NOTE: We’re going to give you the 6-day-to-date review on the cruise in this posting – instead of daily – so you can get a feel for the ship – then not be interrupted with the travelogue blog postings.
Embarkation day! It’s another gorgeous day in BA – we waste away the morning doing tedious packing and organizational chores. Had our cute little breakfast, and finally hauled our stuff down to the lobby at 11. Called a cab, ran to the grocery store for one last supply (instant coffee for the ship just in case), and finally ended up heading out to the port about 11:15.
Easy 10 minute ride, conversed in pigeon Spanish with the driver. Easy luggage dump, then the line began for the ship. They weren’t letting us on until 12:00, but they did start the passport lines a little earlier. As we waited in line, NCL staff passed our first NCL Freestyle Daily, information about what to expect when boarding, our Uruguayan customs form and our health form. As we leafed through the Daily, uh oh! There’s a letter from the Captain telling us that the ship has had Norovirus on the past cruise and if we want to cancel and re-book another date we can. Argh! That’s not happening for us – so we’ll have to tough it out. Here goes nothing…..
Embarkation: It really wasn’t all that bad once the lines opened – maybe only 15 minutes wait, then right up the gangway. We were greeted with folks spraying our hands as we boarded – they are everywhere! You can’t go near a restaurant or buffet without having your hands sanitized. Rooms won’t be ready until 2 (then they delayed it until 3pm) because they are sanitizing again – so we head up to the buffet. It’s a terribly small buffet – and – horrors – they have to serve you – we aren’t allowed to touch ANYTHING! That’s fine on ships that are set up that way – but this place is not even remotely set up for that. The salad line is so slow….. and nobody is really aboard yet! Eek! Can’t get your own drink – they have to give it you, no salt/pepper on the table, no condiments at all – nothing!
This will be interesting!
Ship Layout: We roam the ship and get our bearings. The Sun is kept up very well – maintenance looks pretty good considering she’s almost 10 years old (a heck of a sight better than most Celebrity ships – that’s for sure!). But the deck plan is totally chopped up. Only 2 sets of elevators and some don’t go to all floors. You can’t get to the back deck without walking through the buffet, which means being sprayed, you get stuck in the front on deck 12 at the observation lounge (an awesome venue) if you go the wrong way you’re out on the deck and can’t find the elevators.
After a few days we discovered a set of what we call “sneaky” stairs. They are this bizarre set of stairs that lead to Adaggio (the extra cost Italian restaurant) and the back of one of the large dining areas. They come out on deck 4 not more than 3 doors down from our cabin. They have been a huge bonus when we are trying to go somewhere. Our cabin is dead mid-ship – so either elevator/stair bank is a hike.
We’re now used to the ship – and while it’s chopped up – it’s not bad. Excellent choice of venues with music. 2 great party bands (Latin and American), 2 pianists, 1 acoustic guitar gal who’s really good (and makes us miss Buckeye Ken in Sanibel even more than we already do!!!), a sports bar with popcorn!!! Yay!!! and real sports!!! double Yay! Pretty big theater – we’ve seen one production show which was fine. Huge cast though – we were shocked at how many dancers and singers they have.
Food/Dining rooms: There are 2 main Freestyle dining rooms (no set times, ever). We’ve settled into one of them, and every night they give us a window table. It’s different than Princess though, their wait staff doesn’t have assigned tables, they rotate. We’ve sat in the same section almost every night and had a different waiter. Odd – it works – but it’s different. The food is good, but basic. Nothing to rave about or write home about, but nothing to turn your nose up at either. We keep calling it serviceable. Good portions for us, meaning small. You can get more, but they don’t overload the plate like Princess – which suits us fine. The funny thing is that because of the Noro – there is NOTHING on the table – no salt/pepper, no bread/rolls (they serve you individually), no flowers or table numbers or anything but the silverware and glasses. There is butter, but it’s changed after every guest. It’s too funny.
There are tons of alternate dining options though, if the menu looks boring. Extra Charge dining rooms are: Adaggio @ $10(which we’ve tried and it was quite good); Le Bistro @ $15 (French, their original alternative dining), Teppanyaki, Sushi and the Steakhouse all @ $25. Plus, there are free options such as Tapas – which has a changing menu of little Tapas every night, and Pacific Heights, which has lighter fare. And of course, there is always the buffet, the hamburgers and pizza.
Crew/Staff: Everyone is very friendly and sweet, but the restaurant servers seem beat. They have to be hating life because of the Norovirus thing. They are working doubly hard, and doing things they normally wouldn’t do, and it really shows. But you know, we have to hand it to NCL – they have taken every precaution and they have done it really well. Is it a pain to keep cleaning our hands and asking for food and condiments? Heck yes! But have we heard of any outbreak yet? Heck no – and if this is what it takes, then by all means, a little inconvenience is worth saving the cruise. We just feel for all the staff who have to put up with all the extra precautions, making their daily lives so much harder!
Oddities: So, the communication aboard isn’t exactly stellar. There are no announcements. Well, maybe one or two – for the art auction and bingo – but otherwise – nada! The captain does come on at noon to give us the weather (oh, and an advertisement the other day for a shore excursion to the Antarctica because they haven’t reached their minimum number yet – well yeah, it’s $2599.00 per person – yes – you read that right, for an 11 hour excursion!), but otherwise – those loudspeakers don’t get a work out. We have now sailed out of 4 ports, including BA, and not once have we had any announcements regarding people missing, or sailing or anything. We just pull away, and off we go. Wow! Talk about different!
Oh, and the best was the night we sailed from Montevideo – we had to turn the clocks back 1 hour. We had moved forward for Montevideo (our only time change) and needed to correct it. Ed and I thought it would make sense to do it that night, not the next when it was right before a port, but what do we know? There was no little time change card in our cabin, and nothing in the Daily. So we didn’t change. Got up the next morning – and what do you know? All the ships clocks were changed. Hmmm…..do you think? So, we take our walk on the promenade deck, then go into ask Guest Relations. Did the time change? “Yes.” It wasn’t in the Daily. “Yes it was”. Oh, no it wasn’t. “Yes ma’am it was.” Ok, we’re not arguing, we turn our clocks back. We go back to the cabin and look through all the Daily’s. Unh uh. not there. So we call – and have the same conversation except I get to say I’m holding the Daily’s in my hand and it’s not there. “Well,” she says, “it was supposed to be.” As I said earlier – this will be interesting….. LOL.
People: We are the minority. The vast majority of this ship is Argentinean or Chilean (at least Spanish speaking). There are some French and German, and of course us English speakers, but it’s a Spanish speaking circus out there. It’s not been all that bad for us – actually it’s a bonus. They eat really, really late (which has to be a huge drag on the wait staff too!!!), so when we go to eat around 7:30 – we’ve had no problems with tables at all. The restaurants are open until 10 or 10:30 and that’s when the South American's are there – so the poor crew don’t get out of those restaurants forever!
The kids are a pain though. They run rough-shod all over this ship and no one stops them. They’ve stolen our do not disturb sign once, but Marcel (our cabin steward) said it happens all the time and then he gets in trouble because he disturbs the guests – not knowing they had a card out. We actually chased a gang of them down the hall one night when they were switching cards and taking them. Ed took off after them and told them to stop switching/taking the do not disturb cards or he’d have them thrown off the ship. They weren’t more than 8 years old and one of them looked at him and said “you don’t speak Spanish”. Ed said, “no, but you sure understand what I’m saying!” You hear them running up and down the halls. That’s not fun – but – not much you can do – except chase them when you can!
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