Buckett

Buckett, please come back and tell us all about your stop in Mazatlan. I too miss that port of call and would love to hear how things are now.

I give Smiley 2 thumbs up! Our group of 8 had him all to ourselves, and everyone loved him! He is very knowledgeable about Mazatlan, and took us to all the highlights, and finished by going over to Stone Island. I highly recommend him. It was $25 each since we had 8 people, less than 8 I believe was $35. Very reasonable.

Thanks for the photos! I will be sailing on the Imagination out of Long Beach to Ensenada and seeing the pix makes me even more excited! :)

hi there, I can answer a couple of those questions, as I have done the 3 day to Ensenada a couple of times. :D

I bought a soda card on one of them, I believe it was $18. Remember you can also bring on soda, I want to say 2 six packs but I am not 100% sure on that.

Yes, you can order alcohol to be delivered to your room, when you go to carnival.com under the "manage" tab, you will see a tab for 'in room gifts and shopping", it's under that.

Have fun!

Thank you so much for the review and pictures! I will be sailing on the Westerdam for the first time, to Alaska in June, and I was already excited...now I am REALLY excited! Great, useful information and really nice pix. Thanks again. Can't wait for June! :D

Welcome back! Just getting caught up on your live from, and see that you missed Costa Maya. Darn it! I remember how much fun we all had at Maya Chan when we cruised back in November 2012. That was a great day! Sorry you missed it. Sounds like overall you guys really enjoyed yourselves though. Can't wait to talk to you more about it when you get back in the office! :)

Thanks for the reply, Bill. After researching for over an hour now (I love CC!) and giving myself a headache, I'm leaning heavily towards Paradise Beach. :D

So much info, and of course everyone has their preferences, so what same may like, another may not. Looking at all the pictures of Paradise Beach, I'm thinking niece and I both will like it.

I will be in port next year with my 11 year old niece, I'm researching now and it's looking like Mr. Sancho's might be better than Nachi Cocum, in terms of kids? She likes making new friends and being in the water! I'm thinking Nachi might be too quiet for her?

Really glad to see this all worked out! Please come back after the cruise and let us know how it went. :)

Really enjoying your live from, and all the pictures. So glad you all are having a nice time. Does the Jewel have a nice THERMAL SUITE?? :D

I think if you book a tour you should be fine. You will hear mixed feelings about Jamaica. Sis and I went there on our first cruise back in 1999, and we both agreed, we felt very unwelcome. Before our tour we walked into town down one of the main streets, and just generally felt unwelcome, I don't know any other way to say it. I have traveled a lot, not just cruises, I manage my expectations accordingly and realize that not everyone loves Americans. However, if you live in a country that relies heavily on tourist dollars, why would you not put on your "game face" and least pretend to like me? you'll get my business a lot quicker that way. In all the cruises I've done, this was the only port I ever felt open dislike directed at me.

Having said all that, we took a tour to Dunns River Falls and it was really pretty. If I visit this port again, I will book a tour, I wouldn't wing it.

I was on the Miracle in November and there was no Guys Burgers, otherwise I would have been there! haha :D

Can't speak to any other 2.0 upgrades as I'm not sure what all of them are.

Congratulations, that is wonderful! :D

I have a city and Stone Island tour booked thru Frank, with his cohort "Smiley" for this coming week when I am there on HAL Veendam. He was good about emailing, although I do know he had some issues with his computer that have since been fixed.

Really glad the ships are going back to Mazatlan. It's been a while since I've been there. Used Frank a couple of time and really liked him. I'm sure Smiley will be good too. :)

Wow I bet Cabo was a lot different back in 1988!

I will be sailing the Westerdam for the first time, to Alaska in June, and would love to hear any other observations about the ship you might have. Thanks!

p.s. how did you like the thermal suite? I love the one on the Oosterdam and always buy the 1 week pass.

Buckett: Veendam - 16-Mar-14 - 7 day Mexico cruise

Thanks!

When I was on the Miracle this past November, they had a sale for a few hours in the shops where a bunch of tables had items for $10. Purses, scarves, jewelry, all kinds of stuff. I bought the cutest little what I call "party purse" because I had forgotten to pack mine! I like to have a small purse to carry around the ship for little stuff like my lipstick, gum, etc. I used that little purse the entire cruise and have used a few times at home since then. I like deals like that! :)

Thanks for posting all the pictures of the ship! I have sailed on her twice for short 5 day cruises to Mexico and really enjoyed her. I am sailing on the Imagination in May which I believe is a sister ship so I may feel a familiarity with it. :)

Hi and welcome! You can do your check-in online, on the Carnival website. That will save you a lot of time. You can enter your passport info, credit card info for your onboard account, etc. Depending on what time you get to Long Beach, you can do the final stuff like getting your picture taken and get a boarding pass, on the Queen Mary starting at like 9 or 10 am.

Just cruised the Miracle for the second time this past November. The only con for me, and this might not apply to everyone, is that they don't have the thermal suite in the spa like the Splendor does. I used it every day on the Splendor. Also, my niece liked Camp Carnival on the Splendor better than the Miracle. Again, this would not apply to everyone.

It's such a coincidence you asked this question, just yesterday I was wondering the same thing about the $350 OBC I have for my HAL cruise to Alaska in June...excursions are not cheap and I was wishing somehow I could book now and use the OBC for the excursions but alas you can not. I may just wait til I'm on board, crossing fingers that the one I want is not full! :eek:

I know part of it will be used for the daily auto-tip, which is great, and I will probably buy a soda card too. Just wish you could use it to pre-purchase excursions! :rolleyes:

Enjoying your review, as I was on the same cruise with you. :) We have a lot of the same sunset pictures, haha. I was really impressed with the sunsets during the cruise!

Looking forward to the rest, thanks for taking the time!

thanks for posting all the pictures! I have not been on the Breeze yet but it looks like a nice ship!

You and your mom look like you could be sisters, you must hear that all the time.

Sorry you got so sick, I am anxiously awaiting the next installment so I can hear how that turned out.

Ignore smarta$$ comments about this being a mini-series...I don't understand why people have to make smarty remarks if a review bugs 'em. Just don't read it! :rolleyes:

I had to smile when I read that...I found that the drinks they were passing out from the trays were quite strong! And they came around a lot too, I never had to flag anyone down to get a drink. :D Same thing with the apps too, they were very tasty and coming around quite often. Really enjoyed myself at the PGP! This was on the Carnival Miracle Thanksgiving week sailing.

Buckett-Westerdam 7 day to Alaska 6/14/14; yearly cruise with DN (niece) :D