perfect match

Great review Kim! I have enjoyed seeing the Pride through your eyes.

 

The Dr Seuss breakfast sounds like Carnival has been taking lessons from Disney. Disney does things like that so very well.

 

I agree with the poster about getting Sakari into swim lessons/swim team. I swam competitively from age 5 through college, and was lifeguarding,teaching and coaching as soon as I was able to be certified to do so. When I look at Sakari in the water, I see so much of me when I was her age. I'm sure she would love it.

 

We are headed out on a cruise of our own in a few hours, our first on Royal Caribbean. Hopefully, we will love it as much as our previous oneson Disney and Princess. I'm sure we will have a great time. I'll be back at some point after we get home to finish your review. Right now I think I'd better go try and get some sleep if I can. I'm too excited to sleep!

RCL just called for my boarding on the Indy this saturday. The phone message stated 3:30. We have to be out of the hotel down the way by noon. Can we show up earlier without persecution? I have two young daughters and trying to keep them contained for over three hours before their first cruise wont be an easy task. I'm assuming they want to control the flow but we don't have anywhere else to go. Will it be a problem?

 

We got the same message. We plan to ignore it. I guess we will be beaten with sticks. :D :eek: If you see 2 people with stick marks all over them, that will be us! :D Seriously, I can't wait to be on board!

Enjoy your last day on the Quantum, Chris. You've done an awesome job with this live review. :D

Great update! I enjoyed seeing a bit more of the Pride, this time with you and your family in the pictures. Sakari was really cute in her Thing 1 outfit. I also enjoyed hearing about your day in Grand Turk. We did not spend any time on the beach or in the pool when we were there. I think we may have to plan some time on the beach in Grand Turk on a future visit. I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your cruise.

Kim, I knew this report was coming up, so I was looking for it. Couldn't figure out why I couldn't find it. :confused:

 

So earlier this evening I had a huge DUH! moment. I was looking for your review of the CARNIVAL Pride on the NCL board! DUH! :p

 

I am all caught up now. Your pictures of the Pride are beautiful, as usual. I can't wait to see what you spent the rest of the cruise doing. You and your family always seem to choose excursions I would like to do. I will be disappearing in a few days, though. I have a cruise of my own to go on, but I have you bookmarked so I will be able to find you and catch up again once we get home.

Beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing!

Chris, I think that by doing this awesome review you've been a bad influence on me! :eek:

 

You see, I had absolutely no plans to try to sail on one of the Quantum class ships. Now I'm trying to figure out where I can fit a Quantum class ship sailing into our schedule! :D

 

That is one beautiful ship you are sailing on! I sure wish RCI was planning to base a Quantum class ship somewhere in Florida. I mean, a girl can dream, can't she?

Chris, your review has been getting me through the final few days until our cruise on Indy. Like you, we will be stopping in St Kitts and touring with Thenford Grey. St Kitts looks really beautiful! I am looking forward to our stop there. :D

I think I'd cruise on Quantum just so I could go on Northstar!

 

I also think it would take a longer cruise as the one you are currently doing to even come close to being able to do everything I'd want to do! You are doing an amazing job of fitting so many things into your schedule, plus you're postilg a live reprot for those of us at home. All I can say is "Thank you very much!" :D

I hqve enjoyed your reviews in the past, so I am looking forward to this one. You're off to a great start so far. :D

 

I'm off now to check out your blog. :cool:

Thanks again, Ken, for the great review! We board Indy in 6 days! I am even more excited than I already was after reading your review! :D

 

Nancy

I loved seeing your beach day on St Maarten. We were supposed to end our day at Holland House on our last visit there, but time does fly when you're having fun so we never made it there. Looks beautiful. We will have to check it out on another trip. Thanks again for your live review.

Victoria, your pictures of Labadee are beautiful! I can't wait to get there! I do understand now after seeing your pictures of Adrenaline Beach why it is not a good idea to swim there. Those rocks just below the waterline could cause some significant damage! I think I will find a different beach to swim on.

I can't believe I am just finding this review today! You are doing an awesome job, Chris, as usual! :D

DH and I did make a day trip to Port Canaveral to see Quantum on one of her port stops there. She really is a beautiful ship. I am glad you are doing this review so I get to see her from the inside through your eyes! :cool:

I will be following along for the rest of your sailing. Thank you for sharing your cruise with all of us reading along with you from our homes.

I am actually sitting here working on getting the rest of the pictures downloaded from the tablet I transferred all of my pics from my camera SD card to while on vacation...back to a SD disc and then onto my computer.

 

I will be doing my folders to separate the days and get everything in order tonight. Then start picking the pics that I want to share and getting them hosted online and ready.

 

Since today is tax day :mad: I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get done. Then Friday is Sakari's birthday, so I'm planning for that as well.

 

Hmmm, I'm "guessing" maybe by next Monday fingers crossed. If it happens before that, it will be a miracle. :p

 

I figured you were back from your cruise by now, so I came looking! Maybe I will get to read the start of your review before we sail on Independence of the Seas, but if not I'll come find you after we get home.

 

Hope Sakari has a wonderful birthday! I'm sure she will. :D

Enjoying your review. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us. I will be back to read the rest. :D

Great review! Thank you!

 

Our turn on Indy is coming up soon! I can hardly wait! :D

In case you're having trouble adding your name to the doorsign, I've taken the liberty of creating an editable version where you can type your name and print right in Adobe Reader. You can also edit the font, style and size of the text so that you can personalize your sign!

 

http://www.awesomebounce.com/CCdoorsign.pdf

 

Let me know if you need any further assistance.

 

Jeff

 

Thanks, I am very tech challenged, but I got this to work!:D

All I can say is this thread is making me REALLY hungry! I want some dessert right now! :eek:

 

I can hardly wait until we are on board Indy to try some of these! :D

We will be boarding the Indy ourselves in just a few short weeks! I am excited to read your review. Already checked out your pictures on Flicker. Thanks for sharing them!

 

We understand about March Madness. We are a bit obsessed ourselves. :D

After replying to your post at 4:21AM, I realized what day it was. Now, I'm not at my sharpest at that hour, and my vision was pretty blurry from several hours browsing CC on my tablet. However, by the time I had shut down my tablet and stumbled off to bed, I had figured out it was a joke. The scary thing is that I have seen crazier plans than the one described in the article actually carried out! I'm just hoping that the powers that are in charge in St Maarten don't see that article and get any ideas!

 

Good joke! Definitely made me smile. :D

Thank you for the info, Gary. I have read many of your posts here and have always found your posts to be reliable, but this time I was hoping it was an April Fools Day joke!

 

After reading the article you referenced in your link, I am wishing I'd made a trip to Maho a priority on a previous visit to St Maarten. I wish they would postpone the start of construction by a month so I would get the chance to at least see Maho from a boat. I know a number of people on my roll call will be very disappointed. I am sure you'llnsee some of them here.

 

I do get why they're doing this. Being able to make safe plane takeoffs and landings is a really good idea.

I FINALLY made it back here to read this review! I got right to the Sun review, but then got a bit caught up in researching and planning my own upcoming cruise, our first on RCI. Like you, we enjoy trying new ships and cruise lines.

 

We visited Paradise Cove about 10 years ago. About the only similarity between our experience and yours was the slippery rocks that made it so hard to get into the water. In our case, we started out at low tide and it was really bad. Later in the day, once the tide had come in some it was a whole lot easier to get going. We had no megaphones, no artificial reef to swim around, it only cost us about $2-3/pp or so since we had our own snorkel gear, and the staff was much nicer than anyone you encountered. We also saw a LOT more marine life than you did. Not the best snorkeling I ever did, but srill plenty to see. Seems to me like they have been heading in the wrong direction since we were there.

 

Sorry you had such bad luck with the weather. That does change a lot about your cruise experience. You and your family did handle it well as I figured you would. One of the things I have always liked about reading your reviews is the great attitude you have and your ability to enjoy what you actually get to do instead of complaining about what you didn't.

 

As I have been reading, I also checked your signature and I see a countdown for a Pride cruise in there before your Bermuda cruise. I guess I should start looking for a Pride review in a couple of weeks. :cool: It will be close to our Independence cruise though, so I may have to wait until after we get home to start reading. :D

Enjoying your review. :D

 

Thanks for sharing.

Sorry about that - I published the videos but there was an "unknown error" with them. I went back this morning and published them again - have a look now. I think they should be up and viewable.

 

You'll have a great time on the Indy!

 

Thanks! The videos worked great today. :D

 

I am sure we will have a great time on Indy. I can hardly wait until it is our turn.

 

I have made a note to pack our water shoes, or maybe even dive booties. Those unchin spines in the foot looked painful! I have seen and snorkeled over many an urchin in my day, but I have never stepped on one. After seeing that picture of the person's foot with the urchin spines, I sure don't want to step on one now! :eek:

 

I also want to thank you one more time for sharing your pictures and videos with us. I have enjoyed getting to know Indy a little bit better before we finally board her.