MITSUGIRLYS DAWN TO BERMUDA NOVEL (or review as some may call it)

[mitsugirly]

Meaning that if they ever tore them down, there would be no "footprint left behind" supposedly. The captain of our glass bottom boat said they were NOT reopening. He said they just went bankrupt. I guess we'll see...

 

 

Hmm, everything I'm reading up on them they have quite a few of them both over the water and on the land. I think a foot print would be left behind. It looks like quite the place there!

 

 

They look really cute inside too (and it says they all had a/c).

 

 

So is that a hole in the floor or just a glass for viewing?

 

 

 

There's so much information on the web about this place it's sad to see if it don't reopen. I seen reviews of people that had been there and loved it. (Although still too expensive for me). :)

[Laszlo]

I had never heard of a "whaler"...sounds like whale, I love whales, I have yet to see a whale on a cruise or otherwise, must be a whale. YEP, I want to go on this whale adventure. LOL Oh was I wrong once I started researching it and asking around. :D Oops.

 

Of course I originally ask H2O about renting a whaler they said they had a 17' motorboat. I had no idea what the difference was so I inquired. They just said it was a "name brand". Hmp ok, 17' "motorboat" it is then. :p

 

LOL

Whaler as in Boston Whaler:D One of the best built boats around. My last one was 28ft.

 

Yup, that was the island, I have no idea how we missed the steps. Will need to check it out again next year

[mitsugirly]

LOL

Whaler as in Boston Whaler:D One of the best built boats around. My last one was 28ft.

 

Yup, that was the island, I have no idea how we missed the steps. Will need to check it out again next year

 

No, I'm not saying that you said/typed it wrong, I'm saying that when I had seen threads saying boston WHALER, I just seen the whaler part and thought of what I typed...being a whale...as in maybe going on a whale excursion. That was my thoughts when I first heard about it. LOL I was naive. LOL I'm just glad I know what it is now...man was I off...far off. :p

[mitsugirly]

 

OK, so the thing about collecting sea glass is tracing the provenance of the glass. Obviously the brown is beer bottles, but there are some more unusual colors such as cornflower blue (early milk of magnesia bottles or possibly Vick's Vapo Rub), pink (depression era plates and glassware) and red (usually comes from old Schlitz bottles, tableware and car tail lights). And of course you grade the sea glass:

http://www.odysseyseaglass.com/grade-sea-glass.html

 

Once you find a really great piece of Jewelry grade A sea glass , then it makes sense to make it into a piece jewelry or some other decorative item.

 

Ok so like OH EM GEE! Full of color charts and all. Wow, this is serious stuff I guess. I wish someone would have shown me all this prior to going there so I would know what to look for.

 

I'll have to go check out my...um...pictures to see what might or might have not came back, I mean looked at from there. :D

[iheartbda]

 

 

 

Really? The sign is no longer up? How do you know? I haven't read any reports prior to us leaving that it had been removed. Just wondering.

 

Yea the bag ladies are the ones that spoil it for everyone. But then again, who knows if they were locals and probably using it for jewelry to resale. I know they have to get the stuff from someplace. But still sad. :(

WAIT, I assumed the sign was no longer up since you didn't mention it and the bag ladies were loading up. I guess it's like they say, never assume anything.:D

[soaringfalcon]

The captain could have been totally full of it or only had a part of the story. He also told us the majority of their economy is tourism and it's not. I just looked at a Wikipedia article and he was pretty full of it. Nice.

 

Maybe they get tired of the same old story and make stuff up just to see what sticks? LOL

[mitsugirly]

I feel like I'm missing comments buried within my review while I'm busy posting it. I'm so sorry for this. I am going back and seeing things I missed due to an email notification (which a pure hit or miss these days if you get a notification) and I seen then comment and swear I couldn't find it on here to quote. LOL I actually had to click on your name and go to your comments made to find it...and then I found another.

 

HONESTLY...IF ANYONE COMMENTED AND I MISSED YOU, I'M TRULY SORRY AND I DON'T MEAN TO. I APOLOGIZE.

 

 

Even with the culture of Bermuda, I'm sure they give little kids a pass on this issue. Plus he probably deals with tourists all the time and knows you all didn't mean to be disrespectful.

 

I really hope kids get a pass on it but I still feel horrible about it now that I know. I really don't want any of them to feel that we as tourist feel disrespectful toward their culture or them...well, except for the very rude bus director and bus driver that was totally out of line the first day. I honestly could care less what they thought...because they started it so now...and yes I'm sticking my tongue out. :p

 

There are photos of the insides of these rooms here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g562685-d563054-Reviews-9_Beaches_Resort-Sandys_Parish_Bermuda.html

 

Incidentally for an eco-retreat, these are not very nice. We stayed in a similar type of lodging - villas on stilts (except up a mountain in a rainforest in Australia) and it was really luxurious by comparison - O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat. Have a look at this for the sake of comparison:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1021444-d258150-Reviews-O_Reilly_s_Rainforest_Retreat_Mountain_Villas_and_Lost_World_Spa-Canungra_Scenic_Rim_Q.html

All the villas at O'Reilly's came with a huge living room, separate bedrooms each with an ensuite, a fully equipped modern kitchen and dining room plus a large shaded outdoor porch with a hot tub and grill. That's what they should have done at 9 Beaches.

 

And both resorts were built and opened in a similar timeframe.

 

Maybe that's why they are redoing them again and it's going to cost so much.

 

All I can say is can you adopt me? I will be your families personal nurse. Deal? Just take me on vacations with you ok? :)

[mitsugirly]

WAIT, I assumed the sign was no longer up since you didn't mention it and the bag ladies were loading up. I guess it's like they say, never assume anything.:D

 

 

Oh, I thought you knew something I didn't know.

 

What I had said in my review was "I also did not see any such sign saying you are not allowed to remove it...I came from the ocean, not the road."

 

I said that because we pulled in from the "ocean" and not from the "road" which is where I assume the sign is? I didn't see any sign down on the beach saying that...but then again, I was not looking for a sign either. Sorry if I mislead anyone. I didn't mean to. It was just a "funny" saying that I pleaded the 5th on taking any of it with my defense being that I didn't see any sign and I rest my case. :D

 

 

The captain could have been totally full of it or only had a part of the story. He also told us the majority of their economy is tourism and it's not. I just looked at a Wikipedia article and he was pretty full of it. Nice.

 

Maybe they get tired of the same old story and make stuff up just to see what sticks? LOL

 

What wait? Did I miss something? What captain? I'm confused. :confused: Or maybe I didn't miss it am I'm just forgetting due to my illness and medication? I mean if I am in a discussion that I have totally forgot about I'm blaming the meds with no dinner yet tonight. Yep, that's it. :)

[mitsugirly]

We headed into Clocktower to start our running shopping spree. The only souvenirs that I ever buy are a tee shirt with the name of where I'm at and Sakari collects a refrigerator magnet from each place (sometimes 2).

 

We didn't have a lot of time so we were off like horses at the races.

 

I did stop to admire a lot of the "prettys" along the way. Did these pieces come from sea glass beach?

 

 

The mall was kinda cool

 

 

 

Sakari said "This place is neat, it tells you what side the boys shop on and what side the girls shop on."

 

 

 

So is this the "creature-legend" that someone mentioned earlier in my review? From the sign I read, it sounds like it, but this is a troll.

 

 

 

 

 

It mentions "what is with the trolls?" I have to say that this is the only troll that I seen while in Bermuda. It makes it sound like they are all over the place. Did I miss them? (Other than the green Hulk Troll foot prints on the sidewalk).

 

I had to get a pink Bermuda shorts magnet and that wasn't "fancy" enough for Sakari so she picked out a real sea horse inside of this globe magnet complete with sea shells.

 

 

I found a cute Bermuda tee shirt and I was done with my shopping in a good 20 minutes flat and had covered down one side of the mall, around the corner and all the way to the end. Yes, mission accomplished!!

 

However, I KNEW from other reviews I had read that an awesome place to go to is the glass blowing shop. I knew I at least wanted to go and browse and hopefully catch a short viewing of how they made them so that Sakari could see. (I was fortunate enough to see this as a young kid and I knew she would be amazed to see it).

 

I also knew that this was NOT the type of place you bring my grandson into unless you planned on buying the building because that's exactly what would be needed to be done if he was anywhere near it. Just saying...

 

So we "creeped out da building" and made a run for it. Kendra was still standing in line to pay for her items and I'm pretty sure she was oblivious as to her surroundings and that we no longer existed in the Clocktower. Mission accomplished! We felt like escapees and had to double check to see if we were wearing black and white stripes. Nope, we were good.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We found the glass blowing store and in we went. WOW, it was beautiful is all I could say.

 

 

The magnificent colors in this building just blew my mind with excitement...like the colors of the rainbow.

 

 

However, once I seen some of the prices on these beautiful pieces I immediately froze and was afraid to even have Sakari in there. I found myself repeating "Don't touch anything, don't breathe on that, step away, watch the corner, back up, omg I'm going to have a heart attack"

 

 

I loved how everything was color coordinated. It really made things stand out.

 

 

The granddaddy of them all down to the newborn on the bottom shelf. I guess there's a price range for everyone...except for me. After looking at a few pieces I decided it was probably just best I didn't peak and anymore.

 

 

This piece was sitting on the floor in a box like structure. It was huge. The picture does not do it any justice. They need to hang this up or something. Unless someone purchased it? This stuff reminds me of Chihuly, which I adore!

 

[mitsugirly]

No matter which way you turned, it was just bursting with color.

 

 

 

See this lady in the picture? She just kept creeping into my "frame". I tried waiting on her to move. I walked away. She walked away. I went back in for the picture, she creeped back around the corner to get in it. She had nothing in her hand when she came and she walked out with nothing. I tell ya it was a conspiracy.

 

 

 

 

 

We looked over where they blow the glass and they were not doing a demonstration. Darnit! I was really disappointed and so were a lot of the other parents that had brought their kids in for a show.

 

I guess this just meant that we would be heading back to the dock early.

 

Along the way, here's that darn haunted warehouse.

 

I got a video of it...listen to the creepy sounds (and I'm not referring to my family). Are these birds making these sounds? Or are you going to tell me that my hubs is right and it's ghost in there?

 

ppE_tbMNqjM

 

[mitsugirly]

Oh my gosh!!! We are in Bermuda and the only place I have seen the Moongate so far is here at the dockyard. I thought they were everywhere. Where else can they be found other than the dockyard? I think that's my next mission when I return...to find more moongates.

 

The rumor is that if you walk through the moongate, it brings you good luck. We kissed under it, so what does that bring us? According to Sakari, it brings babies so we need to cut that stuff out!

 

 

 

 

I was totally bummed that I had completely forgotten about getting our picture under this and now that I had remembered we were all a hot mess from being on and in the water all day. Oh my. Oh well, maybe my luck will be to bring me back to this beautiful place again soon for a re-do!

 

 

It's too bad they don't have one of these over on the other side so we could get a picture of the Dawn behind us. Bummer.

 

NO...THANK YOU FOR LETTING US VISIT BERMUDA!

 

 

 

 

 

This would be the last time we passed these cute little pink buildings on this voyage.

 

[mitsugirly]

Like always, NCL was having a "Welcome Back" party along the dock with the red carpet, ice cold wet rags, watered down punch drinks, music, and plenty of dancing. We came back at 4:30pm and according to the many other cruises I have been on with NCL, it seems that the party always starts about 1 hour before it's time to be back on the ship. So, I made sure we didn't miss it this time by showing up 1/2 hour before the last call so we wouldn't be fashionably late. I'll leave that up to Kendra and family. I like to watch the pier runners, not be one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We dinged in as present on the ship, no bags were checked, no jiggles were heard and we were off to catch the elevator up to the 12th floor. I think I've had enough exercise for the day between holding on to dear life jet skiing, hitting many abdominal twisting wakes, snorkeling, pushing a boat out to sea, attempting to climb on a boat that insisted on me staying in the water, to sprinting down the Clocktower mall and making my glass blowing getaway. Yep, I had covered enough calories burned for the day...the elevator it was for us!

 

We headed straight to the buffet for replenishment of calories lost for the day. Mission accomplished. It was a GREAT cruise!

 

What do we do now you might ask? What would make our day complete after such a fun filled day in the water? MORE WATER OF COURSE!

 

 

[mitsugirly]

They say you want to drown your sorrows, I don't think this is what they meant, but Sakari seemed to think it was the best way to drown her sorrows that we were leaving Bermuda and headed back home. So off she went...

 

Immediately she joined in a game that a dad was throwing in 3 quarters with the kids eyes closed and then he'd say "GO" and they'd jump in to see who could find the quarters. You see who's first in the pool right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daddy just hanging out...in the shade. Too much sun for us today.

 

 

 

 

 

Wee, I just can't get enough water fun. Seriously, I have to drag this kid out of the water. It's non-stop with her. But just look at that face. How can you deny such a happy water face?

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We hadn't heard or seen Kendra since we got back on the ship. I did hear them call a few names right before we left and none of them were Kendra so I guess I can rest easy that she made her way back to the ship ok. I mean it is kinda hard to miss after all.

 

They started releasing the ropes and I just wanted to tear up.

 

 

 

Stop working so hard...I'm not ready to leave.

 

 

 

 

 

It was actually happening. They were really going to leave this place. Anyone know of a reef somewhere nearby that could tie us over for another day? Anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait, does RCI pull out before we do? I don't see them in any of these pictures. I didn't even notice if so. :confused:

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Daddy joined in on the fun and started aiming the dinosaur bones at the kids in the water. He just couldn't resist it. His real goal was to turn it around even further and aim it at the parents around the sides in the kiddie chairs, but I don't think it went that far around. Probably some unruly parent did that once and caused a big scene and they had to put a "stopper" on the turner just for that reason. Some people ruin it for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet child of mine, you have to be 110% water filled by now. Do you ever rest?

 

 

 

 

 

We were troopers and stayed out at the pool until the very end at 6pm when we knew they would be closing. I didn't see anyone coming along to tell us that it was closing however a family came along with a herd of children, no that was NOT the problem, the problem was that they had a baby, in a diaper and put said baby in the pool right beside me. Totally gross, no diapers in the pools people! Health and sanitary reason...NONE, NADA, NOPE! It's not allowed. I quickly got out and threatened Sakari with her life if she did not immediately get out of the pool.

 

We headed back to our room and on the way to the room, they had the live band playing on the deck for the BBQ sailaway party. This time they were singing all rock and roll.

 

Video:

 

dGUk4hQXxOE

 

Back to the room for a long shower and changing into some "normal" clothes FINALLY.

 

Sakari headed off to have some "kid" time with her friends at the kids club and we headed to see the Comedy show, Second City. I have heard a lot of people rave about this show, but I have never been for some reason. It was very funny and we really enjoyed it. I knew now what others had talked about in the past and I will be attending any Second City Comedy Shows in the future.

 

At 8pm they had a magic show in the Spinnaker Lounge. We tried to talk Sakari into going because I know she loves magic, but she wasn't having it. Her choice was to stay with her friends. I guess she had had enough adult time for the day and needed to get rid of us.

 

I have to say that I really did not enjoy the magician for several reasons. He basically only did some card tricks and it was next to impossible to see in the Spinnaker Lounge... which was completely packed and standing room only.

 

Since we raced from the theater comedy show to this show, by the time we finally got here, we ended up in the back. This meant that the only way we would be able to see what was going on, we had to watch small t.v. screens.

 

Of course there was a rowdy bunch of "young adults" that had no interest in the show, sitting at the table behind us, being loud, ordering drinks, then more rounds and being glared at by the many people around them that couldn't hear the show. After they managed to down their drinks, they finally left and I'm sure they probably didn't even know why they were there to begin with. I know we were all relieved and could finally at least hear what was going on now. Oh look, he's doing a money trick now.

 

The magician did do a neat "coloring book" trick that amazed all of us. It amazed all of us so much that they sold these books after the show and we all purchased one. They were $10 each and "daddy" just knew Sakari was going to like this one. He was going to convince her that the magician taught him how to do magic at the show and she missed it all.

 

We headed off to the casino and I played my rainforest game and walked out $158.55 richer than when I walked in 1 hour ago. Yep, that moongate brought me luck after all.

[mitsugirly]

We decided to head out while we (I) was ahead and on the way back to pick up Sakari I wanted to stop by the photo shop and see if we could find the photo's they had taken of us while getting off the ship. I have learned in the past that even though we find pictures throughout the week and then we always put them all together, that somehow if we wait until the last day to purchase them, they get all mixed up and spread out again. I made the decision that tonight would be the night that I would make our photo purchases because I was sure we wouldn't have any more pictures taken by the photographer the rest of the week.

 

Now we had ALL of our pictures together with Kendra's family and I was busy separating the good "I want for sure" pictures from the "No way" pictures from the "maybe depending on how many I already have" pictures. One of the workers came by, grabbed them all up and said "I'll check you out." Um, come back here with all my pictures, I'm still looking at them geesh!" He says, "But I'll get you checked out over here". Me "Once again, like I said, I'm still looking at them and picking which ones I want." His reply was "Well ma'am, we are moving the pictures around right now and you are going to lose them if you don't purchase them right now." Um....seriously dude? Move the pictures all you want, I'm not losing anything seeing how they were in my hand and I'm choosing them now! I said "So are you telling me that you are going to separate all the pictures we have taken the time to put all together throughout the week so that we won't find them again? Because if that's what you are trying to say, you won't get any of our money."

 

So while I was still looking, he swooped in and grabbed all the pictures from the isle we were in and when I turned around the rest of the stack was GONE! Gone I tell ya. The row was empty! How fricken rude knowing that I was looking at them. I was thoroughly pissed first of all that he grabbed all the one's I had just sorted out so far and mixed them together for me to have to resort and then took the rest of the stack.

 

I picked from the stack I still had in my hand and put the others back I just had in my hand in the spot they were originally in...which I wasn't thinking but this now meant that the remaining pictures he took and these pictures were no longer together and when Kendra went to make her purchase the following day, she thought we had bought all the family photos of us together, since they were no longer in the stack, and she ended up with none of them.

 

While I was checking out with another guy and the picture snatcher was still busy snatching pictures, he ask me "Would you like to have your battery charged tonight?" HA! Would I? I seriously love you right now. Just for that, I bought my pictures, I bought my scrapbook, I bought my scrapbook filler paper and stickers. I hope you make a commission on this sale dude...for what it's worth. I handed off my battery to him and he told me to pick it up at 9am the next morning. I made a promise to him after repeatedly thanking him over and over from the bottom of my heart for putting up with me the entire week, for charging my battery...and the promise was to not ask for another charge the rest of the cruise. I had made up my mind that when those batteries were drained, I would just use my iphone for the rest of the cruise. At least I knew I had chargers for those.

 

We picked up Sakari, headed to the buffet for dinner AND then headed to the Blue Lagoon...just for desert...cheesecake of course!

 

Back to the room at 11pm to watch the Profit and we found this bug eyed fellow with his arm held out with the nightly offerings.

 

 

Daddy was anxious to show Sakari his magic trick. He showed her the coloring book that had a book full of coloring pages. He told her to color it...WAIT! Just tap the outside of the book and you have colored the pages. :confused: Boy was she confused and thought daddy had just lost his mind. But, she played along and tapped the outside of the book. He flipped the pages and they were all magically colored. :eek: She was amazed. He told her that he thought she messed up and she just needed to start over. Tap the outside of the coloring book and you can start over. She jumped up and down and couldn't wait to see them "un-color" themselves. BUT...what's this? Every single page was now blank...I guess she'd have to draw her own pages now. AMAZING!!!

 

(Once we got home, I did this to my youngest son, Kolin, he completely fell for it and was just as amazed as Sakari was...yea, it was worth the $10 just to get him)

 

 

[mitsugirly]

So this was the end of our amazing last day in Bermuda.

 

I will try to finish up the remaining of the cruise as soon as possible.

 

I know that most people were waiting on the "Bermuda" review itself and hope that you enjoyed it, liked the pictures, and maybe got a few ideas along the way.

 

For those of you that decide to continue to stick around for the rest of the review...I thank you as well. I know it takes dedication.

[cruiseclues]

Thank You for the Usual Great Photo Review. :):):):)

[cruiseclues]

It looks like you didn't show the Freestyle Daily for Day 3 in Bermuda...except for on the bed with a towel puppy? :):):):)

[biker@sea]

 

Nice pic you got of the Moongate @ The Drinking and Arguing club . ;)

Edited June 24, 2015 by biker@sea

[coscab]

Thanks so much for the info and pictures of the boat you rented, I started looking into renting a boat after I booked Bermuda for May 2015, I feel good about using H20 now knowing you give them a thumbs up!!

[peg013]

Still loving your review Kim. Now you know why so many people love staying for 3 days in Bermuda instead of hitting a new port every day. We're still finding new things to explore in Bermuda after 5 cruises there. It's fun taking new people with us and showing them around too.

 

It's a shame you didn't get to see more Longtails. They are usually flying all around the Museum grounds there by the Commissioners House.

 

For those that don't know about, I'll post a photo of the Moongate sign.

 

 

And a few Longtails.........

 

[diamondella]

I know you are reading this review but I just want to remind you that you should always say "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon" when getting on the busses or ferry. Then ask them to let you know where you need to get off. Also be sure you have swimsuit cover ups that look like regular clothing. I can't imagine how with all Kim's research, she missed those very important facts. Believe me, after 5 trips to Bermuda (Dawn x2, Star x1, Splendor x1(diverted from St John, NB) and Breakaway x1) - it will make all the difference in the help you get from the locals. Be sure to mention it on your roll call so others will know. It is usually brought up often on the Bermuda board but it never hurts to pass along that information. Our next trip to Bermuda will be on the Dawn in Oct 2016. We plan to rent a snorkel sailboat on Sunday to get around the Sunday transportation problems. We have used both Jessie James snorkel (pontoon boat) and "Sail Bermuda" (sailboat) http://www.sailbermuda.com in the past. We highly recommend either.

 

Thank you for the information. My daughter and I usually wear a sundress over our swim suits, but my son usually wears his swim trunks (they go to his knee) and a T shirt. Do you think that would be an issue with the natives?