Sunday, November 22, 2015

2015 Nov. 8-15 Western Caribbean Cruise on the Eurodam: Key West; Grand Cayman; Jamaica; HMC

When we "temporarily" moved to South Florida (as my husband likes to put it), I figured this might be a good time to try and get some good deals on last minute cruises.  Don't know how good of a deal we really ended up getting, but I managed to keep from accepting the up sell offer to a suite.  I had already upgraded us for $100@ to a balcony from the $499 OV room I had originally booked.  The first up sell offer arrived about 3 weeks before our trip and was $499 for a signature suite and $699 for a Neptune suite.  About a week later I got another up sell offer for the same super high price.  When we finally got our Verandah guarantee room assignment, I noticed we were in a less desirable room near the front of the ship with metal half walls on the veranda and no tub.  I called and requested a different room.
About 4 days before our cruise, we got an email with a new cabin number---mid ship, tub, and with a super deep veranda with Plexiglas walls and even 2 lounge chairs on the deck as well as the 2 other chairs, ottoman, and little side table.   About a day or 2 before the cruise, I called again because I noticed a couple suites opened up and I wanted to see if I could get an up sell for really cheap, like we did a couple years ago.  This time they quoted me $250 for a signature suite and $350 for the Neptune.  I was tempted, but also curious about the VA room we were reassigned.   Apparently there are 4 of these rooms---1 on either side of the lifeboats, so they're a little deeper then the boats are wide (about 14').  I read a lot of mixed reviews about those rooms.  Some people liked the extra space, others didn't because most of the veranda wasn't covered and, therefore, didn't have privacy.   I wonder if that's how we ended up with it.   I don't know for sure, just that there were no veranda rooms showing available for the last week or so before the cruise.
I'd say the actual covered area of our veranda was about what the regular verandas have.  We were on the sunrise side of the ship most of the time, so only got to watch sunset from our veranda 2 nights.  But I did spend a lot of time out there enjoying just gazing at the water.

This was my 2nd time on a Western Caribbean cruise.  Our ports were Key West, Grand Cayman, Jamaica (Falmouth), and HAL's private island in the Bahamas---Half Moon Cay. 

 2015-11-8 Embarkation day!

 

2015-11-9 Key West:

 

2015-11-10 Sea Day

 

2015-11-11 Grand Cayman:

 

2015-11-12 Falmouth, Jamaica:

 

2015-11-13 another sea day:

 

2015-11-14 Half Moon Cay:

 

2015-11-15 disembarkation day:

 


This was my 16th cruise.  Considering how my 1st one was, being evacuated back to Ft. Lauderdale with my Dad, I'm happy to say they've all been great since then.  







7 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for another fabulous blog. I read your earlier cruise and island reviews to get ready for our last So Caribbean Oosterdam cruise. In fact I was inspired to buy my own snorkel gear and found so much more sea life in the rocks and waters than I ever did in a larger organized tour. I was able to identify many of the fish based on your photos and descriptions. I would love to know what camera you used this time. Thanks so much! Susan

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    1. Thanks, Susan. For my underwater pics I'm currently using a Nikon Coolpix AW120 that I got in St. Thomas last April when my Olympus died. I wasn't really happy with it at first. The pics out of the camera come out pretty dull, but by correcting the levels in photoshop, they're much better. Seems the Olympus and Canons did better right out of the camera. It seems to do well above water, though. In fact my Canon 60D DSLR didn't leave the ship at any of the ports.

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  2. Wonderful pictures! I was also on this cruise and I'm producing an episode about it for my podcast. Would you be interested in being a guest?

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    1. Just listened to your podcast part 1---hilarius! You remind me of my husband!!! Let me know if you get around to part 2.

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    2. Thanks for listening! Working on part 2. Looking for a guest to be on the show to talk about the rescue. Would you or someone you know be interested? Just click my name to email me. Thanks again.

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