True Confessions of a Cruise Addict

18 or 21: The drinking age debate on cruise ships

2012-01-24T05:07:00.001-08:00

Rarely does a week pass where someone on CruiseCritic does not complain about the drinking age on "American"-branded ships (Royal Caribbean, Carnival, etc ... and yes, I know they are not American companies). I suppose the confusion over the drinking age makes sense ... as companies have greatly expanded into Europe and Asia, they have added passengers from markets that traditionally have a lower drinking age than the United States. Inevitably, however, any thread about drinking immediately devolves into a dog pile of the same argument:

"If an 18-year old (in the US) can be drafted and sent to war, then they should be able to have a beer."

While the earnestness behind this argument may be genuine, I'm so sick of this argument. First of all, the US has had an all-volunteer army for almost 40 years. While men are required to register for selective service, it is unlikely unless something really, really bad happens (at which case I doubt the drinking age will be a huge concern).

The biggest thing that gets me is the numbers. Nine percent of US citizens have served in the military, but those numbers are slightly inflated from Vietnam and to a small extent, WWII vets. In terms of active service, the number is .5%. The "good" news here (and yes I'm being sarcastic) is that military members sent to other countries can drink at the age of 18 (or whatever local custom allows). Those serving in the states (ie, probably not in a war zone) must abide by the 21 year age requirement.

In other words, the passionate statement about being old enough to die but not old enough to drink is completely illogical (as many passionate statements are) as it includes such a small spectrum of reality versus possibility. Keep in mind that uniformed military members used to be able to drink at 18 (especially at on-base clubs), but this was ended because of pressure exerted from groups like MADD after some alcohol related auto fatalities.

I guess my point is ... if you want to argue that the US should have a lower drinking age, great. However, don't use the .5% of active military members to prove your point. Either let them talk for themselves, or find an argument that statistically makes sense.

As for cruise ships ... it is not hard at all to see why the drinking age remains 21 on cruises out of the US. While the revenue may be tempting, there have already been enough alcohol abuse lawsuits and issues concerning those "of age", let alone those who might over-indulge when temporarily granted a new privilege. Just take a look at the teenagers stumbling back from the Bahamas and Mexico ....

My trip report: NYE on Voyager from NOLA (12/31-1/7)

2012-01-21T07:19:00.000-08:00

My travel party
This trip was booked at the end of August with my parents. We tend to like cruises over Christmas, but pricing just didn't work out for us this year. We caught this voyage at a decent price (later found a military rate right before final payment which made it even better) and I found a great cabin. I am D+ and this was my parents' last cruise before becoming D+. We have left from New Orleans once before (and stopped there a couple of times on Carnival cruises) and I was fairly familiar with the downtown area after spending 4 nights there last April for a conference.

Pre-cruise
I can understand why the Port of New Orleans would seem attractive to cruise lines. New Orleans is obviously a tourist draw in itself and there are also plenty of locals who love having a nice, big ship like the Voyager within easy driving distance. With that being said, though, I'm not a huge fan of NOLA as a cruise port. There seem to be relatively few flights into NOLA, meaning they tend towards the pricey side. The port itself is not that well designed, causing other issues. I guess some may be enamored by Bourbon Street, but I am not ... I live in a college town, so I don't need to travel far to see vomit in the streets on a Friday night. Don't get me wrong ... there are many, many great things in NOLA, but in terms of cruising, I'd take Fort Lauderdale any day of the week.

Our trip started with a Continental flight that kept getting earlier and earlier the closer trip came. It actually wasn't that bad, but I was not thrilled that we ended up with a 5:30 AM flight out of Indianapolis with a 4+ hour layover in Houston on Friday 12/30. Thankfully we got free bags checked because of using the Continental credit card. We were also given "Priority" tags on our luggage and boarding passes which made absolutely no difference whatsoever. The flight to NOLA was on a turboprop ... my first flight in about 15 years that had propellers. We landed in NOLA on time, had the usual longish NOLA wait for our bags, and grabbed a cab to our hotel.

Cab rates are fixed between the airport and downtown/cruise port. 1-2 people will be $33. 3+ people (many larger taxis that were vans or SUV's ... but 5 seemed to be about the limit) run $14/pp. If you are traveling solo, there is a shared-ride shuttle that runs for $20/pp but you might have a bit of a wait. Time to downtown depends on traffic. I've had it take up to an hour during rush hour (when you are thankful for the set price), but with normal traffic, it may take 20-30 minutes.

When I was first making reservations, things were very booked up for 12/30 (Friday night before NYE) and I ended up reserving the Embassy Suites Convention Center for $159/night thinking it would be a quick trip to the port (across the street) and that we would at least get a free breakfast. Closer to sail, however, I ended up scoring the JW Marriott on Priceline for a $70 bid. This moved us further from the port, but also closer to most of the French Quarter attractions. I was very happy with this hotel as all of the service we received was very friendly and the location was hard to beat (right on Canal Street). I was able to request a roll-away for no charge which is always nice.

It was a very long arrival day, but we made the requisite tour of the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. I had made a reservation for Emeril's using Open Table months earlier, so we headed there and had a wonderful meal on Friday night. The pricing wasn't too bad considering how easy it is to drop about $50/pp on a meal anywhere in the city. I'd definitely recommend the escargot, pork chop, and banana cream pie. They were all great.

Embarkation Morning
Listening to the local weather on the previous night, they warned of fog. Waking up on NYE morning, we were greeted with and dense, gray curtain covering the city. We headed to The Ruby Slipper on Magazine Street for breakfast as I had visited it previously and enjoyed it. Once again it did not disappoint and offered some great specials like Eggs Cochon (think eggs benedict but instead of ham on an english muffin, there was pulled pork on a biscuit), lemon cream stuffed pain perdue (stuffed into real French bread), and bananas foster pain perdue ... all enormous and wonderful.

After a huge breakfast (which ended up being a good idea), we headed down to explore more of the fog-covered city. My dad and I took off down Riverwalk to see if the ship made it in and then met the rest of our party at Jackson Square. No issues with the Voyager making it to port, though I did talk to several people who missed the ship in NOLA because fog closed down the airport for the entire morning ... one more reason I guess to try to fly in early.

At around 11 AM, we checked out of the hotel and grabbed a cab to the ship. It was probably walkable if we were all a bit more athletic, but with large bags and a few people with mobiilty issues, that just wasn't feasible. Taxis to the ship were a set rate of $10 for 1 person, $7/pp for 2 or more, or the metered rate IF it is higher than the per person rate.

Embarkation

After arriving at the port, I can see why there have been issues with backups at embarkation. Our taxi drove us down a few narrow alleys to reach where the porters were located. It seemed about 6 vans at a time could unload passengers in this area right outside the terminal. It was fairly painless at 11:15 or so.

After dropping bags with the porter, we went into the terminal and stood in the first line to have our passports/SetSail Pass checked by security (which means they have to be out upon entering the building). After that, we headed through the metal detectors (and they were requiring laptops out of bags unlike other ports). Once past that checkpoint, we were allowed to check-in. At this point, we were told that boarding was delayed until 2:30 or so and were given a general boarding sticker. We went up to the counter, checked in, and then were told that we had the option of sitting in the already crowded terminal or exiting and being able to return through "express" lines when we came back.

Let me just say that even though I know that this delay was unexpected, it was not handled well by the terminal staff. The waiting area is tiny and was already close to full by 11:30. We were told to sit or leave and, when we moved off to the side to discuss it, were yelled at by the staff for being "in the way" ... which we weren't ... and forced into "the way" where we were still trying to decide what we wanted to do (mobility issues, etc). I specifically asked if 2:30 was a "hard" boarding time (not a general guess) and was emphatically told YES (ha ha), so in the end we decided to leave instead of sitting in the crowd for 3 hours. We ended up going over to Riverwalk for a while and, while over there and outside, heard on the Voyager's PA the captain telling the crew that extra cleaning had finished and the Voyager would be boarding (about 12:30ish). It turns out that there had been enough Noro on the previous cruise to require extra cleaning, CDC handouts, etc.

We headed back to terminal and found huge lines for security. We inquired about the "express" line as we already had our SeaPass cards and were essentially told to wait with everyone else. Once we cleared the first checkpoint, we actually were allowed into the handicap line to go through the metal detectors again. Once back in the waiting area, we finally worked our way through the huge mass of disorganized people to where people where boarding. We were placed in the handicap line to have our security pictures taken which ended up being 3 times as long as any other line as the ground staff said nothing while people cut under the ropes and into the wheelchair "chute" in front of us directly at the security podium. It was a mess where we were not allowed to switch lines but nothing was said to those cutting in front ... not the end of the world, I know, but still quite frustrating when you just want to get onto the ship. We were finally onboard a little after 1 (cabins did not open until 2).

New Year's Eve

I've never board on New Year's Eve before and to be honest, I'm not sure I'd want to again ... flights are expensive for destination cities, hotels can be more expensive, and the first day is hectic. One major change for this cruise ... the first formal night was changed to the first night as opposed to the second. I can understand the WHY, but just barely. I typically have my tux pressed or dry-cleaned the first day so that it is ready for the second night (typical formal night). Obviously, I could not do it for this cruise, so I went formal-wrinkled and did not bother with the pressing as things would normally be a little wrinkled by the second formal night anyway. Many people did not have their bags by first seating anyway, so it was, in reality, shorts to formal night ... and this did upset some people who had purchased formal clothes that they were not able to wear.

As for the NYE celebrations themselves, they started with hats and party favors being laid out on the tables in the dining room. Personally, I could go without the noisemakers at dinner because once they start, they take a while to stop. I guess I'm a fuddy-duddy, but I enjoy meals in relative peace where you can talk to people at your table without having being surrounded by kids loudly honking on their party favors.

There was a special dinner with a special menu ... it was all actually quite good, including a nice, tender cut of beef.

Beyond that, there were balloons ready to go in the Royal Promenade as well as many carts selling champagne. There were screens with a count-down. The Royal Promenade was completely packed ... body to body the whole way.

The Ship

It's been a few years since I've been on Voyager. Though she was not "new" when I went on her before, she was the first Voyager-class ship I sailed on. Obviously, after being on most of the other Voyager-class ships as well as two Freedom-class and the Oasis, she doesn't quite deliver the same WOW, though the Royal Promenade is still nice. What I found most interesting were the differences between the first ship of the class and the "changes" made afterward ... the fixed Cafe Promande bar out in the Promenade, the bar in the Back of the WindJammer instead of the front (Plaza bar), only a Portofino with a Florist instead of Chops, etc.

There are definitely some spots where Voyager is showing her age. Some areas have a little bit of a "worn" feel, and she could definitely use a bit of an outside paint job. For the most part she is kept up incredibly well, but as with any ship, if you want to find a little fraying at the edge, you can find it. Quite a bit of work was going on in terms of repair, and on one port day, they even drained of the main pools for painting.

There were two design issues that I did not like. One ... there always seemed to be an overwhelming line/wait for the elevators on the aft end (to the WJ). The elevators seemed slow and on several occasions, one or more would be out of service to be worked on. Most rides had everyone packed in, waving off people on other floors.

Two ... the WJ has the old buffet style lines instead of food stations. When first introduced to food stations, I did not like them as people seemed to go at the food from every which way. Now, I can see their benefit. There were cafeteria-style lines with some people waiting to get to the dish they wanted while others just cut in.

Extra note: I do have an extra story to share about an experience you never ever want. On day 6 (Cozumel) which was the second formal night, my dad and I were heading up to the Viking Crown in the elevator. Suddenly the elevator began to violently shake both horizontally and vertically to the point where we grabbed the sides to hold on. The door opened early on deck 12 and we ran out. It was utterly frightening. In the end, it was the whole ship shaking (which we didn't know since it was timed perfectly to coincide with our elevator trip) as the captain tried to get us away from the pier before the Liberty in Cozumel. However, there was a good three seconds or so when I thought that elevator was going to drop. Yikes.

Dining

I know that food quality is subjective, but in my opinion, I found food options a little lacking. There seemed to be fewer offerings in the WJ without stations (and special areas such as Jade). The dining room menus were standard except for NYE and the lobster and shrimp keep getting smaller and smaller. I avoided most of the cuts of beef in the MDR just because I knew they would be disappointing (though the one on NYE was good as mentioned earlier). Cafe Promenade had the standard selections of desserts, sandwiches, and pizza. There was also a featured panini each day, and I saw a press on the back counter, but I was never offered the option of a hot panini ... perhaps you had to request it? I wasn't sure.

Since NYE was the first night, I inquired at Portofino's about using my B1G1 D+ coupon on another night and was told I could only use it on the second night. We had also gotten a coupon from our TA for dinner for 2 that was only supposed to be available on port days. However, they accepted both coupons for our party of 5 on the second night without issue (which was appreciated). The food in Portofino was definitely a cut above anything in the MDR, but it did not seem as "spectacular" as usual ... could just be that I'm getting jaded and it is no longer "new". I ordered my usual seafood skewer and it just seemed very small with hardly two or three bites of scallop and lobster.

Dress Code
Much to my surprise, dress codes were actually enforced on the Voyager beyond the first night. I actually overheard waiters in the MDR telling those in shorts on the first night that they would not be allowed to enter on future nights if wearing shorts because "diners don't want to see hairy legs". Over the week, I definitely saw a few people turned away in shorts. The exception to this rule, evidently, were children under the age of 13. I also saw strict enforcement of the footwear policy in the WJ, even for women carrying very small babies (there seemed to be a lot of much younger children on this cruise than I've ever seen before).

Ports

Grand Cayman

It was pretty rocky on the night before, and my dad and I have brief discussion of whether or not we'd actually be able to dock in Grand Cayman the next morning. It turned out we could ... kind of. In the end, the Georgetown docks were closed, but the Voyager was allowed to tender on the other side of the island.

For the tendering process, I never saw anything about tender tickets or heard announcements, however the concierge had included two Tender 1 Priority tickets in the welcome packet in our cabin. In the end, we did not go ashore. However, I did hear some information about the alternative docking site. Evidently there was pretty much nothing where the ship docked. It was a $5/pp taxi ride to the main port area (and $5 back). Others reported walking a bit from the tender drop-off site, renting snorkeling equipment for $5-10, and doing some very nice snorkeling off of a close beach.

Falmouth, Jamaica

This has been my fourth visit to Falmouth and, unsurprisingly, the port has vastly improved each time. On this visit, the large hall facing the ocean was being utilized as the entrance/exit to the port with two large banks of metal detectors (one closed ... obviously in reserve for Oasis/Allure). Some stores were just opening and did not yet have proper signs ... these were the stores furthest from the entrance from the ship and they tended to have better prices on souvenirs over the stores that had already been more established. The craft market was still doing lively business with the occupants still exercising restraint in their salesmanship (ie, you can walk through without being accosted) and the vendors all seemed very pleasant.

Cozumel

Voyager docked at the International Pier next to the Liberty. The pier itself was pretty much the same as it has been (a lot of no-name shops and very crowded) and the mall across the street is not yet done (proudly announcing a December 2011 opening). For the second time (after visiting a few weeks ago on the Liberty), we hung a right outside of the gate, walked about 4 minutes, and visited Carnival's Puerta Maya pier. Again ... this is a much, much nicer shopping area than what is available at the International Pier. My dad bought a few shirts at Ron Jon there, while I bought a shirt at Cariloha (much closer than the downtown version with the same prices). We also had lunch at Pancho's Backyard in Los Cincos Soles. This is our standard stop and as always it was great ... open room with view of the (Carnival) ships, a nice breeze, and live music. I thought the margaritas were plenty strong, but some of our party had fruit ones that they thought were tasty but pretty light. Pancho's Backyard also offers free wifi, so there were several people with their laptops and I admittedly did a bit of work on my iPhone.

Cabin

In truth, this cruise was probably mostly booked because of the cabin. We did not book until a month or two before final payment, yet when I was searching for cruises over Christmas or NYE, I noticed that I could book cabin 1688. For those unfamiliar with this cabin, it is a corner aft cabin on Deck 10 that is sold as a D1 and not a suite.

The cabin was ... well ... wonderful. Yes, it was on the back of the ship. Yes, it was under the WJ. Yes, it has a pole in it and a beam coming through the balcony. No, there is not a side view. However, I thought this cabin was a great value. It was huge with a full-sized sofa bed and plenty of open area (standard bathroom to differentiate from suites). The balcony was large as well with 2 chairs, 2 loungers, and a table. It was mostly quiet in the aft with a noticeable reduction in "running children" pounding through the hallways. I never noticed noise from the WJ above. There were only a few drawbacks. Yes, there was some extra vibration (ended up sticking a folded piece of paper into the door of the safe to keep it from rattling), especially on the first an last nights while in the Mississippi. The TV was also old, out-dated, and frankly almost impossible to use with the onboard account system. It definitely was a walk from the midship elevators (but not too bad, IMO) which also meant that our "main" elevators were the ones leading up to the WJ which made them also the busiest.

Service

The crew on the Voyager seemed very friendly and helpful. Our stateroom attendent Aldwin was wonderful and was very quick in responding to requests. Many of service people were incredibly quick at learning and remembering names. Servers in the WJ were fairly quick at cleaning tables and offering to get drinks (which was an improvement over my recent Liberty cruise).

There was a little bit of awkwardness ... it came from our waiter at dinner. He was very polite, remembered names, and tried to make sure that everything was exceptional. Great. However, each night, we heard a spiel about letting him know if something made us unhappy, that he was only human, but that he was trying his best. One night he let us know how upset he becomes when someone laughs at his English (which we were not doing). He would tell us why he was doing something (ie, delivering a 2nd appetizer while the 1st was still being eaten) because of the long lines in the kitchen to pick up entrees. I chalked this up to a rough holiday season away from home and/or perhaps bad reviews on the previous cruise, but it seriously got to the point where it was somewhat uncomfortable for everyone at the table. I also felt in a bind ... he was obviously trying to excel and we encouraged him each night (ie, we did not complain, told him he didn't need to worry, etc). It got to the point where I wondered what we could do ... I thought that reporting this to the head waiter would only make the problem worse based on the circumstances.

C&A

My last few cruises have been on ships with a Diamond Lounge and, to be honest, it was slightly disappointing to go back to a ship without one. The Diamond Event on Voyager was held each night in the combination of the Cloud 9 and card room. On the positive side, there was plenty of space, the service was very attentive, and they did not care if you took a glass of wine down to dinner. On the negative, drinks still consist of either La Terre(ible) or Coke without a surcharge. One night I made the mistake of having more than one glass of white wine paid dearly for it with a headache the rest of the night. I could have gone down to the CL, but since my parents were not eligible (though they are now ), I did not.

Since there is not a DL, there was a Diamond Breakfast each morning in the small, side-room of the 3rd floor dining room. They actually kept track of who visited each morning (writing down party size and cabin numbers) and they also were pretty thorough in keeping people out who did not belong, though this led to a few raised voices as people tried to bring in ineligible family and friends (BUT WE JUST WANT TO EAT AS A FAMILY .. Yes, sir, and you can do that in the dining room next door). The service was very good each morning with the same waiters getting to know your orders. The only thing I did not like were the parents who brought their younger children in and let them run around. I don't have anything against kids, but I like the Diamond Breakfast for its calm and don't appreciate children running around the table and crawling into the window spaces to play right next to me.

Beyond the standard C&A parties (return guests, top tier), the Voyager also put on a lunch with staff for Diamond and above (and evidently suites). I enjoy these events as you get a chance to have a nice meal and talk with the crew. This meal was slightly awkward as we were placed with the only Pinnacle couple onboard who had specifically asked to sit with a crew member because they knew her mother. I don't think the couple was sending the vibe too strongly, but I felt like we were intruding on the time they wanted to spend with her. That's fine ... it was still enjoyable.

Shows

I'm not going to be very helpful here, and for that I apologize. Frankly, I've gotten sick of standard cruise fare, though I do appreciate the trends in shows started by the Oasis/Allure. With that being said, I only saw one show in the theater which was the headliner, Yakov Smirnoff. I thought his show was a little aged and hokey, but was a pretty good time and beats most of the "guest" entertainers I've seen. I heard rave reviews about the Motown group (which I think I've seen).

We had tickets for the last performance of the ice show on Tuesday night at 9 (ice show was the only entertainment for that night). Unfortunately we hit some waves and that show was cancelled and moved the last day. You had to get tickets for the ice show and they were available a couple of different times throughout the first few days. They handed them out in the casino at 3 PM on boarding day (walked right up and got them). They also handed them out in front of Studio B the first sea day and the line was quite long.

I thought that the ice show (Ice Odyssey) was very good, though it was not my favorite compared to some of the others on other ships. I'd definitely recommend it however. One odd thing ... on Voyager, they have both "corner" sections roped off for suites instead of just one ... something I found surprising.

Other Random Things (good and bad)
- I thought that this ship had many more trivias than the other ships I've recently been on. For me ... a big plus. This was also the first week (evidently) they had a progressive trivia. On the second formal night, there was actually a Crown and Anchor trivia about RCI and RCCL in general.
- Lines were generally long at guest services. I had to go down near the end of the cruise because of a mistake on my bill ... this made me mad. I went to the pub on the promenade to use my B1G1 coupon on a larger selection of beers. I asked the bartender what I could get with coupon, he asked to see my card (I'm guessing to verify I was actually D+) and then he said anything on the menu. I ordered two beers and, when he returned with my charge slip, he had charged me for both. I showed him he had made a mistake and he re-rang the beers correctly, but did not give me back my card. I asked for it, he said he gave it back, went over and looked, found it, then handed it back. When I checked my account later, the incorrect charge had been removed, the correct charged added, and then the incorrect charge added again. Guest services corrected this without too much hassle, but it was still irritating.
- While waiting at guest services, two other guests came up and were help. In my evaluation, the guest services rep told both completely wrong information (one was about paying down the onboard account with cash and one was about luggage for a post-cruise tour).
- For the snack time in the WJ, they prepared sour kraut. I'm sure this is a personal opinion, but that stunk up the place so bad it was hard for me to go in.
- The men's restroom outside of the WJ on 11 is pretty amazing with its view and design.
- The captain seemed overzealous when it came to using the PA that went into cabins ... especially on New Year's Eve. I heard a few speculations from passengers that they thought he was drunk ... I don't buy that, but I can't imagine that a captain should act in such a way where passengers would speculate that. I guess he was just excited.
- Can I mention again that being in the elevator during a ship shudder on sail-away scared the heck out of me?
- I really hate it when they set up formal pictures in the entrances to the dining rooms ... especially when they use those drops when people are trying to get in to eat. There were lines at open every night made worse by the crew making sure everyone used the hand sanitizer.
- Early seating was 5:30, late was 8:00. I'm not sure why, but this seemed early.
- Did I mention that they were vigilant, after the noro outbreak, to make sure everyone sanitized upon entrance to every eating establishment? However, napkin twirling in the MDR was still encouraged. I still don't get that one.

Debarkation

We were in no rush to leave the ship with a 12:30 flight, but we didn't really want to linger either.

I believe self-assist was set to leave a little after 7 AM. In actually, they actually called self-assist before 7. The first tags (1-4) were scheduled for 8 AM and that is when they were called.

We headed up to the WJ for breakfast which was, as usual, crowded on debarkation day. We then retrieved our small bags from our cabins (I hate taking them to the WJ which is already crowded enough) and headed to the Magic Flute dining room (deck 5) for the Top Tier lounge (Platinum and above).

Though the debarkation flyer announced that those in the lounge would have priority debarkation with a special call for guests in the lounge, this was of course not the case. We heard our call over the PA like everyone else. The elevators were completely jammed, again as usual, but we were able to manage one floor down to deck 4. The line backed up a little out on the open deck, but then they finally opened up a second check-out stand and we were dinged off.

While the facilities in NOLA are not as bad as some of the old terminals at Port Everglades with a long outside walk, once you collect your bag, you do have to walk it quite a ways. The porters were advertising a "priority" line they could take, but by the time we found bags (lined up on the floor) and got to where the border patrol officers were located, there was virtually nobody in line (4 officers helping people and no one behind them in either line). Then it was quite a wheel around to the outside of the port where we had a taxi called for us (same rate back to the airport as from downtown ... $33 for 2, $14/pp for 3+). We ended up at the airport by a little after 9 AM.

Concordia tragedy

2012-01-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

The loss of life (with final numbers still not in) is horrifying. The sheer error of the event is horrifying as well. On this year, the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, it seems that man has once again needed a reminder that even new, megaships cannot stand against nature. Thankfully, the casualties are limited (compared to other maritime disasters). In the end, the only thing that can be said is ... pray for those affected, thank those that helped, and learn from the mistakes made.

It's funny how many people on Cruise Critic have posted about re-evaluating cruising or safety procedures. I wonder how much of this is true or from anyone but new members.

As for me ... I've always taken safety seriously ... but then again, I'm the type that is ticked that "emergency" rows on planes are sold or otherwise generally occupied by older flying elites as opposed to the physically fit who would probably be better in an emergency. But then again ... that sums up the problems we sometimes see with safety. We are complacent. Others have signed off ... coast guard, regulators, etc etc etc. This ship won't sink. This plane won't crash. Etc. Unfortunately companies can buy into this too. It's unfortunate that it takes a situation like this to have a frank talk about safety.

Back on the horse ....

2011-07-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

It's sad that I've let this blog go for so long without an update. I still post on Cruise Critic. I still have things to say about cruising. Heck, I've been on eight cruises since my last review and I have one more on the books for October.

I suppose I'd better get to it. More soon.

My travel journal: Rhapsody of the Seas, Christmas and New Years 2009

2010-01-28T12:50:00.000-08:00

About me

One of the things I love about cruising is that, as a vacation, it really can become whatever you want it to be. If you want to sit and read, you can do that to your heart’s content. If you prefer food, well it’s there in abundance. Let’s not also forget the activities available on Royal Caribbean’s ships. I believe there’s plenty to occupy just about anyone even on the smallest ships in the fleet.
With that in mind, here’s where I’m coming from. I’m a frequent cruiser with 20+ cruises (all out of the US) spread over various lines though lately I’ve been “loyal to royal” because of their beautiful ships, competitive prices, loyalty incentives, and onboard credits. I’m a graduate student still working on my doctorate but prefer a secluded view of the ocean to the party scene. I’m cruising with my dad who has a few fewer cruises than me but recently retired and this cruise is his retirement trip. We are both diamond Crown and Anchor members. Originally my mother was also supposed to join us but was eventually unable to due to some family circumstances.

About the trip

We booked this voyage on the Rhapsody of the Seas (12/21/09-01/07/10) over a year ago so that we could combine our available NextCruise with stockholder benefits (we’ll see how that goes). We thought this was an interesting sailing for several reasons. First of all, in leaving from Sydney, we’d get a chance to visit Australia which is something we’ve both been wanting to do. Secondly, most of the ports of call are in New Zealand, which seemed like a convenient way to visit that country as well (I suppose there’s call to mention the Lord of the Rings nerd in me). Third, well, it’s a 17-day cruise over Christmas and New Years … what could be better? This will be our first NYE on a cruise though we have spend several Christmases cruising.

Planning

I’m quite an avid cruiser, but the logistics of this cruise were such that I definitely encountered some new experiences. Beyond just booking the cruise and looking at tours, of course, there were additional challenges when it came to securing flights, confirming proper documentation, making hotel reservations, packing for such a long voyage, etc, that has really made this trip unique. I’ll go ahead and discuss some of these things a little for others who might be thinking about a cruise like this in the future.

Booking the cruise
The actual booking of the cruise was as simple as it usually is when booking a cruise from the United States. We called C&A, converted our NextCruise, and away we went. The only difference was that we were reminded that we were expected to secure our own visas for entering Australia and that we would not be allowed to board (or really, enter the country to board) without them. We used a NextCruise reservation made from before the change in rules, so after receiving our invoice, we emailed Shareholder Services and had the RCCL shareholder OBC applied to our account as well. After watching the prices for months and months (and seeing categories fill and prices shoot upwards),right before final payment we transferred our booking from RCCL to an online travel agency we have used before in exchange for additional OBC. We felt confident in doing this because a) we’d had a positive experience with this company before and b) with the rate of sales, we were fairly sure that we would not have to worry about getting a price drop … of course, we did make sure we could get a price drop if one just so happened to appear.

Booking the flights
Whether or not we were actually going to come on this cruise really depended on flight prices. When we booked last December, flight prices were in the neighborhood of $3,000 apiece, which was way beyond what we were willing to pay. Prices fluctuated a bit for the next few months but still hovered in the $2,500 range. When Delta announced that they were going to enter the market in the early part of the year (with first flights in July), we found that there was suddenly a price war occurring between Qantas, Delta, and Virgin. We had to play with the dates a little (and ended up booking an earlier arrival for a substantial rate reduction), but on April 1 we booked our roundtrip flights from Indianapolis to Sydney (with stopovers, of course) for $1,080 apiece after fees and taxes … it seemed pretty amazing to me.

Applying for the Visa
You can visit Australia’s Vista site (http://www.immi.gov.au/) to see what kind of visa you need to receive in order to visit. As a US citizen, I was eligible for an ETA (electronic travel authority) visa. You can navigate to the official website, apply (you need your passport information), and then your visa is electronically added to your passport so you don’t need any other paperwork or stickers. There is a $20 AUD fee for this service, payable by credit card. If you apply through a site other than the Australian government one, I believe you will go through the same process though be charged quite a bit more (I’ve seen as much as $60). These visas are for visitors only (3 months or less visit) and good for one year after your application.

Flights

Anyone who has flown over the past few years probably can relate to the flight-time ping-pong Delta played with us for the 8 months leading up to our flight. Our 5:30 PM non-stop IND-LAX was terminated and eventually replaced with an 11 AM IND-ATL and 12:45 PM ATL-LAX, leaving us 7 hours or so to sit in LAX waiting for the flight to Sydney. I found this the best possible alternative, however, as I’d rather be sitting in LAX waiting for the last flight rather than sitting in ATL hoping the middle flight doesn’t have any problems. We had to run a bit to the ATL-LAX flight as our originating flight was delayed a bit for de-icing, leaving us with a 40 minute connection in ATL to change terminals. Thankfully we were able to grab some doughnuts quickly or be stuck paying for sandwiches, even on a cross-continental flight. We arrived in LAX on time, then headed to the Delta SkyClub where we had gotten a few free passes from their branded credit card. It was not an overly impressive room, but there were snack-type items, an open bar, chairs, Internet access, and even showers available. We boarded our Sydney-bound flight at about 10:15 PM (PST).
While I had dreaded that long 15-hour flight, it ended up being not-to-bad in my opinion (we’ll see about the way back). They asked us to stay up an hour or so after take-off for dinner (beef or chicken, salad, drinks including complimentary wine and beer), take a nap and wake up for a snack (egg and cucumber sandwich with cookies), go back to sleep, then be woken up for breakfast about an hour and half before landing (French toast or ham/eggs, potatoes, OJ, fruit). There was a seat-back entertainment system with a large selection of complementary, unedited movies (from The Sound of Music to Inglorious Basterds) as well as music and games. Being exhausted (and taking a half-tab of Xanax) helped sleep away some of those hours, so I actually didn’t feel too bad stepping off of that flight 2 days after getting on .
After getting off of the plane in Sydney, you proceed through customs. There is a customs form to fill out and make sure you declare EVERYTHING it ask, specifically any wood products and food. The line for customs was a long one (evidently several flights had landed at the same time), so they opened up the Australia/NZ line for others to make it go faster. We presented our forms and passports, then were waved through to collect our baggage. While waiting by the baggage carousel, an agent approached and asked about the items we had declared. After a brief chat, she signed off on our cards and told us where to exit when we received our bags. We finally got the bags, waiting in line to exit, then were waved through a side exit without having to go through additional screening for quarantined items. Once outside, we got into the taxi queue that was probably about 20 minutes long (made longer by the huge bags handled by children who couldn’t navigate the switchbacks).

Sydney
I’m sure that our stay in Sydney pre-cruise would be unimpressive to most, but we went into our planning a) unsure about what we really wanted to see and b) unsure about how jet-lag would affect us. This made us hesitant to book anything early. Also, since we were paying so much for the cruise and the airfare, price was also quite a consideration for what we would do in Sydney and where we would stay. We’ve talked to several from our Meet and Mingle group who had a wonderful time on the Royal Caribbean cruisetour and saw quite a bit all around Australia. If you can afford it, it sounds like a great, once-in-a-lifetime experience (perhaps like this cruise).

In searching for a place to stay in Sydney, price was a huge factor in our decision making process. I’m normally a person to use Priceline for hotels, but I’ve never used it for rooms outside of the US and, when we were booking this cruise, it was way too early for discount rooms to become available. In the end, I turned to TripAdvisor and sifted through accommodations looking for highly rated places that were within our budget. We ended up making reservations at the Hotel Altamont which is on Darlinghurst Road near King’s Cross. Advertised as “bargain luxury” and with glowing reviews, it seemed to be a good compromise to recognizable chain hotels at about twice the price per night.
Upon arriving at the hotel after our flight at about 10:30 AM, we were told that our room would be ready in about 30 minutes. Sure enough, at 11, we were escorted back to our room (there are only 12 in the whole place) which was a king bed and a roll-away. The building itself had more of a youth-hostile feel, and while our room was private, had air-conditioning, and had a private bathroom, it was otherwise spartan with half-carpet/half bare cement, a rack instead of a closet, and no place to store luggage. Not to get too down on the place, however, there was free wi-fi available, a free breakfast (consisting of cereal, toast, and drinks), and guys working the reception desk who were nice to talk to and very helpful in offering directions or giving suggestions for things to see. Most of the clientele seemed to be Australians as we seemed to be off the beaten tourist path a bit.

With all of this said about the hotel, the worst part about it was probably its location. On one hand, it is conveniently close to rail and bus lines and about a 20-30 minute walk to the harbor. On the other hand, King’s Cross has a bit of a party reputation and is, in my opinion, an area that I was not necessarily wanting to spend a lot of time in. The windows to our room overlooked a small alley and, being that they were single-paned glass, anyone talking in that alley sounded like they were standing next to you. This was not a problem our first or last night, but Friday and Saturday night … wow … let’s just say that the drunks coming from King’s Cross liked to talk, argue, and show off their sound systems until about 4 AM or so, which was not the most pleasant of experiences.
As for things we did in Sydney, we kept it fairly low key. Each day we spent most of our time walking around the city and various harbor areas. We managed to catch Avatar at the Darling Harbor IMAX (largest screen in the world). We also walked to the opera house, visited Star City (lots of construction, no bags allowed, and a decided lack of check-rooms), and sat for long stretches in Hyde Park people-watching.
The US dollar is, as it is world-wide, losing ground against the Australian dollar, so lots of things in Sydney seemed very expensive (when we booked, rate was 1 USD = .65 AUD, now rate was around 1 USD = .92 AUD). For two people, we would end up spending $25-30 on two sandwiches and two drinks at a café and perhaps double that when visiting nicer restaurants. It is all part of the experience, I know, but I think knowing about pricing may help planning. Also, when it came to getting cash, ATM’s definitely seem to be the way to go. We used a bank ATM and were charged a $3 transaction fee to receive the bank rate. When we first arrived, we used a money change booth and were given an absolutely horrid rate plus and $8 transaction fee. I also used credit cards for items and Visa, Mastercard, and to a smaller extent American Express, were accepted in most stores and larger restaurants.

Embarkation Day
During our few days in Sydney, we had occasion on several days to head down to Circular Quay and visit the Overseas Passenger Terminal, which is where the Rhapsody would dock. It was definitely a different experience from US ports when no ship is docked as the area is open for pedestrians and outside dining. When a ship is in port, however, the area is more gated off on the ground level, though there are still pedestrian areas and viewing platforms right next to the ship.

According to our documents, the Rhapsody was set to sail at 6:30 and boarding was to commence at 3:00. Upon the advice from others on our Roll Call thread, we arrived at about 11 AM, just as we would at an American port of departure. Right at 11 there was a bit of a queue outside of the building, but it started moving just a few minutes later and was cleared out a few minutes after that. We handed our baggage to porters wearing bright vests who loaded it onto a truck (no tipping required or expected). We were asked to show our SetSail Pass to enter the terminal building, then proceeded up the escalators and through metal detectors. One through security, we were asked to fill out health forms (stating we did not have H1N1 or had not knowingly been around someone with it) and then we were asked to present ourselves to Australian customs who scanned our passports. We were then able to proceed to the standard check-in lines. We mistakenly went into the Priority line, which had a few people in front of us, when we could have continued on the standard line where no one was waiting … oh well, we didn’t notice our mistake until it was too late, though it was only a few minutes wait. We were checked in fairly efficiently and then proceed aboard Rhapsody where the security photos were taken.

Once onboard, I would describe the onboard experience as fairly typical. Cabins would not be ready until 1 PM, but the Windjammer and public areas were open for use. We proceeded to the WJ for lunch which offered fairly typical selections including the (in)famous Honey Stung Chicken. The food had obviously been sitting out for a while as the chicken was bone dry and when I went to scoop the mashed potatoes the plastic spoon bounced off of the top of them. Once the food was switched out it was much better, but that early food was of very low quality.

After finishing at the WJ, we proceeded to the Schooner Bar to sit down and figure out which excursions we wanted to take. Our choice, due to our budget, seemed limited as many of the excursions were over $150/pp. We opted for cheaper excursions in more places as opposed to expensive ones in only a few. Since we wanted to use OBC for our excursions, we could not book online. As such, we headed to the shore excursions desk early, figuring there would be a line as it opened at 1 PM. Much to our surprise, there was not a single person in line at 12:45. We stood and waited until 12:55 or so when someone opened the desk and input our tours, by which point, there was still no one in line … so either many booked online, there is less excitement for the tours, or most people didn’t know they could board early. We were able to book all of our desired tours and times … and this being our first “destination” cruise, were still shocked at the price tag of almost $700, not including the one private tour we are taking in Wellington.

At 1 PM we proceeded to our cabin, 7065, which is an interior on the seventh deck. It has a unique sideways layout that differs a bit from other inside cabins I have been in. The cabin definitely feels a bit small, though there does seem to be a lot of storage space. I do miss the larger bathrooms with a shower door found on newer ships, but I knew I’d be doing to shower-curtain tango going into it. Luggage arrived sporadically and the stairwell landings were absolutely filled with bags … I’ve never seen so much luggage before, but then again, I guess I’ve never gone on this long of a cruise before. Muster drill was at 5:15 and as on other ships now, life-jackets were not required to be worn. Muster was fairly brief as it was done in English only and many cruisers arrived before the warning bells. Sail-away was at about 6:30, which was right in the middle of main dining. We elected to eat and watch sail-away from the dining room (we have a window table), though the dining room was quite sparse so I figure quite a few people elected to skip main dining in order to be on deck for sail-away. Main dining was also rushed a bit to be finished in time for the 7:45, one-time-only welcome aboard show which also seemed sparsely attended. It featured, as usual, the cruise director, singers, and dancers. The variety act at the end was a juggle who seemed alright though did not have a confident or competent stage presence in my opinion. There was a late trivia competition at 9 PM in the Schooner Bar which my team managed to win, so now at least we can say that we won trivia at least once (and were given Vitality keychains as a prize).

Day 2: At Sea (Dec. 22)

On embarkation day, a letter had been stapled to our C&A Diamond coupon books with information about the Diamond privileges available onboard Rhapsody. Beyond the nightly Diamond Event (held in the back of the Viking Crown from 5-8:30), we have also been given a Diamond dining area in the main restaurant for breakfast. We decided we would check it out, so we went down there for breakfast. We were shown into a small room just off of the entrance to the Deck 4 dining room with some continental fare available as well as waiters to take dining room breakfast orders. I did not inquire if specialty coffees were available free of charge, but I’m not sure that we will be going back as it seemed a bit lonely and secluded (we ate with the other 4 people in the room). When we went to leave, a side door was opened so that we could exit directly to the hall and not through the dining room.

There were many different activities through-out the day, from various trivia games to cha-cha dancing and cooking demonstrations. There was also time to appreciate how nicely the ship is decorated for the holidays, capped off by the large Christmas tree and gingerbread house display in the Centrum. The Meet and Mingle was held in the Viking Crown at 11:15 and had good attendance. The group coordinator and cruise director hosted the event, providing drinks and canapés. After the Meet and Mingle, we went to the dining room for lunch (only open on sea days). I was surprised to see a different lunch menu than I had seen over the last couple of years. The nice salad bar in the dining room was also available and seemed to move very efficiently as the salads are passed from station to station as opposed to having a single person follow you through the line.

As is traditional, the first sea day was also the first formal night with the Captain’s Welcome Aboard reception. Dress for the evening seemed to skew one direction or the other, with many either dressing very formally or others dressing very informally. Since we could check two bags on an international flight, we actually brought our dress-up attire, including my new tuxedo. The reception was held in the Shall We Dance lounge at the back of the ship and there was quite a line to get back there as there were photo lines holding things up. Dinner featured prawn cocktail, lobster bisque, escargot, filet of beef, duck, and the Grand Marnier soufflé. I thought that the escargot and duck was very good, and I was also pleasantly surprised about the sugar-free layer cake offered.

We made a brief stop at the Diamond Event which seemed sparsely attended during times available for main dining. The waitress there informed us that we could have wine, champagne, and soft drinks complimentary (as well as juice mixers only) while anything else had a 25% discount. This is slightly different than the advertisement which does not include soft drinks, so that might be interesting to some folks.
After dinner, we changed and headed to the main show only to find almost every seat in the house taken about 15 minutes before show time. This is the first we’ve experienced shows being this full when there are two shows a night, so it was a surprise. Instead of fighting to find a seat, we just left, wandered around the ship, and then headed to bed.
One interesting note: Every time I pass through the casino it seems to be fairly empty. I’m not sure exactly what the cause is, though it may be a combination of both the availability of casinos in some cities in Australia along with the fact that the Rhapsody’s casino only takes US dollars. For whatever reason, however, I’ve never seen a casino so empty and smoke-free.

Day 3 - Melbourne (Dec. 23)

The Rhapsody pulled into Melbourne at around 7 AM as scheduled. We headed up to the WJ to see how much we liked it and found it much too crowded for our tastes. It offered fairly standard breakfast items including eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, and cold selections like cereal and fruit. There is also an egg station that will make eggs/omelets to order, though it seemed to be fairly busy.

As when coming into Australia in the air, quarantine regulation was very strict and you are told not to take any ship food ashore or face a heavy fine. Bags were given a one-over in the terminal building by a customs dog. I know a lot of people try to pack snacks from the ship for excursions and day-trips and, while they might get away with it in Caribbean and Mexican ports, I definitely wouldn’t try it here.

Also in the terminal building was an information desk staffed by volunteers. Not really having a plan, we stopped to talk with them and they gave us a map and some ideas of things to do. There is a public tram into town that stops about 300 yards from the terminal building that will take you right into downtown Melbourne. They sell public transportation tickets at the terminal, with an all-day pass costing us $6.80 AUD (cash only) each. They also have discount tickets available (called “concession” tickets), though for seniors, for example, you need an Australian senior card … no go on the US driver’s license. J. You can also take a city bus from the terminal downtown, but it is evidently slower as it has to contend with much more traffic in its lane. The bus, however, is much closer to the terminal than the tram, so if you have mobility issues it may be your chosen mode of transportation. Besides public transportation, there are also several walking routes. Leaving the terminal area, you can turn either way and walk several kilometers along the harbor. You can also walk on a bike trail that follows the tram line all of the way into town, but that is at least a 1-hour walk, so it might not be advisable unless you want a bit of adventure. We opted for the tram which seemed the easiest route. There were volunteers stationed on the tram platform to show you how to validate your ticket (and make sure you had a ticket).

The tram ride into town was fairly brief (10 minutes) and then there were multiple choices where to get off. We got off on one of the Collins St. stops and wandered around a bit. There is obviously quite a lot to do in Melbourne (museums, shopping, eating, arts, etc) so we decided upon none of the above. We actually ended up getting on one of the free tourist busses that make about 13 stops around the city. We boarded in front of the visitor’s center and rode the bus all around the city, checking out the different shopping and cultural areas. The bus had some automated narration as well as a driver that would throw in some interesting facts along the way, as well. An entire loop on the tourist bus takes about 1.5 hours and you can get off at any stop you wish and pick up a later bus (they supposedly arrive about every 30 minutes at the designated tourist loop stops). There was also the City Circle tram route that was also free, but it makes a smaller circle around the city than the bus does. Of course, if you purchase the one-day transportation pass, you can get on any of the for-fee busses to take you to specific destinations such as the zoo or the beach.
All-aboard was at 4:30, so by the time we made it into town and circled around it a bit, it was already going on 1 PM. This didn’t really leave us a lot of time to do in-depth exploring, so we headed back to the ship for a late lunch and a little less-crowded ship time. Trams back to the port were well labeled (109 – Port of Melbourne) and as the ship is at the terminal stop, you don’t really have to worry too much about missing it. I noticed upon our return that the terminal building no longer had any volunteers offering information, so keep that in mind if you decide not to explore until the later part of the day. There was a single, small souvenir store in the terminal that looks a little dreary on the outside, but had cheaper prices on Australia souvenirs than anything I saw during my four days in Sydney.

Entertainment onboard for the night included the 70’s Dance Party (with the ever-popular, pseudo-Village People) and a production show called “Piano Man.” I can’t really comment on the party (never really go to them except on Voyager-class ships when they are on the promenade) but I did attend the production show which was fine. I think they put on a pretty decent show given their resources, though you have to enjoy the source matter, which in this case included Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and Barry Manilow mash-ups. I have to admit that I have grown a little tired of these type of shows where you get lots of little pieces of songs with many of the songs fundamentally altered (to be duets, etc) but the singers and dancers on Rhapsody are good for the most part.
Note: Clocks were to be turned ahead one hour tonight.

Day 4 – At Sea (Christmas Eve)

Our first of three sea days to get over to New Zealand also happened to be Christmas Eve. The crew appeared to be in a festive mood around the ship with many wearing Santa hats. Some passengers also got into the spirit of the season, while others suffered a bit from the rocky sailing in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. Personally, I did not find the motion too disturbing or any more extreme than bad conditions in the Caribbean, but I believe there are many first time cruisers aboard and some ran into problems. You can always tell when it is going to be a rough day when sea bags are velcroed to the stairwells. The ship felt a bit crowded today as it was too rainy and windy to spend any time outside (deck 5 outside promenade was close for most of the day).

Many different activities were offered throughout the day, from exercise to bingo, as is usual for sea days. A few special activities were thrown in for the holidays including some holiday craft making. Unfortunately the reindeer racing could not be held on the pool deck, though it may be rescheduled for tomorrow. The trivia sessions have been very well attended and highly contested with a typical score of 13-15/15 needed to win. The first few sessions of the cruise were quite easy, but they have gotten progressively harder as the days have gone on.

There were several big events held especially for Christmas Eve. First of all, the show tonight was a Celebrity showtime show starring Rhonda Burchmore. This announcement made many of the Aussies very excited, though I’ll admit that coming from the US, we’d never heard of her. Her show was quite good and was basically a singing/lounge act. After that, there was Christmas caroling in the centrum at 10:30 PM on Christmas Eve. The entertainment staff and quite a few of the officers showed up to sing and people joined in from decks 4-8 in the centrum (though the bottom deck only seemed to be the one where people received song books). At the end of the caroling, those of us up on deck 8 helped the crewmembers drop white balloons down into the centrum for the “Let it Snow” finale. A Catholic midnight mass was also offered in the main theatre for those who wished to participate.

Funny story

I sailed on the Navigator in November of 2008 on a cruise that ended on Thanksgiving. I was cruising solo on that cruise and wasn’t too interested in the ports, so I spent quite a bit of time talking to the various members of the cruise director’s staff. When I went back on Navigator in February of this year, I attended the opening night parade and one of the staff, Lara (spelling?), picked me out three rows back while she was performing and welcomed me back onboard. Sure enough, guess who was running trivia today on Rhapsody? I went up for a sudden-death play-off during Name That Movie Tune and when I went up, Lara still recognized me and remembered my name … not too bad considering the amount of people she interacts with each cruise … so either I’m just completely memorable, or I’ve been cruising way too much ….

Days 5 and 6 (Christmas Day and Sound cruising)

Christmas Day was our second consecutive day at sea and the conditions were much like the first … cold, wet, and a little rocky (though not as bad as yesterday). It was a bit of a “lazy” day for most it seemed, especially with all of the late activities on Christmas Eve. Santa arrived in the morning and handed out presents to children in the centrum while they sat on his lap … though I noticed quite a few adults sneaking onto his lap, as well. Holiday trivia was a fun time, though I really was kicking myself for not remembering some of the answers from my Christmas cruise last year. The weather once again canceled any pool deck activities, though reindeer racing was eventually held in the centrum. The pool deck BBQ was supposedly moved into the WJ, though I could see no evidence of BBQ there. There was quite a spread in the WJ for lunch, however, with New Zealand mussels (in shell) and huge dishes of large, peel-and-eat shrimp. Dinner was our second formal night and also had special menus that featured turkey and plum pudding. There was a special holiday production show at night, though I did not attend. I heard it was fairly standard, Christmas-y fare.
Note: Clocks were to be turned ahead another hour tonight.

December 26th was technically our third consecutive sea day, though we spent much of the day navigating through three different New Zealand sounds. We arrived at Milford Sound at around 7:30 AM (listed for 8:00) and stayed until about 9 when we turned around and navigated out. After that, we visited Doubtful Sound (11:45 AM – 1:15 PM) and Dusky Sound (2:00 PM – 3:30 PM), both of which are one-way passages that return to the sea without a turn-around. The weather continued to be cool, rainy, and windy. These conditions made being out on deck a little harder, though they did make for some spectacular waterfalls coming down off of the ridges. We stuck completely to the deck 5 promenade as that offered at least some cover from the rain. Quite a few others had the same idea and the railings were quite crowded near the doors though you could always find your own space if you traveled a bit down the deck. I’m not sure how crowded the pool deck was, but given the conditions, those people would have been soaked. We just would walk from side-to-side to take in the different views. There wasn’t much wildlife visible, though we did see a large pod of dolphins entering Milford Sound as well as what looked to be a seal. Otherwise the sounds were quite beautiful though not quite distinguishable to my eyes. You’ll have to wait a few weeks for me to get a good Internet connection to be able to upload my photos.

The rest of the day was pretty much organized around the timing for entering the sounds with quick breakfasts and lunches taken in the downtime. The headliner show tonight featured Glenn Amer who is a singer and a pianist. We stopped in for a bit of a song and then left … the music was quite old and not really to my tastes. I finally noticed in the Compass that they have been playing full movies in the afternoon in the main theater, so that is an interesting way to spend a sea day if you are so inclined. After today, I’m going to have a lot more tour reports as I’m doing all of my ship-organized tours in New Zealand.

Day 7 – Dunedin (Dec. 26)

Rhapsody pulled into Dunedin, New Zealand at about 8:00 AM, with tours starting to meet in the theater shortly after that time. This is primarily an industrial port, so simply walking off the ship to explore was not allowed. You needed to either be taking a ship tour, taking the ship’s shuttle into town, or hiring a taxi to take you someplace directly. The shuttle into town from the ship was $9.00 each way on the half-hour (an all-inclusive pass for all shuttle ports was something like $42/pp), with the trip taking perhaps 25 minutes and dropping passengers off at the Octagon.

We chose to take the Dunedin Panoramic tour which was the cheapest “out and about” tour just to get a flavor of the area. Our morning tour was to meet in the main theater at 8:45 with a 9:00 departure. Upon arriving at the theater, the place was in chaos. Whichever members of the ship’s cruise director/explorations staff that were running the place seemed to achieve the tri-fecta of making cruise passengers angry: giving wrong information, giving contradictory information, and being disorganized. None of the passengers seemed to know what was going on and quite a few were frustrated. Ok … enough about that, but hopefully it will improve from here on out. Perhaps it is because it is an industrial port, but I was surprised we were asked to meet in the theater and not on the dock. It is a bit of a journey from the theater to the gangway and many of the older guests had a rough time keeping up with the person giving directions.

Once we located our bus and boarded, we set off for Dunedin with our driver, Graham, offering facts about the town. Our first stop was at the Octagon which is where the cruise shuttles let off. We were given a few minutes to wander around, take pictures, and perhaps do some shopping. We traveled down the street a bit to find an ATM, as this was our first New Zealand stop, so that we could get some local currency. After loading back on the bus, we traveled down the road to the Dunedin train station, which is quite pretty (our driver said mentioned it was one of the 10 must-sees in the world … not sure I’d go that far ….). After leaving the train station, we made our way to Baldwin Street, which is the steepest street in the world. We had enough time to hike it if we wanted, but that was more physical exertion than I personally wanted. There was also a gift shop to buy New Zealand and Baldwin Street souvenirs, of course. Our final stop was at the botanical gardens where we got quite a bit of time to walk around and explore. We appreciated the different trees and plants on display, including a few sequoia trees. On our way back through town, we were offered the chance to get off and do some independent exploring if we wanted to take the pay-shuttle back to the ship. This offered some the opportunity to do a bit more shopping or visit other town highlights, such as the Cadbury’s chocolate factory tour. In the end this was a short excursion at just over 3 hours, but it covered a quite a bit in downtown Dunedin. Other longer, more expensive excursions traveled to a castle or took the Taieri Gorge Train. One family we talked to hired a cab and ended up paying around $120 for four people to go to the four or five specific places they wanted to visit … this seems like a reasonable alternative to a ship’s sponsored tour if you do your homework ahead of time. There was definitely plenty of time for exploring as all-aboard was at 5:30.

There were lots of activities in the afternoon and evening. The afternoon movie in the main theater was “UP!”. Lamb chops and fried calamari made the dinner menu, which were a few things I’d never seen before. The headliner show was Los Pampas Gauchos which we missed (have seen similar shows before) though many people seemed to enjoy (dancing, jokes, whip work, and bolos). The entertainment staff also put on The Liars Club in the evening for those who like trying to determine who was telling the truth.

Day 8: Christchurch (Dec. 28)
Rhapsody arrived early in Christchurch, New Zealand, right before 7 AM. Our tour was to meet in the theater at 7:15, so it was also an early morning for us. With the dining room only opening up at 7 AM, we were forced to eat breakfast in the WJ which started serving its full breakfast at 6:30 this morning. Upon arriving at the theater, it was already evident that things were much more organized than yesterday morning, starting with the fact that the staff were meeting people as they came into the theater (instead of making them come to the front) and they already had signs in place for where each numbered sticker (corresponding to individual tours) would be sitting.

Christchurch is yet another industrial port, so once again it is impossible to walk off of the pier, which is actually in Littleton. Royal Caribbean, of course, offers a shuttle into Christchurch (20 minute ride) for $9 USD/pp each way. The port of Littleton offered a free shuttle off of the pier. If you wanted to try to find a cheaper way to do something, you could take that free shuttle. Some caught the public bus from Littleton to Christchurch for $2.80 NZD/pp each way (or one fare for 2 hours). Some also said that they were able to hire a taxi in Littleton for a cheaper price than could be had on the pier, so that’s something else that you can keep in mind.

The tour we chose to take was labeled “Christchurch Town and Country.” We started out by taking the long, scenic route to Christchurch (ie, over the mountain and not through the tunnel). There was a photo stop along the way, and then we continued to Christchurch itself. We were dropped off at Cathedral Square (which is also where the shuttles dropped, only they take the tunnel only) and given 30 minutes or so to explore. Many stores were closed as it was the first weekday after Boxing Day. Down the street a bit from Cathedral Square is the Avon River where some excursions head to go punting. I’ll just say this … save your money. I would call the Avon a creek more than a river, and the punting is just through some very shallow water along a public park. It might be relaxing to do if you came on the shuttle, but I don’t even want to look at how much an excursion there would charge you to do it.

Our next stop was the botanical gardens. We only got a cursory glance at the gardens because, as often happens with these bus tours, people returning late cut into our schedule. We were only given 15 minutes to look around the gardens and surrounding buildings. There seemed to be some nice grounds, but not really any time to explore them.

For the last part of our tour, we were taken about 20 minutes or so out into the country to the Manderley farm. On the farm, we were greeted by the owners, Mary and Ross. Ross gave us a sheep dog demonstration by sending one of his dogs all of the way up one of the hills to bring down a small flock of sheep while Ross gave the dog both verbal directions and directions on his whistle. After that, we were taken into the shearing building where Ross gave a shearing demonstration on one of his sheep. He also discussed some of the problems facing currently facing farmers. After the demonstration was over, we were invited into their home and onto their patio where Mary served coffee or tea along with some shortbread cookies and berry scones. We were then given some time to wonder a bit around the yard or sit, drink, and chat. There were toilets for the tour guests out front in their own building. After leaving the farm, we drove back another 20 minutes and were dropped off at the ship.

In the end, we liked this tour because it took us out in the country and we got to see a bit more than the standard “shopping” type tours. The farm was definitely the highlight and received more time than any other stop. This is a good “look around” tour, but otherwise, I think anyone interested in serious shopping or other types of sightseeing in Christchurch would be disappointed. I also have to say that, after all of the buildup of Christchurch being a very “English” city, it did not live up to my expectations. In my head, I for some reason envisioned something smaller and more quaint. Sure there were some examples of gothic architecture, but for the pieces that we saw of the city … well … it looked like a city … and the more I see, the more I suffer from what I call “city creep” where they all kind of start to merge, especially from a ground level.

Back on board the ship, there were afternoon activities and trivias to attend. The evening show was “Soul Mystique” which is labeled “As Seen on TV! … A Magical Transformation Spectacular Direct from Las Vegas & The London Palladium.” We arrived about 30 minutes early and were able to snag a seat, but with about 10 minutes to go until the show, almost every seat was filled in the theater. A few people lucked out, I guess, as we left about 20 minutes into the show. It turned out to be a dance show with a few quick-change acts dispersed through it. It wasn’t horrible, but it was not to my taste and I have seen better quick-change acts.

Day 9 – Picton (Dec. 29)

Picton was a one-and-only stop for the Rhapsody, which is a shame because it was a nice little town without all of the over-the-top tourist stores and prices. You could tell that the townspeople were happy that the ship visited because they offered a free shuttle into town (once again, no walk-offs). Also, on the gangway exiting the ship, local women handed out fresh-flower, hand-made sprigs of flowers along with a pin to wear them around. Upon arrival on the main street (5 minute ride), the bus driver pointed out the locals whom you could ask for information or directions. There was a very pretty park, bay, and beach area right at the drop-off point, and a little bazaar was also set up in the park area selling local crafts. Some people got into trouble buying fresh cherries and apricots because the ship would not let them back on with them even though the New Zealand quarantine officials assured passengers they didn’t care what was brought on the ship, only carried off of it.

After a morning trip into Picton, we returned to the ship for lunch and an afternoon tour, Taste of Marlborough. This was an average tour and I won’t go into a lot of detail since it won’t be offered again the foreseeable future with the ship not stopping. We were taken to a shopping complex called The Vines which was small, over-priced and where we were given way too much time to look at the 6 stores, in my opinion. Then we were taken to a vineyard, Clos Henri, where we were given a fairly in-depth wine tasting. This was probably the most interesting part of the tour because we sampled wines of the same type and same vintage, simply grown in different types of soil on the property. Next we were taken to the Makana “chocolate factory” which was really just a shop with one plexi-glass wall overlooking where chocolate was being made. We were not given a tour or even a description of the process … just a few small samples and then plenty of time to make a purchase. In general, I dislike these kinds of shopping tours (I was thinking it would be more informational) because you spend a lot of money, and then you are taken to tourist places that are overpriced and where you are expected to spend more money without really getting anything else out of it. The vineyard was the most interesting, even though we didn’t see any wine-making (only tasting), because at least we were led through the tasting process and the grapes and soils were discussed.

There was a production show this evening entitled Pure Country. I’ll admit that I skipped this one as well as country music is not my favorite. It was very windy this night, with the wind spraying water from the high waves all over the deck 5 promenade. We kept a very slow pace with some circling as we only needed to go across the strait to Wellington.

Day 10 – Wellington (Dec. 30)

We awoke fairly early to find ourselves docked behind the Silversea Whisper in Wellington. It was a bright, sunny day, which was evidently the first nice day Wellington had seen in about a week, so we lucked out on the weather. It was quite breezy in Wellington, hence the nickname “Windy Wellington,” but it seemed like a very nice, medium-sized city.

On tap for today was a Wellington-area Lord of the Rings tour. The tour was arranged by fellow CruiseCritic member Susie2Shoes with tour operator Flat Earth. This ended up being quite a good tour, though it was a tad pricey at $145 NZD/pp. The flip side of that, of course, is that we rode in a very nice van, had a guide that really knew what she was talking about, and were on a tour with only 9 passengers. At the start of the tour, after we had picked up a few passengers at a local hotel, our guide (Andrea, I think) took us through the government district to show us the buildings a give us a little history. Then we headed out of town for our Lord of the Rings stops. Our first stop was along the road at the site of the quarry where the Helm’s Deep and the city of Gondor scenes. We then went to a small car stop along the river where one of the fellowship river scenes was filmed. Moving on, we visited the national park where the Rivendell set was created, and we also took a swing bridge over the water to see some authentic New Zealand wooded areas. Next we headed to a park where the Isenguard ground scenes were filmed. Finally we headed back into Wellington, past the Embassy theater where the Return of the King premier was held (and most recently, The Lovely Bones) and to Mt. Victoria where the hobbits hid from the black rider at the start of the first movie.

This tour was a very interesting combination of things you see and things you don’t see. On my own and without a guidebook, I would not have found any of these sites as they are literally spread all about. Also, we were told that the reason that Peter Jackson is given free-reign to film in New Zealand is that he makes sure that every trace of his production which takes place in natural settings is erased. This means that trees and plants are transplanted and then replaced after production. In fact, we were told that the only outdoor set pieces to remain are the ones from Hobbiton as they reside on private property (and amazingly enough, can be visited for a fee). Our tour was also given a little extra flavor because our guide works on Peter Jackson movies as a seamstress (though not LOTR), and the rest of her family does as well (she also mentioned that some of them were just on holiday after finishing work on Avatar with WETA Digital). Besides her own insight, she also brought along a book with movie stills so that when we reached a particular location, she could refer to it and perhaps point out remaining landmarks.

At the end of the tour, we were given the option of being dropped off in town or back at the ship. We considered being dropped off in town, but by this point we were tired and decided to return for a late lunch and a bit of rest. Royal Caribbean offered a pay-shuttle in Wellington, but it is also a port you can walk off in, though it is probably a 20—30 minute walk into the main part of town. I guess I haven’t mentioned this yet, but in every New Zealand port, you must show your SeaPass and photo identification to get back into the port area. All busses and shuttles are boarded by port security to check these items. Photocopies of passports are not accepted, so you either need to have your original passport or some sort of state-issued identification like a driver’s license (which is what I’ve been using). Younger kids are exempt from this, but I’ve heard some security guards raise concerns about teenagers coming back without ID. If you have teenagers, you might plan on bringing either a passport or some type of identity card just to avoid the hassle.

The headliner showtime this night was Danny Elliott. This was a pretty good show as his act is to play a wide variety of instruments, from guitar to bag-pipes. I thought that the music selection was a little weak, but overall, it was at least entertaining.

Day 11 – Napier (Dec. 31)

New Year’s Eve brought the Rhapsody to Napier, New Zealand. The story with Napier is that it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930’s, so the parts of the city that were rebuilt were built entirely in the Art Deco style of the time. Many of the souvenir stores sold trinkets fashioned in an art deco style (compacts, jewelry boxes, etc). Some people from the town also put on a car show at the port where they drove in their vintage autos and wore clothing from that time period.

Napier, once again, was a working port, so no one was allowed to walk out on their own. Napier provided a free shuttle into downtown, which took approximately 10 minutes or so. Once dropped off, you are right in the main shopping district which seemed more geared for locals in that it was made up more of retail stores and cafes rather than souvenir stores selling cheap, trinket-y type things. Napier also had some beach access, but I didn’t go down there, so I can’t make a comment as to the quality of the beach. Down one of the main roads was also the Art Deco center which offered not only art deco souvenirs for purchase, but you could also purchase local tours through them. I did not compare prices, but my guess is that if you wanted an Art Deco tour, this would be cheaper than one from the ship (which probably uses the same service).

The ship’s tour we decided to go on this day was called A Taste of Hawke’s Bay, which included a stop at The Filter Room to sample local micro-brewed drinks, the Silky Oak chocolate factory/museum, and finally, a stop at a sheep tannery. We chose to go with the afternoon tour as drinking in the morning didn’t sound too exciting, so our tour left at 1 PM (as opposed to 8 AM). At The Filter Room, which is a working brewery/restaurant, we were led into a large room with chairs and tables. At the front was the bar and lists of the various drinks the establishment made. We were able to choose 6 different beverages, ranging from hard ciders to lagers (they only had 2 non-alcoholic drinks), by placing the labels for the drinks we wanted in a rack, with the racks then filled with our selections. We were advised to just get one sample at a time so that it would move more quickly, but everyone seemed insistent that they get all of their drinks at once, so the wait was a bit long. Also, there was a bit of confusion because other patrons would come in to buy drinks, so some people were paying, others were not, and the line was muddled. We split one rack between the two of us and found that to be plenty (each rack held six glasses of maybe 8 ounces). The ciders, lagers, and ginger beers ranged from decent to fairly good, but I didn’t really taste anything that knocked my socks off. We were given an hour for this stop, so even with the line, there seemed to be plenty of time. There was not really anything else to do at this stop besides to do the tasting, purchase their merchandise, or to buy food from the restaurant.

After The Filter Room, we headed to the Silky Oak chocolate factory. Like “factory” in Picton, this consisted of a chocolate shop which had a section blocked off in plexi-glass so you could watch the workers making chocolates. We were given a few samples (chocolate seemed decent but the fillings were not). At this stop, at least, one of the store managers walked us through how they made their chocolates (buy it from Belgium, melt it, put it into molds, add fillings, close molds, chill). Besides the shop, we were also able to go through their chocolate museum and eat at the chocolate café (for an extra fee). The museum was interesting and consisted of placards and signs with scattered artifacts … it was nothing special, but it did at least show some effort. We were given about an hour at this stop as well, which was plenty of time. Some chose to make purchases at the café while others sat on the porch, but they were shooed away after a while because the café workers were anxious to stack chairs and close (it was NYE, after all).

Our final stop was at a sheep tannery. We were led through the back rooms of the tannery and given a description of the various machines, their purposes, and what sheep skins looked like at various states. The factory was not working at this point and as it turned out, the workers were all allowed to leave at 3 PM (we arrived at 4:20 or so) for the holiday, so the only people working were the guy giving us the tour and the woman working in the shop at the end. There seemed to be some decent prices on the items in the shop if you wanted anything that had to do with sheep skin or wool.

After the tannery, we were taken back to the ship while given a brief tour of the area. I wasn’t exactly happy when the driver stopped to let one couple run into a liquor store while everyone else waited, but at least they were quick. In the end, I was less than impressed with this tour as all it did was go to public establishments and give us the opportunity to buy things after small samples. I suppose people were most intrigued by the tasting and the chocolate factory, but both were underwhelming in my opinion. As for the drinking, if that is your goal, my suggestion would be to take the money you would spend on this tour, go to a local bar, and drink there.

Once back onboard, it was time to prepare for our third formal night. The dinner for NYE featured surf and turf with sirloin and prawns. Everyone’s table for NYE was decked out with paper top hats/tiaras, streamers, and noise makers. The headgear and streamers were a nice touch, but I soon felt an intense desire to toss whoever thought the noisemakers were a good idea overboard. We were seated next to a large family with many small children, and their racket along with the others throughout the dining room, made having a conversation next to impossible and left me with a splitting headache. One thing I’m going to write on my comment sheet to the company … save the formal night dinner and give out the party favors closer to midnight.

As for the NYE festivities themselves, the headliner showtime was singer Darren Williams. He was fairly entertaining. When things got closer to NYE, there were three party centers for the ship … the Viking Crown Lounge, the Centrum, and the pool deck. We pulled up chairs around the Centrum on Deck 7 and drank the sparkling wine we had pre-ordered. Closer to midnight they started giving out the standard, quite horrible, free “champagne” in monitored areas (though there were still at least one pack of roving, drunken teenagers). A few screens had a countdown to midnight and Captain Stein led the countdown in the Centrum once it got to the final 30 seconds. The party evidently raged well into the morning, though I have to say I was in bed by 12:30.

Day 12: Day at Sea (Jan 1)

New Year’s Day aboard Rhapsody was spend lazily sailing at sea. Most seemed to make a late morning of it, though the usual sea day activities were lined up throughout the day. I’ll forgo the details of my day as it wasn’t very interesting. On this day they held the Walk for Wishes where passengers wishing to donate at least $10 to Make-a-Wish were given t-shirts and participated in the walk-a-mile on deck with the captain, officers, and entertainment staff. The headliner showtime was Martin Lass, a violinist.

Day 13: Tauranga (Jan 2)

Since tides evidently play a huge part in arriving at the Port of Tuaranga, the Rhapsody had an early arrival (7:00) and departure (all aboard 4:15). The most popular destination at Tuaranga seemed to be Rotorua which has hot mud pools and other geothermal sights, but there were definitely other things to do. Local visitor information people boarded the ship and were available to give advice and maps out right before debarkation. While there was a free shuttle offered into the city of Tuaranga, this was a port you could walk out of on your own. Within close walking distance were two beaches (one next to the ship was black rock and one 5-10 minutes across the peninsula was white sand and much busier). There was also an extinct volcano to circumnavigate or climb right by the ship. We originally set out to walk the path around the volcano next to the ocean (about an hour’s walk we were told) but instead decided to climb the volcano. We took a paved, drivable path for most of the way. It was quite steep, but there were plenty of benches and places to stop and take in the view. Near the top we had to leave the road and take paths with more steps in them. It took us about 1.25 hours to reach the top and we could definitely feel it in our legs. We took a different path down that was almost all narrow steps and had very few rest points so if you are interested in climbing the volcano, I’d suggest the incline and not the stairs.

The entertainment for the night in the main theater was the Love and Marriage Gameshow and the crew talent show. I skipped both of these, but many seemed to enjoy them. The gameshow is fairly standard and definitely adult-oriented. I’ve caught a bit of the talent show on TV and most people seem to have really enjoyed it.

Day 14: Auckland (Jan. 3)

The Rhapsody arrived in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, at about 7 AM with debarkation soon after. This was a walk-off port, so if you want to strike off on your own, you can easily exit the ship and walk down the pier into the city. The pier actually felt unique here as it is filled with shops and even a hotel. Looking across at the Hilton out the ship’s windows, you might think you were parked next to another, very large ship with large, plant-decorated balconies.

Just wanting to look around, we decided to take the Auckland Panorama tour, and quite frankly, it was disappointing. We loaded onto a bus and were first taken to Mt. Eden where we were given 20 minutes or so to get out, walk around, and take pictures. Leaving Mt. Eden, we were taken to the Botanical Gardens and given about 40 minutes to look around inside the greenhouses. We then loaded back onto the bus and were taken on a very short hop to the Auckland Museum and given 30 minutes or so to look around outside (but obviously not enough time to go in). With that, our last stop, we were taken around to different neighborhoods and then dropped off at the ship. In other words, every place we were taken was a “free” stop and the rest of the time was spent on the bus … yes, I know … this is what you get with a panoramic. Frankly, however, you could get off the ship and grab the hop-on-hop-off bus on the main street off the pier and see most of the same stuff without the time limits for a cheaper price.

After our tour we explored the city by the pier a bit with most of our time spent looking in shops on Queen Street, which seemed to be the main shopping area. Upon returning to the ship, security was very tight. Beyond the usual metal detectors, there were also two other times where we had to display our IDs and SeaPass. It turns out that someone had attempted to illegally board the other ship in port that day so security was tightened everywhere. There was a small area right before getting on the ship with tables and souvenirs. After looking around, the pricing here was comparable (or better) than the shops out in the city, though obviously selection was limited.

Other highlights from the ship’s schedule on this day were tropical night and an evening on-deck buffet paired with dancing under the stars. The main show were illusionists Scott and Panitra Davies who did mostly card tricks … they were good, but still … card tricks for a large-venue performance (video camera and screens required). Oh, and on a side-note, the honey-stung chicken was once again offered in the Windjammer buffet for lunch … I felt like it was embarkation day all over again (though it was much fresher this day).

Day 15 – Bay of Islands (Jan 4)

Sadly the first of the last-milestones arrived … our last stop of the cruise and our last day in New Zealand. Bay of Islands is a tender port, which means that you have to board boats to be taken ashore as the ship does not dock. As you may imagine, this does create a bottleneck for people trying to get off the ship, and people on ship’s tours are given priority. Diamond members received priority tender tickets in their cabins so they could get in line to board at any time they wished. Otherwise, tender tickets were handed out starting at 7:30 in the Schooner Bar. For those that don’t know, a tender ticket is a ticket with a number. Once you are ready to leave, you grab a ticket and wait in public areas for that number to be called. You can then proceed to the gangway to board the tender and be taken ashore.

We had a very early morning on this day taking a tour as we were instructed to report to the theater by 7 A.M. to be taken off of the ship. The tour we chose was the Glow Worm Caves and Kauri Forest excursion. We were in the tender probably by 7:30 or so, and in the bus by 8. This was intended to be a half-day tour, but let’s just say that our tour was extended. Our driver was quite entertaining an informative, but he was not too familiar with this tour. we made it to our first stop, the kauri forest, the people who were supposed act as guides were not waiting out in the turn-around as he was expecting, so after a brief stop, he continued down the road. Once he realized that he had gone too far, there was no place to turn the bus around as we were on a very narrow road on a large hill, so we had to continue for about 15 minutes until there was a space to turn around. We then, of course, had to travel 15 minutes back to the stop. By this time it was raining quite hard. We met our guides, were split into two groups, and then taken down a boarded walk into the forest. I had the unfortunate luck to go with the female guide who did not speak very loud (over the sounds of 20 people, rain hitting the trees, etc), and when she was asked to speak up, she instead told everyone they needed to get closer (we were already in a tight group). We were guided along this looping boardwalk for 15 minutes or so, and to be honest, the guides weren’t that necessary as the area was obviously setup for self-exploration with information placards along the way. After that, we got right back on the bus (not sure if there would have been more time if we had been on time or if it had not been raining) and headed towards the glow worm caves.

By this time, however, we had been away for 2 hours or so and people started to complain to the driver that they had to go to the bathroom (there were no restrooms at the forest). The driver eventually found a public restroom, but after more than half of the bus got off to use the small facility, we were now more than an hour late. Once we finally got moving again, however, we ran into another snag … a large accident had closed the road we needed. We ended up taking a single-lane, dirt road detour through the country. We finally arrived at the caves, waited for another bathroom break, were given a description of the caves by the owners, then led inside. Photographs were prohibited past the entrance. You essentially walked along a raised wooden pathway, and occasionally the guides would stop and have everyone turn out their lights to see glow worms at the top of the cavern. There were a few steep sets of stairs to climb inside and a couple of slightly narrow spaces. Once you exit the caves, you have to climb quite a few steps through the woods to get back to the entrance and the people who had any mobility issues really had problems at this point. As we loaded into the bus, the afternoon tour bus arrived (to signify how late we were). We made our way back to the ship, making a brief scheduled stop at an artistic public toilet.
In the end, our 4 hour tour turned into a 6.5 hour tour. Oh well, things happen. I would, however, still hesitate to recommend this tour. The forest part was a bit of a joke. Yes, you see some huge trees, but it is literally a few minutes on a looped path (perhaps I was just expecting more). Then the caves … there was a bit of speculation that the “glow worms” at this stop were faked. When the lanterns were turned off, they appeared just as dots on the ceiling. Others who did better glow worm grotto tours in other stops told us that everyone had to be quite or the worms would dim or go dark. There were no directions to be quite on our tour, and every speck seemed to be uniform in both size and brightness. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I’m still suspicious.

Upon return to the pier, we boarded the tender and returned to the ship. The tender did not drop passengers off in any sort of commercial area, so if you wanted to strike out on your own, you would have to use a free bus to get to a more commercial area (unless you wanted quite a walk). Our tender ride was interesting as a speed boat cut in front of us, between the tender and the ship, causing perhaps a 5 –foot wake in otherwise calm water. We bounced around and actually slammed into the Rhapsody a bit until the water calmed down, though that didn’t stop one guy from continuously trying to get around the crew blocking the door and jump to the docking platform (believe it or not).

This night was the last formal night (thank goodness … 4 was more than enough for me). The evening show was The Rat Pack’s Back, which was obviously a tribute band. They were … OK, but nothing special. This night we started the process of returning to Sydney time with the clocks rolling back one hour at 2 AM.

Days 16 and 17 – At Sea (Jan 5-6)

The final two sea days were a little sad as we returned to Sydney, but they were definitely a bit smoother than East-bound trip across the ditch. The same sea-day routines were followed with activities all day, bingo, etc. The show on day 16 was Ballroom Fever, a dancing production show which I skipped. The show on the last night was The Artistry of Fluorescence which was definitely one of the most unique shows I’ve ever seen on a ship.

On the last day, Diamond members, as part of the Diamonds in December celebration, were given invites for a bridge tour. For some reason we did not receive invitations, but that was quickly remedied by the Phillipa, the Loyalty Ambassador. The invitations were very clear … show up at this place, bring the invitation and SeaPass for security, and know that ONLY the invited people could come. Of course, at least three parties tried to bring other people along and were flatly denied by bridge security. After that, we were led to the bridge in a group of about 15 or so and given what really amounted to about 20 minutes of face time with Captain Stein. All but a small section of the bridge was roped off, though we were able to look out the front and walk out on one of the side wings. The most amazing thing (and by amazing I mean rudest thing I saw on this cruise), however, were the two Italian passengers who decided they were bored about 5 minutes into the time and decided the only way to end the experience quickly was to talk as loudly as possible to each other over the captain (and ps … one of them was the same guy who kept trying to jump off of the tender while it was still bouncing around).

Self-debarkation of luggage is not allowed in Sydney due to customs and quarantine, so all large baggage was to be placed outside by midnight on the last night.

Day 18 – Sydney (Jan. 7)

During the noon report on the last day, Captain Stein briefly made mention of arriving a little late to Sydney. As it turned out, our 6:30 AM arrival ended up being about an 8:30 AM arrival. This left a few people who had booked early flights a wreck, but for everyone else, it meant that we pulled into Sydney at a reasonable hour and could truly be enjoyed. Both the Windjammer and main dining room were open for breakfast with most people heading to the buffet for the view (and to then clog up seats). We headed to the Diamond debarkation area (deck 5 dining room) which was also opened up for Platinum members on this cruise. They offered some juice, coffee, and rolls, but mainly it is just a place to wait for priority debarkation. At around 8:45 or so, Phillipa came through to find people who had early flights and escort them out. A little after 9:00, the rest of us in the lounge were given the go ahead do debark, and as we exited and hit the stairs, we ran into a huge mass of people coming from another lounge. Everyone forced themselves into a line to get off on deck 4, only to then find out that that exit was only for white tags. The others from above had (green?) tags and were supposed to exit on deck 1. This was a bit of confusion that could have been better handled. While the compass advertised two exits, you do not have a pick of the two. Certain tags must debark from either deck 1 or deck 4 because that is where your luggage will be waiting. If you try to get off on the wrong deck or too early they will send you back because your luggage will not be there. It was quite a mess trying to find our bags, and of course I couldn’t find mine for a while, but we finally claimed our bags, cleared quarantine, got in line to exit, then got into about a 15-minute long taxi queue (a lot of baggage to load).

A lot of people with early flights were going to struggle to make them, making me glad that I had decided to spend an extra night in Sydney. Here was my thinking … besides getting one last day in Sydney to explore and buy the souvenirs I had decided I wanted, I am hesitant to try to book an early-ish flight for a city, pier, and airport that I am unfamiliar with. Add in that I would be flying internationally and everything screamed to take it slow. I know a few people were booked on that day-of debarkation Delta flight at 11:20 AM and I hope they made it but I would have been totally freaked out.

Instead of being freaked out, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the Marriott Sydney right beside Hyde Park. This is a 5-star hotel I had won on Priceline for less than $100 USD a night, so I was curious how it would turn out. When we arrived a little after 10 AM, the lobby was quite full of people waiting around. When I checked in, I was told that a king room was available or that I could wait for a room with two beds. Not wanting to mess with storing luggage, I took the king room. It was a wonderful room with a view of the park, huge sitting area, huge bathroom, and a sleeper-sofa (so we had two beds anyway). Wired internet was available at $.55 AUD/minute with a 24-hour cap of $29 AUD (and it was much faster than the ship’s internet, of course). There was a 2.5% surcharge for any credit card usage by the hotel, and a $50 hold was placed upon check-in.

We ended up taking it easy this day. We did return to the harbor (about a 15-20 minute walk) and took a ferry to Manly where we ate lunch and did our souvenir shopping.

Jan 8 (the day that never ended)

We woke up early and grabbed a cab at about 7:30 to go to the airport. It ended up taking about 20-25 minutes to get to the airport from the Marriott and cost a little over $40 AUD. Upon arrival, we found the Delta line to be mostly full as they hadn’t opened the counter yet. Around 8:20 or so (3 hours before the flight), they opened up the line with about 4 agents. We had no problem checking in, though my large suitcase was now a little bit overweight. The agent was pretty cool about it though, checking to make sure that my second checked bag, my garment bag, was well below the allotted weight. Since it was, he went ahead and checked both through instead of making me try to re-arrange stuff on the spot or pay a large surcharge. I’m sure that if my bag had been extremely overweight it would have been different, but I think it was about 3-4 pounds or so.

After checking in, we had to clear Australian customs again by filling out a departure form. I must say, I’ve never filled out so many forms to both enter and leave a country. We then headed through security which I had expected to be a little slower because of the Detroit thing. After that, we progressed through all of the duty-free shopping available and grabbed some breakfast at McDonald’s, which seemed to be the place everyone was trying to shed the last of their Australian money. I used credit, but it still cost me over $12 for a combo with a sandwich, 2 hash browns, and a coffee. When we arrived at the gate, we saw the new security measures in place for flights to the US. The gate had been blocked off with walls and each person was required to show their passport and ticket to enter. Passengers were then randomly selected for additional screening (50% we were told, though all days before had been 100%) which consisted of removing everything from your carryon and a full pat-down.

I have to say that the flight back was definitely worse than the Sydney-bound flight. The same amount of meals and entertainment were offered, but leaving in the morning instead of the evening meant, at least to me, that it was much harder to sleep. In fact, I’d be surprised if I slept more than an hour. Thankfully some of the movies had changed so I had more to watch, but it was a long haul.

Upon arriving at LAX, the real fun began. We knew that we would be re-boarding the exact same plane to go to Atlanta, but we also knew we’d have to get off and clear customs. It started with deplaning and heading down a few hallways until you came to customs. They made non-US citizens wait while everyone else was filed into a few various lines. Our customs forms were glanced at by an agent, we were asked a few questions, then we headed to collect our checked luggage. Of course one of our four bags (my evil garment bag) was one of the last bags off of the plan, so we sat there for 20-30 minutes waiting for it. Once it arrived, we proceeded through the checkpoint and were pointed towards agricultural quarantine because we had honestly answered we had visited a farm. We placed our bags on a conveyor belt and then collected them on the other side of an additional scan and we were through. We then left the checked bags with security to be rescanned and checked back to the plane. At this point, we were outside of a secure area and had to find the security line to re-enter the gate area. Joy of joys, the security line by this point was contained in three switchbacks and out the door. We got in line then moved fairly quickly until people realized that they could circumvent the line by taking the elevator to the second floor. There was a single agent there to check IDs and send people into the security line while there were four agents at the bottom of a set of stairs checking, but they could only send people when the line had cleared as no one was allowed to wait on the stairs. Essentially the one agent at the top kept the queue from emptying very quickly by filling it with everyone going around the main line, slowing down the main line at the bottom. We finally made it up, through security, and by the time we were at the gate, our plane was boarding.
**Note** With this security process, unless your air journey ends at LAX, you will not be able to bring any duty-free liquids (read liquor) purchased in Sydney in your carry-on. I supposed you could try to get it into your bag before you re-check it, but I’m not sure you want to be trying to open you bag up and root around to get it secure and safe in there.
Our flight to Atlanta was fine and our final flight to Indianapolis was delayed a bit, but we finally arrived after all, of that at about 7 PM on the same day we had left in Sydney, leading to an extremely long and tiring day. By 9 PM, I was home for the first time in three weeks and in serious need of some sleep.

Link to my photo album: http://community.webshots.com/user/silentbob007

Operation: Video Journal

2009-11-15T02:05:00.000-08:00

On my cruise a few summers ago, I played around with my FlipVideo camera but I wasn't too into it because I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to use it or what it would actually do. I got it for free when purchasing my Dell desktop, and since I noted it had proprietary software, I figured it might be a pain to actually edit together anything more advanced than a few minutes worth of a vodcast.

Now, over a year later, I've finally gotten around to playing with the footage that I shot and found that ... surprise surprise ... I can save files to my computer in full resolution and edit them with whatever software I wish to use.

Not only does this mean that I am finally publishing some footage from that cruise, but I'm also thinking this is something I need to plan out and use while on my upcoming Australia/New Zealand cruise.

What do you think? Would you be interested in 21 days of pre-cruise, cruise, post-cruise abroad, including Christmas Day and New Years? Sounds like something I'd be interested in, anyway. :)

My review: Mariner of the Seas Aug. 9-16, 2009

2009-08-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Quips, quirks, and biases

One of the great things about cruise vacations is that, in many cases, they are what you make of them. Because of that, I always like to include this little introductory section where I describe where I'm coming from, as context definitely colors any review. This was my 14th cruise on Royal Caribbean, and 24th cruise overall. I've been "loyal to Royal" lately because I like their ships, have received competitive pricing, enjoy the C&A Diamond perks. I sailed on the Mariner in May when she went on her single Astoria Pacific NW run and was glad to be returning to her. I sailed this time with my father who just retired and is also a frequent cruiser.
This cruise was booked in early July, so about a month from the sailing date. I used that site for competing prices and found a travel agent that offered both a fare discount and prepaid tips on top of the military rate that my dad made us eligible for. I was a bit skeptical, but after talking to the guy over the phone, decided to give it a shot. Thankfully the booking was genuine, though those onboard credits … who knows until you’re there. Oh … and one other note … once we made the booking, my dad forwarded his stockholder information to customer relations for OBC. We found out, however, that the discount given to us by the agent was some sort of RCCL-based promotion and we had the choice of either $100 off the fare (the original offer) or $100 OBC with the stock. No surprise, we took the money-in-pocket option. This gummed up the booking for a few days so I learned a new lesson … I need to mention stockholder credit to the travel agent I’m using before just sending it along just in case the fare is coming from a promotion I’m not aware of.

Pre-Cruise

On my May Mariner cruise, we were forced to fly in day-of and, of course, United decided to lose our lone checked bag in Denver, leaving us with few clothes options (and fewer warm clothes options) for a few days until our bag caught up with us in Oregon. This time we were able to fly in the day before and we took the opportunity. Our American flight left Indianapolis with a connection in Dallas to LAX. There was a one hour, on-tarmac delay in Dallas because of a warning light that needed to be checked out, but we still made it to LAX by about 1 PM on the Saturday before the cruise. We collected our bags ($15 apiece, but now $20 I guess with American and I’m sure others soon) and went out to catch the shuttle I had booked online.

**Needless rant** OK … I’m sure this is unnecessary, but still … I HATE checked bag fees. I know they exist and I know the airlines are struggling to make a profit, but I still wish they would just add those fees to the fare. Of course, airlines are now at the mercy of the fare aggregators (like Kayak, Sidestep, etc), so appearing to have the lowest price is the goal. The side effect of this, of course, is also that people are bringing more luggage as carry-ons, including pieces that have no business inside an airplane cabin. American tried to enforce carry-on policies, the biggest seeming to be the 2 limit as many people tended to have a large bag, a smaller bag, then other handbags on top of that. All-in-all, carry-on baggage has gotten more ridiculous with each flight I’ve taken this year. Don’t even get me started on the mass of people waiting to board that block all other people (foot traffic, those already cleared to board, etc), which is, of course, made worse by the people AND their huge carry-ons ….. OK, it’s out of my system.

Transportation

With only two of us, a shared-ride shuttle seemed the best option for getting to our San Pedro hotel. Researching the two shuttle companies I’ve used in LA, I found that PrimeTime charges $16/pp from LAX to San Pedro while SuperShuttle charges $17/pp. Not really having encountered any differences between the two, I prepaid with PrimeTime. Upon receiving our bags (quite quickly by LAX standards), we went to the ground transportation area and found the shuttle representatives on the island across the street from the baggage claim. We waited perhaps 5 minutes for our shuttle and the one that arrived was full except for two seats right inside the door. All-in-all we won the shared-ride lottery … we were the last picked up and in the first group dropped off 30-40 minutes later in San Pedro. I made note that all shuttles appeared to have a sign stating that they would circle the airport only once before heading to a destination, so if you are the first on a shuttle, be prepared for a bit of a wait which is par for the course with shared-ride.

Lodging

I typically use Priceline and tried to get the Crown Plaza San Pedro for the usual $65 bid that wins it. I could not get it after a couple of attempts, however, so I went ahead and purchased a $70 3-star Hotwire hotel which I assumed and turned out to be the DoubleTree at the marina. Upon arrival to the hotel at about 2 PM, I was told by the desk that there were no rooms ready and that check-in was 3 PM, so kindly sit and wait. We sat and waited until about 2:40 or so and noted that others were getting rooms so I went up and was able to check-in.

** Note: I’ve been unhappy in the past with Hotwire and room configurations as I’ve booked rooms for 3 (and paid extra for the third) and was still given a single king bed and charged for a roll-away. This time I booked a room for 4 (though it was only the two of us) as there was no increase in price (added 2 children instead of adults) and there was no way they were going to force 4 people into a single queen or king bed.

Our room was on the second floor overlooking the pool and next to the stairwell overlooking pool. The room seemed bright with interesting art. There was supposedly wired Internet available but it didn’t seem to work. The pool was a bit loud at times, as were the children and adults who liked to jump down the interior stairs. The room seemed clean, though in between my before-bed shower and morning shower my feet mysteriously got dirty, so perhaps the carpet needs a little attention.
The area around the marina seemed decent though there didn’t seem to be an abundance to do. We walked around the marina (to the left when you exit the hotel) until we reached the 22nd Street Landing which is where we had dinner. It was a little pricey but in line with the hotel and I had a feeling that this kitchen was probably better than the hotel’s “mystery” kitchen. Our food was very good and we watched the fishing ships come in and clean their catch.

**Note: The shuttle driver told us this was the best hotel in the area. I mentioned that I had stayed in the Crown Plaza before and he asked me if I had needed my running shoes. I said no, I only walked around the area in the day, which he said was a smart move. He also noted that there was a small turf-war going on in San Pedro along a few streets between rival gangs. Just FYI and passing along with no proof or personal experience.

To the ship

If you stay at the DoubleTree, make sure that you talk to the bellman about signing up for the complimentary shuttle to the port. The large rush seemed to be around 11 AM but I got on the first shuttle at 10:30. The shuttle was not at all full, and we arrived while there was still quite a bit of activity. We were directed to a small booth to get baggage tags, and then tracked down a porter for our suitcases. After that, we made our way through security (you need SetSail and passports out). This led to the check-in lines which we bypassed to go to the C&A priority line. We were checked in very quickly as we filled in our H1N1 flu declarations (ie, we are not sick or have been around people who were), and were then sent over to a gated waiting area for priority boarding (standard boarding required numbered tickets). Most people went to the far right when facing the area as there was an agent and door there, but we went to the far left which is where you actually board the ship once they move the gates. At 11:30, the gates were moved aside and we boarded the Mariner ….

Embarkation day

Early embarkation

As was stated when we checked in, we were let on the ship at 11:30 (documents indicated that boarding started at noon). In the information sheet about the ship, it stated that the Windjammer would be opening at 11:30, however when we arrived at about 11:35, it was closed and we were told it would open in 15 minutes or so. When we came back around noon it was open, though only about 25% of the food was out and the manager was apologizing over the loudspeaker and asking people to sit tight for another 15 minutes or so for food to be placed out. This didn’t really happen as people started grabbing food as soon as it was set out, but I was surprised that the Windjammer was not ready when people boarded. I grabbed some of the traditional honey stung chicken (which was one of the first items placed out) and had a nice meal.

Cabins are closed to guests until 1 PM. Believe it or not, they really do mean everyone needs to stay out until 1, though many special people tried to get to their cabins to drop their luggage (as if everyone else wasn’t lugging stuff around too). Most landings had staff posted to keep people out of the hallways, but I sometimes find it frustrating how people start off arguing about what they should be allowed to do or that they just want to do whatever …. in my eyes, the price of early embarkation is lugging your carry-ons for an hour or so.

My single instance of “upsetting” service happened during this time and is very minor, but it made me mad, so here it is … we sat in the couch at Vintages on the Promenade with our bags at 12:40 or so to people-watch for a few minutes before we were allowed to go to our cabins. We had our bags with us, so obviously we were just hanging out, and were approached by a waiter at about 12:55 and asked to purchase a drink. When we politely refused, he stomped away, smacking the back of one of the nearby couches. I understand people having bad days so I never looked for his name or included him on the comment card or anything, but I’m glad to say that service only improved for the rest of the cruise.

Cabin

We booked an inside guarantee and were placed in 6509 which is an inside cabin at the very front of the ship. Some might moan about the location, but I found it to be very quiet except for the running children on the deck above (yes, when children run, everyone on the deck below can hear it). I also didn’t notice any disproportionate movement up front. It was a bit of a walk, but hey, that’s healthy right?

The cabin seemed to be kept in good shape. It felt slightly roomier than the inside promenade room I had had on my last voyage, probably because the beds fit better in the room. There was plenty of storage space for everything, and the cabin had what appeared to be a new safe. The bathroom included the Voyager-class and above standard shower door which I truly appreciate. Water was clean and the temperature control worked well … all great. There was a mini-bar with the usual sodas and candy that we left alone.

Muster Drill

I typically don’t write much about the muster drill, but I thought this one warranted reflection. I’ve had an intense summer job so I’ve not been on Cruise Critic much this summer and feel a bit out of the loop. However, we were told that we were the first cruise on the Mariner where passengers were asked to leave their life vests in their cabins and just report to their muster stations (which were printed very largely on the SeaPass).

I may have differing opinions on this than others, but by not taking the life vest, the whole thing seemed completely worthless. Perhaps it makes a difference because we were seated in a lounge, but no one paid attention during the entire drill. Seriously, everyone was chatting with traveling companions or on the phone during the entire drill, even when the cruise director or captain was talking. When it came time for a crew member to demonstrate putting on a life vest, our station’s crew member (who I was sitting next to), grabbed the vest, started to unhook it, then noticed that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE was paying attention to him and simply set the vest back down. I don’t know if it was different out on the decks or in different venues, but I know in the Lotus Lounge that the room was lost. No one wanted to or could control the room, and thus none of the passengers took it seriously. Personally, I felt this was a failure of this more lax program. Yes, it’s wonderful not to have to wear the vest or worry about tripping over it or hearing people blow on their darn whistles, but the cost seemed to be even more loss of attention at an important and mandatory event that already had only a tenuous grasp on people’s attentions as it was.

Ports

I know everyone really wants to know about the ports and tours. I only went on one tour, but I’ll give whatever info I can and what I heard around the ship.

Cabo

Cabo is the first stop (Tuesday) and it is a tender port, meaning there are not docking facilities for the Mariner. In other words, you must load onto smaller ships (or tenders) in order to get to land. We shared the port with Carnival Elation but there seemed to be plenty of tenders for both. It is a short trip to land in the tenders (5-10 minutes) and the bouncing wasn’t too bad though you might want to make sure you take seasickness meds if you are prone to getting ill with movement.

I don’t have the exact time in my head, but I believe that tendering started in between 9-9:30 AM. There are no tender tickets as you just board when you are ready to go. Morning tours usually had specific areas in the ship to meet and tender over. There was an announcement made about 11 AM or so that there was a glut of people trying to get off at once, so it seems like either before 11 or after 12 or so is probably the best time to get off without having to wait in lines.

Not in any rush, we ate lunch onboard (starting at 11:30) and tendered over at about 1. Huge surprise here, but it was quite warm with temperatures ranging between 100-115 degrees Fahrenheit. Without a tour booked we got off just to walk around the dock area which is very built up though a lot of construction seemed to still be going on. We ended up going to the Hard Rock Café for a pin for my mom’s collection as there were advertising signs and directions. It was about a 20 minute walk to the Hard Rock which was fairly busy with only a few employees selling merchandise (though I wasn’t going to complain about waiting in the air conditioning). We continued around the dock area and ended up making the complete trip to the public beach at the opposite shore from where our tender docked. This was quite a walk and along the way quite a few merchants, tour operators, and water taxi drivers were trying to solicit business (but nothing too aggressive). Once we reached the beach, we turned and walked back to the tender, probably a 30-40 minute walk. There were multiple shopping and food opportunities along this path. I took note of drink prices and didn’t notice any “deals” to be had further away from the tender area. The typical deal for drinks seemed to be 2-for-1 mixed drinks (like margaritas) and a bucket of 6 beers for about $8-10 that might or might not include chips and salsa. I was slightly interested in going to Cabo Wabo, but the road it was on was being ripped apart and with the heat, I wasn’t feeling adventurous.
We returned to the ship at about 3 and there was a small line for the tender back (we waited maybe 5 minutes or so). Returning to the ship you need to put your items through the scanner and walk through a metal detector. The metal detector seemed set very high as both my wallet and buckles on my sandals set it off. They appeared to be diligent about confiscating liquor for return the last sea day.

Word around the ship was that Cabo was the best stop at this itinerary to do watersports as it has the clearest water. It was also pointed out later that Cabo is the most “foreign tourist” oriented resort down on the West coast of Mexico meaning higher prices and less “authentic” surroundings.

Mazatlan

Wednesday’s stop was Mazatlan which has pier facilities for the Mariner to dock, though it is in an industrial area so passengers still need to board a trolley to get out of the dock area. The Mariner docked at around 8 AM I believe in Mazatlan.

We decided to take a tour through the ship in this port, so we signed up for the “Artisans and Tequilla factory” tour. It was advertised as a 6-hour tour offering insight into leather-working and tequila with a stop in a small town, a stop at a tequila factory, and an authentic Mexican meal for $55/pp. The tour was to meet at 8:45, so we debarked the ship at about 8:30 and found our air-conditioned bus waiting outside. The tour took us out of Mazatlan to the small town of La Noria which was about a 40 minute drive through which the guide offered information about Mexico and the local area. Once in the town, we were taken to a leather shop where we were shown some finished saddles, belts, and huaraches and were given the opportunity to purchase a made-to-order belt embossed with a name for $10. We were then taken across the street to see huaraches being made and purchase them if so desired. Also for sale were leather masks (think wrestling) and small leather coin purses.

**Funny note: Four young ladies decided to take this tour (my guess is for the tequila) and I’ve never seen such ridiculous people in my life. Every stop prompted them to find something to send them running and screaming to the bus such as ants and believe it or not, a toad. I guess the tour description did not mention that this tour would not be taking place in a shopping mall and that there would be the possibility of NATURE.

After leaving the shop area, we were taken to the local church and allowed to go in and look at it even though we were wearing our touristy clothes such as shorts (many of the tours including churches noted that long pants were required to enter). Leaving the church we went to a tortilla factory where we were offered samples of fresh, still-warm corn tortillas. After that, we loaded back on the bus and made our way to the tequila factory. Cold bottled water was made available by the tour operators.

The tequila factory is was named Los Osuna and was actually on the same driveway as the canopy tours. Our guide gave some interesting information tequila and the process of making it. When we arrived, we were shown through the factory which seemed to be pretty much not in use at this time of the season though there were a few vats of agave being distilled. After walking through the factory and seeing the machines used, we were taken to a nice patio where a bar was setup with tequila shots, limes, and salt. The tequila was quite nice and you could have as many shots as you wanted. I did a few and purchased a bottle of the tequila for $30 (it is also sold in a booth in the shops by the ship but I was afraid to ask how much it cost there). I found out when I got home that this brand is not exported, so this was my only chance to get it.

After our “tasting,” we were taken to the newer resort area in Mazatlan for lunch at a place I believe was called La Spectaculaire which appeared to be a dinner/dance venue. The lunch was quite nice and consisted of a tamale, a taco, an enchilada, beans, rice, and dessert. Drinks offered were soda and beer. My dad and I sat with a couple from Arizona and they assured us that this really was quite good, traditional Mexican food (what do we know, we’re from Indiana ). I found the food to be very good and given that it caused no later problems, I was happy with the meal.

After eating, we loaded back in the bus and were taken to the Golden Zone for about 45 minutes of shopping before returning to the ship (you could stay and get your own transportation back if you wished). We cut through the shops to the beach and spent most of our time there. The vendors and taxi drivers in the Golden Zone were definitely more aggressive than in other areas and by the end of 45 minutes, I was ready to return. We were dropped off at the shops at the port and needed to load into the trolley to go back to the ship. They were again confiscating liquor but missed my bottle so I kept it instead of giving it up … and no, I didn’t drink it.

A few observations about bus tours:
Here’s my problem with cruise bus tours in general … you always get at least one person out of 40 who does not care about anyone else and try to make the experience worse for everyone else. Thankfully with my experience and skills I can instantly spot most of these people (perhaps a self-fulfilling prophesy, but who knows). The basic gripes however tend to fall into these categories:

The person who is always late or otherwise make everyone wait on him/her.
The person/people who decide to change seats in the middle of the tour, usurping someone out of the seats they’ve already claimed.
The loud talkers who make everyone on the bus listen to their in-person or phone conversation.
The kids who are being dragged along on the tour and would rather be anywhere else.

We were lucky enough to have one family take up all 4 positions which was a new record in my book.

The other problem with these tours, in my eyes, is that they always seem to be more about selling you stuff than showing stuff. We didn’t learn a whole lot about leather, but there was a lot we could buy. We weren’t show a lot about tequila, but there was stuff to buy, etc. I enjoyed this tour and would recommend it to those who would like a smaller-town experience and are interested in tequila, but it fell slightly short in the “education” department in favor of the “selling” department.

Puerto Vallarta

I’m sad to say that I don’t have a lot to write about PV. We had planned to go to the Dreams all-inclusive resort for the day in Nuevo Vallarta for $43/pp, but I had a bad headache this day necessitating mucho ibuprofen and making me think that perhaps mixing that with copious all-inclusive drinks may not be the best idea. Instead we just got off the ship, walked around the port area, and returned. The taxi drivers and vendors were once again aggressive and there was a decent amount of shops right off the ship with traditional Mexican items like tequila, leather, hats, and vanilla. On the other side of the ship there was a Walmart and Sam’s Club visible that looked fairly walkable though you had to cross what looked to be a very busy street. The biggest raves I heard on the ship about tours were the dolphin ones offered in PV. This was the stop with the longest time available to do activities off the ship.

Dining

My Time Dining

Since we booked so late, early dinner was filled. We took late seating but figured we’d look into MTD on the ship as our gratuities were supposedly prepaid and because my dad was extremely reluctant to start dinner at 8:30. When we arrived onboard and found the WJ closed, we headed to look at our assigned table on deck 5. On the way out, we spoke to Gary, who was in charge of MTD. Upon speaking to him, he urged us to sign up for MTD if we were leaning towards it as he only had 20 spaces left (only 420 MTD spaces) and figured that many other people would also be trying to get into MTD. We filled out the prepaid gratuities form and he switched us on the spot, giving us a reservation for 6:15 that first night.

So the question is, I’m sure, how was MTD?

Well, I found it to be a mixed bag. Let’s start with the positives. We were able to keep a standard 6:30 reservation each night, and Gary immediately recognized us whenever we came up to his podium. We found the service to range from good to excellent, spending a few days with different waitstaff though they all seemed to work the same area every night. For those of you who wish to have tables for two, that seemed to be the primary function of MTD as there were many set up (though for some tables you might as well be sitting with other people as you are close enough to them to eavesdrop on their conversations and snatch food off of their plates). If you come to the table at the right time in the waiter’s rotation of order-taking and serving, you can also eat much faster meals … a few nights we were in and out in 1-1.25 hours.

There were some negatives with MTD though. The first night we sat at a table for 6, then afterwards constantly were assigned tables for 2. We probably could have rectified this by requesting bigger tables, but evidently few people want to eat with strangers. Another problem was the line that would form to “check-in” for MTD. On some nights there seemed to be several hosts while other nights it seemed that Gary was in charge of checking the computer, printing a seating assignment, taking guests to their table, and then handing them menus. Even if that process only takes a few minutes, it meant that if two parties were ahead of you, you were standing around for what seemed like an irritatingly long time to be seated. There were also some faults in service a few nights where it seemed like our orders were held until the waiter took the orders from people who arrived 10-15 minutes after us, which meant at some points we’d be sitting with empty plates in front of us for 10-15 minutes.

**Pet Peeve: Those of you who have read my reviews before know my dining room pet peeve, but I’ll reiterate it just because I like ranting sometimes. In this age where people are hyper-sensitive to using hand sanitizers and are otherwise germophobic, WHY IN THE WORLD do people insist on twirling their napkins above their head when the waiters dance through the dining room? I mean, all you are doing is FLINGING YOUR CRUMBS at other people using a napkin sling. In understand “getting into” the situation, but isn’t clapping enough? Oh well … with MTD we did manage to avoid most of the dining room “shows” (one thing that RCCL truly has over Carnival … only a few routines as opposed to every night).

**Interesting side note: We talked to Gary about the seemingly laborious process of MTD and he flat-out stated that in six months or so he believed that all dinners in the dining room would be MTD. I’m not sure how this would work with tips and timing, but I thought that was interesting.

Food Quality

I’ve been a bit of a nay-sayer on RCCL’s food for a little while and I suppose it will continue though with a caveat. I think the food is very good considering how mass-produced it is. If we want to compare it to the “glory days” of cruising, then of course belts have been tightened. On a few nights in the dining room I wasn’t sure what I wanted to order for a main course while on other nights I had to pick-and-choose. For the “lobster” lovers the fisherman’s platter made an appearance on Friday night, the last formal night, replete with a tiny tail and a few scrawny shrimp (that were well cooked, however). Desserts tended to be disappointing in the dining room in my opinion though there had been a few improvements along with a cake dessert suspiciously similar to Carnival’s chocolate melting-cake (though unfortunately not offered every night like on that other line). I’ll reiterate my RCCL dessert rule:

**The Jiggle Test: If you tap your dessert and it jiggles (and is anything other than Jello), immediately discard the dessert so that you don’t offend your palate with the mushy, gel-like substance that RCCL sometimes fills desserts with instead of a cream-based mixture. Cheesecake should not jiggle. Chocolate cake should not jiggle.

The biggest drop in food quality in my eyes really seemed to be in the WindJammer. I ate several lunches there and was just underwhelmed every time. The salad and fries were fine, but the burgers and hotdogs had their traditional weird tastes and textures and the rest of the food seem to vary very little and was overcooked and under-seasoned. I know that’s what you get with buffets, but I was still less than thrilled. Breakfast in the WJ still offered an egg station (except on debarkation day) that was well-run and appreciated.

Service

As I mentioned before, service in the dining room was good to excellent. The same was true in the WJ as most of the waiters were very quick to clear plates and offer to fetch plates. Only on one morning did everyone seem to be walking around as if they were in daze making me get the feeling there had been a crew party the night before. I did feel that the greeters for the WJ seemed less enthusiastic than the ones I’ve encountered on other ships.

Lunch in the MDR

Lunch in the main dining room was only offered on sea days and seemed to be a fairly popular affair. In my eyes, the best bet was the “get in line and select your ingredients” chopped salads as I loved loading my salad with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto. The menu options were mostly fixed and there didn’t seem to be a beef hamburger on the menu, only a turkey burger.

**Introvert warning: Lunch in the main dining room is open seating in that you don’t have a set table but the waitstaff seats you to fill the tables. Evidently this was a horrible idea to many people as EVERY TIME my dad and I were seated at a table, the other already there would stare at each other for a second, put down their napkins, and then get up and leave or request a private table. Seriously, this has happened to me about 4 of the last 6 times I’ve gone to lunch in the MDR and I find it a tad aggravating. I’m assuming it’s nothing personal, but either people need to be more vociferous that they want a private table or the dining room needs to somehow explain how seating works. I’ve not eaten in the MDR for breakfast in several cruises but I’d imagine that the same ratio would hold.

Chops

My first experience in Chops was on the Brilliance a few years ago and it was less than worth the cover-charge. I was reluctant to go again, but I like visiting a specialty restaurant once a cruise and Chops was the only restaurant available on the last night due to a Portofino wine event. Thankfully, Chops this visit was excellent. I strayed from beef to have the halibut and found it to be an extremely well done, if small, portion. My dad had a NY strip that was also perfect as well as a baked potato that he’s still raving about. By the end of the meal it was hard to fit that too-decadent mud pie but I managed (good thing I had a small fish portion ).

Café Promenade

The café is always a great snack stop on the Promenade with breakfast items in the morning, cookies, sandwiches, and pizza (though I find RCCL’s pizza bad enough that I haven’t touched it in three cruises). Free coffee is also available at the other end of the café (ie, self-serve) and there was also a station setup for self-serve water next to the cookies. The café (especially the back part) seemed to be a hangout for the older teens in the evening as it offered free food and the illusion of privacy (though their conversations would carry).

Staff and Crew

Except for the one small incident mentioned earlier, I thought that almost every crew member I encountered on the Mariner acted both professionally and friendly. I never felt pressured to buy drinks and as I observed others, bartenders didn’t seem as disinterested as I’ve seen in the past to fill soda card orders.

My dad and I both enjoyed the cruise director’s staff members we encountered in our multiple trivia encounters. Our favorites were Laura from Canada and Sara from New Zealand as both kept the games interesting even when there were few players. We got some time to talk with them and both had some very interesting stories about their time with the company, how they’d gotten there, etc.

The cruise director was Abe and I enjoyed what he brought to the stage. I didn’t see him quite as much as I saw Ken Rush in May, but Abe seemed approachable and honestly enjoying his job. The captain was Captain Per and it was quite obvious that he had a sense of humor as well.

Shows

As usual, there was only one Welcome Aboard show between both dinners which is a pain considering the amount of people who want to attend strains the capacity of the theater. The acts were a juggler and RCCL staple Ivan Pecel (who I still find hilarious) and a comedian who was successful in driving me from the theater. That same comedian gave an adult show later in the cruise that I had heard was better but his humor was not exactly my cup of char.

There were two production shows and quite frankly I skipped both of them as I’ve finally cruised enough that my threshold of entertainment for these “variety” shows has dipped below what it takes to motivate me to attend. One thing that I’m interested in with Oasis is the production of a cohesive show (Hairspray) … that kind of theater I’m definitely more interested in than random dancing and singing from Broadway and then pop that has existed on just about every cruise I’ve ever taken.

The show on another night was the magic of LaRaf. I had seen these guys in May and thought it was a decent show. As I watched this time I wondered just how many drinks I had downed in the concierge lounge in May because this time, the show was horrible. A PowerPoint played while people took their seats and it featured spelling errors along with font choices so horrible that some of the information was rendered unreadable. Unfortunately the show was no better and felt more like a guy who invites you over to his apartment to show you tricks he just bought off of eBay. Every single one of them was easy to figure out, and Larry and Rafael just didn’t seem to be very enthusiastic. Comments like “we just performed for the Queen” (which I assumed was probably the name of their cat or something) only made my eyes roll even more.

The other specialty act was Mosaic, which is an acappella group of guys. I must say that their show was extremely impressive and received quite a great reception from the crowd. Sitting on the far side of the balcony, I found it interesting that a large number of officers snuck in to see the group perform so interest had obviously been stirred. This show was definitely one of the entertainment highlights.

The one certain entertainment highlight on a Voyager-class or above ship, though, is of course the ice show. Mariner’s show is called “Ice under the Big Top” and was once again excellent. There are about four shows offered: one on the first formal night and others throughout the week. No tickets are needed as it is first come, first serve. The costumes are fun and the skating was very good with some stunts that were truly amazing. The special guests were a quick-change act which was good but perhaps less exciting than the ring act I’ve seen on several ships.

**Side entertainment: Every venue, including the ice show, had announcements stating that the saving of seats was prohibited. This, of course, was ignored because there were many special people onboard who are exceptions to this rule (and I’m not talking about holding a seat while someone goes to the restroom here … I’m talking about two people trying to hold down a whole row). Here is my description of what I saw without having any idea what “really” happened. There are three ladies: Lady A, Lady B, and Lady C. Lady A shows up at the show and claims 6 seats for the two of her party that are there in the first row along the side of the rink. Lady B is sitting in the second row and, as far as I know, is a stranger from Lady B. Lady C is sitting in the section facing the front of the ice. As Studio B fills, for something like 20 minutes, Lady A explains to people that come down to the seat that they are reserved … after all there are 4 empty seats, ending on the main aisle, in the first row along the ice … pretty attractive to everyone. The lights go down and the people in Lady A’s party still have not arrived. More people come into the area which now has no or very few seats together, see those empty seats, and are still shooed away by Lady A. By this point, people are sitting in the stairways and the lights are dimmed as the show has started. Lady C gets up from her seat, crosses the gap to the side section, and tells the couple sitting in the aisle that they should sit in the empty seats as there is no seat-saving allowed. At this point Lady A says that the seats are still hers. Lady B, behind Lady A, then gets into it with Lady C and both scream and point at each other with Lady B jabbing her purse into Lady A. Lady C eventually goes back to her seat, but Lady B is still screaming at her across the ice and making gestures (remember, the show is also going at this point). A minute or two later security arrives along with a large male waiter and they talk to each lady individually (and take their SeaPass cards, I think). After about 5 minutes of back-and-forth with security, the ladies are allowed to stay and the people in the aisles are given the empty seats that still haven’t been filled 10 minutes into the show.

So what can be done? Does RCCL need Seat Patrol positions as well as the Deck Patrol ones? For some reason, passengers on this cruise seemed to run hot and self-centered. In a completely different situation at the same ice show, two ladies were trying to reserve the entire row in front of where I was sitting. People tried to sit there and were sent away. A waitress came up and said told the ladies that there was no saving of seats, at which she was told that they were part of a party of 35, paying a lot of money to the company, so she could mind her own business. Of course what happened? The rest of their party was sitting elsewhere so after shooing people away for 10 minutes, the ladies then went to join everyone else, leaving the row open. Just fly-on-the-wall observations but the way people act and treat other people always fascinates me ….

The Farewell show featured Ivan Pecel again along with a new comedian, both of whom I enjoyed. I also enjoyed Abe’s video about “his” cabin. I wished that the sales pitch for the Cruise in Review DVD were a bit shorter, but that’s the price for going to the last show.

As for other entertainment, sorry to say that I didn’t really attend any other live music or performer events. My dad was less than enthusiastic about the singers in the Lotus Lounge. The parades are fun but not worth lining up for more than an hour ahead of time as some people appeared to be doing (I’ll admit that parades of any kind are not really my thing anyway).

Meet and Mingle

We had a fairly sedate M&M as we barely made it past the 25 cutoff. I'm guessing maybe 15 people attended the event and there were so many prizes that maybe 3-4 people didn't win something. This event was attended by the M&M organizer and one of the cruise director's staff.

Crown and Anchor

Being a diamond member, this cruise I received my coupon book and access to the concierge lounge. The coupon book, as many have reported, was close to worthless. I believe I redeemed my free coffee drink coupon, my internet coupon, and my "spin to win" coupon and that's it. All other coupons were either uninteresting, had no relevance (Alaskan cruise-tours only), had ridiculous restrictions (20% your 2nd bottle of wine over $100) or were BOGO (wine, milkshakes at Johnny Rocket's after paying the cover charge). These coupons were quite a change from the nice, old books I received on my PNW Mariner crusie where they had old books and left all of the goodies in (free photo, etc). I was surprised, however, that we received a very heavy, nice RCCL tote-bag as a C&A gift, especially considering we I did not receive a gift on my May Mariner cruise ... not sure if this is using up the inventory or a reinstatement of perks.

As for the Concierge Lounge, it was ever-so-crowded before first dinner, when a majority of the guests onboard appeared to be eating. Long lines and no seats were common as an alternate venue was not opened up for this sailing. After 6:00 the place quieted down so that's when we made our appearance before our 6:30 standing MTD reservation. The crew working the conceirge lounge, however, were obviously working hard at pleasing as many people as they could.

There was a platinum and above party on the second formal night with the standard drinks, dancing, and comments.

Upsell

There were occasional announcements on the loudspeaker for Bingo, but I didn't notice other sales calls for the shops or standard Inch-of-Gold. There seemed to be more opportunities to spend this trip though as a caricature artist and a generic "build a bear" have been added to the Royal Promenade. I suppose this is just a taste of what Oasis will be like with even more opportunities to "make your cruise vacation even more special." Art auctions were packed and evidently there were still healthy lines for Johnny Rocket's and Ben and Jerry's.

Debarkation

Debarkation offerings were both express (walk off with your bags) and traditional (put your bags out the night before and pick them up off the ship). We opted for express departure which was scheduled to leave around 8:15 on the last morning. This offered plenty of time for breakfast at either the main dining room or the WindJammer (though no egg station the last morning). Express departure people were to wait in either the Schooner Bar or Casino and of course people started lining up early. By 7:45 or so it was standing room only with new-parking in the middle of the hallway instead of heading towards the "back" of the line. Debarkation started on time though it was the usual mess. Without anyone watching or enforcing the line, side-lines formed from shorter routes cutting off those who had been waiting as they were supposed to. There were the usual amount of pushy people shoving their way through the line and counting that no one would say anythign to them. As I mentioned in an ealier post, one lady send her daughter weaving through the line, then followed with the bags saying "I need through to catch up to my daughter." She the proceeded to hold up the entire line because she had packed her SeaPass ... typical.

We were off quickly, however, with customs taking only a cursory glance at our declaration ... not like with the Monarch's old terminal where you had to stop at a desk. We were at the curb by 8:30 or so (debarkation actually started at around 8:05, even while still calling for international people to check-in). There is an island in the middle of traffic to pick-up shared-ride shuttle as both SuperShuttle and PrimeTime have representatives at the pier (no need for a reservation).

This will be a little wierd, but I actually booked our departure out of Ontario Airport (ONT). Flying out of any closer airport was about $100/pp more and I booked a SuperShuttle shared-ride van there for $70 for the two of us. This evidently did not sit well with the driver, however, as he was visibly upset at having to take us to ONT and started questioning when we had arrived as if one of the other drivers had turned us down to take a more lucrative jaunt to LAX. After waiting for 20 minutes or so, our driver loaded some passengers to John Wayne Airport and we departed. Since we had to go to Orange County first, our little excursion to ONT ended up taking about 1.5 hours, though thankfully we had plenty of time with our flight. So I guess my advice is, make sure you book an afternoon flight if you are going out of ONT and be prepared to have a sour driver.

Parting Words

OK ... finally at the end. This was a nice cruise with some interesting stops. The Mariner is a great ship and has a friendly, outgoing crew. If pricing worked out I wouldn't mind doing this cruise again as there seemed to be plenty to do both on land and on the ship.

My next review will probably be my Rhapsody adventure in Australia/New Zealand over Christmas and New Years though who knows what will happen in between. Thanks for your patience with my review, I know that it's what you would call very long and scattered, but I hope you enjoyed the ride.

The unfinished reviews .....

2009-07-12T06:47:00.000-07:00

I've let my duties slip as cruise addict extraordinaire, and for that I apologize. To be fair, I've neglected both of my blogs since I got my summer internship, but I think this one deserves a little extra attention, so I'll be digging back through my archives to find my two cruise reviews that I haven't posted yet.

Here's a tease:

One is from February and it was a return to the Navigator on a 4-day jaunt to Cozumel.

One is from May and was one of the redirected Pacific Northwest cruises on the Mariner that was BY FAR the cheapest cruise I've ever been on on a per day basis.

Considering the fact that I'm heading back to the Mariner in under a month, I guess the May cruise went pretty well. ;)

Anyway, more reviews and commentary coming. I swear. :)

Champion or cheerleader?

2009-03-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

Story

OK Dave Thomas, here's the beef: There's a group of Cruise Critic members called the Royal Champions. They have been given this title from Royal Caribbean after analysis of their posts and have been invited to some events such as press conferences and a pre-inaugural cruise.

The charge: Some see these posters as corporate shills, essentially being paid off to toe the company line.

The defense: The Royal Champions claim that they have done nothing wrong. They have to pay their own hotel and travel fees to get to the free events. Some state they are shocked that they were contacted because they are sometimes critical of the cruise line.

Where I stand: I've noticed the Royal Champions (at least the ones who identified themselves on their posts) for many months. Though it was never clear what the distinction meant, I knew that many selected were long-time, fairly fervent supporters of Royal Caribbean. I believe the Champions are correct on one point: they are all not cheerleaders. Don't get me wrong, there are a few members who I could point out (but won't) that exist in the community completely bathed in their bias (the company is perfect, the company is awesome, I've never cruised another line and never will, etc), but let's face it, these people are pretty easy to identify and ignore anyway because they obnoxiously advertise their beliefs without being able to identify that they have painted themselves as company clowns. Other Champions, though, I respect (even if I sometimes don't agree with) because they are well-versed, well-spoken, and will call out the company on things they don't like.

The verdict: Cruise Critic has strict guidelines where travel agents, tour operators, and cruise line employees are supposed to make their affiliations known to help ensure that the community is filled with people helping people, not shills or people-with-something-to-gain helping people. Everyone has a bias. However, special favors, even if the Champions complain about their cost or say they are not influenced by them, have a suspicious feel to them by their very nature. In my mind, as long as the Royal Champions advertise their affiliation (which many already do) like any other affiliated person, I have no problems with their presence or their title.

When does being critical become being nit-picky?

2009-02-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

You know, I've had several people tell me, either in person or in private, that they think my reviews cruise reviews skew toward being negative. I decided to take a fresh look at the ones I've posted on this blog and, to be honest, I just don't see it. Let me say, straight off, that not a single one of the cruises I've blogged about would I describe as a completely negative experience. I enjoyed each and every one of them and have not a single bit of regret for taking them. With that being said, however, I do bring up negative aspects in each sailing.

Why?

Well, I see it all as part of a review. If I notice something and comment about it in my review, it is obviously something that I have spent time thinking about. Am I jaded? Absolutely. There's no way to go on 20+ cruises and not have the experience lose a little bit of its shine. Nothing will live up to that first cruise, in my opinion ... the food, activities, ship ... they are all awesome because a) it is unlike anything you've experienced before and b) you have nothing to compare against. However, after so many cruises, yes I do think about food quality, cleanliness of the public and cabin areas, etc, and I write about them. I don't think I've ever told anyone not to take a cruise because the food was inedible or the chairs were ripped up. However, both are indicators of a company's priorities, and seem like fair game. I'm generally not talking about one-time occurrences or issues that are resolved within minutes of happening.

One other thing ... when I'm on a cruise, I don't spend it ranting about the small issues I see, though I may put them on the comment card. Believe me, I don't find a rust-spot on the exterior and jump up and down and point at it for every crew member and passenger that walks by. I probably don't even give it too much thought, though if it is a recurring issue, it may get filed away for later.

In the end, I think that my commentaries/reviews are even-handed ... and yes, I do put my money where my mouth (or keyboard) is. I've written letters to both Carnival and Royal Caribbean about my experiences, positive and negative. In both cases, I've received responses thanking me for taking the time to write and, in the case of Royal Caribbean, I received a call thinking me for my kind letter.

In the end, I'm going to keep reviewing cruises the way I have been and just count that the people who disagree with me will either ignore me or at least offer interesting discussion. I've never once dismissed someone's opinion because I have cruised more than them, though I have dismissed people who could not explain themselves out of paper bag. Anonymity in online forums can have a price, and that price in my eye is accountability. People can advertise themselves as being whoever, and use that as their sole authority. This is my blog, bearing my real name, and my posts on Cruise Critic are stamped with a link here as well as my real picture. This is who I am, I write what I think, and I am secure enough about my opinions that I claim them with my true identity. I'm not saying that's necessary or even a good idea, but my agenda and my writing will not be dictated by those who use rhetoric in place of argument.

END RANT

My review: Jewel of the Seas (12/19-12/29/08)

2009-01-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

Quips, quirks, and biases

One of the great things about cruise vacations is that, in many cases, they are what you make of them. Because of that, I always like to include this little introductory section where I describe where I'm coming from, as context definitely colors any review. This was my 11th cruise on Royal Caribbean, and 21st cruise overall. I've been "loyal to Royal" lately because I like their ships, have received competitive pricing, enjoy the C&A perks, and enjoy the OBC I receive for NextCruise bookings. I have been trying to sail on the Jewel for a few years as it was my grandma's favorite ship. She was a huge RCCL fan (she made it on the brand-new Freedom two weeks before cancer took her) and she was the person that got my parents and I cruising.

This cruise was booked in the summer of 2008 when there were some decent cruise rates and very good airfares to get from Indianapolis to Miami. This was a "family" trip in that I shared a room with my parents (both Diamond members) and because it would span both Christmas and my parents' 31st anniversary. We originally booked an inside cabin, but in early fall, as a present, I called up and upgraded us to an E1 balcony on the hump (8086). Not only was it a balcony, but it also had a sofabed which I preferred to a pullman.

Pre-Cruise

Last year when I tried to cruise in December, Indianapolis was hit with a huge snowstorm the day of my flight and the plane barely made it out. This year we took two precautions: we bought trip insurance (through insuremytrip) and we also planned on spending the night before in Miami (which we always prefer doing, especially during the winter). Well, sure enough, as we drove to the airport on th 18th, everyone was abuzz about the "big ice storm" heading into the area ... great. When we arrived at the airport at 1:30 for our 3:30 non-stop flight to Miami, everything seemed to be on track. However, at around 3:00, when there was no plane at the gate, it was announced that our inbound flight had been delayed and that our new departure time would be 4:19 (edging closer to when that ice storm was scheduled to move in). At this point, I pulled out my laptop, and utilizing the free wi-fi offered at the Indy airport, started in on my quest to figure out where our plane actually was. Our departure time was still 4:19, but at 4:00, I felt this was very optimistic considering the plane our plane was still on the ground in St. Louis (which had already gotten the ice). I started feeling a little better at 4:15 when the plane was listed as "In Transit", and I felt even better when it suddenly showed up at a little after 5. In the end, we took off at 5:30 and beat the ice by a few hours ... whew.

Because of the usual delays, as described above, we arrived in Miami at 8:30 instead of 6:30, making a long day even longer. In my haste to get this trip booked and paid for as early as possible, I was perhaps a little too loose with my Priceline bidding (instead of waiting for a better deal in a better area) and got the 3-star Holiday Inn - Miami Airport West (Doral) for a bid of $55. This hotel was, in my opinion, at the very boundary of what could be considered an "airport" hotel, and their airport shuttle only ran once an hour. Once we had collected our bags, we called about the shuttle but, being tired, decided to take a cab instead of waiting the 30 minutes for the shuttle's scheduled arrival. The cab ride ended up being about $23.

Once at the hotel, the desk clerk was very nice (though asked for no forms of ID) and gave us a non-smoking room with two beds even though we were of course booked in a "Priceline" room that was a king-smoking room. The room was nothing special, but it seemed clean and did offer free, if slow, wi-fi. Being late, we walked next door to the Doral Ale House for dinner which was fairly tasty, had good drink specials, and was packed for the Indy-Jacksonville NFL game.

The next morning we strolled around the neighborhood to find perhaps a cheaper breakfast than what was offered by the Holiday Inn. The neighborhood seemed very walkable and well-kept (unlike some of the war-zone areas I've seen in Miami). We turned right and found absolutely nothing (besides Carnival's headquarters). We then headed back the other way and found a Dunkin' Donuts in a strip mall. After a quick breakfast, it was back to the room to get ready to leave for the ship. We debated on whether or not to take the free shuttle back to the airport to catch a fixed-rate cab to the port or to just have the hotel call us a cab. We went with the latter, and after a 15-minute wait, our cab arrived. A 20-minute and $40 cab ride later*, we arrived at the Port of Miami and unloaded in the shadow of the Jewel of the Seas ....

*Note: There were obviously cheaper ways to operate, but the time-value of money and the fact we were a party of three made some of the more-expensive choices bearable. Traveling by myself, it would have been the cheapest route, all the way ....

Embarkation

We arrived at the port around 11:30. We gave our bags to the porters with a $3 tip (for 3 bags), and then headed into the terminal where we went through the check-in routine. Thankfully I have this down by now, and we entered with our passports and SetSail Pass in hand and breezed through while other parties had all of their stuff spread around the ground, trying to dig their documentation out. We went through the security checkpoint and, for this cruise, I didn't even ask about taking my laptop out ... I just sent it through and didn't hear a thing about it. Once through the security line, we proceeded to the priority check-in line, received our SeaPass cards, and were immediately able to have our security pictures taken and board the ship before noon ... a very smooth process.

Cabins, of course, were not available until 1:00, so we headed to the Windjammer for lunch (with the requisite offering of honey stung chicken) and then explored the ship. As we walked around the ship, it was kind of amazing a) how many people were forcing themselves through the fire doors to get to cabins early or b) how many people were sitting in the stairwells waiting for the cabins to open. But oh well ... I digress .... We checked our dining room assignment and found that we had been assigned to early seating (as requested ... my dad likes to eat early) at table 532, which was in the Tides dining room in the far back. From what I could tell, the other side of this dining room level was used to accommodate those who were on My Time Dining.

The muster drill was at 4:30 and it was extended by people who decided they could try to skip the drill. In a first for me, the captain came on several times and explained that he would not release anyone until all muster stations had checked in with a complete roster ... leading to stragglers appearing 10-15 minutes into the drill. The muster drill was conducted in both English and Spanish, with each section of it done first in one language, then the other. This seemed to work better than other ships that do the entire thing in English and then move to Spanish because it keeps the noise down from those who are "finished." There were thankfully few people blowing on their whistles and, a little later, the drill was over and the Jewel was leaving the Port of Miami.

The Ship

There is no doubt about it ... the Jewel is a beautiful ship. She is the second Radiance-class ship I've been on (I was on the Brilliance last year), but after being on several cruises in a row on a Voyager-class ship, the views of the ocean and the intimate "nooks and crannies" of the ship definitely offer a different feel. The centrum is the lynch-pin of the ship, topped by the Crown and Anchor Lounge on Deck 12 and running all of the way down to Deck 4. Off of the centrum come many of the major venues such as the Windjammer, Schooner Bar, and the dining rooms. The only major venues at the front of the ship are the Coral Theater, spa, and the Solarium. The Solarium is one of the most beautiful places I've seen on a cruise ship and proved to be a very relaxing place to spend time, especially when the ship was in port.

In terms of sport activities, the Jewel offers quite a lot, though not quite what a Voyager-class ship offers. There is a rock wall and mini-golf course on Deck 13, a golf-simulator, a half-court basketball setup, a few shuffleboard courts, and a few ping-pong tables right outside of the Windjammer. The main pool is cruiseship sized (ie, not large) and the hot tubs seemed usually fairly full.

I will say, however, that there are a few things that I do not like about the design of the ship. First of all, the elevators really seemed to be a choke point, especially since our cabin was right on the centrum, making those the most convenient elevators. I found the centrum elevators to often be too packed to accommodate any more guests by the time they reached deck 8, and this was especially true of the "outside" elevators (ie, elevators overlooking the ocean) which were the only ones that would go the Viking Crown (where the overflow concierge club was). A 5-10 minute wait for an elevator was not uncommon (my mom could not climb many flights of stairs), which was was sometimes frustrating. This was obviously a problem for others, as we'd run into "full" elevators trying to come down from the Viking Crown because people had ridden them all of the way up to ensure a spot down.

Another thing I dislike about this class of ship is walking decks. On the pool deck, the jogging track has many little turns and bends which makes it a pain to use once you throw in other walkers/joggers and people who move their chairs into the track to be a the "right angle." I usually enjoy walking on the lower outside deck (deck 5 in this case), but the deck did not circumnavigate the ship because of the helipad and, for some reason or another, was usually roped off outside at various points.

One more thing ... there were several activities occurring in the centrum each night, from a piano player to a 70s dance party. This was a nice central venue, but it made navigation around the centrum difficult at the choke points were clogged up. The area was also congested when the formal portrait stations were setup as they would take an entire aisleway.

Ok ... so my negatives are longer than my positives, but as you can see, they weren't a huge deal ... just things I thought I'd mention. Overall I left with a very positive impression of the Jewel, especially some of the gorgeous artwork on in the stairwells (and I think I encountered all of the art ... thanks full elevators).

Cabin

As I mentioned earlier, I upgraded our cabin from an inside to an E1 on the hump with a sofa bed. This was both a great and disappointing move. On one hand, the balcony was very large and shaped like a right triangle. It was large enough to have two chairs, one small table, and two full-sized loungers. On the other hand, the less said about the sofa bed, the better. I had had a full-sized sofa bed over the summer in a D1 on the Explorer and found it to be fairly comfortable. It turns out that the "sofa bed" in an E1 is essentially a love seat that folds out vertically so that there are three different, rolling sections. This meant that the bed was fairly narrow and also tended to roll apart at any movement on the bed ... not the most fun thing in the world.

As for the rest of the cabin, it was "standard" with two twins converting into a queen, plenty of storage space, a curtain divider, and fairly large closet. The furnishings seemed to be well taken care of. The TV offered the standard compliment of channels as well as the TV-based service system for checking account balances, buying excursions (when it worked), etc. A safe and a mini-fridge stocked with for-purchase sodas and snacks were available. The bathroom for some reason felt a little smaller than usual, but thankfully had the shower door instead of a curtain.

The cabin itself was located two cabins from the centrum and was located on the side with the glass elevators. This location meant that, whenever there were loud activities taking place in the centrum, they were somewhat audible in the room. At night when going to sleep (usually between 10-11) music could be heard, but not (at least for me) at an obnoxious level.

Crew and staff

On my last cruise on the Navigator, I commented that I thought that the crew was a little less than friendly in some cases. This definitely cannot be said about the crew I encountered on the Jewel. Everyone onboard that I met seemed pleasant and courteous, from my assigned waitstaff to the security guards. Service in the Windjammer was almost always outstanding with a greeter and waiters constantly clearing plates, offering to bring drinks, etc. The one time I was disappointed in the service in the Windjammer was during the casual dinner service during which not a single crew member interacted with me or my table.

I really enjoyed interacting with the activities staff on this cruise. Most of the activities I attended were hosted by either Amanda, Jason, or James, and they were all fun people who were easy to get along with and talk to. Roger on the sports staff was also fun to interact with. I'm a bit ashamed to admit this, but the only person I kind of avoided was Christina who, while she seemed very nice, had a very thick accent (she hosted all of the spanish trivia games) and was extremely difficult to understand, both when she hosted trivia and when she called numbers in Bingo.

As for our assigned crew members, it was a mostly positive experience with only a few exceptions. Our cabin steward did a good job of keeping things clean, but our cabin was never cleaned at a consistent time and, by the middle of the cruise, it was not being cleaned until afternoon even though we had put our "make up cabin" slip in the door at around 8:00 AM. This prompted a talk between my mother and the cabin steward who gave a few excuses but, after that, moved us earlier into his rotation. As usual, this issue would probably not have been a big deal if we had said something earlier, so I'm not really faulting the steward here.

Our waitstaff in the Tides dining room, Adrienne and Filip, were very good. At first our service was a touch on the slow side (with dinner finishing at about 8:00), but it sped up as the cruise progressed. Adrienne was very good at making suggestions and brining out backups or replacements if she thought someone was not enjoying his/her food. Filip was usually johnny-on-the-spot with my water glass which, I'll admit, is probably a full time job in itself. There were about four "singing" nights, about four too many in my book, but oh well (one thing I definitely DO NOT miss from Carnival).

**NOTE: OK ... here I'm going to step on a soap box and rant for a bit, so please feel free to ignore me if you wish. Throughout the cruise, in every Compass, there were guidelines for avoiding illness, including the suggestion for not shaking hands ... in other words, wash your hands thoroughly and be smart. Now I'll go back to my hated dancing and singing nights ... not only do I not enjoy making my hardworking waitstaff have to sing and dance for me, but once the music gets going, people start clapping and twirling their USED NAPKINS in the air. In other words, don't shake hands, but please send small food and saliva particles whipping indiscriminantly in the air. YUCK!

Fellow Passengers

Since this was a holiday cruise, there were of course quite a few families. My guess is that the ship was not quite used to organizing and ordering for so many kids ... and the only reason for this guess is that, by the end of the cruise, we were being offered Nestle 100% Jamaican cow milk ... though I guess there could be a milk spoilage issue on a 10-day cruise and I'm completely wrong ... so I guess I'll stop making assumptions. I'd say the average age of guests tended to be older, but I never felt like I was being overwhelmed by scooters and walkers by any means. I'd say that most passengers were American, but there were also quite a few Canadians and European passengers and all major announcements were done in English, Spanish, French, and German.

**Unscientific observation: OK ... I'm not posting this to offend anyone or point fingers, but I feel it necessary to discuss the presence of children on this cruise. In my experience, the kids start out the cruise out of sight for me, then slowly creep in at about day 6-7 as they become more comfortable roaming the ship and start to form "packs" (and I'm especially talking kids around middle-school age and higher here). The same could be said with this cruise, except that since it went for 3-4 more days, the behavior of the unsupervised kids became almost excruciating ... nothing too serious, but still shenanigans that really shouldn't have to put up with. The ones I personally witnessed are: pushing all elevator buttons, running from floor to floor to hit the elevator button to make it stop that way, kids sitting in the elevator playing cards, knocks on the door followed by giggles and running footsteps, and large groups sitting in the Windjammer screaming at each other and pushing their way in front of others at the food stations. I also heard stories about kids stealing room service door hangers, swapping "Make up cabin" and "Do not disturb" tags, and swiping unattended drinks at bars.

Food

I know that food is highly subjective, but here it goes ....

Main Dining Room

I found that I enjoyed almost everything I ordered from the main dining room. There isn't really anything that I would deem to be outstanding, but every night I was usually able to find at least one item that I would enjoy as well as a few others that I'd like to try. Formal nights featured standards like shrimp cocktail (which evidently can be ordered every night as long as it is ordered the night before), lobster bisque, and escargot. The fisherman's platter (complete with 3-4 garlic shrimp and a tiny lobster tail) appeared later in the cruise on a non-formal night. The special Christmas menu featured turkey and ginger items and was, to be honest, fairly forgettable. As usual with Royal Caribbean, desserts tended to be the weakest link in the meal with several very good ones and quite a few "blah" ones ... I found most of the cheesecakes disappointing and the other cakes to be a little dry.

We ate a few lunches in the dining room (even after being placed with the least friendly table I've ever encountered for the first lunch). The menus were never too exciting and, for any salad ordered, we were directed to the salad bar to have it made ourselves. I'll admit that the salad bar was very nice with different kinds of lettuce, vegetables, cheeses, meats, and dressings.

*Note: Dress codes in the dining room were not enforced. As some of you may know, I'm not much for dressing for formal night any more, but I still generally wear slacks and a polo shirt on regular nights and slacks, shirt, and tie on formal nights. On every night people with shorts and t-shirts were allowed in ... I know because we were seated with some of them (and no, it didn't ruin my dinner experience).

Windjammer

We ate every breakfast in the Windjammer, something we never used to do until we became disenfranchised with the dining room breakfast a few cruises ago. The offerings in the morning were fairly standard with various pastries, fruits, cereals, and breakfast meats available. There were also stations for carvery ham and fried eggs/omelets. There was sometimes a wait for the custom eggs which clogged things up as they would be cooking several at a time and have nowhere for those who had already been served to wait besides the queue or in front of other breakfast stations. I stuck with biscuits and gravy most mornings which always tasted a little sweet (I think the biscuits were sweetened).

**Note: I was told off one morning because I was waiting for my omelet and I tried to help the next lady order. She came up with a small child and ordered an egg. The cook asked her what she wanted ... over-easy, sunny-side up, etc, and she looked at him and said that she wanted an egg. I interceded and commented that the cook wanted to know how she wanted it cooked and she looked at me and screamed... I KNOW WHAT I"M DOING, I WANT AN EGG! Oh well ... so much for trying to help.

We also ate lunches in the dining room on port days. There were varied offerings each day with the standard pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, and pre-made sandwiches also offered. Most of this food was decent, though some was a bit bland and tasteless. I also found Windjammer desserts to be the most hit-or-miss, with the Jiggle Test usually being necessary. Baked items, such as cookies, were usually the safest bet.

**Note: The Jiggle Test (patent pending) is my method for determining which desserts served by Royal Caribbean have the best opportunity to have a pleasing taste/texture. I've found that many of their cakes and tarts have a nice topping, but are filled in the middle with a flavorless, nasty-textured gelatin which can be identified by its movement when placed on a jiggled plate. In my opinion, cheesecake, pie, and tiramisu SHOULD NOT jiggle. The Jiggle Test saved me from taking and tasting several unworthy desserts.

We ate dinner once in the Windjammer and I found it to be a less than stellar experience. First of all, since we were used to early seating, we went when it first opened at 6:30, which meant it was overrun with unsupervised children. Secondly, the food tended to be a little bland, even if it was the same dishes being served in the main dining room. There were several different stations offered at dinner, though. There was a sushi station where you could serve yourself various rolls and nigiri. There was a meat station that would cook you chicken, steak, or salmon. There was also a make-your-own personal pizza station, though that required a 20-minute wait as it was being cooked.

**Note: I can't imagine that this is or should be enforced, but on formal nights, the Compass listed that shorts were not allowed in the Windjammer for casual dinner.

Portofino

We ate at Portofino on Christmas Eve and about everything we ordered was wonderful. I had risotto, calamari, a Caesar salad, and the seafood skewer. My parents quite enjoyed their salads and fillets as well. The only issue we had was with the service. I understand that dinner takes time, but there were some large gaps in between courses and at 8:30, after we had finished with our dinner and it came time to order dessert, we informed our waiter that we would like it to go as we wanted to make the show at 9. It took him 25 minutes to get our desserts to us (even though he assured us he could "rush it" and we could enjoy them there at the table) and another 10 to get the bill sorted out (I had prepaid). When he came back, he gave excuses about being busy (we saw he had one other table). Sorry, but I did not leave any extra tip. He did fine, but I didn't see that he had earned anything over the "gratuities included" price.

**Note: Since I've been talking about rules ... the Compass listed that anyone under 13 years of age could only be seated at a 6 PM reservation. On this night, at least one family with a little girl who couldn't have been any older than 8 was seated at 8:00. Now she didn't make a peep through the whole dinner and was no problem at all ... but it is instances like this were rules are broken and people get upset. The people in the room could get upset because rules are not enforced (and maybe they wanted to bring a younger child, etc) or the family with the child could be upset when they are denied this same dinner on a future cruise.

Seaview Cafe

We only at at the Seaview Cafe once and were less than impressed. It reminded me a little of Johnny Rockets (though without the fee) with onion rings and all kinds of other fried foods. To sample things I ordered onion rings, the feathers and fingers (chicken drummettes and chicken strips), and a cuban sandwich. The rings were fine, the drummettes were the same that can be had through roomservice, the strips were the standard "institutional" breaded chicken strips, and the cuban sandwich was tiny and disappointing. My mom thought her rueben was decent, but nothing too exciting. Nathan's hoot dogs, burgers, other sandwiches, and desserts were also offered, but I did not sample any of them.

Entertainment

I need to a little disclaimer here, much to the disappointment of many, I'm sure. I took this cruise almost directly after (or technically starting during) my finals week. This unfortunately meant that most nights, I was pretty much done for the night by 10:30-11. I know, I should have bitten the bullet and done some late-night scouting for my Cruise Critic friends.

Production Shows

There were three production shows during the cruise ... a Broadway revu (From West End to Broadway or something like that), a second show that I have no idea about (something like City of Dreams), and Tango Buenos Aires. I went to the Broadway show, which was decent. The singers and dancers were good for the most part, but I didn't really care for some of the show pieces ... the lost me when they played almost everything straight then came out and did a hip-hop version of "Favorite Things" (and had the gaul to put the "Sound of Music" logo in the background. There was also a rather painful Les Miserables section (admittedly one of my favs) where two songs were combined into a sort of duet that really didn't work at all. I missed the second show and the tango show. I was doing something else during the second show and I had already seen the tango show on the Brilliance last year. My mom went to it and thought the Jewel's version wasn't as good as the Brilliance one.

Live entertainment

I never really sat down and listed to any of the music being offered around the ship, but I of course caught snippets of different things. The piano player seemed competent, if not outstanding, and there seemed to be a nice variety of things being offered (piano, guitar, jazz, etc. Some of the evening activities took place in the Centrum, such as the 70s dance party and an appearance by the Village People. Sorry ... never made it to the disco in the Viking Crown (no dedicated disco on this class of ship).

Celebrity Showtime

This was the only act I attended and it featured Marty Allen and his wife. This was a fun show, though while Marty Allen at the end commented that he could do a funny act without going blue, there were definite adult overtones.

Sorry I don't have more specifics for you, but my evenings were spent either sleeping or playing euchre. For some reason, the more I cruise, the less I'm going to the nightly shows ... they used to be something I never missed. I guess I'm just getting jaded ... you can only see those Welcome Aboard shows and hear comedians make cruise ship food jokes for so long, I guess. For those curious, the entertainment one night was a Make-A-Wish auction followed by the Love and Marriage game show ... so a cheap night for Royal.

Ports

I'm sure that this may be another disappointing section for some of you as I only did one tour this cruise (having been to several stops many times before). I'll try to give what info I can, though.

Labadee

Labadee was the first stop and one of the prime beach days. For those of you who don't know, Labadee is RCCL's private piece of Haiti. It is currently a tender port, meaning that there is no pier and instead, you have to board a small boat to take you to your destination. The tender boats at Labadee are large and the distance small, so most of your time will probably be spent sitting on the boat waiting for it to fill unless you are lucky enough to be one of the last people on board. There are no tender tickets here ... you just head down when you are ready to go.

Labadee has been upgraded a bit since I last visited, and from the look of it, there are other major upgrades being made (buildings, fountains, a pier, etc). There are of course plenty of ways to spend money, from walking tours to waverunners to a zipline. It was fun to watch people on the zipline, but it really didn't seem worth the cost to me (I timed the long line over the ocean ... it seemed to be about 40 seconds) ... two ziplines (short practice and the "real" one) for $89. It was about the same cost for a waverunner tour of the area. I opted to just walk around and, not being much of a beach person, was back on the ship after just a couple of hours (though I did stop for my requisite Coco Loco or Labadoozie).

**Note: There are "nature trails" that you can follow in Labadee ... read very unsteady, rocky paths. I went off the path to get some pictures of the ship and found some very nice holes with a 10-20 foot drop. My suggestion, besides staying on the path, is to bring decent shoes if you want to walk the trail. I found it a little perilous with my heel-strap sandals.

Cartegena, Columbia

I'll be honest here ... Columbia worried me ... and reading the US State Department guidelines didn't do much to calm my fears. In the end, however, I refused to stay on the ship and miss out on a new opportunity because of low threat levels, so I went with my standard "best of" tour through the ship. It was about $54/pp and lasted about 4 hours and to be honest, I was less than impressed.

The tour was to meet at 8:30 on the pier. From our last cruise, we knew that that meant showing up near 8:30 meant being one of last to arrive, we my dad and I headed down to the pier at about 8:10, were directed to a bus that was nearly full, and were on our way by 8:20 (we were the first of multiple busses). The tour took us out of the pier area and to the old city (or walled area) of Cartegena with a short stop at the fort to take photos from the bus (and yes, as soon as the doors opened, the vendors were up on the bus). We were issued receivers and ear phones so that our tour guide could talk to us all without shouting which was nice. We got off the bus and took a tour of the old city, including a mission, the inquisition palace (filled with replica torture and execution devices), and some of the streets. The vendors were everywhere outside and they were persistent but they didn't ever strike me as hostile. After our walk around the old city, we were taken to a craft market for shopping (I stayed on the bus), and then we were taken to a shopping center in the new city (I walked the block and went back to the bus). In the end, this was a sometimes interesting tour, but it was also a tad disappointing when I looked back and realized that we actually saw very little. The shopping opportunities to me were quite pointless because I buy few souvenirs and every store and vendor seemed to be hawking the same junk (that probably has China stamped on it somewhere). The big selling points were coffee and emeralds and frankly, Columbian coffee seems prevalent and cheap in the US and I didn't see a single store (except perhaps Mister Emerald) that I would dare give as much money as they were asking for emeralds. We returned to the ship around noon (I think everyone had to be back by 1:30). If you didn't want to take a tour, there was a shop at the end of the pier with coffee and souvenirs. From the looks of the neighborhood outside the pier I wouldn't recommend walking off on your own (not really anything close anyway), but I talked to several people who were happy with deals they made with cabbies for tours.

**Note: Most of the people in my excursion group were great, but of course, we also got "that family" ... you know ... the ones where the kids run into every photo you are trying to take, the parents clear everyone out for their photos, and then they get left behind because they are oblivious to everything around them. We also had people who wouldn't say NO to the vendors, substituting MAYBE LATER ... I let out an audible groan every time someone said that as it was like throwing chum to circling sharks and only made them more persistent.

Panama

I did not sign up for a tour in Panama. I really had no desire to see the countryside, the tours were outrageously priced, and to be honest, once the ship goes through three locks to make it to the lake, you pretty much have a good picture of how the Panama Canal works (and heck, I've seen the Pacific before). From what I heard from others, the ship got through the canal late and the tours ended up being either shortened, hurried, or canceled ... quite a few complaints.

For those of you interested in how the transit day works, here's the lowdown ... at around 6 AM we started getting into the canal area. We went up to breakfast at around 6:30 and, by that time, most of the forward areas were already full of people (the back is blocked off on deck 5, so the only back view is from the Windjammer or Safari Club). As the ship transits the canal, there was a guide on the public address system giving the history of the canal, describing what was happening, etc. Once the ship has made it through the locks, she goes into the lake and anchors, only letting off those who are going on tour. Later on in the afternoon, the ship then transits back through the locks and heads to the Cristobal pier where the tour groups meet up with the ship. I found the second trip through the locks to be a much easier time to get a good position (though of course the sun is quite strong at that point). At the pier, anyone can get off and go shopping in the little warehouse are there or take a taxi to the free zone (have no idea what is there ... skipped the shopping talk).

**Note: The Panama Canal is an engineering marvel that is, in my opinion, a less-than-exciting thing to experience. It is fairly slow, tedious, and unexciting. I appreciated it for what it was, though it is not a visual spectacle (some in the Concierge Lounge were complaining that it was the equivalent of watching paint dry ... not sure I'd go that far).

**Note: Yes, at the Cristobal pier there are topless ladies with intricate tattoos or paintings on their chest. They are only at one or two tables that I saw, but FYI.

Montego Bay, Jamaica

I didn't really do much in Jamaica to be honest. I had just been there a few weeks earlier and, from what I could tell, there wasn't a lot you could do within walking distance of the pier. I got off, looked around the shopping area at the pier, and returned. Many people did the canopy tours and enjoyed those quite a bit. Longer bus rides were the ones that went to Ocho Rios and Dunns River Falls. The one tour I had thought about taking, the Appleton Estate rum tour, was cancelled before the second day of the cruise.

Grand Cayman

This is another port I have visited very frequently, so I didn't really do anything or stay too long. This is another tender port, though here, the tenders that the Jewel carries with her were used and tender tickets are required if you are not on a ship tour. Tender tickets were handed out in the Pit Stop bar. If you were in a suite, Diamond, or Diamond+, priority tickets can be obtained from the concierge. I found this tendering experience to be very difficult because the boat really moved with the waves and, sitting in the back, I felt like I couldn't get any oxygen through all of the diesel fumes. Once ashore, Cayman is a very clean, nice place, though it is also quite pricey. Tenders back can be had at any time, with some lines forming for those who try to milk as much time as they could and take one of the last tenders back.c

**Note: Remember that in Grand Cayman, the cars drive on the left side of the road ... in other words, if you are an American like me, make sure you look the opposite way before you step off that curb.

**Note: No liquor purchased on Grand Cayman can be carried out of the store. Instead, orders placed in the store are sent to a central warehouse and a large delivery is made to the ship at the end of the day. Cayman is probably the best place on this itinerary to buy liquor (and some stores offer free rum large rum cakes with any liquor purchase), but realize that you won't see that liquor until the last sea day of the cruise.

Diamond Perks

Priority Boarding

We arrived at the Jewel fairly early, so this perk didn't matter too much. However, as soon as we got into the priority line, we were shown to a check-in agent. I was pleased that they actually had my diamond status correctly listed on my SeaPass this time.

Coupon Booklet

The diamond booklet we received was fine, though it is becoming more of a disappointment. There were no coupons for free photos and of course the coupons for the Johnny Rockets and Ben and Jerry's were useless on the Jewel. We redeemed our free drink coupons in the Schooner bar on the last sea day and the waiter there was very adamant about getting us the "best" souvenir glasses which ended up being fairly nice, real glass hurricane glasses ... I gave him a cash tip for being helpful.

**Note: I know there are threads dedicated to this topic, but I just want to say again, the removal of the free photo coupons from the coupon books is absolutely ridiculous. Honestly, this is a perk that really costs NOTHING will all of the photos that are printed and subsequently tossed. Now, I've seen some ships with computer terminals where you chose your prints, etc, so I would understand it if they were going to stop the mass-printing. However, even on those ships, they still printed just about everything. I wouldn't even mind it if they wouldn't let you use the coupon for formal portraits ... ie, nothing you do "special" for a picture. Otherwise, let's face it ... your diamond members are people who have cruised A LOT ... and it is my guess that while they may buy an occasional picture, most of the picture purchases come from new cruisers who haven't already been there and done that. Throwing us a bone, i.e. giving us a photo that has already been printed and will otherwise be disposed of, seems like a ludicrous perk to suddenly get rid of.

Concierge Lounge

When I was on the Navigator, I was warned by the other passengers that the Concierge Lounge on the Radiance class ships was tiny. Wow ... they are not kidding. The lounge is on Deck 10 and features a few computers, perhaps 10 chairs, a coffee machine, and a nice view. To be honest, we went the first day during happy hour and the place was swamped with 5 people lined up to talk to the concierge. We spent our remaining nights at the Hollywood Odyssey on Deck 13 which was the overflow lounge. That lounge was run by Milan, who was a great host who was personable, would stop to chat with you, and was also very good at remember your drink order. Milan was also very persevering about enforcing the rules of the lounge. When there wasn't a person checking IDs at the door (usually dancers from the show), then Milan would do it for anyone he wouldn't recognize and politely yet firmly remove those who were not allowed (i.e., not Diamond guests, underage children, etc). The overflow lounge was our favorite evening hangout (until it closed at 8:30). The first few nights were were the only ones there for a bit, but it gradually filled throughout the cruise as more people discovered it (and we also told some people how nice it was).

**Note: I'll admit that I was surprised how many passengers would throw an absolute fit when Milan told them that their kids could not come into the lounge. In every piece of literature it says that children under the age of 21 are not welcome form 5:30-8:30 due to the adult nature (i.e., drinking and conversation) of the lounge. These people would still rail on Milan about how their kids were diamond too, what were they supposed to do with the kids while they were in the lounge, blah blah blah. The less obnoxious people, of course, just set their kids in the adjacent area and came in for a coke and some food and took it out to them.

Platinum, Diamond, and Diamond Plus party

This was held one evening at 7:30 "in between" dinners. Frankly, I found this time disappointing as it seems to say ... well, we need to have a party, but we want it to be at a time when you really won't eat much food or will be less likely to show up ... as opposed to the nice brunches I've attended in the past. To be honest, we skipped the party in favor of returning to the overflow concierge lounge that would be less crowded, quieter, and have better drinks.

Priority Debarkation

Non-existent. I'll explain more here in a second.

Debarkation

The new Royal Caribbean debarkation policy was in effect for this cruise. Early in the cruise, you were asked to fill out a piece of paper declaring the time of your flight. On the second-to-last night, we were given tags and the As You Depart memo explaining the process. Approximate times were given for each tag, with those wishing to carry their own bags off going first. Every group of tags were given a lounge to wait in, with the indication that announcements would only be made within that specific lounge. The sheet also said that passengers could wait in their cabin and that the colors called would be listed on one of the channels (I can't confirm this one as we went to the theater to wait).

We had an 11:30 flight, so I was slightly worried about getting to it though I knew it shouldn't really be a problem. We were given Lavender tags, which was in the listing as the first group to be called along with White and Pink. We inquired at Guest Relations as to why we didn't receive White tags (usual in past for priority debarkation) and were informed that they had run out of white tags, but that lavender would be the exact same time. When we ran into the concierge later in the night, we asked if there would be a walk-off of Diamond members (there was a C&A debarkation lounge in the Viking Crown ... which we've done before ... horrible place to get down from on debarkation day). She replied that there was no more Diamond express debarkation (something we enjoyed on the Explorer when they literally took us down back staircases and off the ship in a hurry) because "it was too early for many of her guests." In other words, the loss of another perk.

On debarkation morning, the Windjammer and the main dining room were both open. We went to the WJ for a quick bite, then grabbed our stuff and headed to the Coral Theater (our assigned waiting area) at 7:00 AM. At about 7:20, White and Pink tags were called, but of course, no Lavender. Around 7:35 the Lavender tags were called, so we go in a line and about 30 minutes later we were off the ship and through customs. We ended up waiting another 10 minutes or so for our bags to appear, and then we headed out and grabbed cab to the airport ($24 set price including all tolls or special fees ... it makes absolutely no sense to use cruise transfers in Miami to the Miami airport unless you bought your air through them and they are already included).

Final Thoughts

It has been said many times (in this review even) but I'll say it again ... the Jewel is a beautiful ship. We also had very positive experiences with her crew, especially since on those longer itineraries, you really seem to be able to get to know people. After having cruise a few Voyager-class ships recently, my dad and I both agreed that we did miss the Royal Promenade a bit as an easy place to go down, grab a snack, people watch, grab a coffee, etc. Even with that being said, I wouldn't hesitate to go on the Jewel again as this was a very fine cruise.

My review: Navigator of the Seas, 11/22-11/27/08

2008-12-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

Quips, quirks, and biases

One of the great things about cruise vacations is that, in many cases, they are what you make of them. Because of that, I always like to include this little introductory section where I describe where I’m coming from, as context definitely colors any review. This was my 10th cruise on Royal Caribbean, and 20th cruise overall. I’ve been “loyal to Royal” lately because I like their ships, have received competitive pricing, enjoy the C&A perks, and enjoy the OBC I receive for NextCruise bookings. I made my booking directly through Royal Caribbean the Tuesday before the Saturday departure.

I’m currently a graduate student, and I booked this cruise on a lark just under a week before its departure because a) the cruise rate was phenomenal ($281 base fare for a single person in an inside guarantee) b) the airfare was tolerable, and c) I needed a break from school (again after my October cruise, sheesh!). This was to be my first official Diamond cruise, though upon talking to C&A before leaving, it was clear that I would have a little leg-work to do once I got onboard because my most recent Majesty cruise was too recent for the computer system to count it as a credit.

Pre-Cruise

I dislike flying the day of the cruise, and I especially dislike doing it in/near winter. However, one benefit of booking so late was that I felt fairly confident when looking at the short-term forecast that there would not be any significant weather occurrences on embarkation day. I arrived at the new Indianapolis airport at about 6 in the morning, my 8:00 direct flight on AirTran to Fort Lauderdale left without a hitch, and I had my bags collected by 11 AM in Fort Lauderdale (which looked like a refugee camp at this point with all of the cruise passengers with late flights sitting around with their baggage. From these boards I knew that the airport was close so I hailed a cab and a $17.50 ride later (including the $2 airport fee), I was waiting for a porter in front of Navigator.

Embarkation

When I got out of the cab, I actually had a little trouble getting a porter to help me (they were all draw to taxis and vans with more people, etc). When I finally got the attention of one, I told him that I didn’t have tags. He went looking for the manifest and couldn’t find one, so he took the number off of my SetSail Pass, put it on a blank tag, and sent me on my way.

Once in the terminal, things seemed a little confused. In going through security, I asked twice about needing to take my laptop out of my bag. The first agent said yes, but the person manning the scanning machine said no, so I was grateful not to go through the hassle. I then proceeded to the priority embarkation line, which was empty, and was immediately shown to a check-in agent. The lady came back with the wrong key, then the right one, and seeing I was “Platinum” on my card, she sent me on my way, remarking that of course I already knew everything (and failing to note, as I’d find out later, that my room assignment had changed). I made my way past that security photo stations (they weren’t boarding yet) and was vaguely directed to waiting area. I approached one of the agents to ask where I was supposed to sit and, upon seeing my card, she brought me to a group of chairs and had people move their luggage so that I could have a seat. A few minutes later, a different agent got on the PA and apologized for the wait, but explained that the ship was going through a full Coast Guard inspection because she had just returned from Europe. I was not aware of this fact, but having been in a similar situation on the Brilliance last year, I knew that even at 11:15, there was going to be a bit of a wait. Another announcement was made a few minutes later, and after about 30 minutes of waiting, an agent came through to collect all Platinum and Diamond members and escort them through the security photo process and then on the ship. I ended up being about the 5th person to board (besides any wedding party or other group).

My first stop on the ship was the Guest Relations desk. While waiting in the terminal, I spent time looking at my SeaPass and realized that my room assignment had changed. The day I had booked my inside guarantee, I had been fairly quickly assigned an accessible oceanview cabin on Deck 2 and this assignment had not changed on my reservation up to the time it disappeared off of the Royal Caribbean website. Since the numbers on my SeaPass signifying the last 3 digits of my cabin were different I knew I had been moved, but had no idea what deck. It took a little explanation to the guest relations person I spoke to (I would have thought that “What cabin am I in” was a standard question), but he told me that I was now in a cabin on Deck 6. I asked about my bags and the fact that they were going to another room and was told not to worry about it … they knew they had changed my room. Figuring that accessible room had become needed and that I was back in an inside, I went off to explore the ship until we could access the cabins. I headed to the Windjammer, which was not open yet, so I shot hoops and played a bit of mini-golf until the Windjammer opened (I think around noon).

At a little after 1, I went to look for my new cabin. As it turns out, I had been upgraded to a balcony cabin just off the aft hump (6334). This was a huge shock for me (I’ve never been visited by a category-jumping upgrade fairy) and I was suspicious that this was not my true cabin because it had been made-up with two Platinum books and a German version of the Compass. My key worked though, so in a flash of inspiration, I checked my onboard account on the TV and, sure enough, it had my name down. For the oddness to continue though, the room steward visited later and asked me if I was “Willie” … it turns out that my upgrade was so new that she still hadn’t received my name on her roster. She took my name, removed the Platinum books, and left me to my room which, since I was alone, was the first time I’ve ever looked around a cabin and though that I had an overabundance of space.

Quest for Diamond

Even with assurances from the C&A agent I spoke to that she would email the ship and let them know I would be Diamond, I was about 95% sure that the important order of business for embarkation day would be getting my status upgraded and getting ahold of that Concierge key. Guest services told me that I would need to talk to the Loyalty Ambassador (with hours starting at 6 PM the first day) in order get my status straightened out. At 5:55 I found a small line of people at the Ambassador’s desk. She showed up a little after 6 and a short time later, she was telling me that she couldn’t find my Majesty trip and, in fact, I my history only showed 5 cruises even though I had 9 credits. [side note: I still find the kinks, quirks, and shortcomings of the C&A system amazing considering it deals with such a valuable commodity as loyal, repeat guests … I had to go through the same rigmarole when I moved from Gold to Platinum] Luckily, having anticipated this problem, I whipped out my SeaPass from Majesty and was quickly given a Diamond sticker on my Navigator SeaPass, a Diamond book, and most importantly … that concierge key.

The Ship

I have been on two Voyager-class ships before, Voyager and Explorer, which are both the “early” versions of the ship. In truth, the only differences I noticed were art/sculptures on the pool deck and balconies on the outside of the superstructure rather than the “cave” balconies that can be found on the early designs. In fact, having had a cave-balcony at the end of July on Explorer on deck 6, I can say that I much preferred the deck 6 balcony I received on Navigator. The plexiglass front to the balcony offered a much better view of the water while in a seated position and the balcony just seemed to feel more airy.

As for the rest of the ship, the Voyager-class staples were all present and working. The Royal Promenade was impressive, as always, though I was surprised to see the Explorer’s sports bar replaced by the Navigator’s wine bar. I thought that the insides of the ship were well-kept, and it was nice to be in a room that wasn’t full of scratched furniture, dirty carpets, etc. The outside of the ship, in my opinion, seemed like it could use a little work as I noticed many rust spots as I walked around the outside promenade. Probably the most irritating issue about the ship on this voyage was the water … it was generally a light shade of yellow for most of the voyage. It didn’t have any extra odor that I noticed, but pulling a glass of yellow water out of the tap is pretty disgusting, as is using white towels with yellow stains all over them. I’m not sure what caused it, and I have no idea if an explanation or apology was ever given.

The Staff and Crew

I will say upfront that because I did not go to any show but the ice show and was usually in bed by 11:30-12, I really had no interactions at all with the cruise director. From my brief views of him on the television during his morning show and the love and marriage show, he seemed more suited to a European cruise than a Caribbean cruise (which makes sense). I enjoyed talking to the cruise director's staff and Vitality staff, especially Lara from Boston who ran the activities all day in Jamaica. My room steward, Elvie, was phenominal and we'd spend time every day chatting in the hallway about various topics. I'd also rate my wait staff fairly high (and I feel bad that I can't remember their names). Javier and Allan in the CL did a good job, I thought, in keeping the show moving during the busy times, and both were very easy to talk to when it slowed down a little.

As for the crew in general, I thought it was kind of a mixed bag. I was not usually greeted by other room stewards as I walked past them, nor others working on the deck. The bartenders all seemed very friendly (as is their job, right?), and the bar waiters seemed to be polite and non-harassing if you sat in their venue (for trivia, etc) and not making any purchases. I thought that the girls in the perfume shop blew me off a little, but who knows ... maybe they figured that the big money would be coming from the women buying makeup and not the guy just looking for a single bottle of cologne.

In terms of service, I thought that the low points for me came in the casual eating venues. The Windjammer greeter in the morning was always smiling, friendly, and easy to engage, but everyone else seemed fairly shut down. I remember walking into the Windjammer for lunch on the last day and saying hello to the greeter who was standing there stoicly. She looked at me, clicked her counter, and made no other expression or return on the greeting. In terms of service in the Windjammer, I thought it was a little lacking in comparison to my previous cruises. My plates were not cleared, and only once in the whole trip was I offered beverages (in my past experience, when sitting down for breakfast, usually 2-3 people would ask if I would like coffee each morning, etc).

I was probably most irritated by the service at Johnny Rockets ... and this is such a minor thing in the grand scheme, but boy it made me mad. Anyway, I made the classic mistake of forgetting to use my JR coupon until the last day, a sea day, which is of course the absolute worst time in the world to visit JR unless you want to wait. I showed up after Bingo to a packed house with long line, so I came back around 3, and while it was still packed, I was the only person in line (until others joined, of course). As I'm standing there, the officer in charge comes up to me, says "There's a wait. I'll seat you later." and walks away. OK I think ... as I see some people about ready to leave. The people do leave, and the table is not bussed for about 5 minutes. At this point, the officer doing the seating has disappeared and I'm wondering if I should just go sit or wait. Another 5 minutes pass and a group of younger kids (8-10ish) by themselves push into the restaurant and of course go to the empty seats. At this time the officer returns, looks at me, then says something to one of the waiters who proceeds to grab menus and hands them to the kids who have just sat down in front of me and about 6 other people in line. At this point I'm just mad (at having wasted my time) and I walked out because I realized it was no longer worth my time or energy. I realize that they were busy and that no one really wanted to kick the kids out and tell them to wait their turn, but come on ... service on the last day counts for more, in my opinion, because that is what sticks in your mind.

The ill-gotten cabin

I was of course thrilled with the cabin upgrade, and it turned out to be a very nice cabin. I was placed in 6334, which was a balcony towards the aft a little off the hump (I think it was a D1 or a D2 but I'm bad with colors). It was essentially the same cabin I had had on Explorer, though obviously with just me instead of 3 in there, it seemed much more spacious. Actually, the cabin was really very nice overall with very little wear-and-tear on the furniture. The balcony was great, of course. For those of you who have never had a standard balcony on RCCL, it came with two chairs and a small table.

Entertainment

I did not make use of a lot of the entertainment onboard, but there seemed to be quite a bit available depending on your tastes. There were of course nightly shows (many of the late shows were pre-dinner) including two production shows (All-Access and the usual Broadway revue), the Welcome Aboard show, what was I believe a Motown show, and the Farewell show. The ice-show was Ice Dancin' and there were no tickets needed ... seating was first-come, first served and at the show I went to (second one on the first sea day), there were plenty of empty seats. There were also two parades in the Royal Promenade(first night and second to last) as well as a 70s dance party with the "Village People" making an appearance on the bridge. I believe that there was an piano player in the Schooner Bar and some sort of entertainment provided in the pub (Two Poets) as well. Sorry I can't be more helpful here, but to be honest, I hit the sack pretty early each night (keeps me out of the casino). There was also a midnight comedy show one night with Hal Spears.

Concierge Lounge

The lounge was very busy the first night with almost all of the chairs, couches, and extra chairs in use. After that night, it was my experience that the lounge ranged from quite busy to almost dead, depending on what time you went in. I usually headed in about 6:30-7 to drink/talk until 8:30 dinner. Usually it tended to get more crowded around 7:30-8 when the first seating folks came up for post-dinner drinks, but to be honest, past that first night, there seemed to be seating available as long as you were willing to make new friends and take the available seats.

Food

I'll put in a disclaimer here, just FYI, but I don't mean it to be negative. I'm currently taking Advair, which is inhaled steroids. One of the side-effects for me is that most food tastes awesome. With that being said, I thought that the food on the Navigator was quite good. I'll admit that it was a little boring (the same stuff I've seen in the Windjammer and dining room for a few years), but things seemed to be very well prepared. My standout "new for me" item were the triple-chunk cookies at the Cafe Promenade ... quite tasty. Lobster was offered on Grand Cayman night and though the tail was small, I thought it was prepared quite well and was actually not rubbery or mushy. My main complaint though, as always, is with the desserts. With the exception of a few nights, the desserts in the dining room were very forgettable. The desserts in the Windjammer, in my opinion, are mostly downright awful because they have a gelatin base between the nice looking (and tasting) topping and the crust. You could always tell that something was going to be fairly tasteless when your tart/pie wobbled when it was on your plate ... I'm sorry, but a piece of peanut butter pie should not wobble!

Ports

Let me start off this section by saying that I have been to both of these ports before (Cayman many, many times) and am actually returning in about 3 weeks. In other words, I'm not going to have any exciting stories here and I didn't take any tours, but I'll try to give some input where I can.

Grand Cayman
Cayman is a tender port, which for those of you who might be new to this cruising thing, means that the ship does not dock but instead floats out in the harbor and sends passengers ashore in "little" boats. This is obviously much less convenient than being at a docking port where you can just walk off. It can also lead to the cancellation of the port due to weather conditions as it is unsafe to transfer to the tender when there are large waves. It was extremely windy the night before arrival, and I was actually shaken awake at 3:30 AM due to ship movement, so I had it in my mind that we would probably not be able to call on Cayman the next day. As it turns out, I was only mostly wrong ... we were able to tender ashore, but an announcement was made onboard that because of the weather, all stingray city tours were cancelled (AKA, most of the tours in Grand Cayman).

The night before Cayman, Javier gave priority tender tickets to people in the CL. Otherwise, tender tickets were distributed (supposedly starting at around 9 AM, I think, but didn't check) in a specified location (I'm thinking Royal Promenade, but may be wrong here). We actually arrived a little early, so a little before 9, a general call to board the tenders was made for anyone ready to go, no tickets required for about a 20 minute window. Since I was ready I went down, boarded, and the tender was off by 9:15 or so.

I debarked at the pier which was a little hectic (there was also a Carnival ship in port using the same general area). The shops were all as I remembered them with plenty of clothing, jewelry, and liquor stores, many of which also sold over-priced "Cuban" cigars. Cayman is definitely one of those islands, however, where you feel pretty safe as long as, if you're an American like me, you remember to look the opposite direction when you step off a curb (British driving rules apply). I ended up walking all around, and even though it was early, it seemed clear that the most popular destinations were Senor Frogs, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, and the Hard Rock Cafe. I chose to buy some overpriced, color-changing board shorts at Del Sol ($42, but was in need of a new water duds and they aren't exactly selling them during this season in Indiana). Since I had also promised to buy a rum cake for someone, I spent my time looking at the differences and prices between the traditional Tortuga rum cakes and Blackbeard's. I was also looking at liquor and was actually thrown out of one store for having the nerve to pull out my iPhone and type in a few prices ... "Hey you! You can't do that. Our pricing is confidential." Since all of the pricing was pretty much the same anyway, I guess it didn't matter, but it was still a little irritating. I ended up purchasing a liter of Hendrick's gin (a recommendation I happened to remember from someone a few weeks before I left) for $28 ... take that confidentiality. I made this purchase at one of the Blackbeard's stores, so since I had bought a liter of alcohol (any), I was able to get a free large rum cake (a $20 value ... I was given a coupon that I had to take to another woman just down the alleyway ... no problem at all). Two birds, one stone. Check. Also, again for those of you new to the cruising thing or visiting Cayman, any liquor purchases are paid for in the store but delivered directly to your ship. In other words, you pay money, give them your ship and room number, and pray that on the last day of the cruise, your liquor arrives (mine did, no problem).

After my wild expenditures, I made my way back to the tenders (it was about 11 at this point) and had to convince the security guard that I actually did want to go back. The tender was already pulling away by this point, so I had to wait in the outside area until the next one emptied and then I was quickly ushered in. At this point the tender was pulling up the gangplank, leaving me to shout ... I'M GOING BACK!! They look at me and shout back ... YOU GOING BACK??!!?? Anyway, after this model of clear communication, the gangplank was refastened, I boarded, and a few minutes later, I was back on Navigator.

PS ... tenders at this point were running packed to shore. I don't recall more tender announcements so I don't know if it was open tendering or not, but if you are a late riser, expect a bit of a wait to go ashore.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

This was my second time visiting Jamaica. My first time was with my mother, and to be honest, I was slightly disappointed that no one offered me any drugs (not that I would have bought them, of course). Remembering how adamant the people were, though, I had second thoughts about going ashore, but since I had promised to buy some coffee for someone, I was duty-bound to step off the ship.

You start out at the famous blue-railed pier, then head into a waiting area where you can head in various directions ... to the left looked like some shops and straight ahead, through the main gate, was the main road that you would take to the closer shopping areas. I took the main gate, then headed into the first store on the right, which is where I remembered purchasing coffee on my last trip. Surprise surprise it was still there, with 8 oz of blue mountain coffee running for around $13 with 16 oz around $20. I seemed to have a recollection that it was a little cheaper at the Taj Mahal shopping center, so I walked that direction (just down the street and to the left). Of course I was harassed and propositioned (taxis, tours, drugs, sex, taxis) about every 30 feet on this walk, but when I made it to the Taj Mahal area (also home to the Hard Rock Cafe), I discovered that coffee was exactly the same price or more expensive. At this point, it was back to the first store and back through the gauntlet, but I made my coffee purchase and was back on the ship before 11. I know quite a few people spent their time at Margaritaville drinking shots and using the swim-up-bar and waterslide (it is located down that main road and to the right into a shopping complex ... Island Village, I think).

Ok ... so bottom line ... I don't think I felt "unsafe" in Jamaica, but I definitely felt uncomfortable with so many people trying to get a piece of me even after seeing their buddies fail. Many others I talked to also had similar feeling about the place, and for the first-time cruisers I talked to onboard, they were absolutely horrified (thinking that other stops would be like Cayman). I just stuck to my rules ... be polite but firm, do not hesitate in refusing an offer (it just gives them the idea that they can change your mind), don't stop walking, and keep your party together. If you have kids, keep them in front of you ... I saw a family walking in front of me where one of the women selling hairbraids had latched on to the kid who was tailing a little behind, who had no idea what to do as the lady hung on and was telling the parents to stop because the little girl really wanted to get her hair braided, etc.

Debarkation

On the second to last night, the debarkation information sheet was placed in my cabin during turn-down. The standard two options applied: express debarkation (carry your own bags off without assistance) or standard debarkation (tag your large luggage and place your bags in the hallway the last night by midnight). If you wished to do express, you were supposed to go down to the deck 2 debarkation desk and get a ticket (numbered one through three). If you wanted to do standard, you would use the tags that were delievered to your room and the color of the tags would determine the order and around what time you would get off the ship.

On the morning of debarkation, both the main dining room and Windjammer were open for breakfast. Those wishing to do express debarkation were to meet on deck 4 in the Boleros area, though passengers would be exiting on deck 1, aft. Each debarkation group had a specified place to meet (listed on the debarkation sheet). I went to the Platinum and Diamond lounge (deck 4 dining room ... and keys were checked for entry) to wait at about 7:30, just about the time when the people there got up to leave for express debarkation. I sat, ate some rolls and had some coffee, and waited for white tags (Diamond members, post-cruise tour groups) to be called. It was listed to be 8:15, but I think the express debarkation numbers surprised them and the tags were not actually called until about 8:45 (I think ... though I got the impression that the members in the lounge were about the last to know as we couldn't hear announcements and had to wait for the guy on the walkie talkie to tell us we could leave). I was slightly surprised that there was no escort off for Diamond members ... we were just told to go. The lines were not bad at all, however, except for people who clogged up the hallways digging through their bags for passports, customs declarations, or their SeaPass card. I was fairly quickly off the ship and outside where we then had to walk the length of the ship to the customs area. At this point it was obvious who could not handle their bags as these people would stop suddenly, fumble around, re-adjust, etc. Once in the customs area, white-tagged bags were spread across two rooms (and I was so glad my bag was standard black). I found my bag fairly quickly, however, and then proceeded in to the customs line which confused some people because a) there were a lot of non-US citizens onboard who had a different line and b) once you got past the sign saying which line to go in, the back of the sign was reversed so it looked like you were in the wrong line. As we waited in line, officers with dogs walked up and down the queue and there generally seemd to be more security than I've noticed in some other ports. I anticipated some grief for traveling alone (in Miami I thought I was going to get back-roomed), but after a few questions, I was waved through.

Directly outside the customs area were the motorcoaches and taxis. I went to the right, to grab a taxi. At this point, a guy wearing a "taxi" shirt grabbed my wheeled bag, took it 30 ft, and put it in the trunk of a cab. I hadn't realized that this guy wasn't the driver until it was too late, so I pulled out a dollar and gave it to him (receiving dirty looks ... to which I responded ... dude, you rolled my bag 30 feet). In about 10 minutes and a $15.50 fare later I was at the airport.

I was flying Northwest, and there were signs on the line that said no bags would be checked until 3 hours before the scheduled departure time. I had anticipated this, and glancing at my watch (it was now 9:15 and my flight was at 2:30), I grabbed a seat and made use of the free wireless internet watching people check-in (it is now a $90 fee to have an overweight bag on NWA, beyond the $15 single checked bag charge, so there was lots of content shifting going on as people's bags came in overweight). The line really thinned out at around 10:45, and worried about the weight of my bag, I went up to ask if I could weigh my bag to see if I needed to remove some stuff (and could do it while not having people wait behind me). The very nice check-in agent told me that I could go ahead and check-in as the time limit was really only for very busy times like the weekend. I thought that was nice, so I checked in (paying only my $15 first bag fee ... which came in at 50 pounds exactly) and headed through security and had lunch at the Chili's Too in the terminal. Interesting note, at around 2:00, the gate agent announced that boarding would begin immediately and that if everyone got on board, we'd leave early because the pilot had a Thanksgiving dinner planned with his girlfriend that he wanted to make. Miraculously, everyone who had already checked in was at the gate (all 30 of us ... tiny plane), and our 2:30 flight was actually pushed back from the gate by 2:15. Even more miraculously, our gate in Indianapolis was clear, so we actually arrived and were off the plane 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

Final Thoughts

I've now done two cruises where I've boarded the ship the day it had returned from Europe, and from those experiences, I've come to the conclusion that those first voyages are "not quite right" in terms of ship upkeep, scheduling, and service. My guess is that this comes from two areas ... first, I think there is a concentrated influx/outflux of crew members directly before/after the crossing, which perhaps leads to a larger number of new people still learning their jobs, the ship, etc. Second, the Coast Guard inspection upon arrival in the US is extremely thorough and taxing for the crew (most were telling me that they were up by 3 AM that day) beyond their normal duties, and after that, it may take them a few days to get back to normal. Add into this that the ship is still burning through "old" foodstuffs (which are easy to tell when they are foreign-branded) and may be missing some other supplies (I overheard several complaints that there was none of the cheap Cruzan flavored rum to be found in the gift shop), like I said, things are just a little off.

With all of that being said, and taking into account the water problems, I still had a very fun time. This was my second cruise solo, and I met so many new people (passengers and crew) that the only time I really felt lonely was the unfortunate dinner where I was the only person eating at a table for 10 (and it was lobster night!). I thought that the upkeep of the ship was pretty decent, and even though the differences are pretty small, I think that I do prefer the "newer" Voyager ships to the older ones. No matter the age, however, I can't help but be impressed by this class of ship in terms of what is offered in your fare, and though I rarely used the sports court, ice rink, or rock-wall, they definitely kept people away from the areas that I frequented. There were always activities that I wanted to participate in during the day(trivia, shuffleboard, golf simulator challenges, etc), and had I wanted to do anything at night, there would have been a lot to do then, too. Sure, there are some areas where I think Royal Caribbean could improve (such as food choices and desserts), but even if I had received the inside cabin that I had paid for, I think I would have gotten a very good value for my money, which is a key for me (and why I'm not even looking at Oasis at the moment).

Royal Caribbean heading toward the "Carnival" way of thinking .....

2008-10-05T07:52:00.001-07:00

Royal Caribbean heading toward the "Carnival" way of thinking .....

I've been on quite a few Royal Caribbean cruises lately and along with that, I've been mostly posting on the Royal Caribbean message board on Cruise Critic. In the past, there was one recurring train of thought about the line ... it just knows how to treat its loyal customers. On the whole, I'd say that this is true as Royal Caribbean offers some very nice perks for returning customers including discount coupons on the price of a cruise and in-cabin coupon books for all returning members (coupons differ by tier), onboard credit for booking a cruise while on your cruise, logo gifts in your stateroom, and for higher-tier past guests, discounts on balcony/suite cabins (starting after 5 cruise credits) and access to a concierge lounge (if available on the ship, starting after 10 cruise credits).

On the flip-side of the coin is Carnival. It offers a generic "repeaters" party just likc RC does, but other than that, there's not much more until you reach your 10th cruise, at which point you get a few more luxuries like free laundry and logo gifts in your room. There is no incentive for booking another Carnival cruise onboard, and unless things have changed in the year since I last cruised Carnival, there wasn't even an option to book onboard. Why are the perks so few or hard to attain on Carnival? One description I've read that I think adequtely fits ... the ships are filling without them and cruisers are returning because they like the product, not the extras.

Enter to economy of 2008 where everyone is feeling the pinch of gas prices, etc. Suddenly, Royal Caribbean has a brilliant idea ... we need to save money ... what if we cut what we offer our past guests? After all, Carnival does it and they seem as popular as ever. However Royal Caribbean realized that there would be a result if they actually eliminated any one popular perk. Instead, they've instituted new policies for combining perks. Now, no-longer can you use both a past-guest coupon on the price of your cruise and receive credit for booking onboard. No-longer (past 10/15) can you get credit for owning 100 shares of stock AND get credit for booking onboard or use a coupon. Essentially, Royal Caribbean has implemented policies to make sure that its most loyal guests (ie, the ones who book onboard, are eligible for coupons, and/or would spend $2000-4,000 for 100 shares of stock) are not rewarded too much for their loyalty.

You know what this sounds lke to me? It's not worth putting down $100 for a non-refundable NextCruise booking while on my next Royal Caribbean ship because I'm essentially giving the company money that will limit what other perks I would be eligible for ... and hey, without having that money already been paid, it suddenly becomes much easier to look at other lines like Carnival, Princess, Holland American, and Celebrity (which yes, is owned by RC).

You know what? I don't think that Royal Caribbean cares that much. After all, their ships are sailing full because of product, not the perks. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

My review: Majesty of the Seas (Sept 19-22, 2008)

2008-09-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

Quips, quirks, and biases

One of the great things about cruise vacations is that, in many cases, they are what you make of them. Because of that, I always like to include this little introductory section where I describe where I'm coming from, as context definitely colors any review. This was my 9th cruise on Royal Caribbean, and 19th cruise overall. I've been "loyal to Royal" lately because I like their ships, have received competitive pricing, enjoy the C&A perks, and enjoy the OBC I receive for NextCruise bookings. I made my booking directly through Royal Caribbean. Before leaving, I deemed this the "anti-me" cruise. I usually book at least 3 months out, I always fly in the day before the cruise leaves, and I've never gone stag.

I'm currently a graduate student, and I booked this cruise on a lark just over a week before its departure because a) the cruise rate was phenomenal ($189 for a single person in an OV cabin) b) the airfare was tolerable, and c) I needed a break from school (already, sheesh!). The fact that this cruise would push me into Diamond territory for my 10 day Panama Canal cruise on the Jewel in December played no factor at all ….

Pre-Cruise

Normally I would never fly to my destination the day of the cruise, especially given the current state of bookings and airlines. However, given that I was leaving during the school year and had both school and work obligations, I was forced to choose between rushing/hoping to make a flight on Thursday afternoon from Indianapolis that needed to make a connection that would get me to Miami by around midnight or flying out early on Friday morning and, if everything went as planned with the flight an connection, making it to Miami at around 10:20 AM. I cranked the costs for hotels, flights, and transportation … and also calculated the odds of making the Thursday flight … and decided to fly out day-of. Because the first flight left at 6 AM out of Indianapolis, I used a Hotwire credit I had gotten from complaining out my last hotel for my cruise out of Newark and stayed at the Extended Stay America about a mile from the airport. My only luggage was a backpack that included my laptop and a few changes of clothes.

I had been monitoring the actual departure time for that 6AM flight for a week and had noticed that it had departed early each day except one where it unfortunately had a 5-hour delay. With a little trepidation (knowing I had a 48-minute connection in Atlanta), I arrived at the gate to find the plane there, along with the pilots and flight crew … always a good sign. Boarding started as promised, and by 5:45, the plane was loaded … but nothing else was happening. At 6:00, the pilot's door remained open, and from my isle seat, I could see them going through binders in the cockpit, at which point I started going through my contingency options (I had a list of numbers in my phone and planned on beating the rush Amazing Race-style, if necessary). At 6:05, an announcement was made apologizing for the delay, but there seemed to be "a slight malfunction of the safety equipment." At 6:12, the safety briefing started, only to get interrupted half-way through by a call from the cockpit. At 6:14, there was a loud clang. At 6:15, the pilot said that they had fixed "the door problem" (amazing how it changed in nature once it was fixed) and that we were ready to get underway. We pushed away from the gate at about 6:18 and had an uneventful flight from then on out (whew). Actually, after taking off 18 minutes late, we arrived 15 minutes early, which was definitely nice. In Atlanta, I of course had to switch terminals, and the gate had changed from what had printed on my ticket, so I'm glad I checked the screens before going heading anywhere. I arrived at the new gate with about 15 minutes to spare before boarding started on the flight to Miami. This flight proceeded without incident, and we arrived in Miami at 10:20, exactly as scheduled.

Transportation to the ship

I had not made any solid plans for getting to the ship from the airport. This was actually the first time I had ever needed to go directly to the ship from MIA. I knew that a cab would be a fixed price ($25+tip), but when I came out of the terminal I saw the SuperShuttle kiosk and decided to inquire as to their fee. It turns out that SuperShuttle charges $17/pp to get to the Port of Miami, with a promised wait time of "only 5-25 minutes." Since I was so early, I decided to go the SuperShuttle route, and my assigned shuttle actually arrived in about 3 minutes and there was only one other passenger onboard. We stopped at the next station for a few minutes but there were no takers, so the shuttle actually took off for POM instead of circling the airport a few more times (which I appreciated). The shuttle arrived at the cruise terminal at 10:50, and the terminal was effectively deserted except for porters.

Embarkation

Before entering the terminal, I sat down at a bench and dug through my bag to retrieve my SetSail Pass and passport. With these out, I breezed through the first line of security (zipping ahead of others doing their digging inside) and took the escalator upstairs to find a line in the holding area before the more stringent security check complete with metal detectors. I got in this line and waited until about 11:15 when they started letting through. I left everything in my backpack and was able to go through without removing my laptop (which I appreciated). I then headed to the priority check-in line for being Platinum and was immediately shown to an available agent. Check-in was painless (though the scanner was broken and would not read my passport), and by 11:30 I was in the Windjammer eating lunch … which led to my only disappointment of the day … no honey-stung chicken! My experiences with the chicken have ranged from very good to not-so-good, but it has been my first-day lunch staple for my 7 Royal Caribbean cruises in the past 2.5 years. The other offerings were very fine, but still ….

Day 2 - Coco Cay

I woke up at about 7 AM to see the Sovereign of the Seas passing us in the distance. We arrived at Coco Cay at around 8 AM, and tendering started at about 8:30, as promised in the Compass. The tendering announcements were actually kind of humorous, as it was repeated several times … at 8:30, 9, 9:25, and 9:50. I went to the railing and saw that the tenders leaving the ship were fairly empty with most people, I'm guessing, preferring to sleep-in instead of wasting their first night sleeping on this short cruise.

I boarded a tender at about 11 to go to Coco Cay. By this time the tenders leaving the ship were fairly full. I boarded fairly late in that particular ship and had to wait about 10 minutes or so before we headed towards the island. It was about 11:30 by the time I stepped off the tender. By this time, many of the hammocks around the island were occupied, but there were a few open. The same was true of lounge chairs closest to the water, but there were more chairs open the further from the dock you roamed. I stopped at one of the bars to accomplish the only purpose I had for the day: buy a CocoLoco. With my drink in hand, I headed back to the tender and had to wait about 15 minutes for the almost entirely empty tender to return to the ship.

Activities were sparsely attended this day (and the next, actually). I went to a few things like Blongo Ball, trivia, and the soduku challenge. Dinner this night was formal, is it was the night of the Captain's Welcome Aboard reception.

Day 3: Nassau, Bahamas

Majesty was docked by about 8 AM, and passengers were cleared to leave soon after. There were several morning activities at 9 AM (walk-a-mile and the ping pong tournament) that were cancelled for lack of participants. I went ashore at around 9:30 only to find that most shops were closed until at least 10 AM. Past noon activities were better attended, as most people seemed to finish their day in Nassau early or not plan to get off the ship at all. This, the last night of the cruise, featured the production show (Signed, Sealed and Delivered), the repeater party (platinum and above), and the Quest.

Crew

The Majesty's crew seemed friendly as a whole. If I had to compare them, they seemed a little less outgoing in terms of little things like saying "Hello" in the hallway. I enjoyed my interactions with the cruise director's staff (Kevin and Justin). Evidently the cruise director on this cruise (Darren) was filling the position for just this one cruise, as the previous CD was taking the cruise as a "guest" in order to evaluate performance from a passenger perspective. I didn't go to any of the evening shows, so I can't say that I had much of an impression of Darren as a CD, though I guess I did meet him once on the pool deck and he shook my hand, so that's more interaction than I've had on most cruises (outside of events like the captain's party). My cabin attendant, Hurley, was very on-the-ball and always greeted me as "Mr. Christopher" when he saw me in the hallway.

Cabin

I was in an OV cabin (5526) and, as always, the standard cabins are tiny. It was plenty of room for just me, of course, but I was very glad that I was on my own when it came to personal space. The refurbishment is evident, as the cabin and furnishings were all in great condition … much in contrast to my most recent cabin on the Explorer that had walls and furniture full of gashes, cuts, and scrapes.

Food

Because I booked so late, I was none of my dining requests could be accommodated. Instead of a big table at late seating (where I could talk to people without the expectation of being the lone person outside a group), I was given a four-top in early seating. Seeing as I tried to be economical in my packing (only brining a back-pack) and had planned on skipping formal night anyway, I went ahead and spent formal night in Johnny Rocket's while spending the other nights in the Windjammer. I thought that the food was decent in all venues, with dinner probably being the highlight. Breakfast was decent with the made-to-order eggs and omelets, but it was both expected/disappointing to see the horrible biscuits still on the buffet with watery gravy. As was also expected, I was disappointed in most of the desserts offered … if it was a cake, brownie or cookie, it was usually decent, but other desserts (like tarts, key lime pie, and tiramisu) were what has to me become typical on RCCL - quality topping with a gel-base that is wobbly, mostly tasteless, and has an odd texture.

Having only been on the Monarch recently, I have to say that I much prefer the Majesty's Johnny Rocket's and Compass Deli to Monarch's pay-for-sushi Jade. The Compass Deli offered some nice soups and paninis. My favorite sandwich was probably the 3-cheese panini (also known as a grilled-cheese). I also tried a cuban sandwich, but it was uninspired and was still very cold in the middle (and almost burnt on the outside). PS … my new favorite question was asked at the counter while I was sitting down … "Does this tuna salad sandwich have fish in it?"

Debarkation

Majesty does both the colored-tag debarkation and express debarkation. For this cruise, because of a low count, they offered the "valued C&A walk-off" program to Platinum and above instead of Diamond and above. I was off the ship by 7:10 and in a cab by 7:25. Quite a line for express debarkation had already formed by this time.

Just a side note … the immigration agent seemed to find me very interesting because I was traveling by myself. It was like I had to convince the guy that yes, I was traveling alone … yes, I only spent $10 on souvenirs, etc. When he asked me what I did and I said student, he asked for my student ID and looked it over while he asked me to describe my schooling, what year I was in my program, what classes I was taking, etc. Very interesting ….

Debarkation\Discrepancy Gripe

I ran into one issue that irked me, and that had to do with my final bill. When I received it at 6 AM, I noticed a discrepancy (an extra $13 charge when my total bill was around $50 is definitely noticeable). I went to the customer service desk, explained that the charge was a mistake, produced every other receipt, etc … and was told that I needed to come back at 7:30 when the bar manager would be there. When I said that I was doing express debarkation with C&A to meet my flight, I was told that I could cut in line to get to the bar manager … though that didn't seem to help me when it came to the 30-45 minute line I would then have to enter to get off the ship. It just seems to me that if the bar manager is the only person that can remove charges, then perhaps s/he should be available in the morning as soon as the bills go out in order to facilitate those who need/want to get off the ship quickly.

Final thoughts

This was a nice little cruise, though of course it is always painful to do a three-day cruise because it is over as soon as it starts. I can't say that the cruise was any rowdier than any others I've been on recently, though there was definitely A LOT more drinking while IN the pool.

Fuel costs limit ports ... big surprise there ....

2008-09-07T15:26:00.001-07:00

I saw this news story on the front of Yahoo:

Link

No big surprise here in my opinion ... itineraries are changing to make them shorter/more fuel efficient. This is definitely not a shocker as, on Cruise Critic, I've seen it consistently reported with every week more people logging in to complain about how their cruise itinerary for next year has changed.

What I find interesting is that, even as the fuel surcharges rise, more and more cutbacks are taking place. Looking at Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas, the industry's future plans seem even more nefarious ... get the passengers aboard a floating resort and give them even more options to spend money on (or to leave the kids begging) ... and this is on top of charging high fares, especially those who want to be "the first."

My review: Explorer of the Seas - 9 night New England/Canada

2008-08-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

Quips, quirks, and biases

One of the great things about cruise vacations is that, in many cases, they are what you make of them. On a mega-liner like Explorer of the Seas, there seem to be options for everyone, ranging from sporting events (like an adult dodgeball tournament) to family events (family ice skating) to quiet moments (drinks at the Champagne Bar before dinner). In this small section, I just want to give a little background for you to understand what makes me tick on my cruise vacation.

For this sailing, I was a graduate student on summer break (kind of) traveling/sharing a room with my parents who are both school teachers (one retired, one also on summer break). This was my 17th cruise vacation, and 8th on Royal Caribbean. My parents have been on a similar number of cruises and this was their 11th Royal Caribbean sailing. For this cruise, all three of us were Diamond cruisers, and this was the first time we’ve been Diamond and sailed on a ship with a Concierge Lounge (more on that later). We’ve mostly stayed loyal to Royal because of NextCruise, Crown and Anchor, and stock owner benefits. This was my 2nd time on a Voyager-class ship, my mom’s 3rd time, and my dad’s first.

In terms of what we are looking for in a cruise, it is more of a search for quiet moments than staying active. We are not really ones for extensive sun-bathing (good thing on this cruise), and even without the concierge lounge, the three of us would typically run a bar bill under $50 for a 7-day cruise. We normally attend some shows, skip others, and do a few Vitality or entertainment events.

Pre-cruise

This was our first-ever cruise leaving out of Bayonne, so planning for it was definitely a new experience (I’ve plenty of experience with FLL, Miami, Canaveral, and LA). Having no interest in visiting New York before the cruise (I was just there in April), planned to fly into Newark and stay in a local hotel. We booked a Continental ExpressJet direct flight from IND to EWR, and we arrived in New Jersey one day early at around 3:00 PM. We then proceeded to our hotel, the Country Inn and Suites Newark Airport in Elizabeth, via the free shuttle they offered (which supposedly runs about every 20 minutes … we waited about 25, so I guess I’ll assume that we just missed it).

Ah … the Country Inn and Suites … this may be a fun story. I booked this hotel based upon the positive reviews it had received from this board and the fact that it looked to be in a fairly “safe” neighborhood across from the Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall. I purchased this hotel on Hotwire (with a 95% confidence that this was the exact hotel I would receive), and even though it was more expensive, I played nice and specified that the booking was going to be for three people, assuming that it would be nice to have an assured two-bed room (something that I always get anxious about when I book on either Hotwire or Priceline … but something I’ve never had a problem with in the 3 years and over 20 hotel stays I’ve booked with those companies). In the end, it was about a $50 savings over the hotel’s AAA/AARP price (or about 33% off). I had tried to call the hotel about three times in the final days prior to our arrival to confirm our reservation/room, but all three times, at different times of the day, there was such a back-up on the phone that I never talked to a human being and eventually hung up after about 5 minutes on hold.

Upon arrival, I waited in a short line (there were two clerks, but one was on the phone … big surprise there). I noted that their paperwork did confirm that we had three guests and didn’t press further. We then proceeded up to our room, where the key didn’t work. I then had to go back to the desk to get it recoded. Upon return to our room with the new key, the door magically swung open to reveal … a single king bed. I then trotted back down the stairs to the front desk to be told that all two-bed rooms were booked, that I could rent a roll-away for $10, and if I was unhappy, then perhaps next time I should book directly through the hotel and not through a “third party.” I found this disconcerting, but didn’t see the sense of arguing, so I told them to hold off on the roll-away and headed back to the room to place a call to Hotwire. While placing the call on my cell phone, the room phone rang, my mom picked up, and it was the desk-clerk trying to explain why it was our fault we had a king room and to repeat that we’d be better off in the future to book directly through the hotel. During this conversation, I had navigated Hotwire’s phone menu and had immediately been connected with an operator who listened to my story and called the hotel to ascertain the situation. He then returned, agreeing that 3 adults should not be slotted for a one-bed room, and told me to go ahead and buy the roll-away. I was told to keep my receipt, and to later fax it to Hotwire for a refund. This seemed like the best I was going to get, so I agreed, and 15 minutes after a call to the front desk, I had a small roll-away sitting underneath the window in the room. Later, upon checking my email, I found a $25 gift certificate in my in-box for a future purchase from Hotwire, so at least in my mind, that company had tried to do right. As for the Country Inn, I understand that it is NOT the desk clerks’ fault that I had been assigned a king room, but I really didn’t appreciate the lecturing about booking directly through their company.

Sorry for the long rant … so I guess I’ll make the rest short. We spent the rest of our day at the Jersey Gardens Mall (there’s a Country Inn shuttle, but it is very walkable). We ate at the Jersey Gardens Diner right next to the hotel … it wasn’t fabulous, but it offered large portions of very decent food with good service. The next morning we partook of the Country Inn’s free breakfast (after going down once and heading back … the room was swamped with two bus groups … perhaps why we could not be accommodated the night before), which is fairly decent with make-you-own waffles, hard-boiled eggs, and other standard, continental fare. At around 10:45, we had the hotel call us a cab to Port Liberty. We had the feeling we were being jerked around a little bit with a $65 un-metered ride (as we had heard from others to expect around $50), but the ride ended up being around 30 minutes with traffic.

Embarkation

Our taxi dropped us off at about 11:30, and a porter immediately arrived to take our bags over to the luggage bin. We tipped him about $5 for our 3 bags, and then headed through the terminal and security until we reached the check-in lines. There was a separate area for priority check-in, and a lady guarded this area with a list of eligible guests. As we made our way through the line, the first groups of guests were allowed to start loading the busses and head to the ship (around 11:45). By the time we had checked in, the first few boarding ticket numbers had been called. We immediately went outside, caught a bus, and were driven to the Deck 1 gangway of Explorer of the Seas.

Once aboard, as per tradition for early boarders, we headed immediately to the Windjammer for lunch … as usual, the rooms would not be open to drop personal affects until 1:30 (cabin areas are blocked off with bulkheads). I always enjoy the first lunch, as it is the only opportunity to grab some honey-stung chicken (I know it’s not the best thing ever, but hey … it’s tradition!). Once we had eaten (and ran into a few of our Cruise Critic comrades) we explored the ship for a little bit, waiting for 1:30 to come around. When we headed to our cabin at 1:40, our luggage was already waiting for us, which was a first. Another first came at the muster drill where our assigned station met in the dining room. The muster drill seemed to go quicker than usual, though I’m not sure if it was actually shorter or if it just seemed that way because we spent it sitting down in an air-conditioned room.

After the muster drill, we held our pre-Meet and Mingle Cruise Critic gathering at the front of the ship on the helipad. This place was selected, in part, at my suggestion, and I think it turned out to be a good one. We were able to have a clear view of the Statue of Liberty in the far harbor, and in truth, the helipad definitely wasn’t super-crowded. I am of the opinion that during sail-away, most people try to go as high on the ship as possible, with the sun-decks becoming almost unbearably crowded. Also, from past experience, informal mingles become unwieldy with “meet at the pool bar” directions because a) there are a lot of people and b) there are usually more than one pool bars. Of course, there’s no bar at the helipad, though a quick stop at the Schooner Bar before heading out to the outside promenade deck can remedy that desire if you are so inclined (just don’t slosh your drink climbing the final flight of stairs up to the deck). There is one caveat, I guess ... I don't believe that the helipad is handicap-accessible in the course of normal passenger usage.

The Ship

The Explorer of the Seas is the second Voyager-class ship. It features a Royal Promenade, a dedicated sports deck on the back of the ship, an ice rink, and unfortunately metal “cave” balconies (which separate Voyager and Explorer from the rest of the ships in the class. I thought that Explorer had some very nice areas, though since it was my second voyage on this class of ship, there was not as much of a WOW factor. The Royal Promenade is always an impressive space with entrances to shops, bars, and the casino. I always enjoy finding a seat and reading/writing on the Promenade, though I occasionally found myself wishing for some ocean views (I find the areas with views, such as the Schooner or Champagne Bars are less conducive to sitting down at with my laptop).

The biggest complaint that I could make about this ship (and the rest of the class) is that the elevator situation can, at times, be unbearable. On this nine-day cruise, the average age of passengers skewed much older than any of my previous cruises, with many people in scooters or with canes who needed the elevators. Of course, even able-bodied passengers cast leery eyes towards the stairs, especially when making the trip from the Promenade to the sun deck or Windjammer, which is a hefty six-flight jaunt. Combine the large number of people wanting to use elevators with 12-14 decks to travel between, and suddenly 5-10 minute waits for already-packed elevators were not uncommon. It didn’t help having an aft-cabin, of course, because that meant our “home” bank of elevators were also the ones used by people traveling to the dining rooms, Viking Crown Lounge, and Windjammer.

The public spaces seemed to be well maintained, though one would run across the occasional footprint on metal walls. The Royal Promenade was always kept clear, and there were almost always plenty of seats available at the shows except for the Welcome Aboard show, which was the now-standard single show for all guests.

The Crew

Overall, I thought that the crew was excellent. To be honest, I didn’t run into a single person who seemed to be having an “off day” … everyone seemed to be genuinely pleasant. The Windjammer staff did an awesome job at clearing tables and, if your hands were full, grabbing drinks. I always felt sorry for the Café Promenade folks, as the ones dealing out free cookies, sandwiches, and pizza slices seemed to be consistently swamped. Our cabin attendant was Winfield, and he always did a good job cleaning up after us. Our waiters were Virgilio and Antonio (I think), and they offered very prompt service with rarely a pause or empty water glass. The cruise director and Vitality staff we interacted with were also very friendly, and they would take the time to chat about their interests.

The cruise director was Dave Chapman, and I thought he did a good job, though he didn’t really stand out too much from some of the other cruise directors I’ve encountered. It seems like all cruise directors have the same playbook, with few deviations, so it makes it hard, in my opinion, for them to distinguish themselves when they use the same jokes, routines, lists, etc. I did see Dave around the ship, so I’ll give him credit for that. He also had a morning show that ran on a loop from 7-11 each morning where he would essentially read the Cruise Compass. I know many people really enjoyed that, though I could only stand it a few minutes … I guess it just wasn’t my type of thing.

Crown and Anchor

This was our first cruise as Diamond members aboard a ship with a Concierge lounge, so that was definitely a new experience for us. Upon arrival to our cabin, we found an envelope that contained our keycard to the lounge, which we visited directly after sail away to collect some ice show tickets. Not meaning to take offense with the next sentence, but upon entering, I was struck by the very tiny size of the room and the fact that it was packed, wall-to-wall, with passengers, wheelchairs, walkers, and oxygen tanks. Since it was a completely enclosed room, it seemed completely oppressive and uninviting. After we quickly left, we headed to the auxiliary lounge in Cloud 9 in the Viking Crown, and that room was so much nicer for my tastes. It had nice windows overlooking the deck and the water, was staffed by some very attentive gentleman (Dan Ryan and Keith George), and just felt much more open (even though there were only about 4 tables in there with maybe 20 chairs). Needless to say, we spent the rest of the cruise visiting this lounge and were never disappointed. Other Diamond benefits were pretty much limited to our coupon book and debarkation lounge, which were nice to have.

Cabin

We were in cabin 6354, which is a balcony on the sixth deck, starboard side, towards the aft. We chose this room because, as a superior balcony cabin, it had a sofa bed instead of a Pullman bed that comes out of the wall. The cabin was of decent size, though the balcony seemed tiny (my last ones have been an aft on Grandeur and an extended one on Brilliance). The balcony is within the superstructure instead of outside of it, meaning that the balcony feels a little like a cave. This feeling is increased by having a metal front instead of plexiglass, which is probably the feature I found most irritating as you can’t really see much of the water while sitting on your balcony.

As with most Royal cabins, there were quite a few drawers and other compartments to store items. The three of us were able to unpack all of our stuff and store it without too much of a hassle. One feature of Voyager-class cabins that I love are the showers with doors instead of curtains … no worries about flooding the place or becoming intimate with a piece of plastic.

I think it is also important to note one downside of the cabin … it seemed very worn. Wood edges were worn, and other wood fixtures were heavily scratched. One of the drawers was broken and would not go back onto its track. The painting in the cabin was dirty with hand prints, scratches, and scuffs. The sofa had large stains on the cushion. Throughout the course of the 9-days, two screws fell out of the handle to the bathroom door. There were large patches of rust on the balcony, and the outside door handle was heavily eroded. The balcony rail had absolutely no varnish on it and was completely course to the touch. None of these things really ruined or affected my cruise, but I have never really been in a ship’s cabin before that felt so used and it seemed that a little revitalization needed to be done.

Crown and Anchor

This was our first cruise as Diamond members aboard a ship with a Concierge lounge, so that was definitely a new experience for us. Upon arrival to our cabin, we found an envelope that contained our keycard to the lounge, which we visited directly after sail away to collect some ice show tickets. Not meaning to take offense with the next sentence, but upon entering, I was struck by the very tiny size of the room and the fact that it was packed, wall-to-wall, with passengers, wheelchairs, walkers, and oxygen tanks. Since it was a completely enclosed room, it seemed completely oppressive and uninviting. After we quickly left, we headed to the auxiliary lounge in Cloud 9 in the Viking Crown, and that room was so much nicer for my tastes. It had nice windows overlooking the deck and the water, was staffed by some very attentive gentleman (Dan Ryan and Keith George), and just felt much more open (even though there were only about 4 tables in there with maybe 20 chairs). Needless to say, we spent the rest of the cruise visiting this lounge and were never disappointed. Other Diamond benefits were pretty much limited to our coupon book and debarkation lounge, which were nice to have.

Cabin

We were in cabin 6354, which is a balcony on the sixth deck, starboard side, towards the aft. We chose this room because, as a superior balcony cabin, it had a sofa bed instead of a Pullman bed that comes out of the wall. The cabin was of decent size, though the balcony seemed tiny (my last ones have been an aft on Grandeur and an extended one on Brilliance). The balcony is within the superstructure instead of outside of it, meaning that the balcony feels a little like a cave. This feeling is increased by having a metal front instead of plexiglass, which is probably the feature I found most irritating as you can’t really see much of the water while sitting on your balcony.

As with most Royal cabins, there were quite a few drawers and other compartments to store items. The three of us were able to unpack all of our stuff and store it without too much of a hassle. One feature of Voyager-class cabins that I love are the showers with doors instead of curtains … no worries about flooding the place or becoming intimate with a piece of plastic.

I think it is also important to note one downside of the cabin … it seemed very worn. Wood edges were worn, and other wood fixtures were heavily scratched. One of the drawers was broken and would not go back onto its track. The painting in the cabin was dirty with hand prints, scratches, and scuffs. The sofa had large stains on the cushion. Throughout the course of the 9-days, two screws fell out of the handle to the bathroom door. There were large patches of rust on the balcony, and the outside door handle was heavily eroded. The balcony rail had absolutely no varnish on it and was completely course to the touch. None of these things really ruined or affected my cruise, but I have never really been in a ship’s cabin before that felt so used and it seemed that a little revitalization needed to be done.

Bar Harbor

We booked the "Best of Bar Harbor" tour through the cruiseline for this stop. Since it was a return to the US after visiting Canada, everyone had to go through immigration. Immigration on this sailing occured on the 4th and 5th floors of the dining room, with US citizens heading to the fifth floor and everyone else goig to the 4th. You had to clear immigration before leaving the ship, and you could not return to the ship until everyone else had cleared. After hearing some bad stories from the July 3 sailing, I'm happy to report that immigration was completely painless. People with early tours were asked to go first, and others were called fairly quickly. We went when they called for all tours before 9 AM and walked right through without having to wait at all. Our tour was to start at 8:30 and they were already calling non-tour passengers by that time.

Cleared to leave the ship (by a mark on your SeaPass card ... so you can return to your cabin to pick up items/drop off passports), we headed to Studio B at 8:00 AM for our 8:30 tour (with tickets that said to meet at Studio B 15 minutes before departure). Even though we were "early," the people waiting in line there told us that they had already seen a large group with our sticker numbers leave. We waited about 10 minutes for a tender, and by 8:25 we were on land. We quickly found our bus and were 3 of the last 6 people to board the bus ... no problems about missing it, but I was a bit miffed that we were "stragglers" who were simply following directions.

Anyway ... with the bus loaded up, it took off for the first part of our tour ... Acadia National Park. The bus wound around the park, stopping twice. One stop was at Thunder Hole (which wasn't thundering at that time) and the other stop was at Cadillac Mountain. Both stops were for about 25 minutes that started when the bus pulled in ... which I always found irritating because it took about 5-8 minutes for the people in front of us to actually get out of the bus (so there's 1/3 of our time waiting). The weather was chilly, with many people wearing (or wishing they were wearing) jackets and long pants. It was especially windy on Cadillac Hill ... er ... Mountain ... so come prepared if you are easily affected by cold temperatures.

The driving/stops took probably a little over 2 hours, after which we headed to the Oceanarium, where we heard a 20 minute talk about lobster fishing and were then herded back on the bus without the chance to look around. This was a very underwhelming stop ... the talk was interesting, but without the chance to explore, the place seemed more like some guy's house than a learning aquarium.

After leaving the Oceanarium, we were then taken to the College of the Atlantic to see a few buildings and to take pictures. This stop felt very tacked-on and didn't really prove to be too interesting to me. Once back on the bus, we were taken back into town where we were told that we could be dropped off at the end of town (needing to walk through the shopping district to return to the tenders) or, if we waited, we could be dropped at the tenders. We opted to get off in the shopping area, and then wandered around looking for some place to eat (it was almost 1 at this point).

Since the tour guides and the tender drivers recommended the West Street Cafe, we thought we would give it a shot. There was a small wait, but we were seated in about 15 minutes (which is, ironically, longer than it took to receive drinks). The service was not good and seemed overwhelmed. The food was decent, but seemed a little overpriced to me ($15 for a lobster roll ... which looked like mayonnaise and meat in a toasted hot dog bun). I had a blueberry ale which, in all honesty, had a blueberry flavor so light, I could barely taste it.

After eating, we did a bit of shopping on the main drag (prices were amazingly high, of course), then headed back to the tenders. The tender process was fine, though it took about 15 minutes to clear the tender, which is frustrating when you are waiting in the sun.

Final thoughts on Bar Harbor: If you are interested in Acadia, take the Acadia-only tour and skip the "best of" ... the added stops didn't seem worth it to me and made the tour drag a bit. If you want to just see the park, there is a free shuttle that makes a park loop (that looked like it could get fairly crowded). I saw the shuttle pick up at the town square, but am not sure if that was the closest stop to the pier or not. The only downside of the shuttle is that I heard it does not go to Cadillac Mountain, so if you want ot go up there, I guess you need to have an alternate form of transportation.

As for restaurants, plenty of places had lobster and lobster rolls, with the rolls seemingly costing more than a single lobster dinner. Prices seemed to get cheaper the further away from the pier you get, but obviously I cannot attest to the quality of any of the other places.

Portland

The weather on for the day of our visit to Portland was miserable. We had a tour scheduled to go to Kennebunkport in the afternoon, so we got off of the ship in the morning to walk to the L.L. Bean outlet in Portland, which took us about 15-20 minutes to walk to. The store wasn't huge and the selection wasn't the greatest ... for me, it was obvious why some of the stuff hadn't been sold or had been returned. Sizes were limited, as were colors. The best deals to be had in-store were probably monogramed items that had been returned ... sure, it may have someone else's name or initials on it, but it's also half-price. Oh ... in some of the coupons being handed out on the pier, there was a coupon for a percentage off at the outlet ... don't forget to look in that coupon book, as we didn't notice it until we were back at the ship.

We returned to the ship in a moderate rain, stopping underneath awnings or in stores along the way. Portland seemed like a very nice city, and its wide side walks were definitely appreciated after spending a day in crowded Bar Harbor.

At 1:00 we headed off the ship for our 1:30 Kennebunkport tour, and found a large mass of people huddles outside underneath a covered area. When the tours were finally called, we were ushered to the buses ... so we got rained on while waiting for the first people to board and take their seat. Why the buses couldn't move closer to the covered area I'm unsure of ....

It took the bus about an hour to get to Kennebunkport, with the guide giving facts about the area long the way. Once we arrived, we were told that we had about 90 minutes to walk around and shop before we needed to get back to the bus. It was still a miserable, rainy day, so some people chose to stay on the bus instead of heading out. Not daunted by rain (though I left my camera on the ship because of it), we walked around, bought postcards, grabbed a coffee, and even tried a lobster roll at Aunt Marie's ice cream/lobster roll stand (at $11.95, it was cheaper and better than the one I had in Bar Harbor).

At the end of the allotted time, we returned to the bus and ended up having to wait a few extra minutes for stragglers (annoying, but not too bad). We were then driven around Kennebunkport and shown various beaches, houses, and Walker Point (where the Bush estate is). Since we were in a bus, we were not allowed to stop and take pictures of place, though many people who had come in cars were taking pictures from the side of the road. We then returned to Portland at about 4:30 (I think) and headed out of the rain and back aboard the Explorer.

Final thoughts on Portland: The close L.L. Bean outlet was within walking distance but was a little underwhelming. Those I talked to who took a tour to the main store seemed to like it quite a bit, though I was of the mind that wasn't going to pay to go shop. The Kennebunkport excursion was fine, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it because it was a lot of driving for not-too-different sights and experiences other than to say that I'd been to Kennebunkport. Portland seemed like a nice enough place that I think that, with better weather, I'd of preferred to stay there.

Boston

Explorer's last stop was in Boston. Since this was our first visit, we once again went with a ship's tour ... Historic Boston and Cambridge. This time we knew we needed to be early, and at 20 minutes before the scheduled meeting time, we still landed on the back of the bus. Sheesh.

I thought that this was the best of the tours we took. Our tour guide was very informative and obviously knew where he was going (as he was giving the bus driver specific directions). Our first stop was the Old North Church, made famous for the lantern story serving as a backup to Paul Revere. We got off the bus, walked a few blocks to the church, and listened to the presentation offered by people working there. We then headed up a moderately steep hill to see a cemetery, then down the other side to pick up the bus again.

After re-boarding the bus, we headed to Cambridge where we stopped at Harvard. We were given a tour of Harvard yard (complete with about 500 other tourists), and were then set loose for about 30 minutes of on-your-own shopping and exploration time. The lines for the recommended t-shirt shop were ridiculous, so we went to the Harvard Bookstore to look around and then later returned to Harvard yard for pictures.

After returning to the bus, we drove by MIT, then were taken back to Boston and were driven past Fenway park. We had half of a stop at Trinity church, where people who wanted to take pictures were given a few minutes to step off of the bus and take them, then hop back on. We then went around Boston Common. The tour ended at Quincy Market, where we could get off and take a taxi or shuttle back to the ship. Given the rainy weather, we opted to return to the ship on the tour bus.

Some notes: The ship offered a shuttle to/from Quincy Market that was $10/pp one way and $14/pp roundtrip. Our guide admitted to us that, if we took a taxi from Quincy Market to the ship, it would be cheaper as long as two or more people split the fare. I know some people also did the hop-on/hop-off bus, which could be picked up at the Westin, which seemed like it would be about a 10-15 minute walk from the port. I think that one could also walk fairly safely to Quincy Market from the ship, but that would probably be at least a 30-40 minute walk.

Final thoughts on Boston: This is the stop I was most looking forward to (as I enjoy history and have been to other historically-rich cities, such as Philadelphia), so I was glad that the tour ended up being both interesting and informative. I would really like to return to Boston to do more on-my-own stuff, such as walking the Freedom Trail, but we all know that one of the downsides of visiting a location on a cruise is that your time is usually severely limited.

Food

I know the topic of food is completely subjective, but since it also usually plays a major part in the cruise experience, it's worth talking about. I had read some not-too-kind reviews of the Explorer's food offerings prior to this trip, so I'll admit that I went into the cruise with low expectations.

Dining Room
I thought that the appetizers and main courses in the dining room, for the most part, were actually very good. There were usually a variety of offerings, though the menu seemed smaller now that they've added the "daily" items to the main menu instead of having them off on the side. I ordered beef several times and the only almost-inedible piece I got was the prime-rib on the last night ... besides that, it was always tender and moist. I was also impressed by the lamb shank, which was huge and fell of the bone. The now-famous fisherman's platter was surprisingly offered the last night of the cruise and, believe it or not, the lobster was actually cooked very well ... it wasn't mushy or too tough.

We ate lunch in the dining room every chance we could, which was three times on this cruise (two sea days and one late port arrival). Lunch featured custom-made salads that were very tasty, though the line could get to be very long to get one. Other than that, two different menus were used, and they are the same Brasserie 30 menus that have been offered for the last few years with a variety of different food options. I've never gone in a hurry, and thus have never requested fast service, but I've yet to have a "30 minute" lunch take less than about an hour (which is fine with me).

We ate a few breakfasts in the dining room, and to be honest, I was less than impressed. I ordered eggs benedict, and twice the poached eggs were undercooked. My dad ordered pancakes (they are his favorite) and found them to be so dry on several occasions that he switched to an omelet.

The one major complaint that I have about the dining room food is a lack of quality, signature desserts. There were a few nice ones (chocolate chinois trilogy, B52 melt on the lunch menu), but otherwise, they felt either uninspired or just turned out nasty. My biggest problem were the desserts that seemed to be gelatin based as a way to cut corners. For example, I ordered tiramisu and was given something that looked like a square piece of cake. I tapped it with my spoon and it wobbled ... come on. Tiramisu is made with cream, not gelatin. I always see dessert as a big send-off for the night, and I look forward to eating them on a cruise because I never order them in a restaurant, so I was definitely disappointed (and craving at least something on the order of Carnival's nightly chocolate-melting cake).

Windjammer

We ate at the Windjammer for breakfast most mornings. The food quality wasn't excellent, but seemed unfortunately to be about the same as the dining room. Probably the highest quality thing you can grab is either fresh fruit or custom-made omelets/fried eggs. For some reason I kept going back to the biscuits and gravy hoping for an improvement would never occur. The biscuits were always hard as a rock and the gravy's consistency ranged from water to glue, depending on the day. I did enjoy the fried, circular hash browns (like are served in many fast-food restaurant breakfasts).

We also often ate at the Windjammer for lunch, as it was usually the only sit-down venue open. I was fairly impressed with lunch, as there were always plenty of choices. There were Asian options on the Jade side, and back in the Island Grill, there were always pastas and pizzas available, as well as deli sandwiches. Besides the every-day stuff, the hot-bar menus changed daily, and most of the stuff I tried was pretty good. Desserts sometimes seemed better here at lunch than in the dining room at dinner, but maybe that was because they had cookies and I could see/avoid desserts that obviously displayed the rubber-wobble.

Cafe Promenade

I really love the idea of Cafe Promenade, and stopped there several times for cookies, brownies, and coffee. I had one slice of pizza (to remind me of how awful I find Royal Caribbean's pizza) and a few of the little sandwiches. My biggest complaint about this area is that there is not real indication of where to form a line, so people who want sandwiches or cookies start forming separate lines and arguing about who should be served next.

Murder Mystery Dinner at Portofino

I signed up for this online, as it sounded interesting. For around $50/pp you get dinner theater (preformed by the ship's dancers), a limited menu at Portofino (anti-pasto, ceasar salad or onion soup, filet or seafood dish, tiramisu), and unlimited wine (red or white). The murder mystery was intentionally hammy and pretty funny (mostly because the hilarious Jesse). The food was very good, though I still wasn't a huge fan of the tiramisu (better than the dining room's by a mile, but I still make a better version). The wine service was disappointing, as they "ran out" for a while during the main course, only to suddenly "find some" for the dessert course ... I guess it was just a coincidence, but struck me as a way to save some money. In the end, I'm glad I did it, but would probably not do it again.

Entertainment

There were plenty of shows and live music available on the Explorer, but this still seemed like an area that was lacking from my previous RCCL cruises. I didn't see any of the production shows, beyond the welcome aboard show, so I can't comment on their quality (others seemed to like them, though). I went to see a few of the other performers and thought that they were mostly mediocre. One of the singers spent most of the show talking and an impressionist spent the first 20 minutes of his show doing impressions from radio show ... definitely skewed towards an older crowd. There was not a celebrity headliner on any night, and a few nights had no real shows, with the ice show or the love and marriage show serving as the main entertainment (when I've usually seen these as secondary entertainment options). The ice show was, as expected, the highlight of the ship's entertaiment.

As for the scattered music options, I didn't participate in a lot, but from walking by, the piano player in the Schooner Bar sounded terrible to me. I really enjoyed the guitarist in Dizzy's Lounge in the evenings, though didn't find any real jazz in the late "jazz hour."

Debarkation

We were a little nervous about our flight leaving at 12:30 because of the busing situation at the port, but we decided to go ahead and put our bags out because we were able to go to the Diamond departure lounge. This was in the Maharaja's lounge and there were attendants who checked IDs to make sure only Diamond members entered. At about 8:45, before any colors were called, we were escorted down the back stairs and taken allowed to exit the ship on a separate gangway from the rest of the guests. There was also a bus waiting for us ... so we were the first passengers getting bags, which was a very nice perk (no lines!).

We talked to a taxi company to get to the airport, and they ended up sticking us in a shared-ride van with others going to Newark. This van was $14/pp and was perfectly fine. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our flight.

The standard question ....

2008-06-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

I know that, in my first post on this blog, I wrote about why I like to cruise. Since that is the "standard" question I'm asked when I call myself a "cruiser," I thought I'd revisit it, especially in the economic pinch everyone is feeling from the current state of gas prices and their effect on the prices on everything else.

I read in the book about the start of the modern cruise industry, Devils on the Deep Blue Sea, that many economists label the cruise industry as being fairly recession-proof. Not that gas prices can't hurt cruise companies (as is evident by today's stock prices), but most people see cruising as a vacation value, and when times get tight, those vacation dollars need to get stretched ... making cruising an attractive option.

Many people who dismiss cruising do so because they hate the idea of "being stuck on a ship" or of "seeing the same ports over and over." I can understand these viewpoints, though the stuck on a ship argument doesn't hold too much water with today's floating leviathans. The port objection is a fair one, but then again, when it comes to pinching pennies, sometimes the world is not your oyster. For example, I really do want to visit Europe again. Without even worrying about how badly the dollar is currently being pounded by the Euro, it would probably cost me at LEAST $1,500 for roundtrip tickets to a popular European destination from Indianapolis. For that same cost (and with other people sharing my room so I'm not stuck with single-occupancy rates), I'm taking a 10-day cruise and have round-trip flights from Indianapolis directly to Miami. Oh ... and I get to see the Panama Canal. Looking back at Europe, that $1,500 gets me to, let's say Paris, but I still need to worry about lodging and food costs, at the very least. I know I can skimp on the food costs (but in Paris, who wants to all the time?) and can probably find some sort of hotel discount, but I can't imagine a 10-day trip in Europe, sharing costs with a roommate, costing less than $2,500 a person.

I guess I'll be sticking with cruises out of the US ... at least until I get that "real" job. ;)

My Review: Monarch of the Seas 5/5/08

2008-05-13T07:23:00.001-07:00

Background and Biases

I'm a graduate student who just finished with school for the semester. This was my 7th Royal Caribbean cruise and I am a Platinum C&A member. I traveled with my mother, and this was her 10th Royal Caribbean cruise and first cruise as a Diamond member. We took this same cruise last May and enjoyed it. Neither of us are late-night partiers (especially when we are jet-lagged) nor do we run up much of a bar bill or like to hang out on the sun deck. We both like to do Vitality activities and read outside on the promenade deck. I had decided to keep on my low-carb diet for the duration of the cruise ... a decision that pained me, but I hated to have worked so hard on my diet only to kill it on a cruise.

Pre-Cruise

As we almost always do, we flew into LA the Sunday before Monarch's departure. We arrived in LAX around 9 AM and were at our hotel, the San Pedro Crowne Plaza, by 10 AM via SuperShuttle ($17/pp). I won the hotel on Priceline ($65 bid). They let us check-in when we arrived, and upon request, placed us in a two-bed room instead of the king that had been reserved by Priceline. The room was nice and had partial view of LA harbor ... or, in other words, I saw some of San Pedro and some large cranes. We ate lunch at the hotel restaurant which was OK but nothing special with service that was a tad slow. For dinner, we went down the street to the Green Onion which was a fine, moderately priced Mexican restaurant. My mom later had issues that she thought might have been attributed to the food, but I was fine. The next morning we ate at the Pacific Cafe which is right across the street from the hotel. It was a nice little place offering a very generously priced breakfast ... I got an omelet with toast (which I gave away) for $3.95. The hotel has a complimentary shuttle to the port starting at 10:30 AM, and we went over right before 11 AM and were the only ones in the shuttle (about a 5 minute ride).

Embarkation

We arrived at the terminal right after 11 AM, dropped the bags with the porters, and headed up the escalator to check in. We headed into the priority check-in line and were immediately waved over. We had already completed our Set Sail pass, so three minutes later, we had our Sea Passes and priority boarding tickets and headed into the waiting area. The Platinum/Diamond waiting area is to the left once you enter the main room, and it had some beverages and snacks. There was no one checking cards, and I noticed several other passengers (mostly college-aged guys) coming in, grazing on the refreshments, and then taking them out into the main area ... no biggie, but interesting. Boarding started at 11:45 AM, and the people in the room were led into the security line after surrendering the priority ticket. Going through security, we had to show both our Sea Pass and passport about three times, and there was a major bottleneck (already!) at the photo station where they take your picture for the ID. We were up eating at the Windjammer by a little after noon, with cabins opening at 1 PM. Muster was at 4:30 and went fairly smoothly (only heard 1 person in my section blow their darn whistle, thank goodness!).

Cabin

In order to cruise as cheaply as possible, we had booked an inside guarantee which resulted in room 6009, an inside at the very front of the ship. The room was tiny, and even though I knew this going in (having had a similarly-sized outside room last time on this ship), it was still a bit shocking (I had had a junior suite my last cruise). There was a single closet and four drawers for the entire room, and there was not a room safe. The bathroom was even tinier than most cruise-ship bathrooms, especially noticeable since I'm not one of the smallest guys in the world. The only storage available in the bathroom was the shelf underneath the sink.

The cabin was fairly quiet in terms of hearing other people. On the other hand, you could hear it when the ship pulled into port and/or dropped anchor as there were very deep rumbling sounds at that time. Another downside of being at the front of the ship, at least in my opinion, is that we were 5 decks below the WJ and 5 decks above the debarkation deck. This meant that the elevators most convenient to our room were usually packed with passengers either heading up to eat or down to leave the ship, while aft elevators usually seemed fairly empty.

Ship

For a ship creeping towards 20 years old, Monarch looks fantastic. Sure, there were occasional worn carpets and pieces of furniture that looked a little worn, but for the most part, public areas were kept extremely neat. The centrum still serves as the heart of the ship, with the two dining rooms, show lounge, and casino accessible from it. The Sound of Music theater may be the area most "dated" by the ship's age, as the theater seems to have more obstructions than current ships. The dining rooms, though on top of each other, are not connected by open air, making that area seem smaller and a little more cramped, in my opinion. The casino is on the small side, though the layout is decent and, unlike on some other ships, there is actually room for foot-traffic to pass by the table games when they are crowded.

One area I really missed on this ship is the Solarium, which is not available on anything older than Vision-class. There was a half-court basketball area on the back of the ship, as well as two ping-pong tables. Two shuffleboard grids can be found on the promenade deck (deck 7), but the area is not really suited for shuffleboard to be honest. For those people like me who like to get away from the sun-deck crowds by sitting outside on the promenade, there are only about 10 chairs situated on this deck (5 on each side). There are also about six chairs on the aft of the ship (accessible by taking stairs either down from the basketball courts or up from the promenade). These are nice seats, but usually extra windy because they are out there by themselves.

As I mentioned earlier, the elevators, especially in the front of the ship, are typically busy. The elevator lobbies are quite wide and each side has separate elevator controls, so it was not uncommon to see people dashing from one side of the lobby to the other to hit both buttons and hope that at least one of the stopping elevators had room.

Dining

The main eateries on board are the Windjammer (buffet), two dining rooms (open dinner, breakfast, and one lunch), and Jade (pay sushi restaurant, open at night). The Windjammer food was decent most of the time, though breakfast became very repetitive and, as far as I could tell, there was not a made-to-order omelet station as can be found on other ships. As usual, I found the buffet scrambled eggs to go cold immediately after being taken from the tray. Lunch was a better proposition, with each day having offerings from different nations as well as a standard salad bar, carving station, and grill items. One thing I found funny ... on "American" day, instead of the fried chicken I'm used to seeing, corn dogs were offered. Staying on my low carb diet, I mostly stuck to items such as salad, hamburger patties, and hot dogs, though some of the meat dishes were also good, such as chicken, yankee pot roast, and gyro meat. One floor up from the Windjammer is Sorrento's, which offers pizza, cookies, and a few sandwiches.

Dinner in the dining room was a pleasant experience, as usual. We had second seating (1st started at 5:30 and 2nd started at 8) and had requested a window table for 4-6 and ended up with a table for 10. We normally only had two couples sitting with us though, so everything worked out fine. Our waiter, Franco, was very good and personable. The food on the menus seemed pretty typical for anyone who has cruised RCCL over the last few years, but instead of being presented on a fold-out card, the menus this time were presented in a nice folio with a separate pad dedicated to the chef's selections. It didn't really make for better food, but seemed somewhat classier. Overall, I thought that the dinner food was good, though I did stick to meat and seafood dishes. It killed me to skip the "savory bites," but I managed. I noticed that there was always Splenda available in the dining room and WJ (usually have to request it), so that was nice.

In terms of special events, on Wednesday night there was a chocolate buffet set up in the bottom of the centrum that started at 11:30 PM. It looked very pretty, but I didn't partake of any of it, of course. On Thursday there was a BBQ/Mexican food party on the pool deck starting at 3:45.

I noticed that Monarch did not have any self-serve ice cream stations available as many other ships do, though they seemed to try to offer scoop ice cream at any of the special events.

We used our C&A coupons at Seattle's Best and Ben and Jerry's, and the woman working there (forgot to look at her name) was extremely nice and helpful. After only going there once, when I came back the next day, I was asked where my mother was and how she was doing. I enjoyed my 50% off cappuccino and my mom enjoyed her free coconut coffee cooler.

Ports

San Diego - We got off the ship without any set plans but with a vague notion of visiting Balboa Park ... last year, we toured the Midway, which is right down the street. Anyway, as we exited the ship, one of the reps from Hilo Hattie's was advertising a free bus ride (and return) to the store which was in the Gas Lamp District. There was also a lady offering a free bus to the Sea View (?) Village, which is a shopping area on the harbor down past the Midway. We opted for the double-decker bus to Hilo Hattie's, which was about a 10 minute ride. We were let off at the store and told that the bus would be returning to the ship about every half-hour until 4 PM. From there, we looked around the store, then walked around the area. There are a ton of restaurants in this area, as well as a shopping mall and department stores. We basically just wandered around until we were ready to return to the ship. We did run across the Hard Rock Cafe, so we stopped in for a pin (family tradition).

I heard that others had a great time at the San Diego zoo, Sea World, and other attractions.

Catalina Island - Passengers have to tender to Catalina Island, and are told to collect their tender tickets only when they are ready to depart (tours from the ship just need their tour ticket). Open tendering didn't start until about 11:30. Once ashore, unless you have a tour planned or are going to rent a golf cart/bike, I don' think there's a whole lot to do besides eat and shop. Rentals seemed to be the same price at each store ... $40/hour for a four-person cart, with a minimum payment of two hours as a deposit that will be refunded if you only keep it for one hour). Anyway, that's $80 minimum in cash or traveler's checks that must be paid for a cart ... so be prepared if that's what you want to do. I also heard that, due to the fires, there is no smoking allowed in the golf carts, so know that too if it makes a difference.

Ensenada, Mexico - There is a small shopping area when you step off the ship, but otherwise, you either have to take a bus to downtown or be willing to hoof it a few miles. The buses to downtown are $2/pp with a charge of $1/pp to return. A word of warning ... most people like to buy tequila while in Mexico, and in at least the tourist areas, the stuff was marked up so much that it is around the same price I could pay at home without the hassle of collecting it, packing it, etc. I also noticed quite a few counterfeit Cuban cigars ... remember, price doesn't mean that you are getting the real thing.

Weather - I was prepared this time, but with highs around 65 (even in Mexico) and lows in the low 50s, make sure you take some warmer clothing than what you might normally take if you are used to cruising in the Caribbean.

Crew

Almost without exception, the crew on the Monarch were spectacular. Everyone seemed to be genuinely friendly and talkative. The staff in the WJ were always around to pick up plates, bring more drinks, etc. Officers always had a greeting. Our room steward was Jaceinto, and since his "home base" was not on our route to the rest of the ship, we didn't see him very often, but he did a good job keeping our cabin clean. Our waiter in the dining room, Franco, did an excellent job. Our assistant waiter was Henry and he did an OK job. Peter, the head waiter, stopped by and chatted every night, which is more than I can say than some of my other head waiters.

Vitality

One of the reasons we stay loyal to Royal is that we like the organized Vitality activities (used to be ShipShape). There did not seem to be as many offered on Monarch, though part of the problem, I'm sure, is that on this 4-day sailing there are no sea days. Walk-a-Mile was offered at 9 AM and 5 PM every day, and we did most of those. We also did sit-to-be-fit, and were the only passengers to show up (but no Vitality reward). No one showed up to run the ping pong tournament (with about 20 people milling around to join). There were also the standard pay classes (spinning, etc) and seminars (eat more to weigh less) that we skipped. By the time of point redemption, we hadn't even earned enough for a backpack (usually, we have enough points for at least several of anything we want), so I got a visor and some key chains.

Crown and Anchor

We received Platinum and Diamond coupon books in our cabin which had quite a few useful coupons. On Tuesday night, my mom received chocolate-covered strawberries in the room after dinner for being a Diamond member. Wednesday was the Platinum/Diamond party where the LA made some comments about future West coast sailings (Mariner and Radiance) and Genesis. We had to ask for white luggage tags for "priority" debarkation on the last day.

Liquor

As with my last cruise on Grandeur, purchased liquor is no longer delivered to the room on the last day of the cruise (too much drunkeness?). Instead, it has to be picked up on the morning of debarkation. Liquor purchased in the ship's stores was available for pick up in the jewelry store starting at 6 AM. Liquor purchased in a port was available for pickup in the Circuit Lounge.

I guess I understand why this rule has been put into place, but as someone who flies to cruise ports, I find it a huge pain. Not only is it something else to do on debarkation morning, but it is also something else to carry. It also means that I am forced to repack my checked luggage on a bench or sidewalk somewhere as opposed to the privacy and convenience of my own room. Definitely a pain.

Debarkation

Express debarkation was to start around 6:30 for the people who wanted to carry their own bags off, but it didn't really start until 7. White tags were supposed be called around 7:30, so this gave us time to go up and get some food. Last year we did express and nothing was open as the WJ didn't open until 6:30. It now opens at 6, so perhaps those comment cards have been read and listened to.

After breakfast, we went to Bolero's, which is the designated Platinum/Diamond waiting area. White tags were called at 7:45 AM, which wouldn't have been a problem except that two other tag colors were called as well (including the ones we had originally requested). By the time we made it to the line, it was wrapped around the Centrum and onto the stairs. It took about an hour to move from our initial place in line to get off the ship and through customs in the terminal. Many people around us were complaining about the wait because "THEY were DIAMOND members," and the complaints intensified when one of the tour groups was escorted through the tape in the Centrum and taken past the line and off the ship. I wasn't uptight about being made to wait ... I understand they can't control customs ... though I thought that perhaps they could have given the white tags a 5-10 minute window to get in line before calling the other two tag colors.

Once through customs, we went down, easily found our bags on the floor in the terminal, then walked out to grab our SuperShuttle ($17/pp). I had pre-paid this trip online, as well, and within 10 minutes, we were on our way to LAX. We were at the airport by 9 AM for our 12:10 flight, and at that time (at least for Northwest), the counter was empty and security was a breeze (we were sitting at the gate 15 minutes later).

Final Thoughts

Except for cabin size, Monarch has a lot of things going for her. She's still a beautiful ship that offers quite a bit in terms of entertainment and activities. I don't know that I will sail her again before she is sold off, simply because I'm not a fan of those short Bahamas runs. I hope to try the Mariner or Radiance out of California, but with rising gas costs (and the usual costs of those ships), I'm not sure if I'll ever get a perfect storm of cheap airfare and cruisefare again.

Oh ... in case you were interested ... my diet and exercise during the cruise netted me a loss of two pounds, so I guess it was worth the sacrifice. I believe I would have screamed if I had returned home, after skipping so many things that I really wanted to eat, and had gained weight.

Response ....

2008-04-23T10:44:00.001-07:00

I have been known to write letters to companies when they do something that upsets me, and knowing this, I also try to write letters complimenting positive incidents. On April 4, 2008, I wrote a letter to Royal Caribbean (through Crown and Anchor) explaining how pleased I was with how they handled the wind debacle on my Grandeur of the Seas cruise. In fact, I told them that I thought that the company went above and beyond what I considered to be their responsibility.

Anyway, yesterday (April 22, 2008), I received a phone call from Royal Caribbean thanking me for my letter and assuring me that it would be forwarded along to the crew on the ship.

Good PR on top of good PR ... one reason why I keep sailing Royal Caribbean.

What type of cruiser are you?

2008-04-13T08:38:00.001-07:00

Cruise lines offer luxury, if you are willing to pay. That's one of the nice things about cruising ... there's something available for everyone. Poor graduate students can pay to be served well for a week, and CEOs or other high-rollers can pay obscene amounts to be absolutely pampered.

I was able to cruise in a small suite on the Grandeur ... that was nice. Of course, there was no extra service to go along with this, just a larger room with a huge balcony and a tub. It was a fun experience, and now I know what an aft balcony is like (HOT).

In the future, however, I'm going to be sticking to standard rooms (at least until I get a "real" job ... something I always would have imagined happening by now). I enjoy being on the sea, the open air, and the sound of the waves. I'd rather take two cheap cruises in inside rooms and experience this for 14 days as opposed to 7 days with nicer digs. Maybe this is the first sign of becoming a cruise addict ... only caring that you are on a boat, not which one and not where at.

Grandeur of the Seas: March 8-13, 2008

2008-03-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Pre-cruise

I always worry about flying out of Indianapolis in the winter, and as usual, a winter storm was approaching for the day of departure. However, I booked a very early flight (5:30 AM) the day before my cruise in order to give myself the most opportunity to make it. Because of the early flight, I used Priceline to book the Hyatt Place airport hotel in Indy, and for $49 after taxes, this is a great little place (I only wish I got to spend more than about 5 hours there).

We got up at 3 for our 5:30 AM flight, then headed over to the airport. I'm usually a "2-hours before" kind of guy, but knowing the security didn't open until 4:30, I didn't see the point of arriving too early. We walked in the door at about 4:25 to hear the United desk agents yelling from their counter that the desk would be opening soon (4:30). There was already a huge line formed, so we made our way to the back of the line. At this point, a woman from United came to the back of the line to remind us that our bags needed to be checked 45 minutes before the flight. Passengers asked how that would be possible, considering they just opened 60 minutes before our flight, and had a line of over 100 people. The gate agent told it us was our problem and that we should have arrived earlier and lined up. When asked if we could jump people who had a later flight, she told us that they got there first, so they had priority over us. Sizing up the situation, I went out and checked the line at the skycap. It was short so we went out there and resigned ourself to paying $2/bag for the service. Of course, once we got up to the skycap, she need to "walk" two guys into the airport and disappeared for 10 minutes. I'm pretty passive, but as I stared at my watch and saw that 45 minute deadline approach, I was about ready to blow if my baggage check was denied. Another agent arrived, however, checked us in, and we got on the plane ... just enough drama to start the day right.

We had a connecting flight in D.C., but we made it to Tampa by 10:45. I had made a reservation at the Tampa Intercontinental via Priceline, and called using the courtesy phones for shuttle pickup once our baggage had been collected. The shuttle arrived after about 10 minutes, and 15 minutes after that, we arrived at our hotel. The desk clerk was very helpful and gave us two double beds on the top floor with immediate check-in. The room was very nice, and the hotel had a mall right across the street, as well as various food options, a liquor store, and a Walgreens. There was no shuttle option to the port, but other than that, this seemed to be a very good pre-cruise hotel if you wanted something a little upscale.

Day 1

Well, the big day arrived, but for some reason, I had butterflies in my stomach. I had this nagging suspicion that I had done everything in a hurry and had gotten to Tampa the wrong day, etc. I double checked my tickets and my luggage tags, but something still felt wrong. Hmmm ....

Anyway, at about 11, we checked out of the hotel and had the desk call us a cab. The cab fare was $15.50 from the hotel to the Port of Tampa. When we arrived, the cabbie looked up and said ... now that's weird, you can usually see the ship sticking up from the aquarium by now. This didn't help the fluttering butterflies by any means, and as we drove up, the cabbie tried to get information from the port agents. Apparently, due to high winds, the Grandeur was not allowed to come to the terminal, and instead was forced to dock in an industrial area. Our cabbie asked if he could drop us off down there, and he was told no, RCCL would take care of it.

So, without further ado, we got out of the cab and a porter was right there to take our luggage. There were several agents milling around outside the terminal, and they informed us that passengers were still being offloaded, due to the bussing situation, though we were welcome to go into the terminal and check in. We proceeded up to the counters, which were basically empty at 11:20, and checked in. We were informed that boarding would not commence for a few hours, and we were welcome to either sit in the terminal and wait or to go out to channelside walk around.

We chose to wait it out, and within a few minutes, one of the port agents came around handing out fliers that basically told us that apologized for the inconvenience and told us that boarding would commence by 3 PM. In addition, much to my surprise, the letter also told us that each passenger would be given a $20 OBC to cover lunch costs (if we chose to head out to eat). I thought this was very generous of RCCL, given the fact that the delay wasn't their fauld and that they were already eating the costs of the extra busses being used to ferry people to/from the ship. The compensation did not stop all of the complaining, of course, with the general idea that this happened "all of the time" (even though the port agents told us this was the first occurance) and that RCCL was just unprepared. Oh well, I guess some people just need to complain ....

Anyway, I had packed some food in my bag, so we chose to wait in the terminal and watch people check-in. We were right by the entrance, so my favorite continuous drama was watching the liquor police check bags and bottles coming in through the carry-on luggage. They were kept very busy, and by the time we were out of the terminal, they had quite a cart of confiscations ranging from a case of beer and 1.75 bottles of rum to water bottles, to mouthwash containers. They had one employee whose job it was to sniff suspicious liquid containers and I really didn't envy the guy.

Our wait in the terminal ended at about 2:00 when I saw a wedding party escorted out of the terminal. They then called priority tickets, which I realized we probably should have had, being both platinum C&A members and suite guests. However, we were number 1, so I wasn't feeling to anxious about it, and five minutes later, ticket 1 people were called. Many in the terminal had trouble hearing the announcements, and the people surrounding me were sad to see me go because I seemed to be the only one in the area able to decipher what was being said.

Once we made it into line, we proceeded to head out through the secured area, down an escalator, and out the back of the terminal where busses were waiting. These busses were not handicap accessible, so those in wheelchairs had to wait until the smaller, accessible busses arrived. The rest of us were loaded into motor coaches. The drive was about 10 minutes, onto outside roads then back into the port, and at the end, we were rewarded with vision of the Grandeur set against cargo loaders and other rusty machinery.

We boarded very quickly and, surprise surprise, our staterooms were already available! We had booked our first ever JR suite, an aft balcony room 7654. Upon entering the room, was a bit disappointed. The room was long, but didn't seem to offer much more than a standard balcony room except a full-sized couch and a tiny shelf that ran along the wall from the closet to the dresser. The bathroom was still tiny, though instead of a shower, there was a tub that was very close to the toilet. The mirror had weird black spots on it. The balcony was nice and big, though it felt a little dirty and the sliding door handle had quite a big of rust on it. I know that this sounds very negative, but was my first impression. The room really grew on me after that, however, a cosmetic sprucing of area looked like it was needed.

After getting situated in the room, we headed up to the buffet, which was opened as usual. I picked out the perennial boarding-day favorite, honey stung chicken, and easily found a table in the Windjammer. I was very grateful that the crew had put up signs showing which direction to approach the station areas, as this had been a mess on my recent Brilliance cruise. Not everyone followed the signs, but at least there was usually some semblance of order.

After eating, we headed up to make spa appointments, and the spa was actually very busy. Waiters made their rounds with drink of the days, and most of their trays had a big sign saying $5.95, which I'm glad they added to keep people from thinking that boarding drinks were free. The muster drill was pushed back to 5:30 due to the delays, and this was when it became truly apparent how many spring breakers were going on this 5 day cruise. Muster drill was filled with chatting, cell-phone talking, already-half-in-the-bag college-aged folks, and to be completely honest here, I did not hear a single word of the muster drill and no effort was made by the crew in charge of the area to quiet people down when the drill started. As a veteran cruiser, this wasn't a huge problem to me, but I can imagine it was/would have been disconcerting to any new cruisers who cared. The one good thing I can say ... only a few people blew on those darn whistles (which is one of my pet peeves and annoys the heck out of me).

The Welcome Aboard show was a mixed seating show that was sparsely attended (which I then attributed to a late start to first seating dinner). The cruise director was Simeon, and he seemed decent, though throughout the week he managed to trot out just about every cruise director gag and saying found in the cruising cliche manual.

We had second seating in the dining room, and our table was 92, which was a 4-seater right at the bottom of the dining room's staircase. Upon surveying the room throughout the cruise, it seems that RCCL tried their best to offer a good dining experience ... the sides of the dining room (at least on the bottom) were mostly or all spring breakers, while the center seemed to be mostly older cruisers with a mix of younger family members.

Our waiters were Ryan and Nheil, who must have been having an off night because the service that night left much to be desired, especially with one our tablemate's meals forgotten for about 10 minutes. There was a little chanting/yelling from the gallery, but overall, the atmosphere wasnt bad.

After dinner, the casino wasn't quite open yet, so I headed back to the room to spend time on the balcony and head to sleep.

Ship note: I do have to say, even with my initial complaints about the condition of our stateroom, the Grandeur is a beautiful ship. Many of the displays of artwork and statues are stunning, and the wood/brass/window motif works very well, especially in the centrum, which on any deck, allows for stunning views of the ocean while at sea.

Day 2: Day @ Sea

One of the reasons I like sailing RCCL is ShipShape program, as I think the rewards help motivated me to get some exercise and get involved with more activities. Since Walk-a-Mile start at 9 AM (sharp!), we got up around 8, got ready, and headed to the Windjammer buffet. The crowds were fairly sparse at that time on a sea day, and the food offerings were all that I remembered ... made-to-order omelettes/eggs, fruit, soggy waffles, hard biscuits, and luke-warm gravy. In all, I've really yet to be impressed with breakfast on a cruise ship (in the buffet or dining room), but it wasn't bad by any means. The servers were very quick to pick up plates and offer to bring juice, milk and coffee.

When we went to Walk-a-Mile, we found that the ShipShape program had changed to the Vitality program. It was explained to us that RCCL re-branded the program in order to have it fit with new suggestions for workouts, dining, spa, and excursions. That first day we were given a password and then asked to report it when we were finished, but after that we were given our rewards when we showed up.

This, the first sea day, was the formal night of the cruise, as well as the day when the first art auction was held, as well as the shopping talk an the first production show. We skipped all of these ... been there and done that. In walking by the Centrum during the art auction though ... I couldn't have been a good week for ParkWest, as about 5 people seemed to be attending the auction, even with the opportunity for free champagne.

Daily announcements were made by Captain Remo, and it became readily apparent that he likes to talk. I found him kind of humorous, but others tired of his very long announcements. I didn't go to the captain's reception, but heard it was fine. Evidently there were only about 300 repeat cruisers, and I heard elsewhere that there were only 130 under-18 children.

If anyone is curious ... it was readily apparent that this was a spring break cruise. The sun deck, pools, and hot tubs were consistently packed, with many hot-tubbers playing the "hide the alcohol as security comes by" game. I saw at least one beer bong on deck during the day, and walking to my aft room was often like walking through a dorm hall, especially at night. I don't know if the 7th deck alone was like this, but most of the insides seemed packed to the gills with 3 and 4 passengers. Music could usually be heard thumping through some of the doors, and several times did we pass room doors that were propped open with a chair to reveal kids sitting in a circle, listening to music, talking, and drinking. Like I said ... definite dorm vibe. To be honest, none of this really affected my cruise, but it WAS noticeable. As I mentioned before, security was trying to be vigilant on the pool deck, especially when younger adults in the pool area were drinking from their Coke-plan mugs and non-ship-branded water bottles. I didn't spend much time on the sun deck, but even I noticed a few "sniff" tests of these containers.

Our 4:00 PM Walk-a-Mile was also supposed to take place on the sun-deck (5 laps for a mile), but we grabbed our rewards and opted to head to the outside promenade on deck 5 to walk (4 laps for a mile). Not only does the outside promenade on deck 5 go all around the ship, but it also has some covering from the sun. Of course, the other reason to walk here is that there are far fewer people on it and no deck-chairs blocking the path in pursuit of the "pefect tanning angle."

I did not pack formal clothes, but I did attend dinner in slacks and a golf shirt (my every-day dinner apparel). I saw perhaps two tuxes, with most guys dressing about like I had and most girls dressing up a bit more, as per usual, in my opinion. Dinner service was much improved this night, though the food was only so-so. I think I'm going to have to give up on beef dishes, just because they are starting to get boring and I think it is rare for them to be prepared very well with so many passengers.

After dinner, we made a brief stop at the casino, then it was bedtime for me again. There was a 70's party in the Viking Crown Lounge for those craving dancing after 11 PM.

Day 3: Cozumel

The Grandeur, at least on this itinerary, spends an early day in Cozumel. The ship docked at around 7 AM and the on-board time was 3:30. Unfortunately, the ship docked at the pier away from town (international pier?), necessitating a taxi ride into town if you wanted to visit the larger shopping areas or the famous drinking sites (Carlos and Charlie's, etc). Of course, there was some shopping at the pier with a few duty-free stores, a Cincos Soles, and 1/2 Senior Frogs. This suited me, as I basically only buy items from Cicos Soles anyway, but hardcore shoppers might be upset about having to pay to get downtown. Actually ... I had an almost-irate woman corner me on the elevator to ask me to explain why we were not downtown ... I'm not sure why I was singled out, but it was kind of funny.

I had originally made a reservation at Nachi Cocum with Island Marketing, but I never paid the deposit when I decided it was a little more than I wanted to spend. I then thought about going to Paradise Beach, but in the end, decided not to do that either. In other words, Cozumel became sort of a ship day for us for about our 10th time there. This meant that I got the chance to defend my Grandeur shuffleboard title at the shuffleboard tournament. Evidently this was not high on the priority list for other people, as my mom and I were the only ones who showed up at 11 AM, so I did manage to win that gold medal.

We did go ashore to shop a bit. We bought some vanilla at Cincos Soles, which was about the only vanilla I found in the shopping area that had vanilla listed as the top ingredient over water or alcohol. I checked out the duty-free liquor prices, and to be honest, I thought the prices ranged from mediocre to bad. I thought that tequila prices were especially high in this location, which I guess makes sense because people go into Mexico looking for tequila. I also noticed quite high prices on "Cuban" cigars, though I think the odds of any true cubans in this area is fairly small. Oh, by the way, security was extra vigilant in collecting alcohol when re-entering the ship. Any container holding liquid was also examined very closely, and people who had vodka (I'm guessing) had it confiscated.

The show this night was pre-dinner for second seating, and it was the Celebrity Headliner show featuring The Diamonds. The show was good, though again, it was sparsely attended ... and when I say sparsely, I mean like 75 people. I've never seen entire sections of the theater empty, even on spring break, so this was kind of amazing. This night was also The Quest, which took place in the South Pacific Lounge. I did not attend, but I heard it was extra crazy with the large numbers of drunken college students attending.

Day 4: Belize

Belize, in case you don't know, is a tender port, which means that they need to ferry everyone to shore and back again on small boats. The most popular tours are probably the ones that include cave tubing, which includes floating on inner-tubes through the rainforest and some underground caves used by Mayans for religious rituals. In my previous stops in Belize, I have gone to Goff's Caye and have gone cave tubing twice (and have been stuck on the side of the road with a broken-down bus twice). This time, I decided to leisurely make my way to shore (even though we got priority tender tickets for being in a suite) and then come back soon after.

The ship docked on time at around 7 AM. Tenders were running soon after, and by 9 AM, there tender tickets were not needed and anyone could go to shore when they wished. FYI, those tender tickets for those not on a RCCL excursion and wanting to get to shore early were given out starting at 7 AM in the South Pacific lounge.

At around noon, we headed to shore. The tourism villiage doesn't have a lot, but there are several drug stores, places to drink, and stores that sell fairly usual tourist junk. Having been outside of the tourism gate twice, I really had no desire to do so again, so after 40 minutes of walking around, we headed back. The tenders were running fairly smoothly, though we got on the tender back near the very end of the loading process, and those already aboard were complaining about the wait for going back to the ship. Belize seemed to have some better liquor prices than Cozumel, but in honestly, still weren't that great. However, in the shops, you can buy local flavors, including rum, cashew wine, and Belekin Beer.

We also heard news, on this trip, that someone from the ship fell off her horse on an excursion and needed to be taken to the hospital for broken ribs. I don't know much about the accident, but I just wanted to post it as a reminder ... even though you are on vacation and having fun, you still need to be careful (I sometimes get the idea that some people feel "invincible"on vacation). This is why horses and jet skis always seem like too much of a risk to me, but perhaps I'm just overcautious ....

Back on the ship, the pre-dinner 2nd seating show this night was the pop/rock stage production names All-Access. Once again, attendance was very sparse. I thought the show was just OK. The male singers were both decent, in my opinion, but the females had trouble being heard over the music, which I couldn't tell if they did not have much reach or if they were just mixed poorly. The choreography for the dancing was fine, but the for the singers it was just awful. For each separate set, the same set of stairs was continuously trotted out for the singers to climb over. After four times fo the exact same thing, it seemed a little overdone.

Dinner was Italian this night, and the food was fine, though I was fairly unimpressed with the tiramisu. It seemed to gelatin-y to me, and I make one that is about 10 times better, in my humble opinion. After dinner, there was a Mardi Gras party on deck, complete with dancing and a buffet, which I skipped since I didn't feel like eating an hour after the end of dinner.

Day 5: Final Day @ Sea

Well, unfortunately, Wednesday rolled around, which was the final full day on the ship. I had prepared for this, having gotten customs forms and tip envelopes the night before, but it is still somewhat depressing to have to pack.

We headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast, and this is about the only time I regret cruising at spring break. We found a table, no problem, but had a group of guys sit next to us (on the above tier) and started talking about things I really didn't feel the need to hear using vocabulary that consisted of about one word that starts with "F." I understand that older people may have a bad vocabulary, and I also understand that I might also have run into this problem on any cruise I would book, but here's how I look at it ... when the public areas are full of spring breakers, some of them feel like they can act like they do on campus or at home. I'm not condemning the group as a whole and realize that most act find around other people, but these types of situations are what I see as the real downside to spring break cruising, and to be honest, I'd be really hesitant to subject any of my future kids to such a large collection of college-aged vacationers.

We did our walk-a-mile, then headed to the Singin' in the Rain lounge for a Vitality talk about healthy living. We normally would have skipped it, but Ocatavian, one of the sports managers, talked us into going ... and we were the only ones there for most of it. It was interesting, but nothing I'd never heard before. More interesting to me were the snippets of the RCCL crew training film I could hear coming through the doors to the conference room.

We got a bit of rain this day, but it was very brief, so in all, very good weather for the trip. Vitality redemption was at 4, and by the end, we had collected 22 Vitality disks. Most of the shorter cruises I have been on had lowered points needed for merchandise, but the Grandeur evidently sticks to the 7 point totals I've seen elsewhere. I got one of the new Vitality bags, and I got an old ShipShape t-shirt. The old ShipShape stuff is evidently on clearance (half of normal redemption costs) until it is gone.

I hadn't planned on buying any liquor because of the hassle of having to pack it. As usual, I found a scotch I was interested in trying, so I decided to wait until the last day to buy it so I could take it to my room and not worry about having it delivered. Well, much to my chagrin, RCCL has changed the rules ... at least on this ship ... or at least during spring break. Instead of taking liquor to your room on the last day, or having it delivered, EVERYONE must pick up their liquor from a lounge on debarkation day. When I heard this, I immediately put down what I was going to buy and walked away with nothing. I mean, I understand that they didn't want those liters of liquor free-flowing on the last day, but I didn't want to a) have to stand in line for liquor on debarkation day, b) have to have something else to carry off the ship, and c) not be given the chance, while packing, to put the liquor into my suitcase and properly secure it.

The pre-dinner show was a juggler who was actually pretty funny and worked the crowd very well (given the fact that there was not much of a crowd). The last night at dinner was fine, and the captain and major officers actually came to the dining room to sing and clap with the waitstaff. There was an 80s party in the Viking Crown for those who wanted to dance the night away.

For technical details, luggage had to be out 11 PM. I didn't really see this written anywhere, but maybe I just missed it. Of course, if you have late dinner, I would suggest doing most of your packing before dinner ... I waited to the last minute and had a bit of a rush there at the end. There no formal self-assist baggage program for this ship or sailing.

Day 6: Get Out of Here

We awoke at 6 AM, and the Grandeur was still navigating through Tampa Bay. Breakfast in the Windjammer was available from 6, while breakfast in the dining room was available from 6:30. The rooms were to be cleared by 8 AM, with most of the common rooms open for waiting. The biggest rooms were advertised for different purposes, with TV (I'm guessing CNN) being shown in the Palladium Theater and board/card games were available in the South Pacific Lounge.

The ship was actually docked by 7:15 AM, and we cleared out of our room at 7:30 and headed to wait in the Schooner Bar. The bar was actually open for SeaPass transactions, and half of it was available for smokers. The first tags, White/Beige were called at 8:00. We had beige tags, so we went down a floor, got in line, got off the ship, went through customs, found our luggage set out on the floor, and were in a cab by 8:15. It was the quickest and most painless debarkation ever, though I'm not sure if that was the norm, or just because we were the some of the first off the ship. Our flight actually didn't leave until 3:15, but we went as soon as possible because I hate having my luggage sit out for hours. Tampa airport having free wireless helped, too.

What I noticed as I debarked:

- Cruise transfers were $19.50/pp to the airport. This is a complete ripoff ... don't do it unless they come with your cruise airfare.

- A taxi is $22 flat fare from the port to the airport.

- Shuttles can be had for $9/pp, but unless you are traveling alone, I'd imagine that a cab would be much more convenient for only a little more money.

- For $7/pp, you can have your bags stored until 4:00 in case you'd rather spend time in Tampa or at the aquarium than in the airport.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my over-long review. More later.

A change in C&A levels?

2008-01-30T07:47:00.001-08:00

The Royal Caribbean boards on Cruise Critic have been abuzz the last couple of weeks from the anonymous tip that perhaps the membership levels in the Royal Caribbean loyalty program Crown and Anchor, will be changed. As it stands right now, here are the levels and major perks:

Gold - completed at least one RCI cruise. Perks: a Gold coupon book for use onboard on next cruise
Platinum - 5 cruise credits. Perks: a Platinum coupon book, priority embarkation line, balcony discounts, invitation to C&A party for Platinum and above
Diamond - 10 cruise credits. Perks: a Diamond coupon book, priority embarkation and debarkation, larger balcony discounts, invitation to C&A party for Platinum and above, use of Concierge Lounge and Concierge Services (on select ships with a lounge)
Diamond Plus - 24 cruise credits. Perks: much the same as diamond with some personalized perks depending upon cruise number

The supposed changes seem aimed at increasing the number of cruises to reach both Diamond and Diamond Plus, with perhaps as many as 25 cruise credits required to make Diamond and 50 required to make Diamond Plus.

So if these changes are made, will people still be Loyal to Royal? My guess ... mostly. In my personal experience, the perks are nice, and Royal Caribbean is definitely leaps and bounds past Carnival in recognizing and thanking past guests for returning. However, it hasn't really been the coupon booklet (of which I may use 3 of the coupons) or the priority stuff that has kept me coming back to RCI. Instead, it has been the stackable discounts. As long as I can combine onboard credits with special rates, I'll definitely keep RCI in mind.

With that being said however, I believe that this type of change would make veteran cruisers hesitant to book RCI just for the loyalty program, however. After all, if large changes are made once, what keeps them from being made again or gotten rid of completely?

Decline in quality?

2008-01-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

Many people like to bitch about the good ol' days. It doesn't matter what the subject is ... there will almost always be someone complaining that at least some aspect used to be better. In health care, doctors used to make house calls. In schools, students used to respect their teachers. In cruising, it used to be classier with better food.

I really can't remember too much of my first cruise. I just know that it was on Premier (the Big Red Boat), had Disney characters, and had a last night so bumpy that we had to pack sitting on the floor. I also remember my firsts. It was my first time out of the USA, even if I didn't really experience anything truly different. It was the first time (actually ... and only, so far) I saw a water spout. It was also the first time I ever ate snails. Yup ... those lovely escargot made an appearance on our very short trip ... and ever since then, they've been a stand-by on every cruise I've been on.

The question is ... did they used to be better? Well, though I've eaten snails quite a few times in my life (from cruise ships to France to frozed ones out of the Marsh grocery seafood freezer), I've never really thought on a ship ... these used to be better. As a point of fact, I've only really ever compared the cuisine of competing lines as ... in my opinion, that is where better comparisons can be made.

Why do I think this? Well, for starters, I think that comparing my Carnival prime rib in June to my Royal Caribbean prime rib in May allows me to be much more specific in my memory than comparing my prime rib in May 2007 to my prime rib in May 1991. I also think there is a bit of a shine on the food the first time you cruise. After all, if it is your first food-inclusive vacation and you are a foodie, I think just about everyone finds stuff they like, tries stuff they've never had the guts to, and leaves with a good impression. By cruise 16, the shine is a bit tarnished ... but hey, I've never gone close to starving and never will on a cruise.

Have things gone down in quality over the years on mass-market lines? Probably yes ... but then again, pricing has also gone down as cruise ships have started to saturate markets. However, I try not to let "what used to be" get me down ... because if it does, it makes it that much harder to enjoy "what is now."

Officially platinum .....

2007-12-31T06:08:00.000-08:00

So, after five cruises with Royal Caribbean, I'm now officially a Platinum Member in their Crown and Anchor Society. What does that entail, you ask? Well, from what I observed on my most recent cruise:

A special check-in line (that is sometimes as long as the other lines)
A SeaPass card that says Platinum on it
Priority embarkation (yes) and debarkation (ha)
Robes in the room (OSFS ... one size fits some)
A better coupon booklet (with some actual FREE stuff)
A special party (think ... limited buffet, but with some free adult beverages)

You know, I used to think it was funny to read about people refusing to try cruiselines other than Royal Caribbean because they didn't want to "lose" the cruise credit. Now I kind of get it, though I don't think I would be super-hesitant to go on another line.

My review: Brilliance of the Seas 12.17-12.21

2007-12-29T13:23:00.001-08:00

12.15.07

Our cruise didn't leave until Monday, we were flying out Sunday, and yet ... I was still in the grip of panic as a winter storm hit Indiana on Saturday afternoon. In order to preempt any delays, we headed down to Indianapolis to spend the night on Saturday. I had a bid of $37 accepted on Priceline for the Hyatt Place at the Indy airport, and it turned out to be a very nice establishment except for the fact that there was very little surrounding the hotel. Snow blew in through the night ....

12.16.07

Even though our flight wasn't until 12:30 (Southwest, through TPA to FLL), I woke up at 4:00 AM to blowing snow and slushy roads. I called Southwest, who assured me their flights were still on time for Sunday. I changed my reservation to the first flight out (scared about the blowing snow) and we ended up on a 7:00 AM flight out of IND through MCO. Our flight was delayed because of a broken part and two de-icings, but an hour late, we took off with a massive complement of 36 passengers on board (evidently the rest couldn't make it to the airport). We landed at MCO about the time our connection was to take off, but w scooted to the gate (of course, about as far away as possible in the same terminal), and by 11:00 AM, we were in FLL.

I had won a $53 bid on Priceline for the Sheraton FLL airport. Once our bags were collected, I went to the courtesy phones and called for pickup. We were picked up about 15 minutes later. The lobby was a mess, full of passengers waiting to be picked up for their cruises, but we were immediately allowed to check in and were given a room with two queens on the ninth floor next to the ice machine. The room was adequate, clean, and we didn't even hear the ice machine. Once again, there wasn't a lot around the hotel to walk to, so I paid for internet to kill time and to order Domino's (which was delivered to the room).

12.17.07

The big day finally arrived and I was still jubilant about having made it to FLL in one piece. We grabbed the airport shuttle back to FLL in order to catch our GO shuttle to the Port of Miami. The airport shuttle left on every hour and half hour, so we left at 10:00 and were waiting for the GO shuttle by 10:15. One thing I'd like to note here ... I had made a reservation online with my credit card for the GO shared ride shuttle, but when I checked in at the airport, I was told that they didn't take reservations, especially for shared ride. This also meant that we still had to pay cash for our ride (I will have to check for a charge later). We had to wait about 30 minutes for the shuttle and we picked up a few more people, but in th end, we arrived at the Port of Miami at around 11:15. The Brilliance definitely aged the rest of the ships docked around her: the Majesty OTS, Imagination, and Fascination.

When we stepped off the shuttle, the a porter appeared to take our bags, then we headed into the terminal. We proceeded up an escalator to find a large group of people standing in front of security. It turns out that there were delays because the Coast Guard was performing a full inspection, which makes sense because this was the day the Brilliance returned from Europe. We waited in a large, huddled line for about 20 minutes until security was opened and people were ushered away from the escalators. Security moved fairly quickly, and once past that, we headed into the room with all of the counters for check-in. We proceeded to Platinum and Diamond check-in, and after about a 5 minute wait, we were being helepd by and agent.

After being checked in, we moved into the holding area as the ship was not ready to board. We were handed an orange Priority ticket and told that the ship would not be be boarding until 12:15 or so. At around 12:20, we were told that we could proceed up the escalator to the ship and about half of the room stood up as most of the early arrivals were Priority boards. We made it up the escalator and were then stopped as small group of 10 were being allowed onto the boarding platform for their security photos and to board the ship. In the hallway while we were waiting, ship photographers were trying to take boarding pictures while everyone was standing in line in the middle of their backdrops. The line just kept moving as most people seemed uninterested in having their pictures taken.

At around 12:35, we stepped aboard the Brilliance, and let me say, she is a very pretty ship. The centrum reminded me a lot of vision-class ships with a lot of wood, glass, and brass. The solarium struck me as the most beautiful place I've ever seen on a ship. The Colony Club (aft lounge) was equally impressive, though the dining room and theater were nice but seemed fairly "cruise standard."

The odd part about boarding was that there didn't seem to be any food available. People were being turned away from the Windjammer and other establishments, such as the SeaView Cafe were also closed. This was a might perplexing, especially given my rumbling stomach. Luckily, 1:00 rolled around quickly and we proceeded to our stateroom: 7540, a balcony on the front section of the ship.

This was my first balcony on Royal Caribbean, and I must say, I enjoyed it immensely. The room seemed cruise-spacious, of course meaning that it was nice, had plenty of storage space, but would be tiny for any other sort of accommodations. The balcony seemed bigger than normal, as it extended perhaps two feet past the divider, allowing room for a full size lounger, two chairs, and a table. The down-side of this, of course, is that the balconies were not too private (at least on this level and part of ship) as you could not only see into other balconies, but you also stuck out below the balconies on the higher decks.

After dropping bags and making a few phone calls, we headed out once more on a quest for food. It was about 1:45 at this point and the Windjammer was finally open. The place was chaotic, however. I have seen this type of layout, with individual stations, before and worked with much more success. In this instance, however, it was a mess. There are multiple stations with salad stuff, entrees, etc., but there is no indication of where the "line" for each station starts, so when it was busy (as it was on this occasion), there were people everywhere, coming at food and stations from every direction. Once food was collected, however, seating became a problem. By this time, a lot of hungry people had accumlated, and just about every table in the place was either accounted for or had been saved. We luckily were able to grab a sandwich outside aft, but there was a lot of milling about by people on hunt for our entire lunch. The bussers were also a little behind, with most people choosing to clear out the trash on tables themselves so that they could have a place to sit.

The rest of the day passed without much incident. The muster drill was at 4:15 and had its usual complement of people blowing on their whistles and thinking it the height of hilarity. We were on the way about 5:30. The
Welcome Aboard show was held in between the two dinner seatings and was, as you can suspect, packed with everyone on the ship trying to get a space. The cruise director was Abe, and he seemed likable enough though I didn't really see him around the ship. Dinner was pleasant, and our waitresses were fantastic.

At 11, it was time to call it a night and prepare for the sea day tomorrow ....

12.18 - At Sea

Tuesday was meant to be a day of leisurely relaxation. It was the only sea day, and as we had a day and a half to travel from Miami to Key West, the ship was moving quite leisurely, as well.

We had meant to start the day with breakfast on the balcony and walk-a-mile at 9 AM, but the night before we had received an invitation to the Diamond/Platinum brunch that started at 9. We decided that this would be worth going to, so at 9, we headed to the Colony Club at the back of the ship. What we found was a small line leading up to a small, two sided breakfast buffet that ran perpendicular up to the stage. The food consisted of typical lunch fare, such as bread items, pancakes, breakfast meats, ready-made omelettes, and a few chicken and beef offerings. Once seated, there were waiters to bring around drinks including coffee, tea, champagne, mimosas, and bloody marys. The food was nothing special, and the small tables in the Colony Club pretty much meant that people sat in their own groups without too much extra chit-chat. I heard that the drinks were fairly strong, but it was a tad too early in the day for me to start drinking. I had thought that here might be a welcome from a staff member or the loyalty ambassador, but no one showed ... it just seemed to be a chow and drink session.

We left the brunch and I signed up for an appointment with the loyalty ambassador, who's desk is in the Crown and Anchor Lounge on deck 12, above the centrum. I was worried about limited spaces for such a short cruise, though I was able to grab the last spot of the day at 4:30.

We spent the rest of the day wandering about the ship and reading on our balcony. The deck was fairly full, as would be expected, but the chair-savers didn't seem to be out in full force early and there were plenty of chairs to be had on the upper decks or in the front of the ship. Lunch was offered in both the Windjammer and dining room, and the dining room had the same standard menu with posted specials that I have seen for the last year or so on RCCL. The dining room did also offer made-to-order pasta, as well, though I guess there was enough of a backlog that, while it could be ordered either by the passenger or waiter, it would be made and delivered to the table later.

On deck, the typical games were held, including the sexy-legs competition and the belly-flop competition. The stores also had their 50% off logo-wear sale on deck 11, and there quite a few offerings I had never seen in this sale before. The Solarium was quite full, mostly of older Florida residents it seemed ... my guess is that this was caused by the cooler weather (low 70s) outside. I was a bit surprised that they had two, two-hour "family swim" times in the Solarium ... so from 12-2 and 4-6, kids were allowed to swim in the Solarium pool, regardless of the weather (I've only seen this before as an option during inclement weather). Also, just a note, the internet connection on the ship went down for a few hours in the afternoon.

At 4:30, I went to talk with the loyalty ambassador (Pablo) about a possible Hawaii cruise and a NextCruise. There were two people working in the C&A lounge, one working with a customer and the other (Pablo) seeming to work on some paperwork. I told him I was his appointment and he motioned me to sit away from him and wait until he finished. As we waited, he was interrupted twice by diamond-plus members, and he helped them verbally as we waited. About 15 minutes later, he remembered we were still waiting and motioned us over after first trying to pass us on to the other worker in the lounge (now free). I realize that Pablo was overworked and a little stressed, but I never go the sense that he wanted to be helping me and this didn't seem to be the right attitude for a frequent cruiser looking to give RCCL more money (or anyone else, for that matter).

Since this was a 4-day cruise, I didn't want to pack formal wear or participate in formal night. Because of this, I made reservations for Chops as I hadn't yet eaten there. I found the experience a little underwhelming. First of all, the service was very good except for seating, which took about 5 minutes of standing at the entrance to the place before we were greeted and seated. I started out with a crab cake, onion soup, and caesar salad. The salad was pretty good, though it was served in stalks that I had to cut up (seemed odd, but that's probably just me). The crab cake and soup, though, were just OK. The crab cake was fried and tasted more like breading than any type of seafood. The onion soup tasted like beef broth and onions with almost no character at all. Both of these items were offered later in the week in the dining room, and the dining room versions were much better. I ordered the t-bone steak, and it was very good though short of fabulous. My mother ordered a fillet and it was extremely smooth and tender. The mud pie at the end of the dinner was also very good. In the end, however, I do not think I will be returning to Chops on a future cruise. On the line, I'd rate Portofino of higher quality, and it is cheaper (Chops is $25/pp while Portfofino is $20/pp). Just FYI and in my opinion, of all of the alternative restaurants I've eaten at, I'd still rate any of Carnival's supper clubs as being superior to anything RCCL offers (though the price $30/pp is also superior).

After dinner, we headed back to the room full of too much food and not in the mood to do too much else. We missed the production show, a swing dance show. A few other things to note ... others also did not seem to take the formal night seriously for such a short cruise. Also, after 5:30, the casino was supposed to be smoke-free on formal night, though I did see a few people who were lighting up (didn't notice if they were asked to stop).

12.19 - Key West

This was my first time coming to Key West on Royal Caribbean, and I can say that the experience was much better than my times on Carnival, simply because of docking position. In the times I've visited with Carnival, we've always docked at the Navy pier and had to take shuttles from the pier to the downtown area and back. Needless to say, this was always a pain, especially in the summer when there were high temperatures, long lines, and very little shade. The Brilliance, however, docked at the Westin pier with immediate access to downtown and only a small walk to Duval Street ... much more convenient.

The ship docked early in the morning (around 7 AM, I think) and I woke up to watch the ship pull into port. We had decided that we would eat breakfast on the balcony this morning, but I had told my mom not to put the menu on the door (I didn't trust that the order would be received) in favor of ording over the television. At around 7:30, I placed an order on the TV for our breakfast for delivery between 8:30 and 9:00. By 9:30 we had not heard anything, figured the order for lost, and just went up to the Windjammer which was not too busy by this time in the morning.

After breakfast, I went down to the customer service desk to turn in our C&A coupons for internet access so I could check my grades. In the past, I've turned in two Gold coupons for $5 a piece and had them both applied to my account. This time I turned in a Gold and a Platinum ($7.50), but when I logged in, I was told I only had $10 credit. I'm not sure if this was a mistake, or if this was just the maximum that could be given per person, but either way, I would have liked for the desk person to have told me I would be losing out on $2.50 (not that it ended up mattering).

We had a very simple mission for Key West ... my mom wanted to go to the Fresh Produce store to buy some clothes. I wanted to buy a few fresh-rolled cigars. Both of those goals were accomplished fairly easily by walking down the street leading straight from the ship. A bit further down the road, I stopped at a Walgreens to buy some aspirin and bottled water at something well below ship price. On the way back, I stopped at a Blonde Giraffe store for a piece of chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick. I thought that the pie was fairly good, though not the best key lime pie I've ever had ... of course, I wouldn't expect anything on a stick to be "the best" of anything ....

I had thought about stopping at one of the bars (Sloppy Joe's, Captain Tony's, Irish Kevin's, etc), but to be honest, it was 11:30 and I just didn't feel like drinking. Instead, we headed back to the ship for a nice lunch uncrowded ship time. Quite a few people were late getting back to the ship, and to my surprise, they were unhurried even as gangplanks were being stowed. As we pulled out, one of the sidewalk cafes started playing "My Heart Will Go On," which I thought was pretty funny.

Dinner this night was very good, though I thought the selection for main courses was a little lacking with the chef's recommendation being a pork chop. The show was pre-dinner and featured El Goucho, the cruise ship staple. He put on a bit of a different show than I've seen from him before, however, as he did more musical numbers in a attempt to reach more of the non-English audience. This was also the night of the Quest ... which one of these days I will probably have to attend.

This night, we decided to put out the room service menu on our door for our breakfast-on-the-balcony quest. I went out on the balcony to smoke one of my cigars (it was very windy and none of my neighbors were on their balconies). Afterwards, I decided to hit the SeaView Cafe for a pizza and noticed that our menu had been taken, though there were others down the hallway still on the door. I found the menu that had been taken from our door in the nearby elevator lobby ... my mom had said she heard kids giggling outside our door, but didn't think anything of it.

12.20 - Coco Cay

Well, with the "excitement" the night before, I had absolutely no confidence accomplishing our goal of breakfast on the balcony. It was therefore somewhat of a shock when, at 8:15, we got a call from roomservice telling us that our food was on the way. Sure enough, 15 minutes later, we were on our balcony eating rolls, eggs, fruit, and drinking coffee. I could say that the eggs were cold and the coffee was luke warm, but the experience was very positive.

After eating, we headed down to catch a tender over to Coco Cay at 9:30, the exact time we were advised to avoid because of "rush hour." When we went down to deck 2, there was a bit of a line down the hallway, but it was not too bad, and within 5 minutes we were sitting on the tender. It was filled very quickly ... and I do mean filled ... each seat was taken and people were scooted about to make sure that the ship was filled (even while another, empty tender, was docked and ready to take passengers).

A short, slightly bumpy, trip later, we arrived at Coco Cay and found a lot of empty beaches, empty hammocks, and plenty of ways to spend money for a private island, including bars and a mini- "straw market." To be honest, I'm not a huge beach person, so my goal was to walk around the island and then head back to the ship for lunch. I talked my mom into going on the "nature trail," which is a trail cut through the island that, as it turns out, takes you to the far point of the island where there are lots of sharp rocks but no beaches. The path took quite some time, though there were a few paths that led to the beach along the way. It was mostly rock, so there was a bit of scampering around on loose stones, but other than that, it wasn't really hazardous. Once we reached the end, we took a dirt road back to the nearest sand beach, and then we walked in the ocean back to the more popular, closer beaches. Once back to the main part of island, I bought a CocoLoco upon recommendation of this board and it was very good ... $5.95 for the drink and a souvenir plastic "water bottle" type of cup. We caught a tender back to the ship around noon.

Once back on board, we checked the compass for food options. It listed both the Windjammer and the dining room as being open, be we opted for the SeaView Cafe, which was to open at 1:30. When we arrived there at 1:30, we found a line and quite a few full tables wher epeople had already finished their meal. From the grumbling in the line, it turned out that the Compass was wrong. Lunch was served on the island, as advertised, but nowhere else on the ship except the SeaView Cafe. So, people who had intended on going to the Windjammer for a quick meal instead had to wait in about a 10 minute line to order at the Cafe, then wait about another 10-25 minutes (depending on order) for their food to be prepared. This line and wait didn't bother me because I had counted on it, but it definitely made others very gripey (they also mentioned that first day as proof that it was being made hard to get food on this sailing).

During the time we were gone, our gratuities slips had been delivered to our stateroom, as we had opted to have them added to our SeaPass. If this wasn't so easy, I would have changed our tips as, in three nights, we never even saw the headwaiter, let alone have him stop by to talk to us. We stuffed the envelopes with the slips, along with some extra for the great service we had had, and we went to the pre-dinner Tango Buenes Aires show. This show was quite good, though for my interests, dancing got a little tiresome towards the end, especially when they started playing Don't Cry for me Argentina (Evita -- I love musicals, but gag me).

Dinner was nice, thought I always think it is sad to say goodbye to the waitstaff and tablemates whose company I've enjoyed. The dinner included shrimp cocktail, onion soup, NY strip, and tempura mahi mahi, so there were some interesting options. It concluded with key lime pie and brownie madness, both of which were very good.

After dinner, it was time for one last trip to the casino and to pack. We were in absolutely no rush the next day (2:50 flight out of FLL), so we decided to put our bags out for collection. We were given gray tags for being platinum, and according to the list given out, we would still be the fifth group called (after tours and early flights). The bags had to be out by midnight, so I put them out at about 11:30, keeping in mind what had happened the night before with our room service order. They were picked up at around 12:15 as I spent my last few moments relishing the balcony, waves, and starlight ....

12.21 - Debarkation

We arrived in Miami very early in the morning (6 or earlier). Seeing as we didn't have much to do, as there obviously wasn't much to pack left, we vacated our room and headed up to the Hollywood Odyssey Lounge (deck 13) where they had a private lounge for Diamond/Platinum members. Basically, it was just a place to go that had some coffee, tea, juice, and pastries and was a bit away from the hustle and bustle of debarkation.

In fact, one of the problems was that it was too far away ....

I won't use the word nightmare because that is overused and, in my opinion, only really occurs when the ship is 3 hours late into port and you have an early flight (has only happened to me once, and it worked out). However ... this debarkation was bad ... one of the worst I have seen. The problems started with the person calling various groups to go. She left almost no time in between the two groups. She called self-assist early (perhaps around 7? ... didn't really note the time), and by 7:30, the next group was called. Then, five minutes later, three more groups were called. Gray tags, which are what we had, we called five minutes after that.

Several of the people in the lounge looked around for a ship escort when the gray tags were called, but there was obviously no one up there to do it. We made our way over to the elevators and managed to grab one down to deck 5, which was packed. In fact, the elevators opened up into the middle of a mob, all waiting to get off the ship, with a main line going through the shops. As we stepped off, people grumbled that we needed to go to the back of the line (after all, the elevators opened near the head of the line). There were plenty of people in line still trying to get off with their bags, let alone the other five tags that had already been called. Not in any hurry, my mom and I went to the back of the line in the shops and had only moved forward about two feet when yet another color was called. Just a mess ....

Contributing to the mess was the line to get off of the ship. There was no order to it, and there were no crew members helping to keep it in order. What ended up happening was that about three different lines were created. There was the main one, where the people trying to be fair to everyone in front of them went. There was the shorter one that approached the head of the line from another direction and forced itself into the main line, and then there was the line of people who pushed themselves out of the elevator and stayed at that position. That was probably the most frustrating part ... that without any sense of order from the crew, people pushed their way through with dirty looks, swears, or shoving for anyone who tried to correct them or tell them to wait their turn. Also, the problem was that the line was routed through the elevator lobby. If it had been routed the opposite direction from the beginning, around the other side of the centrum (which is the way the "short" line went), then most of the problems would have been solved and people would have been able to use the elevators.

I watched the scene without too much emotion ... again, I had a very late flight ... and thought the whole time ... this is awful. I, of course, knew that even once we got off of the ship, we'd have a bit of a wait inside the terminal.

But ... oh well. I know what some of you are saying. You had a late flight ... why didn't you just wait and be one of the last people off? That's true ... and it had crossed my mind. My problem is, however, I didn't like the idea of our luggage going around outside for hours without being claimed. I've heard enough stories about "lost" luggage that I didn't want to chance leaving them on the luggage claim for 3-4 hours.

Once we had gotten off of the ship, cleared customs, and retrieved our luggage, I called up SuperShuttle for pickup. I had originally planned to use RCCL transfers (as GO shuttle would not pickup at the Port of Miami without the use of a private car), but by the time I called about them, the transfers were sold out. SuperShuttle had told me that they would do a shared-ride pickup from the Port of Miami, but that it would be $31/pp to FLL. This was almost twice the price of the GO shuttle to Miami, but by that point, it was the cheapest option (and was paid by credit card in advance). When we got our bags and went outside, I called the reservation number, told them the berth we were in, and was told that the shuttle would be there in 20-30 minutes. In 55 minutes, I had started to call them again when the shuttle appeared. When we were asked what time our flight was by the driver, and he heard that it was distant, he told the base that he could make more pickups. This led to three more pickups and an extra hour-and-a-half driving tour of Miami, which wouldn't have been so bad except that the first pick-up only got to FLL about 45 minutes before her flight (and she was obviously worried, having gotten on the van an hour earlier).

In the end, of course, it didn't matter to us because we were still at FLL four hours before our flight and couldn't check our bags and check-in until two hours before (Allegiant Air). The airport was full of people in a similar situation, and most of the seats were taken by families with large amounts of luggage strewn around them. We managed to find some seats and I killed time using the free wireless internet access on my laptop. We finally stood in line and were checked in by 1:30, breezed through empty security, and then waited for three more hours as our flight was delayed. I know Allegiant is a small-airport operator that just started flying out of FLL ... but if you plan to use them any time soon out of FLL ... they don't have their act together yet. The desk personnel were often confused and the catering guys didn't know what they were supposed to stock the plan with (making turn around very, very slow).

In the end, we arrived in Fort Wayne, IN in the middle of dense fog, but we were home and it had been a long day (6:00 AM - 7:30 PM) of traveling.

Wow ...

2007-10-06T12:10:00.001-07:00

Wow ... it's been a while, hasn't it? I suppose the readership of this blog hasn't changed ... still me. ;)

I have two cruises booked currently and plan to start writing here again. Here's hoping for the time.

My review: Voyager of the Seas (March 10 sailing)

2007-03-24T15:54:00.001-07:00

For your information ....

This was my 12th cruise and second in a row with Royal Caribbean (for a total of 3 overall). It was my first large-ship experience with Royal Caribbean. Coming into this trip, I had no strong feelings anyway in terms of preference for either Royal Caribbean or Carnival, and to be honest, I did not expect this to change. I have had very good cruising experiences with both companies.

This trip was booked in November of 2006, which is fairly late for me. I am a graduate student and Purdue University and had been looking at cruises during my spring break for some time. My initial plan had been to go with a friend, but that fell through. At that time, I had been looking at either Royal Caribbean or Carnival to see which would offer me the cheapest trip possible. When I saw the price of Voyager drop severely on a senior discount, I asked my mom (and past cruise companion) if she felt like braving the spring breakers for a great deal. I was fairly insistent, especially since I’ve been wanting to cruise a Voyager-class ship for a while, so she agreed and I set about making plans. For some reason, convoluted planning appeals to me, so I made some strange decisions driven by the desire to save a few (or quite a few) bucks.

Getting to Miami ....

Our Southwest flight was scheduled to leave out of Indianapolis at 10:20 AM and arrive in Orlando at about 12:20. Even though I had checked in early the day before and gotten “A” passes, I wanted to arrive at the airport at least two hours early. The last time I had flown during spring break, I had very clear memories of very long lines and extra switchbacks installed for Southwest. Arriving at about 8:20, though, I was extremely happy to find absolutely no lines whatsoever. We checked in, had our bags tagged, and were heading to security by 8:25. The flight was absolutely fine, though full. Just in case you were interested, people started lining up for in the “A” cattle-chute at about 8:40, with the B’s quickly following. My general rule, especially when I have an “A” is to refuse to line up until the passengers from the arriving flight are at least coming off of the plane. Sticking to this rule, we still found ourselves occupying two seats of an empty row number 10, with those who waited lined up the longest landing rows 4-7 and the exit rows. The flight actually left Indy early and arrived early at Orlando, pulling up to the gate at about 12:15.

Once we collected our bags at the baggage claim, we headed to the rental car counters in the lower level of MCO. Alamo (of course) had the longest line with about 10 people waiting. They also had some automated terminals that looked to be similar to the kiosks used by the airlines (which I don’t mind using), but I skipped them just because I thought my reservation may be oddly handled since it had been prepaid through Priceline. This might have turned out to be a mistake because I ended up a very foreign, male agent who seemed bound and determined to pressure me into taking all of the add-ons that Alamo offered. For about fifteen minutes I had to put up with his hard-to-understand, pressure sales tactics. Let’s see … some of my favorites … I was told :
• I needed to upgrade to a compact because an economy would only hold one suitcase and one backpack
• I needed to upgrade because it was a long trip to Miami and I would want a CD player because the radio is boring
• I needed to buy insurance or else the car would spend weeks in the shop and the charges would be placed on my card and they didn’t care if it was my fault or not
• I needed an insurance card in hand to be able to waive insurance
• I needed to prepay 2.55 for gas because it would be 2.89 in Miami and if I didn’t buy it and turned in the car without it being full, I would be charged 6.25 a gallon (of course … he forgot to mention that if you prepay, you pay for the whole tank, regardless of how much you use)

After putting up with this, I finally just told the guy to give me the car I paid for. He wrote 2-door economy on my ticket, circled it, and told me that once I left the counter, I would have to go out, then come back and wait in line when I had realized the errors of my way. Needless to say, I walked over to the garage where they keep the cars irritated beyond belief. The man in charge of the cars at the entrance to the second level of the garage looked at my ticket, then told me to pick a car out of the section marked “compact”. We went to that section, but the only things there were four-door cards. I went back and told him that I couldn’t find a two-door as listed on my ticket, and he said that it didn’t matter … just choose whatever I wanted that was in that section. We ended up in a Pontiac Vibe, a four-door with a hatchback that very easily fit our two suitcases, garment bag, and carry-ons. The car also had a CD player (not that I had CDs) … so if I had been sold an upgrade at the desk, I would have ended up with the exact same car … interesting.

I had been told it was around a four-hour trip to Miami from Orlando, and even though it was more expensive, I decided to stick to the toll road just to make it easier on myself. It went very well until about 100 miles out of Miami, then the toll-road turned into a parking lot. There were lots of stops, horrid toll areas where 10 lanes of stopped traffic tried to converge into 3, etc. That last 100 miles took us about 4 hours, making our total trip about 6 hours and placing our arrival in Miami after dark. The hotel room turned out to be fine … nothing spectacular, but something similar to a clean Holiday Inn room with a bit of flair. The lobby was definitely smoky, however, as were the gaming rooms. I thought the room smelled fine until I woke up in the middle of night and then thought that the smell of smoke was very strong.

Embarkation

We awoke the next day around 8 AM and spent the morning trying to kill time until we thought it would be good to head to the ship. We left the casino at about 10 AM and headed the 10 miles to Miami International Airport. There was a lot of road construction on the way to the airport, but we followed signs that indicated “rental car return,” even though Alamo never seemed to be on the list. Eventually the signs started to include Alamo, which made me feel a bit reassured since the area we were driving around didn’t seem to be the nicest. I then saw a gate with tire spikes, which was the entrance to the return lot. After driving by once to be sure, I turned in and was quickly checked in by a lady who scanned the barcode on the car and then printed out a receipt. It was definitely a relief to have my first rental car returned undamaged. I then asked her if there was a bus to the seaport, and she pointed to a bus with a line of people and said that the bus left every 30 minutes. Luckily for us, the line of people were just the ones getting off, and we were able to climb aboard with our luggage and about six other people. We found ourselves at the Port of Miami 20 minutes later, and were dropped off with our luggage in front of the Voyager at about 11:00. We tipped the driver of the bus for helping us with our luggage, and we tipped the porters for grabbing it when we got off. In retrospect, not including the gas tank fill-up, our rental car and transportation to the airport only cost a few dollars more than the set fare for a taxi from MIA to the port. We were never asked for proof that we had rented from Alamo, so my guess is that an enterprising individual could take the shuttle over to the car rental area, then hop the free shuttle to the port.

Anyway, with our checked bags taken care of, we headed into the terminal even though there were signs all around stating that embarkation time was 2:00. We went through security, retrieved our Sea Pass cards (having filled in the relevant info online), had our pictures taken for security, and were directed to line of probably about 300 people waiting to board the ship. We probably waited about 10 minutes until the line started quickly moving forward, and at about 11:50, we found ourselves onboard our first Voyager-class vessel. As per usual, our first destination was the Windjammer, which had quite a line as they hadn’t opened the back part of it yet (Island Grill). The food was decent and included honey-kissed fried chicken breasts and a carving station. We sat right next to the drink station, so it was interesting to hear from first-time cruisers … identified by them asking the drink attendant if the lemonade or water had a charge.

Once lunch was finished, we wondered the ship for a little while then headed to our room, 6487, a standard inside room on deck 6. The room didn’t seem a whole lot bigger than our inside room on the Grandeur in December, especially when the beds were put together into one (as they were initially). Having separate beds does seem to give the room more space, but to be honest, the one large bed just doesn’t seem to fit in the cabin. You have crawl over the corner of the bed to get to the side of it … it just doesn’t quite work. I was a little disappointed with the closet space available, but it was manageable. I liked the fact that the shower had a glass sliding door instead of a curtain. I wasn’t too thrilled about the fact that the sink drained very slowly (unless I just pulled the stopper all of the way out) and that our showerhead was cracked so that a little stream of water always arced out the top if it.

Our cabin steward was Keith and he did a fairly good job, though we never really saw him. I’m not sure if this was because he was never around, or if it just so happened that a majority of his rooms were in an adjacent hallway that we didn’t use (we were at the end of the middle hallway, essentially right across from the aft-balcony rooms). He did get our beds separated right away, so that was nice.
Our bags arrived in strange intervals. My mom’s bag arrived very early (around 3), but my bag and our garment bag didn’t arrive until around 6ish. The muster drill was at 4:30, and we did our best not to be the first ones there so we wouldn’t have to wait in the back of the crowd. For some reason, though, they stacked us differently this time and built vertical lines instead of horizontal ones. We still ended up in the front, so I was thankful for that. They did check off our cabin to ensure that we showed, but other than that, the muster drill seemed fairly relaxed. The crew made a few attempts to make people keep their life jackets on or not talk on their cell phones … but with the number of college-aged kids who showed up with a beer bottle in one hand, cell phone in the other, and no life-jacket … you could tell it was spring break.

After the muster drill, we headed to the helipad out on the front of the ship to watch the ship pull away from the dock and head out to sea. It was fairly empty out front, though more and more people came as time went on. We could see the Navigator follow us out to sea, as can be seen in my pictures. After we were out in open water, it was time to explore the ship, wait for luggage to arrive, and prepare for late-seating dinner.

The Royal Promenade was usually fairly bustling, but that night it was extra busy as they had the Voyager Expo running to demonstrate services available onboard. We tried some food made at the Portofino table, and for the first time ever, I bought a soda card. The liquor store on board was already overrun by confused people who couldn’t understand why the couldn’t take their purchases back with them to their room … perhaps that rule needs to be well-posted in store.

We went to the (only) Welcome Aboard show at 8:00. The show was fine with a juggling act and some singing. The cruise director was Kirk D. and he seemed to do a fairly average job. He used a lot of the usual CD lines, along with the “you’re on vacation” routine. I thought that the tech crew did a fairly lousy job at this show, as the orchestra vastly overpowered the voices of the singers, who seemed to be balanced very low. After the show, we headed to dinner at 8:30. We were at table 550 in the Magic Flute dining room which was a table for 8 near the back. We were placed with some interesting married couples, some of whom seemed a bit disinterested (and perhaps displeased) about the others they had been seated with (including me and my mom). After dinner, there was the “Party Around the World” parade in the Royal Promenade at 11:00, which was pretty fun. After that, it was time to rest up for our first sea day.

Day 2: At Sea

Though I'd hoped to sleep in a little bit on the first day, I still found myself up around 7:30. We headed to the dining room for breakfast and ... well ... let's just say that this was the only day we ate breakfast in the dining room. We were part of the first table seated and the service took forever and our food was served cold. I had a nasty, cold serving of eggs benedict on an untoasted english muffin with eggs that were not cooked all of the way through. There was also an interesting occurrence at our table ... as we were sitting, one of the very large paintings on the wall fell off. From the attacking decor to the food ... it just wasn't the dining room's crowning performance.

My mother and I had decided that, just like on our December cruise, we would participate in as many ShipShape activities that we could (and were interested in). We headed to do the Walk-a-Mile at 9 which was a good way to stretc in the morning. We also participated in the bean bag toss a little later on and, as usual, I was lucky to hit the platform, let alone get it in the hole. Next we signed up for the "closest to the pin" competition in the golf simulator. You get three shots and my closest from 70 yards was about 31 feet ... something I'd be ecstatic with in real life but nothing close enough to win (31 inches). This was a fun and free way to use the golf simulator if that interests you (think, swinging a club in a dark room). We also played a round of mini-golf at Voyager Dunes which was extremely challenging given the waves in the carpet.

In between walking and our other activities, ice tickets were scheduled to be available from 9:30-10:15. We went down about 9:20 and they were already handing out tickets. We had to wait in line for about two minutes, then were very easily able to get tickets for the Tuesday 7:00 show for late seating passengers. Ice show tickets were also available at 1:30 for those who missed the early give-away.

We ate lunch in the dining room, which was set up in the Brasserie 30 format. The dining room offered a fixed menu for lunch with only a few specials that changed. They also had a pasta station where the pasta and sauce is made to order. Lunch was decent, though we never had a meal that lasted less than an hour.

After lunch it was time to relax a bit before the afternoon activities. Our favorite relaxation idea was to go down to deck 4 and sit on the outdoor, covered deck.

At 3:00, I participated in the dodgeball tournament on the basketball court which boiled down to about 50 guys trying to wail on each other. Foam balls instead of rubber ones were used, so getting hit wasn't too painful unless, like me, you get clocked from the side right in your glasses. This was actually a great spectator event, as some strange rules were put into place and a large quantity of the guys playing were already drunk. Needless to say, confusion was the word of the day.

At 5:30 we went to The Vault to learn how to swing dance. This was fun, but believe me when I say that I worded harder for this dollar than any other throughout the week. After about 30 minutes of the class, sweat was pouring down just about everyones face.

Tonight was the captain's party, but instead of having two shifts in one room, it was held only once (supposedly in between meals) in the promenade. My mom and I ended up sitting in the cafe, watching people, and drinking champagne. In case you were curious, the wait staff was very intent on checking IDs before handing out glasses of bubbly (seapass and driver's license required). Dinner was nothing too special.

The celebrity headliner of the night was Charo, who put on a surprisingly good show (more than me were shocked). There was also a midnight "adult" comedy show that was thankfully not dirty just because it was adult. The comedian (sorry, don't have name at the moment) was very funny.

Day 3: Labadee

I was interested in Labadee before going on this cruise as it is one location that I had not yet visited. I had originally planned to do some sort of excursion in Labadee, but then decided against it because I hate having to meet up with tours at tender ports. That's not to say that I still didn't go back and forth about an excursion ... I was severely tempted to do the jet ski tour as I've always wanted to ride one. I chose not to, however, for two reasons. First of all, I worried about having trouble seeing if my glasses were continually being splashed and speckled. I also didn't really want to spend $90 for a 50-minute excursion ... it should be obvious by now that I can be quite cheap ... er ... frugal.

Anyway, at the show the night before, we were advised that the peak time for trying to grab a tender was 9:30 to noon and that if we really wanted to go ashore, we should show up before that to avoid lines. Well, after grabbing some breakfast at the Windjammer, we ended up heading down for the tender right at 9:30. The timing was almost perfect as the tender was almost already full so we only had to wait about 5 minutes before take-off. A few mintues later, we found ourselves stepping onto the shores of Labadee (or Haiti, if you prefer).

Neither my mom or I are beach people, so we basically decided to explore the bit of land available to us. We walked to Dragon's Rock and then each of the beaches. We also walked one of the trails near the beach that seemed like they might go somewhere but ended up just being the long, treacherous route from one point on the main path to another. Perhaps they were trails used for machinery/equipment for the zipline they are installing ... I don't know.

We looked at some of the wares being offered by a few of the sellers outdoors, but I can't think of anything that would convince me to step into the building of the flea market. The sellers outside were pushy enough, and even as we approached, security was there to tell them to step back closer to their areas. We did walk in to some of the shops and I tried some rum there, but didn't really see anything too interesting to me.
Port highlights: Labadee seemed very pretty and I enjoyed walking around it. There seemed to be plenty of beach space and shade, though hammocks were few and far between.

Port lowlights: There was a bad taste in my mouth left by the tip culture of the people working on Labadee. I felt like I was hounded to stop at a beach so that a chair could be retrieved (for a tip). At Dragon's Rock, a man in a Royal Caribbean uniform was there offering to use passengers' cameras to take pictures ... for a fee. Even the tractor-driver on the tram wanted tips, telling us that we could only board if we tipped him at the end. I know how poor Haiti is, but I'm the type of person who doesn't like being told to tip ... if its obligatory, it's not a tip. It's a fee ... and if there are fees, then they need to be posted.

Anyway, after a few hours on Labadee we headed back to the ship and had lunch in the dining room. While this is my preference anyway, the dining room is the only establishment open for lunch on board(besides the cafe promenade) while the ship is ported at Labadee as all of the Windjammer staff serve lunch at various points on land. After lunch, we pretty much relaxed with a few activities like line dancing and reading.

The show for the night "Music in Motion" is a revue of movie themes. It was pretty good, though it featured a lot of music from movies I'd never heard of. There were some interesting sets and costumes, such as the ones for The Pink Panther.

Day 4: Jamaica

I'll admit ... I had mixed feelings about visiting Jamaica. One one hand, it is one of the few "traditional" cruise stops in the Caribbean that I hadn't visited yet. On the other hand, almost everyone I talked to who had visited the island did not have very complimentary things to say about it. I had originally planned to try to book an excursion that included Dunn's Falls, but decided that I'd rather just walk around the pier a bit for my first visit (going back in December).

Breakfast, as the new tradition demanded, was in the Windjammer which wasn't overly crowded at around 8:30. I had to wait a bit for my custom omelet, but it ended up being pretty tasty. This was about the only day I really enjoyed it, however, as the next two times my order came out with the distinct taste of onions and green peppers (not a fan) from the omelet before mine.

I can't quite remember when we exited the ship, though I'd say we took our time and it was about 10ish. It was nice not having to tender, for sure, and though Royal had a few photographers on the pier, they were pretty easy to avoid. The taxi drivers, on the other hand ... well, they were just about like every other island I've visited, though perhaps they were a tad more insistent. We walked the gauntlet of drivers, politely declining each one, and made our way to the Taj Mahal shopping center that is a little bit away from the main pier. This shopping center is fairly big, but it contains most of the "standard" shops ... general cheap souvenirs, jewelry, etc. Since this place is a small distance from the pier, it seemed to have slightly cheaper prices than the shops that are closer ... though I only really priced coffee and rum. This center also has a Hard Rock Cafe so my mom was able to add another pin to her collection.

After the Taj Mahal, we started back towards the ship and stopped at the shopping center that has Margaritaville. We stopped for a drink and some food and were treated to a nice view of the ship. To be honest and with little surprise, the place is very overpriced. Drinks are about $9 for the standard size, and my mom swore that there was no alcohol in her mojito (she wanted to try one). I ordered a super-large margarita ($13) and barely felt any effect ... definitely some weak drinks. The nachos ($9) we ordered were OK but nothing spectacular. It was an interesting, relaxing time, but we were both pretty sure that there would be no future visits to Margaritaville (especially considering we are both pretty indifferent to Jimmy Buffet). There was a pool and slide inside the restaurant, but I thought I heard a waiter say that there was a fee to use them (not sure about that point ... especially since there was an swim-up bar).

After our drinks and snacks, we wondered the shopping complex a bit. There weren't too many exciting stores here, and the one liquor store I went into had such horrid prices that I exited very quickly. There was also a beach (as seen in the background of my pictures from Margaritaville and the ship) that you could pay to go on and use the equipment (icebergs, etc). We then exited the shopping area and headed back to the ship. We stopped at one of the stores on the way back and I ended up buying some Jablum coffee. It was about $5 more than the cheapest price I found at Taj Mahal, but I didn't really want to go back.

Back on the ship, we spent the rest of the afternoon doing various, self-directed activities. My activities of choice were taking my laptop to an empty bar (favorite: Schooner) and doing some writing. I would also head to deck four and go out on the outer promenade, pull up a chair to the rail, and read.

This night (Tuesday) was the first day for the ice show. We had tickets for the 7:00 performance and headed down to Studio B at about 6:30. There were probably about 10 people milling around the front of the entrance waiting for it to open, but there was no line like I had been expecting (and read about on these boards). They opened the doors at about 6:35 and we grabbed some seats in the middle about three rows up. To be honest, we could have come about 20 minutes later. The trickle of people into the room was very slow, and 10 minutes before the show was scheduled to start, the center was decently full, as were the first few rows along the side. The rest of the auditorium, though, was sparsely populated at best. When the show actually started, I'd estimate that there were at least 100 empty seats consisting of entire rows along the side.

I thought that the show was very nice, though to be honest, I found the audience extremely annoying. Even though there was to be no flash photography, a flash went off about every 5 seconds. If that wasn’t distracting enough, there were of course the bright screens from the digital cameras after the shot to fill in the void.

This was the night of the deck party, but I decided to miss it in favor of sleep.

Port summary: I'm sure I'd have enjoyed Jamaica more if I'd done an excursion, but I'm looking forward to going back in December. By the way, I spent two hours walking around and was not once offered pot. Other I talked to around the ship were not as fortunate.

Day 5: Grand Cayman

Today the ship arrived in Grand Cayman … along with about seven other ships, including Freedom of the Seas. Throughout the night and morning, a video guide for tendering procedures was shown. This video not only talked about the procedure for getting tender tickets (go to Cleopatra’s Needle, starting at 7:30), but also the expected waits. The most interesting part was, that because of port congestion, guests should expect to wait 1-2 hours to return to the ship. I know that this warning may have been a bit of hyperbole, but it was enough to keep me from going ashore (not to mention the fact that I had already been to Cayman twice in the past six months). Sorry if this makes this part of my report boring, but I can give you some port information if you ….

Port highlights: Clean, friendly port with a lot of shopping and fine restaurants. Beautiful beaches and a good place for excursions with stingrays being the most popular.

Port lowlights: Very crowded with many ships present. Very high prices. Liquor bought in port is delivered to the ship … you don’t have to carry it around, but you won’t see it until the last day of your cruise (even to verify that it was, indeed, shipped).

Anyway, staying aboard, we decided that it was a good day to make use of the ship. We had breakfast in the Windjammer, then headed to morning activities such as Fun in the Sun (pool deck exercising) and Sit to be Fit (in-chair exercising). After getting worn out doing those things, we headed to the Solarium for a bit of pool time. The water was definitely cool (and salty … people always want to know) and I spent my time listening to the tendering process. The first 10 tenders left fairly quickly starting at a little after 8, but then there was a large gap, which I assume was when the ship tours left. The final tender ticket was 25, and that was called around 11 I believe (last tender back was to be 3:30). We had some pizza and sandwiches for lunch in the promenade, then spent the rest of the afternoon reading, writing, and going to a few events (scrapbooking for my mom, basketball for myself).

Tonight was the second formal night and the night for the second production show, a Broadway revue. The show started for second seating guests at 7, so we got dressed up beforehand. The show was … well … not good. Not only had I pretty much seen the same show on many other cruises, some of the singing and costumes also left a little to be desired. After the show, we went to see what the dining room offerings would be for formal night and were disappointed to say the least. We decided to shed our dress clothes and head to the Windjammer for dinner, which was much better than I thought it would be. The waiters there were very attentive to getting drinks, and they also would stop and chat, which was nice. This was also the only place I found sushi throughout the ship. After dinner, I wondered the ship for a bit, then headed to bed to get ready for the next big stop, everyone’s favorite … Cozumel.

Day 7: Cozumel

Voyager was scheduled at arrive in Cozumel at around 10 AM, so our morning activities commenced as usual with breakfast in the Windjammer, Walk-a-mile, and Sit to be fit. We docked at right around 10, and people were let of soon after. After about 30 minutes of general debarkation, there was a 30 minute span where they had to block passengers from going ashore because the Norwegian Dawn was docking next to us. After the all-clear was given, we headed down and were off the ship a little after 11.

The big shock of the day occurred when we get off of the ship. We had been told that we would be docking at the pier that was 3 miles from town. My mom and I had already made plans just to do our shopping at the little area near the ship and forgo going into town as we are not necessarily fans of that frantic drive. Once we stepped off the shop, however, I looked around and realized that we had docked at Puerta Langosta (or the one across from Carlos’n Charlie’s) instead. I knew that this would at least make our day more interesting, so it was a good change. We use the escalators at the end of the pier to go up into the new mall that they are still working on. This mall has grown, even from when I visited in December, and it includes a lot of the standard type of shops you see in Cozumel. We stopped at Los Cincos Soles in the mall (by far our favorite chain of stores in Cozumel) but didn’t really find anything we needed. The store is fairly small in this location, and the restaurant, Pancho’s Backyard, at his location consisted of some tables and chairs out on a landing next to a cart selling beer (2 cans of Corona for $3) and quesadillas from a small quesadilla maker.

I was looking for a present for my girlfriend, and her only stipulation was that I not spend a lot of money on her, especially for jewelry. I walked into a few of the silver stores in the mall, and of course, there were no prices on any of the items. I was looking at a nice bracelet sitting out on the shelf and asked a salesman how much it was. He took it, went back and weighed it, then told me it was $140. I know that I’m supposed to haggle, but pretty much knowing that a) I don’t know anything about pricing for silver jewelry, b) my girlfriend would kill me if I spent that much and c) there was no way I was spending that much at a generic silver store where I had no idea if what I was getting was actually silver, I just politely turned the guy down and walked away. He chased me down, asking me how much I was looking to spend. When I said about $20 (number was really higher, but I’m not telling the guy my real limit), he laughed and told me that I could probably get a nice picture of some dancing girls outside for her for that much. At this I just smiled and walked away contented that I had not spent any money at that particular establishment. In case you are wondering, I ended up buying her a wrap and a cheapo necklace/bracelet combo from the Silver Emporium ($9) that was the same make but different color that I had bought her in December (and she liked).

My mom and I also decided that, with a many times as we had been in Cozumel, it was probably time that we visited Carlos’n Charlie’s. The place was pretty full of spring breakers, but we were seated immediately. I ordered a yard of their orange specialty drink, while my mom ordered a margarita. We also ordered a combo food platter to share that included fajitas, quesadillas, etc. The table was covered with paper, and our waiter wrote down all of the key information on there: his name, the exchange rate, etc. The ambiance was … well … what you’d expect: loud and festive. Our drinks came fairly quickly and were pretty good. I really enjoyed mine, though the price ($15) kept me from sucking it down. The food was OK, but definitely not something to write home about. It was a fun experience, but I’m not sure I’d be in a rush to do it again any time soon.

I purchased the wrap for my girlfriend, some bracelets, and some tequila at a store in the lower level of the mall (next to the ship) called Fiesta Mexicana. The store isn’t really much to look at, but the prices are pretty good and they did give change in dollars. The tequila I bought (Cabo Wabo) was cheapest I found in the area (and I was looking) and it was about $20 cheaper than what Los Cincos Soles wanted for it. I still haven’t priced it at my local liquor store, but I think I came out alright.

Anyway, only slightly buzzed and with shopping done, we headed back to the ship. The security guys gave me a big smile when they saw me carrying my yard and asked me if I had a good time. I said yes, but I got the distinct impression that they thought I was quite a bit more drunk than I actually was (one yard is not going to put me on the floor or cause me to walk crookedly). Security was also very quick at confiscating my tequila which they tagged, gave me a receipt for, and told me I would get on the last day (as expected … though that “last day” was the next day so I had slight hope that I could just keep the liquor).

The rest of the day consisted of relaxation and a bit more lunch. There was quite a turnout for the bean-bag tournament at 2:30 which I found a bit surprising given the fact that people were not due back on the ship until 6:30. This was the second day for the ice show with two more shows. For dinner it was lobster night, so a good night to head to the dining room. The lobster was pretty good, as was the prime rib. There was a single headliner show at 10:45 which featured the comedy juggling of Wilde and Hanes. This show was pretty much standing-room only and was very entertaining. They pulled out some standard jokes and made use of plants in the audience, but in the end, it was a fun time.

After that, it was bedtime to get rested for the last full day aboard …

Day 7: At Sea

The day everyone on a cruise dreads ... the last day ... also known as packing day. Of course, the cruiseline hopes you wait to pack until night so you can spend that last day at sea drinking, shopping, gambling, or any other activity on board that causes you to hemorrhage money.

The routine continued this day: Windjammer for breakfast, dining room for lunch, and shipshape activities in between. It was the last day for walking, sitting, and otherwise trying to earn those dollars with redemption occurring between 5-6 PM. At the end of the day, my mom and I had accumulated about 44 shipshape dollars so we ended up with 2 visors, a t-shirt, and a towel. The redemption was pretty easy with they guy more interested in what you wanted versus how many dollars you had.

There was also Captain's Corner in the late morning, and this was an opportunity to ask questions of Captain Gerry, the cruise director, and the environmental officer. It was pretty interesting and people actually asked fairly intelligent questions. The rest of the day was spent reading, relaxing, and dreading the next day in the airport. I received my tequila at about 6PM when I had started packing. There was a bon voyage show at 7 (for late seating) that featured singing by the cruise director, a rendition of "Brown Eyed Girl" on the guitar by Captain Gerry, and the comedy lasso stylings of El Gaucho.

On the first day of the cruise, I broke my own rule ... I made reservations for Portofino for the last night. I had learned on a previous Carnival cruise that this was perhaps not the best idea as, especially if you have late reservations, it can put a time crunch on getting luggage out for debarkation. To be honest, I made this reservation because of two reasons: a) I didn't want to miss lobster night and b) I didn't want to go on a formal night. The last night thus made me feel the most comfortable, so I bit the bullet on the reservation. This, of course, necessitated some early packing and prep work.

We headed to Portofino at 8:30 for our reservation and were immediately seated at a table facing the window (which you couldn't see out of anyway). I ordered onion soup (soup of the day), shrimp risotto, and the lobster/scallop/salmon skewer. My mom had the onion soup, gorgonzola salad, and fillet. For dessert, we both had the tiramisu. All of the food was excellent, though special recognition goes to the gorgonzola salad and the tiramisu. We were finished by about 10:30, so we had the time to go back to the cabin, change, and get our suitcases out by 11. It was collected until much closer to midnight, but I can't control that ....

PS - this last night was the first time I really had any problems with spring breakers in my cabin. My guess is ... there was some partying going on with the liquor that had been sold all day. The cabin next door was pretty noisy, but eventually quieted down ... but it was still mildly annoying.

Debarkation

Earlier in the week, we had filled out the departure sheet stating that we had a later flight and would prefer a later departure. We were given orange tags, which were the first color on the late departure sheet. In case they hadn't given you enough tags or if you wanted to change tags, they had extras available on a table near the guest relations desk

We woke up at 6 and headed to the Windjammer for one last breakfast. When we got up there by 7, the ship was already docked and people were already toting their luggage around. We ate, then headed down to the room to get ready to leave (we were supposed to be out of the room by 8). We then headed to the Schooner bar to read and wait for our color. Colors were called fairly quickly, and at about 9:00 (as listed), they called orange. We decided to go ahead and get off the ship. We walked right off at the entrance forward of the Schooner Bar, and walked into the terminal and found the real line. We waited in line for about 30 minutes to clear customs, then went down to collect our luggage. By the time we got there, the carousel was moving but there were no orange tagged luggage on it yet. After about 5 minutes they started to appear, and after another 5 minutes, we had our bags and headed out for a taxi.

Competition for flagging a taxi down was pretty fierce, but the taxi driver ignored the people who cut in front of us when they wanted to go to a hotel and we wanted to go to the airport. $30 later (fare and tip) we were at the airport and realized we would have to hold our bags for about 2.5 hours before AirTran would take them. The terminal was full of cruisers and spring breakers waiting for check-in. Adding to the mess were all of the people trying to get to the northeast, which was shut down by a blizzard. After a few hours of holding our luggage in one of the off-to-the-side wings where bathrooms are located, we managed to get them checked in and proceeded through security. Our flight was delayed by about an hour, so we had about another 3 hours of reading/waiting. In the end, we spent about 6 hours in the airport ... fun times, as always.

Two and a half hours later, we found ourselves back in Indiana and facing real life. Stay tuned for final thoughts ....

In review ....

The Ship

One thing I'll give Royal Caribbean ... they make some beautiful ships. Voyager may be over 7 years old, but she still looks very nice and is well-maintained. I didn't notice stained carpets or other general observations about older ships. While I was hesitant about going on such a large ship, it wasn't a bad experience. There weren't usually crowds, but when there were, it was very crowded. It was especially crowded when shows let out or when they had anything set up in the middle of the promenade. Photo stations in front of the dining rooms also severely congested the flow into the dining room. There also seemed to be a severe shortage of elevators ... a problem made worse by the size of the ship. On deck 6 or above, I usually don't worry about taking an elevator to the buffet restaurant, but since it is on deck 11 on this ship, that is quite a hike, especially given the amount of stairs I tend to take on a cruise ship in the course of a normal day.

Food

I know this is subjective, but the food was the biggest disappointment of the trip in my opinion. Nothing besides the lobster and prime rib were better than average in the dining room, and the menus seemed very limited where I would only be able to find a few things I though I'd like instead of trying to try to narrow down from a bunch of good choices. I didn't notice this on the Grandeur in December (which I thought had much better dining room food). I found the food in the Windjammer to be OK to very good (for buffet food) and I had two dinners there that were just fine. I enjoyed breakfast with crispy bacon and fresh omelets (as long as they weren't contaminated), though my biscuits and gravy were always cold by the time I took them to my table and ate them. The sandwiches at the cafe promenade were decent, though did not come close to the freshly, on order sandwiches made at the deli of Carnival ships. The pizza was not great or even good ... just OK. The cookies were the best thing offered, and I liked always being able to stop by for some chocolate chip goodness. Portofino was great and well worth the surcharge. I bought the soda card to try it, but don't think I would do it again. I found myself drinking much more Coke than usual just to make it "worthwhile" and, to be honest, I still probably didn't reach the break-even point. I did not use room service, so no comment on that aspect, though I did notice that you could order over the television.

Shows

I thought the headliner shows were of good quality, but the production stage shows were only OK. Some of the costumes and set pieces were nice, but the singers had a few problems. The ice show was very good and well worth attending.

Activities

I like the ShipShape program because it gives me incentive to get involved. On other cruises, this has not happened, and as a result, I never get to know too many other passengers or the cruise staff. I guess I'll see in June if I will try to participate on my Carnival cruise or if I once again return to the proverbial shadows.

Crew

Everyone on the crew I met was overly-friendly and eager to help ... from the housekeeping staff on to the guest relations staff. Our cabin steward was one of those you rarely saw, but he was still cordial whenever we happened to bump into him.

Other passengers

There was quite a mix of passengers on board with representation from toddler to senior. There were also quite a few returning guests (700+). There seemed to be quite a few spring breakers on board, but they were pretty easy to avoid if you a) woke up before 1 PM b) avoided the pool deck in the afternoon, and c) stayed away from the lounges late at night. There were quite a few non-spring break obnoxious passengers that can be put into their own categories: too-drunk 40-somethings, whine-about-any-activity-required-to-earn-ShipShape-dollars people, the-rules-don't-apply-to-us-people, and kids who like to hit all of the elevator buttons. Of course, most people were great, but as always, the trouble-makers are the ones who get your attention and who you remember.

Dress for the dining room was pretty lax every night. Other passengers at my table constantly complained to the head waiter about shorts and t-shirts (even on formal night), but of course nothing was done about it. I was pretty uninterested in the situation, as after the amount of cruises I've been on, I'm starting to take less and less enjoyment from formal night and all of the packing/etc that entails.

Embarkation/Debarkation

Smooth and quick on Royal Carribean's side.

This was a fun cruise that I managed to book at a great price. I probably still wouldn't pay the huge premium that Royal Caribbean likes to charge for their large ships, but all things being equal, I wouldn't hesitate to sail on Voyager or any of her sisters again.

Under two weeks now ....

2007-02-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

In two weeks from today, I'll (hopefully) be on a hip in the Caribbean, soaking in some rays, rest, and relaxation. That's a bit different that the quarter-inch of ice that is currently on the groud right now.

This week is mirror week ... ie, Voyager of the Seas is currently doing the itinerary it will do when I board it. Next week is opposite week, where Voyager heads Eastern.

Dream cruise ....

2007-02-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

There's one cruise I've been eyeing for December ... the Carnival Miracle. Not only is it my favorite ship (so far), but it is also doing a 9-day Southern Caribbean itinerary out of Fort Lauderdale that will include both Christmas and New Years. It's a tad pricey, though .... guess it's time to start saving some dough. :)

Addict schmaddict ....

2007-01-25T18:56:00.000-08:00

So it only took me a few weeks after my last cruise to book another one ... this time a 6-dayer to the Western Caribbean on the Carnival Liberty. This will be my first time cruising solo, so that should be an interesting experience. I did manage to snag an oversized single room, so that should be fun.

Anyway, look for some future musings about cruising, the differences between Carnival and Royal Caribbean, and why you shouldn't plan your cruise vacation in hopes of lots of pool time.

Grandeur of the Seas - Christmas 2006

2007-01-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

Brief overview

This review is on the Grandeur of the Seas, which left New Orleans on December 23rd for Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. Our party consisted of me and my parents. We are all experienced cruisers, though most of our experience has been with Carnival. This was my first seven day cruise on Royal Caribbean. My parents had been on the Grandeur in June for a 9-day cruise out of Baltimore.

The day before

Knowing that we were booking a cruise out of a less-accessible airport city (from Indy) in the winter had prompted us to plan to arrive in New Orleans a day early. We booked flights through American Airlines from Indy that routed us through Chicago.

Arriving at the Indy Airport around 5 AM (for a 6:15 flight), we found that our outgoing flight to Chicago had been cancelled. We waited in line for a bit, then were transferred to a Delta flight that would take us to New Orleans through Atlanta. Of course, instead of arriving in New Orleans at 11:45 AM, we were scheduled to arrive at 5:30 PM. We made it to Atlanta early, but our outgoing flight to New Orleans was delayed, and we arrived at around 6 PM. Needless to say, it was a tiring day of sitting around and waiting.

We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites on Magazine Street, which ended up being within fairly easy walking distance to Riverwalk, Harrah’s and Bourbon Street. This hotel was chosen because of its location, price ($82 after tax booked via the hotel’s website), and its good ratings on Trip Advisor. We were placed in a corner room that had 20 foot ceilings and similarly-sized windows facing two streets. This room placement was probably not ideals (trash men woke us up at 7 AM), but the room itself seemed well-kept. A taxi to the hotel was a set price of $36 ($28 for two) from the airport to downtown. That is also the same price it would cost to go from the airport to the pier.

Embarkation day

We awoke early (before the garbage men, actually), took in the free breakfast from the hotel (waffles, sausage, standard continental fare), then headed out to do a little sight-seeing and shopping. Once we had finished that, my mom went to Harrah’s to gamble while my dad and I went over to Riverwalk to look at the Grandeur. We were watching people still coming off of the ship at 10 AM, but they must have been the last, as there was no one exiting the ship by the time we left at 10:30. We then collected mom, headed back to the hotel, and checked out. The bellman hailed us a cab, and it was a fixed $7/person to the port.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the port and a porter immediately collected our bags. We then proceeded into the terminal, where they had the check-in desk separated by floor. We walked right up to the section for the eighth floor, and a few minutes later had our SeaPass in hand. Next we stepped through security, had our pictures taken, and before we knew it, we were walking up the large ramp to board the Grandeur at 11:45. We immediately went to the Purser’s desk to get spare keys, as my dad and I planned to swap places as we had booked separately to get two rooms with a senior promotion. This was done very quickly.

The hallways to the cabins were closed off until 1, so we went up to the Windjammer with our carry-ons to grab some lunch. At around 1:10, we headed to our cabins, which seemed ready but were still propped open. We went ahead and set our bags down, shut the door, then went to explore the ship. I decided to go for a swim in the solarium, which was decidedly chilly but fairly invigorating (and most importantly, empty). This was followed by unpacking and waiting for the muster drill at 4:30.

The muster drill was my first indication that this cruise had a lot of first-time cruisers. I’ve been on enough cruises to know that if I rush to the drill, I will end up in the back of a large mass of people. This time, once the alert sounded, I casually put my vest on, and strolled down to my assigned muster station. Even though I arrived probably only about three minutes after the alarm had sounded, I was in the front row of passengers (with about 4 behind me). The oddest thing about the drill was that the person next to me had fastened his vest incorrectly. A supervising officer, seeing this, brought over the crew member in charge of our particular area and chewed the crew member out, stating that this was unacceptable. Later, on another pass, the officer himself started adjusting the life vest of the person next to me until he was satisfied. The ironic thing was that the man immediately behind the person being paid so much attention had no life vest at all. We joked with him about it a bit, and he said that even though he had three people in his cabin, he only had two vests. He said that he told every crew member he passed that he was short a vest and they assured him it was OK. Interesting. One complaint about the drill was that many of the speakers in the muster area didn’t work, meaning that a lot of the announcements and directions could not be heard. I could barely hear and told those around me what was being said if they asked. My parents, on the other side of the ship, told me that they couldn’t understand a single thing said.

The boat drill was followed by sail away, which was fairly uneventful. We had early seating dinner and had request a large table. The three of us were placed on the upper floor of the Great Gatsby dining room with a family of 5 (two grandparents, a mother, and two kids) with whom we got along with very well. Our waiter, Raschmann, was great. Out assistant waiter was Mirko and he did an OK job, though it was only his second cruise, so he was still learning and was a little shy.

We skipped the Welcome Aboard show in favor of rest and relaxation on deck.

Days 2-3: At Sea

Our schedule gave us two sea days after leaving New Orleans, and these were spent getting acclimated to the ship and celebrating Christmas. The first day at sea was also the first formal night and the captain’s cocktail party.

Activities were fairly plentiful throughout the days. I decided I wanted to ShipShape activities, so turned out for a lot of the game and exercise activities. I found that the least attended events were those held in the Viking Crown Lounge, while the most attended ones were, of course, the one held on the pool deck.

The ship made an emergency stop in Cozumel on Christmas day because of a medical emergency, but after dropping a passenger off on a boat, we sped off to Cayman.

Day 4: Grand Cayman

Cayman was expecting some rough seas later in the day, so the captain made an initial announcement that everyone were due back on tenders by 2:00 instead of 4:00. This caused a bit of a stir, as some of the later excursions in the day were thus cancelled. My dad and I had booked a stingray tour with Captain Marvin’s for Grand Cayman, but it was an early tour, so not affected. We inquired about needing a tender ticket to get off of the ship early, and we were told that as long as we had confirmation information about our tour, we could report early without a tender ticket. When we actually went for a tender, we stepped right on without having to present our information to anyone.

Once we made it ashore, we followed directions and found Captain Marvin’s without a problem. We paid cash (5% surcharge for credit), then went to wonder around Cayman a bit because our tour wouldn’t leave for 45 minutes. When we headed back, everyone waiting was called into the Captain Marvin’s store and told that because of the rough seas, the port authority was restricting boats going out and that the cruise ships were calling everyone back. We were refunded our money, then we headed back to the dock. The Royal Caribbean staff on the pier confirmed that everyone was being called back, and through some eves-dropping, I heard that there were still about 60 people ashore. By the time our tender left (with the Explorations staff that had gone ashore), there were probably only about 10 people on the tender. The waves were noticeably bigger on the return, and stepping back onto the ship was definitely a more cautious experience.

The Grandeur ended up staying in Cayman for a while because there were a few people who did not return to the ship and the port authority said they would allow tenders to run to return people to the ship. Outgoing people were banned from going ashore, however, so within an hour or two of returning to the ship, and updated Cruise Compass was handed out with a new schedule of activities for the unexpected sea day.

Wednesday was also the general past guest part from 7:45-8:30. It included the usual introductions, as well as a short Q&A with Captain Rob.

Day 5: Costa Maya

Because of our early departure from Cayman, Captain Rob decided to make it to Costa Maya early, and we ended up docked at 9 AM instead of the scheduled 11. This made a lot of people happy, as most had been on the ship for 3 days straight and were ready to see some land.
We stayed on the ship for lunch and left a little after noon. We headed to Majahual ($3/pp there ad $2/pp back) and the Cat’s Meow because in September, my mom and I had promised to bring one of the waiters a ball cap. We had a bucket of beers (6 bottles for $10) and some quesadillas and enjoyed the scenery for a bit. We then walked around town for a bit, and headed back to the ship.

Day 6: Cozumel

The Grandeur docked in down, which definitely made shopping and walking around a bit easier. They are working on the shopping center directly across from the pier, though the stores in it right now seem very expensive. The liquor store there has horrid pricing, with my local Kroger having better prices than about every bottle I looked at (and sometimes by as much as $20).

We walked down to Cinco Soles and had some food and drinks at Pancho’s Backyard, then made our way back to the ship. The sidewalks were incredibly crowded with eight ships in port and the vendors were their usual fairly pushy selves.

Day 7: At Sea

The final day at sea was very similar to the other three we had already had. There were the usual activities: ShipShape stuff, Bingo, art auctions, etc. There was not a disembarkation meeting, but instead a pre-made video that was looped on the TV. The captain also had his Nautical Notes meeting in the afternoon. Bags were to be placed out in the hallway between 7 and 11 PM. There was to be no self-assist debarkation. The reasons given were that the Grandeur was new in New Orleans and that since they only had a large, portable ramp structure to board the ship instead of a skywalk, they didn’t want people to be trying to navigate luggage down it.

Day 8: Disembarkation

We had a flight at 11:35, so we had told the purser’s desk that we needed tags for early debarkation. We were given blue tags, which were about the fourth ones called. Everyone was to be out of their rooms by 8:00, and the first people were allowed off around 7:30. We were off around 8:00, and were at the airport around 9. Customs was, in my opinion, surprisingly lax. We handed the form to a customs woman chatting with coworkers, collected our bags off of the large floor space, then headed off to a taxi. At no point were we asked to show our passports or any other sort of identification.

General Comments

Food

In general, I thought that the food in the dining room was good. Steaks sometimes arrived undercooked, but that could be easily remedied by telling the waiter to bring a new cut that wasn’t quite mooing. The menu lists items available on a daily basis, so it was always good to have a fallback. We were also informed that if we had any special requests for food items, to talk to the head waiter and that he would see what he could do. Lunch in the dining room had large selection with daily specials, and it also had a pasta station where you could go up and get pasta made for you with your selection of toppings. Breakfast was a little underwhelming and slightly disappointing, though the quality was still better than what I found in the Windjammer.

Speaking of the Windjammer, I found the food there to be just OK, though to be honest, I tried to eat there as little as possible. Breakfast items (biscuits and gravy, waffles, etc) seemed to chill instantly on the way to the table (assuming they weren’t already cold). The taco bar for snack time was nice, but nothing too special. The desserts were usually pretty decent, with cookies and chocolate crème being the standouts.

Food at the Solarium Grill ranged in quality. The fries were surprisingly good, but the burgers and hot dogs were merely OK. The pizza ranks along with cheap frozen pizza at best.

All food areas had mandatory hand sanitizer stations to be used before entry, and there was usually a crew member there monitoring use.

Shows

I’ve been to enough cruise ship shows that not too many of the offerings excited me and I only attended one show. On the first formal night (Christmas Eve), I went to the Celebrity showtime presentation of Micky Dolenz from the Monkees. This show was OK, but nothing outstanding. Micky’s voice was OK, but he also acted incredibly arrogant and included several things that I did not think appropriate for a family show, including crotch grabbing. His sister did OK singing some Joan Baez songs, but she murdered “My Heart Will Go On” … just painful because she couldn’t carry the song and had to speak half of the words instead of sing them. I caught the final show on in-cabin TV and it was no too impressive either.

Fellow Passengers

Like I mentioned earlier, there seemed to be quite a few first time cruisers on this sailing. There were also quite a few children on board, but I only noticed that fact on a few occasions (such as the girls sitting on the floor and riding one elevator up and down because they were bored). There were also a few incidents, and evidently one passenger was put off the ship for violent conduct (against a few kids was the rumor).

Christmas Activities

There were quite a few holiday activities on board. On Christmas Eve, there was caroling in the Centrum and a midnight mass with communion was offered. On Christmas, there was more caroling and also an appearance by Santa in the Centrum. There was also a special Christmas menu in the dining room. Decorations were everywhere, such as trees, garland, and lights.

Cabin

My parents and I both had inside cabins (8525 and 8027). They were not huge, but they did have plenty of storage place. I found the shower curtain annoying as it I had trouble keeping water in the shower, especially with ship rock. The beds were not that great, though I know they will be replaced in April. My parents had trouble with their phone, and no matter what we did with the dial, neither of us could hear public announcements in our room.

Ship

The Grandeur is now a small ship, I guess, though she seemed plenty big enough for me. We had to run at full speed more than usual due to medical issues, so the ship had quite a bit of rock. The ship is scheduled for dry dock soon, and I think that she could definitely use some sprucing up. For the most part she is very nice, but due to her age, there is expected wear and tear on the carpets and public areas.

Final Thoughts

This was a nice cruise that we were able to get at a great price, made even greater with it being a holiday cruise. I find little to fault with the ship, and even less with her crew, which were almost all incredibly friendly. I would not hesitate to sail on the Grandeur again, but I probably would not seek her out, either.