MITSUGIRLYS DAWN TO BERMUDA NOVEL (or review and pictorial as some may call it)
Day 7: Sea Day
DAY 6 of the cruise - SEA DAY
I was up by 9:30am and hurried up to pick up my battery at the photo shop. They offered to charge my other one...and I just happened to have it on me...just in case. (Hey, I know I promised no more after last night, but they did offer so...I can't turn them down for such a nice offer).
I headed back upstairs and ran into a nice older couple on the pool deck and we got to talking for a good hour or so. Very lovely people.
I headed back to the room to wake up the family and the hubby had mentioned going to Blue Lagoon for breakfast one of these days and I figured today would be the perfect day to do so.
We were seated immediately and it looked like everyone in there must have had a late start because everyone was eating breakfast. hehe
I ordered the platter that came with eggs, bacon, sausage, a yucky friend tomato (I don't eat tomatoes), mushrooms and baked beans (I don't really care for baked beans and have never seen these eaten at breakfast before and I'm still wondering where this tradition came from...another North vs South thing I'm not aware of? Just weird to me) and hashbrowns.
Sakari ordered french toast, eggs and bacon. The hubs had an egg omelet (which had become his usual this cruise), bacon and sausage.
The food was delish and everyone chowed down.
EXCEPT!!!! These are supposed to be hash-browns? There was no hash left in that and all brown. I have to say that I also came across this problem a few times in the buffet too.
We headed up to the Bimimi bar for awhile to hang out. There was a nice breeze up there and I know we're on vacation, but we got to talking about "dreams" and the "future" which somehow lead to work and the business and what's in store for the future. LOL Sakari just sat there entertaining herself (she does quite well with this) while we talked for a good hour until we noticed her blank stare. Then decided we had better "do something with her" before she went off into a coma.
"Hey, how about we go swimming!" Woo hoo. She's game for anything involving water of course.
We headed back to the dinosaur land where we would be for several hours. Sakari managed to get daddy in the pool and she was making sure he didn't leave.
Meanwhile I was left to endure a lady standing beside with a very thick (what I would call) Boston accent and she was LOUD! Constantly yelling her kids names and yelling in general. I'm pretty sure that I looked up a couple of times with a glare that could kill. She was busting my eardrums. (Nothing against the Boston accent, my step dad was from Boston...it was all about her voice and the loudness that was annoying me). We stayed at the pool until around 1:40pm that day and knew the kids club would be opening up soon and we needed some "adult" time.
So what is adult time you might ask? The casino of course!
I immediately headed to "my game", aka The Rainforest game! Put a $7 voucher in it and hit the .60 button. Gotta start out slow and work my way up. Then .90 cents. Ok, a little better. Let's go for $1.50 and then I'll go back up to my normal $3.50 bet. BAM! Too late...I would never make it to the $3.50 bet because I just hit the bonus round of 7 free spins!!! WOO HOO. Those 7 free spins turned into over 100 spins and I had everyone watching me play. Yep, I won a decent amount and I couldn't wait to cash out and go brag to the hubby.
Not bad for only putting $7.00 in it. The hubby looked at me, I got a hug and I ask if he was doing any good at the craps table. His reply..."I have just been watching and haven't spent any money yet, but I'll make you a deal. I'll give you my $20 I was going to play and you go play your lucky game and if you double it, I'll play then." Ok...I'm up for it.
I inserted his $20 and 3 spins later...BAM...bonus round. I not only doubled his money, but after 3 spins and a bonus round, I cashed out and went back over to say "Here ya go babe!" The voucher was for $74.00 and I was gone maybe 3-5 minutes tops.
He stood there with his jaw dropped open and said "Ok, never mind...we're leaving". LOL It was a good night.
We picked up Sakari at the kids club at 4pm and headed to the room to get ready for....dinner at 5pm! What is this cruise doing to me? I feel like an old person on a routine eating dinner early to bed early? This is not like me. I eat dinner at home around 10pm and bed around 2-3am. (As a matter of fact, we are getting ready to leave for dinner right now and I'll have to finished this when I return...BW3 and wings...woo hoo). :p
Since I did so well at the slots, I thought we should celebrate, and by celebrate I mean of course free food, but at the MDR and dressing up a "little". LOL
We decided tonight would be dinner at the Venitian. I always liked to eat at this "aft" restaurant on some of the other ships with the arched windows. They are real pretty at Christmas time when they have each arch with a wreath on them.
Sakari was so fascinated with the candles at the table. When I told her they were not real, she ask "So they can't burn you?" LOL Then came up with this pose and told me to take her picture.
I got the chicken salad as a starter and it was yummy.
Daddy has something that looks like vegetable soup...but I can't remember what it was.
Sakari had her favorite on every ship...chicken noodle soup
For the main course...Sakari had....a pb&j and chips. Only at the MDR on NCL will you see someone eating a pb&j for DINNER! What is this world coming to? I just think it's so weird. I would never feed my child that for dinner...but I guess it's her vacation and when on vacation, I let her eat whatever pleases her for some reason. Still doesn't seem like dinner to me and I'm sticking to that!
I had the meat lasagna and it was fabulous!
For some reason I ask for a side of mash potatoes. I'm not sure why, I guess I was just craving some. Not like it goes with lasagna or anything. LOL
The hubby had some type of chicken dinner. He didn't say if it was good or not, but he cleaned his entire plate including the onion, so I'll let you be the judge of it.
The bread is always yummy and I have a habit of eating too much before our meals come out. The hubby told me something and I thought it was interesting...but I had never heard it before. (If you haven't guessed yet, we really don't go out to eat at fancy restaurants. I'm a cheap date and usually don't get into the fancy meals that I have no idea what the ingredients are in it or can't pronounce the name. I guess that's why I'm not a big meat eater either. Everytime I have tried something new, I was completely grossed out. The fanciest I get is Red Lobster or Japanese Steak house...like Tepanyaki LOL). So anyhow, he said that the reason they serve bread before a meal is to prepare your taste buds, or coat your stomach before a meal. I always thought it was to kind of fill you up so that it felt like your small portioned meal that comes out is bigger than what it is because you get fuller quicker. Any thoughts on this from the "fancy" crew? LOL
Now I do have to mention this...for the last year or two, every time we have went to the MDR, the service just seems to get slower and slower. If you have a show planned, you had better allow for a few hours before that to be able to finish a meal and make it to a show. I have seen many complaints for awhile about the slow MDR service. Yes, some people like to go and have a relaxing strung out dinner with good conversations and that's fine. I'm all for that...but normally not with children that are tired of sitting there.
HOWEVER...every time we went to the MDR, whether breakfast or dinner this time, we had excellent and fast service. It was timed just right. Maybe this is changing?
THIS particular time, we were seated right beside the little "stand" desk that the waiter stands at. He was ON IT the entire time. We have soda cards that we flashed to him when we sat down and I tell you what, he was bringing us REFILLS before we ever ran out of the glass before. Like seriously!!! I have NEVER had that happen. I have sworn that the waiter actually goes all the way to the bar on the 18th floor to get our sodas in the past. I can have an entire dinner "down the hatch" before they even get 1 glass out. This waiter was friendly, fast, efficient, and thinking ahead. Simply amazing! He would ask if we needed more bread. He would ask if we wanted more food..."You want more lasagna?" I have never been ask if I wanted more. Usually they ask if you want desert, but more of the main course? Unheard of. I just had to mention this.
I always get a picture of Sakari on the stairs after dinner. This would be no different.
Now let's talk about the Elements show. I remember the first time that I ever went to this show and I was simply blown out of the water. It was AMAZING! Like the best ever. The use of the entire theater and everything that went on... just wow.
The one thing I had regretted was that Sakari did not come with us to that show. We just knew she would have loved it and we had hoped to be able to bring her to one on the next cruise...but there wasn't an Elements show on it...or the next... or.... Is it only only certain ships? I have yet to figure it out.
However, once I knew it was on this ship, I knew she was hanging out with us whether she liked it or not. She would have to do without her friends for this show.
The placed was PACKED...like you could barely find a seat. We had to settle for seats that was kind of blocked by some of the props up on the stage, but it would have to do. I knew that they would have plenty of things for us to be able to see.
The show was amazing, but I do have to admit that it doesn't have the same effect on your after you have seen it once before because it's basically the same show and this kinda takes away from the "unknown". However, Sakari was just thrilled, as we knew she would be, and her favorite, of course, was the mermaids flipping in the air.
After the show was over, we raced to take Sakari to the kids club and headed to the Spinnaker to watch another show with Second City. Since we enjoyed the first one so much, we figured we might as well give this one a try too. There were no skits tonight and all improv and suggested by the audience. It was a blast! I laughed and laughed. :p
Up next was the White Hot party. :D
We have always looked forward to the White Hot party (especially when Kendra and I cruise together, we have a blast dancing the night away). However, the last few WHP have been somewhat of a bust.
Before the Getaway, we practiced all the popular dances and then they played Latino music all night. Sigh.
On the Sky they had it inside in a small venue and barely anyone danced. A few in between those cruises that I went without Kendra, it wasn't the greatest either.
This time, I just knew it was going to be better and we were heading out to it...on the pool deck.
I thought I had read that it started at 9pm, so by 9:01pm, we were out there. It was pretty dead, so I took pictures and we grabbed a table.
Then I found out it was the "family" White Hot Party. Ok, so maybe I should have brought Sakari to it since she loves dancing, but I really wanted to have some adult time dancing.
There was maybe 8 young kids there and about 5 counselors....dancing with the kids. They were doing "games" with them and the music would stop and they would have to freeze and then drop. This went on and on and on...would it ever end???
Ok, so 10pm...ready for it to start right? Nope, still nothing but the kids and games. Ok, I think I heard 10:15 the adult party starts right? Nope...still going strong with nothing but kids. SERIOUSLY? 1 1/2 hours of 5-8 kids dancing and playing games. Why so long? Why do you hold a party from 9-10:30pm just for the family party and then when 10:30pm hits for the adults, the kids have to be picked up from the kids club? Oh that's right, because you want our "sitting" money. Sigh.
Once 10:15pm hit and I knew that there was no end in sight for this to start before then, I had the hubby go to the kids club and sign Sakari up for the sitting services. I gave in, but what else could I do?
We had waited for 1 1/2 hours, we were staying dammit. They gave him a phone and said that they would call us if she needed picked up because the other kids left. Kendra used this phone to call them and tell them that Brayden would be staying too. That way "sissy" had someone to play with there, even if there were no other kids.
It turned 10:30pm and they announced they were going to crank it up and get the party going...thank goodness...finally.
It was time for the adult party...and the ice sculptures were almost melted into a glob that you could no longer tell what animal it was with wings...I'm pretty sure it forgot to attend NCL's "How to look younger" seminars.
The D.J was on the step up above the dance floor, the music was cranked up and the wobble song was on and the dance floor was hopping. We were having a blast. YES! finally real dance songs and what we had been waiting for. Then they played another favorite, but I can't remember what. But we danced our little hearts out.
Then of course once they have everyone out there having a good time, they always bring the "NCL dancers" out to do their little routine they do on every cruise ship.
Ok, done...now bring the music back. I don't care about seeing the dancers, I want to dance myself and have fun. Wait...what's this sound??? Why is this familiar music I know coming from a different area and the tempo sounds like that you would expect from a band on acid. I turn around and....it's the live band that played at the pool deck during the days. WTH? They played and attempted to sing, all the dance songs and all the popular songs in a beat that was so OFF BEAT, a little off key and so very very fast that you couldn't even dance to it. What is wrong with you people??? Put on the real music to the beat we can all stay alive to and actually dance.
We were so disappointed. We waited and waited and waited and got a good 50 minutes of this crap and decided to give up. If that's all the dancing we were going to get to do, we might as well pick up our kids and call it a night...a failure of a night.
The hubby had purchased a bucket of beer and he wanted to finish the one he had in his hand. Kendra went ahead and left and said she was going to the casino for awhile...it had to be funner than this.
About 2 minutes after she left...the band stopped playing and on came the real music again. ARE YOU SERIOUS??? My dance partner had just left and you put the dance music back on. I give up...let's go.
On the way to find Kendra at the casino (who I might add wasn't there), we discovered the hubbys room card was missing and instantly knew he had left it sitting on the table in the MDR. Drats! We headed down to customer service and they printed him another one off and "deactivated" his old card.
So back up to pick up Sakari from the kids club and she was already picked up by Kendra. I knew exactly where to find them...the buffet. Yep!
We headed back to the room for the night and our monkey was waiting.
Tonight we would change our clocks back and hour and gain an extra hour of sleep. Zzzzzzz
(Just a note, when we returned tonight, our room steward decided we were only worthy of 3 towels instead of the normal 4 we had been receiving all week. Sigh).