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Sunday, December 31, 2023

May 26, 2022 Sea Day

One problem with writing a daily blog after the fact is that you quickly forget anything you haven't memorialized in pictures.  So, this is going to be brief. 

I got up reasonably early (Cathy had been up for hours because she didn't sleep at all last night). We decided to go to the dining room for breakfast. We were seated at an aft table overlooking the ship's wake and given a huge breakfast menu. (Sorry no menu pics)

The menu we had compliments of Professor Cruise 

The menus on the other pages of this website seem to match the menu we had on our cruise. 

I ordered the Eggs Benedict with crabmeat.  Cathy ordered an egg platter.  We immediately noticed how stingy Holland has become with things like butter and syrup.  First of all, no more whole pats of butter, they now cut them in half and give you like 4 halves. Of course, always ask for more, if needed. And second, for an entire order of pancakes, you again get skimpy butter and syrup in a teeny container that was only a teaspoon or so. What? Again, tell them you need at least 5 of those or a big dish of syrup. Sheesh. 

After breakfast, the stomach games began for me. OMG I was so nauseous. Was it the food or just my wonky stomach? We will never know. 

But the sun was shining and as our ship was only sailing with about 700 passengers, deck chairs abounded! Of course, there were pool towels and wool blankets available. The temperature was close to 70, but still a bit chilly with the wind. 

And of course, there are always a few quite odd people on a ship. Here is one example:


The scenery was beautiful as we sailed north. 

We pretty much did a whole lot of nothing and just watched the beauty of the passing scenery!  I drank a lot of ginger ale and had a green apple and some broth for lunch. 

We 'shopped' for replacement clothing for Cathy in the ship store. Note to Holland America: Not every women that sails on your ships needs a size XXL, 2XL etc. The store had 1 pair of pants in medium. We begged them for crew clothing. Very, very sad. And the expense--OMG T-shirts, 2 for $40, hoodies $75. Insanity really, but when you have no clothes, your choices are limited. 

Cathy made the best of everything and certainly didn't let this ruin her trip. We were having a great time so far and talked to a ton of lovely people---all now know about the luggage situation and the cancelled flight drama!

We also discovered the Crow's Nest on the deck above the bridge. What a great place. A huge room with window walls on 3 sides. It was furnished with comfy chairs and ottomans facing the front of the ship. The side windows had tables for two.  In the middle of the room were sectionals, larger tables and a great coffee/regular bar.  The Caramel Lattes are THE BEST! (they are included if you have the drink package)  

That afternoon, the place was fairly empty, so we were able to snag two of the comfy chairs facing front. Another great way to watch the gorgeous scenery. 

As dinner time rolled around, my stomach wasn't feeling a dining room experience so we went to the buffet and just chose what we wanted.    

A little about the buffet:

  1.  You cannot serve yourself any food--you don't even pick up a plate. It's all served by the kitchen staff. 
  2. Everything that is served in the dining room is served at the buffet. 
  3. They have this lovely salad bar---again, served by the crew and it is amazing
  4. They have a separate dessert area that also serves ice cream in a variety of flavors and with several toppings. 
  5. There is a pasta bar and a poke bowl area along with fresh rolls and sandwich fixings. 
  6. When you choose a seat in the lido area, silverware and napkins are on the table and crew members bring you drinks---water, lemonade and iced tea are free.  They also serve bar drinks. 
I'm sort of sick of reading these stupid articles written by people, who I am convinced have never cruised giving people all this misinformation about cruising.  UGH

Now, I do normally prefer to dine in the dining room, but once in awhile, the buffet is a great choice. 

We did stop at BB King's lounge after dinner and the band was fabulous!  A lovely, intimate setting with comfy seats and booths, bar service and a large dance floor. It was soon to become our favorite venue!  Highly recommend! Best show I've seen on a ship! Their sets are about an hour long and that a perfect amount of time so you are then free to see and do other things on the ship!

Cathy and I did visit Guest Services to inquire about her luggage. It was our first encounter with Michael, the "leader" of guest services.  We were not impressed. He seemed unwilling to really do anything to help, other than say Cathy's luggage may be in Juneau.  Sigh

After a full day of beautiful scenery and lovely, unexpected sunny skies and warm temperatures, we headed back to our cabin. 


May 27th, 2022 Juneau, Alaska

Cathy, my early-bird friend was up and about for a couple of  hours before I got up. The ship was headed towards Juneau. We were expected to arrive about 11AM.  We had a very long port day too. 

Unfortunately, the excursion we had booked and paid for was cancelled. Sigh. Something about our timing and tides. But it ended up being just fine. We booked Mendenhall Glacier and a Whale Watch through the ship.  

We began our day in the Crow's Nest once again with Caramel Lattes and then switched to Bloody Marys.  Oh my were they tasty.  All of the chairs around the perimeter of the Crow's Nest were taken but we found a great table where we could see just fine. 

The scenery was getting more beautiful by the day.  We were just surrounded by snow-capped mountains. It was amazing. 

As we approached Juneau, we saw there were a couple of other ships in port. And the skies were still sunny and it was quite warm outside.  We watched as the ship docked in port and then made our way to the gangway to board our excursion. 

NOTE: there were plenty of tour operators in port where you could have booked a ton of different excursions.  We chose to stay with the ship because they refunded our original money back to our onboard accounts 

There were only about 25-26 people on this tour! We drove through Juneau and I saw at least 20 Bald Eagles just hanging out on the light poles. Mind-Blowing. 

When we got to Mendenhall Glacier, there was a nice visitor center and trails that ran all over the grounds.  We got fantastic photos.  


The second part of the excursion took place on a large, 3 story boat. We were told the boat could hold 250 people, but again, there were 26 of us!  Private Tour.  There was even a small bar and store that sold various kitchy kind of things. They served free coffee and donut holes. Of course, we had to have a shot of Baileys in our coffee!

We headed out into the sea in search of whales. The first thing you look for is the spray of water from the blowhole.  Then the whales usually surface. We had many sightings and even managed to capture a whale tail!   It was just incredible. The skies remained sunny and there wasn't a lot of chop on the water!  The tour was several hours long. 

The bus was waiting for us at the dock and took us back to the ship. I believe all aboard wasn't until 10:30.  We opted to get back on the ship about 8:30-ish.  It was too late to go to the dining room so we feasted in the Buffet instead!  

No food porn to share! Sorry!

No luggage for Cathy either. Our "helpful" Customer Service Manager, Michael, stated no one had notified the ship that luggage had been delivered to the small Juneau airport.  And he would not Email or contact anyone about it.  WTF? 

Interesting fact about Juneau. You can only reach the city by boat or airplane.  No roads outside the city!

The casino once again called my name! So, off to 3 card poker I went. I did pretty well and managed to get a straight flush and a few other decent payouts. So, this girl went back to the cabin in a very happy frame of mind!

We were honestly on the go from the time we got up until we went to bed. Eating drinking, dancing in BB King's, just overall having the time of our lives! 

It was a 'best day ever' kind of day!

jilly

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Curaçao 1-20-23 to 1-28-23

Sunset from our beach. 




We began our adventure Friday afternoon! We drove across Florida to the "other coast". We travelled on the Alligator Alley portion of the highway in the middle of the state, but we saw no alligators. There are only rest areas and a few places to put a boat into the water.  NO WAY!  I wasn't even comfortable on the highway itself despite a 6 foot chain link and barbed wire at the top.  

We made really good time and only got stuck on the way close to the hotel. Not a bad drive in order to get really cheap free tickets on American.  4.5 hours with one stop. 

I booked a Park n Stay at the Aloft Miami Airport. I've stayed in these hotels before and they seem to be a dependable quality. 

Our room:







We sat out by the pool with some drinks and watched the planes landing.  It was a gorgeous night!


On the way to the airport in Miami


Spent some quality time at the Admirals club before our flight. The bloody Mary's were fabulous.

Zero issues with the flight. It was a non-stop and took about 2 hours or so. I love looking at the clouds.


We had arranged a Private Transfer to the Resort. Turned out to be some janky old van, that Thank God, had a working air conditioner!

At the resort, we were ushered into a private air conditioned room and offered waters, juices or cocktails.  The paperwork was done in a fairly timely manner and we hired a bellman to take our luggage to the room. 

It was at the far end of the resort--a pretty decent walk.  All the restaurants are near the lobby. I'm pretty sure we walked at least 10 miles in the week we were there just to get something to eat.

And they also don't tell you the preferred rooms building has no elevator and there are 3 floors.  Thank God we were on Floor 2.  There is a separate infinity pool and bar for preferred guests only. 

Our room:



The pool and grounds around our building



The view from the beach.


We saw this boat regularly and when we asked one of the security guys what type of boat it was, he replied that it is a patrol boat watching the seas for drug smugglers.  Curacao is right off the coast of Venezala.!

I spotted this little guy in the bushes around our pool!

A couple of things about the resort itself:  They are constantly mopping, raking and just generally tidying up the grounds. The housekeeping folks were phenomenal!  Please tip them appropriately!  Every single day, they mopped the floors--including the bathroom. And the balcony outside our room was swept every day.   Tables, nightstands etc were all dusted. Even the glasses were viewed for cleanliness.  WOW

The mini-bar Man was named Santana. He brought us beer every day to fill our minibar.  As many as we wanted.  Such a nice man--I spoke to him about his life here etc... because you know, that's what I do. 

The other stand out person was Kenneth at our pool bar.  He is amazing and his drinks were fabulous. I will also mention him on my Trip Advisor review. Apparently, there is a contest every year for the best bar tender and he has won it 3 times.  Last year, the prize was a washing machine that he said he needed very badly!  Again, tip, tip, tip.

Now, onto the food. You will see no food pictures because the food was not very good. We went to various "premier restaurants" and NOTHING was ever hot. It was lukewarm, at best. Any meal. Finally, out of desperation, on Monday night we went into the buffet.  Glory be! The food was on steamer tables and it was very hot.  And the quality of most things was edible.  And that is the story of the food. We made our minds up to eat at the buffet and remove the food from the happiness equation as we knew we wouldn't starve. 

Some other minor things about the place. There were two bars that served "premium liquor."  The pool bar at our building and a bar in the lobby.  That's it. No place else.  And the best they had for example: Gin - Bombay sapphire or Beefeaters. Rum: Bacardi  Tequila: Some rotgut we never heard of that smelled like Pine Sol.  There are lots of local brands of the blue Curacao and other flavors. 

The pool bar closed at 5 pm and the Lobby bar opened at 5 pm but only until 11pm.  Whaaaaat?
But, being us, we learned how to work it. LOL  We'd order extra drinks from Kenneth at the pool and take them to our room for the minibar.  

As for beer selection:  It's the same all over the resort:


They also push the fact that there is a casino on the resort named Princess.  We went in there and it was a  throwback to early Vegas days. No free drinks. Mostly all slot machines ---and they are penny.  They had a few table games and roulette. Oh and there is a sports book area.  I was very disappointed. I'm missing 3 card poker. They didn't have that either. 

The best thing about this place is that you can snorkel right from the beach. We loved it and snorkeled multiple times. 

Monday we took a taxi into Willemstad to have a look at the town. First order of business was to visit the Pandora store to get a new charm! It's adorable. It says Curacao one side and had a pair of snorkel fins on the other side. This has significance because  Mr. F had never snorkeled before. I got him the full face snorkel for Christmas. That is really nice and easy to use.  Put it on, fall into the water and just breathe. 

They do offer shows of some type most nights.  None of it was interesting to us.  1 night, a trumpet player that plated for about an hour.  Another night a very small Carnival like parade. Most nights a DJ playing stuff but it was very hard to even get a seat near the stage. The area was very small.

We walked past the kids club.  It looked very nice and when we saw people there, they were always doing something with the kids. Outdoor playground and indoor more of a place for crafts and some sort of video games.    

Willemsted  - random shots around the city.  Very colorful place.  I liked it. 


This is a huge sign in the downtown area.  It sounds like it is spelled.  It has a bunch of different meanings.  DUSHI meanings

This is the famous pontoon bridge. It was very cool watching it open to allow boat traffic!


 

So many little alleys to explore!
     














On Tuesday, we met this awesome couple and hit it off right away!  We spent the afternoon talking to them at the pool.  They told us they had rented a car for 2 days and were planning to visit some very cools places on the island and did we want to ride along.  Well, that was easy---of course!

After a perilous ride in the backseat of our 'roller skate" looking rental and the GPS telling us to go down closed roads or turn where there was no rode, we finally found destination #1.  Turtle Beach

This is a must see.  Although we have no underwater photos of our snorkel, it was one of the most amazing things I've ever done.  You have to be there between 11 and 2.  That is when the little fishing boats come in with their catch.  There were men on the pier fileting the fish and throwing the remains into the water for the turtles.  

It is free to park and visit. Although immensely crowded.  There are vendors selling stuff and a bar of some kind.  We lucked out and found a spot right next to a vendor and she said we could park there for free.  (We bought a bunch of stuff from her on our way out---beach towels, beachy jewelry etc. 

Oh and if you wanted a chair, I think they were $3 American.  We rented one just to put all of our stuff on while in the water. There were a lot of turtles there. And you could just swim all around with them. It was magical!  I'm pretty sure we were in the water for about an hour. 





Next, we stopped at a beach that stated it was number 16 in a top beaches category. Grote Knip Beach.  It wasn't far from Turtle Beach---maybe 15 minutes. It was also very beautiful but quite crowded. This beach had rest rooms and a building selling food and beverages. 





And back we went to the "resort".  LOL We drank by the pool and ate our buffet dinner. 

The next day, we went to Tugboat Beach! It was in the opposite direction from yesterday.  Maybe about 20 minutes from our resort.  Again, there was no fee to enter or to park.  Beach chairs were $4 each. We just wanted one to put our stuff on while we were in the water.

Getting there was a surprise because we were very close to huge ships docked there. Commercial ones. 

This place was amazing! So kitschy. 








This is a real map showing where everything is located. And that sunken Tugboat is titled is shown there with an X marking the spot!

We all planned to snorkel to the wreck.  However, about two thirds of the way there, my snorkel broke!
The water was choppy and I wasn't wearing fins so I swam/floated my way back.  Mr. F came with me to make sure I didn't drown!  UGH
Our friends snorkeled the entire way out

As we walked to the parking lot. I saw this abandoned fort.  I think I read that island had like 19 of them all around the island

We took a small detour on the way back to the resort.  Mr. F wanted a pizza very badly.  (Nope nothing like that at the resort)  So, I looked on GPS and found a place that had decent reviews.  WOW  What a great place.  I highly recommend it.  It's more than just a pizza place. It's a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. The owner is Italian and he had a wood fired pizza oven! Oh yes he did!

The place is called Pizzaroni   ! Check it out!
Mr F was so happy!  We ate it back at the resort. 

There were so many iguanas on the property. They would come right up to the pool area to sun themselves.  Also, there was lizard poop on the pool decking.  YUCK 

People were freaking out when they were near.  Sheesh


Actually, some of us wanted to go to a place that served the best iguana soup, but we never got there. 
Next time!

Our last day at the resort.. 


Toes in the sand! Forget which day



A couple of things you do not want to forget:
Water shoes---it's very rocky
Sun Screen - I forgot mine and went to the gift shop to buy some.  OMFG, I almost had a stroke. $40 American for 1 bottle of 50 sunscreen.   

In summary, we had a fabulous time.  We just took the food part (except the pizza) and factored it out and enjoyed the week for all of the other reasons we had----good beach, snorkel from the beach and lots and lots of free drinks.  Add in the couple we met there and that made it even better for us. 

I would rate this resort a 3.  The all inclusive pricing was very overpriced for the experience. Although, we tried our best to get our money's worth with the alcohol.  hahahaha (true)  Mr. F rated it a 2.)

We loved the island though and plan to go back at some point. 

I can tell you that Hyatt now owns the property. We were told remodeling begins in 2024.  Hopefully they will bring it up to Hyatt standards. 

It sure feels great to be travelling again. 
And I promise to finish the blog for the cruise I went on in November....time just flies by

We have a Secrets resort outside of Cancun booked for November, but I know some additional travelling will be done before that!

tata for now.
jilly