Cruise Envy

What kind of music did the rocking dead play?

 

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Besides 80s Pop & Rock, they did Motown & Beyond, "Soul and rock & roll", and "The Woodstock Generation", according to the Fun Times.

What kind of music did the rocking dead play?

 

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I remember an 80s set, but I will check the Fun Times and get back to you.

I was told by one of the CD's staff on the Pride that day that NCL was unable to return that tender to the ship so 40 people got left in Belize. The sunshine chose not to tender either.

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Dinner was good -- we sere seated right away (we had anytime dining), and got a table by the window.

My son debated between one and two lobsters, so the wait staff brought him three.

My husband got the ribs, I got the lobster and the prime rib.

We got a visit by the table magician, who amazed my son.

I got a visit from the waiters with a cake and a song:

Next up... after dinner entertainment!

Day 2 - Sea Day

Happy Birthday to me! We woke up around 8:30, and headed to the Normandie dining room for breakfast. I shot a little food porn, but have to say I prefer the regular breakfast and lunch.

Made the common rookie mistake -- don't ordered scrambled eggs, order a plain omelet. Much better!

We walked back on deck 3, and perused the shops and met the gift shop manager Carol.

My son wanted a Carnival Pride hat/shirt combo.

We returned to the cabin so I could open my birthday presents, then we spent a little time at the forward pool & whirlpool in the morning

then proceeded to Guy's Burgers for lunch. YUM!

As mentioned in Connie's review from the same sailing, we joined some fellow CC members for a gathering in the piano bar.

Three of us got dressed up, and headed down to meet the officers, take some pictures, and have dinner.

Jerseycandyman, recognize anyone in this photo?

Finally, found the picture of us as we passed under the bridge!!

Last Thoughts on Day 1

As I mentioned, we were FTTF. All the suitcases arrived pretty quickly (before muster) except one. I joked at the M&G that it was probably in the naughty room as they studied my perfume to see if it was booze. Funny thing... it WAS in the naughty room! They confiscated my BRAND NEW extension cord for my husband's CPAP, and left a nice note in my suitcase. I went to Guest Services and explained that I kind of needed it. :rolleyes: She was very nice, and said they'd get me one to use. OK, I'll take that. We did have it slightly before bedtime that night. Lesson learned, carry on next time.

While I didn't spend a huge amount of time listening to them, they had a live band called the Rocking Dead, who I thought were pretty good. They performed alot in the atrium.

There is a special in the photo gallery on days 1 & 2. If you buy any photos then, you get 10% off, and get a free lanyard. They have a "rewards program" now where you can earn gifts as you buy more pictures. The rewards are a luggage tag, a coffee travel cup, a USB drive shaped like a carnival ship, a tote bag, and a 20x30 canvas of one of your pictures. In addition, for $9.95, after buying (I think) 10 pictures, you can get 10 of your purchased photos put on the thumb drive. You can also get 30 christmas cards done for $17.95.

We did purchase my son the Bottomless Bubbles card on day 1. The sign showed $6.00 in large print, per day in smaller print. (He's 18). I laughed at the lady in front of me, who bought the card for her two kids plus two of the cups, started to walk away, and then turned back in a panic saying "I thought this was $12 and you charged me almost $100!!" Yep, it's per day, not the whole cruise.

They do charge you $0.11 tax per soda until you sail.

We went under the bridge about 11:20 PM. While I would have enjoyed it being closer to sunset, my kids got a kick out of seeing the bridge lit up. There was a big cheer from up on deck when we sailed under.

Leaving you at the end of our first day with our towel friend.

I will have some rebuttal thoughts to our earlier poster about Belize, but I'll share them when I get there. Thanks for reading this far. Next up, Day 2 (my 50th birthday) and a sea day!

My son and I both got the spice rubbed prime ribeye, and my husband ordered the chilean sea bass. My son declared it the best steak he had ever eaten.

Connor was stuffed, so he left and asked us to bring his dessert back. We ordered him the cheesecake to go, I got the fresh fruit, and my husband ordered the cheese plate. I wouldn't repeat the fruit or the cheeseplate.

We skipped the salad and ordered two appetizers each. We had the shrimp cocktail, the escargot, the New England crab cake,

Every single appetizer was great. The shrimp were bigger than my thumb!

Is that the connecting door to the right of the chair?

 

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Yes, it is.

Day 1 - David's Steakhouse

We made reservations months ago to have dinner at the steakhouse, since this was our first ship with one. Given advanced intel that if we sailed on time, we would pass under the bridge 2 hrs after sailing, we chose 7:00 PM.

We spoke to several people -- apparently they are sailing late due to delays in getting supplies on board? Jumping ahead, we sailed about 9:30 PM.

We did get to experience sunset, kind of, from our table in the steakhouse. It was an OUTSTANDING experience. From the amuse bouche from the chef (mini cheeseburger for son, tomato soup for us),

to the rosemary focaccia with spreads... it was a HEAVENLY START!

We kind of enjoyed the chefs getting a kick out of our 14 year old enjoying his meal.

Day 1 - Muster Drill

First moment of annoyance with Carnival for me, the drill was late. The Fun Times said 3:00 PM, but it was closer to 3:30 PM. I hate to be late, so I am always early, therefore, we sat along the promenade for a WHILE waiting. At least there was comfortable seating. We were assigned to Muster Station A.

Eventually we ALL moved outside to stand on the Promenade. It was a little hard to hear due to the band channelside playing sail away music.

Regardless, it ended, and we headed up to deck 9 to meet the rest of the Cruise Critic folks.

We had a few more show up after our amateur photographer disappeared.

Seriously?

Yes. Perhaps I don't have high expectations? I didn't wait in lines, I had a seat, and I boarded within 20 minutes of boarding started. I've sailed from Charleston, Jacksonville & Tampa. My complaint about Tampa was the confusing announcements. :)

Day 1 Serenity Deck & Other spaces

We didn't spend much time out here until Friday.

Here are some random shots as we walked around day 1.

More Day 1

We loved the "Dive In Movies" screen on the Lido:

They had varying activities there during the week. (You can see the Blue Iguana salsa bar in the background)

Here is the Red Frog Rum bar on the Lido (not to be confused with the Red Frog Pub on Deck 2)

And the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

All of the 2.0 upgrades on the Lido with the exception of the slides can be covered by the retractable roof.

Day 1 - the Slides

We also walked around a little to see what was up. My oldest son was the only one to try Green Thunder during the cruise. He loved it, and said it was VERY fast.

He didn't like the yellow slide as he said it was too slow. Take that with a grain of salt, he's a daredevil...

Day 1 continued

After our lunch, we changed into swim suits and tried out the pools.

This is the midship pool:

We chose to get in the forward pool (which is NOT under the retractable roof) because it had a whirlpool as well.

We even found a mermaid!

OP stayed at the Hampton in Ybor City. Your Hampton is by the airport, which is farther away from the port. It is, however, closer to two malls that have great choices for restaurants. It might be worth the longer drive to the port on the morning you sail.

Ahoys is correct! I would stay at this one again, but would also explore other choices.

Sorry - I have almost 3000 pictures to choose from, so it's going slow finding the ones I want. Here is the one showing how the kids' cabin finally ended up so we could use the connecting door.

Did you enjoy the boarding announcements?

Ha, not particularly. All in all, it wasn't a bad boarding, but I think a little more effort would have made it a winner!

More Guy's Burgers...

Even the seating near Guys' Burgers is themed...

Day 1 - Lunch

Once we had visited the cabin, we proceeded up the forward elevators to the Lido deck. We made a bee-line for Guy's Burgers, and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!

While my men tried a couple of the other varieties, we generally stuck to the Plain Jane with cheese, and doctored it from the toppings bar. The buns are made fresh, soft and delicious, and the burgers are flavorful, tender... YUMMMM!

Personally, my favorite item from the topping bar was Guy's BBQ sauce, which I dipped those yummy fries in.

Not only are the burgers THAT DARN GOOD, the line goes REALLY fast. Seriously... this has to be one of the best things Carnival has ever done.

How can you beat such great food with a Funship DoD??

Day 1 - The Cabin

We boarded on Deck 2 in the main atrium. We decided to walk to the forward elevators and head to our cabins to lose our carry-ons. Bonsai Sushi is RIGHT there in the atrium (picture later).

Headed up to deck 5, forward to our cabins, 5105 & 5107.

I had ordered the bon voyage decorations for my kids' cabin,

and a friend had ordered birthday decorations for mine.

This was our first balcony cabin, and it connected to the kids' interior. First "surprise" of the cruise -- we had to get Ahmad, our cabin steward to unlock the connecting door. On fantasy class, each room can open their door; here it's one, locked door. Another surprise... the 5105 cabin was set up with one twin pushed RIGHT against the connecting door, which kind of defeats the point, don't you think?

We asked our room steward to unlock the connecting door, and if he could help us move the beds so we could use the door. He explained it was difficult with 5105 being small, but he would try. :mad: He did manage to get it done, but there was barely room between the boys' beds. And NO floor space. I would not book 5105 again as part of a connecting pair unless it was to be configured as a king bed.

The balcony, however, was better than expected as an extended balcony.

All four of us could comfortably be out there, and we could have added another chair if we chose to.

The cabin had three closets -- one full length, one with two hanging bars, and one with shelves. There were several drawers, although one had the hair dryer in it and you couldn't store much else there. The bathroom had alot of counter space, and was fine. We did have to get the clothesline thing in our shower fixed, and one day our shower gel holder jumped to it's death (we found it on the floor of the shower with gel EVERYWHERE, but that was cleaned up and fixed that night.

Next up -- lunch and first impressions!

Day 1 - Boarding the Carnival Pride!!

We had the same note as many have recently on the Pride from Carnival "... don't arrive before 1:00 PM". Yeah, right. I had FTTF for both cabins. We had signed up the night before to catch the 10:30 complimentary shuttle. We woke around 8am, and headed down to the lobby for our hot breakfast.

One thing I found interesting in this hotel was that your room key was required to use the elevators going up. They did have a nice breakfast area though.

After breakfast we went back to the room to wait... when I realized I had somehow left most of the luggage tags at home. :eek: We took one downstairs and the front desk photo copied them for me. Here I sit laminating them with packing tape.

FINALLY it was time to head downstairs. We waited out in the vestibule for the shuttle to pull up out front. We loaded up the luggage and climbed aboard!

We met passengers from the Holland America Ryndam and the Norwegian Sun on the shuttle. We were the first drop off, at Terminal 2, about a 5 minute drive from the hotel.

We transferred our luggage to a porter, grabbed our carry-ons, tipped the shuttle driver and the porter, and headed inside. Overall, I would repeat this hotel again. It was a little pricey, but VERY convenient to the Tampa port.

We breezed through document inspection, up the escalator to the second level, filled out our do-you-have-ebola health forms, and moved into the priority line. We were almost immediately taken to the counter to check in. The only snag was the camera at the counter wasn't working, so we had to get our S&S pictures done later in the process. We were handed a priority boarding card, and directed to seating.

Here we met the first member of our roll call, Orchid3179. My son took a contraband picture, despite the signs saying 'NO PICTURES'.

It wasn't a long wait, but a bit confusing. They started listing all the groups that would board and in what order, and then fussed at us for joining the line. It could have been clearer. As FTTF, we boarded after Diamond, Platinum and suites. We had our S&S picture taken, then our boarding photos.

I crossed the threshold of the ship at 12:20 PM!

Travel Day 2 - continued

Again, we chose a Hampton Inn. This time we took an optional upgrade to a King whirlpool suite. My kids again declare the pool to be "too cold" and instead dove for the in room whirlpool.

The room also had a wet bar and a sofa bed. The hotel included a free breakfast, and had a free shuttle that will take you anywhere in a 3 mile radius. We had a park and cruise package.

We took the shuttle down to the Tampa Bay Brewing Company a few blocks away for dinner. We are Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives fans, and this one had been featured.

Food and service was good! We chose to walk the three blocks or so back to the hotel.

One more sleep, and it will be time to board the Pride!!