keystonemama

We had a cool system here in FL last couple of days, winds were high and we have had 3 boats/one trimaran sunk when they came loose from the marina's and hit bridges.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/sailboat-strikes-bridge-of-lions/-/475880/22952230/-/12lfklw/-/index.html

http://www.news4jax.com/news/sailboat-hits-buckman-bridge-coast-guard-responds/-/475880/22973738/-/4lw0k6/-/index.html

What do they clean out while in those type ports? I thought they carried all trash, etc. back to the homeport with them.

On our port stop in Jamaica, I noticed that they were unloading lots of "used" mattresses they must have had in storage on the ship along with big bags (towels maybe?)

We sailed Sensation last November, if you like, click on my Sensation review below, I have pics of Junkanoo, the beers, the conch, they do have more on the menu than just conch, conch is fresh though, they take it right out of the shell and cook it. Margarita's special are also awesome here, its about a 10 minute walk or so from the pier to your right. We also visited Senor Frog's, drinks are more expensive but we had a blast.

Happy Sailing,

129 days!!!!

By now it was about 5 pm and I headed back to Genesis Restaurant for some sangria and conversation with my new friend from lunch. Then it was back to Da House for a shower and a long nap. The Nuyorican Cafe is the salsa club right downstairs. I threw on a sundress and a 60 second makeup job and headed down to check things out around 11:45 pm. I was really hungry and ordered a chicken quesadilla and a drink called guava passion for $13.50.

 

 

 

 

I have never gone salsa dancing before and missed the free salsa lesson that's only on Wednesday nights. A cute little young 20something year old named Alejandro asked me to dance and was a great teacher. I've been doing ZUMBA for 4 years and have good rhythm, so I caught on quick. After our dance, I sat back down and listened to the music a while when some other guy that barely spoke English came over to me. He started talking to me fast in Spanish and all I heard was "Tlkasjkjlkfpsklflakdasdjahojnewldrk BAILAR lkjsldkjlskjdflksjdadkolkksjfkskl......" Bailar? Oh, I know that word. Me: "Quieras bailar conmigo?" Him: "Si!" So we danced a few songs. I headed up to bed around 2 or 3.

 

 

And all of that was just my first day in San Juan! More to come later! :D

You have me laughing so hard, luv your reviews, especially this one, I am learning a lot, we sail Dream to PR in September, gosh I wonder how hot it will be then? Keep it up.......

Happy Sailing,

Well, happy anniversary and glad you enjoyed reading the review. To answer your question, my son and DH did smoke a few cigars as well as others on board and no one seemed to mind at all. It was a great crowd on this cruise, although we are always mindful of how we smoke also.

Later in the evening the smoking section on Lido gets empty if you prefer to smoke with less people around. I loved the fact you could smoke only one flight up and lay out on loungers and they had metal ashtrays attached to the railings in front of you, that was nice.

Happy Sailing,

We went to Cozumel in May, brought back Tequila, there is a store near the port with samples, there were 3 of us, we debarked with purchases from the ship also, all in all, 7 bottles of liquor, 2 cartons of cigs, claimed it on customs and walked thru customs, no problem.

On Sensation in November, we bought a small bottle of rum and some beers, again scanned our bag upon return to the ship and were again lucky, took it straight back to our cabin. So much for rules. :p

Happy Sailing,

Tonight is also the first "Cruise Elegant" night so after sail away we went and got a little rest since we have the late dinner seating. Then we got up and got ready for dinner.

 

Myself and DM

 

DF and DM

 

DW and DD

 

 

 

DW and DS

 

 

 

another perfect day on the Victory... we had the best weather the entire cruise.

 

Wow, this sunset pic is one of THE best pics I have seen on CC, great job! Your review is making me definitely consider a cruise out of PR! Love the Dominican excursion!

Happy Sailing,

Even worse, I get the trundle on Paradise in Jan, and I'm a super sized adult. Lol I will deal with it, no worries.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

We were on the Paradise in May, my son is 6'5 and they changed out the trundle for a regular twin and put it in the corner of the room we had just enough room to walk between the beds.

It is only rocky if you go past the first break wall.... fairly clean beach and beverages available as well as chair rental...

We were in front of the first break wall, and lots of rocks to get down into the water, I stepped on one about 8 inches in circumference and it hurt. Maybe Sandy washed some in? Or maybe I'm from FL and spoiled by nice beaches,:p this one in my opionion was fine for free but just an ok beach.

We visited Nassau on Friday, other than a little deck damage at Senor Frogs and thats because they are right on the water, we could not tell anything had happened. I ask a local about the hurricane and he said, the brunt of it missed them, it was mostly a very strong thunderstorm with winds and they were very lucky. I think you will be fine.

Happy Sailing,

We arrived here Fri, Nov 2. There was just us 4 adults. Its a smaller beach and pretty rocky for the first 10-15 feet into the water, I really suggest water shoes. I don't know that I would bring small children though, there was small glass on the rocks, broken bottles and such. Even when I went to use the outside shower to rinse off I saw glass. I did like the little tiki restaurant with fresh fried conch and good prices on drinks. I probably would opt for the Sheraton with children.

Also, the water was chilly, we are from FL, but that water was probably about 70 degrees and everyone was dipping but not staying in very long.

I did see the segways go by, they looked like they were having fun, but its not a very pretty part of town.

Happy Sailing,

I loved this review! We're going on Paradise in Dec, and it's our first Carnival cruise.

 

Question - was that a pitcher of beer I saw in one of your pics?? If so, do you remember how much a pitcher costs?

 

Thanks!!!

Thank you, yes, DH likes draft so he was able to purchase the pitcher for $18.11, it came with a tall frosty glass, I think it was about 60oz.

To buy a bucket of beer was $25.

If you don't want to drink all at once you can purchase a bucket at the casino bar, they will mark your receipt and keep your beer cold in the frig, just bring your receipt with you each time you need a new one so they can mark it.

Have a great cruise,

Outstanding!

 

We loved the Paradise, except for the nasty yellow vinyl seats on Promenade. I had hoped that they would have gone away during drydock, but evidently not.

Thank you!

This was such a great review and I loved all the pics. I read this over a month ago, but with less than a month to go for me to board Paradise I just wanted to read it again!

LOL, glad you enjoyed it so much, hope you have an awesome cruise! :)

Even though I'm a CCL junkie,:eek:, my friend is sailing on the Oasis today with 11 others, watching.....hope they have a great cruise!

Happy Sailing,

I love your review and the grasshopper... OMGosh! That looks like our favorite bartender, Lily (not her whole name) down there! *sigh* LOL

Lol, still have that grasshopper, he's brown now, but has gotten his own place on one my shelves so I can look at him daily and pretend I am back in Cozumel,:D.

Happy Sailing,

Thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed it. Lazydayz, hope you have fantastic cruise!

Happy Sailing,

I forgot to mention in the review that our steward Rony was fantastic. He anticipated all of our needs, room was spotless after he left, ice bucket was kept full and he even helped with the kids. When I say he helped with the kids, what he did was... he tore apart the room that he had just cleaned trying to help DD find her iPod (which she had left on the bed in her purse along with her money and I had put it in the safe) and then re-cleaned it afterwards and he helped when all 3 kids were in our room by themselves and were arguing. We ended up giving him an extra $40 tip the last night of the cruise. You rock, Rony!

Great job on your review, I saw your martini/Vera pic:), too funny, Rony was our steward too! He was awesome, one night (about 4 am) Derek, my son, had been partying and had one of many Long Islands,:p, he got off the elevator to the room and was going in the wrong direction to the cabin, Rony saw him (when do they sleep?) and hollered at him, Mr. Derek, Mr. Derek, turn around you are going the wrong way and Derek is like, "Ahhh...thanks Rony!" lol Great guy!

Embarkation Day Cont.

 

As you can see by the time stamps on the pics, from the time we parked our car until we stepped on the ship was about 45 minutes. Overall, I found the embarkation process to be very easy.

 

DH ended up boarding before me, so I snapped a pic of him going through the door

 

Our first view of the atrium/lobby area on deck 7 (this is also where you will disembark from).

 

 

We headed up to the Lido buffet (Paris Restaurant) located on deck 10 Aft. We met up with my Mom and her BF who had arrived earlier and had gotten a table for our group.

 

We set down our carry-ons and I decided to try the Mongolian Wok since I had heard so much about it. I got mine with the Tai Barbecue sauce and was not impressed. Sis tried the Szechuan (sp?) and said it was much better. It was also less spicy even though the posted sign said the opposite.

 

The announcement came at 12:30 that the rooms were ready, so we grabbed our bags and headed down. We were booked in room M134 which is a category 6C (oceanview) room located on Main deck (deck 5). I had originally booked a 4C (interior) room, but was able to upgrade for only $100 more total. I also decorated the door :p.

Glad you had a great time, nice door decorations! Flip-flops are southern girls ruby slippers!, lol

Can't wait for more!

Happy Sailing,

So glad you are doing a review, I have a planned surprised 50th birthday for DH (with friends) aboard the Sensation in November, luv the pics! I luv purple!

Happy Sailing,

Now that our cruise is getting so close, I'm stressing out... lol. I'm so ready to get on board so I can relax. 5 more days!

I want to thank you once again for all your help. Your review helped a lot and then all the questions that I've asked, you've answered in detail.

Finding someone so helpful is sometimes a rarity, so I really appreciate it!

No need to stress, Tampa is an easy port to board and you'll be on that ship in no time, it will be crowded around guest services when you board, if you don't have to put any money down on your card, just walk right thru them to the left and take the elevator to Lido and get you some lunch, the workers came around about 12:30 to let everyone know their cabins were ready! Also they are handing out Fun Times and some were available at the Coffee bar near the Casino, so you can start planning your cruise strategy.:)

Your a quite welcome! Bon Voyage! I will try to watch your sail away!

Happy Sailing,

Great review and pictures, thank you for sharing. Looks like y'all had a great time. When in November will you be on the Sensation?

Your welcome, we sail Nov 1, I have booked 2 cabins (another couple are joining us), its a surprise 50th birthday gift for hubby! It's going to be awesome!

Happy Sailing,

The smoking section that you said is Lido Fwd starboard... is that going to be in the bar area? Starboard is not the side where the stairs for the slide are, correct? What is considered Lido open deck? Would that be the area overlooking the Lido? Can you smoke anywhere in the Rex Club? Are smoking areas restricted in Grand Cayman and Cozumel?

 

Sorry for all the questions. :o

I've really cut back smoking since I got my e-cig, but still crave a real one once in a while and DH still smokes over a pack a day even with the e-cig.

 

Thanks for all your help!

Grand Cayman & Coz, not sure, we smoke in the port area at GC and at the beach when we were sitting at the restaurant, Cozumel we we did the bar hop so of course there we were able to smoke, Rex Club yes, anywhere.

Yes open Lido is upstairs overlooking the pool, there are loungers there with wall mounted ashtrays. In the pic below, coming from elevators within the ship you walk out right in front of that hot tub, go to the left all the tables and chairs near the pool area are smoking, there are tv's and a bar also where you can smoke, they cell cigs & cigars also. Up the stairs by the bar is the open deck, it does not show in my pic though.

Smoking tables on the far left.

I know you are getting excited, have fun!

Happy Sailing,