Brilliance OTS Oct 5th- Canada & New England Review (Lengthy & Photo Filled)

[Sunkissed Mommy]

My husband needed to check some emails from back home. He owns his won business and needs to make sure everything is going smoothly. So I chased my so around for a bit, then he wanted to "play" on the computer. I noticed these Peter Pan like shadows, so I snapped a picture because I thought it was pretty neat.

 

 

My husband also checked on this item he had ordered back in April. Well what do you know... It's status showed that it had been delivered. I mention this because it's basically all he thought about for the remainder of this trip... I think it clouded his enjoyment of the trip because he just wanted to be home to pick up his toy.

 

We ate dinner and dropped our son off at the nursery again! This time we went to the pub and had a couple beers and chatted. There was a guitarist playing music and about half the tables were filled this evening.

 

 

 

Then we headed over to the Centrum to watch the aerial show. We didn't get there early enough and it was pretty crowded. We managed to squeeze in to a small spot. My husband later said that he only saw the two aerialists when they were right in front of us. He could not see down to the bottom level or up to the top from his vantage point. I had a slightly better view and was able to wiggle my camera out to get some shots.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

 

 

I have never been a wonderful photographer nor have I ever claimed to be!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

My review is going on hold, for today at least.

My computer needs replacing, as it's about to move on the the afterlife!

 

Hopefully I'll be back soon :)

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Okay, the computer is temporarily working so Ill put up some more!

 

We woke up the following morning to find ourselves floating off the shores of Bar Harbor. When we got to Deck 4 to get on a tender we were told we’d have to go an alternate way. A staff member got in an elevator with us and basically escorted us down to the bottom level and whisked us on to a tender, ahead of the line. I told them we didn’t need to skip the line, but they insisted that because we had the stroller and a toddler we needed to go ahead. The weirdest thing happened. They made our son wear a life jacket. Now seriously, this was awful. He hated it, as I would expect most toddlers to feel. We tendered twice before with him (Grand Cayman) and he didn’t have to wear the life jacket. We were the first on to the tender and last off so we didn’t interfere with other people.

 

 

Once we got off the tender I realized it was VERY cold! Remember, we are from South Florida, where is is still in the upper 80s and low 90s this week. If I remember correctly it was in the upper 40s/ low 50s that morning. We were very very cold while we waited to board the bus for our excursion. As we walked toward the park to meet the bus we passed by a little shop that clearly markets itself well as everyone commented on the yummy blueberry scent wafting out of their windows!

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

The bus driver finally let us all on. We took a 30 (or so) minute drive up in to Acadia National Park and the bus dropped us off at the Carriage Stables. One the agenda today was a Horse Pulled Carriage ride through the park and then a trip up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain. We waited 20-30 minutes for the previous carriage trip to get back which delayed the start of our carriage ride. This later posed a problem for me. I don’t know if anyone else in our group was upset about it but I was. I’m getting ahead of myself though, we’ll get there…

 

 

Once settled in to our seats our guide explained that there were blanket by our feet in case we get chilly. She also told us to wear a hat if we brought it because it gets chillier up in the trails.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Rather than narrate the next part I will let the photos tell the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My son fell asleep 1/2 way through the ride.

Edited October 20, 2014 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

The Lunchbox Letdown of the day was due to the delay in getting on the carriages. Because we started late, the bus driver decided it was in our best interest to do a drive-by of Cadillac Mountain. I was very disappointed in this. I wanted to get out and get some nice shots from the peak as well as a nice family pic (or at least some individuals of each of us). So my Cadillac pictures were taken from inside the bus as we drove on by the peak without stopping :(

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

After our excursion we decided to walk around town. It isn't a large downtown area. We were almost out of diapers, so we found a Rite Aid and picked up a pack. Recently he developed a fascination with babies. Any time he sees a baby or a picture of a baby he yells "beebee." Well what do ya know, the diaper package had a baby on it. Well he would not let go of the package. He carried it with pride through the streets of Bar Harbor!

 

 

My nose got the best of me and I made my husband go in to that Grumpy's place that baked up fresh blueberry goodies. It was worth it. They were delicious muffins! The best part was they were nice and warm :)

 

 

Back onboard my son wanted to watch the musicians again. He also danced along to the music by stomping his feet and clapping. That's toddler dancing for you.

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We have no photographic evidence of our evening. Which tells me we didnt do much of anything. I know we dropped our son off at the nursery again just to get a little adult time. I think we went to the Pub again.

 

The next day was the last day of the cruise: Portland, Maine.

We booked in advance with Portland Discovery Tours, Land & Sea. Part one was a trolley tour of the city and Portland Headlight. Part two was an hour, maybe 90 minute, long cruise visiting some of the other lighthouses.

 

Overall it was a bit too much for us. The trolley tour was nice because it was warm and I loved to hear about the history of Portland and I appreciated the opportunity to see the beautiful homes. We lucked out and got the back section of the trolley with panoramic windows and a bench. This worked nicely for my son. The cruise I could have done without. It was too long for us. This also happened to be the coldest day of the trip. Low 40s for most of the morning. The sun didn't show up until later in the afternoon.

 

I'm going to post a large group of photos from the trolley tour and harbor cruise. There are photos of the inside of the boat we were on, some of the lighthouses, forts, and beautiful homes!

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2014 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

 

 

next Up: Exploring Portland on our own!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

A few weeks before our trip I had read about this donut shop that makes their donuts from mashed potatoes. That immediately grabbed my attention. I am a potato queen. I love all forms of potatoes! I HAD to visit this place! Holy Donut was a short walk from where Discovery Tours docks their boat. So a short walk (5 minutes would be exaggerating) and we were there! I bought two old fashioned and on dark chocolate sea salt. They were phenomenal. I don’t know how to describe it other than yummy!!! The entire family indulged. I wish there were a way to get them shipped to my house in Florida.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LMaxwell]

Thanks for the name of the poutine shop, enjoying this review

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We headed back to the ship to warm up and as luck would have it the air started to clear. It became a beautiful day! We hung out in our room, napped, and my son cleaned the balcony with the sanitizing wipes I had brought along. Don’t ask. He loves to wipe and clean. I won’t be discouraging that trait!

 

During sail away we had the most beautiful sunset!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dreamer115]

I can't wait to try those donuts as I am like you and like anything potato.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

After dinner we dropped our son off one last time in the nursery. Tonight we put him in his jammies and sent a night time diaper. We planned to stay out a little longer than previous nights. We walked around the ship, had a drink in the pub, and then went on the computer to finalize our on-line check in. Hubby had been antsy since he got word that his toy was delivered. So he asked me to see if there was an earlier flight. We were booked to fly home at 1:30pm and arrive in Fort Lauderdale at 5pm. I checked and found one flight 2.5 hours earlier, at 11am. But there was no guarantee we'd make it to the airport. What if getting off the ship took a long time? I never like to risk those things. So we vetoed that idea.

 

At this point we still had not been given luggage tags, numbers to debark, or the form to fill out for customs. So I marched down to Guest Services. They had to pull up our old room number. It was noted that we had number 15 and they were given to the 1st room attendant we had. They called her in her room and she said she never got them. They called our new guy, he said he never got them. Something odd was going on. This wasn't the first set of items we hadn't received this week. When thinking back we never received any of the following: Emerald Welcome Basket with snacks, two Cokes (part of the welcome amenity at Emerald level), Crown & Anchor party invite, Upper Tier Crown & Anchor invite, and our son's child "gift" for past guests. Now all of this was C&A related. It doesn't make or break my cruise as I am not on a cruise for a free can of soda or dried fruit pieces. But it was clearly a breakdown in service. I don't think it was related to my C&A account getting deleted as both my husband and son are also Emerald and all of our cards said it when we checked in!

 

We picked my son up around 10-ish. Chelsea and Nikki gave him a gift. A set of 3 Fisher Price Little People. It has Christmas wrapping paper on it so I assume that was last year's Christmas gift for the kids under 3 years old. We thanked them profusely for all they had done for us throughout the week. He blew them kisses good-bye on the final night. I was happy that he finally warmed up and felt comfortable with them. If you're interested, we used the Nursery for a total of 11 hours over the course of 7 days. It came to $88 on our Sea Pass account. Not bad considering a babysitter in my town is $10-$12 an hour!

 

We headed back to the room. We made our last minute changes (night clothes) and shoved our day clothes in to the suitcases. (I didn't mention that we packed earlier in the day. I guess it didn't seem interesting to mention at the time.)

 

Up Next: Flying Home and Making My Husband's Day!

Edited October 21, 2014 by smileyperry

[roseshayit]

Thank you for this lovely review! We are booked for my infant son's first cruises, and I've been apprehensive about bringing him to the nursery (he also has never been to daycare or babysat by anyone other than a grandparent). Did you immediately feel comfortable leaving him on the boat?

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We woke up and decided to eat in the dining room. We laugh because the first time we stepped foot in the dining room was the final morning of the cruise. As we were eating number 15 was called. We were not in a hurry. It seemed like they were way ahead of schedule. Our time was supposed to be around 8:15am. It wasn’t 8 yet. We finished our breakfast and headed off the ship. When we stepped foot in to the terminal I had our passports and form ready for the customs agent. He stuck out his hand, took my form, placed it in his other hand with another stack and told me to have a nice day. What? That’s it? You didn’t look at my passport? You don’t want to know if I have anything to claim? Wow, that was easy peasy! I am used to Miami & Fort Lauderdale where they give you a stare down and pretend like they are doing something official ;)

 

We got downstairs and were in a taxi within minutes. We arrived at the airport before 9am. I immediately knew what my husband was thinking. Let’s ask about the earlier flight. So we did. The agent was very friendly. We had two options. Pay $50 per person “change fee” and we’d be guaranteed seats on the flight. The other options was going stand-by. No matter what we chose our bags would be sent on the 11am flight, even if we did not make stand-by. That was fine with us, I’d rather our bags go before us than after. We opted to go stand-by. If we didn’t make it, we’d still have our original seats and reservation for 1:30pm. We hurried through the terminal, bought some snacks for our son to much on, and headed to the gate. Our original plan was to eat an early lunch before getting on the 1:30 flight, but that wouldn’t be possible now.

 

When we got to the gate I told the lady we were on stand-by and had never gone through this before. She was also very helpful and said not to worry. She saw the standby request come through the computer and immediately gave us 3 seats together in the last row. We didn’t care, my husband was more excited about the fact that we would get on the earlier flight. We were cleared to take-off! I made a quick call to my mom to tell her to get us at an earlier time. We got my son’s seat all buckled in, this time we put him forward facing. Maybe the TV would distract him and he’d behave. Nope. He fell asleep instantly. He woke up when we touched down in Fort Lauderdale. This day was going very well! My husband was happy. In turn that made me very happy :)

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Thank you for this lovely review! We are booked for my infant son's first cruises, and I've been apprehensive about bringing him to the nursery (he also has never been to daycare or babysat by anyone other than a grandparent). Did you immediately feel comfortable leaving him on the boat?

 

I did because we met with and talked to the staff members before dropping him off! I'm a little crazy but I sat there one day and counted that there were over 10 cameras in the one room. There isn't a corner that security cannot see. I think it's perfectly okay to be crazy about your child's welfare and safety.

 

I see you are going in December. Chelsea will still be on the ship then. She is a young girl in her early twenties, light hair, very pretty. She said she is on until January. It's not her first contract, she was on the Radiance previously. I can't remember if Nikki will still be on, but I'm pretty sure she will. Nikki is taller, European, with dark hair. She has been with Royal Caribbean for a few years and has worked on lots of ship nurseries. They are a fantastic team! We talked with Chelsea a lot during the Playgroup/ open play times. We would occasionally peek through the doors to see what they were doing and they were always interacting with our son. From rolling a ball, playing with the toys, reading him books, etc. The first night Nikki rocked him in the rocking chair with his monkey blanket to help him calm down.

 

I also had experience with the nursery on Enchantment. The ladies on that ship were wonderful as well.

Edited October 21, 2014 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

What is up next for us?

 

Well, in 19 days we are sailing on the Liberty of the Seas for the 3rd time before she leaves us here in Florida. That trip is going to be a bit different. Hubby's brother, his wife, and two daughters (4 & 5) are going with us. We've never gone on vacation with them and we booked it right when Kids Sail Free first came out, before they got the hair-brained idea to jack up the prices for 1 & 2. So we scored an excellent deal on the price. My mom just booked herself a solo room. She's going to come along to help us with our son this time. We loved the nursery, don't get me wrong, but grandmas are always better.

 

This coming trip will make us Diamond. Woohoo, finally! Earned all on my own, no boost from my parents. That trip also happens to be departing on our 5th Wedding Anniversary. So my mom is going to keep our son in her room that first night ;)

 

Here we are on our 1st Liberty trip back in 2010. Our 1 year anniversary. Four years and one baby will really do a number on ya!!

 

 

Here is our 2nd Liberty trip in 2012. I was 23 weeks pregnant and it was our 3rd wedding anniversary.

 

 

 

The next cruise we have planned isn't until October 2015. We're taking one of the Jewel- Pacific Coastal cruises. Hubby has never been to California so he is excited. My dad and his wife will be joining us on that trip.

 

In between Liberty and Jewel we have nothing. That could change but we're perfectly okay with taking a break for now.

 

Please ask me as many questions as you have about Boston, New England, Canada, Brilliance, nursery, etc. I am here to help!

Edited October 21, 2014 by smileyperry

[roseshayit]

There aren't too many people on here who travel with babies, so I greatly appreciate the information!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

There aren't too many people on here who travel with babies, so I greatly appreciate the information!

 

I agree. I found it hard to research information before traveling with him. So I try to include as much as I can to help other parents that want to travel with their little ones.

 

Good luck and have fun on your cruise!

[AlexanderBeetle]

That's so funny you stopped at The Holy Donut. Our nephew's wife works there. Those chocolate sea salt ones are the best!

 

Sent using handheld device. Please excuse errors and brevity.