Georgia Pearl Turns Bermuda Girl: My Pride Cruise to the "Island Paradise" & TS Karl.

[Sweetsgirl]

Kim GAPearl I love reading your reviews. I always seem to read them way after you've finished them. So, I'm glad I found this one while you are in the process of writing it. I love all your outfits on your cruises. I start shopping at Ross because of you (hahaha). Continue on with the review:)

 

Marilyn

[ch27088]

Kim, quick question for you. I saw the menu for the Skybox and was wondering if the food there was free, or do you have to charge it to your Sign and Sail card? I know that places like the Coffee Bar is extra, but just wondering about the Skybox. Thanks a lot!

[gapearl]

I can.not.believe the visors! [emoji33]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Yeah they were pretty bad. :rolleyes:

 

GaPearl :) Just found your review this morning! I was on my way to work out and then found myself on page 9...lol. We are sailing on the Escape next year too. Bermuda is on my list!! Taking notes as I follow you now.

 

Thanks for reading! I've been M-I-A the last few days but gonna get the next installment done soon and you'll find yourself on page 12 before you know it lol. I'm looking forward to Escape! :)

[gapearl]

Jumper looks really cute!!!

I will have to check out that store at the outlets here in Texas.

 

Thank you! Lots of cute stuff in there. :)

 

Great review. I agree that you had a very good attitude about your glasses. I recently lost a pair of $200 Gucci sunglasses and I made a really big deal about it. Now I realize it's not that serious. Clearly I need to stick to regular priced glasses. lol

 

Thanks so much. I tried my best to keep a good attitude despite my disappointment. Sucks but they can be replaced.

[gapearl]

Like that the app has the ship time. Do you know if it works while in port?

 

Yes it does! I'll also add that Carnival's wifi was pretty good. I was able to make a couple of phone calls through Facebook and I got a signal still when I was in the port area but still relatively close to the ship.

 

Great review thanks for sharing!!

 

Thank you very much!

[gapearl]

So glad I stopped by the Carnival board as I stumbled onto your latest cruise review. Thanks for sharing your trip and your photos. Looking forward to more.

 

Thanks for stopping by to read! I'm going to get more going pretty soon.:)

 

Hi GAPearl, what a good surprise just found your review, whaooo so great, I simply love them. Had been looking for them. Cuba kind of reminds me of Old San Juan in a way.

 

Awww you're too sweet. Thanks so much for reading. Havana does remind me a bit of Old San Juan. :)

[gapearl]

Cruise Day 4- Bermuda Day 2

 

Today would be our first full day in Bermuda. I booked my mom and I on a full day tour of the African Diaspora Trail that I found on viator.com. This was a historical tour that would take us across the island. The trail traces the legacy of Bermuda’s dark slavery times where the history and heritage have been preserved. Multiple stops are included at various points of interest and museums, mostly through St. George. I prepaid $84 each for my mom and I about a month in advance. However several days prior to sailing, I received an email saying the tour could not run because we were the only two people that booked this tour but we could be accommodated on a regular island tour instead. I was a little disappointed as I really wanted to do this tour, but you gotta go with the flow. We’re still getting out and sightseeing on vacation so life is good.

 

 

We met our van and driver/guide, Juanita, at 9:30 am. About 15 people were on our van. There was a second van ahead of us also with Bermuda Island Tours and More doing the same tour as us. Juanita immediately turned into a human Google for Bermuda. The island is 21 miles long, 3 miles wide at it’s widest point, and divided into 9 parishes. It’s a total of 7 islands joined together by bridges and shaped like a fish hook, if you never noticed. There’s just one main road to get around. It eventually splits to north shore and south shore. The speed limit is only 20 mph.

 

Graves are all family owned and dug 20 feet deep and can hold 6 caskets.

 

 

The police station. Bermuda police officers are not armed and have to have a special permit to carry a gun.

 

 

I guess the owner of this colorful house couldn't decide which color to choose lol.

 

 

 

Another rainbow. :-)

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by gapearl

[gapearl]

Our first stop was this historic chapel.

 

 

 

 

Our tour guide, Juanita.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

This was a wood burning oven.

 

 

 

Juanita explained how rainwater here is like gold! Roofs are all painted with white wash and coated with limestone to kill bacteria.

 

 

They add no chlorine, tablets, nothing to the water, they drink it fresh. Water is expensive- $85 a truck load and some homes need 4 or more trucks. Bermuda has no lakes or streams to draw water from. Rain means locals won’t have to pay for water, so they were quite happy to have Karl in town lol. The roofs get redone every 3-5 years and can cost $2-10k depending on the size of the house.

 

The water tanks now are built underground, but this shows you how big it is.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Here's the world's smallest drawbridge again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

A few more pics while we still had nice weather.

 

 

A round of golf here is $150 for cruisers and $250 for others.

 

 

Horseshoe Bay Beach once again, where there is a blind fish swimming around out there in my sunglasses cause my prescription is strong as hell.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

The average salary for a Bermuda resident is $65,000 a year. There aren’t may taxes so their money goes further, but the cost of living is very expensive. Juanita gave us some examples of how much everything costs- $17 for a watermelon, $7 for a half gallon of milk, $6 for a loaf of bread, and $9 for a bag of apples or a jar of peanut butter. The average cost of a house is $1 million. Foreigners can buy property but only if it’s more than $3 million. The “cheaper” million dollar homes are saved for residents. You can make a good salary but still live in poverty here. Bermuda is under British rule. The queen appoints the governor and the people elect the government. Healthcare is another expensive item, as much as $500 a month. KFC is the only fast food franchise on the island. There is a franchise law here and it was grandfathered in. The #1 sport on the island is cricket.

 

Ugh here comes more rain.

 

 

 

 

 

We've made it to Hamilton Parish.

 

 

[gapearl]

We had 30 minutes to wander around Hamilton.

 

 

Because the rain was coming down so heavy, my mom and I ducked into this gift shop. There were restrooms available to the public and plenty of souvenirs to buy. I walked out $60 poorer. There was a bakery and coffee shop on the top floor.

 

 

More from the one little street we never left.

 

 

Back in the van.

 

 

This is the cathedral. It must always remain the tallest building on the island. Nothing built can be taller than it.

 

 

One of only a handful on traffic lights.

 

[gapearl]

More random Bermuda pics.

 

 

 

 

The Swizzle Inn, Bermuda's oldest pub.

 

 

The BIOS- Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science.

 

 

St. Peter's Church, the oldest operating Anglican church in the western hemisphere.

 

[gapearl]

Our next stop in St. George was at King's Square, where we saw a humorous reenactment of what happened to a woman when she did too much nagging lol. The reenactment takes place Monday-Thursday and Saturday at noon during the cruise months.

 

 

People standing by waiting for the show to begin.

 

 

At least the rain has lightened up....for now.

 

 

 

 

It's finally time to get started.

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by gapearl

[gapearl]

The show has begun.

 

 

They needed some help from a few strong guys.

 

 

The show consisted of some funny arguing until the woman was put in that chair.

 

 

Then she was dunked into the water.

 

 

The arguing would continue and the dunking would continue lol. The reenactment lasted maybe 15 minutes.

 

 

That kind of looks like fun. haha

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by gapearl

[gapearl]

There are some little shops and restaurants around King's Square, as well as a building with restrooms.

 

 

Bring your passport to St. George and look for this building. You can get it stamped at the customs office.

 

 

 

Well I've got my Bermuda stamp, right there in between Spain and Guatemala.

 

 

The rain began to pour again and I got caught in it on my way back to the van.

 

 

Drenched but makeup is still flawless lol.

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by gapearl

[gapearl]

This is the unfinished church. Some people say they ran out of money when it was being built and some say the money was stolen. Weddings and funerals are still held here.

 

 

 

This is Gates Beach, where 150 passengers and 1 dog arrived and discovered Bermuda.

 

 

The wood from this cross was taken from the Seavenger. Divers went down for it in 2009.

 

 

I wish I could remember the story behind this cute little cottage. :confused:

 

[aztekpm]

For a small island the weather can be so different. On our arrival day, we had almost 6 hours with Lewis Foggo (fantastic) and only had a brief shower until we were almost back to the dockyard and then it was raining pretty good.

 

On the Wednesday, our group split up, 4 headed out and beat the rain, until they hit the ferry to St. George (they were there for the dunking too). They said they couldn't see anything and that ferry was bouncing across the water!

 

When my mother and I came downstairs to go out, it was pouring, torrents of rain. They had the towels there and a few came in soaked to the bone, my mother was having none of that! We sat on the stairs with about 10 others talking, hoping it would let up, but no luck, so we stayed on board.

 

I keep checking your pictures for any of us and I found myself in your Lido picture of the refreshment center. I saw you (must have been after that shot) and you were tearing around taking pictures of everything in the buffet!

 

ETA: It's a heritage building and I believe the cottage is one of the oldest on the island. We have shots of that too and I believe that's what Lewis was telling us.

Edited October 11, 2016 by aztekpm

[gapearl]

Finally, our last stop on the tour was the lighthouse. We only spent 20 minutes here, just enough time to get a few pictures. No one went to the top. Tickets were $3 or something like that. This southern part of the island is the only part of Bermuda that sits in the triangle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made it back to the ship mid afternoon after a wonderful day spent touring the entire island. This tour was $18 less than the one I booked, but instead of requesting a refund from Viator I decided to leave it for Juanita as her tip for a great day.

[gapearl]

Sometimes you can’t leave regular life behind on vacation. I had some things to take care of online and attempted to buy the $16 internet for 1 day but because I already had the social media package, I could only upgrade for the rest of the cruise. I went to guest services and the nice lady had me to upgrade and refunded the $35 difference to my account, which I thought was nice of her. I was supposed to close on the sale of my house the day after returning home and received a bad news message from my real estate agent when I checked in with her. This process has been a nightmare and so much has gone wrong and this was my breaking point. I lost it. I went to the lido and found my mom eating there and vented to her for a few minutes through a face of tears.

 

The buffet was closed, so I got a grilled cheese sandwich from the deli and some Guys fries for lunch.

 

 

I took my food to the Red Frog Bar and had a margarita to calm my nerves.

 

 

Then I had a mocha chocolate getaway to try and feel better. That's a fake smile, btw.

 

 

The shot of patron was to stop my crying. It worked. :rolleyes:

 

 

After drinking my cares away, I went to the sauna to sweat out all that alcohol and went back to the room for a nap. It was almost 8 pm when I woke so I skipped the MDR and went to the buffet for dinner instead.

 

And I have the nerve to wonder why I've gained weight.

 

[cruizin4sho]

Hey Charles how have you been? Long time no talk! :D The balcony was awesome! I don't think I'm a balcony snob yet where I just HAVE to have one, but I'll definitely be looking harder at them from now on. You're part of the reason I booked Escape. It was between Glory and Escape, same itinerary, same price, but I got the free beverage package as well. I remembered how much you loved that cruise so I decided to give it a try. If I hate it I'm coming after you lol. You've gotta message me and let me know how your Breeze cruise went. ;)

 

Oh I guarantee you will love that cruise and if you don't, well I'll fly to Vegas and personally hand you my head on a platter!:D

[gapearl]

Sean and I went to Snorkel Park Beach (about an 8 minute walk from ship) to see if their Wednesday night party had started yet.

 

On our way to Snorkel Park.

 

 

NCL Breakaway.

 

 

One of the ladies on my tour today was the person that won NCL's name the new ship contest. She named the Breakaway! I asked how did she come up with that, and she said "cause I needed to breakaway from a bunch of crap" lol.

 

 

Pride again.

 

 

We arrived at Snorkel Park and waited 15 minutes, the place was still quiet, employees were still arriving to work, and a crowd of people (mostly ship’s crew) had gathered waiting to get in. We left at 10:30 pm as there was no sign of this place opening any time soon, even though it should have been open already, not to mention the fact that I couldn’t stomach the smell of the weed that had just been lit. :eek:

[gapearl]

We walked back up to Bonefish Restaurant.

 

 

I found them online before the cruise and they advertise having salsa music on Wednesday nights. Now several sites proclaim this is THE Wednesday night place in Bermuda for Latin dancing. I was hoping that maybe some of the local dance crowd would be out tonight so I could get my bailar on, but the DJ was playing R & B and hip hop and not a single Latin song. There was some dancing and all the patrons were (duh) all tourists. No big deal. Sean and I had a drink and hung out for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

Sean had a dark and stormy on the left and that's my fishizzle on the right.

 

[gapearl]

Bonefish is a 5 minute walk from the ship. There was a cool vibe and I'd recommend stopping by here in the evening if you're doing the Bermuda overnight.