Another LIVE from Quantum of the Seas for April 12th - April 24th!

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So for the 20-20-20 special, I went with back/shoulders, feet and scalp. It was very nice. And I have no idea why but she didn't do any sales pitch at the end.

 

I then went back to the room to get ready for dinner. This was our port view yesterday.

 

Dinner was at Chic that night. I wasn't really impressed with anything except desert. The fried rice was too dry for me, but I got them to bring me some white rice instead. The banana fritters with caramel sauce were very yummy.

 

Dinner was over soon enough that we decided to see if we could get in the earlier seating of Bobby Arvon as standby. We did.

We only stayed for around 3 songs though. It was just not our thing.

 

After leaving we spent some time watching the car thing.

The different scenes are just rather amusing. My favorites so far are the dinosaurs, the fish, and when he drives on the side of a building.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

There wasn't really anything on the schedule that appealed to us, so we decided to go to the Bionic Bar.

It was cute to watch the robots occasionally dance to the music. I decided to go ahead and get my vodka with diet coke.

I didn't realize at first that you have to swipe your card or band at the bar to get your drink delivered to where you can grab it.

 

We then turn early for the night as my knee was starting to bother me some again.

Edited April 19, 2015 by DM_KidAtHeart

[DM_KidAtHeart]

We accidentally got to breakfast around 10 minuets before they opened so we had to wait in line. Soon after our order was taken, Trish and Sharon were seated next to us. So we had a nice visit with them while we ate.

 

Then we went to the Northstar to check out the view of Barbados. The area right around the port is rather industrialized. But you could kind of see that some farther off places were nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was from while we waited for the elevator. I just liked the view of the flag.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

After the Northstar, we went the thermal suite for a little while. Then we went and got some food to have with us for lunch once off the ship. We then went back to the room to pack everything into one bag. They were doing lifeboat testing today.

 

We left for the excursion a little early to have some time to look in shops. The 4x4 adventure and green monkey encounter was fun. It started and ended with an island tour that we really understood only about half of what he was saying over the speaker.

 

 

I didn't catch what he said about the memorial in the edge of this picture.

 

 

It was a cobblestone and uneven path toward where the feeding was done that attracted the animals in the reserve.

 

The turtles were the first thing we saw.

 

 

Well the pre-show of Starwater has begun. So more of turtles and monkeys and other creatures later.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Okay so that was a mini-start to the show apparently.

 

So more turtles...

 

 

Mom and a turtle

 

And now for the monkeys.

 

 

 

[DM_KidAtHeart]

More monkeys

 

 

 

 

Selfie with green monkey in the background

 

 

[DM_KidAtHeart]

There were a number of other animals at the reserve as well.

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The peacocks were beautiful.

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[DM_KidAtHeart]

They said this was a mara.

 

They also had some parrots in cages.

 

 

And some iguanas

 

 

This was a flower outside of the reserve.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

The drive back along what said was the east coast was very beautiful. The waves were huge.

 

 

 

 

We made a 15 minute stop at this beach that I think he said the big rock was called Bathsheba.

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2015 by DM_KidAtHeart

[DM_KidAtHeart]

A church that he aid was to be torn down soon.

 

An old bridge made of limestone, egg white, molasses and egg shells.

 

We drove over it too.

 

View off the bridge

 

Quantum from far off

 

Quantum from the shuttle pickup at the pier

 

It was a fun afternoon in Barbados.

[seadog67]

Awesome Report as mentioned! Your and Bugsy live reports have made us book a last minute trip for this Friday's sailing! Thank you for all the wonderful pictures and details. Happy Birthday by the way, and I will try and provide a live report next week on our trip to the Bahamas. Thanks again for all the effort to take us along with you!

[DM_KidAtHeart]

When we got off the ship, we left mom's wheelchair at the exit. They told us to come back to that same exit to get it back. Unfortunately though that exit was already closed by the time we were back. While we weren't the last on the ship, we watched the last group get in while we waited for them to run to the other side to get her chair.

 

Once we had it, we went to Cafe Promenade for shrimp rolls for mom and Sorrento's for pizza for me. We then went to the thermal suite until time to get ready for dinner.

 

Grande was good as usual, but I am getting a little tired of the options there. I really preferred the first half of the cruise menu there. Also service was really slow there last night. I've noticed on average that service has seemed slightly slower on this shop. Last night was just the first time it was a real problem for us. We ended up skipping a desert that I wasn't sure I would like anyway since it was taking too long.

 

Unfortunately in our rush to leave to make it to Starwater early enough for good seats, we left mom's bag of sweetener drops. So far, despite a few tries we haven't been able to require it. Fortunately we did a couple of extra drop bottles here in room.

 

So Starwater.... Well, for us the best and really only part of the show we really liked was the pre-show.

 

 

 

The dancing was pretty good. And some of that was enjoyable. The singing was okay. I just don't get trying to make a show of mostly Bond music. I dozed off for parts of it.

 

We came back to this cute towel animal and then watch L&M on the TV.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Awesome Report as mentioned! Your and Bugsy live reports have made us book a last minute trip for this Friday's sailing! Thank you for all the wonderful pictures and details. Happy Birthday by the way, and I will try and provide a live report next week on our trip to the Bahamas. Thanks again for all the effort to take us along with you!

 

 

Awwww, thanks. It's high praise to mention mine and Bugsy's in the same sentence. I hope you have a blast. And I look forward to reading yours to help with my cruise withdrawal.

[rm1247]

So a few more best bits from my 40th birthday (just skipping day 4 for one since it really is already written in a way that's too much trouble/discomfort to do now).

 

The day started with listening for the shout out my mom put in the CD's box.

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I really enjoy Dru's dry sense of humor, and in a different way Jose's wacky sense of fun. I think they make a good and balanced pair.

 

Next came the character breakfast. After some trouble with where to sit (short version would be a waiter who didn't know the venue or how to get a wheelchair through spaces), I had a great time.

Having a chocolate laden breakfast was one of the main reasons I booked this for my birthday.

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The muffin was blah, but the other sliced thing was awesome.

Character photos

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Dancing with King Julian was lots of fun, although I'm never posting the video that this shot is from. I enjoyed shaking my booty with him, and no one needs to see that.

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And I got mom to get up for the photo with Gloria.

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After the breakfast was when I went wandering for something fun and ended up at the rock wall.

 

Could you fill me in a bit on how this works? We will be on the Quantum in a few weeks with our kids, and I'd like to take them to at least one of the character breakfasts. We've never been on a ship that offered them. Do you have to reserve it in advance or can you show up that day? Where is it held? How long does it take? I read somewhere that kids are free - do you know if that is true?

 

Thanks for your help!

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Could you fill me in a bit on how this works? We will be on the Quantum in a few weeks with our kids, and I'd like to take them to at least one of the character breakfasts. We've never been on a ship that offered them. Do you have to reserve it in advance or can you show up that day? Where is it held? How long does it take? I read somewhere that kids are free - do you know if that is true?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

 

You can reserve it in the cruise planner under Onboard Activities. I did reserve in advance. I don't know if they hold some spots for on board reservations like they do for other dining.

It was held in Silk dining room. I just didn't notice how long it took though. But according to my cruise planner, it was scheduled for an hour.

I've read the same about kids being free but I really don't know since I don't have kids.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

It was a great and busy day. So I took over 200 photos/videos today. But it's after midnight now and I must sleep so I'll have to work on catching up tomorrow.

 

For now though my favorite photos of the day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Yesterday morning I was tired of fried eggs, so I decide to go to WJ to look at the options there and probably get an omelet. We've always found the WJ omelets to be better then dining room ones.

 

These were my views for breakfast.

 

 

I then got my mom an omelet as well. Although for hers I first raided the nearby station for some soup option that had baby shrimp and greens.

 

VB view as we approached St. Kitts

 

We then went and hung out in 270 while waiting for the ship to be cleared and for the initial mad rush of people to go ahead and clear off. Plus we were waiting for lunch to begin in the 270 cafe for some of the yummy roast beef.

 

We also really enjoyed the swing while waiting.

 

 

 

Plus the view was nice.

[miaandmum]

We are really enjoying your posts. It looks like you are having a nice time:).

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So when we got off the ship we took the shuttle that was offered since we once again left mom's chair on the ship. It wasn't until got off that he said it was $1 per person. Fortunately we did have the cash.

 

Then I left mom in the port terminal area while I went to hunt for some more cough drops for her. On the way, after I went "Awwww" at the baby monkeys, one of the men just came up and out his two on me. He then asked if I had a camera. I didn't since I had left my phone with my mom to try and call my dad. (I think I forgot to mention in the posts for Barbados that my mom lost her phone while on the island.) He was obviously disappointed since he then had no chance to get money for a photo with them. But I loved the chance to hold them regardless.

 

So after getting the cough drops, I realized we still had 10 minutes left until the excursion meet-up time. So I got mom and we went out to get pictures with the monkeys.

 

 

 

The pictures and holding them was worth every penny of the $5 each.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So I'm only going to post a relatively small portion of the photos I took on the excursion here in the review. All of the photos will be in my Flickr album for this cruise. I put a link to the album a few pages back.

 

Near the end of the excursion, out driver described the driving part of the tour as going from rags to riches. In the first half, it was mostly regular small concrete houses except for the handful of ones he pointed out as belonging to governors or bank presidents. Our particular guide also had a fondness for pointing out things about local plants. It was interesting. Now onto the pictures...

 

He pointed in this direction and said we're going to the top of that mountain. I wasn't the only one who then asked which one. His answer was "the one you can only see the top of". I still don't know which it was.

 

He actually stopped on the road to let us all take pictures of the ship.

 

I was trying to capture the black sand as we passed quickly by it.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

This was a war memorial. I think he might have said WW2.

 

 

 

It was along the road up the mountain like this one where he pointed out the various plants and their uses.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

The stop at the top of the mountain had some nice views along with a history lesson on sugar cane trade there.

 

 

 

 

I couldn't get the light in to work right to get a picture of a little yellow bird.

 

They also had juice and run for us here.

Edited April 21, 2015 by DM_KidAtHeart

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So then we went down the mountain to the eastern side for the "beach stop".

 

This is a termite mound.

 

 

Some bits of the road were steep and some bumpy. However the guide/driver drove very slowly on bad spots so it really did jar mom around too badly (unlike the previous days's excursion which bounced her.)

 

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So this was the beach place. It was some resort where you could rent a lounger.

 

 

I didn't go on the beach. Instead I went to a stand of trees behind the beach where a green monkey had been spotted. I spent nearly the whole hour watching the monkeys. It was awesome. While the monkeys at the reserve in Barbados were technically wild. In a way they weren't too since they were being fed by the people at the reserve and were totally used to people being around them. These monkeys were not that way. If they saw/heard you approaching they would move away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I had a way to post the two videos I have that show them playing and swinging around in the branches.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So then we went back to the ship.

 

 

Along the way to the beach, there had been a roadside tourist stop with locals trying to sell things to tourists. Some other tour had stopped there. We all noticed then a man with a donkey and a monkey on it. When going back on the same road we saw this.

 

 

 

There were actually two monkeys riding it. The smallest one is harder to see in the photos. Both are wearing diapers and it's easier to spot. They were actually tied to the donkey by fairly long leads. At one point the littlest one fell off. Fortunately the donkey stopped for a munch so he should have had time to get back on.

 

So after this my phone was out of room and nearly out of power so I got no more photos until after we went back to the room to charge it for a little while.

 

We then went up to the solarium to get far enough toward St. Kitts to get cell phone signal again so my mom could call my Dad.