Live B2B on the Carnival Fantasy, 8.27.09 & 8.31.09.....

[wasiii]

Morning all, since I have a new computer this year I'll try this again. Last year my computer stopped connecting to the ship's Internet during the B2Bs until our last day on the ship.

 

My 11 yo son and I are from Long Island, New York. This will be cruises 9 & 10 for me (I'm gonna be Platinum baby) and cruises 7 & 8 for him.

 

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

 

We had a 12 PM flight out of LaGuardia. I don't like flying out the day of the cruise because I hear too many horror stories. Ran into a little traffic on the way but made it to the airport 1.5 hours befor the flight. At the airport, my son ended up getting sick in the bathroom after I had gotten him a piece of Sabarro's pizza. He hadn't even taken a bite, it was just from the smell. I told him, "We'll only go to the ship's infirmary if you're on death's door, otherwise they will quarantine you in the room for a couple of days". ;)

 

We flew on Northwest and took ended up taking off about 12:15 PM. The flight was pretty uneventful. It was only about half full, our row had all 3 seats taken, the third person was not traveling with us, so the Cabin Attendant (I hope I called them the proper name :rolleyes:) told us we could move to another row, which we did. We had a crying baby for a little while, no biggie. Had no turbulance to speak of and ended up landing a half hour early, first time that ever happened to me.

 

Grabbed an Airport Shuttle at $15 per person, not including gratuity, which they were nice enough to point out in the bus with a nice big sign. It took about 25 minutes to get to the hotel, there were 2 other stops before our Hotel.

 

Had a room at the Drury Hotel. It is a very nice looking hotel. Walking in the first time I was awed by how nice it really was. It had a beautiful lobby and it continued to be that way every place we went in there. Had to use your key in the elevator to be able to get to your floor.

 

We had room 313. A big, spacious room with high ceilings and a view of the corner of Poydras and Carondelet (which if you continue on Carondelet, about 3 or 4 blocks it turns into Bourbon Street). So we walked up there to see what it was all about, it was about 4 PM.

 

This was our first time in NOLA. It is a quaint old town. Walking up Bourbon with my 11 yo son saw lots of T-Shirts that he wanted to get but couldn't because of what they said on them. His favorite was "God loves you. But everyone else thinks your an a$$h***". To tell you the truth, that was my personal favorite too. ;)

 

We decided to have lunch at the famous Pat O'Brien's. I wanted to try one of their Hurricanes. Walking up Bourbon, we missed it and walking back on the other side of the street we found it. It wasn't too busy at this time of day. Got a table for 2. There were 2 other tables of diners and a few people at the bar. My son ordered chicken fingers and coke (typical kid) and I ordered a cheeseburger and Hurricane (typical dad). The Hurricane was pretty refreshing and very sweet. For my second one, I told him I only wanted a little bit of ice. He brought my second and it had more ice than the first. I called him back and said he must not have understood me, that I only wanted a little ice. He said okay, took my drink and brought on back with a little ice, but the drink was only half full. For each Hurricane they add $3 to the bill for the glass. You have to bring them up to the bar yourself to get the money back for each.

 

We walked back to the hotel, went to our room and my son found a bag on the bed with two cameras in it and a picture of a Black gentleman and woman. We had no idea how they got there. We went up to the rooftop pool for a while. It's on the 10th floor, kind of small but refreshing. There was also a jacuzzi we used for a while. We went back to our room, dried off went down to the free happy hour. You are allowed to have 3 drinks each. They also offer free soda and popcorn 3-10 PM. We saw a couple of people who looked like the people in the picture and I went up to get the bag. I got to the room and it was gone. I came down and asked Logan where he left it and he said right on the bed. I went to the front desk because I wasn't too happy about people going in and out of my room while we're not there. I spoke to the girl and she said that she had delivered the package to the wrong room, realized her mistake later, went back to get it and brought it to the correct room. I asked the girl at the desk to see the Manager and was told there was none and wouldn't be in till between 10-11 am the next morning. I said "Great, we'll be gone by then so that's no help".

 

When I got back to my room there was a light lit up on the phone telling me that the front desk had a message for me. I called up and the front desk said that she called her Manager and what they were going to do for us was comp the night for my inconvenience. So we got a free night.

 

That was really nice of them and I all I wanted to do was tell the Manager about my displeasure.

 

I'm glad I'm coming back here post-B2B. The Drury is a really nice hotel.

 

We went back to the room and a couple of hours later walked down the street to get a pizza at Domino's. Brought it back to the hotel and ate it while we watched TV.

 

We fell asleep about 10 PM. I had a very restless night sleep. I woke up about 2:30 AM and my son woke up around 3 AM. We've been awake most of the time ever since.

 

Thursday, August 27, 2009, Embarkation day number 1.

 

We went downstairs this morning for our free buffet breakfast which included scrambled eggs, sausage, French toast, biscuits with gravy, bagels, bread and a Belgium Waffle maker, coffee, tea and juice. The little that we ate was pretty good. Didn't want to eat too much, am saving myself for a burger on the Lido deck.

 

Well, have to take a shower and get to the port. Want to be one of the first people on the ship. Will update later on after getting on the ship.

 

:D

 

wasiii

[CruiserVette]

Sounds like everything got off to a good start, Bill. See you Monday! :D

[cjkumbaya]

I really enjoy live reviews - thanks so much for taking the time to share your cruise with us. Looking forward to more!!!

[chasinraynbowz]

Yayyy Bill and Logan!!! So happy you are doing the "Live From".... it will make our wait a little more enjoyable!!

 

See you on Monday ;)

 

Pam

[peachcrek]

to bad he does not have a web cam that would be pretty awesome !!!!

[peachcrek]

Morning all, since I have a new computer this year I'll try this again. Last year my computer stopped connecting to the ship's Internet during the B2Bs until our last day on the ship.

 

My 11 yo son and I are from Long Island, New York. This will be cruises 9 & 10 for me (I'm gonna be Platinum baby) and cruises 7 & 8 for him.

 

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

 

We had a 12 PM flight out of LaGuardia. I don't like flying out the day of the cruise because I hear too many horror stories. Ran into a little traffic on the way but made it to the airport 1.5 hours befor the flight. At the airport, my son ended up getting sick in the bathroom after I had gotten him a piece of Sabarro's pizza. He hadn't even taken a bite, it was just from the smell. I told him, "We'll only go to the ship's infirmary if you're on death's door, otherwise they will quarantine you in the room for a couple of days". ;)

 

We flew on Northwest and took ended up taking off about 12:15 PM. The flight was pretty uneventful. It was only about half full, our row had all 3 seats taken, the third person was not traveling with us, so the Cabin Attendant (I hope I called them the proper name :rolleyes:) told us we could move to another row, which we did. We had a crying baby for a little while, no biggie. Had no turbulance to speak of and ended up landing a half hour early, first time that ever happened to me.

 

Grabbed an Airport Shuttle at $15 per person, not including gratuity, which they were nice enough to point out in the bus with a nice big sign. It took about 25 minutes to get to the hotel, there were 2 other stops before our Hotel.

 

Had a room at the Drury Hotel. It is a very nice looking hotel. Walking in the first time I was awed by how nice it really was. It had a beautiful lobby and it continued to be that way every place we went in there. Had to use your key in the elevator to be able to get to your floor.

 

We had room 313. A big, spacious room with high ceilings and a view of the corner of Poydras and Carondelet (which if you continue on Carondelet, about 3 or 4 blocks it turns into Bourbon Street). So we walked up there to see what it was all about, it was about 4 PM.

 

This was our first time in NOLA. It is a quaint old town. Walking up Bourbon with my 11 yo son saw lots of T-Shirts that he wanted to get but couldn't because of what they said on them. His favorite was "God loves you. But everyone else thinks your an a$$h***". To tell you the truth, that was my personal favorite too. ;)

 

We decided to have lunch at the famous Pat O'Brien's. I wanted to try one of their Hurricanes. Walking up Bourbon, we missed it and walking back on the other side of the street we found it. It wasn't too busy at this time of day. Got a table for 2. There were 2 other tables of diners and a few people at the bar. My son ordered chicken fingers and coke (typical kid) and I ordered a cheeseburger and Hurricane (typical dad). The Hurricane was pretty refreshing and very sweet. For my second one, I told him I only wanted a little bit of ice. He brought my second and it had more ice than the first. I called him back and said he must not have understood me, that I only wanted a little ice. He said okay, took my drink and brought on back with a little ice, but the drink was only half full. For each Hurricane they add $3 to the bill for the glass. You have to bring them up to the bar yourself to get the money back for each.

 

We walked back to the hotel, went to our room and my son found a bag on the bed with two cameras in it and a picture of a Black gentleman and woman. We had no idea how they got there. We went up to the rooftop pool for a while. It's on the 10th floor, kind of small but refreshing. There was also a jacuzzi we used for a while. We went back to our room, dried off went down to the free happy hour. You are allowed to have 3 drinks each. They also offer free soda and popcorn 3-10 PM. We saw a couple of people who looked like the people in the picture and I went up to get the bag. I got to the room and it was gone. I came down and asked Logan where he left it and he said right on the bed. I went to the front desk because I wasn't too happy about people going in and out of my room while we're not there. I spoke to the girl and she said that she had delivered the package to the wrong room, realized her mistake later, went back to get it and brought it to the correct room. I asked the girl at the desk to see the Manager and was told there was none and wouldn't be in till between 10-11 am the next morning. I said "Great, we'll be gone by then so that's no help".

 

When I got back to my room there was a light lit up on the phone telling me that the front desk had a message for me. I called up and the front desk said that she called her Manager and what they were going to do for us was comp the night for my inconvenience. So we got a free night.

 

That was really nice of them and I all I wanted to do was tell the Manager about my displeasure.

 

I'm glad I'm coming back here post-B2B. The Drury is a really nice hotel.

 

We went back to the room and a couple of hours later walked down the street to get a pizza at Domino's. Brought it back to the hotel and ate it while we watched TV.

 

We fell asleep about 10 PM. I had a very restless night sleep. I woke up about 2:30 AM and my son woke up around 3 AM. We've been awake most of the time ever since.

 

Thursday, August 27, 2009, Embarkation day number 1.

 

We went downstairs this morning for our free buffet breakfast which included scrambled eggs, sausage, French toast, biscuits with gravy, bagels, bread and a Belgium Waffle maker, coffee, tea and juice. The little that we ate was pretty good. Didn't want to eat too much, am saving myself for a burger on the Lido deck.

 

Well, have to take a shower and get to the port. Want to be one of the first people on the ship. Will update later on after getting on the ship.

 

:D

 

wasiii

 

hey Bill see you in a few days enjoy!!!! don"t forget to ask about us using the pavillion library on tuesday at 11:45 for about an hour

[wasiii]

Thursday, August 27, 2009, continued

One of my roll call members was staying at a hotel a couple of minutes away from mine. We decided beforehand that we would go to the port together. I called her up when I was ready to leave, brought our bags downstairs and was waiting outside for her. While we were standing there, we met a couple from our roll call that were staying at the same hotel as me and my son. She grabbed a cab, came to my hotel to pick us up and we proceeded to the port. Three people, 15 minute ride, $30. Thought that was a bit high but hey, I’m going on a cruise!

The NOLA terminal has probably been the quickest embarkation of any of Carnival’s terminals I have had the pleasure to use. We got to the port about 10:45 am or so. As I’ve said in the past, I would rather wait at the port than wait in my room to go to the port. I was surprised to see no lines at all upon entering the building. The terminal itself is pretty nice looking, thank the heavens it was nicely air conditioned, I hate being hot while I’m waiting to board.

We had to wait on line about 15 minutes, got our S&S cards and proceeded to the waiting area. Of we had the customary Embarkation photo taken. Upon completion of the photo, entering the waiting area, we received Zone 3 for embarkation. While the three of us were sitting there, we met a few other people from the roll call as they were wearing their Official Cruise Critic T-shirts.

Finally our zone was called and we ended up on the ship before noon. Getting on the ship that early is almost like getting an extra day. We proceeded to our room, not to stay there for any length of time, just to drop our bags off. Upon looking in the room, since all the doors are open at this point, we were surprised beyond belief that our room was Bon Voyage decorated. A dear friend of ours, Risa, was so kind enough to do this for us. We went to the other person’s room t drop her stuff off, then up to the Lido deck for lunch.

I found the deli in the rear of the Lido deck where I get my absolutely favorite sandwich, turkey, on a grilled country roll with American cheese. My son went over to get his favorite, a slice of Carnival pizza and our other traveling partner got hers, a burger and fries. We ate our lunch and then split up for a while to do some exploring before the Muster drill. I always hear raves about the burgers and fries. To tell you the truth, even though I’ve tried them mostly every time we embark, I honestly don’t think they are that good. I’m not bashing anyone here, just expressing my thoughts.

Grabbed a Long Island Ice Tea, walked around the ship, checking out the sights, we have finally arrived home.

Note! It seems they have raised the price of Long island Ice Teas to $10.06 with tip. But, I found out that you can turn your receipt into the casino and get a $5 chip. Looks like they’ll get to know me in the casino.

This is absolutely the most relaxing environment I can think of. And to think, I don’t have to leave when everyone else does, I (along with 3 others from my roll call) get to stay on 1 more time after this.

Went to the gym to find out what time it opened. The man inside I believe said 5 pm but told me if I wanted to work out they would let me since not too many people were coming to see it. I ran, okay walked a tad quickly, back to my cabin, got changed and did 25 minutes on the treadmill before the Muster drill. Boy did I need that.

The Muster drill was the same as it has always been, boring but necessary. We got there a little late, mostly by design, so we wouldn’t have to be crammed like sardines in a tin can for that long. This time however, we had our Muster station inside in a nice air conditioned area.

With that out of the way, it was time to go to the Meet & Greet. We arrived at the pool bar on the Lido deck and found a few people from the roll call. We had a drink, chatted for a while, but then had to go to the Spa for the “Must Be Present to Win’ raffles. We stayed for all of the raffles and suffice it to say I was not one of the lucky people to win this time.

Next up, time to get changed and head to our early seating dinner. More on that later.

wasiii

[Luanne21]

Enjoying your review.