M&JfromSDL

After lunch and a little siesta, it was time for more water slide fun. As I said earlier in my review. They are a ton of fun. I felt like a kid again. And it was cool to see all of the smiles on the kids faces as they rode them with their parents.

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We alternated slides a couple of times before deciding to head down to Sunset bar for sailaway. But after having a beer we decided it was just too smoky to sit down there for long. We ended up heading up to the Vibe and taking a nap in the cabana now that we were moving and there was a breeze up there.

We had dinner plans at Le Bistro tonight and wanted to be sure we were ready!

Being the aviation nerd I am, I enjoyed the view of the arriving airplanes.

The heat was creeping up and with not much of a breeze the cabana was become uncomfortable. If only they had a ceiling fan or mister. ;-)

I grabbed a shaded bar stool along with my Mrs. and we enjoyed some time talking with Courtney, Joseph and Marian about cruising and life. Aside from the amenities in the Vibe, the staff here is top notch. Frankly the best we experienced the entire cruise.

By mid afternoon passengers were beginning to stream back on board and I was feeling a little hungry. We walked over to the Flamingo as I had a craving for a little Cuban food.

Regular French Fries and Yucca fries.

Papa Rellenas, Maduros and Croquetas and the always tasty Cilantro sauce.

I grabbed some black beans and rice along with pollo asado (roast chicken) and ropa vieja (shreadded beef). They also had chicharrones. I didn't think I was a fan and decided to confirm, which I did. They weren't bad. Just not my thing.

My wife couldn't resist either.

Vibe was empty. Kind of funny considering the mad dash for cabana rentals and Vibe passes. We had the place virtually to ourselves.

Looking towards the bar and hot tubs from the cabana area.

Looking towards the cabana area from just outside of ours.

There are two whirlpools and a neat shower in the Vibe Beach Club.

A few minutes after we arrived Marian came over with a bucket full of ice for our ice chest. The neat thing about the cabana is there are two cubbies. On one side is a metal bin for ice, the other is a storage box. The bartenders and staff in the Vibe are very cognizant of who is coming and going. We left our personal items down there multiple times and never felt unsafe.

January 6, 2015

I had been having trouble disconnecting and completely activating vacation mode. But I finally succeeded and slept in until 11:30am. Might have been the Baileys and Kahlua the night before. I looked at my wife, looked at the clock and said something along the lines of "Guess we're not going to Grand Cayman."

I must have been tired because I successfully fell back asleep each time Armen (Cruise Director) announced the tender availability over the PA. At one point he called passengers holding tickets A, B, C... all the ways to M.

We dressed and headed up to the Garden Cafe. It seemed we weren't the only folks skipping ports this cruise. We noticed the day before the pool area was pretty busy with folks who decided to forego Ocho Rios and stay onboard. Grand Cayman was much of the same.

Today, simple foods sounded best. I became one of those folks who passes the wide range of international offerings for a ham and cheese sandwich and some fries.

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Grand Cayman looked pretty busy. There appeared to be a total of 5 ships. The Island Princess, Carnival Paradise and us on one side and 2 larger Carnival ships moored on the other.

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After lunch we walked up to Vibe to relax. I was ready for a hair of the dog and one of Courtney's mojitos would fit the bill.

I have a strange question:

 

You mentioned the in-room coffee makers. My wife and I are pretty particular about our coffee. Ok, mostly my wife. :D

 

Do you remember the kind of machine it was (such as a Keurig, etc.), so that we could perhaps bring a particular brand she likes? Or was it just a simple drip-style? Thanks!

Not a crazy question. The machine does not take the standard Keurig style cups but rather a plastic type dish. My wife said the machine was a european brand. Sorry.

Thanks for all of your comments. My wife and I read through so many reviews ahead of our cruises so it is nice to contribute.

Really enjoying the review and especially the pics & dailies since we leave on Sunday. Do you know if the bar between Moderno & Cagneys is open during the day or only in the evening? Thanks!

To be honest, I am not completely sure. I highly doubt it since that area is pretty quiet during the day. Frankly, it's a dark area. Akin to a dark steakhouse. Not sure I'd want to hang out there during the day. You may get a better experience at the indoor section of the Sunset Bar.

We skipped dessert and opted for a trip through the casino. After discovering the epic game Recuerdos Doarados we enjoyed a pair of Grolsch at O'Sheehans while enjoying the ever amazing Groove International.

Soon enough I was tipsy enough to want to dance and we headed out to the Caribbean Dance Class and Caribbean party at Spice H2O.

We danced together a bit before running into some friends we met earlier in the cruise. We ended up back at O'Sheehans for a couple rounds of skiball and a Baileys and Kahlua before bed.

We walked the shops for a bit and noticed the attractive duty free alcohol prices when compared to our home state of Virginia. We made a mental note to come back later in the week for a purchase.

As we strolled around looking for dinner we discovered the downside to "Freestyle Dining." It wasn't very freestyle since everything was booked up. Our first choice was Teppanyaki. Completely full and unable to accommodate. 2nd choice was the Shanghai's, the noodle bar. They could seat us in "at the very earliest, 45 minutes."

We took a walk over to the interactive TV and found our only choice to really be the Tropicana Room or the buffet. The menu seemed somewhat appealing and since we missed our reservation there earlier in the week we figured we would take our opportunity for dinner and dancing while we had it.

The Tropicana Room is an excellent concept. It feels like a sexy supper club.

However the band playing this night was horrific. We witnessed them the night before. I can only describe it as bad karaoke one might find in Spain. Singers with heavy spanish accents trying to belt out American classics. We were disappointed to learn the AWESOME Latin Express played here the night after.

The food here was okay. And once again, we were treated to awkward service. We love the main dining experience on RCI cruises. The camaraderie of the same dinner mates or at least familiar faces. The service was impersonal and somewhat chaotic. Like attending a wedding where the servers can't wait for dinner service to end.

I started out with the shrimp ceviche which was very nice.

Mrs. J started out with a fairly boring but good greens salad.

Our main course consisted of a pedestrian Pasta Carbonara for her and a properly cooked but also pedestrian striploin for me.

Our wine was decent though. I enjoyed a nice glass of Pinot Noir and the Mrs. had the standard rose.

January 5, 2016

Woke up as we were docking in Ocho Rios and little hungover. Realized we hadn't eaten much of substance the day before. So off to the buffet I went in search of hydration and grease.

As I walked through the buffet I wondered why so many people were order seemingly boring things. Ham sandwiches, plain chicken, etc. Add this thought to the list I will come back to towards the end of the review.

We had no plans for this port so we decided to stay on board and enjoy an empty ship.

With some food in my belly I was ready to tackle the day. But first we would start by relaxing in the jacuzzi and various warm rooms.

We would later learn this is a dolphin pool.

After breakfast we made our way to Vibe and lounged in the cabana for a while. It got a little hot and I was ready to go for a walk. So we strolled around the decks for a bit. No stroll around the ship is complete without a stop at the buffet so I enjoyed a nice plate of oxtail stew, jerk chicken and rice. Very good food for mass produced cruise ship buffet fare.

On our way back to Vibe we stopped by the regular pool bar for a strawberry daquiri and a drink of the day (Painkiller) for the Mrs. She was intrigued by the pineapple infused alcohol and we both agreed it was the better of the two drinks.

We enjoyed our drinks and watched people ride the water slides. We decided it was time to jump in and go for a ride.

The enclosed slide, "The Whip" was pretty scary at first. You move pretty fast and it gets dark. The drop slide requires you remove all jewelry including rings and all piercings. When I say all, I mean all. No matter where they are on you. ;-) At the point we agreed the purple open air slide was more our speed today and took turns with the 4-8 year old crowd.

There has been a lot of hate on the RCI forums towards the addition of waterslides on Royal Caribbean ships. But I have to say I had a blast and enjoyed it far more than the flowrider or zipline.

After our waterslide fun was over we headed back to the room for a little downtime and a shower. We had Moderno reservations for tonight but neither of us was in the mood for it. So we decided to wing it.

Here are the Dallies for the day at sea.

Dinner was excellent. The seafood seemed fresh and nicely flavored. The service was a little weird. Not bad, just somewhat disjointed. It lacked a fluidity or WOW factor like we were used to in the speciality restaurants on Royal.

For desert I ordered the chocolate coma on a plate and was too busy enjoying my mine to remember what the Mrs. ordered. But here's a photo I managed to snap.

After dinner we meandered around the ship until Norwegian Night out started in Spice H2O. There's really something about this space at night. It is an awesome party location and one we would visit through out the week during the evenings.

After dancing amongst the sea breeze and under the stars we retired to our state room. Time for a good long sleep.

We are some of the few who actually enjoy getting a little dressed up for dinner on a cruise.

My wife feels special when I throw on a collared shirt and sometimes a suit for a date night with her as opposed to just doing so for my job.

After our nap and dinner prep we decided to head down to Meridian 360 which sits in between Cagneys and Moderno for a cocktail. We both enjoyed EXCELLENT Martinis.

After nursing our drinks and people watching for a bit our reservation approached. We made this reservation online before the cruise and were excited we had since the restaurants filled up pretty quickly.

Ocean Blue was a nice treat. Everyone was dressed for a nice dinner and the food lived up to the expectation.

My wife ordered the snow crab legs to start and the stone crab for myself.

Sorry for the lack of light. There was a nice table of ladies next to us so I didn't want to be obnoxious with the flash.

For the main course my wife ordered a seafood trio which featured shrimp, lobster tail and a white fish. The fish escapes me. I want to say halibut but I cannot say for sure. I also ordered the scallop and pork belly.

My notes from the afternoon read something like this:

"#cabanalife"

"#cabanasohard"

"Temp perfect. Sun perfect. Drinks perfect."

"Courtney Mojitos"

Well obviously the drinks were good. We started out with Grey Goose L'Orange and soda water. But my wife quickly realized Courtney our cocktail afficiando knew how to put together an awesome mojito (with less sweet!).

Soon enough it was time to put some food in our belly. So we perused the $10 BLOWOUT MEGA SALE that was anything but for a pair of sunglasses since I left mine at home.

Off to lunch we go. Once again we found ourselves up in the Garden Cafe. I fixed a plate of glass noodles, steak enchilada, a small sliver of roast chicken and my wife and I shared a pretzel roll.

After lunch we headed back to Vibe for a little R&R but needed a break from the sun. So we relocated down to the Mandara Spa where we enjoyed the various hot rooms and grabbed a pair of loungers for a nap.

Thermal Suite naps are epic. The room is warm; it's generally quiet; and motion of the ship combined with the constant sound of running water allowed me to easily fall into a deep sleep.

We set an alarm this time since we were excited to explore the menu at Ocean Blue. No missing reservations tonight ;-)

Allow me to discuss 2 things about the cruise.

1.) VIBE

Without the Vibe access I think we would have enjoyed this cruise far less. The general pool areas of the ship are jammed. Lounge chairs are on top of each other. There's people everywhere and the environment seemed far from relaxing. I know we sound like spoiled brats but the general pool area, especially the level above the pool (deck 16?) was far too chaotic to enjoy on sea days.

As far as the cabana goes, we struggled with whether or not it was worth the extra money over the normal Vibe pass. In the end we only exited the ship once the entire week so we got plenty of use out of it. If I had the opportunity to rent one again I probably would not pass it up. But I also would not be heart broken if I was regulated to one of the cozy beach beds, loungers or an excellent bar stool at Courtney's bar.

2.) Ultimate Beverage Package

Overall, we were very pleased with the alcohol selection on NCL as compared to Royal. My wife kept ordering "Bacardi Mojitos" which was her way of saying...use Bacardi not crappy well rum in my drink. Turned out to be unnecessary because the alcohol options are all very nice and the bartenders were not afraid to offer up the good stuff. I will address this later in my review.

We had 2 small issues with the UBP. One was the fact that upgraded coffees are not included in the way they are in RCCL's Ultimate Package. We are coffee drinkers and love an espresso after dinner as well as a couple of the coffee cocktails on our IoS cruise from last year. We had to pay for those on this cruise. The other thing was the disappointing lack of champagne on this cruise. The bar offering is a fairly ho hum prosecco though one can obtain a lovely glass of Moet & Chandon in Ocean Blue and Veuve Clicquot in Le Bistro for an upcharge.

Well... now back to your regularly scheduled CC review.

Meet Stuffed Porter. Our version of Flat Stanley.

There's that view again.

Coast of Cuba

My wife loved when Marian brought over chilled fruit skewers. Being the cookie lover I am, I enjoyed the warm cookies. And the cold towels too!

January 4, 2016

We woke up to what would be an awesome day at sea. My wife started out by firing up the inroom coffee maker. Initially we were a little upset by the push away from room service and towards the inroom coffee maker, but it worked out. We have never programmed room service for the correct time so they're either way to early or deliver after we've been up and about for a while.

This view is why I cruise.

We sat out on the balcony for a bit then decided to head up to the Garden Cafe for breakfast.

I have to say, for buffet food, it was pretty good. The layout of the Garden Club is decent so traffic flows through with relatively little bumping and grinding. Over the course of the week we came to the determination that the Garden Buffet offered the most consistently enjoyable food of the cruise. Sad but true.

For breakfast, I enjoyed a lovely plate of Eggs, sausage links and pineapple. (Sorry no pics). The Mrs. was excited to see Museli on the menu but found it to be too sweet.

After breakfast we donned our bathing suits and proceeded directly to the Vibe. There were a couple of people trying to swipe their room keys to access the area during the week. But alas, you need the super secret, VIP access white card that discreetly mentions VBC to access.

Okay. Here come the Day 1 Dallies.

Unfortunately, we slept through our dinner reservation at Tropicana and ended up returning to O'Sheehans to catch the end of the Green Bay game.

The Mrs. opted for the Chicken Sandwich and I went with the fish and chips.

The Chicken sandwich was grossly dry but my fish and chips were pretty good. Disappointed with dinner we moved along to the casino so Mrs. could find her signature cat slot machine. No sign of Kitty Glitter here but OMG! Kittens would fit the bill. After a few games we caught some Groove International in the atrium and walked through the Garden Cafe late night snack options before retiring to our room.

We moved over to the Sunset Bar for a drink. But after an errant electrical wire and lots of cigarette smoke we decided to take the party indoors and headed up to O'Sheehans for bowling and skiball.

After a few games we returned to the spa for a little R&R. I decided to test out the heated loungers and after roughly 2 hours determined them to be the perfect place for a nap.

Nice cars loading up on the Fisher Island ferry.

One day....

If you are ever in Miami on a weekend, I highly recommend stopping by McCormick and Schmick's and watch the ships sail out.

With muster out of the way important decisions such as where to drink during sailaway lie ahead.

We've never sailed out of Miami so when in Rome, do as the Romans do. So we settled on the Sugarcane Mojito bar along the Waterfront for sailaway.

According to the bartender, NCL rolled out new menus that day so there was a little confusion over what was what. Oddly the signature mojito was listed as being in a special glass for an upcharge. Kind of chinzy considering it's a mojito bar. How many special glasses can you come home with?

One other point of confusion was the sales tax collection. People were being handed bills that listed their entire drink bill along with the sales tax. The bartenders were trying to explain passengers would only be charged for the sales tax if they had the UBP but most guests seemed apprehensive.

2 mojitos in and we were starting to push off. I was hoping we would not be the first ones out but it looked like we would be..

After lunch we continued our tour across the pool deck then over to the Mandara Spa. We booked a Spa Balcony and were excited to explore the Thermal Suite area.

The Thermal Suite looked so relaxing. But as we were finishing our tour the announcement was made that cabins were ready.

Down a deck to our spa balcony.

The room was a little smaller interms of living space, but the bathroom was very nice. We did not have a mini-suite with the larger bathroom but it was sufficient. The Mrs. was excited there was a bar in the shower.

Out to the balcony and we found there to be just enough room for the table and chairs. It was small to say the least but enough for what we used it for during the week.

We don't put a lot of stock in the physical cabin. We enjoy having a balcony to sit out on in the morning but for the most part, use the cabin to sleep, shower, dress and sleep.

I enjoyed a very nice Hawaiian Pork burger, a sliver of short rib, waffle fries and a side of Thai Glass Salad.

Once out of the Garden Cafe we resumed our exploration of the ship.

Given our last 2 cruises were on Freedom Class ships we were excited to explore something new. The Getaway did not disappoint. She is beautifully decorated and has a much more modern and polished decor when compared to the RCCL ships.

The first stop was the Vibe.

We introduced ourselves to Courtney working the bar and explored cabana #2 while he cooked up a couple of mojitos

Practice makes perfect...

After daydreaming about what lies ahead in the VBC we continued our exploration. First stop was the ropes course.

I am part Cuban and LOVE cuban food so I was excited when I learned the Getaway had a Cubanish restaurant onboard.

We walked through the Flamingo Grill and I was unable to help myself.

I shared a plate of Lechon, Papa Rellena, Croqueta, rice and maduros with my wife.

Our hard work paid off. At around 11:45 the boarding door opened and we were the first non-Haven passengers through the door. Kind of an odd feeling.

But then it was GAME ON! We knew we had to get to guest services early if we wanted a Vibe Cabana.

Little background here... I surprised the Mrs. with a cabana in Labadee during our cruise last year. While researching the ship she learned we could rent one for the whole week in the Vibe and asked for it as a birthday present.

With deck plan in hand, we ran downstairs, speed-walked through the art gallery and arrived at Guest Services behind one other family who also wanted a cabana. By the time the agent processed their cards; the line for Vibe passes was well behind us. This would be somewhat odd considering how empty the Vibe would be during the week. But I digress. We secured a coveted cabana and were thankful many times throughout the cruise we had done so.

At this point I was starving so we put exploration of the ship on hold and headed up to Deck 16 for lunch in the Garden Cafe.

January 3rd (cont.)

Off to the port we go. Via UberLUX it was a quick and easy ride over to the port. We left the hotel at 9am and were there within 15 minutes.

Because of where we were dropped off it was difficult to find porters to hand our luggage over to. For your reference, passengers dropping bags for embarkation will turn them over to porters on the island in the road.

Once we figured out the drop off we walked into Terminal C and were handed a coveted Group 1 Boarding Card.

Then the waiting game began....

January 3, 2016

We woke up and took a peek out the window. Not exactly sail away weather but it would do.

For some reason all of the coffee packets in the room were decaf. Sick joke considering we were flying on roughly 5 hours of sleep.

View of the Publix across the street.