Yesterday I returned from a seven-day cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman with the family. Here are my opinions.
The Ship: Carnival Ecstasy: As a first-time cruise, I was probably as fascinated with the ship itself as anything else on the the cruise. The Ecstasy, is on the large side as cruise ships go. This means that embarkation and debarkation does not happen as quickly as on an aircraft. Bags are checked, just as on an aircraft, and eventually are placed at the door to one's suite.
We didn't encounter any really turbulent seas, but I did find the voyage unexpectedly smooth which is allegedly attributable to wing-like 'stabilizers' that are deployed from the bow of the ship and which serve to eliminate 80% of the rolling motion of the ship. If one sits on the open deck, however, and looks across the ship's beam to the horizon on the other side of the ship, a slow roll can be detected by visually comparing the position of the horizon relative to the railing on the other side of the ship. Otherwise, I found the rolling entirely unnoticeable.
The ship is entirely powered by four diesel-electric engines rather similar to those used on railroad engines. The screws are electrically driven by shafts that rotate at a constant speed. The speed of the ship is largely controlled by adjusting the pitch of the screws and not changing the speed of their rotation. Potable water in great quantities is produced through distillation of sea water. Showers can last as long as one wishes with plenty of hot water. This is not your grandfather's battleship.
The main function of a great portion of the ship's crew is to separate the passenger from his/her money. Water, tea, coffee and, at breakfast, juice, are the only beverages that are included for the price of the cruise. Soft drinks for the kids and alcoholic beverages for the adults are not included. For our kids, we purchased $28 soda cards which allowed them unlimited soda for the duration of the cruise. They decided to drink juice and iced tea, of course.
There are many bars, a casino, gift shops, a video game arcade and a spa where one can spend money. At the spa, following one's massage or pedicure, the employees will earnestly attempt to sell one various poultices that are claimed to be absolutely necessary to one's continued existence. My wife got enticed into paying around $500 for some perfumed axle grease that was promptly returned upon further consideration.
Oh yeah, and guys, I know we're not used to wearing skirts, so when you sit around the spa with nothing but a towel around your waist be sure to keep your knees together in mixed company. My wife called my attention to a couple sitting in the waiting room of the spa where the guy was evidently trying to entice everyone else to get a Brazilian as he evidently had.
Payment for everything is done via a card with a magnetic strip. Every passenger is issued one and it is by this means that the crew is able to determine who gets off the ship, who gets back on and who got left behind. This card can also be used to pay for services and merchandise on the ship as it can either be backed by a set amount of cash deposited for that purpose or it can be backed by direct connection to one's credit card. Just think about cloning your credit card five times and giving copies to your kids who think that now everything is free 'cause they only have to show a plastic card to get it.
My favorite activity aboard ship was leaning over the railing and watching the activity in the water off the bow of the ship. The flying fish that came sailing out of the bow wave were fascinating and I was fortunate enough to see a sea turtle swim past the ship. I didn't have to charge any of this to my card.
The food is probably a thread unto itself and tastes are subjective. My youngest would tell you the all-you-can eat chicken strips, french fries and catsup were simply fantastic. He would have that for every meal if he could and frequently he did. When that buffet was closed, he'd settle for a meal consisting entirely of chocolate ice cream and pizza. My older son was a bit more discriminating. For him, it was cheese burgers or nothing. My daughter was generally OK with the informal buffet, pizza or deli sandwiches, but my wife was not satisfied unless she could eat in the formal dining room though it was my impression that the food in the dining room and buffet was largely the same. The dining room simply restricted one's intake to single servings.
My wife expected a 24-hour lobster buffet but was disappointed with most of the selections on the buffet. She doesn't care for pizza and the desserts were generally not up to her standards, except for the cheese cake offered for purchase at the optional coffee shop. I'm a more basic kind of guy and found myself satisfied with great, unlimited quantities of rice, cheese, roast pork, roast turkey, roast beef, potatoes, sausage and ham. I never did get around to trying one of the sandwiches or pizzas.
The wife and I agreed that some of the best food was on the national food days when Greek or Indian food was on the menu.
Jamaica: My six-hour impression was that this is a poor country where many, to their credit, realize that their only resource is the education that they are able to cram between their ears. Competition to get into the best schools is intense and the children all wear uniforms allowing one to know exactly what school they go to and thus where they stand on the intellectual pecking order. The best schools are very exclusive with the highest of academic standards. The students that attend those schools wear their uniforms with the pride of Bolivian field marshals while the boys who attend lower performing schools remove the identifying epaulets from their uniforms so one has to guess as how poorly they have done. For girls it isn't as easy to avoid identification as their entire jumper, skirt or kerchief identifies their school.
Those who continue to do well tend to go into professional training, often in the field of medicine, and leave the island for better paying jobs elsewhere. Many who remain are forced to depend on the tourist trade and the competition for that income can be cut throat.
When we got off the ship, we got into an oversized Toyota van that hauled us around Montego Bay with stops at the various shops where the operator of the van shared a percentage of the profits made on our purchases. If he didn't get a cut of the sales, he wouldn't take our van to that shop. When we requested to be dropped off at Margueritaville he dropped us off there and said he'd be back in about 2 hours to take us back to the ship.
While at Margueritaville waiting for our order of food to arrive, a fellow we presumed to be our driver ran up to our table and told us he had to get us back to the ship right away as the rain was tying up traffic all over Montego Bay and we'd be lucky to get back in time. Later, after waiting for an hour and a half on the ship, we figured out that this fellow was not our previous driver and had stolen our fare from the previous driver. The result was that our primary experience in Jamaica was an expensive cab ride all over Montego Bay.
Cayman Islands: The Cayman Islands seem to have much less poverty that Jamaica. Perhaps this can be attributed to the large number of banks that seem to operate on the island.
Here things went much more smoothly than in Jamaica. We had prepaid for a submarine tour of the reefs and that was simply fantastic. We went on the submarine Atlantis to depths of 80-100 feet and there was plenty to see in the way of fish and other underwater life.
After blowing ballast, the Atlantis still requires electrically powered thrusters to remain under water. This means that if power is somehow lost the submarine will naturally float to the surface allowing egress from the vessel. The folks that built the CSS Hunley should have thought of this.
Following our submarine tour we had plenty of time to enjoy lunch at the Margaritaville at this location.
Oh, one other bit of wisdom that was painfully learned on this cruise; do not, under any circumstance, allow any child, even though she be the president of her high school honor society, bring a cell phone aboard the ship. We have yet to get the bill, but preliminary indications are that our daughter just bought a Mercedes for each stockholder of at-sea roaming cell services.
Reply With Quote
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm hoping our next big vacation will be a cruise. My husband has horrible motion sickness and has been shy about trying cruises, but I think he's about to make the plunge. I enjoyed your post.
Originally Posted by TexMexYum
