Thanksgiving Escape to the Bahamas!

[DebQ5]

 

Background:  This was our (me, daughter 22, son 24) 4^th cruise on NCL.  We’ve previously sailed Carnival and Disney many moons ago.  I chose this cruise because I wanted to be away for Thanksgiving and didn’t want to fly anywhere.  We have never sailed out of NYC at this time of year and assumed that some of the weather would only be so-so.  For this reason, I splurged on the Haven, as I figured we’d get our money’s worth.  As I’m sure everyone realizes, this significantly increases the cost of the trip, but I was hopeful that it would be worth it.  We had sailed in a 2-bedroom suite (non-Haven) on our most recent cruise to Alaska, and the cabin really worked for us.  The two bathrooms and living room space was so nice to have!  The other option would be to get two balcony cabins, or a balcony and an indoor, however liked the perks of even the non-Haven suite so decided to go for it on this trip. 

 

I chose a 2-bedroom suite on the 17^th floor right outside of the Haven lounge/pool area.  One floor above was the Haven restaurant and one floor above that was additional indoor seating under the dome and the outdoor lounge area.  On the escape the haven is at the front of the ship and the Spa was only 1 floor below on Deck 16, which was great for my daughter who got a pass.  I wish she hadn’t, as that left her brother and I unsupervised for part of the first day… more on that later…

 

Day 1

 

We were originally going to drive from our home in Massachusetts to NYC the day before and stay over.  These plans changed due to my son’s work schedule, and so we left the house at 7:15 am Sunday morning, fueled up with Dunks and made our way to the Manhattan Cruise terminal.  We have made this trip before and it’s an easy drive on a Sunday morning.  This day was no exception.  We arrived at 10:30 am.  These was a bit of a line for parking at the terminal.  The kids were horrified when we were directed by the parking attendant to park in a handicap spot.  We tried to decline but was told that if it wasn’t us it was the guy after us and that this was how it worked.  So, if you were wondering about the car in the spot without the handicap tag, don’t hate!  The kids were convinced that we would be towed, but luckily this was not the case.   Just FYI, people were still coming off the ship, and spots do keep opening up, however eventually they sell out and you have to park elsewhere. 

 

Let the Haven perks begin.  As we exited the freight elevator into the terminal it was already pretty crowded.  Not crazy, but plenty of people were there.  We found the Haven line off to the right and went right through security.  Once through there, we asked someone where Haven check-in was.  Side bar:  If you are in the Haven, make sure you let people know.  Both times there was an attempt to herd us into the general line, and when I said we were in the Haven they looked at us skeptically (maybe this was my imagination) checked our cards and directed us to the right line.  The first assumption is that you are non-Haven.  No need to be pushy but make sure you look for the correct lines.  We were directed to the Haven check in which was towards the far end of the terminal on the right.  We were escorted into a pretty small room (much smaller than the room in Seattle), and brought right to the front desk.  At this point it is about 10:50 and there were plenty of people there already.  It took about 10 minutes to check-in, get our pics and cards, and then Patrick the concierge arrived to say we would be boarding soon.  Sweet!  We sat for 45 seconds or so and then we were up and herding to the ship!  So far the kids deemed the Haven cost well worth it.  How nice for them…   but I didn’t disagree…

[DebQ5]

Day 1 continued:

 

We were brought directly to the Haven lounge.  I would guess there were 40-50 people in this group.  We heard a spiel about the Haven, if I remember, and I know that we got our first drinks at the Haven bar (Bloody Mary for me).  They were passing around lunch plates with sliders on them.  I thought they were going to offer Margaritaville for lunch, as I had read that this was a thing, but I didn’t hear it, and it could be that it’s not an option for this time of year?  I confess I didn’t make it to Margaritaville at all, walked by it once, but not sure if it’s completely outside.  It was typical late November weather in NYC and you wouldn’t want to be eating outside.  Instead of indulging in the sliders, we went up one floor to the Haven restaurant.  We were seated right away.  The restaurant is quite elegant, nicely decorated, and has great windows.  We had a leisurely lunch here.  I had the lobster bisque, which had a thickish red/brown sauce and very little lobster, but it was tasty, and the chicken Caesar salad.  My daughter had some sort of boneless chicken breast with a sauce, and son had the French dip.  Everything was good.

 

 

Looks like I need another drink!  I remember saying to the kids that I was amazed that we left Massachusetts at 7:15 and were eating lunch at 11:30 am.  Embarkation was a very quick and painless process.  Points for Haven perks!

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by DebQ5
update

[DebQ5]

Day 1 continued:

 

We stopped by the Concierge desk after lunch to upgrade our internet package.  We had 250 minutes as part of our perks and it cost a bit under $100 to upgrade to premium unlimited.  My daughter had pre-purchased the social media package, and while booking it we (ME) clicked it twice and bought two.  Side note:  This is a design flaw.  When you book it, you choose who it will belong to, so there shouldn’t be an option to buy more than one.  Anyway, the assistant concierge, who was lovely, said she could take care of it.  (this didn’t end up being true, but we didn’t know that then.  If you pre-book items you need to call customer service later to take care of issues.  We didn’t find this out til the last day when we docked and my daughter checked her credit card statement – small deduction to Haven points for this misinformation, however it was given in such a nice manner just a very small deduction).  At this time I also made some changes to our pre-booked dining reservations as I had booked them prior to seeing the dailies, and they would have conflicted with some things we wanted to do.  This was a really easy process.  The only one that required us to change the actual day was Teppenyaki, and this worked out great as we went there the last day and it was a nice send off.  I was not sure how much we would use the concierge, and we didn’t use them much, but not waiting in line at the internet desk in the atrium was exceptionally nice and not having to figure out what times were open for restaurants was pretty great too… more points awarded for Haven perks!  I’m feeling pretty good about my extravagance about now…

 

I knew that one place I really wanted to check out was District Brew House.  The 1:00 pm football games had started, and my son and I wanted to watch.  We all made our way down there and it was like the angels started singing.  It could also have been the 2^nd bloody Mary.  Those Haven bartenders are outstanding (bonus points awarded for those playing along… ) and now I’m confronted with multiple TVs playing football (all the same game, alas, but better than nothing…) and a variety of taps with interesting looking beers.  The bartenders were pretty busy at this time and all the taps weren’t ready but I found a Stone IPA and my son started to make his way through the choices. 

[DebQ5]

At some point we must have gone to the muster, which was held in the Escape theater.  It was pretty painless, and was over in about 30 minutes, give or take.  As most know, it’s a huge cluster to get anywhere via elevator after the theater (or any other venue) lets out, but as luck would have it, District Brew House is right above the theater… it was a sign… back my son and I went.  And this is where things turned dark… literally and figuratively.  My daughter chose to go check out the Spa.  She said she’d meet us back in the room later and we’d figure out dinner.  She found us still in District many hours later with many new friends.  My goal was to not abuse the UBP this trip, and I did pretty well, but the first day is sooooo hard!  I had in my mind that I would have no fruity umbrella drinks, which did me in on our Alaska cruise.  Rebellious Fish!  So good… so bad….   I had forgotten that craft beer has a high alcohol content.  Ooops.  Anyway, all was well, we were making friends, having beers, watching football.  She dragged us (rightly so) to O’Sheehans to get some dinner.  Good call!  It was prime rib night, and I have to say it was a great piece of prime rib.  Perfectly cooked in my opinion.  The wings were really good.  I don’t remember them being that good on the Jewel.  I should have known when my son ordered the chili hot dog that he was going down a bad path, but he said it was great.  My daughter got the open face turkey sandwich which she liked.  I’ve always liked O’Sheehans and this was no exception.  This one has 2 pool tables, but we never played.  My son played darts apparently one night and said it was good. 

 

[cruiser123!]

Looking forward to the rest!  Sounds like a great start 🙂

[rwf1]

Loving you review so far!  Excellent start!

 

By the way, I just want to confirm how you described embarkation.

 

At the Manhattan port, there is a separate security line for Haven--not just a separate check-in area?  As long as we just keep going to the right we should find the Haven security line, correct?

[DebQ5]

21 minutes ago, rwf1 said:

Loving you review so far!  Excellent start!

 

By the way, I just want to confirm how you described embarkation.

 

At the Manhattan port, there is a separate security line for Haven--not just a separate check-in area?  As long as we just keep going to the right we should find the Haven security line, correct?

 

Yes, there is a separate security line.  When you step out of the elevator the security line is right there.  I didn't remember a separate line in Seattle, so almost joined the regular line (which really would have been fine), but happened to see someone and asked them if there was a separate line.  She waved us over to the right and there was a sign there.  

[rwf1]

Thanks for the information.  That is helpful.

 

[DebQ5]

Sometime during all this, very early on actually, we went to our room.  I believe they were ready about 1:00 pm.  The room was really nice, similar to the layout of the Jewel but the colors were much more subdued and the living area seemed a bit larger.  On the jewel, there was a short hallway that you encountered upon entering, and the 2^nd bedroom was off to the right in this hallway.  There was another door to get to the main part of the room. This was nice for the person in the 2^nd bedroom as they could come and go and not disturb anyone.  On the Escape, there is no such hallway and the 2^nd bedroom is a door on the left right when you get into the room.  The room seemed bigger than the one on the Jewel.  It was perfect for my son.  The main bedroom was nice, but seemed a bit smaller than the one on the Jewel.  The bed was fabulous though, and although set-up differently, there was still plenty of storage space.  The bathroom was phenomenal, as expected.  The room was located directly across from the door to the Haven lounge, which was very convenient.  We had THE BEST Butler, Amit!  We were so lucky to have him, and although we aren’t particularly needy people, he made our trip with his thoughtfulness.  Our room steward, Rolando, was also very good.  Rolando I apologize for intermittently calling you Ronaldo :(.  More on those two later, but again, we couldn’t have been happier with our room, it’s location, and our Butler and Room Steward. 

[DebQ5]

7 minutes ago, rwf1 said:

Thanks for the information.  That is helpful.

 

 

No Problem!  

[NYcruzzer]

Welcome Home. Really enjoying your review so far. Getting us excited for our NYE cruise on Escape. 

[DebQ5]

Day 1 continued…

 

My son and I continued the night with more District, where we caught some live music.  JR was playing, and he became our go-to evening entertainment.  Sorry again JR for semi-heckling you to play our favorites.  You’re a true professional!

 

Is there a better way to end the night than Karaoke?  Apparently not.  Unless you’re my daughter who wisely chose to go to bed.  We hit the 5 O’clock somewhere bar where Karaoke is held.  Side note:  we had a great time watching and participating in Karaoke on the Jewel.  It was in the FYZZ lounge, I believe, which was more open, and seemed to draw more people in.  This first night Karaoke was hopping, and my son (who is a musician but not a singer) got up and did a song.  He has a lot of presence, I’ll give him that.  There was a good crowd and it was a fun end to the night.  Some inner awareness had me steering us towards “home” after this.  To get to the room, we always went through the Haven lounge.  I think you had to, and this is probably the only time we didn’t stop at the bar for a drink. 

 

Summary of first day…. Very easy embarkation process, great Haven area, great room, fun ship so far, comfortable bed… Thumbs up!

 

Discerning readers may notice a decline in the quality of photos which is inline with the uptick in drinks consumed 😞

Edited December 1, 2018 by DebQ5
update

[DebQ5]

4 minutes ago, NYcruzzer said:

Welcome Home. Really enjoying your review so far. Getting us excited for our NYE cruise on Escape. 

Thank you!  It was a great trip... please let me know if I can answer any questions.  🙂

[Kealy]

Enjoying your review -- looking forward to reading all about your cruise!

[DebQ5]

Day 2

 

OUCH… I know everyone will be shocked by this but I was not feeling well the next day.  My daughter, of course, was feeling fine, and insisted I get up and go to breakfast with her.  This seemed like a really bad idea, but I gave it a shot.  We went up to the Haven restaurant, which really is very nice.  The woman at the desk was always so sweet.  She would always ask where my son was, was he ok, etc.  He never did make it back in there until the last morning for breakfast.  We tried to explain that he is a bit of a vampire, but I think it was lost in translation.  My daughter and I didn’t even attempt to wake him up (lucky him).  We were seated at a nice table for two by the windows.  I did order, and gave myself credit for lasting about 15 minutes before I abandoned her and went back to the room to sleep.  She went off to the Spa for the day and spent some time in the Haven courtyard I believe.  She came back at one point and ordered a room service lunch (son and I passed… ).  She and I went to dinner and I again ordered and did not eat, although the shrimp did look good.  She ordered the filet mignon and said it was great.  Side note:  I ordered shrimp cocktail for an appetizer and took a bite.  It had a very strange marinade on it.  At first I thought it was my wrecked taste buds (damn you UBP) but I had them again elsewhere and it was the same.  No need to put a marinade on beautiful shrimp cocktail NCL!. 

 

I slept a bit more and rallied to go to the After Midnight show with my daughter.  And yes, I did check to see if my son was alive.  He was, barely… we left him some of the butler snacks and made our way out to the Haven Lounge.  I decided it was time for some hair of the dog.  We took a seat at the bar and I explained to the bar tender (I will admit right now that I do not know his name, which is terrible, but he was from Serbia and I believe I may love him) that I needed something light and fizzy for my queasy stomach.  He asked no more questions and produced the most wonderful gin drink.  It was lemony and had prosecco.  I sipped on it and really did start to feel better.  We got escorted down to the show by the concierge via the Haven service elevators, which let you out right at the front of the theater.  They then walk you down to the left, about 10 rows up from the front.  We loved these seats, as we were able to sit on the aisle which was still great viewing.  I sipped my drink throughout the show.  The show was good.  If it had been about ½ the length I would have said it was great.  This was not due to my infirmity (that’s what I’m calling it) as my daughter said the same thing.  The cast was amazingly talented. The singers, dancers, and band were fantastic.  It was just very repetitive.  And if you didn’t know all the old Jazz tunes, it got a bit slow.  That being said I’m glad I saw it and would recommend seeing it.  That was it for day 2. 

[Aprille]

Enjoying your review and I'm not even planning on sailing on Escape any time soon. Keep it coming!

[DebQ5]

Day 3

 

Woke up feeling much better today!  We (always assume the son isn’t there unless he’s specifically mentioned) went up to the Haven restaurant for breakfast.  We requested a seat outside.  It was so nice to feel the warm weather.  Breakfast was great.  The service staff in the Haven are always so nice.  Shout out to Christian who “smiles like a banana”!  We had no intention of getting off the ship today, as we visit Florida often.  We were looking forward to participating in some of the onboard activities.  After breakfast we went down to the atrium to play some morning Trivia.  Side note:  Yes, the atrium can get crowded.  We could always find a seat for trivia in the mornings, with no issue at all.  When they play some of the more popular games (Deal or No Deal, dance competition, etc.) it can get very crowded, and they bring out folding chairs, etc.  People can get a bit pissy regarding saved seats, etc. but we always managed.  The servers in the atrium are great!  There are quite a few of them and they circled around regularly taking drink orders and delivering them pretty quickly.  We started morning trivia with grapefruit and orange juice mimosas.  Yum.  It was good we did because we totally bombed at Trivia.  Oh well.

 

After trivia we spent time in the Haven courtyard.  My daughter went to the spa.  She loves the spa, however she did get aggravated with some of the goings on there.  She considers the spa a quiet and relaxing place, and I believe it is posted that is should be a quiet zone.  She reported that many people engaged in loud, across the room types of conversations.  In addition, she said people were saving the thermal lounge chairs, which is against the rules.  At one point she complained to the front desk, and they said they would do something about it, however it continued.  She learned to go to the spa only at certain times of the day.  She felt that she didn’t get her money’s worth and would potentially not get a spa pass in the future.  YMMV.

 

 

 

 

Another side note:  Read all the documentation delivered to your stateroom.  We got a big shock when the window washer dude rolled by our room.  The 2-bedroom suites have these huge windows in bathroom, both in the shower and the main part of the bathroom.  And of course there are the balcony windows.  All have shades/drapes, but we didn’t know he was coming and my daughter got quite the shock!  Luckily everyone was decent and we ran to close the balcony door. 😊  I later found the notice of the window washing… d’oh!

 

 

We had dinner reservations at Cagney’s that night.  We rallied my son and went to the Haven lounge for a pre-drink.  The Haven lounge was usually hopping around this time.  People would be getting drinks, waiting to be escorted to shows, etc.  There were some large groups who would gather to chat, etc.  It did get pretty loud at times, but everyone was having fun.  Neutral points for this Haven experience.  It wasn’t bad, but if you weren’t part of one of these groups it sort of felt like you were intruding.  We were always able to catch the eye of the bar tender, so no worries there.  The staff did not cater only to these groups, despite their best efforts to have it so 😊.  Bonus Haven points for the staff who navigated clientele with finesse.   Net zero points for the Haven lounge itself but that could be specific to this Thanksgiving sailing.

 

Cagney’s was good as always.  I’ve learned to request a seat away from the kitchen.  There were no window seats, but we got an “interior” window seat looking down on the Manhattan dining room.  There was a band playing and people dancing and that was fun to look at.   We always get the same thing at Cagney’s, Filets for the kids and New York strip for me.  We all got wine, which came in a ridiculously enormous glass.  Again, we had a good meal, but it’s not outrageously good. Maybe we’re just getting used to it. It’s definitely worth spending the dining credit on, but it still surprises me that the sides come in those metal dishes… it’s not like they are sharing sizes so seems silly to me. 

 

After Cagney’s we went to the atrium for some of the game shows I believe. We also slunk back into District, where we were greeted like long lost friends, with fist bumps from Ravi the bartender (one of our vacation heroes) and a shout out from JR.  Good to know we didn’t behave too badly!  It was nice to be back “home” and we eased back into the craft brews.  My daughter ended up liking one of the specialty cocktails they served as well.  Ravi and the team handle the bar with ease.  The crowd ebbs and flows with the music and it’s a fun spot.  We had plans to get off the ship for Great Stirrup Cay tomorrow so left the son out with dire warnings to be prepared to be ready by 9:00 am the next morning. 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2018 by DebQ5
reformat

[DebQ5]

Day 4

 

This was the day I had been waiting for.  We had no interest in the Port Canaveral or Nassau stops, but I did want to go to the private island and just chill for the day.  As previously noted, my son is as close to a vampire that a non-vampire can get and would not do well sitting on a lounge chair in the sun for 6 hours.  Really neither would I.  We’d already spent so much, why not get a cabana??  I booked this almost immediately after booking the trip.  It costs $499, but you do get to use the $50 excursion credit towards it… woo hoo… but every bit helps.  It also comes with $50 worth of “food”.   

 

Part of the 90 thousand pieces of paper we got upon arrival was an envelope with Cabana info.  I never really looked at it, but got a message from the concierge that I needed to complete my “food” order by Tuesday night.  I didn’t take a picture of the menu, but it was really limited.  I had thought I would pick shrimp (which I believe was one of the choices) but after the weird shrimp marinade experience I decided not to.  My daughter chose a fruit plate and I chose a charcuterie plate.  I knew there was a buffet for “real” food and a taco stand I believe so I was less concerned about these choices but wanted to spend the “free” money.  Inside the envelope was also the cabana “ticket”, which we needed once on the island. 

 

My daughter and I went to have breakfast in the Haven restaurant.  I had thought to bring something back for my son, but that didn’t happen.  Luckily there were leftover cookies from the Butler snacks.  He scarfed a few of those, and I packed up some of the gummy bears and peanut M & M’s and off we went to meet the concierge.  Another Haven Perk is priority tendering.  We were taken to the service elevators and whisked down to the floor where people were queued up for the tender.  We merged with this line and got on one of the first tenders to the island.  It was a pretty painless process and the Haven perk made it so that we didn’t have to wait in line for tender tickets, etc.  More points for the Haven experience!

 

 

 

 

 

The island looked tiny from the ship.  It wasn’t huge by any means but it was adequate.  Once we reached the island we followed the signs to the Cabana check in area.  It was only about 9:45 at this point, but there were plenty of people there.  One of the workers had us wait in a group for a bit, and then walked us to the cabanas.  I would say it’s about a 10 minute walk, past all the other areas on the island like the watersports hut, buffet, bar, etc.  We arrived at the large cabanas first.  These are set up on a hill and are definitely further away from the water.  They have a great view, but I was glad I hadn’t chosen one of these, and they cost significantly more money.  We continued down the path and reached the small cabanas.  We had #12, which was the first in the line of small cabanas.  There is a #11, but its sort of by itself to the right of the path.  Either would have been fine.  They were about 30 steps from the lighthouse bar and 50 or so steps from the bathrooms. 

 

View to the right from our Cabana - the light house bar is there on the right... 

 

We LOVED our cabana.  It had looked just like the pictures I had seen on the forums, with the couch along the back and sides, the coffee table, the mini fridge a chair, and a lounge chair.  It would have been better to have two lounge chairs, but that might have been a little tight.  There were 6 or so bottles of water waiting for us.  I had read that there would be fruit and chips and salsa but they weren’t there yet.  The cabana was right on the walkway and we got to people watch and figured out that we were a bit early, and that the workers were still setting everything up.  The swim area in front of the cabanas isn’t huge, and you can tell that it’s rocky, but we had fun regardless.  The trick is to take a float and get beyond those rocks that form the breaker.  It gets a little deep there, and it was quite wavy, so we were happy to have the floats that came with the cabanas.  Several people asked how much they were.  I know you can rent them, but I didn’t know how much they were.  Something smaller than the large yellow float would have been fine, but we had fun trying to climb onto the floats while navigating the waves… there were lots of other people trying this and laughing, and falling, and laughing, you get the idea!

 

The chips and salsa and fruit bowl did arrive.  The salsa comes in 4 or 5 small (think jello shot) type cups. Its really good but there are different flavors so if you don’t like them all you’ll be limited with salsa.  The chips were good.  I had read that the cabana comes with a “Butler” but I think this is a bit misleading.  There are several workers who deliver things that have been ordered to the cabana, and then there is one particular worker who seems to be the one who services the cabana.  She was really nice and told us to yell out to her anytime we wanted something.  She brought us drinks from the bar (30 steps away) and hamburgers from the hamburger/hot dog area that was set up near the buffet.  We could absolutely have gotten these ourselves, but she seemed to want to do it, and of course we tipped accordingly.  The fruit plate and the charcuterie came at some point during all this.  The fruit plate was sliced fruit, which my daughter liked.  We didn’t eat anything from the fruit bowl that came with the cabana.  The charcuterie consisted of two types of ham (? Prosciutto and something else), some cheese slices, pretzel rolls (yum), hummus I believe?  It was a lot of food.  Much better shared, but my kids didn’t care for 90% of it.  We never went to the buffet or the taco stand, but we didn't need to.

 

It was a beautiful day to lay around the cabana.  My daughter and I took a walk to the shopping area which is about as far away as you can get (back on the other side of the tender area).  It was a hot walk, but she picked up a cute cover-up dress for $30 or so.  There were all sorts of items for sale.  Cash only!!  It’s worth the trip to see the mascots there, if for nothing else.  We were hoping to see iguanas, and here they were. Apparently, this is the only place they hang out.  We did not see them anywhere else.

 

We headed back to the ship around 3:00/3:30. There was no line for the tenders at this point.  It was very windy though, and I give the tender operators a lot of props for being able to sidle up to the ship the way they did.  I do wonder how someone with issues walking might have navigated that tender ramp to the ship.  There were times when they stopped people from walking over to let it settle down a bit. We were fine and got on the ship with no issues. 

 

View from Lighthouse Bar

 

View from our cabana

 

Notice the 'telephone' lines in the pictures.  These appear to be the cables for ziplines.  All three of us thought how glad we were that they weren't ready yet, and that we weren't listening to people scream as they ziplined past us all day.  #design flaw

Edited December 2, 2018 by DebQ5

[xcell]

Great review -- following!

[JGmf]

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to write this!  It's a good read and helpful as well.

 

My family and I are going on the same cruise in February and are of the same mind on staying on the ship during the Florida and Nassau stop and focusing on the island. 

 

 

[DebQ5]

59 minutes ago, xcell said:

Great review -- following!

Thank you!  I always enjoy reliving the cruise through a review.  I'm getting old now though and there's some gaps 🙂

[DebQ5]

19 minutes ago, JGmf said:

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to write this!  It's a good read and helpful as well.

 

My family and I are going on the same cruise in February and are of the same mind on staying on the ship during the Florida and Nassau stop and focusing on the island. 

 

 

It was a different sort of cruise for us.  Normally I'm researching all about the ports and what we want to do.  This was much more about the ship.  My only worry was not getting into Great Stirrup Cay, as apparently there are times they can't tender.  We were lucky and got in.  Plan B would have been an all-inclusive beach day pass somewhere in Nassau.  

 

Have a great cruise!  Let me know if you have any specific questions.  

[JGmf]

I do have a specific question regarding Great Stirrup Cay.  The cabana appears to be more than we need (or want to pay) for the day, but do you know if can we rent clam shells?

[DebQ5]

25 minutes ago, JGmf said:

I do have a specific question regarding Great Stirrup Cay.  The cabana appears to be more than we need (or want to pay) for the day, but do you know if can we rent clam shells?

 

Oh yes, definitely.  I feel like you can rent them ahead of time, and if you do you can get a priority tender ticket.  You'd need to search the forums for the specifics.  I didn't look as I knew we didn't need one.  

[DebQ5]

Day 4 continued….

 

After we got back on ship I believe we did some of the atrium activities and got ready to get some dinner.  This may have been the day that my daughter and I asked the Haven bartender to make us something special.  I feel like they really rise to the occasion when asked.  We told him our preference was vodka, and he pulled out his “special” infused vodka and paired it with grapefruit Perrier.  There may have been Prosecco involved.  Topped off with some fresh berries it really hit the spot!  This was our go-to Haven drink for the rest of the trip.  It was sad that we couldn’t get it anywhere else on the ship. 

 

We decided to try the Manhattan room for dinner.  I don’t remember what time we got there, but there was only a few people ahead of us in line.  We were directed to hold off for a minute, and then instructed to go to the hostess stand.  She scanned my card and then someone brought us right to a table.  We’ve eaten in the Manhattan room on the Breakaway, and it looked similar, but it seemed much more chaotic.  We were hoping to catch the band, and were told that they would be playing again, but they never did.  Side note:  That seems like a fail to me.  There are what seems to be hundreds of musicians on the ship and they can’t find a band to play during the dinner hours? 

 

Regardless, the waitress came right over, and I asked if we could order drinks right away. I still haven’t gotten in the habit of grabbing something before entering the restaurants (and hadn’t needed to up to this point) but I do remember that the business of the restaurants can make for a long drink wait.  Now I don’t know if our Haven cards had anything to do with this, but a server (different from the waitress) came right over.  About this time was the first time that the maître d’ came over to check on us and to thank us for dining in her restaurant.  Now maybe she did this to everyone, but it didn’t seem so.  Our waitress was nice and somewhat funny although there was a bit of a language barrier.  We got our drinks pretty quickly, and someone actually came by during the meal to see if we wanted another.  Our food was good, can’t really remember what it was, but I believe my daughter got pasta.  I know I got pot stickers for an appetizer as I have a picture, but apparently didn’t take any other pictures.  The maître d’ came by again during dessert to again ask how we were.  People have reported long waits to receive food and drink in the main dining rooms, but we did not have this experience. 

 

After dinner I believe we saw some live music.  We had discovered Chelsea Reynolds, a singer/guitarist who played at the Tobacco Road bar as well as at District.  She was fantastic and had a great song selection.  It was really hard to find a seat at the Tobacco Road venue, as it’s very small.  There were groups of people who were not open to sharing their areas, which is NOT in the spirit of music and drinks.  Shame on them.  I know that we ended the night with some Karaoke at 5 O’clock somewhere.  There were very few people there, and even my Daughter got up and sang a song.  My son sang, and then JR (piano guy) came in and blew us all away 😊.  Off to bed for my daughter and me.  My son, apparently, went on a walkabout making friends for a good part of the wee hours.  Well, everyone has their own cruise, I guess!