Deedeelynn

Just back a few hours ago from our 5-night trip to Bermuda that @ellcee and @Broons77 were also on. I have a ton of photos to go through and edit, and I'm taking my older daughter to SUNY New Paltz tomorrow for a campus tour and maybe interview before she applies to transfer, so I probably won't be posting anything detailed before early next week or even next weekend. But here's a quick preamble of what, where, and why:
This was a double surprise cruise for my wife and me. First surprise was that I even booked the thing, as we had only booked our cruise on Freedom in December 2016, still had nearly a year to go to sail that cruise, and here I was going and booking another one! Why? My wife had mentioned a while back that she's never been to Bermuda, so when I saw this itinerary I figured I'd jump on it. While we were "officially" declaring the cruise on Freedom as our 20th anniversary celebration, I wanted something for just the two of us where we could have a chance to reconnect over a few days.
The second surprise, as most here have known for quite a long while now, is that when a BOGO 60 sale came along I upgraded us from a D2 Balcony cabin to a J4 Spa Junior Suite on deck 7. I managed to keep that secret until embarkation day, and I'll give the details about the reveal and reaction when I start making the real posts.
You all already know from @ellcee's great live blog that this was a single-stop cruise to just Bermuda, nowhere else, with an overnight stay that gave us basically two full days on the island. Since we had free rein of the island for that whole time, we'd worked out a plan for what mattered most to us and when we'd try and see it:
First port day – St. George, Crystal Cave and the nearby Swizzle Inn, and if time permitted, Hamilton Second port day – Horseshoe Bay Beach and the shops / sights around Royal Naval Dockyard In addition to our time in Bermuda, we made plans to check out the North Star and try out Ripcord by iFly, see all the on-board shows, and have dinner at Wonderland. We also wanted to buy the Thermal Spa package and have a chance to enjoy that throughout the trip. It was a pretty packed itinerary for a 5-night sailing; stay tuned to see how it all turned out!

Day 11 - Sea Day
I woke to an overcast day.  The ship had a small swagger to it, or maybe that just me walking the hallways as if I'd been drinking already.  Nothing too bad, just a subtle shimmy like riding on a train.  
The outer decks were not calling my name so it was an inside day.  The Captain had hugged the coast throughout the night to avoid some rougher stuff farther off-shore.  
Weather improved throughout the day and I've stopped wearing a jacket if outside briefly just to take pictures and look around.  Tomorrow should be even better.

Day 11 Dinner Menu
Formal Night, lobster night.

Pretty sunset tonight.





Our progress so far...

We are in Grandeur waters.
Distance traveled 2,446 nm.  

@CruiseLifeRick just scoped after a day on Labadee and reports Labadee is fine.  No signs of earthquake damage.  

Mine too!  @twangster you can venture from RCCL but don't venture too far away from here.  You are not replaceable!

I know how much work it is because I attempted it myself and live blogging takes a lot of time. Have you thought about starting your own blog? twangsterstravels.com has a nice ring to it.. 

This site is a private site owned and run by Matt Hochberg.  He deserves the credit for creating it and evolving it into everything that is great about it.  
There is not a charter that we all agree to when signing up but out of respect for Matt and all he has accomplished I would not introduce a non-RCCL brand here.  
I still have 9 RCI cruises left mostly in 2018.  I'm not going to avoid booking future cruises with RCI.  They've only lost my exclusivity, it's still a great product within the cruise industry.  
I doubt I'll blog those cruises though.  It's a lot of work and promotes a company that returns no value.  In other words the pay sucks ? 

Unfortunately, this was our experience on Enchanment from many years ago. We had cruised on her many times and I noticed how the crew were horrific. After the third cruise on her, I complained, I also voiced my disdain through their survey. Once you get off a cruise and get home, you seem to forget and find yourself booking another cruise on the same ship, kinda like child birth! Haha! So, we tried Enchanment again! This time the crew seemed to bend over backwards to help, very polite and always ready to please! Shocked! I don’t know what happened, New Captain, new crew!? But, we were pleased that things had changed! Fortunately, we moved onto bigger boats and have never looked back! Something like raw sewage should never be taken lightly, the ramifications of disease, is the number one thought! They threw you a bone, to make this situation go away! This is unhealthy and shouldn’t be happening so frequently! But, good for you for the way you handled it! Glad it didn’t ruin your vacation! 

Unfortunately, this was our experience on Enchanment from many years ago. We had cruised on her many times and I noticed how the crew were horrific. After the third cruise on her, I complained, I also voiced my disdain through their survey. Once you get off a cruise and get home, you seem to forget and find yourself booking another cruise on the same ship, kinda like child birth! Haha! So, we tried Enchanment again! This time the crew seemed to bend over backwards to help, very polite and always ready to please! Shocked! I don’t know what happened, New Captain, new crew!? But, we were pleased that things had changed! Fortunately, we moved onto bigger boats and have never looked back! Something like raw sewage should never be taken lightly, the ramifications of disease, is the number one thought! They threw you a bone, to make this situation go away! This is unhealthy and shouldn’t be happening so frequently! But, good for you for the way you handled it! Glad it didn’t ruin your vacation! 

Funny you mention Pinnacles.  The CL was full of them.  I may have been the only D+.  They were all regulars that the concierge knew well.  In once case a woman stays on the ship for weeks and her husband joins her for the weekends then goes to work during the week off ship.  I was the stranger in there.   That may have been a factor in her approach.  
I don't think anyone in Miami is plotting to get rid of top tier but the cold truth is the ships are sailing full.  In the current economy they have lots of younger people and new cruisers booking up ships and making rookie mistakes paying in excess here and there - the ideal customer.  A savvy elite who only books shore excursions or dining packages with a discount compared to a new cruiser who books everything on board?  An elite who uses a balcony discount compared to a millennial who pays $300 more for the same cabin?   An elite you have to supply with free drinks during happy hour compared to a newbie who buys every drink at the bar.  Elites produce less revenue, plain and simple.  But there is a catch.  
Only if the economy turns or the line of new cruisers dwindles will loyal customers become important again.  Until then we are a liability more than an asset - compared to the average guest on board.  Zero elites on board would be an ideal cruise manifest from a profit perspective.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't being said in angst or being bitter, I'm a business person, I get it.  This is business.  
Changes are coming in the loyalty program.  On Mariner they took the bar out of the diamond lounge.  Two waiters take drink orders, leave, walk down the hall to a service bar in a pantry, fill their tray and return.  It takes 20-25 minutes to get a drink during peak while standing around because all chairs are occupied.  The removal of the bar wasn't a mistake.  It was done on purpose.  I bet the Mariner DL consumes 1/3 of the stock compared to some other similar ships.  Once those numbers appear on paper month after month,  DL bars across the fleet will soon be changing.  
MSC Black isn't all that.  I did the status match.  You get a few things from it, but MSC's approach is simply lower prices for everyone and a few minor perks thrown to elites.  The products are different so you can't just compare them on paper.
NCL has made indications it may bolster its loyalty program. It's vision is a little longer term compared to Royal.  Royal is basking in the sun right now, where NCL is preparing for the coming storm.  It's just a matter time.  Maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but its coming.
Frank Del Rio, NCL CEO had this to say:
“No one knows when a recession will come; you ought to start thinking about it. We’re starting to think about how to increase loyalty; make sure you stay close to your customers. Maximize repeaters. Emphasize value and not price. Prepare to reorganize your resources to fill the funnel. You can’t cut costs enough in a recession; you need to increase efficiencies and invest in new products and markets.”
https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Norwegian-CEO-Frank-del-Rio-Says-Its-Never-Too-Early-to-Prepare-for-a-Downturn
Royal is okay not handling their non-pinnacles with white gloves.  That's working for now because bookings are up.  Once it turns though, folks like me will be shopping the field for bargains without loyalty to keep them on Royal.  That is what Royal doesn't understand but NCL does.  

Jewel - Panama 
Radiance - Hawaii
Spectrum B2B, Voyager and Quantum - Asia
Vision, Rhapsody, Anthem, Mariner, Freedom - Bahamas/Bermuda/Caribbean
Good question on blogging.  Not a fan of CC.  Maybe I'll launch NCLBlog  ?  
Stay tuned for my Mariner recap blog - coming soon.  You picked a winner in Mariner.  
The drive between Miami and Port Canaveral was just under 4 hours with stops.  Orlando probably similar depending on stops.  Some car rental companies have shuttles in Miami that go to the port.  I have status with Hertz so that's why I used them.  The Florida Turnpike between Orlando and Miami is a toll road but accepts cash at toll booths.  
 
Exactly.  My cabins are already going for more than I booked for so they are thrilled I am cancelling.  On Panama alone it's a $1,000 more now.  Radiance balcony $700 more.  Someone at Royal HQ is reading this and thinking "cancel more!"
 

I 100% get your frustration but this also makes me sad to read this...thanks for sharing this...good or bad.  And you are a class act, even through all of that, you still managed to find good points to highlight.

Having read your periscope, looking, and reading through several other sites I contacted our travel agent. She was amazing, we have been switched to Mariner with a extra $190 in our pocket after car rental and hotel changes. We will however have to drive from Orlando to Miami then back up to Orlando to finish out our vacation.
Living in a small town in NW Arkansas it took several years to save for this one trip and piece of mind is very important to us.  

First off, it's disgusting, secondly it's not SANITARY.  I would have done the same thing.  And I did actually on Celebrity Summit, although it wasn't sewage just the smell.  I had to call every day.  In this situation though, The Suite Manager found me before we disembarked and gave us $1000 certificate toward future cruise which I think was fantastic. RC and Enchantment crew should have handled the same way.  Acknowledging your discomfort and grossness would have gone a long way for you to have a whole different outlook.

The main snorkel area for Cococay is closer to the end of the island where the ship is closest.  I had never snorkeled here and since I had brought my mask and snorkel fins (travel fins) I decided I need to learn more about this area.  
You enter from the beach where people are swilling.  Buoys mark underwater features they have aded to attract marine life.  Swimming platforms are available to rest on.  Two life guard towers mark the extent of the snorkel and swim area.   
At first the water is cloudy from the swimmers and folks wading in shallow water,  Further out it clears up quite a bit.  


I spotted more rays.








With this complete I headed back to the ship.


Cococay remains a favorite stop of mine.  
The construction from the pier and/or Perfect Day had no impact on my day here either from Mariner on Thursday or Enchantment on Sunday.  

One benefit of visiting Cococay from a small ship is the easy tendering process.  
I had just been to Cococay on Mariner on Thursday and on that occasion I did the certified scuba dive.  After the dive on Thursday I was in the area near the floating bar wandering around in knee deep water with my camera.  A beach assistant called me over and told to watch for various marine life including lemon sharks.  They aren't a threat and will swim around you as you walk the sandbars.  With tide just switching and starting to come in that was apparently good time to see them.  
With that fresh in memory from my Mariner visit I decided to make this a snorkel day at Coccocay.  I had my own gear from diving so it made for a cheap day.  
I found a lounger in the second row in the shade of a palm tree and claimed it as mine.  With a small ship like Enchantment there were a ton of loungers available so that wasn't an issue.  Tide was still going out which isn't typically great shark timing according to a lifeguard I asked but you never know.  So off I went.
It didn't take long to find one.  At first I though I was walking towards a submerged rock in two feet of water.  The rock kept moving away.  Hmmm.

I donned my mask and laid down in just enough water depth to snorkel and saw my quest.
There were also the occasional jelly.





 
I wasn't the only one.  Several other people were walking around in the knee water and seeing them.


There were at least three or four swimming and occasionally resting in place until a human scared them them into motion.  The closest I got was maybe four or five feet.  The super wide-angle GoPro lens makes it look so far away.  It was pretty cool.  
I also spotted a stingray.  

Like the sharks they were quick to move on when approached.  
Since I was in the neighborhood it was only appropriate to stop at the watering hole.  


From the floating bar this is the general area where I was 'sharking'.

While at Cococay bar service is done by ship bartenders.  Supplies come from the ship. 
While visiting on Empress a few weeks ago, the floating bar had a very limited menu and only one bartender.  No frozen drinks, no CocoLoco, basic mixers and cranberry juice.  Everything was paper tickets. 
On Enchantment they had a much a much better bar menu and they had brought a point of sale terminal operating in offline mode that could swipe cards and provide a standard printed receipt.  A laminated bar menu was available. Cocoloco was available from a cooler (no blender on the floating bar to make other frozen drinks).  In a different cooler they had pre-made jugs of Bahama Mama, Margarita mix, etc.  Liquor was added at they poured the drink it so virgin versions are available for those who don't want alcohol.  

Since I had the drink package...

I let this wear off a bit before heading to the 'official' snorkeling area closer to the action of Cococay.

Absolutely not! I can't imagine how disgusting and awful that must have been, and I'm incredibly impressed that you didn't totally lose your... um, spit... over that when the concierge pulled that attitude with you! And to only offer you a room that literally just had the exact same issue?!?!?
I'm really sorry that you ended up canceling 10 cruises over that, as it sounds like when you had some time to cool off and think about it you were regretting that decision a bit; but at the same time, as you pointed out that's over $20k that Royal just lost out on, from a single passenger, plus all the ancillary revenue they lost from drink package / internet / excursion purchases over those 10 cruises. That's not small potatoes, and I sincerely hope that after raising this with whoever up the chain, even all the way to corporate HQ in Miami, that your complaint will be properly recognized and the awful treatment you got on board remedied in some meaningful way.
And clearly, the staff on that ship needs some serious retraining!

How completely awful!  You sir, handled it way better than I would have.  Old ship or not, that is completely unacceptable.  I am in awe at how you did not let it ruin your day in Nassau.  

Back on board and excited from the rush of 'flying' a 737 I quickly consumed a frozen drinks after the walk in hot Nassau sun back to the ship before changing into long pants and a dressy shirt then heading up to the Concierge Lounge.  I had the drink package so i didn't need to visit the lounge but it was formal night and I had some time to kill before my MTD reservation so why not take in the views from up there?  It really is a nice lounge.  
Not long after the concierge was making her way around talking to guests and she sat down next to me.  I was mostly over the sewage issue and ready to let it go still high from my excursion but she approached it like I was out of line and she couldn't comprehend why I had been upset by it in the first place.  Seriously?  She was going on the offensive when I was all but over it?  Sorry but I don't find it acceptable that I should have to walk through sewage in a suite no less (even just a JS).
To be honest, she really pissed me off and I politely and in a calm voice told her I do not find the situation or the way it has been handled to be satisfactory.   The look on her face said it all, like I had made up the whole thing.  With a new look of disdain on her face I told her I was going to cancel some cruises from it and so I did.  Ten in all.  Just saved myself over $20,000 not to mention airfare and other related charges.  
Earlier in the day and what had led me to getting over it was asking myself if I was being too much of a snowflake.    I wasn't harmed by it.  I didn't let it ruin my cruise or even the day.  I had an awesome excursion.  Despite that, the fresh salt in the wound and a couple of drinks was all it took for full snowflake mode to kick in and in hindsight i did let it get to me too much.  Damage done though and I looked her in the eye and told her because of this I am cancelling ten cruises.  
With that I headed off to dinner, internally fuming a bit.  
The dining staff were right on their game again with excellent service.  I was not going to take this out on them so I put it behind me for the moment and enjoyed dinner.  I wasn't in the mood to promote Royal Caribbean or take nice pictures and post them so no dinner shots and I abandoned plans to take night photos of the ship in port since we were staying until 11:30pm.  Basically my creative spirit had been zapped and I left my good camera in the safe.  
You tell me - is sewage bubbling up into your cabin a 'nothing' event that we all should just accept?

My excursion today would be with Jetline Simulation of Nassau.  They have a 737NG simulator that professional pilots or pilots in training can book to practice, or the average guy on the street like myself can book it.  
I learned of this excursion from @CruisingKat(Kathy) a few weeks prior when her and her husband went there.  Since I have long been an aviation enthusiast I knew I had to try this.  
I was actually supposed to do this on Tuesday when I stopped in Nassau on Mariner.  They called on Sunday afternoon to let me know a bulb in a projector blew and the three replacements they had on hand all didn't work.  I have a projector at home and had the same issue happen to me.  They too had bought the spare bulbs on Amazon.  Bad idea.  We chatted for a bit about the issue.  Being in Nassau it wasn't like they go down the street and find this unique bulb so they had to cancel my Tuesday session but they were certain it would be operational for Saturday and my visit on Enchantment.  
They were very apologetic but since it has happened to me and since I was coming back a few days later, I told them 'no problem mon'.
They are located in "The Pointe" right beside the British Colonial Hilton.  That's about a 10 minute walk from the ship.

 
They have a database of something like 25,000 airports they can load up.  We talked through several options and I decided on a Denver departure and landing, followed by Toronto with a sightseeing 'flight' around the CN Tower, He recommended Kai Tak in Hong Kong - a legendary airport since closed when a new airport was built but it's well known for it's wild approach and landing through high rise buildings.  My last flight would be a take of from St. Thomas with a landing in St. Maarten.
The first flight was from the gate in Denver where we were pushed back from the gate with a tug, went through engine start and taxiing followed by the take off, circling around in a somewhat standard pattern and landing back at Denver.  
With each flight I became more comfortable with handling the plane and landing it.  Take off was easy, landing is tricky.  On subsequent flights he programmed us to start on the runway ready to power up to full thrust and take off to save time.  It takes a minute or so to load and then like magic you are sitting on a runway ready to apply throttles and get going.  
By the time we took off in St. Thomas, climbed to 9,000 feet and flew over to St. Maarten I greased the landing and nailed it near perfectly, with a lot of help from Ryan my instructor who took control of the throttles so I could focus on flying the plane.  In a flash my 90 minute session was over.


The 737NG or 737-800 is used by many airlines including Southwest, United and Delta.  Tonight I flew home to Denver on a 737-800 and a quick peek inside the cockpit as I was deplaning was all it took to find the fuel pump switches I used during engine start in the simulator among other similarities.   
They offer a discount to cruise ship passengers so make sure you ask about that.  

Well done in getting up the coast ..... That Sunpass can be a lifesaver ....... 
We do the same thing if we see our luggage on the rack ....For two reasons 1)  We get our luggage now  2)  The Cabin Stewards work hard as it is, if we can take a little of the load off by removing a few pieces of luggage, we're going to.
 

I'm writing this, or starting to write this on the last night of the cruise.   
Itinerary - Port Canaveral, Nassau, Cococay, Port Canaveral
Flying to Florida I wouldn't normally do a 3 night cruise but this is the second leg of a side-2-side (like a back-2-back but cruise one ship then changing ships). I came off Mariner on Friday, rented a car in Miami and drove up the coast to Port Canaveral to jump on Enchantment the same day.  I'll write up a recap blog on Mariner next week - got some pictures to go through for that one.
The drive from Miami to Port Canaveral was easy enough and cost me a $32 rental car, $15 in gas and $6.19 in tolls.  Not bad for a 183 mile transfer.  I took an $8 Lyft ride from Mariner to the Hertz office downtown Miami.  Having a car allowed me to stop at a Target and replenish my sunscreen supply and pick up a few other things on the way.  In Canaveral, the Hertz drop off location is approximately one mile from the cruise terminal and they offer a free shuttle to the ship. 
My day started departing Mariner at 7am.  By 7:15am I was at the curb in Port Miami but had to wait a few minutes for a Lyft car to reach me.  By 7:37am I was at the Miami Hertz office and shortly after on my way towards Enchantment.  Fortunately I have a Sunpass toll transponder from a past life closer to Florida.  This allowed me to cruise up the toll roads bypassing some heavy traffic on I-95.  After my stop in Target and fueling up the rental car I was waiting for the Hertz shuttle to the ship by 11:40am.   
Boarding had already commenced so I had no delays in the cruise terminal and with that I was on board Enchantment by noon.  Walking through the Centrum I inquired how much the drink package would be with my diamond plus discount.  $224 on board price became $156.  After 4 nights on Mariner without a drink package I was tired of the diamond happy hour drink menu so in the spur of the moment I bought it.  YOLO.  It's a 3 night cruise over the weekend so why not? 
Quick lunch in the Windjammer and I headed up to the Viking Crown lounge to wait for cabins to be ready and get some work done while I waited.  
At 1:35pm cabins were ready.  As I walked through the elevator lobby on deck 7 I spotted my bag on top of a luggage cart so I grabbed it and made my way all the aft to my aft facing junior suite.   

I don’t see it so much as nickel and diming, as much as a constant sales pitch. As with most on here I’ve learned to either ignore it or politely say no thanks. However I agree that it does worsen the overall experience. To me it’s like sitting on a nice beach and constantly having vendors approach you with their goods. Does it wreck my day, absolutely not, but not having to deal with it makes for a much better day. 
With all the electric compasses and signage on the ship they can advertise all the extras without having to constantly ask you if you’re interested in this that or the other.
With that said, see ya on the Symphony in November! ?

Generally most of the cruise lines are tracking each other closely and the general consensus is that there have been common changes across the cruise industry over the past few decades.
Some people like yourself who haven't cruised for a while often see this very clearly, where folks who cruise on a more regular basis have seen the changes as they occurred and adjusted to them.
To be fair, when adjusted for inflation, cruise fares have not increased dramatically over the years while costs for the industry including food, fuel and labor have increased dramatically.  Instead of increasing fares, there have been optimizations of services available.  In other words reductions in some areas to maintain low fares.  Where 20 years wine might have been served at dinner, now that isn't included.  That's good news for people who don't or can't drink wine but sad news for those who do even though everyone benefits from reasonable cruise fares.  Room service was included before but huge volumes of food was wasted by people who ordered it, didn't eat it and left it in the hallways night after night.  A small service charge curbs the desire to order food people don't really intend to consume.  This saves money and we all enjoy lower cruise fares as a result.  
To generate new revenue, cruise lines have created new opportunities for those who want them.  Specialty dining venues that didn't exist 10 years ago are now common.  The included options are still there, but some people want to splurge on something special.  Those like myself who don't want or need that experience don't have to pay for it and I stick with the included dining options.  Those with deeper pockets than mine who want it, can open their wallet and buy it.  
I don't see these changes as 'nickel and diming' .  I can board a ship and pay nothing more out of pocket and still have a great cruise experience.  At no point am I forced to buy something to continue the cruise.  

Yes, they follow the same scheme as the other specialties, but pasta at Giovannis is considered a side so you can get pasta plus a main (read that as “meat”) course.  On our recent Liberty cruise Dan asked for some chicken parm as a “side”and even though it was listed a main course, they brought it as a side without any hesitation.  It is my opinion that the progression of Italian restaurants from Portofinos to Giovanni’s to Jaimie’s has gone steadily in the wrong direction.  While I think that Giovanni’s is definitely better than Jaimie’s, I think Portofinos was better to either of them.  I wish they would bring back Portofinos !

I got it for $10.79 a day too for Same time frame (Feb 14th cruise.