Blue Collar Diamond + tries Carnival Freedom

[TravelBluebird]

20 minutes ago, BillOh said:

While I am and will be a Royal Loyalist, I am a life long Pepsi drinker (probably drinking it 59 of my 64 years. so score one point for having Pepsi, but deduct 1/4 point for having to go to a bar to get it (I never had to wait too long)

 

I love it how cruisers are all so different.

 

I’m taking my first Royal cruise after years on Carnival on Sunday (Wonder) and I can’t WAIT to have CocaCola products—I don’t like Pepsi products at all! 😂. Excited for the FreeStyle machines as well.

[BillOh]

 

Well, at this point, I am on page 2 and the ship hasn’t let the port yet, so I guess I had a good time!   We did tour the pool deck and saw all the pools and hottubs (please don’t call them Jacuzzis).  That is a little more difficult because of Freedom’s odd to me layout.    The main pool is in kind of a bowl that reminds me of a tennis stadium.  There is a pool that is comparable in size to one of Royals pools.  There are two bars nearby.  There were far less chairs directly around the pool, but lots of seats pretty close by that were just slightly above the pool, but still within 20 yards of walking.   Looking back now, this wasn’t too hard to get use to and we saw almost no chair hogging.  That was helped out by the fact that I would have went looking for chair hogs on the last day of the cruise which was the only sea day.  However, the weather which was great for 4 days had some rain and almost a fall like weather on the last sea day, so there were no chair hogs to be found.  Clearly Royal provides better weather for their cruises! (kidding of course)

 

 

 

 

We also went back to the Serenity pool area which was at the back of the ship on deck 9, or the Lido deck. I just can’t get use to calling a deck by a name and not a number.  There was another pool, enough chairs and 2 elevated larger hottubs.  Also back there was the Pirate Pizza place.   Now, I’ll admit, while of course subjective, Carnival does win with better pizza!  Our first pizza on Royal over the years was from the really horrible stuff served in the windjammer on Voyager.   We did get a step above that on Majesty which had, I think, the first Sorrento’s above the WJ.  On Majesty it was the same not to great pizza, but if you hung around and saw when they put out a fresh pizza it was  a little better.  Sorrentos on the Freedom class ship was a little better, but not much. On Oasis the made to order personal was a little better.  On our last 2 Enchantment cruises I did find that pizza was actually decent, probably the best of Royal and I called it Royal pizza 2.0.   Carnival does appear to have the better pizza. Sorry I didn't get a photo of the place or the pizza

 

 

Getting back to the subject of the pool deck, the most direct path from the main pool to the serenity pool was down either side of the Lido deck and the Lido Buffet (Windjammer) so lots of people walking through the area in swim suits which would drive Royal cruisers crazy 😊  I’ll admit it did take us a while to learn our way around and how to get through the pool decks without cutting through the buffet area.

 

Ok, after touring the pool decks, we finally settled in for our first lunch in the Lido Buffet.  For variety of foods the Windjammer wins hands down!  I’ve been in the Windjammer of many different Royal ships (see signature) and I definitely like the Windjammer better (at least as far as the buffet)   Carnival did spread out the buffet into about 4 big stations to spread things out. That did keep lines short, but each line was the same and had one section of a few cold cuts with cheese slices and then a couple of hot items.   Carnival did have a few dining alternatives around the buffet area and at the nearby pools including the previous mentioned Pirate pizza.    In the Buffet area was a deli that had complimentary sandwiches and a salad that were quite good.  I had a Buffalo Chicken sandwich and later a meatball sandwich that came with fries. I enjoyed both.  I forget what sandwich my wife had, I’ll ask here when she wakes up.   There was a sushi place that we didn’t try, also a burrito/taco type place that we didn’t get to.   The idea of these alternatives did remind me of an Oasis class where in my opinion, Royal made it smaller for the number of people and then offered alternatives.   I call Royal the winner on the buffet, but those nearby alternatives were good including the Guy Fieri burgers. I loved those and they were definitely better than any hamburger I have had on any Royal ship.  (the hype was real)

 

Oh, as per my usual, I am doing this review on teh fly while trying to get caught up on my job, so it can be disjointed. I just found the only picture I took in our cabin (inside). This was the most comfortable bed I have had a cruise ship.

[BillOh]

We did end up with 3 or 4 meals at Guy's burgers. They kept slightly odd hours, but we managed to go at less busy times when we wanted them.  Also featured is my t-shirt a gift from my daughter.

 

You don't normally have to look at my face in my reviews, but this year my wife kept her phone on her and for the first ever Blue Collar Diamond (+) review she contributed some pictures.

 

[Jerseygirl1416]

I agree that Carnival wins hands down on the pizza. Also wins on the free “Mexican” place! And Guys Burgers are the best!

[BillOh]

4 minutes ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

I agree that Carnival wins hands down on the pizza. Also wins on the free “Mexican” place! And Guys Burgers are the best!

I don't know why, but we didn't try out that Mexican place! I agree it did look good. I guess I should have booked a 7 day!  In truth, my wife and I are both weight loss surgery patience, and sucess stories, so food isn't our highest priority, but we do like to eat, just not much.  I do regret not trying that Mexican place as it was no extra charge and there were enough places like this that the lines weren't too bad if you varied your routine just a bitg.

[jam19872016]

I noticed you referred to the aft pool area as Serenity. Was that an accident or did you not locate the Serenity area? It's much much larger than that area, although it does not have a pool.

[BillOh]

Just now, jam19872016 said:

I noticed you referred to the aft pool area as Serenity. Was that an accident or did you not locate the Serenity area? It's much much larger than that area, although it does not have a pool.

You are most likely right, there was the Serenity area up near the bow that we did get to and I was inadvertantly calling the aft pool the serenity area. I may have made that mix up because this area had no kids in the pool or hottub, so I improperly called this area the Serenity area.    We did walk up to that area and sit in one of the clamshells and watched the ocean in front of us.    I love relating my experiences, but don't claim to be an expert (they need a Senility area for me)   I do appreciate the correction, I want to remember it correctly!

[Jerseygirl1416]

9 minutes ago, BillOh said:

I don't know why, but we didn't try out that Mexican place! I agree it did look good. I guess I should have booked a 7 day!  In truth, my wife and I are both weight loss surgery patience, and sucess stories, so food isn't our highest priority, but we do like to eat, just not much.  I do regret not trying that Mexican place as it was no extra charge and there were enough places like this that the lines weren't too bad if you varied your routine just a bitg.

The breakfast burritos are really good too! Now you’ve got something to look forward to😊

[jam19872016]

1 minute ago, BillOh said:

You are most likely right, there was the Serenity area up near the bow that we did get to and I was inadvertantly calling the aft pool the serenity area. I may have made that mix up because this area had no kids in the pool or hottub, so I improperly called this area the Serenity area.    We did walk up to that area and sit in one of the clamshells and watched the ocean in front of us.    I love relating my experiences, but don't claim to be an expert (they need a Senility area for me)   I do appreciate the correction, I want to remember it correctly!

No worries, just didn't want you to think that was the only adult only area on the ship because you had missed Serenity. 

 

Enjoying your review thanks for doing it 👍. 

[BillOh]

1 minute ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

The breakfast burritos are really good too! Now you’ve got something to look forward to😊

That is good to know, the biggest area that I thought was lacking was breakfast! (at least in the Lido Buffet)  I love bacon and there was bacon rationing on this ship!  We could only get it twice in 5 days for breakfast.  On Royal, we will frequently do breakfast in the dining room, but I never heard if that was an option on Carnival

[BillOh]

Getting back to the subject of the pool deck, the most direct path from the main pool to the aft pool was down either side of the Lido deck and the Lido Buffet (Windjammer) so lots of people walking through the area in swim suits which would drive Royal cruisers crazy 😊  I’ll admit it did take us a while to learn our way around and how to get through the pool decks without cutting through the buffet area.

 

Ok, after touring the pool decks, we finally settled in for our first lunch in the Lido Buffet.  For variety of foods the Windjammer wins hands down!  I’ve been in the Windjammer of many different Royal ships (see signature) and I definitely like the Windjammer better (at least as far as the buffet)   Carnival did spread out the buffet into about 4 big stations to spread things out. That did keep lines short, but each line was the same and had one section of a few cold cuts with cheese slices and then a couple of hot items.   Carnival did have a few dining alternatives around the buffet area and at the nearby pools including the previous mentioned Pirate pizza.    In the Buffet area was a deli that had complimentary sandwiches and a salad that were quite good.  I had a Buffalo Chicken sandwich and later a meatball sandwich that came with fries. I enjoyed both.  I forget what sandwich my wife had, I’ll ask here when she wakes up.   There was a sushi place that we didn’t try, also a burrito/taco type place that we didn’t get to.   The idea of these alternatives did remind me of an Oasis class where in my opinion, Royal made it smaller for the number of people and then offered alternatives.   I call Royal the winner on the buffet, but those nearby alternatives were good including the Guy Fieri burgers. I loved those and they were definitely better than any hamburger I have had on any Royal ship.  (the hype was real)

 

Next up on our agenda was late dining. Unlike Royal, we were unable to check out our dining room assignment until the doors opened at 8:15.    Carnival Freedom has two dining rooms on deck 3 and we had the “Posh dining room”  assigned to a table for 12.  The décor was a bid gaudy as some people say, but it wasn’t bad looking. I know that statement is a bit ambiguous.   We took our seats and waited. After about 30 minutes of nobody showing up the wait team, which was quick with drinks , bread, and butter, took our order.   I remember ordering a meatball appetizer (I think I saw these meatballs in several locations and times around the ship. There was 3 small meatballs (marble size) in a bowl with some marinara.   They were ok, but I thought it was kind of small for an appetizer, but we aren’t big foodies.   Several tables around us were full, but we sat at this huge table alone.  30 minutes into our seating after our entre was served, another couple arrived and they were seated at the other side of a 10ft table, so there was no talking to them during dinner.  I don’t remember what I ordered as an entre, but I just remember it was unremarkable.  Our service was attentive and friendly, I just don’t remember much about the food.  I had their famous  Chocolate lava Cake. It was on the menu each day, it is pretty good.

 

After an ok meal, it is our tradition to get a hot tub soak to help us sleep, especially if we are not in a suite with a bath tub.  Now this isn’t a covid thing but more safety related.  The most famous case I know of was a child drowning in a pool on Royal a few years ago.  For that reason I’ve seen “lifeguards” by the pools and hottubs when they are open.  Because of the extra manpower the days of 24 hour access to pools and hottubs is over.  I’ve criticized Royal for inconsistent hours and availability.  At least one Carnival crew member told me all pools and tubs close at midnight. Of course it was 11:55pm when we got in the ones at the back of the ship.  I understand, but lament the decision.  So our first day of being a Carnival cruiser was over.  It was a fun and exciting day. 

 

 

Well, at this point, I am on page 2 and the ship hasn’t let the port yet, so I guess I had a good time!   We did tour the pool deck and saw all the pools and hottubs (please don’t call them Jacuzzis).  That is a little more difficult because of Freedom’s odd to me layout.    The main pool is in kind of a bowl that reminds me of a tennis stadium.  There is a pool that is comparable in size to one of Royals pools.  There are two bars nearby.  There were far less chairs directly around the pool, but lots of seats pretty close by that were just slightly above the pool, but still within 20 yards of walking.   Looking back now, this wasn’t too hard to get use to and we saw almost no chair hogging.  That was helped out by the fact that I would have went looking for chair hogs on the last day of the cruise which was the only sea day.  However, the weather which was great for 4 days had some rain and almost a fall like weather on the last sea day, so there were no chair hogs to be found.  Clearly Royal provides better weather for their cruises! (kidding of course)

 

We also went back to the Serenity pool area which was at the back of the ship on deck 9, or the Lido deck. I just can’t get use to calling a deck by a name and not a number.  There was another pool, enough chairs and 2 elevated larger hottubs.  Also back there was the Pirate Pizza place.   Now, I’ll admit, while of course subjective, Carnival does win with better pizza!  Our first pizza on Royal over the years was from the really horrible stuff served in the windjammer on Voyager.   We did get a step above that on Majesty which had, I think, the first Sorrento’s above the WJ.  On Majesty it was the same not to great pizza, but if you hung around and saw when they put out a fresh pizza it was  a little better.  Sorrentos on the Freedom class ship was a little better, but not much. On Oasis the made to order personal was a little better.  On our last 2 Enchantment cruises I did find that pizza was actually decent, probably the best of Royal and I called it Royal pizza 2.0.   Carnival does appear to have the better pizza. Sorry I didn't get a photo of the place or the pizza

 

 

Getting back to the subject of the pool deck, the most direct path from the main pool to the serenity pool was down either side of the Lido deck and the Lido Buffet (Windjammer) so lots of people walking through the area in swim suits which would drive Royal cruisers crazy 😊  I’ll admit it did take us a while to learn our way around and how to get through the pool decks without cutting through the buffet area.

 

Ok, after touring the pool decks, we finally settled in for our first lunch in the Lido Buffet.  For variety of foods the Windjammer wins hands down!  I’ve been in the Windjammer of many different Royal ships (see signature) and I definitely like the Windjammer better (at least as far as the buffet)   Carnival did spread out the buffet into about 4 big stations to spread things out. That did keep lines short, but each line was the same and had one section of a few cold cuts with cheese slices and then a couple of hot items.   Carnival did have a few dining alternatives around the buffet area and at the nearby pools including the previous mentioned Pirate pizza.    In the Buffet area was a deli that had complimentary sandwiches and a salad that were quite good.  I had a Buffalo Chicken sandwich and later a meatball sandwich that came with fries. I enjoyed both.  I forget what sandwich my wife had, I’ll ask here when she wakes up.   There was a sushi place that we didn’t try, also a burrito/taco type place that we didn’t get to.   The idea of these alternatives did remind me of an Oasis class where in my opinion, Royal made it smaller for the number of people and then offered alternatives.   I call Royal the winner on the buffet, but those nearby alternatives were good including the Guy Fieri burgers. I loved those and they were definitely better than any hamburger I have had on any Royal ship.  (the hype was real)

[BillOh]

Sorry, trying to review while working, I pasted some of the text twice. Makes for a confusing read. Sorry about that!

[BillOh]

Ok, Day 2 started with me sleeping very well in that nice comfortable bed.   I always wake up before my lovely wife and that was the case here.  We were on our way to Nassau and were about 2 hours out.  When my wife sleeps I like to go up and walk the running tracks.  Back in 2011 I kept my training going for my first marathon on Allure's track.   7 marathons later I retired from that, but I love to get up in the morning and walk a mile or two before waking the queen up for breakfast. 

 

Even though I had never sailed Carnival, I have always thought that Carnival did a better job with the running/walking tracks than Royal.  The ones on the Oasis class are better than previous classes of ships, but the airflow down there isn't quite as good and you definitely work up a sweat. On Voyager and Freedom class ships the running track is shared with a lot of lounge chairs. If you don't get your walk/run in before about 8am, you have to fight people moving their chairs on to the track, or bartenders delivering drink.  On the Oasis class you still have to deal with crew members using the track as a short cut. I once ran into a 9ft hippo in a pink tutu on Allure as they were leading her character from her dressing room up to the aqua theater by going backwards on the track.  

 

Every Carnival ship I have been on has a dedicated walking/running track that is free of chairs and other obstacles. 

 

It was wonderful weather, and I was as happy being there as I have been anywhere in the last year. There was a man who looked about my age (64) running around the track at about an 8 min mile pace (I use to pace 10k to marathons)  I was so happy for him and envious at the same time.  I can't run any more and mainly bicycle, which puts me in on the most hated groups in America.   This guy knew I was one of his kind. When I heard him coming I moved to the outside until he passed and extended some greetings.  A great start to the morning.

 

Score another for Carnival in the running track category.

 

I got Gina up for breakfast while checking the TV for our current ship position. We were supposed to be in Nassau around 10am and the map on the TV made it look like we were on schedule.  Another win for Carnival here. I thought their map channel looked and worked better than Royal.  The last new Royal ship I was on was Symphony and then, back in 2019 they were using the same map that was on my 2006 Voyager screen.  That app/map use to be displayed on old CRT televisions, and they never updated it  It doesn't look good on wide screen TVs in my opinion.  Another Carnival win. 

 

This breakfast was our first in the Lido buffet.   Again, Royal does the buffet much better with lots more choices.   The scrambled eggs were the worst I have ever had and Royal's scrambled eggs in the WJ are usually pretty bad.    The Lido buffet is properly sized for the number of people on the ship so lines were not bad, I just didn't like the offerings.  There was a bacon tray that was held back and you had to ask for it, and the guy tried to hand me 1 piece!    On a 5 day cruise I only saw the bacon twice!   I mentioned we are weight loss surgery patients so we don't eat that much.  My wife is happy to grab a bagel, some cheese and bacon for a quick meal.   She also like cottage cheese and that was only available sporadically -  Score one for Royal

 

 

[BillOh]

A couple of random thoughts prompted by my last post while I am at lunch!    I mentioned how much I enjoyed the running track.  This did bring back a not so bright memory of Carnival  In 2013 I went on my favorite cruise of all time on Allure.  I made so many wonderful friends that I still have today.  Among them was Lisa from Tuscon AZ. (I can't remember her screen name, but it had something to do with Karoke as she was quite a good Karoke singer I would learn on that trip.  I don't like Karoke and I can't sing, but Lisa was making her first Royal cruise after being on many Carnival cruises.   Anyway if you google  "Carnival Triumph poop cruise"  You will learn, or be reminded of one of Carnival's darker moments in history.     I was teasing Lisa about this when Jay Leno made a joke about this cruise by saying " Sewage and Karoke was everywhere!"  I found it funny. Karaoke is something I respect, but can't/won't do it and I try not to be around it.   Well I didn't go to any on board, so no opinion on who does it better !

 

One other thing I remember about that horrible cruise was CNN showed the ship finally arriving back in port and they zoomed in on a gentlemen on the running track happily getting his miles in.  That image stuck with me.   Being up on those tracks makes me happy.  While googling this article for this review I learned that Triumph was re-named Carnival Sunrise, I know find that ironic as we were right next to her in Nassau, but I didn't realize Carnival's 2 most infamous ships were side by side!   By the way, After we got off Freedom, she is doing a 2 week TA to Barcelona and then will go into dry dock and among other things get that funnel fixed!

[chill6x6]

Enjoying reading your review!  I haven't been on a Carnival ship in nine years and your review brings back some fond memories.  I've never been on Freedom but have been on several of Her sister ships.  

[Mikew0805]

On 9/26/2023 at 9:48 AM, BillOh said:

I don't know why, but we didn't try out that Mexican place! I agree it did look good. I guess I should have booked a 7 day!  In truth, my wife and I are both weight loss surgery patience, and sucess stories, so food isn't our highest priority, but we do like to eat, just not much.  I do regret not trying that Mexican place as it was no extra charge and there were enough places like this that the lines weren't too bad if you varied your routine just a bitg.

Oh yeah Bill.. those burritos are great.. especially the breakfast burritos. In my opinion, El Loco Fresh just does not compare to this place with all the made to order items.

On 9/26/2023 at 9:58 AM, Jerseygirl1416 said:

The breakfast burritos are really good too! Now you’ve got something to look forward to😊

They are very good! 

[perfect match]

On 9/25/2023 at 2:57 PM, BillOh said:

Hello again Nancy. You will have my Wonder review to look forward to too 🙂

I will most definitely be looking for it! We will be recently off Allure when you sail Wonder, so I’ll be suffering from some post cruise depression when your review comes out. Wonder will, at that point be the next vacation for us, so your timing is perfect!

 

I think one of the main things that keeps me booking cruises on Royal is those Freestyle soda machines. We love the variety they offer and the ability to get non alcoholic drinks we would never be able to get in a bar.

 

On 9/25/2023 at 3:48 PM, ValerieJo said:

When are you guys going on Wonder?  We’ll be on February 2025. 

 

We’re on Wonder Sept 8, 2024 celebrating our anniversary.The roll calls for our recent cruises have been pretty nonexistent so I’m hoping our Wonder cruise will have a more active one. 
 

 

 

[jean87510]

Great review so far!  I was just on the Elation in August on a 4 day and agree with your take on the food in the buffet.  And I've ran the indoor track on the Allure and Symphony as well.  Elation is really tiny so I stuck with the treadmill at the gym.  

Husband and I really like Carnival and have no issues.  It's different but fun.  It was also the 1st time in years that we sat on the pool deck on a sea day and watched the activities.  Also noted a lot of people dressed up to the nines for dinner every night.  We were the oddballs in our bb shorts and yoga pants.

[BillOh]

4 hours ago, perfect match said:

 

We’re on Wonder Sept 8, 2024 celebrating our anniversary. The roll calls for our recent cruises have been pretty nonexistent so I’m hoping our Wonder cruise will have a more active one. 
 

 

 

I may get thrown in cruise critic jail for mentioning it, and you know I love roll calls  and 20,000 of my 30,000 posts here are in roll calls, but the roll calls here are almost dead and people favor the ones on that not allowed social media site. They are far more active, but sometimes that isn't a good thing

[BillOh]

Around 11am the ship had released its guests to leave the ship. No big difference in how this ship lets people off a dock vs Royal.   I think both cruise lines handle this well. With no daily compass in the room (I don't know if Carnival use to have an equivalent or not) we didn't turn on the TV that morning so I didn't see the cruise director's morning show where he gave instructions.  We went to the elvator and it wouldn't let us go below deck 3 (don't remember what they call deck 3) so off at 3 we went and followed the crowd off. 

 

  There was the tiniest of difference in getting off and on this ship. On every Royal cruise I have been on they have people standing behind little portable booths where you scan your card and the security guy watches his monitor and waves you by, unless there is a problem.  On this Carnival ship they have security people standing apart holding devices about the size of a cell phone with scanners to read your card, they look at the display and wave you on.     I think this makes the area less crowded/cluttered and moves people along faster.  It also saves the port/ship people from having to lug those big heavy computer kiosks. around.  This I can see spreading industry wide.  The only negative is only a sentimental one.   When I board a ship for the first time in months, or years, I love when I am walking up the gangway and hear that BONG as the people ahead of me board, and then I hear it for me.  Now its a simple beep acknowledgement that sounds like a grocery store self service check out.  Ok, I'll give up nostalgia for speed!

 

Even though I got my steps in on the track Gina didn't.  Our excursion didn't meet till 12, but we got off and walked around the port area for awhile to look at the other ships. As mentioned Carnival Sunrise was next to us, but I was happy to see Independence of the Seas, and my person favorite Royal ship Freedom of the Seas!  Both Freedoms were together. I wish they were parked next to each other.  In the pic below that is Sunrise which is an older ship with the newer paint job.  Carnival Freedom is headed to Spain to get her funnel replaced and other updates, I'm guessing the paint job will get updated as well.  I'll try to come back to this review and update her pic when she returns to Port Canaveral next month.

 

This was our 12th time in 22 cruises we have been to Nassau.  If we were on one of our Favorite Royal ships I might have considered staying on the ship, but we are Yankees with winter coming so we wanted another beach. (Had we been on one of Carnival's newest/greatest, we might have considered staying on an exploring.)

 

My Nassau excursion history includes  3 different Segway excursions, a few Pearl Island, Blue Lagoon island, and other beaches, Scuba and Scuba/snorkel excursions.   I had proffered the Pearl Island over Blue Lagoon as  a beach day until Pearl Island added a adult only beach that included a better lunch and rum punches. I enjoyed that day a lot so we decided to go there again. All 3 stops would be beach days for us.   

 

Just like on Royal, the excursion vendors were in organized locations and easy to find.  (we know Nassau procedures pretty well.)  After taking our tickets the agent told us the normal adult beach, that we loved, was too rough and they were taking us to a calmer beach. I was at first disappointed and expected a inferior, quickly thrown together replacement. I am happy to be wrong and pleased with how well this turned out.  I imagine that the beach on their north coast, while beautiful, gets rough seas frequently so Blue Lagoon has perfected the alternative.  The food stands were close by and the beach was very nice. You could notice across the cove from us was a regular beach that had kids on it! But that aside this was pretty good. The only negative was the drinks were further away so instead of 6, I think I had 3.  

 

This little cove has nice sand and a calm water to swim in. The picture below shows an inlet that leads out to the ocean and you can see the waves on the shore next to the beach we used last year. A quick walk over and you could see their decision to move us to this beach was a smart safety conscious one.  The inlet in his picture funneled the tide and slowed it down giving us a gentle up and down that was nice to swim in or sit on the bottom.

 

The food was good, just needed more drinks or perhaps a water drinking dispenser.   This was another good day. I recommend the adult beach at Blue Lagoon. (I tried it now on both Carnival and Royal)     We were one of the last people to leave (happens every time with my wife and a beach)

 

At this time I would like to take a moment and dedicate a paragraph to my wife Gina. Of my 22 cruises involving 125 days on a ship and countless travel days with road trips and airline flights to 25 different ports on 11 different ships over the span of 17 years, she has been beside me the whole time.  Last December her company eliminated her job of 43 years. At first it seemed like they were throwing her away and she was devastated.  After their HR management pulled their head out of their collective @sses. They decided to give her severance to take her up to her planned retirement date, which she just announced to the same HR Bozos.   Well it ended up she basically got a year's vacation with benefits that are extending to us after her retirement. 

 

I could go on and on about this and I almost did, till I remembered this a cruise review, not a review of 21st century corporate America.  Anyway.... 🙂 Gina worked from the day after she left high school in 1979 to now for this company.  Things worked out and her stress level dropped and while at home since last Dec she has lost 40 pounds and her self esteem has jumped. I've always treated her like a beautiful woman, but men are supposed to improve with age, but in our family its the opposite! 

 

So anyway, all this verbiage was to allow me to show this pic.  When everyone else was leaving she was enjoying the beach to the last second and was out there all alone when she noticed me taking pictures and she started modeling to my surprise, this is a huge deal for her. 

 

#beachhairdontcare

 

 

[BillOh]

4 hours ago, jean87510 said:

t's different but fun.  

I think that might be the theme for this review, well said. 

[BillOh]

I promise to finish day 2 tomorrow!  At this rate I will finish this 5 day cruise review before Halloween. 

[jean87510]

Nice!  We haven't made it ever to Blue Lagoon.  Doing Atlantis next month and a snorkel trip in January called Sun Cay sunken Sculpture snorkel and Iguanas which I THINK is Pearl Island.  Did you find Blue Lagoon crowded?

 

Agree 100% with Carnivals system.  We were off very quickly in Bimini and Freeport in August.

 

We used the phone app all the time.  We were in a JS but only had room turn down 1x a day (no biggie) and no paperwork.  App was fine.

[lazydayz]

Thanks for the review.

 

Carnival does have breakfast in the dining room, where you can get bacon.  Bacon police only at Lido.

 

Carnival does have printed Fun Times.  Just have to tell your steward you want it or pick it up at Guest Services.

 

We enjoy both Carnival and Royal.  Just depends on what you are looking for.  While Royal does a better job with the shows, gotta love comedy on Carnival. And who doesn’t love a Guys burger?  

[perfect match]

6 hours ago, jean87510 said:

Nice!  We haven't made it ever to Blue Lagoon.  Doing Atlantis next month and a snorkel trip in January called Sun Cay sunken Sculpture snorkel and Iguanas which I THINK is Pearl Island.  Did you find Blue Lagoon crowded?

Are you planning on doing a review? I’d love to hear about that Sun Cay sunken sculpture snorkel and iguanas tour. I’ll go check out the Nassau forum. Maybe there’s info on it there. I’ve snorkeled around Pearl Island but never saw any sunken sculpture there. Maybe something they’ve added recently.