stuart2468

Day 11 - Continued

Once we had finished the everglades, we decided we wanted to get a little shopping in. Not sure if i mentioned previously but the Shopping is very expensive in Miami itself, certainly compared with the prices i knew of in the orlando region.

So we tried to find a fairly local outlet mall that was simple enough to drive to. We came up with Sawgrass Mills. It was to be about a 45 minute drive from where we were and with plenty of time available before us having to be back at the airport, Matt set the direction and i drove us.

Now this mall is huge. Apparently the 8th largest in the US. There are soooo many shops here. We decided here that we would separate, Amy went of alone, as did Neil. Myself and Matt stayed together. My guess is he couldn't cope being apart from me. HAHAHAHA. We arranged to meet back in about 90 minutes. Our 90 minutes were productive. I managed to get myself some new tops and a new pair of Levis. I was pleased with the result. Amy bought nothing. A very poor showing. Neil & matt were a little conservative with their purchases but some none the less.

I was starting to feel tired now though and think i had a little nap in the car on the way to the airport. Oh...... no..... at this point i wasn't driving. Matt had taken the role. lol

Dropping off the car at the rental firm was simple, once we found our way to the multi storey car park. The route to it takes you all the way up to the airport terminal before being able to find the entrance. This was a little daft and could have been a huge problem had traffic not been on our side. No panic necessary though and we are at the airport well within time.

Now, Miami airport......... Its huge. But it has to be an embarrassment to the city. Certainly the terminal we went from. Amy & Neil were flying back BA (in cattle class this time thank god lol) We were with Virgin. So some terminal, but different departure hall. Our check in assistant, who was very funny and knew his stuff on football (soccer to the oddballs over there lol), had advised us to eat before going through to departures as there was very little through there. To say this was an understatement would be an understatement. So we found a restaurant we were familiar with. Margarittaville. Smaller and less party feel than the one in Grand Cayman, but equally as tasty and good value. We were stuffed.

After stuffing our faces, allowed as its still holiday time, we said our last goodbyes of the day. Amy, as she lives in Scotland, was connecting in Heathrow to her flight to Glasgow. So here would be the last Matt and I would see of her. We were meeting with Neil the other end for the drive back to Birmingham. So hugs, and well wishes for the flight we parted company.

The room where we waited for the flight. The gate area i believe was tiny, dark with very little to do there. I was amazed this was an international gateway to the world. Thankfully we didn't wait too long and was onboard for our return flight.

Thankfully this time we were flying back on the A340. So i knew the seats would be better as it was older and from an age when airlines actually considered peoples comfort. Plus, as an airline geek, i was excited for my first flight on the A340. Either the seats were really comfortable, or I was extremely tired, i slept for about 50% of the journey home. I think this helped a lot with the lack of Jet lag i experienced the following days. Maybe the late night on the boat was a good thing.

back at Heathrow, we met back up with Neil at baggage and entered into the cold. It was sunny though, but cold!

And so that completes my first holiday & Cruise review. I can't describe how much I've enjoyed doing it, but I'm amazed at the effort that has to go into producing them. To think i was to attempt doing this on the boat in almost real time. Maybe on my 10th i'll be experienced enough to achieve this. Lol

Thanks all for the lovely comments and for spending time reading it.

Stu x

Amazing pictures Stuart, brilliant review. Thanks again for the detailed work. Can't wait for you to go on Holiday again. LOL. I noticed you were never near the side of the gators, seem you were standing at the opposite side of the boat keeping a few tourists between you and the gators. I know a fellow that used to play with the crocs like that. Yes dear old "Stumpy" was sure good handling those gators. LOL. Maria and I will be boarding the Divina next Saturday bound for Bermuda. Caaaaannnnnn'tttt wait.

 

Cheers and happy Cruising.

 

Maria & Armando.

No problem at all and thanks of the compliments. I too cannot wait until i go on holiday again. lol

It was pure coincidence that i had tourists between me and the gators. I actually felt i wanted to test the theory of having my hand hover above the nose of one. As if i hadn't believed what the guide had said. lol. They are very very close to you anyhow and I'm sure if they really wanted to waste the effort they could soon climb into the boat.

Have a fab time on Divina. She is truly stunning. your first time?

stu

Disembarkations procedure in the daily quite clearly states to vacate your room by 7am. If you were then being woken at 8am buy the cabin attendant i fully understand why he was close to kicking you out. Afraid thats a case of your problem.... not his or MSC's

Day 11 - Continued

There was plenty of other wildlife around also.

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After this we return back to base. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour. The everglade is a beautiful natural landscape that cannot be missed.

Day 11 - Continued

So once off the ship, into a cab we jumped. The fare to the airport is a standard $27 each way. Cheap enough between the 4 of us. We had pre booked a SUV car with Dollar and once at the airport, found the rental places and joined the queue. (we British love a good queue) It took quite a while to get through it. And if you'll remember both myself and Matt were quite tired from the night before. Matt was the lead driver, and i said to put me on it also in the event he was too tired to drive.

Once at the desk the process was pretty quick and soon found ourselves sat in said SUV. the reasoning behind having such a large car was to hold all our luggage. And it only cost us £35 for the day to hire.

So, with maps in hand (i was to navigate), and Matt behind the wheel we first set out to find breakfast. Achieved pretty quickly as you can imagine. lol

With bellies full, we chartered our direction towards the Everglades. Having been in Florida many many times before (disney freak I'm afraid) i'd never been to the glades. It was lovely.

As we were driving along the main highway in the Everglades region, we noticed many stops that advertised airboat tours. This was one thing i thought we all wanted to do. so after stopping at a couple to investigate (We looked at the Miccosukee Indian village but it was so quiet there and very few people had stopped here so took it to be not worth the money) we found ourselves at Buffalo Tigers Airboat Tours. We were actually really glad we chose this one in the end as its quite a small operator and we felt our money was better utilised here.

The tour cost $27 and lasted approx 45 minutes. It was educational and led by one of the native Miccosukee people. he was very informative on the local flora and fauna. His first language was english i believe so was never a problem understanding him.

Amy & Neil chose not to do the tour and so stayed enjoying the sun and a drink whilst we went off.

On the boat. They go at a decent speed and glide across the water. Quite an experience

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The guide stopped the boat on a number of occasions and each time would place us on one of the mud banks that are floating around. This is where was best to see the alligators. These were the females.

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I'll pause briefly here to let everyone know.... the pics that were missing are now in their rightful place amongst all the text. I've checked through and all seems to be in place. If anyone spots a problem or anything missing let me know and it will attempt to rectify it.

I thought it better to put the correct links back in place than to add the pictures at the end.

Day 11 - The Everglades & Goodbyes

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Yes, today was to be a day of goodbyes. Its sad that the holiday had almost come to an end. But, we had one last excursion to do before we caught our flight home.

So, the morning of disembarkation.... We had to vacate our rooms by 7am, and as mentioned before, we had chosen to walk off the boat with out luggage. This was because we didn't want any hold ups before collecting a car from the rental firm in the Airport.

So, our meeting point was to be Casino Veneziano, with our colour band being white. Meeting time was 6.45. We had said what we thought may be our final goodbyes to Balazs the night before, however he had also been given white bands to disembark and so we bumped into him before getting off. We had noticed as we were walking towards the casino that there was a huge queue to get off. The exit point was in the reception point, and the queue meandered all the way through Piazza del doge, and to almost the doors to the casino. It was massive and so thought we'd be a while to get off. Our bills had all been settled early that morning. The queue for us at reception was quite small when we arrived but that soon began to fill up. We chose not to get breakfast this morning as we had planned to eat around 9am at a McDonalds. 6.30am would have been slightly too early for most of us.

After about 15 minutes of chat and a few giggles with Balazs we wished him a safe onward journey and thanked him for his contribution to the holiday. By this point it was about 15 minutes after we had been called to leave at i think 7.15. It was to be a handy chat as the queue to exit now was non existent. Off we trotted, saying our second goodbye, to the wonderful ship that is MSC Divina. While it wasn't perfect, it contributed to a perfect holiday. Only a few minor things that could easily be ironed out and certainly nothing that would ever have caused us to moan about. I loved being back on with MSC. Neil also. Amy seemed to enjoy it also and commented she would be happy to sail with them again. Matts views were that whilst cruising would never be his first choice holiday, he still loved it and found the ship beautiful. I guess i could settle for that!

All in all the disembarkation process was simple and quick.

Arrivederci Divina xx

Day 10 - Continued

A few more shots of the park and the Atlantis resort.

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Alas, our time was almost up. But one thing Amy wanted to do was visit the Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlour within the small shopping area just outside the Atlantis resort. Its a quaint little place and you must visit if you are here. Try to ignore all the expensive lavish Yachts that are moored up looking garishly ugly (I lie of course, i'd love one. I tried to convince Matt of the investment opportunity but he was having none of it)

Within this small shopping area are plenty of bling opportunities. APPARENTLY! Nope, bling was off the list for me it would seem. Sorry to disappoint you Fighterone. I was blingless in Nassau.

Our assessment of Aquaventure - Good, but very definitely not worth £100. We were unanimous on this.

So.... remember back in the review i mentioned that they would all get the revenge on me for laughing at the situation with the ferry crossing from Cozumel.... well as we got off the coach, back at the ship, id noticed my back had gone. I literally couldn't walk. Getting out of my seat and stepping off the bus i looked like a man of 90. I have a slight issue with my back that very occasionally causes immense pain and practically immobilises me. Well it had hit. And didn't they all enjoy it. Still....... i fully commend them for taking their chance when it was presented lol.

That evening, because we didn't get back to the ship until late, we decided to eat in the buffet. This was probably our worst night for food. It seemed a lot of people had decided on the buffet this night, and the lack of food showed this. Queues were forming waiting for food to be replenished. Half the buffet was closed. Not a huge amount of options. It really was a poor showing. Overall i think its fair to say none of us were that impressed with the buffet. I think this is one area they need to look at on the Divina.

Our plan this last night was to have a fairly early night. We were walking off the ship the following day with our luggage and the daily program for the following day had advised us to vacate our room by 7am. Neil & Amy followed this rule quite well........ But we'll get to that shortly

First we were to see the last show. The Michael Jackson Tribute called Starwalker. It really is the one show you must not miss. The dancing and stunts in this are superb. the whole audience (including Matt which i was surprised with) were on their feet with applause at the end. And the part during 'Heal the world' is a tear jerker. I won't spoil it for those who want to wait and see but its a great ending to the show and the cruise itself.

After the show, i had one last flutter on the Roulette, achieved a final winnings total of $240 and walked away and cashed in. I was happy with my haul over the week. I think Amy ended up $100 in total. not so much luck for Neil & Matt though.

So... as i was saying about an early night. Well, Amy & Neil did. Sensible people that they are. Us however no so. As we were sat finishing our drinks in the Golden Jazz and about to say our goodbyes to Balazs, along came Andre, and Wesley (who had set up the LGBT meeting earlier in the week) His husband and Michael (the Entertainment manager) More drinks followed and plenty of chat and banter. It actually was a good night but by 2am we knew we had to hit the sack. Yes 2am!

Day 10 - Continued

Lunch here was pretty much as you would expect. Burgers, Hotdogs and the like. I forget the cost of the food, but its fair to say it wasn't cheap. Nothing about this park is cheap lol.

With about 90 minutes remaining in the park before we had to catch the last coach back to the ship we decided to take a look around some of the Aquariums. Access to these were included in the cost of our ticket. There's certainly plenty to see.....

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There's certainly a large variety of marine life. The grounds to which are huge. Some thought went into the planning on this place thats for sure!

Day 10 - Continued

Amy's exit from the Abyss. She won't like me for posting this pic. lol

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Now i have to mention this lazy river. Its like no other lazy river I've ever seen. So much thought has been put into it. There's rapids, and a section that has a large wave every 30 seconds or so that sends you meandering around a section of the river. I could have spent my day on this river enjoying the suns rays.

Day 10 - Continued

Today was an exciting one for us. Both me & Amy had wanted to visit the Atlantis Resort for a number of years. This was to be our chance.

All four of us, when booking our cruise, had been given £150 of on board credit. We had agreed fairly early that we would use this to pay for our ticket to Aquaventure. This we booked through the ship and cost us approx £100. It was to be mine & Neils first ship excursion.

As we came into port, we were met with these views...

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It was to be quite a busy port today. I think in total 5 ships docked throughout the day.

After our usual hearty breakfast, we went to our meeting point for the excursion. Ours was the Golden Jazz bar, and we were assigned group 24. Each group was called one by one to disembark the ship. So far so good. All seemed to work fairly well.

Once off the ship we were met with Atlantis representatives who gave us a waiver to sign before leading us towards the coaches that would take us too and from the resort. As we were near to the back, we had to wait 10-15 minutes for additional transport as the coaches laid on weren't enough. This got on my nerves a little. I would expect them to have sufficient transport for the number of people booked onto the excursion. Still 15 minutes wasn't a huge amount of time. Before long were were at the entrance to the resort.

After finding the lockers, which may i point out cost us $20 of the day, and our sun bed station, we were free to roam. A handy point here that no-one told us about prior, and i hadn't read anywhere, is that the whole aqua park is cashless. Take a debit or credit card with you to pay for anything inside. Luckily matt had his on him so we were ok.

Neil isn't one for rides and water shoots, so he opted to stay near to the beds for a while whilst the 3 of us ventured around the park to do what we wanted to do.

At the top of the Mayan temple

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Day 10 - Nassau, Atlantis Resort baby!

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Day 9 - Continued

We'd decided to meet down at the atrium/reception area prior to going into dinner. There was a pianist and violinist playing this evening. I always find it lovely to listen to good musicians whilst sat having a cocktail in my tux. Not a scenario i often find myself in so i lap up the glitz when its offered to me. lol

Surprisingly it wasn't very busy. No complaints there mind!

A lovely photo of Neil & Amy

This time was to be slightly different. No Alaskas on fire! So perhaps the Health & Safety aspect was infact true. Deep down i can see why i guess, although it does leave me somewhat disappointed. But still MSC did the parade and brought out the head staff members from the kitchen and floor. A great showing none the less and gives a nice spin on desert. And it was pretty tasty too. Each cake seemed to have different ice cream combinations inside of them. Yum

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After dinner, we took a walk towards the theatre for tonight performance called Treasure Island, but first we took advantage of a very quiet atrium area to take a couple of shots.

After the show, we took a seat in La Luna Bar. This bar is situated above the casino and offers male/female duo singers called Duo Ameritalian. They play plenty of 60's & 70's songs and offer the chance to request a song throughout the evening.

We also paid a visit to the Golden Jazz bar & the Black & White lounge but it wasn't to be a late night as the night before was starting to take its toll. A good nights sleep was required and so off to bed we went.

Day 9 - Continued

Our start to today was a lazy one, but one we all needed. Especially after our antics the night before at the disco. Of which we all blamed Balazs for leading us astray. None of us had made a move from our rooms before 11am. But we had very little to get up for other than to find sun beds in prime locations.

After a call to Amy & Neil's room, we'd decided that we'd give the Solarium a visit to get a little rest bite from the hoards of people. You'll remember that myself and Matt were on the Aurea package and so had free access to deck 18, but i'd offered, given that I could pay out of my winnings from the casino, to pay for Neil & Amy to join us. It was a wise move.

After grabbing a cup of tea, we ventured up to find our beds. As i thought it was fairly quiet by comparison to the rest of the ship and soon found 4 beds just in front of the smoking section. Neil was pleased of this.

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As an extra bonus for today, we'd all had booked various spa packages. Neil had a Balinese massage and a face treatment, Myself & Amy & Matt had a hot stone & Balinese massage. These were to begin at 2.30pm, and we'd each have our appointments between 2.30pm & 4pm.

So after some lunch about 1.30pm, which went down well after we missed breakfast. we took ourselves off to the spa. I managed to get a couple of pictures of the spa area & Gym.

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The gym has a great view over the front of the ship. Completely unobstructed.

I can confirm our massages went down a treat. Matt & I were lucky that we'd got ours as part of Aurea, but Amy & Neil thought it was money well spent. This was Amy's first spa treatment at sea so i was a little worried she may find the cost a little much for the product she had received. Thankfully this was not the case. Once we'd all finished (each at different times) we would enjoy the Sauna & Steam rooms and relax a little in the quiet area. This area contained 8 beds which overlooked the ocean behind a floor to ceiling windows. Very tranquil. But 8 beds are not quite enough for the people that use the spa so they soon fill. I took a nap there for about half an hour.

Being a penultimate night, it was a second and final formal night, and so at about 4.30pm, we made our moves up to the rooms to begin getting ready.

Day 9 - Sea day, and much needed rest!

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Haha it keeps me going to work Stu - gotta have something to look forward to

So true. I have terrible post cruise blues from My Caribbean one at the beginning of march. 3 more i can only dream of at the moment. I think Meraviglia & Seaside will be the next ones

stu

I have three bookings all paid for, however they have all disappeared from my account, I think they must have removed this functionality while they work on a fix for the issues with data privacy

3 Bookings? Wow...... my idol. lol. I cant wait for my next booking to be made. Have to wait patiently though

Hope you find your bookings.

Stu

I have been on three cruises on the Divina most recently this past December and the fourth is right around the corner. The floor in the indoor pool area is freaky slippery. I slip every time I go through there but have not fallen yet. I am old enough that if I do fall, I am going to be injured. I am afraid of it. So much so that I am already dreading walking through there and trying to map out a way to avoid it. To end on a good note, I love your review Stuart:D

Actually, you have just prompted a memory of mine, Or it was just too late last night for my mind to be working lol.

In the indoor pool area there were non slip mats where the walking areas are. Neil noticed them initially and commented about it. Although i don't remember, perhaps the Preziosa was slippery and its something we noticed back then. Hope that removes any fears of slipping over.

And thanks for your kind words. The next episode will continue tomorrow evening. It would have continued last night only i forgot to pick up the daily programs to photo and upload. I am a novice after all. lol

Thank you for a great review, Stuart.

 

I am curious to know if you found the floor to the indoor pool slippery, if you used the gym and had to sign a waiver and if the wait to get served your food in the main dining room (MDR) took a long time.

 

Anxious to see the reposts of the pictures that did not come through and if you have any of the foods served in the MDR, would love to see those too.

I never noticed a problem with slippery floors anywhere on the ship let alone the indoor pool. Someone slipped over by the outdoor pool just after our downpour in Cozumel, but i think it was one of the workers on the ship.

We didn't use the gym, however we did have intentions of doing so...... we thought otherwise in the end. There is a couple of pics of the gym and spa area coming up in the next day review.

As for waiting for food, it certainly wasn't rushed in the MDR, but that was never a problem for us. I think maybe once or twice we found quite a long wait for our drinks order. But id be plucking at straws to complain really.

Sadly though, food pics were not something we took. We all like our food, so found it was never on the plate long enough. Neil especially had a huge appetite on this cruise, which you'd never guess looking at him.

The ship pics will appear again at the end of the review.

Day 8 - Continued

Dinner tonight was in the Buffet again. I actually don't remember the food this evening which probably speaks volumes for what was on offer. Still i have nothing to complain much about.

We also had decided that we didn't want to see tonight show. Called 'The voices', we presumed it would be similar to the night we left half way though so sadly I have very little to report on this either.

We did however sit at the roulette table again, and after changing a $25 dollar chip to $1 I began betting much the same as before. I ended the night with my running total up from $180 to $210. Not a massive increase but an increase is an increase.

At about 10pm, we managed to find our onboard friend Balazs and asked him to join us for the evening. Turns out he would lead us completely astray and after a few drinks and a boogie in the Black & White lounge, we found ourselves, for the first time this cruise, in the Disco.

Neil moving his hips like only Neil can in the Black & white lounge

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Thinking we're all 18 again in the Disco

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This is what happens when you ask a Hungarian to take a group photo...... He just can't be excluded lol

Amy & neil left about half 1, and the three of us remained until closing at 2am. Hardcore clubbers. lol. We had hopped we would be able to get a snack or a slice of pizza before heading to bed but sadly this was not to happen. Turns out all food is off after 1am.

So we said out goodnights and hit the sack. Thank god for the sea day tomorrow. I need a lazy morning.

Day 8 - Continued

More pics of Tulum

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We began our journey back to Playa del Carmen at about 2.30pm, so all in all we had about 90 minutes at Tulum. In all honesty it wasn't long enough to see all that the site has to offer, but equally with the sun as it was today, it was enough for us. For those who are sensitive to the sun to go here with plenty of water, suncream and a hat. You are very exposed and there is very little chance for shade. The journey time again was about 50 minutes. We were to be catching the 4pm ferry back to Cozumel. Squeeky bum time as to whether we'd catch it.

We dropped Amy & Neil at a closer location to the ferry to begin their walk towards the pier. We went to take the car back and if push came to shove we could have run the fairly short distance to be able to get the ferry. All was to be ok in the end and were back on Cozumel at 4.50. The crossing wasn't quite so bad and seemed to get calmer as we approached Cozumel.

We arrived back on the ship within plenty of time, and as it would turn out, departure was delayed by about 45 minutes due to the late return of the Cruise tour to Tulum. As it would turn out though we were onboard and sat in the indoor pool area just as the heavens opened and we had one almighty downpour. Thankfully we were indoors, and with Blue Hawaiian in hand. Relief.

We spent a short period of time here before heading back up to our rooms to get changed ready for dinner.

Day 8 - Continued

Ok, so today i was tired. I could have really have done with a sea day today. But, part of me was excited to have been visiting Cozumel. (well Mexico as we didn't stay long in Cozumel) Myself and Neil have been here a few times. We have stayed in the resort of Playacar, which is a short ferry ride from Cozumel and so have spent a number of days on Cozumel. Our plan was to get off the ship. Head to the ferry pier and catch the ferry over to Playa del Carmen, hire a car and drive to Tulum.

Tulum Pyramids are the closest Mayan pyramids to Cozumel. Although we hadn't done Tulum on previous visits, we had been told that due to their location they were the most beautiful.

So after taking in a hearty breakfast, we disembarked the ship. Docked alongside our ship was a local ferry, which i took to be the private charter from the ship. We were some of the first few off and promptly walked towards the ferry pier. Only about a 5 minute walk so simple enough. We docked at 10, and we were on the 10.30 ferry. The ferry cost was $16 return.

Now this is where the fun begins. Although the sun was out, the wind was also showing its force. This made for a very choppy ferry crossing. Much to my amusement. Neil does not like feeling choppy conditions, but he had come prepared. He'd taken 2 sickness tablets. Wise maybe.

After a few negotiations, and collecting the car, off we went towards Tulum. The journey would take about 50 mins, and its one straight road all the way. Very very easy to do yourself.

Quick selfie in the car.

Entry into Tulum pyramids was $5 which actually was a very good price. The ruins are quite impressive actually, with some stunning views.

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Day 8 - Cozumel

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I think if it is that early we will try to change for the later sitting. Thanks for replies.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

The early sitting is 5.45. Sailed earlier this month. It's no a good time when you're only returning to ship at 5pm from port. I have no idea why they do it so early. I'd do second sitting next time in the Caribbean. Oddly the other msc cruises were always 6.30.

Stuart, was it REAL Shepherds Pie (with lamb) or Cottage Pie (with beef)?

How did it compare? I love it and will be making it next week with the left over roast lamb!!!!

Lol...... how many Americans would know the difference between the two? I actually don't recall the meat in it, although I do remember there was far more mashed potato than there was meat. Was still good!