Norwegian Sea Texaribbean Cruise 03-2004

Joseph, that was a great review of the Norwegian Sea.

Back in November five of us retired ladies from Phoenix took this Texaribbean
Cruise out of Houston.
We all that a great time. We didn't do a lot of the excursions. We did tours
and people watching.
I posted our review at http://www.cruisecritic.com

The November cruise was the first for my four companions and it was my
second.
We are thinking of booking another cruise this years. We are thinking of
maybe the Rhapsody of the Seas
out of Galveston.

Joseph loved your pictures, and thank you for sharing them with us.

Ruth Gold
Phoenix


Joseph Sheppard wrote:

Texaribbean Cruise
March 2004

We live near Los Angeles. Several months ago, friends of ours from Texas
called to invite us on a cruise going out of Houston. They planned to go
in February, and we had to decline due to business reasons. Several days
later, they called back and told us they had switched to March, which
allowed us to accept the invitation. We are glad we did. My wife and I
brought along all three of our children, who range in age from 25 to 9.
All of us thought it was one of the best vacations we have ever had.

Except for our 25-year-old son, we had all been on one cruise a few years
before. It was on the Royal Caribbean Viking Serenade. That ship was
small, and when I read reviews, people either loved it or hated it. It
was our first cruise and we really enjoyed it.

The Texaribbean Cruise would be on the Norwegian Cruise Lines Norwegian
Sea. The Sea is the oldest ship in NCL's fleet, and on the small side.
But, with only the Viking Serenade to compare it to it seemed large and
modern to us.

We have experienced a wide variety of land accommodations, ranging from
Motel 6 to The Ritz Carlton. So, everything from this review will not be
a comparison to the Viking Serenade, which is no longer part of the Royal
Caribbean fleet.

The Sea sails out of La Porte, Texas. I am very familiar with this small
town, because I have an Uncle who has lived their for many years. It
was a very different experience from sailing out of San Pedro near Los
Angeles. My Uncle was able to drive us right up to the door, where
friendly luggage handlers unloaded our belongings. Once we collected
everyone, we were able to get in line, which moved swiftly.

At check-in, all of us were photographed with one of those small eyeball
shaped cameras that people use for webcams. The process was very fast,
and we were on the ship quickly.

Our stateroom was ready so we went directly there. We were close to
mid-ship in two inside staterooms. My wife and I were in one, and the
three kids were in another. The rooms seemed about the same in size and
design as our prior cruise. Both rooms had an upper bunk bed that could
be pulled down from the wall for a third person to sleep.

The bathrooms had a small shower, full size vacuum toilet and sink. I am
six feet tall and approximately 180 lbs. The only problem I had in the
restroom was if I dropped something in the shower. It was difficult to
bend down without hitting a wall or the shower knobs. They had a
dispenser for shower gel and shampoo. We brought our own, and there
wasn't any kind of soap dish or place to put anything extra other than
the floor, which made it a little difficult.

The beds were twin size, but comfortable. They had egg crate, which we
are used to sleeping on at home, and two pillows. There was quite a bit
of closet and cupboard space. We had two larger closets by the door, and
one smaller one on the other side of the cabin.

There was a color television that had inputs in the front where you could
easily plug in video accessories like a camera or portable DVD player
(both of which we brought along). There was only 1 110 outlet in the
cabin, making it a little difficult to operate things like battery
chargers along with other electrical gadgets. There were two European
style outlets, and I was able to purchase an adapter on the ship for
$7.00, which made it a bit easier.

We had ample florescent lighting, including reading lamps at each bed.
There was also lighting above the beds, and over the desk area, and of
course, in the restroom.

The inside staterooms do not have a window looking out. I was a bit
apprehensive about this at first. On our last cruise we had a large
window. But, after a while, I got used to it and didn't really miss the
window at all.

Tips are added to the bill automatically. $10 per adult and $5 per
child. This eliminated some of the staff being overly attentive to the
point of being obtrusive. The only thing I missed with this was the
Cabin Steward. We never really saw the steward at all. Our room would
get made up in the AM and PM, but the extra touches like towel folding
were non-existent in our cabin. Though, our kids on the other side had a
steward that provided a lot of extra service. So, I guess it just
depends on who you end up with.

After getting familiar with the room, we headed up to the pool deck where
we found a welcome BBQ. I sampled the ribs and chicken. They were both
very good. We started finding all of our friends, which included three
other couples and our kids, for a total of eleven people in four cabins.
We were all in the same block of staterooms on the deck two.

The Sea operates under Norwegian's "Freestyle Cruising" concept. This
allows you to eat in any of the restaurants any time during the defined
meal periods. So, you just show up like you are going to a regular
restaurant and ask for a table. Most of the time we had no wait at all,
even when all eleven of us were eating together. On one occasion, one of
the restaurants didn't have a large enough table, so they called the
other main dining room and sent us over there. The menus between the two
main dining rooms were always identical.

Food in the main dining rooms, called "The Seven Seas" and "The Four
Seasons" was always at least good, but rarely excellent. Service was
always top notch. I was always disappointed in the beef dishes, which
surprised me given that the cruise caters to Texans. I would have
thought that at least one night they would have a good steak, but it
never happened. I really braced myself the night they had lobster tails,
because I've had some really bad lobster experiences. But, to my
surprise that was pretty good. They served three small tails, but they
were very tasty. Desert was always good, and they usually had three to
pick from.

Once we got settled on the cruise, we found that if we went to a specific
restaurant right at about 5:30PM, we could get the same large table that
all eleven of us could fit in. Each night we sat there, we had the same
waitress from Romania named Loredana. At first Loredana was sort of
stereotypical Romanian. She seemed similar to those gymnasts at the
Olympics that never smile or show any emotion. She had her hair pulled
back tight, and a pair of black plastic framed glasses that made her look
like a young librarian. But, every once in a while she would make a
comment that would be very blunt. After a short time, we figured out
that this was her sense of humor. As the nights passed we got to know
her better, and she really added to our enjoyment of the trip. On the
last night, she lamented during desert that she always gave her
recommendation, but most of us picked something else, then complained
about it. So, she said, "Tonight I recommend the Chocolate Cake. You
will all be having Chocolate Cake. Do you understand?". Of course,
everyone ordered whatever they wanted. It was just her ultra-dry sense
of humor. When she accidentally brought my son (a vegetarian) the cake
by mistake, he offered to take it anyway. She quipped, "You may not have
this cake, it is full of meat".

I guess it is kind of ironic that given the level of freedom Freestyle
Dining offered, we ended up with the same table and waitress every night.
But, at least it was our own choice.

I enjoyed the concept so much, that if I had two equal cruises to pick
from, I'd take the one offering the Freestyle concept. After all, this
is a vacation I have to deal with enough rules and regulations at work.

The first day, we were out at sea. So, it was a good day to check out
the ship more. The Casino had a good variety of slots, including "Wheel
of Fortune", and several other popular gimmick machines, along with
traditional slots. They had table games including Craps, Blackjack
(including gimmick variations), Let it Ride Poker, Three Card Poker, and
others.

There was an Internet Café with workstations. You could buy a block of
time for $55 for 100 minutes. I brought along my own laptop with a
wireless card. The person in charge of the Internet café was very
helpful in getting my settings right to connect to she ships WiFi
network. I was able to get a good signal in the library, and in one of
the lounges. I used the adapter I bought on the ship to plug in so I
didn't kill my battery. The high speed internet on the ship wasn't up to
DSL or Cable speeds, but it was at least comparable to a fast dial up.
There was a logon logoff sequence. So, I could save money by logging on,
and grabbing my email, then logging off to answer it, then going back on
to send the replies.

I never personally used the pools or hot tubs. But, my wife and kids
did. There was one pool for kids that was shallow, plus another larger
pool for adults. They also had two hot tubs.

The Big Apple café on the pool deck was always open for cafeteria style
dining. There was also almost always something going on for food on the
pool deck. In the mornings there was an omelet bar, and a guy making
fresh waffles. Afternoon was usually hamburgers and hot dogs. I don't
know what happened at dinner, since we were always in the dining room.

The bars, and drink quality were good. On my last cruise the drinks were
definitely watered down. I don't drink a lot, so by the second drink I
can usually feel it. I could drink all day on the last cruise and never
feel a thing. Not the case on the Norwegian Sea. The cocktails were
generally as strong as any outside bar.

The first top for the ship was at Cozumel, Mexico. We signed up for the
Jungle ATV excursion. We were taken by bus to a beach area that had a
few souvenir stands, and a bar. There we were put on ATV's. Drivers had
to be at least 18 years old and have a valid drivers license. Three of
us drove. My 9 year old rode double with me, and my wife went with our
son. The tour was guided, but it was not for the faint of heart. The
trail was rocky and difficult to maneuver. At one point, one of the
drivers hit a tree, so they put her up front behind the guide, just in
front of our 19 year old daughter. When this lady tried to avoid an
oncoming jeep, she turned her ATV over on its side. My daughter couldn't
stop fast enough and hit the other ATV. Luckily, nobody was seriously
injured. We had a good time, but I would not recommend this excursion to
anyone who has not had off road driving experience.

The next day was at the island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras. We
did not book an excursion this day, and decided to just sight see on our
own. This turned out to be our favorite location. When we exited the
ship, there were a lot of people offering tours and rides around the
island. We talked to a man who had a large van that could take all
eleven of us. After some negotiating, he charged us $10 each. The price
included transportation to Half Moon Bay. I was a little worried that he
might take us there and not return. But, he said he would not ask for
payment until we were safely returned to the dock. He also left us with
a tour guide who would stay with us for the entire time. The guide
looked like he was about 10-11 years old, but said he was 14. His name
was Ethan. He was such a nice, friendly young man. He did everything he
could to make sure everyone had a good time. He made a sand castle with
our 9 year old daughter. He even coaxed my wife into the water for
snorkeling, something she had never done before.

Roatan was quite an experience. There is a lot of poverty there. It
would appear that there is no middle class. People lived in either shacks
or mansions. One of the largest mansions belonged to the local minister.
Someone told us that the minister had instructed his congregation to not
put coins in the collection plate, only paper money.

We were indeed delivered back to our ship in comfort and safety, and paid
the negotiated rate. We all tipped Ethan separately, and I hope that he
was able to keep at least part of that money.

Roatan was the only place we stopped that wasn't highly Americanized. I
think that was the reason we enjoyed it most.

The next day we stopped at Belize. We signed up for the Cave Tubing and
Jungle Trek. This is another excursion I would not recommend to anyone
who is not in fairly good shape, and able to swim. It started with
another bus ride. Our tour guide was a local, and was very friendly.
Her name was Mary. After exiting the bus, we hiked about 45 minutes into
the jungle on a well maintained trail. When we arrived at the river, we
had to go down some rocks holding on to a rope. At the water, someone
held an inflated inner tube for us to lower ourselves into. I held on to
the rope until I was seated in the tube. My 19 year old daughter went
next, and let go of the rope, and ended up submerging herself and the
tube. She surfaced and spit out a big mouthful of local water. It must
have been clean, because she didn't get sick.

We floated along with the current into a series of caves, one more
beautiful than the next. At times you would get into shallow water, and
the guides would yell "Butts high!". You would have to lift up your rear
end to avoid scraping along the rocks. Most of the time the water was
deep and you could just ride along with the current. They gave us head
lamps so we could see in the dark parts of the caves. It was a fun
tour, but again, not for anyone who isn't very comfortable in the water.

Our next port was Cancun, Mexico. Here we visited the Tulum Mayan ruins.
We were a little disappointed on this day. Instead of using smaller
tenders to get us to shore, they used huge ones, that took a very long
time to load. We ended up getting to shore an hour late. It is a 4 hour
round-trip bus ride to Tulum, and the last Tender to the ship was
scheduled at 3:30pm. So, we ended up with less than an hour at the
ruins. The ruins themselves were spectacular, but we wished we could
have gotten that extra hour and not be rushed. The cost was around $100
a person, so after spending about $500, I felt a bit cheated on that one.

Returning to the ship was a bit of an ordeal. The tender was filled with
teenagers who had gotten very drunk in Cancun. They were stumbling all
over the place, throwing up and falling on people. I guess there isn't
anything the cruise line could do about that. But, people traveling with
families should be aware of it. Knowing what I know now, I might have
elected to stay on the ship that day.

Cancun was our last stop. Then we headed back to Houston. The next day
was at sea, and we just enjoyed the ship. At one point I ventured up to
deck 10. I sunburn very easily, so I covered up in towels and enjoyed
laying on a lounge chair and having a few drinks.

We arrived back in Houston early in the morning. The debarking procedure
seemed to work better on this ship. We were allowed to stay in our
stateroom. We were called up by deck to immigration, where we presented
our passports, and a customs form. It went reasonably fast.

We signed up for express debarking, which required us to carry our own
luggage. That's how we got to the airport in the first place, so it was
no problem. It was just a bit crowded with everyone trying to leave at
once with luggage. But, once we got out the door, it was a trip down the
ramp and back to the real world.

I would recommend this cruise, especially for families with children old
enough to appreciate the excursions into different countries, and the
cultural differences. Travel in the post 9-11 world is a bit more
challenging. I didn't appreciate NCL's security people at times. They
usually did not speak clear English, and would become very sharp when we
could not understand what they were saying.

That said, it was an overall positive experience, and every member of our
family had a good time, and would cruise with NCL again.

I have photos of the trip online at the following address:

http://www.josephsheppard.net/ncl04