jimbo5544

Our hotel

Fort myers

Having all sorts of issues posting….just forget the ship pic and the phone system pic

The good news, our flight was early and we arrived at 10 tot he hotel and were told that our rooms were ready. We went up showered and went down and grabbed a bite and headed out, heading for the Vatican. Some of the pics I captured to follow.

We normally stay in the same hotel on Rome, but one portion of our group asked us to consider another hotel near the Vatican that they stayed in. Since a good portion of the group was going to the Vatican in their time there, and it is always nice to try something new, we agreed and we chose Star Hotels Michelangelo. Nice hotel (rooms were kind of small, nicely appointed and def within walking distance to the Vatican. Wish I had captured pictures, sorry about that, but my heart was just not in it. 😥

We begin to get messages and see clips that inform us that beloved sleepy area that we love and live in had changed forever, each more and more as more info reached us, calls updating us, texts telling us, internet blasting to us. The second guessing of leaving began to set in, but no go backsees..

Wednesday morning arrives and we begin to understand the world had now changed and where we live and love was being attacked by a monster. P\retty darn hard to go to JFK and board a plane not knowing what was happening in Florida. But we decided it was the right thing to do. Fast forward 8 hours and a non issue flight on Delta and we arrive in Rome. After retrieving our bags, we go out to catch the preordered ride from the airport to Rome. I turned on my phone an found that the world had changed while we snoozed and wqatched movies on the flight.

By Tuesday, we def knew that making those changes was wise, RSW was to be closed on Wednesday.😵

By Monday, all those thoughts were gone and we realized we needed to worry. Boy did we. SOme of the group called and expressed concerns that they might not be able to get out of RSW (the airport that services southwest Florida). So we rolled up our sleeves and working with each airline (some easier than others) changed all of their flights to Tuesday. This was no easy task and took about 6 hours to accomplish, but we got it done.

The weekend before the trip, a tropical storm pops up on the network news in the gulf….meh nothing to worry about🙄

Almost everyone in our group (except two were planning to fly on Thursday)was flying out Wednesday and spending two days getting adjusted before getting on the Pride…..or so we thought.

Thanks Jeff, some good news arrived (which helps), our building fared well from wind, but water surge damage unknown, fingers crossed).

Thanks, appreciate the thoughts…. I am on the board of our condo and while I am trying (and will) enjoy the cruise, I am torn back there thru email and allmthat is happening (or not) and seeing if we can help.

Halof of our group was from SW Florida and half from the Northeast. Many had decided to fly in a couple of days early into Rome. We had some stay in Rome (we have been there many times, so we flew in but ….umm…lets say did not take an an aggressive tourist track. Some went to the port area and stayed in the nearby town (this is something new and different but we assisted them in finding places to stay, more on that later.

This cruise started about two years ago when we saw then selected the cruise, deep in the depth of Covid mania, I thought what a better way to explore the Greek Islands. We already had a really busty travel year set up but managed to find a good slot and this cruise fit rught in nicely. The cruise became fairly popular and people booked. As covid remainined and rules posted about cruisng in Greece people cancelled and we lost about half of our cabins. As the rules began to ease, some come back, quite a strange experience, but this is the world we live in now……on with the review.

So come join us on aboard the Pride 10/01 Greek isles cruise out of Rome. This is going to a really different cruise and review for two significant reasons. The first is Intrepid just is finishing up a spectacular Greek islands cruise and my home town area just got destroyed by Hurricane Ian. We were up north and preparing for the group we were leading on the cruise. Oh…….where to begin. The beginning is always a good place.

I understand the point. The top floor aft wraps have a lot of privacy, each floor lower less but having stayed in qft wraps on many classes a lot and two on MG, I did not find it ti be an issue. Maybe it is me

Yet to pick my cruise line or even cruise based upon how well they tell us of cancellations….but that is me.

LOL, lots of things change over time, not only with the cruise industry but me as well….. I will put in a-good word to ensure we get back to the “regular” 2 florets.

Aft wraps are the very first category to sell out, due to their immense popularity

Oops and the Luminosa

All Carnival ships excelt Mardi Gras and soon to be Celebration have self service laundry

Over half the width of the ship. We had one of the new balconies directly behind and to the right. Quite nice actually.