review infinity 01-29-06-really long

[rkaplan]

Infinity 01-29-06 through 02-06-06

 

We flew to Ft. Lauderdale the day before, DW always afraid of bad weather to fly the day of the cruise. Stayed at Holiday Inn North Fort Lauderdale. Nothing special, got it on Priceline rated a three star, lucky to be two star. Best can say about is it is clean and close to water taxi’s. Spent the day at the Riverfront on Las Olas. Would recommend to stay at hotel on beach further south, Hyatt Pier66 or others. Recommend if only come in the night before to sleep and then get up to go to the ship and I do that with reservations, because of the cab fare. There is shuttle service, don’t know the cost, but a lot of people doing it. To many people for us. I am a runner and was looking forward to running in warm weather, but broke fifth toe day before, no running for me next few days.

01-29-96 Left for ship at 11:00 am. Cab cost $23.00 including tip. Second time on Infinity, different itinerary. Got to the ship about 11:30 am and was on in about 20 minutes. We were concierge class and that helped get us in early. Went to buffet for lunch, I thought it was nothing special. Room is larger, bathroom is larger. Concierge class we had binoculars, free shoe shines, leather card case for your ship card, special towels, choice of pillows, champagne and a fruit bowl with grapes, apple, pear, orange and bananas. Fresh flowers in the room and bathroom. Met the room steward, Desmond, asked to empty mini bar and try to pretip him, he refused. Wandered the ship Biggest decision was to hook up lap top in room. Equipment for room is $10.00 per day and $0.75 per minute. Could go wi fi in certain area of the ship. However, if sent copies of more than one e-mail it cost $2.00 extra and if we receive e-mail it cost $2.00 per e-mail. Decided to use their computer room. Can buy 100 minutes for $70.00. Bought DW coke cup, all the coke she wants for the week for $35.00 plus 15%. Every day we got appetizers at 4:00 pm. Had dinner. Again asked Desmond for extra ice and tried to tip him and he refused. Waiter at dinner was Benedict

Dinner, DW had cold tangerine-apple soup, fair, salad, her best part of dinner with blue cheese dressing, Hake, white fish, she did not like, but I thought it was good. Dessert Raspberry cheese cake, she liked. I had tomato bisque soup, fair, caesar salad, fair, veal picante, very good and chocolate cream puff, excellent and creme brulee, good.

Was told by friends to try martini bar, great and different martinis. Drinkers we are, NOT, we had martini’s, tasted like jet fuel-kerosene. May try one more time tomorrow.

DW decided to gamble, no good luck.

We went to show, Lets Rock, singers and dancers of ship. I thought okay. DW liked it, it was high energy.

Had pizza after that and called it a night.

01-3029-06 Day at sea. DW and I just took it easy. Slept in, went by the pool and read. Just really did nothing for the day. The day was 77 degrees but was windy and sunny. We were going to go to the cooking demonstration but forgot about it and also forgot about the Captain’s tea. Our 4 x4 excursion to the sugar canes of Case de Campo was canceled, so trying to decided what to do with the day tomorrow. We are not golfers. If you are golfers, the teeth of the dog golf course is one of the world renown golf courses. I played it years ago, that was when I thought I could play golf, I know now I can’t.

Formal night for dinner. DW had escargot, onion soup, wedge of lettuce with tomato, filet and apple tart along with anniversary cake and ice cream for a couple at the table wedding’s anniversary.

I had escargot, good, onion soup, fair, filet, if you want it medium, pink, order medium rare. I ordered medium and it came well done and to be sent back. Filet was fair. I had anniversary cake and ice cream puff with almond like ice cream. Cherry jubilees was on the desert menu but did not get any. We went and e-mailed the kids, cost $11.70 for 15 minutes. Because of the time change we missed the production number done by the celebrity dancers and singers. My fault for not setting my watch forward. The show was Celebrate the World with the Celebrity singers and dancers. We heard later it was a good show. We went to the casino, DW won $10.25. Went to check out the sushi but it is only served from 6:00 to 10:00 pm. We decided to call it an early night and read. For being on Concierge level we got priority disembarkment cards to us tomorrow for disembarkation to Casa de Campo.

01-31-06 Arrived in Casa de Campo at 1:00 pm. Altos da Chevon, spectacular view but nothing else. Shops and restaurants. A lot has changes in 20 years when I was here. We then went to the Marina and it is beautiful. Lots of restaurants and shops and very modern. Need to have Dominican Republic money, they take American but your change will be in Dominican Republic money. If you are a golfer, this is paradise, new golf course Dye Fore. We came back to the ship, had a light bit to eat and read and napped. We went to dinner. Tonight’s dinner in my opinion was the worst so far appetizer DW had roasted eggplant, asparagus, peppers and tomatoes, soup Louisiana gumbo, she did not like, endive salad, main courses were choices of roasted sirloin vegetarian Indian curry dish, roaster partial bone chicken, fish trio in fish broth and lamb shank. DW had endive salad, chicken, which she did not like. I had roasted eggplant, mushroom bisque, caesar salad, always on the menu, just okay, broiled salmon-always on the menu, and for desert chocolate cake with raspberry DW and myself had and I had meringue with fresh fruit, best item of the night. We left dinner, e-mailed the kids, cost of $10.75 and went and had sushi. We went to the show Gilles and Laure and Action comedy-juggler Thein Fu. Thein Fu was good. After the show DW gambled and lost. We had a Tropical night party with fruit buffet upon leaving Casa De Campo at 11:00 pm.

02-0-06 Ordered room service for our room. We had to do immigration at 10:45 am before leaving the ship for San Juan. We then took a cab up to El Morro Castle. The cab ride is $7.00. It is up hill. HINT: it is easy to walk down hill to do shopping then walk up hill. Having been to San Juan four times and never did the Castle. It is fantastic. It costs $5.00 to get in but well worth to see the views are fabulous. Afer the castle you can walk down back to the shops and the ship and you are going down hill. I have tired walking up to the Castle and when you get there, you are to tired to do the castle, so take a cab up and walk down.

We came back ate, read and had a light lunch. The main dining room dinner menu was appetizers, spring rolls, prosciuto ham with melon, salmon , and spinach tarok, soup cream of broccoli, double beef consomme , and chilled rhubarb soup, main course, deep sea scallops, Flat King Clip, Roast turkey, Rack of veal and marinaded beef dish.. Dessert was nougat glaze with blackberry sauce and chocolate imperial.

Tonight we had dinner at the United States Restaurant, gourmet restaurant. Reservations a must and it costs $30.00 per person. DW had goat cheese souffle, great, scallops and lobster on bed of pasta-great, and I had Russian salad, great and rack of lamb great. We both had sampler platter of all the deserts. The food and service was excellent. We went to the show, They got Rhythm with the celebrity singers and dancers. After that we went to the newlywed-Not so newlywed game.

02-03-06 We docked at St. Thomas at 7:00 am. DW decided to go into St. Thomas and get an early start. Got there about 8:30 am but problem was shops did not open until 9:00 am, and we had a steady rain for the first hours of the morning. It cleared later in the afternoon. We shopped and bought a watch and glow in dark pirate shirts for nephews. There is a flea market where the taxi’s drop you off and you can buy knock off purses. We came back had lunch and then did our excursion to St. John, island tour of St. John. Came back to the ship. Had dinner, DW had frog legs for dinner, fair. Chicken with sweet corn soup, good, boston lettuce salad with Gorgonzola cheese, good, filet mignon, good and for desert chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream. I had shrimp wrapped salad for appetizer, fair, spicy gazpacho soup, fair, filet mignon, good and puffed pastry with cream inside, good. DW gambles and lost. The show to see David Meyer and his zylosyntheser, fair. DW not feeling well and called it a night early.

02-04-06 At sea all day. We sat in the sun, read, slept and just took it easy.

Dinner, DW had shrimp cocktail, cream of asparagus soup-good, caesar salad, lobster tail-salty and baked Alaska. I had shrimp cocktail, berry with cumin and yogurt soup-very good, prime rib, good and baked Alaska. Show tonight was The Spectacular of Broadway with the Celebrity singer and dancers, their best show. We on line for the kids, cost $7.50. DW gambled and lost

Midnight buffet was tonight

02-05-06 We did not arrive to Nausea until noon and left at 5:00 pm. Went into town and shopped.

We came back, rested, relaxed and read. Dinner, DW had citrus plate, cold black cherry soup, tomatoes, onions and bib lettuce, cod and dessert lemon cheese cake. I had escargot in puff pastry, cold black cherry soup, caesar salad, beef tenderloin with pepper corns and chocolate cake with Chambord and ice cream. Played bingo for$1500.00 pot, got up to three numbers. Last show was Gilles and Laure, Action comedy-juggler Thein Fu. and David Meyer and his zylosyntheser. Came to room and packed. Disembarkation assigned area to go to and that area will be cleared to leave. There will be no overhead announcements for the whole ship. Breakfast starts at 6:00 am and they expect everybody off the ship no later than 10:15. I will let you know how successful they are tomorrow.

02-06-06 Got up and had breakfast. We were assigned the martini bar at 9:15. We did not get called to leave for 30 minutes. That did not seem like priority disembarkation. To me priority disembarkation is you leave when you want once the ship is cleared. It took us 20 minutes to get off the ship and get our luggage. We were going to Key West and waited almost an hour for the Budget rent a car shuttle. Each time it came we had just decided to get a cab instead. The second time we got a cab. On to Key West.

 

 

IMPRESSIONS:

DW and I were on the Infinity four years ago. The ship is a beautiful ship but had shown its wear. Unlike Royal Carribean (RCI), they did not appear to be keeping the ship up. When on RCI you can always see them repainting and cleaning all the times. On the Infinity, they did some clean up but it was not like on RCI. There were areas on the ship that definitely needed to be repainted and rust was visible.

The crew was great. The ratio of crew to passengers is supposedly two passengers for one crew member. The crew always greeted you, were courtesy, and would go out of their way to help you if you had a problem. Concierge class was well worth it. The cabins and bathrooms were bigger. DW liked the fresh flowers and you seemed to get better service and if you had problems they had a special concierge desk to help you. Since I have cruised the Caribbean quite a few times, there are not many ports that I have not been to and I now finding that it is the journey not the destination that matters. However, unless you are going for golf, Casa de Campo was one of the worst, it rates as bad as St. Croix.

 

ITEMS YOU NEED TO TAKE WITH YOU

Power strip for extra plugs

ziploc-seal sealing- bags for items to bring back in `sealed bags

batteries for mp3 players or any other battery operated devices, AAA and AA

Sun tan lotion

SolarCaine

Ladies, bring feminine products just in case

Bring reusable water bottles to take on excursions, you can fill with cold water and not have to buy cold water to take with you.

You can buy and bring soda/pop on the ship if you want.

Zantac

bug spray

matches for bathroom

pepto bismal

immodium

chapstick-blistex

hat

sunglasses

Emory boards

night light

band aids

aspirin-Tylenol

cort-aid-cortisione cream

luggage locks

 

Pearls:

Sushi served 6:00pm to 10:00 aft of ship by pizza

Pizza, pasta and salad served at Buffett until 1:00 am

If you like fruit pies, they serve hamburgers, hot dogs and french fries level 10 pool side aft and there is fresh fruit pie with whipped cream every day.

When we came back from excursions from Casa de Campo and St. Thomas they had cold towels and cold water to use for free to cool down.

Bathrooms had paper towels and cloth towels to wash your hands

 

 

 

 

 

 

RATINGS:

 

Service B+

Crew A

Food B

Physical ship itself B

Entertainment C+

 

Concierge Class

 

In our opinion, well worth it. Bigger cabin, bigger bathroom, two hair blowers, fresh flowers in the room and bathroom, welcome aboard champagne and fruit, afternoon canapes, plush bedding and pillows, priority embarkation and disembarkation, use of binoculars, use of umbrella, free canvas tote bag, express delivery of luggage, complimentary shoe shine, and had concierge class representative to take care of n shore excursions, dining and seating preferences, and invitations to onboard events.