lisakoivu Posted April 19, 2016 #451 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Yea, it was definitely a frustration for us. In order for it to work out right, we would have to pick up our daughter from the kids club around 9pm instead of 10pm, which limits our time to do non-kid related things. :( I know many say to just go to specialty restaurants, but I have an issue paying even more to go eat some place that I can already get all the free food that's included with the price I paid for my cruise. I just can't see paying extra unless it's a special occasion or the rest of my family is there with me and we all decide to go. :cool: The food situation is the number one reason hubby REFUSES to go on Carnival. Waiting in a ginormous line to eat a pizza at night... no way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennyh_1 Posted April 20, 2016 #452 Share Posted April 20, 2016 (edited) Loving your review! Edited April 20, 2016 by jennyh_1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennyh_1 Posted April 20, 2016 #453 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Can I ask what you did with your ship card, credit card, cash, etc when you were at the beach?! Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon319 Posted April 20, 2016 #454 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Governor's Beach is absolutely beautiful! I'm planning to snorkel at the wall and spend some time at Gibbs Caye, but we will have a bit of time after that. Do you think it's feasible to get a cab from Jack's Shack area to Governor's beach & then back to the port? I would so love to check that place out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare perfect match Posted April 20, 2016 #455 Share Posted April 20, 2016 (edited) You don't think a bunch of scrapes would hold Sakari down from swimming in the ocean do you? :D:p Of course not! She is way too much like me in the water! Nothing keeps us on dry land when we can swim! :D I am so glad you got all your pictures back! That would have been awful if you lost them! I sure wish we had the same impression of Grand Turk as you did. What we saw was poverty, accumulated trash, saddness, donkeys who looked like nothing but skin & bones, nothing like what your pictures showed.I am glad to see the island pictured in a better light. I am not sure when we will be back to Grand Turk, but I hope we see the much more positive light as you did. Governor's Beach looked beautiful! I didn't realize it was so close to the port. Maybe we will have to head over there on our next port stop. Awesome that you saw whales! It's a shame you didn't have your good camera with you. I hate when that happens. Jennyh_1, we have small waterproof cases we take with us to hold our ship's card, credit card, cash, and the like. We bought ours on one of our cruises, but I have seen them in stores like WalMart, CVS, Walgreens, etc, especially during the summer. I'm sure Mitsugirly has something similar. Edited April 20, 2016 by perfect match Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perfect Stranger Posted April 20, 2016 #456 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Another great review! Love the beautiful pictures! Your daughter is going to be a knockout! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamilycruise Posted April 20, 2016 #457 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Thanks so much for this awesome review Kim! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FraudBroad Posted April 20, 2016 #458 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Once again another amazing review! Thank you so much for sharing your adventures with us! What time were you in Grand Turk? I'll be there twice next year in February and March but the time isn't the greatest....1PM-7PM. Your day in Grand Turk sounds like it was wonderful. Would you recommend renting the golf cart? Would you recommend the company you used? Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDsquared Posted April 20, 2016 #459 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Hi Mitsugirly! What kind of cooler do you bring on shore? Loving the review! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapearl Posted April 20, 2016 #460 Share Posted April 20, 2016 I'm sitting at the hair salon with your review getting me through this LONG appointment. I'm only through page 2 but loving your review so far! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waywyrd Posted April 20, 2016 #461 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Governor's Beach! One of our favorite beaches anywhere. I'm glad to see it's looking more like it used to, it was pretty torn up during our last visit because of the hurricane. I have quite a collection of that sea glass... Sakari's mermaid tail is just adorable! Super review, thank you again for taking the time. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #462 Share Posted April 21, 2016 I do agree after sailing NCL I did enjoy having more options for dining on "off" hours. My biggest issue is the very few options when we get back after an excursion. We are always hungry and nothing is open and room service has a huge wait. But evenings have never really bothered us. I do like the deli or pizza. We often just opt for room service for a late night snack. I'm hoping you thought to check out this option while on the Breeze. If not remember for next time :) Yea, NCL rocks with the 24/7 food options. It really makes me miss that part of the ship when on Carnival. I guess we just need to adjust our timing with the food situation. While we like the pizza and some things at the deli, I just can't opt for that on a nightly basis for dinner each time. I just can't do it (although I was forced to pretty much). I never really thought of room service. Don't that cost now? I was thinking when NCL changed their policy and started charging then Carnival followed suit. I just can't justify having to pay for the food. That's one thing that erks me. The food situation is the number one reason hubby REFUSES to go on Carnival. Waiting in a ginormous line to eat a pizza at night... no way! Right. The pizza is good...but not good enough to wait in the huge lines to get. They are only huge like that because it's almost the only option you have. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #463 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Loving your review! Thank you. :) Can I ask what you did with your ship card, credit card, cash, etc when you were at the beach?! Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app They always just stay in our beach bags. I use to carry a waterproof small pouch that went around my waist, but I always had problems with the "waterproof" part. The hubby is "usually" staying at the chairs with the bags, but even when he's not, we have never had any problems yet. Fingers crossed. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #464 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Governor's Beach is absolutely beautiful! I'm planning to snorkel at the wall and spend some time at Gibbs Caye, but we will have a bit of time after that. Do you think it's feasible to get a cab from Jack's Shack area to Governor's beach & then back to the port? I would so love to check that place out. It is very beautiful. Governors beach can be reached by taxi for about $4 I believe. Or...you could walk too depending on how much time you have. You do have to go down the street and can't just walk down the beach though. Of course not! She is way too much like me in the water! Nothing keeps us on dry land when we can swim! :D I am so glad you got all your pictures back! That would have been awful if you lost them! I sure wish we had the same impression of Grand Turk as you did. What we saw was poverty, accumulated trash, saddness, donkeys who looked like nothing but skin & bones, nothing like what your pictures showed.I am glad to see the island pictured in a better light. I am not sure when we will be back to Grand Turk, but I hope we see the much more positive light as you did. Governor's Beach looked beautiful! I didn't realize it was so close to the port. Maybe we will have to head over there on our next port stop. Awesome that you saw whales! It's a shame you didn't have your good camera with you. I hate when that happens. Jennyh_1, we have small waterproof cases we take with us to hold our ship's card, credit card, cash, and the like. We bought ours on one of our cruises, but I have seen them in stores like WalMart, CVS, Walgreens, etc, especially during the summer. I'm sure Mitsugirly has something similar. Aww, well hopefully the economy is picking up for them or something. We seen some beautiful homes. Of course there were regular homes and probably "shacks" in the inner town, but I wasn't really paying too much attention and nothing stood out to me that said we were in the ghetto or anything. It really is too bad I didn't have my camera with me because I ALWAYS have at least 1 of them with me. Go figure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #465 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Another great review! Love the beautiful pictures! Your daughter is going to be a knockout! Glad you like the review and I know I'm going to have my hands full when she gets older. :o Thanks so much for this awesome review Kim! Thanks for your comment and glad you are liking it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #466 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Once again another amazing review! Thank you so much for sharing your adventures with us! What time were you in Grand Turk? I'll be there twice next year in February and March but the time isn't the greatest....1PM-7PM. Your day in Grand Turk sounds like it was wonderful. Would you recommend renting the golf cart? Would you recommend the company you used? Thanks again! Thanks for the comments and glad you like the review. We were in GT from 8-4pm. I really wish they would stay longer here. It looks like you'll be there at prime whale season!! Yes, I would recommend renting a golf cart. We had a lot of fun and loved the flexibility to go where we wanted when we wanted. It was a lot of fun for sure. Yep, I would recommend the company we used (Wet Money). They did us well. :) Hi Mitsugirly! What kind of cooler do you bring on shore? Loving the review! It's a soft foldable cooler. It's called "Frozn cold to the core" made by Ingear. I bought it years ago and it came with 3 different coolers. It's pretty cool because it's soft and zips up at the top and also has velcro. When you fold it up, the "lid" goes all around it and velcro's to keep it together and the sides also have velcro tabs to keep it together. It works great. I always take big zip lock bags to put ice in it so that it don't leak. Then when we drink everything, throw out the rest of the ice, fold up, and put it in our beach bag. It looks something like this below. Not quite, but kinda. lol :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #467 Share Posted April 21, 2016 I'm sitting at the hair salon with your review getting me through this LONG appointment. I'm only through page 2 but loving your review so far! :D Hi gapearl. I hope your cruising and reviews are going well lately. :D Governor's Beach! One of our favorite beaches anywhere. I'm glad to see it's looking more like it used to, it was pretty torn up during our last visit because of the hurricane. I have quite a collection of that sea glass... Sakari's mermaid tail is just adorable! Super review, thank you again for taking the time. :) It's definitely my favorite here in GT so far! Thanks for the comments. I appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAV2005 Posted April 21, 2016 #468 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Yea, NCL rocks with the 24/7 food options. It really makes me miss that part of the ship when on Carnival. I guess we just need to adjust our timing with the food situation. While we like the pizza and some things at the deli, I just can't opt for that on a nightly basis for dinner each time. I just can't do it (although I was forced to pretty much). I never really thought of room service. Don't that cost now? I was thinking when NCL changed their policy and started charging then Carnival followed suit. I just can't justify having to pay for the food. That's one thing that erks me. Right. The pizza is good...but not good enough to wait in the huge lines to get. They are only huge like that because it's almost the only option you have. :( Room service is mostly still free, there are pay options now available but I believe they are all things that were added on to the original menu. Might be a viable option for your next carnival cruise :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #469 Share Posted April 21, 2016 TUESDAY=SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO We were in port in San Juan from 1pm-8pm. I was super excited about coming here because I have a 96 year old patient who is from here and just to experience this place, knowing that this is where she grew up, was going to be a treat. (**I will add this right now, so that I don't forget** I got word the day we came home that my patient had passed away the day we were actually here in San Juan. What are the chances that she would pass while I was visiting her home town for the first time. We have been expecting this, actually since last year, and she has been hanging on forever now and gradually declining in health. She was the sweetest little lady who helped me with my Spanish. I have been seeing her daily for almost a year and my "route" since returning just hasn't been the same. I feel honored to know her and have her a part of my life and some day I will return to San Juan and visit all the places she told me about.) However, I had the hardest time figuring out just what to do here. Especially with us being beach bums, made it very difficult. I didn't completely decide until the week of the cruise and it was spur of the moment based off of people here on these great boards. I have always wanted to sail out of San Juan and it's on my "bucket list" and here's why...the bio-luminescent bay!! I just HAVE to experience this! Some day I will I promise. Since we weren't going to be in port until late, I seen this as an opportunity to sleep in. The thought just excited me too much. BUT.... bang, clang, can't hear yourself talk in your own dream noises were going on...once again...outside on my balcony? I think this morning they would be taking their boiler pots, drawing a line, then seeing who could push theirs the fastest across the line. The winner was in charge of gathering all the pots and hurling them at their respective losing owners while they darted the pots and they went crashing to the floor. Yep, that about explains the sound pretty accurate. So, I was up at 8:30am on my "sleeping-in" day. I decided to head out to the balcony to check out the weather and catch a glimpse of...the water of course. Man did it smell like rotten somethingorother out there, coming from these "vents" somewhere around this area. Phew! Back in I went to wake the rest of the family up. If I'm not sleeping in, neither are they. Wipe the drool off your faces and let's go eat! As they were getting up, I was checking in with my daughter back home and seeing how her "healing" from surgery was coming along. Then my son's finance text me to let me know she passed one of her "important" exams for a nursing class and all was good in the world. We headed up to the buffet for breakfast at 9:30. It was super crowded this time and I couldn't help think "why are these people even awake on a day they could be sleeping in?" I mean I'm sure they are not all located on the 2nd floor under the galley right? Hey at least Carnival's eggs are COOKED...unlike the scrambled eggs I got on the Jade last month. We headed up to Pixels to see if we could find our pictures from Grand Turk (we had 2 taken) and couldn't find either. This picture hunt game is not my cup of tea. Did every female HAVE to have on a blue and white sailor looking cover up just like me on this cruise? Seriously? We gave up and headed back to the room. I sat out on my smelly balcony and heard a noise. This means we are getting close to shore. woo hoo I believe this means we are really SUPER close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #470 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Yep, I'm seeing land now. It was cloudy and I felt a few sprinkles. Ugh Then within a few minutes...the sun was out again. Now THIS place looks like where I want to go! Anyone know where this is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #471 Share Posted April 21, 2016 We were able to get off the ship at 1pm and I like to be prompt, so when they said go...I go. Hmm, ok, not your typical "tourist" type port I see. We are parked in downtown maybe? I had no idea where to go or where you catch the cabs at. After walking down the pier, you come to the street. Um ok. Now what? There wasn't anyone around directing you where to go and asking what you'd like to do or if you need a cab or anything. Strange and something I don't think I have experienced in any port to date. So, I just followed everyone else and hoped they knew where they were going. They stop to take a picture, I stop to take a picture. Well, that wasn't working out for me too well so I decided to stop and ask someone where you go to get a taxi. They pointed in the opposite way of the way I was going of course. You head to the left and walk down the street. We told a guy standing there where we were going. "Where?" He acted as if he had never heard of the place. The name of the place is Numero Uno. He was unsure and ask someone else. I told them is was a resort type place on the beach. Then I told him Pamela's and he said "OH!!!! Pam-mel-o's" Um ok. I was pronouncing it just like a girls name. Oops. (But in my defense it's spelled Pamela's and Pamela's is the restaurant to the hotel). This is the area the cabs come to pick you up. He put us in a van and off we went. Look at the neat median in the middle of the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykindaparty Posted April 21, 2016 #472 Share Posted April 21, 2016 We went out of San Juan last year and loved the late departure, wish I would have seen the luminous bay area but didn't learn about it until afterwards. Oh well, will just have to book it again...lol. loving the review! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #473 Share Posted April 21, 2016 One thing that stood out about this place is all the graffiti. It is EVERYWHERE. I must have taken about 25+ pictures of it along the way. I couldn't believe the entire place (well, at least where we were driving) is nothing but graffiti on everything from buildings, bridges, houses, stores, shops, walls...everywhere. After awhile, it seemed like our driver was lost. He would go down a street and then sigh and you could tell he was getting frustrated. The road would end and he would have to cross over to another road to continue going in the same direction. He finally admitted that he was a little unfamiliar with the names of the streets and wasn't sure which one of them went straight through to the end. He finally found the right street. I have to say that it was a very strange area. It is not at all what I had pictured in my mind. We were in a neighborhood and I would have never thought we were anywhere near an actual beach. The street came to a dead end and he told us "This is Pamela's". My mouth was probably hanging open and wondering what I had gotten myself into at this point. It's a $14 cab ride from the port to here. We paid the driver and walked around the building and onto the beach. Then headed back into the area that appeared to be Pamela's. We gave the guy that worked there our reservation papers and he handed us our "coupons". Each person got 6 coupons for drinks. So 12 "adult" beverages for us and 6 regular for Sakari (which were a different color so they could keep track). The guy pulled out 3 chairs and an umbrella for us and ask where we would like to sit. I, of course, needed to be near the water since I have to keep a close eye on Sakari. The water is actually quite the haul from the actual building. I felt bad for the guy having to pull those chairs all the way out there. I bet he gets his workout on daily. They sat the umbrella up for us and even brought us a small table and took our first drink order. Ok, it is mid-day, so I guess it's ok to drink already. I'm so use to getting to port early in the morning that it still felt early to me. The first thing I did when I sat down was text Kendra a picture of our wonderful view. You know, for jealousy purposes and all. This is the street that dead ends into Pamela's. The building you see in the right of the picture use to be a resort that closed down. Pamela's is on the left. This is the side street entrance. Notice the door there and the key pad. You had to be "buzzed in" by the office staff on the other side. I found it weird since all you had to do is walk around the building on the beach side and it's all open right in front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #474 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Better shot of their side street entrance. As soon as you go around the corner, this is their outside dining area. Patio area and door leading into the inside dining and bar area. Inside dining and bar area and the restroom to the right of the picture. Right outside the door and on the patio area is a pool. It is a "black" bottom pool and kinda neat. It was super small but there's not much room here in this area and I guess it works for them. Also in this picture is the door that you enter from the street. Beside that, to the right in the picture, is their "office". It was just a little shack with a desk and stuff in it, a/c in the wall and that's the office that buzzes you in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted April 21, 2016 Author #475 Share Posted April 21, 2016 A shot from the outside looking at "Numero Uno" resort rooms. "Enjoy your beach with a conscience. Deposit clean trash here" or something like that. What was neat about this is I believe it was a compactor as well. I had never seen anything like this before. Stop! There's a leatherback nest. Do not touch it. Respect their life, keep your distance. Someone had actually put a few toy turtles in the pen, I guess to signal to those of us that don't read spanish well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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