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Name: David Gudas
Email: gudas@ime.net
Age: 41
Occupation: Police Detective
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: RoyalCaribbean-Monarch
SailingDate: 01/25/98
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 75
FoodLidoDeck:
DiningRoomService: 98
CabinQuietness: 98
FoodMidnightBuffets: 95
CabinSteward: 98
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 94
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 90
GoodForHoneymoon: 90
CasinoStaff: 95
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 75
LoungeService: 95
TenderService: 95
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 94
OverallPortsofCall: 97
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 80
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram: 95
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 95
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 82
OverallCruiseValue: 94
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 06 Feb 1998
Time: 22:52:41
Remote Name: 208.198.242.148
Remote User:
Comments
This reveiew is also posted at my Personal Website with pictures!!
The site is at: http://w3.ime.net/~gudas/rccl.htm
Monarch of the Seas - Sailing from 1/25/98 through 2/1/98 Southern Caribbean Cruise
beginning and ending in Puerto
Rico Stops: St. Thomas, Martinique, Barbados, Antigua & St. Maarten
This was our first cruise, and we departed from our home in Maine just after the famous
“Ice Storm of ‘98”. January
weather here or at some connecting airports can easily muck up a trip by delaying flights
and we didn’t want to take any
chances of missing the boat!!!
We therefore initially opted to take the two day “Pre-Cruise Package” RCCL
offers, and were originally booked to spend
the two nights prior to our cruise at the El San Juan Hotel & Casino in Puerto Rico at
a total cost of $698.00 for the two of
us (no meals or anything included).
We decided after booking this package that this was a bit pricey and that we didn’t
really need such an ultra fancy hotel
to stay at. We had planned on taking in some of the sights in the city of Old San Juan
during our two days before the
cruise, and therefore figured we would essentially only be using the hotel solely as a
place to sleep.
We then did some Internet research and found that a newly constructed (opened Summer 1997)
Hampton Inn was almost
exactly across the street from the El San Juan Hotel and Casino and that a nice room at
this Hampton Inn went for
$154.00/night. This meant an immediate overall savings of $390.00 for that two night pre
cruise stay. We had our travel
agent cancel the “Pre-Cruise Package” at the El San Juan Hotel & Casino, and
we had her reserve a room at the
Hampton Inn for our two nights before the cruise.
The weather never did play any part in disrupting our travel plans and we had a smooth an
uneventful flight to Puerto
Rico, arriving a full two days before our cruise departure date. The mid 80’s and
humid air of Puerto Rico were a real
change of pace. When we had left our home in Maine that morning at app. 4:30 AM the
temperature was about 0 degrees.
Friday - January 23, 1998 - Welcome to Puerto Rico
Once at the airport in Puerto Rico there were greeters from RCCL looking for those
individuals partaking in their “RCCL
Pre-Cruise Packages”, but since we had made our own pre-cruise plans, we ignored them
and went to claim our
baggage.
While awaiting our baggage to come up on the baggage carousel we were approached by an
authoritatively uniformed
woman from the Tourism Dept. who was brandishing a placard that read “Ask me about
Ground Transportation” or
something along those lines. She asked if we were planning to use a taxi that day, and we
told her we were. She then
pulled out her pad and after learning what part of Puerto Rico we were headed for and how
many bags we had, she filled
out a small 3 part form on her pad, and explained that one copy was for the driver of the
taxi and one for us, she kept
the third copy.
The form spelled out where we were going, and exactly what the fare would be (without
tip). I guess this procedure stems
from taxi drivers down there perpetually ripping off the unsuspecting tourists. I liked
the procedure!! I urge anyone blindly
headed off to Puerto Rico in this same manner as we did to seek out these uniformed people
upon arrival, and get it in
writing!!!
After a wild and fast ride via taxi, we arrived at the Hampton Inn which was as nice as we
anticipated, it was air
conditioned, was clean, it had a pool, it offered continental breakfast etc.
We soon learned more about that area of Puerto Rico when the bellboy brought our bags to
the room. He told us that
right outside our window was the cockfighting ring. Sure enough when we opened the drapes
and peered out the window
their loomed Club Gallistico, a large building with huge parking lot, with the words
COCKFIGHT RING written on the side of
the building. The parking lot was surrounded by chain link fence topped with curled razor
wire. Our bellboy gave us a
tip....”always bet on the brown (Rooster) bird!”
We unpacked and went for stroll around the neighborhood. We seemed to be about the only
tourists around, and as we
walked towards the ocean which was only app. 3 blocks across the street from the Hampton
Inn we became more and
more leery of the area. Everyone’s property was surrounded by chain link fence with
gates secured by heavy locks,
barbed wire and razor wire encircled the tops of most of the fencework, some more lavish
decorative wrought iron fences
had sharpened tips adorning their tops. Every public parking lot in the area was gated and
had a security guard present.
We did make it to the ocean but were uneasy about all that we had seen enroute to the
ocean, and none of the beaches
in that area looked appealing anyway.
Back at the Hampton Inn we met Barbara & Steve from New York, they were in town to
sail on the Carnival Ship
Fascination on that Saturday. Barbara had stepped into a pothole while walking the same
area as we were in, and was
nursing her bruised knee back to health in the lobby at the Hampton. Barbara shared with
us that she had been warned
by some locals to not sport jewelry (necklaces etc.) in this area of town, lest they be
grabbed right off her neck.
It was still daylight and we headed off to get something to eat before darkness came, and
the area became more
enthralling. We ate a Ponderosa Restaurant just down the street, and enroute we met one
more group of American
tourists who were staying at the El San Juan Hotel & Casino. They advised that they
had ventured over to the Ponderosa
to avoid buying the $30 steaks being offered at the El San Juan.
Later that same Friday night we received a call from Randy and Deanna from Denver, CO who
were a couple we had met
via the Internet. They going on this same cruise as us and had also arranged to take a two
day stay in Puerto Rico before
the cruise. They were at the Wyndham Hotel & Casino in Old San Juan.
Randy said that they had rooms overlooking the harbor, and that they were only a hundred
yards from the cruise ships
and docks. He described the area as being full of tourists, no barbed wire, and made it
sound pretty darn nice!!!
Randy managed to secure us a room at the Wyndham Hotel & Casino for the next night. We
canceled our second night
stay at the Hampton Inn and made plans to move on over to the Wyndham Hotel. This later
turned out to be one of the
best moves we made.
Saturday - January 24, 1998 - Old San Juan here we come!
Upon waking up and enjoying a continental breakfast at the Hampton Inn, Barbara &
Steve (the NY couple) gave us a ride
with our baggage in their rented car to the Wyndham Hotel at 9:00 AM that Saturday
morning. We arrived too early to
check in at the Wyndham, and so we stowed our luggage in Randy & Deanna’s room,
and took off to see the sights of Old
San Juan.
There was a big difference between this area of San Juan, and where we had been staying.
Everything was an easy walk
from the Wyndham and the tall close buildings and thin streets make it easy to walk in the
shade most of the time. There
were many things to see, from the thin sidewalks and shops, to the old forts throughout
the area. We walked up to the
biggest and most famous fort El Morro, but didn’t venture inside that day. We stopped
in a supermarket and picked up
some things we would need on board. We also visited the RCCL Crown and Anchor Club and ate
lunch at the Hard Rock
Cafe both of which are a very short walk from the Wyndham. We spent the afternoon swimming
and sunning at the 9th
floor pool of the Wyndham Hotel.
This pool is outside and the patio and deck surrounding it on the 9th floor afford the
most magnificent of views of the
Harbor in Old San Juan. All the docks, terminals and cruise ships from the Carnival, Royal
Caribbean and Princess lines
were visible, and from this 9th floor vantage point they were so close that we actually
believe we could have thrown a rock
and hit the Dawn Princess which was the ship closest to us.
On that Saturday tied up at the piers were the ships: Fascination, Rhapsody of the Seas,
and the Dawn Princess.
Saturday evening Randy and Deanna received information on where to get a good seafood
dinner and took us out for that
seafood dinner. As an example of how the taxi’s operate it cost us $6.00 to get to
the restaurant, and on the return trip
the next driver insisted on $10.00 for the trip back to the Wyndham. We mentioned the
discrepancy to this second driver
but he didn’t budge in light of this revelation. We didn’t figure it was worth
it to argue the issue to excess, so we took the
ride.
We struggled to stay awake Saturday night to watch the cruise ships leave, and they
usually pull away from the docks
between 11:00PM and 1:00AM we were told. They all ended up leaving the docks at app.
midnight.
The 7th floor room overlooking the harbor at the Wyndham ran us $170.00/night which was
$16.00 more than the
Hampton Inn’s price of 154.00/night. The Wyndham offered the Continental Breakfast
like the Hampton Inn but was still a
better hotel in a much more picturesque and safe area. The Wyndham also had drip coffee
makers and safes in their
rooms, unlike the Hampton Inn. The Wyndham was well worth the money. If we ever return to
cruise again from Puerto
Rico, we will absolutely, positively be staying at the Wyndham again.
Sunday - January 25, 1998 - Embarkation Date
Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, and this was our departure day. We ate breakfast
at the Wyndham’s
Restaurant which had an outdoor patio on the 2nd floor overlooking the harbor and cruise
ships. We saw that new ships
had replaced those that left the evening before, and at the docks this day were the ships:
Inspiration, Monarch of the Seas
& Norwegian Sea. We then learned from the bellhop at the Wyndham that on cruise ship
departure days, the lines to get
on board become long and dreary. Although check in on the Monarch of the Seas was not
until 1:00PM he suggested we
get there early (app. 11:30 AM) an avoid a longer wait by showing up at 1:00PM.
We had to check out of the Wyndham by noon anyway, so we took the bellhop’s advice.
We packed up our things later that
morning, and hired a cab to take all our luggage to the Royal Caribbean terminal. We
actually could have walked our
luggage over to the terminal, but it might have meant two trips through the hot 85 degree
sun, and no-one felt like going
through that aggravation. We had ourselves and our luggage at the terminal at app. 11:25
AM.
Once at the terminal an onslaught of baggage carriers are there to assist you. Some have
badges hanging from cords
around their necks identifying them as Royal Caribbean employees, and some are there on
their own. My advice: Don’t let
anyone without a Royal Caribbean employment badge around their neck touch your luggage!
Some baggage handlers insist on $2.00/bag to carry your luggage all at once on their cart
into the terminal, some
charge $1.00/bag and some just are happy to get any tip you offer. Being new to the whole
business, we thought they
were all Royal Caribbean personnel and the first guy we encountered stated it would cost
us $2.00/bag to have him grab
our luggage and bring it inside the terminal for loading onto the ship.
It wasn’t until much later after watching several transactions with other baggage
handlers and other cruisers that we
realized we had been taken, and that we had an option to have had the luggage brought in
for half the price. I tried
bringing this pricing discrepancy among the baggage handlers to the attention of several
important looking Royal
Caribbean people that were in the terminal, but they didn’t seem phased at all. They
advised that not everyone handling
the baggage is from their company, and they have no control over it.
We waited in the air conditioned terminal until app. 12:30 PM and then they started
letting us through to get on board. We
ended up actually being the first people to board the ship. Just before boarding we had to
stop at one of about 12 booths
set up in the terminal to create our Super Charge for the cruise, and for them to look
over our papers, birth certificates,
licenses etc.
Once on board we combed quickly through the ship, grabbed a Shore Excursion sign up form
from the Shore Excursion
desk and ate lunch in the Windjammer Cafe. We had heard that the excursions sell out
rapidly, and we knew the ones we
wanted thanks to the Internet site which posted the various excursions available, the site
can be found at:
http://www.reply.net/clients/cruise/shoreex.html - Royal Caribbean also has booklet
describing these excursions, but good
luck getting one way before your cruise date. Once the sheet is filled out, there is a box
you can drop off the completed
form at the Shore Excursion desk, and I assume they get handled on a first come first
serve basis according to how they
fall into that box.
We didn’t have problems getting any excursions we asked for, and did not encounter
any passenger who couldn’t get any
excursion they had asked for either. I imagine there were some, but we didn’t meet or
hear of any.
We then left the ship and went back into the terminal and at about 1:30PM there was very
large swirling line of people
waiting to go through the booths where you show your papers and set up your Super Charge
account. We were glad we
came early!! In the terminal we checked out the duty free shop, and picked a couple of six
packs of soda in the shop by
the front doors of the terminal. The soda there went for $4.00/6-Pack which was a little
better than RCCL’s price of
$1.50/can in the cabins. We had our Cabin Steward remove RCCL’s soda display from our
room.
Our Cabin Steward was David Charles from St. Vincent, and he was most accommodating. He
knew our schedule rapidly,
and did his thing when were gone. The room was always meticulously kept. We had him keep
it couches by day, and a
Queen sized bed at night. He even learned that we went ashore at every port, and left
large pool towels for us each day in
the room.
Royal Caribbean will also do your laundry while on board, and their charges for that
service run something like this: To
Wash: Shorts-$2.50, Shirt/T-Shirt-$2.50, Jeans-$3.00, Socks-$1.00, Dress-$5.00,
Blouse-$3.50, Skirt-$3.50, Swimsuit-$2.00.
To Dry Clean: Suit-$7.00, Pants-$4.25, Shirt-$3.50, Evening Gown-$8.00, Dress-$7.00,
Blouse-$4.00, Skirt-$4.50,
In the late afternoon we received our luggage and unpacked. We were in room # 5514 on the
Showtime Deck (up in the
port bow of the ship), which is a Category F cabin with a big oval window. The room was
somewhat small and was said to
be 15’9” x 7’7”.
There were not many drawers in which to store clothes. Shelves in the closet and some
improvising got us through that
dilemma. My only other complaint would be that when they make the two couches into a queen
size bed, the bed reaches
both walls from head to toe. In order for the person on the inside to get out of bed in
the night, they have to precariously
crawl over their partner rather carefully, as there is no alternative way out of that bed!
The TV in the room had many informative channels about the ship and its operation and
offerings, it had a continuos
movie channel, and it also carried two networks NBC and CBS. The NBC station was from
Eerie, PA and the CBS station
was out of New York. The stations came in even when we were bouncing around at sea!
Speaking of bouncing around at sea, the first few nights we were headed into the wind and
waves and the ship had some
quite noticeable motion to it, but after we turned around on Wednesday in Barbados, the
ride became much smoother.
Also when the islands are close together, the ship travels more slowly. We only met one
lady who complained of
seasickness.
The Suprbowl was on that first Sunday evening 1/25/98 and it started at 7:30 PM (Atlantic
Time) and was playing in
several of the lounges and in the Sound of Music Theater on two big screens. We happened
to have had the best of both
worlds this first evening as we were able to enjoy our first dinner in the Flower Drum
Dining Room as we were scheduled
for Main Seating which was at 6:00PM.
We met our Waiter: Theodore “Theo” Cardoso from India and our Assistant Waiter:
Rafat Yaman from Turkiye. The Head
Waiter and Senior Assistant Maitre D was Francoise Wache from France. Nice people who made
the week very enjoyable.
They work hard at what they do, and they were always cheerful and ready to help. After
every meal Theo would give us a
verbal rundown of the happenings the next day and that evening, and make recommendations
based on what other
passengers on past cruises had enjoyed. He was very helpful.
After dinner we went and watched the Superbowl and only missed the first 5-6 minutes of
the game. We were the only
ones at our table for six.
We watched the Super Bowl in the Sound of Music Theater and with the large crowd,
frequently cheering, it made it feel
like you were at the game somewhat. Needless to say when the Royal Caribbean ads (they
sponsored the half-time show
this year) came on, the people were all cheering!! The game didn’t end till somewhere
around 11:00 PM (Atlantic Time)
and the Captain even held off on the lifeboat muster until the Superbowl was completed.
This was something that crew did
not think he would do.
Once the game was over the lifeboat muster was held promptly, and that took about half an
hour. Since we were up and it
was near midnight, we checked out a midnight buffet in the Windjammer, and could only
manage to eat a piece of pie.
Then it was off to bed.
Monday - January 26, 1998 - St. Thomas
We watched the Monarch of the Seas pull into St. Thomas this day, and the views from the
upper decks of this ship are
astounding! We ate breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe, and that was about our last meal we
ever ate there, the food and
service in the dining room was always top notch, and that’s where we headed every
mealtime.
In St. Thomas that day, with us were the ships: Regal Princess and Inspiration. We later
heard that the Regal Princess had
run aground while entering the harbor that day, and had needed a tug boat to nudge it back
into the channel. That was
big news in St.Thomas.
We took the Buck Island Sailing & Snorkeling Tour in St. Thomas. We had brought our
own snorkeling gear because we
had several of these snorkel trips planned, and we didn’t want misfitted gear etc. We
got into a dinghy right near the
cruise ships and took a short ride out to the 41 foot sailboats moored in the harbor. We
were on the Triumph II with
Captain Jack (retired roofer) and his mate Steve (from England). There were only 6 of us
tourists allowed per boat, and
we had a wonderful time as Captain Jack shared his experiences with us while sailing out
to Buck Island. Captain Jack
actually lives on his boat, and his wife Lynn runs their other boat a duplicate sized boat
called the Triumph. They have
been doing this since app. 1991.
Once at Buck Island we snorkeled for about an hour. We saw many fish along the reef there,
as well as an octopus,
stingray, green sea turtle, and some folks even saw a barracuda. Steve was in the water
with us and gave everyone a tour
as we snorkeled along, explaining what we were viewing etc. The sailing back was smooth
and fast, and along the way we
observed a rather large sea turtle that had surfaced for air. A very nice trip!
Once back on shore we had been told that Magen’s Bay was voted one of the prettiest
beaches in the world by National
Geographic magazine. We skipped lunch and took a cab ride over to Magen’s Bay to find
out for ourselves. Magen’s Bay
was on the other side of the island from where the ships were docked, and the ride was
worth the trip, as we got see
much more of the island, as well as the steep, thin and winding roadways these islanders
must use, Also in St. Thomas
they drive (rather crazily mind you) on the left side of the road, which is very unusual
if you haven’t experienced it.
We thought Magen’s Bay was pretty, but did not consider it to be the prettiest beach
in the world. The water there was
calm, and slightly cloudy compared to elsewhere in the Caribbean. I snorkeled around the
edges a little bit, but did not
observe anything unusual or interesting. They will serve you food and drinks there, and
there are restrooms.
Upon arriving back at the ship we got into our formal attire, and headed off to the
Captains Cocktail Party. We shook
hands with Captain Tore Nervik and thanked him for postponing the lifeboat drill the
evening before, in order to let us all
see the entire Superbowl. He didn’t have much of a chance to say anything back as the
impatient ship photographer
snapped our pictures, and shoed us onward with his waving hand.
The Captain gave an interesting speech at the Cocktail Party and we learned that the ship
was making its 320th voyage
with our cruise, that we had 2,501 passengers with app. 1,900 of them from America and the
rest from 34 different
countries. The crew numbered 800+ and were from 52 different countries. Our oldest
passenger was 91 and youngest
was 14 weeks.
We also learned that the Monarch of the Seas has 4 engines that generate a combined 29,000
horsepower, and it
consumes 1,200 gallons of fuel per hour when underway.
We had dinner in the dining room and were joined by two ladies who were part of a group of
eight others, from whom
they had somehow been separated in the assigning of these dinner time seats. The Maitre D
fixed their situation
promptly and we were once again alone at a table for six. We didn’t mind.
That night Herb Reed (one of the original Platters) and the new Platters put on a show
that lasted an hour. If you liked
the Platters music at all you will find this show fantastic and shouldn’t be missed,
they only did the show one day during
our cruise. Apparently they move from ship to ship during the week.
Tuesday - January 27,1998 - Martinique
We ate breakfast in the dining room, the breakfast menu never changes, as everything you
would ever want for breakfast
is on there. It was excellent.
We didn’t arrive in Martinique till around noontime, so in the morning we watched the
horse racing they ran on the pool
deck, and just walked around the ship.
The only other ship visible in Martinique when we docked was smaller vessel called the
Flamenco. After docking we had a
quick lunch in the dining room, our waiter Theo really moved lunch along as he knew we
were pressed for time. We then
headed out for The Martinique Snorkeling Tour. We had read much about Martinique being an
unfriendly nasty place, and
so we opted for an RCCL tour so we could at least get off the boat, and see some of
Martinique for ourselves in the safety
and uncomfort of a big mob of other tourists.
The Snorkeling Barge was named the Sea Punch and it held app. 50 people rather
comfortably. We boarded the boat
right from the cruise ship pier, so we never did see much of the actual island of
Martinique. The two men running the Sea
Punch didn’t appear to speak much English, and after handing out the snorkeling gear
on the ride across the bay, they
simply anchored at the base of a giant cliff that overlooked the bay. They gestured toward
two large outcroppings and
told everyone to stay within the confines of these locations, and to return to the boat
when he blew the horn. That was it!
No further instruction on how to use the gear, no warnings to not touch or destroy the
reef, no warnings about what can
happen if you touch poisonous urchins or coral....if you were a novice you were in some
trouble, but if you knew how to
snorkel (which we did) this place turned out to be the best!!
The coral and fish were abundant, very colorful and picturesque. The water ultra clear!
There was even a cave filled with
bats that you could enter. This was far and away the best snorkeling we experienced during
the entire cruise! We wished
we had remembered to bring some bread or cereal to have fed the fish.
Once we were back on board the Monarch of the Seas we watched a little ice carving, and
got a snack in the Windjammer
Cafe. We then watched the ship leave port as it pulled out at 5:00PM which was just before
dinner for us.
We ate dinner in the dining room and met Paul and Bill from New York who were our dinner
table partners for the rest of
the cruise. They were very pleasant people and made for excellent company the rest of the
week.
That night we also played the Ship’s scheduled trivia game and came in third
receiving Royal Caribbean coolie cups,
bronze medals, and key chains as prizes. Some of the questions went like this: 1) What do
cities, songs and noses have in
common? 2) What does a twig of laurel, a twig of oak and a flaming torch have in common?
Answers: 1)They each have
bridges. - 2) They are all on the back of a dime.
We then watched the Wave Review Dancers show that evening. They are a talented crew, but
we thought the show was a
little juvenile and not presented in any coherent order.
We went to the midnight buffet this evening, as it was held in the kitchen, and my wife
wanted to see the kitchen. It was
spotless, and the oriental buffet had carvings of ice and butter adorning it, and it was
delicious....like we needed to eat it!!!
Wednesday - January 28, 1998 - Barbados
Barbados can fit many cruise ships in their port. On the day we were there, the ships:
Fascination, Emerald, Black Prince,
and Norwegian Sea were in port with us.
The walk to the Barbados terminal and to weave through the terminals shops and stores to
get to the cabs is rather long.
I estimate it was 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile in the hot sun. We had no excursions planned and we
grabbed a cab to take us on a
tour of the island for an hour. The driver wanted $10/person to do this. We drove by many
beaches, cane fields and some
hotels, saw the Westmoreland golf course, as well as actor Tom Selleck’s home. We saw
outlying towns, and many
examples of every day life in Barbados. Very interesting. They also drive on the left side
of the road here, but don’t seem
as crazy.
We were dropped off in the town of Bridgetown and we shopped a little, and walked back to
the ship.
Note: Barbados makes a very nice, large, highly detailed, free map of the island with all
its offerings in the margins. It is
called the Barbados Holiday Map and it is published bi-annually in January and July. For
further info. on the map, (and
possibly to get one mailed to you), they offer an E-Mail address of: cot@caribsurf.com -
It’s a very nice thing to have
beforehand.
We watched the ship leave Barbados from the Viking Crown Lounge, and then headed off to
dinner in the dining room.
The ship rode much smoother now, as the waves and wind were at our back for the most part.
The show that night was a bit of a variety show featuring Bobby Arvon who sings the theme
to the Happy Days TV show.
He sang a bunch of different songs, and supposedly did impressions of other singers...his
Neil Diamond was good but that
was about it. We didn’t think he was so hot. The Wave Review Dancers made another
somewhat irrelevant appearance, but
the final act was a comedy juggler named Billy Prudhomme. He made the evening worthwhile.
He is an extremely
talented fellow, with a very funny, well done act. Don’t miss him if he shows up on
your cruise!
The chef’s were in the Centrum that evening giving tips on cooking and sculpting
vegetables. They had a fact sheet they
handed out about the kitchen which included their shopping list. To give you an idea each
week they go through:
90,000 eggs, 1,400lbs. of bacon, 600 gallons of ice cream, 30,000lbs. of beef, 5,000lbs.
of pork, 1,500lbs. of lamb,
6,500lbs. of flour, 10,000lbs. of fresh vegetables, 1,600 lbs. of coffee, 1,300lbs. of
veal, 5,700lbs. of poultry, 4,100lbs. of fish,
2,500 lbs. of shellfish, 2,000 lbs. of cheese, 3,800 gallons of milk, 2,800lbs. of sugar,
10,000lbs. of fresh fruit, and 190lbs. of
caviar. Their ice machines can make 18 tons of ice daily (enough to cool over 500,000
drinks!)
They prepare app. 12,000 meals per day, wash over 60,000 pieces of china a day and have a
kitchen staff of 120 people.
The dining rooms are staffed by 165 more people.
Thursday - January 29, 1998 - Antigua
We were up early this morning because between app. 6:15AM and 7:00AM we were just several
miles from the coast of
Montserrat which is presently being destroyed and reshaped by an active volcano. I had
brought binoculars and with
binoculars you can clearly see the lava flows, and the houses that were destroyed, and
those still standing surrounded by
hardened lava. The volcano top was in the clouds as we passed by and as the sun rose
(6:39AM that day) and the day
warmed, even from Antigua, you could see the plume of smoke coming out of the volcano.
Well worth getting up to see up
close, but you need binoculars to really see the big picture on Montserrat.
Note: The ship is 11 stories off the water, and the views of all these islands are
fantastic. There are vast distances and
expanses to be viewed. I highly recommend you beg, borrow or buy a set of binoculars and
take them with you.
We ate breakfast in the dining room, and then headed up on deck to watch our arrival in
Antigua. While heading into port,
Antigua was indeed beautiful, and many people remarked at all the sandy inlets and coves
we passed by. Upon closer
examination with binoculars many of the coves were littered with trash, bottles, plastics
etc. It was pretty gross looking
actually.
The final docking of the ship in Antigua is at a bay in St. John’s wh
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