MITSUGIRLYS JEWEL OF A CRUISE review and pictorial

[mitsugirly]

Another iguana checking us out.

 

 

 

They were everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

When we arrived at the boat dock, Sharon was there to greet us. I hugged her and thanked her for making this day possible.

 

Seriously, it was amazing!! I would highly recommend Nativeway for a personal experience to anyone. We NEVER felt rushed at anything we did. They gave us a much different experience than we had before with someone else. They catered to us, they told jokes, they gave information about Cayman, and educated on the stingrays. They went out of their way to make sure we had a great time. We were never once told "time to go" or felt like cattle being herded with a bunch of people like last time. They made sure we spent as much time with the rays as we wanted. They let us hold the rays by ourselves (unlike the other company) and plenty of opportunities for pictures. Nativeway is the best in my opinion. I can't imagine going with anyone else now.

 

Along our trip back to the port, I managed to capture a few pictures of the ships sitting out in the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to the parking lot and walked back to the port area, it was a mad house. The line was all the way down our dock side, wrapped down the sidewalk and past the other port dock. YIKES! We were in line by 3:16pm and they had told us to be back to the ship by 3:30pm. The lined moved along and it wasn't too bad since we seem to keep moving. It was just hot in the sun.

 

 

On the tender. It's a really short distance to the ship.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We watched people come back from the port.... from our balcony of course...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a cheese and cracker tray waiting for us in our room to enjoy while we watched the tenders come in.

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, we were late pulling out (but it doesn't really matter to me. We were back on the ship and could stay here forever).

 

 

When we got back to our room, the room was made up and all of the towel animals were in a pile along with Trixie. I have to say, this is the FIRST cruise they allowed us to keep all of our towel animals the entire cruise. Every other cruise, they would remove them each day and Sakari was sad.

 

 

 

 

We also had this waiting for us in our room:

 

[mitsugirly]

So tonight was the night of the Latitudes wine & cheese gathering and I completely forgot about it. sad face!

 

 

 

However, this was different than the Captains party I missed on Monday night in the Haven (I believe this is the one the Ma'ams went to) and the reason I forgot is because we were at the Nick meet & greet for Spongebob. Plus they had it during a time that the kids club wasn't open, which I found strange.

 

 

 

I would have loved to see the Haven area in person since I probably will never get to do this on my own. Sigh. But, if you remember, this is the night I won in the casino, so I guess I won't complain tooooooo much.

 

When it was time to drop Sakari off at the kids club, we turned her over to them and we were off to see a show.

 

Tonight was the comedian show with Darrell Joyce. He was funny and we enjoyed it. He did the normal jokes about the ship, life as a single person, growing up and his life with his momma ruling the house and his dad being scared to speak up. All jokes we can and do relate to.

 

After the show, it was time to meet up for the VIP chocolate buffet. We were told to meet in front of the kids club and the area was getting crowded. So they ended up moving us down into the hallway that leads to the 3-5 yr old club...which is a long harrow hallway. This is where we stood and waited and waited...once again, they were late.

 

I won't go into too many details about our experience standing in line and the (sorry for the expression but it was the nicest words I could come up with) white trash huge family in front of us that had the worse vulgar ghetto mouths (including the children) that I've ever heard, that proceeded to rub in everyone's face how they were in the Haven and VIP and they should go in first...then wanted to know how ALL THESE OTHER PEOPLE FILLING THE HALLS had the same VIP access that they did because they knew there wasn't that many Haven's on the ship. They went on and on about it. They proceeded to talk about how they were going to run in and gobble up everything before anyone else had a chance to get to it because they deserved it and they were special. I believe one of the workers at the front of the line heard this and then decided to make an announcement. She let everyone know that this was the VIP line for special guest and the reason that we got to go first was because this was a PICTURE TAKING OPPORTUNITY. It was our opportunity to get in and take pictures of the displays before they let the rest of the crowd in at the other doors to eat the food. You talk about the disgusted looks on their faces and the smirky grin I had on mine...priceless.

 

When we were finally able to walk in, the workers were all lined up and singing and playing Christmas music.

 

 

 

 

I proceeded to walk around taking pictures of everything. The other family proceeded to pick up a couple of plates each, run by the thing they wanted to start eating and stand there until they staff said "go eat". Totally made me want to vomit....on them. Oops, did I say that out loud?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This display drove me NUTS!! It changed colors and blinked really fast. I can't tell you how many tries it took me to capture it with the lights on. Come on...no need to have someone go into a seizure with the blinking lights, just leave them on for those of US that want an actual picture.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OurDogCisco]

Wow, you were busy yesterday. I'm happy Nativeways made it up to you from your last trip. I used them for a trip in 2004 when my daughter was about to turn 3 years old a week after our trip but Disney wouldn't let her participate because of her age. It was the first time I booked a non-ship excursion. I've been hooked ever since. Our tour didn't include rum point or food. Anyways.. Keep sharing.

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I have to admit...I don't like chocolate...unless it's white chocolate or something with peanut butter in it (like a candy bar every once in awhile). But when I seen that they had cheesecake, my heart start to go pitter patter. Even though it had chocolate swirl in it, I thought I might give this a shot. Oh my...I don't know what it was, but it wasn't cheesecake. It was probably the most disgusting thing I have tried. It was a ball of fluff with no consistency. I have no clue what it was....at all!

 

Now NCL is known for not having the best deserts. I don't know what the problem is here. Everyone complains about their deserts and how nasty most things are or very bland. This was no exception here either.

 

 

 

 

 

When they started to let everyone in, the Mr & Mrs White family and all their hood rats made a dash for the chocolate like if they had been starved the entire cruise. I managed to get a plate of the "cheesecake" (using the term lightly), a few regular cakes and a few things I thought Sakari might want to try when we picked her up.

 

 

 

The only thing I liked were the red and yellow slices of cake and I didn't even eat all of them. I have to add, Sakari didn't like any of the things either and decided not to eat any of it. I thought she would at least go for the apple, but I guess her first bite spoiled the rest of it.

 

I will add that while we were sitting down enjoying the atmosphere at the table....along comes....you guessed it "The White" family. I sat there while I wanted to ignore them, it was very hard to do. At one point I watched the youngest, which looked like she was maybe Sakari's age or a little younger say something to the mom and the mom grabbed her BY HER HEAD and slammed her into the booth chair. :eek: The little girl sat there the rest of the time with the saddest look on her face and didn't talk at all or eat anything. She just sat there while the family continued to devour their food and completely ignore her. I almost wanted to cry. I could feel her pain. So sad. This of course just made me want to run and get my daughter and hug her and never let her go. Sigh

 

Sakari had a fun night at the kids club and came back with her face painted of course. I think she was a butterfly tonight since the theme for the night was "Bugs & Butterflies". (I'm surprised she didn't opt to be a bug actually).

 

[mitsugirly]

We had a towel crab tonight and Sakari squealed with excitement. Of course anything "beach" or "ocean" related she loves.

 

I ended up with the crappiest picture ever of it. I think my flash forgot to fire.

 

 

The kids club had made balloon animals for the children and Sakari had what she called "turtles" on her wrist. Part of the balloon actually wrapped around her wrist and she wore these around. She insisted that I take a picture of them and share.

 

 

 

When we returned to the room for the night Trixie had gotten herself into a mess. I guess either Mr Crab was hungry, or she tried to ride him like one of the other towel animals and he wasn't having it.

 

 

 

Balcony update for the day. When we returned at night, not only was our balcony door unlocked IT WAS ACTUALLY OPEN THIS TIME. Not all the way by about 1/4 of the way. :confused: What the heck???

 

Tonight was another time change. We would turn our clocks back 1 hour and gain an extra hour of sleep. Whew, I really needed it at this point. I didn't inform the hubby of this and played it off like it was getting late and time for bed. (I really needed this extra hour of sleep after the exciting day we had). I called in the wake up call for in the morning. Another bright and early day in Cozumel.

[mickev99]

I felt the same way about the chocolate buffet. I waited all week for it and was really disappointed in the food.

[gardiner41]

I used a Olympus Tough point and shoot camera for about 90% of all my pictures. I also have a Canon D10 for back up when the battery dies on the Olympus. :)

 

 

 

 

The Olympus just has more neat settings on it than the Canon does. It's also thinner and compact. You can also just hit a button on the camera for video versus the Canon you have to go into the settings to change it to video and then back to the settings to change it back to camera. I also think it takes better quality pictures. You can tell the difference when I switch cameras. The Canon is just not as vivid and clear like the Olympus. Now I do have to say that I loved my Canon so much when I bought it and was very pleased with the pictures so much that I purchased a second Canon D10. Shortly after (about 2 years of having the 1st one), it stopped working. The one I still have seems like the quality has declined. I really don't think it takes the pictures it use to. Maybe they only have a 2 year life span??? :confused:

 

 

 

I have the Canon D20..next generation Canaon Tough Cam.

It is EXCELLENT!! I went through 3 underwater cameras before I found one I was really happy with.

They "fixed" all the complaints about the D10..too bulky , menue challenges etc.

The D20 is the same size as other tough cams..I carry it in my purse all the time...sorry camera phones and tabs just are NOT the same for us shutter bugs... it is very compact, has a LOT of settings and the record button is a one touch now.

I always take 3 cameras when traveling my D20 my "good" Nikon DSL and a cannon that is a cross between the two with a massive built in zoom lense. DH mostly uses the cannon but I grab it if I need a longer lense than the ones I travel with.

 

For most excursions I now only bring the D20 so much safer since we do "active" excursions most times no need to worry about mud, sand, rain, water etc and very very compact. But I always have my DLS.

 

The D20 is not cheap but it is a really good camera and takes fantastic underwater pictures..when the conditions are right..as with any underwater camera..the brighter the days, the clearer the water the better the pics...and realy good land pics as well. Most times the quality is as good as my Nikon the big exception would be when it is zoomed out to max..the pics get grainy, but that's what I use the other cameras for.

The other good thing about the D20 is it is rated to be good up to 33 feet underwater..which is more than the previous generation.

And lets not forget about the operator lol let's admit it..some people are just better at taking pics than others so for those people the camera really does not make much difference ahhaha ;)

 

One MAJOR point about care of a tough cam /underwater camera a lot of people are not aware of:

After you use it in rough dirty sandy or wet underwater conditions..it needs to be soaked for 15-20 minutes in fresh clean water.

This loosens any small particles of dirt and rinces away salt and chlorine.

When it is not done the cameras start to leak..those little we particles interfere with the seals

they also all have a MAX submergible time limit..so read the manual care and use instructions to know how long the time is on your unity. I ruined a camera by having it submerged too long...left it in the sink over night soaking by accident.

[mitsugirly]

So are their stingers removed (is that the correct terminology)?

 

No they do not remove the barbed stingers from the stingrays. These are wild stingrays, living in the ocean, in their own environment. They are not at some site, penned up in a cage. This is the middle of the ocean and they have to still be able to live in their habitat and defend themselves. You can see the stinger still on them in some of the pictures I posted. People have been coming here for many many years and they are use to us. They know we are a source of food (with the little squid they feed them) and they are friendly. I know everyone freaks out about it and thinks back to the Crocodile hunter and his unfortunate death by a barbed stinger, but it was an accident. These rays are also a different breed than the one that killed Steve Irwin. :) Could you get hurt by one? Of course I'm sure you could. Just like you can get bitten by the monkeys in Roatan (which Sakari did) or stung by a jelly fish or anything else when you are out in the wild. It's just a part of life. I like to enjoy my life to the fullest.

 

Wow, you were busy yesterday. I'm happy Nativeways made it up to you from your last trip. I used them for a trip in 2004 when my daughter was about to turn 3 years old a week after our trip but Disney wouldn't let her participate because of her age. It was the first time I booked a non-ship excursion. I've been hooked ever since. Our tour didn't include rum point or food. Anyways.. Keep sharing.

 

Yes, I was very busy yesterday. I even managed to get my Christmas tree down (and Sakari's tree in her room). I know, they say it's bad luck to take them down before New Years Eve, but it has always been my ritual to take it down the weekend after Christmas, whatever day that falls on. Don't worry though, I have at least 14 years of good luck coming my way from kissing stingrays over the last 2 years. :D I think I'm good.

[mitsugirly]

I felt the same way about the chocolate buffet. I waited all week for it and was really disappointed in the food.

 

Since I'm not a chocolate lover, it would probably disappoint me no matter what. But I have been to plenty of these and I already knew that they were not good. I mainly go for the picture opportunity. (Thank goodness).

[ahaught]

We did not have VIP access, but were dropping our youngest off at the 3-5 year old Kids Crew and ended up in the line! Some of the butlers were at the back of the line and as they walked by told us to get in line in front of them! So we went in at the back of the VIP line and had no idea what was going on, but played it cool anyway. The rest of our family was in line at the main entrance and didn't know we were already in until they opened the flood doors. That was pretty cool.

[logan25]

I feel the same way about chocolate buffets, at least the ones I have experienced thus far. I will try a few things, but it is really a picture taking opportunity. The best thing I taste tends to be the chocolate mousse. I did not even attend the chocolate buffet on Jewel.

[mitsugirly]

 

I have the Canon D20..next generation Canaon Tough Cam.

It is EXCELLENT!! I went through 3 underwater cameras before I found one I was really happy with.

They "fixed" all the complaints about the D10..too bulky , menue challenges etc.

The D20 is the same size as other tough cams..I carry it in my purse all the time...sorry camera phones and tabs just are NOT the same for us shutter bugs... it is very compact, has a LOT of settings and the record button is a one touch now.

I always take 3 cameras when traveling my D20 my "good" Nikon DSL and a cannon that is a cross between the two with a massive built in zoom lense. DH mostly uses the cannon but I grab it if I need a longer lense than the ones I travel with.

 

For most excursions I now only bring the D20 so much safer since we do "active" excursions most times no need to worry about mud, sand, rain, water etc and very very compact. But I always have my DLS.

 

The D20 is not cheap but it is a really good camera and takes fantastic underwater pictures..when the conditions are right..as with any underwater camera..the brighter the days, the clearer the water the better the pics...and realy good land pics as well. Most times the quality is as good as my Nikon the big exception would be when it is zoomed out to max..the pics get grainy, but that's what I use the other cameras for.

The other good thing about the D20 is it is rated to be good up to 33 feet underwater..which is more than the previous generation.

And lets not forget about the operator lol let's admit it..some people are just better at taking pics than others so for those people the camera really does not make much difference ahhaha ;)

 

One MAJOR point about care of a tough cam /underwater camera a lot of people are not aware of:

After you use it in rough dirty sandy or wet underwater conditions..it needs to be soaked for 15-20 minutes in fresh clean water.

This loosens any small particles of dirt and rinces away salt and chlorine.

When it is not done the cameras start to leak..those little we particles interfere with the seals

they also all have a MAX submergible time limit..so read the manual care and use instructions to know how long the time is on your unity. I ruined a camera by having it submerged too long...left it in the sink over night soaking by accident.

 

When the Canon D20 came out, that's when I purchased my second D10 because the prices dropped drastically. I was already use to it and loved the pictures it took.

 

If you go back and look at my reviews from 2011-2012 when I used just the D10, the pictures are amazing. Very bright and vivid. If I take that same picture with my D10 today, not so amazing. They looked washed out and not as clear. I'm not sure why.

 

It's good to hear they have upgraded some things with the Canon D20. I know when I purchased the first D10, I paid around $400 for it. But it was worth it to me. The second one I bought was only around $200 and I figured why not. Everyone was busy buying the D20 now and I might as well jump on another cheaper D10. :D It has served me well over the last few years until recently. So I'll probably stick with my Olympus as my main camera for traveling to the ocean and just use my Canon until it goes out and as back up. When it goes out, I'll check out the D20 and also the upgrades from my Olympus. I'm sure I can't go wrong with either.

 

I do know about rinsing them off. I make sure I do that every time we swim.

[mitsugirly]

We did not have VIP access, but were dropping our youngest off at the 3-5 year old Kids Crew and ended up in the line! Some of the butlers were at the back of the line and as they walked by told us to get in line in front of them! So we went in at the back of the VIP line and had no idea what was going on, but played it cool anyway. The rest of our family was in line at the main entrance and didn't know we were already in until they opened the flood doors. That was pretty cool.

 

Yea, the hallway they had us enter in was a little ridiculous. People couldn't get in and out of the kids club and it made for a mess. I have a feeling that a lot of people did the same as you. They did not ask for any of our invite letters or proof that we should be there. As a matter of fact, they never ask for any proof for anything...the VIP tenders, the parties or anything.

 

I feel the same way about chocolate buffets, at least the ones I have experienced thus far. I will try a few things, but it is really a picture taking opportunity. The best thing I taste tends to be the chocolate mousse. I did not even attend the chocolate buffet on Jewel.

 

I do it just for the pictures and to show others on here (and for my review of course). I think there was only once that I didn't go to one and we were busy doing something else at the time.

 

I have to admit, I really don't like when they do these in the cafeteria/buffet. It's just not pretty to me. I went to one on, I think it was the Spirit, and they had it in the MDR. The lights were dimmed low, music playing, candles and a HUGE ice display. It seemed more elegant and it was beautiful, even though I don't think as much was set up. But I liked it (the display). I wish they did it in the MDR every time. The buffet just don't get it for me as a wonderful experience.

[ahaught]

I have to admit, I really don't like when they do these in the cafeteria/buffet. It's just not pretty to me. I went to one on, I think it was the Spirit, and they had it in the MDR. The lights were dimmed low, music playing, candles and a HUGE ice display. It seemed more elegant and it was beautiful, even though I don't think as much was set up. But I liked it (the display). I wish they did it in the MDR every time. The buffet just don't get it for me as a wonderful experience.

 

I agree, and yes it was the Spirit where it was in the MDR.

[JMHAM1]

I think we ran into the "White" family many times. If it is the same group I am thinking about, they were in the Haven and hubby and I were thinking oh boy, I'll bet the Haven people are excited about that.

 

If I ever get around to doing my review, I have a funny story to tell about Mr. White. :D

[mickev99]

I think we ran into the "White" family many times. If it is the same group I am thinking about, they were in the Haven and hubby and I were thinking oh boy, I'll bet the Haven people are excited about that.

 

If I ever get around to doing my review, I have a funny story to tell about Mr. White. :D

 

Tell the story now! LOL!

[mitsugirly]

I agree, and yes it was the Spirit where it was in the MDR.

 

 

Yes! If every ship could do it like that, that would be awesome. They should take lessons from that ship. I love the Spirit. It remains my second favorite ship in the fleet for so many reasons. :)

 

 

I think we ran into the "White" family many times. If it is the same group I am thinking about, they were in the Haven and hubby and I were thinking oh boy, I'll bet the Haven people are excited about that.

 

If I ever get around to doing my review, I have a funny story to tell about Mr. White. :D

 

Did he look like a body builder?

[mitsugirly]

Tell the story now! LOL!

 

 

I AGREE!!! I don't want to miss it! :D

[JMHAM1]

bodybuilder/stripper tattoos on the upper arm/shoulder area is that Mr. White? If so, I totally got a story!

[ahaught]

bodybuilder/stripper tattoos on the upper arm/shoulder area is that Mr. White? If so, I totally got a story!

 

Even if it's not, let's hear the story already!

[my_crib_too]

I have been away from CC for several months because we have been planning and taking land based vacations. What a treat to have a fresh mitsugirly vacation waiting for me when I returned to CC. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures up to this point and will certainly watch for the conclusion.

 

Thank you for posting this. This takes a lot of time and effort, I'm sure.

 

bruce....