Rocknsoul

And I'm not apologizing if this offends anyone.

When did this statement become a thing to follow praise? Gratitude for blessings is never offensive. Why make it so? 1 Peter 3:14-16

Thank you so much...that's my "little baby" Wodan....all 140 pounds of him or so. He will be 10 in January. :)

That's awesome! We have 3 "little babies" (we didn't mean to--they're all rescues & one was supposed to be a foster--but you can imagine how long that lasted). Thor, Cannon & Simba (the little one, only 115 lbs). They're 7 (on Thanksgiving Day), 5 & 3.:)

461 days until cruise

 

Today is my first day back to work after 2 1/2 weeks off for umbilical hernia surgery. Everything went well, and I am feeling great. Now I won't have to worry about it when we get on our cruise.

 

We have been talking about excursions recently. I figure in the next 100 days or so we should be able to book something from what I have read. We are trying to not spend a tonne so I am thinking we will just be booking one excursion. We want to go to a beach. The kids have never swam in the ocean, so we will be booking a beach excursion. I assume we will book through carnival just for the piece of mind, since it is our first cruise. Where would you guys book a beach day if you were stopping at Montego Bay, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel. We would like a place with inflatable water toys if possible...

When we took our family cruise, the kids couldn't get enough of Paradise Beach. The inflatables are a blast, and last time we were there they had paddle boards & kayaks too. You just buy a wristband pp. They have lifevests for the kids, because the water is a little deep in places. We're headed back to Coz for spring break & definitely will be going back! It's super easy & cheap to find a taxi.

I think a few of the beaches have inflatables, so you're sure to find a good one!

I have the whole plan worked out down to the hour. I have us stopping at the Nashville zoo in both directions, but it may turn out to stop somewhere else. Nashville zoo is supposed to have a great playground for the kids to run around. My kids are going to be 11, 9, 9 and 5 turning 6 on the cruise when we cruise.

 

Tuesday Jan 24th

Work/School - Leave after Work

3:00 Ottawa to Belleville 2:30

5:30 Dinner near Bellville 1:15

6:45 Bellville to Windsor 5:15

12:00 Cross Border at Windsor 1:00

 

Wednesday Jan 25th

1:00 Detroit MI to Nashville Tn 8:00

9:00 Stops overnight and Breakfast - change to central time 2:00

11:00 Visit Nashville Zoo and have lunch 2:30

1:30 Nashville Tn to Little Rock Ar 5:00

6:30 Dinner and hotel near little Rock AR

 

Thursday Jan 26th

Option 1

8:00 Little Rock to Houston 7:00

Lunch, Dinner find someplace to run around, find hotel south of houston 5:00

7:00 Take in Weekday Mass Charismatic Center (Where a friend of ours is the Pastor)

 

Friday Jan 27th

Option1: Extra day around Houston and in case of bad weather

 

Sat Jan 28th Get on Cruise by

Sun Jan 29- Fri Feb 3rd Cruise

Saturday Feb 4th

 

Get off Cruise by noon

 

12:00 Galveston to Austin 3:45

3:45 Visit relatives in Austin

 

Sunday Feb 5th

Mass + visit

 

8:00 Drive Austin to Dallas 3:00

11:00 Bedtime snack / rest 1:00

 

Monday Feb 6th

 

12:00 Dallas to Memphis Tn 6:45

6:45 Break stops overnight + Breakfast 2:00

8:45 Memphis to Nashville 3:15

12:00 Nashville Zoo and Lunch 3:00

3:00 Nashville to Knoxville Tn 2:45

5:45 Dinner in Knoxville 1:15

7:00 Knoxville to Bristol Tn 1:45

8:45 Hotel near Bristol Tn

 

Tuesday Feb 7th

 

8:00 Bristol Tn to Harrisonburg VA 3:45

11:45 Lunch 1:00

12:45 Harrisonburg VA to Hershey PA 3:00

3:45 Hershey Chocolate World (closes at 5:00) 1:15

5:00 Hershey PA to Wilkes Baree 1:45

6:45 Dinner near Wilkes Barre 2:00

8:45 Wilkes Baree to Watertown NY 3:15

 

Wednesday Feb 8th

 

12:00 Watertown NY to Ottawa On 2:00

Let kids stay home from school this day - but I can go to work

Very cool itinerary! If you have the Nashville Zoo on both stops, let me suggest you change the second one to the Memphis Zoo. World class & we have pandas. There's a playground, but kids of all ages absolutely love it because there's so much to see and it's easy to navigate. Also, how can you drive through Memphis and not eat BBQ??? I recommend Central, not too far from the zoo. Then when you leave Memphis it's an easy shot to Knoxville.

Probably the best explanation is from Carnival itself at https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1107/kw/alcohol/related/1 . There are some sample menus there. Here's a quote:

 

American Table and American Feast have been designed to create a contemporary and memorable dining experience for our guests.

 

 

Designed with an emphasis on exceptional American cuisine, American Table will feature familiar regional, fresh and contemporary dishes, with a wide array of appetizer, entree and dessert selections which will change each evening. Additionally, American Table will feature modern table décor and place settings with new menu designs to complement the experience.

That quote is hilarious, especially the last line. What a great way to spin "we want to save money and cut back on staff, so we took away the tablecloths in the dining room":p:D This should be included in every marketing course!

I have no advice, as solo cruising is something I have yet to try but would like to someday. I just wanted to tell you how sweet your avatar is. :D

OP, please let me first say that I hope the surgery has taken care of the cancer and that you are otherwise in excellent health. I can't think of anything that would make me feel more like myself after such a journey than a cruise.

The response you've gotten from Carnival since the cruise is pretty standard mass cruise line MO--apology letter with or without OBC or a discount on the next cruise. Unfortunately, the length to which the mass cruise lines will go in meeting special needs really does depend first on the officers overseeing the hotel and dining, then on the maitre d', and finally the dining staff. One ship might be excellent, another ship might have some excellent people mixed with sketchy service.

On our rockiest Carnival cruise, during which I stupidly tried to fix my prescription sunglasses, I got seasick for the first time in my life. Our cabin steward took care of us, even bringing bonine and checking on us once we were knocked out. She brought us dry toast and tea for lunch. She was amazing. Other cabin stewards on other cruises made it a point to let us know they would not do anything special at all--like put wine glasses in the room for the wine we were allowed to bring on board--so please don't ask.

Our second cruise was the result of an award my husband won. ***[Anyone uncomfortable with breastfeeding may want to skip this paragraph]. No children were allowed to come--and I had a 4-mo-old baby who was still nursing. Nope, not allowed to bring her. I had the choice of skipping the cruise or making accommodations for myself on the ship and my baby on land. I thought it would be reasonable to be able to freeze milk while I was on board, but of course soon realized that unless I had a personal freezer, I couldn't expect Royal Caribbean to store it. The ship's staff weren't very nice about it, but I learned later that there were more options than just throwing it away--which is what I ended up doing. It was frustrating, and had I known then that we would wind up taking a cruise every couple of years since then, I would have skipped it.

This next cruise in two weeks (and our spring break one which has yet to be finalized) will determine if we keep cruising Carnival or not. Honestly, we've found Carnival and RCI to be very similar in the level of service while RCI is so much more expensive, especially for the bigger ships. Like other friends of ours have done, we might just cruise less often and step up a bit. Or we might just give in and move to Grand Cayman.:p

So far, so good! I've said for years that I would post one--taken lots of pics & written all my daily thoughts in my journal--only to get home and feel like it would take too much time & energy to post it all.:p

I use the Cruise Critic app when I'm on the go because it's much easier than the desktop [emoji335]version for me. It also allows me to use all of the emojis on my iPhone. Even though I can see them in the app, some of the emojis don't look the same on the desktop version. I really like the app though, it's a lot faster and more user friendly in my opinion. [emoji106]🏾[emoji2][emoji7][emoji336]

 

 

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Great! I keep saying I'll give it a try & then I always go back to my desktop. I told my "adopted" daughter yesterday that I think I've become that adult I never wanted to be...trying to catch up to technology! Just too busy to keep up! :p

When I do get the app & try it, I'll come here first to let you know. :)

Yes everything that I've had there so far has been delicious! [emoji106][emoji39] Thanks!!!! [emoji38]

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Totally random thought from seeing your "thumbs up" emojis followed by the brown patch: on my iPhone, when I hold my yellow "thumbs up" for a second it gives me a choice of colors. I've never used an app to post in these boards. Does it limit your emojis on the app?

Edited to say: I loved this review! It's getting me in the mood for my upcoming cruise. :)

I am living vicariously through your review. This is definitely one for the bucket list! I've told hubby that I really want to see those islands. Soon!!

I see why Fat Fish canceled and we should have taken that for what it was and just went back to the ship. Or maybe Royal Palms again and used their pool. Or Seven Mile beach and laid on the beach again. We were glad it was over and went to the ship and had lunch.

That sounds awful. I'm a swimmer & I love the waves, but not on a sandbar where you want to see animals! What a bummer that you didn't get to do Fat Fish. Despite the late notification (our driver was late too, and we had the same feeling of "are we in the right place?"), that excursion went down as our favorite of all.

So much so we're doing it again in a few weeks. I'm so excited! The first time I was really worried that we would miss Cayman altogether due to rough water. Turns out our itinerary is the same as yours, only from NOLA. Thanks for the ideas & info!

The answers to your question prove that it is all so subjective. You have many different variables here: larger vs smaller, "newer" vs older, NOLA vs Mobile, sailing down the Mississippi vs heading straight into the Gulf.

We loved both the Fantasy and the Triumph. Our first Carnival cruise was on the Fantasy, and we had very low expectations which were vastly surpassed. Our second was also very enjoyable, but the ride was the roughest we've ever had (and most of our fellow passengers said the same). The service was spectacular (our steward became our nurse on a particularly bad day), but that was some years ago and it is likely different now.

When we sailed Triumph, she became my favorite CCL ship (and since then, Sunshine--will Dream take her place?). Triumph is big, but never felt crowded to me. The decor was calm and relaxing. The service wasn't as personal as Fantasy, so although she is a great ship, the Fantasy cruise still felt more special. Since both were out of NOLA, I don't have any comparison there. I absolutely love sailing out of NOLA. Such an easy drive there, and there's nothing like sailing down the Mississippi. It's worth doing at least once.

We are heading back to Fantasy for spring break, and frankly, the Triumph wasn't an option this time because it's way more expensive that particular week, and the whole family is going. It's our first sailing from Mobile--so glad they're back at that port and the options it provides. However, if the prices were comparable, we'd be taking the family on Triumph, mainly because the kids haven't been on a larger ship yet.

Did I confuse you enough? :p

OP (if you're still around): I remember on our 2nd cruise, Empress of the Seas, the captain came on and said that instead of going to Cozumel as planned, we would head from Key West to Nassau. Seemed there was a hurricane south of Cozumel that we probably could have outrun, but it would not have been very pleasant.

I was dumbfounded and furious, since I had wanted to go to Cozumel for 10 years, and I was missing what I thought might be my only opportunity for a good long time; this cruise was a reward from work, and who knew how long it would be before we could afford the time and money to cruise again? We had also already been to Nassau on our first cruise, and I really wanted to try something different.

I kept looking at the charts and wondering why the captain would do such a thing! We could make it! It didn't help that I was 4 months postpartum.:p I vented to my hubby for about half an hour. We then enjoyed the rest of our sea day, woke up the next day and had a nice beach day in Nassau. I got over it.

Turns out I've been to Cozumel so many times since then that I have the island memorized. What I thought would be our last cruise in many years turned out to be the second of many over the past 14 years.

I say all that to say that I understand how frustrating it is to expect one thing and get another. How it's handled may even be enough to say enough! Never using that company again. It's all good! One of these days I'll venture out of the Carnival/RC loop we seem to be stuck in and try something else. It seems even since our last cruise more things have changed on Carnival, and apparently not for the better. We'll see how we like it on the Dream in a few weeks, and on the Majesty OTS a few weeks after that, and make our choices from there.

There are few things that would ruin a cruise for me.

My heart sank for you when I read this. I'm thinking this experience might have been one of those few things?:(

My favorite sweet treat is a mix of berries, sweetened with Stevia and bathing in a bowl of freshly whipped cream. YUM!!

Cerabella ~ at this point, my way of eating is just holding off the catastrophe that would happen if I ate more carbs. I haven't lost any weight for a long time, even when below 20g of carbs and exercising 3-5x/week. Doctor believes it's perimenopause, and that when I'm finished I'll be able to drop weight again. SIGH.

Read an interesting article today. Atkins is apparently going to be making more allowances:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/reinventing-atkins-the-new-low-carb-fat-diet-bonanza/384320/

Thoughts?

Update: when we went in December, we walked from the port to the Pirate Museum, from there to the Graycliff Hotel to see the chocolate factory (once we got to the hotel, we got a little lost trying to find the factory and wound up taking an unintended tour of the grounds as well as a construction site next door, where the workers kindly directed us back to where we wanted to go), and from Graycliff down to Junkanoo Beach, and after our beach time back to the port.

Not once did we feel unsafe, although the streets are narrow so you hope the drivers are paying attention. There were all sorts of residents walking around, and they were very friendly. Plenty of well-dressed women walking alone. There were police officers directing traffic on the street outside Junkanoo Beach. On the beach, there was a young man selling headphones, but he wasn't obnoxious about it and he was fun to talk with.

The stop in Nassau was my favorite for this cruise (we also stopped in Key West and Coco Cay). When I get my pictures organized, I can post them showing our route.

Thank you for the great review! We get a lot of perks from MLife, so it was good to see what may be in our future.

Congrats on winning the drawing! That's awesome!

But, think back to when you were a new cruiser. Many folks are first-time cruisers, or only get to cruise every couple of years. They may have their heart set on a specific location. Have you ever been on a cruise when a port was canceled. If you are like us, you just chalk it up to the cruise experience and enjoy the new "sea day". But, folks who are on their first cruise or maybe only get to cruise every couple years have a much different view of that canceled port. I usually feel so sad for those folks who are crying at guest services when the ship does not make it to Coco a Cay.

I'll never forget, our second cruise was supposed to go to Key West and Cozumel. I was so excited because I had heard about Cozumel for years and always wanted to see it. After we visited Key West, we were told by the captain that a hurricane would make it dangerous to go to Cozumel, so we were headed to Nassau--which we went to on our first cruise (along with CocoCay) and I didn't have any great desire to see again. I think a few tears slipped out, but only to my husband. :p I was mad, disappointed, a whole range of emotions; DH in all his sense asked me would I really want the captain to take us to Cozumel & try to outrun a hurricane?! {Sniff} Of course not! I soon got over it and had a nice little beach day in Nassau with some folks we had met on the ship.

The funny part of this story is that a number of cruises later, I've been to Cozumel so many times they practically greet me by name. :p And, coincidentally, next week we're headed back to Key West, Coco Cay and Nassau for the first time since that cruise, 9 years ago. I'm looking forward to seeing those places again, but as a regular cruiser I've learned to go with the flow, so I'll be okay if our itinerary happens to change.

Hey limoguy. Don't be running back to the Carnival boards to tell your friends we were talking nice about Carnival ship over here on the Royal boards. We have a reputation to maintain don't you know. :D

LOL! I love this comment.

Seriously though, I'm weird enough that it makes me happy to see such a thread. I've seen a few of them over at the Carnival board too. It gives me hope for CC!

I've only been on Sunshine, but I was also on Navigator which has some of the amenities Freedom has.

If my kids were 12 & 9, I think Sunshine would be more fun for them, especially if they like water slides. The ones on Sunshine are a blast! The ropes course is great and is both doable and exciting. Kids who fear heights would have a problem. The sports deck is really fun. Sunshine also has a nice 3-deck Serenity area for adults. The family comedy we saw was really, really funny--the comedians did a great job of pulling in the kids.

My 15-yr-old giant of a son might like Freedom better, with the Flowrider & rock wall, and he doesn't ever have a chance to ice skate so he'd probably try it once; but he would find plenty of fun things to do on the Sunshine too. Yours might like the Promenade.

The fun part of this is that either one is a great choice! Why not pick one now & go on the other one next time? :p

The food wasn't very good, in our opinion. That, and the shape of the ship was our biggest complaints. Instead of building new ships all of the time, why don't you take some of that money and keep the older ones in better shape, or sell them. I can remember RCI on my first trip... We couldn't get over the fact that almost everywhere we looked (behind the scenes, for the most part) there were crew members cleaning, painting, wiping something down all day long.

 

The wood in the room was well worn and the bed was very uncomfortable (hard, and we could feel the crack where the bed comes together). We had to ASK for robes.

 

You took away the nice welcome back gifts, lowered the crown and anchor amenities, even took away the stationary, the mints on the pillows, and so much more.

 

... Keeping your prices a little more than the other cruise lines will make the people that don't care about the classiness take Carnival again. Instead, I'm hearing more and more good things about the ships I always looked down on.

For the record, everything that you missed on your Grandeur cruise has been there on most of our Carnival cruises: delicious food, constant cleaning, comfortable beds, chocolates on the pillows, a welcome back gift, robes in the cabin--we were in regular oceanview cabins, and we're only gold status with Carnival. With few exceptions, the crew have always made us feel like we're very special; I even believe I felt like royalty once or twice!

I'm not suggesting you sail Carnival--I agree with others that Celebrity would likely give you what you've been looking for--but it appears from your letter that you see that looking down on ships you've never sailed was a waste of energy. ;)

That said, if your letter communicates to RCI what you miss about their product and they no longer do it for you, I say let them know and go try some new lines to see if you like them better. What do you have to lose? The obvious choice is Celebrity with the perks you've already earned, but I have a friend who loves HAL and sails them pretty exclusively. She took a cruise with Oceania and wishes she could sail them all the time. The fact you're willing to pay more opens up your options. Go for it! Happy sailing! :)

We have 22; by the end of December we'll have 29. If RCI pulls out of NOLA for good (well, I guess they've tried that before & came back) we may stay at 29 for years.

If I could, would I trade my Carnival cruises for RCI to be at a higher level (or vice versa)? Nah. Each of our cruises has had something that made it special, and perks (or lack thereof) wouldn't have changed that.

My problem is I like variety too much--AND we're too cheap to fly to Florida!:p

I have made lifestyle changes! Keep passing the bread basket, limit the white foods! Things like that, I believe have helped me with my weight issues! I left my Dr visit with 2 less medications!! Yahoo! That my friends is success!!

Yes!! Excellent!! Thank you for sharing this, Jean.

I firmly believe that without finding Atkins 15 years ago (holy moly! I feel old!!) I would be having a much harder time avoiding the fate of much of my extended family--morbid obesity. I have no doubt I would also be diabetic.

Best of all, I'm "skinny on the inside", with blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglyceride numbers that make my doctors ask me how I do it. They're amazed at what they see and want my secret!:p

I knew the first time I read the book that this was a way I could eat right for life.