Sea Review 4/16/05 - 4/23/05

[icanflossu]

Man oh Man did we have a good time. I'll give you all a quick run down day by day.

 

Day one: We had flown in on Friday night and stayed at a hotel near the airport with free shuttle transportation. That was a disaster, but we got over it. ON Saturday morning we arranged for a super stretch limo from Extremem Ellegence to take us to the pier, they were by far the most reasonable at $80 plus tip. There were ten in our party, four adults and six kids.

 

I could not believe how fast it was from the time we got to the pier to the time we were in our rooms. Maybe 20 minutes and this was at noon.

 

It was a little cool in Houston so we didn't change into our swim suits right away but we unpacked and headed up for lunch.

 

Room size: they're small, BUT I honeslty couldn't remmeber where our other rooms had had the extra room. We fit myself and my hubands stuff as well as our three year olds and all our our families snorkeling gear, all of our suitcases and carry ons. We didn't even use one drawer or one of the closets. I thought it was just fine.

 

The poolside BBQ was fabulous and I didn't think they were pucking drinks too bad like I had heard. We were usually carrying the helmet so they knew we were taken care of. I bought two of my kids the soda bands and I also got the teen passport. Oh, BTW, you cannot use the smoothie cards on the last day,t hey won't make anything frozen, bummer since we saved four for our last breakfast.

 

Day Two at Sea:

At about 4 am the winds had really kicked up and the boat was REALLY rocking. I spent the whole first day pretty sick to my stomach. They had the sea sick bags in all the stair wells. I still managed to function in spite of all the vomiting. It was formal night and I made it to that. Food was great and we loved the way our pictures turned out that they took at dinner. Oh another tidbit, we were able to be seated every evening without wait for a party for ten at about 7:00 except the last night, we waited maybe 20 minutes.

 

Day Three Cozumel:

We got off the ship right away and went to get rentals. We do the same thing everytime we travel to Cozumel via ship, becaue we have vactioned there before and already done everything else. But we rented jeeps, drove to the other side of the island and spent the day at Chen Rio. THey have the best fresh fish lunch. It is a huge platter that fed all 10 of us for $70, their margaritas are fabulous and STRONG. After returing the jeeps, we shopped a little and returned to the ship. Fabulous Day.

 

Day Three roatan:

Oh my goodness, this place is so beautiful. We were eating breakfast and didn't get off right away but from the pool deck we could see the amount of vans on the pier dwindleing, so we hurried up and got out there to only see two left. We were appraoched by a tour operator and she only charged us $15 a person for the 7 biggest people and we got a brand new air condiitoned van. Our guide Lynn was FABULOUS, we told her we wanted to go to the beach and she recommended fosters. We got the best tour on the way there and back. She pointed out everything. It is a very poor country but we were prepared for htat. We brought our snorkle gear but it was mostly cloudy so visiblity was poor. My daughter got her hair braided for $20 at the beach and we had a great time. On the way back Lynn went shopping with us and then we returned to the ship.

 

Day Four Belize:

This is my favorite spot, we have been here via cruise ship before as well as vacationed here. I should stop to point out that not only do we NOT do any cruise ship excursions because of how pricey they are and the fact that their age limitations don't work with my family, we don't pre-book anything either. We got on the tender and made our way to the peir and walked around until we decided on the ecological tour to shark ray alley. Our guide Natalie and the whole crew was AMAZING. The best part is that they only charged us $55 per adult and older kid $25 for my 9 year old and nothing for our three year olds. SO we saved a ton of money since the ship was charging $89. We have never been worried about missing the boat. These people make a living by making sure they are returning their passengers on time. Anyway, the trip was fabulous. Our guide let us use our big inflateable raft for the three year olds and we pulled them along and she brought sting rays up so they could touch them. Then we went to great restaurant on Caye Caulker caled the Rainbow and it was soo soo sooo sooo good.

 

Day Five Cancun:

yes we made it and yes the tender is long and slow. This was my only complaint the whole trip. They have a free shuttle to a "mall" that is highly recommended the ships shopping dork. This is a pathetic mall and the transportation was awful. They filled a bus for poeple and then started putting us in large cabs to get us there. They were johnny on the spot to get us over there. The shuttle is supposed to run every twenty minutes. Well when we were done shopping we went out to wait for the shuttle and found out from the only 4 other pepole pwaiting that it had just left. So we settled in for a 20 minutes wait. meanwhile the taxis are still dropping people off but won't return you to the pier. So 45 minutes later the bus pulls up and it's a mob scene to get on the bus, the tour lady tries to cut me off saying that the bus is full. I very politley told her that we had been waiting 45 minutes and hse said she was sorry. She was not going to let us on. I told her that I had been standing there for 45 minutes iwth 6 kids and she said there was nothing she could do. Then the driver said he could take 6 more, i told her if you can take six, you can take ten. So we basically had to force our way onto the bus. I was so infuriated that people got on the bus knowing they were last in line, the bus pulled down too far and there was no organization whatsoever. Anyway, these people who had waited maybe 5 minutes sat there like bumps on logs while we would have had to wait another 45 minutes. It was a very frustrating part of our trip. But soon enough we were back to the beach and enjoying lunch at Fat Tuesdays. We have been to cancun before and don't particularly like it there. If you really want to enjoy this port, get a taxi on your own and go to another beach, like the one att he hilton and go to a good local mexican restaurant. If you want to stay on the pier then do that, the flea markets have just about everything the mall does and much cheaper. It's a short port due to how long the tender takes. I wouldn't go to the mall though.

 

Day Six at sea:

Ahh last day, we just got some sun by the pool and enjoyed the food and our last day. I never had trouble with sea sickness again after the first day.

 

Day Seven Disembarkation:

 

Oh my gosh, other cruise lines could sure learn a thing or two about how to do this. I can't believe how fast we were off the boat. THe best part is you can leave and quickly or as slowly as you want. We had white colored tage and had told our limo driver to be there at 11:00 because we had no idea how long it would take. Our tags were called at about 8:45 but we just hung out up on the pool deck. At about 9:45 my cell phone rang as we were heading over to the elevator and it was the limo driver stating she was there and would wait for us until 11, i told her we were on our way down. When we got to the area to retrieve our luggage there was just rows of suitcases and I remembered from previous trips how much I hate this part. BUT, since our lcolor had been called long ago. our 8 suitcases were all by themselves in the white tag area. A short wait for customs and we were out in a total of 20 minutes. I couldn't believe how easy it was.

 

All in all our trip was fabulous. I'm typing this while still on vacation brain and hope it makes sense. We really enjoyed the food and the enteratinment, what we saw of it. The comedian was really good on the first night but on the adult only show wasn't as good. The magician was okay, but seemed very standoffish when you saw him on the boat. We really enjoyed the guitar players in oscars and the piano player in gatsby's. My huband enjoyed a few cigars up there and it was a great bar area. We ate at le bistro and LOVED It, very worth it. Oh we did the anniversary package and it was pretty worth it. The cake and champagne party where you get the free picutre coincided with the magician so we had to leave it quickly and take our kids, I don't think the other people appreciated that. Every staff memeber we encounted was super nice and helpful. i got a hot stone massage and it was wonderful. One thing about masages, they do them in a few rooms off the fitness center or on the deck my the pool where you can look out onto the sea. At first I was dissapointed mine would be in one of the rooms, but after going up there, the deck massages were nest to the pool area and you could hear all the noise from the pool and the band out there. Up in the rooms it was so quiet and I was very relaxed. Just don't get a sunburn before your hot stone massage :)

 

I'm open to any questions, we really had a fabulous time!!!

[ute_fan]

Thanks for the great review. We leave on 5/14, so I'm happy to hear that people are still having a great time.

 

One quick question for you -- I'd read somewhere that the crew is going to start leaving the ship in May. Just wondering if you heard anything about a change in crew? Also, who was the CD on the ship, and do you have any idea if he/she will still be there in 3 weeks?

[icanflossu]

Thanks for the great review. We leave on 5/14, so I'm happy to hear that people are still having a great time.

 

One quick question for you -- I'd read somewhere that the crew is going to start leaving the ship in May. Just wondering if you heard anything about a change in crew? Also, who was the CD on the ship, and do you have any idea if he/she will still be there in 3 weeks?

 

The CD was a woman named Jolene, who I wasn't that impressed with. But I guess I didn't do anything that involved her too much either.

[ute_fan]

That's too bad -- when we were on the Sea before, it was Kevin Warner. He was pretty good -- not as good as the one on the Sun to Alaska, but good. My kids LOVED the guy on the Sun, so they'll be disappointed if the current one isn't funny.

[icanflossu]

That's too bad -- when we were on the Sea before, it was Kevin Warner. He was pretty good -- not as good as the one on the Sun to Alaska, but good. My kids LOVED the guy on the Sun, so they'll be disappointed if the current one isn't funny.

 

I don't know what everyone else's opinion of her is, but I wouldn't say she was funny. She actually was rather blah. I've seen some fantastic CD's before, Goose on RCL was my favorite. But like I said, we really didn't have too much to do with her because we only went to two shows.

[Veritas01]

We too were on the 4/16 cruise. I thought the CD did a decent job. What a thankless and exhuasting job. Keeping well over a 1000 people happy...many with conflicting expectations...virtually around the clock. I wondered what it would be like if I had that job and thought ....No thanks. And once the cruise is over you have only a couple of hours before you have to start again. I did not fully understand why she would not let you board the bus but it sounds like you deserved to be angy.

 

 

But the cruise was great. We did book all our excursions from the ship (first time cruisers and a bit chicken). We took the ATV Jungle Safari to Mayan Ruins trip in Cozumel. Lots of fun. More ATV riding than Mayan ruins. Tiring, dusty but to we city mice...very adventuresome. Note it is a long and tough trail. Lots of rocks and bouncing about. Your hands and arms will be sore from hanging on. If you have a bad back or don't like getting bounced around...stay away. The guides were nice young guys and while the ruins we saw were tiny (El Castillo and Las Plamas) the local jungle and beach scenery was awesome. We shot along the sandy beach for a while...sooooo cool. You could really open up the ATV and it was great. Plus they had the greatest little bar on the beach to have a cold one before we returned to the city (Senor Iguana's I think it was).

 

In Roatan we took the Tabayana Beach Party and Snorkel trip. Not bad. Nice beach. First time snorkeling. My wife took to it like a fish and I struggled a bit. I thought the NCL people could have been a bit more proactive at the beach. Saw a bunch of people give up on the snorkeling but they were too embarassed to ask for help. The NCL dive people should have been in the water asking if anyone needed help. The meal was decent I love the local beer. Very different from US beer. Very flavorful. Got back to the boat in time to clean up...change and go back out. The town is poor but full of life. The people were friendly. Two young boys hooked on as our guides. We walked to the supermarket where I bought one of each type of native beer (4 bottles)....Salva Vida was my favorite. Then we poked along the shops. We bought a big wooden salad bowl with 6 small bowls and fork and spoon for 20 dollars. It was very hot at the port. Can't imagine what this place is like in the heart of summer. We poked some more and then gave the boys two dollars each for their help. Nice kids. Seeing different places, cultures and people are exciting for us. Brought the beer onboard no problem. They xrayed the bag but said nothing. Drank the beer in my room before dinner...slept well that night.

 

In Belize we went on the Boat Trip up the New River to Lamanai....great trip. Long bus ride..about 60 minutes..and a good 90 minutes up the river. We stopped a lot to see birds...crocodiles...and flowers. The ruins were spectacular. My wife walked to the top of the tallest. Too steep for me. It was really a cool place and the local lunch was good. The boat ride back down the river was so much fun. He really opened up the boat. We roared down the river and made it back in 45 minutes. What a cool trip this was. They only have one local beer...Belikan....very good. Back in Belize city I bought a couple of bottles to take back to ship. Again no problem. There was also a nice modern pharmacy there. You just walked in and asked for any medicine and they gave it to you. No exceptions. I have prescription coverage at home but the prices for some of the meds I take were really really low there and if I had to pay for them myself at home I would have considered getting some here. The girl ( a pharmacist from Louisiana) said all their meds were from Canada. She was doing a pretty good business. As far as bringing meds into the country...well there are 3 customs agents for 1500 passengers. Unless you are bringing in 1000 pain killers I would suspect you would be ok. Bring an empty aspirin or antacid bottle...or an empty prescription bottle from home.

 

Our last day in Cancun we took the sightseeing and shopping excursion. Kind of cool to see all the hotels. We drove along the entire strip. Then we stopped at a small Mayan ruin area. That was really nice too. Easy to access. Nice and compact. It was El Rey...the King. They then took us to a beach for pictures and then shopping area...we had lunch....shopped and then got on the bus. Hung out at Fat Tuesday's until it was time to get on the tender. Having a guaranteed seat on a cool bus back from shopping to the port was worth the money for us. Nice tour guide too. Bought some Modelo Beer and Ticante? (sp)...and brought those on board. I only bought beer I could not get on the ship. Again and finally no problem getting it on board. The souvenirs were generally pricey. Shopping around we got some deals. I really liked Cancun. Thinking about going there next year for a week. Renting a jeep. Hotwire has deals with airfare from NYC and hotel (Omni, Hyatt, etc.) for around 750 pp. Food is extra but I ate too much on the cruise anyway. Jeeps rent for 255 a week. Not bad. I drive a Jeep Wrangler at home so I am comfortable with them. In Cancun we figure we can lie out in the sun, swim, go to ruins, snorkel...do lots of things without having to climb on and off the ship. Then in 2007 I figure it will be time for another cruise. I would do NCL again. Maybe another part of the Carribbean. :)

[judyf]

Thanks for the reviews. I love my cruise on the Sea.

[sjones3508]

Does anyone have the dailies for the Sea they could share?

 

Thanks,

sjones3508@yahoo.com

[dagipper]

Thank you for that informative summary. We are taking the last cuise of the year in July. I want to take the boat ride in Belize too. I have a question, how did you get back to the airport (IAH)? after the cruise?