Noreen Chin

Age: 35
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Name of Ship: Voyager of the Seas
Sailing Date: May 11th, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

WHO ARE WE?
My name is Noreen. I am 35 years old. I am a Vice President at an Investment Banking firm in New York City. My husband, Paul, is also 35 years old. He is a Multimedia Developer at a Management Consulting Firm in New York City. We live in Northern New Jersey and have a 2 year old Akita puppy name Kiki.

We have never been on a cruise before. Our favorite vacation (mine especially) is Disney World in Florida. We’ve been to Disney too many times to count. Some other trips we’ve taken are DisneyLand in California, The Atlantis in the Bahamas, St. Lucia, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. I’ve always been leery of taking a cruise thinking I’d be bored. I’m definitely a Type A person and like to run around and be busy all the time.

PLANNING
We’ve heard good things recently from numerous people who have gone on cruises. As I mentioned earlier, I was very worried I’d feel trapped on a boat and bored. However, the new ships are very big with tons of activities so hopefully I’ll be entertained.

One of the women in my office, Kim, is a cruise fanatic and our resident cruise expert. She goes on at least two cruises a year and loves them. So I’ve also asked her tons of questions about cruising.

Over President’s Day weekend we had over two feet of snow so were pretty much snowed in. I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking at different cruises and different cruise reviews.

Once Paul and I decided we wanted to try a cruise, we had to decide which one.

First we had to decide what type of itinerary we wanted. We narrowed it down to the following:
Cruise to Alaska
Cruise to Bermuda from NY
Cruise on the Disney Cruise Line (since I love Disney)
Cruise to the Caribbean

Paul didn’t want our first cruise to be with Disney since he’s afraid I’d never want to try another cruise line if I went on the Disney one first. He also said, let’s not make our first cruise to Alaska but to somewhere warm. I wasn’t as excited about the Bermuda cruise as I was about a Western Caribbean Cruise. Those ports sounded like a lot of fun.

In all my net surfing I found an overwhelmingly positive response for the Royal Caribbean’s mega ships – like the Voyager. I found a nice Western Caribbean Itinerary on the Voyager leaving from Miami so that’s the one I really want to go on.

The Voyager Itinerary is as follows:
Sunday – Leave from Miami
Monday – At Sea
Tuesday – Labadee
Wednesday – Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Thursday – Grand Cayman
Friday – Cozumel
Saturday – At Sea
Sunday – Return to Miami

Royal Caribbean also has a newer voyager class ship called Explorer of the Seas which also does the Western Caribbean itinerary but leaves on Saturday. This boat alternates Eastern and Western Caribbean from week to week.

When we decided which week was convenient for us to go – the Explorer was doing the Eastern Caribbean so we’re back to our original idea of the Voyager for the Sunday to Sunday cruise.

On Friday 2/28/03 I spoke with the Travel Agent that Kim recommended to me as having booked all of hers and her family’s cruises – Bill from Captain’s Club Cruises. We put the cruise on hold while I get the air portion taken care of. I have until Wednesday 3/5 to pay for the cruise. Since it’s within 90 days of sailing we need to pay in full.

We will be in room #8604 which is on the 8th deck in the middle of the ship. It’s a Deluxe Ocean View cabin with a private balcony. It’s category DA. We chose the late dinner seating since we normally eat dinner around 8:30 at home.

Based on Kim’s suggestion, even though our cruise is sailing on Sunday, we are going to fly into Miami on Saturday – just to give us that extra cushion in case there are any flight delays.

Initially, On March 6, 2003 I booked the pre-cruise package at Marriott Biscayne Bay. For $169 plus tax it includes a King Size bed with a view of the marina, arrival cocktails, breakfast, and transfers to the pier

I’ve been using the Cruise Critic web site a lot. Through these posts, someone asked about a pre-cruise hotel. I provided the information on Marriott Biscayne Bay mentioned above since I thought it was a good deal, and one of the guys suggested I try PriceLine. He was staying at the Hyatt for $35 (plus tax) a night. Another guy also through PriceLine was staying at the InterContinental for $60 (plus tax) a night. I was a little leery of doing that since you don’t know what hotel you’ll be at, but I figured I’d give it a shot.

On Friday March 28, 2003, I made my first attempt with PriceLine. I bid $60 for a 4* hotel (the same parameters the guy at the Intercontinental used) but my bid wasn’t accepted. You have to wait 72 hours before you can try again.

On Monday March 31, 2003, I ventured onto PriceLine again. This time I bid $35 for a 3* hotel (the same parameters as the guy who was staying at the Hyatt used) and I got it – at the Hyatt. With taxes $4.16 and the PriceLine fee $5.95 my grand total will be $45.11.

So, with my Hyatt reservation in hand, on Monday March 31, 2003, I cancelled my Marriott Biscayne Bay reservation.

On 3/2/03 I booked our flights on American Airlines. On Saturday 5/10/03 we leave from Newark Airport at 12:45pm and land in Miami at 3:41pm. Coming home on Sunday 5/18/03 we leave Miami at 1:15pm and land at Newark Airport at 4:22pm.

We are going to use long term parking right near Newark airport at Corporate Park. We used them previously and were satisfied with their service.

We’ve been reading about all the excursions on line as well as through various cruise review websites. I know that I want to swim with the stingrays in the Cayman’s and that I want to climb Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica. Other than those, we’re flexible.

On March 12, 2003 I booked the Personalized Stingray City Snorkel tour for the Cayman Islands via the Royal Caribbean Website – cost $48 per person or $96 for the both of us.

On March 13, 2003 I book the Cruise to Dunn’s River Falls tour for Ocho Rios Jamaica via the Royal Caribbean Website – cost $49 per person or $98 for the both of us.

DAY BY DAY
The week before our trip
I was busy at work leading up to the trip. There were some big changes going on which didn’t make things any easier.

The day before our trip – Friday 5/9/03
Nothing out of the ordinary – just busy at work. We also went into Brooklyn after work to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mother since we won’t be here on Sunday. We didn’t get home until approximately 1am, played with Kiki (our dog), finished our packing, then went to bed.

Saturday 5/10/03
We left the house around 10:45am. We arranged for our friend Peter to stay at our house while we were gone to dog sit / house sit so we knew Kiki would be in good hands. He loves her as much as we do.

We drove to the Corporate Park offsite parking lot and were at the airport at 11:35am (that was very quick). We did curbside check in and tipped the guy $5 for our two bags knowing they were well over the 50 pound weight limit. We weren’t charged any extra. We also arranged to have the exit row – seats 9D and 9E.

We were through security quickly and started boarding the plane around 12:10. The flight was delayed slightly and we didn’t take off until 1pm. It was a smooth flight and we arrived in Miami at 3:45. We retrieved our luggage without any problem and took a cab to the Hyatt ($20).

We were in room 1502 which had a view of the port and a king size bed. It’s a very nice hotel and the room is also very nice. I have no complaints about my first foray into PriceLine. We saw the ships leaving port. I also rearranged our suitcases. Paul laughed at how organized I did our packing. We ended up with two big suitcases that were checked and each with a carry on. There was also an empty duffel type bag in one of the big checked suitcases. Each of the big suitcases had a combination of both of our clothes in case one was lost we would still both have clothes. I also had a list of what was in each suitcase. Once all the suitcases made it safely to Miami, I rearranged them to put what we were wearing to dinner the first night of the cruise in our carryons in case we didn’t receive the big bags before dinner.

Our original plan was to meet Angelica (someone I used to work with, but she moved to Miami) and her new fiancé for dinner. When I spoke with her, it turned out her future mother in law was in town and they wouldn’t be able to meet us after all.

We took the free Metromover to Bayside marketplace – it was one stop away. There was an urban music festival going on. There were an abundance of police officers or we would have been very nervous walking past. We wandered around the marketplace and in the stores for a little while.

We had dinner at Bubba Gumps. We started off with the sampler appetizer that included peel and eat shrimp, chips with dip, chicken wings, fried shrimp, and hush puppies. I had the coconut shrimp with fries and a sprite; Paul had the fish and chips with iced tea. Our food was very good and we were stuffed when we were done.

We walked back to the Hyatt (about a 10 minute walk). I did not feel unsafe walking back to the hotel. It wasn’t very late – maybe 9:30pm. There were a lot of people out and about. I polished my nails, we watched some TV, then went to sleep.

Sunday 5/11/03
When we woke up we were able to see new ships in the port and we knew ours was there. What a great feeling.

We took a walk. We had breakfast at this little corner bakery. I had a plain croissant, Paul had a ham and cheese croissant; we shared a guava/cheese pastry; and both had orange juice.

We went to Walgreens and bought various things we needed such as another water camera, some bottled water, a few cans of soda (Paul likes Diet Pepsi and they only have Coke products on the ship), and some other miscellaneous items like a comb, gum, etc.

On the way back we stopped in Starbucks and had a Malt Frappacino (which I didn’t like), Paul had a regular coffee, and we also tried some lemon cake.

We walked back to the Hyatt, got our bags, and checked out. There were no other charges to our room. Definitely a great experience with PriceLine.

We took a cab to the pier and arrived approximately 11:30. The cab cost $10. We left our two big suitcases with the guy taking the luggage and tipped him $5.

We waited on a short line to check in. After checking in and getting our Sea Pass cards, we stopped at the pier coordinators desk to ask if any upgrades were available. I read about doing this on the internet (it’s amazing how much information is out there). We were told there are several C Suites, B Suites, and one A Suite (Owner’s Suite) left and it would cost $400 if we wanted to upgrade. $400 for both of us for the whole week. Of course, we took the Owner’s Suite. We were issued new Sea Pass cards and were sent on our way to embark.

We didn’t have to wait on the long line of people that was forming to embark. We were able to go right up the stairs to the suite lounge and right onto the boat, just stopping to take our embarkation photo.

We were upgraded to room 1608 – The Capri Suite on the 10th deck. We were in our room a little after noon. The room had a brass plate saying Capri Suite and even had a doorbell.

When you walk into the room to the right of the door was a bar like area with shelves, drawers, and a refrigerator in one of the cabinets. There is also a panel with control switches for all the lights in the room with dimmers and pre-set ways to light up the room. There was a complimentary basket of fruit on the bar. There is a lot of marble and wood in the room.

A little further into the room is a small glass table with two chairs.

Straight beyond the little table is the living room. There is a couch that can open into to bed. One end of the couch is a chaise. There is also a coffee table and two more chairs.

There is a counter separating the living room from the bedroom which has a big 42” Plasma TV on a pole that can swivel so you can watch it either from the living room or the bedroom. There is some storage in this counter as well as where the DVD player, stereo system, etc is housed. There are bose speakers throughout the room.

The bedroom has a real king size bed (not two beds pushed together) with a headboard and footboard, a chaise lounge, night table, a dresser/desk with mirrored light up cabinets., and approximately five closets.

To the left of the front door is the bathroom. It’s all marble. There is a toilet, a bidet, a glass enclosed square shower stall, a jacuzzi, and a double sink. There are plenty of drawers in the bathroom also and plenty of room. There were also robes in the bathroom.

The balcony has a stone table, 3 chairs, and another little table.

There were all sorts of informative papers in the cabin for us to look through. There was also a folder with a letter welcoming us to visit the concierge lounge and meet Francois (the concierge) as well as some of the services he can provide for us. While looking through our papers, we met Arthur (our cabin steward) and let him know that we changed rooms.

At approximately 1pm we went up to the Concierge lounge to meet Francois. He gave us tickets to the ice show of our choice – we picked Wednesday at 7pm (so we didn’t have to wait on line tomorrow morning for them); he also made our Portofino’s reservations for us for Wednesday at 8pm.

We went to the Windjammer to have lunch. It was very nice. We tried several of the different things offered. We were sitting looking out the window and around the Windjammer just amazed that we were on a ship and how nice it was.

We wandered around the ship to look at the different things and take some pictures; also to get our bearings and learn our way around this massive ship. We walked by the various pools and the Royal Promenade (all the stores were closed since we were still in port). We went on a spa tour. We stopped by the dining room to see where our table is (another thing I learned on the internet). We requested a big table but the one we were assigned is way off in a corner and very secluded from the rest of the room – it was number 523. We took a number to see the maitre D to see if we could get a table more in the center of the room. We were number 12 and they were only up to number 5. Paul said he’d try calling the concierge to see if he could help. Two minutes later Paul said we were done and Francois would take care of it for us so we didn’t have to wait.

We walked through the arcade but it wasn’t open yet either.

4:30 was the muster drill so we went back to our room around 4:15 to get our life preservers on and head to our muster station. This lasted about 20 minutes. We were told we’d be leaving late due to late arriving passengers. We went back to our room to drop off our life preservers. We called my mother to say Happy Mother’s Day.

Around 5:15 we went to the Concierge Lounge. They had various appetizers and an open bar available. We met the woman who is staying in the Royal Suite and talked with her until approximately 6:30.

We went back to our room to see if our luggage arrived – not yet. We unpacked the carryons. There was a note from the concierge that our dining room table has been changed to 446. We headed down to the Casino for a little while. Now that we are at Sea, everything is open.

At 8pm we watched the Welcome Aboard show with Ken Rush (the Cruise Director). Ken spoke a little and joked around with the audience. Duo Ignatov performed a balancing act. Then Rick Starr (comedian) came on. We didn’t stay for his whole act because we wanted to check if our luggage arrived and change for dinner. The luggage was there – yippee.

We had second seating for dinner which normally is 8:30pm, but for tonight it’s at 8:45pm. We are at table 446 in the La Boheme dining room. It’s a table for 6. With two other couples. One couple was Monica and Ignacio from Miami. The other couple was Chris and Meghann from Indianapolis who were on their honeymoon. We met our waiter – Gem and our assistant waiter – Karen.

For beverages I had apple juice and Paul had Iced Tea. They remembered what we preferred to drink and would bring it each night without us asking. Karen must have refilled Paul’s Iced Tea 7 times during dinner. She eventually brought him a really big glass filled with Iced Tea and would serve him in that big glass every night going forward. This cut down the refill trips to only 2-3 times.

For our appetizer/soup/salad:
Paul had Tomato Tuscan Soup and Spinach Salad
I had Watermelon Gazpacho and the Vidalia Onion Tart

For our entrée:
Paul had Pork Chops and the Shrimp Ravioli. Paul asked Gem (the waiter) which one he would recommend and Gem said he’d bring him both
I had the Shrimp Ravioli

For Dessert:
I had the key lime pie
Paul had lemon sherbet

All of the food was very good. I know a lot of people knock the food on a cruise ship, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

After dinner we gave a room tour to our tablemates. They showed us their room also since they had a balcony cabin (what we were supposed to have). If we never saw the suite, we probably would have been happy in the regular balcony room. Having the suite has spoiled us and I don’t think we would be happy in a regular room anymore.

Around 11:30pm we went to the casino and played some slots, tables, etc. We went back to the room around 2am (when the casino closed), unpacked, and put things away.

Paul went down to the Royal Promenade around 3am to get cookies and pizza. The TV shows a live shot of the promenade which I didn’t know until he got back and asked me if I saw him. So I asked him to go back down so I can watch for him – which he did.

We went to bed around 3:30am.

Monday 5/12/03
Today is a “Day at Sea”.

I woke up around 7:45 and started getting ready. The shower is a little odd – it’s a square shower stall with a nozzle that can be handheld or you can raise/lower it on the pole it’s attached to. Because the shower is basically a little square, you have to angle the sprayer against the wall to soap up, then move it back above you to rinse off. If I’m doing this in the Owner’s Suite, I can’t imagine how the showers in the regular rooms must be.

The hair dryer also takes some getting used to since you have to hold the button down in order for it to blow out air.

Neither comment (about the shower or the hair dryer) is meant as a complaint just an observation.

I started waking Paul around 9. We went to the dining room for breakfast around 9:45. I had apple juice, eggs benedict, and bacon. I had to send the first order of eggs benedict back because it was overcooked. A new one was brought out within a few minutes and it was cooked perfectly. Paul had orange juice, coffee, an omelette, home fries, and sausage. We sat with two other couples that were very pleasant. When you go to the dining room for either breakfast or lunch it’s open seating, they just seat you on a first come first serve basis.

We went to Bingo at 10:45 and spent $50 for the Bingo cards. They played five games. I like the way they do Bingo. We bought the “Big Daddy” pack which consisted of one card (containing 6 games) for each of the first 4 games and two cards (each containing 6 games) for the final game. Each game is a different color card. The numbers are perforated so when called, you just press them in and fold them over. You can buy various types of packs for all the games or you can just buy bonus cards for the jackpot (final game). Paul won the final game – coverall and won $330. They call the jackpot a snowball because if he won the coverall in the first 45 numbers called, instead of the $330 he won, he would have won a few thousand dollars. This jackpot grew with each day as did the numbers called to win it. The $330 was the consolation prize for winning but not within the first 45 numbers called and it was the highest prize of the day. They also had various raffles going on during Bingo.

Bingo ended a little after noon. We got some ice cream from Sprinkles on the Promenade. We wanted to play mini golf, but all the adult sticks were in use so we figured we’d try back later. I was thinking of the rock climbing wall, but the current session was full and the next one wasn’t until 1pm and we had other things to do then. So much to do, so little time. Paul didn’t want to roller-blade so we walked around the ship taking in all the sights. So far, we are really enjoying our cruise.

At 1:15 we went to the Casino to sign up for the slot tournament ($20 each) which started at 1:30. This was pretty silly. You just kept hitting the spin reels button and at the end of 5 minutes whoever had the most points went onto the final round. We were in Group 4 to play but neither of us won our round.

At 2pm, Paul played in the blackjack tournament. He bought two entries ($20 each), but he didn’t make it to the finals.

At 3pm was the Cruise Critic party. I was looking forward to meeting many of the people I’ve been talking to on-line. There were about 70 people signed up but only about 25 showed up. The people we met were great especially since we felt like we already knew them.

They raffled off a few things:
The first two prizes were Royal Caribbean waist bags.
Paul and I won two Royal Caribbean Cocktail cards which were good for 12 alcoholic drinks each and normally cost about $50 each.
A guy celebrating his divorce won dinner for two in Portofino’s. We traded him 1 of the cocktail cards for his Portofino dinner for two (which is worth $40). We already have dinner booked in Portofino’s and we’ll see if we can use our free dinner coupon for it.

We hung out talking with the people that attended the party for a while.

At 4pm was another game of Bingo. We only bought 2 jackpot cards ($30) this time. We didn’t win.

We stopped back at the room and there was a tray with appetizers there.

At 5pm we went up to Johnny Rockets for a late lunch. We ran into Rob and Terri (from the Cruise Critic Party) so ate with them. We gave them a tour of our room. It’s amazing how friendly everyone is.

We went to the Casino for a little while. I went back to the room to work on the notes for this report and to watch the replay of the Welcome show so I could see the comedian. I also tried the Jacuzzi in the room. The water seemed to come out slightly tinted (not perfectly clear) so I didn’t stay in too long.

We showered and got dressed up for the first formal night. We had our picture taken by the ship photographers.

8:30 is the normal time for our second seating dinner. We had a nice time at dinner now that we know our tablemates. The assistant waitress brought Paul his Iced Tea (in the giant glass) and me my apple juice without us asking. We had the following for dinner:

Appetizer: I had Shrimp Cocktail and Paul had Escargot
Soup: Paul had lobster bisque
Salad: We skipped
Entrée: I had the salmon and Paul had the duck. I wasn’t crazy about the salmon – it was kind of dry.
Dessert: I had strawberry shortcake and Paul had orange sherbet

After dinner we went back to the room to change quickly back to our casual clothes.

We went to the 10:45 show in La Scala theater. Toxic Audio was the group performing. They were very different. They sang and made various noises that sounded sometimes like instruments and sometimes like noise.

>From 11:30 to 1am we went to the Karaoke show. Paul was thinking of participating but they were already full for tonight. We ran into Ellen from the Cruise Critic party and hung out with her for a little while. We had Miami Vice drinks which is a frozen drink that has both Strawberry Daquiri and Pina Colada in it.

After Karaoke we wandered through the Promenade and grabbed some pizza and snacks to bring back to our room to snack on before going to sleep.

Tuesday 5/13/03
Today we are in Labadee – Royal Caribbean’s private island off the coast of Haiti

We woke up and got ready around 7:30. We packed our beach bag for Labadee.

We called Francois (the concierge) around 9:30 to ask about our excursion tickets for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands since they weren’t delivered to our cabin yet. Francois said that since we changed rooms, he’d have them reprinted and delivered to us.

At 9:45 we were on our way up to Windjammer/Island Grill for breakfast and our new reprinted tickets were already there in the mail slot [for lack of a better term] in our door. Wow – that was fast service.. They had a very nice assortment of food for breakfast. The French Toast is very good.

After breakfast we stopped back in the room and the phone was ringing. It was Rob and Terri on their way up to Windjammer for breakfast. We went up with them and hung out while they ate. We talked about trying to do the wave runner tour, but didn’t know if there would be any availability left. W all left together to get on the tender to Labadee.

We got to Labadee around 11:45 and went to sign up for the Wave runner tour – we’re signed up for the 12:45 tour. Meanwhile, everything I read/heard was that the wave runner tour gets booked up early and we should sign up in advance if we wanted to do it. We had no problem at all just signing up today. We walked over to the beach area and tipped the guy $4 for bringing the four chairs over for us. The water was pretty clear and cold. It is beautiful and peaceful on Labadee. We swam for a little while.

The lunch barbecue was from 11:30 – 2 so with our 12:45 Wave runner tour we would miss lunch (we just ate breakfast so I was OK with it). The guys wanted to stop by the barbecue and grab a rib or two on the way back towards the Wave runners. Rob ran ahead since it was just about 12:45. Since we got there a few minutes late, we couldn’t go and they moved us to the 1:45 tour.

Poor Rob volunteered to go back to the other side to get our towels since we left them there thinking we would head back to the beach after the wave runner tour. With the 1:45 tour, we would not have time since the last tender back to the ship is 3:15. So we stayed on the side of the island with the wave runners and hung out and swam here.

At 1:45 we went over to the wave runner desk. They were running late for this tour. We saw an instructional video then walked out to the dock.

In our group was a bunch of young guys who did not want to follow instructions. They screamed out to get the early spots so we ended up being #9 (Rob and Terri) and #10 (us). You are supposed to follow in the wake of the wave runner ahead of you – but a decent distance back. We started off and the annoying group of guys that didn’t want to follow instructions were just going off wherever they wanted. There was another couple in the #8 spot also trying to follow instructions. They had to stop our tour several times to give the annoying guys a warning but they were allowed to continue on with the group.

The tour operators tried to re-arrange and put the three couples in the front of the pack but Paul preferred to stay in the back.

This time we were totally separated from the group since the annoying guys were going all different directions and the guide that was the back up kept having to chase them. We had no clue which way to go and were adrift in the middle of the water. Eventually one of the guides found us and directed us back. Finally, we were headed back. It was already 3:25 and the last tender was scheduled for 3:15. Labadee must be on Island Time since there was a huge line to get on the tender back once we got there.

The wave runner tour was a fun experience; however, it would have been more enjoyable had the annoying guys not been part of our group. From other reviews I’ve read, I understand that you usually stop in different points with the guides and they point things out to you. Our poor guides had to spend the whole time chaperoning the annoying ones who couldn’t follow instructions.

We got back on the ship around 4:30 and wanted to shower. We have no electricity, except for the TV, so we kept the bathroom door open to have some sunlight and basically showered in the dark. Paul’s shoulders are pretty sunburned.

The snack that was delivered today and waiting in our room was chocolate covered strawberries. We were starving since we missed lunch so I went up to Johnny Rockets to get some food to go while Paul showered in the dark. I picked up a cheeseburger, a hot dog, fries, and onion rings that we shared.

Even though we have no other electricity the TV works. We watched some TV, then sat on the balcony for a little while. We went up to the concierge lounge to look at the cruise brochures. Then we went to the Casino for a little while.

We ran into our stateroom attendant and told him about the electricity and he said he’d have it looked at.

We went to dinner at 8:30 and the theme tonight is Venetian Feast (Italian food).
Appetizer: Paul had risotto with scallops, I had tomato and fresh mozzarella
Soup: Paul had roasted garlic soup
Salad: We both had Caesar salad
Entrée: Paul had chicken marsala, and I had shrimp scampi
Dessert: Paul had rasberry sherbet and I had tiramisu. We also ordered the rasberry panna cotta which we shared with the rest of the table
The food was all very good.

We were at dinner until 10:45 then went to the show. Brandi Chapman sang. Paul and I were trying to stay awake (she was good, we were just tired). A comedian came on next, but we were too tired so we went to watch a little of the Karaoke instead.

Then we went to sleep.

Wednesday 5/14/03
Today we are in Ocho Rios – Jamaica

We got up, got ready, and packed our stuff for our day in Jamaica

We had breakfast in the Windjammer/Island Grill. It was a quick breakfast since we had to meet our tour at 9:30 on the pier.

We booked the cruise to Dunn’s River Falls through Royal Caribbean. There was a small boat at the pier to take us to Dunn’s River Falls. As soon as we got on, the crew members wanted to braid everyone’s hair. No thank you. They weren’t pushy about it, they just asked each person. A lot of the women were having their hair braided.

We arrived at the beach area of the falls. We were told to take our stuff off the boat and someone would watch it on the beach. All we should bring to climb the falls is our water cameras.

We left our stuff on the designated table and were introduced to our falls guides. We formed a human chain to climb the falls. We stopped at various places for pictures. The guides would take pictures of us.

We made it to the top. It’s very beautiful and a lot of fun to climb. We tipped the guides $20. We were told to go back to the beach so avoided the marketplace where many told us the shopkeepers harassed them.

Paul was approached many times to see if he wanted to buy drugs. They were even calling him by name.

Back down at the beach, we had to tip the woman that watched our bags. We also bought the video they made ($30) of our climb, and had to tip the videographer too. We bought the pictures they were selling and tipped that person too. Everyone seemed to have his or her hand out for tips. We knew it would be like this going in so weren’t surprised.

We got back on the little boat that brought us back to the pier. Everyone was dancing on the boat. On the way off the boat was the obligatory tip jar. My water shoes cut my foot during the climb up the falls so it was bothering me a little.

Paul wanted to buy a lighter so he wanted to walk into the market. Right away someone glommed onto us, asking if we wanted pot, coke (not the beverage), or a taxi ride. All Paul wanted was a lighter (preferably one that said Jamaica on it). The guy that glommed onto us brings us to a place that supposedly sells lighters. Only plain ones though. But the guy working there wrote “Jamaica” on it. We had to give tips all around.

Back at the pier, there was a somewhat more normal souvenir store. Of course this was only for ship passengers so not in the open-air market where everyone’s hand was out for a tip. In this little store, Paul found a lighter that said Jamaica on it.

When we asked the police officer where to find a lighter he pointed us towards the guy who glommed onto us instead of back toward the ship.

We went back on the ship, changed quickly and went down to the dining room for lunch around 1:45 (they stop serving lunch in the dining room at 2). Paul had salad, meatloaf, and sherbet. I had a seafood skewer (which had shrimp, salmon, and scallops) with rice and rum cake. Lunch was very good.

We finished lunch around 3, wandered around the Promenade, then went back to the room and took a nap until about 5. When we got up Paul went down to play the Snowball bingo, then to the Casino for a little while. I showered and got ready.

Our electricity still isn’t working properly. We can’t turn the lights on or off. The bathroom light stays on and the light above the bed stays on; but we can’t control it. We received a note that the electricians are still working on it.

At 7pm we saw the Ice Jammin Show. This was really enjoyable. There is one act where they constantly change their costumes during it, but you can’t figure out how they can change so quickly. During the show we had a Frozen Sombrero (me) and a Miami Vice (Paul) drink using our drink card.

At 8pm we have our dinner reservations for Portofino’s. We looked at the menu and Paul wanted me to go down to the one game of “Win a Cruise Bingo” at 8:15. So I told Paul what I wanted and ran down. It was pretty quick and I was back by 8:30. We didn’t win.

By the time I got back, we were served some brushetta and Paul ordered the appetizers. Everything here was delicious. It’s a 7 course meal but the portions are a reasonable size so you don’t feel stuffed. We had the following:

Appetizer: Paul had the Risotto with shrimp; I had the Fried Calamari
Soup: Paul had the seafood soup; I had the chicken corn soup
Pasta: Paul had the fettuccine alfredo with mushrooms; I had the lobster ravioli. This was very interesting ravioli – it was striped
Salad: Paul had the house salad; I had a caesar salad
Entrée: Paul had the beef tenderloin; I had the lobster tail
Dessert: Paul had the berries with frangelico and zabaglione; I had the tiramisu. Ths tiramisu was served in a teacup made out of chocolate. We ended up switching desserts – the tiramisu was too strong coffee wise and too much chocolate for me.
Cheese: We just had chocolate covered strawberries
We really enjoyed Portofino’s. Some of the people we spoke with while there said they booked several nights there.

We used our free tickets to Portofino’s and left an extra tip in addition to the $40 value on the card which I was told goes for tips. It was definitely worth it.

At 10:30 we went down to LaScala Theater for the Love and Marriage Game Show. We missed the first 15 minutes of auditions to get in but got there when they were up to the 2nd couple to choose. We didn’t want to participate; we just wanted to watch. You wouldn’t believe the antics people go through to get on stage. The show was very funny – just like the Newlywed game. I expected it to be a little more risqué but the questions themselves were pretty tame. It’s the auditions that were out of control.

Later we went into the Casino. We played until 2:30 am when they closed. Paul won about $500.

We stopped for Pizza on the promenade, went upstairs, filled out our room service slip for breakfast and watched Mr Deeds on TV.

We finally fell asleep after 3:30am.

Thursday 5/15/03
Today we are in the Cayman Islands.

Our room service breakfast was delivered at 7:20. The omelette wasn’t very good, but everything else was fine. We had omelettes, fruit, danish, and apple juice delivered. We tipped $5 to the room service delivery person.

We were to meet in Studio B by 8:30. Then we got onto a tender to Grand Cayman. Once there, it was mass confusion with people all over trying to get on the different tours. Eventually things were sorted out and we got on a mini van with about 15 other people for our Personalized Stingray City snorkeling tour. The mini van took us to a boat. The boat ride to the stingray sandbar was about 25 minutes. There were many other boat tours there also – most of them with 50-100 people on their boat. I’m glad we chose the personalized one and weren’t crammed into a mobbed boat.

Unfortunately, where we anchored was a little bit away from the supposed 4ft of water at the Stingray Sandbar. The water was over 7 feet deep and wavy.

I jumped in and swam over to the stingrays to play. They felt really funny. Even at the supposed 4 foot sandbar, it was definitely deeper (more like 5 ½ feet) and wavy. I put a life preserver on and was glad I did, the water was pretty rough. I had a good time with the stingrays and even fed a few.

Paul stayed at the back of the boat watching. I came back by the boat and he sat on the step with his feet in the water. We rode back to the mini van, which then took us back to the pier.

Paul and I did some shopping for souvenirs, and then got on the tender back to the ship. Shopping in Grand Cayman was very nice – people weren’t harassing you to come into their stores and buy their stuff.

We took the tender back to the ship and we went to the dining room for lunch around 1:45. I had the fisherman’s quiche appetizer and stir fired Chinese vegetables with noodles. Paul had tortellini soup and a chicken satay dish which had no chicken in it when it arrived so he asked for the linguine bolognese instead. For dessert I had coconut flan and Paul had vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup.

We went down to the pool next. At 3:30 we watched the men’s belly flop competition. Then I went in the solarium pool for a few minutes. It was cold and very salty.

At 4:30, Paul went to Bingo. I stayed out by the pool reading my book for a little longer, then stopped at the Windjammer for some snacks, and went back to the room to shower. Today’s snacks that were delivered and waiting in our room were petit fours.

We got ready for the second formal night dinner and had some more pictures taken on the way to the dining room. The electric situation is a little better. The bathroom light still stays on, but now we can turn the light above the bed on and off; and the lamp by the couch works also.

We made plans with Chris and Meghann to meet for breakfast then rent a jeep to drive around Cozumel tomorrow since neither of us had excursions booked yet.

For appetizers Paul had the seafood risotto and I had the mozzarella and tomato. For our entrée I had the shrimp scampi and Paul had the steak. For dessert I had the Grand Marnier Soufflé and Paul had sherbet.

After dinner we changed back into casual clothes. Paul wanted to stay in the room for a little bit since he didn’t feel good. I went to the 10:45 Rhythm & Rhyme show with Chris & Meghann. The show was good. I was very tired and having trouble staying awake. Paul didn’t make it to the show so we assumed he was in the casino. The 3 of us walked through the gala midnight buffet and took some pictures. We weren’t hungry at all, just looked. We looked for Paul in the casino, didn’t see him, and then everyone went back to their rooms. There was Paul – passed out sleeping on the couch. I woke him so he could come to bed.

Friday 5/16/03
Today is our day in Cozumel.

Rob and Terri called in the morning – they decided not to go to Talum after all and wanted to join us.

We were ready to meet for breakfast at Island Grill approximately 9:45. The six of us met there – Paul and I; Chris and Meghann; and Rob and Terri.

We got off the boat close to 11am. Rhapsody of the Seas was docking next to us so they couldn’t let people off while the ship was pulling in.

Once off, everyone was hemming and hawing about what to do. Paul still wanted to rent the jeep. Rob and Terri changed their mind and wanted to go spend the day at a beach. Chris & Meghann decided to just hang out in the area by the ship. We made tentative plans to meet up at Senor Frogs around 4:30.

All the car rental counters were lined up and they all wanted your business. Budget was the only one with one convertible Jeep that also had air conditioning so we went with them. It was approximately $65 for the day.

We drove by Chakanaab first as it was pretty close. We decided to drive around the island first then came back to Chakanaab later.

As we’re driving around the island the water is a beautiful aquamarine color.

Our first stop was something ? Sur (sorry I forgot the name), but there was a Jeep tour that stopped there too. Paul bought himself a silver bracelet with mayan symbols. The guy originally wanted $85 but Paul ended up getting it for $45.

At one point we got a little lost and off the main road. We were driving through the local streets. It’s devastating seeing the poverty the people are living in. They were basically run down shacks with no doors. There were a lot of stray dogs roaming about but many of them looked sickly with tumors hanging off their stomach. The main mode of transportation was bicycles with some people on scooters.

We found out way back to Chakanaab and paid $10 each to get in. We paid an additional $5 each to see the Sea Lion show that was about to start. It was very cute.

We headed over to the beach area and changed into our bathing suits. The water dropped off quickly to deeper water so Paul stayed very close to the steps. The water was very clear and there were a lot of fish swimming by.

It was around 4:15 so we rinsed off and changed out of our suits and drove back towards the pier. I walked around Senior Frogs about 4:45 but no one was there.

Paul and I drove over to Punta Lagosta (another pier/mall area). We wandered around a little. We found Los Cincos Soles store and looked in there too.

We drove back, turned in the car, and shopped in the area by the terminal.

We got back on the ship around 6:30 and were starving. Tonight is Lobster night so we didn’t want to fill up. A fruit plate was in our room when we got back so we snacked on that. Then we went to the concierge lounge and snacked on the appetizers that were there. We ran into the woman in the Royal Suite again and she is having the same sort of electrical problems that we are (her room is only two doors down from ours). She said she was going to complain and ask for some sort of compensation and we should do the same. It’s a bit of an inconvenience but it’s not like it’s ruining our trip so I don’t think I’m going to. It’s not like someone is at fault, things break and they are trying to fix it.

We went back to the room to shower and change for dinner.

There was only one show tonight at 7:45. Paul went to the casino and I went to the show. I left about 20 minutes into it and went to the casino too.

At 8:30 we went to dinner. We both had the lobster tail (2 of them each). Paul also had some chicken. I don’t remember what we had for appetizers, but I remember having the Baked Alaska for dessert.

At 10:30 was the Quest Game show in StudioB. It was very crowded and you couldn’t get near the floor or a seat where you could see what was going on. I guess all the people with early seating who were able to get there sooner had their choice of seats and filled them up. They need to move this to a bigger venue. After the Quest was Rockin through the Ages. It was still crowded. We watched for a little while, then got tired of the crowds and went back to the Casino and were there until they closed at 2:30am.

Saturday 5/17/03
Today was a “Day at Sea”

We skipped breakfast and just grabbed a few danish on the café promenade on the way to Bingo at 10:30 in La Scala theater. Now that the week is almost over and the jackpot is growing, Bingo is very crowded. I won a raffle of the Cruise in Review video. No one won the snowball jackpot so there will be an afternoon game too. Bingo lasted until about noon. We did some shopping in the stores on the promenade after.

We went to the dining room for lunch around 1:30. We both started with the fried mushrooms. I ordered the Tilapia which was in a curry sauce so I didn’t like it (I don’t like curry). Paul ordered the Philly Cheese steak sandwich. We switched but I didn’t like the cheese steak either. Paul wasn’t thrilled with either so ordered a cheeseburger. I had a piece of carrot cake.

We went back to our room to get some of the packing out of the way. Same electrical situation as the last few days.

At 3:30 we went tot he final Bingo game. 3 people shared the jackpot, not us though.

Around 5:30 we went to Johnny Rockets for a snack. We had grilled cheese and a hot dog.

We also stopped in the Photo area and bought some of the pictures. We bought one for Chris & Meghann. There were talking about it yesterday but they didn’t want to spend the money for it. We gave it to them at dinner.

We went down to the casino. I was looking for Paul and he was playing a slot machine. That’s odd for him – he usually plays tables. It was a $5 slot machine. I usually play on the 25 Cent machine. When I came by, the lights and bells went off – he won $1,000

At 7pm was the Farewell Show. Paul stayed in the casino and I went to watch. They previewed the video, then had Duo Ignatove and a comedian perform.

It was already 8:20 when I left the show and found Paul in the casino. We hurried up to the room to change and get our tip envelopes together for tonight.

We went down for our last dinner of the cruise. We exchanged email/phone/addresses with our tablemates.

For appetizers Paul had the shrimp cocktail and I had the spring roll
For entrees Paul had the prime rib and the turkey; I had the sweet and sour Mahi Mahi
For dessert Paul had the banana parfait and I had the apple pie

After dinner we went to LaScala to see the Karaoke finals. The woman we saw the first night won – she is fantastic and deserved to win. We did a little more shopping in the promenade.

We went to our room approximately midnight to finish packing and get the big bags into the hall

Then we went back down to the casino until they closed at 2am.

Sunday 5/18/03
Day to Debark

We went to the island grill for breakfast around 7:20.

We went back to our room to get our carryon luggage.

Guess what, the electricity is fully functional today.

We dropped off a tip envelope for Francois (the concierge). We took a few more pictures.

Our tag (yellow) was called at 8:30. We stood on line to go through customs/immigration. We checked our luggage at the American terminal right as the pier and arranged for exit rows.

We were in a cab to the airport by 9:45am.

Both of our carryons were checked by security. We were very early for our flight. We took off a few minutes late 1:30 (instead of 1:15). We landed by 4:30, claimed our luggage called Corp Park and were on the road home by 5:15

FINAL THOUGHTS
This was a great experience and we will definitely cruise again. The ship is amazing. The people we met made the cruise even better. All the staff members we dealt with were very nice and efficient. The electrical problems we had were a bit of an inconvenience but not that big of a deal to us. All in all, I would definitely give this vacation a thumbs up.

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