Angel Cruise: November 27, 2010

[SexyK]

Thanks Kay, I will be thinking of you and your son tomorrow and say a prayer for both of you. I think you should have what ever you want, so I hope your son's will follow your wishes. I do have a family plots with my grandparents and if my son had wanted it that is where he would be; and most likely where I will be. He did not want dirt thrown on him, and he so loved the water!

 

This was new to me so I hope tht my sharing will make it easier for others.

 

Told my daughter an my other son what I want. So hopefully I can learn from your experience and I can pass it to my children so they'll know whatb to do.

[anamanxs]

Told my daughter an my other son what I want. So hopefully I can learn from your experience and I can pass it to my children so they'll know whatb to do.

 

I thank Carnival and Cruise Critic for helping me with this journey. And I hope my thoughts and experiences will help others. More tonight, I am late for work, unless I can sneak on at work.

[anamanxs]

Karen, I hope all went well for you today and just know I am thinking about you!

 

The next morning we wake up to a beautiful day! Set the phone alarm for 6:30 am but still woke up about 6:15 as usual; built in alarm clock I guess. It was great to be able to walk out on the balcony and see the pier.

 

Atlantis from a distance

 

Welcome to Nassua - A picture opt right inside the port building

 

This was my third trip to Nassua so we had a beach day planned, with a little shopping first. We were off the ship and on our way to the straw market by around 9:00, walked around the straw market and pointed out Senior Frog and told a few haired braided "No, Thanks".

 

We visited the DI and Emerald International and dreamed a little. About 9:30 De Sol opened up and we went to check out the Bamboo clothing. Really surprized how soft it really was, it was kind of amazing. Picked a couple of Del Sol rings for the girls and a little something for my GS; then off to find the #10 Jitty. The bus was much nicer than I expected from all I had read. It was clean and had two seat together on each side and a center asle. It only had about 10 rows so not as large as I had expected. We asked to be dropped off at the Sheraton Hotel, we were dropped off and had to walk a couple of blocks. I got the $99 day rate, which was about the same as paying per person. We were able to leave most of our belonging in the room while we went to beach and the pools. It was much more beautiful than I thought it would be. The pictures speak much better than I could express in words!

 

[anamanxs]

SHEER BEAUTY!

 

Water slide at the Wyndomn; you can use both hotels pools and beach. There is a casino in between the two. Having been to the free beach and Altantis, I thought this was the best choice for us. We all had a nice time and ocean was so beautiful. I love the blue of sea in this area. One of pools was heated and had a swim up pool. The food was extremely expensive. $15.00 for a hamburger and fries. Your room rate includes use of the lawn chairs and towels. I did not take any pictures of the inside rooms but they were large and beautiful!

[anamanxs]

We took the jitty back to the downtown area and onto the ship. Look what we saw parked next to us when we returned to the dock.

We were so excited about going to Half Moon Cay tomorrow. We were a little concerned when we woke up and looked out in the morning.

 

 

It did not get better. We were supposed to start tendering about 8:00am, that time came and went. About 8:30 they made the announcement they had been trying to tender and not able to allow it yet of the safety of all and that they would keep us posted. I was Ok, I just firgured what happened to me last time I tried to make it to HMC, and it was just not meant to happen and the ship would just sail around for a bit in the sunshine. It was too rough to tender but really not too rough on the ship itself and the sun was shining, we could just hang and enjoy the ship! That was not the Captain's plan. They made an anouncement about 45 minutes later that almost made my whole world come crashing down. WE WERE GOING TO FREEPORT TOMORROW! NO, we couldn't do that, my son's ashes were going to scattered on Dec 1, 2010 - one month after what would have been his 36th birthday! We can't scatter the ashes in port. I was shaking when I picked up the phone and asked to speak to Natasha at guest services.

[poptart]

I am so sorry for the loss of your precious son. Even though he was an adult it doesn't make it any easier.

 

My adult daughter (only child) has a terminal illness...doesn't matter if she's 40 or 4 she is still my baby.

 

Thank you for sharing this wealth of info with us on scattering ashes....that is mine and my husbands wishes for our final resting place.

[anamanxs]

She said she would have to talk to the Captain and get back to me. So needless to say, I couldn't sit there so I go to Casino to stare at the light and spining wheels to keep myself from going crazy. The girls went swimming, my SIL kept checking the room. She finds me in the casino, and hands me a letter form Guest Services telling me that they were able to work it out and I was to be at Guest Services at 1:45. I am not ready it was not supposed to be today; the girls can't go to Camp Carnival until 1:15. So we had lunch on the Lido deck, I can not tell you what I had to eat but I am sure Faith had chicken Strips, that was what she lived on all week. We had not told the girls when we were going to scatter the ashes b/c we knew they would want to be there. I had brought about three poems so I showed them to my DIL while my SIL took the girls to Camp Carnival. I took two of the roses and pulled the petals off and put them in a bag. I also took two other roses out of the vase, which left two remaining. My DIL carried the ashes wrapped in a cloth that a friend of my son had hand made (this cloth and given to us at my son's Memorial, to wrap around his ashes, it was a John Deere cloth with a cow print square in the center.) I carried the roses and the poem "The Broken Chain". When we arrived at Guest Services there wer three people standing by the bar, two in white uniforms one is a security uniform. We were about 5 minutes late. There was a line at Guest Services, so I took the chance and walked up to the female Office and asked if she was Natasha. She said no and introduced herself and the others. I couldn't tell you there names all I heard was Captain someone. She handed me a red rose and explained the security officer would take us to the back of the ship where we will release the ashes. I had learned from my research that they can not do any of the ceremony, they are just witnesses. The Enviromental Officer is required to see that only live plants and biodegradable urns or bags are used. (I will tell more on this at the end).

[anamanxs]

We are taken down to the Rivera deck to the back of the ship, thru a locked door at the end, which the Security Officer unlocked. I can't say what I saw as I walked down that hall. The Captain step on theis metal step checked the wind and said he thought tht would be the best place. We then unwrapped the ashes and the Enviromental officer held the cloth and the small transporting box and the metal tags from the crematorum. I read the poem rather unsteady then my DIL and I released the ashes to the sea. We each said some personal words and threw the roses and rose petals into the ocean. Then after a hug from the Captain and the Envirmental Officer we left the area and we were told we would receive a Certificate of where the ashes were released. We then went up to the Serenity deck to have a toast to my son and some special time and memories. I can not tell you much else about the rest of the day. I did visit the Casino some more and we talked to the girls and explained to them their Daddy had joined the dolphins.

[anamanxs]

I cannot tell you the peace that I found after this. I felt that my son was at peace and what a GREAT excuse to visit the Bahamas every year! The Carnival staff were so nice and understanding and it seemed real, not part of their jobs. Our cabin steward while I can't remeber his name knew ours and called us my name everytime he saw us in the halls, and it was funny since neither I nor my SIL go by our legal first name; and he remebered the nicknames we told him. I am not saying another cruise line would not have done the same, did they actually tell him to be extra caring to us; I can't answer that.

 

The girls went to Camp Carnival that evening; it was Alien night, and there were strange creatures wandering the halls!

 

 

Freeport tomorrow!

[celticd1]

Thank you for sharing this. I am so glad that you felt peace.

 

{{{HUGS}}}

[anamanxs]

There were a few rough waves during the night but not bad - the Catpain was putting the petal to the metal so to say to get us to Freeport.

My SIL kept saying it was a rough, which I didn't quite understand. I kept telling her this is nothing; I told her when you see the paper bags

in the hall and the fans then it is time to be concerned.

I do believe on the smaller ship 18 - 20 knots do make for a few waves and a little rough

 

I had checked an it was 11 miles to anything in Freeport which is what I remembered, so unless anyone really wanted

to get off I was good to stay on the ship and just have a calm day, so we did just that, . The Bahama Celebration pulled in shortly after we did.

 

 



 

It was actually interesting to watch them throw the small ropes off with a weight on them then the dock worker pulled the small rope and the

large ropes game out of the holes on the side the ship. We were in the Bahamas, Hey Man; no body on the shore was moving fast.

And maybe not fast enough for the crew on the Bahama

Celebration and so next thing we see is a rope hit a guy in the head, wish I had a pic of that one. So, they stop then the little man in the

cart comes says a few words to the crew on the dock the ropes start again.

 



 

They were actually throwing the ropes from one of the cut out areas. And actually where we released Dan's ashes from probably looked

something like that. It was in the far back not on the side. Not at all as small as I thought when they said Anchor holes. This may very from ship

to ship; I was thinking little room,

little hole but it was like the far back deck, with full head space.

 



 

Some of the activities they had planned for our last sea day were still scheduled and the stop was only 7:30 to 1:30.

Scrapbooking class was across from Bogarts (coffee shop) that morning. The girls and I attended that since I had helped them start

scrapbooks of their Daddy this summer. They had a couple of cute idea, I hadn't thought of. They cut out the funnel

on the Fun Times and used the mini ship maps for backgrounds on pages. Wow, now I wish I had all those mini maps from

past cruises. We were basically on our own other than they had the paper, some stickers sicssors and glue there.

It was a nice hour and a half. There were only 7 of us there. One person said she sells pages on E-bay and does pretty well.

Basically just the ideas and some cute items made with her siscle (sp) machine. The girls both made a page to add photo's

to later and then off to Guset Service to pay some cash on the bill.

 

I waited in line, they were starting to get a little busy. There was a gentleman (term used lightly) in the VIP line wanted

them to sign a letter stating he didn't get his logo item and it was false advertising. I am thinking....

WOW was a small picture frame or other item worth making such a fool of yourself and feeling very sorry for the people behind the counter.

I almost felt I would go to the gift shop myself and get him something and give it to him and say "Please, some people came here for some

Peace and he fouling the air. If I learned anything over the last few months it is some things just don't matter.

 

Now the girls are bored and the older one tends to think she is the boss, so Nana tells them "No Swimming" and we go up on

deck to find SIL and DIL. And we all go our seperate ways to find lunch. Today was also supposed to be the Chocolate Buffet.

I am not fund of the way they have the dining arrangements set up at all. By the time you stand in all the different lines

you are kind of eating by yourself. I had been meaning to try the Mongolian BarBQ but never did, I am just finished eating

when SIL and DIL get backe to the table. Younger GC and I had gotten inside, Older GC had the Grill line; we all

done by the time they get back from the Mongolian BarBQ. It looked Great, except guess what SIL had? Yep; shrimp with eyes;

looked more like small crawldad's; they were huge shrimps. She said they were wonderful and I wished I had remembered it was

over there - not for the shrimp but the chicken one DIL had looked good too. So off with GD to the chocolate fountain; and a

swan. What's a Carnival Cruise without a swan! The fountain was cold and running and GREAT, Ok but nto Great.

The swan was up to standards and quite good.

 



 

That was my only food porn picture I took. Going to post a pic of Freeport we shot from the Ship and then I have to go Wally's World. Christmas is coming!

Still love that Blue water![/font

 

Sorry for the Spacing, don't know why it is off the screen today!

[anamanxs]

And what cruise would be complete with an ice Carving! It is amazing to watch them take a block of ice and with two tools turn it into this amazing work of Art!

 

 

 

The Indian Chief!

 

 

How many can they fit in the Carnival Hottub watching the Ice Craver?

 

And it does take all kind to make the cruise ship go round! The matching arm art was amazing, not too sure about the matching hair.

 

 

The beautiful color of the ocean can be seen in this pic of the small boat. Freeport is a large shipping port and there was all kinds of signs of it in the port all around us.

 

[anamanxs]

 

See the funnel in the distance; that is a Carnival ship in dry dock. I was unable to tell which one until I got home and blew up the name. It was the sister ship to the Fascination; the Fantasy.

 

 

The slides and pools were almost empty so the girls, my SIL & DIL had a Great time enjoying them. There was hardly any lines and it was a beautiful day! They started to get a little crowded at Sailaway from Freeport.

 

My Water Slide digital scrap page.

 

The ship started to move and the wind was picking up, so we headed down a deck or two. The girls went to change and I went back to Guest Services to see why I had not gotten my certificate. They said they needed my son's complete name (with the change of dates they had not gotten that) and they printed out two copies for me. The certificate lists the ship personnel present, the time and location that we released the ashes. It is signed by one of the ship's officers. By the time we had changed it was time for the Captain's Farewell party. It was an hour long just before the early dinner. Carnival Freddy was there as well as the Fun gang; and they were very generous with the drinks; maybe they knew what kind of night we were in for.

[anamanxs]

We chose to go back to the dining room for dinner; no kids menu the last night they said so the youngest one had to order off the regular menu. They ordered short ribs and you can guess what my SIL ordered, yes another kind of shrimp. Ravoil I think this time, and my DIL had the flat iron steak. My SIL never got here shrimp cocktail and I never got my coffee; so the anytime dining was not getting high marks from me on this cruise. The short ribs must have been good b/c both girls finished all them.

 

The girls wanted to go back to Camp Carnival and we were not sure about the oldest GD and the seats (did not want hikes again) so we went to the show and they went to Camp Carnival. It was the second dancing/singing show of the cruise and the night. It was called "La Bamba". We sat there for 15 minutes past show time waiting for something to happen. Squishy announced they were trying to decide if the show could go on or not.

 

The Captain announced we were going into a cold wave and they expected it to be a rough night. I guess it didn't help that we traveled at about 21 knots! After another 30 minutes Squishy made the call to cancel the show, it was not safe for the dancer to preform. We went to check out the upper decks and several of the upper areas were closed. I had not packed yet so I went back to the cabin to pack. We were doing self-embark so we did not have to put our luggage out but I still needed to get it all packed up. The night was quite rocky and when I woke up we were not in the pier. They announced due to the roughness they had to slow down and we were about an hour late passing the check point. We went up to the lido deck to have breakfast and it was a shock as to how cold it was after the sunny weather we had. Following eating we went back to our cabins; we were required to be out of the cabins by 8:30 which I know did not happen with a lot of cabins. We were on deck 5 mid and we were to disembark on deck 3 forward, we waited by the elevators for almost 2 hours, they let us stay since we were against the wall and not blocking the walk ways. They turned the elevators off about 9:30 am. We kept hearing the anouncements for this one family to report to Guest Services, they came on the loud speakers a bit later and annouced for the same family to report to Guest Services in what I was told was Koreran. About 10 minutes later they started the self Embarkment, the elevators came back on - but they only went to the 4th floor so we had to hand carry everything down one flight. Custom was a little difference that I have ever gone thru. There was a custom agent standing at the gate to collect our cutom cards, (no desk, just standing the the gate) she asked me if I was traveling alone; which I said yes, then changed to one person on the card but I was traveling with the my family. She then asked me if I had any sea shells, sand or alcohol. I said just the alcohol listed which she said was what, I said two liters. She said OK! I was unaware of the sea shells and sand and had we stopped in Half Moon I would have probably had some. She didn't asked me about flowers or plants and I would have had to tell an untruth there. I had one of yellow roses sealed in a cup in my luggage, my DIL the other one. They never asked for my passport or anyone's picture ID or Birth Certificates. We got off the ship in the very first group and it was 10:30 when I got to my car. There was a huge line of people waiting to get on the ship. Easest customs I had ever been through! I felt sorry for the staff that had all the cleaning and everything to do for the next group. I read in the review for the cruise after ours that her balcony glass was dirty with the rough sea we had I can really understand that. Also, a lot of people did not clear the cabins at 8:30 as requested since it was so cold up on the Lido deck.

 

People keep asking did I have a good cruise, and my answer is it was what it needed to be! I can't say it was the best cruise I have ever had, there were sad moments, scary moments but I was allowed to do something my heart told me I had to do. Since my son has passed I have lived in a state of numbness, and now the feelings are slowing returning. It was nice to say Dan would have enjoyed this or Dan would have done that about things on the cruise. He would have loved the cruise! He would have been there doing Karaoke. I have a feeling of peace and a need to start living again, it is what he would have wanted us all to do! It will not happen overnight but I can start taking the steps I need to. Overall I have feeling of PEACE!

 

This has nothing to do with cruising but tomorrow is the National Candlelighting Services for all the children who have gone to join the angels, so if you are home and able to light a candle for all the children; please do so at 7:00pm.

 

If you would like to contast me privately for info I can be reached at anamanx @ yahoo dot com.

 

Thanks for all the kind comments, please feel free to ask any questions about the cruise, or the scattering of ashes for one of your loved ones. I will be glad to share what I have found out.

 

And a special Thanks to all the Carnival Staff that helped me with this special journey! And to Cruise Critic for letting me post a different type of review and Cruise Critic for being there for all the cruisers with a wealth of information to share!

[anamanxs]

 

Some of our towel animals, I missed a couple of the cutest ones on my digital scrapbook page. Might have to re-do but I have already ordered my hard copy. :confused:

 

 

This one was at DIL and GD's room. He is so cute.

 

Another one she had in her room.

 

[anamanxs]

Sailaway

 

 

Nassua

 

 

The background on the Nassua page is actually a picture of sea before the storm blew in! Love that Turqouse Color of the sea in Bahamas!

[jimbri]

I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

[rtw68]

Sincere condolences to you and your family.

 

It was neat seeing the Fantasy in dry-dock, thanks for sharing your review and the photos!

[anamanxs]

Thanks, I wish I could have gotten closer to her to show more, but it was kind of neat haven't seen a ship in dry dock before. There were all these cranes around her. Then it like a guesting game try to firgure out who it was. I knew it was of the same class I was on due to the shape and no balcony so could only have been one of two.

 

I see you sail on her in 20 days! Have a GREAT cruise! They are a nice class of ship, easy to figure out! They are probably my second favorite after the Spirit class!

[boaterette]

Thank you so much for sharing such a sad part of your life. I wish for you a very blessed Christmas.

[anamanxs]

I hope that my sharing can bring somone in the future a general direction to look and to know this journey can be done with dignity and peace. Any a cruise is a better than a day at work; as they say while - not happy all the time it had it's happy moments and it was rought moments (the power of the sea is amazing). It was a GOOD cruise!

 

Thanks for all the kind comments!

[framerman]

Our condolences..............hoping your 'feelings' will return

[missdebi]

I hope that my sharing can bring somone in the future a general direction to look and to know this journey can be done with dignity and peace. Any a cruise is a better than a day at work; as they say while - not happy all the time it had it's happy moments and it was rought moments (the power of the sea is amazing). It was a GOOD cruise!

 

Thanks for all the kind comments!

 

I am sitting here with tears going down my face thinking about how you must have felt~losing someone you love is never easy I am so very sorry for your loss and so very proud of you for doing this special ceremony for your son, it had to be emotionally draining for you and your DIL. My DH wants his ashes scattered at sea and I will do it~

[BoooBooKitEFk]

Great review Annette! It was such a pleasure to meet you and your family... I'm glad things went well with your ceremony and thank you for your kind words! Will talk soon... :)

[anamanxs]

Thanks Debi, I am really OK; it really wasn't a sad time, it was a healing time. We love looking at those green drinks you guys were having, they looked really interesting! And you guy were definetly the life of the Meet & Greet.

 

I just looked at one post that showed the ship decorated for Christmas, it is beautiful! I am thinking I am ready for a new cruise, but my budget and vacation time is not!

 

Thanks Boo! I hope your family is doing OK! I know you had a scare just before the cruise, praying for the best of all! The Meet & Greet was wonderful, and your pics are the best. My camera was not not clear!