The Start of SJC '15
Cruise Stats
Total Mileage: 2235NM
Power
6 engines manufactured by MaK 4 x16,092 HP 2 X 21,456 HP
Total Power: 85,824 HP
Propulsion:
2 Azipods, manufactured by Abb 2 x 17.6 MW
Total Power: 47, 204 HP
Fuel Consumption:
Diesel Generators 75 gallons/mi
Max Sped: 23.9 knots
Guests: 2,131
Crew: 915
Monday, January 20 - Day 9
Overall we had a fairly smooth journey back home. We even had a celebrity sighting! As we were boarding in Fort Lauderdale I noticed a familiar face. It took me a minute to place who it was but I realized it was Ashley from the show Hardcore Pawn. She was travelling with her kids. When we got to the airport in Detroit we realized her brother Seth and his family had also been on board.
We had about two and half hours in Detroit so we grabbed some dinner including one last vacation drink. It was nice to have time to relax instead of sprinting between gates like we've often done!
Thankfully we had no flight delays and no lost luggage. Jason's parents were kind enough to be waiting for us at the airport with my car and our winter jackets. It's always nice not to have to haul those along! We went back to their house for a bit and shared a few pictures and stories.
We then headed home. I had to work at 7:30 the next morning. It was worth it though. Another memorable Smooth Jazz Cruise!
Sunday, January 19 - Day 8
As in year's passed this Morning came too fast. We stayed up late last night packing so that we were able to vacate our room as early as possible to give our room stewards time to clean up before the next group (the Country Cruise) boards this afternoon. We grabbed our last breakfast from the lido and found a table by the aft pool. Unfortunately it was only about 44 degrees out and we had to head back inside after breakfast. We found a spot in one of the bars and somberly waited for our disembarkation group to be called. We were in the last group to be called off since we didn't have a flight to catch. Customs was a breeze and then we caught the shuttle to the airport to pick up our rental.
Since we couldn't check in to our hotel till later in the day we found various things to fill the day. We were tired and didn't want to do anything too serious. We grabbed another meal at Lime Fresh Mexican (by chance we ended up at the same one we walked to in 2013). We went to a mall, attempted to go Starbucks and then went to Target. While at Target we ran into people wearing their cruise t-shirts. Since everyone on the ship is always so friendly we had to say hi. Once we explained that the were on the cruise they were very friendly.
Around 3:45 we headed to the hotel. We snagged another great deal on a room at the Bahia Mar hotel. This year we paid a little more and were excited to find out we got a room with a partial ocean view on the 7th floor of their tower building. Our room was great but we quickly left to take the walkway to the beach accross the street. We were hoping to catch the Eurodam on it's way out of the cruise port. Unfortunately we didn't make it there it in but we did see it headed out. We walked all the way to the end of the beach and saw numerous ships setting sail. We snapped some pictures with one of the other ships from Holland America since it was the closest thing to our ship, the Eurodam. On our hurried walk there I (Anikka) managed to step on a large rock and hurt my foot. This made for a slow hobble through the sand back to the hotel.
At this point we were exhausted from a long but awesome week of travel and adventure. We decided to settle in for the night and order dinner. I found a local Italian restaurant that delivered and we ate in our room. We then headed out to the pool for a quick but chilly swim. We called it an early night since a long day of travel awaited us.
Saturday, January 18 - Day 7
Eurodam and Noordam anchored at Half Moon Cay
Today, our last full day, brought us to Half Moon Cay (pronounced Key) which is a private island shared by Holland America and Carnival (sister cruise lines). We had been here in 2012. One cool thing about the island is that they serve a free BBQ lunch with lots to choose from. It was a little chilly so instead of goofing around in the water we went for a hike. I (Anikka) even lost my sunglasses and so we ended up doing the hike twice to find them :). We played around in the water a little bit but due to the cool weather we didn't stay long. It was still a nice relaxing way to wind down the cruse. The concert tonight was a finale show but also included an award ceremony for lifetime achievement awards to Marcus Miller and posthumously to Wayman Tisdale who used to host the cruise. The show was shorter than normal and it gave us time to head to the Queen's Lounge to see Mindi Abair play. It was a great show and lot's of artists made cameo appearances such as Keb Mo, Peter White and Brian Culbertson.
Friday, January 17 - Day 6
Friday started off with the second, final, autograph session. We enjoy having our posters (gifts from the cruise) as keepsakes so we make a point of making it to all the autograph sessions. Again the line was very long but we snagged autographs from Sheila E., Boney James, Larry Braggs, Keiko Matsui, Marcus Miller, Jeffrey Osborne
The best part of Friday was undoubtedly a small meet and greet with my (Anikka's) favorite artist on the ship, Peter White. I heard about the event through Peter's Facebook page and the only requirement was to sign up in advance and to wear a Peter White t-shirt. I quickly placed an order and had a hot pink "Here We Go" shirt. Jason also sported a Peter White shirt but his was plain ol' black. Anyways the event itself was small and intimate. Drinks and appetizers were provided. He sang a few songs that he doesn't normally play in concerts and walked around talking to everyone. At the end he sat down with our small group (4 of us) and chatted. Jason had a lot of great questions and Peter really seemed to enjoy answering them. He even said it was really nice to talk with fans in a relaxed setting since other meetings on the ship tend to be brief and not have much content.
Friday night was formal night. It's fun to get dressed up. We scrambled to get dressed and take a few sunset pictures of ourselves using Jason's tripod and remote. We missed out on doing this last year so I was glad we squeezed it in. It's not often both of us get that dressed up.
The main shows this evening were David Sanborn and Brian Culbertson. Both of their sets went longer that the aloted time which left only a few minutes to reset the stage. I hope this means they both really enjoy playing on the cruise! They were followed up by another Alonzo Bodden comedy show.
Afterwards we made a stop in the Crow's Nest where the DJ plays every night but just didn't have enough energy to dance till all hours like some of the other cruise guests.
Thursday, January 16 - Day 5
Around 10:00 we arrived at today's port. St. Maarten/Saint Martin is a half French (West Indies) /half dutch island. You can move freely between the sides of this small but beautiful island. We opted for another hiking excursion today. Our guide Claudette and a driver took us first to Loterie Farm where we hopped in a truck to drive further up the mountain to Pic Paradis which gave us a stunning view of the island. We continued to hike down with several other overlooks. Upon arriving back at Loterie Farm we were yet again given rum punch before being driven back to the ship. We wandered around the cruise ship area for a little bit and bought some delicious mojitos. Jason went for a classic while I tried a bright red strawberry mojito. We had to drink them quickly to get back on the ship by the "all aboard time"
True to my form I needed a little breather and laid down for my much loved daily nap. Jason went to the Guitars Get Together with Jonathan Butler, Keb Mo, Peter White and Marcus Miller.
Tonight's main shows were Sheila E and Boney James. Sheila E. tossed a drum stick up in the air and it bounced off the stage right in front of us. Next up was another late show by Marcus Miller and Keb Mo.
Wednesday, January 15 - Day 4
We didn't arrive in San Juan (Puerto Rico) until around 1:00 so that left the morning "free" for SJC activities. We started off the morning bright and early by getting in line for the autograph session. We've learned over the years that you either wait in line before or you wait in line during. We were towards the front of the line and by the time we got through the autograph session the line was wrapped all the way down the hall way and back through the other side of the crows nest making a HUGE circle. The artists at this session were Mindi Abair, Alonzo Bodden (Comedian), Jonathan Butler, Brian Culbertson, Candy Dulfer, David Sanborn, Kirk Whalum and Peter White.
We grabbed some breakfast and headed back to bed for a bit before reaching San Juan. For our excursion we hopped in a shuttle bus to be driven about 45 min to El Yunque National Forest. This is the only rainforest in the US National Forest System. Our guide took us hiking around the paths and we saw lots of interesting flora. Some people in our group also saw some monkeys and a mongoose but Jason and I missed them both. We hung back a little bit from the group so Jason could get a lot of pictures. We also saw a neat waterfall but chickened out on swimming when we heard people complaining it was cold.
For dinner we grabbed the BBQ that was being served. This year they added a stated by the aft pool and we found the line was much shorter back there. There was a lot of food to choose from including potato salad, corn, pasta salads, baked potatoes and of course various kinds of grilled meat. Other year's we've skipped the BBQ but this year it really hit the spot!
Tonight's show was just one artist, Jeffrey Osborne. He did a longer set than the artists normally do and it was definitely a memorable one! From his interesting wardrobe to his audience participation on his song "You Should Be Mine" ("Can you woo woo woo?) the show was even better than expected
The late show on the main stage was the cruises hosts Marcus Miller and David Sanborn with Keb Mo (Kevin Moore). Keb Mo is a blues artists and was a great addition to this year's lineup. He has a great voice and some of his songs were downright hilarious. I'm glad he was on this year!
Tuesday, January 14 - Day 3
Turks and Caicos was our first port. We picked a fairly standard snorkeling excursion. i was enjoying myself so much that I even got "yelled" at for going to far away from the boat. The second half of the excursion was time at a beach. Complete with the old standby of rum punch served by one of the crew members standing in the water with a pitcher and cups. The beauty of the Caribbean beaches never ceases to amaze me. This one was no exception!
After getting back on board we headed to the basketball court to watch a friendly shoot out between the artists and the guests. Marcus Miller and Larry Braggs were the artists participating. Jason even got a pic with Marcus afterwards and they talked about Jason's camera and lens a bit.
Tonights concerts were Kirk Whalum and Jonathan Butler. We were in the front row and Kirk gave Jason a fist bump on his way off stage. The main show was followed by the "International Show" hosted by Peter White who dubbed the show "The Foreigners Show". He was joined by Candy Dulfer (Netherlands), Keiko Matsui (Japan) and Jonathan Butler (South Africa - now lives in the US). It was a great show.
Monday, January 13 - Day 2
Today was our first day at sea. We started the day off with Jonathan Butler's Gospel show which we had missed in previous years. It was a cross between a concert and worship.
Next was the annual T-shirt party by the lido pool. T-shirts required and free drinks abound. Mindi Abair was rockin' out in her own SJC shirt. Afterwards Anikka needed a nap.... Jason made the rounds to some of the smaller events such as the Keyboard panel (Keiko Matsui, Brian Simpson, Ricky Peterson and Brian Culbertson) ping pong tournament and of course cocktails with the lovely Candy Dulfer.
The main this evening were Keiko Matsui and Marcus Miller followed by the comedian Alonzo Bodden. Alonzo's been part of the Smooth Jazz Cruise for many years and is a great addition to the entertainment lineup.
An aft view out of our room
VIew of the bridge from our room on the navigation deck.
Sunday, January 12 - Day 1
After a quick breakfast we dropped our rental car off at the airport and caught a shuttle to Port Everglades. We were of course met with a long line to checkin and have our ship card I'd photos taken. This year we were met with another long wait in the cruise terminal before boarding. This may have been related to the fact that this year there is only one week of the cruise so they were doing setup today instead of doing it the week of the first cruise.
As always we went straight to our room. This year we are on the 8th floor towards the front of the ship. Our room is similar to the other years but seems a bit more modern as does the entire Eurodam ship.
After the mandatory safety drill we headed to the queens lounge to meet some of the guests from the smooth jazz Facebook group that is run by guests.
For the first dinner we headed to the formal dinning room and shared a table with a couple from Boston. Then we headed to the concert by Candy Dulfer and Peter White.
Almost there...
Journey to Fort Lauderdale
Our day started out bright and early and Jason's dad was kind enough to give us a ride to the airport. THANKS AL! We were elated to be able to fly out of the local airport this year instead of making a drive to Milwaukee or Madison. Unfortunately as we checked in we were greeted with the news that no flights had made it in the night before due to the weather thus our plane was not at the airport yet. Initially we were delayed only about 20 min but in the end it was about an hour. Thankfully the woman who checked us in preemptively rescheduled our connecting flight as well. This left us with enough time to walk (not run) to our connecting flight in Detroit and even grab a cup of Caribou coffee.
This year both our bags made it with no issues. After a luggage delay before the 2012 cruise it's always a relief to see our bags at baggage claim just like they should be. We quickly got our rental car and were on our way. After a quick stop at our hotel we ran some last minute errands and had some dinner. We made it to a Lime Fresh Mexican Grill which made us both very happy. We discovered this chain last year and we were both super glad to make it back. The food is great! Jason found some spicy salsa for his tacos and I stuffed myself with their classic guac alongside my burrito. After a long day of traveling it was just what we needed.
We're back at the hotel trying to relax and plan a few of our shore excursions for the week ahead. We're excited for the amazing music and adventures to come on this year's cruise. This year a different ship, the ms Eurodam, is adding to our eagerness to get the greatest party at sea started!
