Miracle to Hawaii 9/18/14 to 10/4/14 with pics

[Gold Mine Gal]

Thank you! :)

We are cruisin' October 31st with 16 of the wonderful friends we met on our Hawaiian cruise. Looking forward to making a lot of new memories.

Hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did.

 

Juli

 

Hi Juli, wish The Captain and I were going with you, but will be busy moving into our new home by that time. Keep us in mind for the next one!! Sorry haven't written...busy! Will drop a line.

Rae:D

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Hi Juli, wish The Captain and I were going with you, but will be busy moving into our new home by that time. Keep us in mind for the next one!! Sorry haven't written...busy! Will drop a line.

Rae:D

 

We wish you were too my dear friend! We will drink some Captain in your honor! :D

I was glancing through my review this morning reliving our fun times & I came to the pic of 'the' Captain looking so sharp in his uniform & just then Lynn text me asking about the Captain's reception on our Glory October cruise & said we need our Captain Lee along! :)

After our Glory Journey October 31st cruise we are booked on the Glory Journey January 23rd. Join us!!!

Give 'the' Captain hugs for us! Love you both!!!

Juli

[NOSaints1]

Looking at this one or RC Radiance of the Seas, one thing with RC is you can book and pay in CDN dollars which is a plus for us, where as Carnival you can't.

[Preacherman46]

J.R. & I booked the Behind the Fun Ultimate Tour as soon as we boarded the ship in Vancouver. It was $95 per person. I had always wanted to do it but J.R. was not as excited about it as I was.

 

We booked it for our 1st sea day back. We had a time change the night before so we lost an hour & it was the only night I went to bed earlier than J.R. He stayed out having drinks with the guys & went to the late night comedy shows so the next morning he was sawing logs when I tried to wake him. :(

 

So I called Lynn & woke her up & 15 minutes later we met the group (actually Lynn beat me there) at the Joker Card Room at 8:45AM.

They had coffee, juice & pastries for us but Lynn & I were running late & nobody seemed to be eating when we came in so we just sat down & a couple minutes later Joel, our Behind the Fun Tour guide took us outside to get checked by security.

 

You cannot bring a camera or cell phone on the tour & Joel took up a few phones & held them until the tour was over. You also have to wear closed toed shoes.

 

Joel gave us a Behind the Fun all- access lanyard to wear during the tour.

 

The tour was about 3 hours & we really enjoyed it. Joel was very personable & made it interesting. There are quite a few stairs to go up & down on the Behind the Fun Tour so it would be challenging for someone with difficulties walking.

 

We got to see backstage of the Phantom Theatre & ask the dance captain questions, tour the Main Galley & have a group photo taken with the chef, visit the engine control room & speak to the engineers, the crew galley & lounge (luckily for Lynn & I they provided cookies & juice in the crew lounge since we skipped breakfast), the storage areas for food & beverages, the recycling area, the laundry areas, the crew training area, and the large service gangway area midship where the forklifts and baggage carts are stored. As I said before I did not take notes on our cruise so I might be missing a few places we visited.

 

I think I was actually most impressed with the laundry. Watching those machines fold all the towels & sheets was fascinating! The recycling on Carnival ships is amazing too. Our trash has to be hand sorted & Carnival goes above & beyond what they are required to do to protect the environment.

 

Our last stop was the tour of the Bridge. The view from there is spectacular! Captain Vito Giacalone met with us & answered questions & posed for a pic with us. He is very witty, charming & approachable. We saw him out & about mingling with the passengers more on our cruise than any Captain we have ever cruised with.

 

We concluded our tour in the Steakhouse where we were greeted with champagne & orange juice. Nothing like having mimosas before Lynn & I had even had breakfast! :eek:

 

We completed a brief survey & handed in our all access passes but we got to keep our lanyards, which say Behind the Fun on them. We also each got a ship fact-sheet, a Behind the Fun embroidered cap & a sling backpack both of which say Honorary Team Member, a swan carved out of soap & a rubber bracelet.

 

Later that night Joel dropped off the group photos with the Captain & the Chef at our cabin & we also received a thank you dessert tray of goodies.

 

Lynn & I really enjoyed the tour & it is incredible to see the enormous amount of effort it takes behind the scenes to make our cruise the best cruise possible!

 

 

 

 

We plan to do the ship tour as well on the Dream. Wonder if we will receive all of the extras too?