Stealthdog

One of the first places we went was the library. They didn’t have any playing cards available in there. We checked every unlocked drawer, shelf, and cabinet. We had to earn them the hard way! And when I say we, I obviously mean Eric. 😂 We always laugh and joke about the prizes from the trivia and free games because they are always so silly - pens, coasters, cards, etc. For us, getting a worthless prize is part of the fun. NCL does have an activity card that gets stamped every time you play in an activity. At the end of the cruise you can trade your card in for prizes, coincidently in the library (so maybe they do have cards locked in one of the cabinets there). We didn’t even know about the activity card until day 4. We will get it filled on the 2nd leg to see what they give away.

I think first prize was a NCL bag and 2-4 was a deck of cards.

it looks like it from the pic, but it’s just a train track with other things underneath it.

I haven’t heard any announcements of any change to return to Port Canaveral tomorrow. We are fairly close now already - don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be there.

Here is another view of it from the stairs going to Deck 7.

Day 7 daily. I tried to lean forward and get a copy of the next cruise entertainment pamphlet and to adjust reservations for dining, but was given the stiff arm and told to come back tomorrow morning. Shore excursions did give me their port pamphlets for the next cruise. We have Cayman booked. We might look at doing some snorkeling in Cozumel.

Eric strikes again. We were part of the winning team at Bamboozled today. He is definitely the brain…..I guess that makes me the beauty (lol…not really). The winning prize was a little NCL bag. For those unfamiliar with bamboozled, it’s like an escape room concept, but it’s all done on one table top and you don’t move to different areas. It’s very family/kid friendly, so an activity a whole family or kids can participate in. They put people in groups of six to work together on the puzzles and solve the mystery. It’s held in the supper club and they did the event multiple times throughout the cruise.

it’s crazy. At least now I understand why the private island was canceled today. Haven’t seen seas like this before. Neither of us get motion or sea sick, so really not a problem. At the gym now while Eric is at the spa - look at these whitecaps! Another pic earlier from our balcony. FYI - We were given $50 refundable OBC for Great Stirrup Cay being canceled. Not sure if that is standard, but I’ll take it. No announcements were made, but we saw it on our on board account. Glad they did refundable and not nonrefundable!

Day 7 transitioned from being Great Stirrup Cay to a Sea Day. We haven’t looked at the daily yet, so not really sure what we will do today besides eat and gamble. 😂 The biggest item on my to-do list is to check my account to make sure I spend any remaining non-refundable OBC. I will probably buy a water package for the cabin in prep for cruise 2, and then spend the rest on the shops.

And now for the main event……..drumroll…….Choir of Man. It’s as good as all the reviews. One of the best shows we have ever seen on a cruise ship (some newer ships have impressive water, ice, and cirque du soleil style shows that are also amazing). The story was fun and different, the pace and energy was awesome, and the emotion, particularly the curtain call song at the end was real. You could tell these guys generally loved performing. We took the chance of sitting in the front row and I was rewarded with being called onto the stage to be part of the performance. I need Eric to airdrop me the photos and I will post them later. I hope I put on a good show! If there is one show on the Escape to book and go see, it’s Choir of Man. You won’t be disappointed. We made reservations for the 2nd cruise when it opened on the app and are going to keep it so we can see it again. We will probably not sit in the front next time so someone else can experience being part of the show. 😂

Here is an example of the MDR lunch menu. It changes daily. Next week, I’ll take photos of the daily MDR menus. We have 2 dinings left and will close out this leg of the B2B with Pinchos for lunch and Bistro for dinner. Based on this week, we are going to redo our plans for dining on the 2nd leg - Bistro, Cucina, Bayamo, and Food Republic for sure. We will cancel Cagney reservations and add 1 Moderno night.

Dinner Day 6 we ate at Food Republic. It is “Tapas style” (kind of), with a digital menu and ordering system, similar to some land based restaurant ordering systems. Note - some of the plates are tapas size and some are full plates. For example, the lamb comes out as 3 big lamb chops, which is normally its own meal, while the chicken miso and beef skewers are more typical tapas style plates for sharing. We enjoy this style of restaurant and had a nice time, The views in the restaurant are outstanding - one of the best on board. We enjoyed most of the plates and rank Food Republic 2nd tier with Bayamo, below Bistro and Cucina, but ahead of Cagneys. With a package, each person is allowed to order 4 things. The plates did not enjoy were the beef skewers - it was too dry and chewy, and Eric wasn’t overly fond of the sushi (don’t remember which one he ordered). Everything else was very good - miso chicken, lamb chops, ramen, pad Thai, and a fried korean chicken plate. We actually got 2 orders of the lamb. We didn’t order from the deserts - will try them next week: Because it’s tapas style and you order directly from a digital menu from your table, the food comes out once the kitchen makes it. We ordered 4 first, then the second four later. Every plate comes out separately. .

Day 6 we did the loyalty wine tasting event in the bar area of Moderno/Cagneys. As a reminder, you can sign up with CruiseNext for this comolimentery event. They create 4!tasting areas in the corners of the lobby, each representing a different country, Around the World party style. For our event they had France, Australia, Portugal, and Spain. They had other signs and may do other countries, probably depending on inventory and what they want to sell. Each station had 2 types of wine for tasting. There were about 30 people participating. It’s a nice event and gesture as a loyalty event:

As promised, some holiday pictures. Decks 6, 7, 8 are the most decorated, especially the areas that have multi level views (atrium, near Le Bistro). All the restaurants have trees, all the bars have holly. It looks like more things are getting added to the gingerbread house next to Bistro about every hour, including a “display only” sign which means people have probably been breaking pieces off to eat. There is a menorah at guest services.

Already answered by @wilmingtech, but here is a little more detail. When you enter the gym go to the right towards the cardio machines. It’s all the way at the far right. The brand they use is called concept 2.

We got our B2B instructions today (Day 6). We do have to leave the ship and will be boarded once the ship is cleared by the port. We went to guest services a couple days ago and they were able to give us a new key already that is good through the end of cruise 2.

We saw Jersey Boys three straight cruises. One of them I fell asleep and dropped a wine glass. It shattered and could be heard across the theater. Since then, Eric uses the wine glass test as the determination of how good and how is. Every older show runs the risk of a good shattering. 😂

Day 6 Daily. Sea day. Today we did loyalty wine tasting event, MDR for lunch, Food Republic for dinner, Choir of Man, a few trivia, and probably going to end the night with karaoke.

Free. Most of the activities in the atrium are free. The only exceptions I have seen are deal or no deal. For these types of games you put your name in a bucket and they draw names for people to play. In the speed trivia game, about 15-20 people had their name drawn.

My mistake - it’s called Virgin Gorda & The Baths. TOVX112. Excursion ticket attached. Sorry for the confusion. I hear you with boring excursions. We tend to want more active ones. We did a volcano hike on the of the Caribbean islands several years ago. We came back to pier looking like swamp people. 😂

I think I am caught up through this morning (Day 6). We have 2 sea days now until we return to Port Canaveral. I plan to go out early tomorrow to take all the holiday decoration photos. We saw the chefs overseeing the building of tables last night - so the gingerbread is probably coming out soon. if anyone has any remaining questions, feel free ask away. We aren’t going anywhere for 2 days, so I have the time now 😂

Day 5 we went to the theater to see the Sea Sons. It’s the same 4 guys from the Supper Club and they do a Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons act. This is the best Frankie Valli act we have seen on a cruise ship. I usually get bored with Frankie Valli and Rat Pack acts. All 4 are great vocalists. They added a handful of modern songs into their act, which was fun. The theater was packed, so this may be one of the more popular shows on board. We highly recommend this show. After the Sea Sons, we checked out the karaoke. Family karaoke was ending and adult karaoke was starting. It was a fun time - everyone was enjoying it. Eric may make a surprise appearance on the stage for the next karaoke night - we will see. 😁

Last night we ate at La Cucina. We have a new 2nd favorite restaurant, bumping Bayamo to 3rd place. Cucina did a good job challenging Le Bistro for 1st place, but I give a slight nod to Le Bistro. We ate inside and not the waterfront - it was too windy outside. The experience started off great for us - Cucina is the first restaurant we had on board where the bread comes out warm. We prefer that over cold bread. Eric and I both got the Caprese salad - that is typically my go to - at Italian restaurants. The tomatoes and cheese were good quality. The salad comes out very clean. If you like it with more oil and vinegar, they are on the table and you can add as necessary. We got the carbonara and fettuccine as small plates. Both were fantastic! The sauces are a little rich, so if you don’t like rich, creamy foods - you may want to get something different. The Osso Bucco and tenderloin were also both very good and we recommend both for those who prefer land meat (lamb and beef) over seafood. The desert was the only disappointment of the meal. The lemon cheesecake was really boring in presentation and taste. I should have gone with the tiramisu or panna cotta instead. The cannolis were pretty good, but not as good as the deserts we have had at some of the other restaurants. There are more things on the menu like pizza that we didn’t want use a dining package on, but they are available. We highly recommend Cucina as a great option for anyone who has a dining package and are unsure of which restaurant to go to. Service was great, food was great. Only negative was underwhelming deserts.

It’s only a 10 minute hike back up to the top, where you may have some free time to looks in the shops, get something to eat, or use the facilities. It looked like there were great views from the restaurant, but they guard the entrance carefully and don’t let non restaurant patrons access those views. After the time at the park, you will get loaded back up in a shuttle bus, and take the ferry back towards the main island and cruise ship pier. We were a little late - about 20 minutes beyond original all aboard. We found out at the pier that the time on port was extended 3 hours. We did not know Great Stirrup Cay was cancelled until we were back on board and heard the announcement. Again - if you haven’t done this tour and can handle the caves portion of the tour, I highly recommend it. It was worth the cost and physical effort to do it!

The caves portion was challenging. You will go up and down a series of ladders, with the use of ropes to hold on to, and climb/squeeze through some areas to progress through. Inside some of cave areas, the rock ceiling is really low, so I was kind of duck walking a little. For much of the tour, you will be walking in knee high water. It is definitely worth doing if you don’t have any physical conditions that limit your ability to squat, climb, etc. After you get through the caves, you enter a second beach area that has food, shops, and bathrooms. I put the phone away during parts of the caves because I needed both hands to get through the areas, so I don’t have pictures of the more difficult areas.