Back from the never ending cruise!!

[Marie-Claude]

We finally got back home from two extra days at sea on the Zuiderdam - Captain and crew were terrific at sailing calm seas and making sure we were safe and well entertained.

The much anticipated return was a little chaotic at the airport, but we finally caught a flight to Montreal Monday at 6PM.

The cruise was slightly perturbed as all water-related shore excursions were cancelled in Tortola and St-Thomas, and we never made it to Nassau.

HMC was just perfect, hot and sunny! The day in Tortola was extremely hot, humid, cloudy and windy, and ended with very heavy rain. St-Thomas was very sunny and a since we couldn't make it to St-John for snorkeling... we went shopping... ouch!

All in all a good cruise, but we are happy to be back!

 

MC

[Lois R]

Hi:) glad things went well and that you are home safe and sound!!!

[Orcrone]

MC,

 

Welcome back. I'm sure there was confusion and concern being out to sea with Frances out there. Glad that the captain and crew took care of you. Were passengers getting concerned, irritated, obnoxious, or were they taking it all in stride?

 

Marc

[Marie-Claude]

For the most part I think people had the 'nothing we can do about it at this point' attitude. However, a lot of people were from Florida and were quite concerned about their family and homes back in FL.

The phone lines got completely congested Thursday night and we were not able to make 1 call until we reached Fort Lauderdale Monday morning. That was a bit trying. The only means of communication was Internet, which is fine for some people, but not for others...

By Sunday night, everyone was ready to call it quit... We were all anxious to get off and see how we would make it back home. We were lucky to have booked a charter flight - that's why we could make it back home so quickly - the plane was waiting for us at the airport!!

But the weather was fabulous, so we took some sun in, and enjoyed the pool, the entertainment and the food!!

[Orcrone]

Sounds like you got lemons and made lemonade. Good for you.:)

[luv2cruise123]

What kinds of things did the Cruise director have available for you? Just curious.

[Vicar]

Good for you!!!!

 

I mean what could you do,? so just relax and enjoy. Glad the crew was so helpful, that must have made it a whole lot easier :)

[Sage]

I'm so glad to hear that the passengers and crew were safe and having a good time. If you have to be stuck some place, I'm glad it was a cruise ship.

[sail7seas]

Welcome Back. Happy you are safely home. Sounds like you had a great attitude and 'rolled with it'.

[Slinkiecat]

The shopping in St. Thomas must have been fun. Just nosy, I'll admit, but what did you buy? Any great bargains or unique finds?

 

Slinkie

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you were able to fly home on Monday.

Sounds like you had a great cruise in spite of Frances.

[Marie-Claude]

What kinds of things did the Cruise director have available for you? Just curious.

 

Dane Butcher, the CD made sure that the activities continued - your usual Bingo (by Saturday night, the jackpot was at 6700$!!), Shufflegolf etc. but he also got the full collaboration of the guest entertainers to do all kinds of extra activities such as close-up magic with Bob the magician, a coffee chat with Julie Barr the comedienne (she was hilarious), matinee show with Joel Mason (Elton John imitator and great pianist) and variety show with Edge the juggler (or the evolution of manipulation as he calls it) and the others.

 

Also, they organized a 'behind the scenes' tour where we sent down to see the food storage rooms and fridges, morgue, crew mess etc. It was great!They made sure to tell people not to get worried about the LOW level of food in the pantries...that they had more than enough to feed everyone... it was very low...

 

The Spa had some 'Never Ending Cruise' specials - 50 minutes massages or facials for 50$.

 

So overall, it was well organized... everyone collaborated to make it fun for all!

[Marie-Claude]

The shopping in St. Thomas must have been fun. Just nosy, I'll admit, but what did you buy? Any great bargains or unique finds?

Every time we go to St-Thomas we go to Ajanta Jewelry in the Drake Passage. The owner is a very nice man, his whole family works there and they won't let us go until they find something for us to buy. Not pushy... but they always give us great deals that we can't let go by. We bought some very nice gold earrings (a design we had never seen before), an omega slide with a Caribbean Topaz (funny that they call it Caribbean - when in Alaska in May they called it Northern Light Topaz...), and a gold and diamond bracelet (2CT). According to other places we've been (DI, Cardow etc.) we always make better deals with this guy... He always takes good care of us!