Coolwhip82

We were on the Escape in August and had Jack as our Cruise Director. We LOVED him! Just saw a Freestyle Daily from the Escape and he is not the current CD. Does anyone know where he is? I know he could be off right now, but just wondering. We sail the Joy in 16 days and my kids would go bananas if he was our CD again.

Cheers!

We were just on the Escape in August and the Cruise Director was Jack. Who is JEFF? And WHERE IS JACK!!!??? 

I'm having a hard time as well. Would you mind sharing what you ended up doing with your kids? I'm currently planning our April 2018 vacation with my 4 and 6 year olds. Thanks!

We did the tasting tour with Creole Tours. It was very good but my kids got a little annoyed at the go-go-go pace. My advice would be to take a cab to the waterfall (my kids loved that and would have stayed much longer) and then hit the beach / have lunch. The tour was pricey and not really "worth" it for kids IMO.

Ok, I know I am being naïve here, but my response to this thread is "Wow, I didn't know NCL had an official CC account!" So is it someone's job at NCL headquarters to monitor all the chatter that goes on here everyday? That job must SUCK!!!

We just got off the Dawn and people were leaving their scooters in the hallway. It was off to the side, so not a big deal to side step, but if someone else on a scooter needed to get by I am not sure it would have worked.

St. Kitts and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We wake up early and the kids run out to the balcony to see the view. Except there is no view. There is a very large, old looking ship that looks like a ferry next to us. What cruise line is “GNV”? [you can see the ship in the background of the PIC St. Kitts_View]. One that cannot afford to maintain their boats, or so we think. We later find out from our tour guide that it is there from the government to house the medical students. Their housing was damaged by one of the hurricanes so they brought this ship in for them to live on until it could be repaired.

Booked another private excursion here through Grey's Island Excursions. We were doing the “Capital City Tour and Beach Splash (Cockleshell Bay)” for $25 p/a and $15 p/c ($80 total). We were to meet our guide Meet at the Arrivals Hall, Port Zante at 9:00am.

We disembark around 8:45am and starting walking along the pier. It was a short walk. By then I spotted a woman holding a “Grey's Island Excursions” sign and went to her. She took us through a back way to meet our driver for the day - Frankie. We walked to his van and loaded in. The van looked new on the outside, but inside was a different story. It was a little run down and the A/C was not working well. That van was HOT all day.

This tour is a very short tour through the capital city and mostly a beach break. We are fine with that because it is Thanksgiving and we just want to relax. Frankie took us took us to Palms Court Gardens and Restaurant. It was hotel and restaurant, but had beautiful grounds and a pool [see PIC St. Kitts_View]. You can purchase a day pass here as well. We walk around looking at the garden, the different plants and trees are labeled. Frankie tells us about them as well. There was an entrance fee, but it must have been included in the price of the tour because Frankie paid it. There is a small, kind of run down, playground but the kids like it. The kids play for a little while and then it’s time to head to the beach. We drive down through “the bone” (St. Kitts is shaped like a turkey leg!) and we stop for a pick. At the top of this one hill you can see the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other [see PIC St. Kitts Atlantic], which is pretty awesome.

For our beach break, Frankie takes us to Reggae Beach Bar and Grill in Cockleshell Bay. He asks what time he should come back to get us – we say 2:30 (I think it is about 10:30 by this point). There are places to change, real bathrooms, drinks and food so it looks okay to us. We rent two chairs and an umbrella for $20. You just sit down where you want and the sales guy will come to you. DS really wanted to swim, but I had forgotten his life jacket at home (in the car sitting in the airport really!) but the salesman says the water sports place (“St Kitts Watersports”) might have a life jacket he can use. I send DD over to ask while I get out money to pay for the umbrella and chairs. A few mins later, DD comes back with the huge flamingo float. There is a lady running after her saying “where are you going with that!?”. Apparently they rent the floats and DD didn’t realize she was taking off with their property. Both DS and DD want this float, but it is $20 for the day and I cannot justify paying that. The lady says they have smaller floats for $10. Fine. DD and DS go pick one out. They came back with this innertube that looks like it came from the dollar store, but whatever. DS could use it to swim “by himself” so that made him happy. So we get it. I have to pay, sign a waiver, and give my ID as a deposit. A lot to ask for a $10 tube, but okay lady. I didn’t have an ID so I gave her my cruise card.

We order a bucket of beer – Carib – it is buy 5 get one “free” so six beers for $20 form the waitress. She comes around all day to check on us. We toast to Thanksgiving and let the kids play. We brought a sign with us to take a “Happy Thanksgiving” picture to send back to all of our family and friends in the North [see PIC St. Kitts_Happy Thanksgiving]. Take pic, connect to their “free” Wi-Fi and post to FB, check email, and just surf the Net. This is the first time we had reliable Wi-Fi since we left so we both were on our phones like addicts getting a fix.

By then it’s about lunch time and we go up to the restaurant to get something to eat. The kids get burger and hotdog. I get coconut shrimp. It was really good. All in all my mom thinks the place was a little pricey. She paid the bill at the end of the day and said it was $150 (for all the food, beer, and water we had on the beach and in the restaurant…actually doesn’t seem that bad to me). Frankie picks us up one time and we head back to the pier. It’s about a 30 minute drive and DS falls asleep on the way back.

Back on Board

When we get back to our room I eventually notice that we have a voicemail. I listen and its Sunshine (or Smile, or some other equally silly nickname) the Director of the Kid's Club. She heard I had an issue with Splash Academy and was calling me to discuss --clearly JC had said something to someone!!-- could I call her back to discuss? She would be there during X and Y time.I deleted the VM and readied myself to call her. I got out the notepad and quickly jotted down all the points I wanted to make about the various things they had done wrong. As I wrote down the notes though I became angry. By the time I was ready to make the call, I was boiling so in the interest of not being a crazy person screaming over the phone, I decided I better wait to make the call....days went by and I never actually called her back. Here is why: there was nothing she could do ON BOARD that was going to make the situation better for us. My kids were NOT going back there so there was no point in discussing anything. I would take my issues up with NCL Corporate (which I have since done by writing a letter). Looking back now though, I regret that decision. There were other children affected by this behavior, not just my kids, and maybe their parents didn't know. I should have said something to her so she could have addresses the fact that Splash Academy staff clearly were not following NCL policies. Nor were they exercising good judgment, professionalism, empathy, or compassion – all things one needs when caring for children. Hindsight is 20/20....

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had reservations at the Venetian at 6:00 for Thanksgiving. I knew better than to try to walk-in on holiday for the MDR. We rest up, shower, and change into nice clothes. We head down to the Veneitian and arrive at about 5:55. The line out the door and down the hallway. I go up to the hostess desk, and after being ignored for several minutes, tell them that we have a reservation at 6:00 and would like to be seated. She tells me that she sees my reservation, but that I have to stand in the line, with everyone else, and wait to be seated. I tell her no, that's what reservations are for and I am not going to stand in that line. She insists so then I tell her that I will find a house phone and call Leah, the concierge who I made the reservations with and I am sure she can get us in. Suddenly we don't have to wait anymore. She can seat us right away. I really hate to name drop, but seriously what is the point of a reservation if you have to wait in line to be seated with the people who did not make reservations and are just walking in? Anyway, the Venetian is packed, but it is all hands out deck that night. I see several officers clearing tables and running food/drinks to make sure things go smoothly. Neither of the kids wants the "special Thanksgiving Dinner" so they order off the other menu. DD gets a chicken dish and DS get steak. He ate steak so many times on this trip its really unbelievable. Now that we are back he doesn't understand why he cant have it all the time. For breakfast on Sunday, I made pancakes and sausage and he told me he didn't want sausage he wanted steak, LOL! As I reviewed previously, the Thanksgiving meal was nothing special, but I do appreciate that they offered it. For dessert I was torn between the sweet potato bread pudding and pumpkin cheesecake. I told the waiter I was torn, he recommended the bread pudding and I agreed to that. When the desserts came, he brought me both! He said "Just in case you don't like the bread pudding!" which I thought was really sweet.

Second City

After a full day and a full meal, the kids and my mom are all tired so they head to bed. FL Family invites me to go the Second City Show at 9:00pm and I happily obliged. G doesn't stay for the show b/c her parents think it wont be appropriate and she heads to Entourage. We all sit in the suite section (balcony, stage right) and get ready for the show. About half-way through, JimBMe decides its not that funny and he wants to try his luck at the casino instead. The rest of us stay to finish the show. Thoughts afterwards -- it was funny, but not hysterical. I laughed several times, but never hardily. That was a bit disappointing for a Second City show. I have seen them (not this cast of course) in Chicago and I left with muscle aches in my side from laughing so hard. I think a crowd of 1,200 just doesn't translate well for the type of comedy they do. [Note: we went to another show in Bliss that was much better later in the week. More on that later]. Also, there was nothing inappropriate about this show. It was very family friendly. In the end JimBMe and BearsBeachHouse said G could have stayed.

I could not help but laugh at this. I was in charge of the M&G for the November 3rd sailing. We did have well over 200 people and they crammed us all into LeBistro. It was a tight fit. What a disaster. I had mailed NCL about 2 months prior when our totals got to 150 and then again about 3 weeks out when we were at 224. I told them of our concerns of leBistro and the space it had, they responded we would all fit. When I got on the ship, the lovely Jenny had left me a message saying they had us all set for 24 (not 224) I quickly ran to the front desk and ask to speak to her. Nope, not happening as she was off for the evening. When I was finally able to reach her the next morning she went scrambling. I was so impressed with the way the she and the Hotel Manager went about trying to fix everything. It was to late to move the venue but they were extremely apologetic and spent the rest of the week trying to make up for it. All and all, it did not really matter, we had such a fantastic cruise.

 

So sorry to hear about all the issues you ran into and I do hope you follow up with corporate about the abuse the children suffered at the hands of some of the kids club staff. Totally unacceptable

Wow that is a misunderstanding for sure, what's an extra 200 people?? LOL. Glad they were able to work it out for you.

I did. I wrote them a good old fashion letter. Went out in the mail today. We'll see how they respond.

p.s. We are from DE, live in KY now, but born and raised in the great first state!

So you couldn’t use your OBC to pay your DSC???

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

If it is the non-refundable kind, like what you get as a promo from NCL as a perk when you book, then NO you cannot. The casino trick does work though. You can get cash out, subject to a 3% fee, by playing in the casino so you could use that cash to pay at the end of the trip.

Back on Board and getting Tricked into Showdown

I don’t remember what we did up until then, probably napped, but I get a text from BearsBeachHouse at about 8:30. They are going to the 9:00 show, can I come? After the previous disasters trying to leave and now no-kids club, I don’t know. But DD and DS are looking pretty tired so my mom agrees if I can get them to sleep I can go. At about 8:50 they are out. I text BearsBeachHouse that I am coming. Great, she says, “Saving you a seat in the front row!” I don’t even know what the show is, but I don’t care I am just happy I can go!

I run to some bar on the way and grab a glass of wine and head into the Stardust. The theater is packed, but just like she said BearsBeachHouse is saving me a seat in the front row. I run down, say hello to rest of the FL Family and sit down. We chat about our days, where we went for dinner etc. I noticed that my chair has a gold cover that the top where you would place you head. I notice that G (who is sitting on the other side of her mom BearsBeachHouse also has this cover) and the guy to my right over one side as well, so just the three of us have it. Why do our chairs have this? I ask BearsBeachHouse and she says “oh the chairs must’ve gotten dirty or something. Like someone’s hair made them greasy. I bet they just put these covers on until they could clean them.” Ok that sounds reasonable.. ..BUT IS A BIG FAT LIE!!

The show starts. There is singing, blah blah blah, there is going to be some sort of contest. The contestants are getting ready. More singing. Then JC announces the show will be judged by our three judges sitting in the front row --- queue spotlight on the three of us with the damn gold covers on our chairs! I immediately throw a look of horror at BearsBeachHouse who is laughing so hard I think she might suffocate. She grabs my purse from my lap and drink from my hand so I can’t run and keeps laughing. She finally chokes out, “You just have to pick one to eliminate so pay attention!!”.

If you haven’t seen the show, it called “Showdown”. Four staff members are staged as passengers/contestants in a singing competition like American Idol. After each round, one judge must pick one contestant to eliminate. The audience weighs in so you go with who they are cheering for the least and pick them. The guy to my right is judge #1 and he eliminates one girl, Gina, next round goes on. And it’s going to be my turn. After the round is over, JC comes to my seat asks me to stand up. I turn to the crowd, they put the spotlight on me and it is blindingly bright. He says to state my name and where I am from. I say “Hi, I’m Erin and I am from My-Friends-Tricked-Me-Into-Sitting-In-This-Seat, South Dakota”. Everyone laughs. We go through the contestants and I pick my guy to eliminate, I forget his name. But he does a farewell song and basically sings to me as he is leaving stage. Then he comes down and continues singing right in front of me and then hopes on my lap and proceeds to give me a lap dance! I totally didn’t expect that so I just sat there in shock laughing. He was all sweaty too so it was not so fun, LOL.

Now G is the third judge. At this point there are only two contestants left so she is picking the winner. After seeing what my guy did, she starts freaking out. She is saying to JimBMe and BearsBeachHouse “I can’t do this, I can’t do this!”. Oh what’s the problem G? You only have to get up in front of 1,200 of your closest friends and eliminate someone. They calm her down and when its her turn she doesn’t a great job. Speaks flawlessly and the guy she eliminated DOES NOT give her a lap dance on his way out. Good choice dude, I think JimBMe would have killed you if you did.

At the end of the show the crowd clears out and JC (Cruise Director) comes down to laugh with us about my fake town name. He didn’t know that the FL Family had tricked me into sitting there. He said no one had ever said that as their town before and that it was funny. He asked if my children were enjoying Splash Academy (since they clearly were not with me). I replied that they were with my mother in the suite and that they would no longer be attending Splash Academy due to problems with the staff. JC said he was sorry to hear this. He then clearly followed up with the Director because the next day when I returned from my excursion the Director had called and left a message for me. More on this later....

We then decide to go Gatsbys for night cap. I text my mom and the kids are still asleep, she says I can go for one drink (I feel like a teenager having to ask permission to go out??). G heads to Entourage, and the rest of us go to Gatsbys. JimBMe and BearsBeachHouse recruit a newlywed couple to come sit with us. This is something I have come to LOVE about them. They are so good and being inclusive and getting people to join the crowd. I met some many more people then I would have b/c of them. This is something I am not good at, in general, and I am going to try to work on for my next cruise.

I order a chocolate martini – it is like $22 or some crazy price like that, so well over the $15 beverage limit, but it sounded good so I wanted to indulge and didn’t mind paying the $7 difference (I had some OBC credit). I deserved it after being part of the show! I had my one drink and had to leave to get back to the room to prepare for day 5 – St. Kitts and Thanksgiving.

Any chance you took any photos of the menus in the MDR any days? We have not sailed NCL for over 10 years now and will be on the 10 day Dawn sailing at the end of this month and was wondering if we could get some clues as to the menu items we will likely be offered in the MDR.

I did not but things that I remember are NY Strip, Pot roast, linguine and clams, Veal medalions, roast chicken, salmon, some white fish that I got one night and it was not good. I think it supposed to be grouper, meat lasagna....apps like french onion soup, minestrone soup, crab salad, one night in aqua they offered sushi, regular salads like house and caesar, and for desserts molten lava cake, creme caramel (that was really like flan), pot de creme, ice creams and sorbets. On the left side they will offer the same set of 5 entrees, like the steak that my kids are every night, and on the right are the dishes that change daily. Keep that in mind.

Does anyone know how long Richard will be on the Dawn? Have a cruise planned Jan 7, 18.

He wasn't on the 11/19 sailing, our CD was JC Sanchez

I hope you alerted someone to this horrible behavior! Those girls are obviously not in any way qualified to care for children.

Yes and No. It will be in my next post. I probably should have done more on board, but I was too mad and afraid of what I would do/say. Post-cruise I included it in my survey and I am going to write them a letter.

Martinique

Again we booked a private tour. The “Pile et Face Tour” with Krambole Tours for $220US. I booked this tour 1. b/c it was in English 2. They accepted USD for payment 3. They would provide a car seat for DS and 4. They would pick us up right at the pier. The owner /operator is Christelle.

We wake up in Martinique and the view is very different than other Caribbean islands I have seen. It almost has a European feel to it [see PIC Martinique_view from balcony]. We grab quick breakfast at the Garden Café and disembark by 8:50. We are to meet Christelle at 9:00 at the end of the pier. She will be wearing a blue polo shirt and traditional headdress.

The pier looks a little long, and luckily there is a bicycle taxi offering “free” (just tip the driver) rides to the end. Mom and DS hope on [see PIC Martinique_Taxi bike] while DD and I walk. I take a nice pic of the Dawn docked halfway down the pier [see PIC Martinique_Dawn]. We easily meet Christelle and head to her van. She looks at the kids and asks if I told her I needed a car seat? I said, no, but I told you I had a 3 and 8 year old and I don’t know the rules here? She said DS needs a car seat, but that I didn’t tell her so she didn’t bring one. Um, ok. What do we do? He will just have to go without....um, ok???

We get into what looks like a brand new Mercedes van with nice cold A/C. There is another couple already on board. They are from Germany traveling on Mein Schiff II. We head out and stop at various places.

Note: there was SEVERAL tours who seemed to be going to all the same stops as us. This was our most expensive tour at $220, so while this tour was VERY GOOD and we loved Christelle, I would shop around for price. Also, this tour is NOT for people with mobility issues, although alternatives were offered.

Stops in order with corresponding pics if applicable:

1. Sacré Coeur Church: Martinique_Church

2. Creek / river: Martinique_River

3. Small waterfall: Martinique_Waterfall

4. City of Saint-Peirre theater

5. Rum distillery

6. Beach: Martinique_black sand

Some commentary on each stop:

Stop 1: Sacré Coeur

It was busy and crowded. It is up on a hill with a very pretty view. [see PIC Martinique_View from church], but there was limited parking and busses full of tourists were pulling in. Luckily, all day we seemed to be about 10 mins ahead of the busses so we were generally leaving when they were pulling in. Christelle tells us about this church, that is made out of coral, and modeled from Basilica Montmartre in Paris. This tour also includes sampling of local food and drinks. Here we are served banana wine – yes, banana! It was pretty great. And giving passion fruit filled pastries. They are homemade by Christelle and unfortunately so hard we can barely eat them. I put my remainder in my pocket and threw it in the bushes while “exploring the church”. My mom found the remainder of hers in her purse several days later, LOL. She gave the kids popsicles made from their local cherries. Tasted very different then our cherries, but the kids gobbled them up. This stop includes a restroom and most of us take part since there won’t be another for a while. Fun fact – Martinique doesn’t seem to favor toilet seats. They have western toilets, but not seats or lids. You just site directly on the bowl. And I don’t know if this is true everywhere, but it was for the various toilets we visited that day!

Stop 2: Creek/river thing

We head away from the city and towards the rain forest. We drive for a while and then pull over on the side of the road. Here we are giving a type of sweet bread (I didn’t try it) and hot chocolate. It is spied with cinnamon and nutmeg and DD blurts out “this tastes weird!”. I said it’s not weird it’s just different to try to save Christelle some embarrassment as this was made by her as well!

We head across a very busy road over to what we are supposed to see. It is a small creek /river thing. It has water flowing down and I think to myself “is this the ‘small waterfall’?”. We stay there for a while, DD and DS are entertaining themselves by throwing rocks into a small pool of water. On the way back to the van, I heard “hey Erin!” and guess who it is?! The FL Family. They were on another tour and stopped here as well. They had also just visited the church. Guess we will see you at the next stop...and we did!

Stop 3: The actual small waterfall

The waterfall is located at the bottom of a ravine. You park at the top and have to walked down STEEP stairs and then cross the stream. There is no bridge so you either have to walk in the water (ankle to mid-calf deep) or jump on stones. My mom has mobility issues, as it turns out the man from Germany does too, so they cannot make the trek down. Christelle breaks out her virtual reality headset and shows them how to use it. It has a full tour of the waterfall so they can enjoy it virtually – very cool!

The rest of us slowly head down the stairs, and over the river, and through the woods to the waterfall we go.

When we get to the waterfall, FL Family is already there. JimBMe and BearsBeachHouse had gone into the pool and under the waterfall. He offered to take DD and DS in but they didn’t have suits on. We opted for a family shot about knee deep instead. Later, G tries to give DD a piggy back to the waterfall, but she is terrible at riding piggy back (I guess I never taught her how to ride properly – bad mommy!) so they give up and come back. The water is pretty chilly so we just enjoy the cooling opportunity and hand out for a while. Then it’s time to hike back up the ravine. That was a work out!

The kids and I are sitting in the back of the van. There is a middle row, but to exit the van the seat by the door must be lifted up and down. Up until now the nice German lady has been helping me maneuver it, but this time my mom decides to step in. I am barely sitting down when she slams the seat to the down position and gets my foot in the process. I am wearing flip-flops so I seriously thought she had broken my toes. Many tears later (it hurt!!!!) and some immediate ice pack help from Christelle, nothing was broken, but it was badly bruised. This should make for a fun time on the rest of the trip. Turns out, it healed pretty quickly which I think was due to the application of ice immediately, TG!

Stop 4: City of Saint-Peirre theater ruins

We start driving to Saint-Peirre and hear all about the volcano and its eruption in 1902. Mount Pelee is not a lava flowing volcano, but rather the lava erupts internally and then plugs the whole at the top. This causes steam to build up and then steam release, somewhat like how a pressure cooker would. This is what happened in 1902. 30,000 people in S-P were killed b/c the steam released and they couldn’t breathe! Yikes.

We visited the ruins of the town theater. We park down the street in a lot and had to walk to it. Then there were tons of stairs to get up to it. My mom opted to stay in the van. There was another virtual tour offered. We visited and I can say, it was ok. The kids were bored to death. After all you were looking at the ruins. I liked hearing the back story, but I could have done without this part of the tour.

Before getting back in we had some kind alcoholic coconut drink. It was soooooooo sweet I had one sip and couldn’t drink anymore. There was a pastry too, but based on the first one I decline this one so I don’t know how it was.

Stop 5: Rum Distillery

Next we go to the Rhum Depaz distillery [FL Family went to distillery too, but a different one. Apparently there are 5 or so you can visit. Good to know if you like rum!] and Christelle says this part will be self-guided. She shows us where to enter the factory and says to meet back in 20 mins. DD and my mom don’t want to see the factory so they find some shade to sit down. DS and I head in. It was pretty stark. They had like 3 signs telling you what things were in the whole place. In the end you go through the gift shop, where you can sample all the rum. I was interested in that, but a tour bus had come and that group had opted to just go the rum tasting so it was PACKED. It is also a gift shop so now DS is asking to buy every stupid trinket in sight so we head out. There is a restaurant to the side and my mom suggests we go get something to drink. We enter and get a liter bottle of water for $4. We come back out and are all gobbling down water. Christelle sees up and seems upset. Apparently she had water, why didn’t we ask her for it? We didn’t know. And we were thirsty so we just bought it, no big deal. Kids are bored (DD would later say this was the worst stop of the day) and good thing b/c it’s time to go. Quick trip to the bathroom and we are gone (again no toilet seats!!). Now we are heading to the beach!

Stop 6: Beach

We pull over the side of the road and between the trees is a small beach and restaurant. Now, this wasn’t a tour with a “beach break”. It was l just another stop on the tour so we only spent 20 mins or so there. Chirstelle warns about the black sand b/c of the volcanic rock – that it will be hot so be careful. Boy she wasn’t kidding, it was very hot! The kids didn’t mind and played near the water. I warned them not to get wet – yeah right!!—b/c I didn’t put them in suits and had forgot towels. DS got soaked, but DS remained dry. This was the first time on the trip that they had time so far to play in the sand so they were happy digging with pieces of wood and rocks.

At this stop, Christelle offered a local beer (Bi re Lorraine Blonde) and candy. I happily obliged on the beer. It was cold and refreshing. There was step incline (almost a cliff of sand really) to get down to go to the water. So my mom and the German couple did not go down. It was okay going down but going back up was another story. The kids were fine, but ole mommy struggled, LOL. We get back to the van and everyone is worried about my toe. It still hurts, but another beer would help. Christelle happily obliges!

Now our tour is over. Christelle takes us back to the ship and we are able to pay with a credit card at the end. It was charged in Euros, but that saved us from having to use a large chunk of cash so we were grateful for that.

There are few tent shops set up at the base of the pier. We take a peek around before heading back to the ship around 3. Now, we had several “tastings” throughout the day, but not a lunch, so we all starving. We headed straight for the Garden Café to gobble down a late lunch.

Harry Potter Trivia with the FL Family

Once showered, we headed to Bliss to meet the lovely FL Family for Harry Potter Movie Clip Trivia at 6:00. [see PIC Barbados_Harry Potter Trivia*] We teamed up, ordered some drinks, and prepared to play the game. The staff used the game ‘Scene It’ to facilitate the trivia, which worked well in some categories (i.e. clips), but was lame in others (i.e. character name scramble). There were 20 questions in all. After each question they would announce the correct answer and ask for those groups who got it correct to raise their hand. G was a beast at the game, she knows a tone about HP. The 3-4 questions she didn’t know, DD stepped in answered having just read all the HP books. They were perfect team so question after question we were raising our hands. By question 15 or so, the group behind said ‘oh put your hands down, everyone knows you got it right!’. LOL guess they weren’t doing too well! We ended up with a perfect score. There was no prize – unless you count bragging rights on Cruise Critic??—but we did get 10 activity points on each of our cards.

Post trivia it was time to get the kids fed and get ready for our dinner without them**. Headed to the Garden Café fed them both. Went back to the room and got changed for dinner. We were about 15 mins out from our reservation time, so we agreed my mom would go ahead to Cagney’s and get seated while I took the kids to Kid’s Club.

End notes:

* notice DS’s shorts?

Conversation with JimBMe:

J: He didn’t wear those today did he?!

Me: No, I just changed him before coming here.

J: Ok, good!

Me: <super confused about why Jim didn’t like my kid’s shorts…..until I look at the daily the next morning and see the warning about camouflage, LOL!>

**our previous cruise, DS was not old enough to go to Kid’s Club. Thus, sending him and DD and enjoying a dinner without anyone asking for more juice, having to go to bathroom, throwing a tantrum, spilling juice, or whining that they didn’t want to eat all of their broccoli was the ONE thing I was truly looking forward to on this cruise. I am a single mother. I don’t get to eat meals with other adults, alone, often. Or ever, really, it just doesn’t happen. So I am not one of those people who stick their kids in Kid’s Club all damn day. I just wanted to put them in there for 60-75 minutes to enjoy a nice meal. Was that too much to ask? Apparently so.

Kid’s Club and No-Good-Terrible-Horrible-Rotten Staff Part 1

I head to kid’s club with both kids and my mom heads to Cagney’s. We get there and the DD heads to her room (Seals I believe). DS hangs back with me so I can talk to the lady checking them in.

Scene

Me: DS had a hard time yesterday here. I have reservations at Cagney’s at 7:00 (it’s 6:50 at this point). If he gets upset this time, can you please bring his sister in to try to calm him down before paging me?

Girl: No, we cannot.

Me: Um, why not?

Girl: Because she is the Seals and he is in the Turtles. They are in different rooms.

Me: I am not saying she needs to stay in there with him, but she can probably get him calm and started playing. Then she can slip out. Would that work?

Girl: I don’t think so, but I guess we can try.

Me: Wait, you don’t think it will work to calm him or you wont try? I am confused.

Girl: I don’t think it will work, but we will try.

Me: Ok, thanks <thinks to self: glad you think you know my children better than I do>.

Have fun sweetie <gives kisses and hugs to DS>. Remember, Mommy is only going to dinner. I will be back right after dinner to come get you. Ok?

DS: Ok. <Girl lets him into the gate and open door to Turtles Room that is right behind the check in desk. DS enters>

Girl: Oh, he isn’t wearing his bracelet.

Me: Yeah, I had to cut it off. When he got back yesterday he was so upset he wanted it off.

Girl: But he has to have the bracelet!

Me: <looks at watch, 6:55> Ok, I guess I can go back to my room and get it. I didn’t throw it away.

Girl: No, you said you cut it.

Me: Yeah so? I can just tape it back on.

Girl: No you can’t. We don’t allow them to be cut. Once they are cut you have to get a new one.

Me: Ok, so can I get a new one?

Girl: Yes. That will be $5.

Me: $5 for a new bracelet when I have the other one still but you won’t let me use it?

Girl: Yes.

Me: But he is going to hate this one too. He doesn’t like things on his wrist.

Girl: Oh, well you should have said that yesterday. We would have put it on his ankle or made him a necklace.

Me: Well you should have told me yesterday that was an option and I would have.

Girl: So do you want to the new bracelet?

Me: If he has to have it, then I guess I do!

Girl: <starts typing in computer>

Girl 2: <pops head out from Turtles room> DS is already crying. Call his mom to pick him up!

Me: There is no need. DS’s mom is still here! He just got in there. Arent you going to give him a chance?

Girl 2: Ma’am, we don’t let crying kids stay in Kids Club.

Me: Yes, I understand. Nor would I want you to keep my crying kid, but what are you doing to try to get him not to cry?

Girl 2: <deer in headlights blank freaking stare>

Me: Oh, nothing. I see. DS let’s go.

Girl: Here I need you to sign this before you go?

Me: Sign what?

Girl: The receipt for the new bracelet?

Me: I am taking him with me. He isn’t staying, so he doesn’t need the stupid bracelet anymore!

Girl: I already charged your room for it.

Me: Fantastic! <signs receipt, picks up DS, and gives Girl and Girl1 the nastiest look I could possibly give to anyone ever and heads to Cagney’s>

End Scene.

Cagney’s

As I walk into Cagney’s, my mom is already seated. She sees DS with me and says “uh oh, what happened?” I proceed to tell her about the above. About how they didn’t even give him FIVE minutes in the room before deciding he needed to go (Note: I found out later their policy is 15 mins). They did NOTHING to console him. I am pretty fired up at this point, but I just want to sit down and enjoy my meal. I tell DS he better be good as gold or he is going back to Kid’s Club crying or not. He says he will be good. We order. Don’t remember what my mom got, but I had the NY Strip and ordered the roasted mushrooms and caramelized Brussel sprouts as my side. Our food comes and my mushrooms are missing. I try the sprouts and they are disgustingly sweet. I remind the waiter about my missing mushrooms and ask him about the sprouts. Why are they sweet? Oh, they put sugar on them to caramelize them. LOL, what is this crème Brule?! My mushroom show up and they so salty I cannot eat them. And I like salt. Alas, my steak was delicious so that was the saving grace to the meal. That and the two glasses of Riesling I drank. Oh, and DS was as good as gold like he promised 

Kid’s Club and No-Good-Terrible-Horrible-Rotten Staff Part 2

After dinner, DS and I go to pick up DD from Kid’s Club. They call her name and she comes out with red puffy eyes. She was visibly upset and it was clear she had been crying. I ask her what’s wrong. But she won’t tell me. When she gets really, really, really upset, she won’t talk about it immediately, so I know not to keep asking her. I let it go for the night and ask her again first thing in the morning.

Scene

Me: Hey, what happened last night at Kid’s Club? You were pretty upset.

DD: Yes, I was really scared for my friends. I hope they are okay.

Me: What? What happened?

DD: We were playing a scavenger hunt game. We were in teams and you had to run around solving clues to find a box. My team was talking instead of focusing on the game and we got in trouble. They made us hold our arms out like this <holds arms straight out like she is making a T with her body>. They put on a timer and said if we dropped our arms before the timer went off that the Captain would throw us overboard.

Me: WHAT?!

DD: Yes, and I did it. My shoulders hurt so bad but I did it the whole time, but some of my friends couldn’t do it. They dropped their arms. And the staff took them out of the room! They didn’t come back. Then we had to squats and hold ourselves against the wall. And if you stood up or gave up the Captain would throw you over. I did it, but some others didn’t. And they left. Did the Captain really throw them overboard? I am so worried about them.

Me: No, DD, that didn’t happen. The Captain would never do that. Going overboard is very serious thing because you can get really hurt or even die. That would never happen. Your friends are okay. I am sure the staff just took them to another room to scare you.

DD: Are you sure?

Me: I am sure. Everything is okay. We will look for your friends today around the ship ok? I am sure we will see them.

DD: <relieved> Ok.

End scene.

So does anyone else notice how the staff is threatening my child (and others in her group) and using corporal punishment (def: physical punishment inflicted on a child by an adult in authority) to discipline them? Yeah, that is not okay.

On this past 7 day, we did $70 for the butler b/c we didn't really use his services and rarely saw him. Last cruise, we used the butler a lot and saw him all the time. We tipped him $140.

If you like big ships, you wont be happy on the Star.

We like smaller (mid-sized) ships and love her. But if you want the mega wow factor, entertainment until you explode, never see the same person twice experience, the Star is not for you.

El Tigre 3 Hour Turtle, Shipwreck Snorkel & Sail

Now on to the tour itself – my overall conclusion – I cannot recommend this tour highly enough. It was fabulous. The crew [see PIC Barbados_Mom with crew] and staff, for the above mentioned reasons and below as well, was so accommodating, friendly, and fun! The service was outstanding. I have been on so many snorkeling trips and this was by far the best experience overall.

If you have little kids, or someone who had trouble walking, this is the tour for you! They do offer a 5 hour version, with lunch, that is a little bit more. It is all on the same cruise, they just drop the 3 hour people off and go back out. I’ll explain that later. They have a small ‘head’ on board, tons of shaded seating below deck, and tons of places to tan on deck in the cargo net area. My kids esp. enjoyed the net area [see PIC Barbados_Hanging on the net]. They serve beer, mixed drinks (mainly rum based), soda, fruit punch, and water.

As soon as we are off, Maureen (crew member) asks if I would like a rum punch. Yes! I have had a crazy stressful morning. She gets me a drink and then starts the safety talk. We cruise out for maybe 20 minutes to get to our first spot [see PIC Barbados_snorkel spot]. They are serving drinks the whole time. This was unusual to me. I have been on tons of snorkeling trips and always had to wait for alcohol until after snorkeling on the way back. Well not with El Tigre, they poured all the way out. They also offered coconut bread, DS ate like 4 pieces, but the rest of us don’t like coconut so we didn’t try it.

At the first spot we get our masks and snorkels, but no fins. This is the spot to see turtles so we cannot use fins. They lower a huge set of stairs off of the back of the catamaran and let people get it in. DD and DS are ready to do. DD does not like snorkeling, she just wanted to swim. DS –my three year old remember!!!—was suited up with all the gear (and a life vest b/c he can’t swim) and hops right in. I swim out to where the group has gathered pulling the kids along and there is a turtle. The crew brought some fish and are luring the turtles in with the food. We see three turtles in all. It was pretty spectacular. We snorkel for a while. DS is killing it snorkeling. I am so proud of him. My mom had already tired and was back on board. I ask her to be sure to get pictures of us snorkeling, esp. DS. She says she will….after 30 mins or so we head back to the boat get ready for the second stop.

Everyone is aboard and it’s only a 10 minute ride to the second stop – a shipwreck and small reef. This one we are allowed to wear fins so we all get ready. However, most people are tired. The last swim was long and without fins many people were too tired to go on, including my family. No problem, I am a strong swimmer so I wasn’t tired at all. The crew warns that this site has a lot of fire coral. Tells what it looks like and boy they were not kidding. It was everywhere!!! Depending on where you were on the site, it was sometimes only 2 feet below. Something to be careful of.

The snorkeling here was okay. The visibility wasn’t that great, probably 6-8 feet, but there was a major current. If you have ever been “drift snorkeling” that is what this was. You didn’t have to move at all. The current would just pull you along the site. Most people either didn’t recognize this or didn’t know how to “go with the flow” because they constantly had their heads up and were struggling. I just chilled and watched the fish. It was great.

I should note that while out in the water, the crew was with us making sure we saw the turtles, the sites, and all got a good look. Maureen was the kid coraller and pulled a ton of kids along. She even pushed my two up to get a better look at the turtles (we weren’t the only tour at the stop so there were lots of people in the water). She almost had DD convinced to wear a mask and snorkel, that would have been a miracle! They pointed out what to look at, told us stories, etc. They were truly great.

When that site was done, our tour was over. We headed out to the beach where they would drop the 3 hour tour people off and continue on with the 5 hour people. We made it to the beach and a smaller ladder/stair thing was extended. We drove right up on the beach and climbed off. A van and a driver (the guy who had come back for us at the pier!!) was waiting to take us back to the pier. We got in the van and headed back.

He offered to drop us at the Flour Mill dock, but we wanted to go back to the main terminal building to look at the shops. He took us back and we looked around for a little bit. There is a convenience store were we bought some snacks to take back on board. We got back on the boat around 2:30 and headed straight for the shower!

Barbados Addendum

So where are those pictures of DS snorkeling you ask? Well it turns out, my mom couldn’t see what she was doing (the sun is sooooo bright and all) and didn’t know how to turn the brightness up on her screen, so the whole time she *thought* she was taking pictures she was actually taking a video of herself. I was so pissed when I flipped through her gallery and saw that I immediately deleted the video and screamed. In hindsight, I should have kept that stupid video and posted it on here, LOL.

....and that's probably all I'll get to today. Stay tuned.

Reception for Suite Guests…or a GINORMOUS nap

My next section should be talking all about the reception for the suite guest b/c that was next up on the agenda, but it didn’t happen for us. After lunch we went back to see if my mom had calmed down. She had. We drank the rest of the sparkling wine and put on a movie. I don’t know if the movies “free” all over, but the on-demand movies are “free” in the suite. Kids picked out Despicable Me 3, we laid down in the big comfy king sized bed and promptly feel asleep for a short FOUR HOUR nap. I woke up first at 7. It was completely dark. The TV was off. I was so confused about where I was!

I went to went up my mom and tell her what time it was. We slept through the Suite reception- oh well. Woke the kids up and got ready for dinner.

We decided to go to the MDR. On our previous cruise we never used the MDR. The kids, esp. DS, were very little so a sit down dinner just wasn’t in the cards. We ate at the buffet or specialty dinning (with the kids!) during that cruise. On my cruise Sky, with a girlfriend, the two of use ate the MDR exclusively. It was really good, so I wanted to give Venetian and Aqua a try on this cruise.

We set out for Venetian. There was a huge line and they were handing out pages at the top of the stairs. I asked the hostess how long the wait was and she said “You’ll be seated once all these other people are seated”. I said “Thanks. That wasn’t helpful at all!”. Then we decided to try Aqua and see if it was any better. It was. There was a short line and we were seated in about 5 minutes.

Main Dining Room

We ate in the main dining room three nights: two times in Aqua, once in the Venetian (on Thanksgiving). I preferred the atmosphere and size in Aqua. It is smaller and more modern. Venetian is huge and reminds me of my grandmother’s house. I guess it’s supposed to be what old school cruising was about. The food and service in both was fine. Nothing to write home about, nothing to complain about either.

For Thanksgiving, they had a “traditional Thanksgiving dinner” as the special along with other offerings. It was three slices of turkey, yams, a scoop of stuffing, and green beans. They offered cranberry sauce but we declined. Only my mom and I had it. The kids both didn’t want it, and that was probably a better choice. It was a little dry, but nice that they tried to provide a traditional meal.

After dinner, we went back to the room to prepare for bed and our first day ashore.

Barbados

TWO tips to start us off: 1. Camouflage is illegal [see Day 3 Daily I posted] to wear in Barbados! It gives a warning in the daily, but seriously I missed that whole thing. JimBMe pointed it out later when DS was wearing camouflage shorts. I had changed him into them after we got back and showered, but seriously I never knew. 2. We didn’t docked at the main terminal building. There were five ships in port that day so we docked at something the locals called “the Flower Mill”. NCL offered a free shuttle to and from the main terminal building. It was a ten minute ride at most. However, we didn’t know that until after the fact. Looking back, it is on the daily they are offered the shuttle. Should have question why that was / read the Daily more closely. [i think the "Flour Mill" is what is seen in the lower left corner of the pic I posted "Barbados_view from balcony"] Lessons learned!!

We have a private excursion booked with El Tigre for a “3 Hour Turtle, Shipwreck Snorkel & Sail” for $150. It includes transportation and drinks (alcoholic and non), but not lunch. We are to meet at “gate 1” at 9:30. A person will be holding a sign. We grab a quick breakfast at the Garden Café and disembark by 9:20. Straight off of the gangway, you are in a pretty small fenced in area. All of the NCL excursions are lining up there so it got very crowded. We didn’t see our person so we left the gated area to look further. Upon exiting you are barraged with people asking if you need a taxi. We were asked no less than 25 times. We see no one with an El Tigre sign so we start asking. No one knows where they are. We ask the security guard if we are at “gate 1”. “Of course” he says, “there is no other gate!” Ok…..and we wait. And wait. By 9:45 no one is there and we are starting to get worried. We start asking more people. Finally, a person tells us that the Dawn doesn’t normally dock here and that our tour probably leaves form the main terminal building. We need to ride the free shuttle over. BAH!!! We get on the next shuttle, it’s maybe a 10 minute ride, and arrive at the main terminal.

The building is a huge U shape. You enter at the one base and have to walk all the way around the other side to get to the private tour area. I leave the rest of the family behind and run ahead to see what I can find. Alas, I see it, Gate 1….with no one there. I run over and must look very confused/upset because a man from the terminal building comes over to asks what’s wrong. I explain and he offers to call the tour company. He calls, explains what happened, they say they were there and since we didn’t show up they left. He says we are here now, if the boat hasn’t left, could they please come back for us. And they agreed! He said we would have to meet them outside of the main terminal area b/c they couldn’t drive back in a second time to get us. He points out where we have to go to meet the driver. It is a far walk. I should mention now, that my mom doesn’t get around well. She has had double knee replacement and now has problems with her hips. She had pretty much done all the walking she wanted to do for the day just getting through that huge U shaped building, but nevertheless she persisted. ;)

We made it out and got picked up by the van. We explained what happened. He said he understood and they were holding the boat for us. Was everyone else already on board? Yes. (yikes, it was already 10:10 or so) Were they mad? Probably not. They had been feeding them rum punches. Shew! We arrive, have to pay still, and get on board. They do whatever last minute stuff they have to do. We apologize profusely to everyone on the boat and explain what happened. Most people seem understanding. Only a few look upset. One of the crew members announces “hey, if it was any of the rest of you, we would have waited too so don’t be mad at them. Drink some rum and have a good time!”. Everyone laughed and we were off at 10:30, just 30 minutes passed the scheduled departure time.

Good grief. This sounds like a nightmare. I hope the entire cruise wasn't a disaster?!

We had some hiccups, esp. with the Kid's Club that I will talk about shortly, but otherwise no it wasnt all craziness. It was good. We had a great time.

Formal M&G

The formal M&G is at 10:00am in Le Bistro on our Sea Day (day 2). This was immediately after the Platinum tour of the ship at 9:00 so we were a little worried some people wouldn’t make it. Turned out to be fine. The only one who didn’t make it was my mom – LOL!

At the M&G we have all the same people as the night before + one additional person BearsBeachHouse was able to recruit. We all told tons of people to join us, but no one came. So we had about 10 people, pretty sad by M&G standards, but we all had fun just the same. Alain, hotel manager, went through and introduced all of the main people in charge of our stay, food, and beverage. Told us where they were from and what they do on the ship. Each smiled and waved and then left when their turn was over. It was like a game show where contestants are getting eliminated.

We learned about how many people were on the ship. That the 11/3 sailing had over 200 people at their M&G –oops!!—and got to ask questions. Jenny was very gracious setting up the whole thing for just the 10 of us. We were very grateful. We all chatted a bit more and made plans to do a slot pull right after.

Slot Pull

I ran back to my room to check on my mom—see above—and get some cash for the slot pull. I come back to the casino with two kids in two – BAH!!! – and we pick out our machine. We selected the Wheel of Fortune in the back left of the casino. DS picked out the one that looked best. He did a bad job b/c we lost. We each put in $15, I think there were 6 of us, and took turns spinning one max play. We won a little, but mostly lost. In the end, we lost it all. DS just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t play the games and was getting very rowdy so we had to leave.

We ended up going to the “Family Circus Workshop” in the Atrium with JimBMe, BearsBeachHouse, and G [i end up doing a lot with this totally awesome family on the trip so henceforth, I am going to call them “FL Family”]. The crew teaches the kids how to do circus tricks like plate spinning and scarf juggling. [PIC included] DD and G set out right after the demo to play the games. DS initially wanted nothing to do with and insisted on generally just being a pain in the *ss. BearsBeachHouse tries her best to get him interested and give me one second without him up my butt, Thank God for her help. We order drinks – I NEED A PAIN KILLER—b/c DS is so rowdy. Finally he gets interested in the devil’s sticks….but not to use as intended, rather as a broom. He walks all around the Atrium sweeping and cleaning up. It was pretty cute.

.

When the circus is over, we all decide we are ready for lunch and since we are all suite guest we head to Moderno.

Suite Lunch (and Breakfast)

This is an area where I am pretty disappointed with NCL. The idea of a suite only lunch is nice. I do like that. What I don’t like is the menu. It is the same. Every. single. day. After seven days it gets old. Now, we didn’t eat their every day for lunch, but it’s the same for breakfast too. Same. Menu. Every. single. day. BORING!! Also, the quality of food isn’t good. Basically, you got their trumped up version of stuff that was at the buffet. This is esp. true for breakfast.

I forget all of the offerings, but for lunch there was roast chicken, chicken Caesar salad, fish and chips, a breaded veal dish (I had this, it was a little salty but otherwise ok), linguine with clams, and the “kids menu”.

Speaking of which, the “kids menu” is the same all over the ship. Aqua? Same menu. Cagney’s? Same menu. Le Bistro? Same. Stupid. Menu! The kids got sick of the same offerings all over so after the second day I started ordering off the ‘adult’ menu for them. They almost always shared one entrée (about 90% of the time their choice was a steak), so that worked out well. It was enough for them and certainly better food then the chicken fingers, burger, hot dog and fries, pizza and soup on the kids menu.

Again, I don’t remember all the offerings, but the suite breakfast was eggs benedict, seafood eggs benedict (my mom had this one day and it was terrible), french toast (same as the Garden Café except they put the berries and whipped cream on for you – inst that special??), pancakes, steak and eggs (I got this the first day, I order my steak MR and it was so well done and cold when it came out I couldn’t even eat it), and a three egg omelet….possibly something with salmon too. I don’t like salmon so I didn’t even look at it.

What I do like about the suite breakfast is the little cold buffet they have set up. If you have been to Moderno, you know the buffet they offer, well this is replaced with cold breakfast items like fruit (good, fresh fruit not that canned stuff they give you elsewhere), yogurts, parfaits, cereal, milk, meats and cheeses, rolls. You could fill up just on that stuff. Many days, b/c it was way quicker, we did.

And finally, the service is SLOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW. It is supposed to be relaxed in there. And it is. Maybe a bit too relaxed in my opinion.

O’Sheenans for the Eagles Game

I change into my Eagles shirt. Before heading out, my mom and I both purchase the intra-ship calling / texting package on concierge for $9.95 (each!) We test that is it working. Agree she will call or text if either of the kids get rowdy and away I go. The game started at 9. When I arrive at O’S is pretty empty. I get a seat the left side of the bar, right in front of the TV. I had already had several pain killers by this point, so I know if I want to not feel like crap tomorrow I better switch to something lighter. I choose Riesling. Bad call. More people show up. By game start time the restaurant and bar are packed. Quick scan of the crowd and it’s mostly Eagles fans – yes no annoying Dallas fans. Eagles are playing ok, beating Dallas so that’s all that matters, and the Rieslings are going down like water (I ended up drinking like two bottle of wine during the game – I did not feel well the next day!). I check my phone frequently – no calls or texts. I make friends with several people sitting by me at the bar.

Amount of people on Board

The lady right next to me is a Philadelphia native who moved to PR about a year ago. I asked when she booked the cruise. Answer—a week ago. Apparently b/c the ship was so empty (which it was about a week out, I was still checking) NCL offered a special deal to PR residents. Sail Away rates WITH Free at Sea choices. I had never heard of them doing that. Good for the people of PR, I know they need a break. Bad for mainlanders who paid a hell of a lot more to be on this same cruise. I care less about that and more about the fact that this made for a very full ship. I believe we were at 2,900 passengers, 1,300 of which were from Puerto Rico! Capacity at double occupancy is 2,340, so we were 600 over that and you could tell. The common areas were always packed. The lines for guest services were always long. The Garden Café was always swamped, etc. etc.

End of the Night 1

I head to the casino after the game ends around midnight just to look around. I continue to check my phone – still no calls or texts. A man is playing Black Jack and laying down $250 a hand like its nothing. Play it if you got it, I guess. About 1:00am I head back to the room. I carefully open the door as not to wake anyone up and my mom flies out of her room. Her eyes are bloodshot from crying and he hair is sticking out in every direction.

ACT ONE

Her: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!!

Me: At O’Sheenans watching the game then the Casino. Why? What happened?

Her: Your son lost his damn mind is what happened. About 30 minutes after you left, he noticed you were gone and through a fit. He was screaming so much I thought they were going to kick us off the ship. I couldn’t calm him down no matter what I tried. He screamed for 3 hours!!!! We both were crying by the end of the night.

Me: Why didnt you call me? I checked my phone constantly all night?!

Her: I couldn’t get the damn thing to work. I called the Butler and told him where you were and to go get you! I guess he never did.

Me: No, the butler didn’t come. I’m sorry. Can we go to bed now?

Her: Yes, but I am not watching him again. He will have to go to Kids Club if you want to go out.

Me: That’s fine.

<end scene>

A few things worth noting – my mom LIVES with us, so DS is used to her watching him. I travel a lot for work. I work long hours too. He is used to me being away. Not sure why he freaked out like that. Also, not sure why the butler didn’t come get me. Perhaps he was in bed? We never asked him…Also not sure, if he was so upset, why she didn’t come to O’Sheenans herself (with the kids of course) to get me? I guess it will remain a mystery as well.

And then there’s the Kids Club

Signed DS and DD up for Kid’s Club the morning of the second day. Everything went smoothly, I set my mom up as alternate pick up person, est. our password and DS wanted to go in immediately. I sign up for a pager just in case he has a problem (remember last night?!) and head back to the room. As soon as I get to the room the pager is ringing. DS is crying, can I come get him? Ummm it hasn’t even been 10 minutes, but sure I will come get him. By now, it is almost time for our formal M&G. I ask my mom to go pick up DS and then meet DD and I at the M&G. I remind her where it is (the Dawn and Star are sister ships so *should* have had a clue) and give her the password. I tell her how to get to Le Bistro for the M&G. Off DD and I go to the M&G, but my mom and DS never show up. We were there over an hour and no sign. Maybe they found something else to do? We head back to the room to see if they are there. They aren’t. I send her a text on the app and leave a note just in case her phone still isn’t working. On our way out the door, we hear them coming up the hallway. DS is crying. My mom is crying.

ACT TWO

Me: What’s wrong?! Why are you crying? And why didn’t you come to the M&G?

Her: Oh I tell you what’s wrong! I have been trying to get your son this whole d*mn time that’s what wrong. I took the elevator up to deck 13, but then the deck ends. You have to go down to 12 and back up to 13. And there is only one stupid elevator that does that! I couldn’t find it. I didn’t know where to go. Meanwhile they keep paging me to come get him. I keep telling them I am on the way, but I am lost.

Me: Why didn’t you ask someone?

Her: I finally did. But when I got there I didn’t have his key card so they wouldn’t let me have him!

Me: Huh?

Her: You didn’t give me his key card! I needed that AND the password to get him! So they wouldn’t let me have him. They had him behind the desk. He was there screaming and reaching for me and they wouldn’t give him to me.

Me: I didn’t know you had to have the card. I thought that is what the password was for. How did you end up getting him?

Her: The guy at the desk finally said he would have to call his manager and ask if it’s okay. So he did and she approved it. But that took about 45 minutes. Then by the time I finally made it to Le Bistro, you all were done and gone. I cannot stand this ship. Or this vacation. I am done. <sobbing crying ensues>

Me: Okay, I am going to take the kids and let you be for a while. Here, drink our sparkling wine that came with the suite. I'll get you a glass.

Her: Good do that. And make it a long while.

Me: <pours wine; leaves with both kids in a hurry>

<end scene>

Some things worth noting –

Initially they waited less than 10 minutes before calling me to pick him up. I mean how long does it really take to walk from deck 13 Aft to deck 12 Forward? That’s how long it took them to call me to come get him. Their policy is supposed to be 15 mins. And what were they doing to try to console him? Turns out, not much. More on that later.

In the end, the pickup debacle was my fault. I guess I was supposed to read the 6 pages of fine print on the tablet, that they didn’t offer to let me read, when signing him up to know that the key card was required. I honestly thought that because we were staying in the same cabin, she had the password (and the pager that I passed off to her), and he was wearing the bracelet that she would be able to pick him up. I never occurred to me that she wouldn’t be able to. Lesson learned.

And, unfortunately, this is only the start of what will end up being several problems with miscommunication and generally poor service (/borderline abuse) on the part of the kid’s club team....more on this later.

I am posting the Dailies and some pics in my Google drive. You can access it here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iYMby2zMGlupb0SjNIjypaJYOBJFt0Yr?usp=sharing

I am sure this is going to get less detailed as I go. But I am starting out strong!! Here goes:

About us

We are multi-generational family of four: my mother, 63, myself, 35, and my two children, DD, 8 and DS, 3. As a family this was our second cruise. I originally booked this cruise in October of 2016 at the time they were doing a great promo where daily service charge was included in one of your free at Sea picks. Also, I had for cruise next certificates and they were allowing you to use to per cabin for cabins less than suites so I could use all 4- sweet! So I booked us a joining staterooms (10602 and 10606) category BA. The rep allowed me to book the kids in one room and adults in another (apparently this is something they don’t typically allow) so that adults could do UBP and DSC and kids did DSC and Wi-Fi as promos. The total price was $5,710.44. I'm including prices on when and where I can I feel like that's something we don't talk about enough on Cruise Critic, but I think is really helpful.

On our previous cruise, on the Star, we had an SJ Family Suite. We really liked the suite and enjoyed the suite amenities, but at the time of the booking the SJ was $6,491 so I decided I couldn't justify that at that time. However, I kept checking prices as the time got closer the prices kept going down. Then after hurricanes Irma and Maria the prices bottom doubt they were practically giving cabins away. At this point I made the move to upgrade us to and SC cabin and paid the difference. I ended up paying $1,405 more. However, two things kinda “got me” 1. We lost the old promo and had to booked up the new promo. I knew this was going to happen, but we lost the DSC, which would total to be$475 ($16.99 p/p/d). I (incorrectly!!!) thought I could use one of my new perks--$600 OBC to pay for the DSC so I wasn’t worried when I made the change. More on this later. 2. I lost the use of my third and fourth cruise next certs, so I had to pay an additional $500 to make up for the lost deposit from the second cabin. I selected cabin 11510, the two-bedroom “Ruby Suite”, on the port side.

Note: I did not participate in the bidding process because we had to separate rooms and therefore two separate reservations. Under the bidding process you have to bid separately and there is no guarantee that rooms will be accepted, thus one room could have gotten upgraded and the other room could have stayed the same. That would not have been acceptable. This is a policy that I do not like about Norwegian. Looking back, it is very likely that both rooms would have been upgraded, but you don’t get to pick where you are when that happens so…I am still not sure how I feel.

Our room

Overall our room was very spacious. It had TONS of storage. We really like having the two bathrooms (compared to the one we had in the SJ). The master bathroom was huge. And it had windows in the shower and bathtub (two by thebathtub in fact: one facing out, the other facing the deck) – that made me giggle. Hey watch me take a bath!!

The second bedroom, which was designed with kids in mind I know, was very small. My mom and DD slept in there. My mom complained about her bed (the couch that turned into a single bed) the entire time. Every after our steward put onTWO egg crates she still said it was the hardest bed she ever slept on. She wanted to try the pull out couch one night, but it was a single bed as well so she thought it would be just as hard.

We probably didn’t use the balcony enough. The door was amazing hard and heavy to open! But we did sit out there several times. And the kids LOVED running out first thing in the morning to see the new place we were that day.

Getting to San Juan

We booked on Delta for $740 per person. This is much more than we wanted topay, but we monitored the prices for ages and they just weren't coming down.However, after the Hurricanes Delta contacted us and said we could reschedule ourflights if we needed to. We checked the new prices and they were much lower. We asked to rebook at the new lower price and Delta agreed. Surprisingly. We each now have a $250 credit on Delta.

We left the morning of the cruise, 11/19. Our flight departed at 6 a.m. connecting through Atlanta. We arrived in San Juan at about 2:30. We got our luggage quickly and once we figured out how to get outside (the signs are not clear!) got outside to get a cab ($20 base fare ride + tip) we were at the Port by about 3:15. The Embarkation terminal was packed and HOT. They said the airconditioner was broke, but I venture to guess they never have air conditioning.We entered the suite guest line and were quickly moved through. Our Butler ,Clint, came to meet us immediately. We waited in the suite holding area for afew minutes and were introduced to our Concierge, Leah, and then we're escorted onto the boat. It was raining so that was really the only hassle -- having to dodge the rain with two tired kids. There is only one gang way getting on and off the ship in San Juan. So that was a little bit of a hassle as well.

Getting to our room

Once on board we headed straight for our room. The kids were very excited to play in the sleeping room and with the top bunk. We met our room Steward, Owen. By this time it was ready it was time for the muster call at 4:30. We were in J1 which was in the Stardust Theater a few floors down. We arrived promptly at 4:30, but the doors remained closed until about 4:40. We went in and continued to listen to them calling people tomuster until 5:10. People just kept strolling in, taking their sweet old time, and we (esp. the kids) were getting bored. At about 5:15 muster actually started and then concluded at about 5:25. There were so many people in the Stardust theater we weren't really able to get out until 5:35. All in all we were there for over an hour. By this point the kids are kids were hangry (hungry and angry) and we headed to the Garden Cafe for a quick snack. Then to Top Sidders for my NCL drink of choice: PAIN KILLERS!

The informal meet-and-greet

We didn't have a lot of activity on our roll call some people were active early on and then stopped so they're ended up only being a handful of us who were interested in a meet and greet. We decided it was probably not worth while to waste Norwegians time setting up a formal one. A few days prior to sailing interest seemed to pick up so I emailed the activities director to see if we could getone scheduled. The day before sailing she still hasn't got back to me so Iassumed we were a no-go. We set up an informal meet and greet at Gatsby's at 7:00pm the day of sail away. On board, just as I was getting ready to leave for the informal meet and greet my phone rings. It's Jenny, the onboard activities director, wanting to know if we wanted to schedule a formal meet and greet forthe following day. I said I would ask the other members in a few mins and getback to her. We got the kids ready and off to Gatsby's we went. I brought sticky name badges and put name tags on us when we got to Gatsby's. I included our names, where we were from, and our Cruise Critic screen names. That way the other Cruise Critic people were able to find us. We ended up meeting CruiseMama and her husband, JimBMe, his wife, BearsBeachHouse, and their teenage daughter G. As I was busy trying to get people's name tags filled out and—poof!!-- DS very quickly knocked over a table in Gatsby's and hit his head and started immediately wailing. Kisses and hugs and he was off playing again. We chatted for quite a while and talked about the possibility of a formal meet and greet tomorrow. G played hide and seek with my kids (she is the BEST!!! more on that later). We decided that we should go ahead with it and that we would try to recruit other people that night and the next day for the meet and greet.

My family then went back to the room and decided we didn't feel like going out for dinner so we ordered room service. We have never ordered room service on our previous cruise so I didn't know in a suite you're supposed to order through the butler. We called room service placed our order and we're told that it would be about 45 minutes to an hour. A few minutes later our butler called back and said that it would really be 10 to 15 minutes and to place future room service orders through him. Good to know. The food came and we got the kids fed and settled in and I got ready to head to O’Sheenans because they were showing the Eagles game that night. GO EAGLES!!!!

Just off the Dawn. We went to St Thomas. I found it to be much better than I expected.

Meghan's Bay got hit hard. We took a shared taxi and it stopped there first. We went to Coki Beach. Everything except the service (slow and our waitress was rude) and food prices ($15 for a hot dog and fries) was perfect.

Is that where the Dawn usually docks or was there many ships in port that day?

 

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I was told that is NOT where it usually docks (we almost missed our private excursion over the confusion). There were 5 ships in that day.

Not sure what you mean by the Flour Mill port?? How long was your trip to Harbour Lights?

We docked at the industrial pier (locals called it the flour mill) and had to take a free shuttle provided by NCL over the "regular" pier. It was 10 mins max.