My LONG Magic Story (to Bermuda!) - 10/5 - 10/10

[mlshum]

As usual, we went to the top and worked our way down.   We skipped the areas where muster drills were still being held but managed to photograph everything else.  This was our first time on a Dream class ship but all the ships, which the exception of Mardi Gras, have a very similar layout and we had a really good idea of where everything would be located.  Since it was October the ship was decorated for Halloween and Patch the Pumpkin was standing guard in the Atrium.

 

Here are some pictures from the sports decks

 

 

Water Works

 

 

Slide entrance

 

 

Looking down onto Lido

 

 

Slides

 

 

Walkway, seating and funnel - Deck 11

 

 

Ropes course and mini-golf

 

 

Ropes course and mini-golf

 

 

Basketball court

 

 

Looking down onto Tides pool from deck 11

 

 

Outdoor exercise area

 

 

Ropes course and mini-golf

 

 

Water Works

 

 

Here's a few from Lido

 

 

 

Lido pool, loungers and big screen

 

 

Lido pool

 

 

Pool deck

 

 

Covered seating on deck 11 overlooking Lido

 

 

More Lido, pool deck and big screen

 

 

.....and now some from Serenity

 

 

 

Walkway

 

 

Shaded (somewhat!) loungers

 

 

Loungers and hot tub

 

 

Clamshell

 

 

After this I moved inside......starting in the next post.

 

 

 

[mlshum]

Our tour continued inside......

 

 

Here are a few from the Atrium area

 

 

Atrium from deck 4 with Patch the Pumpkin standing guard

 

 

I just liked this light fixture!

 

 

Looking down into Atrium lobby from where we lived on deck 10

 

 

Looking down from deck 10 again

 

 

Check out those Fantasy class lights!

 

 

Skylight

 

 

Patch the Pumpkin

 

 

Atrium lobby

 

 

Halloween decorations throughout October

 

 

Atrium lobby

 

 

 

 

 

And other locations from around the ship.....

 

 

Showtime Theatre (muster drill demo was in progress)

 

 

Upper level of theatre

 

 

Pixels was sort of scattered out on Deck 5 

 

 

They still print out some pictures.....

 

 

....but also have them available on tablets.  Weird, I know!

 

 

Pixels

 

 

Steakhouse

 

 

Steakhouse interior

 

 

"Bridge" to Punchliner

 

 

Comedy club

 

 

 

Piano bar - the black tile is a walkway through to the comedy club.  In my opinion, this isn't a good design at all!  (More on that later)

 

 

More piano bar

 

 

Red Frog

 

 

Promenade - with sushi to the left

 

 

Promenade

 

 

Java Blue - may I recommended the lemon meringue cupcake!?!?

 

 

Ocean Plaza - lots of music and trivia here and it's also additional seating for Alchemy Bar

 

 

Ocean Plaza

 

 

Casino - the casino is guarded by a number of possessed rabbits in hats.  You can tell they are possessed from their glowing blue eyes

 

 

Casino

 

 

Northern Lights Dining Room

 

 

So at this point, our tour was pretty much complete.  Back to our story in the next post!

 

 

 

 

[mlshum]

After our tour, we decided to go back to Lido for some dessert and then to our room to unpack.  Lemon meringue cake was available.  So was funfetti cheesecake.  Choices, I know.  I choose BOTH!    We knew our luggage had already been delivered!  LOL   We had booked a cabin on the Lido deck this time.  We’ve kept experimenting with cabin locations on our cruises to see if we have that one “sweet spot” that works well for us.  So far, we’d never stayed on Lido.  I usually try to get our cabin sandwiched between two “residential” decks to eliminate noise as much as possible.  We were able to do that with a forward Lido cabin.  It was convenient to walk out of our cabin and already be on the Lido deck but if we wanted to go to one of the lower decks we had more of a hike.  We rarely use elevators.  I believe we have concluded that we’re pretty happy almost anywhere but the middle decks, 5, 6, 7 and 8 seem to be a good “in between” for us…which is appropriate because they truly ARE “in between”. 

 

We went to our room to unpack.  We unpacked, talked with Gusti for a minute and opted for morning service.  We grabbled Kindles and our first duck of the cruise and went up to Lido to find a clamshell and read a while.  It was wonderful to relax and enjoy vacation.  Ron MIGHT have fallen asleep for a few minutes but we’re not confessing.  To hear him tell it, he’s simply “resting his eyes”.

 

 

This was just before he "rested his eyes".  LOL
 

I like to bring one cruising duck for each day of the cruise.  I try to do something cute with them to make them special.  I know the cruising ducks are silly, but I still enjoy making them and “hiding” them.  It makes me smile.  I hope it makes others smile, too.  Since we were sailing in October and had a four-day cruise, I decided to make Harry Potter ducks for each of the four Hogwarts houses.  On this day, I set out the Hufflepuff duck. 

 

 

Our sail away time was 5:30. Since that time was approaching, we ran back to our cabin and to drop off Kindles.  It didn’t take long to clean up just a bit for dinner, which would immediately follow our sail away.  We stopped at one of the bars on the way to our room to pick up our water and drop it off in our room.

 

 

Ryan Rose was our cruise director.  He was a lot of fun.  By the time we got back he was already on deck and the singing and dancing was just getting started.  We went up to Deck 11, found a place on the railing and watched Norfolk slip away behind us.  I knew we had to sail either under the Chesapeake Bay bridge or over the tunnel section and had hoped to see that but, alas, we didn’t make it to the bridge before dinner or darkness.  We went down to dinner.  It was getting darker.  I never did see the bridge whenever we reached it.  Maybe next time.

 

Dinner proved to be interesting that first night.  We typically have early assigned dining, and we always request a table for two.  Sometimes that request cannot be honored the first night.  This was one of those times.  We were seated at a table for eight.  I had been thinking about switching to Your Time Dining since the app now made everything so convenient.  Tonight’s dinner would help me decide that, going forward, this would be a good idea for us.   Still, comedy ensued and this is what happened:

 

We were the first ones seated at our table.  We hadn’t been there long with another couple arrived.  You must admire people who are genuinely happy people.  Those people are happy whether they’re sober or drunk.    It was apparent that this couple had been drinking prior to dinner.  I guess it really hadn’t caught up with them until that time because the longer we sat there, the more obvious it became.  We chatted a few minutes and two other couples showed up to join us.  Everyone was really nice, and we enjoyed talking.  They told us about their families and where they lived.  They all lived in the Virginia area and were cruising because Norfolk was close for them.   We were the outsiders from a distant land. One couple had cruised before, the other two were first time cruisers.

 

The server came, brought bread and took our orders.  I had veggie lasagna as a starter followed by brisket and melting cake for dessert.  Ron opted for soup and a quesadilla and a steak.  He had ice cream for dessert.

 

As dinner started, the couple who’d had a bit too much to drink started to get a little louder.   At one point she asked me if I needed to go to the bathroom because she wasn’t sure she could make it on her own.  I politely declined.  I hadn’t been asked to go to the bathroom with “the girls” since junior high.  Maybe I was missing an opportunity by declining.  Hmm…… She talked it over with her husband and he decided to go with her so she could make it back since she was a little unsteady and was afraid of getting lost.  I really did feel kind of bad about saying “no” but I also really DIDN’T want to go to the bathroom with a stranger!   When they returned, dinner had been delivered.  They had each opted for a steakhouse selection.  I’m pretty sure they didn’t realize that they were being charged extra for the steakhouses options.  They ordered more drinks and we all settled in to eat.  One of the other ladies at the table commented that the steaks looked good.  The drunk lady pushed her plate toward the other lady, a total stranger, and offered her a bite.  It was a nice gesture for sure.  The other lady politely declined.  The singing and dancing started.  The others at the table were very enthusiastic with singing, dancing and twirling the napkins over their head.  (That part always bothers me!  I can imagine all kinds of small pieces of food flying out of those napkins!)  The singing and dancing is OK, I guess but I kind of wish they wouldn’t do it EVERY night.  Still, to each his own!  Near the end of the singing and dancing and just before dessert arrived, our new friends apparently thought it was a great time for a make out session.  I appreciate that even though they’d been married for a long time they still loved each other.  The situation, however, was now uncomfortable!  It was funny, though, and how often do you see THAT in the main dining room.  Dinner and a show!  At this point, we had finished eating and were ready to move on to other activities.  I confess, in many ways it was one of the most uncomfortable dinners I’ve ever had the privilege of eating.  In other ways it is something we will remember for years to come.  I don’t mind eating with new people, but this was a little over the top.  Ron agreed that Your Time was going to work better for us going forward.

 

It was now completely dark outside.  We needed to walk around a bit to let dinner settle.  On deck five, you can walk from the sides all the way around the back of the ship.  We were apparently just leaving the Chesapeake Bay as you could see lights fading into the distance and the harbor pilot boat was pulling away.  Yay!  We were underway!

 

 

 

 

We wandered around for a bit and stepped back inside.  We intended to stop in the Carnival shop to get our ship magnet, but it was jut too crowded.  We did stop in Pixels to get our loyalty pins.  It was after 9 at this point and we went to the main theatre for the Welcome Aboard Show.  It was the typical content…two couples, strap the box with the balls on the guy and he has to shake them out.  The thing that made this interesting was one of the husbands.  There were two couples, an older couple who had obviously done this before and a younger couple who were first time cruisers.  The lady seemed pretty coherent, but her husband was barely upright and looked dazed.   Ryan asked her how many drinks they had.  She said one.  Ryan said, “I think you’ve definitely had more than one.”  She replied that she had one, but he’d had several.  Still, even in his inebriated state, he gave the game with the balls everything he had to the point where he even managed to make a puddle in the floor from drooling.  He was hysterical!  That’s dedication.  I don’t ever remember laughing so hard while watching that game.  They need to give this guy a prize for bringing the comic relief!

 

 

 

 

Ryan Rose, our cruise director, with the "ball" game

 

 

Check out Ryan's shoes!

 

 

It seemed like this cruise was a bit “rowdier” than normal…..not in an aggressive, fighting kind of way, just in a “talk and laugh very loudly and be openly staggering drunk” kind of way.   Hey, you do you, Boo!  There were a LOT of first-time cruisers and a LOT of people who lived within an hour or two of the port.  I don’t think there was necessarily any correlation between those things.  I think, in general, that the shorter cruises tend to be a little livelier.  As long as it isn’t directed at me, I’m very much a “live and let 

live” type of person.  The fact that so many people were from the local area and were on their first cruise bodes well for the acceptance of Norfolk as a regular embarkation port.

 

It was around 11pm.  We were tired.  We went back to our room to go to bed.   Ship time was jumping ahead by one hour on this night.

 

 

Copies of the Funtimes from Embarkation Day  (hopefully these will open if you click on them!)

 

 

Funtimes 1 - 1.pdf

 

Funtime 1-2.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by mlshum

[peacefrog]

1 hour ago, mlshum said:

Thank you so much and thanks for reading along! 

 

That is a photo of the actual test we used.  The way it works is there is an app and a website that you must use.  You go through the app and website and it connects you to an online test proctor.  You follow their instructions and take the test.  After it is finished, they email you the results.  There are several good YouTube videos of people using these actual tests.  We've had good success with them thus far.  

thank you for the info

[mlshum]

Since the time had changed coupled with the fact we were tired AND I hadn’t slept well the night before, we were up a little later than normal.  The clock said 9 but, of course, it felt like 8.  Still, that’s late for us.  We got up, showered and headed to Lido buffet to find some breakfast. 

 

Overall, the food was fine all throughout this cruise.  Not spectacular, not terrible, just fine.  This was a sausage day on the Magic.  Like I said earlier, we’re not huge breakfast eaters.  One of my weaknesses, though, is bread and especially croissants.  I am that girl who can eat a slice of bread straight out of the bag for a snack and be happy about it.  I was looking forward to one of the breakfast croissants that are always available each morning.  They’re my favorite part of a Carnival breakfast.    This morning, the croissant was weirdly tasteless.  I mean, it really had NO flavor whatsoever.  You couldn’t even taste salt.  It was very strange.  I couldn’t eat it.  Everything else was OK.  I decided it must be a fluke and would probably be better the next day.  The lemon poppyseed muffins made up for it.

 

After breakfast, we went back to the cabin for a minute and headed up to the ropes course. We always enjoy those!  Each ship has pretty much the same obstacles, but we don’t care.  It’s always fun!  There’s nothing quite like being up on the course, looking out and seeing nothing but water in every direction.  I took the Ravenclaw duck with me and set it out on the way.  

 

 

Water, water everywhere!

 

 

Look at that blue sky!

 

 

Dropped off the Ravenclaw duck

 

 

We ran into Jeremy from our muster drill.  Of course, he remembered us!  (well….maybe not but still WE remembered him!)   It probably isn't a surprise at all that we "ran into him" since he'd already told us he worked at the ropes course.  LOL  We chatted with him a few minutes while we got into our harnesses and away, we went.  When we started there were very few people on the course, but it was starting to get busier as we were finishing.  One of the ships photographers was on deck and was taking pictures of people on the course.  She took several of us.  We have lots of elegant night pictures but none on the ropes course that Ron hadn’t taken with his Go Pro so that’s the photo from this cruise that we opted to purchase.

 

 

 

Hanging on for dear life

 

 

OK, I've got this now!

 

 

He's my hubby, partner in crime AND my BFF!

 

 

The wind was still a little chilly, so I opted to run back to the room and put a shirt over my shirt.  We then played a round of golf.  Much better!  He won, of course.  

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a picture of the one and only picture we bought during this cruise.

 

 

After finishing the ropes course, we went down to Ocean Plaza for some trivia and games.  We always enjoy these on all our cruises.  I knew there were no “solid gold plastic ships on a stick” anywhere in the fleet at this time but I didn’t care.  It was still fun to play.  We have the ship on a stick from every ship we’ve sailed except for Sunrise last October and now Magic.  (Boo!  LOL)    On our way into Ocean Plaza Ron found a duck.  There was a small child sitting with her parents across from us and we gave the duck to her.  This was the first of four ducks we would find this cruise.  I usually take one home and put the rest back for someone else to find.  The second duck we found was in an elevator.  It was a ghost duck.  That’s the one I took home.

 

 

Ron found a duck!

 

 

Ready to play some trivia!

 

 

This little guy came home with me.

 

The first game was a version of Win, Lose or Draw.  We paired up with another family.  Holly would be our artist, and her husband named our team…..Stinky Cheese Weasels.  OK!  Let’s go with that!  LOL  We played for a while but eventually lost to the other team, appropriately named “The Winners”.  They were giving out mini-Jenga games as prizes this time.  We stuck around for another trivia game, but I don’t remember the subject matter.  After that, we decided to go to lunch at Cucina.

 

Cucina del Capitano becomes the pasta bar on sea day lunches.  We usually try to go there at least once.  It was basically empty.  There were about four other people eating there besides us.  I ordered the chicken alfredo.  Again, it was OK.   Just OK.  I’ve had lunches at Cucina I thought were excellent.  This one wasn’t bad….just OK.  Still, it did the job, and I wasn’t hungry anymore so I can’t complain.

 

After lunch, we were ready to relax for a while and headed out with our Kindles to find a couple of deck chairs.  It was warmer than the day before and the weather was pretty much perfect.  This bodes well for good weather in Bermuda!  We stayed out on deck for a couple of hours reading and relaxing, then got our magnet at the shop.  It was close to 4pm by that time.  We stopped in Ocean Plaza for some Halloween song trivia.

 

 

Living my best life

 

 

When trivia was finished, we went up to our room to get ready for dinner.  This night would be elegant night.  We didn’t get any elegant night photos other than the ones we took ourselves.  Our new table assignment was on the upper dining room deck.  Much better or, at least, much less exciting!  The service was a little slower than the night before but still adequate and the food was good.  We both had prime rib and I enjoyed another melting cake, which is my favorite.

 

 

When we went back to our room this little guy was waiting.

 

 

Elegant night

 

 

More to come later....

 

[mlshum]

During dinner, a proposal happened just a few tables down from us.  I didn’t realize what was happening at first until the gentleman went down on one knee and people whipped out phones.  It was very sweet.  She said “yes”.  We stopped by their table on our way out of the dining room to congratulate them and admire her beautiful ring.

 

There was comedy scheduled to begin in 45 minutes or so.  We went on to the comedy club to get seats while they were still available and waited there.  There were two comedians this night.  Both were pretty good.  One of them, Manny Oliveria, I had heard before on a different ship.  The other was Julie Scoggins.  Manny likes to wander through the audience and talk with people.  One of the first people he spoke to was a kid near the front.  He asked the kid about his parents.  He said his dad was a cop. 

 

 

Waiting for the show to start

 

I couldn't get a clear picture because of the low lighting and movement.  

 

 

Manny, of course, had to come and then talk to Dad.   He got a lot of mileage out of that interaction for the rest of his set.

 

After we left the comedy club, we went to the Showtime Theatre for the production show, 88 Keys.  I had never seen this one before.  When we got there, the pianist from the piano bar was playing and singing.  He was REALLY good! Hi name was Brad.  I can’t remember the last name. We enjoyed listening and sometimes singing along until time for the show.  I liked this production show better than most of the others I have seen.  The Playlist cast did a good job.  Toward the end, the pianist came back out and they finished up with a couple of sing along songs.  I enjoyed it very much!

 

It was nearly time for the Halloween costume contest and deck party, so we went up to Lido to join the fun.  There were quite a few people who had dressed up.  There were two different sets of Three Blind Mice, the entire cast of The Wizard of Oz and my personal favorite, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Superman and Wonder Woman were declared the winners and the dancing began.

 

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - I didn't figure out what they were doing quickly enough to get a good picture

 

 

The Wizard of Oz is my all time favorite movie so, of course, I loved this one.  I got to go back to the Land of Oz this year in Banner Elk, NC for Autumn in Oz.  I had visited the Land of Oz as a little girl in 1974 when it was an active amusement park.  Now it's only open a few weekends a year.  It brought back a lot of memories......so I loved this group!

 

Here are a few photos from the Land of Oz....

 

 

Walking the yellow brick road

 

 

Glinda was always my fav

 

 

The Scarecrow was a lot of fun.  We were supposed to be pointing to our brains.  LOL

 

 

So the party kicked off an everyone started dancing, including us.  It was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

Ron and I are not typically good dancers, and we don’t have many opportunities to dance but we have learned some of the line dances and we do enjoy doing this occasionally.  We did a couple of the typical dances….Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide, Wobble, etc.  After dancing for a little while, we went inside to get some ice cream.  We were pretty tired and still needed to gather things for Bermuda the next day since we had to be off the ship fairly early.  We called it a night and returned to the cabin.

 

Here are the Fun Times for this day

 

Funtime 2-1.pdf

Funtimes 2-2.pdf

 

 

 

 

[Crusin Karen]

I don't remember those funky lights in the atrium.  I had YTD.  Usually went 6-6:30.  They did not have the dancing except on the last night.  Kind of missed it!

[mlshum]

4 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

I don't remember those funky lights in the atrium.  I had YTD.  Usually went 6-6:30.  They did not have the dancing except on the last night.  Kind of missed it!

Wow!  They did it every single night for us.  Maybe it's because we had assigned dining.  I guess another reason to make the switch.  LOL  Like I said, I don't mind, it's kind of fun but maybe not every single night.

 

Thanks so much for reading along!

[nybumpkin]

9 hours ago, mlshum said:

 

The Wizard of Oz is my all time favorite movie so, of course, I loved this one.  I got to go back to the Land of Oz this year in Banner Elk, NC for Autumn in Oz.  I had visited the Land of Oz as a little girl in 1974 when it was an active amusement park.  Now it's only open a few weekends a year.  It brought back a lot of memories......so I loved this group!

 

Here are a few photos from the Land of Oz....

 

 

Walking the yellow brick road

 

 

I lived in Boone 1972-73 when I was in 7th grade and we went to Land of Oz. I'm glad to hear it's open at least somewhat - the last I saw, it looked pretty abandoned.

 

Enjoying your review - our oldest son is in the Navy on a ship in Norfolk and he lives in Virginia Beach. I think if we sailed out of Norfolk I'd park the car at his house and let him drive us to the ship.🙂

[Jamman54]

Enjoying your review and pictures! I hope you had better weather in Bermuda than we did! 

[JimmyTheSaint]

Hope you can help, I've asked elsewhere but no reply yet. How long did it take for your Travel Authorisation to come through for Bermuda? We applied six days ago and haven't heard anything. I sent an email trying to chase it up but no response.

 

[mlshum]

October 8^th – Bermuda

 

We got up earlier than the day before.  Our ship was supposed to dock at 9:15 and we had to meet our shore excursion group at 9:30. The weather was BEAUTFIUL!  I was so glad this would NOT be a repeat performance of our first trip to Bermuda.

 

We headed to the Lido buffet.  Bacon was back on the menu today.  I decided to try to croissant again.  Again, it was weirdly completely tasteless.  Again, I couldn’t eat it.  What’s up with that, Carnival?!?!   I usually love those croissants!  I give up!

 

While we were eating the ship was docking.  Ryan was keeping everyone informed of the docking progress.  We finished breakfast, dashed back to the room to grab our things and headed downstairs.  When we reached the stairwell on Deck 10, Ron said “duck”, so I did.  He said “duck” again and I ducked lower.  At that point he cracked up, pointed and said, “There is a duck!”  lol  Oops!  I really thought I was about to be hit in the head by something!  He’s still cracking up about that.

 

 

We were cleared to go ashore and we immediately headed down to the gangway to meet our tour group.

 

Let me stop here and say that we usually book our tours through Carnival.  We have booked privately from time to time, but I really like the security of knowing that if we are delayed, the ship will not leave us.  I have been very grateful for this fact at least three other times!  That would also be the case today.

 

The tour we had booked was included a cave exploration, cave swimming, cliff jumping, snorkeling, lunch and ice cream.  It was going to be a full day!  The tour was supposed to last 6-7 hours and we were in port for 8 hours, so we were thinking we’d have time after we got back to grab our port of call magnet and a t-shirt.

 

The tour company was called Hidden Gems.  Our tour guide was Millet.  I think that was actually his last name but it was what was written on his name tag so we’ll go with that.  There were twelve other people besides us, all in their 20’s and early 30’s.  We were, again, the old folks.  We were taken to a 15-passenger van.  It was clean and well kept.  Each seat had a matching backpack.  In the backpack was a helmet with light, sun umbrella, flashlight and two bottles of water.  We were instructed to put anything we might need or want into the provided backpack and leave our belongings on the van.

 

 

We met our van...

 

 

...and immediately headed out.

 

 

We started off.  Millet told us the ride would be about an hour.  We were going up into Hamilton and almost as far as St. George’s but not quite.  We saw it from a distance.  LOL Along the way, Millet told us about the different things we were seeing.  We crossed the world’s smallest drawbridge, passed Gibbs Hill lighthouse (although it was mostly obscured), we passed Horseshoe Bay, etc.  Millet explained about the colors of the houses.  We already knew from our last trip that it was a law that the roof of each house had to be painted white concrete for water collection.  Bermuda does not have a fresh water source and water desalination is very expensive, so they collect rainwater to use for showering, laundry, etc.  They are very careful to conserve water since it is somewhat limited.  They are also careful about pollution.  For the most part, the houses are neat and well kept.  There is very little litter along the road or in yards.  On the whole, it’s a very clean place.  I think we Americans could take a lesson from the Bermudians!

 

 

Lots of pretty water scenes as we drove along

 

 

The world's smallest drawbridge

 

 

Expensive resorts

 

 

Marina

 

 

Very large cemetery

 

 

Residential area

 

 

Notice the white roof?  All residential buildings must have this roof for water collection.

 

As we traveled and Millet narrated, it became apparent that most of the stories eventually wound up being about him and his many exploits.  We passed a military building with soldiers in fatigues in the front.  He told us that he was a decorated military officer.  They were saluting as we went by.  He was pretty sure they were saluting him.  He had studied in Boston.  He had worked at the Pentagon.  He had gotten to know Michael Douglas from when he visited the island.  He had seen Michael Jackson when he had visited the island.  He had conversed with “kings and queens” when they visited the island.  He had spoken with presidents, entertainers, musicians, etc. and they had used his first name in each instance.   On and on it went.  I’m sure some of it was true but I’m not sure how much was embellished and how much actually happened.  If you’re a fan of the show “Survivor” you will probably remember Phillip Sheppard.  If you don’t remember it, you can probably find videos on You Tube.  Millet reminded me SO much of Phillip!  They even sounded alike!  In my mind, he will always be Phillip.  Still, he seemed very knowledgeable about the island and gave a great commentary on what we were seeing….minus the extras. 

 

 

Here is the military building.  I didn't actually see anything salute but apparently, they did.

 

 

Our first stop was at the edge of Tom Moore’s jungle.  We all got out, grabbed our assigned backpacks and headed out for a short 20-minute hike.  It was mostly level and easy walking although there were a few places that were steeper and rocky.  We came out into a clearing.  Millet instructed us to stop and put on our helmets.  We were given hair nets to protect the cave.  He explained how to use the lights on the helmet.  The first setting was simply a light for illumination.  The second setting was green which was supposed to mean that you were OK.  The third setting was red which meant that you were in trouble.  After everyone had helmets in place, we continued our walk to the mouth of the cave. 

 

 

 

We began walking to Tom Moore's Jungle

 

 

The terrain was a little more wooded in some places but certainly not bad

 

 

Walking through the jungle with our borrowed matching backpacks.  I thought the backpacks were a very good idea.

 

 

Beautiful scenery!

 

 

Phillip....I mean Millet....telling us about how the area became Tom Moore's Jungle

 

 

Out of the woods and into a clearing

 

 

This guy!

 

 

Millet told us about this pool and the fish who lived in it.  It was only a few feet deep.

 

 

Such a pretty pool....right in the middle of the clearing.

 

 

Our "proof of life" picture before we entered the cave.  LOL

 

 

The cave opening from the path

 

 

And here's where we went in

 

 

The opening of the cave was pretty small, and the stalactites were very low.  I was glad for my helmet because I DID hit my head more than once.  We all made our way into the first chamber.  It was much larger inside.  The entrance “hole” was deceptively small!  It was so beautiful and fantastic!  The formations were massive.  There were other “holes” and passageways all around the main chamber.  Millet told us about different people who had visited the cavern.  The most interesting story was about Jim Henson.  He told us that when he had taken Jim Henson into the cave, he had shined his light into one of the holes and looked in.  It revealed a small passage into a larger chamber.  At that point, the idea for Fraggle Rock was born.  We all looked into that hole, and I could see the similarities.  My kids LOVED Fraggle Rock when they were small.  If you watch the opening theme song from Fraggle Rock, the Fraggle is going through a small tunnel into a larger room in a cave.  The whole thing is accessible from a little hole in a house.  Other than the fact the opening WASN’T in a house, I could totally see the size of the hole and the small tunnel were very similar.

 

 

 

Inside the large room of the cave

 

 

Fraggle Rock hole!  It's actually a lot smaller than it looks in this picture

 

 

Here we are in our hair nets with our helmets

 

 

More cave formations

 

 

As we were milling around this large chamber and taking pictures, another proposal and engagement happened!    Apparently, this is the cruise for love and engagements!  Everyone clapped and offered their congratulations.  The ring was beautiful.  Millet suggested they put the ring back in the box and put it somewhere for safe keeping, so it wasn’t lost in the cave since it hadn’t been fitted yet.  In this case, I thought that was excellent advice!

 

We climbed into a much smaller chamber.  It was not only closer in width and depth, but the ceiling was also lower.  Millet demonstrated how you could play music on the stalactites.  It was so cool!  We had the opportunity to play a note or two.  I loved it!  Millet explained that he had a close friend who was a musician who had played with Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Boston, etc. He had requested that this friend come and play a song on the stalactites for Millet’s personal Facebook page for Christmas.   That is an interesting idea for sure.  Since the stalactites are constantly growing and the earth is always expanding and contracting somewhat, I wonder if stalactites would be true to tune enough to do that?  It didn’t occur to me to ask at the time.

 

 

(No idea how to get rid of these videos!  Sorry!  I didn't even realize they were videos until I uploaded) 

 

Here's Millet playing the stalactites.  It was awesome!

 

 

More to come in just a bit!!

 

 

[mlshum]

30 minutes ago, nybumpkin said:

I lived in Boone 1972-73 when I was in 7th grade and we went to Land of Oz. I'm glad to hear it's open at least somewhat - the last I saw, it looked pretty abandoned.

 

Enjoying your review - our oldest son is in the Navy on a ship in Norfolk and he lives in Virginia Beach. I think if we sailed out of Norfolk I'd park the car at his house and let him drive us to the ship.🙂

Oh, that's awesome!  I was only about 7 when I visited Land of Oz.  Yes, it was in good condition and we had such a good visit!  So many memories!  I kept telling Liz, "I remember that!" and I made her look at pictures from my first visit before we left.  Some of it was destroyed in the fire.  Some of it was vandalized.  Some of the artifacts went missing, including Dorothy's gingham dress.  The balloon ride was lost except for a single balloon which was accidentally found in the back of a storage building.  It was a wonderful day and a beautiful area!  They are open weekends in June and October, I think.

 

Yes, parking at his house sounds like a great option.  I don't know if Norfolk will become a busier port.  It's definitely the closest option for us but I know we will still continue to fly to FL so we can go to the further out ports that just take too long to reach from Norfolk.

 

Thanks so much for reading along!!

 

[mlshum]

33 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Enjoying your review and pictures! I hope you had better weather in Bermuda than we did! 

Hey, Jamman!  Yes, when I was reading your review I was thinking you had some pretty terrible weather.  That's the way it was with our first trip.  This time, we were blessed with the most perfect weather imaginable!

 

Thanks so much for reading along and for your wonderful reviews.  I want to be like you and Patty when I grow up!  LOL

 

 

[Jamman54]

7 minutes ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

Hope you can help, I've asked elsewhere but no reply yet. How long did it take for your Travel Authorisation to come through for Bermuda? We applied six days ago and haven't heard anything. I sent an email trying to chase it up but no response.

 

We were in Bermuda in September. Applied for the Authorization 30 days prior to sailing, received it 9 days prior to sailing. 

 

 

[nanners]

Is the Tides pool the only pool? It looks kind of small.

[mlshum]

After we finished in the small room, we climbed up out of a different exit.  Millet instructed us to take off helmets and to get into bathing suits.  All of us had either worn them outright or worn them under clothes.  We all complied and quickly got ready for the next adventure, which was swimming in the cave.  Millet also gave us lunch order options, and everyone selected what they wanted.  Lunch was included in the price of the excursion.  There were multiple options.  Lunch would be finished off with locally made ice cream.  More on lunch later

 

 

This was us coming up out of the first cave

 

We walked just a short distance to a large opening.  As we walked through the opening, you could see the water.  It was the perfect time of day as a few sunbeams were shining directly into the water and illuminating some of what was below and some of the interior of the cave.   It was breathtaking and very deep!  Millet told us we could either wade in on a steep include or jump in.  There was a projection of rock slightly over the water.  There were two other people in front of me.  Both started toward the jump and then changed their minds.  I elected to jump.  That’s right, let the old lady do it first!  The water temperature was just right, and it was absolutely crystal clear.  Everyone got in the water, and we all started paddling around exploring the cave.  It is an experience I will never forgot.  Ron got some great pictures on his Go Pro but even then, it just doesn’t do the cave or the underground lake justice.

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous underground lake

 

 

 

 

I couldn't help being the first one in!

 

 

Look at how clear the water is

 

 

 

The sunlight was streaming into the cavern lighting the cave and lake

 

 

And Ron was able to get this beautiful underwater shot.  I have no idea how deep this lake actually is.

 

 

This isn't the greatest clarity but gives a little scope to see the size

 

 

You could swim back into a large tunnel as well

 

 

After swimming for about 30 minutes, Millet gathered us up and we walked out of the cave and back into Tom Moore’s jungle.  We retraced most of our previous hike but then veered off to a very deep pool where we’d have the opportunity to jump off the cliffs into the water.  The pool was surrounded on two sides by sheer rocks and a partial cave overhang.  There was a small observation deck for those who preferred not to jump.  Most of the people in our group elected to jump. 

 

 

 

This gorgeous pool was very deep and extended partway back into another cave.  We didn't enter this cave

 

 

Here's a pic of the observation deck and the first jump (rock face on the left)

 

 

Selfie time!

 

 

We love bobbing around in the water!

 

The first jump was the 10-foot jump.  I can tell you it looks a lot further down than 10 ft when you’re standing at the edge!  We all gathered around the edge and looked down into the water.  I was surrounded by 20 and 30 somethings.  Everyone peered over the edge.  Did I mention it was a long way down?  The 20 and 30 somethings were taking a step back.  I shouted over to the observation deck and  asked Millet if we were at the right place to jump.  He said that we were.  No one seemed to want to be the first to jump so I decided if I did it everyone else would probably follow suit.  I may be old but I can still do THIS!   That’s exactly what happened.  The group started counting down from 5.  I jumped at about 3.  Math was never my best subject!  LOL  After I jumped someone asked Ron how old I was.  He replied 55.  One of the group said, “Well if she can do it, I can do it!” and promptly jumped.  The ice was broken, and the jumping and splashing began.

 

 

 

Ron loves getting a good action shot!  He was standing behind me on the first jump and still filming.  He actually has a video as he jumped.

 

 

Then he got a picture from the water as I took the second jump

 

At this point, I must tell on Ron.  Remember him?  He was at the top of the cliff with his Go Pro.  He doesn’t love this kind of thing as much as I do but he DOES love me so he goes along with it.  As he was making his video, you could hear him talking.  As he stepped up to the edge he muttered, “Oh Lord!” and then jumped.  Not sure if he knew he was recording himself at that point but it was absolutely hysterical and we’ve played it over and over again.

 

It was so much fun!  After that first jump, most everyone made another pass and did it a couple of times.  I got back out and walked a little past our original jumping point to the 15 ft jump.  After the first jump, this one didn’t seem that much more daunting, so I jumped in from it, too.  Ron elected to film everyone from the water.

 

Again, the water was beautiful, and the temperature was perfect.  We swam for about 30 minutes before Millet called us over to the dock.  It was time to get out and head out for lunch.  As we were getting out, we noticed a barracuda lying in the edge of the pool.  Millet confirmed that it was indeed a barracuda.  I’m really glad it stayed over on the side!

 

 

Barracuda

 

 

After swimming, we went to a local restaurant for lunch.  I cannot remember the name!  We were all still damp and messy, so we were seated outside.  You could choose from chicken strips and fries, fried fish and fries, salad and pizza.  There might have been some other options, but I can’t remember what they were.  I opted for the chicken and Ron got the fish.  It was good and the portions were pretty large.  We couldn’t finish everything.  They gave each of us a glass of lemonade.  You could purchase other things if you wanted.  A few people purchased a rum swizzle, but we just took the lemonade.  After lunch we went inside in groups of no more than four (capacity requirements) to choose our ice cream.  There were about a dozen or so flavors from which to choose.  One scoop was included with lunch. You could opt to have it in a cup or cone.  Ron and I both selected a cup.  I chose caramel swirl and Ron chose cookies and cream.  It was good ice cream, and the portions were generous.

 

 

We sat on the patio

 

 

Here's our group having lunch

 

 

Ron had cookies and cream

 

 

I opted for caramel swirl

 

After lunch, we loaded back up into the van and headed to our snorkeling site.  Millet showed us several local beaches but said he preferred to take us to a private beach.  About 15 minutes later, we arrived at the beach.  There was a large rock in the middle of swimming area.  On one side it was sandy and there was a reef on the other side.  We walked in on the sandy side and swam over to the reef side so as not to damage any of the reef.  Again, the water temperature was just right.

 

The reef was beautiful.  It was quite shallow in many places but also had some steep drops to water depths that would have easily been over either of our heads.  We saw several large fish along with the normal assortment of smaller fish.   There was a lot of large brain coral and fern coral.  I have no idea of those are the correct terms but that’s what it looks like to me!  The water was a little stirred up but visibility was still pretty good.  Ron snapped several pictures of some of the fish and coral.

 

 

And us at the beach

 

 

We were nearing the end of our time at the beach and Millet called us back to land.  I was still on the reef side of the rock.  As I raised my head to look around, I scraped my knee across a sharp rock.  I didn’t think too much of it at first but when I got back up on the beach, blood was running down my leg.  (You know how it looks much worse that it is when blood mixes with water.)  Everyone was worried and concerned but I assured them it was just because I was still wet.  We walked up to a small building with a water hose, washed off our sandy feet and got back on the van.  I got some Kleenex out of my backpack and wiped up the blood.  In just a few minutes, the bleeding had stopped.

 

 

My wound.  LOL

 

 

We were tired at this point.  We were approximately an hour from the port and our ship was set to sail in 45 minutes.  Millet had stopped multiple times throughout the day to give us advice and tell us about some of his adventures and, unfortunately, it had taken up quite a lot of extra time.  It was apparent we would not make it back to the port on time and certainly not in time to shop for any souvenirs.  Thank Heaven we had booked through the ship!

 

Millet made a valiant effort to take short cuts and make the trip back a little faster but about 15 minutes away from the port, he received a phone call from the ship asking where we were and how long it would take us to get back.  Millet drove us straight to the ship.  All the gangplanks except one had already been removed and some of the ship security was outside waving for us to hurry.  We all jumped out of the van, thanked Millet, gave him a tip and took off at a brisk walk/run to the ship.  People were out on their balconies watching us.  It felt kind of like a “walk of shame”. 

 

Back on board we dropped some things in our room and decided that, since we were already wet, we might as well go ahead and do the water slides.  We headed up on deck, dropped our shoes and climbed to the top.  We had to wait in line.  There were two options for slides.  One was more of a twister type slide and the other was called the drainpipe.  You came out in a large open circular area.  It was kind of odd in that it didn’t have the same type of “get out” point that they usually do.  I went first.  Ron was right behind me.  He asked me if I’d like to do the other slide.  On a normal day I would have agreed immediately but I was very tired, and my poor knee was hurting AND we’d been wearing wet clothes for hours so I was ready to take a shower and dry off.  We went back to our room.

 

 

Today's towel animal was a stingray

 

The ship was pulling out of port as we went to our room.  We both showered and I put on a dress for dinner with a pair of sandals.  We timed it about right because we walked to the dining room and straight to our table.  I was tired, hungry and ready to relax for a bit.  We both had lasagna and it was very good.  We dropped of the Slytherin duck on our way to dinner.

 

 

Slytherin duck

 

 

Our waitstaff

 

 

The singing and dancing on this night.  I always admire brave people who aren't afraid to dance.  I'm improving but it's a slow process!

 

The show on this night was “Deal or No Deal”.  I’ve seen this game several times but have never played along.  I’m usually too much of a cheapskate to play!  Ron encouraged me to buy a card, so I bought a single card and we settled in to play a game.  Turns out, there would be two games and thus two chances on our cards.  I didn't have any expectation of winning, but It WAS fun to play along.

 

 

 

 

The game started.  Basically, the way it works is that as the contestant chooses briefcase numbers, you open the little numbered windows on your card of the same briefcase numbers.  If you match one, you win a $25 bingo package.  Two matches give you a $30 casino credit.  The more matches you make the higher the price.  Some were cash prices.  The largest prize was a free cruise.  I don’t remember how many matches that required.  On the first game I made two matches and won the casino package.  On the second game I made one match and won a bingo card.  Not bad for not expecting to win ANYTHING!  The highest prize I saw anyone win was $200.

 

While we were waiting for the game to start Ron had checked his account balance and realized that we had been charged for a bottle of wine that we didn’t order.  After the game, we headed over the guest services to have the charge removed.  On the way the strap of my sandal broke.  I couldn’t keep it on at all, so I took off my shoes.   We sat around and listened to music for a while but by about 9:30 we were both very tired.  I was exhausted, barefoot and my knee was oozing so we decided to call it a night and head back to our room where we could rest and read a bit.  Our clocks would be set back to Eastern Standard time on this night and the next day was a sea day.

 

 

Patch the Pumpkin stands guard over the atrium lobby....

 

 

......while the awesome steel drum player gives a great performance!

 

 

I hope to finish this up tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mlshum]

23 minutes ago, nanners said:

Is the Tides pool the only pool? It looks kind of small.

There are two pools.  The Tides pool is all the way in the back and, I think, is supposed to be for adults only.  There is also a Lido pool which usually has several kids.  They are both sort of small.  There are numerous hot tubs scattered around the deck.

 

Thanks for reading along!

 

[mlshum]

52 minutes ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

Hope you can help, I've asked elsewhere but no reply yet. How long did it take for your Travel Authorisation to come through for Bermuda? We applied six days ago and haven't heard anything. I sent an email trying to chase it up but no response.

 

Well, I'm not sure how helpful I'll be but I'll try!  I actually applied about a month before our cruise.  I didn't hear anything from them.  We were leaving to drive on Wednesday in order to sail on Thursday.  As of Tuesday of that week, I still hadn't heard anything.  I finally broke down and called the number.  They immediately emailed me the authorizations.  I don't think you will hear from them until just a few days before.  Several people in our Facebook group got theirs a few days before but just as many of us had to call.

 

Thanks for reading along!

 

[mlshum]

I nearly forgot the Fun Times for the day!

 

Funtime 3-1.pdf

Funtimes 3-2.pdf

[AKR2011]

Hey, Michelle.  I always love your reviews but haven't been super active on here recently. I'm so glad I saw this latest report from you. Over spring break this past year DH and I took a long road trip to OK, and we did a little detour to Wemago, Kansas. There is an awesome Oz museum there that I highly recommend. We will be cruising to Bermuda next summer,  so I am especially interested in your review here. As a Muppet super-fan, I will definitely have to check out the caves. Thanks so much for sharing, and I look forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

[windsor26]

sounds like Bermuda is the place to visit

[mlshum]

9 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Hey, Michelle.  I always love your reviews but haven't been super active on here recently. I'm so glad I saw this latest report from you. Over spring break this past year DH and I took a long road trip to OK, and we did a little detour to Wemago, Kansas. There is an awesome Oz museum there that I highly recommend. We will be cruising to Bermuda next summer,  so I am especially interested in your review here. As a Muppet super-fan, I will definitely have to check out the caves. Thanks so much for sharing, and I look forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

Thank you so much for your kind words and for reading along!  I may have to make a trip to Kansas!  LOL  Thank you for that info!  I'm definitely an Oz fan and I love to go places so I can't see a downside to grabbing my girl (who I'm trying to raise right!) and going to KS.  

 

I hope you have a wonderful time in Bermuda.  I can't recommend the caves enough!  They were stunning!  I've been in many caves and always enjoy it but this one was beyond spectacular.  Hidden Gems was great, too.  Millet DID talk a lot but he was very knowledgeable.  If we'd had another day or a little time so I could have still visited the port area I don't think I would have minded at all.

 

Do you follow Jamman's posts?  He just got back from Bermuda and did a great review.  I would love to try the "Fun Golf" but alas....so many things and so little time!  St. Greg also recently did a Bermuda cruise.

 

Anyway, thanks again for reading along!

[mlshum]

9 hours ago, windsor26 said:

sounds like Bermuda is the place to visit

I agree!  There's a lot to do and it's gorgeous!  The only downside is that it is stuck out by itself in the middle of the Atlantic so it will be the only port on a Bermuda cruise.  Still....I hope to go back sometime.

 

Thanks so much for reading along!

[Crusin Karen]

WOW!!!!  What an amazing day you had.  And you're very brave!  Pictures are beautiful.  Thanks for sharing.  BTW Tides pool is not adults only.  We did not have many kids on 9/24 cruise, but they stayed mostly at the "main pool"  but there were some in Tides pool and hot tub.  Adults only is of course the Serenity.  Tides area had the bar, pizza and seafood shack.  And I realized on last day of the cruise they also have breakfast items where the seafood is.