3 Nights Bahamas: Great Stirrup Cay & Nassau from Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida Cruise

15 night Panama Canal cruise!

The song says, "It Never Rains in Southern California". The song lies! We arrived two days ahead of time and experienced nothing but rain! However, on the day of the cruise it stopped! That was a stroke of luck for most people on our cruise, because they had to stand in line, outside, because of a glitch in the embarkation process. I got two stories about that. One, there was a problem with the facial recognition program that Immigration uses. And two, they had to sanitize the ship because a few of the departing guests were sick. Either way, people had to stand outside. Luckily, we were in the Haven and got to cool our heels in the Haven Lounge. The only trouble was that the Haven entrance wasn't marked at all and took me about 30 minutes to find it. Once I did, it was a breeze! We had to wait for a wheelchair for my wife, but that came directly! Before you knew it, we were having lunch in the Haven restaurant. After we ate our room was ready so we went downstairs to it. Our luggage was waiting for us so we unpacked. We almost missed "Sailaway". Dinner that night was in "The Manhattan Room" It was arranged by John who started the thread for our voyage. He also set up the "Meet and Greet" which was held the following day. Now, this was going to be a relaxation cruise. Only one excursion was planned. We spent our time in the spa having massages and mani-pedis and facials and acupuncture and I got a couple of shaves! We also tried our hand at "Progressive Trivia". We came to the conclusion that we sucked at that! Not so for our friend Tim whose team finished first, or our friend Lauren whose team finished second! I also spent a lot of time in the Cigar Lounge where I meet my friends Craig and Marty every night. I also went to the casino every night to play my favorite slot machine. I limited myself to $20 a night. A few nights I doubled my money. Most nights I lost! Our one excursion was the "Ocean to Ocean Train Trip" in Panama City. It was fun. Our specialty restaurants were Cagney's(good), Teppanyaki (good, but loud), La Cucina (surprisingly good), Ocean Blue (very good), and Le Bistro(excellent). As usual, The Haven Restaurant was always excellent, be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Also, I would be amiss by not mentioning Irene and Rae, the two best bartenders at The Haven Bar. Probably the high point of the whole trip was on Valentines Day, when my dear wife treated me to a glass of Louis XIII cognac. Irene turned it into an event! Also, Melvin, our steward, kept our room neat and clean, and Monseur, our butler who always made sure we were never wanting anything. As with all cruises it ended way too early. The only regret I have is that I never met up with "Schmoopie" for a cigar! We'll just have to do it on a future cruise. All in all, this was probably the best cruise we ever took.

Surprisingly Excellent

My only previous cruise on Norwegian was about 15 years ago when my wife and I were traveling with our young son aboard the Norwegian Spirit in the Mediterranean. We had a negative experience on that cruise with a poor cabin attendant, which soured my taste for Norwegian. This was a solo trip for myself, an early retired college professor. The crew, the cabin, the facilities and the dining were all excellent. I did not choose any specialty dining or drink package and found that between the main dining rooms and the buffet dining was good. I purchased the slower of the two wifi packages and am glad I did. The speed was adequate for simple tasks but anything that was streaming, even Youtube was blocked. The only detractor was the average age of passenger was 75 years old and I've never seen so many walkers, wheelchairs, canes, and scooters in my life. That made getting around the ship challenging at times and excursions challenging with mobility impaired. All Norwegian excursions list an activity level for excursions. All I chose involved a lot of walking. About half the participants had mobility issues with aforementioned assistive devices. Walking 2-3 miles over rough surfaces relying on a walker made the walking difficult for the rest of the group and detracted from the excursion by waiting for the rest of the group to catch up.

Joy was a joy in the Mexican Riviera

We loved this cruise from embarkation to disembarkation! What a fabulous way to ring in the new year. We were traveling as a couple, with no children. This cruise left out of the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. We spent the night in the city at the Biltmore, it was a great price, and put us in walking distance to Grand Central Market. This was a fabulous place to grab our dinner and do some excellent people watching. Everything was decorated for the holidays. It was a beautiful and relaxing start to the cruise. We had an early boarding time, but with minimal traffic on a Sunday morning, the drive took just about 30 minutes. Ample, safe parking at the cruise port, no reservations needed. We left our big bags with the porter, handed over our wine at the security check point (all 6 bottles were delivered to our room before dinner that evening), and enjoyed a seamless and easy check in. We waited about 45 minutes in the cruise terminal and then were boarded. The staff in the terminal, both indoors and outdoors were very helpful. Remember to bring a tip for the porter, those bags are heavy! On board, we made our way to the Observation lounge. Here we ordered some sparkling and got very comfortable in the chaise loungers in the window. There is a limited buffet in this space, but DH went to the main buffet and grabbed us some lunch when the time came. We met some wonderful folks who let us know about wine tasting experiences we could do while on board, so he also got us signed up for those. They called our deck as available, around 2 p.m., but we wanted to catch sail away from our lovely seats, so we just enjoyed the space for the remainder of the afternoon. Unfortunately, there was a medical emergency on board, which delayed our departure. I was relieved that emergency services were required while we were still in port, rather than at sea. Our room was an extra large balcony. This is a standard room, but the balcony holds two chaise lounges and two chairs. I would book this room again. We loved being able to truly relax out there. Dinner was in Le Bistro, and was exceptional. I was happy to have booked all of our specialty dining ahead of time, and we also purchased the premium drinks package. It was nice to not have to worry about any money while on this trip. In Cabo San Lucas, the only Tender port on this cruise, we booked an early excusion that was simply a boat trip out to the arches and back. This was one of the first excursions of the day, which guaranteed an early tender off the ship without waiting in line to schedule one. It was perfect, we saw the major tourist attraction and then were back into port to explore Cabo! Fantastic lunch at Los Tres Gallos, a Michelin Restaurant within walking distance of the port. AMAZING lunch! The ship had multiple parties that night for New Year's Eve. It was a great time as we motored over to Mazatlan. We walked from the ship and hiked El Faro, then took an open air cab to Plaza Machado for lunch. We walked back to the ship along the ocean front and then the blue line. It was fun meandering through neighborhoods, as many families were still celebrating the new year. Next stop was Puerto Vallarta. We visited the botanical gardens there. They were stunning, it is no wonder this is in the top 10 botanical gardens in the world. The food was exceptional in the restaurant. Be sure to coat yourself in bug spray, and be prepared to spend $100.00 US to get you there and back, its a long drive and you are essentially hiring a driver for the day. We spend a couple of hours in downtown wondering thru the shops and then caught a cab back to the port. This was the only port that really needed a cab, as it is not central to anything. Then we headed home! We ate at all of the specialty restaurants for our dinners, and did not have dinner in any of the included in your fair restaurants, nor the buffet. At sea lunches were in Savor and Taste. Both were fine, but nothing to write home about. Service in Food Republic was not great. Our dinner at Teppanyaki needed a revisit. We were seated at a table with a very cranky family, half of which refused to eat, and our chef was clearly struggling. Other groups seemed to be having a fantastic time, so I would try it again. Disembarkation was a breeze. We hauled our own bags off the ship, and walked straight to the car. I think it is important to note that this trip was a holiday trip during school breaks and there were a ton of families on board. I really appreciated that there were adult vs. kid times in the go carts as well as water slides that were adult slides and some that were kids slides. We rarely saw children in the specialty restaurants, and those that were there, were really awesome! We spent quite a bit of time in the hot tub in spice H20, which is an adult only space during the day. Our morning routine was one of my favorite things. I would grab a fresh squeezed juice at the buffet (that is the only place to get it), and take it to the observation lounge where I would grab my morning coffee at Starbucks in the Observation Lounge, where I would stretch out on a Chaise lounge and journal. Many mornings there was amazing wildlife, whales and dolphins, leaping out of the water! Then when DH awoke and joined me, we would head up to the jogging track for a few laps (walking), and then down to the waterfront for a few more laps (2 miles in total each morning). It was a perfect way to start the day and helped us walk off the wonderful meals we enjoyed on board! I would absolutely cruise on this ship again, and even take this cruise again, as there was so much to see and do in each port. Great job Norwegian.