Our Carnival Pride Repo Journeys Cruise (with pics) - 2/26/17

[Jamman54]

We have arrived at the banana plantation…..

 

The banana stalks are wrapped in blue bags. This keeps the insecticides from washing away, and helps prevent cross contamination in the event a plant becomes diseased. Jose explains that if several plants become diseased, they will burn down an acre of plants to stop it from spreading…..

 

 

The tour is now heading to the rain forest. Along the way we pass the University of Costa Rica……

 

Recognize any of these names?

 

 

To be continued…..

[Alaskan Joe]

Ok I have question I been trying to get an answer to about the free bottle of wine. Our cruise will not be leaving the first port (Long Beach/LA) until 6pm:(, but this is a two week Alaskan on the Splendor 2018:hearteyes:. Now will the free bottle of wine be the first night only (the night we leave at 6pm), or will it be the next night? My DW and I will try the steak house at least once (twice if we like it). We usually try and look ahead at the MDR menus to see which night (for us food wise) would be a good night to book the steak house. However in light of hearing they give you a free bottle of wine the first night, I think we should just book it the free wine night!..... winner, winner, chicken dinner! Although i'm sure the free bottle is a cheap bottle, but hey its FREE. Not even sure if the MDR will be open on the first night leaving this late??

[kemc0211]

jamman54, I really enjoy looking at this picture review! I come back all the time looking for any updates!

[nybumpkin]

The tour starts in the city of Limon itself. Jose tells us about all the points of interest. Here is an open market…..

 

A typical city street……

 

 

There is barbed wire everywhere. Jose explains that the people use it to protect their possessions, not themselves, and that the city is perfectly safe. Really?

 

 

Here is the largest Cathedral in Limon, along with the Rectory…..

 

 

 

As with any busy city there is a lot of traffic. Our tour through the city took a long time because of the traffic…..

 

 

To be continued…..

We were aboard Carnival Liberty in Limon 10 years ago when this happened: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022300178.html. This crew as very tight-lipped about it, although everyone heard rumors about what happened. Two days later, we had the news on in our cabin and they did a segment on it Really surreal.

[AdriennenChris]

Love your pictures. Thank you for sharing! The Pride was our first cruise in 2011. We are booked for a Journeys Cruise November 2018. Cant wait.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

[Jamman54]

Dole is shutting down their pineapple farms in Hawaii and moving to locations outside the US. Do they grow pineapple in Costa Rica?

 

They grow a lot of pineapples in Costa Rica.

 

Ok I have question I been trying to get an answer to about the free bottle of wine. Our cruise will not be leaving the first port (Long Beach/LA) until 6pm:(, but this is a two week Alaskan on the Splendor 2018:hearteyes:. Now will the free bottle of wine be the first night only (the night we leave at 6pm), or will it be the next night? My DW and I will try the steak house at least once (twice if we like it). We usually try and look ahead at the MDR menus to see which night (for us food wise) would be a good night to book the steak house. However in light of hearing they give you a free bottle of wine the first night, I think we should just book it the free wine night!..... winner, winner, chicken dinner! Although i'm sure the free bottle is a cheap bottle, but hey its FREE. Not even sure if the MDR will be open on the first night leaving this late??

 

Even though the Splendor doesn't sail until 6pm, the Steakhouse will be open the first night so they will be giving you the free bottle if you go that night. You can also order a better bottle of wine for 50% off.

[Jamman54]

jamman54, I really enjoy looking at this picture review! I come back all the time looking for any updates!

 

Thanks for reading! Much more to come. :)

[Jamman54]

Kathy, that was scary! After seeing all the barbed wire, we had no desire to take a stroll around town. :eek:

[Jamman54]

Love your pictures. Thank you for sharing! The Pride was our first cruise in 2011. We are booked for a Journeys Cruise November 2018. Cant wait.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks for following along! :)

[TrqoisWtrs]

That's scary about the barbed wire. I signed up for the gondola ride through the rainforest. That was pretty cool - I saw a colorful frog at the entrance to the park. I saw a red one too, but he was very shy and wouldn't let me take his picture.:D

[Jamman54]

That's scary about the barbed wire. I signed up for the gondola ride through the rainforest. That was pretty cool - I saw a colorful frog at the entrance to the park. I saw a red one too, but he was very shy and wouldn't let me take his picture.:D

 

What perfect timing as I'm about to post about our journey to the rainforest. What an awesome picture. Thanks for sharing! :)

[tilocke88]

Jamman I love you I want to be you. I want to post as good a picture review as you when I leave the Ecstasy on 9/15 and the Pride on 11/19. I always wondered what I would do when I grow up. Now that I'm 61 and about to retire in two months, right after my 62nd birthday, I finally know. I want to cruise and be a cruise critic blogger. I will learn from the masters. Seriously, I'm loving this. More please. Have you done an Ecstasy review?

 

 

Heyyyyyy my husband and I will be on that Carnival Pride in November with you!! :)

If you end up writing a review, let me know. I dont usually wrote any reviews, but i can send you some of the pictures i take to use in yours if you would like!

[Jamman54]

We are heading to the Tortuguero Rainforest……

 

There are many rivers and canals here that can be explored. Here is a dock where you can board a boat to explore the area…..

 

Our bus arrives at a private reserve…….

 

We are greeted with live music……

 

Here you can get free water and lemonade, use the restroom, and of course there is a gift shop…..

 

 

To be continued…….

[Jamman54]

We have boarded a boat to explore the rain forest by river…..

 

Jose is still our guide, and will be for the entire time…..

 

Here are some views from along the river…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

Here are a few shots of a three toed sloth. This sloth was way up at the top of a tree, but Patti was able to zoom in for a close up…..

 

 

Here are some more views from along the river……

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Jose said that this was a two toed sloth, though I don’t know how you can tell the difference from this far away. Again, Patti was able to zoom in for a close up…..

 

 

 

Here are a few more views along the water as we come to the end of the river portion of our tour…….

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

After leaving the boat, Jose gathers us together for the walking part of the tour. We will be following a paved, slightly elevated path through the rain forest. Here, Jose shows us a wild banana. Those black seeds in the banana are very poisonous…..

 

Jose is handling some spooky looking spiders, which I can only assume are not poisonous!

 

Here is some of the flora and fauna along the pathway…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are Patti and I on the trail…..

 

 

Here is some more flora and fauna as we wind our way to the end of the trail…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

After we left the trail, we went back to the welcome center where there was fresh fruit waiting for us. Once refreshed, we boarded our bus to head back to Port Limon…..

 

 

Here are a few coastline views as we made our way back…..

 

 

Once back, Patti went over to check out the Souvenir Market, and I went back to the ship.

 

 

This tour for us was one of those been there, done that, kind of thing. We thought it took too long to finally get to the rain forest. I would give it 3 stars out of 5.

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti got these shots of the Carnival Pride docked in Port Limon, after leaving the Souvenir Market and heading back to the ship…..

 

 

 

Six hours later these guys are still banging away on the xylophone…..

 

The gangway of the Carnival Pride……

 

Once back on board, Patti got herself a chocolate mocha getaway…..

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti and I met up and went to Guy’s Burgers for a snack, and then over to the Red Frog Rum Bar for a couple of drinks, before heading back to the cabin to watch sail away…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

Tonight, we are back in the Normandie Restaurant for dinner. Here are tonight’s menus…..

 

 

 

There is a table of ship’s officers nearby that Ken is attending to…..

 

We both had the crab melt as a starter…..

 

I also had the potato skins……

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti also had a Caesar’s salad…..

 

For my mains I had the pork chop which was very good as usual, and the penne Newburg, which wasn’t that good…..

 

 

Patti had the chicken breast for her entrée……

 

Here is tonight’s dessert menu…..

 

Patti had butter pecan ice cream…..

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

For dessert I had a banana split and the apple dumpling…..

 

 

Today was Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and they had a celebration in the Atrium…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued……..

[Jamman54]

Here are a few more Dr. Seuss celebration pictures…..

 

 

 

In the Taj Mahal tonight, was the comedy and ventriloquism of Phil Hughes. There were no comedy shows tonight, because comedian JR Brow, who was to fly into Costa Rica to join the ship, didn’t make it. After a walk around the ship, Patti and I made our way back to the cabin where we found tonight’s towel animal……

 

Coming up next: a partial transit of the Panama Canal. Simply Awesome!!!