TravelBluebird

We woke up to outle room steward banging on our door at 9am. I was semi awake so cracked the door open, and instead of apologizing, he introduced himself (which he tried to do yesterday) and wanted to shake my hand. 😡 The knocking is on me cause I didn’t have the SNOOZIN sign out, but introducing yourself when the room is dark and my husband is loudly snoring in the background?

😂 We tried to count at the party—over 100 but less than 150.

We gambled before dinner briefly after the party, and then after the shows until Midnight. Casino was NOT great for me…people all around me were winning jackpots and bonus games right and left. Had some fun on a couple of machines (bubble mania and wheel of fortune) that didn’t make me lose my $$ right away. Best jackpot of the night for me was only $100 which is WAY under what I usually get in an evening of gambling. The person called for the $1,000 giveaway at midnight was NOT there. So they called someone else; neither was us. My gift ULTRA pick is at 3:20 tomorrow!

We overall enjoyed our first MDR dinner with the new menu! We each had the Papardelle with lamb as an appetizer (its offered as either an appetizer or an entree). I had the cornish game hen, and Russ just the Cobb Salad. I finished my dinner off with, naturally the chocolate melting cake, and Russ with coffee. Service was very fast and excellent—we had Muhammad and Michael. I even got fresh pepper on my cornish game hen. I LOVED the cornish game hen, they hit it out of the park with that one. Served piping hot, nice skin and seasoning. Came with roasted root vegetebles and a yummy croquette. the Papardelle overall I can recommend,. We prefer ours prepared with a brown, less red sauce, BUt that is a quibble and not what was on the menu. It was tasty and al dente, if I found the red sauce a tad sweet. Russ’ Ultimate Cobb Salad was anything but Ultimate because it lacked the blue cheese that they said was in the salad (and should have been). Wait was not even 10 minutes at about 6pm. We thought the decor of the dining room was quite nice. I’ll tell you about the shows tomorrow, as its getting late!

It was nice but not spectacular. They DID have LOTS of tasty,, free h’orderves (fried shrimp with sweet & sour sauce, sushi, little fried chicken wings, pigs in a blanket and more). Free drinks were flowing HOWEVER we tried to get something non-alcholic, just two sodas and that was a comedy of errors—FINALLY got them when I told a casino host we had not received them after 1/2 hour and 2 waiters. She got them for us in like 2 minutes. They gave away a $200 spa visit, a steakhouse dinner for 2, and excursions for 2. With well over 100 people, I sort of wish they’d given out a few more goodies at the party. NO free play. Best part of the event was meeting Lia, a fellow gambler, we had a blast. Thanks re the prize drawing! No bit TVs this time, but some very nice gifts! I’d be over the moon to win the Mac Pro as I really need one for my vlogging, and would not sneer at the GoPro bundle//Apple Watch or iPhone 15 either!

It was a TON of people, but since then, no crowds anywhere (well, except the casino…finding an open machine is not so easy!). MDR dinner wait was only 10 minutes. There were seats available at both the Welcome Aboard Show at Main Stage, and Color My World at the “broadway” theater. Casino is packed. Over 100 on board for the Ultra! And Lee was fantastic; just a FUN sail away! He was also really great with some Down Syndromes young people that were traveling together for a Birthday Party! He came down and sat with them, then danced with them and let them hit the “ACTIVATE FUN” button at the Welcome Aboard show!

How lovely for your anniversary! When you are on Celebration in January, I”ll be freezing my buns off in Antarctica! I will post as much of that for you as I can!

The nice thing about Port Canaveral is that the traffic MOVES. I’ve never seen a standstill like the one in Miami this morning!

@princess76021 We have been on the water since our on-time departure, and the seas have been beautifully calm! We liked the hotel and would definitely stay there again!

Currently enjoying the Steel Drums at Center Stage after a very lovely MDR dinner!

It was PACKED for the sail away party! I love Lee Your Cruise Director—had him YEARS ago on the Splendor. He knows how to get everyone dancing and everyone having a good time! I danced & hubby tried to take photos (and failed miserably at that! 😂) Got Oasis of the Seas on the way down to the Ultra Cocktail Party.

If this is an ongoing problem, I agree, there is NO excuse for it to continue! I was lucky; my two prior embarkations out of MIami were Carnival Spirit and HAL (long time ago) and no traffic issues for those two, but now it seems with 20,000 guests going each way on a Sunday, any liattle thing is going to create a traffic nightmare!

Also included above is our information about our El Fuego Latin Incident Class. Its on Formal Night, but that is OK as we’ve done so many Carnival Formal nights (I mean its just prime rib and lobster, right 😢) But that is the only night we could get a reservation. We are looking forward to our first ever Carnival Cooking Class!

Russ joined me in the clam shells after his Second Lunch. We hung out till 1:30 and were on the way down to our room as the announcement was made that rooms were ready! Nice balcony room, but I keep looking for the “rest” of my room because I’ve only been on Mardi Gras in Ocean Suites 😂 Waiting in our room for us were the Ultra Lanyards and an invitation to the Ultra Cocktail Party at 4:30. I’ll go to Sail Away at 4 and leave a bit early I guess! We are unpacked; Russ taking a snooze. We also received a list of our events for the week. My ULTRA draw for the guaranteed prize is 3:20 tomorrow, so wish me luck! That is good timing because I arranged an informal get-together of all the YouTube creators on board at 2pm tomorrow, and was worried the draw would be at the same time. Hubby is eligible for all the events//drawings except for the ULTRA draw. To get in on the !K giveaway(6 of them; midnight) he just needs 100 Casino Points. And must be present to win. He’s not a night owl like me; will have to ply him with coffee!

@Knights on the Beach We left our hotel at 9:50, aiming to get to port at 10:30. After talking to a bunch of other cruisers, it appears that someone stole a police car, crashed it in the tunnel. Tunnel shut down completely; may have been a fatal accident. On top of that hugely busy port day with 20,000 people disembarking and 20,000 people boarding. Odd thing is that I think that was AFTER were stuck in the traffic, BUT there are STILL people in massive traffic! They are afraid they’ll miss the ship! People who have cruised Celebration multiple times say they have NEVER seen it this bad.

I am chillin in a clamshell by the Serenity Pool and Russ is having Second Lunch at Pig & Anchor! Its great to be married 33 years and everyone be OK to do your own thing!

Here’s us walking, the drug dog, my Guys Burger, casino where we muster drilled, and my current lovely view fro Red Frog pub!

Wow that was gnarly port traffic! We got off and walked with our luggage from before Terminal 6 to Terminal 7! Took us over an hour 45 minutes to get to the ship—with no traffic, 15 minutes. if we hadn’t walked bet it would have been at least another 1/2 hour! On the PLUS side took us 10 minutes from entrance to the terminal to the ship! No line anywhere and a brief sniff by the drug dogs.

We are in TRAFFIC to the port! 1 hour 15 minutes so far. More to follow. Worse port traffic I have ever been in!

Here are the photos at the hotel tonight:

Second flight was perfect and on time. Grandfather and 5 year old had been separated for seats, so we switched for them. We ended up on 2 window seats across the aisle from each other—no problem, and that is too young not to sit with your parent or grandparent! Baggage claim was swift—we were in the Uber and at the hotel at about 9:15. Checked Uber—they wanted $37 to get to the hotel, and there was a 5 minute wait. We looked and the taxi line was full of taxis with no wait, so we took the taxi, and it was $35. Neither amount includes tip! As mentioned, we are at the JW Marriott on Brickell. Staying here on points (I’m going to run out of my free points hotel rooms next year 😭. Really lovely. This is a HOTEL. As opposed to the TownHill Suites and Courtyards and Spring HIll Suites and Fairfield Inns, which is my usual pre-cruise type of hotel to save the $$. Its lovely. Big, beautiful lobby, giant Christmas tree, very old fashioned (in a good way) bar called Drakes that look like it belongs in the English country side. Got a lovely upgrade to a corner room, which is one of their renovated rooms. Roomy, with windows on 2 sides. Its called an “Inspired King.”. Big TV, comfy Marriott bed, really nice! Even has individual toiletries items including a sewing kit, mouthwash, makeup cleanser, etc (unfortunately the shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion are those “shared” things that I won’t touch). Poor Russ has a horrible headache. He doesn’t normally get headaches so I’m a little worried. He took some Advil and is trying to sleep. Coffee options for the morning are plentiful; there is an Illy Coffee maker with espresso pods in the room (YAY!), a restaurant on the second floor, and a coffee shop and bakery across the street. We arranged an Uber to the port for the morning. Its a little pricey at $42 but we just don’t want to worry about it. No port shuttle at this hotel; we’re about 15 minutes away. I took mostly video tonight; will get more photos in the morning; I’ll do some screen shots in the next post!

Wow! That was incredible.I’m cruising to Antarctica on HAL this January (so not a full expedition cruise like yours) but I hope to have a moment like this or close to this! Enjoying your LIVE blog!

@csm5986142 Glad to hear you’ve had an awesome cruise, but sad for you having to leave the ship (I hate that last-day “the trip is almost over” feeling. I hope the weather continues to be perfect or at least good—my last cruise was in a tropical storm and it rained the whole week!

Yes, Europe always feels like “If This Is Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium” to me! But you cannot beat the food in Italy! Of course, I’m part Italian, so I’m a bit biased!

Our layover gives us about 2 1/2 hours to burn in Atlanta. So we opted for a sit-down dinner at P.F. Changs. Its a little hard to find—as you come up the escalator from the underground train and walkways from the other terminals, you go a bit right and you see a sign—then you go up a small elevator to the restaurant. Large, service is very prompt, food is good (if a bit expensive) even a bar and views of the runways! We shared the Mongolian Beef and Singapore Noodles (my only meal today..needed to eat LESS today sandwiched between Thanksgiving and the cruise!. Cost was $50 including 2 non-alcoholic drinks but NOT including the tip. Also took a walkabout after dinner in the airport so have managed 8,000 steps so far. We board in 15 minutes; looking on time!