thistoo

And thus ends the picture portion of my review. Overall, we had a great time. As I mentioned, it was our first balcony, though from reading here I knew there was a danger of smokers being next door. A little smoke doesn't bother me, but our neighbors were chain smokers. Literally, they'd light a smoke, then when it was done they immediately lit another. There was no break at all when they were out on their balcony.

My mom's a cancer survivor, so she's not crazy about being around cancer-causing agents, which meant we didn't enjoy our balcony as much as we could have. But our neighbors tended to be up in the casino in the evenings, so we did get to sit out there after dinner with a glass of wine and watch the stars.

Dinner was kind of a mixed bag, food-wise. Our wait staff was as lovely as they could be, although they seemed very disappointed when we turned down the dessert menu most nights. Also on the night I ordered tiramisu, they brought a piece for each of us, so I was forced to eat two pieces and my dad was forced to finish the parts of my mom's that she couldn't have (the lady fingers, mostly). It was torture, let me tell you. (Though honestly, two pieces of tiramisu in one go is a lot. I wouldn't do it again.)

My dad also tried the cheese plate one night and really loved it, though they tried to give him cheesecake instead. Apparently not a lot of people order the cheese plate.

The food wasn't always super warm. The first two nights in the dining room were good, including formal night, which was on Day 3 (sea day). As I mentioned earlier, the prime rib was wonderful, though I didn't try the lobster because ew, lobster. Other people seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit. On Day 4 they gave our table away to someone else, and there was a bit of confusion because people seemed to have been moved around all over the dining room. We had the same wait staff but our table was in a horrible location. The food was barely lukewarm that night as well, and the service was less than good. I think everyone was thrown off by whatever the substitute maitre'd was doing. The next night the regular hostess was back, however, and we were back to the same good service. That was also Dad's birthday, so there was singing, and then the usual farewell song, which they did a great job with. It was fun, and I'm glad we convinced Dad to have his final dinner in the dining room.

We did attend both The Brits and Motor City. I was far more impressed with the latter, personally. I thought The Brits was mildly painful, and that they should have let the lead from Motor City sing everything ever, basically. Alas, they did not ask my opinion.

The family comedy was fairly dreadful. I don't know if the adult shows were any better, as they are past my bedtime. But we liked the woman more than the man.

There was a lovely bartender at the bar just outside the casino who actually asked me how sweet I wanted my mojito. It was the only time during the entire cruise anyone gave me a choice, even when I told them not to make it sweet, and she did it perfectly. Bless her, I didn't think to get her name. I did tip her well for the extra care, though.

And that's about it. We're the kind of cruisers Carnival tends to lose money on, I suppose. My parents barely drink, and what little my mom did drink was wine we brought on board with us. We don't gamble, we don't really shop, and we don't book excursions through them if we can help it. I think my mom bought three photos. Maybe two. We did waste those free drink coupons, so I guess that's something.

All told, we had a great time. In fact, my parents had such a fantastic time they they decided to book themselves on the Legend cruise I have planned with my BFF for next April. They're going to be our neighbors, and it'll be the first Spirit class ship for all of us. It should be an adventure. I might even stay up past 10:00 next time!

The water was just amazingly blue and it was so much more gorgeous there than pictures can convey.

If you get the chance to visit Gold Rock Beach, do take it. I would have loved to spend more time there than the hour and a half we got.

After the beach, we walked back through the mangroves to the waiting bus, and rode about 20 minutes or so to Fortune Cay, where there's a beachside restaurant called Banana Key. Clearly they have an agreement with the tour company, because they're the only place around for any kind of services.

That was fine with us, though; it was Dad's birthday lunch, after all, and this kind of place is right up his alley. We sat on the patio overlooking the water and drank Sands (Mom is wheat-free and had a Pina Colada instead) and ate grilled fish. It was a perfect post-excursion meal, and the fish was really delicious.

On the patio:

And the beach beside the restaurant:

After that it was back to the port to pick up a few souvenirs and some local jewelry, then we headed back on board to clean up for our final night.

This is really a great review, taking a class at our Episcopal church with a newly retired minister who moved here with my dad is a truly big welcome surprise this winter..the original reason we became Episcopalians I now know are two fold..I thought it was only because it was the "least drafty" Sunday School place for mom as a kid (LOL)..but it also had a bit to do with an Episcopal girlfriend of dad's before mom and it became their mutual choice for their almost 54 years of marriage and all until mom's passing 8/2012. Now my dad is a wild cowboy, skier type and hope he comes back in one piece as he just snuck off with his brother for New Years and a 70 and almost 80 year old are on the slopes....sigh..I kind of have the opposite problem..with snow borders and his getting hit last year by one with the then new pacemaker...but we do LOVE these people...LOL..loving your review..you know well every moment is soooo worth it..and thy come back to hold you when they start going "home"...thanks so much I hope to get a cruise in with dad...Sarah

Oh, goodness, your dad sure sounds like he knows how to have a good time! I hope he makes it home safely and with lots of great stories to tell. I hope you get to cruise with him too! I have a great time when I vacation with my parents, and it seems to be the only way my mom can get my dad to take a vacation, so it works out for all of us.

If you haven't made the trek out to Lucayan National Park, right across the street from the caves is Gold Rock Beach. It's a gorgeous, undeveloped stretch of white sand beach, and during the hour and a half we were there, we had the place mostly to ourselves.

To get there, you walk along a nature trail through a mangrove swamp:

There are lots of fish and birds to see along the way. The walk is along a wooden boardwalk, though the slats are spaced fairly wide apart so it's really not accessible to anyone with mobility issues. It's less than half a mile to the beach, though, and worth the trip if you don't have trouble with the walk.

We were there at low tide, so there were tide pools at the top of the beach where the water gets trapped when the tide goes out. Kind of like natural kiddie pools! They got up to my knees in places, though, so they weren't exactly shallow. Here's Mom standing in one:

And here you can see how far down the beach they stretch:

It was really uncrowded:

And finally we reached Freeport and the final day of our cruise, which also happened to be my dad's birthday. Thanks to liberal application of the tape we bought at the Key West drug store (I promise we got it all off the door!) we finally got his poster hung as a birthday surprise. It was a giant collage of pictures of him with the family over the years, and he was delighted. I think he took it home to hang in his office. My mom even dug up a picture from his GI days, which he didn't know existed.

When it comes to birthdays and Christmas, my dad's really, really, really hard to buy for. By which I mean he's really hard to buy for. So instead of stressing over finding the perfect gift which he probably wouldn't want anyway, I booked us on an excursion for his birthday. He was pretty stressed out about it because I wouldn't tell him what we were doing, but once we found our guide and got settled on the tour bus, he finally felt better.

I booked us on the H. Forbes tour of Lucayan National Park, and it was a great choice. I would have loved to go to Paradise Cove for snorkeling, but as I may have already mentioned, my dad's not much for sitting around on the beach (much to my mom's frustration) so I gave up my beach day in favor of an island tour.

It was a great choice, as it turns out. Our guide, Biggie, was fantastic, and told us tons about the history of the island along the way. He also gave us an indepth nature tour at the caves before he turned us loose for awhile at Gold Rock Beach. (I'll write a more indepth review of the tour itself on the Freeport board, in case you're interested in our experience.)

Biggie talking about the local flora:

And the natural caves in the park:

More photos from around the ship:

I truly hope it's as fun for the staff to create the Invasion Of the Towel Animals as it is for all the passengers to wake up to it.

Not sure what ship that was out sailing with us at night (the Dream, I think) but it was beautiful!

Update: Dad tells me our wonderful steward was called Joseph. He really was a very kind person, and very dedicated to his job.

After dinner on our sea day, we had to make an unplanned stop in Freeport to deal with a medical emergency. A passenger was rushed off in an ambulance while we watched from our balcony. I hope they were okay, but I never heard more than rumors about what happened.

After that we headed for Nassau, where we woke up the next morning. Having been to Nassau once before and done the walking tour (there was another church to see, after all) we opted to stay on the ship this time. It was very nice to have the place mostly to ourselves. After breakfast we spent some time on the Serenity deck, as well as trying out the hot tub. Well, Mom and I did. Dad isn't much for sitting around in the sun under the best of circumstances.

We tried out the mini golf course as well, though I am hopeless at mini golf, so it was pretty hilarious. The couple behind us didn't really seem that amused. Sad for them.

Afterwards it rained briefly, and the already empty Lido deck emptied even more:

It wasn't a great day for picture taking, as a result. The rain didn't last long, but it allowed us to feel smug for choosing the right day to stay on board, so that's always fun.

It was also Overpriced Coconut Monkey day, so I bought one to send to my friend, who's booked on the Legend with me in April.

People kept stopping to ask me how much it cost. "A lot," was my standard answer, though to be fair, I let him upsell me on the actual drink, because the DOD was some kind of spiked lemonade, and I'm not a fan.

Normally cruises are the only time my mom can get me to play cards with her,

but I developed tendinitis in my thumb this year and holding the cards hurt too much, so we only played once before I had to admit defeat. Poor Mom.

The view of the rest of the ships in port that day:

No dock runners, even though our balcony was positioned for the perfect view. Disappointing.

There are lots more pictures of Key West, but they're mostly of people's houses (and chickens) so I will spare you all. We always take way too many pictures.

I intended to get involved with the roll call and meet up with fellow CC members during the cruise, but then work got sort of intense (which is weird because I'm a librarian) and I ran out of time trying to get ready enough for the holidays to leave town for a week. Sorry, everyone! I had fun spotting some of you around the ship during the week. In a totally non-creepy way.

Right, back to the review. The next day was a sea day, so we mostly just hung out and read on our balcony and tried not to eat too much food. I believe this is the day we tried breakfast in the dining room, but the food and service weren't impressive so we never made it back. Our free drink coupons went unused, even. It felt wasteful, but they do make it as inconvenient as they can to redeem them. Plus my poor father was scandalized the one day I ordered a mojito at 10:00 am to sip in the Serenity hot tub, so it was just as well.

Mom and I wandered around a bit and took pictures of the atrium, though we kind of failed at interior pictures of the ship this time:

Atrium bar:

Neon bar:

We attended the sing-along in the Neon Bar one night. It was fun, though there was one rather drunk woman who made it less fun for everyone, and a very loud crowd right next to us talking over the music the entire time, so we didn't stay too long.

I just noticed that instead of deleting the word 'Carnival' from my title, I deleted the word 'Ecstasy' instead. Best-laid plans. They never really work out for me. Sorry about that. We sailed on the Ecstasy from Port Canaveral, for the record, the Key West/Bahamas route.

But I digress.

My mom says I was born 80 years old, which I suppose is why I travel so well with them. It's true that I am just as happy to sit around and watch the ocean go by while we play cards, eat early and then go to bed at an obscenely early hour. The only real difference is that I drink more than they do, a fact about which my father is happy to offer his opinion, solicited or not.

I wish I could remember the name of our wonderful steward, who was from Manila and celebrating his 13th anniversary with Carnival. He was very kind and had an instant rapport with my dad (who has never met a stranger) and although we never ask our steward for extra service, he still managed to make us feel very well taken care of.

The only real issue with the room is that the beds were together for my parents, but the bunk I slept in was pulled down from the wall the entire cruise, so we had to duck under it or climb across the bed to get to the balcony. It would have been easier to have the beds separated so there was floor space in the center of the room, but my parents don't like to be a bother so we never asked to have them separated. It was a minor annoyance, all things considered.

I meant to take food pictures but forgot every single night until I'd already gobbled up everything in sight, so there's no food porn to post. Sorry! My memorable meals of the week were the Prime Rib (excellent) and the cheddar and root vegetable pie (weirdly too sweet). I only had dessert on Tiramisu night, because I'm trying not to eat so much wheat. My mom is completely gluten-free and had no issues finding things to eat on board. The dining staff was happy to bring her extra vegetables with every meal. But like many people, our favorite place to eat on board was the Mongolian Grill.

On the night of my dad's birthday I didn't order a cake, because he's not a dessert person and my mom can't eat it, so it would have gone to waste. They brought him cake and sang anyway, of course, which he hated. Then he made me eat the cake. I didn't love it, but I'm kind of a cake snob. I forgot to take a picture of that too.

My dad has a thing for lighthouses, so we stopped by, but he didn't want to part with the money to go inside (and he wouldn't let me pay because I am perpetually 16 years old in his mind) which meant admiring from the street:

Though honestly, I'm not sure my mom was up to climbing to the top of the lighthouse after I made her hike all over Key West, so it was for the best. We were just grateful Mom didn't spot the art museum until it was almost closed, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten much further than Duvall Square.

I just really like chickens. But I made sure to take some pictures of actual people for once, too:

After picking up a couple souvenirs for my sister's kids, we reached the sunset celebration just before sunset, as planned. My mom was very taken with the tip-taking dog, because we are unapologetic animal nerds.

After a beautiful sunset my dad was ready to head back to the ship for dinner, as predicted. We had anytime dining, but we were usually there before 6:00 because my dad can't eat late, so we never had trouble being seated.

We ate in the dining room every night, because my mom likes to 'dine', and on a cruise is pretty much the only time she can get my dad to sit at a table without a TV on and actually eat a meal. (They've been married 45 years this May. I'm pretty sure they've been having that same argument that entire time.)

I like the original title. Look forward to reading more.

Thanks! I'll try to get finished fairly quickly.

Great review! I love the Snoopy decorations.

Thanks! In hindsight they were a lot of trouble, but they were worth it.

We were due to dock in Key West at noon, but due to strong currents the previous night, we didn't make port until nearly 2:00, if I'm remembering correctly. They extended our time in port until 9:00 (we were due to depart at 8:00 originally) to compensate for people's disappointment.

It didn't matter much to us, because I knew my folks wouldn't last until 8:00 anyway. I had devised a walking tour of town for us, because we like to look at local architecture and poke around in some of the less touristy shops, as well as stop by the local Episcopal church, when there is one, because my dad's an Episcopal minister.

Sailing into port:

We toured some of the historic spots like the Little White House and glanced through the bars outside the Hemingway House, then walked through Bahama Village to look at the houses and the Christmas decorations. Eventually we made it to the southernmost point, where we found a very charming queue waiting politely for their turn to take pictures next to the marker. It was the most orderly gathering of tourists I think I've ever seen.

We didn't wait in line, though we did take some pictures of the line. Because we're *those* kinds of tourists.

The Little White House:

Dad and his traveling partner taking in the sights:

The true stars of Key West:

The reason we chose this particular cruise was because it happened to coincide with Dad's birthday, but also because he's really been wanting to go to Key West, and it's getting harder to find cruises that sail there. (They live in Florida, I know. They could just drive. Only he never does anything unless one of us instigate it, so when I said 'cruise', he said 'okay', and chances are he never would have gotten to Key West otherwise.)

My dad's one of those people who doesn't do well wandering off on his own. He used to, but as he's gotten older he likes to stay in a bunch and know where everyone is, and he gets stressed out when people wander off course. He wakes up at the crack of dawn while my mom and I would happily sleep in, for instance, but he won't even go up to the Lido and get coffee until I drag myself out of bed to go with him.

I tell you this so you'll understand just how hard it was to find the time to decorate the room without him there. I should have just paid for the Carnival decorations and let our fabulous steward do it, but there was a theme that's very specific to me and my dad, so I got ambitious and made everything myself, which meant we had to wait until Dad got in the shower on our first morning on board, then scramble to decorate while he thought we were both still sleeping.

It was worth it, because my dad was very pleased and excited about both the Charlie Brown theme and the fact that we went to so much effort. Charlie Brown ended up accompanying us on some of our adventures, so you'll be seeing a little more of him later.

There was also a poster for our door, but I put my mom in charge of that because she has all the pictures of my dad as a kid. This turned out to be a tactical error, since she went way overboard and made a huge poster collage printed on heavy paper and it wouldn't stick to the door with poster putty. So we went with plan B, which involved a stop in a drugstore in Key West to pick up tape. And conditioner. Which I also forgot to pack.

The players: Myself, my mom, and the birthday boy, aka my father. He was celebrating #67 on December 11th, so we booked a balcony to celebrate. I live in Knoxville, but my folks are in Melbourne, which is just down the road from Port Canaveral, so it's the most convenient port for us.

I flew into Sanford airport on the 6th, which is good, because as usual when traveling to my parents' house, I forgot everything, basically. (Even after the second anniversary of my 39th birthday, I somehow still think of it as going 'home' and just assume all my stuff will be there waiting for me!) So after a quick run for toiletries and a toothbrush, I hung out with my mom's dogs for the rest of the day.

On debarkation day we loaded the dogs into the car at around noon, dropped them off at the dog sitter's, and then headed for the port. There was a little bit of a line to get through security by then, but it moved quickly enough and even though we're still sporting red cards (this was the third cruise for all of us) we were taking our photos and boarding within half an hour.

I was a little worried about going through security, because I'd customized a bunch of birthday directions for our cabin, and I was a little worried that whoever was running the scanner would want to know why I was carrying a glass flower vase with a bunch of metal flower petals wrapped up in my carry-on. They didn't bat an eye, however, about that or the wine in my and my mom's carry-ons.

Our room wasn't quite ready when we boarded so we headed up to Lido for lunch. It was fairly crowded, but we found seats in our usual spot outside behind the deli/bar. It amazes me that people never seem to find those tables. It's our favorite place to eat when we're up on deck.

I took this picture while I was waiting for my mom to get back from the Mongolian Wok station of the Dream and the Disney Fantasy (I think?) docked next to us:

After lunch we went down to our cabin to check out our very first balcony. It's kind of a tight squeeze with three adults, but in a million years my father wouldn't let me pay the single supplement for my own cabin, and I'd never let him pay it, so we're at an impasse. Luckily we all get along very well.

We watched the sail away from our balcony, followed out of port by the Dream:

And we were off. Next stop, Key West.

Just booked my BFF and myself for an April 2014 sailing. We are trying to convince another friend to come along for a girls' cruise, mainly to help split the cost of our balcony (!) but either way, we're very excited to check out the Legend. It's still ages away, though, so luckily I have a December getaway on the Ecstasy to look forward to as well.

early 50s (the new 40s!)

Excellent news, since I'm turning 41 this year :D

I'm Caroline, and I haven't cruised solo yet, but I have designs on trying the Epic's studios sometime next year. This coming December I'm cruising with my parents for my father's birthday, and a girlfriend and I are planning a cruise for spring sometime (though she won't commit to a date and pretty soon I'm just going to book without her and go alone.)

Right now I live in Knoxville, but for a variety of reasons, most of them health-related, I'm working on moving back to the Florida coast soon. The bonus, of course, is all those cruise ports within driving distance. Once I'm back there permanently I hope to cruise by myself at least once a year. We'll see; my folks live near Port Canaveral and like to invite themselves along.

My dad loves the complete darkness for sleeping. I can't say I mind it at all, either.