Navigator 10/18 sailing - BIG trip report!

[rudeney]

What: Our Trip on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas

Where: Galveston, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica

When: October 17th, 2015 – October 25th, 2015

Who: Rodney, wife Jan, our granddaughter Katie

 

Day 0: Planning the Trip

 

We were planning something to do to celebrate our granddaughter Katie’s 21st birthday. Possibilities included Las Vegas, Walt Disney World, Disneyland and a cruise. My wife has had some foot surgeries which aren’t 100% healed, plus she really needs a knee replacement which she keeps putting it off, so Disney was out – too much walking. And actually Las Vegas was going to be a lot of walking, too, so we decided on a cruise.

 

My wife Jan and I have been on several cruises previously. Katie’s only cruise was at age 11 when we took her on the Disney Cruise Line’s “Wonder”. We cruised Royal Caribbean’s once, with Jan’s mother, aboard Freedom of the Seas with in 2007. We’ve always cruised in suites, and loved the Grand Suite we had on Freedom. We found RCCL to be every bit as customer-focused as Disney, so we decided to go with them. Our objective was a larger ship, warm climate, and traveling on Katie’ birthday, Saturday, October 17th. But we couldn’t travel the week before because of a work conflict I had.

 

Given that we were only four months out, our choices were quickly dwindling. While we found plenty of inside and balcony staterooms, the suites are in limited supply and do book quickly. After narrowing down the possible cruises that fit out schedule, I checked airfare to the ports. I found great prices on direct flights with Southwest Airlines which fit RCCL’s Navigator of the Seas sailing on October 18th out of Galveston, Texas. While not being “on” Katie’s birthday, it was close enough. We’ll just have to make it a weeklong celebration. Yes, it will be hard, but somebody’s got do it!

 

After shopping around, our warehouse club membership offered the best deals I could find with a $520 OBC, plus another $50 from RCCL. That would pay for our gratuities plus a few spa treatments and several glasses of wine. Our first choice was a Grand Suite like we enjoyed on the Freedom, but I found that the larger Owner’s Suite was only about 10% more so we went with that. With three of us in one room, we would appreciate the extra space.

 

I booked it and paid the deposit, and then purchased the airfare. I scheduled my final payment with the TA at the 90-day mark as they required. Now I had time to plan shore excursions and such. We always fly in a day early for a cruise as to not take chances that something will delay a flight and cause us to miss the cruise. We have to be onboard the ship by 3:30pm on Sunday, October 18th, so we scheduled our flight to arrive on Saturday the 17th. The best flight was a direct route leaving BHM at 7:45am and arriving in Houston Hobby at 9:30am. We’d need a room for Saturday night and something to do that day. Oh, and on the return, we’ll be off the ship on Sunday the 25th by 9:00am, but our flight doesn’t leave until after 8:00pm. So we have another day to kill on the backend.

 

One of the first things I discovered about cruising out of Galveston is how inconvenient it is. If you drive to the port, parking is actually very economical - $60 for the week. There are shuttle transfers from the airports costing around $35 per person each way. The problem is that using a shuttle leaves us stranded at a hotel all day Saturday, and all day Sunday at the airport when we return. So I looked into renting a car. Ideally, I’d want to pick-up a car on Saturday at the airport, drop it at the port on Sunday, then pick-up another car at the port on the following Sunday and return it to HOU before our flight. Unfortunately, Galveston just doesn’t offer any rental car services. The only rental car company on the entire island of Galveston is Enterprise, and their hours are limited and they charge a bloody fortune for a one-way rental. Ugh!

 

So, as ludicrous as it sounds, we have a car rented for the entire week that will remain parked (for $60) while we cruise for seven days. Basically, I can get the car and parking for right around $300. If we booked shuttles, it would be just over $200, and then we’d still need some cab rides for our local touring, so I figured we’re probably about even money for the convenience of a having a car to be in control of our own destiny while in the Houston-Galveston area.

 

Originally, I booked us in the La Quinta in Galveston for Saturday night, but after reading some reviews, I became less than pleased with the choice. And not only that, it was crazy expensive – almost $200 a night – for a La Quinta! Since I wanted to visit the Johnson Space Center, I decided to look for rooms closer to it and found a decent price on the Marriott Springhill Suites there. It’s also near a place called Kemah Boardwalk that seems to be a nice entertainment district and amusement park area that we can visit, too.

 

The last thing to deal with was travel insurance. I checked several companies and found the best deal for our needs was with Global Alert Travel. We could get the typical insurance coverages, plus “cancel for any reason” for well under $500. Purchasing within 15 days of the initial payment and booking got us a pre-existing condition waiver. Done! I built a series of spreadsheets, and used Microsoft One Note to keep all of my documents. I even created a packing checklist to keep up with things I’d randomly think of that we don’t normally pack for vacations, like night lights, flash lights, extension cords, etc.

 

The only shore excursion we booked was a zip line tour in Jamaica (at Katie’s request). I had considered booking a “resort for the day” in either Grand Cayman or Cozumel, but as it got closer to the cruise, the weather looked a bit dicey. I really didn’t want to pay to sit in a hotel and watch it rain. I figured we’d just wing it for those ports.

 

The day after the 90 day mark, I checked my AMEX account and did not see my deposit paid. I went online to the TA’s website and could not see that it charged there, either. But as I was on the website, I noticed a “new” offer, which was the same $520 on-board credit, plus included gratuities. Given that our gratuities would be about $335, that sounded like a deal I needed to check on, so I called the TA ho helped me get that bonus, plus took my final payment. So, we were all set! Now I just got to spend the next 90 days in anticipation!

[rudeney]

Day 1: Saturday, October 17th, 2015 - Houston

 

“Blast Off!”

 

Well, we’ve been waiting for months, and the day is finally here! I totally expected something to interfere with the trip. Maybe work, maybe illness, really, just “something”. But everything worked out! We will leave a sick pet at home, our 2.5 year old cat, Zoe, but our wonderful neighbors are taking care of her, and the new kitten Simon. She seems to have caught a sinus infection from the new kitten, so she needs some antibiotics. It’s been a tough since we lost Zoe’s brother, Baxter. We adopted both of them about two years ago, but Baxter developed tumors and had to be put down just last month. Not that we could ever replace him, but knowing that we have room in our home for two cats, we had to make sure we filled that spot with another shelter rescue. The new kitten has been with us for three weeks, and after a week where he was sick with a sinus infection, he is now healthy and absolutely wild. I hope the house is in one piece when we get back!

 

I slept surprisingly well last night. I usually don’t sleep well when I know I have to get up early for a flight. I’ll wake up every half hour expecting to find that I’ve overslept. But last night wasn’t too bad. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:45am, so the plan was to leave the house by 6:00am. We had packed the night before, and triple-checked the list, so the morning was nothing but showering and throwing the luggage in the car. I had planned to get up by 5:00, but Jan was up at 4:00 and so was I. That gave me time to piddle a bit. I remembered I needed to put a chlorine tab in the pool, and do a few other things around the house before leaving, so I had plenty of time for all that. Even Katie was up early. I guess the excitement of the trip and this being her 21st birthday got her started. Or maybe (probably?) she had stayed awake all night. I didn’t matter - we were just happy not having to battle with her to get her moving.

 

We left the house on time and had an easy drive to the airport. We did curbside baggage check and I left Jan and Katie at the terminal while I went to park the car. Luckily, Birmingham airport is easy to navigate and it took me just a few minutes to find a spot and meet back up with the girls. As expected, the security lines were not too bad, and after less than a ten minute wait, we were getting our carry-ons scanned and going through the backscatter x-ray vision machines. I am relatively sure that the machines were not working, because they scanned the guy ahead of me three times, but when I got in, I had not even fully raised my arms when the agent told me to move along. The doors didn’t even close. I wasn’t really concerned, because I think airport security is mostly for show (and to catch drug traffickers) but I was just surprised they didn’t shut things down. But I’m not complaining!

 

After a quick stop at Starbucks for some over-flavored liquid they claim to be coffee, we headed for the gate. We had done Early Bird check-in on Southwest, and had boarding positions A32-A34. The flight left almost 10 minutes early, and the takeoff was great with clear weather. When the flight attendant came around to take drink orders, I was able to discreetly mention it was Katie’s 21st birthday. I figured they’d make a simple announcement and that would be that. Well, that’s not how Southwest Airlines rolls! After cabin service, and a few minutes before the last call before landing, the flight attendants announced that they needed everyone to close their window shades. Then they asked everyone to shut off their reading lights and then press their flight attendant call buttons, which gave the cabin a dim, candlelight atmosphere. At that point, they announced Katie’s birthday and asked that we sing (which we all did), and they presented her with a very special Southwest Birthday Crown. This crown was made from peanut packs and drink stir sticks. They used the stir stick to stab through the edges of peanut packs to attach two of them together. This was repeated for about ten packs, made into a circle, thus the crown. It was the funniest, most creative use of airline snacks I’ve ever seen! The finale was to blow out the “candles”, which was the attendant turning off all the call lights. It was really neat and a very special treat from the Southwest staff. I don’t think we’d get this on any other airline!

 

We arrived in Houston Hobby airport around 9:35am, about 10 minutes early. By the time we made it to the carousel, our luggage was making the rounds. After a quick check on where to go, we made it out to the rental car shuttle area and waited on the National/Alamo bus. We got to their nearby off-site rental desk and things were moving slowly. Katie directed me to the self-serve kiosk and it actually worked. We had reserved a “premium” car and the lot attendant showed us to a Buick Regal. It looked nice, but we had a lot of luggage. None of us travel light. We each had two checked bags, plus carry-ons, and the girls had their purses. I asked to see what else they had in our class, but the lady said the Buick was it. I pointed to Jan and Katie shadowed by the mound of luggage sitting on the curb, and the attendant said she’d give me a free upgrade to an SUV, but not to let her boss inside the building see. So we loaded up in a new Nissan Pathfinder and headed out of the lot.

 

The new model Pathfinder is really just a stretched version of a Murano. Jan had a Murano once, so it was fairly familiar. We found a decent radio station, exited the airport, and headed south on I-45. Our hotel was on NASA Parkway, so Katie looked it up and played navigator. She has an iPhone which, of course, took us the wrong way. But we did find the correct route after one extra turn. We checked-in to the Springhill Suites near Kemah by 10:45am. The hotel was nice, the room was large and clean, and the staff was great. We did get an odd look from the desk agent after we had checked in for one night and then wheeled the luggage cart in, overflowing with our dozen bags. Another guest in the hall made a comment and we explained we were on a 7-night cruise. It still seemed like a ridiculous amount of luggage for just three people.

 

Our first order of business was lunch. NASA Parkway in Houston is a nice area with lots of choices. We passed a Fudrucker’s and that seemed to meet everyone’s needs. It was a decent burger and not terribly expensive. Katie started feeling a bit sick to her stomach. I figured it was a combination of her crappy diet (a steady flow of fast food and sodas) and the excitement from the birthday and trip. Lack of sleep may have also been a contributing factor. I wanted to visit Space Center Houston, but I didn’t want Katie to be sick the whole time, so we ran her back to the hotel, and Jan and I headed back out.

 

On the way, I needed to stop to get my allowed two bottles of wine to carry on the ship. We found a Spec liquor store a block from the Hotel. The manager there was a very personable guy and helped me find a couple of good prices bottles: Rabbit Ridge and Slingshot (both cabernets). They turned out to be very good choices. I’d recommend them to anyone looking for a good cab!

 

We enjoyed the visit to Space Center Houston. I’ve been to Huntsville several times over the years, and this was similar, though Houston offers more working, live exhibits. We toured the training facility which was idle on Saturday, but you could see where they do actual astronaut training on equipment like the new Orion capsule. Jan was sure that she was going to be bored silly, but I think she actually enjoyed it. They are building a new exhibit which looks to be really interesting, with a full-size mock space shuttle on top of a 747 carrier that you can get into and do some hands-on touring. I’d really like to see that when it’s completed. It took us about four hours to go through what we wanted to see, and then we headed back to the hotel.

 

We arrived back at the hotel and Katie was totally out! I think the excitement and lack of sleep was the prime cause of her illness. Our evening plans were to go to the Kemah Boardwalk area and have some dinner and maybe enjoy a few of the amusement rides there. Parking was easy and we took a water taxi from the parking lot to the boardwalk area. The water taxi went across a canal that was maybe forty feet wide. It was really a waste of a boat ride, but I guess it’s less expensive than building a bridge. Once at the boardwalk, we debated on what rides we wanted. Jan passed on everything, but Katie wanted to ride the swinging pirate ship and something called The Fury, which is basically the same principal as the pirate ship, except it’s on a closed “ring” which allows it to go all the way upside down and around.

 

We had to stand in line to get tickets, and the line was fairly long (about a ten minute wait). This is where we observed a line breaker with a new twist. As we stood in line, this child of maybe 5 or 6 years, was walking through the line as if looking for his parents. He stopped in front of us, and I assumed his parents were the couple ahead. But no! His parents came up from behind “looking” for him. First the dad came, then they called to the mom to join them. I made a comment about it, loud enough to be heard, and the mom said something ugly in Spanish. I told her it was no big deal, but that if she felt the need to go ahead, then by all means do. There were some more Spanish expletives, and that was that. $22 later and we had our tickets to ride.

 

The pirate ship was as expected, but The Fury was a wild ride! It was not a “steady” looping inversion. Instead, it would “swing” around like the pirate ship, stop, and fall back, but would eventually go all the way over. I always tried to do this on my swing as a child. I think I remember hearing of one kid who actually did it, and of course it lifted the entire frame off the grand and it toppled over on top of him. At least this was the rumor that scared me enough not to actually do it myself. Since this one was inside a closed loop ring, there was no worry of that happening. Our only hope was that the guy who tightened all the bolts did a good job. We’d almost make the loop, then hang upside down for a while. I was really exciting. Especially for a cheesy carnival ride. It was probably best that we did this before dinner.

 

We had seen the Cadillac Bar and Grill Tex-Mex restaurant on the boardwalk, so that’s where we ate. I had a burrito which was, I dare say, one of the best I’ve ever had. But the service was horribly slow and they messed up a few particulars of the order. The waiter tried to memorize everything and he had a memory like a steel trap. A steel lobster trap, that is. You know, a cage that lets everything through but the lobster. Had we ordered lobster, I guess that would have been a good thing, but not so good for burritos. Anyhow, it was a good meal and we enjoyed watching people board the dinner cruise yacht across the pier from our table. There were some pretty interesting fashion choices for those guests, especially the guy we called the Santa-****. He was wearing a bright red suite, a matching red shirt, with white shoes, a white belt and big white Panama hat. His lady friend had a size 22 booty, wearing a size 12 dress.

 

We spent some time walking through the boardwalk and found a “School of Rock” band playing. The lead singer was 13 and she was really good. We did some people watching, noting how these type places seem to attract a little bit of everything. Before long, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and turn in for the night. A short one-minute, 40-foot boat ride and we were back to the parking lot and in the Pathfinder. We had a bit of delay on the bridge heading back to NASA Parkway as there had been a wreck. A pretty bad one from the number of emergency vehicles still on the scene, even though the crashed cars were gone by the time we passed there.

Edited October 31, 2015 by rudeney

[rudeney]

Day 2: Sunday, October 18th, 2015 - Galveston

 

“Spaghetti and Wine”

 

Today’s plans were to drive to the port and board The Navigator of the Seas. The port would not be open for incoming passengers until after 10:00am. So with a 45 minute drive, we planned to make a leisurely departure from the hotel sometime after 9:00am. The hotel offered a very simple continental breakfast, but we decided to hold out for lunch buffet on the ship. We hauled all 3 tons of our luggage back to the Pathfinder and headed toward the port sometime around 9:30am. Instead of taking NASA parkway west back to I-45, we headed east a few blocks toward Kemah and hit 147 south. We followed it and merged onto I-45 just north of Galveston. It was an easy drive, and non-stop after leaving the Kemah area. Once on the island, I followed the signs for the cruise terminal putting us on Harborside Drive, which runs along the northern shore where the shipyards are located. I actually meant to follow I-45 to the end at Broadway to avoid the traffic on Harborside at the port, but I forgot.

 

We drove through a heavy industrial area with nothing much to look at unless you are into heavy building materials and cargo containers. After a few miles, we finally got a glimpse of downtown Galveston and our ship! It looked huge sitting there just a few hundred feet off the road. The plan was to drop the luggage off with a porter and then go park. I had pre-paid parking at Galveston Park-N-Cruise, which is literally just across the street from the cruise terminal. Harborside was a bumper-to-bumper four-block queue for a left turn into the port. Taking the advice of my friends on Cruise Critic, I cut over a block south, away from the terminal, drove the four blocks there, then back north on 25th street, straight into the port. This worked quite well and bypassed about half of that traffic on Harborside.

 

The Galveston cruise terminal is about as well organized as a plate of spaghetti. That is, a plate of spaghetti that’s been thrown against the wall. The single entrance for cars is at the east end, so Terminal 2 traffic has to drive past Terminal 1. There is a “bypass” so you aren’t on all of the traffic dropping off at Terminal 1, but you still have to cross over their lanes as they exit, plus deal with the pedestrian traffic. This took about 10 minutes. Local police were directing traffic and they tried to keep things moving as best as they could, but it was just a mess. Like spaghetti. We finally made it to Terminal 2 where the Navigator was docked and I was following the signs for baggage drop, but the cop there directed me away from the building, to the signs that said passenger pickup. Huh? Well, they need to either change the signs or just cover them because it creates even more confusion!

 

Once we got there, we found a porter to help with our bags. His cart was already pretty full, but he somehow managed to get our luggage on there by stacking it on top, handing it form the sides and reshuffling things a few times. After a generous tip, we got back in the car and…sat. And sat. There was a large limo parked blocking us in. The passengers unloaded their luggage right in front of our car, and then they started taking photos. I was getting a bit aggravated, and finally got out of the car and began moving their luggage. After some dirty looks, they got the hint and got out of way.

 

We drove out and across Harborside (again, avoiding the masses of traffic there) and made it to the parking lot on Strand Street. I gave them my name, they verified my prepaid status and directed us to a spot facing Harborside, staring right at our ship across the road. We had a short one and a half block walk to the terminal, one block of which was via golf cart courtesy of the parking lot company. We had to cross Harborside, assisted by the police directing traffic. This brought us to the Carnival terminal, where we had to go through all the people there dropping off luggage, then walk up some stairs to get to the sidewalk between terminals. When we got to Terminal 2, it was still a huge mess of people. I noticed an ambulance parked by the building. I didn’t think much about it, but afterwards, I heard they temporarily closed the terminal for a medical emergency.

 

Since we were in a suite, I knew one of the benefits was a shorter line to board the ship. There were two queues of people standing outside the terminal, waiting to enter. I wasn’t sure if we needed to wait in one of those or not, so we walked up to the port employees standing at the closed doors to ask. As we approached them, they opened the doors and began to waive people in from all directions. I tried asking about the suite line and they just said move on in. I guess we ended up sort of cutting in front of the people waiting in the queues, but again – plate of spaghetti. Later, I asked the desk agent and was told that yes, suite guests were to enter before the queues, but he medical emergency caused some problems. They do really need better signage and organization here. There is some construction going on that I understand is a new terminal. Maybe it will be better once it’s completed.

 

We were quickly through security. Now, I was wondering how they enforce the “two bottles of wine per room” rule. What if Jan and Katie had entered security before me with additional bottles, or what if we used separate security lines? Well, here’s how it’s done: When the security officials see bottles in your checked bags on the x-ray scanner, they direct you to a table off the side, about 30 feet away, where an RCCL employee checks your stateroom number off the list. The thing is, there is no real communication between the security officials and the guy at this table, so we could have just walked right past. Also, I had assumed he would want to verify that we had just two unopened bottles of wine, but he didn’t seem to care – he just asked our stateroom number and checked us off the list. Oh well, we followed the rules, but it seems it might be somewhat easy to “bend” them here.

 

We followed the signs to the far right for the suite check-in desk. That was quick and painless, except for two issues. First, they gave us each a small form to fill out, mainly just check boxes stating that we were well enough to travel. The check-in counters are tightly packed, crammed together, each “window” being just a 24-inch wide section of a very long desk full of agents. I stood there, elbow to elbow with other passengers to fill out all of our forms. On the first one, I accidentally put Jan’s name on the “ship’s name” line. When I asked if I could have a new form to correct it, the agent stepped back, held up his palms toward me hands and said an emphatic “No!” He said we only get one form each, and if it’s wrong or illegible, we could be denied boarding! Huh? Really? It’s a piece of paper! There were no special identifying marks; it was just a copy. Anyhow, I struck through and made corrections, and regardless of that, my handwriting is generally illegible anyhow. They did let us board, though.

 

The second problem was a computer failure, which I had heard horror stories about in Galveston. Luckily it was just a problem that agent’s computer, so he passed us over to the agent next to him and she finished checking us in on her terminal. We fed into the line coming from the other check-in stations, and skipped the “welcome aboard” photo. Within minutes, we were on deck 4, and hearing the familiar “bee-boop” tone as our SeaPass cards were scanned and accepted. We were on the ship! Woohoo!

 

Having previously been on Freedom of the Seas, everything on The Navigator was very familiar. In fact, I really couldn’t tell the difference. I know that Navigator is about 90 feet shorter, so it lacks a few venues and staterooms, but otherwise, it seemed identical. The ship was refurbished in dry dock about two years earlier, and it looked great. It was about 11:30, and our room wouldn’t be ready until 1:00, so we headed to the Windjammer buffet for lunch. As expected, it was already crowded and busy. They should call this the Peoplejammer. We got our plates of food and headed to the adjacent specialty steak restaurant, Chops Grille for a table. This is a perk reserved for suite guests and one that is very welcome. The Windjammer is a noisy, crowded environment. Chops is quiet, with nice music playing and formally-dressed wait staff helping us with drink and utensils.

 

While eating, our waiter chatted with us. When he found it was Katie’s 21st birthday, he told us to come back to Chops tonight for a special 20% “birthday celebration” discount. That was a nice bit of marketing on his part. I knew that they typically offer discounts in the specialty restaurants on the first night regardless. Still, it’s a nice to enjoy a reduced price, no matter how they spin it. I guess I’ll go ahead and say a word about the food. That word is “good”. Yes, we found the food on the ship to be good, even maybe “very good”. Now, it wasn’t “Todd English good”, or “Emeril good”, but it was “cruise ship” good. It was tasty, fresh, and consistently prepared with good seasoning and we had plenty of choices. Our buffet lunch was better than anything we’d get at a family dining chain restaurant. And you can’t complain about portion sizes as you can eat as much as you want.

 

After lunch, we did a bit of touring around the ship to take photos and kill some time before the room would be ready. Just after 1:00pm, we headed to deck 10 to check out our stateroom: #1328, an Owner’s Suite on deck 10. It was on the rear arc of The Hump, starboard side. Needless to say the room was spectacular and it was really more room than we needed. We wanted a room comfortable for three with concierge service, so a Grand Suite would have sufficed, but 50% more room for 10% more dollars made it a no-brainer.

 

The suite was everything we had expected from looking at photos and online descriptions. The balcony was about 30 feet wide. Even though the room is on The Hump, it’s no larger than other Owner’s Suites. But, with the angle of the balcony on The Hump, we have a very nice view down the side of the ship, facing the rear. I think the forward suite might have a nicer view looking forward, but I had heard that it’s also windier, so we chose this one. I can say that it was a great choice – we really enjoyed the room and I’d highly recommend it. Even though deck 11 with the restaurants and pool were above us (we were directly underneath Giovanni’s), we never heard a single noise from there. And no noise from the adjacent staterooms or hallway, either.

 

If I had to make any criticisms at about the Owner’s Suite, first it would be that the room is just too big with too much unused, open space (yeah, I know, I hear the tiny violins playing). It does make it feel huge and spacious, but an actual walled-off separate bedroom would have been nice and so would a second half bathroom, or even just a wet bar. Also, there is a serious lack of 120v electrical outlets. There are two located in the vanity table next to the bed. There is another inside the TV cabinet, and one in the bathroom for razors only, though we did use it for a very small fan. There is a coffee maker and tea kettle in the dining area, but it’s 20 feet from the nearest outlet. Bring extension cords!

 

We spent maybe 30 minutes checking out the details of the room and taking photos, and then went to head out for more exploring. That’s when we found our bags had already been delivered and were waiting in the hallway. Wow, life is good! We took a few minutes to unpack and then headed to the concierge lounge on deck 9. Our stateroom was very convenient to everything. It’s the second door from the aft elevator/stairway lobby. Up one level puts us right at the Windjammer, Chops Grille and Giovanni’s Table specialty restaurants as well as the pool deck. Down one level and we’re right at the concierge lounge.

 

In the lounge, our concierge for the cruise, Ricardo, gave us a warm welcome. He is a large, jolly, man from Panama. We looked forward the rest of the week to his big smile and deep laugh and unique accent. After that, Katie went to check out the pool deck, and Jan and I went back to Chops to make dinner reservations with that 20% discount. We also requested a cake for Katie’s birthday. We regrouped and walked through the Promenade. Due to tax issues, the shops are always closed in port, but there was a kiosk selling lanyards with clear pouches to hold our SeaPass card. We decided this would be a good idea so we bought four of them. Why four? Well, Jan and I both bought simple black braided ones, but Katie picked out a blingy one covered in rhinestones. Jan said it might not go with all of her outfits, so she got her an extra one in black. Good lord! I guess I should be happy they weren’t trying to match them to their shoes since they brought 22 pairs between the two of them. Oh, and while we were in the Promenade, we were offered 20% off Monday night’s dinner at Giovanni’s Table, the specialty Italian restaurant. We’re suckers for a discount so we took that offer.

 

I guess at this point, I’ll mention that we have chosen MTD, which sounds better than it is in practice. The problem is, the shows are scheduled opposite the dining times. So the 5:30 diners go to the 8:00 show, and vice-versa. If we decided to eat at 6:30, then we’d not yet be out of the early show, and we might not be through with dinner in time for the late show. We ended up eating mostly during the 5:30 seating when we at in the MDR.

 

Before long, it was time for the dreaded muster drill. At 3:30, they began closing all bars and restaurants and the crew members pretty much demanded everyone head to their stations. We were on our way to the kid’s club to have holes punched in our SeaPass cards. They do this for kids but it’s great for anyone using a lanyard. Having to constantly remove cards from the plastic pouch on the lanyard is a pain. Of course we were two minutes late and they had already closed for the muster drill, so we headed down to our assigned station on deck 4. Luckily, this did not require wearing the life vest as in the old days. I guess some smart person finally figured out that running up and down the stairs with a big, bulky life vest that blocked your view of anything below your chin was a safety hazard.

 

The muster drill lasted about 30 minutes or so. The problem is, those who arrive the latest spend the least time standing in their lines at the stations, so there is no incentive to arrive on time and all the incentive to arrive late, making everyone else wait. We arrived about 3:35 and had to wait until after 4:15 to leave when the last of the stragglers decided to show. My idea is that they should either punish the late arrivals, or reward the early ones. Maybe they should offer a $10 onboard credit to everyone who is there in the first 10 minutes. Or, make those who arrive after 3:45 wait around for 30 extra minutes, like we had to do for them. The other pain with the muster drill is with all 3,000+ passengers on deck 4, they now have to get back to the other ship decks, and that takes a while. The elevators will be full for the next 30 minutes.

 

It was just a few minutes from sail away, so we decided to head up to deck 12 to get a good view. We took the stairs. After stopping at the pool bar for beverages, we were ready! I will say that the sail-away on RCCL is nothing like what you get on the Disney ships. Of course Disney is the expert at putting on a show, so they do a spectacular job on their ships for sail-away. RCCL ends up being just a bunch of people standing around on deck waiving. They do have something in the Promenade, but how much fun is a ship’s sail away party in an indoor mall? We stayed up on deck until we were pretty much out of sight of land. And about that time was when our cell phones lost their signals, putting us at the mercy of the ship’s communication facilities. And let me tell you, that is pretty much a merciless punishment for Katie as she talks and sends text messages constantly.

 

We had planned not to use cellular service, but to rely on the ship’s Wi-Fi. I had called Verizon to discuss my options for using our phones on the ship’s cell service and when ashore in an emergency. The option they pushed was to pay either $40 or $85 per month to give us various allotments of minutes, texts, and data megabytes. I explained that we would rely on the ship’s WiFi mostly, but wanted to be able to call in case of an absolute emergency. They said we still needed a plan of some sort or our phones would not work out of the country. The finally offered the “pay-go” plan for no charge. I had it added only to my phone and Jan’s. Calls would cost us $1.79 per minute, and text messages were $0.05 to receive and $0.50 to send. Data was something like $5,000 per gigabyte. Yes, that is not a typo, nor an exaggeration. It really is something like that, though billed in 10-megabyte increments. I did not add any international calling to Katie’s phone, that way she couldn’t use cellular services and incur any charges.

 

We subscribed to the ship’s WiFi service and paid $189 for unlimited data on two simultaneous devices. That was actually $210 with a 10% discount through our Crown and Anchor Gold benefits. To get the discount, you have to sign up on the ship. Just fire up your device on WiFi and follow the prompts to add the service and the discount is automatically applied. Katie kept her phone signed in all the time, and I alternated between my phone and my laptop, just signing off by going to “logout.com” when switching devices. I always use the Verizon Message+ app for texting on my Samsung and it works over WiFi. Katie uses iMessage for communicating with her iPhone-toting friends, which also works over WiFi, and she downloaded Message+ for communicating with me and other non-iPhone friends. This proved to be fairly workable for us during the cruise with the exception of a few long delays in sending and receiving messages. Forget using onboard Internet for anything else. Even just trying to send a few MMS photos to friends and family back home took hours to process. I could read email, but I kept it in text-only mode.

 

We had dinner reservation for 6:30, so around 5:00, we headed back to the room to change. The concierge staff had left a bottle of Evian and a plate of fruit for us. On the way, we met our stateroom attendant, Marlon. He was a very friendly and polite young man from the Philippines. He told us how he would make the room up for us, with the sofa bed for Katie. We asked him to make sure we always had plenty of ice, and he did that all week for us. He was very efficient and a great stateroom attendant.

 

I had heard that the typical dress on Navigator was somewhat more relaxed than other cruises, but that did not matter to us. We dressed “business casual” for dinner. We finally made it to the kid’s club to get holes punched in our SeaPass cards, then headed for the concierge lounge. Ricardo’s smiling face was there to greet us and he asked if he needed help with anything. At this point, we were already set for dinner the next two nights, so we took a rain check on his services, but we did enjoy the appetizers and we some cocktails. Unfortunately, they serve Dewar’s Scotch, which is my least favorite, but it was what they had so I choked it down. They offer beer, wine, margaritas and other mixed drinks, just nothing frozen or requiring a blender.

 

After 45 minutes or so, we headed to Chops. Our waiters were excellent. The head waiter was the young man from lunch who enticed us with the 20% “birthday” discount and our primary waiter was very attentive and friendly. I ordered a bottle of Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. It was $98, but it was my one splurge on the ship. I had them keep the unfinished bottle and enjoyed it over the next two meals. They serve wine using an Il Decantino aerator. It’s a glass thing that looks like some sort of chemistry experiment plugged into the top of the bottle. Its function is to portion the wine as well as let it breathe as it’s poured. I have a Vinturi I use at home, but the Decantino looks interesting. I’m thinking it might make a good Christmas gift for some of my hard-to-gift relatives.

 

Jan and I both had the filet mignon. I think Katie might have had it, too, but now I don’t remember. We also ordered several appetizers and ended up with more than enough food. Everything was very good. Again, not high-end steakhouse good, but much better than any chain restaurant. Considering the level of service and ambiance, I’d rate it just a notch below Ruth’s Chris. After dinner, they brought the birthday cake. It was a 9-inch round two layer chocolate cake with “Happy Birthday Katie” written on top. It was $15, which is really a bargain even considering cruise ship prices. We were miserably stuffed, so the waiter gladly packed it for us to take back to the room and enjoy later. I will say that we had some over the next few nights and it was very good cake. I’d put it up against any restaurant or grocery store cake I’ve had. And it stayed fresh for the entire week.

 

After dinner, we stopped by the customer service desk. There was a card in our stateroom showing that we had our $520 onboard credit from the TA, but I saw no mention of the included gratuities we were supposed to have. The only place I had seen it officially mentioned was on the original confirmation from the TA. I just wanted to make sure everything was in order with no surprises, and the crew member at the customer service desk confirmed it. Jan and I were pretty tired, so we decided to just enjoy the suite for the evening. Katie went in search of some nightlife and hopes of meeting some new friends more her age. There is a huge, thick curtain that pulled across the bedroom area of the suite and it did an excellent job of keeping out any light and muffled some of the noise Katie would make when coming back to the room later.

[rudeney]

Day 3: Monday, October 19th, 2015 – At Sea

 

“Rocking and Rolling with the King”

 

Our first full day on the ship is at sea, en route to Cozumel. There were remnants of what was almost a tropical depression in the Gulf still hanging around which made for some clouds and high seas. Swells were in the ten to twelve foot range. Skies were partly to mostly cloudy. I had been keeping watch on the weather for the week and it didn’t look too good. Tuesday’s stop in Cozumel was almost certain to be a rain-out with 100% chance of storms. The second port, Grand Cayman on Wednesday, looked a little better, and Jamaica on Thursday looked like the best bet. Of course weather this time of year in The Caribbean can change quickly and often, almost as often as Jan changes her mind about what to wear.

 

As is usual on our cruise vacations, I was awake early by 7:00am. I know for most people, that’s not really early, but I usually don’t get out of bed on workdays until 7:30am, and on weekends, I’ll sleep to 8:30 or maybe 9:00. So for me, on vacation, 7:00am is early. My routine is to put on my bathing suit and go up to the pool deck for some time in the hot tub, followed by laps in the pool, then maybe some more hot tubbing, then a walk around the deck to dry off. There are usually very few people out in the mornings. Next stop is the concierge lounge for some coffee. The lounges on the RCCL ships have the greatest coffee maker in the world. It grinds and brews one cup on demand. But better than that, it can brew coffee, espresso and cappuccino, all at the touch of a button.

 

I missed the huge cantilever hot tubs from Freedom of the Seas, but I found the tubs in the Solarium (the adult pool area) to be just fine. Besides the lack of the huge hot tubs, another difference I found is that Navigator has salt water pools where the Freedom had fresh water. And when I say salt water, I’m not talking about the chlorine-generator salt systems some residential pools use. This is genuine sea water. I assume it goes through some level of filtration, but it’s very salty. I prefer fresh water since I swim laps underwater with my eyes open, but that’s OK as it usually doesn’t bother me much. It was fine, and was able to do my laps and relax in the hot tub and all was well.

 

After my swim, I headed to the concierge lounge for coffee. Jan takes hers “doctored up” and I make a quintuple espresso (basically ¾ of a coffee cup filled with espresso). All I need is one for the day. I chatted with Ricardo who showed me a new trick on the machine to program it for my 5x espresso so I didn’t have to stand there waiting to press the button each time. By the time I returned to the room, Jan was up. Katie had met some new friends and stayed out late, so it was just Jan and me for breakfast.

 

We headed up to the Windjammer buffet, and just like yesterday where we were able to sit in Chops for lunch, breakfast is the same way. This is a great perk for suite guests. I wouldn’t say it makes it worth the price of the suite, but adding this into the mix of suite amenities does make an attractive package. The Chops staff will actually cook breakfast to order, but it’s just as easy for us to get it ourselves at the Windjammer buffet. Besides, I’d feel a bit gluttonous asking them to cook “4 pieces of sausage, 8 strips of bacon and four eggs”, but it doesn’t seem so bad to fill a plate like that at the buffet. Oh, and as for eggs, I like mine soft-scrambled. Of course buffet eggs are pretty much the opposite, being overcooked and having the consistency of carpet. The solution is to go to the omelet station and ask for them to be cooked to order. Voila, perfect eggs! Chops also had a small table of extra items including smoked salmon, which not on the main buffet. So this became my morning protein boost – scrambled eggs with sausage bacon and then another plate with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon.

 

After breakfast, we walked around the deck a bit and checked out more areas of the ship. We had the 11:15am Cruise Critic Meet and Greet to attend. I was surprised that Jan actually wanted to go. She’s usually hesitant to meet my “online” friends, but I told her this meet was organized and often had RCCL giveaways, so she agreed. Plus, I think that she’s in more of a mood to make new friends when cruising. The meet was in the Viking Crown/Cosmopolitan Club on the 14th level, aft, with a great panoramic view overlooking the pool decks. We checked in and were each given a RCCL logo notepad and pen. There were at least 25 people there already, so we found seats by the window and were joined by another couple, Foster and Patsy from Texas. We chatted with them for a while and then the festivities started.

 

We played a game called Meet and Mingle Bingo. The objective was to fill in all the spots on your card with the name of a member who fit the description of the spot, such as ”Has brown eyes”, “First time cruiser” or “Born outside the USA”, etc. Foster and I didn’t even come close to finishing half the card. The winners got all but 3 spots. There was a door prize drawing and I was the first name called. They had several gifts available including several RCCL logo items and several bottles of wine. Guess what I chose? A bottle of wine, of course! We enjoyed the meet and besides putting faces to names of people I’d met online (Hi Rita!), it was also great to collect some swag.

 

After the meet, we walked around the ship a bit. We really didn’t need lunch, and dinner was at 6:30 so we went in search of snacks. We stopped and got Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in The Promenade. Back at the room, we found a cheese plate delivered from the concierge staff, so I went up to The Windjammer to get some bread and crackers to go with it. This was the last of the deliveries from the concierge to our room.

 

There was an Elvis impersonator performing at 3:30, so we went to the theater to see that. We didn’t stay hardly 10 minutes! He was terrible! I suppose if you are into Elvis impersonators, his show might have been OK, but we just didn’t care for it. His singing was OK, but he seemed to prefer the more obscure songs and he also liked to tell horrible jokes. The theater was in the front of the ship, so any motion from rough seas would be more noticeable than in the center of the ship. The stage curtains were really swinging, and it wasn’t just Elvis with wobbly legs – we were all having a hard time keeping our balance walking around. Those 12-foot swells were really stirring things up.

 

We had dinner reservations for 6:30 in Giovanni’s. We also had an appointment in the chapel at 6:00 for a private photo session. We wanted to make a stop in the concierge first for drinks and appetizers, so around 4:30 we headed back to the room. This was the first formal night, so we dressed up. We didn’t go “black tie” formal, but I did wear a suit and tie, and Jan and Katie both wore nice dresses. Katie had a slight emergency with her dress. It was designed to be “straps optional” but the top edges of the bust line kept trying to flip over showing the seam. Jan put the straps on, but that didn’t help very much. I told her we could add a few stitches at the strap and that would keep it in place, so I broke out my travel sewing kit and took care of it. Jan and Katie both seemed incredulous that I could do that. First of all, they have both known me for a very long time and should realize now that I can (or will at least try to) fix pretty much anything, and that I have traveled enough that I have learned how to sew an emergency stitch when needed.

 

After a cocktail in the concierge lounge, we headed for our photo session. The chapel is on deck 15, above the Cosmopolitan Club. It’s the highest guest-accessible spot on the ship, and that created two problems. First, it was hot. There just wasn’t much airflow up there. Second, when a ship is rocking on the seas, the higher you go, the more severe the motion. So here we are, in a hot room, rocking and rolling on the waves. It was not a good combination. The photographer tried his best to make this work, but it just wasn’t going well. He gave us an appointment to come back the next night to look at our proofs, but I knew it would be fruitless.

 

Tonight we were dining in Giovanni’s, the Italian restaurant. After the hot photo session and rocking ship, Jan and Katie were both feeling a really woozy. They didn’t have much of an appetite, so they just ordered some simple pasta and didn’t eat much of that. I had the steak and it was excellent. Even better than the Chop’s filet. The service was just OK, as our waiter seemed to be a bit “off”. Maybe it was the motion of the ship, but I think there was also a slight language or communication problem. He did bring out my bottle of Caymus after I asked for it. If I had to point out one crew member who was just not quite up to the level of the others, he’d be it. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t bad, just not excellent.

 

The motion didn’t bother me in terms of feeling sick, but it really made it hard to walk around. Everyone was stumbling and grabbing for something to steady themselves. It looked like a ship full of drunks. Actually, I have a theory regarding rocking boats. A bit of alcohol can actually counter-act the effects of the rocking. Of course there is a happy medium - too much and you’ll tip, quite literally, in the other direction. We headed back to the room and crashed. It had been a long day, and with the ship rocking and rolling so much, Jan and Katie just wanted to go to bed.

 

I went out on the balcony, but didn’t stay long. The waves were crashing against the side of the ship so hard that they were spraying me – from 80 feet below! Normally I sleep well on a ship with a gentle rocking, but this was almost too much motion. It made Jan restless. I have to admit that a few times I felt like I might roll out of bed. In addition to the rocking and rolling, there were some strong “slams” felt through the ship’s structure as it hit the waves. I slept, but not soundly.

[rudeney]

Day 4: Tuesday, October 20th, 2015

 

“Mexican Air Conditioning”

 

Today is our first port stop: Cozumel, Mexico. I was up just before 7:00am and watched the captain finish docking. Having grown up with boats, I find it amazing that these cruise ships can be so effortlessly docked. Maybe it’s not really effortless, but the captains and crew sure make it look that way. I then went to spend some time in the hot tub and pool. Yesterday, I swam in the salt water pool with no issues. Today, when I got out, my eyes were burning! I got in the poolside shower to try to wash them with fresh water, but the burning really lasted. Hmm, yesterday, everything was fine, but today it was awful. I jumped back in the hot tub for a while, then went for coffee from the magic coffee machine in the concierge lounge. Back to the room to collect Jan and then off to breakfast, then back to get Katie and into go into port. It was overcast, but not raining. We prepared by taking rain jackets, hoping that we wouldn’t need to use them.

 

Katie told me that I needed to look at her iPhone because somehow last night it had come out of “airplane” mode due to an unexpected reboot (thanks, Apple!). She said she tried putting back into airplane mode, but then she couldn’t connect to WiFi. I showed her how to first turn on airplane mode, then turn on only WiFi and all was well. I wasn’t too worried about this because I did not add international calling to her plan, so her phone wouldn’t work, right?

 

We were not doing any organized excursions in Cozumel. Our plans were just to shop and eat lunch. I actually enjoy walking around the authentic-feeling area with all the street vendors and shops. Some people find being constantly “hawked” by the vendors to be stressful, but I find it fun. Once off the ship, we took a short cab ride to the “downtown” area. Katie wanted to buy a ring as a souvenir of the trip, and this would be a good place for that since they like to bargain. The shop merchants entice you to visit their shops with promises of free things like earring, pendants, beer, tequila shots, air conditioning – you name it. It was hot and humid, so air conditioning was always welcome. One shop we went into with the promise of air conditioning was hot. I asked if was broken, and he said, “No, this Mexican air conditioning,” pointing at this box fan!

 

Katie found a ring she liked in the second jewelry shop we stopped into. It was a small family business, as opposed to the typical Diamonds International and Tanzanite shops that the cruise lines push. The ring was a silver band with a huge amethyst flanked by two white topaz stones. Of course the “asking” price was something like $1,800. Her budget was $200. I didn’t think we’d get it for that, but I finally got them down to $220. I kicked in the extra $20 for her and she got a ring she liked. I’d say it’s worth about what we paid for it, and she likes it, so it’s a good deal.

 

Now, the problem was that every other shop we walked by was trying to get our business, too, and often Katie would get suckered in. But since she’d already bought her ring, there was no real reason. A few times, the guys would see the ring and ask her what she paid. When she told them, they all said “oooooh!” so I figured we got a good deal. Otherwise, they’d be telling us we should have bought from them for a better price. One thing I needed was a hat. I have a nice Dorman Panama hat I bought at the beach years ago and forgot to bring it, so I went in search of one for the trip. I found a store with a good selection of men’s hats and narrowed it down to one I liked. My negotiation skills were not as good here, as I was only able to get them down to $35 from $45, and that was only because the guy was trying to rip me off on the exchange rate. Oh well, I really wasn’t going to argue over a few dollars. It’s a nice hat and seems well made, plus it is hand-made in Mexico, so it makes a good souvenir.

 

Another stop we made was at Hooter’s. Katie wanted a T-shirt and ended up with that plus a pair of shorts. As a thanks for spending $30 in the gift shop, we got a coupon for a free margarita. They also had free Wi-Fi, so we decided to stop at the bar there and rest a bit. We were hungry, but we wanted some actual Mexican food. We headed back out and as we passed Punta Langosta hotel, we asked the valet about a good restaurant. He suggested a place a few blocks back off the main street. As we started walking there, it just seemed a bit too far off the beaten path for our tastes. I think Cozumel is a fairly safe place for tourists, and everyone speaks English and is very friendly, but it just looked too “empty” back there. We decided we wanted to stay around the busier waterfront area and people watch.

 

We turned around and ended up at El Toro, a second story restaurant overlooking the main street and waterfront. The service was “Mexican style” - slow and leisurely. But the food was very good. I had a burrito and the beef was grilled and seasoned very nicely. We had ordered queso dip with our tortilla chips and they brought us a bowl of not quit melted cheese. Or maybe it was melted at one time and had re-solidified. Anyhow, it was still good, even if required a knife to eat. I know everyone goes to Cozumel for the tequila, but we just had bottled water. Oh, I forgot – the 100% chance of rain? Well it vaporized. It was 100% sunny and hot and humid.

 

After the meal, now with good weather, we decided we’d like to see some more of the island. I stopped one of the shop hawkers on the street to ask where to get a good tour. He whistled for a taxi driver to come over from across the street and said this guy would give us a great tour. Our only requirements were that we wanted a clean car with real air conditioning. Pedro, the driver, assured us he had both. For $80, he’d give us a 2 to 3 hour tour around the island, with stops at a tequileria, the beaches, and some Mayan ruins. It sounded good to us so we hopped in his cab.

 

Pedro was a great tour guide, telling us about the town and the landmarks and road systems. We did have to make a stop for gasoline and he told us if we wanted some snacks to get them in the convenience store as they were much less expensive than in town. Bottled soft drinks were $1 or less, compared to $2 - $3 in “town”. Jan and Katie got out and went to the restroom, but were totally stymied when they had to pay! Pedro ran over and put some change in the slot to let them in. As we left the gas station, the AC in Pedro’s car didn’t come back on. Uh, this was going to be a problem! Poor Pedro was beside himself and told us he’d get us another taxi when we stopped a few miles down the road at the tequileria. We rode with the windows down and he drove over 100 (km/h, that is) to keep us from sweating to death.

 

Pedro showed us more of the town along the way and we were soon at the tequileria. It was a very simple, rustic roadside pavilion with a garden area out back where the tour was. They showed us the agave plants along with replicas of the tools they use to extract the juice and ferment it. They did not actually make the tequila here, this was just a display area. It was interesting, and the guide was entertaining. They had a live burrow, tied to a tree, who brayed seemingly on command when he explained that they no longer used the animals to operate the equipment and now used tractors. It was a nice little tour, and very “rustic”. Comparing this to an exhibit in Epcot at Walt Disney World would be like comparing an abacus to a Cray supercomputer. We enjoyed a tequila tasting at the end (actually I did – Jan and Katie passed), with an offer to buy their special limited edition tequila for a special cheap price of about $50/bottle for their midrange stuff. It was actually very good tequila, and I was tempted, but having to take it back on the plane in my checked luggage didn’t seem like a great idea. It’s too bad because it was a good price and the bottle was really unique.

 

We found Pedro waiting outside with the car running. He was grinning and told us he fixed the AC! I asked how and he said he just messed with some wires under the hood – it must have been a short. It was cool in the car so we weren’t complaining. Next, we drove along the eastern shoreline. The beaches and water were beautiful! Pedro made a few stops for photo opportunities and to let us walk around on the beaches. He offered to stop at a roadside bar. It was some famous place with notoriously cheap drinks, but we declined. We saw an alligator in a pond on the side of the road, and he made a stop for photos. The land here was amazingly undisturbed. There were a few small resorts, each several miles apart, and a few public beach areas. Mostly it was just pristine, natural areas and very beautiful. Before long, we reached the turn-off for the Mayan village of Cedral. He told us it was the first settlement on the island and was a nice visit. The ruins weren’t much more than a pile of rocks that might once had resembled a pyramid. I don’t think the original temple was much more than that to begin with, and then the years had taken a toll. There was a small mission church next to it that was far more interesting. And as is typical, there was a flea market of vendors all looking for the tourist dollars. I found my same hat here for $25, and that was the starting price!

 

After that, we had a short ride back to the cruise ship. Pedro talked about the schools and his family. He said we was very fortunate to have such a good job and had put all three of his kids through private schools, and insisted that they learn good English. He explained that Cozumel’s only industry is hosting tourists, who are mostly English-speaking. This was our second visit to Cozumel via cruise ship and it was a lot of fun. Some people find the street hawkers and haggling to be annoying, but I kind of like the “energy” and character of the town. Even when trying to sell you something, the people are all very friendly and helpful. And we always feel very safe.

 

Sail away was at 4:00pm, and we were to be back onboard by 3:30. Pedro got us there just before 3:00. We paid him an even $100. It was well worth the money for his tour. The ship had similar tours that might have been nicer, but they were also more expensive and I doubt being on a bus with a group of other tourists would have afforded the local character and personal attention we got from Pedro. We were back on the ship in just a few minutes and ready for showers! The Mexican sun had taken a lot out of us. On the way back, I stopped in the lounge to have Ricardo make 5:30 dinner reservations for us. He called the dining room and I heard him tell the maître d’ to give us a good table. Several people were talking about yesterday’s rough seas. Ricardo said it was the worst he’d experienced in all of his time on this ship.

 

After cleaning up, we headed for the dining room. Katie did not join us. She was not so keen on the menu, plus she had met some friends her age who wanted to eat in the buffet and hang out at the pool. That was fine with us – Katie would enjoy her meal of chicken fingers and hot dogs, and Jan and I could have a nice quiet meal to ourselves. We were seated at a table for four right at the window. There’s just nothing better than a nice meal with a spectacular view of the Caribbean Sea. The waiter brought my bottle of Caymus without me even having to ask. I only had a glass and a half left, so it was polished off at this meal. I had the escargot appetizer, followed by a Caesar salad, and the tiger shrimp entrée. I finished with a sugar-free dessert of strawberries Romanoff. I don’t remember what Jan had, but I know she did not have the escargot (she’d never even try it!) I know she had a Caesar salad, and then maybe a strip steak. We both agreed the food was very tasty.

 

The table location was great and so was the service. Our waiter was a lady from Russia, and she sounded a bit “matter-of-fact”, but she was actually very nice and friendly with great service skills. When we left, I checked with the maître d’ to go ahead and schedule us for the rest of the week at 5:30, at the same table if possible. He told us we couldn’t have that table as it was booked, but he’d get us a table that was just as nice for the rest of the week. We had an appointment for 7:30 to view our photo proofs. We headed up to the chapel around 7:15, hoping the photographer might be available early because we were very tired. The photographer was not to be found, but there was another couple there waiting for their 7:15 appointment. The photographer never showed, and they left around 7:25, and we left at 7:30. I began to doubt that I had remembered the time correctly, especially since we spent the day in Mexico. That whole “mañana” culture is easy to fall into!

 

Jan wanted to visit the casino, so we did. I watched her play slots for a while, then I decided to play some blackjack. There was only one table open, and it didn’t seem to have much “energy”, but I played anyhow. I quickly lost $100 after about 20 hands, and that was enough for me for the whole cruise. Besides not winning, the casino was incredibly smoky and I just couldn’t take it. I really despise smoking and wish that cigarettes just didn’t exist at all. I am happy that at least the ship prohibits smoking except in a few designated areas - the casino, the cigar bar, the port side of the pool deck, and the port side of deck 4. There are one or two rows on non-smoking slot machines, but it doesn’t help. In fact, you can smell the cigarette smoke wafting up onto decks 5 and 6 in the Promenade.

 

It wasn’t terribly late, but after a long day in Cozumel, we were just flat worn out, so we decided to call it a night. We spent a little time out on the balcony enjoying some of our wine. I opened the Rabbit Ridge I brought, and Jan had some Beringer white zinfandel (the door prize from the meet). The seas were much calmer today, and there was a nice breeze, so it was really very pleasant out. We slept much better tonight.

[rudeney]

Day 5: Wednesday, October 21st , 2015 – Grand Cayman

 

“It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere”

 

Today is our second port stop: Grand Cayman. There were no surprises to the start of the day. I was up at 7:00, hot tub, pool, walk, coffee, breakfast. I again had problems with my eyes in the pool. I am beginning to wonder if something changed in the water since Monday. This is a tendered port, so the ship anchored a few hundred yards off the island and we’d have to take a small ferry boat from to the port. Loading of these tenders is a very slow process. Guests who booked excursions through the cruise line and have early meeting times are given priority passes to get on the first tenders. Everyone goes Southwest style - get a ticket and wait for their boarding group to be called. It’s organized, but unpleasant as the stairwells become clogged with guests waiting to board. The backup started on deck 11! Luckily, another perk for suite guests is being led to the tender by the concierge, bypassing those waiting on the stairs. It’s like a Fastpass for the tender. Again, not the reason to pay extra for a suite, but a valuable part of the overall package.

 

We met in the concierge lounge and Ricardo escorted us down to the tender at 10:30. I think we finally stepped off the dock sometime after 11:00am. The weather was nice and clear, though very hot and humid. Of course that’s to be expected in The Caribbean. Again, we had no specific plans for anything other than some shopping. We really weren’t looking for anything in particular, so we just started walking. The main downtown shopping area was right there across from the docks, so no cab rides required. Grand Cayman is very clean, and the shopping is much more low-key. There are no hawkers trying to get you into the shops. They do hand out coupons for free stuff, but it’s just more refined, with no hard sell tactics. Also, there’s not as much negotiation going on here either.

 

We stopped in a few stores and browsed. Katie and Jan got their free pendants with chains at one shop. The quality of them was about what you’d get from a gumball machine. We walked around, looking at the architecture and admiring the clean streets. Things were orderly and we felt completely safe. One reason was that there was a bank on almost every corner, and at least two police officers at the entrance to every bank. We decided to check out Margaritaville for T-shirts. Then we headed upstairs to enjoy a drink. Yes it was before noon and I had a margarita! I also bought a T-shirt that says “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere” which seemed to make it acceptable. We grabbed $5 off coupons from the hawker on the street and saved some money.

 

We did some more shopping and in one place, Katie bought a nice shirt from some clothing brand she likes and the price was much better than at home. After that, we decided it was just too darned hot, so we headed back to the ship. There was no special suite Fastpass line for the tender going back, but that was OK because there were not enough guests waiting to even fill one tender. We enjoyed the tender ride back to the ship. You really get a sense of how big these cruise ships are when you come up to them from the water level like that.

 

We decided we needed some pool time, so we changed into ours swimwear and headed up to deck 11. Jan wanted to stay in the shade, but I wanted to get some sun to show that I had been on vacation. I went up to the reserved concierge chairs and had them all to myself. Jan stayed on deck, in the shade. Being a port day, there weren’t many people on the ship, so the pool deck was not busy at all, probably less than 30 people were out. They announced a corn hole competition, and Katie and one of her new-found friends wanted to play, but they needed at last three to compete, so I agreed to play, too. Then, a drunk guy, beer in hand, decided he’d play. I figured I could beat a drunk guy at corn hole easily!

 

There was not much wave action today, but there was still some gentle movement, and I think the drunk guy just proved my theory about drinking to counter-act the ship’s rocking. I came in dead last by a margin of 5 points to drunk guy! Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! I enjoyed a margarita and Jan had a daiquiri. I enjoyed being on the ship, in the sun, reading my Kindle for a few hours. Jan had a book also and we just enjoyed relaxing. We had 5:30 dinner reservations, so around 3:45, we headed back to the room for showers and a change of clothes. Since I had finished off the Caymus the night before, I grabbed my unopened bottle of Slingshot for the dining room. We made a stop in the concierge, where the topic of discussion was all the people who were seasick on Monday. Apparently, it was a pretty widespread problem on the ship.

 

We arrived at the dining room to be assigned a new table. It was basically the same table as the previous night, but on the opposite side of the ship. Again, a nice view right at the window. Our waiter was Chetan, and his assistant was Amit, both from India. They were very friendly and attentive. Chetan was always smiling and full of energy. At each meal, he’d bring us a third dish of something we didn’t order “just to taste”. Amit was not quite as outgoing, but still very good at his job and always right there with a refill, another roll and ready to clear empty dishes. The head waiter was Sebastiano from Italy. He was very nice, and spent a lot of time at each table, getting to know his guests. We asked him about his family and his career and he told us some great stories! He was by far our best head waiter ever.

 

Jan had the crab cake appetizer, and I had the escargot, and we both had Caesar salads. I chose the surf and turf (filet mignon and shrimp) and Jan had the grilled chicken. I don’t remember what we had for dessert, but I think Jan had a rum cake of some sort that she didn’t like too well. Again, I thought the food was very good. Everything was prepared just as described, and the temperatures were just right. The presentation was top-notch, too. Chetan and Amit paced the meal perfectly. Honestly, for people who say they dislike the food or service, I can only say they must have some really lofty expectations. That, or maybe mine are just really low (but I think it’s the former).

 

After the meal, Sebastiano came by and told us they were offering a special galley tour and brunch combo on Friday. It was $30 per person and included champagne and mimosas, the galley tour, and sampling of dishes from the specialty restaurants. This sounded good to us so we signed up. Now, I know this “upselling” has been the source of complaints for some. Honestly, we never experienced a hard sell. Anytime a crew member began telling us about something we weren’t interested in, we simply said no thanks, and that was it. But some of the things they offered were worth hearing about. They asked me if I wanted to store my wine, and I decided I’d just take it back to the stateroom for enjoying on the balcony.

 

We had rescheduled our photo proof review for tonight, so we headed up to the chapel. This time, the photographer was there waiting on us. I think we had missed him the previous night by one minute. As expected, our photos were not very good. I am not very photogenic, and Jan and Katie did look sick and hot and tired. On top of that, even if our photos had been great, the prices were crazy. And by crazy, I mean ludicrous prices. I think the least expensive was a small 5x7 print on a metal “canvas” box and it was over $500. He had these huge sofa-sized metal boards that were $1,500 and up. Now, I am all for an artist making a good living on his skills and talent, but even if he had taken the best photos ever of us, I’d have had a hard time paying those prices.

 

We left the chapel and headed to the ice show, arriving about 15 minutes before show time. Since we had gold SeaPass cards, we didn’t need a ticket and were directed to the reserved seating section. The show was entertaining. I am not a big ice skating fan, but the show was light-hearted enough to keep me entertained. The skill of the skaters to perform in the confines of such a small rink, on a moving ship, is really amazing to watch. It lasted about 45 minutes which was just enough time to offer a variety of dances but not too long to get boring. We went back to the room and enjoyed the balcony a bit, and then turned in for the night. Katie came in at one point to change into her bathing suit. Her group of friends were going to spend some time on the pool deck.

[rudeney]

Day 6: Thursday, October 22nd, 2015 - Jamaica

 

“Two buses and a Truck”

 

Today is our third and last port stop: Falmouth, Jamaica. I was awake before 7:00am and out on deck just in time to watch the captain dock our ship. It still amazes me how they can do this with such precision. He backed into the dock and there was a decent crosswind, but I didn’t even feel the final “touchdown”. I went ahead and completed my morning ritual of hot tub, pool and coffee. Today I kept my eyes closed in the pool, so no problems there. Back in the room I woke Jan to go get breakfast. I tried waking Katie, but she said she didn’t feel good. I figured it was because she stayed out late and overdid it, but it turns out she was getting sick with a very bad cold/sinus infection.

 

The only organized port excursion we had planned on the cruise was zip lining in Jamaica today. Jan would not go, but I had booked it for Katie and me. Katie said she still wanted to go, even though she was not feeling well. Jan had booked a spa treatment for today on the ship, but she canceled as she was not feeling too well, either. She had a bit of a cold and sore throat the week before the cruise, but she had been feeling fine by the time we left home. I am not sure if she was having a relapse or maybe she and Katie had both picked up some new infection. At any rate, she said she was just going to hang out at the pool for the day.

 

After breakfast, Katie and I headed to the dock. We needed to be at the excursion check-in by 10:15am. Falmouth is a small village in a bay on the north central shore of Jamaica. The port area itself is something the cruise lines have created. Originally, it was a shipping port used for the export of sugarcane. Now, the cruise lines have a modern dock and a small retail village. The port area is separated from the village by a large iron fence. Inside the fence is like being at a Disney theme park with clean brick paver walkways, new but historically-styled buildings, and plenty of bright shops and restaurants. Many of the restaurants were even US-based chains, like Quiznos. It was all very low key, with no “hawkers”. Outside the fence was a poverty stricken village with narrow, dirty streets, some run-down shops, and houses made mostly from construction discards. The cruise lines suggested that passengers stay within the fenced area. I am not sure the village is unsafe, but tourists would stick out like a clown at a funeral.

 

We checked-in for our excursion and waited to be called. Soon, about 40 of us boarded a nice air-conditioned tour bus for our trip to Rose Hall for the zip line adventure. The bus left the gates and drove us through the village of Falmouth where we could see the poverty and decay up close. The people on the streets mostly ignored us, though some of the kids waved. After a few blocks, we entered a four-lane highway and headed west toward Montego Bay. The 15-mile drive to the Rose Hall area took just over 30 minutes. Along the way, the driver pointed out various things about the places we were passing. One of the most interesting things was the number of apparently abandoned partially-constructed houses we saw. These were not shacks, but really nice, large “villas” being built from concrete block. Many were overgrown and some even looked like they were crumbling. Our driver told us how it is very hard to get a mortgage to build a house in Jamaica, so families would save their money to buy land and then build as they could. Many times it would take them 30 or more years to complete these homes, but once finished, the family and their descendants would have very nice, lien-free homes with ocean views. We saw many “Jamaican Home Depot” stores selling concrete block, fabricated columns, archways, staircases, windows, etc.

 

Eventually, we arrived and the Rose Hall area and the bus turned south off the highway, heading up into the hills. The road quickly deteriorated into not much more than a dirt trail. The bus stopped at a wide spot and the driver told us this was as far as it could take us, so we got out and divided up into two smaller buses waiting for us there. These were 20+ passenger shuttle buses, similar to what hotels use. We took off heading up the mountain on a very narrow, rutted dirt road. I was really surprised these buses could make the hills and switchbacks, but they did. After about 15 minutes or so, we arrived at the Rose Hall Outpost. This was just an open-air pavilion that had picnic tables, bathrooms, a small gift shop, and bar/cashier counter. This is as far as those buses could take us, and beyond this point required four-wheel drive to go up the last 800 feet to our 1,800 foot elevation point for the zip lines. I thought the road the buses took to get us here were pretty bad and really needed 4WD, so I couldn’t image how much worse it could get!

 

It had taken about an hour to get from the port to the outpost. Here, we would be suited up in our harnesses and given safety instructions. The first order of business was that everyone was required to use the bathroom. They told us there would be no facilities while out on the zip lines. After that, we were told that we would not be able to carry any items with us such as purses or cameras. Cell phones and other pocketable items were OK, but taken at our own risk. One guy had a GoPro camera with a head strap, which he was allowed to use, but again, at his own risk. They explained that anything dropped could not be retrieved. They offered locker rentals for $5.

 

It took another 30 minutes to take care of bathroom visits and getting into our harnesses. At this point, Katie decided that she just felt too bad to continue. The guides told us that she could just stay at the pavilion and wait on me for the ride back. I bought her a bottle of water, and since all I had was my cell phone in my pocket, this saved $5 for the locker rental. They divided us into two groups, based on which of the two smaller buses we had arrived in. I was in the first group, which was good, because the second group would be about 30 minutes behind us, waiting in the open pavilion. We would have to wait on them at the end, but that would on a more comfortable, air-conditioned bus.

 

We waited on the 4WD truck and after 10 minutes or so, we heard it coming. Actually, what we heard was the previous your group yelling and screaming. They were all hyped-up from a good time, which got all of us excited, too. For those who have been to the Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World, the 4WD truck we boarded was very similar to the ones used in the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Just slightly smaller, with more dents and a less compliant suspension. One of Katie’s new friends from the ship got off the truck as he had been on the excursion earlier this morning. The guides said she could ride the buses back with him and he’d help her back on the ship. She was really feeling sickly.

 

We crammed into the truck, 5 people to a row and the guides hung off the sides. They were all yelling and screaming and getting us even more excited. At one point, a guide named Fabian squeezed into the bench next to me and clipped the carabiner of his safety line to mine. He then said “in case I fall out – then you can go, too!” About five minutes later, he went to stand up and forgot he was clipped on. Luckily, I outweighed him by at least 50lbs so he didn’t pull me out with him.

 

The truck ride to the zip line area was an adventure in itself. It was all dirt trails, through the jungle with lots of steep drop-offs and foliage. There were some surprises along the way, too.

 

After barely making it up some incredibly steep hills, grades too step to walk up, and almost sliding into a few ravines, we ended up at the “entrance” to the zip line course. When I say “entrance”, what I mean is that we reached a wide spot in the trail where the truck could almost turn around, and there was a small opening in the jungle foliage where a footpath might be, and we walked down some wooden steps to a platform for our first zip line. Having been through the training back at the Outpost pavilion, we knew what would happen. First, the guides clipped the safety straps from our harnesses to a rope or steel cable on the platform to keep us from falling off the platform (and form taking off down the zip line too soon). Next, the guide would lead us one at a time, up to the zip line. Actually, each line was actually two parallel lines, stacked vertically. There were two “trolleys” clipped to each of our harnesses. The guide would unclip them and place one on each zip line, then clip our harnesses onto them, then finally transfer our safety line from the platform to the top trolley. We’d then be told to grab the harness straps hanging from the trolleys with both hands, squat down on the edge of the platform and push off.

 

The first line was fairly short and not terribly fast. We had been trained on how to brake in case we came into the destination platform too fast. The process was to take one hand from the harness straps and pull down on the zip line with our palm. Don’t grab, just pull downward pressure with an open palm. We were wearing thick leather construction gloves to prevent any rope burns. It was very important to pull on the zip line behind the trolley, else fingers cold get between the trolley and the zip line and pinch, or “worse”. The guides told us that on the first few lines, we would not need to brake. They would give us advance warning of where we would need to brake and the guide at the end of the line would also give us hand signals when braking was required.

 

This process continued for about four lines that got progressively longer and faster. For the most part, we were in the jungle, thus the reason they call this a “canopy” zip line tour. Even though we were shaded from the sun, it was still hot and very humid. The breeze we got flying down the zip lines was very welcome. After about the fourth line, we landed on a platform that was about 70 feet off the ground, suspended from a tree by steel cables. This platform was about eight feet square, with no railing, and the tree went through the middle of it. The guides clipped our safety lines to a rope around the tree as we arrived. The guides explained this was the first of two “surprises”, which I won’t give away.

 

I think there were a total of eight zip lines, plus the two surprises. We were having so much fun, I really didn’t count them all. One of the longest lines, about 600 feet long, afforded a spectacular view of the ocean 1200 feet below us at the end of a ravine. This zip line adventure was really very easy. There were no special skills required, except the willingness to put your safety in the hands of these guides. While they loved to cut up and make things fun, they were very serious about the safety and double-checked our harnesses at each line. We spent over an hour on the lines and were soon at the end, where we removed our helmets, gloves and harnesses and made a short trek on a path to the dirt road where our truck was waiting. The guides gave us a quick talk and asked us how much we enjoyed it. They told us there would be a survey and a tip box back at the pavilion and they would be grateful for good marks and any cash we could spare. They were very humble about asking for this and we were all glad to give them excellent marks and tips.

 

We took a shorter truck ride back to the outpost pavilion and most everyone headed either to the bar or the restrooms. Somewhere along the way, there had been a photographer, and they offered us photos for purchase. I was not very happy with any of my photos, but many people purchased theirs, provided on CD-ROM. I was pretty hot and sweaty, but didn’t want anything to drink as I knew it was another hour back to the ship without a bathroom. I filled out my survey with stellar ratings for the staff, and dropped $20 in the tip box. Soon, we boarded the waiting shuttle buses, which took us down the hills and back to the larger tour bus. We sat on the larger bus for about 30 minutes until the other half of our tour returned. Like I said, being in the first group is better because our wait is at the end of the tour in an air-conditioned bus instead of in the open pavilion. Once we were all onboard, the driver took us back to the port. We arrived just after 3:00pm, and I was back in my stateroom by 3:30.

 

I changed into my swimsuit and met up with Jan on the pool deck. I got in the pool for a minute to cool off. We had 5:30 dinner reservations, but Jan said she didn’t want to get dressed and wanted to do something more casual. We decided we’d grab burgers and shakes at Johnny Rocket’s up on desk 12 instead of eating in the dining room. We stayed around the pool for about an hour and I headed up to the concierge lounge to grab a drink and have Ricardo call the dining room to cancel our table. When I got there, Benjamin the bartender saw me and prepared my usual Scotch and club soda without me even asking. I looked around but didn’t see Ricardo. Instead, a young lady named Nadja was at the desk. She introduced herself as the assistant concierge. I told her I needed to cancel dinner tonight and then I wanted to move tomorrow to be a little alter, maybe 6:00 or so. She took care of that and then I asked about Ricardo.

 

Nadja informed me that Ricardo had to leave the ship while we were in port due to a medical emergency. Her normal job was the concierge in the Diamond lounge, but she would be filling in for Ricardo for the remainder of the cruise. I expressed my concerns for Ricardo’s health and offered prayers and well wishes. Nadja seemed quite capable, but was visibly stressed. I am sure that between the uncertainty of Ricardo’s condition, plus now having to do two jobs, she was a bit frazzled.

 

I was really worn out from my day. We took showers and then headed to Johnny Rocket’s. The restaurant is on the starboard side of deck 12. It looks like a regular Johnny Rocket’s with its metal “diner car” façade offering seating in booths and the counter inside. There are also booths outside on the deck overlooking the sea, and that’s where we sat. They charge a flat $6.95 per person for all the food you want. Shakes are an additional charge (about $5 each). We had a coupon from Crown & Anchor for BOGO shakes on our SeaPass card. We each ordered a burger, and they served it with a “bottomless” basket of onion rings and fries. The food and shakes were good, just like we get from them at home. As with the other specialty restaurants, the $6.95 upcharge here covers the gratuity, but there is an 18% service charge added to the shakes. I left a few extra dollars as a tip.

 

After dinner, we headed back to the room. Katie had spent most of the day in bed, but did go out with some friends for food. She said she wanted to get out and do something, so I looked at our Cruise Compass and found a comedian, Jeff Jena, was performing at 7:00. Jan was too tired, but Katie and I went to the show. His shtick was that he is 63 years old and has a 14 year old son. There were a lot of jokes about him being mistaken for grandpa and such. He was very funny and both Katie and I thoroughly enjoyed his show. This was his “family-friendly” version, and he’d be performing an adult show on Saturday night. Back at the room, I enjoyed some wine on the balcony and Jan turned in early as she wasn’t feeling too well.

[rudeney]

Day 7: Friday, October 23rd, 2015 – At Sea

 

“If you can’t take the heat…”

 

Today we are spending the first of two days at sea on our way back to Galveston. The day started as normal – up at 7:00, hot tub and pool. Today was our galley tour and brunch, which was scheduled for 11:00am on deck 4 in the dining room. Sebastiano had warned us to skip breakfast on this day lest we would not be able to enjoy all the food offered. Jan did need “something”, so we went to the Windjammer buffet and had a light breakfast. I skipped the eggs, had only two sausage links, and a couple of pieces of bacon. She had a small bowl of oatmeal.

 

We showed up at the main dining room entrance on deck 4 right before 11:00 and found a good sized crowd waiting – probably over 100 people! Soon, we were lead into the dining room and seated a group of tables. There were waiters available to serve us our choice of champagne or mimosas. I had at least one of each, and I finished Jan’s too. The head chef, dining room manager, and bar manager all spoke to us about their jobs, giving us lots of interesting statistics on how many tons of food and gallons of beverages were consumed on the average cruise.

 

Next, they split us into a few groups of about 10-12 people and we began the galley tour. The first thing we noticed was how clean everything was. The floors literally looked clean enough to eat off of. The walls and ceiling were all stainless steel, as were all the appliances and tables and everything sparkled. Our tour guide was one of the senior head waiters and he knew everything! A few of us asked questions trying to stump him, and the only thing he stumbled a bit on was in regards to the water filtration system. And I suspect that is because he didn’t want to go into the details of how some of the “gray water” is recycled.

 

We saw a chef making the salads and sandwiches to be served in the Promenade café. We saw the bakery and the room service call intake center as well as the room service cooking area. Then there were the grills and ovens. Really, it was overwhelming. One of the most interesting areas was where they washed dishes. He explained how one side was only for the staff who dealt with intake of dirty items, and the other was only for the waiters and assistant waiters and cooks staff to retrieve clean dished. This kept things isolated to help prevent spreading germs. They also have separate facilities to wash glasses so they aren’t clouded from the greasy food plates. Post and utensils used by the cooks are hand washed, in an area completely separate from the passenger dishes.

 

After about 30 minutes of touring the galley, Jan started complaining about the heat. Of course I told her, if she can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. That got me a nasty look. About that time, we headed back to the dining room. As we left the galley, there was a large wall separating it from the dining room. The galley side of the wall was used as a large bulletin board, advertising open positions and help needed in the various restaurants and shifts. One thing a noticed was a big sign that simply had the word “REVENUE!” on it. I assume this is to remind the staff to try to upsell us passengers.

 

Back out in the dining room, they seated us in a different section where the tables were set with bowls of tortilla chips and guacamole from the ship’s Mexican restaurant, Sabor. The guacamole was good, but I’ve had better. I prefer mine a big chunky and bold, while this was creamy and fairly mild. After sampling that, we were instructed to go back into the galley at our leisure where a buffet sampler of food awaited us. There was a section of cheeses, fruits, breads, and an adjacent area with sushi. Another section by the grills and ovens served entrees and sides, and down from that was a dessert table. I tried a bit of everything and other than a piece of salmon that was a bit dry, it was all very good. I did have one bowl of pasta that was not to my liking, but that may just have been my personal tastes. The chateaubriand and sushi were both very good. Overall, the tour and food was well worth the $30 per person. I highly recommend it.

 

We left around 1:00 and the rest of our day was to be spent at the pool. I have heard horror stories about how crowded the pool deck can be on sea days, and how many passengers save lounge chairs. Yes, it was busy, but not crazy, and there were always an available chair to be found, though not usually on the front row at the pool. There were always plenty of open lounges in the reserved suite section. We enjoyed watching the activities around the pool such as the pool volleyball tournament, another corn hole challenge, some line dancing and just people watching. A very good reggae band played. I am not a big reggae fan, but these guys were great.

 

There were plenty of people to watch. Some nice “eye candy” and a few of the “OMG I can’t un-see that!” situations. We found the pool deck to be a lot of fun with plenty of energy and but not “elbow to elbow” crowded. Most all of the people on the ship were nice and courteous, although I still question a few fashion decisions. Overall, we did not find the ship to feel crowded. The only time it even began to feel that way was at peak times on the elevators. One of the four elevators on the starboard side aft was out of service, so that didn’t help, either. Even the Windjammer buffet wasn’t too bad, though we never sat in there – we always took our plates into Chops and there were never many people in there.

 

I really can’t say that we ran across any crew members who weren’t very friendly and helpful. Some were much more outgoing than others, but all were definitely focused on giving us great service. Even the most subtle mention of a problem or concern was immediately met with offers to help. We never heard “no” and we saw lots of smiles. There were very few children on the cruise. Most were either very young, infants and toddlers, and a handful of elementary aged kids. All were well behaved with conscientious parents. We never saw a meltdown or an annoying child.

 

The only annoyance we really experienced was with some of the Asian passengers, and there were a large number of them aboard, I’d say close to 20% of the passenger population. Most were fine, but some were, well, let’s say, “Not in tune with Western customs.” Some would just break in line. For example, at the breakfast buffet, there was always a backup of three or four people at the counter where the bacon was located. The bacon was a mix of soft and crispy, all stuck together, and it’s a challenge to pick out the pieces you want. It seemed like every morning, some Asian person would just walk up, break in line and practically take the tongs out of the hands of another person. They would also cram into full elevators and walk on the “wrong” side of the stairs. I know these are cultural problems, but honestly, I think I’d at least make some effort to learn to fit in with the local customs just by observing how others behave.

 

Tonight was the second formal night. Although Katie had tried to spend some time on deck, she really felt bad, so she ended up in bed early. Jan and I got dressed (again, just suit and tie, not “formal”) and headed to the Concierge lounge and dinner. Nadja was still looking a bit frazzled. I don’t mean to say that she looked disorganized or incapable, just that she looked like someone operating in “high-gear” with too much to do. Chetan and Amit greeted us at our table. Tonight they offered lobster tails, and Chetan (“REVENUE!”) suggested we make it a surf and turf by adding a filet mignon steak from Chops. The normal price was $16.95, but tonight’s special was 20% off. Being suckers for a discount, we took his offer. I decided to be a pig and order two appetizers – my usual escargot, and a scallop dish. Chetan laughed and said he’d be glad to bring me whatever and however much I could eat. He then told us about a young man who once ate 16 lobster tails! I joked that I would be glad to break that record, but really I was satisfied with the single entrée with the steak and my two appetizers. The filet is not USDA Prime, but it was seasoned very well and cooked perfectly, tender and juicy.

 

After dinner, we were full and went back to the room to change into more casual clothes. Katie had spent the afternoon in bed, but we told her to let Marlon in to make up her bed. The Owner’s Suite has a “queen plus” bed in the bedroom, and the sectional sofa in the living room folds to futon-style into a queen bed. Of course Jan and I took the bed and Katie slept on the fold-out. When I say the bed is “queen plus” it’s because it’s larger than a standard queen, but not quite a king. A standard king bed is 76” wide by 80” long. A standard queen is 60” wide by 80” long. This bed was 72” wide by 80” long. I think they call this a “short king”. Oh, and yes, I did bring a tape measure specifically for this as there had been some prior discussion here as to the actual bed size. The photos just made it look larger than a queen, and it is. So now we know!

 

Anyhow, we walked around the ship a bit, and turned in early. I know this sounds crazy, but by 9:00pm, we were just flat worn out. I would blame it on Katie and Jan having a cold, but I was perfectly well and still tired. I spent some time on the balcony, polishing off the last of the wine, and then read my Kindle until I fell asleep.

[rudeney]

Day 8: Saturday, October 24th, 2015 – At Sea

 

“Houston we have a problem!”

 

Today is our last full day on the ship. It’s the second of two days at sea on our way back to Galveston. The morning started as usual at 7:00am with a trip to the hot tub and pool. As I walked around deck, I caught the weather segment on HLN playing on the Jumbotron over the pool deck. The big story was hurricane Patricia in the Pacific ocean, coming ashore on the west coast of Mexico. I was pretty much ignoring that until they began to talk about Houston getting a lot of rain tonight and Sunday. Hmm…

 

After that, I headed to the concierge lounge for coffee. But there was a problem. A very serious problem. Possibly even a travesty! When I entered the lounge, I found Nadja fiddling with the magical coffee machine. Oh horror of horrors! It was broken! After I regained consciousness, I offered to help, but she said it was really out of commission. Something about the vacuum hose from the milk supply coming loose and a bad flux capacitor. I really feared the day would be ruined. But, there was a saving grace. At the buffet, I found they had a whole tray full of soft scrambled eggs! I didn’t have to wait for a custom preparation! I grabbed a few scoops and even got extra bacon, just to console myself for a lack of espresso. I did have a cup of the ship’s plebian “coffee” and it was pretty bad.

 

Like most of the other 3,100 passengers, we decided to spend our last day on the pool deck. Today, the winners of yesterday’s pool volleyball tournament would face off against the ship’s officers. It was funny to see them in the pool wearing swim trunks and their white uniform shirts. They lost, but I think it’s rigged that way so guests won’t leave on a bad note. The reggae band was playing again today and there were plenty of other activities. Jan stayed in the shade and I alternated from there to a lounge in the sun in the reserved section. One time when returning to the shady chairs, I found Jan gone. I glanced around and found her sitting in another chair off to the side. She said the area where she was sitting was not getting much breeze, so she moved closer to the side where there were open windows. The ship was sailing with the wind, so it was a bit stagnant. She found a nice couple there from Texas to chat with. I sat and chatted, too.

 

Around 11:00am, the crew started setting up for a lunch buffet barbeque. I did the math and discovered that it was 5 o’clock in Europe, so I went to the bar for some drinks. Jan tried the barbeque and said it was very good. I passed as I was still full from breakfast. And now a word about our bar tab. I had considered getting the $57/day Premium drink package, but I decided I might not get my money’s worth. Between Jan and me, we spent less than $250 for drinks aboard the ship. And that even included the $98 bottle of Caymus that I drank at dinner over three nights. Having two of my own bottles, plus the bottle I won, and access to the concierge lounge, I just didn’t need a drink package. Jan might have one drink a day at the pool, sometimes even a “virgin”, so she was definitely a cheap date.

 

At some point, the captain came over the intercom to give us some information about the weather. It was great out here in the Gulf, but he explained the situation with hurricane Patricia was causing problems in Texas. He said it was likely that we’d be late coming into port tomorrow because of high winds and seas. Basically, he told us that he would not wake us too early with an announcement tomorrow, but if we woke up and saw we were not in port by 7:00am, then we would be anchored offshore waiting for calmer seas. Later that afternoon, he made another announcement that a Carnival ship had docked at our terminal and was not able to leave port that afternoon as expected, so we would definitely be late in the morning, waiting for good weather so it could depart. He said to expect about a two-hour delay, but it was even possible that if conditions were really bad, we might stay out all day. On the one hand, I was not going to complain about my cruise getting extended, but on the other, I really was getting ready to be back home. Plus, the weather was expected to deteriorate as we sailed further north, so any extra time on the ship would likely be in the rain.

 

Katie had begun to feel so bad that she ended up in the medical facility. The doctor there told her she had “tonsillitis” and gave her a 3-day antibiotic and a bottle of Dayquil. It cost almost $200 for that (I am hoping our travel insurance will pay for it, though). And of course she did not have tonsillitis as hers were removed around age 5. Anyhow, the antibiotic would help, as would the Dayquil. Oh, I forgot to mention, because of Jan’s cold, she decided to get some cold medicine in the ship’s store earlier this week. A medium-sized bottle of Nyquil and some cough drops cost $22! Now, I know there is an additional cost to stocking things like this on a ship, but that’s just taking advantage of people.

 

Sometime after 3:00, we decided to head back to the stateroom to shower and get ready for our last dinner. Katie was staying in bed. I caught Marlon in the hall and let him know Katie was in bed, but she said it was OK for him to come in and setup her bed and clean the bathroom. Marlon was very concerned about her and asked if he could get her anything. He even offered to go to the Windjammer or call room service for her, bring her drinks, whatever she needed, but she declined.

 

Jan was taking longer to get ready, so I went ahead to the concierge lounge for a cocktail. We arrived for dinner right at 5:30 and were quickly greeted by Chetan and Amit. I had my usual escargot and Caesar salad, Jan had a shrimp cocktail and salad. I ordered the fish, and Jan had a chicken breast. Chetan brought us an extra pasta dish, too “to try”. For dessert, Jan was torn between the frozen strawberry soufflé and the key lime pie, so I ordered both for her, and I had the chocolate sensation (cake, syrup and shavings). Jan said the soufflé was better. I don’t like key lime pie, but the chocolate sensation was good. Again, this was another enjoyable meal with great service. Sebastiano came by to say his goodbyes and tell one last story. I have to say, he is the best, most attentive head waiter we’ve had on a cruise. I do miss the old days where we handed out envelopes to the staff for gratuities. Now, everything is already charged to the account (or included) and that is just somehow anticlimactic.

 

We headed back to the stateroom to start the sad task of packing. Marlon stopped by to check on Katie once again and also let us know that we didn’t have out be of the room right at 8:00am since we would be at least two hours delayed arriving in port. I made one more trip to grab a Scotch before the concierge lounge bar stopped serving at 8:00. Katie did go out to the Windjammer before it closed to get some food, but she didn’t eat much. We had everything ready and out in the hall shortly after 9:00pm and turned in for bed. We had run into some rain and winds, and the seas were a bit rougher now, but nothing like Monday.

[rudeney]

Day 9: Sunday, October 25th, 2015 - Galveston

 

“The Blustery Day”

 

Today is the last day of our vacation. I was up sometime before 7:00am and looked out the window to see, well, not much of anything! It was very foggy and rainy out, and we definitely weren’t in port. In fact, we weren’t moving, so I assumed we had anchored off shore and would be at least two hours late. Jan and Katie had showered last night to save time, but I did shower and get dressed. There would be no hot tub or pool this morning as it was just way too stormy out on deck. Plus I think they close them on the last day for cleaning anyhow.

 

Since we knew we didn’t have to be out of the room right at 8:00, we left our carry-on luggage and headed up to the buffet then to Chops. Every other morning, there were maybe two or three tables of passengers in there. Today, it was almost full. The reason is, this was also the assigned waiting area for disembarkation for suite passengers. We’d disembark right behind the first group that does “self-assist” and carries their own luggage off.

 

While at breakfast, we could see out the windows and the ship was moving. As we ate, the captain navigated into the port and docked. We could see the Carnival ship that was in our spot leaving the harbor just ahead of us. The water in the bay area at the port was actually very calm, but the winds were crazy. True to form, the captain made the docking process look effortless. Around 8:00, we headed down to the room to collect our bags. I realized Katie didn’t get any paperwork from the infirmary yesterday, so I sent her down to check on that, as I assume we’ll need something to file an insurance claim. While we were waiting on her to return, Marlon came in to check on us. I apologized for being late leaving the room (it was 8:30 now) and he assured us it was fine because of the delay.

 

Katie came back and said the infirmary was closed, even though the sign said it opened at 8:00 today. Oh well, we’ll just have to deal with this when we get home. We headed up to Chops and waited. Right around 9:00, the captain announced that we had cleared customs and that the self-assist guests could disembark. We could see them in the gangway below from the windows in the restaurant. They were moving very slowly. Nadja was there with us, chatting with everyone about their cruise and such. We found that Ricardo was doing well, but would need to have a series of tests to make sure he was healthy enough to return to work, so he’d probably be out at least another week.

 

At 10:00, Nadja got the call on her radio that they were ready for us, so she led us to the elevator lobby. She told us to take the stairs or elevators, and she’d meet us on deck 4. Once we were down in the there, we recognized many of our fellow suite guests, but didn’t see Nadja anywhere. Crew members told us to move on out, so we followed those instructions. Right before stepping into the gangway from deck 4, our SeaPass cards were scanned once more with the familiar “bee-boop” confirmation tone. Hearing that when first entering the ship last Sunday was an exciting event because we were officially on a cruise. Hearing it today, well, that was not so exciting as it marked the official end of the cruise.

 

Foot traffic on the gangway and down into the terminal moved well. We could see baggage spread out in groups by disembarkation number on the floor of the warehouse-style building. A crew member was directing traffic telling us that if we needed a porter to go right, and if not, go left to get our own bags. We definitely need a porter, maybe two, so we went right. We still saw no sign of Nadja and that bothered Jan. She was worried we’d get stuck in a long line, but really, there was not a lot of people in the terminal, and most all were the group of suite and Pinnacle passengers we were with in Chops. We had to wait about 10 minutes in line to get an available porter, and then we quickly found our bags.

 

Now we see Nadja, or actually, she saw us first. She had us and the porter follow her and he sent us to one of the customs desks, right behind one other family. There were about 10 customs stations, with three dedicated to US passport holders only, two for non-US citizens and the rest with no particular specialty. It appeared that two in the middle were reserved for Nadja’s suite guests. The line we were in seemed to be stuck as the family ahead of us had a “complicated transaction”. I couldn’t quite tell what was going on, but I could see them handing papers back and forth to the customs officer and speaking in Spanish. I didn’t see any passports, so they may have been using birth certificates. Passports are not required on closed-loop US-based cruises for US citizens, but if they didn’t have quite the right documentation, it can be a real pain. The other line was actually about to be empty so we tried to move over there, but our porter said no, we had to stay in this line. About that time, four people behind us moved into the other line and quickly went through while we still waited on the complications ahead.

 

Finally, they cleared and we went through. It took us about one minute to show our passports and clear the desk. I told our porter I needed to go get the car and would be back as soon as possible. He, Jan and Katie all waited under the roof at the curb, out of the rain, while I braved the elements. I was wearing a rain jacket, and I still got soaked! The rain blew in all around the hood and everywhere. Winds were literally blowing 50mph and I had to lean into to keep moving forward. We had parked at Galveston Park-n-Cruise, which was very convenient, but it was a block down the street once I crossed Harborside. I made a mental note that VIP Cruise Parking is closer, as it’s right there on the corner after crossing the street. So, anyone cruising out of Galveston and trying to pick a parking lot, VIP is the closest walk.

 

By the time I made it to the car, I was soaked. It was about 10:45, which is about the same time last week when Harborside was a huge queue of traffic, but today the road was almost empty. I guess all the embarking passengers got the memo that their departure would be delayed. I drove down Strand from the parking lot, turned left onto 22nd, then right onto Harborside and left into the terminal at 25th with no problems. After a few brief waits for cross traffic and looking for a spot at the curb, I found Jan, Katie and the porter. We loaded the luggage, tipped the porter, and headed out. I was going to take a right on Harborside and head back to I-45, but it was totally flooded just west of the terminal. The police directed us to make a left on 29th. From there, it was pretty dicey at times. We had to zig and zag on several streets to avoid the floods. Finally, we made it to Broadway, which was fairly clear except for some tree debris. Going across the bridge on I-45 was and adventure with those 50mph winds! That was at 11:00am

 

The rain was not coming down too hard, but it was a steady drizzle with high, gusty winds. It was really miserable driving. We made it to the NASA/Webster area and decided to find a theater and see a movie. That just seemed like the thing to do to kill time on a rainy day. We watched “The Intern” with Anne Hathaway and Robert De Nero. It was cute, and worth the $6.75 per ticket price we paid. We found a mall, and decided to walk around there to kill some more time. After that, we ate an early dinner at Zoe’s Kitchen and then headed to the airport. I stopped for gas on the way in a town called Fuqua, just south of the airport exit. Jan corrected my pronunciation of that town’s name. Apparently, it’s “few-kwa”. I went ahead and dropped our bags at the terminal before returning the car, so we wouldn’t have to deal with the pile on the shuttle bus. We made it back, through security and to our gate just after 6:00pm for our 8:05pm flight.

 

The weather was still pretty crappy, so we assumed we’d have a rough trip. The incoming plane for our flight was about 15 minutes late, but our crew was going to be about 30 minutes late. The gate agent made an announcement that they found a “spare” pilot to babysit the plane so we could go ahead and board while we waited on the scheduled crew to arrive. So where do you find a spare pilot on a rainy Sunday evening in Houston? Are these guys just hanging around, looking for work? The flight ended up leaving about 30 minutes late, and it was not terribly rough, but the pilot kept the seat belt sign on and did not let the crew serve refreshments. We landed around 10:20pm (schedule for 9:40). After a 20 minute wait for bags, getting the car, and driving home, it was about 11:30. After unpacking, I made it to bed just before 1:00am and was at work by 9:15am the next morning.

 

Epilogue:

 

The week after we returned, I got my Verizon bill and had over $100 in international roaming charges on Katie’s phone. What? I was told that she would not even be able to use her phone without adding a plan! I looked, and sure enough, it was text messaging that happened on Monday night after her phone rebooted and came out of airplane mode. I called Verizon, hoping they would help out since I’ve been a customer since Verizon was created (I was original on Cellular One, which became GTE, which became Verizon). Well, they were of no help! I explained how weeks before, I was told “no international usage without a plan” but apparently that is incorrect and their phones can always roam and incur charges, and the “pay-go” plan is not even necessary.

 

I even explained to the agent that we were in airplane mode, only using WiFi on the ship or in port. She told me that wasn’t possible, because airplane mode disables WiFi. I explained that WiFi could then be turned on separately, and she told me I was wrong. Well, I know I am right and I was getting very frustrated. I requested a supervisor, who gave me the same runaround and the same “no WiFi in airplane mode” argument. She even said, “Look, I have an iPhone, I have put it in airplane mode, and I have no Internet access.” So I proceeded to step her through turning on only WiFI, had her test it. She confirmed I was right, but she was not even apologetic for her misinformation! All she was willing to do was retroactively put Katie’s phone on the $40 plan so that it would cover those messages, and credit the remaining $60+ of the pay-go. I argued and argued, and got nothing more. ***** top of this, tTwo months ago they enticed me to switch plans to save money, but that caused a discount to be lost and it cost me more. That took hours on the phone and several escalations to resolve. I have been a long time, happy Verizon customer, but I’m about ready to switch!

 

Finally, I called RCCL to get Katie’s medical records to file an insurance claim. The customer service agent was very friendly and helpful and emailed the request form we need to file, along with an apology for the medical staff not giving it to us in the first place. I’ll update the forum with information on how the claim works with our travel insurant (Global Alert).

 

Well, that’s it! Thanks for reading along about our wonderful cruise vacation! Photos are here:

 

http://1drv.ms/1Pakvnz

[rmurray847]

Nice review. SO detailed!! We were on this same itinerary in late August...sure glad we didn't have the seas you did. I would certainly have been sick.

[JBSteelerfan]

Excellent review!! Thanks for sharing!!

[miss meow]

Thanks for this review - good job! Totally jealous of your suite!!! Funny thing, I was sick early early morning prior to arriving in Cozumel. Felt fine when I went to bed, woke up about 3 am and threw up. But, after that was fine - not sure if it was the rocking of the boat or what. Interesting that others weren't feeling well either.

 

It was great to meet you at the Meet/Mingle - and it was a fantastic cruise. I did have the same complaint about the Asian's that you did, which is sad.

 

Next time we go to Cozumel I think that maybe we'll do what you did - we went to Nachi Cocum, it was "ok", but don't know that I'd go there again.

 

Rita

[Podie]

Thanks for a great review. I was surprised to read about what Galveston does if you have wine in your carry-on bag. At Port Canaveral, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale, we have never been stopped nor asked our cabin number and as a result each of us has always carried in two bottles of wine with no problem.

[cincicruisers]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to post. Hope Katie and Jan are feeling better.

[CAT GIRL]

Great review. I love it because I can just feel like I'm there. We love

both Ricardo and Nadja. I hope he recovers soon.

[rudeney]

Thank for reading though all of that, guys! I know there are a lot of boring details, but I do this for all of our major vacations. Its an old habit from my days on the Disney Usenet forums.

 

Apparently, there were many people sick from Monday's high seas. I didn't think it was that bad, just annoying. Bu then again, I just don't get motion sick, and I once slept (soundly) through a hurricane on a 36-foot sailboat anchored in the Intracoastal Waterway.

 

Jan and Katie are doing fine now. They went to our regular doctor on Monday and he said it's just "the crud" going around. They got some more meds and all is well. :)

[MinnieLinda]

Thank you for writing your review - it really helps those of us with upcoming cruises.

[Mominor]

Loved reading your review! Felt like I was there with you and makes me more ready for our upcoming cruise. Ugh on Verizon, that's very disappointing. I do wonder why you opted for wifi over the $40 plan in the first place? I'm considering the plan for our trip next month so our teenager can use his phone to get ahold of us if needed.

[rudeney]

Loved reading your review! Felt like I was there with you and makes me more ready for our upcoming cruise. Ugh on Verizon, that's very disappointing. I do wonder why you opted for wifi over the $40 plan in the first place? I'm considering the plan for our trip next month so our teenager can use his phone to get ahold of us if needed.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

As for the VZW plan, the reason I did not get the $40 plan is primarily because we did not intend to make any calls. I knew I'd pay for WiFi on the ship so I could keep in touch with my office, and since we could text with that, there was no reason to get a cellular plan. On top of that, my billing cycle ended in the middle of the cruise, so VZW wanted me to pay for two months ($80) of the international plan to cover the entire week. Even at that, I would only have added it to my phone, not Katie's. If I had any idea that not having a plan would have resulted in being able to incur charges, I'd have been more diligent to deal with Katie's phone kicking out of airplane mode. Thank goodness we had already set all of our phones to disallow data when roaming!

[anjomojo]

I too was on this same cruise. Got seasick for the first time after 13 prior cruises of never being sick. I found a spot on the ship to look out at the water during the rough seas and began feeling better after a few hours.

[tamtot]

C

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rubrrick]

To the OP. Excellent review! We were on the same cruise, in a GS forward of you. Day 2 the seas were choppy, and some were seasick, but for me, it's weather and seas like this that I enjoy the most.

 

The last report that I got from the ship is that Ricardo is back onboard. He had a mild heart attack, but is on the mend. He also suffered a serious heart attack earlier in the year, so I just pray that he will be alright. Nadja replaces Ricardo from time to time, and she also is excellent at her job.

 

Thanks again for telling it like it was!!:)

 

Rick

[rudeney]

Thanks Rick! I did read in the "concierges" thread that Ricardo is back which I am very glad to hear. Not that I wanted it to happen that way, but we really enjoyed meeting Nadja.

[Brandon B]

Great Review...I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.

we'll be on NOS in February 2016 (8 day Eastern Caribbean) we have a GS but your making look at an OS....