My Back To Back Spirit Vacation Diary

[AnneNchris]

I had tears in my eyes reading the birthday story. Let me guess, another cruise? To where? I am so excited and it's not even mine.

 

I agree...I can not wait to find out what you got her...I mean my first guess is another cruise...but where...when...soon....the excitment is so much fun...also...I think you should spend some time with my husband, LOL....I will be checking back like crazy...I must be honest...I am finding myself sad that we are getting towards the end of the cruise...this has been better then reading a book...cant wait:):)

[Lotteryfan]

Day Twelve, Thursday May 10 (Still) As you may recall, I had presented Cyrella with an envelope for her birthday. Inside the envelope was a handwritten message telling her that I had gotten her a birthday present and then hinted to her what it was. Well, it didn’t take long for her to guess what it was, or for some of you to guess also. Yes, I had booked another cruise and surprised her with it for her birthday. She was so happy and almost cried when she figured out the gift. She then said she didn’t want to go home now. I told her I didn’t want to go home now either but at least we had another cruise to look forward to.

At first Cyrella thought we were going back on the Norwegian Spirit but I told her it was on another ship. Then she thought it was on the Norwegian Dawn but I told her that it wasn’t on the Dawn either. Then she looked puzzled because she really didn’t know of any of the other ships that NCL had. I told her that we would be sailing on the Norwegian Crown.

I explained to Cyrella that the ship would be leaving from New York on Sunday, October 28, and that we would be sailing to Bermuda. (Does anyone want to join us?) I said the ship will arrive in Bermuda on Tuesday and spend the day in St. George, before moving to Hamilton for the next three days and then sail home. I reminded her that we had seen one of the smaller Royal Caribbean ships docked in Hamilton when we were there earlier in the week and that was where we were going to dock for several days. I told her we would be able to get on and off the ship as many times as we would like to check out the sights and go shopping. She was very happy. I had been collecting brochures and travel guides whenever I saw them while we were in Bermuda so I would be able to figure out what there is to do on our own. I know that she would want to spend more time at the aquarium/zoo/museum and the caves than we were able to on this trip.

I told Cyrella that it would be the last sailing of the Norwegian Crown under the NCL flag because it was being sold to another cruise line and that I wanted to experience this ship before it left. I also explained to her that the Norwegian Crown was an older ship and much smaller than the Spirit. I told her that there weren’t any balconies so we had to take a picture-window room, although we could still get another upsell to a suite if we are lucky again. She was very happy with this surprise.

Now a little background on how I booked the Norwegian Crown cruise: Our first trip on the Norwegian Spirit occurred in April of last year and was a surprise present for her. The cruise that we were currently on was also a surprise cruise. So I figured, why not surprise her again with another cruise?

I tend to do a lot of research when I want to purchase something big. I always want to get the best value for my money. Cruising is no different. I spent hundreds of hours getting price quotes for the cruise that we were currently on from dozens of travel agents and travel web sites before settling on the one particular travel agent that got me the best price. She was very generous in taking off a lot of her commission in order to make the sale so I figured I would like to give her the opportunity to make another sale on me. As a businessman, I treat my customers with respect. As a customer, I want to be treated with respect also and I found a travel agent that understood this in her actions.

It was back on February 28 when I got the idea to surprise my wife with another cruise. This was the last day that NCL was having their double onboard credit deal so I wanted to book before I lost out on this deal. I telephoned her but the telephone sent me straight to voicemail. I didn’t want to leave a message because I didn’t want her to call me back and possibly ruin this surprise for Cyrella. I waited a half hour and then called back with the telephone sending me to voicemail once again. I hung up and tried a different approach.

I emailed her at 4:35pm, reminding her who I was, and explaining my desire to possibly book the Norwegian Crown for October 28. I told her that I was thinking of presenting my wife with this new cruise for her birthday, as we were heading home on the back to back cruise. I then sat by the computer and waited for a response. Unfortunately, it took a very long time for her to respond. I had to keep Cyrella away from the computer all day in order to see this thing through. The travel agent finally emailed me back at 9:09pm and apologized, telling me that she had been swamped all day with people trying to get in on the NCL special before it expired at midnight. She then quoted me several prices and told me she hoped that she wasn’t too late. By 9:20pm I had emailed back, telling her which category and price I wanted, along with my credit card number and our latitude numbers. By 10:02 she responded with my confirmation number and cabin number. I printed out all these emails and presented them to Cyrella after she learned that she had gotten a cruise for her birthday.

By now it was getting close to 9:30 and we had an appointment at Cagney’s. Our first course was the shrimp cocktail but since I don’t eat that, my wife had both of them. Then came the soup and salad which was followed by the T-bone steak that we ordered. We even had two desserts each. All Cyrella talked about at dinner was the new cruise. She even mentioned something to the waiter about it, and then the busboy about it, and then the people at the next table, and then the hostess that had seated us as she asked whether we enjoyed the dinner. Yep, Cyrella was definitely happy. The depression of heading home was masked by the delight that we would be cruising again.

After eating we walked around the outside of the ship for a while and enjoyed the warm sea air. Since we were up at midnight when this birthday began, we wanted to stay up until midnight to watch it end. It was still somewhat early at 11:30pm when we decided to see what “White Night with the NCL Dancers” in Maharini’s nightclub was, as listed in the freestyle Daily at 11:45pm. While waiting for the festivities to begin, we saw Ray-Ray, the assistant cruise director. Cyrella mentioned to him that it was her birthday and that I had given her a cruise on the Norwegian Crown. His eyes lit up and said that it was his favorite ship, having worked on it for two years. He told us not to look for any “glitz or glamour” because it was an older ship but that the advantage of the ship was that it was small enough that you could actually get to know everyone by the time the cruise was over. Actually, with Cyrella, it didn’t matter how big the ship was. Everyone knew her, and me for that matter.

The “White Night” thing in the nightclub was the NCL Production Company staff wearing white outfits and having the guests play musical chairs or something like it. When midnight came, we realized that the birthday was over and we retired to the room. We still had two more full days to enjoy before heading back to our normal lives.

[cruisingfromMN]

Now I have two favorite cruise review writers... Lotteryfan and Coka. Thanks Lotteryfan! I can't wait for more.

[rfendt]

This is terrific! I am truly enjoying this like a good book!! I don't want to put it down! I'm working on my husband tho to try to get him to read this review from the very beginning of the thread---------> maybe give him some ideas!! ;) :D

[fin]

I also made the transition from the Dawn to the Crown, and was happy with both. It should be a fine way to see Bermuda.

 

Thank you for your very candid trip account. It made for interesting reading.

[AnneNchris]

WOW...this has been the best review!!!!!!

[kdg51]

Lotteryfan...loved your story but now it's time to get some answers or suggestions. We are usually on a spring repositioning in April but I guess they were a bit shorthanded at work this year (we both work for the same company-one person offices in different locations) so we can't criuse until May in 2008. Did you get your special pricing for the b2b through NCL or your TA? We have an online company we have used for many years and our TA there has always given us a great price so I hate to change. We are spoiled now and a 6 or 7 day cruise is not enough! We love ending our cruise in Boston, not far from home but the Majesty did not do a repo cruise this year and it's not even scheduled to be in Boston in 2008. This year we were on the Pearl repo. Enjoyed our cruise, loved the ship but the flight back from LAX was tough and we had a long delay in Baltimore so close is better for our next cruise. NY might be the answer? :confused:

[CruiseNurseBabe82]

I love your reviews and look forward to every day. I told my boyfrind how much I love them and he said maybe I should marry you, I told him you are already married (Plus I am trying to hitch him on to my boat).

[maurick]

Hi Arthur

 

Great review! Was so sorry to see it end.

 

We are looking forward to our fall cruise on the Crown too.

 

Rick and I will be starting to sell cruises from home now pt. Something we always wanted to do

 

Hi to Cyrella and hope to keep seeing you here on the boards

 

Maureen

[Lotteryfan]

Day Thirteen, Friday, May 11: It was the first of two consecutive sea days on the way home so we took our time in getting up this morning. There was a “Triple Raffle Bingo” session scheduled for 10:45am in which participants would get triple the number of raffle tickets than usual for the free cruise giveaway that would be held the next day. I wanted to play but by the time we had gotten out of bed my priority was breakfast.

I knew I had gained weight on this trip as my favorite pair of pants was a lot tighter this morning than they were when the trip first began. We had a scale in the bathroom of the suite but I was not going to get on it. On the other hand, Cyrella gave out an angry scream when she went into the bathroom this morning. I called out, wanting to know what the problem was. Apparently she had gotten on the scale and discovered she had gained two pounds since the beginning of the vacation. I told her she was lucky that she gained just two pounds because I knew that I had gained more than that. She wouldn’t believe the scale and tried to reason with me as if I was the scale. “The scale is wrong….I did not gain two pounds…How can the scale give an accurate reading when we’re floating on water…With all the dancing I’ve been doing, how can I gain two pounds…the scale is wrong!” Yeah, whatever. I never did get to that bingo session as I spent the better part of an hour trying to calm Cyrella.

Breakfast was in Raffles this morning and Cyrella ate like a bird. I still ate like a pig. I figured I’ll worry about my weight when I get home.

At 11:45am there was something listed in the Freestyle Daily as “Behind the scenes digital presentation with Darin” in the Stardust Theatre. I wanted to check it out. The presentation was a slide show of different areas of the ship that we aren’t allowed to visit, along with many interesting and fun facts. Going over my video of this presentation, here are some facts:

The Norwegian Spirit Contains:

1,200 television sets

1,800 toilets

6,000 sprinkler heads

40,000 light fixtures

5,600 life jackets

10,000 main course dishes

42,000 glasses

1,843 dining chairs

On a 7 day cruise, the passengers and crew of the Norwegian Spirit consume, on average:

3,000 pounds of cheese

95,000 eggs

22,000 pounds of vegetables

4,500 gallons of milk

1,000 pounds of coffee

25,000 teabags

6,000 pounds of rice

1,200 pounds of pasta

4,500 containers of yogurt

13,000 pounds of potatoes

14,000 pounds of beef

10,000 pounds of poultry

16,000 pounds of fish and seafood

Alcohol consumption on an average seven day cruise:

28,080 bottles of beer

697 bottles of champagne

3,798 bottles of wine

397 liters of rum

349 liters of vodka

51 liters of scotch

49 liters of gin

After the slideshow, the captain was introduced and he took questions from the audience. He tried to be funny with some of his answers. I am paraphrasing the questions and answers but they are based on the video that I had taken:

Question: What is the worst storm that you went through?

Answer: About a month ago. 100 mile per hour winds and 25 foot waves

Question: How long did that storm last?

Answer: About 36 hours. Seven people got off at Port Canaveral and went home.

Question: How safe is the ship?

Answer: This is the safest ship in the NCL fleet because I cannot swim.

Question: How far can you see into the horizon?

Answer: About 20 nautical miles

Question: Will the storm that just formed off Florida affect us?

Answer: Don’t worry. Be happy.

Question: What does the M.S. stand for in the M.S. Norwegian Spirit?

Answer: My Ship.

Question: Is it possible to build a faster ship so that we could get to the Caribbean in one day instead of two.

Answer: Yes, but you would pay a much higher ticket price.

Question: How much does it cost to build a ship?

Answer: About 500 million and some change.

Question: How much does NCL take in on a cruise like this?

Answer: Not enough.

Question: Every time I go down to the Bridge I never see anybody down there. Is the ship on auto pilot?

Answer: My mother takes care of the ship….she’s very short…I trust her.

Question: How do you get the sea water into the pool?

Answer: A lot of buckets.

Question: At the end of every port, I hear passenger’s names called. Have you left anyone behind?

Answer: Not on this cruise.

Question: When was the last time you had a man overboard?

Answer: Never.

This entire session lasted about an hour and I really enjoyed it.

Next up: the afternoon’s activities.

[lostie]

OMG 28,000 bottles of beer AND 95,000 eggs! :eek:

[Seago2]

Lotteryfan, I am just loving your reviews. These are truly excellent. Your wife is involved with everything but you are truly the dark horse!

[Lotteryfan]

Day Fourteen, Saturday, May 12: Our last full day on the ship. We awoke early to participate in the last arts and crafts session. This time it was ‘beaded bandanas” in Champagne Charlies at 9:45am. Melinda, from the cruise ship staff, gave out bandanas to the people who showed up and explained how to put the beads onto the part of the bandana that had already been shredded. Cyrella was having fun doing this and agonized over the different colors that she would put on each strand on the bandana. For 30 minutes I sat bored, watching her as she worked on her bandana. Meanwhile, I was hungry and wanted to get to Raffles before they covered up the food.

How did I get her away from the arts and crafts session and into Raffles? I told her the “Street Bazaar” was happening at 10:45am. That was when the ship had tables of hats, pocketbooks, watches and the like at $10.00 each with one free when you buy five. The previous week Cyrella had gotten a lot of stuff. She grabbed a bunch of beads and said she would finish the bandana later and that we should eat breakfast now so that she could attend the bazaar. Sometimes I’m so smart.

After breakfast she went to the bazaar and I went to the “Free Cruise Bingo” session in the Galaxy. This was when they would draw one raffle ticket and the person holding the other half of the raffle ticket would win a cruise. This session is usually the most heavily attended and because of this, the prices to play here are always a lot higher than in any other session. It would be $120 to play on the power handset but you had over 100 chances to win every game. As I had done the previous week, I did not play but waited to see if I could win the free cruise. Of course I didn’t. Once the free cruise winner was announced, the showroom emptied out and Cyrella continued to work on her beaded bandana.

Sometimes there is a little playful banter going on between the cruise ship staff in an effort to lighten up the mood. During this session Ray-Ray, the assistant cruise director, and Que (pronounced Q) from the cruise ship staff, started telling us stories which the crowd found amusing. Ray-Ray told us the story of how a woman came onto the ship and was very angry. She called the reception desk to complain that she was promised a cabin with an ocean view but that she did not have one. When the receptionist asked for the woman’s cabin number it was revealed that the passenger did have a cabin with a view. However, the passenger wanted her money back because the only view she had was of the terminal and parking lot. Then Que said he once had a passenger come up to him and ask him what religion those people were who wore the patches behind their ears. Ray-Ray countered that Que should have told him, “seasickiens.” Then Que told us the dumbest question he ever heard was, “why are there so many American flags in Hawaii?” Apparently this person didn’t know that Hawaii was part of the U.S. Then Ray-Ray talked about a nude cruise that he was on. He said that although the passengers were nude, the cruise ship staff stayed clothed. He used to go around to everyone and say, “hey, what’s up?” He said the most popular game on that cruise was ‘ring toss’.

Most of the early afternoon was spent enjoying the warm and sunny weather. I spent a little time by the pool, listening to Caribbean Plus doing their usual gig and I also spent some time on one of the beach chairs outside on the seventh deck. Out in the distance I saw a Carnival cruise ship heading in the opposite direction. I didn’t know where they were coming from or where they were going but it was interesting to see another cruise ship out in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, Cyrella was showing off all the items she had bought at the bazaar to anyone who seemed remotely interested. Maybe I’m not so smart.

At 4:30pm Cyrella and I went to the final bingo session; the jackpot session. In each of the previous bingo sessions on the trip, there was an opportunity to win a ‘jackpot’ if you covered all your squares within a certain number of balls called during the last game. However, you never knew what the jackpot amount was because it was based on a system where a certain percentage of all monies taken went toward the jackpot, much like a state lottery does. The more money taken in over the course of the cruise, the higher the jackpot was. Since no one on this trip was able to win the jackpot it would be given to the first person or people, to cover their entire card in the fourth game no matter how many balls it took to do this.

This game was even more expensive than the one played earlier in the day at the “Free Cruise Bingo” session. If you went for ‘the full meal deal’ here, it would cost you $140 for the power handset but it had 144 games in it, the most of any session. I tried to get an idea how much the jackpot was because if it was something like $10,000 or $100,000 it would be worth it in my opinion. If the jackpot was $500, it wouldn’t be worth it. I spoke with Dave, one of the cruise ship staff, and complained that the exact amount of the jackpot had never been disclosed. He said they don’t know until the winner is announced and then the computer tells them what the jackpot is. Can you imagine if your state lottery pulled this? “Play the lottery and if you win the jackpot, we’ll tell you what you won later.” Dave said that the average jackpot is over $2,000. Since it was the last bingo session, I decided to go for it all.

In each session, the cruise ship staff asks for a volunteer to look at their bingo balls to confirm that all 75 balls are present. They call this person their ‘bingo commissioner’. If there are any problems during the game the bingo commissioner is called up to make a decision. Before they could even ask for a volunteer Cyrella ran up to the podium and said she wanted to be the bingo commissioner. She verified that all 75 balls were present and then was handed a bingo ball key chain.

As the first game began Cyrella took out a sleeve of chocolate mint Girl Scout cookies that she had brought with her on the cruise. How it managed to survive the entire two weeks, I’ll never know. Usually members of the cruise ship staff are stationed around the room so when Dave sat down next to Cyrella she offered him one of her cookies. He liked it and was offered another. He admitted that they usually don’t get the opportunity to eat any cookies and thanked her. Then Dave teased Vaughn, who was calling the numbers, that he was eating Girl Scout cookies and he couldn’t have one. Eventually, Vaughn gave up calling the bingo numbers and handed over the announcing to Luz. Vaughn immediately sat next to Cyrella, who gave him several cookies. Then Vaughn joked to Dave that he had gotten cookies also in which Luz asked to save her some also. Meanwhile the people at the next table remarked that next time Cyrella had to bring enough cookies for everyone, just like it was suppose to be in school so she gave them cookies also. The entire bingo session was being taken over by Cyrella and her Girl Scout cookies.

Soon it was time for the last game and the big jackpot. After the first two dozen numbers were called I felt like I had a pretty good card. After the third dozen numbers were called and the fourth dozen numbers called I was doing very well. There was a moment when Luz asked who needed six numbers, and a lot of people raised their hands. Then she asked who needed five numbers and fewer people raised their hands and then four numbers and even fewer raised their hands. I needed only two numbers and could feel my heart pounding. Vaughn asked me how many numbers I needed but I didn’t want to tell him for fear of jinxing me.

After a few more numbers were called, Luz again wanted to know who was four numbers away and then three numbers away. I was still two numbers away but she didn’t ask so I had no idea if anyone else was close to me. After the next number was called I had it. I told Cyrella to stand for me because we now needed only one number. Vaughn saw this and wanted to know what number I needed. By now I wanted all the praying I could get so I said I needed N31.

The next number wasn’t mine but two other people stood up. The number after that wasn’t mine either and a few more people stood up. The number after that was an “N” and after a big hesitation 34 was called. Damn. Not mine. No one yelled bingo so I still had a chance. The number after that was another “N” and after another big hesitation 39 was called. Unfortunately someone yelled bingo. The exact amount of the jackpot was $2,643.

The people who won were the people at the next table who told Cyrella that she had to bring enough cookies for everyone next time. After they won the jackpot I jokingly told them that they had to share their jackpot with everyone in the room just like it was suppose to be done in school.

Next Up: The final night.

[lostie]

Bummer that you didn't win and that your story is almost over:(:(

[AnneNchris]

I really want to thank you for taking the time out to do this...it has been so terrific:):) Oh...and I was hoping you won the jackpot...I was totally bummed when you didnt...

[Lotteryfan]

Day Fourteen, Saturday, May 12:

It was late afternoon and I decided to go to the casino one last time. Although I had gone several times during the first part of the cruise I hadn’t gone during the second part of the cruise. As a veteran of Las Vegas, having gone too many times to keep track, I have a routine which allows me to think I won even when I don’t. The slot machines nowadays have those coin-less, bill-less devices so that when you cash out you are given a receipt, or voucher. You can take that receipt and put it into another slot machine or you can cash it. In Vegas I usually collect those receipts and then cash them all on the last night of my vacation. This way I go home with some money even though I may have gone to the ATM machine on several occasions. At least when I get home I can go to the bank and make a deposit as if I had won.

The information on the front of the receipts given out in the Spirit casino said that the tickets must be cashed within 21 days or they will expire. I figured that wasn’t a problem and then started to collect them every time I played a little. On this last day on the cruise I attempted to put all the tickets into a slot machine so that I could combine the total and bring one ticket up to the cage to collect rather than the six or seven that I had. For some reason the first slot machine I attempted to put one of these receipts in rejected the ticket and spit it back out. I put in a second ticket and had the same problem. Then a third ticket with the same result before moving to another slot machine. Again the slot machine would not accept the receipts. Now, all but one of the receipts was for $5.00 or less but I did have one for $180.00 after hitting a Wheel of Fortune Machine for $100.00. I looked at the back of the tickets and in the fine print it read that all tickets had to be cashed before the end of the cruise. This contradicted what was written on the front.

Well, my cruise wasn’t over so I went to the casino cage to collect. When the attendant scanned my tickets he was told they were not valid so I asked for a manager. When the manager came over she scanned the tickets and tried to tell me the same thing. She explained that the tickets were from the previous cruise and that they were now invalid. I then explained that I had been on the previous cruise and that, technically, I was still on that cruise since I had never gotten off the ship. I showed her my room key card and my driver’s license and then she went to make a telephone call. A few minutes later she came back and apologized and cashed in most of my tickets. I say, most, because there were a couple of tickets valued at two cents, four cents, and five cents that I was too embarrassed to cash. I know these are collector’s items so if anyone here collects these kinds of slot machine vouchers please let me know and I will send them to you.

There were two big events planned for this night. Traditionally, the main show of the evening was performed twice every night. On this last night there would be two different shows performed in the Stardust Theatre. First, at 7:30, it was the cruise staff show. This was when members of the cruise staff could display their singing, and dancing talents.

This particular show opened a little different than the show we had seen the week before on the earlier cruise. First there were the finals of a Nintendo Wii virtual reality boxing game. Throughout the cruise passengers were encouraged to play this system, one of today’s most popular electronic games. Somehow there was a boxing tournament and the winner would have to ‘box’ Darin, the cruise ship director, for the championship. A small boxing-like ring was set up in the front of the Stardust Theatre. The ‘champion’ Darin and the challenging passenger had joystick-like items in their hands so when they moved their right hand, the boxer on the screen in front of them would move their right hand. Same went for the left hand. After the instructions were read to the audience, in which we learned it was a best two out of three match, the challenging passenger was able to knock out Darin’s screen image less than a minute after the game began. The audience in the theatre seemed to be rooting for the passenger. The second match lasted a little longer with the challenger defeating Darin again. There would be a new champion crowned tonight. That is until the next cruise when Darin would probably be introduced as the champion again. It was exciting to watch this game but the bottom line was NCL was probably given this game for free so that they could promote it and encourage us to go out and buy it. I wouldn’t however. I got better things to do with my time like spend hours a day recapping a vacation that was over almost two weeks ago on a message board that only a small percentage of the earth’s population even know about … but I digress.

A few minutes later everything was cleared away for the start of the cruise staff show. However, before it began we were treated to yet another mini-show. Apparently NCL has some kind of passenger talent show that they call “Spirit Idol”. And just like the original “American Idol” television show, (Yea, Jordin) every passenger is encouraged to perform and possibly get an NCL contract to sing on one of their ships. There were three men on this cruise that had good voices and they were each called to the stage to sing one song. Each of the men had different styles and each were very good and very brave for getting up in front of a theatre that was packed with people for the last night.

After the three men performed individually, it was time for the cruise ship staff show. Unfortunately, it was the same exact show that we had seen a week earlier. We had been hoping for an additional act to be inserted but there wasn’t. Once again, “Fountains” tore down the house. Despite seeing this before, Cyrella still laughed as hard as she did when she first saw it.

It was about 8:45 and the next, different show, in the Stardust Theatre would be held at 9:30. That show was a combination of the singer that we hadn’t seen earlier, Steve Teague, and the juggling duo of Sharkbait. We had debated staying in our seats and waiting for this show to begin, or even moving up closer and waiting for the show to begin but we decided to go outside on the seventh deck and take in the night air. It was cool and you could tell we were getting closer to New York.

After a while we went back to the theatre and saw Steve Teague. He was some kind of tenor or something and he sang some Broadway shows. While he had a great voice if you were into voices like that, we weren’t interested and couldn’t wait for Sharkbait to take the stage. When the guys from Sharkbait came on stage they entered to loud music and it didn’t take long for them to get the audience involved. They did some new shtick that we hadn’t seen yet, including encouraging passengers to go back to their cabin and rip off the seat from the toilet and see if they could fit their bodies through it. It seemed they had done this during one drunken night and then one of the guys showed us that he could do this.

After this show the festivities continued upstairs in the Galaxy showroom. First the comedienne that performed earlier in the cruise, Richie Byrne performed again. He was just as funny as he was when we saw him earlier. In fact, it didn’t take me more than ten seconds to make me laugh after I walked into the room. He was questioning why females loved male singers who had great voices but ugly faces. He singled out Michael Bolton, Barry Manilow, and Meatloaf and then imitated them as if they were trying to go to the bathroom.

At 11:15 it was time for Next Stage to perform one last time on our cruise and they were joined by Darin who sang and played the guitar. This was listed as “Farewell Rock and Roll Party” in the Freestyle Daily and was very disappointing in one major aspect. There was none of the cruise ship staff present and we were hoping to say good-bye and to thank our friends for making the vacation one of the best we had ever taken. There was no Scotty, no Glen, no Dave, no Vaughn, and no Luz. We asked the lead singer of Next Stage what happened to them but she didn’t know. Then we asked Darin and he said that they usually have the last night off. Although Darin and the band rocked out to such tunes as “I Love Rock and Roll”, and some songs from the hair bands of the 1980’s we were saddened and left the party early.

We went back to the cabin and packed as we had to leave our luggage out in front of our door by 2am. The entire time we packed, Cyrella was telling me how upset she was that she didn’t get the chance to say good-bye to any of her friends. I felt bad too but told her that we might be able to see one or two of them as we disembarked from the ship the next day.

We were able to finish packing after 1am and because we had one of the cabins in the front of the ship, I was afraid that the guys who took the luggage would not see them and then we would have to carry them off the ship ourselves. I started to roll the luggage down to where the attendants were but as I turned the corner one of the guys saw me and said he would take the luggage.

It was the end of our last night. We had to go to sleep so that we could get up and go home. Boo Hoo… Cry…. Tear… Whine… Sob…

Next Up: It’s Time to Go Home. NO!!!!!!!!

[Maryfrei]

I got better things to do with my time like spend hours a day recapping a vacation that was over almost two weeks ago on a message board that only a small percentage of the earth’s population even know about … but I digress.

 

 

A small but very appreciative percentage of the earth's population:):):)

[AnneNchris]

This has been wonderful...I am so sad it is just about over....

[lostie]

This has been wonderful...I am so sad it is just about over....

 

 

Ditto, but Lotteryfan has inspired me to keep a diary of my own when I leave in August. I never thought reading the details of someone's (I don't even know) vacation would interest me & so many other people. This is what makes Cruise Critic so great.

[Lotteryfan]

Ditto, but Lotteryfan has inspired me to keep a diary of my own when I leave in August. I never thought reading the details of someone's (I don't even know) vacation would interest me & so many other people. This is what makes Cruise Critic so great.

 

 

Great!! I can't wait to read it!!

[Lotteryfan]

Day Fifteen, Sunday May 13: The Final Few Hours. We awoke about 6am and put on the television to see how close we were to New York. Four times every hour there is a “Report From The Bridge”, which is an informational segment on one of the channels on the television. This tells us how far we have gone since we originally left New York, how far we have gone since we left the last port, how far to go until the next port, the current weather condition and the current sea condition. It also tells us when the ship will arrive and when it will depart the next port, if you are in the middle of a cruise.

According to the report there weren’t many miles left in our journey and a depressing feeling came over me. I got out of bed and pulled back the curtain of one of our two picture windows. There were two cargo ships in the distance. After days of seeing only one or two ships at sea, I could tell we were getting closer to home because there was traffic.

We got dressed and upon opening the cabin door we were faced with our bill. Ouch! Over $1,500 from the on board account. As if the pain of having to leave our ship wasn’t hurtful enough, now we had to deal with the bill. After this shock we went to the Galaxy of the Stars showroom one last time. Although it basically had the same view as our balcony suite two floors below, we wanted to mingle with the people one last time. We were also hoping to catch some of the cruise ship staff but they were probably sleeping in late.

As New York Harbor grew larger I looked at my on board bill again and started thinking about some of the expenses and the good times that they represented. There was the cost for the sodas purchased on the private island. There was the cost for Cyrella’s birthday dinner in Cagney’s. There were the costs for the excursions. There were the costs for the bingo sessions in which I won twice. There were the costs of the krack-its in which I hit for $100.00. Yes, this was a bill but it was also a souvenir, bringing back the happy memories of the past two weeks.

As the ship continued to close in on New York Harbor it went under the Verrazano Bridge. The depressing feeling came back again. The last time we passed under the bridge in this direction we knew we still had more than half of the cruise before us, having completed the six day tour of the fourteen day cruise. I wondered who I had to speak to in order to increase the vacation another two weeks.

After a while, we decided to head down to Raffles for one last meal. The place was so crowded that you had to share a table with others if you wanted to sit down. We sat down on the side of the ship that passed the Statue of Liberty and despite the terrible feeling of knowing the vacation was coming to an end, it was a great way to have breakfast. Soon the ship slowed down to a crawl and started turning. The pier was in sight. I lost my appetite.

As VIP’s, simply because we had a suite, we were given the opportunity of priority disembarkation with the concierge but we weren’t in a hurry to leave. Instead of lining up with her and the other VIP’s at Henry’s Pub we decided to walk around the ship one last time. We walked around the back of the ship and then decided to go to the seventh floor anyway in the hope of seeing some of the cruise ship hosts. When we got to the seventh floor we noticed that the line of people with their luggage to waiting to disembark had stretched from the middle of the ship all the way to the back of the ship.

We noticed one of the dancers from the NCL Production Staff and struck up a conversation with him for a while. Before we knew it they were letting out the VIP’s and the luggage people at the same time. I looked at my watch and it was 9:40. Picture hundreds of people all leaving through one exit and most of them carrying luggage. It was chaotic. After the initial rush calmed down we decided to leave. Just then we saw Dave from the cruise ship staff and we thanked him for all the fun and excitement of the past two weeks. Cyrella told him to say good-bye to Scotty and Glen for her so I asked him to say good-bye to Luz for me. He said he’ll tell everyone that the couple from NBC news said thanks. (Remember I videotaped a lot of the cruise and ended up with almost 12 hours of stuff.)

We were off the ship by 10:15 and I had to reach down really deep inside not to cry. The fantasy world that I had been living in for the past two weeks came to an end. We still have the Bermuda trip to look forward to in October but I don’t know if we’ll be able to match the excitement that we had on this trip. As we walked through the pier, I noticed there was already a group of about two dozen people waiting to get on for the next cruise.

We took a taxi to Grand Central Station and then the train home. We arrived home a little before 12 noon and who do you think was coming out of the lobby of our apartment building as we entered? Our next door neighbor who we had met on the first part of our cruise. She said she had been thinking about us and wondered when we would be home. We told her we would call her.

Later that afternoon, we watched the Norwegian Spirit sail away at 4pm from one of the many web cameras in Manhattan. I pictured the routine. Caribbean Plus performing at the pool; the cruise ship staff encouraging people to get up and dance and enjoy their vacation; the ship passing by the Statue of Liberty; and hundreds of people stuffing their face. Although we had gone over 5000 nautical miles on our cruise I was jealous and wanted to be on that cruise too.

Next Up: Some thoughts and comparisons between our April 2006 Spirit cruise and the April/May 2007 Spirit cruise

[AnneNchris]

LotteryFan~

Reading your last morning left me sad for you...it makes me wish that you and your wife were going tobe on our cruise next week...it also makes me ope that my family gets to meet people like you and your wife....I can not wait to continue to post:)

[AnneNchris]

Ditto, but Lotteryfan has inspired me to keep a diary of my own when I leave in August. I never thought reading the details of someone's (I don't even know) vacation would interest me & so many other people. This is what makes Cruise Critic so great.

DItto...we leave next week and I am totally set to keep notes...Lotteryfan has started a trend!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lotteryfan]

LotteryFan~

it makes me wish that you and your wife were going tobe on our cruise next week...:)

 

Are your suitcases big enough? Maybe we can be.

[coka]

Excellent review Lotteryfan! Hey, I need your address so I can send the trophy! Thank you for taking all the time to write about the back2back. Reading reviews such as this one makes me feel like I was was on the ship too! It was the next best thing to actually being there!

Coka