Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Chilling at Sea (Part 1)

Need to catch up and read the previous day's events?  That day starts with this post.

Here's the Freestyle Daily for this day...


...and here's the video for this day AND the next day (both days were sea days).

Yep…slept good.  The CPAP didn’t strangle me; the rocking just lulled me to sleep; nice and quiet; BUT I WAS STILL UP AT 6:45 IN THE !#@$$(*&$% MORNING!!!!


I just don’t know how to vacation, I guess.



Not wanting to wake up anyone, I laid in bed for about 30 minutes before quietly getting up and working on the journal that would ultimately become this trip report.  Sheri woke up at 7:50, about five minutes after Eric arose.  Aaron, hearing everyone else and worried that he’d miss something, also woke up.  I started uploading the previous day’s GoPro captures – there was a LOT on there, and it was going to take a while to get it on the laptop.


While we were getting ready, I turned on the TV and found the Tyler and Jacky show, which I had heard from previous reports is pretty good.


That’s an understatement.  “Jacky” is Jacky Tang, who is a member of the Cruise Director’s Staff.  I don’t want to spoil too much, but this guy is downright hilarious, and he works really well with Tyler.  I can see him moving into an Assistant Cruise Director role very soon, especially as the Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Joy are coming online soon.  I saw Jacky on embarkation day (I think he was leading a ship tour), but I didn’t get the chance to meet him yet.  His character on the Tyler and Jackie Show…especially when you know his background and talk to him...is an absolute riot!  All four of us watched the show at least twice.


We decided on O'Sheehan's for breakfast – as we opened the door, Joseph, our cabin steward, walked by.  He stopped and introduced himself.  We chatted for a few minutes; he was on his last cruise before the end of his contract, so he was excited to get home to see his family.  He was really upbeat and seemed to enjoy what he was doing!


We said our “so long!” and headed up to Taste.  Sheri ordered a mimosa – I had never had one before, so I took one for the team and tried one.

Not bad!


We all opted for the French toast breakfast.  No pics on that…sorry…we were hungry!


After that, we headed forward to the Box Office to sign up for the “Escape the Big Top” escape room.  While there, we decided to also reserve a table at the supper to watch “Company Men”.  Once that was done, we headed to Deck 7 and grabbed a seat to see what was going on.  They were just finishing up trivia, and, had we played, we would have gotten 2nd place.  We all made a mental note to look for the next trivia contests onboard.  Not that the Mushfam is competitive or anything, but…
After trivia, we decided to do a round of Cricket on the dartboard (we’re raising our kids properly!).

Since I had the drink package, I decided to try my first-ever Bloody Mary.  Nope…not for me…that one would most likely be my last Bloody Mary.  At least I gave it the old college try.


Aaron won that game; Sheri blamed her score on the movement of the ship.


After Darts, we headed aft and up to Deck 8 to see what the shops had for us.  We perused around for a little before heading out for our first encounter with the Waterfront.  For those who don’t know, the Waterfront is a promenade deck with comfortable couches/chairs and outdoor seating for a number of dining venues on that deck.  It typically is quiet for the first couple of days as many people don’t know about it.  We all commented on how much we liked it.  We found a place to sit for a few minutes to watch the ocean go by.

I then excused myself and ran back up to the room to check on the status of the GoPro.  Everything had (FINALLY) downloaded, so I reformatted the card and took it with me to head out.  When I made it back onto the Waterfront, it had clouded up and was just about to start raining a bit.  We met up and headed inside towards the District Brew House for the Cruise Critic meetup at noon.  The boys hit the restroom while Sheri and I walked up to one of the more well-known members of the crew.  Rowan, welcomed us and asked if we were part of the meet-up.  We smiled and nodded and talked with him for a minute or two while waiting for the boys.  When they arrived, without thinking, we put our hands out for some of the sanitizer he was holding, and he instinctively started doing the ever-popular “Washy Washy…good for you…good for me…good for us (to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down…just search for “Washy Washy Norwegian” on YouTube and you’ll understand).  We laughed and shook his hand; on top of the medley that he does at Garden Café most mornings, he probably gets asked to sing that by people 50-75 times a day, and we wanted to cut him a break so he wouldn’t have to sing it.  Though you couldn’t tell by his demeanor (all smiles), he has to absolutely hate that song LOL!


We headed to the check-in table, and Host Michell (I’ll use their online names, though you could probably figure out her name) was there to greet us.  We grabbed nametags and talked for a brief second with her before heading to a table near the window.  Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the roll call had surged to well over 100 names, with many/most expressing interest in the Meet and Greet!  Within a couple of minutes, people starting bringing sample flights of several beers on tap at the District.  Immediately after the beer came, we were offered several hors d’oeuvres.  We headed up to the bar to get the boys something to drink and then started meeting some of the other families at the meet-up.  I recognized a few from the boards who had posted pictures, but, again, being a bit of a lurker on the boards, there were a lot of introductions and “getting-to-know-you” talk.  Sheri usually prefers that I do more of the talking at events such as this, but she was getting into it a little bit, too, as we talked with the groups.


More beer…and more hors d’oeuvres…

I don’t think we’ll have to worry about grabbing lunch anywhere!


The senior crew then entered and started mingling around.  We got to meet the Hotel Director and the Executive Chef during meet-up.  Most other senior officers were also in attendance, which again impressed the heck out of me!


Then Tyler came over to our table.  I felt like I was meeting a celebrity (wrong cruise line…badum bum ching!)


As he walked up, I asked him if there were 50 clones of him running around the ship because he was everywhere.  He spent a good 4-5 minutes with us (he’s from Tennessee but went to school in Chicago).  He mingled just a bit more and then took on an emcee role as he introduced many of the staff in attendance.  After he was done, he turned the microphone over to Michell who introduced the Cruise Critic members in charge of the cabin crawl and gift exchange (kirkelyv) and the slot pull (Cyndi_at_home and Mike_at_sea).  Eric won a CruiseCritic lanyard in a drawing, and he immediately swapped everything out of the lanyard he had to his new one.  I think Aaron was just a bit envious LOL.

I walked up to introduce myself to Cyndi and Mike and got signed up for the slot pull.  I also got to meet some of kirkleyv’s family, including danddgrandma, who, along with Michell, we ran into several more times during the cruise.

Continued...HERE!

Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Embarkation Day!!!! (Part 3)

Part 2 of Embarkation Day can be found HERE.

We were behind Waves just a bit, and, being a smoking area, we caught a couple of wafts of cigarette smoke, though it wasn’t too bad at all where we were.  We started moving within a few minutes, and we could hear the Sail Away party starting in full-force one deck below.  Across the A1A highway, we saw a guy attempting to use a flyboard (and failing miserably).  A few minutes later, we met the car ferry arriving at the Miami Beach terminal.  The water was really clear, and we saw a huge ray swimming by (no picture…sorry).  Soon after that, the Miami Beach marina came into view, with some REALLY nice boats docked in it.  Quite a few were heading out for some Friday evening boating.  You can see quite a bit of this in the video posted in the first installment for this day.  I'll link it again here.

Eventually, South Beach came into view, and I instinctively sucked in my gut and made sure my hair was perfect.  Sure enough…I saw her.  Just across the pier, on the other side of the rocks, a mere 100-200 yards off the beach was this heavenly being, floating in the water.  Wearing nothing but what God had given her at birth, she was truly a sight to behold.


Yep…it was a wild manatee floating just off the shore!!


Kewl!


Soon after, we were in open ocean, with the pilot boat cruising alongside us.  We watched the
Pilot hop on his boat to help another ship head out.  After the pilot left, we headed back to our room and noticed that we had 4 more bags waiting for us.



Wait a minute…we brought 5 bags…and two were already in the stateroom.  The last time I checked, 5 – 2 = 3.  Our bags are breeding!  We noticed one that wasn’t ours…it was 12888’s bag.  I took it down and set it with the rest of their bags in the hallway.  I walked back to our room, and Sheri pointed to MORE STRAWBERRIES!!!



She then told me to read the card.


11272.


Uh oh…dilemma…we have someone else’s strawberries.  It’s kind of weird to give someone else food, but it was easy to tell that the berries had not been touched.  Do I walk down and give it to them, hoping that they don’t think we’re complete freaks?  Do we just eat them?  Do we contact guest services and tell them of the issue?


Decisions, decisions...


I made the executive decision to take them down to 11272.  I knocked on the door, and, as luck would have it, the guy answering it stood about 6’4” and could have played onside alongside the security guard we saw at the terminal for the Miami Dolphins. I told him what happened and said that he had my solemn word that we didn’t touch them.  He seemed appreciative of them!



In a five-minute span, I delivered luggage and strawberries.  I wondered if I could get a 7-day contract for the cruise.



Sheri was going to town on unpacking, while I was taking down the GoPro from the balcony.  I could see what I was pretty sure was Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas in the distance, having just left Fort Lauderdale on its Western Caribbean itinerary.  I came back in, and Sheri didn't look too happy.


“The Packing Cubes Don’t Fit.”


My first reaction?  “Whew…I didn’t do anything wrong.”



Okay - I'm going to take just a minute here and step aside from the report.  As you read this, it might seem that, based on my writing style, you'd think that I'm married to a nag and have two spoiled brats for kids.  This is as far from the truth as it could possibly be, and, for those who know the Mushfam, they get the jokes.  Sheri is, without a doubt, the best thing to happen to me, and the boys are both intelligent and courteous to others...they all have to have the patience of saints in order to deal with me, right?  Anything that might indicate otherwise is simply my attempt at humor using the stereotypical family roles.  I think that most everyone realizes that it's all done in fun, but I wanted to make sure, just in case.  Okay...back to the report...



The dimensions of the cubes we got matched what we had read in other cruise reports on the same ship, but they simply were not going to fit in the closet.  We put one near the bed to serve as a hamper.  I helped get the shoe rack put up in the closet and started maneuvering the suitcases under the bed for storage.  FYI: we fit 3 large suitcases and two smaller ones under the bed with plenty of room to fit more!


It was getting to be around 5:00, so we got ready for dinner at the Manhattan Room and showed up promptly at 5:15.  There was a larger party working on trying to get seats, and we were waved around to another check-in.  I told the maître d’ that we had reservations for later but were hoping to squeeze in.  “No Problem!”she said.


She then reminded us of the dress code of “no tank tops” in dining rooms, which we completely forgot about.  We had two boys currently wearing tank tops on their torsos and shocked looks on their faces.  I wish our travel planner had told us about that #ohwait.


Oops.


The crew member was extremely professional about it, with a kind demeanor.  I have to admit that, early on, I was wholly impressed with the staff onboard!!



The boys went back to the room to change shirts, while Sheri and I were seated.  After about ten minutes without seeing the boys, I texted them to see if they fell overboard, and they said they weren’t able to get back in.  I went to the front and found them – they were lying in a corner, curled up in fetal positions, worried that they would not be able to eat (despite the fact that there were at least 4 other free options for them to go to).  I think they went to the wrong desk, and the hostess there didn’t recognize them.


Once they were seated in the room, they started breathing again, and smiles crossed their faces as they looked at the menu.  They were even happier to hear they got more than just an entrée.  Being in the aft of the ship, we were starting to feel a little movement, though I think it may have been more the wind than the seas.  Sheri was getting a bit green, but she was tolerating it.  I was watching the boys, too.  Eric was like me – it’s part of the ride!  Aaron, however, was taking after his mother and not feeling the greatest with the motion.


Menus:

I went for the clam chowder. Eric gravitated towards the chicken drums, while Aaron (the foodie) wanted to try the crab cake.  Sheri decided she was done kissing me for the day and ordered the french onion soup.

Clam Chowder

French Onion Soup

Louisiana Chicken Drums

Crab Cake

All the appetizers ranked in the "average" range...okay, but nothing to write home about.  No worries, though, because we had the entrees up next.

Prime Rib - Medium Rare!

New York Strip

Lasagna - Eric gave it a thumbs-up!

Whenever Aaron or I see prime rib on a menu, it immediately grabs our attention; however, the price on the menu usually has us choosing something else.  NOT THIS TIME, THOUGH!  We both requested that item, cooked medium rare.  It came out exactly as we expected.  For a large-scale restaurant, there were no complaints at all about the rib.

Sheri prefers her beef cooked to what I like to call "shoe-leather" texture (we've gotten her up to medium well, but it's still too done for me).  She went for the New York Strip (medium well), and it came out a bit more like a well-done temperature.  Cooking temperature aside, she said it had really good flavor on it.

Eric tends to gravitate to lasagna like Aaron I do to prime rib.  He has never met a lasagna he didn't like, and this was no exception.

Dessert was up next!



Eric's Choice: Cherries Jubilee

Cherries Jubilee

Mush's Selection: The staple of all cruise line dessert menus...the lava cake!

Warm Chocolate Lava Cake

Aaron is definitely my son - he went for the Pistachio Creme Brulee!

Pistachio Creme Brulee

Sheri chose a bit healthier selection with the cheese plate.

Assorted Cheeses, Grapes, & Crackers

All of us enjoyed our desserts.  Aaron didn't taste a lot of pistachio in the creme brulee, but it was still good.  Sheri's cheese plate was remarkably good!  That was my first-ever lava cake, so I have nothing to compare it to; it was awesome, though!



After dinner, we headed towards the forward area of the ship towards the atrium.  On our way, we caught a good picture of the chandelier, which was feeling a little blue.

As we reached the atrium, we noticed that they were in the middle of a “Minute to Win It” contest.  I took the opportunity to head to guest services to see about the distilled water for the CPAP machine.  While waiting, I gained a new appreciation for the people working behind the Guest Services desk as I heard them dealing with some odd issues with excellent professionalism.  When it came to my turn (after a couple of others tried walking up in front others and being told (kindly) where the line was), I inquired, and the woman I was working with initially thought I was talking about bottled water.  I ended up bringing up the email from the ship’s Access Coordinator and letting her read it.  A phone call later, and all was set.



Again – excellent customer service!


As happened the last time I hopped in line for Guest Services, the others headed for a seat and ordered a drink.


Oh no...nope…she was already up one drink on me.  I glanced over the menu and ordered a new selection for me…a Rebellious Fish!  We stayed there for a few minutes, since Sheri and Aaron noticed less motion in the atrium (Deck 6 mid-forward).  Since our next planned event was the Variety Show in the Theatre, we just hung out and waited, doing a little people-watching in the process.  The boys were initially planning on heading to their respective age-specific areas, but they were also starting to show some signs of wear and tear.  We arrived to the Escape Theater around 7:45 and found some seats near the back so some of us could sneak out quietly.  Aaron could check himself in and out of Entourage, but an adult had to drop off Eric at Splash Academy, though he could check himself out after 2 hours.  Both of them were to meet their counselors at 8 and then have events afterwards.

The show started with the cast of For the Record: The Brat Pack doing a piece from their show.


The boys decided to stay after that and head to their areas afterward.


We saw Tyler (Cruise Director) for the first time, and we got to see many of the acts onboard.  All of us took note of Company Men, and we made mental notes to figure out when their acts were.  After Midnight had a lot of energy, but we could tell that the boys were not that into the genre.


After the show ended, we immediately went to Splash Academy to drop off Eric and realized that it was being held at the other end of the ship, as far away as it could be – the sports court.  We decided to drop off Aaron at Entourage on our way, since it was on the way.  After Aaron headed in, we headed up to the court and found something that we were a bit concerned about – Eric was definitely one of the oldest ones there, both physically and socially.  He towered above all the others (including some of the counselors) except for one other young man.  We decided to stay and watch the interaction for a few minutes.  Eventually, the mix/mingle turned into a dodgeball frenzy, and we knew that he would be fine.  Once dodgeball was over, they headed back to the Academy.  We caught his eye and gauged if he was okay.  He wanted to give it a try, so we left as they made their way back.

It took a few minutes for Sheri and I to realize that we were alone.


HOT DAMN!!


Okay…closest bar…closest bar…Spice H2O!  We found two seats at the bar and looked at the menu for a bit.  There was some movement, but Sheri seemed to be doing okay.  We were both a bit warm, so we ordered appropriately.  Sheri got a mudslide, and I ordered another new one…a Bushwacker.  As we watched him make the drinks, we realized we truly had an artist behind the bar.



We immediately grabbed our cameras and took pictures of our drinks.

Mudslide

Bushwacker

The guy next to me was so impressed (and perhaps inebriated) that he also took pictures of the top of the Bushwacker.



We tipped the bartender and enjoyed our (relative) solitude for a few minutes before heading back to the room.  As we emerged from the elevator, I noticed a girl walking around…probably around the boys’ age.  When we opened the door, I saw the distilled water waiting for us.  Sheri went back to unpacking, and I decided that it would be safer for me to be on the balcony.  About 30 seconds after I stepped out, I saw a Celebrity Solstice-class ship passing us on her way back to the states.

At 10:20, I headed out to get Eric from Splash.  It seemed to go fairly well, though the highlight was his “dominance” at dodgeball (in his defense, he was doing really well out there).  I dropped him off at the room and then decided to head up to Entourage to see how Aaron was handling the “Battle of the Genders”.  It was still going on, so I peeked into Spice H2O, which had their Welcome Aboard Dance Party in full-swing.  Andre, the Assistant Cruise Director, was keeping the energy up on the dance floor:



Around 11:15, Aaron came strolling out.  It went well, though he gave me the “What happens in Entourage STAYS in Entourage” line.  I just smiled.  He’s growing up.  We peeked our heads into Spice H2O again to check out the dancing before heading to the room.  When we got off the elevator, I noticed that same girl from about 45 minutes before still walking around.  I asked her if she needed help, and she said that she couldn’t find her friend’s room (a lot of her stuff was in that room).  She was looking for stateroom 12665, which, in her defense, was NOT easy to find.  That stateroom is an inside room just in front of the elevators.  All of the Oceanside rooms are even-numbered, which drove her crazy, since she was looking for one of only a small number of odd-numbered rooms in the area.  She said that she had been trying to find that room for about an hour and a half, even after asking crew members for help.  She thanked us, and we headed to our room.


As we all wound down for the night, I was expecting a major argument from the boys on the sleeping arrangements.  Luckily, Eric chose the bottom and was fine with staying down there; this was a good thing, because Aaron wanted the Pullman bed on top.  We all changed and prepped for bed.


Around midnight, we were all out cold!

The next day starts HERE.

Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Embarkation Day!!!! (Part 2)

Part 1 of this day can be found HERE.


We continued our way forward, noting that the pool one deck below was essentially empty.  We found the ping pong tables as we made our way inside to the forward elevators.  We then took the elevator down to deck 5 to head to Splash Academy to get Eric registered.  I’ll say upfront that Sheri and I were both a little concerned about the “fit” that Eric would have with Splash.  Though he jokes around about everything, he is a mature age of 12, and we thought that much of the activities wouldn’t interest him.  I knew that we couldn’t request him to move up to Entourage; we showed Eric an earlier copy of the activities, and he seemed interested in a few of them, so we took the chance and registered him.  He received a yellow wrist band that let the crew members know what level he was (he could check himself out after 2 hours of being in the Academy) as well as other pertinent information.

Once he was registered, we stuck our heads into the Guppies room of Splash, and I grabbed a little video of it.  After that, we headed up to deck 6 to the atrium.  I wanted to stop by guest services to A) try getting the anniversary cake moved from La Cucina over to Cagney’s on the 21st; and B) to break a $20 so I would have tipping money.  While waiting in line, the Director of Guest Services, Odie, was greeting guests and seeing if he could take care of any issues without having to speak to a guest services member.  Seeing him there impressed me.


I received a card to give to the server for the cake, and I hid it in my pocket…I wanted to surprise Sheri with it on our anniversary.  While I was getting this taken care of, Sheri and the boys grabbed a seat in the atrium.  The timing was good, because a server came around and got drink orders from them.  She got a mojito.

Not that I was keeping score, but she was +1 on me on drinks.


From the time we got onboard, we heard an announcement that the staterooms were not yet ready every 15-20 minutes.  It sounded like a lot of people were trying to get into the rooms early.  I wanted to scream to let the cabin stewards do their thing, but I instead took my anger out by gnawing on the straw of my ‘fish.  Once we had our drinks done, we started heading around to get a feel for the ship.  We worked our way aft and walked through some of the art gallery before finding ourselves in the chandelier atrium (“Atrium #2”, as we called it).  I stopped by Headliners to cancel our La Cucina reservation (I saw her typing something about “anniversary” in the Cagney’s reservation, so they knew :)).  Since I wanted us to see the variety show, I inquired about trying to move our reservation at the Manhattan Room up to 5:30, and she said that just showing up at 5:15 would be enough.  I thanked her and rejoined the Mushfam, who was still staring straight up at the chandelier.


We walked a little farther aft, past the Mixx Bar and Taste/Savor restaurants.  Just as we got to the aft elevators, they announced that staterooms were available.  Good timing!  We hailed a ‘vator and made our way up to Deck 12.  Our room was REALLY close to the aft elevators on the port side…12272.  The Mushfam all commented on how close the room was, and I basked in the glory of being a good travel consultant and picking a good room for them.  I got my card out…


…and failed miserably at getting the door open.  Being the typical teen, Aaron grabbed my card and tried, with the same unsuccessful result.


Eric then tried….nope.


I started getting a bit nervous, until Aaron threw his card in and quickly removed it, giving us a green light on the lock.  We all piled in, and I immediately noticed that the bed was near the balcony.


WOOHOO!!!!  All my information led me to believe that it was by the closet.


We headed out to the balcony/verandah, and I again basked in the glory of a successful stateroom selection.  All of us just stood there for a moment, and then Sheri broke the silence: “I see my boats!”, as she pointed to the red lifeboats below us.  I noticed that we had three chairs on the verandah, which was awesome.  We then heard a “Hi, Neighbor!” to our right.  We met the couple in the stateroom next us – a younger couple from Ontario – and talked to them for a couple of minutes.  Eric took a panoramic shot, with a...well....an..."interesting" result:

Sheri started lobbying that we could do sail away on our balcony, which led to a quick exchange between us (I like the excitement of sail away from the upper decks).  Aaron then claimed that he was confident that he could spit all the way to the water from our balcony.  I contemplated climbing over the railing to stay with the couple from Canada for the duration of the cruise.


We headed back in to look around the room a little, and I noticed that some of our in-room requests had already arrived.  The first thing I saw was another card with “Happy Anniversary” on the front and instructions to give the card to our server when we wanted to use it.


Oops – I didn’t realize that this was how they did it.  I tried to keep it away from Sheri’s sight, but it didn’t work, and I let her in on the plans.  This is a big reason why I wanted to take the cruise – to get a feel for how they do things :).  We also got the bottled water that I pre-ordered, as well as the tickets for our shore excursion to Virgin Gorda & the Baths.  I noticed that the distilled water that was pre-ordered for my cpap machine had not yet arrived.  It was still early, though, and I wasn’t concerned at all.


As if on cue, we heard a knock on the door.  It wasn’t the distilled water, but it was a delivery of chocolate-covered strawberries and a bottle of Brut sparkling wine – a perk that Norwegian gives to travel partners sailing with them.  The berries were inhaled by all within 12.6 seconds, and the Brut was put into the fridge to start chilling.


I got the cpap machine set up and, though I brought an extension cord, I was happy to see that I wouldn’t need it, as the cord could reach across the room to an outlet.  While the boys explored the events on the Freestyle Daily, I opened up my newest toy that went with the GoPro: a Joby suction cup with Gorillapod arm.  I went out to the balcony and looked around for the best place to set it up.  I decided to place it on the divider on the left and stuck it on.  After I dismounted my GoPro from my handle and swapped out the MicroSD card for a larger capacity one, I heard someone above me shout out, “That’s a really cool idea!!!” as I mounted the GoPro to the Joby.  Some guests on their balcony on deck 14 saw what I was doing and loved it.  I told them my plan of getting a time lapse of the sail away (see video from previous post).  I used my iPad to check the orientation of the GoPro (I love technology sometimes!) and, happy with what I saw, I shut it all down to save the battery.  I then grabbed our DSLR camera and started taking some pictures from our view – vacation and anniversary aside, I was still “working”.

Fueling us up!

The boys were starting to drive Sheri crazy (crazier), so I offered to take them with me while I got some ship pictures.  Eric agreed, and, since separating the boys is often the best plan of attack when they are in “let’s-drive-our-parents-crazy” mode, she gave us our blessing.


We immediately headed up to Deck 16 to get a feel for the pool area.  It was definitely getting a little more crowded, but it was still manageable.

The live music had started, and Eric and I stopped to listen for a moment.

I noticed that both levels of the Wave bar were definitely a lot busier than when we got our drink.  My Disney/Universal strategy of “go-where-they-ain’t” is still paying dividends on the ship.  I turned around, and we got our first glimpse of the water slides (then closed, as the Muster drill was about an hour away).

Eric and I headed forward.  I had two objectives here: 1) first, I wanted Eric to see the view from the front of the ship; and 2) I wanted to see the crowd levels on the sundecks up there.  Aside from us, there may have been only 3-4 couples up on the forward sundecks, and I immediately made a mental note of that in case we wanted to do some laying out the next day.  I also thought that this area might be a good spot for sail away.  I really liked the small walkway on Deck 19 that overlooked the pool area and gave you a view of both sides of the ship.  The pictures below show the view from that location:

We then headed aft to look at the arcade, and I could see Eric making a mental note of all that was in there.  I had a feeling that we’d be checking the onboard accounts a lot on this cruise to make sure they weren’t spending hundreds of dollars a day in there.


Eric and I arrived back to the stateroom around 3:00, and the other two were chilling a bit after getting the carry-ons taken care of.  We had the Muster drill coming up soon, and we hoped that, if we got there early, we might have a chance to be one of the early ones out.  Our assigned station was E4, which was Taste/Savor.  The setup then (keep in mind that this could change) was that odd numbers were in Taste, with evens in Savor.  The crew got set up, and we followed the member with the green “E4” sign, got our cards scanned (yes, they scan to make sure you attend), and grabbed a seat.  This was definitely much more comfortable than Disney’s muster station, where you assemble on the promenade near the lifeboats, but Sheri also commented that her lifeboat just for her was more than three steps away.  I made a joke that, perhaps they would have a band playing for us while they got the Haven guests to their boats first, like in Titanic.  Though I got a death glare from her, I think she preferred this setup for the drill.


Peter was our station’s crew member, and he maintained an excellent combination of humor (to keep things from being too boring) and professionalism (he knew when to stop the jokes).  Our Cruise Director, Tyler Gray, was doing the spiel, and I noticed that his voice was a bit more gravelly than I recalled hearing from the videos I had seen before.  Soon after, we were released from the drill, and, while much of the masses went to the elevator bank, we squeezed past them to the stairs.  I warned them that it was going to be a climb up to Deck 17, but they seemed like they were okay with it.  I then told them that I was stopping at Deck 12 to get the GoPro started.


I don’t know why, but they didn’t seem too happy about it around Deck 12.


I peeled off at Deck 12 and immediately saw that two of our checked bags had already arrived.  I opened the door and got the bags inside.  I then started the GoPro and contemplated sitting down for a second, ordering room service, taking a nap, etc.  Then reality set in, and I knew I’d be fish food if I actually did that, so I bounded up the stairs to Deck 17.  Sheri texted me their location – port side, under the Aqua Racer (SHADE).  I found them a minute later, and we grabbed some railing.  I looked over and saw the water eddying from the bow thruster.  That meant only one thing…we were going to be the first ship out (you can see it in the video).


Sweet!

Continued...HERE

Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Embarkation Day!!!! (Part 1)

Need to see the previous day?  Start HERE.

I was the first one up (I’m like the kids in an old Walt Disney World commercial…can’t sleep…too excited!).  I looked out the window and did a quick count…1…2…3…4…5…yep 5 ships (insert a laugh from “the Count” from Sesame Street… “5!  5 Ships ah-ah-ah…crash/boom”).


In the foreground was the luxury yacht, Seafair.

Behind it was Regent’s Seven Seas Navigator, with four large ships on the other side of Port Miami’s Dodge Island.

There’s MSC Divina, two whale tails, which were Carnival Glory and Carnival Vista, and then…there she was…Norwegian Escape.


Soon afterward, the other three were awake and wondering what I was doing looking out the window for ten minutes straight.  I told the boys to look and see what was out there.


They couldn’t get past the yacht docked next to the hotel.  Once I got them to focus over at Port Miami, their eyes got a little wider.

We all did the bathroom shuffle to get 4 people ready in one bathroom.  I started packing up the electronics, while the others made sure nothing was left in the room.  We then headed down to the Starbucks in the lobby for a quick bite.  We didn’t want to fill up on a large breakfast – why pay for that when you could have free food on the ship in just a few hours???


The boys enjoyed their café mochas at Starbucks (which, I should probably add, was their first taste of Starbucks and mochas).  I was fully expecting them to start emulating Beavis and Butthead when they had coffee (“I am the great Cornholio!”).  Luckily, they seemed rather subdued.  It could have been the cute girls in the store that kept them calm.  Aaron has this running joke where he’d claim to introduce himself to a cute girl with this falsetto “heellLLOOOOOOOoooo!”  I brought that up and told him to try it out with them.


Yeah…he didn’t listen to me.


We headed back up to pack, and I made an executive decision to download my videos to have as much storage space as possible on the GoPro, since I was planning on using and abusing that piece of equipment that day.  As I was downloading, it started raining outside.  I immediately went into planning mode for how to handle this; luckily, I didn’t have to fret for long, because the rain stopped about ten minutes later.  Despite my pleas for her to try Bonine this time, Wifey opted for scopolamine, and I helped her get the patch on.


I did the texting checkout, and we were out!  I have to say again that the Intercontinental Miami really impressed me and that I would definitely recommend it; just make sure that you’re aware of any concerts nearby.

I set up our Uber ride to the terminal, and Carlos was there in less than five minutes.  We were on Dodge Island within three minutes, but the tunnel traffic was thick!  With five ships embarking that day, it wasn’t a major surprise.  It took just over 15 minutes to load the car, ride to terminal C, and unload the car.  There was a momentary panic as we realized that the laptop was still on the car after we shut the door; luckily, we were able to flag Carlos down before he took off.  Counting the number of bags came in handy there!



We immediately grabbed a porter and dropped off 5 bags, leaving us with 5 smaller tote bags to haul around (definitely doable).  After tipping the porter, we headed up to the door for Terminal C, not exactly knowing how busy it would be.  The line for security screening was moving quickly, and we were through it in about 4 minutes.  Up next was the medical form.  I was a bit concerned, because of allergies that I had been dealing with for nearly a week.  My eyes were a bit red, and there was a definite cough bugging the heck out of me.  Knowing that it was allergies (I forgot to take an allergy pill that morning), I felt confident filling out the form – I wasn’t going to give someone my case of allergies.  As we were filling out the form, a security guard walked by, which got everyone’s attention – he stood around 6’8” and was solid muscle.  How he was not in the NFL, I’ll never know.  The boys noticed the automatic firearm he was carrying.  My wife noticed the guns located above his elbow in his arms.


(no pic of the security guy...sorry, ladies)


The line for checking in moved quickly, and we had our cards in our hand within ten minutes.  We made our way to the holding lobby and were handing our boarding number…group 5.  Well, I guess we weren’t getting Vibe passes for the cruise – good thing we weren’t trying to get them, right?  The lobby was filling up, but we were still easily able to find several spots to sit.  While waiting, I headed to the part of the lobby as close to the ship as possible and was able to connect to the ship’s wifi.  I wasn’t able to access our account via Norwegian’s iConcierge app yet, as it appeared that they were still closing out the last cruise’s guests.  After a few tries, though, I was able to log in, and I immediately made a dining reservation on the app for Cagney’s on our anniversary (Wednesday).  After more research and talking to friends, we decided to do Cagney’s instead of La Cucina.  I wasn’t able to cancel the La Cucina reservation on the app, but I knew that I was able to do it at Headliners after we boarded.  I also wanted to modify the anniversary cake over to Cagney’s for that night, as it was initially set up for La Cucina.


We waited for probably around 15-20 minutes before we started seeing some of the pre-boarding groups getting on.  There were a couple of choruses of “Happy Birthday” sung by a few hundred friends while waiting.  Finally, the P.A. announcer told us fellow Norwegians that they were about to start boarding.  One of the NCL terminal employees got the crowd excited as she gave the instructions on what all we needed to get past her.  Groups 1 and 2 boarded at the same time.  As they did that, groups 3 and 4 started lining up.  We started making our way towards the loading area.  As groups 3 and 4 were announced, we were ready.  A thunderous cheer was heard every time they announced a new boarding group allowed.  When 5 and 6 were announced, we joined in and let out a quick holler.  We gave our boarding group card and were granted access past her.


The line moved quickly, but we still had a minute or two to look at just how big the Escape was.  After a couple of minutes, we scanned our cards, and we were on the gangway heading up to board on Deck 7.  There were a lot of smiles and a lot of joking around by everyone as we made our way up.  As we stepped foot aboard, there were several members of the crew welcoming us and dancing.


We were on the ship a total of about 5 seconds, and I was already starting to relax.


We got washy-washyed as we made our way aft.  A member of the kids’ clubs (Entourage and Splash Academy) sized up Aaron and decided that he probably had the adult beverage package; he gave Eric a quick piece of paper that reminded guests of when enrollment for the clubs were.  Sheri took special notice of the life boats and picked one just for her.


We entered a crew hallway (not the biggest fan of that) as we made our way into the guest area.  There was a stairwell that had Sheri commenting on “where we definitely DON’T want to be”, harkening to Rose and Jack from Titanic.  A few steps later, we were inside on Deck 7, in the casino.  We immediately saw the impressive chandelier ahead of us, and, along with everyone else around us, we stopped for pictures and jaw-drops.  Everyone else was heading to the right all the way around the chandelier.  Being an economist, I sought the most efficient route, and, as you can see in the video (link below), we went left and beat nearly everyone around.  We made our way through the casino past the Skyline Bar (the other one…the location with the same name on the Disney Dream will always be “our” Skyline Bar).  We made it to the aft elevators, and a crew member informed us that the buffet was open.  Seeing that very few were getting on the elevators, we agreed to grab lunch while it was quiet.  We rode up to Deck 16 with a couple that were already on drink #2.  When the elevator opened, I guided us farther aft, while the few others near the bank of elevators headed forward.  That’s a piece of advice to give you there…the aft stations of Garden Café are typically not as crowded as the ones more forward.  We found a table right in the corner of the starboard aft section.  I told the rest I’d hold the table while they got food.  While they were gone, I grabbed a few pictures of downtown Miami and of Carnival Vista, parked just behind us.  The boys returned first...as I expected, they had their plates full and were already plotting what to put on plate #2.  I went up and grabbed my own plate.  As we ate, one of the officers came around, welcomed us aboard, and asked if we needed anything.

Every 2-3 minutes, a crew member would stop by to clear out plates, restock table settings, asking if we needed anything.  After a couple of rounds of main courses, the boys sought out dessert…or, rather, round 1 of desserts.  When they returned, Sheri and I headed up together to get dessert, and we saw a crew member handing out that day’s Freestyle Daily, which is the information sheet of all that is going on.

Freestyle Daily!


We asked for one and took it back with us to the table, along with dessert.  Garden Café was definitely getting busier, but there were still a lot of open tables around us.  We all got set up on the iConcierge app and paid for the text/voice access.  Eric, always the jokester, started texting us from three feet away, which led to an emoji war involving Sheri and the boys.  EVENTUALLY, we gathered our bags (counted…5…good to go) and headed out.  Since we were only one deck below Entourage, we decided to get Aaron registered up there.  A few minutes later, we headed out of Entourage and started to make our way forward.  We walked by the upper level of the Waves bar and noticed that there was only one other guest there.  Sheri and I immediately changed paths and headed right into Waves to grab a table.  The boys watched our bags while we went up to the bar to order our first drink.  We both decided on the drink of the day…the “Daydreamer’s Daiquiri” (Silver rum, lime juice, and agave nectar).



I went to tip the bartender and realized that all I had were $20s.  I knew that there was already an 18% gratuity paid for with the drink package, but I wanted to give some more.  I secretly kicked myself for not having singles yet, and I sheepishly said, “Thanks!” for the drinks.

LINK TO VIDEO OF THE DAY'S EVENTS:

Continued...HERE

Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Arrival Day, Part 2!

Part 1 of this day can be found HERE.


5 bags later, we headed outside, and I set up an Uber request.  We walked to the commercial pick-up area, which is where the website said Uber would stop.  The traffic on this level of the airport was exceptionally thick for nearly 11 pm, but we were able to find our driver fairly easily, once he was able to navigate through the throngs.  We all piled in and started our way down I-95 to downtown.  During the drive, we saw a nice Lamborghini in the express lane, which the boys thought was cool, and we saw a pair of street racers doing around 110 on the Interstate as we approached downtown Miami, which the boys thought was really cool!


We’re going to be in trouble when they start driving.


We were staying at the Intercontinental Hotel just off of Biscayne Boulevard.  This resort went through a $30 million renovation a few years ago, and I hoped that the timing would work out so the we could see the fruits of the renovation.  We pulled up when the “Welcome to Miami” marquee was playing.


Now, for those of you who have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, I would like to direct you to the video from the previous post.

PALM TREE!!!

Main Lobby of InterContinental Miami

We pulled up and immediately felt like we were in Miami – the energy around this area is awesome!  We made our way inside, and, immediately, bell services asked if we needed help with the bags up the stairs.  While the other three marveled at the awesome lobby inside the hotel, I hopped in line for check-in.  About 30 seconds later, concierge saw me and called me over to help check in.


Two-for-two so far on liking this place!


The gentleman at concierge started working on check-in, and I threw a request out there, fully expecting to be shot down.  I booked the room using points from our IHG credit card, and the only option available with points was a city view.  I was hoping I could pay for an upgrade to a bay view so we could see the ships when we woke up, but, since I used points, I didn’t know if it was possible.  The worst they could say was, “sorry…can’t do it”.


They didn’t say that.


In fact, they bumped us to a bay view for no additional cost at all.


Sweet!


As we finished the check-in, I talked to him for a bit about the night-audit, capacity, and how things had changed since I worked front desk at a Holiday Inn (IHG owns that chain of hotels).  Being IHG members, we received vouchers for coffee at Starbucks.  He handed over the keys, and, after thanking him, we headed upstairs to the 12th floor to see our room (with a view).


No pics of the room when we walked in…it was nearing midnight, and we had been traveling for around 12 hours.  Sorry!

I could think of worse views!

The reviews I have read of this property were that the rooms were a bit dated.  While I can see people thinking that, we were completely comfortable in there, and, as Eric said, “compared to the rest of the hotel, the rooms seemed average.”  It’s hard to compare the room when the rest of the resort is so stellar – that doesn’t mean that the rooms are “dated”, sub-par, or anything.  The sleeping arrangements are great, in my opinion, and I have absolutely no qualms about suggesting this hotel to any of my clients, so long as they would be the type that can appreciate the Miami nightlife.  They also might want to check the schedules of events at Bayfront Park, which is about ¼ mile away from the hotel; outdoor concerts at night could definitely impact the noise/crowd/excitement levels at the hotel.  I think that it could enhance the experience there, if you’re into those kinds of things.


Though I knew that Sheri wanted to unpack a bit and get to sleep, I prodded her to head back downstairs so we could see the outside of the building.  All three of them thought I had completely lost it by recommending that we head outside at midnight to look at the side of a hotel.  I threw another “trust me!” at them, and they (barely willingly) agreed to head back to the elevators, down to the lobby, and, finally, outside to appease what they thought was the request of man entering senility.


We walked outside, and the last part of the video is what we saw.


Their mouths hit the pavement.

Aaron even started smiling.


I win.


We stayed and watched the Skyline Dancers for a good 5 minutes.  That woke them up, because they then started exploring a little bit, getting pictures of the car stationed near the entrance and in the awesome lobby.  There was no concert at Bayfront Park that night, most of the younger crowd was still out clubbing at South Beach, and no convention was being held at the hotel, the lobby and bar area were fairly quiet.  I could see the lobby being an absolute party on other nights, though.

Aaron tried to lay claim on the 'Vette

We headed back up, unpacked a few things, and got ready for bed.  I showed them were the ships would be, and all three asked when they would arrive.  I simply said, “sometime in the morning”, hoping that they would be surprised when they looked out the window the following morning.


With that, we all turned off the lights and rolled over.  We were all asleep within ten minutes, I think.  I was too busy sleeping to see when they fell asleep.

Embarkation Day Starts HERE!