Just off Infinity in E. Caribbean (Very Long)

Warning: This is long review and covers our entire trip including our flights, time in Ft. Lauderdale and of course the cruise.

To give you some idea of where we are coming from, we are a couple who love X, in our early 50s and from the Seattle area. This is our third cruise in 14 months on Infinity.

First up, our flight. It was strange and kind of nice to not have to get up at the crack of dawn to get on an airplane. On the other side of the coin we were on American (which we never fly being dedicated Alaska Air flyers) and their first class is not in the same class as Alaska's first class. And we had a layover. We have been too used to having non-stops.

This one went through Chicago. O'Hare is a zoo! Our flight arrived 20 minutes early so our gate was not ready and we ended up sitting on the tarmac for about 30 minutes until the plane ahead of us left and they moved a truck that had been left in front of the gate.

Once we got inside we had to traipse all over to find our gate for the second flight. I do have to say that the service we received on the second flight was probably the BEST service we have ever had on any airline at anytime. The flight attendant was amazing. She learned our names and would come by constantly to ask, "Mr. Bellomo, can I get you anything else." And the food was very good. The dessert (which was ice cream based with brownies) was to die for.

Upon arriving in Ft. Lauderdale it seemed to take forever for our bags to get to baggage claim. Pretty amazing considering that it was so late (midnight) and we were one of only two flights coming into the airport. We had landed at 11:30 and didn't make it out of the airport in our rental car until pretty close to 1:00 am. (We later learned that a woman had been arrested right about that time at the Ft. Lauderdale airport after they found a human head in her luggage, maybe that was part of the holdup.)

Speaking of rentals cars. We will NEVER rent from Alamo again. We had rented the car through Priceline as well as the hotel and what a mistake that was. We were treated like second class citizens. We were sent to a car (carrying six big bags) that was a long way across the parking lot. Once we got there, it was locked and there were business files spread across the back seat. I left Kathleen by that car and walked back to get assigned to another car only to be told that they would have to send someone to pick up more cars at their return lot.

Mind you, it is 1:00 am now. They send two people to get more cars and when they return 20 minutes later instead of bringing us the car, they park way back by the entrance and expect us to carry our luggage all the way back to the car. Another employee comes by and when we called to the first guy to please bring the car to us; the second guy laughs and tells us to go get it ourselves with a few insults thrown in on the side (something about being lazy tourists). Once we got our car (we had paid for a full size and been brought a mid-size) we got on the road and promptly got lost.

Word of warning about Ft. Lauderdale. It is poorly signed. We noticed this everywhere we went. The main street in Ft. Lauderdale is Las Olas but at the corner of Hwy. 1A1 and Las Olas there is not even a street sign to tell you which street you are turning on to (at least heading south).

Also, it seems as if the area drivers can be split into three groups. One group are the teens who tend to drive 30+ mph over the speed limit, the second are the seniors who tend to drive 30 mph below the speed limit and the third are the red light runners (composed of both the first and second groups). We could not believe how many times we saw people run dead-red lights.

We finally got to the Holiday Inn Ft. Lauderdale Beach at around 2:00 am. We had also reserved this through Priceline. When we checked in, one of the clerks said to the other, "They're Priceline." As if that made us second class citizens. We had booked a non-smoking king. People who know me, know that I am a vehement anti-smoker. Being around cigarette smoke gives me an instant sinus headache.

We were put in a very dark room on a smoking floor. When I went back to complain, there was no one at the desk so we gave up and took the room for that night. The room was big and did have great water pressure in the shower but all in all it was a very poor room.

Parking at this hotel is also an adventure. Especially very late at night. After bringing all our luggage in and leaving Kathleen in the room I had to drive around the block and in a very nasty neighborhood. We saw a lot of police action.

The next morning after complaining about the smoking situation we were moved to a much smaller room. It should also be pointed out that on all floors, about 90% of the rooms face the ocean. It seemed (after having spent the night in two rooms) that the Priceline rooms were always at the far end of the hotel. One of only two rooms on each floor without an ocean view. Another reason to avoid Priceline if you are looking for great treatment. I figure some of this was my own darn fault for being so cheap and not just going to get a room at a Marriott or Hyatt.

Our full day in Fort Lauderdale started early (even though we had not gotten to sleep until well after 2:00 am. It seemed that just on the other side of the connecting door (every room we saw in this hotel had a connecting door) was a wedding party and the bride and her bridesmaids and moms were just on the other side of the thin wooden door. That means that we got to hear just about every word that was spoken. We could even tell you that the bride was wearing her "special underwear."

After trying to stay asleep through the lulls in conversation on the other side of the door, we got up and went for a late breakfast/early lunch. In downtown Ft. L, on Las Olas we found Le Bonne Crepe. A wonderful crepe place that served excellent food. I had salmon, asparagus and bechamel sauce inside a crispy crepe. Kathleen had scrambled eggs and gruyere cheese also inside a crisp crepe. Their coffee was so outstanding that we decided to come back on Sunday morning before we sailed to try their breakfast menu. It too was outstanding. We would highly recommend this restaurant for lunch or breakfast.

After lunch we walked around on Las Olas, went back to the hotel for my forgotten camera and then headed even further downtown to try and find the river/harbor cruise. We eventually did and had a great time on a 90 minute cruise through some of the most incredible homes I have ever seen, the cruise ships docked at Port Everglades and the high rises of downtown. At $15 we felt it was great way to spend an afternoon.

For dinner we had snagged reservations at Seasons 52. We had read about it in the NY Times and were intrigued by the fact that they only served fresh, in-season food and that no item on the menu was more than 475 calories. I love cooking where you have to be creative and figured if these people could do that, then I would be very impressed.

We are thrilled to say that they succeeded beyond our greatest expectations. First, the restaurant is in front of the Ft. L Galleria. Don't be put off by that. Once you enter you will forget that you are anywhere near a mall. The inside ambience is excellent done in rich woods and dark leather. Very classy. The service, from the host to our waitress, was excellent with a capital E.

We started with an appetizer of roasted asparagus with goat cheese, red onion, roasted red peppers and balsamic. Outstanding. Also had their rosemary/parmesan flat bread. For her entree Kathleen chose a pork tenderloin and I had a wonderful venison chop. It came with mashed sweet potatoes, roasted carrots, mushroom and pearl onions in a pan sauce with a small portabello mushroom filled with spinach and garlic. Wonderful!

For dessert they bring small parfait glasses of famous desserts to your table and you pick as few or as many as you like. They had Key lime pie (which Kathleen had), Pecan pie, fruit, Red Velvet cake (which I had) and a whole bunch more. A very cool way to do dessert. You get a bunch of wonderful tastes but not a ton of any one of them.

Their cocktail menu was very interesting and I started with a Midnight martini while Kathleen had a mandarin orange cosmo. Both were strong and GOOOOD!

Their wine list was good and the also offered about 30 wines by the glass. We had an excellent Sangovese that was poured at the table. I hate restaurants that bring you out a glass of wine that could have come from any old bottle in the kitchen.

After dinner it was back to the hotel and a much better night's sleep. In the morning, packed and headed to the airport to drop off the car. We had originally hoped that I could drop off Kathleen at the port with our luggage but when we arrived there at 9:30 we were told we were too early and had to come back after 11. So off we drove to the airport and returned our rental car. We were able to catch a quick cab that dropped us right back at the ship in less than 20 minutes. (Total cab to cruiseport with tip was $20) Once we arrived (it was about 10:40) we saw the sign that said, "boarding begins at 1:30." We weren't fooled. We made quick friends with Mike who works there, who we had met last year when we left for Panama and sure enough our luggage was whisked away by porters and within 20 minutes we were on board and dropping our carry on luggage in our cabin.

Once on board we went directly to the United States to verify our Valentine's Day reservation. We were greeted by Christian who recognized us right away from having served us many times before on Infinity. Sure enough he had us in his book and we were good to go. He did tell us that he was already booked solid before the cruise even left for Valentine's Day. We later found out that they were pretty much booked solid all week long.

Grabbed an X burger for lunch. X has good burgers. And their fries have improved tenfold. Crisp and hot! After lunch we stopped by the spa to get our Persian Garden membership for the rest of the cruise. If you have not used the Persian Garden, make sure and check it out on the spa tour on the first day of your cruise. For us it is true relaxation. We do need to mention here that this cruise we have been disappointed. One of the steam baths, the Turkish, has been WAY TOO HOT! And the Sahara, our favorite room has been too cold. They need to get them evened off. One of the best new features on this cruise (in the Persian Garden) has been the new herbal shower. Really nice smell and very refreshing.

After our muster drill and unpacking our unusually late bags (we have always had them by 2:30 when we check in that early. This time they did not arrive until 4:00) we headed up to meet the folks from our cruise critic group at the outdoor Mast bar. Only problem was, it was freezing outside. At least for those not from cold climates so only 8 our of about 50 showed up that day. We got to meet Host Miriam, her boyfriend Herb, SandyBeach and her husband as well as Chitown Christina and her husband. We got to meet the rest of the gang the next day at our Cruise Critic Connections get together.

After our failed meeting we headed back to the room to change for dinner. We were surprised when we came on board that there was only one semi-formal night. We have four casual and two formal nights as well. That works OK for us but it was not what we had read we would encounter on a seven day cruise.

After dressing we headed to our old haunt the Martini Bar. And there he was, the creator of the Dorothy straw, (from a previous cruise) Eliseo. He welcomed us back and got us our two favorite martinis and we were good to go. We were joined later by SandyBeach and her husband and Herb and Miriam. Spent a nice time with them before we headed to dinner.

For the first time we were at a table for 10. And miracles never cease, six of our tablemates were actually younger than us. They were a group from New Jersey that included Jorge and Miriam (not to be confused with the aforementioned Host Miriam), Jill and Rich and Tracy and George. Jill and Tracy are identical twins but it was easy for us to tell them apart as Jill had a broken ankle and either needed crutches or a wheelchair to get around. Our two other tablemates were Romy (a gentlemen who spoke very little English but what he did say was always hilarious) from Toronto and his girlfriend Linda who was from Calgary. As we have learned on earlier cruises you can never have enough Canuck friends.

Since I am doing this from memory and I am writing this paragraph on the 5th day of our 7 day cruise I want to rearrange my thinking somewhat.

This being our third trip on Infinity in 14 months, I think the best thing I can do here is to compare and contrast things we are familiar with as to what is better, what is still excellent, what has always needed improvement and what is worse.

What's better:

The cruise director. Always good to start at the top. Nick Weir (brother of the famous Simon) is aboard as he told us as a "quick replacement" cruise director. We don't know who he replaced or why but we do know that he is WONDERFUL. We had often heard that a great cruise director can set the tone for the entire cruise and we never believed it. In the past our cruise directors have been nice but nothing special. Nick proves that theory perfectly. He is talented, hilarious, great to be around and more. I always felt that a cruise director should be someone you would want to be friends with in your personal life. Nick is that person.

And I think his attitude is reflected in the attitude of the rest of the activity and entertainment staff and possibly the entire service part of the crew. Never have we seen a crew who is more friendly and happy in their jobs.

The food in general is a step up from our previous two trips on Infinity or perhaps we just know what to ask for. I have always felt that X does a great job with certain parts of their food (appetizers, soups, desserts) but not such a great job in other food areas (entrees, salads, buffets) but this cruise I would say there is a marked improvement in many areas. The salads are still the worst thing they do but the entrees have come up to the levels of the desserts and soups. I still order an appetizer in the dining room and then have another when our waiter brings the salad course.

Speaking of our waiter, Allen and his assistant Isidrio were both OUTSTANDING! Allen does tend to rattle off the specials and the desserts a little too fast but he is a busy man. The entire dining room staff has been great. Our sommelier has been just so-so on this cruise but we know there are better ones.

Best meals I had in the dining room included shrimp, lamb shank and an enormous veal chop. All have been superb. Even the prime rib (I am not a big fan of prime rib) was very good. On Allen's recommendation I gave it a shot.

Breakfast for us is almost always in the Aqua Spa cafe. Muselix and granola for Kathleen and lox, pickled herring and bagel for me. I never thought I would grow to love those as much as I do. And if this was our first time on Infinity, I am sure we would be trying for more of a variety. But since we have already tried so much of what they have to offer we usually head right to the Aqua Spa and have our regular. It is something we seldom (if ever) get at home.

For lunch we usually just snack as we have often been off the ship. We always recommend the burgers (fries are vastly improved), the pizza or the ever popular (to us) Aqua Spa for salmon, chicken or roasted veggies.

We did eat dinner on Valentine's day in the United States dining room. We wanted it to be very special. But we were disappointed. Don't misunderstand me, it was still some of the best food and service we have ever experienced but we felt rushed. We ordered the special six course Valentine's tasting menu. It included a smoked salmon and caviar appetizer, cream of red pepper soup, goat cheese souffle with a mesclun salad. For the entree we could choose either lobster or chateaubriand. We opted for the steak. And for dessert they brought petis fours as well as a chocolate souffle that had amazing presentation.

At the urging of our sommelier we tried a 2002 Chapelet cabernet from Napa and thought it was the best cabernet we had ever had. She brought it early and after tasting it recommended decanting it and was she ever right. It was AWESOME! We can't wait to get home and buy another bottle. Hopefully it will be a lot less in the stores than onboard. (Note from home: our local wine shop carries it at $47 a bottle. X only charged us $76. That is amazing for a restaurant, less than 50% markup.)

Why we were less impressed with the US than on previous trips? We have eaten there four times previously both alone and with friends. Each time, dinner was at least two and a half hours. There was always about 10-15 minutes between courses to discuss the meal with each other as well as our waitstaff. This time each course arrived before we had a chance to finish the previous course. We felt like the staff was rushing to get rid of us. We realize that it was Valentine's day but that is no excuse at a restaurant of this caliber. The couple across from us got to the US before we did and we left while they were still having dessert. And it is not that we did not eat fast enough. If we had eaten any slower we would have been eating cold chateaubriand. As it was, I felt it could have been a little warmer.

I should add that the next day I wrote a note to the maitre'd who responded promptly with an apology and an invitation to join them as his guest on one of the two remaining evenings on the cruise but I had not written him looking for anything in return, just a note to help improve one of our favorite restaurants. Plus our table in the Trellis Dining room was so much fun we didn't want to miss the last formal night or last night with them so we thanked him and politely declined.

The same (and still needs improvement):

The aforementioned salads,

The same (and cannot be improved on)

The service. From our cabin steward to our waiter to every member of the crew we have ever met, they are the friendliest, most attentive, most incredible crew one could ever ask to sail with. X does this better than anyone. Their advertising says they treat you famously and they truly do.

Actually I changed my mind. Believe it or not, the service as actually better than on previous trips. I am not sure how you get better than we have had in the past but it just was. Everything was outstanding!

Needs improvement:

Little things seemed to get lost on this cruise. Example: on four different days there were no clean towels in the T-pool. Now I know that sounds petty but it is just not up to X's standards. We have never seen that before. And when I went to look for someone to ask about it, no one could be found. On Friday there were also no towels in the Persian Gardens or either locker room. At least clean ones that is.

Special note here (Let the flaming begin): This cruise seems to have two decidedly different set of pax aboard. Seriously. There was a decided Carnival bent to about 20% the crowd. Loud, obnoxious, feeling like they should be waited on hand and foot, insulting the crew, leaving their trash everywhere, smoking in areas clearly marked non-smoking, an abundance of chair hogs and more. (I am not sure what is worse; chair hogs who reserve seats or those who leave for the day but don't take their dirty towels with them leaving you to wonder if they are coming back or not.) You know the type, those who think the world revolves around them and that they are the only ones in it. The ones who would wear shorts to the dining room on formal night. Then there was the other crowd. The X traditionals. Those who were well mannered, treated the crew like family and we have to say really dressed up. I am sure I saw more tuxedos and truly beautiful gowns on women on this cruise than on either of our previous excursions on Infinity.

The same thing was true in the Persian Garden. We have used it every day we have ever been on board so I would say we are pretty much experts by this point. On the first day one of the steam rooms (the Turkish Bath) was UNBEARABLE! It was well outside the safe range for heat I am sure. Even a man we met who said he uses a Turkish Bath at his gym said he can normally sit in one for 15-20 minutes but this time 3-5 was his max. 30 seconds was about ours. These improved during the week but not until Friday was the Turkish bath tolerable. Saturday intolerable again.

The second room (the Sahara) is supposed to provide a dry heat. Not one day yet has it been hot. The first day it wasn't even warm. Each day we would let them know and by the next day nothing had been done about it. No improvement in 7 days when we are bringing it to their attention each day is just wrong.

We both wondered if this inattention to detail had anything to do with the fact that the ship was at capacity. On neither of our previous cruises on Infinity had we been completely full. And it showed. Today (our second and final sea day) there is not a single deck chair to be had anywhere other than far forward or on deck four. Both pool areas were completely filled by 11 am. We have never seen this before. The dining room has been jammed. On both our previous cruises we would often note entire tables empty but not this one. Just about everyone was there and eating during early seating. In hindsight, I would think twice again before booking a cruise that included Valentine's Day.

Update: I wrote the previous paragraph on Friday morning. After writing it we attended the cooking demo and went up to the T-pool. We could not find a single place to sit anywhere on the deck (not just in the T-pool) and we had had the same problem during trying to find a place to sit to each a snack at 12:30 anywhere on the entire 10th deck. It was PACKED. I definitely do not like this ship when it is full.

Going ashore:

This cruise had four ports of call. The first was Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic. Casa de Campo in english means "stay on ship". (I cannot tell a lie, I stole this line from the ship's comedian.) We didn't translate that and got off to look around. First, there is nothing to see anywhere near the port. You do dock at a pier but must take a shuttle to either the marina area (a huge waste except Kathleen found a nice pair of earrings that I got her for Valentine's Day) or to the small village of Altos de Chavon. The village is an "artist's colony" according to the maps but I can tell you that "artist's colony" means a bunch of guys trying to twist your arms into buying something. We did find Kathleen a larimar bracelet and picked up a small piece of art for our travel room gallery at home. After that it was back on the shuttle and back to the ship.

Our second port was San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ship docked at the base of Old San Juan so we just got off early and walked. And walked. And walked. Saw historical stuff. Saw statues, saw forts, saw hundreds of shops. Found Kathleen some beautiful jewelry with red stones called bloodstones in a store downtown. If you have never seen Old San Juan it is worth the walk. And the weather was very nice. A little warm for us Seattleites but around 80 with a nice breeze. We also found some great art and then once again back to the ship.

The next morning we awoke in Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This was probably the most beautiful port we were in on this cruise. And we had a wonderful ship-arranged shore excursion to go on at noon. We were off the ship and downtown to check out the shopping (a $4 each cab ride away) early and then back by noon to join the shore excursion.

Which brings me to one of the big highlights of this cruise for me. As most of my friends know, I love to cook. It is truly my favorite hobby. Well this cruise was part of X's "Savor the Caribbean" series. On each of six cruises they invite a chef from a restaurant located in one of the ports of call to come along on the entire cruise and each day to a cooking demo. Then when they reach the port that the chef has his restaurant their is a shore excursion (limited to 20 people) who go to his restaurant, watch him cook a meal, taste rums and then eat the meal.

On our cruise was chef Brian Katz from the Old Stone Farmhouse restaurant on St. Thomas. We had gone to his demo/class on the first sea day to make sure that he was a good person to listen to (so often chefs have a lot of technical skills but can't convey it to their audience because they are BORING!) and we were thrilled with Brian. He is a born teacher. A lot of fun and really knows his subject. And the trip to his restaurant (not counting the minor traffic accident on the way back when our driver backed our open air bus into a tree and the side of the mountain) was wonderful.

We left the ship at noon and it took us about 30 minutes to cross over the hills to the other side of the mountain to the Old Stone Farmhouse restaurant. Brian had a superb menu prepared to teach us. His sommelier was there to explain the rum tasting and then we had a fantastic lunch. It was wonderful. His restaurant (which he has since sold as he is building a new one in downtown Charlotte Amalie) was gorgeous. I believe he will really miss it when he opens the new one.

One of the really "fun" parts (insert sarcasm here) of the trip was the minor traffic accident we had in the "bus." First it is important to note that way they may call a bus or a taxi on St. Thomas is actually pickup truck that has had three or four rows of seats built on top of the rear truck bed. A good use for a giant Ford F-350 but not when you are sitting in the last seat going up a very steep hill and the driver stalls the truck and it is sliding backwards down the hill and he also loses his brakes. That is what happened to us. To stop the truck/taxi/bus he decided to put the back corner of the truck into the side of the hill just about where I was sitting. No major injuries occurred but it did scare the hell out of us and wasn't real good on my already injured rotator cuff. I think what really ticked me off was that once he got going again he did not stop to see if everyone was alright. Nor did he even mention it when we stopped to look at a view a few minutes later.

Did get some great shots (will post a link in a few days) and saw two large, lounging iguana (love that fauna) and then back to the ship through a very crowded downtown.

I realized last night (Friday) that I had not yet touched on the evening entertainment. I think the big reason I tended to overlook it is that we had seen most of it before. The first night aboard was the big rock and roll show (already saw it twice--the first time in 2004), the second night was the Broadway show. The one introduced by an on-film Joel Grey (already saw this twice as well--the first time in 2004). The third night out they had two wonderful dancers/aerialists who were almost Cirque de Soleil quality, a comedian and a superb jazz number by our very own cruise director. The comedian is Asian (makes him hard to understand at times), tells some old jokes, juggles but is very fun (as opposed to very funny).

The fourth night was the Cole Porter/Irving Berlin extravaganza. Now I love both those composers but we had already seen this show twice (THE FIRST TIME IN 2004) and we decided to skip it, watch the ship leave San Juan from the Sunrise deck and then go back to our cabin and watch a DVD. (No X has not added DVD players to rooms, we watched it on my laptop.)

On the fifth night we had a xylophonist/pianist. Watched about five minutes at the end of second seating's early show and decided he was not our cup of tea either. Back to the cabin and watch another DVD.

The sixth night finally brought us a new show--Celebrate the World and I have to say, X has outdone themselves with this one (as ocean-going extravaganzas go). The sets, costume and music were outstanding as the cast took us on a musical tour of the world. Very well done. They incorporated the aerialists into the show and after this performance we decided they were truly Cirque quality.

As to the cast of all these shows, we have seen better singers do the same shows. Especially on our first trip when we had the best set of singers we have seen at this level. No wonder they are gone. They have probably moved on to bigger and better things. The dancers on this trip were excellent. Very hard working especially in the very demanding (something like seven major numbers with big costume changes for each) in the Celebrate the World show. Great endurance.

The singers on the other hand were pretty much just OK except for one tall male singer who should be tossed overboard immediately. He did a Billy Joel number in the opening night rock and roll show that was so bad it helped us to decide to miss the Broadway show as I would have climbed up on stage and killed him if he had done anything from Phantom or Les Mis. And in the Celebrate the World show he has an Italian opera aria that was truly one of the worst sounds I have ever heard. Something akin to the sound a cat makes as you neuter it without anesthesia. X needs to send him on his happy way. What I would give see him on American Idol just to have Simon get his hooks in him once.

Tonight's show (I am writing this on our verandah at 6:00 am on Saturday) will feature the aerialists, the comedian, the xylophonist and we hope Nick singing again. More on that tomorrow.

Final entertainment report:

The final night was a kind of amalgamation of all the acts other than the singers and dancers. The xylophonist played, his equipment malfunctioned, he played again, it malfunctioned again and he finally got it right and we were all still awake---amazing. Then the band did a number with Nick that we had seen him rehearsing earlier and were really looking forward to. I think the xylophonist kind of soured the entire show because the rest of the show was kind of a letdown. The aerialists did a beautiful act and then our comedian came back out and was fairly funny. All in all, not the greatest show in the world.

We are looking forward to a nice (but crowded) day in Nassau. According to the Cruise Cal website (http://www.cruisecal.com) there will be eight ships in Nassau today including three of the Carnival and RCL megaships. Our shore excursion (a jet boat tour) was cancelled due to lack of participation so we will just leave the ship to walk around and possibly shop. I wonder what kind of jewelry Kathleen will find here. She has certainly found some wonderful and different items in every port.

Well the Bahamas are Casa De Campo 2. Should have stayed on board. What a complete tourist trap. We have decided that the only port we would want to return to is St. Thomas and I am not really sure that if we hadn't done the cooking class with Brian that we would want to go back there. There were at least five other ships that we could see all parked at the same pier so the crowds were ENORMOUS. And the Nassau pier is nutso. One door to funnel all but the shore excursion disembarkees through. And of course it is like running the gauntlet of tour guides, taxi drivers and worse. We went out, walked down three blocks to look at the Straw Market. Decided that the very last thing we wanted to do was go into it. Walked up a hill about three blocks, took pictures of a couple of historic statues and buildings, walked back downtown and about six blocks in the other direction, took pictures of a traffic cop directing traffic (the absolute highlight of Nassau) and then back on board to hit the T-pool and Persian Garden.

Dinner was very nice and our final chance to laugh it up with the group at our table. Saw the show, packed, hardly slept, got off the ship right on time and made the airplane with hours to spare. I am writing this on our layover in Chicago.

We made it home tired but happy. We booked two more cruises on X while onboard. We are back on Infinity in June to see all our friends who crew her. We have to say that they are the finest crew at sea.

Please feel free to post questions or e-mail me directly.

I was on Infinity in Nov and was disappointed by the Thermal Suite for the same reasons you mention.

Thanks for the nice review.

Hi DrKoob!

It was great meeting you guys on this cruise. We had a fabulous time and agree that the service was definitely a notch higher than on our last trip. Since we didn't do any shore excursions (we were looking for a VERY lazy vacation this time) and we felt the same way about Nassau, I can assure you that St. Thomas-on-your-own is just as bad. We went into Charlotte Amalie to be confronted with something like 60 shops all selling the same thing (jewelry, mostly). Nothing in the way of variety or local color. We spent almost no time there and headed back to the ship...there to sit in a huge traffic jam of other people with the same idea. I would do this cruise again, but unless I did shore excursions, I'd stay on the ship and take advantage of all those available deck chairs. We summed up the atmosphere of Nassau as "I've got to buy something, I've got to buy something, I don't even know what I want but I have to buy something right NOW!" Ick.

Speaking of chair hogs, on the last at sea day, Fred and I found two vacant chairs in different locations and dragged them to an open spot over by one of the whirlpools. After lying around on them for a couple of hours, we got in the whirlpool (about two feet away). I left my book on my chair. Two minutes later I see this woman picking up my book and starting to reposition the chair. So I got out of the whirlpool and told her it was my chair. She starts chewing me out saying it was her chair and she'd claimed it a couple of hours before. Clearly, this wasn't the case, since we'd moved both of the chairs to this area, and there wasn't so much as a single towel on them when we found them. Not to mention that I have little sympathy for the "I'll throw a towel on a chair and go back to bed, safe in the knowledge that it's mine whenever I get up there" folks. I pointed out the fact that there was nothing on these chairs and furthermore, had she noticed the signs requesting that you don't save chairs? She said she'd left her book on the chair and started demanding loudly, "well then, who took my book?" (So now, I guess, I'm supposedly both a chair thief and a book thief.) Here's the best part. When I plopped myself onto my chair, thus making it clear that I wasn't going to give in, she turned her attention to the chair next to ours. The one with the towel and the book on it. Her book. Right where she left it. Did she apologize? Be serious.

So yes, I concur about the "20% of passengers" bit. And it annoyed me no end that despite the fact that fully one half of the deck was designated for smokers, there were still people smoking on the no-smoking side.

DrKoob,

A great post! Very informative. And literate too.

We took our first cruise on Infinty to Alaska last July and agree with just about everything you said. X is truly a great cruise line and worth the money. In fact, we're booked on Summit for its LA to Fort Lauderdale Panama Canal cruise in early November--for my wife's big 6-0.

Infinity was also the first time in 20-plus cruises that we'd been invited to dine with the captain. Long story short, it had to do with my wife converting our many RCI frequent cruiser points to Celebrity's, which earned us Elite status. They even gave my wife a bouquet of roses. The 41-year-old captain, whose name phonetically is pronounced Ski Lodge E Onis, was great and we would meet him several more times at various functions for the Elites. Also, the hotel direcrtor and his assistant were both Polish and because I talk the talk, we really were treated like royalty.

As for the 20 percenters, I'd say it goes with the territory. We like the Caribbean because it's warm in winter, but the thought of joining 3000 pax in a town full of jewelry shops and bars isn't enough to drag us back. And who among us loves cross-country air travel?

Lots more to say, but this is a reply to your post. Perhaps we'll meet aboard some day.

P.S. My boss has a place at Fletcher Bay on Bainbridge Island and we have many (other) friends living in your neck of the woods.

Hi DrKoob!

It was great meeting you guys on this cruise.

Jenna,

It was great meeting you and Fred on this cruise as well. Be sure and let us know if you are ever in Seattle. We would love to have you over to discuss Venice, Brunetti and staying aboard. Take care and give Fred our best.

Jim

DrKoob,

We are going on the Infinity on April 2 to Panama Canal as this is the first cruise after drydock is complete. Did Nick say how long he will be CD? The last time on the Infinity, Simon was CD and he was also great. I also was wondering if there was any talk of what is to be done in drydock.

Thanks

DrKoob,

 

We are going on the Infinity on April 2 to Panama Canal as this is the first cruise after drydock is complete. Did Nick say how long he will be CD? The last time on the Infinity, Simon was CD and he was also great. I also was wondering if there was any talk of what is to be done in drydock.

 

Thanks

Nick did not say how long he would be aboard. He said it was temporary but not how temporary. We think by the end of the cruise both he and X would probably be happy if he stayed forever.

In drydock, besides cleaning and painting and all those other little things the big thing seems to be another fix on the pods. That's why the early drydock. I guess the seas off South America really did a job on them and if you have followed the history of Infinity, they have been nothing but trouble.

We did the canal on Infinity in November 2004 and had the best time. You will love this ship. Make sure to tell Elesio in the Martini Bar hello for us.

You can read my entire long post about our Panama cruise at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=142756

For anyone interested, I finalized my own personal website with a slightly different version of this review (for non-Cruise Critic pals) and all our photos. Just go to Travels with Jim & Kathleen <http://web.mac.com/jimbellomo/iWeb/Travel> and click on Caribbean Cruise or Caribbean Photos 1 or 2.

Enjoy!

Will do! And if you're ever in New England, please do the same!

Maybe we'll see you aboard again sometime.

Thanks so much for your thorough and honest review!!! :)

Fantastic review!! I am sailing on Infinity this summer for my first ever cruise, and really appreciate the work you put in to share all the details.

Thanks again!!!

Hi, DrKoob,

What a great, detailed review! We will be sailing the identical itinerary in 2 1/2 weeks. One thing you mentioned bothered me: "I don't like this ship when it is full." Would you say your general impression of the cruise was a positive or a negative one? It was a little hard to tell from your review. It seemed that the entertainment was, in general, a disappointment, the AquaSpa as well, also the ports (except for St. Thos.), and 20% of the pax. Some aspects of the food were not up to snuff, and the service in the US restaurant was inferior. You returned happy, you said. Why? What made this an enjoyable vacation for you? It doesn't sound like it was the cruise itself that was enjoyable.

We will be cruising for the first time, and expect to have a great time, as most folks say all first time cruisers do. As a seasoned traveler, you sounded like you expected to have a better time than you did.

Looking forward to your insight.

Hi, DrKoob,

 

What a great, detailed review! We will be sailing the identical itinerary in 2 1/2 weeks. One thing you mentioned bothered me: "I don't like this ship when it is full." Would you say your general impression of the cruise was a positive or a negative one? It was a little hard to tell from your review. It seemed that the entertainment was, in general, a disappointment, the AquaSpa as well, also the ports (except for St. Thos.), and 20% of the pax. Some aspects of the food were not up to snuff, and the service in the US restaurant was inferior. You returned happy, you said. Why? What made this an enjoyable vacation for you? It doesn't sound like it was the cruise itself that was enjoyable.

 

We will be cruising for the first time, and expect to have a great time, as most folks say all first time cruisers do. As a seasoned traveler, you sounded like you expected to have a better time than you did.

 

Looking forward to your insight.

Sea Going Mom,

We loved it so much we have three more X cruises scheduled. One on Infinity. I certainly did not mean to make it appear that we did not have a SUPER time. We did. We wish we were back aboard every day. If you don't want to go, we'll take your place.:D

We have been on Infinity twice before and much of what I wrote was a comparison to those cruises. My biggest complaint about the entertainment was that we had seen most of it before and one singer. I just want new shows. They are OK shows, they just need to change them more often.

The spa was fine, on previous cruises my bride used their services a bunch and loved it. The Persian Garden (which you have to pay extra for) was not as good as it had been before but it was still good.

The ports were touristy. I fully believe that the entire Caribbean is touristy. We would not go back to any of those places but we would cruise X again in a NY minute (we are!). We are not beach people but wanted to see the Caribbean just to see what it was like. I (and many others) have deplored the fact that X stops at Casa de Campo but golfers who can get on the course there love it.

We think we would have enjoyed Nassau more if we our shore excursion had not been canceled.

And if we had a choice we would have sailed on ship that was not completely full. And the best way to do that is a 14 day or repositioning cruise (which we have booked). Our experience on those have been wonderful.

Service in the US restaurant was superior to any restaurant I have ever been to on land (and we have eaten in some high end--$250 for two--restaurants around the world), I was comparing it previous cruises. Again, it may have been due to the ship being packed and that it was Valentine's day.

Go and have a great time. We wish we had done X first. Enjoy the service, the crew, the food, the United States (the best $30 meal in the world) and go by the Martini Bar and tell Eliseo that Jim and Kathleen send him our best and can't wait to see him in June. And we hope that Nick is still the CD.