LIVE - Sometimes - Carnival Celebration 6/9 - 6/15

[jimbo5544]

Flying in the same day is always exhausting.  Picks my butt.  The 4 times we did Excel suites we made minimal time in Loft 19. Mainly because we usually travel with others.  One advantage of just being the two of you is more opportunity there.  Be interested to hear your thoughts.

[TinkLoverSam]

Looking forward to the crochet content. I'm a knitter and looking forward to knitting and people watching on our next cruise in November. I'm planning to read and knit and chill with the hubby for our cruise. It will be our first vacation in almost 10 years without kids...

[Host CMLA]

Y'all I've run into an issue that may make some of the ladies gasp.  It might seem silly to many of you but this involves hair appliances, specifically items with a heating element. 

 

This morning when I went to do my hair, not all of my hair appliances worked.  I have a L'ange oval hair dryer brush.  It worked but it doesn't have a heating element.  My flat iron and my curling wand would not stay on.  To me this is a big deal.  This is how I get ready for the day and put my best face forward.  I have ridiculously curly hair.  Tight curls that go everywhere.  I use the oval drying brush to straighten my hair but there are sometimes kinks and I use the flat iron to flatten those out.  Once my hair is pretty straight, I use a curling wand thing to add back in big waves so my hair isn't flat.  Again, this may seem ridiculous to some that can shower and go.  I'm not that person.  

 

Maintenance came to the room and the outlets do have power but the maintenance guy said to me, 'We have this issue with a lot of ladies.  The outlet is not friendly to the thing they want to plug in.' Sorry?  The outlet isn't friendly to my hair appliance?  He said, you want it to heat up but the outlet won't support that.  So if you have anything with a heating element like a flat iron, it will not stay on or heat up.  Doesn't that seem like an issue to anyone else but me?  Seeing as though tons and tons of people use flat irons.  I bought my hair appliances specifically to work on cruises.  I got dual voltage and timers on them so they wouldn't stay on and be a safety hazard.  

 

This is an issue for me and I'm stuck.  😞  

[TravelE]

5 minutes ago, Host CMLA said:

Y'all I've run into an issue that may make some of the ladies gasp.  It might seem silly to many of you but this involves hair appliances, specifically items with a heating element. 

 

This morning when I went to do my hair, not all of my hair appliances worked.  I have a L'ange oval hair dryer brush.  It worked but it doesn't have a heating element.  My flat iron and my curling wand would not stay on.  To me this is a big deal.  This is how I get ready for the day and put my best face forward.  I have ridiculously curly hair.  Tight curls that go everywhere.  I use the oval drying brush to straighten my hair but there are sometimes kinks and I use the flat iron to flatten those out.  Once my hair is pretty straight, I use a curling wand thing to add back in big waves so my hair isn't flat.  Again, this may seem ridiculous to some that can shower and go.  I'm not that person.  

 

Maintenance came to the room and the outlets do have power but the maintenance guy said to me, 'We have this issue with a lot of ladies.  The outlet is not friendly to the thing they want to plug in.' Sorry?  The outlet isn't friendly to my hair appliance?  He said, you want it to heat up but the outlet won't support that.  So if you have anything with a heating element like a flat iron, it will not stay on or heat up.  Doesn't that seem like an issue to anyone else but me?  Seeing as though tons and tons of people use flat irons.  I bought my hair appliances specifically to work on cruises.  I got dual voltage and timers on them so they wouldn't stay on and be a safety hazard.  

 

This is an issue for me and I'm stuck.  😞  

Have you tried it with an extension cord? Also the salon may be able to help you out or at least let you use an outlet for 20 minutes or so.

 

 

[pcvtmom]

I've read that certain brands and types aren't compatible to the ships. My daughter has the same hair profile as you, so she has to have a straightener, etc., to travel. She's had no problems whatsoever with her appliances, but I know some people do.  Is yours ceramic? I think I remember that some of those were problematic.

[Host CMLA]

4 minutes ago, TravelE said:

Have you tried it with an extension cord? Also the salon may be able to help you out or at least let you use an outlet for 20 minutes or so.

 

 

 

I do have an extension cord and I tried that.  No go.  😞 

3 minutes ago, pcvtmom said:

I've read that certain brands and types aren't compatible to the ships. My daughter has the same hair profile as you, so she has to have a straightener, etc., to travel. She's had no problems whatsoever with her appliances, but I know some people do.  Is yours ceramic? I think I remember that some of those were problematic.

 

One of them is ceramic.  The other is a flat iron that I've used on 5 or 6 different Carnival ships and never had this issue.  I understand that this will seem like a total non issue to others but this is a big deal to me.  It changes how I look and how I feel about myself.  I don't need to go into all my self esteem issues but not all of us feels great about ourselves everyday.    😞  I've got to figure out what I'm gonna do.  

[TravelE]

Check out these threads:

 

 

 

Also, try the outlets in the spa or gym. Maybe you can buy a dual voltage brand in port or check with your roll call group.

 

[Host CMLA]

2 hours ago, TinkLoverSam said:

Looking forward to the crochet content. I'm a knitter and looking forward to knitting and people watching on our next cruise in November. I'm planning to read and knit and chill with the hubby for our cruise. It will be our first vacation in almost 10 years without kids...

 

So far the crochet stuff hasn't left the bag!  I think I'll work on it this afternoon.  Maybe relax on the balcony.  I brought some green and brown for the project I'm doing.  I'll attach a picture of the things I'm making.  I'm making pine cones and pine needles for a decoration for my mantle.  

 

 

3 minutes ago, TravelE said:

Check out these threads:

 

 

 

Also, try the outlets in the spa or gym. Maybe you can buy a dual voltage brand in port or check with your roll call group.

 

 

Thanks!  I'll read through those threads.  My appliances are dual voltage.  Someone suggested using a voltage converter to plug into that outlet.  Might be worth a try for me.  Thank you.  

[PrincessPatti]

30 minutes ago, Host CMLA said:

 

These are adorable!  Love them!

[CruisinMama2003]

We just got off the Jubilee last weekend and the same thing happened to me, my Conair flat iron would not work! Amd this was day 1 with 2 sea days before a port 😬 Ive never ever had this problem before on any of my cruises. I panicked a bit, and went to the shops to see if they sold flat irons lol i only found a huge round heated brush, not going to work for me. All i could do was blow dry my hair and use a reg brush to "straighten" my hair. Thankfully ive got thin straight hair but it frizzes in the caribbean heat hence the flat iron i need. 

 

I wish you luck on this and hope 🤞 a converter will get your iron working again

[Host CMLA]

Just now, CruisinMama2003 said:

We just got off the Jubilee last weekend and the same thing happened to me, my Conair flat iron would not work! Amd this was day 1 with 2 sea days before a port 😬 Ive never ever had this problem before on any of my cruises. I panicked a bit, and went to the shops to see if they sold flat irons lol i only found a huge round heated brush, not going to work for me. All i could do was blow dry my hair and use a reg brush to "straighten" my hair. Thankfully ive got thin straight hair but it frizzes in the caribbean heat hence the flat iron i need. 

 

I wish you luck on this and hope 🤞 a converter will get your iron working again

 

Thank you for understanding.  I felt a bit silly writing about it but this is a big deal to some people.  This changes how we get ready and how we feel about ourselves.  Not good.  I do have a hair clip with me.  I think I'll use my oval dryer brush to get out all the kinky curls then put it up since I can't flatten out the kinks or add back in the relaxed curls I like.  It just won't look like me or how I usually look.  sigh 🤷‍♀️

[Host CMLA]

12 minutes ago, PrincessPatti said:

These are adorable!  Love them!

 

Thanks!  We have this fake bough I bought years ago at a thrift store that I use on the mantle.  Every year pine needles fall off and it's in bad shape.  I thought, I bet I can make something that would work.  If I use different weight yarn and different size hooks I can make a whole stable of pine cones with pine needles.  

[jimbo5544]

We had a somewhat similar problem on our MG cruise (not me…lol). Ended up that it mattered what time of day it was (other current drag????, not sure).  Maybe try at another time?

[Host CMLA]

First full day at sea.  I already did my dissertation on my hair appliances so I won't get in to that here. 

 

After 8 full hours of sleep I got up and took a shower.  I like to think I'm a pretty smart person.  Let me tell you, you will question every bit of smarts you have when you go to use someone else's shower.  Anyone else?  I got in to the shower and was met with this.  Photo attached.  What would you do?  I turned all the knobs.  Tried pulling them.  Turning again.  Nothing.  Searched the rest of the shower.  No other things to turn.  I had to wake my son up and ask him.  He laughed at me.  You're supposed to PUSH the center of one of those white knobs.  How am I supposed to know that?  That's not obvious to me.  Then I felt silly.  🤬 Of course that worked and I had a great shower.  The rain shower head in this shower is amazing.  The best rainfall shower head I've ever used.  I could have stayed in there for an hour.  

 

We headed to brunch at 11.  Zoe the concierge lady that comes with this room made the reservation for us meaning we didn't have to use the Hub app to request a table then wait.  We showed up and were seated immediately just like last night at dinner and we got a super table.  We got something in a quiet area that wasn't too crowded with a gorgeous view.  Maybe that comes with the room too?  

 

For breakfast my son and I both had a bagel with cream cheese and salmon and eggs benedict.  Both were good.  Service was attentive too.  We were in and out in under an hour.  One thing I did notice at brunch and at dinner last night is that there are tons of family groups traveling together.  Tables and tables of 12 to 20 cruisers.  You do not want to be behind them at a photo stop because they will have dozens of photos taken with any number of people in their group.  No shame on them just don't wait for them to be done.  It could be a while.  

 

I went to the casino after we ate.  I didn't have a ton of luck last night but I'm no quitter!  I played a few of my favorite Dollar Storm machines before sitting at the Checkered Flag machine that I love and hitting a few sizable jackpots.  No handpays but just under.  Enough to get me back close to even and make losing last night not feel so bad.  I'm up around 4000 points on my card.  I'm usually good for 10k to 15k points.  I'm on track for that.  Again, that's how you get the casino offers.  It's all about the points.  

 

I did walk by an interactive screen that has some very cool features.  On one screen you can see where every Carnival ship is around the world and you can click on a ship and learn something about it.  On another screen you can see all the nations of the staff on the ship.  On another screen you can add your own pins for places you've cruised to or you can put a pin in where you're from.  I'm attaching a picture.  This activity was somewhere near Emeril's.  

 

I headed back to the room after playing for about an hour.  Now I'm reading menus to see what's for dinner.

 

One other thing.  I purchased the single device premium internet plan.  I like to have access to everything I want access to.  For our 6 day cruise, with 15% discount for purchasing it before we sailed, it was $127.  It's worth it to me.  Turns out I can do all the streaming that I want to.  I'm able to stream live web based news.  I was able to log in to my Peacock account last night and stream murder shows before bed.  I'm going to try streaming a movie thru Netflix later.  That kind of access if a benefit to me because I do spend time in the room and the options on the TV in the room are bad bad.  I know they want you out and about doing activities and buying drinks but I want to relax in the room and the internet package is something I'll continue to spend money on.  

 

 

[Host CMLA]

BTW the shower isn't dirty.  It's some fabricated material that has discolorations throughout.  

[Host CMLA]

12 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

We had a somewhat similar problem on our MG cruise (not me…lol). Ended up that it mattered what time of day it was (other current drag????, not sure).  Maybe try at another time?

 

You might be on to something because I used them last night before dinner without incident.  

[jimbo5544]

Just now, Host CMLA said:

 

You might be on to something because I used them last night before dinner without incident.  

It was our grand daughter in next cabin.  We were out and we went back into the the room for her to show me (couple hours later, it worked).  Happened one other time, but she brought it into our room and it worked….  The plug back in her room worked (when I plugged in a phone with charger it worked, but the straitener or whatever it was still did not in their cabin.  

[jimbo5544]

I have walked by that many many times and never knew it was interactive.  Huh.🤔

[Host CMLA]

2 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

It was our grand daughter in next cabin.  We were out and we went back into the the room for her to show me (couple hours later, it worked).  Happened one other time, but she brought it into our room and it worked….  The plug back in her room worked (when I plugged in a phone with charger it worked, but the straitener or whatever it was still did not in their cabin.  

 

All the other things work in the outlets.  Phone chargers, etc just not the hair things with a heating element.  

[jimbo5544]

1 minute ago, Host CMLA said:

 

All the other things work in the outlets.  Phone chargers, etc just not the hair things with a heating element.  

Sounds exactly like what they experienced.

[PlanoTim]

1 hour ago, TravelE said:

Check out these threads:

 

 

 

Also, try the outlets in the spa or gym. Maybe you can buy a dual voltage brand in port or check with your roll call group.

 

My comment is the top one quoted in the above post.  We ended up our ceramic blow dryer on our Carnival Jubilee cruse a couple months back.  It worked just fine.

[fla33023]

2 hours ago, Host CMLA said:

 

I do have an extension cord and I tried that.  No go.  😞 

 

One of them is ceramic.  The other is a flat iron that I've used on 5 or 6 different Carnival ships and never had this issue.  I understand that this will seem like a total non issue to others but this is a big deal to me.  It changes how I look and how I feel about myself.  I don't need to go into all my self esteem issues but not all of us feels great about ourselves everyday.    😞  I've got to figure out what I'm gonna do.  

This would be a very big issue to me and lots of other women I know! I don't think it's about self-esteem. It's about, "I don't want to look bad on this cruise that I spent all this money on!" I packed all my cute clothes and cute shoes but I have bad hair?? Ugh! Glad to read that maybe it's just a time of day issue or you can resolve with another plug. I'm loving this 'sometime live' review of yours! How's your son? Is he having fun? What's he up to? My 14-year-old tends to lay low with her Sorrentos and wi-fi. Lol

[vswan]

59 minutes ago, Host CMLA said:

I like to think I'm a pretty smart person.  Let me tell you, you will question every bit of smarts you have when you go to use someone else's shower.  Anyone else?  I got in to the shower and was met with this.  Photo attached.  What would you do?  I turned all the knobs.  Tried pulling them.  Turning again.  Nothing.  Searched the rest of the shower.  No other things to turn.  I had to wake my son up and ask him. 

I was married to a plumber with more than 40 years experience, a master plumbers license and a foreman of many jobs. Neither of us could figure it out and had to ask the room steward how to work the shower on one of our cruises.

[wrcjr98]

Tell Zoe that you need your hair appliances to work!!

[pe4all]

If my hair straightening iron with comb wouldn't work I wouldn't leave the cabin.  Otherwise small children would scream and hide and other people would faint looking at my hair!