This Ain't No Disney Cruise, part 2 - My LIVE Trip Report From the Carnival Dream, January 13-27, 2024

[Honolulu Blue]

Good morning! This is day 3 of our journey.  Lots more to go.

 

I had a good sleep last night. I thought the seas were considerably less rocky, bumpy, and noisy. It's also warmer this morning.

 

Some of you are celebrating MLK Day. I have my own reason to celebrate - it's bacon day at the trough!

 

 

There were fewer people around the buffet, and indeed everywhere I decided to go. This is just fine with me.

 

I should note that I saw at least two people wearing Dallas shirts this morning. They didn't look so hot, but I didn't take time to delve into their feelings.

 

It's a busy day for me, as I need to communicate with the outside world,  go to the Morning Show, go on my Platinum scavenger hunt,  and maybe attend an evening show.

 

Thanks, as always for reading,  reacting, and commenting. 👍

 

 

[ChutChut]

Thanks so much for taking us along. Working lots of overtime (paid, of course) this weekend and your posts help relieve the "pain"....

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, ChutChut said:

Thanks so much for taking us along. Working lots of overtime (paid, of course) this weekend and your posts help relieve the "pain"....

I'm glad to be of assistance. 

[Honolulu Blue]

I went to the Morning Show and did the scavenger hunt. There was lighter attendance at the show than I expected due to an earlier time and a shipwide time change. We got to meet our shopping guide Allison. She's from Michigan. She's pictured on the right.

 

 

I went to Pixels and got my pin and gift. The gift is a toiletry bag.

 

 

I also picked up a picture map of this cruise. Not free, 5 bucks, but I thought it was worth it. They packaged it, so I'll photograph it later.

 

I picked up my casino freeplay and played video poker and cashed out this much.

 

 

I got one big full house and a couple of smaller hits.

 

I saw a kiosk where sports bets could be made. Betting is also available on the app. I wish I  could tell you I made a killing on the games yesterday,  but I  can't. ☹️

 

 

I'm in the area where some trivia is being held. It's noisy, but the best I could do. 

Edited January 15 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

Seussapalooza parade that went by as I was working on the above post. It turned out better than I thought, but keep in mind that this is only a test of several things.

 

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

I went to S.E.E. the Caribbean Show, also known as the shopping show. 

 

 

Our Carnival Insider (formerly shopping expert) Alison likes to talk, and did a lot of it. It didn't end until 12:20 as it ran right through the Captain's noon chat. Fortunately, she had alot to talk about and was never boring. She talked fast, which she said was a trait of Michiganders. Not true. I've lived here all my life, and she was a faster talker than most I encounter. She must have east coast roots. Mike, my CD from my Magic cruise in November, was from Joisey and talked similarly fast. I wonder if they know each other.

 

Alison talked about all the things we could buy onboard and in ports, and talked some about the ports themselves.

 

 

She also gave away some gifts of marginal value.

 

This wasn't a super hard sell, but it's more sales oriented than any talk I've seen since the restart. They've gotta pay off those bonds somehow!

 

BTW, her birthday is on this cruise. She told us how old she was,  but a gentleman never reveals a lady's age without her permission. 😁

 

Good news and bad news. The bad news is I lost my card in the maw of some slot machine. Getting it replaced involved a relatively painless trip to Guest Services. 

 

The good news is that my room was made up and ready by the time I made it back. Thanks Hery.

 

Edited January 15 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

Today's newsletter pieces:

 

 

 

 

[purpleally]

Alison is mistaken. We are not fast talkers 

[Honolulu Blue]

Good morning! As we approach Falmouth, Jamaica, please allow me to discuss four items.

 

First, this is the map of our itinerary around the Caribbean. Please feel free to follow along:

 

 

Second, dinner was a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and my strawberry delight that came by room service. They were delivered in about 20 minutes, which I thought was rather good, since I'm in steerage far away from the galleys. They were delivered on covered trays and plates, which was different than one of my deliveries on the Magic, which used a paper box for the sandwich.

 

It looks like they've added a burger to the menu. Sadly, I don't think Mr. Fieri would approve:

 

 

The sandwich was very good, up to its usual standards. The strawberries were a suitable reward for a Platinum guest like yours truly. 

 

Third, I didn't go to any shows last night, preferring to save my energy for today. 

 

And finally, let's talk about FB. I have not been able to access that site or any attached to it (including John Heald's page) since I boarded. It doesn't react like it does when I try to access one of the sites Carnival blocks. No, it tries to go through then times out. FB isn't important enough to me to go tech support to get to the bottom of this. But maybe I'll try to access it in one of these ports to try to figure out what's up.

 

It looks like it's going to be a nice day in port, if a little warm. My excursion starts around 10 and is scheduled to last about 4 1/2 hours. Stay tuned for future reports.

 

Edited January 16 by Honolulu Blue

[pe4all]

Have a great day!  Love the Philly cheesesteak from room service.  The chicken fingers are also really, really good.  I miss not having them on the buffet as they used to "back when."

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, pe4all said:

Have a great day!  Love the Philly cheesesteak from room service.  The chicken fingers are also really, really good.  I miss not having them on the buffet as they used to "back when."

Thanks! I'm glad there's another cheesesteak fan around here. I think they do really good work with them. I thought about getting the chicken fingers yesterday,  but decided against it. With your recommendation, maybe I'll take another look later in this trip.

[Honolulu Blue]

We've docked at Falmouth.  There's a Royal ship beside us. I'll investigate it later. We haven't been cleared yet.

 

Breakfast was super busy today. So much so that I went up a deck to the seating by Pasta Bella. My friend and I got a nice view of the peasants - er, passengers - down below:

 

 

I went down to Guest Services to pick up another newsletter. I  guess this is how it's going to be. I don't mind too much, but I really think Carnival needs to make a choice on this and be consistent fleetwide.

 

 

[angelsfort]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I went down to Guest Services to pick up another newsletter. I guess this is how it's going to be. I don't mind too much, but I really think Carnival needs to make a choice on this and be consistent fleetwide.

 

In our past cruises, we were able to ask our room steward to get us a copy of the FunTimes.  We never had to go to guest services to pick one up.

I honestly don't know if it was an inconvenience for him, we just mentioned it on our first day and asked how we could get physical paper copies each day and he told us he'd take care of it.  and he did!

[Honolulu Blue]

6 hours ago, angelsfort said:

In our past cruises, we were able to ask our room steward to get us a copy of the FunTimes.  We never had to go to guest services to pick one up.

I honestly don't know if it was an inconvenience for him, we just mentioned it on our first day and asked how we could get physical paper copies each day and he told us he'd take care of it.  and he did!

I could ask Hery for one, but I pass by GS every day anyway, so why inconvenience him if I don't need to?

[karriec]

How was your excursion?

[Honolulu Blue]

Where was I? Oh yes. We were cleared to enter Falmouth about 8:40 - 20 minutes before our original arrival time. It was starting to get warm already.

 

The Royal ship alongside us turned out to be Odyssey of the Seas. It was big, but not one of their biggest.

 

 

i saw some kids and families while out in the terminal area. Im sure they weren't from our ship.

 

It took us a while to get started. We left the terminal half an hour late. Then, soon after we left, we had a "situation" with one of our fellow passengers. Modesty disallows me from saying more, but it delayed us some more.

 

Our tour guide Katrina and driver Patrick peppered us with facts about Jamaica and the areas we went through. There were times we stopped briefly for photos,  like this one for the Jamaica Swamp Safari Village, which was used in some scenes for the James Bond flick "Live and Let Die".

 

 

We made four official stops. The first one was at a scenic point that happened to have a gift shop nearby.

 

 

 

The second stop was at a Margaritaville with more views. 

 

 

 

The third stop was at a restaurant called Scotchie's that served jerked chicken, jerked pork, and various drinks.

 

 

Katrina took orders from the passengers so we could get the food and consume it relatively quickly. I'm a big fan of jerk chicken,  so I  had that. I was joined by maybe a third of the other passengers. The others stopped by for souvenirs or bought various drinks.

 

The chicken was very good, by the way. 

 

Our last stop was at an outdoor mall that had a lot - shopping, eateries, scenery, and free Wi-Fi. 

 

 

 

P.S. I was on wifi long enough to discover that FB hadn't disappeared into a black hole and that Carnival seems to be doing something to block it. 

 

After this stop, we headed back to theport. One very unusual thing is that the port area was nearly clear of all vehicle traffic. Often coming back in other places at other times, the port is a mess of vehicle traffic and it takes a long tome to get through. Again,  this wasn't true for us on this day and I appreciated it. 

 

Thanks Patrick and Katrina for the enjoyable and informative tour. Also thanks to my fellow passengers. Special thanks to the nice lady who allowed me to sit next to her on the bus. 

 

One note is that it was very windy as we returned to the port area. The winds must have been around 20 mph sustained with higher gusts. That cut down on my photo taking.

 

 

I made it back on the ship about 4 - too late for the discount song competition. Oh well.

 

And thus ends another exciting day. Tomorrow will be a other sea day before we arrive in Aruba. Thank you for stopping by.

[Honolulu Blue]

8 minutes ago, karriec said:

How was your excursion?

Funny you should ask that... the full review is in the post immediately above this one. TL,DR: 👍👍

[Frank12]

That's odd about FB.  We were just on the Liberty and it worked fine.

[Honolulu Blue]

Well well, I passed by my mailbox on the way to dinner and what did I see? I'll give you a hint: it wasn't Park West flyers.

 

 

 

They were placed in everyone's box in this section of my deck, so it's not like I was singled out. 

 

BTW, dinner was lasagna, pork loin, pineapple slices, lemonade, and water. It was pretty good- better than most things I could whip up at home, and better for me than anything in the frozen food aisle. 

 

I don't have any plans for entertainment tonight, so I'll bid everyone a farewell for now. I'll see you all tomorrow morning. Probably. 😁

Edited January 17 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

Good morning. We're speeding away from Jamaica on our way to Aruba. It was a windy night last night. And it's still somewhat breezy today. 

 

The Internet feels faster than has this whole trip so far. Here's proof from an hour and a half ago:

 

 

It's laundry day today! 

 

 

No, Hudson did NOT go in the bag. I fear fir anyone who tries to handle him when wet. 😁

 

Is it just me, or have the bags gotten smaller since the restart? I appreciate the slightly less fragile bags they're using these days (they feel like cheap grocery store bags, rather than just cheap bags), but they do seem smaller. Anyway, I packed as much as I could in there and plan to send the rest in tomorrow. 

 

Another reason to be thankful is that it was bacon day at the trough. I got a generous helping thanks to a friendly crew member. I also had some powdered eggs, pastries,  OJ, and that passion juice mix. It was all good. 

 

As I was leaving the buffet, I saw a lady in an Iowa t shirt. Would it have been inappropriate of me to say I love her tight ends? 🤪

 

There's not a lot on the planned schedule today. There's the Morning Show soon, and then some 70s and 80s song trivia this afternoon. 

 

I shall return. 

[Honolulu Blue]

I had some fun in the casino earlier. While playing out some $$$$ that I charged to the room, I got on a big winning streak on this video blackjack game:

 

 

I ended up $190 on the silly thing.

 

 

I guess they do let us punters win on these things occasionally. I also got 64 points for this activity ($5 per point). That might get me some notice at Carnival Degenerate Gambler Headquarters,  but it's quite all right if it doesn't. 

 

I then took a few bucks and used the sports betting kiosk. BTW, it only takes cash and winning tickets - bets can't be charged to the room. I made a couple of bets on this weekend's NFL playoff games. I'll keep the details to myself for now. Let me just say that I hope I win one or both of them.

 

After that I went to the Wake Morning Show. Tyler was there, along with Fun Staff member Josh (on the left in this picture).

 

 

They did some a couple of trivia questions on our next stops, Aruba and Curacao. What country can you see from Aruba on a clear day? I was the first to answer, and I was correct! I was promised a medallion for this, but they skedaddled before I could firm up the arrangements. I'll see Tyler around, certainly at the next Morning Show in three days, so I'm not too worried. 

 

I also knew the answer to Curacao question - what major sport has more Curacao residents per capita than any other? Someone else beat me to the draw that time. Fine with me. I can't win them all. 🥉

 

More fun was had at the show, and then it ended.

[Honolulu Blue]

The cabin was made up by the time I made it back to my cabin. Thanks Hery.

 

 

We're still making good progress to Aruba. It's warm outside. The ride has been bumpy, but nothing I haven't been able to handle. 

 

 

 

I went to 70s and 80s music trivia at Ocean Plaza. This was... quite the setting. 

 

 

It was crowded, noisy, and warm. I normally avoid places like this, but there was nothing I could do if I wanted to stick around. 

 

Nikki was the hostess of the trivia. She did her best to keep it light, but this was HARD - short snippets played only once, with some obscure songs.

 

There were 15 songs total, and the good news is I aced the 80s portion. The bad news is she only played 5 songs from the 80s. I struggled with the 10 songs from the 70s and I only got 19 out of 30. The mother-daughter duo I sat with did better than that, and the winner had 29 out of 30.

 

I then went up to Guy's for a late lunch / early dinner. It was as good as ever. 👍

 

And now I'm back to the cabin. There's a small chance I could do the 80s deck party thing, but as of right now, I'd rather stay in.

 

Thanks everyone for stopping by. 🥰

[Honolulu Blue]

Hery stopped by and delivered my now cleaned laundry to me. 10 hours, I think that's really good. And, BTW,  they did good work. 

 

 

He also delivered a newsletter for tomorrow.  I don't think I've ever seen one with so much empty space on it.

 

 

[Saint Greg]

On 1/16/2024 at 6:21 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

 

And finally, let's talk about FB. I have not been able to access that site or any attached to it (including John Heald's page) since I boarded. It doesn't react like it does when I try to access one of the sites Carnival blocks. No, it tries to go through then times out. FB isn't important enough to me to go tech support to get to the bottom of this. But maybe I'll try to access it in one of these ports to try to figure out what's up.

 

@sid_9169 reported the same issue on Celebration. Interesting since Carnival seems to have fully adopted that site like they own stock in it or something. I wouldn’t care but I bet there are a lot of people in those groups that are unhappy.

 

[Saint Greg]

12 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Is it just me, or have the bags gotten smaller since the restart? 

I definitely feel like the white ones were bigger.