This was my fifth cruise. I have previously cruised on the Spirit, Inspiration, Victory, and The Valor. My parents have been on the Paradise, Elation, and Monarch of the Seas. We flew from Salt Lake City to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night and stayed at the Plantation Hotel. It was a dive. Don't stay there. We rented a car at Alamo.Saturday Oct 20
We drove to Miami and dropped the car off at Alamo. We took the Alamo shuttle to the seaport. Since my mom has to be in wheelchair because she has Multiple Sclerosis, we got to the front of the line and were on board by 1:30 pm. We stayed in cabin 8278 on the Veranda deck, but we prefer the Rivera deck, because it doesn't rock as much. We had the 6:15 dining time and were at table 173 in the London dining room. We sat with a couple from Texas, and a couple from Missouri. Our head waiter was Yudi, and he was very friendly. Each night he called us by our names and was very fast and helpful. This was the first dining room, where the lights only dimmed and didn't blink. After dinner, I went to watch TRIVIA: SOMETHING ABOUT NOTHING hosted by the social host Chris. After trivia, there was Latin DANCE CLASS to the song "Copacabana" taught by one of the male dancers. After that we watched GAME SHOW MANIA hosted by social hosts Chris and Amanda. Then we saw the WELCOME ABOARD SHOW, where we met the cruise director Brad Calabrese, the singers, the dancers, the Assistant cruise director Bonnie, and the other social hosts Paula and Murie. The comedian Mike Panzeca was hilarious.
Sunday Oct 21
After breakfast on the Lido Deck, we went to TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE TALK hosted by Brad, since we had never been to Grand Turk before. THE NEWLYWED NOT SO NEWLYWED SHOW was quite interesting. For the first time in the five cruises I've been on, a same sex couple was chosen in the drawing for the newlyweds. This was the first formal night. I tried the Spaghetti Carbonara in the dining room, and it was very good. WONDERFUL WORLD is the better of the two shows. This was also the first night that we smelled the sewage smell that I have read about in the reviews. It's mostly in the Lounge and the decks surrounding the Lounge.
Monday Oct 22
In the morning we went to MUSIC TRIVIA, SEA FUED, and IN THE BAG. We were in SAN JUAN from 5 to 12, so we just got off the boat for a couple of hours and went shopping near the port. Since we were during the evening, the dining room was open seating from 5:30 to 8:30. We went to the Austin Powers DANCE CLASS taught by one of the female dancers. The show was Grammy nominated vocalist CECIL PARKER.
Tuesday Oct 23
We arrived in ST THOMAS from 8 to 6, so we took a cab to Red Hook, and then took a ferry over to St. John. We sat on the beach while my dad snorkeled at Trunk Bay. When we got on the ferry to go back to ST. Thomas, it started pouring. Then we went shopping in Havensight. The NEW WAVE MAGIC show starring Kevin &Caruso was okay. I had seen several of their tricks before.
Wednesday Oct 24
At the SHOPPING TALK for Grand Turk, Bruce seemed to giving the freebies to people in the fifth row in the middle, or the sides in the front. We all got a free Del Sol plastic ring on our way out. The LOVE & ROMANCE GAME was hosted by Amanda. The BATTLE OF THE SEXES was hosted by Chris. I skipped the HYPNOTIST SHOW, but my dad went and he said the one last year on the Valor was better.
The ship was decorated for the M&M's sponsored Halloween Deck Party and there were ghosts, pumpkins, black cats, and a castle background for pictures. The guests and crew had some interesting costumes, such as a towel animal, togas, Zorro, and a devil with cereal boxes around their neck on beads.
Thursday Oct 25
We were in Grand Turk from 7 to 5:30. We signed up for the ISLAND BUS LOOP "THE GUANA" in Grand Turk, which took us to the Grand Turk Lighthouse and the Her Majesty's Prison. It wasn't worth the money. The bus comes by every fifteen minutes to pick you up, since the island is only 7 or 8 miles long. The bus driver said most of the resorts are on Provencales, but they are building two in Grand Turk. This was the second formal night. The show CENTURY CAFÉ was good, but not as good as the other one.
Friday Oct 26
The DEBARKATION TALK with Brad was at 11 am and he told us his list of the top 10 funniest questions asked by guests. The social host Amanda was one of four employees of the month. At the CRAZY LIDO PARTY, Murie, Chris, and Amanda taught us the Cupid Shuffle, the Ketchup dance, and the Mississippi slide. They also had Carnival Color games. The LIAR'S CLUB was hosted by Bonnie. Amanda, Brad, and Chris were the panel. They brought up 4 guests at a time and had them determine which one was saying the real definition of not often heard words such as lavacan, fullfart, pudd, and erectarine. GAME SHOW MANIA II was hosted by Murie and Chris. CARNIVAL LEGENDS was better this year than last. Brad was Dolly Parton. Chris was Cher and Ashley, the karaoke host, was Sonny. They had guests playing Gloria Estefan, Frank Sinatra, Ricky Martin, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Garth Brooks, Elvis Presley, and Britney Spears.
Saturday Oct 27
This Debarkation was the worst one I have ever experienced. We were number 30 group and had to wait till 11:10 am to get off the ship. We didn't get out of the terminal until an hour later. Since our flight didn't leave till the next morning, we were going to go to the Bayside Mall, but it costs 10 dollars to park as the minimum. So we drove to Ft. Lauderdale and went to the Sawgrass Mills Mall and went to Sonny's BBQ for dinner.
