Knights on the Beach

13 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Hey Gang!  At this point I am going to pause because it's time for beer and baseball! I'll be back tomorrow evening to continue with our adventure. Have a GREAT Sunday everyone!! 

Great plan Jeff, I hope you and Patti have a wonderful day!

@Jamman54 you inspired us to book Venezia today! I just started reading your review and we watched a few videos and we're intrigued. We booked a balcony on Lido since our favorite location was available. 😊

19 minutes ago, Mommapadraig said:

yes this is in the Laquinta Inn on North Atlantic in Cocoa Beach.

I feel like there must be some secret hidden industry here making hotel astronauts. 😂

Wow! Spectacular pictures! While Patti was being super productive, we were not.🤦‍♀️ We went full circle, starting at the Ocean Plaza Bar in the morning for coffee (and duck hiding) and to say hi to Jeff of course. After breakfast, we hit the walking track for several laps hiding ducks here and there, then took advantage of the quiet(er) ship while people were at Half Moon Cay and jumped in a hot tub by the Tides pool. Then we just pretty much ate and drank the day away, making Ocean Plaza Bar our last stop of the night.

The Diamond lunch was amazing! Easily the best meal of the week and we enjoyed the experience and most of all, the company. Jeff & Patti were so sweet to invite us and we truly appreciated it.

At the lunch, I was drinking champagne with Peach Schnapps but Mark was drinking margaritas, so we spent the rest of the afternoon at Blue Iguana Tequila Bar. 🤣 

Dinner was pizza & buffet and we caught the sunset on our way to Ocean Plaza Bar where Setyo got special permission to add Christine's Fave (from the Golden Jubilee Bar on Celebration) to the menu for us. We had quite a few of those over the course of the next two weeks. 🙂

Embarkation day was only the first of many relaxing, lazy days and we turned in early that night. When we got back to the room, we found this letter in our mailbox. Dude, we totally went to muster - it was the first thing we did even before getting a drink and we never got cut off so . . . . 🤷‍♀️

We're just platinum so we walked on the ship about 10 minutes after Jeff & Patti. We headed straight to muster since it was in Reflections dining room right next to the atrium - couldn't have planned that any better. By 10:48 we were sitting across the atrium bar from Jeff & Patti, happy to have found seats and happy to be back on a ship. We each had a Funship (I can't remember when the last time was I'd had one of those) followed by a Miami Vice each.

After we grabbed a couple Guy's burgers for lunch, we headed to our room (10295 - the first inside room on Lido) and unpacked. More than once we'd kicked ourselves for not booking a balcony for these two weeks but this room was in the perfect location so we got over it. 🙂

Next up was Red Frog Pub where we enjoyed talking with Jeff & Patti until sail away time. At that point we headed to the Tides Bar on deck 10 aft and eventually had pizza and deli for dinner later on. Precious the deli lady (never did find out her name) was barking at everyone but it didn't take as long as I thought it would to get our orders filled. I had the grilled ham & cheese which was actually pretty good. Mark ordered a cheese steak - which as it turned out didn't have any cheese on it and it really didn't even have much steak on it either. 🤷‍♀️

I'll jump in here with a few thoughts and pictures from embarkation day. We live 3.5 miles from terminal 6 and we prebooked a taxi ($20) to pick us up at 9:00 am. We had a 10:00 - 10:30 arrival time but we've seen those traffic backups for the last few months. It was an entertaining ride and the driver got a little feisty when someone cut her off but we arrived at 9:08, dropped our bags with the porter and were first in the priority line.

3 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

After checking out that cabin we decided that it's not for us. Don't like the location of the television. 

I thought the same when I saw the picture.

4 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

 

 

Bye bye home - see you in two weeks! 

1 hour ago, ober134 said:

Reporting for duty to a Jamman watch party. We've been looking at Havana cabins on Vista class but haven't pulled the plug yet. I hope this review pushes us over the edge.

It totally should and this is coming from someone who did NOT have Havana on Vista the last two weeks and wished we did.

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

The Carnival Freedom, (Ol’ Stubby II), departs Port Canaveral…..

 

 

To be continued…..

Speaking of ol' Stubby, we saw her go out today. We were out on the balcony admiring the gorgeous blue water, so pretty this afternoon! And then I went back inside and took a nap! 🤦‍♀️

51 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

I think every hotel in Port Canaveral has one of those. 😁

There's definitely one at the Radisson. 🧑‍🚀

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

These are the stairs up to the rooftop bar…..

 

 

We sit upstairs when we go to Ryan's - we were there on St. Patrick's Day!  🍀

3 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Hey Beth! It was a pleasure meeting you and Mark aboard the Vista, and sharing a "few" cocktails over the course of two weeks. As I mentioned to you on board, don't hesitate to share your thoughts, experiences, and pictures as the review progresses. We love to see things from a different perspective. 😃

We truly enjoyed spending time with you and Patti! My pictures won't hold a candle to Patti's but I'll pop in from time to time and share some as well. Looking forward to reliving our 2 weeks! 🙂

Yay, I made it here before you got on the ship!!! 🤣 I hope I can keep up, this week is killing me. 🤦‍♀️

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

There will be more coming, this was only random thoughts to pass the time. Oh, another change that I saw- no more Cheers stickers on Sail and Sign cards.

On our last several cruises, it was random. In December, they put a sticker on my card but not my husband's. Last week, I heard a bartender tell someone they were out of the stickers.

@Jamman54 so sorry we didn't get to say goodbye! We had a great time with you two and enjoyed getting to know you and Patti. Safe travels home!

Shoot, I made it a point to look for ornaments in port, but forgot to buy one on the ship.🤦‍♀️

9 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Couldn’t be remember if this ship still had the bar or it. It does. Last time I was on vista they didn’t let people sit there. May have been a Covid thing. It was a few months after the restart.

 

 

 

People were sitting at that bar last night on Vista.

9 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Next stop skybox sports bar.

 

They have one TV on the draft but the audio is some Caribbean music. And no bartender 

 

 

 

 

 

On Vista this bar doubles as the meat locker. We tried to watch the draft there Thursday night but it was already packed an hour prior. We ended up in Red Frog Pub. No sound there either but did have bartenders.

8 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

On the 2nd leg of our B2B,  I got flagged after one drink. Patti and our friends Beth and Mark got their 2nd drinks no problem. We normally get the muster out of the way no problem,  but I was surprised that I got  flagged. I truly believe that you should not get any drinks until you go to muster! 😎

Mark and I tried to go to muster first (since it was in Reflections right next to the atrium bar) but our new cards wouldn't scan.😂

13 hours ago, Sgwscruiser said:

Just request what you want.  The bartenders can not read your minds

Thanks for your very helpful response but that wasn't my question.

10:00 -10:30 is the earliest time slot. Just depends on how many select that one before your check in date is available. On our FB group for this week and last, a number of people (who checked in 14 days prior) were able to get that or 10:30 - 11:00.

Stephanie, we found out today Setyo will be on Vista until June and then moving over to Mardi Gras in late August. We're super happy about that since we're on MG again in September. 

On 4/23/2024 at 9:38 AM, mamiamjo said:

Can't you specify which Tequila you'd like?

On 4/23/2024 at 1:24 PM, Frank12 said:

Yes you can and i always do!

Yes, definitely. I just made the wrong assumption that it was always made with Patron. And it wasn't on the menu so I was going off my memory of when I got it on Celebration at the Pig & Anchor Bar. They have fresh lime juice at Blue Iguana but not all the bartenders there having been using it this week. So we just order from the one who does. 😊

We had one made with 1800 Reposado today. As soon as that bartender walked away, we dumped it out and ordered from the bartender who makes it with Patron.

We haven't been able to get anywhere near Alchemy - our timing has been terrible.