Cruising with Teens

Posted on May 12, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

girls on Symphony of the seas in Miami

When our 16-year-old granddaughter, Hannah, came to visit from Australia we booked a couple Caribbean cruises out of Florida to take her on. Symphony of the Seas is an excellent ship for cruising with teens because it has so many things for them to do. Besides the usual ship things like pools, hot tubs, and waterslides, Symphony also has a zipline, 10-deck dry slides, flowriders, rock climbing walls, ice arena, mini golf, a carousel, and arcades. It has a nice teen space where kids can go to hang out and meet other kids, and there are also organized activities just for the teens.

Violet on the flowrider

Along with us on the Symphony we had a friend with 15-year-old daughter, Violet. Hannah and Violet had not met before the cruise, but both are athletes. They had a lot in common and got along like they had been friends forever. Hannah is a competitive ninja and Violet plays basketball. They met other teens through the teen club on the ship and had a lot of fun trying out the various things the ship had to offer and going to teen activities.

the first few rows closest to the pool/stage are in the splash zone

Hannah said her favorite show ever was the Hiro water show on Symphony of the Seas. The girls watched it from the front row splash zone with other teens they had met and got soaked. The 3 adults of our group stayed dry watching the show from higher up.

swimming at Maho Beach

Teens are pretty self-reliant and both girls mostly went off and did their own thing while onboard the ship, often together. They came to meals and some of the shows with us, but did nearly everything else on their own.

airplane coming in for a landing at Maho Beach

In ports we all went out together as a group. In Saint Martin Hannah wanted to see the airplanes flying overhead at Maho Beach so that was where we all went. Most of the taxis out of Saint Martin go there so transportation is easy. There’s not a lot of beach there, but we did see a lot of planes and the girls went for a swim. That was Hanna’s favorite port of the trip so she definitely had fun.

kayaking in St Thomas

In Saint Thomas we went kayaking out of Margaritaville. This was not a ship’s excursion so we had to Uber from the port to get there, which is about half an hour away. It was in a part of Saint Thomas we hadn’t seen before. It was a bit windy that day, but Margaritaville has a beach in a fairly sheltered cove so it wasn’t too rough for launching kayaks from there. We paddled to another beach to go snorkeling and then across the bay to a dolphin rescue center where they had dolphins that had come from other facilities that either closed down or had kept them in manmade pools rather than open spaces in seawater like this facility had. The girls went in a kayak together and had no trouble maneuvering it.

ready to make chocolates

In Nassau we went to a chocolate factory and made chocolates. I think that was Violet’s favorite excursion. That one is at Greycliff Hotel which is a short walk from the ship and also booked through outside sources. We did not take any excursions through the cruise ship on this cruise.

girls in Margaritaville

When the Symphony cruise ended Violet and her mom went home so Hannah was on her own on the next cruise on the Majestic Princess. She did meet some other kids in the teen space there, but didn’t hang out with them as much as the ones on the Symphony.

scarlet macaw at the monkey and sloth rescue in Roatan

Although the Princess doesn’t have all the bells and whistles like the Symphony, Hannah still enjoyed that cruise. She found plenty to do with the gym and hot tubs, hiding ducks, and going to the teen space.

capuchin monkey

We had just two ports from the Majestic Princess. It overnighted in Roatan. The first day we had a long excursion, again booked through outside sources. This was also something Hannah had chosen. It picked people up in a van just outside the port. We went first to a sloth and monkey rescue. People went into cages with the monkeys who ran wild jumping from person to person. The sloths weren’t caged. They had an open pavilion surrounded in trees and went in and out as they pleased. They moved surprisingly fast compared to how slow their reputation is. Not nearly as fast as the monkeys, but they could cover ground when they wanted to.

riding at the water’s edge

Next we went to a beach that also had a stable. We had a short horseback ride that was mostly on a trail, but went down to a beach on a river where they walked through the edge of the water for a bit. Then we went out to the reef in a little boat to go snorkeling. The next day we went to the beach at the port and went swimming.

filming sea life through the bottom of the clear boat

In Cozumel we went out in a clear boat where you can see down to the bottom of the sea through the floor of the boat, which is a different way of viewing the sea life. The building where the clear boat tours start from is within walking distance of any of Cozumel’s three cruise ship ports.

Symphony of the Seas

Symphony was Hanna’s favorite of the two, both because of all the things the ship offered and from having another teen as part of our group. She said that was her favorite cruise ever because of all of the things available to do. She especially liked the dry slide which is a lot longer than the waterslides. The rock wall was right up her alley as a ninja so she had no trouble climbing it.

returning to the boat after snorkeling in Roatan

Cruising with teens is a lot easier than cruising with younger kids since the teens can pretty well take care of themselves and find things to do on their own. They can also navigate their own way around the ship to get to whatever activities they choose to participate in. It would not be so easy if the teens were the sort likely to cause problems, but these girls were not troublemakers. Of course that can apply to adults as well since some adults do cause trouble on cruise ships. While we have not sailed with troublemakers of any age as part of our group, the cruises we sailed on where there were other people who caused problems they all happened to be adults.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026

Posted in Caribbean, Majestic Princess, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Symphony of the Seas | Tagged cruise, cruising with teenagers, photos, travel | Leave a comment

Martinique Cruise Port

Posted on May 8, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Martinique

Martinique is a Caribbean island territory of France. This 436 square mile volcanic island sits between Barbados and Saint Lucia in the windward islands of the Lesser Antilles. Mont Pelee is an active volcano at the north end of the island. Its 1902 eruption killed over 29,000 people and destroyed the town of Saint Pierre with almost no survivors. The city has mostly been rebuilt, but there are a few ruins left of the old city including part of a prison where one person survived in an underground cell. It last erupted in 1932.

view of Fort-de-France from the ship

Tourist attractions include rainforest, beaches, and a 17^th century fort. It also has a zoo, a botanical garden, and a banana museum. La Savane des Esclaves in the town of Les Trois-Îlets is outdoor museum in the form of a recreated native village.

cruise ship dock at Pointe Simon

Ships dock in the capital city of Fort-de-France. Currency is the euro. A lot of places near the port will take US dollars. The climate is tropical, usually warm, humid and often windy. Temperatures are usually in the 70’s to 80’s F.

ferry dock near the cruise port

We docked at Pointe Simon, which is the main cruise ship port. The port there was pretty much just the cruise ship pier. After walking down to the end of the pier it exited right into town, not into the usual conglomerate of cruise port shops. These are all unique local stores, not the same stores often found at every port. There is a ferry dock near the cruise ship dock where small ferries take people for a short ride to a couple different beaches. The little booth where you buy ferry tickets has a schedule and they do take US dollars. The ferry ride is less than half an hour and it runs pretty frequently. There is a secondary cruise pier called Tourelles Cruise Port which is about a 20–30-minute walk from the main tourist area. That one is used for the second ship when two ships come on the same day.

little beach below the fort near the cruise dock

Walking along the shore leads to a small sandy beach. It’s not the best beach around, but it is close to the ship. There’s also a park with a nice playground along the seashore.

one of many narrow streets

Walking through the part of town near the port there are narrow streets with narrow sidewalks. Some have fancy brick paving, others are asphalt or concrete in various states of disrepair. Buildings are mainly narrow rowhouses, often with business at the bottom. Many are picturesque old architecture, but some are newer. The newer ones are usually bigger.

one ruin in a row of buildings

Here and there crumbling ruins sit in a narrow lot between a couple buildings, still attached on both sides.

cathedral and really tall palm tree

The steeple of an old cathedral towers over much of the town, with a palm tree nearly as tall growing next to it. The cathedral is of the town’s tourist attractions, but the unusually tall palm tree next to it was interesting in its uniqueness.

reflection of the cathedral and palm tree

A building across the way shows a reflection of the cathedral and the tree. In actuality the tree was only slightly shorter than the steeple, but in these photos it looks taller in the one taken directly because it was slightly closer, but significantly shorter than it actually is in the reflection.

bottle garden in a vacant lot

Sometimes there are random things that are interesting only because of how odd they are – like the bottle garden we saw in a vacant lot on a street corner in Fort-de France.

Fort St. Louis

We walked to Fort St. Louis. It’s an ancient stone fort, but it is still an operating military base rather than an old fort where tourists can go. At least the part you can see from the outside is ancient. There was a gate guard at the entrance motioning us away, but according to a website about the fort people can tour it. From their website it looks like tours are only allowed during scheduled times on certain days with tickets purchased for specific tour times for a one hour and 15 minute tour. From that it sounds like it’s probably a guided tour. The tickets are purchased elsewhere rather than right at the fort.

park across the street from the fort

A park across the street had some structures that were probably once part of the fort. It also had a lot of litter.

market

Many streets full of shops meander through the town in the port area. A lot of the women’s clothing displayed in the windows of shops that sold it looked so tiny that the average American might have a hard time fitting one leg through the waistband of a pair of pants with no possibility of actually getting a foot into the pantleg. Either Martinique is full of extremely skinny ladies or they actually sell some bigger sizes of clothing than what they show in their window displays. I don’t know what size they were, but if the smallest American size is 0 these clothes must have been about –5. There’s also a fruit market. Or at least a market with a lot of stalls selling fruit. It had quite a few stalls selling other things too.

carnival tent booths

We were there during Carnival so there were lots of white tent stalls along the waterfront selling food, clothes, jewelry, souvenirs and other merchandise. None of them were open when we first got off the ship, but they all opened while we were still in port. They had some sort of parade going on at the time our ship departed. We could hear it, but not see it so it was probably one street in, on the other side of all the booths at the waterfront.

waterfront near the cruise dock

Other than just wandering around or taking the nearby ferry to the beach, Martinique is the sort of place where it’s best to research what you want to do and how to get to it before going there if you haven’t booked anything. There may be last-minute island tours available. We did that there once before, but with their carnival going on during this visit everything was shutting down early that day and drivers of taxis and vans pretty much seemed to have taken the day off.

ruins at St. Pierre

The highlight of the island tour we took on a previous visit to Martinique was the bits of ruins in St. Pierre that remain from the 1902 eruption of Mont Pelee.

crazy looking bus

We saw a crazy looking triple bus at a bus stop, but I don’t know anything about it or where it goes.

waterfront walkway

Excursions offered through Enchanted Princess in Martinique from our cruise: Best Of Martinique: St. Pierre & Rum Distillery; Easy Martinique Panoramic Drive; Authentic Martinique By Cabrio Bus; Discovering Creole Martinique; Balata Botanical Garden; Histories Plantation & Botanical Garden; Local Connections Belfort Plantation House & Clement Rum Tasting With Cultural Expert; Martinique 4X4 Adventure; Walking Tour Of Fort-De-France; Catamaran Cruise, Grand Anse Beach & Swim; Two-Site Snorkeling Adventure

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026

Posted in Caribbean, Enchanted Princess, Port Cities, Ports of Call, Princess | Tagged Caribbean Islands, cruise, Martinique, photos, travel | Leave a comment

Carnival Radiance Inside Spa Cabin

Posted on May 5, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

cabin 1014

Carnival Radiance Cabin 1014

We had an inside spa cabin on Carnival Radiance, which is the first inside cabin we have had in years. It came with spa privileges so we got to use the thermal suite. Spa cabins also get some other things. This ship just offered one free yoga class though Carnival’s listed privileges for these cabins say you get two fitness classes. It’s also supposed to include a scrub for use in the steam room, but on most ships you have to ask for that. Discounts on spa treatments also come with the room, but you can’t combine that discount with other offered spa deals so it doesn’t always provide the lowest price. Other amenities include a spa robe and slippers. The spa robe is similar to bathrobes provided by the cruiseline for other cabins and the slippers might fit a sasquatch, but they’re mighty big for a human. That’s not unique to Carnival. All of the spa slippers I’ve seen on any cruise ship were too gigantic for me to even consider attempting to try walking in them.

sauna at the thermal suite

Cruise ship thermal suites usually have some sort of pool and some heated ceramic chairs as their main features. There’s usually a few other features like a sauna, steam room, fancy showers, or relaxation area. This ship had a very small thermal suite that did not include any sort of pool. It did at least have more of the heated ceramic chairs than some ships do. It also had a nice sauna. We would have been pretty disappointed in the lack of any sort of pool there had we bought the thermal suite package rather than it coming with the room.

inside spa cabin

The cabin had 2 closets and 3 drawers for storage space. Also a small refrigerator in a little cabinet. Besides the mirror in the bathroom. there was one small full-length mirror and a mirror above part of the desk. The bathroom was a bit bigger than the standard cruise ship bathroom. It had 2 shelves on each side of the mirror, which was nicer than the ships that just have 3 on one side. The shower had combo shampoo/conditioner and separate body wash. I guess that’s a step above all 3 in one, but since spa cabins are supposed to have upgraded amenities it would be nice if they provided separate shampoo and conditioner.

the bottom drawer doesn’t completely shut

There were several things wrong with this cabin. One of the drawers didn’t quite shut, the USB charging ports didn’t work (luckily I bring a clock that has a couple USB charging ports), there was only one nightstand, and the door on one of the closets folded out rather than opening on a hinge, but it didn’t work right. Shortly after mentioning it to guest services the USB ports were replaced with new ones that worked and another nightstand appeared, so they were on the ball about fixing complaints. Wrestling the closet door open and shut and the drawer sticking out a bit were constant throughout the cruise, but we hadn’t said anything about those so we can’t blame the crew for not fixing them.

towel rabbit

We were not the only ones with stuff wrong in the cabin. We heard other people complain about things in their rooms as well. We also did not have the only room with rollaway beds taking up most of what would otherwise be under the bed storage space even though there is no space in the room to set one of those up. When there are more than two people in a cruise ship cabin the extra beds are usually either bunks that drop down out of the ceiling (or from a wall on older ships) or a couch that converts to a bed. I’ve never seen a rollaway bed used on a cruise ship and have no idea why this one had so many stored under beds in cabins. Especially ones with no space to even set one up. We did once see a whole bunch of mattresses unloaded at a port that were being donated to a facility there, but these beds were never removed so unless they were for donating somewhere on a future cruise that wasn’t it. We also lost storage space in one of the closets in our room which apparently was used for life jacket storage. This was only a two-person cabin and it had 5 or 6 lifejackets hogging up storage space. On the plus side there was still room enough for our suitcases under the bed and we had a good steward. He left a new towel animal each day.

desk and TV

There were only 2 obvious outlets located right next to each other at the desk. Behind the TV there’s an extra one along with the one the TV is plugged into. None by the bed. Besides the bed the only other place to sit was a small stool under the desk. No chair or couch. Not room for one either. Inside cabins are generally the smallest on pretty much any cruise ship. People book them to save money because they are the cheapest or because they like a darker room if they want to sleep when it’s light outside.

duck mailboxes – one with enough magnets to stay on the barely magnetic wall, the other sits on a rail

The walls on this ship were not magnetic enough to hold up anything hung up on even the strongest magnets. The door and wall outside of the room were barely magnetic as well. The strip around the outside of the door was the most magnetic and the place where most people hung their door decorations if they had any small enough to fit in that space. I did have enough magnets on my duck trading mailbox for it to stay on the wall outside of the cabin, but it isn’t very heavy and has a lot of really strong magnets. On this ship it tended to slide down when touched, whereas on the next one it pretty much had to be pried off the wall. John’s duck mailbox had less magnets and had to be tied to a railing to stay on the wall on this ship, but it too stuck tightly on the next one.

one of the upper front bows

Our room was near to the end of a mostly dead end hallway, but still seemed to have more traffic going by than you would expect for the number of rooms between it and the end of the hall. It wasn’t quite a dead end since there was a door there out to one of the ship’s secret upper bows, but not many people knew about that bow access so it didn’t explain the amount of foot traffic in the hallway. Perhaps we had a popular neighbor.

bathroom

A few years ago some ships started adding motion lights by the floor which was annoying enough if not covered up at night. On this one there was a motion light in the ceiling in front of the bathroom which was way worse and not even necessary since enough light came through around the cabin door to not need a light at all to find the bathroom in the dark. It would have been way better to have that light in the bathroom so people didn’t have to turn on the fully bright one if using the bathroom in the night. That may be an unfortunate new trend since the next ship we went on had an overhead motion light in front of the bathroom as well. I suppose whoever decides to add these things considers it a safety feature, but what it really does is insure that nobody can get up to go to the bathroom without waking up everyone else in the cabin unless they magnet a towel over the light to block it. Like the walls, ceilings in cruise ship cabins are usually magnetic.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026

Posted in Carnival, Radiance, Shipboard Life | Tagged Carnival, cruise, cruise ship cabins, photos, Radiance, spa inside cabin, travel | Leave a comment

Würzburg Residenz & Walking Tour

Posted on May 1, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Würzburg, Germany

view from the ship while docked in Würzburg

Würzburg sits along the Main River in the Franconian region of northern Bavaria in Germany surrounded by vineyards including Germany’s oldest and largest one. The city is best known for its historical architecture, especially the 18th-century Residenz palace. It’s also famous for its dry white wines and has a well-known local pilsner beer and the oldest pizzeria in Germany. The city boasts numerous wine bars, cellars and wineries. The population consists of more than 125,000 people. Würzburg has a temperate climate with modest rainfall year-round. Average temperatures range from winter lows in the high 20’s F to summer highs in the mid 70’s, though it can dip down into the teens and rise above 85 degrees. Snow generally falls between December and February. Average annual precipitation is just under 30 inches. There are museums, parks and gardens, a famous bridge called Old Main Bridge, churches, palaces, and markets. Much of Würzburg was heavily damaged during World War 2, but has since been restored. The core of the Residenz palace survived relatively intact, but much of the rest of the building was severely damaged and restored over a 20-year period.

walkway along the river from the stone bridge to the ship

Würzburg River Cruise Port

Würzburg was one of the better ports of our Grand European Tour on Viking Skirner because it was both walking distance from the ship to town and the boat stayed in one place all day so people could come and go as they please. It was also quite scenic with castles and churches on the hill above the far side of the river and colorful houses along the water’s edge. The historical old stone bridge was also within sight of our docking space. The view was even nice from the little above water window in our below-water-level cabin until another ship came along and docked beside us, at which time the view through all of the windows on that side of the ship was of the other ship.

Würzburg, Germany

Würzburg Residenz & Walking Tour

The included tour in Würzburg was called Würzburg Residenz and Walking Tour. It started with a short bus ride to the Residenz. It’s a former prince bishop’s palace, though it doesn’t look like a castle. Prince bishops were the rulers of German towns back in medieval times and beyond. They ruled Würzburg from 1168 – 1803, but the rule of prince bishops started elsewhere in Europe in the previous century. The prince bishops were the ruler of their town as well as the bishop of its church.

Würzburg Residenz

The tour there started with a guided part, followed by free time. The guide said no photos during the guided tour, wait until free time when you can take all you want. Large bags, backpacks, and liquids are not allowed inside so they were all put into a big locked box where the ship’s cruise director would stand guard over them during the tour. There are individual lockers in another area for people who don’t come on an organized tour.

grand stairway

Entry into the building is through a tiny door within a giant door which isn’t really visible as a separate door until it is opened. There are 3 large doors there, which the guide said were originally openings without doors so carriages could pull right inside and let visiting kings, queens, or other important people right out at the grand stairway instead of outside. When Napolean came conquering his carriage had 8 horses instead of 6 and didn’t fit inside so he had to get out and walk in, which greatly displeased him, though the people getting conquered were probably not unhappy about that. Once inside a grand stairway leads from the entry area up to many rooms inside the palace.

Christmas tree in the entryway

Not thinking the tour had officially started yet since they had said we were picking up a guide from the building when people dropped off their stuff, I took a photo of a Christmas tree in the lobby and got yelled at by our guide. There was no additional guide after people dropped off their things like they had implied there would be, just the one we came from the ship with.

ceiling above the grand stairway

Most of the guided part of the tour was spent in just a few rooms while the guide went into great detail about all the artwork there, both painted walls and molded relief sculptures integrated into the paintings. Most of that time was just getting around the walkway surrounding the top of the stairway while the guide spoke about pretty much every painting and sculpture there. We’d move along maybe 10 feet before stopping for another long explanation of whatever bit of the paintings were directly above us.

even the heaters were ornate

Nearly all of the other people on the tour constantly snapped photos without reprimand. All throughout the entire tour everyone else took many photos and the guide never said one word about it to any of them. Didn’t even give so much as a dirty look to all the people holding phones up right in front of her face snapping away taking photos while she was talking about stuff. In fact she did not say a thing about taking photos to anyone else at all. Just yelled at me for taking one photo before the actual tour had even started. She did not get a tip from me.

marble room

One room had real marble floor tiles and columns with real marble bases, but imitation marble columns. The imitation marble took longer to make than cutting actual marble from stone. At the time it was cheaper to make it that way, but in current times because of the intensity of the labor and the modern technology that makes cutting stone much easier than it was back then the false marble would actually cost more to install than the real stone.

bed in the Residenz

During the free time part of the tour there were lots more rooms to see than what was included in the guided part, but as is with all of these places none of them were fully furnished as they would have been when in use. They all had some furnishings, but set as a display rather than how anyone would have used them. One room did have a bed, the first of those we had seen. Beds were quite short in those days. People were afraid of sleeping lying down because they associated it with death and they feared demons would press down on their chests. Instead they slept nearly sitting leaning against several pillows.

old time carousel in the Residenz

There was plenty of time during the free period to go back and take photos of the things we had seen during the guided part. Which was good for me since I was probably the only one in the whole group who didn’t take pictures during the guided part of the tour after getting yelled at for the one from before it really even started. It doesn’t take that long to get through the entire part of the building that is open to the public on your own, whereas it took the better part of an hour just to get around that one room with the guide.

fancy floor

All of the rooms had lots of artwork, some of it built in with sculpture and paint and other hanging in paintings and tapestries. Even some of the floors were intricately ornate.

Residenz church

Besides the main building there was also a church, which was a private one for the residents of the Residenz. It was smaller than the cathedrals we went to on other tours, but still quite ornate. This church had plain glass in the windows rather than stained glass which a sign in the church said was so those windows would look the same from the outside as the rest of the building. Apparently symmetry was an important tenant of baroque architecture. Besides all the ornate décor it also had a pipe organ up on a balcony at the back of the church, which seems to be standard for churches of that era. Like the church itself, the pipe organ was also smaller than the ones at previous cathedrals we saw in other places.

statue

After the free time ended the walking groups met up with their guides outside of the building and walked back into town with the guide stopping to give the history of various things we passed. One statue she said tended to get what she called sticker tattoos from the local college kids advertising all sorts of things likely not appropriate to the statue’s original purpose.

the 3 missionaries on the cathedral

Killian’s Cathedral depicts 3 Irish missionaries who came to town in 686 and attempted to convert the duke who ruled the town at that time to Christianity. For some reason I can’t recall from the tale the guide told this involved him either leaving his wife or disposing of her, something she of course did not agree to. Before making his decision on whether or not to convert he made a trip out of town. While he was gone she secretly disposed of the 3 missionaries, whose bodies were not discovered until many years later. Upon the duke’s return she said they had left so life went back to normal for them as if the missionaries had never come.

tram

Rail-based trams frequently passed by on the main streets of town. A lot of the European cities we visited had them as part of their public transportation systems.

decorated street

The tour went into the main shopping area of town and through part of a Christmas Market. Across from the market a festively decorated narrow street led through what used to be where all the shoemakers had their shops. It was also part of the historical Jewish area of town.

walking across the old stone bridge

That led to the street with the old stone bridge at the river end of it. The part of that street close to the river is supposed to be for pedestrians only other than taxis, but a random car drove down there looking lost.

chapel and Christmas market

The ship stayed at that port for quite a few hours after the end of the tour so we went from the bridge back to the Christmas Market and wandered around there for awhile. Pretty much all of the Christmas markets in all of the various towns are next to a church, but then again the towns are all full of churches so it may be hard not to be. The one at this market was just as big as many of the others, but called a chapel rather than a church because back in the middle ages commoners built it without the prince bishop’s permission so they weren’t allowed to call it a church. It’s a restored building, but the golden Mary on top is original having survived the bombing that destroyed the rest of the building.

Viking ship in the locks

The river runs freely under parts of the old stone bridge, but at one end of it there are locks, in which another Viking ship was going through while we were there. After getting out of the lock channel it tied up to our boat. River boats often dock 2 or more deep tied to one another, especially if they are from the same company.

looking down from the stone bridge

The old stone bridge is scenic from both above and below. The walk alongside the river back to the ship was pretty scenic too. It’s called the Old Main Bridge. Built between 1473 and 1543 it’s one of Germany’s oldest bridges and one of the city’s most iconic landmarks.

stone bridge

It replaced an earlier Romanesque bridge from 1133. The German army tried to blow it up while retreating during World War 2, but were largely unsuccessful due to faulty explosives. The damaged portion was restored after the war. The bridge has 12 arches and spans 185 meters (just over 202 yards) across the Main River.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026

Posted in Europe, Skirnir, Viking | Tagged Germany, photos, Residenz, river cruise, Skirnir, travel, Viking, Wurzburg | 2 Comments

Back on the Royal Princess

Posted on April 28, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Royal Princess in Cabo

Royal Princess launched in 2013 as the first of the Royal class, though it is not the first ship named Royal Princess. They had one of that name back in 1984, and another in 2007, both of which are now sailing for different lines under different names. Other ships in the Royal class of Princess’ current fleet include Regal Princess, Majestic Princess, Sky Princess, Enchanted Princess, and Discovery Princess. The ship is 1083 feet long, 155 feet wide, and can hold over 3500 passengers and over 1300 crew. It was last refurbished in 2018 and is going into drydock for renovations this fall. There are 15 passenger accessible decks which start at deck 4 and end with deck 19. As is usual on American cruise ships there is no deck 13. Deck 4 is mostly crew space with just the medical center and a couple embarkation areas accessible to passengers on that deck. A couple of the upper decks don’t extend all the way across the ship.

stairway from the casino to the shops

The first time I was on the Royal Princess it was when Princess still kept their indoor smoking confined to a cigar lounge. Although the number of smokers has declined over the years for some stupid reason – probably a bigwig who smokes – both Princess and Holland America have gone to smoking casinos after years of keeping the interior of their ships smoke-free. This ship was definitely not designed to have smoking in the casino. It has a wide-open stairway in the center of it that goes up into the shopping area on the deck above, which is now a giant chimney spreading smoke throughout the ship. It also spreads through the entrances on both sides of the casino on its own deck, which includes into the central piazza that connects most all of the indoor public areas of the ship. Greed of hoping to get more money out of people who want to smoke and gamble clouds their judgement about the rest of the passengers who not only don’t want to smell smoke all throughout the ship, but also will spend less time in the casino or avoid it completely. Some will even avoid the entire ship due to the smoke. Not to mention the unfortunate crew who are constantly exposed to copious amounts of secondhand smoke on a daily basis.

duck machine in the arcade

The former cigar lounge which used to keep indoor smoking contained in a fully enclosed room is now an arcade that smells badly of stale smoke. Smoke pretty much infiltrated all of the public areas on decks 5, 6, & 7. Even into the dining rooms and all the way back to the Vista Lounge which is at the back of deck 7. If we had not already booked the first cruise after next fall’s drydock long before the cruise we just took on Royal Princess I would avoid this ship in the future due to the excessive amounts of smoke permeating the ship. Unless they do something to contain the smoke when it goes into drydock this fall I would not book on this ship again.

piazza

The piazza is the hub of activity for the ship with lots of activities scheduled there. On the ground level of it on deck 5 it’s ringed by the very popular international café, which is a coffee bar that also has things like pastries, desserts, and sandwiches. Food there is free, but the drinks cost extra. That coffee bar can get quite a line in the morning, but specialty coffee and other hot drinks can also be found across the way at the gelato bar and two decks above at the Princess Live Café, neither of which have food, but also don’t get the lines that the café does. Specialty coffee is also sold in the pastry room at the buffet.

International Cafe

Besides the café, and gelato shop there’s also a wine bar bordering the piazza on the ground floor. Guest services, the spa, the internet café (which is just a room with computers rather than an actual café) and a pay-extra Italian eatery are also on that level as is one of the ship’s 3 dining rooms.

entryway into one of the dining rooms

Deck 6 has the other two dining rooms, one at the back and one near the center of the ship. Around the piazza on that level there is a pizza restaurant so you can have pizza at the piazza. The pizza there costs extra, but it is free up on the pool deck. Along with the pizza place, the casino, photo area, and a bar surround the piazza there. The arcade is also on that level.

Vista Lounge

Deck 7 has a seafood bar, the cruise loyalty desk where people can book future cruises onboard, a bar, and shops around the piazza with additional shops on that level as well as a small library, Princess Live theater and café, the Crown Grill and its bar, and at the back a large lounge for activities and events called the Vista Lounge. There is a lot of seating by windows on that level where people like to hang out. The gift shop on this ship actually had some mineral sunscreen rather than just the chemical sort, the first I have seen on a cruise ship.

theater

The main theater is at the front of decks 6 and 7. It does not have balcony seating like a lot of cruise ship theaters do. Also no poles to blocking the view of some seats so most have a pretty good view of the stage.

stairway art

Stairway art varies. Some of it is scenery or animals or other recognizable things, but there are some abstract pictures as well.

fountain show at sunset

Besides the public spaces on decks 5, 6, and 7, there are more public areas on the upper decks. The centerpiece of the Lido deck pool area on deck 16 is a fountain pool that has fountain shows in the evenings with lights and music to go along with the fountains. There’s also quite an extensive buffet on that deck.

adults only retreat

Other outside space includes deck 17’s adults only retreat area with a pool, hot tubs, and deck chairs. Most of the retreat area is free to use, but the chairs in the little cabanas cost extra as does the entire pay-extra sanctuary next to it. There are some additional hot tubs on that deck in other areas. Indoor space at the back of deck 17 houses the fitness center and kid’s clubs for various different ages. There are additional small sun decks with deck chairs on the next two decks up. Most cruise ships have the spa and fitness center near each other, but on this class of Princess ship they are on different decks as well as on opposite ends of the ship.

Lido deck pool area

The main Lido deck has an outdoor movie screen. Other outdoor spaces include mini golf and a small driving range, a pickleball/basketball court, back deck pool & top deck track.

seawalk

A standout feature of this ship class is the seawalk, which is a little walkway on either side of the Lido deck pool area that curves out from the side of the ship and has glass panels in the floor so people can look down and see the lifeboats and the sea as they walk through it. If the ship is at a dock you can look down at the port through the floor on whichever side is by the dock.

thermal suite

The spa offers the usual type of services available on cruise ships with a salon for hair and nails, lots of massage rooms, and other treatment offerings like acupuncture and teeth whitening. Unlike most ships where the thermal suite has multiple rooms of which at least some have windows, on this ship class it is all in one room with no windows. The thermal suite includes 8 heated ceramic chairs, 2 steam rooms, a sauna, 2 little waterbeds, a pool, and 4 showers. One of the ceramic chairs did not work at all and several of the others could have been warmer, but at least the pool was nice and hot. The sauna and steam rooms are enclosed in their own little rooms within the main thermal suite room.

donuts at the buffet

The food was good on this ship. The buffet has several different lines for hot food with separate lines for salad, sandwiches, and other things and a whole different room for pastries in the morning or desserts at lunch and dinner. There are of course multiple bars around the ship as well.

hallway art

Hallways in the cabin areas have scenic photos themed to that deck with nearly all of the ones around a deck being from a similar location like Europe, China, Australia, or Alaska. Stairways also have photos, but not of the theme that the cabin hallways have.

medallions in the lanyard they come with and an amazon waterproof bracelet

Instead of key cards like other lines use, Princess has wearable waterproof medallions. These are especially useful when cruising to warm places because you don’t have to worry about what to do with your key card if you go out into the water at a beach. They come on a long lanyard, but there are other options. Waterproof bracelets are especially useful. You can buy those or other medallion wearables onboard, but amazon has them cheaper. The medallions have all of the functions of a key card, plus they unlock the stateroom door before you get there so you can just walk in. If you have the app it has a stalking feature where you can find your shipmates wherever they are onboard because the ship tracks the medallions. Creepy, but useful. People can turn that off if they don’t want to be found.

self-serve guest laundry

All of the decks that are fully cabins have a self-serve guest laundry near the back of the ship. Machines operate on tokens that can be purchased using the wearable medallion. There is also a vending machine for laundry supplies like detergent.

Royal Princess in Mazatlán

It will be interesting to see if there are any obvious changes the next time we are on this ship after drydock. The best thing they could do is go back to the fully enclosed cigar lounge and non-smoking casino, but that is unlikely to happen. The next best would be to enclose the casino, which would be a major job on this ship since adding doors wouldn’t do it with that open stairway so that probably won’t happen either. Enclosing part of the casino that is not under the open stairway as a smoking area and having the rest non-smoking probably won’t happen either, though that would be a lot easier than enclosing the entire thing. Unless Princess wises up and goes back to non-smoking casinos I would not recommend this ship to anyone who doesn’t like breathing in second-hand smoke. Many people we talked to on both Princess and Holland America when they were first making those changes said they chose those lines mainly because of the non-smoking interior so we are far from the only people unhappy about the change. Even smokers don’t like breathing in secondhand smoke. Have you ever seen anyone hold a cigarette where the smoke blows into their own face?

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026

Posted in Princess, Royal Princess | Tagged cruise, photos, Princess Cruises, Royal Princess, travel | Leave a comment

Train to the End of the World

Posted on April 24, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

train to the end of the world

The Train to the End of the World in Ushuaia, Argentina is a ride in a vintage railcar on the world’s southernmost railway. The ride includes views of Tierra del Fuego National Park and from Ensenada Bay views of the Beagle Channel.

sign at the train station

According to Holland America’s excursion info the railway station is a short bus ride from the pier and the train ride includes scenic splendor on a railway built to haul lumber from the surrounding forests to Ushuaia. The train runs for 45 minutes going over a river and into the Sylvan Valley and into the national park. It passes mountains, forests, rivers, and waterfalls with stops for photos along the way. There is a gift shop for souvenirs at the train station. A bus ride goes to Ensenada Bay for the views of Beagle Channel, named after Charles Darwin’s ship. The excursion info notes say that the railcar has limited space and legroom. It advises wearing warm layered clothing with a waterproof outer layer. Also gloves and a warm hat and scarf.

train depot near Ushuaia

The bus for the Train to the End of the World excursion picked us up right at the dock next to our ship, the Oosterdam. The railway station where the tour starts is outside of town. People can book this tour on their own, but would have to find their own transportation for the 8 kilometers from the dock to the railway station. Last minute tickets at the station are only available if the trains are not fully booked in advance so it is best to pre-book tickets even if you go on your own rather than on the ship’s excursion. Considering the crowd at the station loading onto multiple trains there wasn’t likely any space left for last minute tickets the day our ship was there.

the front of our train

The train station has restrooms and a gift shop as mentioned in the excursion description. The waiting area where people line up to board was quite crowded. It took more than one train to hold all of the excursion guests from our ship, who arrived on 3 busses. On the excursion people were given tickets for a particular train as they disembarked the bus. When the train number matching your ticket is called you line up to board your train – though likely the line will already start forming as soon as the prior train leaves and stretch clear across the building to the far end by the time it’s actually called. Waiting at the end of the line for the prior train won’t put you at the front for your train if there’s already a bunch of people in a separate line for that train.

crowded train car

The trains are pulled by vintage steam engines. Each passenger car has numerous compartments each with its own doorway and 3 seats facing forward and 3 seats facing backward across a narrow aisle from one another. There is not a lot of leg space so anyone with long legs might feel crowded. The seats are not all that wide each either. The 4 people who get the window seats will have a nicer view of the side they are on than the 2 in the middle, though you can see out both sides from either side and from the middle.

wish we had this one

While our train was boarding one pulled up next to it that had way more room for each person. Instead of little compartments for 6 like our train had, that one had a row of little tables on each side of the train with one seat on each side of the table facing each other so everyone in that car would get a window and a whole lot more space per person.

narrow gage train track

The trains run on a narrow gage track. The railway line originally extended from the prison that is now a museum out to what is now Tierra del Fuego National Park. It was used as a work train taking convicts from the prison out to the forest to chop down trees. Wood from those trees was initially used to build the town and then to provide fuel for heating and generating power. Before building the town the convicts had to build their own prison. Since they were in a harsh climate far from anywhere escape would most likely lead to death.

employee in convict uniform at the second train station

Before boarding the train everyone is stopped to pose for a photo with a couple people dressed as convicts, in keeping with the prison train theme which they followed through with at the next stop. People are given headphones which plug into the train for narration along the journey. There are 7 languages to choose from. Narration is mostly on the history of the prison and the train.

another train went by going the other way at the brief stop along the way

Life was harsh for those prisoners. Cells in the prison were small and damp and lacking in sunlight. One of the punishments was not being allowed to go out and work in the forest because the men would rather go out and work where they had a chance to get some sunlight and fresh air than stay in a cold damp tiny cell all day. They were given food at their lunch break, but had nowhere to sit except the ground and no shelter in a climate where it rains or snows about 200 days of the year.

little waterfall near the tracks at the little station stop

Though the rail cars look vintage on the outside it is highly unlikely that the prisoners had the plush seats that are in them now. Also likely they faced even more crowded conditions. They would of course have needed rail cars to haul all of the wood they chopped back to town as well.

train station where the train stops briefly during the ride

The train made a short stop at a station partway through the journey. Though the people working there were dressed as convicts they had a much easier job than the actual convicts of the past. If people want to buy the photos that were taken at boarding that is where to get them.

Macarena waterfall

There is also a trail to a waterfall and viewpoints that overlook the train for taking photos of it as well. The waterfall is named Cascada de la Macarena.

stairway to the waterfall trails

At one point the trail to the waterfall comes to a split where you can choose a path that goes to the top of the falls or one that has a viewpoint partway up. We did not have time enough for both. Even if you can climb all the stairs fast enough to do both it doesn’t mean the people ahead of you will.

train at the short stop along the way

The trail and station at that stop are above the tracks where the train stopped. It’s a good place to get a view of the train, though pretty much impossible to get any photos without other people in them.

stumps and horses

The train passes through forest and grasslands. There are many old stumps of chopped down trees along the way. There were lots of horses, but they aren’t wild. They belong to people living in the area. If any of them wander into the park they are microchipped and any future ventures into the park will bring the owner a fine. Within the national park the forest is protected and by eating the natural vegetation the horses cause damage as they are not native to the area.

scenery on the train ride

The ride is quite scenic. Besides lots of forest there’s mountain and river views.

red fox

Native animals to the area are foxes, otters, and a relative of llamas called guanacos. Beavers are a non-native invasive species. In ecosystems where beavers belong their dam building makes wetland habitats that control flooding and create fire breaks that help fight wildfires, but in this ecosystem where they don’t belong and have no predators to keep them in check their dam building causes flooding in the forest and kills the native trees that aren’t equipped for that sort of environment.

train station at Tierra del Fuego national park

After disembarking the train at the station in the park we walked up a hill to the waiting busses. A little red fox came out of the woods and strolled around the area for a bit showing no fear of the humans.

view at Tierra del Fuego national park

The bus took us down to a beach with a view of Beagle Channel and the Andes Mountains.

southernmost post office

The southernmost post office in the world sits on a pier there, but the pier was old and unsafe so the post office was closed. People could walk along the beach or on a trail paralleling the beach.

wild geese

There were some small geese by the beach.

too many busses

There were more busses than the parking area really had room for along with some cars and vans. Some of them had a hard time getting out of the cluster of vehicles.

beach at the park

This was a good tour for seeing the sights and learning about the area and its history. The train ride was fun, though it would be nicer if there were just 4 people in each compartment so nobody had to sit in the middle seats and if there was a bit more leg room between the seats. Or if they had used one of the cars that had seats in pairs with tables instead of the crowded one we had. Those must have been some sort of premium cars. They were not an option on our tour.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026

Posted in Holland America, Oosterdam, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, South and Central America | Tagged Argentina, cruise, photos, Tierra del Fuego, train to the end of the world, travel, Ushuaia | Leave a comment

Noumea Tree to Tree Adventure

Posted on April 21, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

two obstacles in course 1

For our visit to Noumea, New Caledonia on Carnival Splendor we booked an excursion called Tree to Tree Adventure. Our adult daughter Sheri came with us on this cruise. She’s a competitive ninja so this excursion was right up her alley. Her competitions have obstacles similar to those seen on American Ninja Warrior except they are over mats instead of water and not on TV. Hers are mainly in Australia since that’s where she lives. Competitions like that are where the people on the show get their experience before they are ever on the show.

Sheri harnessed up and ready to go

The excursion turned out to have a very small group for a cruise ship excursion with a van of just 10 people. About half an hour’s drive up a mountain brought us to an adventure park called Koghi Parc. All of the courses were built entirely by the couple who run it, which took them about 2 years.

Sheri on course 3

The small group from the ship were the only ones there besides the owners for our 2-hour visit. There was a bench people could leave things on that they couldn’t take on the course, but might want access to between courses and a place to lock up things they brought, but wouldn’t need while there. There was also an outhouse near the starting area.

John ready to start an obstacle in course 2

First we were all given harnesses and leather gloves. It’s important that the gloves not have holes in them since you use a gloved hand to brake at the end of the ziplines. Sheri’s gloves had holes so when she asked about it she was told to throw that pair in the garbage and given a new pair. Stopping yourself on a zipline with a gloved hand used to be standard on all ziplines, but it’s been years since we’ve seen one that didn’t have some sort of self-stopping feature at the end. Most often a giant spring, but we have seen other gizmos. The ziplines at the Tree-to-Tree Adventure are not as long or as steep as a lot of the self-stopping ones we have been to in recent years. Those were all zipline specific places whereas the tree-to-tree adventure is more of an aerial obstacle course with ziplines to transport people from one obstacle to another.

practice course

Once everyone had their gear the owners explained how to use it including how to hook and unhook the carabiners that are used on the safety lines throughout the course and how to use the bit that rides along the top of the ziplines. There are 2 very small practice courses there where everyone has to make sure they can properly use all of the equipment before moving on to the actual courses. People have to be able to clip and unclip the carabiners on each obstacle and to place the pulley bit onto ziplines by themselves. When not on a zipline it hung from a loop on the harness or sometimes fell off, which could mean a smack in the leg.

Sheri on a zipline in course 2

On the zipline courses we have done there was always a pair of people who worked there that did all the clipping and unclipping of equipment and lines, but on this course people did it all themselves. Sheri said ropes courses she has done are also do-it-yourself with clipping and unclipping the equipment so it seemed normal to her.

obstacle on course 1

The cruise ship excursion includes the option of doing 3 of the 4 available courses, or if you don’t want to do a harder course you can repeat the easier ones. Course 1 is the easiest and course 4 the most difficult. Everyone was required to start with either course 1 or 2.

John on a rope obstacle in course 2

We started on course 2. You have to work your way through various obstacles to get to the ziplines, of which there are several on each course. Obstacles are mainly made of ropes, logs, and cables. There are nets to climb through, tunnels to crawl through, and quite a variety of different hanging things where you move from one to another to cross to the next platform. Some of the obstacles are easy, but others take some effort to get through. Everyone else started with course 1 so we had course 2 to ourselves.

platform at the beginning of course 1

Both carabiners are hooked to a cable while on any obstacle or zipline. On the platforms in between there are places to hook and unhook as you work your way around the platform to the next obstacle. The two carabiners are at each end of a connecting line and work as a pair where only one can be opened at a time. You have to hook one to the next cable before you can unhook the other one meaning that you are attached to a safety cable at all times while moving through a course.

Sheri climbs a net on course 4

At the end of each course there is a little device to lock one end without actually attaching it to anything so that you can unlock the other one and leave the course. All 4 courses start and end at various places along the trail leading down into the forest from the top area where they store the equipment and give the instructions with course 1 being the first one you come to on that trail and course 4 the last.

two obstacles on course 2

On course 2 where we went first the obstacles are hard enough to pose a challenge to most people, yet not so difficult that they can’t finish. The owners did say if anyone got stuck somewhere to call for them, but we did not hear anyone do that. Since all obstacles have a cable that people are attached to as they cross if they couldn’t get through it any other way they could always use that cable to help them get across.

cargo net on course 3

After the 3 of us finished course 2 John didn’t want to do any more so Sheri and I moved on to course 3. The most challenging obstacle in that one was a set of 3 cargo nets with space in between and at the end of each it wasn’t just a straight gap to the next one, but also an offset requiring turning around to face the other direction. At least that was the one I thought was the hardest. Probably because my foot slipped through one of the holes in the net and it was kind of hard to get it back out on a swinging net.

the skateboard sort of thing

The most fun and unique obstacle on course 3 was a little rolling platform on two cables that you pulled a rope to bring back to the platform you were on from the one where it ends and then rode it over like a skateboard to the next tree.

obstacle where you crawl from one tunnel into another on course 3

Course 3 was difficult enough that when we finished it I went back and did course 1 rather than moving on to course 4. Sheri being a competitive ninja breezed through all of the obstacles on course 3 and went on to do course 4. That one included a bonus group of even harder obstacles at the end that people could choose to do or not. She breezed through that course as well, followed by 2 young guys who were the only other ones to try course 4. They made it through with great difficulty and a lot of screaming like little girls. She tried to give them advice when she saw them struggling, but they didn’t always listen even though they had seen her pass through all of the obstacles without any trouble.

angled poles on course 1

Course 1 had one obstacle I thought Sheri would really like that involved the cable passing through two rows of angled poles so you had to go back and forth on the two cables at the bottom changing cables at each pole to get around it. Since everyone else had done that course first it was wide open with nobody on it by the time I went there.

Sheri in course 4

Since John had only done one course he asked if Sheri could go do course 1 for one of his so she would get to do all of them. I asked if I could do that one again with her so we both did course 1 together. Since John had 2 courses he hadn’t used they let us do that since it still averaged out to 3 goes on a course for each of us.

net tunnel on course 1

I had a very small water bottle in a pocket that was snapped shut on the leg of my pants, which disappeared during my first round on course 1. My main suspect was a rope net tunnel for having snagged the pocket and let that out so when we got to that obstacle I looked for it on the ground and sure enough it was there. After we finished I asked the guy who ran the course if there was a walkable path out to underneath that obstacle so he asked if I had lost something and then he went out and found it for me.

slats in course 1

There is a minimum height requirement due to spacing on some obstacles as well as a minimum age of 6. There is also a maximum weight of 110 kg which is about 240 pounds. They weighed one big guy in our group before letting him on the course. He must have made it under the 240 pounds since they let him participate. Each course has a maximum height as well, which is shortest on course 1 and gets taller with each course as the numbers rise.

swinging baskets in course 1

This is a very unique excursion and quite fun for anyone who is physically active and in relatively good shape. It’s not for small children since besides not being allowed if they are under 6, they would not be able to reach the safety cable from a lot of the obstacles nor could they step from one bit to another on the ones that are spaced farther apart. It would not be a good choice for anyone who is afraid of heights or who has any mobility challenges or who is not physically active. Closed toed shoes are required, glasses need a strap, and the harness is easier to manage with pants that are longer then where the harness hangs to. Sheri had some issues with her shorts being shorter than where the harness sat on some obstacles. Long pants, capris, or long shorts are a better option than short shorts.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2026

Posted in Carnival, Pacific Ocean & Islands, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, Splendor | Tagged Carnival Splendor, cruise, New Caledonia, Noumea, photos, ropes course, travel, Tree to Tree Adventure, ziplines | Leave a comment

A Walk In the Clouds

Posted on April 17, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

suspension bridge

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a country in central America sitting north of Panama and south of Nicaragua. It has coastlines on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Within the country’s 19.730 square miles there are beaches, volcanoes, and jungles. About a quarter of the land is protected jungle. The capital of the country is San Jose. Spanish is the official language and money is the Costa Rican Colón. One US dollar was equal to 501.84 CRC at the time of our visit, but with the dollar’s falling value it is only worth 455.96 CRC now.

Puntarenas Costa Rica Cruise Port

Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam docked in Puntarenas, Costa Rica at the Puerto Caldera cruise ship dock. Unlike many cruise ship port stops on long cruises that go to lesser visited places, this one is not in a container port. Two ships fit on a long dock and excursion busses pick up and drop off passengers right in front of the ship. Puntarenas has a warm humid tropical climate. Highs average between 86 to 95°F (30 to 35°C). Lows rarely fall below 74° F. Total annual rainfall averages about 1603.5 mm (63.1 inches).

Costa Rican flowers

Cruise Ship Excursions in Puntarenas

Excursions offered from the Niew Amsterdam included Aerial Tram, Tarcoles River& Lunch; Sloth sanctuary, botanical garden, oxcart factory & lunch; Aerial tram, butterfly garden & sloth sanctuary; Rain Forest Canopy Zip Line & Aerial tram; Villa Blanca Storytelling & Cultural experience; Discover Costa Rica (historical landmark & botanical garden); botanical garden & oxcarts; Andalusian horse show; butterfly garden; Corobici river raft float, scenic drive & lunch; Sky walk in the forest; Jungle crocodile safari; Panoramic scenic ride (bus tour; motorcoach transfer to San Jose; Simply Puntarenas – historical and cultural sites; Tortuga Island & beach break; Villa Blanca cloud forest & photography experience; A walk in the clouds; Scarlet macaw sanctuary & mangrove cruise; Eco tropical mangrove river cruise; and Costa Rica’s countryside & coffee experience.

flower in the Costa Rican cloud forest

A Walk in the Clouds

We booked an excursion called A Walk in the Clouds. The cruise ship description was as follows:

TOP 3 REASONS TO BOOK

Spectacular hummingbird aerobatics at an open garden

A bird’s-eye view of the cloud forest

Agua dulce (a traditional drink) and a Costa Rican lunch

ABOUT THE EXCURSION

Discover the richness of the cloud forest as you walk along beautiful trails, with striking green vegetation morphing into weird and wonderful shapes before your very eyes. Your tour starts with a short downhill walk leading to an open hummingbird garden, where many species of these tiny, brightly colored birds casually perform spectacular aerobatic maneuvers.

After this mesmerizing and strangely addictive experience, head to the first of four suspension bridges that collectively cover a half-mile of elevated trail, offering a bird’s-eye view of the cloud forest. Each bridge stretches between 95 and 253 feet and is suspended up to 126 feet above the ground. As you continue hiking among rivers and cascades, your naturalist guide will point out the most outstanding features of the misty forest. Several bird, butterfly and small mammal species inhabit the area, and plants such as orchids, heliconias, ferns, bromeliads and other species of aerial plants are part of this intriguing natural habitat.

Taste some delicious agua dulce (a traditional drink) and enjoy a hearty Costa Rican lunch. On the ride back to the ship, you will stop at El Jardín to browse in the souvenir shop.

Notes:

Wear comfortable closed-toe walking shoes. The tour operator suggests a minimum age of 8 years due to the walking required (time and distance); however, parents of children who are enthusiastic explorers are invited to use their discretion. Not advisable for guests with mobility limitations. Wear long pants; bring rain gear and a jacket.

view of a creek from a suspension bridge

The Actual Excursion

A long line of people snaked through the hallway of the Nieuw Amsterdam in an attempt to get into the shore excursion meeting place in the ship’s theater for all of the excursions in Costa Rica. Since all of the departures were fairly close together that meant pretty much everyone with an excursion. Ours was at the latest scheduled departure time of 11:45 even though it was one of the day’s longest excursions at nearly 7 hours. After seeing the long line in the hallway we headed to the theater earlier than otherwise planned and made it inside before our scheduled check-in time of 11:25. If an excursion has more than one bus it pays to arrive in time to get assigned to the first one because generally the first bus gets the best guide. If there are multiple busses and you end up on the straggler’s bus the guide is usually horrible. At least that’s been our experience from excursions past. This one only had one bus, as did the majority of excursions at this port.

The first few excursions were running late on the times they got called out due to congestion in the hallways and on the pier and something going on with the Caribbean Princess docked next to us. By the time they got halfway through calling the excursions they had started to catch up, and when they got to ours they had gotten ahead as we were called out at 11:30. A perfect example of why people need to be there by the check-in time because those waiting for the departure time to show up may find their excursion has already left.

We had a pretty long bus ride from the coast up a mountain to the cloud forest. The narrow winding road had not been designed with large tour busses in mind. It took both lanes to make the turn on quite a few of the curves. At one we came upon another bus coming the opposite way, neither of which saw the other until the corner where both stopped abruptly before ours slowly inched past the other one as it waited. There was more traffic behind each of them so backing out of the way wasn’t an option for either bus.

restaurant up on a mountain

Eventually we made it to our destination, which started with what the excursion description said was a traditional Costa Rican lunch. It was raining pretty hard while we ran from the bus to the restaurant, but by the time we finished lunch the rain had stopped. It was cloudy the whole time we were there, but I guess that’s to be expected in a cloud forest. It’s in the cloud though so it’s actually fog at that elevation rather than looking up at clouds in the sky. The lunch included rice, beans, salad, Pico de Gallo and a choice of fish, pork, or chicken. Drinks were Costa Rican coffee or white or red juice of unknown origins. I had the white and it was quite good. Linda tried the red and said it was good as well. People who drink coffee said it was as excellent as the tour guide claimed Costa Rican coffee to be. According to him they grow only the finest coffee beans and pick them all by hand so only the ripe ones are used which makes very expensive coffee, most of which is exported to large companies in the USA including Starbucks and Duncan Donuts who then blend it with lesser varieties.

The guide was very informative and talked quite a lot on the way to and from the excursion. He mentioned their ecosystem starting at the coral reefs and working its way up through mangroves and other things up to the cloud forest and beyond, though I don’t remember all of the different stages. He also said Costa Rica has no army. I had previously heard them referred to as the Switzerland of Central America so no army and staying friendly and neutral to other countries is probably why. They have not had an army for 76 years since a former dictator disbanded it figuring if there was no army then there wasn’t anyone in the country who could kill him. They do however have army ants which may explain a t-shirt that said Costa Rican Army depicting an ant wearing army gear.

coatimundi in Cozumel

After lunch we took a little walkway between the restaurant and some gift shops out to a back deck. There was a coatimundi in the bushes and a worker putting parts of bananas on a tree either to attract those or sloths. We went to a place in Mexico once where coatimundi were unafraid of people and begging for food under the tables of an outdoor restaurant. This one was much shier. It popped out of the bushes long enough to nose around briefly down below the deck before disappearing back into the bushes. It was too far away and too fast to get a good picture of it.

zipline near the restaurant

There was a rack of zipline equipment on that deck because the place also does zipline tours, but that was not part of our excursion.

The busload of people got divided into two groups. Half followed our bus tour guide out onto the trail and the other went with a local guide. The driver was from the other side of the country so we waited for the local one figuring he would know more about that specific area. Probably a good choice because he definitely knew a lot about the place where we were.

We headed down some stairs and onto a trail which first passed by a bin of walking sticks which the guide recommended for anyone who might want something to help with balance as touching anything in the forest is not a good idea. Not even handrails as you never know what may be lurking on them and the forest was full of tiny assassins.

frog

We hadn’t gone far before the guide found a little frog sitting on a leaf. He said so long as nobody scared it away with a flash it would stay there. One by one everyone filed by and took their pictures and sure enough the frog stayed right on that leaf.

hummingbird

Soon the trail came to a small clearing full of hummingbird feeders. That area was their hummingbird garden. I thought we would see the sort of brightly colored tropical hummingbirds with really long tails like the ones I had seen at the top of Mystic Mountain (home of the Jamaican Bobsled Roller Coaster) in Jamaica, but the ones in the Costa Rican cloud forest looked similar to the sort we have at home, though they are not actually the same kind. There were not a lot of them, but enough that everyone got to see at least one and attempt to take photos of the speedy little birds. They didn’t hold still at all. Even at the feeder they just took a quick sip before flying off.

venomous little snake

The guide had some sort of light pointer to show us things we otherwise wouldn’t see. He pointed out a tiny snake wrapped around a small tree branch near a hummingbird feeder. He said it was a venomous viper that eats hummingbirds. He also warned us again not to touch anything in the forest because that wasn’t the only poisonous thing we weren’t likely to notice. A bite from that snake would send a person to the hospital for several days. It blended in so well to the tree branch that nobody other than the guide would ever have seen it if he hadn’t pointed it out.

poisonous caterpillar

Later down the trail he pointed out a very large caterpillar. He said touching it would also send a person to the hospital for a couple days. It would eventually turn into a beautiful swallowtail butterfly. I did see some small yellow butterflies in that jungle, but not close enough for photos. The caterpillar was quite large for a caterpillar. Though much shorter in length, its body circumference was probably pretty close to the same as the little snake.

bridge

The first two bridges we crossed had support structure underneath, but the rest were all actual suspension bridges. None of them were out in the open where anyone could get a good photo of them though.

switchback on the trail

We walked down a trail that was steep enough to have switchbacks in some places.

suspension bridge

There were a lot of bridges to cross. Some long and some short.

guide with an open cacao pod

Eventually we came down to a viewpoint just above a creek. While there the guide picked a cacao pod and opened it up to show everyone the seeds that are what gets made into chocolate. He let people each take one to taste, but at that point they don’t really taste like chocolate.

crazy looking caterpillar

Later the guide pointed out another caterpillar of a different species than the first one. It was also big for a caterpillar, poisonous to the touch, and would eventually become a beautiful butterfly. This one sported some crazy appendages. It sort of looked like a caterpillar version of a poodle.

bug carapaces

Along the way the guide found various things to show us including some sort of bug carapaces and the spines that were once used to make the blowdarts that use the poison from the little poison dart frogs. He said that poison can either be cooked out of the meat or will dissipate on its own from an animal after an hour or so making meat hunted with that poison safe to eat, whereas snake venom would render the meat unusable.

bungee jump platform

In one spot we could see something high above our trail that looked like half a bridge ending in wires. The guide said it belonged to a different company that used it for bungee jumping.

Though the excursion description only mentioned walking downhill, we also walked uphill on the way back up to the starting point. Some of the people not expecting an uphill hike were huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top. Due to the excursion description people likely assumed that the bus would meet us somewhere down the hill rather than back where we started at the top.

stairway on the trail

We passed over suspension bridges on the way up as well as the way down. The trails had lots of switchbacks and some stairways as well as all of the bridges. We took a loop route that only repeated the very first part of the hike between the restaurant and hummingbirds.

We got back to the hummingbird garden when we were nearly to the end of the hike. There was a wild hyderanga growing there that I hadn’t noticed the first time, but it just had one bloom. A bit farther up the trail I spotted a black caterpillar on the back of a leaf that the guide did not point out. I don’t know if that one was poisonous like the other two or not.

flower by the trail

The excursion wasn’t exactly the same as the description, but it was nice for anyone who enjoys hiking through a forest, is in shape enough to handle hiking on rough terrain, and can keep their balance well enough without holding onto anything for suspension bridges that are likely to sway and bounce a bit. The bridges do have handrails, but as our guide pointed out you don’t actually want to use them since one of those poisonous forest creatures could be sitting on it. We quite enjoyed the tour.

Not everyone followed the directions for this excursion because there were some wearing shorts and even a couple in sandals, but they weren’t turned away. The sandal people were lucky that none of the poisonous critters we saw were on the ground.

The people running this tour did not say to remember your bus seat number and don’t take someone else’s seat like they had on a previous excursion we took on this cruise. When we got back on the bus somebody had taken our seats and refused to give them up so we had to find seats elsewhere which isn’t easy. Everyone else plans to return to the same seat on the way back that they sat in for the trip there and we didn’t know where on the bus the seat stealers came from. Eventually found one that nobody else claimed. On the excursion we took in Aruba the guide said a fight broke out on their bus when someone sat in the seats where somebody else had started out which was why they said not to take anyone else’s seat. It’s also common courtesy not to take other people’s seats, and makes loading the bus a lot faster at each stop if people just go back to the same seat each time.

garden by the gift shop – still in the cloud

Probably somewhere around halfway back we stopped for half an hour at a gift shop. They had some little free samples of chocolate, coffee, and liquor. Behind the shop there was a garden on a hillside and a little enclosed butterfly garden that looked like it was in the process of getting an expansion. Most of the butterflies were perched either on plants or walls with their wings folded so they looked like half a butterfly. The ones that flew around were too fast to catch with the camera other than taking a video, which one person did. The seat stealers left their stuff on the seat so we couldn’t get our original seat back after that stop.

butterfly with its wings folded together

After another hour or so on the bus made it back to the port. On all my previous cruises having your ship card (or medallion if it’s Princess) was required for getting on and off the ship. On this cruise they just scanned our faces rather than our ship cards. We still needed to take the cards in each port though because getting back into the port whether on foot or on a bus they always need to see everyone’s card.

Posted in Holland America, Nieuw Amsterdam, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, South and Central America | Tagged cloud forest, Costa Rica, cruise, Holland America, photos, Puntarenas, travel | 1 Comment

Majestic Princess Mini Suite

Posted on April 14, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Majestic Princess mini suite

The mini suites on Royal Class Princess ships like the Majestic Princess are quite a lot larger than their balcony cabins. These rooms run close to 300 square feet while standard balcony cabins are closer to 220.

small closet with shelves

The room has lots of storage space. At one side of the entrance to the room there’s a large open walk-in closet with a hanging bar and upper shelf and a smaller closet with doors that has 6 shelves, of which one holds the room’s safe. A door from that area leads into a larger than average for a cruise cabin bathroom with a bathtub.

room layout

Moving on into the room, there’s an area with what can be one or two beds as is usual for cruise ships.

nightstands

Princess has wider nightstands than found on some ships which means bigger drawers and a larger shelf as well as more space between the beds when they are separated.

couch area

A set of curtains which can be pulled all the way across sits between the bed area and the space with the couch. In this room the couch could be used as a bed and it also had a drop-down bunk.

bunk

That portion of the room has an even larger nightstand as well as a desk containing several drawers and a refrigerator. Twice daily room cleanings meant that the bunk could go up in the daytime and only be down at night when it was needed.

balcony

The balcony is long and narrow and had two chairs and a small round table.

usb ports

The room had two TV’s. It also had two American outlets over the desk and one other one. There were 2 USB ports by one of the nightstands, but no outlets at the nightstands or USB ports on the desk. Motion lights under the nightstands and desks were intended to make light for anyone getting up in the dark, but we had to block the nightstand ones with extra pillows at night to keep them from coming on any time people move in bed if the blanket hanging over the edge moves at all. The blanket was just a heavy quilt, there was no separate top sheet so it was either heavy covering or nothing other than getting creative and using a bathrobe or towel for a lighter bed covering. There is space under the beds to store suitcases.

view from the balcony end of the room

Some ships have either motion lights or a low-level light that stays on in the bathroom which are more useful than the lights that this ship had. Especially the low-level one that stays on because then there’s no need to turn on a bright light if using the bathroom at night whereas the motion ones go dark after their set time. Plus if the light is inside the bathroom rather than out in the room it is less likely to disturb other people in the room when one person gets up in the night.

magnets

There was more than the average amount of open magnetic wallspace, which is useful for hanging anything magnetic. We had a lot of magnetic hooks that were empty at the start, but by the end of the cruise they all had something hanging from them. Even with a bathtub sized space for the pull-across clothesline there wasn’t always room to hang everything for three people so the still too damp to put away swimsuits would end up on hooks making room for the wetter ones in the bathroom. Other ramdom things came and went. Some hooks held hats, sweatshirts, or bags the entire time. We also had some little magnets for holding up paperwork. We always bring a print-out of the itinerary, and we had excursion information and tickets for things booked outside of the cruiseline. Sometimes there is information from the ship that is worth hanging too.

duck maiilboxes by the door

The doorway to our cabin was indented from the hallway, paired with the cabin next door which gave us some magnetic wallspace to hang decorations and duck mailboxes. Ours were the only duck mailboxes on this ship so we had more raiders than traders this cruise. We were a bit away from the elevators down a dead-end hallway so there wasn’t a lot of people passing by. Some came specifically looking for the duck mailboxes. The door was also magnetic, but the wall was stronger so a better place for hanging things.

bath products

The shower had body wash and one labeled as a combo shampoo and conditioner, but it did nothing for conditioning so if you want conditioner that actually works bring your own. It’s disappointing when even the nicer rooms on cruise ships don’t have separate conditioner, which seems to be the case more often then not.

sink

The sink had liquid hand soap and hand lotion which was nice because not all ships have either. Some just have bar soap and no hand lotion.

bathroom

We did not have to ask for towels for 3, the room was already set up for 3 people. We did ask for extra hangers, but that’s pretty much a given on any ship even with just 2 people in the room. The stewards will always bring extra hangers if asked. There are rarely ever enough to start with unless the previous person asked for extras and the steward left them when they checked out.

walk in closet

Sometimes it seems that the things you ask for online at registration are just ignored, but on the Majestic Princess the bathrobes were already in the closet as requested online at registration. Standard balcony cabins on the Princess ships are pretty small so if you have the budget for a mini-suite it’s definitely worth the extra cost. The mini suites have a lot more space. They are both longer and wider than the standard cabins. Mini suites have both a desk and a full-sized couch whereas standard balcony cabins just have a desk and deluxe balcony cabins have no more space than standard ones, but replace the desk with a small couch.

Posted in Majestic Princess, Princess | Tagged cruise, Majestic Princess, mini-suite, photos, travel | Leave a comment

Decor on Holland America Noordam

Posted on April 10, 2026 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Kona

For the most part the décor on Holland America Noordam is pretty tasteful, especially when compared to that found on some other cruise ships. Ships in Holland America’s Vista class, which includes the Noordam, were all originally done in something of an old world elegance style. While the Westerdam was modernized (to its detriment in my opinion as the modern furniture was quite uncomfortable and the new atrium centerpiece ugly), the Noordam seems to have retained much of its original charm.

Noordam atrium

I haven’t cruised on Zuiderdam, the 4th of Holland America’s directionally named ships, but the other three at least had atrium centerpieces of similar style, yet different from each other. The Westerdam’s crystal sailing ship was the nicest, but was replaced with an ugly gray spiral. Last time we were on the Oosterdam it still had the original crystal globe in the atrium. The Noordam had a less intricate and more colorful centerpiece, supported in a gold framework as were the others.

Noordam stairway art

Noordam’s stairway art was different on each of its three stairways. The front stairway had a sequential series with pictures of different renditions of the Noordam throughout the years, starting with the first Noordam and ending with the current one. There’s probably only so many ship names that end in dam. All of Holland America’s ships end that way (even the cruiseline calls them the dam ships sometimes.) When one ship of a particular name retires a new ship assumes that name so there have been a variety of different ships named Noordam.

stairway art

The middle stairway had encased ship models of old sailing vessels on most decks. Each one looked different in size and style. There were other models of old vessels in other areas of the ship as well. Old ships also appeared in some of the ship’s other artwork.

stairway flower painting

The aft stairway had old style Dutch flower paintings. These are likely to be found somewhere on Holland America’s ships, due to the tie-in with Holland. At least on their ships that we’ve been on anyway. Regardless of where our Holland America cruises start or end they all seem to end up taking place on the same few ships. The Noordam cruise was our first one not on the Westerdam, Oosterdam, or Veendam.

hallway painting

Pictures around the hallways to the staterooms seemed to have a theme around each deck, but not the same theme on all decks. Things like paintings of old-time scenes likely in the Netherlands, or old black-and-white photos from early sailings on ships from Holland America Line.

cruise ships love odd statues

Like all cruise ships the Noordam had lots of statues. Cruise ships love odd and ugly statues. Most of the ones on this ship fit in with the general old-time theme of the majority of the other decor around the ship. Around the elevators there were disembodied heads from various old Dutch royalty. Some painted with colors and some just gold. Other areas had things like faux ornate fish statues, or other things that all appeared old-world style.

whole statue and a close-up of a tiny duck hiding in its yellow ear

There was one multi-colored statue that did not fit in with the decor of the rest of the ship. It was a life-sized lady with random stripes of yellow, red, white, black and blue. This statue was a popular place for people to hide and find ducks. Mostly in its hands, but we did find a tiny one yellow one blending in inside of the statue’s yellow ear.

wall mural in a public hallway

Other artwork around the ship included large murals and carved wooden pictures, generally following the old-world scenes or sailing ships theme. This does not include the section with the art for sale because there’s always some really odd paintings there as well as some nice ones.

small vases of flowers

Flower arrangements around the ship initially looked perfect enough to be fake flowers, but since some of those flowers wilted and got replaced during the journey at least some of the flowers were real. Flower arrangements are also a popular place for hiding ducks. The ship had some really big fancy ones, but I neglected to take photos of anything but a small row of vases.

row of identical statues

Posted in Holland America, Noordam | Tagged cruise, cruise ship, cruise ship decor, Holland America, Noordam, photos, travel | Leave a comment

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Decor on Holland America Noordam

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