Finally a trip that I can enjoy!!! It’s been a rough five months since our daughter Sam was diagnosed with two types of cancer—Stage IIIC melanoma and thyroid cancer. That poor kid has had surgery, every type of scan possible, biopsies, and has a goodour daughter start on her immunotherapy treatment which she will be doing for the next year. It’s been tough but she is a trooper and is doing well.
We have taken two trips stateside but I really couldn’t enjoy them. I was too worried about Samantha. I only went because they were a distraction for Doug. And he had been planning them for close to a year. I did keep a journal on both trips but I just wasn’t in the correct frame of mind to post anything. However, since Sam is doing so well, we decided to take a seven-day cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. I’ve been to all three but Doug hasn’t. We thought it would be nice to see something other Tampa and relax as well. I always sleep so much better on a ship. I will miss the dog kicking me in the head during the night though😜
Our ship the NCL Escape was docked in Cape Canaveral which is a bit over two hours from Tampa so no really early wake-up which was nice. We kissed the kid and the dog and were out the door a bit before 9 AM. Our boarding time was 11:30. We THOUGHT we would have 30 minutes to spare. Ha! We hit two traffic snarls that put us back 30 minutes. There was no accident or any real reason for the stoppage. Travel around Orlando is always a pain. The traffic is always bad. But we made it to the port right at 11:30. By noon we were being escorted onboard the ship.
Now the Escape is a large ship. She holds 4266 passengers which is really much larger than I like. However, we booked a small area within the ship called the Haven. It has its own restaurant, bar, and pool. That makes the crowds a bit more manageable. We have sailed on this ship before, right at the end of COVID. I think there were only 1200 passengers onboard then which was great. No such luck this time. It seems pretty full.
We got checked in at our assembly area and then went and talked to the concierge in the Haven about making dinner and show reservations. I’d rather make dinner reservations in advance but until you are onboard, you don’t know when the shows are. And I love the shows. They are one of my favorite parts of cruising. So we always work dinner around the shows. That took a while but we got it done. We have two extra specialty dinners because I am Platinum with NCL. I even get a free bag of laundry. Doug is Gold so he gets 50% off his laundry (not that we plan on using it since it’s only 7 days).
After getting both the shows and the dinners reserved, we headed upstairs to the Haven restaurant. I know they are really busy today but the service seemed very slow. The people seated next to us and sat down just a couple of minutes before us got their main entree before we even got our appetizers. Eventually Doug got his lobsters bisque and I got my mushroom flatbread. Both of them were excellent. I remembered the flatbread from last time. I went simple and just got a Cobb salad for my entree while Doug got a Caesar salad and seared scallops. I have to admit that I splurged with dessert and got a chocolate walnut brownie. Doug and I shared it. Together we couldn’t eat it all. It was very rich and honestly, not very much like a brownie. It was too fancy for me. Doug mostly ate the ice cream with it.
After lunch we finally headed down to our cabin six decks down. Since we were toting our carryons, we took the elevator. Generally we do the stairs to help keep the pounds off. Our cabin was ready for us. It was at the aft of the ship which we prefer. We have a lovely balcony with a table and chairs as well as two lounge chairs. It’s a NICE balcony. I can’t complain about the room although I honestly prefer the one we had last time on Deck 13 (we are on Deck 11 this time). The sitting room is great. It is very similar. The “bedroom” is very cramped. The bed barely fits inside. It is very tight. Doug has a bit more space on his side because the closet is over there. I have to sidle sideways between the bed and the wall to get into bed. He also had a power outlet. I have nothing but light switches. That bothers me more than the lack of space. Now I have to plug my phone/watch/airpod charger in the outlet in the sitting room. It was either that or the bathroom.
The bathroom is larger than the bedroom. I am NOT joking! It is BIG. It has a huge shower as well as a huge soaking tub. Each have a window looking outside. We have two sinks as well as a small vanity area. We also have a second small bathroom by the door into the cabin complete with a tiny shower. No fighting over the toilet! The bathroom is very nice but honestly, I would have preferred more room in the bedroom and less in the bathroom. I really liked our last cabin. However, there is truly nothing to complain about. I’m just nitpicking :-). The cabin is great and we will enjoy our seven days in it. It has plenty of storage which is lovely. I just have to remember where I stowed everything🤪
I unpacked my carryon while we waited for our luggage. That honestly didn’t take too long. With so many people on board, it did take a while to get our luggage though. Doug actually laid down and took a nap. Once it came, we unpacked and then enjoyed my Platinum level complimentary sparkling wine while standing on our balcony. We could see a Royal Caribbean ship motoring out to sea. We weren’t set to sail until 5:30. Not too much later the Disney Fantasy bid Canaveral a fond farewell and sailed as well. Their horn use to be the theme to “It’s a Small World” but we didn’t hear it this time which was kind of sad.
Once we finished our sparkling wine, we put on shoes and set out to explore a bit. We were going to check out the Sail Away party out by the pool. Doug thought it was on Deck 6. Wrong! It was on Deck 16. Sheesh! We wandered around Deck 6 for a bit seeing some of the restaurants and bars. The Art Gallery was down there as well. Then we started up. Going down wasn’t bad; going up wasn’t so much fun. My knee tolerated it quite well; however. I was thrilled about that. The rest of me was huffing and puffing. For whatever reason, we continued on to Deck 17 and to the Haven Lounge. I’m not sure what happened to the Sail Away party plans.
In the Haven Doug signed us up for an excursion in Jamaica. We originally had one but NCL changed our port from Ocho Rios to Falmouth. We didn’t know what the excursions were from Falmouth. The flyer they gave us listed several. In the room we tried to book an excursion on the television but it was $100 more per person than what the flyer said. So we decided to talk with the concierge. The TV had been correct. Highlights of Ocho Rios was $179/person, not $79. However, there was a 2.5 hour island tour for $49 each so we went with that one. And that will give us time to wander around Falmouth which is suppose to be one of the oldest towns on the island. Interestingly there wasn’t a single tour of Falmouth. I found that strange.
After taking care of business, we enjoyed a pre-dinner adult beverage. I enjoyed my aperol spritzer. It hit the spot. A beverage package came with our cruise so we can enjoy any drink that costs less than $15. Tomorrow I might just try an esspresso martini. I’m not a fan of martinis but I’d like to try one of those :-). We kicked back and relaxed in the bar area for a while and then headed upstairs to the restaurant.
Last time on the first night the Haven Restaurant was packed. We had to wait a good bit of time for a table. Tonight we walked right in. The service was much faster than it had been earlier. I think at lunch many of the servers were working at other chores like delivering luggage. Tonight there were bunches of them and they kept busy. Our guy was quite funny and very efficient. When we ordered wine, he inquired as to whether we wanted a “high tide” pour or a “low tide.” I went with medium.
Dinner was delicious. I got the prime rib and it was perfect. It came with a tiny baked potato and some steamed veggies that were still crisp which is just the way I like them. I also got a Caesar salad. I skipped the appetizer. Doug got the lobster deviled eggs and he let me try one. They were good. He also got beets. Rather him than me. He went for the gusto with his entree and got surf and turf. I’m not sure how he managed to eat it all. Once again I splurged with dessert. The decadent chocolate cake was WAY better than the brownie. It was thin layers of chocolate cake squished between heavenly layers of chocolate mousse. It was so good. Doug and I shared it and we polished it off. I also enjoyed a cappuccino along with it.
I have to say that I was vastly disappointed when I saw the schedule for shows. Tonight there wasn’t one. Usually they have a welcome show that showcases all of the talent onboard. Nope. Tonight there was nothing like that. It was a bummer. However, at 8 down in the Atrium, Quick Silver was playing Golden Oldies so we checked them out. They were very good, The young girl singing had an excellent voice, much deeper than her speaking voice. She sounded like she was from somewhere in or around the old Soviet Union. She could sing! The three men played instruments. The songs totally fit the crowd that had gathered. Lots of gray hair :-). I recognized all but one song and enjoyed them all. She rounded out the set with “My Girl” which everybody loved. An older couple danced through a couple of songs. You could tell they really knew what they were doing. It was fun watching them.
After the set we headed back up the stairs to the cabin. I was sorry to see that we got neither towel animal nor a chocolate on our pillow! What’s up with that!!!! I always save the chocolates and take them home for night time treats when I want a little something sweet. And I love the towel animals. They didn’t do them last time but I thought that was because of COVID. Maybe they were too busy today between unloading and loading up new passengers. Tomorrow hopefully I can report that I got my towel animal. It’s the little things that make me happy 🙂
Before I could take my bath in the “swimming pool” they call a tub, we had to call and get some soap and shampoo. Like so many hotels these days, they provide soap, shampoo, and conditioner but it is in containers attached to the wall. Both of our showers had them but there was nothing for the tub. I wasn’t going to dash between the tub and the shower for soap and shampoo. Doug called and a young man came to help us. He seemed perplexed by the problem. Does nobody else take baths? Finally I got him to understand and he took the shampoo, etc. from the secondary shower and put the bottles on the ledge at the tub. We had to do the same thing last time. I don’t understand why they give you a tub and then don’t equip it with soap. Oh, well…. It was an easy fix.
That chore accomplished, I luxuriated in the tub while Doug watched some Marvel movie on the TV. Normally he doesn’t watch the TV while we are on trips. Not sure what struck tonight. I read through the schedule for tomorrow and tried to remember our reservations for our specialty restaurants. Normally we get a list but so far today we haven’t. I did write them down fortunately. We have an early dinner at the Italian specialty restaurant tomorrow night. That was the best time I could get. It was either that early or much, much later. We’ll have to either have an early lunch or a very light lunch. Then at 9:30 we DO have a show. It’s called Uptown Boys and features the music of Billy Joel. That should be lots of fun.
Meanwhile, I plan on getting a lovely night’s slumber. I can already feel the ship rocking me to sleep 🙂
Tales from the Trail 