mikayla73

Another great trip in the books! Thanks for the info and thanks to Patti for all the great pics, I hope she's healing well!

So with that theory, if I pay for every cruise my mom takes with us and she hits diamond that way, even though she actually sailed all the days, she doesn't deserve the status?

I agree with the soups. Most of them are really good. Dessert can be hit or miss for me. They all look really tasty, but sometimes what they call buttercream really tastes like they just creamed butter, put some color on it and iced the cake. It felt like I was eating a stick of butter even if the sponge was good. The cakes are probably my most disappointing dessert items. Though on the last couple cruises I was pleasantly surprised by them once or twice.

Have a great time and enjoy being on vacation!

Oh yeah - I forgot about Lane. It's interesting to wonder around and the cafe is yummy! If you like the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, it was partly filmed in Juliette, GA. The Whistle Stop Cafe is there, and open for business. It's around the Forsyth area when you're coming down 75, so north of Warner Robins.

I haven't been, but friends have said the aquarium in Atlanta is very good and huge. If you want to go a little farther in GA before stopping, there's a Museum of Aviation in Warner Robbins, GA. Parking and admission there are free. And as a bonus just south of the Warner Robbins exit on 75 there's a Buc-ee's. Always good for gas, food, and random shopping before heading out the next day.

I don't know how many inches long they are, but they seem like a regular sized mattress to me. I'd think if they were the XL's it might be an issue with waling space at the foot of the bed.

Glad that Patti is doing well!

We have a similar story. Hubby was playing a slot machine that he put $10 in. It was a dime machine and he thought he was betting .10 with each spin. He was doing max bet and ended up winning $210. We cashed out and never looked back. lol

That makes sense. I'm the same. My gambling consists of "Hey lets go play this $25 and see if we can last more than 5 min." Then I'm done. So if I played this, I'd probably never be picked to be on stage. And if I was, the next place I'd go would be the casino cause maybe it's my lucky day.

Never mind I found my answer ... your trying to match the case on the card you get to what's in the case on the stage board. Thank you though!

How does the audience participate in the game? I know you have to buy the tickets, but how does it work for the audience. We've never went to check it out and I was curious.

I didn't realize what the date was! Praying for a speedy recovery for Patti!

Does your alcohol return depend on the port or the ship on whether or not they bring it to your cabin or you have to pick it up? We don't drink much, but occasionally DH will buy liquor on the ship if it's a good deal. Last time we bought some I reminded him that he'd have to go pick it up and would have to deal with that line before he bought it, so make sure it's worth that hassle. Then for that cruise it was delivered to our room on the last night. So I thought they had changed it and went back to doing that, which makes it so much easier. I don't remember if it was out of NO or Mobile though.

As someone else mentioned, you can check into stay and cruise options at hotels. If you end up driving, we have driven from middle GA to Miami. We left the day before and stopped to stay in Port St. Lucie, FL, that was ~8hrs of driving. Then we finished the drive (~2 hours) the morning of embarkation. We parked at the port because it's convenient, though traffic can be crazy. It was way cheaper to not stay in Miami, so you might take that into consideration too for driving. Though you're not going to get a park and cruise option that way.

I enjoyed reading along with your story! Thanks for sharing.

I would always rather drive than fly just for the dealing with the airport factor, but the 16 hour drive time would definitely have me thinking. It basically becomes a two week trip for a 8 day cruise. So it would depend on vacation time available and if there were any fun things to stop and see along the way to break up the drive.

OK that was going to be my question. What about people traveling with BC/ID's and not passports. Thanks for the info.

I'd want to have at least 1 sea day on any cruise, including a 3 day. For longer cruises it's even better if there are two sea days right before debarkation. Port days are fun, but not as relaxing for me. Even if I spend the entire time just lounging at the beach. I'm up early, hurrying to get to the beach, then thinking about the time to make sure we're not even remotely close to getting back to the ship late. It's fun and I love it, but that's not as relaxing as just being on the ship, wondering around, participating in what I want, or maybe doing nothing at all. Though maybe I'll change my mind after my first cruise with a toddler - I see less relaxation there...lol. As someone else mentioned, I'd only want a port intensive cruise if it's some where like Europe, South America, Alaska, etc. where I'm going expecting to be on the go the whole time because of the location or there could be cooler weather. For the shorter cruises, it is easy to to avoid the partiers, especially if that's already not your scene anyway. Though the 7/8 day cruise would appeal more to me than two 3/4 days cruises simply for the relaxation factor. Those 3/4 days go by quick! It's hardly worth unpacking your suitcase for. And when we have done a 3 day, I didn't unpack. I just lived out of my suitcase. A 5 day feels a little more like vacation to me.

@Saint Greg has a website with a bunch of info on the Port of Galveston, places to stay, where to park, etc... https://www.saintgregtravel.com/category/port-of-departure/galveston/

I found that comparison link after I asked the question and read it. Thanks! DH is a veteran too, so 10% off also!

Thanks for the great review! I know you mentioned several NCL cruises on the books/in the works, I'm pretty sure I read one NCL review you wrote and and it was on one of the older, smaller ships? I've been looking at NCL out of NO and Galveston on the newer(ish?) ships. Just wondered your take on the newer ones if you've been on more than just the one NCL cruise. I probably just need to spend more time on the NCL boards.

Looks like a good day in Bonaire. They keep going up with the car estimate and you're going to end up with a new one!

Have great honeymoon cruise with your wife! The pictures look like you had a great time on the previous cruise, I hope this one surpasses it! We did a cruise on the Valor in Nov 22. We love sailing down the Mississippi from NO to the Gulf. Our cruise was lots of fun and plenty of relaxing. We'd take that cruise again for sure. We went to Isla Pasion in Cozumel on that cruise, that was a good time too.

The pool pic at Baby Beach, I'm guessing was at a hotel? If so, did you notice the name? A great day in Aruba! Looking forward to seeing Bonaire. We've done AC, and I wanted to do them again as ABC!