Mojomanny's 2/15/04 trip report on the Mariner:
Who:
Myself (Male, 40), Wife (38) and son (7)
Previous cruising experience consists of a 7 Day Disney Magic cruise in 2002. This cruise was also an Eastern Caribbean cruise with stops at St. Thomas and St. Martaan.
Intent:
To provide a great report of the
Royal Caribbean (RCCL) Mariner Eastern Caribbean cruise on 2/15/04. Since we have previous experience with Disney, I hope to compare and contrast the two cruises. I plan to provide an unbiased review and since I am writing this part as we fly south to Florida, have no idea what the outcome will be.
I am trying to write all of this in real-time, as things are happening so references will probably be posted right below my original comments. I do this to relay my thoughts and concerns as well as how things worked out, rather than just saying the limo driver met us and things were (or werent) fine. You will find my standards and expectations are high. Having spent a considerable amount of time in service industries I know how things should be done and when corners are being cut.
Disclaimer:
I feel it is important to note that we were booked for the 2/14/04 Disney Magic Western Caribbean cruise. Due to an unexpected event, we had to change our cruise to The Mariner.
As a second disclaimer, please remember that all comments are meant to be constructively critical. I firmly believe in the old adage:
Good, better, best. Never let it rest, until the good gets better and the better gets best. I will be writing this as it I see it and truly do not have any prejudices one way or another. I am going to just tell it like I see it.
Pre-cruise thoughts, (written on the plane to Florida):
My initial pre-cruise though is that there seemed to be more excitement for us leading up to our first
Disney cruise. I think a lot of this has to do with the Boards (i.e. Cruise Critic vs. Disboards). The Disboards (DIS) is 100% about the Magic and Wonder, so everything was related to them. Current menus and Navigators were easy to find. There seemed to be a lot of energy on the boards, but I think it could be because the energy was focused on the two ships.
Cruise Critic (CC) is a bit harder to find the information you want due to a couple of factors. First is the number of ships the RCCL board covers (we never did find any specific menus from the Mariner and even though I believe the whole RCCL fleet uses the same menu, could not find one other than a Portofinos and Chops menu). Second is that RCCL seems to be constantly changing things (Soda card, Drink cards, juice
) and you just never seem to catch up on the information.
Admittedly one cause of this could have been that the Mariner is a new ship. The Meet and Mingle (M&M) Topic thread is nice and we certainly have a great group of people coming on our cruise (over 50 people registered for M&M!)
I would like to suggest that CC consider breaking the RCCL portion into specific sections for posting either by ship or by locale (Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean
) as well as having a general RCCL portion. I think this could have helped with this portion. PLEASE NOTE: This is not bashing CC, it is solely meant as constructive criticism and is solely based upon my experience. CC was terrific in helping us plan for our cruise, the posters there are wonderful and helpful.
Pre-cruise travel:
We arrived to long pre-vacation week lines at Bostons Logan airport. The lines moved quickly and our bags were curb checked in 10-15 minutes. We next headed to the security checkpoint. We took time to remove everything possible, including my belt and our shoes. We went through without setting off the detectors and were in the terminal.
Our flight (American Airlines) took us from Boston to Miami and then Miami to Orland. The first flight was full and we hoped for a bump, but no luck. The flight pulled away from the gate about 5 minutes early which was nice .The plane was an MD80 and was very minimalistic in its amenities (no movie, music, phones
) and the only service was a granola bar and beverages. Its funny, but right now I expect more on our return flight which is with a so-called low fare airline (Song). The flight was otherwise unremarkable.
We had about 2 hours between flights and since my son was starving we got a typical fast food meal (salad, hot dog fries) from the Miami Subs in Terminal A. The only reason I even mention this is that I decided to get the key lime pie. (Umm
love that key lime pie, had my shop already picked out in Key West when the plan was for the Magic Western cruise). Figuring it was Miami subs they probably have a decent pie. WRONG. One of the tasteless key lime pies I have ever had, not even a hint of tartness (no pucker power). Just be forewarned and save your money.
Oh. We had a heck of a walk between gates in Miami. Arrived in C gates and were departing in A gates. Signs in the airport indicated it would be about 20 minutes. Was more like 10. Just know there is a lot of walking in Miami and the signs inflate the walking time.
The second flight to Orlando was about half full and late leaving the gate. Then, very suddenly it filled to capacity. They had held the plane to allow a marching band from NJ to catch the plane. The St. Anthonys Band plane was late getting to Miami and the 45 high schoolers and their 10 chaperones literally ran from C or D terminal to the plane. They were going to Disney to perform on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I had a chance to talk with some of the students and chaperones and was very impressed. They seem like a great group of dedicated, well-educated and responsible young adults. Way to go St. Anthonys, I hope you enjoyed your trip.
We arrived in Orlando and went to collect our luggage. Made the call to Happy Limo and off we went.
Limo:
We arranged with Happy Limo for all of our ground transfers. Before going on the trip I found a few things I have found I did not like. First is that they charge a 20% gratuity automatically, and would not waiver from this even when requested. I have spent a good time in service industries as well as traveling and know how to tip for the service rendered, I take offense at not being allowed to tip according to the service I feel was delivered, I think it discourages service which goes above and beyond. (Please lets not start a big discussion on this, its my personal feelings, your mileage may vary)
The other thing I do not like is that we have to find our luggage then call them to send a car around. Traditionally I have had drivers meet us and help with the luggage, rather having to get a porter to help with the bags while we find the driver. Perhaps it fits with my concern of diminished service related to the tipping issue, or perhaps it is related to some regulations at MCO. I will know when we get there and either I see other drivers standing with signs or I do not. I will let you know how it all works out.
One other thing I found I did not like was when you call them and you have your caller ID blocked, you have to unblock it (press *82 then the number) or the call will not go through. While I understand their need to reduce crank calls as well as garner information about the caller more promptly, it was an annoyance to call, get the message to unblock it and then redial.
(My concerns about finding the driver really were unimportant. I called their 888 number and they told me my driver was on level 1 in row A1. We took the elevator down and found Leonard very quickly. Rather then the town car we were expecting, he had a huge Excursion (think SUV on steroids). He had Lion King 1 ½ playing on the DVD player which was great for my son. We loaded up and headed out.
We made a short stop at a Super Target and headed to the hotel. My first experience with Happy Limo was quite happy. Leonard confirmed our pickup for Sunday morning and had me sign the slips for our various transfers. Despite a 25% gratuity already being charged to my card, I gave him another $5. I figured he probably worked at least 2 hours for us (waiting at airport, store stop, having to return to airport) and that $10 was not enough.
Holiday Inn Family Suites
I am writing this having just woken up from my first nights sleep at Holiday Inn Family Suites (HIFS) . All I can say is WOW. This place is terrific. Now some details.
Leonard (our driver) arranged a bellman to grab the bags and we went to check in. A small line to check in which moved quickly. The only comment I would have is that the queue area is too tight (i.e. not enough room between the stanchions and the counter) and makes for a tough traffic flow.
To the left was a childrens check in area so my son went over to check himself in. He signed in and got a good bag with kids stuff (crayons etc) and a couple of game room tokens. Next to the kids check in was some clown (oh, alright, a real clown) who was doing face painting. Now I a sure you have seen face painting before at a school or church fair, a carnival or somewhere. Let me tell you that you have not seen face painting like this. It was the most detailed and most beautiful face painting I have ever seen! The kids looked awesome and on top of that, the face painting was free. There was only a tip jar next to the clown.
I finished our check in and we headed to the room. All I can tell you is WOW. Our room (king suite with a Hot Air Balloon theme) faces one of the pool areas (more on that later).
The outer door opens to a room (12x18) which has a sleep sofa, an easy chair, a tv, safe, small breakfast table with three chairs, refrigerator, coffee maker, microwave, sink, two line telephone and some storage cabinets.
Off the main room is a kids room (9x12) with bunk beds, a tv, telephone and nintendo 64. Each bunk has its own light on the side and its own speaker with adjustable volume so one kid can watch tv and the other can go to sleep. There is also a small table with a couple of chairs. The largest wall of the room is a photo-mural of hot air balloons which was obviously taken from an aloft hot air balloon. Similar pictures cover the small outers walls near the doorways of the two bedrooms. The theme was nicely done and in no way overbearing, meaning we did not have hot air balloon comforters, pillow cases, lamp shades, rugs
.) It was a really nice addition to the room.
The main bedroom (12x18) has a king bed, a built in dresser, a two line telephone, a closet with floor to ceiling mirror, a vanity/make-up table with large mirror, magnifying make-up mirror, blow dryer and chair, two nightstands with lamps, TV/VCR and a ceiling fan.
Video rentals ($5) and video games ($5 or 2/$7.50) are available in the lobby.
The bathroom (7x9) (Oh, all measurements are estimated by my pacing and are stated in feet) has the usual tub, toilet and sink. The tub does have one of those pull out clotheslines. There are several wire shelves recessed into one of the walls as well as a country shelf full of face cloths and hand towels. There is a large mirror was well as a magnifying mirror and blow dryer.
Some of the nice things about how the room was made-up. The toilet paper was folded over and a hand made smiley sticker places to make it look nice. The end of paper towels by the main room sink were folded accordion style and fanned out like a peacocks tail. These are the details which impress me. Also the room was extremely well cleaned.
We called for our bags and they were there within 5 minutes. Rather than unpack we used the various tables and chairs to hold our suitcases.
Local calls are 75 cents and toll-free calls are free.
My son wanted to go swimming so we went down only to find out our pool was closed due to fecal contamination. It was scheduled to re-open in a ½ hour. I hated to see the pool closed but respect the decision to close it. This is something beyond the hotels control and can only commend them for being proactive and responsible about it. They do have a policy that anyone under 4 must wear swim pants and even provide a coupon in English and Spanish to save $4 off them at the hotel store. More aware parents are the only way to prevent this. Apparently is happens somewhat regularly because they have pre-made signs explaining it.
I will give more on the entire pool area when we explore it more today.
We did not want a big meal so we opted for the A&W / Pizza hut in the lobby and got pretty predictable food. Prices were reasonable and food was ok. There were a couple of other choices which we will discuss as we get to them.
In the evening the hotels activities center around the restaurant/lobby area. By this I mean that the area is flowing with activities. In fact it was over flowing. There was a caricaturist (fee) who did very nice work. A balloon artist (fee) who was unlike any balloon artist I have ever seen. Instead of the birthday party magician dog and giraffe, this artist made rainbows (4 long), bugs bunny, mickey mouse and all kinds of incredible renderings. The face painter (free) was also there as was a person making artful renderings (fee) of your name suitable for putting on your bedroom door.
The center of this area is also one of the dining rooms and the area is separated with ropes and stanchions (think bank teller or movie line). It was a bit crowded but manageable. Just a bit too much going on.
They had a free magic show which was quite good. Kids coming on stage got rewarded with tokens for the game room. The show was an hour. Following the show was an hours worth of free bingo with the prizes being the much coveted tokens. From 9 to 11 there was karaoke which we did not stay for. It was nice the hotel has planned all the activities and they were well done.
Saturday morning I woke up around 7 and spent an hour or so working on the comments and notes above. Son woke at 8 and he woke up my wife. Despite warnings head to the free buffet breakfast before 9 or face the consequences of long lines, we waited until 10. The entire restaurant area is transformed into the buffet which explains why the area was so crowded last night.
The area is essentially divided into 3 areas, the dinner buffet (main area), the Golden Caboose (nicer dining) and the area where we had the magic and bingo the night before. The areas are all adjoining and open to each other. There are numerous cereal, beverage (milk, juice, coffee) and toaster stations (English muffins, bagels, toast, muffins) in each area.
There is one main buffet which is two sided with room in the middle for the staff to replenish. There is a nice but simple selection of a yogurt, various fresh fruits, some canned fruit, jello, biscuits and gravy, plain scrambled eggs, French toast, potato puffs, diced up ham and liquid cheese sauce (presumably the last two are to put on the eggs?). There is a server at the end of the buffet portioning out bacon. I am guessing the menu changes a bit each day so I will let you know what we get different tomorrow.
The food was good. Certainly not 5 star but about what I would expect. We ate what we wanted and were happy. Despite being a Saturday of school vacation / Presidents week, there were no lines.
After breakfast we took a short but nice train ride on the property. Its really a nicely decorated electric tractor pulling wagons looking line train cars. The theme is very well done down to the driver in traditional engineers attire.
We then headed to the pool and had a lot of fun. The pool at our end of the property is designed so wheel chairs can roll in. There are numerous water features including water bubbling from the floor, kid powered water cannons, a water flower with water cascading over the edge, water fountains shooting across the pool and more. The water was warm and nice. The pool was not too crowded and fun.
The pool area also houses a miniature golf course, two ping pong tables, two shuffle board courts and two hot tubs. There is also a nice play area for younger kid.
We took a walk to the West Side pool area. The pool on that side is a simple lap pool without the play areas other than shuffle board and ping pong. There are also two hot tubs on that side.
We had dinner in the Club Car. Wife and son had the buffet while I chose the Valentines special of Prime Rib. The buffet was reasonable in selection (soup, salads and then hot foods) but quality was along the line of a Super Buffet or Old Kitchen Buffet. By this I mean it was passable but nothing special. Fridays is a Seafood buffet and Saturdays is a steak buffet. I was unimpressed with the dinner buffet and chose off the menu.
There is a separate kids buffet with hot dogs, burgers, pasta and meatballs, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, french fries and cherry cobbler. This is a nice touch and was a hit with my son.
The prime rib was a questionable choice. The medium piece I ordered turned into well done when it arrived. It was quickly replaced with a more passable piece. The key lime pie lacked the pucker power I expected (could it be a New Englander has a different expectation of key lime pie?) I would rate the dinner restaurant a generous C-. We will probably eat there again next week when we stay at the hotel on our way home, but I might choose somewhere else if we had a car.
After another Magic Show and Bingo we called it a night.
A couple of comments about the hotel
.
I heard a person on their cell phone describe it as neat and incredible. I would agree.
Before the Magic Show tonight, Jerry (the magician) noticed people had moved tables and were blocking a doorway which would be used as an emergency exit. He went and asked them to move so they no longer blocked the exit. I think in this post 9/11 and Rhode Island fire (100 dead) this was a smart and admirable move to protect his guests. Kudos to him for it and the hotel for training their staff so well.
Expect big changes over the next year. It will be changing the theme from trains to Nickelodeon. They are spending 20 million to redo the place in a Nick theme (hope there are Nick at Night rooms!) The family pool will be redone with slides and more like a water park. Hard to believe they need to change this place. I hope Nickelodeon is paying them to become the Nickelodeon Suites since there is no reason for this hotel to change one bit (expect dinner). It has been a great experience and we look forward to next weeks one night stay. We will be coming back.
Sunday 2/15/04
(as I write this we are about 15 miles east of West Palm Beach cruising at 26 mph)
Well, today is the day! We had a free buffet breakfast Pancakes replaced French toast, sausage replaced bacon and home fries replaced tater tots, other than that it was the same. Nice addition was strawberry topping for the pancakes (not just strawberry syrup but strawberries like they put on cheesecake).
The bellman was standing at our door waiting for us to call (well, it sure seemed like it). About 5 minutes after our call they were there.
Happy Limo was there ahead of schedule with a Cadillac sedan. We had planned a grocery stop on the way to the ship but saw no need to have one. We departed for the port at 9:15 as I had planned.
(Note: I originally had the pickup scheduled for 8:30 but changed after hearing they did not allow you into port if you got there too early and 10:30 was a time which had been reported as being allowed to board)
We arrived at the port at 10:15 and were directed to a tent where they would take our luggage (post 9/11 the limos, taxis and such are not allowed too close to the ship). They went to unload us then realized we had been sent to the Disney luggage area. We were told to go to the green umbrella. We drove there. Nope, still Disney.
Finally they directed us to the right spot. Except, we cant unload until between 1100 and 1130. The driver was told, not too pleasantly, by the security officer to pull into the lot, drop us off and hope it did not rain. They would send a golf cart for us. I saw no sense in making the driver wait so we joined another party that had been waiting an hour. (we ended up running into that couple a number of times, including in the line for immigration. What are the odds of that, we got on together and we got off together).
We saw a bunch of cars and such go in and some directed to wait with us while others were allowed to the terminal. I finally had to find out if there was a double standard. There was not, the ship frequently has travel agents come on board for lunch and to tour the bus. I include this in case you end up in the same situation.
About 11:25 the poor security was being over run by cars and started letting people in. Two golf carts were dispatched for the small army waiting with us (about ¼ mile from where the luggage needed to go before we entered the terminal). A driver tried to pick us up but I told him to take the people who were waiting longer.
We began the ¼ mile dash with a 7 year old, two adults and 7 pieces of luggage. It was tough but we ran and rushed through the parking lot, over the curbs and to the luggage area. I have to give my wife and son credit. She ended up with one bag which weighed almost as much as she does. He became creative and found he could slide his backpack handle onto the handle of our suit bag and end up wit an easy to handle twofer. I dealt with four bags. What a sight we must have been!
(Note: if you end up in this situation, once you get to the terminal, find a porter. Not only will he lighten your load, but he gets your bags checked quicker. Well worth the $4 tip I gave him for 4 minutes effort)
Bags checked. Humans next.
We entered the terminal and went through security. Up the escalator and into the concourse. Floors 6, 8, 9 and 10 went to the right and all others to the left. We were in about the 7th party in line. We had to wait until they were ready to process us which took another 15-20 minutes. Check-in was easy since we had filled all of our forms out ahead of time. The woman commented how that saves time and they appreciate it. We asked the pier coordinator about upgrades but the ship was full. Just as well cause it would have been a tough choice between our aft cabin and the upgrade.
On board we went. We went to the cabin (8690 is an E1 AFT cabin. I will provide details about it later.) and dropped off our carry-ons. Stopped to make reservations for Chops and Portofinos, booked a second excursion and were done with all of our business.
We went to Windjammers for lunch. Topsiders is no comparison. This buffet is more along the variety of a Las Vegas buffet with multiple stations and a wide variety. Topsiders seems more cafeteria-style by comparison. (These are just my opinions, please do not start a war over it)
When you enter the Windjammer/Jade area, be sure to pay attention to the fruit carvings and decorations. It is simply incredible. Photos will be posted.
After lunch we went exploring. I have to say I am very impressed. Details will come later (hey, its 1150 at night and I am tired).
We went to preview the kids club and have some concerns. At this point there is no comparison to Disneys but this was the first view during which they were not open. There was only one staff person showing the place off (this is during scheduled and announced Open House hours) and they do not seem to have the same level of security as
DCL does. Disney had a locked half door preventing the kids from leaving the room (almost a mini corral) while there is just a door entering and exiting the room on RCCL. When asked about this, the staffer simply said We dont lose kids. Apparently he has heard this concern before. I think he would do well to change his approach and be a bit more reassuring
Sir, I appreciate your concern and let me assure you that we have not lost a child. We protect against this by
.. It just would have better addressed our concerns. We will see how things work out.
My son and I went for swim. Well, he went for a swim and I went for a watch. We then went back for the drill and to set up my GPS (hope to track the whole cruise). Drill was uneventful. Noticed some strobes and bells not working which I reported and they made note.
After the drill we returned our life vests and headed to Schooners where there was supposed to be a CC meet but saw no one. We went topside and watched the other ships leave and then we pulled out at 505. Enjoyed watching the departure and just before 600 we watched the pilot boat pull alongside the Mariner and the Pilot jump from one ship to the other.
Our final two bags were in the room before we returned to change for dinner. (I did get a laugh when I heard someone complaining at about 4:00 that all their bags were not in their cabin. Hope that guy got a clue because they did a wonderful job. We walked by the service area for our deck and there was nothing smaller than a mountain of luggage for them to deliver and this was just before I heard the guy complaining)
Did someone say dinner?
Our dining room is Top Hat and Tails on the fourth deck. For those who may not know, on the RCCL ships you eat at the same table for the entire voyage. The dining room is 3 stories tall which each floor having its own name. The center area is open. The room is elegant and beautiful. A multitude of chandeliers of various sizes hand from the ceilings and enhance the atmosphere.
The rooms have a much more formal feel in comparison to Disney. This formal setting is enhanced by RCCL making a seeming strong position about dining room attire (no shorts, Tshirts
) As I recall, DCL made a similar statement but it was followed in a haphazard method. I figure I am on vacation and will go to dinner as I choose (a suit works fine for formal night in my book) but I also think it nice to have a more upscale feeling. (It turned out RCCL was not too staunch about this but people did dress nicer than DCL)
We were seated at our table right along the windows, allowing a wonderful view of the setting sun. We had a table for 6 but no one else joined us. I am hoping they chose dinner elsewhere and will be joining us but I think this is not the case since our server asked if there were any others in our party. I enjoy sharing time with others on the cruise.
Our server and assistant introduced themselves and brought us our menus. They were very accommodating to my son, explaining he could have anything on the menu or something from the kids menu (hot dogs, burgers, chicken fingers, fish fingers, mac and cheese
). My son opted for the hot dog with fries which was brought right away.
For beverages we were offered ice tea, milk, juices
(Yes, I did say juices, without a charge). Our assistant server was willing to go to Windjammers to get lemonade for my son but then he (my son) decided he wanted chocolate milk. I chose a soda and bought the card. (BTW I think it makes a difference where you buy the card, it seems the tip may be spread amongst the group (i.e. wait staff, bar staff, kids room staff. This is a post cruise thought but ties in with the kids club in the lobby trying to get us to buy the cards from them))
The menu was highly enticing. Our waiter suggested the Tuscan Tomato Soup and Mogolian Pork Chops. I chose the Watermelon garzpacho and a tasting of the Tuscan Tomato soup, Ceaser salad and the Philadelphia chicken. My wife chose chicken consommé and the Mongolian Pork Chops.
All the soups were wonderful. The Caesar salad was as expected. The Chicken Philadelphia was a chicken breast filled with brocolli and cheese and was delicious. If you have ever had a similar piece of Barber Foods chicken, it was like it, only much better. The pork chops were moist and covered in a sweet asian style sauce. My wife enjoyed them. My son said the French fries were good and forgot to eat the hot dog. (Fries were along the Burger King style with a crispy coating surrounding them, but not the spicy of coating)
Dessert was Key Lime pie and a small (as requested) scoop of butter almond ice cream for me, Chocolate fondue and key lime pie for my wife and vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce for my son. I dont know but maybe all the good key lime pies have already been made, cause this one fit in the middle of the first two when rating pucker power. I will find my holy grail! (Of course, I did finish it as did my wife) Fondue was delicious.
I went to the dining initially a bit apprehensive. I read the ratings and trip reports and food seemed to be rated as mediocre. My first two experiences were far, far better than what I expected. I would put them up against any restaurant back home.
Dinner ended and we went to a Kids Club presentation in Studio B. This was an info session which was quick but well done. At one point the skaters came out for 5 minutes and showed a bit of what we can expect during the ice show. It is incredible. We then went up to the kids club but beat the staff and had to wait for them. There was a hoard of people signing up and getting beepers. The process was quick and painless. After a while they did a presentation making volcanos explode which was fun.
There was one part of the kids club I especially dislike. You know how you go on a good ride at Disney World or Universal, you always exit through a gift shop? Well the kids club is doubly so. The only entrance/exit is through the arcade. How convenient.
I addressed this and a few other issues regarding my sons hearing loss (He can hear do you want some ice cream? just fine but has total hearing loss on Please get ready for bed) by telling him he begins each day with $10 for his Seapass. Each time we have to ask him something more than once, he loses $1. This way he loses money based on his behavior and also has money for use in the arcade or any other way he wants to on the ship.
I took this one step further. I am afraid he might end up with too much money in his account. There are nights when the kids club is open between to 100 AM but there is a $5 per hour charge between 10 PM and 1 AM. If he wants to go, he pays half of the cost. (Not looking to get into a conversation about how I raise my son, just passing on how I handle it and thus far it is working well, not only did he not lose any money on Monday, he was extremely polite and well behaved so I gave him a $2 bonus)
We then headed back to the cabin to relax a bit. I had promised my son that we could watch the Promenade Parade at 1045. We went down for the show about 1015 to get a good viewing point (aft on the 7th or 8th near the elevators is good since the parade starts there and returns to there. It also provided a good view of the parade and was a great spot for the video cam to capture the entire show. (BTW I am writing this on our balcony as we pull out of Nassau). The parade was fun with well done lighting and interesting music. After a long day, we called it a night. Sleep came easily.
Monday 2/16/04
Lets begin with some info on our cabin. We have cabin 8690 which is an Aft E1 cabin. It is roughly 20x10 including the bathroom. The balcony is wedge shaped and generously sized. It is hard to give dimensions due to the shape but there is a ton of room. There could easily be several (meaning 3 or 4) lay down style lounge chairs on it instead of the two sitting chairs and the small table on it.
The room is definitely smaller than the our cabin (7624 w/ Navigators Verandah) on the Magic. I do not know if this is a fair comparison or not since I dont recall the category of cabin we had on the Magic. As you enter there is a double doored closet to the left. There are two closet bars to hang clothes and a lot of hangers to hang them from. There are 6 small (18d x 12wx9h) wooden shelves which hold quite a bit. There are spare pillows and blankets on top of the closet. Next on the left is a desk unit with a 9 drawers of various sizes. It also houses a nice sized mirror. To each side of the main mirror are small, long mirrors which open for more shelf space. There is a thermostat as well as volume control for the ships speaker system and a couple of electrical outlets. There is some thin storage space on top of the desk unit if you need it.
The final piece of this unit houses (from top to bottom) the refrigerator (have steward empty it for you) with removable/adjustable shelves. It is big enough to hold 2 liter bottles of soda. On top is a TV followed by an enclosed safe which is also a great area for holding papers and such. Above that a two shelf cabinet (about 2long, 1 foot deep and 2 high) .
Also in the room is a small couch (love seat size) a king sized bed two night stands and a small table. There are lights on either side of the bed with switches underneath them. The is a bed which pulls down from the ceiling (only by the steward, special tool required) which is similar to a pulldown bed in an RV. My son likes sleeping on the second deck. The pull down is very strong and sturdy, I think I could sleep on it without problem (Did I mention I am a big guy?)
The small table serves no purpose in the room other than to clutter it. Based on the rust already formed on the legs, I am guessing others have come to this conclusion and placed it on the balcony to get it out of the room.
The lavatory has storage behind the side mirrors, a storage shelf beneath the sink, a toilet and a round shower with adjustable height shower head. The round shower works beautifully (even for a big guy). The shower controls are confusing and we never did wuite figure them out (same knob does temperature and pressure). The head is adjustable and also detachable.
Now, on to the day
.
We woke up at 7 without assistance of any alarm (well, son and I woke up, he woke her up). This was perfect timing to put our RCCL robes (acquired by asking our steward) and go out to the balcony and watch our ship turn and dock in Nassau. We then watched the Disney Wonder dock along side us before showering and dressing. Since it was past 900 we went to Windjammers for breakfast after stopping for the ice show tickets. There was no line for the tickets and there were plenty available at 10 when we got there.
The breakfast buffet was bountiful. There were all the expected treats including waffles, pancakes, French toast (yummy), bacon, sausage, fresh sliced ham, hash browns, home fries, scrambled eggs, salmon, all kinds of fresh fruit, pastries, yogurts, toast and English muffins, oatmeal, grits
Pretty much if you wanted it, they had it and it was all good.
Well, almost all was good. Their coffee is awful. Enough said, moving on.
(Update it is now 1230 AM Tuesday morning, we are 100 miles southeast of Nassau cruising at 27 mph on a heading of 125 degrees. I am going to bed soon)
Son could not wait to go to the kids club so we brought him up after breakfast. Drop off was quick and painless. Bye dad, see ya and off he went. We then spent time exploring the ship. It is big but broken up so you do not feel like you are walking too far. Not going to bore you with any specifics since this is looking like it might end up in the CC Hall of Fame or book of records as the longest post in history and we are only on the first full day. From the aft elevators to our stateroom is over a 1 minute walk at a quick pace.
Lunch was in the dining room. Since we had a late breakfast we ate a light lunch in the dining room. I had a nice papaya soup and a tomato mozzarella salad. I even skipped dessert. All was very good.
When you are in the dining room, take time to look at the stairs at the far end. There is a statue of Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer depicting the So Long, Fare Well scene from The Sound of Music. Some of the kids are painted into the mural which serves as a backdrop. It is wonderfully done. I think most people miss out on it and you should at least notice it.
After lunch we went to the cabin so I could work on this from the balcony as we pulled out of Nassau. Oh, I left out that we chose to stay on the ship. We had not heard a lot of good things about Nassau and none of the excursions enticed us. We also felt that since we had just gotten on the ship there was no need to rush off of it.
We had checked in with our son a couple of times and he was having a good time. He did want to go to bingo at 330 so we split up with me heading to get a table and wife to get son. Well, little did we know that bingo was $35 to play 6 cards for 5 games. When they finally got there we decided not to play and made three ladies very happy by giving them one of the best tables in the room.
We toured the promenade some more then headed up to change for the formal dinner since it was immediately after the ice show. We gave son a choice of the formal dinner or eating with the kids club. For most of you this is an obvious answer, but just in case it isnt, we dined alone this evening.
There was no line waiting for the ice show doors to open when we got there. In fact, they still had tickets available. We entered when the doors opened and found seats in the first row. For those of you who think DCL is the only one who puts on great shows, this was just as great as any of the DCL shows we have seen. I took almost 100 pictures (without flash) during the show, thank god they are digital. The show was terrific and since words cannot do it justice I will not even begin to try to describe it other than to say it is not to be missed.
After the show we dropped son of at the Johnny Rockets (closed to the public for 2 hours to allow the kids club to eat there) and headed to dinner. We again had no tablemates. I had the Lobster Bisque as well as a cold pear nectar soup, Caesar salad and tenderloin of beef with pecan honey pudding and cherries jubilee for dessert. The soups were quite good with a nice fresh taste to the bisque. The salad was basic and uninspired. The tenderloin was good but not as tender as I am used to. The pudding was not what I expected since it was more like a bread pudding (which I love) in consistency (without the custard) but fairly bland. The cherries jubilee was good but the ice cream was a bit grainy, perhaps it had warmed and refrozen. Still, all things considered it was a decent meal and if I could pick a do-over I would try it all again. (in fact, if someone wants to put their money where my mouth is, pay for me to go on another cruise and I will prove it!)
Wife had shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, chicken breast and Double Strawberry cheesecake with a scoop of orange sherbet. The shrimp were good with five of them each about the size of a pinky. The chicken was very good. The cheesecake was also not what we expected. We are used to a creamy, heavy NY style cheesecake. This was more of sponge cake type of cheese cake. The highlight of the desserts was the sherbet. (please note, there was nothing wrong with the desserts, they just were not what we expected).
About formal night attire
The majority of the men wore suits but there were plenty of tuxedos in the room (60/40 perhaps). The ladies were dressed in various levels of formality.
My wife and I have each noticed RCCL misses a lot of the little details that makes DCL so nice. We noted yesterday that our table flowers in the dining room had some very dead leaves clinging to the vase. DCL would never allow that. Today the same dead leaves were still there. There was also quite a bit of trash in the arcade area and staff members simply stepped over and around it rather than picking it up. We had to report a couple of bathrooms in need of service. There have been some minor service issues I have been aware of with the servers in the dining room but since I think this is a matter of the servers and not RCCL I will not mention them to any degree nor will I compare DCL servers to RCCL. I will note that the Matre D Merrick has made a great effort to visit each table each evening. I compare this to DCL where the one and only evening we saw the Matre D was when tips were being handed out.
Following the dinner we went back to the room to change before heading to the casino. We did not want our clothes smelling from the cigarette smoke. We stopped in the casino long enough to donate $92 playing $10 black jack and nickel slots at 75 cents per pull. The casino was busy but not swamped. There were plenty of slots available and I found a black jack seat right away.
We then headed to the Tim Tillman show in the Savoy theater. Seating is available from two decks and we sat on the main floor as opposed to the balcony. The theater is large with comfortable seats. The décor is 1920s art deco and is nicely done. There are at least two full service bars and servers work the seats.
Tim Tillman came on the stage and built an instantaneous rapport with the audience. He asked the audience what they wanted to hear and then took it from there. His dancing is phenomenal and his singing unbelievable What made this all extra-special was the free-flow form he used taking the show in the direction the audience led him. It was obvious he did not come out with a pre-planned show which had to follow a specific order and timeline. His ability to do this in such an accomplished manner is remarkable. I just cannot do him justice. He took the room from Country Western to Classic Rock to modern rock to Rap and beyond. He is backed by a wonderful and talented mini-orchestra who was able to keep up with him as the showed weaved and bobbed the musical styles and variations.
The most memorable part of the show was the Finale. Tillman has an amazing resume which includes playing as the opening act for Sammy Davis Jr. who became his mentor and friend. He had the honor of playing Sammy in The Rat Pack Returns which ran for over two years in Las Vegas. He knew Sammy and he becomes Sammy. I swear his hair and his nose changed right on stage. His body shrank and he was Sammy. He was incredible. This show is not to be missed. (Our son did not attend but I think he would have enjoyed it). This show compares to a Las Vegas headliner, in fact I think he should be a headliner. It would not be fair to compare his show to a DCL production show.
We finally picked up our son at 1030 and called it a night.
Tuesday 2/17/04 At Sea
We had a morning similar to Mondays. We ended up listening to some of the Port Shopping presentation in Studio B (Consider it Cruise Shopping Network) since our son wanted to go skating during the open skate. When it was time there were forms to fill out which took all of 3 minutes and then down we went to get a pair of skates and get on the ice. He had a ball skating around. There were about 20-30 other kids and a few adults skating.
We then headed back to the room for a quick change before going to the CC Meet-n-Mingle. We had over 50 people signed up so this promised to be a good meeting. We arrived a few minutes late at Ellingtons and the meet was already going on. There were about 15 people there. The RCCL Loyalty Ambassador was making a presentation regarding some of the new plans in store for RCCL followed by a Q&A session with one of the activities staff. It was interesting to know there is a couple who has cruised 121 times with RCCL. There was a raffle with a number of prizes (hats, t-shirts
). My son won, which was great for him, he picked sunglass keepers (holds them around your neck) as a prize. It was nice to put names and faces together. In fact we ran in to a couple of the other CC members later in the cruise and talked with them. Since my son was hungry and wanted to head to the club, we were the first ones to leave. Everybody got a RCCL lanyard to hold tickets, ID or what have you.
We then had a small lunch in the Promenade Café then took the son to the club where they had rehearsal for a show they put on in the Promenade. Practice began at two and the show was at three. The show began with a circus parade then the Ringmistress began the show which included clowns, lions, elephants, a strong man and much more. It was a fun show and each child was in the spot light.
After the show we picked him up from the club and allowed him to play a few arcade games before having an early dinner in Johnny Rockets. Tonight we go to Portofinos! We had 8pm reservations we bumped to 730 since we wanted to be able to catch the 9pm show. We arrived at the restaurant about 710, hoping to be seated early. We were seated immediately. Menus were provided as was a basket of bread and a bowl of roasted garlic. For a starter we had Caesar salad and mozzarella and tomatoes. As a main course we had the petite filet and fish (forgot the type) which was de-boned and filleted at the tableside. The filet was much better than served in the main dining room.
My wife was feeling a bit under the weather at this point. I think it was caused by being full from all the small meals we have been having, watching the de-boning process (which I thought was neat and elegantly done), wanting to make sure she did not miss the 9pm show and the ever so slight motion of the ship. She was facing the window and hence the shade which was moving in and out about 6 per cycle. (more on sea conditions later).
We explained she was not feeling well and asked to take dessert for later. They happily obliged. In all Portofinos was nice, the service well done but slow and the food definitely a few notches above the dining rooms. I am pleased we went but
we cancelled our reservation for Chops since it is too hard to fit them into the schedule and do all the other things we want to do.
(BTW I have seen but avoided the Royal Ranch Steak. It was on the buffet and I tested it with a serving utensil. It was tough to the touch. My thought is that it is a lower-grade flank streak)
We brought dessert to the room and then headed to tonights show which was Front Row. It was a larger scale production with a cast of about twelve singers and dancers backed up by a a small (6-8 piece) orchestra. The music was good, the singing lively and the dancing energetic. We enjoyed the show but unlike Tim Tillman or the ice show, feel one viewing is sufficient. In fact, I may skip the other production show later in the week.
Following the show we picked up our son and headed to bed.
Wednesday 2/17/04 St. Thomas
We got out of bed a little later than planned, which meant we were running behind schedule. Once we left the room, we headed to the dining room to go through immigration. The line was out the door and went around the entire dining room. It was not as ominous as it looked since the line moved quickly and took all of 15 minutes at most. Make sure you bring your Seapass, Photo ID and birth certificates/passports. There was a coffee station set up in the middle of the line but the lines went too fast to get a cup.
We had a small bite to eat at the promenade café before heading down for our excursion. We had selected Coral World and the Island Drive. Our group consisted of the three of us and another woman. We headed off in an open air jitney along the twisting, turning roads of the island. In about 15-20 minutes we arrived at Coral world. It is on the point of a small peninsula and the views are fantastic.
As you enter the property there is a small tank to each side of you. One holds 2-3 small sharks, the other star fish, sea urchins and other small animals. You can touch the star fish etc but I recommend against trying to pet the sharks. To the left is the bridgeway to the observatory which is a three story cement cylinder rising from the water. From the bridgeway you can watch people getting into BOBs (Breathing Observation Bubbles, another excursions) and then head to the lowest level of the observatory to watch them walking in the water around the observatory. There is also coral and various sea life moving about, though nothing overly dramatic. As you head to the top, you can stop at the middle level of the observatory which houses a well stocked aquarium.
As we returned from the observatory we stopped to look at an area housing large sea turtles and another with some sting rays. There a couple of other exhibit areas the most notable of which is the 80000 gallon aquarium full of all sorts of sea life. We were able to watch them feed the fish which was interesting.
Coral World was interesting but if you have a good aquarium back home I think it is a better bet. Seaworld was also be a good alternative. The hour and a half we spent there was about 20 minutes longer than it needed to be. The tour then head off to visit the rest of the island. We were able to over look Megans Bay and the ships in Phillipsburg harbor. The drive was nice but other than these two views we really did not learn much about the island.
We spent the afternoon leisurely at pool side. Even though I knew the pools were full of salt water, it was still a surprise how salty the water was. Mort surprising was how cold the water was. It felt more like Cape Cod water temperature rather than Caribbean water. The hot tubs were a nice change. The water warm and soothing, the jets so powerful they created a vortex in the center of the tub.
For dinner Wednesday evening dinner I had: Festival of Fruit which was a simple plate of fruit, Chilled Washington Apple Soup which was like applesauce watered with apple juice, a mixed green salad and cheese ravioli. The ravioli was a bit overcooked but otherwise unremarkable. My wife had Risotto which she said was ok..
Wednesdays evenings show was a repeat of the ice show which allowed us to relax and enjoy the ship. We just walked about a bit and did nothing in particular. We did enjoy the game room near Ellingtons where I beat my wife in a game of cribbage. Our son was in the club which had taken over the sports deck for a variety of games which we enjoyed watching from above from the game room as well as on the sports deck.
If you have gotten the idea we are not ones for the night life, I actually enjoy going to the shows but its hard to do and keep our son on a reasonable schedule. Tonight there was Love n Marriage which is similar to the Newlywed game on TV of old. Each night there are other activities for the adults that we have foregone and hence cannot report on.
Thursday February 19, 2004 St. Maarten
We awoke by 700 to get up and ready for a fun filled day. We watched as we finished docking then got ready. By 830 we were in Windjammers for breakfast. I mistakenly thought our excursion began at 900, when it really began at 10. This allowed for a more comfortable breakfast.
At 940 we headed to the dock. We were doing the Beach Rendezvous to Orient beach. There were almost 100 of us for this excursion. Soon enough we were loaded onto motor coaches for the drive to the beach. We had an excellent guide on our bus who did a nice job of informing us of the important details of the excursion as well as a nice history of the island, how it came to be ruled by two governments and the such. She was much better than the driver in St. Thomas.
After crossing the border into French St. Martin, we arrived at Orient beach which is pristine. We had our own section of the beach and there was a beach chair for each of us. The umbrellas were $3 and very useful protection from the sun. Despite being peak season, the beach was busy but not crowded in the way they get on Cape Cod. Local women came frequently offering everything from tote bags to t-shirts to jewelry. None were overly aggressive and a few were extremely polite. There is a lot of foot traffic in the space between the chairs and the water as people walk the beach.
The water was fantastic with shades of blue so much unlike the beaches off the New England coast. And warm. This was heavenly. If the beaches at home were more like this, I would enjoy going to the beach more often. My son and I spent a good deal of time in the water before heading off to lunch (it is a cruise and we had almost gone 4 hours without eating, can you imagine?)
The excursion included lunch at the Kakao. This was in and of itself a neat experience. The tables are scattered about inside open huts with raked white sand between and ferns and palms growing around and overhead. It makes a great setting.
The choices for our lunch were Mahi Mahi, chicken or ribs. We went with the chicken and ribs. The meal began with delivery of a nice basket of French bread which was delicious. Chicken came with a mountain of French fries which were the traditional type and much better than the ships. The ribs we okay, a bit small (I think they were cut to ½ length) and greasy. They were served with a baked potato with sour cream laced with rosemary and onions. The potato was quite delicious. We decided to take our chances and drank ice water as well as soda and lemonade. We suffered no ill effects for the decision.
After lunch we swam a bit more than my son and I walked to the end of the beach (1/2 mile or so) to a spot where there was some coral to do some snorkeling The walk went quickly and there a variety of other beachside restaurants and shops to pass which made it enjoyable. My son was challenged by trying to swim with the snorkel so it did not go as well as planned but we had fun and I did get to see a bit of the coral, some tiny fish, urchins, conch shells and other marine life as well as bottles, floor tiles and the such.
I decided to rent a ski-jet but had trouble since we were running out of time. The first two places I went to had a wait, the third could accommodate me but I only had 30 minutes. He wanted $40 for 35 minutes. When I tried to go $30 for 30 minutes he would not budge so I walked away. The pricing was pretty uniform and there did not seem to any haggling. I had no qualms walking since I wanted to enjoy the ride and not feel rushed. As an FYI there was also kayaks, parasailing, banana boat rides as well a giant floats for kids to play on. All were available at different rates. You may want to consider doing the excursion on your own, cab fare should be about $6-10 per person, chairs and umbrellas rent for $7 and the meal could not have been all that expensive.
Lets talk about nudity. There is nudity on Orient beach. There were a few topless women who walked by, perhaps 10, in the time we were there. My wife saw one nude guy walk by (nothing worth looking at she said). For the most part the people were older. The ugliest sight I saw was a 60s+ gentleman wearing a g string. His wife was topless and was still wearing more than he was. Not a pretty sight. Our son either did not notice the nudity or did not comment on it, in fact he and I walked by the naturalist beach. It was not a big deal and I would not worry about bringing a kid to the beach because of it.
All to soon the beach day was over and were on our way back to the ship. As we pulled onto the main road, there was a great view of the beach. The woman to my wifes side yelled for the driver to stop the bus so she could get a picture. She wanted, demanded, that he stop right there in the middle of the road so she and her daughter could take pictures. Unbelievable. She was told he would stop in a minute and had to be told sternly to sit down. The bus pulled to an even better view and somehow she missed taking a picture because a few minutes later she groused that they said we would stop. She was something else.
We headed back to the ship after looking in a few shops. It was interesting to see how the dock area has built-up (i.e. commercialized) in the two years since we were on the island.
The kids club had the Captain coming in for a visit so we headed there. He did a short Q&A with the kids (do you work 24 hours a day, I saw a naked lady on the beach, who steers the ship while you are here
.) he then took a group photo with all the kids.
We enjoyed our dinner with a view of St. Martaan as we pulled out. Once we were underway it was notable that the seas felt much rougher than they had coming down. I had roasted garlic soup and chilled strawberry bisque as appetizers. Both were good, my son enjoyed the strawberry bisque and ate most of it. For salad I had an antipasti and tomato and Mozzarella salad which was identical to the one served in Portofinos. My entrée was Chicken Marsala which was a little bland. My son had the rigatoni which okay and my wife had the shrimp scampi which good.
Our son headed back to the kids club and we decided to see the headliner for the evening, Rondell. Before the show we ran into a couple from the Meet n Mingle in one of the stores. They told us their children had heard through the grapevine (aka the kids informational network) that a family had been put off the ship because their children had been throwing furniture off the back deck. We agreed that if this had happened, this would have been appropriate action by RCCL. I hope they draw a tight line on acts of stupidity such as this.
Later in the evening I had the pleasure of running into the ships head of security later that evening and spoke of the event. No one was put off the ship. There had been reports that some furniture might have gone for a swim but they were unable (not unwilling) to confirm this. He did say they had brought additional security staff on board due to the large number of teenagers booked for the cruise. He did say that being put off the ship was likely to be the least of a culprits family as there are other legal considerations the cruise line will explore. I left feeling that he had been very candid and honest in his answers and I appreciated the strong stand RCCL takes on vandalism and hooliganism.
On to the Rondell show, which brought a lot of laughs but I was disappointed. He opened with the usual cruise ship jokes about eating every 40 minutes, buffets and bingo. He then headed into what I have always considered a cowardly form of humor, making fun of people. As an example he asked who was married over 50 years. To be honest I thought he said 15 years but then thought about and realized he must have said 50. Anyway a poor woman near the front raised her hand. She was seated alone. He asked how long they had been married, when she answered 17 years he began putting her down, mimicking sign language and sounding like a deaf person, asked how long she has had imaginary friends
I think people laughed out of relief that he was not talking about them.
I am not an overly sensitive person and being politically correct is the least of my worries, but I have seen far too many good comedians who have good material to draw from. Rondell, unfortunately was not one of them. I did appreciate one of his comments he made to the newlyweds. He instructed the groom when introducing themselves to say This is my lovely wife Madge and I am Homer. I thought that was a nice touch.
We picked up our son and headed to sleep.
Friday February 20,2004 At Sea
We slept in and waited until about 10 to head to Windjammers for our routine breakfast. The seas were notably rougher. Noontime found me laying in bed feeling queasy. My son headed to the arcade and then to the kids club. My wife shopped.
By 5PM I was worse despite having slept most of the afternoon. I wanted to go to the formal dinner but it just was not happening. My wife decided to do Windjammer for dinner (not wanting to sit alone) and my son went to Johnny Rockets with (guess who) the Kids club. Some of the staff suggested green apples helps the nausea so she came to the room with a few. I had already eaten ginger snaps which are also believed to help. Something must have worked because At 8PM I had broken through whatever had taken hold and ordered room service.
Room service delivered within the promised time, 40 minutes. The burger was average and somewhat warm. The turkey sandwich suffered from a soggy roll. Neither came with the promised potato chips, which was fine with me. The NY Cheesecake was the same as served elsewhere. I guess its not so much a sponge cake, but it is of that texture, light and airy. NY cheesecake I have had has always been heavy and dense. I ordered the different things not so much from hunger but wanting to try the variety and see how they did.
My wife went to the production show Pure Energy. The show was a tribute to the 80s with frequent costume changes as well as on-stage visual effects including women flying in the air (using harnesses). She says the show was alright but once was more than enough.
Saturday February 21, 2004 At sea
We again woke late and did the breakfast routine.
Today I felt much better and after breakfast we headed but before the show was over it was clear my little buddy was not. His cold had kicked in full time. My wife brought him back to the room while I taped the remainder of the show for him. Once we got him in the room, we rotated turns getting lunch. After lunch I stayed with him in the room and my hung out in the promenade.
He made a small recovery and we brought him up to the kids club so he could redeem his attendance credits for prizes. He did not make it through the line before crashing again. I brought him back to the room and my wife exchanged the prizes. The way it works is for each session a child attends, they get a credit towards decent prizes on the last day. Prizes range from a backpack to a keychain holder. They all seemed of good quality.
The Enchanted Knights parade was going to happen so I headed down and videotaped it before going to dinner. I wanted to make sure gratuities were delivered. My wife stayed back at the room performing her best Clara Barton. The Enchanted Knight parade was okay but after seeing the first parade, they seem pretty much the same, just a different theme.
The wait staff was sorry to hear my son was sick and offered to have dinner sent to the room. Not room service menu but the dining room menu. I had previously called her, planning to bring her dinner to the room. The staff said they would take care of delivering it. I ordered chicken noodle soup, shrimp cocktail and turkey for them. I had the fruit medley and chicken soup for appetizers, the salad and prime rib. The fruit was a simple fruit plate dusted with coconut, the soup was okay, the prime rib was good. For dessert I brought apple pie and chocolate brownies to the room. The pie was mediocre but my son liked the ala mode. My wife ate the shrimp and tasted the turkey. She said it was okay but nothing great. My taste of it reminded me of a cafeteria dinner.
My wife headed off to the farewell show which started with the Cruise Director (Kirk Detweiler) showing parts of the highlights video available for sale, then a guest performance of a juggler then a different comedian. She said the intro was nice, with Kirks 3 yr old getting into the act, and the juggler good. She left during the comedian since she found him hard to listen to, the content was fine but the delivery was lacking.
We packed and had our bags in the hall by 1100PM. Such a sad task. Our color was Gray 1.
Sunday February 23, 2004 Dis-embarkation
My spent a rough night, waking me up at 330 because he could not sleep. I let him lay in our bed and by 530 neither of us had slept more than 5 minutes. I gave him cold and fever medicine and cuddled him up under my arm. He was finally out like a light, but a none-to-restful sleep.
I watched the GPS screen on the computer was we positioned in the channel and turned the boat. Finally at 630 we were docked. My wife got her shower and then I mine. We sadly left the cabin at 800 with out bags in tow and my son dragging a bit.
Since we had not eaten in the dining room we chose this for our final meal. We were seated with a nice family from Rhode Island and quickly ordered. By the time the meal was served, my son had totally crashed. We decided a trip to sick bay was in order. We were waiting for the doctor when he came on duty at 9.
After a good exam, he declared my son had an ear infection. Just as we suspected. He gave us some medicine and recommended we not fly for at least 48 hours. We had planned to fly out Monday but now it looks like Tuesday will be the day.
Our color having been called long ago, we headed off the ship. The dis-embarkation went smoothly and Happy Limo was waiting for us. Off to Holiday Inn Family Suites! BTW Happy Limo and Holiday Inn Family Suites have both been very accommodating in helping us with the changes in our itinerary due to my sons illness.
Sea Conditions, noise et al.
The sea was very comfortable for all but about 16 hours between Friday and Saturday when we had 6 to 8 foot seas. At night it gently rocked us to sleep. The noise/vibration from the back of the ship was more like a furnace turning on. It was not too noisy or obtrusive. We enjoyed the aft cabin and did not find the noise or motion to be an issue.
The rest in the following post...
I sure am glad we have a Magic cruise booked for the fall!
