WildcatRock

Day 8 (Friday, November 28): Sea Day #2, Judy and Bill get their “Groove On”, Credit and Debit go on The Quest

We’ve always enjoyed sea days – namely, the relaxation one gets to experience by doing absolutely nothing. You get up in the morning, put on your swim suit, shirt, and sandals, grab some breakfast, and then either lounge in a chair by the pool, or lounge in a chair on your balcony watching the ocean glide by. Yes this is somewhat muted by the knowledge that in 24 hours you’ll be back in the ‘real world’ travelling home, your wonderful cruise vacation already a memory. But there you are, lounging in a chair, the sea before you and the blue sky above you. Maybe you go to a martini tasting, or a Mojito tasting. You go out for dinner one last time, go catch the farewell show in the Stardust Theater, then go laugh your booty off watching The Quest. What a great day….a sea day. The great thing on this cruise, and the first time for us, we had not one, but two sea days coming home. And it was pure bliss.

He Said:

I really don’t have a lot to say about today, other than it was, for me, probably the best sea day I’ve ever experienced. The weather was perfect – a sunny and warm day. By far, the best day of the cruise. This was evident by looking at the pool deck and the loungers on the deck above – both were full of cruisers happily to be able to finally soak in the Sun’s rays.

Our day began as usual – heading to Moderno for breakfast. But as we left the GV, again, there was no sight of Judy and Bill. Where could they be? That question was quickly answered when we got to Moderno and the hostess said, without us asking, that Judy and Bill were already there, and were waiting on us. What? Mr. and Mrs. Magoo were there….waiting on us? We walked into Moderno and saw them at the table………who were these people I wondered? There they were, happy, smiles on the faces, relaxed, clearly enjoying themselves. I studied them throughout breakfast – there was something different about them. I wondered what it was.

Towards the end of breakfast they told us what their plans were for the morning – where they were going. I heard this and choked on a bite of English muffin - what the freaking heck?!? Judy and Bill made plans….and now where they’re going…..and know how to get there?!?! Who are these people?

Breakfast concluded and we then headed to the bridge for a tour. We've been on a bridge tour before but this was a first for Judy and Bill, and boy were they excited. Capt Persson did not disappoint as he spent a lot of time with us and gave us a lot of interesting info. After the bridge tour the family split – Judy and Bill went on their adventure, Credit and Debit left to find their friends, Wifey and I, I think, walked around the ship a little bit then went to the GV and up to the sun deck.

We spent the majority of the day there, leaving only to grab some lunch. This was, by far, the best day yet, and the best day we’d had to enjoy the sun deck. And we were not going to miss this opportunity. We relaxed in the hammock, in the chairs, in the loungers. Credit and Debit showed up throughout the day with their friends and either spent time in the hot tub or on the sun deck relaxing with their friends and us. Judy and Bill showed up, smiling, and having fun. The looked relaxed and happy. Judy sat down with Cindy and played some Scrabble.

A band started playing some old time tunes that Judy and Bill knew and could dance to. And guess what, they did dance. I was sitting in a chair by the front railing overlooking the pool deck and noticed Cindy was taking a picture of something behind me. I turned around and……..OMG…..what??? Judy and Bill were dancing!! Who are these people I thought? This wasn’t the same couple who had walked on the ship almost a week before confused, frustrated, trying to understand how the Wonkavator worked. They were different. Then it hit me……………Judy and Bill had become…………..CRUISERS!! Their transformation was complete – they were relaxed, happy, comfortable with the ship, and with cruising. My week was complete when I saw them dancing as I knew Cindy and I had accomplished what we had set out to do – to show Judy and Bill that great cruise experiences were possible.

That night we went to La Cucina for dinner, and had a very yummy meal. For me, La Cucina is a hidden treat – a lot of people don’t know where it is, it’s a smaller restaurant, but the food has always been good. The service this night was excellent – a great way to end the cruise.

Wifey and I hit Malting’s and chatted with friends. Credit was there with some of his friends and we all celebrated the culmination of this wonderful cruise week.

Later that evening, Wifey and I realized The Quest had started so we hurried over to Spinnaker. We assumed that our boys were going to be participating…..and they were. I’ve always been fascinated by The Quest and what people will do for fun when they’re on a cruise ship, with people they don’t know, all just trying to have fun. Inhibitions go away and people do crazy things. It didn’t take us too long to find they boys…..we’re talking seconds. It was easy to find Debit. He was shirtless and had a big red heart drawn on his chest, a BIG red arrow pointing down from his chest, his pants unbuttoned, lipstick applied all over his mouth. Fortunately, some fellow cruisers decided they wanted to contribute to his college savings plan by putting some $1 bills in his underwear. Credit got to do a striptease…………..I was such a proud father. It was actually freaking hilarious seeing our two boys out there on the stage, participating in The Quest, and having a great time. Isn’t that what cruising is all about, letting loose and having fun? They had a great time as did Wifey and I cheering them on.

I really enjoyed our second sea day but as we walked back to the GV it hit me that in less than 12 hours we’d be leaving the Jewel. But my usual final night sadness was damped by the incredible experiences we had over the past week, and the amazing memories that we’ll have the rest of our lives.

She Said:

I completely agree. A sea day is a wonderful thing. This day brought us nearly complete sunshine, less wind and a comfortable outdoor temperature. We spent time in the sun and I will say that on this cruise there were very few chair hogs. I did note on this last, beautiful sea day of ours, even at lunch time, there were always two unused and unsaved loungers next to each other on the 13th deck just above the pool area. So, take the stairs up and do a sweep of this area if you are trying to locate loungers in the sun! The crew had set up a fantastic poolside BBQ and after smelling it for an hour and then peering down at the choices I decided that was what I was having for lunch. Kent, Bill and Judy decided they were hungry also and we all made our way through the quick line and headed back up to the suite to enjoy our meal at the covered outdoor table. I don’t recall Kent and I ever eating from the poolside BBQ before and I will make certain to pick this option on our next cruise as the food was delicious!

After lunch, Mom and I decided we needed a rematch in Scrabble and a fierce competition began. My Mom’s mother was a teacher and at 98 still enjoys playing Scrabble. I grew up playing Scrabble and still enjoy playing it to this day. Kent and I have played many games of Scrabble together and because he frequently accuses me of “creating” words, we own the official Scrabble dictionary. I had packed the game, but felt we wouldn’t need to refer to the dictionary on our vacation. My Mom won the first game and I won the second. We decided we were equally matched and declared we were both winners of our family cruise!

The service at La Cucina was the speediest of the cruise. Although we had reservations, they were unprepared for our arrival. While we waited at the hostess stand for them to make up the table, we witnessed a family try to walk up and be seated. The hostess stated they were full and they would need to choose a much later time in the evening or dine elsewhere. The strange thing was there were many tables available inside and I would guess only 25% of the tables were occupied. It also seemed as though there were only a few waiters in La Cucina. They certainly hustled to take care of their tables so maybe they had lower staff coverage here to place waiters in other restaurants? This would explain the empty tables with no availability. Weird. We were not offered the chocolate desserts for the Chocoholic Night. We ordered off the standard menu and then I mentioned to our waiter about the chocolate. Seriously, I love good chocolate and he had not offered the special menu? So he said he would bring out a sampler of all of the desserts. When it arrived, it had four desserts on it, two each of two of the desserts. He said these were his personal favorites. Again, weird. Why not bring us one of each of the four? Did someone drop a plate of the other two? What happened? I shrugged and dug my fork into both of them plus the tiramisu I had previously ordered. There was a mouse type dessert in a small crock that was great. The other one I can’t even remember, it was unimpressive. In around 50 minutes we were able to order and complete our meal, record time for this cruise! I’d had a couple of glasses of wine at supper but now I realized I hadn’t had the Mojito flight yet and it was the last night! Off to Modernos!

Modernos was busy and there were only three bar stools open at the bar. The tables near the door had people occupying them waiting for their dinner tables to be turned. Kent and I each ordered a flight. We should have ordered one flight and shared. One thing I was disappointed in was that these mojitos were premixed and the bartender added the alcohol, chilled the glasses and poured them. I would have preferred they had been hand made as ordered. The mojitos I loved, Kent didn’t care for, and vice versa. The one both of us could not drink was the one with the jalapeno. It would have been fantastic if the heat were lowered. We spent awhile in Moderno sipping our flight and people watching. This bar services Cagney’s and the wait staff from them were certainly hopping placing the drink orders. Our bartender was on solo duty and he worked fast and furiously. We knew that we would be meeting Rob and Nikki at Malting’s so I polished off what I could and we headed back downstairs. Nikki had a bottle of wine and I think I also had a bottle that needed finished off, so we went to work! As time went by Kent was ordering nasty shots (like Concrete Mixers!) and I’m certain we were loud and happy by this point.

Being a Quest audience member or participant requires you to be 18 and above and not easily insulted at adult behavior. This is all the caution that is required. Once you see Quest, you will either love it or hate it. Be prepared to laugh until your sides hurt or you tinkle just a little bit. Sometimes both may happen. It is a hilarious way to end an evening but be forewarned, while trying to fall asleep after watching Quest; you may not be able to get some visions out of your head.

Back to the room and I started to throw my clothes into the suitcase. Why does it take so long to pack for a cruise and it is quick to pack to return home? It was going to be a short night of sleep as it was a late night. As I waited for Mr. Sandman to arrive, I began to wonder if our flights tomorrow would be on time. After all, the numerous ways of transportation getting to the ship had worked perfectly and there couldn’t be such thing as a 100% score for transportation for the entire cruise, could there?

I do want to mention that every night of our cruise there was a Holiday Special at Malting from 6-8 p.m. Buy on Get One Free on the Fire Giving Cocktail, Angry Orchard, Winter Resolution Martini and Sam Adams Winter Lager. They also frequently advertised Fire Ball Shots for $4 at all open bars (blech!)

Tomorrow: Our wonderful cruise adventure ends……

I'm glad you brought it up! Wifey and I talked this afternoon that I need to find out if our insurance covers us when we're out of the country. You are absolutely correct that people need to read these trip insurance policies to see what they do and do not cover. I remember a while back there was a thread that was covering this and it was started by someone who had taken out trip insurance for a cruise on NCL. They stopped in Cozumel and went in the Taste of Cozumel excursion. During the excursion they drank a little tequila, just a little sample. While walking out of the building they were in, they fell and broke a bone - their ankle I think. They filed a claim on their trip insurance.....and why was it denied??? Because they admitted they had sampled tequila. They weren't intoxicated, they simply tripped, but the ship of tequila negated their claim.

Another fact about the insurance company - they will quickly take your premium money; then if you file a claim, they will try their best to not pay!

We take out the trip insurance for piece of mind. But we've read the policy and know what it covers. I would encourage everyone to research trip insurance before they buy it as it may or may not be a fit for you.

Sent from my XT1080 using Forums mobile app

Day 7 (Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 27): In our cruise groove, rough weather, and some else cooks the Turkey

We’ve read countless discussions on CC about whether or not someone should take out cruise insurance. If they do, whether they should buy it from NCL from a different company. All I can say is, after what we saw Thanksgiving morning, if you can afford it, buy it. We’ve always trip insurance, and have taken the easy way out buying it through NCL….and we will for every cruise moving forward. You just never know what could happen….

Also, we’re had rough weather on previous cruises, but nothing like this. Now, I’m in no way comparing what we went through on Wednesday night to be comparable to ANY of the accounts we’ve read on CC: cruising through a hurricane, in the Bering Sea, in a Nor-Easter. But for us, the night before Thanksgiving was rough, real rough, loud, real loud. It was a tough night to get any sleep.

He Said:

We’d had some pretty crappy weather on this cruise. The day we left Houston it was cloudy, chilly, and drizzly. That first night the boat got clipped by thunderstorms and it was windy and a little rough. A minor drawback being in the Garden Villa is that if the ship gets hit on the starboard side by a strong wind, you really hear it. Our first sea day was cloudy, chilly, and rainy. Fortunately, the weather had cleared up for our stops in Cozumel and Belize. Roatan had turned out to be a good day even though it rained in the morning and later afternoon. But man, did our luck ever run out on Wednesday night.

We obviously sailed through a storm front that night as storms raged all night long. The wind howled, the rain fell, the GV shook and made noises, and the ship rocked and rolled. At one point during the night I got up and turned on the TV to see how fast the wind was. With the ships speed included we were right at 70 mph. A record for one of our cruises. Fortunately I was able to get a little sleep after I crawled back to bed.

After a while I awoke and something seemed to be different. The storms were still raging but I had the sensation that ship was really booking…as in going fast. I got up, and for some reason, didn’t turn on the TV, and opted to look at the front window of the GV….man was the storm blowing. I went back to bed and listened to the storm rage on.

I woke up early in the morning, the storms were gone, and the sun was shining, but something wasn’t right……it was real quiet outside. Real quiet. As in, the ship isn’t moving very fast quiet. I looked at our bedroom window and was looking right at Punta Langosta – our docking location 3 days previously when we stopped in Cozumel. After such a rough night, the first thought that hit me was there was something wrong with the ship. OMG, that would be freaking awesome if we had to stop here for a day to repair the ship. Or two days…we’re in the Garden Villa. Oh please Mother Nature, delay our arrival in Houston by a day or two. Or I thought, maybe we came to Cozumel for shelter away from the storm.

Cindy was still asleep so I went in to the living room and turned on the TV. Looking at our path when we left Roatan it was obvious we were going to pass to the east of Cozumel then turn towards Houston. But about half way up between Roatan and Cozumel the ship had made a sharp turn left and headed up for Punta Langosta. Either something’s wrong with the ship, or I began to think, there’s something wrong with someone on board the ship.

I walked back into the bedroom and Cindy was up looking out the window. It was very confusing looking outside as you weren’t expecting to see what you’re seeing…..Are we in the Bahamas? Grand Cayman? Where are we? Hon, we are back in Cozumel. Cozumel? Why Cozumel? Not a clue. So we grabbed the camera and headed up to our sundeck to see what was up. Once up there it was obvious that the Jewel was hovering about 50 yards off of the pier we had docked at 3 days earlier. There were some boats floating around us and it seemed as if they were waiting for a decision to be made. I then noticed that the pilot boat was right by us. I told Cindy I bet the pilot has come on board and the ship is trying to decide if it’s going to dock, or have another boat come up beside us. I then told Cindy…”Someone must be hurt”.

Just a few minutes after I said that, we saw it. An ambulance coming up the street with its emergency lights on. It pulled into the pier where the water taxi that takes you to the Mexican mainland is located. Then, after just a very short period, it was clear a decision had been made as the Jewel started to head back to the pier. The ambulance drove back out to the highway and turned into our port, and drove down our pier. By this time I was down on Deck 13 just outside the entrances to Cagney’s and Moderno. The ship had been pulled up right to the doc, but did not put out any lines to be tied up. The ambulance pulled up, the gangway was put out, and the stretcher pushed on to the ship. There were several people on the dock including NCL crew members. We then saw luggage come out. Then, a middle aged woman walked off and into the ambulance. After less than a minute, the stretcher was wheeled off the ship. On it was a middle aged woman in a neck brace. Uh oh.

She wasn’t in the ambulance 5 seconds and the gangway was being taken up and the Jewel pulled away from the doc. Close by us we saw a Royal Caribbean ship and assumed they were probably waiting for us to pull away.

We then went to Moderno for breakfast and asked Florentina what had happened. She didn’t have a lot of info, and frankly, it’s no one’s business what happened. But she did say that the passenger had fallen and had suffered a spine injury. The ship’s doctor and Captained determined she was hurt severely enough that they needed to get her to Cozumel ASAP. So the ship had made that turn I saw later on the TV, and headed to Cozumel.

This was our first sea day coming back to Houston, and frankly, I really don’t recall doing much during the day other than chilling and relaxing inside the GV. It was still really windy so we couldn’t spend much time outside. Our big event this day was that we were going to have our Thanksgiving Feast in the GV in at the large table in the living room. On our first day on the ship I had talked with Florentina about the possibility of arranging a dinner for Judy and Bill with the ship’s Captain. She had said she would get it arranged. Later on the cruise, on Wednesday I think, she had informed Cindy and me that all dinners with the ship’s officers had been cancelled for the rest of the cruise. However, the Captain would be stopping by our GV on Thursday night while we were eating dinner in the GV.

I felt sorry for Roland – we were one of 4 of his suites that had arranged to have Thanksgiving Dinner served in their suite. Fortunately, we were the first one on the agenda, and he did not disappoint. He had set up a fantastic spread in the GV – fine linen, china, etc. We took our places at the table and the food arrived. It was very good. So good that Judy, who is a freaking awesome cook, said that it was THE BEST turkey she’s ever had. As we got close to wrapping up dinner and dessert, the doorbell rang and in walked Captain Persson and the Hotel Director, Steve Jacobsen. Boy were Judy and Bill surprised and blown away.

We’ve had the pleasure of meeting some pretty awesome ship’s officers in our previous cruises with NCL. But none like Captain Persson. What a great person. He genuinely seems interested in talking with you and takes the time to spend some quality time with you. The same thing goes for the Hotel Director, Steve Jacobsen. What a great guy. They spent probably 15 minutes with us, had a nice talk with us, and took some pictures with us (see below). I’m sure the fact we were staying in the GV played a large part in them stopping by, but we genuinely appreciated them doing so. It was one of the highlights of our cruise, and is something we’ll remember forever.

After dinner we went to the Stardust to watch the show, Le Cirque Bijou. I really enjoyed it. It had the duo from Luminescence, and lots of singing and dancing. I really enjoyed it, not sure if wifey did.

Thursday Night was the White Hot Party so we headed to Spinnaker after the show. We all went Credit, Debit, Judy, Bill, and us. We had a good time, did lots of dancing. Debit even asked his Grandma to dance and she did it! Judy danced to modern dance music, and did so with a huge smile! She had a great time.

Our buddy Rob showed up dressed in his while suit – you looked great dude! We talked with him a while and heard about their latest experience with poor service in the main restaurant. His general review……the service sucked. It had taken them over two hours to have dinner. Unfortunately, this was a common experience for them on this cruise.

The White Hot Party gets to a point where the music changes – it changes to that type of music that people aged 45 or above have never heard before. When that happens that’s our queue to leave. So sometime after midnight we left, Judy and Bill having left even earlier. Credit and Debit were rocking out with their friends having a great time.

We had had a great day.

She Said:

The Cozumel story is not accurate, so here is what actually happened.

I slept. Yes, I slept and slept and slept that night. Unfortunately at 6:30 the phone rang. I jumped out of bed, picked up the receiver and slammed it down. We did not have a wakeup call and just a day earlier had complained to Florentina about receiving a call when we did not have one scheduled. She said there had been a problem with MANY people getting calls when they should not have but the situation was corrected. It was not corrected because on this day, I was to sleep in late and I was actually asleep and the phone had woken me up at 6:30 on a sea day. I stumbled to the bathroom but something did not feel right. The Garden Villa was silent, as in not squeaking, sloshing, grinding, squealing, scraping or whistling. SILENCE. Something wasn’t right. I couldn’t feel the ship moving around. I decided to go peep out of the bathroom door curtain to see what it looked like outside.

LAND!!! LAND???? This is a sea day. Why is there land? What land is this? Where are we? Did we have such bad weather that NCL decided to go back someplace and give us another port day? What? Cindy, you are stupid as NCL would never do that as it costs them money to send people ashore. I was confused and I thought I should wake Kent up. So I walked back to our bedroom and he was standing at the curtain peering outside. I am blonde and sometimes (maybe more than sometimes) say some really stupid things. As in I don’t think about what I am going to say first and I spew it out. I ask him where we are. He says he isn’t sure. I say, Oh, that’s a really big resort, is this Nassau? I know, I know, that was an idiotic thing to say, but I don’t know anything about geography. I can barely label all fifty states and can only do that if I have a list of them and I can cross them off and narrow them down to the hard ones at the end. He says we are in Cozumel. This is so strange. Why? I grab a blanket and wrap myself up, pick up the binoculars and we go up the stairs to the sundeck to try to figure things out.

I did head downstairs after a bit to make myself a double latte. No sense in trying to go back to sleep after the excitement was over since I was wide awake now. The sun was out but the winds were brisk and it was a bit chilly outside. I rejoined Kent upstairs but he thought he would move back to deck 13 so he could get a straight look down to the gangway to see. The ambulance pulled from the street and drove down the pier and to the ship. I was not able to see any other activity from my vantage point but Kent did. After a short time the ambulance drove away and the ship pushed back out of the area. Not many people were outside during this time and I would guess few people knew it was going on. The captain made a one sentence announcement about our “detour” later that morning but I didn’t hear anything more from the crew about the incident. The seas had been extremely rough (for a Caribbean cruise this time of year) and our guess is someone fell due to the ship’s movement. But that is only speculation.

Judy is a fantastic cook and she has never purchased store bought rolls in her lifetime and I bet she never will. So Debit and I concocted a little joke for her. Around noon, several of us were sitting in the living room and Debit tells Grandma Judy that she needs to find out if there is fresh yeast on the ship. Mom looked confused and asked why she would need to find out if there was fresh yeast. Debit then replied that she was going to need to get down to the kitchen and start making the rolls for Thanksgiving supper tonight. Oh, my Mom had to think for a couple of seconds first and then she laughed and said she was not going to be making any rolls for this holiday. She was going to enjoy being off duty.

I think we had some friends up for a couple of drinks during the afternoon. I can’t remember these details as well. The weather was not suited for sunning as it was cloudy and (maybe?) stormy once again. I do remember that I wanted to have plenty of time to get cleaned up and look nice for our dinner. Just before the food was to arrive Debit asked if he needed to have shoes and socks on. No, this was a cruise and he could go barefoot if he liked. Roland appeared and we were served our appetizers. Earlier in the day we had slipped down to the buffet for a light lunch. I searched the salad bar area and could not find one of my favorite, hummus and pita bread. I stopped a crew member and asked if they had hummus. Not today, they rotate the foods. I might have pouted just a little at this point. I really love their hummus; I had been looking forward to this hummus, and no hummus. Just about this point here comes a man in a tall white hat. The crew member motioned him over and asked me to speak to this gentleman about what I was looking for. Um, hummus, I love your hummus and pita bread. This nice man in the tall white hat pulls a pad out of his pocket and says he will make me hummus and send it to my room. What is my cabin number? I pull out my card and hand it to him. Now, I’m not suggesting we received any preferential treatment because we were in the Garden Villa. He had NO idea what cabin I was staying in when he offered to make it and send it to me. But I can say that we had a huge bowl of fresh hummus and a pile of pita bread to accompany our Thanksgiving meal. And it was perfect!!!

The officers came in during the main course. Judy and Bill were completely surprised when the doorbell rang. My Mom spoke out loud, “Who is this going to be now?” before they walked in. Thanks to Florentina for making this Thanksgiving so special for my Mom and her husband, truly a memory they will hold for their lifetimes!

The turkey was delicious and if my Mom proclaims that it was moist and perfectly seasoned, well it was, as she knows how to cook a turkey. There was not a thing my Mom ate during this cruise that she didn’t proclaim to taste delicious and she ate a lot of food, far more than she eats at home. My Mom has a huge garden and she cans and freezes nearly all the fruits and vegetables that they eat year round. She has drunk raw milk her entire life as her family is second generation dairy farmers. I was a little concerned that her taste buds might not appreciate the mass quantity food style of cooking, but she loved eating it as much as she loved not having to cook it!

I did enjoy the show Le Cirque Bijou. As a Mom, I fear someone getting hurt and it makes me wince just a little seeing people twirling in the air, suspended by a scarf, holding on with their legs, high up in the air. I am not able to relax watching these types of shows, but I did appreciate their skills and strength. My Dad broke his neck in a fall from a two story deck he was repairing and lived as a quadriplegic for 16 years, so I am a bit sensitive to watching this type of risky behavior. The show was entertaining and our family group enjoyed the time together.

Next, we hurried up to the Spinnaker Lounge for the White Hot party. Debit and Credit arrived before we did and joined their friends in the prime seating up front. We took a place at the left center at the high-top bar on the bar stools. An excellent place to see all of the action. I ordered off of the special White Hot party menu. I don’t recall the name of the martini, but it was rimmed in coconut and was absolutely delicious! It is listed last on the menu, so try it out if you like a sweeter fruity martini drink. Kent went back to the G.V and brought down a bottle of our champagne, we were brought some glass and Rob appeared just as we poured our first glasses. He and my husband are brothers from a different mother. Sometimes you meet someone and just click having the same interests. Well, that was Rob and Kent. His wife Nikki and I had to sit back and allow them to be themselves, all excited about Star Wars, movies, etc. We certainly enjoyed the time we spent with this couple! I danced with the CHAMPION of the Dancing with the Jewel Stars, John and worked up a fierce thirst, which was quenched with more champagne and another special martini. Oh, and lots of water, as in several glasses of water. This was a fun White Hot Party with great music, and with lots of people dancing and having fun. At these types of events, you can’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t know how to dance? Just go out there. Someone will show you how to do that line dance and if not, just wiggle your hips and put a smile on your face and you will fit right in. Don’t have a dance partner? Step onto the dance floor and find another set of smiling faces and join them. Three is NOT a crowd, it’s more FUN!

I think we decided to call it a night around 1 a.m. which made for a very long day. I was going to sleep in and soak in the rays on this sea day. Neither of which happened. Which proves that on NCL you just need to stop making plans and simply freestyle!

Pic #1 is all of us around the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day. Pic #2 is Captain Persson and Hotel Director Jacobsen greeting us. Pic #3 is a group picture. Then some food porn pics. The last pics are post Turkey Day food pic of Debit chilling on the sofa, Credit chilling in a chair, and Kent chilling in a chair.

Day 6 (Wednesday, November 26): Our Great Snorkel Adventure over the abyss….and the arrival of Titan J

Cindy and I have many great memories from our snorkeling adventures: snorkeling off Cooper Island in the BVI’s, Buck Island off of St Thomas, Coral Garden in Grand Cayman, Chankanaab in Cozumel, our first trip to the barrier reef in Belize, and now we get to add snorkeling at Maya Key in Roatan.

I don’t know about Cindy, but my greatest snorkeling fear has always been deep water. I like to see the bottom, which initially preferred to be no more than 15 ft below me. Snorkeling off Cooper Island and at Chankanaab helped me overcome that fear as the ocean bottom slowly sloped off to the depths at both locations. Cool, no problem, I see the bottom and see where it’s going. I’ve always heard snorkeling in Hawaii is the best – it’s deep water but you can see the bottom where the coral and fish are. I can handle that now. No problemo.

The one fear I could not overcome is snorkeling where the bottom cannot be seen. Hey, I have no problem seeing the abyss on TV from the safety of my recliner in the Man Cave. You know, those shows in Discovery where people are swimming around whales, or sharks (idiots), and all you see is water. No bottom. Fine. Have fun – if I get too freaked out I can turn the channel to Sports Center on ESPN.

So, we book this cruise and the last stop is Roatan. We were there two years ago and went to Tabyana Beach. Nice beach that was supposed to have great snorkeling………..by a drop off. A drop off is basically where the ocean bottom suddenly drops off to the abyss. You’re snorkeling and you see coral…you see fishes… then suddenly…..bam!.....nothing….no bottom….it’s gone….all you see is water. Oh joy and happy days! So, I nervously looked forward to Tabyana and snorkeling at the drop off. So the appointed day arrives, we get to Tabyana, and the ocean was really rough that day. Snorkeling sucked and the natives said it really wasn’t worth heading out. Oh darn…shucks….I’ve always regretted that day…not getting to overcome what to me is my greatest fear…..deep water…..the abyss. That all changed on our 2nd trip to Roatan. I overcame that fear as did……………….Judy………….

He Said:

We were watching weather forecasts for our cruise starting the week before. Unfortunately, every port day had a high chance of rain. We were worried that our port stops would be ruined due to the weather. Not a worry we thought, we had a pretty nice pad, the Garden Villa, that’s a pretty nice place to hang out. Our fears were somewhat abated at our Meet & Greet when the Hotel Director, Steve Jacobsen, told our group that not to worry about the weather forecasts; when you’re in the Caribbean there’s a chance for rain every day and it usually ends up being dry. That was the case for our first two stops in Cozumel and Belize – beautiful days with warmth and humidity. That wasn’t the case in Roatan.

We again did our morning routine of getting up, putting our snorkeling clothes on, and heading to Moderno for breakfast. I don’t remember if Mr. and Mrs. Magoo at breakfast with us. After breakfast we all headed to Stardust again to wait to our excursion to be called. Once it was we headed off the ship. We did the Maya Key excursion. The cool thing about this excursion is that the boat picks you up right at the pier where the NCL ship docks. Then it’s just a 5 - 10 minute ride over to Maya Key which can’t be more than a mile from the ship (you can see the ship from Maya Key).

The weather was cloudy and we could tell rain was on its way. We no sooner arrived at Maya Key and the heavens opened and it starting raining. And it rained, and it rained. We were worried that our day would be a washout. Maya Key is nice, really nice and very beautiful. The dock is right next to a large building that contained a large room where you rented your snorkel gear, a large gift shop, and men’s and women’s locker rooms. Uphill to the east is the bar, a small palapa where they lay out the buffet, many tables and chairs, and the pool. Farther to the east and down a slope is the beach area. There are some shelters, but these were quickly snatched up by people who had either been there before, or who had done great research and knew they needed to get to them quickly. All of the other chairs and loungers are exposed to the weather. So, we knew, if it kept raining, our choices were to stay in the large building, bite the bullet and sit on the loungers in the rain, or head back to the ship.

Fortunately before we had to make our decision, the rain stopped. So we headed to the beach. As soon as we got there, Wifey, Debit, and I decided we were heading out to snorkel. Credit had no interest in snorkeling. Although he’s a great swimmer and used to swim competitively, there’s a reason Credit chose the Army for a career and not the Navy….he’s not a big fan of ocean water, deep water that is – like his papa. He was also still freaked out about the Jellyfish Armageddon that had occurred the day before in Belize and wasn’t too interested in seeing any more jellyfish today. So he hung back with Judy and Bill.

To snorkel at Maya Key you walk about 50 yards out on a pier that ends at a hut at the end of the pier. There they have two ladders that you step down into roughly waist to chest deep water, depending upon your height. You can either put your gear on before you get in the water, or after you get in. Once you’re ready to head out for the reef, you look at the bottom and follow a cable that has been laid. You follow this cable through the rocks and coral out to where the best snorkeling is….at the drop off.

So, Wifey, Debit, and I get our gear on; go down the ladder, and start following the cable. I know I speak for all three of us when I say…OK, for me at least, when I say, we/me were pretty darn scared. I know Debit was really scared as he’s only snorkeled a couple times in his life. So, we’re following the cable, we follow it, follow it, then after roughly 20 yards we got up to the end……I looked up….it was my day of reckoning…..finally my chance to overcome my greatest fear….deep water….the abyss….and what did I see……the drop off……………………………………. And it was freaking AWESOME!!!!

We saw incredible corals, amazing corals we’ve never seen before – the color, the shapes…wow. The fish – a lot of fish, beautiful fish, unbelievable. And we were floating over the drop off. What basically happens is the coral reef heads out to a point where there is literally a cliff that drops down to great depths. I’m not sure what the exact depth is of the drop off at Maya Key (I tried to find the answer on the internet after the cruise but had no luck), but I know around the island of Roatan that the ocean drops off to roughly 1,000 ft to 3,000 ft depending upon where you are. There are some sections at Maya Key where you can look down the cliff and see an outcropping of rock and sand, which I believe is roughly 80 ft down. There are other sections where you look down the cliff and all you see is water.

All of the beauty at Maya Key is at the reef at the drop off. There are sections of the reef where you can swim in over caverns and over shallower portions of the reef, but the real beauty is at the drop off. Wow. Unfortunately, while the three of us where out there the skies were cloudy so we didn’t get the full blast of color from the corals.

After 40 minutes it was time for us to head back in. Debit had done great, as had Wifey. We all walked back to Judy, Bill, and Debit with an amazing sense of accomplishment and promptly shared our incredible experience with them. It was time to eat so the group headed up to grab some food. I wasn’t hungry and wanted to go snorkel again, but waited till someone else was ready to go. That person turned out to be Credit. He wanted to overcome his fear of deep water. So after he had finished eating, he grabbed his gear and the two of us headed out to the drop off. When we got there, the clouds dissipated and the sun’s rays came out while we were over the reef/drop off. OMG. WOW. Holy Freaking WOW. We saw amazing colors….it was truly awesome. Unbelievable. After 30 minutes Credit had had enough and we headed back to the group. Credit had been totally terrified snorkeling over the drop off, but he had done it. He had snorkeled over the drop off and I was proud of my boy for doing it.

So, Wifey gets done eating and is ready to head back out. Credit has no interest and wants to finish the day lounging in a chair; Debit wants to go see the animals (Maya Key is a nature sanctuary). So we ask Judy if she wants to go. We tell her about the drop off. I’m just waiting for her to say no, which would’ve been just fine…I know it’s coming…..she looks out to the reef…..looks at us…..and here it comes…..”I’m going to do it. I know I’ll probably never come here again and I’ll be kicking myself the rest of my life if I don’t go out there today.” YES!!! That’s the Judy I know. The Judy who went whitewater rafting years ago, the Judy who snorkeled for the first time just two days before in Chankanaab. The Judy that had that zest for life. Judy knew this was her chance, and probably only chance, to snorkel over a drop off.

So the three of us got our gear and headed to the hut and the end of the pier. I got my gear on and went into the water waiting for Cindy and Judy. They got in the water and put their gear on. To say Judy was scared would be an understatement…..she was terrified. When she was ready we started swimming out to the drop off – me in the lead with Cindy and Judy following. We got to the drop off and I turned around what did I see….I saw a beautiful sight…. I saw a daughter holding her mother’s hand as they floated over a drop off looking at the beauty of God’s creation.

As I’ve mentioned several times in the cruise review – I have an amazing wife. Cindy really took it upon herself to help Judy and Bill have a great cruise: she taught them how to get around the ship, she helped her mom learn how to snorkel at Chankanaab, and now she was holding her terrified mom’s hand as we snorkeled over the drop off and in and out of the reef. After about 40 minutes we headed back to the pier and back to our family on the beach. We all gave Judy big hugs as she smiled from ear-to-ear. I looked at my wonderful MIL with an amazing sense of wonder and the happy realization that she would be forever known now as Titan J.

The clouds started to thicken and we could tell rain was coming. So we headed back to the Jewel as the rain started falling. We got back on the ship and chilled out for a while in the Villa. Wifey, Credit, Debit, and I ate sushi for dinner which was very yummy. After that, frankly, I don’t have a clue what we did the rest of the night. I know we drank some drinks at Malting’s, but I don’t have a clue and am looking forward to what Wifey says below.

I guess my memory of the night is gone, probably due to my age…..but I think more so due to the fears that all of us overcame today, but even more so due to my loving amazement of what my dear, wonderful, MIL accomplished today. She is simply an amazing woman…..our Titan J.

She said:

Fairly accurate assessment of the day by DH. I will give additional details about our day that the readers who are planners, may enjoy.

Mitsugirly is the best at detailed reviews here on C.C. I trust every word she types and we have begun to make excursion decisions based on her reports. This is how we decided upon Maya Key. She has gone to both Little French Key and Maya Key and based on her reviews and the wants/needs/abilities and other factors of our small group of six, we made our decision on how to spend the day. I knew that my family would want to spend time snorkeling and lounging in the sun, but I had to also guess that Bill and Judy may not want to be in the sun or doing water activities. Mitsugirly also takes great photos and by looking through them, I knew my Mom would love the flowers and landscaping of Maya Key. So, decision made!

The day was windy (surprise, NOT) and extremely overcast. Low hanging clouds barreled over the mountains at the port. Rain would soon be coming and as soon as we set foot off of the ship it came and hard. We waited on the back side of the main building on a porch with an overhang. It also had a few chairs and a bench. How long would the rain last? I didn’t mind getting wet. I was going to be completely wet snorkeling, so I wanted to forge ahead and check things out. We ended up sending Debit and he reported back where additional sheltered areas were. We waited and waited and finally the rain stopped. Hallelujah!

Once you leave the main building you will go up several steps and reach a level area. To the left is a full service bar. To the right are many tables and chairs and just beyond that is a small pool. If you continue moving forward you will go down another set of steps that reach the beach area. If you turn to the right, you will find loungers, some with cover over them, to the left is the main beach area with access to the water. This area is great for families with little kids as the water is calm and shallow. If you had turned to the right, there is no easy access to the water. It can be reached but you need to step down from a ledge. We turned right, as I felt that there would be fewer families with little kids near us. I predicted correctly. We pulled our loungers close to the edge of the ledge. I had hoped we would have an un-obstructed view of the beautiful water before us. We almost always did!

Once we plopped down our bags Debit, being the curious soul that he is looked down in to the water. A small stingray was in the water, nearly 5 feet from the ledge in about 18 inches of water. This is exactly why I always wear water sandals with a closed toe. You can’t always see what is in water you are walking in. Maybe it is a piece of broken glass, a broken spork, a sea urchin, a sharp rock, or a sting ray. Same goes for the beach. I wear shoes nearly 100% of the time. It never harmed anyone and soon it was on its way.

For those who turned to the left, Maya Key has many lounge chairs to choose from. Because of the rain we had earlier, I would guess many people never set foot off the ship to go to Maya Key, because there didn’t seem to be a big crowd. If one continues to walk along the beach, you will come to the pier. This pier will give you access to the water to begin your snorkeling adventure. Or you can walk on it, gazing at the water and enjoying surrounding and not get into the water. Your choice.

Once you reach the end of the pier, it is an easy entrance into the water by nice wide stairs with handrails. The water was to my armpits that day as the water was rough. I would guess the water to be around 4 and a half feet deep. The water that day was murky from the rough water and the people who were going into and out of the water. Since you can touch here, there were several people who didn’t want to snorkel but stand in the water and look down at the fish around us. This made the water murkier still, but I knew once we got a little ways away, visibility would improve. There is a cable laying along the bottom of the sea floor. Every once in a while you will see an empty 2 liter bottle attached to the cable. This gives an extra point of reference as you are swimming along. Be certain to follow the cable, don’t go to the left or right as you are close to the reef and you do not want to brush up or kick against it. It damages the reef and you will suffer a scratch or cut in the process. There are areas where it is much shallower than others, so again, stay on the path or you may get into an area where it is much too shallow to safely snorkel. You will wind your way through the reef and there are areas where it is narrower that other places. Again, just follow the cable. Once you reach the end of the cable, you only have to swim around in a big circle, if you want. Or you can simply float and see the wonderful sea life below and around you. It is easy to see where the drop off is. Debit and I avoided this area for the first half of our first venture out. After we gained confidence, I motioned for him to head out with me and we did it!!! We only swam about 10 feet over the edge and then turned around so our feet were facing the deep and our heads the safety of the reef. The only thing that could have made this experience better would have been the sun AND warmer water. I began to feel chilly after 35 minutes and knew I should go in before I started to get cold. To get back to the pier, we simply needed to look for the cable and follow it back. If a person were to choose their own way to swim back, they would get in a bunch of trouble as there are areas where it is impassible due to the water level being too shallow. Also the employees there will yell at you if you do not follow the cable!

Although I said it did not seem as though there were many people at Maya Key that day, once the food was brought out a long line formed. You will be given a wristband at the port before you get on the boat for the short ride. At lunch the food is served buffet style and they will put a black sharpie mark on your wristband. So make certain to get enough food as they do not allow you to return for seconds. The food was delicious, chicken, rice and beans, fried bananas, a small salad bar etc. Beverages were included but we had brought our own water bottles so I don’t know what they served. You took a cup and filled it out of a big orange cooler and there were two coolers.

Judy was scared to return to snorkeling as she knew of the drop off. I stayed behind her as we winded our way out to the best snorkeling area. Once we could safely swim side by side, I did so and Mom just seemed to be panicky, so I took her hand and pulled her hand into my chest. It didn’t take long and she relaxed and we simply floated over the area and watched the fish go about their busy fishy lives. Personally, I saw so many fish I had never seem before and I enjoy being still and watching an area to take in all of the activity below. Mom would point to something and I would look, turn to her and nod. I would do the same thing for her. It was a memory I will hold forever, being there with my Mom, in the silence and just being so weightless in the water, watching God’s creation that is so different below the water as it is above the water. Kent did swim over to us at some point and we had our heads above water talking and Kent started pushing us. I knew exactly what was happening. We were drifting over the drop-off and Kent didn’t want my Mom to put her mask back on and freak out. While we were in the water, Mom and I did swim out over the edge and quickly turned around and faced back in. So, she can say she did it!

The day at Maya Key ended much too soon. The clouds were coming in thick and fast and we sensed another rain shower was approaching and it was after 1:30. The boat that takes you back to the ship almost beat the rain, but we were under a covered area and stayed mostly dry. I know we will go back to Maya Key on a return visit to Roatan. The snorkeling was great, no it was awesome! Debit and I went to the pool and hot (warm) tub briefly to get warmed up after our first snorkel. It might be a party place if it was sunny and hot but other than a couple of younger girls, no one was using it. Mom and Bill walked around and saw the rescued animals they have on location. No one bought anything in the gift store but the prices seemed to be what they are at other locations. The dolphin adventure and sea loin feeding were canceled due to the weather. A person who does not like to do water activities would be able to get their money’s worth out of the NCL excursion. It was a quiet, peaceful day for us. Two thumbs up!!!

The four of us ate sushi at the Sushi Bar. There is a per item ordered charge for this restaurant and I believe our bill was just over $40 with an added tip. We hit Malting’s again and our new friend Rob sat with us for a while. His family was eating at Chin Chin and they were having a frustrating evening of slow service and messed up ordered food. He stayed only briefly and went back to rejoin his family. I think Kent and I may have tried to sit in the hot tub again later that night. It was windy, the waves made the ship start rocking again, and it was just too chilly to sit in it. The wind would move across the surface of the water and a fine spray would pelt your face. We gave up and went inside. Tomorrow would be a sea day and we would be able to sleep in late. Hurrah! No wake up call, no getting everyone together at the same time, no packing a tote bag with essentials to survive jellyfish (or walkers for those TWD fanatics like me!), no keeping track of anyone. No, tomorrow I was going to sleep in as long as my uncomfortable bed would allow me and I would put on my swimsuit and spend a leisurely day in my lounge chair, drinking something yummy ( after consuming mass quantities of that delicious Lavaza coffee)and listening to my music.

Would tomorrow go as I had planned? Until then…..oh, and tomorrow we also learn the value of having trip insurance….but fortunately, not for us….

Below are some pics from our day at Maya Key….

Day 5 (Tuesday, November 25): Adventures in Jelly Fish Land, and Judy and Bill Become Professional Cruisers

So, today is Belize Day. The last time Cindy and I were here was two years ago when we cruised on the Star. Cindy and I, being the avid snorkelers, signed up for the NCL excursion “Barrier Reef & Island Beach Break”. To join the excursion we had to tender into the port at Belize City and wait for our powered catamaran to show up. We didn’t really walk around the port very much, but I did notice there was a long line for some business. But me being a dude, I didn’t really notice what it was – I found out later though. After a little wait the catamaran showed up and we hopped on board. After roughly 30 minutes puttering out to the barrier reef we hopped in the water. We anchored pretty close to the reef and hopped in. The seas were rough but Cindy and I didn’t care – the sights were awesome. The water was clear, the coral was beautiful, and the fish were plentiful.

Cindy’s snorkel gear is the color pink. I love this as, if we’re not snorkeling together, I can pick my head up and look around to see where she is – I’m a big believer in safety and always want to know where my Wifey is when we snorkel. So I love her pink snorkel.

We had what seemed like 50 people on this excursion, and all 50 people jumped in when we first arrived at the reef. Over time, as I kept looking to see where wifey was, I noticed that the number of people in the water kept declining. We hadn’t been in the water for more than 15 minutes when I picked my head up and noticed that there were probably only 7 people in the water. I asked one of the excursion employees who was near me in a canoe where everyone was at? His reply was that the water was too rough for them – he actually called them ‘wimps’. I asked how long we had left in the water. He replied that we had 45 minutes to go. Are you freaking kidding me? Wifey, me, and 5 of our now closest friends have the entire, freaking reef to ourselves for 45 minutes? How awesome is that?!? So Wifey and I got 45 minutes of awesome snorkeling in – we didn’t have to worry about getting kicked in the face or groin…pure happiness land. After snorkeling was done we went to the private island for a little while then back to the Star. Awesome freaking day.

Here’s when I found out why that one business at the port had such a long line. Wifey and I were walking back to our Aft Suite when a couple who had been on our excursion asked us if we wanted some Vicodin. They had a big bag half full of the happy pills. We quickly said no and hurriedly sprinted down the hallway to our room. I asked Wifey where they got ALL of those pills at? She then told me that the business was a pharmacy and that you can get whatever drug you wanted without a prescription. After the cruise I did some research and found out that ****** is apparently the #1 drug of choice at that pharmacy. ******?? On a cruise?? Huh………..sorry, I lost focus there for a moment.

So, we had a wonderful experience on this excursion. As a result, after booking this years’ cruise, we knew we HAD to take Credit and Debit on this excursion. Judy and Bill didn’t know what they wanted to do, but they knew they didn’t want to go snorkeling. Fine, no problem. They were either going to stay on the ship, or go on a land based excursion…………….what did they do…….?

He Said:

Unlike this excursion two years ago, this year the tender was picking us up AT the ship. Awesome. Our excursion was supposed to head out around 8:00 am so we arose, got our snorkeling attire on (swim trunks, t-shirts, and sandals) and headed to Moderno. No Judy and Bill. The day before, they had decided that they were going to take a tender to the mainland and go on some type of excursion where they got to ride on a train for a couple hours and see the sights. All Cindy and I said was, “that’s awesome, have a great time”. There comes a time when you have to let your children go…..let them have their own experiences……let them try life out on their own. So, we let them go…..we let Judy and Bill wander off….we let them try this new cruise experience….we let them try and figure what a tender was, how to find their excursion….but more importantly….how to get back on the ship. I fully expected though that, later in the day, Florentina would come up to the Villa and tell us that Judy and Bill were in…….. Panama……OMG it just hit me as I type this. Do you remember Mr. Magoo – that lovable cartoon character from the 60’s and early 70’s that was voiced by Jim Bacchus (the actor who played Thurston Howell III on “Gilligan’s Island”)? That’s who Judy and Bill reminded me of on this cruise…Mr. Magoo! They were literally…..Mr. and Mrs. Magoo!!!!! OMG, first I got to use ‘Wonkavator’ on the cruise, and now I got to use ‘Mr. Magoo. I’m so happy….but I digress again, sorry.

So, we’re at Moderno, no Judy and Bill, no biggie, they’ll figure it out and have fun. We ate, went to the Villa, grabbed our gear, went to Stardust to wait for our excursion group to be called, heard it, and hopped on the catamaran. We then left with 50 of our closest friends for the reef.

So, this is the point where this whole “He Said/She Said” is going to get interesting as I’m sure our recollection of the following event will be different. Or, more correctly, how ‘wrong’ my recollection will be. We arrived at the reef and dropped anchor. Immediately I realize that we’re farther out from the reef this year than we were two years ago. Apparently, the excursion crew had stopped by the reef, prior to picking us up at the Jewel, to see where the action was today. So, we get our gear on and get to jump in the water. Cindy and the boys were first in the water, I was a little behind them as I had wanted to dunk my facemask in the crews bucket of soapy water. So, I’m ready to go and before jumping I see the Cindy, the boys, a crew member, and numerous other snorkelers are already some 40 yards away from the boat. No sweat, I catch up to them. So I get to play ‘Navy Frogman’ and jump in the water with my snorkel gear on. I start kicking and as I pass probably 30 yards away from the boat I see a jelly fish……

Jellyfish have never bothered me in the past. That’s because the only jellyfish I’ve ever seen while snorkeling are the ones that look like floating breast implants. No tentacles, just breast implants. Nice and safe. So, I’m kicking trying to catch up to my family and I see a jellyfish…..a real jellyfish…..the breast implants with the long tentacles hanging behind them. Huh, that was pretty cool I thought. So, I keep swimming. Well, wow…..there’s another jellyfish…..hey, there’s one…….there’s a jellyfish……hey, there’s another jellyfish…….well I’ll be…..there’s another one……hey, there’s one…..then suddenly…..oh crap….there’s another one…..dang…there’s another one……holy cow….they are freaking everywhere!

This isn’t good….but I’m fine….I’m just swimming around them. I figure I’m in the ocean…in there domain, I’ll just adjust to it and deal with it. No big deal. Or so I thought…………I picked my head up to find Wifey’s pink snorkel and all hell was breaking loose. People were screaming and yelling!!! A lot of people were!!! I then hear Cindy’s voice very clearly say to the guide, “There are jellyfish everywhere! I think it’s HIGHLY irresponsible to be out here and we’re going back to the boat! Boys’ follow me! Who else is going with us?” A LOT of people shouted that they were heading back. I thought….what the heck is wrong with everyone? Wimps….these are just jellyfish! No big deal. It was then that two things happened……first, a young girl (early 20’s?), was passed in front of me as she was being taken back to the boat by a crew member on the canoe. She was hysterical. We found out later that a jellyfish had gotten between her body and her life jacket, and that she had gotten severely stung on her back, shoulder, and chest. Then, as I watched her being paddled towards the boat……hey, that hurt! Yours truly, got stung on the left knee by a jellyfish. I thought, Uh OH!....looked in the water, and counted 7 jellyfish in close proximity to me.

I then realized I was at least 100 yards from the boat, that everyone was heading back to the boat, that I was among the farthest out, and worst of all, that I didn’t know where my family was. So, I headed back to the boat, dodging A LOT of jellyfish along the way. I got to about 30 yards from the boat, popped my head up, and saw Debit standing on the boat. I shouted to him, he waived at me, and I asked if mom and Credit were on board. He said they were. Thank the good Lord….my family was safe. It was then, my “man-card” popped up and I thought…. (In ‘Caveman’ speak)….ugh….family safe….me swim with fishies. So I slowly….and I emphasis….slowly swam back to the boat. I found an awesome, large, chunk of coral with great fish counts and floated for a while.

I then noticed that, ‘Hey, most everyone’s on the boat, they’re drinking rum punch’….uh, I’m done snorkeling….in ‘Cavemen’ speak again…..Wildcatrock thirsty…..must have rum punch…..me need alcohol….So I swam to the boat, hopped on, my left knee really smarting from the jellyfish sting, and the Captain asks me if I got stung. I say yes, showed him my knee, and he sprayed vinegar on the sting. Awesome……I’m remember thinking at the time that I was glad he didn’t pee on my knee…..I just didn’t know him that well.

So I then find Wifey who asks if I got stung. I told her I did and she gave me a Benadryl. My wife is freaking (can you tell I love this word?) awesome. She’s always prepared. ALWAYS! I will freely admit to anyone that my wife doesn’t have 2 kids in her life….she has three…Credit, Debit, and me. And she ALWAYS takes great care of us. This is also a lesson to anyone who plans on hopping into the ocean….always be prepared. Have Benadryl with you, and here’s why – the Captain sprayed vinegar on my knee, Wifey then gave me a Benadryl. Within 30 minutes I was pain free. Zero, zilch, nada…no pain.

Once everyone was on board I began to realize the severity of what had happened – of the 50+ people on board, I would estimate that the VAST majority (90%+) had been stung in various degrees of severity. All four of us had been stung; fortunately all of our stings were minor. I can’t say that for everyone on the boat. There were people with stings all across their chest, or their backs, or arms, or legs. Holy cow, what had just happened?

The boat then took us to the private island where we got to spend two solid hours relaxing and nursing our wounds. On one part of the island is a shelter like area that had several hammocks hanging…..and I got one. Oh heavenly bliss. How freaking awesome. I swung in a hammock the majority of the time we were on the island talking to many of my new cruise friends. At one point late in the morning Credit came over and asked if I wanted to participate in a tug-of-war? Uh no….go away….daddy is pretending to be a Sloth…go away and have fun….he did.

So, the excursion’s time was over and it was time to head back to the Jewel. Once on board we were starving and, as it was lunch time, headed up to Moderno. While eating, Florentina popped by to see how our excursion had gone. As we told her the story her eyes got bigger and bigger. I think we (Wifey that is) said something along the lines that we (Wifey more probably) was going to go to the Excursions Desk and voice our displeasure about what had happened on our excursion. I forgot to mention this, but whilst on the island, we learned that the jellyfish had been brought in during high tide, and the excursion crew knew it, and they knew that A LOT of jellyfish were in the water before they had our excursion group jump in. Bad decision boys, bad decision. Florentina told us she’d take care of it so we didn’t go to the Excursions Desk.

I don’t recall what we did during the afternoon but know that we went to O’Sheehan’s for dinner with the boys, and then went to Stardust to watch Luminescence – what an amazing show. If you’re going on the Jewel you MUST watch this show. Simply amazing. After the show, we saw our friends Rob and Nicky at Malting’s. We also saw new friend’s we had made – John, an early 60’s aged man who had won Dancing with the Jewel All Stars, and three of his family members. We invited them and Rob and Nicky up to the Villa. After giving them a tour and hanging out for a while, John and his party left. While Cindy and I were talking to Rob and Nicky, Florentina stopped by our Villa with an update. She had spoken to the Excursions desk and EVERYONE on the excursion was going to get a 35% discount off the cost of the excursion. Wow, thank you Florentina and NCL! A 35% discount, we’ll take it. Rob and Nicky had also been on this excursion, had gotten stung too, and were thrilled to hear of the discount. Or so they thought…….

I don’t recall what else we did this night……my loss of memory I blame on my age and the copious amounts of Jack Daniel’s and other alcohols that were ‘forced’ on me. So I’m looking forward to “She Said” so I can hopefully find out what else we did.

Before I sign off I want to share this piece of news. A couple days later I got a print out of our account and sure enough we had been given a discount of 35% off of the Jellyfish Excursion. We told Rob and Nicky who then checked their account. No discount. They discussed with the Excursion’s desk that they had been told that everyone on the excursion had been given a discount. They were told that no, everyone had not been given a discount, only Garden Villa 14000 had been given the discount. When Florentina told us about the discount, she very clearly stated that everyone on the excursion would be given the discount. That did not happen, and that does not make us happy. Everyone on that excursion should’ve been given a discount – the tour operator knew that there were way too many jellyfish in the water, that it was not safe, and that literally everyone on the excursion had gotten stung. I’ve never been disappointed in NCL – until now.

But on to happier thoughts. I forgot to mention Mr. and Mrs. Magoo!!! Late in the afternoon while we were getting cleaned up to head out for dinner, guess who walked in all happy and energized…………..Judy and Bill!!!!!!!! They had easily found the tender back to the boat, and get this, had a WONDERFUL time on their excursion! They had tendered easily in the morning, and found their excursion, had a wonderful time, and had easily found their way back to the Jewel. Un-freaking believable. Who were these people? They couldn’t be the same two people who we had hopped on the Jewel with just a few days before. But they were, happily we realized, that Judy and Bill had found their stride, how figured the Jewel out, had figured out how to cruise. They were now, happily for them…and us!!....on a cruise adventure of a life time. Thank the good Lord…

I also realized I should’ve given Bill some $$$$ to stop by that drug store for me……………………….

She said:

The NCL snorkeling experience will be one of those “stories” you get to tell the rest of your life. He said tells it one, was and I will tell it another. As a reader, I would encourage you to look back at the “stories” DH has told and then remember how much he likes to drink Jack Daniels. This may have given him a slight disadvantage in playing the “from memory” game. So, read on for the accurate accounting of our experience.

We were able to get on the boat that would take us to the reef area directly from the Jewel. Such a timesaver over the previous way. This was a beautiful Caribbean day and our first real day of sun, heat and humidity. I stressed to my boys and Kent to make certain to cover every bare centimeter of their skin with 1,000 plus sunscreen. I don’t want to have to hear someone feeling unwell because they got sunburned and as the Mom, well it’s just my job to boss them around! Our boat slowed down and finally stopped. While everyone was distracted by a crew member talking about how to put on the gear and how to follow directions, I watched as another crew member put on a mask and snorkel and jumped into the water. He swam on the port side and around the front. (We were sitting at the front of the boat on bench style seats.) The crew member, I will refer to him as our guide from this point on, would look up and then put his head back down in the water. Once he got out of the water he stated that there had been reef sharks in the area earlier in the morning but they would not harm humans. Huh? Did anyone else here him say this? Was I the only person paying attention to the guide? Ok, that had me a bit freaked out but I’m a snorkel princess, so it isn’t stopping me from getting in the water.

Now I would guess there had been 35 plus people in the front of the boat and there were others in the middle covered portion and in the back as well. I don’t have any clue how many additional people there were onboard because I never walked around. But it was a large group of people who had booked this through NCL. Back to the water…

I side walked my way to the boats port side and prepared to jump in. Oh wow. Just wow. Uh, this is really high off of the water and I hate the feeling of falling and I hate jumping. So I had to step over to the side so others could jump in ahead of me while I mentally prepared myself to jump. While I was pep talking myself, it began. The cry from the water. Not the water itself but someone who was in the water. Someone was trying to calm the person down who was scared and it sounded like maybe they were hurt? I figured it was a first time snorkeler who got freaked out (maybe a kid) and was making a big deal about nothing. But then there was another person who cried out from a different location than the first person. By this time I had jumped into the water, everything was ok in my opinion, just a panicking snorkeler. I was adapting to the water temperature (Doesn’t it just take your breath away when you get in the water? It looks like it should be like a warm bath but it is usually chilly this time of year.), when I hear more yelling and then some screaming. Holly cow people! What is wrong with you?!!! I put my head down and started swimming along. Well, the water conditions were not the best as there was silt stirred up and there weren’t many rocks around for our little fish friends to be living. I better start to catch up with the people who jumped in ahead of me, I don’t want to miss anything. Oh, hello nice jellyfish. I think you might not be the good kind. Look at your tentacles. Cross one of those bad boys off my “What I saw snorkeling list”. Uh, guess I need to swim over to the left ‘cause there’s another one. I pick up my head and people in the water have their heads up as well saying, “Don’t swim over here, there are jellyfish.” I’m putting two and two together now. Guide jumps in water before us, person struggling in the water, people yelling in the water and I SEE JELLYFISH!

There were jellyfish everywhere. To the right, the left and below. There were a couple of other snorkelers near me and we were trying to alert each other where NOT to swim and where it was safe to swim. At times the options were quite limited. In my opinion I was dodging jellyfish and not snorkeling. Many, many people were announcing or crying out they were being stung or had been stung. The guide and his helpers brought out a kayak and announced that they would take the people who had been stung back to the boat. One. At. A. Time. The scene was like in a movie. Kids were crying and screaming. Mothers trying to comfort their kids. Water splashing all around due to the panic in some people. The guide would say “Come over here and see the spiny lobster.” “Oh look! A Grouper.” Ok, maybe not grouper, but some kind of fish that by then I didn’t give a rat’s behind about. I was NOT going to pretend to be snorkeling when in fact I wasn’t doing so. That is when it got me. If you have never been stung by a jellyfish, I can describe it like this: Hold a rubber band against your skin, pull it back and let it POP against your skin. Depending upon your pain threshold and the size of the band, it smarts. It smarts a lot! The bugger had stung me behind my left knee. That was the final straw…

DH knows that one of my nicknames is Tenacious C. When I get my mind set on something I will pursue it until I conquer it. That’s just how this princess farm girl rolls. I lifted my head up, locked eyes with the guide and announced to him (very, very loudly) that it was irresponsible to put us into the water with known jellyfish, that after the first 3-5 people had been stung he should have gotten everyone out of the water, and that I was GOING BACK to the boat. Who was with me? People raised their hands, yes, that was the comical part, and I yelled for Debit and Credit to safely make their way back to the boat.

The swim back to the boat was tough. I think I am in pretty good physical shape. I go to the gym, I lift weights. But by this time the light current had pushed us far from the boat and we were swimming in jellyfish infested waters. Although I had a long sleeved UV shirt on, I feared pulling my arms through the water because I was risking getting stung on my hands. So, I kept my arms by my sides and used my flippers only to swim back. The process was also slowed down as one couldn’t swim in a straight line. Too many jellyfish to swim to the right or left of. I would kick hard for 15-20 seconds and lift my head up and would only be 20% closer to the boat. All of my maternal instincts left me. Debit and Credit were on their own. It was do or die time in the jellyfish apocalypse.

The three of us made it back to the boat around the same time. They had been stung as well. I broke out my “medical baggie” with the Benadryl and popped some out for us. Nearly everyone who had been in the water had been stung. I was seeing huge welts across the chest and back of a teenaged boy. A newly married gal showed me her arms. She was having a reaction to the stings and had large red welts/hives from her wrists to her elbows. I offered Benadryl to those around us, but they all declined. These types of stings cause an allergic type of reaction in your body and taking an antihistamine will decrease or even block the body’s response. I had read this from an avid snorkeler here on C.C. and I am so happy that I remembered to pack it on this trip!!! It helped us out so much; I never, ever would have thought we would actually need to use it. As I sent Debit to fetch me a Rum Punch I began thinking that a refund was due us for this experience. Although we had not yet gone to the beach, I felt a 50% re-imbursement was not out of the question. I voiced my thoughts about this to others around us and they agreed. I would need to go to the front desk after we returned.

The rest of the excursion was lovely. The weather, the hammocks, the conversations with new friends. Both Debit and Credit participated in the Tug-of-War dismissing my “No, you could get hurt” Motherly response they have heard cross my lips over 100,000 times. They were not injured. The trip back provided us with a nice breeze and since most of us had a slight buzz, we didn’t talk much about the jellyfish apocalypse.

Once back onboard, we headed to Moderno, starving and drained from the adventure. I stopped by Florentina’s desk and she asked how our day had been so far as she knew we were taking the snorkeling excursion. Once I started telling her the story, her eyes grew wide and when she asked me if there were any children that got stung her eyes were starting to well up with tears. I told her that I felt it was completely reasonable for us to receive a 50% re-imbursement for the cost of our excursion and explained why. She said she would speak with someone about it, no need for me to go downstairs and she would get back with me. Later, while we were entertaining friends in the suite, Florentina came in and told our group (not just DH and I) that EVERYONE who had booked this NCL excursion would be getting a 35% refund as the tour provider had given that amount of money back to NCL. I asked her if it was everyone, yes, everyone, not just the people who had gone to guest services to complain. Well, I still thought it should be 50% but I would settle for 35% especially since everyone was getting a credit back. Later, we found out from friends, that when they didn’t see this on their account, went to customer service. They were then told that only we in #14000 would be getting this credit that we should not have told them (our friends) about the credit and that was wrong of us to do so. Ok, this angered me. We didn’t tell this to anyone, it was announced to us from Florentina. So someone deceived us. Was it NCL or was it Florentina. I would guess NCL. Why would Florentina announce this to others in our living room, others who told Florentina that THEY were on the same snorkeling excursion as us and lie to us all? Maybe NCL will read this and we will get a response. I’ve already notified NCL of this problem, so we shall see. Also, we booked this excursion before the cruise and paid by credit card. The 35% refund was put back as on onboard credit. Of course it was used up by the end of the cruise but if it had not been? From what others have said here on C.C. the check is in the mail. Weeks later, sometimes longer than weeks.

I am not a fish eater. I just don’t care for it. But one of the foods I must have on an NCL cruise is Fish and Chips from Blue Lagoon. Although now it is O’Sheehan’s on the Jewel. I must say in the past, this has been a bad place to eat with good food. Meaning trying to get seated, getting a menu, water, silverware, placing and order and having the food placed in front of you take s a looooong time. This time we were promptly seated and one of the friendliest, smilingest (yes it is a word) gals waited and served us. My Fish and Chips were awesome and Debit and Credit ordered the Chicken Pot Pie, another highly rated food here on C.C. They both liked the pot pie, no complaints. We had ordered a couple of drinks and left a tip for the waitress, she was that good! Now to Luminescence. It started slowly, it proceeded slowly and ended improved. It wasn’t my thing. Both the performers are incredibly talented and supremely strong. The seas once again had picked up and they performed well under the rocking and rolling of the ship. It had been a long day for us all, and once again, I’m not certain what we did after the show. Both of our boys spent time in Fyzz watching and performing Karaoke with their group of friends, so maybe we watched a bit of that?

Now onto the Bliss bed. As I have mentioned before, I don’t sleep well. But, I sleep so soundly and deeply on a cruise from the movement of the ship and the NCL Bliss bed that I have an added part of the cruise to look forward to each year. The bed in the Master suite of the Garden Villa 14000 is NOT a Bliss bed. I don’t care who tries to tell me otherwise. It is NOT a good bed. The NCL Bliss bed is so supportive, yet so soft and squishy on the top. Your body sinks down into a giant cruise embrace for the night on an NCL Bliss bed. It lives up to its name…BLISS. This bed was hard, yes, it was hard, hard, and hard. The topper on it had been packed down to the right and the left and was nice and fluffy in the middle. Right where no one sleeps. I even laid down in the middle and it did not feel like a Bliss bed. I laid down on Debit and Credit’s bed and it did not feel like a Bliss bed. So, my general opinion is the Jewel Garden Villa 14000 does not have Bliss beds in it. I should have tried out Bill and Judy’s bed. Looking back, when Roland was showing us the rooms he pointed to their bed and said it was a brand new bed. So, I’m wondering if they had the good stuff and we had the not so good stuff. Had this been the case, I would have put some serious thought into trading them bedroom and giving them the bad bed. Aren’t I the nice daughter? They would not have known the difference, never sleeping in an NCL Bliss bed, but I certainly noticed it. Maybe DH will put his opinion about this as well?

He Said Part II:

Do I think it was a Bliss Bed? Wifey says NO!.......... So I say NO! You’re done right Wifey….that was NOT a Bliss bed………..although I slept really, really well on my side. Wifey, what is this line?.....” As a reader, I would encourage you to look back at the “stories” DH has told and then remember how much he likes to drink Jack Daniels”. Likes?? LIKES??!? No honey…. L O V E S. I freaking LOVE Jack Daniel’s – I’m a proud member of the Tennessee Squires (the official Jack Daniel’s fan club). And that has absolutely nothing to do with the “stories” I tell…….my age does…………remember…..I turned ‘50’ on this cruise. And as Molly Shannon says, “ And I can stretch, and I can kick….cause I’m 50!”.

Here’s a little teaser about tomorrow – our day in Roatan – Maya Key, snorkeling, the sea bed drops off to the abyss, and Judy achieves Titan status in the family as a snorkeler………

Here also are some more pics for you from the cruise from Le Bistro, to Debit participating in Dancing with the Jewel Stars, to cruise relaxation ……..

So, is this west coast or mountain time????

Ha! The Princess took a little longer than anticipated.....I'm posting it now my friend.

Day 5 - Belize will be posted by 8:30 pm. It was an interesting day....and Mr. And Mrs. Magoo have a great day.

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Day 4 (Monday, November 24): Somebody Has a Birthday, and the Wonderment of New Adventures

My wonderful MIL had grown up in NE Kansas in a wonderful little town. She had lived her entire life there but had adventured out of the State from time to time on vacations. I believe she had only seen the oceans twice – the first when she went to San Diego on a family vacation in the late 80’s, the next time a couple years ago when she and Bill went on their ill-fated Alaskan cruise. One thing I’ve always loved about Judy is her zest for life. I’ve noticed over the years that she has always had a little sparkle in her eyes, a desire to enjoy life as she desires. Many years ago she went on a vacation with Wifey, Credit, Debit, and Me, to Winterpark, CO. A few years prior, Wifey and I had gone whitewater rafting and loved it . My goal on the CO vacation was to take Judy whitewater rafting. So, once there, I asked if she wanted to go whitewater rafting and without hesitation she said, “Yes”! We went and she loved it. Ever since then I’ve always known that there was more to Judy than met your eye.

As a result, when we booked this cruise, Wifey and I started talking to Judy about going snorkeling on the cruise. We were planning on snorkeling at Chankanaab in Cozumel and thought it would be a great place for Judy to snorkel. We were a little concerned though as snorkeling at Chankanaab can be intimidating for first time snorkelers: the water can be rough, there is a current, and the waters get deep pretty quickly. Three things that first time snorkelers usually don’t like. Wifey and I love to snorkel, and have snorkeled a lot since 2009, and consider ourselves as experts. We therefor knew that we should take it easy with Judy at Chankanaab, and let her snorkel at her own speed….if she even decided she wanted to try it. Well she did….and by the end of the cruise we realized we had created a snorkel beast.

He said:

Today was a great day. For me it started off with the realization that I turned 50 overnight, and that the sun still rose in the morning sky, my teeth didn’t fall out, I had still had some mental faculties left, and contrary to my fears…life does continue on once you hit the BIG 5 – 0. For me I also had the feeling our cruise had turned an important corner – that Judy and Bill were figuring things out, they were starting to chill and have fun, and the stress that had been on Cindy the day before would go away.

We began the day, as we did every day, by grabbing breakfast in Moderno. My recollection is that we were all there, including Judy and Bill. We had a big day planned at Chankanaab and needed to get fueled up in Moderno, grab our gear, and head off the ship. Last year we went to Chankanaab via an NCL excursion; but this year, thanks to Mitsugirly’s comments about going to Chankanaab on their own, we decided to do the same. So, off the ship we went. The six of us walked through the port, easily found a van taxi, and off we went to Chankanaab. We arrived and gave the driver $25 (the fare was $22 and we gave the driver a little extra). We bought our tickets and into the park we went. We found several shaded loungers available on the southern side of the park, dropped our gear, and started to get ready to go in the waters. We rented a mask and snorkel for Judy and flippers and life preservers for all of us and headed for the water.

For those who have snorkeled, think back to the first time you snorkeled and what we were feeling. Fear? Excitement? Apprehension? Judy was feeling all those and so many more emotions…she was downright terrified. After a momentary hiccup of losing one of her flippers while sitting on some steps at the water’s edge, Judy started to put her gear on. Credit and Debit had already hopped in the water and were off seeing the sights. I hopped in to get ready for Judy. Cindy stayed close to her mom to help her get her gear on. When she was ready Judy slid in the water, nervously shaking. When she was ready she put her face in the water, and popped back up after less than 5 seconds. That’s perfectly fine. She then put her face back in the water and lasted several more seconds. After doing this several times she told us she had water in her snorkel. Cindy checked and sure enough there was a leak in Judy’s snorkel. Cindy gave Judy her US Snorkel gear and took the rented gear from Judy to wear. We got Cindy’s snorkel gear on Judy and she put her face in the water…..she lasted maybe 15 seconds. Terrific! A couple more starts and stops…then she put her face down……..and she became freaking Judy “Cousteau”!

Cindy and I snorkeled by Judy’s side constantly to make sure all was well for her. We went all over the coral at Chankanaab. Judy got so excited we could hear her squealing in her snorkel. She loved it! After about 45 minutes we decided to take a break and got out of the water. We chilled in the loungers for a while and then decided it was time to get back in the water. Judy was raring to go and got in the water and snorkeled for another 45 minutes. Here is this 72 year old woman from NE KS who had never swam in the ocean before and she’s going to spend nearly 1.5 hours snorkeling at Chankanaab in Cozumel. Wow awesome is that?!?!

After we concluded our snorkeling it was time to head back to the port. So we got our gear together, headed to the entrance, grabbed a van taxi, and headed back to the port. After buying a little trinket at a store in the shopping mall for Debit’s GF we headed back to the Jewel. The crew was out on the pier having fun, playing music and dancing. So we joined in.

As we got back on the ship Wifey told me that I couldn’t come back to the Villa yet, and couldn’t walk in to it until 3:15 pm. So, Credit, Debit, and I hit the Sky High bar. At the appointed time we went to the Villa. As I walked in there was music playing and…….the Villa was decorated for my birthday! Our Butler Roland, and Room Steward Alexandro had hung birthday streamers in the room and Alexandro had made me a birthday cake out of towels. Roland had set up a spread of food on the dining room table (pictures of this are below) that included some fruits and veggies, a birthday cake and…..what is that?.....is it???? And a peanut butter pie.

When I was a child my Grandmother Pearl started a family tradition of making me a peanut butter pie for my birthday. When I joined Cindy’s family, Judy continued that tradition, and all 25 years I’ve been in the family, I’ve always had a peanut butter pie given to me for my birthday. This year was no exception. My wonderful Wifey, Cindy, had brought the family recipe for peanut butter pie with us on vacation. After we embarked on the ship in Houston, Cindy talked with Roland about the possibility of the ship making me a peanut butter pie. Roland, being his awesome self, made it happen. One of the ship's chefs, using our family recipe, made me a peanut butter pie. I haven’t said this to Judy or Cindy, but it was really good. I mean really good. So, to say I was overwhelmed was an understatement. Thank you Wifey for being an awesome partner and friend….you made this day very special for me.

So, after eating some goodies, we started drinking in the Villa and went up to the balcony. Credit headed out to the pool deck to try and find some friends he had made. Debit came up to the balcony with Wifey, Judy, Bill, and me. A band was playing some great music, we were having fun drinking and dancing, and were enjoying a group of middle-aged women dancing on the pool deck when all of a sudden the song came to an end and I heard my name. Credit had gone to the band, told them it was my 50th birthday, and the band, and the cruisers on the pool deck sang me Happy Birthday. OMG, we went crazy…that was so awesome!!!! We made eye contact with the group of middle aged women and they all yelled happy birthday to me. Debit wanted to dance with them and ran down there and did so (a picture of this is below). After a song, Wifey and I went down to the pool deck and took these ladies some Painkiller that Cindy had made to thank them for wishing me a happy birthday, and frankly, for having so much fun. After a jiffy, we headed back up to the Villa. After a while, Credit decided to head back up our way and walked past these partying ladies. I don’t know if he knew that Debit had danced with him, but Credit decided to dance with them too (a picture is below)!

We got cleaned up and headed to LeBistro. We had our usual great service and awesome food at LeBistro – I love that place. After Le Bistro we headed to Malting’s for some drinks. I think we met up with new friends we had made on the cruise, Rob and Nicki from Austin. What an awesome couple these two are. We had a great time with them on the cruise.

After a few drinks we went to Stardust Theater to catch the comedy of David Naster. He’s a comedian from the KC area that Wifey and I had seen 25 years ago, and hadn’t seen him since. He put on a great show, was funny, and other than looking a lot older, was still the David Naster we remembered. After the show we stopped by the table he was selling his wares at and introduced ourselves to him. He vividly remembered the bar in Manhattan, KS where we had seen him and knew many of the comedians we had seen there. He was a genuinely nice person and I appreciated him taking the time to speak with us.

Debit had quickly left the theater after the show was done and headed to Spinnaker Lounge. Dancing with the Jewel Stars was this evening and he wanted to try and be picked as a contestant. After speaking with Naster, and before heading up to the Villa for the night, Cindy and I decided we should just stop by Spinnaker to see if Debit was a contestant. We got to Spinnaker, walked through the port-side door, and who do we see standing up on stage…Debit!!! He was a contestant. OMG.

Debit is 18 and loves life. He’s a cross-country runner, a debate All-American, and a straight A student. He can’t hit a note when he sings…but loves to sing. He has two left-feet and can’t dance….but he loves to dance. He has the same zest for life that his Grandma Judy has. The kid is also fearless. He’ll try and do anything. He has no fear of crowds or competition due to his time as a debater and running cross-country.

So here he is in Dancing with the Jewel Stars – the competition progresses and after a couple more dance rounds, Debit is in the Final 3!! Unbelievable. Unfortunately, he and his partner (she was once of the ship’s dancers) were eliminated. But he didn’t care; he had had a great time.

Cindy and I called it a night and headed back to the Villa. Credit and Debit were catting around the ship having fun with their new friends. Judy and Bill were off exploring the ship, having fun. I opened the door and stepped into the Villa with the realization that this cruise had finally become what Cindy and I had hoped it would be….a great time for the entire family.

She Said:

Ditto. This is a rare occasion where I do not have to disagree with a story that my husband is telling. Although he left out a bunch of details, at least he didn’t do any tall-telling today!

On embarkation day I had commented to Roland about DH’s 50th Birthday and he said he would speak with me about what I had planned. Of course I casually slipped him the recipe that I had brought along and mentioned that it would be over and above, but if someone could bake this pie, it would be the best surprise. He said he would make an inquiry into this request but if it could not happen, could he bring us a Birthday cake instead? Of course that would be fine with me! I believe it was sometime on Sunday after the alcohol was delivered to the room and I was working on my second glass of Painkillers that the phone rang. An assistant of the chef was on the line and wanted to make sure they had the measurements correct. A lowercase t equals a teaspoon; a capital T equals a Tablespoon? I hadn’t thought about rewriting the recipe out this way and NCL likely measures ingredients by liters and such! Anyway, the spread that was waiting in the suite also included a fabulous chocolate cake with real whipped cream icing that was scrumptious! It was an NCL and not a Carlos Bakery cake, as I asked about it. Also, we had brought a cd case with us and I had included three cd’s I had burned from Kent’s 40th Birthday Bash. I’m not sure if Roland or Alexandro handpicked the music, but they had put in a cd, cranked up the volume and we had a party!!!

A comment about the dancing ladies, they were a hoot to watch. It made my heart happy watching these ladies having a fun time. From our vantage point they seemed to be in their 60’s and 70’s and were laughing and smiling and drinking (a little) and dancing and hi-fiving people as they passed by. At some point, one or more of them looked up and they waved, we waved back, we danced around from our sundeck and yelled HI back and forth. We saw Debit walking near them and he stopped and danced with the group. Debit came up to the suite for something and I said I wanted to take a pitcher of Painkillers down to them and could he help me carry the glasses, pitcher, etc? Now I know there are some really cuckoo for coconuts people out there and sometimes I wonder if people think that about me. I announced to the ladies that I hadn’t slipped any shady stuff into the drinks and that I wanted them to have a drink on me because they had made me so happy by watching them be happy. Oh the ladies were so nice and they complimented me on having such a fine young man (Debit) and they weren’t alcoholics, they were just drunk! Been there myself a time or two. We passed around the glasses and drained the pitcher and shook hands with our new friends before we left. Here is the recipe for my Painkillers: 3 oz. of pineapple juice, 2 oz. of orange juice, 1Tbsp. of Cream of Coconut, 2 shots of Spiced Rum (Captain Morgan etc.) Shake up with ice and pour into a tall glass. Sprinkle nutmeg on top. Yes, I always pack the nutmeg and cream of coconut. Yes, you can request the juices at no charge when you are in a suite level cabin, as I have done this the past 3 years.

La Bistro was yummy as always. I strayed from my usual snails and tried the mussels for the first time. I now have a new favorite: MUSSELS. They had so much more flavor than the snails, as the snails are so drenched in that delicious garlicky butter no other taste comes forward. I can’t remember what I had as an entrée but I was trying to save room for the Crème Brule, my absolute all-time favorite NCL food. Right before our dessert was to be ordered, out comes a guitar player and singer who performed Happy Birthday for Kent. Now I was really going to suffer an overstuffed stomach. I wasn’t counting on the cake AND my favorite dessert. So, I bypassed the Crème Brule and settled for the cake only. Debit allowed me a sample of his so all was well in the world. I truly had NO extra room for any additional food!**** I just remembered the entrée I ordered; it was the Seafood Puff Pastry. I had read about it numerous times here on C.C. so I gave it a shot. Yummy. Yummy. Yummy. It was ultra-rich and that was probably why I was so stuffed. ****

That about sums it up for this day! Tomorrow we review Belize and our first ever snorkeling (YIKES, THAT HURT) encounter experienced by all four members of our family. And it wasn’t fun. At. All.

We're working on Day 4 - Cozumel Day right now and will get it posted either later tonight or tomorrow morning.

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Day Three (Sunday, November 23rd): The New Adventures of Judy and Bill, Wonkavators, and Finally Alcohol

Before we begin today’s dissertation, a little background on my wonder MIL, Judy. I absolutely ADORE Judy – I love, love, love that woman. She and my dear Wifey, Cindy’s, father divorced when Cindy was 12. As a result of this divorce, to make ends meet for Judy and her three kids, Judy worked multiple jobs at one time. Cindy, as the oldest sibling, with mom gone working, had to take care of her younger brother and sister – cooking, cleaning, etc. So, when I entered the family, I did so with the realization that my wife had a hard life and had a lot of expectations on her as a teenager to take care of her siblings and shoulder a large burden at home; and my MIL had worked her tail off trying to provide what she could for herself and her kids. I also realized that Judy was a wonderful, loving, warm hearted person. Over the years, Judy happily watched Credit and Debit for us each year so Cindy and I could vacation once a year as a couple and recharge our parent batteries away from the money, energy, blood sucking…..sorry….away from our two wonderful boys - Credit and Debit. So I ADORE Judy…I truly love and adore this wonderful person.

I never understood why, over the years, Cindy and her siblings would always bag on their mom as being a “ditz”, “dingbat”, dealing with a deck of cards a few cards short of a full-deck, living with a dim light bulb in her head. You name it; they thought it and said it amongst themselves. I perceived their views as a horrible slight against the woman whom I ADORED, in whom I did not see any of their perceived shortcomings of her. That all changed on this cruise……on this day…….it all became clear…..the woman whom I ADORED and still do….is a freaking dingbat.

Bill was a late entry to the family, joining the clan several years ago. He’s a great guy. As wifey mentioned yesterday, he has a serious health issue that will take him from us sooner than we would’ve ever thought. Bill’s the type of guy who works his tail off, likes to make the decisions, does all the driving, basic “man of the house” type of stuff. I’d noticed over the years that Bill would, at times, get testy with Judy. Many times caused by Judy being….well…Judy. I never “got it”. Wow, do I ever get it now. Bill….my Bro’…I get it now man….I share your pain.

I will attempt to recollect the happenings on Sunday of the cruise, but am really looking forward to reading Wifey’s replay of the day. Oh and by the way, yeah, I was wrong….we didn’t see the show on Saturday night. I was just testing Wifey….and she passed!

He Said:

A few months before the cruise we decided to host our Meet & Greet in the Garden Villa. We did so as most cruisers will never have an opportunity to see a Villa and we thought it would be great to open our doors and have the group up. So, the M&G time had been set for 11 am on Sunday. We began the day knowing that we had the M&G at 11 am, the Captain’s reception in The Haven late in the afternoon, and reservations at Teppanyaki later that evening. We, or I should say me, also knew our 6 bottles of alcohol would also be showing up sometime. A little digression here – Wifey told Judy and Bill MULTIPLE times on Saturday night that we were hosting the M&G at 11 am IN THE VILLA, and that they needed to be there to meet our fellow cruisers, and to meet some of the ship’s senior officers. I know she also reminded them that they needed to eat their breakfasts at Moderno, and she explained MULTIPLE times that, as suite guests, they needed to eat their breakfasts and lunches at Moderno. You know where this is going……..

So, Wifey, Credit, Debit, and I got up, cleaned up, and headed to Moderno. Prior to going Judy and Bill were nowhere to be found in the Villa so we assumed we’d see them in Moderno. We arrived at Moderno and were quickly informed that the wait staff had not yet seen Judy and Bill. Say what?? They hadn’t seen them?? Where were they?? We ate breakfast expecting at any time to see Judy and Bill. Nope. Never happened. We left Moderno and thought we’d go search for them to see what they were up to. We knew that the crew needed to set up for the M&G so our searching for Judy and Bill was a good way to keep us out of the crew’s way in the Villa. We searched, and searched, and never found them. Where are they??

It came close to the appointed M&G time so the four of us went back to the Villa. The M&G group showed up right at 11 am (they were met on Deck 13 by the Events Coordinator and led up to The Haven and the GV). We had a great turnout. A little aside about Meet & Greets - Wifey and I have never missed one on any of our cruises – we’ve made A LOT of great friends from the M&G and this cruise did not disappoint. We wanted Judy and Bill at the M&G as we knew they too would make great friends with their fellow M&G attendees.

Several of the ship’s officers attended the M&G. The Hotel Director, Steve Jacobsen addressed the M&G group and stated that in all of his years with NCL this was only the 2nd time that a M&G had been held in a Garden Villa. He was appreciative that we had opened it up so others could see the Villa. As he was talking and as the M&G progressed….no Judy and Bill. 11 am became 11:20, then, 11:30….no Judy and Bill…..11:40…nope….11:45….the M&G group is clearing out…..no sign of them…..11:50…..they walk through the door. We asked them – “Where have you been?” They had eaten breakfast at the buffet as they didn’t realize they could eat breakfast at Moderno. What?? They then had walked around the ship. OK, that’s fine. But………….and here it comes……………..they couldn’t figure out how to get back up to the Villa. What?!? Freaking what?!?!

They got lost. OK, I can see that….it happens to a lot of people. It’s a big ship….people get lost. Why didn’t they ask for directions from a crew member? I don’t know…I just assumed Bill, as a dude, realized he’d get “Man-Card” deductions for asking for directions. So they were lost…..uh, not really. Judy was trying to find the ONE elevator that went from Deck 7 to Deck 14. Uh, what? Judy tells us they’ve been walking around the ship trying to find the elevator that went from Deck 7 to Deck 14. I’m thinking, at what point over the last day had we, or anyone, ever told them that there was one elevator that went from Deck 7 to Deck 14? Wifey told them that ALL mid-ship elevators went to Deck 14. Their response was – “Where are those elevators?”. Wifey – “Uh, right outside our door!”. Bill – “Cindy, this is really confusing.” Me – “OMG….where’s my Jack Daniel’s?”. It’s at this point Wifey says, and I liberally paraphrase, “OK, I’m going to show you two how to get up here.” Then Wifey looks at yours truly, and with the look of “I’m going to rip your heart out through your ears”, says to me, “Kent, come with us”. My response – “Yes mam”. She has me well-trained.

We walked out of the Villa and showed them the elevators. We walked down the steps from Deck 14 to Deck 13 to show them that God created steps so we could walk down from Deck 14 to Deck 13. Wifey showed them that to find Moderno you just turned to the left, walked a few steps and……BAM!!! You were there. Then, we walked back to the elevators and Wifey showed them the layout of the ship that was by each elevator bank. She showed them the sign by the steps that said ‘Mid-Ship Elevators’. She told them to look for this sign and they’ll know there at the right bank of elevators. Then…we got in an elevator and went down several Decks. I can’t recall what Deck we went to, but I don’t think it was Deck 7. When we got off the elevator Judy says….” So, this elevator went down.” I froze, Wifey froze. I said the first thing that came to mind…..”Judy, this isn’t a Wonkavator…”. I thought that was funny. I looked at Judy and Bill and realized, they were freaking clueless and had completely missed the joke. I then looked at Wifey….and….I knew I needed, from that point on, to keep my mouth shut.

Ok, seriously. You’ve got to admit. That was funny. Wonkavator. I got to use the word Wonkavator. When’s the last time you got to seriously use that word in a conversation? I also thought it was a strategically well-used word. Wifey would tell you that, in our 25-year marriage, I have rarely, appropriately, and strategically ever put two good words together. Wonkavator – for those that don’t know, is from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It was a great movie with Gene Wilder…and a not so good movie with Johnny Depp. A Wonkavator is an elevator that can go up, down, left, right, or diagonally. So, Judy asks, “So, this elevator went down?” We freaking went from Deck 14 to a lower number….yes, it went down. What? Did she think we went horizontally to a lower number?? So she says it, no one says a word, and I get Wonkavator in my mind, I think it funny, and throw it out. As I write this I still think it’s hilarious. Over –the-top hilarious. Wonkavator….I got to say Wonkavator.

Wifey, to her credit, after thinking of how she could throw me overboard, looks at Judy and says, “Mom, we went down. Elevators only go UP and DOWN. We went DOWN.” Me – I kept my mouth shut…still laughing quietly about my Wonkavator quip.

Wifey then shows Judy and Bill a little secret about how to find your way if you don’t know what direction in the ship you’re walking – towards the bow or aft. You go to a Deck with cabins and look for the little fishies on the carpet. The front of the ship is whatever direction the fish are swimming. We learned this little trick on our first cruise in 2009.

A few words about my wonderful wife. She is truly an amazing woman. She had the toughest, most important job in the world – that of a stay-at-home parent. She raised two amazing sons and has put up with me for 25 years. I was truly amazed and impressed with the time she spent on Sunday showing Judy and Bill how to get around the ship. I also felt sorry that she had to go through this as it put a lot of pressure and stress on her that no one wants your first full day on a cruise. But she did it, and the time she spent ‘educating’ Judy and Bill about how to find your way around a ship ended up with Judy and Bill being able to find their way around the ship as the cruise went on. More on that to come in the next few days.

Late in the afternoon our alcohol finally arrived. Let me emphasis, underline, bold, accentuate, highlight, blow the freaking fog-horn….our alcohol FINALLY arrived. And yes, it included not one but two bottles of Jack Daniel’s and some spiced rum. Thank you Florentina. Here’s my question/point. I get it that Texas has some warped liquor laws that prevent NCL from bringing your alcohol to you until you leave Texas waters. But we left on Saturday and we got our liquor late in the afternoon on Sunday? OK, either the ship was going slow, or Texas’ territorial waters are exceedingly large, or it just wasn’t a priority to get our liquor to us. Not a big deal because I can tell you, I didn’t go without a drink. Also, although I had one less day to drink two bottles of Jack, I successfully accomplished my mission and killed off both bottles by the end of the cruise. Remember those friends you make at the M&G? Well, they come in handy to helping you knock off your alcohol. But seriously NCL, you need to get the 6 bottles of alcohol to the Villa a little quicker on Sunday.

We attended the Captain’s party in The Haven pool at met Captain Niklas Persson. What a great guy and awesome Captain. He hails from my family’s motherland – Sweden. He’s also either the youngest currently serving Captain in the NCL fleet, or the youngest ever. I can’t remember – maybe Wifey will know. Regardless, he’s young, very-confident, and a really awesome person. He hops of the ship on Dec 20th for his 10 weeks off. If you get on the ship after he gets back, I hope you get to meet him.

After the Captain’s party, I think Wifey and I grabbed some drinks at Malting’s??? I know, for sure, that we saw the 7:00 pm showing of Band on the Run. Great show – one of the best we’ve ever seen on an NCL cruise. Very entertaining with some very good singers and performers.

We then went to Teppanyaki for a late dinner at 8:30 pm. Good food, good entertainment. Always enjoyable. I think Wifey and I then hit the Villa hot tub and spent the rest of the night in the Villa relaxing. Oh one thing, hot tubs aren’t overly fun in a 60+ mph wind. We had some crappy weather our first sea day – chilling, cloudy, windy…..really windy that is. But, hey, it’s a hot tub, you’re on a cruise…enjoy it. We did.

Wonkavator…..I’m still laughing about that….I got to say “Wonkavator”……..

She Said:

As Kent has more than mentioned, I thought we had spent a lot of time explaining, instructing and detailing our suite and the ship to my Mom Judy and her husband Bill. When Kent, I and the boys were cleaned up, we noticed it was quiet down the hall towards Mom and Bill’s room. We thought they had beat us down the one flight of stairs to Moderno and were relaxing over breakfast. They had been told about C.C. about the Meet and Greet being in the suite, how they needed to eat at Modernos and then maybe wander around the ship so Alexandro could make up the beds, hang fresh towels and have Roland set up for our Meet and Greet. However, when we arrived at the hostess area we were greeted with “Where is your Mother and Father? They have not yet arrived for breakfast.” Huh. Weird. Where are they then? During all of breakfast I thought “where are they?”. Once back to the suite, I checked and they weren’t around and no-one had seen them. This concerned me but I thought it was a ship and if they had fallen overboard surely someone would have seen it happen and a code whatever hadn’t been announced over the speaker system. As the morning progressed, still no Mom or Bill. The Meet and Greet arrived and I was so distracted wondering where they are at, I don’t think I played my hostess roll very well and I apologize if I didn’t seem to be in the moment. Mom and Bill strolled in and when I asked about where they had been, we wanted them to be here to meet people, now it is over and most people have left, she said they were supposed to stay away from the suite because of our meeting. Steam is now rolling out of my ears, my eyes are going to pop out of my eye sockets. NO! She and Bill had misunderstood and there was no convincing them otherwise. Sigh.

Once everyone left Mom and Bill tried to tell us how mixed up they had become walking around the ship, how they were not able to find deck 7 to be able to reach the 14th deck. Ok, if I am going to have to straighten up this confusion, then DH is coming along with me. No getting out of it. Kent tried to stand on the perimeter of the angry zone I had entered. Nope, move into the inside with me and sit down at the head of the table buddy, ‘cause I’m about to lose it and you will have to lead the way in my absence. It took much effort, as Kent has told in the above story, but they got the hang of it. It was simply too much for them to have two different ways to go from our suite to Moderno for their breakfasts and lunches, with either going down the stairs right outside of our door or using the elevators right outside of our door. Sooooo, they chose to only learn how to take the elevator DOWN one deck (yes, and wait for minutes if need be to come up to 14) as the stairs were too complicated. There is so much to this story, as one could imagine and Kent touched on it a little, but they were a bit upset with me and decided to spend part of the next couple of hours, map in hand exploring and figuring their way around. By the time they got back later in the afternoon, they had realized that no matter what deck you are on, each elevator will go up and down. They also established that they needed to always return to the midship elevators to take them to 14, as the fore and aft elevators do not go to 14.

The alcohol arrived, YAY THE ALCOHOL ARRIVED! I don’t know where we had been but it was on the suite’s bar and the bottles were opening, ice was clinking, pull tabs were “pshhhhhing” and all was happy. Okay this is where maybe I can finally, FINALLY start enjoying my cruise! I put on my lip gloss and some heels and we took off to the Captain’s Party. OMG. What is on that tray of beautiful looking beverages? I locked eyes with the server and she read me like a book. Someone reached out of no-where as my vision of vacation in a martini glass was pulled from the tray. BAAAAHHHHH! Someone took the last one off of her tray just as I lifted my hand. No disappointment as the server smiled and said it was a Mango Martini and she would be right back with another one and bring it straight to me. She returned before I had a minute to feel sorry for myself and Aaaaahhhhhh. Yes, I was on a cruise!

We weren’t able to dilly dally at the party because we needed to catch the Band On The Run show. All 6 of us enjoyed the show and there was dancing in the seats and singing along (quietly though) to the music of the 70’s and early 80’s. I had seen the “un-rated” practice version on YouTube and I knew we would all find it entertaining. We had dinner reservations at 8:30 for Teppanyaki but they were running late and I don’t think we were seated until 9:10 or so. This is much too late for me to be eating, but of course, I forced myself to do so! The floor was extremely slippery, so if you eat there please watch your step. I had the Green Tea Cake for dessert. It did seem dry and tasteless. So I tried another and another bite. By the time I was nearly done with it, I kinda liked it! Oh, I forgot to add that while waiting to order, which took a long, long time, the menu was on a “you follow these instructions and you will make a beautiful origami *fill in the blank”. I am Martha Stewart crafty and I accepted the challenge with haste. So I read, and proceeded to fold, rotate, score, lift, double crease myself into frustration. I looked up and most people seated at our table were having the same troubles. All but one young lady. No, she was folding, scoring, creasing and rotating herself into something that actually looked like an animal or bird. What the…? So she held up her completed animal/bird thingy and smiled and we realized that she was the only person who had a “simple” version of the origami and everyone else had the identical “expert” version of another origami. Now I was really determined to complete my animal/bird creature thingy. So I squished and rolled and shaped mine into perfection and proudly held up for everyone else to admire…a snake. And then I transformed it into a snail and several other thingies that my wine happy brain could spontaneously come up with. We laughed and decided that we must be on some sort of Candid Camera for NCL’s Christmas party entertainment. No one could figure out how to make the “expert” level origami animal. Kuddos NCL, as you managed to find a way to distract us from being bored and unhappy with our wait time.

After dinner, well I don’t remember. This was the first real day of my relaxed vacation and I was trying to catch up with the DH, Credit and Debit. I will add that since Debit is 18 we allowed him to consume alcohol on this vacation. With his driver’s license in hand we went down to the service desk, on embarkation day and signed a parental consent form which allowed him to purchase beer and wine. He could drink other alcohol as long as we purchased it for him. NCL will take away the clipped corner key card and give the consented minor a new card that has all four corners intact. Credit tried to buy a mixed drink for Debit, but the bartender would not allow it as one of the parents was not present or purchasing it. I like the enforcement of this policy. Now that we have returned home, no alcohol allowed for Debit!

Today I would have to agree with “He Said”. The day was half frustration and half wonderfulness. Isn’t that the way life is most of the time? However, it is so much more fun to experience it while you are on a ship!

Here are some more photos of us relaxing on the private balcony:

First EMAW!

Second who did you use for transports, we are doing the same thing in janurary, booked a car with budget, staying at laquinta just down the road, going to the space center, and looking to get from the hotel to the dock.

EMAW!!!!!!! DW and I are both from the Class if '88.

NCL referred us to Groundlink. I just did a search for Groundlink Houston and got their number. Their customer service was outstanding, they were on time, and the vehicle was very nice.

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Day Two (Saturday the 22nd) – Embarkation Day

So, a little additional background regarding why we sprung for the Garden Villa. As we mentioned in our Day One post – this is our second time in the GV. The first time thanks to the Up-sale Fairy. For this cruise, thanks to Mr. or Mrs. Not-so-smart, we had to pay full price. We did so as this was a special cruise for us: first, Wifey and I were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary (the actual date was July 1, but we extended the celebration to this cruise); second, I turned 50 on this cruise….yes, that’s right, I turned 50. And as Molly Shannon said on Saturday Night Live…”I can kick, and I can stretch…cuz I’m 50!!”. Well not really, I’m a dude with tight hamstrings so I can’t really do both…but you get the point. The third reason we got the GV was for our boys, for their graduation presents (they both graduate in May, 2015) – Credit from college, and Debit from high school. Also, this was probably our last family vacation for a while as, after graduation and commissioning, Credit is going to Armor School to become and Abrahams tanks commander. So we have no idea where he’ll be next summer or this time next year. Plus, with Debit going into Air Force ROTC, we just don’t know what his schedule will be like. So, we treated this like our family’s last family vacation for a while. And yes, by the way, Wifey and I are incredibly proud of our boys for wanting to serve their country (there was no parental influence here – they decided on their own). So, did we get the GV in part to celebrate our sons….you’re damn right we did!

The last reason for the GV was to give Judy and Bill a chance to have an amazing cruising experience. Given the experience of their first cruise, we wanted them to see what a great cruise is like. Also, Judy was a single parent who raised 3 kids on her own, had a tough life, was on government assistance with 3 young kids, and worked multiple jobs to support her kids. She also watched Credit and Debit for Wifey and I over the years so we could go on vacations. I wanted her, for a week, to be treated like a Queen. And oh how did NCL deliver. Here’s how we did the GV, we booked it 709 days out from the cruise, then saved for it. It was hard, but we did it, and are glad we did.

One final note before we get to Embarkation Day – this He Said/She Said is going to get interesting as we get into each day as, although it was just a couple weeks ago, the days are getting foggy for me. Maybe the Jack Daniel’s has something to do with that, but I think it’s the fact I’m 50. Wifey will tell you though that my memory started going out on me when I was 24. Frankly, I’m looking forward to the She Said part of this review later in the week so I know what the heck went on.

So, let’s move on to Embarkation Day.

Embarkation Day

He Said:

I’d like to start off with some comments about the Homewood Suites and the Clear Lake area. Loved both. The rooms at the Homewood Suites are nice, very nice. I was very pleased with the hotel, the incredibly nice staff, and the quality of the hotel. I highly recommend to anyone who needs a place to stay the night before the cruise. Clear Lake is a nice area. There are a lot of restaurants and shops in the area, and a really nice mall just a half mile to the west. I say “nice mall”, that’s not me saying that, that’s wifey – my “Man Card” prevents me from ever making any comments about a shopping mall.

We had a 9 am commitment time to get the cars back to Budget car rental, and the transfer company was coming at 10 am to pick us up to take us to the airport. So, after a horrible night of sleep caused by the anticipation of getting on the ship (I never sleep well the night before a cruise – I’m too darn excited), wifey and I got up, ate a minimal breakfast in the lobby, and drove our two cars to Budget. We dropped them off and started our walk back to the hotel that was literally across a high way. A couple observations as we tried to cross this highway to get to our hotel that was literally a 3-iron golf shot away…..ok, for me it was probably a 3-iron, 5-iron, and pitching wedge, but you get the point….we were close. Observations: first, the Houston as the longest traffic lights I’ve ever encountered. And when I say long, I mean loooooooooonnng. We stood there for literally 10 minutes waiting for the cross-walk signal. Wifey finally said the heck with it and crossed when there wasn’t any traffic. I being the good husband said “Yes mum” and I followed quickly behind her. Lastly, where in the heck does everyone go on the weekend? All of the HORRENDOUS traffic we saw the day before had disappeared….now the traffic looked….dare I say it….normal.

You’ll recall in our comments in the Day One post that NCL had given us the name of the transfer company they use, and we had reserved, then cancelled, that transfer company from picking us up at Houston Hobby. We did, however, also use this transfer company to take us from the hotel to the port, and they were awesome. They arrived right at the reserved time of 10 am with a BIG SUV and easily got us, and our entire luggage, quickly and easily loaded. Them we headed off to the port.

I know, I’m a guy, which means we sometimes overstate the facts. But let me say, the Port of Houston is literally out in the middle of freaking nowhere. Yeah, sure, there are A LOT of commercial industries around it, but it’s not like Miami, Lauderdale, New Orleans, etc., where there’s some human civilization present. I’m talking the port is out in the middle of nowhere. We left the hotel for what I thought would be a short 15 minute drive. Nay, nay, it was not a short 15 minute drive. It was probably more like 25 minutes – not bad, except I felt like I was driving through western Kansas looking for a cruise port.

Alas, after much time, our wagon train finally arrived at the new frontier…..sorry….after about 25 minutes we saw the Jewel. And oh what a great site she was. Embarkation Day was clouded, cool, and dreary, but seeing the Jewel helped warm us up. Our driver got us to the port, dropped us off, gave our luggage to a porter, and we made our way to the front door. Easy. A little aside – Wifey and I have only ever cruised out of two ports: Miami and New Orleans. Miami is a piece of cake, New Orleans was a little tougher. Port of Houston? BIG piece of cake. You walk through the front doors, go through security. Then, if you’re in a suite, once past security, you go to the left – can’t miss the room as there’s a sign for VIP/Suite check-in and a person holding a clip board. Or, if you’re not in a suite, you just go to the right where multiple people wait to check you in.

We went to the VIP/Suite check in and were quickly checked in. We then went into the VIP/Suite lounge to wait meeting the Concierge (Florentina), and our Butler (Romand). One of the best parts of cruising for us is making new friends, and we were blessed to meet Mike and Kay from Wichita in the VIP lounge. What a wonderful couple they were. They had a horrible trip to Houston the day before – they were flying out of Wichita on Friday, but the airport closed due to fog. So they hopped on a Grey Hound bus and 12 hours later, arrived in Houston. They got into town around 8 am on Saturday. Boy were they tired. But, they had made it. After talking to them for a jiffy Florentina, the Concierge, told us our Butler, Roland, would be by soon to meet us and take us on the ship. Just shortly after 11:30 am Roland arrived, introduced himself to us, and walked us on to the ship.

Our first course of business was to do lunch in Moderno. My usual first day lunch is to have the salmon appetizer, followed by the Turkey Burger, then rounded out with Carrot Cake. The salmon was awesome, they brought me a hamburger instead of the turkey burger (no biggie, I roll with the flow), and then I had the awesome Carrot Cake. Man do I love NCL’s Carrot Cake.

After lunch we went to the Garden Villa. We were staying in 14000 and Roland took us up to it. Upon entering it, to put it mildly, Judy and Bill were overwhelmed with the size and beauty of it. Keep in mind, we had booked this cruise 709 days out. So we had a lot of time to give Judy and Bill all kinds of info on the GV. It doesn’t matter how much info you give someone, nothing you give them to read can ever compare to seeing it firsthand. And boy were Judy and Bill blown away….awesome. We then walked them through The Haven. Afterwards, we walked them around the ship so they could start learning the layout of the ship and all there was available to do. At 3:00 pm we did the life boat drill. Yeah ! What fun that is.

The Sudden Turn Right:

It was cold, windy, and a little rainy, so after the life boat drill we went up the GV for sail away. The 6 of us partied up on our private sun deck for sail away, listening to the music from the band on the pool deck. After a while we got cold and went into the Villa. The boys and I were standing by the front windows in the Villa, overlooking the pool deck when all of a sudden….the Jewel turned sharply starboard (to the right)….and I mean sharply. As soon as the Jewel turns, and we catch our balance, we see a small freighter pass to our port (left) really close to the Jewel. Let me emphasize again, it passed really close to the Jewel. From our vantage point, it looked like there was maybe 10 ft between the ships. Everyone outside on Deck 13 ran to port to see the freighter.

We actually learned a day later, in the Meet and Greet , that the Jewel was one of the last ships out of the Port of Houston. The Hotel Director said had the Jewel been delayed much later than our 4 pm scheduled departure that we wouldn’t have gotten out of port. The Port Authority has a maximum allowed wind speed of 35 mph, and the winds were pushing that limit. Plus, visibility was falling quickly. I assume the fog and winds contributed to what I consider to be a near-miss, but isn’t that what radar is for?? No big deal. No collision happened and we had alcohol in the Villa to drink to calm our nerves. Or did we?

Don’t get me wrong - I love Texas. It’s a wonderful state. Heck, if we didn’t have Texas then…..Oklahoma would be a Gulf state. But, to be honest, your liquor laws SUCK. One of the perks of staying the GV is that you get 6 bottles of alcohol. And you can order this alcohol your first day in the GV………….unless you sail out of Texas. Texas, apparently, has some goofy, some would say…STUPID….liquor laws. These wonderful liquor laws mean, if you’re in the GV, you don’t get your liquor until your sea day the next day. And, we got our liquor LATE afternoon on Sunday (our sea day). So this meant we had one less day to consume all 6 bottles of liquor. Included in the 6 bottles of liquor were 2 bottles of Jack Daniels’s (in our house this is called “daddy’s milk). So, thanks to the weird Texas liquor laws, we only had 6 days to drink ALL of this alcohol (including the two bottles of Jack Daniel’s)….and all I can say is…..mission accomplished.

We had dinner Saturday night at Cagney’s, which was awesomely good, and then caught the “A taste of things to Come” show at Stardust. Which was good. Afterwards, since we didn’t have any alcohol in the GV yet, we hit Bar City and became friends with Kumar – what an awesome bartender. I think we finished the night after spending some time at Bar City….but I wouldn’t know. Wifey will have to tell us what else we did.

Before I turn this over to Wifey, a few comments about Judy and Bill. To say they were overwhelmed with the Jewel is an understatement. They were, frankly, overwhelmed by the GV, and by the Jewel. I can understand how overwhelming it can be for someone to be not only in the GV, but also on a new ship. Wifey, I’m sure, will have more info on this experience for Embarkation Day, but also for the rest of the cruise. But let me say this……..it seemed at times as if we had 4 kids on our cruise – Credit, Debit, Judy, and Bill. And before I sign off, I’ll leave you with this little teaser………”No Judy, the Jewel doesn’t have Wonkavators (elevators that go diagonally or horizontally). The Jewel’s elevators only go up and down”.

She Said:

Sigh. So many points to disagree with from the DH. Where shall I begin?

First though I shall agree. Homewood Suites in Clear Lake is a wonderful place to stay for a pre or post cruise night. I am a clean freak. If there is any kind of questionable debris pushed up into the corners of the bathrooms floors I turn up my nose. This comes from being raised by DM who taught me how to clean a bathroom until a Q Tip passed over the trim-board in the corners stays perfectly unblemished. I carried this on into my adulthood. This is the standard by which I judge all hotels or condos we stay in. The Homewood Suites is clean!!! Also, I have great difficulty sleeping and having lights, noises or an uncomfortable bed and pillows make it nearly impossible for me to sleep. Perfectly dark, extremely quiet and perfect for me bed and pillows. Also great room temperature control. Two big thumbs up for our choice in the two bedroom suite there. We had DM and DSFinL stay in their own suite. A separated family is a happy family.

Now the She Said side of the arrival an embarkation story. We wove through all types of neighborhoods getting to the port. Shopping, office type and single/multi-family neighborhoods. Then the long roads to the port. It was a dreary day. Chilly, the wind was picking up and visibility was reduced due to a foggy haziness in the air. What an easy port to arrive at, walk through security through and complete the check-in process. If you are carrying wine onboard, once through security you will make a half turn to your right and someone will be at a table to look at your wine, put a sticker on each one, take your name and stateroom number and then you will be charged $15 later in the cruise for each 750 ml bottle, no matter where you consume it during your cruise. Don’t think if you drink it in your cabin there will be no charge. Once you hit the table you will either be directed to the left or the right. Left is for the VIP/suite cruisers. Your photos, credit card info etc. will be taken care of here. Next we walked into the lounge area and there were beverages and snacks available to partake in. Florentina our concierge introduced herself to us and gave us a form to select our specialty restaurants, date, time and number of guests. I really just wanted to “Freestyle” it. She strongly suggested we make reservations as it was Thanksgiving week and if we wanted Teppanyaki especially, to make our choice. She checked and they were down to just one day with two times for our party of six. So, I cannot stress enough, please either make your reservations before boarding or if you are using your OBC to make the Teppanyaki reservation as soon as you get onboard. I don’t want anyone to be disappointed. The bottles for the suite menu arrived and we needed to select 6. Of course Jack Daniels is NOT on the list but Florentina made it happen. Also, I wanted Captain Morgan Spiced Rum which was also NOT on the list, and it happened as well. This did not appear in our cabin until mid to late afternoon on the next day. So if you have pre-ordered a bottle for your cabin, please be aware that it will not be waiting for you due to NCL/Texas liquor/tax laws. Don’t know who is blaming who on this procedure but it really sucks if you didn’t know about it beforehand. We carried 5 bottles of wine on with us. I primarily drink wine. I was happy! There is also a limited alcohol menu available for all cruisers until later in the evening due to the NCL procedure. Oh, don’t think you can’t drink. You certainly can. But if you want a specialty mojito, like the Cucumber Basil Mojito, you can’t get it. You can order a basic Mojito and be happy with it.

Getting to our Garden Villa from the port building. Florentina announced we could all board together. Our group of six was not prepared to quickly jump up and follow. May I say now that my DSFinL (Dear Step Father for me Dear Step Father-in-Law for my hubby) doesn’t get around very quickly. He was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis in May and has a short time with us due to his illness. He also has had some issues with his back causing leg pain. Also, they brought six bags on this trip SIX BAGS!!!! One that was large and FIVE SMALL BAGS THE SIZE OF GYM TOTEBAGS. Seriously? Of course three had to be with them at all times. So by the time we were ready to embark, I had drilled into them to count their bags before they moved anywhere. One. Two. Three. Bill. Judy. My own carryon. My husband. His bag. Debit. His backpack. Credit. His backpack. How many children do I have Two? NO FIVE! I have five children to keep track of and their possessions as well. Lord, when I get on the ship, I am opening a bottle of that wine. Pouring it into my thermal Silver Dollar City insulted mug and chugging it. I’m telling my non-drinking DM that it is water and she will be none the wiser. Florentina saw I was getting a little stressed and said we could board a bit later with our butler Roland taking us directly to the suite. THANK YOU FLORENTINA. Yes, she is also a first born and she immediately knew that I was also. We are the ones who take charge of everything, lead the mission and clean up the messes left behind. God bless Florentina!

Roland met us and we followed the masses up the walkway to the ship. Yes, I said followed the masses. I was certain he would whip out a special card and walk us past the hordes of people in front of us. This did not happen. However, I was glad we didn’t bypass anyone as Roland and I had a nice talk about suite passengers and butlers. I explained how we weren’t going to be guests that would like him to constantly be at our beck and call. I also didn’t expect him to unpack our suitcases. A look came over his face that was troublesome. He told me about the number of suites he takes care of daily, about his responsibilities, the demands. He wants to be the best butler he can be but the amount of work that has been put on the butlers has grown and grown. This made me feel bad and it also validated my personal opinion that the butler level of service has declined since our first suite cruise in 2009. Please understand that I’m no professional butler service judging board member, but this is my own experience. Roland pulled out the special card and UP the elevator we went to the GV.

Yes, Mom and Bill were overwhelmed. But they would always smile and nod their heads yes to all of the information we were giving them. They asked few questions. I thought they knew exactly what I was telling them because 1). I’m a perfect giver of information (hehe, not) and 2). They have a map in hand and there are signs all over the ship giving information and I know they can read. But in truth, they were outrageously overwhelmed, in information overload and probably tired from the traveling. As DH has said above, more on that later…..

Because of the NCL/Texas laws (again I don’t know who is to blame here) Bill was unable to order a non-alcoholic beer at Moderno for lunch after we boarded. I ordered three appetizers and the berries for dessert. I sampled Debit’s Brownie which was absolutely the best! It was made with butter and REAL chocolate. Now I know my chocolate and in the past, NCL’s chocolate has been bad. Supremely bad. Like Palmer’s Easter Egg chocolate bad. This dessert, please find it. Eat it. So good. Maybe NCL’s chocolate has improved across the board?

Sail –away was on our front sundeck overlooking the pool decks 12-13. It was damp, chilly, and breezy. Visibility was reducing, reducing, reducing. We had read about the Port of Houston having delays due to the fog. Well, I think it was coming for us. Thankfully we did start moving and it was so exciting beginning this cruise, finally! My Mom and Bill lasted a short while outside with us. The conditions were not good for Bill to be outside and they went back to grow their confusion in their cabin unpacking or doing other things. We drank, danced around, took pictures and hugged as the 709 day journey was behind us and now we could relax and enjoy. Or maybe not.

Yes, it does seem we almost hit a freighter while sailing out of the causeway. We were so close, if a person were to lean waaaaay over the side and spit, it could have landed on this boat. I never heard the fog horn sound either. After this happened we all ran around in the suite, hyper-excited about the near-miss, saying we could have just died like on the Titanic. We excite easily.

Yes, all six of us ate at Cagney’s. No, we DID NOT go to the show that night. My Mom and Bill went to the show. I’m not certain what we did after dinner but we did end up at Malting’s Bar and I met Kumar for the first time. Kent, Debit and Credit had been there multiple times already, so Kumar was already acquainted with Princess Cindy by their descriptions of me. I had a White Chocolate Martini. Not the best by far. The best was made by Frisco on the Pearl last year. This WCM was ok. Kind of watery, not the icy milky creamy drink I’m accustomed to. We spent the evening talking to a couple who actually had more to drink than Kent did that first night.

May I describe the wind we experienced on this cruise. By gosh, it was windy! Being in the Garden Villa, you get relative quietness from other cruise passengers. However, the entire suite itself makes noise. Lots of noise. Squeaking, shifting, watery, drainage, sliding, grinding kinds of noises. I don’t know where they come from but the sounds are above, below and to the sides of you at all times. Add in rough seas, (the t.v. said) 11.5 ft and winds at 62.5 mph and the Garden Villa was a noisy as a cafeteria in a large high school. The ship was not happy and the sounds it was making all night long didn’t provide us with a good night’s sleep. I referenced earlier about my sleep difficulties, and I will talk about the Bliss bed later in our review.

I’ll be the kind, loving and forgiving DW and wrap this up without pointing out the other 7-8 discrepancies that DH made in his He Said part of today’s review…I was rushing to get this completed by 2 p.m. and I am way past that time. I didn’t edit anything I typed, so please excuse my poor sentence structure and misspellings!

Working on Embarkation Day right now and will get it posted within the next hour or so.

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The ship arrives at 8:00 a.m. we will walk off with our luggage. What time can we expect to get off the ship? Can we make a 12:00 flight from FLL with a reserved car service?

You can make it with a reserved car service or by grabbing a taxi.

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We recently completed a cruise on the Jewel and thought it would be unique, refreshing, and frankly, down right interesting to do a review from two different perspectives: that of the Dear Hubby – Wildcatrock (aka “He Said”), and Dear Wifey - Realcindylouwho (aka “She Said”). This was a BIG cruise for us, had some really interesting happenings, and frankly, one person’s perspective won’t do justice to the experience we had. So, before the He Said/She Said debate begins, let’s start with a little background.

Background:

Wildcatrock began the cruise in his late 40’s (very late that is), and finished it in his early 50’s (very early that is). Realcindylouwho began, and finished the cruise in her late 40’s. Also along for the ride were our two sons who will be known as “Credit” and “Debit”. “Credit” is 22 and earned his name as he is a senior at Kansas State University and, thanks to an Army ROTC scholarship and other scholarships, hasn’t cost us a penny for his college. “Debit” is 18 and earned his name as…..well…he’s a senior in high school, living at home, and will be going to Kansas State University in the Air Force ROTC program…but he’s still costing us money…thus he is known as “Debit” in our family. The final two family participants in this adventure were Judy, age 72 (Wildcatrock’s wonderful, beautiful mother-in-law)MinL, and Bill, age 75, (the easily confused, never-wrong, but “great-guy” step-father-in-law)DSFinL.

A little further background on Judy and Bill – this was their 2nd cruise. Their first cruise was an Alaskan cruise on Royal Caribbean that frankly…..sucked. It had nothing to do with Royal Caribbean; rather, Bill got seasick then came down with norovirus. As a result, they had the pleasure of spending the last couple days of their cruise quarantined in their cabin. To top their first cruise experience off, when their ship got back to Seattle, their tour group forgot about them, and the ship’s crew forgot about them. So Judy and Bill hurried off the ship, grabbed a taxi, the taxi blew a tire on the way to the airport, they finally arrived at the airport, and…..they missed their flight. They finally arrived at the KC airport 12 hours later. Yea!! What a great time!! We asked them a few weeks later if they’d ever cruise again and their response……NO WAY!!! So…what did we do??....We invited them on this cruise!!

Some more background on us: We began cruising in 2009, on NCL, and have only cruised on NCL. Nothing against any other cruise line, but we’re creatures of habit and comfort, and frankly, haven’t had any reason or interest, yet, in trying any other cruise lines. Our first cruise was in an AFT Suite, loved it, loved the suite life, and have only cruised in suites…so far. On our second cruise in 2010, Debit and Credit joined us. The Monday before the cruise we received a wonderful call from the “Up-Sale Fairy” offering us an incredible deal on a Garden Villa (GV)…..which we promptly snapped up. This was back in the day when NCL would offer up-sales into the GV….. until just a few years ago when some not-smart-person who had bagged a great deal on a GV, via the Up-Sale Fairy, bragged to the poor schmuck who had paid full price on the other GV on the same cruise about the great deal they had received from the “Up-Sale Fairy”. Well, Mr. Poor-Schmuck complained to NCL and suddenly the Garden Villa, Up-Sale Fairy, phone calls disappeared. Thanks Mr. or Mrs. Not-smart-person for the ruining the fun for everyone.

As creatures of habit and comfort, we’ve been to the same ports-of-call several times. Why?? Because we love the relaxation and overall experience one finds with cruising – you know, turning the cell phone off and disconnecting from the “real world”. We love the view and sound of the wake from an aft room, we love the ocean, we love being on the ocean….we….well, you get the point.

It should also be noted that the first time Credit and Debit sailed they were in the GV….the second time they sailed…on this cruise….they were in the GV. Yes, they have a somewhat warped sense of cruising reality.

We love the “smaller” ships as we’ve sailed on the Pearl, Star, and now the Jewel. We have decided though to make the jump to the bigger ships and have booked the Getaway for next year. But, that’s next year…..let’s talk about the cruise we just had, this year……

Point of order – this will be a lengthy review so our plan is to try and post our adventure one day at a time, and will try and post a new day on Cruise Critic every day or so.

Day One (Friday the 21st) – The Journey to the Freaking Huge Megopolis known as Houston

He Said:

I spent A LOT of time the months before the cruise planning everything out….the transportation to and from the airports, the hotel, the excursions, etc. And let me say…I did an absolutely flawless job. Our flight on Friday, November 21st left KCI (Kansas City International Airport….I’ve never understood why it’s called an International Airport when the largest air carrier is Southwest Airlines) at 8:40 am. Due to the earlier flight, with 6 people, and multiple pieces of luggage, I thought it would be a good idea to hire a transportation company to pick us up in a van at 6:15 am and take us to the airport. Per my planning, the transportation company picked us up a little early at 6:00 am. We somehow squeezed 6 people and what seemed like 100 pieces of luggage into the just-barely-big enough van. We got to KCI easily and had the pleasure of joining 100’s of our closest friends in the line to check our luggage in. After a not-too-long wait we got checked in, got through the gauntlet known as the KCI TSA, and got on our non-stop flight to Houston Hobby.

For those cruisers who have booked, or are thinking of booking a cruise on the Jewel out of Houston remember this……….Houston is a freaking LARGE city!! Oh, and this freaking large city has a poor transportation system – i.e., not a lot of taxi’s for a city of Houston’s size. We had booked two rooms at the Homestead Suites in Clear Lake (more on that in a little bit), and looked at the cost of taking 2 taxis to the hotel from Hobby. Wow, no way, not gonna do that – it was going to be expensive. After realizing this a few months before the cruise, we called NCL to see if they had any suggestions. They gave us the name of the transportation company NCL uses for transfers. We ended up booking a van at the cost of $130 to take us from Hobby to our hotel. And yes, this was going to be cheaper than taking two taxis.

My plan for the day in Houston before the cruise was that I would take Credit and Debit to the Johnson Space Center while DW, Judy, and Bill chilled out at the hotel. Let me interject that my plan was for me and the boys to walk the short two miles to the Space Center. Yes, I am a moron.

About a week before the cruise, DW told me that Judy wanted to go shopping. Shopping?? On a vacation?? In freaking Houston?? Seriously?? Who does that?? That was not part of my incredibly well organized plan….but it was now. So, DW had the idea of cancelling our van reservation and booking two cars for the day in Houston. The boys and I could use one car and go to the Space Center while DW and Judy could take the other car and go shopping. Bill would be relegated to staying at the hotel. We looked into the cost and realized we could save a lot of money by doing this, and the big awesome part of this was that the car rental company had an office just a block from our hotel. So, we could rent the cars for the day, then on Saturday, before we left for the port, we could drop the cars off at the office just a block from the hotel (we’d walk back to the hotel). Great idea Wifey!! Wifey shared this news with Judy who was excited she got to go shopping. Bill, finding this out, then said he wanted to go shopping too (yes, he received several deductions in his “man-card” for this). My thought – Ha! You’re taking Bill shopping with you….priceless. So, we booked our transportation.

The flight was non-eventful and we arrived at Hobby…wet and rainy Hobby. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the car rental company. We got our two cars, loaded them up, and headed out. A couple comments here: First, I know it’s usually not smart to take out the liability waiver on a car rental, but I insisted we get this on our two car rentals. And I’m glad we did. As mentioned above it was wet and rainy when we got to Houston. If you’ve never been to Houston let me describe the traffic like this…….it’s horrendous!!! So, let me see, do I want the liability waiver?? Freaking huge Houston…horrible traffic…wet and rainy weather….and DW is a magnet for other cars whenever she’s driving. Uh yeah, duh….we’re getting the liability waiver. Second point, don’t make things sound hard and stressful about driving in Houston or your DW will make the step-dad ride with you. I love Bill, I really do, but man, take a “chill-pill”. I know, it’s a Dodge Charger, they’re hard to get in to. Yeah, I know, it’s freaking raining. Yeah, I know, there’s a lot of traffic. Yeah, I know, everybody’s driving fast. Yeah, I know Cindy and Judy never know where they’re going. Yeah, I know where I’m going (thank you Google Maps). OMG.

We made it to the Homestead Suites in Clear Lake. Very uneventfully I will add. We were able to check into our rooms early (at 12:30 pm). And headed out for a quick bite a Chipotle. Afterwards, the boys and I headed to the Johnson Space Center, and the ladies…and Bill…headed out shopping. I’ve been to the Johnson Space Center a couple times before, and it was great taking the boys there. Debit is considering going into the space program in his Air Force career so I wanted him to see and experience the history at the Johnson Space Center. If you’ve never been there, I highly recommend you going. Simply put, what mankind can accomplish is out of this world. It fills you with immense pride, and a sense of amazement and wonder.

That's Debit on the left, wildcatrock, and Credit on the right

We had a great time and headed back to the hotel. Dinner that night was leftover Chipotle and Sonic. Yummy. Our day in Houston concluded with early bed times and our minds filled with wonderful thoughts of seeing the Norwegian Jewel in the morning.

She Said:

Although I am very wordy in person, I will try hard not to be so wordy in this review!

I have to second nearly everything my DH said above. Yes, the van that picked us up at home was completely packed tight on the way to the airport. But it was far less costly than driving and parking two vehicles at the airport. Secondly, there were television vans at the airport when we arrived. Hmmm, wonder why? Maybe someone famous was flying into town? No, as it turns out this was the BUSIEST travel day in the past seven years at our airport. Sweet heavenly father, look at the line! However, Southwest was completely prepared for all of us and the lines moved quickly. I sat with DM and DSFinL on the plane. I didn’t get any of my book read in flight as I was trying to teach DM how to play Scrabble on my IPod, with little success.

Stress. This is what I experienced driving an unfamiliar-to-me car, in the rain, in an unknown city with fast traffic, road lane reductions due to ongoing repairs and construction (come on Texas Road Authority, give us a little warning in advance that 5 lanes will become 2 in just under 20 feet!) headed to a hotel where I don’t know if they will let us check in early or make us wait around. However, we arrived safely, rooms were ready, ate lunch, went to the mall and back, ate supper, lounged around and went to bed.

Success! Look at how few words I used. I get the gold star for the day. But be forewarned…Embarkation day is approaching!

The ship arrives at 8:00 a.m. we will walk off with our luggage. What time can we expect to get off the ship? Can we make a 12:00 flight from FLL with a reserved car service?

If you do easy walk-off (you take your luggage off) you shouldn't have any problem making a 12 noon flight out of FLL - we've done it.

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Which one were you in and what was the condition?

We were in 14000 and it was in good condition - had new carpet. The bed however was not very good. It was hard, didn't seem to be a Bliss bed. DW had difficulty sleeping the bed was so hard. Overall the Villa was great.

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Looking forward to your review of the Jewel. How did you get from the Houston Hobby airport to the ship? Taxi,Shuttle ETC. and what did it cost?

 

More questions to follow after reading your review.

We flew in the day before and had reserved a ride with a limo company that had been recommended to us by NCL. There were 6 in our group, half of which wanted to go to the Johnson Space Center and the other half wanted to go shopping. We did some research and discovered we could rent two cars for a day at a cost cheaper than the cost of the limo. Plus, the car rental company had a drop off location near our hotel.

We did use the limo service the next day to get us from the hotel (we stayed in Clear Lake) to the port at a cost of $102. NCL provided us with a ride today from the port to Hobby.

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We are so disappointed with the change in the upper deck on the Jewel and Gem GV since they have added the rooms on the 15th floor. The last two times we have sailed out of NYC on the Gem we have been on the wrong side to see the Statue of Liberty and had to leave our deck to see it. We traveled the Gem, Jewel and Jade in the GV last year but don't have any plans to sail those ships next year. Still love NCL and will continue sailing them but are reconsidering whether or not to spring for the GV.

There haven't been any changes to the Jewel's Garden Villa sun deck yet - we had A LOT of room. The hammock was up front along with several loungers, chairs and small tables.

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Just back from a wonderful cruise on the Jewel and am sitting at Houston Hobby waiting on the flight home. Will post a review sometime in the upcoming week but would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Questions??

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We hop on the Jewel in 5 days and are looking forward to the itinerary - 3 sea days and 3 ports.....perfect.

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Don't know the age of your kids but Grand Cayman would be better - do Stingray City with a stop at Coral Gardens. Stingray City's fun, shallow water (waist depth), and Coral Gardens is about 15 ft deep, little current, good fish counts - it's like swimming in a fish bowl. Cozumel has great snorkeling but you can get to deep water pretty fast and there's a strong current on the west side of the island. Depending on your kid's age, snorkeling on the west side of Cozumel could be pretty daunting. The south side of Cozumel has slower currents and can offer more tranquil snorkeling from Playa Palancar and points farther south.

If you want to snorkel on the west side of Cozumel there are places that offer some protected snorkeling areas such as Chankanaab. Areas closer to shore here offer great fish counts and little to no current.

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Can you share the name of the transportation company you found and how much it cost?

I am struggling with finding a shuttle that can take 7 of us from a hotel close to Houston Hobby to NCL Jewel in two weeks....would love any info or direction!

thanks!

We're using Groundlink.

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Hello! That was a great suite you had!

Yes it was my friend! How are you and the Mrs doing?

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Last Dec on the Pearl we got a free upgrade from an Aft Penthouse to a 2 bdr in The Haven.

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