Live from 12/23 Riviera “Alluring Caribbean”

[Robjame]

Perspective is so difficult with a camera

 

[MIARube]

On 12/27/2022 at 8:26 AM, Robjame said:

Blurry picture is Jacques Pepin - true gentleman. Answered questions. I wanted to ask - Jacques is arguably the most popular specialty dining room. Why were you ditched from Vista and replaced with an American fast-food diner?

 

 

 

 

 

Is there really going to be a fast-food diner on the Vista? I must have missed that. Is it replacing Waves? 

[Aloha 1]

24 minutes ago, MIARube said:

Is there really going to be a fast-food diner on the Vista? I must have missed that. Is it replacing Waves? 

Embers on Vista replaces Jacques. Just standard American food.

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, Acrusa said:

Jacque Pepin was executive chef of Howard Johnson's so maybe he will assist with the menu for the American fast food diner 

If this means that HoJo's fried clam strips  are going to be on the Vista's menu, I'm booking a couple of cruises ASAP.  😂

[ToxM]

Beautiful day in Dominica. We nabbed a taxi driver for a tour around the island, significantly cheaper and more personal than an O tour then back to the ship to an almost empty pool deck as lots of tours were still out, Chicken Biryani for lunch and a few floats around the pool. Weather is glorious. What a shame for Dominica it is not as accessible as other islands as it would be an amazing place for a land based holiday. 

 

No idea where we are tomorrow, and I suppose that is the sign of a good trip!

 

This is a good trip. 

[Kate-AHF]

3 hours ago, njhorseman said:

If this means that HoJo's fried clam strips  are going to be on the Vista's menu, I'm booking a couple of cruises ASAP.  😂

That and their chili-cheese dog.  I have whiplash from the 50 year trip backward in the wayback machine.  But it was good trip.  Thank you.

[Robjame]

Tomorrow

 

St Georges Grenada

[Jim and Monika]

We like going to the Nutmeg Restaurant for Rum Punch.

We will be boarding on January 4th, still need to figure out how to get to Miami. All these Southwest cancellations have us worried...

[Domnul Paul]

Jim and Monika, We are worried too (in Annapolis).  BWI-MIA afternoon flights today and yesterday seem to be operating (according to the BWI website) although many others are canceled.  We have reservations Monday Jan 2 at 2:30pm.  If that flight is canceled we'll try other airlines or drive (!) to Miami with less than 48 hours to spare.  Still hoping Southwest gets itself together enough on Monday to get us where we need to be by Wednesday.  If they cancel the Monday flight, we'll still try somehow but....    

[LGW59]

8 minutes ago, Domnul Paul said:

Jim and Monika, We are worried too (in Annapolis).  BWI-MIA afternoon flights today and yesterday seem to be operating (according to the BWI website) although many others are canceled.  We have reservations Monday Jan 2 at 2:30pm.  If that flight is canceled we'll try other airlines or drive (!) to Miami with less than 48 hours to spare.  Still hoping Southwest gets itself together enough on Monday to get us where we need to be by Wednesday.  If they cancel the Monday flight, we'll still try somehow but....    

Last I heard on the evening news tonight, they say they have at least 2-3 more days of this non-sense they have caused.  I'd definitely be making contingency plans. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

59 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Last I heard on the evening news tonight, they say they have at least 2-3 more days of this non-sense they have caused.  I'd definitely be making contingency plans. 

Their president or CEO is trying everything they can to upgrade the computer system.  Unfortunately, Radio Shack no longer makes TRS-80 computers!  🤣

[Acrusa]

2 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Their president or CEO is trying everything they can to upgrade the computer system.  Unfortunately, Radio Shack no longer makes TRS-80 computers!  🤣

I think there from Crazy Eddies 

[shepherd really]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Their president or CEO is trying everything they can to upgrade the computer system.  Unfortunately, Radio Shack no longer makes TRS-80 computers!  🤣

The Commodore 64's they currently use are real workhorses.   

[Robjame]

This changes my understanding:

When we boarded we were give this certificate, name on the top. We asked if we were still eligible for the 20% off as we had taken OLife Beverage and were upgrading to Prestige. (`all along I had believed NO, have to purchase House Select.)

‘We were told yes we get the 20% too. As we had purchased our La Reserve in advance, we asked if that was adjustable. NO - only on purchases after the upgrade.

 

Couple of lessons here.

 

[Robjame]

Things different (for us) on Riviera.

- gong is gone from Red Ginger

- Bouillabaisse in Jacques improved with additional seafood

- expanded room service menu has some nice choices - you can go off it for certain items - even steerage

- charges for wine events only apply if you show up - no penalty if you miss a booked event

- expanded breakfast room service menu including hot items

 

[Robjame]

Today we are in Barbados 8 - 5

we are at the far end of a narrow pier. Buses come to the ship, manoeuvre a 180 turn and pick up passengers who are waiting in a long line - tedious and slow. 10 am and the line is still long.  
 

[pinotlover]

The passengers can’t walk to the end of the pier and break up the bottle necks??

[Robjame]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

The passengers can’t walk to the end of the pier and break up the bottle necks??

Three ships in front of us.

[LHT28]

We just  walked  

it was too much to wait for the bus  then it would be full in no time

 

If you like chocolate  try to find the Agapey shop  on Hincks  St  they may have some in the terminal  at the port

[LHT28]

7 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

The passengers can’t walk to the end of the pier and break up the bottle necks??

remember  all O pax  are old & feeble  except  for you & a few others 🤔

[MEFIowa]

9 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

The passengers can’t walk to the end of the pier and break up the bottle necks??

Though anyone who wants the "royal treatment" waits until near the last minute to return to the ship. Seems like most O cruises who go into ports return at least an hour before scheduled departure. But if you wait till near the end, they'll likely have a bus or jeep or golf cart or something where the tourist area meets the pier/terminal. I made sure to be the last person back for 4 ports in a row while on Sirena last month. At Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, for example, the terminal manager was in a large golf-cart like conveyance at the end of the pier to drive me to the ship. When he saw me he said, "They're waiting for you. Hop on."

[Riverroad]

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

Though anyone who wants the "royal treatment" waits until near the last minute to return to the ship. Seems like most O cruises who go into ports return at least an hour before scheduled departure. But if you wait till near the end, they'll likely have a bus or jeep or golf cart or something where the tourist area meets the pier/terminal. I made sure to be the last person back for 4 ports in a row while on Sirena last month. At Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, for example, the terminal manager was in a large golf-cart like conveyance at the end of the pier to drive me to the ship. When he saw me he said, "They're waiting for you. Hop on."

What did you do in Puerto Plata? We will be there on Riviera in March and looking for excursion ideas.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

 At Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, for example, the terminal manager was in a large golf-cart like conveyance at the end of the pier to drive me to the ship. When he saw me he said, "They're waiting for you. Hop on."

I would not keep bragging about  how inconsiderate you are

Some day you might  be in for  a big surprise

JMO

[MEFIowa]

5 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I would not keep bragging about how inconsiderate you are

Some day you might be in for a big surprise

There is NOTHING inconsiderate FULLY COMPLYING with a schedule that says, "Departure at 5 pm. Be back to the ship by 4:30 pm."

 

So, IF I'm back right at 4:30 pm, I'm following the schedule. NOT my fault if either the captain or some of the passengers want to pull out of port earlier. IF the captain really wanted to, he'd require an earlier departure time!

 

And my desire for port time was amplified because we were forced to skip St. Kitts and drop some passenger off at Puerto Plata on the way down. The 4 hours it took us to maneuver the ship and get our tender boat into the water, there and back.

 

As for "inconsiderate", I wonder why this passenger had to leave and whether s/he should've been travelling at all. I'll never know. And I hope they're fine. But we had to stop off at Key West in 12/21 on Riviera to pass off to the Coast Guard an elderly man, who looked like Boris Karloff in Plan 9 From Outer Space. He didn't look like he should be cruising at all. How "inconsiderate" of him? So, I'm 2 for 2 with medical emergencies forcing unscheduled stops on two small ships neither of which had more than 719 passengers each. IF O ever creates a class of ships with say 2,000 passengers would there be 2 or 3 unscheduled stops most cruises?

[MEFIowa]

38 minutes ago, Riverroad said:

What did you do in Puerto Plata? We will be there on Riviera in March and looking for excursion ideas.

Fell in love with the town and the nearby mountain. Which has the ONLY cable car in the Caribbean. Wife used Viator to find an excursion that showed us around the city (e.g., the umbrella street, the "pink street", the cathedral, etc.) and then drove us up the mountain. At the top is a national park with spectacular views. AND the Brazilian government gave them a half-replica of the famous Jesus statue outside of Rio and the cable car in 1974. We took the cable car down the mountain. Was spectacular watching the clouds come in as we waited and then cover us before quickly dissipating by the time we descended. And the views from the cable car going down were fantastic! Try to count all the baseball fields you'll see. This was an AM excursion. We did lunch back on Sirena and then I spent the rest of the day wandering around the city by myself till 1630.

 

My only disappointment, the rum is only 75 proof and everyone charges the same price, even deep in the barrios where no tourists (but me) went. I did find a 350 ml bottle for $7 less 20% in one tourist shop that was actually less expensive than the $7 per same bottle in the small barrio shops.