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Nine Days of DREAMin' 12/3-12 WOOOHOO!!!

floatingaway2525

By floatingaway2525,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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Wow, we are only back a week from our Dream and it’s already like, when do we sail again???

This was a special sail on so many levels, here’s a few:

My first Platinum cruise, yeah baby!

Reunion for me and nine of my CC family, our third cruise together since meeting in October 2008, plus a bunch of land get-togethers…through good times and bad, we are truly family. On this trip is Bonnie (gaylensgigi) and DH Steve, Bonnie’s sister Elizabeth (CV09), Smoofie (Smoofdaddy) and his Mom Linda, Vickie (lilmatcat) and her sister Cairne, Damian Brell, who was playing for this sail in the Dream piano bar, and my BFF roomie, Jeffie (Jessemon).

We were on the inaugural Dream sail out of Port Canaveral, and it was a nine day sail, WOOOHOO!!! It was also John Heald’s blogger cruise, so we had a BUNCH of old CC friends and new ones to make!!

It don’t get better than this!

We met the day before sailing on 12/2 at the Doubletree Oceanfront in Cocoa Beach. We had stayed here in May when we sailed on the Glory and it has become a home base for us in PC. Some drove down and some flew in, but we all gathered throughout the day, anxious to get back together and start the party!

We wanted to get over to the Radisson for the pre-cruise meet and greet but some of our gang were delayed from the airport and by the time we were all together we ummmm, decided we better stay put since the earlier arrivals were already at the party…

The Doubletree has a great bar and restaurant on site, and we had dinner there, then we all gathered in my room for our traditional balcony party and the first day of our ten day Christmas celebration. Much silliness ensued; the best of times…can’t post too many of these pics, heeeheeeee….but here are a few of us....

 

Cool Steve and Mama Linda

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Damian, Vickie, and Bonnie

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Jeffie

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Smoofie

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And much later, an impromptu sing along….

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We did sleep at some point, and then it was time to get up and goooooo, sailaway day!!!! A quick peek off the balcony confirmed that, although the sky was overcast, the predicted rainy weather had not materialized. We had faith that sailaway would be just fine!!!

 

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FINALLY, it's oiur turn, WOOOOOHOOO, and we were on our way to Port!!!

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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We used Cocoa Beach Shuttle to take us over, as we did before. They are reliable, reasonable, and always arrive with a smile. That ride to port is always, always, one of my favorite parts…I am waiting for that first peek….waiting, waiting,waiting and trying not to bounce off my seat…

 

And there it is!!! Nothing beats that first sweet sighting!!!

 

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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I know we read this in many reviews, but I will also add my vote for PC as one of the best for embarkation…even before I was Platinum…and today was no different! Jeffie and I were through the counter, past many smiling faces and welcome backs, and on our way to step on to Our Dream, home for nine sweet days…

 

Wow, the Atrium…first impression was of a luminous space with shimmering gold glowlights everywhere, it was stunning. I could not wait to explore this ship!!! I didn’t stop for Atrium pics now, more on that later….

 

Off we went to our cabin to drop off stuff…now down our hallway on Deck 6 aft and there we were!! Here was a curious sign on our cabin 6464 door….

 

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This was also our first glimpse of a ship that is b-i-g....the halls were amazing to look off into, like a fun house of mirrors or something...

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And a peek further down the hall revealed a trail of folks so I went to investigate, and found a group of travel agents touring…I just joined the trail and had a lovely peek at the aft wrap cabin 6492…what a fun start!! Nobody minded, except they had to get off and I didn't....and one of those folks was Jeffie's TA from Tampa, who left her card in our cabin when she saw his name on our Platinum welcome letters!!!

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Lilmatcat

Lilmatcat

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Ditto over here! I love reading reviews -- especially of the cruises I'm on -- because they remind me of so many of the fun times that are a little "fuzzy" shall we say. :) :p :D

 

Me wuvs my cruisin' family!!! They are the bestest evah!!!!!!

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*Mach*

*Mach*

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I know we read this in many reviews, but I will also add my vote for PC as one of the best for embarkation…even before I was Platinum…and today was no different! Jeffie and I were through the counter, past many smiling faces and welcome backs, and on our way to step on to Our Dream, home for nine sweet days…

 

Wow, the Atrium…first impression was of a luminous space with shimmering gold glowlights everywhere, it was stunning. I could not wait to explore this ship!!! I didn’t stop for Atrium pics now, more on that later….

 

Off we went to our cabin to drop off stuff…now down our hallway on Deck 6 aft and there we were!! Here was a curious sign on our cabin 6464 door….

 

IMG_1551.jpg

 

This was also our first glimpse of a ship that is b-i-g....the halls were amazing to look off into, like a fun house of mirrors or something...

IMG_1552.jpg

 

And a peek further down the hall revealed a trail of folks so I went to investigate, and found a group of travel agents touring…I just joined the trail and had a lovely peek at the aft wrap cabin 6492…what a fun start!! Nobody minded, except they had to get off and I didn't....and one of those folks was Jeffie's TA from Tampa, who left her card in our cabin when she saw his name on our Platinum welcome letters!!!

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And so?? What was the show staff sign all about?

 

Love the cabin, Floatie!!

 

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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And so?? What was the show staff sign all about?

 

Love the cabin, Floatie!!

 

 

Yeah, they had a bunch of TA's come on board before sailing for tours, and they pick cabins for showing. Ours was one of them, standard 8A balcony...and the next one down the hall was this aft wrap. We had some folks coming into our cabin after we got there to see it, heeeheeeeee....until we headed to Lido, when I removed the sign:D

It wasn't even noon yet at this point Mach, it was a hoot!!!:cool:

So then I had to get up to Lido and see it, this was like a rush of "where do I go first"!!! I had to keep reminding myself I had nine glorious days to explore!!!:)

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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Ditto over here! I love reading reviews -- especially of the cruises I'm on -- because they remind me of so many of the fun times that are a little "fuzzy" shall we say. :) :p :D

 

Me wuvs my cruisin' family!!! They are the bestest evah!!!!!!

 

HAHAHA!!! Well Vickie, I haven't hit any "fuzzy" parts yet, but ya know I had 'em:eek::rolleyes: so be ready to chime in when I get there!!:p

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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Ok it was time to get to Lido, pronto!! You know, we wait so long to get there on sailaway day, and it is so familiar when you do, even on this brand new ship. It’s just an “ahhhh I’m home again” feeling for me.

 

There was a twist this time though, because again, the Lido was familiar but stunning, lovely color, and the height of two decks above Lido instead of one, topped off by those tremendous slides!!! I had to go off and climb up to decks 11 and 12 and see the view of Lido...

 

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Another fun addition was a Carnival guy going around entertaining with sleight of hand tricks, he comes up to me and says to make my hands into fists side by side, then he puts ashes on top of my right fist (!!!) and brushes them off. Then he has me turn over my hands and there is a spot of ashes on the palm of my left hand!! Way cool!!!

 

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I loved the big screen today too! They were playing a mix of music videos and sea scenes, perfect!!! I wasn’t so crazy about the sea of lounges on Lido deck because I missed my dance floor…but we conga lined through them at some point so it was all good!! No one on this sail had any trouble with lounges that I saw, there are a MILLION of em!!!

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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One of the new design features of Lido deck 10 is that, under the overhang part where deck 11 and 12 are above, they left an open space which brings so much more light and breeze to Lido, brilliant!!

 

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I went to take pics of the funnel, to add to my thousands of funnel pics lol…but this time was a surprise!!! WOW, what a job!!

 

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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We had some more mayhem on Lido while we all gathered again....silly is SO much fun!!!

 

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Smoof and Mama Linda arrived with Freddy YAY!!! Stowaway Freddy has become a rock star on our little adventures!!

 

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LOTS of joy and gratitude that we are able to be here and together!!!

 

 

This is "Big D" who took excellent care of us on Lido portside all week!!

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Time gets a little fuzzy around now:rolleyes:, but my pics tell me next up was the Safety Briefing....best and easiest ever!!

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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Time to report for Safety Briefing, and our muster station was on our Sign and Sail cards:cool: As I had read here, we no longer have to go and get life jackets, and we headed down to the Scarlett DR to find the infamous maitre'd Ken in charge of the briefing:D Never had so much FUN at this before!!

 

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Easy peasy, we were done in no time.

 

 

Now, we had a snafu on our dining table arrangements and our group of 10 was split up....since we were right there, we headed over to see Ken for help...wow....Ken headed right over to his computer and click click click, we were all seated at a ten top in the center!! The warmest most gracious maitre'd ever, this was a sign of our experience the whole trip!! Ken rocks!!:D

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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We headed from the DR (Deck 3 Aft) up to Deck 5 and the Caliente Disco for the CC Meet and Greet...I LOVE sailing with so many CC peeps, what a blast!! Thanks to all those on our roll call who worked to make it special, especially to Tom, Linda, Penny, Peggy, and I know I forgot some!!

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Ruth and Penny (I LOVE my wristband!!)

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Our own Linda (LHP) Queen of Karaoke and Legends Star!!! It was fabulous to sail with you and David again!!

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Our happy gang...

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My besties...

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