Maraloha Travel, LLC

Sunday, January 8, 2017

NCL Escape - Day 6 (Sea Day)

NCL Escape - Day 6

(Sea Day)

PLEASE NOTE: This review has nothing to do with Maraloha Travel. This cruise was for the purpose of the Reunion Cruise Group that I do every year in dedication and heavy advocacy for Travel Agents. It is also for purposes of giving insight to cruising and my personal experiences. Call your travel agent for more information about experiencing your first or future cruise.

So after a relaxing day in Tortola with not that much to do.. here we are a day at sea to have some fun! Our group did have a "Behind the scenes" tour set up but that got all screwy... Originally, we were supposed to have the bridge included with the tour, however the captain was not able to do it at that time. He either wanted to do it when we were in Tortola or when we hit Miami at 9am! I don't think that would have been convenient or ideal. In addition, by the time the group coordinator got back to me about it, it was already a "minute late, dollar short" to say the least. I was not happy, but things happen and we just went with it. I just didn't appreciate when something is promised to me, they don't deliver. However I did make up for it. Can't leave my TA's! Love them!

Now with a beautiful day at sea and the weather being so warm, JC and I decided to hit the pool area to see the staff carve an ice sculpture. I really love watching how they do it and what they are going to create. You think its one thing, but ends up being something else entirely! Trying to get a picture afterwards is always a task. The kids want to touch it and be all over it. People are cramming into each other to take pictures with it but hey people... its not the end of the world. Trust me.. you will get a picture with it. LOL!

So after that fiasco of people slamming into one another, we decided to hit the shops on deck 8. After scoping the deals, we stopped at the Sugarcane Bar to grab a soda. Little did we know we were going to have the time of our lives! We met several passengers, Chris, Anna, Michael, Kathy, John and Debra.. all hanging out and having drinks. John started to talk to me and introduced me to the bartender Bong.....ROFLMAO!! What a name!! I laughed so hard I almost peed on myself.. JC comes over and wanted to know why I was laughing so hard because I was only supposed to go over and grab a drink for both of us. When he heard it, he couldn't hold it in either. Reminded me of a joint!!

So there we are, never figuring that we would have spent so much time there, laughing constantly and loudly, drinking some great mojitos, playing bar games, and ordering more "prune juice." We had the time of our lives and couldn't believe it went so fast. We had to leave so that we could get ready for the group picture at 5:45pm and then our group dinner.

But we couldn't leave without seeing our "Bob" dancing away in the Atrium to the beat of Tezz Yancey. Hilariously funny and very entertaining... just look!!

Onward to the group picture and dinner! The best part of having a group is being able to get together to have a picture to remind us of the good times we have had and the dinner to chat about all the adventures people experienced! I really enjoyed this group and their expertise. You can learn a lot, laugh and get great advice from these very experienced TA's. I was so sad that we could not spend more time together. So with that said, JC went to see the show "Oh What A Night! A Tribute To Frankie Valli & 4 Seasons" as it was the only time to see it as it was not playing anymore through this cruise. So I got to spend quality time with my TA's as this was the last time I would see everyone in my group before we got off the ship.

Again, as I have said several times on this cruise, the food was very salty. I had to have the vegetarian dish because it had the least salt and tasted good. JC came back and since I am not much of a dessert person, JC and I went back to our cabin. How cute was this? A mouse was in our house! We of course, had to name it. We called our mouse Melvin. So Melvin the mouse stuck around for quite some time. LOL!

Change of clothes and off to Spice H2O for the Glow Party. Really not that exciting as we have been to this before, but we got a different vibe from it. Don't know what it was but there were A LOT of drunk people, a fight broke out, AND lots of people bumping into you. Not my cup of tea!

So with some good and bad highlights of the day, overall we still had some good times and now we are only left with one more day.

Tomorrow we hit Nassau, Bahamas!! Tour of Atlantis! This is going to be fun.

Please feel free to comment as I would love to hear from you.

Tune in for day seven of the 5th Annual NCL Reunion cruise on Norwegian Escape!

#dedicatedtravelagent, #WeExist, #cruises, #vacation, #fun, #NCLEscape, #Reunioncruises

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

NCL Escape - Day 5 (Tortola, British Virgin Islands)

NCL Escape - Day 5

(Tortola, British Virgin Islands)

So here it is... Day 5 of our cruise and we hit Tortola early in the morning and really not much to do here. They did spruce up the shopping area, but not by much. This would have been an ideal time to do a shore excursion, for instance, dolphin swim, snorkeling, or sea lion encounter. However, we did not do that. We made it a pretty leisurely day and went to the old market down the block, visited the new shopping facility, and got on board early. I even got my head wrapped in the shroud by the locals. Her name was Beverly and she was a sweetheart and pleasant to talk with. Always happy and fun to be around. I actually enjoyed that. Pretty relaxing and not so much pressure or stress to deal with.

As we ate lunch, we watched the ship sail away for another day at sea. Back at our cabin, another delightful treat from Sean and then we joined Amy and Robert on our balcony's to check out the scenery as we left Tortola.

Such a beautiful sight!

Tonight was pretty relaxing. The only event going on was the 80's party at Spice H2O. Been there, done that.. but it was nice to hear our favorite music again.

So tomorrow is another day at sea and then Nassau, Bahamas!

Please feel free to comment as I would love to hear from you.

Tune in for day six of the 5th Annual NCL Reunion cruise on Norwegian Escape!

#dedicatedtravelagent, #WeExist, #cruises, #vacation, #fun, #NCLEscape, #Reunioncruises

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

NCL Escape 2016 Freestyle Daily Schedule & Other Useful Documents/Links

NCL Escape

Freestyle Daily Schedule

Day 1 thru Day 7
December 3, 2015 - December 10, 2015

Click on the link to get the schedule
Please remember that schedules are subject to change on a daily basis. However, this is the most current schedule thus far.

Day 1 Schedule - December 3, 2015

Day 2 Schedule - December 4, 2015

Day 3 Schedule - December 5, 2015

Day 4 Schedule - December 6, 2015

Day 5 Schedule - December 7, 2015

Day 6 Schedule - December 8, 2015

Day 7 Schedule - December 9, 2015

Here are some other useful documents and links that has a lot of information. I did post restaurant and bar menus from my previous cruise on this ship in 2015 along with the destination port maps and tons more. Just click below.

· Mandara Spa

· Perspectives Photography Studio

· Miami Disembarkation Program 2016

· Shore Excursion Form (St. Thomas, Tortola & Nassau)

Restaurants & Bar Menus

Destination Port Maps

Specialty Drinks

Cruise Next Itineraries 2016-2018 & Last Chance

Diamond & Tanzanite Buyers Guide 2016

Please feel free to comment as I would love to hear from you.

#dedicatedtravelagent, #WeExist, #cruises, #vacation, #fun, #NCLEscape, #Reunioncruises

NCL Escape - Day 4 - St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

NCL Escape - Day 4

(St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands)

Here we are! Arriving in St. Thomas at 8AM and getting excited to get off the ship. Just a beautiful view of all the other yachts in the ocean and enjoying the warmth of the air. So yesterday, we signed up for this tour ($39 per person) to take us on a boat to go shopping downtown, breakfast and champagne toast. Bad idea! Don't do it. Waist of money as we got on the boat, met with two representatives (one from Diamonds International and one from John Hardy), got downtown, went into Diamonds International, had a champagne toast and NO breakfast. What a sham! Never again. We could have taken a taxi, paid less, and went shopping on our own. I should have figured that out but I wanted JC to get some kind of experience because last year was a nightmare.

Onward now to see if I can get a piece of Marahlago Jewelry, one of my favorite designers. Not really any discounts except for no sales tax and duty free. Tried a few Tanzanite pieces, and of course could not afford it. However, I did get my Larimar piece! So worth it and a great investment.

Next, we went down to the straw market, just like last year to see if we could find any little "chachkas" as we call it, for the loved ones at home. Found some good trinkets, magnets and a hat for a good bargain price and headed back to the ship. We were both here last year and didn't want to spend all of our time shopping, plus tight on money.

Back onboard, we went back to our cabin to get ready for dinner as we were invited to join Tony's family at Cagney's for his birthday celebration! The food was ok as it was quite salty for my taste. I don't remember the last time I was here that they cooked with so much salt, however, the steak was good, salad was good, and could not even have dessert (took it back to the cabin) as we were all stuffed. We did a little ditty for Tony's birthday and his family are great people. We really enjoyed it.

Great end to another perfect day. Next up, tomorrow is Tortola, British Virgin Island.

Please feel free to comment as I would love to hear from you.

Tune in for day five of the 5th Annual NCL Reunion cruise on Norwegian Escape! Can you believe we only have two more days! WOW! Time flies!

#dedicatedtravelagent, #WeExist, #cruises, #vacation, #fun, #NCLEscape, #Reunioncruises

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

NCL Escape - Day 3 (Sea Day)

NCL Escape - Day 3

(Sea Day)

Another day at sea and plenty to do onboard. Today, our Reunion Group had several exciting activities going on. First up was the Q & A Session with the Ship's officers:

(From Left To Right: Sean - Hotel Director, Tyler, Cruise Director, Martin - Food & Beverage Director, Jose - Beverage Manager, Errol - Assistant Hotel Director, and Ronney - Executive Housekeeper) (Last picture read right to left)

The TA's really enjoyed this. They felt that it was very interactive and more of a one-on-one session with the ship's officers that passengers would normally not be able to attend. Lots of questions were asked and answered and overall we were very pleased that these officers were able to spend their time to meet with us. After the Q & A Session was over, the TA's and I stayed a while to talk, mingle, and juggling ideas, sales tips and more at each other along with reviewing the rest of the schedule for our group.

JC and I left as we had made plans to take some professional shots with Perspectives Photography Studio on board. I always wanted to do this but never had any idea what it actually entailed. I should have found out BEFORE we took these pictures but that was the catch. I will explain later. So we got to the studio and met with one of the photographers. We were told that we could take pictures anywhere, on a beach, outside the ship, casual, dressed up--however we wanted. So we had decided to do some pictures outside the ship and dressed up. First, we went to the upper deck in the back of the ship to take some shots of JC and I near the water, etc. After the wind was not cooperating well with our long hair, 45 minutes to be exact, we went back to the studio and decided to do more photos in two days. We did try to do them earlier but there was so much going on the ship that we didn't want to miss certain shows or activities. Two days later, we come back, take pictures in our evening attire and then later that evening we were able to view all the pictures (78 to be exact).

HERE IS THE CATCH: Mind you even though there was no sitting fee, we were told that the MINIMUM package price was $399, $299 for me since I spoke to them the first day of the cruise. Now, I don't mind that as I was willing to spend it. However, the smallest package was for only ONE picture, split on three canvas'! The next was five canvas' for 5 pictures (one for each) but $1,200!! Whoa!!! Geez! I almost fell out of the couch! So then we said what about the flash drive? Can we just pay for the pictures on a flash drive? They said it would cost $1,000!! Damn! That was way out of my budget and I was not going to spend it. They even tried to sell me the 5 canvas pictures with the flash drive for $1,400 and she was giving me a 20% discount which was included in that price. NO WAY! Pictures were nice but I was not going to spend it. So, lesson learned on this one!

Onward now to the Library to meet with Tony and the other TA'S for the infamous Scavenger Hunt! We had the entire group attend and this time everyone did the scavenger hunt individually instead of in groups like the past. Tony explained the rules and off they went! So as the TA's scurried around the ship for the hunt, Tony, JC and I all went to Spice H2O to wait for the first 3 TA's to come back with the right answer to the hunt. So the winners were as follows with prizes:

1st Place - Linda Starkey

Prize: $100 OBC and Bottle of Wine from NCL and an NCL beach bag from me

2nd Place - Robin Cameron

Prize: $50 OBC and bottle of wine from NCL and an NCL jacket from me

3rd Place - Wanda Soares

Prize: $25 OBC and bottle of wine from NCL and an NCL jacket from me

Back at the cabin, JC and I had a few surprises! First we had chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us along with and invite for an intimate dinner at the Haven Restaurant for our Anniversary courtesy of the Hotel Director!! Besides the dinner, the wine we had was also included which would normally not be on the ultimate beverage package. Gotta love that!

It was really wonderful to have a great anniversary dinner with my sweetheart and relax. We really liked the food, the wine, and of course the dessert.