know) I'll be following this one until the end.

 

Oh my gosh, you crack me up about the camera and hoping it won't come on one day. That whole story had me cracking up. :p

 

When you post your pictures of snorkeling at Coki, please give me the link. I would love to see them.

 

So wait, you went to Coki and to Sapphire Beach? All in the same day? By Cruise ship? I would absolutely LOVE to head back to St Lucia and Jalouise beach to scuba dive. That place was absolutely amazing and at least I know they scuba there for sure since we watched them go out and that's where Sakari first decided she would become a scuba diver.

[mitsugirly]

We headed away from the beach and back the exact way we came. My camera had foggylens syndrome going on from the cold water snorkeling I'm sure and not it was hot. We were completely spread out and I think Kendra was on a mission to get there quickly...the reason why? Because it was a little after 1pm and she had to check in for her plane flight tomorrow. Flying with Southwest, you check in 24 hours in advance and if you want a good position, you need to have all your info up and ready to "push da easy button" the minute 24 hours in advance arrives. So, she wanted to hurry and get to Senor Frogs to get wifi so that she could check in. Us....however, we always by the early bird check in and never worry about it. We were dragging way behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was completely out of site by now and as always...we always manage to get stuck with B. I wonder if she even realizes he's not with her.

 

 

 

 

I was staring at McD's like it was foreign and I needed to try it. It felt like ages since I had a hamburger. However, Kendra just had her heart set on Senor Frogs and Spaghetti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[janpo]

Kim, I wish you had spent a little more time on our roll call. NCL did post Nassau excursions for Blue Lagoon and Balmoral about 10 days before we sailed. I posted it as soon as I saw it. I haunted the NCL site for excursions and changes.

 

The MSC Divina looks like the Epic because it was built as the sister ship to Epic but NCL cancelled the order and it was sold to MSC. I happened to catch the technical Q&A as I was walking Headliners one morning.

 

Patti

 

 

Do you know if the bathrooms are the same on the Divina as they Epic?

[mkmaj]

Kim, you have another fan here! Love your reviews! So much that while waiting for new installments, I've gone back to read previous reviews!

I'm an RN in Ohio as well that was in nursing school as an *cough* older student at the exact same time as you - well, it's definitely made me feel like I was right there with you guys!

We are going to Nassau on the Breakaway in March as our first family cruise and have been going back and forth between expensive beach day or Junkanoo and spend the money on fun stuff. What are your thoughts now that you've done both?

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

[mitsugirly]

I think Billy decided him racing to Senor Frogs would not help with the check in process and he started to lag behind and we caught up to him.

 

 

 

Along the way, people on the corner, at the restaurant right before you get to Senor Frogs, was really working hard trying to keep people from going to Senor Frogs. He walked with us and went on and on about how they were so much cheaper there and we would be paying $15 for a drink at Senor Frogs compared to their pricing and we would end up walking out of SF with a $100 drink bill alone. He finally shut up when I said "Well the good news is, we don't drink so I guess I effectively just brought that $100 alcohol bill down to $0 GO ME!" He shut up and walked away.

 

 

 

We seen Kendra walking around frantically and then she disappeared for awhile. I figured she was taking care of business and I started taking pictures of the kids with the frog props.

 

 

 

 

 

All of a sudden, I seen her dart out of SF and she yells, "THERE'S NO WIFI HERE!!!" and she is in a state of panic. She tells me she's going back down the street and around the corner where she seen there was free wifi and she'd be back.

 

I continued to relax, knowing we were going to be checked in by Southwest, and continued taking pictures. We all knew in advance that this issue would arise...(that we would actually be IN port the day that we needed to check in for flights)...but she chose not to buy the early bird check-in.

 

 

 

We waited and waited. She did not return. Billy was getting worried and took off to try to find her. He didn't like the idea of her being out there by herself.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

It seemed like quite some time had went by and now we had 2 people missing. I was starting to get worried myself, but my worries were about being able to actually sit down and be served, eat, and have enough time to get back to the ship in time. I remember the last time we went to a Senor Frogs the wait was forever. If that happened again, it would make us late.

 

 

 

People are coming and going and the main street was busy. I really didn't feel like having to sprint to the ship that day. The thought of being a pier runner just does not appeal to me.

 

 

 

The waitress at the check-in counter outside ask if we were going to be seated. I told her we were waiting on the rest of our party. She let me know that Kendra had already checked in with her and got a table for 8 and the table was ready.

 

I made the executive decision to go ahead and go inside and sit down, hoping our 2 lost people returned. Kendra likes to work my nerves, that's for sure.

 

When you go inside, you actually walk along the water on a deck that hangs out above the water. I kept thinking "This is cool with a nice view", then we made a left and turned inside and I thought my ears were going to explode. Darnit. We ended up all the way in the back of the place and it was dark and VERY LOUD! I seriously hate going to places to eat where the music is blaring and you can't talk to one another or even hear your brain talking to you. It just annoys me.

 

Brayden was getting worried that his mom and Billy hadn't came back yet. I could tell.

 

 

 

There was a a lot going on there. Music playing, people on the dance floor dancing, announcements, free shots....ugh.

 

 

 

 

 

Still no Kendra. They took our drink order and then returned to take our food order. Well, we are here and this is going to happen, so we might as well order our food and if Kendra and Billy show up, then they can make their own decision if they'll have enough time to order and eat. So order we did.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The ceiling was full of funny sayings. I liked this one because I find it so true for a lot....lol (Dream big or go home right?)

 

"I hope your life someday is as awesome as you pretend it to be on facebook" lol

 

 

 

FINALLY...Kendra rolls in...with Billy. She tells us that she had just found Billy wondering the streets. She had only went around the corner for the wifi and Billy somehow didn't see her and had actually walked all the way back to the beach. Oh my. So they were both lost from each other. But she managed to find him and they were now here and ready to order.

 

 

 

I did ask the waitress how long would it take to get our food once we ordered. She said "no longer than 20 minutes" and I looked at my clock and told the clan that once our food arrived, we were to eat like someone was trying to take our food from us and this was the last bit of food on earth. They agreed and we ordered....

 

 

.....and our food arrived within 10 minutes. That was CRAZY. I have never been served that quickly before. It almost felt quicker than a lot of drive-thru's I go to here at home. Hey, I have a great idea, why don't they hire some of these people to work on the cruise ship in the MDR or O'Sheehans. I totally should have gave them NCL's information to apply.

 

I finally got my cheeseburger and it was loaded with crunchy pig.

 

 

The hubby ordered probably the most difficult food ever. Fajita's and he had to put them together. Didn't you know you can get that on the ship? It may take 2 hours, but you'll get it.

 

It was steaming hot.

 

 

 

We scarfed down our meals (hubby was still working on his) and we were waiting for the bill. I hear a "mom, look at Sakari" and I find her not only on the dance floor, but participating in a game...musical chairs. That girl will do anything I tell ya. Then I hear "Hi, what's your name and where are you from?" and I hear a little voice say "Sakari from Ohio" oh geesh.

 

 

 

Once our bill arrived, I had to pull Sakari away from the game. I'm sure that messed them up somehow and ended up with an extra chair and everyone was winners that round.

 

We headed out of the building and the girls felt it was shopping time. Both Kendra and Courtney wanted to get their daughters back home something and I just wanted to get back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Not a far walk at all, but I didn't know how long it was going to take to get through customs and how many people were going to be standing in line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari did want to stop and get "something"...she just had to have "something". We ended up walking down to the straw market and she would weave in and out of it looking for that special "something" and she was on a mission. I picked up things that I thought she might like and she shook her head no and continued to scan everything very quickly. Then she found a fan that she wanted. We ask the lady how much and Sakari nodded that was her choice. However, when I pulled out my "stash", I was a few dollars short and told her take it or leave it. She was smart with her decision and out we went to continue on our journey to the ship.

 

 

 

They only had one horse and carriage here when we walked by. I'm not sure if they are all dead or all out working. I know how everyone says these horses are so thin and unhealthy looking and this company works these animals to death and they are so abused. I also remember the story of one of them dropping dead in the middle of the street there while working and I have never gotten it out of my head.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Can you tell me what makes you a "certified" hair braider? Like for real? Do you go to college for that? Are you trained by your neighbor? Do you make this up? And what exactly is the purpose of this deck that's a walkway that is built right over the top of the street? That creates LESS room to walk and would have been much smarter to not have that there.

 

 

 

We went through customs and onto the pier. I started to breathe a sigh of relief and had hoped that the kids would make it back in time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's the girls...

 

 

 

I wonder if they are rivals now that Epic can no longer claim to be the biggest ship in the fleet.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Sakari and I absolutely loved the design on the Escape. It has all the animals she (we) love. She would name them all as we passed it.

 

 

NCL was having their typical coming-back-to-the-last-port party

 

/FvnDRp2gWPU

 

 

 

 

They gave Sakari a balloon sword and she was happy.

 

 

 

We made it back to the room and I was happy.

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2016 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

 

 

I would decide to just sit up on the balcony and take pictures until after the sailaway.

 

 

 

There were 2 NCL employees out on the pier and they were taking all kinds of pictures of themselves and both of the ships. They would run up and down, in different spots, and take pictures. I just knew they had to be "newbie" employees of one of the ships and they were so excited about it. At one point, they had to tell them to get back because they were removing the ropes to the Epic to leave.

 

 

 

 

 

I looked down toward the end of the pier and spotted what looked like Kendra and Kolin. I didn't see the rest of them, but I was almost positive that it was them. All aboard time was 3:30pm and it was now 3:45pm.

 

I snapped a picture, but missed them as they walked underneath one of the boats hanging on the side of the ship. I would later confirm that indeed it was them.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

So it has been 2 days and I hadn't received my clothes back from Platinum. I decided to make a call to housekeeping and didn't get an answer. I called guest services and told them what was going on and that I really needed my clothes. When I sent the 2 bags away, I had pretty much sent out everything we had at that point and I really needed some fresh clothes. They said they would track them down and find out what was going on.

 

I headed for a quick shower and when I got out...this had arrived.

 

 

 

Clean and fresh clothes. Although they never have any type of "fresh smell" to them, I love the way they press them. I once took a behind the scenes tour and the laundry room and the way they press clothes was...impressive.

 

 

 

Sailaway was about to occur. The Epic blew her mighty horn and then she had a response from the Escape. They went back and forth for awhile and it was music to my ears.

 

Then we were off. I decided I was going to experiment a little more with my time lapse feature on my camera. I would take several of them as we were pulling out of port. But remember, it only takes a selected few and then stops. So I would have to restart it several times. This is what I ended up with:

 

zhGcvbUCM8Y

 

And another:

 

R_e2tdmLQPA

 

 

I can confirm that I really don't know what I'm doing with the time lapse pictures at this point. I will need to definitely read up on them and how my camera works. I'm not sure if you can go into the settings and determine how often it takes a picture or how many pictures.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

After the shower, and being able to put on some fresh clean clothes, I really didn't feel like starting to pack yet. I really wanted to do a head count of my family to make sure everything and everyone was ok and accounted for.

 

I came up to the pool deck and found the kids in the pool. AND they had the water fountains on at the pool. Amazing! They had only turned them on one other time (for about 10 minutes) that I had noticed during the entire cruise (of course they could have turned them on when I wasn't up there, but we did spend a lot of time at the pool bar hanging out).

 

 

 

Ok... one, two, three, four, five...yep, they are all here. Whew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They looked like they were all having a good time, but honestly, it was starting to get a little windy (being back out to sea) and a little more chillier. I decided I would pass on the swimming and just hang out and drink and take pictures.

 

 

 

 

Then a splash fight broke out...leave it to my kids and I can almost guarantee that Kolin started it, but I think they were getting the best of him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Yep, they were definitely getting the best of him.

 

 

 

You might all be wondering where Sakari is? Well, she had decided that she had enough of this adulting thing and she wanted some kid time and headed to the kids club.

 

 

 

Notice how they have already turned off the fountains? They sure don't stay on long. You will also see the guy still standing up at the steps and keeping an eye out on everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a beautiful sunset that night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Laszlo]

Hey Kim

If your using an iPhone it has a pretty good time lapse feature. Here is a link to one of mine. I need to upload a few more

 

 

https://vimeo.com/133282301

[Laszlo]

Here's a few more. I used a suction cup mount on the balcony sliding door

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtvqUirC2AA

 

In Costa Maya.....hand held https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEe0K8nRT40

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

At this point, I honestly don't remember what happened. I think the kids got out of the pool, showered, and then we headed to the casino for a little bit to try our luck for the last time and then cash in our winnings if we had any.

 

I think I would walk away cashing in a little over $200, but this time around, those winnings would not actually be winnings, but merely money that I had won earlier in the cruise and cashed out and held on to the tickets so that if I lost money, I would still have money left. So, basically it was money that I had brought with me to play and then ended up winning back and kept it until the end.

 

The kids informed me that they had thrown all of their things in the luggage when they went back to shower and was done packing. SAY WUT! Why does it take me so long to pack then? Did they actually live out of their suitcase and not put all their things away? I don't get it. It takes me forever to pack.

 

So, I decided I should probably head back and get a majority of it done now, before it got too late.

 

While I was packing, I noticed the beautiful moon shining outside by window and I went to the balcony. I would see another ship out there sailing and also a bunch of lights. I don't know what island we were passing.

 

 

 

 

Once I got a majority of the packing done, we headed to go pick up the munchkin so that she could get a bite to eat before heading back to the kids club because tonight was their farewell pajama party. Sakari doesn't wear pj's, she's lucky to wear anything. She hates clothes and always has. The minute she comes into the house, she's stripping down to the undies. I have been working diligently to try to break her of this habit and telling her that no one is supposed to see her tata's and so on. She's gotten a little better, unless it's just us at home. So...point of the story is that I have to go out and buy her ONE pj outfit solely for CRUISING and the pj party. Isn't that crazy? Every time she outgrows it, I have to buy another...only for cruising and only for that 1 night and party. Sigh

 

 

 

Us girls would head to the photo place and buy our pictures and get our "free" goodies for purchasing 10 pictures for $149, only since I'm Platinum, I get them for (I think it was) for $119.

 

USB they give you:

 

 

 

And I also got a photo frame as well (sorry, no picture and I believe it's packed away with all my cruise junk now).

 

I feel like NCL doesn't give you half the stuff that Carnival does but oh well.