Ardastra Garden & Wildlife Centre

Posted on May 31, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of ships in Nassau from Fort Fincastle

Our 11-day cruise on MSC Meraviglia made two port stops in Nassau. On the first round I had a chocolate-making tour while John went to a wine-mixing tour, both at Graycliff Hotel. The second time around we first walked to Fort Fincastle and the Queen’s Staircase, then from there to Ardastra Garden & Wildlife Conservation Centre.

pink flower

Ardastra Gardens was established in 1937 by Jamaican horticulturalist Hedley Edwards. He chose the name from the Latin words ardua ad astra, which means striving towards the stars. It was first developed as an exotic garden and nature preserve, with endangered Caribbean flamingos from the island of Inagua added in the 1950’s. With a successful breeding program, the garden became a permanent home for its flamingos. Eventually they began to train them to entertain visitors. Inagua is the southernmost island in the Bahamas, made up of a pair of islands called Great Inagua and Little Inagua, or collectively Inagua. Little Inagua is an uninhabited protected turtle habitat and Great Inagua is home to the Morton Salt factory. Inagua is popular for ecotourism and flamingo sanctuaries. In 1980 native Bahamian Norman Solomon purchased Ardastra gardens and added more animals and the garden became a conservation center and boutique zoo.

flower at Ardastra Garden

Ardastra Gardens & Wildlife Centre is about a 3 kilometer walk from the cruise port, which google maps pegs as just over 30 minutes and a slightly shorter distance because its directions start where the port ends rather than out on the dock. It was about the same distance from where we started at Fort Fincastle, but a different route. Google maps said we had arrived at the corner of a street next to the humane society where there was just a sign for the garden & wildlife center with an arrow pointing down a nearby dead-end road. The actual entrance was about a block away at the end of that dead-end road.

turtles

Looking up things to do in Nassau before our cruise, I found Ardastra Garden, with info saying that admission was free. I’m not sure if they were dead wrong or just way out of date, but it actually cost $20 to get in. It’s a fairly small place at around 4 acres and the gardens seemed to be mainly plantings between animal enclosures rather than any specific garden areas. The price is kind of high for the size of the attraction, but if you consider it as a donation to the wildlife center then it’s not bad since it runs partly on donations.

flowers at Ardastra Garden

The site that said Ardastra was free may have been confusing this garden with the nearby Nassau Botanical Garden although online info says there is a small fee to enter that one as well. When we walked past what was probably a back entrance to that garden on the way to Ardastra there was an open gate with a small sign that just said Botanical Garden going into a forested area so someone could have gone in there and thought it was free – and that they were at Ardastra since it is nearby. The Nassau Botanical Garden opened on July 10, 1973 when the Bahamas first gained their independence from British rule. It features 18 acres of tropical flora covering over 600 species, including the Bahamas national flower, the Yellow Elder. That garden is in a former rock quarry that supplied stones for building roads and Fort Charlotte, which the garden sits behind.

parrot

The first creatures we saw after entering Ardastra were parrots on stands. They weren’t caged, but stayed on their perches and didn’t fly away. I don’t know if they couldn’t fly or just didn’t want to. They do take in injured animals there so some or all of the birds may have recovered from injuries that left them flightless. One of the aquatic birds in a pond had an obviously injured wing. Over 75% of the animals there are rescue or rehab animals. The flamingos are the national bird of the Bahamas and part of a breeding program for threatened species.

white peacock

A white peacock ran around loose and uncaged while a regular blue and green colored peacock was in a cage with a flock of peahens. There were some caged birds including a toucan, parakeets, and a barn owl. Chickens ran free in some places and were caged in others. One little area had other farm animals besides the chickens with several pigs, some goats, and a few rabbits. Most of the rabbits were in cages, but one was running around loose.

goose, probably male

There were a couple geese by a pond, probably a male and a female as the larger one had all sorts of things sticking out around his head that the smaller one did not.

capybara

One enclosure held a capybara, the world’s largest rodent. Capybaras are native to central and south America and live in swampy grasslands near water. They can stay underwater for up to 5 minutes, have webbed feet, and eat mainly water plants and grass.

serval cat

Another had a couple Serval cats, which sort of looked like a cross between a giraffe and a cheetah with their excessively long necks. These cats are native to Africa, can run over 50mph, jump up to 10 feet high or 20 feet in distance and have enormous ears for the size of their heads.

Let me out!

They also had some other random animals like raccoons. While some do live in the Bahamas, they are not a native animal there.

Caribbean flamingos

At Ardastra flamingos are the stars of the show, literally. One flock was loose in the park, but stayed in a little grassy area next to a small arena. Another flock was in an enclosure. The loose ones performed in a flamingo show where they moved together as a group under the commands of a human drill sergeant. The talk accompanying the show said they were trained for that using their normal behavior patterns. Flamingos in the wild tend to hang out in cliques with quieter birds staying among other quiet birds while the noisy ones hang together with each other.

performing with the flamingos

During the show the trainer picked a couple people to come in one by one and pose with the flamingos. He picked me first and asked me to stand like a flamingo. Since they are famous for standing on one foot that’s what I did. It’s not like I could become all pink and feathery or anything. The other girl that came in after looked like she was posing for phone selfies rather than doing anything flamingo-like, but I guess that worked for her. She probably doesn’t look nearly so awkward as me in her photos anyway.

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Canopy Tours NW

Posted on May 27, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

barn at Kristoferson farm where the zipline tour starts and ends

Ziplines probably aren’t the thing most people associate with Seattle or the surrounding area, but there are several in the vicinity. The one we went to is Canopy Tours NW, a zipline course at the Kristoferson Farm on Camano Island about 60 miles north of Seattle. This course includes 6 ziplines, a couple short trail walks, a suspension bridge, and a final descent that is sort of like repelling except that it is done with a constant velocity device where the participant is just along for a ride down at a controlled speed.

view from one of the zipline platforms

This is a great course for first timers as none of the lines are extremely long or fast. It’s also fun for experienced zipliners because it’s a long enough course to be worth the drive to Camano Island. It goes through a managed forest on an organic farm with some mountain and water views from platforms along the way. On the day we went our group of 4 included Chris and Justin and the other group of 5 we were combined with contained Christa and Justina so there was a bit of a name coincidence going on.

zipline harnesses ready for people to step into

Before the tour starts participants check in at a small store in a corner of a large historic red barn. The store sells some products made from lavender, apples, and other things grown on the farm as well as canopy tour t-shirts and a few other things. Harnesses are laid out on a cement aisleway down the center of the barn, ready for people to get buckled into prior to the tour. They had 11 harnesses ready to go, but only 9 participants came so there must have been a couple no-shows. While harnessing each person up they ask if you’ve ever done a zipline before. Out of the 9 only Chris and I had previously done a full course, but they told Linda they’d count her short onboard zip on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas. Some ziplines allow people to go hands free in any position they want including turning upside down, but they said these harnesses were not the right sort for that so everyone was required to remain upright with at least one hand on the yellow strap while on the zipline.

stairway to the first platform

A short van ride up a steep and curvy dirt road brings everyone to the start of the zipline tour where a stairway leads to the first platform. It’s not a real high stairway, but there’s still enough drop between the first two platforms. Although there were a couple other platforms within the course accessed from the ground, this was the only one with stairs.

Linda on the first zipline

The first two zips are the shortest and slowest on the course, designed to give newbies a chance to get accustomed to ziplining before moving onto longer and faster lines. They have a braking system operated by one of the guides. The days of having to keep a gloved hand over the line to brake yourself with on zipline courses seem to be long gone as all the ones I’ve been on anytime recently have some sort of passive or active self-braking system. I did notice that the guides on this tour wore leather gloves and stopped themselves by hand the old-fashioned way though. The first one over to the next platform had to as there was nobody there to operate the braking system for them, but the one following the group did so as well. Most of the ziplines I’ve done recently had giant springs at the end that stopped people on their own without anyone needing to control anything.

the second zipline ended with a ground ramp

The first line went to the platform where the second one starts, as is common in zipline courses, but the second one went down to the ground where people could choose to either run up a ramp as they landed or keep their feet up and land the usual way.

strapped to a tree waiting for the next turn

While on tree platforms between ziplines there is a strap with a giant carabiner on it keeping everyone safely clipped to a cable around the tree trunk. There is also a railing around the outer edge of the platform so nobody would fall off even without the clip. Most of the railings had some sort of information about the trees or animals or plants native to the area.

part of an informational sign on one of the platforms

The two guides kept in contact with walkie talkies so each always knew when they were ready for the other to send or retrieve the next person. At each platform the next person steps up on a little stairway block while the guide attaches all their necessary equipment to the line and doesn’t remove the cable from the tree until after informing the other guide that the person is ready to go.

guide talking about plants on the trail walk between ziplines

After the second line we had a short walk along a trail while one of the guides talked about various plants along the way – and warned anyone who might not be from the area not to touch the stinging nettles that commonly grow in Washington’s forests. Often there are sword ferns growing near nettles. If you do get stung fern juice rubbed onto the sting will offer some relief. There were a lot of salmonberry and huckleberry bushes alongside the trail. Both are edible, but it was not the season for either one to have berries on them.

Linda taking off on platform 3

it wasn’t very far between the third and fourth platforms

The next couple zips were longer and faster than the first two, with one going platform to platform and the other to the ground with a warning not to try and run up that ramp as the speed at the end of this line would be too fast for that to work. Keeping feet up and using the braking system provided was the way to go there.

refreshment stop

The landing for the fourth line was on the ground. Water and hot chocolate waited at a little clearing next to the platform with a cup dispenser hanging nearby and a fire pit that was covered at that time, but probably there for use on colder days. A wooden bench near the water cooler had WOO HOO carved into the seat.

Linda on the wonky bridge

Another short walk brought us to the log bridge that the guide referred to as the rickety bridge. It had a cable above it for the clips that usually went on ziplines or trees and people could hold the straps hanging down from there for better balance. They warned against going too fast which might result in falling between the logs and getting bruised. The guide also said to step across two logs at the middle, but that didn’t work so well with my short little legs and one foot did slip off. Quickly raising both feet allowed me to slide along the cable somewhat like a zipline for a few inches until setting a foot back down on the next log, which worked much better than letting that fallen foot hit a log – and no bruising involved. Stepping on every log after that prevented any more slips. Only stepping on every other one is fine for tall people with long legs like the guide, not short people like me.

Justin on the 5th line

One of the people from the other group was smaller and lighter than me. She went just ahead of me on the second to last zip and the guide asked her if she wanted to go with velocity, which meant he would give her a push at the start so she’d go faster than just stepping off the edge or curling up her feet and going off on her own like we all had on the previous lines. She said yes to that and when it was my turn I asked if I could go with velocity too. On the last line he asked me if I wanted to have velocity again (but not her), so I did. More fun the faster it goes after all. Heavier people go fast on their own.

the guide has the braking system out ready to stop Chris

The guide who went ahead of everyone else put the braking system out on the line on the landing platform for each person to catch them as they came in.

guide taking care of Justin’s harness

The guide at the takeoff platform hooks you up to the line before you go and the one on the landing platform unhooks everything when you stop there.

Chris passing over the leaning tree

The last line passed over a tree that looked like it was leaning over to get out of the way of people going by on the zipline, which ran above it only because of the lean. The base of the trunk sat on one side of a small stream while the top came up at an angle on the other. It likely had partially fallen in a storm long before the zipline existed, but survived and grew crooked. That probably was a lifesaver for that tree because if it had grown straight it likely would have been cut down to avoid people on the zipline running into it.

hole in the last platform

The last platform had a square hole cut into it, which is for the descent. When your turn comes you hold a rope and stand on a small bit of platform between the tree and the hole – while still clipped to the tree so there is no danger of falling. From there they clip on the apparatus that lowers you to the ground, then you drop through the hole and descend. It’s not super slow, but not fast either. After landing on the platform below you get out of the way and go stand on the ground nearby so the next person can go. Once everyone was down they sent down the apparatus they’d used and the last guide repelled down and then yanked that rope down too. They put those things into a plastic tub to take with them since there was not another group that day. They don’t leave the ropes out to get weather-worn, but have to set them up each day that there are tours.

Justin coming down

There was no need for the van to pick anyone up at the end of the course because it finished within sight of the barn where we first started so people could just walk the rest of the way back. Once back at the barn the harnesses were removed and dropped back on the cement for the guides to put away. A tip jar sat on a table by the entrance to the center aisle.

view of the barn from the end of the course

They do not allow anything brought along that doesn’t fit into a pocket and recommend not using back pockets as things are likely to fall out there. Keys can be left at the store for safekeeping so they don’t get lost on the course. At least one hand is required to hold on while actively on the line, but phones or cameras can come out of the pocket for taking photos from the platforms in between. The whole course took about 2 and a half hours, but according to my Garmin watch I only had a bit over 11 minutes of moving time. Most of the rest of it was standing on platforms waiting for the next turn other than the snack break.

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iFLY on Quantum of the Seas

Posted on May 24, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

iFLY above the flowrider

iFLY indoor skydiving is a skydiving simulator in a vertical wind tunnel. There are locations on land in various places. When sailing on one of Royal Caribbean’s Quantum class ships you can also experience it at sea. Five of our group of six on an Alaska cruise on Quantum of the Sea booked iFLY, and were joined by one small boy who had just randomly booked the same time as us. We were very lucky to have him there. Though he might have rather had some kids instead of a bunch of women, he did come with a set of parents who were not joining him in the experience.

Barbara in the iFLY

While not allowed into the wind tunnel or its waiting area where riders go while others are inside, tag-alongs with booked guests are allowed to watch from outside of the wind tunnel structure. They are also allowed to take photos, while those inside are not allowed to bring cameras or phones even into the area that’s not actually the wind tunnel. We did not know either of those things ahead of time and had not brought my mom along to take photos for us. The guide said sometimes pro photographers from the ship are there, but there were not any that day. Luckily the boy’s parents took some photos for us or we wouldn’t have had any at all.

flappy cheeks in the wind tunnel

The experience starts by checking in at a desk in the iFLY area on the deck below the actual wind tunnel. First they have everyone go into a little room to watch a short educational movie about what to expect when you go into the wind tunnel. It shows various hand signals as you can’t hear anyone talking in the wind tunnel so any communication between the guide and rider has to be done with their hands. The movie also shows a drooling guy with his cheeks flapping in the wind. They warn you that you too will look that way as you don’t necessarily have control of your face while inside the vertical wind tunnel.

suited up and ready to fly

Following the movie they hand out flight suits, helmets, and glasses to all the participants. All of the suits were blue, but they had different colors of cuffs and trim for different sizes so the guides could grab the correct size for each person at a glance. The helmet colors varied per size too. The instructor had a full-face helmet which protected her from any flappy-cheek or drooling problems. She also moved about in the wind tunnel with ease, though for the inexperienced it’s not nearly as easy as she made it look. There was a rack of little cubbies for people’s belongings that were not allowed into the wind tunnel. Things like jewelry, phones, cameras, purses, or pretty much anything other than the clothes you had on under the flight suit.

doorway in the iFLY chamber

Once everyone was ready we all went upstairs. There’s a little waiting area with a bench for whoever is not currently in the wind tunnel to sit on while they await their turn. From that area there’s a small opening into the wind tunnel itself. There’s not a door over the opening, but all of the wind stays inside and doesn’t pass through the doorway. It’s all quiet until the wind tunnel starts up. Then it sounds like you’re sitting next to a jet plane. You can still hear in the waiting area, enough for the instructor to decide who went in what order, but once you pass through the little doorway you can’t hear anything above the roar, hence the need for the hand signals.

iFLY instructor

You don’t get just let loose in there. The instructor shows you how to lean forward and let your feet come up so you’re floating rather than standing. It would take more time than one session allows to learn how to fully control your body in there so the instructor mostly holds people. You have to learn how to fly before you can do it on your own.

flying free

When anyone got into a good position she’d let go briefly so they could float on their own, but catch hold again before they got out of control. At the end of the turn we all had to hold onto the sides of the opening and pull ourselves out, but the instructor just popped out the door hands free like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Jen floating free

Each person got 2 one-minute sessions during the round. On the first session you’re mostly learning how to get into position, but on the second one if you do well you get little chances to float free.

Mel in flight

It was a fun experience and definitely something out-of-the ordinary, especially for things to do on a cruise ship.

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Promenade Deck on Wonder of the Seas

Posted on May 17, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Life Ring

Wonder of the Seas and other Royal Caribbean Oasis Class ships have the best promenade decks at sea. It’s kind of like two decks in one since the Royal Promenade on the inside of the ship is a completely different area than the outside promenade.

car on the Royal Promenade

The Royal Promenade sprawls through a good portion of the center of deck 5. The theater and spa are at the front of that deck and the main dining room at the back. The Royal Promenade somewhat resembles a city street, but without the traffic. There is one car as part of the decor, but it doesn’t move so nobody has to worry about getting ran over.  It’s an old car to go along with the Route 66 theme of the decor.

looking down on the Rising Tide bar

the Rising Tide has risen

The center is a wide lane dotted with shopping booths and items of decor. The Rising Tide Bar is sometimes there, and sometimes it rises up to Central Park leaving a hollow in its place. Drinks are not hard to find on the Royal Promenade even when the Rising Tide has risen because it is also home to a couple of pubs and the Bionic Bar, manned by robots.

Bionic Bar

There’s a pizza parlor, a cafe, and a karaoke club mingled in with the shops. Even though the ship has its own cafe/coffee shop, there’s a Starbucks there too. Shops range from liquor to expensive jewelry, accessories, clothing, and pretty much all the other usual sorts of things found in cruise ship shops. There’s also a gift shop that had lots of logo items, but not the one thing I always look for. They did not have any ship model Christmas tree ornaments of the Wonder available during our cruise, though it was near Christmas and they had other ornaments. There are also some shops in other areas of the ship.

two levels of places to go and things to do

The Royal Promenade is open in the center up several decks, with skylights into deck eight’s central park in its ceiling. There are a few public areas on the sides of deck 6 with views onto the promenade including a bar and the shore excursion desk and photo gallery. On deck 7 there are a few interior cabins with a view window over the promenade.

booth on the promenade

Sometimes the promenade gets pretty crowded, but other times – like really early in the morning before anything opens there may not be anyone else there. If they have a sale at any of the little booths in the center there’s sure to be a crowd. Even more so when there are activities going on there. One day there was a pirate parade.

little boat getting ready for a pirate parade on the Royal Promenade

Although the Royal Promenade on the inside is great with its city-like atmosphere around shops and eateries, that’s not all the promenade deck has going for it. While I’m usually pleased just to find an outside promenade deck that goes all the way around the ship since so many ships don’t have that these days, this ship class goes above and beyond.

best cruise ship track ever

The outside promenade deck is actually set up as a running track. Although it is on the outside of the ship it’s mostly sheltered. The bow area is under cover and both sides are mostly protected by lifeboats, with a few view spots in between. The back is wide open for a great view of the wake and where the ship has been. On the inside edge of the track at the back there are windows into the AquaTheater and a view of the rock climbing walls and Ultimate Abyss 10-deck slides.

room at the side of the track

Each side has a wide area of open space to the water side of the track where there isn’t a lifeboat. These spaces have places to sit and things to do. One has shuffleboard and a ping-pong table, the other more chairs and tables. Lifeboats surrounding the track means there are no rooms with their views blocked by lifeboats on this ship.

sometimes you have to pass several ceiling signs to read the whole thing

It’s not just the surface area of the track that makes this deck special either. It has signs posted with how many laps equals how much distance. There’s a walk lane, a run lane, and a bit of extra space alongside the lanes where people can pass by slower movers. If you start at the space marked starting line and run the number of laps indicated there are markers along the track to tell you at what point you have reached your goal. Overhead signs give encouragement and entertainment along the way.

the rest of the rhyme

The downside of such a great promenade is that other people like it too. Going out for an early morning run there were already crew people using the track when I started, and other passengers by the time I finished. At least there weren’t any people swabbing the deck, which is a hazard on early morning promenade deck runs on some ships.

rehearsal for the AquaTheater show seen through the window from the track to the Boardwalk

Most of the other people are courteous and will let faster movers by without any trouble, but there are always those few entitled folks who want to sprawl across the entire track area walking slowly and looking quite affronted when you want to pass by them in the run lane even though that lane is clearly marked for runners, not baby buggies and slow walking groups. They have the walk lane for that. Runners on the other hand are usually quick to move aside into the walk lane if a faster runner comes up behind them. Crew people are the most courteous of all. They will try to get out of the way for a passenger even if the crew person is the faster runner.

yay, dessert

The promenade deck on this class of ship is my favorite of all the ships I have been on so far. Mainly due to the track, but the Royal Promenade is nice too.

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Nawiliwili Bus Tour Kauai

Posted on May 10, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam approaching Nawiliwili

The only last-minute tour offered at our port stop in Nawiliwili was a 3-hour tour on the bus that said hop on hop off, but really wasn’t. It ran shuttles to a mall for the first couple hours in port, then the tour which was just the one bus with the same people getting off and back on at each stop rather than an actual hop on hop off bus that would drop people at stops and come by later to pick them up – which usually involves more than one bus on the route. The tour sold out before the last group came to the mall so we were lucky to have come on an earlier shuttle while there was still space available even if it did mean hanging out in the mall a bit before the tour. We had more than enough time to get a bit of shopping done.

bus at a tour stop and lots of feral chickens

Everyone showed up for the noon tour with time to spare, along with one confused couple expecting a shuttle ride back to the port even though the driver had made it quite clear when he dropped people off at the mall that the last shuttle back would be at 11:30 and after that people were on their own. He took them somewhere in the mall, I assume to find help for them arrange for an uber or taxi or something to take them back to the port.

hala tree

Though the driver was originally from the east coast of mainland USA, he had been living in Kauai for some time and was quite knowledgeable with plenty of information and interesting tales between stops. Along the way he pointed out extra things to see as we drove by like the shell of a hotel where an Elvis Presley movie was filmed. At the time the movie was filmed it was a nice hotel, but between then and now a hurricane pretty much destroyed it.

Opaeka’a Falls

Our first stop was at Opaeka’a Falls. A pathway led to an overlook of three side-by-side waterfalls. One of the trees alongside the path had fruit that looked something like pineapples, but they’re really not. Pineapples don’t grow on trees. They grow individually under the ground, one per plant. The tree was a hala tree, a native Hawaiian species. The fruit is edible, but is said to taste like a combination of sugar cane and mango rather than anything resembling pineapple, and also looks nothing like a pineapple on the inside.

Wailua River

The other side of the road had an overlook to Wailua River, the largest river in Hawaii. A scene from an Indiana Jones movie was filmed there. A scene from Jurassic Park was also filmed somewhere along that river, though not at the place seen from that overlook.

Spouting Horn

Next we stopped at a place called Spouting Horn, one of the few places without a Hawaiian name. A rocky shoreline with a series of blowholes, of which the two main ones at Spouting Horn were the largest. The smaller hole had the biggest splashes, each proceeded by a loud noise which seemed to come from the larger hole, though I could be wrong about that. The guide said that originally the larger hole produced by far the biggest spout, but at some point in the past a local farmer dynamited the hole because it kept spraying saltwater in his field and ruining his crops. So that was either an extremely large spout or his farm was way too close to the edge of the sea. Or both.

flower on a tree

Along the way we passed by many large banyan and monkeypod trees as well as flowering trees like plumeria and lots of fruit trees including banana and papaya. Kauai is called the garden island because of the abundant rain and excellent growing conditions. It’s the oldest of the Hawaiian islands. Though it was volcanically created its volcano has long since gone extinct as the earth’s plates shift.

monk seal

The last stop brought us to Poipu Beach which is not just a popular spot for humans. Monk seals and green sea turtles like to rest and relax there as well – even with a crowd of people there. One end of the beach had a snoozing monk seal, surrounded by caution tape that people weren’t allowed to cross and a sign saying it was a 2-year-old male who had been lying there since early morning. The guide said they sleep there while digesting a recent meal. It was quite sound asleep, never moving or even batting an eye.

green sea turtles

On the other end of the beach a ring of cones surrounded two large green sea turtles, one all the way up on the beach and the other far enough down that incoming waves would partly cover it until they receded back from shore. The turtles were more alert than the seal, with open eyes and a bit of movement. Both those animals are on the endangered species list.

feral rooster

Far from endangered, feral chickens were everywhere, often in quite large numbers. They’re descendants of chickens that escaped their coops during hurricanes, mainly Iniki in 1992. A lot of the islands we visited on our Noordam cruise had feral chickens.

hen and chicks by Poipu Beach

Some of the roosters are quite colorful. Mostly we saw adult birds, but one hen by the beach had a family of half-grown chicks. Wild boars are also a human-introduced nuisance on the island, but we did not see any of those. We did see a phone booth by Poipu beach though, something not seen all that often anymore.

phone booths still exist

All of the homes near that beach are relatively new and very expensive. Since all the original buildings were completely destroyed in a hurricane you would think they would put in some sort of effort to replace them with hurricane proof construction, but they all just looked like ordinary houses.

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Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port

Posted on May 3, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of a blimp from stateroom balcony while docked in Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale sits on the coast of Florida about 30 miles north of Miami. Besides being a vacation destination on its own it also hosts one of the larger cruise ports. It is one of the busiest ports in the world. While not as big as the nearby cruise port in Miami, it does have 9 terminals.

inside a port terminal building

The port in Fort Lauderdale is called Port Everglades. It’s mainly an embarkation and debarkation port rather than a place ships go for a port stop. Each terminal has its own building. Some belong to just one specific cruise line. Terminal buildings contain facilities for checking cruise passengers in for their cruise as well as customs for when they return. Also open areas with seating space for passengers who check in before boarding actually begins, though if they arrive too early they have to wait in line outside of the building. It’s not just passengers that need to get onboard while the ship is in port. All their luggage has to be loaded as well as fuel and provisions for the cruise. Any new crew starting their hitch that day need to board the ship as well.

forklifts at work loading supplies on Enchanted Princess

The port first opened in 1928. Ships of that time were quite a lot smaller than the cruise ships of today. Proximity to the Caribbean is a big draw for ships in this port.

after checking in you go up to the second floor before boarding

A lot of people fly into Fort Lauderdale a day ahead of their cruise. The cruise port and airport are not far from each other so there are hotels with shuttles to both. Some hotels have more shuttles than others. If you happen to book at a hotel that doesn’t have enough shuttles and your plane comes in during a busy time it’s better just to take a taxi or an uber because the wait for a shuttle with space available could take hours for a hotel that only has one or two. Both taxis and ubers were under $30 on the day we were there.

people making their way through the terminal to the boarding area

Most hotel shuttles are free both to the airport and to the cruise port, but if you happen to have one that charges by the person it may be cheaper to take an uber, especially if you aren’t traveling alone. The cruise shuttles will run at various times throughout the morning. If you like to be near the beginning of the line and don’t mind standing outside and waiting for boarding to start take an early shuttle.

the gangway at last

If you’d rather just walk in without much of a line and get right on the ship without wating around in the port take the latest shuttle available – or if there aren’t any late enough shuttles take a taxi or uber an hour or two before all-aboard time if you have somewhere to go between hotel check-out and then. If you don’t want to stand outside waiting for boarding to start and would rather be in a moving line take a shuttle that gets there around the time boarding starts – though if you get there right when it first starts the line will likely be quite long so one that gets there after the line has a bit of time to clear is better.

looking down on the gangway between the ship and terminal building from the ship

Once onboard all passengers have to complete the muster drill before the ship can depart. On most ships this now consists of watching a video either on the stateroom TV or in the app and checking into your assigned muster station, which just means you go there and check in with the crew manning that post so they know that you found it. It’s a whole lot better than the pre-covid muster drills where everyone had to crowd together at the muster station for a drill that someone was always late to keeping everyone else waiting. There’s still usually a few people that don’t bother to get it done when they board that get their names called near time to depart to do their drill so the ship can leave the dock.

view from our cabin balcony on the Enchanted Princess in Fort Lauderdale

Boarding time usually ends an hour before sail-away, but most people board earlier and have some time to relax, explore the ship, and have something to eat before it leaves port. Ships always toot their horn before leaving port. In Fort Lauderdale Enchanted Princess didn’t just toot, it played the theme from the old Love Boat show on its horn as it sailed away from the dock. There was a lot of boat traffic in the channel leading from the port to the ocean and in the port area so a police boat held traffic to make room for Enchanted Princess to leave.

view of the channel leading out to the open ocean while sailing out of Fort Lauderdale

When the cruise ends the ships disembark in the morning and people often don’t have flights home until afternoon or evening. Cruise ships offer disembarkation excursions that end in a drop-off at the airport. Our cruise on Enchanted Princess offered limited availability for Everglades Airboat rides or a cruise on the intercoastal waterway with drop-offs for both Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports.

passengers leaving Port Everglades after disembarking at the end of a cruise

Besides the fact that those excursions don’t have room for everyone, some people have already done them or aren’t interested. People can of course go hang out at the airport all day, but if you aren’t allowed to check in your luggage until relatively close to the time of departure that keeps you out of all the parts of the airport that have shops, eateries, and places to sit because there isn’t much in the entry area. There are at least seats in the baggage claim area, which is the only other accessible place before checking in luggage.

Everglades airboat excursion

Renting a car is a possibility, but going anywhere and doing anything means leaving your luggage vulnerable in that car where someone might steal it. There is another option though. Many of the area hotels offer day passes. The higher priced ones include a room, but for a lower fee you get access to the pool area and the hotel will store your luggage while you are there.

at the Mariott Airport hotel in Fort Lauderdale

We tried the hotel option at the Marriott Airport Hotel. When you first walk in the hotel somewhat resembles an airport, but it’s actually a nice hotel. There’s a restaurant next to the check-in desk. They tag the luggage and cart it off to storage, giving each person a wristband and a card that allows access to the gym next to the pool, which is where the restrooms are located. It’s important that you know which Mariott you’re going to if that’s the one you choose because there is another one closer to the cruise port.

the hotel had a really nice pool

The pool there is large and pretty warm for an outdoor pool. It’s surrounded in loungers, some under a shaded area. There’s also several covered beds with curtains you can draw around them, and a couple furniture groupings of couches around a table. We picked one of the couch set-ups on the shady side of the pool for our party of 4. Our friends eventually bailed to one of the covered beds when one opened up, but we found the couch more comfortable and it stayed shady the whole time we were there due to the tall buildings around it – though the area on the other side of the pool had some sun in spite of having tall buildings there as well.

view of the courtyard from the pool deck

One side overlooked the hotel grounds with a lawn and some ground-level seating. There was a small bar out by the pool with drinks and snacks, but for more substantial food people would need to either go to the restaurant our walk to others nearby. We took an uber from the port to get there, but had a ride to the airport in a hotel shuttle, which ran every hour and half hour. This was a pleasant way to spend the hours where we had nowhere else to go, and cost less than half as much per person as the cruise ship debarkation excursions.

If you drive to the port there is parking available, which can be booked in advance to insure you have a spot. For those arriving a night ahead of the cruise some hotels offer parking with a hotel stay and will shuttle people to the port.

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Fort Fincastle and the Queen’s Staircase

Posted on April 26, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of ships in Nassau from Fort Fincastle

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

Fort Fincastle

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

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

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

Fort Fincastle

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

tower and booths of stuff for sale

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

inside the fort

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

fort entrance

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

cannons

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

view out the backside of the fort

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

Queen’s Staircase

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

walking down the Queen’s Staircase

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

corridor at the bottom of the Queen’s Staircase

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

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Things to do on Quantum of the Seas

Posted on April 19, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

top decks on Quantum of the Seas

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

North Star

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

iFLY

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

show in Two 70

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

bumper cars in the Seaplex

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

cascading pools in the solarium

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

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

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

treadmills in the gym

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

show in the main theater

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

Music Hall

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

Bionic Bar with robot bartenders

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

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

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

Royal Promenade

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

casino

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

pool deck

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

No saving deck chairs!

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

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Nawiliwili Kauai Cruise Port, Hawaii

Posted on April 12, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam in Nawiliwili

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

using a forklift to move the docking lines

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

docking station on the Noordam

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

port at Nawiliwili

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

mall shuttle at the port

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

the trolley was just another mall shuttle

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

Poipu Beach

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

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

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

feral rooster and hen

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

flower

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

pilot boat bringing the pilot to the ship in Nawiliwili

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

tugboat that helped Noordam in and out of Nawiliwili

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

view of the Noordam from the tug

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

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Posted in Holland America, Noordam, Port Cities, Ports of Call, USA | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Cruise Ship Cabins on Enchanted Princess

Posted on April 5, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Tortola

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

ocean view cabin

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

interior cabin

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

accessible interior cabin

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

accessible bathroom with roll-in shower

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

standard balcony cabin

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

premium deluxe balcony cabin

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

extended balcony on premium deluxe balcony cabin

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

accessible balcony cabin

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

mini-suite

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

penthouse suite

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

bedroom in premium suite D121

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

kitchen and living room the sky suite

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

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

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

penthouse suite bathroom

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

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

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

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