Cruising Christine's Dream Review 10/25/15

[bakersdozen12]

Port Day #2: Grand Cayman cont'd

 

After spending a decent time at the park, it was time to get back on the bus and head to the place I had been waiting for all day: 7 mile beach! I was so excited when I got my first glimpse.

 

 

Now, again, this was my first time ever visiting a Caribbean beach, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I guess so of the people that we were with were not really thrilled about the location that the tour company brought us to. Seven mile beach is a big beach (hence the name), so there are a lot of different locations. The place we ended up at was right next to a large parking lot type area.

 

 

But oh well, we were here, and I was happy. They had tables and chairs waiting for us, and there was a bbq lunch included as well.

 

 

The lunch was good; bbq chicken, rice and beans, corn, etc. Nothing really to rave about, but it was decent.

 

 

Didn't really matter to me, though, because I could have gone without lunch. I just wanted to swim in the gorgeous ocean!

 

 

It was everything I imagined. Again, I'm from NH, so the ocean water I am used to is not clear, and it's freezing as heck even in the summer time. This water was oh so warm and the prettiest blue-green color. My waterproof camera just did not pick up the sheer gorgeousness of the color.

 

[bakersdozen12]

Port Day #2: Grand Cayman cont'd

 

As you can see, lots of jet ski's and other fun water toys to rent. There was also these really cool "shoes" that you could wear that would lift you out above the water by shooting water out from them so that you would pretty much hover above the ocean. The guy wearing them clearly knew what he was doing. Me, I would have fallen right into the ocean in about 2 seconds, lol! They did not look easy to balance on at all.

 

 

Our time at 7 mile beach was much too short, but it was still incredibly fun. My husband and I will be back in Grand Cayman next year (as long as the weather cooperates), and since we won't be with a group we'll be able to pick our own excursion. I had planned to do a stingray tour, but now I'm rethinking that we should just do a 7 mile beach day. I would definitely love to have a full day there!

 

On the way back to the ship, we spotted a wedding party along the road. I think they were taking pictures with the ship in the background.

 

 

The ship was the Holland America ms Eurodam, that was also in port that day. Interestingly enough, we noticed on the way back to the ship that they were using their lifeboats as tenders. Not sure how that is decided-which ships use tender boats vs lifeboats-but they arrived in port last that day, so maybe that's it. That there are perhaps a limited number of tender boats to go around.

 

 

We got back a bit early, so rather than go right back to the boat, my husband and I left our group and went across the street from where the Welcome Center is. There are a lot of stores there and even a little shopping mall. I had noticed a Pandora sign from the bus on our way back to port, so I just had to find the store so that I could get an island-exclusive charm. :D

 

 

There was also a Margaritaville right across from the Welcome Center, too. Lots of drunk people there, lol! I couldn't help but wonder which one of them were going to be tender boat pier runners, hehe.

 

Grand Cayman, for those that have never been, is definitely a place where you can just get off a tender and do some shopping and walking around without an excursion. I felt very, very safe there.

 

Well, eventually we boarded a tender and headed back to the ship where I got one last look at Grand Cayman before we sailed off. Definitely a must-do island for anyone to do at least once. Personally, I would enjoy going back many more times.

 

[bakersdozen12]

Port Day #2: Grand Cayman cont'd

 

I believe we were back on board sometime around 3:00, so we had plenty of time to get ready for our 6:00 early dining time. I sat out on our balcony for awhile to watch for late boarders. Remember those 6 people that barely made it on? I wonder if they were any of the drunk people we ran into at Margaritaville?! :D

 

Anyhoo...now for the best part of any review: dinner food porn!

 

I had the vegetable egg rolls for my appetizer. They were very good, and whatever that sauce is that they have two little drops of on the plate was absolutely delicious. I wish they gave more of the sauce!

 

 

For my dinner nothing really called out to me so I decided to try the fried chicken off of the everyday menu. It was good. The mashed potatoes were delicious, and the veggies were cooked just the way I like them (not raw).

 

 

The "show" that the waiters put on that night was really fun. The best part about watching them dance is that you can tell that they literally are having a ball while doing it. Or at least our waiters were.

 

 

Now, for my single most-favorite food item that I had while on this cruise: the bitter 'n blanc. Whenever I had seen it previously in pictures that people posted, I didn't think it was something that I would ever like, as I'm not a bread pudding lover. But, everyone is always raving about it, so I had to try it just once. It...was...DELICIOUS!!! Tasted like the warmest, most moist cake imaginable with white chocolate sauce on top. If they had this on the menu every night like the chocolate melting cake, I would have it every night. Every single night.

 

 

After dinner we rushed out to catch the 7 pm showing of Ant Man on the lido deck. We missed a little bit of the beginning, but oh well. We had seen the movie before, so it wasn't a big deal. It is so much fun to be able to lay out on deck and watch movies under the stars. I don't know if all Carnival ships have Dive-in theaters, but I don't think I would want to sail on one without it.

 

Another day eventually came to a close. The next day would be our last stop, Cozumel, and we had a cute animal waiting for us with our Funtimes for that day.

 

[bakersdozen12]

And just one more note about 7 mile beach before I call it a night. I don't know if all areas of the beach are like this, but I know that where we went swimming there was LOTS of what I thought were rocks on the bottom of the ocean (later found out it was probably coral). Anyway, I was so anxious to get in the ocean that I didn't put on my water shoes at first, but quickly had to go right back for them because ouch, it hurt to walk out into the water without them. So I recommend investing in a pair. Mine were just some cheap $5 Walmart specials that worked just great to keep my feet from hurting.

 

Well, more later this week. Next up is Cozumel with the amazing Coba Mayan ruins and also the surprise guests we awoken to that morning that had taken over the lido deck. ;)

[Indytraveler83]

Loving the review, can't wait to see more! Especially anxious to see what food you do and don't recommend, and how much you used your cove balcony. We have a cove at the end of January that's only a few doors down from where you stayed.

[untailored bostonian]

On reading your review I see that we have the same cabin on our cruise. Any pictures or comments?

[puppypal7]

Being that we are first time cruisers going on the dream December 27th to the same places I so appreciate your review

[bakersdozen12]

On reading your review I see that we have the same cabin on our cruise. Any pictures or comments?

 

If you have 2256 on the Dream, I think you are going to love it! I would book that room again in a heartbeat. Being under the Shore Excursions desk, it is quite. And even though it's near the atrium elevators, it was still quite. There's a wall separating the elevators from the door to this cabin, so I think that helps.

 

The location is really convenient too. When we boarded, we literally just had to go down one flight of stairs and the room was right there. Which is nice when getting off the ship and ports and getting back on. You also have a great view from the balcony if you want to see people (pier runners) getting back on the ship.

 

I know a lot of people have reported trouble with their cabin AC's on the various ships, but we had no problem whatsoever. We never left the balcony door open, and we closed the curtains during the day when we weren't in the room anyway, so that may have helped. Oh, and no sewer smell either. I know some people have reported that when they stayed on the Dream, but we didn't notice any smell at all.

 

And if you have Jimmy for a cabin steward, well, he was fantastic. Such a nice guy. We asked him to clear out the mini bar the first day so that we could use it as a fridge instead, and he didn't mind at all. I know that some people have said that their steward refused, or just put everything on the desk, but he didn't. He said he'd find some place for the contents and that was that. Very accommodating.

 

Probably the only negative is that being close to the front, if there is rough seas, the balcony will get damp. We had some pretty rough seas the first day or so, and while it was never soaked, it was damp enough that I would have to wipe off a chair before sitting on it. Which really wasn't that big of a deal to me.

 

Anyway, here are the rest of the pictures that I have of the room:

 

 

 

 

 

[bakersdozen12]

And these are not pictures of the room, but this is what I liked best about the room: the view from the balcony! I loved being that close to the water. Being able to hear the waves was so relaxing.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2015 by bakersdozen12

[bakersdozen12]

And here is a short video I took one morning. Seas were still rough and you can see the relationship of the sea spray from the front of the ship to the balcony location.

 

Edited December 9, 2015 by bakersdozen12

[riclop]

Thanks for your review.

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review!

[bakersdozen12]

Port Day #3: Cozumel, Mexico

 

Our last port on this cruise was Cozumel, and it was the port that I was most looking forward to. The group that my husband and I were cruising with were going to Xcarat, however, my husband and I were going off on our own and doing the Coba Mayan Pyramid excursion through Carnival.

 

I had been worried pre-cruise that the excursion might get cancelled due to lack of interest (I had read about that happening with this particular excursion), but we had received our tickets a few days before, and here it was the day off and we hadn't received a cancellation notice, so we were good to go!

 

 

Since we were in port from 10 am to 5 pm that day, I felt a little less rushed that morning. We woke up to a beautiful sunrise. I have to say that this is such a great benefit of having a balcony. Being able to wake up to this kind of view...

 

 

Having more time meant that we didn't have to order room service breakfast, and instead we hit the omelet station. Now, I've read about long lines everywhere on the Dream, including the omelet station, but this was never our experience. Perhaps that has something to do with the time of year we sailed, but in any case, it was nice.

 

This was actually our second time at the omelet station, but after reviewing what I have written so far in this review, I realized that I missed a whole sea day between the first one and our first port. Oops! Chalk it up to me being a review newbie.

 

In any case, here's a picture of breakfast. Two comments: 1) I never had to ask for extra bacon, they always gave me a lot, even if I didn't want that much (guess the bacon police had the week off), and 2) they have these cappuccino muffins, that were so delicious! I swear, next cruise I'm bringing zip lock bags with me so that I can stock up on some to have as snacks during the day. They were that good!

 

 

Oh, and I don't think I mentioned this before: I never had a problem with chair hogs...but I had a huge problem with ketchup hogs. For those that have yet to cruise Carnival, they have four stations set up in the lido buffet with condiments, including about a half dozen ketchup bottles in each station. Right next to the condiments they have these neat little white cups to put condiments in (see picture above). Now, one would think that it's not too difficult to just squeeze out some ketchup into these neat little cups and leave the bottles there for other people to use, right?

 

Wrong...people would constantly just take the whole bottle to their table, meaning there was never any ketchup available when you wanted some. After asking multiple buffet staff members for more ketchup with no luck, I eventually resorting to seeking out the said ketchup-hoggers and nicely asking if I could get some ketchup for my neat little ketchup-holding cup.

 

Ok, my petty ketchup hogging rant is over, but seriously, I think Carnival should switch to those bigger ketchup dispensers that they have at fast food places. Maybe when I'm Platinum I'll go on John Heald's page and voice my complaint. ;)

 

Anyway, after breakfast, since we had some time to kill before our excursion, we decided to take a walk around the ship. I'm glad that we did, because we discovered that the lido pool area experienced a little invasion overnight!

 

 

[bakersdozen12]

Port Day #3: Cozumel cont'd

 

Really, the job that the staff does to set these towel animals up is amazing. I asked one of the staff members at the Blue Iguana bar how long it takes to set them up, but he didn't know since it's the housekeeping staff that does it.

 

I have a ton of pictures of the towel animals, and it wouldn't make sense to post them all, but here are some of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bakersdozen12]

Port #3: Cozumel cont'd

 

While waiting to dock, we spent some more time walking around the ship. Finally got to see the aft pool, although we never had a chance to actually spend any time here during our 7 day cruise.

 

 

Got a nice shot of the water slides. We also never had a chance to use these, and I wish we did. From now on I will never understand, if I ever hear someone complain about being bored on a Carnival ship, or at least a Dream-class ship, how it's even possible. Even with three sea days, we didn't have enough time to do everything on the ship. I think we would've needed to do at least a B2B to experience everything. The ship is just so big, and there is so much to do.

 

 

From one of the front decks, we were able to see Cozumel in the distance, and we also got a chance to see the flag being raised.

 

 

And finally...the Cozumel dock.

 

 

Seems we had a sister ship beat us to port that day: the Magic! I got a nice glimpse of her rope course and made a mental note that I really need to book a cruise on a ship with a rope course because it looks like so much fun!

 

 

There were also a couple Royal Caribbean ships in Cozumel that day too. The Freedom of the Seas and the Navigator of the Seas.

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by bakersdozen12

[bakersdozen12]

Port #3: Cozumel cont'd

 

Since we were booked on a Carnival excursion, we had to meet in the Encore Lounge at 9:45 (this information was noted on our tickets). When we walked into the lounge, they asked us what excursion we were doing, and based on that, they gave us a sticker with a number. When our number was called, we were led off the ship.

 

Once outside we walked down the dock, and then we easily found a person with a "Coba" sign who took our tickets, and gave us another sticker with a number and pointed to the ferry that we were to proceed to. Since the Coba Mayan pyramids are on the mainland, we needed to take a 45 minute ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen on the mainland.

 

The ferry is the yellow and blue boat in this picture.

 

 

For those that have never been to Cozumel, this is a nice port. There are lots of little shops and bars right at the port, so it is quite possible to have a nice, relaxing day at port without the need to purchase and excursion.

 

 

Since we had a long ferry ride to the mainland, and an even longer bus ride to the ruins, we had no time to shop, but I did manage to snap a couple pictures of the shopping area at the port

 

 

 

Someone had given me a little tip about the ferry that we would be riding on: it has too levels, the bottom one being enclosed with windows, and the top one being open. While there is an AC on the bottom level, it doesn't really work well, so it gets very hot. The top level is better, as you can get some nice fresh air on the ride over. So, we got a spot on the top deck and we were off!

 

 

The ferry ride wasn't too bad at all. In my research I had read that many people get sick on the ride over because the seas tend to be choppy. There was motion on board, but my husband and I didn't get sick, and I didn't notice anyone getting sick either. Perhaps we just got lucky and the seas weren't that bad. I'm not really sure.

 

The time on the ride over went by pretty fast. They kept us entertained, and they also served drinks (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) for anyone that wanted to purchase them. Soon, we were at Playa del Carmen, which is full of many different resorts.

 

[bakersdozen12]

Port #3: Cozumel cont'd

When we got off on the dock, we were greeted by a visitor. :)

 

 

After quickly taking a picture of the pelican, our tour guide whisked us away to our bus. Again, there would be a lot of traveling on this excursion, so she obliviously needed us to stick to her schedule, which I appreciated. To get to the bus, we had a short walk through what I can only assume were buildings that were part of the Playa del Carmen resorts. They looked really nice, and I wouldn't mind staying at one someday!

 

 

The bus ride over was long, about an hour and a half, but our tour guide, Lilli, made the time go by fast by sharing a lot of history about Mexico with us. It was also fascinating to see different parts of mainland Mexico along the way. Playa del Carmen is more like a city, but then we started getting into a more rural area.

 

 

My impressions of mainland Mexico were much better than Jamaica, I have to say. While both countries seemed to have poor areas, Mexico wasn't littered with trash, and was actually very beautiful, in my opinion. I also felt safer in Mexico than in Jamaica. Take what you want from that, but that's my honest opinion.

 

We saw lots of little shops along the way with what I can only assume handmade souvenirs. I would have loved to have been able to stop at one!

 

 

There were also lots of police stations along the way. This one was actually a big one. Most were very small, one-room buildings.

 

[bakersdozen12]

Port #3: Cozumel cont'd

 

After an hour and a half, we made it to the entrance of the Coba Mayan Ruins.

 

 

Immediately inside the entrance, there were some souvenir shops. We ended up having ample time to shop after we toured the ruins. The storekeepers did not pressure you into buying anything, but I do recommend haggling. I found a nice carved picture frame that I wanted, but the guy told me the price was $35, and I wanted to pay closer to $20 for it. So, since I can't haggle, my husband walked up to the guy and told him that he would give him $15 for it. Eventually, they settled at $22. Someday, I really do need to learn how to haggle like my hubby!

 

 

The Coba mayan ruins are made up of many different archaeological sites, and there is a bit of a distance between them. You can walk, but since we had limited time, we were given the option of riding bikes or using one of the bike taxis where someone would peddle you around. Everyone in the group chose the taxis. Which is probably a smart idea if you want to climb the Coba pyramid and are worried that your legs will get tired.

 

 

The first site we saw was the ball court. No one really knows how the game here was played, but they believe that there were two teams, each with a heavy ball, and they would try to score by either getting the ball through the rings at the top, or by hitting the markers at the bottom with the ball. Based on which team won, someone would be sacrificed to the gods. Some scholars believe it was the captain of the winning team, because they would want the best sacrifice possible to offer up, but then, who would want to actually win the game if that were the case?

 

 

Eventually we made our way to the highlight of the excursion, the pyramid that they still let you climb up to the top of.

 

[bakersdozen12]

Port #3: Cozumel cont'd

 

Now, you might remember that this was the one excursion that I was looking forward to the most. I had bragged to my friends and coworkers back home about how I was going to climb up this amazing mayan pyramid. I mean, how hard could it be, right?!

 

Well, it wasn't as physically demanding as I expected. However, it was a heck of a lot steeper in person than it looks in pictures. And much more narrow.

 

 

Now, I'm not someone that has a fear of heights, but let me tell you, my knees were shaking by the time I got to the top. But I did get to the top!

 

 

The views were amazing, and it was definitely worth it! I don't want to scare anyone away from ever doing this excursion, though. My husband does have a fear of heights, and even he made it.

 

 

A side note about the gloves that you can see my husband wearing. They are called Gorilla Grip gloves, and I got them at Home Depot. As you can see in the picture that I'm going to post below, they do have a rope that you can hold onto on the way up or the way down, and my thinking was that if I was going to slip on the way down, I would want to be able to really grip onto that rope because otherwise, it would be a long way to fall down! Fortunately, neither of us has to test whether the gloves work or not, but it made me feel better to have them just in case.

 

 

After climbing back down, we were allowed about 45 mins of "free time" to explore on our own before having to get back on the bus. We decided to head back to the shop, but asked our guide to stop at another site along the way. He told us that this one was a watchtower.

 

[bakersdozen12]

Port #3: Cozumel cont'd

 

I never did get the name of our bicycle taxi driver, but he was a very nice guy. I tipped him generously since my husband and I are not exactly light people, and I figured the poor guy really worked hard that day peddling us around. It was a pretty hot day too.

 

 

When we got back on the bus, they gave us a bagged lunch for the ride back. It was a sandwich, chips, a moonpie and a bottle of water. Also, on the ride to the ruins they gave us the option to put in an order to have a onyx pendant made with your name in mayan phonetic characters. Since my birthday was coming up, my husband bought me one with my full name of "Christine" on it. Since I have a pretty long name, unfortunately for my husband, it wasn't exactly cheap. :D

 

 

After the bus ride, we made it back to Playa del Carmen and then boarded the ferry for the ride back. To keep us entertained, they did had a trivia contest, and every person that got an answer right, got a little handmade bracelet that they made right there on the ferry. I am very competitive and was determined to win. I did win one, but unfortunately in the process of focusing on the trivia contest, I missed seeing a couple dolphins that my husband was able to see. The rest of the time I kept looking out, trying to catch a glimpse of some more dolphins, but I never saw any.

 

Before I got off the ferry, I took a shot of the water near Cozumel. I don't think that my camera captured exactly what I saw, however. The waters near Cozumel are seriously the prettiest blue that I have ever seen, and crystal clear. Oh, how I would have loved to have been able to jump right in!

 

 

When we got back to Cozumel, we had no time to shop in the stores at the port. This is the only downside to the excursion that we did. And really, it was a small price to pay for such an amazing day. I highly recommend the Coba Mayan Ruins for anyone that might want to see some ruins while in Mexico.

 

I did manage to get a quick shot of the Magic and the Dream before boarding.

 

 

Because the excursion included a lot of traveling, by the time we got back on board the ship it was 5:45. Since we were scheduled to leave at 6 pm, I'm sure that some people probably thought we were pier runners! But, knowing that we were on a Carnival excursion, and that the ship wouldn't leave without us, none of us ran. And there were a lot of us, too, because other excursions such as Xcaret and Tulum, also were on the same ferry as us.

[bakersdozen12]

Port #3: Cozumel cont'd

 

That night was to be our second elegant night. Since we had a 6:00 dining time, and we didn't get back on board until 5:45, lets just say that I didn't feel elegant at all that night. All I had time to do was to quickly change, put my hair up and throw on some makeup. Good thing that I didn't go swimming, because I don't think I would have been able to go to dinner without showering first. I think we would have just skipped dinner in the MDR that night, had that been the case. Honestly, I can't say that going forward I will ever choose early dining if I have my choice. It was chosen by the person that organized our group cruise. But personally, I feel too rushed after a day in port and would prefer a later dining time.

 

That night, we were visited by a magician that showed us some of his tricks. They were pretty good.

 

 

For an appetizer, I had the broccoli cheese soup. It was ok, but a little bland.

 

 

For my main meal, I had the roasted chicken with stuffing and potatoes. I didn't care for the stuffing (it was dry), and the potatoes were too lumpy. Actually, I don't mind mashed potatoes with lumps as long as they are cooked. These tasted too raw. Which is a shame because the one other time I had mashed potatoes in the MDR they were lumpy but good. So, I chalked this up to being just a fluke. No big deal.

 

 

For desert, nothing really appealed to me, so I went with the chocolate melting cake again, and this time I asked for peanut butter with it (thanks to the tip I read on this board). It was really yummy with the peanut butter. Tasted like a Reese's peanut butter cup!

 

 

After dinner we decided to watch San Andreas on the lido deck. It was the one movie that I hadn't seen before that I really wanted to see. It didn't start until 10 pm, so I changed into to my bathing suit so that I could go for a late night swim while waiting for the movie to start. I had the whole pool to myself and it was really nice. I've made a mental note to go for more late night swims on future cruises!

 

That night we finally got the towel animal that I had been waiting for: the hanging monkey.

 

 

Well, that's it for me for tonight.

 

Next up: Halloween on the Dream!

[bakersdozen12]

Well, time for me to finish with this review! I hadn't expected it to take this long, but work and grad school, as well as the holidays, has gotten in the way.

 

Sea Day #3: Halloween on the Dream!

 

Our last full day on this cruise was to be a sea day, and it was also Halloween, which made things pretty exciting! When I booked this cruise it wasn't because I wanted to go on a Halloween cruise, it was just a coincidence. However, in my research about cruising, and through a social media roll call, I soon discovered that there is a large group of people that book cruises during Halloween specifically for the festivities that are held on board. Now that I have been on one, I can see why. They are a ton of fun! And incidentally, for anyone looking to book a cruise with not many kids, there were hardly any at all on this cruise. So I'm assuming that it's a good time of year to cruise if you want to be around mostly adults.

 

Our first activity for the day was to be the Behind the Fun tour. This was something that I was very much looking forward to. I was able to get lucky and snag FTTF, so as soon as we boarded, we went straight to the Excursions desk to book it. We were first to book it. Honestly, I don't know how much of a rush we needed to ultimately be able to book it, but I wasn't going to take any chances! Our tickets were delivered to our room a couple days later.

 

 

Now, that last sea day, Oct 31st, also marked the last day of daylight savings time. That night was to be the night everyone sets there clocks back and hour and gains an hour of sleep. Welllll...apparently they do things differently on cruise ships. We showed up at 8:45 in the Song Lounge, as was instructed on the tickets. But, we discovered we were actually an hour early because they decided to set the clocks back one night early.

 

In hindsight, I suppose this made sense because they didn't want people to be screwed up on the day of debarkation. But, there were no notices posted the day before announcing the early time switch. Apparently the only place it was listed was in one little, tiny line in the Funtimes for Oct 31st. Unfortunately my husband and I never really had time to read the Funtimes for the next day the night before. So, we never got the memo and ended up having an hour to kill before the Behind the Fun Tour began.

 

So we walked around the ship, and took some pictures of the Halloween decorations. They were pretty much all blow up lawn-type ornaments, but they still helped set the mood for the holiday.

 

 

The pirate ship was in the casino. Which incidentally never smelled really bad of smoke the couple times that we were in there.

 

[/

 

 

A very large Frankenstein in the atrium.

 

[bakersdozen12]

Sea Day #3: Halloween cont'd

 

We eventually made our way back to the Song Lounge, and the tour started. For anyone thinking about doing the Behind the Fun tour, I definitely recommend doing it once. We toured the galley first. It's amazing how big it is, and how immaculately clean they keep it. We also got to go in the room where they thaw meat out in. It was so cold that I couldn't even imagine how cold the actual freezer is!

 

Then they showed us where they store all the drinks. And where they store items for recycling. We also got a tour of the laundry room (talk about HUGE dryers), and the big machines that fold the sheets.

 

We were shown the employees' lounge area, which is pretty much like their own bar that they have to themselves, complete with a pool table. They also showed us where the crew cabins were, although we didn't get to see inside one. I was surprised to find out that crew cabins are located on every level on this ship. I had imagined them being down on one level, below the passenger cabins.

 

My favorite part of the tour was the engine control room. Seeing how they run the ship is incredible, and makes me think I got into the wrong line of work! I would take controlling a large cruise ship over sitting at a desk, crunching numbers any day.

 

Getting to see the area where the performers get ready for their acts was probably my next favorite part of the tour. They each have a ton of costumes, and each have their own rack. We also got to go out on stage, behind the curtain (while bingo was going on), and were shown around by the lady who runs the staging equipment. I found that part highly interesting as well, learning about how they change the sets from one show to another.

 

Of course the highlight of the tour was getting to go out on the bridge to meet the captain. And let me tell you, the view from the bridge is breathtaking! After having a chance to ask the captain questions, we had our photo taken, which were delivered to our cabins later that day. My husband and I are on the far right.

 

 

The last part of the tour was the steakhouse. The kitchen area for the steakhouse is MUCH smaller than the galley, and it had to have been at least a hundred degrees in there. I felt badly for the cooks who have to work in there, I don't know how they take it. And this is coming from a person who is always cold and loves the heat.

 

Before we parted, we were given Behind the Fun backpacks with hats and a couple other small things in them. They also deliver a small thank-you gift to your room: a plate of small pastries and cookies. They were just so-so.

 

 

The tour ended up being about four hours long, which I was surprised about. I wasn't expecting it to last that long, and I feel like we definitely got our money's worth. Again, do the tour at least once if you have a chance!

 

When we were done, it was already time for lunch, and today I was determined to try out the Mongolian Wok that I had read many great reviews about.

 

 

It was delicious, and I was very sorry that I had waited so long to try it out, because it meant that I wouldn't have another chance to have it for lunch on the cruise. My next cruise is on the Conquest, and it doesn't have it, so I'll have to wait until I'm on the Fascination next November to have it again.

 

That day they also had the Chocolate Extravaganza for lunch. Surprisingly enough, I didn't think that anything really tasted very chocolatey, if that makes any sense. The only thing that I really liked was the donut dipped into the chocolate fondue. I really didn't finish the other items I took and went back for seconds of those little chocolate-dipped donuts. ;-)

 

Edited December 27, 2015 by bakersdozen12

[bakersdozen12]

Sea Day #3: Halloween cont'd

 

That afternoon we had a silent auction with the group that we were sailing with, to raise money for the charity that we were sponsoring, The World Parrot Trust. We also had the unbelievably depressing task of packing our bags so that they would be ready to leave outside of our door for pickup. Since the Halloween party was that night, there would be little time to pack after dinner.

 

My husband and I did bring costumes with us, but we opted not to dress up for dinner. I wasn't sure if anyone really did that, and now I kind of wished we did because there definitely were others in the MDR with costumes.

 

For my appetizer that night I decided to try the caesar salad (without anchovies). It was very good and I would definitely have it again. I normally always get dressing for salads on the side, but heck, I was on vacation and had long since thrown in the towel as far as eating healthy was concerned.

 

 

 

My entree was the bacon mac n cheese with chicken that I was excited to finally get a chance to try since I had read great reviews about it. Honestly, I didn't think it was that great. I thought the cheese sauce was too thin and not cheesy enough.

 

 

For those that have never cruised on Halloween before, for desert, they don't give you a menu. Instead, they come by and ask you to pick between two different desserts. I don't remember what they were called, but one was a chocolate pumpkin dessert, and the other choice was cheesecake. I think it was cherry cheesecake, but I don't recall seeing any cherries in it. I had the chocolate desert, and it was yummy! Very creamy and rich with chocolate. I also have a picture of the other desert, that a table-mate ordered.

 

 

 

After dinner I couldn't wait to go back to our cabin and change into our costumes. It was time for the festivities to begin!

 

People were already in costume, and they were everywhere!

 

[bakersdozen12]

Sea Day #3: Halloween cont'd

 

Our costumes for the night were Blu and Jewel from the movie Rio. We got dressed and headed to Ocean Plaza so we could take part in the Halloween trivia (we didn't even come close to winning). We also walked around a lot and took pictures of some really fabulous costumers. We were also stopped many times so that others could take our picture as well. I was actually surprised at how many people seem to like our costumes. Here's a picture of us that someone took that I snagged off of the social media roll call I was a part of.

 

 

People were definitely having a great time. Lots of dancing and partying, and tons of gawking at the amazing costumes on display. I can definitely see why Halloween cruises are so popular, and I would definitely go on another one if I ever have a chance to.

 

 

There was also a costume contest that I knew a little bit about going in. Basically the CD goes around picking out 20 of what he thinks are the best costumes. Apparently he gives those chosen a little card with instructions. I was shocked when he actually gave my husband and I one (couples and certain group costumes were treated as one costume). Anyway, here is my hubby holding up our ticket inviting us to be part of the costume contest on stage!

 

 

I also asked Hennie (our CD) for a picture of his costume after he gave us the ticket. I think his Hangover costume was pretty darn cute!

 

 

We had some time to kill before having to be on stage, so we went and got our picture taken professionally. It was the only picture that I purchased from our cruise. We had tried out many different backdrops, but in the end, I thought that the one with the pirate ship background came out the best. My silly husband was saying "Argh" when it was taken instead of smiling, but I suppose it works, lol.