Thanksgiving NCL Dawn Cruise Report with Dailies and Some Pics

[deladypilot]

Wow that is a misunderstanding for sure, what's an extra 200 people?? LOL. Glad they were able to work it out for you.

 

I did. I wrote them a good old fashion letter. Went out in the mail today. We'll see how they respond.

 

p.s. We are from DE, live in KY now, but born and raised in the great first state!

 

We grew up in Texas and moved to Felton about 19 years ago. it sure is different.

[Coolwhip82]

St. Kitts and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We wake up early and the kids run out to the balcony to see the view. Except there is no view. There is a very large, old looking ship that looks like a ferry next to us. What cruise line is “GNV”? [you can see the ship in the background of the PIC St. Kitts_View]. One that cannot afford to maintain their boats, or so we think. We later find out from our tour guide that it is there from the government to house the medical students. Their housing was damaged by one of the hurricanes so they brought this ship in for them to live on until it could be repaired.

 

Booked another private excursion here through Grey's Island Excursions. We were doing the “Capital City Tour and Beach Splash (Cockleshell Bay)” for $25 p/a and $15 p/c ($80 total). We were to meet our guide Meet at the Arrivals Hall, Port Zante at 9:00am.

 

We disembark around 8:45am and starting walking along the pier. It was a short walk. By then I spotted a woman holding a “Grey's Island Excursions” sign and went to her. She took us through a back way to meet our driver for the day - Frankie. We walked to his van and loaded in. The van looked new on the outside, but inside was a different story. It was a little run down and the A/C was not working well. That van was HOT all day.

 

This tour is a very short tour through the capital city and mostly a beach break. We are fine with that because it is Thanksgiving and we just want to relax. Frankie took us took us to Palms Court Gardens and Restaurant. It was hotel and restaurant, but had beautiful grounds and a pool [see PIC St. Kitts_View]. You can purchase a day pass here as well. We walk around looking at the garden, the different plants and trees are labeled. Frankie tells us about them as well. There was an entrance fee, but it must have been included in the price of the tour because Frankie paid it. There is a small, kind of run down, playground but the kids like it. The kids play for a little while and then it’s time to head to the beach. We drive down through “the bone” (St. Kitts is shaped like a turkey leg!) and we stop for a pick. At the top of this one hill you can see the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other [see PIC St. Kitts Atlantic], which is pretty awesome.

 

For our beach break, Frankie takes us to Reggae Beach Bar and Grill in Cockleshell Bay. He asks what time he should come back to get us – we say 2:30 (I think it is about 10:30 by this point). There are places to change, real bathrooms, drinks and food so it looks okay to us. We rent two chairs and an umbrella for $20. You just sit down where you want and the sales guy will come to you. DS really wanted to swim, but I had forgotten his life jacket at home (in the car sitting in the airport really!) but the salesman says the water sports place (“St Kitts Watersports”) might have a life jacket he can use. I send DD over to ask while I get out money to pay for the umbrella and chairs. A few mins later, DD comes back with the huge flamingo float. There is a lady running after her saying “where are you going with that!?”. Apparently they rent the floats and DD didn’t realize she was taking off with their property. Both DS and DD want this float, but it is $20 for the day and I cannot justify paying that. The lady says they have smaller floats for $10. Fine. DD and DS go pick one out. They came back with this innertube that looks like it came from the dollar store, but whatever. DS could use it to swim “by himself” so that made him happy. So we get it. I have to pay, sign a waiver, and give my ID as a deposit. A lot to ask for a $10 tube, but okay lady. I didn’t have an ID so I gave her my cruise card.

 

We order a bucket of beer – Carib – it is buy 5 get one “free” so six beers for $20 form the waitress. She comes around all day to check on us. We toast to Thanksgiving and let the kids play. We brought a sign with us to take a “Happy Thanksgiving” picture to send back to all of our family and friends in the North [see PIC St. Kitts_Happy Thanksgiving]. Take pic, connect to their “free” Wi-Fi and post to FB, check email, and just surf the Net. This is the first time we had reliable Wi-Fi since we left so we both were on our phones like addicts getting a fix.

 

By then it’s about lunch time and we go up to the restaurant to get something to eat. The kids get burger and hotdog. I get coconut shrimp. It was really good. All in all my mom thinks the place was a little pricey. She paid the bill at the end of the day and said it was $150 (for all the food, beer, and water we had on the beach and in the restaurant…actually doesn’t seem that bad to me). Frankie picks us up one time and we head back to the pier. It’s about a 30 minute drive and DS falls asleep on the way back.

 

 

Back on Board

When we get back to our room I eventually notice that we have a voicemail. I listen and its Sunshine (or Smile, or some other equally silly nickname) the Director of the Kid's Club. She heard I had an issue with Splash Academy and was calling me to discuss --clearly JC had said something to someone!!-- could I call her back to discuss? She would be there during X and Y time.I deleted the VM and readied myself to call her. I got out the notepad and quickly jotted down all the points I wanted to make about the various things they had done wrong. As I wrote down the notes though I became angry. By the time I was ready to make the call, I was boiling so in the interest of not being a crazy person screaming over the phone, I decided I better wait to make the call....days went by and I never actually called her back. Here is why: there was nothing she could do ON BOARD that was going to make the situation better for us. My kids were NOT going back there so there was no point in discussing anything. I would take my issues up with NCL Corporate (which I have since done by writing a letter). Looking back now though, I regret that decision. There were other children affected by this behavior, not just my kids, and maybe their parents didn't know. I should have said something to her so she could have addresses the fact that Splash Academy staff clearly were not following NCL policies. Nor were they exercising good judgment, professionalism, empathy, or compassion – all things one needs when caring for children. Hindsight is 20/20....

 

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had reservations at the Venetian at 6:00 for Thanksgiving. I knew better than to try to walk-in on holiday for the MDR. We rest up, shower, and change into nice clothes. We head down to the Veneitian and arrive at about 5:55. The line out the door and down the hallway. I go up to the hostess desk, and after being ignored for several minutes, tell them that we have a reservation at 6:00 and would like to be seated. She tells me that she sees my reservation, but that I have to stand in the line, with everyone else, and wait to be seated. I tell her no, that's what reservations are for and I am not going to stand in that line. She insists so then I tell her that I will find a house phone and call Leah, the concierge who I made the reservations with and I am sure she can get us in. Suddenly we don't have to wait anymore. She can seat us right away. I really hate to name drop, but seriously what is the point of a reservation if you have to wait in line to be seated with the people who did not make reservations and are just walking in? Anyway, the Venetian is packed, but it is all hands out deck that night. I see several officers clearing tables and running food/drinks to make sure things go smoothly. Neither of the kids wants the "special Thanksgiving Dinner" so they order off the other menu. DD gets a chicken dish and DS get steak. He ate steak so many times on this trip its really unbelievable. Now that we are back he doesn't understand why he cant have it all the time. For breakfast on Sunday, I made pancakes and sausage and he told me he didn't want sausage he wanted steak, LOL! As I reviewed previously, the Thanksgiving meal was nothing special, but I do appreciate that they offered it. For dessert I was torn between the sweet potato bread pudding and pumpkin cheesecake. I told the waiter I was torn, he recommended the bread pudding and I agreed to that. When the desserts came, he brought me both! He said "Just in case you don't like the bread pudding!" which I thought was really sweet.

 

Second City

After a full day and a full meal, the kids and my mom are all tired so they head to bed. FL Family invites me to go the Second City Show at 9:00pm and I happily obliged. G doesn't stay for the show b/c her parents think it wont be appropriate and she heads to Entourage. We all sit in the suite section (balcony, stage right) and get ready for the show. About half-way through, JimBMe decides its not that funny and he wants to try his luck at the casino instead. The rest of us stay to finish the show. Thoughts afterwards -- it was funny, but not hysterical. I laughed several times, but never hardily. That was a bit disappointing for a Second City show. I have seen them (not this cast of course) in Chicago and I left with muscle aches in my side from laughing so hard. I think a crowd of 1,200 just doesn't translate well for the type of comedy they do. [Note: we went to another show in Bliss that was much better later in the week. More on that later]. Also, there was nothing inappropriate about this show. It was very family friendly. In the end JimBMe and BearsBeachHouse said G could have stayed.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Coolwhip82