SonoranDevil

The Tiki Mug

Sail Away Fun

The Flying Scotsman

Sail Away Selfie!

Patrick liked to raise a lot of toasts!

Hanging out in Fortune Teller, Lime in the Coconut from Fortune Teller, Venus Rising from Fortune Teller, NOLA Iced Tea from Brass Magnolia, Ojen Cocktail from Brass Magnolia and Roasted Tomato Soup...

It should be illegal to be both the beauty and the brains of the operation.  Once again, my wife is brilliant.  Here are the pictures from yesterday's and today's posts...

Terminal 3 Drop Off Area, A glimpse inside Terminal 3, Our first view of Grand Central Atrium, and the balcony for Aft Excel Suite 9504

During our exploration of the ship, we escorted our 14 year old up to Circle C to register them for the week.  We were cordially greeted and took care of completing the registration.  They would be having an ice breaker event at 9PM which the kiddo was eager to attend, in hopes of meeting some new friends on our journey.  

After resuming our exploring, we made our first stop at one of the many bars Mardi Gras has onboard.  We quickly found ourselves at Fortune Teller, one of two brand new offerings available only on the Mardi Gras.  This New Orleans inspired haunt would become one of our favorite venues on the ship!  We found a cozy couch to kick back on and we were soon greeted by one of the lovely bar staff.  I ordered the Lime In The Coconut (Barcardi Ocho, Flor de Cana 4 Year Rum, caramelized pineapple, lime and coconut lime foam) while Shani ordered a Venus Rising (Absolut Citron, St. Germain, cranberry, lemon and hibiscus).  We both enjoyed the drinks and quickly decided that there were other drinks we would want to try throughout the week.

Hanging out in Fortune Teller

Venus Rising in Fortune Teller

Lime in the Coconut in Fortune Teller

After finishing our beverages, the group decided to head up to Lido and take in the sail away party.  I take pride in being a native Arizonan and calling the Sonoran Desert home.  I don’t flinch when temps hit 115 to 120 in Phoenix.  Well, Florida...I cry uncle.  It was not even 90 degrees and it was oppressively hot and humid out in the sun.  Yet, in the face of the suffocating heat, there were 1000+ people out there dancing their hearts away.  They were led by our Cruise Director, Chris Williams (The Flying Scotsman).  Chris was out there leading the way adorned in his wool kilt, full of the energy he would bring the entire cruise.  

Sail Away Party Fun

Sail Away Party Selfie!

Once the festivities for sail away were complete, we made no haste in heading back inside with the air conditioning.  We decided to head back to Deck 6 and try out the other new bar offering on the Mardi Gras, Brass Magnolia.  Brass Magnolia is also themed after New Orleans, though with a motif that is a bit classier than Fortune Teller, even though they are right across the walkway from each other.  We were greeted by one of our stand out staff members this trip, Claudia.  Claudia was very personable and we developed a bit of a rapport throughout the week.  I ordered the NOLA Iced Tea (sweet tea, Bayou Rum, Jack Daniels, Absolut Vodka, Bayou Satsuma Liqueur, lemonade and a splash of Pepsi) while Shani went with an Ojen Cocktail (Ojen liqueur, Peychaud’s Bitters and club soda).  The NOLA Iced Tea (I had a second) was probably my favorite drink on the ship while Shani enjoyed the anise flavor of the Ojen Cocktail.  Another win for Carnival!  Fortune Teller and Brass Magnolia were our favorite bars on the ship!

NOLA Iced Tea in Brass Magnolia

Ojen Cocktail in Brass Magnolia

After cooling off with our cocktails, it was nearing dinner time.  We had chosen YTD dining which is served in the Flamingo Dining room (conveniently next to both Brass Magnolia and Fortune Teller).  We checked in with the Hub app and our table was ready in a matter of minutes.  The six of us walked the 50 feet to the dining room and were quickly seated. The Flamingo Dining Room would be hit and miss throughout the week, with a bit of a wait time issue on the first Elegant Night, which I’ll describe in a later post.

Shani and I both ordered the brisket for our entrée.  She went with a salad to start things off with while I went with the Roasted Tomato Soup.  The tomato soup was excellent and a shining spot for the dining room meals we had.  The brisket was decent, tender and not overly dry.  While it wasn’t slow smoked (I’m a big barbeque fan), it was certainly serviceable and happened to be the largest food portion we would see all week.  I finished with some Butter Pecan ice cream while Shani chose the Tiramisu.  The meal took about 90 minutes, which we expect when visiting the main dining rooms.  Our servers were all friendly and did a fairly good job with the timing of everyone’s meals.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Once we were done with dinner, we decided to head to the Limelight Lounge, for karaoke.  Both my 14 year old and I really enjoy singing.  I used to sit in with various cover bands in the local Phoenix live music scene, after I determined that being a full time musician didn’t align with my desire to be a homebody and being able to pay my bills on a regular basis.  Our 14 year old, well...she’s the real talent in the family.  About a year ago, the kid eclipsed me from a talent perspective and could probably step in and front a rock band today, if we would allow it.  By the end of the cruise, we were being stopped by random people asking if our kid was the “girl from karaoke.”  The first time it happened, the kid froze and ended up running away not knowing how to handle the inquiry.  Ok, Dad bragging will conclude, for now at least.

Karaoke conveniently ended at 9PM, just in time for the child to head to the Circle C ice breaker event.  The adults decided to make our way to the Piano Bar for some sing along fun.  The piano man for this cruise was Patrick Duffy.  Admit it, one of you started humming the theme song to the TV show Dallas.  Well, it’s not THAT Patrick Duffy.  Patrick appears to be a force of nature and it was clear that he had some of his die hard fans that were on this sailing.  The Piano Bar was always full.  We made it in twice, but every night was full to the brim.  There was some feedback we heard about the bar always being too crowded and that the venue was too small. I would venture to guess that if Patrick didn’t have his die hard followers so well represented, that there may have been a little more room in the room throughout the week.  

Patrick likes to make many toasts in the Piano Bar

We made it to about 10:30 PM when we realized that we were all old and had probably drank a little more than we expected on the first day.  We all agreed to head back to our cabins for the night.  We were joined by the 14 year old and were pleased to learn that there was already a small group of about 6 kids that formed an immediate bond.  All of them seemed to be pretty good kids!  Day 1 goes down as a success!

Up Next:  Sea Day #1, Sea Day Brunch, Facebook Group Cabin Crawl and Elegant Night.
 

31 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Especially right now, if they opened it up to platinum and diamond guests, the place would fill up.

 

We also boarded following check in, no need for the lounge (nobody was in there).

 

Tom

Enjoy the cruise Tom and Cheryl!  I figure by now you realize there were no coffee makers in the rooms!

Thanks everyone.  I'll check my Google Photo settings after work today, to see if I can resolve the issue and get the next post up as well!

2 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

 

 

 

 

Make it an even half dozen.   Great verbiage though.

Well, that is very odd.  Have any of the pictures, even at the beginning, been visible?  I'm wondering if there is a privacy setting in my google pics that I'm missing.  

Up the gangway we go!  Shani even did a little dance on the way up.  You enter the ship on Deck 6, into the Grand Central Atrium.  As you have probably already read, the Mardi Gras main atrium is designed completely different from the Vista class ships.  Instead of the area being centered by the familiar LED Funnel, it opens into a three level open theater, facing the starboard side center stage.  During the day, when there isn’t a stage production, the stage is backed by a huge 3 story set of windows, creating quite the impressive view.  At night and when there is a stage production, giant LED screens descend to provide the stage with a grand multi-media backdrop.  The verdict from our party was mixed.  The 14 year old and I enjoyed the new layout, Shani and her mom prefer the Vista class layout.  That said, it doubled the ship’s stage production space which definitely will help on such a big vessel.
 

Our first glimpse of the Mardi Gras atrium...and the top of my mother-in-law's head

After a few minutes of taking in the grandiose space, we decided to head straight to our cabins on Deck 9 Aft, to drop off our carry-on luggage before finding a bite to eat.  As we entered the aft elevators, we were graced by the presence of John Heald himself, accompanied by Jacinta.  John is such a jovial soul and immediately zeroed in on the 14 year old’s wine colored hair and immediately pronounced it as the best hair for the week.  

We made it to our cabins where we were met by our Steward for the week, Jonard.  More on him to come, but he was wonderful to us for the week.  He was always conspicuously around as we entered/exited our cabins but was completely unobtrusive.  He always greeted us by our names and it was easy to see his excitement to see guests onboard.

Cabin 9504 Excel Aft Suite 

The port side of our balcony.  The jetted tub would serve as both a hot tub and plunge pool during the week

Once free of our carry-on items, we started our hunt for the first meal of the week.  We first checked out Pig and Anchor.  We were excited to see a Maple Chili Salmon dish on the menu as Shani’s mom stays pescatarian while traveling.  Unfortunately, the salmon was only available for dinner.  Adapt, improvise and overcome.  Off to Lido we go.  

The Lido Marketplace experience will feel very familiar to everyone.  There was no discernable difference between pre-shutdown and the restart.  Some new additions to the Mardi Gras include a self service soda machine and dedicated space for the gelato station and for Sea Dogs.  Sea Dogs always offered all beef hot dogs and alternated between Italian Sausages and Brats when we walked by.  The layout was utilitarian while the decor provided a very calm and relaxed environment. This would be Shani and my only visit to the Lido Marketplace, save for a few afternoon stops for some gelato.  While enjoying our meal, several servers were walking about offering pre-made drinks of the day, including one in a souvenir Tiki Mug.  Shani had one of those, while I went with the one without the mug.  First drink of cruise...check!
 

The Tiki Mug

After our meal, we decided to knock out the new E-Muster process.  The Hub app will frequently remind you to complete this until you’ve done it.  This is definitely a great new process.  Instead of spending 30 to 60 minutes with the traditional muster process, with a huge group, and oftentimes outside in the heat, we went directly to our station at the Palm Restaurant where we were checked in, watched a 1 minute demonstration of how to put on a life vest and we were done.  

Next up:  Exploring the ship, Fortune Teller and Brass Magnolia, Flamingo YTD and the Piano Bar!

1 hour ago, RoperDK said:

Can you confirm if ALL suites were allowed in the priority area or just Excel suites?

The signage didn't distinguish Excel from other suite guests.  I can't confirm with much certainty as we simply walked onto the ship.

2 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I was wondering if that machine had the five minute rule. It's going to be an adjustment going back to getting back in line at the coffee shop for my second coffee after getting used to just ordering two at a time at the resorts.

 

Yeah, it was a minor inconvenience, especially if they didn't have the larger glasses clean and set out.  I'm not sure if there was any delay for those who did not have Cheers or Bottomless Bubbles.  I did like the feature though though I understand there were a few technical glitches at some of the machines.  

It dispenses for about 13 seconds and then requires about a 5 minute wait before you can scan it again.  

We just returned from an Excel Aft and I can confirm that Wi-Fi is not included.  We were able to arrive before our time (it accidentally got bumped from the earliest 10:30 to 12:00 due to a technical glitch, but we were greeted immediately early.)  The lounge is reserved for suite guests only, they were not allowing platinum/diamond guests there.  This wasn't problematic as we walked right onto the ship.

We’ll begin with our arrival in Orlando, our transfer to the port and our embarkation experience.  The flight to Orlando on Southwest was uneventful and without delay.  We arrived in Orlando at nearly midnight, which made our choice to stay at the Hyatt Regency inside the airport seem brilliant once we picked up our luggage.  We walked about 50 yards to the hotel lobby and we were in our room in about 10 minutes.

Packing for two elegant nights required a 4th piece of luggage for the family.

The room was nicely appointed and updated.  The king bed was perfectly comfortable for Shani and me, and the sofa bed saw no complaints from our 14 year old.  We tried to head straight to bed because we had an early and busy morning ahead.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and started to get the family ready.  The room had a single serve coffee maker and Shani made herself a cup while I was in the shower.  Here is where we found our only glitch with the Hyatt.  The coffee maker worked perfectly for Shani, but it appears that it made its last cup of coffee and kicked its mortal coil.  It was our first opportunity to turn to one of our tenets of travel...adapt, improvise and overcome.  While everyone finished getting ready, I headed downstairs to the airport food court and secured the family some breakfast and coffee.  It took all of 10 minutes.  Issue resolved.  

We had arranged with Cruise Control to pick us up at the hotel at 10:30.  The six of us made our way to the hotel’s car port (it has a separate drop off/pick up location from the main airport area).  Corey from Cruise Control was there waiting for us and he quickly loaded up our luggage and we were off to the port.  Corey was wonderful and we had a pleasurable conversation on our quick 45 minute drive to the port.  We will definitely use them the next time we need a port transfer from Orlando. Before we knew it, we could see the Mardi Gras in the distance, in all of her glory.

The passenger drop off area at the brand new Terminal 3

The Mardi Gras leaves from Terminal 3 at the port, specifically built to be the home of the Mardi Gras.  Corey pulled up to a drop off spot, quickly unloaded our luggage, and a porter was there waiting for us.  We didn’t have to touch our luggage at all.  We made the brief trek across the parking lot to the terminal entrance.  Every employee was visibly excited to see cruise passengers again and there was a palpable energy that could be felt.

I was able to grab one picture inside the terminal...shhhh!

Check in was a breeze and took a total of 15 minutes to complete our registration, have our vaccination status verified and to proceed through security. Each registration station was staffed by two employees; one to finish the registration and print our boarding passes, and one to verify our vaccination status.  They worked concurrently, so it didn’t add any additional time to the process.

After stopping for the obligatory group boarding picture, we walked directly to the ship.  It was as easy of an embarkation process as we have experienced.  

Next up, we’ll head on board!
 

Hello folks!  We are home and I'll be beginning to post the review of the cruise.  There has been some comments while were gone about disappointment with certain aspects of the ship and I'll try to add some context to some of those concerns as we go along.  Before we get started, I want to first say that we had a really good time.  We approached the voyage with some tempered expectations and we certainly experienced a few glitches ourselves, but I will say that Carnival appropriately addressed every issue that we came across.  So, buckle your seatbelts.  Ok, seatbelts probably won't be required.  Let's have a little glimpse into the life of the Bell family for a week!

17 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Any input on the Swedish massage (easier on tender souls than the other options)?  🙂

 

Tom

If you're looking for an experience that is a little more gentle, you can't go wrong with the hot stone massage.

Hello again CC friends!  We're 4 days out from boarding the brand new Carnival Mardi Gras!  We ran our final cruise related errands this evening, picking up a pair of our offspring's pants that had been sent to the tailor.  If anyone is curious and lives in the Phoenix area, we love Brothers Tailors (https://www.brotherstailors.com/).  I've purchased several suits from Gus and Peter, and they handle all of our tailoring needs.  

I have to admit that the lead up to this cruise is taking forever.  Mind you, it's only been six weeks since we initially booked.  That doesn't matter.  Time is dragging.  I thought I would try and trick the old noggin this morning, in an attempt to start the vacation vibe a few days early.  This morning, I grabbed my sailboat resort shirt out of the closet to wear for work today.  At least I would look like I was getting on a ship.  Well, it didn't really work.  It didn't make work go by any quicker.  In fact, I found myself even more perturbed at various points today (e.g. Note the perturbed look on my face when I am reminded that I'm not on the ship yet, sailboat shirt or not).  I was dressed for vacation, but I was definitely not on vacation.  I suppose you miss every shot you never take.

Tonight, our guest room will begin serving the distinct honor of serving as our suitcase staging area.  We'll begin setting aside the things we won't need the next few days and finding their rightful place for their cross country journey to Florida.  Of course, the initial packing run will not look remotely close to the final storage schematic.  Spatial reasoning has never been a strength of mine.  It's usually best to let Shani organize each bag so I can focus on the monumental task of bringing the fully loaded luggage down the stairs.  

Before we know it, we'll be heading to the airport on Friday.  By late Friday night, we'll be in Orlando and checking into the Hyatt Regency at the Orlando airport.  I'll make sure to leave a review of our brief stay there (walked into room, it was clean, went to sleep, woke up, ate bacon, where's the shuttle?).  I'll probably sneak one post in on Saturday, with some initial images of the ship.  After that, I'll be mostly silent until John Heald kicks me off the boat on 8/7.  Until then, Salud!

Hello again!  We are now 10 days out!  Our preparations are moving forward and the thought of setting sail is finally starting to seem real!  While we still have some hesitations, we are putting our faith in science and feel comfortable enough knowing we're all fully vaccinated.

Shani finally ordered the Cheers package for us and I've picked up my new suit.  With that, we're finally able to officially pack our first bag, since the suit and Shani's dresses are not on the schedule for the next 10 days.  

One helpful hint, though it's not new information for those who have been around CC for a while, but take advantage of an AARP membership if you have the opportunity.  A $12 dollar investment enables you to save 10% on Carnival gift cards.  You can purchase up to five, $500 gift cards per month.  These cards can be used to purchase your Cheer's package or even pay for your whole cruise for that matter.  A 10% savings on your cruise is nothing to sneeze at!    

WE ARE SO EXCITED!

On 7/16/2021 at 5:28 PM, KmomChicago said:

 

Yay! I am excited to hear more about your, Shani's and the offspring's experiences aboard. We are all going to have just the BEST. TIME. Are you doing a cabin crawl with your roll call? I would certainly think your fancy schmancy digs would be in high demand for that.  I will be showing off my premium interior down in Steerage so's I can get invited into Tom and Cheryl's presidential suite. 🙂

Yes, we're on the cabin crawl for our sailing.  We'll also get a peek at the Presidential Suite on our tour.  I've never done a cabin crawl before, so this will be interesting.  

23 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Adding - though this is Florida, and a good number of people sharing that space with you may not be vaccinated. Also, over the last week - out of all the new cases reported in the country, 1 in 5 were in Florida. 

 

That's my PSA for the day!  🙂

 

Tom

Thanks Tom.  I hope you're both feeling better!

We're now less than 2 weeks out.  We're very excited to get back to the cruising life.  I thought I'd drop by and give you an update on some of the pre-trip logistics.  Shani has already mentioned some of the details above, but I want to consolidate that information as well as to add a few more details.

Getting to Orlando

One negative aspect of living out West is the scarcity of cruise ports within driving distance.  Of course, places like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle all are homes to cruise ships.  Being in Phoenix, only one of those ports are really within driving distance, and that's still a six hour car trip.  This was one of the reasons that we were so excited that Carnival decided to make Long Beach the home port of the brand new Panorama in December of 2019.  We would have loved it more if she sailed to places other than the Mexican Rivera, but beggars must not be choosers.  All of this means, if we want to go on a cruise, we're probably flying, adding additional cost to any trip.

When Shani originally started searching for airfare to Orlando, we were surprised to see Southwest offering the best fare for flying in on a Friday.  Being a hub for American Airlines, they usually win in the best fare department. Our biggest rule about traveling to a cruise port is that we travel the day before the cruise.  We're not risking a flight delay or cancellation that leaves us without the ability to take our vacation.  Anyway, with Southwest's generous checked baggage policy and the need to bring at least one extra piece of luggage, we chose to fly with them. The suit and dresses will go into a garment bag that we normally wouldn't travel with on vacation. 

Accompanying us to the airport and on the flight will be Shani's cousin, who lives in a suburb of Phoenix.   We'll call her G for the purposes of the review.  G's daughter, S is the same age as Shani and lives in Shani's hometown in the Boston area.  Ironically, while we're flying with G from Phoenix, S is accompanying Shani's mom on their flight from Boston.  The three of us and G are slated to arrive in Orlando late Friday night, within an hour of S and Shani's mom arriving from Boston.  

Hotel

Due to our late arrival in Orlando, we decided to stay at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando's airport.  It doesn't get more convenient than grabbing your bags and walking upstairs to check into your hotel.  This will give us the best opportunity to get to bed at a decent hour before heading to the port the next morning.

Transportation to the Port

When doing the research on our port transfer's, we decided to wait until all six in our party got their check in times.  This brought a little bit of a logistical challenge as five us had early check in due to being in a suite, while Shani's mom wouldn't be able to check in until two days later.  Shani managed to get get us a 10:30 port check in, the earliest available, while G and S weren't quite as quick and snagged an 11:30 check in.  By the time Shani's mom was able to check in, Noon was the earliest available.  Shani actually checked her mother in and when securing the check in time, noticed that the website moved our check in time as well.  Well, there went the 10:30 slot.  Snag number one encountered, but there is nothing we're going to fret over.

Shani determined that we would plan on arriving at the port for G's and S's 11:30 check in window.  If the other four of us have to wait an extra half hour, so be it.  When doing her preliminary research, Shani found that it was actually cheaper for the six of us to hire a private shuttle from the airport to the coast the next morning, than it was to use Carnival's own shuttle.  We chose to go with a small provider named Cruise Control.  They are a small business with excellent reviews.  All things being equal, we love to support small business owners.  We'll let you know how our experience with Cruise Control goes!

Up next, we'll be putting the final touches on our preparation work.  My new suit should be ready this week and vacation haircuts for all three of us are planned for next weekend.  Until next time, here's to smooth sailing!

Hey everyone.  Fellow cruiser Kmom is sailing the week after us and is also compiling a review.  Be sure to follow along with her (link below) as well.  The more perspectives shared, the better picture we get as to what to look forward to on this beautiful new ship!

4 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

 

I just realized, you'll be onboard the week before us. Maiden voyage and so forth. I hope you'll share your adventures in kind, either here or on your family blog. 🙂

We're so excited.  I actually have a review thread already started on here, all of that will eventually get edited to go on the blog as well.  I love seeing the trip reviews showing back up here!

5 hours ago, ShaniBell said:

At exactly 9:01 PM AZ time last night I was able to check us (Rob, me and the kid) in since we are booked in one of those dandy Excel suites that we paid far too much money for but I don't care 😉  I managed to get a 10:30 check in time but that will likely change for a couple of reasons:

 

1.  I don't know yet what check in time my cousins got
2.  I cannot check mom in yet as her room is not a suite and not eligible for check in until 7/17 so I have no idea what time her slot will be although and while I'm hoping we can take her with the other five of us with priority boarding I'm not going to hold my breath and I'm not going to make an elderly woman wait alone at the terminal while we go on board and start testing the Cheers package out
3.  We are staying at the Hyatt at MCO which is 45 minutes from the port and NO ONE I am travelling with is a morning person.  So arriving at the port by 10:30 is going to be one heck of a stretch.

1.  Who?

2.  Is 74 really elderly anymore?  

3.  Put bacon in front of me at about 7:30 and we'll be fine.  

1 hour ago, ninjacat123 said:

Hysterical!  I snorted a laugh (trying to be quiet while my DH is on a Zoom call) when I read "T-Rex arms" and the finale of the story with the dropping of the trou!  Looking forward to reading more!!

If you can't laugh at yourself, who can laugh at?  Thanks for following along!

Greetings again.  We are busy getting prepared for the cruise!  We get to check in officially this week, which is a huge milestone.  We have been scouring the digital world for cruise related shows (watched every single episode of the UK show The Cruise on YouTube) and making sure our wardrobes are where they need to be after a couple years of cruise neglect.  I thought I'd share a funny anecdote from this past weekend with you all, just to show you that we don't take ourselves too seriously!

I used to work in an executive position with our state government in Arizona.  I wore a suit to work every day, so I'm no stranger to the concept.  The past six years, I've worked in the private sector, in a leadership position, but the atmosphere is much more laid back.  When combined with remote work the past 16 months, I've not come across a situation where wearing a suit has been necessitated.  Well, after what must have been perceived as six years of neglect on the part of my suits, they unexplainably decided to shrink.  Amazingly, Shani's wardrobe has come through unscathed and fits perfectly to this day. That's the story I'm sticking with.  Anyway, if I wanted to bring a suit along for formal nights, I needed to bite the bullet and go buy another one.  Probably smart...the older I get, the more likely funerals become.  

So, off to my neighborhood tailor I go.  Picked out a suit, universally appropriate for any occasion and got the call this Saturday that it was in and ready to be formally fitted.  Shani and I brave the Summer hell the Sonoran Desert graciously provides graces us with and we were eager to check another task off our planning list.

Upon arrival, everything was going great.  Very few alterations were needed, with the exception of shortening the sleeves to accommodate my T-Rex proportioned arms.  I put the suit on and step out of the changing room to finalize the measurements.  This would be an appropriate time to point out that I've been accused of not having a rear end.  Flat as a door.  This is important to note.

So, I'm standing there, admiring myself in the suit when without warning, the slacks quickly fell to the floor.  Right there, in front of everyone in the shop.  Thank goodness for two things.  1...underwear was being worn and 2...my wife was the only woman in the store.  How did this happen?  Well, not having a rear end can be a challenge when one is not wearing a belt.  I don't have hips to stop my pants from falling off and similarly, I don't have a rear end to prevent it either.  I promise to bring a belt with me on the cruise.

Sometimes you just have to roll with it.  That's the approach I take with travel as well.  I've never been on a trip where everything went as planned.  Sometimes, you just have to make the best out of less than ideal circumstances, even when your pants fall down.  Until my next installment...