The blogs here are posted in reverse chronological order so you would expect the "planning" and "introduction" sections to be at the end.... well, that's assuming that I wouldn't inadvertently delete those posts!
So here I am, at the end of my blog, putting up a post that should have been published months and months ago. I am going to combine the start with the end because I'm nothing if not efficient!
I got an invitation based on past play from Casinos At Sea to take a cruise of my choice in a balcony cabin, fully comped except for Taxes and NCF. Rather than select one of the flashy, newer 4k-5k passenger mega ships, I selected the quaint little Sun with its 1900 passenger max. The ship is the same size as the Sky which I had taken Sara on a couple of years ago. I knew Mike would be fine with it as he doesn't go in for rock climbing, water slides, or any of the other new features that are out there fleet wide. Neither of us can stand crowds. Since it is an older ship, I wasn't sure what I would find as far as the condition but the Sun is a beauty. Absolutely pristine in cleanliness with only slight signs of wear (our balcony had some rust, for example, which they sanded and painted over two days while we were in port). This is not a ship for someone who needs to constantly be entertained, but it is perfect for those who remember what cruising used to be like in the halcyon days before mega ships came into play.
We had a mid-ship balcony cabin port side on the 9th deck. Tip for other cruisers taking this route: it doesn't matter which side your cabin is on, the ship docks portside half the time and starboard the other half. Deck 9 was ideal with cabins above and below and everything that we ever wanted to do was either two decks up (pool, restaurants, gym) or two decks down (casino, shopping, theater). The only downside was that there are no stairs in the area of the midship atrium elevators so while it was only a couple of feet to walk to the elevators, we had to go all the way to the front or back of ship to access stairs. Why do we need stairs when the elevators are right there??? Because I would have gained 14 pounds instead of 4!
While the food as a whole was just okay (rather than fantastically blog worthy), there were a couple of things that do stand out. For breakfast each day in the Garden Cafe/Buffet they had a made-from-scratch coffee cake, fresh out of the oven. Like a cinnamon bun, but so light and fluffy and the iced topping was also so light and creamy....I am actually salivating as I type this! At lunch time, in Moderno they had pretzel bread which is another of my favorites so I had to have 2 daily. Also, on every day except 3 & 7 (unbelievable that I actually know this) the dinner bread basket contained these awesome mini multi-grain rolls, 4 of them stuck together. How many did I eat each day? Four! And let's not forget the soft ice cream machine -- what day could be complete without a chocolate cone? Did I eat anything besides bread and icecream you ask? In fact, my ultimate favorite dish on the ship was a Chicken Scallopini served in the Main dining room an if I could have ordered that every day I would have!
When I get a chance I'll come back in here and add some photos, and probably more commentary, but I wanted to get this posted.
As followers to my blogs know, I am an active member of Cruise Critic and a major part of any cruise I take includes chatting with fellow cruisers and "meeting" online, new cruise friends who will be aboard my ship.
A Meet and Greet is an event put together by one of the cruisers where a time, date and place are determined and then everyone who has been chatting gets together to finally meet face to face. People who are interested in doing this sign up for the Roll Call and this is where they post notes to each other. For all of my past cruises, the roll call has been pretty lively with lots of interaction.... not so much this cruise. We had a couple of members who were chatty (mali, pambo, trumpy to name a few) but for the most part the roll call was very sedate.
As an experienced coordinator, I volunteered to organize our Meet and Greet and finally got about 45 people to sign up for attendance, most of whom did in fact show up to the event. I brought door prizes/party favors for the guests then started off the event with a "Getting to know you Bingo" game I had put together. Mostly everybody participated and had fun doing so -- Tonya won the grand prize by getting bingo first. It really pepped up the crowd.
Next we had a short introduction by the officers present and then we collected $5 each from everyone who wanted to participate in the Poker Run/Cabin Crawl. With 20 participants, the jackpot was $100 so we all wanted to win that! I had previously purchased 6 decks of cards, shuffling them all together and then dividing them into 7 separate piles. For each pile, I wrote the cabin # on the back of the card (to eliminate cheating) and put them in an individual ziploc. Everyone got their first card when they paid the $5 entry fee. Then, at each cabin we visited on the crawl, you would take another card. At the final cabin, one of the two Owner's Suites that took part in the event, you got your 7th/final card with which to make your best 5 card poker hand. One of the ladies was leading with full house, Aces over Kings and we thought that was going to win. But when I verified the hand, saw that she had two cards with the same cabin #.....that's a no no so the hand was disqualified. Everyone was scrambling to see if they might have the SECOND BEST hand when a little voice peeped up "I don't know anything about this game poker but I have five of the same card, 9s" It was funny - she had such an awesome hand and didn't even know it!
Later in the week, Executive Chef Orwill Saldanha treated my group to a private, very all-inclusive, galley tour. He is such a comedian in his own right and I promised I wouldn't blog about the things he let us in on but it was a major treat and I think my Meet and Greeters were very happy to be a part of it.
Overall I think the cruisers who took part in the Meet & Greet enjoyed themselves and I did hear from more than one that this was the best one they had ever been to. I am not patting myself on the back here -- I am just trying to give you, dear reader, a suggestion to plan some activity(ies) if you are coordinating a Meet and Greet rather than just leaving your guests to talk amongst each other. It makes all the difference in the world!
This particular cruise had more sea days than ports of call (a change from all of my previous cruises) but who can complain when you're doing nothing but soaking up those beautiful warm rays of sun at land or at sea.
Curacao was one of the islands that I was ambivalent about returning to since my last two beach trips there resulted in sprained and bruised toes from the rocky/coral beaches. Wow am I ever glad I didn't stay on the ship this time
because I have
discovered what is inarguably my now-favorite beach spot in all of the Caribbean: Cabana Beach. A short taxi ride from the port (find other people, strangers even, for a cab split and it works out to about $4/person) brings you to a dusty parking lot filled with construction vehicles. Do not be dissuaded! Through the entrance you will find a little slice of heaven, also known as Cabana Beach. There is an outdoor restaurant serving good food, reasonably priced; well toned servers flit here and there bringing food and beverage to tables, couches and beach beds. Yes I said beach beds.... here you can rent a traditional lounge chair for $3, padded lounge chair $6, double or king size beach beds for $10-$25. In the sun, under swaying palms or under airy canopies... you decide! And if you don't want to lay out, there are ample seating areas again in sun or shade, with deep pit group couches, ottomans, etc. And free wi-fi is available!!! What more could you want?? Oh, that's right...what about the rocky/coral shoreline? Well, it's apparently not here! Here you will find long stretches of soft sand and crystalline turquoise waters. I'm not kidding -- it's a little slice of heaven and my first task when I get done publishing this blog is to do an internet search on what I think was a hotel at the end of the beach. I definitely have to come back and stay here for more than 5 or 6 hours!
On Aruba we visited DePalm Island again. It was nice, as it was last time, but one thing to mention is that they close the main restaurant at 3pm which is not something we were aware of when we arrived at 2pm. This normally would not be an issue but for $89 entry fee you should be able to take advantage of ALL the island has to offer. We ended up hanging out at the beach, doing some swimming, Mike had a couple of the Balashi beers and I had a couple chicken tenders. We didn't get $198 worth so the value is definitely not there.
On St. Maarten/St. Martin we taxied over to the French side to spend the day at Orient Beach. I went topless until my usually-unexposed skin started to burn. Mike enjoyed the serenity of a beach chair aloe massage. Umbrella rental with 2 lounge chairs was $20. Beach was very clean and water was lovely.
Coki Beach on St. Thomas was very commercialized with hut after hut selling food, drinks, water sport rentals, etc. It was also very crowded and probably the dirtiest of any beach we had seen. The only upside to the litterbugs was the plethora of sea glass to be found and I was able to add brown, green and white pieces to my growing collection.
For a long time on American Idol, Simon Cowell would negatively comment on a contestant's performance by saying "you belong on a cruise ship". That comparison has long been my belief as well; however, this cruise gave me a couple of pleasant surprises in addition to what I was expecting.
Poolside Trio, Titanium, added a Caribbean flavor to all the songs they performed and the lead singer sounded just like Wyclef Jean. They were perfect background music while laying poolside or grabbing a bite from the deck barbeque.
Comedian Noodles Levinstein who has been around for a while gave a pretty polished performance that wasn't laced with a bunch of stale jokes. Sure there were the usual cruise suspects: jokes about people eating, jokes about cabin size, etc. But he gave a spin to the jokes making them seem fresh and new.
Acapella group, The Cat's Pajamas , were more than just good singers. The lead of the group has a comedic bent and made it the best show to see on the entire cruise.
Hyponotist, Terrance b, did the usual shtick. I can't say much about his show as I was the first participant selected from the crowd to come up on stage and be hypnotized so I don't know what the show looked like to the audience. As for me, I had to sit there and pretend to be "under a spell" for the entire hour which was mildly exhausting and gave me an added appreciation for the hard working actors and actresses. As for whether or not I was hypnotized...who knows?
I missed all of the entertainment I wanted to see.... Adult Quest, Newlywed Game, Friendly Feud..... damn casino made me miss everything!! LOL
NCL's parent company is shared by Harrah's/Caesar's so there is some connection as far as casino comps. My first NCL cruise was comped based on my "land" casino play but the subsequent comps were based on my NCL play (I think....casino rating systems are guarded more closely than a national secret!) In any event, if you are lucky enough to be a Casinos At Sea (CAS) invited guest you will be entitled to some immediate benefits and can earn more during your trip although it is obvious that the perks vary from ship to ship. For example:
In NY there is a dedicated line for CAS check-in and then a separate waiting area to board where an NCL rep will escort you onto the ship; in Miami CAS also has a dedicated line for speedy check in, but you will sit with the rest of the hordes in the general boarding area.
On both the Sky and the Gem, we received a small gift and cute note delivered to the cabin every night of the cruise; on Sun we received cookies the first night and then nothing again until hand-made candies on the 10th night. Not a major deal, but I missed the international cheese plate. I mentioned it to the Casino Host Glenn (who I had much more face time with than previous Casino Hosts), but he didn't really have an answer for me. He did, however, treat us to a dinner at the Steakhouse with a bottle of wine.
One thing that hasn't changed, thank God, is the free drink card that is automatically waiting for you when you arrive (anyone can get one after earning 1500 points which is equivalent to running $15,000 through on a video poker machine). I don't drink much usually but now I realize that I probably had 25 rum and cokes, maybe 10 plain cokes and Mike had a few beers and glasses of wine so it is definitely one of the best benefits.... oh, not better than the benefit of the comped cruise...but a very good benefit all in all!!
People say that the machines on ships are very tight -- I didn't find that to be the case at all. Primarily I play video poker and the pay tables were marginal at best so the machines don't have to be tight; you are already giving up your percentages with the reduced pays on full houses and flushes. Of course, I played anyway! Approximately 50,000 hands of double double bonus poker and I hit one royal flush ($1000), 2 hands of 4 Aces with a low kicker ($500), Numerous hands of 4 Aces without kicker or 4 Low Cards with kicker ($200) and more four of a kinds at 250-400 coins than I can count! Of course I came home with no money but I had fun playing and I would not have been able to play for so long, for so many days if not for the machines paying. I did play some slots sporadically, and they were also pretty good about doling out bonus rounds with frequency. I would give this Sun Club Casino a thumbs up!
One thing I DON'T give a thumbs up to is the Slot Tournament. Twelve players compete on each of 6 days to be the high point earner of that day. Those 6 then compete the final day for one grand prize winner. 72 players at $30 a pop puts over $2000 into the prize fund.... the winner is paid $500. Sure, I get that the casino is supposed to be making money but the odds on this event are so low that I warn everyone to stay away and instead invest your $30 in a slot machine or something! There is also a Black Jack tournament offered -- I didn't see the rules/process/payout but I'm guessing it's as badly skewed as the slot tournament and you would probably be better off spending your entry fee at the black jack table itself.
I have always maintained that NCL had the best trained, friendliest and most attentive crew members at sea.... this voyage was no exception!
Mike decided to bring a few loose golf clubs with him (no bag) to use for practice in the ship's golf nets. These were confiscated at port security where they told us we could pick them up at Guest Services once we were onboard. Unfortunately, a visit to the Guest Services desk later that day found me arguing with the crew member who told me that the "golf sticks" weren't there yet, but that I could have them at the end of my cruise! Round and round we went with me getting more and more heated. Finally he said that he would discuss it with security once the "sticks" found their way to the front desk, and then he'd call me with the outcome. Having a lot of past experience with people who say they'll call, but never do, I wasn't holding out much hope.... however, early the next morning I got a phone call from Guest Services saying I could come pick up my "sticks"! Turns out, he really did take the time to have a meeting with the security officers and plead my case to have them returned to me for my usage on board. Even if I hadn't "won", the fact that he went that extra mile for me is a perfect example of what great customer service is all about.
NCL has a program where it rewards its crew members who make an extra effort to help a passenger, or to make a passenger's day. Cruisers can acknowledge such crew members by filling out a HERO card and detailing what he/she did. I filled out many hero cards on my trip and I encourage you to do so as well.
Aside from Guest Services, other staff who really stood out were Walfredo and Jorge, casino cocktail waiters, who not only served us promptly and checked on us often, but also kept up a friendly interaction and rooted us on to win. By the end of the cruise, it felt like we had known them forever.
Strangely enough I encountered someone on the pool deck who was bucking for HERO cards. He actually had little slips of paper pre-written with his name and job title on them so you theoretically wouldn't make a mistake when filling out a HERO card for him. No, I didn't fill out a card.
We had a mid-ship balcony cabin port side on the 9th deck. Tip for other cruisers taking this route: it doesn't matter which side your cabin is on, the ship docks portside half the time and starboard the other half. Deck 9 was ideal with cabins above and below and everything that we ever wanted to do was either two decks up (pool, restaurants, gym) or two decks down (casino, shopping, theater). The only downside was that there are no stairs in the area of the midship atrium elevators so while it was only a couple of feet to walk to the elevators, we had to go all the way to the front or back of ship to access stairs. Why do we need stairs when the elevators are right there??? Because I would have gained 14 pounds instead of 4! 
