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Match Game 72

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    Downeast
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    MSC

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  1. Thank you for the kind words! I was in the journalism club in high school. It was only 35 years ago so I am certain the learnings are still top of mind. 😉 Seriously, I am glad to be helpful. I have learned a lot from cruise critic posts in the past.
  2. Saturday, February 24 I was up at 6:15. Yikes. The disembarkation instructions said to be out of the cabin by 7 am. Since my husband has diamond status and gets to leave the cabin by 2 hours after that, my father cleared our his cabin and brought his carryon bags to our cabin. We stopped and thanked the room steward. He was fine with us leaving the bags. And it was our final trip to the buffet for breakfast. Of course, the place was crowded, but we managed to find two small tables together. My favorite breakfast foods this trip were the Indian spiced scrambled eggs and the baked apples. We left there and went back to the cabin for our bags. Then we went to the Caberet Lounge to wait for our number (8) to be called. Okay, we cheated and stopped at the red sofa outside the Aegean restaurant. Just a few minutes later number 8 was called and we had the fastest disembarkation that I have ever experienced. With no line to have security scan our cards, we walked though the terminal, got our bags, and had an extremely fast customs check. When we got outside, I reserved a Lyft which was there in two minutes. Once at the airport, our luck ran out. There were lines for everything. But we made it. Overall, this was a very fun and easy going trip. It accomplished exactly what we had hoped. The weather was significantly better than in New England. We ate good food. We saw some decent entertainment. And we all had a very good time together.
  3. The buffet opens at noon. My son and I went to get lunch for everyone. Here's where we found out how far it was to carry everything back. But we made it, and everyone got to eat lunch by the sea. Also, I must mention that cookies were available! They had four types: peanut, chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, and raisin oatmeal. The water in the lagoon was chilly. But we were there and I was determined to snorkel and see fish. As I acclimated to the chilly water, it didn't really bother me. I swam across the lagoon to the rock wall. There were many varieties of colorful fish. It was worth the effort. After three o'clock, we decided to head back to the ship. A few storm clouds let some rain out, but then it cleared up again. After we showered, my son and I walked to the Lighthouse Bar. We enjoyed watching the waves crashing over the rocks. It was a pleasant late afternoon. My husband had us nearly all packed when we returned to the room. Thanks! The four of us went to dinner at the Aegean. I had one of the best meals of the week, the baramundi fish. Here are some pictures. After thanking our wait staff, we went to the Loft Cafe and listened to the jazz quartet. Strangely between sets, someone turned the bright lights on. Then dimmed them again after a few moments. Back to the room, and we put out our luggage by 9:30 as requested. This seemed early to me, but we did it.
  4. Friday, February 23, Ocean Cay private island My husband and I went to the buffet for breakfast. It was the first day that I had seen glazed donuts on the ship. Before we went back to the room, I got two donuts and some bacon for our son. It's a tough life. A day at Ocean Cay is my favorite part of an MSC Caribbean cruise. It's a beautiful island with lots of ways to hang out and enjoy the beaches. Before Christmas, my husband and I rented a cabana as a treat for all of us. With the cabana, you get a cushioned couch, two chairs and an ottoman with a small cooler of ice and bottled water. You also get four loungers, four towels, and two floating rafts. The cabana table is just past the lunch buffet. There you get your towels, floating mats, and the cabana number. We had #34. It was a bit of a walk to get there. As we were walking, I wondered why they had not distributed the towels and mats. Later I would realise that folks would probably take them before we got to the cabana. Even while we were there, someone tried to take our loungers and someone else asked for our floating mats. My husband let him have one and moved the other one inside the cabana.
  5. Thursday, February 22, Day at Sea We ate breakfast this morning at the buffet. And did nothing of any consequence for the entire day. I think we went to Top 19. My favorite activity this week was reading my historical fiction novel by Phillipa Gregory. Each day I would review the activities. I considered the Welcome Back party and the dance lessons. But in the end I was completely content to read, listen to music, and enjoy the company of my family. That evening, we split up for dinner. My father and son went to the buffet. My husband and I went to Kaito Tempanyaki for a special anniversary dinner gift from my father. It was a very fun meal. Here are some of the plates we were served.
  6. Wednesday, February 21, Dominican Republic This was the second morning that we had breakfast delivered to the cabin. We had set out the order on a form the night before on our doorknob. The first day's breakfast was what we had ordered. This morning, our order was missing coffee. We received just one herbal tea bag but cups and water for two. I used the same tea bag for two teas, but my son was out of luck with no coffee. We met Dad at his room, and the four of us got off the ship in Taino Bay. It's a long walk past many shops, a pool, and several animal exhibits to get to the taxi stand. Once there, there is a nice sign to take a picture at. The taxi director wanted to charge us $60 for a one way taxi to Ocean World. I told him it was too much. He brought over another man to talk to my husband who agreed to a taxi for $30 one way. The driver was friendly and gave us some interesting tidbits about his country. He had previously worked on Celebrity Cruises. Once at Ocean World, we were directed to the main lobby. They had our reservation which I had prepaid weeks ago. We got our wrist bands and lunch buffet tickets. Once inside Ocean World, we visited the aviary, watched the sea lion show and the dolphin show. We also saw fish in a couple of large aquariums. We had planned to swim, but the weather was overcast. No one felt like swimming. The lunch buffet was servicable. The food could not be compared to the quality onboard MSC Seascape. After lunch, we hung out for a while near the lagoon. Then it was time to meet the Ocean World bus. We waited on board the bus. It was a few minutes late, but we were back to the port in time to do a little shopping. Plus the bus was included in our admission tickets. So no complaints really.
  7. Tuesday, February 20 San Juan, Puerto Rico This is the day that I relaxed into vacation. How do I know? Well, I am actually writing this from the plane home. There's plenty to do in San Juan right next to the port. Before we left home, I had used Google maps to mark several statues or monuments as well as a couple of shops. The port that MSC brought us to is directly across from a Walgreens. I think the prices would be lower than on the ship but higher than in our usual home shops. The weather was warm and sunny. We walked along the waterfront to the left and then up a hill to visit several shops. At one shop we bought a couple of pretty polished rocks and had them set into wire to be worn as a necklace. It took just about 15 minutes for two of them. Then we walked along the road and stopped in a few touristic shops. My dad bought a new hat. Then we walked down a hill and went back to the ship.
  8. After dinner we went to the Times Square area to listen to the dueling pianos. They were not actually dueling. They were playing together. After that we saw the Premier show in the large theatre. It was really well done. In my opinion this was leaps and bounds better than the criticism someone posted online that it was of a high school caliber. We all enjoyed it. Afterwards, dad went back to the cabin and the three of us continued to the Loft cafe to enjoy the guitar player and singer. He was talented and has a nice bass voice. After our drinks there, the guys went to the buffet, and I went back to the cabin for the night.
  9. This evening was elegant evening. While back in the room, we opened the prosecco delivered for my husband's diamond status. Along with it, 5 macarons and a small bar of excellent chocolate were delivered. The prosecco was not bad. Then we all got ready for dinner and took a few pictures with my dad when he returned dressed in his suit. Dinner that night was excellent. Two of us started with the eggplant parmesan, an excellent dish that was served nice and hot. For our main meal three of us had the filet mignon, and I had the lobster and shrimp. The lobster was not cold water, but it was very good and nicely seasoned. I would order it again. For dessert we had baked Alaska and the royal chocolate cake. Both were very tasty.
  10. My son want to try the thermal suite. So I called a for a reservation. We had asked at the spa deck and they said to get a reservation on sea days. It was no problem to arrive at 2 pm. The thermal suite is very clean with many choices. There are clean changing rooms with toilets and showers. also, you may use your cruise card to lock and unlock a storage locker. That's where the towels are provided. We enjoyed the thermal suite for about an hour. Then we dried off and went to the Jungle Pool for a drink. The bartenders served drinks in a reasonable timeframe. I had read comments about slow bar service, but that was not our experience. We had the Easy plus plan which covered quite a variety of drinks up to $10. Also we were able to use the drink package in the specialty restaurants. With our drinks in hand, we went to the buffet. My son ate a couple of slice of pizza. We waited for the dessert are to open at 4 pm. Before 4, people were getting soft serve ice cream from the same station. There was a line but it was moving. At 4, a worker opened the shades. I asked him if there were any cookies like chocolate chip. He told me that they no longer make cookies. I was disappointed and plan to mention it in our cruise review. (Cookie drama!)
  11. My dad and I went to the Green Wave restaurant for lunch. It's much larger that the Aurea restaurant and louder too. We skipped the appetizers and each had a salad. Here's the Caesar with shrimp. And the Cobb salad with a little chicken.
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