Honolulu Blue

I'm sorry you didn't find a duck to call your very own. 🦆 Sam's is more formally known as Sam's Piano Bar I like bacon, but I'm not too fussy about its preparation, or indeed whether it was served at all. And I'm happy enough with the scrambled pseudo-eggs from the trough. These revelations will get me kicked out of the Cruise Foodies Club, but I didn't really want to hang around with them anyway. 😄

One last story before I work on that summary. I apologize for it being late. On the morning of our last sea day (yes, THAT DAY), after breakfast and as I was settling in to read one of my books just outside of Sam's, some little old lady (LOLly for short) said there was a duck above me and could I move out of the way so she could climb up and grab it. I said sure. So, she did exactly that. She was pleased with her find and chatted with her friend about it. @firefly333, was that YOU?? 🙂 So, yeah, cruise ship ducks were a thing on this cruise. I heard a couple of other conversations about them at other things. It's a culture that I don't understand, but if it makes people happy, then I have no objections. 🙃

I wanted a short, catchy, but not deceptive title. "The Captain told us to retreat to our cabin for safety reasons during a storm" doesn't have the same punch, IMHO. I also thought of a couple of other situations where passengers are asked to "go to their room" - when they misbehave badly enough to require containment, but the brig is full or nonexistent; or when somehow a passenger makes their way to medical and they give a wrong answer to a pop quiz up the nose. Thanks everyone for your replies here.

I was on the Carnival Dream and can confirm that the event @firefly333 described happened. I can't confirm the details. She was out more than I was. I was in my cabin as the storm was happening and wasn't tempted to leave until well after we were released. Voyager must have been close to us, caught in the same storm or storm cluster at the same time. It sounds like it was hit even harder than we were. You passengers have my sympathies. 😇

Thank you for sharing this. I was in Panama City when thus was made, so I couldn't have witnessed it. Even if I had been there I could not have imagined taking them up on it. I've been through the canal before and the view from a cruise ship is enough for me. But I'm sorry you missed it. 😞

Weather and sea conditions were mentioned in the various announcements. Medical conditions and particular passengers were not. Although... one eyewitness to this on the same cruise said they saw some passengers being difficult enough to have security called on them when the casino was closed down and they were on some slot machines. Your response is the most interesting of all. I was looking for it. Thanks for stopping by. And thanks for the general passenger advice.

Dang, you too Hank?!? Perhaps I've been underplaying how unusual my experience was.

@NinS: Thank you for your post. I mostly agree with your guesses. Some background on Expose and the UDC '22 (which I was on): The initial schedule had Expose by the pool, but Ohio Players dropped out late (about two weeks before the cruise) and they were scheduled in the main theater. The Players were scheduled in the main theater and were replaced by The Family Stone. The Family Stone performed by the pool, taking Expose's spots. And Expose went to the main theater, which made me happy, and them happy.

Thank you! That you find my story interesting and you've been cruising for as long you have and have never experienced this means a lot. And thank you for sharing your parents' story. My one cruise on HAL was on this ship, the Rotterdam VI, back in 2019. There was no drama on that cruise.

Thank you for your story. Just for the record, I've been on several cruises where, at one point or another, the outside decks and/or the pool have been closed due to high winds or rough seas.

Thanks for the note. I liked Mr. Thompkins when we had him on the UDC in 2022. His show was a matinee.

Yeah, I'd consider the Ocean Plaza area the promenade. I went through that area quite a bit on this cruise (and the Magic on another cruise), so I know the layout and am familiar with the areas you mentioned. Oh wow, Voyager OTS was following us? That was unlucky for them. It sounds like they got hit even worse than we did. No, this wasn't a great time to be in steerage. This storm was bad. The night moving away from CR was bad. The worst, IMHO, was our sea day to Aruba. BTW, I was on deck 1. Here's one of my better porthole shots. This was during the storm. Things were rougher than this photo makes them appear, but it's the best I can do.

On the cruise I recently disembarked from, I had an interesting and (to me) a unique experience. Let me break it down for you all as well as I can. We were on our way back to our embarkation port, a sea day. It was afternoon. The ride was episodically bumpy, then it took a turn for the worse. In quick succession, the Captain, Staff Captain, and our cruise director all gave us the same message - we were sent to our cabins and told to stay there until told to come out. In addition, the crew was also told to go back to THEIR cabins, all activities onboard were canceled, and all locations closed. It took about 2 1/2 hours for conditions to improve enough for the Captain to release us. Then the ship steadily started to reopen. A few things I'll note here for those curious: I was in my cabin at the time of these announcements, and not interested in going anywhere at that time It was rough in the cabin and it looked rough outside (especially during the worst of it), but I had actually felt worse at other points on this cruise I wasn't afraid and felt that the crew were fully in control of things We missed a high-status party and because of this those of us in that club got a small amount of OBC I wasn't hurt and didn't hear of any injuries related to this A substantial portion of the buffet area was closed off to passengers after our release and into the morning after - I do not know why My question is how often does this happen on cruises? I've done 27 cruises so far, including this one. Was I overdue? Or did I just get unlucky? Thank you for any perspective on this.

I saw the construction southbound from my shuttle window. I didn't notice anything northbound. The letter we got warned us of construction in both directions. Maybe they switched from one to the other to accommodate expected traffic flow. P.S. I feel fine. In fact, I feel better than I've felt in a while. Amazing what cruising does for me!

Thanks for sharing your experiences on this cruise. I kept looking for something special for us Platinum and Diamond cruisers in regards to disembarking, but it never came. I used the app as soon as Tyler notified me it was available. That's how I got group A. Now you know. I'm surprised the aft portion of Lido was still locked up the morning after. There must have been substantial damage and/or flooding there. I haven't heard anything about the Dream not departing on time yesterday, so I assume they must have cleaned it up well enough between cruises.

Wow! You actually had sea water come into the promenade?!? That storm must have been more powerful and concentrated than I thought. Usually in steerage we get the worst of any motion or disturbances, but as I noted elsewhere, it was bad there, but I had felt worse at other times. You've never had the Captain order us back to our cabins on any of your cruises either? Now I don't feel so bad. I'll ask about this on the general Ask a Question board. I'm sure the old salts there will tell me how routine this was. 🙂 Thanks for the details on the casino during the shutdown. I think sending the passengers to their cabins was the right call. Doing nothing was too risky and sending everyone to their muster stations would have just created a big old mess. I'm kind of tough to find, so don't feel bad that you didn't. I feel bad for your fellow diner that lost so much. Perhaps it wasn't so much to him. And perhaps the entertainment value he got from it offset the amount of his losses. I had a good time on this cruise. I always had on Journeys cruises in the past, and I'm glad that this was the same. I'm glad you got that credit. And I hope you enjoy reading what I had to say. I hope it brings back good memories for you. 🙏

On the one day I went in the MDR, I was the only one that WAS NOT from Texas. BTW, I don't hate Texans or Texas. I have relatives in Texas. Galveston isn't one of my favorite embarkation ports, but I'd say the same if its logistics and infrastructure were anywhere else in the country. We were in a group of 7 (three couples and me) facing a window in a side room off the main MDR arranged like this: X X X X X X X me Instead of the usual 1 foot between tables that I have found common in Carnival MDRs before, we each had TWO WHOLE FEET between us. Heavenly! Though it made it a little tough to hear each other when we decided to talk to each other.

I was on the same cruise and can confirm the above.

I'm on the shuttle heading back home from DTW. Since I have a bit of time, please allow me to explain how I got here. Last night was fairly smooth and I slept well. I got up early to get myself clean and pack everything up. We got to the port right around 6 and tied up soon after. I didn't have breakfast because with Guy's last night and the cacao nibs I had purchaed in Limon, I wasn't very hungry at that time. It appeared that I didn't leave anything behind, so off I went to deck 4 to find some space to wait. Unfortunately, there wasn't much space to be had. There seemed to be hundreds of passengers waiting in the area, each with luggage. Some of whom had very big suitcases. Which brings me to one of my pet peeves... (RANT ALERT) People who can't smoothly handle their luggage going off the ship SHOULD NOT BE using the self-disembark option. You know who you are. (END RANT) As I mentioned above, our group got off about 6:50 and we wound slowly through the terminal. The ICE check was in person with someone looking at my passport and taking a picture. Where we were, I didn't see any of the now standard kiosks. I was directed to the shuttle buses, which were close by. I tied the shuttle bus story in my post above this one. My best TL, DR is it was slow to load, but decently quick on the road - despite the warning letter I received. After arriving at my gate, I had nearly 2 full hours until the plane took off, which I put to good use. We left on time and arrived into DTW on time. There's only this shuttle ride and a Lyft ride and I'll be home. I will do a summary post of some kind tomorrow. Thank you all for hanging in there throughout my adventure on the Carnival Dream.

I'm at IAH airport. I'll report on the rest of my experience later. But for now I wanted to answer these questions while the experience is fresh. I boarded the shuttle at about 7:10. I left the ship at about 6:50. I was in the first group of self disembarkers to get off. There was a lot of us in that group. We left the terminal for the airport at about 7:50. So, in total, it was a 40 minute wait. We arrived at Terminal A at about 9:05. This was used for those who were not flying United. We arrived at Terminal C at 9:20 for United passengers. That adds up to 1:15 for the first passengers and 1:30 for the rest of us. Surprisingly, considering the note we received yesterday, we did not have any significant delays for traffic, construction, or any other reason. I assume it was because we were one of the first groups out of the cruise port. I think Terminals A and C were the only terminals they dropped off at. There was a subway at the airport to get to the other terminals. I hope this answers your questions to your satisfaction.

Thank you very much for your kind words and your hugs!! More to come shortly!

Thanks for the confirmation of the OBC payout. And yes, I got the note on construction on 45. Not what I needed. 🤐 And thanks for the well wishes. I wish the same for you. 👍

I went to dinner and found several things of interest. First, the poolside movie, the latest Mission Impossible flick, was going full blast. Not a lot of people were watching. Second, the buffet was jammed with people. So much so that I went with plan B, which I'll discuss later. Third, the back half of the buffet was closed off to passengers. Damage? Flooding? I didn't ask around about this, so I don't know the story. Fourth, Guy's was still open at near 7 PM and showed no signs of closing as I left the area. Guy's normally closed at 6. I had another burger, same as the other 5 I've had on this cruise. It went down just the same. Seating here was a little more jammed than usual, but I found a space easily enough. And finally, I found this letter in my mailbox. Personal information redacted: I'll take $25 in OBC any day over a silly Platinum party. I wish they made this offer every time, like they did with the casino. BTW, it's already showing on my account. It appears that this is all the reimbursement that anyone is going to get for our inconvenience today. I'm fine with it, but still... I think that covers things for the rest of the evening. Thank you everyone for your thoughts, comments, and prayers.

No one mentioned this AFAIK. I think it would be foolhardy to try to go on the balcony with conditions as bad as they were, but it's highly unlikely anyone would know, and even more unlikely that anyone would enforce this.

I'm glad to be of assistance. And I'm glad to have survived it. I'd like to thank @satxdiver for the assist in reporting. There's no telling when something like this might happen, and not much can be done to prepare. Just follow the guidance of those in charge, I suppose. Things are much calmer now and it's time for dinner. I think I'll head up and make a report on that and other stuff later this evening.