PRE-CRUISE . . .

We arrived in Miami on Wednesday evening, picked up our Avis rental at the airport, and proceeded to the Sheraton Biscayne Bay for three nights. We were very impressed with the hotel - the grounds were so beautifully landscaped with hibiscus hedges and azaleas, and such beautiful green plants and palms, that it felt like we were in a tropical greenhouse. We had a lovely and large room (344) which overlooked the bay and the port. The room had two double beds, a pull-out couch, chairs, large closet, iron & board, and a balcony with a small table and two chairs. I didn’t realize how close to the port we were until Friday morning, when we were able to make out some ship names with our binoculars - Ecstasy, Splendour o/t Seas, an NCL ship, and one other which escapes my memory. At night you can see the blue Royal Caribbean sign on their buildings. Miami is so beautiful - we did some sightseeing - and enjoyed (we came from Northwestern Ontario) the sunshine, and the beautiful palm trees and ocean breezes.

EMBARKATION . . .

We returned our rental car to Avis at the port and took their shuttle to the pier. Little did we know that it was only a half-block walk! We arrived upstairs by the security scanners at about 11:30 and were among the first in line. At 12:15 they began the security process and we proceeded directly to the counters for check-in. We all had to complete another card for our Bahamas stop, because they had changed it slightly from the one that was included with our cruise documents - a minor irritation. We surrendered our passports, scanned in our credit card, which activated our ship account, and we were off. We entered on Deck 4, and were in awe of the beauty of the Centrum - glass, brass, marble, greenery - just gorgeous! The welcoming staff pointed us in the right direction, and we were off!

THE CABIN . . .

We found our cabin, 8555 Bridge Deck 8, a larger inside Category K. I really wasn’t expecting the cabin to be as small as it was - since it was supposed to be a larger inside (I’d hate to see the size of a standard room)! Since we like each other, and with a little organization and tolerance, we managed quite nicely. The only time we really noticed the squeeze was dressing for formal nights. Other than that, it wasn’t too bad. The beds were very comfortable. The bunks dropped down from the ceiling, and were kept folded against the wall during the day, just in case someone needed a nap. There was plenty of drawer space, the suitcases fit nicely under the beds, and we were satisfied. The decor was very soft - taupe, peach, and creams - lovely. I was quite surprised by the bathroom, however. After experiencing the atomic toilet, I found the bathroom to be rather cozy. The shower had good water pressure, the shower head was removable, and although the shower curtain tended to get fresh with its occupants, it really was okay. There was excellent lighting and storage space. They even provided environmentally friendly shampoo and conditioner. There was plenty of drawer space - two small drawers in each night table, three large and small drawers in the vanity, and three small drawers in the closet.

I found our cabin to be a bit warm during the day, even though we had our temperature control turned to the coldest setting. Ana (our cabin attendant) said that leaving the balcony doors from the outside rooms open played havoc with the air conditioning. When we returned to the cabin in the evening, though, it was always comfortable, but never ever reached the point of being really cool or too cold.
We were also pleased to find a gift basket in our room from our travel agent. This was a really nice touch.

THE TEENAGERS . . .

If you are planning to take your teens on a cruise with you, please heed our advice. Desperately refrain from throwing them overboard on the first day, because it will get better. Our daughter’s exact words were, “I don’t care, Mom, this is the worst vacation I’ve been on. I wish I could go home right now. I hate this.” Everyone is apprehensive at first - it’s a boat load of strangers, and it takes a bit to break the ice. The teen orientation takes place at 10:30 p.m. the first day, and much later that evening, all was well with the kids. They met new friends, had a great evening, and by morning there were names and cabin numbers taped to the mirror, and the phone started to ring (just like at home). They even met someone from our own town - what a small world! We saw very little of them after that, and they had a wonderful time. They’re already e-mailing each other on a daily basis now that we’re home.

OUR CABIN ATTENDANT . . .

Ana (Romania) was so good to us, and such a pleasant and gentle person. We saw her every morning and evening, and during the day also. I’m very sad to say that Eric is a bit of a slob! In the first few days, he had worn everything in his suitcase at least once, and never did an item get folded and put away. We hounded him regularly and he would tidy up, but he basically was his usual happy-go-lucky, but messy, self. I reached the point one morning where I just heaped his things into a corner. I made a point of asking Ana to please work around the pile and let him tidy up his own mess. She said, “No, no, that’s alright. He’s on vacation!” These people are trained to please and spoil their passengers. I again asked her to leave his things, but of course, she didn’t - everything got folded. Eric was quite embarrassed, and issued a sincere thank you of his own to Ana. And Eric made an extra contribution to Ana’s tip from his own financial resources!

DINING ROOM . . .

We were very blessed to have such wonderful tablemates - our new friends Doug & Jean, and their children Sara & Steven (who were good age matches with our own). They had cruised several times before, and were a wealth of information and helpful hints for all of us. Never have I seen people work harder than the dining room staff. Our waitress, Bing Chai (China), was just so cute and amusing, and saw to our every need. This little bit of a girl could carried a huge tray loaded with meals on her shoulder and never miss a beat. Her assistant, Katerina (Trinidad), was a gem (anyone who keeps the diet coke flowing receives top marks from me!). They both went out of their way to provide wonderful service. As an example, one evening our son didn’t make it to dinner because he was feeling a little unwell from the roll of the ship. Bing Chai prepared a take-out meal for him - lobster tail, filet mignon, rice & veggies - “because he missed dinner and he’ll be hungry later”. She also sent cookies - wrapped in foil and shaped into a swan - for Steven “because he missed dessert”. This thoughtfulness was so very appreciated by all of us. Our meals were always delicious - our chef was a woman named Helga (Norway) (I think she may be the only female RCI chef, if I heard correctly) - the beef was superb, chicken was delicious, as were most things. We tried to sample different things for us - I had escargot, Herb ate eel as an appetizer (that’s too weird for me!), and most things were very good. I think there was only one thing that I truly didn’t care for - lobster bisque. Other than that, I can only rave about our meals and service. The biggest dinner time shock for our kids came when they asked for tossed salad, instead of the menu salad. They were brought a wedge of iceberg lettuce, and while they stared at it and tried to figure out what to do, Bing Chai promptly proceeded to cut their salad up for them. We’re now in the process of deprogramming them back to cutting their own food!

WINDJAMMER CAFÉ . . .

I’ve heard plenty of complaints about this area, but I really have nothing bad to say about it. It’s certainly not haute cuisine, but we enjoyed everything we ate here. We ate breakfast and lunch here every day simply because we couldn’t be bothered leaving the pool deck and changing to go to the dining room. I loved having my breakfast on the pool deck with the ocean breezes cooling my food before I even made it to the table. And do you know what? I didn’t even mind - I didn’t have to cook it, I was in paradise, and all was good! There was an omelette bar (which we didn’t discover until day 5 - dumb, huh!), and they also had a carving station at lunch (discovered on day 3 - well, you can’t find everything in one day)! Afternoon snacks, when we ate them, were a scrumptious assortment of baked goods, little sandwiches, fruits, etc., and if you’re partaking, look for the macaroon cookies which are to die for! Also, try the watermelon - it’s the best I’ve ever had.

LABADEE . . .

This is how you spell paradise! What a beautiful spot. It was so clean, with sugary white sand and beautiful palm trees. The standard tip for beach chairs was $1/chair, and there were plenty for everyone. I loved it here. We wandered from beach to beach, all only a short walk from each other, had a delicious barbecue lunch, and did a little swimming and snorkeling. I have to relate my husband’s snorkeling experience for you. After drying off, he sat down, and sensed that something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He moved and felt something sharp in his pocket. He reached into it, and what did he pull out - his partial plate! He figures that he must have lost them when he spit the snorkel tube out when he got a mouthful of water - and they floated through the water right into his pocket! Needless to say, we both said a prayer of thanks to the Snorkel Fairy for averting a disaster. In general, though, the snorkeling here was poor - but we were warned of it in the shore excursion talk, and didn’t feel mislead.

SAN JUAN . . .

I didn’t enjoy this stop very much - I’d heard both good, but mostly bad - and I may have subconsciously decided not to like it. We didn’t take any tours here, but did walk to the shops in Old San Juan, which is just a short hike from the pier. After about a half hour, Eric declared that he didn’t like it and walked back to the ship (he later told me that he was quite scared, and that people kept calling to him to buy things - he didn’t know to keep quiet and just keep walking - I felt bad for letting him return alone, and so thankful that he made it there safely.) Stacy and I decided to wander around, while Herb was more adventurous and walked to one of the historical sights. I was very uneasy in San Juan, and was glad to get back to the ship. I couldn’t really identify what made me feel this way, I just know that I did. The next morning we were talking with a woman who had been walking around with her daughter. Apparently someone stopped a car next to them, got out and told the daughter to “get in”. They turned a ran, and realized that they must have wandered off the beaten path. I don’t want to knock San Juan, because some of what we saw was very lovely, and we took some beautiful and quaint pictures, but personally I wouldn’t care to go back there. Perhaps if we had taken a guided tour things would have been different, because I do know of many people who love it. To each his own. Just a little tip if you’re in a situation where you don’t all return to the ship together - I kept a little pad of post-it notes and a pen handy so that as each person returned, they so noted on the post-it and stuck it to the mirror. This way we knew everyone was on board, and didn’t have to run around the ship looking for each other.

We suffered a little in San Juan from the effects of the ship. As we were walking along, the ground would move - I thought the earth was shifting, but didn’t think this was earthquake territory. Turns out that the earth was stable. We were merely doing the ship walk. It’s an odd sensation.

ST. THOMAS . . .

Now here’s a beautiful little place. We shopped (or rather looked) downtown in the morning. The cab ride was $2.50 per person from the pier, plus a tip. We wandered in and out of the stores, up and down the maze of little streets and alleys, and really enjoyed it. This is the place to buy your jewellery, watches, etc. But be warned, it is expensive. My big purchase was a large canvas bag with parrots on it - my parrot bag - for $10. The ship did an excellent job of preparing you for your shopping experience, so be sure to take in the shopping talks on board. I thought I might like to purchase a loose tanzanite stone, since I couldn’t find a piece of jewellery that I wanted. I picked out a beautiful little stone, no bigger than my baby fingernail - the cost was a mere $1,100. I left it there for someone more deserving than I to buy! In the afternoon, we took the Mountaintop and St. Peter’s Greathouse tour. This was very worthwhile. Our driver, Emmanuel, took the open-air taxi up, up, and away up high, through narrow and hairpin-bended roads. This made for some white knuckles, but we had some beautiful views of both sides of the island, and he was very good at pointing out landmarks he felt we should see. There were six ships in port that day, the Grand Princess being one of them. I thought the Grandeur was a huge ship, but next to the Grand, we looked like a dinghy! That is one big ship, and very beautiful. Once we reached St. Peter’s Greathouse, we had some wonderful photo opportunities. This was a house with many tiered rooms and decks, and it has been turned into a botanical garden of sorts. There are spectacular views, almost aerial shots because you’re so high, of Magen’s Bay and the surrounding islands. We helped ourselves to complimentary rum punch and looked around and basked in the sunshine. You have to remember that as high up as we travelled to get there, we had to go down that far to get back, so I told Emmanuel that he couldn’t have his rum punch until we got to the bottom! He laughed, I’m not sure he listened, but he did get us safely back to the ship. I recommend this tour as very worthwhile.

COCO CAY . . .

Our final stop was for snorkeling at Coco Cay. For looks, Labadee wins the prize over Coco Cay, but for snorkelling, Coco Cay is the place to be. I was having a little choking problem with the snorkel, but once I saw what was under the water, the sensation disappeared. It’s another world under there, and a beautiful one at that. I saw so many different fish, tiny electric blue ones, orange and blue striped ones, transparent silver ones, just thousands of them. There was a huge angel fish swimming in the shallows, almost playing with the swimmers and floaters. It was so sweet. The lifeguards keep a close watch over everyone, and if you move out of bounds, they quickly reel you in. They are very serious about maintaining the safety boundaries which they have established. They had a guided snorkel tour into the deeper water, and here Herb saw a pod of 7 or 8 eagle rays. It was fascinating. There also were rays straight out in the shallower water, and one ventured into the very shallow water near the shore and visited for about an hour, much to everyone else’s delight (I think this was while we were at lunch, of course!) Snorkel vests were mandatory ($6 to rent), and there was no getting around it, so don’t even try. Eric also went parasailing here and really enjoyed it, although he was hoping to get “dipped” in the water, which never happened. This was a rather expensive excursion - $65 plus an additional $20 to go to 800 feet of line. I’m not complaining, though, since this was a once in a lifetime (so far) adventure for him.

ENTERTAINMENT . . .

The shows, Starstruck and The Beat Goes On, were excellent. Our cruise was the first performance for the new cast, and they did a terrific job. Our comedians, Rick Starr, Sean and Dave, and Rondell Sheridan (the voice of Skeeter from the Muppets) were very funny. I especially liked Rondell. We could hardly breath we were laughing so hard. Our celebrity entertainer was Yakov Smirnov who came on board in San Juan. He was only okay. When he was being funny he was very funny, but when he wasn’t funny he was depressingly serious. I would have preferred Rondell Sheridan or any of the others again instead of Yakov. Oh well, one so-so performance certainly didn’t spoil my vacation.

The Marcus Anthony Trio played nightly in the Centrum - what a voice this man has! The Chameleons held the fort in the South Pacific Lounge, and were very good. Jason played piano tunes in the Schooner Bar, and every entertainer was very good. Our Cruise Director, Christopher Laine, unfortunately was a dud - sorry Chris, but Mr. Excitement you are not!

Our most favourite entertainers were the calypso band, High Seas, who kept the pool deck in motion the whole cruise, and provided a true tropical feel. We enjoyed listening to them so much that we bought their CD from the gift shop - it’s very good.

TIPPING . . .

In the departure talk which plays on the television, they outline suggested tipping rates - $3.50 per person per day for the cabin attendant and waiter; $2.00 per person per day for the assistant waiter; and the big shock/surprise - the suggested tip for the Head Waiter was $2-$3.50 per person per day, depending on the service you felt he gave to you. For our family this would have amounted to $60-$100 for the cruise. He was a very nice guy named Bela, and came to our table each evening to chat, and he made Bananas Foster and Cherries Jubilee for his section of the dining room. Through this ng I learned that most tip him for any special service he may have provided above and beyond, and I felt that to suggest a tip of this size was inappropriate, especially since he certainly didn’t come close to providing the service that Bing Chai and Katerina provided to us. Armed with this knowledge, we tipped what we felt was suitable, and it wasn’t near the suggested amount. I don’t know if we were wrong, but we were comfortable with our decision.

PICTURES . . .

The ship’s photographers made the rounds on a regular basis, and we always managed to find our pictures. Some were good, some were pretty bad, and all were pricey. 5x7's were $9.95, while 4x6's were $6.95 (can you guess what size most of the pictures were done in). They also had 8x10's, but I’m not sure of the price for them. OTHER SHOPS . . .

The boutiques were fun to browse through. They had a good assortment of everyday items, tanning lotions, candies, film, etc., there was beautiful jewellery, fancy clothes, casual clothes, souvenirs, and liquor. The Caribbean Rum Balls I bought at St. Thomas were also sold on the ship, and since they were so-o-o good, I bought some more.

MIDNIGHT BUFFET . . .

There were two midnight buffets - one on the pool deck during Dancing Under the Stars night (this was a smaller buffet, not overly fancy, but nice), and the Grand Gala Buffet, which was spectacular. I didn’t know you could do things like that with food! They even had little penguins made of boiled eggs, olives, and almonds. There were beautiful flower food bouquets, and palm trees made from carrots and green peppers. My pictures turned out beautifully here. The first hour was for photos only. We didn’t make a second trip to taste - you reach a point where you just can’t eat anymore. At midnight on all other nights, they served ‘Midnight Delights’ - a variety of appetizers both hot and cold, which were served around the ship. Yum!

FAVOURITE THINGS . . .

Oddly, my favourite shipboard things were not the food, or the service, or the entertainment. My favourites were much simpler. We loved sitting on Deck 5 late in the evening, feet up in the most comfy lounge chairs, listening to the waves, feeling the warm breeze float across us, looking at the stars and distant ships, and falling asleep. Yes folks, we required a nap before bedtime! I loved to walk around Decks 10 and 5, especially in a good breeze. At the bow and stern, the breezes made for what we called a ‘wind tunnel’. Sometimes the wind blew so hard that we could barely walk forward into it. I also loved getting dressed in the morning, doing my hair, cementing it in place with hair spray, then going through the wind tunnel! I had seven bad hair days in a row, and I didn’t even mind, because everyone else had them too. As the cruise progressed, I gave up on the hair spray.

Our other favourite was Carlton Whyte, bar server extraordinaire. He’s a classy, unobtrusive, non-pushy, and just plain nice guy. Say hello from us if you see him.

ROCK-A-BYE-BABY . . .

At one point we were sailing through 20 foot swells, and the ship established a pretty good rocking motion, with a few jolts and bangs thrown in for good measure (this went on for two days). It was very noticeable in the Palladium Theatre which is at the front of the ship, and until you got used to it, it was a bit unsettling (yes, thoughts of Titanic did come to mind). On the pool deck during the day the rocking was a bit scary - I’d watch the horizon rise in slow motion above the railing on one side, then rise above it on the other side, as we rocked from side to side. But overall, the ship sailed smoothly, and the rocking actually made me sleepy.

THE DREADED DEBARKING . . .

The day before we provided some info to our cabin attendant regarding our plans after the cruise. This included the number of bags we would put out, our flight connections for Saturday morning, etc. I indicated that we had no flight to catch, as we were driving to Orlando for a few days before flying home on Monday. We were given red tags for all our bags, and it was a surprise to find our colour called in the first group. I thought that we would be among the last to be let go because we had no timelines to follow. Surprisingly, we were off the ship by 8:30 a.m., made the 30-second walk from the pier to Avis, picked up our rental, and were on our way by 9:00 a.m. The cruise was definitely over. Out with the old and on with the new!

A SUGGESTION . . .

For all you girls out there who just have to have shoes matched to every outfit (like me), forget it! Take something comfy for walking in port and around the ship, you’ll need some water footwear (I found some of the beaches to be a bit rocky - I wore my Teva sandals), and for your dressier outfits, bring a pair of neutral footwear that will go with everything. I wish I had only brought my soft gold sandals (which go with everything), instead of the black, beige, navy, black again, cream .. . . you get the picture.

Another suggestion is to not pack as tightly as we did. I was bound and determined that we each would make due with one mid-sized suitcase and a carry-on (plus a garment bag for the fancier duds). We all managed to adhere to “my” limits, but what a mistake! We were packed so tight that we couldn’t have squeezed an extra pair of socks into our luggage to save our souls. So, pack a little looser - you’ll have more room for your purchases.

As recommended in the ng, I bought a night light for our cabin, but we didn’t need it. We merely left the bathroom light on and left the door open about a half inch. This provided enough light to find your way in the pitch blackness of an inside cabin.

Overall, I think this sums up our first cruise as a truly wonderful vacation. You haven’t lived until you’ve cruised, and now I know first-hand what everyone else raves about. What could be better than no cooking, no cleaning, soaking up the warm sun like a well-fed cat, and being pampered and spoiled on a daily basis. We’re already looking through the brochures to choose our next one, but that’s a few years away. I’d be happy to answer any questions - ask and I shall answer!

Megan