Originally Posted By goodgirl Day Four of Nine – Monday - Life at Sea Continues I really found cruising to my liking. This seven day cruise was part of an overall two week vacation—my first ever. There were lots of activities to take part in if you desired or you could lounge in the sun by a pool and enjoy the drink of the day or you could find a deck chair in the shade and enjoy a good book. I did them all. We took another Art of Entertaining class on making a dessert and a second one on how to decorate plates. Kay and I also took a class on shopping on the islands. This was a total waste of time in my opinion. The entire course was really geared toward buying diamond and tanzanite jewelry and they had this book of coupons for sale at $25. This is a book about as thick as the Entertainment Guide. There were coupons for all sorts of free stuff or huge discounts. We fell for it and each bought a book. Well, it turns out that the book covers all the islands in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. The chapters for Tortola and St. Thomas were about 5% of the pages. There are lots of activities for children and teens on board. I chatted with several parents who said once they boarded their teens were gone. They typically only saw them at dinner and bed time. Each day the Personal Navigator listed a variety of activities for 3 to 4 year olds, 5 to 7 year olds, 8 to 10 year olds, 11 to 13 year olds and 14 to 17 year olds. We rarely saw kids except in line for the character photos—and there were a lot of those! We found out too late that Diana could have taken Caleb into the children’s Oceaneer Club to play; she just had to stay there with him. There was also Flounder’s Nursery for infants and kids under three but Caleb wouldn’t have stood for being dropped off there. Monday morning was our Character Breakfast at Parrot Cay. You need to arrive on time for this because the characters visit each table for photos. Jonathan and Leeroy made hats out of napkins for us to wear. The girls had mouse ears, Casey was Goofy and Caleb made for an adorable Peter Pan. In fact, he wouldn’t take his hat off during breakfast. Today was $10,000 Mega Jackpot Bingo. If you can cover your card in 46 numbers or less you’re a winner. Alas, no one won it. The cash prizes weren’t too bad. I think they are pots of money based on how many players there are. They started at over $100 and grew with each game. If there were multiple winners then they split the pot. Casey and Diana signed up for a Beer Tasting seminar. Grandma Kay was going to babysit but Caleb would have none of that. He cried and fussed so much that Kay took Caleb to the tasting location and Diana had to bail. Caleb seemed to have separation issues with Casey and Diana and didn’t want to be left alone with any of us others. Although he loves his Aunt T and both Grandma’s, he only sees us a couple times a year and the trust level wasn’t quite there until, of course, the last day of the vacation. Caleb couldn’t swim in the children’s pool because he is still in diapers. However, there is a splash pool which he loved and had to visit at least once each day. He also knew that deck 9 was the drink station where his chocolate milk came from. He’d be in the room and point upwards with his finger and say “Up. Up.” Or, he would say “We go out tide.” He loved deck 9. Dinner today was in Parrot Cay Restaurant. It was an Island Dinner theme with Cruise Casual dress code. For dinner I had: Baked Crab Martinique, Cream of Sweet Onion Soup, Barbecued Pork Tenderloin with Prickly Pear Glaze and French Toast Banana Bread Pudding with Coconut Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce. Overall, this was one of my favorite dinners. Our show in the Walt Disney Theater was Twice Charmed – An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story.
Originally Posted By SuzieQ See, these are the advantages of the longer cruises. We only had the 3-nights and didn't have time for any seminars or even to play bingo. We were far to busy!! I just knew you would like the travel style of cruising I envision more in the coming years for you.
Originally Posted By Ursula I had NO idea they had bingo. I thought they had no gaming at all. HHHmmm.
Originally Posted By tapdancemom I agree about the "shopping booklets" being a rip off for the most part. Hubby and I had a simlar experience on Royal Caribbean and won't spend the money for them again. Those classes on the longer cruises are fun and we usually do the wine tasting.
Originally Posted By Kala Aren't 2 week vacations great?! I think we in the IT businesss think there is an unwritten code that we can't take them, or feel guilty when we do. I took my first 2 week vacation just a couple of years ago and now that is the only way to go!! Sorry about the shopping talk. Were none of the shops giving away free stuff? That's a drag. Brian and my sister in law had a blast going to all the shops for free jewelry, maps of the island great for scrapbooks and souvies! You just had to be careful to not get sucked into any sales talks. They would pick up the freebie stay about 2 min then say, "thanks but we have to go." I will say Bri got me a beautiful 10yr. diamond anniversary band with the help of Karen the shopping coordinator. It was appraised for much more than what he bought it for. Yay, I'll keep him for another 10 yrs. LOL! How cute that Caleb knew deck 9 was where the chocolate milk was. LOL!
Originally Posted By goodgirl We did get some of the free stuff but it felt too awkward just going in and asking for it. Caleb was not really into shopping either. I didn't think what we got was worth the $25 for the book (actually $50 since Kay got one too). And if anyone is going to islands other than Tortola and St. Thomas, email me and I'll send you the coupons for your islands (if I still have the book - I'll have to look).
