What can I say? I saw a good deal so I grabbed it!
Actually, I was watching some of my usual cruise and travel related YouTube channels I sub to and it got me hankerin' for another cruise. So, as I've been doing all winter but having no luck in finding bargains, I searched and searched and finally this time I hit one. Just $119 for 5-nights Western Caribbean, no single supplement. NCL, of course. I have the best luck with last minute deals from them. This time onboard the Norwegian Pearl, a medium-sized early 2000s built ship I hadn't been on before.
Out of Miami so I booked my parking with the same outfit I used last time. Unfortunately, they went up a little bit in prices but perhaps everyone has since the new year. Still very affordable.
Had a little bit of sprinkles on the drive to Miami on Thursday the 22nd and skies were a bit blustery that afternoon/early evening as well (even featuring an awesome rainbow as we sailed away) but otherwise the weather for the entire trip was incredible. Mid-to-upper-eighties ans mostly sunny. Winds were a bit brisk throughout the whole week though which made the entire voyage a bit rocky. Ah, the way I like it! Not sea-sick overboard rocky, no crashing dishes and shit, just a gentle roll every few minutes to let you know you were on an ocean.
Rather than a daily rundown I'll mention the highlights throughout the whole trip:
Floating motionless in the very salty lagoon of Harvest Caye, Belize, the cruiseline's private island. Did that as well as swam, paddles, and just soaked in the turquoise waters for about a full hour, also laid out on the beach for another half hour.
The show on the last night of the cruise "Legends in Concert" was awesome. The Michael Jackson "Thriller" sequence was especially trippy.
The buffet food on this ship was awesome. The quality, variety, freshness, presentation, seating and decor in the buffet area as well as the Great Outdoors area (similar to the layout on the Norwegian Sun) it was all top notch.
Having three elevator banks, a variety of alleyways to traverse the ship and scattered location of venues made this ship feel much less crowded than many other ships I'd been on. As far as I could figure it, we were at near capacity (at least noone said we were significantly down) but it felt like the September cruise that was severely under occupancy due to both Cuban cancels and Hurricane Dorian's threat.
The people, in general, were a more chill crowd. Oh yes, there were a few jerks...wouldn't be a cruise otherwise, but overall everyone I met was pretty decent.
The seas were so choppy in Costa Maya our ship was dancing with her sister ship the Norwegian Dawn.
Things that weren't so awesome:
Embarkation took FOREVER! 2 hours in line even though I was well on-time. Bad attitude from the terminal check-in staff too. Luckily, staff onboard were much nicer, yet, some BS was going on for a LOT of people. Guest Services was swamped for the remainder of embarkation afternoon until 1 am that night and also much of the next day and evening! It was madness. I didn't get my key card hole-punched until Day 3! And my Latitudes champagne was late! Gasp! (No, really, for me it was no big whoop.)
The shows other than the headliner "Legends in Concert" were not that great. They had a vocalist who was okay but nothing to write home about and a comedian that I just didn't find funny. Legends was okay, especially the MJ part like I said, but it was a mere shadow of the same production in Vegas which, as I write about here, I had seen back in 2012.
The sanitation efforts, especially in light of what the world is experiencing right now with this Coronavirus outbreak, and, in particular, the Princess and Celebrity ships that have been severely impacted by it, were rather ho hum. Of course, as usual, they had the "washy washy" people at the dining entrances, but, they should have been at the bars too. Do people not pass drink glasses bare-handed from one person to another. Just think, the bartender who handles your drink, also handles key cards and pens and dirty glasses and is too busy to wash his hands...
I also told an officer on the elevator that people should be asked to press elevator buttons with theirknuckles to prevent contamination. She kinda ignored that, but when I told her that I thought it odd that during karaoke and other games where many people share microphones the mics are not sanitized between users, she seemed a little concerned, but the karaoke mics kept getting passed around like a big phallic-symbol germ spreading machine.
The other odd thing, not one person was wearing a surgical mask. So everyone onboard was is perfect health? I heard some coughs and sneezes. Just sayin'...you know where I got it if I come down with this shit!
Lastly, the only other thing that was a bit of a downer about the vacation was the amount of money I spent on booze. You thought Ric and I spent a lot according to the last post? I'm out over $350 on drinks alone for the week. That's counting the bar drinks onboard, the mini-bar in my room, and bars on shore.
Come on, guys! Who's gonna do me in first? Alcoholism or Coronavirus?
Cough, Hic, Achoo, Burp!