Mitsugirlys graduation getaway cruise

[jgallow]

Any idea what time we should arrive and park at the port to be one of the first on the ship?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

Walking back to the chairs, I decided to try out a pano shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the chair and ordered me a Bushwacker ($9.00) and Sakari some chicken nuggets and fries ($12) and the kids ordered cheeseburgers and fries ($11). I seen how big the plates were and knew I wasn't hungry enough to eat an entire plate, so I munched on Sakari's fries and Kendra had ordered some type of seafood platter with shrimp and she gave me a few of those. It wasn't the best shrimp for sure. I'm glad I didn't order it.

 

 

 

 

The bushwacker was great and then I had to try a Dirty Monkey, which was awesome as well. Although we had people stopping by all the time to see if we were "ok" and if we needed anything. I hadn't seen the lady that brought us our first drinks in awhile, so I ordered the bushwacker off of him.

 

Later she came by and was a little furious about it. She said we are to order only off of her! We replied that everyone was stopping and asking for us to order drinks and said that we can order off of any of them, so don't blame us for them giving us this information.

 

 

She told us that she wasn't going to "go over and have beef with him" because he was lucky it was her son that we ordered off of. She said she would "settle up with him" later in the day.

 

Our fiesty red head server Michelle.

 

[Quincella]

I think I might actually die of happiness if I go there! I haven't seen coral that beautiful and plentiful outside of Hawaii. Gorgeous.

 

I went to Sapphire Beach last year based on your review and pictures, and we really enjoyed it. I was thinking this time (September) we'd ferry it over to St. John, just because I haven't been there in a while, but now I'm thinking we might just head to Coki.

 

I'll wait for the rest of your review to make sure no one robbed your or threw your stuff in the water and ran off with your chairs or anything while you were in the water before I decide. :D

[mitsugirly]

I had finally ran my battery dead on my Olympus (which I knew I would with as many pictures that I took). It was time to pull out my Canon D10 to take a few final pictures.

 

 

Sakari spent most of the day making friends with others in the water. I don't think she came out but a few times to get a drink. Some people there had brought dog bones to feed the fish and they gave her one and it pretty much kept her busy for most of the day.

 

She loved swimming and looking at all of the fish.

 

 

 

 

She is so good at holding her breath for such a long period of time. I think she can probably hold hers longer than me. I can't wait until her gets big enough to get an actual snorkel in her small mouth to be able to learn how to use it and snorkel for long periods of time. She goes snorkeling with us every where we go and usually goes out when we are at the reefs. She was perfectly happy snorkeling around the rocks to the right of the beach and she remained there most of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

Even when she wasn't over by the rocks, there were plenty of fish for her to see.

 

A school of Palometas swimming by.

 

 

 

 

 

We watched a lot of divers going out. They would be in the shallow end (usually a group no more than 5) and get demonstration there, then away they would go. You could tell where they all were because they took a bouy tied to a rope to signal their location.

 

 

 

 

Maybe some day I'll try this. I don't know. I'm just too scared of going deep for some reason.

 

I came out of the water after taking just a few pictures because I could no longer get my camera to take a picture. It was like it was frozen. I had no clue what had happened. When I got back to the chairs Kolin opened it up to remove the battery to get it to turn off. For some reason :mad: he decided to blow in it??? Well it was only minutes later the screen turned gray!!! The camera was officially DONE. Water logged and unusable. The bad thing is, I had taken the SD card I was using in the Olympus and put it in the Canon to continue using the same card for that day. I quickly put the SD card back in the Olympus and it would NOT WORK! YIKES!!! Oh my. Did I also ruin my SD card with all of my beautiful pictures on it? I had been using this card for days. This meant I would lose my pictures from not only St Thomas, but also St Maarten.

 

I have to say this is the FIRST time I have ever done this (take the same SD card from camera to camera or reuse it). I always bring my small 10" laptop with me and download the pictures daily on it so that I will have 2 copies...just in case. I didn't bother to bring my computer with me this time. Would this be a lesson for me? I was heartbroken and not in the best mood after this.

 

 

 

We did see they had banana boat rental there and it was $25 per person.

 

Our driver was due to pick us up at 2pm. We settled up our bill with Michelle and when our driver arrived, a guy came down and told us that he was waiting for us in the parking lot.

 

They did have several water hoses that you could wash all the sand off of you up on the deck at the entrance, which was nice.

 

We got in the van and the driver did a head count but kept waiting saying that he was missing 2 people he was waiting on. When we figured out that he was waiting on the "original" group he came with, we informed him that the other 2 people got off at the marina...remember? Oh yea. So off we went. Driving like a crazed person of course. We made it back without incidence this time and intact. Guess what...he was from Jamaica as well. Does everyone migrate to the Virgin Islands from Jamaica or what?

 

 

We arrived in port and did a little shopping right there across the street in port. I managed to find me a St Thomas tee shirt and Sakari a Lobster magnet.

 

We were back on the ship by 2:30pm.

 

I plugged in my Olympus to charge it and was completely afraid of what results I would have with the SD card. Can you believe I waited until I got home to find out that I didn't lose any of my pictures? YEP, I was so thankful. All the great pictures you have seen so far of St Maarten and St Thomas are from that SD card. woo hoo. I got really lucky!!!

 

I was completely beat. I took a cold shower and didn't even wait until we pulled out of port and fell asleep while the hubby and Sakari were watching t.v. I was out quick.

[mitsugirly]

I think I might actually die of happiness if I go there! I haven't seen coral that beautiful and plentiful outside of Hawaii. Gorgeous.

 

I went to Sapphire Beach last year based on your review and pictures, and we really enjoyed it. I was thinking this time (September) we'd ferry it over to St. John, just because I haven't been there in a while, but now I'm thinking we might just head to Coki.

 

I'll wait for the rest of your review to make sure no one robbed your or threw your stuff in the water and ran off with your chairs or anything while you were in the water before I decide. :D

 

 

Well, I have never been to St John and hear it's beautiful over there, but I can't compare it to Coki. We ABSOLUTELY loved Coki. If we go back, we will probably go there again. The snorkeling was just that amazing. I do think it was even better than Sapphire, but Sapphire just had a different atmosphere. Sapphire is absolutely gorgeous and I think it's because of all the natural shade with the grape trees. But Coki is still beautiful.

 

We had ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS at all at Coki. There was no one that harrassed us. There was no "funny smells" of weed coming from anywhere. Never once did we feel unsafe. Like I said, this place was not at all what I had pictured before I got there, but my mind was at ease the entire time I was there.

 

I would HIGHLY recommend it.

[JMB123]

I'm loving your review!

 

I have a question on the ropes course - do you remember what the height requirement was? I thought I ready somewhere that the kids could go with a chaperone if they weren't tall enough - is that wrong? My son would not be happy just using the kids one, but he is a shorty! Thanks!

[Windy56]

Wow! I have to say, normally I skip underwater shots on people's threads, but I am glad I didn't this time. Your photos were great and the commentary, even better. I actually learned something. Instead of scrolling through tons of photos of unidentified sea life, I was treated to a catalogue of fish and coral with names and facts about them. Nice job and thank you for sharing your love of "life underwater".

[mitsugirly]

Any idea what time we should arrive and park at the port to be one of the first on the ship?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

 

I honestly have no idea. I have never arrived early enough to find out. By choice I always go between 11 and noon. We hardly ever have a problem going right in.

 

I'm loving your review!

 

I have a question on the ropes course - do you remember what the height requirement was? I thought I ready somewhere that the kids could go with a chaperone if they weren't tall enough - is that wrong? My son would not be happy just using the kids one, but he is a shorty! Thanks!

 

No, they will not let you on the ropes course even with a chaperone. No exceptions. My grandson was right there at the mark within mm I tell ya and they wouldn't let him do it. It was 48".

[mitsugirly]

OK' date=' just got through reading and caught up with you. Whew! Quite some experiences there!

 

So glad I will be sailing with you on your do-over cruise!

 

I'm excited about getting back on the Sun, and am sure you will like it, too. It is the first ship I sailed, and I've been wanting to get back on it. Someday hope to sail in one of those amazing aft penthouse suites.

 

Sure do hope they don't take away the Observation Lounge, as I loved it. It doesn't have the equivalent of the Star Bar, so that's where we often went for drinks.[/quote']

 

 

Well, now you have a lot more to catch up on. I just finished my day at Coki. :D Only 115 pictures. No biggie. ;)

 

I can't wait until our Sun cruise and cruising with the ma'ams again. I think I'm going to book LFK and possibly Maya Chan since you guys are headed there. We had such a wonderful day with you and Robin at Grand Cayman. I'm ready for my do-over. :D

[mitsugirly]

Wow! I have to say, normally I skip underwater shots on people's threads, but I am glad I didn't this time. Your photos were great and the commentary, even better. I actually learned something. Instead of scrolling through tons of photos of unidentified sea life, I was treated to a catalogue of fish and coral with names and facts about them. Nice job and thank you for sharing your love of "life underwater".

 

Awww, that makes me happy. I absolutely love the sea life. I'm a picses so...I think that explains it all. :D I try to learn as much about them as I go along. The more I snorkel, the more I see new things. :)

 

Now if I could just spot me a sea turtle, sea horse and some dolphins, I think my life would be complete with snorkeling. :p

[Windy56]

Awww, that makes me happy. I absolutely love the sea life. I'm a picses so...I think that explains it all. :D I try to learn as much about them as I go along. The more I snorkel, the more I see new things. :)

 

Now if I could just spot me a sea turtle, sea horse and some dolphins, I think my life would be complete with snorkeling. :p

 

lol...you aim high...I love that! My husband and I will be doing two weeks on the Getaway during the last week of February and the first week of March. We don't snorkel but we sure love a beach day and you have given us two new beaches to try.

 

Happy future sails to you and yours!

[dna529]

Still loving your review! Just wanted to say what is up with those drivers in St. Thomas?! We went there on our first NCL cruise and I seriously feared for my life going around those curves with our taxi driver. Not really looking forward to that again!:eek:

[Quincella]

Well, I have never been to St John and hear it's beautiful over there, but I can't compare it to Coki. We ABSOLUTELY loved Coki. If we go back, we will probably go there again. The snorkeling was just that amazing. I do think it was even better than Sapphire, but Sapphire just had a different atmosphere. Sapphire is absolutely gorgeous and I think it's because of all the natural shade with the grape trees. But Coki is still beautiful.

 

We had ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS at all at Coki. There was no one that harrassed us. There was no "funny smells" of weed coming from anywhere. Never once did we feel unsafe. Like I said, this place was not at all what I had pictured before I got there, but my mind was at ease the entire time I was there.

 

I would HIGHLY recommend it.

 

That's so good to hear! I love St. John, and I'd recommend you try there next time you get back to St. Thomas. It's easy to get there on the Ferry, and it's a lovely place.

 

But....I've been there, and I haven't been to Coki. That may be the next destination for sure. You pictures are amazing, and I spend most of my time under water when I'm in the Caribbean, too.

[mitsugirly]

lol...you aim high...I love that! My husband and I will be doing two weeks on the Getaway during the last week of February and the first week of March. We don't snorkel but we sure love a beach day and you have given us two new beaches to try.

 

Happy future sails to you and yours!

 

I definitely aim high. All of the places that we have been others have seen them while we were there and I missed them. At Chankanaab in Cozumel, someone spotted a sea horse and I just could not find it after they told me about it. Someone had spotted a sea turtle over at Sapphire Beach in St Thomas, but I never adventured over to the grassy area because it didn't dawn on me to think that sea life was going to be in that area. At Almaplena in Costa Maya, we had just missed the school of dolphins there. Ugh. Maybe some day I'll find them.

 

Have an awesome time on your B2B. That would be awesome.

 

Still loving your review! Just wanted to say what is up with those drivers in St. Thomas?! We went there on our first NCL cruise and I seriously feared for my life going around those curves with our taxi driver. Not really looking forward to that again!:eek:

 

I know. I find that Mexico also seems to think they are race car drivers. At least there's not hills and a windy road there. :eek:

[mitsugirly]

That's so good to hear! I love St. John, and I'd recommend you try there next time you get back to St. Thomas. It's easy to get there on the Ferry, and it's a lovely place.

 

But....I've been there, and I haven't been to Coki. That may be the next destination for sure. You pictures are amazing, and I spend most of my time under water when I'm in the Caribbean, too.

 

 

I had thought about St John because of all of the terrific reviews. I just hate the thought of the taxi and then the ferry and then having to come back again. It just seems like a lot of wasted time and it just kinda scares me. I recall reading reviews about almost missing the last ferry and so on. Maybe next time we'll try it. I will have to do a lot more research on it to feel comfortable making the trip off the island.

[bazbaz65]

So this is the end of Day 4...and my soda in the fridge is STILL NOT COLD!!! :(

 

Yeah, the fridges are simply meant to keep things from melting, it seems. We always had the steward fill up a big bucket with ice so that we could keep some soda in that. The fridge simply won't do the job.

[mitsugirly]

So carrying on with the rest of the days review.

 

I woke up at 7:30pm and knew that I was very hungry. For some reason I had thought I was dreaming about Courtney, but later found that she had came to the room to borrow my shoes to go do the ropes course with Kolin again.

 

We met Courtney and Kolin up there after they were done with the ropes course and decided to grab a bite to eat at the buffet. Darnit, I keep missing my apple crapes (Courtney had it twice already and every time I go, they never have the apple.)

 

Now one thing we have always noticed is that NCL doesn't do deserts well. This would be no exception (well, other than the crapes). However, he looked really excited about the 3 deserts he had picked out.

 

A face only a mother can love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, this was no exception, they were not that good.

 

 

After eating we dropped Sakari off at the kids club. Tonight's theme was...I can't even remember and by looking at the decorations, it doesn't ring a bell with me either. Hmmm

 

I do know that they were practicing their circus skills for the show. Sakari decided she wanted to do the balancing act with the peacock feather. How appropriate for her since she loves animals.

 

 

 

I headed down to customer service because this will be the SECOND cruise in a row I have been on that I did NOT receive my ship pins. Can you believe that Kendra got hers? She sails once a year with them and I sail twice a year...go figure. Last time (on the Jewel) they forgot them in my room and I completely forgot to go down and ask for them...forcing me to beg and cry on here for someone to let me have one of their extra ones. Thank goodness for the lovely people of cc. But, this time I walked down, told them I didn't get my pins and they quickly handed over 3 of them. woo hoo.

 

We headed up to the photo lab to see if we could find our pictures from today and also look for ziplining pictures. Kendra and my hubby are the only ones that have been able to find theirs so far. Everything was printed out up until the 19th and nothing beyond. So we ask a representative there and they assured us they were printing them all out and we would be able to find them tomorrow.

 

I did have a problem locating our picture from St Thomas today. I guess I will have to look again tomorrow. It wasn't in our folder.

 

We headed off to the shops to see if there was anything that interest me. I found a few things but decided I would make tomorrow my official shopping day since it was a sea day. I also didn't feel like carrying everything around since we had planned on going to the casino later. I have had my eye on this ring since day 1. It was beautiful and with a very hefty price tag on it. I just love rings with begets and this was perfect. I joked with the hubby about going down to hit the jackpot on the slots so he could buy it for me. He owes me one. On the Epic, I won the jackpot on a slot and we raced down to the jewelers to buy a black diamond ring he had been eyeballing the entire cruise. It was now my turn. Go win me some money honey!!!! Moma wants a new blingy ring!!!

 

 

We headed to the casino and the place was hoping. I did pretty well this night. I did hit the jackpot, but it was the lowest jackpot with matching 5 of the big wins (9 is the big jackpot and of course only if you are playing the max bid). It was a progressive slot machine (so the money keeps going up the more that people are putting into the machines that are hooked up to the same system). The lowest it starts out for matching 5 is $30. I won $36.50. Whew wee oh boy. Well, that wasn't even a fraction of what my ring cost, so I had to keep playing. Kolin found a machine that he did pretty well on and it kept him playing for a good hour on $20. Of course in the end he lost it all. I however, walked away with a win of $147 out of $20. So I was good for the night.

 

The hubby was over with a big crowd watching a high roller play with $500 chips. YIKES!!! He watched him loose thousands at a time and then win thousands back. My heart just dropped standing there the little bit of time I was there.

 

We picked up Sakari from the kids club and she was so excited to tell her how well she did with her Peacock feather. But, she said "I can't balance it on my chin or my elbow like they want me to" Insert the saddest face here now. I told her balancing it on her chin should be the easiest thing ever for her since she has a dimple "butt" chin like her mommy. Just stick it in the hole and it should stay. hehe It made her laugh and then feel better. No more sad face.

 

I stopped on the way back to the room and took some pictures of their frozen drinks menu. I just wanted to know what kind of booze goes in what so I can make them at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were out on the pool deck of course and they had the colored lights in full force. I took a picture of the hubby and Sakari on the lounge chairs without a flash. Then I teased him about getting a "little too much sun today honey". What do you think? He was glowing red.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Yeah, the fridges are simply meant to keep things from melting, it seems. We always had the steward fill up a big bucket with ice so that we could keep some soda in that. The fridge simply won't do the job.

 

Our refrigerators we've had in the past on NCL have managed to get the soda cold by the second day. It wasn't a fast process like at home, but by the end of the second day they were good and cold enough to drink right out of the can. These did not get cold the entire cruise and we did end up having to use the glasses and ice the room steward brought us throughout the day. Although it seemed to melt extremely fast as well. Hmm, maybe our room was just too warm since I kept the sliding door open a lot to hear the ocean. :D Ooops. The only issue we have ever had with a refrigerator that just simply didn't do anything was on Carnival. It was the absolute worse.

[mitsugirly]

We arrived back at our room to find this little guy was the animal of the night.

 

 

 

We watched t.v. for awhile and I was completely freezing at this point from the burn we got the other day. Sakari had developed a cough as well. It kept me up half the night. Good thing tomorrow is a sea day and I can sleep in.

 

The hubby watched a movie with Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs. Toward the end of the movie I guess it stopped playing. He had to start it over and there was absolutely no way to skip scenes like you can with a dvd. He was forced to put it on FF until it made it to the part that it had cut off. He got a little more in, but it ended up cutting out again. I guess at this point he was fed up and decided it was time for some sleep. I was already fast asleep at this point and exhausted from the day even though I had already had a nap.

 

 

 

The following day I was able to locate our St Thomas picture...someone had put it on the shelf and I just happened to see it there. Hmmm. It was not in my folder, which is linked to your room...you know 9180? I was giving that number to every photographer as they took our picture. OH NO!!! That was the problem. We're not in 9180, we are in 9188!!!!! Problem solved.

 

So here was our picture from the day.

 

[Automation]

Great review, Thanks!

Not that it makes sense, but when you pull the card out of the slot near the door, does it also shut off the refrigerator?

On the Breakaway, there was a blank card, in the slot, our entire cruise. Our fridge was cold. Probably will bring a old card with us in Oct. just in case!:)

[mitsugirly]

Great review, Thanks!

Not that it makes sense, but when you pull the card out of the slot near the door, does it also shut off the refrigerator?

On the Breakaway, there was a blank card, in the slot, our entire cruise. Our fridge was cold. Probably will bring a old card with us in Oct. just in case!:)

 

 

Hmm, I wonder. :confused: I just know that it turned off everything but the a/c. Maybe someone else can test this theory and let us know? Would be interesting to find out...especially if I decide to go on the Breakaway.

[maja651]

Loving you review! Hate the issues you had to deal with, but absolutely love your positive attitude. I know people that could learn a lot from you. :rolleyes:

 

Anyway, did you notice anyone renting snorkel equipment at Coki? We too plan to go to Coki but I don't want to have to bring snorkel equipment.

Edited June 2, 2014 by maja651

[Medtech2]

Well, I have never been to St John and hear it's beautiful over there, but I can't compare it to Coki. We ABSOLUTELY loved Coki. If we go back, we will probably go there again. The snorkeling was just that amazing. I do think it was even better than Sapphire, but Sapphire just had a different atmosphere. Sapphire is absolutely gorgeous and I think it's because of all the natural shade with the grape trees. But Coki is still beautiful.

 

We had ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS at all at Coki. There was no one that harrassed us. There was no "funny smells" of weed coming from anywhere. Never once did we feel unsafe. Like I said, this place was not at all what I had pictured before I got there, but my mind was at ease the entire time I was there.

 

I would HIGHLY recommend it.

I want to shout out a big thank you for naming all the fish, coral and worms! I love to snorkel but really I have no idea what I'm looking at--I just love looking! It's so fascinating.

 

When you encountered that eel all I could think of was Lou Gossett in The Deep...

 

Yikes! (and so cool!)

[perfect match]

I loved your pictures from Mullet and Coki! I have an Olympus Tough, too, and I have been really happy with it. On our last trip, though, most of my pictures came out a bit under exposed. :confused: It was easy enough to fix, but I usually don't have to do that. Besides, I'm afraid when I brighten them they will end up looking over exposed.

 

You and I really do have something in common - I think we both have a picture (or 2) of every fish and every piece of coral in the Caribbean! My DH doesn't get it at all. He keeps telling me I already have a picture of a fish like the one I just took a picture of. He doesn't understand that I have to get the exact right picture!

 

I can't wait to get to Maho beach on our next trip to St Maarten. I have been wanting to watch planes land for quite a while now. We may get there in Sept if we switch from the Disney Dream to the Disney Fantasy. Otherwise, we'll get there next year at the end of April on Independence OTS. I hope we get to see as many planes as you did when we go there. I do think I'll stay off your wall since I am already a member of the broken arm on vacation club, and I do NOT want to do it again!

[mitsugirly]

Loving you review! Hate the issues you had to deal with, but absolutely love your positive attitude. I know people that could learn a lot from you. :rolleyes:

 

Anyway, did you notice anyone renting snorkel equipment at Coki? We too plan to go to Coki but I don't want to have to bring snorkel equipment.

 

I'm sorry, unless it's right beside me being sold, I don't notice since we have our own. I'm sure they probably have snorkel rental there though. They had buildings as you first walk in and there were definitely a lot of people snorkeling. :)

 

I want to shout out a big thank you for naming all the fish, coral and worms! I love to snorkel but really I have no idea what I'm looking at--I just love looking! It's so fascinating.

 

When you encountered that eel all I could think of was Lou Gossett in The Deep...

 

Yikes! (and so cool!)

 

You are very welcome. I wish I could thank you for the Lou Gossett info...YIKES! I had to google that and see what it was about. Now it's going to give me nightmares and I'll be afraid to come face to face (or should I say face to teeth) with one of them. Eek! :p