Megan_Strick

10 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

what’s the date of your cruise?

March 3

16 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

All showered off, and ready to conquer the rest of the day here on the beautiful Norwegian Prima... Costume number two: a replica of the shirt Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) wore in Fight Club...

 

 

 

 

 

But you look so much cooler!

Which terminal is it for Carnival Liberty?

55 minutes ago, jimbri said:

Sid's on NCL.  Not sure if that was posted here.🙂

I just binged 25 pages lol

1 hour ago, sid_9169 said:

I used to live in Brunswick back in the late eighty's. My all time favorite restaurant is there; Willie's Weenie Wagon. That pork chop sandwich is to die for...

Shut up!! Small world. Willie has since passed and the place has gone down hill.

On 2/4/2023 at 12:13 AM, Saint Greg said:

 

I did like the Italian place I ate at Zarella's.

Is that in a little plaza? I think I've eaten there and it was really good. I had the chicken parm

On 2/2/2023 at 7:52 AM, sid_9169 said:

Well, the Yankee groundhog says it's going to be six more weeks of winter, but our hometown groundhog General Beauregard Lee says early spring!... I'm trying to be optimistic about the situation, plus our groundhog has a better record of accuracy...

 

 

 

@sid_9169have you ever been to South Georgia? Particularly, Brunswick or St. Simons/Jekyll Island? That's where I live. 

On 2/1/2023 at 11:18 AM, sid_9169 said:

Yay. You're back!

On 2/4/2023 at 7:37 PM, nybumpkin said:

Oh, dear. Sid, Jeff and Greg all posting at the same time. Makes me glad I retired so I can keep up!

Wait? Sid?? I must have missed his. Going to look now!

On 2/4/2023 at 12:07 PM, Saint Greg said:

Booking

I wanted to book this cruise for December of 2019. I was only booking about six months out and the room selection was limited. Prices were through the roof. I booked a six-day Magic cruise instead. I then booked this itinerary on Breeze for late August of 2020 with a better room and a lower price. That cruise was of course canceled due to COVID. I booked the same cruise on Breeze for the spring of 2021. A few months later that was canceled as well. Finally, I booked this one on Magic two years out.

 

At the time I booked this cruise it was purposely scheduled to be the week after the Super Bowl. As you may know the NFL has since added a week to the season. They tacked that week onto the back end of the season, pushing the Super Bowl back a week. I went back and forth on whether or not to keep this cruise or change it. I dithered too long, pushing my decision past the deadline to keep the $600 onboard credit I got from Carnival for my COVID canceled cruise. In case you haven’t figured out yet, I decided to keep it.

 

When I was first interested in this itinerary I had not been to San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Kitts, or Grand Turk. I have since been to Grand Turk on Magic in 2019 and San Juan on Mardi Gras in 2021. I still have not been to St. Maarten or St. Kitts so that part of the cruise is exciting for me.

 

At the time I booked this I was very intrigued by the 4J cabins. Those are the cabins in the front of the ship with a window overlooking the “secret deck.” At that point in time I was trying to book those for all cruises even though I hadn’t been in one yet.

 

Now that I have stayed in a couple of them, they are no longer important to me. I found I didn’t use the window very much because the curtains have to be closed at night. And ideally you want them closed anytime you’re changing clothes. Mine were basically closed anytime I was in the room other than maybe a few minutes in the morning.

 

Now my preference is an interior room close to the secret deck. If it’s just a small price difference, I’ll take the 4J. But more often than not it’s not going to be worth it for me. I do have a 4J on lido deck that I booked two years ago on this cruise.

 

Port Canaveral

Having now cruised from 9 different home ports with Carnival, I can say Port Canaveral is my least favorite. I didn’t really think it was anything special the last time I was there.

 

It would’ve been cool if I could’ve caught a launch. But I ended up getting up at 2am and walking a mile for a scrub. And I’m not talking about bathing. Apart from that there’s not really anything I want to do there. There’s certainly nothing I want to do that’s worth paying $400-600 for a hotel.

 

The Radisson Resort at the Port I stayed at last time was starting at $370 before taxes and fees. That’s more than double what I paid in 2021. Even hotels by the airport were starting at $300 for not so great hotels. I’m not interested in paying Disney prices just for a hotel the night before a cruise. After months of watching hotel prices, I decided to fly in on embarkation morning. This may be the last time I cruise out of Port Canaveral. 

 

Flight

I was looking at my Spirit flight options and I could leave at 6am the day before the cruise, 1pm the day before the cruise, or 6am the day of the cruise.

 

I have had no problem taking those 5am flights when I’m going some place like New York or Miami or Seattle. But there is really nothing I want to do around Port Canaveral that warrants me getting to the airport at 4am the day before the cruise. I started looking at the afternoon flight. This would just leave enough time to get dinner and drinks. After being unable to find a hotel a price I liked, I ended up booking the 6am flight on embarkation day. I paid about $300 with a checked bag and the exit row aisle seat upgrade. A month later I went ahead and added another $100 to upgrade to the big front seats I like so much. 

 

Parking

I strayed from The Parking Spot Thanksgiving weekend because they were up to $25 per day. This time they’re down to $12. I usually book them at $8-10. I went ahead and booked the DFW Remote South Lot again. I got 9 days for just $40.50. Not bad at all. 

 

Transportation

Since I’m flying in on embarkation day and I have a lot of onboard credit to spend, I went ahead and booked the Carnival Transfer from MCO to Port Canaveral. My flight is scheduled to arrive at 9:28. I’m hoping I can make the 10am shuttle. Otherwise I’ll have to wait until 11am. If it’s anything like Miami, the 10am shuttle won’t leave until 11am.

 

On the return trip I have a late flight. I was hoping Carnival would have an excursion that takes you to the airport at the end. They had several of those in Miami. All they have available at the moment is a regular transfer to the airport. If they don’t come up with something better I’ll either find something to do on my own or just use more onboard credit for the transfer. Each of these MCO airport transfers cost $35.99. 

 

The last time I cruised out of Port Canaveral I spent $62 on a Lyft to my hotel. Uber would’ve been $133. On the return trip I spent $30 on an 888 shuttle to the airport. They had a stand outside of the port. I remember it being a long wait for a shuttle. Uber and Lyft were running $80-90. GoPort is a popular option at $30 each way or $60 round trip. I remember last time one of their shuttles broke down on the side of the highway and a bunch of people ended up ordering an Uber/Lyft to take them the rest of the way. I figure I have the onboard credit, spend it on something I need.

 

Onboard Purchases

I loaded this cruise up pretty good during the various sales Carnival had since the COVID shutdown. I purchased the discounted Cheers package during the shutdown, transferring it to this cruise after the first two were canceled. Last spring when Carnival had a 20% off spa code that worked for everything, I added premium internet for 20% off. Then just before they raised the prices of the specialty restaurants I booked the Steakhouse and Cucina Del Capitano at the old prices. I of course used my Carnival gift cards for everything so knock another 10% off the top.

 

I am going to have $825 onboard credit this cruise with almost everything paid for. The automatic gratuities and write-in tips will take up some of that. If they bring back the “Behind The Fun” tour in time for my cruise, I will book it. I booked The Chef’s Table to eat up some of it (pun intended). I used up about $250 onboard credit booking a couple of excursions.  And I may do some Alchemy bar classes this time. 

 

Ports

St. Maarten

This will be my first time in St. Maarten. I’ve always wanted to spend a day a Maho Beach where the planes take off right in front of you and land over your head. That’s the plan. I may book transportation through Carnival since I have onboard credit.

 

St. Kitts

This will also be my first time in St. Kitts. What I’ve been wanting to do there is the St. Kitts Scenic Railway. This is not something that needs to be booked through Carnival, but I wanted to book with them just to use some of my onboard credit.

 

I couldn’t decide between St. Kitts by Rail & Scenic Drive or St. Kitts by Rail & Sail. I wanted to check into it further to make sure I wasn’t missing out on part of the train ride to book the catamaran. By the time I got around to looking at it, both were sold out. This was a month before sailing. I decided to continue checking back and two days later the St. Kitts by Rail & Scenic Drive opened up so I booked it.

 

San Juan

The last time I was in San Juan I did The Forts of San Juan. This time I just want to spend a little more time checking out the town. Maybe get some food and drinks.

 

Grand Turk

The last time in Grand Turk I did the Hop on Hop off tour that took me to the lighthouse. Then in the afternoon I took a dip in the ocean. This time I was going to just treat it as a beach day. But with the onboard credit I decided to book the Whale Watching Adventure. It’s an afternoon excursion and only a three hour tour. A three hour tour.  That will leave me the morning to hit the beach.

 

Since I hadn't cruised in a while due to Covid I was shocked at the prices of hotels in PC. I'm doing just a short 3 day cruise on March 3. I live about 3 hours from PC so I could drive the day of but since I'm doing my first solo I wanted to drive the day before. Those hotel prices are crazy. I typically cruise from PC and couldn't believe it.

On 2/4/2023 at 12:04 PM, Saint Greg said:

This is cruise #21.

 

Yay! Another review!

12 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Great view from the top of the water slide…..

 

 

Here are a couple of views of the Hilltop Cabanas…..

 

 

 

Patti has made it up to the Sky Bar where the views are fantastic…..

 

 

Here she is looking towards the ships……

 

 

 

 

 

Looking where the shore excursions depart from…..

 

 

Looking down at the Ocean Cabanas and the Pier Bar…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

Not sure what the appeal of those cabanas are? Not sure I would get in that water. It looks yucky like the water at the beach where I live.

23 hours ago, groundloop said:

I'll start off saying that my wife is totally deaf in one ear and has lost over 50 percent of hearing in her other ear.  Even with hearing aids it's difficult for her to understand spoken words, especially in a noisy environment, and is extremely self conscious about this.  Therefore we much prefer to be seated by ourselves in the dining room.

 

Unfortunately when being seated at either YTD or Sea Day Brunch we are often assigned a group table even though I don't check "Please seat us at a shared table" in the hub app when checking in.  We then have to waste our time and the staff's time going back to request a different table.  Even the so called private tables which are spaced about 6 inches from each other are uncomfortable for my wife because most folks will politely start a conversation and she's not able to follow along very well.

 

I see quite a few couples seated in booths etc. - is there a secret to getting these or do they mostly just ask the dining room host/hostess for a booth before they're seated?

 

 

 

 

That's weird because I have always done YTD since it was offered and have NEVER been put at a table with other people.

On 1/28/2023 at 4:12 PM, Jamman54 said:

Afterwards, Patti decided to go to the first bingo session of the cruise, and then maybe stay for the Welcome Aboard show. I was going to the 8:30 PG comedy show. Let’s meet the comedians for this cruise…..

 

 

 

 

 

I arrive for the show about a half hour early and grab a seat in the back at the bar. I get my standard Punchliner drink…..

 

 

 

Marcela, the Comedy Host, gets the show started…..

 

 

 

This show features Jersey, and the audience immediately gets into it…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was very funny even though it was a PG show. I can’t wait to see his 18+ show! I made my way to the Lobby bar for a couple of drinks before calling it a night. When I got back to the cabin Patti was already there. No luck at bingo tonight.

 

Coming up next: It’s GREAT to be back at sea day!!

Do you and Patti get the Cheers package?

On 1/27/2023 at 11:20 PM, Saint Greg said:

Holy price increase, Jamman!
 

Lobster roll and seafood platter are up.

I was thinking the same thing.

On 1/27/2023 at 4:02 PM, Jamman54 said:

Patti steps outside and takes these pictures of the Disney Fantasy, Norwegian Escape, and Wonder of the Seas…..

 

 

 

 

It’s time to get muster out of the way. Our muster station is “G”, which all the way aft on the starboard side on Deck 4. We cut through the Chic Restaurant on the way back there. This is the restaurant used for Your Time Dining (YTD)…..

 

 

 

After muster we head up to our cabin to drop off our carry-ons. The cabin isn’t ready yet, but we meet our cabin steward, Agung, and let him know we’ll be leaving our carry-ons in the closet. No problem. We’re getting hungry, so we head up to the Lido buffet on Deck 9, which is called the Freedom Restaurant. Here is today’s buffet menu and carving station…..

 

 

 

We decided to go to the Ol’ Fashioned BBQ up on Deck 10…..

 

 

Here is my plate…..

 

 

Here is Patti’s plate…..

 

 

Patti had gone down to the buffet to make a salad, and she brought me back a bowl of jambalaya…..

 

 

To be continued…..

Dare I bring back "Plate Gate" 😝

14 hours ago, ShakyBeef said:

 

I gotta ask, saltines?  Is this a regional thing?  Oysters aren't served with saltines on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Cocktail sauce, yes; hot sauce, sometimes; vinegar (in the nicer establishments), yes; straight-up horseradish, sometimes; lemon wedges as well.  But saltines?  Never seen this.

 

ETA: Do you eat them on the cracker?  We just fix them up (or not) and slurp them out of the shell.😁

I live in South Georgia. We eat them with Saltines and hot sauce. Yum

19 hours ago, ShakyBeef said:

I've never heard of raw oysters being $.50 each.  Is this what Carnival used to charge for them?  That sounds crazy cheap!  I have no experience with buying them onboard a ship.  I love oysters, but wouldn't bother buying them on a cruise ship since I can't imagine they could compare to our local varieties.  Around here, they are about $2 to $3.50 each, depending on the variety.

Maybe so. I saw it somewhere. Probably an old price

I see it says raw but will they steam them too? Also, are they still $.50/each?

Now, the question is do I keep stalking to see if there a new post or do I wait a day or so, so I can binge read????

11 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Ahoy, Cruise Critic family! My beautiful wife Patti and I have just returned from another two cruise adventure. I don’t think that we have ever sailed in January before, as we are usually busy with projects and such, but this year we decided to take a much needed post - Christmas vacation. The focus for these cruises was going to be the Carnival Spirit. We love this class of ships, having done sixteen cruises on them between the Legend, Pride, and Miracle, but we had never sailed on the ship that the class was named for, the Spirit.

 

We were going to book a B2B on her, but then something caught our eye. We are striving to sail every ship in the fleet that’s still sailing, and we noticed that the Freedom was sailing from Port Canaveral. She’s another one we hadn’t been on, so we decided book her and create a S2S with the Spirit. So now that’s two more ships crossed off the list. In fact, our next three ships will also be new to us, the Celebration, Venezia, and Vista. That just leaves the Valor, (1 covid cancellation), Radiance, (5 covid cancellations), Luminosa, and soon to be Jubilee, on the list.

 

So, on January 4^th we will begin our journey by driving down to Florida, and then boarding the Freedom on January 7^th for a 5 day cruise to Amber Cove and Grand Turk. After getting off the Freedom on January 12^th, we will drive down to Fort Lauderdale for two days, and then board the Spirit in Miami on January 14^th for an 8 day cruise to Princess Cay, Grand Turk, Bonaire, and Aruba. After debarking the Spirit on January 22^nd, we will then make the two day drive back home to New Jersey.

 

As I mentioned, we will be driving down to Florida once again. Being away from home for so long it just makes sense to have your own car down there. You can pack as much of your stuff as you want to, since you don’t have to worry about luggage weights and car rentals. Back in the day when our vacation time was limited, we used to drive straight through in one shot which used to take about 16 hours. Since we have the time now, we break it up into two days.

As usual, our reviews start and end at home and cover everything in between. I know that some people like to get right into the cruise stuff and I understand that, but when doing these reviews we want to re-live the whole vacation, not just part of it.  Our format will remain the same as our past reviews with a day by day account. As always, there will be many, many pictures with plenty of explanations and details. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS740 HS, and our water, and back-up camera, is the Fuji FinePix XP60.

 

So, let’s get this party started! We strive to make you feel that you are cruising right along with us, so grab yourself a DOD, and hop on board with us and join the fun!

 

Days # 1 & 2  -  (January 4^th & 5^th)  -  Heading South!

 

As always, we begin our travels around 9pm in the evening. This allows us to bypass the morning rush hours in Baltimore and Washington. Our son Ryan will be minding the house and our cats. He takes our picture as we head out the door…..

 

 

When we left it was an unseasonably warm 60 degrees, and it was a beautiful moonlit night. Just perfect driving conditions. I don’t mind the drive at all. There is hardly any traffic, so I set the cruise control to 79 mph and listen to tunes all night. Patti on the other hand, tolerates the drive as long as I stop at Cracker Barrel along the way. As usual, we stop at the Cracker Barrel in Santee, South Carolina just as they open at 7am…..

 

 

 

After filling our bellies, and Patti getting a little shopping time, we are back on the road again. We make it to today’s final destination, Kingsland, Georgia around noon. We are going to be staying at the Comfort Inn & Suites. Knowing that our rooms won’t be ready yet, we stop at a Ruby Tuesday’s a block from our hotel…….

 

 

Patti had some boneless Teriyaki wings and a large Ruby Relaxer. I had a Philly cheesesteak, fries, and an Angry Orchard. That sure hit the spot after the long drive!

 

To be continued……

I keep saying that one of these days I'm going to join you for lunch in Kingsland since I'm only 30 mins north of there in the next county!

Yayayayayayayayay!!!

I was looking on the RC boards and they are going to change the MDR menu to theme nights. For example, Mexican one night, Italian one night, etc etc. I would HATE that. What if I wasn't in the mood for Mexican that night? Is that a way to push the specialty dining? What are your thoughts and I wonder if Carnival plans on following?

On 1/21/2023 at 8:57 PM, Saint Greg said:

I’m on Magic in three weeks. 

Are you doing a live?

On 1/21/2023 at 7:19 AM, jimbo5544 said:

Come join us as we celebrate our 50th Carnival cruise aboard the Celebration.  Our very first cruise was in 96 on the original Celebration.  What a long strange trip it’s been.  I promise not to start singing Dead or any other songs….

My very first cruise was my graduation cruise in 95 on the Celebration