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Wherever Books Are Sold!Boomer Travel. Food. Laughter. Breaking the Empty Nest Rules!
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The GypsyNesters give a tour of their stateroom! Check out… CONTINUE READING >>
The GypsyNesters give a tour of their stateroom! Check out our 7 Night Cruise Live-Blog at https://www.gypsynester.com/cruise.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
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Unbelievable amounts of chocolate! Even the artwork is… CONTINUE READING >>
Unbelievable amounts of chocolate! Even the artwork is chocolate! For more: https://www.gypsynester.com/cruise2.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
We’ve got you covered! We delivered on (almost) everything our readers asked for!The beautiful destinations of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Key West. We have video on our stateroom, the entertainment (wow!), the food, the chocolate (this video will send you reeling!), our fabulous (and talented) crew and a helicopter chasing down a speeding boat!
We cavorted with spring-breakers, met incredible people, starred in a game show, got sunburnt. And, there is a complete breakdown of what we spent, how to cruise cheaply, tips on everything from proper attire to how to get a quick start on your vacation. We are exhausted, had WAY too much fun, are going to sleep for a few days. In the meantime, enjoy… CONTINUE READING >>
To see Part One of this live-blog, click here
8:20 AM We have decided on a leisurely approach today, so we have some time to lounge around the room, get all coffeed up and, of course, stuff yet more food down our gullets this morning before we even think about heading ashore.
10:30 AM We are anchored a few miles offshore, there’s no port for ships this size in Belize City, so we head down to deck 3 to board a tender to take us to the mainland.
The tenders are hired from on shore so our first encounter with Belizeans is our crew. The young deck hand, James (he says we can call him King James), gives us the brief safety talk with humor and panache.
10:50 AM We climb off our tender at the “Tourist Village” which completely lives up to its name.
It is crap shop Nirvana, but we find an internet cafe here that has real live high speed internet.
After four days at sea this is a luxury. The WiFi on board the ship is extremely slow, but it makes up for it by being very expensive.
12:00 PM After using every second of our hour of internet time we are ready to wade into the city.
As soon as we exit the confines of the tourist village we are accosted by locals wanting to braid Veronica’s hair, take us on tours or sell us various crafts, local items or ganja.
We pass.
12:20 PM The farther from the dreaded tourist village we get, the less sales pitches we receive, so now we can check out the town in peace.
The first point of interest we come upon is the semi-famous Belize City Swing Bridge. This is the only hand operated swing bridge in the world that is still functioning.
1:15 PM We have worked up an appetite walking and follow our noses to about a half dozen makeshift stands set up in the park.
Local ladies are cooking up all kinds of interesting dishes. The first offering is a selection of tamales, some wrapped in the Mexican-style corn husks but others in banana leaves.
We opt for chicken filling in banana leaf. It varies from the Mexican variety in more ways than the wrapping, the corn meal is ground much finer giving the masa a different, smoother texture, and the chicken filling is whole pieces of bird, bones and all.
A bit more work, but well worth the effort.
In the next booth over a lady has several large pots going with rice, beans, chicken, stew meat and something she calls stew beans and pig tails.
What the heck, we’re game, so she dishes us up a bunch, complete with a large chunk of tail, on a bed of rice and we dig in.
While we eat, she offers us some “onion sauce” to go with it, which looks to be just onions and habeñero peppers in vinegar. Oh yeah, that’s the ticket, street food at its finest.
We sit under an umbrella with the locals, chatting them up.
To a person, each tells us that we should come next time by plane so we could stay longer.
We laughingly ask if we could stay in their homes and, touching our hearts, they said of course.
One man even offered up his mother up to cook for us! This sparked a lively debate on whose mother was the best cook and which would be the most happy to have us as guests.
The people of Belize are among the most gracious we’ve met.
2:00 PM Even though this is the largest city in Belize, it has a small town Caribbean feel, no skyscrapers here, but many colonial era churches, houses and government buildings catch our eyes. The clock tower an the Supreme Court is especially interesting.
Click here to see more of our antics in Belize
3:00 PM It’s getting pretty hot out so we duck into a little bar on the river by the swing bridge for a cold beverage, Biliken, the local brew.
A young lady at the next table, Melissa, strikes up a conversation and fills us in on some of the history and customs of Belize.
She tells us how there used to be quite a hootenanny when six men would manually open the swing bridge twice a day.
Every morning and evening a crowd would gather to watch the spectacle as the
fishing boats would head out to sea and then back up the river.
Unfortunately, now the bridge is only opened to let boats run upstream to seek shelter from hurricanes.
She also mentions that stew beans and rice with pig tails is the favorite local food.
Feeling pretty good about accidentally stumbling onto that, we head back toward the dreaded tourist village to catch a ride back to the ship.
3:30 PM Back at the tender dock and just by luck we get King James again.
He greets us with “How was your day? Was it un – Belize – able?” He knows how to work it, and the tips flow.
Click here to see more of our antics in Belize
10:30 PM Norwegian Cruise Line’s signature chocolate buffet. Holy crap this is the most chocolate ever assembled in one place!
Cakes, pies, pastries, bars, tarts, cheese cakes, mousse, fondue, brownies… it’s sensory overload with ice sculptures.
Hold on, there’s something else, giant chocolate artwork. Spanish fans, a four foot Eiffel Tower, even the sign at the entrance is made of chocolate.
The passengers have gone insane, piling enough cocoa-based desserts onto their plates to feed the entire Guatemalan army.
The chum’s in the water and this is starting to get scary, we’ve got to get out of here before someone loses a limb in the feeding frenzy.
WATCH:
We grab a chocolate-covered chocolate bar dipped in chocolate fountain chocolate topped with chocolate ice cream and chocolate sprinkles as we dash for the door.
It’s coma time.
7:30 PM The entertainment tonight is Romano Frediani, billed as an “Action Comic,” combining spectacular juggling feats with humor and audience participation.
Mr. Frediani comes from a long line, seven generations, of circus performers and jugglers and is top-notch.
Guess he would have to be to stay working as a juggler these days.
11:00 PM We are greeted by another of Florence the Fabulous Steward’s creations.
A fuzzy towel cat.
How will we ever learn to live without Florence?
Who will make our fuzzy towel animals?
9:15 AM With no port to visit we sleep in and simply lay about. Honestly, we’re exhausted.
12:00 PM Lunch buffet. Yes, exactly noon, Capt. Borg just announced it on the intercom, along with our position (21 degrees north in the Yucatan straits) and the weather (sunny and 26 Celsius) which is gorgeous. Thanks captain. David proceeds to eat enough for any three people, using the excuse that we missed breakfast. Oink.
1:15 PM We just walked by a passenger using a walky-talky to keep up with his family while on the ship. Wicked smart.
GypsyNester Note – Electronics at sea:
We have been on board long enough now to have some ideas that might be helpful for using electronics on a cruise. Some of these may vary from ship to ship. Our cabin only has one U.S. Style 110 volt outlet and a “for razors only” plug in the bathroom. With two computers, two phones, camera battery charger, curling iron and razor, this takes some finagling. The “razor only” plug can only handle low wattage items but it seems fine for the phones and camera. We have managed fine with rotating items in and out of the cable outlet but for future reference, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring a multi-plug extension cord or adapter.
The internet on board is slow and expensive, about fifty cents a minute depending on the amount of time bought. It comes from satellite feeds which are slower than the high speed we are used to.
They have blocked sights that suck up large amounts of band width, like YouTube, in an effort to keep things moving better, but there is no way video would load at the speeds involved anyway.
Computer stations are set up, as well as Wifi for laptops and smart phones. Internet cafes are available at many ports, this would depend on the cruise and the destinations. We have been able to use our AT&T Connect USB card when we have been close enough to shore in the U.S. (parts of the first and last day).
3:00 PM “Afternoon Showtime: International Crew Show” Our cabin steward and Towel Animal Rembrandt, Florence, invited us to this production for our last big day at sea, as she is dancing in the show. It looks like a lot of fun for the crew, mostly the younger members. Several singers, a dance team and a magician get the chance to show off their talents in a great theater in front of a big crowd.
We think this is an excellent time to thank our favorite crew members by showcasing them to you with this video. They really are incredible people. Not only was every one of our needs met, they were anticipated – almost to the point of freaking us out a bit. Be sure to watch, as quite a few questions you might have about cruising are answered by our incredible shipmates.
5:00 PM BINGO! Time to use the bingo cards we won at Jeopardy! Here’s our chance to turn that prize package into $5000.00.
5:45 PM Needless to say, no one won the $5,000, but we came pretty close, only $4962.50 shy.
5:20 PM We win the very first game!
Downside, we have to split the prize with another winner and the first jackpot is the smallest.
Still, it’s $37.50 we didn’t have a few minutes ago.
Exactly 6:51 PM The sun disappears into The Caribbean Sea with such aplomb that it receives a hearty round of applause from the passengers gathered on the aft decks to watch. We even get a tiny taste of green at the very last instant. Not a full green flash, but more of a green blip. Gorgeous.
Exactly 6:52 PM Sports Bar for a walk-by. March Madness is going on and David needs to peek in periodically to see how his bracket is holding up. Before we left, David was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to keep up, but the games go on…even in the middle of the sea. The Sports Bar is wall to wall sports, complete with made-to-order chicken wings and fish & chips, included in the base price of our tickets. No need to plan around your favorite team schedules, gentlemen.
8:30 PM Walking back to our cabin after dinner we see another walky-talky toting passenger. Maybe she’s on the other end of this afternoon’s dude. Still think it’s pretty smart.
9:30 PM Feeling lucky, we attempt to double our winnings in the ship’s casino.
We whomp down $37.50 down at the blackjack table and we soon have $87.50. Sweet. We leave the table.
Problem is, Veronica is convinced that she is a roulette savant. Yup. The biggest sucker game in the world and she’s convinced that she’s somehow good at it. Our winnings tumble down to $57.50 before she realizes she could be mistaken.
10:30 PM Another Fuzzy Towel Thing. The rolling of the ship has tumbled it over on the bed and messed it up a bit.
We’re guessing it was a seal or maybe a ray, but, try as we may, we can’t fold it back to its proper position. We’re calling it a new towel art form, the space shuttle.
We decide that the shows and entertainment are WAY more fun than the casino.
Shona, our Cruise Director, has to be the hardest working woman in show business. It is a truly original cast of characters she has assembled here. We don’t think she sleeps, she is everywhere.
Check out a small sampling of what our ship has to offer (there is truly something for everyone and we couldn’t possibly have hit every highlight):
8:00 AM Since Key West is back in the good old U S of A, we have to clear passport control before we can go ashore.
It’s a pretty short stop here, we sail again at one o’clock this afternoon, so we are stuffing our faces once again at the buffet on the aft deck, overlooking the harbor and a few smaller cays.
9:30 AM Legally cleared back into the country, we head ashore.
The ship is docked a the navy pier so we are not allowed to walk anywhere.
We have to be taken off the base so we board a goofy tour “train” to take us into town.
9:45 AM Silly as the “train” is, we get a little bit of a free tour from the “engineer.” He points out the ending point of US highway 1, the “Little White House” where President Harry S. Truman spent eleven vacations during his terms, and Key West’s most famous resident Earnest Hemingway’s house.
9:55 AM Dropped off at the corner of Duval and Front Streets, we walk up Duval to Sloppy Joe’s, Hemingway’s favorite watering hole. At least that’s what they tell the tourists.
10:35 AM We happen upon “The Conch Republic Office of the Secretary General.”
Having been to Key West before, we are somewhat familiar with this. Back in 1982 Key West declared itself the independence Conch Republic in protest over a United States Border Patrol blockade.
A seventeen mile traffic jam backed up when the Border Patrol stopped every car leaving the Keys for the mainland, supposedly searching for illegal immigrants.
The hit to tourism was huge so the people staged a nonviolent, one day revolt and celebrate their “Independence Day” on the anniversary every April 23rd. The blue Conch Republic flags can be seen all over Key West.
10:55 AM One of the coolest things we remembered about Key West from our previous visit were the neighborhoods of little bungalows and the gardens packed into the tiny yards, no sprawling lawns here.
We find a quintessential example of one that just happens to be for sale so we call to see what one goes for.
WOW! $795,000.00 for this one, but it does include a guest house in back.
The realtor says he has others around half a million. Looks like being eccentric can be expensive.
Click here to see more Key West
11:15 AM With our limited time, we duck into Willy T’s for a quick conch chowder.
Conch is sort of the national food of The Keys ever since colonial times when the shellfish was the only food that the king didn’t tax.
The chowder is tasty and Willy T’s is a hoot, with hundreds, if not thousands, of dollar bills with notes scrawled on them by previous patrons stapled to every available surface.
An establishment really needs to be quirky to make it in Key West.
11:50 AM Back at Mallory Square by the goofy train “depot.” Mallory Square is the site of the famous Sunset Celebration every evening.
We have to leave well before sunset today, but we partook in the celebration years ago and it is definitely the highlight of any day in Key West.
Trained housecats, circus acts, jugglers, clowns, psychics, musicians, artists, street performers and pretty much every kind of dog and pony show gather to entertain, ply their wares and hopefully make a little money every single day as the sun sinks slowly into the sea.
Later, many of the acts can be found in the gin mills on Duval.
Click here to see more Key West
12:25 PM Back on the ship, we’ve been having so much fun and there is always something to do, but today, it’s nap time.
7:30 PM
Headliners Elvy Rose and Rod Long put together a big farewell extravaganza variety show. We have been pleasantly pleased with all of the entertainment on board and must say, Cruise Director Shona has done an excellent job. She is tireless.
10:30 PM Still awake and ready to rock (thanks to our naps), we decide to venture out for the first time REALLY late at night to see the more “adult” side of things.
So far we have skipped the dance parties, avoided the hot tubs at night and, other than our evening at the casino, have left the spring-breakers alone.
They were very easily avoided, as we have kept completely different hours and have wildly different goals for our cruise experiences – but tonight, we venture in with purpose, we have napped and are feeling a bit feisty.
10:45 PM “Action Comedian” Romano Frediani is hosting Adult Quest. Billed as “a little bit naughty, a little bit racy, and totally hysterical! Not for the easily offended.” We’ve found our entertainment.
Walking in to Dazzles Disco we notice something is afoot. The very same college men we watched play dazzlingly poor drunken blackjack last night have now passed their threshold for alcohol abuse. Things are turning ugly.
An altercation is a-brewin’. Out of nowhere, before a fist can fly, security is out in force. Wow, impressive.
We look around and can’t figure out from where they came. They must lurk behind hidden doors, waiting. We begin to wonder if there is a drunk tank or brig in the bowels of the ship.
The opening act over, it’s time for the spring-breakers to really shine (we decide not to take any visual documentation of this extravaganza, as our website is not Girls Gone Wild – hopefully these are hard-working students blowing off a little steam).
The room is broken up into teams and Mr. Frediani starts announcing the “quests.” They start off tame enough, and ARE really funny – first team to send a male to the stage with an empty female’s purse wins. Contents of purses go flying everywhere, many on the stage itself.
Things start to deteriorate when the contestants are asked for false teeth – and after a few brave older passengers bolt for the stage, teeth in hand – our Emcee announces he would have been happy with a comb. The spring-breaker’s groan.
Wow, OK-ay. We need to stop here – let’s just say a liquored-up young lady doesn’t pause a moment to shuck off her bra from under her dress and place it on a friend’s head to win a contest.
That HAS to hurt the sunburn.
7:30 AM Awake to to musical voice of Shona announcing that we are in port and cleared with the authorities so disembarking can begin. We are not in any hurry, but we haven’t even considered packing yet, so we figure we might want to start stirring.
8:10 AM We discover our final bill on our door. It’s stuck in the numbers on the outside where they have been putting messages throughout the cruise. It’s about what we expected.
Drinks are not cheap (between $5 & $10) and a $15 per bottle corkage fee was charged for the two bottles of wine we were allowed to bring aboard with us ( be careful – you don’t spend real money on the ship, you have an onboard account. It’s easy to lose track!).
Internet is talked about throughout this live-blog, so we won’t recap here. If you don’t want to be hit with a whopper of a bill, BE ON VACATION, let the internet go.
Because we were live-blogging, our internet charges were $192.70.
8:45 AM With a quick shower under our belts and a week’s worth of dirty clothes stuffed in our bags, it’s time to stuff our faces one last time.
9:30 AM On our way off the ship. The entire Cruise Director Staff is on hand to extend a fond farewell to everyone as they disembark. We chat and say our good-byes with Caitlin, Fish, Rommel and, of course Shona, only find out that they are heading right back out to sea this afternoon. Yipes! No rest for this incredible team.
10:15 AM Waiting for the hotel “park & cruise” shuttle bus. Spring-breakers are looking worse than us old folks.
Maybe one day they’ll learn how to have fun without feeling like they’ve been run over by a Guatemalan bus the next morning.
11:15 AM After a bit of a wait, we are back on BAMF and ready to resume our usual “the plan is no plans” lifestyle, but must say, NCL’s “Freestyle Cruising” fits in with that attitude quite well.
To see Part One of this live-blog, click here
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Your Turn: Feel free to leave a comment below or share a story about a cruise you have taken! Don’t forget to add your cruising tips!
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There’s something for everyone! The GypsyNesters give you a sampling of… CONTINUE READING >>
There’s something for everyone! The GypsyNesters give you a sampling of what kind of entertainment is available onboard a cruise ship! For more, check out our crazy Cruise Live-Blog: https://www.gypsynester.com/cruise2.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
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The GypsyNesters show you the food! Check out… CONTINUE READING >>
The GypsyNesters show you the food! Check out our 7 Night Cruise Live-Blog at https://www.gypsynester.com/cruise.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
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Crazy helicopter chase – what’s going on? We had just sat down for breakfast when, BAM! All hell… CONTINUE READING >>
Crazy helicopter chase – what’s going on? We had just sat down for breakfast when, BAM! All hell broke loose. A new genre – Breakfast Theater! For more: https://www.gypsynester.com/cruise2.htm
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
Heck yeah! It’s another GypsyNester flat-out, no-plans, on-the-cheap, get-on-a-mode-of-transportation-and-go live-blog! This time we’re storming a 7 night cruise – neither of us have ever been on a cruise before, so we have no idea what we’re in for.We asked our readers to let us know what they wanted us to report on, and we’re going to cover as much of their suggestions as humanly possible.
Make sure you check in often this week – don’t miss a… CONTINUE READING >>
To see Part Two of this live-blog, click here
Heck yeah! It’s another GypsyNester flat-out, no-plans, on-the-cheap, get-on-a-mode-of-transportation-and-go, live-blog!
This time we’re storming a 7-night cruise – neither of us have ever been on a cruise, so we have no idea what we’re in for.
We asked our readers to let us know what they wanted us to report on (click here to see them all), and we’re going to cover as much of their suggestions as humanly possible.
Let’s talk money:
We’ve been stalking a number of cruise discount websites and found a fairly good deal. In our research, we discovered that the unbelievable deals are not given out in the timeframe that we chose, so being flexible helps. If you are a regular reader, you know we do things on the cheap. So we’re continuing the tradition:
| Tickets: | $479.00 per person/$68 per day |
| Taxes: | $ 99.00 per person |
| Excursions: | $89 per person. We normally don’t partake in the group tour stuff, but since we are stopping in four ports, we thought we’d do one for comparison purposes. |
So that’s $1334 for the two of us. $1156 if we take off the excursion.
$82 per day, per person includes (from what we hear) massive amounts of food, a stateroom and entertainment. We’re pretty sure we can eat at least fifty dollars a day in shrimp alone. Extras are booze, excursions, spa, and, of course, you’ve gotta tip.
The cruise line says they have Internet, but we’ve seen conflicting reports on how well it works. There is concern that this could be the worst live-blog ever.
10:45 AM: Our hotel insists we catch the shuttle at 11 AM to the pier for our departure at 4:00 PM.
Do we get to board when we get there or do they just want to get rid of us?
11:45 AM: We feel slightly herded through all of the pre-boarding stuff, but the staff is friendly and efficient. We are given key cards that serve as our room keys, onboard credit and proves who we are when we get on and off of the ship at port.
Our photos were taken so when we are pulled up in the system we will be able to be visually identified.
We start a bit of a running gag – we make funny faces so we crack everyone up when they pull up our file. So far it’s working – we get a laugh every time.
12:30 PM: Our first onboard greeting – a cute guy with hand sanitizer! Health first!
Getting a bit further in – there are hand sanitizer people everywhere.
Reminds us that prior to boarding we filled out a Public Health Questionnaire.
Two questions asked: “Do you have any ONE of the following symptoms: Fever AND Cough, Runny Nose or Sore Throat?” and “Within the last 2 days, have you developed any symptoms of Diarrhea or Vomiting?
Nope. We’re good to go.
Newbie GN Cruising Tip #1: Wear a bathing suit under your clothes the first day.
Our luggage was taken by porters at the dock and we’re going to be onboard for a few hours before the staterooms are ready to be occupied.
The smart folks with their suits (mostly spring-breakers) have a jump on their vacation by immediately hitting the pool. We’re justifiably envious.
1:00 PM: Let the eating begin!
We decide on the outside dining – the first of many buffets, we presume.
Fare is a burger bar, fruit, fun bread selection, cold cuts – there are rumors of a pasta & pizza bar and table service lunch elsewhere.
Our cruise director – Sunny? – comes on over the intercom quite a bit and, while helpful, we hope the public service announcements slow down – it could become annoying. She has a great intercom voice, though.
2:00 PM: Staterooms are open!
Our luggage is in our room and we unpack, toast our cruise until our Cruise Director – we think her name is Shoney, that can’t be right – pipes into our room telling us about the safety drill. We’re beginning to think Shoney is canned, she’s even more slick sounding in the comfort of our stateroom. Hmmm…must be checked out – meeting Shoney is officially on our to-do list.
WATCH: Check out our stateroom!
2:45 PM: Time to explore.
Finding our way around is a little tricky, we’re not alone in this, seems like everyone is lost in this maze right now.
Everything is referred to as “forward” or “aft” by the crew and signs, but since we are still docked, it’s hard to tell which is which.
First things first, up and down we can tell so we go to the very top deck, 12, to look around.
It’s like standing on top of a twelve story building, we can see for miles.
The Kennedy Space Center is off in the distance with the shuttle Endeavor waiting on the launch pad.
How cool would it be to see a launch from here? Ain’t gonna happen today.
3:30 PM: RED ALERT, RED ALERT! The alarm sounds for the mandatory life boat drill.
Upon arrival at emergency station “J” we discover that every member of the crew, and we mean every member, is involved in the safety and emergency procedures.
Our lifeboat organizer guy is one of the ship’s performers, Andrew, from the stage show cast.
Ah good, a highly trained and skilled professional is in charge. We will ignore the fact that his training is in dance from NYU. We decide that we are unlikely to need the lifeboats, and we’d much rather see Andrew dance than load us into one, so we tell him we’ll see him at the show tonight.
3:55 PM: We are scheduled to cast off at 4 o’clock so we head back up to the top to watch, but before we can get there we notice by looking out a window, oops, porthole, that we are already moving.
Very smooth, never would have known.
They don’t make a big deal out of leaving. No confetti or horns and bells. We thread our way out the narrow channel of Port Canaveral towards the open Atlantic. Two other cruise ships, Magic and Dream, are right behind us, because it turns out that this one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with 2.8 million passengers last year.
Tons of little boats scurry and scatter to get out of our way as we steam out. On our left, oh wait, port, side we pass the NASA docks and the ships they use to recover the solid rocket boosters when they fall off into the ocean.
6:00 PM: Our first prize drawing. Must be present to win, so we are at the spa. They are giving away $500 of spa services, including massages, we want to win this one.
6:15 Can’t believe we didn’t win!
7:00 Next drawing, free entry into poker, blackjack and slots tournaments in the casino.
Must be present to win. Present in a casino generally means losing money.
They are giving away free rum punch though, and we’re pretty sure this is the only free drink we are going to get this week.
7:15 Didn’t win. How can this be?
We’re usually really good at raffles.
7:30 Dinner.
We decide to avoid the buffet. There are two sit-down restaurants on board that are included in the ticket price so we check them out. They have the exact same menu, so we will let the view decide.
The Seven Seas has windows all the way around the stern (loving these nautical terms baby) of the ship.
We have a winner. Huge bonus, we ask for, and get, a table on the side with a huge orange full moon rising over the Atlantic.
8:20 Wow, glad we skipped the buffet. The food is excellent.
Start out with a baby shrimp cocktail that is more of a remoulade, and a portabello and buffalo mozzarella farm tart. Both rock.
Next, grilled Mahi and leg of lamb that, while short of spectacular, are very good.
The star of the show is dessert, a vanilla bean souffle with a Grand Marnier cream. Go ahead and throw us overboard now, we’ll die happy.
8:45 Post dinner potty break, otherwise known as a trip to the head. Veronica encounters her first “It’s spring break, whooohoooo!” vomit. The ship is not packed with spring breakers, but there are a few and are keeping the place lively.
9:00 It’s showtime!
The Norwegian Sun gala song and dance spectacular!
Look it’s Shoney, our cruise director, whose name is actually Shona.
She looks like she sounds, waaaaay too perky. Think Julie from the Love Boat and then dial up the perk to 11 – but it works for her, we’re infected.
Hey look, it’s Andrew, our lifeboat muster guy, dancing his ass off.
Actually, the dance troupe is really, really good. As the show goes on we get a preview of all of the entertainers on the ship in cameo appearances. The standout is the group Sol Play that performs the dance shift at the shipboard nightclub Dazzles, their lead singer flat gets it.
10:15 Handed yet another raffle ticket while leaving the show. Must be present to win. We are getting the feeling that these might just be a ploy to keep us in the bar buying drinks.
Don’t know if we won, we weren’t present.
8:10 AM Wake up with absolutely no idea what time it is. Realize that by having an inside cabin it is incredibly dark no matter if it’s noon or midnight.
Newbie GN Cruising Tip #2: Bring a wind-up clock for your room. We generally rely on our cell phone to know what time it is in real life and the phone doesn’t know to adjust to ship time. Maybe someone should come up with an app for that.
8:20 AM Wander out in search of coffee, find some in the casino. Not sure what the hidden message is here, but we refrain from placing a bet and avoid looking at the folks who have been up all night doing that very thing. Feel like we’re stealing coffee from those who are more in need.
9ish AM After getting some joe in us, it must be time to start eating. We find a pretty standard breakfast buffet al fresco in the Garden Cafe, eat lots of fruit and some really good lox and capers.
10:45 AM We can actually get from one place to another without getting lost AND without using the often crowded and exercise-reducing elevators. Right proud of ourselves.
This ship is so huge that we figure we can easily log a couple of miles a day by hoofing-it up and down the stairs.
11:30 AM Cleaned and coffeed up we find today’s Freestyle Daily, the ship’s daily newspaper telling all of the activities for our “Fun Day at Sea.” One thing jumps right out at us, Pub Crawl – 5 drinks in 55 minutes. Seems a tad overindulgent, but we ARE at sea all day today.
Wait, WTH? It’s at 1:15 in the afternoon! Are they trying to encourage more puking? We figure we’ll pass. We’ll just put in some pool time.
1:30 AM Pool time.
What was it that mom always said about no swimming after eating?
Slightly more disturbing is the information on our TV giving the pool water temperatures. For some reason the kiddy pool is two degrees warmer than other pools… wonder why?
Luckily, the pools are filled with luxurious saltwater and are drained every night. We opt for the adult pool and David has poolside ribs for a “snack” just because he can.
5:30 PM Trivia Time with The Crew in The Windjammer lounge. Being the cut-throat trivia players that we are, we stalked a intellegent looking older couple to team up with (finding a nice age span is crucial) and managed nine out of fifteen correct for second place.
Apparently, the two women that won dominated at yesterday’s trivia as well – the gauntlet has been dropped.
6:45 PM We find a little bar called Las Ramblas Pub way up on deck 12 all the way aft.
We have the place pretty much all to ourselves and they have Tapas.
It’s not really like eating more because they’re small, right?
This could be our new favorite place.
7:30 PM “Gee honey, I’m starving.”
It’s become a running gag today, but hey, it’s lobster night at the restaurants.
Hungry or not, here we come.
Walking through, we find the buffet nearly empty, no lobster here, but they have added a chocolate fountain.
Moving on, the line at The Seven Seas is crazy long so we opt for The Four Seasons. The line is much shorter.
We had devised a devious plan – going back and forth
between dining rooms and ordering anew each time until we had lobster coming out of our ears, but – alas – we’ve been foiled by the long lines.
We did sit by a couple who ordered two lamb entrees back-to-back last night, but we were too embarrassed to go that route.
We need to become more aggressive.
We started with a Watermelon and Grilled Feta Cheese Salad – so different and delish.
The Lobster and Grouper Extravaganza (actual name!) was billed correctly. The lobster, Caribbean Spiny variety, not Maine, is fine and dandy.
In fact, all of the food has been above expectations. The chefs took a well deserved victory lap as the entire place erupted with applause.
WATCH: Oh, the food!
9:30 PM Tonight’s big show is SHOUT! – The Mod Musical.
We rolled our way over to the theater. And we’re blown away.
The level of talent of the singers and dancers is astounding. (No pictures or video allowed in the theater, so we’ll not be sharing any, sorry.)
A glance at the profiles of the performers in the lobby convinced us – many are Broadway, national touring and prestigious performing art school vets.
11 PM A fuzzy towel bunny created by our fabulous steward, Florence, greets us in from our bed when we come in bloated and exhausted after the show.
Next to fuzzy bunny guy, a schedule of tomorrow’s events is placed.
We are WAY to worn out to even look at it. Besides, we need to hit the hay, tommorow’s agenda starts early and we need to be up at 5:30 AM for our shore excursion.
We’ve got to slow down or we’ll never survive all the fun we’re having.
5:30 AM Yes, this is a crazy time to be getting up but we are scheduled to meet up with our fellow excursionists at 6:40. We’ll catch a ferry from the island of Cozumel, Mexico to the mainland of the Yucatán, then a bus to see the Mayan ruins at Tulum. We think it will be worth it. Our steward found us a coffee machine – the beautiful girl – so our groggy, early morning journey for coffee need not be.
4:35??? AM Wait a minute, the ship’s time on TV says it’s 4:35! It seems that they don’t go on daylight savings time here so our 5:30 alarm clock is now an hour early. Looks like we have plenty of time to get ready. And, yes the crew left us a note telling us to adjust our clock but we were so enamoured with Fuzzy Towel Bunny Guy that we neglected to do so.
Newbie Cruise Tip #3 – Check shore excursion leaving times ahead of time if you are a night owl and want to sleep in. Luckily we are in Mexico, so siesta falls during our the bus ride back this afternoon.
Also, booking the excursion online prior to the trip saved us from standing in a long line at the shipboard excursion desk. Hey, one less line to stand in… always a good thing.
6:20 AM Quick, more food!
Wouldn’t want to get hungry on the excursion.
As we disembark, we turn around and see the outside of our ship for the first time (she was blocked at the pier in Port Canaveral), and are slack-jawed by the enormity of her.
7:15 AM There is a very fun singer on the ferry, who’s name we missed in our early morning fog, but we were most impressed by his sea legs.
We could barely stand up, much less sing and play guitar, while bouncing over the six foot swells.
He deserves a good tip just for that, oops, don’t have anything smaller than a twenty, well then, a really good tip.
Gives him some walking around money to woo college girl spring-breakers with. Though we’re guessing by the reception he’s getting, he doesn’t need our help in that department. Besides, he’s training to be a pilot and we know how expensive that is – The Boy is in the midst of it himself – and, we’re suckers.
Newbie Cruise Tip #4 – Shore excursions are filled with tipping opportunities and should be planned for. Like a guy-who-just-broke-up-with-his-girlfriend headed for a strip club, bring lots of small bills.
7:45 AM Arrive on the mainland at Playa del Carmen.
On the bus, our guide Carlos is great. He is a proud Mayan descendant and quite the scholar.
While we ride he gives us a comprehensive history of the Mayans.
The bus driver is selling beers for three dollars each. We pass, it’s quite a bit too early – even on cruisetime.
8:25 AM A “baños break.” While it is true there are bathrooms in Mexico that are olfactory adventures, this is really more of an excuse to herd us through a quintessential crap shop.
Hey, everyone has got to try to make a peso somehow, don’t they?
Actually, among the standard cheesy stuff, there are some impressive items made from the local obsidian. We loved a life-sized sea turtle, beautifully carved, but it weighed at least fifty pounds. Not dragging that anchor around all day.
It’s starting to get thick with iguana around these parts. You can’t swing a cat without hitting a one of these spiny fellas.
Carlos spends the most time showing us the details of the Temple of the Frescoes, since it is the most unique artifact to this site.
The figures of the Mayan “diving god,” their version of Venus, along the facade of the temple and the surviving frescoes inside are perhaps the finest examples of Mayan artwork remaining anywhere.
Archeologists discovered at Tulum that the Mayans painted their temples bright colors and Carlos showed us some of the remaining original coloring.
Click here to see more about of Tulum
9:15 AM Arrive at Tulum and Carlos shows us around. He points out several interesting tidbits that we would certainly have missed if we were on our own.
Tulum, the Mayan word for fence or wall, is a walled city that dates back over eight hundred years and served as a sacred site as well as a sea port.
The most prominent feature is El Castillo, al Mayan temple with steps leading up to a columned shrine on the top.
Off to one side is a smaller structure that has a tiny window that the sun rises exactly through on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
This is tré Mayan, as they were obsessed with the calendar and developed stunningly accurate versions thousands of years ago.
11:00 AM Carlos has finished his formal tour and we are free to roam the site. It is truly spectacular, perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Caribbean sea with a beautiful beach below.
The Mayans sure knew how to pick a good spot. We’re having a magnificent time rambling among the ruins. It is definitely worth missing a little sleep.
12:15 PM We decide to chuck the box lunch provided by the ship and score some street tacos from one of the vendors that surround the entrance to the site. Mmm, mmm good, complete with chunky habenero-heavy pico di gallo. Our tongues will be burning for hours…mmmmm.
WATCH:
12:45 PM Back on the bus and a welcome siesta. Side note, the bus baño is truly a smell-o-rama, so maybe the earlier stop wasn’t only about tourist peso removal.
3:00 PM Heading back to the Norwegian Sun, but not before many more tipping opportunities, boat crew, drivers and guides, but now we have change. They all kept their clothes on.
Click here to see more about of Tulum
6:30 PM Ole! It’s Mexican night – we were in Mexico today, after all.
We belly up – no waiting – haul our plates outside and do a quick chow.
We’re not complaining but, all things considered, we’ll take the street tacos.
Newbie Cruise Tip #5 – Wear excellent shoes when leaving the ship. Today alone, we have boated, bussed, walked miles over level, yet rocky terrain, and got doused by a wave on the beach. We’ve dealt with dusty dirt and sand. Flip flops could not have handled the task.
7:30 PM Passing on the 70’s Funkalicious Groove Party in the Dazzles Disco, we check out the comedy show with Rod Long in the showroom. He’s from Seattle and has done the circuit.
He’s hysterical, and incredibly adept at pushing the envelope right up to the edge without offending any of the more delicate of the cruisers’ sensibilities. Now that’s true talent.
6:30 PM For the first time, we are enormously grateful for the “FreeStyle” cruise concept.
We are bedraggled – sweaty, salty, windblown, dusty. Moreover, we are happy as clams and couldn’t care less.
So we ditch our backpack and drag our unshowered, unhairbrushed, smiling, nasty selves to the buffet.
10:00 PM The seas are picking up a bit and walking back to the cabin we find strategically placed barf bags on all of the staircases.
Call us wacky, but they don’t look big enough to handle the food intake we passengers are consuming.
Luckily, living our lives in nearly constant motion has made us immune to motion sickness, and we will find it a rather pleasant way to rock off to sleep.
10:30 PM Florence the Fabulous Steward had left us another outrageously cute fuzzy towel animal!
This time it’s a little pink-eyed mouse tucked into a drinking glass.
Veronica ohhhs and ahhhhs, names him Herman before falling asleep, exhausted.
David types this and is not far behind.
10:55 AM The ship is docking and we want to get a jump on our time ashore so we are lining up to get off. No guided tour today, we are wading into Guatemala GypsyNester style.
We read up on it and there are little water taxis that run the locals back and forth from Puerto Barrios to the nearby fishing village of Livingston for fifty Quetzales, about eight bucks. Though it is on the mainland, Livingston can only be reached by boat and looks to be a very interesting place, so that’s our plan.
11:25 AM On the docks at Santo Tomás de Castilla, a freight container port that has just recently started having cruise ships come in.
We have encountered a small snag in our plan to taxi to the nearby town of Puerto Barrios where we can catch a small boat. There are no regular taxis here, they all want to take us on tours.
11:40 AM After much broken Spanish, English, Spanglish and the little Italian accidentally thrown in when David gets flustered, we have finally negotiated a cab ride into town for the wildly inflated price of thirty dollars.
A distinct disadvantage of arriving on a cruise ship, we all look like suckers I guess.
12:05 PM We make it to the docks at Puerto Barrios, our cabbie showed us a few sights along the way, but there is not too much to see in this somewhat rough seaport town.
Now he is trying to negotiate a boat tour for us.
We’re having quite the time getting our point across, we just want to make our way on our own, no tour. That request must not be made much in these parts.
12:10 PM The cabbie’s tour operator friend wants $100 to take us to Livingston, ain’t gonna happen. They seem terribly confused, how could we possibly not want a private tour?
After overhearing this madness, our hero, Salvin, a local guy who has lived in The States says to us, “Just get on this boat, it is going to Livingston.”
We thank him and climb aboard the little open skiff. We haven’t managed to change any money yet, but the “captain” is fine with a good old American twenty for the two of us.
12:15 PM On our way, leaving a very confused tour guide behind.
We chat, more like shout over the wind and engine noise, with Salvin and marvel at the incredibly dense jungle along the shore.
We’ve never seen palm trees this size. Fantastic.
12:45 PM Our little skiff arrives in Livingston and we head up the hill to see what we can find. By being so secluded, the town has kept it’s unique culture.
It has Gautemala’s highest concentration of Garifunu, descendants of Carib, Arawak Indians and West Africans, that ended up here after multiple trials and tribulations.
In 1635, two Spanish ships carrying Africans to the West Indies for the slave trade shipwrecked near St. Vincent. The survivors swam ashore on St. Vincent and settled among the Carib and Arawak natives.
Known as Black Caribs, they became the dominant population of St. Vincent until the British invaded in 1763.
Over the following years they were killed and scattered by the Brits until 1798 when the remnants were exiled to the Island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras.
From Roatan the Garifunu migrated to the mainland of Honduras and settled all along the Caribbean coast of Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
1:30 PM Livingston has an authentic, funky charm, we imagine it to be a lot like how the Caribbean islands must have been before they were so developed for tourists.
Other than the locals and a couple of British backpackers heading into Honduras, we seem to have the town to ourselves.
Wandering around, we find a very cool little hotel / restaurant built in a stair-step fashion up the side of the steep hill overlooking the bay.
Veronica had noticed it from the boat on the way in. Inside each level has a terrace with tranquil Caribbean views and no one else is here.
It’s like our own private balcony so we order up a couple of the local brews, Gallo. Gallo is the best beer ever made, or maybe it’s just the surroundings, either way, it doesn’t suck.
2:00 PM We are getting a little hungry and had read about the traditional Garifuna dish, Tapado, so we must find some.
It is a seafood soup with an entire fish, shrimp and whatever shellfish was caught lately, today it’s softshell crab, with plantain and / or green bananas in a coconut milk broth spiced with cilantro and a hint of hot peppers.
Most of the cafes in town offer it and Restaurant de Malecon looks as good as any.
(see more of our adventure in Livingston, Guatemala w/ more pics & video)
2:15 PM Our Tapado arrives with a couple more Gallos.
We’re still pretty sure it’s the best beer ever, but it has the good fortune of an amazing accompaniment.
We topped it off with a soup bowl of shrimp cerviche, also delicious, but could have easily shared the Tapado and been more than sated.
2:45 Uh oh, large crowds of tourists are invading, looks like the guided tour groups from the ship have arrived. On the upside, a traditional Garifuna band is brought in to entertain them.
The musicians play drums, a turtle shell, conch shell and maracas while chanting lyrics. It’s a very different sound, but entertaining as they are, there are just too many people here all of a sudden, so we bail.
4:00 PM There is no set schedule for the boats back to Puerto Barrios, they just go whenever they get a boat load of six or eight people, so we figure we’d better see about getting on one.
See more of our adventure in Livingston, Guatemala
3:30 PM By wandering down a road along the water, away from the main part of town, we come upon the fishing docks.
Actually, the overwhelming smell of fish led us here.
Through a tiny alley and we pop out on a dock that is completely covered with fish drying in the sun. They’re making saltfish.
Looking around, every dock is covered, there are thousands of fish. They are cleaned, split open, salted and laid flat to dry while the fishermen hang out in the dockside watering hole and come out to flip the fish every now and then.
No telling how many centuries this routine has been taking place.
4:15 PM After waiting a while, there’s still nowhere near enough people, just us and one other woman, we decide to ask if they might take us directly to the ship so we can avoid another cab fiasco.
They agree, for twenty bucks each, a bargain in our book. We bring the other lady along and drop her in Puerto Barrios on the way.
6:00 PM Back aboard The Norwegian Sun just in time for some sunset tapas on the top deck while the ship pulls out of port. A person could learn to like this.
8:30 PM There is Jeopardy in Dazzles Disco tonight. We’re not sure how it works or what to expect but we love Jeopardy, so here we are.
8:35 PM Anyone wanting to be a contestant writes their name on a slip and puts it in a bucket and contestants are drawn.
8:40 PM Veronica is the first one called.
8:43 PM David is the last one called. Ah, some good old fashioned competition.
9:24 PM End of double Jeopardy. Score: Veronica,12,000. David, 8,000. Other guy, 4,200.
9:27 PM Final Jeopardy. “In Rome, you can stand in these two countries at the same time.” Too easy, looks like Veronica will win.
9:32 PM Italy and The Vatican of course. Everyone gets it right, but Veronica pulls a reverse “Cliff Clayborn” by betting zero when she wasn’t ahead by enough to win. David bets it all… and wins! Veronica sucks at math.
David won a tote bag, FOUR keychains, a deck of cards, a tee shirt and BINGO cards for the big $5000 giveaway. We weren’t planning on BINGOing, but now we can play for free.
10:30 PM Last Jeopardy answer for the night: “This Fuzzy Towel Guy “quacked” us up.” Our response: “What is a duck?” Florence has lovingly nested him atop David’s hat.
10:00 PM Walking back to our stateroom we are stopped multiple times by members of the Jeopardy audience, we have become cruise stars. Heady stuff, this.
That’s not all! To see Part Two of this live-blog, click here
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
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