Kokomo_Man

Day 2 – Sea Day 2

Just across the “isle” from the Pig & Anchor is the American Heroes lounge. Walking in there brought tears to my eyes. Yes, really tears. There’s a big sign, “WELCOME HOME.” There’s a whole generation of heroes out there who never got that “welcome home.” So, it is to them that I dedicate the rest of today’s post.

WELCOME HOME BROTHERS

Perhaps now it is “Welcome Home Brothers & Sisters.” And I’m glad it is that way today. But there was a time when those who went off to war zones were virtually 100% men. And it is to the “Band of Brothers” to whom I’m speaking now… no mater their gender.

In particular, I’m speaking to those who never got the welcome home. You know who you are. Perhaps it was best said in Shakespeare’s historical play, Henry V:

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

I’ll say it again… WELCOME HOME BROTHERS

Here at Carnival they have taken tributes to our Military Heroes seriously. They have a Military Tribiute in the main theater. It is well done and everyone should go… not just my Brothers & sisters.

The American Heroes lounge has comfortable overstuffed chairs and couches. It’s also the closest thing to a sports bar on the ship. Except it really isn’t a bar and they only show ESPN and ESPN2 on the two big-screen TVs. Except… ESPN is really not the U.S. version of ESPN. Rather, it is the international version. So, this afternoon I’m really looking forward to watching a most important cricket match between two “West Indies League” teams. Who really wants to see Baseball and the like anyway?

Hummmm… the game of Cricket. Few Americans understand the game. So let me relay to you what I learned from a friend when I lived in England a few years back:

“ The object of the game is for two guys, the batsmen, to stand out by the wickets and try to stay out there as long as they can so their mates can drink beer in the pavilion. The object for the opposing team is to get the batsmen out as soon as possible so they can go the pavilion and drink beer themselves. The winning team is the one that drinks the most beers.” Paul Lathem-Jackon, Oxfordshire, England

Seems today I’m diverging from the cruise stuff, so I’ll get back to it.

I’ve promised to report “the good, the bad, and the ugly” while doing my “live froms.” I’ll get to those later, but today I’m adding a category… “The Weird”.

The first weird is the way the floors are laid out on this ship. I’m sure this is to amaze, confuse, and bamboozle everyone. You see, the lowest passenger accessible deck is deck 3. And that is the deck you use to get on/off the ship when going ashore in port. This is the equivalent to deck 0 on every other carnival ship. On the Party Grass, Deck 4 is really the first passenger deck and has cabins only. The same for deck 5. Finally, you get to deck 6 which is where the promenade deck is located.

Now… if you were to apply Carnival’s conventional numbering system… starting at deck 0 for the on/off deck, the Prominade deck would be deck 5 on this ship. With the existing numbering system starting at 3, it appears there are 18 decks. I’m sure this is to amaze you. Are you amazed? However, you’re really bamboozled because there are three fewer decks than that. Actually, there are 4 fewer because they skip 13.

The next weirdness is the floors themselves… they aren’t level in a lot of places. Instead, there are little ramps between different sections of the ship. These little ramps seem to connect different sections of the ship. The ramps go up or down maybe six or 8 inches in some places, and as much as s foot or two in others. It’s almost as if the engineers who designed the sections of the ship didn’t talk to each other until the pieces were brought together. Then it was, OH S^&*T!!!. So they welded the pieces together as best they could and then built the little ramps to make up for it. I suspect there were some jobs lost over this.

Ordinarily, the little ramps aren’t a big deal. Except after a few frozen concoctions to help you hang on, these little ramps surprise you. As you stumble up/down the ramp, you grab the closest thing to get your balance back. My apologies to the buxom woman with the low-cut top. I’m sure none of those pics will appear on any of the social media places.

The last weirdness for now is all the doors to the outside of the ship and especially doors to the bathrooms. In stead of overhead “people sensors” to open the doors to the outside areas of the ship, they have installed no-touch sensors (about 3 inches in diameter). You wave your hand in front of to get the door to open. Alternately, there are smaller ¾ inch diameter buttons you do touch on the sliding door. In the early days of the cruise, the hoards going in/out were backed up down the isles trying to figure out how to open the doors.

The no-touch sensors present another couple of problems when it comes to the public bathrooms. When you wave your hand over the sensor the door opens… and stays open for about three hours. Ok… it only seems like 3 hours. If you’ve really got to go, several of the doors open to expose the urinals where the men are standing. I’ve seen men dancing with tears in their eyes waiting for the door to close…  or exposing everything because they can’t wait to get to the urinal. I sure am glad I don’t drink beer.

The other problem with the no-touch bathroom sensors is that passing closely by them will accidentally open the door. Again, the open door exposes everything in the bathroom. I’ve heard the shriek of more than one woman when someone accidentally opened the door. EEEEEK! And I’ve heard numerous choruses of “Ocupado.”

That’s all for today. Next up… as promised, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Stay tuned…

Kokomo Man

P.S. As usual, this post with high resolution pics is posted on www.kokomoman.com

Today’s post is dedicated to Peanut. No… not Jeff Dunham’s Peanut… my Peanut. You see, today is Peanut’s birthday. And this is her birthday cruise. Happy Birthday Peanut!!!

She booked this cruise to be here on her birthday. She got a real good deal… I mean R.E.A.L   G.O.O.D  D.E.A.L !!!! And she was excited to explore this new ship. So, I booked it to be with her. Except… with the price of airline tickets from California to Florida going crazy… and the uncertainty because of cancellations, she had to cancel the cruise *sad face*.

So Peanut, I miss you and really do wish you were here.

Now… on to the cruise stuff.

This morning started off with the usual stuff… sleeping in late (of course) and then to the sea-day brunch. A little while back, Carnival introduced my favorite sea day brunch item… 12-hour French toast. It’s really a small loaf of bread that is fixed up sorta like regular French toast, but without slicing it up. There are a few spices added in too… maybe a little cinnamon. 

I make a little hole in the “loaf” and pour in one of the two little dishes of maple syrup. Mmmmmm-mmmmmm good. After eating the center of the loaf, I pour the remaining syrup over the outsides and eat that. It all tastes so good that I’m sure there are lots of eggs and other bad things in it… and a couple million calories. So, this is the only one I’m allowing for myself this cruise.

After breakfast it was off to get a Bloody Mary. That has become a little bit of a tradition for me. And especially on ships where there’s a Pig & Anchor. Today didn’t disappoint. The “Pig & Anchor puts many of the daily essentials and something from all the food groups in the ones they make… tomato juice (of course) for vitamin C, stuffed olives from the vegetable group, a stalk of the celery from the ruffage group, Tito’s finest from the make you mellow group, and of course a few pieces of bacon from the clogged arteries food group. This is another thing I’m allowing myself to have just once this cruise.

With full tummy, and a little “tomato juice” in me it was time to go off exploring the ship. The first thing that struck me is that there is a bar everywhere. I have yet to visit them all, but it seems like this ship is truly devoted to bars and lounges for the bars. A quick check of the Carnival Hub shows that there are 13 places where you can get a frozen concoction to help you hang on.

Hummmm…The Carnival Hub. A smart cell phone and the Carnival Hub app have become almost essential on-board Carnival ships these days. Gone are the paper copies of the “Fun Times” that listed all the events of the day. Yes… it is possible to hunt down paper copies of the daily events if you must have one, but you really do have to work at it.

Add to that… any time you want to eat in almost anything but fixed time dinner, or the buffet, you must use your smartphone to request a table. AND… once you get to the restaurant, you use the cell phone to pull up the menu. Gone are the days where you can turn off your cell phone and put in the drawer as soon as you board the ship.

Yes, the ship is large, but in the end, there is little new or different on board. All the stuff previous ships had on two decks (mostly 4 &5), are now spread out on three decks. Two of the decks have all the familiar shops… Cherry on Top, Effy jewelry (yeowwww $$$$), “Fun Shops (Carnival Store, Fragrance store, and overprices stuff store) … and let’s not forget the Liquor and Tobacco store.

One deck is nearly entirely devoted to the casino. There has been a clear attempt to separate the smoking and non-smoking sections on opposite sides of the ship. It works fairly well except around the cross over in the middle where the “aromas” waft between the two sides of the ship.

There are two things missing from this ship. Gone is the Red Frog Pub… farewell old friend. The Red Frog Pub was a place I spent time on sea days writing stuff. Not to worry, have laptop-will travel. Also gone are the Park West Auctions… most would say “good riddance” and others would say, “thank you for saving me a small fortune on my sail & sign card.”

Also gone are two of my favorite events: the Hairy Chest Contest and the Master Mixologist normally held on the Lido deck. A few months ago, I was told these events were eliminated to prevent mass gatherings as part of the Cootie Bug protocol. However, if you could see the Lido deck today, it is already back to mass gathering. I suspect a lot of people would say good riddance to both of these too… especially the Hairy Chest.

The most obvious new thing is the Roaster Coaster. Yes, I meant “Roaster.” Peanut used to say that when she was little and since today is her birthday, I defer to her. If you are a fan of roaster coasters, then the novelty of this one makes it a must do. But as roaster coasters go, this one isn’t much. It’s just two quick laps around a little part of deck 18. It can’t last much more than a minute… if that. If it was free, then maybe it would be fun, but it costs way more than a frozen concoction to help me hang on, so I’ll pass on this one.

There’s a big change to the Atrium. On all previous ships the Atrium had a bar on a lower/bottom floor, a little seating area and a small stage. On the Party Grass it’s a whole new ballgame. There is a big stage and seating on three levels to watch the shows and productions that go on there. While it hasn’t replaced the main showroom, there seem to be many similar type productions in the Atrium Theater (Atrium Theater is my naming, not Carnivals. I think it’s really called, “Center Stage”. My name is better.)

One more thing before I find a hot tub and a frozen concoction to help me hang on. Contrary to popular legend, it doesn’t take a week to explore this ship. Between Day O (had to get that one in one more time) and this morning I checked out all the venues of consequence. Having said that, drinking a little liquid libation in all the bars is another thing entirely. So that is my quest for the rest of this cruise. Have one drink in all the bars. Perhaps I’ll do a write up on each one in the days to follow.

For now, I’m starting with the Blue Iguana and a visit to my friends, Sr. Patron and Don Julio.

Kokomo Man

P.S. I’m posting high resolution pics with this post on my personal, non-commercial blog: www.kokomoman.com

Day O… Late night.

This will be just a quick update. Actually… it isn’t late night. Sr. Patron and I had quite an evening together, so I’m writing this the morning after… errrr… the late morning after.

One thing this ship has is lots of “watering holes.” There are four decks full of them… front to back you can hardly walk twenty paces without running into another bar. Each has a little different flair, but no matter what, they are there to sell you booze.

Entertainment at the watering holes abounds too. There were bands at the Pig & Anchor, the Brass Magnolia, and the Havana Bar… a guitar guy at the Fortune Teller… and as usual, my favorite place was the Piano Bar. Stevie D is the best I’ve seen in the piano bar since the resumption of cruising after the Cootie Bug infestation. I should mention here that the Pig & Anchor is also a food place, but I’ll talk about food stuff later… I’m on a diet.

So… it was late night in the Piano Bar. I suspect the word is out that Stevie is a great entertainer. I got there a little after his opening time of 9 PM and the place was already packed. As all the good ones are, Stevie is far more than just a piano player. He gets everyone into the full, top of your lungs, bam-bam-bam, sing-along. And of course, there are few late night “naughty” ditties. Everyone has fun throughout the night. Then it was off to pizza and then bed.

Before I head off to the late morning brunch… and a Bloody Mary… I should mention the Piano Bar facility. Simply put, it sucks. It is constructed and furnished in the style of a nice little cocktail lounge where the piano player provides background… make that elevator music while everyone chats over martinis. There are only six “barrel chairs” around the ground level piano. (There’s room for two more, but they have been removed for Cootie Bug protocols.)

Starting with all the Vista class ships, the “beards in the boardroom” at Carnival have clearly lost sight of what previously gave them the best piano bars on the high seas.  Last night was standing room only. Had this piano bar been like those on previous ships… especially the Dream and Conquest class ships… lots more people would have been able to join in on the fun. AND… Carnival would surely have sold more booze.

That’s it for Day Oh… Day-yay-yay-yay oh

It's time to head off for that Bloody Mary. I hear the Pig & Anchor has a great one.

Kokomo Man

It’s Day 0…. Day-oh… Day-yay-yay-oh.

Hi everybody. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a “live from.” I’m coming out of cub-reporter retirement to report from Carnival’s newest darling, the Party Grass. Ok it’s the Mardi Gras, but who wants to remember the correct spelling.

For those who have never read my musings… and babblings before, I always start my cruises as “Day 0” because it’s a seven-day cruise and the day you board really isn’t a whole day. Besides I get to start the cruise getting everyone to sing the Banana Boat Song with me. So, everybody together now… Day-oh… Day-yay-yay-oh.

As I have always promised, I’ll be bringing you the good, the bad, and the ugly of this cruise. I should add that there is rarely any ugly… if there was, I wouldn’t have done so many cruises. Just the same, I’ll tell it like I see it so you can get a feel for this cruise in general and this ship in particular.

The Party Grass is Carnivals newest darling. I love cruising on the “darlings” because Carnival staffs the ship with the best of the best. I did the US inaugural on the Breeze and July 4 return to cruising on the Horizon. Everyone of the staff… in all areas of the ship… were stellar on both of those cruises. I hope this is the same way.

At the risk of stating the obvious, this ship is big. On the July 4 Horizon cruise out of Miami, the Party Grass had not yet had its maiden cruise. So, even though the Party Grass is based in Port Canaveral, Carnival fired her up and paraded her up and down the Miami cruise port channel… just to show her off. Standing on the Horizon, it was clear that the Party Grass was big. Then when on the 50 Year Celebration cruise, I was on the Glory and we parked next to the Party Grass. Yeah... it's big. 

Boarding was simple and efficient. Of course, now that I’m Diamond, boarding is always easy. I sure am glad I didn’t have to stand in line with the massive hoards of people. I did some checking, and this ship holds about 5200 passengers at double occupancy. That means around 2600 cabins… WOW! And, since there appears to be a lot of kids, I suspect there will be over 6000 passengers on the ship. I sure am glad I didn’t have to stand in line with the hoards.

I should mention that if you haven’t cruised in a while, they no longer give you your “sail & sign” card when you process in. Instead, your cards will be waiting for you at your cabin.

Until you get to your cabin, you use the boarding paperwork to buy drinks… perhaps a frozen concoction to help you hang on.

Per usual practice, the big doors to all the cabins are shut with big signs saying, “Cabins will be ready at 1:30.” Throughout the morning the Cruise Director, Lee, also announced the cabins won’t be ready for a while, so everyone should go to their mustard station, and then to the Lido deck for some food and liquid refreshment. About every 30 minutes there was another announcement about going to mustard stations. So, the hoards slog their carry on all over the ship looking for booze, food, and of course mustard.

Psssssst! Don’t tell anybody I told you, but in reality, most of the cabins are ready way before 1:30. Chances are if you go to your cabin, you can get in and drop off all that carry on stuff. Just open those big doors yourself, find your cabin and get rid of all the stuff… and booze you’ve smuggled on board. As I mentioned, your sail & sign cards will be at your cabin, so you do chance it that they won’t be there if you go to your cabin early. In my six cruises since “return to cruising” there has only been one time the cards weren’t there… and I always board early.

That’s all for now. This is the Party Grass and it’s time to get this party started.

More later.

Kokomo Man – Cub Reporter.

 P.S. This will be posted along with full resolution pics on my personal, non-commercial blog… www.kokomoman.com

It isn't likely that AMSRED2 will be posting anything soon. She is a supervisor in a large retail store. During this time of year she barely gets to see daylight. That will continue through next week with all the returns.

Then she goes into the recovery mode till the middle of next month. (Recovery mode usually means a trip to Vegas or some such.)

Funship Freddie told me that Amsred2 has completed the intervention and detox. She is back working hard to pay for the next cruise. Funship Freddie also told me that he stole the charger to  her laptop so she couldn't post stuff about a "Rockwall and Ice Rink of the Seas" ship.

Fear not... the Flowrider of the Seas gang is sending her a new charger and she will be back online soon. Now if the big bad wolf at work will give her the time, more of her exploits will be posted.

or not

I have it on good authority that she has been whisked off to undergo a full intervention. You see, a group of Carnival funatics got wind that she might be going over to the dark side. Amsred2... I am your father. I did it for your own good. :cool:

When they found out about her traderous ways, they sent spies to intersect her. Sheis now undergoing full detox. Once her re-education is complete she will once again be welcomed into the fun-ship fold where she belongs.

While I recognize that she will forever be a cruise-a-holic... a sickness which can never be cured, I believe she will be brought to her senses and never stray again.

Ok… I really do have it on good authority that she is well and had to go back to work only a handful of hours after she got back home.

Remember that post she made a while back about "imbibing" and posting. She did get the booze package so there you go.

You asked...

Per the dictionary, a Dilly is - "an excellent example of a particular type of person or thing."

"that's a dilly of a breakfast recipe"

"That's a dilly of a cruise"

And if you have a dilly of a cruise, then why wouldn't you want two... or three.

So, I hope you have a dilly dilly of a cruise.

Come on everybody... lets send her off with a "dilly dilly"

Did I hear someone say something about TEQUILA SHOTS!!!!

There used to be a free trolley to take people around old town. You could get on and off at the various stops it made.

Can anyone comment on this?... hours of operation, etc.

I'm on board... so to speak

I'm reading along... glad you're having fun.

I can't tell for sure, but from the video it looks like he may do well on Carnival. But there's one thing I do know for sure... I'm not going on P&0 unless I need a nap.

Kokomo Man

Still Searching for Kokomo

I am indeed hoping for the best. Of course Russell has some very "Big Fat" shoes to fill. Of course I won't hold him to that standard, but I just want him to be entertaining.

Laura (Divetrash) - Thank you for all that info on Russell (and for all you do for the PB folks.) I was starting to get worried because I'm going to be on the Dream with him in April. (Yeah... I [we] fell in love with New Orleans during the Big Fat Social, so I [we] just have to do it again.) It's good to know from your post that I'll likely be spending a lot of time in the PB on this one too.

Kokomo Man

Still "Searching for Kokomo"

GradUT asked about the tender process...

It does take a bit longer to load and unload the tenders since they take a couple hundred people. However, this is a far faster way than trying to do it fifteen or twenty people at a time.

Of course, priority is given to those booking tours through Carnival.

During "rush hour" everyone is sent to the main theater and given a sticky with a number on it. Platinum and Faster to the Fun people are given #1. Then when a tender is available to start loading, they start calling numbers. When your number is called a "guide" takes you down the stairs to the tender. After "rush hour" they made an announcement that you could just go directly to the tender.

I thought it was all quite efficient, and didn't see much of a back-up. But perhaps that was just the time of day I went.

For the return trip, they tell you to just show up at the dock. The tender operator gave some warning that there might be long lines if you wait till close to sail-away time. They made a recommendation to be back about 1 1/2 hours before that to avoid the line.

I was back ahead of all that and had no line to wait in. We did have to wait for more people to board, but they didn't wait till the tender was all the way full... maybe 10 minutes was all I waited.

All in all, I think the tender process in place now is a vast improvement over the little "row boats" they used to have.

I'll be making my last NOT "live from" post for the "quickie" tomorrow. If anyone has any more questions, I'll be glad to try and answer them.

I know you were probably expecting another post about the “quickie” today, but a far more important event in my life has happened today. Punxsutawney Phil has prognosticated the coming of spring amidst some controversy on what Phil actually saw. So I’ve been working on that today over on KokomoMan. I’ll be posting the rest about the “quickie” tomorrow.

Oh... about that third bottle of tequila Specially_K mentioned. Well, you can only take two bottles of duty free booze back into the US. So, let’s just say it didn’t go to waste that night, the following the sea day, or the last night of the cruise. :D

Bob

Still Searching for Kokomo

Hola desde bonita Ensenada... Hi from beautiful Ensenada. I’m starting this post from the Starbucks within walking distance from the ship. You may be getting the idea that I would rather have a good cup of coffee than a frozen concoction to help me hang on. Usually you would be correct. But... today my quest is to find a place to buy Rancho Escondido tequila. Well, that is, after I have a decent cup of coffee.

You see, I visited Cabo on a cruise about a year ago. I should have gone there this year too, because the weather is fifteen to twenty degrees warmer in farther south. Anyway, in Cabo I went to a place called “The Happy Ending”. They had a special: two shots and two beers for five bucks. That price seemed to be too good to be true. I figured it would be a very small glass of beer and a thimble size shot of tequila. But no... these were full size shots and two regular bottles of beer.

I didn’t drink the beer, but the guy I was with said it was good. (Bloody Mary stayed back on the boat for this one.) Added to this, I had never done shots before. So, that was a first for me:

Ariba - Abajo - Al Centro - Al Dentro... that’s sort of the Mexican version of “Over the lips and past the gums... look out stomach, here it comes”. Lime slices were prepared as was a little salt on the back of my hand. I licked the salt... and then it was “down the hatch”. I fully expected to wretch and gag with some foul, burning stuff going down my throat. Instead, the tequila went nicely. A quick suck on the lime and I let out an aaaaahhhhhhhhh.

Yeah, there was a bit of burn, but it was ok. My friend and fellow piano bar enthusiast Laura (AKA Divetrash here on CC) has the motto, “I’ll try anything twice... once to see if I like it. And a second time to confirm my opinion.” Since the first shot seemed pretty good, I needed to confirm my opinion.

After the second shot, my opinion was confirmed... this was pretty good stuff. On the day, a number of other shots went down. I have since been told that before making it back to the ship, there were some bikini clad twenty-somethings involved. I plead complete innocence. It’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Now the point of telling you about that cruise, is my quest today is to find some of that Tequila. Before I staggered out of “The Happy Ending”, we found out that the brand of tequila they used for the shots is “Rancho Escondido”. Ok... I didn’t remember that, but the friend I was with took a picture of the bottle on his phone.

It turns out that you can’t buy Rancho Escondido in the U.S. Hence today’s quest. I’ve finished my coffee, so it’s time to get to it. More later...

_____________________________________________________________

OK... it’s later.

Before I tell you where I found the Rancho Escondido, I need to mention, that I really don’t like Ensenada. The first time I came here, also on a cruise, I decided I really didn’t ever want to go back. Well, this is my fourth cruise back here since. And I still don’t like it. But since I like cruising, this just happens to be where the ship goes. So, the only reason I got off the ship today was for the Tequila.

I did take a few pics and you can see them and more on my Kokomo Man blog.

You can walk to the “downtown” area (and the Starbucks) from the ship. It’s about 3/4 of a mile from the ship’s gang-plank to Starbucks and a couple of short blocks from there to the “downtown” area. I put the “downtown” area in quotes, because the area I’m talking about is really just a grande tourista trap-o. I suspect it’s what the locals think the Gringo del Norte’s are looking for... barkers from every store trying to pull you in to make a great deal on the junk they have. “Come in... look around... I make you a good deal my Amigo.”

Get away from this area and I suspect the rest of Ensenada is quite different. I know there’s a Walmart, McDonalds, Home Depot, Ashley Furnature and an Applebees Neighborhood grill and bar. I’m not making any of that up... it’s all there where there’s normal life. That area is about 3.5 miles south of the cruise port.

But for the tourists, there’s “downtown.” It’s interesting the first time, but after that... well, if I wasn’t looking for the tequila I would never go “downtown”. From past trips I knew that there were tons of liquor stores “downtown”... and I went into most of them. But, no Rancho Escondido. All wanted to “make me a deal” on some expensive tequilas, but none had what I wanted.

I was about to give up, but something told me to try something else. I was out to the edge of the Grande Tourista Trap-o and spotted a grocery store. I went in, wandered around a little bit and found a section where they had wine and.... ta-daaaaahhhhhh, Rancho Escondido. I looked at the price... did a quick conversion... let’s see... 68 pesos at about 6 cents to a peso... or is it six pesos to a dollar or...

Well, it didn’t seem to bad so I grabbed three bottles. When I got to the check-out they translated it into dollars for me... not quite $12.00. In my best Spanish I asked, “?Cada Uno?” The reply came back, “No... por los tres”. No, for all three. I should have brought a bigger back-pack.

With that I merrily headed back to the ship... passing back through “downtown”. No, I don’t want any women... no, I don't want any dope... no, I don't want anything else you’re trying to sell.

When I got back to the ship, my backpack with the tequila in it went through the scanner. The security guy told me I had to check my booze in at the table and I could pick it up at the end of the cruise. I did check it in... both bottles.

Adios, Ensenada

Kokomo Man

Searching for Kokomo

Sorry for the delay in posting. Sometimes life gets in the way when you're not on a cruise ship. Anyway... here it is.

The first time I went to Catalina Island I was a tween-ager… around twelve or thirteen. My parents owned a 16-foot cabin cruiser. One weekend we went to Long Beach to launch our boat for a day adventure. It was a really nice day. As we were launching the boat we could see Catalina. It’s only 21 miles off shore. So, on the spur of the moment my parents decided we would go there and spend the night.

Off we went… it probably only took around an hour or a little more to get there. It was a reasonably nice ride getting there… considering it was a 16-foot boat. We looked around the stores and shops a bit during the day and went to the old “casino” in the evening. Even back then it wasn’t a casino. The only thing I remember was it had some kind of stars on the ceiling of what was then a theater. The presentation was something about the universe.

When we got up the next day the weather had set in. Visibility was only a mile or two and the seas had risen to 10-12 foot swells. For me, it was a great adventure to head out into the ocean with those swells. I thought, “People pay extra for such thrill rides and I was getting it for free”. And since we couldn’t see land we had to navigate just using a little compass on the dashboard. No GPS or electronic navigation. Yes indeed, great adventure for a tween-ager. I just didn’t understand why my dad seemed so concerned.

This time… many moons later, the boat is a teeeeny bit bigger… an 850+ foot long, zillion ton, cruise ship. We sailed from Long Beach around 5:30 P.M. It took about 14 hours to get to Catalina. All the stuff on the island is there just like when I was a kid… well, sort of. I don’t think much has changed in the years since I was first there. But somehow, I remember Avalon as being a lot bigger.

Go to my Kokomo Man blog for the pics that go along with most of this stuff.

The cruise ships now have large tenders to get you ashore. The last time I was on a cruise here they used boats that were only a little bigger than a rowboat. When we went ashore in those tenders, Bloody Mary was a little nervous... and a little green. These new tenders are large, stable ships and can take maybe a couple hundred people... a vast improvement over the old tenders.

I didn’t do any of the tours that are available. Instead, I just did a walk-about. You can walk around most of the Avalon area in a few hours. There are lots of quaint shops to look in. Yes, some are the standard tourist type shops like in a lot of the Caribbean ports, but Catalina is different. Instead of being covered with trinket places, there are a variety of boutique stores with clothing, art, and collectables.

I found a nice little place to have a good cup of coffee. I like coffee most mornings, but the coffee on cruise ships is PATOOOOOYYYY. I usually bring some of those coffee bags with me so all I need is just hot water to have something that passes for coffee. But this time I didn’t bring any because this is just a quickie. So... I was really glad to find the Catalina Coffee and Cookie Co. It’s just a little place in the “Metropole Marketplace” with outdoor tables.

Even though it was a little cool, I sat outside and used their internet (free with purchase) to check email and such. I didn’t bring my computer with me... I had decided not to post the “live froms”... so I just used my smart phone to check on stuff. What a world we live in today. Anyway. I would have stopped in there for the coffee even if there were no internet. There coffee was really good. I won’t try to tell you exactly where it is because I would only confuse you. But... if you are a coffee lover, Google the Catalina Coffee and Cookie Co. before you go to find out where it is. Oh... I almost forgot, they have fresh homemade cookies too. I didn’t have any, but they smelled good.

There are also several ice cream shops. These aren’t the cheapie type… these are the mmmmmm – mmmmmm good places with 453 rich, creamy flavors for you to choose from. I thought I would just have one right after I got off the ship. But as the day wore on, I stopped in three different places. Each had its own character and the ice cream was GREAT. Now that I’m back on the ship, I wish I could have one more. Of course as it is… and with all the chocolate melting cake, I’m going to have to spend an extra 30 minutes in the gym every day of the trip.

I also strolled over to the famous casino. It’s the iconic spot on the island. A long time ago it stopped being an actual casino. Today, it’s sort of a history museum about the island. It costs five bucks to go in on a self-guided tour… twenty-five bucks for the whole guided tour. I was getting low on time so I didn’t go. Instead I just walked around and took some pics.

If you are a SCUBA diver, there is a dive shop right in the back of the “Casino”. I have never been diving there… or anywhere off the coast of California because the water is so cold. That said, lots of people tell me that the diving in Catalina is great. There are huge kelp forests and the lots of the orange Garibaldi fish the area is known for. So if you don’t mind wearing a 7mm wet suit, it’s probably a good place to dive. I’m told it’s also a good place to snorkel too.

It was still a bit chilly today... then anything below 80 is chilly to me. I didn’t expect to see anyone diving or snorkeling but sure enough, there were people there. As I arrived, four snorkelers were just getting in the water at the bottom of the steps. Dressed in their thick wet suits, the first two tippy-toed down into the water without saying anything. Then a third person just leaped in. Remember Chevy Chase in the movie “Vacation”... when he jumped in after a very “hot” Christine Brinkley. Well... after this guy jumped in, he came up hollarin’ “C-O-O-O-LD” (Just in case... here’s a the link to the

Of course there are plenty of “watering holes” within easy walking distance. That said, they don’t line the street like Key West or a lot of the Caribbean areas. I did not see any of the big chain watering holes like the Senior Frogs or Hard Rocks typical of the Caribbean. Still you won’t have any trouble finding a place to have a frozen concoction to help you hang on.

That’s all for today. Tomorrow it’s on to Ensenada... Ole!

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

I’m back (duh). It’s the end of Day Oh. Bloody Mary is in the casino getting rich… yeah, right. While she’s there, I’ll do a wrap up on today.

The muster drill is about serious business. I know that. But Carnival continues to loose everyone’s attention. First, we gathered in one of the lounges. A moderator tells everyone to be quiet because this is important stuff. Then we sit there. After a few minutes everyone starts a little chatter. There’s nothing else coming from the moderator nor over the ship’s intercom.This repeats itself several times for twenty or thirty minutes. It gets to the point where it starts to become comical. Well, I’ll stop there because you get the idea.

It was nearly dark by the time we sailed out of Long Beach. The harbor and coastline are all lit up and it really sparkles. There’s what looks to be a sea wall with multi-color lights, a Ferris wheel and a bunch of other stuff at some kind of amusement park. Everything adds to the sparkle. If you get a chance you really have go out on the poop deck to see it. It’s quite pretty.

I still lament the loss of live bands during the sail-away… especially the one or two man bands on the Lido deck in the afternoons or during the sail-aways. The DJ they now have is OK… but just OK. And on this ship the sound system doesn’t seem to be up to par so it is just becomes some loud background noise. Although Carnival seems to have brought back the steel-drum type band on other ships… not this one.

Dining at the “American Table”... This is Carnivals latest scheme for dining on some ships. Dinner was good and the service was what I’ve come to expect from Carnival… which means very good. But… now here it comes… Carnival seems to have hit the height of cheapness. Their “American style” dining sucks. They’ve started by doing away with the tablecloths. That in and of itself isn’t a big deal. But now, instead of a clean tablecloth between the early and late sittings, there’s just the bare table… the table where you can still see the traces of the wash cloth that wiped down the table. EEWWWWWW. Some of the silverware gets put on the table. EEWWWWWW.

Doing away with tablecloths isn’t the only bad thing. Now instead of serving bread to each person before ordering your meal, they just put a platter of bread on the table for everyone to share. Last night they sat down the bread by the guy next to me. He decided that he needed to see which pieces of the bread were soft before he chose the one he wanted. Then he passed the platter on to me… EEWWWWWW. I decided I didn’t want any bread.

NOTE TO BEAN-COUNTERS: Some things may look good on paper… and they aren’t!

The thing I always look to for the first night's dinner is the Chocolate Melting Cake… mmmmmmm-mmmmm good. I don’t usually even take the dessert menu. Tonight I took it just to check things out. There seemed to be fewer offerings than in the past, but I'm not sure on that one. Of course, tonight there was only one thing to consider for dessert... Chocolate Melting Cake. For me, it is always the best dessert of the cruise. Except tonight it was more like soupy pudding… not like cake at all. It was still good, but just not quite as good as when it is 2/3 cake and 1/3 pudding in the middle.

Even though this post has seemed a bit negative, I’ve really had a smile on my face since setting foot on the ship. All of the staff has been cheerful and go out of their way to take care of folks. Our “room ninja” came by in the afternoon and like magic, he took care of some stuff we asked for. The bartenders seem to be better than usual... quick, efficient, and the drinks are all “well poured”.

That’s enough for now. It’s off to the Piano Bar for me. I’m told the entertainer in there is pretty good so I’ve got to go check it out. I’ve also got to check in on Bloody Mary to see how big of a condo we’re going to buy in South Florida from her winnings.

Next up is Santa Catalina Island.

[a more detailed version of this post is up on my Kokomo Man blog]

Kokomo Man

Still Searching for Kokomo

OK… get your mind out of the gutter… a “Quickie” means that I’m doing a “quickie cruise”. It’s a four-day on the Imagination out of Long Beach. And a four-day really is a quickie since you barely have time to unpack. I rarely go for a quickie. I like it to last much longer than this. But even thought it’s short, a quickie is still good… isn’t it?

Those of you that know me know that I usually do a “live from”. But this time I’m not going to sign up for internet since it’s only a quickie. If I can pick up free Internet at one of the ports, then maybe I’ll post during the cruise. Otherwise, I’ll just write as I go along and put up the posts when I get back. In my usual irreverent fashion, I’ll tell you the good, the bad or the ugly as and if it happens.

[This is being posted completely after the cruise as I did not get to any good internet places]

I’m going to start with the Internet on board. I don’t know if this falls into the good or bad category. They have instituted the new Internet scheme here on the Imagination… at least new to me. They have three different tiers of service: “Social”, “Value”, and “Premium”. Social is just access to some of the social networks.

[Note I have posted more detailed information in the full story on Kokomo Man's blog By the way, I’ll be posting pics there too since you can’t post pics directly to CC]

Thank you very much, but I think I’m going to continue boycotting Carnival’s internet. They’ve come a step closer… but no cupie doll. It’s still at least twice as expensive as it is worth. Carnival likes to claim they offer exceptional value compared to land based vacations. Mostly that’s true, but they need to re-look at the internet charges. Till then my “live from” articles will only be posted when I get internet from ports or after the cruise is over. I guess that means they really aren’t exactly “live from” any more. Well... they are live in the sense that I’m doing the writing during the cruise and not after it’s over.

Day 0... make that Day 0h... starts the minute I set my tootsies on board the ship and head off for a drink of the day! I rarely drink any kind of booze during the day… especially early in the afternoon. But there’s something about crossing the gang-plank onto a cruise ship that changes all that. For me it’s straight up to the Lido deck for a snack and a Carnival rum punch. I’m not usually a rum drinker, but there’s something about the “Funship Special” that’s mmmmmm-mmmmmm good. I always have one… or two… or three... or...

After boarding, I did a “walk-about” to check things out. I’ve been on this ship once before and on Inspiration (same class ship as this) a couple of times. But they’ve done some upgrades so I wanted to see what has changed. This is a nice ship even though it’s one of the older Fantasy class ships. As usual for all cruise ships, the maintenance is always all on-going. All of the facilities are like the other ships… gym, spa, restaurants, etc. They are good, and inviting places, but just smaller than the latest mega ships.

The only noticeable upgrade is the Serenity deck. On this ship, it’s on the faux poop deck. OK… there’s no such thing as a “faux poop deck”, but I just like saying “poop deck”... the highest point on the stern of the ship. On this ship the “faux poop deck” (Serenity Deck) is on the stern, but it’s two levels below the Lido deck. The Lido and the deck below it don’t go all the way to the stern so that makes it a “faux poop deck” because it’s open to the sun and sky.

Compared to the bigger and newer ships the Serenity area is quite small, but still has the nice chairs and a couple of hot tubs. I’m surprised they don’t have a bar back there because a bar is always a moneymaker. They did seem to have a waiter in the area, but I’m not sure if that was just for the “drink of the day” during the sail-away or if there will be one there all cruise long.

Without saying much Carnival has continued to restrict the areas available to smokers. OK… don’t shoot me here… I’m just your dutiful cub reporter. It used to be that Carnival’s policy was that one side of the ship on all the open air decks were smoking areas. Now just a small portion of the Lido deck, furthest away from the buffet, is a smoking area.

Usually I’m in one of the Serenity hot tubs… with a frozen concoction to help me hang on… early on in the cruise. But this time out of Long Beach it’s chilly… in the high 50’s or low 60’s at best. The forecast says it is going to stay that way for most of the cruise. Maybe it’ll be a little warmer when we get a bit farther south.

It’s time for the mustard off the hotdog drill, so I’ll stop for now and continue later.

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

This was a good cruise. Once we got far enough south, the weather was good... maybe not as good as a Caribbean cruise, but it was mild just the same. That said, sailing out of Long Beach (or Los Angeles) in the wintertime is risky. Even with the mild weather, during two of the six days it was too cold for us to spend time by the pools on the Lido deck. That’s my favorite thing to do on sea days and I missed it all except for one day this cruise.:(

I usually wear my bathing suit and flip-flops on some part of every day during a cruise, but not this time. I only spent a couple of days in my favorite cruise attire. So... it’s likely that I won’t do any more Pacific Mexico cruises in the winter. Perhaps I’ll try it again this spring because I did like the ship, Cabo, and Puerto Vallarta.

I told you in the beginning that I would let you know how the “Booze package” worked out for me. If you recall, I “cheated” the system and was buying for two yet only paid for one. Well... I really didn’t cheat anyone out of anything after all. By the end of the cruise I had purchased a total of 39 drinks. Nine of those were sodas. Of the thirty “booze” drinks, three were rum & coke ($5.75 each) and the rest were boat drinks or Bloody Marys which cost $8.75 each. I should note that the sodas were not full cans of soda. Rather, they filled a glass with ice and then poured part of a can into the glass. The receipt I signed for each soda showed the cost at $1.50 each.

I should tell you that there were a couple of days that I tried very hard to get my money’s worth... the sail away day, and next to last sea day. Even then, the most Bloody Mary and I drank was 13 and that included a few sodas. One of the things that kept our overall drink count low was the two shore days when we didn’t drink much booze on the ship. There had been plenty of tequila while ashore.:D So... the grand total that I would have spent on board if I bought all the drinks individually would have been $267.00. The actual cost of the “Cheers” package was $299.70. (Neither of these totals included the automatic 15% gratuities.) Keep in mind; this was the total for two people using one Cheers package for all the drinks. Since Bloody Mary and I are both such “lightweights”, I won’t do the Cheers package again.

As you know, except for a post or two, this wasn’t really “live from.” Back when I started doing these I thought my “live” approach was different from the traditional review. I had lots of fun telling you about the stuff happening on the ship... as it was happening. And I think a lot of folks had fun reading my musings about all the quirky stuff on board. However, as I mentioned early on, I’m boycotting Carnival’s internet till they change the internet packages to something much more reasonable. As a result, my “live froms” have become just another review. You can find lots-n-lots of reviews on Cruise Critic and I really can’t add much to them.

So... this will be my last “Live From” till Carnival changes its Internet packages. It’s not fun or different if it isn’t “live” and I’m not willing to be ripped off anymore by the prices. I have seen some stuff lately about improved Internet so maybe I’ll get back to doing “real” live from posts in the future. Until then, I leave you with my favorite parting quote:

Bob

Searching for Kokomo... and fair priced Internet on the high seas.

Carnival has rules against hooking anything to their TV. On my last cruise, my SIL brought a game system with him and they had something of a "fit" as we went through security saying they wouldn't allow it because of Carnival's rules. Since he had researched it and even called Carnival, he brought his own small TV to hook up to. He had a small suitcase dedicated to just his game stuff & TV.

While the security folks didn't know what to make of that. Carnival has no rule about hooking up to your own TV. We had to convince security and they started making calls. In the end, he was able to bring it all on board.

All that said... since you are using a tablet, if you can get the TV to accept the HDMI input, I'm not sure how they would know in the privacy of your own room.

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

mitsugirly... you've received lots-n-lots of good answers from everyone. So, the good news is that they are all great cruises. In any case, I'll throw my three cents worth in.

I love the 2.0 upgrades, but the Valor is still my favorite ship. You can eat just so many Ferengie Burgers and drink only so much in the Red Frog Pub. Then the rest of the "vibe" of the ship takes over. I know... the crew and entertainers change over time, but for all of my five cruises on the ship, the "vibe" has always carried over.

Then considering the itinerary, the Valor has the best of the four you've listed since you want to go some place new. (I still love the Westerns) Aruba is different than any of the other islands in the Caribbean. I think the Dutch heritage makes it a bit different along with the more arid region it too has a different "vibe".

If you are into snorkeling, SCUBA or great beaches, then Aruba is a must visit place. Just be sure no one takes out a big life insurance policy on you before you go. For an snorkel excursion, I wrote a review of one here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=36234068&highlight=aruba#post36234068

OK... that's all for my 3 cents.

Bob

Searching for Kokomo... and wishing I was going on the Valor to Aruba