Breakaway Review 1/17 - 1/31/2016

NCL Breakaway trip – 14 day to Southern Caribbean. NCL had just learned that it had to eliminate the 2 day cruises it had scheduled between all the 12 day ones, and we did not know for the longest time how it would affect our cruise. It was driving us NUTS! So our Roll Call named itself the Magical Mystery Cruisers, as it was a mystery to us! They added those weekend days to our 12 day one, and I don't believe anyone was disappointed in the outcome. :) We were in the Haven room, 10706, front facing penthouse. We had a fantastic time, met some great, fun people, and are hoping to do it again – real soon. All in all, the Breakaway is not my favorite ship of the fleet, but some of the activities and features are wonderful.

Also, for the most part, this is a relatively objective review, stated from my point of view, just stating the facts as I see them. All my statements are my opinions. The point is to distribute information that others may hopefully find useful. So here we go:

Got to the pier around 11. Had friends drive us in so there was no need to worry about the parking at the pier.

We had a forward facing Haven room, having been upsold from our bump-out balcony for a good price. First time we were ever in the Haven, and had high expectations judging from what we’d heard, although not really knowing what to expect or how we would ultimately feel about it. It was more than we had wanted to spend, but since we knew there would be at least 3 “cold” days when everything would be indoors, and inside areas can be cramped when with 4000 of our closest friends, we decided to take the plunge. Hubby was especially looking forward to an uncrowded hot tub and pool that was available even in bad weather due to the overhead enclosure. Since we had a Haven room, there is normally a special embarkation procedure, express lines, a lounge,to wait in, etc. There was no special Haven line for security, but we breezed through anyway. Haven lounge was pretty full and the first group was getting lined up, already ready to board. There would not have been enough room for everybody if they were not boarding at that point, and many would have had to stand. Next time we will try to get there even earlier, if we do the Haven again. Took about 5 minutes maybe 10 to check in, we boarded maybe 10 mins later. They took us right up to the Haven lounge where they were serving some drinks that looked like a Bahama Mama but I think it was just a fancy fruit punch. There were quite a few people already there. It felt like we were latecomers, even though it wasn’t even 11:30 yet. The place was pretty packed! Anoop, our concierge, explained some of the concierge's duties (perks for us), like taking us down to the Cirque dinner early, special seating in the theater, etc. He could make reservations for us easily (VERY easily), and a variety of other nice services. The Concierge’s desk was right next to the Haven Lounge and bar, very convenient. There was almost always someone there.

We were escorted to our room by Akhmad, our butler, and got the full tour of the coffee machine, and the like. Then we checked out the room. Wow. Huge and beautiful. rest of this post. I'll put all the details and pix if I can get them in there for the rest of this post, possibly the next if there isn't enough room.. If you're not interested, go down a post or two where I get to more of the meat of the cruise.

As I said before, we were in the Haven room, 10706, front facing penthouse.

This was a two part suite, with a bedroom, separate from the living area, featuring a large porthole window that looked out over the bow of the ship. The bed was comfy, and enormous, with mounds of pillows and an elegant look. It has storage space everywhere especially in the form of deep, deep shelving behind cabinet doors at or below knee level. And 2 enormous drawers. There were closets encompassing the entire wall at the foot of the bed, which was wonderful and easily reached. In that wall were 2 clothes closets, about 18" wide with 2 shelves below clothes hanging area. Big storage area over TV (quite a ways “up” for short people) Everything else was "down". They could have made nice useful closets or shelves or drawers even at body level that went on either side of the round window but they just had one enormous, open, deep and basically cosmetic shelf about 30" high. It was window seat sized but oddly shaped, due to the slope of the front wall and the curved edge of the front of the ship. The walls in this room were clad with some kind of plastic/vinyl so were not magnetic. One larger closet alongside bed, but not as conveniently placed so not used quite as much. 2 plush velour robes and slippers. Very elegant room.

The living area contained a table and 4 chairs, as well as a couch, TV, and armchair. Lavazza coffee machine. Butler, Akhmad, replenishes stock of coffee pods and creamers daily. There was a bottle of champagne and fruit basket with flowers on table. Exchanged champagne for red wine. Tons of storage space, with cavernous shelves behind doors almost all very low to the floor, and virtually hidden. Had to push the drawers and doors in to release the catch. Took us a while to get used to that, but once we got home we found we were pushing all the drawers and doors to open them instead of doing it the regular way. Was funny. Considering the average age of the passengers on this ship, I would think that many of them would be hard pressed to use this storage space. Many people used walkers and scooters, and I doubt there were enough accessible staterooms to accommodate them all. I thought of my own parents often and thought of how they would not be able to live here without toppling over regularly. The living room had the only truly useful shelves for easily accessible storage on the walls. Everything else was “down”, not at waist level where it’s easy to use, but down below the hips, and in many cases, below the knees. Couch doubles as a bed for a third person, but is hard foam. Not real comfortable for sleeping, I wouldn't think, but great for just sitting and watching TV. Two hassocks that double as tables with removable tops for storage within. Small rounded desk with puny shallow drawer. Interesting fact about many of the drawers was that the drawer front appeared quite deep, but the drawer bottom was way elevated on it, leading to a very shallow drawer. That was unfortunate, because I always have tons of papers and I had no place to store them neatly. SO everything had to stay piled on the desk. Since the desk was small, and housed the phone, a special Haven phone for contacting the butler, etc, and a desk organizer that held pertinent info about the ship, etc, there was not enough room for much more.

Enormous bathroom with big tub, huge shower and separate toilet section enclosed with foggy glass. Pocket door between bathroom and bedroom. Dual vessel sinks. Scale.(that's just mean!) Vanity. Virtually no shelf space on the counter around the sinks and what little there was practically completely consumed by the vessels. I took a water glass and put it in the corner next to the sink so we could stand up toothbrushes and paste and the like in it so I didn’t have to bend over and fish those items out of a drawer each time. It was strange also, because if you left the hand towels on the bar below the sink, they interfered with the opening and closing of the drawers. We ended up pulling the towels off and leaving them in the small space next to the sink, which drove the steward nuts, because the towel bars had to have towels on them in order to look nice, so he would leave the ones we had taken off next to the sinks, and put new ones on the bars, which we took off so we could use the drawers… you get the drift. No shelving up the side walls. Two big drawers under sinks which was the only place to put toiletries. The narrow shelf under the sink was very inconvenient, as you couldn’t see into it without bending over 90 degrees or more, so we didn’t use it. Elegance with no practicality. The vanity drawer could've been about 3 - 4" deep, but was only about an inch due to the elevated bottom panel. Too shallow even for my skinny round brush. So most stuff ended up on top. The hair dryer was in a bracket on the wall considerably far under the vanity, forcing one to bend over and reach around. Not easy on the shoulder (mine happen to be not that great), and quite challenging when the ship was pitching about in rough weather. Once again I thought about people with flexibility issues. Form over function. Phooey. Two small shelves on wall over the enormous tub, not within easy reach of the tub or the vanity either. Not designed for anyone planning on actually using them. They should have been on the side walls adjacent to the sinks. (Hubby, however, greatly enjoyed his soak in that tub.) The shelves all have glass fronts so things don't roll off but there's adequate room underneath the guards for thin things to slip under. Could use more counter space. I hope I don’t sound too negative. We loved this room, but it had some major negative design issues that could be detrimental to some people, and I like to call things the way I see them so that others can be prepared. The bathroom was delightfully huge, elegant and a pleasure to move around in (mostly because you COULD move around) The shower… oh, that shower!! My favorite part of the room. It had a large (like, bigger than a dinner plate!) “rain shower” type head directly overhead that showered water on you gently but firmly, not pelting you or dribbling on you. It also had nozzles on the pipe below in two places that you could direct wherever you wanted. You could use them individually, or together, with or without the shower overhead. There was a large alcove on the side, plenty big enough to store all your shower sundries. The stall was big enough so you could completely step out of the water if you wanted.

I guess I should add here that I misplaced one of the cameras with which I took many of the room photos and many others. So the ones shown here are not the best, but they're all I have. I am so steamed....

After checking out the room, we went to the Haven restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was extremely busy due to everyone embarking at the same time. They assured us we would not see it like that again. Then we went to explore the ship, floor by floor until time for the sailaway party. This ship leaves the cabin doors open until the occupants came in, more like the old days so we were able to peek in and look at the other fancy cabins. We were not near many, however. Most were on other, upper floors. Champagne (only) was served at the Sailaway party in the Haven and not really at sailaway, because we left an hour late. It took more time to take on provisions. We left at 5:10 instead of 4 PM. Bags were delivered into stateroom in the afternoon, so we unpacked and just enjoyed the room until time for dinner went to Garden Cafe, which was similar to the other NCL ships, if not a little small and not crazy busy. Lots of dining options on this ship, so people really spread out

Went to the 7 PM welcome aboard show, saw a smattering of what was to come for the week, did some more touring of the ship, including walking on deck in the dark and it was snowing. Walked past the kids’ pool area where there were whimsical statues and fake palm trees. Looked so strange in the pretty, colorful lights, all covered with snow. We ended up at Dueling Pianos/Howling at the Moon, which was great. All of the entertainers, but Elisa, the only woman,was amazing, jam packed with energy and attitude and talent. Great voice, unbelievable talent and pink spikey hair, wonderful entertainer.

Very comfortable bed, but feather pillows are not my fave. Had to ask for replacements. Seas were rough, 15 ft or so and we enjoyed the rocking. We were to learn later that that room (and I’m sure all the others in the front corners of the ship) felt the rocking most vividly.

First Sea day: Went to M&G in Spiegel Tent, since we had so many sign ups. Met some nice folks there. There were too many people there to really mingle with but we did meet some of the people we're going on excursions with. Brass came, including Prem,the HD, but left right away. The officers didn't mingle like they had at some previous M&G’s. I later learned they had a public Q&A shortly thereafter and had to be ready for that. Prem has a Dear Prem box in the atrium where you can write about whatever concerns you. I wrote him about the recent change in beverages that I found most distressing – virtually no herbal teas!! There were flavored black teas, and decaf black tea, but none of the Bigelow or Lipton orange, lemon or apple cinnamon herbal ones. They’ve been available on all NCL ships since I can remember (have been cruising on NCL for over 30 years) and I was crushed to see they were gone, as I do not handle black tea of any sort well. They did have camomile and peppermint, but that’s all. Received an apologetic call from the restaurant manager the next day, but he was not aware of any available. He said he would mention it to Corporate, and I hope he does! I was able to find a few packets in the Haven later on in the cruise and in one of the tea stations, but not many. Others saw them too, and they were soon gone completely. So if you're an herbal tea drinker, bring your own, and MAKE A FUSS, so they'll bring them back.

Did the martini tasting and got 6 shooters for $15. 3 oz sizes. Dh & I shared them. We did not get the beverage package, so we enjoyed them more than some other people. Went to the 4 Seasons tribute show (Oh, what a night!), enjoying it fully, even though we’d seen it before.

Zumba (aka Latin fitness) was held each sea day at 9 AM, and was a full hour long. Excellent! Antuan was the leader. Terrific dancer, and easy to follow. Extremely entertaining. He even worked in a few moves that were used by the Burn the Floor dancers. Good workout but I had to leave early to prepare for the behind scenes tour. Don’t remember if it was for suite guests or because we’re platinum. Saw galleys, laundry, storage. Different things than before. Always learning something new every time we go. Rest of day was just hanging around. Dh did some water slides, did a lot of walking around checking stuff out, eating, acclimating. Tried not to eat too much. It's so hard. Food calls me from everywhere.

Enjoying the review, thanks.

Same here....much more detailed than mine was...:cool:

Very much enjoying your review.

Keith

Enjoying your review and pictures. We are in the forward facing Owners suite on deck 16 in January 2017 so I'm especially enjoying your pictures and commentary! You said that you didn't get the beverage package, I thought Haven suites got all 4 perks?

I thought Haven suites got all 4 perks?

You only get all perks if you book Haven. OP said they were an upsell into Haven from a Balcony, so they'd keep their original perk selection(s).

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thank you. I'm enjoying your review :)

You only get all perks if you book Haven. OP said they were an upsell into Haven from a Balcony, so they'd keep their original perk selection(s).

 

 

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In our case, we didn't get any of the packages, as we booked during the 'window' they weren't offered....:(

We ended up at Dueling Pianos/Howling at the Moon, which was great. All of the entertainers, but Elisa, the only woman,was amazing, jam packed with energy and attitude and talent. Great voice, unbelievable talent and pink spikey hair, wonderful entertainer.

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Elisa was her name? I forgot...

but I agree, she was a sensational entertainer. Her rendition of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" on the fiddle, was superb.

And when she was singing at the piano, she would stop singing, turn and glare at the audience, and when they sang out the next line, she would smile and nod approvingly and continue...:)

Your review was great, Bob. And more timely than mine. I have a tendency to get carried away with details. Lots of them. :) I guess I write what I like to read. I love it when people give lots of details of their experiences. That's why I'm always reading this board! I don't know what I would do without it

Thank you all for your kind comments. There's lots more to come. Wish I'd put a little more enticing title on it though. This one is BORING! :rolleyes:

We received 2 bottles of champagne (one for suite, one for platinum) which Akhmad switched out for wine, 3 small boxes of Godiva chocolate, snacks every afternoon, (cheese plates, canapes, ship-made chocolates), fruit all the time, omg. Food is everywhere and constant. So glad we didn't get the beverage package. Would be so tempting, those drinks look so good. As it was, I put on over 5 pounds, and I was behaving myself!! OMG!!

Went to Captain’s Party in the Haven Lounge before dinner. I was not aware that it was formal night. I’m not as vigilant when I’m on vacation. There was a variety of dress there, more folks than usual in formal dress, but we were not alone in our casual wear. Spent the party talking to a young woman who was a jewelry concessionaire, working on a ship for a month at a time, currently working on the Breakaway. It was interesting to learn about ship life and crew life. (although she had guest privileges). A great life for a young, unattached person, at least until ready to settle down and start a family. She has already seen most of the world and she was only 30.

San Juan @. 3PM. Quest for boat shoes that hubby had neglected to bring. Started off the day at Zumba on basketball court, cloudy and breezy (good). Ended in rain during last song. Cloudy and warm & humid now, very calm seas (about 3 ft or less). Wouldn't mind if there were no sun shine today.

Email works from shore in San Juan, as do domestic phones so I contacted the kids and parents to check in. We’ve been here quite a few times before, so no need for any kind of excursion. And we like walking through town. Went shopping at Marshall's, got shoes for dh, other misc stuff at the pharmacy across the street from Marshall’s, including the pills that I didn't pack enough of. Dummy. Couldn’t go to the CVS at dockside, as they will only fill Rx’s of their mainland customers. If your Rx is at a different one, they will not call and get the info. They just say no. The generic (no name) pharmacy could. The generic pharmacy was even bigger than the CVS, altho several blocks away and had a huge variety of items. Nice day, not too hot, especially at that hour. Walked around a few areas we hadn't been to before, along the water’s edge, saw a guy walking around wearing a Google camera setup – I wonder if we’ll be part of those street view pix. Went back out after dinner to finish the list at the CVS. Ran into some crew members, some of whom we recognized as the Second City comedians, who ended up on line behind us. We struck up a conversation, finding out a little more about them. Nice group of people. We noticed a lot more crew members in CVS at that hour than there had been earlier. I guess they wait till the last minute so they don’t have to deal with as many crazy passengers.

St Thomas. Slow, leisurely start. Took taxi to Secret Harbor Beach($10 each). Very few people on beach, lovely day. Beautiful beach, although not as gorgeous as Magens. But this one is free, much more private, and has snorkeling opportunities, which Magens does not. Chairs and umbrellas could be rented, but we spent most of the time snorkeling or walking around. There is a beach bar and restaurant there as well. Not sure about facilities, as we didn't try to use any. This time, not good snorkeling at all compared to last time. Very disappointing. But even a lousy day snorkeling in St Thomas is better than a snowy day in NYC, so we were great! Met some nice folks while floating out in the water and had some good conversation. To go home, there was a taxi already outside the office of the resort, and he just added us to his tour for the return ride. Same price - $10 each. Went to Al Cohen's across the street from the port shops for liquor, where it was several bucks cheaper per bottle than the stores closest to the pier. Also had a good tasting table in there, so we could taste quite a few different types of things. Bought 6 bottles. There’s usually a Cruzan Rum tasting lady out front of the first liquor store at the pier, but she was gone earlier than usual, and we were disappointed about that.

For some reason, it won't upload some of my pictures. They keep failing. I'm trying to upload some of the pix of Secret Harbor Beach. Will keep trying. Anybody k now of another way to upload pix besides having a photo service (which I don't ) or using the silly thumbnails?

Enjoying your review. Looking forward to the rest.

Tortola. Sailing excursion with Aristocat Catamarans. This tour company, was recently bought by a young guy, Scott, in his 30's I'd guess, who lives on a boat with his 3 daughters and wife. Real nice guy. Does a nice job with the trip. Very personable and flexible. Never rushed us out of the water from snorkeling, and even followed a few dolphins around that were in the harbor upon returning. His mate, Luke, also a real nice young guy who lives in the same marina on a boat with his wife and 2 sons. This catamaran we were on was older, but slept 5 I think and was totally outfitted for everything. Gorgeous, very comfortable. Were about 12 people on board, mostly cc folks, but not all. It was a 6 hr(?), all day cruise. Had some trouble finding the dock, since the directions were a little fuzzy. Took us a good 15 minutes to walk it. We were on the Lionheart, which was moored within 15 min walking. His other boat, the Aristocat, is moored on the other end of town and requires a taxi. That one went to only one snorkeling spot and to a crazy lunch boat called the Willie T. We wanted to do as much snorkeling as possible, so we opted for this tour. We first went to Norman Island for snorkeling. Couldn't do the caves because there were too many boats already there. So we went to "Angelfish" on the other side of the island. Excellent snorkeling. Then we went to the Indians, a series of rock formations. Also excellent snorkeling, and very clear. Tons of fish. Snorkeled at each place about 45 minutes. They took us off the shore of this pretty beach, where they moored and we had lunch, which consisted of salads and hot dogs, all very tasty, but hot dogs? I’m thinking they should up that a little bit. BBQ chicken perhaps. Dh tried the paddle board they had. I think they had a kayak, too. There wasn't any real snorkeling there, so I just floated on the noodle they provided. Couldn't get enough of that Caribbean water. On the way back, the rum punch came out and we got totally snookered. Don't remember much about the walk back or much of anything after that, for that matter. Got to our room, hit the bed and crashed for several hours. Had TOO MUCH!! :) (and loved it) Woke up, grabbed some dinner at the buffet, went to see the comedian, Bud Anderson, who I believe we have seen before. He had some very good bits. Especially the end. Then we came back and went back to bed. Trying to fend off the rum.

Still can't get CC to upload ANY of my pix now. Have no idea what's going on. WIll have to contact HostKat, I guess.

Hi thanks for your great review so far. I was just wondering was there many 30 somethings on the ship as I've read a few times about the amount of people with walkers.

Thanks for the report.

We do this cruise every year and I would say it was more of a mixed crowd than usual. And passengers who were more active and involved with things.

Thanks for the review. We are on the Breakaway in the beginning of March and now I can't wait even more :)

Thank you all for your kind remarks. I'm glad to get input, as there are so many other reviews going on right now that this one keeps getting lost. As to the question of demographics, yes there are many seniors with walking aids on this ship. I think NYC is a very convenient port for many. Personally, I'm glad there are itineraries that are easy for the elderly and impaired to go on. They deserve vacation too. And those "golden" years are really much more tarnished as it becomes more difficult to get around. I feel that as long as you can still move and enjoy it, do it! Everyone, if they are lucky enough, will get old too, and will then understand. :::I'll climb off my soapbox now::::

Yes, I think there were plenty of 30 somethings, just not a huge percentage. I think that few people their age have the ability to get 2 straight weeks of vacation in midwinter, or prefer the less expensive fare of the shorter trips. Retirees and the self-employed have more flexibility in their timing, so they can afford longer trips, What I found is that 30 somethings would seek their own groups by doing things that 30 somethings like to do early in the trip (bar scene, Bliss Lounge, etc) and latching on. Or, hopefully finding compatriots on the roll call.

OK. Back to the review.

Day 7 St Martin. We had reservations to go with Cap'n Bob on Soualiga Tours. I was ambivalent about going, as I didn't really feel up to snuff that morning. (because of the rum?) We called him to see if we could cancel, but we were told we couldn't without paying full fare. So we decided to do the tour. Walked about 10 minutes into town and , met him at the dock behind Chesterfields. It was a very windy day, with lots of sea chop. Fortunately, as captain, he could make a decision to either sail or not, and could also allow the passengers to do the deciding. He said it was likely to be rough and windy and gave us opt out opportunities, which we took. This was a power boat, no shade, very fast. His reviews were all excellent, but nobody said anything about lack of shade or the fact that it was more of a thrill ride than a cruise. We just wanted to get the snorkeling in. We weren’t expecting a super calm floater, but we also didn’t want to be bounced around like being on a bucking bull, and that's what would happen with a fast speed boat on choppy water. There seemed to be a younger crowd hanging around waiting to board, so we figure it was probably supposed to be a thrill ride, so we glad to be able to cancel. Got our Paypal deposit back within a week of returning home. Walked back to the taxi stand at the pier. They had taxis that could take us just about anywhere so we took one to Orient Beach for $7 pp (full taxi). First time at Orient. Beautiful white powdery sand, some surf. Typical gorgeous blue water. Saw quite a few topless ladies. Some were beauties, some were just beauts. Let's just say there was interesting beachwear everywhere - both men and women. It's a terrific place for people watching. The beach was crowded, so we walked down a bit to where there was less action, but they were still renting beach chairs. I don't think there was a single stretch of beach that wasn't inhabited by beach chairs, but we didn't walk ALL the way down, so I can't say for real. Didn't want to stay that long, as the water was not as calm as I prefer it so it was not terribly appealing to me. Shared a burger and fries lunch, dh had a a small beer (16€). Grabbed a taxi back with another couple from the Carnival ship Liberty that was in port with us. $7 each on the way there, $9 ea on the return.

Oh yes - next to the marina where we met Soualiga, we passed some really cool water vehicles that look like individual UFO's for the water. We didn't see any in the water, but they sure look like they could be fun! There are some pix below of the vehicle and renting info.

Had dinner that night with the CC crowd. Great company, so we had a good time, but service was incredibly slow and sometimes inept. We were really surprised, as they knew it was a CC group, we had made reservations far in advance of the cruise, and there were thirty or so of us, divided among maybe 4 tables of varying sizes. Our table, which had the organizer at it, got its orders taken last and we were the last to be served and finish eating. We were seated right next to one of the serving stations, so things were chaotic enough just being there, without having this big crowd to deal with. I always hate to be critical, because I never know what was going on behind the scenes, and I know these people work damn hard, but it took over a half hour (no kidding!!) for some people to even order their drinks, and to order dinner. Dh had to talk to the Maître D so someone would take our orders, etc. Then they finally responded. And this was for a CC group! We made the mistake of going when Burn the Floor was doing a show. Not the kind of thing you want when you are trying to talk to and get to know the people around you. Too loud to hear anything. Wonderful show, talented dancers who danced their hearts out. (I always wonder how they can do some of their moves without breaking in half) We were seated so far away that we couldn’t really see it, but boy could we hear it! My recurring theme – all the venues are far too loud. But more on that later. The food was good. I had the steak from the classic menu and it was very good. Not much else on the menu thrilled me. All told we were there about 2+ hours which for me was far too long. If we hadn’t been there to fraternize with a bunch of fun other people, it would’ve been painful.

After dinner we went to a show featuring a famous illusionist Greg Gleason. As do many other entertainers that NCL hires, he has done many Vegas shows, written books, created "How-to" videos, etc. He did up close card tricks that were amazing, but I was so tired I fell asleep. Later on in the cruise he did a workshop on improving memory, which was pretty well attended and very interesting. I can see where one really could improve memory with his techniques and some practice. His memory is amazing, and he taught himself to do it. He wasn’t born with this incredible talent.

Got a second wind after the show so I gambled a little... Found a 5 cent poker multi game multi spin thing. It's fun. I didn't win (so what else is new?) but $20 seemed to last an hour or so.

Below are some pix from Orient Beach as well as those crazy UFO's (finally figured out my problem)

Now that I've figured out what my problem is, I can upload the pix I was going for. Here are some of Secret Harbor Beach in St Thomas. These are a few of the beach, and a couple taken underwater snorkeling. There weren't as many fish as we'd hoped for, but I got some good ones of squid.

Dominica. Went with Bumpiing tours to Emerald Pool, Trafalgar Falls and Champagne Beach snorkeling. Had Naphan as a guide w Charles as driver. There were 7 of us from Cruise Critic. Nice group, and everybody got along well. Nice van equipped w Kabuli beer, banana soda and water. We had to bring our own snax. Naphan sat in the middle of the van, not in front, so we were actually able to hear what he said. (last time, we were two of 12, got stuck all the way in the back and didn’t hear much of anything, as the driver was the narrator/guide) Nice young man, 25, well versed in many things. First we made the climb to Emerald Pool. Was only a 10 or 15 min walk, a lot of which was paved with ridged concrete and stairs. It was not very hard, but it was longer than some older people could deal with and we saw one older woman/man (we couldn't agree) who was lying on the walkway, surrounded by friends trying to help. The writeups underplayed the distance and difficulty a bit in the descriptions, especially for old people. Dh and I are 60+ and had no problems dealing with it.

Emerald Pool is a very pretty tropical pool. The stuff movies are made of. I can imagine that if the sun were out, the water would be even more vidily colored. Dh went in up to his knees or so. I didn't want to deal with the rocks. We then went to Trafalgar Falls. The walk was even more steep and tricky than Emerald Pool. They underplayed that one for sure. Muddy due to very frequent rain (it is a rain forest, after all) hardly saw sun all day but escaped most of the showers by being in the van at the right time. It was tricky, but far from HARD and having the right footwear really helps. The folks struggling the most were wearing flip flops. Trafalgar was so much different than the last time we had seen it. At that time, below the falls were shallow, frequent hot water sulfur pools that you could soak in, along a lovely meandering creek through a forest. Due to a recent big tropical storm, huge rocks crashed down the side of the mountain, took out much of the forest, all of the creek and pools and rearranged the entire area. All the hot sulfur pools were gone. Real shame. The twin falls are still as spectacular as they were before the storm, however, and worth the trek to see. This island is trying hard.to recuperate from that storm, but it takes time,

Then we drove on the extremely steep windy roads to back closer to the ship where we ended at Champagne Reef. Like the last time we had been there, it housed really cool fish and sponges, other soft corals. And bubbles! The last time, a special guide for Champagne accompanied us into the water, pointed out some wildlife, etc, while our land guide stayed on shore. Didn't have a guide this time, due to a manpower shortage there at the Park (Champagne Reef is a Dominica Natl Park) and the later time of day. Naphan was not really prepared for that but he went back to the car for the life ring and snorkel equip. Don't think he knows anything about marine stuff. But he had to be with us. He brought the life ring, as they always do, and one of our folks hung onto it the whole time, as she discovered she couldn't see anything without her glasses. She had a Go Pro so she just kept taking pictures randomly underwater. Entry into the water was difficult. We’d been here before, so we knew to wear water shoes of some kind into the water because of the rocks, get deep enough into the water to try to float to get the fins on, which is still hard because the waves throw you around a bit, then heave the water shoes up onto the “beach”. They have not improved that at all, (I'm not sure they even can) so between the rocks of all sizes at the shoreline and into the water (no beach) and the swell, it was hard getting in and just as bad getting out. You need to stop to get the fins off before heading to shore, but you have to sit on the rocks (ranging in size from pebbles to 15 inches) to take your fins off and are at the mercy of the waves. I laughed a lot as I rolled around. It is so worth the effort!! And it depends on sea conditions of that day, too. I've seen pix where the water was as smooth as glass, making entry so much easier. It's all in the luck of the draw. Nowhere else can you snorkel in such unusual conditions. The bubbles are so neat. If we ever do this again, however, we would probably go by boat. Many people complained of the entry, but it doesn’t deter them from going. The sights are too cool to miss.

I have to apologize for my pictures. Compared to others' pix, they are of poor quality, especially the underwater ones I hope you can get at least an idea of what we experienced. Have to look into a new camera

Went to Moderno for dinner. Yum!!! We knew enough not to fill up too much on the extensive salad bar to save room for the delights to come! The lamb chops were my fave but the garlic beef and filet were also out if this world. It’s my favorite specialty restaurant. After dinner saw Rock of Ages which is a Broadway show, raucous, raunchy, LOUD, and very entertaining. Costumes were great. ( I am a costumer, so I appreciate these things more than others) Went to bed right after that.

Monday, 1/25 Barbados. Went on Shasa catamarans with Jason & Alex. This island is very civilized, the port well organized, although it's in an industrial area far away from the city of Bridgetown. They've set up a decent shopping area near the pier outlet, but everything was pretty expensive. They had large shuttle buses to get you from the ship to outside the pier area. It's a long walk otherwise. Shasa sent a taxi to collect us along with several other CC’ers. Went in this taxi to a beach about 20 min away, where a small catamaran came and picked us up right off the beach. There were only 7 of us on this boat, although it could’ve accommodated a few more. Getting on was interesting, since entry was achieved by hoisting oneself backwards onto the mesh in the front of the catamaran and I recently had shoulder surgery. The boat was moving about a little in the waves and I’m not as agile now as I was when I was 40, but Jason and Alex helped us on. But we did it! I’m just glad nobody had a video camera trained on me. Not pretty. Beautiful sand and water. Sailed to an area about a half hour away where we moored and swam with two green sea turtles, Lulu & Myrtle. No other boats were there, so we had a private audience with the turtles. Unfortunately my underwater camera took absolutely crappy pictures this whole trip, so I don't think I got any of any value. But Shasa took some and sent them to us in an email. They were feeding the turtles small fish, and the turtles paid no attention to us at all. Unlike other tour companies, the Shasa people showed respect for the turtles, requesting we not touch them or chase them. Just to experience the moment by watching. In the US, touching turtles and feeding them is illegal, but here it's not. Pretty focused on the fish, the turtles swam under and around us. It was pretty awesome. Then when another boat (filled with at least 70 people!!) came, the turtles abandoned us for the newcomers, and we went to another snorkeling area.

As usual the snorkeling was not the best, as there wasn’t all that much live coral, (sadly, so much of it is gone these days), but the fish were used to being fed and arrived in droves at times. The whole excursion was very nice. Alex made us rum punches if we wanted, but although I didn’t have any, I watched her make them since she standing in the opening of the pontoon right next to where I was sitting, and she was a little light with the rum. But nobody that had them seemed to mind, and I'm sure she would comply if you asked for another splash. Only a half day, 10 to 1 and a little pricey at $70 per, but it was great not to have to deal with the crowds that we saw coming in after us. Would've liked to have stayed at a beach afterwards - it was so inviting. But taxi arrangements had already been made and the driver was there, so back to the ship we went. No beaches are close to the ship - all are a taxi ride away. The shuttle bus driver said Brown’s beach was the best, but Boatyard is also supposed to be fun. Maybe we'll do that and Harrison cave next time.

Had a quick smallish dinner in the buffet (both of us are battling the “OMG I’m so stuffed but I’m gonna eat anyway” problem) and a small nap, then to Second City. Always enjoy their shows, and popped in on them regularly throughout the cruise. Cody, one of the main, more seasoned comedians, we had seen before on at least one other ship. Hubby went to bed and I lost more money in the casino. Damn machines are much more frugal now. But I did find a few more poker ones that I like so I had to try them. Still had fun. The smoke and noise situation where I had been playing was awful. The smoking can be chokingly bad. If there were any non-smoking sections, I did not find them. The poker machines, the only slots I like, were more common on this ship than others. But I always managed to be next to chain smokers, making my casino visits shorter. Maybe that’s a good thing.

I found it interesting that they have soft music from the 40’s playing non-stop in the hallways and restaurants, etc. The 40's? Interesting choice. There was a pretty diverse demographic, age-wise, but there was not a preponderance of the over 80 or 90 set.

Speaking of demographics, I have to say that this cruise had the most diverse population we have ever experienced in our 40+ cruises. Just about everybody spoke some English, but I would hazard a guess that almost 50% spoke it as a second language. Many Europeans, eastern Europeans, French Canadians, Asians, the list goes on. No overwhelming preponderance of any one group. It was so very interesting. Many extended family units. Also, of course, many New Yorkers, since this is a convenient home port. And since it was a long cruise, there were fewer families and more older people, some retired, some not, many elderly.

Tuesday, Jan 27. Martinique. We had trouble finding any information on this island beforehand, and most of the reviews, though positive, were in French. So because I couldn’t find anything concrete, we decided to just do the town. Turns out that island is quite civilized and affluent, quite populated and developed, we walked around town, saw the various kinds of architecture, their main buildings (a church, library, park, etc). There is a ferry terminal next to the pier that was actively transporting people all over. Most taxis are very expensive, and busses are cheaper but everything's in French!! Ferry guy said that for $7, you can take the ferry to the resort, wherever and whatever that is. Something to check out for next time. It's a pretty island, seemingly more affluent than others, and building, development, repair and redevelopment was everywhere. Would be interesting to go back someday and see how the place looks when completed. Came back to the ship, loafed around and relaxed.

Wednesday. Jan 27. St Kitts. Didn't have a planned excursion. They've done so much development on this island and the area especially around the cruise ship terminal is very nice. One of the best we visited. Went to Friars Beach by taxi ($4 pp for shared taxi rates) huge tents with padded chairs, very popular with the cruise ship crowd. Appears to only have a bar and restaurant, no hotel associated with it. This beach has a relatively shallow sandy area and there's a fairly steep drop off. But the sand was soft and somewhat hot because of the black sand mixed in. No significant shells. Stiff wind coming from Nevis area created choppy waves instead of the normally calm water. Warm water around 83*. No significant snorkeling there but there's a new area they have built a breakawater around that shows promise for future years. Down the beach a bit was Discovery Beach Bar where it was less crowded (the cruise ships all seem to dump into Friars) and partially shaded by palm trees. There appears to be a little more reef in front of the other areas that might be good if the seas are not too rough. Friar’s has a nice big shady area under multiple huge tents providing shade which is very nice for those trying to escape the sun. They have lots of wooden lounge chairs and they were assembling all kinds of new ones as we were there. Also have those round padded wicker ones. $10 per chair or & 20 per round one. Tents also appear to double as a stage area as the tents are adhered to wooden platforms covered with outdoor carpet. My only complaint is that they made no attempt at all to clean up the small incremental trash. The bottle caps, paper, napkins, straws etc all were strewn on the floor of the tent. And could easily end up in the ocean, which to me, is awful.

The drinks were pricey. $3 for a beer or 6 for $15 and most drinks were $10, and were pretty small. Someone we talked to who was staying there said that the drinks are only $7 when there's no ships on port. There was a Seabourne ship anchored just offshore in view of the beach that day and tendered people directly to a very small pier right by the beach. There was also a new road right to that pier allowing taxis to pick up and drop off the Seabourne folks that wanted to go to town. There was free wifi available everywhere but bandwidth was limited and everybody was trying to get on. We were more successful with texts in the building than outside under the tent, even though we saw a booster inside the tent. Tried Face Timing with our dd in the states twice but w no success. Too many people trying to use too little bandwidth.

Taxis were readily available to go back. There is a very nice shopping area outside the port. One of the best of the islands we visited, in our opinion. Prices were still a little high but they had some decent variety and carried some items I hadn't seen in other shopping areas.