Havinsnest

FINALLY got to the terminal and got a porter to get our luggage.

He pointed us in the right direction and we flew to the doors. They took our photo first which was new for me, this was the first "Give the Monkey a Banana" Moment as the girls weren't thrilled with the shirts I had given them to wear but whatever it takes.

Thanks to the Priority boarding of our suites, we flew through check-in and we were on board at a new all time (for us) early time of 11:20 am!

Dropped off our carry-ons in our rooms (2 suites, side by side, on Deck 7), spoke to the room steward who promised to open our balcony door and divide the beds (oops! someone missed a memo) after his break, took a few photos, let Colton open the gifts he found waiting for him (sand toys and a Carnival bear) and we headed to the Lido for an early lunch. Mark, our steward, was amazing, by the way! We loved him.

They are smallest suites we've ever had. Kristie said, "Where is the rest of it?" :eek: I'm glad I took the upsell to the suites from the balcony rooms I had originally picked.

Lunch of Guy's Burgers. They were tasty but, frankly, I miss the old fries and I've had better burgers.

We usually sail from Galveston but I picked this cruise for the ports and Sunshine. We had originally planned to leave Arlington on Friday afternoon, drive to the Austin area w

here Kristie lives, spend the night, get up early on Saturday and drive to NOLA.

At 4:30 on Thursday afternoon that plan changed as it dawned on all of us that Katie and never been to NOLA. SOOOOO, a quick phone call to the Holiday Inn in Metairie and a new room booking later, our plans updated.

Katie and I had our nails done, did a couple of errands and then picked up Colton from school at lunchtime on Friday morning. A quick drive through lunch and we were headed south on I35.

We were in the Austin area and at Kristie's house by 4:15, loaded her gear, goodbyes to the 20 month old granddaughter and, after a Sonic break in Elgin, we were on our way!

The girls tag teamed the driving of my Annie the Equinox - stopping about every 2 hours to stretch, potty, and switch drivers, and I sat in the back with Colton. I read to him, he played on his iPad, I texted with my husband, and we all got caught up on each other's news. Including the news that Kristie and her Jordan have accepted a job in the UAE (she will be teaching science) beginning in August! Wait! What? You are taking our granddaughter away? Why don't you leave her with us for the 2-5 years? (A no-go, by the way, darn it)

Colton napped after we said his prayers about 9 but never did sleep soundly and for long. Katie napped slightly while Kristie was driving at one point but mostly we were all awake all night. We got to the hotel about 1:30 am.

We got our room keys and headed to the elevator (Katie only does stairs, by the way). Imagine our surprise to find luggage in the room we entered! Luckily no inhabitants...must have been on Bourbon Street. Katie's key didn't work at all but we heard a baby crying so we think we woke up occupants of that room as well.

Back downstairs I go to the front desk. They had had a computer crash earlier and had been hand assigning rooms. Someone had forgotten to mark these rooms as assigned. After many apologies we had new keys to a suite and another room, breakfast vouchers and all sorts of of freebies.

We were finally in bed about 3:30. Up at 8 for breakfast and a day of sightseeing.

We took Colton to see Elation in port so he'd have an idea of what a cruise ship looked like, as well as driving over part of the Pontchartrain bridge, visiting the WWII Museum (which he called the Airplane store) and many other things.

Acme Oyster House for supper, a quick trip to K-Mart (which we no longer have in our area) and then to Morning Call for the best beignets ever.

Back at the hotel tragedy struck, though.

Beignet Down.

After CSI left and the crime scene was cleaned it was to bed for us.

Up early on Sunday for our CRUISE! Took the hotel shuttle to the port. The traffic was horrible at the terminal. I killed time taking photos. Katie killed time by posing for them.

Now that it's been a week since we got home I finally have time to write a bit.

This cruise was a Christmas gift to my daughters and grandson. No, I'm not rich. My dad left me a small inheritance last year and my sweet husband insisted I put some of it aside to "play" with as I saw fit. From the day our second daughter was born, 33 months after her older sister, I began dreaming of a Mom and Daughter Trip when they were grown. This trip was a tick mark off my Bucket List and it spent the last of my play money.

This review includes the following cast of characters:

Kathy/Mom: me,AKA the Monkey. My girls kept saying, "Give the Monkey a banana whenever I wanted something they did not. This was my 5th Carnival Cruise (3 on Conquest, 1 on Victory). I also have 1 NCL cruise, a trip on the Alaskan Marine Ferry up the Inside Passage and an army transport "transatlantic cruise" from Germany to NYC in 1958 under my cruising belt.

Katie: Daughter Number 1 - has cruised twice but never on Carnival and she is mom to

Colton: Grandson age 5 - his first cruise

Kristie: Daughter Number 2 - has cruised once before with her dad and me in 2009 on Conquest

The grandson was included since I am usually his Spring Break caregiver. The other males in the family were quite jealous.

Thanks for this great list.

Now, please understand that I live in the middle of the Rockie Mountains.

What the hell is the "port side" ? :D

left

starboard is right

aft is back

forward is (I know this is going to shock you) front

We're sailing on Sunshine on March 9. DST starts that day and I thought I'd post a reminder for others who are sailing on the 9th.

Daylight Savings Time 2014 begins before Easter when days become longer and longer heading closer to the Spring Equinox.

 

So if you are asking, "When does Daylights Savings 2014 time begin?" The answer is the date Daylight Savings Time (DST) will begin for Florida is on Sunday March 9, 2014.

 

The rest of the United States will also turn their clocks forward on March 9, 2014 with the exception of Hawaii and Arizona because those states do not practice Daylight Savings Time.

 

This means that we lose (not gain) an hour when we turn our clocks ahead an hour to 3:00 a.m. when our clocks reach 2 a.m. on Sunday.

 

A helpful way to remember whether to set our clocks ahead or behind one hour during the Daylight Savings Time change for Spring 2014 is to "Fall Back" and "Spring Ahead."

 

Daylight Savings Time 2014 will end on Sunday November 2, 2014.

 

Is it "Daylight Savings Time" or "Daylight Saving Time"? The correct term is without the "s" but the added "s" has become so widely used in the United States that this article has includes the added "s

Got them ordered. Both daughters and the 5 year old grandson now have a little Spring Fling spending money to go along with their Christmas present of a Spring Break Cruise. :)

Thanks, y'all!

I get the gift cards at least that way if I don't spend it I get it back in another gift card

Are the gift cards still available? I had wanted to get some for my daughters for our cruise in March but didn't see them when I was looking earlier.

We have received a few upgrades and some upsell opportunities, some of which we took, some we didn't. In my opinion the more you paid for your current room category the more likely you are to receive a call.

Only been on 4 Carnival cruises but all were either in a smaller suite or aft wrap balcony. Never had a call for an upsell but I wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere on the aft wrap cruises.

If I had a day or two in Anchorage I would make certain to do 3 things...

1) Visit the market. We love it.

2) Drive to Eagle River Nature Center and hike and take pictures. The picture below was taken there in May 2008.

3) Stop in Eagle River and give my best friend, her husband and our goddaughters hugs and kisses.

Oh, wait. We'll be doing all those things in July once we get off the ship in Whittier on June 30. :)

In case you are interested in the (actually somewhat humorous) story of our luggage's swim in the Gulf.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=36215

Finding out Carnival was giving us a free cruise after our luggage was dropped in the Gulf in Galveston at the end of our first cruise. :eek:

Once you enter the mouth of the river, how long to the cruise terminal?

We did Star last Christmas. Seems like it was about 7 hours from NOLA to the Gulf. Looking forward to Sunshine in March with a longer daylight time so we can see more of the Mississippi's shoreline.

I like it. I've made it at home several times using sugar substitutes.

I wish Carnival made it in a sugar free option.

What husband wishes was his natural habitat. Victory - Aft wrap 7425, May 2010

Just seeing this. Great list. Thank you.

I'm assuming our aft cabin will work for viewing? I'm assuming we'd be able to see port, starboard and aft directions from back there?

Victory cabin 7425 from the inside:

Victory 7425 - the first pictures are a bit foggy...sorry...the camera lens had some trouble adjusting from A/C in the cabin to warm humid air outside and my husband had trouble remember to wipe off the lens. :rolleyes:

She has a great way of writing, and photos to match.

Why thank you. :D I'm glad you enjoyed it.

We booked cabin 7425 in March 2009. It was our first aft wrap experience but it won't be our last. We LOVED it.

Kathy,

 

Can you tell me exactly how you broke your thumb? We will be traveling to San Juan in July and the Segway tour was one of our choices. However after reading your post we have a few individuals that want to chicken out.

I tripped on a piece of concrete. :rolleyes: Not one of my more graceful moves.

The Segway Tour was wonderful. NO problems there at all.

Thank you so much for all the pictures! I looked at all 800+ of them. The shots of your DH out on the balcony having coffee are killing me. I can't wait to go. I like how you put your pictures for each day leaving the ship before the tour photos.

 

Tell me about shots 625 and 626, was that for a special occasion? Something new? Hopefully it was for you and not the new bride.

 

Have you done a review? How was the Segway tour? Hope that is not how you broke your thumb. We are thinking about it but worried about standing that long, do your knees lock up?

My husband bought me new rings in St. Kitts. Since we bought them on sale in December 1977 he's been telling me the small diamond solitaire in my wedding set would grow...a friend looked at the new rings and remarked that the diamond has grown up and had babies. :D

I am trying to get the review written but it will be a few days yet before I have it finished.

We were on the Segway Tour when I fell and broke my thumb but the Segway was not responsible for the thumb. That tour, by the way, was AWESOME and I would recommend it to anyone. And if I had a spare 7000 bucks I would buy a Segway. WHAT FUN it was to ride! It was a breeze to ride, knees and legs were no problem (you do better with the knee slightly bent) and took only minutes to learn to maneuver.

Oh, that would be great, cabin number is 7425.

 

Yeah, I am afraid of that! :) Glad to hear it, DH was a little hesitant but we do use the balcony every evening for sail away.

We got off Victory on Sunday. Our cabin was 7425 - I have pictures of the ship, cabin, ports, etc here. We spent TONS of time on the balcony. The neighbors above and below were never seen on theirs. Different strokes for different folks. We love balcony time.

Liked the ship, enjoyed the ports although we prefer cruises with some sea days, had a wonderful time even though I broke my thumb the first day we were in San Juan :o and are happy with the new daughter we got on the first day of the cruise. :)

Don’t forget the USDA line before check in. Suck it up and just do it.

Explanation please? What, where, when, how, why, whatever?

Thanks so much!

Meant to add:

We are so excited about this cruise and we're counting the days. Our daughters have the two aft cabins beside our aft wrap so we'll have a lot of balcony to sit on and enjoy!

Hey Havinnest! We were there this past May and the weather was perfect. Not a drop of rain. However it is the Caribbean!

Thanks!

My sil keeps talking about how hot it is going to be. I, on the other hand, keep thinking we live in North Central Texas...how hot can it be? ;)