A breeze of a Journey that was full of firsts

[emoorehead]

Hi Jimbo. I am really enjoying your review! Your pictures are amazing. I will be in San Juan in April on the Ecstasy. After reading your review I have decided to take a fresh journal along to record my trip. Since this will be my first cruise, I want to remember as much as I can.

Thanks for sharing!!

[jimbo5544]

9 hours ago, emoorehead said:

Hi Jimbo. I am really enjoying your review! Your pictures are amazing. I will be in San Juan in April on the Ecstasy. After reading your review I have decided to take a fresh journal along to record my trip. Since this will be my first cruise, I want to remember as much as I can.

Thanks for sharing!!

Well thanks for following along on my review.  I encourage you do that and tell us your thoughts upon your return.  I have found that doing a review help keep it fresh in my mind by reviewing the experience.  First cruises set the bar, experience as much as you can, explore the ship when you get on, and most of all enjoy and have Carnival FUN!  Ships vary in terms of features and ports of call, but Carnival’s best asset is their people.  Have a wonderful cruise and feel free to ask questions here.

[Hogladyrider]

San Juan one of our favorite ports to cruise into with the fort, just stunning!

 

Yes the day was gloomy weather wise.  My goal was to get off and go to Walgreen's to get some over the counter medications for my sick partner.  It seemed like I was not the only cruiser with that same destination as the store was very busy in that aisle!  Mission accomplished so I headed back to the ship amid the sprinkles.  The street vendors were still setting up.

 

Enjoyed sitting on our balcony watching the rain and the other ships.

 

One additional comment.  I wish Carnival had some "blah" - "plain" soups available each day for someone who is ill, ie chicken soup etc.  One evening when we went to the dining room I asked for some chicken soup to go as I had a ill passenger in our cabin and nothing.  I would not expect them to make soup for one but there are always people under the weather.  I was able to get a bowl of the Kansas City beef soup for him but it was not the same.  Just my 2 cents.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, Hogladyrider said:

San Juan one of our favorite ports to cruise into with the fort, just stunning!

 

Yes the day was gloomy weather wise.  My goal was to get off and go to Walgreen's to get some over the counter medications for my sick partner.  It seemed like I was not the only cruiser with that same destination as the store was very busy in that aisle!  Mission accomplished so I headed back to the ship amid the sprinkles.  The street vendors were still setting up.

 

Enjoyed sitting on our balcony watching the rain and the other ships.

 

One additional comment.  I wish Carnival had some "blah" - "plain" soups available each day for someone who is ill, ie chicken soup etc.  One evening when we went to the dining room I asked for some chicken soup to go as I had a ill passenger in our cabin and nothing.  I would not expect them to make soup for one but there are always people under the weather.  I was able to get a bowl of the Kansas City beef soup for him but it was not the same.  Just my 2 cents.

I rhink they make all the soups from scratch so it might have been a problem, but I hear your point.  Old San Juan has much to offer.  

Edited December 13, 2018 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

Sorry I have been busy with life.  Hope to finish up this evening with the last two sea days and final thoughts.

[Hogladyrider]

Totally understand.....not to mention all the holidays just around the corner.

 

We are here to follow along when it works on your time!

Susan

[jimbo5544]

18 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

Totally understand.....not to mention all the holidays just around the corner.

 

We are here to follow along when it works on your time!

Susan

LOL, makes me want to get back on a ship.....

[jimbo5544]

The last two sea days flew by.  I did manage to capture another rainbow (complete one this time) and a semi sunset.

[jimbo5544]

Did I mention that Santa was on our ruse and spent some time in the casino?

[jimbo5544]

A couple of tidbits, on our cruise at least, they brought back cappuccino pie, one of our sone in laws fav. Also, they started this second pica while back on lido, an upscale dessert bar, with cakes and what not.  It seemed very popular. 

[jimbo5544]

On the last evening they had a ceremony in the man lobby to celebrate the Journey cruise.  Here are a couple of pics.  They sang some songs, the crowd joined in, and then the ballon drop happened.

 

 

[jimbo5544]

next up: final thoughts....

 

[jimbo5544]

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM_7-ABUW1a6AFrrdXgBBPR4pFiIed33Xwh5Bp_

[jimbo5544]

Oh, I forgot our last animal on the last night....

[jimbo5544]

Debarking was as easy as getting on....after breakfast we were in the Diamond area and soon enough off and got our bags and our way back.  So here are my thoughts on Journey cruises.  We LOVED it.  We had some reservations about expectations for food over 14 days.  These were unfounded.  They worked extremely hard to make each day unique.

[pusywillow]

Thanks for the review.  Makes me eager for my journey cruise in June,

[sanmarcosman]

On 12/10/2018 at 5:38 AM, jimbo5544 said:

At dinner there was an old friend that stopped by.... 

 

[jimbo5544]

??

 

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, fyree39 said:

I'm surprised you haven't sailed on a Journeys cruise before.  Do you think you'll do it again?

Def will do another.  We have a busy 2019 and 2020 has a lot of cruises we would love to do so......nit sure when but yes.

[jimbo5544]

6 hours ago, pusywillow said:

Thanks for the review.  Makes me eager for my journey cruise in June,

Thanks for following along.  It was a pleasure doing it, I think you will really enjoy your Journey cruise.

[jimbo5544]

On 12/12/2018 at 10:43 PM, emoorehead said:

Hi Jimbo. I am really enjoying your review! Your pictures are amazing. I will be in San Juan in April on the Ecstasy. After reading your review I have decided to take a fresh journal along to record my trip. Since this will be my first cruise, I want to remember as much as I can.

Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks for reading along as it really has taken a lot of time doing it.  Doing a journal helps a lot, especially with details.  Try a review when you return,

[jimbo5544]

So some final thoughts on our Journey cruise.  First of all, if you evert thought about doing one and were worried about being bored, or the food to be to repetitive, let me put those fears to bed.  This was by far the most relaxing cruise we have ever done,  It was also clear how much they tried to vary the menu.  We have sailed enough that I could pretty much hit the menu options from memory before we walked into a dining room for dinner.  That said, they went to lengths to give options.  Sure there were all the old favorites and the standby’s.  

 

We have been Diamond for about 6 or 7 cruises.  I have never been recognized on our status more then we were on this sailing.  It was obvious that they get a lot of experienced cruisers (Diamonds and Plats, there were 430 Diamonds and 1900 Platinum cruisers).  We also hit the jackpot on on support service teams, both the dining and house keeping teams were top notch.  

[jimbo5544]

We did this cruise for several reasons, the first was to experience a Journey cruise.  Yeh second was to do a Carnival cruise of this length.  The vast majority of our cruises have been 7 days.  While 6 day cruises do hit the sweet spot, I always feel “not ready” to get off on 6 days or shorter (although there are times when these are the difference between cruising or not cruising).  The 14 day cruise was great, at the end of the first week the CD Schwartz mentioned that while most cruises would be ended or ending, we were just at the half way point.  

 

My brother and his wife were worried that they might be bored and “ready to go home” long before the last day and found this not to be the case.  One of the other reasons we wanted to do a Journey was some of the unique ports.  Lastly, and most important was that we just truly enjoy cruising and especially Carnival cruising.  Carnival’s best asset is their people, and they recognize this fact.  Being recognized by name so often and by so many people with a smile on their face is significant and heart warming.

[jimbo5544]

If there was a negative, for us, was how many smokers there were on this ship.  The casino was almost impassable for me (with my asthma) and people were clearly smoking on their balconies.  Strangely enough, Carnival would announce a stronger smoking enforcement policy shortly after we got off (I have very little hope that they will be able to enforce this).  I am not trying to bash smokers, just stating our observations.

[jimbo5544]

There was one event that happened on the cruise that I was hesitant to bring up and just decided to do so.  I do love meeting people on cruises and have met people we now call friends long after the cruise has ended.  My brother and sister in law were not staying adjacent to us but instead in the aft wrap above us (hopefully I have spoken on how much I love these cabins).  This meant that I had neighbors on each side of me who were strangers to us.  Being out on the balcony so much (especially during sail aways) you get to meet (and sometimes discuss the cruise with your “neighbors”).  The couple in the aft cabin next to us were hardly seen (I can only remember one time) and frequently had “snoozing” sign on their door (even mentioned to us by our room steward several times when I ran into him during the day and asked if he was almost done).

 

Fast forward to debark morning, we left our carry off bags in the room and headed up for breakfast on lido.  Once done we went down to get our bags and debark and as we walked down and rounded the corner to get to our room we were surprised to see ...... that something was clearly going on.  Their were 4 ship security people there, 2 land based sheriffs, and a couple I guess were port security or TSA.  The couple from the cabin were there also.  One of the sheriffs quickly stepped up and said we could not go any further and I wxplained we needed our bags and we were allowed to get then and leave.  Never had that happen before .....