We are now at San Juan de Puerto Rico. The ship leaves at 10pm (ship time) and we head towards Philipsburg. I found free wifi here and I managed to upload all previous posts. From the ship it is impossible to upload photos…
I did not have the time and the occasion to take the photos of the big camera out, so no photos now, but I will update this same post later on.
San Juan is a beautiful place. I wouldn’t mind staying here a couple of days. Honestly. .
Navigation day. Puerto Rico is far from Florida. The day started rainy and a bit cold but as the day was progressing the sun took over and the temperatures raised.
We spent most of the day in the pool area. I am reading “the Help”, from Kathryn Stockett which is about maids in Louisiana on the 60’s.
It was the gala day, with the captain and the nice dinner. Everybody (except me) with suits, ties….
Before I went to have a hair cut here at the ship’s hair dresser. Wow, beautiful with great views over the sunset.
After the captain’s cocktail we went to listen jazz for a while and then to the theatre. It was Island, a story with dancers, magicians and more. Very nice.
Half way. For most of the people the cruise is over, but we continued. We discussed weather it was worth to go down and visit Fort Lauderdale and we concluded that we will be here next Saturday and with a rental car, so it was the best day to enjoy the ship, which was again by the oasis of the seas. We had most of it for us. We spend most of the day in the pool area. We had a bath at the Jacuzzis with Kai. It was nice.
We arrived to Nassau this morning. now in an hour we will be leaving to For Lauderdale to start the second part of the cruise.
In Nassau we had a great day. The temperature is great, it is sunny… mmm…
We went down and after us 4 more cruises arrived. We are all here. the last one in the biggest cruise ever build, and I encourage you to Google it or to look in a previous post in my blog. It is called “oasis of the seas” from Royal Caribbean. It is amazing. Huge! Ours, the MSC poesia is the second biggest and it is noticeable smaller.
Anyway, we went down and met the a couple with a kid that we know who live in Brazil. We all took an island tour with a very nice chap who explained everything and kept us entertained for nearly 3 hours. First we went to the Atlantis hotel, a 900 million dollar hotel, with an incredible aquarium. We just saw part of it but as we are coming back to Nassau in a couple of days, we will take the whole tour, which has tunnels with sharks and other fishes. The suit of this famous hotel costs 25.000 usd per night. It is a nice hotel, but I was not that impressed.
After that we visited several places and when we were done, we had a walk around town, had lunch (seafood, of course) and went to the beach. Now the sun is going down and from the balcony of our room I catch several wifi (paid) so I am going to pay for one in order to post all the blog entries. By the way in the last photo you can see all the cruises from the beach. The one of the left is the Oasis of the seas.
ps; I did not succeed with the wifi in the balcony…. I try once more from the ship.
From Montego Bay to Nassau you have quite a long distance. The day was all day navigation. The ship is packed with activities: in the pool area, theatres, etc… and it was a gala night. Everybody with suits and ties… I did not bring any… like in the titanic.
We spent most of the day in the pool area, reading. Nuria had a massage before the theatre and gala night.
This morning we arrived at Montego Bay in Jamaica. The previous two days have been a bit of miss organization from the side of MSC. First it was supposed to stop in Playa del Carmen and not in Cozumel. Petty because playa del Carmen is a nice place and the place where it stopped in Cozumel was not nearby anything (beach or city) so you had to take a taxi, and honestly, with a baby and in an island, you might find enough taxis where the cruise stops, but if you go to a beach, who guarantees you that you will find a taxi then, specially when there were 2 cruises and both dropping 3000 people in such a small place? Well, a solution could have been to hire a car, but just to go to the beach and for a couple of hours it is a petty. We felt people were not happy about it. Specially those who had booked excursions and where cancelled.
Then in Cayman island (Georgetown) again. They claimed bad weather, so the cruise could not properly stop. It took like 4 hours to take everybody in little boats to Georgetown.
Today, the cruise stopped at the port, we went down and were surprised that all the buses downstairs (a lot of them) where charging people to get them to town. Strange, but OK we are happy to pay 5 dollars each for that.
We went to downtown and you could see that Montego Bay is like any other place in Africa. Underdeveloped, dirty and not safe. Before, and when I go on mission, I don’t care, but with a baby…. it is a different story.
We walked a bit around downtown and were stopped several times by locals saying that we should now go beyond the couple of streets in downtown, as it is not safe. We decided to take a city tour with one of the tons of authorized drivers (JTB, Jamaica Tourism Board) who took us for an hour around Montego Bay, a very ugly city with NOTHING to see, a part from a nice old hotel on top of a hill with nice views. Plus the guy had no idea of anything. Anyway,the weather was not good either so no point in taking a taxi to the beaches so we decided to go to the ship. We had lunch in the 13 floor (buffet) in a table in the pool area with incredible views over the bay, and then we stayed until now in the pool area. Now I moved again to another table (facing the other side) and decided to write today’s and yesterday’s posts, even if I don’t se how and when I am going to be able to publish them, as the satellite internet is pretty slow, specially when uploading photos.
Now Nuria and Kai went to the room (Kai is hungry) and when they come we will enjoy a cocktail and try to connect to internet in order to try to check in with Iberia and the the right seats… which I doubt we will.
When we reached Georgetown in the Grand Cayman, we were supposed to leave the ship by 10 with boats. There were 2 other cruises and the sea was a bit moved. In fact the captain could not properly anchor and had to stay all day in the same spot using the engine. Plus the boats used to go to land were the ones of the cruise, little boats for 150 people, all packed.
They distributed numbers and were calling. I think our turn came at 1.30pm and at 3pm was the last boat back to the cruise. Goood. Pretty bad organized. People complaining a lot. Probably they had local boats to help but with the other 2 big cruises there was not enough for all. Anyway, it was quite an experience to go in such a boat, with such a sea (it moved a lot) and with Kai. I would say it was interesting. Poor Kai did not complain at all. It was not very sunny but it was very hot.
One thing I did not like from MSC (our cruise organizer) is that they don’t care about babies or disable people. You cue like anybody else, and in our way back it was killing us to cue under the sun. Kai was suffering so we kindly asked to go to the front of the cue.
Well, in Georgetown there was not much to see either. It is packed of shops with jewelry, diamonds and watches. When I say packed is packed. We walked around but of course we did not have much time to do more due to the disembarking problems. I could not buy rum because they don’t allow you to buy food or drinks outside the ship… maybe I should ask if they can keep it at least until the last day.
All this places we are stopping by are great for diving. What a petty. We would have loved to dive, but looks like it won’t be this time.
Well so we stayed most of the day on board, which honestly is not bad. Judge by the photos… it is better than a super hotel.
Early this morning they announced that instead of stopping close by Playa del Carmen and take boats to the port (that was the plan), we were going to go to the island in front, Cozumel and stop in the port. We did, and we went down but seeing that to go anywhere we should take a cab, we decided to go back to the ship and spend the day in the swimming pool area, which is great and is where I am now.
I bought a wi-fi connection at the ship, it costs 20usd for 60 minutes, but it is so slow, that I tried to upload the posts and I did not succeed, so I will try later using the web interface instead of this Windows Live Writer. I cannot access to my email at norai because uses port 8080….
We spent most of the day at the MSC poesia. It was good. We went to the deck 13 and took a seat on a table near the pool. Relaxing with amazing views. Nuria had a swim and I took some time to write on the laptop. With visits and all the activities they plan on board, you have little time to actually relax and type or read a book. I don’t know how many restaurants, bars, shops, disco and so are onboard. I am starting to know the ship now. I went to smoke a pipe to the Hitchcock room and to read a book while Kai and Nuria were having a siesta. We have walkie talkies to be in touch (of course… you know me…). Now there was a concert in the central area, there is the theatre later today and there is a huge screen in the pool area where there will be a film at 10pm. I have to check but I think there was a jazz concert in the zebra bar. Every morning they leave you a paper with the activities and offers. You can buy excursions, but we did not buy any, basically because we don’t feel we can do the sort of things they do with Kai: catamarans, snorkeling, etc… which is a real pity. Today for instance we would have gone diving, but… even if we do one dive each, I think it is too much to take a 11 week old baby in a small boat.
Tomorrow we’ll be arriving at Cayman Islands. Now, we are going to go to have a cocktail in the pool mohito bar probably and see the sun going down. I don’t know when I am going to be able to publish all these posts because the internet is not good enough for that.
Now for instance we are leaving Cozumel and I am in the balcony with the laptop. The sun is still up, a bit cloudy but the temperature is just perfect. It is a great experience to be outside in your own balcony with the sea by your side, the sun going down.
Just a quick note from MSC Poesia. We are in Key West. We arrieved this morning and we are leaving now to Playa del Carmen. I am writing from my iPhone using edge in roaming so no photos. I will write more as soon as I find wifi somewhere.
We continue from the previous post, but now from the MSC Poesia. We woke up early. We decided to leave the curtains open so in the mornings we could see the sun rising in the sea. We had our shower and went to the 13th floor where the breakfast buffet is. Incredible choice and views. The restaurant is all surrounded by windows so we sat close to one that felt like being in the edge to the sea. Beautiful.
After a full breakfast (eggs, sausages, bacon, pancakes,…) we went down to deck 4 and left the ship. We spent the day in Key West, a beautiful small town at the end of Florida Keys.
We had buses organized driving everybody to town (5 min). We spent the day walking around that beautiful city, full of nice cars, nice Harleys and old people. We visited Hemmingway’s house and went to a small beach.
Houses in Key West are all colonial style. Beautiful lovely small town.
At 1.30 we went back to the ship and started our trip to Mexico. Nuria had a bit of sea sickness. Yes, this huge ship moves quite a bit…
It was the Captain’s cocktail and gala dinner. I did not bring any suit or any tie, but I went with a shirt. Everybody had their best dresses….
After the captain’s speech, there was the daily show but it is too loud for Kai so we left. Nuria rested for a while in the room and then we went for dinner. We always sit in the same table. The gala dinner was too much. I think we are going to put (more!!) on weight here.
We had to leave the room by 11am. We agreed that The Clay Hotel had the best location possible in Miami Beach. We left the bags in reception and walked to Ocean Drive where we had a nice breakfast.
We went back to the hotel, took our stuff and put it in the car. We drove up towards port everglades, which is like an hour or so towards the north. We took it easy enjoying the road by the sea, stopping by to see the beach.
Once we found the budget agency we left the car and a shuttle dropped us at the port, where we checked in in an impressive place with security, photos for their record and so.
Once on board, we went to the cabin (8189) and when we saw it we couldn’t believe we were in a brand new room, with our own balcony, and all luxuries.
We went for a tour and finally to have dinner. The ship left at 19h direction Key West.
After our great dinner in the restaurant in the corner of this busy street, the cafe nuvo we went to bed. We had a good night. Woke up several times (as usual) but OK.
The hotel is at the heart of Miami Beach, it is cheap a bit noisy but highly recommended. Just for sleeping though.
We wanted to have breakfast so we went out of the hotel at Espanola way (photo on the right), where all the bars and restaurants are, and walked along Washington Avenue to the north where you have a lot of shopping. A couple of blocks from here there is Lincoln a pedestrian road full of shops and places to eat. We had a hot chocolate with a huge cookie at Ghirardelli. (photo above) Then we walked Lincoln towards the ocean stopping by a bank to redraw some money, and then along the beach. Lovely day. Perfect temperature. Perfect day.
We walked down the famous Ocean Drive, with all the art deco buildings, full of restaurants and hotels, beautiful people and incredible cars.Food here is cheap. We reached the bottom of Ocean Drive with a ton of leaflets on 9.95 usd meals.
We then went to the beach for a while, where Kai ate a bit and I had a bit of a “too much sun”, and went to have something to eat at Atlantic, in ocean drive.
Nuria had a lobster salad and I had a cubanito (excellent meat). We shared a huge mojito (photo above).
After lunch we went to the supermarket to buy some nappies for Kai (for the cruise) and back to the hotel.
Here I am, in the middle of the ocean writing again. I would have love to name this post something like our trip to Miami, but I can’t.
We woke up this morning and went to the airport. In the airport they told us that we did not have the right seats in order to get a crib. We booked this flight long time ago! and after booking it, we called Iberia to make sure we had the right seats in order to put the baby with a crib. Right.
In Barcelona the supervisor changed everything so we could get this seats. We took the plane towards Madrid, we learned that we had to change planes… and they call it technical stop… but it is a joke, not only you have to change planes, you have one hour to go to the other corner of Madrid airport… so quite a bad start…. landing in Madrid Kai crying because he was hungry (he had great flight by the way) and running to get the connection train and to the other terminal…
Up to here OK. We made it. Now, when boarding they tell us that the seats we have are not the right ones for having a crib… I could not believe it. That the flight is overbooked and we have to see once inside.
Indeed the row 29 or the Airbus 340 is just one more raw, so of course we complained… I could not believe that after booking in advance (you already say you are traveling with a baby), calling by phone, and in Barcelona asking again, and being the 8th passenger to board (we went in advance to the airport) we did not have the seats for the crib… a 12 hour flight with a 8 weeks old baby and no place to lay him… incredible.
The story does not finishes here. We discussed with the cabin crew, and the chief ot the crew, but the people occupying those seats did not want to move. Can you believe it? There are a couple of places where the crib can go, one with 4 passengers (all together) and 2 couples. They all argue that for a long trip this is the best seats, and I agree, it is not their fault, it is Iberia’s incompetency, but come on!! don’t they have a heart? Could you tell a mum with her 8 week old baby to go and fuck off?
The cabin crew tried but no success. I also cannot believe that they don’t have the authority to tell the to move. How legal or just how can they allow this?
Well here we are, in a 3 seat for us, and we managed to put the crib on the floor. I did not want to go to this rows myself because I would be capable of beating them in the face with the laptop until their mother cannot recognize their faces… sorry this is how I am feeling now.
Iberia sucks. It doesn’t mater if you are a frequent flyer, if you have a baby… Ah, and if you seat in the seats at the end of the plane, remember you will not be able to choose your food… so we had pasta.
Anybody knows how to put a claim? I guess I should count 1000 and continue our trip…
Anyway, I will continue from Miami.
We are now in Miami, at the Clay Hotel in Washington avenue. What a cool place! This is a little street packed with bars and restaurants and the hotel is in an old style Spanish house, very nice. A bit noisy but nice.
We landed with delay, we went to customs which is process in itself where you have to put all your fingertips (digitally now) and photo. Now you understand how this TV CSI series have this incredible databases… well, the airport is pretty old. We arrive when the sun was going down. Once outside the terminal there are shuttles that take you to the rent a car dealers. We took the budget one and we were worried because it was taking us damn far. Once you get there you understand… a huge place with tons of cars. We cued for 10 minutes and we got our car. We took the option of baby seat for Kai and an economy car. Wow though, the economy car we have is a brand new car as big as our volvo… with 1000 miles in the counter! Very nice. It will cost us around 90 usd for 2 days. It is OK considering we are dropping it 80Km north where the cruise starts.
Well, we fitted the seat plugged the iphone to have the GPS, searched for POIs of hotels in Miami Beach, and headed towards the Clay hotel. We had to pay 1.25usd of toll road. In 30 min we where at the hotel. The valet .guy took the keys and parked our car.
We went upstairs to our room, where I am now, I found a free hotspot (typical linsys open router) and here I am.
We went for dinner downstairs to this busy street. We had a Caesar salad and Nuria tuna. Californian wine. We shared a desert. Delicious! The tip is now included (18%!!) in the bill, so it is a bit misleading in the US. When you order food the price you see is without the taxes and without the tip.
Wednesday, a day to take it easy, meet a couple of people and prepare the bags for the day after, for the long trip.
In the morning we woke up pretty late because we the night before we went to bed at 2am from Alberto’s place. We took the 55 again towards placa de catalunya and we went to pizza marzano to meet Vanesa. We had lunch with her. Menu was 9.90 euros but quality is pretty bad.
We catch up with her over lunch. It was very nice to meet her and let her. She met Kai too, sure.
After lunch we had to meet with my friends from Salo de la Infancia, but we were going to meet late and my brother wanted to come over to my mum’s to say bye, so we cancelled (or postponed) with them and walked up home. We prepared the bags and went to bed.
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