Epic 8 Days E. Caribbean 1/25/14 (photos, food, casinos, beaches, X comparison)

[sooper]

The furry child was not pleased when we started packing.

 

"Where are you going NOW?!"

 

Sorry, dawg, I know we'd just left you for a few weeks over the holidays. But a certain Genie (a.k.a. Harrah's) threw a cruise our way to thank us for our numerous donations. And we couldn't say no to a good deal. :p

 

Booking: It was easy to make the reservation with CAS. Although the date was not listed on our brochure, the agent was able to book us on the latest possible Eastern Caribbean sailing, with an extra night to boot! It wasn't exactly "free" as we had to pay taxes and fees for an inside cabin (which was still a great discount), and double that amount to upgrade to a balcony (which became just a small discount).

 

Pre-cruise: Found a great car-rental deal with Dollar - for $21 I was able to book a 1-day rental with free ride to the port. How much better could it get?

 

Of course, if it's too good to be true...When we arrived in Miami on Friday night, after what seemed like a mile walk on the MIA movers, we found ourselves in a Seinfeld episode:

. Apparently it was the great car shortage of 2014, and the other agencies could not help either.

 

We took a taxi to our hotel in Doral, which I'd booked on hotel points thinking that we'd have a car. We'd been so busy with work and didn't do enough planning before our flight, and thought that we'd do some shopping nearby the hotel for some more sunscreen, seasickness meds, and insect repellent, so there went that plan. Luckily our sunscreen was sufficient (and we could've bought more on board), Guest Services supplied the meds, and we only saw maybe 5 mosquitos the entire trip.

 

Day 1

We were checking out of our hotel around noon, when we met another couple headed to the port as well. So we shared a ride and the cab fare. Lucky break ~ $26 more for slots! :D

 

 

Embarkation: There were two lines, and we were directed to a shorter one and almost immediately to an agent. We were on the ship just before 1pm.

 

Strong smoking odor was present as we got on deck 5. Wow - it's like we were in Vegas! As we waited for the elevator, there were announcements that cabins were ready on certain decks. It was perfect timing and we went to ours to drop off the carry-on:

 

As expected, the cabin was smaller than my previous cabins on the Celebrity S-class ships. However, it was spacious enough, and there were plenty of storage available. On the one hand, I thought the separation of the toilet and the shower was pretty useful, as two people could use each at the same time. On the other hand, it's still preferable to have a full bathroom with the "real" door that blocks out all sounds and possible odors. A flimsy plastic door just doesn't help much!

 

We checked out the balcony, and while the chairs were nice, I was already missing the loungers we had on the last X cruise.

 

[sooper]

Lunch: We were seated right away at Taste.

 

I had the summer rolls, which were refreshing with the sauce.

 

The chicken Milanese was a bit thin and dry, but tasty.

 

The no-sugar added vanilla bean panna cotta tasted artificial, so only had a bite of it.

 

My first impression of the service, which didn't change much by the end of the cruise, was that the staff seemed stressed and rushed, and didn't have time to check or care if our meals were good or not. (Vs. X: most staff encountered seemed happy with big smiles, always walking around me instead of coming at me head on in narrow paths, seemed genuinely concerned if I didn't like something and tried to make up for it)

 

After lunch we went back to our cabin to rest a bit before the muster drill. Was pleasantly surprised at how short it was - just a demonstration of putting on the life vest. (Vs. X: had to sit through presentation and instructions in different foreign languages.)

 

Went up to Spice H2O for the sailaway.

 

Then checked out the offerings at the Garden Cafe.

 

Back to the cabin to rest. The balcony upgrade was a great investment as we hung out there often to get some peace away from the crowds. And to admire many beautiful sunsets.

 

[sooper]

We walked around the ship and got a good sense of where everything was. Naturally, we stopped in the casino area for some time. Mr. S hung out at $10 craps, while I fed the video poker machines. Hoped this was a good start.

 

I was getting hungry so made my way to the MDR.

 

Wasn't sure how well the Freestyle dining would work. For our first MDR dinner, we were given a pager and waited 45 minutes. There was also a voucher for free sparkling wine or soda. I guess that's why the casino area was right there, to keep you entertained while you wait. I won a little feeding some random machine by the bar. Then popped into the Fat Cats Jazz club, and quite enjoyed the music.

 

Dinner: Started with roasted garlic polenta cake with tomato sauce. It was a tad salty and I didn't eat the cheese on top.

 

Mr. S chose from the classic menu and had the pork spring roll. Hard for anything fried to not taste good.

 

I thought the surf and turf lobster tail was nice and not rubbery, but the steak was salty.

 

Mr. S had the BBQ chicken breast, which was salty and dry.

[sooper]

The desserts were not enticing, so it was a good thing that I actually like jello. The chocolate raspberry truffle cake was overly sweet and chalky - did not taste like chocolate.

 

Mr. S opted for the lemon sorbet, which was too sweet, and a fruit plate.

 

Casino: What is it about cruiseship casino staff and pit bosses?? Same as on X, many were unfriendly, surly, and would not even say thanks when tipped. Perhaps the casino make the pit bosses pay a penalty for smiling or being friendly, who knows. They barely greeted us. I suppose they knew that we were a captive audience and would risk our money regardless, which was true. Sure, as they saw us daily they warmed up a little, but there were certain people that I would avoid, because frankly, I didn't have to take their 'tude.

 

It was evident from a debacle we had that the staff did not get their training in Vegas. After dinner we played some pai gow. Dealer was hot so some of us started banking. I had banked and won against the dealer, but lost more to the other players. The dealer told me to pay the commission. What the...? The Asian pitboss lady came over and said that I had to pay. The players around me started arguing for me that it was not right. Another pitboss joined in and both were agreeing with each other. Anyway, it was some minuscule amount less than $2, and in the end I didn't pay, but the way the whole thing was handled left a sour taste in my mouth. I left to play elsewhere, and later on one of the players told me that another banking incident happened and he left as well.

 

More craps for Mr. S, and I dug holes at the $25 blackjack table. Was able to use the drink card for a mudslide, Perrier, pina colada, strawberry daiquiri, Bailey's coffee, and plain martini. (Throughout the week - not all in one day!)

 

It was past midnight and my wallet was emptied. I was tired and, oddly enough, hungry, so we stopped by O'Sheehan's. The buffalo wings were piping hot and tasty.

 

The chicken pot pie, more like puff pastry on chicken soup, hit the spot and soothed me after my losing session.

 

With a full tummy, we stopped in the ever popular Howl at the Moon.

 

It was quite a busy first day. I saw why NCL was rated tops in entertainment.

 

Edited February 5, 2014 by sooper
spelling

[sooper]

Day 2

 

We were really tired and it was hard to wake up, so we didn't, until late, before the Garden Cafe was closing. I had signed up and was looking forward to the M&G, but I just couldn't open my eyes. It was not meant to be.

 

The good thing about buffets was that there were many choices and there were always items that suit our tastes. At lunch, a simple bowl of noodle soup was a comfort food to have.

 

Added to it some salad and cooked items and we were satiated. The fried sesame chicken was delicious.

 

I had jello for dessert. It was a bit melted and soupy. The jello we would later get from room service was solid and firm. There were many ice cream and sorbet selections, and the flavors varied everyday. My favorites were green tea, coconut, and pineapple.

 

Stopped by the Atrium Cafe for some mocha, and the dessert selections were not appetizing. Most were coarse pound cakes.

 

I really like hazelnut, so although I didn't like pound cakes too much, I tried one, and it wasn't good. Also had the apple tart, which surprisingly, tasted better than it looks, and it was the first dessert that I'd finished thus far.

 

My good friend Adam (a.k.a. the ATM) was not available, so I had to use the cashier to get some cash from my debit card, which took a while. Some more time put in at various tables (UTH, BJ, craps) got me some of my own money back. With the previous night's experience, I went to the MDR an hour before my desired dinner time, and sure enough got a pager, and another 45 minute wait while we continued to play.

[anandaindonesia]

Great review!

Thanks for sharing.

 

Did the smoke smell in the casino still bother you after two days?

 

Michael

via Tapatalk. sorry for typo.

[sooper]

Dinner: healthy start with a roasted pumpkin, fennel, and arugula salad.

 

Thai chicken and shrimp in coconut curry sauce, was okay, but I wasn't expecting them to be fried though.

 

Mr. S. had the Latin style grilled sirloin steak, but they forgot to give him the sauce and we forgot to ask for it, at least it wasn't salty then.

 

Lemon and fresh ginger custard was not bad.

 

We had time for a song from the great Manhattan Band. I was really enjoying the various music entertainment throughout the ship.

 

For the first time ever we saw the Blue Man Group. At times it was funny, at times we were amazed, liked the music. We had fun.

 

More table action after the show into the wee hours, and I continued my donation to CAS.

 

[sooper]

Great review!

Thanks for sharing.

 

Did the smoke smell in the casino still bother you after two days?

 

Michael

via Tapatalk. sorry for typo.

Thank you!

 

We got used to the smoke odor as we do in land casinos. Just didn't expect it to be so strong on a ship.

Edited February 5, 2014 by sooper

[sooper]

Day 3

 

Thought about having room service breakfast, but there were no hot items listed so we didn't. Woke up late after noon anyway, called for room service lunch order, and the food arrived after 50 minutes. The turkey club sandwich was good, feta salad okay, chicken noodle soup good but slightly salty, the cheesecake was mushy.

 

Spent some time in the balcony just enjoying the view, the sun, and the sound of the waves.

 

Was glad we had a covered balcony. Saw some neighbors clipping their nails that flew down the open balconies below! Eeeww!

 

Some more table action and then it was dinner time. We had thought about trying Moderno or Le Bistro, but there was always something appealing on the MDR menu, so we never did. Like before, I went to the MDR early to get a pager, but to my surprise they had a table for us. I had to go grab Mr. S from the casino. We weren't too hungry but the service was slow so it worked out and we were hungry by the time the food came.

 

Dinner: the sundried tomato and sweet onion quiche was good.

 

The garlic roasted leg of lamb was really tender and tasty, a winner. Mr. S, who was not a big fan of lamb, liked it too.

 

The braised angus pot roast he had was not as good.

[sooper]

Fortunately for my figure, the Kahlua tiramisu was a soggy mess, so I only had a bite.

 

Some more blackjack time and then we headed to the R-rated Second City show. There were funny moments, but was a bit predictable.

 

Went to bed a littler earlier than the previous nights to get ready for our first port.

 

Day 4

 

Waking up to a view of such beautiful turquoise water really got me excited for the day. Truly amazing.

 

It was a hectic in the Garden Cafe, and we had to circle a few times to get a table. Had a quick protein rich brekkie and then we rushed off.

 

Booked an excursion with Bernard's tours. First stop was an iguana farm with a donkey and monkey. Glad it was only a few minutes.

 

 

[sooper]

 

We headed to the French side and had a few hours at Orient beach. Rented chairs and umbrella at KaKao and parked ourselves there to take in the gorgeous views.

 

 

Next stop was Marigot, and we were hungry so we ordered some food at a local eatery. But we didn't have enough time so we took our food to go. Our guide told us it was no problem, and he himself had lunch later in the van. However, there were some unpleasant moments when a very vocal German woman in our group made comments about our food stinking up the air. I wanted to tell her to shove it and get a private van of her own, but in the end I didn't bother with her.

 

We moved on to Maho beach, where we tried some luck in the Dunes Casino. The place was nearly empty, and there were only machines. After 20 spins at one without a single win, I gave up. We went to the beach to have our first extreme plane spotting. Too bad my view was blocked.

 

 

Some of us opted to get off at Philipsburg to do some shopping. Mr. S and I had a drink at the Greenhouse restaurant, also to use their free wifi. We both had some unfinished work to do, so this was a good break. Took the water taxi back to the port.

 

Back on the ship, we stopped by the buffet for a snack, and found this delicious chocolate (or coffee) cake.

 

 

[sooper]

 

We enjoyed another beautiful sunset on the balcony.

 

Dinner: there was no wait tonight. A good start with a beef empanada.

 

I love seafood, so got the regional specialty dish - fish soup. Was tasty.

 

Finished off with a yummy dessert for a change - southern pecan pie with chocolate ice cream. The plate was cleaned.

 

Mr. S liked the apple pie.

 

We had Legends reserved, but were not up for it tonight. So we just went to work at our respective tables - craps for Mr. S and blackjack for me. Recovered a few hundred. Nice end to a great day.

 

 

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[jdvmd]

Thanks so much for posting all of the great pictures!

[sooper]

Nice review.

 

Thanks so much for posting all of the great pictures!

Appreciate having some feedback. Thank you both! :)

[sooper]

 

Day 5 - St. Kitts

 

Another early day as we had an excursion booked with the award winning Thenford Grey. We had a power brekkie and then went to disembark. Except we couldn't. There was a wind issue and we couldn't leave until after 9-something, so our All Aboard time was extended by an hour to 6:30pm. We found Thenford and then waited for the other people in his tour until after 10am. A couple didn't show up still but we had to start the tour.

 

Thenford was warm and well-spoken, and full of knowledge of the island's history. His low voice sounded like Morgan Freeman's, which was pleasing to the ear. Here were some of our stops:

 

 

Romey Manor-Caribelle Batik

 

Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. This UNESCO World Heritage Site was impressive with spectacular views.

 

 

Timothy Hill - where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic.

 

[sooper]

 

South Friars Beach.

 

For the beach, we were dropped off at the Carambola resort, which looked nice.

 

But the lunch service was just awful. It took 20 minutes to get a waitress to take our order, then another 30 to get our sandwiches. Wish we had known that Thenford could have dropped us off at the less-fancier side of the beach with food shacks. Nonetheless, we had a good time at the beautiful beach.

 

Back to the ship and another great sunset view.

 

We went to the MDR at half past 8, and thinking that it was late enough that there would be no wait. But the hostess told us 20 minutes, even with many tables free. I was hungry so we headed to Taste instead.

 

I had a delicious endive, apple, and roquefort cheese salad.

 

Mr. S quite enjoyed his mushroom quesadilla from the classic selection menu.

 

[sooper]

My regional specialty dish of jerk chicken was flavorful and tender. Just a little spicy.

 

Bad choice for Mr. S as he got some dry teriyaki chicken kabobs.

 

I wanted to see if this chocolate decadence dessert would be good, but it was not.

 

After dinner we spend a little time at the tables and then went to bed. We wanted to get off the ship first thing in the morning to catch the ferry to St. John.

 

Day 6 - St. Thomas

 

 

I could never get tired of this view.

 

More power brekkie from the buffet. However, I was hoping not to hear any more "washy washy" from the hand sanitizer lady...

 

The waffle was really good and crispy on the outside.

 

[sooper]

We got off the ship by 8:10am and was able to get a taxi to go to the Red Hook ferry dock. The driver waited for 2 more people and then we were off to the dock by 8:40am.

 

We bought four one-way tickets and caught the 9am ferry.

 

The ride was about 20 minutes to Cruz Bay.

 

Once we got there, we walked a street up to get some water from the little market store. Then back to the taxi area to get a ride to Cinnamon Bay ($7pp).

 

On the way there we got a view of the gorgeous Trunk Bay.

 

Arrived at Cinnamon Bay.

 

Paradise found - I was in love.

 

Island weather - it rained for a minute and then went away, and repeated a few times. We were then awarded with a nice rainbow.

[sooper]

We caught the 2pm ferry back to St. Thomas. Before the ferry departed, it was sunny one minute, and then sudden rain the next, which sprayed into the ferry and a few people got really wet. The rain stopped and was sunny again.

 

Goodbye, St. John. I'll be back.

 

Back on the ship, we grabbed a quick bowl of noodle soup to warm us up from the rain. Then we got more snacks at O'Sheehan's. The fish and chips were a bit fishy, but the artichoke and spinach dip was good.

 

We also had a hearty shepherd's pie.

 

We took a short snooze after we were full and satisfied.

 

There were announcements looking for passengers. Later on, a crew member confirmed that we did leave without those poor folks. Yikes.

 

For dinner we had some yummy fried calamari.

 

The regional specialty dish (fish) was okay.

 

Really liked the dessert tonight - dulce de leche flan.

 

After dinner we saw Legends in Concert and sat in the comfy red seats in the very back. The young guy being Elvis was really good and charming. Katy Perry was a bit tough to watch and sometimes hard to listen to, with some songs being more tolerable than others. Steven Tyler was AH-Mazing. Wow. The guy looked, sounded, and acted like the real star himself. The show was a very entertaining.

[sooper]

Next on the agenda was the famous white hot party. There was a huge turn out and it was a lot of fun.

 

Too bad the rain started, and the party got moved to Bliss. We had a few drinks and danced a little.

 

But the music was too loud and the indoor atmosphere just wasn't the same, so we left to play some cards before we turned in after a long fun-filled day.

 

We found a cute little friend waiting for us.

 

Day 7

 

 

Was proud of ourselves for waking up in time for lunch at Taste. :D

 

Started with a portobello mushroom with goat cheese and pine nuts.

[sooper]

Good grilled shrimp caesar salad.

 

Not sure why I ordered the mushroom omelet...it was ordinary.

 

For desserts we tried the blueberry cheesecake and milk chocolate mousse. Mr. S only liked the crumb base.

 

After lunch we walked around until the Nick Lewin magician comedian show. He was fantastic and hilarious. The audience was left astounded. Magic!

 

Stopped by the Atrium Cafe to get the blueberry yogurt cake I'd been eyeing. It was moist and tasty.

 

We had been so entertained and very much enjoyed the cruise by this point, so we went to buy two future cruise rewards. Of course we took the offer of turning the extra $100 obc into $125 slot play. Added to our accounts the online slot play coupons, we had plenty for the machines. I took my credits to a $1 Wheel of Fortune slot, and won a few hundred from some spins. I could sense my luck changing for the better! :D

[sooper]

This night we had the worst MDR dinner service this cruise. We were seated right away, but we didn't have a waiter for while. Finally another waitress that we knew from previous nights saw that we've been waiting and jumped in to take our order. Apparently the guy who was supposed to be our waiter got offended when the waitress told him that she helped him out by taking our orders. He neither spoke a word to us through the entire dinner, nor checked on how things were. A few times he looked our direction and saw our empty plates, but he went to the tables by our left and then right to help them. Only until the very end did he come by to clear our plates, and to drop off the dessert menu. We couldn't get his attention for the desserts, so we ordered with an assistant and got some forgettable desserts that I didn't take a photo of. For the first time ever I'd wanted to remove the DSC, but I didn't as it wouldn't have been fair to the rest of the other staff. Just had to chalk it up as an odd incident. Sh*tuff happens.

 

Our dinner started with a nice blue crab cake.

 

Mr. S had the chicken skewer salad that was a bit dry.

 

I had the regional specialty dish of pastas with mussels. It was a bit bland and not good at all. Since our waiter was nowhere to be found, I had to flag down a waitress to get the tilapia (which was a tad better).

 

 

Mr. S. enjoyed his strip steak and shrimps.

 

Back to the casino to battle with the cards. I've had some luck and Mr. S was at a hot craps table. The table chip trays were refilled as his some players walked away with 10-20K each. Mr. S wasn't playing in the same league, but he did alright, and together we were finally on the plus side at last.

[sooper]

Day 8 - Nassau

 

 

Had some brunch before we get off the ship. Good chicken, pretzel roll, and chicken noodle soup. The curry was spicy, and it was only vegetarian.

 

We hopped on a taxi shuttle to Atlantis ($4pp). It was huge.

 

We hadn't planned on playing there so didn't bring much cash. Except...we ended up playing there almost the entire day. The blackjack rules were better there with 6 decks and dealer standing on soft 17. We quickly lost a few hundred, and not willing to part with our money, I got more cash from my good friend Adam. Our small bankroll went up and down, and eventually with a last double-down we pulled ourselves out of the hole we dugged hours before. We escaped Atlantis with what we had plus the cab fare!

 

Left with little time, we rushed to see some of the grounds and the beach, which pales compared to St. John.

 

 

 

[sooper]

Sunset on our way back to the ship.

 

 

Snack time - good seafood soup, conch salad, stir-fried beef noodles, a doughy profiterole, some okay chocolate desserts.

 

We bid farewell to Atlantis, and the other ships.

 

With the previous nights awful dinner service, we went to Taste tonight. I'd wanted to try a specialty restaurant, but Mr. S wasn't hungry, so we would have to do so on the next cruise.

 

We shared a seafood chowder (salty), beef stroganoff (salty and the pasta wasn't good), and seafood cioppino that tasted just like what I had from the buffet.