LIVE from the Star 4/18/06

[jennylane]

Hi there, I'm wide awake and hubby is sleeping, so I thought I'd post this quick. I'll probalby hop back online in a few days and post again.

 

Day 1:

Trip to Los Angeles: We live in the San Francisco area and so we had a very short flight from San Jose to Los Angeles (although if you take into consideration the time spent at the airports, the trip certainly didn’t seem short!). Once we arrived, we took a cab (we had considered both an NCL transfer and a private shuttle company, and decided on the convenience of a cab) and stopped to purchase some water and then headed for the pier. Our flight arrived at 10:00, we got to the pier a little before 11:00.

Embarkation: Leaving our bags with the porter went smoothly because I had pre-printed labels with our names and cabin number on them to stick on our tags (I did not receive the NCL tags because I booked on the internet). This saved the time of handwriting the paper NCL tags that the porter had. Once inside, there were only a few people ahead of us in the document processing line. I have to add for those of you who have been posting with me about the NCL credit card, we presented our brand new NCL master card for our ship account! We went to the waiting area and were given a tag marked group four, I was surprised at how many people were already here waiting when we got there! They started calling groups at and our group was called at about 12:10 and got to the ship just a few minutes after that.

Since it was already after 12, we went directly to the restaurant reservation desk and I immediately made my reservations for the entire week, and got all of the times I wanted. Then we went to find our room. We’ve got a mid-ship balcony room on the 10th deck. I pre-ordered a bar setup from NCL about two weeks before sailing and the bar items were in the room waiting for us. As soon as we arrived, we gave our room steward a tip, and then requested some extras (blankets, feather pillows, bar soap, extra towels, and robes). Since it was still so early and our luggage wasn’t here yet, we decided to go get some lunch.

This part I found very interesting. There were a LOT of employees directing traffic and each one we encountered suggested very strongly that we go eat at the buffet. But I had already heard that Versailles was open, so we kept heading that direction. When we got right outside of the restaurant, an employee discouraged us so strongly that she told us they “hardly had any food in there and we really should go to the buffet”. It just seemed strange to me that they were discouraging us from eating there. Anyway, we did have lunch at Versailles and it was very good – the food was good and the service was fantastic. I had mushroom crepes with a cream sauce and they were very tasty, I was impressed.

For the next few hours we alternated between checking for our luggage and exploring the ship. (our luggage ended up arriving around 6) We purchased soda stickers for both of us, signed up for our internet plan, picked up our casino cards, and wandered around. We attended the lovely safety drill which was surprisingly painless, and we also got to meet our steward, who seemed very nice. The most irritating part of the drill was that the announcements are SO loud in the cabins! I understand that they need to be but they announced the upcoming drill many times, and the volume really was awfully high.

We got a martini in the martini bar, which is strangely located in basically a shared space with the carousel bar, accurately named because it looks like a carousel/circus. So you are sitting in a classy, martini bar type looking place, and you look over and there is a carousel horse to your left. It felt kind of odd to me.

FINALLY our luggage arrived and I spent well over an hour unpacking. I was interrupted by a disturbing text message and call from home, nothing earth shattering but it was certainly enough to put a crimp in my day….short story is that I forgot to give the people at my house the car keys that they needed to get around while I’m on the cruise!!! We were able to resolve the problem but it was a tense few minutes. Anyway, back to unpacking, it was overwhelming…so much stuff and so little room!! I can’t imagine how you would fit any more people in the room! I got to meet one of my fellow posters from cc, he stopped by to deliver a door sign that he had made for me (thanks Shawn!) and we got to talk for a minute. The room is impressive in that there is a lot of storage built in. It’s surprising how much fits in the little spaces that are carved out. I brought along a lot of storage tools myself, and I was very relieved to find places for everything.

We chose not to attend the sailaway party up on the deck. Nothing against it, we’re really just not the barbequing by the pool and listen to a band type of people. We wanted something a little more quiet, and how could we eat grilled food at 4 and still have room for Versailles?!? So we went back to the room to unpack and then back to Versailles for dinner. We both had prime rib and shrimp cocktails, and I had a soufflé for dessert and hubby had chocolate raspberry cake. I read some people saying they didn’t like the “baby” in the baby shrimp cocktail, but I thought it was fine. Both our desserts were good, although the cake was awfully rich. They had trouble making my drink order…I ordered a vodka tonic with a lime, and they brought me a classic martini with a lemon twist..?? Once I brought it to their attention they fixed it right away and apologized profusely. The dinner (and lunch) were fine, the portions, service, and quality were all without fault, except the small problem with my drink.

Oh, dh wanted me to mention this…the butter is very odd. Now keep in mind that we’re both from Wisconsin, America’s dairyland, but the butter is labeled butter, but I swear it’s a butter blend.

Now for the unfortunate part of the evening. My hubby is a tad seasick. It started right away, despite his taking bonine for two days before the cruise. After dinner he was feeling queasy, so we opted not to go to the show (it was one that we weren’t sure we were going to attend in the first place) but instead we came back to the room and he took a short nap while I unpacked the rest of the stuff. Then he got up and we went to the casino for about an hour, and then he decided he wanted to head to bed for the night. Now he’s snoring away and I’m typing this. (it’s about 11:30 as I type…) Our schedule didn’t seem to coincide with the steward and he never did get our bed turned down, but that’s fine. We also put out a room service order for breakfast tomorrow.

Hubby is now realizing and is now amazed at the work I had to put in to get everything planned and squared away. Everywhere we went it seemed that we encountered something that I knew about or had signed up for already or was already planning to do. He was quite impressed…

All in all its been a tiring, but enjoyable first day. I can feel the ship’s movement more than I thought I would be able to, and it seems to be the case regardless of which deck you’re on. We’re rocking quite a bit at the moment, and the water seems a little rocky. I’m crossing my fingers that dh feels better tomorrow, otherwise it will be a bummer of a day. The ship looks great, service has been very good, and aside from a few small gliches everything has been fine.

Tomorrow is the meet and greet, and I also signed up for the slot machine tournament.

[brunolvr]

Thanks for the excellent report, Jenny. Hope DH is feeling better by now! :)

[immargaret]

Glad you made it on the ship with only a little wait time. Hope hubby is feeling better, if not tell him to drink a little more and blame the rocking on the alcohol.

 

Remember you can get seasick meds at the front counter for free if you run out.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[KroozNut]

Excellent write-up...thanks..!

[Seabreez]

Hi Jenny

This is Pat, sailing on the Star 4/26. Sure do hope your hubby is feeling better. I better get some Bonine too!!!! We will be getting to the pier early also. And the food selection sounds fabulous the 1st night in the main dining room. I guess luggage will be delivered ASAP so I had better pack some

fresh clothes in a carry-on for dinner. Enjoy the next 2 sea days!!!!!!

Pat

[scdreamer]

Great first-day review --- it's almost as if I'm on the trip with you! Thanks!

 

Hope your husband is feeling better - I would imagine the waters will become calmer, the further south you go. Otherwise, encourage him to get out on the deck so he can breathe fresh air and see the horizon. Also - did you bring along any ginger? I can't take Bonine (knocks me out) - but pure ginger root tea has helped me in the past.

 

Hope you'll continue to post!

[neecee]

thanks for the review one question. we were thinking of taking a taxi also from lax and stopping for some mixer,water, and soda. what did your taxi charge you? have fun i hope your hubby feels better.

denise

[want2travelbad]

jennylane, I enjoyed your post and am awaiting future installments! I have my eyes on this ship/itinerary for next winter so am trying to read all I can about the experience others are having.

 

I have to tell you that I laughed when I read your "butter" comment! I am a girl from the dairy state too, being born and raised in Wisconsin and now am a transplant to Minnesota just across the border from Wisconsin. I, too, can tell the difference between the real deal and a blend when it comes to butter!!! I have run across others who think I am nuts when I tell them that they are "not" eating butter.

 

I hope your DH feels better soon. Seasickness is no fun, for sure! I had never experienced it cruising before until our Alaska cruise last summer. I generally have a stomach of iron so was surprised when I was flat on my back the first full day at sea until my seasickness wore off with some dramamine.

[cruisingfromMN]

jennylane, I enjoyed your post and am awaiting future installments! I have my eyes on this ship/itinerary for next winter so am trying to read all I can about the experience others are having.

 

I have to tell you that I laughed when I read your "butter" comment! I am a girl from the dairy state too, being born and raised in Wisconsin and now am a transplant to Minnesota just across the border from Wisconsin. I, too, can tell the difference between the real deal and a blend when it comes to butter!!! I have run across others who think I am nuts when I tell them that they are "not" eating butter.

 

I hope your DH feels better soon. Seasickness is no fun, for sure! I had never experienced it cruising before until our Alaska cruise last summer. I generally have a stomach of iron so was surprised when I was flat on my back the first full day at sea until my seasickness wore off with some dramamine.

 

I just had to say "hi" as we are neighbors. Love Stillwater! So funny on the butter, we commented on it too. Taste was fine but the color looked like a blend or margarine.

 

We just got off the Star, so watch for my future info since you are interested in the ship and itinerary.

[dwrist]

Could the butter have been "Presidents Butter"? I have brought Presidents from Byerlys and it looks different than the other?? Just wondering>

[cruisingfromMN]

Could the butter have been "Presidents Butter"? I have brought Presidents from Byerlys and it looks different than the other?? Just wondering>

 

That sounds familiar!

[Stillfloatin']

Thanks Jenny for the nicely detailed blog. Looking forward to future postings. You have a nice breezy writing style that puts us all there on the Star with you.

[want2travelbad]

I just had to say "hi" as we are neighbors. Love Stillwater! So funny on the butter, we commented on it too. Taste was fine but the color looked like a blend or margarine.

 

We just got off the Star, so watch for my future info since you are interested in the ship and itinerary.

 

Well, "hi" neighbor! I will be on the lookout for your posts about the Star!

[sweetpea-2]

:) GREAT write-up....well sounds like things are going fairly smooth for you....have a great cruise and hope DH is feeling much better today !!!!

[jennylane]

i just sent a post, and then it disappeared, so i apologize if this posts twice. i'll try to remember what i said...

 

check the view of the atrium from the internet cafe, lovely view overlooking the atrium below. also check the view from endless summer window seats at sunset. i didnt eat there but heard two people say that the views are breathtaking.

 

hubby feels a bit better, but still queasy. is taking ginger and bonine, the only thing that has helped at all is multiple martinis! (see review to come).

 

if you arrive at the ship early, your luggage will probably be in the last groups to arrive at your door. thats what happened to us. we dressed for this possibility and were ok at dinner. and really you're ok regardless because no dress code the first night, but many people said that they wished they had dressed differently or packed a change for dinner.

 

cab was about $60 including stop at the store. he stopped at a liquor store by the pier. prices there werent fantastic, but were ok. i saw grocery stores from the highway but our driver didnt want to get off the highway, said it would be more expensive to spend time doing that than to pay the higher price at the pier. we packed the misc. drinks in an empty carry on and left the case of water intact, just stuck stickers with our name and cabin number on them. all arrived safely.

 

i'll post the notes i wrote up this morning separately.

[jennylane]

Day 2 – at sea

 

Wow…the first night was rough. The ship rocked a lot, enough to wake us both up from a sound sleep during the night. I had read that the ship made creaking sounds, and I definitely noticed that too. But that was far overshadowed by the movement of the ship. I heard a lot of people talking about it in the morning, many said that it was the rockiest ride they had ever experienced. We woke up to a BRIGHT sunrise coming in our patio doors. And I do mean BRIGHT! And did I mention it was early?!? So obviously we didn’t get much sleep our first night. The bed was pretty comfortable and the feather pillows that I had requested were much better than the ones that came with the room.

 

The night before, we had put a breakfast order on our door for 7:30 a.m. We called around 8:00 because the order hadn’t arrived and were told that they had no record of it. So I wonder if it was taken from our door by someone walking by late at night..?? Anyway, they took our order over the phone and it turned out fine.

 

The shower is a bit confusing to start (a strange combination of turning dials and pushing buttons to start it) but once it’s on, it’s quite impressive. Great water pressure and temperature control. Also nice to not have the shower curtain flapping around.

 

I actually used the duct tape that I packed! I taped an extension cord down so that I didn’t trip over it and so that it didn’t get unplugged accidentally.

 

We went to the meet & greet at 10:00. I think everyone that signed up for it made it. It was nice to put names to faces, and everyone was very friendly. Some of the crew members - not the Captain, but it was the Cruise Director (Simon), the head of housekeeping, food & beverage guy, and I can’t remember who else – stopped by to say hi.

 

It was very cold that morning, and there was some wind which made it feel even cooler. It did warm up in the afternoon, so now it feels more like “vacation weather”.

 

Next we went to the martini seminar. $15 for 4 (half sized) martinis. It was ok, but had I known more about it, I probably wouldn’t have gone. I love martinis, but I don’t like the “traditional” ones. Yesterday’s session was only the traditional – perfect and dirty, gin and vodka. I only liked one of them, and even that one I could have done without. But they’re having them again on the other two sea days and I think we’ll go to those. We were told that the specialty martinis would be coming in the next sessions.

 

Then we had lunch at Versailles. I had planned to go to Ginza for the sushi special but when we walked past it was pretty busy, so we decided to just go to Versailles. Lunch was ok, but it wasn’t as great as it had been the day before. I ended up ordering two appetizers instead of an appetizer and an entrée. I didn’t finish the chilled carrot soup, it wasn’t really what I was expecting.

 

We had to hurry from lunch to the slot tournament that I had signed up for the first day. I got there a little late so I was in the last group. So I had to wait around while five other groups went and then I got to push the spin button for five minutes. I didn’t win, didn’t even come close to it, so that’s the end of slot tournaments for me. It was fun to try once though.

 

I should mention that at this point my hubby is still feeling a tad seasick, although he did say that he felt better after the martini seminar!! We decided to come back to the room and take a nap, and after the nap I think he felt better. He didn’t mention it at all the rest of the day.

 

After our nap I was going to order a snack from room service. When I called, they were busy so I had to press a button to get a callback when they were free. They never called back. By the time I was considering calling them back, it was getting a little late for a snack so I said forget it.

 

Our cellphones both work fine, but I heard some others saying that their phones do not work. We have Cingular so I guess it depends on the provider. My text messaging does not work, but I can make calls. It takes a little getting used to though, with the delay between pieces of conversation.

 

We went to dinner at Le Bistro. I had the smoked salmon appetizer, DH had the asparagus appetizer, and we both had the fillet. I’m not really a steak lover so I thought it was fine, but DH said he really enjoyed his. Then he had cheesecake and I had crème brulee. We were going to have the chocolate fondue but were both a little full.

 

I was surprised to see so many people dressed formally. We saw a lot of women in long sparkly formal dresses, a lot of men in suits, and even a few in tuxes. I felt a little underdressed in my skirt!

 

There was a mixup with my shore excursion a few weeks before sailing, and they had double booked me on a dolphin excursion in both Acapulco and Ixtapa. NCL told me to keep both excursions but cancel once I got on board, just in case something happened again with Acapulco. So imagine my surprise when we stopped to cancel last night and were told that we could not cancel a dophin tour!! I didn’t press it right then, but I’m going to print the email that I have from the NCL excursions rep and take that to the desk, and hopefully they’ll be able to cancel it. I thought it was an indulgence to sign up for one, I never would have kept both if I hadn’t been told by the NCL person.

 

We attended the show at the Stardust theater, it was the Music of the Night show. We sat in the balcony after hearing the reports of the chairs sloping forward. The show was good, although I didn’t recognize a few of the songs. I thought it was impressive that they could have so many singer/dancers on the ship, and there were a LOT of costume changes! It was enjoyable and we were both glad we went.

 

Then off to the casino to lose a few dollars. We’d have liked to play a little blackjack but the tables were all full.

 

When we got back to the room, our bed had been turned down, no towel animals, but yes there was chocolate on the pillows. He also pulled the drapes which we had forgotten to do the night before. We had to set our clocks ahead an hour before bed.

 

I think of this day as our “get used to being on a cruise” day. We took it easy, got rested, and had a nice dinner. I think there are some gaps in service but not enough to ruin things for me. A few times my drink order has come back to me incorrect and so I have to send it back, and I’m not happy about the excursion desk. Oh and room service hasn’t been very impressive either. But all in all the crew has been very friendly and helpful, and definitely more good than bad. We’re also starting to know our way around the ship, so we don’t feel so lost.

[marilynd]

Thanks for the daily review on your cruise. Makes me nostalgic about my March 1 cruise on the Star.

 

Nice that you have a visit from some crew members at your meet and greet. We weren't that lucky at ours. We have some really nice refreshments set out for us, but no crew members.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Look forward to reading more of your review.

[immargaret]

Nice that you have a visit from some crew members at your meet and greet. We weren't that lucky at ours. We have some really nice refreshments set out for us, but no crew members.

quote]

 

We didn't get refreshments or crew members on our STAR cruise in Feb. we still had a great time.

 

Jenny, keep hubby well supplied with alcohol and he won't feel the movement of the ship. It should be getting better by now so I hope the rest of your cruise is smooth sailing.

[tvwebguy]

We're on the Star right now as well. We're having a blast. The food is great, the ship is fun, and we have pictures. I'll post them later, when it's cheaper.....:o

[neecee]

its nice hearing what you have to say about your cruise so far. thanks for the info on the taxi. thats probably what we will do too. hope your hubby is feeling better.only 6 more days and we will see you at the pier.

denise

[jennylane]

hey tvwebguy...you promised you'd post while you were on board, i thought you'd write MORE!!!!! :D

 

We had no snacks at our meet & greet, but several crew members which we did think was nice. and the bartenders were VERY attentive (but arent they always?)

 

no other questions from you guys...so here's the next day and a half of my comings and goings....

 

more later!

[jennylane]

Day 3 – at sea (my birthday!!!)

Well, we gave the room service breakfast another try and it came as requested today. Just when I thought we were “catching up” with sleep, we had to get used to the one hour time change. The room service menu is limited, but good quality and portions, and fast….WHEN it comes that is!!

After breakfast, I went downstairs to try to resolve the shore excursion problem we had. After printing the email I had from the NCL excursion person, suddenly the crew member had a different story and she quickly canceled the extra excursion. It did take a little while to resolve though, because I brought my own computer and printing with your own computer is a little complicated. But it all turned out fine.

And, for those of you who are following my story closely, we finally got the issue straightened out with the car keys at home!!! The car rental place fed-exed an extra set of keys to the local rental office. Who’d have thought that they didn’t have an extra set of keys there automatically?!? Go figure….

We had lunch at Market Café. Now, keep in mind that we’re just not fond of buffets in general, and please PLEASE don’t flame me, because this is just my personal opinion. Well, our personal opinions. We didn’t care for it at all. It was very noisy, and the layout was a little confusing. Lots of separate stations and no trays and difficult to get a soda, even when you have the soda sticker. And the food that we did find wasn’t very good. There were also a LOT of people coming directly from the pool area who did not cover up in any way. Now not to be judgmental and not to be critical, but sometimes, there are things that I just don’t need to see….!!!

Then we stopped back at the room to pick up our casino stuff (players card and some chips)…oh, that reminds me, don’t forget to pick up your 3 for 2 casino chips…you pay $10 and get $15 in chips. Anyway, we got back to the room and my room was decorated with confetti and balloons and signs for my birthday, and a HUGE cake! It was fun.

We went to the casino next and hubby won about $50 at blackjack and I….hmm, I guess maybe I lost about $60. oh well. I’m a sucker for the nickel and dime slots that have the cute bonus cartoon games. I also decided to put $20 into a dollar machine because I hardly ever do that, and I lost the $20 in a matter of seconds.

Next we attended the Navigational and Bridge question time. This was not what we had expected. Basically you go to the end of the Spinnaker lounger where there are windows to peek down to the bridge, and there is a bridge officer there to answer any questions. We thought he was going to give some sort of talk, but he didn’t.

Ok, here’s where I should mention that at this point, hubby is feeling better and I think he’s past the seasickness. I mention this because I went back to the room and suddenly I was tired and FREEZING. Not just cold, freezing! I layed down to take a nap an didn’t get up until dinnertime, and that was a struggle. I made it out of bed and we got down to Soho, only to be told that we had screwed up the reservation time because of the ships time change, and we had arrived an hour early. Bummer…. So we went back to the room, and you guessed it…the steward had jumped in it to turn the bed down. We hung out by the elevator for a few minutes and he finished up. So I went back and slept for another half hour, and we went to dinner. Soho was ok, maybe it was because I wasn’t feeling the best, but dh said he thought it was fine, but nothing spectatcular. I had the shrimp and tortellini and he had the Szechwan fillet.

That evening, we had planned to go see the magic show in the Stardust, and then head over to see the comedian in the Spinnaker, but we ended up bailing out on both of those things and I went back to bed!!! By this time, DH tells me that I’m burning up and I don’t know what in the world is wrong, and I’m panicked that I’ll be too sick to go see the dolphins in the morning. Well, about 4 a.m. I woke up and felt back to normal. So weird. I was never nauseaus, just had a headache, fever and horrendous chills. And it lasted a little over 12 hours total. Anyone have an idea what it was?

So that was my birthday day…not so great because I was sick for a good part of it. Thank goodness it was during one of the sea days!!

Day 4 – Acapulco

Like I said, I woke up feeling much better. I noticed that the room was really warm, DH later told me it was because I had been so cold.

We went for breakfast at 8:30 in Versailles. There was no line at all, but when we left around 9:00, there was a really long line (I had also noticed the line on other days, which is why we tried to go a little earlier). DH had the “express breakfast”…scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. And they do walk around and give you little danishes while you’re waiting for your food. Since I wasn’t sure how great I felt and didn’t want to risk getting sick again, I opted for some yogurt and fruit. Both hit the spot and were great. The service was outstanding, we still have no complaints about any of the service.

Next we stopped by the reservation desk to cancel our reservation for Soho that I had made the first day (I had made a reservation for the last day, and we decided we didn’t like it well enough to go again). If you want to make/change a reservation, you should either call the desk on off hours, or go down to the actual desk. Otherwise the line is continuously busy and you’ll spend as much time trying to get through as you would walking down there to do it. Then we went to find out where to exchange money for a few pesos, and were told to do that at the port. Oh, we also asked when the “all you can fit in a bag” laundry special is, and it’s tomorrow.

After breakfast, we went back to the room to get ready for our excursion and watch Acapulco coming in. It’s a lovely city from the water, the cliffs and the buildings up high are all really pretty. We docked around 11:00. Our excursion was to leave at 12:20 so we headed downstairs around 11:30. Keep in mind that ship’s time is 11:30 but Acapulco time is 12:30, and of course California time which we’re used to is 10:30. So it’s all very confusing. And everyone seems confused. Our ticket said 12:20 and said right on it, ship’s time. So if you book your own excursions, be careful about the time you set.

On the subject of time, something I would NOT do in the future is bring my travel alarm clock that is called a “world clock”. It finds the time automatically and since ship’s time isn’t the same as local time, I have to try to remember when my clock is right and when it’s wrong. My cellphone does the same thing. Next time I will bring a good old fashioned clock that I can set myself when I have to.

We wandered around the stores right in the port authority a little, but didn’t buy anything because we suspected the prices were a little inflated because of its location. Then we boarded a van to go to the dolphin excursion (at CiCi Waterpark). The excursion left us at the waterpark for two hours, but I think only about an hour of that is truly spent with the dolphins. It was fun though, and you get a big photo and a videotape to take with you. The staff is all very nice and they make sure that everyone is comfortable and happy and well taken care of. The only negative was that there was one woman in the group who just wasn’t happy about anything. She didn’t like the size of the van, she didn’t like the location of the lockers, she didn’t like how many pictures they were taking, the list went on and on and on. We got really tired of listening to her very quickly.

After the van brought us back to the ship, we came back to the room to shower and change for our evening excursion. Then we went to grab a quick dinner at Blue Lagoon. It was good, we had chicken wings, fried rice and fish and chips. The fried rice seemed a little bland, but the wings and the fish were good.

We had a few hours before our next excursion so we decided to take a walk down the road and see what we could find. When we were driving back from the dolphins, we had noticed some shopping stands relatively close to the ship.

If you ask for shopping, they will direct you to either the flea market or old town, both of which are not walking distance. We were also told that if you use the taxi drivers that are stationed inside the port walls, they will be more expensive than a “regular” cab that you can hail down outside the port authority. We did not go to either. We heard some people say that old town was very rundown and depressing, and we didn’t think we wanted to spend enough money to warrant a trip to the flea market.

So we headed out for our walk and honestly, were accosted by fifty (no exaggeration) taxi drivers wanting to drive us wherever we wanted. Some drivers even tried to hail us down from the street as we were walking. They’d roll down the window and shout at us. Hubby started to get visibly irritated, and the last thing I thought we should do is make them mad! Once we got past the taxi drivers, we encountered people on the street selling things like packs of gum, cigarettes, corn on the cob, cut up fruit, etc. Many were women with babies on their hips. There were also sickly looking dogs wandering the street and I nearly stepped on a dead bird in the sidewalk!

We walked down a few blocks, then crossed the street to get to the small marketplace that we had seen. It’s a challenge crossing the street, do it with extreme caution and NOT with alcohol in your system!!! Cars are not respectful of pedestrians and they come whizzing out of nowhere. (someone asked our van driver about drinking and driving and he said “oh yah, dat’s fine…” By the time we got to the marketplace, we were hot and tired of it all. We looked around a little, but nothing was marked with a price and everyone was yelling at us to come look at their stuff. We ended up not staying long and not buying anything. I’m hoping that Ixtapa is better, because I haven’t bought any souveniers yet!!

So now I’m back in the cabin, typing this while I wait to go bar hopping. We meet downstairs at 8:00 and we’re going to 3 bars. Tomorrow we dock in Ixtapa early in the morning. We don’t have an excursion planned, I’m hoping to find some shopping.

Stay tuned!!!

p.s. today hubby has had NO alcohol (saving up for tonite) and yet he still feels really good. so i'm relieved...i was worried that this might be the first and last cruise for him!!

[shamda]

Jenny

 

Thanks for you detailed reports! I know this may be a dumb question, but where are you going online? I guess you go to the internet cafe? It must get expensive?

 

Sounds like you ate something that did not agree with you. Watch out for some of the food at the Market Cafe. Last year we were on the Star and ate at the Market a few times and did not like it either. Had some kind of chicken sausage that was really bad, still remember it. We are going on the Star again this year (5/14) and I think we will stay away from the buffet this time. Totally agree with your description of it.

 

Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[howieizme]

Hi Jenny,

 

Thanks for the great info. I am sailing the Star on April 26th. Can you keep us updated on the sea and weather conditions? Has the boat been rocking as much as the first night?

 

Thanks!

Mike

[tvwebguy]

Internet is avaliable in the internet cafe or on deck 12 in the pool area. I'm actually sitting in the Bier Garten typing this post. It's a great day here. By the way, in Acapulco, if your looking for a great day on Isal La Roquetta, take the cab to the water taxi, and when you arrive on La Roquetta, ask for Carlos. He is awesome!!!!!! We had a great day, expolored the island, climbed up the light house, snorkled (saw puffer fish, an eel, and some pointy nose fish that was about 4 feet long) plus he got us on a water taxi back that took us directly to the cruise ship pier. 5 beers in a bucket was only $8. I've attached a picture of Carlos as we stand near the top of La Roquetta over looking the Pacific. I'll try and post more later.

 

Enjoy