Disembarking Day. We’re getting off the Norwegian Epic, at long last.
crowds, the lines, the noise and the chaos over the past four days since
departing from Barcelona on May 1st has been unnerving for both of us.
to be desired. The food, the service, the
entertainment and the floor plan are severely lacking. The service staff is
exhausted, overworked, all of which is evidenced by the fake smiles plastered
on most of their faces in a futile, although well intentioned, effort to seem cheerful.
out cheery and animated. Halfway into
our 15 day cruise, he started going downhill, forgetting towels, ice, and other
amenities. Many of the crew members
became ill during the three days of 50 foot swells, never seeming to get back
on track. Most of them were used to the
calm seas of the Caribbean Sea as opposed to this rough transatlantic crossing.
The food: frightful. The only item I found
delicious, other than the dinner in the “pay for” restaurant, was the
“real eggs” omelet I had every morning, especially after I told them
to stop adding the 1/3 cup of oil to the pan and to use the spray instead. Tom said nothing was memorable including the
specialty restaurant.
Their compliance to my low carb, grain free, starch free,
and sugar free diet was a gallant effort but the resulting food was dry, bland
and unseasoned. Every night, my “steamed”
vegetables, a staple of my meals, were either undercooked or sautéed in gobs of
butter, making them inedible. Whether I
had fish, shellfish, chicken, pork or beef, it was a miniscule overcooked
portion.
Our final bill for the 15 days was $1021, including $200 in Internet fees for days out to sea, cocktails, beverages and tips charged on our bill daily of $24 (totaling $360), one night in the specialty restaurant plus $150 for the excursion to Marseilles, France. This proves to be around $400 for all beverage and tips for beverages for this extended period.
Hopefully, tomorrow when we board Royal Caribbean’s Mariner
of the Seas for a 15 day cruise to Dubai, we’ll find the food and service more
to our liking. Based on conversations
with many passengers, they’ve particularly enjoyed this older ship’s attention
to detail, something we found to be the case on the older Celebrity Century,
our favorite ship thus far.
Garden Cafe as passenger’s colors of their luggage tags are called to proceed
to disembark the ship, go through customs and find their way to their next
destinations.
It’s now 8:00 am. Our
color has already been called but we’ve chosen to disembark “last” since our
hotel room won’t be ready until 2:00 PM.
We’ve done this on each of our last cruises which resulted in a shorter line
going through customs. Hopefully, this
will be the case today as well.
Grums, where we’ll have them store our luggage until our room is ready while we
wait in the lobby for our check in for the one night. With books to read on our phones and our MiFi
we’ll busy ourselves reading and writing.
Speaking of luggage…OK, here’s the final tally. After donating the three 30″ orange
Antler bags, we’re down to one 30″ orange bag for Tom and one slightly
larger black Samsonite bag for me, one carry on, one computer bag plus…two
duffel bags with our dirty clothes that we couldn’t fit into the suitcases and a
small bag with the cords for our digital equipment and a small doctor bag with
our toiletries.
placing the pills in Ziplock bags and scattering them throughout the luggage. I should have done this to begin with but
then again, who knew we’d be held up for 24 hours by security over
vitamins? Live and learn. It’s all a part of the process.
our 13 night stay in Dubai, is to be rid of the two duffel bags, the doctor bag
and the other overflow bag. It will
require us donating more “stuff” or throwing it away. After the disposition of the three bags,
we’re ready to let go of more of our favorite items.
The clothes we’re wearing today are the same clothes
we’ll wear to dinner tonight and again tomorrow since we don’t plan to open any bags
other than the computer bags and the doctor bag with overnight toiletries while
we stay in the hotel tonight.
In my old life, I wouldn’t have imagined wearing the same
clothing two days in a row, let alone the same clothing during the day as when
going out to dinner in the evening.
Alas, we keep adapting and somehow, in the process, we find these
adaptations to be liberating and to a degree, life changing.
tricks and perhaps the old dog isn’t so old anymore.