Getaway 3/6-13 Western

[ejnsb]

A great week aboard and onshore. We were a family of 8, seven adults and a 3 year old grandson and everyone had a wonderful time. I started taking notes the first two days for a more detailed review but the lure of the aft balcony and the beverage package curtailed my work efforts so I will try to do a summary of the things that come to mind.

 

I will add that I have a PDF file on my work computer with the seven freestyle dailies. It's all one file and I don't think I can get it posted here in a readable form but if you want to send me an email address I will send it to you. I can't promise a quick turnaround but generally in a day or two.

 

Day 1 - Embarkation. We arrived at the port at 11:30 a.m., dropped most of the passengers and all the luggage at the curb and parked in the port garage. When we entered the check in area the lines looked like a nightmare queue from Disney but they moved nicely and we were onboard by 12:30 and lunching in the Flamingo a few minutes later. A tip regarding the boarding process: after you check in and get your cards you go upstairs and are handed a boarding group number. We were given 7 and the first group they called was 25 and I thought we were in for a long morning. As it turns out, they then go to 1 and 3, followed by 5 and 7 so we were only upstairs about 10 minutes.

 

Dinner that night in the Tropicana which became our go to MDR. We liked the live music and dancing. Notable entrees were a snapper dish and sliced tenderloin.

 

Day 2 - This was supposed to be Great Stirrup Cay but high winds made the captain call it off and it became an extra sea day. Lots of drinking so the details are fuzzy but I did note that they had veal Oscar and skirt steak as a couple of the entrée choices.

 

Day 3 At sea. Two sea days and unlimited drinking. Things are getting a bit hazy. I do recall that this was our Teppenyaki night. We had a great time. The 8-top tables meant we had our chef all to ourselves. He was personable and talented and the food very good.

 

Day 4 - Ocho Rios. This turned out to be the highlight of our trip. I will post a review on the ports of call page but briefly here is what we did: I hired a private driver for the day, Chris Linton, who goes by chrisjamaica tours. At my request, our itinerary included the Blue Hole, White River rafting and lunch at Scotchies. All three stops were phenomenal. Chris was reasonably priced and even with his fee and the money we spent at each stop it was cheaper than doing excursions through the ship. I believe we wound up at the Noodle Bar for dinner. Nice and easy, no waiting, the usual noodle bowls, noodle and fried rice dishes. Tonight we held court at a corner table of Howl at the Moon and had a blast. We have been to several Howl venues over the years so we knew to wrap our requests around a couple of bucks and, voila, they played them all. They did have waitress service here but it was very crowded. I gave our waitress a $20 up front and the drinks were free flowing.

 

Day 5 - George Town, Grand Cayman. Again, we did our own thing. I booked a private boat from Ebanks Watersports. We had a captain and mate and they took us to Stingray City and a snorkeling area. Waters were a little choppy - it was windy all week- but the Stingray experience is a once in a lifetime deal and we were so glad to have our own boat and not be on the big excursion boats where it looked like an assembly line.

 

Day 6 - Cozumel. We were pretty worn out after the previous two days so we had nothing planned. We walked off the ship, headed right and stopped at Jeannie's (on the beach beside Margaritaville). Had some Mexican food and snorkeled (there was a sunken plane right offshore!) for a while. This may have been the night we went to the noodle bar - what can I say? - liquor package really kicking in.

 

Day 7 - At Sea. Real windy outside but some of the kids still did the ropes course and the three year old loved the putt putt so there were several rounds there. Watched some of the activities poolside, drank some more. Had a nice final night in the Tropicana. Strip steak au poivre was the most popular choice at the table and I also kicked in a lobster so everyone could have a taste.

 

Day 8 - Back home. We chose the walk-off option, left the room at 7:30 and were in our cars by 8!

 

A couple more thoughts:

 

I did hit the casino pretty much every night. Lost at blackjack, won at poker. The last night my wife wanted to play the birthdays of our three sons and grandson at roulette. Put $5 each on the four numbers and boom, hit the first two rolls. Played two more rolls and cashed out for a nice profit.

 

Beverage package thoughts: My gosh, the drinks were top notch. Grey Goose when you ordered a vodka drink. I like single malt at night and glenlivet or glenfiddich were included. Macallan cost another $3. Bartender service was outstanding but I will add that all my drink orders included a tip. The guys in the casino bar knew me by midweek and were pouring my glenlivet rocks (to the top) as I walked up.

 

Dining rooms: The only specialty restaurant we visited was Teppenyaki which I think was perfect for our group. We were very pleased with the Tropicana service and food. We only had reservations twice but even when we didn't we were seated within 5 minutes. Typically an hour and a half or slightly more each night.

 

Our room: We had an aft balcony, 9920, and it has spoiled me for all future cruises. We easily had all eight family members on the balcony for champagne at sailaway. Two lounge chairs, two upright chairs and the small table were included. A beautiful way to view the sailaways and sometimes sunsets, depending on the ship's position.

 

The ship: Beautiful, clean, good to very good service everywhere. Some crowds, yes, especially around the main pool and in the atrium and O'Sheehan's during events there.

[Cruise-mom]

Great report, thanks for sharing and glad you had a great cruise. Good to hear Tropicana room doesn't have long waits.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Cruise-mom

[RobynFL]

Glad to hear you had a good trip. I would like to see the dailies if you don't mind emailing them to me. DLRL1@aol.com. Thank you.

[soflacrzr]

Excellent tips! Almost to the exact of what drinks and activities, garage parking and shore excursions that we do. Nicely done. We are leaving on her this Sunday. Thanks again.

[smart_alec]

Thank you for the TR, I'd love to see the dailies when you have a chance!

[Irina555]

ejnsb, thank you for the review! We will be on her in May! Can't wait!

 

You can upload dailies to sendspace.com and everyone will be able to download from there, instead of you emailing it to everyone :)

[Keith1010]

wonderful report.

 

keith

[Clarea]

Thanks for the review.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.