Live from Beautiful Carnival Dream

[icft]

3 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Can already see traffic on the roads out on maps 

Be sure to grab some snacks and water for the camping event on I-45

[BlerkOne]

7 minutes ago, icft said:

Be sure to grab some snacks and water for the camping event on I-45

Still mulling over taking the ferry. Definitely will fill up the tank before either. 

[Joe817]

20 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Still mulling over taking the ferry. Definitely will fill up the tank before either. 

That's actually a pretty good idea! 👍 It will certainly add miles, but at least you won't be stuck in traffic, overheating the engine. Plus, it'll be a good change of scenery. Whichever route you take, can you check in & give us an update on how getting out of Galveston went? 

[Guest BasicSailor]

40 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Still mulling over taking the ferry. Definitely will fill up the tank before either. 

I learned my lesson way back when a Hurricane struck the Florida coast, with no gas to be found anywhere within three states. Fill the Tank before you park the car.

[Wanna_Cruize]

2 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

I learned my lesson way back when a Hurricane struck the Florida coast, with no gas to be found anywhere within three states. Fill the Tank before you park the car.

And when parking in a garage, maybe avoid parking on the first floor, and avoid the outer rows with exterior openings.

[BlerkOne]

No lack of gas, just some stations charge more. Also no chance of a hurricane before tomorrow. 

 

If disaster strikes, however, I think it's time to change the oil, so time for a new vehicle anyway. 

[BlerkOne]

Got over 5000 points in the casino - gonna quit while I'm behind. 🙂

 

 

funtimes8.pdf QR_MENU_D4-50-052022_baked_alaska.pdf

[BlerkOne]

I think I just saw something about the road closures being modified, so maybe not so much traffic.

[BlerkOne]

Oh dear. I had a wine ticket left and the casino sent a bottle of wine. I guess one will have to be to go.

[mommio]

6 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

No lack of gas, just some stations charge more. Also no chance of a hurricane before tomorrow. 

 

If disaster strikes, however, I think it's time to change the oil, so time for a new vehicle anyway. 

Good luck finding a new vehicle 😝

[BlerkOne]

8 minutes ago, mommio said:

Good luck finding a new vehicle 😝

I still have my Jeep at home. I might have to mow the grass to find it. 🙂

[BlerkOne]

On 5/14/2022 at 12:04 PM, Joe817 said:

That's actually a pretty good idea! 👍 It will certainly add miles, but at least you won't be stuck in traffic, overheating the engine. Plus, it'll be a good change of scenery. Whichever route you take, can you check in & give us an update on how getting out of Galveston went? 

No snacks needed, no construction workers present. If you exit the interstate you may have to go miles before being able to get back on.

 

I did let my GPS pick a route and also verified with a humanoid at the terminal - a porter- that there weren't any construction bottlenecks.

[Joe817]

15 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

No snacks needed, no construction workers present. If you exit the interstate you may have to go miles before being able to get back on.  I did let my GPS pick a route and also verified with a humanoid at the terminal - a porter- that there weren't any construction bottlenecks.

Good to know. Thanks! 

[jhubba]

We are on the Dream now.  Came down from Fort Worth on Saturday.  Went through Houston about 1 pm and aside from the usual slowdowns (too many cars and not enough road), there were three lanes open all the way to Galveston.  Coming back, it looks like I45 goes to one lane after you go over the Galveston causeway, and remains 1 lane for a few miles (some backup, but cars were moving).  Whatever you do, do not get off the freeway in that area as you will not be able to get back on for miles and the backup on the access road was very bad.

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, jhubba said:

We are on the Dream now.  Came down from Fort Worth on Saturday.  Went through Houston about 1 pm and aside from the usual slowdowns (too many cars and not enough road), there were three lanes open all the way to Galveston.  Coming back, it looks like I45 goes to one lane after you go over the Galveston causeway, and remains 1 lane for a few miles (some backup, but cars were moving).  Whatever you do, do not get off the freeway in that area as you will not be able to get back on for miles and the backup on the access road was very bad.

If you miss the exit for Bucees off I45 don't even think of trying to stop there on the way back. Trust me.

[cruiser0216]

Anybody else having trouble with the attachments? They say unavailable. I was able to see the first few when they were posted last week, but now those are now unavailable. Just me? Any other way you can upload them?

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, cruiser0216 said:

Anybody else having trouble with the attachments? They say unavailable. I was able to see the first few when they were posted last week, but now those are now unavailable. Just me? Any other way you can upload them?

The couple I just tried worked fine for me. They are pdf files I downloaded on the ship 

[Guest BasicSailor]

I have often found the WAZE app to be helpful in these situations.

[BlerkOne]

8 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

I have often found the WAZE app to be helpful in these situations.

I have Waze and also Maps. I only liked Waze when I could set the voice to be Cookie Monster. 🙂

 

I try it every once in a while on cruises and Waze is sometimes Waze off.

[BlerkOne]

17 hours ago, cruiser0216 said:

Anybody else having trouble with the attachments? They say unavailable. I was able to see the first few when they were posted last week, but now those are now unavailable. Just me? Any other way you can upload them?

You have to be logged in to see them. Or try a different browser. Are you still having issues?

[cruiser0216]

7 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

You have to be logged in to see them. Or try a different browser. Are you still having issues?

Working now! Must have been the logged in thing. Thanks!

[perfcons]

BlerkOne any thoughts on the cruise you just returned from on the Dream? we are booked for a late August cruise and havent cruised on Carnival recently. Have been reading so many negative things about Carnival and cruising in general. 

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, perfcons said:

BlerkOne any thoughts on the cruise you just returned from on the Dream? we are booked for a late August cruise and havent cruised on Carnival recently. Have been reading so many negative things about Carnival and cruising in general. 

We loved it. It was our 7th Carnival cruise since the restart last July. Having said that, cruising is not back to "normal" and may never be the same. Expect covid cases and be careful.

 

The majority of cruise ships across all brands are rated "Orange" by the CDC which means the CDC is investigating Covid outbreaks.

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/cruise-ship-color-status.html

 

Our next cruise would have been on Carnival Pride, but was for St Petersburg. Instead we will cruise on Princess next, and return to Carnival after that.

 

There were some issues, but all were dealt with. Of course, Carnival can only fix things that they are made aware of.

[perfcons]

thanks for the info. we are not expecting a perfect cruise just anxious to do a get away and driving to Galveston is a good option for us. we have cruised on Princess, Celebrity and NCL many times. we love cruising. Happy travels to you!

 

[BlerkOne]

2 hours ago, perfcons said:

thanks for the info. we are not expecting a perfect cruise just anxious to do a get away and driving to Galveston is a good option for us. we have cruised on Princess, Celebrity and NCL many times. we love cruising. Happy travels to you!

 

The drive on I45 and anticipation of construction was more stressful than anything encountered on the cruise.

 

I found the Express Parking lot to be a good option for us - for the most part. It is adjacent to Terminal 2 and a very easy walk. Our cruise left from Terminal 2 but returned to Terminal 1. We found a sympathetic porter to haul all our crap from Terminal 1 to our vehicle even though he wasn't supposed to - there was a Royal ship at Terminal 2 and I guess he had to cross competing turf to get us there. The parking cost more, but I think I'd do it again. Worst case I would have had to pick up the vehicle and drive back to Terminal 1 to pick up luggage after the cruise.

 

I managed to find this before our cruise, but don't seem to be able to get there again - maybe they are updating