momof3cruisers

Morning: the mango and whatever else juice on Lido or a specialty iced coffee Evening: Whimsy Scarlet in the comedy club.

I did not realize I hadn’t concluded my review! I wrote it up but I’m not sure where. 🥴 I’ll find it and do my best to get it posted by Friday. Hopefully Thursday.

We are good. I was actually doing two sort of back to back cruises since the 16th of Feb and this is my first time on CC since I got back. Breeze out of Galveston, then two days on the island and onto Voyager of the Seas. It was very fun and interesting to compare the two right after one another. It’s kind of you to be concerned. Thanks for checking. Thank you. For that matter, my son wouldn’t go anywhere just in case some bizarre thing arose. Indeed, the owner of the dog DOES know best how to prepare his dog. This dog and my son have spent hours upon hours in the multitudes in training for so very many situations. In addition to traveling all over the country via car, train, and airplane. He’s also been in boats both on lakes and the ocean. He has never before ignored a command of any kind. As far as cruelty, Max is thrilled and delighted to simply be with “his boy” which is what he knows C as. Keep in mind, we did not prevent him from going potty. He didn’t want to. Also, he was very happy and well behaved regardless of having not gone potty. His tail was wagging, he did his tasks just as normal and out of his vest was very playful and affectionate. I’d love to hear your multitudes of things you would have done. Max did enjoy his cruise! He LOVED being on the balcony and laying in the sun. He’s originally from Missouri and isn’t impressed with our cold MN winters. In any restaurant Max is always under the table unless it’s not possible for some reason. C says, “Under” and Max knows what to do. Service dogs are allowed anywhere a passenger is allowed although, I am sure if they had signed up for Behind the Fun that he would not have been allowed into the kitchen or any food prep areas. Oh, also not in pools or hot tubs. He never EVER gets on furniture, even the deck chairs. When outside on the deck, C lays his blanket down for him and Max knows that is his spot. If C was in the sun, he had Max go under his lounger as well to keep him in the shade if it was hot. The dog carries his own bowl on his vest so if he needed water, C just fills a clean glass and then pours it into his bowl for him.

My boys and I sailed a 4 night Mon-Friday cruise out of Miami this past December. We didn’t notice a single drunk person other than one guy in an afternoon comedy show. We saw a couple of shows, played trivia, hung out on the back pool deck, right by the bar (a lot!) went to almost all the comedy, sat in the lobby listening to the string trio, etc. I think total, we bought five drinks, the three of us combined. oh, and they are 22 and 23.

Thank you but I actually meant the ones SingleFlyer posted.

deleted comment

I’m not seeing closets in those VV cabins. I’m assuming I’m missing them. Yes?

Very interesting itinerary. Great pics of the cool architecture. Looking forward to following along.

That is very helpful. Thanks.

I actively avoid Monstrosity of the Seas type ships. Breeze is about as big as I like. I haven’t even tried Vista (though I would) or Mardi Gras etc.(which I might.)

They are polarized so there’s that. 😎

My boys and I sailed out of Miami in early December. We decided that those dogs are safety theater. They clearly missed A LOT!!! Not only because on the very first day, immediately after sail away we could smell marijuana INSIDE our cabin when the vent was blowing but also because tons of people in our FB group mentioned smelling it as well and we were in all different areas of the ship. It was SO pervasive in our hallway that neighbors often passed each other and asked “do you guys smell pot?” On the last full day of the cruise we came out of the stateroom to a letter in the mailbox saying there had been several reports in that area and reminding people that there was a fine for smoking anything in the cabin or on the balcony. No kidding. However, I will say that the cruise was very pleasant, didn’t see any crazy behavior though we are not night owls, and the food was all really good. We were on a four day on Conquest and I had definite concerns before we went. A friend of mine was on the next four day on Conquest and it was her husband’s first cruise. They loved it and he already booked them on another one in Jan. Also smelled weed but didn’t see any misbehaving either.

At this point it was early afternoon. I decided to check the line at the deli. Man, that line moves slowly! But today it was short so I got my Cuban sandwich which is one of my favorites and decided to eat outside. Wow! So much wind! Back inside I went to a table near the window to enjoy the view without getting blown away. After lunch, I too decided a nap sounded good. The boys were on the balcony playing something on their Switches and Max was out there watching the ocean. I knew there was a craft coming up at 4:30 and I really wanted to get to that so I set my alarm and took a snooze. I seriously considered shutting off that alarm! But I’m really glad I didn’t. The lobby where they were holding the event was packed! And there are very few tables. Not much room for crafting. Why on earth they don’t hold it in an unused club with way more flat surfaces or even by the coffee bar with tons of tables is a mystery to me! But the craft was a cute snow globe type ornament with little wooden parts to glue on, stickers for the year etc. I tried sharing one seat space with two other ladies at the bar but it was really crowded. I finally decided to take my supplies and finish it at home. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of it. I’ve gone to the craft things before and they usually have pretty cute stuff. I had missed one earlier in the week as it was held earlier than I made it out of our room. I’m not a morning person and it takes me awhile to get going after I wake up. This one being in the afternoon worked out well. The timing was good too. A lot of the time had been used up waiting in line to get the supplies so by the time I got back to the room, I had some time to get packed up before we checked in for dinner. I got mostly done and then we headed for the lobby to listen to the string trio and check in to dinner on the app. We really liked this routine each night. They were fun to listen to and it set the mood for a relaxing evening. We never waited more than about ten minutes after we checked in to be assigned a table and every night we were at one of the angled four top ones. This was good placement as it allowed Max to have space underneath. Every night, J had ordered the same thing—two shrimp cocktails and the steak. He’s a simple man. He did add another appetizer here and there but those were his standbys. Tonight, Chicken Parmesan was on the menu and I convinced him to try it instead. I’ve made it at home but it’s not a frequent dish. I was quite surprised when they came out and didn’t have any pasta or sauce. Just a pounded and breaded chicken breast with a piece of cheese on top. Huh? It was good but not what we expected. C on the other hand got the barramundi which he said was excellent. I think this was the same night I tried the fried green tomatoes. I would have loved more than one order of those! They were my favorite app of the week. Desserts were the only things that were hot or miss during the week. Crème brûlée was very good for all three of us. One night J and I got the WCMC and it was absolute soup. Not a hit for us. He stuck with ice cream after that. C and I Got the kids banana split one night and it was just right. I forget what I got the last night but C decided to try the WCMC and his was perfect. After dinner, there was a 7:30 PG show with Sean Finnerty. If you ever have a chance to see him, GO! He’s a very funny guy! We laughed a lot and I got a Whimsy Scarlet. Good thing I remembered as it’s my favorite drink and I hadn’t had one yet! After comedy, we finished off the night with karaoke. All week we had been hoping to hear this one guy sing again. We had dubbed him Usher’s understudy as the first night he did an usher song and was beyond incredible and J had commented that the guy could be Usher’s understudy. We did figure audiences would be pretty irritated if they paid for Usher and got this other guy but he was seriously that good! Sadly, we found out from some gals we had chatted with throughout the week that he sang while we were at comedy. Oh well! Each of the boys sang again and we hung out and cheered others on. We decided to call it a pretty early night as we needed to finish packing and we planned to get off ASAP in the morning. We had received our group 2 luggage tags and a letter telling us to meet in the mid ship dining room at 8:15. So we got things packed up and two bags set outside before going off to sleep. If you have been wondering or keeping track, at this point, Max had not gone potty since the evening before at about 7:00. By the time we went to bed, he was going (or not!) on 28 hours. Yikes! He has NEVER disobeyed a command but by the afternoon of this last day, he just refused to make eye contact with C when he gave him the potty command. Apparently he felt very strongly about those pellet things! He was still perfectly behaved otherwise and had been continuing to do his tasks, but potty was not happening. I had a super absorbent microfiber beach towel so we put that in his crate for the night just in case and kept a ziploc bag in a backpack in case we needed to rinse it and take it off wet in the morning. I will try to get our last day in tomorrow but we have extended family Christmas so it might not happen until Sunday. We stayed one more night in Miami due to flight prices and other things so I’ll let you know how that turned out as well as this crazy dog and his shenanigans.

So, our sea day began with sea day brunch for C and myself. Jacob wanted pizza so off he went. We were seated pretty quickly but we were right next to a window and C wasn’t feeling it. Or rather, he was feeling it too much. The waves out of his peripheral vision was making him a bit motion sick so we asked to be moved. All we said was not right next to a window but they must have decided we didn’t want to see the ocean at all. We had quite a wait and then figured out why. We were seated by ourselves at a 6 top at the front of the dining room facing away from the windows completely. They were certainly making sure the view wasn’t a problem. While waiting to be seated the second time, we had the most persistent crew/dog interaction of the whole cruise. We had seen this hostess before and she had tried to talk to Max and C asked her not to. Twice. This morning, we were stuck there. We knew telling her again wouldn’t help. Max will ignore someone for a good long time but she was quite intrusive. Finally, I told her that he was working and she needed to stop distracting him and moved myself between her and the dog. She acted offended but honestly, we didn’t care. our service at brunch was fantastic. We mentioned the assistant waiter in our post cruise survey. He was fun and very quick. I got my platinum drink—yay! We ordered pretty standard breakfast fare and it was all served exactly right and at a good temp. MDR service and food on this whole cruise was very good. After we finished, we set off to find Jacob. He was….you guessed it at the aft pool. We all enjoyed the sunshine for awhile and then went our separate ways. C was trying again to get Max to use the box, (he tried several times each day) I decided to get my $25 free play in the casino and try my luck and j decided to see if there was anything fun in the arcade. Eventually we all ended up in the casino. Since J hadn’t had any extra drinks all week and C had a few each day, he asked if he could charge a couple of the cash bundle claw games to the room. So, he gave that a shot. By no huge surprise, he didn’t even come close. I discovered that C had never played a slot machine. For their 18th birthdays, the other two had chosen an overnight at a local casino but he wasn’t in a good place healthwise at that time so he had chosen a gift. So he and I sat down to play some slots. I was disappointed that none of the machines I like are on Conquest. we found some random machines and he got tired of losing his money fairly quickly. 😂 I lost about half of my $25 and decided to switch to video poker. Both boys decided to go take a nap. I got my free money cycled through and added an extra $15.

I had commented that we probably could have gotten her to go lower but he decided that even if it was expensive that paying too much for something in Mexico was part of the tourist experience. He’s funny.

Good to know. I knew the MDR was fine. Don’t have experience with specialty.

This was the Pictionary-like game. I ne of the ladies I met took pics for me when it was my turn to draw.

Boys on formal night and Max and C on the balcony

This was the funny tiki bar and then our cabin with the rearranged beds.

In our experience, Carnival is better with special needs than any other cruise line. I’m sure they will allow your son his chicken nuggets. A quiet word with the host should take care of it.

lol. Yeah, I’m not a picky person but we were on a back to back, the previous having been an 8 day. The service was literally the worst I have ever had in ANY restaurant. Dinner was well over two hours with lots of time just sitting there waiting. On the first night of our second cruise, we tried again because I had really liked the chicken parm the first week. It took over 20 minutes for our order to be taken. After we finished our appetizers, our plates sat in front of us for 25 min. Yeah, I started timing it. I really wanted more water. I asked three different people. One said, “I don’t do that” the others said they’d get it. Never got any water. Finally got our mains, sat for awhile hoping someone would come take our plates. Gave up and left and went to Lido for the rest of that cruise. We really didn’t want to waste three hours every evening waiting for food.

That is my favorite class actually. Love the fifth floor layout where you can get to just about all the fun places I like to go. The placement of Alchemy not far from the comedy club is one of my favorite aspects. Easy to stop for a drink on my way to see a comedian. I’ve been on Glory once, Freedom three times and Conquest twice, most recently Conquest earlier this month. I like the size of the ships too. And I love the adults only pool in the back of the ships. We were quite pleased with the condition and crew on Conquest. MDR service was perfectly paced, bars were well staffed with fun and cheerful bartenders, and pizza was quite fast. It was very clean and our balcony was in good condition with no rust or bare spots.

We have eaten in Lido for almost an entire six night cruise when the MDR was beyond awful. Many entrees like brisket, pork chops, enchiladas, carbonara, were also at the buffet.

On Conquest in early Dec I made the same assumption. I was bummed. I hate Fanny packs. I was quite surprised and pleased to figure out it was a toiletry bag! I like it actually. It’s a good size.

Gracious! Starting a review right before the holidays was not a good plan. I’m not being very consistent! I realized that I had actually gone to the late night comedy in the theater with both comedians and not Love and Marriage. That was the next night. The comedians actually reused quite a bit of their material which I thought was odd but oh well. This is now Weds and day 3 of the cruise. We would be arriving in Cozumel at about 12:00. The night before, we had gotten a letter in our mailbox to meet in the theater at 11:45 for priority disembarking. Being newly Platinum, I didn’t realize that was a thing. I thought that was only for tender ports. But C and I planned to be there so we could get Max off ASAP. Up to this point, we hadn’t been notified about any requirements for taking him off the ship, but since they had about 82 copies of his medical records we thought that must be all they needed. We were getting ready to leave the cabin at about 10:30 when the phone rang. It was guest services telling us that we would need to present Max to the Mexican authorities in order to take him off. They were not ready yet, it would be in about an hour or so. I told her we were leaving for breakfast and she said to just stop by guest services. So, C and I headed up to Lido. J had decided to try out the port day breakfast as he had woken up earlier. He got pancakes and bacon and said the pancakes were really good. Lido was PACKED!! It took forever to get through the lines and find a table. Right about as we finished eating, there was an announcement for Julie W… to come to guest services. So, C and I headed down while J went to get a Pepsi and sit by the pool with his book. Now, our original plans for this trip didn’t really involve getting off of the ship. The boys were for sure staying on. The goal of the whole idea was simply relaxing and getting both of them some sunshine. Both struggle with seasonal affective disorder so the fall in MN is really rough. I was intending to book an excursion in Cozumel once on board. I was debating between the one where you visit a church and local orphanage or the Fury Catamaran. I wanted to wait until I was onboard to see if J changed his mind about doing something. I knew C wouldn’t want to. BUT since Max was refusing to potty in his box, C HAD to get off the ship. I am SO thankful that the folks on the “cruising with a service dog” thread over on the disability board advised me to be sure we had all the paperwork needed for Mexico just in case. With all the potty stuff going on, I decided to just stay on the ship with the boys. We headed down to guest services (once again very thankful for that priority line!) and the young woman there took us to the library. We waited outside the library for a LONG time. There were no officials inside. Soon another couple arrived and they waited there too. They had their luggage with them. Sad. Maybe an emergency at home. Eventually, several folks arrived and got set up at different spots in the library. The couple was taken in and it they had to have their passports checked etc. I bet they were glad they had passports! Then our gal came out and brought us in. We went over to a guy in what looked like a police uniform. Guessing border patrol. He looked over Max’s paperwork which I was carrying in my bag wherever we went. 😂 He then looked over Max, checked all along his torso and then tried to look at his teeth. Max knows that people aren’t supposed to touch him while he is in his vest so the looks he was giving C were quite hilarious. Even the agent commented that the dog was thinking “who is this guy.” When it got to the teeth, Max was very confused. C wasn’t sure what to do as he didn’t want to interfere. Eventually he gave the command “open” and Max opened his mouth right up. The agent cracked up and told Max he was a good boy and was good to go. We double checked to be sure he could now reboard and get off again with no problem. He said we were fine but to be aware of the dogs who were checking bags as the handlers would probably have different instructions for us. C and I headed off the ship. I knew there was grass over by the taxi stand, so that’s where we headed. Job taken care of, we decided to do some shopping. C wanted sunglasses, I wanted a couple of cans of Coke and we thought we’d see whatever else we came across. Found a place with sunglasses and C was looking at some. That of course brings the salespeople. He found some he liked but there wasn’t a price on them. He asked the lady and she said $50. He looked at me, I said, “ I don’t know, dude. That’s kind of pricey.” He agreed. Now, we had no intention of haggling. It didn’t even occur to us. But then the lady asked how he was going to pay. He told her he’d be using his credit card. She did some fancy maneuvering with her calculator and came up with $40 and no sales tax. He decided that sounded good. After his purchase, she said, “you buy something, you get tequila.” Poured him a shot in the ONE glass behind the counter, handed it to him and said, “drink.” So, he did. 😂😂 As we walked away he commented that he really hoped the alcohol content killed off all the other germs. We wandered a little longer. Found some tacky salt and pepper shakers for my oldest who collects them. Forgot to look for a tshirt for my husband, got a couple of Cokes and headed back. We were able to avoid the port dogs as they weren’t having people walk past them, they were just wandering the crowd. Got back on board, joined Jacob for lunch. They went off to do I don’t know what and I played some trivia and other games etc. I had fun. Didn’t win anything but met a couple of fun ladies—a mom and daughter sailing together. ONe of the games we did was sort of like Pictionary. Except you had to hold the white board over your head and draw the item the crew member told you to make. It was silly but she wasn’t super creative in her ideas so it was mainly animals. Lol. There were only about six of us playing. Oh! I did win that one. I forgot. The first person to get three right won. It’s a good thing there weren’t all that many people playing because she was keeping score in her head! I got a medallion. I’m getting quite the collection of those! In the morning, we had asked the cabin steward to change the third bed to the upper Pullman. He had done that so I decided I needed a nap. It was amazing to lay on a real mattress! After my rest, we went to dinner. ( While I was resting, C got off and let Max have another potty break. We were in port until 7:00.) This was the first night we sat on the left side of the MDR and we were surprised how much more cheerful all the wait staff was over there. After dinner, we did a combo of karaoke, comedy and this was the night I went to Love and marriage. I have to say, there were a lot of talented singers in karaoke and both the comedians were great. Since those are two of our favorite evening activities, this worked out really well. Next post is the sea day and I’ll see what pictures I have to post.