KristiZ

I totally didn’t notice!

Day 7 MDR - “Bon Voyage” Appetizers: Vegan Pan-Seared Asparagus, a bit over cooked. Seafood Cake - excellent. Mediterranean Tapas Medley - disappointing, with oddly strong-flavored hummus. Mains: Spaghetti Bolognese, same as always (fortunately!). Chicken Chettinad, excellent. Desserts: Dark Chocolate Brownie - very good, very rich. Warm Apple Cobbler - decent. Chocolate Cherry Tart, not actually a tart, overly sweet, disappointing. Seafood cake: Tapas: Asparagus: Spaghetti: Chettinad: Tart: Brownie: Cobbler:

Day 7 Shore Excursion - Castries, St. Lucia We chose “Amazing Jeep and Catamaran Combo”. Departed at 9:00am, five hour duration, mild activity level. This was a good excursion, particularly the catamaran part. We started on a Jeep-ish journey around the south end of the island. The Jeep was just a truck with bench seats in the back. I was glad I had a hat! We saw old French and English forts that had been turned into a community college, some great scenery, and some active farmland. The catamaran stopped at a swimming spot and took us the view the Pitons before returning us to Rhapsody. The rum punch was tasty too! Assorted sights:

I'm not sure if this is the new normal or not. We'll need more data from other sailings. I volunteer for research!!

Thanks so much! The pictures are from a mix of my ancient Pixel 5, MisterZ's Pixel 6 Pro, and his Sony RX-III camera.

Day 6 MDR - “Royal Night” There was no lobster, fyi. Appetizers: Baked French Onion Soup, actually better than it used to be. Bright Citrus Avocado & Melon Salad - looked terrible but MomMe declared it delicious and gobbled it up. Chilled Shrimp Cocktail, also very good. Mains: Lemon-Butter Baked Cod - nice presentation and texture but a little bland. Chicken Marsala - very tasty, with a unique smoky note. Spicy Shrimp Jalfrezi - quite spicy and very delicious! Dessert: Red Velvet Cake - always a solid choice! Soup: Avo Citrus thing: Shrimp cocktail: Cod: Marsala: Jalfrezi: Cake:

Day 6 Shore Excursion - Roseau, Dominica We chose “Dominica Panoramic Drive”. Departed at 12:20pm, three hours duration, mild activity level. Mistakes were made. I know better, and yet… 1) Afternoon excursions on a port-intensive trip like this are a bad idea. We had emotionally settled in for a sea day, and then it wasn’t. Won’t do that again! 2) Never pick an excursion with “panoramic” in the title. I knew this. I forgot. Dullsville! Additionally, this particular excursion was not well described at all, so while there were interesting bits it was all pretty much a surprise. We drove the southern coast of Dominica and saw the section of cliff and beach where Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was filmed. We stopped for a photo op at the tip of the island where you can see both the Caribbean and the Atlantic just a few feet apart. Next we stopped at a local church and a beach spot where an enterprising fellow has harnessed the geothermal vents to make a hot spring in the ocean. Last we drove through the middle of the botanic garden. Our guide was ok, but the weakest of the week. The island itself is gorgeous though! Scenery shots: Caribbean vs Atlantic: Local church: School bus donated by Canada two days before Hurricane David in 1979 (don’t worry, it was empty). It’s in the botanic garden:

She had a refurbishment in 2012, so she only looks 10 years old Honestly she looks great though. The crew does a fantastic job keeping her up!

Day 5 MDR - “A Taste of UK” Appetizers: Leek & Potato Soup - very good. Goat Cheese Tart - a little weird, with the sautéed veg just plopped on top of the crust. Mozzarella Cheese Sticks - not actually mozzarella (possibly Colby?), not very good. Mains: Traditional English Fish & Chips - fish was very good, chips were ok, coleslaw was good. Chicken Tikka Masala - good enough, but ended up being the weakest of all the Indian dishes for the week. Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding - surprisingly good, although the pudding was a bit over cooked. Dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding - Good, but it was vanilla sauce rather than toffee sauce, so that was disappointing. Soup: Tart: Fish: Tikka: Beef: Pudding:

Day 5 Shore Excursion - Kingstown, St. Vincent We chose “The Best of St. Vincent”. Three hours and 15 minutes, 8:00am departure, moderate activity level. This was a very good tour. We boarded the standard 25 passenger bus and headed up the hill to Fort Charlotte, the best-preserved fort of all the islands we visited. Next we walked through the St. Vincent Botanical Garden, one of the oldest in the western hemisphere. Then we drove up to a viewpoint above the Mesopotamia Valley, the largest agricultural region on the island. Finally we stopped at a local beach for a beverage and a bit of ocean breeze. Our guide was very good. We were about 30 minutes late getting back. Kingstown: The fort, including insignia on original cannons still in place: Garden shots: Valley view: Beach:

Here’s hoping they honor it! I picked it up for my New Years cruise. Wasn’t available for the first leg of the back to back over Christmas, but that one is only 4 nights.

Hi! This is outdated information. None of these countries have any Covid restrictions in force. I’m currently sailing on Rhapsody to all these ports.

Yes! They had nutmeg and chocolate, plus a multi-spice pack that we bought that had cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, turmeric, and all-spice.

Day 4 MDR Menu — “A Taste of Italy” Appetizers: Crispy Parmesan Arancini - pretty good, although a bit rich. Classic Cesar Salad - exactly the same as before Main Courses: Chicken Parmesan - needed a bit more sauce. Lasagna Al Forno - good, very rich. Spiced Lamb Kofka - excellent. Desserts: Coffee Pot de Crème - coffee flavored jello. Pass. Lemon Curd Tartlet - it was… fine. Not tart enough. Arancini: Chicken Parm: Kofka: Pot de Crème: Tart:

Day 4 Shore Excursion - St. George’s, Grenada Today we chose “Grand Etang, Annandale Falls, and Fort Frederick”. Four hours and 30 minutes, 8:00am departure, moderate activity level. This was my favorite excursion so far! A great guide and interesting sights. First stop was Fort Frederick, just outside of St, George’s. Great views of the city and harbor. Next off to Annandale Falls, a small waterfall on the way up the mountain. It was a short walk to a pretty falls, and there were cliff jumpers there to entertain a bit. Next, the rest of the way up the mountain, into the rainforest in Grand Etang national preserve. It rained on us up there, but it wasn’t cold at all. Last stop was the Laura’s Herb and Spice farm. This was an excellent stop — the local guide spent 30 minutes walking us around the working spice farm, showing us all the things they grow. Then back to the ship, on island time again; we were nearly an hour late for no other reason than we were enjoying ourselves and loitered a bit at each stop. St. George’s port: Fort: The drive: The falls, where I caught the cliff jumper by complete accident: Top of the mountain: Nutmeg: Butterfly on jackfruit: Tamarind: Turmeric drying: Allspice tree bark: Rainbow eucalyptus: Random other shots:

Day 3 MDR Dinner - “A Taste of the Caribbean” We used our BOGOs on day 1 and day 2, so no review of Welcome Aboard or French Night. Sorry! Appetizers: Crispy Coconut Jumbo Shrimp - while the shrimp were in no way jumbo, they were very tasty. Green Lentil Soup - quite tasty, even though someone forgot to stir the vat of soup and my bowl ended up with about six actual lentils in it! Mains: Garlic-Herb Buttered Tiger Shrimp - just ok. Needed more garlic, herb, and butter. Pesto Tagliatelle - MomMe declared the dish “weird” and only ate about half of it. Rustic Chicken Korma - excellent, with just a little kick. Desserts: Carrot Cake - frosting was good but not cream cheese, cake was moist but just a spice cake. Fudge Brownie (vegan) - very very very very sweet. Also weirdly sticky. Caramel sauce was good. Portion sizes were smaller, which we really appreciate. Servers are still pushing extra items, so if you need or want more you definitely won’t feel bad about it! Coconut Shrimp: Garlic Shrimp: Chicken Korma: Carrot cake: Brownie:

Day 3 Shore Excursion - Port of Spain, Trinidad For today we chose the Caroni Bird Sanctuary tour. Three hours and 30 minutes, departing at 9:00am, moderate activity. This tour started again in a little 25 passenger bus. Our driver was personable and kept up a nice tour guide chatter the whole way. We drove about 20 minutes to the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, where we got in a wide, flat-bottomed swamp boat. The engine was small and quiet, which meant we could hear the naturalist well. We spent the next two and a half hours puttering around the swamp, learning about the ecology and watching for birds, particularly Scarlet Ibis. The guide was knowledgeable and easy to understand. The only slightly challenging thing on this tour was getting in and out of the boat from the rather rustic dock. The staff was very good with helping the one mobility challenged lady in our group. 20 minutes back to the ship after, as planned, but the whole trip was definitely on island time. We were about 30 minutes late getting back. This was a great excursion! Some photos: The swamp boats: Red Mangrove roots (stretching down to the water from the branches): Black Mangrove roots (growing up from the ground): The flamingos are recent immigrants. They started showing up in 2014, decided it was nice, moved in and brought some friends. There are now about 300 permanent residents and seem to be starting a breeding colony: So graceful in flight Flamingo and Blue Heron: Blue Heron: If the crab yesterday freaked you out, I present a boa sleeping in a branch right on the waterline. No telephoto needed! We did see Scarlet Ibis, but they were tough to photograph. Turns out they rest on one leg like flamingos: Osprey:

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Yeah our guide was very skeptical about the story

Day 2 Shore Excursion - Scarborough, Tobago We chose “Windward Coast & Little Tobago” as our excursion this day. It was 5 hours, departed at 10:30am, and was listed as moderate activity level. It was a standard driving tour for the first bit (about an hour and 15 minutes) in a 25 passenger bus. Lots of nice coastal views, passing through lots of small villages. Next was a glass bottom boat ride over to a wildlife sanctuary and nesting site for seabirds. We got the boat at a resort located at the closest point to Little Tobago from regular Tobago. The short ride (15 minutes) was fairly smooth and we could see clearly down to the reefs below. There was a hike on the sanctuary island, with clearly marked trails and a naturalist to answer questions (about 45 minutes). Then back in the glass bottom boat and returning to our bus. On the drive back we stopped at Fort King George for a quick photo. This was not listed on the tour, but was added because we were a bit ahead of schedule (no traffic). Honestly the fort was underwhelming. I will say, DO NOT choose this trip if you are prone to motion sickness! The road is very, very twisty! This was a rather rigorous “moderate activity” tour. The hike on the little island was steep and pretty hot, and getting in and out of the boat was a little tense. Also, there was no food or snack (even though it was over lunchtime) so plan accordingly. All in all, I was happy with the tour, though. A few photos: House supposedly built by Ian Fleming: Scruffy Banana Finch: Red-Footed Boobie, white tail morph: Red-Billed Tropic Bird, tail feathers missing due to harassment by Frigate Birds: Caribbean Mockingbird:

Yes, there’s a cooler. No TVs, although you can see the TV in the living room from the main bed.

Cabin 8000, Ocean View Suite (OV) We picked this particular sail date based on the fact it was the only one that this cabin was still available. There’s only one on the ship — the Royal Suite occupies the same spot on the other side of deck 8 forward. It sits under the Windjammer (because Vision class has the WJ forward rather than back). We heard some noise from above, but never after about 10pm so it was not a problem at all. It’s a two bedroom, TWO BATH cabin. I emphasize this because nowhere did it say there were two baths, and it was a very lovely surprise. The odd bit is that neither bedroom is a master, meaning both baths are off hallway into the living room. Also, the main bedroom has only a curtain. The second room (two twins and two pullmans) has a door. The reason we wanted to try this room is the fact it has full suite benefits at a much reduced price, mostly because there is no balcony. Just a window with a seating area in it. We got this room for about $250 more, total, than a JS was selling for at the time of our booking, and six months later the JS was actually more expensive than what we paid. Turns out we are not missing the balcony at all, because the room is such a great size. 10/10 would book this room again! Odd entry at the end of the hall: Foyer with door to smaller bathroom: Smaller bathroom, shower only: Hall, showing door to larger bath: Larger bath, with tub: Weird nook with extra closet space: Living room, showing window seating: Looking back from the window, showing curtain of main bedroom and door to second bedroom: Main bedroom: Odd triangular closet in main bedroom: Second bedroom:

I reeeeallly wasn’t going to blog this cruise. Port days every day make it hard to keep up, plus a lot of folks don’t seem interested in the smaller ships. Also, the week before the cruise I was in Rome for work, so my “getting to port” routing went Rome, Boston, DC, literally 12 hours on the ground just to scoop up new clothes (and MisterZ), Newark, Barbados. Sheesh! The things we do for vacation! But I kept thinking stuff like: 1) this is a really unique cabin, so I should give it a review 2) this is one of the first few weeks of the new MDR menus, so I should give them a review 3) lots of less-visited ports on this itinerary, so I should give them a review So it turns out I’m blogging. At least a little. Ha! Itinerary: depart Barbados Scarborough, Tobago Port of Spain, Trinidad St. George’s, Grenada Kingstown, St. Vincent Roseau, Dominica Castries, St. Lucia return to Barbados This won’t be super live, especially because we’re already on Day 3, but I’ll see what I can do!

Welcome to the boards! They are coolers.

Welcome to the boards! There are bus and train options (use the rome2rio website) that run between 2 and 3 hours transit time and cost $45-$60 per person. You can get a towncar, which only takes an hour, but costs $300-$350 for up to 4 people. You should be able to make a 1p flight, but if you're taking the bus you will need to get right off the ship first thing.