JandPB

It's hot back there. There is zero breeze. The view is amazing if you can stand the heat. 

We had an extended aft on a 10 day into the Panama Canal. It was great. The extra room and view was fantastic. The only thing I will say is that it gets HOT back there. There is no breeze and the sun beats in there. It easily feels 20 degrees hotter back there. At night it was great as it was in the mornings. The only problem with a balcony is once you have one you'll never want to cruise any other way again. 

Here and ready to travel along!

We booked a 2021 cruise solely based on the $50 deposit. We're just about paid for our 2020 cruise and found a great itinerary for us for 2021 and booked it. Someone said it's vacation layaway. That's a great description. 

We loved the Miracle when we did this same itinerary. This is the perfect size ship. I also love the quirky decor of the ship. Glad you had such a nice time. 

Port days at the Red Frog have happy hour specials. We always made sure we were there to participate. 

Quite possibly one of the best cruises we were on was on the Sensation last September. We did the 5 day to Nassau, HMC and Grand Turk. The vibe on the ship was great and we would absolutely sail on a fantasy class ship again.

We just booked our first cove on the Breeze and I’m looking forward to it. We always get balconies and this will be a change. We’ve been in spa deck, aft extended, regular balconies. We have a large balcony near the aft on the Conquest coming up. I’m looking forward to being close to the water in the southern Caribbean. Hopefully a nice smooth ride down so we can enjoy it. 

5 minutes ago, Bases5 said:

  Awesome   I love this Itinerary    Not a fan of La Roma where most of these Aruba cruise's stop.  Also very few stop at Bonaire

Exactly why we chose this. We wanted to experience Bonaire since we've already been to Curacao and Aruba. The port times are all great as well. at HMC until 4:30, Bonaire until 11:00PM. Love the southern itineraries. Have no desire to go to La Romana. 

On 9/27/2019 at 5:00 PM, Bases5 said:

It's the only itinerary I found with this exact ports.  there might be others but not sure.  Aug 29  carnival magic

      Half moon cay, Turks, Aruba and Bonaire   I've seen close ones but not this one.  I really like it

I just booked this 8 day itinerary for 2021 on the Breeze. We love beaches and this is a great beach trip.

We waited for the early risers to clear and walked down and right onto the tender. It was a non issue. Don't sweat it and enjoy the beautiful beach.

Looks like a beautiful night!

26 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

 

special drink with Jameson and horchata...

 

This makes me want to be sitting at Alchemy right about now. Following along on our journey made me check out what's available and just booked an 8 day Breeze in 2021. I enjoyed reading everything about your birthday cruise. Be safe heading home tomorrow.

Love this so far. Glad that up to this point you've been flexible and had a good time. That's what vacations are about.

I hope you had an amazing birthday. This has been another great read.

4 hours ago, mommio said:

I'm a member and could not find any Carnival cards on the site 🙁

Same. I'm a member and do not see any gift cards. I was awarded 3,000 points for starting up. I lost 85,000 points in the old program.

Things to try for our next cruise?

Cheers! We typically don't drink that much, but between frozen drinks, coffee from the coffee shop, milk shakes, the occasional soda, we are pulling the trigger on it. So I guess Alchemy is also a must try.

Couples massages in the spa.

TA's can frequently get you OBC that isn't offered via booking online or with a PVP, but I like having control of my booking. I have a great PVP that I will call and finalize deals with. There have been times that she has been on the phone with me for an extended period of time finding options for us. She checks in ever now and then, but isn't intrusive. 

6 hours ago, ChosenOne said:

pay the $16 or whatever it is to join AARP...you now have to be a member to get Carnival gift cards

I just re-upped for three years for $36.00. I called customer service and that's the rate they gave me.

1 hour ago, sid_9169 said:

I needed to use the restroom after the long boat ride, so I asked where it was... "Over there" the lady told me... So I go "over there" and came across a small rickety building. Now, I've been all over the Caribbean, and I've been in any number of questionable bathrooms... Keep in mind, I'm barefoot at this point... They made us take off our shoes prior to boarding the "speed boat"... My feet were covered in sand, so I didn't want to put my sandy feet inside my relatively new Keen water shoes... Anyhoo, I get over to the restroom, and go right in...

 

 

I was just glad that I didn't have to go "number two" under these circumstances... I did my thing, and went over to wash my hands. Well, as my luck would have it today, there was no water whatsoever coming out of the faucet. This basically means that everyone who works on the island, including the people cooking our lunch over there, have washed their hands since who knows when... Luckily, I brought with me an adequate supply of handy wipes... Here's a picture of the outside of the bathroom building...

 

I am just not a barefoot in the public bathroom guy. I couldn't have done that. Information like this is why CC is helpful. This is an excursion I will not be doing . Sorry it wasn't amazing for you.

We enjoyed sailing from Tampa on the Miracle. Tampa is a great embarkation port. Glad you had a great time.

We love the Conquest Class ships and thoroughly enjoyed the Spirit Class ships. We sailed the Zuiderdam on HAL and loved that as well. I personally like the smaller ships. Someone else mentioned a walk around promenade deck. We used that every day on the Zuiderdam. Mega or XL doesn't interest me. One of these days I wouldn't mind a Dream Class cruise to try it out, but I foresee booking Conquest or smaller as long as they still sail.

I'm bummed because we still had 85,000+ points in the program. I doubt the new program will be as beneficial as this was. We bought $1,100 worth of cards Wednesday to pay off our upcoming Conquest trip and pay for most of our Cheers package. We received the cards on Saturday so we're good there. I'm hopeful, but not optimistic that the new program will be as good.  

Settling in for the ride. We are still 160+ days from our Conquest cruise so this will be a great diversion.

To me it would totally be based on the itinerary. I like the option to do the steakhouse on the Conquest (we will be on her in Feb), but HMC is always a reason to sail on a particular ship to me. We are beach people so we look for the best beaches. I went on the Sensation last September with my 23 year old son and we had the absolute best time. 

The Conquest will definitely have more amenities, but a great itinerary on the Sensation is a great option as well.

P