Monthly Archives: October 2019

Our Norwegian Cruise to the Bahama Islands

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Summary:  A Unique Experience, To Be Sure

This past week Debbie and I did something we’ve never done before and something I said I had no interest in: we went on an all-inclusive ocean cruise.

It was back in June when our friends David & Deb let us know they’d found a very good deal on a short Norwegian Cruise Line excursion off of Florida’s east coast with ports of call in Key West and three islands in the Bahamas: Freeport at Grand Bahama, Nassau in New Providence, and the Great Stirrup Cay in the Berry Islands. This cruise was originally scheduled for a port of call at Havana, Cuba, but all of that came to an end in early June and cruise lines like NCL were left scrambling to refill staterooms as their Cuba-bound guests began to cancel their trip.

We mulled it over, noting that we were already committed to a short-notice, 10-day catamaran cruise in the British Virgin Islands with our friends Ryan & Jeanette for July.  We really didn’t have two “big trips” in our budget and, as I said, the idea of being on a “booze cruise” has never been all that appealing.  However, life’s too short not to seize upon opportunities as they present themselves, so on 22 June we booked the cruise and blocked-out our calendars for 28 September through 5 October.

We headed to Florida for the cruise last Saturday, 28 September, with David & Deb. David had always planned on making the 8-hour drive to Port Canaveral so there was no added expense for airfare. But, we had expenses for two nights in hotels and incidental costs for fuel, parking and meals, noting we were going to add an extra day to the pre-cruise drive so we could spend a 1/2 day at the Kennedy Space Center on 29 September.  The drive down to Daytona Beach on the 28th was uneventful and we had a great evening with dinner at the Ocean Overlook Restaurant and Tiki Bar, then had the unexpected pleasure of a live concert at the Daytona Beach band shell by a Pink Floyd tribute band we watched from Sloppy Joe’s bar at the nearby entertainment complex.

The visit to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Sunday, 29 September, was well worth the added expense and extra night of lodging ahead of our cruise.  In fact, I’m pretty sure we’ll go back for a follow-up visit at some point as there was just so much to see and do at the KSC Visitor’s Complex.  We ended the day with dinner at the Pier 220 restaurant in Titusville, a place we found during a trip we made in May.

The cruise was definitely a new experience for me.  I think Debbie enjoyed it and probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn’t been struggling with insomnia and stressed out by certain aspects of the cruising experience since I tried not to grouse out loud and, instead, vented to her while we were alone.  But, thinking back on it:

  • We enjoyed our time with David & Deb, that’s for certain.
  • We also had a chance to meet and chat with quite a few other very nice and interesting guests, which was really great: it’s what we always look forward to when we step out into large, diverse groups of people.
  • There were a couple of really talented entertainers on the ship, André and Jason, who spent most of their time entertaining guests in the Windjammer Lounge and, well, that’s where we always seemed to end up each night.
  • Being a smaller ship, we found it very easy to get places quickly and never got lost which was nice. 
  • The overwhelmingly Filipino staff was, in general, very good, attentive to our needs and several of the bar keepers and waiters and waitresses were truly exceptional and a joy to interact with.
  • Thankfully for us, the ship was well below full-capacity such that, other than the first day when we boarded and all of the guests were in common areas awaiting the release of their staterooms, we never felt like it was too crowded or that waiting lines for meals, etc., were too long.
  • As for the ports of call:
    • The very short visit to Key West in Florida late in the afternoon didn’t give us much time to do anything new noting we’d already visited the various tourist attractions that most of the guests headed towards during our past visits.
    • We lost the stop at Freeport on Grand Bahama when hurricane Dorian devastated the island and port back on 2 September.  However, we actually enjoyed the day at sea that replaced that particular port-of-call.
    • We did have enough time on Nassau on New Providence to get out and see a few sights while stretching our legs which was nice.
    • Great Stirrup Cay was also nice in that it gave us a chance to wiggle our toes in the sand and ocean, enjoy some sun, or do some exploring while still enjoying some of the food and beverage amenities we had on the ship.

So, will I do another one?  Frankly, I’m still not sure.  I think Debbie is up for a second cruise, perhaps the Western Caribbean going out of Miami.  But, then again, she’s also ready for a return to the British Virgin Islands so travel may truly be her growing passion.  Therefore, it really comes back to me and the jury is still out on future cruise ship trips as I continue to reflect on this experience before signing on for another cruise.

Now, on to the details from each day and a few photos.  Note that some of the photos are one’s either I or David took during our 7-day adventure, but there are also quite a few “stock photos” I’ve porached and included from the Internet, hopefully in good taste and in accordance with the Fair Use Act: my thanks to those who do freely share their photos for non-commercial users like myself.

Pre-Departure: Getting Ready to Leave on Saturday

On Wednesday, we ended up having dinner with our friends David & Deb over at Ceilo Blue for one last pre-trip discussion ahead of our 9:00am departure for Daytona and Orlando on Saturday.  It was a great time as always and we’re just about ready to begin packing for the 7-day adventure including 5-days on the high seas in a somewhat more spacious vessel than the 42′ catamaran we shared with our friends Ryan & Jeanette back in July.  Of course, there were just 5 of us on the catamaran whereas we’ll be sharing the cruise ship with 2,600 other people so we’ll see how that works out.

Friday was all about getting ready for our trip with David & Deb.  Most of what we did was a bunch of “this and that” and nothing really all that interesting.

Saturday: The Adventure Begins With the Drive to Daytona Beach

As usual, I was up at 6:00am and got to work finishing up a short Weekly Journal to cover Monday through Friday so I could get that out in the mailbox and off to my parents since we’d be somewhat incommunicado for the next 7 days.  I will say, I was not feeling all that great and even a little breakfast didn’t do all that much to help perk me up.

Debbie was up a short time later and we had all of our final packing done and our three pieces of luggage downstairs well ahead of our planned departure at 9:00am. David & Deb were coming by to pick us up for the 7-hour trip down to Daytona Beach, Florida, where we’d spend the night near the Boardwalk. This would give us a short, one-hour drive to Titusville where we’d tour the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Sunday and then spend the night before heading to Port Canaveral where we’d embark on the Norwegian Sun for our 5-day cruise to Key West and Bahamas.

It was a relatively uneventful but long drive down to Daytona.  We stopped at an Applebee’s in Tifton, Georgia, for lunch and made two other short stops for bio breaks and to refuel David’s truck before arriving at Hilton’s Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort at 4:30pm.  David & Deb have stayed there a few times in the past and it was our first visit. Quite honestly, for a luxury hotel, the Hilton was looking very tired and in need of a refresh.  Thankfully, due to David’s generosity with his travel points, we wouldn’t be paying the full rate and, well, the view was pretty nice.

It was around 5:30pm when we headed out along the Daytona Boardwalk and made our way 3 blocks to one of our favorite places, the Ocean Overlook Restaurant and Tiki Bar for cocktails and dinner.  As we made our way we came to the 43-year old Mayan Inn on Ocean Boulevard next to the Ocean Overlook and saw it was undergoing renovation and a name change after being sold for $10.5M back in April.  It has changed owners a few times over the years, but the distinctive bright yellow & red hotel with it’s Aztec theme always remained the same and was a permanent landmark near the Daytona Boardwalk and Pier. Somehow a ‘Comfort Inn’ just won’t have the same panaché as the funky yellow and red Mayan Inn.

When we arrived at the Tiki Bar the afternoon karaoke DJ was spinning for the last singer of the day who was actually very, very good.  The music was a bit loud, but that’s sort of what we expect at the Tiki bar. We found a couple seats near the back patio that was open to the beach so we had a lovely view, a nice breeze and it helped to keep the sound down a bit.  Our waitress was Jenny-on-the-spot which is true of nearly all of our visits to the Tiki Bar and, after a round of cocktails, we had our dinners in front of us as the DJ began the early evening entertainment.  David & I enjoyed the 10oz Top Sirloin steaks while Debbie had a lovely Salmon and Deb had the Ahi Tuna.  Everything was wonderful, especially the view, which is one of the reasons we keep going back for dinner.  It’s just a fun place with a great vibe, good food and not all that expensive.

From the Tiki Bar we headed back towards the Bandshell and entertainment complex where we camped-out at the Daytona Sloppy Joe’s bar and listened to the final night of music in Daytona’s Summer Concert Series.

The band Wall of Echoes, a Pink Floyd tribute band, was performing and they were quite good. In fact, it’s worth archiving the entire list of bands from the 19-week / 42-night long concert series so here they are:

We called it a night after Sloppy Joe’s, but it was a great way to end the day.

Sunday: A Visit to the Kennedy Space Center

I was up early but did my best not to disturb Debbie as we weren’t scheduled to meet David & Deb for breakfast until around 9:00am.  So, the vacation blog updates for Friday and Saturday wouldn’t get done until perhaps Monday.  We had about a 15-minute wait for a table as we apparently hit the restaurant at “rush hour” but it gave our friends enough time to catch up and join us at 9:20am. It was a good breakfast, but the kind of food that leaves us feeling a bit bloated, e.g., higher in fat and sodium than what we normally eat.

It was around 11:00am when we headed out to collect David’s truck from the valet and then make out way over to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at Cape Canaveral, Florida.  It was just over an hour’s drive to the KSC Visitor Center parking lot.

The minute we arrived it was very apparent NASA had turned-over the operation of their visitor center & tours to a 3rd party, commercial firm, Delaware North, as it had the look and feel of Universal Studios more so than a US Government managed facility.  It’s not that it was a bad thing, but it definitely had that “shopping mall” or “tourist park” aura about it where everything other than the truly amazing history, images and hardware that our U.S. tax dollars paid for was good but not great and geared towards up-selling and revenue generation.

Note: It was a bit odd, if not disconcerting, to see the KSC Security folks dressed-out for “combat” with full camo gear, body armor toting GAU-5A (aka, AR-15) at the visitor complex given the current national security posture.  Then again, I’m fairly sure the “security” at KSC is also outsourced and managed by Wackenhut, EG&G or one of the other 3rd party logistics and support companies that are used by a lot of our federal agencies. The militarization of our police forces is just one of those things that doesn’t sit well with me as police are supposed to serve a very different function from the military and that requires a different mindset.

Setting aside those initial impressions, I will say it was well worth the visit to see in person all of the very historic space vehicles, support equipment and launch facilities I’ve only otherwise seen at KSC watching the always televised space launches during the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs since the early 1960’s.  I’d seen a lot of similar NASA hardware from the space program at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and spent a lot of time at Edwards Air Force Base, to include being on hand and working “security” during two shuttle landings, but that’s a far cry from seeing the massive Saturn V rocket, the Vehicle Assembly Building, launch pads and Mobile Launch Platform “crawlers” that reside at KSC.

Here’s what we ended up doing during our 4.5 hour visit to KSC, noting that it would be very easy to spend several days seeing and doing “everything” there is available, albeit sometimes at an additional cost:

  • The Bus Tour:  A motorcoach with a very entertaining driver and tour guide took us for a window tour of the KSC Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), Launch Control Center and Launch Complex 39 where we found the 2nd of the two crawlers sitting at Launch Pad 39B.  The bus tour is definitely a must-do at the visitor’s center as that’s the only way you can see some of the most interesting things at KSC, e.g., the VAB, Launch Complex 39, crawlers and an actual Saturn V rocket.

  • The Apollo / Saturn V Center: The bus dropped us off at the Apollo / Saturn V Rocket visitor center where one of the three remaining and unused Saturn V Rockets remains on display.  I’m somewhat torn that there are three “excess” Saturn V rockets as, in current-year dollars, they would cost nearly $1.6 billion dollars each to build and are now merely displays but, they are impressive.  While at the Apollo / Saturn V visitor center we also saw an Apollo Command module, a Lunar Module, a couple of Lunar Rovers and had lunch at the Moon Rock Café.  Let me note, the 1st photo below was taken by David with his phone and it’s rather spectacular, gallery-quality to be sure and captures the scale of the Saturn V.

  • Atlantis Visitor Center: After the return trip by bus from the Apollo / Saturn V Center, we walked to the nearby Atlantis Center where we had a chance to see the now-retired Space Shuttle Atlantis.  While not as awe-inspiring at the Apollo / Saturn V launch vehicle, the Space Shuttle is truly an amazing machine in terms of what they were able to do with them. As to whether or not they were cost effective, the commercial entry of Space-X and the various other commercial partnerships between NASA, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, Space-X and now Blue Origin will tell.

  • What We Didn’t See:  A lot…  Again, you could easily spend two full days at the Space Center seeing and doing everything there is to see and do.  It’s not inexpensive at $57 per person, although as Seniors we were able to get our tickets for a mere $50 per person.  But, definitely a must-see for anyone with a passing interest in what was accomplished as well as the scale of the U.S. Space Program.

From the KSC we headed over to our hotel for the night, the Titusville Hampton Inn.  After checking in and getting settled for the one-night stay before we headed to our cruise ship on Monday, we made our way over to Pier 220 restaurant at Sand Point next to the A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway Bridge in Titusville.  Debbie and I discovered Pier 220 when we came down to Titusville in May so we could spend a day enjoying the Canaveral National Seashore and it did not disappoint.  We had a great time, a great meal and got to enjoy some great live reggae music while we were there.  It was around 8:15pm when we headed back to the hotel as Pier 220 closes around 8:00pm on Sundays, depending on how busy they are.  The crowd was definitely thinning as the gals working the bar made it pretty obvious they were ready to call it a night and had started cleaning up and shutting things down.

We finished our day with Debbie watching Sunday Night Football and me catching up on email and the like.

Monday – Day 1: Departure from Port Canaveral & Exploring the Norwegian Sun

I made the mistake of falling asleep around 9:30pm and found myself awake at 1:30am.  I did my best not to disturb Debbie while still trying to rest until giving up at 6:00am when I headed down to the Hampton Inn’s lobby breakfast bar so I could allow Debbie to sleep a bit longer.  It also allowed me to get caught up on my journal and take care of some banking and other on-line activity before we left port on the Norwegian Sun as I was making a conscious effort to not have WiFi and be off-line for a few days. It was a little before 8:00am when Debbie came and joined me.

Just before 10:00 we had ourselves repacked and the bags down at David’s truck.  David & Deb came out with their bags moments later and, after getting our special cruise ship baggage tags affixed to our luggage, we rolled-out of the parking lot and make the 25-minute drive to the Port Canaveral cruise ship terminal.

It wasn’t an all-that different process from checking in at the airport with a bag drop, then parking in a nearby parking structure with a short walk to the security screening and cruise check-in desks.  The key to fast processing was having your cruise documents and passports out, which we did. And, well, not having too much “stuff” in your carry-on bag.  The cruise line suggests taking anything you’ll need for the first few hours of your time on the ship with you as it usually takes them several hours to get the state rooms ready for guests and luggage moved out of the baggage hold to the 968 state rooms.  Given we’d spend most of our early time exploring the ship, participating in the lifeboat drill and having lunch, we figured we’d only need some pool attire, if that.  So, we were in good shape using my computer bag as our one carry-on.

After clearing the check-in process and receiving our on-board ID / room key / charge cards we spent about 40 minutes sitting in the pre-boarding area. That gave me enough time to set-up the NCL smart phone app that would allow us to see the daily schedule of activities and also included an on-ship messaging system that would allow David and me to keep in touch and coordinate meeting times and places.  Like a lot of things, NCL provides this at an additional cost but it was worth it.

The ship was a bit of a crowded mess once we were aboard given none of the guests could go to their staterooms.  What that meant is all 1,700 guests either headed to bars for a drink or lunch at one of the five restaurants. We eventually did likewise and after lunch we found our go-to bar for the cruise… the Sports Bar on Deck 11 at the aft end of the ship.  Our bar keepers were Keith and Leeno and we stayed there until we were told we could go to our staterooms at 2:00pm, just about 40 minutes ahead of the muster / lifeboat drill.

Our room was located on the starboard side of Deck 8 near the bow and was the furthest-forward balcony stateroom. We still didn’t have our luggage, but it was good to see where our room was. Interestingly enough, we had been placed in a handicap accessible room which meant it was twice as large as the other balcony staterooms, to include the bathroom.  In fact, I’d describe it as being about the same size as a normal hotel room, so that was nice.  Our friends, David & Deb’s stateroom was on Deck 10 at the completely opposite end of the ship, which was a running joke as our booking agent said she said she’d make sure we had rooms that were close to each other and, no kidding, our rooms were literally as far apart as any two balcony suites could be on this particular ship.

We stayed in our room until they kicked off the lifeboat drill at 2:45pm, a pre-departure exercise mandated by United Nations International Maritime Organization’s Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations, adopted following the sinking of the Titanic. At the start of the drill all 1,700 guests were required to head to Deck 6 where all of the lifeboats are launched, “muster” at a pre-designated lifeboat station and practice being positioned for the 5 across seating in the lifeboats.  David & Deb had suggested we not arrive too early as there would invariably be several guests who would either arrive late or not at all.  Sure enough, that’s what we observed…  lots of guests either wandering around lost despite all of the instructions and even their muster area designator being printed on their ID/RoomKey/Charge card.  Clearly, some people just didn’t want to be bothered with the process and really didn’t care that everyone else who arrived as required had to stand around waiting for them.  There were others who were simply doing the best that they could, noting there seemed to be an inordinate number of physically challenged guests on this particular cruise.

Note: I think I’ve previously mentioned that this 5-day cruise to the Bahamas was originally scheduled to include Havana, Cuba, as a part of call which had to be cancelled when the U.S. tourism rules for Cuba were tightened up last spring.  Norwegian Cruise Lines was obligated to grant refunds for most of the guests who had booked the cruise specifically for the stop in Cuba and struggled to re-sell the cruise even with deep discounts.  As noted, we had about 1,700 guests on the ship that could otherwise hold 2,400 guests and 900 crew members at maximum capacity. So, even with the deeply discounted fares, the small-size cruise ship was well below capacity.  But, as noted, in the weeks leading up to the sailing date staterooms that would have sold for the already discounted rate of $1,500 all-inclusive for two adults were further discounted and marketed towards retirees who live within an hour of Port Canaveral based on what we learned during out time talking with other guests on the cruise.  We suspect that’s why there seemed to be an inordinate number of older guests who weren’t exactly spry, never mind a lot of retired folks who seem to take a lot of cruises once fares drop to “nothing” to quote one such guest.

It was around 3:20pm when the drill was completed and, on a hunch, we returned to our room and found our luggage had been delivered.  That allowed us to get settled into the room before exploring the Norwegian Sun and then heading back to the Sports Bar, which was nice.

Below is a view of the deck layouts that will expand if you click on it. However, even then it’s a bit small; so, for a full-size version click HERE.  Again, you can see just how far apart our stateroom on forward-end of Deck 8 was from David & Deb’s stateroom at the aft-end of Deck 10.

What was somewhat interesting is how much the ship was rolling in the heavy 40kt winds and moderately-rough 8-foot seas, something even the crew acknowledged when we asked “is this normal” and they said ‘no.’  We stayed at the Sports Bar until around 5:30pm and decided we’d meet at the Seven Seas  restaurant at 6:30pm for dinner.  It was one of the three “included” dinner restaurants, noting there are seven other “premium” restaurants we could have patronized for an additional fee or ala carte priced meals.  Despite the upscale appearance of Seven Seas, the food served was good but not great, on par with just about any value-priced chain restaurant.

After dinner we ended up spending most our time in the Windjammer Lounge where they had a really excellent pianist and singer, André Mieux, doing pop-music melodies but with a more mellow and relaxing personal twist. Another singer, Jason Graham, came on afterwards who played complete songs from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s which allowed Debbie and me to actually get in some dancing in the passage way next to the Windjammer as it did not have a dance floor.

Right next to the Windjammer was the Bliss Nightclub which had a dance floor, stage for live bands and a DJ. The DJ was good and Debbie and I jumped back and forth between the two rooms so we could get in some dancing and still spend time with David & Deb who were more than happy to stay seated and enjoy the live music in the Windjammer.

All-in-all, it was a good first day and I’m trying to be cautiously optimistic I’ll make it through the five-day cruise in good spirits as I have found the behaviour, lack of consideration and manners of some other guests is getting on my nerves.

Tuesday – Day 2: Pool Time, Yellow-Rain and a visit to Key West

I will say I slept quite well last night despite the pitching ship and howl of the wind coming around our balcony with its less than air-tight sliding door.  I was up at 6:00am, as usual, and once again just did my best not disturb Debbie as I really didn’t have anywhere I could go without making a lot of noise given how heavy the doors to the room and even the balcony were.

It was a little after 8:00am when Debbie and I were both up and headed to find breakfast. We ended up at The Great Outdoors Café with its covered buffet line and outdoor seating at the aft-end of the ship.  While the norm for many guests appeared to be “stack your plate with as much food as it will hold” we opted to go lite.  I made a small sandwich out of an English muffin with some meat and cheese topped with salsa and jalapenos.  It was tasty and all the food I needed.  Debbie had a small serving of eggs, some bacon and a yogurt.  As for those plates piled-high with food, some guests had no problem cleaning their plates, but I’d guess half of the food that was taken from the free, all-you-can-eat buffet was left sitting for the bussers to collect: so wasteful.

We’d put our swimsuits on under shorts and tops when we headed to breakfast and brought our towels, etc. with us so we could head to the pool after breakfast. Thankfully, we found a few chaise lounges next to the pool where we spent the rest of our morning.  I’d brought my laptop along so I could keep up with my journal before my memory lapsed.  Our friends David & Deb joined us about an hour later and we had a good time relaxing at the pool up and until lunch time. While we were there we met several really nice folks, including John & Barb who were seated next to us at the pool and Melinda without the da.

Throughout our time at the pool the ship’s maintenance team was banging away at something in the ship’s funnel / exhaust stack area which was annoying but otherwise seemingly harmless.  However, we were apparently ahead of schedule for our port of call in Key West so the ship essentially “parked” out in the Atlantic Ocean and ended up sitting with the aft end facing into the wind which allowed whatever the yellowish-orange exhaust flowing out of the exhaust stacks in the funnel to flow over the pool area.  Unfortunately, included in that exhaust was a saltwater mist – a by-product of the scrubber system used to meet environmental controls on ship engine exhaust emissions – that didn’t seem to be cleaning the sulfur out of the exhaust so much as it was sending it into the air and all over the ship and everything on it, including passengers, the clothes they were wearing and any food or drink they were consuming.  I first noticed it as specs of salt began to cover the LCD display on my laptop.  It was only a while later that we started to see little yellow / orange specs on our bodies, towels and swimsuits which I must also assume was falling into uncovered drinks.  In fact, when I got up from my chair my green and white pool towel had a huge orange stain where my back had been leaching the salty yellowish-orange solution off with my sweat.  As I observed this I quickly realized this was why so much of the ship’s white painted structure surrounding the exhaust funnel as well as the large canvas canopy over The Great Outdoors Café had a yellowish-orange hue.  I confirmed my suspicions regarding the exhaust-related mist with one of the ship’s officers who was out on the Oasis pool deck.

After getting our fill of pool time we headed back to The Great Outdoors Café buffet for lunch and then to our room to get cleaned up before our scheduled stop at Key West around 3:30pm. As feared, when we returned to our room we fully began to appreciate how much of the salty yellowish-orange residue was on our bodies and clothing, as the linens on our bed where we both laid down for a moment before taking showers were discolored by whatever had attached itself to our skin and sunscreen.  I attempted to wash it out of my suit, but without any success.  We put a call into the Guest Services folks to request all new linens and instructions on how to go about getting our swimsuits laundered in the hope the stains would come out; more to follow on that.  Of course, I also have some lingering concerns about what exactly was raining down on us during our time spent out-of-doors on the Norwegian Sun.

It was around 2:10pm when I headed to the very smokey Casino to pick up our disembarkment passes for Key West: the Casino was one of the few, indoor places where guests could smoke so you can only imagine how strong and thick the smoke was.  The disembarkment passes were needed as there wasn’t going to be enough room for our ship to dock at the Key West pier. Instead, the ship would dock at the Navy pier on the Naval Base at Key West, and all of the guests who were going ashore would need to be shuttled into Key West.

I wasn’t completely surprised to see about 20 people in line when I arrived at the Casino, but figured I’d have enough time to go and talk with Guest Services before it got too much longer.  When I came back 10 minutes later and got in line it had tripled in length and by 2:30 it was wrapped around the Atrium.  Thankfully, the line moved quickly once they began to handout the passes and I was still close enough to the front to secure four for “Group 1” that would allow us to be some of the first guests off the ship.

We met David & Deb in the Sports Bar at 3:00pm to wait for the ship to dock and our group number to be called, which it was around 3:45pm.  After making our way off the ship through the huddled masses of folks holding higher group numbers, we were put aboard a fleet of the Key West tourist trams and then given a short “tour” of the Navy base and adjacent parts of old town Key West before being dropped off at the north end of Duval Street.  Given we’d need to be back on the ship by 8:00pm, that really didn’t give us too much time to do a lot. On the bright side, we first came to Key West in April 2013 with David & Deb and saw all of the tourist attractions and have since then been back four times on our own. So, there really wasn’t anything we needed to see or do and we simply did a mini-Duval Crawl. We began at Flying Monkey (a must do for Debbie and me upon any arrival in Key West), browsed through a few shops, made very short stops at The Smokin’ Tuna and Hog’s Breath Saloon, and ended up at the Conch Republic where we had some appetizers just after 5:00pm.  It was around 6:00pm when we headed back to the ship via the tram as there wasn’t much else to do in the short time we had left and, well, the food and beverages on the ship were already paid for.

Back aboard the ship, Debbie and I headed to our rooms to get changed for the evening which would hopefully include some dancing. Thankfully, we had all fresh linens and towels when we returned.  It was around 7:00pm when we headed to the Sports Bar where we ordered and shared a grilled chicken sandwich as a light dinner.  David & Deb joined us about a half hour later and did something similar, i.e., ordering off the bar menu vs. heading through a buffet line.  From there we headed back to the Windjammer lounge and Bliss nightclub where we spent most of our time listening to André and his wonderful piano playing and voice.  We held out high hopes for some dancing in the Bliss nightclub after 11:00pm and what started off well with the DJ became less than enjoyable when their “utility band” In-Ovation came back on stage: they just weren’t all that good.  Not being able to find anywhere to dance we called it a night as we didn’t want to just sit around drinking and listening to music, that’s just not our thing.

Wednesday – Day 3: A Day at Sea, Pool Time & Wishing We Were Dancing

When we booked this cruise back on Saturday, 22 June while having dinner with David & Deb at Ceilo Blue, the itinerary included a port of call at Freeport on Grand Bahama Island on Day 3.  That port of call was removed from the trip and replaced with “a day at sea” after Hurricane Dorian devastated the island on 2 September.  So, instead of exploring Freeport, today we’d be spending the entire day on the ship.

I was awake at 2:00am and didn’t sleep much after that, perhaps dozing a bit and trying not to disturb Debbie who was sleeping well.  Like the previous night, the ship did a good bit of pitching and rolling in moderate seas as the wind whipped by our balcony and that, combined with a slight head cold I developed on the first night aboard ship, didn’t do much to help me sleep.  We were both up and moving around by 8:00am and stayed busy until just before 9:00am when we’d planned to meet David & Deb for breakfast. Pursuant to yesterday’s issue at the pool, we put our swimsuits out in laundry bags for pick-up by our room attendant.

It was around 9:00am when we headed off to drop our things at the pool and grab breakfast at The Great Outdoors Café but, being an hour later than yesterday and this being a day at sea, just about every chaise lounge in the pool area was already “taken” when we got there, which wasn’t a complete surprise. Heck, we even dropped our towels when we headed to breakfast on Tuesday but came right back to the pool.  I suspect a lot of the “saved” chairs we were seeing wouldn’t be occupied for several hours.  We went on to breakfast and had pretty much the same thing as yesterday as other guest’s plates were piled-high to be consumed or thrown away without nary a thought as to how wasteful it was.

We got a bit lucky when we returned to the pool as a single guest who’d laid their towel and walking cane across two chaise lounges collected their things and left.  Now, if the ship’s captain could just keep the bow in the wind and not shower guests at the pool with the yellow-orange-salty-mist. Although our friends David & Deb decided to pass on the pool today, it was another good day at the pool and we were able to meet and visit with a few other couples, which was nice.  One was a couple from Loganville, Georgia, who have worked or currently work at Emory in animal research.  Another included a gentleman who, like me, had been a Special Agent with the Force Office of Special Investigations but finished out his career working in civilian law enforcement.  I also met Sam and his wife; he was a former Special Agent and pilot for the FBI. There were several other fun and colorful folks who we chatted with at the pool, in the pool, hot tube and poolside bars.

Thankfully, they did keep the ship’s exhaust from blowing over the pool area where we stayed until making another salad for lunch at The Garden Café buffet.  From there we headed back to the room where we found it had been squared away and our swimsuits had been returned from the laundry.  I gave swimsuits a cursory look and, while Debbie’s all-black bikini looked fine, I’d have to have better lighting to know if my light-colored suit had come clean.

We made arrangements to meet David & Deb for dinner at 7:00pm in the Four Seasons restaurant.  The Four Seasons was not that much different from the Seven Seas restaurant in terms of the look, feel, food and how guests were dressed.  While NCL has clearly stated dress codes and rules for all of the various different restaurants and entertainment venues, many of the guests don’t grasp the concept of self-policing and, well, the overarching “theme” of NCL cruises is ‘Freestyle’ suggesting a come and go as you please.  As a result you have guests wearing baseball caps backwards in shorts and flip-flops, or infants and younger children in the main theater or lounges during 18-and-over shows or events.  Regardless, we had a very nice dinner and I did my best not let inconsiderate or ill-behaved guests bother me; yes, that’s a challenge as I don’t miss much and truly don’t know why it bothers me.  I guess it’s just the way I’m wired.

After dinner we made our way to the Stardust Lounge for the 9:30pm stand-up comic, whose name escapes me and I’ve somehow lost the Day 3 cruise information sheet that had his name.  Once again, despite published guidelines, signs and even an announcement that this was an over-18 show and that seat saving was not permitted, etc., we had infants and guests trying to save entire rows of seats.  The comedian wasn’t awful but he also wasn’t on par with the stand-ups we’ve seen in comedy clubs over the past few decades.  I’m not sure if it’s because cruise ship comics have to keep their jokes ‘clean’ or what, but you could just tell he was struggling to find material he could use and was not doing the same routine he would use back in Las Vegas.

From the comedy show we headed back to the Windjammer lounge and a bit more of André Mieux’s wonderful music after finding the offerings in the Bliss Lounge, Atrium and Oasis Poolside simply lacking and with very few guests on hand as a result.  Conversely, the Windjammer was becoming more crowded each night as André began to feed on the energy from the larger audience and simply got better.  It was around 11:00pm when we finally called it a night and headed for bed.  Again, André was great, but unless we’re dancing we just can’t do a late night-out.

Thursday – Day 4: A Visit to Nassau and Touring Forts Fincastle & Charlotte

It was yet another sleepless night for me and, after Debbie was up, we headed off to have breakfast at The Great Outdoors Café, as usual.  However, we would be skipping the pool, at least in the morning, since today we’d dock at Nassau on the Island of New Providence from 9:30am until 4:30pm.

We purposely decided to delay our departure from the ship so we wouldn’t be caught up in the rush of other guests heading out on paid excursions, etc. as soon as the gangway was lowered. Instead, we wandered out around 10:30am and it was interesting seeing the ship with so few guests at the pool and in the restaurants and, quite frankly, that nearly-empty pool looked like a very inviting place to spend the morning.  However, there were a few things we wanted to see at Nassau, so off we went.

Nassau Cruise Port with the Water Tower at the top of Bennet’s Hill clearly visible in the background.

Our first challenge was getting off the pier and past the phalanx of tour operators and taxi drivers trying to secure customers and fares at pumped-up prices, given the currency exchange rate between the Bahama and US dollars is 1.0000.  We passed on the taxi for our first destination which was Fort Fincastle, the Water Tower and Queen’s Staircase which sit at the top of Bennet’s Hill, about a 1-mile walk from the port and the highest point in Nassau.

To give you some context for where we went in Nassau, here’s a graphic overview:

  • Point A =  The Norwegian Sun at the Nassau Cruise Ship Pier
  • Point B = 1-mile walk (Red Line) to Fort Fincastle & Water Tower
  • Point C = Short, downhill walk (Green LIne) to the Queen’s Staircase
  • Point D = 1.7-mile Taxi Ride (Yellow Dotted Line) to Fort Charlotte
  • Point E = 0.6-mile walk to Tiki Bikini Hut for lunch
  • Point F = Straw Market stop on the 0.7-mile walk (Blue Line) back to the pier.

Debbie and I enjoyed getting out for the walk and the uphill climb didn’t bother us all that much, even with the late-morning heat and despite having a chance to see some of the non-tourist areas along our walk.  Like much of what we saw on St. John’s Island and in the British Virgin Islands, once you get away from the tourist shopping areas and restaurants, the urban areas are in 2nd and 3rd world condition.

After making our way through one of the impoverished, small home areas we popped out on Prison Lane and the uphill access road to Fort Fincastle, the water tower and the Queen’s Staircase as well as a bunch of vendors selling Chinese-made Bahama & Nassau memorabilia, branded apparel and a few trinkets.

  • Point C – The Queen’s Staircase: It was the Queen’s Staircase we came to 1st and, thankfully, we arrived at the top of the 65-step stairway instead of the bottom (see photo at below left).  We were met by an ‘official’ Bahama Bureau of Tourism volunteer guide who provided us with a brief and probably flawed oral history about the Queen’s Staircase, pretty much what you’d find in most of the local tourism guides even if it is inaccurate, followed by a solicitation for tips.  I think we tripped him $8.00, about $2/per person.  More on the staircase in a moment.
  • Point B – The Water Tower:  From there we make our way to the top of the hill where we could see, but not enter, the water tower that was decommissioned and simply remained as an observation tower.  Built in 1928, the 126’ tall tower has a 216-step staircase as well as an elevator that, prior to being closed for renovation, would enable visitors to have a spectacular view of New Providence (photo at below, right).   

  • Point B – Fort Fincastle: Next up was Fort Fincastle where we found a Bahama Bureau of Tourism ticket office where they charged $3/per person + 12% tax to see the interior of the fort with, of course, the help of an ‘official’ Bahama Bureau of Tourism volunteer guide who provided a 10-minute tour of the fort before he offered to take photos and then came the solicitation for tips.  So, $13 for the tickets and another $8 for tip.  Now, I will say I found the fort to be quite interesting in terms of how it was engineered and positioned on Bennet’s Hill.
    • As to the history of the forts, it’s important to keep in mind that in addition to having a pirate presence during the 1600’s and 1700’s, the British Colony of New Providence had been attacked and surrendered three times then ceded back to England during the 1700s. The first was by the Spanish in 1700, then by the U.S. Continental Navy & Marines in March 1776, and again by the Spanish in 1782.  It’s noteworthy that the Battle of Nassau in March 1776 was the first U.S. Marine victory after 220 U.S. Marines landed unopposed near Nassau, captured the town and secured the surrender of British Forts Nassau and Montegu after only token resistance.
    • After being re-secured by the British in 1783, they began to supplement their two existing Forts — Nassau and Montegu — with larger and more heavily armed forts: Fincastle and Charlotte/Stanley/D’Arcy.
    • Built in 1793 by Lord Dunmore, Fort Fincastle was established to defend New Providence from the Spanish, the United States, and then France… all of whom were presumed to be a threat. The seemingly unusual style of construction with a bow-like “front” is unique to the Caribbean and Americas, but was common in Europe.  While it never actually fired a cannon in defense of the island, the Fort did provide the British with an excellent vantage point to watch for vessels approaching the island and also served as a lighthouse into the 1820’s.
    • The British began ending slavery in Great Britain in 1807 and the British Parliament issued the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 that abolished slavery in most British colonies, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa as well as a small number in Canada. It received Royal Assent from William IV on August 28, 1833, and took effect on August 1, 1834.  By the 1850’s most British troops had been withdrawn from the Forts at New Providence.

  • Point C – The Queen’s Staircase: From the fort we made our way back to the Queen’s Staircase and descended the 65 remaining steps (the 66th is now buried) and marveled at the man-made canyon carved out of limestone.
    • The actual history of “why it’s there” and “when it was made” is clouded by all kinds of folklore, much of it passed along by local tour guides.  The guide’s will tell you the 102-foot staircase was hand-carved by 600 slaves between 1793 and 1794, using pickaxes and hand saws to cut their way through the solid limestone used to build Fort Fincastle, or to serve as a direct passage way for the citizens of Nassau to reach the fort in the event of an attack, or some such.  The construction period will sometimes be extended to 16 years.
    • That it was named for Queen Victoria is true, but the number of steps has nothing to do with the length of her time on England’s throne and she really didn’t have much to do with pressing for the changes in law that led to emancipating slaves throughout the British Empire, that was done by her predecessor, William IV, and was already being implemented when Victoria began her reign in 1837.
    • What is believed to be the true history is captured in a book called “Islanders in the Stream, Vol. 2” written by Gail Saunders, the Archivist of the Bahamas.  Based on her research, the “cut” through Bennet’s Hill was part of a civil works project in the 1830’s when a new sub-division for Afro-Bahamians was built on the south side of Bennet’s Hill and the Nassau government used the still allowed slave labor to cut an access road through the hill as had been done elsewhere through the ridge.  Work to make the cut began on both sides of the hill but, before the project was finished, slavery was abolished leaving deep cuts in the limestone with a massive cliff and insufficient labor to finish the project.  The quick-fix so that people could still get to Mason’s Addition was to carve steps into the 102′ cliff, a total of 66 steps. To this day, the deep cut that was started on the south side of Bennet’s hill is still there.
    • Decades later, the impressive rock passage known as 66 Steps was renamed The Queen’s Staircase” in honor of the Queen Victoria, whose reign began as William IV’s declaration to abolish slavery was enacted.
  • Regardless of the exact history, it remains one of Nassau’s most popular tourist attractions and, at least for us, It was an incredibly cool and comfortable place to escape the warm weather with its nearly tropical rainforest-like look and feel given the 100’ waterfall and lush landscape with day-long shade.

As we exited the Queen’s Staircase the original plan was to make the 1.7-mile walk over to see Fort Charlotte, the largest of the forts built on New Providence in the late 1790’s.  As we talked about our options, an enterprising tour operator / taxi driver who had a large Ford passenger van with all but 4 seats filled offered to drive us to the next fort for $20 which, while a bit more than the going rate, seemed well worth the cost to our travelling companions.

On the bright side, we ended up getting a bit of a tour out of the ride as he took us and his other passengers on the “scenic” route past the Government House (the official residence of the Governor General of the Bahamas), the historic Graycliff Hotel (built in 1740 by Captain John Howard Graysmith, a famous privateer pirate of the Caribbean), the Heritage Museum of the Bahamas and shopping district on Hill Street, the National Art Gallery, St. Francis Xavier Cathedral (the oldest Roman Catholic Church in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, consecrated in 1887), and the John Watling’s Distillery (home to John Watling’s Rum, the “Spirit of The Bahamas”) before dropping us off at the entrance to Fort Charlotte.  So, yes… it was actually a pretty good deal even if was a drive-by tour without any stops.As we did at Fort Fincastle, we had to pass through the Bahama Bureau of Tourism ticket office where the cost was now $5.00/per person plus a 12% tax.  We also ended up grabbing a couple of genuine Diet Coke’s to refresh ourselves with – noting they only served Diet Pepsi on the ship – and Debbie picked up a set of four placemats with maps of the Bahama’s for Caroline, Charlotte, Vivian and Scarlett.  After throwing back our Diet Cokes and Debbie with her shopping bag in hand, we were introduced to our Bahama Bureau of Tourism volunteer who spent a good 20-25 minutes with us walking us to the fort while providing us with information about the surrounding area and original purpose of the fort. And, make no mistake about it, this fort was massive!  It’s hard to describe just how much limestone was used to make these three, contiguous forts that are collectively referred to as Fort Charlotte: see below.

Fort D’Arcy and Fort Stanley were expansions of the original Fort Charlotte that added gun positions and a larger magazine.  In addition to the nice, tour-book narrative provided by our guide who ended her tour with a solicitation for a tip (another $10), we wandered around the fort a bit more and I could have spent a good hour or two longer exploring and reading everything that was posted around the site.

Thankfully, our 1.5-mile walk back to the beach and cruise ship port was mostly downhill or dead flat.  After making our way to the beach and wandering past the small food shacks and bars along Junkanoo Beach we found the Tiki Bikini Hut, a very clean and well-run looking bar and restaurant.  We decided to grab some frozen drinks and lunch there so we could at least say we tried out the local fare and we were not disappointed!  The gentleman tending bar was a great guy, made really good frozen drinks for the girls and nailed his meal recommendation for us: cracked conch, a local favorite and it did not disappoint.  Even as an appetizer it was more than enough for Debbie and me to serve as our lunch.

From the Tiki Bikini Hut we wandered past the hotel construction site and into the shopping and restaurant district adjacent to the cruise ship port where we left the two Debbie’s to explore the Straw Market while David & I returned to the ship.  Yeah, there was no way I could deal with the hucksters and lay-preacher sermon being blasted over the PA system in the Straw Market so I told Debbie I’d meet her back on the ship by the pool so that she could do her shopping without me standing there being impatient.

Debbie didn’t end up being that far behind me, having found some little purses with locally-applied (unlicensed) decorations for the girls and negotiate a semi-unreasonable price ($50) from the obscenely-unreasonable starting ask ($75): welcome to Nassau and the Straw Markets.  From there, we headed off in different directions, with Debbie going to the 4:00pm origami class, followed by the 5:00pm balloon tying class.  That was fine with me as needed to go and submit a claim for my now permanently stained, chemically-altered / ruined s swimsuit with the NCL’s Customer Services folks. As the gal from China working the Guest Services counter on the claim I got the impression I was not the first guest to do so following Tuesday’s morning at the pool with the rusty mist falling over the guests.

From there I headed back to my room to get into one of my two good swimsuits and then made my way out to the pool. Debbie came by a short time later and and sat out a while as I soaked in the pool and hot tub for a bit.  After getting cleaned up and dressed for the evening we headed out to the Sports Bar where we ate dinner at the bar.  I made another chef’s salad by getting my greens at the buffet in the Garden Café and sliced meats and cheeses from the The Great Outdoors Cafe buffet, as the full buffet offerings were just not all that appealing, sort of on par with The Golden Corral.  Debbie did likewise but with fruit and other lite fare while our friends ordered off the menu at the Sports Bar.  The ship was sailing out of the harbor as we were having dinner so I was finally able to get some nice “scenic” photos.

After our somewhat later than usual dinner we made our way back to the Stardust Theater for yet another stand-up comedian, E.L. Smith.  While last night’s show wasn’t great, this one was awful.  I’m not sure he had a hot clue what kind of jokes or humor to present for the show and I’m guessing this will be his last appearance on an NCL cruise ship.  Or, perhaps not… as aside from André, Josh and a one other small, 3-piece band, the live entertainment we sought out for music and dancing was not all that great.  Our cover bands in Atlanta are far better.

As we did last night, we made the short walk to the Windjammer lounge where André was in great form and playing to a packed and appreciative audience. The larger turn-out really had him pumped up and into the gig, cracking jokes and playing with the audience, not just for the audience.  I stayed there for a while and then told Debbie that I was going to go and see if there was any dance-worthy music and/or dancing going on anywhere on the ship as well as to find some sweets as I needed a sugar fix.  I never found any dancing opportunities, but I was able to bring six fresh-baked cookies from The Great Outdoors Cafe wrapped in a cloth napkin that I shared with the two Debbie’s and David.

That was our night, as we headed back to our room around 11:00pm.  Also like most nights, David & Deb held in there at the Windjammer for another hour enjoying André and his music and the vibe of the room.

Friday – Day 5: A Visit to Great Stirrup Cay & Our Last Night of the Cruise

I’m not sure what the deal is of late, as I just can’t seem to sleep for more than 2-3 hours at the most.  Last night it was just 2 hours as I was up around 1:30am and simply rested until the ship dropped anchor around 7:00am for our port-of-call at NCL’s private island in the Berry Islands, Great Stirrup Cay (photo below)

As we did on Thursday, we didn’t get in a hurry to get off the ship and met our friends David & Deb for breakfast at 9:00am at The Great Outdoors Café on the aft end of the ship.  It was around 10:30am when we headed down to Deck 3 and boarded a tender that would motor us from the Norwegian Sun to the docks at Great Stirrup Cay.

Interestingly enough, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines leases CocoCay which is just a short swim away from Great Stirrup Cay and it was interesting to see how differently the cruise lines have developed their respective properties.  The much-smaller CocoCay (photo above) looks more like an amusement park with a massive waterpark, outdoor attractions and Royal Caribbean paid to develop a docking pier with enough deep water access to tie-up two of their monstrous, 7,000 passenger ships.

NCL still uses a fleet of tenders to shuttle 80 or so passengers and crew members at a time back and forth to the island, noting the crew members serve double-duty on the ship as well as the island. There are some other employees and contractors who live on nearby islands that commute back and forth but the lion’s share of food service and other NCL employees who had to interact with guests were from the ship, but wearing colorful “Great Stirrup Cay” polo shirts, hats and khaki shorts. As for what they’ve done on the Cay, much of it remains undeveloped but it appears they spent most of their capital building luxury cabanas and villas that guests can book for the day at, well, an additional $300 – $600 (and up) per day for up to 6 guests.  Honestly, if we were to go again and could split the cost with two other couples I might actually spring for one of these.

I’d brought along our snorkeling gear but once I saw how the lagoons looked in terms of the number of guests who were swimming, floating, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding or snorkeling in the lagoons I was pretty sure any coral or interesting schools of all but the smallest fish had long since vanished or gone-away and gave up that idea.

 

Instead, we found a nice spot on the beach where the girls could get sun while David lounged in the shade and I pretty much stood in the shade or walked around and explored the island for the duration of our stay.  Again, it appeared as the primary focus of NCL  seems to be generating income from cabana and villa rentals located on the cay, as that’s where the majority of their investment is.  They are in the process of either rebuilding or erecting a zip line course that will allow guests to get a birds eye view of the cay and, well, guests on the cay a beach front view of tourists zip lining over their heads.  I suspect the cay looked a lot better before the hurricane as you could tell much of the sand that had likely been added to create beaches over the coral cay had been washed away or pushed inland where it buried some of the still incomplete walkways and I suspect the zip line had also been damaged.  It will be interesting to see how the cay changes if we ever come back on a subsequent cruise.

After having lunch just before 1:00pm – similar fare to what was served at The Great Outdoors Café buffet aboard the ship – we headed back to the ship via the tender.  Once we were back aboard the ship, Debbie and I headed out to the Oasis pool with the intention of getting a little pool time, but our first stop ended up being the Topsider Bar where we were two of perhaps four guests at the bar.  We ended up camping out there for a few hours visiting with the two crew members tending the bar – Fernando and Paulo – and various different guests who came up to grab a drink but stayed a while.  It was really a great time for us.  Our friends David & Deb opted for the cooler confines of the Sports Bar.

It was around 5:30pm when we headed back to our room to get cleaned up and ready for our last dinner on the ship at 7:00pm.  We ate in the Seven Seas and, while Debbie went with nice fish entrée, I had a bowl of corn chowder and a Caesar salad for dinner and passed on cocktails: I was all-inclusive cruised-out.

I will say, Debbie was looking spectacular in a pair of white shorts with a lovely white blouse and I had on my tux pants, a black dress shirt with bolo tie, my black paisley western vest and black lizard skin boots.  If only we could have found any dancing…  perhaps the biggest disappointment of the cruise.  We thought for sure we’d be kicking up our heels every night to a DJ in one of the clubs but it never happened.  And, given that we had to have our bags packed and sitting outside of our room by 11:00pm tonight — meaning we’d need to be in our travel clothes for the drive home tomorrow — there was no chance we’d find any dancing tonight since we’d need to be back in the room by 10:30pm to pack.

So, it was 8:30pm when we headed back to the room since the only “good” entertainment we found was André back in the Windjammer lounge.  Again, we really enjoyed André but had our fill of sitting and listening to music on this cruise earlier in the week.

Saturday: Disembarking & The Long Drive Back to Atlanta

We had our bags out just before 11:00pm last night and settled-in with the hope I’d get a few hours of sleep.  Sadly, it was another night of “resting” instead of sleeping waiting to hear the ship moor at the Port Canaveral.

We docked around 6:30am and I waited until Debbie was up and around at 7:15am to pack up our hand-carried items so we could head to breakfast at 8:00am to meet our friends and wait for our departure to be called.  However, there was a problem:  when I was packing up our bags last evening I packed one too many pair of Debbie’s shoes, the shoes she needed to wear off the ship.  Sure enough, Debbie would be barefoot until we cleared U.S. Customs, got off the ship and made our way to luggage claim where I could get to the bag that had all of her shoes.

The only other surprise of the morning was getting my final bill reconciliation report and seeing the $5.95 laundry bill had not been reimbursed by NCL as Guest Services said it would. So, we’d have one extra stop on our way to breakfast at Guest Services. It took the gal from Nepal a while to work through whatever computer screens and manager approvals to get the bill comped, but I trust it was done.  What I’m still not clear on is if and when I’ll get reimbursed for the damaged swimsuit.  I’ll give that some time to see what happens as I may still need to file a claim against the reported incident report that was recorded by Guest Services.

We had our final breakfast at The Great Outdoors Café. David & Deb stayed in the shaded and air conditioned Garden Café for their breakfast and we joined after we finished ours.  It was around 8:30am when we began moving towards the disembarkment areas, anticipating we’d be called for our baggage claim queue and sure enough, we did and timed it fairly well.  Our exit off the ship was delayed a bit as the U.S. State Department / U.S. Customs and Border Protection was having NCL use a new facial recognition system to clear folks off the ship with mixed results.  One machine was working just fine, whereas the other – the one we were lined-up behind – was not.  Frankly, I’m not really thrilled to see the government deploying the use of facial recognition technology given how we see it being used elsewhere in the world, i.e., big brother watching and cataloging your every move.

Anyway, after that brief delay we made our way off the ship to the NCL terminal building and then down to baggage claim where Debbie was quickly reunited with her shoes before we left the terminal and made our way to the parking deck and David’s truck.

The drive home was relatively uneventful with one lunch/fuel stop just before crossing into Georgia and then one additional bio-break at a Georgia rest stop.  David & Deb dropped us off just after 5:00pm and, since neither of us had any food at home, we agreed to meet at Ceilo Blue around 6:15pm for dinner.  As always, a great time and a great way to wrap up our 7-day adventure.

Epilogue: As for how I enjoyed the cruise, it was a very different experience for me and I’m still trying to decide if I’m really cut out for cruising.  There were things about it I really enjoyed, such as the visit to Nassau, relaxing at the pool and some of the on-board entertainment.   But there were some things I struggled with, and I suspect some of that had to do with the way this “make-up-cruise” was marketed to fill cabins after Cuba fell off the ports-of-call.  There just seemed to be a disproportionate number of bargain-hunting frequent cruisers who reminded me of discount superstore shoppers or people who frequent fast-food chains and all-you-can-eat buffets.  Instead, I’d expected to see a lot more polite, engaging, lively & energetic adults similar to what we’ve seen at our past two all-inclusive luxury resort trips soaking in the moment and living life to the fullest.

Some of the other misses for me included:

  • The ship seemed to be “tired” even though it had been through a refurbishment merely a year ago, never mind looking it’s age. After all, the Norwegian Sun was designed in the 1990s and built in 2001, well before cruising began to demand larger ships with more amenities and better layouts.  Our room felt damp and had a musty odor throughout our stay and the bathroom door had to be left open as the odors that would otherwise build-up in there were very objectionable. There was also the aforementioned problem with what I suspect was the ship’s 1-year old “scrubber” system installed in an effort to reduce harmful emissions from the inexpensive heavy fuel oil used by NCL. Whatever it was, it was causing a salty, possibly sulphur-rich mist to blow out the engine exhausts and ship’s funnel that was covering the ships white superstructure, vents, rear canopy and just about everything else it fell on with a yellowish-orange film.
  • The food offerings in the standard restaurants and Cafes weren’t anything to write home about.   Yes, we could have upgraded to the premium dining package which would have allowed us to enjoy seven other, higher-end restaurants but, quite frankly, we just aren’t foodies looking for gourmet meals or a coat and tie dinner every night.  But, we do like tastefully seasoned, healthier foods and you really had to work to find them in and amongst the less than healthy food offerings.
  • The entertainment also didn’t do much for us.  Perhaps we should have made a point to go to all of the shows in the Stardust Lounge and that would have given us a different experience. But, the way they scheduled the other, live music and DJs into the clubs where we expected there would be a lively crowd  dancing every night just didn’t play music we or many other guests were all that interested in dancing to. I say this as we routinely found nearly-empty dance floors and very few guests in the Bliss Lounge, Atrium, Spinnaker Lounge and Oasis Poolside venue.  In fact, we found ourselves dancing in the passageway next to the Windjammer Lounge to Jason’s music since the lounge itself didn’t have a dance floor.

Regardless, any time we have with our friends David & Deb is always time well spent and we had a lot of that during our 7-day adventure and throughout the cruise.  The time at the pool was also very enjoyable as we always like to meet and chat with interesting folks, even if we’ll never see them again.  While the ports of call at Key West and Great Stirrup Cay gave us a chance to get off the ship and stretch our legs but not much else — by choice, as there were things to do… just not anything that tripped our trigger —  we both enjoyed our visit to Nassau on New Providence immensely.  And, I really wish the nightlife aboard ship had been more our cup of tea as I really didn’t want to leave our friends alone at the bar each evening but, then again, I didn’t want to sit there drinking late at night either.

So, no… a booze cruise is not my thing.  If we were do another cruise we’d have to do a lot more pre-boarding homework and make sure we had activities planned-out for just about every day and make a conscious effort to be up and out early to make the most of our time on and off the ship.  We’d also need to make sure there was a lot more physical activity during the day unless we knew there’d be a couple hours of dancing in our future every night.  Therefore, in some respects, perhaps I now understand why the barge cruises in Europe that are being offered by Santana Cycles to its tandem cycling clients are so very popular as they do tend to provide just that… well, perhaps not the dancing every night.

So, I’ll remain open minded and we’ll continue to consider future cruising opportunities if we can find the right ship headed to the right places at the right time of year and for a reasonable cost.  A return to the British Virgin Islands for another catamaran adventure is also not out of the question as we both enjoyed that a lot.

Regardless, we are ever-so-grateful that our friends David & Deb invited to join them on what was a really enjoyable, 7-day vacation… inclusive our our time together on the trip down to and time in Daytona, Cape Canaveral and Titusville, during the cruise and the trip home.  Hopefully, my sometimes lack of patience or tolerance didn’t spoil any of their enjoyment of the trip.