This is my trip journal from our recent
NCL Star Cruise
Sailing January 20, 2013 we were in a family suite (SJ)
which has a few “perks” that are different from the “regular” staterooms. A little about us - family of four. We enjoy good food and wine,
but I wouldn’t say that we are overly picky. For this trip we decided that we
would eat in every specialty restaurant on the Star, unfortunately since we
didn’t have the opportunity to eat in the main dining rooms this trip, I can’t
offer a comparison there, but I can give an overview of what we did experience.
We are a huge fan of the NCL Specialty Restaurants.
Even though they carry a small cover charge,
we believe they are a great value and when you spend a couple thousand dollars
for a cruise, what’s another couple hundred for a week long of truly memorable
dining experiences without the crowds.
The itinerary includes two sea days; Costa Maya, Mexico;
Belize City, Belize; Roatan Bay Islands, Honduras; and Cozumel, Mexico. January is a great time to go to the Western Caribbean because the weather is pretty good and the cruises are inexpensive.
I told my husband, Eric, recently that one of the things I like best
about cruising is that it is a true vacation for me. Usually when we travel if
we stay at the timeshare or go camping I still end up cooking and cleaning.
Also since the children enjoy the kids programs we get to have a family
vacation and still have time to relax and reconnect with each other and do some
grown up things too
January 18 – Long day of travel today. Last night we stayed
in Seattle and caught an early flight out to New Orleans. I am so glad that we did since the
first flight leaving was delayed and I would have been so stressed if we were
trying to make the ship today.
We got all checked in at the
timeshare, it has the feeling
of a little French apartment, unfortunately the kids have to sleep together on
the fold out sofa, but it’s only for a couple nights. We walked down to Copeland’s Cheesecake Factory. Overall the food was pretty good, but the
service left a lot to be desired.
January 19 – (Saturday) We headed down to the river area via
street car and bus ride for beignets and coffee at
Café Dumond. An all day
buss/trolley pass was only $3 per person (you need to have exact change) and
seemed like a good deal. I did notice that the tourists tend to take the
trolley and the locals ride the bus, and it is easy to see why, the busses,
while lacking the cute factor of the street cars, were much more efficient.
We
enjoyed wandering around until the
WWII museum opened. My 8 year old, Justin,
is an airplane fanatic and is especially enamored of the old WWII fighters, so
he and Eric went to the museum and Carson (6 years old) and I walked over to the
LA StateChildren’s Museum on Julia Street. It is a reciprocal of the Museums of Science
and Industry (along with the Museum of Flight in Seattle, OMSI, in Portland,
and several others), so admission was FREE and Carson and I had a great time
there. Later on we rendezvoused
with
Eric and Justin who proclaimed the WWII museum and especially the 4-D movie
presentation to be “awesome”! Then we headed over to the French Quarter and
ended up eating at
Bubba Gumps for lunch because the Quarter is already in full
Mardi Gras/ Superbowl
swing and it isn’t
the most kid-friendly environment right now. One thing that we especially liked
about NOLA was spotting the Superbowl footballs all over town. Each one is
painted differently and has status about the games that have been hosted in
NOLA.
January 20 – Embarkation Day! We grabbed breakfast at
TheTrolley Stop, a little diner down the street from us and had a
great breakfast.
The grits were amazing! We left the apartment at the appointed check out time
of 10:00 and decided to go to the cruise terminal, even thought it was a bit on
the early side, we had a lot of luggage and nowhere to put it. I was a bit worried about the crazy terminal factor, but
we got into the right line, had our paperwork looked at and then we breezed
through security, signed for the corkage fees ($15/each) for our 3 bottles of
wine and then we were sent to the “VIP” seating area to wait for ticketing to
open. It is good to be early!
When ticketing did open we were escorted to a ticketing
agent to get all checked in, after that, the ticketing agent walked us over to
the VIP Lounge to wait for our key cards and for boarding. There were some
canapés, desserts, coffee, tea, and juice and a chance to relax and review the
first daily. David, the ship’s concierge, issued our key cards and then when it
was time to board we were escorted to the ship by one of the butlers. Justin especially was excited to be one of the
first (and possibly even The First) to board.
They took us directly to Cagney’s for lunch, even though
we’d already had a good breakfast and snacking in the Lounge, somehow we
managed to find room for more food. I ordered the flounder (sort of like fish
and chips), Justin had a burger, Eric the French dip, and Carson (my picky
eater) had plain pasta with butter and cheese, even though it wasn’t on the
menu, we quickly discovered that no matter what the request, the excellent wait
staff at Cagney’s will make it happen. The truffle oil fries were amazing!
After lunch we went to get signed up for the kids program
and had a tour of their area. Our room was ready very early so we were able to
check out the family suite. This is going to be so much better for the 4 of us
than the tiny inside room we had on the NCL Sky last time. There is a bathtub
in the bathroom even! And most importantly, no one has to share a bed with
Justin-the-sleep-thrasher or Carson, Mr. 5 a.m.
We have a great view out the window of our room and a bottle
of champagne to enjoy with it. They have the football game on a big screen in
the Main Atrium too, so we can keep tabs on the playoffs.
Soon we were saying goodbye to New Orleans and making our
way down the Mississippi River. I always love the sail away party and I did
have the drink special, but opted out of the take home glass. As soon as the
luggage was delivered, Eric took the boys swimming; they couldn’t wait to test
out all the different water slides. This was a good chance for me to unpack – plenty
of room to actually put everything away too, we brought a lot of gear for the
different activities that we have planned and I’m glad for a place to store it
all.
The kids were looking forward to the kids club. As it turned
out, they only had a few children signed up and they ended up combining two age
groups- I think it ended up being a total of about 15 kids in the 6-12 group.
We let the kids have dinner from the buffet, which they liked, then Eric and I
went to La Cuchina for dinner. The first night they had a special for a
complementary bottle of wine with dinner – Tisdale Merlot, which we have had
before, it was drinkable but not particularly noteworthy. The lobster linguini
was so, so good. Eric had chicken parmesan which was also delicious. I wanted
to come back so we could experience more of the menu. It seemed like the main
dining room was pretty crowded (lobster night and all), but La Cuchina had
several empty tables and my lobster entrée and free wine were great.
The kids were having a great time when we popped in to check
on them, so we let them stay to play a while longer and meandered around the
ship some more to get oriented.
January 21 – Suite Life at Sea – I am loving the Lavizza
espresso machine in our room. I asked Made, our butler, to clear the mini bar
so we would have room for some milk in the refrigerator and it is great to wake
up to a latte exactly the way I like it right in the stateroom. The other thing
that is also a nice touch I think is the dial outside the room that we can turn
to let Errol, our steward, know what’s going on so he doesn’t have to bug us.
When we leave in the morning we turn it to “Make up room”, when we leave for
the evening we turn it for “Turn Down” to have the beds put out for the kids,
and then we set “Do not disturb” when we want privacy. I think this is a great
idea, much better than the little door hanger things.
One gripe this morning is the hairdryer. It is in a
drawer in the main room and at first I thought the cord must have somehow
gotten back behind the drawer and become stuck. It took me a few minutes of
tugging on it to realize that it is actually hardwired behind the drawer. My
hair is pretty long and the only way to use the hairdryer on all my hair is to
sit in the chair right next to the drawer and even then I can’t quite extend my
arm far enough because the cord is a bit short. Not a big deal, mostly just
annoying. However I would rather have this set up that one of those skimpy
small wall mounted ones, those always suck my hair in the back, at least this
is a good hairdryer and it doesn’t take up an outlet (we have 2 “regular” two
prongers on our bar).
We went to Cagney’s for breakfast and lunch both today. I
really enjoyed the crab cakes benedict especially since the poached eggs were
not under or over cooked, they were exactly the right amount of runny. The
French toast was also a hit. We had French press coffee and there is a
continental buffet as well with juice, fruit, pastries, cereal, cheeses, and
smoked meats. Carson had his morning specialty, a plain waffle with peanut
butter and syrup. Breakfast only took about 20 minutes, even with table
service, so that was fantastic. Lunch was about the same- good food, quickly
served, in a relaxing and quiet atmosphere. And the carrot cake was very tasty.
I always say I’m going to go easy on the first night of a
cruise and I always over-do it! Too much to eat, too much to drink, and then a
sea day! At least it is smooth sailing. The kids tested out all the slides and
pools again and we went to the magic show and the cruise critic gathering and
signed up for the bridge tour. It was sort of a laid back day for us, but
enjoyable nonetheless. In the evening, the boys refused to leave the kids room
because of Hollywood Night so we had an intimate Teppanyaki dinner. There were
only 6 of us and it was a great show and meal – one that I would highly
recommend and would do again! Unfortunately I forgot the camera! After dinner
we went to a VIP reception in the Spinnaker with the captain and crew and then
called it an early night.
January 22 – Costa Maya, Mexico. – Our room is so quiet, we
all slept pretty well. Cagney’s for breakfast again. The service as always was
fantastic and no problem with Carson’s special waffle order, in fact, so far
anytime I have asked for anything the response has always been, “of course!”
they even brought the kids hot chocolate. Yesterday was cool and breezy but the
weather warmed up a bit today, although there was a little rain in the morning,
it wasn’t cold.
We received a card in our room for priority disembarkation,
so far I really like the way that we have been able to avoid the crowds,
between the amazing check in experience and the ability to eat at Cagney’s at
our convenience and always be able to get a table, and not having to get into a
long line just to get off the ship, I really feel the value of the extra cost
associated with our stateroom. Eric and I really dislike crowds and the kids
get tired of looking at butts all the time. Our concierge, David, can ease the
way if given the opportunity, as with the priority disembarkation.
Eric arranged for us to go to
Maya Chan today. It was a bit
of a thrill ride to get there, but we just took it as part of the adventure.
Getting out away from the cruise ship terminal really gives one a better
feeling for the place. Driving around on these horrible roads and looking at
some of the huts with cisterns on the roof for fresh water really highlights
the economic disparity between our standard of living and that of the local
community. Although I did notice that even with the extreme poverty quite a few
of the huts had satellite dishes rigged on top of their palm leaf roofs. Still
it made me mindful of my own good fortune.
Maya Chan was like visiting family. The guacamole totally
lived up to the hype and our palapa area was very comfortable. I had a great
massage for only $35. And at the end, as I was laying on the table facedown and
sort of dreading the fact that it was over I lifted my head up and saw palm
trees and beach and calm blue ocean, so it wasn’t so bad! There was a little
wedding at Maya Chan and we got to watch the couple take their vows under a
billowing canopy. Carson had a blast playing in the sand, splashing in the
shallows, and throwing the football around with his dad. Eric and Justin went
snorkeling close to the shore – apparently the reef is a short kayak trip out,
but they decided to stay nearby. I went out too and while the water wasn’t
crystal clear I found myself surrounded by a current of small silvery white
fish.
They keep the beach area at Maya Chan very nice, but driving in and
snorkeling in the grass you can sure tell that you’re in Mexico, lots of
garbage in the water and on the shore.
There were showers and a bathroom to get the ocean water off
and lots of recreational gear available to use. We had a lot of fun just hanging
out at “Uncle Mark’s” it was very casual and relaxed. The food was unbelievable
and very authentic and the drinks kept on coming. I even had a “drunk Dairy
Queen” with Oreo cookies and I don’t know what all else was in it.
In the
afternoon it started to get a bit overcast and windy and just as we were
starting to think about heading back it was announced that a van was coming if
we wanted to go on it. That turned out to be perfect timing, we had just enough
time to browse around the port area a bit and see the dolphins before it
started to rain.
We made it back to the ship and everyone got cleaned up – I
even took a bath in the bathtub because, well, it was there. The water in the
tub is a lot hotter than in the shower and I used the jar of bath salts too and
had a relaxing time. We were so full from lunch that we had David, our
concierge, move our dinner reservations around and skipped dinner. I did find a
new favorite cocktail and Eric won some money in the casino – he always wins
and I have horrible luck, so I just parked myself at a penny slot so not spoil
his mojo. We caught Second City, there were some funny bits, but overall we
thought it was just okay. The kids were having a super time at the Super Hero
party in the kids room and were mad when it was time to come out.
Did I mention that the Star is a magic ship? Well it must
be! That or our butler has our stateroom bugged.
Last night I said aloud that I wished I had some brie. It
was sort of late (for us, notice that I don’t talk about the night club at
all?) and I didn’t want it enough to go looking for it, but I was sort of in
the mood for some Brie and said as much to Eric. Well tonight, *poof* brie in
our stateroom, along with replenished fruit in our fruit bowl and cookies, and
some other goodies. Every night Made brings us something special.
Sometimes we pick up a drink and wander around with it,
yesterday we ended up with empty wine glasses in our room after the cocktail
party. Between that and the bottles of wine that we have sitting out… *poof* a
set of stemware has appeared. If we want to enjoy our own wine I guess we can
now that we don’t have to drink out of a water glass or straight from the
bottle. Just like magic.
January 23 – Belize City, Belize. We have a full day excursion in Belize today
so we arranged for room service in our room at 7:00. This way we have a little
more time to get ready. Everything was hot a tasty.
We booked the river and Lamanai ruins excursion through NCL
for today in large part because of the tendering issue. I found it interesting
that here the tender service is provided by a vendor from the port and not by
the ships tenders. We had to meet at 7:45 in the Stardust Theater and then
follow the usual process of organized chaos to get off the ship. (Too early for
priority disembarkation today.) There were 2 other ships in port with us, all
using tenders arriving at the same dock. There was the usual “photo op” at the
end of the dock but because everyone was funneled to the same place it caused
quite a bottleneck. Oh and it was raining too.
We found the guy holding the sign for Lamanai River &
Ruins easily enough, then we had to stand around and wait for some more people,
all the while different groups were coming through our line and trying to get
around to get in the shops and out of the rain. Then we were led to a different
area to stand around to wait to get on a bus. (oh David, where are you now?)
Finally on the bus and on our way, we had some interesting
commentary about Belize the country and the people from our local tour guide
Bernard. I didn’t know that there are actually two Amish communities in Belize
that provide goods to the rest of the people and there is an abundance of local
produce, meat, coffee, cashews, and many, many different ways to make alcohol
out of almost anything. There is mandatory education through 8th
grade, something the Beliezans are very proud of, and there is also a national
healthcare system but no form of welfare.
It was a long-ish drive, Justin and Carson did pretty well, and Eric and
I liked looking at everything out the windows and listening to Bernard speak
about his country.
We arrived at the boat landing, along with 4 other big
busses! They had some drinks and snacks set up but we were all still full from
breakfast. The bathroom setup was completely insufficient for the number of
groups that they had, it was at least a 20 minute wait just for the opportunity
to pee. When it was time to board the riverboat we were delayed because some of
our group were still in or waiting for the restroom.
It was a long, wet, and windy boat ride to the ruins. There
were lots of other boats there. I was a bit disappointed to learn that we were
expected to stay with our group the whole time – no exploring solo. Also there
was no group identification other than looking for Bernard or our other guide,
Captain, so that was a bit confusing when we would get our people mixed in with
other people. Again we found the facility not equipped for the volume of people
and a huge, huge line at the restrooms leaving no time to look in the museum or
look at anything before the group was ushered off to the ruins.
The ruins were really neat. It is about a mile, maybe a
little more, of hiking to see the different areas. Unfortunately a lot of
people were not prepared for hiking or for rain. It rained most of the time. There
were cheap plastic ponchos available to purchase but no solutions for folks who
picked the wrong excursion to begin with. If you have a cane, a walker, or any
kind of foot or leg problems, this is not the trip for you! Especially not in
the rain! The paths, while not strenuous, is rocky with lots of roots and today
it was also wet and muddy, so those cute little wedge sandals are probably not
a good choice of footwear, even shoes and socks are bad because, as Eric found,
they got soaked through. I had my Tevas and they were great for this but I
found some of the rocks to be quite slippery, especially climbing on them. The
ruins and jungle were quite interesting, Captain’s theory about aliens, not so
much. I wish we had more time for the museum or information about the ruins on
the bus ride to have a better appreciation for what we were seeing. If I had it
to do over I would have done some advance reading. It must be a challenging
tour to try to operate given the time constraints.
We never did get the chance to see the museum, or the
bathroom again before we were back on the riverboats. Then it was full throttle
on the ride back. Unfortunately this rush, rush, rush, combined with the stand
in line and wait, wait, wait made for a frustrating experience. Also the speed
boat ride, while it would probably be fine on a nice day was cold, wet, and
miserable. A few times the driver slowed up a bit and everyone had a chance to
sit up and look around at the jungle and get a break from the wind and water
and then it was okay. Maybe instead of being in such a hurry to get everyone
back to the dock for lunch (and presumably the opportunity to buy some drinks
and a souvenir) a sack lunch and a slower cruise down the river would be better
and something to be enjoyed rather than endured.
In all, it wasn’t a bad day, but too much waiting in line
and waiting around and not enough history and hiking. The boys were champs and
they were hungry champs ready for some hot food and a warm bath when we got
back on board. We got cleaned up and then they ate from the buffet and were
excited to play at kids club.
Eric and I had dinner at LeBistro. He had the onion soup
which I got to taste too (natch) and it was very flavorful and delicious, and
also pork tenderloin with apple and sweet potato (I don’t recall the French
name on the menu for it) and a chocolate napoleon. I ordered escargot, which
usually gives me indigestion but I like so I eat it anyway, and a salad with
candied walnuts and smoked duck, then the bouf with what I could best describe
as a steak with mushroom gravy and a beautiful scalloped potato and the most
awesome crème brulee. We brought our own wine to dinner. The service was
fabulous and our waiter was especially personable. (And I didn’t even have
indigestion after all.)
We were all tired and it was so nice to go back to a
beautiful, comfortable stateroom after a yummy dinner. Errol our steward does
such a great job, his are some of the invisible (or nearly) hands that make the
Star so magical. Leave the room, turn the dial by the door and *poof* perfect
fresh room waiting for our return.
January 24 – Roatan, Honduras. – We awoke to rainy skies
this morning and were having second thoughts about the “Beach Break” excursion
to Tabyana. Unfortunately the 48 hour cancellation policy for ship excursions
means that we pay whether we play or not. So even though it was raining we
decided to go ahead.
Had breakfast at Cagney’s again. I can’t get over the
excellent service. The staff know us now, greet us by name, know how we take
our coffee and what the kids like to eat, and are always so friendly and
pleasant. Justin had two helpings of the challah French toast today and the
banana walnut pancakes are also very yum. Later I was glad for the substantial breakfast
since lunch was not great.
We had an easy meet up for the excursion. This port is very
pretty and the water is very clear. I could stand at the dock and see fish
swimming all around just right there. The vendors were friendly but not pushy
which I liked too. Sometimes “The Walk” off the ship to the transportation area
is a bit much because the different vendors are so aggressive and take
advantage of the unwillingness of the cruise passengers to be rude. That wasn’t
my experience at the Roatan port.
It was a comfortable ride to
Tabyana, again one of my
favorite parts of the excursion was the chance to see a bit of the countryside
and the people who live here. It was raining when we arrived at Tabyana, we
headed right down to the water and Justin and Carson were excited to see the
trampoline out in the water with a giant slide and obstacle course – then we
found out it was $10 each to play on. Right then I figured out that Tabyana is
no Maya Chan! The snorkeling was very good though. I am glad we brought our own
gear and we enjoyed the water in spite of the rain. It was only cold when we
got out.
The snorkeling was just awesome. We didn’t have to go very
far out at all and the reef was right there. I went out solo quite a way and
was floating on my back trying to sort out a camera problem and one of the
guides doing the snorkel groups checked on me, so even though the large groups
were a bit annoying to encounter sometimes (look up once in a while, people!)
at least they did keep a bit of an eye out for the other swimmers.
I didn’t like all the hawkers on the “private” beach trying
to sell stuff. And they wouldn’t go away. No I don’t want my hair braided (we’d
be here all day), don’t want to buy a shell, don’t need earrings, don’t need to
rent any equipment, don’t need a bracelet, or an ice cream, or anything but to
be left alone! I also didn’t like the
constant pressure to tip – tip your driver, tip the lunch workers, even a
basket in the bathroom for tips! I sort of thought that for the price of coming
– about $220 for 4 of us, that the staff would be compensated. Molino, the
guardian of our section of beach chairs, watched our stuff, answered questions,
even covered our gear with an umbrella so our towels didn’t get soaked, so I
had no problem tipping him, and he didn’t solicit a gratuity.
There was a little break in the rain around lunchtime and
there were hot dogs and some fruit and stuff to eat. It was “fine” but again I
guess we just got totally spoiled at Maya Chan, the food there was so good.
Then again I wouldn’t have wanted to be eating iguana and I didn’t get a chance
to try any of the local cuisine, except for a weird melon that was sort of a
dark pink color but tasted a little bit like dirty socks and cantaloupe. It started raining again, so we decided to
grab one of the regularly running shuttles back to the port. It was a bumpy
ride since the roads aren’t in great shape, but we enjoyed the scenery.
Back aboard the Star, we went swimming and got cleaned up
and the boys went in for Port Play while Eric and I went back out to poke
around and do some shopping. Chatted a bit with the gal at the Rotary booth in
port about their efforts to help the local people, also purchased some Honduran
coffee and cigars and some locally made souvenirs.
We went back aboard for sail
away with cocktails on deck before our dinner reservation at Cagney’s.
Mmmm Cagney’s. I should just eat every meal there. Dinner
was unbelievable. I did filet mignon with lobster and it was completely
perfect. In fact, the meat was so tender I said to Eric that I could probably
cut it with a butter knife. Then I DID cut it with a butter knife. Then, just
to see, I successfully used the side of my fork to cut the meat– it was THAT
melt in your mouth tender.
After dinner we went to a wine and cheese art reception. We
had a bottle of our own wine with dinner so didn’t need any wine or cheese, but
it was very interesting to learn more about the art that we see all over the
ship and about the different artists. It is clear that the gallery staff are
very passionate about what they do and love to share their knowledge. Eric and
I don’t agree on art or light fixtures.
Yesterday we were down at guest services and Eric wanted to
get a copy of our charges, while we were there I noticed a “Tell Yanis” box and
decided to drop him (the hotel director) a note to compliment our room and
service. I also mentioned the cord on the hairdryer is a little short – just as
an FYI, I expected nothing of it but when we went back to the room today,
*poof* I had a new hairdryer with a plenty long cord and it was wired to one of
the European outlets so it didn’t take up a plug! Yay! Even if the butler does
have our room bugged, I don’t think I complained out loud and they’re not mind
readers – they can’t fix something if they don’t know that it is a problem. Not
everyone has really long hair so it probably isn’t even an issue for most
people, and it wasn’t even a problem so much as a minor annoyance, well, not
annoyed anymore, Thank You Yanis!
Whatever the issue is, they can’t fix it if you don’t speak
up! We also received a courtesy call from guest services today enquiring about
our satisfaction, at this point, I have nothing but good things to say about
the ship and her crew.
We are also really enjoying an afternoon cappuccino in our
stateroom. At some point the magic ship noticed I like sweetener in my coffee
so along with the milk in the refrigerator there was *poof* a container of
sweeteners so I don’t have to raid from the restaurants.
January 25 – Cozumel, Mexico – A little rain this morning as
we were pulling into port. Are we ever going to have sunshine? I must have
asked out loud because the Star worked her magic and the skies cleared and it
did end up being a beautiful, sunny day. But not before I had obtained an
umbrella from David, which also served the useful purpose of fending off the
overzealous street hawkers that we would encounter in port.
Eric and I went out on our own today. The boys wanted to do
Port Play and we promised to come back to check on them at lunchtime. We were
on the hunt for good quality tequila and some non fake, non Cuban cigars. We
liked browsing around in the shops, “almost free today!” but we were not having
much success on our mission. I got to chatting with a Canadian expat who
steered us to Blue Agave where Eric got to taste several different kinds of
tequila. The proprietress told us incorrectly that we could bring back 2 liters
of alcohol duty free per person (nope, 1), but was otherwise very knowledgeable
about her inventory. The tasting was free and everything was clearly priced and
“haggle free”.
We were back at the ship for lunch – nothing was going to beat
Maya Chan, and we have a lot of authentic Mexican food at home, so we ended up
eating by the pool and hanging out with the boys for the rest of the afternoon.
I had a rum concoction in a pineapple that was very yum.
The Star and the Dawn were parked at the same pier and it
was party time in the late afternoon. Crews were lined up from both ships
having a dance off and it was great fun to watch.
We fed the kids at the buffet again – we always gave them
the choice and they always just wanted the buffet followed by kids club.
Tonight we ran into our favorite waitress from Cagney’s, Talimenia, at the
buffet and she noticed that Justin was not liking his pizza so she had a
special one made up for him with pineapple and olives, just the way he likes
it! We sure weren’t expecting service like that at The Market Café. Earlier in
the cruise I did ask one of the chefs for some peanut butter for Carson, it was
not a problem (it never is) and he went to some trouble to track down a bowl
for us to have for Mr. Picky.
In the evening we enjoyed the sunset, cocktails, and sail
away. Later, we dined at Ginza. We thought it was just okay, it probably didn’t
help that we were looking into the Teppanyaki room at what we weren’t eating! I
want Teppanyaki! I did order a la carte from the sushi bar and that was good,
my entrée was in sort of an odd gelatinous gravy sauce and I didn’t
particularly care for it. Everything was served family style, so Ginza would
probably be a lot more fun to do with a group of people so that everyone could
pass around and share. This is the one specialty restaurant on the Star that I
believe is overpriced. For what you get,
I believe $5-$10/person would be more fitting and would attract more
diners. We skipped dessert in favor of
the Chocoholic Buffet.
Once a week the crew sets up a chocolate buffet that spans
one entire side of the Market Café. This
is a highly anticipated event and draws a huge crowd. We got a sneak peek into Candyland by
invitation from David and were able to see the artistic confectionary creations
of the culinary crew. The ice sculptures were amazing as well. Unfortunately we
were on a tight schedule to catch Shark Bait but it was enough time to take it
all in and even sample some of the goodies, but not so long that I could gorge
myself – a real possibility in the face of all that deliciousness.
So we hustled off to the theater and ran into David (again).
“That guy must have some kind of portal to get around the ship like that!” Eric
exclaimed.
Shark Bait was great, we really enjoyed their show. And back
in the state room later we found the evening treat – chocolates! Justin
attacked them before I could get the camera out though.
January 26 – At Sea – The last day is always bittersweet.
Justin is sort of cranky today, I think the kids are tired. Carson wanted to go
to kids club and Justin decided to tag along with us on the bridge tour. It was
very interesting, but the highlight had to be getting to see a whale! Afterwards
we had a bit of an impromptu cabin crawl – I got to meet our neighbors in the
suite next door and see the mirror image of our stateroom. I also asked them if
they could hear us (I worry that the kids are too loud) but they said they
hadn’t. We also got to check out some of the other cabins.
One thing I did wonder about at first was why the outdoor
jogging track isn’t open until 8 am (not that I actually wanted to jog! Ha ha),
but I could see people out running and weaving around the deck chairs and I
wondered (aloud) why isn’t that running track open yet? Well then we were on
deck 12 aft one morning just after 9:00 waiting for the boys who were in the
restroom and I heard: thud, Thud, Thud, THUD, THUD coming from the ceiling.
What is that? Ahhh, jogging track! So glad I don’t have a room under that!
We spent some time today sorting out our paperwork, filling
out comment cards for our Vacation Heroes and figuring out tips.
In the afternoon, the kids put on a circus, unfortunately
there weren’t enough children to do it in the theater so a few of them
performed some tricks by the pool. They were great! And because the sun was
shining and there were a lot of people out, they actually probably had a bigger
audience than they might have had in the theater.
When we went to get the kids for dinner, it was obvious that
they were feeling tired, they had been watching a movie and both Justin and
Carson had that “glazed” look. Carson said he missed Mommy. We decided to have
them eat with us in the restaurant for dinner, the reservations extension was
busy, but a quick call to David sorted that right out.
Moderno is the “Brazilian Steakhouse” and it is a very
different type of meal. You have a salad bar, and there are both familiar and
unusual offerings on it, for example there were different hard salamis – like
pepperoni and there was a spicy melon salad, but there was also a cheese plate
with brie on it (possibly the ship’s magic offering to me, but I don’t think
there’s a lot of brie in Brazil…) and mozzarella, tomato, and basil together.
Then instead of ordering an entree, the servers come to your table with giant
spears of meat and cut chunks off for your plate. There are sides – rice, potatoes, fried
banana, and beans served family style, and a couple of sauces. Dessert is ordered
regularly off the menu. There are color coded cards on the table and if you
want more you have you card to green and if you don’t you put your card to red
– in theory, it seems like the servers came by no matter what color the card
said.
It is a neat concept in that you can try everything on the
menu, which I like, because I always get food envy over what someone else
orders, even if I love my own dish. Eric is pretty used to this by now and
offers up a forkful of what he has most of the time. The downside is that the
walking rack of meat might not be what you expect. I had a hunk of very
garlicky meat and a bit of steak that was quite rare for me. The other thing
with this style is that the meat doesn’t stay hot when they’re walking it
around; also the pacing of the meal is set by the parade of meats and not by
the diners. It was not a good choice for us with two tired kiddos and when we
were thinking about trying to catch the “early” show.
I really liked the fried banana and the chorizo was yum too.
My least favorite of the meats were the ribs which I found to be dry and
stringy. The chicken breast was very good and they also gave us this cheese
bread, I don’t know what was in those things, they look like little bread
marbles, but when hot they were really good. Even Carson liked them.
We ordered one of each dessert to share. Justin had a meal
from the kids menu and also shared with us too. I loved the flan and the papaya
crème was a big hit with everyone, nobody was a fan of the rice pudding though.
One of the servers came by with a cooked pineapple that was sugared and spiced
on the outside and it was delicious too. I don’t know if it was a side or a
dessert but Justin and I both enjoyed it.
The ambience of Moderno is off. It is across the sky from The
Blue Lagoon, and most people end up walking into it from the rear or some
people walk through it. Where we were sitting overlooked the elevators and
piano music floated up from the stage in the center of the Atrium. Sort of
weird for the Brazillian theme. Also our table was way too small for 4 and we
ended up juggling plates around. For this type of meal one needs to have some
space to spread things out, since the sides are family style and there are
extra sauces. Our table would have been tight even if it was a “regular” table
service meal.
I wouldn’t be opposed to trying Moderno again, but I
wouldn’t take tired, crabby kids and I would allow a lot of time for the meal.
Unfortunately we had to dash off to catch Elements – the grand finale show of
the cruise. I’d read in the daily that they have to close the doors and you
won’t get a seat if you’re late, so we were rushing to make it to the theater.
Oh no! Packed house! Bummer.
But wait. David to the rescue! “Mr. Paul, come with me…”
*poof*
Awesome seats. Great view. Great show. .
Justin loved it.
Carson fell asleep.
And then when we got back to our room, the tequila had been
delivered (they store your liquor purchase for you until the last night) and it
is time to start packing. Boo hoo, so sad to go!
January 27 – Arrival at NOLA. Last night was the first night that we had a
noisy hallway. I’m a light sleeper though, and I was also a bight anxious about
having to leave. There isn’t a clock in the stateroom (there never is, why is
that?) so we bring our own but it doesn’t have glow in the dark and I couldn’t
see it. That’s the worst thing, when you have to get up at a certain time but
you can’t see the clock and it’s dark. So I’m woken up by thumping in the
hallway and then I stay awake wondering what time it is. Ugh. Most of the
cruise, Carson is opening curtains at sunrise but not today, everyone is
tuckered out.
Finished getting packed, had our last breakfast at Cagney’s
and thanked the staff. Said goodbye to Made and Errol and gave them their
gratuities and then made our way down to Deck 7 and a big, fat line! Yikes! But
then, David to the rescue. Somehow he slipped us away from the crowd and out a
door to a disembarkation area – no line! We were off the ship within seconds. Between last night and this morning, I really
wish we could have put some extra cash in the sealed envelope that I have for
him – he has been awesome, smoothing the way and making things easy. Even
Customs was a breeze, we had our forms in hand, and Eric has some experience
with this so it was no hassle.
It was a bit of a pain dropping our luggage with the
transport service, mostly they didn’t have enough people working or space at
their area. It was $25 for 4 bags to be taken to the airport and stored for us,
then they gave us an option for transportation too, we signed up for it but had
to get over to the flea market area and we were planning on the aquarium. I
called Mr. Charles and he said $56 for four of us to the airport ($14 per
person) and he’d pick us up at the aquarium so we arranged for that.
The
Audubon Aquarium is only a few blocks from the cruise
terminal. We walked over there and stumbled upon a very well managed feral cat
colony so we spend some time watching the kitties before the aquarium opened at
10:00. It was awesome and we were there until 12:15, which was exactly the
right amount of time. They also have a parakeet enclosure for wild budgies and
the kids loved that. I noticed a pass is available for the other Audubon
facilities that’s good for 14 days, if we come back to NOLA, I will probably
get that for the front and back ends of the cruise.
Mr. Charles picked us up promptly as promised
(Charles Ritz Enterprises: 504-430-3526) and once again made sure we were right
where we needed to be.
We had a great trip.
The crew was absolutely fantastic.
Special recognition has to go out to the kids club staff, Cagney’s wait
staff, our butler Made, Concierge David, and Steward Erroll.
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