Back from the Pearl Feb 11-16

[Rusty Trombone]

This was our first cruise and overall we enjoyed it greatly. I fully agree with most of the positive reviews and descriptions that have been posted by other people.

 

I'm not a penthouse cruiser so I don't know anything about butlers or concierge service. This is all from an average cruisers point of view.

 

Embarkation: Eaiser than expected. Even though NCL called and said not to arrive until 3:00 pm, we were there at 11:30 am and were hearded into a waiting area at the port for seemed like forever. It was very tight seating for the common folks. NCL did have pastries, muffins, coffee and jucies for us while we waited though. When they started boarding, we realized we had only been waitng for about 40 minutes. Overall grade: B

 

The cabin: We were in Cabin 9012, which is a balcony cabin. Our balcony wasn't a fully open one, but a framed one. It was like sitting and looking out a huge open window. I don't know that there is much difference between that and one that isn't framed, but I throughly enjoyed sitting out there in the mornings drinking my coffee. The cabin was spotless. The bathroom was about as big as I expected, just enough room to do your business. The water pressure and temperature was fine. Just be careful when adjusting the temperature, the water is hot for about 1 second after you adjust it. We had a 19 inch (I think) flat screen tv. The television selection was sparse. I understand you aren't there to watch TV, but a few more cable channels would have been nice. I hooked up my portable DVD player and was fine. I did enjoy the bow cam channel. I found out that tiny little pool in the bow is the crew pool. Its so small I thought it was a guage of the water of some sort. The hairdryer worked fine I guess, my wife used it more than I did as she has more hair. The coffee maker worked fine also. Its a four cup model that is in about every hotel now. They use Folgers regular and decaf. Just put the coffee packet in the hopper, fill the pot with water, dump the water in the machine, press button, wait 5 minutes. The mini fridge was stocked with mini-bar items, but you can have them removed if you don't plan on using them and want to put your own stuff in. Overall the room: A

 

Food: Food went from Excellent to Ehh. We had lunch in the Summer Palace when we got onboard. What a beautiful place. We had a seat for two by a huge picture wiindow. The food was wonderful. Cagneys was my favorite. Mambo's was very nice also. We ate there twice. We weren't able to get into the Italian restraunt and there was nothing at Le Bistro we wanted. Here is a secret: For breakfast, don't wait in line at the buffet with everyone at the Garden Palace. Go all the way through to "The Great Outdoors" They have the exact same food, no lines for the made to order eggs, and you can eat outside under a canopy. That was my favorite part of the ship. Grade: A to C+

 

Service: At the start of the cruise it was great. Toward the end..not so much. During the first lunch, the waiter was on top of everything. Very attentive and even had a little scraper to take the crumbs off the table. Toward the end, they barely remembered to take our drink order. I had to remind them a couple of times. They were all still very nice and polite, just not paying as close attention to detail as they did during the first two days. I wasn't the only one that noticed it. The house keeping crew did a great job, until the last day when our cabin hadn't been made up all day. The excuse was they missed it. They apologized and immediatly made it up. Once again, great until toward the end. Grade:A+ at the start, C at the end.

 

Ports: Cozumel is a dump. Belize is a dump. Next cruise, I'm not leaving the ship.

 

Shore Excursions: We did the Snuba diving in Cozumel and the ATV Rainforest Adventure in Belize. The Snuba was fun, but I saw alot more fish and scenery off the Kenyan coast than in Cozumel. It was like swimming in a sparsely populated aquarium. The ATV ride was also enjoyable. We got to pack into a non air conditioned school bus and ride for an hour to the site. We got to inhale the fragrent smells from the Belize City dump as we passed by. There was all ages riding the ATVs, which meant I had to go around anyone over the age of 50 or female because they were terrorifed. We got a bonus that wasn't in the intinerary. They took us into a cave that was discovered 10 years ago. The opening was about the size of a car window and you have to slide in on your belly for about 5 feet to get in. Once inside you can stand up. We saw stalagmites and stalagtites, bats and spiders. Grade: B+

 

Shows and entertainment: We only saw one show "Sea Legs" and we liked it. Las Vegas stlyle cabaret show with about 20 different costume changes. The acrobats were excellent. We didn't participate in much of the shipboard activites, as we preferred to relax. But they did have quite a few things going on all the time. Once in a while they even had a Nintendo Wii set up with bowling, tennis, and boxing on the huge TV screen in the Crystal Atrium. Grade for what I saw: B+

 

For the curious, our bill at the end of the 5 day cruise for two non-drinkers, with shore excursions, 2 non-alcoholic drinks, 2 smoothies, 2 cokes, dinner at Cagney's and a round of full cost bingo, one round of bowling and the $20.00 per day($10.00 X 2) service charge: $647.14

 

One final note. Our flight left late (even delayed thanks to Chicago weather) so we decided to take the Evergaldes to the Airport tour. We booked at the shore excursions desk without any problem. Because we were on the tour, we had to have special Black luggage tags for disembarkation. The shore excursions rep said not to put any other color on but these or else the luggage will get put in a different group. He also said if we need more or something happens to the ones we will get, go to the reception desk to get more. These tags were delivered to our cabin that night. As, my wife was filling them out, the ink smeared making the information unreadable. I went down to the reception desk to get some more (the shore excursions desk was closed). The lady went to look for them, but said she couldn't find any. She could find every color but the black ones. I said, "Maybe if you should look a little harder you'll find them." She said "Excuse me?" as though I offended her. I said "You need to find the black tags, because those are what I was told to put on my bags." She said, "Well, I don't have any." I said, "Are you telling me that there aren't anymore black tour tags on this entire ship?" She said, "There are, but shore excursions is closed for the night and we can't wake them to find tour tags." She then took two TEAL tags, and wrote "Tour tags" on them and said we should use these and she would inform housekeeping to keep those bags with our others. I could forsee the luggage handlers just throwing bags with the same color tags together, not bothering to read each one to see if something new was written on them. I said "Give me your name, so when my luggage gets lost, I can come find you and you can help me look for it." She wrote down her name and said "Sometimes we have to make do with what we have." I said, "You have a good evening." This was about 9:45 p.m.

 

About 11:00 p.m., after my wife and I went to bed, there was a knock at my cabin door. My wife answered..it was the reception desk woman along with the cabin steward. Somehow she had managed to find those black tags we needed. My wife said she looked upset and could tell she had been crying. She probably got in trouble for telling us to put the wrong tags on our bags instead of finding the right ones. I'll give her an A for the effort she should have used in the first place.

 

Overall it was a fun time and we will definetly go again.

[Jana]

This was our first cruise and overall we enjoyed it greatly. I fully agree with most of the positive reviews and descriptions that have been posted by other people.

 

Thank you so much for your thoughtful review. I loved it! I'm glad you got to go on the Pearl for your first-ever cruise; what a great experience for you.

 

This really cracked me up though:

 

We had a 19 inch (I think) flat screen tv. The television selection was sparse. I understand you aren't there to watch TV, but a few more cable channels would have been nice.

 

I know what you mean, but it was funny anyway. :p

 

Jana

[socsthecat]

We were on the same cruise, coincidentally also our first crusie.

 

The ship is very nice, really no complaints there.

 

I agree about the food. It was fine, but just that. I was expecting (and looking forward to) consistently very good food, but a few things were poor, a few things excellent, and most were sadly in between. The Italian restaurant food is not good at all, and the Mexican restaurant has to have the blandest Mexican food on Earth. The steakhouse was very good but not excellent, I have had better steaks many other places.

 

I'd go on the Pearl again, overall it was great, but the food was a disappointment.

 

Which cruise lines are renowned for consistently excellent food?

[LateCruiser]

We were on the same cruise, coincidentally also our first crusie.

 

The ship is very nice, really no complaints there.

 

I agree about the food. It was fine, but just that. I was expecting (and looking forward to) consistently very good food, but a few things were poor, a few things excellent, and most were sadly in between. The Italian restaurant food is not good at all, and the Mexican restaurant has to have the blandest Mexican food on Earth. The steakhouse was very good but not excellent, I have had better steaks many other places.

 

I'd go on the Pearl again, overall it was great, but the food was a disappointment.

Which cruise lines are renowned for consistently excellent food?

 

 

Food is a very subjective topic. On our 9 day Pearl just before your cruise, we thought the food was Excellent:D . Loved the Italian and Tex-Mes, and ate in Cagney's twice because the steaks were so good. Same food, same waiters, same service. Interesting, isn't it?.

[socsthecat]

Food is a very subjective topic. On our 9 day Pearl just before your cruise, we thought the food was Excellent:D . Loved the Italian and Tex-Mes, and ate in Cagney's twice because the steaks were so good. Same food, same waiters, same service. Interesting, isn't it?.

 

Yes the quality is subjective :) Portion sizes can't be though - at Cagney's the sides were TINY - compare those to the sides at a real steakhouse (say Ruth's Chris or Morton's) where they're a meal in themselves.

 

My advice would be to order ALL the sides and TWO of any you think you really might like.

[Don Haynes]

Le Bistro is a French restaurant. If you don't like froglegs, duck, and escargo, what are doing in a French restaurant. Most people complain about tough streaks, yet you don't like tenderloin or short ribs?

 

As for the other restaurants, they are considered Continental restaurants, and serve their steaks with sauces. I will agree that I prefer steaks cooked over a fire or a charbroiler, but that would not be continental, would it? I have yet to see a cruise ship with a charbroiler.

 

Keep in mind cruise ships serve over 2000 passengers, many of whom have salt low sodium diets. If you wished for more seasoning, salt and pepper shakers were on the table, along with other condiments you could have asked for.

 

Sorry the food wasn't to your liking, everyone has different tastes. Fortunately, I found the food very good.

 

If Cozumel and Belize are dumps, what were you expecting, Disneyland? You chose to sail to the third world. Usually the best way to see the Third World is to take a tour. There are also dumps in America too.....

 

.

[Rusty Trombone]

Tip toes everybody..Don Haynes is here. Don't you dare have an honest opinion...just 100% postive ones.

Forgive me Don. You are right. Everything was 100% perfect. Everything. From the tippytop of the smokestack to the barnacles on the keel. Anything that I might have disliked or didn't think the world of was my fault. NCL did me favor by letting me spend my money and get on their ship.

I apologize for not making it clear enough that we didn't eat at Le Bistro's because we didn't like the menu, not the food. If I had it would have robbed you the opportunity to defend the cruise line. And even though I stated we toured Belize by bus and ATV, I was at fault for missing the spledor of a smelly landfill. My fault.

 

I'm sorry I put both positive and negative things in my review. I didn't know you of all people would be reading. I'm so..so..sorry.

Please forgive me Don.

[dwrist]

This was our first cruise and overall we enjoyed it greatly. I fully agree with most of the positive reviews and descriptions that have been posted by other people.

 

I'm not a penthouse cruiser so I don't know anything about butlers or concierge service. This is all from an average cruisers point of view.

 

Embarkation: Eaiser than expected. Even though NCL called and said not to arrive until 3:00 pm, we were there at 11:30 am and were hearded into a waiting area at the port for seemed like forever. It was very tight seating for the common folks. NCL did have pastries, muffins, coffee and jucies for us while we waited though. When they started boarding, we realized we had only been waitng for about 40 minutes. Overall grade: B

 

The cabin: We were in Cabin 9012, which is a balcony cabin. Our balcony wasn't a fully open one, but a framed one. It was like sitting and looking out a huge open window. I don't know that there is much difference between that and one that isn't framed, but I throughly enjoyed sitting out there in the mornings drinking my coffee. The cabin was spotless. The bathroom was about as big as I expected, just enough room to do your business. The water pressure and temperature was fine. Just be careful when adjusting the temperature, the water is hot for about 1 second after you adjust it. We had a 19 inch (I think) flat screen tv. The television selection was sparse. I understand you aren't there to watch TV, but a few more cable channels would have been nice. I hooked up my portable DVD player and was fine. I did enjoy the bow cam channel. I found out that tiny little pool in the bow is the crew pool. Its so small I thought it was a guage of the water of some sort. The hairdryer worked fine I guess, my wife used it more than I did as she has more hair. The coffee maker worked fine also. Its a four cup model that is in about every hotel now. They use Folgers regular and decaf. Just put the coffee packet in the hopper, fill the pot with water, dump the water in the machine, press button, wait 5 minutes. The mini fridge was stocked with mini-bar items, but you can have them removed if you don't plan on using them and want to put your own stuff in. Overall the room: A

 

Food: Food went from Excellent to Ehh. We had lunch in the Summer Palace when we got onboard. What a beautiful place. We had a seat for two by a huge picture wiindow. The food was wonderful. Cagneys was my favorite. Mambo's was very nice also. We ate there twice. We weren't able to get into the Italian restraunt and there was nothing at Le Bistro we wanted. Here is a secret: For breakfast, don't wait in line at the buffet with everyone at the Garden Palace. Go all the way through to "The Great Outdoors" They have the exact same food, no lines for the made to order eggs, and you can eat outside under a canopy. That was my favorite part of the ship. Grade: A to C+

 

Service: At the start of the cruise it was great. Toward the end..not so much. During the first lunch, the waiter was on top of everything. Very attentive and even had a little scraper to take the crumbs off the table. Toward the end, they barely remembered to take our drink order. I had to remind them a couple of times. They were all still very nice and polite, just not paying as close attention to detail as they did during the first two days. I wasn't the only one that noticed it. The house keeping crew did a great job, until the last day when our cabin hadn't been made up all day. The excuse was they missed it. They apologized and immediatly made it up. Once again, great until toward the end. Grade:A+ at the start, C at the end.

 

Ports: Cozumel is a dump. Belize is a dump. Next cruise, I'm not leaving the ship.

 

Shore Excursions: We did the Snuba diving in Cozumel and the ATV Rainforest Adventure in Belize. The Snuba was fun, but I saw alot more fish and scenery off the Kenyan coast than in Cozumel. It was like swimming in a sparsely populated aquarium. The ATV ride was also enjoyable. We got to pack into a non air conditioned school bus and ride for an hour to the site. We got to inhale the fragrent smells from the Belize City dump as we passed by. There was all ages riding the ATVs, which meant I had to go around anyone over the age of 50 or female because they were terrorifed. We got a bonus that wasn't in the intinerary. They took us into a cave that was discovered 10 years ago. The opening was about the size of a car window and you have to slide in on your belly for about 5 feet to get in. Once inside you can stand up. We saw stalagmites and stalagtites, bats and spiders. Grade: B+

 

Shows and entertainment: We only saw one show "Sea Legs" and we liked it. Las Vegas stlyle cabaret show with about 20 different costume changes. The acrobats were excellent. We didn't participate in much of the shipboard activites, as we preferred to relax. But they did have quite a few things going on all the time. Once in a while they even had a Nintendo Wii set up with bowling, tennis, and boxing on the huge TV screen in the Crystal Atrium. Grade for what I saw: B+

 

For the curious, our bill at the end of the 5 day cruise for two non-drinkers, with shore excursions, 2 non-alcoholic drinks, 2 smoothies, 2 cokes, dinner at Cagney's and a round of full cost bingo, one round of bowling and the $20.00 per day($10.00 X 2) service charge: $647.14

 

One final note. Our flight left late (even delayed thanks to Chicago weather) so we decided to take the Evergaldes to the Airport tour. We booked at the shore excursions desk without any problem. Because we were on the tour, we had to have special Black luggage tags for disembarkation. The shore excursions rep said not to put any other color on but these or else the luggage will get put in a different group. He also said if we need more or something happens to the ones we will get, go to the reception desk to get more. These tags were delivered to our cabin that night. As, my wife was filling them out, the ink smeared making the information unreadable. I went down to the reception desk to get some more (the shore excursions desk was closed). The lady went to look for them, but said she couldn't find any. She could find every color but the black ones. I said, "Maybe if you should look a little harder you'll find them." She said "Excuse me?" as though I offended her. I said "You need to find the black tags, because those are what I was told to put on my bags." She said, "Well, I don't have any." I said, "Are you telling me that there aren't anymore black tour tags on this entire ship?" She said, "There are, but shore excursions is closed for the night and we can't wake them to find tour tags." She then took two TEAL tags, and wrote "Tour tags" on them and said we should use these and she would inform housekeeping to keep those bags with our others. I could forsee the luggage handlers just throwing bags with the same color tags together, not bothering to read each one to see if something new was written on them. I said "Give me your name, so when my luggage gets lost, I can come find you and you can help me look for it." She wrote down her name and said "Sometimes we have to make do with what we have." I said, "You have a good evening." This was about 9:45 p.m.

 

About 11:00 p.m., after my wife and I went to bed, there was a knock at my cabin door. My wife answered..it was the reception desk woman along with the cabin steward. Somehow she had managed to find those black tags we needed. My wife said she looked upset and could tell she had been crying. She probably got in trouble for telling us to put the wrong tags on our bags instead of finding the right ones. I'll give her an A for the effort she should have used in the first place.

 

Overall it was a fun time and we will definetly go again.

 

May I ask (without being slammed for being a NCL loyalist) what made you choose this itinerary? It is the Carribean with islands trying to please the American people (according to American standards). They have gone through many hurricanes in the last few years and do not have the financial conditions we have here in the states. (look at NOLA that has so many problems rebuilding)

What happened to make the food go down hill? Undercooked or overdone? Not enough seasonings?

Would you have used those choice of words to the reception area crew if it had been your child, grandchild or friend working the same job type here in the USA as that person was working on the Pearl?

Overall I did enjoy your review but thought you were harsh in words and subjective areas.

Have a good evening.:)

[electricron]

I apologize for not making it clear enough that we didn't eat at Le Bistro's because we didn't like the menu, not the food. If I had it would have robbed you the opportunity to defend the cruise line. And even though I stated we toured Belize by bus and ATV, I was at fault for missing the spledor of a smelly landfill. My fault.

I'm sorry I put both positive and negative things in my review. I didn't know you of all people would be reading. I'm so..so..sorry. Please forgive me Don.

 

Don was just giving his own opinion. It's not his fault your first post was lacking detail.

 

As for landfills, what do you expect third world nations to have? I bet you think America doesn't have landfills anymore either!

[Rusty Trombone]

May I ask (without being slammed for being a NCL loyalist) what made you choose this itinerary?

I had never been to the Caribbean. I had only heard such wonderful things about it. I was surprised how filthy and rundown the cities were. Not a slam on the people there. They were fine.

What happened to make the food go down hill? Undercooked or overdone? Not enough seasonings?

Some of it was pretty bland. The salad dressings were very watery. Other things were great. The Pecan Crusted Snapper over rice and gumbo was almost perfect. The presentation of all the dishes were very impressive. I just wish they would have the same effort into taste instead of looks.

 

Would you have used those choice of words to the reception area crew if it had been your child, grandchild or friend working the same job type here in the USA as that person was working on the Pearl?

 

Yes. Do the job you are being paid to do the first time. Don't bring me excuses, bring results. If there weren't anymore tags on the ship, then its time to go to plan "B". But there were and she didn't want to put the effort into finding them.

 

Overall I did enjoy your review but thought you were harsh in words and subjective areas.

Have a good evening.:)

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks.

[luvtojump]

"About 11:00 p.m., after my wife and I went to bed, there was a knock at my cabin door. My wife answered..it was the reception desk woman along with the cabin steward. Somehow she had managed to find those black tags we needed. My wife said she looked upset and could tell she had been crying. She probably got in trouble for telling us to put the wrong tags on our bags instead of finding the right ones. I'll give her an A for the effort she should have used in the first place."

 

 

 

If someone had spoken to me like you did to this poor reception desk woman, I would have been in tears also. Did it ever occur to you that YOU were the reason she was crying? She was nothing but courteous to you. Your words were rude and hurtful.

 

I can imagine the reception desk on the last night. Many passengers questioning their bill, making last minute changes, etc. Then you show up with attitude.

 

The last sentence..."I'll give her an A for effort she should have used in the first place" is just sad. I wish you had simply given her credit for going the extra mile and left out the last 8 words.

[Rusty Trombone]

I'm sorry, I don't remember you being there. I did not come there with an attitude. I came down to get some tags that I needed, like I was instructed to do. She was trying to dismiss me and get on to the next passenger. You are right, it was busy. But I waited my turn in line for service like everyone else. If anyone had an attitude it was her with the "Sorry can't help you..move along" gimmick. I wasn't about to put up with that. I wasn't yelling or even raising my voice. I used firm, even tones and stood my ground. I even accepted, (against what I was instructed) her haphazard solution of using a different colored tag. If anything I said to her made her that upset, she needs a thicker skin or to get a different position. If I wanted to upset her, I would have asked to speak to her supervisor, and then started compliaining.

 

The situation corrected itself, I (the customer) got my tags and I (the customer)went away happy. I (the customer) am also willing to spend more of my money next year to go on the same ship.

 

Its a shame all some people can do is dwell on the negative parts of a post. There were some positives..I said I liked the bow cam.

[Rusty Trombone]

I'll go ahead and correct this double post by saying this. 99.9% of the staff on the Pearl were absoultly wonderful. They were extremly friendly and always had a smile and a hello whenever I saw them. The cabin stewards made the little towel animals and even showed my wife how he did it. The few officers I spoke with were quick to answer any of my questions. I even saw them pouring iced tea for some of the cuisers in "The Great Outdoors". The waiters and waitresses were all polite and my wife got a kick out of being called "Madame" at dinner every night.

 

There is only one person that didn't put forth the effort that eveyone else did. I wasn't going to accept it.

[Jana]

I thought your review was great, Rusty. I can tell by the tone of your writing that you are a pretty laid-back guy. This was your first cruise and you weathered it well.

 

It bothers me that you can't come here and talk about your experience without being jumped on. Please don't get chased away.

 

And if you can figure out how to lay cable for our television viewing pleasure, please let us know :p

[SailAways]

I'm sorry, I don't remember you being there. I did not come there with an attitude. I came down to get some tags that I needed, like I was instructed to do. She was trying to dismiss me and get on to the next passenger. You are right, it was busy. But I waited my turn in line for service like everyone else. If anyone had an attitude it was her with the "Sorry can't help you..move along" gimmick. I wasn't about to put up with that. I wasn't yelling or even raising my voice. I used firm, even tones and stood my ground. I even accepted, (against what I was instructed) her haphazard solution of using a different colored tag. If anything I said to her made her that upset, she needs a thicker skin or to get a different position. If I wanted to upset her, I would have asked to speak to her supervisor, and then started complaining.

 

The situation corrected itself, I (the customer) got my tags and I (the customer)went away happy. I (the customer) am also willing to spend more of my money next year to go on the same ship.

 

Its a shame all some people can do is dwell on the negative parts of a post. There were some positives..I said I liked the bow cam.

 

Your review was wonderfully honest, and I enjoyed the entire read.

IMHO, it seems the defenders have outdone themselves this time. How folks can "read" tone and inflection into a review is amazing. You are so right, they were not there to hear either your tone, or the person at the desk.

 

I'm sure if I had been told, as you were, that our luggage could be misplaced if we used the wrong color tag, I would have been upset too, and have wanted the problem resolved soon. It seems that you handled this situation very well.

 

Happy that this worked out for you, and sorry that as you say, a few find it necessary to zone in on the negative, and make a big deal out of it.

 

Your grading system for your review is refreshing.

 

You seem to have a good sense of humor, as reflected in your "bow cam" comment.

Good for you - and hopefully, you will have many more cruises in your future.

[SailAways]

Good Old Duplicate - Again. Sorry

[ce2000]

Rusty, thanks for the honest review, sorry to see you get flamed. It only took me once to get hooked on cruising. Consider cruising another line sometime, it will be different and may give you more appreciation for NCL Freestyle.

[pmcrr]

Rusty , When I read your review I said oh no, alot of posters cant handle your negative comments about there ship. I took the 9 day cruise starting 2.2.07. I posted a similar review, some good points, some bad points, but overal we had a wonderful time. But still got blasted for not having a wonderful time 100% of the time. I'snt it just amazing that another critic can say your experience did not happen that way when they werent even there. I agree that Belise is a dump, Cosumel a little better, but you learn as you go from port to port. But I respect your honesty in reporting your experience.

[SailAways]

This was our first cruise and overall we enjoyed it greatly. I fully agree with most of the positive reviews and descriptions that have been posted by other people.

 

I'm not a penthouse cruiser so I don't know anything about butlers or concierge service. This is all from an average cruisers point of view.

 

- - - - - - - - -Deleted Portion - - - - - -

 

Overall it was a fun time and we will definitely go again.

 

Sorry, I meant to highlight these few sentences when praising your post yesterday.

 

The portion which I have deleted, was absolutely your opinion, and stated very well. All of which, you are entitled to, without question.

 

These few sentences however, tell us that you agreed with many of the previous posters, and will be cruising again, and that you did have a fun time.

 

What more could folks here on CC want?????????

 

Thanks again for a well balanced review.

[AsianCruiser]

Im not going to lambast Rusty for his review. :)

 

I just want to know if he and his wife took pictures of the ice carving demo? there was one, right?

 

would appreciate if they can post pictures.

 

or if not rusty, maybe those who were on the Valentines 5-day sailing (Feb 11-16) on the Pearl? was there an ice carving demo? could you post your pictures? or post the site where i can find the pictures.

 

would really appreciate it. thanks very much. :D

[DRMizzou]

AsianCruiser--there was an ice carving demonstration on the Tahitian Pool deck on Tuesday night (13th) at around 11:30pm. Bad news--I did not have my camera with me. The ice carver made a seahorse out of a huge block of ice that was pretty impressive.

 

Hopefully someone on the cruise has pictures of it. Hope you enjoyed the cruise--we sure did.

[CatskillsMom]

Hi there,

 

Thanks for the trip report: I just had to say one thing though; we just got back from a 10 day Mexico vacation where we ferried over to Cozumel for a day trip. You're right, the dock area and the touristy little town does seem like a dump at first glance! We were also told that the snorkeling has suffered due to the hurricanes that walloped the island killing off reefs, etc. so we didn't even bother bringing our gear. However, we hired a taxi for the day and we drove to the EAST side of the island (about 25 mins)where there are beautiful, white sand, secluded beaches, great beach restaurants and fun bars along the whole route. So, it's not Coz as a whole that's dumpy. Once you leave that area...it's actually quite beautiful;)

[RichNY]

Nice job Rusty..Contrary to the belief on some of the defenders,people do want to hear the good and the bad. I'm sure most of us can decide what really counts without their little comments.....I can almost guarantee more of "them" will be making an appearence...:D Its a shame posters have to be defensive every time they say something that might be construed as negative.

[Don Haynes]

I'm sorry you feel that way. But writing that Cozumel is a dump, without any explanation at all, is being negative. A comment like that will always generate responses with opposing views. All the cruise lines sail to Cozumel, and it is considered one of the best ports on any itinerary in the world. Just look at the number of cruise ships that sail there every week. You'll be hard presss to find another port with as many cruise ships visiting.

I'll admit Cozumel is not as pretty as Bermuda, but there are garbage dumps and landfills in Bermuda too. There are garbage dumps and landfills in America too, and everywhere else in the world. Therefore, calling Cozumel a dump just because they rode by a landfill is a poor example for why.

 

Venice smells like a sewer all the time, would she call Venice a dump?

[above sea level cruiser]

I'm sorry you feel that way. But writing that Cozumel is a dump, without any explanation at all, is being negative. A comment like that will always generate responses with opposing views. All the cruise lines sail to Cozumel, and it is considered one of the best ports on any itinerary in the world. Just look at the number of cruise ships that sail there every week. You'll be hard presss to find another port with as many cruise ships visiting.

I'll admit Cozumel is not as pretty as Bermuda, but there are garbage dumps and landfills in Bermuda too. There are garbage dumps and landfills in America too, and everywhere else in the world. Therefore, calling Cozumel a dump just because they rode by a landfill is a poor example for why.

 

Venice smells like a sewer all the time, would she call Venice a dump?

Pot: - meet Kettle.