BeeeJay's 11/6/2010 NCL Epic Trip Report

[BeeeJay]

hello all!

 

I am doing a Harrah's Total Rewards cruise on NCL Epic with some time in Miami before and after. It is a solo trip so I am filling my pangs of loneliness by posting a report in the style of my previous Vegas Live Reports. I was hoping it would keep me out of the bars and out of trouble, but so far, not so much. I'll be posting as I am able in the following spot:

 

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?p=453561#post453561

 

As a first time cruiser hopefully I can give a different view from someone who basically had to be dragged away from the drudgery of repetitive Vegas vacations kicking and screaming after a couple dozen straight Vegas-only trips over the past 2 years.

[kjquilts]

There is lots of Epic interest on this board and I at least love reports with pictures. Would it be possible to copy and paste your reports into this NCL forum as well as the vegas messageboard site? That way every time you make new post you'll be back on page one and easy for people to find :)

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise - there's really lots to do on the Epic. Give Howl at the Moon a try - it was one of our favorite late night spots.

[AnnArbor_707]

There is lots of Epic interest on this board and I at least love reports with pictures. Would it be possible to copy and paste your reports into this NCL forum as well as the vegas messageboard site? That way every time you make new post you'll be back on page one and easy for people to find :)

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise - there's really lots to do on the Epic. Give Howl at the Moon a try - it was one of our favorite late night spots.

 

I agree w/ this! Especially since you seem to be the type to take a lot of pictures. Opinions are WAY too subjective, but a picture at least takes some of that out of it. Good work so far though.... I love that you explain what you spent $$ - seems as though no one wants to talk about it on here.

 

by the way - you're married and go to Vegas every month and on multiple week cruises / basketball / football games by yourself ? Is there a secret you'd like to share how you were able to pull that off ? :D

[ddmartz]

My husband and I will also be on the Epic this coming week and really looking forward to the "big" ship experience. Hopefully, we will not run into Tomas on Sunday and Monday, the "at sea" days. This is our eighth cruise and enjoyed all of them. As a single, I am sure you will meet lots of people and have a wonderful time. I will be looking forward to the rest of your critique of the trip especially since this is your first cruise.

[BeeeJay]

I am not sure how my postings will tranfser over to this site, but I will be happy to post them here as I am doing the trip report in Word and pasting already anyway.

 

just popped back in here to edit and add a note that i will paste onto this site but it has a pic limit of 6 per post and my video embeds dont work so the full report will only be available on the link I put in the first post, I'll include what I can on this site but will have to cut some pics out, no vids, and will have to break up each day into multiple posts

 

I would just like to give a disclaimer that i am very long winded, and due to what some might consider minor brain damage I tend to get off on tangents quite often.

 

Also my statements will be opinion rather than fact and realize my taste is rather poor. I tend to like really bad movies and really bad buffets. I also watch ReHab at The Hard Rock occasionally.

 

I started my trip Thursday and I am doing my report from the moment I left my house, so I'll start now with everything so far. I won't post the rest until we get back as the ship upload rates for the pics will be prohibitive, and obviously I'll be busy partying.

 

if you suffer through reading this, I thank you in advance!:)

[BeeeJay]

After 27 Vegas trips in the last 30 months, a mailer from Harrah's convinced me it was possibly time to try something different. Well that and shivering in the shade on a windy 80 degree October day at Aria in Vegas, just knowing those pool-less winter trips cooped up in the smoky casinos were not going to do it this year.

Thanks to the Harrah's Diamond Card 20% discount I was suckered in so to speak. They didn't jack the rack rate up at all, but in reality the comp covered maybe 5% more than the taxes. Lowering the price from $1,099 plus taxes and fees to $1,016.30 including taxes.

I had decided on a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on new in 2010 and very large Norwegian Cruise Lines Epic. While most ships charge a solo passenger for double occupancy, The Epic has a special area of the ship designed for solo travelers with "studio cabins" that are very small and have a common living room and bar area accessible only to this group. The advantage of not paying double occupancy made this by far my cheapest option. Non-gourmet meals are included, drinks (a primary expense for most cruisers apparently) are not. Another advantage of the casino reservation is the inclusion of a "drink card" allowing free drinks in the casino.

The overall cost of the trip, to get real specific, which I always appreciate people doing, is as follows:

 

$1,016.30 CRUISE--quoted rate for the cruise was $1,099 less 20% plus taxes.

$ 723.20 HOTEL--4 nights ppd at Palmer House South Beach with taxes, fees

$ 384.40 AIR--AA roundtrip to Miami from ORD including 1st class upgrade out

$ 177.00 ENTERTAINMENT--3 Shore Excursions during the cruise

$ 222.07 ENTERTAINMENT--40 yd line, row 17 aisle ticket to Dolphins-Titans

$ 122.75 ENTERTAINMNET--1 pretty low corner seat to Heat-Raptors

 

$2,645.72 Total

 

Plus I expect to have to spend at least $340 on cabs. As I mentioned, the casino invitation gets me some free drinks on the ship. I have budgeted another $2,000 for whatever comes up on the trip, eating in Miami, entertainment, gambling, the cabs, hot dog at games, but I'm taking $3K in travelers checks just in case.

 

It's not cheap, but for 12 days with all those activities I think its a reasonable cost. It should be a lot of fun. And should it happen to snow in Chicago while I'm gone, the perceived value shall increase!

[BeeeJay]

After about a month off work today I was forced out of bed at the innopportune hour of 6am so I could get the kids off to school and receive a subsequent ride from Mrs. BeeeJay to O Hare around 8:30am for my 10:30am flight.

Man is it cold in the mornings in Chicago----must have been just above freezing and windy. Anyway the biggest challenge was retrieving a nerf bullet shot behind the bed while wearing my bathrobe. That was a none-too-pretty sight which involved basically dismantling the bed by the time all was said and done.

Eventually I got the kids off to school and was dropped at ORD where I enjoyed the upgrades first class American Airlines check in and was quickly off to McD's for my traditional pre-flight Big Mac. But WAIT!!! it was too early for that menu so I had to stomach a breakfast biscuit. Oh Well. I'll Live. Or not, due to the high cholesterol.

I sat and waited for my flight in the very sunny airport, knowing full well snow would probably fall at any minute:

Finally before the weather could turn, my plane was at the gate:

Boarding started early and I was on with a rush to grad my cheaply upgraded first class seat 6J. These seats are AWESOME and super fun to run the remotes. No real entertainment, but I bring my laptop so no biggie. Crazy legroom and controls for seats:

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[BeeeJay]

Got a nice view of O Hare on the way up, but none of downtown Chicago or the lake as we went south and over Indianapolis:

My focus shifted from the windos to the fantastic cocktail service followed:

and shortly thereafter to the warm nuts (thats what SHE said) and the very tasty Cheese Enchilada lunch offering with side salad and pita chips with an excellent red pepper hummus. I bypassed the warm coconut carmel cookie, but did not bypass additional vodka-soda deliveries!

After a short fully reclined snooze for myself and my neighboring 4 year old who was the best seat-mate ever, I looked out to see: FLORIDA!

and then about a half hour later we were passing south beach, the cruise ships, and downtown Miami to land:

Upon landing the Bataan Death March from the nether-reaches of the MIA airport to baggage claim began. After what seemed like a journey into the center of the Congo, my heart grew only darker as I waited 30-40-50 minutes for the conveyer belt to present my baggage. Finally with all of us from the flight staring at each other with contempt born in impatience, yet somehow feeling like we all my end up as the cast of "Lost" waiting in purgatory for 4 years for our luggage, the belt clicked on. Ecstatic I wouldn't need to fight Sawyer for Kate's attention, I grabbed a cab for a $32 ride to south beach, which included a full dissertation on Hookers and Blow as effected in Miami by Obama's economic stimulus. It sounded like the cab driver was most stimulated by the increased availability of comely coeds previously manning long bankrupt call centers, now walking the streets.

After slipping him $40 including an $8 tip for the effort with my two heavy bags and to fund his further research I was warmly welcomed in Encore Tower Suites invited guest style by the bellman and sweet smelling front desk girl at the Palmer House South Beach, a beautiful boutique Art Deco on Collins just across from the beach and in the heart of the action.

[BeeeJay]

Check in was quick and I was escorted to the room by the gentlemen who took my bags, only after getting 3 porn slapper cards from check in, offering various club entries and services:

The room lights were **** but required a rocket scientist to run, so after the bellman instructed me, I slipped him a fiver and got to work:

After quickly unpacking I broke in the kick-ass large shower and got cleaned up for my next trek. I was seeking a book I had just read an article about describing the corporate takeover of Budweiser by Inbev. Yeah real interesting light reading, I know.

I started up that way towards the Lincoln Avenue pedestrian mall by about 6pm. Never even thought to take my camera for a quick bookstore trip. Something happened along the way and I never made it. I remember a Heinekein. Some sort of tapas. And in general a warm evening, the kind where an ice cold beer goes down way too easy. At some point I gave up on my book search and instead settled into the latin culture as best I could with a switchover to Coronas.

Eventually I determined the bookstore was probably closed and I roamed the soft palates of dimly neon lit art deco buildings stumbling my way back to comfort and safety of the Palmer House South Beach. I never reached my goal of finding that book, but despite a drunken battle with the light switches, this evening, relaxation was FULLY achieved!

[BeeeJay]

Ok what happened to this beautiful day?!?!?

Well after a late night I was up off and on but unable to muster the strength or motivation to actually shower and leave the room until about noon when the old Homer Simpson gullet started to grumble. I spent part of the morning trying to figure out what time my cruise would be boarding as the ship was delayed, finally got that sorted this afternoon:

"Because of strong winds, Norwegian Epic’s departure from Cozumel on Thursday, November 4 was delayed. The ship overnighted in Cozumel and departed at 8:30 am ET this morning as soon as the weather improved.

 

Norwegian Epic’s arrival into Miami on Saturday, November 6 is estimated at 10 am ET instead of its regularly scheduled arrival time of 8 a.m. Because of this new arrival time, embarkation for guests sailing on the November 6 Eastern Caribbean voyage will begin at 3 pm and the ship is scheduled to set sail at 8 pm.

 

Norwegian Cruise Line asks all embarking guests to delay their arrival to the Port of Miami tomorrow based on the new embarkation and departure time. We appreciate our guests understanding and cooperation."

 

Luckily for me, the extremely nice and kick-ass Palmer House is allowing me a late 2pm check-out. No need for a wake-up call, I can count on the cat-calling construction workers next door to begin heckling the walk-of-shame hookers around 10am. It is literally hard to hear the TV in my room right now over the conversation outside. Good thing I've got the noise-cancelling bose headphones, they worked like a charm last night while the neighbors partied til dawn (when I assume they went to work on the construction site).

Don't seem to see Epic anywhere on the "map" at the moment. The site says it hasn't checked in for 9 hrs+. But hey that is a lot better than Tiger Woods' yacht "Privacy":

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=319164000

It hasn't checked in since the last time Tiger check in with his WIFE! ;)

So anyway after showering I headed out around noon seeking out the Burger King about 2 blocks away. I ALMOST missed the BK cause it was built in the same motif as all the other buildings and I have to say, this is the fanciest BK I've ever seen. It hadn't a limited and overpriced menu...more like a $10 menu rather than a $1 menu. I mean seriously, this place did let you do it "your way"....you order the meal and then instruct the guy who puts on the toppings from this bar right on the counter:

It had the spicy angry onions and everything. The only downside was it was absolutely everyone in the stores first day and no one spoke English. Isn't the word "Ketchup" universal? Or at least on the day ONE training video?

No worries, with the food prepped right in front of you its easy to get it right, and with a fancy dining veranda on a 70 degree day it was a beautiful thing.

I pounded about 65% of this food, coincidently the same professor JNCVH's average hot chicks class grade before her visit during office hours and the inevitable "A".

I then went in search of a book store so i could buy "His Fathers Son: An instructional guide to Gaggles from Earl Woods" and "Kingbuster: The story of how Mackers product embezzlement forced Anheiser-Busch to sell out to Inbev".

I have to confess I walked like two miles and considered replacing reading with drinking as a hobby as I saw ZERO or in Miami, CERO bookstores/bilbiotechas and saw no one of the 10,000 people whose paths i crossed who remotely looked or sounded like they spoke english.

Sidebar: what is the deal with thin, tan, well-dressed European men in pairs in south beach? yeah I saw like 10 hot chicks and they were Vegas-hot but the ratio was unreal. Now I have no issue with people living their lives however they want, ZERO issue with anyones choices, but I hope these fellows realize its gotta be rationed to maintain the species. South Beach needs to have at least one hetero relationship to hold the tax base. C'mon

[BeeeJay]

Ok so back to my walk. I get to a place that says Books and Books. it was a cafe. with a rack of magazines. I left and walked another half marathon looking for a Barnes and Noble or whatever. No dice. Came back and saw a sign pointing to the back of the lot which I had just missed. Sorta like I JUST MISSED getting the delivery of these same books which came to my house about 4 hours after I left. Thanks for nuttin Amazon Free Shipping!!!

Ok so anyway they didn't have my books and 10 waiters came into the bookstore just to use the restroom. The ladies were super nice though.

After this debacle I decided I needed to hit CVS and buy a razor to fix up my Artis Gilmore shave. I did come across a few liquor stores and 57 tatoo parlors on the way to CVS:

Popped into the CVS where I picked up three 8-packs of diet dew cans. ***** is an 8-pack of cans? Then again the banks here say no hats or sunglasses allowed. I also got some water and sunscreen. The point of this purchase was all this crap will be coming at $6 a piece out of the minibar in my cabin if I don't take it with me. Also I am very sensitive to the bartenders on cruises not liking to refill peoples pops because they don't get tipped on it.

About a half block later I realized that these blocks are Chicago size, the long way. I also decided I could skip my workout. It was about 6-8 blocks back to my hotel room with a case of beverages and some other crap. All while trying not to get pick pocketed by this artist who draws with his feet.

Ok so I got all the goods back to the room, fell asleep for about 5 minutes and said "*****!!!, I am in Miami and its 75 degrees out". I got off my ass and headed for the beach. Now what I had forgotten about was the recent infusion of Canadian investment into the south beach area. More specifically, mackers Lethbridge Fund.

Fairly quickly I came across Macker's new South Beach Hotel:

[BeeeJay]

Ok that is enough Macker abuse. Macker you are my chosen guest in the Diamond Lounges next trip for taking all this abuse!

Here are a few of the pics I took along my walk from 11th street thru 31st street on the beach:

Ok that is probably too many beach pictures, but after freezing in Chicago already this early in the fall I greatly appreciated even a 2-hour walk like this. They could have given out popsicles in ChiTown on Halloween and they wouldn't have melted.

I decided to take the streets back from 14th and look for a sandwich I could save for later. Ended up seeing a place called La Sandwicheria just off Collins (AKA A1A Beachfront Avenue for you Vanilla Ice fans):

The sandwiches were served on an outdoor bar by a friendly and hot chick. For $18 I got a chicken salad sandwich on a croissant with doritos and 2 Heinekein keg cans. Oh Hell Yeah that is a qualitAY meal. $4 tip for hotness.

As I was bringing that back to the room after walking about 3 1/2 hours total for the day I came across a curious sign which caused me to chickety check my GPS to make sure I wasn't at 3131 Las Vegas Blvd:

Hmmmm...odd resemblance don't you agree?

Ok so back to the room for a phone call with the family after receiving a CUH-LASSSIC text from the wife (my facebook friends will recognize these). just to set it up my wife exagerates her pain a little and her cursing would make a sailor (maybe not a sailor53) blush. she isn't off the boat Irish but if you remember that crazy Irish dude from Braveheart, she is definitely a 100% blood decendant of that guy (not Mel Gibson). this guy:

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Ok so the text goes like this:

"Your lucky to be gone. Up ALL night with Collin and Lauren down with the flu. They literally took turns throwing up all night. I slept for 15 minutes. I had to wash every single blanket in the house. A skunk dug a hole under the family room. You have to get bit to get rabies right? It can't come from the spray?"

Granted this is the 4th or 5th straight year the kids have gotten the flu while I was on vacation. And apparently that skunk can smell me and is scared to come to the house when I'm home. Anywho this text gave me quite a chuckle as I walked down the beach.

Well the plan was to workout and make it an early night to make sure I'm not puking tomorrow morning on those rough "Tomas" seas. But with my meeting with Gavin McLeod and the Iowa senator moved back to 3pm from noon I have a strong suspicion I'll be overtipping a couple of my favorite bartenders from last night. I should be alright I had a waterbed until 1999.

I realize this is probably dragging on a bit, so I'll make the same apology I make with the ladies "Sorry about the length, and girth"

[BeeeJay]

This will likely be the last posted update until I return from the ship. Given the cost of posting and uploading pics from the sea my obvious OCD internet addiction might end up costing me more than the cruise itself. I blame my parents for hugging me too much as a kid. :p

I am going to maintain an ongoing detailed report in Word as I will have plenty of free time doing this thing solo. I find blowing a little time on the computer helps keep the public talking to myself to a minimum which is a good thing. I'll post the whole thing with pics and videos embedded upon my return.

I ended up hitting a few non-club bars for a cocktails and caught the overtime loss at Boston by the Bulls last night. Great game! KG is a tool. You can tell Noah has been hitting the pipe as he didn't get in a fight with KG after tool slapped the ball out of his hands during a dead ball. That is an extremely unnecessary and inflamatory move.

I do love those new NBA commercials with the chinese dude from Hangover. He is funny as hell!

Slept about 5 hours then somehow happen to wake up. Saw it was about 7am and decided I wanted to pop out to the beach and see the sunrise. As an added bonus I got to see my ship, Norwegian Epic coming into Miami.

Here are some beach sunrise pics:

[BeeeJay]

Arrival of Epic:

[BeeeJay]

I decided I better grab some breakfast at BK but overshot on 9th street and got to see some high quality tee-shirts. I need to get that tractor one for sure, I can wear it when I go back to Nebraska. Or where it in Mandalay Bay next time P-Nut and Airball are trying to save me from "the hoes":

Did I say yesterday how damn fancy this BK is? Sadly even the breakfast menu is quite limited. But Maura took great care of me. I did actually ask her if this store just opened and she said no. lol. She is a transfer though training all the employees. I recommend a day about ketchup and mustard.

I am starting to wonder if BK is also owned by the Apollo Investments as they seem to be cross-branding this subliminal degenerate gambler advertisement:

Here is a video of the beach and the Epic coming in:

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I'm going back to sleep for a few hours then off to the ship. Will file the remaining reports upon my return. It will be long, probably boring, and overly detailed. I use these stories to put my kids to bed at night, if they are really bold that day. I can promise heavy drinking, mild to moderate to heavy degenerate gambling, buffet abuse of the highest order, and undoubtably numerous instances of unrestrained misbehavior tempting court action, personal liability, and if there is a god probably even a thunder bolt from the sky. (not the norwegian sky, I'm traveling on Epic).

Well again I guess the true measure of a good trip and trip report is a laser-like focus on fast food restaurants with pics that exist in everyone's hometown and that I can see mere blocks from my own house. Ok I live by Super Dawg and Burger King is a painfully distant and traffic-filled drive away. And they don't have a "Whopper Bar".

So sue me for being a tasteless douchebag. At least I don't own a Fedora or any Ed Hardy shirts. On the downside I do wear sunglass inside a lot, much to JNCVH dismay, but that is due to medical reasons. Don't believe me? Seriously. Facebook buddies take a look at my oldest photo album The BEBGBBQ (Bad-Eye-Be-Gone-Bar-Bee-Que). And I do wear almost exclusively Tiger Woods clothing. Or as one client once told me in a meeting with about 10 people: "You only know those are Tiger Woods pants because he left them on the floor in your bedroom when he took them off last night". Damn that was a good burn.

I would like to give one final shout out to the Jesse White Tumbling Team for staying, and practicing in the room above me this morning. Mad props. I'm glad to see all my license plate sticker checks are going for a good cause!

[BeeeJay]

I agree w/ this! Especially since you seem to be the type to take a lot of pictures. Opinions are WAY too subjective, but a picture at least takes some of that out of it. Good work so far though.... I love that you explain what you spent $$ - seems as though no one wants to talk about it on here.

 

by the way - you're married and go to Vegas every month and on multiple week cruises / basketball / football games by yourself ? Is there a secret you'd like to share how you were able to pull that off ? :D

 

Louis Vuitton, Coach if I'm lucky. At least two trips per year to Mall of America. I don't go out EVER when I'm at home. I do all the cooking. And I clean the toilets. on my hands and knees. with a toothbrush. my toothbrush. ok I don't use a toothbrush.:)

[SliceOfLife]

I hope you have a great trip! So far I have really enjoyed your posts and pictures. I cannot wait until you get back to get all the details!

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I hope you have a great trip! So far I have really enjoyed your posts and pictures. I cannot wait until you get back to get all the details!

 

 

Me too!

[garycarla]

This will likely be the last posted update until I return from the ship. Given the cost of posting and uploading pics from the sea my obvious OCD internet addiction might end up costing me more than the cruise itself. I blame my parents for hugging me too much as a kid. :p

 

Don't be afraid to post some quick text only updates for us. You can on and off the net in a few minutes.

 

And, as said in another message, remember you can get $2,000 in the casino charged to your credit card. No extra charge. Think of all the "miles" you can get.

[NJGeorge]

Sailor Jack may have found his match:D

[iceman2a]

Sailor Jack may have found his match:D

 

Close but must reserve judgment til we see how it holds up over time!

I really enjoyed reading this and hope he takes Garycarla's advice and gives us something every day!

[NJGeorge]

Close but must reserve judgment til we see how it holds up over time!

I really enjoyed reading this and hope he takes Garycarla's advice and gives us something every day!

Check the thread he has on the gamblers board...some of the posts are hilarious:D

A little more of a salty crowd on that board;)

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/for...561#post453561

[dznymom]

Check the thread he has on the gamblers board...some of the posts are hilarious:D

A little more of a salty crowd on that board;)

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/for...561#post453561

 

I went over there yesterday after seeing (and loving) this thread. I enjoyed it so much I ended up spending about 3 hours over there and I learned all sorts of new stuff. Now I just have to decide when to hit Vegas and try the $20 trick!

[NJGeorge]

I went over there yesterday after seeing (and loving) this thread. I enjoyed it so much I ended up spending about 3 hours over there and I learned all sorts of new stuff. Now I just have to decide when to hit Vegas and try the $20 trick!

Gamblers have a very unique view of things don't they?

If you want to find something or anything in Vegas it's there:cool:

[BeeeJay]

Hung out in the hotel room until 1:30 watching some freaky movie about a little girl who was a ghost and marky mark whalberg was her dad. potential nightmare material for sure.

checked out of Palmer House. Kinda loud, but pretty great place to stay for the price given the location and fantastic friendly service.

The front desk called me a cab which took me to port of Miami and the Epic loading area for $22. Epic check-in and boarding were incredibly fast and easy. Once aboard I basically deposited some travelers checks in my account, toured the ship, took a bunch of pictures, and grabbed a plate of food at the buffet while I waited for my room to be ready.

I would say they do mildly push the cocktail aka "bar drinks" but just short of being annoying. I want bar drinks so I'd rather have better service even at the cost of being mildly pestered. An initial Vegas-style $5 cocktail tip, followed by $2 a drink goes a long way here.

I gave the cabin attendant $10 straight off the bat and he hooked me up with a mini fridge. Well allegedly he is going to. lol. I do have a bucket of iced beer and pop in my shower right now. (Update: I now have a bucket of water, no fridge, no ice, 20 warm sodas, 6 warm waters, and 3 warm beers.)

I finished at the buffet and lugged my $30 bucket of 6 miller lights to my room when check in was announced about 4pm. I unpacked and watched some football (non HD ESPN, on a Samsung flat screen). The studio rooms and the "living room" are totally kick ass and awesome. Seems way larger than the square footage. It is an incredible value when you consider the free food.

The room storage is more functional than the smallish room I just had in Miami. I was able to fully unpack two large 50 lb suitcases and everything is out of view. The shower is really good. The shower I had at south beach was basically Bellagio penthouse minus the steam, one of the best ever, and this is obviously smaller, but way better than I expected. Being a fat ass I expected to have some problems moving around in the shower. I had none at all. Water is hot, good strength, high enough shower head. The water closet is fine as well.

The lighting is similar to what I had in south beach and reminiscent of the cheeser "black lights" I used to have in my "worst-effort-ever attempts to be a cool player" back in the '90's with my waterbed and multi-colored bulbs. Come to think of it I may need to sue an ex-girlfriend for stealing and selling my idea. Anyone know if the CEO of NCL is dating a stripper/Red Lobster hostess? Regardless it works here.

This whole ship is just incredible. Totally love it!

The buffet food is actually good. I can't call it great. The layout lends itself to significant buffet misbehavior and line cutting. You basically just have to jump in. I don't see any reason to pay for any food. I'm not at all picky though. Then again I have spent over half what this cruise costs on a single meal a half dozen times in vegas in the last two years.

After unpacking I made a bee-line for the spa where I skipped the tour and 20 questions everyone was asking and bought my ass that $119 weeklong pass. Given my inside cabin it is a no-brainer. The spa is awesome and a great complement to the "serious" gym located nearby. They must be expecting quite a few retired athletes as the dumbells go up to 100 lb. I prefer to do 100 reps with a 1 pound buffet plate myself.

Oh BTW I was talking to this drunk guy at the casino bar when his wife came by and told him she had revoked his charging priveliges. He called her an "A-hole" right in front of me. That dude was loaded. i thought a Spinger episode was gonna break out.

spent the sail-away from Miami on the back balcony of the Spa. It is on level 14 and a beautiful spot. Hardly anyone was in the spa and the half hour I was back there saw maybe 2 people. It was a great spot to view Miami shrinking in the distance.

Once Miami was gone I headed to the casino.

As for the "bar drinks", I was fortunate enough to receive a drink card with my players card for the casino. very handy. I will say that I ordered a bar drink while playing and while I was waiting saw a different server ask me 3 times for bar drinks.

That worked out to my benefit however as after dropping a quick hundo on dollar 6/5 double double--after drawing 4 to the royal on about my 5th hand, I ended up hitting quads for $250 while waiting on that drink.

something just fell out of my vent onto the bed. it is not a hot stripper. I guess we aren't in vegas after all.

Back to the casino. I took my net $100 win over to the craps table where I hit one point before being told to keep my throw a little lower and watch the backspin. HUH?!?!? Total joke, I'm hitting back wall and keeping dice on the table and I don't care if you are the worlds best ever dice setter, with the ship pitching back and forth their complaints about my throw are ridic. Then again maybe they got that note on my file from the 14 off the table throws before hitting the $80 hard 4 at P.Ho last trip. After 7 out when the dbag dealers hand hit my roll I bailed for the roulette table with my remaining $61.

Roulette table says MIN $5, MAX $100. Normally that would indicate $1 chips and min $5 total inside or out per roll. Here is means min CHIP $5. Whatever. 1 spin $60. Hit #20 with $10 straight up for a $350 payout. Color up and over to that carny game where you drop in quarters and hope they knock others off the ledge.

This game rocked. As you can see in the following video, after slowly losing my initial $20 investment, I bought in another $20 which I used my newly acquired pro-spin on and got the paper clipped $20 bill (with two ones inside) to drop, along with a boat-load of coins. Waited in line forever while various people got mortage loan mods paid out in casino credit. The hopper showed me a $3.50 winner!!!

$350 + $3.50 BABY!!!!

I blew back in $300 on $1 6/5 highway robbery double double video poker in about 45 seconds.

Net win for the night after tips and other wildlife fun--$37. With the horrendous odds in this casino I consider that a big win. Coulda shoulda woulda quit with the $337 win but sleeping on that might leave a taste in my mouth that would cost more throughout the week.

Casinos here are Ok, but basically unplayable beyond a little entertainment. You could blow a grand on quarters at 6/5 without too much trouble. Also the craps hard ways pay 7 and 9, which is just an ungodly house edge of about 20%. The basic bets pay normally with 3-4-5 odds and at $5 and $10 mins are the best bets in the casino by far. Sweating my rolling style which is one of the largest net losers in Vegas history is a major turn off.

After gambling, no not gaming, that is playing Monopoly or Clue, I tried to hit the buffet (again) for a quick snack. I rolled in at 10:03, it closes at 10. They have cookies and sandwiches in the "living room" so I grabbed one of those.

Just heard some chick in the #13 Stanford crowd yell "overrrr-rated" at #15 Arizona on ESPN. She clearly doesn't understand the negative impact of that statement on her teams BCS strength of schedule rating. She just yelled "We love you" 3 times to some player. This chick is drunk. Lol. Even funnier to me the 3 Royal Caribbean ads I've seen while on NCL.

The ship moves way more than I thought. It was actually pretty rough earlier. Now I don't notice anything at all. Especially around 10 when I was up on the buffet level 15, it was really pitching. No one else seemed to have a problem actually. Hmmm.

Went back to the casino around midnight and stayed until 4am. Played the stupid quarter coin dropper game which was very fun and cheap. Was not doing well on that but took a shot at $1 DDB VP and hit quad K's for $250. Blew $60 of that back on the clearly fixed computerized rapid roulette. Net gambling win is $125 for day. That feels a lot better given the odds!

Enjoying the service in the casino with the free drinks, $2 tips will get excellent service. One very nice manager level (guessing by dress) guy helping out on floor taking great care of me.

Asleep by about 5am.