Hits and Misses on Quantum of the Seas

Posted on December 27, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Quantum of the Seas in Icy Strait Point

On every cruise there are always things to like and dislike about any ship. Of course these things are all a matter of opinion where one person’s biggest dislike could be another person’s favorite thing. Some things are generally liked or disliked by most people onboard. While we have enjoyed every cruise we’ve taken, every ship does have its high points and low points. These are entirely my opinion of the things I liked and disliked about Quantum of the Seas.

Hits

North Star nearly up

The North Star is a unique feature of Royal Caribbean’s Quantum Class ships. This pod reminiscent of one pod of a giant Ferris Wheel provides the best views at sea. Reservations are required, but the cost is pretty low. Only a small group of people go up at any one time. The length of time spent above the ship varies with different booking options. During the course of the ride the pod extends over each side of the ship as well as straight up to the top of the giant metal arm that supports it so you get a variety of different views looking down on the ship as well as at the surrounding area.

bumper cars at the SeaPlex

The SeaPlex is another unique feature of the Quantum Class ships. So much more than a standard sports court, this area can be transformed for quite a variety of activities varying from sports tournaments to lasar tag to bumper cars. When not in use, the bumper cars park along the edge of the area alongside the SeaPlex court, but when it is bumper car time they move into the sports court, which has more room to drive them around than often found in bumper cars at carnival rides. It’s lots of fun.

solarium pools

Our favorite hangout on any Royal Caribbean or Celebrity ship is always the solarium. On Quantum the solarium had three levels with cascading pools going from one to the next. The top level had the most area with deck chairs lining both sides as well as the bow area. This level also had the Solarium Bistro and the solarium’s bar. The lower levels went down the bow area with deck chairs next to the pool on a couple levels and hot tubs on either side of the bottom pool. Below that deck chairs lined a floor to ceiling window at the front of the ship with the top of the window going all the way up from the top level of the solarium. Those were the favorite chairs of most people.

No saving deck chairs!

Deck chairs both in the solarium and on the outside decks had no seat saving signs right on the chairs every few chairs or so, which worked a whole lot better than just a sign as you enter the area as found on most ships. This meant there were actually chairs available for use rather than mostly occupied by towels with no people anywhere in the vicinity as is often found on ships where a lot of selfish people stake out chairs all day long in case they might want to use them at some point, but spend very little time actually in them.

gluten free section at the buffet

Quantum had a gluten free section in the buffet, which was nice to see. Wonder of the Seas did not so we were glad to see that it had just been that one ship and not that Royal Caribbean had gotten rid of the gluten free section in the buffet entirely.

boarding photo

After a couple not so good boarding experiences on previous Royal Caribbean cruises, we were quite pleased with the easy boarding on Quantum. We actually haven’t ever had a bad boarding experience in Seattle, but have had several at various ports in Florida. We got right inside without having to wait in line outside at all, and right through the check-in process without a hitch. The ship hadn’t quite started boarding yet once we were in, but there were plenty of chairs for anyone who wanted to sit and the line that had formed by the door in anticipation of boarding starting soon moved along quickly once the door opened.

Royal’s App is better organized and easier to use than what some of the other cruise lines have. Both pre-cruise and onboard it has a lot of useful features.

Bionic Bar with robot bartenders

Like all cruise ships, Quantum has lots of bars. It’s always fun to watch the robots at Royal’s Bionic Bar even if you don’t buy anything. The solarium bar is pretty handy for people lounging there. (As are all the other bars for people in other areas of the ship.)

iFLY

Besides Royal’s standard fun things like flowriders, rock climbing walls, and ice skating arenas, the Quantum class ships have several unique things of their own. In addition to the ones mentioned earlier, it also has an iFLY skydiving simulator. Reservations are of course required and there is a nominal fee for it, but the price is a whole lot less than going to an iFLY on land. The groups for this activity are very small and each person gets a couple individual sessions with an instructor in the iFLY wind tunnel.

two70

The other unique venue on Quantum class ships is two70, so named for the 270° view from its floor to ceiling windows. The ship’s featured show is held there and the space is used for other things as well. When not in use it’s a good place to get a view from the back of the ship in the daytime.

owl in an elevator

The elevators on Quantum were a bit of a source of entertainment in themselves. There were some glass elevators, though their view was to the inside rather than outside of the ship, but the ones that didn’t have glass at the back each had a different animal.

SeaPlex Dog House hot dog stand

Besides the dining room and buffet, Quantum had lots of other complimentary food options. There were some pay-extra places too, but with so many free options that really wasn’t a necessity unless someone wanted to go to one of the specialty places. Free options included pizza, a couple cafes, hot dogs, the solarium bistro, and sometimes a pop-up ice cream stand or hamburger grill on the pool deck.

teapot in the cabin

Even though we had 4 people in one cabin, there was a lot to like about it. It was decent sized. It had lots of storage space and several outlets and USB ports. There was a teapot in the cabin, something I’d only previously seen on a British ship (P&O Arcadia). The crew was friendly and helpful. Our steward went above and beyond the call of duty by making the extra bed back into a couch in the morning and setting it up as a bed at night even though corporate wanted to cut corners by not allowing stewards into the cabins a second time in the day since they have cut cleanings to once daily. Having that bed out all day would have rendered half of the cabin unusable so we greatly appreciated our steward.

Misses

stairway from the casino to the promenade

In spite of both the app and their daily newsletter stating that there was no indoor smoking on that ship, they allowed smoking in the casino. Besides being open on both ends, it had a stairway directly onto the promenade deck. When it was too busy for the ventilation system to keep up with it smoke spewed out into other areas of the ship in several directions. While it would be best if they lived up to what they advertised, at the very least they should add only when sailing in Australia to the bit that says no inside smoking so people wouldn’t think they are booking a non-smoking ship when they’re not.

disgusting smoke trail

The casino wasn’t the only thing spewing smoke on this ship. One day the smokestack left a trail of thick brown smoke for miles behind it, making it look as if there was a huge forest fire where it hit shore. I’d never seen a cruise ship smoke like that before. Sometimes there’s thin wisps of black smoke that quickly dissipates, but that thick brown smoke trail was not normal. At the time I was hoping it wasn’t normal for this ship, but it seems to be an issue with this ship class sometimes. One time my husband was driving through Port Angeles when Quantum’s sister ship Ovation of the Seas was in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was spewing so much brown smoke he could hardly see the road. Another time when I was hiking on the bluff on the Washington side of the strait while Ovation was in the area I could see across the strait that the entire south end of Vancouver Island was engulfed in a toxic-looking brown cloud of smoke. These ships don’t smoke like that all the time, but often enough that they should be pulled from service and sent somewhere for repairs or pollution controls. Nobody should be allowed to pollute like that no matter who they are. Royal Caribbean definitely deserves a fine for that amount of pollution, especially since it was not a one time or even one ship thing. Smoke was definitely the biggest miss on this ship, both from people smoking in the casino and from the ship’s smokestack.

Sumdum Glacier

We’ve been on a couple cruises that were scheduled for Tracy Arm and went down Endicott Arm instead, both of which made it down to Dawes Glacier at the end. This one was scheduled for Endicott arm, but turned around long before reaching the glacier, yet made no announcements of any sort to let people know that. Everyone missed out on Dawes Glacier since the ship turned early. We were quite lucky that we just happened to be looking out on the right side at the right time to see the far less impressive Sumdum Glacier because they didn’t say anything about sailing past that one either. Most people probably didn’t see a glacier at all since there aren’t any others in Endicott Arm. We thought we were heading into Endicott Arm rather than out until we saw Sumdum Glacier on the wrong side of the ship for where it would be if we were heading in, after which Mel said she’d been walking on the outside deck early that morning and the ship did a 180. Being a newbie to cruising she didn’t realize at the time that meant we were not going to the glacier so she hadn’t said anything before we saw Sumdum glacier on the wrong side. It would have been nice if someone from the ship had bothered to clue people in so they weren’t waiting to see a glacier they were never going to get to.

Parliament buildings by Victoria’s inner harbor – where cruise ships never go

Dawes Glacier wasn’t the only thing we missed on this cruise. It didn’t make it to port in Victoria either. I’d never heard of a ship not going to Victoria before. That’s their foreign port requirement for complying with the Jones Act for ships sailing to Alaska from Seattle. Granted there were waves splashing over top of the pilot boat when he came aboard, but he managed to make it onto the ship. Right at the time people were gathering at the meeting places for excursions they announced that the captain and pilot had decided it wasn’t safe to dock- just as we sailed past Victoria for the second time looking at a Norwegian ship already docked there. Perhaps this ship is just too big for Alaska cruises.

ships in Sitka (Quantum of the Seas and Westerdam)

On most cruises there’s at least one photographer outside of the ship at each port stop – preferably out of the way of the gangway. There were no port photos from outside of the ship at any of the ports on this cruise. We did see one on the dock in Sitka, but they were from the Westerdam which was docked next to us and not from our ship. The closest we came to a port photo on this cruise was someone in a bear suit by the buffet at Icy Strait Point.

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

Corporate is going a bit too far on cost cutting by not wanting stewards to put the extra bed up and down when more than 2 people are in a room. Having that bed out all day would make the room unlivable with barely any access to some of the drawers, the fridge, and the desk. It’s not possible to fully open any of them with the bed out, or to sit at the desk or get the chair out from under it. The amount of space left with the bed out all day would be crowded with just one or two people in the room, let alone 4. Whoever made the decision that stewards can’t go into the cabins more than once per day should try sailing in one of those rooms with 4 people and the bed out all day and see how they like it. They will likely lose dollars to save pennies with the lack of re-bookings by anyone whose steward didn’t take a minute to put the bed up and down for them regardless of what corporate says. (It takes less than a minute to fold the bed up and put it away so if you add time for coming into the room and going back out it might take 2-3 minutes tops of a steward’s time each evening to make the difference between a miserable crowded room and a nice one.) Luckily our steward did put the bed up for us in the morning and back out at night even though he wasn’t supposed to. The first time it was left out we couldn’t find him and another steward showed us how to stow the bed out of the way so we would have done it ourselves if he hadn’t. The trick to it was that there is no trick to it – you just manually push the trundle part of the bed down.

There was also no clothesline in the cabin shower, which is crazy on a cruise ship because even if people never wash a thing they are most likely going to have wet swimming suits that need to hang up somewhere to dry. Even when cruising to cold places where you won’t be swimming from shore, people still use the pools and hot tubs on the ship.

view from the ZipRider on the way down

The shore excursions department did a horrible job on organizing the first zipline group of the day at Icy Strait Point. Instead of getting us out the gangway first so we could get up the mountain before the crowd and check in on time, they had us meet onboard and didn’t let us out until the time we were supposed to be already on the zipline, after which we had to make our own way to the top of the mountain in the crowd of people who had already gotten off the ship. Obviously we were very late and the people onshore who exchanged tickets for wristbands were not pleased when we came in to exchange ours for a time slot long since passed. Luckily the people at the top of the mountain running the ZipRider were not upset about it and let us go even though our time slot was long gone.

solarium bar

I only looked for a drink once during the cruise and couldn’t find a bar that could make a mango daiquiri. I’ve had them on Royal before, but maybe they only stock mango on Caribbean cruises. They had strawberry daquiris, but that wasn’t what I wanted. The solarium bar couldn’t even manage a pina colada as they’d run out of the ingredients for that. The pool bar, which is the next-closest to the solarium, made a pina colada for me, but they didn’t have the ingredients for a mango daiquiri either.

Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas

The one thing I look for at the gift shop on every cruise is a Christmas tree ornament ship model of whatever ship I’m on. There were no ship model Christmas tree ornaments available on this cruise. That’s not all that surprising since they generally only stock them at Christmastime, but stupid on their part since anyone who collects those would buy one regardless of the time of year.

wall magnets

Normally there’s a door sign – or on Royal the smarter choice of a magnet – that has whatever their version of do not disturb is on one side and room available for cleaning on the other. People can leave that on the door when they either don’t want to be bothered or to let the steward know they are out and about and want the room cleaned. This room had a door magnet, but it was one-sided for do not disturb only. I think it said something like sleeping off the adventure. There was nothing to let the steward know when the room was available for cleaning. We’d all leave for breakfast and whatever else people had to do in the morning, but with 4 people someone often would duck into the room for something or other, and if the steward saw them go in, but they came out while he was in a different room he wouldn’t know ours was open for cleaning. With 4 people coming and going at various times even a brief duck into the room might prevent it from getting cleaned. Some days it wasn’t even done by lunchtime until I got the bright idea to write my own note and hang it on the door with one of the magnets I always bring for keeping paperwork organized on the cabin wall. Once I thought of that the room was always clean by the time we got back from breakfast which it never had been before, making the need for the two-sided magnet quite obvious.

standard poses

When sailing with my sisters we always get a photo package. There were lots of photo stands around the ship each evening, but all of the photographers always wanted people to do the same few poses over and over and over again. After a few days that gets really boring, plus you don’t want all the photos to be the same thing with a different background. They’re probably all told to do those poses, but allowing them a bit more creativity would certainly make for far better photo packages. If asked for other poses some of them looked delighted like they were just as bored of the standard poses as we were and came up with all sorts of creative things, but others act like it’s a huge imposition to deviate at all.

While Royal’s app is a lot better than some other cruise lines, it did have one major fault. There was no alert for incoming messages on phones. We didn’t all have the same brand of phone either so that seemed to be all phones. Melissa had an apple watch and she got alerts for new messages, but she was the only one. Some of us have iPhones so that didn’t hold true for all apple devices, just the watch. If you happened to look for messages in the app there would be a red dot for anything new, but unless they were waiting for a reply or something had just happened that everyone would be trying to contact each other about nobody was constantly looking for messages so some things got missed for not finding someone else’s message until it was too late and the activity they were asking about was already over.

Sorrentos and the promenade cafe

While it was nice to see a gluten free section in the buffet, there were no gluten free options at the promenade café and only plain cheese gluten free pizza available at Sorrento’s. This was a bit of a disappointment since some of the other Royal ships we’ve been on did have gluten free snacks at the cafe and any toppings you want on the gluten free pizza.

Quantum’s painted line top-deck track

The outside promenade deck did not go all the way around the ship which is always a disappointment to me. Promenade decks that circle the entire ship are a great place to walk or run, but the ridiculous top deck tracks that are really just a painted line in a high-traffic area are in my opinion useless. Besides being less crowded, the promenade deck has some shade and a bit of protection from sun, wind, and weather while the top deck has none of that – just a bunch of people trying to get from one place to another in the way of anyone trying to use that painted line track.

Smoke aside, the biggest drawback of all is always the post-cruise survey. Apparently if you don’t mark everything a 10 they act as if it’s a 0, which means they are just looking to tick boxes and don’t really care what people think. That’s definitely accented by the fact that you get very few comment boxes. Having comment boxes for every section would be the only way for them to know what people really think – if they could be bothered to read the comments, which they must not want to judging by the scarcity of opportunities to leave any. Sometimes it takes so long to get a comment box that by the time you get one you forgot what you wanted to comment about. Putting a low number in one of the boxes will sometimes get you a comment box, but not always. When you do finally get one it always asks about one specific thing, which isn’t usually what I wanted to say anything about so they get a whole lot about whatever I remember by then that I wanted to say anything about instead of what they asked for. Who knows if anyone actually reads it.

Reasons to book with Royal Caribbean include all the fun things to do on their ships and the solarium. Reasons to book elsewhere include Royal’s stupid cost-cutting decisions and that there are other lines that actually have ships with no indoor smoking.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

Posted in Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, Shipboard Life | Tagged bad things about Quantum of the Seas, cruise, good things about Quantum of the Seas, photos, Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, travel | 5 Comments

European Christmas Markets

Posted on December 25, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

entry to a Christmas market in Koblenz, Germany

Christmas markets are a big thing in a lot of European countries from sometime in November until Christmastime. These festive marketplaces pop up in all sorts of places. On our Viking river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam most of the towns along the way had Christmas markets. Not in Amsterdam though. Apparently it’s not a thing in the Netherlands.

Christmas market in Copenhagen, Denmark

The first place we went was Copenhagen, Denmark where we stayed a couple days pre-cruise. At a Christmas market there John found a little felt stuffed dog ornament that was white with black spots wearing a little hat. It was supposed to be a dalmatian, but it sort of resembles our dog Piper, a blue heeler that is white with black spots. A couple of the Christmas markets we saw in Copenhagen had ice skating, as did some of the others in other places, though most of them did not.

Christmas market in Budapest, Hungary

In Budapest there was a Christmas market about a block away from the hotel where we stayed for a few nights before boarding the ship. When we first went there on a Saturday night it was so crowded you could hardly move from one place to another. Trying to go opposite the main crowd felt like a salmon swimming upstream in boulder filled rapids where a whole lot of effort brings very little progress. We managed to find some dinner, but with no hope of getting anywhere near one of the few already occupied tables standing near the booth out of the main traffic stream was the safest place to eat it. There was a big Christmas tree in a small open space between booths. A church in the square had a light pattern running down the front resembling falling snow. It was realistic enough that just a quick glance at the church looked as if it actually was snowing until the mind registered that there was no snow coming down anywhere else. Although we were in Hungary, the Christmas carols playing there were songs commonly heard in America – and in English.

chocolate stall in Budapest

The next night we went back to get a better look at the booths. It wasn’t as crowded so we could actually get close enough to see what they had. A lot of them had different kinds of food or hot drinks while others sold Christmas ornaments and other holiday items or things like jewelry, paprika or other spices, and things people could give as gifts. Paprika is a big thing in Hungary. Rather than just a generic jar of paprika they have a variety of different kinds. Hot wine also seemed popular as quite a few booths had it. A local tour guide said that Hungary is better at making wine than beer so more people drink the wine.

chimney cakes cooking over coals in Budapest (photo by Karla Ermel)

One booth had something called chimney cakes, though the sign there was in Hungarian so we really didn’t know what it said. We saw the name chimney cake with a picture of it on a store elsewhere in Budapest. They made it by rolling out some sort of bread dough and then winding it around a fat stick. This was then buttered, sugared, and set over a bed of hot coals. As they added one at one end of the grill they would move the rest on until they made it to the far end of the row where the toasty brown one would be removed and then immediately coated with whatever topping the person ordering it wanted. They had quite a variety of things including pistachios, coconut, cinnamon, and raspberry. Chocolate chips were also an option, but those were rolled into the dough before cooking rather than sprinkled on top after it was done. The finished cakes are removed from the stick and put into a plastic bag. It’s big enough to serve 4 or 5 people. We tried a pistachio one and it was pretty tasty.

Christmas market by a chapel in Vienna

Vienna had a lot of Christmas markets. Where our bus tour ended in a shopping area near a very tall and fancy church there was a Christmas market next to the church. The market area looked small, but actually continued around a corner that wasn’t visible from the side where the tour went so it was about twice as big as it initially appeared.

Christmas market near city hall in Vienna, Austria

From there we set out to walk to what was supposed to be the biggest one near city hall. On the way there we passed through another Christmas market where we wandered through and looked at the various stalls. Typical of them all some sold food, some sold Christmas ornaments, and some had other things. A lot of them had the same or similar things to each other in all of the various markets, but occasionally a booth had something unique and different.

double carousel at a Christmas market in Vienna, Austria

We passed by another small one, but did not stop to look. The big one near city hall had a double decker carousel, something I had not seen before. The booths there were similar to the others. The chimney cakes like we had tried in Budapest were available at the Austrian markets too, but smaller and for more money. We saw them at several more markets along the way, but they were all baked in ovens except at the one in Budapest.

booth at a Christmas market in Vienna

Last time we went to Austria things seemed quite cheap there after having been to Switzerland first where everything cost twice as much, but this time they seemed expensive after coming from Budapest where stuff was cheaper. There was a Ferris wheel at that market, but it was not the oldest one in the world still in operation so we went on to an amusement park to find that one.

little Christmas market at the amusement park in Vienna

The amusement park was quite large with many rides. The old Ferris wheel was pretty unique with pods that were the largest I’ve seen on a Ferris wheel and resembled small cabins. There was a little Christmas market near the base of the wheel with booths circling around a tree. We got some hot drinks and a giant pretzel to share there. A lot of the booths at these markets sell hot drinks in a glass mug, which you pay for, but then can use at other stalls and even other markets if you bring it with you to avoid buying another cup. The one in Budapest had paper cups, but the Austrian ones and all of the ones in Germany had the glass mugs. Hot wine was a big thing in all of the markets. It was called glogg in Denmark and gluhwein everywhere else. The glogg was not quite the same as gluhwein.

Christmas market in Passau, Germany

In Passau, Germany the walking tour included with the cruise ended at a cathedral with a Christmas market just outside of it. Thus was the only Christmas market we went to in that town. It was a pretty big one with lots of stalls. The majority of them had food or drinks, though there were also some selling trinkets, Christmas ornaments, and warm things like hats, scarves, or socks.

sign at the chimney cake booth in Passau, Germany

One booth had chimney cakes like we had tried in Budapest. These were smaller and baked like all of the ones we saw after the first market. Only the ones in Budapest were huge and roasted over coals. This booth had a sign about them saying that all are a yeast dough rolled out into strips and wrapped around a pole for baking, but each region has its own secret ingredients for their recipe. The toppings vary from one place to another as well.

stalls at the Christmas market in Regensburg, Germany

Regensburg, Germany had a fairly big market. Unlike some of the ones in other towns, quite a few of the booths at this one had unique merchandise that looked like it might be handmade. Of course it also had the usual mass-produced looking items and plenty of food stalls. This was the last market we saw that had giant hot dogs or sausage dogs on elongated buns.

tables at the Regensburg market

The Regensburg market had some rustic wooden tables to give people a place to eat the things they bought there.

Nuremberg Christmas market after dark

Nuremberg has the oldest Christmas market in Germany having had one in the same spot since the 1600’s. It’s a pretty big one with lots of different stalls. The sausage stalls there sold small sausages instead of the super long ones the prior places had. Most stalls put several links on a round bun, but one of them made big round sausage patties instead.

Nuremberg Christmas market

The hot wine stalls had punch instead of hot chocolate for people who didn’t want anything alcoholic. All of the markets we saw before this one had hot chocolate and all of the ones after had the punch. There was quite a variety of merchandise, but the majority of it probably wasn’t handmade. Gingerbread is big there, but it is more of a soft cookie than the cake-like dessert called gingerbread in the USA. They come as big, bigger, and giant cookies, mostly dipped in a variety of flavored coatings including chocolate among many others. We tried an orange flavored one and it was good.

Christmas market in Bamberg, Germany

The market in Bamberg was fairly small as the town is not that big. It had a big carousel-like decoration and a large Christmas tree among the food and market stalls.

Würzburg, Germany Christmas market

Würzburg has a decent sized Christmas market in their market square where the temporary stalls for the Christmas market shared space with permanent stalls for a market that is always there. That meant a mix of things with the usual Christmas market fare and things like produce stands from the regular market.

booths at the Christmas market in Würzburg

One shop selling all kinds of glass Christmas ornaments had the closest thing to our dog Piper we’ve found yet. A white dog with black spots and the ears going up rather than down, with the insides of the ears black. If the backside of the ear had been black too it would have really been good since her ears are all black, but close enough we had to buy it. As previously mentioned, Piper is a blue heeler, but white with black spots rather than the mottled color they usually are.

Christmas market in Würzburg, Germany

The giant church next to the Würzburg market is called a chapel rather than a church because the common folk in medieval times built it without the bishop’s consent so they couldn’t call it a church. Some of the buildings or parts thereof are original in Würzburg, but many buildings there are all or partially restored after World War 2 bombings.

little train at the Christmas market in Koblenz, Germany

In Koblenz there are several Christmas markets. A small one was just a short walk from the ship. It had a miniature train ride around a Christmas tree for very small children. Some tiny booths with a table in them where people could sit were interspersed among the other small booths, which mostly sold food or drinks.

Christmas market in Cologne, Germany

The tour guide in Cologne, Germany repeatedly said that they have the biggest and best Christmas markets anywhere, but other than there being more of them and closer together than what we saw in most other towns, the markets themselves had similar stalls selling similar things.

meat stall at a market in Cologne, Germany

Grouping all of the markets that are next to each other or very close together probably makes the biggest market space we saw, but each individual market was not necessarily bigger than some of the larger ones elsewhere.

Christmas market in Cologne, Germany

One of them was at the base of the towering gothic cathedral. Markets at the base of churches seemed quite common, but then again some of those towns have a very lot of churches so pretty much anything is near one. Not all of them in Cologne were by churches though. The one closest to our ship had an ice-skating rink. Another one farther down the river had a large Ferris wheel. One of the others had a smaller Ferris wheel and a carousel.

Christmas market in Vienna, Austria

Most of the markets in most of the towns were open from about 10 am until late evening, but the small-town market in Wertheim, Germany was only open on weekends. We were there during the week so all of the stalls were closed. We just saw a small sample of Europe’s Christmas markets. There are many more in many other places.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

Posted in Europe, Skirnir, Viking | Tagged Austria, Budapest, Christmas Markets, Europe, Germany, photos, travel | Leave a comment

Snorkeling With Whales

Posted on December 20, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Tahiti

Our trans-Pacific cruise on Holland America Noordam made an overnight stop in Tahiti. We had no set plans on the day we arrived, so we took a last-minute island tour that was available through locals at the port. For the second day there I had a dive booked through an outside source (not a cruise ship excursion.) John didn’t want to dive and hadn’t made any other plans for that stop pre-cruise. Some of the people working on the ship that we met onboard had plans to go snorkeling with whales, also booked through an outside source. Their excursion had room for a couple more and they invited us to come along. I already had the dive booked, but John decided to go. He found the website that they had booked through. It was all in French since that is the language of Tahiti, an island in French Polynesia. This is his story of his amazing opportunity to interact with humpbacks.

snorkelers with a whale

Swimming With Humpback Whales in Tahiti

By John B

Humpback whales migrate from Antarctica and arrive in French Polynesian waters in July to breed or give birth to their babies. The warm waters provide a perfect place for them to nurture their young and teach them how to be a whale. They stay in these warm waters until sometime in November until the natural urge to migrate back to Antarctica overwhelms them.

people snorkeling with whales

Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesian offers adventurous tourists a rare opportunity to swim with these whales. This type of tour is not offered through the cruise ship but can be booked via Internet for $80 in advance of arriving in Tahiti. Reservations are very limited as there’s only room for eight guests aboard the small inflatable outboard-powered boat. (Price given was at the time of our cruise and may not reflect the current price.)

on the inflatable boat

Upon arriving in port at Papeete, a group of three ship’s officers and myself gathered outside the ship and shared a twenty-dollar taxi ride to nearby Tahiti Yacht Club Marina. At the dive shop the crew gives everyone a ¾ wetsuit, fins and snorkel. I brought my own snorkel, fins and colorful air vest. After everyone seated themselves on the inflatable the tour guide gave a talk about whales while the boat captain motored out of the marina.

snorkeling with whales

He explained that mothers with calves were the most likely to allow us to swim among them, but we had to be patient. First off though, we all had to watch for “spouts” from whales. The ship’s Naturalist, Christie, was the first to spot a spout. Once spotted the captain of the inflatable stops and waits at a distance. The first mother whale and her baby did not come close and headed out to deeper water.

humpback whale

Optimum depths to swim with the whales are 30 to 60 feet so the captain continued slowly motoring along the shoreline on the border of the shallow reef where the whales frequent. Once again Christie spotted another spout and once again the captain stopped the boat. This time however, the baby swam closer to us. The guide explained that the baby whales are very curious, but the mothers can be reluctant to allow their babies to get too close unless they deem us safe. It’s a waiting game they explained. After turning off the outboard motor we drifted for about an hour while the baby and mother whale came closer and closer. Finally, the guide gave the word to slowly slip over the side without splashing. He said to swim slowly and don’t make any splashes or fast movements.

it’s a fluke

With crystal clear blue tinted water visibility allowed us to spot the baby quickly. It kept coming closer and closer exploring us as much as we were exploring it. My first sight of the baby’s fluke (tail) as it dove down sent adrenalin through my veins, a sight I never expected to see while snorkeling. My brightly colored air vest seemed to attract the massive sized baby whale and it swam right to me and looked me in the eye. Its eye connected with mine and clearly showed curiosity. I’m sure my eyes showed awe and admiration as this could only be described as an amazing once in a lifetime experience.

snorkeling with whales

After looking at me eye to eye the baby turned and gently swished its tail to turn away, nearly touching me with its fluke. For the next half hour everyone watched the whales swim in and among us, gliding gently through the warm waters. As explained, not every tour experiences swimming with the whales so we all felt extremely lucky, especially at the end of the season, within days or weeks of their annual migration back to Antarctica.

curious whale

To book a swim with whales adventure in Tahiti visit https://www.scubatektahiti.com/fr

whale up close

The website is in French so be sure to hit the translate button on your browser or use a browser that will translate the page.

humpback whale

Cost: Roughly $80 U.S. depending on exchange rate. Please note, you will need to book in advance and pay with a credit card that will calculate the exchange rate from French Polynesian Franc to your own currency.

whale

Also note, on the other side of the island from Papeete another dive company offers tours. Since cruise ships port at Papeete the most convenient tour is the company listed above. For best chances of swimming with the whales plan your trip to coincide with the whales from July to November. You can also book trips originating from Moorea if your ship stops there. The problem with booking from Moorea however is timing. Since Moorea is a tender port, you may not get off your ship in time to make your tour time, especially since guests who book ship’s tours often get priority on tenders ahead of do-it-yourself tours not booked through the ship.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

Posted in Guest Blogs, Holland America, Noordam, Pacific Ocean & Islands, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions | Tagged baby whale, humpback, photos, snorkeling with whales, Tahiti.Papeete.snorkeling, whales | Leave a comment

Antigua Cruise Port

Posted on December 13, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Antigua

Antigua is a coral-reefed Caribbean island in the Leeward islands of the Lesser Antillies. Despite the spelling, it is pronounced An-tee- ga as if there were no u. English is the official language. The climate is warm, tropical, and drier than some other Caribbean islands. It’s close enough to the equator that there’s not a lot of variation in daylight or seasons. Currency is the East Caribbean Dollar, which is tied into the US dollar at 2.7 ECD to 1 USD. Ports in the Caribbean are always happy to accept US dollars.

band at the port

Antigua has historic sites, beautiful beaches, and a sister island called Barbuda. Together the two islands are their own country. Cruise ships dock in the capital city of St. John’s. This is a city on Antigua, not the same place as the US Virgin Island called Saint John near Saint Thomas. Like the Enchanted Princess, most ships visiting Antigua dock at Heritage Quay which is right in town. Some dock at Redcliffe Quay which has old Georgian buildings with shops and cafes. If there are too many ships in port some ships may end up at Deep Water Harbor a mile and a half outside of town.

Heritage Quay cruise port

The main cruise port holds multiple cruise ships. The dock we were on exited right into the usual cruise port type shopping center on the pier, but the one next to it had a walkway straight into town. Access is only controlled at the dock itself where you have to show your cruise ship ID to enter the pier and walk to the ship. The shopping area is open to the public.

taxi stand at Heritage Quay

The shopping area has some of the usual shops found in nearly every port as well as some local shops, bars and eateries. There is a taxi stand and a lot of people with signs offering island tours or rides out to a beach. There was also a live local band playing for tips.

port entrance from town

When you exit the pier shopping area you are right in town where there are more shops, though these look older and somewhat rundown compared to the ones at the pier. There are people offering island tours out in that area as well. The ones they have may be cheaper and shorter than what the people inside have to offer. At least that was what we saw from all the people wanting us to book tours from both areas.

port shops

Excursions from our ship at this port were: Best of Antigua – Nelson’s Dockyard, Shirley Heights & Dow’s Hill; Nelson’s Dockyard, Shirley Heights & Blockhouse; Easy Antigua Panoramic Drive; Antigua Beach Break; Nelson’s Dockyard, Shirley Heights & Lunch; Fig Tree Drive & Turner’s Beach; Walking Tour of St John’s; Rainforest Canopy Zipline Adventure; Devil’s Bridge & Beach; Fort James Segway Adventure; Scenic Coastal Cruise, Snorkel, Beach & Lunch; Catamaran and Lobster Lunch, Scenic Cruise & Swim; Antigua Pineapple & Champagne Cruise; Scenic Cruise, Snorkel & Beach; Stingray. Snorkel, Swim & Scenic Country Drive; Local Connections Eco-Kayaking, Bird Island, Snorkel & Beach.

port shops by a dock

A lot of the ship’s excursions go to Nelson’s Dockyard, a national park in Antigua which once belonged to the British navy, but is now a marina with shops, restaurants and a museum. Outside of the marina area it also has hiking trails, some of which pass old forts, end at beaches, or go up to Shirley Heights which is a restored lookout and gun battery on a high point of the island with an excellent view.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2034

Posted in Caribbean, Enchanted Princess, Ports of Call, Princess | Tagged Antigua, Caribbean, cruise, cruise port, Heritage Quay, islands, photos, travel | Leave a comment

Zaandam Cabins

Posted on December 6, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

door to the Pinnacle Suite

Standard cabins on most cruise ships include inside, ocean view, balcony, and suite, often with variations within each category – especially the suites. On the Zaandam, one of those categories is missing. That is balcony cabins. On this ship balconies only come with suites, but even the inside cabins have a sitting area with a couch. Fully accessible cabins have roll-in showers while ambulatory accessible cabins have showers with no threshold. Showers only are standard in inside cabins, but other than the accessible cabins ocean view and above have bathtubs with shower included.

inside cabin with one bed

Inside cabins are found on every deck that has cabins, though the majority of them are on the lower decks with the oceanview cabins with just a few sprinkled among the center of the suite decks higher up. Interior cabins range from 182 to 293 square feet with most of them a lot closer to 182 than 293. As with any stateroom category, the largest cabins are generally the accessible ones as they need more space for wheelchair maneuverability in the main cabin as well as larger bathrooms to allow wheelchair access.

inside cabin with two beds and a lived-in look

Most cruise ship cabins on most cruise ships have the option of having the beds set up as one or two.

porthole cabin

Ocean view cabins are mainly found on the 3 lowest passenger decks, though there are a very few at the front of one suite deck and back of the other. Ocean view cabins range in size from 140 to 319 square feet. Those nearest the bow of decks 1 and 2 have portholes rather than full windows. The portholes on this ship are double small portholes rather than one large round window.

oceanview cabin

There are no cabins behind the lifeboats on this ship, though there are still some with partially or fully obstructed views. Cabins on decks 1 and 2 have windows directly overlooking the sea.

cabin windows on the promenade

The outside promenade deck runs completely around deck 3 so cabins on that deck are set back behind the promenade deck with their views looking across the promenade. Even the ones not marked as partially obstructed will have the deck railing and any people walking by in their view. Partially obstructed view cabins on the promenade deck have some of the ship’s exterior metal structure in their view whereas fully obstructed cabins are completely behind the metal structure and just have a view of the promenade. The better ocean view cabins are found on decks 1 and 2 where there is no promenade between the cabin and the sea. Some of the deck 3 cabins are under the stage or under the galley. The stage will be noisy until shows end and the galley can be noisy all night so definitely not the best locations on the ship.

some promenade cabins are behind partial structure like this or full metal structure completely blocking the view

Cabins at the very back of the ship may experience engine noise and vibrations on any level of the ship, more pronounced the lower you go of course. The bow cabins can be noisy in stormy weather. When the ship slaps into big waves it can sound and feel like it is bouncing over logs. We like cabins toward the bow anyway because you are more likely to see flying fish from there when sailing through areas where they live. They are seen more near the bow because they are fleeing from the ship as it passes through the water where they were. Bow cabins are also likely to hear the anchor drop at tender ports.

Vista Suite

Vista suites are found on decks 6 and 7. These rooms are comparable to what many ships refer to as mini suites. They are 297-379 square feet. Vista suites include a whirlpool tub rather than just a bathtub and have private balconies. The balconies are larger than the standard cruise ship balcony. There is also lots of storage space within the room. Cabins located on a deck between two cabin decks are usually the quietest, but that is not an option for these as deck 6 is above a public deck and deck 7 below one.

Neptune Suite

Neptune suites are found on deck 7. They are 558-566 square feet and have larger balconies than the Vista suites. These suites come with more perks than what you get with smaller cabins. Some of the extra perks include use of the Neptune lounge, concierge service, in-suite coffee, complimentary laundry service, and priority boarding and tender.

pinnacle suite

There’s just one Pinnacle suite on this ship, which is Holland America’s biggest suite. It’s 1296 square feet including the spacious veranda. This suite includes a living room, dining room, second bathroom, and pantry. It takes up the same amount of space as 2 full Neptune suites, with more interior space than the two Neptune suites combined due to the equivalent of one Neptune balcony being interior space.

different colored arrows for each side of the ship

If you’re not sure whether you’re on the correct side of the ship (odd numbered cabins starboard and even numbered on the port side) just check the arrows on the mat that points the way forward at elevator/stairway intersections. The arrows are red on one side of the ship and green on the other.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

Posted in Holland America, Shipboard Life, Zaandam | 2 Comments

Shows on Enchanted Princess

Posted on November 29, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Grand Turk

The main theater on Enchanted Princess has no balcony like most cruise ship theaters. The seating nearest the stage has no slope to it so if you are down near the front, but not in the very front the view is mostly the backs of other people’s heads. If you are off to the side at the front you can only see a small part of the stage and none of the background screen. If you are front and center the stage is quite a lot higher than your view so you still don’t see everything.

theater on Enchanted Princess

Up higher there are better seats, but there are some on the sides, especially near the back that you don’t see much from either – especially if the person in front of you is taller than you are (which is more people than not for me.) There is a section of prime seats reserved for suite people that opens up to everybody else 5 minutes before the show starts so if you happen to be there right when they open that section you get a really good seat. They pretty much fill as soon as they open though so you have to time it just right. We only got seats there a couple times. The other way to get good seats is to come way early before the non-reserved seats in the best viewing area fill up.

acrobat show

The first night’s show was a comedy/acrobat show with a husband and wife team. They were fairly entertaining for a cruise ship show and had some pretty good tricks, especially near the end when it was pretty much all acrobatics.

rock opera show

The second night was a rock opera, which was pretty good other than some bits that were more opera than rock. More rock than opera would definitely have been preferable -at least in my opinion. Also in one number the cast all had giant masks on sticks which lit up with bright white light. When they faced the audience it was like driving down the road toward a bunch of oncoming cars with their brights on. It’s usually the spotlights at those shows that sometimes shine blindingly bright out into the audience and seem to find you no matter where you sit rather than part of the actual show.

Brian Cheatham

The third day’s performer was Bryan Cheatham from America’s Got Talent. He was part singer, part comedian. He had a good voice.

Spotlight Bar production show in the theater

There were several production shows with the ship’s cast of singers and dancers.

5 Skies show

The last production show we saw was called 5 Skies. It had a lot of special effects depicting being inside a video game with the hero of the game working his way up the levels to save the Sky Princess, which in this case was a person and not the ship named Sky Princess. Having good seats where we could see the whole stage as well as the two side screens really made this show as we could see all of the video enhancements from there. We had to get there nearly an hour early to get those seats, but that show would not have been nearly as good if you couldn’t see the whole thing.

production show

One night they had a magic show. We got there barely before the show started that night and ended up in the back and off to the side. The rest of the group I was with actually saw the show, but I had a very bad seat with a post and a tall person blocking my view. Magic shows aren’t very impressive if you can’t see anything. He did a few tricks in the variety show at the end of that cruise, which were much better from my perspective because I had a seat where I could actually see the stage that time. Still not a good enough seat to get any photos though.

Benny and the Rest Elton John tribute show

Other shows included various musicians, some doing their own thing and some tributes to more famous people like Whitney Houston and Elton John. The Elton John group was called Benny and the Rest. Of course the first song they played was Benny and the Jetts. On the last night they had a variety show with short bits from whatever guest performers were still onboard as well as from the production cast. At least with music it’s mainly about what you hear rather than what you see so it’s not as bad if you have crappy seats for that as it is for some of the other shows.

chef show

One afternoon they had a comedy cooking show with the chef and Matre’d. After making spaghetti together the chef seriously made a black forest cake of the sort people would actually want to eat while the cake the Matre’d made in comedic fashion did not look so appealing. Possibly to alcoholics considering the amount he poured on it. The show ended with a galley tour, which involved a whole crowd of people walking across the ship from the theater on one end to the galley nearly to the other.

Yes or No game show at Princess Live

There are shows in other areas of the ship sometimes too. Game shows like Deal or no Deal, crew demonstrations, or comedy. Show venues other than the main theater include Princess Live, the Vista Lounge, and the Piazza, which is the central area of the ship at the bottom of the fancy stairs.

comedian

We saw a comedian in the Vista Lounge, who was better than average as cruise ship comedians go. His show was mostly prepared jokes with very little picking on people in the audience and no x-rated jokes or swearing. Sometimes there are comedians who spend the whole time picking on the audience, or whose entire show is a nonstop stream of swear words or body parts without anything actually funny at all. A comedian on a different ship even ran off the stage and assaulted a person who tried to leave the show early. The comedians on the second leg of our back-to-back cruise were even better than the ones on the first round. The last one was the best of all even though we had crummy seats and more heard than saw his performance. I don’t remember his name, but he did a different show in a different outfit for each of his 3 performances that night and most people stayed for at least 2 of them.

vegetable carving demonstration

One day in the piazza they had a demonstration with 3 talented galley crew making creations out of fruit and vegetables. One said his was a koala, but it looked more like an ewok from the Star Wars movie. Another made a tropical bird, which looked like it would be a cockatoo until he rubbed it with beet juice or something to make it somewhat pink, after which it looked more like a galah – a big pink bird of the parrot family native to Australia. The other one had a pair of what we thought were ducks, but she said they were love birds.

There was also live music in various venues around the ship in the evenings.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

Posted in Enchanted Princess, Princess, Shipboard Life | Tagged cruise, cruise ship shows, Enchanted Princess, photos, Princess, travel | Leave a comment

Afternoon Tea at Butchart Gardens

Posted on November 28, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

looking across the Italian Garden to the windows of the Dining Room Restaurant

Butchart Gardens is a sprawling public garden on Canada’s Vancouver Island north of Victoria. People with cruise ship port stops in Victoria usually have a variety of excursions to Butchart Gardens among the excursions offered for Victoria. It may be for just the garden, include the nearby butterfly garden, or include tea at the Dining Room restaurant in the former estate house at the garden. For people who are not visiting the garden from a cruise ship, afternoon tea is served between 11am and 3pm, Dinner is available there from 5-8pm during summer months, but it is a different menu from afternoon tea.

Butchart Gardens

Reservations made in advance are highly recommended for afternoon tea there, especially if you want it near lunchtime. We made reservations a week in advance and only had options for 11:30 and earlier or 2pm and later because everything in between was already booked. We opted for 2pm and the restaurant was not crowded at that time. It was midweek though so on weekends it may be full even then.

tea menu

The tea menu offers options for gluten-free, dairy sensitive. vegetarian, vegan, children’s, and children’s vegetarian. The menu displays all of the items included and a choice from a list of different teas (and other drink options for children). When making the reservation you also select if you want the regular menu or one of the other options for each person on the reservation. We ordered one regular and two gluten free selections. The items were nearly the same from one menu to the other except of course that the gluten free ones were made with non-wheat flours. The waiter said that the chef was a celiac so he knew what he was doing on the gluten free. He definitely did. Most items tasted much the same as non-gluten free versions. I’ve never been able to make a light fluffy gluten free biscuit (in the American definition of a biscuit, not a cookie!) The gluten-free scones at the tea, which is similar to biscuit dough, were totally light and fluffy, just like the regular sort.

a table in the Dining Room restaurant

We had a table by a window overlooking the Italian garden, which is in what was once the tennis court on the estate. I got the rose tea and my mom and sister went with Bachlor Button. Both were quite good. They brought out fancy menus when we were first seated, but since all the food is included you’re really just selecting a type of tea. It’s nice to see what all the food that comes with it is though. There’s quite a variety of both sweet and savory items.

English Trifle

They first bring out a pot of tea for each person. It’s loose-leaf tea so there’s a strainer provided to pour it through keeping leaves out of the cup. Mostly they stayed in the pot without falling into the strainer though. The first food to come out is a fancy little glass filled with English Trifle, which has cake and berries and cream. It’s quite good.

tea stand for one person

Following that they bring out the main tea stands, which are several layers tall. They brought two stands out to our table. One just for my mom with one each of the items from the regular menu stacked on its layers. The other had 2 of each item in the gluten-free form and was set between my sister and I for us to share. They all fit, but it definitely looked more crowded than the one with just one of each item.

tea stand for two people

Almost everything looked the same other than the actual breads on some of the sandwiches varied from the gluten free version to the regular one, and one of the desserts the waiter called lemon on the regular one, but not on the gluten free though the coloring was similar.

scones on the top of the tea stand

There were a several things the waiter pointed out that were best eaten first since they were served hot. One was the scone on the top and another a sausage roll on the bottom. The third hot item was a little savory tart. All were quite tasty and the chef was as good with gluten free pastry dough as he was with scones, it being soft and flaky just like non-gluten free. Unfortunately they did not sell a cookbook with his recipes for those doughs.

looking into the show greenhouse

There were so many little sandwiches and desserts that none of us could eat all of them. We each had a little box to take back to the hotel for dinner. The tea also included a little boxed chocolate. Mine made it all the way home before it got eaten, and it was delicious.

rose garden

The afternoon tea was quite nice. The restaurant is pleasantly decorated and the service good. You can relax and eat at your own pace while enjoying the view. It’s a bit pricey, but not as bad as it looks since the listed menu price is in Canadian dollars. You don’t pay in advance when making reservations, that is done after the meal.

bridge in the Japanese Garden

We enjoyed our leisurely afternoon tea as well as having all the time we wanted to stroll around the garden and visit the gift shop since we were there on our own rather than on a cruise ship excursion with limited time.

pathway in the Japanese Garden

Butchart Gardens has a variety of different gardens and quite a lot of fountains. Pathways wind between the gardens and through each one so it’s nice to have time enough to see it all.

Posted in Canada, Day Trips, Port City Side Trips, Randoms | Tagged afternoon tea, Butchart Gardens, Canada, Vanouver Island, Victoria | Leave a comment

The Photo Package

Posted on November 22, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

boarding photo

As far as posing for pictures goes, cruising with my sisters is quite the opposite of cruising with my husband. When it’s just the two of us we avoid photographers like the plague, but when cruising with my sisters we always buy a photo package. With most lines the best deal is generally in whatever is the biggest package that they offer. Royal Caribbean’s biggest package is 100 photos. Purchased online pre-cruise it was less than half the price buying it onboard would have been on this cruise. This is a digital package, not printed photos. Newer ships like Quantum of the Seas (which is nowhere near Royal’s newest having launched in 2014) don’t even display printed photos like the older ships did. The walls of racks full of photos that mostly ended up in the garbage since nobody bought them have been replaced by a room full of computer monitors where you use your key card to bring up pictures of people in your cabin. The package covers anyone in that room, but if you are traveling with people in other cabins they will also be included in the photos for your cabin as long as at least one person from your cabin is in the photo and that is the cabin number that you give the photographer when they ask for it. Which was nice since my two nieces were in a different cabin from my mom, sisters, and I, but are still included in some of our photos.

standard poses

In the evenings on Quantum of the Seas there were always photo booths somewhere around the ship, even when it wasn’t formal night. Of course on formal nights there were more of them because more people want photos then. The photograpers all had the same standard poses they wanted to use each time. They generally took one with everyone standing there, some sort of hugging photo, one with hands on hips, and one where everyone was touching each other in some way. Usually they had people facing each other in a line, but sometimes they did facing away instead.

something different

After awhile we got bored of the same poses every time and asked some of the photographers to do something different. Some were happy to suggest a variety of other poses or let us do our own thing, probably as bored of the standard poses as we were. Others did not want to deviate at all. Just talking the one at the stairway into letting us each stand on a different stair instead of all bunched up on a couple of them was quite a chore. He really wasn’t happy when some of us added a little more flair to it than just standing there. The one at Wonderland really got into it, with some Queen Linda photos by herself that then morphed into Barbara and I bowing down to the queen. The one at a woodsy backdrop had fun with it too, with the pose shown one that she suggested.

same photo on two different backgrounds

Most of the backdrops are a screen with that background that you stand in front of and that’s what’s in the picture, but sometimes there’s just a green screen and they add in the background later. Most of the photos are just the photo, but things like the boarding photo and a few others during the cruise had fancy boarders added to them. There was one green screen where they put two different backgrounds on each photo taken there. These were separate pictures. I just combined them to take up less space in the blog.

dogsledding without any dogs, sled, or snow

One night there was a green screen with a box in front of it. It didn’t look like much at the time, but the photographer there said it would come out as dogsledding photos. She had each person pose with a hand in the air and both above the box, in a specific place so it would look like we were driving the dogsled. So we went dogsledding on a cruise ship with no dogs, no sled, and no snow.

the closest thing to a port photo was a bear by the buffet

Usually there’s a photographer outside the ship at each port stop, but on this cruise the closest thing was someone in a bear suit outside of the buffet at Icy Strait Point. We didn’t go to the buffet at the other ports so I don’t know if they had anything there for them. We have been on ships in the past where the photographer wanted people to stop on the actual gangway getting off the ship, which really stuffs up the disembarkation line, but when they are off to the side near the ship or somewhere within the port then people who want a photo can get one while those who don’t can easily just walk on by so that’s the best way. The other Royal Caribbean cruises we’ve taken had photographers out at the ports so I’m not sure why this one didn’t.

dining room photo

Dining room photos on the other hand are usually just annoying. They interrupt your meal to pose and the photos are rarely ever any good. Often not flattering to the people in them and the dining room is never the best setting for the background either. And really who wants a photo of themselves eating dinner? I kind of like this one though because of Barbara’s eyes and facial expression. She looks like she’s up to something other than just eating dinner.

photos from random wanderings

Barbara and I seemed to come across random photographers around the ship when it was just the two of us wandering about together so we have a few photos from that.

fake ship photo

You don’t even have to take a picture in front of the actual ship in order to get one because there’s always at least one time when the backdrop has the ship on it. This one was one of many different backdrops offered on a formal night. We did end up with quite a few photos in the same outfits since we often wandered from one backdrop to another after dinner. Since we had the photo package we wanted to make sure to get a bunch of pictures. This is the first time we actually went over the 100 and had to eliminate some. They send an email of the photos you chose, which you have a limited time to download, but I always get them on a flash drive even if I have to pay extra for it. They are better quality than the emailed ones, and all the ones selected will be there. When we were on Symphony of the Seas the email contained less than half of the photos we’d had taken. We hadn’t reached the full 100 that cruise so they gave us the flash drive for free, which was lucky since it had them all. Getting a flash drive used to be the only way to get the pictures so I suppose they went to emailing them to save themselves some money, though the price they charge for a photo package is certainly enough to include one.

Posted in Alaska, Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, Shipboard Life | Tagged cruise, cruise ship photo package, cruise ship photos, Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, travel | Leave a comment

The Other Christmas Island

Posted on November 15, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

sunrise on the promenade

Christmas island is most known for the annual breeding migration of its red crabs, which occurs each summer as the crabs take 4-5 weeks to migrate to their spawning grounds. This happens during what residents of the northern hemisphere would consider winter months because like Australia, to whom Christmas Island is a territory, it also lies in the southern hemisphere. This island of volcanic origin has no indigenous people, but was originally colonized by the British, then was under the jurisdiction of Singapore before becoming an Australian territory. It first appeared on maps in the early 1600’s. Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company named the island after sighting it on Christmas Day. This is the place everyone thinks of when they hear Christmas Island.

map of Kiritimati

There is also another island called Christmas Island. This far less commonly known island’s actual name is Kiritimati. In the Gilbertese language of the island Kiritimati is pronounced something like Krees maas, sounding rather like Christmas. It used to be part of a British colony called the Gilbert Islands, but is now an island in its own country called the Republic of Kiribati. This Christmas Island is a coral atoll in the Line Islands of Kiribati and is the one where Holland America Noordam was supposed to make a port stop on our cruise from San Diego to Sydney. It does have some giant coconut crabs and other land crabs, but not the red crabs that the other Christmas Island is famous for.

sunrise at Kiritimati

Unlike the Christmas Island that is an Australian territory and uses the Australian dollar, the Republic of Kiribati has its own dollar, used only in that country. It is however tied to the Australian dollar in value so the exchange rate will always be the same as with Australia.

international dateline takes a detour around Kiritimati

Kiritimati is the largest coral atoll in the world at about 150 square miles of land mass, with a lagoon of about the same size. The entire island is a wildlife sanctuary, with restricted access in 5 particularly sensitive areas. About 70% of the land mass of the Republic of Kiribati is on that island, though the republic has 32 other small islands. It is the first inhabited place in the world to experience the change of the new year due to an adjustment of the international date line to include the area of this island with the rest of the country where it would otherwise be on the other side. Due to that we crossed the international date line three times on that cruise. We skipped a day on the way to Kiritimati, had the same day twice after what was supposed to be a port stop, and several days later skipped another day crossing the dateline again.

beach on Kiritimati (internet photo)

Trying to find information pre-cruise, some sites said it had crystal clear water and was great for diving and snorkeling. Other sites said stay out of the lagoon, it’s full of sewage. Not much other information was anywhere to be found. There were no shore excursions from the ship to see what sort of things might be there. Even if a person managed to find anything from an outside source since there was no information to be found on where the tenders dock it would be pretty hard to plan anything even if you could find something because of having no idea if you would get off the tender anywhere near the activity or not.

there were a bunch of boats near Kiritimati

On the night before our port stop the captain announced that neither the depth of the water near the island nor the swells in the sea surrounding it would be in our favor for visiting this port. It’s shallow around the atoll so the ship anchors out in deeper water, but even the tenders couldn’t be fully loaded to keep them from going aground.

rescue boat and island boat next to the Noordam

When we arrived at the anchorage near Kiritimati the ship dropped a tender and the small rescue boat. The small boat tested the waters for a route to the island and the tender followed along somewhat. They set out from the ship several times, always returning before actually landing on the island. Eventually they decided they would be unable to get the tenders into the port and the ship left. The sea was too rough and likelihood of a tender running aground was too high. Probably especially with our seemingly neophyte tender crew judging by the difficulties they had launching, docking, and even tying them to the dock in Hawaii, though it’s possible a more talented tender crew may not have been up to the task there either. A boat of representatives from the island made it from shore to our ship, but their boat probably weighed considerably less than a tender. Or they were just far more experienced in safely getting in and out of their island. Likely both.

ships at Kiritimati

Unfortunately since we were unable to get to shore at Kiritimati due to the weather we still don’t know what we would have found there. For a small island it had a lot of ships around it. Possibly a fishing fleet. Fishing is supposed to be popular there.

kids on Kiritimati (internet photo)

The Noordam had a collection of books that were supposed to be donated to Kiritimati for the schoolchildren there. We heard a bunch of them were gathered where the tenders were supposed to dock in anticipation of those books arriving. Since we never made it to shore they were left disappointed. Apparently the boat that came out from the island was unable to take the books when it went back. The books were eventually left for children at an island in another country on a port stop later in the cruise. We did hear that a Seaborne ship that was originally scheduled to stop somewhere else couldn’t get where they intended to go and went into Kiritimati instead and they left the children some books so at least the kids did get some.

Posted in Holland America, Noordam, Pacific Ocean & Islands | Tagged Christmas Island, Kiritimati | Leave a comment

Saint Kitts Island Tour

Posted on November 8, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

ships in Saint Kitts

We hadn’t made any pre-cruise plans for the Saint Kitts port stop on our Caribbean cruise on the Enchanted Princess. One of the couples we had dinner with said their daughter and son-in-law lived on a sailboat and would be anchored off of Saint Kitts at the time our ship arrived. We initially thought they had offered to take us all out on their sailboat, but after we all said we would go it turned out to be a land tour. They had arranged for an island tour which took the two of them as well as all 8 of our dinner group. Though this tour was pre-arranged, it was likely much the same as the last-minute tours offered at the port other than having the option of stopping in additional places if there was anywhere someone wanted to go. The price had been booked by the van and divided among 10 people it came out to $35 per person. Plus I think everyone added a tip at the end.

botanical garden flower

All throughout the drive the driver kept up a running commentary about all of the places we passed by and the names of the towns we passed through. A lot of the towns were quite small and ran into one another so that if you weren’t a local you would just think they were all part of the same city. It seemed like every time we went up or down a little hill it was a different town even though we hadn’t gone very far and there wasn’t any empty space between the houses lining the road. No entering different town signs either.

St Georges Anglican Church (internet photo)

There are a lot of old stone churches around the island. The driver pointed them out as we drove past, but did not stop for us to take photos at any of them. He also pointed out other places of interest like all the different hotels and some businesses as well as landmarks, almond and other types of trees, and when to look for spectacular views on the way up a narrow winding roadway up a hill, but we didn’t stop for photos of any of them either. After the tour was over everyone wished someone had requested a stop for at least one of the churches, or that the driver would have just stopped at some of those places rather than just mentioning them as we passed by.

view in Saint Kitts

Roads in Saint Kitts are very narrow. It felt like there was just barely room for two vehicles to pass by one another in most places, though there were some curves on some of the hills where signs said to honk so that if anyone was coming the other way they would know someone else was coming and not both try to go around that curve at the same time. In many of the little towns people just park in the driving lane and then all the traffic has to go into the other lane to pass around it so if anyone is coming from the other way they have to stop and wait. There weren’t any sidewalks so people just walked in the street.

ruins at Old Road Rum distillery

There were also a bunch of people riding bikes – mostly tourists from the German ship docked next to ours which had a row of bikes next to it when we walked by. Large groups of them got in the way of our van more than once. We did not see any kids playing in the road, but the driver said that they do, and the cars have to wait to go by until the kids finish whatever they are doing and get out of the way. They were probably all in school during our tour. The guide said school is required there for all children. They wear uniforms to school, a different color for each one of the island’s many schools.

ruins of the sugar mill at Wingfield estate

We passed by a veterinary college that had quite a lot of donkeys in fields next to the road. We also saw some horses, cows, and goats. There were probably other animals around somewhere because the driver said that the school had some of all the different types of animals that people on the island have. The island has a lot of monkeys running around, but they aren’t native. Their ancestors came as pets for the French people who lived there when France controlled parts of the island. Another non-native species is mongoose who were brought to the island to control its native snakes. There are no longer any snakes on the island. Now the mongooses are a problem eating people’s chickens.

Old Road Rum distillery

Remains of old sugar mills protrude from the landscape in numerous places. In the time of slavery there were sugar plantations on St Kitts, but they are just ruins now. There is still some sugarcane grown on a few islands in the Caribbean, but only a fraction of what once was grown there so sugar mills in most places are just ruins.

ruins and bridge to trail at Old Road Rum

The first stop on our tour was by request of one of the other passengers at Old Road Rum, a functional distillery since 1681. Of course the equipment used now is far more modern than what was used back then. Tourists can see ruins of some of the old stuff, which is mostly brickwork in towers and holes in the ground. Mainly ruins of a sugar mill built in 1655. Sugarcane and rum go together since rum is made from sugarcane. Rum tasting is available there, for a fee. It’s the oldest surviving rum distillery in the Caribbean.

old tree

Next we went to a botanical garden, which is part of the usual tour. Some people went up in the van to the front entrance from the road. The rest of us walked up a trail from the distillery. On the way we saw some monkeys in a tree.

sign by the tree

The garden had an ancient tree and even more ancient ferns among the plants and flowers there. The tree is a Saman tree over 400 years old.

botanical garden at Romney Manor

The estate also had some ruins of old brick structures. The gift shop had all Batik items made right there at Caribelle Batik at Romney Manor. The garden is recent, taking the place of sugarcane when St Kitts quite producing it in the 2000’s. In 1834 Lord Romeny freed his slaves. This was the first estate in Saint Kitts to do so, and at that time it was against what British Parliament wanted.

Batik at Romney Manor

All of that, the rum place, garden, and batik are on the Wingfield Estate, which was a sugar plantation. The tour guide did not tell us there is also a zipline called Sky Safari somewhere on that estate, though that may require booking in advance. It also cost significantly more per person than we each paid for the island tour.

entrance to Brimstone Hill Fort

Next we stopped at Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. This old fort sprawls over many acres. After years of abandonment parts of it were restored, though some of it is still in ruins. It was originally designed by British military engineers, built and maintained by slaves. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. St. Kitts was the first Caribbean island colonized by Europeans.

cannon at the fort

Brimstone Hill was first used for military purposes in 1690 when the British started building the fort and installed a cannon on the hill to drive out the French. The fort was completed with intermittent construction over the next century and used by the British until 1853. The site was abandoned and left to go into ruins until restoration began as a historical site in 1965.

view from the fort

The British military of the time wore uniforms designed for England’s much colder climate which caused some soldiers to die of heat stroke.

courtyard at the fort

Arriving at the fort requires a hairy drive up a steep hill on a very narrow winding road which passes through several even narrower stone gates. It takes some driving skills to negotiate these gates, which sometimes are located at nearly hairpin turns.

view of the fort from the parking area

The road ends in a large flat expanse of grass where people park. At that level there’s a small refreshment stand, a visitor center and a gift shop near where our van and everyone else already there parked. A short walk from there leads to some stone ruins also at the same elevation. The tour starts with a short movie about the history of the fort in the visitor’s center, which like every tourist attraction everywhere exits through the gift shop.

stairway to the fort

From there to see anything else other than the one set of ruins, it’s a steep walk either up or down. The main fort is up at the top so we went up. There’s a lot of old stonework and a lot of cannons at the fort. It also has some nice views of the sea. Most of the fort is open areas surrounded in stone walls, but there were some inside places. The largest inside place we went into had tiny bathrooms which were free to use, but looked like it had been quite some time since their last cleaning. At least they were actual flush toilets and not the nearby narrow sloping trench that looked as if it may have been the lavatory of its day.

Caribbean and Atlantic

Our last stop on the island tour was at a viewpoint where you could see the Atlantic Ocean on one side of the island and the Caribbean Sea on the other. The narrow strip of land in between had a very brown looking salt pond. There were a lot of tour busses and vans at that stop, and several little booths selling cold drinks, snack chips, and souvenirs.

tour busses at the viewpoint

Posted in Caribbean, Enchanted Princess, Ports of Call, Princess | Tagged Brimstone Hill Fort, Caribbean, cruise, Enchanted Princess, island tour, photos, Saint Kitts, travel | Leave a comment

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