JJInc

LucianGirl718, I bet you thought you were posting on Cruise Critic instead of Petty Critic. I am sorry you experienced the things that you did. It's sad that people just have to be so negative, but yet wonder why people snap on a daily basis and shoot up workplaces or schools, what's next cruise ships?

I have used budget for years, but when I call them tomorrow if they do not offer at least some of my money back, they will loose my business forever.

 

 

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I have used that Budget several times, did they give you any money back for the second day you were charged, when you called them? I would not have been happy if that happened to me:mad:

Don't even get me started on the people going to exercise at the gym who park in the (only 2) disabled spaces. Oh the irony!!

So are you saying someone with a disability can not work out at a gym, or they should not? :rolleyes:

As for the urban comment, there was a group of 800 "urban" people onboard from a travel club who were really having a good time.

QUOTE=DivingPrincessE;48292455]

Also, if we had gotten on the cruise and noticed it was 80% Irish people, and the music was all Irish folk music, and the dancing was all Riverdance. We would have mentioned that in a review, too.

Stop being so easily offended people.

Actually the only person that seems to be offended is you. I'm still trying to figure out your math skills, since you used the 80% Irish people comparison are you also claiming this cruise was 80% URBAN? 800 Urban people out of a possible sold out 4200 passenger cruise????:rolleyes:

 

I never said is was too urban. Just commented my view on composition, which I have no objection to. Everyone was very nice. never meant to convey that as a negative.

Here's my problem with your view on composition, which you have no objection to :rolleyes:, then why bring it up? If this cruise was sold out, at 4200 passengers, why did the urban/black people stand out? Could it have been those red shirts with their club logo on it? :eek: Btw, glad they were nice:rolleyes:

Thanks, glad you are enjoying.

 

I forgot one more pic from Sail Away. We planned to wear the same shirt:

 

 

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Nice picture, what does it say on the shirts, and did you buy those in the fun shops on another ship?

[quote

The whole point in reduced deposit is to pay less up front, but then people go ahead and make payments early anyway. I don't get it. I'll just make the up-front deposit and wait until final payment. It all goes on a credit card. I earn points, I redeem points for cash and use cash to pay the credit card bill. In the end, it's all the same to me. The price is the price whether I pay it now or later.

Freedom of Choice!

 

While sitting next to CJ, this message popped up on my phone from a neighbor/church member's son.

 

 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot you have got to be kidding me! I told my mom about this message and she STILL didn't want me to say she was on a cruise! Just say I'm out of town. #facepalm She has the tendency to make things into a bigger deal than they are sometimes. For instance, she doesn't want anyone to know that she has a caller ID box for the house phone because she doesn't want people to know she knows who is calling if she decides not to answer. She doesn't realize that pretty much EVERY PHONE IN THE WORLD has caller ID and it's really no big deal, but to her it is.

This has cracked me up all day long! :D It made me think of my mom who passed away in 2007, when I took her to sign up for Medicare Part D, she swore it was a scam, and she flat out refused to get call waiting on her phone because "If I am already talking to someone why would I switch over to talk to someone else" Lol!!! So as you've said about spanx, "the struggle is real when dealing with our elderly parents :) "

Btw I just told the hubby, yayyyy we're gonna meet GA Pearl on the Vista!

Im going to cancel my Breeze, now Splendour, cruise on May 1st of next year. I won't sail a Carnival ship without 2.0 upgrades and was booked on the Breeze SPECIFICALLY because of the ships interior design and amenities. At this point the Breeze was the ONLY Carnival ship I had an interest in booking.

 

I will be looking at NCL Escape or RCCL Oasis as alternates for the same timeframe. They may cost me more, but I'm ok with that.

The May 1st, 2016 4 night sailing on the Breeze is still going to take place, I switched to that sailing this afternoon. My PVP said it is the last sailing from Miami before the move to Texas.

I'm a CPA, so I'm pretty conservative (unlike some people who were throwing down $100-$200 in chips each spin!! :eek: )

Great review! Sorry that this question is not cruise related, can you offer any advice for my daughter who is studying the Becker course right now and stressing over taking the CPA exam? * Cruise related, she will be going on Harmony of the Seas with us next year* LOL!!

when you reach thte pool deck, go past the plow em’ down crowds fighting for gut bombs at guy’s burgers

LOL! :d

Great review, I had been patiently waiting for it! Btw, I think the pink is pretty and since the Susan G Komen race for the cure just happened in my city, I figured maybe you are showing your support :) Last night I was stressing over the fact that I had to scroll to the far right to read each of your post, then I figured out a way to make it work for me, and I also told my husband that after all it is your review and you should write it and format it however you choose:D! Keep up the good work!

Great review! In regards to the drink coupon, on the Sunshine back in August when we went to brunch the line was so long they were coming out making announcements that you could redeem the coupon anywhere, since it was the last day. The problem with this was the staff at the first bar we went to said not until 1pm, at 1pm when we tried, they then said not until 2pm! Boo, Carnival, get it together or stop passing out the coupons! :rolleyes:

Could it be in his...................."suit" case?:D

Lol:D This just made my day! Enjoy the Getaway, it really is nice!

OP as others have said, he'll be fine without it.

What is the reason for going to deck 5 instead of the dining room entrance like on other ships? I haven't been on the Sunshine yet, but am planning on next year.

This is how Your Time Dining is setup on The Sunshine, you have to check in on deck 5 first and then you go to the dining room on deck 3.

 

Since you mentioned growing boys, here's a lil tip, the taste bar will have snacks to sample tell your boys not to over indulge like I did on the snacks right before dinner :D One day they had these tiny grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, I lost count on how many I ate:eek:

You get the buzzer on deck 5 at the Ocean Plaza, across from the taste bar, and yes you then turn it in at the hostess station at the Sunrise MDR on deck 3, I don't know about the range because the one time we had a wait we just sat in the chairs at the Ocean Plaza, there is usually something going on at Ocean Plaza like music or trivia, it is also a good spot for people watching to kill the time. You do not have to go in the casino, you can just use the aft stairs to get to deck 3.

also went to a restaurant called "The Filling Station".

 

What did you think of The Filling Station, what did you eat? We were going to go there the last time we were in Miami but never made it.

Thanks for the great review! We are cruising on the Sunshine in a few weeks. Can you tell me the shuttle company you used?

I don't know the name, at the port there was a area that said pre arranged transportation we stopped there to ask about a taxi and the lady working there told us about the shuttle and the cost and said that it was leaving for the airport soon. We paid the driver when we got to the airport.

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Did you find the areas of the ship to be over crowded or notice any horrible smells and buckets all over?!?!? The reason I ask is because I've read some reviews where all the people did was complain about these things.

 

We are set to sail in her 10/12 which will be our first on the revamped Sunshine but our 9th with Carnival. We never let bad reviews make any decisions for us, otherwise we would never cruise as there seems to be complainers on every ship lol. Imagine that :)

 

Thanks for the review and for reading my post.

 

 

Me

We did not find any particular areas to be over crowded, and despite me making it seem like we stayed in our cabin all the time, we did a lot of walking through out the ship for exercise, since we didn't visit the gym this cruise. I did not see any buckets anywhere, but I did smell that smell a couple of times, I can't remember where, but trust me, if you smell it you'll keep moving quickly!:D

For future reference, you can now wear jeans in the MDR on rib night. I see it on every cruise.

I knew he could probably get away with it, but I didn't want us to be those people you hear about that get turned away! :o

Which shuttle did u use????

I don't know the name, at the port there was a area that said pre arranged transportation we stopped there to ask about a taxi and the lady working there told us about the shuttle and the cost and said that it was leaving for the airport soon. We paid the driver when we got to the airport.

We are not big drinkers, but we feel in love with the Shake Spot on deck 5. We had several "adult" milkshakes which were very good!

Activities: Our days and most evenings consisted of a whole bunch of "nothingness" every couple of cruises we book at the last minute for the purpose of going on vacation to just relax! I was diagnosed with RA several years ago, I don't experience a lot of joint pain, however, fatigue is a whole other story. Mr. J and I have found cruising to be one of the easiest vacations ever, someone else is driving, cooking and cleaning! So the J's take this as our opportunity to do what we love the most, being with each other, sleep, watching movies, sleep, eating, sleep, going to comedy shows, sleep, listening to karaoke, sleep, and avoiding the sun, (cause it just makes us sleepy) Out of the 8 movies I had on my laptop, we were able to watch 7 of them, sometimes they would get interrupted by Jamie the cruise director, rambling on about some cruise activities that were taking place, who knew! Lol. We went to 3 comedy shows and they were all funny, and yes the Limelight Lounge is the wrecked train that everyone says it is. They need to have someone controlling the line to get into the show, and better yet, have it in a bigger venue. Superstar Live which is karaoke with a live band was held one time only, and was very entertaining.

Areas of the ship: We enjoyed the Serenity deck at least 3 mornings, it was nice and quiet until that pesky sun started to come out, that's also when most of the people would show up. I don't know how it was later in the day because that's when we would be hiding out in our cabin! Can you be allergic to the sun, maybe I am, I'm going to ask my Dr., lol. We didn't use the pools or the waterslide, it was too hot, so no comment on those. Sometimes we did enjoy some people watching on deck 3, and twice we went to the library to read our books and magazines, one of the times however, Mr. J woke me up and said my snoring was bothering the 2 other people in there.....nobody in there proved to me that I was snoring, nice try Mr. J, so I went back to the cabin for a nap. Lol.

Ports: Nassau & Grand Turk. We didn't get off the ship in Nassau, I pulled the curtain back on our ocean view window and it looked like it did a few months ago, and it also looked HOT! Since I'm allergic to the sun we decided against it. Lol. I love Grand Turk, it was a short walk to the beach, and guess what, it was kind of cloudy (haha) we got in the water and there was even some lightning in the distance!! Ok I probably would rather be in the sun than to get struck by lightning, just so y'all don't think I'm totally crazy! This was a special day, it was my "surgery-versary" six years ago this day I had open heart surgery, and every year Mr. J treats me to something special! We swam for what seemed like hours, but really wasn't that long, but at least we got off the ship, right? We sat out in the port area to dry off and then headed back to the ship, it was a perfect day for us!

Debarkation: We did self-assist debarkation and was off the ship at 7:30. When we went through customs the agent looked at the $0 on our form and said to me "so you didn't buy any diamonds this trip" I said no, so he looked at Mr. J and then looked down at my birthdate on my passport and said "then I guess she'll be getting those diamonds on this date!!!! Yesssss, first the check in lady reminded him I'm a keeper, and now a government official was telling him to buy me diamonds, I see a Tiffany Blue box in my future!!! We were on a $25 per person shuttle at 7:30 that only had 2 other people on it, and we were at Orlando International at 8:20 for our 11 am flight ( book a early flight at your own risk:))

Hope you enjoyed the review, now off to take my nap!!!

Love it! Can't wait for the rest

Thank you, I'm glad somebody likes my silliness:D, I will finish this up in a lil bit!

Here is my attempt at my very first review, please be gentle with me!

So I'm Mrs. J traveling with the hubby Mr. J, we are both 40ish. we arrived in Orlando the day before the cruise, we rented a car from Budget and stayed at the Art of Animation resort at Disney. We went to Magic Kingdom Saturday night, because we don't like the sun and heat. (Lol, you'll see a theme on that later) On Sunday we decided to have lunch before driving to Port Canaveral to spare ourselves the joy of tripping over someone's luggage at the buffet on the ship! We arrived at the Budget Cape Canaveral around 12:30, it was a mess, the line was across the front and down the side of the building outdoors to get on the shuttle to the port. I had to go find some shade (you know why) while Mr. J stood in that line. We made it on the fourth shuttle, finally and were at the port at about 1:20.

Check in was quick and painless, the employee working the counter told Mr. J that he should keep me around because of my efficiency with the online check in process that "I" completed. Shhhh, he doesn't need to know it took about 10 minutes.

From here I'm just going to highlight things about the ship, and the handful of activities that we attended.

Cabin: Of course by the time we boarded the cabins were ready. We had an ocean view #2301, this is the first time after 19 cruises that we have ever selected a guarantee category, I booked this cruise 3 weeks prior to sailing at a rock bottom price and prepared for the worst. Lol. The cabin was actually in a good location just behind the wall to the elevators, the only real downside was that instead of a cabin across from us, it was the room were they store all of the paintings, on maybe 3 different days it was noisy as they were either taking the art out, or putting it back in for the auction. Our cabin steward, well, lets just say he did his job. I had to call his phone the first evening because we still hadn't met him, to come separate our beds. Why does Carnival let you check on the form how you want the beds, but they are never that way when you get to your room???:mad: Tmi alert: I've loved Mr. J since I met him when we were 16 yrs old, but I do not love his snoring, we have been married for 27 yrs and about 10 yrs ago I started getting us separate beds when we travel, (you know, so I can have a couple of inches of space from his snoring, lol) and guess what, he claims I snore too:rolleyes:, but he's yet to prove it to me, so I think NOT! Lol! So our room was kept clean, by our unnamed steward, no problems there. However we did smell that sewage smell that people on here mention, in addition to a mold smell in our bathroom on occasion.

Food: We ate breakfast at the buffet except for the one day we ate at Ocean Plaza on deck 5, which pretty much is a smaller buffet setup without the crowds. Sometimes people would be on their way up to the Lido buffet for breakfast and see this buffet, and take a few things as an appetizer before breakfast, I guess. Mr. J and I thought it was funny.

For lunch we usually went to Jiji's or Cucina del Capitano, Jiji's opens at 12 and there is always people already waiting in line and the line can get quite long. Cucina has create your own pasta for lunch, there is a round table with pencils for you to fill out the sheet, it can get crowded in that area real quick because it is small, I started taking the form with me and filling it out in my cabin on the days I knew we were going there. One day we both "tried to try the lasagna, I had read on CC about it being made with pot roast meat, that should've tipped us off right there:eek:, lets just say we had Guy's for lunch that day.

We only ate in the dining room twice, we had YTD and this is the first ship we ever had to check in one place, deck five, and then go to the dining room, deck three. One day we checked in and went straight to the dining room, the next time we had like a 35 minute wait, so we went back to our cabin until our pager went off. I'm sad to say we didn't get to eat in the dining room on cruise elegant night, why you ask? It went like this, "Mr. J, I'm not packing your black dress pants this time" "Fine by me, Mrs. J, you know best"

Soooo, anyway because our cabin was right under the dining room, every morning I would walk up the stairs to check the dinner menu, on cruise elegant night I found out they were serving the St. Louis style ribs that Mr. J and I fell in love with a couple of cruises ago. I know most of you all probably think cruise elegant = lobster, well we don't eat lobster, if only someone on here would've told me it could possibly mean RIBS!!! So my morning was spent plotting and scheming trying to figure out how to get Mr. J in, he only had a pair of jeans, and shorts, shorts, and more shorts. I went to the fun shops to see if I could by him a pair of pants, any kind of pants, plaid, polyester, wool, corduroy, whatever, nope, no such luck, I think they had, shorts, shorts, and more shorts, boo! Mr. J felt bad that "he" didn't pack his dress pants, so he said "maybe I can just wear my jeans and no one will notice" I wanted the ribs so bad, I was like yep, sounds like a plan! Lol! Needless to say, this did not work out for us, for one I try not to be a rule breaker, not because I'm a goody two shoes, but because I don't like to get busted! So that evening when we went up to deck 3 and saw all of the tuxedos and formal dresses, and rule follower's we hung our heads low and headed to the buffet, "ribless"! Lol! Btw I had a very lovely maxi dress on, I don't know why Mr. J always lets me have my way, boo! I started to go without him, or at the very least go to the hostess stand and say " I'd like to place a carryout order of Ribs" Lol!

Ok, Mr. J just came home from work, I have to take a break and act like I wasn't on CC talking about him. Shhhhhh!! Be back soon.:D