Stealthdog

We got our B2B instructions today (Day 6). We do have to leave the ship and will be boarded once the ship is cleared by the port. We went to guest services a couple days ago and they were able to give us a new key already that is good through the end of cruise 2.

We saw Jersey Boys three straight cruises. One of them I fell asleep and dropped a wine glass. It shattered and could be heard across the theater. Since then, Eric uses the wine glass test as the determination of how good and how is. Every older show runs the risk of a good shattering. 😂

Day 6 Daily. Sea day. Today we did loyalty wine tasting event, MDR for lunch, Food Republic for dinner, Choir of Man, a few trivia, and probably going to end the night with karaoke.

Free. Most of the activities in the atrium are free. The only exceptions I have seen are deal or no deal. For these types of games you put your name in a bucket and they draw names for people to play. In the speed trivia game, about 15-20 people had their name drawn.

My mistake - it’s called Virgin Gorda & The Baths. TOVX112. Excursion ticket attached. Sorry for the confusion. I hear you with boring excursions. We tend to want more active ones. We did a volcano hike on the of the Caribbean islands several years ago. We came back to pier looking like swamp people. 😂

I think I am caught up through this morning (Day 6). We have 2 sea days now until we return to Port Canaveral. I plan to go out early tomorrow to take all the holiday decoration photos. We saw the chefs overseeing the building of tables last night - so the gingerbread is probably coming out soon. if anyone has any remaining questions, feel free ask away. We aren’t going anywhere for 2 days, so I have the time now 😂

Day 5 we went to the theater to see the Sea Sons. It’s the same 4 guys from the Supper Club and they do a Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons act. This is the best Frankie Valli act we have seen on a cruise ship. I usually get bored with Frankie Valli and Rat Pack acts. All 4 are great vocalists. They added a handful of modern songs into their act, which was fun. The theater was packed, so this may be one of the more popular shows on board. We highly recommend this show. After the Sea Sons, we checked out the karaoke. Family karaoke was ending and adult karaoke was starting. It was a fun time - everyone was enjoying it. Eric may make a surprise appearance on the stage for the next karaoke night - we will see. 😁

Last night we ate at La Cucina. We have a new 2nd favorite restaurant, bumping Bayamo to 3rd place. Cucina did a good job challenging Le Bistro for 1st place, but I give a slight nod to Le Bistro. We ate inside and not the waterfront - it was too windy outside. The experience started off great for us - Cucina is the first restaurant we had on board where the bread comes out warm. We prefer that over cold bread. Eric and I both got the Caprese salad - that is typically my go to - at Italian restaurants. The tomatoes and cheese were good quality. The salad comes out very clean. If you like it with more oil and vinegar, they are on the table and you can add as necessary. We got the carbonara and fettuccine as small plates. Both were fantastic! The sauces are a little rich, so if you don’t like rich, creamy foods - you may want to get something different. The Osso Bucco and tenderloin were also both very good and we recommend both for those who prefer land meat (lamb and beef) over seafood. The desert was the only disappointment of the meal. The lemon cheesecake was really boring in presentation and taste. I should have gone with the tiramisu or panna cotta instead. The cannolis were pretty good, but not as good as the deserts we have had at some of the other restaurants. There are more things on the menu like pizza that we didn’t want use a dining package on, but they are available. We highly recommend Cucina as a great option for anyone who has a dining package and are unsure of which restaurant to go to. Service was great, food was great. Only negative was underwhelming deserts.

It’s only a 10 minute hike back up to the top, where you may have some free time to looks in the shops, get something to eat, or use the facilities. It looked like there were great views from the restaurant, but they guard the entrance carefully and don’t let non restaurant patrons access those views. After the time at the park, you will get loaded back up in a shuttle bus, and take the ferry back towards the main island and cruise ship pier. We were a little late - about 20 minutes beyond original all aboard. We found out at the pier that the time on port was extended 3 hours. We did not know Great Stirrup Cay was cancelled until we were back on board and heard the announcement. Again - if you haven’t done this tour and can handle the caves portion of the tour, I highly recommend it. It was worth the cost and physical effort to do it!

The caves portion was challenging. You will go up and down a series of ladders, with the use of ropes to hold on to, and climb/squeeze through some areas to progress through. Inside some of cave areas, the rock ceiling is really low, so I was kind of duck walking a little. For much of the tour, you will be walking in knee high water. It is definitely worth doing if you don’t have any physical conditions that limit your ability to squat, climb, etc. After you get through the caves, you enter a second beach area that has food, shops, and bathrooms. I put the phone away during parts of the caves because I needed both hands to get through the areas, so I don’t have pictures of the more difficult areas.

The Tour is located at a National Park site. There are restrooms at the top where the busses drop you off. You won’t have access until near the end, so use it there if you need to. There are a few gift shops and a restaurant at the top as well. The tour itself is self guided, but the guides accompany along the way to make sure we get where we need to go, monitor the time, and help answer any questions you have. its one big loop. So you will hike down to a beach area (not too difficult), have some beach time, complete a caves hike in water (difficult and people with mobility issues may not be able to do this), end in a second beach area, and finish with a short 10 minute hike back up to the bus area (also not difficult). On the way down, you will see a lot of rock formations, cactus and other local plants, and hundreds of white butterflies. At one area it was like a butterfly garden - they were everywhere! Because it is self guided, you can go as fast or slow as you want to take pictures and look at things. There were a few scenic spots in particular that had views of the Tortola main island and a few of the smaller ones. Once you get to the bottom you end a beach area. It’s completely sandy with no rocks on the beach. Inside the water there were large rocks you could stand on. The current was fairly strong so be careful. There are no official bathrooms at the beach in this part of the tour. The guide will give you a recommended time to leave and do the caves portion of the tour. We left about 10 minutes early.

We did our only NCL tour in Tortola - Punta Gorda and Baths. It was awesome! This was our first time to Tortola and we usually will do a cruise line tour at a new port because of our unfamiliarity. Warning - do not do this tour if you have mobility issues. The warning listed on the description is real this time. Mein Schiff 4 was in port with us - looks like a very pretty ship. We started at a meeting point at the end of the pier off the ship. The pier is short, so the meeting point only takes a minute to get to once you are off the ship. And in typical cruise line fashion, the meeting time is more like a suggested meeting time. They didn’t start rounding us up until about 15 minutes after our specified time. We loaded up on a ferry to take us to Punta Gordon - about a 45 minute ferry ride. There is both upstairs open air seating and first deck inside seating. If it looks like it might rain or you don’t want climb stairs, inside might get better. We sat upstairs and had great views of the port. After arriving at the island, we had about a 10-15 minute bus shuttle to the park site. (will chop this review in pieces so it doesn’t get too long for one post).

Day 4 we went to see the comedians John Wessling and David Graham in the theater. No photos are allowed, so no pics. For a cruise ship, they were ok. It was the 18+ show and humor. We have seen far worse on ships. The theater was only about 1/4 - 1/3 full, so it doesn’t seem like the comedy shows are of interest to many on the ship (they are probably standing in line for hours for the pour house), so you can get great seats. Don’t sit in the first 3 rows if you don’t want to be called on. The ship seems to have comedy shows most nights, so we will try to go to a different one in the next couple days or next week. We also stopped by the Howl at the Moon again for a few minutes. It was busy again, but there were empty seats scattered throughout the place. If you want to see Howl at the Moon, the trick may be catch the second half of the show to get seats (they go for 4 hours I think).

When we play trivia, I usually provide 1-2 answers and he handles the rest. 😂

We didn’t know until we got back on board ~2pm. Heard announcement from the cruise director letting us know that Great Stirrup Cay was canceled and we would be in Tortola until 430. Had impact on the activities - many of the onboard activities were cancelled with no notice, which was a little frustrating. I don’t know when it was first put out because we were off ship.

Day 5 Daily. Also the vomit bags on the stairs, as promised. 😂 Today we are in Tortola and in port with the Mein Schiff 4.

We walked past the Pour House and it was already full for the show more than 30 minutes before. We were chatting with the NCL entertainment staff monitoring the venue and she said people had been standing in line for 2 hours (immediately after the first show started) and it filled almost immediately after the doors opened. That is crazy to me - like Taylor Swift concert waiting on a cruise ship. We probably won’t see any of the shows in the Pour House - for us there is too much going on entertainment-wise on the ship to spend that much time in line.

Last night (Day 4) we ate at Bayamo Ocean Blue. We ended up eating at the Waterfront, which was nice - it was quiet and had a nice breeze. Service was a little slow on the Waterfront area, but we didn’t have any reservations and weren’t rushed. Not sure if the service was quicker inside. The food presentation at Bayamo was outstanding - best presentation we have seen on board. So far we are ranking Bayamo a solid 2 behind Le Bistro, but ahead of Cagneys. The meal was hit or miss, with mostly hits. The jumbo shrimp was good - it was clean tasting with no overbearing fishy taste. The scallops on top of pork belly was a very interesting concept. Eric wasn’t a big fan of the scallops part but the pork belly was great. I had the iceberg wedge. It was awesome. Great concept, presentation, and taste. I’m typically not a huge fan of blue cheese, but this salad was well done. Eric also loved the roasted beets - was a big hit for him. I’m not a big seafood fan and got the filet again. It looked like it was same filet I got from Cagneys, but the temperature was perfect and it was a lot more enjoyable. Eric liked the concept of the Chiopino - it’s like a soup with 6-7 different types of seafood in it. He enjoyed about half the pieces but didn’t care for the other half. For desert I got the cheesecake in a jar - this desert was awesome as well. Presentation again was fun and the flavors were great. The chocolate mouse cake was a little boring. We will go back to Bayamo again next week. There were a few other plates Eric wanted to try. It is a restaurant that I think is a solid choice for anyone with a dining package.

It turns out, Great Stirrup Cay is already canceled on Friday, so they extended our time in Tortola until 430. We haven’t been to Great Stirrup Cay yet, so that’s a bummer. Hopefully next week.

Disappointed again. I was ready to sprint down the pier with my arms flailing like Phoebe from Friends, but there were no watchers. Turns out the time in port was extended from 130 to a later time. Great for us - more time. Sad I had no audience to run for. 😂

It’s 15 minutes until all aboard, and guess who is on a NCL excursion late getting back to the ship? This guy!!!! I might put on a show if there any pier runner watchers today. 😂 Just like Dominican Republic, we have regular data and internet access in Tortola through T-Mobile. So at least on the East 7 day itinerary, we will have regular internet service on 3 port days. For those on the fence of upgrading to unlimited plan, it may not be worth it you won’t use it much onboard and can access on port days. We are eating at Cucina tonight. Goal for today is to complete yesterdays reviews and most of today.

We unfortunately had to make a trip to guest services again. I was treated to the great aroma of marijuana on the balcony yesterday morning - it was really strong and persistent. I brought our room attendant and 2nd Stew (yes that is his actual title 😂…..I’m waiting to meet Chief Stew Kate) in so they could smell it. They said they were filing a report. When we got back from the tour and were getting ready for dinner, the overwhelming stench of marijuana again greeted us when i opened the balcony door. I had to close the door because the odor was so strong it was coming into our cabin. After dinner I spoke to Guest Services about it. Hopefully it is addressed. I generally don’t care what other people do, but when you impact other people’s enjoyment on their vacation, yeah……not ok.

Last year our tour guide on an excursion recommended restaurant called greengos. We didn’t have enough time to go last year, so wanted to get there this year. It was worth the trip. It’s located on a little alley in the middle of the little downtown area, right across the street from a Coast Guard office. They have traditional Mexican food (not fast food type) and fun drinks. It was worth the trip - the food was better than everything on the ship so far, except for Le Bistro. Eric got the shrimp enchilada and I got the chicken nachos. The drinks are a Donkey Punch and a Bushwacker. We saw someone get the Cervezarita which looked awesome - a mega size martini glass with a beer placed upside down into it. note - they don’t take American Express! So if you go, make sure to have a different card or cash. We had to manually enter a credit card into their system to pay for the meal. We highly recommend Greengos - it’s worth the effort to get there and try it out. If you like spicy salsa, get the Shark Face Salsa 😁

Yesterday in St Thomas we decided to walk to the downtown area of city. We like seeing all the ships in port and wanted to see the holiday decorations at the governors house. The yacht haven area closer to the pier is nice too, with several restaurants and shops. We stopped in St Thomas last year in a Dec cruise as well. The downtown area from Havensight is about 1 mile. You can walk it or there are cabs ready to take you right outside the pier.

We ate out on the waterfront part of Bayamo last night. There was an eruption of cheering coming from the front of the ship sometime between 630-645, so I assume that was guests giving some pier runners encouragement. Day 5 - we are in Tortola. We just got the all clear to leave the ship. Our tour meetup is at 830 at the end of the pier (about 2 hours). I’ll try to get some of yesterdays events captured, but may have to get to some of it later.