Review Bunker is a review blog where the goal is simply to review everything. Below are the latest reviews. In the About section you can read more about this blog and it's author. Comments are always appreciated, so if you've got something to say, please feel free!
Welcome to Review Bunker!
Archive for the 'Vacations' Category
The first destination on our recent cruise was Oranjestad, Aruba. Based on recommendations of past cruisers we decided to book the Jolly Pirates snorkel tour available in Oranjestad. Unfortunately, a private tour was not available on the day we were in port, so we ended up booking the same tour through Royal Caribbean excursions (Jolly Pirates provides the service for RCI’s ‘Sail, Snorkel, Swim, and Swing!’ excursion) . The tour included a few snorkel locations, a place for guests to swing off of the ship’s rope swing into the water, and alcohol bar service on the way back to port.
In short, the tour did not live up to it’s reputation. Things started out badly when the transportation bus to the pier was over-filled, forcing me and my companions to stand during the entire drive through the city. We were unable to see any of the countryside or sites that the driver pointed out during the ride. It also did not help that the bus-line was touted as a “party bus” service, and the driver was a bit crazy - making it even harder to stand in the narrow bus aisle through 10-15 minutes of his erratic driving.
Once at the pier, we met the Jolly Pirate ship’s lackluster crew. While some may describe them as laid back, I think it is fair to say that the crew of the ship didn’t really put any energy into their jobs, and they didn’t try to create the atmosphere described by many pasts guests of fun and excitement. Instead, I felt more like one of the herd, shuffled onboard, issued equipment, and transported to each snorkel location with no visible enjoyment from the crew. Even after they opened the bar and started serving drinks, things didn’t really pick up. Also, part of the tour description was that the crew would give us a mini-show by doing tricks off of the rope swing - which they didn’t. Given their overall attitude I didn’t really expect the rope tricks, but it would have been nice to see, and would have increased the entertainment value of the trip.
Being out on the open ocean was nice - as was most of the ship - it was a large ship, with plenty of space for everyone. The one part of the ship that was not enjoyable was the bathroom. I wasn’t expecting anything wonderful, but the bathroom was disgusting. If you go on a Jolly Pirates tour, try as best as you can to avoid the bathroom, and focus on the rest of the ship instead.
The snorkeling locations weren’t incredibly exciting. We were looking forward to snorkeling at the shipwreck of the Antilla, a World War II ship sunk off of the coast of Aruba - but the water was very rough, and the shipwreck turned out to be hard to see, and not a fun place to snorkel. The other locations we stopped at were picturesque, but also were not good places to snorkel. There was very little ocean life available for us to see, and venturing far from the ship looking for interesting snorkeling sites wasn’t really an option, because we spent a minimal amount of time at each location. I didn’t try the rope swing, but the guests who did said it was fun.
The snorkeling equipment worked well and fit nicely, and the bar service on the way back to port was good. The excursion did have good qualities, but overall, I can’t recommend it. There were too many negative qualities for the price, and I won’t go on a Jolly Pirate’s trip in the future.
Aruba Jolly Pirates, Sail, Snorkel, Swim, and Swing! (RCI Shore Excursion): 
2/5
Have you been on a Jolly Pirates trip? What did you think? What other trips would you recommend in Aruba?
If you enjoyed this post, Please consider subscribing to my full-post feed, or subscribing to receive my posts by email. Also, please check out my contribute and get reviewed pages. Have anything to say? Please comment!
During our recent excursion to Las Vegas, we stayed our two nights at Binion’s Hotel on Freemont Street, downtown. We spent most of our time at the hotel in our room, although, I spent a few minutes playing slots in the gambling hall, and we ate a late-night dinner at Binion’s Coffeeshop.
To their credit, Binion’s offers a very cheap hotel room, in a decent location - but the rooms definitely show the cheapness. Binion’s website proclaims, “you feel the history like no other hotel in Las Vegas”, and we certainly felt the history - and not necessarily in a good way; For example, the thermostat seemed to have no actual control over the temperature of the room, and the shower functioned about as well as I would expect a prison shower stall to work. The ice machine found in the hallway often dispensed nothing, and the elevator had an antique feeling and speed. All of the basics were provided, though, and we weren’t uncomfortable during our stay on the 23rd floor. One of the most disappointing facts about our stay was that the roof-top pool was closed. Given the incredibly hot weather that we experienced during our trip, it would have been very nice to have access to the pool. I believe it was being renovated, and I imagine it will be a nice place to cool off once it is done, but during our stay it was nothing but a disappointment, especially the fact that we were not warned at all that it would not be available.
The staff at Binion’s were mostly agreeable. The valet parking staff did a great job. The front desk employees were nice enough, and the late-night coffee shop staff were entertaining and efficient. The cashier I interacted with in the casino was quite rude with me, twice, but I imagine she might have been having a bad day, and certainly wasn’t a model for all of the staff in the casino.
The selection of gambling games seemed to match any other casino in Vegas, although I only patronized the slots section, personally. I liked the selection of slot machines, and had a decent time while playing (ignoring the fact that I didn’t win at all in the Binion’s casino). There was definitely a “historic” feel to the casino and to Freemont Street, and I was happy to experience both old and new Vegas during our trip.
The food in the Coffeeshop was decent, well priced, and had ample portions. The Binion’s Coffeeshop menu presented average American fare; I ate an average hamburger, and above-average french fries.
Overall, Binion’s Gambling Hall and Hotel is a great solution for a very cheap hotel stay in Vegas, with easy access to the historic Freemont Street, and a quick bus ride to the Las Vegas strip. If you happen to book a room at Binion’s, keep your expectation low and you should have a decent stay - always keep in mind, the most redeeming quality of a Binion’s room is definitely it’s price.
Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel (Las Vegas, NV):
2.5/5
2.5/5
(I was going to give this review 3 out of 5 stars, but I decided to remove half a star because of the pool status).
Have you ever stayed or played at Binion’s? What did you think? What do you think of Freemont Street?
If you enjoyed this post, Please consider subscribing to my full-post feed, or subscribing to receive my posts by email. Also, please check out my contribute and get reviewed pages. Have anything to say? Please comment!
Last weekend I spent two days exploring Las Vegas with Crystal, her mother, and her brother. It was my first visit to the unholy city that never sleeps, and I was quickly immersed in the unique culture and feeling of anticipation that ever-present gambling and general sloven behavior creates. We had fun, but the entire experience felt a bit rushed, as we only had two days to visit all of the sites.
For lunch on our first day we decided to make a reservation at the “Top of the World Restaurant and Lounge” that is located on one of the top levels of the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino tower. This restaurant’s claim to fame is mainly it’s height from the ground, although it’s cuisine has also been well received by the food critic community. Since I don’t consider myself a refined food critic, I will try my best to review the entire experience, as well as the food.
Making the reservation was relatively easy - the woman who I spoke to on the phone was courteous and friendly, but I did have a hard time understanding her at times, due to her strong accent. I am not sure if this is a common trait among operators at the reservation call center, but it was definitely a negative factor during my phone call.
The support staff, everyone from our server to the elevator operators were all courteous and nice to us. Our server may have been a bit overloaded with tables, as she forgot a few minor things, and didn’t visit our table as often as I am used to. I can imagine that working in a circular restaurant which sits 1,000 feet off of the ground, and which rotates slowly over time can add a bit of stress to an already stressful job, so I won’t hold it against her. 
The revolving restaurant thing is actually pretty cool, and our meal lasted nearly two hours, so from our vantage point we were able to see nearly a 360 degree view of the Las Vegas landscape. The one downside to rotating for so long is, I felt a bit off-center for the rest of the day on Sunday.
We were served complimentary champagne at the start of the meal. We decided to maximize our variety of food by ordering the special four course lunch that was being offered. Thankfully our server allowed us to split our meals - this allowed us to share the large amount of food, and keep our total meal price reasonable (at $39 each, splitting the meals helped a lot). Each course offered us a few different choices, and for the first course we chose the smoked salmon appetizer. This was an interesting course - a large piece of smoked salmon was topped with diced asparagus, a white sauce that I couldn’t identify, and some artfully placed potato chips. The salmon was delicious, and the topping added the perfect amount of texture and variety.
For our second course we chose soup instead of salad, and each of us got a very tasty lobster bisque. Being a salt-fiend I added a bit of salt to mine, but it was a very tasty bisque either way (sorry, we forgot to take a picture of the soup!).
We chose the steak and shrimp for our main course, and we each received a very tender piece of juicy steak served over a bed of shredded lettuce and topped with a large shrimp and a delectable cream sauce. My steak was cooked perfectly, and I was left craving seconds. The cream sauce added a lot to the flavor variety, for both the shrimp and the steak.
For dessert we were served a chocolate “stratosphere” tower which was filled with raspberry chocolate mousse, and topped with vanilla sauce table-side. While somewhat gimmicky and hard to dismantle, this was a tasty dessert and a good end to the meal.
Included in our meal was complimentary access to the stratosphere tower observation floor above the restaurant, where we were able to see a slightly taller view of Vegas, and visit the gift shop (Crystal got me a t-shirt - thanks Crystal!). Overall, I enjoyed our visit to the Top of the World Restaurant - it gave us a unique vantage point from which to view Las Vegas, and it was a very nice (though slightly dizzying) atmosphere in which to enjoy a great meal - even for someone who is afraid of heights (me). All of our food was gratifying and presented in a somewhat unique style. I would definitely recommend this restaurant (given that you can fit it in your budget) to anyone visiting Las Vegas in the future. Also, it might be interesting to check out their, “Private Dining with a View” option, for a romantic dinner date.
Top of the World Restaurant (Stratosphere, Las Vegas, NV): 4.5/5
Have you ever been to the Top of The World Restaurant in Vegas? Have you ever been to the top of the stratosphere tower? What did you think of either?
If you enjoyed this post, Please consider subscribing to my full-post feed, or subscribing to receive my posts by email. Also, please check out my contribute and get reviewed pages. Have anything to say? Please comment!
Last May Crystal and I went on a Caribbean cruise - one of our stops on the cruise was Belize City, Belize. Long before our cruise departed I spent some time researching good excursions to do at each destination, and for our day in Belize we decided to trust our time to the guys at Cave-Tubing.com. Many people are hesitant to trust any non-cruise-ship excursion dealers, but I read only praise for their professionalism and tubing experience from other cruisers, so we decided to book with them.
We arrived in Belize early in the morning, and had to take a smaller boat to the shore. I received email directions from Cave-Tubing.com before the cruise, and we had a relatively easy time finding our way to the meeting place, where we were taken to a bus. The only difficult part about finding our way to the bus was avoiding all of the other cave tubing outfits waiting at the dock, trying to persuade us to join them instead of our reservation. Because the river we would be tubing on was about 45 minutes away I was prepared for some site-seeing out of the windows, but it turned out that our tour leader, Richard, would keep us entertained most of the trip. He was a funny guy, and he included a bit of tour-guide style commentary about the passing surroundings as we went, as well as information about our upcoming tubing adventure. It was enjoyable to hear him talk during our ride, even though he did talk the entire time. We were served a sample of local cashew wine, and given our headlamps and life vests, while we put on sunscreen.
The bus parked in a rest area, and we were given about 10 minutes to use the facilities and get our tubes from the staff before we started hiking through the rain forest. The hiking path was well worn, and it took us about 30 minutes to reach the point where we entered the river. The rain forest was fun and interesting to walk through, but humid and hot, especially when hiking with a tube over our shoulders. It took about 15 minutes to get everyone in our group into the river - and we hooked our feet and arms to create 5-7 person tubing chains. Each group had a staff member in charge of their navigation through the river and caves. Our individual chain of seven people had Crystal and I on the back, five newly met friends in front, and was being led by Jimmy.
Jimmy was a very energetic, happy, and funny leader. We ended up tubing through two caves, with a stretch of open water between the caves, and a larger stretch of water after the second cave. Both caves were quite long, so long that there were points that we were in complete darkness, so the headlamps and high powered flashlights came in very handy. The caves were really cool to tube through. As our guides reminded us multiple times, we were much better off than the cruise-ship excursion tubers who were given a tube, pointed at the river, and left on their own to navigate their way. Our Cave-Tubing.com guides on the other hand knew the river, and the caves, better than anyone - and they had all the proper knowledge and equipment to make our tubing experience fun. Many of the individual tubers that we passed on our way looked confused, concerned, or were stuck (in places the river was very shallow), and I was glad that we were in good hands. In the really shallow areas our guides shouted , “butts up!” and we would lift our butts up to avoid rocks. 
Also, if it was needed, our Cave-Tubing.com guys pulled us along to maintain a pretty constant speed, and we never had problems getting stuck. We had the leisure to not worry about actually navigating, and instead we were free to site-see, enjoy the river, and take pictures - we even spotted a few howler monkeys in the trees overhanging the river.
After we reached the end of the tubing area we headed back to the bus. On the way back the group voted to stop for lunch at a local restaurant in the country for an addition $5 per person - we were given a Coke, and a traditional Belizean meal. One of the best features of the Cave-Tubing.com experience was, they didn’t collect any money from us until after the tubing. This gave us the confidence that we weren’t going to be ripped off, and if we weren’t satisfied, Richard ensured us, he wouldn’t force us to pay. 
The entire excursion, including lunch, cost $50 per person, but we felt the service was definitely good enough for a $20 tip on top of the $100. We also purchased a Cave-Tubing.com t-shirt for $10 after getting dropped off at the docks again. We were returned to Belize City with plenty of time to get back to our ship, as promised.
I would definitely recommend this cave tubing experience to anyone who will be visiting Belize City in the future - not only was it cheaper than the cruise-ship tubing excursion, it was better executed, professionally led, and great fun.
Belize Cave Tubing with Cave-Tubing.com: 5/5
5/5
Have you ever been to Belize? What did you do there? Have you ever been river tubing?
If you enjoyed this post, Please consider subscribing to my full-post feed, or subscribing to receive my posts by email. Also, please check out my contribute and get reviewed pages. Have anything to say? Please comment!
Latest Comments