Back from the Sun 9/9-9/16

I wanted to write a bit about the cruise, as when I was searching information on this ship, there wasn't really a lot to go on. My DH and myself flew into Fort Lauderdale the day before. We spent the night at the Hotel Morrison. Highly recommend this hotel! The hotel shuttle driver advised us that there was some kind of street fair was going on. When we arrived, it was a lots of boths of crafts, and a lot of food trucks. We hadn't ate any dinner, so we enjoyed a good grilled cheese sandwich. The hotel is only a year old, and it was very comfortable. The entire street fair was torn down and we never heard a thing. Great breakfast the next morning. We normally use Jiffy Jeff for transportation, but they were on vacation. We did use them on the way home. We used an Uber driver, and he was prompt and courteous. He was from Cuba.

We were in group six at the port. We had not issues boarding, and everything went really smooth. My husband left his Rx sunglasses in the port area, and some nice soul turned them in. We got on so early that we had no issue eating at the buffet. We mostly emptied our suitcases and put things away. We were in a balcony room. It was what we were expecting. We had the best steward! His name was Romel. He worked very hard, and we made sure he got a little something extra at the end of the cruise.

I hate the drill! We always go early, and I swear I am NOT doing this next time. We had this little "Hitler"

guy who kept things orderly. We had a 5 night dinner package on our cruise. We went to the lovely La Bistro the first night, and we were not disappointed. We have dined at the Bistro on other ships, and have always enjoyed it. We dined there again on the last night at sea. The food is always good, and you just can't go wrong. Creme Brulee' is lovely!

We hung out at the beach (under a palm tree) at Great Stirrup Caye. It is a lovely spot. We had lunch, but when it is so hot like that, the food never speaks to me, as it would in a cool spot. If I had to live somewhere hot, and no A/C I would never have a weight issue!. We went back to the ship after lunch and hung out. We like playing trivia, etc. so we took advantage of that. We had dinner at Moderno. I adore the salad bar (again done this on another ship). It had items that you never see on any other salad bar. I had a half of a chicken leg and a little of the side items. If you go, have them slice you a chunk of the grilled pineapple. I could have ate a plateful! My husband I went down to try out for the NCL star. I decided I didn't want to try out, but the leader of the Karoake made the crown chant my name. I sang, but I haven't sang anywhere in years, so I was not comfortable. My husband sang, and it he is a very good singer. I left after he sang. So, I wasn't there when the people were voted to the next round. The people that won (by applause) were not very good; except for two. They just had lots of friends there. I didn't really care.My husband was disappointed. He did continue to sing during open Karoake. One of the employees took his name, and said he was going to add his name to the roster of those who made it through, but this never happened.

We had a private tour through Blexie in Cuba. We went out with Isbel. I cannot say anything but good things about this guy. He spoke fluent English and German. He is a college graduate, and is an air traffic controller. He does this to supplement his income. His parents were both engineers, and they live on $20.00 each a month. He helps them as well. He took us all over the place, and gave us a great history lesson. We went to a Romeo and Juliet's cigar shop. The ladies were in the back rolling cigars. We promised to bring some back, and some rum for a friend. None of it was for us. It was more costly that I expected,coupled with losing 13 percent in exchange of funs. He was pretty candid, and we went into a small grocery store, that litterally had nothing but beans, rice, coffee and canned mangoes. People came in for coffee and they still use ration books! If you have the money, you can shop at regular grocery stores. I was shocked at that. If I had known they would not check my husbands backpack, I would have brought items to give them. We walked a lot; however, we did get to ride in a beautiful ruby red 1956 Chevrolet Belair. So many beautiful old cars. Oh my! At 4:30 pm, we arrived back at the port. We wanted to have some dinner, and then go back out to walk the malecon. Well, it poured rain, so we didn't get to go back.

I will write more a little later. If anyone has questions, please thrown it out there. I will gladly answer it for you.

I edited my original post, and the system put my review up twice. Can anyone tel me how to take one of these off the board?