SoCalKJ

The tour is only an hour long and at less than $35/person, it's TOTALLY worth it!

At one point, we spotted an alligator capture a duck and then race off with it! I tried to get video of it, but eventually the alligator decided to go underwater and stay until he could be sure we were gonna leave him alone. They can stay underwater (evidently) for hours. Well, fine!

More photos of air boat tour stuff:

Scotty and Sergio.

Sergio and me.

I know he looks like a frog, but trust: he ain't NO FROG!

Wild Willy's has a deal with a local alligator farm: once Sergio gets too big and too aggressive and basically sick of snot-nosed, over-eager, touchy-feely humans like us, they take him back and trade-in for a new baby for the next few months.

We finally bid adieu to Captain Bud, Sergio and basically everyone inhabiting the trailer park (seriously) and were off towards Tampa...

I meant to say sharper-than-Ginsu-knives FOR TEETH!!!

Jeez! Can you see an alligator born with 80 Ginsu knives?

Some more photos from the air boat tour:

Wanna pet him?

Scotty's favorite excursion, hands down.

These air boats can fly! Lemme tell ya! I think, however, I was more impressed by the scenery and the wildlife! So much for just thinking it was gonna be mud and alligators!

Fun fact: a female alligator can lay up to 50 eggs at once. Once laid, it takes 45 days for those babies to hatch. They're born with 80 sharper-than-Ginsu knives!

Okay more random photos:

Speaking of wild turkeys: how did THIS get in there?!

Yep, it's the one thing my mother kept for Thanksgiving! This is circa 1977!

Continuing with the real wildlife...

(We saw 4 Bald Eagles!!...you probably won't with these photos! Sorry!)

I swear, there's an eagle!!

We rented a car at Canaveral and proceeded to make our way to the west coast of Florida. We have a friend that moved to Holiday, FL earlier this year and we planned to spend the last few days in that area.

Side note: don't try to research the merits of the Sun Pass. Just have your rental car company activate the darn thing! It's gonna cost about 8 bucks (roughly) a day, but...genius here decided to just have a stash of cash ready to go through the few cash tolls I anticipated. BUT...WTH do you do when you realize you're coming up on a cashless toll and your butt ain't activated?!?

So...I called the rental car company after about 7 bucks in quarters and what seemed like a million more tolls ahead and they said to just go through all the Sun Pass lanes and when I turn in the car at the end of the rental, tell the person checking me out to "opt in" and I'll be covered from all the "violations."

What a PITA!

So finally we got that mess covered and we were off to Wild Willy's! Some wild turkey in the road slowed us down a bit, but we eventually made it!

So rude!

Yep...air boat and flip flops! Don't hate!

...and away we go in the ol Everglades!

Great review. Are you going to write about the 3rd leg of the trip?? You have such a great writing style, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to hear about it!!

Thank you so much for the kind words...I'm truly flattered. I suppose I could add a little from the 3rd leg. It was kinda fun.

I'll throw in a sneak preview photo of me and my new friend, Sergio: a little alligator buddy we met later on the day we disembarked...the 3rd leg began where the Carnival left off. Now, granted an air boat tour ain't the same as the Carnival Ecstasy boat tour, but it did have it's nifty highlights!

Oh sure, he certainly looks like a frog from this angle, but he really is a young alligator!

More to come....

Awesome review & pictures!! My bf & I are going on the Miracle in February, thanks for posting info about your shore excursion in the Bahamas!! I think that is who we are going to use for the basic package..no parasailing for me...lol

 

How is your Bassett hound?? I have you too. They are the best, most lovable dogs!!!!

Rupert is a wonderful dog! He turned 9 when we were on this vacation. We got him when he was 11 weeks old.

Funny story: when asking Scotty what kind of dog he wanted (since this was his first ever~~I've had many dogs), he said he always wanted a Basset Hound. I said, "A Basset Hound?!? I can't run on the beach with a Basset Hound!" He then asked me, "Since when do you run on the beach?"

Thanks all! Most people zip out these amazing reviews in (what seems like) no time, and about halfway through, I'm scratching my head going, "WTH did I get myself into?!?!"

Thanks for reading!

Scotty went to hang in the room and I decided to go hang in the pool and enjoy the atmosphere. This included the ice-carving exhibit (does the guy only do Native American sculptures?) and the hairy chest competition. I’ve actually NEVER watched it live…it’s usually something that survives on our television for about 10 seconds before we change the channel. This time, however, was an exception: my new rock star friend, Ken Brady was a contestant and won! It was actually hilarious to watch. When the contestants had to make Tarzan-esque howls and his sounded more like Jane, that was the highlight of the whole competition!

Okay...I kinda already knew to expect the final result...based on the reviews here already.

Not the greatest angle. Sorry.

Just chillin' before the next activity.

Anyway, we enjoyed one final dinner in the MDR and then proceeded to play a little more in the casino. I should probably confess that we aren’t moderate gamblers. We REALLY like to play…the worst thing Carnival could do for people like us was to allow us to just charge whatever to our S&S account: because we sho’ nuff did….over and over and over again.

Okay, well…it’s only money, right?

Having said that, and kinda getting tired of the same old losing pattern, I decided to sign up for the blackjack tournament. 20 bucks a pop. First preliminary round, I busted out. Signed up again….busted out again. Third time’s the charm: not only did I qualify, I had the top score going into the Final Round!! This meant I got first choice in where to sit at the table. I picked right next to first base and was the ONLY female at the final table. Without going into detail, I’ll just post the result.

YAY!!!!!! (Plus $500!!)

What I will say is that the prize didn’t QUITE assist in the overall dent in our S&S account, but aren’t bragging rights priceless, anyway?

Anyway, after all that, we played a little more, actually won back a good chunk on the BJ tables before they shut down the casino for the evening (only to give it all to Hard Rock Tampa Bay later).

We grazed a bit, walked around and tried not to slide into the end-of cruise depression. We got our luggage packed and set outside the stateroom, enjoyed one last animal and a fun pic with Ranil.

Too cute!

Ranil - our most fav steward ever!

Anyway, that pretty much covers the Sea Day.

The next day was relatively uneventful. We exited our room, went to our designated waiting area for our Zone and begrudgingly tossed back some Lido breakfast while we waited. Before we knew it, we were disembarking and off.

Other than having to surrender my oranges at Customs that were left over from our Cabana/fruit basket (REALLY?! They came from Florida and came BACK to Florida and now I can't have 'em IN Florida?!?! WHATEVER!), it was smooth sailing....

...and we were off on our 3rd leg of the trip.

That's about it, folks. Thanks so much for your patience! Happy Holidays.

(a.k.a. last day/day of depression/unwelcomed disembarking information day)

Let’s be honest: this day sucked. Truly sucked. Any last day of ANY cruise has to suck more than the day you actually disembark at the end. Why? Because all you can think is, "Dang! Tomorrow we leave." (I use other words, but I don’t want to get in trouble here!) Okay, well, at least that’s how I think. So…I was REALLY determined to enjoy this day at all costs! (oops…well…it did cost. I’ll say that.)

Anyway, we combed through the Fun Times and mapped out one helluva last day at sea. We did the Motown Trivia…didn’t win but had a respectable score. We blew some more money in the casino. We went to Tea Time…Scotty hates tea, but loves dessert. It was worth it! Some good eats. (Ok…I’m not gonna rush out and buy a cucumber and some white bread anytime soon, but hell…everything was splendid, in the moment.)

Dangit! The Isley Brothers actually sing "I Hear A Symphony" too. Why did I think it was Marvin Gaye?!

Sugar coma in 5, 4, 3, 2, ....

This is the "WTH am I doing here-dang this chocolate cake is good" mash-up face.

Taking my Tea Time seriously!

MORE TO COME...

No Way! Your review is awesome and so are all the pics you're putting in. Its alotta work doing a review and the whole pix routine .. it's appreciated !

 

But i know what you mean .. I posted one this past March and put alotta work into it ... and i didn't get as much response as i thought i would either.

 

BTW .. here it is in case u wanna have a look!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1612903&highlight=f27tw

 

And keep yours comin too, SISTA GIRL!!

I started reading yours. Holy crap! From just that center concourse area...sheesh! She's a huge ship!!

I love your writing..and I can totally hear your inflections as I'm reading. The only thing missing are "2 snaps" (in classic "In Living Color" Men On....fashion!) :D

We had never snorkeled before this trip...we can't get enough of it at this point...we literally spent 2-3 hours in the water doing just that!

P.S. I'm not vain. Seriously.

Our growing collection of shells and sand dollars. Sadly, not one of the sand dollars (total of 11!) survived the trip back to California. Actually, 7/8 of one made it and then Scotty broke it on the dining room table a few days later. GRRRRR!

Our new friend to greet us after a long amazingly beautiful HMC day.

It should come as no surprise that we are madly in love with HMC. We WILL do another cruise that includes this stop. Cabana...yes. Wonderful day!

The sign I've seen posted here a million times.

Of course I had to post one of me in front of it...LOL!

Scotty prefers colder climates...but even HE fell in love with HMC. How can you not?!

A little iPhone photo. I swear I could sell this picture as an official Carnival HMC photo.

Our home away from home away from home. Nobody even dared to try to take/use/borrow/step on...anything near our cabana. I'd say #11 was a good choice.

They kinda skimped on ranch and guacamole. Otherwise, it was a pretty sweet spread.

What can I say: breathtaking. Of course, it was a bit windy and it took quite a while for the ship to actually secure an area to begin tendering. I was also under the wrong impression that if you book a cabana or you have VIP boarding, you get priority tendering. WRONG. I think we were like tender number 17 or something ridiculous.

Anyhoo…by the time we actually got to our cabana it was about 10:30. We immediately tore into the snacks and then raced off to do some serious snorkeling! I don’t really need to say much…I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Self portrait while waiting for us to hit the tender...

It was a little bit of a race back to the ship: when your excursion is done at 4:00 and you need to be back at the ship by 4:30. Traffic was a little nuts (Nassau is a little different regarding speed limits and overall traffic etiquette), and we were a little tiny bit nervous about getting back in time. Fortunately, we were on the ship with about 5 minutes to spare.

The rest of the evening was met with a great meal in the MDR, a little casino action and the talent show. I (along with a Rod Stewart impersonator, an Elvis impersonator, a Neil Diamond impersonator and a few other singers) participated in the onboard talent show. What an exciting opportunity to sing Mariah Carey with the live show band - - it was exhilarating and any chance to share my gift of music is an honor and a privilege. That netted another ship on a stick and a bottle of bubbly (that we ended up giving to our friend that we visited on the 3rd leg of our vacation). Later on that evening, the lead singer of the Casinos, Ken Brady (best known for their hit "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye") made a point to find me on the ship and compliment my performance. What an honor to have a real legit musician make that effort. I’m still thrilled!

Me and Ken Brady of The Casinos. This was actually the last night during Karaoke...he was a little...well, liquored!

Ken and Richie Merritt (lead singer of The Marcels, best known for the hit "Blue Moon") were hired to entertain a private party onboard hosted by a group of senior ladies from Florida. I didn’t see Richie around the ship, but Ken was everywhere!

Anyway, after the talent show, we headed back to the casino to lose some more money. When we got back to our room, the casino had sent us a gift to say thanks for our patronage thus far and another lovely animal was waiting for our return. All in all, a pretty fun-filled day!

I must mention that the Ecstasy’s Maitre D, Joseph, was wonderful. First time in 7 cruises that ANY Maitre D has ever been visible…and not just the last night with gratuity envelopes in hand. He went from table to table every night, was entertaining and funny and addressed us even outside of the MDR. We just started saying "It’s SHOWTIME!" everytime we saw him.

Also, our waiter (think his name was Martin from Peru) was TOPS! Our waiter from the first night was really rude…can’t even remember his name, but when we requested multiple starters to share, he barked at us that we couldn’t share items because they wouldn’t fit on the table and had kind of an attitude that he couldn’t be bothered with us. So, the remaining nights, we were seated on the other side of the dining room and had Martin each time. He was funny, gracious, genuinely interested in our requests and how to fill them…class act. He addressed us by our first names outside of the MDR and even in HMC when we went through the lunch buffet on the island. It was really impressive.

I apologize that I didn’t take pictures of food. Most of you know what you like, what it looks like and what it tastes like. Since I’m already extremely long-winded, I thought it’d be best that I save the culinary dialogue.

Yay! Thanks!! I promise to have more first of the week! This is ridiculously long coming and for that I apologize.

Oh, hellll no! ... I know homegirrr aint lyin neetha! Pssshhhh!

Tee Hee!! I think I'm just gonna email you the rest of my review! I'm pretty sure you're the only one left reading it!

I'm still with u girrl! Your pics are great and i love how u write! I know what you mean too about that RCCL ship -- that was the Oasis or Allure (they are twins) ... almost ridiculous in size .. it looks like a hotel done pulled in next to you!

But i got ta axe u ...why come u didnt git yo hair braided you wuz in da Bahamas!?

Bahahahaha!! I decided against gettin' muh hair did cuz the shiz woulda done falled out on the water-mon!

While the catamaran made it’s way out to our snorkeling, etc. destination area, we got an earful of Nassau information and an eyeful of amazing celebrity habitats along the way.

The Total Package!! Totally!

Tiger Woods' Digs. Poor guy.

Chuck Norris's modest pad.

Oprah's (if memory serves)

Not everyone on the tour booked the same activities. Most of us snorkeled, some didn’t.

Scotty and I were the only two that did the banana boat ride, so that was quite an adventure with just the two of us on this 16-person boat holding on as our guide was flying the jet ski leading us at top speeds of (at least) 25-30 mph! Neither of us fell off the boat, but I fell INTO the boat about 5 times. You just start laughing your rear off, bouncing around, holding on for dear life and the next thing you know, you’ve lost control. It was a total blast. We also enjoyed about 15 minutes of jetskiing. I used to own one but it’d been over 10 years since I’d had it and been on one, but just like a bicycle, it took almost no time to re-familiarize and off we went.

As far as parasailing went, that was a no-go. It was far too windy and the tour crew decided against it. Scotty tried to feign disappointment, because he really did NOT want to do this (I forced him against his will), but I was kinda bummed. We were given the option of an extra 15 minutes on the jet ski or $60 back. We took the cash. Lunch was also part of the total package (barbecue chicken, rice, beans, drink) so we enjoyed that and some beach time. On the ride back, one of the tour members DJ’d and we danced and enjoyed the (albeit windy) ride back. I would highly recommend this tour.

More pictures to come...

Our first goal was to make sure we knew where to report for our excursion so we didn’t miss the shuttle to it. After a phone call and some clarification assistance with a nice lady at the welcome desk, we started wandering around grabbing a few different souvenirs including magnets, postcards and, of course, 6 of the Bacardi mini rum cakes. Scotty enjoyed some free samples and since I abstain from anything with alcohol in it, I enjoyed him enjoying them. We bought 2 of each flavor (Regular, Pina Colada & Chocolate) and then started making our way towards the "fountain" outside the welcome center back area.

No shame in our game!

Wandered into the Department of Tourism and found Their Excellencies on the wall:

Happy to be on vacation!

I must say that it’s true what they say about vendors in the Bahamas: they are really easy going and they’re really good about taking "no" for an answer the first time around. I’ve been to Mexico countless times and there are little kids shoving crap in your face tirelessly and adults ruthlessly trying to make a deal, but here it was almost comical how the vendors could care less if you bought anything or not. Side Note: I remember some woman the day before in Freeport telling a vendor that she wanted (whatever the heck it was) for 50% less than the price it was and if she didn’t get it, she’d march over to the vendor next door. The saleswoman told her to knock herself out. What the woman didn’t quite realize was that all the prices were the same and while the vendor admitted to being happy to negotiate something reasonable, the vendors pretty much stay on even ground so as not to screw each other over.

Anyway, we ventured out to the “fountain” to wait for the excursion shuttle that finally found us and we were off toward the harbor for our big afternoon of fun.

More coming...

Rise and shine…and might I add, each morning we took advantage of room service for breakfast. Nothing screams vacation like a big pot of coffee, fresh fruit and some bagels with cream cheese and salmon served exactly when we want it, right!?! I’m hungry now just reflecting on it!

Today we had the Total Package excursion booked, but not through Carnival. I found an independent website a few months prior to sailing with different adventures…and settled on this one through www.bestonbahamas.com. The adventure I booked was called the "Do-It-All" package which included parasailing, banana boat ride, jet skiing, snorkeling, lunch and some fun beach time where we could hunt for sea shells, relax, swim, etc. For $150/person, that seemed more than reasonable. I must say, though, that if I book this again (if we ever make it back to Nassau…GOD WILLING), I now know that I can book directly through "The Total Package" and that the above-named website was more of a booking service. Good to know to save a few booking bucks next time.

Anyway, our excursion wasn’t scheduled until noon, so we didn’t feel an urgency to disembark immediately upon arriving into port. We actually enjoyed watching the gangway/walkway activity between the other ships and us in port. When I walked outside onto my balcony, the first thing I saw was this behemoth of a ship by Royal Caribbean across from us. All I can say is that it took two pictures on my phone to get the entire length of it! This mamma jamma was ridiculous! I did notice that it was pretty windy in Nassau that morning…annoyingly so…and it would prove to cut into our excursion later that afternoon.

Oh hello Atlantis. Nice to see you.

So…I head back into the room to get dressed and fart around for maybe about 30 minutes or so and then I head back out onto the balcony and what’s squeezing in between us and the RCL? Another gi-normous ship – this time a Disney monster! And, of course, it wasn’t going to make a subtle grand entrance: as it floated to it’s stop, "When You Wish Upon A Star" started playing. It was actually kind of intense and beautiful. I was feeling a wee bit of jealousy gazing upon their waterslide…see-through tubes and a long ride that seemed to go from one end of the ship to the other. (A little exaggeration, but it was kinda cool!) At one point I noticed someone slide through the see-through tube so I figured they weren’t in a big hurry to disembark, either.

Disney's Grand Entrance.

Anyway, we decided to head out about 11:00-ish so we could walk around and do a little shopping in the welcome center area before it was time for our excursion which was from 12-4 so we’d have ZERO time at the end to venture around Nassau. Once off the boat, we walked against the wind down the walkway and around the corner, snapped a front pic of the Ecstasy (little tugboat compared to the others next to us!) and headed toward the welcome center.

We're modest by comparison, but honestly, it's a lot easier navigating around this baby than the other two, I'm sure!

This shouldn't be taking as long as it is to write, so I apologize for lagging (to the few people who are reading my review). Life is definitely in session and it's taking longer than I expected to get this completed! More to come...

I had made a list of things I really wanted to do on this cruise that I had never done before on any of the other cruises I had been on and going down the waterslide was one of those things. Naturally, in Alaska, it was too cold and a few other times, the waterslide was down for one reason or another, so I was determined to do it while in Freeport. Wise choice. Since the boat was virtually empty, so was the waterworks area. I took my waterproof video camera and got footage of the experience. It wasn’t a crazy slide down, but it was fun…fun enough to do it twice.

Observation: has anyone else who's gone down the Ecstasy waterslide, no matter how much momentum you pick up on the way down, just kinda come to a non-climactic stop before the actual end of the slide?

We just kinda puttered around the boat…ate…relaxed…the usual…but without the crowd. After a while, Scotty went to chill in the room and I decided to go do a little laundry. At this point, we’re halfway through our vacation and the thought of eliminating some dirty clothes during some downtime in Freeport was tempting.

I went to Guest Relations to get a roll of quarters to do a load: it was exactly 8 bucks for the washer, the dryer, the box of detergent and the box of softener. During the wash cycle, I just farted around the ship, munching here and there at the Lido and looking around at the different sights. During the drying cycle, I proceeded to go hang out on the Serenity Deck. This proved to be a great way to spend the 45 minutes I’d have to wait for the clothes to dry. I found a lounger right in the front center and enjoyed just being in the moment.

God Grant Me...

After about 20 minutes or so, the other Carnival Ship that was in port started to leave. This ship was really close to us and it was like having a front row seat watching it maneuver 180 degrees to turn to make it’s exit. It was really impressive watching the precision by which that ship was handled. Flawless. Anyhoo…45 minutes later, I wandered back to the Laundry Room and finished up. BTW, conveniently enough, the Laundry Room was on the Upper Deck...same floor and not far from our room.

Before I knew it, it was time to get ready for elegant night, the ship left Freeport and we were off to enjoy another fun-filled evening of music, casino and various other activities.

Hubby will only dress up for elegant night until dinner is over. We even skipped dessert so he could change quicker. I, however, really enjoyed being dressed up but didn’t wanna walk around with hubby in khaki shorts and flip flops and me in a formal dress, so it was back to jeans <sigh>. Anyway, it was a great day….and to top it off, another cute towel animal greeted us to say goodnight.

Rare is the occasion that I get dressed up; rarer is the occasion that I take a serious photo. <sigh>

Scotty and Ranil. Best Buddies!

The gratuitous glamour shot!

Freeport's Pet of the Day!

Tomorrow: Nassau!

...thinking I may just say Day 2 since this is the Cruise Forum! (and not the Disney forum or the Alligator Page...)

Since we had excursions booked for Nassau and HMC, we decided to spend most of our time on the boat. We did walk around the immediate market area and grab a few souvenirs, look around and listen to the welcome band in the center concourse area there, but we didn’t spend more than an hour or two before we decided to head back onboard.

Us.

View from our balcony.

Random Tree

Information about The Bahamas National Flower...

Senor Frog, Himself!

Pose, honey!

i SO wish this site had a 'LIKE' button!! You would be a blast to cruise with!!!

Anyone that uses "diiiiiint" and "girrrrrl" in the same post has my approval! ;)