Kelly asked the other day what it felt like being on the ship...
...basically you could feel it moving and when the sea was choppy you could feel it moving a whole lot more. There were quite a few judders too and the staff would joke "it was just a whale"!
Because the ship was huge it want rocking or anything like that, but you could definitely feel it moving (even when lying in bed!).
I dont think that the ship would have enough things to do if we were on a trans atlantic crossing, and I think if we had more than one day at sea at a time it would have done my head in.
The fine dining food was nice and there was always three or four choices - they even had a menu choice with a meal consisting of no more than 800 calories (if you were trying to be good). LOL I purposely didnt go for the healthy option ;o). The restaurant even had different themes some of the nights too. I fully expected to waiting staff to be dressed up in different uniforms, but they werent!
The all you can eat buffet on the other hand had the same food every night and they would change the pasta shapes in the pasta salad to make the uninitiated think that they were eating something different, they did also have most of the food from the fine dining restaurant too. LOL James was put out that I made him "dress nice" when he could easily have had his fillet mignon by the bucket load while wearing his sweat pants.
Talking about James he found an ingenious way of maximising his eating...
...he would go make me go with him to the all you can eat place when it opened at 6.30 (I would sit there reading the next days activities) while he would eat some food, then go back to our cabin at 7.00 to get dressed for dinner, have our dinner in the fine dining place, then if he finished early enough he would try and go back to the all you can eat place until it closed at 9pm.
James was also worried that he thought that the waiting staff were watching him, so he would regularly swap tables (and even eating style) one day he even decided that if we swapped fleeces then he wouldnt look like he was eating so much. I was waiting for him to want to swap clothes completely ;o).
He also found a cafe bar that he could eat some more when the all you can eat place was closed, he would even make me go up to get him more food as he didnt want the staff to think that he was being really greedy.
LOL he even heard that the staff had their own all you can eat buffet, and I swear that he would have sneaked in there if he could have found where it was.
I liked the fact that we got to go to some different places that we would never have seen otherwise, it was just a shame that we were never anywhere long enough to orientate ourselves with our surroundings.
The cruise has definitely made us appreciate our city breaks more...
...would we go back on another cruise? Possibly in a few years time, and only if I booked the non cruise bits (ie getting to/from the hotel from/to the airport and most definitely organising leaving the dock) ourselves.
Showing posts with label new england & canada cruise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new england & canada cruise. Show all posts
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Sunday, 14 November 2010
coming home
We went down to dinner armed with our pre paid gratuity vouchers, what got me was that in the blurb with the vouchers it said that you can add some cash too if you have found that the service was excellent - surely the point of pre paying was that you didnt have to add more money to their tips! Ok we did buy our waiters a little present each too of a watch set - they were reduced from $80 down to $20 - and I wrapped them up in napkins from the all you can eat cafe (for that touch of added class ;o)).
We had to have our suitcases packed and left outside our stateroom by midnight at the latest (so the luggage could be sorted and ready for you to collect after leaving the ship), so after having our meal we packed up our suitcases.
The combination of change in transatlantic travel allowances (we were allowed two checked in bags each but now were only allowed one each), and all of the clothes that we had to pack for the cruise meant that we both had trouble shutting our cases. Royal Caribbeans version of casual is not the same as ours!
We didnt even have room to put our booze in the suitcases!
When we came back from having our final holiday cocktails we found a note under our door saying that they would be coming into our stateroom at 8.30 am to carry out maintenance on our balcony. We decided to make sure that we would have our hand luggage packed and take it with us when we went down to breakfast.
The next morning we got up had a shower each and packed up our hand luggage, mine was ok as all it had in it was money and essential stuff like that, James' on the other had weighed an absolute ton...
...in the library on the ship they had a book exchange shelf, and every day he would go down there and would see what he could cadge, he had a collection of around 10 (he says there were 10 but I think it was more than that) books by our last day (all paper backs) and he saw what he could fit in his ruck sack (he managed to fit them all in there).
We went up to breakfast (I always want to say down to breakfast but the buffet place was on deck 11) with our bags...
...I had decided the night before that I wanted to recreate Elvis' fools gold sandwich, we saw some of the tables had napkins already on them with the cutlery inside, we went to sit down on one table and this lady came running over with an overflowing plate of food because we were about to take her table! She should have placed her jacket on her chair (as per the international rule of "savesees") to show that that table had been taken.
Anyhow I went around the different stations collecting the different components for my sandwich...
toast check; individual tub of peanut butter check; pile of bacon check; banana - I couldnt find any bananas! What was I going to do? I told James that I couldnt find any bananas (I even had another look around the whole place just in case they had magically appeared but no) he couldnt find any either and even asked one of the waiters where the bananas were - and he said that they had ran out - HOW CAN THEY RUN OUT OF BANANAS?
I wasnt going to let a small technicality going to ruin my unhealthy breakfast so I substituted the banana for canned peaches - I think The King would have approved - which is more than I can say for my Mum - she would have been horrified ;o). The sandwich itself worked but my tummy really hurt afterwards!
I even got a couple of goodbye hugs, one from our stateroom attendant and one from a waitress who called me her favourite English lady (I felt really bad that I didnt have any spare vouchers to tip her - ok not bad enough to part with any hard cash but you know what I mean).
After breakfast we made our way down to the waiting place for disembarking the ship (as I said we were one of the first groups to leave the ship), so we go in there and the place is packed - we find a couple of seats at the back and sit down. A few minutes later we hear some mumbling but cant make out what the guy is saying, so I walk down the front and then he calls out our number, so I run back to where James is to let him know that we can go and we make our way off of the ship (we use the stairs as all of the old dears are waiting for the elevators), we get off of the ship, find our suitcases as per our colour coded area and then go through immigration, I get through ok and James gets the usual looking at him and then his passport several times (he lost 10 stone/140 pounds), before they decide that it is him.
We find our coach get on there and are raring to go...
...only there is only one other couple on the coach - surely the other people will be arriving imminently...
...after half an hour James was getting impatient and asked the coach driver how long we were going to wait - and he says it could take another 2 hours for our fellow passengers to get off of the ship. At this point we were thinking "this cant be right surely they would have us all leaving the ship at the same time"...
...another half an hour went by and James asked to see the itinerary (by this time it was 10.45 am) and it said that we would arrive at the hotel by 11am, James then said to to the driver "look it says here that we arrive at the hotel at 11am" and he says "its just a guide we have to wait for the other passengers" that was like a red rag to a bull.
James then went off of the coach to ask a Royal Caribbean Rep why we are having to wait for the others passengers and why they are saying that we will be back at the hotel at 11am when we are nowhere near likely to get there by that time.
He went to talk to the rep, but a security guard grabbed him by the arm and asked him why he wanted to talk to the rep, he explained the situation and was told that she wont be able to help him.
So he was walking back and another rep came upto him to ask if he needed any help, and when he explained about "waiting on the coach etc" her whole expression changed and she walked off.
James then came back to the coach defeated...
...we were talking to the people who had fast tracked their getting off of the ship (they took their own luggage off of the ship thus eliminating having to wait for their luggage having to be offloaded in batches), and they said that this was the worst part of the cruise. I couldnt believe my ears - they were saying that this is what normally happens!
I suppose once you get past a certain age (retirement is my current guess) that you have so much free time that you really dont care about having to wait for other people for god knows how many hours. We are not at that age yet, and I dont think that we ever will!
Anyhow an hour later our fellow passengers start to emerge (at about 12.30 pm - an hour and a half after we were supposed to be back at the hotel) and get onto the coach and they were happily cooing about how well organised the disembarking the ship was, I on the other hand was seething!
We eventually get to the hotel, I rush off of the coach (whilst James collects our luggage) am second in line, I get served and I give them my name and saying that I am with the Royal Caribbean party and ask if there is anything waiting for me, I get told no! meanwhile my fellow passengers are handing over their vouchers (I told you they would appear again), and getting keycards to a dayroom! I then barge to the front of the queue and ask the other person on reception what "the other people are getting" and she says their dayrooms so I say "what about me I dont have a voucher" and she says "have you already got a room?" and already majorly p1ssed off I say "so how am I supposed to already have a room then?" she then swipes some cards and hands them over to me. I go to ask if they are for an individual room or a communal one and she cuts me off saying "the elevators are at the back".
I was extremely angry at this point and wanted to hand back the cards because I didnt want to stay there a minute longer - I said to her "I want to hand back the cards because I dont need the dayroom" and she just said "leave them there I cant help you at the moment because I am helping these people" In her defence there was a line of about 15 people behind me at that point, I had a good mind to take the keycards with me and to leave them at the airport!, but I didnt I just left them on the side.
I get out and find James just staring at the coach driver, so I ask him what he is doing and he says "I am thinking all of the things that I am going to do to him if I see him again"! I said to him that it wasnt his fault...
I then tell him that I dont want to hang about anymore and for us just to go straight to the airport (I was THAT angry), so we get on the shuttle bus expecting to have to catch the airtrain back to the terminal, LOL the shuttle driver could obviously tell how angry we were by taking us straight to the terminal.
We find the BA check in desk, and it says that it wont open until 3pm it was about 1.15pm at that point, so James went off to forage for the foodcourts (I think he could tell that I was in no mood to go looking), he found where they were and got my self a burrito, it was ok but difficult to eat with plastic cutlery. After eating my lunch I had a look in the only other shop before check in and treated myself to an NYPD t-shirt (oohh NYPD do podcasts - I will see about getting these next time I reload ;o)).
At about 2.30 we make our way back to the check in area James gets himself a coffee from Dunkin Donuts, I know that there was a Starbucks around from when we arrived, so I went off in search of it for my final pumpkin spice latte.
At about 2.50 a hard faced check in lady appears and calls us over because we were first in line, we hand over our passports and tell her that we would like an aisle seat and the one next to it (she eventually understands what we want after thinking that we wanted to aisle seats), she then asks us to put our suitcases on the scale, I put my one on and the scale starts flashing! Oh no my suitcase is 23.4kg/51lbs the limit is 23kg/50lbs I am barely a pound overweight, she just says that the weight limit is 23kg (I am sure if we had been rude then she would have charged us for excess baggage - I know that I would have), James put his suitcase on and it was 22kg - so his was just in weight.
So we go through passport control, we have to get our hand luggage scanned James takes out the tube of toothpaste and puts it in the little bag (for them to put through the scanner separately), James puts his bag through and we are aware that they are putting and then reversing and putting his bag through again...
...they then take his bag over to a side table and put on a pair of latex gloves to go through his ruck sack, meanwhile James had another carrier bag contains a toy rubber baseball bat and a ball in a blister pack, they go to grab that and I say "its just a childs toy" and they take that and my ruck sack over to the same side table and James says to them that we are together. They are then delving (with latex gloved hands) through James' ruck sack bypass the books and remove the cardboard box containing the bottle of crystal head vodka, they then say to him you cant take that onto the plane, and they are then delving into my bag and remove the bottle of rum, that we bought duty free on the ship. It never even crossed my teeny tiny little mind that sealed bottles of booze would fall into this category. The nice lady who scanned our bags asked if there was anyway that we could check the bottles of drink in another bag as excess luggage, we said no and that the price of the excess luggage would be too prohibitive. Someone was going to have a good night...
We were sitting in departures and the nice lady who scanned our bags came back with they toy baseball bat and ball and said that we could take that on board after all.
We get on our flight on time and because of a good tailwind, we would have arrived back at Heathrow just before 6am, but because of local regulations we had to circle overhead for 10 minutes.
We landed ok, went to immigration and because James still has a bog standard passport he joined the line to go through and actually speak to an immigration person, just before we got to that point I saw a sign for e-passports, because I have one of these I asked the lady (who was there if you needed any help) if I could go through the e-passport thing and she looked at my passport and said yes. So I walked up there asked the bloke (on hand to help) if I should take of my glasses and he said yes...
...so its my turn I stand on the little yellow footprints, place my passport in the scanner take off my glasses and in an instant it came (luckily it was in big enough writing that I could see without my glasses on) to remove my passport and the gates opened, and I was through...
I waved at James who was still waiting to go through and I made my way to the luggage carousel to wait for our luggage. About 5 minutes later James turned up and said that he watched me go through the iris scanner and my face came up instantly - there was one guy there who the scanner couldnt recognise! I guess mine came up so quickly because it is a fairly recent photo - who knows what it will be like in a few years!
Our luggage turned up and we went to the hotel carpark, find the exit put our card in teh machine and it says "ticket has expired" so I go back to the hotel reception explain what happened and got another card...
...we got home and I flopped into bed while James was good and did his unpacking, I finally faced doing mine a few days later...
We had to have our suitcases packed and left outside our stateroom by midnight at the latest (so the luggage could be sorted and ready for you to collect after leaving the ship), so after having our meal we packed up our suitcases.
The combination of change in transatlantic travel allowances (we were allowed two checked in bags each but now were only allowed one each), and all of the clothes that we had to pack for the cruise meant that we both had trouble shutting our cases. Royal Caribbeans version of casual is not the same as ours!
We didnt even have room to put our booze in the suitcases!
When we came back from having our final holiday cocktails we found a note under our door saying that they would be coming into our stateroom at 8.30 am to carry out maintenance on our balcony. We decided to make sure that we would have our hand luggage packed and take it with us when we went down to breakfast.
The next morning we got up had a shower each and packed up our hand luggage, mine was ok as all it had in it was money and essential stuff like that, James' on the other had weighed an absolute ton...
...in the library on the ship they had a book exchange shelf, and every day he would go down there and would see what he could cadge, he had a collection of around 10 (he says there were 10 but I think it was more than that) books by our last day (all paper backs) and he saw what he could fit in his ruck sack (he managed to fit them all in there).
We went up to breakfast (I always want to say down to breakfast but the buffet place was on deck 11) with our bags...
...I had decided the night before that I wanted to recreate Elvis' fools gold sandwich, we saw some of the tables had napkins already on them with the cutlery inside, we went to sit down on one table and this lady came running over with an overflowing plate of food because we were about to take her table! She should have placed her jacket on her chair (as per the international rule of "savesees") to show that that table had been taken.
Anyhow I went around the different stations collecting the different components for my sandwich...
toast check; individual tub of peanut butter check; pile of bacon check; banana - I couldnt find any bananas! What was I going to do? I told James that I couldnt find any bananas (I even had another look around the whole place just in case they had magically appeared but no) he couldnt find any either and even asked one of the waiters where the bananas were - and he said that they had ran out - HOW CAN THEY RUN OUT OF BANANAS?
I wasnt going to let a small technicality going to ruin my unhealthy breakfast so I substituted the banana for canned peaches - I think The King would have approved - which is more than I can say for my Mum - she would have been horrified ;o). The sandwich itself worked but my tummy really hurt afterwards!
I even got a couple of goodbye hugs, one from our stateroom attendant and one from a waitress who called me her favourite English lady (I felt really bad that I didnt have any spare vouchers to tip her - ok not bad enough to part with any hard cash but you know what I mean).
After breakfast we made our way down to the waiting place for disembarking the ship (as I said we were one of the first groups to leave the ship), so we go in there and the place is packed - we find a couple of seats at the back and sit down. A few minutes later we hear some mumbling but cant make out what the guy is saying, so I walk down the front and then he calls out our number, so I run back to where James is to let him know that we can go and we make our way off of the ship (we use the stairs as all of the old dears are waiting for the elevators), we get off of the ship, find our suitcases as per our colour coded area and then go through immigration, I get through ok and James gets the usual looking at him and then his passport several times (he lost 10 stone/140 pounds), before they decide that it is him.
We find our coach get on there and are raring to go...
...only there is only one other couple on the coach - surely the other people will be arriving imminently...
...after half an hour James was getting impatient and asked the coach driver how long we were going to wait - and he says it could take another 2 hours for our fellow passengers to get off of the ship. At this point we were thinking "this cant be right surely they would have us all leaving the ship at the same time"...
...another half an hour went by and James asked to see the itinerary (by this time it was 10.45 am) and it said that we would arrive at the hotel by 11am, James then said to to the driver "look it says here that we arrive at the hotel at 11am" and he says "its just a guide we have to wait for the other passengers" that was like a red rag to a bull.
James then went off of the coach to ask a Royal Caribbean Rep why we are having to wait for the others passengers and why they are saying that we will be back at the hotel at 11am when we are nowhere near likely to get there by that time.
He went to talk to the rep, but a security guard grabbed him by the arm and asked him why he wanted to talk to the rep, he explained the situation and was told that she wont be able to help him.
So he was walking back and another rep came upto him to ask if he needed any help, and when he explained about "waiting on the coach etc" her whole expression changed and she walked off.
James then came back to the coach defeated...
...we were talking to the people who had fast tracked their getting off of the ship (they took their own luggage off of the ship thus eliminating having to wait for their luggage having to be offloaded in batches), and they said that this was the worst part of the cruise. I couldnt believe my ears - they were saying that this is what normally happens!
I suppose once you get past a certain age (retirement is my current guess) that you have so much free time that you really dont care about having to wait for other people for god knows how many hours. We are not at that age yet, and I dont think that we ever will!
Anyhow an hour later our fellow passengers start to emerge (at about 12.30 pm - an hour and a half after we were supposed to be back at the hotel) and get onto the coach and they were happily cooing about how well organised the disembarking the ship was, I on the other hand was seething!
We eventually get to the hotel, I rush off of the coach (whilst James collects our luggage) am second in line, I get served and I give them my name and saying that I am with the Royal Caribbean party and ask if there is anything waiting for me, I get told no! meanwhile my fellow passengers are handing over their vouchers (I told you they would appear again), and getting keycards to a dayroom! I then barge to the front of the queue and ask the other person on reception what "the other people are getting" and she says their dayrooms so I say "what about me I dont have a voucher" and she says "have you already got a room?" and already majorly p1ssed off I say "so how am I supposed to already have a room then?" she then swipes some cards and hands them over to me. I go to ask if they are for an individual room or a communal one and she cuts me off saying "the elevators are at the back".
I was extremely angry at this point and wanted to hand back the cards because I didnt want to stay there a minute longer - I said to her "I want to hand back the cards because I dont need the dayroom" and she just said "leave them there I cant help you at the moment because I am helping these people" In her defence there was a line of about 15 people behind me at that point, I had a good mind to take the keycards with me and to leave them at the airport!, but I didnt I just left them on the side.
I get out and find James just staring at the coach driver, so I ask him what he is doing and he says "I am thinking all of the things that I am going to do to him if I see him again"! I said to him that it wasnt his fault...
I then tell him that I dont want to hang about anymore and for us just to go straight to the airport (I was THAT angry), so we get on the shuttle bus expecting to have to catch the airtrain back to the terminal, LOL the shuttle driver could obviously tell how angry we were by taking us straight to the terminal.
We find the BA check in desk, and it says that it wont open until 3pm it was about 1.15pm at that point, so James went off to forage for the foodcourts (I think he could tell that I was in no mood to go looking), he found where they were and got my self a burrito, it was ok but difficult to eat with plastic cutlery. After eating my lunch I had a look in the only other shop before check in and treated myself to an NYPD t-shirt (oohh NYPD do podcasts - I will see about getting these next time I reload ;o)).
At about 2.30 we make our way back to the check in area James gets himself a coffee from Dunkin Donuts, I know that there was a Starbucks around from when we arrived, so I went off in search of it for my final pumpkin spice latte.
At about 2.50 a hard faced check in lady appears and calls us over because we were first in line, we hand over our passports and tell her that we would like an aisle seat and the one next to it (she eventually understands what we want after thinking that we wanted to aisle seats), she then asks us to put our suitcases on the scale, I put my one on and the scale starts flashing! Oh no my suitcase is 23.4kg/51lbs the limit is 23kg/50lbs I am barely a pound overweight, she just says that the weight limit is 23kg (I am sure if we had been rude then she would have charged us for excess baggage - I know that I would have), James put his suitcase on and it was 22kg - so his was just in weight.
So we go through passport control, we have to get our hand luggage scanned James takes out the tube of toothpaste and puts it in the little bag (for them to put through the scanner separately), James puts his bag through and we are aware that they are putting and then reversing and putting his bag through again...
...they then take his bag over to a side table and put on a pair of latex gloves to go through his ruck sack, meanwhile James had another carrier bag contains a toy rubber baseball bat and a ball in a blister pack, they go to grab that and I say "its just a childs toy" and they take that and my ruck sack over to the same side table and James says to them that we are together. They are then delving (with latex gloved hands) through James' ruck sack bypass the books and remove the cardboard box containing the bottle of crystal head vodka, they then say to him you cant take that onto the plane, and they are then delving into my bag and remove the bottle of rum, that we bought duty free on the ship. It never even crossed my teeny tiny little mind that sealed bottles of booze would fall into this category. The nice lady who scanned our bags asked if there was anyway that we could check the bottles of drink in another bag as excess luggage, we said no and that the price of the excess luggage would be too prohibitive. Someone was going to have a good night...
We were sitting in departures and the nice lady who scanned our bags came back with they toy baseball bat and ball and said that we could take that on board after all.
We get on our flight on time and because of a good tailwind, we would have arrived back at Heathrow just before 6am, but because of local regulations we had to circle overhead for 10 minutes.
We landed ok, went to immigration and because James still has a bog standard passport he joined the line to go through and actually speak to an immigration person, just before we got to that point I saw a sign for e-passports, because I have one of these I asked the lady (who was there if you needed any help) if I could go through the e-passport thing and she looked at my passport and said yes. So I walked up there asked the bloke (on hand to help) if I should take of my glasses and he said yes...
...so its my turn I stand on the little yellow footprints, place my passport in the scanner take off my glasses and in an instant it came (luckily it was in big enough writing that I could see without my glasses on) to remove my passport and the gates opened, and I was through...
I waved at James who was still waiting to go through and I made my way to the luggage carousel to wait for our luggage. About 5 minutes later James turned up and said that he watched me go through the iris scanner and my face came up instantly - there was one guy there who the scanner couldnt recognise! I guess mine came up so quickly because it is a fairly recent photo - who knows what it will be like in a few years!
Our luggage turned up and we went to the hotel carpark, find the exit put our card in teh machine and it says "ticket has expired" so I go back to the hotel reception explain what happened and got another card...
...we got home and I flopped into bed while James was good and did his unpacking, I finally faced doing mine a few days later...
Sunday, 7 November 2010
days seven ate nine
We were at sea the next day, and the only thing I had booked that day was the ice show (that I had queued up for for over half an hour to get the tickets on our first day).
James had booked himself a spa treatment which was a facial and a shave (which was due to finish five minutes before the start of the show)...
That morning we had gone to bingo again...
...and again we didnt win anything! Well apart from $5.00 on the pull tabs that we were given when we bought our tickets - we actually went posher than the paper tickets by buying a tracker that actually plays the cards for you - all you have to do is yell bingo when you win!
James spa treatment was booked for 1.30, so we went and had lunch and then James went up for hisfacial shave. I meantime went down to the casino to cash in the win and promptly spent another $20 too on the Wheel of Fortune Machine, and no I didnt win a sausage! And yes I know that the only true winners are ever the casino!
Anyway I made my way down to where the ice show was, got an aisle seat and when next to it so James could easily find me when he came down. I put my fleece on one of the seats to save it.
A Norwegian party were sitting behind me and one of the ladies asked if she could sit in the seat next to me, I said no it was for someone who had just popped out to the toilets and that he would be back soon. It was still 10 minutes before the show was about to start and there were spare seats around so I didnt feel too bad!
Just then an announcement comes over the tannoy saying "no saving of seats" and I felt someone prod me in the back (I turned around expecting it to be James) and it was the Norwegian bloke saying "did you hear that no saving of seats" I just turned around again hoping that James would be back soon.
The show started and James still hadnt turned up, I kept getting text messages from him saying that he was on his way...
The show itself was really good, but I dont think that James would have enjoyed it.
He still hadnt turned up by the end of the show and afterwards the Norwegian bloke said "thanks for not allowing my wife to sit next to you that was very considerate of you" I thought to myself blooming cheek I queued up half an hour for these tickets and if I want to save a seat then I will!
Anyhow not wanting anymore aggro I waited for him to leave before I went back to our cabin, when I got back there I found a note saying that he couldnt get into the show (because there was lots of people standing at the back and were blocking the aisles :o().
I easily found him in the buffet and he looked all shaved...
...when I asked if they had used a cut-throat he said he didnt know because she had covered his eyes up - LOL I guess it was so that he couldnt see all the faces that she was pulling while trying to navigate around his mis-shaped face ;o).
That night we had our second formal night, I knew that I had put on loads of weight because the zipper on the dress that I had bought didnt go up half as easily as it had in the store.
FYI I still havent dared weigh myself yet!
The next morning we were in Boston, and because we were returning from Canada, all non US citizens had to report for immigration (they didnt make us do this when we went to Canada - I guess that there were far too many Americans on board and would have been a complete nightmare).
They said that the immigration people would turn up at around 7am so we got down at 6.30 and there was already a queue of 20 people. More people were joining the queue behind us apart from a load of Germans who decided to jump in the queue where one of their party was saving "their" place. There was a huge South African guy who took exception to this and was yelling out to all who dared jump in the queue in front of him "go to the back of the queue you are not getting in front of me" A couple of people from the ship did come down to see what the commotion was about and tried to fob us off by saying that they had asked to go through immigration early because they had an early tour.
A couple of people did listen to him and go to the back of the queue - but largely Royal Caribbean did nothing to stop the queue jumping - and they werent prepared to do anything about it either!
James even made a complaint at customer relations (after going through immigration) about it too but the guy who he spoke to didnt really understand what he was saying, and wasnt really interested either so he gave up.
We finally got off of the ship and were waiting for the start of our culinary walking tour, we had a walk out of the terminal (as we had an hour to kill) but couldnt really see anywhere that we could walk to.
We got on the trolley bus that was taking us into Boston for the start of the tour. My favourite stop had to be Marias Pastry Shop as we got to try little samples of all of her pastries, they were delicious ;o). We tried samples in the other shops (there was a coffee shop, greengrocer, cheese shop and an off license where we got to try some Limoncello) we went to but nothing else was as nice as those. From the off license James bought a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka as a present for his brother.
We finished the walking tour outside Quincy Market, where I got to eat a totally unhealthy corn dog - incidentally they didnt serve these on the ship at all which I was totally gutted about.
We went to have a look around the shops just after I had finished my lunch and the heavens opened - the rain didnt seem like it was going to stop anytime soon - so we decided to call it a day by about 2.30 pm (the ship wasnt doe to leave until 5.30).
We got back to the ship and half expected them to confiscate the vodka (when they x-rayed our bags) as it was illicit booze (but they didnt seem to care by that point).
Our final day was another at sea day, but we decided to try our final hand at bingo (both sessions)...
...as the grand prize still hadnt been won in the morning -James thought it was rigged so it would have to go to a final session - the prize was $3000 (we wanted some of that ;o)).
There were several British people working on the cruise and one of them happened to be selling the tickets for the final mega big prize bingo, I decided to have a bit of fun with her...
...when I got to the front of the queue I asked for an "electronic doobrie" - she said to me "did you say doobrie" and I said "yes, I thought I would give you some Britishness ;o)", then she asked where we were from and I said Essex, and she was from Essex too - unfortunately it still didnt help us win the big prize - but it did bring a smile to her face ;o)
On our last day we were given the gratuities that we had pre-paid - I was expecting a book of ten vouchers that you could hand out to people who you wanted to tip - but no we were given four vouchers each - one for thecleaner stateroom attendant, one for the head waiter (we didnt know who on earth that was) one for the waiter and the final one for the assistant waiter, so we gave the stateroom attendant her ones and divided the other six (giving three each) to the waiter and assistant waiter (after all they did keep plying James with extra starters) ;o).
When we were given the vouchers we were also given our labels together with instructions for disembarkation - we were astounded that we were in one of the first groups to be able to leave the ship ;o).
Hooray this meant that we would be able to get any last minute shopping at the Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall before making our way back to the airport...
to be continued...
James had booked himself a spa treatment which was a facial and a shave (which was due to finish five minutes before the start of the show)...
That morning we had gone to bingo again...
...and again we didnt win anything! Well apart from $5.00 on the pull tabs that we were given when we bought our tickets - we actually went posher than the paper tickets by buying a tracker that actually plays the cards for you - all you have to do is yell bingo when you win!
James spa treatment was booked for 1.30, so we went and had lunch and then James went up for his
Anyway I made my way down to where the ice show was, got an aisle seat and when next to it so James could easily find me when he came down. I put my fleece on one of the seats to save it.
A Norwegian party were sitting behind me and one of the ladies asked if she could sit in the seat next to me, I said no it was for someone who had just popped out to the toilets and that he would be back soon. It was still 10 minutes before the show was about to start and there were spare seats around so I didnt feel too bad!
Just then an announcement comes over the tannoy saying "no saving of seats" and I felt someone prod me in the back (I turned around expecting it to be James) and it was the Norwegian bloke saying "did you hear that no saving of seats" I just turned around again hoping that James would be back soon.
The show started and James still hadnt turned up, I kept getting text messages from him saying that he was on his way...
The show itself was really good, but I dont think that James would have enjoyed it.
He still hadnt turned up by the end of the show and afterwards the Norwegian bloke said "thanks for not allowing my wife to sit next to you that was very considerate of you" I thought to myself blooming cheek I queued up half an hour for these tickets and if I want to save a seat then I will!
Anyhow not wanting anymore aggro I waited for him to leave before I went back to our cabin, when I got back there I found a note saying that he couldnt get into the show (because there was lots of people standing at the back and were blocking the aisles :o().
I easily found him in the buffet and he looked all shaved...
...when I asked if they had used a cut-throat he said he didnt know because she had covered his eyes up - LOL I guess it was so that he couldnt see all the faces that she was pulling while trying to navigate around his mis-shaped face ;o).
That night we had our second formal night, I knew that I had put on loads of weight because the zipper on the dress that I had bought didnt go up half as easily as it had in the store.
FYI I still havent dared weigh myself yet!
The next morning we were in Boston, and because we were returning from Canada, all non US citizens had to report for immigration (they didnt make us do this when we went to Canada - I guess that there were far too many Americans on board and would have been a complete nightmare).
They said that the immigration people would turn up at around 7am so we got down at 6.30 and there was already a queue of 20 people. More people were joining the queue behind us apart from a load of Germans who decided to jump in the queue where one of their party was saving "their" place. There was a huge South African guy who took exception to this and was yelling out to all who dared jump in the queue in front of him "go to the back of the queue you are not getting in front of me" A couple of people from the ship did come down to see what the commotion was about and tried to fob us off by saying that they had asked to go through immigration early because they had an early tour.
A couple of people did listen to him and go to the back of the queue - but largely Royal Caribbean did nothing to stop the queue jumping - and they werent prepared to do anything about it either!
James even made a complaint at customer relations (after going through immigration) about it too but the guy who he spoke to didnt really understand what he was saying, and wasnt really interested either so he gave up.
We finally got off of the ship and were waiting for the start of our culinary walking tour, we had a walk out of the terminal (as we had an hour to kill) but couldnt really see anywhere that we could walk to.
We got on the trolley bus that was taking us into Boston for the start of the tour. My favourite stop had to be Marias Pastry Shop as we got to try little samples of all of her pastries, they were delicious ;o). We tried samples in the other shops (there was a coffee shop, greengrocer, cheese shop and an off license where we got to try some Limoncello) we went to but nothing else was as nice as those. From the off license James bought a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka as a present for his brother.
We finished the walking tour outside Quincy Market, where I got to eat a totally unhealthy corn dog - incidentally they didnt serve these on the ship at all which I was totally gutted about.
We went to have a look around the shops just after I had finished my lunch and the heavens opened - the rain didnt seem like it was going to stop anytime soon - so we decided to call it a day by about 2.30 pm (the ship wasnt doe to leave until 5.30).
We got back to the ship and half expected them to confiscate the vodka (when they x-rayed our bags) as it was illicit booze (but they didnt seem to care by that point).
Our final day was another at sea day, but we decided to try our final hand at bingo (both sessions)...
...as the grand prize still hadnt been won in the morning -James thought it was rigged so it would have to go to a final session - the prize was $3000 (we wanted some of that ;o)).
There were several British people working on the cruise and one of them happened to be selling the tickets for the final mega big prize bingo, I decided to have a bit of fun with her...
...when I got to the front of the queue I asked for an "electronic doobrie" - she said to me "did you say doobrie" and I said "yes, I thought I would give you some Britishness ;o)", then she asked where we were from and I said Essex, and she was from Essex too - unfortunately it still didnt help us win the big prize - but it did bring a smile to her face ;o)
On our last day we were given the gratuities that we had pre-paid - I was expecting a book of ten vouchers that you could hand out to people who you wanted to tip - but no we were given four vouchers each - one for the
When we were given the vouchers we were also given our labels together with instructions for disembarkation - we were astounded that we were in one of the first groups to be able to leave the ship ;o).
Hooray this meant that we would be able to get any last minute shopping at the Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall before making our way back to the airport...
to be continued...
Sunday, 31 October 2010
days 4, 5 & 6
We got back onto the ship and they promptly scanned our bags for contraband, they must have decided that our bags full of candy were acceptable ;o).
When were were due to leave port I stood on our balcony poised with camera in hand hoping to catch onvideo motion picture our departure, alas we left port slower than an old lady in a post office queue armed with photos of her grandchildren and a full thermos!
That evening at dinner we chose our starters and main courses, and when they bought them up they had an extra starter which they asked James if he would like - James being some one who was eating his pre-dinner, dinner then post dinner (if time permitted) wasnt likely to refuse more food.
The next day we went to Bar Harbor in Maine, we had to catch the tender boat to the mainland, the boats they used were ones used for Whale watching trips, so it was a lot more comfortable than I was expecting. One of the things that they said (that I thought was unfair to the oldies - yes I do have a heart sometimes ;o)) was that if you had a mobility cart then you couldnt use the tender boat! You will be pleased to know that the lady with her oxygen tank made it onto the tender boat - I would have hated for her to miss out on a technicality - provided she didnt get in my way of course ;o).
We made it on shore (after waiting for the boat to fill up), we fought our way through all of the old people up the hill to where the shops were, and believe it or not we found a place selling lobster ice-cream! We had to of course try it. While it was still frozen it didnt taste fishy at all - once it had started defrosting you could definitely get the fishy taste! Im super glad that we tried it but dont think that I would buy it on a regular basis.
We didnt have anything booked for this day and the trolley tour (we would have done this had there been any availability left) was sold out!
We did amble up and down Main Street which was interesting ;o) We had lunch at Rupununi, James got to try a Maine lobster roll. We both also tried a blueberry wheat beer.
Following the extra starter that James got the previous night our waiter actually asked him if he would like to try the other (recommended) starter (LOL it must have been his half starved look ;o)).
The next day saw us go to Saint John New Brunswick, again we didnt have anything booked for here, and made our way to the shopping malls (these were linked by covered walkways) wowzers it must get cold there in Winter for them to have those!
We decided to do a bus tour and one of the stops off of it was at the reversing falls, blimey the water certainly moved quickly!
The driver even told us about two Saint John specialities...
...the butter tart and dulse, LOL I had the butter tart and I allowed James to have the dulse (I definitely got the better deal ;o)).
The next day was our final Canadian stop Halifax Nova Scotia, we went to the immigration museum we didnt even realise that it was the Ellis Island of Canada!
After finishing the immigration museum tour we just had time for a quick lunch (we bought a salad each from a supermarket) before our tour on the Titanic the continuing mystique (well something like that anyway).
We went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic to see their Titanic exhibit, we even got to see a replica deck chair ;o).
We got taken to the grave yard where the Titanic bodies (for some reason I always want to say survivors but they didnt survive!) were buried. There was another tour group from our ship there too as I recognised some of the people.
The traffic was really bad that day and all the way back to the ship our tour guide kept on telling us that we would get back to the ship on time...
...I wasnt too worried as this was an excursion set up by Royal Caribbean itself then they would (hopefully) either wait for us or the tour company would have had to cover any costs at getting us back to the ship (ooohhh Im so heartless ;o))
Luckily we made it back by the skin of our teeth...
...I dont recall seeing the people from the other group after (only kidding) ;o)
to be continued...
When were were due to leave port I stood on our balcony poised with camera in hand hoping to catch on
That evening at dinner we chose our starters and main courses, and when they bought them up they had an extra starter which they asked James if he would like - James being some one who was eating his pre-dinner, dinner then post dinner (if time permitted) wasnt likely to refuse more food.
The next day we went to Bar Harbor in Maine, we had to catch the tender boat to the mainland, the boats they used were ones used for Whale watching trips, so it was a lot more comfortable than I was expecting. One of the things that they said (that I thought was unfair to the oldies - yes I do have a heart sometimes ;o)) was that if you had a mobility cart then you couldnt use the tender boat! You will be pleased to know that the lady with her oxygen tank made it onto the tender boat - I would have hated for her to miss out on a technicality - provided she didnt get in my way of course ;o).
We made it on shore (after waiting for the boat to fill up), we fought our way through all of the old people up the hill to where the shops were, and believe it or not we found a place selling lobster ice-cream! We had to of course try it. While it was still frozen it didnt taste fishy at all - once it had started defrosting you could definitely get the fishy taste! Im super glad that we tried it but dont think that I would buy it on a regular basis.
We didnt have anything booked for this day and the trolley tour (we would have done this had there been any availability left) was sold out!
We did amble up and down Main Street which was interesting ;o) We had lunch at Rupununi, James got to try a Maine lobster roll. We both also tried a blueberry wheat beer.
Following the extra starter that James got the previous night our waiter actually asked him if he would like to try the other (recommended) starter (LOL it must have been his half starved look ;o)).
The next day saw us go to Saint John New Brunswick, again we didnt have anything booked for here, and made our way to the shopping malls (these were linked by covered walkways) wowzers it must get cold there in Winter for them to have those!
We decided to do a bus tour and one of the stops off of it was at the reversing falls, blimey the water certainly moved quickly!
The driver even told us about two Saint John specialities...
...the butter tart and dulse, LOL I had the butter tart and I allowed James to have the dulse (I definitely got the better deal ;o)).
The next day was our final Canadian stop Halifax Nova Scotia, we went to the immigration museum we didnt even realise that it was the Ellis Island of Canada!
After finishing the immigration museum tour we just had time for a quick lunch (we bought a salad each from a supermarket) before our tour on the Titanic the continuing mystique (well something like that anyway).
We went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic to see their Titanic exhibit, we even got to see a replica deck chair ;o).
We got taken to the grave yard where the Titanic bodies (for some reason I always want to say survivors but they didnt survive!) were buried. There was another tour group from our ship there too as I recognised some of the people.
The traffic was really bad that day and all the way back to the ship our tour guide kept on telling us that we would get back to the ship on time...
...I wasnt too worried as this was an excursion set up by Royal Caribbean itself then they would (hopefully) either wait for us or the tour company would have had to cover any costs at getting us back to the ship (ooohhh Im so heartless ;o))
Luckily we made it back by the skin of our teeth...
...I dont recall seeing the people from the other group after (only kidding) ;o)
to be continued...
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Days one two and three
We walk onto the ship, and the first thing they tell us is that our cabins staterooms wont be ready until 1.30 pm so to head for the Windjammer all you can eat buffet on deck 11, we must have walked on there at about 12.30...
...we walk into the lift, we go straight to deck 11 (like the good people we are), and some people (the ones who think that the staterooms not being ready is just a ruse) press the floors for their rooms...
...guess what? They are greeted by fellow people (who also didnt believe that they were included) saying we cant get into our room! And the other people still decided to try their rooms for themselves!
We walk into the buffet area and it was rammed - we managed to find a table for two and James went up to get his first plate of food, then I went up and I got chicken, beef rice pork stew and a corn on the cob (all on one plate) ;o)...
...not wanting to miss out on anything yummy I then had a hot dog, onions and french fries.
And if that wasnt bad enough I then had some dessert!
Im pleased to say that I didnt carry on eating like this - because I really would have had to be rolled off of the ship when we finally docked!
Anyhow 1.30 comes and they announce that our staterooms are now ready, so we get our backpacks and fleeces and find our cabin, and it looks good a fairly decent sized room (considering we are on a ship and I heard that everything is tiny) and a balcony with two seats and a table.
We didnt have our luggage as it was taken when we first arrived at the ship to be scanned and were told that all luggage will be back with their owners by midnight!
When we first came onto the ship we were given a leaflet on the activities for that day...
...at 5pm (the exact time that the ship was leaving the dock) was when the tickets were available for the ice show - so I go down to where the tickets are being given out at at 4.55 and the queue snaked back on itself!
So I joined the queue and there was a woman in front of me who insisted on talking to every person that she was opposite to in the queue whether they were behind us or in front of us...
...half an hour later I finally get to get my tickets and there were only a few shows left. I asked which ones were for the days that we were at sea and they pointed to the ones on day 8, so I got two tickets for the 2.30 show (I was well pleased with myself).
Our luggage finally arrived at 6.30 (so in plenty of time for us to get dressed for dinner).
When we booked the cruise it asked if for dinner you wanted to be sat alone or with other people (as you are never sure who you will be sat with I quickly said sat alone), so I was slightly nervous when we went for dinner just in case they said "sorry you have to be sat in a group", when we walked into the dining room I was pleased to see that there were tables for two people, the only problem was that we were sat in the walkway!
The dinner itself was really nice, there were several choices including "specials" and even had "low calorie" dishes as well - so if you wanted to be good (I didnt go for the low calorie options), you could eat a meal for less than 800 calories.
The next day we saw that they were having a bingo session, so we decided to have a go as it might be something fun to do...
I had heard that bingo games are normally really fast and was worried that we wouldnt be able to keep up, then I thought to myself "hang on - this is a cruise ship so they are going to be catered to the old dears" I shouldnt have worried as the bingo was slow - some may even say that it was p-a-i-n-f-u-l-l-y s-l-o-w ;o)
That evening we had the Captain reception (this was our first formal night) I wished that I had used my full ass when trying to diet as I had real trouble getting into one of my dresses (it was one of the ones that I bought back in April), still thank goodness for the cardigan I bought also ;o). There was even a photographer to capture the first formal night and we bought a couple of the photos ;o).
We managed to change our table too (and got a far better spot by the window)
The menu as supposedly chosen by the captain was more upmarket than the usual everyday menu. James was quite vocal about the fact that fishfingers didnt appear in any shape or form, and if they were good enough for Captain Birdseye then they should be good enough for our captain!
It was weird waking up in a new port, we opened the curtain and saw that we had already docked in Portland Maine, we got off of the ship and because it was quite early 8am I think, none of the shops were open. We did find a small cafe that was open and got to try their pumpkin pie latte ;o).
We then made our way back to the ship as we had pre booked a shopping trip to Freeport, we had three hours of shopping but that was not nearly long enough for us...
We did find a Friendlys restaurant to have lunch in...
...my favourite part of the lunch was the sweet cinnamon roll sundae - I wish that I hadnt bothered with the burger and fries and just had two sundaes instead ;o)
We then returned back and managed to get on the Portland Trolley Tour, they werent sure if they could fit us on there, so it was touch and go...
...luckily (two minutes before the tour was due to start), they then decided that we could fit on the tour - we were stuck behind a group of ladies from Massachusetts who were on a girls weekend! We heard more about what they were getting upto than on Portland facts ;o). The trolley driver was actively encouraging them!
We then made our way back to the ship...
...to be continued...
...we walk into the lift, we go straight to deck 11 (like the good people we are), and some people (the ones who think that the staterooms not being ready is just a ruse) press the floors for their rooms...
...guess what? They are greeted by fellow people (who also didnt believe that they were included) saying we cant get into our room! And the other people still decided to try their rooms for themselves!
We walk into the buffet area and it was rammed - we managed to find a table for two and James went up to get his first plate of food, then I went up and I got chicken, beef rice pork stew and a corn on the cob (all on one plate) ;o)...
...not wanting to miss out on anything yummy I then had a hot dog, onions and french fries.
And if that wasnt bad enough I then had some dessert!
Im pleased to say that I didnt carry on eating like this - because I really would have had to be rolled off of the ship when we finally docked!
Anyhow 1.30 comes and they announce that our staterooms are now ready, so we get our backpacks and fleeces and find our cabin, and it looks good a fairly decent sized room (considering we are on a ship and I heard that everything is tiny) and a balcony with two seats and a table.
We didnt have our luggage as it was taken when we first arrived at the ship to be scanned and were told that all luggage will be back with their owners by midnight!
When we first came onto the ship we were given a leaflet on the activities for that day...
...at 5pm (the exact time that the ship was leaving the dock) was when the tickets were available for the ice show - so I go down to where the tickets are being given out at at 4.55 and the queue snaked back on itself!
So I joined the queue and there was a woman in front of me who insisted on talking to every person that she was opposite to in the queue whether they were behind us or in front of us...
...half an hour later I finally get to get my tickets and there were only a few shows left. I asked which ones were for the days that we were at sea and they pointed to the ones on day 8, so I got two tickets for the 2.30 show (I was well pleased with myself).
Our luggage finally arrived at 6.30 (so in plenty of time for us to get dressed for dinner).
When we booked the cruise it asked if for dinner you wanted to be sat alone or with other people (as you are never sure who you will be sat with I quickly said sat alone), so I was slightly nervous when we went for dinner just in case they said "sorry you have to be sat in a group", when we walked into the dining room I was pleased to see that there were tables for two people, the only problem was that we were sat in the walkway!
The dinner itself was really nice, there were several choices including "specials" and even had "low calorie" dishes as well - so if you wanted to be good (I didnt go for the low calorie options), you could eat a meal for less than 800 calories.
The next day we saw that they were having a bingo session, so we decided to have a go as it might be something fun to do...
I had heard that bingo games are normally really fast and was worried that we wouldnt be able to keep up, then I thought to myself "hang on - this is a cruise ship so they are going to be catered to the old dears" I shouldnt have worried as the bingo was slow - some may even say that it was p-a-i-n-f-u-l-l-y s-l-o-w ;o)
That evening we had the Captain reception (this was our first formal night) I wished that I had used my full ass when trying to diet as I had real trouble getting into one of my dresses (it was one of the ones that I bought back in April), still thank goodness for the cardigan I bought also ;o). There was even a photographer to capture the first formal night and we bought a couple of the photos ;o).
We managed to change our table too (and got a far better spot by the window)
The menu as supposedly chosen by the captain was more upmarket than the usual everyday menu. James was quite vocal about the fact that fishfingers didnt appear in any shape or form, and if they were good enough for Captain Birdseye then they should be good enough for our captain!
It was weird waking up in a new port, we opened the curtain and saw that we had already docked in Portland Maine, we got off of the ship and because it was quite early 8am I think, none of the shops were open. We did find a small cafe that was open and got to try their pumpkin pie latte ;o).
We then made our way back to the ship as we had pre booked a shopping trip to Freeport, we had three hours of shopping but that was not nearly long enough for us...
We did find a Friendlys restaurant to have lunch in...
...my favourite part of the lunch was the sweet cinnamon roll sundae - I wish that I hadnt bothered with the burger and fries and just had two sundaes instead ;o)
We then returned back and managed to get on the Portland Trolley Tour, they werent sure if they could fit us on there, so it was touch and go...
...luckily (two minutes before the tour was due to start), they then decided that we could fit on the tour - we were stuck behind a group of ladies from Massachusetts who were on a girls weekend! We heard more about what they were getting upto than on Portland facts ;o). The trolley driver was actively encouraging them!
We then made our way back to the ship...
...to be continued...
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
getting there...
Instead of intriguing boring you with one huge post I have decided to post in instalments ;o)
As we were flying from Heathrow Terminal 5 and our flight was at 10.15 in the morning (you just know that there would have been problems on the M25 otherwise) we decided to stay overnight at a hotel, and as it was connected by a walkway to the terminal it meant that we didnt have to catch a hopper bus either...
So we get to the hotel at about 5pm ish. The bloke on reception books us in and asks when we arrive back, I tell him its on Sunday at 06.25 and he says that he will give us our exit ticket now so we can drive straight back out (which was nice of him) we didnt bother checking the ticket (I can see that you can guess what happens when I get upto the coming home part)...
So we go down and decide to have our dinner at one of the restaurants, we went for Vivre, but was disappointed that the cooking theatres are only during breakfast and lunch - but we could watch the chefs at work ;o)
As we had finished our meals quite early we decided to walk across to T5 (because we could) and get a drink each - I went for a Guinness and James had a cider...
...we then got a few snacks and went back to our room.
The next morning we checked out of our room and lugged our suitcases to check in for our flight...
...because it was a group booking we werent able to pre book our seats and I was told that we would be assigned our seats at check in :o(
So we go to the self check in booths I scan my passport and it gives me my seat (it was a window seat) so I clicked on the button that asks if I want to move seats and there arent any seats left that are together (so I pick an aisle seat and then James could sit in the seat in front of me) I print my boarding pass. Now its James' turn he scans his passport and his seat is the one that was next to mine *sigh* (it didnt tell us that we were already sitting together), so James moves his seat to the aisle one in front of mine.
As I wanted us to sit together we went to the assisted check in queue to see if we could change our seats, the guy says that he will let the boarding gate people know what we have asked and they will see what they can do...
We go through passport control and go and get some breakfast and have a look around.
We then see that the boarding gate is going to open, I go and see the one of the ladies on the gate and explain what happened, she goes to her monitor comes back and says that you have the aisle seat and the window seat (what a result James gets his aisle seat and we dont have anyone sitting next to us ;o)).
So we board the plane and find our seats and unfortunately whilst one of the seats was the window one the other one was the middle seat (James wasnt happy and decided that this was MY fault!), so after we took off James asked the stewardess if there was any spare aisle seats that he could sit in as he doesnt like sitting in the middle seat...
...she moved him - so at least he was happyish...
We finally land at Newark, go through immigration, pick up our luggage come out of departures and expect to see a smiling happy Royal Caribbean Rep, there was no-one, we walked around the terminal in case the rep was hiding somewhere but we couldnt find anyone.
I saw a Costa Rep, who told me to go to ground transportation and they would tell me how to get to the hotel. So we found the ground transportation kiosk spoke to the man on there and he pointed me in the direction of the phones with the direct lines to the hotels and airlines etc, I eventually found the right phone that had the lines to the hotels, found my hotel on the list, rang them and they told me to take the airtrain then you catch the shuttle bus for your hotel and hey presto!
We find the airtrain and work out which station we want to go to, get off and we go down the escalator and I almost fell down the escalator (with my suitcase) it would have been funny if I was watching someone else doing it.
We see the shuttle bus for our hotel (which was full) so we had to wait for the next bus. We finally get to the hotel I go to check in and the bloke asks me if I have a voucher.
I say "what voucher?", and they show me a huge pile of vouchers - I never received any vouchers (and yes these vouchers do come up again), we get the keycards for our room together with an envelope with instructions on what to do the next day.
James was well p1ssed off at this point and was blaming me for everything that went wrong (I think his reasoning was that I booked the holiday therefore it was my fault).
I then had a look around the hotel to see if there was a restaurant so we could get something to eat (there was just a bar with a very limited menu).
flyer with directions to get to New York (the hotel is only 8 miles for the Statue of Liberty), the cheapest option was $15 each way each.
James wasnt impressed so we went back down to the concierge and he asked if there was anywhere nearby that we could get something to eat - he then handed us a flyer for Jersey City Mall Outlet shops, the price was $9 round trip each so we decided to go there...
...so we got on the shuttle bus back to the airtrain station and was waiting for the bus to take us to the stores, a guy asked us what bus we were waiting for and I told him and he told me to see the Marriott Hotel bus driver, he told us that once an hour he goes upto the mall and only charges $2 each way each ;o)
So we got the shuttle bus up there and found a Ruby Tuesday and had some dinner there, we then had a quick look around the mall before catching the shuttle bus back.
The next morning we go down to get some breakfast (James wanted to do the all you can eat buffet), and we saw all of our fellow cruisers.
The instructions in the envelope said that we would be on bus 2 and to leave our suitcases by the door (in our room) before 8am (which we did) and when we came back after our breakfast our suitcases were still there *sigh*, so we lugged our suitcases down in the lift and waited with all of the other people. An elderly lady (she must have been at least 80) with a clipboard came around to take down our names.
The the bus drivers would come in and yell out what bus they were driving.
So an elderly bloke comes in and yells out "bus no 2" so we rush past all of the old dears (it isnt hard to out run someone when they are carrying an oxygen tank) and get on the bus. We were looking on the bus and were struck at how many old people were on there, I kid you not we must have been the only 2 people under 50 (LOL you know your getting old when 50 doesnt sound THAT old).
We get to the ship and were given a number (52) we had to fill out a questionnaire asking if we had had a cold in the past few days (I tried my hardest not to sneeze and cough onto the lady as we were filling out our forms) it also asked if we had had the runs too...
We had to have our photo taken (for ID purposes) so they knew that the right person was getting back on the ship.
Once they had decided that we werent about to infect the whole ship they then directed us to a holding area where we were given coffee & cookies...
...we then had to wait for our number to be called out...
"50 through 56"
to be continued...
As we were flying from Heathrow Terminal 5 and our flight was at 10.15 in the morning (you just know that there would have been problems on the M25 otherwise) we decided to stay overnight at a hotel, and as it was connected by a walkway to the terminal it meant that we didnt have to catch a hopper bus either...
So we get to the hotel at about 5pm ish. The bloke on reception books us in and asks when we arrive back, I tell him its on Sunday at 06.25 and he says that he will give us our exit ticket now so we can drive straight back out (which was nice of him) we didnt bother checking the ticket (I can see that you can guess what happens when I get upto the coming home part)...
So we go down and decide to have our dinner at one of the restaurants, we went for Vivre, but was disappointed that the cooking theatres are only during breakfast and lunch - but we could watch the chefs at work ;o)
As we had finished our meals quite early we decided to walk across to T5 (because we could) and get a drink each - I went for a Guinness and James had a cider...
...we then got a few snacks and went back to our room.
The next morning we checked out of our room and lugged our suitcases to check in for our flight...
...because it was a group booking we werent able to pre book our seats and I was told that we would be assigned our seats at check in :o(
So we go to the self check in booths I scan my passport and it gives me my seat (it was a window seat) so I clicked on the button that asks if I want to move seats and there arent any seats left that are together (so I pick an aisle seat and then James could sit in the seat in front of me) I print my boarding pass. Now its James' turn he scans his passport and his seat is the one that was next to mine *sigh* (it didnt tell us that we were already sitting together), so James moves his seat to the aisle one in front of mine.
As I wanted us to sit together we went to the assisted check in queue to see if we could change our seats, the guy says that he will let the boarding gate people know what we have asked and they will see what they can do...
We go through passport control and go and get some breakfast and have a look around.
We then see that the boarding gate is going to open, I go and see the one of the ladies on the gate and explain what happened, she goes to her monitor comes back and says that you have the aisle seat and the window seat (what a result James gets his aisle seat and we dont have anyone sitting next to us ;o)).
So we board the plane and find our seats and unfortunately whilst one of the seats was the window one the other one was the middle seat (James wasnt happy and decided that this was MY fault!), so after we took off James asked the stewardess if there was any spare aisle seats that he could sit in as he doesnt like sitting in the middle seat...
...she moved him - so at least he was happyish...
We finally land at Newark, go through immigration, pick up our luggage come out of departures and expect to see a smiling happy Royal Caribbean Rep, there was no-one, we walked around the terminal in case the rep was hiding somewhere but we couldnt find anyone.
I saw a Costa Rep, who told me to go to ground transportation and they would tell me how to get to the hotel. So we found the ground transportation kiosk spoke to the man on there and he pointed me in the direction of the phones with the direct lines to the hotels and airlines etc, I eventually found the right phone that had the lines to the hotels, found my hotel on the list, rang them and they told me to take the airtrain then you catch the shuttle bus for your hotel and hey presto!
We find the airtrain and work out which station we want to go to, get off and we go down the escalator and I almost fell down the escalator (with my suitcase) it would have been funny if I was watching someone else doing it.
We see the shuttle bus for our hotel (which was full) so we had to wait for the next bus. We finally get to the hotel I go to check in and the bloke asks me if I have a voucher.
I say "what voucher?", and they show me a huge pile of vouchers - I never received any vouchers (and yes these vouchers do come up again), we get the keycards for our room together with an envelope with instructions on what to do the next day.
James was well p1ssed off at this point and was blaming me for everything that went wrong (I think his reasoning was that I booked the holiday therefore it was my fault).
I then had a look around the hotel to see if there was a restaurant so we could get something to eat (there was just a bar with a very limited menu).
flyer with directions to get to New York (the hotel is only 8 miles for the Statue of Liberty), the cheapest option was $15 each way each.
James wasnt impressed so we went back down to the concierge and he asked if there was anywhere nearby that we could get something to eat - he then handed us a flyer for Jersey City Mall Outlet shops, the price was $9 round trip each so we decided to go there...
...so we got on the shuttle bus back to the airtrain station and was waiting for the bus to take us to the stores, a guy asked us what bus we were waiting for and I told him and he told me to see the Marriott Hotel bus driver, he told us that once an hour he goes upto the mall and only charges $2 each way each ;o)
So we got the shuttle bus up there and found a Ruby Tuesday and had some dinner there, we then had a quick look around the mall before catching the shuttle bus back.
The next morning we go down to get some breakfast (James wanted to do the all you can eat buffet), and we saw all of our fellow cruisers.
The instructions in the envelope said that we would be on bus 2 and to leave our suitcases by the door (in our room) before 8am (which we did) and when we came back after our breakfast our suitcases were still there *sigh*, so we lugged our suitcases down in the lift and waited with all of the other people. An elderly lady (she must have been at least 80) with a clipboard came around to take down our names.
The the bus drivers would come in and yell out what bus they were driving.
So an elderly bloke comes in and yells out "bus no 2" so we rush past all of the old dears (it isnt hard to out run someone when they are carrying an oxygen tank) and get on the bus. We were looking on the bus and were struck at how many old people were on there, I kid you not we must have been the only 2 people under 50 (LOL you know your getting old when 50 doesnt sound THAT old).
We get to the ship and were given a number (52) we had to fill out a questionnaire asking if we had had a cold in the past few days (I tried my hardest not to sneeze and cough onto the lady as we were filling out our forms) it also asked if we had had the runs too...
We had to have our photo taken (for ID purposes) so they knew that the right person was getting back on the ship.
Once they had decided that we werent about to infect the whole ship they then directed us to a holding area where we were given coffee & cookies...
...we then had to wait for our number to be called out...
"50 through 56"
to be continued...
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