Hi,
Tony, thanks for letting me know your docs arrived. Hopefully you'll be able to get an upgrade to a suite. I'll have to check and see what's available.
Kathy, I don't know if RCI has the handheld bingo devices. I never go to bingo (on or off a cruise ship), but I was practically forced into it by some friends (I think we had a bit too much to drink and it sounded like a good idea at the time, LOL). It wouldn't surprise me if all the ships had the same devices. Bingo is such a moneymaker for them.
Other than the food in the main dining areas, we had a great cruise. Trust me, we never went hungry.
The buffet area closes at 9 p.m., but there is 24 hour room service and a couple of places that have round the clock food.....one has chicken and fries, another has asian food, and another had pretzels and popcorn.
Slots were pretty tight, for me, anyway. However, I was sitting at a machine the first night and someone behind me started yelling. She had hit for $3000. Others hit for various amounts in the high hundreds, but I couldn't hit anything. Oh well,, we had fun playing the machines anyway.
Bermuda was better than the last time we were there (2 years ago). It was always such a nice island, with lots of great stores, and wonderful people. A few years ago the nice department stores closed (apparently they were owned by old Bermuda families who no longer cared to continue in business) and they empty store fronts were soon populated with tacky t-shirt shops. Those shops have gone out of business (or been forced out by the government of Bermuda perhaps) and there is plenty of evidence of growing businesses and lots of construction. Stores that were there are much more upscale (and expensive), but they have given Bermuda back the class she once had, IMHO. Hamilton is a very pretty downtown, but it is still a city. My favorite place on Bermuda is St. Georges, at one end of the island. It is a very pretty and quaint town, still has cobblestone streets, and a town crier who welcomes you to his town. They have a public dunking every day at noontime.........a poor wench who was found guilty of nagging, and her punishment is to be dunked at least 3 times (more like 7, as guys were operating the dunking equipment).
We found out the dunkee is the weather girl on Bermuda television, so I guess she can't earn much money if she needs this second job. The houses in the "projects" of Bermuda start at 500,000. with the economy the way it is, the price has been reduced to 480,000 USD. Those are houses for the "poor" people! They do have their gangsta's.......but as the tour guide mentioned, how can you be a "gangsta" if you live in a PINK house........and most of Bermuda's private homes are PINK!
We bought a 2 day bus and ferry pass for $20 pp, and that enabled us to travel all over the island, over to St. Georges, Hamilton, and Horseshoe Bay (IMO, the most beautiful beach on Bermuda). There are no rental cars available on Bermuda, so you have to travel by ferry, bus or cab to your destination.
We arrived on Bermuda on Sunday, and on Monday were joined by Explorer OTS out of Bayonne. We met some of the Explorer people on the trolley, and they were very vocal in their complaints about all the kids on board who were running wild, pushing all the elevator buttons, ringing doorbells, and just generally being loud and obnoxious. I am hearing more of these kind of complaints about the Explorer, and I wonder if the ship line is being lax in their security of if the parents just don't care. We had no problems with the kids on Spirit, but I don't know how many there were (which is a very good sign).
Kathy, you should try to visit Bermuda one of these days. I don't know how you could do that from Florida, so you probably have to come to Boston, NY or Bayonne to do it.
Time to find something for dinner.......pizza sounds like a good idea!
Rita
D