It's Time for a CELEBRATION!!! (with pics) - April 16th 2023

[Jamman54]

19 minutes ago, sammee said:

Great review again. You are such an enabler, lol. I have 3 booked through Christmas 2024. Now I want to book another. I think I have a problem. You're reviews and photos really make you feel you are there looking in.

 

That's the effect we are looking for. Thanks for reading and for your  kind words! 😎

 

18 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I’ve been on that ride twice at Fiesta Texas in San Antonio… it’s something else. 
Glad you could meet up with @Webecruzen Can’t wait to see all of you in January. 

 

In our younger days we would ride everything. We try to meet up with Jim and Pat every time we're down in Florida. We are so looking forward to heading back to the Celebration with the Tribe! 😁

[SRQbeachgirl]

On 5/26/2023 at 4:26 PM, Jamman54 said:

Most importantly, make sure you send him over to the Boathouse to enjoy a few cocktails so that you can shop unimpeded. 

 

As much as I like to shop, Mr. SRQ is even more dangerous than me at Disney Springs. He LOVES Disney. I do not let that man loose by himself there with a credit card! 

[Jamman54]

6 minutes ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

As much as I like to shop, Mr. SRQ is even more dangerous than me at Disney Springs. He LOVES Disney. I do not let that man loose by himself there with a credit card! 

I'm sorry,  I have no answers for you! 😁

[Hogladyrider]

@Jamman54....another FANTASTIC review.   I think each review gets better and better with the photos and your narration for sure!

 

I am glad you enjoy your time in Florida visiting the heavily developed Orlando area.  I remember when it wasn't so developed for sure.

 

It is nice for a vacation but not so nice to live there, trust me, that's why we left in 2019 and have yet to return.  My BFF still lives in Kissimmee and she complains about the traffic every single day.

 

Enjoy your time back home, wish in a way we were joining the TRIBE cruise, but we will be on a cruise to Hawaii.

Susan

[LUVMYGSDOG]

I love how you guys always play mini golf.  I live in Myrtle Beach which has mini golf EVERYWHERE.  I think I could play every day in a year and play somewhere different lol.

 

 

Kim

[beshears]

Someone mentioned mini golf, which I  love to do as well. It isn't always the case, but if it is on the cruise ship, even though I may be at the TOP of the ship and about ready to blow away, I love mini golf. 🙂

 

[Webecruzen]

It was great seeing you and Patti.  Thank you for the great preview of the Celebration.  We look forward to our January cruise on the Celebration you and and a lot of the Tribe!

[Jamman54]

13 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

@Jamman54....another FANTASTIC review.   I think each review gets better and better with the photos and your narration for sure!

 

I am glad you enjoy your time in Florida visiting the heavily developed Orlando area.  I remember when it wasn't so developed for sure.

 

It is nice for a vacation but not so nice to live there, trust me, that's why we left in 2019 and have yet to return.  My BFF still lives in Kissimmee and she complains about the traffic every single day.

 

Enjoy your time back home, wish in a way we were joining the TRIBE cruise, but we will be on a cruise to Hawaii.

Susan

Thanks Susan for following along once again and for your kind words. That huge road construction project that took six years did nothing to alleviate the traffic problems. 😎

[Jamman54]

13 hours ago, LUVMYGSDOG said:

I love how you guys always play mini golf.  I live in Myrtle Beach which has mini golf EVERYWHERE.  I think I could play every day in a year and play somewhere different lol.

 

 

Kim

 

We love Myrtle Beach, but haven't been there in a while. We're going to have to work that into one of our Florida trips in the near future. We love playing mini golf, and are very competitive. 

 

11 hours ago, beshears said:

Someone mentioned mini golf, which I  love to do as well. It isn't always the case, but if it is on the cruise ship, even though I may be at the TOP of the ship and about ready to blow away, I love mini golf. 🙂

 

 

The one place we hardly ever play is on the ships. Crappy courses and not very good playing conditions. 😎

[Jamman54]

10 hours ago, Webecruzen said:

It was great seeing you and Patti.  Thank you for the great preview of the Celebration.  We look forward to our January cruise on the Celebration you and and a lot of the Tribe!

 

It's always fun getting together with you guys! Glad you told us about the Tribe cruise. It's going to be a blast. We can't wait! 😁

[TrqoisWtrs]

On 5/23/2023 at 5:20 PM, Jamman54 said:

We come here every time we spend time in Orlando. Patti is a Disney girl at heart.

 

I'm not a huge Disney fan, well, except for Tigger 😁.  Looking forward to our Tokyo port stop on the Luminosa in Sept.  Turns out Tokyo Disneyland is not that far away, so someone is setting up an excursion.  Plus it will be so much fun for a change of pace; my 2 cruises this year are heavy on the historical aspects.

 

And another great review!

[beshears]

Jamman54, I agree. Mini golf conditions on the ship are not always the best, but at least I am able to play golf there, and sometimes the course has a few "challenges" on it. 🙂

 

[Jamman54]

I want to apologize for the delay in getting this review finished. I had planned to be done on Saturday, but all those GREAT Live Reviews currently on Cruise Critic have kept me distracted! Tonight, I’m going to knuckle down and get this done! Thanks for your patience!

 

Post Cruise  -  (4/28 & 4/29/2023)  Heading home to New Jersey. 

 

We were up at 3:45am to get ready for our drive home. Yes, you read that correctly, 3:45am. You don’t want to be leaving once rush hour starts, so our plan was to finish loading the car, check out, gas up, and be on the road at 5am. Mission accomplished!

 

By 7:30am we were out of Florida, so we stopped for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel in Kingsland, Georgia…..

 

 

We were back on the road heading north at 8:30am. We did make a pit / gas stop in northern Georgia.

 

A little after noon we were approaching “that” place…..

 

 

 

 

 

Now Patti has asked me quite a few times to stop so she could look around, and I was able to fend her off, but since I would be needing to stop for gas soon anyway, I decided to indulge her. She’s happy!

 

 

I consider what’s to follow a public service. If someone that you know wants to stop here, just point them to this review, show them these pictures, and the urge to visit here will vanish. I let Patti do a complete picture tour. The first thing that you will notice is the lack of people. Exactly! Nothing more needs to be said…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…….

[Jamman54]

Patti’s picture tour of South of the Border continues…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued….

[Greyhoundcat]

9 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

I want to apologize for the delay in getting this review finished. I had planned to be done on Saturday, but all those GREAT Live Reviews currently on Cruise Critic have kept me distracted! Tonight, I’m going to knuckle down and get this done! Thanks for your patience!

 

Post Cruise  -  (4/28 & 4/29/2023)  Heading home to New Jersey. 

 

We were up at 3:45am to get ready for our drive home. Yes, you read that correctly, 3:45am. You don’t want to be leaving once rush hour starts, so our plan was to finish loading the car, check out, gas up, and be on the road at 5am. Mission accomplished!

 

By 7:30am we were out of Florida, so we stopped for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel in Kingsland, Georgia…..

 

 

We were back on the road heading north at 8:30am. We did make a pit / gas stop in northern Georgia.

 

A little after noon we were approaching “that” place…..

 

 

 

 

 

Now Patti has asked me quite a few times to stop so she could look around, and I was able to fend her off, but since I would be needing to stop for gas soon anyway, I decided to indulge her. She’s happy!

 

 

I consider what’s to follow a public service. If someone that you know wants to stop here, just point them to this review, show them these pictures, and the urge to visit here will vanish. I let Patti do a complete picture tour. The first thing that you will notice is the lack of people. Exactly! Nothing more needs to be said…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…….

Way better off at a Buc-ees!!!!!!!!!   We love that place and right off 95 in several areas. 

[Jamman54]

In case you haven’t had enough, here is one more page of Patti’s picture tour of South of the Border…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last picture kind of sums it up……

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

Now that we have that out of our system, we continue north on I-95 for a couple of hours until we reach Wilson, North Carolina, where we will spend the night. We will be staying at the Country Inn & Suites located off Exit 121…..

 

 

We are given Room # 304…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple of Lobby views…..

 

 

 

Here are some views of the indoor pool and exercise room…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Once we’re settled in, we head over to Chili’s for some dinner…..

 

Patti had a Caesar salad and the potato soup…..

 

I had some southwest rolls and boneless wings…..

 

We stopped at Dippin’ Dots which was right next to the hotel before heading back to the room and crashing for the night.

 

We were up at 6am for our final push home. We got our stuff together, and then enjoyed the free hotel breakfast…..

 

 

 

 

We were on the road by 8am. It was a mostly uneventful drive back to New Jersey. We always hit traffic in northern Virginia before we reached the Capital Beltway, and today is no different.

 

The rest of the way was smooth sailing. Going through Baltimore we passed the Cruise Maryland Terminal. There were no ships in port today….

 

 

 

Two and a half hours later we were pulling into our driveway, another cruise, and another visit to Orlando completed. The End.

 

Coming up next: A few random thoughts and plans for the future.

[atticusthegreat]

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

We always hit traffic in northern Virginia before we reached the Capital Beltway

love you two so much. I'm originally from Southern MD and bounced back and forth from there & NOVA for approx. 20 years. my first two cruises were on Carnival Pride out of Baltimore. a cousin of mine from NC actually told me that South of the Border was shutting down?? 💔 anyway. yes. the traffic and the South of the Border memories hit my heart like...💥 🙂 thank you for sharing! 

[AKR2011]

How was the #1 mini golf at South of the Border? I went to the tourist trap stop once with my husband during the off season and it was completely dead with nothing to do. I'm amazed they can still afford all of those signs on the road! Very disappointing 😔

[MeganGC1983]

4 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

I want to apologize for the delay in getting this review finished. I had planned to be done on Saturday, but all those GREAT Live Reviews currently on Cruise Critic have kept me distracted! Tonight, I’m going to knuckle down and get this done! Thanks for your patience!

 

Post Cruise  -  (4/28 & 4/29/2023)  Heading home to New Jersey. 

 

We were up at 3:45am to get ready for our drive home. Yes, you read that correctly, 3:45am. You don’t want to be leaving once rush hour starts, so our plan was to finish loading the car, check out, gas up, and be on the road at 5am. Mission accomplished!

 

By 7:30am we were out of Florida, so we stopped for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel in Kingsland, Georgia…..

 

 

We were back on the road heading north at 8:30am. We did make a pit / gas stop in northern Georgia.

 

A little after noon we were approaching “that” place…..

 

 

 

 

 

Now Patti has asked me quite a few times to stop so she could look around, and I was able to fend her off, but since I would be needing to stop for gas soon anyway, I decided to indulge her. She’s happy!

 

 

I consider what’s to follow a public service. If someone that you know wants to stop here, just point them to this review, show them these pictures, and the urge to visit here will vanish. I let Patti do a complete picture tour. The first thing that you will notice is the lack of people. Exactly! Nothing more needs to be said…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…….

I had no idea this place existed. And to the contrary, thanks to Patti’s pictures, I definitely feel like I need to stop here. I need more info. Why is this a thing? Who decided to do this here? Why isn’t this mini golf rated higher than the pirate place?! All the questions. 

[luvcruzing]

Thanks, Jeff, for another great review.  Patti does a great job taking all those pictures.  It’s truly a shared effort.  Always fun to follow along.

[#55worktoplay]

4 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

In case you haven’t had enough, here is one more page of Patti’s picture tour of South of the Border…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last picture kind of sums it up……

 

 

To be continued……

This is too funny, I too always wanted to stop there and I was also obliged.  I felt the same as you and that was about 20 yrs ago. 
 

Thanks to both of for an awesome review and fantastic pictures. 

Edited May 30, 2023 by #55worktoplay

[josumello]

21 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I had no idea this place existed. And to the contrary, thanks to Patti’s pictures, I definitely feel like I need to stop here. I need more info. Why is this a thing? Who decided to do this here? Why isn’t this mini golf rated higher than the pirate place?! All the questions. 

We did a road trip from MA to Florida when our kids were young. Probably 40+ years ago. Stopped at South of the Border. You could get fireworks there. A no no in MA.  

The place was a dump then and Patti’s pictures confirm it is just as bad. Can’t believe it is still in business!!

 

I am a lurker and have enjoyed your review Jeff. 

[atticusthegreat]

39 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I had no idea this place existed. And to the contrary, thanks to Patti’s pictures, I definitely feel like I need to stop here. I need more info. Why is this a thing? Who decided to do this here? Why isn’t this mini golf rated higher than the pirate place?! All the questions. 

It's definitely worth a one-and-done if nothing else. 👍