Boston to Bermuda with Young Kids: August 15, 2014--TONS of photos

[lolavix]

We hurried along in the sun...

...to the Craft Market.

 

Insert photo here!

 

We did a bunch of shopping here, and again, I forgot to take any photos.

 

The best I can do is

 

The entry to the craft market is on one side, and the entry to the Frog and Onion Pub is on the other. We weren't even looking for the Frog and Onion, but lo and behold, we found it.

 

The Craft Market is like a craft fair you might attend during the holidays in the United States. There are lots of different vendors, specializing in different items. When you are done with your selections, you go to a central check out to pay.

 

Parents: This is a pretty large space, and it can be crowded. A few times, I had to look around to find my kids. DS2 tends to wander, at times, and this would definitely not be the time you want your child to get separated, when you're T-2 hours from sail away.

 

We wound up buying a picture frame decorated with sand, shells and sea glass (since we knew we had to leave any sea glass we had found on the beach there), a few post cards, a small jar of pink sand because, as I've shown and mentioned, you can't bring it home yourself from the beach, and two real sharktooth necklaces, one for each boy.

 

One of the postcards was for my mother-in-law, so we found a table to sit and write it out...it was then that we realized that we didn't know her address. In our defense, she hasn't lived in her new house very long, and I can still rattle off the old address, though that wouldn't help us right then. DH came up with the bright idea to mail to to ourselves and then we'd mail it to her from home. Postcards to the US cost 70 cents to mail, and you can purchase postage at the cash register.

 

There was a mailbox over in front of the Clocktower Mall. DH offered to go mail the card. I was a bit bummed out that I wouldn't get to see the Mall, but I also knew that I wouldn't be able to look very well or easily with everyone in tow and knowing that we needed to be back on board in an hour.

 

He went off to mail the card and I walked back to the ship with the kids and took advantage of the time to get a few more touristy Bermuda photos. The Clocktower Mall will have to wait until next time.

 

But...some fun photos of the kids!!

The boys showing off their shark tooth necklaces.

 

 

 

The kids made DH and I kiss when we walked through this earlier. This time, though, he wasn't with us, so they stood in for us.

 

 

Although I didn't try to stage the background, I really like how you can see the Dawn behind the kids. This is probably one of my favorite non-beach photos of the trip.

 

We walked back toward the Dawn and made one more stop. At Heritage Wharf, we stopped in a shop to see if we could find a shell necklace for DD. We hadn't really seen anything she liked at the Craft Market. She found a necklace and bracelet set. We also found a magnet that we liked, so we got that as well since we collect them of places we visit. DH caught up to us in that shop, which is either a testament to how quickly he walked to mail the postcard or how slow we were due to my photo session.

 

Edited August 28, 2014 by lolavix

[lolavix]

A few more from my last minute photo shoot:

 

Still missing a bit of her.

 

The window washer at the top of the photo is right at one of our balconies. I can see the clothes that we tried to dry on the balconies. I will mention that it was pretty humid in Bermuda, so try as we might, nothing really fully dried unless it was in the full sun. There is a little clothesline in the shower, but even using both of them and the balconies, we still didn't have enough room for all of our bathing suits, wet T-shirts and damp clothing we wore over bathing suits, etc.

 

Back to our story...

 

After we walked through the shop, we were greeted by this:

The sail away/Welcome Back party!

 

Armen the Cruise Director and many of the staff were out there dancing with embarking passengers to some of the NCL standards:

YMCA

 

Gangnam Style

 

I don't have any photos of "Hey, Baby...I want to know-oh-oh, if you'll be my girl," but they did that one, too.

 

Very festive atmosphere. They were handing out these triangular Italian ices made out of orange and apple juice. A perfect pick-me-up as we all danced back onto the ship.

 

We went to our room and dropped our stuff off. The kids wanted to hit Splash Academy, which unlike sea days, is open without a break for meals when in port. I brought them up while DH took a nap. When I returned, I sat on the kids' balcony and just watched the final stages of readying the ship for sail away.

 

As 5 PM came and went, I started watching for "pier runners", but we were a good bunch and there were none. I'm guessing that it's less likely when you are at one port for three days, but I'm sure it happens as well.

 

Right at 5:30, I watched the dock workers undo the ropes tying us to the pier and we were off. Lots of people were on their balconies, and you could hear applause and shout from the workers telling us to come back soon.

 

 

I marveled at how quickly Heritage Wharf went from a dancing stage to peace and quiet. I'm thinking that Calico Jack's was probably still rocking...

[lolavix]

The Grandeur of the Seas is easily visible. She left at 6 PM, so the dock workers jumped in their cars and rode down to King's Wharf to send her off.

 

DH woke up and startled me by speaking to me from our balcony. I went back to our room and we talked about trying to take advantage of the free babysitting to have a dinner, just the two of us. I called to see if we could get into Aqua at 7 or 7:15, and once I remembered that we were not going to be 5, the hostess said she could squeeze us in.

 

Hooray!

 

We went to retrieve the kids from Splash Academy and took them to the Garden Buffet for their dinner.

 

Parents: I have forgotten to mention this. But we often let our kids sit in the Kids' Cafe seating area (which they enjoyed) while we sat at a 'big people' table for two by the windows (which we enjoyed). We could keep an eye on them and help if they needed it, but it was a win-win because they enjoyed the independence and we didn't have to take up two tables in the Garden Cafe main seating area.

 

This was an interesting greeter at the buffet this evening:

DH said it was "just wrong", but it made me giggle a bit. It certainly wasn't expected.

 

We had been sailing for about an hour, and we were finally reaching the end of Bermuda. I realized that I could see Fort St. Catherine's beach from the window

and wished that we were back there.

 

But then I started looking forward to my grown up dinner at Aqua.

 

The kids finished up and we brought the kids back to Splash Academy and headed to Aqua. We were seated right away and struck up a conversation with a couple who turned out to be from our town. The husband of the couple recognized DH from T-ball from a few years back, when our now 8 year olds were five. We were all amused by this and we talked to them for a little bit.

 

DH and I each ordered the fried mozzarella appetizer. I also ordered French onion soup and he ordered calamari as well. I was either too busy chatting with our neighbors or just happy to have a relaxing meal with DH that I forgot to take any photos at all of our meals! I had gnocchi and DH had a prawn dish, I think. I had the chocolate volcano again, as I had on Sunday at the Venetian, and I don't recall what DH had, but I think we both enjoyed it. It was nice to have a quiet meal together. Parents: Make sure to do this!!

 

I had heard that the service in the MDR is very slow, but it wasn't really bad this evening. We finished up and went to retrieve the kids from Splash Academy so that we could attend the family version of the White Hot Party.

 

We were bad and didn't dress the kids in white, because I didn't realize that there was a family version of this and didn't plan accordingly for the kids. Parents: Bring some white for your kids if you plan on taking them to this.

 

It was held by the Oasis pool and while it wasn't super busy, the kids and I had fun dancing. DD, in particular, really enjoyed herself.

 

This was at the very beginning. More people did join in as the party wore on.

 

 

A little bit after 9, we gathered to decide our next plan. DH and I wanted to attend:

but didn't want to take the kids. DD and DS1 wanted to go back to Splash Academy, but DS2 didn't want to. It was 9:30 and he was busy all day and staying up late for him. When we had taken them to the 9:30 show of Band on the Run, he actually fell asleep at the end, so we figured that might happen again, once the theater was dark and relatively quiet. So, we dropped the older two off at Splash Academy and took DS2 with us.

 

I forgot to mention back on Saturday that a few minutes before the show, they sell pull tab cards, which are the equivalent of scratch tickets. You can win cash prizes of various amounts, and while we aren't big gamblers, we bought a pack of 5 strips (for $20) and each of us had a set of five cards on the strip to pull. DH and DS1 each won a dollar, which we cashed in at the casino...DS2 wanted us to buy the cards again, but we begged off.

 

Prior to the current cast of the Second City performing, there were trivia questions about graduates being flashed on the screen. It is truly amazing the number of famous folks who got their start there.

 

The show itself was amusing. Many skits and some improv, although it's harder to do improv on a large stage, I'm guessing. To our surprise, DS2 did not fall asleep, but the show was fine. Most of it was fairly innocent or silly, and anything a bit adult sailed over his head. (They saved the adult stuff for Thursday night.) I have to wonder if DS2 thought it was so great that he was with us that it caused enough excitement to keep him awake throughout the show.

 

 

 

[lolavix]

When it ended, DH took DS2 to the room and I went to get the other kids. DS1 greeted me with this:

I think this was the biggest balloon I'd ever see. He insisted on keeping that balloon in their cabin...until Thursday, when the wind from the balcony managed to create air drafts which picked it up and carried it out the balcony door! We watched the balloon go out to sea...

 

Back in the cabin, we were met by

and

 

We got the kids settled and I then stepped out for a few minutes to go see what was happening at the White Hot Party (adult version).

 

 

Looks like it might be YMCA

 

Gangnam Style

[Hikini]

That chocolate volcano must be really good! :)

[lolavix]

I walked around to see the party from different angles.

 

The ice sculpture caught my eye.

 

I headed back to the cabin and relaxed on the balcony. It had been a good day, and a good time in Bermuda. :) We still had two more days at sea, and tomorrow we didn't need to be anywhere at an early time.

 

Sounded good to me.

[aussie cruzer]

What a great review your doing here.

 

Nice photos and good detail.

 

 

Thanks for posting...it's a great read.:)

[mkmom50]

Hikini--Thank you for your kindness and for reading along.

 

Pathubia--I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's almost September, so October isn't really that far off!

 

g35girl--It's funny you should say that, because my husband can't imagine jumping from place to place without having time to spend to poke around. He said that he didn't know if he'd like a cruise where you don't have more than a few hours in a given port. I told him that perhaps we could do a cruise like that to give us an idea of where we'd like to go for a more extended visit. It seems to me that having three days in port is really the exception, but it worked for us.

 

aquarianne11--You are very welcome. I always do detailed reviews of our land trips on my on-line journal, so I figured that this is killing two birds with one stone. I also know that there will be some people who enjoy all the details and photos. I'm trying to add some things that I would have wanted to know prior to cruising that I didn't know before.

 

mkmom50--You are very welcome. Where else have you cruised?

 

Susie51--You are welcome. More to come!

 

We have cruised to Bermuda twice, The Western Caribbean and transatlantic on the Breakaway (Southampton to NYC) and in Oct 2015 we are taking the Transatlantic on the Escape. (Southampton to Miami)

[lolavix]

Hikini--It really was! :D

 

Aussie cruzer--Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

 

Mkmom50--Which has been your favorite? What are the transatlantic ones like? I would have enjoyed a few more days at sea myself.

[lolavix]

I had forgotten one little detail which I want to add here for Day 5.

 

I had written

 

We trekked over to the ferry with many others. I was a bit surprised, especially at the number of folks getting in the line to St. George's, because over and over I read that people stayed close to the Dockyard on departure day because they didn't want to miss the ship. Although I suppose some do, I can see that many didn't worry, like us.

 

I will mention that I was a bit anxious in wanting to get to the ferry and get on so we could get to the beach ASAP. I knew I wanted to have time to shop. Each day when you exit the ship, there are photographers with various characters to take your photo. We breezed right by them, but DS1 saw one this morning that he wanted his photo with, and he stopped and had them take a quick photo:

 

 

I now wish we had all slowed down and gotten a few fun photos taken, especially since we purchased the package. That makes two things I regret with regards to photos...not getting any embarkation photos in Boston, and not getting any photos with the characters in Bermuda, or any photos on the dock at all. I didn't see anyone taking photos upon our return on any of the days, which is too bad because I know we would have posed if we weren't determined to get to where we wanted to go.

 

Now, onward to Day 6.

[lolavix]

 

 

 

 

 

[lolavix]

 

_________________________________________________________________

 

Wednesday! Our first of two post-Bermuda sea days. After the hustle of getting us all over the island, I was looking forward to some down time.

 

The kids never really sleep in, even when they are up later than normal, so we were up and about by a little after 7. We went to Garden Cafe for breakfast and the kids, DD in particular, were anxious to get to Splash Academy because they were having practice for tomorrow's circus. We dropped them off and then walked around the ship.

 

We stopped in the photo gallery and I think this is when we decided to purchase the 10 photo package. Once you purchase a package, you are allowed to pull your family's photos and give them to the photography staff, where they will keep them all together until you are ready to cull them. So, we went through and found most of the photos, although I could not find DS1's bird photo yet. I figured we'd find it later.

 

We then went over to the Java Cafe in the atrium to hear the "How to Run a Floating Hotel" Q and A session held by some of the crew. While we were waiting, I admired the model of the ship in the atrium.

 

 

Some details:

 

My boys, in particular, really enjoyed looking at the model when they were with us.

 

The cafe started to fill up and we were glad we had arrived a little early for the Q and A.

 

Here we have Executive House Keeper Hal, Executive Chef Paolo and Hotel Director Sarper, ready to answer questions.

 

Prior to the start of the Q and A, we received these little crib sheets. I found some details more interesting than others...

 

The amount of food used in a week fascinated me, especially that 3,000 egg stat!

 

I think one stat given about the fuel consumption was that at top speed, one gallon of fuel was burned per second, and it propelled the ship 25 feet.

[lolavix]

 

 

We learned that spring break is particularly challenging, and that one year they didn't order enough chicken wings and the college students were quite upset about this.

 

On our way out, we spoke to another member of the entertainment group, and she answered a few questions about the length of their contracts and how they can request different routes but NCL can move you around at will. She gave us a glimpse into their lives when they are working and also during their off hours.

 

If you are at all interested in some of the details of the ship, I would recommend to attend and come with your questions.

 

Splash Academy closes at noon so we went to retrieve the kids and decided to try Blue Lagoon for lunch. DD had seen something about it and had repeatedly asked, so we figured why not?

 

I liked the openness about it, and also the lack of crowds and the fact that it was a sit down restaurant.

 

 

I ordered some nachos for us to share and I think a chicken sandwich for my entree. DS1 ordered macaroni and cheese, and DS2 ordered PB & J, and we were told it would be a 30 minute wait since those items needed to come from the room service kitchen. The boys ordered burgers and hot dogs, so we wouldn't be stuck waiting, and at the end of the meal, they also brought over the original macaroni and cheese and PB & J. DS2 ate his sandwich right then, but DS1 brought his mac and cheese back to the room.

 

After lunch, we decided to split up for a bit. DH and DS2 were going to rest, and the other two kids and I were going to explore the ship for awhile. We were going to come back at 1:45 so the kids could go to Splash Academy again and I could go the Dawn International Crew Show.

 

We went down to 7 and I showed the kids the walls of photos. DS1 found his Dockyard photo and we added it to our stash. DD wanted to look in Tradewinds, so we did that for a bit. I located a few NCL magnets that we might purchase later.

 

We then decided to walk around the ship for a bit.

Not the best photo, but I wanted to show the little window seats.

 

We went outside and walked up to the sports deck, Deck 13 and sat for a little bit. While we were there, one of the photographers came by and took this photo of the three of us:

 

 

I'm not in a lot of photos, so it was nice to get a sort of candid one (well, not posed inside).

 

We watched some folks play checkers and were going to play, but there was another group ahead of us, so we moved on to port side, where we sat and watched some kids play shuffleboard. Although none of us had ever played it before, it was pretty easy to figure out the rules and scoring. When the game ended, it was time for us to go back inside and meet up with DH and DS2.

 

When we returned, we found them both snoozing, so I took the kids to Splash Academy and headed off to the Stardust Theater for the show.

[lolavix]

adivineeternity--You and your boyfriend are going to have a terrific time. There is so much natural beauty to photograph in Bermuda. I wish I had more time! So many fun things to capture on the ship as well. I hope those 20-something days go quickly for you. :)

 

pathubia--I wonder if Calico Jack's will be a permanent thing. Interesting that it wasn't there in May. It did look like a lot of fun. Have a rum swizzle for me. ;)

[gardeningnrs]

This sounded great. I am going with my DGD in Oct.and may see if she wants to do the children program a couple of days. I think if she sees what the things she can do and not have to spend all her time with the "old lady"

Ellen

[pathubia]

pathubia--I wonder if Calico Jack's will be a permanent thing. Interesting that it wasn't there in May. It did look like a lot of fun. Have a rum swizzle for me. ;)

 

I definately will!!:cool:

[Jmhodg]

What a FANTASTIC review!! Thank you so much!! We are sailing on the Dawn for the first time with our kids this December and your review has gotten me SO EXCITED!!! Thanks again so very much! :)

[lolavix]

Gardeningnrs--How old is your DGD? They did seem to have something for everyone at Splash Academy, although I know that the time the kids want to spend there can vary.

 

Pathubia--Deal! :D

 

Jmhodg--Thank you and you're welcome. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[lolavix]

I hurried over to the Stardust Theater, since Splash Academy didn't open until 2 and the show was starting at 2.

 

Since I was alone, I just grabbed the first empty aisle seat I came to. I don't think I missed any performances.

 

There were about 6-8 crew performances. There were mainly singers and dancers. Shown below is a tinikling dance, which is from the Philippines, and represents a bird trying to avoid traps set for it.

 

(I apologize for the lousy photo. I was sitting really far back and had my wide angle lens with me, so I had to crop this very close to see it.)

 

After each dance, Armen would come out and ask us if we knew the country the performer(s) were from and where they worked on the ship.

 

The last performance was "Fountains", and many of the more well-known crew members (Armen, Big-Ben) participated.

 

 

If you miss this show, you can watch it on Channel 8 in your room, which is what my kids did later that night.

 

After the show, I returned to the rooms to see if I could find DH and DS2. DH had left me a note which said that they were at either T-Rex or Oasis pool. I set out to find them, and I managed to spot DH at the Oasis pool when I climbed up to Deck 13. Just as I started to make my way downstairs, the sky opened up and it started to pour. I saw DH get out of the hot tub and then lost him when I got to the hot tub. Fortunately, the rain only lasted a few minutes and after walking around the area, I found the two of them.

 

They had already been to T-Rex, and DH had taken the waterproof camera and snapped a few photos of DS2 having fun at his favorite place on the ship.

 

 

Kid cracks me up.

[lolavix]

 

 

 

DH and DS2 were having fun and were going to stay for a while longer. I decided to go watch Deal or No Deal. DH told me I should play, and I hadn't planned on it, but once I got there and saw everyone with cards, I decided it might be more fun to play along, so I ran back out and bought a card for $19.95 just before the game started.

 

I settled in and was ready to play

 

One person in the audience is selected to go onstage and play against the banker. They randomly put up a serial number on the screen and if it's yours, you are the audience member who plays along. Meanwhile, everyone else can play for prizes from their seats. If the case a contestant opens contains an amount which matches what is printed on your card for that same case number, you get a match. Depending on how many matches you get, you move up this ladder to win better prizes.

 

There were two games per session and every time I watched (this day and the next) at least one person won $50, and there was at least one $200 winner in the audience.

 

Each of this session's contestants won a few hundred dollars. The second contestant should have gone all the way, though, because she would have won $1241 as she had the highest case.

 

I won nothing, not even recognition that I was on my way with one match. It was comical how far off I was with each case. It was still fun watching the contestants and cheering them on as you see them do on TV.

 

I left and went to retrieve the older two kids from Splash Academy. We were going to meet up with DH and DS2 at "Make Your Own Pizza" at the Garden Cafe at 4 PM. We wanted to get there early, based on how crowded it had been at "Decorate a Cupcake" back on Saturday.

 

This time, we timed it right and we were towards the front of the line. Here is DS2, talking to one of the kids' counselors, about his pizza.

 

[lolavix]

And the finished products!

 

We decided to take the pizzas back to the rooms. The kids ate them and played in their room for a bit, and DH and I watched an episode of "Undercover Boss" with Kevin Sheehan, CEO of NCL. It was fun to watch him try out different roles and see some of the other ships. I think we found out later that the episode was a few years old; we had guessed that since they were saying that the Epic was the newest ship and I know that isn't the case right now.

 

Around 6, we headed down to the Stardust Theater to wait for

 

 

 

 

Of course, we were the first ones in line, although by 6:15, there were plenty of others. We were told that this show is very popular and people sometimes get turned away. Truth be told, we could have shown up right before and still had seats, but they would have been very close to the front and off to the side.

 

We didn't mind. The kids kept themselves occupied

and we wound up talking to two sisters. One of the sisters has a granddaughter who goes to my kids' school, although she is not in the same grade as any of them. DD knew of her. I will mention that it was very fun getting to know people on the ship, and because many of the passengers were from Boston, it was almost inevitable you'd meet someone you knew or knew someone you knew or knew of.

 

At 6:30, we were allowed to enter and find seats. At 7 (not 7:30) the show began. Elements had four parts, one for each of the four elements of earth, air, water and fire. The dancers from Band on the Run were back, as was David DaVinci and Jamie. There were also aerialists, whom we learned would be Thursday's entertainment. Although I've never seen Cirque du Soleil, Elements seemed to me sort of how I envision Cirque. It was fun and amazing to watch, and we all really enjoyed it.

 

After the show, Armen came out and led the crew in singing a thank you tribute for sailing on Norwegian.

 

I liked how the room stewards carried towel animals. Navel was present.

 

Then they added the officers:

 

Lots of confetti and singing. The audience joined in as well with the singing. They ended with "Hey, Baby", which I'm guessing is their anthem song.

 

We headed out to take the kids back to Splash Academy. We headed back to Aqua for another grown up dinner. I don't think we had a reservation, because I wouldn't have known what time to make it for, but we figured we'd try because it was much nicer to sit in an MDR than run around the Garden Cafe, especially if we didn't have the kids with us.

[mkmom50]

We have cruised to Bermuda twice, The Western Caribbean and transatlantic on the Breakaway (Southampton to NYC) and in Oct 2015 we are taking the Transatlantic on the Escape. (Southampton to Miami)

 

My favorite cruise was the transatlantic because we had 7 days at sea. Lots of time to explore the brand new ship. Bermuda was the 2nd favorite with the 3 days docked, lots of time to explore Bermuda. Our next cruise in OCt 2015 is on the brand new Escape and is 10 days long. All sea days from Southampton to Miami. Looking forward to relaxing on the ship and exploring.

[gardeningnrs]

my grand daughter is 10 and has traveled with my DH and I to WDW and with my SIL to her house in Florida but she has never been on a cruise. This is my first NCL cruise, my second cruise to Bermuda. It will just be the 2 of us traveling.

Ellen

[pathubia]

my grand daughter is 10 and has traveled with my DH and I to WDW and with my SIL to her house in Florida but she has never been on a cruise. This is my first NCL cruise, my second cruise to Bermuda. It will just be the 2 of us traveling.

 

Ellen

 

 

If your grand daughter goes to the kids club, she will probably have it to herself. When we cruised in May there were only 80 kids on the ship and we only saw a couple in the kids club. When they had the pirate parade only about 10 kids (if that many) marched.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[lolavix]

mkmom50--It must be special to be on brand new ships, and have all that time to explore. We can't imagine having only a few hours in port, after having 3 days in Bermuda.

 

 

gardeningnrs--It sounds like it will be a great experience for the two of you. :) I met another woman who was there with just her 8 year old grandson.

 

pathubia--That would be a very different experience. My kids seemed to enjoy the activities as well as the kids, although I can see it being a bit more quiet with so few kids.