John and Diane's Caribbean Getaway for John's Birthday

[tennisbeforewine]

 

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Half Moon Cay (pronounced “key”)

AKA “The Private Island”

 

Since we celebrated my birthday at sea last October on the Koningsdam, it seemed only fair to celebrate John’s (much more momentous) birthday

on the other side of the country.  When we mentioned to our Texas friends Rich and Ginni that we were going to be in the Caribbean for three weeks, they jumped right in made a reservation, and then extended the invitation to Bill and Jane in North Carolina, Leslie and Handler in Texas, and Will and Nancy in Michigan.  Except for Will and Nancy (who would be driving around the country in their new RV), everyone else signed up and we had Shannon, our cruise agent, reserve us a table for eight.

 

Sadly, Jane tested positive just before flying down to Ft. Lauderdale, so they won’t be joining us and they will be sorely missed.  Leslie and Handler are flying in next week and will be coming aboard on the 13th - just in time for the Super Bowl, I guess.  The other four of us went to a testing facility across the street from our hotel on Friday, spent $49 each, and in 15 minutes had four negative antigen tests.  Hooray!

 

After two nights in Ft. Lauderdale and a wonderful dinner on the waterway at The Boatyard, we slept in Saturday morning, went for a walk, and then called our Lyft for the 15-minute drive to the ship - and what a ship it is!

It is easily the largest vessel we’ve ever sailed in, with a capacity of 2800 passengers.  Fortunately, there are only 1600 aboard, so crowding doesn’t seem to be a problem.  It is the newest ship in the HAL fleet and is really quite gorgeous and shiny.  We do miss our old, familiar Amsterdam, but we’re learning our way around this beauty.

 

Since we’ll be on for three weeks, we’re taking our time figuring things out.  As we unpacked our one (yes, only one!) suitcase each, I realized that whoever designed the storage in these cabins did an excellent job.  We quickly put everything away and still had room to spare.  Of course that was when I noticed the things I had forgotten to pack, including any jewelry except what I was wearing.  Thankfully, Ginni has enough of it for both of us, and since they’re just two doors away, I’m sure I’ll do just fine.

 

Today is Half Moon Cay, HAL’s private island, but we’re in no hurry to go ashore.  John went to play pickle ball at 9:00, and we figure we’ll take a tender at about 10:00 or 10:30.  All aboard is 2:30, giving us time for a nap and prepare for the first gala night - an excuse to plunder Ginni’s collection.

 

Tomorrow’s a sea day, and if you’ve read my posts before, you know how much I love them.  See you then.

 

 

[12cruise2]

Thank you for doing this live.  Just to clarify, which ship are you on?

[rkacruiser]

I am glad to see that you are blogging again, Diane.  It's been a long time since we sailed on the Amsterdam in 2008; lots of water under our keels since then.  Best wishes for a safe and enjoyable cruise!  

[wdw1972]

Just now, 12cruise2 said:

Thank you for doing this live.  Just to clarify, which ship are you on?

I'm not John or Diane, but it would have to be Rotterdam.  From the description it's a Pinnacle class ship.  Koningsdam is doing Hawaii and Nieuw Statendam was in St Lucia (or somewhere similar) today.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[Cruise Suzy]

Will be following along. Several of us from the February 13 and February 20 roll calls will be joining you later.

[jbhcw]

following!   Will be sailing 2-20....first cruise in a while....looking forward to some pictures maybe?  

[tennisbeforewine]

Monday, February 7, 2022

At Sea en route to Falmouth, Jamaica

 

Ahhhhh, a sea day.  There’s nothing to do but sleep late, go to the gym, and do whatever you like, and what a beautiful place to do it.  We are very happy to be on the Rotterdam, and it is everything we hoped it would be.  As the newest ship in the HAL fleet, everything is bright and shiny, and the crew makes sure it stays that way.  We have had the pleasure of meeting with crew members we’ve known from other ships (primarily the Amsterdam), and it’s like old home week when we recognize each other.  The ship is very strict about Covid protocols, with reminders from the captain as he makes his daily updates, and passengers are reminded to “mask up” by staff throughout the ship.  We were taking photos of one of our favorite former crew members, and when we asked him to briefly remove his mask, he told me that if he did that he’d be in danger of losing his job.  I believe the Covid numbers on this ship are lower than any other, and we can certainly see why.

 

Even though I am a lover of sea days, today was an even better one.  From

10:00 until 11:00 we were invited to a Captain’s Reception for 4 and 5 star mariners where we were greeted by a nice young man with a tray of glasses of bubbly.  Since it was a bit early, I took it over to the bar and had some orange juice added.  The captain spoke for a few minutes and was accompanied by his senior officers.  Then they left and most of those attending just sat around chatting and asking for refills.

 

This afternoon at 2:00 there’s a wine tasting to which we’ve been invited in the dining room, but I think we may take a pass since I can only manage so much alcohol during the daytime.  Besides, 2:00 is John’s pickle ball appointment, so that just won’t work.

 

This evening we’ve made reservations for the Tamarind restaurant which is one of our favorite places.  The food served is classified as “pan-Asian” and if you even like Asian food a little, you should book it whenever you’re on an HAL ship which has one.  In fact it’s so popular that it’s hard to book a table if you wait too long.  The four of us decided we wanted to eat there tonight and our preferred time was 7:00.  I was told that our choices were 5:00 or 8:00, so we opted for the latter.  We are really looking forward to it.

 

 

One of our activities today was an outing to the Shore Excursion counter in the Crow’s Nest.  We are very fond of setting up our own independent tours, but since we did no preparation at all for this cruise, we decided to let HAL take care of them.  In Falmouth, we’re going on a beach/lunch outing, and in Belize City and Cozumel, we’re going to as many Mayan ruins as possible.  We’re both history buffs, so we’re really looking forward to those ruins.

 

Thank you for your nice comments, and since we’re not nearly as techie as “Inside Cabin” Pete, we’re working on those photos.  We’ll see if they work today!

 

 

 

 

 

[tennisbeforewine]

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Falmouth, Jamaica - Home of Usain Bolt

 

One of the things I like about the larger ships is the choice of restaurants.  There are several from which to choose:  The Pinnacle, Sel de Mer, Canaletto, New York Deli and Pizza, The Grand Dutch Cafe, and the Dive-In.  Our very favorite, however, is the wonderful Tamarind with a “Pan Asian” menu of such treats as satay, shrimp tempura, Chinese five-spice baby back ribs and crab legs, among others - and that’s just for appetizers.  Main courses include cashew barramundi with red Thai curry, Szechuan shrimp, red curry coconut chicken, Mongolian barbecue lamb chops and vegetable tempura - again, among others.

 

It’s always good to run into crew members we’ve known in the past, and last night was no exception.  We spent quite a bit of time speaking with our wine steward, Edward, whom we’d known from a previous cruise as well as the Tamarind manager whom we’d met on the 2016 Koningsdam.    

 

Besides the food, I love the ambiance of the place.  It’s a bit dark and remains fairly quiet.  Overlooking the Sea View Pool and the ocean, it’s a beautiful place to eat.  That’s what we chose for our dinner last night, and we just loved it.  As one is seated, a hot towel is put in front of the diner and a small cup of green tea is poured to “cleanse the palate.”  Then it was down to business:  looking over the menu for the best choices.

 

John and Rich had exactly the same first two courses:  the baby back ribs and the red curry coconut chicken.  Ginni opted for the shrimp tempura and the barramundi, and I had the satay and the lamb chops.  Of course food was shared across the table and we enjoyed everything we ate.  There are five “side dishes,” and while we thought we remembered having to choose among them, in actuality all five were brought to the middle of the table to share.  I loved the bok choi, but my favorite was the Dungeness crab fried rice. We had all saved room for dessert, and shared those, too. Rich and John enjoyed their mango posset, I had the passion fruit cloud, and Ginni had the three house-made sorbets.   I’ll add some photos of our choices at the end of this post.  I think it goes without saying that it was a wonderful meal and I’d recommend it in a heartbeat.

 

Although I love sea days, today’s port and our choice of activity were almost as good.  We opted for the ship’s shore excursion to the Bamboo Beach Club, a 20-minute drive away.  Our guide for the drive was a charming Jamaican young lady named Sanique who kept us entertained by teaching us how to speak “Jamaican style.”  The Beach Club is  a funky little place with a nice beach, fairly good snorkeling, and some great rum punch and jerk chicken.  While we relaxed on our lounge chairs, we watched several of the staff dance on the beach to reggae music.  For about two and a half hours, we consumed the beverages which were served, and then enjoyed a plate with jerk chicken, jerk fish, yellow rice, and cornbread.  There was a dessert of banana bread pudding with ice cream offered, but we’d had way too much to eat and took a pass on it.  We had the added benefit of meeting a fellow passenger who had also been on the 2020 “half-world cruise.”  John had already met another 2020 world cruiser while playing pickle ball.   The Beach Club  was such a relaxing place that it was almost like a sea day.

 

After we returned, John and Rich decided some pickle ball was called for, but after playing for about five minutes, the rain came down, so they adjourned to the Sea View Bar for a beer.  All in all, it’s been a great day.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sea42]

Thanks so much for sharing your cruise with us, I have always enjoyed your posts!

[aliaschief]

Enjoy your cruise.

[cruzingnut]

We just booked this ship for next week, so we'll be joining you!   First cruise since we left the Amsterdam in Fremantle...oh so long ago...  Is there a way to find out how many are on for next week? 

 

Thanks!

Linda R.

[DWAliaschief]

On 2/6/2022 at 5:15 PM, tennisbeforewine said:

 

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Half Moon Cay (pronounced “key”)

AKA “The Private Island”

 

 

 

 The other four of us went to a testing facility across the street from our hotel on Friday, spent $49 each, and in 15 minutes had four negative antigen tests.  Hooray!

 

 

 

 

Can I ask where you were tested?  Thanks

[tennisbeforewine]

We were tested at Lab Doctor which did a Covid-19 antigen rapid test for $49.00.  The results were ready in about 20-30 minutes and happily accepted by HAL, since it was a "supervised" test.  They do not allow home tests unless they're the kind where someone on the computer supervises you. 

 

The office is across the street and down one block from the Embassy Suites, where we were staying.  The exact address is 1425-A SE 17th Street, Ft Lauderdale, and it's part of a small shopping area.

 

Hope this helps.  BTW, I'll be checking with the front desk on how many passengers there will be next week.  

[tennisbeforewine]

Regarding the number of passengers, this week it’s about 1600 (60%), but next week we’ve been told it’s about 1300 (48%). This week has been very comfortable, so next week should be even more so. 

[cruzingnut]

2 hours ago, tennisbeforewine said:

Regarding the number of passengers, this week it’s about 1600 (60%), but next week we’ve been told it’s about 1300 (48%). This week has been very comfortable, so next week should be even more so. 

 

Thanks for the info!  Looking forward to this!

 

Linda R.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Great pics and commentary,   Enjoy the cruise!

[Cruising Is Bliss]

Very much enjoying your posts and thank you for doing them!

 

[jimbri]

Great pictures.  Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[puppycanducruise]

Great pictures and comments. 

Thanks!

[CvilleJane]

May I ask, is the wind a factor when playing pickleball? We're on the NS in March and love to play. It's on the sports deck, right? I'm enjoying reading along and many thanks!  

[DWAliaschief]

On 2/9/2022 at 6:58 PM, tennisbeforewine said:

We were tested at Lab Doctor which did a Covid-19 antigen rapid test for $49.00.  The results were ready in about 20-30 minutes and happily accepted by HAL, since it was a "supervised" test.  They do not allow home tests unless they're the kind where someone on the computer supervises you. 

 

The office is across the street and down one block from the Embassy Suites, where we were staying.  The exact address is 1425-A SE 17th Street, Ft Lauderdale, and it's part of a small shopping area.

 

Hope this helps.  BTW, I'll be checking with the front desk on how many passengers there will be next week.  

Thank you - I had this bookmarked and wanted to see if it was the same place.  

[tennisbeforewine]

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Belize City, Belize

 

We dropped anchor in Belize, which used to be British Honduras, at about 7:00 this morning, and found that we’d have ferries from the shore to tender us there.  John and I had booked an archeological tour to Altun Ha, a Mayan city discovered only about 60 years ago.  Before we headed to the ruins, however, we had a spectacular boat ride up the Wallace River through incredibly tropical surroundings.

 

During our 90-minute boat ride, we saw dolphins (who love to “surf” the wake), howler monkeys, manatees, a huge sleeping crocodile, insect bats, and some iguanas.  Life is never boring on this river.  We disembarked at “The Iguana Stop,” a small cafe/shop/iguana station.  While our tour description had assured us that “Lunch is not included,” we arrived to a plate of grilled chicken, salad, and beans and rice, washed down with fruit punch.  After a chance to eat, check out the local wares, and have a “comfort stop,” we boarded a bus to take us to Altun Ha.

 

While driving through the jungle of trees and plants on the way, it’s easy to see how an entire stone city, complete with pyramids, failed to be discovered for almost 1100 years.  Apparently it was first inhabited  from 1000 BC to 200 AD, with the earliest monumental construction in about 100 BC.  Most of the structures, however, date to a period from 200-600 AD.  The site began its slow decline in about 900 AD and was abandoned over the next 300 years.  After a local hurricane about 60 years ago, the local people were looking for stones to rebuild their homes and found that many of those stones seemed to be part of other buildings.  This led to archeological exploration beginning in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

 

Altun Ha contains two main complexes with smaller residential areas.  The most important building is called Structure B4, where several royal tombs were found.  Among the funerary objects found there was a solid jade sculpture, the largest piece of jade  found in the Maya world.  It was a head of the Sun God and weighs nearly 11 pounds.  It’s so valuable that it’s kept in the Belize Central Bank.

 

For John, the most exciting part of this visit was that he climbed to the top of this temple, from which he had a wonderful view of the entire area.  I climbed about 1/3 of the way, but my fear of heights got the better of me, and I gave it up.

 

Our one-hour bus ride back to the dock ensured that we were happy to be on a ship’s tour, because even though we climbed on board an hour late, the ship waited for us.  I know that HAL always includes that in their shore excursion ads, and we’ve never had this problem on our independent tours, but they do actually wait for their passengers.

 

Tomorrow is Cozumel, and we’re looking forward to a nice Mexican lunch and perhaps even a margarita.

[tennisbeforewine]

Friday, February 11, 2022

Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico

 

As much as I love small ports, it’s ever so much better to actually dock instead of having to tender.  When we pulled up at the Cozumel dock this morning we were only somewhat surprised to see three other ships here, one Carnival and one Royal Caribbean and one too far away to tell.  I guess with Caribbean ports being limited, ships go where they can.

 

We had a leisurely morning on the ship while hundreds of people headed off to shore excursions - everything from deep-sea fishing to zip-lining to archeological tours to scuba diving.  It’s lovely when you feel that you’re the only people on the ship.  We didn’t want to break our record of never having skipped getting off at a port, however, so at about 11:30 it was time to head into town for some walking around and lunch.  I swear, there are more diamond stores here than any place I’ve ever been.  Fortunately I’m not an avid jewelry person, but it was fun to window shop and I was able to perfect my greeting of “No, gracias.”  Along the way John found a new tee-shirt and we found a post card for our granddaughter.  We have a tradition which began in 2008 on our first world cruise which has us sending her a post card from every port.  By now her collection is sizable, but it warms our hearts to know that at age15 she still keeps them in her “treasure box.”    

 

The choices are extensive for lunch, and while we looked around we realized that although we’ve seen dozens of them, we’d never eaten at the (apparently) very popular Señor Frog, so it was time to play the full tourist card and head in.  We discovered a couple of things:  eating here, while the food is pretty good, is all about “the show” put on by the servers.  If it’s your birthday or anniversary, be prepared to have the entire crew come to your table, sing loudly, put balloon animals on your head, and generally be the center of attention.  Even though John’s birthday is next week, he threatened me with death and dismemberment if I told anyone.  He hates, above all, to be the center of attention.

 

The drinks, for those of you who haven’t had this wonderful tourist experience, come in a glass called a “yard.”  There’s a bulb at the bottom and then it narrows into the neck which is about 22-24 inches tall.  I’m still not sure why they call it a yard, but I guess when they began it actually was a yard tall.  I’ve looked it up and found out that it contains 28 ounces, so that’s how much La Paloma John had.  (BTW, the La Paloma is actually the Mexican national drink.  The margarita has American origins).  He said it was pretty strong, but I had limited myself to a Diet Coke, and I couldn’t even finish that.  The tacos were pretty good, but we probably enjoyed the show as much as anything.

 

Then it was back to the ship for a nap before John headed out to pickle ball and I began writing.  In answer to a question about pickle ball and wind, John said that it depends on the location of the court.  Since this court is a bit sheltered, he said today was the first time they noticed any wind problem.  On the (old) Amsterdam, the court was right at the top of the ship, so wind was almost always a problem.  It also depends on the location of the ship, since mid-ocean can be pretty windy.  Hope that helps.

 

We knew to expect it, but today we received our notice that our Covid 19 test will be tomorrow at 9:45 AM, as is expected of passengers on back to back cruises.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

 

This evening is dinner at the Pinnacle, postponed from last night.  We’re looking forward to it, since the food really is excellent.  I’ll be reporting on it tomorrow, our sea day before Ft. Lauderdale.  We’re really looking forward to FLL, because our friends and table mates Leslie and Handler are joining us for the remaining two weeks of our cruise.  It’s always better to cruise with friends.

 

[tennisbeforewine]

Regarding the number of passengers next week, we were told that the number is now 1200 - down a hundred.  Love it! That's 44% of capacity.

Edited February 12, 2022 by tennisbeforewine
add information

[jbhcw]

1 hour ago, tennisbeforewine said:

Regarding the number of passengers next week, we were told that the number is now 1200 - down a hundred.  Love it! That's 44% of capacity.

that is amazing.....would love to know capacity for 2-20...it will be very different being on a ship that is not full... but I'm not complaining.