2/19 Sea Review (very long)

[susanf31]

Just back from the 2/19/05 sailing of the Sea.

 

Cast: Me, 38. DH, 44. Stepdaughter, 15. My daughters, 13 & 10.

 

Let me start by saying that we had a GREAT cruise. Weather was perfect except for the last day. It was a lot of fun. But this review will be nit-picky to help people know what to expect. We've previously sailed the Disney Magic, Holland Zuiderdam and Holland Zaandam. I would said NCL again if the price were right, but after this cruise, I do prefer Holland for the small nuiances it offers over NCL.

 

Check-in: Easiest EVER! We beat the busses...no line, took less than 15 minutes from the time we arrived until we were walking on board. I did have all of our paperwork filled out previously online. We rented a car at IAH from Enterprise and dropped it off in Seabrook. On the way back, Enterprise had a car waiting for us as we walked off the ship. Very easy!

 

Cabins: We had 2 cabins...kids in category II, 6101, inside, aft, Promenade deck. We were in cat. EE, 6247, window, aft, Promenade. Very small cabins. The shower was triangular shaped...18'' by 24''...I'm not kidding! But they were fine and we were comfortable. If you can at all swing it, get a window...it made a huge difference in the stuffiness of the cabin. I liked the location of our cabins in the back...you could go out the back door to the sports court and just a few flights up to the pools and Buffet.

 

Ship: I liked the ship. It's not big or glitzy...maybe I'm becoming an old fuddy-duddy, but I'm starting to like the smaller ships. She really grew on me as the week went along. The only thing I didn't like about her was the Promenade deck. It was very "industrial" looking. I like a romantic Promenade deck with teak wood and lounge chairs. The Sea's Promenade deck was blue metal, no chairs...but walking that was MUCH better than walking the halls at work, no doubt!!!! :)

 

Food: The food was good. Not great, but good. We didn't eat at the Pasta place or the Bistro. A few nights we just skipped the restraunts and ate at the Big Apple buffet for dinner or at the pool barbeque. I liked the buffet...it's open hours were much better than Holland. Holland's buffet always seemed to be closed. This one was always open. I also felt that NCL's desserts were EXCELLENT...better than Holland or Disney.

 

Complaint: There was no room service menu in our cabin except for door hangers with which you could order a limited breakfast. It was like they offered you room service but didn't really want you to order it.

 

Another complaint compared to Holland America: I used to think Holland America fans were snobs for saying this, but now I agree. First of all, there was no salt or pepper containers on the tables at the buffet. They were in paper packets that you had to tear open...and they were not on the table. You had to get up and find them in little bowls that were never in the same spot. The butter was in foil packets and a pain in the rear to get open. Syrup, mayonaise, mustard, ketchup, etc... was in little packets you had to open. Holland always served butter, cream, salt, pepper, syrup, from nice dispensers...you never had to wrestle with MacDonald's-style packaging.

 

The hamburger patties were served in the buffet. You had to take a bun out of the plastic bag and take a patty from a serving bin...floating in brown water...pretty gross. Holland always cooked burgers fresh by the pool. Only on the last day did NCL have a poolside barbeque for lunch. I think they should have had it every day as Holland does.

 

On the upside, they had wonderful pool-side barbeques each night for dinner...loved them!

 

Service: We were treated very well on this cruise. Our cabin stewards were wonderful...especially Roberto Salazar. He went out of his way for our kids. Some of the servers were very aloof, some were great! Kind of hit or miss. On Holland, someone always offered to help my youngest with her tray at the buffet. No one on NCL ever offered to help her to her table when she was struggling with a tray. It's little things like that that I began to notice as the cruise went along.

 

People...fellow cruisers: I liked the mix of people better on this cruise than on Holland. We NEVER saw our 15 year old. There were TONS of teens on this cruise and they were all having a great time.

 

Pool chairs: Better get there early on the at-sea days. That seems to be a "given" on all cruises these days.

 

Entertainment: The stage is very small so they can't put on the kind of productions that larger ships do. Still, I enjoyed everything, the magician, the comedian and the dancers. We also enjoyed the "side shows" like "Not so Newlyweds", etc....

 

Cozumel: We jumped in a cab and went to Dzul Ha for some snorkeling. Then we jumped in a cab and went to Mr. Sancho's beach. It was a nice day. Mr. Sancho's was quite crowded.

 

Hondouras: Lordy, I LOVED Hondouras!!! LOVED IT. We took the Zip Line/Tabanya Beach excursion. IT was a BLAST!!! It's quite physical, and you need a good bit of upper body strength, but it was so much fun! Hint: request that you do the Zip Line first, then the beach. Depending on the tour your get, you might get sent to the beach first. It's much better to do the zip lines first, then head to the beach. Also, we were at the head of the line for the zip lines. Others on our excursion were at the end. That meant that we sat in the van over 40 minutes waiting for them to finish with the zip lines to get to Tabayana beach! That was valuable beach time to me! So, befriend the others in your group/vehicle and try to get them all to head to the front of the line so you can all get to the beach earlier!

 

Tabanya beach....holy cow....phenominal snorkeling!!! Some of the best I've ever seen and I'm a certified diver! The beach is very crowded, but gets less crowded later in the day...another good reason to do the zip line first, then go to the beach. Don't miss this beach....OUTSTANDING if you like to snorkel. Stay until the very last bus back to the ship. We had the beach to ourselves for the last 1/2 hour.

 

When you get back to the pier, make sure to shop. Roatan hasn't gotten commercial yet...thank goodness. You can see locals carving wood and can get great deals. We had 3 little boys "adopt" us and guide us around the shopping area. We gave them each $5 at the end and they were THRILLED. After we walked away, I wished I had given them more. There I was, spending thousands of dollars to show my kids a good time, and these kids couldn't have been more pleased with $5.00!!

 

Belize....TWO WORDS...CAVE TUBING!!! AMAZING!!!! We used Yhoni for the excursion. He was only $45 a person. BEcause there were 5 of us, we got a private tour! It was wonderful. I'll post a more detailed report on the "Ports of Call" board.

 

Cancun: Yuck, Yuck, Yuck. I hated it back in 1988 and I disliked it even more now. DO NOT GO TO FAT TUESDAYS that is on your right as you get off the tender. We stopped there for...are you ready....a beer, a margarita and got 3 slurpies (virgin dacquires) for the girls. Guess how much? $56. They charged us $11.00 EACH for the girls virgin dacquires. $8.00 for a beer and $11.00 for my Margarita. Giant rip off. There is another place on the left as your get off of the tender. That is where we found our 15 year old being given Tequila shots by the bartenders. Half of her friends, (aged 18 and younger) got so drunk at that bar, they had to be helped back to the ship. So, watch your teens!!!

 

All I can say is that after having such a wonderful time with the people in Hondouras and Belize, Cancun was sooo disappointing. Tourist trap. I hope Roatan and Belize don't end up like that someday.

 

Last complaint: Beach towels. UTTERLY ridiculous. YOu have to go to the lobby and sign out beach towels in the morning...and then get threatened with a $25 charge for EACH towel not returned. At the end of the day, you have to return your beach towels and hand over your slip that you got in the morning. It was very inconvienent. On Holland, they have plenty of towels ON THE GANGWAY for you to take as you exit the ship and bin to return them at the end of the day. It was sooo "Motel 6-ish" to make you sign out for bleached-out, ratty beach towels and then be threatened with a fine for not returning them. I couldn't believe it. We didn't know they wouldn't be at the gangway, and spent the day snorkeling in Cozumel with no towels.

 

Overall, in spite of my nit-picking, we had a great, great trip. For the price I paid, NCL exceeded my expectations. If I had paid more money for the cruise, I would have been a little disappointed in the "little things." But I feel I definitly got more than my money's worth.

 

Happy sailing!

[cruiserb]

Thank you for the great review. We are going on the Sea in April and have really learned so much. Now I know to take our own beach towels. We bought some on our last cruise and haven't been able to use them.

 

Glad to hear you had a great time.

[Sophie]

We LOVED Roatan, too!! I don't want to sound like an idiot.....but what is a zip line?

 

[susanf31]

No, don't take your own beach towels. Nothing smellier than bringing home sandy beach towels.

 

Just be savy about getting them first thing in the morning from the lobby. Don't expect them to be at the gangway...although they do bringing them down to the gangway after the initial rush.

 

They "say" you can't take the blue, stripped pool towels off of the boat. But if I were you, I'd get some pool towels the night before and put them in a beach bag and take those.

 

The zipline is a series of 11 cables strung over the Hondouras rain forrest. They harnass you and you clip on and go sailing down the lines, over the rain forrest to a series of platforms. Where you unhook and then hook on again.

 

It was so much fun!! :)

[BillandLaura]

Hi! We are in your same cabin (6247) in July! Anything you can tell us would be great! We are going "cheap", however, and all four of us are in the same cabin. I know it will be cramped, but we're never there, anyway. There are two upper berths, right?

[susanf31]

Yes, there are two upper beds that pull down from the wall. The cabin will be very small for 4 people, so pack lightly!

 

You'll love the location. It's kind of in it's own corridor...not off of a long hallway. It has it's small hallway of about 6 or 7 cabins with an aft door that leads directly out to the sports court and Promenade deck.

 

Very nice. :)

[kidfanz]

Thanks for your post. I have a couple of questions. Did your kids participate in any of the teen/kid activities? You mention waiting on the bus after your zipline tour and before heading to Tabyana. Would it have been possible to walk around at Gumbalimba Park, where it ended, instead of waiting on the bus? My kids want to see the monkeys there and look around before heading to Tabyana. Do you know if there was on option to ferry into Isla Mujeres instead of Cancun? Did you ever use the hot tubs, or were they too crowded?

[wacky1rn]

Hot tubs are almost always crowded, especially with kids. You can work your way into them, but don't expect anything romantic or anything like that. Basically a bunch (usuall 5-10 folks) of people in a small round hot tub.

 

Hope that helps.:)

[BillandLaura]

Yes, I'm definitely expecting cramped, but that's OK. How was the motion in that area?

[susanf31]

No, my kids did not participate in any of the kids/teens activities. I did hear from other kids that they were "lame."

 

The teens seemed to be making their own fun...all of them were having a good time.

 

I didn't use the hottubs...my uncle is a building inspector and has told me that most public hottubs are dirtier than most toilets...so I stay away from them!

 

About hanging around the park after the zipline. Here's the problem...the vans that take you to Tabayna Beach are up a hill, out of sight. So if you are walking around that park after zip-lining, your group could be waiting on you up at the top of the hill. The best way to be able to walk around is make sure you get at the very front of the line for the zip lines. We were one of the first people to go and ended up waiting 30 minutes or so for the rest of our group to come down.

 

Tabayan beach is much better than the park, so don't spend time there when you could be headed to the beach!!

 

Another problem is that some of the people in your group might think that when they come down, they are at Tabayan beach and won't come to the van. I think if I had it to do over again, I'd ask my driver to explain to everyone in the van exactly what they are supposed to do when they get off the zip lines.

 

All of the folks in the zip-line excursion were in vans that held only about 8 to 10 people. So keep an eye out for who you are with, so you won't be holding anybody up...and so they won't go wandering around the park when everyone else is waiting at the van to go to Tabayana.

 

This excursion is a total BLAST!! You'll have lots of fun!

[kidfanz]

So you have to take a specific bus from the park to the beach? No way to just catch another bus? I would think there would be a lot of them going back and forth thus eliminating any problem of having to wait for others in your group. We will have 6 in our group anyway. If the busses only hold 10, I wonder what the chance we would have our own bus is? Is it a long walk from where you end to where you get on the bus? This stop has been the most challenging for me to plan because I just don't want to miss anything, including the chance for the kids to play with the monkeys now that they know they are there.

[susanf31]

No, that's not how it works.

 

You are in a specific van. That van drops you off at the zip lines. You leave all of your things in the van.

 

You go down the lines and then the van drives around and meets you where you get off of the ziplines. You return to the same van and the same driver. Once everyone in your group returns to the van (where all of your personal items are), you are driven about 5 minutes to Tabanya Beach.

 

You cannot just jump into a different van.

 

So, if you are wandering around looking for monkeys and the rest of your group is at the van waiting for you, there will be some angry people!

 

I was getting so mad for the same reason. I wanted to get to Tabanya beach...but the rest of our group was lagging behind. There are 5 of us in our family, at $89 each. That was a $450 day! For that kind of money, sitting in a van for 30 minutes waiting on other people to show up was getting me a little miffed! I was paying for the zip line and the beach...not for sitting in a van waiting for others from our excursion to show up. We finished zip-lining at 2:00. The beach closed at 5:00. But because our group was lagging behind, we didn't get to the beach until 3:00. For $450, I wanted more than 2 hours at the beach.

[kidfanz]

I can see how that would be upsetting. Now I get a clear picture of how it works.

[LUCY55]

What would happens if you take just the Tabyana beach excursion-no canopy? Would there be the ability to go see the monkeys at Gumbalimba park? Don't you have some choice as to how long you can stay?

[kidfanz]

The thing is we want to do all three. canopy, see monkeys, and snorkel at Tabyana. I have already emailed the people who run both. They said we would have to purchase both tours which would run our family of 6 over $800.00! and for less than 5 hours. Gumbalimba Park sounds nice, but I just don't want to exchange that for the best snorkeling in Roatan. But once I mentioned monkeys to my kids, they really want to see them. I'm just trying to find any way I can to somehow do all three. We can purchase the Canopy/park tour and either walk or catch a cab to Tabyana, but the park people said there are no cabs and I don't want to waste precious time walking. Then we would have to catch a cab back from Tabyana area (doing it that way we couldn't actually snorkel at Tabyana because it is booked for the ships tours) and I'm not sure if the area we can enter near Tabyana is as good for snorkeling. I'm not ready yet to give up what we want to do, its just trying to find a way around it.

[susanf31]

I hate to say this, but I don't see how you will be able to do all three and still be able to give Tabayana beach any justice.

 

Remember, you don't get to Roatan until after 11:00 a.m. The FIRST tour to the ziplines is 12:45 p.m. (and that's assuming you get that tour.) You won't finish the zip lines until about 2:00. By the time your group reassembles, you'll be lucky to get to the beach by 2:45.

 

Your best bet is to make your way to the very FRONT of the line and be the first to zip down. That will give you around 20 minutes to look around for monkeys once you get to the bottom. That would be the case regardless if you are on the tour that goes to the beach first or the tour that goes to the ziplines first.

 

I hope you have a great trip!

[LUCY55]

SusanF, We are coming off the Spirit which is in Roatan from 9:00 to 5:00. We are there longer than your cruise. Basically, would like to spend more time and not be rushed back to the boat. I still don't think we should have to book two shore excursions.

[kidfanz]

Susan, do you happen to remember what time the last zip-line tours was at? I wonder if it would work if we went to Tabyana first,right from the ship, then got a 4:00 time to zip-line. How long did the actual zip line part take? I know the last vans back to the ship leave around 5:00, I would guess we would only need around 20 min. to find monkeys.

[susanf31]

If you get to the front of the zip line, plan on a little less than an hour for the entire thing.

 

First, they have to get EVERYONE harnassed up. That takes awhile. After everyone is harnassed up, they give a 5 - 10 minute safety speech. Then about 20 minutes of actual zip-lining.

 

Based on what you want to do, it might be better to do the beach first, then go ziplining last.

 

Still try to be the first in line at the zip lines and the should give you some time at the end to look for monkeys without interferring with the other people in your group wanting to get to the beach.

 

I don't know what time the last tour leaves the beach to do the zip lines.

 

Please post a review when you get back!

[kidfanz]

Will do and thanks for all your help. The beach for Tabyana closes around 5,the same as the park, I thought, so aren't the last busses/vans to the ship around that same time? Did you notice what time the last bus was? It didn't have to be the same one that you came on from the Canopy tour did it? I am now thinking, we should try and get one of the latest zip line tours we can (but still go first in our group) We could go to Tabyana as soon as we dock and stay until around 3:30. That would give us about 3 hours to snorkel and eat lunch. Then get a 3:45 to 4:00 time to zip, leaving us just enough time afterward to see a little of the park (monkeys). By that time, we couldn't go back to Tabyana anyway, so wandering around the park shouldn't hold anyone up. What do you think? Someone else mentioned that you had to have a different colored wrist band to enter the park vs Tabyana, but aren't you already in the park when you finish the zip line? The only other unknown is just how far away those monkeys are from where we end the zip line.

[susanf31]

There are three tours.

 

They all start at 12:45.

 

The first goes:

 

Zip line

Tabayana beach

 

The 2nd goes:

 

Tabayan Beach

Zip Line

Tabayana Beach

 

The 3rd goes:

 

Tabayana Beach

Zip line

 

The last bus to leave the T. Beach is at 5:00 p.m. That's the one we got on. Yes, you can board the bus to return at any time from T. Beach. It's not the same as the vans your ride in for the zip line.

 

Now, if you zip line last, you'll bring the van back...they one you went in and not a bus. I don't know their last departure time...I'm assuming it's 5:00.

 

Therefore,I think the best for you would be the beach first, and zip line last. I'd call NCL and try to talk to someone in their excursion dept. to try to make sure that's what you get.

 

Since the zip line is at the end of the day, I can't imagine anyone getting upset if folks wanted to wander around the park after zip-lining. It's not like you'll be taking away from their time at the beach.

 

Yes, you are already at/in Gum. park when you finish the zip line. My only concern is if you are wearing a T. Beach wrist band, they might not let you wander around Gum park and see the monkeys and other attractions. But I have read other reviews where folks were able to do that.

 

Good luck!

[crazyteach]

Can you get a cab to Tabyana beach and do it on your own? I keep reading that its for ship excursions only.

[kidfanz]

Crazyteach, If you are on an NCL ship, or are in port the same day as any NCL ship, you may not go on your own to Tabyana beach, Gumbalimba Park, or the Canopy tour there. NCL hires them exclusive for their guests and even their own guests cannot go on their own. I have heard others say that you can go by taxi on your own right next door to Tabyana, but will be unable to use their facilities. I am not sure just how far on either side of Tabyana that the snorkeling would be as awesome, but as for Tabyana it is most definately the best snorkeling.

 

Susan, You actually read where people found their way to monkeys after the canopy tour? That is my last concern. All else should work out if we use option 3 that you mention. I'm just not sure that we will be able to enter into where monkeys are without the park color wristband. Do you know how far in advance I should call NCL and see about getting the tour that starts at Tabyana and ends at zipline? There is not a problem in requesting it that way?