Shows on Wonder of the Seas

Posted on August 11, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Wonder of the Seas

Like her sister ships in the Oasis class, Wonder of the Seas has some pretty spectacular shows including an ice skating show in the onboard ice arena and a fast-paced dancing and diving show with some very high dives into a tiny pool at the AquaTheater. There are also more standard type cruise ship shows in the main theater and comedy club.

ICE SHOW

spring at the ice show

The ice-skating show on Wonder of the Seas is called Ice Spectacular 365. Scenery and costumes cover the changing seasons over the course of a year. The show starts with a depiction of spring including butterflies and flowers in both the scenery and the light effects on the ice. Skaters dressed in bright colors perform to cheerful music.

summer at the ice show

Throughout the show it changes to summer, fall, and winter. The tone of the music changes from one season to another as well. Performances are sometimes large groups of skaters, sometimes pairs, and sometimes individuals as one would expect in a skating show.

bikes on the ice

This one also had a few different things like a trio with one girl and two guys who would sometimes pass her to one another above ground. The pairs weren’t always the typical one guy and one girl either as there were a couple numbers with two guys and one with two girls. One number included bikes with light-up wheels.

aerialist on ice skates

There was also an aerialist skater. Reservations are required to assure a seat for this show, but it doesn’t cost anything to make them. Making reservations as soon as possible after boarding is the best way to make sure you get into the shows you want to see before they get all booked up.

winter at the ice show

Reservations just get you in the door though, they don’t give you any particular seat so it pays to get there early if you want the best seat choices. For the ice show the end opposite the wall with the scenery gives you a better view than the seating on the other two sides.

WATER SHOW

high wire

The water show, called inTENse almost didn’t happen the night we booked it due to waves high enough to slosh water out of the pool. The captain was able to change course to calmer seas so the show started just a bit late. People with reservations for the late show that day weren’t so lucky – rough water cancelled their show. They give the excuse that when water sloshes back and forth there may not be enough depth to land the highest dives safely and that people would be disappointed if they didn’t get to see the entire show, but since there’s only a couple dives from the highest point at the end of the show there’s not that much to miss. Personally I’d rather see part of the show than have it cancelled entirely and would guess a lot of other people feel the same way. Whether anything else would actually be affected and the high dives just take all the blame or if that’s really the only thing they couldn’t do only the ship people know for sure. If it’s too rough or windy the high wire act might not be a go either, but that was just a small bit at the beginning and again not a major part of the show. Dancing and dives from lower areas are the majority of the performances.

dancing in the water fountain

The cast was nearly all female. Just one person walked across the highwire at the very start so we weren’t sure if it was too windy up there for anything else or that was all this show has of that the first night we watched it. The Hiro show on Symphony had a lot more going on with the highwire. When we saw the show again later in the cruise it was again just that one walk across the highwire s0 apparently it’s just not a big part of that particular show. We thought the person up there was male one time and female the other so it looked like it was not always the same person.

there’s a lot going on in this fast-paced show

The show had a lot of divers and dancers and sometimes a water fountain around the pool. The pool itself changes depth from no water at all to 13 feet deep for the high dives. The bottom goes up and down throughout the show, independently on either side or the middle so any of them could be deep, shallow, or no water at any time.

light sabers?

There were some synchronized swimmers who would sometimes perform with just their legs sticking up from the water. A lot of the diving was either from the edge of the pool or the lowest platform, but there were some dives from the middle platform and the two at the end from way up at the very the top, one person on each side.

bouncers

A duo with the one male cast member and one of the females did some tricks on bouncy ropes strung across the pool area during one part of the show. They each had their own separate rope.

aerialist

There were also several aerialists on various different apparatus, or it could have been the same person on a variety of different things. It doesn’t cost anything to see this show, but reservations are recommended to assure getting in. Once everyone with a reservation is seated they start letting in people without reservations until the theater is full.

aerial drummer

more drums up high in the theater structure

For a different (we thought better) view of the show there are platforms at the bottom of the rock-climbing walls that can be accessed through doors at the end of the corridor where the staterooms are on deck 7, or from a stairway up from the track on deck 5 – no reservation needed. There’s not a whole lot of space there, but it’s a great view for a few people and you can get there before the theater opens since going through the theater is not required to get to the platform. The side we went to even had a few chairs.

view of fountain dancers from the rock wall platform

Although we’d already seen the show from the theater seating one night, we watched it from the rock wall platform another day. Besides being a different perspective, we could see things you couldn’t see from the stands.

another dance seen from the rock wall platform

The app wouldn’t let us book the show a second time so that was a good way to see another performance without having to vulture our way in by waiting to see if there was any space left after everyone with reservations got seated.

THEATER

waiting for the show to start

We went to one theater show, called Tap Factory. We overheard other passengers raving about how good the show was and that they wanted to see it again before we went so obviously our opinion of it doesn’t reflect everybody’s. There were some talented performers, but the show portrayed the main characters as a doofus janitor and drunken factory worker, neither of which would fly for long in real life.

barrel drums and stunts

The setting included metal storage racking and a lot of barrels which were used as drums. There was also an actual set of drums, which is not something likely to be found in any factory unless that factory made musical instruments. The only other prop was a ladder. The background was all virtual, which changed to different factory settings throughout the show.

a ladder becomes an instrument

The janitor was a contortionist who was so good at it that he pretty much creeped out everyone in the audience to the point where at times most people just had to look away. The rest of the cast tap danced and played drums on the barrels and ladder. Everyone in the main cast except the janitor wore overalls, some of which were hanging half off with only one strap fastened, which is not what actual factory workers usually wear. Perhaps it’s not the intent of the show, but it gave off the vibe of making fun of blue-collar workers, which we both were in years past.

pole dancing aerialist

The best part was the pole dancer, which probably wasn’t actually supposed to be a pole dancer, but rather an aerialist – a guy on a pole hanging from the ceiling rather than rooted in the ground. This show looked to be where all the male dancers went.

COMEDY

comedian

There’s a little comedy theater called the Attic near the skating rink. It has shows with 2 comedians who perform one at a time on a tiny stage. It’s adult shows. The two on our cruise had jokes that were not totally clean, but not horribly dirty either. Like most comedy shows, people who are easily offended shouldn’t go. For some reason comedians on any ship that’s not Carnival like to portray people who sail with Carnival as a bunch of dirtbags even though there’s probably plenty of people in any cruise ship audience who have taken Carnival cruises. One of the comedians at the show we saw did that for about half of his set. The other guy was better.

high dive from the top of the AquaTheater structure at the end of the show

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2023
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Icy Strait Point Cruise Port

Posted on August 4, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Quantum of the Seas in Icy Strait Point

Icy Strait Point on Chichagof Island is a cruise ship port near the native village of Hoonah, Alaska. Natives of that village are Huna Tlingit who originally inhabited the Glacier Bay area until the rapid advancement of the Grand Pacific Glacier in the little ice age of the mid 1700’s chased them out of that area into present day Hoonah.  The port is owned and operated by the villagers at the site of an old fish cannery, originally built in 1912. It’s the only privately owned cruise port in Alaska. The rest are all ports in cities. The salmon cannery ceased operation in 1953 and the site was used as a maintenance and storage facility for the tribe’s fishing fleet until 1999. There was still a pile of crab pots sitting on a dock when we were there.

port view from the ship

In May of 2004 Celebrity Mercury made the first cruise ship visit to Icy Strait Point. In 2007 the ZipRider zipline opened. The first cruise dock and the adventure center on land followed in 2016 and the second cruise dock and wilderness landing area opened in 2019. There were 3 ships in port the day we were there. Our ship at the original dock, a Norwegian ship at the second dock, and a little Seabourn ship anchored out in the bay tendering to shore.

port map of Icy Strait Point

It originally took a 45-minute bus ride to the top of the mountain to get to the zipline, but with the opening of the red gondola in 2022 the mountain can be accessed much more quickly. The gondola itself is now a bigger attraction than the ZipRider since more people ride the gondola, you can take it both ways, and the wristband for it is good for as many rides as you want up and down all day.

green gondola

A free green gondola connects the land areas between the two cruise ship docks, or people can opt to walk a trail that starts on the beach on the original dock side and then meanders through the woods past an eagle’s nest high in a tree. If there’s a big crowd you can walk the trail before you would even get on the green gondola, but if there isn’t a crowd the gondola is much faster than walking the trail. The green gondola passed over the Tree Top Adventure ropes course. We never saw anyone on it, but passes can be purchased to use it and equipment is provided if you do. There are several courses with a minimum age of 7, one with a minimum age of 12, and a kid’s course for those aged 4-6.

houses near the cannery

There’s a row of 3 old houses where some of the management lives right onsite. These houses sit next to the boardwalk leading from the port area to the old cannery which now houses a number of shops and some old museum pieces from the cannery days. There’s a little graveyard next to the houses – perhaps working in the cannery had been quite a risky job. Two of the houses looked occupied when we walked by them. If anyone was living in the middle one at the time they didn’t have all the obvious signs of use out in the yard that the other two had.

ZipRiders coming in for a landing

Depending on which of the port’s two docks your ship is at you might have direct access to the wilderness landing area where there’s a building for shore excursions to meet in, a whale statue, and the cannery with its shops, restaurants, and museums. The ZipRider lands in this area, near that end’s station for the free green gondola between docks. There’s also beaches in this area, and sealife including whales may be spotted near the whale statue or from the walkway to the cannery. The other dock leads to an area with a gift shop and restrooms near the free green gondola station for that end, visitor information, and up a little hill the building where you sign waivers for the zipline and exchange your zipline or gondola tickets for wristbands which are required to take the red gondola up the mountain. That building also has free lockers, a necessity for any zipline riders with more stuff than they can take down the zipline.

red gondola

Booking either the ZipRider or the gondola means you can ride the red gondola up and down the mountain as many times as you want. On a clear day the views are spectacular. At the top there’s a cell phone tower so reception up there is excellent, though at the bottom it is not. There’s a mile long loop trail that goes by a lake, some viewpoints, and the check-in area for the zipline. The red gondola is definitely the highlight of the port. The ZipRider is lots of fun, but you just get one go and it goes fast whereas the gondola takes a lot more time and you can ride it all you want – or just ride the gondola and not the zipline.

view of Tree Top Adventure ropes course from the green gondola

Some of the other excursions offered at this port included whale watching, jeeps, a bear watching tour, and kayaking. Other tours may include fishing or a hands-on traditional native food preserving experience in Alaska’s Wildest Kitchen.

whale statue

For a nominal fee there’s a shuttle to Hoonah. It’s a small native village with a few shops and restaurants. It has totem poles and a carving hut where there could be a totem pole in the making. Like a lot of Alaska, the town is a good place to spot bald eagles. We didn’t go there so I don’t have any firsthand information about the town.

old cannery converted to shops, restaurants, and museum

There are also some free things to do. Walking the trail between dock areas or spending time on the beach, strolling on the boardwalk, walking through the museum and shop area at the cannery, or posing for photos with the whale statue don’t cost anything. Neither does the green gondola. It doesn’t have the spectacular view that the red one does, but you can see stuff from there that you don’t see from the ground. There could be a native Tlingit show at the tribal hall near the cannery. People who don’t want to spend a few bucks to take a shuttle to Hoonah can walk the mile and a half to the village. And of course any wildlife you spot from shore is free. I saw something briefly poking out above the water’s surface near the boardwalk to the cannery, which was probably a small portion of the side of a whale. Back on the ship we saw whales right outside the window from our cabin.

eagle nest by the walking trail between cruise docks

There were no port photographers on the dock at any of the ports on this ship, but they did have someone in a bear suit by the buffet on the morning of the day we went to Icy Strait Point.

Barbara and the bear

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2023

 

Posted in Alaska, Ports of Call, Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, USA | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Walkabout in Oranjestad, Aruba

Posted on July 28, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of the Constellation from the marina in Oranjestad

After we finished our snorkel excursion at our port stop in Oranjestad, Aruba on Celebrity Constellation we had enough time left to explore a bit. We went to shore hoping to find an island tour as we had on Bonaire after finishing a snorkel excursion there. Unfortunately there were no waiting taxis at the port. One lone brightly colored open-sided van/bus sat empty, but the driver said an island tour would cost $100 each, a far cry from the $25 each we’d paid for the taxi tour in Bonaire. We declined at that price. He said he planned to head to a distant beach soon to pick people up who’d gone earlier and could take us there for $25 each, but besides already having seen that area from the water on the snorkel boat, getting left on a beach near to the end of a port stop without a known means of returning to the ship would not have been an inviting proposal even if we were dressed for beachgoing, which we weren’t.

ads and empty booths

We opted instead just to walk around the town in the area near to the port. On the way out we passed through a row of nearly deserted booths along the pathway out and a sign advertising shark attack drinks at Lucy’s bar in town.

shark attack drink

In town we came across that bar and happened to see one of those shark drinks at someone’s table. Possibly another passenger from the ship, or maybe a tourist staying in town somewhere.

shops next to the port

Other shops just outside the port were much busier than the booths had been. Of course these shops would be accessible to people not from the ship and as there were only 700 passengers onboard it may not have been worth the time and trouble to open many booths that day. Or perhaps they were unoccupied due to the people who had previously ran them going out of business while no ships were cruising. Some of them also could have been open earlier to provide last-minute tours and had closed for the day by then. All just speculation since we went straight from the ship to our snorkel boat and hadn’t passed through the port area earlier in the day when booths may or may not have been open.

scooters for rent near the cruise ship dock in Aruba

Just outside the port we saw scooters for rent.

bikes for rent

People looking for something to do in town could also rent bikes, which we saw in a couple different places.

submarine rides

Atlantis Submarines had an outlet near the port so that’s something else people could do there.

long row of little shops

There’s lots of small open-sided shops with brightly colored merchandise.

stand in front of one of the little shops

Local crafts are for sale too.

pink palace

We saw a place that looked something like a pink palace with several buildings sprawling across a block. It could possibly have been a hotel, but that’s just a guess.

blue horse statue

The town was dotted with blue horse statues. The first one we came across stood next to a sign that said Paarden Baai (Horse Bay) was so named because in the past horses would be offloaded from sailing ships by throwing them into the bay there, and having a strategically placed horse on shore to lure them in. Though I’d guess a horse suddenly finding itself in the sea would find the land itself pretty alluring. The sign did not explain how they threw horses off ships either. Does not sound like an easy task.

cow bench

Horses were not the only farm animals about town. We came across a cow sitting on a bench near a steak house.

pelican at the marina

We found a live creature too in the form of a pelican at a marina sitting at the end of a little channel that disappeared into a cave under a bridge in the main street.

a boat disappears into a cave under the street

Later out of curiosity in investigating where that channel led, we found that it went inside a hotel called the Renaissance Hotel. The ground floor of the hotel was open to the public with a Starbucks and other shops near to the boat stop.

boat stop inside the Renaissance Hotel

Signs at the boat stop said it was a free water taxi service for guests of the hotel who wanted to go to the listed stops at beaches and other tourist destinations on the island.

you don’t see phone booths much anymore

There were lots of shops and restaurants and a boardwalk by the marina. It also had an old-fashioned English style red phone booth.

bags at a souvenir stand near the port

The motto of Aruba is One Happy Island. They sell clothing and other souvenirs with that slogan printed on them. Our taxi tour driver in Bonaire said that was because when they burned a bunch of seized drugs the smoke wafted over to Aruba. Of course that’s not what they say in Aruba. According to them it’s because of their wonderful weather, beautiful beaches, and the island’s friendly inhabitants.

solar panel tree

There are all sorts of shops and shopping areas near to the port. We also came across a solar panel tree by a building next to a church. We saw trolley tracks by the port and in town, but did not see a trolley on them until we were nearly back to the ship. The trolley takes people into town, but by our experience you could walk there and back and have time to explore in between before the trolley ever goes by. It’s possible that it may run more often earlier in the day when more people are coming and going, or for ships with more passengers though. Or that it went by while we were somewhere where we couldn’t see the tracks. There might have been a sign somewhere with a schedule for it had we looked for one, but we didn’t.

Aruba sign

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2023
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Hits and Misses on MSC Lirica

Posted on July 21, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Lirica in Khasab, Oman

On every cruise people will find things they like and don’t like about whatever ship they happen to be sailing on. These things will of course vary among passengers since different people like different things. This is my opinion of what I did and didn’t like about MSC Lirica.

We booked this cruise because of the port stop in Aqaba, Jordan so we could get to Petra

HITS

One of the biggest attractions to booking a cruise on the MSC Lirica is great itineraries at a good price. In fact this a ship that we booked specifically for the itinerary and price, not for the ship itself, though we did find plenty to like about the ship.

window seating on the Lirica

There are lots of places around the Lirica where people can find a place to sit with a view. Whether inside near a window or out on deck there’s quite a variety of different areas to watch the scenery go by.

relaxing on the back deck

Instead of having private cabins at the back of the ship, there are back decks with loungers on several levels available to anyone who wants to sit there. These are not nearly as crowded as the top decks. They also had stacks of chairs so if all the ones already set out were occupied (usually by towels rather than people) it was easy to just take a chair off the stack. There was also the option of going up or down the stairs that connected them all to a different deck if you couldn’t find a space you liked on the first one.

The Lirica also has open front balconies on multiple decks. There aren’t any loungers on the front balconies, but there is space for people to stand and see where the ship is going or take photos when sailing into port or through scenic places.

The cabins have lots of storage space. There’s a variety of drawers and cupboards to put things in as well as the closet, and plenty of room under the bed(s) to stash luggage.

piano bar – with violin

The ship has a variety of different music and dance venues with different types of music to appeal to different tastes.

mini golf

Although it is a smaller ship, it does have things to do. Besides pools and hot tubs, there’s also mini golf.

production show in the theater

This ship attracts multinational passengers speaking a variety of different languages. Their newsletter of the day’s events, which is called the Daily Planner, is available in a variety of different languages to accommodate their varied guests. Whatever language you receive your daily planner in lists scheduled activities available in that language so all the events you choose to go to will be in a language that you understand. Events and activities are held in different languages at different times or places.

The Daily Planner always had some sort of little blurb of interesting info about the port, or on sea days about MSC or a small tidbit about the ship.

Though not unlimited, wifi was by data used, not minutes, which is good because wifi on a ship is always slow. It takes a lot of minutes to load a little data so when they charge by the minute it costs a lot to accomplish a little.

Announcements on the ship are repeated in a bunch of different languages so that everyone can understand what is going on. Although MSC was originally founded in Italy and is based in Switzerland now the announcements were always given in English first before all the other languages. Probably because there are likely to be more people who understand English than any of the other individual languages even if English is not their first language.

The buffet usually had a good variety of stuff to choose from, and it wasn’t always the same things every day.

gelato stand

This ship didn’t have much in the way of specialty restaurants, but it did have a gelato place. Besides gelato they also served sorbet so there was something dairy free, which is a bonus for anyone with dairy issues. It would have been even better if the gelato and sorbet were free.

Being a European ship on an itinerary starting in Europe, I was afraid there might be many smoking areas throughout the interior, but the ship was not nearly as smokey as I feared it might be.

The crew and staff are multilingual. In the theater the same person would make announcements in more than 5 languages. Which took awhile to get through, but at least it included everybody. The main nightly shows themselves were generally done in English.

dhow boat excursion in Khasab, Oman

When booking excursions through the ship, they sent out a separate bus (or group when busses weren’t involved) for each language so they don’t have to repeat everything in a bunch of different languages. Sometimes there could be more if there weren’t enough speakers of a particular language to fill a bus, or a few leftovers of a couple languages combined if there were too many for one bus, but never as many languages as on the ship itself.

table in the dining room

They tried to assign dinner tables so that all the people at a particular table spoke the same language when they could, or at least have one in each party that could translate when that wasn’t possible. Which definitely helps in avoiding the awkward silences or separate conversations that occur with a language barrier.

couple’s massage tables

Spa services on this ship were not as expensive as what we’ve seen on some of the other lines.

They had some good quality stage shows, and a theater with mostly good seats.

MISSES

The ship has no guest laundries so on a long cruise the options for clean clothes are either buck up and pay the expense of having the crew wash it for you, or handwash in your cabin sink unless you want to bring an excessive amount of luggage.

Christmas ornament model of Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas

One of the first things I always do after the ship leaves port and the shops open is look for a Christmas ornament model of whatever ship I happen to be on in the gift shop. It’s always a disappointment if there aren’t any. Especially since we did not get off this ship until shortly before Christmas and the store clerk just said they wouldn’t be putting any out until the next cruise.

women’s steam room

The thermal suite has no pool or ceramic chairs. We were initially happy to see how cheap it was compared to thermal suites on other lines for that length of cruise, and booked pre-cruise, which saves money over the onboard price. When we got there we found their thermal suite consisted of saunas and steam rooms and a couple relaxation areas, and that was all. Plus the saunas and steam rooms were not co-ed. Apparently European men like to use them without clothing. The women’s had a sign saying proper swimwear was required, but even there someone showed up occasionally in nothing but a towel. I guess the lesson here is wait for the spa tour to book the thermal suite if you don’t know what that particular ship includes. At least it was cheap, and there was a nice view from the front relaxation area, which was never crowded.

There was indoor smoking allowed in a pub at the bottom of a stairway, and the door was not kept shut to keep the smoke from spreading beyond the confines of that particular room. It tended to waft up the stairs, and that was the stairway closest to our room.

there was a nice coffee bar – and it wasn’t open in the morning

The ship had a nice coffee bar. I don’t drink coffee, but my husband John was disappointed that the coffee bar was not open in the morning when he would have sometimes liked to have a specialty coffee. The only place open to get that in the morning was the stinky smoking pub. He also wants decaf, and there wasn’t any available at the buffet unless you order from bar service and pay for it. Instant decaf packets were free in the dining room, but when he ordered one they didn’t actually bring it to the table in time for him to have it with his breakfast so he just ended up having that packet to bring to the buffet later. Ordering one at dinner for the next day’s breakfast turned out to be the best solution – but that involves remembering to do so.

dining room on the Lirica

Service in the dining room was excruciatingly slow. Our waiter blamed it on the kitchen, but people sitting in a nearby waiter’s section were always onto dinner and sometimes even dessert before we ever got the appetizer. Instead of freely providing tapwater to everyone in the dining room they only served bottled water. This was free to passengers who booked through MSC USA as we did, but not to people who booked through their European site like our dinner time table mates had. (The water bottles they brought us were big enough to share with our dinner companions, but people at a table with nobody who booked through MSC USA had to pay for water if they wanted any.)

desserts at the buffet

Except for a few things like desserts, rather than having different stations for different items the buffet was sort of all one line, but people would cut in so as not to have to wait through whole thing for something further down. Which makes sense if you are the person who just wants to grab one thing quick, but not so much if you are the one trying to get through the line while numerous other people keep cutting in to get this or that.

The drink station at the buffet had an issue with passengers sticking their personal water bottles right onto the water or juice spigots and contaminating them.

This ship had no specific gluten free items at the buffet, no gluten free buns at the grill, and no gluten free pizza or pasta. The only gluten free stuff  they had is limited items in the dining room – and if you ask for one thing at breakfast like just a croissant or a muffin they bring out a plate of 3 things which they have to defrost to serve so it dries out and goes to waste if you don’t eat it within a short time period. Instead of serving just the one item you want, it’s a bun, a muffin, and a croissant all three. It would have been nice if they’d sent those buns up to the grill instead.

The Lirica lacked any specialty restaurants other than the gelato place and some sort of pop-up sushi place at the disco lounge in the evening. We did not check that one out. That wasn’t really a problem for us since we rarely go to the specialty restaurants anyway, but for some people it would be a drawback.

the pool deck on most cruise ships is called the Lido deck, but on the Lirica it is Vivaldi or just deck 11

There’s not a whole lot to do on your own on sea days. Europeans mainly just lounge around the pool deck – and typical of cruise ships even though it’s against the rules they put their towels and stuff out first thing in the morning to reserve “their” chairs all day long whether they actually use said chairs or not. Also typical of cruise ships, the crew never does anything about it even though there are signs posted saying that they will pick up any items left unattended for more than half an hour. We always managed to keep ourselves entertained though. There are scheduled activities for people who need someone else to provide their entertainment so it isn’t that there’s nothing for people to do.

sports equipment was only available when the outdoor stage was staffed

Sports equipment for things like the mini golf course and ping pong tables was not at the venue. You had to check the items out with the entertainment crew by the stage on the pool deck during their working hours, which is the only time those games are available for use. Other ships we have been on always have the sports equipment at the venue and people can use it whenever they want.

Trieste, Italy from the promenade deck

The promenade deck does not go around the entire ship so it’s not a good option for walking or jogging to get some exercise.

pool and hot tubs

We tried out the hot tubs up on deck one day and found they were barely warm. Which was a disappointment because hot tubs ought to be hot.

The cabin had a very tiny shower. Our shower curtain was missing several key hooks which meant that instead of curving around the outline of the shower pad it went straight across, cutting an already very small space in half.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2023
Posted in Lirica, MSC, Shipboard Life | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Balcony Cabin on MSC Meraviglia

Posted on July 14, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Meraviglia at Ocean Cay

MSC has varying levels of service and cabin choices that go along with the level selected. Of course the higher the level the higher the price so all of the suites are in the aurea category. The most basic level is bella, the mid-level fantastica, and the top level aurea. Balcony cabins are available at all three levels with cabins in the prime locations selling as aurea, average balcony cabins as fantastica, and those with blocked views, solid structure rather than plexiglass in front of the balcony, or located near noisy areas of the ship or at the extreme front or back the most likely to have the bella designation.

stateroom artwork

We had a fantastica balcony cabin on MSC Meraviglia. It was located at the middle of a mid-level deck, so about as mid-ship as it is possible to get. Meraviglia has two sets of stairs and elevators that connect all of the main passenger decks and we were nearly exactly halfway between them. Which is pretty handy for getting just about anywhere on the ship because you just go to whichever stairway is closest to wherever it is you want to go. There was also a lone elevator a bit closer to midship on each side, but you could not cross over from port to starboard at the cabin deck from those elevators so it was necessary to use the correct side to avoid a walk to the nearest main elevator/stairway to cross over when using that elevator to return to the cabin.

the hairdryer is hidden in a drawer that looks like angled trim under the desk

The cabin itself was about average size for a cruise ship cabin. We’ve stayed in balcony cabins on some other ships that were smaller and some that were bigger. This one did seem a bit lacking in storage space compared to most though. The closet was fairly small and it didn’t have many drawers. At first it seemed like there wasn’t even a hairdryer, but asking the steward where it was located, he pulled forward what appeared to be an angled bit of trim under the desk that turned out to actually be a drawer in which the hairdryer was contained. Our particular cabin may have had issues with the seal on the sliding door to the balcony because even when it was fully closed, locked, and latched if it was windy outside some noise howled through the edge of that door.

balcony on the deck above the one behind the lifeboats

The balcony was a bit on the small side with just room enough for 2 chairs and a small footstool. We were on the deck above the lifeboats so our view was not blocked by them, but we did look over the top.

average size cruise ship bathroom

The bathroom was about average size for a cruise ship cabin with a shower, sink, and toilet, towel racks, a bit of a counter, and 3 shelves above the counter. The shelves were of a reasonable size for cruise ship bathroom shelves, but the bar on the front edge was placed too high to keep small things from falling off the shelf.

separate shampoo and body wash, but no conditioner

Bathroom products seem to be one of the things cruise lines are currently cutting back on. The little bottles of hand lotion most ships used to provide have been non-existent lately. There’s still a soap dispenser by the sink, but where there used to usually be separate dispensers in the shower for shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, now there’s often just one all-in one. The Meraviglia still had separate shampoo and shower gel so that was better than some. It did not however have conditioner anywhere so it’s a good thing I always bring my own since you never know what you will find provided onboard.

Bathrobes are another thing that used to come standard already hanging in the closet of all the cruise ship cabins upon arrival, but lately I have had to ask the steward for one on every ship. This one was no exception. They do at least still bring one when asked for it. The other thing I had to ask for on this ship was washcloths, which normally are included with the other bath towels as standard bathroom supplies. Probably because this is a European ship, and for some reason Europeans don’t seem to use washcloths much. Very few hotels we’ve stayed in anywhere in Europe had any.

balcony cabin

The room had two beds that can be pushed together to make one, as is found in the majority of cruise ship cabins. The bed on this ship was quite comfortable. The room had a full-sized couch. The small refrigerator was set up as a mini bar, stuffed full with items that you have to pay for. We asked the steward to remove them so we could just use it as a refrigerator. There was no room to put anything else in there with all the mini-bar items taking up all the space. Stewards will always remove those items if you request it.

good to see that this ship does recycling

The garbage can out in the main room was lined with 3 bins of different sizes and colors, presumably one for garbage and two for recycling, though none of the sections was labeled as to what was expected to go in them. We just ended up putting whatever we had the most of in the bigger section and whatever else we wanted to get rid of in the smaller ones and let the steward figure out from there what was garbage and what was recyclable.

finishing drying on the wall

Like all modern cruise ships, the walls in the staterooms on the Meraviglia are magnetic. This comes in quite handy if you bring magnets to keep any paperwork organized and within easy reach on the wall. Also good for magnetic hooks, which can be used for more hanging space for clothes or other items. The hooks also come in handy for holding laundry lines. There is no self-serve guest laundry on the Meraviglia and sending laundry out to have it done by the crew is always expensive on cruise ships. The line provided in the shower is barely big enough for a couple swimsuits and this shower had structure only on one side so the magnetic hooks came in really handy for zig-zagging extra line through the shower to dry things. Stuff didn’t dry well in that bathroom even with the door open though, so once things were no longer dripping and more damp than wet lines could also be zig-zagged on the cabin wall using magnetic hooks for things to finish drying.

keeping the paperwork organized

Rather than having a sign for the doorknob or magnet for the door to indicate whether you wanted the room cleaned or didn’t want to be disturbed, this one had a switch that turned on various colors of lights above the door outside of the room. You could set it to service wanted, do not disturb, or just leave it off. It was the sort of room where you had to put your key card into a slot to make the lights inside the cabin work and it had an indicator light on the outside that let the steward know if there was a card in that slot or not so even if you turned on the light for wanting the room cleaned if there was a card in the slot he would assume someone was in there and not come in. On some ships we’ve put a business card in that slot so we didn’t have to use the key cards for it, but on this one leaving a card there all the time would have kept the steward out. Then the room never would have gotten cleaned so we just used a key card like people are supposed to. They do that so the lights are off when you leave the room whether you actually turn them off or not. That way they don’t have to generate a bunch of electricity to power lights in empty rooms. We do always turn the lights off when we leave the room whether there’s a card in the slot or not. It’s just easier with a business card so there’s no problem with the person whose card it is leaving the room and taking their card while the other person is still there, getting left sitting in the dark.

magnetic hook

With fantastica service we had twice daily cleanings, which used to be standard on all cruise ships, but is getting more and more rare these days. Our assigned steward was out sick for a portion of the cruise so a different one had to fill in. He may have been doing additional rooms to whatever he was actually assigned, but he did a good job. Probably better than our actual steward who had a tendency to miss obvious things like a vent that hadn’t been cleaned in so long it was choked completely full of dust when we first arrived.

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Quantum of the Seas

Posted on July 7, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Quantum of the Seas

Quantum of the Seas launched in 2014, the first of Royal Caribbean’s Quantum class. The 1141-foot-long ship holds over 4000 guests. Unusual onboard activities include a skydiving simulator, bumper cars, and the North Star, an observation pod that rises high above the deck for the ultimate view. There are 14 passenger decks, some just with staterooms and others with public areas. Passenger decks run from deck 3 to deck 16 with crew areas on the decks below. Unlike many cruise ships where deck 14 sits just above deck 12, this ship has a deck labeled as deck 13. After a season in the Caribbean the ship spent some years cruising Asia and currently alternates between Alaska and Australia.

stairway from the casino to the promenade

Royal’s app said that the only smoking areas on this ship were on a couple of outside decks and that there was no smoking allowed inside the ship in any public areas, staterooms, or balconies. Their daily onboard newsletter said that as well, but that’s basically false advertising because it doesn’t apply when sailing from USA ports where smoking is allowed in the casino. Unfortunately the casino on this ship is not only open at both ends, but also has a wide-open stairway going up to the promenade deck. Too bad other countries aren’t like Australia. None of the ships sailing from there are allowed to have any indoor smoking. Quantum did seem to have a better ventilation system than some ships which would clear up the smoke when the casino was unoccupied or didn’t have too many people smoking at once, but it wasn’t good enough to keep it from spreading while in heavy use.

a small portion of Quantum’s promenade

The promenade area has a variety of different shops, pubs, eateries, and music venues. The Promenade Cafe is free, but the Patisserie across the aisle has larger pastries and fancier drinks you have to pay for. Sorrento’s Pizza next to the Promenade Cafe is also free.

bumper cars in the seaplex

Quantum has a lot of places to go and a quite a variety of things to do. There’s an entertainment area called the SeaPlex that offers many ever-changing free activities. Sometimes the area hosted basketball or ping pong tournaments, but other times it might be set up for laser tag or even bumper cars. They could pretty much set it up for anything they wanted and have supplies for. The ship also offered the usual sort of cruise ship activities like trivia and music in other venues.

Two 70

Another place unique to this class of ship is a room with a wall of windows called Two 70 at the stern of the ship. That area is used for a featured show as well as for other activities. When there’s nothing going on there the windows have a great view of the wake and whatever else is behind the ship. The hallway leading to Two 7o had a wide-open central space with seating and a giant chandelier. There were a couple of eateries, a wine bar, and a few shops along the edges. Upstairs in Two 70 there was a small library and some balcony seating for the show.

the North Star rising above the ship

For a nominal fee the ship offered a couple other things unique to this ship class. One is the North Star, a viewing pod that rises 300 feet above the deck on a big metal arm. Best view ever from a cruise ship. It has windows all around and a control panel for the guide who takes people up in small groups that made reservations for that time slot.

Melissa in the iFLY skydiving simulator

Another different and interesting experience Quantum offers is the ifly skydiving simulator. It’s pretty much a vertical wind tunnel that lets you fly and is supposed to feel like you’re skydiving without having to actually jump out of a plane. I haven’t ever skydived for real so I have nothing to compare as to whether it feels similar or not. Either way it’s lots of fun.

Bionic Bar with robot bartenders

The ship has a mix of free and pay-extra eateries, but we thought the food at the free ones was plenty good enough and never tried any of the ones that cost extra. Like all cruise ships it also has quite a variety of bars. It even has a bionic bar, which looked to be an earlier version of the one found on Oasis class ships like Wonder of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas. The set-up was much the same, but the robots were bigger and less streamlined and the bottles hanging from the ceiling above them were set farther apart to accommodate the larger robots. It didn’t look like there were as many bottles there so the drink choices may have been more limited. There was no ordering pad on the counter like the newer ships have. That had to be done through a tablet in the hands of the person working there. Robots haven’t taken over yet, somebody still has to tend to them.

cascading pools in the solarium

Our favorite hangout was the solarium, which is always our favorite place on Royal and Celebrity ships. Having a solarium is one good reason to choose Celebrity or Royal Caribbean when booking a cruise. This one had a row of three cascading pools set one below the other between stairways down to the lower level with deck chairs at front-view windows. There were also a couple of hot tubs down at that level. The upper level had deck chairs too, as well as some covered pods, a bar, and the solarium bistro which was open during mealtimes and a good alternative when other places like the buffet were too crowded as well as being convenient if you happened to get hungry in the solarium when it was open. The solarium is an adults-only area enclosed in glass windows, which is a lot nicer than an outside deck on a cruise to Alaska, or any cruise if it’s cold or windy or you don’t want to fry outside in the sun. There was also an all-ages glassed in pool deck next door on this ship as well as an outside pool area behind that. About half the chairs had bright pink signs right on them saying not to save deck chairs, which seemed to work a lot better than just one sign at the entrance for keeping towels from occupying deck chairs all day with no people actually using those chairs ever in sight like happens often on cruise ships.

random people on the rock-climbing wall

Out on the outside decks there were other things to do like a rock-climbing wall and a flowrider. Alaska weather isn’t necessarily the best for outdoor things, but there were some warm days during our cruise and even on colder days there were people out there. The track on this ship is just the sort that is pretty much a painted line around the upper deck where everyone is going to walk to get from place to place anyway. It did not have the sort of promenade deck that goes all the way around, though there was a bit of space to get outside on the promenade on each side. One side had a smoking area, but that’s easily avoided by not going out on that side.

animals from 3 different elevators

The ship had some of the odd and ugly statues seemingly required in cruise ship decor here and there. It had some fancy decor too like the giant chandelier in the walkway to Two 70. Different venues around the ship each had their own unique look. Some of the elevators had a glass wall at the back with a view of more glass elevators across a little open area and a wall of butterflies going up one end. The elevators without a glass wall each had a different animal character on their back wall. Stairway art included a lot of birds and rabbits, but there was quite a mixture of other things there as well.

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The Awesome Mango Daiquiri

Posted on July 4, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

mango daiquiri

No doubt mango daiquiris are delicious. What makes this particular one so awesome? It’s just as delicious as any other mango daiquiri, but it’s made with real fruit and no added sugar! I first tried mango daiquiris on the sugar train shore excursion in Saint Kitts. They were good, but I didn’t really think about them much afterword. On the rare occasion I have a drink on a cruise it’s usually a piña colada. We’ve always avoided the all-inclusive sort of cruises because normally they cost a lot more and we’d just be subsidizing other people’s drinking. Then we happened on a good deal on a Celebrity cruise that was all inclusive so of course we had to make use of the included drink package. Not that we suddenly turned into alcoholics or anything – you can use it for specialty tea, coffee, hot chocolate, virgin drinks, or sodas too, but I did have more than the usual zero to one drink I’d normally have on a cruise. Piña coladas are good of course, but remembering the mango daiquiri from that excursion I tried that too, and they were definitely good whether virgin or not. Odds are on the ship they’re made with daiquiri mix or simple syrup (which is full of sugar) and mango juice (or some sort of mango flavoring) plus ice, but not likely any real fruit. Not sure about the train. This recipe has all the taste without any simple syrup or daquiri mix – and there’s a virgin option too.

ingredients for mango daiquiri

MANGO DAIQUIRI RECIPE

1 cup frozen mango pieces

1/2 cup ice

1/4 cup coconut rum

1/8 cup triple sec

1/8 cup lime juice

1/2 cup pineapple juice

Amounts listed are per serving. Put all ingredients into a blender and mix. The height of the solid and liquid ingredients in the blender should be about the same before blending. If your blender is weak cut the mango into smaller bits and crush the ice before putting them into the blender for ease of mixing, If the blender struggles too much add more liquid. Putting the liquids into the blender first and then adding the solids makes it easier for the blender to do its job. Probably because there’s a bit more liquid around the blades at the start that way. For other fruit daquiris substitute the fruit you want for the mango and use an appropriate juice for that fruit if pineapple doesn’t go well with it.

solid and liquid ingredients should come up to about the same height in the blender

VIRGIN OPTION

Omit the rum and triple sec and substitute 1/2 cup mango nectar per serving instead.

ready to drink

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Miami Cruise Port

Posted on June 30, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Symphony of the Seas docked in Miami

Miami, Florida has the largest cruise port in the world with 10 functioning cruise ship terminals, soon to be 11. Many terminals are built by and for specific cruise lines, though terminal J serves several of the small-ship luxury cruise lines. On-port parking is provided for drive in passengers. Drop-off passengers exit vehicles at the entrance to their ship’s terminal whether coming by private car, taxi, uber, limo, or shuttle bus. Some of the terminals are new, others have undergone recent renovations whether to modernize that particular terminal or in some cases to accommodate various cruise line’s ever-larger ships. Royal Caribbean’s Terminal A (AKA The Crown of Miami) is currently the largest cruise ship terminal in the USA. Which is fitting as Royal Caribbean at any given time has several of the largest cruise ships in the world even though some of their ships that had the designation of largest in the world at the time they were built don’t even make the top 20 now. While their older ships don’t, Royal’s newest ships do. Most of the Miami cruise ship terminals letter designations follow the alphabet, but Virgin’s is dubbed terminal V (AKA terminal H or Palm Grove.) Terminal B (Norwegian’s) is also known as the Pearl of Miami. MSC has a new terminal under construction due to open later this year. It will be the biggest once it opens, able to berth 3 ships at the same time. Two of those berths designed and built by MSC to accommodate its largest new ships, and the third by Miami-Dade for use by other lines.

ships docked in Miami

If you are arriving by uber, it’s really helpful if you know the address to the specific terminal where your ship docks so you can enter the correct address when you book the ride. Otherwise the route may be scheduled to the wrong terminal. With taxi drivers you can just say which ship it is since the ride isn’t pre-set to a specific terminal before you even get in the car like uber is. If you didn’t give the right address and your uber driver heads to the wrong ship you can divert them to the correct one, but that messes up their completion of journey on their app so it is much better to use the right address as each terminal has its own.

Miami port map

Miami Cruise Port is located on Dodge Island in the shelter of Biscayne Bay. It’s just over 9 miles from Miami airport so not too costly for taxis or ubers if you go directly to or from the airport to the cruise terminal. Ships sail in and out in a long channel guided by a pilot. If you look out at the right time you might see the pilot boat pull up next to the ship as it enters/exits the channel so the pilot can get on or off depending on which direction you are heading. Dolphins also may escort the ship through the bay.

view from Symphony of the Seas while docked in Miami

Cruise ships are not the only ships with terminals at the Port of Miami as there are facilities there for cargo ships as well. Cruise ship passengers will see them in use as they sail in or out of the port. Dodge Island is a manmade island created when the channel was dredged to improve access for shipping in the early 1900’s. It was originally several small islands, but all were joined together in further dredging that expanded the waterway in the 1960’s when the port moved to Dodge Island. The facilities have been expanded further since then with new terminals built and others remodeled to accommodate the ever-larger size of cruise ships. Construction and renovation of terminals is somewhat of an ongoing process there.

waiting to get in the door of the port building

In the old days people could just go into the building as soon as the door was open and check in for their cruise in the order they arrived, other than people with priority boarding who were always taken first. Checking in on Royal now involves scheduling a time online when you complete your cruise registration. At the port people line up at signs for their scheduled time. When the current time lane clears the next line is let through, but to a longer secondary line to get to the actual door than the one where people whose scheduled time it is get sent to.  Paperwork (or the same info on phones if people don’t have it printed out) gets checked then people are sent upstairs to wait in another line.

inside a cruise terminal in Miami

On the day we were there to board Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas once we got upstairs there was a row of lines, but people were assigned to a line rather than picking one of their choice. Some lines went to one help desk, others to two. Even the one desk line we were sent to would have moved fairly quickly if it weren’t for the person at the other end of those lines directing people from some of the other lines to the one desk our line had leaving anyone assigned to that one particular line standing still and never moving along at all unless people made a break for an open desk when she wasn’t looking. Meanwhile all the other lines filled and cleared multiple times while the people in our line went nowhere. It took forever for the two groups ahead of us to get through. When it was finally our turn as soon as the desk opened up we started heading for it, but the lady turned around and sent people who had just arrived in the next line over so recently they hadn’t even stopped walking yet there instead. As soon as one of the two desks the line on the far side of us had that was kind of hidden behind a big pole cleared we made a run for it while her back was turned and got helped there. The people behind us in line were still waiting in that line as we headed off to the ship, with another new arrival from a different line at the desk to our line. That employee was definitely more of a hindrance than a help because without her people would have just gone to the desk(s) at the head of their line and everyone would have gotten through fairly quickly. Either she really hated that particular line for some reason or somebody was doing some sort of an experiment on what people would do if they were sent to a line that never moved.

view from docked ship in Miami

Checking out involves getting off the ship, finding your luggage if you didn’t bring it out yourself, passing through customs, and then exiting the port by whatever means you had planned. That could be by private car if you parked there or had someone picking you up, by taxi uber, or shuttlebus, or on a post–cruise tour. We had an Everglades to airport excursion booked when we disembarked Symphony of the Seas because our flight was late in the day so we had lots of time and that gave us something to do.

The gangway connects the ship to the port building and is the way passengers embark and disembark

They had everyone on the excursion meet at the ice arena, but rather than any guidance to the bus we were just sent off the ship when they decided it was time for us to go, leaving everyone on their own to negotiate their way through the port and find where the tour bus stops. There were a few people out in that area to ask where to go, but not all had the same answer. People from the tour did all eventually end up in the same place, but the bus wasn’t there. There were supposed to be separate busses for Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports, but the Miami one never came so the Fort Lauderdale bus took everybody and stopped at both airports after going to the Everglades. Luckily neither tour had been full so there was room on the one bus for everyone.

view of Miami from docked ship

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Jay Peak Tram and Trails

Posted on June 23, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

tram view from the top of the peak

There is quite a network of trails going up the side of Jay Peak between Jay Peak Resort in Vermont and the top of the mountain. When the tram is running it goes all the way up to the top. Some of the trails also go to the top so the upper trails don’t necessarily have to be reached on foot when the tram is running. There are ski lifts all over the mountain too, but none of them go all the way up like the tram does. None of them were open in the off-season when we were there either. Though some of them are quite steep, there are trails under the lifts so you can hike to the tops of many of the lifts or go up one trail and then find lots of others while you are already up on the mountain.

top of a ski lift

Jay Peak is mainly a ski resort, but when visiting during other seasons the trails are available for hiking, and some for biking as well. They have trail maps in the lobby showing the hiking trails. The trails start on the peak side of the lodge near the tram, but there isn’t any signage indicating what are the official hiking trails there and what isn’t. Some Nordic ski trails start in the same general area. Their entrance is far better marked, though up on the hill it’s just colored numbers for them the same as for the hiking trails. The ski runs have name signs all over the hillside. There are a lot of different ski runs on the hill. Some ski runs go through the forest and are marked as ungroomed glade trails with a warning not to ski them alone.

entrance to a glade ski trail

glade ski trail in the fall with leaves instead of snow

If you hike up the mountain you may come across trail intersections with the numbers shown on the hiking trail map. These are often accompanied by signs for other trails saying which trails go which direction. This would be more helpful if the trails on those signs were indicated on the hiking map, but they are not because they are ski runs so the names don’t help any for figuring out where you are on the hiking trail, or in some places whether you are actually even still on a hiking trail at all or have ended up on one of the Nordic trails or a ski run.

Trail or ski run?

This of course means you have a lot more ways to get back down the mountain than indicated on the hiking map, but it also means you may not actually be on the trail you think you are. The ski runs generally go down to the lodge, often with a view of it from higher up, so if you get lost or just want to get back quicker that’s a good way to go. They’re not hard to find since there are ski runs pretty much everywhere. Unlike the hiking trails which are far more limited, poorly marked, and much harder to find.

ski runs without snow make steep, but hikeable trails

As previously mentioned, the tram goes all the way to the top of the mountain, but the numerous chair lifts only go partway. It’s not too far to hike to the top of some of those lifts if you don’t mind a sometimes steep uphill hike. Hiking all the way to the top where the tram goes would be steeper as well as farther, which is why the upper trails are marked as the most difficult on the hiking map. Distances between trail markers and the distance of each named trail would be really useful information, but it is not provided. Trails under ski lifts are obviously not the intended hiking trails, but some of the ski runs are not right by the lifts so it’s not always obvious if those are ski runs or trails unless you see a sign.

Not the top – it’s just one of the supporting towers for the tram to the left and a ski lift to the right up on what looks like the peak in this view. The actual peak is behind it and higher.

I hiked two kilometers up a ski run the second day I was there, which put me higher on the mountain than the tops of the ski runs where I’d gotten to by trails that weren’t directly under them the day before. 2k definitely seemed closer to what looked like the top than to the lodge, but the higher you go the steeper it gets. The hiking trails up that high on the map approach the peak from an angle rather than more or less straight up like the ski runs, but they are not well marked. I never found either of the hiking trails that goes all the way to the top of the peak, just lots of signs naming many different ski runs.

up on what looks like the top until you get there and find out it’s not even close

As you hike up it often looks like you are nearly there, but at the top of the next rise you see it is actually farther than you think. Then when finally reaching the top of the peak you can see from some of the ski runs you see that the actual peak is across a valley and up on another rise still quite some distance away.

you don’t want to find one of these ticks

The woods are beautiful, but they carry tiny dangers in the form of ticks. After a couple days of hiking up the mountain I found a tick on the back of my shoulder. Maybe not fully engorged, but enough that it had probably been there since the first day, which put it over the 36 hour danger zone for the possibility of contracting Lyme disease. It had black legs so was likely the bad sort of tick that carries it (deer tick). We live where there are no ticks and have no experience dealing with them but found another guest there who knew how to twist ticks out with tweezers.

lower tram station

My only prior experience with a tick was about 30 years ago of the not disease carrying kind (wood tic) in Minnesota. There they burned the tick’s back end so it would pull its head out and not leave any mouth parts behind. Either times have changed as people learn more about them, or it’s the different sort of tick or area of the country because all the locals or people from anywhere that has ticks that we talked to in Vermont said if you do that it regurgitates and you don’t want that because of more likelihood of contracting Lyme disease. Some recommended 2 or 3 weeks of doxycycline just in case and others said wait and see because the doxycycline tears up your stomach and makes you extremely sun sensitive.

on the top of the world (or at least the top of Jay Peak)

We sent a photo of the tick to our home medical clinic, who of course have no experience dealing with ticks and they did a prescription for one dose of doxycycline as hopefully a preventative and then said watch how it heals because if it heals from the inside so it looks like a bullseye or if I get sick then to come in. Apparently you have 4 weeks from a tick bite to treat for Lymes before it can spread beyond the bloodstream to cause what could become permanent issues. The symptoms for getting sick from it are about the same as Covid or the flu though so that would make it hard to tell.

trail sign at the peak

After I got home a friend of John’s contacted a doctor who is a leading expert on Lyme disease and he gave me a 3-week prescription for doxycycline, which meant I was on it a couple weeks later when I went on a Caribbean cruise. Having to avoid sun in the Caribbean is not the best of situations, but better than risking Lyme disease. I got a full-body UV blocking swimming suit, which is handy for snorkeling anyway as it eliminates the need for sunscreen over a large portion of the body. That’s a bonus for the ocean because most sunscreens are very harmful to coral and Caribbean coral is rapidly disappearing. Luckily reef safe sunscreen does exist, but that doesn’t mean everyone uses it. The full body UV blocking swimsuit has an advantage over any sort of sunscreen because it won’t wash off or wear off so you can stay out longer without worrying about getting sunburned. Great for all water sports, not just snorkeling.

tram at Jay Peak

The tram up the mountain was closed through the beginning of our stay, but opened the day I found the tick. The sun shone brightly that day, the first time since we had been there. Having both wanted to go up the tram and no more desire to hike in the woods we took the tram up after the tick was removed.

view through the tram window

The ride up the tram is probably beautiful any time of year, particularly so when all the leaves are in their finest fall colors. At the lower part it looks steep when you look up the hill from the tram, but relatively flat looking down. I can attest from walking up it that that is an optical illusion because it is all steep when you hike up it.

it looks like the tram is nearly to the peak, but that’s just the first peak, not the real peak

What looks like the uppermost tower from the lower part of the hill is really only partway up. The tram goes over the part where the land drops lower a bit after what looks like the peak from lower down, then rises up again behind the little valley that they called the bowl before it gets to the actual peak.

upper tram station

After the bowl there’s a steep rise up the last bit of the mountain. The upper tram stop is just below the highest point of the mountain. The actual peak is jagged rocks so the station is next to it.

plaque at the top of Jay Peak

Once out of the tram there’s a stairway and then some rocks to climb to get to the actual top of the peak. A small plaque marks the spot. Little puddles in the rocks from recent rain resembled tide pools, but without little sea creatures. The trees are all evergreens up that high, and the ones in the rocky top are all stunted and small like little bonsai trees.

recent rains left little pools in the rock

On a sunny day the view is excellent. If the top of the mountain was shrouded in fog as it had been much of the two previous days there probably wouldn’t be much view at all. Especially at the times where from the lodge you couldn’t even see that there was a mountain there at all. The day we went up if you stood in the right spot by the lodge where you could see that second peak you could see all the way up to the tram stop on top, and from the top you could see all of the surrounding area well beyond the lodge.

view of the next peak over from Jay Peak

When we first got out of the tram though sunny there, on the far side fog rose from a hollow covering the next peak over, which was quite close by, but the other 3 directions were clear and sunny. That fog rose and drifted away while we were there, leaving that side clear as well.

people are taller than the little trees at the top of the peak

The views from the tram and from the top were well worth the price to ride it up there. The building at the top had a restaurant in it, but like most everything else at that lodge it must be for ski season only as it was closed. Some people ride the tram up and then hike down. The upper portion of the hiking trails that go to the top are quite obvious from up there. Having no desire to set foot in that woods again I took the tram back down. The views are better from the tram than from the trails anyway.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2023
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Saint Martin Island Tour

Posted on June 16, 2023 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of the cruise dock from the bottom of the zip line

After finishing an early morning zipline excursion in Saint Martin on our visit there on Royal Caribbean Wonder of the Seas, we had time to do something else since the ship stayed in port most of the day. The taxi stand had several tours of varying lengths, of which the per person price dropped with the addition of more people. We tagged along with 6 people from P&O Britannia, which was the other ship in port that day. They were on a 14-day cruise out of Barbados.

tour van and driver

The van was pretty spacious with a separate seat for each of the 4 couples. At capacity it could have held 15, but their tour prices only went up to 8 so they are apparently not intent on crowding people in, which makes for a nicer tour.

entering France (we were actually leaving, but the signs were for traffic going the other way)

Saint Martin has a Dutch side where the cruise docks and airport are, and a French side which is larger. Back in history both sides had salt ponds where they harvested salt and they also grew crops. Now the economy mainly depends on tourism. Although each side belongs to a different country people pass freely from one side to the other with just signs at the side of the road to indicate where one country ends and the other begins. There’s no formal border crossing.

map of Saint Martin

The van driver talked a bit about island history, putting a different spin on the story of the Dutchman and Frenchman starting at the same point and walking around the island in opposite directions until they met up again, drawing the boundary between the points where they started and finished. On an island with a total of 37 square miles the French side has 21 and the Dutch side 16. This driver said that the reason the French side is bigger is because the Frenchman swapped out the Dutchman’s water for rum so the more rum he drank the more breaks he took while the Frenchman walked along nonstop, giving that country the largest portion of the island. We’ve heard the story of dividing the boundaries that way before, but not the bit about the rum. With both the cruise port and airport in modern days the Dutch got the more lucrative side even if it is smaller. The Dutch spell the island Sint Maarten, and the French Saint Martin.

lots of iguanas

The van headed over to the French side, some of which was still recovering from hurricane damage. Most places looked fine, but some had damage or were surrounded in debris. We took a brief stop for a view of a bay where people sometimes go with their yachts. Next he stopped at a small roadside stand. They had t-shirts and other touristy stuff for sale, but their big draw was the iguana wrangler. One of the people working there provided food and water for local wild iguanas and there were a lot of them taking advantage of the easy meal. Also a bunch of small lizards like skinks or geckos. Besides the herd of iguanas next to his booth, there were more hanging out in the nearby bushes along the shore of a lake. They probably made more money each day in the iguana wrangler’s tip jar than they did selling tourist trinkets.

parasailers at Orient Beach

Next we went to Orient Beach, which the driver said was partly clothing required and partly one of the French side’s famous nude beaches. Everyone had their clothes on in the area where we parked. If someone was staying at that beach long enough to have time for it they could rent personal watercraft, go parasailing, or ride around on big blow-up things towed by a boat. We were not there long enough to take advantage of any of those things other than to take photos of other people enjoying them – and to realize it’s been a long time since we’ve been parasailing. I’d love to go again sometime, but it’s been awhile since we’ve seen it offered anywhere where we’ve been staying long enough to do it.

little bar at Orient Beach

We could see kiteboarders and windsurfers farther down the beach in the distance, but there weren’t any where we were. There were lots of beach umbrellas and a little beach bar where 2 drinks cost just a few more dollars than the price of one drink on the ship.

small jet at Maho Beach

We saw lots of island scenery on the drive. A shopping stop in the French capital of Marigot was on the agenda, but when we got there all the parking was full so we just drove through and didn’t stop. The last stop was Maho Beach where people go for plane spotting.

Where’s the beach?

Maho Beach was quite different than it had been the last time we were there. Last time it was a big beach with a tiny beach bar and a surfboard standing out on the beach with the times large airplanes were expected to fly overhead. This time it was a tiny beach with a huge bar and lots of other shops.

plane schedule for the day

There was still a surfboard listing airplane times, but it’s inside the bar now. A hurricane had gone through the Caribbean and into Florida just a few days before our cruise started. On the way to Maho Beach our driver said the storm had taken all the sand away and he wasn’t kidding. Where much of the beach had been there were just large rocks piled up next to the road and then water. The large rocks are probably there to keep the road from washing away in a storm. There was also double fencing along the airport to keep people from getting all the way up to what used to be the only fence where crazy people would stand to get blown to the beach by departing jets despite signs warning they might get killed or injured doing that.

there’s even a pool in the shopping complex now

Last time we were there people were all in beach chairs waiting for the arriving jets to get the close-up of the underside of an airplane photos and videos, but this time there was no beach under the airplane’s path, just rocks and water. We had just a short time there on the tour, but did see one jet fly in. Not the giant KLM plane that is the highlight of that beach, but not the smallest of planes that lands there either. Our driver did say that the sand will come back and there will be a beach there again.

kayak by the water behind the iguana wrangler’s stand

Following our visit to Maho Beach, the taxi brought us back to the cruise port. We saw more of the island this time than on any previous trips. We did not stop in Phillipsburg or drive through the main part of town where tourists go, but from the outskirts where we went it looked like there was construction going on to repair things from a previous hurricane. On our last port stop there the town looked pretty bedraggled from hurricane damage followed by no tourist dollars to provide income to fix anything through covid, but after having ships there again for awhile by now it has had some time to recover. The tour guide did not mention anything about any new damage in Phillipsburg from the storm that passed through just before our visit.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2023
Posted in Caribbean, Port Cities, Ports of Call, Royal Caribbean, Wonder of the Seas | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment