Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

The Dream? Or the Nightmare? (or why I may give up cruising?)

SailorJack

By SailorJack,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

SailorJack

SailorJack

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I know the Dream was sold and was seen somewhere in Europe, but is it sailing now with another cruise line or was it scrapped?

 

I don't know where the Dream ended up. The last I heard (about a year ago) was that it was seen doing sea trials in the Mediterranean. I assume that it is now sailing with a European company.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 10 months later...
LrgPizza

LrgPizza

Posted
Posted
I know I am years late in posting- but this review was brilliant! I just read your Carnival review and set out to find your past reviews, as the Carnival Miracle review made my week!

 

A year late? This review is from 2007.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SailorJack

SailorJack

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
I know I am years late in posting- but this review was brilliant! I just read your Carnival review and set out to find your past reviews, as the Carnival Miracle review made my week!

 

Thanks for dropping by. The last post on this string was about 10 months ago which may have lead to a little confusion - easy to miss.:) Glad you enjoyed the review as well as the one on Carnival.

Edited by SailorJack
Link to comment
Share on other sites
LrgPizza

LrgPizza

Posted
Posted
Poster did say "years late" :) That being said I'm happy to see this thread brought forward because it was one of my favorites.

 

 

Mine too. :) And yeah, I did totally read that as "a year late", when it didn't say that at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
iceman2a

iceman2a

Posted
Posted

I go back and read this review every so often. I still laugh as hard as I did the first time.

The best thing ever written on cruise critic. And "Sailor Jack's" other reviews are classics also.

 

It may be an old thread but the message is timeless!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
burm

burm

Posted
Posted

We had the good fortune to follow in Sailor Jack’s footsteps this February, and are happy to report that we had a far less eventful cruise than he and Sailor Jill- and we did get to visit Puerto Madryn and the Falkland Islands.

 

To our great disappointment, we only spent one day in Montevideo, which we absolutely loved and have even considered as our retirement place in the sun.

 

The Tira Miszzou remains sunk in the Montevideo harbour and is now a huge tourist draw, visited by thousands of Cruise Critic members every year. There is a life-sized statue of Sailor Jack on the boat that takes you to the site for a modest fee.

 

The unfortunate soldier who fumbled his bayonet on the day of Jack’s visit will soon be released from prison and hopes to get his old job back. He has practiced every day in his cell in the hopes of redeeming himself on the parade ground one day.

 

La Chacra Restaurante in Buenos Aires now serves much smaller portions. They were losing all their best waiters due to hernias.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SailorJack

SailorJack

Posted
  • Author
Posted
We had the good fortune to follow in Sailor Jack’s footsteps this February, and are happy to report that we had a far less eventful cruise than he and Sailor Jill- and we did get to visit Puerto Madryn and the Falkland Islands.

 

To our great disappointment, we only spent one day in Montevideo, which we absolutely loved and have even considered as our retirement place in the sun.

 

The Tira Miszzou remains sunk in the Montevideo harbour and is now a huge tourist draw, visited by thousands of Cruise Critic members every year. There is a life-sized statue of Sailor Jack on the boat that takes you to the site for a modest fee.

 

The unfortunate soldier who fumbled his bayonet on the day of Jack’s visit will soon be released from prison and hopes to get his old job back. He has practiced every day in his cell in the hopes of redeeming himself on the parade ground one day.

 

La Chacra Restaurante in Buenos Aires now serves much smaller portions. They were losing all their best waiters due to hernias.

 

Now that's funny!:D If you are free I may ask you to ghost write my next review.:D:D

 

We were also quite taken with Montevideo and look forward to each return trip there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
burm

burm

Posted
Posted
Now that's funny!:D If you are free I may ask you to ghost write my next review.:D:D

 

We were also quite taken with Montevideo and look forward to each return trip there.

 

 

Awww. That is the loveliest compliment I have received since someone told me the other day that I look terrific - no wrinkles and few people "my age" are so toned. :rolleyes::p

 

We got a real kick out of how everyone walked around Montevideo sipping mate through their "bombilla". Workers, professionals, families, they all carried a thermos and cup. After a while we really craved a sample of our own, so we walked into a restaurant and ordered mate. The waitress was horrified and told us that it was not for sale in any restaurant. Mate is a very personal thing, we were told.

 

We were walking out of the restaurant when the waitress came running up to us and told us that one of the kitchen staff was willing to share his mate with us. As DH sipped, the staff all watched carefully to see his reaction (I have a wonderful photo of this). LOL. When we offered to pay, we were told no, that was his private stock and he was happy to share with us.

 

We later went to a supermarket where we were amazed at the selection of mates on display. Another customer approached us and asked about our particular needs. Do we suffer from sleeplessness or anxiety? Something to help us through stressful days? After we made a choice that he felt suited our needs, he then spent several minutes very carefully explaining to us how to prepare the mate. You fill the cup with tea and then put in about an inch of lukewarm water. Not hot, he stressed, and not cold. Lukewarm. Let that sit for 5 minutes and then fill up to the halfway mark. Finally you can add boiling water and enjoy. I then had to repeat the process to him to satisfy him that I could understand his Spanish. Our lesson took up 20 minutes in all of this kind stranger's day.

 

Next stop, a street vendor who sold cups and bombillas. For 15 minutes I received a history lesson and advice on choosing the perfect cup and straw for me (my bombilla is self cleaning).

 

Montevideo is definitely a place that deserves more than one day to visit.

 

 

A final tip for anyone offered to share a mate: When someone offers you a drink, etiquette dictates that you finish all tea before the cup is refilled and passed to the next person. Not to finish is rude. I wish I had learned that sooner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LAnn

LAnn

Posted
Posted

I am astonished to find writing of this quality buried within a Cruise Critic message board! Did all of this really happen??? I was floored by your increasingly hilarious and brilliant insights and references (and also by the the sequence of absurd circumstances that beleaguered the cruise!)

 

I burst out laughing when I reached the line "had someone shot an Albatross?" Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful account of your ill-fated journey full of fantastic adventures!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SailorJack

SailorJack

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I know I am years late in posting- but this review was brilliant! I just read your Carnival review and set out to find your past reviews, as the Carnival Miracle review made my week!

 

 

I go back and read this review every so often. I still laugh as hard as I did the first time.

The best thing ever written on cruise critic. And "Sailor Jack's" other reviews are classics also.

 

It may be an old thread but the message is timeless!

 

Many thanks to both of you!

 

Jack

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SailorJack

SailorJack

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Awww. That is the loveliest compliment I have received since someone told me the other day that I look terrific - no wrinkles and few people "my age" are so toned. :rolleyes::p

 

We got a real kick out of how everyone walked around Montevideo sipping mate through their "bombilla". Workers, professionals, families, they all carried a thermos and cup. After a while we really craved a sample of our own, so we walked into a restaurant and ordered mate. The waitress was horrified and told us that it was not for sale in any restaurant. Mate is a very personal thing, we were told.

 

We were walking out of the restaurant when the waitress came running up to us and told us that one of the kitchen staff was willing to share his mate with us. As DH sipped, the staff all watched carefully to see his reaction (I have a wonderful photo of this). LOL. When we offered to pay, we were told no, that was his private stock and he was happy to share with us.

 

We later went to a supermarket where we were amazed at the selection of mates on display. Another customer approached us and asked about our particular needs. Do we suffer from sleeplessness or anxiety? Something to help us through stressful days? After we made a choice that he felt suited our needs, he then spent several minutes very carefully explaining to us how to prepare the mate. You fill the cup with tea and then put in about an inch of lukewarm water. Not hot, he stressed, and not cold. Lukewarm. Let that sit for 5 minutes and then fill up to the halfway mark. Finally you can add boiling water and enjoy. I then had to repeat the process to him to satisfy him that I could understand his Spanish. Our lesson took up 20 minutes in all of this kind stranger's day.

 

Next stop, a street vendor who sold cups and bombillas. For 15 minutes I received a history lesson and advice on choosing the perfect cup and straw for me (my bombilla is self cleaning).

 

Montevideo is definitely a place that deserves more than one day to visit.

 

 

A final tip for anyone offered to share a mate: When someone offers you a drink, etiquette dictates that you finish all tea before the cup is refilled and passed to the next person. Not to finish is rude. I wish I had learned that sooner.

 

You were more adventurous that us. We looked at the mate cups but never went as far as to actually try it. We will definitely look into it on our next trip to Montevideo. Thanks for the cultural tips.

 

As I mentioned in my review, we stumbled upon a terrific winery just outside of Montevideo and fell in love with one of their wines. It is not sold in Georgia, but here 7 years later, we still stock up when we are in Florida. Uruguayan wines are not that popular yet in the US, but I think their day is coming.

 

Jack

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SailorJack

SailorJack

Posted
  • Author
Posted
It was fun to see this one come up again. When are you going to sail on NCL again...you have been away for awhile.:)

 

We really enjoyed NCL, but we are waiting to see if they have some new itineraries that include some ports we have not visited. No new cruises planned as of now...so who knows.

 

Jack

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Maraprince

Maraprince

Posted
Posted

Can't make stuff like this up!

 

Sometimes real life is funnier than anything you can imagine. Sounds a lot like my first cruise around Australia where everything and anything that could go wrong did including printing the wrong date on shore excursion tickets! Must state for the record that it was not an NCL cruise. Did we enjoy the cruise? Yes! And all the stories we had to tell everyone back home. Get a generous future cruise credit didn't hurt either!

 

MARAPRINCE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...