americanmama

Love your wonderful, positive review!! Only 11 days till my Dream vacay!!

I just did a test booking using the link above..the stay and park is for 'in house' only and cannot be used for cruises. :(

you will see people walking around. outside the window, if the drapes are open......if you eat around 6, and finish by 8 you will still have some daylight, but at that point, not a very scenic part of the river

So very sorry to hear the loss of your dad and cruise buddy...prayers for you and your family

Enjoying it! Thanks for posting and keep it coming! :)

I would not chance it in NOLA. DH had a cooler just barely larger than the 12x12...they would not let it go. Thankfully it was a cheapo :). That being said, we saw others with the same cooler getting onboard, so it really depends on the security line you are in maybe. If you really want to use your Yeti, I would pack it in your checked luggage and then use in the cabin. Have a great cruise!

DH and I sailed on the Dream in 8462 this past May. There is no room for couch or chair, in fact the bathroom door cannot open all the way for hitting the bed. :) However, the balcony is awesome!. The partition between 8462 and 8460 can be opened, because it came open somehow on our cruise, the room steward had to lock it back. I put some pictures up on photo gallery, listed as Dream 8462, by americanmama, however one of the pictures is of the aft wrap next to 8462. You can tell as it is larger. Not sure if the partition to the aft wrap opens. Have a great cruise!

Thanks for the kind words ya'll...I did put a couple of pictures up on the photo gallery, but did not figure out how to get them here :(. As far as the shaking, I am going to say it probably is due to being aft. I have read a few reviews that warn the aft does shake...this was our 4th time to be in an aft, and I have never felt it quite so much. It seemed worse the faster we would go.

The bathroom goodies are long gone now I guess. I remember reading John Heald's blog about that some time ago, for us it is not a big deal, we bring samples and travel size things we need for the week. One cruise we did get some really nice razors, his and hers. That may have been when we had an aft wrap....EVERYthing was awesome that trip lol.

no, there is no room to put even a small chair in the room..the hallway is long and narrow, the bed takes up the rest of the room. DH and I had to shimmy around each other or roll across the bed to get past each other ..will try again with the pictures.

and thanks to all who read and enjoyed :)

And so our cruise ends, so must this tale. I am going to try to add a picture or two, maybe, hopefully.

I do not like to talk debarking. It is too sad. But we were in the dining room waiting at 7:00, but did not get to leave till almost 8..so many people doing self assist....But finally got the call and away we goooo...Hennie (CD) is helping with debark, he takes my S&S card, plugs it in...no ping...oops, try again..no ping..oh no!! tried about 5 times before the security officer there with him got it to ping! From there on it was smooth sailing (pun intended)...I gotta tell you tho, that gangplank is steep! Anyone pushing a wheelchair had better be in good shape! And deserves a great tip IMO. We got our luggage and went through security very quickly.. Found the shuttle waiting, and loaded up and back to the garage in no time at all.

We were at the Riverwalk by 9 am, decided to go there for Cafe du Monde to pick up beignets for the folks back home. Did some walkabout, went out and waved good bye to the Dream...saw our waiter, who told us he had 2 hours until he had to go back to work, he was so grateful for the tip we have him last night, so sweet.

Headed home now, and oops, what is this? a detour???? and somehow we are lost in NOLA! lol but that is a whole different story! I hope ya'll enjoyed, I know I forgot lots of stuff, but the Dream is just an awesome awesome ship, and I hope you each have a chance to sail on her, and that you enjoy as much as we did.

Saturday, a fun day at sea..The ship was really rocking again last night, I felt like it was riding in a car with someone learning to drive a stick shift...For some reason, I have no notes on Saturday...I do remember we went to tea time...gotta have those cuke sandwiches one more time! Kinda funny thing... On the first sea day tea time, one of the dessert carts had a tart with lots of blackberries, DH asked for just some of the berries..the waitress gave him almost all of them (I think they were supposed to be a garnish).. On the second tea time, a different waitress, he asked for just the berries...She gave him 1...lol. Not sure if it was a language thing, or if she did not want to share the berries. We have so many little memories like this to enjoy.

I think this is the day we went and watched Fun Force do their break dancing in the atrium. They are downright awesome, and had some fun with some of the passengers.

There are soo many things to do on the cruise, but this time we simply chose to do very little, and yet we enjoyed it greatly. There are things I forgot, such as going to listen to the Chinese Health talk, the back pain talk, etc.. there is truly something for everyone...

Relaxing on the balcony for the last time, preparing envelopes with tips for those we wanted to tip extra..Michael, our cabin steward, the Maitre 'd, Our wait servers, and also Marta, who so very graciously allowed me to tape her telling my mil Happy Birthday in her native tongue.,.(She said a lot of other things too that we do not know, since my mil does not remember a lot of Polish) Jokingly told my dh she probably asked him to adopt her..lol..but seriously, I am going to have to find someone to translate it for me one day!

Before going to dinner, I put Michael's envelope with his tip in the towel animals hands, with his name on it, since I never see him, but wanted to make sure he got it. Handed out the rest of the tips at dinner, and they are always so appreciative. This is one area we do not skimp on, we prepaid tips, and always plan on extra for those who work so hard to make our vacation awesome.

Back to the room after dinner, and a last walkabout the ship, time to pack and put the bags out. Last balcony time, seeing lots of platforms, and we are back in the river before we know it. About 10 pm, we see lights coming toward us, and sure enough, it is Elation, headed out on her journey..

FRIDAY..welcome to Cozumel..plans? not really, maybe do some shopping at the port later, but a relaxing morning starting with room service coffee on the balcony, up to Lido for breakfast. Seems like we had the ship to ourselves this morning, everyone got off? lol...We spent time shooting some basketball, playing foosball, and mini golf. A few sunbathers out, but all in all, a fairly quiet morning..back to the room to rest a bit, then woke up several hours later!! DH was gone...arghh he left me!! What a stinker! So I get up and head on down to the port because I really want to buy some vanilla, I have heard it is really good and cheap.

Found DH in about the 3rd shop I hit, he had already bought the vanilla, so he is a sweetie. Of course I probably would have bought a larger bottle, but sometimes you just smile and move on :). We did some more looking and shopping. Just a note here, we saw a dream catcher that we thought his mom would like, they were asking $20 for. They would not bargain at all, if they had come down off the price even a dollar we probably would have bought it, but they lost a sale there by refusing to even consider it.

It was pretty warm by now, late afternoon, so we found our old favorite restaurant, and for the life of me I can't remember the name, I think it starts with a P..sorry, senior moments come more and more frequently lately. Had a couple of beers, decided we needed to buy just a couple more souveniers for the folks back home and headed back to the ship. Oh, but wait, look what is going on in Fat Tuesdays! Lol..the sign says dance anywhere but on the floor, so yeah, some of our fellow passengers are having a good time dancing on the tables, and around the pole. We sat and enjoyed the show for a while. I am really surprised some of them did not fall off the table!

Back on board and it is time to get dressed up again for the second elegant night. We had skipped lunch so we were ready to eat. At the table, Marta, the drink server came by to visit, as had become her habit. Of course dh was tipping her an extra $ every drink, but of course it was just one or two glasses of cranberry juice, so not a big deal.

After dinner we went to the comedy show, again. Tonight we sat through 2 sets.

It is interesting (to me, at least) how we enjoy cruising so much, and yet each cruise is so different. Ex..our first cruise, we did EVERYTHING, and we had our boys with us. The second cruise we did almost everything, the third cruise we really enjoyed the piano bar and the Manila Boys band, etc....Each cruise has had something special to remind us of it. This cruise will go down in my memory as the comedy club cruise. We have not stayed up late at all to go by the disco, or movies, or any of the bars this time around, yet we have totally enjoyed ourselves.

It is embarrassing almost to admit, we had invitations to the past guest party, and also a coupon for a drink on the last sea day...forgot all about them..we also received our pins...I stuck everything in the drawer and forgot until time to pack..oopsy lol.

So, great cruise so far, but ending waay too fast. Dh and I got to thinking about Marta, and her being Polish..She is from the same town as my DH's grandfather came from. My mother in law, 90th birthday coming up..(really, what do you buy a 90 year old, she has everything she wants)..I wonder if we could ask Marta to say Happy Birthday to her in Polish? Because we have no one around us who speaks Polish...hmmm, dh thinks that is a great idea, I just hope Marta agrees :)

dh and I went up and had it all to ourselves on the morning we were in Cozumel...

for May 11 it was THE OTHER WOMAN, and THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. not sure if changed since then

So after dinner, we did the walk around, listened to some music, did some people watching, went by the guest services regarding a question.. I told you we are boring, right? lol Anyway, on to the room, and in the hallway, right next door to our room, we spot a cabin steward?? I stop and ask him if he is the one who is taking care of our room and sure enough We have finally found and met our cabin attendant!! He was very sweet, and very busy so we did not engage with him long. In fact we only saw him one more time, when he had to come through our room to look the balcony partition that somehow came unlocked and was swinging back and forth. So here we are at the end of a wonderful day, and sitting there looking at me is a serving of Tiramisu that Anas packed for me. This is the first and only time I have ever asked for more than one thing at the dinner, and it was a mistake I should not repeat. I was only able to eat about half of it, so note to self...only one dessert:)

this is a good time to throw in some random thoughts and observations. The first few days, it seemed we had the elevators to ourselves...then once everyone got more familiar with the ship, they started getting crowded all the time, people getting on and riding up or down just one floor. We did a lot of stairs, but then, we always do. and will continue as long as we are able.

On this cruise there were not a lot of children. The ones we did see were well behaved and mostly very well supervised by parents, with one exception being on the last sea day, when a young kiddo decided to play with the ice cream machine..he took a cone and filled it up, then dumped it, and started all over several times. A carnival waiter asked him to stop, but he continued, and tried to get his younger brother to do the same. He made a big mess, not sure where his parents were at the time. As I approached him, and gave him the look that says enough, he took off (kids can tell when the teacher means business).

So not a lot of children, but quite a few elderly, I daresay, handicapped. One incident there, with a full elevator, a woman walking with a cane, not really an older woman..but the elevator was already full before she arrived at the elevator bank, and forced her way in. I am sorry that she has a handicap, but she did not win any friends with her attitude. another random comment..the Serenity Deck was full each time we went by..lots of lounges being held with personal belongings. Also, DH wanted to try the Thalassotherapy pool, but they would not sell a one day pass..weekly pass only.

I guess this is a good time to tell you about cucumber girl, as DH named her. We were in line at the buffet for breakfast one morning. The girl in front of us loading two plates, she took some cucumbers and put on her plate, and was munching on them as we go down the line. Her bf/or husband, came and joined in line with her, he had been in the omelet line. When he joined her, she took the cucumbers she had been eating, and put them back on the buffet line...not in the tray with the food, but on the saucer where the tongs or spoons go. I nearly fainted. WHAT in the world?? A few minutes later she was getting sausage, she dropped it onto the tray, beside her plate, and decided she did not want that one and put it back. It is a real turn off to know how some people do not have a clue. I said nothing, because, thankfully the servers saw what she did and took proper care of it. Shudder!!

Thanks Ya'll for reading, and for those of you with upcoming Dream cruises, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did..

We stayed and enjoyed the beach for several hours, until the tummies start grumbling so we pack up and head over to the restaurant/bar Cactus Jacks. On the way we see the fellow who rented us the chairs is also selling coconuts..He slices the top off and sticks in a straw..instant refreshment! We only bought one to share since we were not sure if we would care for it, but it was truly delicious..we saw others selling them also, so it is a popular thing to try. $3 and worth it.

DH has been wanting to try some Jerk Chicken (he had Jerk Pork one night in the MDR and liked it)so we found a table and ordered the jerk chicken plate. It came with coleslaw and ff, for 12.95, we added soft drinks, and it came out to $38? anyway, it was delicious...set my mouth on fire, had my eyes and nose running again lol, but it was oh so good! We decided to get back to port and do some shopping before getting back onboard, so we went looking for a private taxi..hmm,,none around, but here is this nice big cool air condition bus, almost ready to go, $5 per person. Ok, will give it a try. Hop in and grab the two front seats, and the same situation. We wait till it fills up, all the way, even with the fold down seats. I am so sorry, but I had to put my towel in between me and the guy sitting on top of me, because I just refuse to share sweat with a stranger anymore!

Back at the port we did a little shopping, then headed over to find our tender. The line was getting a bit long, but they were loading up two tender boats, so we did not have to wait too long. Carnival had a tent set up and were handing out cups of water for those who wanted. We got onboard, went downstairs and to the back bench, which is a good spot for taking pictures. It loaded up fairly quickly and soon we were on our way back to our Dream home of the week.

While enjoying the ride, a young girl seated in front of me evidently did not realize there was someone behind her, and tossed her cup of water over her shoulder, soaking me pretty good. Her mom and gran scolded her pretty good, but I hugged her and told her it was okay, she was really embarrassed. But it was just water, so no big deal.

Back on board and waiting for the elevators...Everyone crowding in, because we all know how long you have to wait. We decided to wait for the next one, along with another couple, and surprise! It came almost as soon as the overloaded one left, and with just our two couples, we went straight to our 8th floor without having to stop and unload on every floor! yay!

Showers and checking the dinner menu on the TV, and hooray! finally Bitter n Blanc! my favorite,,,but oh no...they also have the Tiramisu tonight:confused: my oh my..what's a girl to do?

Wednesday morning, woke early, after another night of rocking (to me). We called down for room service coffee which was delivered very quickly. We made plans to stay on the ship this time, so we had a leisurely breakfast on the lido, then back to the room to change into swimsuits. We were in the aft pool around 9 am, all all alone. We went in the hot tub first, but it was really hot! The pool was perfect. About an hour later, it started filling up a little, so we found some lounge chairs with an umbrella and chilled, drinking our drinks we had made in the room. DH got a couple of glasses of ice at the bar, and we were set for a while. Before getting on the ship, the plan was to go to the pool, do the water slide, etc. well, the water slide is an enclosed tunnel. DH decided he did not want to do it after all. hehe.

As usual the water made us hungry, so we stopped by the deli and had some grilled sandwiches for lunch, then stopped by the ice cream machines for cones.

We did a little shopping in the fun shop, this time buying some sun screen for my face, as I have a bad tendency to burn. They have Australian Gold sunscreen stick, made for face, lips, etc..claims not to sting the eyes. Let me tell you, they LIE! more on that later.

We decided to get off the ship and wander around the port shops for a little bit. Pretty much the same as we remembered it to be. We just did not have an excursion planned this time. Did not buy anything. Back on board, cleaned up for dinner, and tonight we met Marta. Marta is a drink server, she came by to see if we needed a drink, DH asked for a cranberry juice. When she returned, she struck up a conversation with him, regarding our surname..It is Polish, and she is Polish, needless to say, she remembered him from then on. After dinner we went and hung out on our balcony with our music, and me with my tablet....(Candy Crush addict here, I confess..)

towel animal, bed turned down, no room attendant. This is really blowing my mind.

Thursday ALREADY??

Grand Cayman, We have decided to grab a taxi to the beach, not trying to be the first off or anything Had a light room service breakfast and coffee on the balcony. RCCL is already there, and tendering as we are parking. I know we are not actually parking but sometimes the right word just does not come to mind lol.

We wait a while, give all those people who are in a hurry a chance to get off, and head down to the gangplank? Umm, no..you have to have a tender number to get off the boat..so back up to the lounge, fttf means nothing if you do not have an excursion planned. go sit and wait until we tell you that you can go. ok..we waited about 10, maybe 15 minutes, then we got to walk down 4 or 5 flights of stairs to get to the tender, which they then loaded completely up. no problem, short ride and we are there!

We get off the tender boat and start looking for a taxi. Everywhere are people holding signs for excursions, groups, etc. We spot one holding a sign that says "7 Mile Beach Taxi $5" perfect! just what we are looking for ..we hope in the bus, make our way to the back row of seats, and wait..and wait..and wait for it to fill up! Some people got tired of waiting and got out, so we had to wait to replace them, Finally it seems we are full, we are soo ready to go, but wait..no.. there are some fold down seats that have to be filled before we go ARGHH..25 of us crammed into that 12 passenger size van...you get to know your neighbors :) We decided then and there we would find a private taxi for the ride back..(fate laughs) It was about a 15 to 20 minute ride, we stopped and unloaded at Cactus Jacks, on Sea Grape Beach. We walked to the left a bit away from the restaurant and water sports area, and a lovely man was renting lounge chairs under a shady tree for just $5 each. Wonderful, that is a great deal! This is the reason we cruise. the beautiful beach, the crystal clear water, this is the highlight of this cruise. This is also where Australian Gold sunscreen nearly blinded me. Forgetting that I had liberally applied the sunscreen to my face, I went underwater...at first, I thought it was the salt water, but after a few blinks, it was not getting better, in fact I think I lost my sight for about 15 minutes, before I was able to cry enough to wash it all out. I assure you I was very careful not to go underwater again!

Tuesday, another fun day at sea. DH got up early and went to work out in the gym...me, well, I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I finally got up and going we went to the brunch in the Scarlet Dining room. It was good, but did not fill DH up, so we went to the buffet. Big mistake...eating too much. Later he was not feeling too well, and wanted some chewing gum to help with the indigestion. You know, they do not sell chewing gum on the ship..and I understand their reason behind it. Got him some Tums and Mentos, and we retired to the room and balcony pretty much for the day. At this point I will say that we did smell some cigarette smoke, but not sure where it was coming from. Not enough to spoil our balcony time. Our neighbor in the aft wrap next to us had a habit of leaning across his balcony at the partition where our balconies separate...I wonder how he would have felt had I stood and stared at his balcony while he was trying to enjoy?

By dinner time, DH was feeling better, ready to venture out and take me to dinner :) It is so nice on the ship, every night is like date night! Even though we are an 'old married couple' 30 plus years of togetherness, we still enjoy just spending time together. After dinner we went to the comedy club, and then an early night. Once again, bed turned down, new towel animal, and freshly filled ice cooler, but no sign of who is doing this for us!! Tomorrow is Jamaica Day, and our plan is to own the ship!

So it is off to buy some conditioner. The fun shop stocks two kinds..Pantene at $16 per bottle, or White Rain at $4. No brainer there! Okay, before I forget..we did not meet our room steward yesterday. That is the first time on a cruise that we did not meet them on the first day..however when we returned to the cabin last night, the bed had been turned down and a towel animal awaited us. So, back to our first sea day. We explored the ship, checked out the Serenity Deck, but not an empty seat to be found. No problem, we have our own balcony..We did the buffet for lunch, and then just had a wonderful relaxing day. The highlight of the day for us was probably tea time. We have enjoyed this little tradition since we discovered it on our first cruise, and my DH fell in love with cucumber sandwiches. This time he tried the salmon finger triangles and enjoyed them also.

This was our first elegant night, so we cleaned up a bit and headed out to the dining room. Our waiter was Anas, and he had two assistants that I did not get their names. They were taking care of all three tables in the alcove we were in, plus a few other tables. Very busy, not much time to get to know them. Anas checked our S&S card, to make sure that we belonged to that table, because it was considered the "best table in the room", wanted to make sure it was assigned to us because we were in the Crimson Dining room, which is where the anytime dining is. I am guessing there were no more 2 top tables available in the Scarlet Dining room which was closer to our room. We enjoyed the meal, the menu remains the same from all our previous cruises. I think I had the same thing every evening that I had on all our other cruises. DH ordered off the every day menu several times. The food was always good, good temperature, and service was quick and efficient. We strolled around the ship a while, saw a few fellow passengers dressed up nicely. Not as many as in the past, I see elegant night getting more formal each time.

Before we left the cabin, I left a note requesting ice, since we had not seen nor heard from our steward. After dinner we went by the comedy club and then to the show "Get Ready". DH was not impressed by the lead female vocalist, her voice hurt his ears. I have profound hearing loss so I have to take his word for it. We did go again on other nights, but still the same ..he could not stand it for long, so for the first time in our cruising history we did not enjoy the shows as much as we had before.

Upon our return to the cabin, we found a towel animal sitting on our cooler, and our water sitting on the table. Aha, We now have Ice! hooray..took a drink out on the balcony and enjoyed the breeze before turning in. We decided not to order room service, we would just pop up to the lido when we got up.

Again, I could really feel the motion, did not sleep well again. This is the only place I am feeling it.

So here we are, first night reservations at the steakhouse. DH tries to slip in wearing nice golf shirt and shorts, but the hostess shoots him down. He must go put on long slacks to eat in her dining room. He was NOT a happy man, thinking that the first day it would be more relaxed, as it is in the main dining room. The food was very good, but the overall experience was somewhat marred by his (unhappiness, embarrassment?) feelings. We still have not figured out why one of the waitresses came over and took the screw off cap from the wine bottle and put it in her pocket...to make sure we did not want to take it with us when we left? Who knows... We both had the chocolate sampler instead of the special Mother's day dessert (sponge cake) and were in a chocolate haze as we left. Also during dinner, all the ladies were given a carnation, as in years past. (Yes, we have cruised on Mothers day before :) )

After dinner we needed to walk a bit, so out we go, and it is very windy, as usual. We did some walk about, then made our way to our own balcony, enjoying the ride down the river, seeing familiar sights. We placed our room service order for coffee and danish, and it's good night.

Well, maybe good night for some...this is the first time I have ever felt so much motion on a cruise. It was feeling very rocky to me, like we were lurching forward and backwards. So I did not sleep too well, but DH did, so maybe it will get better as I get my sea legs?

We had ordered room service for between 9 and 9:15, thinking we would sleep in, but we woke up early, just went back to bed for a while. Coffee was delivered a little before 9, and it just tastes better on the balcony than anywhere else in the world. (IMHO) So now it probably gets boring, because we did not do much of anything except enjoy our balcony. We did have to go to the ships store because I forgot to bring conditioner..I was thinking they had it in the shower, but it seems I confused the ship shower with the shower at the gym ..they both have those mounted on the wall thingies...hehe. I have long hair, so conditioner is a must to detangle. Grrr. just got a call, got to go out for a while. Hope I can get back to this later.

Okay, finally allowed to board, and since pictures were taken during sign in process, it is just walk on and go find our room. We booked room 8462...bowling alley balcony, L shaped room. We found our way to the elevators, took the long walk to the back of the boat, and holy cow! our luggage is already waiting outside the door! Open up and the room is ready and the balcony is calling! The long balcony is why we booked this room. We love us some balcony time :) The room itself is small. Just a bed, a small table, and the stool that fits under the dresser. No chair, no couch, and the bathroom door does not open all the way, it bumps into the bed. Also, no more bathroom goody basket:( But we did not book for the room, we chose it to try out the balcony, and it is everything we hoped it would be. There are the standard 2 chairs and a small table, AND a lounge chair, plenty of moving around room.

DH had a plan to hit the hot tub before they got crowded, so we quickly changed and tried to find our way to one of the tubs hanging off the Lanai deck. uh oh, no luck on the ones on our side of the ship, they were not open yet. However, we found one on the other side, open and ready waiting for us! It was not a hot tub though, it is a spa tub? great jets, lukewarm water, perfection! Before long, here comes a waiter, and yes, please, dh would like a drink. He is having some back problems, hence the hurry to the spa and the liquid medicine lol. Oh this was a wonderful start to our cruise. You can just feel the tension slipping away, knowing the next week is going to be awesome.

We stayed in the spa for a while, long enough to have another drink...and for the record, this is the only drink I had all week, with the exception of what we mixed in the room :( Just not a big drinker here..

Being in the water makes us hungry, so we go change and find our way to Pasta Bella, the Italian restaurant we read about. No one there but us, a few people wandering in and out. We put in our orders...it was good, not outstanding, but a great first meal onboard. Now time to do some exploring, learn our way around our home for the next week. We went and checked out our dining room table. I had emailed the Maitre'd asking for a table for 2. He had replied immediately, was very helpful. We had early dining, so I thought we would be in the aft dining area, but we were in the Crimson dining room at table 382. It is on the 4th floor in a little alcove overlooking the main dining floor. There were 3 tables in there. We loved it. But we have reservations for the steakhouse tonight, so we will not meet out wait staff till tomorrow. We looked around some more, and somehow found ourselves at our muster station close to time for the drill..there were some people already waiting (newbies, I do not blame them..I like to know the safety rules, especially in a new situation) so we hung out and waited too since we were already there. As usual, it seems like a lot of folks wait till the last minute and hold everything up while the crew is trying to get the count, but we were inside and sitting, so a big change from past drills.

I always enjoy reading other cruisers reviews, so I thought I would try my hand at sharing our experience. Hope you enjoy :)

A little background...DH and I, in our 50's, our 5th cruise (all on Carnival), second time on this itinerary to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We booked this cruise last year on Mothers Day...Some of you may remember my post about serving cucumber sandwiches to get sweet hubby in the mood? hehe..yeah, it works every time :D

Anyway, a years worth of waiting and life going on all the while. We always buy insurance, because his mom is elderly, and you just never know what could happen. As it happens, she was diagnosed with heart problems just after Christmas, and after numerous tests, the dr says she MIGHT make it to her 90th birthday in August. oh my, what to do? Should we cancel? Can we afford to leave her with our son to watch out for her? See, she still lives alone in her own home, still drives, sharp as a tack, but a heart attack waiting to happen...so we go through the what ifs?

Well, here comes help in the form of her 86 year old sister coming from California to stay with her while we go cruise! Hooray for Auntie Jane! (ooh my goodness,, is it safe to leave the two of them alone!) Well, what will be will be....Looks like we will be cruising after all :)

SUNDAY, MOTHERS DAY

We get up and hit the road early, leaving home about 6 am for the trip to NOLA. We live in central LA, so only about a 3 hour journey. Good traveling weather, playing dodge the turtles trying to cross the highway ...first time we have ever seen alligator road kill! saw two of them! Made it to the Fulton garage a bit after 9, paid and pulled right in. Now, if you park in here, and the guy tells you to go to the upper level of a particular floor, listen to him. He told us go to upper level floor 6....well DH saw a parking spot he liked on the lower level of floor 6. You have to drag your luggage up a little staircase to get to the elevator...yep..so park on the upper level..lesson learned .

Porter was there to help, one other couple there with us, we all crowded into the elevator, and before we knew it we were loaded up on the shuttle and on our way. We got to the port between 9:30 and 10, I think..not really paying much attention to the time. We had FTTF again, but when we got to the port, the porters were all busy helping people leave, so we grabbed our luggage and headed over to drop it off ourselves..

We found a porter right at the area where luggage goes in, he took it over for us, and oops, somehow dh gave him the backpack with our drinks in it...by the time we realized, he had gone..I still had the cooler with a 12 pack of water, so on we go. After going through security we are directed to a liquids table, where they take our water and shake it..did not open the pack, but did check it rather thoroughly..no problem, it is just plain water. Did not even look at the wine bottles, I had wrapped in bubble wrap.

Zipping right along, it sure seems like a lot of people have fttf this time. Last time was much quicker, this time we sat and waited for almost an hour before being allowed to board..maybe because we got here so early? S&S card has hole punched already, and they are selling lanyards with plastic case in the waiting area.

this

This is directly from the May 11 , 2015 Dream. the first Elegant night funtimes

"Oh-la-la! Sometimes it's fun to get all dolled up and debonair on vacation. We know you'll look totally swanky, but please note that the following attire is not allowed in the restaurants: cut-off jeans, men's sleeveless shirts, shorts, t-shirts, sportswear, baseball hats, flip-flops and bathing suit attire.

So there you have it...as long as the jeans are not cut offs, they are allowed.:)

My Kroger's only had $500 cards left...too rich for me :(