Western Caribbean Reviewed by Mike

Let me start my review by stating that I thoroughly enjoyed this cruise! I'll go ahead and post the few "negatives" and get them out of the way - then on to the good stuff! I promise there is MORE good than bad! However, feel free to ask any questions you may have and I'll do my best to answer them. I saved all the Capers from the cruise and will scan them as soon as I can for anyone who wants to see them. DS who is 16 did sign up for Club 0� and I'll write more about that later on.

#1: I had been pre-warned about tenders at Grand Cayman and Cozumel so I knew it was best to return to the ship as early as possible. So, DH and I took an early excursion (more details about that later) and were back on the ship before lunchtime. I'm not sure what went wrong with the tenders, but there were 1,000 + passengers stuck on the dock waiting for a tender for almost 2 hours at Grand Caymon. The sun was very hot and I even heard that one lady passed out from the heat (that was not verified - just what I was told). I also heard someone from the Inspiration contacted the Liberty (who was also docked there) and got them to lend their tender boats so the passengers could return to the Inspiration. We were never given an explanation as to what exactly happened to cause the delay. My DS and several other people from our group were among those stranded at the dock. Some people felt like Carnival could have at least provided water because of the extreme heat.

#2: Our ship had to return to Tampa early to avoid forecasted fog. This meant that all ship stores and, of course, the casino had to close at 9p. Many people were upset about missing out on their last night of gambling. However, those who had early flights were thankful that the ship was not delayed in returning.

#3: The itinerary said Cozumel was 9:30a - 8:00p. When we got our Capers, we discovered that the last tender back from shore was at 5:00p and that the Inspiration would set sail at 6:00p. I had already been pre-warned that this would probably happen so I wasn't bothered by this. Again, we were off the ship early, walked around the shops and took a taxi to downtown. We were back on the ship around lunch time.

#4: This was absolutely the WORSE debarkation I have ever experienced! Self Assist went smoothly. Some of our group had an early flight and so they did the self debarking and said it was great. No problems, everything ran smoothly for them. Otherwise, we were instructed to have our luggage outside our cabin no later than midnight (no problem there). They also instructed everyone to make sure their luggage had ship tags on them so that they could be organized by color and make sorting and pick-up easier. Passengers were assigned various Debarkation Waiting areas based on the color of your tag. We were informed that we were to wait patiently until our "color" was called and then to follow the instructions for debarking. Sometime shortly after 9a, they made an announcement that anyone ready to leave the ship could then make their way to the Empress Deck (#7) and debark. Needless to say, all passengers started making their way to leave. I still want to know what happened to the system where they call each color and clear the ship in sections?!?!?! It was a nightmare!!!! As we were struggling to make our way down the stairs, we talked with a couple who were not happy with their cruise at all. According to the man, their bathroom had been flooded from day one. They kept reporting it and were told someone would be there right away to take care of it. Nobody ever came. They said their cabin steward (who according to them had a major attitude) gave them extra towels to keep on the floor. They said they had to wade in about 3 - 4 inches of water every time they went into the bathroom so they made sure to wear flip flops or some kind of shoes that could get wet. He said they wouldn't be cruising on that ship or with Carnival again.

#5: There was only one power outlet in our room. We brought a power strip along to accommodate our needs. On formal night, I was blow drying my hair and had my camera charging at the same time. The breaker must have tripped cause I lost power. DH reported it and it was fixed in no time. Also, our telephone was out of order off and on. We didn't get our wake-up call on the day we docked at Grand Cayman and there were several times people in our group tried calling us (when they knew we were in our cabin) and never could get through. We didn't miss having a phone ring (especially after all we went through just b4 our cruise). I set the alarm on my cell phone as a back-up for a wake-up call (when we discovered what was going on with the phone) so it was not a big deal.

#6: The Lido deck was very slippery on the day of embarkation. It had been raining in Tampa off and on that day. They did put out some blue runners but they didn't cover the entire path. I watched a couple of people slip and fall. I don't believe anyone was seriously injured but it would have been a terrible way for me to start my cruise! I was extremely careful and walked very slow and basically took baby steps to get where I needed to go.

I think that about covers the negative stuff. Guess once I started listing it, it might seem worse than it actually was. I'm just trying to cover all the information - good and bad. So, enough with the bad and onto the good!

Pre-Cruise: We stayed at the Best Western Westshore on Westshore Drive. I booked the park and sail package so that we could leave our vehicle at the hotel. The hotel provided us with transportation to and from the port. Our room was supposed to be ready anytime after 3p. We arrived around 3:30p only to be told we had to wait about 30 minutes or so� until our room would be available. The room was okay but nothing great. The hotel was clean. We were set for an 11a shuttle on Monday (01/30/2006) and were delayed because of a large group. We ended up leaving the hotel around 11:30a and were in line and waiting to board the ship by 12 noon.

Embarkation: As I stated, we were at the terminal by 12n. There was a line at check-in but it moved quickly. We didn't have much of a wait for boarding and we were on the ship by 12:30p. They allowed us to drop our carry-ons off in our cabin. We were greeted by our Cabin Steward, Ronald (who was wonderful). We went to the buffet and ate lunch. The food was plentiful and delicious. We met up with our group� on the Lido deck for the sail away just after the Muster Drill.

We had Early Seating at dinner in the Mari Gras Dining Room @ 6:15p. Let me say that Eduardo, our waiter, was fantastic! Lots of personality and always smiling - excellent service. The food was great. I thought the portions were good but the desserts were sometimes disappointing. We had a group of 12 so it was not possible to seat us all at one table. We did have back-to-back booths and played musical seats throughout the cruise (we checked with Eduardo about this and he was fine with it and said it was no problem). We went to the Welcome Aboard Show and Chris Roberts, our Cruise Director was great. Unfortunately, he was going on vacation after this sailing and would not be returning to the Inspiration. I'm not sure who the new Cruise Director will be but they've got some big shoes to fill. DH and I were wiped out from the trip down, etc. so we crashed after the show.

Fun Day At Sea! I did breakfast in the Mardi Gras Dining room with DS. We both enjoyed our food. Went to the photo gallery (ouch!). Also booked our excursions for Grand Cayman. The weather was great. DH took advantage of the sun while I explored the ship. We had lunch on the Lido deck. This was formal night and also the Captain's Party. Since we had Main seating for dinner we had to be ready to go to the Captain's party by 5p. Dinner was fabulous! I found the portions to be good. (I had heard that the portions on the appetizers were small - I didn't think that was the case at all.) We found most of the passengers dressed appropriately for dinner. Some were dressed more formal than others. DS looked really great in his tuxedo and DH wore his Air Force Tux. I thought both of my guys looked very handsome! After dinner, we took some pictures in our formal wear. We never did get our entire group together for a photo. But that was okay, we got enough pictures. Entertainment for the evening was SHOUT! starring the Inspiration Dancers. Their performance was awesome and they did a great job with their costumes and set design. After dinner it was Karaoke Time in the Candlelight Lounge which was followed by the Late Night Comedy Special with Big Tony Esposito. He was a real hoot!

Grand Cayman: We were on one of the early tenders since our excursion was scheduled for 8:15a. DH and I did the Grand Cayman Island Tour ($35 each) and DS did the Stingray City & Island Tour ($59) with some of our group members. The weather was beautiful! Our tour guide was great. He took us through town and showed us various historic places. We drove by 7 mile beach and went to Hell. DH and sent some postcards (postage was only 20 cents to send to the USA and the postcards weren't too expensive I think they were either 3 or 4 for a dollar.) I got some great pictures. We left there and went to sample sum rum and rum cakes. Mmmmm! Delicious! After that, it was the turtle farm. I even got to hold one. Of course, by the time it was my turn, he was rather annoyed and ready to get back in the water. Naturally, he started spazzing out when I took him. DH got a nice photo of my expression :) I didn't hold him long and put him right in the water where he wanted to be. DH and I walked around Grand Cayman for a little while and did some shopping. Then we were off on the tender and back on the ship in time for lunch. DS and the others didn't have the same luck with the tender as we did (as explained above). Dinner was fabulous, as usual! Tonight's entertainment was our Cruise Director performing in the Blues Brothers! We all enjoyed this performance and I think DS enjoyed it most of all. He was pretty much mesmerized the entire time! We closed down the Karaoke bar (again).

Cozumel, Mexico: I did breakfast in the Mardi Gras Dining Room with the Trailer Park Girls (two ladies in our group -you would have had to have been at the last nights comedy show to appreciate the names!). DH and I had already decided to take an early tender into Cozumel with DS and just do a little exploring. We checked out the shops at the port and DS got a temporary tattoo then we took a taxi to downtown. There was some confusion over the fee. It was supposed to be $6 for all three of us to go downtown but our driver decided he wanted to charge us more. After a word of prayer� with him, he took us downtown and we paid him only $6. We went into lots of shops. The sellers were very aggressive there and DS was not at all comfortable with that. He was ready to get back on the ship almost as soon as we got downtown. DH and I reassured him but we ended up cutting our time in downtown a little short and headed back to the port. We actually did most of our buying from the vendors there. We got on a tender and were back on the ship by 1:30p. The sky was cloudy to begin with so we were a little anxious about the weather. We figured we'd have just as much fun around the pool for the afternoon. We did make another stop in the photo gallery (ouch again). Several members of our group joined in on the games in the Candlelight Lounge. After another wonderful dinner in the Mardi Gras Dining Room, we closed down the Karaoke Bar (again).

Fun Day At Sea! #2: The last full day on the ship is always sad for me. Just the thought of the cruise coming to an end (wah!!!). Our day started with breakfast on the Lido deck. We even managed to make it to the Debarkation Talk. DH decided to try the casino again. He played in the slot tournament. I enjoy watching him play. My luck really sucks so I don't usually even bother with the casino. The weather was cloudy so we relaxed most of the afternoon. DS really enjoyed the water slide the entire cruise. I kept thinking that I'd like to try it and then DH reminded me of a past experience on one of the slides at Myrtle Beach. Gravity, and the twisting on the slide didn't agree with my swimsuit. Suffice it to say, I felt I'd better refrain from the potential of a repeat performance with a much larger audience. Besides, I figured the stairs and the slide would certainly do my back in. I decided to let my DS enjoy the slide for the both of us. He did spend a good bit of time in Club 02. He even won a couple of first place trophies. There weren't a lot of teenagers on the ship. The crowd was a mixture of all ages, young and old. I found my fellow passengers on this cruise to be much more friendly than those on my last cruise. Our last night in the dining room was another delightful experience. We were sad to say goodbye to Eduardo. He was fantastic! Our overall dining experience was excellent. We did have a table next to ours with several small children. (I thought of Folgy! LOL) They had an infant who was never a problem. The others, however, did manage to get a little rowdy at times. It wasn't too bad but I could have lived without the high pitched screams. We all decided we wouldn't miss that part of the dining experience. The main show for the evening was El Nuevo Caribe. It was okay but I think I enjoyed the other performances more. It was probably more me than the performers because others said they really enjoyed the show. There was a late night buffet on the Lido deck but we were still full from dinner so we never even made it up to the Lido deck. Instead, DH made sure our luggage was all packed and outside our door before midnight. Late Night Comedy was a performance by Kenny Miller. I can't remember when I've laughed that hard. He kept us laughing the entire show. If you ever have the chance to watch one of his shows, you won't regret it.

Debarkation: I pretty much covered this in the first section. It was great for those who did Self Assist. Now that I know how they are doing the debarkation, I'll be ready the next time. You live and learn. Once we got off the ship, the line moved quickly. No problems going through customs. Our luggage was all lined up practically one bag next to the other. A porter assisted us in getting our luggage across the street so we could meet our shuttle to return to our vehicle at the hotel. The weather in Tampa was cold and rainy. They had a terrible storm the day before with several inches of rain.

It was a long ride home. We've finally got the suitcases unpacked. The laundry is almost all done. I miss Ronald, our cabin steward, a lot!

In closing, I have to say that I really like the cabins on Carnival MUCH better than RCCL. Size does matter! (Laffin) I'm pretty sure our next cruise will be on Carnival.

Panama Canal Cruise Reviewed by Diane B.

Embarkation:
HAL representatives were on hand to assist from U.S. Customs clearance to ship transfer. They were wonderful! Assuring us our luggage would be in our stateroom that evening, we boarded a bus and arrived at the port on time to sail away. We don't know how they did it, but out luggage was in our stateroom by 8:00 p.m. that evening. We were directed to the main deck to receive our guest cards and other cruise/ship information. It was a wonderful start on our journey.

Stateroom:
Our stateroom was very nice. Sunrayah, our stateroom attendant, welcomed us aboard and, throughout the cruise, provided top-notch service. His attention to our needs and requests were provided quickly. Our stateroom was well taken care of, always clean and neat. The attendants work very hard to provide excellent service.

Buffet:
The Lido buffet area was excellent. Every food dish imaginable was on the line and it was delicious as well as pleasing to the eye. The variety of dishes was enormous; from morning 'til night was available to cruise guests. The kitchen staff certainly catered to everyone's needs.

Wedding Vows Renewal:
We experienced the ceremony of renewal of our wedding vows and it was one of the highlights of our cruise. The Captain officiated at the ceremony and it was quite an emotional time for everyone involved. His words and personal attention to each couple were a testimonial to his position as leader. We received a leather bound album with certificate and pictures of the ceremony, flower arrangement in our cabin and enjoyed an exquisite dinner in The Pinnacle restaurant.

Entertainment:
With the anticipation of spending three weeks on board with hopefully a vast array of activities, programs, stage shows, and night life, we settled in and began reviewing the listed entertainment. Our first day brought us to the staff teaching country line dancing on Deck-10 at the Crow's Nest. It has a great dance floor and we immediately thought this place was our home away from home. As the "dance instructors" proceeded to teach line dancing, it was obvious they were not comfortable with it. In fact, they told everyone they were having difficulty with instructing, but would do their best. Since it was a large group of student/guests, it became obvious that there would be extensive country music and dancing on board.

This was quite a disappointment for us and for many other guests. One couple from Florida told us they would never cruise with HAL again. No night life!

The other end of the entertainment spectrum was no different. Showtime in the Vista Lounge was another sad experience. HAL had four comedians who were terrible. So terrible, from the first night on board, guests were walking out of the show. Another example of dullness with the hypnotist. She definitely was not entertainment material and again, people walked out. on the good side were the gymnast, piano player, and the local folklore dance teams. Excellent entertainment!

�The program setup of entertainment was out of sequence. For instance, they conducted bingo games while guests were on shore excursions, and at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon. At this time, folks are returning and getting ready for dinner. Yet, the cruise directors were surprised at the samll turnout for bingo. Hello! Anticipate the bingo game in the morning when people are looking for something to do.

We also enjoy the art auctions. Again, the time presented for these auctions was late in the afternoon (3-4:00 p.m.) when guests are preparing for dinner. The more interesting activities crossed over in time so you couldn't attend everything. For example, the wine somalier had a presentation at the same time the Panama Canal lecturer, Dr. Jay, was speaking. Needless to say this was a conflict of interest and the lecture took priority. His four sessions were superb; but we also missed out on the wine presentation.

Shore Excursions
Our shore excursions were great and we had good English-speaking guides. They were friendly and knowledgeable of their tour.

Children
We did notice a number of children on board. No problem with that, but seeing them all over the ship and at all times of the day and night indicated they didn't have an activity area for them. They monopolized the main pool and guests had a difficult time using the pool area. It stated an adult was to be present to supervise, but the children were at time out of control, running, jumping, and creating a disturbance. More emphasis may be considered to children activities away from the adult agenda.

Overall, we� had a wonderful time, made many new friends and experienced another part of the world we hadn't been to. We plan to continue cruising to unforeseen, and foreseen destinations, but personally, Holland America will not be a choice of cruise lines.

Bermuda Cruise Reviewed by willysgrandma

I sailed on the Explorer of the Seas to Bermuda Oct. 21, 2007.This was a five night cruise to Bermuda. I must preface my review by saying I previously sailed the Freedom of the Seas and loved that ship. I found myself making comparisons between the ships.

EMBARKATION: We drove to the Cape Liberty port and embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at the pier building at 12:30 PM, dropped our luggage and continued past the terminal to the long term parking. Parking was $80 for a 5 night cruise, payable in cash or by Visa or Master Card.

We walked back to the terminal after parking and showed our i.d. and Seapass printout and were given a bus number. We were in cabin 1343 and proceeded to the line for deck 10. We were immediately greeted by an agent, the check in process took five minutes. We were directed around the corner to have our picture taken for our Seapass card, took an embarkation photo and by the time we were finished, our bus number was called. We got on the bus and were on the ship within 15 minutes.

Since it was a little before 1:00 PM and too early to get to our room, we went to the Windjammer Cafe for lunch. It was fairly crowded and we shared a table with two others. Food was okay - nothing spectacular, but plenty of choices. I felt we had more choices on FOS than Explorer and the quality of food was a bit better as well. We then proceeded to our dining room to try and have our dinner changed from late to early seating. We were quickly accommodated and then proceeded to our room.

CABIN: We had inside cabin 1343 on deck. 10. It was a very short walk from the aft elevators and in a great location. The room was small, but there was plenty of storage space. The beds were pushed together, which left absolutely no room to get out of the side of the bed to use the bathroom. We found our cabin attendant (Amanda, who provided outstanding service throughout the cruise) and she moved the beds and also cleaned out the mini-bar in the fridge for us. With the beds moved apart, there was plenty of room to walk in between the beds.

The carpets and couch were a bit worn in our cabin, but not filthy. The quilt on the bed when the beds were doubled had a few holes in it. With the beds split, the bedding was fine. no holes or worn spots. I was concerned about noise in our room because we were directly under the Windjammer. There was nothing to fear. The only noise we heard was on the second night at about 11 PM and sounded like something being dragged across the room. Other than that, it was very quiet.

We did notice during the cruise bags of cut up carpet in the hallways during the day. It seemed that some of the cabins were having their carpets replaced, but not ours.

FOOD & DINING SERVICE: We were assigned to Columbus Dining Room, table 524 early seating. We were not happy with the service by our head waiter. We and our table mates arrived promptly, yet our waiter did not take any orders until all three of his tables were seated. Then he was able to serve all three tables at the same time rather than one at a time, making service easier for him. That was a big issue, since neither of the other tables was ever on time.

The first night, we sat without him taking our order for nearly a half hour. The second night, he had begun taking our order after we sat for 15 minutes when the next table came in . He stopped taking our order to put the napkins on the laps of the late guests. Those at our table were very unhappy with this situation. We weren't served an appetizer until 40 minutes after we were seated.

On the third night, the only show was at 7:45 and we knew we would not make the show if we ate in the dining room. We decided to eat in the Windjammer, but did go to the dining room to tell our waiter so he would not hold up the dinner for our table mates. The waiter was no where to be found, but we approached the Maitre D and told him of our situation.

He was very apologetic and asked us to please eat in the dining room and he would ensure we would be out in time to get to the show. We opted to not take a chance and the head waiter assured us he would take care of the problem. He did take care of it - our table mates told us later on that dinner was served promptly and they were out of the dining room in a little over an hour after sitting down. We did go back to the dining room after that and found that the service had improved and the waiter was no longer waiting for all three tables to start taking orders and serving.

The food was good, but not the best I've ever had. Steaks and filet mignon were outstanding and cooked to order. Some of the fish dishes were excellent but people did complain that the same fish (cod) served the first night was terrific, but terrible on the third night. I love the cold fruit soups and found all of them good. The desserts were not as tasty as the desserts on FOS. Lobster was on Wednesday night and very good. We had lunch in the dining room on Monday and I did enjoy that - I felt the food quality was much better than the Windjammer and should have eaten there more.

Food at the Windjammer was disappointing. The selection was not as big as was available on FOS, the food was over salted and some of it was bland. On many other ships, tablecloths are on the tables in the Cafe at dinner - not on this ship. There were also not as many sugar free desserts.

We did have breakfast in the dining room one morning and it was delightful. Food was cooked perfectly.

We ate a few times in Cafe Promenade. Pizza was available, as were sandwiches and some desserts. I prefer the larger ships that have both Sorrento' s Pizza and Cafe Promenade. There were more food varieties and more tables. On sea days, it was hard to get a table.

We ate at Portofino's the last night Service was excellent, food was good.

THE SHIP: The ship is a smaller version of FOS. The ship was in good condition for a seven year old ship. Not a lot of signs of wear and tear. Missing are the H20 water park and the Flow Rider. The Solarium pool was very enjoyable. The other pools were a bit more crowded, but to my astonishment, it was never difficult to find a chair on sea days near either pool. Whether it was because it was cool out and not as many people used the pools, or if this cruise didn't have chair hogs, I don't know, but it was delightful to be able to find a seat after lunch.

The Promenade is lovely, but the shops are really a waste. I haven't been on a ship in which I saw so few people shopping. The high end jewelry store was pretty empty most of the time. The Logo shop had a lot of items, but very few kids sizes. The Liquor Shop was the busiest shop. Since many of the passengers had driven to the ship and didn't have the issue of getting liquor home on an airplane, I believe that drove a lot of business to that store.

There are a lot of places you can go to on the ship and not feel crowded. The 19th Hole on deck 14 was a great spot to watch the Rock Climbing and Basketball activities. There is also an inline skate park (that I didn't notice anyone using) and it also overlooks the mini-golf. The golf course could use new turf. The Crow's Nest, Dizzy's, Viking Crown Lounge, Cloud Nine and Sevens Hearts are on this deck.

We didn't use the gym or the spa but did walk the track every day. Get there early, that was the most popular spot on the ship by 9 AM.

ACTIVITIES & SHOWS: I didn't feel there were enough activities on this ship, particularly on sea days. There was the usual Bingo, Aerobics Classes, Trivia. However, many times the venues were so small and because there was not more activities going on, it was SRO. At a towel folding class in the Schooner bar, there were so many people you couldn't see what the staff was doing.

We missed the show the first night with comedian Rick Starr and magician Peter Gross but heard from people we asked the show was good and did get to see it on the t.v. in our room later on. We only saw one Production Show (Wild, Cool & Swingin')with the Singers and Dancers and it was awful. We left after 20 minutes. We weren't the only ones - everyone we spoke to that night and the next day did not like the show either. We heard better singers at Family Karaoke (seriously - I was sorry that was only one hour).

The third night, the featured singer was John Christie, who was very good. Reminded me very much of Peter Allen. We skipped the productions show the next night and the ship was rocking too hard for us to stay for the show the last night.

Do not miss the Ice Show or Quest. Our cruise director was Dave Chapman. He was pretty good but it was his last cruise on the ship. He is very quick and has a great sense of humor.

BERMUDA: If you love the beach, Bermuda is the place for you. Elbow or Horseshoe Beaches are must see's. If you are not a beach lover (like me), there is not a lot to do. This was my second time to Bermuda and I had already done the Botanical Gardens and Caves. While I usually like doing a catamaran excursion, I didn't bother this time because I was concerned it might be too cool to swim.This time, we opted to buy a one day bus pass on the ship.
The ship docked in King's Wharf. On a previous cruise, we docked in St. George and Hamilton. I prefer King's Wharf. There is not much to do in Hamilton besides expensive shopping. Souvenir shopping on the Wharf was much better. We got off the ship and walked to the high speed ferry to Hamilton. After walking around Hamilton a bit, we walked to the bus terminal and went to St. George to the Perfume Factory. While we were told we could get a tour, there were only two women in the shop and both were busy with customers, so a tour was out of the question (but I did get my Frangiapani perfume).

We took the bus back to Hamilton and decided instead of taking the ferry back to the Wharf, we would take the bus. What didn't appear to be too far on the map ended up being over an hour's ride by bus. Take my advice - use the ferry to go back.

On day two we decided to explore the Wharf and to my delight, I found a Snorkel Park that was not there when I last visited 5 year ago. It is located next to the Dolphin Swim. It is free to get in, you can rent a chair and umbrella for $10 each (or $25.00 for two chairs and two umbrellas) and enjoy a small beach right next to the pier. There is a restaurant and rentals of snorkel equipment and other items. It was wonderful and if I were to ever go back, I'd just spend my time there.

Disembarkation: We were out of our room and sitting at Bolero's by 7:20 AM. Disembarkation did not begin until 9:20. Apparently, it took longer than usual for the ship to be cleared. We had lavender tags and were the third group called off. After a slight back up on the stairs, we were off the ship within 15 minutes and lined up to get a bus. We waited for the second bus and were quickly inside the terminal. For the first time ever, I found my bags immediately - the bags were right where they were supposed to be, and even next to each other. It was a quick trip through Customs and we were in our car five minutes later.

This is a good family cruise - there were quite a few kids on the ship who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Most of the passengers were from the tri-state area and I didn't see any boorish or poor behavior, with the exception of some people who felt the need to jump on the elevators in front of people waiting in wheelchairs. It was a real pleasure to be able to drive to a cruise instead of the stress of flying.

I did like the FOS a bit better than this ship, but for an older ship, she is in good shape and provides a nice experience. The quality of the production shows was not good, but the shows featuring other performers were good. For a five day getaway, this is a good choice.

Mexican Riviera Cruise Reviewed by Jimmie

Background Information
This was my second cruise, also my second with Princess. The first was on the Sapphire Princess (the Diamond’s sister ship) to Alaska in June 2004. Our cabin was occupied by three – myself (23), my mother (52), and my best girlfriend (24). This was the first cruise for both my mom and my friend. This was also our first time visiting any of the Mexican ports, as well as Los Angeles. So, it would be a trip of adventures – a girls’ week away from school, work, and everyday obligations!

Pre-Cruise/Embarkation/Day 1
Living in Oklahoma doesn’t afford many opportunities for reasonably-priced airfare, so we usually fly out of the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. This time proved to be the same, and we made reservations on America West from Dallas to Long Beach, with a connection in Phoenix. I bought our plane tickets over six months in advance – and at the time, this particular America West itinerary was the cheapest for our trip. However, three months later, when Audra (my friend) decided to join us for the cruise, she was able to get a direct flight from DFW-Long Beach on American Airlines for almost half of what we paid. Oh well, perhaps I will wait until closer to the date next time!

So, our adventure begins. On the night of March 11, we had a hotel reservation at the Best Western Irving Inn & Suites near the airport. My husband and I had actually stayed at the same hotel prior to flying away for our Alaska honeymoon cruise several months prior. They offer free round-trip airport shuttle, continental breakfast, and free parking for up to 14 days. It’s not the most luxurious, but it is clean and certainly adequate for our needs. Our original plan was to be in Dallas by 5:00 p.m., then spend the rest of the evening getting pampered at a nearby spa. Unfortunately, the best-laid plans never seem to work out – due to interstate construction, we were delayed over three hours getting to Dallas, so we ended up going to a CVS drugstore for a “do-it-yourself” pedicure kit then on to the hotel. Audra actually lives in the Irving area, so she met us at the hotel later that night. We had an enjoyable evening chatting and painting nails, but we were so excited about the next day’s trip it was almost impossible to sleep!

We awoke very early the next morning, and caught the first airport shuttle. They dropped Audra off at the American terminal, and off we were to the America West terminal. I had checked us in for our flight online the day before, but apparently that was a bad idea. We had a deplorable amount of heavy luggage, and I was looking forward to dropping them off curbside and being rid of them. Well, either the curbside guys don’t know how to handle an online check-in, or the online thing somehow messes up their system. In other words, we had to haul all of our bags upstairs to the regular check-in. Since most of the airlines have gone to computer kiosks to print boarding passes, there was only one actual human agent working the counter, and it took forever for our turn to be helped. Even the agent seemed a little confused by the online check-in process, so next time I think I’ll just go the traditional route. We finally got our bags checked and made our way through security. We found our gate, grabbed some Starbucks to keep us awake, and sat down for the wait. I talked to Audra on my cell phone and confirmed her flight was indeed leaving on time. Since she was flying direct, she would have almost two hours to wait for us once she arrived in Long Beach. Little did she know how boring that would be! Our flight took off without incident, but when we arrived in Phoenix, there was apparently a “traffic jam” of sorts, and we had to wait on the tarmac for nearly an hour before we were allowed to pull up at the gate. I was starting to get nervous about making our connection, but we found our connecting gate just as they were calling the first group to board. Whew! Our flight to Long Beach was short and sweet, but one thing to note about America West is that all of our flights were oversold by 5-10 seats, and they had to end up bumping several passengers off each flight involuntarily. Also, it seemed the compensation for volunteering your seat was rather meager compared to what other airlines tend to offer. (This was probably the reason no one volunteered!)

Arriving at the Long Beach airport was such a pleasant surprise. It’s so small and quaint - such a change from the hustle and bustle of DFW or LAX. Unfortunately for Audra, there was nothing for her to do but sit and read a magazine while she waited. She was ready for lunch by the time she arrived, but sadly, the airport diner was not operating on Texas time, and it was still breakfast in California. Luckily, though, we were able to find each other immediately after we landed and we were ready to get moving. I had pre-arranged a shuttle service with Xpress Shuttle (www.xpressshuttle.com) to take us to the pier in San Pedro. I was quoted $42 total for the 3 of us in “Business Class” transportation, which according to their website, meant we’d be driven in a Honda Element or a Hummer H2. I was instructed to call their dispatcher upon our arrival in Long Beach, which I did. She instructed us to go across the street and look for a yellow van. We easily found our driver, but I was sad to see that we would be driven in a regular old passenger van. Luckily, the van service cost more than the business class, so I had no room to complain. A note of caution about this service: On the website, they are known as Xpress Shuttle, but their vans are labeled as LA Express Shuttle. That was a bit confusing, but since they were the only yellow van in the waiting area, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out. It took about 25 minutes to get to San Pedro, and if you’re not used to Southern California traffic, it’s quite a trip! I had reserved the shuttle service with my credit card online, and though the website states you can pay the driver with cash, our driver had my credit card receipt already charged and ready to sign. Oh well, that just made it less of a hassle for us to try and make change…more cash for shopping in Mexico, right?

When we arrived at the cruise terminal in San Pedro, I was very surprised to see the Diamond was the only ship in port. There were a few of the previous week’s passengers still disembarking, but overall, it wasn’t very crowded. A porter took our bags for us, and then we were instructed to fill out the “Have you been sick?” form before we were allowed to enter the building. We handed in those forms, showed our cruise docs, and went inside. Another set of Princess reps was waiting for us at the bottom of the escalator to hand out boarding passes. We then went upstairs and were directed to the Caribe deck check-in line. It moved very quickly – we were handed our cruise cards and scouted out some floor space to park in while we waited to be called for embarkation. We were the 10th group called, and it probably took about 30-45 minutes after the first group was called. The actual embarkation process was very easy – one security scan, show the cruise card a few times, and get your picture made – that was it.

Once on the ship, everything felt so familiar (okay, identical) since I had been on the Sapphire last June. The one thing I did miss was having Princess employees operating the elevators and escorting passengers to their hallways. In Alaska, this really prevented a lot of confused people and traffic jams. Unfortunately for us, people were pushing and shoving for elevators and generally quite confused. We found our cabin, C747, a category BB balcony, to be quite perfect for the week. I chose this specific cabin for two reasons – 1) it was on Caribe deck, so the balcony was larger than those on Baja and Aloha, and 2) C747 is the last starboard-side cabin – so there’s a little “extra” balcony portion that extends towards the aft. All in all, we had a HUGE balcony – we never felt crowded at all.

As soon as we entered our room, we discovered that our luggage had already been delivered – talk about prompt service! We also discovered that my favorite aunt (my mom’s sister) had sent us a beautiful flower arrangement and a voucher for a bottle of wine. Our lovely room steward, Ara, came to introduce herself and to tell us a little about the ship. She was so kind and efficient – we were definitely spoiled by her services! I was sort of afraid that we’d be crowded in a regular balcony cabin with three people. I ended up being pleasantly surprised – this wasn’t the case at all, especially after we got our suitcases put away. Another note – since I was a gold Captain’s Club member, we were left a nice “welcome back” note and some cookies in the cabin. (I don’t know if all cabins got the cookies or not, but they were a nice touch!) After getting settled, we decided the first order of business was to take the handy pocket guide of the ship and set off on a tour. I, of course, played “tour guide” since I was familiar with the deck plans. Naturally, one of the first stops was the Horizon Court for a delicious buffet lunch. Princess has definitely stepped up their buffet offerings since my last cruise – everything was very tasty and all was served at the correct temperature. After a late lunch, it was time for the muster drill. Our assigned station was Club Fusion – and after the requisite-yet-cheesy 20-minute recording accompanied by a member of the cruise staff’s antics, we were released. We went up on deck for a very chilly sailaway party – we were even sent off in style by a Goodyear blimp. By the time we reached the edge of the harbor, it had grown too cold to be comfortable, so we said goodbye to Los Angeles and went back inside. We finished up our unpacking, then just relaxed for awhile. Audra and I went to one of the hot tubs for a pre-dinner swim, which we ended up making a nightly routine. We came back to dress for dinner, then we were off for our traditional second seating in the International Dining Room.

I admit I was a bit leery about traditional dining – what if our tablemates or our waiter were awful? Turns out we had nothing to worry about – our tablemates were lovely and our wait team, Dol and Rose, were superb. Our tablemates – a 30-something threesome of friends from LA, plus a retired couple from Denver, really made our cruise special. They were all so kind and we had such wonderful conversations each night. The food was on par with other cruise line fare – good, no complaints, but not outstanding. Of course, there were a few dishes better than the others – but all in all, I didn’t have anything that I’m craving now that I’m back home, except for the blueberry frozen yogurt – it’s to die for! After dinner, we had plans to attend the Welcome Aboard show, but we were so exhausted, we ended up going straight to bed and missed all the evening entertainment. Oh well, a girl needs her beauty sleep, right?

Day 2- At Sea
We actually woke at a decent hour (7:30 a.m.), and Audra and I headed down to the International Dining Room to try out the breakfast fare they offer. It was delicious, as usual, but our randomly assigned tablemates were crabby…yuck, just enjoy your cruise already! We stopped by the buffet on the way back to the cabin to bring my mom a fresh fruit plate and some coffee. (Mom takes a very long time to get ready in the mornings (primping and such), so – you snooze, you lose.) Turns out the buffet had a huge offering of fresh fruits – some of the best fruit I had ever tasted.

After perusing the daily Patter and trying to plan our day, I think that we finally settled on ceramics (Scholarship@Sea) and the movie being shown in the theater that afternoon. We did end up painting ceramics – I chose a tile for $18, and Audra and Mom painted coasters for $6 each. It was fun, and it’s a nice way to make a memorable keepsake of your vacation. You can come back to the ceramics area each time it is available to keep working on your project, or you can finish it all the first day and pick up your project at the end of the cruise (which we did). After painting, we decided to forego the movie for an afternoon of relaxation, which began with lunch in the dining room and then a visit to the Lotus Spa. Note that I said “visit” – we didn’t have any services performed (the Steiner prices scared me away), but my mother did talk herself into booking a hot stone massage for the following evening. After wandering around the ship some more, Audra and I went back to the hot tub and ended up meeting a lovely family from Rhode Island. They were all so great, and we ended up meeting several other times throughout the week – we played trivia together and went on the same shore excursion in Cabo.

Soon, it was time to get all spruced up for formal night. We got ready just in time to make it to the Captain’s cocktail party and have a few formal portraits made. The drinks were plentiful (although watered down), and the line for pictures was very long at all of the stations. The ones we took turned out great, and we ended up spending way too much money on shipboard photography! We enjoyed another delightful dinner then went to the Piano Man show in the Princess Theater. I was very impressed – I must admit I was expecting a lower performance quality. After the show, it was definitely time for bed – another wonderful day at sea ahead…

Day 3 – At Sea
Before the cruise, I wondered if two sea days in a row would get boring – wonder no more, for I was never bored. Princess offers so many activities (and opportunities to just relax), that if you’re bored, it’s definitely your own fault. To be quite honest, I don’t remember exactly everything that we did on this day, but I’m sure it involved the two daily trivia games (we never won), hot tubbing, the drink of the day, pizza, and a nap. Ahhh, such is the wonderful life on a cruise ship. My mother reported back that her massage was amazing, and she also returned with several hundred dollars’ worth of Elemis Spa products. (clears throat and rolls eyes) She said it wasn’t a hard sell – she’s just a sucker for skin care products, haha. Anyhow, after another day of relaxation and enjoyment, we spent the evening in Club Fusion for Princess Idol. I have to say that I screwed up big-time here – our lovely CruiseCritic friends and I had been planning a get-together in Skywalkers for months. Somehow I got the day confused and ended up missing it completely. I felt so bad about missing it! Luckily, though, we had all exchanged pictures online prior to the cruise, and we all recognized each other whenever we saw everyone throughout the week. After a fun-filled night of Princess Idol and meeting some of our fellow CruiseCritic members, we decided to call it a night and head back to bed.

Day 4 – Puerto Vallarta
We used room service breakfast as a wake-up call, and woke up to find that it was raining. I was a bit disappointed, because our planned excursion for the day was the Puerto Vallarta Beach Break, booked through the ship. We had our breakfast on the balcony in the drizzle, and decided to make the most of it, regardless of the weather. Puerto Vallarta is funny – the first thing a cruise ship passengers sees at the port is a Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club…how authentically Mexican. Anyway, we disembarked the ship and had some time to kill before our tour was to meet. The ship’s photographers, as well as some local vendors, made sure we stopped for the obligatory souvenir photograph. We walked around the marketplace right by the pier, but didn’t see any deals too good to pass up. What surprised me more than anything was the Mexican policia carrying machine guns! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I sure did a double-take at the first one I saw. After shopping for a bit, we found our tour bus and went on the 30-minute ride to the beach resort. At this point in time, we still weren’t sure exactly where we were going, as the Princess shore excursion brochure wasn’t very specific. We had a delightful guide, Dario, a handsome young man from PV. Audra took an immediate liking to him, and I do believe the feeling was mutual.  Turns out we were headed to the Paradise Village resort complex. It’s on the outskirts of PV, actually in Nueva Vallarta, to be specific. It’s a huge resort complex, made up of a golf club, a traditional resort, and several time-share “vacation club” type high rises. The grounds are absolutely beautiful – the trees and plants were just gorgeous. After we entered the resort lobby, we were ushered out to the pool area, where we were given our “welcome drink” (choice of rum or tequila punch), as well as our lunch and drink tickets for later. We staked our claim on a palapa on the beach and a beach attendant promptly brought us 3 lounge chairs. The weather was still a bit dreary, but we decided to brave the cool water anyway. After the initial cold, it wasn’t bad at all, and we spent most of the afternoon frolicking in the waves. Lunch was served at noon, and it was a delicious Mexican buffet. We also had our choice of just about any alcoholic (or non-alcoholic) beverage on the menu, all included in the excursion price. After lunch, we decided to explore the resort a bit and discovered several beautiful pool areas, including a grotto-like cave with a stone hot tub. There was also a spa right on the beach offering very reasonably-priced massages, facials, and such. I thought for a moment about booking a massage, but changed my mind when I reminded myself I can go to the spa at home for much less dinero. We left the resort on the bus at 2:00 p.m. and returned to the pier area. I was feeling exhausted, so I returned to the cabin to rest, while Audra and my mom hunted down Diamonds International for the free charm bracelet. (Note: It was cute, but it was tacky, painted-on gold with a speck of diamond dust, but what did you expect for free??)
We sailed away from Puerto Vallarta at sunset, which made for some absolutely stunning pictures. I must admit that prior to the cruise, I wasn’t that excited about visiting these particular three ports, but each one turned out to be a great surprise – I would love to go back to visit all three places on a land vacation sometime. After dinner, we went to the 50’s Sock Hop in Club Fusion…it was a hoot watching the baby boomer crowd relive their youth. Princess Idol followed the sock hop, and it was entertaining, as usual. After a few rum & cokes, we called it a night and looked forward to the next day in Mazatlan.

Day 5 – Mazatlan
We arrived in Mazatlan to find much warmer and sunnier weather than what we had left in Puerto Vallarta. We were also joined this morning in port by the RCCL Vision of the Seas – the only ship we shared a port with all week! This is where our adventure gets interesting. After reading reviews from several CruiseCritic members who had visited these ports, I had decided that we would take a taxi to the El Cid resort, pay for a day pass, and spend the day there. I had also read several reviews mentioning the time share hawkers for the various resorts – several CC members confirmed that if you just go to listen to their short presentation, they will “hook you up” so to speak, at their resort for the day (free food & drink, facility use, etc.). Well, our plan was to go ashore and shop for awhile, then return to the ship, change into our beach clothes, then take a taxi to El Cid. When we got off the ship the first time, I went to the El Cid timeshare booth to ask about the day pass for those not interested in timeshares. Well, of course, the saleslady wouldn’t take my hint, and convinced all of us that it would be a good idea to listen to their presentation and they would give us a ton of free stuff. We agreed, but then she asked us if we were married. Since two of us (my mom and I) were, and our spouses were not present, they could not present the timeshares to us because both parties must be present to buy a timeshare in Mexico. Okay, so we got off the timeshare hook – but we couldn’t get the free stuff. She did give us a bracelet that would be good for entry to the resort if we decided to go there on our own.

After shopping at the marketplace by the pier, we returned to change into our swimwear, then disembarked the ship again. We decided that we would try a different resort for the timeshare deal in hopes they wouldn’t ask us the marriage question. We lucked out – The Inn at Mazatlan reps were so gracious and nice, we couldn’t turn them down. They did ask the question, but didn’t give us a chance to answer, so we were free and clear. We got cold bottled water and a free taxi ride to the resort. The Inn at Mazatlan truly is a beautiful, luxurious facility – I was very excited about spending the afternoon there. We were greeted by a hostess who took our names and instructed us to wait in the lobby for our tour guide. While we were waiting, we saw a couple we had eaten lunch with earlier in the week, and they stopped to talk to us. They told us they had just finished the tour, and we should get out while we still could. Their tour was over an hour, and they still hadn’t received their all-inclusive armbands…they said their guide was very rude and demeaning, and wouldn’t take no for an answer when they declined to buy a $30,000 timeshare. With those words of wisdom, Audra and I decided it would be a good idea to hightail it out of there and find somewhere else to go. Unfortunately, my mother’s guilty conscience thought differently, and she felt obligated to stay since they had paid for our cab ride to the resort. After a few choice words between us, I convinced my mother and her honesty that it would be “okay” to leave if I reimbursed the hotel for our cab ride. So, I marched up to the hostess desk and told her we were not going to stay, and inquired about paying them for our cab fare. The funny thing was, as hard as they tried to get us to come there, they didn’t seem to mind one bit that we were leaving, and on top of that, they wouldn’t accept our offer to reimburse them.

Finally, we left the Inn at Mazatlan in search of another place to spend the afternoon. Fortunately for us, El Cid happened to be just about a block away. I walked up to the outdoor information desk and asked about purchasing a day pass. The lady said there was no need to purchase, and since we had the armband given to us by the timeshare rep earlier, we would be welcomed there as guests. Thank goodness! We went inside the lobby, and a friendly receptionist asked if we’d like the timeshare tour in exchange for the all-inclusive armbands. We politely declined, and there was no pressure put on us to change our minds. I liked El Cid better already. We made our way out by the pool area and to the beach. The water was so much bluer in Mazatlan than it was in PV, and the beach was packed! We did manage to find a palapa and some chairs to enjoy the beautiful day. Unfortunately, the beach vendors were so much more pushy and rude here than they were at Paradise Village, but oh well – the water and the waves were so much better!

After awhile, we decided we were hungry, so we set out in search for a beachside lunch. El Cid has various food offerings, but you have to know where to look. Right by the main pool area, they had a buffet made up of a few Mexican items, plus a lot of American-style junk food (hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.). It was about $10US for the buffet. That didn’t really suit our appetite, so we went to the other side of the pool to the sit-down restaurant, but they were not yet open (plus I don’t think beach attire was appropriate for that venue). Finally, we found La Cascada, the open-air, order-from-a-menu restaurant. Yay, just what we were looking for! The menu was pretty typical Mexican fare, but the prices and the food were amazing. We spent $33US total (including tip) for 2 dinners (I had tacos, Audra had fajitas), 2 pina coladas, 2 bottles of water, and chips with pico de gallo. My mom decided to save her appetite for the Princess buffet back onboard, plus she was saving our palapa. I cannot stress how amazing this food was – it was probably the best meal we had on the entire trip – I hate that my mom missed it! The service and the views (right by the parasailing launch area) were great…this was the quintessential Mexican beach vacation, right here at El Cid in Mazatlan.

After swimming a bit more after lunch, it was time to head back to the ship. We walked to the front of the resort, expecting to have to call a cab or walk a bit to find one, but to our surprise, the concierge gladly hailed a cab for us and pre-arranged the price of $10 back to the pier. I was so pleased with the way we were treated at El Cid, and I will definitely return to Mazatlan someday and stay at the resort. After the 30-minute or so pulmonia (open-air cab) ride back to the ship, we had a bit of extra time, so we did some more shopping at the mercado next to the ships. We made it back just in time, and enjoyed a picturesque sailaway from Mazatlan.

After cleaning up from our beach day and grabbing some snacks at the buffet, we made it to the hot tub once again. Eventually, it was time for dinner, which was enjoyable as usual. We caught the show in the Princess Theater on this evening – the headliner was a variety comedian/juggler named Dan Bennett. I didn’t have high expectations about this particular show, but he was awesome! He was hilarious, not to mention an extremely amazing juggler. My only complaint about this show was that the cruise director, Billy Hygate, provided an extremely cheesy, Tom Jones-like song-and-dance routine before the show began. It was just painful to watch. Oh well, at the very least, he provided some more laughs for the evening! We called it a night after the show, looking forward to the next day in Cabo San Lucas.

Day 6 – Cabo San Lucas
We woke early this morning and had buffet breakfast in the Horizon Court. It was delicious, as usual, with the corn flake-crusted French toast being the highlight of the morning. We then met for our shore excursion, the Chileno Bay Snorkeling, in the Princess Theater. Turns out Jeff, Karen, and their family (the Rhode Island crew) would be on our same excursion! Anyway, we were promptly ushered to a waiting tender, and we soon arrived on the shores of Cabo to the scene of several pelicans spending their morning inhabiting a fleet of local fishing boats. Anyhow, we were ushered directly into the line to board the Tropicat, our catamaran for the day. After about a 5-minute wait and a signed liability release, we were onboard this beautiful sailing vessel. They hoisted the sails, and away we went. The Tropicat crew was awesome – they kept things lively with some great music and a few snacks. They also had a very organized method of distributing the snorkeling gear. After about a 30-45 minute boat ride, we arrived at the Chileno Bay snorkel site. I was a little apprehensive about the whole snorkeling thing, since this was my first time, but turns out I had nothing to fear – it was marvelous! Audra and I put on our gear (Mom chickened out) and slid down the boat’s waterslide into the icy cold water! Brrrr!! We swam about a hundred yards over to the best snorkeling, and I was just in awe of the amount and variety of fish we saw. We even saw a large starfish. People say that the snorkeling in the Mexican Riviera is not anywhere near as good as the Caribbean – if that’s the case, I can’t wait to snorkel in the Caribbean next year. I had a disposable underwater camera with me, and we ended up getting some nice shots of each other and of some of the fish. After about 45 minutes-1 hour of snorkeling, we made our way back to the boat. Luckily for us, they had started serving from the open bar – wahoo!

The bar was unlimited, and they also had cookies and sandwiches for those who were hungry. We partied on the trip back with the Rhode Island bunch, and had a blast. A few whales were spotted, but they never appeared long enough for us to take pictures. Also, the Tropicat cruised us right on by the Los Arcos rock formations, where we got up close and personal with a ton of sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks. Prior to deciding on this excursion, I had toyed with the idea of just taking a water taxi to Lover’s Beach, which is the beach surrounded by Los Arcos. Now that I saw it up close, I’m glad we didn’t. It is absolutely beautiful, no doubt about that, but it’s not very large, and with the water being so cold, I wouldn’t have wanted to spend the day just in that one spot. So, I would definitely recommend the Chileno Bay Snorkeling through the ship – an A+ excursion!

After we were returned to the dock, with Audra and I quite a bit tipsy (okay, flat out drunk), we had about an hour to kill before we had to board a tender. We decided to do a tiny bit of shopping, but how much can you do when you’re giggling like hyenas and trying to pretend you’re sober?  Somehow, Audra did manage to find some necklaces she liked and negotiated a pretty good deal on them. My poor mother – she had to endure our antics on the trip back. Anyway, we boarded a tender and returned to the ship without incident – but with the major munchies! Unfortunately, the thought of the buffet smells made my stomach churn, so I stayed in the cabin and ordered room service while Mom and Audra went to Horizon Court to fill up their plates. They returned with the motherload of goodies, and we pigged out on their findings and on my room service cheeseburger and chef salad when it arrived. After that, it was, of course, time for a nap. We did miss the sailaway from Cabo, but the nap was much deserved.

The Cabo San Lucas night was also the second (and final) formal night. Since I was a Captain’s Club member, I was invited to the members-only cocktail party prior to dinner, but I decided to pass since my cabin mates were not also invited. After dinner, Audra and I went to take some “fun” portraits with one of the photographers, and then we went to the last preliminary round of Princess Idol. We were indeed ready to call it a night after Idol, so off we went. We could tell the mood around the ship was changing – everyone was getting in the “my cruise is almost over” funk. I definitely was NOT looking forward to it ending.

Day 7 – The Final Day At Sea
We slept in on Friday and took it easy – mostly took care of packing, buying the ship’s way-too-expensive (but nice) photographs, and picking up our finished ceramics. We lounged around and watched Connie and Carla (loved it!) and part of Sideways on the in-cabin movie channel. We hit the hot tub one last time, left comment cards and extra tips for Ara, put our luggage out in the hallway, then headed downstairs for our farewell dinner. We took lots of pictures, and were amazed by the Baked Alaska parade. Okay, so I can see how people think it’s cheesy, but for a first-timer, it was fun! We said goodbye to our new friends, plus Rose and Dol, then we went to the Princes Idol finals. The place was packed, and the lady who won deserved to be on the real American Idol – she was fantastic! While at the finals, we met a nice lady from Texas who goes on a cruise just about every month – and informed us that AARP suggested she retire on a cruise ship instead of a nursing home! That’s my kind of lady – I hope I turn out like her someday (in many years…). After the show, Audra and I headed up to Skywalkers, hoping to enjoy a pleasant evening to end the cruise. Unfortunately, for the first time all week, we were hassled about looking young. Some of the waiters refused to serve us, even with valid cruise key cards and drivers’ licenses. Now, I know we were only 23 and 24, but we were certainly legal, and I don’t know why they chose to hassle us on the last night only. So, after the inconvenience of having to argue over our legal age every time we tried to order, we gave up and called it a night.

Day 8 – Back in Los Angeles
We woke up early, around 6:30 a.m., and went to breakfast in the dining room one last time. We had two handsome and charming waiters from Romania – oh, how I wish we’d had their table all week! They treated us like queens when it was obvious some of the other waiters were trying to hurry their guests on out so they can get ready for the next week. Anyway, after a delicious but depressing breakfast (since it was the last one onboard), we went back to our cabin to collect our things and to say one last goodbye to Ara. We had Cream 3 luggage tags, and though it was about 2/3 of the way down the list for disembarkation, judging by my experience in Alaska, I figured we’d be off the ship by 10:00 a.m. at the very latest. I was in for a rude awakening…

We made our way down to the Explorer’s Lounge and grabbed a table. They had complimentary, self-service water and coffee set up at the bar, but once the supplies ran out, they were not replenished. Rumor had it that the Horizon Court had an “endless” supply, but we never ventured up there to check it out. After we realized how slow the disembarkation process was going, we broke out the deck of cards and started some Texas Hold ‘Em and Slap Jack. After awhile, even that got old, and we just knew our color would be called any minute. Well, around 11 a.m., we started to get worried – we had a car rental reservation with Enterprise at the San Pedro pier location, and they closed at noon. We were FINALLY called off the ship around 11:45 a.m. I expected once we got off the ship, we’d be home free as far as waiting went. Wrong again. There was a humongous line of people waiting to go through immigration. While waiting in that line, we ran into Jerry and Sue, two of our tablemates. Turns out they also had reservations with Enterprise, and Jerry was talking to them on his cell phone at that minute. He informed them of our situation, and a potential longer wait, and they assured us that they would wait until 12:30 before they closed for good. We were again instructed to use the red courtesy phone in the terminal for the shuttle, and they would definitely come to pick us up.

After another half hour of lines, customs, and baggage claim, we were finally ready. It was 12:20, and I picked up the red phone to call the Enterprise shuttle. The “closed” recording immediately came on, and the shuttle was nowhere to be seen outside. We saw Jerry and Sue again, and they were in the same boat, so to speak. Turns out Enterprise left about 10-15 parties standing on the curb with no rental car after promising to wait. Now I realize it was after normal operating hours, but they should not have told us that they would remain open later. My suggestion to Enterprise – extend your operating hours on Saturdays and Sundays because more times than not, I’ll bet, delays in disembarkation result in a good number of unhappy cruisers with no car.

Our next plan was to catch a shuttle to the Long Beach airport and grab a rental car from there. (We were planning to pay Enterprise a $25 drop-off fee to be able to return the car to Long Beach in the first place, so it would hopefully work out anyway.) I called the Long Beach airport Enterprise location from my cell phone, and the extremely rude reservations agent informed me they were out of cars, and that none of the other agencies at the airport had cars, either. Something told me to check other agencies anyway, so I called Hertz. They were so friendly and got us the exact car we needed, plus the AAA discount. We ended up taking a shared ride van to the Long Beach airport, for $35 total for 3 passengers, which we found reasonable. We picked up the car, and were on the way to the hotel, finally! All this mess with Enterprise ended up costing us $10 extra plus about another hour of our time. Oh well, I just won’t be using them again.

We had a reservation at the Coast Long Beach Hotel that I got on Priceline for a steal of a deal. The hotel is just down Queensway Drive from the Queen Mary and the Carnival terminal. It also has gorgeous Long Beach waterfront views, and beautifully landscaped grounds. They originally had us in an oceanview king, and they were glad to accommodate us in a room with two queens instead, but we had to have a courtyard view. Oh well. The rooms were surprisingly luxurious – I would definitely stay here again if I cruise from the west coast again.

After getting settled in our room, we decided to head down to Anaheim to spend the evening at the one and only Disneyland. I’m a huge Disney fan, so I was very excited! After using the precise directions I had printed from Mapquest prior to our trip, we arrived in the Disney area with no problem. We were starving, so we made a quick stop at a nearby Subway restaurant first, then made our way to the Mickey and Friends parking facility. Disney has parking down to a tee – they give you tickets with the exact building, level, and row that you parked on – making finding your car after your stay very easy. We boarded the tram and made our way over to the park. We sort of had a hard time deciding whether we wanted to go to the original Disneyland park or to the new California Adventure right next door, but decided on the original since Audra and I had never been, and Mom was there nearly forty years ago.

I have to admit – after being to Walt Disney World in Florida twice, the entrance to the Disneyland park and the “magical” feeling you get while there sort of paled in comparison to WDW. Oh well, it was still Disney and we were still having fun! We took several pictures, rode several rides, and ate our way through the park. No kidding. We started with mint juleps and fritters, moved on to chocolate chip cookies and churros, ate dinner at Club Buzz Lightyear (burgers and fries), and finished off the night at the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor with way-too-large helpings of gourmet ice cream. Yeah, we definitely gained a few pounds that night. Oh well, you only live once. We finally made it back out to the car and sleepily drove back to the hotel in Long Beach.

Day 9 – Back Home
Thanks to my friends on CruiseCritic, I had been tipped off about a great Sunday Champagne brunch served at The Reef, a restaurant along the Long Beach waterfront. What I didn’t realize in advance was that it was literally right down the street from our hotel – walking distance. So, we got up that morning and called the restaurant for a 10:30 a.m. brunch reservation. We checked out of the hotel and walked over to The Reef. The spread was amazing! I’d never seen so much food at one time! It was so delicious, and quite possibly, the best restaurant meal I’d ever had. Here’s the kicker, though – it was $30 a person! Perhaps by Southern California standards, that’s not much…but I had been to a similar (but not as tasty) brunch in a Chicago suburb that was around $15 a person. We were shocked when the bill came…but you know what, it was completely worth it. It was a perfect way to end a great trip.

After brunch, we walked back to the hotel to get our rental car then headed on out to the Long Beach airport. We checked in and found a spot to sit and read magazines while we waited for our flights to be called. After two uneventful flights, we landed back in Dallas around 10:00 p.m. I was hoping to be out of there by 10:30 p.m., which meant we’d be home around midnight. Ha! It took over an hour for the luggage to even start coming out, which completely baffles me since the airport was practically dead that time of night. While waiting for the luggage, I got a phone call from Audra, whose American Airlines flight had landed about two hours earlier. She said she had tried to call the Best Western hotel shuttle to take her back to get her car, and they wouldn’t come get her since she didn’t have a reservation for that night (even though the deal was for round-trip airport transportation). After her fiasco, and by the time our bags finally came out, we decided not to waste our time arguing with the hotel, so we just stepped outside to catch a cab back to the Best Western to get our car. I think we got ripped off by the cabbie – the trip back to the hotel is about 3 miles tops, and he charged us $21…and didn’t have the meter running. Oh well – by that point, we were so tired and cranky, we didn’t care. Sure enough though, what do we see when we pull up to the hotel in a cab? Yep, that’s right – the hotel shuttle just returning from the airport with someone else from our very same flight – who headed back to their car instead of the hotel check-in desk! Ahhh, would’ve been our luck. Finally, we got on the road back to Oklahoma. I dropped Mom off in Ardmore just after 1:30 a.m., and made it back to Norman around 2:30-2:45. This is definitely the last time I’ll try to make that trip so late – I was singing out loud to myself just to be sure I stayed awake!

Final Thoughts
This was an absolutely fabulous cruise/trip, and if I sounded negative at any point in time throughout the review, it really was nothing major…just minor annoyances that are easily forgotten. We’ve got a cruise booked for next March aboard the MSC Opera, and although I know that the MSC product is very different from other mass-market lines, it will still be interesting to see how it compares to my Princess experience.

Western Caribbean Reviewed by Debbie

Here is my review from my cruise on the Valor. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Embarkation:
After turning in our rental car, we used the free shuttle service from Dollar to take us to the port. We left the rental car place at the Miami airport around 11:15, and traffic at the port area was very heavy so we did not get dropped off until 11:50. The line at the terminal was right to the door when we got there, so I was starting to worry that it might take a long time to get onboard, but it ended up only taking an hour. First you go through security, then you give them your tickets and credit card info, then you pick up your sign and sail cards and get your embarkation photo taken. One hint – when you get to the terminal, be prepared for mass confusion. Just remember that the line to your left is for the skippers club and handicapped passengers only – everyone else should line up on the right.

Sunday:
The first thing we did after we got onboard was go to the purser’s desk to put money on our sail and sign accounts, and make sure that our group’s onboard credits were applied. The purser’s desk is very busy on embarkation day, but we ended up only being in line for about 15 minutes. After that we went to our cabins (which were ready) and dropped off our carry on bags. Our onboard meet & greet was scheduled for 2pm, so before we knew it we were headed for the lido deck to meet all the great people from our roll call, and have our first drink of the day.

Monday:
Ahhhhh, a Fun Day at Sea. I just love those sea days. Just relaxed by the pool and laid out for most of the day. This is the life!

Tuesday – Belize:
We booked a cave tubing tour with Wet N’ Wild, and requested that Charlie be our tour guide because of the positive reviews we read about him. We ended up having two tour guides for our group of 20 – Charlie and Randy. One member of our group ended up having a lot of trouble doing the hiking part of the excursion, and our guides were wonderful in helping her along. We ended up having Charlie continue on the hike with most of the group, and Randy helped the woman make the hike to the beginning of the first cave, where she could wait and join the rest of the group when we floated down that far. She could say enough about how wonderful Randy was in helping her along the hike – he kept telling her to take her time and physically helped her get through some of the more difficult areas. He then double-timed the hike with the rest of that woman’s family through the trail so that they were able to float through all of the caves except the first one. The cave tubing itself was great – the water was very refreshing after the 45 minute long hike that it took to get there. After we were done tubing it was time for our lunch, which was included in the price of the tour. We arrived back at the port about an hour before the last tender, which left us with enough time to shop before returning to the ship.

Wednesday – Roatan:
I booked the Tabayana Beach excursion through the ship for this port. The cost was $33 per person which was a little on the expensive side, but once I got there I was impressed. It was a beautiful beach with enough lounge chairs for everyone, a live band, free iced tea, lemonade and water, a cash bar, restaurant, lockers, and a gift shop. The water was incredibly clear, and the snorkeling was really good there. We had sunny skies that day and it was really hot laying there on the beach, so we ended up only staying there a few hours, but it was one of the nicest beaches I’ve ever been to. And even though there were a lot of people there, it never felt over-crowded.

Thursday – Grand Cayman:
We booked the stingray excursion with Soto’s. After doing a little shopping, we met them right at noon about 1-2 blocks from where the tenders leave you off. They drove us to their office, where you pay for the excursion and pick up your snorkel gear, then board the boat for your excursion. Your first stop is at Coral Gardens for some snorkeling, then to the Stingray Sandbar. I don’t remember the names of our two tour guides, but they were really great with everyone. They made sure that everyone was able to touch and hold the stingrays, and were very patient with the kids that were on our excursion. It was definitely an amazing experience.

Friday – Cozumel:
We decided to take a cab to Paradise Beach at this port. The facilities at the beach are very nice, but I was not impressed with the beach itself. It was very rocky and had lots of seaweed at the bottom of the water, so you had to tread very lightly when getting in and out so you didn’t hurt your feet. This was my first visit to Cozumel, so I don’t know if all the beaches are like that or not, but after the great beach we went to in Roatan this was definitely a disappointment. We also had a rainstorm come through while we were at the beach, but that didn’t really bother us – we actually stayed in the water during the storm and didn’t let it dampen our spirits (pun intended). After we had enough of the beach, we went back to the ship to change out of our wet clothes, and then took a cab downtown for some shopping. We ended up buying more in Cozumel than we did at all 3 other ports combined. Around 9pm that night we met up with a few other cruise critic members at Fat Tuesdays, and things were pretty wild there. It was funny watching everyone stumble back to the ship that night.

Saturday:
Another day at sea. We had great weather, and just relaxed and laid out. The last day of the cruise is always kind of sad because you know it’s almost over, so you try to make the most of it.

Debarkation:
We were staying in Miami for one night after the cruise, so we were in no rush to get off. We stayed in our cabin until around 9:15, then headed off the ship. I was surprised by how long it took to get off – about an hour all together.

Miscellaneous:
Our cabin # was 6358 and was in a great location. It is mid-ship, right by the elevators, and directly above the casino and teen club, and was surprisingly quiet despite its location.

There were 1300 kids on our sailing, but we did not have any problems with them whatsoever. I think the fact that the ship has its own teen club is a big reason why – they had their own dedicated area to hang out with their friends and didn’t have to go wandering all over the ship looking for something to do (and possibly causing mischief along the way).

Our cabin steward was Heru, and he was very efficient, but not very talkative. That wasn’t a problem for me, but I know that some people complain about that.

Our dining staff was Jasmina and Lenka. They were very friendly and remembered our names and preferences right away. The dining room menu can be viewed on Funvision, but be aware that it is not always the right days menu that is shown. On Thursday, it showed Friday’s menu, and on Friday it showed Wednesday’s menu. It wasn’t a big deal, but just something to keep in mind if you are making your decision as to whether to eat in the dining room based on what is displayed on the tv’s menu. We did not go to Scarlett’s , so really can’t comment on that.

I stayed at the Four Points Sheraton in Miami Beach for one night before and after the cruise. I got our rooms for $55 a night through Priceline. It is a very nice hotel and is right on the beach. The only negatives are that their valet parking service is sometimes slow, and their elevators are very slow and very small. Make sure you have a bellman help you with the bags – it is worth whatever tip you give him.