CB cruise review 6-23-2010 very long

[musicgirl63]

Caribbean Princess 6-23-10

9 Nights Bermuda San Juan St. Thomas Grand Turk

 

Crew-Lorie-myself

Bill-hubby

Tablemates-Lisa

Erik -Lisa’s dh

E- Lisa’s dd

B-Lisa’s ds

 

Warning: my cruise reports get a bit personal, but I am writing this as a journal for myself as well as a report.

 

Pre -pre-cruise

We had been eyeing a cruise on CB for a while. We loved the itinerary and the price of the cruise for 9 nights was great and it was out of NYC. When a friend (Lisa-1) that we cruised with in 2007 mentioned that she was cruising, it took me no longer than 1 minute to discuss with DH. Lisa had already started roll calls on CC and CLF. Since we had already done this itinerary there wasn’t much planning to do. We have a son in college, so this was going to be a “cheap” vacation with not too many frills……..yeah, right!

 

Pre-cruise

Packing-I must have choices!!!! The morning of the flight, I realized that we only had 3 pieces of luggage plus our carry ons. One of which was a small piece of luggage with all of the things we would need for that night and the morning of the cruise. We were flying Southwest so our bags got to fly free!!! So I’m thinking, Why drag a carry-on through the airports, why not just use it as our 4th piece of luggage? Then it dawns on me…..Hello, use a bigger suitcase!!! So as I’m transferring the items I realize that I must be one of the dumbest people to fly. You know, right after the people who forget that they brought a gun onto the plane……. I had put all the things that I would need such as my new expensive, very large bottle of conditioner, large bottles of sunscreen, larger than allowed bottles of a number of liquids. They would have confiscated them and probably done a strip search because no one can really be that stupid. Thank God I had a moment of clarity!

 

We flew from Columbus, Ohio to Baltimore and then onto LGA. A few delays but it was ok because we flew in the day before the cruise. Only 1 thing was forgotten for the trip and it was not I who had forgotten. Normally it would be me, but it was Bill. A belt was the missing puzzle piece. While we were in Baltimore, he found one for $10 in the $10 dollar store. It was not long after that we understood why it was $10!!! It fell apart every time he used it. Next time Bill, you might want to think about a list!!!!

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Brooklyn. Taxi fare to the hotel was $26 plus the tip. Since the online estimator indicated $28, I thought this is a good sign!!! The area was under a lot of construction, it will be nice….someday. Meanwhile the hotel was ok, but I wouldn’t say up to your typical Holiday Inn standards. Very small room….welcome to NY!!! The pillows were nothing more than a bunch of cotton balls in a pillow case. It kind of became a joke so it was fine. We were starving and were a bit leary of leaving the hotel. We were going to order in, but the hotel manager mentioned a place 2 blocks down the street called Deli on the Slopes. Hey I remember reading about it, let’s go! We missed it because it is actually a grocery store set up. They had great food for Cheap! Oh yeah! Since there is no place to sit, we took our treats back to the room. This is where we stayed from 2pm until we checked out!! Not in the mood to be adventurous, we stayed in and watched movies. It was fun after being up at 4am and traveling. We ordered in Chinese for dinner. The next morning there was a continental free breakfast. It was just ok, but who cares we will be eating next at the buffet on the ship.

 

Embarkment day!!

 

A very nice taxi took us to the port and we arrived around 9:40. We did this earlier last time and had no problems. Not so much this time. No porters anywhere. So after waiting in the hot sun for a bit we decided to head to next to the doors. When they saw that we had luggage, they let us take it in since we couldn’t drop it off yet. We went in through the doors however, a lady immediately said that our luggage was too big and we would have to check it. Well yes but…..then I look around and everyone else had all of their luggage too. So we wait and a security officer came up to me and mentioned the same thing. Do I look suspicious or something? Again nothing was said to anyone else. So this guys finds out what is going on and finally says we can give it to the porters.

 

At that exact moment, they are allowing people to check in. YES!!! It is 10:15 and we are on our way. We get through security, got our boarding card……#51. What? 51 there was no one in front of us??? Ok we get our cruise cards and all the stress melts away. If I forgot anything, at this point I could still cruise. We go to the waiting area in the terminal where there are plenty of Tvs for watching…..come on guess….it’s June…..soccer! I wasn’t watching but I knew exactly what happened by the explosions from the rest of the group.

 

Eyegolf-aka Lisa (L2) spots me. I posted my last cruise report with pictures and she recognized me. Lisa is here with her 2 kids (dh had work). So we waited and chatted until around 11:45 when the real fun begins!! They start with 50!! Oh yes, we are next! Right behind L2!!

 

Right away, we are shown the way to our room. They are actually open so we can drop my purse and cameras off. They must be amazing with turning the rooms over. But then again I later find out why…..at the end of the cruise you are kicked out of it at 8am. Cruel I tell you! :mad:

 

We see a few groups from our roll call and then finally Lisa 1 is on board. Since we have met up with L2 again, we go in search of L1 who says they are eating. We walk back and forth through the buffets and can not find her. Call….oh she’s in the Coral dining room. Hugs and intros all around. Then we are off to the pool. Good thing I packed the suits in my large purse!! But wait, we see that there is luggage in the hallways, but not ours so I start out to the pool and low and behold here comes the luggage. Tropical fun comes to a screeching halt due to unpacking. Everything made it including the 3 medium sized bottles of vodka (I took off the labels and wrote on them things like: distilled water for contacts and distilled water for hair) and some special bottles of shots.

 

Pool and informal meet and greet. I met a bunch of people that I would see through out the cruise…..Caribbean Mac-we were sharing a cab in Bermuda. Flyer Steve and family, Fathercop Rich and family, chesneygirl Maryse and family, Moorishidol-Carol….

 

 

 

 

We had to get to traditional dining at 6 so we didn’t get to see the sail away because there was only 1 gangplank open (the other was broken?) The line to get on the ship was evidently horrible. Once in people were not given boarding numbers and those who were trying to patiently wait for their turn, watch people walk in after them and board immediately. It got ugly and the police were called.

[musicgirl63]

Day at Sea

 

Awesome weather for a pool day. I was up early enough to snag 2 chairs. We shared with L1 and L2 and families so we were chair hogs!! So let’s talk about the pools. I think this ship has the most pool space of the ships that we have been on. There are 2 big pools one of which is the MUTS. We never sat here because it was just too loud. There is the adult’s only pool plus 2 hot tubs near the sanctuary. There is the adult pool that is aft….but very cold!!!! Above this pool is a deck that has an adult hot tub-good sized. A family pool which has the deep sides so you must use the ladder. There is also a decent sized kiddie pool with a slide.

 

 

So we are at the pool on the first sea day and it of course is jammed. But there are a few little kids with with floaties, some were pretty large. Some of the kids were babies!!!! Are you kidding me? There was a special flyer in our welcome packets that was specifically geared toward the parents and the rules. One of which mentioned that diapered babies are not allowed in the main pools. So this one family was eating in the pool. They had brought over food and set it on the pool seats and were giving it to the kids in the water, one of which was a diapered baby. So an attendant finally comes up and tells them that the diapered baby must come out of the pool. A pretty heated argument ensues. The mother is demanding to talk to someone. It went on for a while and she was pretty rude to the crew members trying to talk to her. So what does the mom do, well like anyone trying to find a loop hole, she takes the diaper off of the baby and puts the baby in the pool in its floating hotel. WHAT!!!! Are you kidding me? Of course this is a no go and she is told again that the baby can not go in the pool. The baby pool is too shallow!!! So she holds the baby in her lap as she sits and then puts the baby in when the attendant is busy. We find out later that if that baby had an accident with or without the diaper on, everyone in the pool would have to go to the medical room. It would not be a request, it would be required. The pool of course would have to be drained and cleaned. Talk about some unhappy passengers that would make!!!

 

There is supposed to be NO JUMPING OR NO DIVING in the pool. Obviously we needed a spelling lesson so those who couldn’t read the giant sign over the pool would know this. It was too crowded to jump let alone the father who put the kid on his shoulders and threw him across the pool. Are you serious???? There were kids climbing over the sides of the hot tub into the pool. Kids that were running on the slippery tile pool deck so they could jump in. No one said a word to the kids or the parents. It only takes one of those kids who slips, falls and gets hurt badly enough to turn the ship around. I know kids like to have fun when there is a pool. But the rules are clear and the pool is too crowded. I loved one of the older passengers who decided to yell at the kids. When the little girl (10ish) said she didn’t know she couldn’t jump, he asked if she went to school because there was a big sign right there!! LMAO!!!

 

Chair hogs-yes there are people who use the chair all day like myself. But then there are the real chair hogs. On one of the sea days, I got up early (as I always do) and got some chairs that were shared very quickly by my cruise buddies. This was about 6:30am. Right after I got there, a guy comes up and put 6-7 towels on the chairs next to me. He also put a book or a magazine on each one. He proceeded to leave and occasionally came back to check on their stuff. I was at the pool until around 5pm that day. The 2 chairs next to me were never sat in the entire day. Every once in a while someone in their group would come to sit in their chairs. The people in those chairs only sat for maybe 30 minutes the entire day.

 

Of course my chairs were the ones that someone tried to take. Someone was in the chairs almost the entire time that day. We went to cool off in the pool for a few minutes. We had plenty of items on the chairs and under them. I see this couple come up to scope out chairs and they start to take mine. We get out of the pool and tell them it was my chair. They said that there was nothing on it. Anyone who knows me would know, that didn’t happen. I’m a bit obsessive about those kinds of things. Then they said that chairs couldn’t be held anyway. I told them that we were in the pool. I guess if one has a chair, you can’t get in the pool, use the restroom, or grab a piece of pizza. You want a chair, get off your butt and get one early. If you don’t get a chair, find a spot for your towel and shoes and get in the water! That’s what I do all the time.

 

They had a ton of people serving drinks at the pool. In my opinion they needed some of those people to clean up the area and be better attendants to the pool ongoings. If people don’t follow the rule, warn them. If the behavior continues, they are out for the rest of the day.

 

Ok lets move on from the pool….After dinner on the second night which was formal night, we changed and went to one of the shows. The illusionist must have done all his best tricks the night before in the opening here’s what coming up on the cruise show. This was not impressive at all. Or as my dh says, it was underwhelming. He did a trick that needed a number between 33-99 (I think). Well Lisa2 got to pick the number. Now up until this point Lisa has been chatty but a bit reserved. So out of her mouth comes the number 69. We are all laughing so hard and the guy looked stunned. She said she picked it because her mom on the cruise was 69 and was turning the next day or so. Sure Lisa!!!! Here’s the kicker…..he made her pick another number. Evidently it didn’t work in his trick. Lisa was the highlight of the show!!

 

After the show their kids wanted to swim so the adults sat on barstools overlooking the pool. So it is time for a special toast, the special item that I smuggled in as toiletries.

While shopping before the cruise, I stumbled across some small shots of Kamakazies. This was a favorite on our last cruise so I decided we should toast our past cruisers who were not present. I even found plastic shot glasses. OMG these couldn’t have been worse! We determined that there was maple syrup in them. They were horrible and we could barely drink them. So the Kamakazie fairy made its first visit of the cruise with a round for our friends. Ah….that’s more like it.

 

The adults in our group were fun and even silly at times. My sandal fell off of our deck and onto the pool deck. People had just walked through but it didn’t hit them. So Erik was the gentleman in the group…..not my dh…and went to get the sandal. When he got right underneath us, Bill decides to kick off my other sandal onto Erik’s head. I think he missed though. It might not sound exciting or even clever to most, but we were laughing pretty hard. Cheers!

[musicgirl63]

Bermuda!!

 

Ah, Paradise at hand. We’ve been there twice, one of that being 3 days in port. We had arranged with a member of our roll call (Marilyn) to share a taxi to Church Bay, hop a bus to Horseshoe Bay and then share a taxi back to the the ship. Do not let the ticket people talk you into passes that you don’t want. We hate the buses. Sometimes they get crowded and you have to wait. If you have to stand….hang on for fear life. We’ve been there done that!! So we decided that a taxi would be best for time and comfort. So off our group went to Church Bay for some of the best snorkeling. At the port were taxis or vans, but right next to the ship it was more like shuttles. It was $8 pp and they will pair you with other groups going the same directions. We got on with another group who were not to thrilled that we were joining them. They didn’t understand the Church Bay was on the way to Horseshoe Bay. We started chatting and all was good. About 20-25 minutes later we were dropped off at Church Bay.

 

Church Bay is well known for it’s snorkeling but it can be rough. Rough was not the word of the day. Giant waves is more like it. Right away we saw the man of wars on the beach. There were probably 10-15 in the sand. The man who was renting equipment had just arrived and he immediately scooped them up.They probably washed ashore at night. Marilyn’s daughter is extremely sensitive to jellyfish/man of war stings so she didn’t Church Bay is well known for it’s snorkeling but it can be rough. Rough was not the word of the day. Giant waves is more like it. Right away we saw the man of wars on the beach.

 

There were probably 10-15 in the sand. The man who was renting equipment had just arrived and he immediately scooped them up.They probably washed ashore at night. Marilyn’s daughter is extremely sensitive to jellyfish/man of war stings so she didn’t even attempt the water. Marilyn and I went in, but it was difficult because of the waves. The bottom is also rocky and slippery with lots of scattered dips that catch you off guard. Now my dh had a new toy and those little old man o wars were not about to stop him. He loved this place the last time. The new toy….an underwater camera that is positioned at the top of the snorkel mask. It takes pics and videos. So off he went. We snorkeled by the shore and then played in the water. We stayed for about an hour before heading to our second stop….Heaven…I mean Horseshoe Bay.

 

We dried off as much as possible to get on the bus. They do like the passengers getting on wet. So we waited about 20 minutes before a bus came along, dropped in our ONE token and sat down in the bus with basically no one on it. I guess everyone else was already at Horseshoe Bay waiting for us to start the party!

 

Now we had to walk down the hill to the beach. Anyone who tells you it isn’t bad is lying or they must be incredible athletes. That hill is steep! Of course all of our friends and fans had completely covered the immediate beach. But I learned a bit of advice when traveling, always go to the left whether it is a line or a beach. I’m not sure why everybody crammed their bodies to one side of the beach but hey who doesn’t like being hot, sweaty, and having everyone walk right past you and kick sand all over you??

right side of the beach:

 

Left side:

So off to the basically empty left side of the beach. We all headed for the great waves on our side of the beach with no one to bump into.

We enjoyed the beach for a while and then decided to go even further left to see if I could spot Lisa 1 and family beyond the rocks. Yep, there they were sunning themselves watching their kids frolick in the water!! What a Norman Rockwell moment, that is until I almost stepped on the man of war right near them. Those things can really change the mood of the moment! I mentioned that the main beach wasn’t crowded where we were and also that the portion of the beach where you go through to the main beach was disappearing…..the tide was coming in!!! They eventually saw my wisdom and followed me over. We all played in the waves riding in the big ones. Someone was actually surfing! Some cute lifeguards were practicing drills. I think I need some saving!!

 

Fun with sand and pics

 

We were getting burnt, that is burnt like toast! Nice and crispy so as much as we didn’t want to leave paradise, it was time to go. You can rinse off in their showers and change if you want, but girls don’t be alarmed when you see the line. I mean really, you weren’t expecting a line. Off to grab one of the plentiful taxis at the bottom of the hill. There is no way that after a long hot day at the beach that I am dragging my rear up that hill. The taxi was right there, but this was a metered taxi. It was around $30 for the trip back to the ship.

 

I had the driver let me off at the Glassworks shop. I have bought a piece every time that I have visited. It was the only thing that I wanted. I did sample some rum cakes next door, but they have taken all the fun out of it. Someone gives you a very teeny tiny piece to taste. There’s no pigging out on rum cake anymore.

[musicgirl63]

After dinner, I ran into a honeymoon couple while looking for something for my burnt, chafed dh. They did not have their luggage yet. They were from S. Dakota and had a few flights to get to NYC. They were given a choice: make the ship without luggage or wait for the luggage and miss the ship. Now that’s a no brainer…..run Forest run!!! So they had a bit of money to buy a few necessities, but the clothes are very expensive especially long pants for men. When they had gone to eat in the dining room, they didn’t allow them in because he was wearing khaki shorts. They tried to explain, but to no avail. Come on Princess, I know the rules but these kids are on their honeymoon bend a little. I know they did on other occasions because I say other people dressed down and I mean dressed down. 2 thumbs down on this one Princess. So I’m looking at this guy thinking, he looks about the same size as my dh. So I ask if he would like to borrow a shirt and pants so that they could eat in the dining room the next night. They had to be thinking this lady is crazy, but they did accept. I bought some cream for my chafed hubby and went off to get some clothes for my new friend. He’s also in the army so I may get brownie points somewhere along the way!

 

Dh is lying on top of the sheets in just his undies. Now this may be way too much information, but it just will make it funnier. He is a red head and got burnt even though he bathed in sunscreen. His face, shoulders, and from his thighs were a bright Christmas red. The rest of him was ghostly white. The icing in the cake…..black undies. Ok for those who know him, this has probably burnt your eyes since you know what he looks like with clothes….sorry! But one can not help but giggle!!! He’ll get me back later.

 

So since dh is not able to move, I’m off to MUTS. You guessed it, no chairs!! Am I mad? Nope. I go up to the top deck. There are no chairs and no one else. I sat myself down and enjoyed the beautiful night and the fresh breeze and watched the end of The Blind Side. I cried when they sent him off to college. Having just done this less than a year ago, brought back memories. It was a good thing that I was by myself!!

 

Sea Day

Got up pretty late today so there were no chairs for me by the pool. We decided to try the adult aft pool. It was shady which was good for both dh and myself as I was also burnt. The only problem is that it is so cold, I can’t get in. So off to the Sanctuary adult pool. I’m pretty sure Bill and I were the youngest people there. It was crowded and sunny so we only stayed for an hour. So we decided we had enough sunshine for the day.

 

They had a sale in one of the dining rooms. There are some good deals but watch out because some of the stuff was in the gift shop for the same price. I found a spa workout outfit for what I thought was a good price.

 

I ran into Lisa 1 who was baking in the sun by one of the pools. Since Bill had a wine tasting and dh and kids all were doing their own thing, we decided to watch a movie in the theater. It was fun. We enjoyed Dear John, but our predictions on what would happen were definitely better than what did happen in the movie.

 

We met up with both Lisas and families after dinner and went to the hypnotist show. It would have been better but the majority of people chosen to participate were young kids who just wanted to be on stage and didn’t take it seriously. It was ok, not great.

 

Lisa, Erik pay off their kids to go to bed so they can play with us at Skywalkers. This is were we met Ariel. Ariel is a guy btw. He was a lot of fun and fast. Kamazkes, kamazakies, whatever, they were flowing like crazy that night. We also ran into hoola hoop girl . She was a performer on the ship that according to my husband was smoking’ hot.

[musicgirl63]

San Juan

 

Beautiful day!! We were not getting in until 1pm so we had a leisurely start. We stood at the front of the ship as we were coming into port. There was a family who were “coming home” to visit family and they were so excited.

 

 

Getting off the ship was crazy!!

So many people bombarding us with tours and excursions. We finally get away from them but I have lost my sense of direction. HINT: there are no street signs, look on the buildings!! I found a souvie shop to buy a hat or 2 because with the sun I felt as if I were burning all the time. DH found sunglasses for $10.…..they were not good and broke rather quickly….down the street.

 

I had wanted to find some of the jewelry stores so off we went. It was so hot that we kept ducking into all the shops to cool off. We felt raindrops so we looked up…..no clouds….Hmmmm maybe someone was watering..no maybe it was from someone’s A/C…no. It was so humid that it was raining without clouds!!!!

 

We stumbled on a park that had some crafts and BOXING!! It was funny for us because our server, Alvin and my dh kept joking about dh training him for boxing.

We finally locate where the jewelry stores that the ship recommended were. CLOSED!! There were a bunch of the stores that were boarded up. I re-checked my map and decided I was in the right place so we decided to go back to the duty free shop near the port. Along the way we found one of the stores. Can I just say I have awesome taste. The first ring I looked at was $7000. So I’m tired of looking for jewelry…I can’t believe I just wrote that. We get back to the pier and start to head over to the duty free store at the pier. Last time our ship was “parked” there. This time there was a ship embarking right at that time. Oh no, I am not going near that mess.

 

Back to the pools to enjoy them without people!! We watched the Michael Jackson movie and it was pretty good, but we were so tired that we didn’t see the end. As we were settling in, we kept hearing a call for some passengers. Uh-oh, was someone left behind?? They called them again in the morning before we docked. This is not looking good. The rumor is that a lady fell in San Juan and spent 5 hours at their hospital with a broken arm. Me, I’m going on the ship for their medical attention!!

 

[Colo Cruiser]

What a great ongoing review!!

[musicgirl63]

St. Thomas-Ah a taste of paradise!!

 

With our tablemates, we had arranged for an excursion outside of Princess with Rumbara Charters. If you want an incredible experience….call them!! They charged us $700 for the six of us if we paid in cash.

 

 

We had to get to Red Hook to meet up with Bobby and Lori.

It was about 30 mins there and $11 pp. We arranged for the driver, who was the head of the taxis to pick us up at 2:30. We arranged it because he said the experienced drivers will get you back through the traffic quicker. So he came back!! That was the only downside of doing this excursion.

 

We had to take a dinghy out to their yacht. We passed Kenny Chesney’s boat, Soul Shine.

Lisa and I immediately knew we must have a picture for Chesneygirl!!! Once we boarded the boat, we were treated like royalty. We had fresh homemade banana bread and drinks. Lori waited on us hand and foot by getting us drinks constantly . We could chose from a selection of juice and pop, beer, bloody mary’s, painkillers, rum runners etc. No limit!!

 

We sailed for a bit with Bobby keeping us entertained the entire time. We passed by St. James Less where Johnny Depp had once owned the island. Evidently there is a tradition that they place a fake cow somewhere on the island. Everyday they move it.

 

We finally stopped at Christmas Cove where there we no other excursions, only a few private yachts. We snorkeled for a while here before our lunch.

 

Lunch was simply amazing!! We had appetizers of spicy cooked shrimp that had been grilled but served cold with a dip, a mango dip with pita chips, celery, grapes, carrots. Our main entrée cam with bread and pasta salad. We were given the choice of filet mignon, tuna or chicken. The kids had chicken, Lisa and Erik had the tuna and Bill and I had the filet. Lisa and Erik said that it was the best tuna that they ever had. The filet was better than any meat we had on the ship. They cooked the entrée on the grill on the back of the boat right there in front of us. Talk about fresh!! Bobby also said the tuna had been caught the day before.

 

After lunch, they moved the boat to another portion of Christmas Cove. We saw a ton of fish and the coral was beautiful. We also saw a large baraccuda who came to check out Lisa. We also saw a spotted eagle ray! Beautiful. Lisa couldn’t figure out a fish she had seen from the pictures cards (that she “stole” along with the mask cleaner) So since she could describe it with words, she decided to demonstrate the fish swimming. How’d that go again Lisa????

 

 

After all the snorkeling, we had to head back. I was a bit leary that we were not going very fast. The ride out had been about 45 minutes and the ride back seemed to take forever. I should have known to trust Bobby to get us back in time. It turns out that he had taken the long way to Christmas Cove!! Our driver was there and got us back in plenty of time taking a few side streets to avoid the traffic.

 

We shopped for a bit, but we were so hot and tired that we decided to get back on board. That is with everyone at the same time!! We waited for about 20-23 minutes to get back on and they were not handing out cool towels today.

 

On the ride back on the boat I kept feeling like I was uncomfortably stuck to the deck. The same thing in the taxi. When we finally got back to the ship, I took a look in the mirror. I had burned my butt!! I had used sunscreen, but I did not think to spray underneath my bathing suit skirt. What do you think happens to a skirt when you snorkel? Well it moves…..I’m still feeling this a week later!! No there are not pictures!!

 

After dinner we sat outside the Explorer’s Lounge and listened to the comedian Darrel Joyce. He was pretty funny, but I didn’t make it all the way through due to sleepy head bobbing!!

[musicgirl63]

Here are some underwater pics from St. Thomas taken with Bill's mask camera/video camera.

 

 

 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

Excellent photos!

[musicgirl63]

Grand Turk

 

This was another late disembark at 1pm. We were going to Jack’s Shack so I tried to find it as we passed the island. We were a bit late due to the fact that we had to wait for the Carnival ship to dock for safety reasons. Ok, whose is the genius to allow 2 ships with 3000 people disembarking at the same time sharing 1 dock?? It was crazy. We thought it would be pretty funny to have the Carnivle people take our picture!!! This picture is on the way in.

We behaved though. So once we were off the pier we headed left through Margaritaville even though we could have easily gotten a great seat. When my dh suggested we stay there I reminded him of his “people allergy” so we continued on our quest to find Jack’s shack. We met up with a guy in his aqua speedo. He had no shoes, no shirt….nothing so I figured he lived there. Wrong, he was looking for Jack’s Shack too. I don’t really want to know where is cruise card was.

 

So we finally find it despite my dh doubts.

 

It was HOT!!!! First up a pink flamingo for me and a rum runner for him. Before we finished, we headed to the water. AHHHH!!!!!!

 

We did get 2 chairs and an umbrella for $20. We could have done with one because it was so hot I stayed in the water almost the whole time. We saw a bunch of sting rays come right up close to us.I found a knife in the water. Good think it was handle up.

 

We ran into shipmates, chesneygirl and kraussri (sp).

We drank for a while. They ate and said it was really good. Don’t forget to print off or check in on-line to get your free rum shot. Very strong! Beware of the pink flamingo, it will sneak up on you!!! Whoa!! I had three…yum. Lots of alcohol but it doesn’t taste like it. Bill went out to snorkel with chesneygirl’s son.

Evidently there had been dolphins near the pier and I missed it. I have waited my lifetime to swim with dolphins. So close,yet so far away…….

 

It has been rumored that the ship’s crew comes here and so they did. Carnival’s crew vs. Princess’ crew in sand volleyball. Jack also has some dogs that are very friendly. They loved the people and played ball with us.

 

Well it was time to pack up and shop for alcohol. Like I needed it.! I was walking in the water because it was too hot. Do you know how difficult that is after 3 PF??? I also noticed sea glass in the sand. Now if you want to talk about an interesting drinking activity, have a few drinks and try to pick up sea glass as the waves keep sweeping them away!!!

 

We bought some rum, put it in our bag and waltzed right through security. Bill said the security person gave him the “nod”. So we knew it didn’t go through unnoticed!!

 

Both Lisa’s went on different horseback riding excursions and gave 2 thumbs up as did Erik with his son on the ATV excursion.

[musicgirl63]

Sea Day...finally some rest!

 

Beautiful day, up by 6:45 to get some seats. All chairs by the pool taken by 7am.

 

Lisa (eyegolf) is sitting with me as we watch the men's sexy leg contest. It was slow getting it going, but the guys young and old really hammed it up complete with taking off shirts, and doing a shower dance. Lisa and I also became the pool sirens. Yes, we were beautiful women "in the sea" but we also started this "whoop, whoop, whoop" noise whenever the lady put the undiapered baby in the pool water. No one really noticed, but we were hoping! The kids were in rare form today and what is sad is that the parents are right there and some were encouraging the inappropriate behavior.

 

Bill went off to compete in the longest drive competition at the cyber golf.

He won with 271, the ship record is 283. He won 30 minutes of cyber golf play and for $20 he could upgrade to an hour. Perfect, he and Lisa were signed up to play on the next day anways!!

 

That evening we did a bunch of the shows. There was a good variety tonight. They really needed to space them out. First up was Famous faces with Lisa 1 and family and Lisa 2 and kids and her extended family.

 

Then the marriage game (newlywed game version). They chose 3 couples, (1)one newlyweds, (2)one in the middle and (3)one couple who had been married for over 50 years. The best answers came from the older couple.

 

Asking the guys who would they marry if they could marry anyone

1-his wife's best friend

3 (old) Beyonce!!

 

Asking the gals what line does your hubby use when he wants to hook up

1-popcorn which I believe stood for something I'm not going to say, but it rhymed with corn.....

3-Is it time for the little blue pill?

 

We stayed for the crew talent show. Lots of singing but all were very good. It changes everytime because they don't know which crew members can be in it.

 

Ok, time to start the adults only fun. Lisa and Erik, Lisa, Maryse and Tim and Bill and I make our way up to Skywalkers where Ariel was waiting for us.

No need for cards here, he already knows our number from earlier in the crew. Round of Kamakamazies.....One of us can't drink these due to a previous bad experience. You all have one of your own, mine is peach snapps. So we need a different shot for this person. Our server this round was not Ariel. When the round comes back, we are told that it is a Debbie Donut which we think is hilarious. We later find out later that it is not Debbie donut but rather Jelly Donut which explains the grape flavor with cream taste!!

 

We do some dancing with the young ones (18-30). Since the husbands along don't want to dance, we just find one to dance with. The guys on the floor don't know it, but we're dancing with them!! Here I am dancing with the guy in the checked shorts.

Bill introduces our parents who have young daughters to the grind dance. Basically it is a lap dance standing up. We are teachers so we get to enlighten those around us. I think they are enrolling their daughters in the convent as we speak!! Lisa-2 said they did a line version of this dance at Margaritaville. Here's ours. Not the same effect without guys but that's another story!!..LOL

 

Kraussri and dw find us and join in our merriment. As the night goes on, we can see a guy hooking up with a girl a few decks below us. He has his shirt off and he does not realize all of his "moves" can be seen. So Bill decides to visit them. Of course we are all watching and rolling on the floor when Bill walks near them and takes his shirt off and struts around. Funny I think the ship might have shifted a bit since everyone in Skywalkers came over to see what was going on. Bill had a hard time finding his way back.

 

Eventually all the gals were dancing with only 1 hubby.....So I decide to drag the other guys up one by one. We thought we were pretty funny doing the grind dance. The guys all had to make "the cool face" when they were dancing. We figured if the young people were repulsed by our dancing they would never do it again!! Hey, it could work you know!!

 

Don't ever let Bill use your camera..

 

Lisa, Maryse and Tim were the first to leave. The rest of the group went to find something to eat. On our way we ran into the "shirtless" guy. When Bill recognized him he said, "oh hi, I didn't recognize you with your shirt on". But the quote of the night had to be one from our ladies. as we were walking down the stairs we passed the teens hanging out on the steps. After we passed, she turns around a says, "I hope you weren't looking up, I don't have any underwear on". Cost of the cruise, $3-6,000 the look on their faces....priceless. We finally found food and had a few more laughs until 2:30am. No lie.......

 

 

 

ummmm...yummy french fries

[mtaylor04]

great review so far, waiting on the next installment :D

[Jennygirl]

Love your review so far Musicgirl. I've seen some of your other posts. You are very funny and I appreciate it!! Can't wait to see more photos and read more.

Thanks for posting!!

:)

[musicgirl63]

last sea day

up around 8, no chairs!!! However Lisa-2 did snag a few by the bar by the pool. Cool! We want some food from the international cafe, but are distracted by the alcohol sale. I purchase it while Bill and Lisa run off to play cyber golf. So I walk back to the pool and it is pouring down rain!! What?! It can't rain on my vacation. I sit in the chair since it is undercover. I wait for a while and decide that my time would be better spent packing. It rained for about an hour. It was pretty cool after that but Lisa-2 was bound and determined to keep her seats. I don't think she had to worry.

 

Last sea day HINT: do not wait to get a copy of your cruise account. I went around 8:30...no line. Around 11 it was packed and it stayed that way. When the customer service gal asked me if I was enjoying the cruise, I said "I was until I got this statement!) It wasn't bad. A little over budget with the drinks, but hey, how many times do I get to do that!!!!

 

Tension seemed to be a bit high today with the rain and it being the last day of the cruise. Many waiting to purchase pictures, people forgetting that just because you are on a cruise it doesn't mean that you don't have to wait in line.

 

We met Lisa-2 and her kids to see Pianoman after dinner. Lets' just say that the older crowd thought it was wonderful. We say that the choreographer and the director need to be fired!! The show was based on famous musicians who all played piano. Neil Sedaka, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, Liberace etc. Barry Manilow's section was the best except for the dancing. Overall the songs were too slow and "square". It must have been that way so that the dancers... no let me change that to high school cheerleaders/dance team could dance to it. These were obviously talented young people who were put into horrible routines. Let's just say when a guy sings Breaking up is hard to do while a male dancer danced below him.......well, it was bad. It went from bad to worse on the Liberace section started with male dancers in half tuxedo outfits with the other side a piano outfit. Then they pick up "glowing candleabras" and the lights went out and they did a floating light show. This was bad!!! Let's just say that it was a good thing that Erik wasn't there because he and Bill probably would have been escorted out for laughing.

 

So off to find Lisa and Erik by the MUTS. It was freezing so a few grabbed the blankets from the seats. We grabbed some pizza for one last time and enjoyed on last night of each others company. Sorry Lisa-2 that we didn't save you from the guy who came up and started rambling on.

 

We said our final good byes. Its hard when you have met some friends that you hung out with all week (Lisa-2, Maryse and Tim). It's even harder to say goodbye to friends you met on another cruise and decided to hook up with, Lisa and Erik and kids. Is it too early to start planning a new cruise together???

[musicgirl63]

Well just a wrap up of a few things.

 

Disembarkment is cruel!! Out of your room by 8am. It was smooth though. We grabbed a bite to eat and sat on the deck chairs!! First time all week that this area was not jammed!! We hooked up with the bride and groom. They were going to the same meeting place for the buses to LGA as we were so we walked with them to Explorers and waited to be called. We watched epidodes of the Love Boat without sound. We added our own dialogue and sounds. Once called it was off the ship to pick up our luggage, stuff our overnight things in them and through immigration. I knew the cruise was over when I heard, "welcome home" from the immigration officer. Even worse, all those mean people taken over OUR SHIP!!!!

 

We headed for the charter buses to LGA, it takes a bit of time to load luggage and to fill the bus. We were there in plenty of time. LGA has got to be the worst airport all over the world. We flew to Midway Chicago which was a great place. Lots of shops, plenty of bathrooms and a great variety of food. We arrived home around 7:30pm that night.

[Colo Cruiser]

:eek: I hope your students don't find their way to CC! :eek:

[musicgirl63]

One thing that I didn't touch upon in my dissertation.....the food and dining.

 

We had traditional seating at 6pm. It would be nice to have it at 6:30 because one is very rushed but that would mean the later seating is at 8:30. Our server was Alvin and the assistant was Karina. Alvin worked his you what off. By the last night we finally asked a few questions as to why Karina didn't seem to be around much. He was very professional and didn't complain. Karina only has 4 tables to get drinks for. I realize that she does other things, but when Alvin had to open bottles of wine, serve it and replenish it among getting drinks for the kids, one begins to wonder. The kids had sprite and coke every night. Why wasn't this on the table? There were some nights that their drinks didn't get out until after the apps and soups.

The food is very upscale. I am not a fan of lamb, veal, scallops, lobster etc. I am a basic chicken, beef and pasta lover. I would have like to see more pasta dishes (without scallops, etc) and chicken dinners. I ate a number of times off of the always available menu. It's a good thing that I like shrimp cocktail, ceasar salad and fettucini. I ordered them alot. That's my problem though. Everyone else had fun ordering from the menu. Ask your server what he recommends. Alvin was always honest especially after Lisa got some not so fresh fish.

 

Everynight there were a number of birthdays and anniversary celebrated as well as our own anniversary on the 2nd night (23 long years)Bill ate the entire cake which was pure chocolate sin. Everynight we joined in singing for the celebrations and then Bill finished it by saying, "Are you gonna eat that cake?"

 

Baked alaska on the last night

 

Other places to eat..

 

Pizza by the pool-YUM! NY style pizza prepared right there.

 

Buffet-daily specials but always so crowded. That's why I ate alot of pizza.

 

Scoops-nothing fancy, but with the Ultimate Drink Card I could get milk shakes.

 

International cafe-NO GELATO. But the rest of the food was wonderful. Little panini or croissant sandwiches. Ask to have it heated.

 

Coffee Bar-I don't drink coffee but I could get hot chocolate with my card.

 

Obviously there were other ones, but I didn't eat at them.

 

If anyone has any questions, please ask away. I have the majority of patters and flyers that came our way.

[musicgirl63]

:eek: I hope your students don't find their way to CC! :eek:

 

 

Nah! they would never know it was me as I changed our names to protect the not so innocent!! Besides everyone needs to have fun every once in a while!!!

[Colo Cruiser]

I hear ya, LOL

 

Love those birthday cakes!!

[TracieABD]

Awesome review! Thank you for taking us on your vacation!!!:)

[Chesneygirl]

Lorie, That was an amazing review!!!

Excellent job with the writing and the photos.

You have a real talent.

 

I hope that we get to cruise with you guys again in the future.

You were all a fun group to meet and hang out with. :)

[Asil65]

Ha Ha! I just loved your review Musicgirl. I agree with Chesneygirl, you truly have a talent for writing. I laughed so much while reading everything. You must be taking notes throughout the cruise. I could never remember all of the things that you did. Great job, great pics Mr. Bill. What a fun time!;):):D

[Woobstr112G]

Sounds like a great time was had by all.....:):):)

 

Bob

[bplazo]

Great review, I enjoyed reading it and looking at your pictures!

[Clutterlady]

Wonderful review. Thank you so much for sharing:)