We slept late until 8 am and DH and I decided to eat breakfast at Lumiere's since they had blueberry pancakes; DS decided to stay in bed late. I had grilled ham with my pancakes and they were pretty good; we were seated at a large table with a family and an elederly woman by herself (for breakfast). I ordered pancakes, bacon, and hot chocolate for DS (14) back in the room which they had ready to go when we were finished.
I went up on deck 10 earlier and saw that it was chilly (low 60's) windy and raining--- and this was our castaway cay day. We were already docked. The island still looked beautiful, but the weather was disappointing.
We stopped off at guest services and they were giving refunds if you wanted them for castaway cay rentals, etc. We had prebooked the getaway package with snorkeling equipment, floats or mats and bicycles. We decided to cancel those since it was close to $100 for the three of us and the weather online said thunderstorms. We went back to the cabin and put on bathing suits, shirts, etc. and were some of the first off the boat. By this time, it was no longer raining, but we were each given a complimentary poncho. We walked to the family beach which was empty, put our things down and tested the water which was cool. You eventually got used to it with just our feet in it, but none of us felt like going in due to the windy cool conditions. DH and I sat with our chairs in the surf and just let our feet and legs get wet for a while. Before we got off the ship, there was a quick alternate navigator for new activities on the ship till lunch time including movies thrown in. They also said a new, updated navigator for the afternoon would soon be available offering additional activities since many were not going ashore or not enjoying beach activities.
After a while, DS wanted to go bike riding, so we went over to the rentals and the three of us went biking. We have done this each time we've cruised before, but this time there were huge muddy puddles, particularly along the path by serenity cove. This was due to today's and other recent rains. DS loved going thru the deep puddles and splashing mud all over himself. The bike ride was fine, but we were really dirty afterward, so showered off our legs at the showers up by cookies barbeque.
It was lunch time and we decided to get some lunch; cookies had hamburger, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, lobster patty sandwiches, barbeque ribs, potato salad, corn on the cob, cole slaw, cookies, pineapple upside down cake, fruit punch, fruit, etc. Over by the adult beach they had steak sandwiches (very good) and lobster tails. We ate lunch and wished we had brought DH and DS's sweatshirts along, it was quite cool. I didn't have a sweatshirt, not thinking it would be this cold. After eating, we went back to the beach to get our things and DS wanted to go back and watch a movie and get warmed up which we did. We talked about maybe going back, but it was cloudy and the sun never came out. DH and I went up to deck 10 to just get a good look at the island and we watch a powerboat way in the distance coming from some othe island; eventually it came to the ship and the dock there; i believe it was a fishing excursion, but i'm not sure. Although the weather was not good, they didnt seem to have any problem docking the boat. It was a beautiful island and I missed being there in the summer when we spend the whole day in the water and do not want to leave the beach till the last second. It was nice to be away from winter weather in the northeast and the cruise was great, but we missed the summer sunshine and warm water.
Tonight's show was the farewell variety show which included the comedian gary delena and the comedian and ventriloquist, michael harrison. The show was enjoyable and both were good and different from their earlier shows. We had front row seats again. Afterward, DS and DH wanted to use up their arcade card by playing air hockey so they headed up to quartermasters while I went to the family talent show in rocking bar d. I watched several acts till 8:30 when it was time to go to dinner. They had had try outs and rehearsals before this during the week and some of the acts were extremely good. Since it went overtime, I didn't get to see if there were prizes or winners, etc. I enjoyed what I saw.
We were back in Lumiere's for our last dinner, (we had had a Palo ressie originally, but were enjoying our servers and eating with Jamming John and company so had cancelled the day before) to tell you the truth, we prefer the champagne brunch more than the dinner at Palo. They had prime rib this last night along with many other good selections; I normally do not like beef that much, but this prime rib which i ordered melted like butter in your mouth; it was delicious. like i said earlier, we found the quality, variety, and preparation of the food noticeably better than our 3 previous DCL cruises. Not that it wasn't good then, but much superior this time.
Also, this was the night to give our tip envelopes. Our server, Pirom hugged us and our head waiter, Erick from Britain just did everything he could to make it a satisfying experience. We gave kudos and special comments on our comment card about them as well as Plamen, who was not our server, but was so friendly and helpful when we ate at topsiders and other lunch areas. We also mentioned the quiet efficiency of Kristina from croatia, our stateroom hostess. We got the lovely towel animals each night too. I don't know if we mentioned it, but on New Year's Eve in addition to the crystal paperweight and tray of chocolates and chocolate ship we were given at various times in our room, we received a llarge print of goofy father time and donald new years baby suitable for framing. Another improvement I noticed was that there was no push about the comment cards. In the past, we got a big lecture about that from the cruise director and then the servers and maybe the stateroom host would emphasize repeatedly they needed an excellent rating on the comment card and was there any reason that we wouldn't be giving them an excellent. However, this time, nobody mentioned it and only the televised disembarkation talk by jacqui the cruise director did we hear this (we didnt attend in person since we've heard it before) and even her talk only briefly touched on it. I know I heard comments about this before on these boards, but there was no push at all this time and I even mentioned it on my comment card as an improvement. I would have to say our only disappointments were the weather (mother nature) and the 5 star snorkel to st. john which was okay, but if you saw my Jan. 1 report, I felt it didnt live up to our previous experience. We had a great trip and now that we are home, we are already planning a western one. Everything was smooth and enjoyable. The airlines were more expensive this time of year as no real deals on the cruise booking either since it was a holiday and we booked at the earliest possible date. Howeve, going thru AAA gave us a lot of nice extras like the free soda mugs refilled for a week for free.
There was a "Till we meet again party" at 10:15 where they released balloons that had been hanging in the atrium all week. We also spent some time on the internet sending emails since our last opportunity before leaving would end at 11pm. I was on the internet at 10:40 and suddenly remembered we had not packed and put our suitcases in the hall! They need to be out by 11 or you carry them yourself off the ship in the morning. I rushed back to the room and DS and DH were still up playing air hockey. I packed as quickly as I could, putting wet things in plastic bags since I didnt have time to hit the dryers. I tried to pack as much as possible so we wouldnt have to carry everything around with us in the morning. DS and DH arrived back and helped me load our 5 suitcases out into the hall.
We read for a while and thought about how quickly the cruise had gone by and how it was sad to leave. More tomorrow on disembarkation. Barb
I went up on deck 10 earlier and saw that it was chilly (low 60's) windy and raining--- and this was our castaway cay day. We were already docked. The island still looked beautiful, but the weather was disappointing.
We stopped off at guest services and they were giving refunds if you wanted them for castaway cay rentals, etc. We had prebooked the getaway package with snorkeling equipment, floats or mats and bicycles. We decided to cancel those since it was close to $100 for the three of us and the weather online said thunderstorms. We went back to the cabin and put on bathing suits, shirts, etc. and were some of the first off the boat. By this time, it was no longer raining, but we were each given a complimentary poncho. We walked to the family beach which was empty, put our things down and tested the water which was cool. You eventually got used to it with just our feet in it, but none of us felt like going in due to the windy cool conditions. DH and I sat with our chairs in the surf and just let our feet and legs get wet for a while. Before we got off the ship, there was a quick alternate navigator for new activities on the ship till lunch time including movies thrown in. They also said a new, updated navigator for the afternoon would soon be available offering additional activities since many were not going ashore or not enjoying beach activities.
After a while, DS wanted to go bike riding, so we went over to the rentals and the three of us went biking. We have done this each time we've cruised before, but this time there were huge muddy puddles, particularly along the path by serenity cove. This was due to today's and other recent rains. DS loved going thru the deep puddles and splashing mud all over himself. The bike ride was fine, but we were really dirty afterward, so showered off our legs at the showers up by cookies barbeque.
It was lunch time and we decided to get some lunch; cookies had hamburger, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, lobster patty sandwiches, barbeque ribs, potato salad, corn on the cob, cole slaw, cookies, pineapple upside down cake, fruit punch, fruit, etc. Over by the adult beach they had steak sandwiches (very good) and lobster tails. We ate lunch and wished we had brought DH and DS's sweatshirts along, it was quite cool. I didn't have a sweatshirt, not thinking it would be this cold. After eating, we went back to the beach to get our things and DS wanted to go back and watch a movie and get warmed up which we did. We talked about maybe going back, but it was cloudy and the sun never came out. DH and I went up to deck 10 to just get a good look at the island and we watch a powerboat way in the distance coming from some othe island; eventually it came to the ship and the dock there; i believe it was a fishing excursion, but i'm not sure. Although the weather was not good, they didnt seem to have any problem docking the boat. It was a beautiful island and I missed being there in the summer when we spend the whole day in the water and do not want to leave the beach till the last second. It was nice to be away from winter weather in the northeast and the cruise was great, but we missed the summer sunshine and warm water.
Tonight's show was the farewell variety show which included the comedian gary delena and the comedian and ventriloquist, michael harrison. The show was enjoyable and both were good and different from their earlier shows. We had front row seats again. Afterward, DS and DH wanted to use up their arcade card by playing air hockey so they headed up to quartermasters while I went to the family talent show in rocking bar d. I watched several acts till 8:30 when it was time to go to dinner. They had had try outs and rehearsals before this during the week and some of the acts were extremely good. Since it went overtime, I didn't get to see if there were prizes or winners, etc. I enjoyed what I saw.
We were back in Lumiere's for our last dinner, (we had had a Palo ressie originally, but were enjoying our servers and eating with Jamming John and company so had cancelled the day before) to tell you the truth, we prefer the champagne brunch more than the dinner at Palo. They had prime rib this last night along with many other good selections; I normally do not like beef that much, but this prime rib which i ordered melted like butter in your mouth; it was delicious. like i said earlier, we found the quality, variety, and preparation of the food noticeably better than our 3 previous DCL cruises. Not that it wasn't good then, but much superior this time.
Also, this was the night to give our tip envelopes. Our server, Pirom hugged us and our head waiter, Erick from Britain just did everything he could to make it a satisfying experience. We gave kudos and special comments on our comment card about them as well as Plamen, who was not our server, but was so friendly and helpful when we ate at topsiders and other lunch areas. We also mentioned the quiet efficiency of Kristina from croatia, our stateroom hostess. We got the lovely towel animals each night too. I don't know if we mentioned it, but on New Year's Eve in addition to the crystal paperweight and tray of chocolates and chocolate ship we were given at various times in our room, we received a llarge print of goofy father time and donald new years baby suitable for framing. Another improvement I noticed was that there was no push about the comment cards. In the past, we got a big lecture about that from the cruise director and then the servers and maybe the stateroom host would emphasize repeatedly they needed an excellent rating on the comment card and was there any reason that we wouldn't be giving them an excellent. However, this time, nobody mentioned it and only the televised disembarkation talk by jacqui the cruise director did we hear this (we didnt attend in person since we've heard it before) and even her talk only briefly touched on it. I know I heard comments about this before on these boards, but there was no push at all this time and I even mentioned it on my comment card as an improvement. I would have to say our only disappointments were the weather (mother nature) and the 5 star snorkel to st. john which was okay, but if you saw my Jan. 1 report, I felt it didnt live up to our previous experience. We had a great trip and now that we are home, we are already planning a western one. Everything was smooth and enjoyable. The airlines were more expensive this time of year as no real deals on the cruise booking either since it was a holiday and we booked at the earliest possible date. Howeve, going thru AAA gave us a lot of nice extras like the free soda mugs refilled for a week for free.
There was a "Till we meet again party" at 10:15 where they released balloons that had been hanging in the atrium all week. We also spent some time on the internet sending emails since our last opportunity before leaving would end at 11pm. I was on the internet at 10:40 and suddenly remembered we had not packed and put our suitcases in the hall! They need to be out by 11 or you carry them yourself off the ship in the morning. I rushed back to the room and DS and DH were still up playing air hockey. I packed as quickly as I could, putting wet things in plastic bags since I didnt have time to hit the dryers. I tried to pack as much as possible so we wouldnt have to carry everything around with us in the morning. DS and DH arrived back and helped me load our 5 suitcases out into the hall.
We read for a while and thought about how quickly the cruise had gone by and how it was sad to leave. More tomorrow on disembarkation. Barb
