Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Carnival Cruise: Fascination 2019


Caribbean Cruise, 7 days.
Sailed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Here were the stops:

  • St. Thomas, Charlotte Amalie 
  • St. Marteen, Philipsburg
  • St. Kitts, Basseterre
  • St. Lucia, Castries
  • Barbados, Bridgetown


This ship was an older ship and has the same layout as Carnival Imagination (See other post).
We went to Puerto Rico 2 days early and went on lots of adventures. Check back later for separate post. 

First stop St. Thomas:
St. Thomas is the gateway isle of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. It's known for its beaches and snorkeling spots. Territorial capital Charlotte Amalie, founded by the Danish in the 1600s, is a busy cruise-ship port. Historic buildings include a 1679 watchtower called Blackbeard’s Castle, in reference to the area’s pirate history. On the harbor, 17th-century Fort Christian is now a local-history museum. (Wikipedia)

Magens Bay

The first thing you see when you get off is cute shops all lined up in a row to make it easy to shop. 

Entrance to all the shopping


This stop we really wanted to go to the beach. So we hitched a ride from a bus and they took us to a very touristy beach. Magens Bay is the name of this beach. It was super clean, beautiful, food and drinks. They were pretty pricey on the food and drinks; but the employees were super nice and helpful. You had to rent umbrellas and chairs. We didn't bother with this stop since we were gonna be mainly in the water. Also a $5 fee to get in. 

After the beach we walked around for some food and found a brewery. 
Rock City brewing company. Nice and was quite busy. Food was meh, they serve all your food in paper bags which was a turn off. The beer was good but, I wouldn't recommend it.
In the end I enjoyed the time here. We saw a lot of beautiful sights and oh that water!!!







St Marteen, Philipsburg:
Philipsburg is the capital of Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of the Caribbean island Saint Martin. Beachfront bars line the boardwalk along Great Bay. Voorstraat, or Front Street, has duty-free shops and casinos. The St. Maarten Zoo is home to parrots, monkeys and a playground. Saint Maarten Museum displays artifacts from the indigenous Arawak people. The ruins of 17th-century Fort Amsterdam stand on a nearby peninsula.(Wikipedia)

We came back! It was good to be back and take more pictures. The picture to the right are the prices for the water taxi to get from the port to the beach across the way. Much easier than taking a taxi all the way around and than only spending so much time at the beach. Here there is a lot of shopping, drinks and eating. First when you get off you have a ton of people surrounding you to get you to buy a package. If you want to sit on the beach and drink all day I recommend just finding someone who has a chair, umbrella and a bucket of beer. We did and we had a great time! He brought us our beer in a bucket and we had wifi and access to their bathrooms. 














 My last post I could not remember the name of the restaurant that we liked a lot. Now I know!
Its called Lizzies. The fish and chips are the best ever. I HIGHLY recommend Lizzies to eat. Just look for the green roof. 

Lizzies

 This is literally all we did on this stop. It was so relaxing and just what we needed. Oh I want to go back already.

 St. Kitts, Basseterre:

Basseterre is the capital of the Caribbean island federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. It’s the gateway to popular Saint Kitts beaches like South Friars Bay. At the city’s heart, Independence Square has an Italian-inspired fountain. Just off the Circus traffic circle, with its Victorian Berkeley Memorial Clock Tower, is the National Museum. In the stately Old Treasury Building, it explores the islands’ colonial past. (Wikipedia)

My post on our MSC cruise for this stop we did a lot more than we did this time.
Well.... although I made a last decision to swim with dolphins with one of our friends we went with. Her husband and my husband just hung out on the ship while we met and loved on some dolphins.
I highly recommend this excursion. They had the dolphin experience where you sit and watch people play with dolphins. The one we did was swim and play. The company is called discovery dolphins. They take a ton of pictures and you do a lot with the dolphins. The whole time you are constantly touching the dolphins. This was an amazing experience. I give this excursion a 5 out of 5 stars!!
When you are done they take you to a gift shop with over priced items and your pictures. I paid $40 for both these pics, prints and digital copy. Yes its a lot but when am I ever going to do this again. For all the pics it was like $130 and i wasn't going to do that. I originally just wanted one, but one of the employees gave me and my friend a deal and we took it. It was very nice of her to do that price for 2 because it wasn't even listed. For the digital prints you have to have their app. There is wifi at the store, but it was pretty slow so watch out.
I booked this excursion through the ship.

Here is the website if your more interested:

https://www.dolphindiscovery.com/saint-kitts/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=mybusiness





Like I said in my last post. Be careful with the people with the monkeys. If you point, say "look at the monkeys" or even look at them. They will immediately put the monkeys on you, take your phone and take a bunch of pics and than say a price. This guy did it to us and said " ok $20 each"
Uhhhh no dude!! we did get to hold baby monkeys and take cute pics but now we are out $10 for 2 seconds of holding them. Ya all we both had was $10 and the guy didn't even care. So be careful!















St Lucia, Castries:
Saint Lucia is an Eastern Caribbean island nation with a pair of dramatically tapered mountains, the Pitons, on its west coast. Its coast is home to volcanic beaches, reef-diving sites, luxury resorts and fishing villages. Trails in the interior rainforest lead to waterfalls like the 15m-high Toraille, which pours over a cliff into a garden. The capital, Castries, is a popular cruise port. (Wikipedia)





We took tour of the hot spots on this port. They do have a beautiful waterfall you could go too but its a couple hours away and we didn't have a couple hours. 
Where we went was very pretty; It did rain quite a bit. We went and saw the banana farms and the rum distillery. It was a lot of fun to go and look at all the spots our taxi driver took us. He told us about the island and every stop we went to. Some of the spots was a tourist trap, watch out! just say no thank you and move on. Unless you see something you like of course.  The pictures to the right are the first stop we did. This was full of shops so be careful. It was super beautiful and worth it. Our taxi driver came and gave us some info on this stop and took our pictures. He was super nice!.
Banana tree from a local banana farm
















One of the stops was an art shop. This was way way awesome and totally recommend this stop. Eudovic's art studio was the name.

Vincent Joseph Eudovic has been carving wood longer than anyone else on the island of St. Lucia and has established himself as St. Lucia’s leading sculptor. He started sculpting at a very young age, competing in his first exhibition at the tender age of twelve. From then on, he was set in his vocation, and to date has made a significant contribution to the art form through the training of a number of highly talented young men.
Vincent Joseph Eudovic uses local woods for his abstract carvings, and since no two roots are the same, every single sculpture is unique and different. The main wood he uses is Laurier Cannelle, which is now extinct on the island, but he uses the old stumps and uncovered roots which are usually found deep in the forest. Laurier Cannelle has a remarkable beauty which one can see after a sculpture has been completed. It is also very durable. Other woods used are Mahogany, Teak, Laurier Mabouey, as well as red and white Cedar.
At his studio on Morne Fortune, you can see his magnificent pieces on display – pieces that beg to be touched! (Eudovicart.com)

 It wasn't to busy and a young girl came and was our tour guide. All of his pieces were just incredible. I was in aw of every single one. And to make it better each one had a story to tell.
We bought a fish piece for our son and to remember this place.

Below are more pictures





































Another stop was the St. Lucia 27th Inniskilling Regiment of foot:

The 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot was an Irish infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1689. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 108th (Madras Infantry) Regiment of Foot to form the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1881.

This place was actually really cool and I learned a lot. 

This explains more of what the Inniskilling is. I hope its easy to read for you.






















We also went and looked at this cool arch. They had some people jumping off of the arch and it was really cool to watch. I have a video and I'll have to post later, but here is a pic of the arch.


This was from a different stop. Just beautiful scenery.

We were going to go to the beach after the tour but it was so rainy and mucky we ended up just going back to the ship. There was quite a bit of shopping and if your into beer they had good deals on that (I recommend Cari B). If we do come back I am determined to go to that waterfall.











Last stop- Barbados, Bridgetown:
Barbados is an eastern Caribbean island and an independent British Commonwealth nation. Bridgetown, the capital, is a cruise-ship port with colonial buildings and Nidhe Israel, a synagogue founded in 1654. Around the island are beaches, botanical gardens, the Harrison’s Cave formation, and 17th-century plantation houses like St. Nicholas Abbey. Local traditions include afternoon tea and cricket, the national sport. (Wikipedia)

This stop was one of my favorites! We booked a turtle catamaran boat excursion through the ship. I highly recommend this excursion. You go on a boat, they feed you lunch, you are guaranteed to see turtles when you go snorkeling and after you snorkel and OPEN BAR!!! yes!. The rum on board was a local rum called Mount Gay and the beer... I can't remember the name but it was freaking good and it was on tap!. 
Oh it was so much fun. We were snorkeling and I accidentally kicked a turtle in the head. I was so sad that I kicked it!! They had an employee sit on a board and feed them so we can pet and look at them. The weather though was terrible. Just poured rain on us throughout the snorkeling. After the turtles we went and looked at some reefs with beautiful fish. During this the weather go much better. On our way back we went swimming for a while, drank drinks and enjoyed ourselves. This company did absolutely amazing on everything. The food was absolutely delicious and the drinks were so refreshing and good. Sadly I didn't have a waterproof phone case or a GoPro to take pictures of the turtles. There was a ton of them. 
After all the swimming we had
a dance party
I took pictures of us in the water snorkeling. 
Oh and FYI there were kids on this boat so this is not an adults only excursion. 
I give this company and excursion a 5-out-of 5 stars!!
That water though!!


Snorkeling for turtles









Pros and Cons of the ship: 

PROS-

  • Same layout as Imagination
  • Very tidy and clean rooms
  • We got the suite and it was amazing. Very spacious and the balcony was huge! very big walk in closet. 
  • If you book a suite you get one free load of laundry. Just fill the bag and hand it off. Was really nice to have. 
  • Employees were always nice and happy
  • No matter where you looked some employee was cleaning part of the ship
  • Dining room food was delicious every night. 
  • I highly recommend brunch on a sea day. The huevos rancheros.... mmmm so delicious. 
  • We got the beer bucket this time. It was $25 for 4 beers. For coronas they put them in cups because of the glass bottles. This was fun to do when we got back on the ship. 
  • Food was always fresh
  • Getting on and off was smooth and fast. 
  • Debarkation was so fast and simple
  • Since booking a suite you get to embark and debark faster than anyone else. 
  • You can bring at least 2 bottles of wine with you on board from embarkation.
CONS- 
  • The bucket of beer..... like I said before about the Coronas... ya you had to drink them fast or they got warm super quick. And nothing is more yucky than a warm beer. 
  • Our sinks were clogged in our room. So we couldn't turn our shower all the way on. 
  • Buffet food was fresh but not great. 
  • Bingo was freaking expensive... but fun. I wouldn't go again.
  • Coffee was a little watered down. Not the best. 
  • We did room service for breakfast and there wasn't a whole lot of options. 
  • Ice cream was ALWAYS busy and ALWAYS over worked so you get melted ice cream. 
  • Main pool was always overcrowded
  • Hot tubs were overcrowded
  • With any drink with a straw.... they had edible straws and they were terrible! We bought a reusable straw and used that or no straw. 
Below are pics of the suite.








The closet





















I didn't take a whole lot of pictures of the ship since it was the same as my Imagination post.
I would go on this ship again, just because it was the perfect size for a Caribbean getaway.


Sunday, February 10, 2019

MSC Cruise: Divina 2018



This cruise went to the Caribbean. 10 days, sailed out of Miami, Florida.
Here were the stops:


  • Tortola, Road Town
  • St Kitts, Basseterre
  • St Johns, Antigua
  • Guadeloupe, Pointe-A-Pitre
  • St Maarten, Philipsburg
This ship is an Italian based ship. Lots of international people, mainly French and Italian. 

First stop Tortola:
Didn't do a whole lot here. Got a taxi to the beach and spent the day there. Got a little tour of the town on our way to the beach. There was lots of hurricane damage still being fixed throughout the island. It cost money to rent a chair and umbrella. Cant remember the price though. The water was perfect temperature and the beach was clean but crowded. This beach is called Cane Garden bay. It was quite busy but we still had fun. There is a restaurant there but very expensive. 













St Kitts, Basseterre:
Basseterre is the capital of the Caribbean island federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. It’s the gateway to popular Saint Kitts beaches like South Friars Bay. At the city’s heart, Independence Square has an Italian-inspired fountain. Just off the Circus traffic circle, with its Victorian Berkeley Memorial Clock Tower, is the National Museum. In the stately Old Treasury Building, it explores the islands’ colonial past. (Wikipedia)

This place had a lot more to see. We did a island tour and beach. No one decided to go to the beach at the end. There was lots to see on this excursion.

Baby monkey
This place was so green and the water was so beautiful!!
During our excursion we would make stops. We stopped by a guy who had a baby monkey. We paid $1 to hold him, and he was so cute.

One of the stops was at Romney Manor where we paid to get in the gardens. It was beautiful!! They had a little store there where they do wax art. Clothes, purses, headbands you name it, it was done with wax art. There are so many steps to make a single piece of art. The more detailed the more wax they have to apply.

Many visitors frequently express a sense of spirituality while enjoying the gardens and grounds. An all-time favorite is our magnificent Saman tree, the largest living organism in St. Kitts. It is over 400 years old, 24 ft in circumference, and covers ½ acre. Just imagine the stories it could tell. Many visitors return time and time again to savour this memorable experience. The present owner feels more a sense of stewardship than ownership, recognizing the magnificent Saman tree as the true owner of all it surveys.(caribellebatikstkitts.com)
 The former residence of the owners of the Wingfield Estate sugar plantation has since 1964 been the home of the Caribelle Batik workshop and store. Horticulturists will feel in floral heaven in the surrounding gardens (note the 350-year-old saman tree) that also hide an old bell tower used to regulate the working-day routine of slaves. Stand in the viewing gallery, from where plantation owners kept an eye on the sugar works.( lonelyplanet.com)


This place was just full of history!! We learned so much about the culture and the grounds of the manor. Below are more pictures of the grounds and the little lighthouse.
Demonstration on how they make the wax art.

Lighthouse overlooking the grounds

You can see the sheets being hung to dry
from the wax art. 



After the Manor we went on to Timothy hill overlook. 

Your 360-degree view includes the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, Friar’s and Frigate bays, Nevis, and the hilly peninsula itself. (afar.com)

This place was absolutely breathtaking. There was even little shop on top so you can enjoy some food, fresh coconut water or a cold soda.  
Below are pictures of this incredible sight overlook. I could not fit all the amazingness in one picture. When you arrive on the left is St Kitts and on the right is Timothy hill overlook. Luckily we had enough time to enjoy both scenic overlooks. 



Other side on top of Timothy hill




After the over look we went to Black Rocks.

Also referred to as Black Stone, is the name of a notable rock formation on the northeastern coast of the island of Saint Kitts. Located close to the town of Saddlers, the rocks consist of lava flow from the volcanic Mount Liamuiga which dominates the northern half of the island of Saint Kitts.

When you get here you have quite of stuff to look at. They have a circle of shops and snacks around
while you look at this beautiful formation. While we were enjoying the scenery a guy walked around 
a monkey. You could hold him and the guy would take pics for us. He was super nice. We paid him 
because that's his income. We got quite a few pics with this cute monkey whos name was 
"Jack Daniels". He even had Jack drink coke from my husbands hand. 



Black rocks

Me and Jack












Jack drinking coke 

The owner of Jack and my husband




After the beautiful Black rocks we stopped Mount Liamuiga:

Mount Liamuiga is a 3,792-foot (1,156 m) stratovolcano which forms the western part of the island of Saint Kitts. The peak is the highest point on the island of Saint Kitts, in the federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and in the entire British Leeward Islands, as well as one of the tallest peaks in the eastern Caribbean archipelago. The peak is topped by a 0.6-mile (1 km) wide summit crater, which contained a shallow crater lake until 1959. As of 2006, the crater lake had re-formed.[1] The last verified eruptions from the volcano were about 1,800 years ago, while reports of possible eruptions in 1692 and 1843 are considered uncertain.
Mount Liamuiga was formerly named Mount Misery. The renaming took place on the date of St. Kitts' independence, September 19, 1983. However, many older citizens still refer to it as Mount Misery. The name Liamuiga is derived from the Kalinago name for the entire island of St. Kitts, which means, "fertile land." ( Wikipedia)

We didn't actually go to the volcano we went to a place where there was an amazing view of the whole volcano. It was huge!! There was an overlook and little shops there. 

Behind me while taking this pic was Mount Liamuiga

Pic of the over look by the shops
Close up of the overlook
Though this looked pretty
Close up of the overlook




 Sadly I did not get a pic of the volcano. I was to interested in the other one at sea and the overlook.
Seriously how beautiful are those views.


















Cute puppy at the shops




















St. Johns Antigua:

St. John’s is the capital and key port of the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. The city is home to the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, with exhibits on indigenous tribes and plantation life. St. John’s Cathedral, a 19th-century Anglican church, is on a hill near the 17th-century Government House. A monument to the nation’s founder, V.C. Bird, is next to the Public Market, which sells crafts and produce. (Wikipedia)

This place was super fun!!
We walked around the port for quite a while trying to find the right taxi. 
Someone approached us and offered a private taxi and tour of the island and beach stop. I remember the guy mentioning his license plate was 711 or something like that. 
I can't exactly remember the price but we went for it. This turned out to be an all day adventure. 
He took us everywhere and he knew everybody. 
At this time there was a Yacht Charter show going on at the harbor and we decided to just look at the ships from afar. 
Well somehow our driver got us in a day before it opened!! He said we had 5 minutes to look around and that was enough time for us. I could not believe some of these Yachts. They were huge!! as we went along the dock they would just get bigger and bigger.  We had a blast! we all picked our favorite Yacht and wished we could buy it. 
Below are some pics I took of the show. 
Entrance to the Yacht show
Our original view of the Yachts


This one was my favorite






Antigua Yacht Club
Another of my favorite one.





This Yacht was INSANE! There's our taxi driver 


The back of the insane one



After the awesome Yacht show we went to the beach. Ffryes beach was just perfect and beautiful to end our adventure. They had a nice restaurant and beach massages. A guy was walking around selling fresh coconut water. They were $5. He would leave for a while and come back with a huge coconut that's been cut open with a straw inside. There was a lot of water in it and it was so delicious!! 
Slightly to the right of this pic is the entrance and restaurant.
Below are some pics of the beach.
This is how big the coconut was




Guadeloupe, Pointe-A-Pitre:

Pointe-à-Pitre is a city on the island of Grande-Terre, in Guadeloupe, a French-governed archipelago in the Caribbean. It's known for its lively markets, like the Marché de la Darse, where fishermen sell their catch from boats at the harbor. Cafes and colonial homes cluster around the grassy Place de la Victoire. The Saint-John Perse Museum features 19th-century Creole interiors and exhibits on the poet Alexis Léger. (Wikipedia)

Was super disappointed at this port. They really need to clean things up, especially in the city. I didn't bother taking a lot of pics of this place. Everything was over priced including the taxis to the beach. Everything was in french so you couldn't understand anything..... unless you understand french. 
We went off walked around for 10 min and came back on the ship. Decided to lay by the pool and enjoy free food and drinks. 
Below are pics I took from the ship. The graffiti was pretty cool. 
That white building is all shops. fun to look through





Last stop, St Maarten, Philipsburg:

Philipsburg is the capital of Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of the Caribbean island Saint Martin. Beachfront bars line the boardwalk along Great Bay. Voorstraat, or Front Street, has duty-free shops and casinos. The St. Maarten Zoo is home to parrots, monkeys and a playground. Sint Maarten Museum displays artifacts from the indigenous Arawak people. The ruins of 17th-century Fort Amsterdam stand on a nearby peninsula.(Wikipedia)

This place made up from the gloomy Guadeloupe. Absolutely beautiful!!! Beach and the food was just amazing. 
We wanted to go to Maho beach which is the beach you watch the airplanes land. Lots of locals were saying that the hurricane did some damage to it and not worth going at this time.
We took a bus to the beach. We purchased the Rum and Rege package which includes. 
  • 2 free drinks, alcohol or non or mix
  • umbrella
  • beach lounging chair
  • water sports (paddle board, body board etc) 
I think it was around $25 per person. 
We get to the beach and we had to go to the dive shop and get our drink vouchers. We had to wait a certain time to get our beach items. So we browsed the boardwalk. It was so much fun!! lots of vendors selling decent priced items. Lots of shops were still being worked on from the hurricane. 
We finally got our beach items and stayed all day. There were ladies walking around offering massages. We all got one and my girl did my feet and legs and oh did it feel good. They used actual aloe Vera that they grew themselves. I was going to fall asleep!! It was literally paradise. 
Water was perfect temperature. I paddle boarded for a couple of hours and just swam and found some beautiful shells. 

Paddle boarding!

Right is MSC left is Oasis of the seas Royal Caribbean.  

Shops


This was my all time favorite port. I would love to visit this place again. For lunch we went to a small restaurant on the boardwalk and i got fish and chips.... it was the best fish and chips I have ever eaten. No joke! they weren't fried they weren't greasy like how in American make them. 

See the greenish building with the yellow? I cant remember
the name of the restaurant we ate at but this is what
it looked like. I got this pic from google and the
name is blurred out. 

Pic credit to Google

Pic credit to Google. 


Pros and Cons of the ship:
PROS-

  • Room was very roomy and clean
  • Getting on and off the ship at ports was smooth, fast and easy.
  • All employees approached with a smile on their faces and always happy
  • Ship was very classy and had a calming mood
  • I was super impressed with all the bar tenders! they all seemed like they loved their job. 
  • Food was delicious!
  • Theres a little cafe over past the shops that is open 24 hours. 
  • Depending on the bar, drinks were good
  • Entertainment was the best I have ever seen. Do not miss one show!!
  • Sometimes there was free ice cream by the pool
  • Lots of massage deals, wait till halfway toward the end to get better deals. 
  • Gym was spacious, clean and lots of equipment. 
  • Free mimosas and champagne if you go to the EFFY raffles. 
  • The restaurants included were delicious! Especially the sports bar! 
  • Just take in those swarovski crystal stairs. My all time favorite!
  • For Christmas you get to enjoy a huge gingerbread house. They use actual gingerbread. The whole piazza smelled like it. 
  • Good deals on alcohol. Tax and duty free. 
  • Stairs weren't ever super busy. Take a lot of pics while you can though.
  • YOU HAVE TO EAT THE PIZZA!! JUST AMAZING!!
CONS-
  • Quite a few stuff was only available for Yacht club members. 
  • If you catch Sports bar on busy days your food will be cold. 
  • You get sick of the buffet food.
  • You have to register your ship card right when you get on. There are only like 3 kisosks and they always had a huge line. If you don't register it you won't be able to buy anything or get in your room. 
  • You cannot use cash or your credit card on board. Hence the registering of the card. 
  • Was disappointed in the Moscow mule I ordered. YUCK!!
  • Old people going topless in hot tubs!!!
  • Hardly any coffee in the morning. Would take me a while to hunt down some. 
  • Coffee mugs were ALWAYS out!! The employees could not keep up with them and the coffee. 
  • Coffee actually wasn't all that great. But hey its coffee. 
  • Not a big dessert selection. 
  • Sports bar: the bowling was $8!! expensive and not worth it. 
Heres a couple stories i have to share while on our cruise.
During muster drill we were all waiting to get the ok to go than we heard someone yell "someone get help, call a doctor now!" 
We were all confused we kinda peeked over to see whats happening and an lady has collapsed and looked like she was having a seizure. We walked back over to our spot and looked over again and they started CPR on the lady!! It was so sad. She ended up passing away seconds later. So our ship was a couple hours delay cause the had to do an investigation. I really felt so bad for her and her family, what a horrible way to start your vacation. 

After muster we went and ate and did some small browsing. I wanted to change, so we went to our room and our luggage still wasn't there and we were about to sail off. I was getting super annoyed so I went down to customer service to ask. I waited in line for almost an hour. When I asked the lady she said our suitcase has been confiscated because of an iron. I told her we don't have an iron in our suitcase. She told me to go to a room she pointed at to claim it. This room was small and it was FULL of confiscated suitcases. I found mine and told them. They said I had to open it and take a quick look at it. I opened my suitcase and they pointed to my hair straighter. I said that's an iron for my hair. They said that's fine to have but the scan thought it was a clothes iron. They looked for the second thing which was my fitbit charger. (remember this is a foreign ship and everybody is international) I told them it was a charger for my fitbit as I pointed to it. They apologized for the inconvenience and offered to take my luggage to my room. I told them its fine, they were busy as it is. 
They really didn't give me any notice about my luggage being confiscated. I was a little annoyed that they didn't say anything. Instead I had to wait ALL DAY than wait in line to figure out whats going on.  

Me and my husband decided to get a couples massage on the first port. They were having a deal going on and thats what we wanted to do. We booked it when we got back to the ship. 
I gotta say it felt amazing!! They took us to a beautiful room to get us ready. ( i was not able to take pictures of the room or spa) We got an hour massage and it included full body and lava rocks. Oh those lava rocks were just pure bliss!! After the massage we got time to enjoy the steam room and sauna. It was like a dream!! So relaxing. Hardly anyone was in the spa. They had a room with big windows and lounging chairs and 2 saunas and steam rooms, for men and women. 
Although if you plan on doing a spa day wait till towards the end of the cruise. They had a lot better deals. This deal was $99 per person. 



For this specific cruise we got a drink package included with booking. It included some alcoholic mixes, beers and soda. The only thing was paying taxes. So like a corona was I think 20 cents maybe a little more. Mixes it included Moscow mule, jack and coke, cranberry and vodka etc. They had a list handy at every bar to let you know what you could get without paying extra. 
The daily special drink wasn't included but when I would ask certain bar tenders they would give me one. 

For the sports bar. They usually had soccer games or football on which was entertaining. Nice place to chill and hang out. 
We had the mozzarella sticks, hot wings, spinach and artichoke dip, salsa and chips, Reuben sandwich, and Chicago dog. All delicious!! 
Menu is below.      

Overpriced bowling

















Below are more pics of the ship and some videos:

Video below is the Queen tribute show. They are singing Bohemian Rhapsody.



The video to your right is one of the top overlooking a ton of other cruise ships. I don't think I have ever seen this many ships at once. My favorite is when I see them at night!! Oh so beautiful. 

This is right when you come on

Cant forget those stairs


Thought their mugs were way cute

Main Piazza

Theater room


Captain and his crew


Heaven in a pineapple and bottle

On the way home they had this amazing
display and made amazing drinks in fresh
pineapples.

More of the main Piazza

Black crab last night.

Cute gingerbread house

Pics from the pirate show they had




This video is of the queen tribute show.







Besides the little negative story I really enjoyed this ship. I will probably end up sailing with MSC in the future.












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