Fort Fincastle and the Queen’s Staircase

Posted on April 26, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of ships in Nassau from Fort Fincastle

Some ports have things you can walk to from the ship and visit on your own without spending a bunch of money for a shore excursion. Places like Nassau in the Bahamas where the ship docks right in town in a port city often have a variety of things within walking distance of the ship. The port at Nassau exited onto a city street with lots of local shops, bars, and restaurants when we were there, but there was a lot of area behind a fence where port construction was in progress. According to a Nassau port website phase 1 of that construction has been finished now including a museum, shops, and restaurants among other things. While adding stuff to do right at the port it could cause a loss of the local flavor and small independent shops near the port turning Nassau into just one more canned cruise ship port with all the same shops as every other port. Hopefully there are enough other non-ship tourists to keep all the unique little local places from going out of business.

Fort Fincastle

We had two port stops in Nassau on our Caribbean cruise on MSC Meraviglia. At the first one we walked up to nearby Graycliff Hotel where we had tours booked through Vacations to Go. On that stop I went to a chocolate factory while John visited a winery. For our second Nassau port stop we decided to see something we could walk to on our own without booking anything in advance. Having looked online for places within walking distance of the port before the cruise, we decided to visit Fort Fincastle and the Queen’s Staircase. According to google maps the fort and queen’s staircase are about a 13-14 minute walk from the cruise dock. That time started from when you exit the port and get to the street. It is a bit of a walk from the ship to the port exit so it really takes a little longer. Actual time depends on your walking speed. There are sidewalks on some, but not all of the roads between the dock and the fort. Some roads are busy, others not so much. The route google maps gave us went through some neighborhoods where you see the real Nassau. Some streets passed through neighborhoods of homes that probably belonged to some of the city’s not-so-well-off folks. Like most places in hurricane country there were some damaged and abandoned buildings. There’s definitely a litter problem in that area, but the newer posher neighborhood we passed through in a different area looked no better in that respect.

bottom of the Queen’s Staircase and sign at the top

When visiting both the fort and the queen’s staircase if you follow the google map directions up Prison Street it takes you to the top rather than the bottom of the stairs. The fort is on the same road, just beyond the sign for the staircase so if you want to see both go to the fort first unless you want to walk down the staircase and then back up or just want to take photos from the top. You can also walk around a long block from the bottom of the staircase and get back to the road up to the top without walking up the stairs.

Fort Fincastle

Fort Fincastle was constructed on the top of Bennet’s Hill in 1793 in the shape of a ship. It was made from cut limestone. A British lord named Lord Dunmore commissioned it to protect Nassau from pirates. This fort was manned by the 1st West India Regiment, which was the English army’s only black regiment. The fort was not involved in any battles. Signal flags were used to communicate with other nearby forts.

tower and booths of stuff for sale

There’s a tall tower next to the fort which you can see from some places along the road on the way up. It’s not attached to the fort and is boarded up and fenced off so nobody can go inside. There’s lots of little booths with people selling souvenirs and stuff in the area surrounding the fort. We even saw an ice cream truck go by with the music and everything, something I haven’t seen since I was a kid. I bet the ice cream bars cost a whole lot more now than the 10 cents we used to pay for popsicles way back then.

inside the fort

When I looked this up online before our trip the info I found said it cost a dollar or two to go inside the fort, but it actually cost $3 per person plus about another 30 cents each in some sort of tax. So the other info must have been a bit old and out of date on the price. It’s not likely to stay at $3 forever either. It could already be more.

fort entrance

There’s a little gate in the wall on one side of the fort with a stairway leading inside. It looks like you can just walk right in, but there’s an easily missed little booth about 10 feet away where you have to pay first before going in. It’s good that it’s cheap because it’s a pretty small fort so there’s not a whole lot to see inside.

cannons

The stairway leads up to 3 cannons, which still have the tracks they could move them on way back when to increase the area they could aim them at or retract them from the wall. There is a little opening into a small room with informative displays and one with a walkway that leads into a dark area with a video on the history of the fort playing on a continuous loop.

view out the backside of the fort

Another stairway leads up to a higher platform with views of the surrounding area and of the cruise ships. If you stand in the right spot you can take a photo that makes it look like one of the cannons is pointing at the cruise ships. There’s another platform a bit higher with a sign saying that the fort was built on the highest point on the island. It’s a great view from there, which was of course the point of building the fort in that spot so they could see any approaching danger.

Queen’s Staircase

The staircase is very steep and narrow. It was carved into solid limestone from 1793-1794 by slaves as a direct route to Fort Fincastle. It goes down into a long narrow gully with stone or cement walls on both sides and enough greenery to look like it’s in a jungle somewhere. The narrow corridor it leads to eventually meets up with an ordinary street once you get to the end of the walls.

walking down the Queen’s Staircase

The stairway is sometimes referred to as the 66 steps, though it feels longer when you are on it. It got the name Queen’s Staircase decades after it was built, in honor of Queen Victoria because she signed a declaration to abolish slavery on her ascension to the throne in 1837. It is free to walk up and down the staircase, or just to look at it from the top or bottom if you don’t want to walk up or down it.

corridor at the bottom of the Queen’s Staircase

The fort and staircase make a good destination for people who don’t mind a bit of a hike to get there and who want to see something at the port without spending much money. It doesn’t take all that long to get there and back or to see both landmarks so there’s plenty of time left to go somewhere else too. We walked to Ardastra Gardens & Wildlife Conservation Center afterword, which is about 3 kilometers away from the fort. An easy walk for me since I consider 5k a short run, but John thought it was pretty far and that the walk from the fort to the garden was long. It’s a mile from the port to the fort (1.6 kilometers). From the port to Ardastra Gardens is about 3.3 kilometers or just over 2 miles.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

 

Posted in Caribbean, Meraviglia, MSC, Port Cities, Ports of Call | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Things to do on Quantum of the Seas

Posted on April 19, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

top decks on Quantum of the Seas

There’s always something to do on a cruise ship. Some definitely have more options than others. Royal Caribbean often has things that are unique to a specific class of their ships. This is true with the Quantum Class, and its original ship, Quantum of the Seas. These ships have more variety of things to do than most, some of them unique to this ship class.

North Star

One of Quantum’s most unique features is the North Star, a mostly glass pod that rises 300 feet above the ship for the best 360-degree views at sea. In its lowest position a small group of people can enter, having reached the pod’s entry level on either a stairway or elevator from the deck below. As it rises it extends over one side of the ship and hangs over the other side on the way down so you not only get views from straight up above the deck, but also from each side as well.

iFLY

Another thing unique to the Quantum class is the iFLY skydiving simulator. This vertical wind tunnel simulates the feeling of a free dive without the need to jump out of a plane. Since there’s no plane and no parachute there’s no ripcord to pull to slow down – and no floating to the ground for a landing. You just grab the wall by the door and maneuver your feet out and then step out into the wind-free area after finishing your turn. Each participant within a small group gets two short turns in the wind tunnel, with an experienced instructor inside to keep them safe.

show in Two 70

The top deck isn’t the only space on Quantum class ships with unique features. There’s also an inside venue at the stern called Two 70 due to the 270-degree view offered through its floor-to-ceiling row of windows. The ship’s featured evening show takes place in that area. During the daytime the space is sometimes used for other activities and sometimes just open so people can go in to enjoy the view. There’s also a small library and computer room in the upstairs part of Two 70 as well as some balcony seating.

bumper cars in the Seaplex

The other unique feature to Quantum class ships is the Seaplex, a large open area where all sorts of games and activities take place. Sometimes it is used for bumper cars, which sit along the edge outside of the arena area when not in use. They also set up laser tag there, as well as other fun things to do.

cascading pools in the solarium

One of the best features of Royal Caribbean ships is the solarium, which is available on other classes of ships as well as Quantum. This is a glassed-in area at the bow full of deck chairs. It also has a couple hot tubs, and on this ship a set of cascading pools. The Solarium Bistro is a nice place to grab a bite if you want to avoid other more crowded venues or if you just happen to be hanging out in the solarium and decide you want lunch or dinner there. The solarium also has its own bar. It’s a great place to hang out if you don’t like sitting out directly in the sun, or when you’re on a cruise to a colder area or when the weather is bad or it’s too cold to sit outside. Having a solarium is definitely a reason to consider booking on a Royal Caribbean (or Celebrity) ship. The solarium is for adults only, but Quantum additionally had another indoor area with a pool and deck chairs that was open to everyone.

track and rock-climbing wall – and a giant pink statue

Quantum also has the sort of things found on most other cruise ships like pools, hot tubs, and an outdoor movie screen. Fairly standard to Royal Caribbean – but not to cruise ships in general – it has a flow rider and rock-climbing wall. There is a running track, but it’s the crappy painted on a top deck sort rather than a nice one around the outside of the promenade deck like Royal’s Oasis class ships have.

treadmills in the gym

As with most cruise ships, Quantum has a spa and a fitness center. There’s gym equipment available for people to use as they wish, or they can sign up for various fitness classes.

show in the main theater

Like most ships, Quantum has a main theater with nightly shows. While there are plenty of ways to entertain yourself all day long, there are also scheduled activities like trivia and other games throughout the day for people who like planned activities.

Music Hall

The ship has several music venues, with performances mainly in the evenings.

Bionic Bar with robot bartenders

There are many bars and quite a variety of eateries all around the ship. Some of the eateries are included in the cruise fare, but others cost extra. Unique to certain classes of Royal Caribbean ships, one of the bars is the Bionic Bar, which has robot bartenders.

random pro photo from happening across a photographer – it’s a pose, we don’t go around holding hands

In the evenings there are photo booths set up in various places so there’s lots of opportunities to get photos if you like that sort of thing. Even in the daytime you might run into a random photographer somewhere. It’s easy to avoid them if you aren’t into professional cruise ship photos, but if you purchased a photo package, might want to buy a photo or two if they turn out well, or just like looking at them in the photo area onboard even if you have no intention of buying any it’s something else to do. The photo area on Quantum is all digital. You just look at your photos on a computer screen. There’s no racks of printed out photos like on some of the older ships.

Royal Promenade

The Royal Promenade has quite a variety of shops as well as eateries, bars, and places to listen to music. Unfortunately it also has an open stairway down into the casino on the deck below. This is unfortunate because in spite of the app and even the daily newsletter put into our rooms each day while onboard saying that all of Quantum’s indoor areas are non-smoking, they failed to qualify that with only when the ship is sailing out of Australia. When sailing from other places they allow smoking in the casino even though info about the ship says they don’t. If there are too many people smoking in the casino the promenade can get pretty smokey at times, as of course does the casino and other areas around it.

casino

The casino has things for people to do with lots of slot machines and some table games. It has a better ventilation system than some ships. Not powerful enough to keep the air clean while people were actively smoking, but good enough to clear most of the smoke smell out overnight while nobody was in there.

pool deck

One nice thing about taking a cruise is doing as much or as little as you want. If you want to spend all your time relaxing in a deck chair that’s an option, but if you’d rather have activities to do all day there are plenty of things to choose from. Or do some of each, interspersing relaxation time between doing other stuff.

No saving deck chairs!

Whether in the solarium, indoor pool area, or on the outside decks, finding an open deck chair was easier on our Quantum cruise than usual. Instead of just having a tiny sign posted at the entry to an area saying not to save deck chairs, this ship had bright pink ones on many of the chairs themselves. That seemed to be quite a lot more effective. Most of the towels on otherwise empty chairs on this ship belonged to someone nearby in a hot tub or pool rather than to people who stake out chairs first thing in the morning and leave their stuff there all day just in case they might want to use it sometime later as happens on a lot of ships.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Nawiliwili Kauai Cruise Port, Hawaii

Posted on April 12, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Nawiliwili

Nawiliwili is just a port. The closest town is called Lihue, about a mile and a half away. The ship docks in a container port that probably has a hard time finding qualified help if our docking experience is even close to what’s normal there. First it took the dock crew 4 tries to catch a line thrown to the dock from the ship. Like the previous port in Hilo, they used a forklift to pull the line to where they wanted to hook it onto the dock. Unlike Hilo where they had no trouble with their maneuvers, in Kauai as they tried to pull the rope tight it sprang off the bulkhead and tripped a nearby worker who wasn’t paying any attention to the line he was standing next to until he suddenly ended up on the ground. After much additional fumbling of the lines they finally got the ship tied up.

using a forklift to move the docking lines

Gangways started popping out of the side of the ship before they were quite through securing it to the dock since it took them so long to finish. Meanwhile the captain didn’t look very happy as he watched all the bungling from the portside bridge docking station – which we could see from our cabin.

docking station on the Noordam

Average temperatures in Kauai range from lows in the high 60’s at the coldest to highs in the mid 80’s during the warmer months, without a whole lot of variation throughout the year. The wettest season is from October to May. Rain showers are often short and frequently come during the night. It’s often humid especially in the summer. Annual rainfall is about 43 inches per year with over 200 days generally experiencing some rain. June is the driest month and January the wettest.

port at Nawiliwili

We had hoped to find locals with signs for last minute tours or something to do available right from the port as there had been in Hilo, but there were none to be found. There was nothing but the security check set-up and some gathering areas for shore excursions at the port.

mall shuttle at the port

Other than containers at the port the closest buildings are a lumber store and a gym, with a storage facility on the top of a nearby hill. Nothing for tourists visible in the immediate area around the port other than free shuttles to town. Which shuttle you board determines where you go. One goes to Hilo Hattie’s gift shop. The others go to malls.

the trolley was just another mall shuttle

There was a trolley shuttle that goes to one mall. There’s supposed to be an option for a trolley tour rather than just the free shuttle to town, but their website said no tours were running that day as they were having maintenance done while we were there.

Poipu Beach

There’s supposed to be a nice beach across the street from the Anchor Cove Shopping Center where some shuttles go, but as we didn’t go to that mall I have no first-hand verification for that. We took a tour that made a stop at Poipu Beach, but that’s not the one by the mall.

it said hop on hop off, but first it was a shuttle and then a tour bus

A white bus with hop on hop off painted on the side pulled in. People swarmed to it and we managed to get on, but the driver said he was just doing free shuttle runs to a different mall than where the other shuttle went, with an option to purchase a 3-hour tour that would leave from that mall at noon. It was only about 10:00 then.

feral rooster and hen

Feral chickens are all over the place in Hawaii. We saw some pretty much everywhere we went at all the port stops there. These two were at a shopping mall.

flower

Not having found any other tour options we booked the bus tour and then went to Target to get some things we needed while we waited for time for the tour. Graham crackers are not available in Australia and we had too many ducks to fit any in our luggage before leaving home so we got some of those for the Aussies we’d be visiting after disembarkation in Sydney. They had requested that we bring some so they can make s’mores when they go camping.

pilot boat bringing the pilot to the ship in Nawiliwili

We also wanted some sunscreen. Unlike the ship which had no reef-safe sunscreen, Target had only mineral sunscreens. That’s all Hawaii allows. It’s too bad the cruise lines don’t care enough about the reefs they bring so many people to see to stock coral-safe sunscreen in their gift shops and educate people about using it. After adding a few other items to the cart we figured we’d better leave Target before we spent too much. Still having a bit of time before the tour we just hung out at a table in the food court for awhile. The table where people could go to buy tickets for the bus tour was at the edge of the food court. We overheard them telling some people the tour had sold out so it was good we had come on an earlier bus even if that did leave us with some time to kill while waiting for the tour.

tugboat that helped Noordam in and out of Nawiliwili

Shore excursions from the ship in Kauai didn’t have a big selection, though that could be because we were originally supposed to go to Maui instead. Everything from Nawiliwili was somewhat last-minute scheduling. They had several excursions to Waimea Canyon, one to places where movies had been filmed on the island, a river cruise, one to a garden and waterfall, and one with a ride on an old plantation train.

view of the Noordam from the tug

Some friends that we met on the ship had relatives living in Hawaii, one of whom was their nephew who happened to be the tugboat driver for the tug docking our ship so they got some interesting photos of the ship from the tugboat’s perspective. They managed to find a restaurant somewhere near the port where they met with their relatives for lunch.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Holland America, Noordam, Port Cities, Ports of Call, USA | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cruise Ship Cabins on Enchanted Princess

Posted on April 5, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Tortola

Like all cruise ships, Enchanted Princess has a variety of different staterooms people can choose from when booking a cruise, ranging from the least expensive inside cabins to the most expensive suites. The four major cruise ship cabin categories are interior, ocean view, balcony, and suite, with further divisions among rooms in the various categories. When looking at sizes of the various cabins there’s usually a range shown. Generally the smaller size is the standard for that cabin class, with the larger one often accessible cabins. Sometimes there are a few others that are larger than most others in their category as well, usually due to their location such as in a corner.

ocean view cabin

Most ships have a number of cabins in each category, which is where Enchanted Princess differs a bit having only 6 oceanview cabins onboard. These are located at the front of deck 17 and listed as premium oceanview with about 172 square feet per cabin and a slanted window at the front of the ship. Most cruise ships have oceanview cabins with windows or portholes on the lowest passenger decks, but the several lowest passenger decks of Enchanted Princess are all public spaces. As is usual on cruise ships the decks below that are crew areas containing the inner workings of the ship as well as facilities for the crew.

interior cabin

For cruisers on a budget or people who like darkness for sleeping when there’s daylight outside, inside cabins are ideal. As is usual on most cruise ships these are both the smallest and least expensive cabins that Enchanted Princess has to offer. These run about 166-175 square feet each and are located on various decks throughout the ship. As with just about all cruise ship cabins the beds can be set separately as two or together as one.

accessible interior cabin

Typically the largest interior rooms are accessible cabins, which run about 249 square feet. It’s a bit odd to see bulky bunks that fold down from the wall on a ship this new. Older ships had bunks like the one in the above photo. Since the invention of bunks that fold down from the ceiling newer ships generally don’t, but obviously this one does.

accessible bathroom with roll-in shower

Accessible cabins have a larger then normal bathrooms, often including a roll-in shower.

standard balcony cabin

Balcony cabins come in several options, with the least expensive standard balcony cabins at about 222 square feet (including balcony) furnished with a bed, desk with one chair, small refrigerator, some drawers, a large open closet and a smaller closet with a door. The small balcony contains 2 chairs and a small table.

premium deluxe balcony cabin

Deluxe balcony cabins may be slightly bigger and have a small couch instead of the desk and chair. Premium deluxe balcony cabins have larger balconies than the deluxe ones and the cabin itself may be bigger depending on where they are located within the ship.

extended balcony on premium deluxe balcony cabin

Deck 9 has some premium deluxe balcony cabins with extended balconies that are considerably larger than the standard balconies on Enchanted Princess.

accessible balcony cabin

The biggest cabins with balcony cabin designation are of course the accessible ones. Accessible cabins are nearly always larger than other cabins of the same designation so that there is room to maneuver a wheelchair around inside the room. Accessible cabins cost the same as other cabins with the same designation. If you look at the ship’s deck plans cabins of the same category such as balcony will be shown in different colors depending on their location within the ship. Cabins on higher decks and closer to the center usually cost more on any ship than the exact same cabin on a lower deck or farther out to the ends, but all cabins shown in the same color on the deck plan will have the same designation and price regardless of whether they are accessible or not. Accessible cabins are generally found closer to the center of the ship rather than way out at the ends where the cheapest cabins are since the far ends have a greater distance to travel from the elevators and accessible cabins are most often conveniently located near elevators.

mini-suite

In between balcony cabins and suites comes the mini-suite, which is considerably larger than a standard balcony cabin at 299-329 square feet. These have a full-sized couch and a curtain between the bed and couch area that can be pulled across for privacy if there are extra people in the room. The balcony is the same size as on a standard balcony cabin on most of them, but the bathroom is larger and includes a bathtub rather than just a shower. If you can afford the upgrade, a mini-suite well worth the extra cost since it is so much more spacious than a standard balcony cabin on this ship. These do not generally come with the perks included with suites, though some are designated as Reserve Collection mini-suites that do have extra perks like reserved theater seating and a separate dining room that is not open to most guests at breakfast and lunch. Most of the reserve collection rooms are about the same size as regular mini-suites other than larger balconies, though there are a few in the front corners of upper decks with that designation that are almost as big as actual suites. Of course the cost is higher for Reserve Collection than for other mini-suites.

penthouse suite

Enchanted Princess has several different types of suites. Their standard suites are called Penthouse suites and are generally about 440 square feet, though there are larger ones at the back corners on some decks. The front of the Sun deck has a few Vista Suites that are slightly larger than the standard penthouse suits, but smaller than the corner ones. There are a couple bigger suites called owner’s suites at the back of the Emerald deck. Suites of course have larger and fancier bathrooms than standard cabins. Most suites have balconies, but there are two Window Suites located at the front corners of the Sun deck next to the oceanview cabins that do not.

bedroom in premium suite D121

Premium suites are a step up from the penthouse suites. On the Dolphin deck there are a couple of premium suites in the front corners that have a bedroom with the same sort of slanted window found in the oceanview cabins, but they also include a living area with a sliding door to a corner balcony. These suites are over 500 square feet. The bedroom alone is bigger than a standard cabin. There are also premium suites in the front corners of some of the other decks.

kitchen and living room the sky suite

The largest and most expensive suites onboard are the two sky suites located on the Sky Deck. These two suites are each over 1500 square feet and have two bedrooms with a living area in between. Each bedroom has its own bathroom. The balconies to these suites are huge and wrap around three sides of the suite. There is an area of it overlooking the main Lido pool deck with chairs for a private area to watch movies on the outdoor screen. Other areas of the balcony have a variety of tables, chairs, and loungers. One end of the balcony includes a private entrance into the adults-only retreat area which has a pool and hot tubs.

one small corner of the sky suite balcony with chairs for watching the outdoor movies

Besides larger rooms, suites always come with extra perks. These include priority embarkation, priority tender, a special line at guest services just for suite and elite guests, priorities on other things like shore excursion or dining room reservations, and use of the concierge lounge.

penthouse suite bathroom

When booking the standard sort of room that the ship has lots of there are as previously mentioned always a bunch of different categories for rooms that are exactly the same. This is because rooms that are on higher decks or closer to the center of the ship are generally considered more desirable. That is why the cruiselines price them higher than the exact same room on a lower deck or farther out toward the bow or stern. We like rooms near the bow because you’re more likely to see flying fish from there, but if you are affected by motion then closer to the center and lower down is the place to be. If you’d rather have a wake view and don’t mind the possibility of engine noise or vibration then the stern is a good choice. Near the center is the most convenient for getting anywhere, but farther out to the ends means less people walking past your cabin. The ideal location varies depending on personal preference. Unless you are traveling with the people next door try to avoid connecting cabins as you will hear your neighbors more through the connecting door than through a solid wall even if that door is kept locked because you are not with them.

the concierge lounge for suite guests has snacks, seating, and a desk with a concierge

Regardless of what sort of room you book everyone can enjoy all the public areas of the ship and all the ports it visits throughout the cruise. We took a back-to-back with a standard balcony on the first half and a mini-suite for the second. The balcony room was small, but sufficient and as it was close to the bow we saw lots of flying fish as well as frigate birds catching flying fish during that part of the journey. The mini-suite was lovely. It was way more spacious and its central location made it very easy to access any other area of the ship from our cabin. It’s a good thing we had the mini-suite on the second cruise because the regular cabin would have felt a whole lot smaller if we’d had the much bigger mini-suite first.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Enchanted Princess, Princess, Shipboard Life | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cruising Ducks

Posted on March 31, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

a small sample of the ducks we took on Enchanted Princess

Hiding and finding ducks has become a popular pastime on cruise ships. It all started when a 10-year-old girl named Abby brought 50 ducks to hide on a Carnival cruise in 2018. Jeep ducking started in 2020 in Canada. That makes cruise ducks the original with a 2-year head start over the jeeps.

ducks tagged and ready to hide

People bring little rubber ducks onboard, usually along with tags that give a bit of information along with the duck. The tags usually say something like conquackulations or oh what luck you found a duck – maybe both. They also generally include things like who brought the duck, what ship it is on, and where the ship is cruising or where the people who brought the ducks are from. Some tags have space for the people who found a duck to add their name before they re-hide it. You don’t have to re-hide it though, the tags often also say keep or hide you decide.

tiny duck found in a statue and hidden in a game

Sometimes people take a duck from one cruise, add another tag, and then hide it on a different ship so someone else can find a well-traveled duck that has been on more than one cruise. Those are much rarer than finding a duck with a single tag. Sometimes there are ducks with no tag at all. Either they are of the very tiny sort or whoever hid it just didn’t put a tag on it. When hiding very tiny ducks they should always be placed way up high if there are any small children onboard so they are not a danger to little ones who might put one in their mouth and choke on it. There were not any small children on the Noordam where the tiny duck in the photo was found and re-hidden.

duck in a horn and one by a phone

The main rule for duck hiding is to put them in public places that are not pools or shops. The tags don’t usually specify not to put them outside, but any deck where they could fall off or blow off and end up out in the ocean is also a bad idea because ducks are for fun, not to increase plastic pollution in the ocean.

it took about a week before anybody noticed a duck behind the stairway railing

Often ducks are hiding in plain sight where the first person to come along is likely to find it, but some duck hiders are more creative looking for less obvious nooks and crannies to hide ducks in. We usually put out some stealth ducks that it would take some serious duck hunting to find and others out in more obvious easy to find places. Sometimes ducks are hiding in plain sight where it just takes looking up or down to see them, yet they might stay there for several days or more before anyone notices.

duck behind the computer at the spa desk for the spa girls to find when they come in the next morning

It’s not just passengers who look for ducks. Many of the crew like to find them too. Some of them collect ducks or try to find more than their friends have found. It always puts a smile on their face and often makes their day when they find one. They’re also happy to receive one if someone gives it to them. We often give one to crew people who have helped us with something and they always appreciate it. Especially if they don’t work the sort of position where they can be out looking for them and it’s the first one they’ve ever had.

duck for the steward on Enchanted Princess – with a baby owl towel

At the end of the cruise rather than just leaving a tip for the stateroom steward, I usually make a towel animal for them whether that particular ship makes them or not. I bring a special duck for the steward – currently I have big sparkly ones for them. I leave that duck on top of the tip. Of course they would still prefer a tip over a duck, but there’s no reason they can’t have both.

duck on a railing between couches in a lounge

While the tags generally say to put them in public places, we like to leave a few ducks hidden somewhere in the stateroom when we leave for someone down the road to find in that room. Those are always well hidden so the steward won’t find them when cleaning between when we leave and the next people come in. So far we have never found one in a room we’re staying in, but maybe someday we will.

duck on a hallway railing

Putting ducks out in plain sight is a good way to get new people involved who never knew cruise ducks were a thing until they see one. Hiding some of them in hard-to-find places is also good because the obvious ones don’t stay long, but well-hidden ones make something for duck hunters to look for.

the first duck behind a row of statues sat there for several days, but once it was found lots of people looked there for ducks every time they passed by

Some ducks are tagged with specific information about where the hider would like to see a social media post from whoever found it. Facebook pages set up for a particular cruise are a popular place to post duck finds so people can see who is hiding and finding ducks on the cruise that they are currently on. There are also more permanent facebook pages dedicated to cruising ducks where people post their finds. Others have hashtags or more specific tracking info for an individual duck to follow its journey. Many don’t specify a particular place to post it, but people who find them and want to post it can post that at whatever site they use. Not everyone posts their duck finds and that is fine too. It’s just another bit of fun if people want to do it.

duck in a bird basket on a statue

Besides posting duck finds on facebook pages for specific cruises, people also sometimes use those pages to set up little events for the people on that page. These may include something as simple as a meet and greet, but also may include things like a duck exchange  where duck hiders get together and trade ducks through some sort of a game.

ducks that people brought to the mystery duck game on Holland America Noordam

We’ve done a mystery duck game where people each bring a duck and there’s one hidden in a bag that nobody gets to see until the end of the game. People draw numbers for the order in which they choose ducks, and can either take one from the pile or steal one someone has already chosen, including the unknown mystery duck, which usually gets the most steals. At Halloween the hidden duck was a little vampire, and on our last cruise it was a flamingo. Next time it will be a big duck received at the last duck exchange which will be really special since it will be a double tagger and those are very hard to find.

duck behind a statue

From the looks of the amount of ducks people post having found, Carnival ships have the most, which makes sense since that’s where cruise ducks originated. We have managed to find some on various other cruise lines though. We came back with 14 from our last cruise on Enchanted Princess, which is nowhere near the well over 400 that we brought, but at least we found some.

found a duck in a pot of fake plants on Enchanted Princess

One of the most popular places where people hide ducks is in plants, whether those plants are real or fake. It’s also a popular place to look for them since both crew and passengers know that people hide them there so they don’t generally stay in the planters for long.

duck behind a curtain and one behind a suggestion box

People don’t often look at the undersides of tables, some of which have structure you can hang one from. Sometimes ducks placed there at the beginning of a cruise will still be there at disembarkation. Behind curtains or in window wells works until somebody does a thorough cleaning, then that person gets a major haul if there are a lot hiding there that nobody has found.

duck tucked into a hidden corner

Some ships have more good hiding places than others. Of our two most recent cruises, Holland America Noordam had all sorts of excellent hiding places while Enchanted Princess was somewhat lacking in nooks and crannies to hide ducks in. It did have a lot of planters full of fake plants, which probably all had multiple ducks hidden and found in them daily.

this duck sat under the stairway on the Noordam for about 3 weeks before anyone found it even though it could be seen from 2 different decks above the stairway

Stairways are another good place to put ducks since that is one of the more likely places you can go where there isn’t anyone else at least for a few minutes and there’s often artwork or railings, or on some ships somewhat hidden corners where you can put them.

duck at the bottom of a stairway railing

High and low spots are often good places to put ducks since people don’t generally look up or down that often. Ducks in low spots of course should always be of the kid-safe variety in case a small child picks them up. Even if there aren’t many children onboard they are the most likely ones to see something low down.

duck by a stairway art boat

If you’re not into ducks and see one on a ship, just leave it be and it won’t be long before someone else comes along and is thrilled to find it. On the other hand if you’ve never heard of cruising ducks before and think it might be fun, now you know to look for them – better yet bring some to hide as well. Unless you go on a Disney cruise. For some unimaginable reason Disney banned ducks on their ships. I can understand the really tiny ones since they could pose a choking hazard and there are lots of small children on Disney, but not the actual rubber duckies, which were originally intended to be bath toys for small children. Disney really missed the boat on this one. They could have made a fortune selling Disney character themed ducks in their cruise ship gift shops.

ducks we found on Enchanted Princess

Ducks are readily available online from places like Amazon, Etsy, Oriental Trading, Temu, and other sources. Duck tags are available too. You can even get kits with ducks and tags together. There are all sorts to choose from.

dragon duck with the backside of a tag with spots for several finders to add their information

You can get bags of random ducks where each one is different, or ducks that are all the same. There are plain yellow ducks, ducks in a variety of colors, sparkly ducks, sailor ducks, pirate ducks, holiday ducks, glow in the dark ducks, and all sorts of other ducks. They also come in different sizes. Some of them aren’t even exactly ducks. The variety bags tend to include things like duck dogs, duck cats, little monsters or dragons, and other semi-duck animals. You can also buy things like penguins or flamingos.

princess ducks for a Princess cruise – we had Princess tags for them too

Theming ducks to a cruise is fun, like specific holiday ducks for a cruise taken at or near a holiday, or summer ducks for warm places and winter ducks for cold places. They can also be themed to the ship in some instances such as ducks that are little princesses for a Princess cruise.  Whatever the ducks look like people are happy to find them.

valentine ducks from Enchanted Princess

When cruising on or around a holiday it’s fun to bring holiday ducks.

a small sample of our Halloween ducks from the Noordam

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

 

Posted in Enchanted Princess, Noordam, Randoms, Shipboard Life | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

CocoCay

Posted on March 29, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

ships in CocoCay

Wonder of the Seas made it to the dock at CocoCay on our scheduled port day, an improvement over the previous year’s visit on Symphony of the Seas which was unable to dock due to stormy weather. While both the sky and water were blue this time rather than the last attempted visit’s gray, it was still not the makings of the advertised perfect day. My perfect day would have included snorkeling, but the air was windy and the water cold and choppy. Someone we talked to who did brave the cold to give snorkeling a try said visibility was too poor in water left murky by a recent hurricane to see anything so we didn’t bother to try.

map and signs at the entrance

The balloon sat firmly on the ground all day and we never saw anyone on the zip line either so the weather must have been too windy for those. There were people in the water park though. Ours was the second of two ships to arrive on the island that day so most of the beach chairs were already occupied. More so by towels than people as is usual on cruise ships. Apparently it is just as bad at cruise ship private islands.

seagulls on a beach umbrella

One good thing about the beach chairs on this island is that all of them seem to be under a beach umbrella rather than just a select few like on some other cruise ship private islands. We found a couple unoccupied lounge chairs relatively close to the beach, though not front row, that had a small table as well as the beach umbrella. Not all the chairs there had access to a table, but the ones in that row did. The table is a nice addition if you want somewhere to set a drink or something.

food spot before it opened

Rather than just one big barbecue spot that everyone goes to like on some cruise ship private islands, CocoCay had a couple barbecue grill areas as well as several snack shacks all with complimentary food to spread people out a bit. The lines were not long. Royal Caribbean is better than most cruise lines about keeping lines minimal for most things.

lunch

There were plenty of tables available at the chill grill when we went there, which was not right when first getting to the island. They had chicken, corn, French fries, hamburgers and hot dogs, some fruit and salads, a couple desserts and ice cream.

the balloon stayed right there on the ground all day

There is a lot to do on CocoCay if the weather cooperates, but a lot of things there cost extra and some have to be booked in advance. The water park (which has the tallest slides in the Caribbean), zip line, balloon ride, and excursions cost extra. The balloon ride stays on a tether so it’s more of a high view than an actual ride. There’s also cabana rentals and a private pay-only beach, but the beach chairs, beach games, most of the beaches, and any pools outside of the waterpark are free. Snorkeling is also free if you bring your own gear, but there is a cost if you need to rent it. Other beach rentals include floating mats and kayak tours. We did not see anyone using any of those things the day we were there so either the rentals were closed due to the weather or nobody wanted to rent stuff to use in cold choppy water, though some people did venture out into the water at the beaches.

view of Chill Grill, Captain Jack’s Bar, and a waterslide tower from Harbor Beach

The island has over half a dozen beach bars scattered about different areas. They were quite popular that day. Maybe they always are or maybe that’s just where a lot of people went since it was too cold and windy for a lot of other things.

relaxing at Chill Island beach

We didn’t stay out at the beach as long as we would have if the water would have been warmer and the snorkeling good. A lot of other people came back to the ship early too. Since it started to rain an hour or two before all-aboard there probably wasn’t anyone left out there until the very end.

some people braved the cold and wind to venture out into the water

I guess the comedian at the onboard comedy show we went to was right when he said it would be pretty hard for the cruise to deliver the perfect day customers expect when the cruise is billed as Perfect Day at CocoCay. So far our two visits have been no day and a less-than-perfect day at CocoCay, both due to stormy weather. Either we just had incredibly bad luck or the island is located in an area susceptible to frequent storms. This is just a guess, but I’m inclined to go with the latter due to there being plenty of other mentions of not so perfect days and cancelled stops at CocoCay online, as well as the fact that we got on MSC Meraviglia the day we got off of Wonder for a cruise that included 2 stops at their private Island (Ocean Cay) which is in a different part of the Bahamas and made both stops there with beautiful sunny weather. Then again Royal Caribbean spent a fortune on that island so it must have enough days of good weather to make that investment worthwhile.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Caribbean, Ports of Call, Royal Caribbean, Wonder of the Seas | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Things to Do on MSC Meraviglia

Posted on March 22, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Meraviglia in Cozumel

Like all large cruise ships, MSC Meraviglia has lots of things for people to do onboard. There are of course pools and hot tubs, as all cruise ships have. Not all of them have an indoor pool though, but Meraviglia has one in addition to outdoor pools. The glass-walled solarium-type room housing the indoor pool and hot tubs even has its own bar as well as deck chairs on two levels. The towel-exchange station on the main pool deck is conveniently located just outside the door. The upper level even has a ping pong table.

indoor pool and hot tubs

The main pool deck has a big screen TV above a pool, which generally had soccer games going during our cruise. That was quite popular among many passengers who watched from the many deck chairs surrounding the pool as well as from the pool itself. The back of that deck had an ice cream station and a bar so people didn’t have to go far for a drink or a snack.

waterslides

Meraviglia also has waterslides. Three of them on the top back deck. Two of the slides use tubes to slide down on, which are available in singles or doubles. The third slide is of the bowl type with no tube required. There’s also a ropes course near the slides. You have to sign a waiver to use the waterslides on this ship, which was a first for us. There was also no crew member at the top regulating when people can go down, also a first and probably the reason for the waiver.

racecar ride in the arcade

For families the ship has much more than just kid’s clubs, though it has them too. It has a large indoor sports court which sometimes hosts activities and other is times just available to use. The enormous arcade area includes an interactive movie theater, a bowling alley, and some mostly virtual rides.

dancers in a stage show

Besides production-style singing and dancing shows in the main theater, Meraviglia also has an additional smaller theater called the Carousel Lounge. It’s called that because it has a round revolving stage. Shows there have lots of aerial acts in addition to whatever is happening onstage. There is a small surcharge for shows in the Carousel Lounge, but it also comes with a free drink that makes up for most of that payment.

chocolate dragon at the chocolate shop

Food is always a big part of cruising, and Meriviglia does have lots of food options, though the majority of places other than the buffet and main dining room are premium restaurants that cost extra. There’s even a chocolate shop that makes its own chocolates onboard, and a place by the buffet that makes cheese. The chocolate shop had some giant chocolate sculptures they had made on display in a case at the front of the shop.

cloudy sky in the dome

One of the highlights of the ship is the dome above the promenade or galleria area. It tops an opening several decks high with the lowest level lined by shops including the chocolate shop, a gelato shop, and a Mexican restaurant. There are additional premium restaurants and a pub along the sides of the level above. The dome is a video screen which projects a variety of things throughout the cruise, starting with a welcome aboard message on boarding day. It could portray anything from fancy ceilings to blue skies with puffy white clouds. Several times a day instead of still views it had active dome shows, one of which portrayed a submarine visit to an Atlantis full of mermaids. Occasionally a camera in the promenade posted views on the dome ceiling of whoever happened to walk by.

relaxing area in the spa

There’s also a spa, a gym, and a casino, and of course scheduled activities like dance lessons, trivia, fitness classes, liquor tastings, and various game competitions.

casino

They even had a master chef at sea competition where the winner got a certificate allowing them to go to a competition where they could try to qualify for the actual TV show. Like any cruise ship it also has plenty of bars scattered about the ship.

cruising duck

Near the end of the cruise we found a couple little rubber ducks on stairway railings with cruising ducks tags. Hiding ducks on cruise ships has become a popular thing. We found one on Celebrity Constellation with a little bit different tag about posting it on a specific website whereas this one just said conquackulations you found me and mentioned posting on social media, nothing specific. Some people post their finds, others don’t. It’s not required. Like the other one it did say keep or re-hide for someone else to find – specifically it said keep or hide you decide, a standard message on duck tags. You can even go online and buy rubber ducks and tags specifically intended for hiding on cruise ships.

pub on the upper level of the promenade

Overall, Meraviglia is a pretty big ship with a lot of places to explore and a lot of things to do. We enjoyed our cruise and always had something to do.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Meraviglia, MSC, Shipboard Life | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Australian Ninja Competition

Posted on March 17, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Sheri hangs on a bar while moving it across a marked distance on the course without letting go or touching the ground

Most people have probably heard of the TV show American Ninja Warrior and its counterparts in other countries like Australia. Ninja competitions started in Japan in 1997 under the name Sasuke with an edited version shown in some other countries. American Ninja Warrior started in 2009 with the finalists from the first few seasons traveling to Japan for the finals in Sasuke rather than having their own finals in Las Vegas as the later seasons did. Australian Ninja Warrior ran on Australian TV from 2017 to 2022.

building the outside course in Boggabri

In the early days of the show in the USA the ninja competitors generally came from other sports like gymnastics, parkour, or mountain climbing. Now there’s ninja gyms set up with all the equipment where people learn ninja skills and ninja competitions where they can start competing even as little kids so the younger ninjas on the show now have often grown up as competitive ninjas and tend to do very well against the seasoned competitors. The minimum age to compete in Ninja competitions is 6. On the show everyone competes against each other on the same course, but these Ninja competitions have separate categories and courses for different age groups. They also have mats rather than water under the obstacles.

putting a cover over the outside course

There is a league that has the same one fail and you’re out rules as seen on TV, but there’s also another league called UNAA (short for Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association) that allows 3 fails before going out in their competitions. There is a world championship held in the USA each year. Athletes from many different countries earn their way to worlds by qualifying in their own country’s regional qualifiers or other qualifying competitions. They have to qualify in an area qualifier in order to compete at their country’s regionals.

kid on rings in an outside course

UNAA Comps Australia is an Australian division of UNAA, through which Australians can compete and work their way up to qualifying for the world competition. In November of 2023 they held their regional competition in Boggabri, NSW where many of their athletes qualified for the world competition to be held in Anaheim, California in July 2024. Videos livestreamed during their competition can be seen on the UNAA Comps Australia youtube channel.

testing the under the sea course

A lot goes on behind the scenes both before and during a competition. From planning and organizing the event itself to planning, constructing, and testing each course to finding people to do each job, there’s way more work to be done than most people attending the event realize. While most ninja gyms have just one structure for their courses, the Boggy Ninja Academy in Boggabri has both inside and outside structures so they could have one course set up at the same time in each one. This gym belongs to Cruze Morley who was known as the Boggy Ninja on Australian Ninja Warrior. It takes a lot of time to set up each course so after the first two age groups ran simultaneously with one in each structure the others were usually one in use and the other in changeover to the next course, though sometimes it took longer to change courses so neither would be in competition. The outside course had a cover over the top to provide some very necessary shade and there was a covered seating area for the audience to get out of the sun as well.

Hanna on a balance beam in a coffin in a graveyard in a Halloween themed ninja course

The courses each include a variety of obstacles designed to test different skills. Some are for balance, others for things like strength, agility, coordination, and speed. When flying through the air from one obstacle to another sometimes they are required to Lashay, which means they have to completely let go of one obstacle before taking hold of the next. Other times they can span the obstacle, which means they can take hold of the next thing while still hanging onto the one they are currently on.

kids on the waterslide

Besides the competition going on, there also was a field with food trucks, merchandise stalls, and a blow-up waterslide to keep the kids cool, happy, and entertained. Ice cream and other frozen treats were crowd favorites in Australia’s sun and heat. There was a brief but intense rainstorm one day during which many people took shelter in the inside gym.

boys podium from the 11 & under food themed course

Each of the courses at this competition had a different theme. Prizes in the prize bags for the winners were filled with items matching the theme of their course. The top 3 in each group got prizes, medals, and team jackets but the top 5 all got certificates indicating that they qualified to go to worlds.

girls 9 & under podium

Unlike the TV show where males and females compete against each other, in this league each age group is separated into males and females. Everyone of each age group competes on the same course, but the males are only competing against other males and the females against other females, with first through third of each gender rather than just each age group getting prizes and first through fifth of each gender qualifying for worlds.

Hannah on the Halloween themed course

Courses in ninja competitions don’t usually have themes, but at this competition they did with under the sea for 7 & under, transport for 9 & under, food for 11 & under, space for 13 & under, Halloween for 15 & under, and for the adults the over 40 amateurs have their own division called masters which had a retro theme, amateurs 15-39 had Christmas, and for the pros the theme was Australia.

kid spanning hooks in the under the sea course

Each course had a time limit determined by the difficulty of the course and number of obstacles in it. Competitors were allowed to stay on the course until their time ran out, but after three fails no more obstacles counted for points even if completed flawlessly. Some obstacles are worth one point and have to be completed fully not to count as a fail, but others are worth two points. If they get to the spot where the first point is awarded for that obstacle it is not considered a fail even if they don’t earn the second point. Scoring is done by most points winning, but if more than one person has the same number of points the one with the faster time places higher.

Sheri walks across a rope in her ninja course

Some of the athletes have a tendency to psych themselves out at the possible difficulty of a new or unfamiliar obstacle that they have to face on their course. While watching a course I overheard a teenage girl telling her friends who were feeling a bit that way that when she saw a new obstacle she just assumed that it was easy and she could do it no problem, which seemed like a really good attitude for a better chance of success when it came time to tackle that obstacle.

this course also involved horizontally climbing a rope across a distance

Two people at this competition were disqualified for bad behavior, which is quite rare for this league. One was a boy from the 9 & under category who in frustration at his failure to complete an obstacle threw a peg that was used to move along that obstacle into the audience, hitting a person sitting there. The other was a teenage girl competing in the pro category who had several confrontations with officials and volunteers over the weekend of the competition with the last one nearly resulting in a physical fight with a volunteer. This would have disqualified both if the other (also a teenage girl) had been a contestant as well. Instead she will be required to take volunteer training before helping out at any other competitions. Both girls were banned from any further competitions in this league for 3 months if they apologize and 6 months if they don’t.

masters women’s podium

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Australia, Randoms | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Quantum of the Seas Ocean View Cabin

Posted on March 15, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Quantum of the Seas in Sitka

Walking into our deck 3 ocean view cabin for the first time on Quantum of the Seas, the first thing we noticed was that there was no outline in the ceiling of a drop-down bunk. Normally when booking a room for 4 people you expect to see at least one, maybe two. There’s always the usual main bed that can either be kept as one or split into two, then often there’s two bunks that drop down from the ceiling unless it’s an older ship where they fold down from the wall. Sometimes there’s just one bunk and a couch that makes into the 4th bed, but this room just had the bed and the couch.

it’s sort of a trundle bed except both sides are the same height

It turned out that the way they made room for 4 people was that instead of turning into a single bed, the couch had a pull-out that turned it into a double bed. Not what we were expecting, but at least there was room enough for everyone to sleep. We had already decided to give mom and Linda the beds while Barbara and I took whatever alternate sleeping arrangements the ship provided. Initially the main bed was set up as one, but the steward split it into two with a little nightstand in between. The couch on the other hand only made one bed. They set it up sort of like a lot of the hotels in Europe with separate blankets for each person except that instead of the European style sleeping bag sort of thing these were a quilt and sheet folded over for each person providing at least a bit of separation.

even with the bed put away there’s not a lot of space

When the bed was pulled out there was only a very small aisle between it and the desk and drawers next to it. You couldn’t fully open the drawers and refrigerator or slide the chair out from under the desk. It also took up nearly all the space under the window. Which was fine at night when everyone was asleep, but not in the daytime if we were to have full use of our stateroom. After the first morning’s cleaning we came back to the room to find the bed still set up. We couldn’t find our steward, but came across the one at the next section of rooms down the hall. She put the bed away for us. Even though the room was a decent size, there’s not a lot of space for 4 people even with the bed folded back into the couch, and no space to do anything with it out.

couch

We thought the steward was just being lazy, but later on when we walked past the two stewards together she told him to “splain your guests.” It turned out he had not put the bed away because corporate in all their great wisdom decided that since they only have stewards on one daily cleaning now they are not supposed to enter the rooms a second time, which means if they put the bed up they won’t be able to put it back down. That’s a policy sure to cause a lot of stewards not to get any tips as well as a lot of unhappy guests. Luckily our steward put the bed away in the mornings after that and came in at night to put it back out for us. Maybe because he knew we’d have done it ourselves after we saw how it was done since we’d watched the other steward put it away, or maybe just to be nice. We tipped him well for it. Apparently nobody in corporate who makes that sort of stupid decision has ever stayed in one of those cabins with more than two people. If they had they would insist that the stewards put the beds away in the daytime.

cabin on Quantum of the Seas

With the bed out of the way it was a nice room. It had plenty of storage with lots of drawers, two closets, and 4 good-sized cubbies above the beds. Even though there was some spare bedding stored under the main beds we found space enough under there for all 4 of our suitcases. Between the drawers, closets, cubbies, and some shelves in the bathroom everyone found somewhere to put all of their things.

teapot in the cabin

There was a teapot in the cabin, something I’ve only seen once previously, on P&O, which is a British line. I’ve not seen them on any other Royal ship I’ve been on, but perhaps the Quantum had them because it originally sailed in China. Like the Brits, Chinese people do like their tea. That’s definitely a nice addition to the cabin. It did not have any tea with it like P&O did, but it’s easy enough to get some teabags from the buffet. It also only started out with only 2 cups, but they’re easy to snag from the buffet as well.

magnets have a lot of uses on cruise ships

All of the other Royal ships we’ve been on had a magnet for the door that said sleeping off the adventure on one side and something about being out enjoying the day or some such thing on the other. Their way of saying do not disturb and cleaning service please. I had wondered for years sailing on other lines why they just had a cardboard door tag instead of using a magnet since the doors are always magnetic so was happy at least one line was clever enough to realize that.

2 closets and cubbies above the beds

Instead of the usual 2-way magnet, Quantum’s was blank on one side and said sleeping off the adventure on the other. It had no way to indicate to the steward when everyone was out of the room. With 4 people coming and going it must have been nearly impossible for him to know when to clean ours. The first few days we’d go to breakfast and come back and it wouldn’t be done so we’d go somewhere else, but in the meantime people might individually go back for this or that so if he saw someone go in and didn’t see them come back out he’d think the room was occupied. One day it wasn’t even done by lunchtime. Finally I got smart and hung a little note on the door held up by one of my own magnets that said room available for cleaning. It was done when we got back from breakfast that day, and with the help of the note every day after. They are doing both the stewards and the guests a disservice by not having a way of letting the steward know when the room is open. The one magnet lets him know when not to go in, but absence of it doesn’t mean nobody is there. People often don’t put those out, leaving the steward to guess if the room is empty or not.

desk with teapot

Bad decisions at the corporate level seemed to be a thing with this ship. Like allowing smoking in a casino that is not only open on both ends, but also with an open stairway directly into the promenade when it is sailing out of American ports even though the app and their daily newsletter both said smoking was not allowed anywhere inside the ship. Nowhere did that specify it meant only in Australia. Said casino was not that far from our cabin and smoke did sometimes come down the hallway so a cabin on a different deck would be a better choice on this ship if you don’t like tobacco smoke and are not sailing out of Australia. Corporate to Quantum kind of reminded me of Voyager in the Star Trek series because if there was a bad decision to be made Captain Janeway always seemed to make it.

clothesline on the wall

I used to think all cruise ships had the sort of clothesline that you can pull across the shower until Symphony of the Seas didn’t have one. Quantum didn’t either, but Wonder did so it’s not like Royal Caribbean has dropped them altogether. Wonder is newer than Symphony and Quantum so maybe they dropped them for awhile, but got too many complaints and added them back in. Or else they just leave them off some ships for reasons unknown. After all even if you never wash a thing, that clothesline still comes in mighty handy when you need somewhere to hang wet swimming suits, which is a pretty common thing to have on a cruise ship. Luckily I had brought a line and some hook magnets to hang it up with.

bathroom shelves

Cruise ship shower walls are often even more magnetic than the regular walls because on many ships the magnets can hold more weight in the shower than they can out in the room. I thought it would be a secondary line because there might not be room enough for everyone’s wet swimsuit on the tiny shower line, but it ended up being our only line. It went in the shower when things were drippy wet, and zig-zagged out on the wall in the cabin if stuff was just a bit damp. We did need to use the shower for showering sometimes after all. Speaking of the shower, it was a good thing we’d all brought our own bath products because all that they provided was an all-in-one shampoo/body wash and nobody wanted to use that. There was no conditioner either.

electronics need somewhere to plug in

Quantum is a new enough ship to have more than just the one outlet some older ships have. It also had some USB ports.  My plug that turns one outlet into 3 and clock with a couple USB ports still came in handy when lots of people wanted to charge something all at once though. Royal’s standard size staterooms are larger than what you find on some other cruiselines so that’s always a bonus. Overall our cabin worked out fine with 4 people in it. We did intentionally book near public restrooms just in case someone needed a bathroom while another person was using it, which came in handy sometimes.

towel animal

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
Posted in Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hilo Volcano and Garden Tour

Posted on March 8, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Hilo

Looking online for information about Hilo cruise port pre-cruise I didn’t find much other than that it was not in town and that there was supposed to be a free shuttle to Walmart. The advice was to book an excursion as there otherwise wouldn’t be much of anything to do. They were wrong though. As it turned out there was a free shuttle to a farmer’s market in town and hop on hop off bus tours available at the port so there was actually something there to do last minute for people without prior plans. The Walmart shuttle was not running that day. The ship offered 4 excursions that went to Volcanoes National Park. The longest tour was too expensive to consider. Of the other three, two specifically said people would not see lava on that tour and the third did not say one way or the other whether we would see lava or not. We chose that one on the hopes that we would. Otherwise we would have chosen the one that said it included a walk through a lava tube rather than the one that went to a botanical garden.

pathway across a lake at the garden

It often seems like the smaller the ship the less organized they are when it comes to sending out the shore excursions and just generally getting people off the ship. While Noordam isn’t the smallest ship out there it is certainly nowhere near the biggest. Definitely not the best organized. Unlike prior cruises we’ve taken, there were no paper excursion tickets on this ship. Shore excursion tickets have gone digital in the Holland America app. We got to the entrance to the meeting point about 15 minutes early, but the line was long and slow moving. Eventually we made our way through the line and acquired our stickers, but by then it was past the time to check in at 8:30, though not yet quite time for our scheduled 8:45 departure. We went into the theater to wait along with everyone else anticipating a variety of excursions going out that morning.

steam in the crater at Kilauea

They finally called for our excursion after 9:00. The days of someone from the crew waiting while holding up a paddle with the group’s excursion number to lead the group out to their bus are long gone. They send you out on your own to find it. So why they bother grouping people up there rather than just sending everyone to an outside meeting place is beyond me except when it’s a very early excursion meeting before the boat docks or at a tender port where they send the whole excursion group out on the same tender.

volcano info at Volcanos National Park

Out in the port building a row of signs for various excursions lined up in front of rows of benches. It took some time for everyone to find the signs, the right group, then find out that the excursion providers out there needed to scan the e-tickets, which had not previously been mentioned by anyone. It’s a good idea to screenshot those tickets so that if you need to show it somewhere the wi-fi doesn’t reach and there’s no cell service you can still pull it up in your photos. That works well when using a digital boarding pass at the start of the cruise too. By the time we finally got out to the busses the excursion left over half an hour later than the posted time, but according to our driver the bus was actually supposed to leave the port at 8:30 am, which was the time we were told to be at the onboard meeting location. Had they just had us meet in the port where we ended up looking for the sign for our group anyway that definitely would have saved some time.

steam in the crater

We had an excellent guide. A local Hawaiian who lived partway between the town and the volcano. He was quite informative telling us all about the local fauna and flora, places we passed along the way, and a bit about the area’s homes and people as well as things tourists could see and do if they were to return for a longer visit. He also mentioned the island’s 5 volcanos, some of which we could see both from and on the way to Kilauea. In the winter some of the volcanos are topped in snow, something most people definitely don’t associate with Hawaii.

sign near the crater at Kilauea

On the way up to Kilauea the two mid-sized busses of our excursion traveled together, but after we got there the other one left first. We definitely got the better of the two on this tour. Besides having an excellent native guide while the other bus driver wasn’t, our bus also didn’t have as much of a time crunch since it did not have to be back in time for a second tour like the other one did. The time at each stop was still a bit constricted partly due to the late departure and partly because not enough time was allotted in the first place at the crater. Ship’s excursions do often tend to skimp on the amount of time allowed for their attractions.

guide’s photo of erupting volcano

Apparently lava comes and goes at that crater so sometimes people see it there and sometimes they don’t, which is probably why the tour description didn’t say whether we would see any or not. Unfortunately it just had steam during our visit. We had hoped to see lava in the crater. The museum at the crater was fenced off and closed due to damage from a previous eruption, but we wouldn’t have had time to see it anyway. Since we couldn’t get any lava pictures of our own, the driver offered to share some that he had on his phone. I think it’s from Kilauea since it’s the most active, but Mauna Loa does erupt sometimes so that one is also a possibility.

steam vent on Kilauea

After the crater we stopped off to see some steam vents just down the road a bit from the crater, followed by a brief visit to a visitors center. I saw a couple geese by the road as we drove up to the volcano.

nene (internet photo)

The visitors center identified them as nene, distant descendants of some wayward Canadian geese that ended up in Hawaii half a million years ago. They have evolved into non-aquatic and non-migratory birds with shorter wings and less webbing in their feet for easier walking on old lava flows.

pathway across the lake at the garden

On the way to the garden we drove down a road winding through a row of banyan trees planted in the past by various different celebrities and famous people. The road passed by a small white sand beach, a rarity in an area where beaches are normally the black sand of volcanic lava rock. The guide did not say if that white sand was naturally occurring or imported as white sand often is on Hawaiian beaches that have it. There was a great view of the ship in port from that beach.

pagoda on the lake

The botanical garden turned out to be more of a Japanese park with bridges and pagodas along pathways meandering through ponds and trees rather than the sort of botanical garden with a variety of plants that have plaques or signs identifying the various different species growing there. A narrow road separated the park from the bay. It was quite a lovely park, and right on the shoreline of the bay. A few people were fishing and one had a couple dogs on a small beach. On the other side of the street just a little way down the road a long bridge stretched out to a tiny island called Coconut Island.

statue at the garden

That was the last scheduled stop, but the guide took a bit of a detour to drop a few people in town, and take another round through the banyan trees for a brief photo stop through the bus windows by the white sand beach for anyone who wanted a photo of the ship – something the other bus would not have had time to do.

lake at the garden

Overall it was a nice excursion, but it could have been improved with better planning on the ship and a bit more time allotted for the park as well as at the crater. The guide was one of the better ones that we’ve had as far as excursion guides go. Guides can definitely make or break an excursion. We’ve had both good and bad ones over time.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

 

Posted in Holland America, Noordam, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, USA | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments