(Not) Live from the Explorer of the Seas, March 2014

[EmpressofPurple]

Great review!! Can't wait for more:D

 

 

 

Liz:)

 

Thanks Liz glad you're enjoying it so far! It only gets better...:cool:

[EmpressofPurple]

Reposting these large enough so you can read them if you're interested!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[EmpressofPurple]

Again, reposting everything so you can read it... how I wish you could edit your posts for longer than just half an hour!

 

Fitness Schedule

 

Officers & Staff

 

Diamond Welcome Letter

 

Diamond Benefits

 

D/D+/P Drinks Program

 

D/D+/P Drinks List

[EmpressofPurple]

Okay, let's move this review along...

 

DAY 2 - Saturday, March 22 – At Sea

 

6:35am – woke up 10 mins. before 6:45 alarm, dressed for stretch/abs class – what a luxury to not have to dress in the dark, silently, trying not to wake a roommate as I slipped out for the early morning gym class!! First time I’ve sailed solo in a cabin, and this was one of the best perks.

 

No sunrise today; weather is grey and overcast. There were four people in the stretch class, four in the abs class (I think I saw five in the 8:00am paid Yoga class). Out of 3000+ cruisers. Ah, well. After class I spent 10 mins. on the treadmill (gotta get ready for that Cherry Tree 5K the weekend after we get back), then went back to the cabin to shower and dress.

 

I went down to breakfast by myself in the MDR by 8:35 and asked for expedited service so I could make the 9:15 Meet & Mingle in Maharaja’s (many of our CC group had complained about the early hour). The dining room staff tried to seat me solo at a table for two, but I asked to join a larger table. They added me to a full table that had not yet ordered, and provided me with my own server – I received my eggs benedict in just 5 minutes!! I explained to my dining companions that I had a meeting at 9:15 so they were kindly rushing my service.

 

When someone asked if I was on a business trip, I said no, and told them I was attending a Cruise Critic meet & mingle. “Oh,” he said, “Cruise Critic. I’ve heard of that. So, do you all get together and talk about how terrible the cruise is? Like Broadway critics talk about how terrible the play is?” Hmmm… interesting that the word “critic” only brings to mind negative critiques, not positive (or even just descriptive) reviews as well.

 

After my quick breakfast (coffee, prune juice, bran muffin with butter & blackberry jam, plus the eggs benedict) I walked up to the Promenade and went to the Prom café to bring coffee into Maharaja’s. I brought a coffee for myself, then asked staff for some soymilk for my daughter. They told me to go ask at the counter. I asked for it there, and was told I would have to pay for it. I explained that it was free in the Windjammer, and that I had been told it would be available at any venue onboard that served coffee. They finally gave it to me for free, but said they really should have charged for it.

 

(I later spoke with the Maitre D’ in the dining room about this, and they said that the Starbucks counter had their own special soymilk, but that he would speak to dining services about having regular soymilk available behind the Promenade Café counter for all guests.) Alas, as it turned out, the coffee I poured for Ariel was from the bottom of the pot, so it was undrinkable anyway!!

 

Fermi and Dre giving out prizes at the Meet & Mingle

 

When I walked into Maharaja’s, I explained to the organizer that I had not received an invitation to the M&M, but that I had stopped by guest services so I should be on the list. I received the standard giveaway notepad and pen, plus a couple of raffle tickets as well. Ariel, Tom, Carol and I sat together right up front (I had also brought a gift for the gift exchange) and watched the presentation.

 

Tom shows off his prizes

 

Tom won a nice fabric wallet and two free in-room movies in the raffle (usually billed at an exorbitant $12.99… we never watched them in our 8 days onboard, so we left them as a farewell gift for Carol who was staying on solo for the B2B).

 

Ladylikes2Cruise (Donna) with the gift exchange contributions

 

My contribution to the gift exchange: a door magnet/note clip in the shape of a NY taxi (with glitter inside), a sticky note pad, a taxi pencil, 4 ginger candies, and 2 pens from my business! My selection from the gift exchange: a red Hello Kitty gift bag with 4 Pez dispensers inside!! Buzz & Woody (who were the mascots for our first Disney race back in 2011, the Buzz & Woody Best Friends 5K), Ariel the little mermaid (you know who got that one!) and Strawberry Shortcake.

 

Posing with my favorite buddhas outside of Maharajas... notice the Hello Kitty bag on the ground!

[EmpressofPurple]

After the M&M, we ran up to Trivia at 10am. I had made us 3 necklaces, using previous Quest and Trivia medals (a blue ribbon with a gold, silver or bronze Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor symbol) onto which I had pinned several RC keychains, silver pens, Casino lucky slots and VIP keychains. (I had been inspired to create these by a gentleman I observed on the December Oasis cruise, who had created an entire VEST out of linked RC keychains, with “fringe” made out of the casino/vip keychains… he said it weighed over 18 lbs.)

 

We met up with our lovely dining companions, Barbara and Peter, to form a team of six – and yes, we won the first Trivia. Yay, another keychain!! Our only two wrong answers: 1) the most widely eaten fruit (banana, not apple, our answer); and 2) Fred Astaire’s first movie dancing partner (Joan Crawford!! – not his sister Adele, our answer). Impressive correct answers: What else is printed on an Oreo other than the word “Oreo”? (flowers, thanks to Carol) And we switched over our answer from Sleeping Beauty to Snow White (correct, thanks to me and Ariel) for “first movie in which ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ is heard.”

 

After Trivia, I ran into the Casino and jumped into the CC slot pull: 30 people total, $21 each for seven $3 (max bet) pulls on the Wheel of Fortune machine. We hit spit a couple of times and were VERY close to the $1,000 payout twice… but in the end, we just got back $20 of our $21 – good fun for $1, and the individual “high $$ rollers” got prizes (champagne, t-shirts, free match play coupons). Good times. (I noticed a turquoise Hello Kitty bag by the slot machine and realized I had forgotten my red one at Trivia… I ran back to the Schooner Bar, but alas it wasn’t there. I asked the bar staff, but they hadn’t seen it. I hope Carol picked it up after the game! She had commented on it; perhaps she kept it when I ran off to the Casino.)

 

I then stopped by the cabin (where I wrote up the morning’s activities on my little notepad) then ran up to the Windjammer for the 11:30 cooking demonstration, with watermelon carving demonstration by Jun (a beautiful rose). They told us that Jun was the only carver on board, so they took very good care of him.

 

Jun demonstrates his carving

 

I was surprised; usually they had a big welcome carved fruit display in the Windjammer at sailaway, which wasn’t there on this cruise. Later I saw several carvings similar to the one that Jun did live for us, wrapped in cellophane, on display throughout the windjammer stations – but no big “welcome” display at the entrance on the first day. They also had a cook making seafood risotto and demonstrating the construction of the amazing Portofino’s seafood skewer, with crab, scallop, lobster tail (and other seafood which I forget).

 

Seating Section to view the cooking demonstration in the Windjammer

 

There was a full section of chairs, filled when I arrived, in front of the demonstration area, within a small fence. I tried to lean on the fence, but was told by those seated behind me in the Windjammer that they couldn’t see. (Of course, once the demonstration started dozens of people came and stood there anyway, so nobody seated outside the area could see anything.) I knew this would happen, but nonetheless I went inside the fenced area and sat on the floor… luckily, in that position, I got to enjoy samples of all the foods: the seafood risotto was handed out in lovely shot glasses (which most of the guests kept; I kept two, which I washed as gifts for first-time cruiser Tom, who was thrilled)… we also had mini crab-cakes, tiramisu, and chocolate-covered straweberries.

 

mini crabcake

 

While sitting on the floor, I noticed when a young woman (Maddie) seated in one of the chairs dropped something when she took out her camera, which I picked up and returned to her – it turned out to be her Seapass! We became friendly, she introduced me to her dad afterwards (Matt) who was waiting to have the cookbook he had purchased signed by the head chef. Maddie and I ran into each other several times over the rest of the cruise, in the Thalassotherapy pool in the gym, dressed up on our way to dinner on formal night, in the theatre, etc. I love how you meet people all over the cruise ship!

 

Vinnie, the charismatic cooking demonstration MC with the microphone

 

The entire presentation was narrated by Vinnie from Jamaica – well, he’s from Jamaica everywhere on the ship except for in Portofino’s, where he’s Vinnie from Italy! (Ha ha) He was a lively, fun and engaging presenter, explaining what the chefs and carvers were working on, and what samples were being passed around to the audience. At the end, executive chef Gary Thomas came out and answered questions about food service throughout the ship, and on cruise ships in general. He was extremely knowledgeable and personable, and you could see that he really knew what was happening at every level in food service. He talked about everything from food preparation to cleanliness in the galleys to the types of toques (chef’s hats) worn by the staff, to the meanings of the different colored neck scarves and types of uniforms worn by different levels and types of cooks. I really enjoyed this presentation!!

 

Chef Gary comes out to close the presentation and answer questions

[EmpressofPurple]

Afterwards, I went into the restroom next to Portofino’s to wash up (since I had been sitting on the floor). This is a beautiful bathroom with large curved windows, beautiful greenery in potted plants, and ocean views. A staff member in the bathroom pointed out a pod of dolphins visible by the ship!

 

Windjammer Lunch

 

Once I had washed up, I returned to the Windjammer for lunch: first, a layer of fresh baby spinach leaves on my plate… then some pan-seared fish, carved roast pork, chef’s steamed veggies, Indian vegetable vindaloo, plus a bowl of Thai sweet & sour soup. For dessert I had a tiny sliver of pumpkin pie (rarely seen in the windjammer, or anywhere onboard for that matter) and a cup of coffee. I ate lunch at a table with Judy and her husband Erin from Maryland. We talked about DC, with which I was familiar since both of my kids went to school there. They used to live and work there but retired to the mountains and now they hated the city traffic. They’re onboard for the B2B, like Carol.

 

I took a cup of soya milk (they always add the “a” after soy on cruises, don’t ask me why!) down for Ariel to keep in her room fridge. I called them to come over, they had just returned from the hot tubs, perfect timing. Ariel arrived, still in her swimsuit, took the bag w/2 bottles of wine (plus her sunhat and shoes), the soy milk and the shot glasses (which she said Tom would love). We’ll meet at Trivia in 10 minutes. I sure hope Carol has our gift exchange bag, or it’s gone!

 

At Trivia we got 13 out of 15 again, tying with another team… but they ran up faster for the tie-breaker question (name of Audrey Hepburn’s character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s – amazingly I was the only one on our team who remembered it was Holly Golightly, but by the time I wrote it down it was too late). Questions we got wrong: 1) What is New Holland? (Can you believe: AUSTRALIA!!) and 2) Which two stars died at age 27 within two weeks of each other in 1970? (Correct: Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.)

 

So neither Ariel nor Carol had picked up our gift bag; we figured it was gone. Carol encouraged us to check at Lost & Found with Guest Services, so we did… and sure enough, someone had turned it in!! It was listed in the “Lost and Found” book, and brought out to us as soon as we described it – and all of the toys and candy were inside, too. Thank you, fellow cruisers!!

 

While we were at Guest Services, Ariel transferred half of her OBC ($75) to Tom – so nice of her to share it with him – she had $100 from her NextCruise, which Carol had purchased for us on her last cruise… and $50 from our travel agent for being in a group. (I had the same amount of OBC for my cabin as a solo, plus an extra $50 as an apology for delivering my laundry late on my last cruise, which I wrote to RCI about afterwards and they provided the credit on this cruise as a kind consideration, which I truly didn’t expect – so I ended up transferring some to Ariel to help pay for her onboard expenditures.)

 

(As an aside about the midweek laundry bag: I didn’t bother using it on this cruise, since it was a driving port, so I just packed LOTS of clothes and planned to do a big laundry upon our return home. Otherwise, I always pack for 3 nights on a 7-night cruise, spend the midweek day in a swimsuit and coverup while my workout gear and sleepwear is being washed. On the Oasis they tried to convince me that the midweek bag takes TWO days to be returned, which I had NEVER experienced before… and indeed, when Carol used this service on the second week of her B2B, she got her laundry back within 24 hours!! – that despite the fact that the card now says it will be returned “within 48 hours” I guess just to be safe… although that does make it far less useful, especially on a 7-night cruise. At any rate, FYI, the bag now costs $30 before any C&A discounts, and is only for sleepwear, underwear, short and t-shirts – any other items will be washed and pressed and charged at regular prices rather than the wash-and-fold bag price. I have always included my capris and cover-ups and had no problems with them, whether they consider them shorts or sleepwear I don’t know, but they do get washed at the bag price.)

 

The midweek laundry offer (only valid one day mid-cruise... Day 4, not day 2, I'm just posting it here since I'm talking about it now)

 

Ariel took the Hello Kitty bag back to her room, while I went to Maharaja’s to hear the 2pm presentation on the Pirates Democracy in the Bahamas by David Sisler. I took notes on the various pirate leaders, and other facts of interest during the presentation, but the presenter was a bit dis-organized… he would get started on a topic, then move to the next screen and distract himself from what he was saying… he didn’t have any notes, simply filling in details based on the pictures and titles shown on the screen.

 

 

(He started by saying that the computer system wasn’t working, or he would have started with photos of his family, children and grandchildren… however, he did have a backup of the slideshow, so we did enjoy learning about Pirates in the Bahamas. I learned from Carol, who attended his lecture the following day, that apparently they repaired his computer… and she got to sit through 15 minutes of pictures and stories about his family. Sigh.)

 

Best quote from the presentation (which talked a lot about how hard the life of a pirate – or a sailor – was at that time: “If you went to sea for pleasure, you’d go to hell for the fun of it.” Quite a quote from a minister… yes, multitasking, he would also be leading the non-denominational service the following day, Sunday… and giving all of the other enrichment lectures, on women in the space program, the Bermuda Triangle, and Pirates of New Jersey. I did not make the effort to attend any of his other presentations, although I generally enjoy historical and cultural speakers.

 

After the program, I stopped by the Prom Café and picked up the mini-croissant ham & swiss, plus tuna on a roll (ah, something different!), kiwi and a banana, which I brought back to the cabin. I also ate a peanut butter cookie and some of the dried fruit mix from my Diamond welcome basket. I sat in the sun on my balcony (though it was still chilly outside). I sat in the cabin, updating these notes while I watched Batman: The Dark Knight Rises on TBS, switching back and forth to Land of the Lost on TNT during commercials.

[windjamming]

Denise, I'm really enjoying this review. You have a real talent for bringing others along on your cruise through words and descriptions. We are looking at an Explorer cruise before she leaves, so this is the perfect "preview". Thank you!

 

 

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[karl_nj]

while I went to Maharaja’s to hear the 2pm presentation on the Pirates Democracy in the Bahamas by David Sisler.

 

Great review, thanks for taking the time to write and post it.

 

I haven't yet cruised on Royal Caribbean. Is it still common to have a guest speaker on Royal Caribbean? Seems like most of the other mass market cruise lines have stopped this (except on TA's, perhaps). For example, on NCL it seems that they try to spin one of the art auctions as a lecture on art history, which I think is ridiculous.

 

Thanks,

-karl

[EmpressofPurple]

'Bony Voyage' is sort of appropriate, coming from Carol :p:D

 

Nooooo!:eek::p:D

 

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[EmpressofPurple]

Denise, I'm really enjoying this review. You have a real talent for bringing others along on your cruise through words and descriptions. We are looking at an Explorer cruise before she leaves, so this is the perfect "preview". Thank you!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Thanks wind jamming, that's my goal... even if we don't share the same tastes and opinions, I try to describe everything in enough detail that you can judge for yourself if you would like it.

 

I appreciate movie reviews like that too... Don't just tell me "it's good" or "it's bad"... tell me WHY you think it's good or bad so I can decide for myself if I think it's worth going to see!!:)

 

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[Babyrocko1908]

LOL glad you caught that, Babyrock! Nice to see you again:)

 

Lol.. yeah I cannot wait to hear all about exotic "Port Canaveral" <tongue squarely in cheek> :D:D:p:p:thumbup:

 

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[maggieq]

We would much rather spend time in the cl. That said, what would stop people from drinking in the cl and then using their drink coupons afterwards (before 8:30 pm)?

[Clarea]

We would much rather spend time in the cl. That said, what would stop people from drinking in the cl and then using their drink coupons afterwards (before 8:30 pm)?

Nothing.

[EmpressofPurple]

Great review, thanks for taking the time to write and post it.

 

I haven't yet cruised on Royal Caribbean. Is it still common to have a guest speaker on Royal Caribbean? Seems like most of the other mass market cruise lines have stopped this (except on TA's, perhaps). For example, on NCL it seems that they try to spin one of the art auctions as a lecture on art history, which I think is ridiculous.

 

Thanks,

-karl

 

No, this is fairly uncommon... I was excited to see these! (Though as you may gather, a bit disappointed in the quality)

 

And don't be fooled on oasis, the "art lecture" is actually about collecting the (cr*p) art for sale on board. Now, if they actually gave an art tour of the millions of dollars of art on DISPLAY on board -on oasis or explorer for that matter - that would be amazing! The "garden tour" on oasis was like that, and it was great fun, even for a non-gardener city girl like me.

 

Also, I'm sure you know that the port shopping lecture is just that, a lecture about shopping, NOT the port itself.

 

I do enjoy when they have these enrichment lectures (they used to have them on Princess a lot, where you actually learned about the port, not just where to shop there)... but alas, I have yet to have a really good presenter, they're mostly kind of old and tired... surely there are some retired college professors or high school teachers with subject matter expertise and love who could give a stirring, interesting, interactive lecture?!?

 

 

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[EmpressofPurple]

Nothing.

 

Exactly, and if you look at the fine print on the letter, they assured you of exactly that: you may visit the (in my case diamond event, in your case cl) and still get your 3 drinks at any bar. (Again, remember to tip your servers at whichever venue you choose, since gratuities are not included in this free happy hour drinks service.)

 

As you will see in the course of this review, even though I was giving my drinks away, I never used three on any single night, and I never went to the diamond event, so at least as far as I'm concerned, rci comes out way ahead... though I'm sure there are a couple hardy, hearty, two-fisted drinkers who more than make up for me!!:eek::D

 

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[karl_nj]

No, this is fairly uncommon... I was excited to see these! (Though as you may gather, a bit disappointed in the quality)

 

I do enjoy when they have these enrichment lectures (they used to have them on Princess a lot, where you actually learned about the port, not just where to shop there)... but alas, I have yet to have a really good presenter, they're mostly kind of old and tired... surely there are some retired college professors or high school teachers with subject matter expertise and love who could give a stirring, interesting, interactive lecture?!?

 

Oh well. Yes, I feel the same way. The best one's I've seen have been on Cunard, but even then it's sort of hit and miss.

[sharonlacey]

Thanks for the review. We will be sailing on the Exp. in June, your review makes it more exciting. Thanks Again....Sharon:D

[Barb Nahoumi]

Great review, thanks for taking the time to write and post it.

 

I haven't yet cruised on Royal Caribbean. Is it still common to have a guest speaker on Royal Caribbean? Seems like most of the other mass market cruise lines have stopped this (except on TA's, perhaps). For example, on NCL it seems that they try to spin one of the art auctions as a lecture on art history, which I think is ridiculous.

 

Thanks,

-karl

 

We were on the previous cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. There was a guest lecturer, who presented a series on "Pirates of the Caribbean. DH and I enjoyed it.

 

Years back, NCL had guest speakers. I remember attending a lecture about antiques.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Greetings Cruise Critic Friends!! Welcome to my (NOT) live posting from the beautiful Explorer of the Seas 8 day cruise to Nassau, Bahamas and exotic Port Canaveral, Florida!!

 

Those of you who are familiar with my style of cruise review know that it will be a blog-diary covering the minutiae of my cruising day, activities, food, exercise, excursions, entertainment – and often those of my traveling companions as well. I describe the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful in close detail… often offering some opinions along the way, but hopefully providing an accurate enough description that you can decide for yourself whether you would enjoy (or hate!) something that I dislike (or love!)

 

I started this journal by writing a daily email to myself on my tablet, since I didn’t lug along my (outdated, heavy and slow) laptop… however, typing on the tiny travel keyboard was definitely a challenge, especially since the spacebar is recalcitrant, so by day 2 I started making notes by hand (which of course slowed down the posting of this review, since I had to actually type everything up when I returned).

 

Also slowing down the preparation of this review was a BUSY month upon my return: catching up on work, buying a new (er, 2001 with 118k miles) car, running the Cherry Tree 5K in DC with my family… and doing all the laundry from that 8-day cruise!!

 

"New" car:

 

Cherry Tree 5K w/DD Ariel (she was on the cruise with me) and DS Jason

 

Anyway, enough introduction – on with the cruise. Welcome aboard :)

 

DAY 1 - Friday, March 21 - 4:25pm

 

Sitting in the cabin for a few minutes... let's recap the day so far:

 

8:35, check in with friend from NJ who is coming in to pick us up and drop us at the port (we will pay gas and tolls).

 

9:00 drive down in our car to pickup DD's boyfriend Tom and his bags, so we can leave straight from our house when our friend from NJ arrives.

 

10:00, having breakfast shake and coffee... when I get a call from our friend from NJ: he has broken down on the NJ Turnpike, no idea what happened! Worried about him, but no time to waste, we start calling other friends to see if anyone else can take us to the port… but in NYC, not many people have a car, or are free on a Friday morning to drive us even in our own car! Fortunately, it turns out Tom has a friend with a cab, who gives us a discount on the trip. Nice!

 

10:45, on the way to the port we encounter serious traffic... we see emergency vehicles, smoke... by great good fortune (to us!) the issue is on the opposite side of the highway -- a truck engine caught fire. Entire road is shut down on the other side! Miles of traffic piled up behind. We thank our lucky stars and keep heading to the port.

 

11:30 - arrive at port, hand off big bags to porter, use bathroom (!) and head in to checkin. Tom's corkscrew is confiscated! : ( Ariel and I go through together, and the security guard looks at our SetSail passes to confirm that we are indeed in separate cabins, since we are each carrying on two bottles of wine. (I don’t drink, so my allotment will be for Ariel and Tom to enjoy.)

 

Arriving at the tent, er, port with DD Ariel and her BF Tom

 

We check in thru priority boarding while Tom goes thru regular checkin (it's his first cruise!) – and he also carries on two bottles of wine, which are not questioned since he and Ariel are checking in separately. We meet up in the waiting area, where they take a boarding photo (and I take some of them too while they’re posing for the photographer), and we head out to the jitney to the cruise ship.

 

"Sneaking" some boarding photos

 

 

Great review and pictures.

 

Six of us were on the cruise which disembarked before you, and got tied up in that horrible traffic jam heading away from the port. We left the ship around 10:30 and didn't arrive at Newark International Airport Train Station until 1:30ish. We knew that we were going to miss our 1:15 Amtrak train to Boston, so we had to reschedule for the 5pm train. Five hours later we reached Boston, tired but happy.

[cruiserking]

Hello Denise,

 

Really enjoying your travelogue. So nice to see this glorious ship again, my wife and I really adored our February cruise aboard Explorer.

 

Jonathan

[EmpressofPurple]

Hello Denise,

 

Really enjoying your travelogue. So nice to see this glorious ship again, my wife and I really adored our February cruise aboard Explorer.

 

Jonathan

 

And I loved your review of that sailing, helped get me excited for my own - especially since we had the same port stops, and I was somewhat worried about visiting places I had been so many times before on both land and sea trips... but there's always something new to explore!!

 

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[EmpressofPurple]

Great review and pictures.

 

Six of us were on the cruise which disembarked before you, and got tied up in that horrible traffic jam heading away from the port. We left the ship around 10:30 and didn't arrive at Newark International Airport Train Station until 1:30ish. We knew that we were going to miss our 1:15 Amtrak train to Boston, so we had to reschedule for the 5pm train. Five hours later we reached Boston, tired but happy.

 

Barb, so sorry you were stuck in that awful jam! It looked miserable. I'm glad you were able to reschedule your train... it hadn't occurred to me that it would've affected those leaving the previous cruise, I bet a lot of people missed their flights!:eek:

 

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[DKNYC]

I met the fitness center staff too, Alen (sic -- that means he actually spells is name this way) and Tom. When I asked if they offered any multi-class discounts (e.g., I’ve seen classes regularly priced at $12, if you buy three they’re only $10) – and they said they could offer four classes for the price of three (an even better deal: $36 for four classes = $9 per class)… and you could even mix and match yoga, pilates and cycling!!

 

As it turned out, I never took advantage of this offer – a first for me not to do paid classes while onboard. I did, however, make the free classes every morning except for when we had 7am passport control. I picked up a fitness center schedule and was surprised to see that this cruise offered no afternoon fitness offerings at all, paid or free… just the product promotion sessions, er, health seminars.

 

Fitness Center Schedule

 

Back to the stateroom for more unpacking until muster drill (my bag is here but Ariel's is still missing). Ariel and Tom come to get me for Muster Drill at 3:15, and I’m afraid I dawdled a bit, used the, um, facility, until suddenly it’s 3:30 and we're "those people" at muster, running the length of the deck to get to our station (with everyone making snide comments as we flew by, asking why we couldn’t get there on time). Sorry, folks! (Yeah, I was embarrassed, and I felt bad for exposing Ariel and Tom to that kind of criticism, especially on his first cruise.)

 

Teardrop Monument... given to the US by the Russian Government in 2006 "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism" as a memorial for the lives lost in the 1993 and 2001 World Trade Center Attacks. One of my favorite things about sailing out of Bayonne; otherwise I'd never know about this.

 

4:15 - back to cabin. Plug in my phone to charge before we pull out of port, and contact friend merionmom (Carol) who is also on this sailing (in fact, she booked it for us on her last cruise – under the old NextCruise booking rules, so we each got $100 OBC per cabin for this cruise).

 

Heading into New York Harbor

 

Carol comes to my cabin -- we don't realize we're so far into sailaway... she heads up to see us pass under the Verrazano Narrows bridge from top deck, while I change into workout gear first.... suddenly cabin is in shadow and I realize I'm missing the bridge!! I run out onto balcony to take a picture as we're pulling past it. Sigh.

 

Missed the cool picture when you're right underneath and it feels like you can reach up from the top deck and touch the bottom of the bridge... oh well, I'll catch it in November!

 

Now sitting here to write these notes before going up to fitness center to try out complimentary boot camp class! (That's a first. I paid for the boot camp a couple cruises ago, it was fun but HARD).

 

Okay, my notes have now caught up to the present moment! Going to head up to gym for spa raffle and class... then I don't know, relax a little, shower, sailway show at 7:45 followed by late seating dinner at 8:30... then I may turn in! We'll see, this is going to be the "relaxing" cruise. I'll catch up on my notes again after the next burst of onboard activity!:)

 

Don't feel too bad about missing the cool bridge shot. The one you got is lovely. I am sure Carol told you the next sailaway ( 3/29) was in a downpour. I watch from Dizzy's. We needed giant windshield wipers. Love this thread!

Denise

 

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[jstraw20]

Not a still, but here's my video from the 21st. It actually seemed like there was a little more clearance than usual.

 

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[DKNYC]

Managed to catch a couple of the good Rev's lectures. He mentioned the computer snafu then mixed up the grandkids. Had to be corrected by the wife. Missed the talk I wanted to see about the pirates who started the government of the Bahamas.

 

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