bazbaz65

With the Heroes Sail Free promotion, they let one person occupy a double cabin?  My husband just booked and got his free but paying for mine.  Not exactly cheap.  $94.40 for him but $514 + $94.40 for me.  Oceanview since he kept getting error messages when trying to book an inside cabin.  I'm looking forward to this but can't really imagine paying $514 + $94.40 for each of us for just two nights!

Thank you for your review as I had so many questions about how this will be and you answered many of them!

When making my reservation for a Casino at Seas offer (free but not really...$20 per day for some sort of administrative fees), I was asked if I wanted my usual ta listed on the reservation.  I did.  Now, whenever an email comes in, I receive it ... and then my TA sends me what she received.  So, I'm guessing she's on it.  And, her name is at the top of the reservation though she had nothing to do with any of the booking of it.

5 hours ago, bazbaz65 said:

 

Agreed!  Which is why it is particularly annoying that we never once had Titos in our fridge.

And...they did not restock those little bottles of wine for us after the second day.

2 hours ago, Desert Steve said:

I purchased the drinks and more package as an upgrade from premium. In my opinion the only way that this package is a good deal is if you are bringing all the stuff off the ship with you. We had our car at the cruise port and I packed up the wine including the splits that are restocked every day and Titos vodka and am enjoying them now at home. Could never do this if you are flying home.

Agreed!  Which is why it is particularly annoying that we never once had Titos in our fridge.

13 hours ago, miched said:

I read it as two bottles of wine pp for a total of 4 if both order the package.   Is this what you get or just two bottles per cabin?

 

Yes, it is supposed to be two per person but we did not get that.  Only one per person.  

We honestly found it to be more trouble than it was worth.  I gather that because it is such a new program, the staff is not very clear on it.  Our room steward had no idea we were on it and we had to ask to have the mini-bar stocked.  And restocked.  Never saw any vodka.  My stepson was in a cabin on another floor and they had everything that was on the list (4 mini Tito vodkas, small Chardonnay and small Cabernet Sauvignon, 2 Heineken, 2 Cokes, 2 Diet Cokes, 1 Evian, 2 Pringles and 2 Kind Bars).  But, they had to ask to have it restocked because their room steward also had not been informed they were on this package.  We never had the vodka, the wine was not restocked, we were able to trade out the Cokes for Coke Zeros, and the Pringles was usually only one.  As for the free wine with the package, I had specifically asked when I booked whether or not we were able to choose our wine.  They said yes.  But, that's a no.  I did manage, after a trip to Guest Services, to get them to take back the Chardonnay and Cab that they'd left and give us a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Grigio...but still no choice in what the actual brand was.  

As someone else said, I would have been annoyed if I'd paid for the Wine Tasting.  So many people and no information really - just pouring tastes at six stations with the mob.  No problem getting the Casino credit at least.  But, next time, I'll just stick with the Premium Package.

I'm wondering the same thing about Freeport - as we'll be there on Christmas Day. Most of the time, we like to hang by the pool when the ship is in Freeport or Nassau but thinking that won't be too warm in December.

We were on the Sky last weekend and got the "free" UBP. We knew we'd have to pay the "gratuities" on that. On top of that, we tip a dollar for every drink - something I was reconsidering given that we're paying that gratuity up front but also because the service is never that great. It seems that with the packages available, the bar staff is "pushing" drinks less and therefore we'd often have to wait quite some time at the bar and even longer waiting for a server to come around. Ah well, we still got our money's worth.

I write only to mention something that I do not recall happening when we had the drink package on RC (out of Port Canaveral) a couple of months ago. This time, we were out of Miami. When we checked our bill at the end, we noticed that all of the drinks that we had prior to the ship leaving port had more taxes on it. We were told that these were "port taxes" and that this applied "until 7 p.m." Is this usual?

Just going from memory, but I recall several people posted about being on various charters - everything from an Irish themed cruise, to the Soul Train Cruise, to RVSP - and, if memory serves, the Signature Beverage Package was not necessarily offered. Your best bet would be to contact the cruise organizers.

 

If it's not a full charter, and you are just part of a large group, I think that anything available to the general public would be available to you.

DH and I have been on three themed cruises on HAL, two political and one knitting. In each case we were part of a group, twice about 400 people and the third time, about 50. The amenities were determined by the group organizers and the travel agent they worked with. There were special cocktail parties, lots of meetings and lectures on sea days. With the larger groups, gratuities were included in the package, dining was fixed with other members of the group and the speakers rotating tables so we could interact with more people. It was very pleasant. My only complaint was the price which was understandably higher because of all the speakers and staff. I'm sure those who wished to do so, bought the beverage package on board.

Thanks for your responses. It is a full charter - the whole ship - and, yes, much more expensive due to all the bands playing each night. Further research on the organizer's site led me to a paragraph about the Beverage cards - so at least there will be that option. Can't check in, pick excursions, or anything like that till 4 to 6 weeks out from the cruise when they will send us our booking number. I'm not used to waiting so long, :p. But, I'll survive. :)

We are heading on a "special cruise" with HAL. My understanding is that there are no sales, no specials, etc. when it comes to pricing - as whoever it is that is putting on the theme cruise gets to set all the rules. Has anyone been on such a cruise? I'm just wondering if the Beverage Package will be offered on such a cruise?

We have the drinks package and the dining package and have already prebooked all our dining online so we can get the times we want. How do the waiters know that you are on the drinks and dining packages so not to charge you? And do you still have to pay the gratuities on the drinks, as we found this very expensive on the Carnival Magic and the NCL Epic.

There are little stickers on your room card which let them know that you have these packages. In any case, you will still get a bill from them each time you order. The bar bills confused us at first because it feels like you ARE being billed. It outlines what you just ordered as well as the gratuity. What we soon learned is that the bill never gets applied to your room - unless you add an actual tip to the bill, which we almost always did since I assume they didn't get anything from that imaginary gratuity that went away with the bill.

The restaurants also bring bills - theirs, however, show the cost and then show that it is taken off the bill. They bring it, of course, because they want you to tip. Again, we usually did - but not when the service was bad.

I'm glad I took notes and have pictures but I so should have worked on this at a quicker pace! The memory fades so quickly...but I'll do what I can!

First, some logistics:

You MUST have your passport here and the ship had given them back to us the day before - except those who needed a Schengen Visa or Resident Card to enter Europe - they were told to collect their passports after arrival clearance at Zadar. As we were leaving the ship, we saw a man being told that he had to go back to get his. They would not let him leave ship without his passport.

I'm afraid this port had me in a bad mood as we left the ship. As you can see from the photo below, you seem to be in the middle of nowhere when you get off. And we couldn't help but feel we were being ripped off! They tell you, the morning you arrive, that you must pay $12 per person for a shuttle to/from the city. You have to stand in line to pay for that and then stand in an even longer line for a bus - they ran out of buses as we stood there so we ended up waiting 12 minutes for more buses to come. They claimed that this information (that we'd have to pay) was in the "paper delivered to your room last night" - but it's not in mine!

I asked at Guest services if this was the only way to town...I was told "yes" but in reviewing my notes, I saw that I'd copied something somewhere that said "15 minutes walk from the port." HOWEVER, as we were boarding the bus, I asked a woman if this was the only cruise terminal. She said yes. But when I questioned having read that people walk to town, she said that this port just opened a year ago...so, perhaps walking really is no longer feasible.

Some people were taking taxis but we didn't have any Kuna yet so this was not an option for us.

I paid attention as we drove - in case it really could have been walked. This is what I jotted down (but, I don't imagine a lot of people will want to walk it):

There is a nice wide walking path - walk to the left from the port - turn left at light - no sidewalk for a short bit...follow the water - at 1.25 miles turn right...residential area and sidewalks start and stop. Veer left at a bus terminal (1.75-ish). Konzum on the right - turn left. Then right at about 2.1 miles. Right again at 2.25 ish. City Galleria stadium - turn left. Pass Post Office. Pass INA gas station. (Some turns didn't seem most direct). Along stone wall then we veered to right to follow water. Left at AVIA rental car. Bus stopped here. 2.87 miles....13 minute bus ride.

So...I'm thinking most people wouldn't want to walk almost 3 miles. Clearly the port has moved!

Some good news. Bathrooms were free! Near where the bus dropped us off - along the wall (across from Lero Cafe) is the WC. Everyone going in was happy to see there was no cost. :)

Our first goal was to find an ATM so we could get some money (Kuna). From the Lero Cafe go straight (left from where WC was) and then turn right = Bankomat (ATM). The exchange was 7 Kuna to dollar today. (Another way to find this ATM is that it is just inside of the Land Gate pictured below.)

My husband and I really wanted to eat at Cagney's again. I thought that I had made a second reservation for the week but apparently I hadn't. According to all the little TV's showing reservations and the woman at the reservations desk, we were out of luck. But, we decided to give it a shot and headed there at 7:45 to see if they could put us on the wait list. No...we could, instead, get right in! So, if you don't have a reservation definitely give it a shot to go to the restaurant - we never saw a restaurant completely full. I don't know if they purposely keep a few tables open or what but I wouldn't call any of them full when we were there. There were, in fact, several open tables this night. Lucky for us!

Tonight's server was Henrique from India. I didn't write any complaints so I'm guessing we liked him (I guess I shouldn't take so long to do my write-up! The memory fades so quickly.)

Tonight, my husband tried some new appetizer - Beef Short Rib Confit. Interesting. I stuck with the lump crab salad and tried the Mexican Caesar Salad. At first, I thought it was a bit of a waste because the only thing that makes it "Mexican" is that it's served in a tortilla bowl...but, the bowl itself is actually quite tasty.

We had already decided that I would try the Lobster & Shrimp Linguine and my husband would order the steak and we'd share. Must confess I only had a bit of the steak because the Linguine was delicious! Highly recommend it. For dessert, he decided to have Warm Apple Cardamom Crisp while I went with the Oreo Cheesecake - sooooo good!

We did make it to the show that night - once we told the server that we wanted to get there, he moved things along a little faster - it was only once we arrived in the Stardust theatre at about 9:25 that we realized that this was the one show of the week which started at 9:45. This show was "Elements: From mesmerizing magic, to the visual feast of flying, to exciting music and dance, this dazzling show will revel in the four elements of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. This must-see production will be an incredible spectacle of wonder, enchantment, and sensual delight. At the end, stay and enjoy the "You Are Norwegian Now" special finale with the Norwegian Jade Officers, Staff, and Crew.

The Show was really good - especially the acrobatics parts. I thought it was strange having the farewell show (the staff) when we still had one more night...not sure why this ship does it that way.

After leaving Budva, we took another drive, stopping to look out over gorgeous views. Then we keep going to visit Sveti Stefan, an old fisherman village. Apparently, all of the buildings were acquired by the Yugoslav government and turned into an upscale hotel during the Tito regime. The Aman Sveti Stefan resort has 58 guest rooms, cottages and suites. Though this was once an island, there is an isthmus connecting it to the mainland. ("An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas, usually with water on either side.") There's talk of this hotel being in the James Bond movie, Casino Royale, but I believe we were told that this didn't actually happen...but, one part of the road we drove was apparently part of a high speed chase. :D

More scenery stops as we made our way back to Kotor. Slobo knew that we were interested in climbing to the top of that monster hill to the fortress so he whisked us back there, parked the car and walked us into the old town of Kotor. The second picture below is the entrance to the set of stairs we'd climb to get there. With almost vertical cliffs, climbing up the 1350 steps was quite the little workout - especially since we were thinking we didn't have a whole lot of time to do it. Some of the steps were broken down and passing is next to impossible so someone always has to step off the steps but we were surprised to see some people climbing up in sandals! So glad that wasn't me! It wasn't too crowded and there were three spots where people were selling water and beer - kind of pushing it at the top since it was getting close to the end of the day and they'd have to carry it back down, I guess. The 1200ft ascent took us less than an hour - though not a whole lot shorter heading back down since we had to step aside several times for people still heading up - plus, going down is when we stopped more to enjoy the view as we knew we'd make it back in time. Though I'd read that the €3 was only charged May-Oct, we were there in April and we had to pay that.

We hadn't eaten all day so were starving as we headed out. Didn't even want to wait till we got back to the ship - luckily as we passed this little place (I think it was actually called "Best Pizza"!), they were just putting a fresh pizza out and we each got a slice. It was very inexpensive (€2?) and was the best pizza ever since we were so hungry! :)

We got back to the ship near to the deadline, picked up a nice beverage from Mixers and sat on the balcony to enjoy the view as we left port that evening.

Our next stop on the tour was the old town of Budva. The entire town is surrounded with stone walls, complete with towers, city gates and a citadel.

As we wandered through the walled town, we went down one little street which led us to Plazni Bar on the beach. How could we not stop?! Again, enjoying the beautiful weather, we kind of wished we could just sit there and stare out at the water and mountains all day while enjoying some Montenegro wine.

The later pictures below were taken in and from the town citadel which is situated on the southern tip of the city. There is a large public square to the north of the citadel with several churches - St. Ivan church, Santa Maria in Punta, and The Holy Trinity church. Mostly though, the narrow cobbled streets are lined with restaurants, cafes, pubs and shops.

Once we had finished our wine, we continued our walk through the old town and then headed back to where Slobo had left us. Apparently the guides aren't allowed into the old town (as guides) so they all hang out outside the walls.

I confess. Though I'd read many advise that we should get up early, as in an hour prior to dock time, I had a terrible sleep and just couldn't manage it when the time came. So, I woke to the beauty of Kotor rather than enjoying the sail in which was said to have "stunning, Fjord-like scenery."

We had arranged to take a tour with Tours by Milo: http://www.toursbymilo.com/tour_info.php. When I'd made the reservation, Milo advised that he was already booked for the day but his brother, Slobo, would be picking us up to take around.

As we were having breakfast up in the buffet area (and, if I haven't mentioned this before - there is also seating in La Cucina - so much quieter to get away from that mob!), my husband made a new friend (he does that a lot!) and we invited another couple to join us on the tour - it was a "taxi for four" and the price for a 4-Hour Tour was 80€ - it was the same whether we had two or four people.

The information about the tour: Includes departure from Kotor ancient veniecian republic town to Perast, the oldest baroque town, UNESCO protected and built by sailors, then Beach Jaz (break to enjoy panoramic view and to drop passengers to beach for swimming), Budva (panoramic ride), visit to old town Budva. Then we keep going to visit Sv.Stefan old fisherman village transformed into town-hotel (the place where a film with James Bond was shot), then ride above the hill around Kotor to observe the part of the bay from peak of the hill Trojica.

So...after meeting up with Slobo, he walked us to his car and we headed out. He talks a lot. Has lots of information and opinions to share. We enjoyed our time with him.

First stop was Perast which is a small town built along the Bay of Kotor. It is part of the UNESCO Wold Heritage Site called the Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor. From what I read elsewhere: The city was owned by the Republic of Venice as part of Venetian Albania. During this time the Venetians built 17 Catholic churches, 16 baroque palaces, 9 defensive towers, and 2 Orthodox churches – all in a city of just 1643 residents at its peak. In addition, two islands sit out in the bay just a few hundred metres from the town, both with picturesque chapels on them.

It doesn't take long to tour Perast. We parked just outside of the town and walked a bit to a church which we entered for a small price (sorry, I don't remember what it was but very low cost). We didn't walk much past there and it didn't appear that other tours did...I've read that there is really only one real street so I'd say we walked that! It was such a beautiful sunny day and we just kept stopping to comment on how beautiful it was!

On our way to the next stop (Budva), we made a few outlook stops to take pictures. One photo was of Beach Jaz - it opens in May so even if we wanted to (still too cool), no beach day for us. The other photo is of what we would soon discover in Budva.

The Trivia Evening picture is below.

There was a wine & cheese party hosted by "Your Cruise Consultant, Kim" and "attended by senior officers" in the Spinnaker Lounge. I went in but didn't feel comfortable there by myself - the officers etc. were all mingling around but it's my husband who likes to do the chatting - so I took a plate of cheese, crackers, olives & dried fruit to enjoy at Mixers instead. I attempted to order a chocolate raspberry martini (which I had had at Cagney's on our first night) but was told that they could do chocolate or they could do raspberry but not together, lol. So, I had to have one of each and added some of the raspberry one to what I had left of the chocolate. Try it!

I would guess that MANY people had the drink and/or dining package as most people we spoke with did. I would have to say that if I had to choose between the 2, I would take the Beverage package! I also noticed that, in the most recent sale for NCL, they aren't offering the Beverage Package - they've replaced that possibility with free Internet package. No thanks! I wonder if they've been losing too much money by giving the Beverage Package away?!

I stated at Mixers thinking my husband would show up eventually but, after an hour the lounge began to fill up so I headed to the Casino again (!)

We had considered going to the main dining room tonight but nothing on the menu tempted us so we decided to go to Jasmine Garden. No reservations are needed and, though I thought it was a "Specialty Restaurant," it's listed as "Complimentary" in the Freestyle Daily. Apparently the husband was tired as I had to go looking for him around 8:00. Back at the cabin, the steward (first time I'd seen him!) said, "He just left." I looked in the Casino and the Pit Boss laughed when I asked if he'd seen him. He joked, "Yes, he left with a blonde." :D Shortly afterwards I found him and we headed to dinner.

I have to say - definitely try this restaurant! When I'd previously looked at the menu, I wasn't that interested in it. So glad my husband talked me into it though. It was one of the best meals we had on the ship! We got there at 8:30 p.m. and got right in. I wasn't impressed when they seated us right outside the kitchen - but the husband liked it as he said it was quieter than out in the rest of the restaurant, so we stayed.

Our server was Marilyn from the Philippines and she was great! Very friendly and funny. She even stopped and chatted with us for a bit. Good service.

I had Pork Pot Stickers, Egg Drop & Corn Soup, and Peking Style Shrimp.

The husband had Pork Pot Stickers, Salt & Pepper Calamari, Harvest Spring Rolls and Cashew Chicken.

We both ordered fried pot stickers which were ok - but then ordered the steamed which were much better so I recommend you do that. My entre had a more subtle taste than my husband's cashew chicken but it was still good. We kind of thought the Cashew Chicken could use a side of rice but, in the end, it was better without as we were full when she did offer to bring us some rice near the end of the meal.

I've tried to find a menu online because I can't remember the name of the dessert she recommended - but I can't find it. So, all I can tell you is that I ordered the spiced chocolate cake which was not very good. The husband ordered some kind of rice pudding and he didn't like that. We should have listened to her as she was definitely right! The dessert that she recommended tasted like baklava...it was delicious!

We caught Carlos's singing in the atrium for a bit (and, then, yes, the casino for a bit as well) before heading to bed to get a few hours sleep before our next port - Kotor, Montenegro. The pit boss was from there so he was more than happy to tell us why we were going to love it. :)

Since I don't have many pictures for this day (ate too quickly to take pictures at dinner!), here are a few for the next morning's arrival in Kotor.

Thanks, leaving today for Venice. Will find out on Saturday who my cruise director is. Cheers

Have a great time!

It was nice to sleep in - I love sea days! We were up in time for lunch in the Grand Pacific. As we entered, I noted that the hostess was Paola - she was the same hostess who'd seated us in Moderno and we were happy to see that she was much nicer today. Our waiter was Adwin from India and we had no complaints about him either.

I ordered the scallops gratin for an appetizer - it was good but not very hot plus, for some reason it didn't come with a little fork like when you order escargot. My husband and I both ordered the Romaine lettuce Greek salad which was not at all what we were expecting - there was almost no lettuce - it was mostly comprised of green & red peppers, onion, and tomato with some olives & feta cheese. It was ok...but we expected more "salad" to it.

I ordered the shrimp burger for my entrée. Immediately, I knew something was missing but it took awhile to flag down a waiter to ask for the guacamole. By the time it arrived the burger was cold & frankly not tasty at all. Adwin noticed that I wasn't eating it and asked if I'd like something else. I couldn't really remember what was on the menu but recalled a shrimp penne so I said I'd take that. It came very quickly and was piping hot. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten the menu had said "spicy" which is why I hadn't ordered it in the first place. It was spicy so I didn't eat all of it but if you like spicy, this was pretty good.

Besides the Greek salad, my husband had the Atlantic chowder which he said was very good. His entrée was the Philly chese steak and he liked that as well.

For dessert, my husband ordered the Mango swirl cheesecake and I ordered the Crème Caramel. Mine was good but I did find myself wishing I'd ordered his instead. It was delicious!

I don't know if it was just us but we couldn't find a lot to do during the sea day (we did ask a couple of other people later and they agreed so maybe not just us). We stopped by the Art Auction for a bit - we had missed the preview so they were already taking down most of the art. We had time to kill though so we sat for a bit.

We also went to the Future Cruise Preview. We had regretted not getting one last time (could have used it for this cruise). It was nice to discover that if you reserve a longer cruise where the deposit would normally be $400, if you have one of the "future reward," the deposit will only be $250 (covered by the reward). We already have our eyes on a 10-day cruise for Christmas 2016! In case you're considering buying one, you should also remember that the cruise simply needs to be booked within 4 years - it could actually be taken outside of that time frame as long as it's booked.

Wandering around trying to find something to do, we went to the Splastacular Extravaganza Circus show briefly; discovered it was a show put on by the kid's - we left our kids at home, lol, so no need to watch other people's kids!

Here's my whine for the day! We don't usually go into the casino in the daytime but had nothing better to do so we found ourselves there. I'm still a little distraught over my bad luck that afternoon! I went to the three-card poker table as another woman had sat down (I don't like to play alone). Well she was just learning so she said, "I'll just watch you for a bit." :( So, I played a few hands and wasn't doing so great. Then, she put her money down. Unfortunately, the dealer was almost as new as this woman - she was "in training" for this game - and she didn't see that the woman had put her money down. So, she did not deal her in and said, "Next time," when she realized she'd missed it. What this means is that I got the hand this other woman would have gotten and the dealer got the hand that I would have gotten. Not happy when I saw that I had received absolutely nothing and the dealer had received a a straight flush! Yep, that was not good.

The husband decided to go take a nap. I wandered up to the Evening Team Trivia in the Medusa lounge. The poor guy (from Brazil) was being given as hard time because people weren't understanding the questions. It wasn't his accent; it was the badly worded questions! Example: How many queens Clepatra were there? People thought he was saying, "How many queens - Clepatra - were there?" rather than "How many Queen Cleopatras were there?" Still, they seemed to have fun and I later saw a lady stop the guy to tell him that he was funnier than the game.

bazbaz65, Do you remember who your cruise director was? Was he/she entertaining, or anything stand out from them? Thanks,

I've been trying for two days to rack my memory but, no, I don't remember his name and he didn't stand out to me. He was easy to understand over the loudspeaker system though, so that was nice. :)

Below are a few pictures of the port as we left Messina.

Dinner tonight was at Moderno which is located on the 8th deck. It overlooks the Atrium and seems to be connected to the Blue Lagoon (the 24-hour restaurant). This all makes for a bit of a noisy atmosphere. Having enjoyed a meal at Moderno on the Getaway we were more than disappointed with the Jade experience. The service was terribly slow. We sat for a long time without any attention from our server. Jennifer from the Philippines was our server and, while we didn't find her particularly friendly we also wondered if she was simply overworked and there should have been more staff. I have to say that none of the staff was overly friendly - not the hostess (Paola), not the other servers I passed, not the meat servers. There were very few smiles and no overt friendliness at all. We just found it so unusual. On top of all of that, we waited a long time for her to bring us the "sides" after we signaled (with the cards) that we were done with our salads. I also saw others having to ask for their sides. We even had people come to our table offering us meats and had to tell them that we didn't have a plate for it! Even after asking for it, this was not quick in coming. When we did receive the sides, there was no explanation as to what the various sauces were for. On top of that the sides had been put into cold pots so the food was barely warm. I did see another couple send theirs back with that same complaint. We opted not to bother as we were more looking forward to enjoying the meat. That didn't go so great either and I ended up going for more salad instead! The experience was so bad that we ended up calling a couple we'd been on the tour with to take back our recommendation - we didn't want them wasting a meal there.

As for the meats - my husband was not happy that they took away the menu. He wanted it so he could see if he'd tried everything they had. He seemed to recall that the Getaway had little cards on the table with a list of all the meats - I don't remember that so I can't say for sure. What we did try:

Prime rib - there was a piece of grisel running through it so I had maybe two bites worth of meat.

Chicken leg - yummy seasoning so this was my favorite but they never came back after the one time.

Chorizo - nice and hot - tasted good.

Other sausage - I didn't catch the name and, of course, we couldn't look it up. It was ok but I preferred the chorizo.

Pork ribs - dry; not so flavorful.

Filet mignon - very tender but cold

Garlic beef - cold but OK

Sirloin - dry "mostly fat"

Around this time I had to flag down the server and ask for a glass of wine - as she had not thought to ask if we needed anything. (Side note: I noticed that the servers were all in charge of taking drink orders. I don't recall it being like that before. I always thought the bar servers came through to ask about drinks and take care to keep them coming. Perhaps because there were so many people who had received the FREE Beverage packages they didn't want to be too generous with all of that.) In any case, my wine never came but the bill did charge me for it! Even though I wasn't paying, I made sure to have her take it off the bill.

It took forever for someone to come clear the table and then we had to flag her down to ask about dessert. My husband was already less than impressed that the skewered pineapple only came around to the table once (he had to ask for it to come by again) - it's our favorite part of that meal. It really is delicious!

In any case, rather than bringing us a dessert menu, Jennifer just rattled off three items and we had to ask her to repeat it three times. We saw the menu on the way out so we know there was one! My husband ordered the Papaya Cream (which turned out to be ice milk) and I ordered the Coconut Flan - it had a weird crust on it so I scraped that off and just ate the flan part.

The meal took so long that there was no way we could make it to the show that evening. It was some sort of acrobatics show and I really wished I'd seen it when there was a snippet of it as a part of another show on another night. So, be sure not to go to Moderna on the night of that show!

Carlos was singing in Magnums tonight - on Deck 6 outside of the Casino - so we went to watch him for a bit. I think this was also the night that we wandered through the Medusa Lounge to see what was going on (Prism - not to be confused with the real band with the same name, lol - was singing). We didn't stay long but, in the interest of research, I had to find out what the "Whatever Room" in Medusa was all about. They make it sound so naughty the way they put "Adults Only" by it in the Freestyle Daily. Turns out these are Karaoke Rooms! I saw at one point that there was a fee to use these rooms but we just walked right in when we saw some people come out. I can't carry a tune so we didn't stay there too long. :)

The last (and longest) stop was Taormina. There's a Greek-Roman theatre there but we didn't have a lot of time left by the time we reached it and saw that there was an entrance fee (not worth it for just a few minutes - I think it was 8 Euros).

We decided to use our time to enjoy a good meal in an outdoor setting. I love to sit in outdoor cafes but having smokers everywhere really cuts into the joy of that. We managed, however, to find a little restaurant on an alley street right near the square where our guide dropped us off. It was called Tutti something. (See the picture below.) We both had Risotto - zucchini for my husband and seafood for me. We really enjoyed the meal...and then just wandered the streets till it was time to leave. Had to have a gelato, of course, as we walked. :)

The entire price of the tour was EURO 360,00 for 6 people. I would recommend a tour like this over a big bus tour any day!

One more stop before lunch - the village of Castelmola (just above Taormina). Our guide dropped us off there and we took some time to climb the stairs to the ruins of the castle. More beautiful views. :)

After we left there, we made a stop at what translated (I believe) to Maria of the Rock - it is a church dating back to 1640 which is built into the rock of Mount Tauro. That was really something!

The snow on top of the mountain made it easy to spot Mt. Etna as we made our way to the next stop. This "charming medieval village" was Forza D'Agrò, which we were told is "one of the best examples of a typical village of the Province of Messina which still conserves its medieval street layout and on all sides of the town you have the most incredible views." Lots more churches and, yes, fabulous views for us to enjoy.

Of special interest was found in the basement of the Agostiniano Convent - a crypt for sitting the deceased. Kind of creepy!

As expected, there were lots of churches along the way. Saint Michele, Saint Nicolo, Saint Lucia and Madre Cathedral.

Sorry that some pictures keep turning sidewise...I think there are some "rules" about how tall pictures can be on this page.