DAY 4 TORTOLA NOV 15

This would be our very first time in Tortola and I was excited about it because I had read so many things about the baths and just knew that it was a great photo opportunity.

Overview of the shopping area that NCL provides info on:

Our hours in Tortola was going to be 8-6pm. More than enough time for us to do the Baths on our own, instead of using a ship excursion.

I set my alarm for 6:30am and I immediately headed out on the balcony to check the weather situation.

It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day and it felt warm already.

Since it was a port day, we did our usual and headed to the buffet upstairs with Kolin & Courtney. Kendra and family was up, but still getting ready.

I decided to stand in line for the omelet and it was yummy.

After breakfast, we headed back to our room to grab some last minute things (camera's charging and our beach bags).

The sun was starting to peak out and Sakari was excited about it being our first beach day.

We gathered everyone up and was headed off the ship at 8am and posing for the paparazzi that awaited us.

During my research, I knew that we needed to head out of the port and to the left down the street to catch the ferry. Today we were headed to the BATHS! I had read how beautiful it was there and knew that's where I wanted to go for the day. However, we were going to do it on our own and off we went.

You can read my full review of our day there by clicking on the tab below

NCL is always welcoming you back to the ship and handing out drinks and ice cold towels.

We were back on the ship around 5pm and had a half hour to spare before we were supposed to be on. Go us!

After returning to the ship, we headed for the showers and we were still in port for a little bit after I got out.

I was going to hang out on the balcony for a little bit to try out my new feature on this camera...time lapse, when pulling out of port, but my belly told me otherwise. I did, for the first time, try it when we were pulling in, but only for a moment and it was not a good picture due to it was a little dark, the sun was reflecting on the water and I had some lens fog. But, I will go ahead and share it.

Remember that I did not have a tripod with me and had to hand hold the camera. So there is a blooper where I moved at one point or something happened.

We headed up to the buffet for a bite to eat... still with my foggy camera lens. I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture of the food.

The sun was setting and it was very pretty.

Sakari headed to the kids club for awhile. I think she had had enough of the adult drama for the day and needed to get away.

So we are both Platinum. With a Platinum status comes several "goodies" and one of those goodies is a dinner for two at a specialty restaurant x2 (one for me and one for the hubby).

We tried to get in to our favorite place La Cucina, but when we tried to book, using our phones, they showed full....FOR ALL WEEK! Seriously? I tried calling the reservation line...I was told the same thing. They did tell me that they could get me into Cagneys at 5pm tomorrow if I wanted and that was the ONLY opinion for the entire week. Well, Cagneys really isn't my cup of tea, so I told them I would let them know. Plus that didn't solve the problem that we are supposed to get two dinners.

So I decided to head down to Guest Services to discuss this problem. This is SO not like me at all. Usually I would just accept it and be done. However, I thought....why not give it a try and see what they had to say. I'm missing 2 dinners and 2 bottles of wine. I earned this status and don't even get to enjoy it because of this stupid big ship with too many people on it already having everything booked up. I had no idea it would be like this. I was very disappointed.

Once at Guest Services, I explained the situation and the disappointment in not being able to fulfill our Platinum dinners and bottle of wine. They told me to hold on and the representative went around behind closed doors. When he returned he now told me that they would be able to get me into Le Bistro (not exactly what I had wanted of course) at 5:30pm the following day. Everyone knows that we are "night" people and usually don't eat dinner until very late...like 10pm late. 5:30pm was going to present a few problems such as: This was a port day, which sailaway was at 2pm. We always come back from a port starving and eat at the buffet right away. I knew that we were not going to be able to hold out until 5:30pm to eat. Then the next problem would be that if we are to eat at 5:30pm, then we would be starving again around midnight. Ugh. But what choice did I have at this point? So, I took the 5:30pm time reluctantly.

I was told that I should call the reservation line at 5:30pm the following day, when they opened, to see if there were any cancellations or new openings. "Well, I'm supposed to be having dinner in Le Bistro at 5:30pm, how do you reckon I do that?" "Oh, that's right" he replied. "Well, try the next day". Sigh. I knew in my heart that this would be the only dinner we would be able to get with our Platinum status. I was disappointed and at this point, I never wanted to book another ship that was this big or this many people...ever again. I was really second guessing liking the bigger ships at all.

We went to the casino and donated some money for a little bit and I was just so over this day that we picked up Sakari early from the kids club and decided to call it a day.

Our towel animal waiting for Sakari that night:

The hubby would do a little bit of computer work and we were in bed by 10:30 after I completed our beach bag packing for the following day.