Jamman54

Thanks for following along once again! We look forward to that day!

Thanks so much for following along! We sure did dodge a bullet! We were very happy how it turned out in the end. Of course, if I had been paying attention.......

Thanks for following along and for your kind words. Looking forward to sharing some beers with you in the future!

Yes, but they are babies!

Here is our updated cruise review list. Unfortunately, we had to delete all of our reviews prior to 2017 because we changed photo hosting sites and now the pictures no longer show in the older reviews. We have also included a link to our cruise and vacation albums where you can see all the photos Patti took on every cruise: *** Carnival Pride Repo Journeys Cruise - 2/26/17 - Tampa to Baltimore *** Carnival Magic B2B / Carnival Elation - 10/7/17 - Western Caribbean x2 / Bahamas *** Carnival Paradise / Carnival Conquest - 4/14/18 - Western Caribbean / Eastern Caribbean *** Carnival Pride - 10/21/18 - Bermuda *** Carnival Inspiration / Carnival Splendor - 4/22/19 - Baja Mexico / Hawaii Journeys Cruise *** Carnival Sunrise B2B - 9/16/19 - Not Bermuda / Canada & New England *** Carnival Horizon – 8/21/2021 - Southern Caribbean *** Carnival Miracle / Carnival Panorama - 10/15/21 - Baja Mexico / Mexican Riviera *** Mardi Gras B2B - 4/23/2022 - Eastern / Western Caribbean *** Our Cruise and Vacation Albums. ***

Once we got settled we drove to a nearby Chili’s to have some dinner. These drinks tasted so good after a long day on the road….. I had some boneless wings and fries, while Patti had soup and a salad….. When we got back to the hotel we saw a beautiful rainbow….. Patti then went around the hotel checking out some of the venues. Here’s the pool….. This is the Fitness Center….. Here is the Laundry Room…. This is the Breakfast Room….. Afterwards, we were pretty tired so we crashed for the night. The next morning we were up at 7am. We showered, dressed, and then partook of the free hotel breakfast. After checking out, Patti wanted to check out the Cracker Barrel across the street. I dropped her off and went to gas up the car. I went back to pick her up and we were back on the road heading north on I-95 at 9am. We had an easy drive until we hit northern Virginia where we ran into some traffic. We made back to Somerset, New Jersey at 4:30pm, but before heading home we stopped at 20/20 Taphouse for dinner. Ryan came and joined us there. We finally pulled into our driveway at 6pm, unloaded the car, and unpacked, another two cruises completed. THE END.

After ten hours on the road it’s time to call it a day. We had reserved a room at the Country Inn & Suites in Wilson, North Carolina in advance….. We were given Room # 402….. Here’s the view out of our room window…… To be continued…..

Post Cruise (May 13th & 14th) - Heading Home!!! We were up at 3:30am, yes that’s right, 3:30am. We want to get out of Dodge as quickly as possible. If you’ve ever been on I-4 around Orlando during rush hour, you would understand. We showered, and then packed up the rest of our things, and loaded up the car. We checked out, cancelled the extra two days that we had booked just in case, and hit the road at 5am. A couple of hours later we were approaching Jacksonville. Not wanting to go through the city during the morning rush, we hopped on I-295 which circles around the city. We came to the Dames Point Bridge, which is the bridge you sail under if you sail from Jacksonville…… A little while later we stopped for breakfast at Patti’s favorite place in Kingsland, Georgia….. Around five hours later we come to this I-95 icon once again. I had read that they were going to tear this place down, but it’s still here and as tacky as ever…… To be continued…….

Later on, we drove over to the Bahama Breeze Island Grille for dinner….. We are ready for our first drinks of the day….. For our appetizers Patti had the spinach and artichoke dip, and I had the beef empanadas…… I then had the seafood platter, and Patti had the salmon…… It was a great last dinner in Orlando. Back at the room, we completed our packing and loaded up the car for the ride home. We want to get a quick start in the morning. To be continued……

Here are a couple more Icon Park views…. There’s no way in the world that you get me on that thing….. Patti hops on the I-Trolley and makes her way down International Drive. After several stops she makes it to Gator Golf. We’ve played mini golf there many times over the years….. After a couple more stops, Patti hops back on the I-Trolley and heads back to the hotel. To be continued…….

Patti continues her tour of Icon Park…… To be continued……

Patti continues her tour of Icon Park…… To be continued……

Post Cruise (May 12th) - All fixed, so our last day in Orlando! We were up at 7am to yet another beautiful day here in Orlando. We are on pins and needles waiting for the call from the repair shop. At 7:30am the call came. I had broken the left front axle. Oh boy, how long will it take, and how much would this cost us? He told me that the parts were already ordered, and that the car would be ready this morning! He told me that with my 10% AAA discount the total would come to $471 with tax. BIG, BIG sigh of relief. I was thinking that I had done a grand in damage at the least! So here is our plan. I will stay and wait for the call that the car is ready, and will call an Uber to take me over there. Patti is going to purchase a one day I-Trolley pass for $5. These trolleys, actually buses, run the length of International Drive, and you can hop off and hop on at any one of 38 stops. We decide to walk over to Denny’s for breakfast…… I order a western omelet and Patti orders pancakes and eggs. While we were eating, I get the call that the car is ready. Sweet! After we are done eating, I call for an Uber to pick me up here at Denny’s. Patti is going to begin her journey down International Drive. We’ll get back to her momentarily. The Uber is there within five minutes, and ten minutes later I am at the repair shop. The guys at the desk told me that a ten inch piece of the axle was missing. I guess that was the big clunk that I had heard before I finally pulled over. They told me that we were lucky that when the piece broke off, that it didn’t do any additional damage. I thanked them profusely for getting the car fixed so quickly, as we were driving back to New Jersey tomorrow morning. They assured me that there wouldn’t be any problems, and that I also had a 12 month warranty on the repair. So I want to give a huge shout out to Riker’s Automotive & Tire. If you are visiting in the area, and you need your car serviced, I highly recommend them! Riker's Automotive & Tires After I left Riker’s Automotive and Tire, I took the car for a test drive, and it was running perfectly. I stopped to fill up with gas for tomorrow’s trip, then went back to the hotel to hang out at the pool and work on pictures for the review. Now, let’s get back to Patti. Her first stop was going to be Icon Park, which is only a few blocks walk from Denny’s. She walks past Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf, which we played the other day…… She has arrived at Icon Park….. To be continued……

Thanks for the update. I'm sure we'll need to do this for our New England / Canada cruise on the Legend in September.

Yep, it's mini golf, not a pitch and putt. Putters only. You can check it out when you're there later this summer. 😊

The funny thing is I knew it was there, I just wasn't paying attention. 😖 Anyone want to venture a guess as to what the diagnosis is and how much it will cost to fix it? 😎

Yep, there she is!

Free lobster is served on cruises 6 days or longer.

Patti has met me at the Grill & Brew and orders a tall refreshing drink….. We order some snacks. We shared a bar pretzel and a flatbread pizza….. We had planned on staying longer, but we really needed to get the car checked out. While I was waiting for Patti, I found a location that I could take the car to and find out what was wrong. Here we are leaving CityWalk and walking back to the car….. We are in the car, and we are still hearing the clunking sound. Here we are leaving Universal Orlando…… We got on I-4 heading westbound, and just as I had gotten the car up to speed, we heard a huge clunk, and the car immediately started losing speed. I pulled over onto the shoulder and called AAA. The system told me that we would have over a two hour wait, but within minutes, the tow driver called me and told me he would be there in like twenty minutes. He got us hooked up and towed us to an AAA approved location called Riker’s Automotive & Tire. It was located just off of International Drive, out by Sea World. The people there were so nice. It was late so they wouldn’t get to it today, but they would get on it first thing in the morning. We called an Uber to take us back to the hotel. The first thing we did when we got back was to add another couple of days to our stay, since I didn’t believe that the car would be fixed by tomorrow. We didn’t want to take the chance that we would have to change hotels. We walked across the street and had dinner at Miller’s Ale House, and then we went back to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow is going to be a big day! To be continued…..

Patti’s picture walk continues…… To be continued……

Back on dry land, Patti continues her picture tour….. To be continued…..

Here are some more views of the grounds at the Portofino Bay Hotel….. Patti hops on a water taxi back to CityWalk….. To be continued…..

The water taxi heads over to the Portofino Bay Hotel….. Here are some views of the grounds at the Portofino Bay Hotel….. To be continued……

Patti is going to hop on a water taxi over to the Portofino Bay Hotel….. Here are some views from the water taxi dock….. Patti takes this shot of the Lone Palm Airport Bar where I am currently sitting….. This is the Grill & Brew where she will meet me later….. To be continued…….

Post Cruise (May 11th) - Universal’s CityWalk & Trouble in Paradise! We were up at 7am to another beautiful sunny day in central Florida. Today our plan is to head over to Universal’s CityWalk for the day. Once again we had breakfast at the Plaza Garden Restaurant before heading over. On the way out of the hotel parking lot, I hit a speed bump pretty hard. Everything seemed okay until I got near Universal, when we began to hear a clunking sound from underneath the car. I told Patti that we will park, and then check it out to see if we could see anything. Here we are pulling into Universal Orlando….. Here are the parking rates. Those with handicap placards, like us, still have to pay, but have a dedicated parking area close to the entrance…… Once parked, we checked as best we could under the car, and really couldn’t see anything. Nothing was leaking, and none of the idiot lights came on the dashboard. We’ll plan on getting it checked out later in the day. It’s a good idea to write down or take a picture of where you parked, just in case you forget later…… Here we are entering CityWalk….. Patti is ready to start her picture tour, and doesn’t need me slowing her down. Normally, I’ll hang out at the Grill & Brew, but it’s not open yet. The Lone Palm Airport Bar is open, so I’ll start the day there, and head over to the Grill & Brew later……. The Lone Palm Airport Bar is right across from Margaritaville, and any food ordered comes from there…… Patti begins her picture tour at VooDoo Doughnuts….. To be continued…..