Friday 13th (aaaargh) Miami Twice
Up early,last brekky and lugged our own kit off the ship.
Easy transfer back to hostel. They wouldn’t let us in for 6 hours so we left
the bags behind the desk and went wandering, looking for an electric plug
adaptor. Walked all over South Miami Beach, found a nice place to have a Sushi
buffet for $9.95 that ended up costing $13 after they added tax (which pees us
off all the time here) and “automatic gratuity”. What - service charge for a buffet????? Next we
found the Museum of Erotic Art – a huge collection of paintings, sculptures and
native artworks, some of it hundreds of years old. The story was that some
young fellow asked his mother?????? to go and buy some erotic art for him and
she became interested and accumulated this collection.
We took the 25c local bus back, except J felt that she
hadn’t REALLY got her money’s worth so she went round again – except that the
bus ended at the terminus so she ended up walking home. Meanwhile I was
wrestling with the Electronic Cards From Hell – wouldn’t open our dorm, then
wouldn’t open the toilets then the dorm again
. . .
Ooooh . . if you get thirsty in Miami, stop off at the local
store and get a Gulp of Mountain Dew. This is a plastic cup like you get at
Maccas of HJs – just bigger. Or if there are 2 of you and you arer really
thirsty get a extra super Gulp or even a Double Gulp. This is 44oz of soda.
Small wonder there are so many GROSSLY overweight Americans.
and we wonder why we are overweight....
Most cop cars are the usual black and whites like you see in the movies. Loved this one.
We managed a pretty good sleep, despite the 4th
dorm resident turning up just as we were turning in.
Saturday 14th Transatlantic return crossing
I had arranged a SKYPE chat between J and Cass with the
girls for 8am. Luckily we woke early so that went off well. We took a taxi back
to the cruise terminal soon after 11 and got through the checkin quite quickly,
although not quite as easily as the last time.
It seems the ship (Norwegian Epic) is half empty – but the full capacity
is 4400!! That is nearly twice the size of the next biggest ship we have ever
been on.
They wouldn’t let us in the cabins until 2pm – and closed
off all the access doors to the cabin areas just to enforce it. We went up to
the buffet, which was good, and stayed up there until about 2. The cabin is
very nice. The shower and toilet are on opposite
sides of the entrance, followed by the handbasin. This can all be screened off
by a curtain (the partitions are of smoky glass). Then comes the wardrobe
opposite a long couch, a huuuuuge bed and the vanity with large tv and what
looks like walnut panelled cupboards. Then the balcony, which is a lot deeper
than usual. We look out over the top of the lifeboats and our balcony juts out,
which puts us in full view of the 7 floors above. We were unlikely to be
resorting to nudity anyway – we are on the port side, which will not get sun as
we cruise east.
Home for the next 11 days
There are 19 floors all told, although the top two are
pretty much taken up with the Posh Club and The Haven, which seem to be the
Norwegian equivalent of Cunard’s Princess and Queen’s Grills – little enclaves
where the rich and snobbish disport themselves.
We had a boat drill almost immediately. No lifejackets
required and we just sat in the theatre while the crew did their thing (I bet
THEY get in the boats!). This exactly 100 years to the day since the Titanic
went down (during an Atlantic crossing :{
The ship is built around the concept of Freestyle Cruising.
So no huge dining rooms or theatres. The emphasis is on a number of alternative
venues for eating and entertainment, where and when you want. So there are no
fixed meal settings and the Welcome Aboard show was performed in several
different locations and televised around the ship. We sat in one of the night
clubs where there was a comic magician (very gay like so many of the
passengers) and a musical duo which included one of Lionel Richie’s band . They did Rock the Boat and something
else.
We have booked seats for The Blue Men tomorrow night and the
magician the night after. There is also an onboard Big Top where they have
performances by Cirque Dreams, and a number of comedy club, piano bars etc. It
will be interesting. There are 10 speciality restaurants where there is a small
cover charge and some of the shows are payable also. We ate dinner in the
biggest restaurant, where most of the people were at tables for 2, which is
unusual, then went to the trivia quiz and the welcome show, then went back to
another restaurant for dessert and coffee. On the way, we picked up Dieter,
whom we had met on the cruise to Rio. He was ex-airline and knows all the
capital cities and airport codes.
And so to a very comfortable bed.
Sunday 15th
Mid-Atlantic
It seems we are heading for the Bermuda Triangle! We lost an
hour overnight and will have to lose a few more before we reach Barcelona.
Didn’t sleep that well – J has a sore throat, which must have some sort of
causal relationship with the raucous snoring ;) We didn’t wake until 8.30 – so
there went all the plans of early morning gym activity. The gym is huuuuuuuuge.
More of that later. It isn’t an easy ship to find your way around and there are
none of the huge open areas that you get in the other ships. No multistorey
atrium and no extravagant staircases. But there ARE escalators – which we have
never seen at sea before.
We started with the morning quiz, put in an hour in the gym
– so many machines (about 30 joggers and cross trainers etc in each of 2 rows
facing the sea) plus whole areas for Pilates, weights spinning etc. We did
light lunch in the buffet, where they have an excellent spread of greenery and
other healthy salads.
Afternoon trivia, which was run by the English girl and
included about 10 British questions, somewhat to the dissatisfaction of the
Yanks. J then did the line dancing, which was a bit cramped for my liking. I
had been happy to find that somebody had handed in my new bracelet that had
cost me $1.50 in Miami. I missed it last night and collected it from the desk
after lunch.
We signed up for the progressive trivia, which accumulates
points for the rest of the cruise. We merged with another 4 Yanks, from Maine,
who were on a team with Dieter before. They just told us that the team name
would be Mainiacs (yuk yuk) which may bode towards the leadership style.
Certainly a team of 9 will pose interesting dynamics if there are more than one
answer put up.
We again managed 2 courses at dinner (plus coffee) before
heading off for the comedy impro act (yeah interesting rather than hilarious).
Then we caught the Motown couple performing in the Atrium, which was drawing a
big crowd and the inevitable Japanese dancers. We arrived early for The Blue
Men Group, which packed the theatre. Very different. Deafening drumming, bright
lights, streams of paper ribbons (fire hazard?) paint spraying everywhere, and
some drawn out significant pauses. There were a couple of idiots who felt obliged
to yell out loud and inane comments or simply the ubiquitous and mindless
Wooooooo. Another hour lost tonight.
Monday 16 April
We had the alarm on for stretch at 7.30 but we still woke up
at 8.35 again. The sea is smooth as glass (although not quite as flat). There
were a number of dolphins next to the boat which we watched briefly during
breakfast. There was hardly anybody there for breakfast and we just scuttled
downstairs for morning trivia, which was strangely quiet . . . seems there was
no time change last night!
We are still enjoying the food. Apart from smoked salmon
every day, they even have pre-made Eggs Benedict. And the OJ is the best. And
cranberry juice and iced tea and . . .
They have a participation incentive plan combined with
trivia winning points – you get a point for being in the trivia or golf putting
or walk a mile etc. So we did all those. We do well at trivia but usually
finish 2nd. Today we corrected 2 right answers!
The big progressive quiz started today – what a farce – the
topic was airlines so we watched Dieter trot out 20 correct answers after
recognising tailplane artwork, including Solomon Islands, Alaska, Air China,
Gulf Air etc. The next highest score by the teams of 10 was 13! Some of the
other categories will be similar. Oh well.
The boat has an Ice Bar, where the temperature is minus 55F.
That’s cold! You have to pay $20 to go in, which might get you a free drink but
no thank you anyway. We have to decide whether we want to go and see the
aquatic Cirque Dreams for $20, which includes a free dinner. Who needs a free
dinner on a cruise ship?
We joined a Swedish couple at music trivia and Dieter came
along. Second as usual. They served lobster for dinner, which was interrupted
by a detour to Bermuda to drop a seriously ill passenger. We detoured towards
the largest island and met the pilot boat offshore. This necessitated entering
their territorial waters and therefore closing the casino. Not sure if they
closed the shops. The handover took place just before sunset – the pilot boat
came alongside but the apparently small swell was causing a big variance and we
had to stop almost completely. Eventually they came in again and a lifeboat was
lowered almost to water level. Not sure if the patient was in the boat or if
they came out through the embarkation door. An old lady was helped across onto
the pilot boat, followed by some luggage and then a stretcher was transferred
and the pilot boat took off. We had noticed the lifeboats during our morning
walk – they hold 297 passengers, which is double the size of the other boats we
have been on recently.
We watched a number of bands around the ship and they ran a
Deal or No Deal game as well. We finished off at the comedy/magician’s show.
The couple from Nevada waved us down to join them in the front row. They had
gone down there because they thought Dieter wanted to sit there, but when he
came he refused to sit up there. He can be very shy sometimes. The show was
quite good – simple tricks with a lot of Dame Edna patter and a lot of camping
it up.
Tonight we really are losing an hour.
Tuesday 17 April
What a morning. Despite losing the hour, we were in the gym
by 7, joining in the stretch and relax class at 7.30, eating highly deserved
eggs benedict with delicious chilled OJ at 8.00, walked a couple of miles on
the track next to the lifeboats on the windward side, which was a bit damp, won
the morning trivia, played shuffleboard which was dry but WINDY – 3 of us had
to shove the heavy door open. We so sucked at shuffleboard but we won a tick on
our cards anyway. Similarly for darts (C) and napkin folding (J). Then there
was a trivia session in the dining room- the questions were all about Norwegian
Cruise Line, which was really a bit of free advertising, but the prizes were
good. Dieter won (and is becoming infamous) and has offered to share his prize
dinner in the Bistro restaurant with us J,
J won one of the other prizes and scored a bottle of champagne. So now we are
showering and heading for lunch.
The morning quiz was interesting. We should have scored 19
but the question about the famous ship in Pirates of the Caribbean had us
guessing. We started with the Black Pearl but then switched to the Flying
Dutchman, which is more famous. Uh uhhhhhhh. So we ended up in a 3 way tie.
Unusually, the host decided to go for tiebreakers. Everyone got the first
question and the second one “which river is closest to Balmoral” had to be the
first correct answer shouted out. Almost immediately, Dieter pops out with
“Dee”, which was correct. How the hell would a German know that? Not that we
are complaining.
We cleaned up the afternoon cumulative trivia, again with
full points 21/21 famous faces. Just to complete the perfect day, we ran away
with the evening trivia too. We took in the Classical Graffiti act in the
evening – string quartet playing highly energised and comedic classical music.
This ended a hectic and highly successful day. We even managed an afternoon
nap.
Wednesday 18
No afternoon nap today, although I did manage to get some
laundry done. Stretch, eggs benedict, walk some miles, won shuffleboard!!,
darts, Big salad lunch, we won tri-bond with the Maine couple (20/20) full
marks 40/40 for the cumulative trivia (famous landmarks – Dieter HAS been
everywhere – the rest of the teams are beyond looking desperate) Won evening
trivia (tied) . Went to watch the a capella Motown group (hmmm) gym and legends
in concert (tribute to Elvis, Madonna (pant) and Steve Tyler (no I hadn’t
either). About to lose another hour. The days are just rolling by.
Thursday 19 Mid atlantic
The repeated time changes finally caught up with us. We woke
at 9.10 and went straight to breakfast and the trivia. Thence to darts which
was interesting. The game today was first to 301 exactly – no need to end with
a double. J was a reluctant starter and only joined to earn a point. I threw
some lucky trebles and shot to a big lead over the field of 20 odd. I ended up
needing to hit 20 to win. First dart straight into the 60, which I had been
aiming at until then but had not hit. Next turn I hit the 1 and was left with
19. Third turn, while everyone else caught up, I hit the 38 and went bust
again. Meanwhile J had some good turns and needed 19 as well. But somebody else
needing 28 hit 8 and 20 and won.
We watched part of a movie about Rembrandt, lunched and
turned up for the progressive trivia. The rules specified that if any team
withdrew their points would be allocated to another team chosen by drawing
lots. I guess it is designed to keep the contest open if any one team is dominating,
as we have. We only scored 17/20 today on the movie section, thereby losing our
first points. One other team inherited the 13 points from the team that quit
and the American woman just kept on being petulant and brattish, which
embarrassed the rest of us and probably increased the risk of another team
quitting and making their points available.
Almost immediately there was the evening trivia, which we
won again then dinner and we went to watch a second performance by the
improvisation comics. They were pretty good but the art form does not really
produce thigh slapping humour. I got into the gym for the first time while J
who wasn’t feeling too good had a bit of a nap. By 11 she was up to going to
see the hypnotist, who was entertaining. He is running a lose weight seminar
tomorrow. We just gave up the 4th hour and getting up might be
tricky tomorrow.
Friday 20
Not that bad actually. J wasn’t that swish but I made
stretch and we both walked (sedately) after brekky. Really getting quite
addicted to Eggs Benedict. We did shuffleboard/darts respectively, quiz, lunch,
music quiz (won) then declared early
afternoon rest before the big quiz. Album covers - we did well with probably our weakest area,
staying 11 clear of the pack. Won the evening trivia then tried the other
restaurant in the Atrium – same menu just different locale and slightly quicker
and less formal.
Raided the shops for the jewellery special, watched the
sunset at the back to the tune of the 1812 overture – must try it in the spa
when its warmer. Passenger talent show in the Atrium.
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