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NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
Well, it's late in coming, but I finally decided I should post my "review"
of my cruise. It is in journal format, and I edited a LOT of the precruise countdown so I didn't bore everyone with that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Friday April 2nd WOW! It's here! Here I sit, at the Albuquerque Airport (known as the Sunport). Our flight leaves in about an hour, and I'm really excited! I stayed up all night last night. Partly out of excitement, partly due to an allergy attack that has me miserable, partly because I miss Alegra, but mostly because I was paranoid we'd oversleep, or the electricity would hiccup and turn off our alarm, or some other catastrophe and we'd miss the flight lol. I'll write a bit more after we arrive in Houston. I'll give a mini review of my first large plane ride. 7:48 am MST Flight: 1 hour 12 minutes Cruise: 1 day 7 hours 12 minutes ==================== Friday April 2nd Well, the flight was nice. Not rough at all. And in fact, I rather enjoyed it. The altitude change as well as the different type of weather in Houston did nothing to help with my head congestion and sinus pain. However, the pain is gone, and now I just have some of the congestion. Which is most likely because of the change in climate as well as altitude. Our hotel is nicer than I expected. It's the Airport Hyatt, and I expected nothing more than just an average run-of-the-mill hotel. But I was pleasantly surprised. The service has, so far, been fantastic. Now it's off to bed for an 8am alarm, then off to the airport again to catch the NCL transfers to the pier. Although I know that I can't board the ship until about 1 pm, I'm still wanting to get to the pier as early as possible (No later than 11 am). Jarrod has decided that he wants to train our digital camera on me that way he can get a couple good shots of my face when I actually see our ship (will post pics I'm sure). I had originally thought I wouldn't eat until boarding the ship, but I think I might get so excited that I'd get lightheaded on an empty stomach, so I've decided to eat some little something :-) More tomorrow night or Sunday to give my "reaction" to the ship. 10:01 pm CST Flight: Gall darn gone and done it Cruise: 17 hours 59 minutes ==================== Saturday April 3rd Cruise day! We checked out of our hotel this morning. It was easy and quick, then we caught the hotels shuttle back to the airport. In fact, we got to the airport at 9. Since we had not purchased our transfers before the cruise, I assumed we'd have to wait until the last bus from the airport. Nope. We were on the second bus (the first filled up fast). I was VERY impressed with how they handled the bus. But I'll get back to that in a second. After checking in at the airport and getting our transfers taken care of, we were told that we'd be found and told when the bus was there. I got worried when it got closer to 10 (when the 1st bus was supposed to leave) and saw only 1 other family with NCL luggage tags. So I walked to where we had checked in at and there was a long line. I was kinda ticked because we had waited close to where the bus would be so we could be one of the first onboard. However, it was made better when they realized that not everyone knew there was a line and so they called for people who had arrived at 8:30 to line up, then the 9 am people, etc... I was VERY impressed with that. It was genius, and very fair to all. The ride to the pier took about 45 minutes. But it wasn't bad. I've been to Houston many times, so I kind of knew my way around as well as what I was seeing, etc. I saw her. Yup. We made a corner (on what seemed a dirt or gravel road) and there she sat. Waiting for me. The Norwegian Sea. Now, I've seen many pictures of the ship, but seeing it in person, it seems cleaner (for lack of a better word). I was in awe. In fact, I got teary eyed :-) After getting off the bus, we made sure our luggage was on the porters cart and then got in line to check in and board the ship. This was at noon. Check in took us about 15 minutes, which seemed pretty fast to me considering there were a lot of people there. Then we went through the security checkpoint. This is where something incredibly funny happened. We had decided to take some alcohol on to save a few bucks in drinks. I chose Rum since it's my favorite. Jarrod doesn't care for rum at all. Anyway, we put the rum in a large water bottle and put it in Jarrod's carry on bag. My way of thinking was it would seem weird to see a previously opened bottle of water in a checked bag. So, carry on made more sense. And since my carry on was my laptop case, I couldn't put it in mine. Ok, so they saw the bottle of water with the scanners. They asked if it was water, and Jarrod said yes. Well, they said that since it was opened, he had to take a drink of it. I assume to make sure it wasn't a lethal liquid of some sort. Well, he complied, and was a trooper. He made no bad face, or gagging sound or anything. I would have vomited right there drinking it straight like that lol. So here we sit in our little cabin. It's rather chilly out so we're both inside getting ready for dinner (putting some long pants on and maybe a sweater for me) I'm very happy at this point. I'll give more review later. 7:37 pm CST ==================== Post cruise. I got so involved in my vacation and cruise experience that I didn't write any more during the cruise. Here it is Monday, April 12th. Yup. We're home. But I'll review as best I can remember. First night: We had a blast. Exhausting as it was, I managed to make it til all of about 10 pm before going to bed lol. It was a very long day. I was drained. During the evening on the ship, we walked around and learned the ship as best we could. We still got turned around from time to time, but for the most part could get to our cabin from any point on the ship without trying too many times to go into the wrong cabin lol. I had the leg of lamb, a cold soup (I cannot remember what it was, but it had Mango in it) as well as other great stuff. I had never had cold soup before, so I was very happy. The Cabin: Atlantic Deck Inside cabin # 3178. It was tiny. But it was cozy. I saw nothing wrong with the size since we literally only used our cabin for naps, changing clothes, showering, and sleeping at night. Plus we used the ships cam on the tv (as the cruise director Kevin called it "The window for inside cabins") lol. Well, we would also used it to make our own rum and cokes lol. Actually, we only had maybe 5 drinks each., The rest we bought. It was well worth it for the atmosphere. However, we opted for the buckets of beer rather than the foo foo drinks I usually have. It was a nice change. Day At Sea: Mostly spent people watching. But we also caught a show. I'm horrible with names, so I can't be sure what it was called. But it was a tribute to award shows basically Movies, Music, Television... you get the picture. We also played bingo this day. We didn't win btw... We went to bed early again. I believe by 11. However, before bed, I found that the promenade deck was just packed. There was an amazingly beautiful thunder storm. Complete with lightening striking the water in the distance. It was strangely romantic and simply beautiful! Of course, I've always found thunderstorms fascinating. But this one was made more special :-) Cozumel: WOW! I loved Cozumel. I think my favorite part of the Cozumel experience was that NCL gave us a list of places to go to, show the list, and we'd receive free stuff. It was kinda like a scavenger hunt for us. We got 2 pair of Tanzenite earrings, a pair of ruby ear rings, a diamond charm bracelet and several charms for the bracelet. All of which we're going to put away for Alegra when she gets older. We also got a cute beach bag from Del Sol and a cute plastic ring from Del Sol for our niece. I'm sure that I'm forgetting some of the free stuff NCL arranged for us to get, but there was a LOT of it! (if you read this far, could you tell me other cruiselines that do this?) After we completed the list, we went back to the ship to drop off our bags, eat, and sober up a bit because it seemed EVERY shop was giving out free shots of tequila lol. So after eating, we went back into town. On our first trip in, we walked to the left all the way to the hotel ally area. We were docked right beside the HAL Zaandam. Pretty ship, huge balconies. But it just seemed like it was missing something compared to the NCL Sea... can't put my finger on it though. So back into town. This time, we walked all the way down to where the Carnival and RCCL ships were docked. Nice ships (I think the Miracle, Conquest, Splendour and Navigator, but I can't be sure about the last RCCL). We were very good and spent very little of our budget in Cozumel. Only bought some shirts and of course shot glasses (We collect shot glasses). Plus I bought a cute bag for the beach. I think all in all, we spent about $40 in Cozumel. But I didn't feel like we missed out on anything. The only negative thing I can think of is that I completely forgot to put on any sunscreen, and got e terrible sunburn. I was only wearing a tanktop and short shorts. I'm not bitter though ;-) It was my first experience in any place like that, and loved everything about it... even the red shoulders lol. In the evening, we sat outside (again) because it was a full moon. Just another thing to make the cruise extra special for me. Of course, a LOT of people were probably thinking the same thing because this evening, all chairs and deck space was taken by people sky watching.. again :-) Roatan: Beautiful. I can see why people rave about Roatan. I was impressed. When we first got to Roatan, the NCL Wind was docked in our spot, so we had to wait for them to move. They tendered the rest of the day, we stayed docked. This was by far the prettiest area to dock in. I loved being able to look over the side of the ship and see coral and also see deep into the water. It was great! (BTW, the water was bluer than I could ever have hoped for!) So we got off the ship, and walked to the fence. Right outside the fence Brad Warren was waiting for us. We loaded our one large suitcase into his truck and off we went to the orphanage. Let me stop here for a sec and say that we have a HUGE "supply" of stuff for the orphanage, but we took 1 large suitcase of educational things and a booster chair for Ana and Brandon to share. That cost us about $50 to take on the airplane, so we weren't able to take everything we have for the kids. However, Brad is getting us in contact with other groups going down so they can take some of our stuff. The kids were great! It was right after lunch, but Brandon and Ana were still eating when we got there. Brad introduced us to his wife Debbie, and we went through all the books, leap pads, and other stuff we brought. While going through the suitcase, Ana finished her lunch and came out, sat in the booster (that one of the ladies had told her was to be hers) grabbed a book and started looking through it. She was beautiful (as were all of the kids). But Ana is an absolute angel! Brad showed us around the complex. He has done some great work for the little time they've been working on it. And it's almost finished! Brad took us back to the dock and we got onto the ship without going into any of the shop areas. We boarded the ship to have lunch and relax a few minutes. We both laid down and woke up at 6 pm! Not sure if it was the exhaustion from Cozumel, the sunburn, the emotional exhaustion of the orphanage, or maybe just the melatonin factor from being in an inside cabin. But we slept HARD! When we woke up, we rushed to get ashore and do a little shopping. We bought a shot glass, a coffee mug and some vanilla. For a grand total of like $5. We wanted to shop more. But didn't have the time due to our overslept nap. We went back to the ship to get changed for dinner. We ended up only eating in the buffet. Which did not disappoint any of the times we ate there. Again, made it a fairly early evening and were in bed by midnight. However, it seemed that most people were making it an early night. Most nights actually. Belize City: By far my favorite port. I loved everything about Belize City. The Tender ride was fun, and nowhere near the 45 minutes 1 way I'd been told about. 10 minutes max. We got off Big Momma (our first tender) and walked around a bit. We bought a few things. Including shot glasses and tshirts. We also got hand made dresses for Alegra. I ended up deciding to get my hair beaded and braided. By Francine. She did a great job, and I still have the braids in my hair. Although I did get sunburned in the zig-zags where the parts are at, and the itching is KILLING me, I will probably make this a normal hairdo for me... between my completely straight hair and the braids, I'll have plenty of differences... At least for Caribbean trips.. (Jarrod has informed me that he is now a Caribbean addict and I should plan on at least 1 cruise and 1 land vacation per year... you can imagine how disappointed I was about that lol). We also bought a few (probably 4 each) Belikin beers. They were great! No aftertaste whatsoever! Whether you like beer or not, if you drink, try one your next trip to Belize (or a bar in your area that carries foreign beer). After getting my "hura did", we walked into the city (the cruisline said a 20 minute walk... we experienced no more than a 3-5 minute walk) We bought a beautiful conch shell decorated with a coral reef and a fish and it says "Belize, C.A." Paid $3 for it, so I didn't feel ripped off at all. I think we spent more money in Belize than any other port. 32 for my hair (25 for the braids, 5 tip and 2 so Francine could buy herself a beer lol) We bought some good stuff though. Probably less touristy souvenirs than we bought in other ports. (My shirt says "You Betta Belize It".. I guess that's their national tourism slogan?). Again, I want to mention that this was our favorite port. Possibly Roatan could surpass it, but we didn't do anything really there, so I can't say for sure. Cancun: Now we go from my favorite port to my least favorite. I liked that you got off the tender and there was white sand beach on both sides. I also liked the scenic tender ride (about 20 minutes IIRC) Past that, I hated Cancun. There was absolutely nothing of interest within walking distance. No shopping (Other than the flea market at the tender pier). There were only a couple places to eat. A Cajun place and Carlos N Charlies. Neither of which interested me. So we walked about 2 miles to the right of the pier (again, I was very turned around on this trip which is unusual for me, so I wasn't sure of the compass direction). There might have been more to do the other way. But not the way we went. Just hotels and 1 large public beach and a few scuba operators. We came back to the pier, shopped a bit, watched a few people bungee jump (I considered it, but they were doing it from the ankles, and I cannot do that due to deteriorated disks in my lower back) We bought another hand crafted dress for Alegra, shirts, some shot glasses, a few other knick knacky things, and boarded the next to last tender to the ship. I was not sorry to leave Cancun. However, I'll get back to some irony in a minute. Last Day at Sea: We laid out, and I got more sun this day. We had some beer, but we exhausted ourselves and ended up going to bed about 11 pm. The pool was closed and the hot tubs were about to be closed, so most people were probably also off to bed anyway. General Random Information: I loved freestyle cruising. One night we sat with a couple about our age, another night we ate with a family of 3 from North Carolina and an older couple. The rest of the time, we had a table for 2. Complaint: We both bought the soda program sticker so we could have unlimited sodas. In the lounges, and showrooms, the waiters that went table to table would ask if we wanted a drink, if we asked for a soda, we were given attitude, and on more than a few occasions, never got our sodas. They were entirely too pushy with asking people if they wanted drinks. At one point, we bought a bucket (football helmet) of beer just so they'd leave us alone... oh nooo. They STILL asked us if we wanted another bucket. It was quite annoying. That said, had we had a slightly larger budget, we both would have had a drink in our hands constantly. Our budget: Last minute we got some bad financial news which ate away at our budget. We ended up with about a $500 budget. We assumed it'd be very hard to come in under budget, but all in all, we spent about $400. We didn't feel like we missed anything. The $400 included souvenirs in port, as well as all of our onboard expenses and tips. Excursion: We didn't do any of them. We decided (Not just because of the budget) to see the real places. Not just what the cruiseline wanted us to see. Had we gotten off the ship earlier in Cancun, I found an operator that could take us to Chichen Itza for $45 each. Amazing deal. I'm still bitter about that as Chichen Itza is a huge dream of mine. This is where the irony I mentioned earlier comes in. We've decided to do a land vacation in Cancun in the near future. I know, sounds weird. But we thought It'd be pretty centralized to do the ruins I want to see as well as other stuff. We were considering doing the land vacation in November this year, but I think it's be fun to do the same cruise again. I have found good rates for a Halloween cruise on the NCL Sea.. In fact, they're cheaper than what we paid for this one. Price: Cruise, Taxes, Airfare, shopping, etc. We came in just under $1800 total. My initial budget JUST for cruise and airfare was $1800. And we were budgeting in about $1000 for expenses. We came in well under our budget. Disembarkation: Ok, so there was a wait. A rather long one in fact. But we didn't have specific areas to wait and in fact could wait in our cabins til our luggage tag color was called. Getting on the shuttles was a pain, but not as bad as people say. I was very aware of what I had heard, and compared it all to what I experienced. People will bitch about the smallest thing. There was absolutely nothing that should have caused anyone to stress out about. But I guess that's just me. There were about 400 youths on board. Only 7 counselors for them. But with the exception of the scavenger hunt on the pool deck and evening movies on a small tv in the sitting areas of some of the decks, we never saw them. Entertainment was ok. I'm an ex-dancer/singer myself, and was a little disappointed with the lack of detail on the performances. What I mean by this is I have a trained eye, and when I see 1 person even 1 count behind another dancer it irritates me... particularly when there's no reason for it other than rough seas (of which we only experienced 1 night and it too wasn't too bad) We sat with some of the dancers on our tender from Cancun, and they seemed nice enough. A little too proud of what they did, but friendly. The Food: Great. I was very impressed. I can't comment on how good it was compared to other places or cruiselines. My goal each night was to have something from each course except dessert. I only ordered stuff I had either never eaten before, or something I had, but didn't like the first try around. My favorite was the Conch Fritters. I tried tiramisu for the first time and loved it. I also liked Baked Alaska. Although I had tried Escargot once before at a fancy Italian restaurant, I decided to try the ships too. It was fabulous. The Italian place was ok, but not that great, and really chewy. The ships was fabulous! I had also had Veal once before, but hated it... and gave it a second try on the ship. Loved it. They had some delicious Salmon wraps. Spicy cream cheese wrapped in smoked salmon. I really liked that, and it was available on the buffet. I wasn't too impressed with the breakfast buffet. But I never ate in one of the restaurants for breakfast. I either slept in, or just wasn't hungry. The buffet had pancakes, which normally I love. but these were made with cinnamon inside them, and this just didn't work for me... maybe another time, but not when I didn't expect it lol. We only ate in the restaurant once for lunch, and it was really good. We never bothered with the casino except to get a soda... it was the closest bar to our cabin. We toyed with the idea of spending $20 each on the slots, but decided to just spend that money in the gift shop. We also never went into the disco except the first night when we were exploring the ship. The one time we started to go in, we walked by and the DJ was playing "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice, and if I remember correctly, it's no longer 1991, so we opted to skip that lol. We also never bother with the Cigar bar or the Le Bistro restaurant. We will try that place next time though for sure. One thing we agreed not to do was use the elevators. Apart from once when we first got onboard and were going to deck 9 where the pool was at and once when our hands were full of juice and we were scared to spill it on the stairs. We used the stairs every other time. My weight stayed the same, but my pants are fitting loose now. So I imagine I lost fat weight and gained muscle in my legs. All in all, this was a terrific first cruise experience for me. Jarrod ranked it much higher than his Viking Serenade cruise in 1995. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I am booking not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 more cruise in the near future! I'm taking the Elation in August or September by myself, then, me Jarrod, Kris and Alegra are all taking a Halloween cruise on the Elation (assuming I find it as kid friendly as I found the Sea). Then, in February, we're taking the Sea again (just me and Jarrod) and then the 4th is still undecided. Possibly the NCL Spirit back top back 5 day and 9 day, but not completely sure. I'm organizing a family group for it, so I have to see what happens between now and then lol Also, we were so touched and moved by the visit to the orphanage that we've decided we need to do some volunteer work in Honduras once Alegra is old enough. Possibly a permanent move even! I'll stop now, if you have any questions, or want to read my pre-cruise countdown (very personally stuff included there), either post here (I'll see it next time I check the NG) or email me at or at LES! |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
I don't know whether to chuckle, wonder about whether you live in a
cave or marvel at the extraordinary fun and adventure you had over the simplest of things. Congrats on your first cruise, LES! dazed and confused Been Dazed and Confused for so long it's not true Wanted a Man never bargained for you. Lots of people talk and few of them know Soul of a woman was created below. On Tue, 11 May 2004 21:44:23 -0600, "LES!" wrote: Well, it's late in coming, but I finally decided I should post my "review" of my cruise. It is in journal format, and I edited a LOT of the precruise countdown so I didn't bore everyone with that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Friday April 2nd WOW! It's here! Here I sit, at the Albuquerque Airport (known as the Sunport). Our flight leaves in about an hour, and I'm really excited! I stayed up all night last night. Partly out of excitement, partly due to an allergy attack that has me miserable, partly because I miss Alegra, but mostly because I was paranoid we'd oversleep, or the electricity would hiccup and turn off our alarm, or some other catastrophe and we'd miss the flight lol. I'll write a bit more after we arrive in Houston. I'll give a mini review of my first large plane ride. 7:48 am MST Flight: 1 hour 12 minutes Cruise: 1 day 7 hours 12 minutes ==================== Friday April 2nd Well, the flight was nice. Not rough at all. And in fact, I rather enjoyed it. The altitude change as well as the different type of weather in Houston did nothing to help with my head congestion and sinus pain. However, the pain is gone, and now I just have some of the congestion. Which is most likely because of the change in climate as well as altitude. Our hotel is nicer than I expected. It's the Airport Hyatt, and I expected nothing more than just an average run-of-the-mill hotel. But I was pleasantly surprised. The service has, so far, been fantastic. Now it's off to bed for an 8am alarm, then off to the airport again to catch the NCL transfers to the pier. Although I know that I can't board the ship until about 1 pm, I'm still wanting to get to the pier as early as possible (No later than 11 am). Jarrod has decided that he wants to train our digital camera on me that way he can get a couple good shots of my face when I actually see our ship (will post pics I'm sure). I had originally thought I wouldn't eat until boarding the ship, but I think I might get so excited that I'd get lightheaded on an empty stomach, so I've decided to eat some little something :-) More tomorrow night or Sunday to give my "reaction" to the ship. 10:01 pm CST Flight: Gall darn gone and done it Cruise: 17 hours 59 minutes ==================== Saturday April 3rd Cruise day! We checked out of our hotel this morning. It was easy and quick, then we caught the hotels shuttle back to the airport. In fact, we got to the airport at 9. Since we had not purchased our transfers before the cruise, I assumed we'd have to wait until the last bus from the airport. Nope. We were on the second bus (the first filled up fast). I was VERY impressed with how they handled the bus. But I'll get back to that in a second. After checking in at the airport and getting our transfers taken care of, we were told that we'd be found and told when the bus was there. I got worried when it got closer to 10 (when the 1st bus was supposed to leave) and saw only 1 other family with NCL luggage tags. So I walked to where we had checked in at and there was a long line. I was kinda ticked because we had waited close to where the bus would be so we could be one of the first onboard. However, it was made better when they realized that not everyone knew there was a line and so they called for people who had arrived at 8:30 to line up, then the 9 am people, etc... I was VERY impressed with that. It was genius, and very fair to all. The ride to the pier took about 45 minutes. But it wasn't bad. I've been to Houston many times, so I kind of knew my way around as well as what I was seeing, etc. I saw her. Yup. We made a corner (on what seemed a dirt or gravel road) and there she sat. Waiting for me. The Norwegian Sea. Now, I've seen many pictures of the ship, but seeing it in person, it seems cleaner (for lack of a better word). I was in awe. In fact, I got teary eyed :-) After getting off the bus, we made sure our luggage was on the porters cart and then got in line to check in and board the ship. This was at noon. Check in took us about 15 minutes, which seemed pretty fast to me considering there were a lot of people there. Then we went through the security checkpoint. This is where something incredibly funny happened. We had decided to take some alcohol on to save a few bucks in drinks. I chose Rum since it's my favorite. Jarrod doesn't care for rum at all. Anyway, we put the rum in a large water bottle and put it in Jarrod's carry on bag. My way of thinking was it would seem weird to see a previously opened bottle of water in a checked bag. So, carry on made more sense. And since my carry on was my laptop case, I couldn't put it in mine. Ok, so they saw the bottle of water with the scanners. They asked if it was water, and Jarrod said yes. Well, they said that since it was opened, he had to take a drink of it. I assume to make sure it wasn't a lethal liquid of some sort. Well, he complied, and was a trooper. He made no bad face, or gagging sound or anything. I would have vomited right there drinking it straight like that lol. So here we sit in our little cabin. It's rather chilly out so we're both inside getting ready for dinner (putting some long pants on and maybe a sweater for me) I'm very happy at this point. I'll give more review later. 7:37 pm CST ==================== Post cruise. I got so involved in my vacation and cruise experience that I didn't write any more during the cruise. Here it is Monday, April 12th. Yup. We're home. But I'll review as best I can remember. First night: We had a blast. Exhausting as it was, I managed to make it til all of about 10 pm before going to bed lol. It was a very long day. I was drained. During the evening on the ship, we walked around and learned the ship as best we could. We still got turned around from time to time, but for the most part could get to our cabin from any point on the ship without trying too many times to go into the wrong cabin lol. I had the leg of lamb, a cold soup (I cannot remember what it was, but it had Mango in it) as well as other great stuff. I had never had cold soup before, so I was very happy. The Cabin: Atlantic Deck Inside cabin # 3178. It was tiny. But it was cozy. I saw nothing wrong with the size since we literally only used our cabin for naps, changing clothes, showering, and sleeping at night. Plus we used the ships cam on the tv (as the cruise director Kevin called it "The window for inside cabins") lol. Well, we would also used it to make our own rum and cokes lol. Actually, we only had maybe 5 drinks each., The rest we bought. It was well worth it for the atmosphere. However, we opted for the buckets of beer rather than the foo foo drinks I usually have. It was a nice change. Day At Sea: Mostly spent people watching. But we also caught a show. I'm horrible with names, so I can't be sure what it was called. But it was a tribute to award shows basically Movies, Music, Television... you get the picture. We also played bingo this day. We didn't win btw... We went to bed early again. I believe by 11. However, before bed, I found that the promenade deck was just packed. There was an amazingly beautiful thunder storm. Complete with lightening striking the water in the distance. It was strangely romantic and simply beautiful! Of course, I've always found thunderstorms fascinating. But this one was made more special :-) Cozumel: WOW! I loved Cozumel. I think my favorite part of the Cozumel experience was that NCL gave us a list of places to go to, show the list, and we'd receive free stuff. It was kinda like a scavenger hunt for us. We got 2 pair of Tanzenite earrings, a pair of ruby ear rings, a diamond charm bracelet and several charms for the bracelet. All of which we're going to put away for Alegra when she gets older. We also got a cute beach bag from Del Sol and a cute plastic ring from Del Sol for our niece. I'm sure that I'm forgetting some of the free stuff NCL arranged for us to get, but there was a LOT of it! (if you read this far, could you tell me other cruiselines that do this?) After we completed the list, we went back to the ship to drop off our bags, eat, and sober up a bit because it seemed EVERY shop was giving out free shots of tequila lol. So after eating, we went back into town. On our first trip in, we walked to the left all the way to the hotel ally area. We were docked right beside the HAL Zaandam. Pretty ship, huge balconies. But it just seemed like it was missing something compared to the NCL Sea... can't put my finger on it though. So back into town. This time, we walked all the way down to where the Carnival and RCCL ships were docked. Nice ships (I think the Miracle, Conquest, Splendour and Navigator, but I can't be sure about the last RCCL). We were very good and spent very little of our budget in Cozumel. Only bought some shirts and of course shot glasses (We collect shot glasses). Plus I bought a cute bag for the beach. I think all in all, we spent about $40 in Cozumel. But I didn't feel like we missed out on anything. The only negative thing I can think of is that I completely forgot to put on any sunscreen, and got e terrible sunburn. I was only wearing a tanktop and short shorts. I'm not bitter though ;-) It was my first experience in any place like that, and loved everything about it... even the red shoulders lol. In the evening, we sat outside (again) because it was a full moon. Just another thing to make the cruise extra special for me. Of course, a LOT of people were probably thinking the same thing because this evening, all chairs and deck space was taken by people sky watching.. again :-) Roatan: Beautiful. I can see why people rave about Roatan. I was impressed. When we first got to Roatan, the NCL Wind was docked in our spot, so we had to wait for them to move. They tendered the rest of the day, we stayed docked. This was by far the prettiest area to dock in. I loved being able to look over the side of the ship and see coral and also see deep into the water. It was great! (BTW, the water was bluer than I could ever have hoped for!) So we got off the ship, and walked to the fence. Right outside the fence Brad Warren was waiting for us. We loaded our one large suitcase into his truck and off we went to the orphanage. Let me stop here for a sec and say that we have a HUGE "supply" of stuff for the orphanage, but we took 1 large suitcase of educational things and a booster chair for Ana and Brandon to share. That cost us about $50 to take on the airplane, so we weren't able to take everything we have for the kids. However, Brad is getting us in contact with other groups going down so they can take some of our stuff. The kids were great! It was right after lunch, but Brandon and Ana were still eating when we got there. Brad introduced us to his wife Debbie, and we went through all the books, leap pads, and other stuff we brought. While going through the suitcase, Ana finished her lunch and came out, sat in the booster (that one of the ladies had told her was to be hers) grabbed a book and started looking through it. She was beautiful (as were all of the kids). But Ana is an absolute angel! Brad showed us around the complex. He has done some great work for the little time they've been working on it. And it's almost finished! Brad took us back to the dock and we got onto the ship without going into any of the shop areas. We boarded the ship to have lunch and relax a few minutes. We both laid down and woke up at 6 pm! Not sure if it was the exhaustion from Cozumel, the sunburn, the emotional exhaustion of the orphanage, or maybe just the melatonin factor from being in an inside cabin. But we slept HARD! When we woke up, we rushed to get ashore and do a little shopping. We bought a shot glass, a coffee mug and some vanilla. For a grand total of like $5. We wanted to shop more. But didn't have the time due to our overslept nap. We went back to the ship to get changed for dinner. We ended up only eating in the buffet. Which did not disappoint any of the times we ate there. Again, made it a fairly early evening and were in bed by midnight. However, it seemed that most people were making it an early night. Most nights actually. Belize City: By far my favorite port. I loved everything about Belize City. The Tender ride was fun, and nowhere near the 45 minutes 1 way I'd been told about. 10 minutes max. We got off Big Momma (our first tender) and walked around a bit. We bought a few things. Including shot glasses and tshirts. We also got hand made dresses for Alegra. I ended up deciding to get my hair beaded and braided. By Francine. She did a great job, and I still have the braids in my hair. Although I did get sunburned in the zig-zags where the parts are at, and the itching is KILLING me, I will probably make this a normal hairdo for me... between my completely straight hair and the braids, I'll have plenty of differences... At least for Caribbean trips.. (Jarrod has informed me that he is now a Caribbean addict and I should plan on at least 1 cruise and 1 land vacation per year... you can imagine how disappointed I was about that lol). We also bought a few (probably 4 each) Belikin beers. They were great! No aftertaste whatsoever! Whether you like beer or not, if you drink, try one your next trip to Belize (or a bar in your area that carries foreign beer). After getting my "hura did", we walked into the city (the cruisline said a 20 minute walk... we experienced no more than a 3-5 minute walk) We bought a beautiful conch shell decorated with a coral reef and a fish and it says "Belize, C.A." Paid $3 for it, so I didn't feel ripped off at all. I think we spent more money in Belize than any other port. 32 for my hair (25 for the braids, 5 tip and 2 so Francine could buy herself a beer lol) We bought some good stuff though. Probably less touristy souvenirs than we bought in other ports. (My shirt says "You Betta Belize It".. I guess that's their national tourism slogan?). Again, I want to mention that this was our favorite port. Possibly Roatan could surpass it, but we didn't do anything really there, so I can't say for sure. Cancun: Now we go from my favorite port to my least favorite. I liked that you got off the tender and there was white sand beach on both sides. I also liked the scenic tender ride (about 20 minutes IIRC) Past that, I hated Cancun. There was absolutely nothing of interest within walking distance. No shopping (Other than the flea market at the tender pier). There were only a couple places to eat. A Cajun place and Carlos N Charlies. Neither of which interested me. So we walked about 2 miles to the right of the pier (again, I was very turned around on this trip which is unusual for me, so I wasn't sure of the compass direction). There might have been more to do the other way. But not the way we went. Just hotels and 1 large public beach and a few scuba operators. We came back to the pier, shopped a bit, watched a few people bungee jump (I considered it, but they were doing it from the ankles, and I cannot do that due to deteriorated disks in my lower back) We bought another hand crafted dress for Alegra, shirts, some shot glasses, a few other knick knacky things, and boarded the next to last tender to the ship. I was not sorry to leave Cancun. However, I'll get back to some irony in a minute. Last Day at Sea: We laid out, and I got more sun this day. We had some beer, but we exhausted ourselves and ended up going to bed about 11 pm. The pool was closed and the hot tubs were about to be closed, so most people were probably also off to bed anyway. General Random Information: I loved freestyle cruising. One night we sat with a couple about our age, another night we ate with a family of 3 from North Carolina and an older couple. The rest of the time, we had a table for 2. Complaint: We both bought the soda program sticker so we could have unlimited sodas. In the lounges, and showrooms, the waiters that went table to table would ask if we wanted a drink, if we asked for a soda, we were given attitude, and on more than a few occasions, never got our sodas. They were entirely too pushy with asking people if they wanted drinks. At one point, we bought a bucket (football helmet) of beer just so they'd leave us alone... oh nooo. They STILL asked us if we wanted another bucket. It was quite annoying. That said, had we had a slightly larger budget, we both would have had a drink in our hands constantly. Our budget: Last minute we got some bad financial news which ate away at our budget. We ended up with about a $500 budget. We assumed it'd be very hard to come in under budget, but all in all, we spent about $400. We didn't feel like we missed anything. The $400 included souvenirs in port, as well as all of our onboard expenses and tips. Excursion: We didn't do any of them. We decided (Not just because of the budget) to see the real places. Not just what the cruiseline wanted us to see. Had we gotten off the ship earlier in Cancun, I found an operator that could take us to Chichen Itza for $45 each. Amazing deal. I'm still bitter about that as Chichen Itza is a huge dream of mine. This is where the irony I mentioned earlier comes in. We've decided to do a land vacation in Cancun in the near future. I know, sounds weird. But we thought It'd be pretty centralized to do the ruins I want to see as well as other stuff. We were considering doing the land vacation in November this year, but I think it's be fun to do the same cruise again. I have found good rates for a Halloween cruise on the NCL Sea.. In fact, they're cheaper than what we paid for this one. Price: Cruise, Taxes, Airfare, shopping, etc. We came in just under $1800 total. My initial budget JUST for cruise and airfare was $1800. And we were budgeting in about $1000 for expenses. We came in well under our budget. Disembarkation: Ok, so there was a wait. A rather long one in fact. But we didn't have specific areas to wait and in fact could wait in our cabins til our luggage tag color was called. Getting on the shuttles was a pain, but not as bad as people say. I was very aware of what I had heard, and compared it all to what I experienced. People will bitch about the smallest thing. There was absolutely nothing that should have caused anyone to stress out about. But I guess that's just me. There were about 400 youths on board. Only 7 counselors for them. But with the exception of the scavenger hunt on the pool deck and evening movies on a small tv in the sitting areas of some of the decks, we never saw them. Entertainment was ok. I'm an ex-dancer/singer myself, and was a little disappointed with the lack of detail on the performances. What I mean by this is I have a trained eye, and when I see 1 person even 1 count behind another dancer it irritates me... particularly when there's no reason for it other than rough seas (of which we only experienced 1 night and it too wasn't too bad) We sat with some of the dancers on our tender from Cancun, and they seemed nice enough. A little too proud of what they did, but friendly. The Food: Great. I was very impressed. I can't comment on how good it was compared to other places or cruiselines. My goal each night was to have something from each course except dessert. I only ordered stuff I had either never eaten before, or something I had, but didn't like the first try around. My favorite was the Conch Fritters. I tried tiramisu for the first time and loved it. I also liked Baked Alaska. Although I had tried Escargot once before at a fancy Italian restaurant, I decided to try the ships too. It was fabulous. The Italian place was ok, but not that great, and really chewy. The ships was fabulous! I had also had Veal once before, but hated it... and gave it a second try on the ship. Loved it. They had some delicious Salmon wraps. Spicy cream cheese wrapped in smoked salmon. I really liked that, and it was available on the buffet. I wasn't too impressed with the breakfast buffet. But I never ate in one of the restaurants for breakfast. I either slept in, or just wasn't hungry. The buffet had pancakes, which normally I love. but these were made with cinnamon inside them, and this just didn't work for me... maybe another time, but not when I didn't expect it lol. We only ate in the restaurant once for lunch, and it was really good. We never bothered with the casino except to get a soda... it was the closest bar to our cabin. We toyed with the idea of spending $20 each on the slots, but decided to just spend that money in the gift shop. We also never went into the disco except the first night when we were exploring the ship. The one time we started to go in, we walked by and the DJ was playing "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice, and if I remember correctly, it's no longer 1991, so we opted to skip that lol. We also never bother with the Cigar bar or the Le Bistro restaurant. We will try that place next time though for sure. One thing we agreed not to do was use the elevators. Apart from once when we first got onboard and were going to deck 9 where the pool was at and once when our hands were full of juice and we were scared to spill it on the stairs. We used the stairs every other time. My weight stayed the same, but my pants are fitting loose now. So I imagine I lost fat weight and gained muscle in my legs. All in all, this was a terrific first cruise experience for me. Jarrod ranked it much higher than his Viking Serenade cruise in 1995. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I am booking not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 more cruise in the near future! I'm taking the Elation in August or September by myself, then, me Jarrod, Kris and Alegra are all taking a Halloween cruise on the Elation (assuming I find it as kid friendly as I found the Sea). Then, in February, we're taking the Sea again (just me and Jarrod) and then the 4th is still undecided. Possibly the NCL Spirit back top back 5 day and 9 day, but not completely sure. I'm organizing a family group for it, so I have to see what happens between now and then lol Also, we were so touched and moved by the visit to the orphanage that we've decided we need to do some volunteer work in Honduras once Alegra is old enough. Possibly a permanent move even! I'll stop now, if you have any questions, or want to read my pre-cruise countdown (very personally stuff included there), either post here (I'll see it next time I check the NG) or email me at or at LES! |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
Well, it's late in coming, but I finally decided I should post my "review"
of my cruise. It is in journal format, and I edited a LOT of the precruise countdown so I didn't bore everyone with that. Nice to *see* you, Les, and happy to hear that your first cruise experience was a good one. It truly sounds like you really enjoyed your trip! Hope all is well with you, and I'm sure that Allegra is thriving, with such wonderful parents. I'm sure that you must have missed her terribly... |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
Cool review, Les. It was fun looking at a cruise through the eyes of a
newbie once again. Glad you had a great time, dude. Howie LES! wrote: Well, it's late in coming, but I finally decided I should post my "review" of my cruise. It is in journal format, and I edited a LOT of the precruise countdown so I didn't bore everyone with that. |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
Let, thanks for sharing your cruise with us. I enjoyed reading your
well-written review and took pleasure in your pleasure. Here's to many more wonderful cruises! Eileen |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
Welcome back Les. Glad to hear you are now as addicted to cruising as
the rest of us LOL Good review - you concentrated on the positive and had a great time Mary in NC ---hopes to meet Les, Alega and Jarrod someday on a cruise :-) |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
I really, really enjoyed this cruise review. Your excitement, awe,
wonder was contagious - I felt myself smiling as I was reading. So glad your first cruise was so special for you. Lee |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
First time cruise reviews are frequently among the most fun to read.
Thanks for the review. Ahh... another one hooked. Welcome to the club. --Tom "LES!" wrote in message ... Well, it's late in coming, but I finally decided I should post my "review" of my cruise. It is in journal format, and I edited a LOT of the precruise countdown so I didn't bore everyone with that. |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
Les, what a wonderful time you had! Thanks for sharing your experience with us! Seeing cruising through a first-timer's eyes reminds me of why I love cruise vacations. Welcome to a happy addiction! ==Annie by the Bay ...if I can't cruise real-time, I can at least do it vicariously through a good trip report |
NCL Sea 4-3-04 - 4-10-04 (Very Long)
The Sea is the ship that got me hooked on cruising 10 years ago. Glad you had
such a great time. Jo ~ sorry the Sea will be leaving North America; hopes CD Kevin Warner will stay here |
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