Live From the Nose Art of the Seas (NCL SUN)

[Kokomo_Man]

Before you read my post below... I have to answer about ParrotHead Law... they're more like guidlines. (Barbosa... Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

It was almost noon as we were pulling into Grand Cayman. This time I was the one like a kid at Christmas waiting for Santa Claus. I couldn’t sit still waiting for us to get anchored. I ran up on the top of the ship to get a better view. It was a bright, sunny blue sky beautiful day with only wispy white clouds floating by.

 

I got up to the top of the ship and there it was… Seven Mile Beach. Across the Island I could see Sting Ray City waiting for us. I was pointing out all of the neat stuff to everyone with me… “Right there’s the Hard Rock”… and, over there is “Jimmy’s Place”… and look, look… see that street… It’s called Church Street and that’s where all the shops are… and “see, right over there is my favorite shop in all of the Caribbean ports… the place I’m gonna buy a real gold doubloon. I’ve been wanting to buy it for years and “The Woman to Blame” said I could buy it the next time I’m here.

 

“And right over is where we’ll buy some of Richard Lenore’s finest… and oooh, ohhh, that’s where we’ll buy some Tortuga Rum. And if we have time… that building with the pink roof is “Churchill’s”… that’s where we’ll buy a couple of genuine Cuban cigars. (I don’t smoke them… I just buy them as a silent protest to our government’s archaic policy toward Cuba.)

 

I was explaining the tendering process. There’s no dock at Grand Cayman for cruise ships. So the ships anchor a little bit off shore and small “tender” ships come out to the cruise ships to take the passengers ashore. The Carnival Valor was already anchored there. The small tender boats were busily shuttling passengers back and forth to/from the island. They provided a good example as I explained how the tenders work…

 

“No it doesn’t cost any extra… yes, there is a little chop on the water but not nearly enough to make anyone sea sick… see how they are only barely bobbing up and down. Look… see… they just pull up next to the Valor and the passengers walk across a gang-way and into the tender boat.” We watched the process for a little bit and then… “see, when the little boats are filled up, away they go and the next one pulls up to take on more passengers.” (By the way, the Valor is one of my favorite ships. I’ve sailed on her three times and always had lots of fun every time.)

 

There was a fairly strong breeze blowing, but the tenders and the Valor were not having any problem. Two of the tenders had pulled up along side our ship and were hovering only about 20 feet away from our ship. So I know it was time for us to head down to the third floor. We wanted to be in the first tender to shore because the WaveRunners were waiting for us… and of course because I couldn’t contain my excitement.

 

As we were standing there waiting for the elevator, the Captain came on the loud speaker. I already knew the spiel…

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen. The authorities have given us clearance to go ashore. It’s a beautiful day here in Grand Cayman. Please be careful as you board the tenders as they tend to bob up and down a little bit. Enjoy your day in Grand Cayman.”

 

But noooooo… that’s not what the Captian said… not this time. He said,”

“Good mourning ladiees and gentleamen, this is your Capitaan speeking. I am sorrie to tell you that wee will no be able to stop at Grand Caymnan…”

 

After that I only half heard the lame excuses he made…

“We are sorrie but our little ship can’t handle zee breeze and it has to be safety first”.

Now I’m all for safety… and perhaps the Sun is too small… perhaps it doesn’t have the more modern controls and computer stuff to safely handle the breeze that was blowing. If that’s indeed the case, then it’s time for NCL to take the Sun some place other than Grand Cayman, or retire it.:mad:

 

I’m rarely a conspiracy advocate BUT… the last two days were poor weather days and when that happens the ship doesn’t make as much money selling booze out on the decks. And when the ship is rockin’-n-rollin’ the casino doesn’t do well. These two items are big money producing items for the ship. So it does seem to me that it’s very convenient for the ship to have another sea day… a big money maker. I really don’t think that it is a conspiracy… but I’m just saying…

 

I’m bummed… I’m gunna go eat worms…:(

 

Bob

Memories of Naked Fanny

[Karysa]

LOL Just scrolled down to read Day 3 and my eye caught the word Dolphin so I immediately started reading that line and well not being a football fan it took me a while to realize that it wasn't real dolphins. You can imagine my horror when I read that they were getting their butts kicked!:eek:

 

I love your review and can't wait to hear how much you enjoyed your excursion to the stingrays and the beautiful Rum Point Beach.

 

 

Oh good I see you just posted again.

 

Oh no. So sorry to read this post. Try and enjoy the rest of your evening.

[vols_159]

oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i can feel the heart break... So close but yet so far away

[triplett]

Love the Barbosa nod....... Sorry you got hosed out of the Grand Caymen, it is my favorite port so I feel your disappointment.

[JMHAM1]

Too bad about Grand Cayman. It is one of my faves too. I was thinking of all the "Jimmy's places" I have been. I think the coolest was on Grand Turk.

 

Have you ever stopped at his sister's place on the Redneck Riveria aka Gulf Shores, Alabama? It is LuLu's and is a good place to have a cheeseburger in close to paradise.

 

Hope tomorrow goes better for you

[Kokomo_Man]

:(Grand Cayman:(

 

Sea Day

OK… now that I’m over missing Grand Cayman, I’ll get on with it. I’m not really over it, but I never really stay “down” very long. A few adages come to mind… “a bad day at sea is better than a day at work any time”… “if life gives you lemons, then make lemonade”… “If you get an extra “sea day” then make bubbles in the pool”.:eek:

So I’ll use the extra “down time” to catch up on a few things.

There have been a couple of questions about how kids will like this ship. My opinion is that kids will not like this ship as well as lots of others that are available. There is no large kids pool area. There is a very small pool that is “advertised” as a kids pool, but it is mostly for very small kids… 4 or 5 years old at the most. There’s no water-slide (I like Carnival’s water slides) and there’s no water-park sort of area for kids ranging from 6 to 60. RCL has their “Flow Riders” and Rockwalls, and there’s nothing remotely like that here.

With that said, from the beginning of the cruise, I’ve made a point of asking kids of all ages if they are having fun. I try to ask teen-agers I see without their parents around so I’ll get an honest answer. With only a couple of exceptions I get a resounding YES… they are having fun no matter what age group they are in. One exception was a teen-aged boy about 15.

The other exception was a couple of teen-aged girls. When I asked the girls I think they figured I was some kind of weirdo and got away from me as fast as they could. I think I won’t ask teenagers questions unless their parents around any more… least I get a police artists sketch of me posted in the Atrium area.:o

Back on the first day or so, I mentioned the charcoal barbequed hamburgers that were being served out on the pool deck. Well… they have not been served on any other days… even the extra sea day today.

I have not told you much about our cabin yet. I told you in the beginning that “The Woman to Blame” wanted to be pampered on this cruise and that’s why we booked the cabin we did. And this is the cabin to do that! For a cruise ship our cabin is huge. It’s nearly twice the size of Carnival’s “ocean suite”.

It has a couch that I can actually lie down on and stretch out on… and I’m 6’ 2”. There’s also two easy chairs in the living room. Yea… a living room with TV and Sony surround sound DVD player. There’s a separate bedroom with its own TV, clothes closet and set of drawers.

The bathroom has a shower stall AND a Jacuzzi bathtub. I think the Jacuzzi is deeper than the swimming pools on most ships. Ok… it’s not that deep, but it is one of the deepest I’ve seen. I’m sure it’s big enough for two people. Amy and Zach have been “eying” the Jacuzzi ever since we got on the ship. (Right now it’s filled with wet SCUBA gear.) The “water closet” is just that… a little closet with an opaque frosted glass door with the toilet inside. We are roughing it though because there is no bidet.

Adjacent to the bathroom there’s a little make-up room and another clothes closet and set of drawers. There’s a little make-up table with mirror and lighting. There are doors at both ends of the bathroom area so that you can enter from either the living room area or the “Master” bedroom. The two door arrangement could be dangerous:eek:, but so far no one has been surprised.

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve been sitting out at the pool, stopping from time to time to observe the activities. The area is really crowded. There are virtually no seats of any kind available. The ledges around the pools are all used up… butt to butt. All of the stools around the bars are filled. The tables around the outside are all occupied. And the booze is really flowing freely. About half of the tables have buckets of beer and the other half have tall glasses of frozen concoctions to help them hang on. Margaritas and mojitos abound.

Hummmm… I think it’s time for me to order mine…. oh waiter, oh waiter.

Bob

Genuine breast cancer inspector

All sizes welcome

No waiting

[computerworks]

It's tough to miss a port...we've been there....

 

Bob

Genuine breast cancer inspector

All sizes welcome

No waiting

 

Is this necessary? There's a lot of horror that comes with that "joke." :mad:

[skivoodoo]

Sorry you missed Grand Cayman! But the lemonade you made sounds pretty tasty! ;)

[rwstout]

Well even more r the reason to go the 1st of the year I got Rick to agree if you can/want to go. Either way we still plan on doing the family trip this summer.

 

Wendy

[jackinthebox422]

We will be on this run in 4 months. Any word on people who went to Tulum and how they enjoyed/not enjoyed the excusrion?

 

That is terrible on Grand Cayman - had the same problem when we wee in Bermuda and couldn;t move from St.Gerogrge's to Hamilton, it sucked.

 

Great news on the kids. I think all the walls, slides, etc are more fo the parents to think their kids are having fun, but kids love the being there. my 15 turning 16 on the cruise and 13 and 8 just can't wait for the cruise.

 

Wating for the next update from Ochos Rios.

 

Can you keep the dailies and scan them when you return? Would be great and thank you for your time and service.

 

Jackinthebox422:D

[Silverman]

Computerworks Im pretty sure he is entitled to that saying. Which Im sure you will find out why. Ill let him finish the story on that.

[computerworks]

Computerworks Im pretty sure he is entitled to that saying. Which Im sure you will find out why. .

 

Hope so...thanks.

[STARFISH*4]

its to bad about Cayman, but after a few cruises i realized that it happens and the BEST you can do is go with the flow--missed ports, itinerary changes, bad weather, canceled excursions, mechanical problems-been there done that; its just all part of what can happen on a cruise and you can sit around and be upset and rant and rave and carry-on (that did happen for many on my SUN Dec cruise last year) or you can just make the BEST of it, which is what we did and had a FANTASTIC 2 weeks aboard the SUN.

cant wait.......just 43 more days!!

 

ENJOY the rest of your days:)

[Kokomo_Man]

Day 4 – Jamaica

 

 

No Problem Mon

 

 

I don’t know what it is about Jamaica. No matter what kind of foul mood I may be in, a few minutes in Jamaica and the smile is back on my face. The same was true today. As all of you certainly know, missing Grand Cayman left me in a grey funk. I was putting on a brave face for everyone with me… and in my writing, but the truth be known, I was really down. For the first time ever, the smile that is normally on my face from beginning to end of a cruise was gone.

 

From the beginning I had planned on going on the “Reggae Party Sail & Dunns River Falls.” So last night I went down to the tour desk just a few minutes before they closed. There were some other folks ahead of me being helped so I waited patiently for my turn. It was a couple of minutes after the 8:00 P.M. closing when she finished with the other people. She turned and disappeared through a door and never returned.

 

Needless to say I was not happy. Although they were courteous, the other people at the guest services desk said that I would have to come back in the morning. I quit smoking a few years ago, but I’m sure smoke was pouring out of every orifice in my body. Now I was ready to go home… ready to go eat more worms.

 

This morning the captain proudly announced that we had arrived early and that we could go ashore. That was about 7:30 or 8:00. Of course it didn’t make any difference. If I wanted to go on that tour, I would have to wait until the tour desk opened at 9:00 this morning. And even then, the tour didn’t start until 10:15. I thought to my self, “What good did it do getting here early?” I was still fuming over everything.

 

If it was just me, I would not have given NCL the satisfaction of buying the tour at all. But I had others to think about, so begrudgingly I bought the tickets. Some of you might suggest that I just do something on my own without going through the cruise line. And in most cases I could agree with you. But I wouldn’t feel safe doing that in Jamaica. There are pros and cons, but I just don’t think I would feel very safe striking out on my own here. And I didn’t want to take one of the “pot luck” tours that you can find on the dock. (Get it… “pot luck”. OK, I’m sorry for that.)

 

As you already know from the start of this posting, it only took about five minutes ashore for my sour mood to change. The Jamaican outlook on life… the kicked back style… where everything is “no problem mon”. Everyone is happy and not worried about anything. Every thing is “irie”.

 

The tour we were on is a catamaran sail boat that took us from the main cruise ship dock to the base of Dunns River Falls. The crew of the catamaran got the party going almost right away. They served water, punch, and pepsi on the way to Dunns river Falls… no booze getting there.

 

If you’ve never been to Dunns river falls, it should be on your list. It’s really pretty. Now I don’t usually get impressed by pretty, but this is one of the exceptions. They’ve done a really good job of making sure the place has a million places to take fantastic pictures.

 

Be forewarned that if you want to climb the falls… and you should if you can… they won’t let you carry a bag, backpack or anything like that. You can take a waterproof camera, but nothing else. If you want to take the dry stairs” to the top, then you can take anything you want with you. So I chose to be the “official photographer” for the group. I also chose to be the backpack carrier, with all of the odds and ends for everyone.

 

The climb up the falls… that is the climb in the water of the falls, is not an easy climb. There are plenty of guides to help you up, but it does take quite a bit of effort. With the crowds it takes about an hour to climb from the bottom to the top going the “water route”. A lot of time is spent waiting on the folks in front of you to climb over the rocks and such. Everyone who went that route was tired when they got to the top, but were really glad they had done it.

 

There were fifteen or twenty people who were taking the “dry stairs” route. It’s a lot easier than the “wet route”, but it is still a bit of a climb. Of those who started, only me and four other people made it to the top. I’m not sure if they “pooped out” or just decided that they had seen enough before they got all the way to the top.

 

Everyone takes the steps back down. It only takes about 10 or 15 minutes to get back down. Along the way down the steps there are a bunch of “tourist trap” vendors and you can buy a variety of trinkets, cold drinks and beer. At the bottom of the falls is a little ocean side beach and you can take a dip if you want to.

 

The “real” party starts when you get back on the catamaran to head back to the port area. As soon as you get back to the catamaran, the rum punch and rum & coke are waiting for you. They also have plain punch of pepsi, but I don’t think anybody had any of the “plain” variety. And the tour operator wasn’t stingy with the drinks and booze. You could have as much as you wanted. And I think everyone did.

 

When the tour first began… on the way to the falls… everyone was taping their toes to the music and having a good time. But on the way back almost everyone was dancin’. Young… old… large… and small, everyone was rockin’. I didn’t think that there was that much rum in the drinks but… either the crew was very good at getting everyone to “cut loose”, or… the rum got everyone to “cut loose”.

 

Don’t get me wrong… no one got drunk or anything like that. But the party was on. It took about 45 minutes to return to the port area. By the time we got back every person on the tour… along with “Beach Mamma”, “Sherwin Williams”, “Marlin Brando” were dancin’ all over the place. Amy, Bobby and Zach were in the thick of it. And me??? Of course, I was dancin’ with Beach Momma.

 

Bob

Memories of Naked Fanny… and Beach Mamma

[Kokomo_Man]

Save the Taa-Taas

I wrote this a couple of days age and was saving it until the end. But I think its appropriate now.

I’ve had a little fun with the breast cancer awareness stuff. But it is really serious and doing something about cancer is near and dear to my heart. So I’ll be completely serious for a minute.

Save the Taa-Taas and Save Second Base are legitimate organizations dedicated to breast cancer awareness stuff. (Go to their web sites and buy their stuff.) Is it a little crass… have I been a little crass… yea maybe. But anything that brings additional awareness is a good thing. And if more men would become “genuine” breast cancer inspectors, then maybe more lives would be saved.

Men… breast cancer is a terrible thing. As soon as you can, talk to the women in your life that you love and make sure that they get a proper breast cancer examination. I don’t care if it is your mother, your daughter, your sweetheart or your lover. And although this is breast cancer awareness month, have them get checked for everything else too. Don’t put it off or the one you love may be gone way too soon.

Women… the ones who love you want you around no matter what. Get your examinations… by self examination, lover’ examination, or otherwise… just do it. Take care of yourself and be pro-active. No one’s going to live for ever, but do everything you can for yourself… everything you can so you can make all those cruises you want to… everything you can to see your grand-daughter’s wedding… and everything you can to have more hugs from everyone who loves you.

And Women… while you are at it, make the men in your life go get their exams. You know the kind I’m talking about. As unpleasant as it may seem, just do it.

For all of you… men and women…take care of this now. You may feel just fine today, but if you don’t take the time to do this now, you may turn into ashes in a pink box far before you should. Please don’t do that to yourself or to your loved ones.

OK… off of my soap box and back to the crusin’ stuff.

Bob

[mickiemac]

Bob

 

Sounds like the catamaran in Jamaica was great. We took a similar excursion on a catamaran called Cool Runnings. It was a blast and the rum punch was freely flowing. One of the women on the boat danced with a tray of drinks on her head. Glad you had fun after the miss in Grand Cayman...

[Bananas27]

Thanks so much for the live reports! I'm sailing the same itinerary on the 29th. Would you recommend port or starboard for this itinerary? Sorry about GC. We have a trip to Rum Point planned too. I'll have a cocktail on your honor if we make it.

[amandajholden]

Re: the plug for breast cancer awareness .... HERE HERE! Say it anyway you can, but say it. And agree... Same for the men, take care of yourselves and your loved ones!

 

Thanks for the awesome review. We are just under 5 weeks from our cruise and reading every day is keeping my giddy-factor high!!

[Tonyslady]

I know i'm a bit late to the party, but i'm here now so now we can really have some fun!! :D Sounds like ya'll are having fun (ya'll?? think i've lived in the south for too long lmao) I'm so glad you enjoyed the falls did amy (sorry can't bring myself to call her peanut) zach and bobby take the plunge?

[umpy10]

Save the Taa-Taas

 

 

 

I wrote this a couple of days age and was saving it until the end. But I think its appropriate now.

 

I’ve had a little fun with the breast cancer awareness stuff. But it is really serious and doing something about cancer is near and dear to my heart. So I’ll be completely serious for a minute.

 

Save the Taa-Taas and Save Second Base are legitimate organizations dedicated to breast cancer awareness stuff. (Go to their web sites and buy their stuff.) Is it a little crass… have I been a little crass… yea maybe. But anything that brings additional awareness is a good thing. And if more men would become “genuine” breast cancer inspectors, then maybe more lives would be saved.

 

Men… breast cancer is a terrible thing. As soon as you can, talk to the women in your life that you love and make sure that they get a proper breast cancer examination. I don’t care if it is your mother, your daughter, your sweetheart or your lover. And although this is breast cancer awareness month, have them get checked for everything else too. Don’t put it off or the one you love may be gone way too soon.

 

Women… the ones who love you want you around no matter what. Get your examinations… by self examination, lover’ examination, or otherwise… just do it. Take care of yourself and be pro-active. No one’s going to live for ever, but do everything you can for yourself… everything you can so you can make all those cruises you want to… everything you can to see your grand-daughter’s wedding… and everything you can to have more hugs from everyone who loves you.

 

And Women… while you are at it, make the men in your life go get their exams. You know the kind I’m talking about. As unpleasant as it may seem, just do it.

 

For all of you… men and women…take care of this now. You may feel just fine today, but if you don’t take the time to do this now, you may turn into ashes in a pink box far before you should. Please don’t do that to yourself or to your loved ones.

 

OK… off of my soap box and back to the crusin’ stuff.

 

Bob

 

First off , love your review, we'll be on the Sun this Sat. and can`t wait.

Secondly , I do admire the way you have captured everyone`s attention concerning Breast Cancer and Prostrate Cancer. I plan on seeing both of my grandaughters weddings , when they get older, and I do have that exam on a yearly basis. It`s never to early , I don`t turn 60 till this Dec. All men should start when they get into their 50`s.

Don`t worry about getting off your soap box , and keep sending those reviews.

Enjoy the cruise.

 

cheers...the Ump...:D

[searoses]

i'm a 15 yr bc SURVIVOR!! hear hear for early detection...w/o it i might not be "nini" to my wonderful 5yo grandson......i was a dry climber at the falls and do recall several areas where i went in to bathe in the pools and stand under the flow... that was awesome!!

[Kokomo_Man]

Good Morning all,

This morning I’m writing from the pool deck again. As I sit here sipping my morning coffee it’s good to see that the deck lounge chairs are indeed still loved… the striped towels have returned to keep the chairs covered and protected from the sun. I’ve eaten breakfast… drank a cup of coffee and working on my second… and more than half of the towel decorated chairs have not had anyone in them since I’ve been here. Yes indeed, it’s good to see that the Hog family did not get left behind in Cozumel.

It’s a sea day, so I’ll try and catch you up on the rest of the day in Jamacia and some of the other stuff I’ve left out. I prefer to have the final sea day as the last day of the cruise. That gives me a chance to recuperate and reflect on everything I’ve done on the cruise. But this time the last day will be spent at NCL’s private island, Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. After that it will be just an overnight back into Port Orlando.

After we got off the party boat in Ocho Rios yesterday we staggered and stumbled our way past all of the shops and venders and found our way to Margaritaville. OK… we really weren’t that “blasted” on the rum punch. Let’s just say that we were well “lubricated”. That is except for Zach. I was looking for a wheelbarrow to get him back to the ship.

We managed to pretty well dodge all the vendors along the way. They are quite aggressive in getting your attention and coming to look at whatever they are selling. Ignoring them seems to do little good, so it seems that acknowledging them and saying a firm “no thank you” seems to do the trick… at least most of the time.

The coffee bean necklace salesmen seem to have a particular way of selling their wares… “one dollar for one necklace or five dollars for six”. They were so effective that our group combined probably bought ten or fifteen necklaces… one dollar at a time. Maybe I give their sales technique too much credit… I think the rum punch had a lot to do with it.

I would have ordinarily bought a round of T-shirts in town. But this time everyone got their T-shirts and such while we were on the Cool Runnings Catamaran Reggae Party boat. And I got them before the rum was flowing.

Margaritaville was a combination of good and bad. Of course, we had the mandatory Cheeseburger in Paradise as well as frozen concoctions to help us hang on… Strawberry Margaritas of course. Service was quite slow. I’m sure that was a combination of two things; they were quite busy and in Jamaica no one is ever in a hurry… no problem mon.

The Margaritaville has a very nice swimming pool with a water slide and it is also right on the beach. The beach area is nice too. It looked like a lot of people were spending much of the day there. The beach area was not controlled for vendors. There were ten or fifteen of them hanging out there and seemed to take their turns trying to interest the patrons in their goods for sale.

They did seem to be trying to control the sale of drugs on the beach. There were cops with what appeared to be a drug sniffing dog. Gangie… or “G” as it is known is a large cash crop for Jamaica. Although it is very illegal, everyone mostly looks the other way… except when it comes to the tourist trade. Tourist trade is the largest “cash crop” and the Jamaicans will do anything they can to keep from damaging the tourist business… including stopping the mighty “G” from being sold.

For those who love the standard “Jimmy Buffett’s frozen strawberry Margaritas… these were not the standard Jimmy Buffett’s receipt. Instead, they were just shaved ice mixed with tequila, and strawberry syrup. I’ll write Jimmy and let him know.

By the time we were done at “Jimmy’s place” Zach, being a proper Navy man, was three sheets to the wind… make that four sheets to the wind. So we headed back to the ship. It was a little early, but it had been really a good day. Of course along the way back to the ship we had to buy another batch of coffee bean necklaces. I’m still wearing one this morning.

Before I stop for now, I need to correct something I started way back in the beginning. (It’s amazing that the week is already more than half over.) Trying to be cute, I called the entertainment troop the “Sun Dancers”. And while they are good dancers, the women in the group are far more than that. They are all very good singers who happen to also be good dancers. Five of them put on a production show called “Shout”. They sing female and “girl band” “top 40 hits” from the 60’s. They were very, very good and are far more than just dancers.

Bob

Memories of Naked Fanny

[pontoon bob]

Thanks for the Great reports. Sorry about GC ( my favorite port so far ). Like you said, a bad sea day or missed port is still better than a day at work. Keep the reviews coming, enjoying every word...

[SFO-F/A]

Love your review....thanks for the laughs. :D

 

Was thinking about the NCL boat trip to the Falls, may book it after reading your review.

[Kokomo_Man]

I’ve got just a few minutes before going out to dinner and the White Hot Party, so I’ll just answer a few questions.

 

Mickiemac… As you’ve figured by now, our Jamaica excursion was the Cool Runnings that you did while you were there. I wanted to take it this time because of the time you said you had when we were there. That was our Ruby cruise. And ummmmm… the woman who danced with the tray full of rum punch glasses on her head… that is “Beach Mamma”.

 

Tonyslady… yes, everyone but me climbed falls in the water. I don’t know for sure what you mean by “taking the plunge”, but they were all soaking wet and trod through lots of the mini-lakes and pools. I even got into one of the pools at an area halfway up.

 

Amy and Bobby just explained what “take the plunge” means. There’s a place about ¾ of the way up the falls where you turn around backwards and fall back into the falls. (Sounds scary to me.) And yes… all three of them did it. I didn’t see it but obviously wish I had gotten a video of it. Some “official photographer” I am, huh.

 

Bananas27 asked if I would recommend port or starboard for this cruise… “Yes”, unless you can go with an aft balcony. Ok… I’ll be serious a bit. There’s very little to choose from. The only difference may be on sail away day when the evening and night coast of Florida is on the starboard (right) side. After that everything probably evens out. From an aft balcony you can see everything to both sides of the ship. I don’t like front balconys/suites because you can’t go out there when underway.

 

Amandajholden… One of the things I always hope to do when I write these posts is to “amp up” what you call the “Giddy-Factor” for people getting ready to cruise. Since I’ve managed to do this for you, I’ve been a success.

 

That’s all for now. It’s off to dinner and to THE party of the cruise.

 

Bob

Memories of Naked Fanny