PRAGUE- 5 NIGHTS
CELEBRITY REFLECTION- 6 NIGHTS
AUGUST 8-21, 2018

We arrived in Prague exhausted from our missed connection in Amsterdam leaving us there for another 6 hours. By the time we found the driver and checked in it was dinner time so we went across the street to have a bite of middle eastern food and some local beer. We were staying for five nights which allowed us a lot of time for sightseeing and sightseeing we did.

Our first stop in the morning was to go to the tourist office which was located in the main square which was only 7 minutes walking distance. The tourist office was located in the town hall and that is where we purchased a 3 day Prague Pass, which allowed us free entry to all the major sights. The cost was 90.00 per person and was well worth it.

We decided on our first day that we would visit the Astrological Clock which was located on the main square and we took an elevator to the top of the tower where we had fantastic views of the city. After that we decided to go to U Prince which has the oldest rooftop terrace in the world and rated one of the top 15 rooftop restaurants in the world. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and a wonderful cheese plate while taking in the wonderful views of the city.

After our drinks we ventured off to the Jewish Quarter and toured on our own. There are six different sites to visit so you should allow at least four hours to see it all. We visited 4 synagogues, ceremonial hall, and end the tour with a visit to the Old Jewish Cemetery. For anyone interested in religious history, Jewish or other, this tour is a must.

That evening we decided to have some traditional Czech cuisine for dinner…goulash and roasted port shoulder and it was delicious!

On our second day we ventured out to Prague Castle in New Town. We used our Prague Pass to get there by tram and we left at 8:30am to get there before they opened at 9:00AM because the lines get very long and we didn’t want to waste the day. When you go into the castle you can definitely feel the atmosphere of old times with the guards at the entrance, the golden lane with all the small houses and WOW, what a Cathedral with all of the most beautiful stained glass that I have ever seen. Please allow yourself at least five hours for the visit. At the end of the tour we walked down the hill and has some lunch before we made our way to the Charles Bridge, which is a must see. The bridge is filled with people and local artists. Again Czech cuisine for dinner…roasted pork knuckle!

Day four was a rather slow day. We visited St. Agnes’s convents, Tyn Church, and did a 2 hour bus tour through the city which was included in our Prague Pass. DON”T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THE BUS TOUR! The audio machines didn’t work and we saw the sights much better by walking.

For our last full day we decided to take a 6 hour tour outside of the city to the Terazin Memorial. This sight included 2 fortresses. During WWII the big fortress was used as a transit concentration camp – the Beverly Hills of all concentration camps, and yet the crematorium was indeed there, but nowadays it’s a regular provincial town. The small fortress was a political prison and now it’s a museum. Well worth the visit and very moving.

The second half of the trip was a six night cruise aboard the Celebrity Reflection. This was a very busy cruise visiting 5 ports of call without any sea days. The ports of call that we visited were Cinque Terre, Nice, Corsica, Sardinia, and Naples.

In Cinque Terra we decided to buy an excursion from the ship which included a bus transfer to Porto Venere, with ½ hour of free time to explore, shop, and eat. It was such a quaint seaside town where sunbathers bathed on rocks. We then were transferred by ferry to a town called Monteroso which was a much larger town and the streets were packed with people and vendors. They allowed us 2 hours there so we could shop and grab a gelato. It was too much time in my mind. We were then transferred again by train this time to meet the bus to go back to the ship. If you do this leg, be aware of pick pockets.

The next day we were in Nice and decided to get a cab to Eze for 50.00 euro each way. Eze is an old walled city on top of a hill. At the very top they had the most beautiful botanical garden which you can visit for 4 euros per person and is worth every penny. The next stop was the perfume factory of Fargonard which is located at the bottom of the hill. They sold perfume, soaps, and candles which smelled lovely.

The next stop was Corsica. The weather was incredibly hot so we decided to make a quick visit into port. They had the most wonderful open air market that I have ever seen. The market sold cheese, olives, homemade honey, meats, and fresh vegetables. I would be incredibly fat if I lived there!!!

We visited Napoleons birthplace and a cathedral, shopped a little bit and headed back to the ship to have Rose all day and play UNO.

The fourth port of call was Sardinia and I bought a map for 2 euro and designed our own walking tour. We also got another couple to join us on the tour because they almost got pickpocketed and they asked us if they could come with us. We visited cathedrals, main squares, a botanical garden and an amphitheater which took us all the way to the top of the hill which was a long, long walk!

Naples was our last stop and the best way to end it was to hire your own personal driver/guide which is exactly what we did. I have been working with Mariano for years and he took us to Sorrento, Positano, Priano, and Ravello, with 2 hours of free time in Sorrento and Positano to allow us shop, eat and explore. Mariano was a wealth of knowledge and a very humble man. It was so great to see him!

I want to end my report with a review of the ship itself. The ship is everything that you could want including nightly entertainment, 4 specialty restaurants, gym, spa, 3 swimming pools, a shopping area and a lot of bars throughout. We stayed in a Concierge class cabin with private verandah, which I will do again. This gives you upgraded amenities in your cabin, an extensive room service menu and a very large balcony. They also served us fruits and snacks in the afternoon which was a great touch. We purchased a 5 night dining package with allowed us to go to the specialty restaurants for dinner. I’m not saying that the main dining isn’t good but the whole dining experience at the specialty restaurants is much better. We also upgraded our drink package to the premium package because it gave us access to martini’s and better wines to choose from. I have to say that the staff and service was remarkable and everything was so clean and fresh.

So I will say this once again, I can’t wait to go on anther Celebrity Cruise!!! And Prague is OUT OF BOUNDS!

Kris Levy, East Greenwich

FAM REPORT..Aug 22-30 2017. Viking River Cruises..Trip Avignon to Lyon

Some notes. Had a standard category E window cabin. Very small would not recommend that for clients. Food was excellent. Ship was beautiful. Very sleek and clean.  Staff very friendly mainly from Eastern Europe/Ukraine/Russia.   Touring and logistics of everything is very well organized.  No issues at all.   Weather was a bit warm..average of 92 degrees everyday.

Aug 22- Departed out of Boston on Delta via Amsterdam to Marseilles. Arrived on the 23^rd approximately at 11am.  Was met by Viking representatives in baggage claim and escorted to beautiful Mercedes coaches for the 1 hour ride to Avignon.  Boarded the Viking Longshop Delling.

Aug 24- Participated in the Viking included tour which was a walking tour of Arles. Guide was excellent.

Aug 25-Participated in a full day optional walking tour in Avignon that included tasting various culinary specialties.  Cheese, Olives, Biscuits.  Then participated in a cooking class in a private residence. There were only 10 people it was fantastic

Aug 26- Vivers. Participated in a full day optional tour going to a Lavender Farm, the Ardeche Gorge (which is known as the grand canyon of france) and a castle. Guide was excellent.

Aug 27- Tounon. Particpated in the the included walking tour of the town and then the included steam train ride in the mountains. Very enjoyable.

Aug 28- Lyon.  Included wine country tour to the Beaujolais region. Had a tasting at a local small vineyard. The vineyard was a family owned business passed down from generations.  4 hour excursion

Aug 29- Lyon. Walking tour of Lyon included excursion.  This included the Basilica and walking around the old town. 3 hour excursion

Aug 30- Departed Lyon for home.  Air France Lyon to Paris and then Paris to Boston. Would highly recommend at least a 2 hour layover in Paris. The connection would have been difficult with less than that amount of time.

Celebrity Silhouette

12 day Baltic Cruise

May 5-19, 2017

This was my first Celebrity Cruise and I am confident in saying that it was one of the best. The ship itself was absolutely beautiful, with a lot of attention to detail and a feeling of openness. All of the crew was outstanding, and always had a smile on their faces. We stayed in a balcony cabin and I have to say that it was very roomy and the balcony was larger than other ships that I have been on.

There are several specialty dining restaurants on board that are definitely worth the extra fee. We went to the Tuscan Grill, Lawn club, Qsine, and Murano’s where you can experience lobster that is prepared table side by your server.

There are a lot of things to do on board, you can play bocce ball on the Lawn at the Lawn Club, Celebrity ilounge, the Aqua Spa, or go to the Martini Bar like we did every night. Excellent shows, karaoke, bingo, silent disco, casino, a hideaway where you can just chill from the world and totally unplug. You can really be as busy as you want to be or hide out in the library.

The ports of call that we visited on this cruise were Warnemunde, Tallin, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Copenhagen and it was round trip from Amsterdam.

Amsterdam– We decided to go in a day early so that we could visit the Keukenhof Gardens because they are only open for 6 weeks and we happen to catch it in the middle. The gardens are so beautiful and they are a must see.

Warnemunde (Berlin)- Is actually a small port village where you can take a bus to Berlin which takes 3 hours each way. We decided not to go with the ships shore excursion and went with SPB Tour instead because the groups were a lot smaller and less expensive. We also used them for St. Petersburg for the same reason.

We had about 17 in our group and we had a wonderful tour guide Jim who was from Minnesota.

The sites that we visited were Olympic Stadium, victory column, Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, Site of Hitlor’s Bunker, Berlin Wall, Potsdamer Platz (lunch German Sausages), Gendarmenmarkt, and Check Point Charlie.

All in all it was a long day but well worth it.

Tallin– This is a charming little city, with cobble stoned streets and unusual buildings. The ship docks about 20 minute walk from the city center or you can by a shuttle ticket from the ship. They had extensive array of souvenir stalls and hand made items that you could at a very good price. It’s good to make your way up toward the fort and the Russian Church for a wonderful view of the town.

St. Petersburg– Again we used SPB Tours and we had a wonderful and brilliant tour guide named Maria. We had 2 wonderful sunny days but windy, which is unusual because they only have 50 sunny days out of the year.

The sites that we visited were Peterhof’s Palace, Winter Palace, Hermitage, Isaac’s Cathedral, Church of Spilled Blood, Catherine’s Summer Palace, Winter Palace, and we also visited the subway, had 2 Russian lunches and 2 canal boat rides. It was a long 2 days but absolutely worth it!

Helsinki– We decided to use the ships shuttle into town and we were surprised how much we liked Helsinki. We just walked around near the main harbor area and park. We worked our way to the outdoor market and stopped for an ice cream at one of the outdoor food stalls… neat little city.

Stockholm– The approach to Stockholm, as the ship sails through hundreds of small islands for 4 hours, is spectacular, so make sure you’re up on the observations deck, or balcony at least an hour before the ship is due to dock. Again we decided to take the shuttle and walk around Old Town which was a great place to sightsee and people watch, we also went to the Royal Palace.

Copenhagen- We had a complimentary excursion with Distinctive Voyages by Travel Leaders for 3 hours. The tour consisted of the Little Mermaid and a Canal boat ride through the city. I wished that we had enough time to visit Tivoli Gardens but maybe next time.

All in all we had a wonderful time and I can’t wait to go on another Celebrity cruise again.

Kris Levy

East Greenwich

I was invited to do a Danube River Cruise on the Monarch Empress, a brand new Gate 1 vessel.

Truthfully, my expectations were not high because it was Gate I , but I was pleasantly surprised.

The Empress went into service in March of this year. The maximum capacity is 144 passengers, the vessel has 72

spacious outside cabins, 58 with a French Balcony. The bathrooms were a good size w/a large walk-in shower.

The food was very good; breakfast was a buffet, lunch and dinner were a la carte w/an optional buffet. Dinner

consisted of 4 or 5 courses, not huge courses, just enough to fill you comfortably. The servers were always willing

to accommodate you w/an add’l entrée should you want to sample something else.

It was smooth sailing all the way. The journey took us thru 16 locks, which was very interesting to experience.

We cruised from Regensburg, Germany to Budapest, Hungary, stopping at the ports of Passau,  Melk  and Vienna in Austria, and Bratislava in Slovakia.

Daily shore excursions were we conducted by conducted by very knowledgeable, English speaking guides. After the tours we were given ample time to explore the cities on our own.

The only city we could not access by foot from the vessel was Vienna. It was a good 20 minute ride from the river to the downtown area. I did find that disappointing.

We did experience high water levels at points, prompting the vessel to depart earlier than scheduled from one port. Fortunately it was not high enough to force us to do a cruise/bus tour as others have been had to do!

One thing I was not aware of before this cruise was the rafting of vessels. The rivers are so saturated w/vessels that they line them up very closely and passengers pass thru the other vessels lobbies to get to shore. The negative is the loss of light and privacy. You could reach out from your balcony and touch the vessel next to you.

All in all, it was a great trip! From feasting on bratwurst and beer in Germany’s oldest restaurant, to enjoying a concert featuring the world’s largest church organ (17,774 pipes!) to a classical Viennese concert,  to strolling along the cobblestone streets of beautiful Bratislava, ending in the fascinating city of  Budapest; it was a wonderful experience!

FAM Report By Helene Baillargeon

Norwegian Gateway – Dec 6^th to Dec 13^th, 2014

We flew Southwest very early in on Friday morning, (in case of snow, I wanted to get there a day prior) we were ready to be picked up at 10:30am from the airport by the Rodeway Inn and Suites in Ft. Lauderdale.  I have done groups at that hotel and have put many clients there but it was my first time staying there.  The hotel is old and dated but super clean.  They gave us a Jacuzzi room on the first floor of one of the outside building.  The hotel doesn’t have elevators but they do have a heated pool!  The hotel also comes with a Continental Breakfast, again perfect for us before heading out to Miami.  It certainly was not the Taj Mahal but it was perfect for what we needed.  It has a pub in the hotel where we had a great lunch.

I got to meet Nadine from the group department at the hotel, I have spoken to her quite a few times as I have done groups there and it was so nice to put a face to the name.

The hospitality I receive there was second to none, they are all very pleasant and professional.

On Friday night, we met friends in Ft. Lauderdale, they picked us up at the hotel and we headed for a pub crawl and dinner.  We had a great night!

The next day,  Dec. 6^th, we had bought transfers from Ride SAS and they came to pick us up at our hotel at 11a.  Again, very professional, they called me about 15 minutes prior to picking us up to let me know that they were on their way.

They had a van full of passengers heading for the Getaway in Miami.  They dropped us off and we checked in and then were held in a huge room waiting to board.  The room was very comfortable, there were vending machines, everyone was seated and of course there were also restrooms available.    We were the 3rd group to board.  I saw people holding 15……. So as you can see, they let a few in at the time to make it easier all around.

We boarded on deck 7, but I saw that there was a restaurant on Deck 6, called Taste.  We went there for lunch as I wanted to avoid the buffet, which is usually so crowded and hard to get a table sometimes.  Taste was perfect and not busy at all.  The service was great and we had a great lunch.

They made the announcement that our cabins were ready around 1:30pm.  We headed to our cabin we had a balcony cabin 9824 on Deck 9.  We met our Cabin Stewart, a very nice guy.  Our balcony cabin was a good size, the bathroom had a large shower and the amenities were liquid hand soap by the sink, in the shower you had your shower get and shampoo.  So please remember to bring your own bar of soap, hair conditioner and lotion.  The balcony was extremely small barely fitting 2 chairs and a small table.  All balconies are now smoke free as of Nov. 1^st, so remember to let your clients know if you have smokers.  It’s something new with NCL.

We went around the ship to familiarize ourselves with the ship  – just remember 6-7-8 Ocean Place, this is where everything is happening inside the ship.  They have restaurants and bars where you can eat inside / outside and designated places and 1 bar for smokers.  The ship is very nice.  We had the muster.  Like most ship now, you gathered at your muster station and no need to put on your life vest, they just go through the drill.  It is a much better way than the old muster’s cruise line use to have.  We headed backup and we saw the ship sail away!

We came back to our cabin and unpacked and showered for dinner.  We had a lite dinner at Taste on Deck 6.  It was perfect!  Kathy held a cocktail party at Spice H2O.  It’s the adult only outside place on Deck 16^th   , they have a huge movie screen and they were showing all different destinations, it was well done and we got to met our fellow travel partners.

Then stop in the shop and bought liquor, they were running a special.  Every night, they have different items, that they ran special on….. worth checking.

Then a stop at the Casino where I tried real hard to make our fame and fortune but it didn’t work!  L

Before we knew it, it was 1:30am and of course Norm was hungry so we went to O’Sheehan for a bite to eat.  Again full table service, the food was good.

Every time you go eat at any restaurants on NCL, they swiped your Seapass.  At first I thought it was funny, it’s not like you can come in from anywhere other than being on board, but they do that, I’m sure so that they can see where people eat and also they can address you by your first names at the table.  A nice little added personal touch!

Sunday, Dec. 7^th – I made reservation for our shows and booked our specialty dinners from our TV in our cabin.

We had breakfast at O’Sheehan, a waited on breakfast cook to order!  We decided to eat our breakfast there every day.  It was a pub and the service and food was good.

We then headed for the pool but it was a cloudy / cool day.  We sat by the adult only pool, the Wave bar and listened to Caribbean music.

We made a show reservation for “Burn the Floor” and after the show had dinner reservation at La Cucina, Italian restaurant, the food and service was very good.

Then listen to Groove International in the Atrium.  Also very good!  Every night there was entertainment in the Atrium.  The entertainment was always good.

Monday, Dec. 8^th.  We started with a seminar from 9a to 12noon.  They talked about their ship, doing groups etc……… I was with a lot of Cruise Brothers agents, so the seminar was very different, as those people are not really agents and the things they brought up made your head spin. I guess it’s one of Kathy’s top account over 3 million a year – 1800 agents so, she had to cater to them.

After leaving the seminar, I went to see Vibes, adult only quiet place.  Jacuzzi only with nice beds.  There is a bar and you can order lunch too.   Kathy paid $70.00 to have access to it and she was kind enough to bring me to see it.

That night we ate in Tropicana for dinner, the food was always good but nothing spectacular.  Service was good.

On Monday night they had a Tribute to Bob Marley, great show!

Tuesday, Dec. 9^th we were in St-Martin, we went off the ship but only stay at the pier to pick up a few gifts to take back home.  You can ferry for $7.00 roundtrip to take you to the shipping district in Philipsburg on the Dutch’s side of the island.  We hurried back on board to enjoy the pool and Jacuzzi so we could enjoy the quit.  It was wonderful.

On Wednesday, Dec. 10^th, We were in St-Thomas, we went and toured more of the ship, where you can walk the plank, rock climbing, zip line and mini golf.  There are also water slides for children of all ages! J  Lot’s of additional fun to keep everyone entertained and occupied.

That night we had dinner at Le Bistro at 9:15p.  Long pants are required and I saw people being turned away that were wearing short.  The food was delicious.

Thursday, Dec. 11, Seminar from 9a to 12 noon:  again, Cruise Brother’s agents took over the seminar with questions, questions, questions and wouldn’t drop it!  We all have to learn but most of those agents are in it as they have retired and are looking for travel benefits.  Wow, they have so much to learn, no wonder people that book with them have a bad taste in their mouth for a Travel Agent!  I felt badly Kathy.

We had a group dinner at Tropicana, we had nice table mates and it was very enjoyable.

That night, I saw Legally Blonde, great show!  I had seen it before and NCL did a great job with it!

Friday, Dec 12^th, our last night already.  We had a great day by the pool and saw a comedy show that night.  The comedians were very funny, they did a great show.

The drill was the same, packing, luggage out by 11p, ready for the debarkation the following day.

On Saturday, we had breakfast one last time at O’ Sheehan and left the ship by 10a.  The debarkation went very smoothly and Ride SAS were out there waiting for us.  We waiting for 11 other passengers but we had a late flight, so we didn’t care!

Southwest damaged my luggage on the way back and they wanted to give $50.00 for the luggage.  I paid $200.00 so I refused and brought it back the next day and they had it fix and it came back to me 2 weeks later.  It looks great hopefully it holds up now as the bag was buckled on the side.  We’ll see!

All and all, NCL Gateway was very good.  The ship is beautiful and gives you a lot of options for restaurants, entertainment…. Etc..  The drinks were expensive $8.20 per drink but again you are a captive audience so they got you!

I will be going on the Gem 1/21/15 with a group, I know the ship won’t compare to the Gateway but I’m looking forward to that cruise as well.

If you have any questions, about the ship don’t hesitate to call me or email.

Sincerely submitted,

Helene Baillargeon Travel consultant

FAm Report by Robin Paul

Allure of the Seas/Checca Lodge Islamorada, FL

I went to Florida a few days before my cruise and stayed in the keys. I went to Islamorada and stayed at the Cheeca Lodge. This is a 5 star full service Resort Hotel .My stay was for 4 nights and while I was there I did a site inspection. I stayed in a 1 bedroom suite w/ a full kitchen. The suite was immaculate. The design style was Tommy Bahama, rich cherry wood furniture and tones of beige and green. (Pictures of palm trees and parrots everywhere). The kitchen was state of the art w/ stainless steel appliances and brand new granite countertops. There was complementary coffee and tea issued daily. The suite had a wonderful screened in balcony and the view was of the adult only pool and spa. All of the suites are resort vies and pool view. This resort is right on the water and had ocean front bungalows with Jacuzzis on the deck and privacy curtains. Here are some of the specs. The resort has: 214 rooms 1 Family pool 1 Adult only pool 3 first class on site restaurants Jack Nicklaus designed 9 hole par 3 golf course Unlimited use of fishing equipment, sea kayaks, bicycles, and tennis equipment Camp Cheeca program for children Amazing spa and fitness studio Oceanfront Tiki bar Full service water sport facility This was a wonderful resort with some of the most beautiful landscape I had ever seen. If you’re looking for a beautiful 5 star resort in the keys, the Cheeca Lodge won’t disappoint. Before I start to talk about the “Allure of the Seas”, I would like to share my thoughts before the cruise with you. About 3 days before the cruise, I thought “What the heck are you doing? There are 5400 people on this ship; I’m going to be around nothing but crowds of senior citizens and small children. I’m going to be in lines for 8 days. What was I thinking???” I couldn’t have been more wrong… Embarking on the ship was smooth, no crowds no lines. The dining venues were all spread out and there were never any lines or crowds no waiting. I dined at 3 specialty restaurants, all were amazing. The service was impeccable. Advanced reservations were not necessary. The main dining room was run very professionally. The service and food were very good. I did 3 shore excursions, and once again disembarkation and embarkation were not an issue. There were 3 days at sea,. I thought the pool area was going to be a nightmare., once again I was proven wrong.. There were plenty of lounge chairs and beach towels, the wait staff was constantly coming around. There is an adult only area called “ The Solarium”. This is an area where adults can kick back and lay in the sun, go into a hot tub or just play cards around one of the many comfy tables and chairs. .This area is large and very spread out., and well monitored,. Royal Caribbean makes sure that the solarium is adults only. The shows were amazing,. There was a broadway production of “ Chicago”, WONDERFUL !!! I saw a comedy show and laughed for two hours. You do need to make advanced reservations for the shows, they do sell out. I had a junior suite and the balcony was 80 square feet. There was plenty of room in the cabin. The cabin steward was great and remembered everyone’s name. . This 225,282 ton, 5400 passenger ship was amazing. This was my first Royal Caribbean cruise ( I’ve been on Holland America, Disney and Celebrity).This was the best cruise I’ve been on.. Beautiful boat, lots of fun things to do for all ages. Please contact me if you have any questions. Robin Paul

FAM REPORT – Kris Levy, East Greenwich

NCL Getaway – St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Bahamas October 25-November 1, 2014

I was eager to travel this NCL cruse since the Getaway, headquartered out of Miami, is a brand new vessel and it became immediately clear that it was a great choice as everything from the rooms to the decks to the lounges and all the restaurants were sparkling new

We flew into Miami and stayed at the Westin in Hollywood. Very nice hotel, pool area and very enjoyable pool bar. The weather was terrible on that day so we took a short drive top the Adventura Mall – incredible if you are into shopping that area. The mall was simply endless with 80% of the shops being very high end.

The ship:

Like I said, all brand new. Stateroom was a pretty typical layout, not huge but comfortable. WiFi is available in packages sold in minutes. A bit expensive but in case one needs to stay in touch daily, it’s very convenient. The WiFi is accessible throughout the vessel.

The Getaway is very children and young adults friendly. Plenty of things to keep kids and teens busy. There were not a lot on board since we traveled during school dates. The ship has a kids nursery and playschool, a young adult area with teen events, an arcade area and bowling lanes. Plus the pools, water slides, rock climbing walls, and a rip line area – also fun for the adults. One upper deck is devoted to aerobics, basketball, shuffle board, etc. Nickelodeon character party, circus workshop were also featured.

Basically only two negatives that we all shared as being in agreement with – #1 was that the balconies were unusually shallow. Literally unable to walk by someone if they were sitting on their balcony chair. Only one swimming pool was the other somewhat negative thing we found.

Night entertainment was phenomenal. And that’s coming from a couple that is not 100% cruse show oriented. A dinner magic show was out first night – The Illusionarium. Amazing!. Howl at the Moon Dueling Pianos was great. But the best was Burn the Floor which we saw twice – a Latin/Cuban music and dance presentation that I rated an A+++ [get a front row seat and enjoy]. The show makes Dancing With The Stars look like a rookie presentation. The Grammy Experience features music and memorabilia of past Grammy winning shows. The ship presented a Newlywed Game, live comedy, a Mr. Sexy Legs competition, a 70’s Disco night, Deal or No Deal, Jeopardy and a Michael Jackson tribute night. Plus a Fiesta Latina latin dance night and a Jazz evening at the Grammy Experience. Legally Blonde, the Musical was presented and the evening of day 4 the ship had an 80’s Party with fireworks.

Day entertainment. Too many bars to speak of [all the bars offered a special daily drink each day], music everywhere, all the time. A great reggae band at poolside. Very comfortable library and card game room. Dan took a $90.00 Behind the Scenes tour of the vessel – backstage from the shows, the main galleys, the laundry area, the environmental area, recycling and water treatment] and best of all – the bridge! It’s very seldom, due to security concerns that passengers are allowed on the bridge but that’s where his tour ended and where the most time was spent. It was really a worthwhile expense to him. Shopping and casino were pretty typical. We did take advantage of some very low prices on high end vodka that they were offering. The standard bingo, trivia contest, etc. were also presented.

Dining. We took a specialty restaurant dining package that allowed us access to any of the specialty restaurants. As a result we did not experience any of the main dining rooms but I did inspect them at off hours and took a look at the daily menus which appeared excellent. The dining areas were beautiful. But I must say, for the price of $—- that we paid for the specialty restaurant package, it is highly recommended. They include Cagney’s Steakhouse, La Cucina Italian, Le Bistro French, Moderno Brazilian Churrascaria, Ocean Blue seafood, Tepanyaki Japanese hibachi, Raw Bar and Wasabi Sushi Bar [great for lunch]. We dined at Le Bistro twice. Cagney’s was outstanding as was the Brazilian steakhouse. We did Tepanyaki our first night with friends. Very good, but kind of typical hibachi. Breakfast was at the main buffet area that also serves buffet lunch but we preferred a quitter area – also breakfast and lunch called Flamingo Bar & Grill. We also had lunch twice and watched the Pats on Sunday at O’Sheehan’s Pub. We were invited to a “meet the crew” cocktail party where drinks and hors d’ouvres were served and where we had the chance to mingle with other guests and talk to the Captain, 1^st and 2^nd Officers, Hotel Director and Cruise Director [and some of the entertainers].

Itinerary:

Day 1. – sail from Miami

Day 2. – sea day

Day 3. – sea day

Day 4. – St. Maarten

Day 5. – St. Thomas, USVI

Day 6. – sea day

Day 7. – Nassau, Bahamas

Day 8. – Disembarkation