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Old 5 Sep 08, 06:10 PM  
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Tink's 3 Night Wonder Cruise August 2008

I've posted these on the main trip report board but here's the cruise part

Cruise Day 1 - 14th August 2008

So here we are about to embark on our first cruise and I must admit to some trepidation. When I booked this cruise and in the months in between, I surfed the net for all those must do cruise tips and to learn the art of Yo-ho-ho ing, I didn’t give motion sickness a second though but now as I wake up on the morning of the cruise it’s a big worry.

Now some of you, who’ve read my trip reports will know that I’m a complete wuss when it comes to rides and we’re not even talking really hard rides here. Goofy’s Barnstorming roller coaster leaves me woozy and when I went on Jimmy Neutron, I spent the entire ride staring down at the floor and that was even sitting in the stationary seats. So rolling about on the high seas was starting to get me worried. Never mind, it was too late now to do anything about it and at least Fay was not going to impact the cruise.

Steve only found out that we were going on the cruise a few days ago, initially he was decidedly under whelmed but today he was really looking forward to going and as excited as the rest of us.

We were up dressed and out of the villa by half 7 and making our way to Bob Evans for hot cakes all round (and with the amount of hot cakes we’ve eaten on this trip we’re all starting to look a bit round.) We were back on the road after breakfast and according to the Garmin, we’d be at Port Canaveral for just after 10am. True to his word, we were pulling up at the port at 10:06am.

We were all excited with our first view of the ship and even more excited when we went up the stairs to the terminal and were given one of the No2 boarding cards which meant we’d be some of the first families on the ship. I took a few photos of an empty terminal



The time passed really quickly as we checked out the terminal and had a few photo’s taken with Mickey & Minnie.





We checked in at 11:30 and were boarding the ship at just after 12. We were impressed with our first view of the ship and loved the way they announced us as we boarded. We headed up to the Beach Blanket for some lunch and then the kids went into the Mickey Pool although I think Aodhan was expecting something 6ft deep and wasn’t impressed when it only came up to his knees.



There was a small shower, so we got the kids dry and went for a look around the ship.





We went to find out state room which was 6558 and just off the mid ship elevators and in a great location. We did find the room small and you couldn’t have two people moving around at the same time but we managed. Our luggage was delivered quickly and I unpacked and we all showered and changed before it was time for our safety drill. It was hot and humid but luckily it was cloudy which made it at least bearable.

We took our life vests back to the room then went up to deck 10 to watch the sail away party on deck 9 below. We all had a great time and I got my first Bahamas Mama of the trip

Niamh had a non alcohol cocktail and insisted that we get a collection of different colour cups. I’m sure I can manage to do this










We sailed away at 5pm and soon it was time for us to head to dinner. Our first night was Parrots and we had to be there for 5:45pm and meet our server Vijay who was really nice. Dinner was lovely but as I’m typing this 2 days later at the Beach Club, I can’t remember what we had. I do remember that the kids were eager to check out the kids club so as soon as they’d finished their dinner I dropped them off then went back for desert.

When we finished dinner Steve and I went up to the coffee bar at Coves which was to become a favourite haunt for us. We sat on some comfortable chairs watching the ocean and just chatting. Now I guess I’d better let you know how I was getting on with the motion sickness. I’d taken one of motion sickness tablets I take for the flight and I was absolutely fine, with one small glitch. As long as I didn’t look out of one of the windows, sorry portholes while I was walking along inside the ship I was fine, but if I glanced out at the sea racing past I felt woozy. Up on deck sitting in the chairs facing the ocean I was fine. Anyway, there was Steve and I chatting, deciding if we’d do anything later when we got paged. It was about half 8 and Niamh wanted to leave the club. We collected her and Aodhan and went back to the room. She was really weepy and I think she was just overwhelmed with all the new things she’s had to deal with today. She didn’t want to do anything else tonight and needed some down time so we all got into our PJ’s and watched some TV before falling asleep at 10pm.




Continued...
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Old 5 Sep 08, 06:11 PM  
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Cruise day 2 - 15th August 2008

Cruise day 2 - 15th August 2008

2 bells and all’s not well.

It seemed like I’d only been asleep for a few minutes when I was woken up by a really loud noise, it sounded like someone with an industrial sandblaster and they were sandblasting directly above the room. It was very, very, very loud and went on and on. I didn’t want to ring to find out what it was as the kids were still asleep but Steve and I were wide awake. Eventually the sound started to fade and we thought that was it but it came back again after a few minutes. I’d say we were awake from about 2 - 4:30am when it finally stopped. We were awake again at about 7am and Steve and I were both shattered. There was no way we could put up with this for the next two nights so once I was dressed I went down to guest services to see what they could do taking a few photo’s on the way.

When I mentioned cabin 6558 and noise, they didn’t seemed at all surprised and said they’d speak to someone to try and sort it out and could I come back again a little bit later. I went back to the cabin and took a few photo’s as we came into Nassau.







Meanwhile Steve decided to get a tattoo



We went to the Beach Blanket for breakfast which was lovely and when we’d finished I dropped the kids off at the club as there was some activity that they wanted to do and then I went back to guest services. I was told that the noise was caused by a service pipe running up behind the wall in our cabin. The pipe was used to carry all the water used to power wash the decks during the night and this is what caused the noise. They said that although the ship was almost full, they had a cabin for us on deck 7 that was forward and away from any noise. I was told to pack our stuff and as soon as that was done to call guest services and someone would come to move me to the new room and bring the new room keys.

I told Steve that he might as well head up to the adult pool and I’d see him there as soon as I’d changed rooms. I was packed and called guest services by about 20 past 9 and when no one had come after half an hour I called again, all the while getting more and more stressed with all the hassle. Guest services called me about 10 minutes later to see if anyone had come, but no one had. They called again 5 minutes later and said some one should be there imminently, just as they called there was a knock on the door and a porter was there. The only problem was he didn’t have my new room keys so we couldn’t get into the new room. I made another call to guest services, they said to let the porter go with the luggage and someone would be right up with the new keys. The girl I’d originally spoken to arrived about 5 minutes later and we went to the new cabin, which was on the other side of the ship.

As soon as I walked in I could smell cigarette smoke and it was obvious that someone had been smoking in this room. That was the last straw and I know it’s stupid, but I got really upset and was sniffing back the tears. The CM called the room steward who said that the people next door smoked on their balcony and the smell just drifted in. He sprayed some febreze type stuff and said that would sort the problem. To be fair to him he was really helpful and probably a bit embarrassed that I was so upset but we‘d waited so long for this cruise and nearly didn‘t make it because of my dad‘s cancer and when we were finally here we got this hassle.

Anyway I dried my eyes, unpacked a few bits and then went up to Steve on the pool deck. It was about half 11 and as well as still being shattered from last night, I’d wasted a whole morning faffing around sorting out the room change. Meanwhile, as the ship had docked in Nassau, quite a few people had got off and it was lovely and peaceful on deck. I got in the Pool and there was probably only 4 or 5 other people in there. I got out and dried off on a lounger, then Steve & I had a coffee from Cove coffee bar.



We went to collect the kids to see if they wanted lunch, which they did, so we went to the Beach Blanket where we had another lovely meal and some yummy deserts. The kids wanted to go back to the club but when we got there, their group were just about to start a treasure hunt down at Route 66, so we raced there and they joined in.

Steve came back to look at the new room and agreed that it smelled strongly of smoke. Our room steward was around and again asked if I was OK, which was nice of him. Steve and I went down to guest services where Joshua came out to speak to us. He was very sympathetic to our problem and also offered us the use of an additional inside cabin. It seemed they had some crew members friends staying in the room and they were willing to move them for us. To be honest with the kids autism we’d all need to stay together and for all the use the extra room would get we didn’t feel it was worth it to get the other people to move (even though they’d probably got the room for next to nothing.) My guess is that some more “friends” were in our room originally which is why it smelled of smoke when we got there as there was no way it would smell that bad from smoke drifting in from the balcony next door.

Joshua said he would take care of things for us at the end of the cruise and in the meantime he gave us some vouchers for floats, snorkels and bikes at Castaway Cay and sent us a signed photo from Captain Jack and Lilo and Stitch. While it was a nice gesture it really didn’t make up for all the hassle and disappointment we’d had.

I had an appointment in the Spa for a pedicure and they give you a form to fill out which asks you to rate your stress level on a scale of 1 – 10. I put mine at 10 and when I explained why to the lady booking me in, she arranged for me to spend about 15 minutes relaxing on the heated ceramic chairs in the rainforest room. That was lovely and did help bring my stress levels down.

The pedicure was lovely and I had a great chat with the beautician about life on a ship. When I’d finished I met up with Steve and we went for a walk around the ship and again ended up in Cove coffee shop where we just chilled and chatted. We collected the kids about 4 and took them back to the room for them to chill for a while. We were eating in Tritons tonight and Steve had already decided he was having escargot so Aodhan couldn’t wait to see his Dad eating them at dinner. Niamh on the other hand wanted to go back into the kids club so we got ordered room service burgers and fries for her and some extra fries for Aodhan. We dropped Niamh back at the club then the three of us headed in to dinner where we bumped into this fellow.





Unfortunately the escargot didn’t come in the shells as we thought so Aodhan was deprived of his “fun” watching Steve eat them. We had a nice dinner again and when we finished Aodhan just wanted to go back to the room as there was an episode of Zak and Cody on a cruise ship and he wanted to watch it while he was on a cruise ship. I knew that Niamh’s group were in the movie theatre so I went so see how she was. She wanted to leave when she saw me so I signed her out and we went back to the room.

I took a couple of photos as the ship left Nassau







They were setting up for the pirates party but neither Aodhan or Niamh wanted to go and Steve and I were still feeling the effects from our sleepless night so we watched some TV then settled down for hopefully a good nights sleep.

Continued...
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Old 5 Sep 08, 06:11 PM  
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Cruise day 3 - 16th August 2008


Apart from a few kids running up and down the corridor we didn’t hear any other noise and all had a great nights sleep. We woke at about 7am and as we came in to dock we got our first view of Castaway Cay. If we’d been in our original room we’d have had a great view but as it was we just got to see the landing area. Never mind, we were looking forward to this day and after an early breakfast we were one of the first off the ship at 8:30am.



It was a very hot day and even with the tram ride we were still sweating by the time we got to the family beach. I got some chairs under an umbrella and with a hammock and once we’d stowed our stuff we were all in the incredibly clear sea. There were 100’s of Minnows swimming in the shallows and also some larger fish swimming about.



The kids swam out to the platform and had some great fun jumping in from it.



All to soon it was time for their glass bottom boat trip so I sent them on their way. I then thought they’d better have a drink and so I got them one each and walked down to the place where the boat tour met. It was really hot now and they were glad for the drink. When they left I walked back to the shop and bought a postcard plus a Bahamas fridge magnet and took a few photos on the way







I thought I’d get the tram back to the post office to send the post card, when I got there I realized I needed cash and thought I didn’t have any so I set off walking back to the beach (dopey me did have some $$ in my camera bag.) By now I was starting to feel weird and a bit woozy and thought I’d given myself sun stroke. I called in to the first aid station and it turned out that, I didn’t have sun stroke but I did have something called sea legs. Basically my brain was still bobbing about as if it was on the boat, I took some motion sickness tablets and I was fine not long after that.

I saw the lads boat sailing back while I was in the ocean and soon enough they were back and swimming too. They said the boat tour was great and the kids were allowed to sit on the glass bit which they thought was brilliant.

We did some more swimming then went to Cookies for our lunch, which was lovely. I had a cocktail in one of those cool coconuts and Niamh had a smoothie. Steve got onto the hammock as gracefully as he could and had a snooze while the kids and I stayed in the sea.



I could see that they’d had enough sun so we reluctantly headed back to the ship at about 3ish while Steve stayed on the hammock. On our way back to the ship we posted the card (now that I found the $$) and once back on board we stopped on deck 9 where Niamh had a few goes on the slide and Aodhan had an ice-cream and I took a few photos





Back in the cabin, we showered and changed and then watched Steve walk back to the ship.




Niamh and Aodhan wanted to go into the kids club so I dropped them off while Steve got showered and changed. We went for a coffee at Cove and then went to see the kids in the show.



As expected it was too loud for Niamh so she and Aodhan stayed in the Oceaneers Club and we went to collect them from there. We set off for our last dinner at Animators and we’d all been looking forward to this. It didn’t disappoint and we loved the show at the end.

We gave our servers their tips and said our fond farewells.




Niamh didn’t want to see any of the shows as they were much too loud for her, also she was very tired so we went back to the room where I finished the packing and we left our cases outside the room ready for collection tomorrow.


Leaving the Boat 17th August 2008

I’d set a wake up call for 6:15am as our breakfast was at 6:30 but as it was I was awake from a great nights sleep at 6am. I could have sunggled down for some more sleep but I knew we had to get up. Mickey called and said “ Oh boy there are big doings going on” His chirpy little voice got us going (once I resisted the urge to hurl the phone over the side of the ship) and we had to get up after that, just to see what those big doings were. We were in breakfast for 6:45am and as we were leaving at half 7 we saw people being turned away who had only just turned up for their breakfast

We went back to our cabin for the last time and collected our belongings before leaving the ship. We were off and in our car by 8am and the Garmin had us arriving at the BCV just after 9am
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Old 5 Sep 08, 06:51 PM  
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What a lovely detailed report thanks Jackie! Loved reading that, it really took me back.

Sorry you ahd the room problems though, how frustrating for you, I felt really bad for you, especially after all the hassle of moving and then having all the cigarette smoke smell... yuk!:angry:

Anyway, thanks for posting that...does it seem ages ago now?
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Old 5 Sep 08, 07:10 PM  
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Originally Posted by ANGEL View Post
...does it seem ages ago now?
It does but looking at the pictures has brought it all back
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Old 5 Sep 08, 07:45 PM  
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Fantastic report Jackie. Makes me very excited about our cruise next year. So sorry about your room problems, I have made a note of that room number and fingers crossed we won't get it.

Couple of questions if you don't mind.

Is all the food and drink on the ship included? I know alcohol wouldn't be but what about the room service?

Also how secure were the kids clubs? Harry will be 8 and Freddie nearly 7 when we go and I think they would enjoy them but I don't want to worry myself sick about them.

At dinner did you have to share your table with another family? I hear they do this for smaller parties but I would prefer not to as I would find that awkward.

Thanks Jakki and glad you had a lovely time. xx
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Old 5 Sep 08, 08:05 PM  
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Could of questions if you don't mind.

Is all the food and drink on the ship included? I know alcohol wouldn't be but what about the room service?
Almost everything was included except alcohol and the specialty drinks (like Niamh's frozen non alcoholic cocktail) and the coffee that Steve and I had in the Cove (you can get coffee at the drinks station but it was awful) and any soft drinks ordered at a bar

Room service is free (except if you ask for bottled water or soda) all you have to do is tip a few $$

Also how secure were the kids clubs? Harry will be 8 and Freddie nearly 7 when we go and I think they would enjoy them but I don't want to worry myself sick about them.
They are extremely secure, the kids are given wristbands when you first check them in and you can't get them in or out of the club without your room key and a password. When they do activities around the ship there are plenty of camp councilors with them, one of whom has a laptop with her so she can check the kids in or out for you. There is family time on the first night so that you and DH can checkout the facilities and see what it's all about and if the boys want you at any time you'll be paged

Honestly Leanne don't worry at all, the club lays on such great activities that the boys will be happy to be there and you an DH can enjoy some time together.

At dinner did you have to share your table with another family? I hear they do this for smaller parties but I would prefer not to as I would find that arkward.
I put in a request for a table on our own because of the kids autism but when we checked in we found we were sharing with another family. I asked about changing and we were able to arrange it on board.
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Old 5 Sep 08, 08:15 PM  
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Thats great information, thanks mate.

I think the kids will love the kids clubs as they love all that and enjoy making new friends. I doubt I will be able to get Harry out of there!

Good news about the food and drink, makes the price of the cruise excellent value.

I will put a request in for a table on our own. Its not the end of the world if we have to share but knowing my luck I would get the family from hell!
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Old 5 Sep 08, 09:55 PM  
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thanks for sharing your trip really enjoyed reading it and seeing the pictures

sounds like there was some good and bad times

i've gotta say your two youngsters were very brave and well done to them for taking part in the kids club, that's a great acheivement, you must be very proud

my two asd children found life onboard a little overwhelming to say the least so we never got anywhere near the kids clubs, but despite that we still had a great time

note to self though next time i must promise myself some of that pampering and maybe a quiet coffee away from the terrible twosome it would maybe help bring my stress level down a bit?
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Old 5 Sep 08, 09:59 PM  
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Great report Jakki (as always). That was a real nuisance with the room, but other than that it sounds like you had a pretty good time. The kids seem to really have enjoyed the kids club and that was nice to give you a bit of freedom too. I've never had any wish to do the cruise before but looking at your photos makes me want to try sometime.
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