20240302 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise - Day 8 - Unpacked and laundry in the washer by 11:30am!

NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise Day 8 - We loved having you - get out!

The end of a cruise is an interesting dichotomy of messages. They emphatically state how happy they were to have you as a guest and sincerely want to see you again. Then, the next message is to get out of your room and get off the ship - now!

Don't get me wrong, I get it. They have to unload more than 4,000 passengers, turn and configure more than 2,100 guest rooms, and be ready for the next batch of 4,000+ passengers in a little over five hours. while all this is going on, they have to take on fuel, remove waste, and load provisions for the next voyage. It is a huge logistics dance.

We met up in the Skyline Bar, right around the corner from the gangway exit on deck 7. We secured the purple luggage tags, giving us the first position to disembark after the folks who carried their own bags or who had NCL airport transfers. We got called at 8:15 and got in line to exit the ship.

The process was a little slow and cumbersome with a lot of walking back and forth to get to the luggage hall. We all retrieved our luggage and headed to Customs. Customs is so much easier these days, it's great. We went through facial recognition, got the green light, and were done.

Steve, our bus driver, arrived about five minutes after we got outside. We loaded the bus and were on our way.

The landmarks flew by

The bus had WiFi so everyone spent time catching up on their phones as we cruised home.

Seeing the Turnpike sign means we're getting into the home freeway stretch.

Of course, a comfort stop at Turkey Lake rest stop was in the cards.

The last 20 miles or so

We arrived home, were unpacked, and had laundry in the washer before noon. It is good to live near the port.

Tackling the pile of mail

We're home so it is time to wrap up this trip with final thoughts.

NCL

If you've been reading the entries for this trip, it should be obvious - we're not fans. We do not plan to take another NCL cruise unless we have to because we want to go on a specific trip. Specific items:

• Embarkation - smooth - really smooth - no complaints as it was great
• Room - Good - the Club balcony was reasonably spacious with good storage and a great bathroom but a hard bed but that got mostly fixed
• Service - meh. Some great crew, but generally, just OK - our cabin steward was all but invisible
• Food - meh. Nothing terrible, but routinely not hot, nothing spectacular. The specialty restaurants that are supposed to be amazing, weren't.
• The ship - it was fine - lots of venues, lots of eateries - more paid than included. Decore was fine. One complaint was that the smoking areas were positioned so you could smell smoke in many places. The outdoor smoking area was on a low floor so we could smell smoke on our balcony all the time. The biggest complaint about the ship is that every place we went felt crowded all the time. Bars, eateries, performance venues, pools - everything was mobbed.
• Excursion procedures - Nuts - crowded, poorly organized - the excursion was fine, but the process around it was not.
• Internet - slow, slow, slow - plus, WiFi calling and SMS text messaging required upgrading to their most expensive package.
• NCL app - hit and miss - good schedule, no menus, and if you want to use the in-app messaging with other cruisers, you all have to pony up $9.95.
• Accounting - again, nuts. Requiring passengers to wait in line to get a credit balance refunded in cash rather than just returning it to their credit card was silly.
• Entertainment - Choir of Man - terrific. Comedians - good, but...they repeated the same shows all week. Carnival changes comedians mid-week so you get all new shows. Some nights had zero main entertainment except a movie. Wow.
• Main restaurants - while the food was good, not great, even with being crowded, we were able to secure tables for 12 with reservations each night. If we just walked up, I don't know how that would have gone.
• Shopping - there was plenty of shopping on the ship with typical cruise fare like jewelry, clothing, perfume, liquor, cigarettes, and such. 
• Great Stirrup Cay - we don't know because the weather prevented us from tendering in. If the island had a dock, we would have been fine.

Does this mean we had a bad week - absolutely not! We were with friends and spent a good deal of time laughing, drinking, eating, playing games, and just being friends. That made this entire week a great way to spend time. We may consider doing it again, but will likely consider a different cruise company for the trip.

Speaking of other cruises - we booked one while on this trip. In just over a month, we will sail on Sapphire Princess from Los Angeles (San Pedro) to Hawaii and then the South Pacific for a 32-day roundtrip sailing. Watch this space for the next adventure!

20240301 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise - Day 7 - Unplanned sea day

NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise Day 7 - Yeah, that's not going to happen

Bong-bong-bong - the sound of an announcement woke us up. It was 7:20 AM. The announcement was in the hall - a public area announcement that we had arrived at Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian's private island in the Bahamas. We were in position and tender group #1 could make their way to the theater in advance of going ashore. OK, that announcement was a little early and annoying, but OK - the day is starting.  

BONG-BONG-BONG - 7:30 AM, this time in our room. For the uninitiated cruiser, announcements that play in your room are never of the nature, "We're giving everyone an extra week on the ship at no cost!" Announcements in your room, especially early in the morning, are never good. This time, it was the captain, telling us that winds were howling at 35 knots and the sea swells were running three to six feet. Not good for a day when we were to take tender boats to shore. He further stated that the forecast for later today was 47-knot winds and swells greater than six feet. They were evaluating and would get back to everyone.

At this point, we knew that the day on Great Stirrup Cay was canceled. But, they never tell you right away. They let you have hope, but also to reconcile that it might not happen. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, BONG-BONG-BONG - another announcement in the room - the day on Great Stirrup Cay was canceled and we would start heading back to Port Canaveral. Yay. Ultimately, NCL refunded $30 per person - the port fee for The Bahamas to everyone's onboard account and we had another sea day.

Here's a look at Great Stirrup Cay.

Great Stirrup Cay sits right next to Coco Cay - Royal Caribbean's private island. Here's a look at Coco Cay. See if you notice anything (other than the stupid reflections in the glass).

That ship is Royal's Icon of the Seas. Do you see that it is docked? Every other cruise line we've sailed on that has a private island in the Bahamas dredged the island and installed a dock, allowing ships to dock in weather that prevents tender operations. But not NCL. So, the cruisers on Royal got to enjoy their day on the island while NCL cruisers sailed away. Par for the course.

The day was similar to yesterday when our group just hung out and socialized. For us, that was a good thing. Spending time with friends was what this trip was all about and we did a bunch of that. We sat, we ate, we drank, we told stories. It was still a good day. We got in a round of trivia and had fun talking with folks. One thing that stood out on this cruise - there was no encouragement to meet people. With trivia on other ships, they encourage you to for teams of six or eight - meet your fellow cruisers. On NCL, there was none of that, and nobody was looking to form teams. Everyone or every couple played by themselves. It was odd as trivia is typically a very social activity. We've met lots of people this way, but none on NCL. We tried. 

We did a little packing to prepare to put our bags out tonight. We met up with the group for a pre-dinner drink at the Skyline Bar before heading to Manhattan for our last dinner together.

After dinner, we got our packing finalized and got our bags out before heading to the theater for one last live comedy performance.

Comedian Heath Harmison did his last performance and we had some laughs before heading to the room for our last night.

A couple observations:

We had rough seas today. Nothing horrible, but certainly considerable movement. On the ship, we felt...nothing. Not a roll, not a pitch - nothing. It was pretty impressive. Granted, we were cruising slowly as we had all kinds of time to get to Port Canaveral, but still, the ship was like it was sliding on butter. That was impressive.

Not so impressive - we wound up with a credit balance on our account. That meant that NCL owed us money. It happens sometimes when credits get applied - not a huge deal. Any balance gets applied to your credit card. Well, that happens on any cruise line except NCL. We heard that we needed to get a cash refund from the service desk. That made no sense to us but we went anyway. I asked the person at the desk and she said it would be refunded to our card. Perfect - just like I expected. But then...

I got to reading comments online about NCL and they all said you had to get a cash refund. I went back and spoke to the supervisor, and guess what? We had to get a refund in cash. So #1 - that's really stupid, and #2 - the crew member gave me crap information initially. Wow. Oh, and, since NCL divided the room account into one for me and one for Arlona, we both had to wait and get refunds - $9.45 for Arlona and $20.25 for me - $29.70 in total.

When I asked what would happen if we didn't get the refund, she said that when we disembarked tomorrow, we would be pulled aside from the line and would have to wait for a cashier to pay us. Seriously. Yet another strike for us against NCL.

Oh well, the cruise is coming to an end. Lots was below par for us, but we still enjoyed ourselves because we got to spend the week with friends and that is what this week was about. Steve, our bus driver will be here tomorrow at 8:45 AM waiting for us. We should be cleared to disembark at 8:30 AM, collect our luggage, clear Customs, and hop the bus for home. I'll wrap up this trip tomorrow with one final post.

Don't fret that it's coming to an end. Two days ago, we booked a 32-day Princess cruise, roundtrip from/to Los Angeles (San Pedro) to the South Pacific, so you'll only have to wait a month before more travel ramblings.

20240229 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise - Day 6 - Sea day slow day

NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise Day 6 - Sea day

Today was a sea day. We had no plans and executed them all.

We started out in the Garden Cafe for breakfast. It always ensures a good start to the day due to this man:

This is Ezekiel. He works as a bartender in the Garden Cafe. He greets us every morning with a genuine smile and gets our ice and Coke Zeros ready to dump in our mugs. He has been a bright spot on this cruise and deserves some recognition. As a side note, he makes a mean margarita as well.

We meandered into the Garden Cafe a little after 8:30 this morning after lounging in bed for a while. As we ate, messages started bouncing back and forth among our group, and eventually, all twelve of us were sitting together across several tables. That's the way it stayed for around six hours. We ate breakfast. Some ate a second breakfast. Then the buffet line switched to lunch and so did we. There were nachos and tacos and guacamole and more. Ice cream and cookies rounded things out as we talked, drank, and ate. There was also a table of folks playing Spades and then Baseball (a card game).

Arlona and Freddie decided to head out to try the ropes course only to find it was closed due to high winds. We came to the room briefly.

Calm seas and clear skies

Arlona decided to walk. Freddie and I returned to meet the group in the Garden Cafe when Arlona popped in and said the ropes course had opened. Freddie, Jill, and Arlona headed up to the course with me in tow as team photographer.

A ropes course is a series of elevated platforms connected by walkways. Some are stable but narrow, some are unstable ropes/cables, some are horizontal ladders, etcetera. The participant wears a harness and is tethered to an overhead safety cable. All three had a fun time on the course.

Jill & Freddie

Jill

Freddie

Jill

Jill & Freddie

Arlona taking on the course

One small step...

Looking beautiful as always

A piece of cake

Wobble, wobble

Tonight, we decided that anyone who packed dressy clothes was going to wear them. We got dolled up and met the crew for a drink before dinner.

As we headed to Manhattan for dinner, we stopped for a group photo.

Front: Lynn, Nancy, Betty, Sue, Jill
Back: Chris, Garry, Arlona, Brian, Al, Ernie, Freddie

After a better-than-average dinner tonight in Manhattan, the group split up. Some were going to comedy, some were going to a second showing of Choir of Man, and some of us decided all this doing nothing tired us out. We did a little browsing in the shops and headed to the room.

Sometimes, the best part of dressing up is taking it all off again

Tomorrow is the final day of the cruise. We will be anchored off of Great Stirrup Cay - NCL's private island in the Bahamas. We plan to tender into the island and perhaps try a little snorkeling.

20240228 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise - Day 5 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica - Shopping and strolling

NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise Day 5 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

We arrived this morning in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Ocho Rios is a smaller port town in Jamaica. After the relatively flat stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel, seeing the hilly Jamaican landscape was nice.

Several in our group had excursions planned today. We've been to Jamaica a couple of times before so we opted to just wander along the water into town on our own. We went up to breakfast in the Garden Cafe and it was an absolute zoo. Zero open tables meant that after you got food, you had to pace back and forth until someone finished and freed up a table. The venues on this ship simply aren't big enough for the passenger load. Eventually, we got a table and sat down.

As we ate breakfast, the Cruise Director made the typical announcement about not congregating on the stairs or near the gangway as the ship had not yet been cleared by local officials. That's pretty typical and happens in all ports on all ships. What was odd today was that he had to make that announcement three or four times. We sure don't know what was keeping clearance from happening, but it sure delayed everyone who wanted to get off the ship. Since we didn't have any plans, we got to just sit back and watch the mayhem.

The odd this was that the announcement that we had received clearance never came. All of a sudden, we noticed that passengers were getting off the ship. Communication seems to be an unpracticed art here. As we sat on our balcony and watched, throngs of people all got off and were milling about, looking for tour buses. It was a madhouse. We waited for a while for things to calm a bit and then we went down to walk into town. We were not docked at what is labeled the cruise ship dock - the one much closer to the beach and town. We were docked at Reynold's Pier - a more industrial port, and farther from town.

Still, it wasn't a bad walk. Of course, along the way, we were approached multiple times for cab rides, island tours, hair braiding (for Arlona, not me), and ganja. We browsed some of the shops and wandered a bit. I'm thinking of canceling the trip we have planned in late 2025 to see the Taj Mahal, as we saw this in town.

I wonder if India's version also has parking only for drop-off/pick-up

We also got a kick out of this, having recently been in Japan.

Let's go to Jamaica and drink Japanese beer!

We did a little more shopping and I may or may not have found a new timepiece for my timekeeping arsenal. Then, we slowly strolled back to the ship, enjoying the ocean views.

We decided to return to O'Sheehan's Pub for lunch. They have nice, comfort and pub food. Arlona had a Cobb salad and spinach-artichoke dip and I had fish & chips. One thing we picked up on when we heard a crew member mention O'Sheehan's Pub yesterday is the name. Say both of these out loud:

• O'Sheehan's Pub
• Oceans Pub

Hmm, is that a coincidence, or was it by design?  Who knows.

Shortly after we finished, trivia was starting in the Atrium so we joined in. Today was much better with only five misses for a 15/20 score. We tied for the win with two other teams. Well, that was until several seconds later when a team suddenly decided they got 16/20. It is always suspicious when a team is completely quiet until the winners are announced and then they suddenly have one more question correct. You know what? Who cares? We play to have fun and learn. Our learning opportunities today:

• What TV show featured the Swan, Orchid, and Looking Glass stations?
• We had no idea - it was Lost - I should have known that
• How many bacteria are in one square inch of soil - 30,000, 30,000,000, 30,000,000,000?
• We guessed 30 million - it was 30 billion
• How many spices make up Allspice?
• We determined it was a blend of eight - it isn't - just one
• How long did it take to travel from Boston to New York by horse - 1 day, 5 days, 10 days?
• We guessed one day - it is more than 200 miles and a hose can cover 30-40 miles in a day, so the answer was 5 days
• What drummer led the band for Conan O'Brien until 2010?
• I couldn't remember - it was Max Weinberg

We had fun and we learned a little.

We got back to our room at about 3:00 PM to discover that our room still had not been serviced today. We found that pretty amazing and disappointing. At 3:25 PM, they finally arrived but we told them to just skip the day as we were in the room.

One little thing that NCL does is include this design in the carpet in the hallways outside staterooms.

See the little fish? Did you notice they're all pointing in the same direction? If you walk out of your stateroom and can't remember which way is forward and which way is aft - just look at the fish. They always swim forward.

Our gang met in Manhattan, one of the included restaurants for dinner tonight. We will also dine there for the next two nights. Dinner was OK with mixed reviews from the group. That seems to be the theme with food on NCL. Adequate but not stellar food.

Dinner ran about 90 minutes so we had to dash as we all wanted to catch tonight's comedy show in the theater and it was starting in three minutes. The place was packed but we were able to find seats here and there. Tonight's show featured short sets from both comedians.

Heath Harmison

Warren B Hall

Both guys were funny and we enjoyed some after-dinner chuckles. Next up was a trip to the comedy club. They have been featuring a dueling piano show called Howl at the Moon.

The show featured three musicians who cycled between two pianos, drums, a bass guitar, and other percussion instruments. The show is all about audience participation and singing along and it was good fun.

We heard from our bus driver, Steve, about picking us up on Saturday. That prompted a question to the Guest Services desk about disembarkation procedures. Most of us will choose to put bags out the night before so I asked about disembarkation groups and timing so we could all get off the ship together. My timing was serendipitous as tomorrow morning first thing, bag tags will be available to grab by the Guest Services desk. We want the purple tags as that will be the first group to disembark at 8:30 AM. I will be getting up early to head downstairs tomorrow morning and grab enough purple tags for our entire group. Steve will be there by 9:00 AM on Saturday to pick us up.

Tomorrow will be a relaxing sea day. The rumor is that Arlona and perhaps others may try the high ropes course on the ship tomorrow. Check back tomorrow and find out!

20240227 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise - Day 4 - Grand Cayman - Shopping and steaks

NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise Day 4 - Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

We rolled up to Grand Cayman this morning. This is a tender port, meaning that there isn't a dock that can handle a ship this size. We parked offshore using dynamic positioning. Rather than drop an anchor, the bridge essentially hits a button and tells the ship to, "stay". The various propulsion systems on the ship keep it pointed in the right direction and nearly motionless automatically. Technology can be cool.

We weren't the only ones. There were four ships in Grand Cayman today. 

MSC Seascape and Celebrity Reflection

Disney Fantasy

(all numbers are approximates)

• NCL Escape: 4,700 passengers (us)
• Disney Fantasy: 4,000 passengers
• Celebrity Reflection: 3,000 passengers
• MSC Seascape: 5,200 passengers

With nearly 17,000 passengers plus more crew going ashore, we added around 30% to the population of Grand Cayman today.

Celebrity Reflection, MSC Seascape, NCL Escape, Disney Fantasy

The disembarkation process was sloppy with nobody knowing where to go and different crew members giving different instructions and information. Ultimately we got on a tender (lifeboat) for the short five-minute ride to shore.

We opted today to just wander around town, browsing the shops and seeing what we see. We started by finding the stingray fountain.

We continued wandering, exploring the shops (mostly jewelry).

Chickens roam freely in Grand Cayman - not something you'd expect to see in a city.

Apparently, this sign pointed to something interesting as he was heading there

We grabbed a couple of sodas at Burger King and sat for a few minutes. One cock, three hens, and two chicks were hitting up customers for any fries or buns that might go uneaten.

This sign in the bathroom at Burger King was too good to not share.

We continued wandering, stumbling across a small park in the middle of town.

With shopping completed, we headed back to catch a tender to the ship. NCL was now using commercial tenders like the other ships were using this morning. They are larger and less cramped than the lifeboats, so that was nice.

When we got back, we had to wind through a cattle line to eventually get to security.

We have discovered on this voyage that NCL is not very good at moving large numbers of people effectively. When I compare this with the larger Royal Caribbean ships, the difference is amazing. Royal has it figured out and NCL doesn't.

As we got back on the ship, we switched our phones back into airplane mode with WiFi on. That clearly demonstrated that another thing NCL hasn't figured out is internet service. They rank right up there with Viking and Oceania for the top spot in crappy, yet costly internet. Once again, Royal Caribbean and their sister company, Celebrity, have it figured out with top-tier Starlink internet service. On those lines, it is almost like being at home in terms of internet quality. It is really apparent if you have to make a call. All my calls on NCL have had very poor sound quality. Oh well, live and learn.

We went up to the Garden Cafe for a quick bite. Two of our travel friends met us and wanted to go to O'Sheehan's Pub on deck 7. We finished and went with them for a drink as they had lunch. O'Sheehan's is open 24/7 for drinks, appetizers, handhelds like sliders, wings, and other pub-style food. It is a nice venue on deck 7 overlooking the main atrium on deck 6.

After that, we all headed to our rooms for a little downtime. Dinner is late tonight. With 8 PM reservations at Cagney's Steakhouse, we had time. This gave me the time to get most of this missive written before dinner, making it so I won't have too late an evening.

We sailed right on time just before 5 PM, which we found surprising, given the disorganization of getting folks off and then back on the ship. We were treated to a lovely sky as we made our exit from the Cayman Islands.

We met up at the Prime Meridian Bar a little after 7 PM. As has been the standard on this cruise, seats were hard to come by. Eventually, we all got seats just in time to get seated for dinner. Cagney's, like most of the specialty restaurants, is an a la carte eatery, meaning that if you don't have a dining plan, you pay for each item you order. Many of us were looking forward to surf and turf until we found out that surf and turf came with a $25 upcharge, even if you had a dining package. NCL was nickel and diming us again. The meal with the package included an appetizer, a soup or salad, a main course, two side dishes, and a dessert. Don't get me wrong, that was plenty of food, but going to a steakhouse on a dining plan and not being able to get surf and turf is amazing to us.

Our meals were good, but definitely not great. The filet that I had was fine, but it lacked terrific flavor. Arlona's prime rib was good, but again, it lacked flavor. The garlic mushrooms didn't taste like garlic at all. The onion rings were tasty. The seven-layer chocolate cake was a huge disappointment as it was dry and bland. Arlona's chocolate cake is much better. At the end of the meal, they still present you with a bill, even though it gets zeroed out. Our meal ran $201. Again, that is above and beyond the cost of the meals that are included in our cruise fare. We view Cagney's as a "meh", with modest food at exhorbinent prices.

The best part of the evening was spending time with friends and enjoying our time together. Dinner wrapped up at 10:30 PM, so everyone was ready to call it a night. Eating this late just before bed means I'm looking forward to a lovely night with heartburn. That's not NCL's fault, but I'd feel better about the heartburn of the meal had been world-class.

Tomorrow, we will dock in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We don't have a definite plan. We might look to walk to the beach and perhaps swim/snorkel a bit. We'll see what the morning holds.