Beer Guzzling Pigs of St. Croix

Posted on March 13, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Splendor in St. Croix

When the Carnival Splendor stopped at St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, we took one of the random taxi tours often available near cruise ship piers. This tour had a stop at a bar with a very unique attraction. On a narrow country road winding uphill through the rainforest, our driver pulled over at a small unassuming local bar with a sign that said Mt. Pellier Hut Domino Club. Here, he said, they had pigs that guzzle beer. Only it was too early in the day and they had no pigs available to perform at the time. The guide mentioned the possibility of stopping back by later.

gecko on the sign in front of the bar

He proceeded to take us on a tour around the island. After visiting a number of places we stopped at a rum distillery, which costs $7 to get in and includes a couple of drinks. Nobody in the van seemed particularly interested in the distillery tour so our guide offered to take anyone who did not wish to participate back to the ship while the others went on the tour. John, Tina, Justin, and I were the only ones who did not get right back in the van. When informed that Justin (who is 12) could not take the tour he went back with the folks. The 3 of us stayed not because we cared about the distillery tour, but because we really wanted to see pigs drink beer. We hoped he would take us back to the first stop once he returned from dropping the rest of the people off back at the ship.

Mt Pellier Hut bar sign

The driver left and we paid for the distillery tour which we thought we would take while waiting for our driver to return. After collecting the money they said a tour had just started and it would be awhile before the next one began. They said people sometimes just collect their drinks and opt out of the tour. You could not, however, have drinks while waiting for the tour because you could not go on the tour after having drinks.

waiting area at the rum factory

As more time passed we all decided we were not going to have enough time left to see the pigs if we took the distillery tour. Since we would rather see the pigs than take the tour we got our drinks (mine virgin) and waited for the guide to return. The next tour started just a few minutes before he got back so had we gone we probably would not have gotten to see the beer drinking pigs. As soon as he got back we piled back in the van and took the long way back to the ship via the little bar in the rainforest.

A pig waits for a beer while the bar girl tells Tina what to do

It cost $1 to watch, $2 for a beer for the pigs, and $3 to take a video. We paid our dollars and each bought a beer for the pigs. John paid the extra $3 to video. A bartender, or possibly the owner of the place, led us across the parking lot to an enclosure on the other side with 4 stalls. 3 stalls held one pig each, though one was a small potbellied pig to short to perform. The other two stood up on their hind legs with their front legs on the wall when offered a beer.

pig drinking beer

They take an unopened can right out of a person’s hand and open it with their teeth, chugging it and chomping the can as they go. When done they spit out an empty flattened can. When asked how the meat tastes, the lady said the pigs are pets and they don’t eat them. The pig show is well worth the low price even if the beer is of the non-alcoholic sort.

Even though we took the scenic route back to see the pigs our guide got us back to the ship with plenty of time to spare for browsing through the shopping booths and taking photos of the ship from various places on shore. Frederikstad had a number of little booths set up along the waterfront across the street from permanent stores.

shopping in Frederiksted

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Posted in Caribbean, Carnival, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, Splendor | Tagged bar, beer, beer guzzling pigs, cruise, island tour, photos, pig, St Croix, travel, video | 10 Comments

Saint Croix Island Tour

Posted on March 11, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Splendor in St. Croix

Things to do in St Croix

When traveling with a group that ranges from 12 to 90 in age as we did on the Carnival Splendor, planning shore excursions that are appropriate and enjoyable for all can pose a challenge. St. Croix is a lesser-often visited port and does not have as large of a selection of shore excursions as some of the more commonly visited ports. We didn’t see anything suitable for everyone that jumped out and said “We must do this” from the shore excursions offered there. Prior to the cruise I did a bit of research online and discovered that likely we would find something to do if we just got off the boat and walked to the end of the pier. Doing things on your own sometimes also saves money over booking excursions at every port.

crazy caterpillar by an old church in Christiansted

While walking to the end of the pier a couple groups on official shore excursions from the ship passed us by, one headed out to go diving and the other on a walking tour through the town. The people on those tours probably had a great time, but neither would have been a suitable tour for our group as none of us are certified divers and one has limited walking abilities. Other shore excursions offered at Saint Croix include sailing, snorkeling, kayaking, biking, and sight-seeing,

roadside view in St Croix

Sure enough when we finally reached the end of the pier we found locals with signs offering shuttles to a variety of places like beaches or a town on the other side of the island and a little booth with a couple choices for island tours. Just beyond the port gates a number of portable booths held all manner of things for sale, including Larimar jewelry at very good prices. A few more yards walk led to the town of Fredericksted with many more booths where locals hawked their wares along the shore. The other side of the street had permanent shops. It’s nice to visit a place in its native state with local stores rather than the usual sterile cruise ship port with the same stores as every other port.

beach by the cruise ship dock

People flocked to a beach next to the pier, which seems to have a lot of good reviews online. The driver on the tour we chose advised avoiding that beach. He said it was not the cleanest beach around as that one sometimes has issues with sewer drainage emptying there when St Croix’s aging sewer system is under repair or having problems.

St Croix Island Tour

The booth offering island tours had one that went around a large portion of the island including the other town, Christiansted for just $25 per person. Another stayed in the local area and included things like a botanical garden. They said the longer tour was the better deal as besides being longer it had less places that required an additional admittance fee.

Justin points out the large pea-like pods on a tree at the resort where we stopped

We drove through a rainforest on winding narrow 2 lane roads with potholes that go unfilled because much of the money sent to the US Virgin Islands goes to St. Thomas, which is smaller, but more visited by tourists than St. Croix. The driver was pretty good at dodging the potholes, something he’d obviously had a lot of practice doing. He pointed out Cane Beach, which he said had the best snorkeling in all of the Caribbean. I’m assuming he meant shore snorkeling by that. In the rainforest we saw interesting trees like breadfruit and one that they use the fruits for medicinal purposes. He liked to pull over in random spots to point out the things that grew there.

palapa on the beach where Columbus landed

We made a brief stop at Mt. Pellier Hut, home of the beer guzzling pigs. They weren’t open yet so we came back later, but that story is in another blog.

St John’s Episcopal Church, the oldest church in St Croix

Chickens ran free in many of the island’s yards. At one point a mongoose ran across the road and one of the passengers asked what they eat. “Chickens and eggs,” the driver said.

“What about snakes?” someone asked.

“There are no snakes on the island,” the driver replied. “Mongoose were brought here to eat the snakes and now they are the snakes.” (By that he meant they were introduced to solve a snake problem, but now have become a chicken raiding problem themselves since there are no more snakes for them to eat.)

sign on the beach where Columbus landed

After a pit stop at a lovely resort we went on to see the beach where Christopher Columbus landed on his second voyage to the Caribbean. A bird of unknown species wandered slowly through the sand, which was flecked with bits of dead coral that had washed up on the beach.

bird on the beach

Something that looked like some sort of shredded bark lined the water’s edge. I have no idea what it was, possibly some sort of seaweed or something. The beach had a couple palapas and some palm trees. We saw a random dog wandering about the beach with its owner, the first of many random dogs we saw throughout this cruise. They were the only ones there not on our tour, so it looked like a good place to go for anyone looking for a beach away from crowds.

random dog on the beach

Christiansted

Christiansted, St. Croix

We had an hour in Christiansted, a town on the far side of the island. It is larger than Frederickstad and the only other city on the 82 square mile island. People were free to shop or explore or visit the beach. On the way into town we had passed the island’s oldest church, built in the 1700’s. My mother and I hiked back up to the church to take some photos. While there saw some speedy little geckos who really did not want their picture taken and a bigger lizard who not only stayed still, but even puffed out a big yellow ruff under its chin. As a bonus on the way back down to the main part of town we found two more old churches and some huge crazy looking caterpillars.

larimar bracelets from St Croix

Reasonably priced Larimar jewelry could be found in the jewelry shop there. Some of the booths near the ship had considerably cheaper larimar jewelry, but not in as professional of settings. Larimar is mined only in the Dominican Republic. Jewelry stores around the Caribbean have larimar jewelry, but usually at a much higher price. On islands near the Dominican Republic such as the Virgin Islands or Grand Turk locals make very affordable larimar jewelry. Besides the lovely blue color, larimar is claimed to have healing properties.

lizard at the old church in Christiansted

On the way back to the ship we stopped at a rum factory. Nobody on the van really wanted to tour the factory, but as the driver had mentioned stopping back by the bar with the beer guzzling pigs on the return trip a few of us chilled in the waiting area there while the driver took the rest of them back to the ship. We would have done the tour if they had started right away, but by the time they were ready to go the driver was back so we went off to see the pigs instead.

shopping booths at the pier

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Posted in Caribbean, Carnival, Port Cities, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, Splendor | Tagged cruise, dog, island tour, larimar jewelry, photos, St Croix, travel, Virgin Islands | 9 Comments

Carnival Legend

Posted on March 6, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Legend

The Legend dwarfed all the other ships at Circular Quay in Sydney

Carnival Legend has joined her sister ship, the Spirit, in sailing out of Sydney, Australia. Unlike the Spirit who stays in Australia year-round, the Legend spends just part of the year there. It works out well since the southern hemisphere’s summer season for Australia comes during the northern hemisphere’s winter and cruises from Seattle where the Legend will spend the summer cruising to Alaska are seasonal.

Sydney has excellent public transportation. You can take a train from Sydney’s suburbs or the airport to Circular Quay where the ship docks.

To book an Australian cruise on the Legend (or Spirit), visit Carnival.com.au, and for Carnival cruises out of America go to Carnival.com.

Sydney Opera House from the deck of the Legend

The Legend is a Spirit Class ship, built in Finland and launched December 17, 2001. It was delivered to Carnival on August 14, 2002 and has Panamanian registration. The Legend has 12 decks, and was the first Carnival ship to offer alternative dining and a wedding chapel.

The theme for the decor on the Legend is legends. The stairways had paintings or sculptures in the center and vases in glass cases on the sides.

Ship Facts:

Gross Tonnage – 88,500
Guest Capacity – 2124 (2,680 at max capacity)
Length – 963 feet
Beam 105.6 feet
Draft 25.5 feet
Crew – 930
Speed 22 knots cruising speed, 24 max
Engines – 6 diesel electric
Designer – Joseph Farcus
Décor – legends

It’s a long climb to the top of the green thunder waterslide.

The Legend undertook a major drydock in 2014 with refurbishing for the season in Australia where $47 million dollar Aussification improvements included additions like the green thunder waterslide, an enhanced gym, and some of Carnival’s 2.0 upgrades such as the Red Frog Pub which serves as a gathering place for things like trivia games as well as a place to buy drinks. It does not have the pub grub food menu found on ships like the Breeze though.

when sliding down you get to the bottom of the green thunder slide almost before you realize you left the top

The green thunder waterslide is quite different from any other cruise ship waterslide I’ve seen. At the top you step into a little enclosed capsule. You stand there and then all of a sudden the bottom drops out from under your feet and you whoosh down the slide so fast you are at the end practically before you even knew the ride began. The ship also has a yellow waterslide and a children’s splash park with small waterslides.

The children’s splash park has little waterslides.

The spa on the legend does not have a hydrotherapy mineral pool or heated ceramic chairs, but the locker rooms in the spa/gym area have a sauna and steam room available for free and use of the hot tub in the gym area is free as well. The spa offers a range of treatments from haircuts and facials to a wide variety of body treatments and massages. Spa appointments cost extra, but use of the gym is free. The gym has a variety of fitness equipment including treadmills, exercise bikes, and elliptical cross trainers.

First person in the Red Frog Pub each cruise gets a free drink.

Legend Australia Dining Room Dress Code

Regular nights – No cut-off jeans, men’s sleeveless shirts, gym or basketball shorts, baseball hats, flip-flops or bathing suit attire.

Elegant Nights – In addition to the above, no jeans, shorts, t-shirts or sportswear.

Carnival Australia’s dining times start a bit earlier than on Carnival ships in America with your time dining running from 5:30 to 9:00 and standard dining times with early seating at 5:30 and late at 7:45.

Carnival Australia has a Mexican Fiesta theme night where guests are encouraged to come to the dining room dressed in Mexican or Caribbean style clothing. The menu that night is Mexican food with dessert choices that include a chocolate chipotle pudding which is definitely worth ordering. It resembles a fancier version of Carnival’s signature dessert, the chocolate melting cake.

Aussification of the Legend

The pie station – an excellent addition to the Lido.

Food differences include some unique menu items in the dining room and a Pies and Snags station on the Lido which serves meat pies, sausages, and the best French fries onboard. The Lido also had trays with packets of Vegemite available with the breakfast condiments. If you ‘re not Australian and you haven’t tried Vegemite consider yourself lucky. It’s probably something you have to grow up with to like it.

Looking in on Nouveau from above through the funnel

The Legend’s upscale pay-extra restaurant resides in the funnel, accessed by a glass stairway from the Lido Buffet. In Australia it was called Nouveau. For the Australian sailings they also added a pay-extra seafood restaurant called Freshie’s to one of the outside grills at the end of the Lido Buffet by the pool.

Another food difference involved milk on the Lido, which on most ships is found in cartons at breakfast. The Legend had no milk in cartons, but instead had milk dispensers available all day on the Lido, probably because Aussies tend to like milk in their tea and coffee.

The Legend’s Club Merlin Casino is decorated in medieval style. In Australia the Casino is smoke free.

Some things are done differently at Carnival Australia. It’s too bad some of the changes like no smoking anywhere inside the ship including the casino and free water dispensers on every bar aren’t done on all the ships. Both are due to Australian law though.

Like all of Carnival’s ships, the Legend has launderetts on some passenger decks. No coins needed, just the sail & sign card.

When booking on Carnival Australia, the tips are incorporated into the cruise price because Australians are not accustomed to American style tipping. They don’t tend to tip at all so some areas of service are a bit lax since the crew is not working for tips. We had excellent service in the dining room, but our waiter knew we were Americans. He gave us super speedy service on days we had somewhere to go right after dinner and asked for it. And yes, we did leave him a good tip the last day. The stateroom service was acceptable, but not quite up to the standards of Carnival America where the stewards know that outstanding service brings better tips. In fact our steward seemed quite surprised to receive a tip at all since that is not the Aussie custom.

The Atrium, found at the center of the ship.

On Carnival America the room service is always free. Most Americans will give the delivery person a few bucks tip. In Australia the room service costs money because those employees live mainly off tips on ships sailing out of America and Aussies aren’t used to tipping.

One of two swimming pools on the Legend’s Lido deck

Carnival Australia does not sell alcohol packages because Aussie law prevents promoting alcohol. They don’t have a sail-away party because people didn’t participate when they tried it. Leaving Sydney provides such spectacular views that people are most likely too busy taking great photos of Sydney’s landmark bridge and opera house or even of the city skyline to attend a party as the ship pulls out of the harbour.

There’s lots to do on cruise ships. The Legend’s activities include mini-golf.

While in Australia the ship uses local comedians in the Punchliner comedy theater. One said he lived in New Zealand, but most came from Australia. Our whole group including my 3 and 5 year old grandchildren really enjoyed the early evening family friendly comedy shows. Later in the evening they have adults only performances.

there's always something to do on a cruise ship

giant chess set on the Lido deck

Cruising out of Australia, the differences aren’t just in the ship or the food. Some tend more to follow the attitudes of the people. One of the entertainment staff said the games are sometimes hard to get going because everyone wants to watch someone else so nobody wants to go first. Once a game gets going people seemed to join in though.

ship on a stick

Winning any games revealed one big difference – you had to win two medals to trade for a ship on a stick rather than winning a ship on a stick outright, which the guy running the games said was because it was hard to get the ship on a stick trophies there so they had to use them sparingly. In general though the crew like the Aussie attitude because they are more laid back and don’t complain or expect compensation for every little thing that goes wrong – and of course since they are not expecting tips anyway the crew is more relaxed (and a bit more lax as well.)

The Legend has a lot of intricate tile patterns in the decor.

We were quite surprised to find different rules involving things passengers can bring onboard. Power strips are a common item many cruise passengers normally bring since a lot of the ships have just one outlet in the room. On the Legend out of Australia they confiscated ours and left a note saying it was a prohibited item that we could have back at the end of the cruise. A crew member said they consider it a fire hazard, but had no idea if that is due to the different power voltage since she was unaware people use them all the time on cruise ships in the USA. They also confiscate things like walkie talkies because of interference with the ones the crew use. Passengers accustomed to bringing a couple bottles of wine on board will find that gets confiscated as well since it is not allowed on Carnival Australia.

Escape from the kids on the adults-only Serenity deck

We had a great time on the Legend. Cruising is starting to become quite popular in Australia and they are lucky to have the Legend and Spirit providing some more affordable options.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Posted in Australia, Carnival, Legend | Tagged Australia, Carnival, cruise ship, Dress Code, Legend, waterslides, what's on board | 17 Comments

Cabins on the Wilderness Adventurer

Posted on February 27, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Wilderness Adventurer

Passenger cabins on the Wilderness Adventurer serve their purpose well – mainly a place to sleep, wash up, and store your things. They aren’t big, but they also aren’t intended to be where passengers spend their cruise. The expedition vessel mainly travels at night and during the day anchors or docks somewhere while the passengers hike, kayak, or explore. During the times passengers spend on board in the daytime activities like meals, cocktail hour, or presentations of one sort or another occupy some time and there’s plenty of places to sit in the public areas of the ship if it does happen to travel during the day. It also has a hot tub on the top deck.

Navigator Cabin

Wilderness Discoverer has three cabin options, all of which have windows with views to the outside. The Navigator cabins on the main deck cost the least and have about 77 square feet of space. Trailblazer and Pathfinder cabins on the observation deck have about 90 square feet each. The main difference between the two is inside entry on the Trailblazer cabins and outside entry on the Pathfinder.

even the hallway has storage – especially nice for wet coats and boots

The rooms have a lot of storage space. The beds have quite a bit of open space underneath for luggage. Each room has a large set of wooden shelves for storage and a cabinet next to the bed. Rooms with inside entry also have handy coat hooks and space for boots in the hallway just outside the cabin door.

Trailblazer cabin

All rooms come equipped with binoculars and aluminum water bottles for the passenger’s use during their adventures throughout the cruise. They also have water glasses and a hair dryer.

Pathfinder room with outside entry. This one has a window seat.

The outside entry rooms just got remodeled this year with all-new wood and carpeting.

sink in the cabin next to the mirrored bathroom door

Bathrooms are very utilitarian, sometimes called the shoilet. Sinks sit outside the bathroom door. Inside has just space for the toilet with the area in front of it doubling as the shower. The sink has a soap dispenser on the countertop and the shower has shampoo and bath gel in a dispenser hanging on the wall.

plenty of room for passenger’s things on these shelves

Each room has a flatscreen TV hanging over the bed. One channel displays the menus and activities of the day, one has GPS mapping so you can see where the ship is, and one plays daily wildlife movies. There’s also a bowcam channel to show what is under the sea, but the bowcam wasn’t working on our trip. One of the crew said it had met an iceberg and gotten knocked out of place to where it just shows the inside of its housing, but was slated for repair after our cruise.

Fishermen’s Terminal through the cabin window

To view cabins on other ships, click the links below:

Arcadia Breeze Breeze unusual rooms Divina Ecstasy Infinity Legend Liberty Pearl Ruby Princess Splendor Veendam Westerdam

For a complete list of blogs about cabins see My Cruise Stories Ships and Cabins page.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Posted in Shipboard Life, Un-Cruise Adventures, Wilderness Adventurer | Tagged Accomodations, adventure cruise, cruise ship cabins, photos, travel, Un-Cruise Adventures, Wilderness Adventurer | 10 Comments

Memories of a Cruise Ship Doctor Part 6 – Lights Out

Posted on February 20, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Regents Ship

Dr. Len Kreisler spent 4 years as a cruise ship doctor for Regent Lines before they went bankrupt in 1995. His experiences are chronicled in the chapter What Ship, What Cabin and Doctor Who? in his book ROLL THE DICE, PICK A DOC AND HOPE FOR THE BEST. This story is an excerpt from that chapter.

Dr. Len Kreisler’s book

The beeper went off. I went to a phone and called a number manned by Jamaican cabin attendants.

“Docteur, Docteur, day need ya at da aft elevator on deck 6.”

I waved for the nurse to follow me, and proceeded to deck 6. The elevator in question was the size of a telephone booth. An elderly gentleman had gotten in (it could comfortably hold only one person) and had passed out. He couldn’t fall to the floor because of the tight space, so his unconscious body lay erect against the elevator door. When the door opened, he fell forward and hit the floor with his face…still unconscious. His face showed signs of the impact with bruising and swelling, but he was breathing normally, had good color and a steady pulse. I asked the nurse to get our scoop stretcher. Guess what? The funeral people in St. Thomas never returned our stretcher (I doubt it was an oversight.) I remembered the old rusty stretcher we had pulled out of the cooler before putting in the deceased wrapped into our relatively new clinic stretcher. We found the rusty relic, wrapped it in blankets to hide the shabby metal, and got our man to medical. His vital signs were remarkably stable. We located his wife; a 60-ish lady, definitely 20 years younger than her husband. She looked at the peacefully resting man with the bruised face and calmly said:

“He does this quite often. He gets some kind of irregular heart rhythm that causes him to pass out. He should come around shortly.”

The man opened his eyes and looked around without moving his head, or other body parts. I asked if he was hurting anywhere?

He calmly replied “No,” but didn’t move.

The nurse helped me sit him up. He smiled at his wife and prepared to get off the table. I gave him a careful examination and went over the signs and symptoms of head trauma he and his wife should monitor, before allowing him to leave. We documented everything and marveled at the resiliency of the human body.

Hospital beds in one room of the medical center on Carnival Splendor – probably nicer than anything the Regent ships Dr. Len worked on had.

On the Carnival Splendor we were told that a ship can leave the dock without the captain as there are other people on board that can drive the boat. It can not however go anywhere without a doctor on board.

Maple Bacon Muffins

Posted on February 14, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Maple Bacon Muffins

When my son and grandson came to visit, we said anybody who wants a choice about what they eat can come grocery shopping and if they don’t care they can stay home. Everybody came. While wandering down the grocery aisle talking about breakfast options my son half kiddingly said “What about maple bacon muffins?”

I actually thought that sounded pretty good. I already had some maple syrup at home so we made sure to get a package of bacon (we used turkey bacon, but you could make this with real bacon instead.) Using a plain muffin recipe from an old cookbook as a basic guide, I adapted it to suit our plans. We tried them one day for breakfast and liked them so well we made them one more time before they left to try a slight alternation to the recipe which made them even better.

Maple Bacon Muffins

Ingredients

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup melted butter

2 cups flour

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 slices of bacon, cooked and broken into pieces

If bacon wasn’t cooked ahead of time, cook bacon before starting muffins. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin pan with cupcake papers. Beat egg in mixing bowl (Not necessary to use a mixer, a fork works fine.) Add milk, syrup, and melted butter and mix.

Add all dry ingredients. When measuring the flour, spoon it lightly into the cup. Hold spoon above cup and wiggle it a bit while flour freely falls so it doesn’t get packed down in the cup (which would make the muffins too heavy.) Scrape any excess flour off the top of the cup before adding it to the batter. Break any lumps in the brown sugar before stirring batter. Stir batter lightly with spoon. Add the bacon pieces when the dry ingredients are about halfway mixed in. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Lumpy batter is OK. DO NOT overstir. Having a bit of flour not quite mixed is much better than stirring too much. Overstirred muffins don’t rise properly.

Divide batter among muffin cups, about 3/4 full each. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Makes 12 deliciously decadent muffins.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Posted in recipes | Tagged bacon, bacon muffin, baking, breakfast, food, maple, muffin recipe, muffins | 7 Comments

Panama Canal Tour

Posted on February 10, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Divina docked in Cristobol, Panama

Taking a cruise through the Panama Canal is definitely on the bucket list, but since we haven’t done that yet we did the next best thing. The itinerary for our Caribbean cruise on the MSC Divina included a port stop at Cristobal on the Caribbean end of the Panama Canal. We picked a canal cruise for our shore excursion at that port.

view of Panama from the Divina

Our excursion started with a bus ride to the Pacific side of the canal. It’s amazing how much you can learn on shore excursions, some of it completely unrelated to the excursion itself. Our guide on this trip spent the way over on the bus talking about Captain Morgan. Ever hear of Captain Morgan Rum? Yeah, that Captain Morgan.

yo ho ho and a bottle of Captain Morgan rum

After making a name for himself in the world of pirates, Captain Morgan led a crew of 10 ships to successful attacks on the riches of Panama not once, but twice. Initially pirates or privateers such as Morgan had the support of England when attacking Spanish ships or holdings. When the two countries signed a peace treaty they lost Englands’s support, but had assistance from the governor of Jamaica.

ships outside of the Panama Canal

Eventually he was arrested and returned to England, but rather than getting executed he ended up getting knighted and returning to Jamaica as Lieutenant Governor. He lived in the once large and prosperous city of Port Royal, most of which (including the graveyard where he was buried) sank under the sea in a 1692 earthquake shortly after his death.

canal tour ferry

When our bus ride/history lesson ended, we boarded a boat in a harbor on the Pacific end of the canal. We found good seats on the top deck by the rail, poised for picture-taking during our transit of the canal, which included lunch on the boat. It was a misty, cloudy sort of day for the most part, but it didn’t rain.

major highway linking the north and south American continents

Bridge of the Americas

At one point when we got up to take pictures a stubborn German women and her husband sat down in our seats. They tried to claim nobody was sitting there in spite of the fact that we had left water bottles by our chairs. The husband seemed a bit shamed by all the surrounding people telling them they should move, but the wife stubbornly stayed in place until she finally realized we were not going to cower off and sit somewhere else. She finally left grumbling something about how if you got up from your seat in Germany it was fair game for anyone else to take. And people think Americans are rude!

the boat entered Miraflores locks with low water level

Our tour progressed down the canal to Miraflores Locks, which has 2 chambers. Boats enter the first chamber through the open back gate.

the water churns and bubbles as it rises

The gate shuts and then the water rises in bubbles from the floor of the locks until it reaches the level of the water on the exit side.

ready for the gate to open

The front gate opens for boats to leave. The boat then makes a short transit to the next chamber, which raises it up to the level of Miraflores Lake, where the ships then pass through.

people in this building watch boats pass through the locks – some no doubt passengers from our ship on their shore excursion

Along the way we passed under the Bridge of the Americas and the Centennial Bridge. These two bridges are both on the Pacific side of the canal, which is where our tour went.

Centennial Bridge

The USA built the Bridge of the Americas, completed in 1962. To alleviate overcrowding of that bridge Panama commissioned a German company to build the Centennial Bridge which opened in 2004.

each lock had two lanes and Pedro Miguel Locks had a spot where we could see through the wall to the other lane

Pedro Miguel locks has just one chamber, raising us up to the level of the Gaillard Cut, where the lock builders had to cut a channel through the mountain. It’s also called the Culebra Cut.

Pedro Miguel Locks

We passed the continental divide, noted by a marker on the shore somewhere in the cut.

cuts through solid rock near the continental divide

Our journey stopped at the Gamboa Division Dredging Pier around the middle of the canal just past where the river flows into the canal. We did not pass through Gatan Lake or Gatan Locks.

a dredge at work keeping the canal clear

We passed by construction of the new larger lock, which when finished will allow ships as large as the Divina to sail through the locks. It is expected to open in 2016. The cruise ships that pass through now are limited to those small enough to fit in the locks. Holland America makes all their ships no wider or longer than what fits within the chambers of the locks, but many other cruise lines have ships far to big.

train bridge across the Chagres River in the Panama Canal

A railroad track parallels the canal across the Isthmus of Panama. While some container ships pass through the locks, others unload their cargo which then crosses by train and loads onto another ship on the other side. There is a considerable charge to ships passing through the canal. When the USA controlled the locks they barely broke even (The USA preferring as always to tax the average citizen to the poorhouse while plunging the country deeply into debt over making any profits from the nation’s assets.) Now that Panama runs the canal, they make a considerable profit from it. So it can cost less to send the cargo across by rail instead of sending the ship through the canal. Passengers can also ride the rails along the canal, which would be a fun excursion to do.

beached boat at the side of the canal

France started the canal in 1881, but stopped construction due to engineering problems and a high mortality rate of their workers due to disease. The US took over in 1904 and finished the canal in 1914. It is considered one of the wonders of the modern world.

a ship waits its turn to pass through the narrows

Our busses met us at the Gamboa Dredging Division Pier. They have to dredge the canal on a regular basis to keep it from filling in or getting too shallow in places to pass. At the time of our tour traffic went one way in the morning and the other in the afternoon through the narrows of the cut. Ships lined up along the sides of the canal waiting for their turn to go.

dock near the middle of the Panama Canal

approaching the Gamboa Dredging Division Pier

Back on the bus we passed a prison, which the guide said was home to their most famous prisoner and former dictator, Manuel Noriega.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

panama canal

Panama Canal chart courtesy of SSQQ Travel

Posted in Caribbean, Divina, MSC, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions | Tagged Captain Morgan, cruise, Panama, Panama Canal, photos, ships, trains, travel | 15 Comments

How to Make a Towel Unicorn

Posted on February 6, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

How To Fold A Towel Unicorn

Towel Unicorn

Supplies Needed to Make a Towel Unicorn

1 White Bath Towel

1 White Hand Towel

1 White Wash Cloth

2 Gold Pipe Cleaners (AKA chenille stems or fuzzy craft sticks)

2 eyes

How to Fold a Towel Unicorn Body

The towel unicorn uses a standard towel animal body made from a bath towel. Start by laying the white bath towel out flat.

roll both sides of the bath towel to the center from the short ends

Roll each end to the center from the short side.

fold the rolled towel in half with rolls to the outside and pull the tips out of the center of each roll

Fold rolled towel in half, rolls to the outside. Pull tips out of the center of each roll.

take both ends of one roll in one hand, both ends of the other roll in the other hand, and pull

Take the tip ends of both sides of one roll in one hand, and the tip ends of both sides of the other roll in the other hand.

finished towel animal body

Pull all of them at once until you have pulled legs out of the roll and the towel looks like a body with four legs. If you lack the hand strength to pull the whole thing at once, pull it as far as you can, then set it down and take one end of a roll with one hand and the end of the other end other roll on the same half (longways) of the body with the other hand and pull just one side of the body. Repeat with the other side.

How to Fold a Towel Unicorn Head

towel heads are the hard part of most towel animals

fold hand towel in half widthwise

Fold the hand towel in half across the center the short way.

Fold towel over at the open end

Fold the edges of the open end over a couple inches.

one corner folded

folding towels into animals like on a cruise ship or hotel

both corners folded into triangles

From the center of the 2-inch fold, fold each corner over in triangle fashion.

fold the point down under the towel

the point is folded down and the long straight edge folded up

Fold the point down and the long edge up.

fold the corners down into little triangles on both ends of the long bit that just got folded up

Fold over the corners of the long edge into little triangles.

you can roll one side at a time or roll both sides at once, whichever works for you

both sides rolled to the middle

Tightly roll both sides of the head to the middle.

step by step towel animal folding with photos

put a rubber band around the head near the straighter end

Put a rubber band around the head near the straighter edge.

fold the edge over the rubber band and shape the ears and the nose

Fold the end of the towel over the rubber band and shape ears from the bits that stick up out the middle. Shape the other end as desired for the nose.

How to Make a Pipe Cleaner Unicorn Horn

set two gold colored pipe cleaners perpendicular to each other

Set two pipe cleaners perpendicular to one another.

fold each pipe cleaner in half over the other one so they hook together in the middle

Fold both in half over each other so they are hooked over one another.

twist the pipe cleaners around each other to make a horn

Twist from the folded ends until the twisted part is the length you want the horn to be.

when the horn part is the desired length, use the leftover ends to hook the horn to the rubber band on the unicorn head

Lift up the edge of the towel folded over the rubber band and intertwine the ends of the pipe cleaners into the rubber band.

unicorn head with horn attached

Fold the edge back over the rubber band so all that shows is the horn. (Or just make the horn ahead of time and put it on the rubber band while you are making the head.)

How to Fold a Washcloth Unicorn Tail

fold on the diagonal leaving a boarder on the edges

Lay white washcloth out flat. Fold one corner over diagonally, leaving a boarder of an inch or two unfolded.

how to fold a washcloth into a unicorn tail

turn over so fold is on underside or just fold it down to start with

Turn washcloth over so folded part is underneath.

roll diagonally from the center of the washcloth

keep rolling from the end where you started until you roll the whole washcloth into a cone

From the center of the folded end, roll entire washcloth in one continuous roll so that it has a small tight end and an open sweeping end.

cone-shaped finished tail

Finishing the Towel Unicorn

position the body – horses lay down with all their legs on the same side so unicorns would too

Position the unicorn’s body as desired. Insert the tail on one end and set the head on the other. Decorate with eyes. Felt or paper eyes will usually stick to the towel on their own, but googly eyes need double stick tape to hold them on.

finished towel unicorn

For more towel animal folding instructions visit My Cruise Stories Towel Animal Page.

Posted in Towel Animals | Tagged crafts, how to, how to fold towel animals, photos, step-by-step instructions, towel animals, towel art, towel origami, towel sculpture, towel unicorn | 4 Comments

Victoria Harbour Ferries

Posted on January 30, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Victoria Harbour Ferries Gorge Tour

When in Victoria and looking for something a bit different to do, the Harbour Ferries offer a variety of on-the-water options, and also serve as transportation for visiting places near the landing docks. The harbour ferries have a base dock at the waterfront across the street from the famous Empress Hotel.

harbour tour ferry

Tours include the inner harbour (it’s Canada, harbor has a u in it), the gorge cruise, or a combo ticket to take both tours. They also offer water taxi service, with prices varying on how far people want to go or the option of a hop-on, hop-off pass to ride the water taxi around and see Victoria’s waterfront areas at will from shore as well as from the water. To visit more distant stops they also have harbour ferry service to places farther than the water taxis venture.

wall from old fort

Tours start from the ferry base conveniently located in the inner harbour. The gorge cruise passes through the inner harbor on the way to the gorge, pointing out historic sites such as the red door in a brick wall which once led to storage for the first fort in Victoria. The fort once rose above the wall where businesses now stand near the two oldest buildings in town, a former bank and jail -conveniently located right next to each other where the sheriff could easily take anyone caught robbing the bank the short distance to the jail.

old bank and jail

The ferry proceeds under the historic blue bridge. At least for now. The captain sadly stated that the bridge is slated for demolition in spite of its historic value and the fact that with the heavy counterweight it takes just a very small amount of power for a very small motor to raise and lower it.

historic blue bridge

The narrow Gorge Waterway continues for some distance past spacious homes where Victoria’s elite once lived, the oldest working shipyard around, and a restaurant with views of recycling in action at Vancouver Island’s car recycling center. Like many historic homes near water, houses in the area did not initially have sewers. With an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude, the waterway became the dumping ground for just about everything.

harbor seals hanging out by the shipyard

Swimming marathons and other historic water-based activities ended when the water became too polluted for safe swimming. In recent years clean-up activity began. It started with private people in boats pulling junk up from the bottom. Eventually the city of Victoria joined in the clean-up effort. The Gorge Waterway once again has clean water for swimmers (including harbor seals) to enjoy.

you have to reserve a spot a year in advance to camp in this park on the Gorge Waterway

Very rare for Canada’s British Columbia province, where shorelines are crown land, permanent private docks line the Gorge Waterway, grandfathered in as the private homes there had them before the shoreline laws existed.

houseboats in Victoria’s inner harbor

The harbour tour started much the same as the gorge tour, passing seaplane docks and the brick wall with the red door. It turned before going under the bridge and stayed in the more populated inner harbour area, viewing acres of expensive condos and rows of houseboats. It stopped at places like Fisherman’s Wharf where people could get off and catch another ferry later if they wanted to spend some time there.

seaplane getting ready for takeoff

Without leaving the boat, the harbour tour takes about 45 minutes. The gorge tour takes an hour, and when doing both on a combo ticket there may be a wait in between if the next boat is not at the dock when the first one arrives, or if it is already full. The inner harbour has plenty of things to fill a possible wait time with a number of food stands and craft booths, and sometimes live entertainment.

our tour guide said this was the mayor of Victoria hanging out on his boat

Posted in Canada, Day Trips, Port Cities | Tagged harbor seal, harbor tour, harbour ferry, inner harbor, photos, short cruise, Victoria, water taxi | 14 Comments

Cruise Ship Cabins on Carnival Splendor

Posted on January 23, 2015 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Splendor

Accommodations on Carnival Splendor

Like all cruise major cruise ships, Carnival Splendor has a range of passenger cabins to choose from depending on how much space people want vs. how much they want to pay. Some passengers choose small interior cabins to save money while others would rather pay more for a bigger cabin with a private balcony or a spacious suite. Officially they are called staterooms, but most cruise ship guests refer to their room on the ship as a cabin.

People who are sensitive to cigarette smoke may want to avoid booking deck 6, particularly midship where smoke from the casino on deck 5 sometimes wafts up the stairwell. Aft rooms above a couple of the deck 5 lounges where smoking is allowed could be problematic as well. Smoking is no longer allowed on balconies and other than the casino, the Cool Lounge, and the Red Carpet Nightclub it is only allowed outside on decks 10 and 11 starboard.

standard shower with shampoo and bath gel

All cabins have shampoo and shower gel dispensers in the shower and bars of soap and a few product samples in a bowl on the counter. What is in the sample bowls changes over time so the only things you can really count on having are the shampoo, shower gel, and soap. Be sure to bring everything else you will need for the cruise.

The hallways around guest rooms have paintings of people that look to be from the 1930’s or so

If you want to decorate your cabin or door, or just want to keep paperwork organized, it’s good to know that cruise ship cabins are magnetic. The walls, door, and ceiling are all magnetic. We used magnets to keep our sail and sign cards handy on the wall next to the door so we didn’t have to look for them when we wanted to leave the room.

Inside Cabins

standard interior cabin

If you want to save money, book low. An inside cabin on deck 1 may be the exact same size as an inside cabin on deck 9, but lower decks are in lower categories so it costs less. Not all cabins in the same category are the same size though. It pays to check the deck plans before booking not only to find the best staterooms in a particular category, but also to see if anything noisy that you want to avoid is above or below the room you want to book. It’s also nice to room in the same area of the ship as the places you go to most. Stairs and elevators are handy for the ups and downs, but it is a long walk from bow to stern. Or pick a room far away from the things you like so you get more exercise. If you have the option to choose category guarantee rather than a specific room you pay less, but take the room assigned to you which will be at least the category you selected, possibly higher depending on what rooms other people booked.

how to find cheap rooms with a view on a cruise ship

Staterooms at the bow of the ship on decks 6, 7, & 9 book as interior, but have windows.

Interior rooms are always at the low end of the price scale, but if you look carefully you can find rooms with a view that book as interior. They won’t be in the lowest category of interior rooms, but will cost less than one listed as ocean view. On the Splendor there are a few rooms with portholes on decks 1 and 2 and a row of rooms with windows across the bow on decks 6, 7, and 9 that book as interior rooms. We spent a week in a cabin at the center of the bow on deck 7 where the panoramic view more than made up for the lack of space even if it could only be seen when standing due to the front wall of the outside deck blocking the lower half of the window.

not much space in the interior room with drop down bunks

If you just have two people cruising on a budget, an interior room is a great way to save money. When staying in an interior cabin I tend to put the TV on the bow cam channel and use it like an electronic window. For the most part the interior rooms are the smallest cabins on the ship so if you have more than two people in a room they can become quite crowded. The interior cabin with drop down bunks has very little room to move around so unless you plan to do nothing but sleep in your cabin or just can’t afford the cruise any other way, with 3 or 4 people you would be much more comfortable in the more spacious ocean view cabin.

Ocean View Cabins

couch bed and drop down bunk make room for 4 passengers in ocean view stateroom

Ocean View cabin sleeps 4 comfortably

People tend to look down on cabins on low decks as inferior. We stayed in an ocean view cabin on deck 1 with 4 people in the room on an 8 day cruise and loved it. The ocean view cabin had quite a lot of space with a drop down bunk over a couch that converted to a bed. We never felt crowded. From deck 1 it is just 1 deck down to the gangway at port stops and just 2 decks up to the dining room at mealtimes so it is easy to avoid elevators at their most crowded times and just take the stairs. The room had a good sized window with a nice close-up view of the water. When the sea got a bit rough the lower deck had noticeably less movement than those higher up.

Balcony Cabins

Decorated Balcony Cabin – when cruising for special occasions you can arrange to have the cabin decorated prior to boarding

Balcony staterooms normally have a significant price jump from ocean view. You get a great view and your own small outdoor space with a balcony cabin. They also tend to have significantly more interior space than the typical inside room. Most cruise ship passengers are quite comfortable in a balcony room. For even more extra space without going up to suite price there are some staterooms with extended balconies and some premium balcony rooms. The outer ends of the aft extended balconies on the stern can be seen from higher decks, so keep that in mind if you don’t want other passengers looking down on your balcony. Then again the bridge crew can see down the rows of balconies along the sides of the ship from their docking wings so those aren’t entirely unobserved either.

if balconies are your thing you'll want this one

wrap-around balcony on stern corner cabin 6450

If you want a really fantastic balcony, there are corner cabins at the stern on decks 6, 7, & 8 with wrap-around balconies. In some places you can book one of those and the room next door which has a double balcony as adjoining cabins and have an even bigger balcony with the partition between the two removed.

door into small alcove with separate doors to corner and next door cabins

Suites

Ocean Suite bathroom has double sinks

For those who want more luxury in a spacious cabin that has amenities like a dressing area, walk-in closet, and jetted tub, the ship has several categories of suites available ranging from the smallest junior suites to ocean suites to the largest of all, the grand suites. Of course the price increases with each jump in category. Suites come with added perks like VIP check-in.

you definitely get what you pay for on a cruise ship

Ocean Suite

Grand Suite

the balcony on the grand suite has fancy furniture

Spa Cabins

the cabin for people who are really into spas

Spa Balcony Cabin

At the high end of each category we find the Spa cabins. These cost more because in addition to being on a very high deck, they come with extra perks.

spa products come with the spa room

Each spa cabin has a number of little bottles of spa products on the counter, which are replenished throughout the cruise. If you go to buy these products at the spa they are quite pricey. Spa cabins also have different bathrobes and towels from the other cabins. These cabins are mainly for spa enthusiasts since they also come with priority spa appointments and (in my opinion the best thing about them) free access to the mineral pool and thermal suite, which includes the heated ceramic chairs.

If you’ve never tried a heated ceramic chair, you have no idea what you are missing. Pure Bliss.

People who enjoy spas would love these cabins, but those who are not really into spas may not find the rooms worth the extra money. If you’ve never sat on a heated ceramic chair, take the free spa tour on your next boarding day and try one out!

Wheelchair Accessible Cabins

view into accessible room from bathroom shows low set hook on bathroom door

Wheelchair accessible cabins are often larger than other cabins in the same category to allow space for a wheelchair to move about the cabin.

shower in wheelchair accessible stateroom

They also include things like grab bars, shower seats, and accessible height furnishings and accessories.

wheelchair accessible rooms have wider doors – and note the low placement of the mailbox

At just over three feet, the doors into wheelchair accessible staterooms are significantly wider than those into regular cabins which are under two feet wide.

handicapped rooms have lots of extra clothesline space

double clotheslines – and longer too since the shower is bigger

Showers in the wheelchair accessible units are larger than normal and minus the lip to the shower stall found in regular cabins. One of the best features of these showers is the clotheslines. While normal cabins have small showers and one short clothesline, the accessible cabins have a much longer clothesline since the shower is bigger, plus it has one at the normal height and another lower down where a sitting person can reach it, giving about quadruple the space to hang things like wet swimming suits.

Click here for an in-depth look at an ocean view cabin.

To view cabins on other ships click the links below:

Arcadia Breeze Breeze odd cabins Divina Ecstasy Infinity Legend Liberty Pearl Ruby Princess Veendam Westerdam Wilderness Adventurer

For a complete list of cabins on other ships see My Cruise Stories Ships and Cabins Page.

Posted in Carnival, Shipboard Life, Splendor | Tagged Accomodations, cabins, Carnival Splendor, cruise, cruise ship, inside cruise ship cabins, photos, Staterooms, travel | 11 Comments

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Things to do in St Croix

St Croix Island Tour

Christiansted

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Carnival Legend

Ship Facts:

Legend Australia Dining Room Dress Code

Aussification of the Legend

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Maple Bacon Muffins

Ingredients

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

How To Fold A Towel Unicorn

Supplies Needed to Make a Towel Unicorn

How to Fold a Towel Unicorn Body

How to Fold a Towel Unicorn Head

How to Make a Pipe Cleaner Unicorn Horn

How to Fold a Washcloth Unicorn Tail

Finishing the Towel Unicorn

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

Accommodations on Carnival Splendor

Inside Cabins

Ocean View Cabins

Balcony Cabins

Suites

Spa Cabins

Wheelchair Accessible Cabins

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015

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