Carnival Fantasty Review-Eastern Caribbean March 8, 2014-March 15, 2014

[Rgrgirl0307]

We celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary this past week on board the Carnival Fantasy, March 8, 2014-March 15, 2014. We went into this fully knowing it was college Spring Break week, as we got married Spring Break of our senior year in college, so we were aware of what to expect in regards to there being many college students and a lot of alcohol! This was also my third time aboard the Fantasy, having traveled the 5-day itinerary with my husband in 2011 and the 5-day itinerary again with my mom and oldest son (6 at the time) in 2012. I hope you enjoy the review and fell free to ask any questions!

[Rgrgirl0307]

Saturday March 8, 2014: Embarkation Day!

 

Here's me on our way to Charleston!

 

We left our home in Wilmington, NC around 6:30 on Saturday morning and drove ourselves along with our two boys and our dog to my parents’ home in Mount Pleasant, SC. Once there we dropped our boys and dog off with my mom and my dad took us to the ship!

 

Now, having done this twice before we knew how crazy long the weaving line gets at the port, so my dad dropped us off on East Bay, right before the Noisy Oyster, we grabbed our luggage and walked to the port ourselves. This was amazing; we literally walked right up, showed our boarding pass and passports to a port official, walked over to a luggage container and put our luggage in it and walked right on to the shuttle bus to take us to the terminal. The bus left within 2 minutes of us boarding and within two more minutes, we were walking in to terminal. Once inside we went through security, had our carry-on bags scanned, had every one of our carry on cokes, coke zero’s and water checked thoroughly via being shaken, stirred and even checked with a flashlight, however no one ever looked at our questioned our wine, I know you are allowed to bring it on board, but you are allowed to bring the non-alcoholic drinks too, it was not an issue, I just thought it was interesting! I would say at this time there were about 100 or so people already in line to check-in, , we had FTTF and were escorted to a separate line where there was only one solo cruiser and a family of 3 ahead of us, so we were through check-in in about 4 minutes, literally. Once we got our Sail and Sign cards, in which I am now a proud owner of a Gold one, we took our embarkation picture and walked up the stairs, took our picture for our S&S card, heard the magic ding and walked up the gangway. From drop off on East Bay Street at 11:35 am until we were in our room putting up our carry-on bags at 12:05, so 30 minutes, the last two times we were in line for an hour almost just to get dropped off through the crazy winding lines!

 

Here's a quick shot of our room, with my adorable hubby!

We went up to the Lido deck, got some lunch, Mongolian Wok (YUM) and of course a Drink of the Day (DOD). It was a little cool, but the sun was out and we were on vacation so we did not let that bother us, we grabbed a deck chair by the pool, listened to music (which I enjoyed and did not find incredibly loud or intrusive) and people watched! There was already so much activity going on and the ship filled up quickly it seemed, as I mentioned before it was college Spring Break so those spring breakers were not wasting anytime and many were already down a bucket of beer by the time we at our lunch! After a little bit we went down to our room and checked on our luggage and two of our three bags were already there, the last bag which had our shoes was there after we sailed, but not sure when it came as we left the room after bringing our bags in and explored the ship a bit!

Hubby and I on Lido

 



Enjoying my first DOD!

After some exploration it was time for the muster drill, our muster station was F, which happened to be the Lido deck, so we were there the whole time, we did not have to move to our lifeboat station, as this is where they would be. It was fast and painless, I would day the whole drill was 20 minutes or so. Once muster was over we headed up top, grabbed two chairs and put them port side, which technically was not facing the port, that is confusing to some people, but Port is essentially the left side of the ship when facing the bow and Starboard is the right side. We were there for about an hour during sail away, watching the Coast guard follow us out, passing Old Mount Pleasant, where I was born and raised, the beaches, etc.

 

After spending our sail away on deck we headed down to our room, which was U136 and headed got ready for dinner! We had early dining and a table for 2, which we had requested, and met our amazing wait team, Felipe, DaDan and Imade, we at in the dining room every night, except for one when we did the Chef’s table, and our service and food was above my expectations every night! I did not take pictures of our food, but we never had any complaints, everything was served hot or cold as it should have been, our service was quick and great!

 

After dinner, we spent a little time in the casino, walked around and had a drink or two. We were exhausted from being up so early that morning so we called it a night early!

[Rgrgirl0307]

Sunday March 9, 2014: Sea Day

 

Having two young boys at home, it is not often that we get to sleep in so we took full advantage of this today. Our room was in a perfect location, in the middle of two of the elevators, so far enough from them to not hear all of the commotion, but close enough to not have to walk forever to get to them and I never heard any noise when docking or during the night.

 

We got up around 9 and headed to the Punch liner Comedy Brunch in the Celebration Dining Room, it was good, I had blueberry pancakes, hash browns and ham, the hubby had Honey Nut Cheerio encrusted French Toast and Eggs Benedict. I thought the menu was very creative and provided something that anyone would like!

 

 

After brunch, we headed up to the Lido deck and were able to locate two chairs to the left of the stairs that headed up to the Lido stage. The chair hogs were out in full force today, there were many chairs that I never saw anyone use and quit a few people were moving peoples stuff to use the chairs, Carnival was not enforcing this, they did have the signs up about being gone from the chair for more than 40 minutes though. Again, the DJ music was playing but it was not so loud or intrusive that I really noticed it too much. We spent most of our day out here, had a few drinks, read, people watched, ate lunch and just relaxed.

 

We had booked Sea Day Spa treatments the night before from the flier that we had gotten in our room with our fun times. These were at 2:45 that afternoon, I had the Top to Toe which included a full body exfoliation, Swedish massage, foot and ankle massage, facial and scalp massage, it was $129. My husband had a choose 3 men’s salon treats, he chose the neck and shoulder massage, foot and ankle massage and a men’s facial. If you want spa services, infidelity wait until you are on the ship, in my opinion you get a much better deal than pre-booking. My services were fantastic and the masseur was great, she was able to work out some stress knots that I had and that was amazing! My only complaint is that the room I was in must be on the other side of the wall from a locker room as I hear toilets flushing and banging all of the time; it was annoying but did not stop me from almost falling asleep, ha!

 

After spa treatments, we relaxed a bit and got ready for dinner, tonight was the first elegant evening at dinner and was actually the only night that they sang or danced in the dining room. It is hard for me to remember what we ate every night, but I do know that this night we both had the Prime Rib. The only complaint I have about the dining room is that we had the worst bar server ever, she actually ignored us the whole week, she would go to that table behind us and in front of us but never stopped with us, we just adapted and brought our own drinks with us! Hubby wanted to wear his uniform, so I was excited to finally get a good picture of us when he was in his uniform! I obviously took a picture of the pictures, so the quality is just ok.

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/<a href=http://s1037.photobucket.com/user/Cortney_Gleaton/media/photo1.jpg.html target=_blank>

 

After dinner, we changed clothes and went to see The Britt’s show that they put on, it was not my cup of tea, but it was good for what is was. I love Broadway and shows, but this was more “Vegas” like, but on a much cheaper budget, don’t get me wrong it was fine and many seemed to enjoy it, it just wasn’t for me! After the show we hit the casino a little more and went to bed, getting ready for Nassau in the morning!

 

My favorite drink The Mocha Chocolate Getaway

 

 

[Matt62]

Thanks for the review, keep it coming. We are going to be on our second Fantasy cruise come next Tuesday. If you are within a 6 hour drive of Charleston, this is hard to beat (even if you have been on far newer and/or more expensive ships). If you have to fly, this is still a great cruise if you can take advantage of the best port you will visit on this trip . . . . Charleston. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Rgrgirl0307]

Monday March 10, 2014: Nassau

 

We were docked at Nassau when we woke up in the morning, so I am not sure when we got there, I believe it was supposed to be around 7:00. We got ready and headed to breakfast up at the Lido buffet; we ate out on the balcony right outside of the Lido and enjoyed our view of Atlantis, until the seagulls attacked!

 

I had booked a tour called Rum Passages through Islandz Tours and we were to meet at 11:00 at the Pirate Bar and Grill, which was just a 5 minute walk from the ship. Before we went there we found the Starbucks, got something to drink and paid $3 to use the Wi-Fi there, we couldn’t get Face Time to work, but I was able to get some I-messages out to our families to check on our boys, so that was nice.

 

Hands down I would recommend this tour to anyone that loves rum, cocktails, history and visiting beautiful places. Our tour guide, Orchid, met us outside of the Pirate bar at 11:00 sharp, the other couple that had signed up for the tour did not show up, so it was a private tour! We went in to the Pirate Bar and Orchid told us about the pirate and rum running history in the Bahamas, there we also sampled three rums that were in different stages of maturation, after the tasting we got a full sized cocktail to take on the road to our next stop.

 

The next stop was the Graycliffe boutique hotel; we took a tour through the hotel and the beautiful grounds of the hotel. We learned some interesting tidbits such as that Al Capone had ties to the hotel as one of his mistresses owned it and he frequented there! After looking around the ground and learning more of its history and facts we headed to the chocolate factory, he had two pieces of chocolate, one hand painted rum infused chocolate and a chocolate truffle that had a little syringe of John Watling’s rum that we squeezed into it. Oh my, these chocolates were phenomenal; they are all made on site and hand painted. The chef there was on Top Chef Deserts a couple of seasons back and I believe she said that she came in third place.

 

 

 

 

After leaving the Graycliffe we walked over to the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, they museum was not open as they are closed on Monday, but we went onto the property, looked at some of the art that was on the property and sat at a bench on the porch and were told some more interesting facts and ate some homemade guava rum cake that was so unbelievably delicious!!

 

[Rgrgirl0307]

Our last stop was the John Watling’s Distillery, while you can tour this yourself for free the tour that we got combined with the fact that Orchid is a Native Bahamian provided us with a tour that they others who just walked through were not able to get. We toured the grounds and production facility and then went in and tasted the three rums they make there. They have pale, amber and a Buena Vista currently there is something in the works to export the pale and amber to American, but that Buena Vista will never be exported outside of the Bahamas. The rum attendant was fantastic and even turned the sample bottle over to my husband to pour his own servings, which were no doubt larger than mine were! He helped my husband select a cigar, which are all hand rolled by Cubans over at the Graycliffe, but since they are done in the Bahamas, they are a product of the Bahamas, not Cuba, so are legal. We also purchased a bottle of the Buena Vista rum and headed over to the bar where we had a full sized John Watling’s Rum Dum Cocktail, which was amazing, there is nothing I can compare it to as it was so unique and delicious! At this point our tour was “officially” over, but Orchid stayed with us and we bought her a cocktail and spent some time learning about her and the city of Nassau itself today.

 

 

 

 

John Watling's Rum Dum Cocktails

[Rgrgirl0307]

After we finished our cocktails Orchid, walked us down to Junkanoo beach, as she knew that we wanted to go over to the Fish Fry, from there we said goodbye and headed to the fish fry. The tour is scheduled for 2 hours, but Orchid spent almost 4 hours with us. This was our fourth time in Nassau, we have done the dolphin excursions, snorkeling, booze cruise and shopping before; however this was the best time that we have had in Nassau. Islandz Tours is a highly reputable company; check them out on Trip Advisor and decide for yourself, but I highly recommend them. Everything I mentioned above including the full sized cocktails, chocolate, rum cake and the priceless history we learned was included for $50.

 

Us with Orchid our tour guide

 

We walked down to the Fish Fry and stopped at Casa del Mar, where we ordered Conch Fritters and Sky Juice, Orchid had told us to try it and it was awesome. Sky Juice is a Bahamian drink of gin, coconut milk and nutmeg, I know that much, but there were other things in there as well. We paid $15 for two sky juice and conch fritters, left her a $20 and headed back to the ship. Along the way we stopped at Junkanoo for a bit.

 

 

After all that rum, we were feeling a little silly!

 

 

 

 

 

I know there are a lot of travel advisories, etc for Nassau, in our experience we never felt unsafe and had a great day. Our walk back from the Fish Fry to the ship was the longest walk where we were on our own and I never felt uncomfortable or scared in any way. This is my personal opinion of course and you should make this decision for yourself.

 

When we got back to the ship, we took a rest and had to get ready for the Chef’s table this evening. I will continue that in the next post.

[Jamman54]

GREAT review so far!! Looking forward to reading the rest!!

[Rgrgirl0307]

Chef’s Table:

 

If you are a foodie and love “behind the scenes” stuff I recommend the Chef’s table, this was our second experience with the Chef’s table and it was just as good, if not better than the first, the menu had changed this time, so that was nice. The night before the Maître D had come to our table letting us know it would be tomorrow evening and that we would find and invitation under our door that evening.

 

We met at the bar counter at the lobby at 6:25, we were given champagne and waited about 5 minutes for the chef to come. From there he took us through the Celebration dining room and into the Galley(kitchen), at this time it was about 6:40 and as you can imagine the Galley was bustling with activity. Here we started with some appitizers, that we have no pictures of, sorry; Parmesan Core and Olive, Chorizo and Dates in a Poquillo Sofrito, Focaccia, Mascarpone Cream and Prosciutto Crudo and Langoustine and Sundried Tomato Jam Fritters. After the appetizers, we moved over to the baking station where we met the baker and were able to watch a demonstration in making the famous Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. Below are some pictures of the Galley, the chef was totally fine with us taking pictures and actually encourage it.

 

 

Warm Chocolate Melting Ingredients

 

 



 

 



 

From the Galley we headed to the Library where it was roped off for our private function. Here we had all 7 of our courses as well as bottomless red and white wine!

 

 

Bread baked in Terra Cotta pot with garlic

 

 

I will continue with the rest of the courses so I can put all of the pictures in there......

[Rgrgirl0307]

Tomatoes Our Way!

-Aerated tomato juice, cocoa butter coated, chardonnay poached

 

 

Tuna Banh Mi

-Lemon bread, Sesame Crisp, Miso Cream Avocado Gel

I have no idea where my picture of this went, sorry!

 

Cornish Hen

-Carmelized, Butternut Squash, Sofrito....AMAZING!

 

 

Bavarois

-Spinach, Green Peas, Warm Turnip and Apple Juice

 

 

Salmon

-Herb Pesto, Cured Tomatoes, Carrots, Fava, Mushroom Earth, Condensed Beets.....Phenomenal and I do not usually enjoy salmon!

 

 

 

 

 

Wagyu

-Slowed Stewed Short Ribs, Potato Pebbles, Pumpkin Fudge, Tomato Dust....Ahhhh sooooo good!

 

 

Chocolate "88F"

-Aerated Pistachio and Mango Cake with Mascarpone Cream, Guave and Caramel Praline

 

 

There were only two other couples so it was a small group, but was great. The chef and his staff were amazing and attentive. Again, I highly recommend this, it is $75 a person, but well worth it!

[Rgrgirl0307]

I'll continue later this evening or tomorrow with Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and the last two sea days!

[tracier66]

Enjoying your review!

[gelo7]

Loving your Fantasy review.

[HarperSays]

Love your review so far! I'm always interested in new things for Nassau so I love hearing about the tour you took there.

 

I went to college at UNCW and have always dreamed about moving back there one day!

[Rgrgirl0307]

Love your review so far! I'm always interested in new things for Nassau so I love hearing about the tour you took there.

 

I went to college at UNCW and have always dreamed about moving back there one day!

 

 

I'm in nursing school at UNCW now! We got lucky when my husband's job moved us here considering Charleston is our home!

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Matt62]

Well if I hear anyone complain about Nassau anymore I am going to tell them to read your review. It just goes to prove that EVERY destination is what you make of it. Great work.

[superjuice]

We celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary this past week on board the Carnival Fantasy, March 8, 2014-March 15, 2014. We went into this fully knowing it was college Spring Break week, as we got married Spring Break of our senior year in college, so we were aware of what to expect in regards to there being many college students and a lot of alcohol! This was also my third time aboard the Fantasy, having traveled the 5-day itinerary with my husband in 2011 and the 5-day itinerary again with my mom and oldest son (6 at the time) in 2012. I hope you enjoy the review and fell free to ask any questions!

 

HI Rgr-Great review so far,sorry to have missed you on the boat but enjoying the pics and commentary.

 

Spring break-what can you say:mad: Funny we took a 5 day cruise on the Inspiration out of Tampa, same time 3 years ago and based on that experience did not hesitate to book this 7 day one out of Charleston. Well let me tell you the clientele is day and night different. After inquiring with the locals on ship I found out how many colleges/universities were close by.

 

Out of Tampa there were lots of youth too but only once did we hear noise at night. This cruise as we were on Main deck midships not once in 7 days did we have a good sleep. Every night numerous times from 11:30 up to the witching hour of 3-3:30 am we were woken up by loud kids.Night after night this went on. Gave Carnival suggestions on how to deal with it ...nothing.

 

Every person I talked too experienced this, even a fellow who worked at a University too.

 

Yes the rest of the cruise met or exceeded my expectations but I don't think it's too much to ask to have at least a few days of uninterrupted sleep.

 

So alas I will never cruise out of Charleston again during spring break on any Ship.I will go farther south and pick another departure port where at least I can likely get much needed rest at night.

[oneboysmom]

Hi! Great review so far! We did a tour of Nassau as well when we went there. Didn't have much of a day there and we were pretty sunned out. We just picked one up from the dock basically. We went to that same boutique hotel and saw the grounds. That pool was amazing!! Hand painted and the oldest one in Nassau I guess.

Can't wait to read more!!

[Rgrgirl0307]

HI Rgr-Great review so far,sorry to have missed you on the boat but enjoying the pics and commentary.

 

Spring break-what can you say:mad: Funny we took a 5 day cruise on the Inspiration out of Tampa, same time 3 years ago and based on that experience did not hesitate to book this 7 day one out of Charleston. Well let me tell you the clientele is day and night different. After inquiring with the locals on ship I found out how many colleges/universities were close by.

 

Out of Tampa there were lots of youth too but only once did we hear noise at night. This cruise as we were on Main deck midships not once in 7 days did we have a good sleep. Every night numerous times from 11:30 up to the witching hour of 3-3:30 am we were woken up by loud kids.Night after night this went on. Gave Carnival suggestions on how to deal with it ...nothing.

 

Every person I talked too experienced this, even a fellow who worked at a University too.

 

Yes the rest of the cruise met or exceeded my expectations but I don't think it's too much to ask to have at least a few days of uninterrupted sleep.

 

So alas I will never cruise out of Charleston again during spring break on any Ship.I will go farther south and pick another departure port where at least I can likely get much needed rest at night.

 

Superjuice,

 

We must have gotten lucky, because other than the shenanigans on lido and in the casino as well as around the bars, we were spared the spring break craziness! We were in the Upper deck, deck 6 and we had a quiet deck! I'm sorry you experienced that!

[Rgrgirl0307]

Half Moon Cay: Tuesday March 11, 2014

 

We were very thankful to have FTTF this day when it came to the tendering process, I could tell by look out of our window and down below that there were a lot of people in line as they tenders were filling up each time and fast! We headed down to guest services as we were told to do to get an escort to the front of the line, but guest services said to just go to deck 4 and wait. There was a FTTF person at deck four that sent us right through and we skipped the line and got right on the tender. The ride over was uneventful and we were there in a matter of ten minutes.

 

I was actually less than impressed with Half Moon Cay, it was pretty, but it did not have the WOW factor that I was expecting, after the reviews that I had been reading. We had a great time, we believe that your experience is what you make it, but I left a little underwhelmed. The sand itself was very littered with cigarette butts, bottle caps, straws, etc, now perhaps this was because we rented a clam shell and that is where people collect stuff, but you would think when they take them down they would clean up around them. I peaked in many of the clam shells and saw the same thing, so it was not just ours. Also, the lunch was ok, the burgers were all very very charred and the jerk chicken that I was looking so forward too was just, blah. However, we still had a good time and I would not let any of the above ruin my time or anything, just an observation.

 

With all of that being said, we spent about 4 hours on Half Moon Cay, we enjoyed the sun, our books, a few drinks and exploring the "pirate ship bar" as well as walking the beach. We did not try to kayaks, hobies or paddle boats, but they did look fun!

 

 



 



 

[Rgrgirl0307]

Grand Turk: Wednesday, March 12, 2014

 

We arrived in Grand Turk right about noon and I believe the ship was cleared for getting off around 12:15. We headed right off and made our way to Margarita ville for some drinks and Wi-Fi, if you are going for Wi-Fi don't even bother, it's not worth it. We heard that Frootz, the smoothie place right in the main shopping area has good, free Wi-Fi later on from a crew member!

 

My husband's friends own a North Carolina clothing line called Ole Mason Jar and we made sure to take a little bit of the Ole Mason Jar with us to Grand Turk

 

We had an excursion booked through Carnival called The Coast to Coast Safari that began at 2, so we headed that way and checked in. After waiting on a few more people, because the Carnival shore excursion rep was on land selling the excursion still, we finally got started about 2:15. We boarded and open air, safari type off road vehicle, that sat about 20 people. It was comfortable and plenty of air came through the vehicle so you weren't hot, but just enough so you weren't chilly either.

 

This tour took you from one Coast of Grand Turk to the other an back, it was really great. Our tour guide was fantastic, the tour was to be 2 hours, but lasted closer to three. Refreshments of Soda or water were provided and we had 3 stops, but it was a guided tour also so it was narrated over speakers in the vehicle.

 

Replica of John Glenn's Friendship 7.

 



Wild horses originally brought over by the Spanish.

 

Our first stop was a shopping area where you could buy local goods, food and drinks. We got some conch fritters, 7 for $2, hubby got a Turk Head Beer and we met the vehicle over on the other side after it had dropped us off and driven through.

 

Our next stop was a beach area where there was a guide that had a kayak filled with water and had many sea creatures for us to see and hold.

 

Sea Urchin

 



Spiny Lobster

 



Star Fish

[Rgrgirl0307]

The Conch that is inside the shell, he cut this up for us and we were able to try raw conch, I did not however my husband did and he liked it!

 



Sea Star

 



Obligatory Selfie when you are traveling alone!

 



We stopped at the lighthouse on Grand Turk before heading back to the pier.

 



Of course they served beer and Rum Punch at the lighthouse!

 

After the tour was over we walked down the beach and found Jack's Shack. I can't find my pictures from here, but it was nice, hubby had a beer and I had a mixed drink of some kind, not sure what it was as my husband ordered it for me. We got great wi-fi here and were able to FaceTime our children, so that was nice! We only spent about 45 minutes here as time was getting short to get back to the ship. Beach Chairs were free, music was good and the food smelled delicious being cooked in the grill area to the right. I would recommend Jack's Shack to anyone and if we ever go back we will spend more time there for sure, especially since we've seen Grand Turk, next time we will head to Jack's and make it a beach day. Plus, I think the location is great since it is on the far end of the beach, even though it was busy it was not super slammed!

[Rgrgirl0307]

Sea Day: Thursday March 13, 2014

 

I honestly do not remember much about this day, it was pretty uneventful. We had brunch, used our free drink coupons and headed up to the top deck were the water slides are. We found two chairs, but it was really windy, we were out there for about an hour and then it started sprinkling so we came back inside and relaxed, changed our clothes and I believe played Bingo. This day was just a really low key day with no plans or nothing that had to be done, so it was nice.

 

Sea Day: Friday March 14, 2014

 

We had signed up for the Behind the Fun Tour as soon as we boarded the ship on Saturday and knew that it was going to be this day. On Tuesday the tickets were slipped under our door and we had to be at Cleopatra's lounge at 8:45 that morning. There we met Joel, our tour guide who is head of Human Resources and development, he was fantastic! After a quick confiscation of cell phones and cameras and being wanded by security we were off to our tour. It lasted a full 2 1/2 hours and was very physical, by this I mean a lot of walking and stair climbing and descending, there is no way if you are challenged physically in any way you would enjoy this or be able to do it really.

 

I won't spoil it all, but we saw the parts of the ship no one sees or thinks of, the storage facilities, laundry, crew dining, crew bar, behind the stage of the Universe lounge, met in the dressing room with the dance captain, the engine control room, a visit to the galley and meeting with the chef and much more. The coolest part was meeting the Captain up on the bridge which is by far the best view in the whole ship!

 

We got a behind the fun carnival baseball cap, a lanyard, a cool little facts pamphlet with the Warm Chocolate Melting cake recipe on the back, a group picture with the captain and later that night a special treat delivered to our room from the chef.

 

This tour was awesome and for $55 a person was well worth it to me, it is really neat to be able to experience some of these places and see how things operate that you never think of!

 

 



 

It was a little too cool for us today to don our bathing suits although many were soaking up the last bit of sun they could. We spent that day hanging out and enjoying our last day together just he and I. After our last dinner that evening we went to the Comedy/Magic show and it was amazing, his name was Peter Gross and it was hysterical. I highly recommend seeing him on board if you can, it seems that he travels from ship to ship so if he is on when you are there don't miss him! We then spent about two hours together at the Roulette table loosing $100, but it was fun! We headed to bed early to get ready for what would be the debarkation from hell.........

[jonboy9756]

Enjoying your review and photos so far. Thanks for taking the time to do this review. We just returned from the 5 day cruise on March 8, the day you set sail. We hope to maybe do the 7 day in the future. A couple of questions... You said they had Punchliner brunch with a comedian? We had Sea Day Brunch two days and never saw anything about comedy? Also very surprised the waiters didn't sing and dance, they put on a show every night on our cruise. We ate in the Jubilee and they were great. Did you leave the table early? They do this during dessert. Just curious and thanks again!

[superjuice]

Went on the tour after you-Agree it was great, our guide was Kerry a HR crew trainer. Funny and was a great guide. The captain said so far we had the best weather of all his sailings in 2014 and no complaints there. He especially commented on how smooth the seas were from Nassau to Half Moon, like a lake.

 

Note one person asked him how we held the boat still at Half moon without anchors and the Captain said just used the engines turning slowly to hold the position.That is quite a fine adjustment but we found out that the props had variable pitch as well.

 

My question to the Chief engineer was why sometimes black smoke came out of the whale tail. Answer was when any engine that runs generators was started, it briefly puts out black smoke then turns that light grey when it warms up. Note there are 6 main diesel motors of which only 4 are needed at any time, sometimes 3 if a light load. 2 are spares.

 

And yes the stabilizers were on anytime the seas were rough,last day included

 

If I worked the ship I'd be in that control room:o