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

[fair-winds39]

We enjoy your reviews, and can’t wait for this one.

[d-train]

Yes!

Thanks again for sharing your vaca with us!

Looking forward to the preview of our Celebration sailing,

Just wish it was sooner than later! LOL!

 

[d-lite-n-cruisin]

I'm all aboard for another Jeff and Patti adventure!!! Awesome start and loved the nostalgia memory.   My heart still hurts thinking about him.  Hugs!

[cellfree]

17 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

We’re now back to 2023. We had originally booked a B2B with the 4/23 sailing, but circumstances that had us needing to be back in New Jersey by 4/29, caused us to cancel that sailing. No worries though, we just lifted and shifted that Celebration booking to next January 14^th which happens to be the Tribe Cruise, …

 

Jamman54, following along as I have in the past, Ty for all your work, Patti’s too. A couple months before January 14 became The Tribe Cruise I had booked January 21 on the Celebration. Hoping the ship can keep sailing after The Tribe disembarks - yikes!

Edited May 5, 2023 by cellfree

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, RenoNanaOz said:

Here for it, love your reviews and Patti’s photos. 

Glad to have you aboard. Enjoy your cruise on the Panorama! 

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, fair-winds39 said:

We enjoy your reviews, and can’t wait for this one.

 

Thanks for reading. We're happy to have you along for the ride! 

 

38 minutes ago, d-train said:

Yes!

Thanks again for sharing your vaca with us!

Looking forward to the preview of our Celebration sailing,

Just wish it was sooner than later! LOL!

 

 

Always a pleasure to have you aboard with us! Your cruise will be here before you know it! 

[Jamman54]

40 minutes ago, d-lite-n-cruisin said:

I'm all aboard for another Jeff and Patti adventure!!! Awesome start and loved the nostalgia memory.   My heart still hurts thinking about him.  Hugs!

 

Thanks for joining us once again, and for your kind words! 

 

28 minutes ago, cellfree said:

Jamman54, following along as I have in the past, Ty for all your work, Patti’s too. A couple months before January 14 became The Tribe Cruise I had booked January 21 on the Celebration. Hoping the ship can keep sailing after The Tribe disembarks - yikes!

 

Thanks for following along once again. Can't make any promises about your January 21st sailing. Maybe you ought to switch to the 14th! 

[d-lite-n-cruisin]

4 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

 

Thanks for joining us once again, and for your kind words! 

 

Always, Kind Sir.  Can't wait to hear more about this adventure!

 

 

[KmomChicago]

Jeff I'mma need you to go back and do a full review of that 2005 cruise if you don't mind. Thank you!

[SummerRoze]

I'm excited to be following along for this review! I enjoyed seeing pics of the earlier Celebration, thanks for posting those.

[2Shoes2Go]

Hi, y’all! Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoy Celebration as well. She’s a lovely ship. We’re on Freedom; weather is much nicer this cruise. 😂❤️

[Roscoe13]

36 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Jeff I'mma need you to go back and do a full review of that 2005 cruise if you don't mind. Thank you!

That'd be the ULTIMATE after action report 👌 

But if anyone can pull it off... @Jamman54 can!

[Jamman54]

53 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Jeff I'mma need you to go back and do a full review of that 2005 cruise if you don't mind. Thank you!

 

14 minutes ago, Roscoe13 said:

That'd be the ULTIMATE after action report 👌 

But if anyone can pull it off... @Jamman54 can!

 

I have the pictures, so I'm sure I can weave a story around them! 

[Jamman54]

50 minutes ago, SummerRoze said:

I'm excited to be following along for this review! I enjoyed seeing pics of the earlier Celebration, thanks for posting those.

 

Glad to have you along with us! 

 

42 minutes ago, 2Shoes2Go said:

Hi, y’all! Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoy Celebration as well. She’s a lovely ship. We’re on Freedom; weather is much nicer this cruise. 😂❤️

 

Hey Cindy! Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your cruises on the Freedom! 

[Jamman54]

Day # 1 – (4/16/23) – It’s Embarkation Day!!! 

 

We were up at 5am to shower and get ready for the day. It’s going to be sunny and hot with a chance of thundershowers later in the day. Once we got our luggage ready and tagged, I asked Patti if she was ready for breakfast. She wasn’t hungry, but I was, so I headed down for the free breakfast that the Springhill Suites provides…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is my breakfast plate…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We have a 9:30 to 10:00am arrival time. We checked out and left the hotel at 8:40am. This way to Miami…..

 

 

There is hardly any traffic at all, so in twenty minutes we were approaching the exit for the tunnel to Dodge Island…..

 

 

Before we reached the tunnel, we got a glimpse of the eight ships in port today…..

 

 

The Valiant Lady, Grandeur OTS, and Carnival Celebration were the three ships closest to us……

 

 

 

 

We are heading into the tunnel. We are almost there!

 

 

Once out of the tunnel there are plenty of signs to direct you to where you want to go…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

Unfortunately, with eight ships in port today, the traffic bogged down so it was slow going to reach our terminal. Here is the MSC Seascape at Terminal “C”…..

 

 

The Carnival Spirit is at Terminal “D”…….

 

 

This terminal sign says that we’re heading in the right direction…..

 

 

We pass the Norwegian Encore at Terminal “E”…..

 

 

 

We finally reach the Carnival Celebration at Terminal “F”……

 

 

 

We pull over here and drop off our luggage…..

 

 

We now have to drive down the road a little bit to park in Parking Deck “G”. The Grandeur OTS is docked at Terminal “G”……

 

 

 

Once in Parking Deck “G”, we found a spot to park on the second level. We took the stairs down, and then made the short walk back to Terminal “F”. Our cruise journey is about to begin!

 

 

To be continued…..  

[modernscarlett]

I was on this same cruise! Look forward to your review.

[Jamman54]

9 minutes ago, modernscarlett said:

I was on this same cruise! Look forward to your review.

 

Cool! Let us know if you show up in any of the pictures! 

[nybumpkin]

16 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

 

We were up at 5 am to a beautiful warm day. After showering and packing up, we wanted to get on the road as soon as we could. We missed the free breakfast which started at 7am, but at least they had coffee available. We checked out and then stopped at a nearby gas station. This is a big deal for me, as I enjoy pumping my own gas. New Jersey and Oregon are the only two states in the nation where it is against the law to pump your own gas. Crazy…..

 

 

 

 

Jeff, I had to laugh at this post. You know I grew up in South Jersey - when I married Doug and moved to Upstate NY, when visiting us my dad would drive out of his way to find full-service gas. He hated pumping his own gas. After almost 40 years, I'm used to it. When we visit Jersey, we have our preferred stations where we know the attendants will get us back on the road quickly.

 

Looking forward to your travels and Patti's pictures!

[Jamman54]

We walked in the terminal door at around 9:20am and basically walked to the seating area with just brief stops to check in, and then for the security screening. We also stopped to get our embarkation photo taken……

 

 

We were seated in chairs by 9:40am. Boarding began at 10:45 and followed this order: Weddings, Diamond, Suites, Platinum, FTTF, and then boarding zones. Now that we are aboard, here are today’s “real” Fun Times that are delivered to the cabin each evening…..

 

 

 

 

The first thing we did once on board was head to our Muster Station (C8). This was located at Bonsai Sushi on Deck 8. Robert, the Brew-master that we knew from the Pig & Anchor on the Mardi Gras, was in charge of this station. That taken care of, we made our way to our cabin (12354) to drop off our carry-ons. The room hadn’t been done so our Sail & Sign cards weren’t there. We left a note for Gilbert, our room steward, that we had put our bags in the closet.

 

We were getting hungry so up to the Lido Deck #16 we went for lunch. I went to Big Chicken for a Shaq Attack…….

 

 

Patti went to the Salad Bar in the Marketplace and made herself a salad…..

 

 

 

We took our lunches over to the Tides Bar to eat…..

 

 

 

I’m having my first drink of the cruise…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

6 minutes ago, nybumpkin said:

Jeff, I had to laugh at this post. You know I grew up in South Jersey - when I married Doug and moved to Upstate NY, when visiting us my dad would drive out of his way to find full-service gas. He hated pumping his own gas. After almost 40 years, I'm used to it. When we visit Jersey, we have our preferred stations where we know the attendants will get us back on the road quickly.

 

Looking forward to your travels and Patti's pictures!

 

Always a pleasure to have you along for the ride! That's a great story. Don't understand why New Jersey won't change the law. I have no problem with pumping my own. 

[dmet0225]

As I previously mentioned, I'll be following this review closely since my wife and I will celebrate our 30th on the Celebration at the end of June.  You always do a great job providing details.

[sunshower9]

Glad to see your review!  I'm boarding the Celebration on Sunday!  

[lpanjabi]

37 minutes ago, sunshower9 said:

Glad to see your review!  I'm boarding the Celebration on Sunday!  

sunshower9, me too!! 😄