ZoeyVictoria

25 minutes ago, ladysail2 said:

I imagine the sound of the horn scared a few drivers!  
Even if you could be driving on the bridge as a ship passed under, you wouldn’t be able to stop for pictures…☺️

But I would know that I had experienced it!  Sometimes that is as good as it is going to get. 

57 minutes ago, ladysail2 said:

Thank you for the reminder of going under the bridge. I’ll be doing it twice return, once on Carnival and once on Royal.  Also, I’ve travelled on the bridge when my parents had a winter place in Ellenton. It’s a beautiful bridge. 

I have always wanted to be driving over the bridge while a ship was passing underneath, but there is no way to get the timing right to do that. 
 

One time, years ago, the Captain hit the horn and held it for an extended period of time while the ship was passing underneath. Never happened again, and I suspect that is not allowed. Imagine what it was like for the motorists driving above. 

We always have dinner in the Windjammer the first night so there is no conflict with the bridge. The fifteen minutes prior to reaching it is a lot of fun, so make sure to be up there early.  I set my alarm for 4:15 a.m. on debarkation day once to see the bridge again as we entered. It was pitch black, absolutely silent, and only one other couple was watching with us.  Every bit as special, but in a different way. 

We experienced one of those days a few months ago on the Independence. It was a cool, windy, and rainy day, but we went to the island anyway around lunchtime. We ate there, but all of the loungers were already wet and then it started raining again. The worst part was the IT failure on the ship that required us to be checked in manually. We stood in a long line for over twenty minutes, waiting to get on the ship while watching Mariner guests on the other side walk right on. It was so windy and rainy that it soaked through my coverup and formerly dry bathing suit. Most days on Coco Cay are indeed perfect, but the nasty days are really bad. 

We had a surprisingly positive auto insurance interaction back in July. Gary’s 2.5 year old Kia with 13,000 miles was the victim of a Kia TikTok challenge. The window was broken and over $16,000 damage was done to the dashboard, wiring, seats, condole, etc. The car was totaled. The insurance check was for several thousand more than we hoped for and way more than we expected. I think it was helpful that it was purchased in December 2021, just before prices went crazy and used cars became more valuable. 

It was very warm in there in January. The solarium is usually one of our favorite places, but not on the Wonder. 

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I actually have to cancel two side-to-side cruises totaling eight nights. I am going to wait another week or so, just in case, but the two closings and a move will occur in exactly the middle of eight nights of cruising. The cruise planner items were Black Friday prices that I probably will never see again. But worth it in the long run.  

It looks like we are going to have to cancel a cruise.  Hate to do it, but it is for a good reason - selling a home, buying a home, moving. Should I cancel Chops and Hideaway Beach before canceling the cruise, or let it happen as part of the cruise cancellation?

We shared one dinner in January with a couple who used to live down the street from us and had later moved to a different area. The new area sounded like a place that would be perfect for us, so we checked it out after the cruise. Now our condo here is on the market and we are getting ready to move to that area. Such a huge change in our lives from one random table assignment on a cruise!  

3 hours ago, nc762shooter said:

At least it's a Sunday so hopefully that should mean lighter traffic.

It is Easter Sunday, during spring break. 

13 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

according to mr Google it is 232 miles between ports.  That is one long bus ride.... 

When you consider the major cities along that route, it could easily become an extremely long bus ride.  

I would probably be very unhappy with the cost of parking in Bayonne vs. other ports. 

Even if Norfolk wasn’t under construction, they would have a very difficult time finding enough employees to make it feasible. Better to use an existing port than try to set up a temporary one. 

On 3/17/2024 at 8:14 PM, mitsugirly said:

 

Exactly. I was hoping it would just go on my account and stay there to use during the cruise instead of having to reload once on board. 

I added gift cards using the kiosk once I was on board. The two gift cards with full balances were applied with no issues, but the card with a small balance ($18) just wouldn’t go through. I took it to Guest Services and they applied it easily. 

Years ago, on the first revenue sailing of the Allure, casino personnel did not know they were supposed to rearrange the bills amid the stacks of coins every night, so the fifties and hundreds slowly crept to the front and dropped. That was the only cruise we made a significant amount of money on the coin pushers, and we haven’t tried it again.  

4 hours ago, dlphn501 said:

You can also pay it down with Carnival gift cards.  I did that on my last cruise.  You can get $100 gc's from AARP for $90.

I did that a few days ago on the Freedom.  On the next-to-last day, I checked my account to see how much the bill would be, purchased Carnival giftcards from AARP for the 10% discount, and took my phone with the gift card info to Guest Services to be applied to my account. The remainder (about $60) will be on the credit card I had on file. 

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Got up early to cover my work bases. Taking the kids to Frontier City in OKC today. First week of the season. Gotta get our membership cups and what not for the new year. We got these passes during the “shutdown”. We pay $10 a month and can go to any Sic Flags park in the country for free. We get unlimited drinks, skip the line passes, VIP parking & other discounts on special events. If only it covered Thrill water park at CocoCaye. 😆

I have a similar deal at Busch Gardens.  Admission to any park in the country, at least five free tickets a year for friends/family plus more at 50% off, free premium parking, 20% off food, drinks, and merchandise. Busch has a music series in January and February, so we go for the tribute concerts, and we enjoy the included water parks (Adventure Island and Aquatica). I am grandfathered in since 2004 at the original price of $12.68 a month. 

I think there were good offers years ago, when they had just started the program. Lately, it seems to be a tool for them to sell undesirable cabins and make a few dollars doing it. 

All of the St. Patrick’s Day food has given me a craving for corned beef and cabbage or a Reuben. Has anyone been on a ship on St. Patrick’s Day?  We are getting on the Carnival Freedom today and I wonder if tomorrow’s food will include corned beef?

1 minute ago, BirdTravels said:

The straps are o.k. so long as they are tightly secured. The bows, on the other hand, pose the risk of getting caught in airport high speed baggage handling equipment maybe resulting in the handles being ripped off. 

My luggage has never seen the inside of an airport. I haven’t flown since 2014 😂

19 minutes ago, Andoria said:

Those are the straps I use on my bag too. Same color so don't go "stealing" my bag!:)

We have the same straps. Makes it so much easier to find our luggage in the terminal. We take the strap off one of our smaller bags and use it to strap two small bags together, to make it easier to roll them to the car or shuttle.

I was a little sad to see the same straps on other peoples’ luggage in the terminal!  Unique was nice for a couple of years. 

45 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

This is what I use… it holds up well. 

Thank you!  We researched it and although the reviews are pretty much the same as other models, it is so compact and we would be thrilled with a 100-sheet paper tray instead of the “input tray” in the back of the current printer. We will probably try this one, from Amazon.  

Can anyone here recommend a reasonably inexpensive HP printer?  Mine is dead or dying and between buying/selling real estate and cruising, we need one we can count on. The reviews on every one we have researched are not even close to good. Any particular model numbers you can recommend?  

Premium is $35 for 24 hours. 

We were offered an upsell from an interior to an oceanview on our Glory sailing of 9/30/24, for $184.00. Our favorite cabin (wraps around crew stairwell, large enough to have two picture windows), was available, so we took the offer. It was a very inexpensive cruise in the first place at $609 total.  It does seem strange to be offered an upsell 215 days prior to sailing.