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***GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT!!! A "Springbreakers" Review of the Destiny***

CollegeCruizer11

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CollegeCruizer11

CollegeCruizer11

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Lucky June didnt get sick despite our rocky ride, but we were happy to be back on land. We walked past the picture people, because I had completely put my foot down about buying more. We had already spent over 100 bucks on them... Anywho, along the way I got this shot that I really like. That kid walked in the photo right when I was going to snap it.

 

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And I would've loved this shot if the gate wasnt in the way!

 

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Then we did the usual "stand around and look like tourists thing" before we saw a sign that said taxi dispatch. We headed over and told the man working there that we wanted to go to Royal Palms. He directed us to a bus with other people that were going there. I think the ride was $5pp. I told the woman collecting the money where we anted to go and we hopped on. We passed numerous gas stations, seeing that their gas was well over 6 bucks a galloon, and a few burger kings, KFC's, and McDonalds. June only noticed the fact that they had numerous Mustangs, and Range Rovers. LOL.

 

Then the bus driver pulled over and announced that we were at "public beach" and everyone had to get off. "Ummm.... what happened to Royal Palms????" Everyone got off and I asked the driver why we had to get off here and he replied that it was the best spot on the beach. When I asked about Royal Palms, he said he already passed it and we should've told him to stop. WTH! How are we supposed to know where it is. We decided to just stay where we were because I was ready to play in the sand, so whatever. Throughout the day we heard several people saying they requested to be dropped off at Royal Palms, but were brought to the same spot as us. Hmmmm...

 

We decided to get a locker. The sign says $2 but really means, $10 and we will give you back $8. Fine with us. They gave you the key on a little wrist band, which June wore for the day. It was about 9:30 and the key was due back at 2. That's when we found out we were on the Sea Grape portion of the beach (It was printed on the key). At this point there was pretty much no one one the beach. I plopped myself, my towel, and my water bottle on the sand, and was prepared to relax when June reminded me that I had not kept up my end of our bargain. Remember it was that he would cooperate with photos, and I would cooperate with swimming.

 

When I was 2 years old, my brother, who was 6, drowned in a lake at a friend's birthday party. So you can imagine that my parent's were extremely cautious when I was around water. So cautious, that I decided that swimming was just not for me. So I didn't know how to swim at all. I hadn't even bought a swimsuit in about 10 years. But I trust June, and he promised he wouldn't let me go. So I secured myself to his back and off he swam. After an hour or so, he was really tired of carrying me around. So I hung out in the shallow water while he swam in the deep part. After about 15 minutes he came back and told me that he was going to teach me to swim. Oh God I thought. First, we started out with me floating, which was easy and then he moved about five feet away and told me to swim to him. TOTAL FAILURE! But he was persistent and I promised him that I would try so we kept at it. And after about 45 minutes, of flailing my arms and legs around I finally got it right! YAYAYAYAY. So i swam and swam and swam, until I announced that swimming was hard work and I was ready to quit. So at about 12, we got out and headed over to the water sports rental.

 

June really wanted to go jetskiing and I decided to go with him. We hadn't planned on doing it, and didn't know if we would have enough money. Thankfully, they were running a special. For a single rider it was $60 for a half hour (regular price was 75). And for the two of us to share a jetski it was $90. I don't remember the regular price. You also have to have a credit card with you in case you damage the jetski. I knew I didn't have any of mine, so we dug thru all June's clothes hoping to find his, and YES he had it. They told us to come back at 12:45 and they would have a jetski ready for us. So I swam around some more and then it was our turn to ride. They explained the rules to June, I zoned out because I wasn't going to drive, and gave us life jackets, and off we went. They also had banana boat rides, parasailing, and glass bottom boat rides.

 

It was probably the best thing we did on our trip. The water was so blue! It was amazing. We rode past Royal Palms, and it was SUPER empty!!! I was sad we didn't go there because our part of the beach was very crowded by that point. June was probably going about 45mph and then we started running into huge waves. Then it was OUCH OUCH OUCH SALT IN MY EYE! Then I decided I did want to drive, so we took turns for the rest of the time. When our time was out, they drove out to us and motioned us back in. Once we got back on the beach, we got in the water for about a half hour and realized we were STARVING! Since it was about 1:45 we turn our locker key in early, showered the sand off, and got dressed. Their facilities were very clean! Then we heard someone announce that they were giving rides back to port, so we followed the voice and headed back.

 

Here are some pictures throughout the day.

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the jetskis

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powdery sand

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my not so good sand writing (too many waves)

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Turtle31

Turtle31

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Wow -sounds like you had a great time. I bet you felt so good about overcoming your fears, and I bet everyone who knows you and what happened in the past is proud of you too-- especially June. Since he did end up taking so many pictures (I think he is secretly addicted to picture taking now by the way lol ). Congrats on a great accomplishment!

Your day in Grand Cayman sounds exactly like what I have planned for Cozumel. I have done a ton of research and we will be going to Paradise Beach - it looks like a blast.

As far as Grand Caymen we will be doing the hell,turtle,and string ray tour. As you can tell by my screen name I am REALLY into turtles, in fact someone telling me about the hatchery is what got me looking at a cruise to begin with. I own about 100 turtles - all fake of course. But I am so excited about being able to get up and close with them. And after viewing the stringray experience on youtube I think I am just as excited about that too.

Can't wait to hear more. :D

 

Donna

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PDXJAS

PDXJAS

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When we were in GC there was no Mc Donalds on the island. There was a bar called Mac Donalds and the sold hamburgers, just not the type we are used to. Enjoying your review. My husband is from A2. Been there a few times to see the in laws.

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iluvdoxies

iluvdoxies

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We woke up SUPER early on Grand Cayman day (around 5:30) and watched as we approached the island. When we stopped moving June said, "hey, why are we stopping in the middle of the water?" I explained to him that we had to tender to the island, which he wasn't too thrilled about. I was pretty nervous to because he gets motion sickness pretty easily. I was actually amazed he hadn't gotten sea sick at all! Then we watched a little tv, dozed off a couple times, and went up for breakfast around 7:30. I was feeling much better, thanks to June making me rest, and only had a slight cough. Once again, we cut thru the buffet line to get plates, and then waited in the omelette line. June had his regular orange juice, but I decided to try the guava, papaya, tropical juice drink. I didn't care for it at all. It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to sweet. So I went back to apple juice. We never found a table, since it was so packed on the lido, and ended up eating at the bar.

 

Around 8, the time they were letting people off, we headed back to our room to pack the backpack. In one bag went money, my water bottle full of apple juice, and swimsuits, and in the other bag we took towels. I packed the towel I brought from home to throw in the sand and one carnival one for June and I to dry off with. And then we headed down the steps to deck zero. We didnt get very far, because the line to get off the ship went all the way from deck 0, and up the steps, and down the hall of deck 1. We decided to wait it out and it surprisingly moved very fast. Within five or six minutes we were headed down the steps to the tender. It was SUPER windy, and therefore SUPER wavy that day, so getting on the tender took a while because it wouldn't stay still. So after about 15 minutes, we were full and headed off to the island. Here are some pictures.

 

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Also in port that day was the Valor, it think.

 

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And.... ????

 

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Loving your review---none of the new photos are showing up---says photo bucket- bandwith exceeded.

 

June reminds me of my husband on his first cruise---he kept asking me silly questions lol.

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Jeska loves to cruise

Jeska loves to cruise

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I too am really enjoying your review! I've been hoping for a long time that someone more similar to my situation would post a review. Sometimes I don't feel out of place on cruisecritic. My boyfriend and I are very into cruising. We went on our first cruise together 3 years ago, we were 21 and 23. We also live in Michigan, both went to Central Michigan University. I had been on one when I was younger and he had never been on one before that. After our first cruise together, we were hooked! We're currently planning our fourth cruise together and can't wait!!

 

Can't wait to finish reading your review : )

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Missourian16

Missourian16

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Wow -sounds like you had a great time. I bet you felt so good about overcoming your fears, and I bet everyone who knows you and what happened in the past is proud of you too-- especially June. Since he did end up taking so many pictures (I think he is secretly addicted to picture taking now by the way lol ). Congrats on a great accomplishment!

Your day in Grand Cayman sounds exactly like what I have planned for Cozumel. I have done a ton of research and we will be going to Paradise Beach - it looks like a blast.

As far as Grand Caymen we will be doing the hell,turtle,and string ray tour. As you can tell by my screen name I am REALLY into turtles, in fact someone telling me about the hatchery is what got me looking at a cruise to begin with. I own about 100 turtles - all fake of course. But I am so excited about being able to get up and close with them. And after viewing the stringray experience on youtube I think I am just as excited about that too.

Can't wait to hear more. :D

 

Donna

 

Just got back from PBeach. Had Tony as our waiter, however, somehow they got an extra $13.50 drink on my ticket. They tried to serve it to me, and I knew I didn't order it. Sure enough, it was on my ticket at the end of the day, so I had to tell them about that and they took it off. I highly recommend Tony. The food at lunch was SO GOOD! I had the shredded beef burrito with mexican rice and guacamole. Best food I had on the whole cruise (with the exception of the chocolate melting cake). DH had the nachos and DS had beef quesidilla and we all liked it! Have fun at PB!

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CollegeCruizer11

CollegeCruizer11

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Hi all! Sorry about the pictures! I guess to many people are reading my review. Im trying to find a way to work around photobuckets bandwidth restriction. The rest of the review is now finished and saved on my computer, but I want to remedy the photo situation first. Be back with a solution soon... I hope! :rolleyes:

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cdamion

cdamion

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Hi all! Sorry about the pictures! I guess to many people are reading my review. Im trying to find a way to work around photobuckets bandwidth restriction. The rest of the review is now finished and saved on my computer, but I want to remedy the photo situation first. Be back with a solution soon... I hope! :rolleyes:

 

You could always create another photobucket account, or else switch to somebody else like Flickr

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CollegeCruizer11

CollegeCruizer11

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Once we made it back to the port area, WE WERE SO HUNGRY!!! We hadn't eaten since breakfast, and were too busy swimming and jetskiing to eat at the beach. There was some food in the port area but since we were so close to the free ship food we decided to wait. I ran into the nearest store I could find to buy my postcards and shot glasses, and it was packed. I guess everyone had the same idea I did. So I had June stand in line while I ran around the store picking out stuff. I made it back just as June got to the front. I bought 3 postcards, two little turtle figurine things, and a shot glass. I didn't think that the prices were that much more than they were in Jamaica.

 

Then we got in the tender line, realized we were in the WRONG tender line, got in the RIGHT tender line, and back on the "little boat." This time we decided to sit on the top level. It was a great idea at first, since we had a better view, but a bad idea because it took forever for us to get off. It took more than 15 minutes to unload. Grrrrr. We took the steps up to deck 2, literally threw our things on the bed and then took the elevator to deck 9. There weren't any lines anywhere!!! :D It was only about 2:30 and the last tender wasn't due back until after 3. June and I decided to divide and conquer. He headed to the pizza station (aft) to order his calzone, and grab me a slice of pepperoni, and I got in the nearest grill line because I was too hungry to walk to the one near the pizza station. I got 2 cheeseburgers, fries, and chicken tenders.

 

When I took my tray to find June, he had my pizza, but no calzone yet. We quickly found a table, and June went to get us lemonade, and ate a few fries before picking up his calzone. And then we ate, and ate, and ATE! I had the pizza, a burger, and the fries; while June had the calzone, chicken tenders, and other burger. That was the first time we over ate all week. Then we topped it off with a twist frozen yogurt cone to share.

 

As we were headed back to the room, we noticed they were playing giant jenga on deck. It looked really fun. They were playing guys against girls, and the game was very competitive. We decided to watch it to the end, and the girls won! OF COURSE! Then the loser boys had to go down the water slide. After that we went to the gift shop on deck five, because I couldn't find a Grand Cayman magnet I liked. I was really bummed when we got there and the one I wanted was sold out. So if you see something you really like on the first day, I would buy it (Unless its a t-shirt because those go on sale). Then we headed to our cabin and washed all the gross sand and salt off and passed out because of a food coma.

 

Around 7:30 we woke up and got dressed for dinner. We left our sunglasses on our towel animals, content that our steward wouldn't take them if they were wearing glasses, took one last look at the fun times, tossed it on the bed and headed to the galaxy dining room. That night I requested no bread AGAIN and we ended up with BREAD again. I hate to be wasteful, so again I tried to eat some of it, but it was pretty stale. Everything on the ship goes from fresh to stale throughout the week (FYI) which is understandable. For appetizers we both had shrimp cocktail. June ordered some sort of pasta that had chicken on it, and I decided to try the flat iron steak again. June thought the pasta was bland, but that the chicken on top was great. My steak went from being too raw the first time I ordered it, to too well done this time. But I still ate it. For dessert June got orange sherbet, and I got the :confused: No idea, but I had a cappuccino with whatever it was.

 

We finished dinner before 9, and weren't ready for bed yet. I couldn't remember what the Funtimes said was going on, so we headed back to the room. There we found,

 

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June named him Hopper. Sparky and Elijah were still there too. Now where is the funtimes? I looked in the drawer where I had been keeping all the other ones, and it wasn't there. June asked, "Hey, didn't you leave it on the bed?" Darn it! I did, and it was gone. Apparently they use them to make the eyes and noses for the towel animals. I was pretty annoyed because I was saving them all for my vacation scrapbook, and because the night wasn't even over yet and we wanted something to do! So I headed to guest services, and got another copy. (They are at the end of the counter, don't wait in line for one like I did :rolleyes: ) But they were missing all the inserts! I like all my stuff to look the same, so I trashed all the other inserts too.

 

Well, there was nothing going on that night. I really wish carnival had more things going on during port days. Sea days were great, we usually had to decide between multiple things to do. There was the Showcase of the Stars show, that had already started, and that was about it. So we decided to explore the ship a little more.

 

We ended up in one of our favorite spots. We liked this deck because it was blue (our favorite color). And because there was never anyone out there.

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After hanging out here for a bit, we headed to the dance club for a while. It was pretty empty, and we weren't that interested in being there, because we wanted something low-key to do. We would've loved to watch a movie on the lido deck screen, but never saw one playing.

 

Have you guys ever watched a movie out there? When do they typically play?

 

We wandered up to the lido for some lemonade and then got in bed and dozed off watching tv.

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CollegeCruizer11

CollegeCruizer11

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Loving your review---none of the new photos are showing up---says photo bucket- bandwith exceeded.

 

June reminds me of my husband on his first cruise---he kept asking me silly questions lol.

 

LOL. Love those 1st timers! Now his questions are mostly about when we are going again. He really wants to go on the Dream, but our budget can't afford that for a while.

 

I can't see the pictures either. I am really enjoying your review. I don't remember if I told you or not, but, congrats on law school. Can't wait to read the rest.

 

Shirley

 

Thank you, pictures on the new posts will be there, I'm going to fix the other ones tomorrow, o during Teen Mom 2 commercials tonight.

 

I too am really enjoying your review! I've been hoping for a long time that someone more similar to my situation would post a review. Sometimes I don't feel out of place on cruisecritic. My boyfriend and I are very into cruising. We went on our first cruise together 3 years ago, we were 21 and 23. We also live in Michigan, both went to Central Michigan University. I had been on one when I was younger and he had never been on one before that. After our first cruise together, we were hooked! We're currently planning our fourth cruise together and can't wait!!

 

Can't wait to finish reading your review : )

 

June and I are hoping to do another one next year! I have to wait until I start school, and figure out finances and such. We really wished there had been another couple our age that we could've hung out with. You'll have to write a review when you return.

 

Congratulations on school. I am enjoying your review. The pictures are great. Keep up the good work.

Happy Cruising!!!!:)

 

Thank You

 

You could always create another photobucket account, or else switch to somebody else like Flickr

 

Yea, I switched to a site that doesn't have a bandwidth limit. The problem is that I have to re-upload the pics from my review, and then go edit each post. But it's free, so I'll get on it soon!

 

I just found this review tonight and read it all. Sorry about the pictures missing. I will have to come back and see the pictures..

 

I'm sorry! All the upcoming posts will have pictures. I'm going back to fix the other ones tonight or tomorrow! :)

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CollegeCruizer11

CollegeCruizer11

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We woke up Wednesday pretty sad that it was going to be our last day on the ship. We turned on the tv and the debarkation talk was on and that made things even worse. June and I started packing everything, because it had all gotten spread out and I didnt want to leave anything. So we left the clothes we were going to wear that day, and toiletries out, and everything else got packed. Then we got dressed and headed to the lido deck. I was already after 11, so we assumed breakfast would be over, and had our minds set on having lunch. When we got there they were still serving breakfast on deck and lunch inside the restaurant, and the aft grill was open. We both opted for a burger, but couldn't get any lemonade because they were still changing them all from the breakfast juices. While we were waiting for something to drink I took some more of my favorite aft shots.

 

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We people watched on the lido until around 12:30, and then headed back to the room to finish packing. By that time, our room stewart had come and left our luggage tags. We also had a letter on the bed. They had given us zone 4 luggage tags, because we had an early flight. Early flight??? Our flight wasn't early... was it? Then I realized I couldn't remember what time our flight home was! In any case, the zone 4 tags ensured that we would get off the ship early, so I decided to worry about it. The casino show was on again, and I decided to watch it again because I was planning on going to the casino that night. Somehow June fell asleep, not surprising, so I wandered the ship for a while. I went to the gift shop and saw that all the t-shirts were 2/$22. I was going to get one for my mom, since I never found the thing she had me looking for in Jamaica. I then realized that June would probably want something for his parents to, so I woke him up. Then grumpy June and I headed back to the gift shop. He got a shirt for both of his parents, and I got one for my mom (dad has to many) and a shot glass for me.

 

Then we went to the Sign and Sale kiosk located outside the gift shop to check our balance. We only had $6 left. Depressing. :( So we put in another $20, so we could have a couple more funships, and went to drop our stuff in the room. We packed it all in with our luggage, and I remembered that we needed to pull out clothes for tomorrow or we would arrive at DTW with shorts and tank tops on. LOL. I also decided to fill out our zone 4 tags and custom forms. It was then that I realized they had only given us one form. Since we didn't share a last name, or live in the same household, we needed two. So we went down to guest services, and BOOOOOOOOOY that line was long. I had never seen more than two or three people in line all week, but it stretched as far as I could see. I decided we would just come back around six when most people were at dinner.

 

It was only a little after 4, so we decided to play mini golf! I don't have any pictures because June and I got really competitive. He won the first game, and I demanded we play again. Then I won. He got upset and didn't want to play anymore. Before we headed down the stairs I took some pictures of the almost setting sun.

 

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We turned in our clubs and balls, and sat on the lido for another half hour or so until it was after six. The line at guest services wasn't nearly as long, only about 5 people, so we waited. Just as it was our turn, I looked toward the end of the counter and noticed the forms were right there with the funtimes. grrrrr. :mad: So yea, don't wait in line like I did. We went back to the room, filled out the other form and got dressed for dinner. June had a crab cake appetizer that he really liked. I thought it was just ok, and I don't care for any sea food other than shrimp, so that means it must have been pretty good. He had salmon for dinner, which he also liked, and i thought was disgusting! I had shrimp cocktail for an app, and some sort of red meat for dinner. We both had baked alaska for dessert. Neither of us had ever had baked alaska, and only ordered it because of the computer game The Sims. For those of you that dont know, when your Sim learns how to cook, baked alaska is the hardest thing to learn. It looked good on the computer, so I figured It must be good in person. And we were both happy we ordered it! It was amazing!!! I loved the meringue and would have gladly eaten an entire bowl of it!

What's the best dessert you ever had on Carnival?

 

Then we headed back to the room, packed our dinner clothes, and decided to put on the things we were going to wear home tomorrow.

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CollegeCruizer11

CollegeCruizer11

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I forgot to mention that we stumbled into the past guest party earlier that day. We just walked in and sat down, trying to find something to do. I didn't realize it was the past guest party until someone asked if I had my invitation, and I said no, I left it in the cabin. Then he asked to see our sign and sale cards, and let us stay because they both were gold. We never got any free food or drinks because as soon as they brought a tray around they were gone.

 

Anyway back to after dinner. I re-checked all the drawers, and the closets to be sure we had everything, and sat all the things we still needed on the couch. Then we attached our zone tags and sat our bags in the hallway. It was just before 8, and we decided to go to the last show in the lounge. It was called "something Paris (too lazy to grab my funtimes)" When we got there, we decided it was time for our funships, so I sat in our seat and June went to the bar near the casino. He made it back just as the show started. We didn't like this one nearly as much as the first one. I'm not sure if it actually got better as it went on, or if we just got drunker LOL. But in any case we enjoyed the end.

 

It was barely after 9, so we decided to do one last stroll of the ship. Am I the only one who thinks that the open decks are creepy at night? Here are some pics.

 

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Then, just as we were walking back inside we heard an announcement that the casino would be closing at 1!! Noooooo, I haven't gambled for the first time yet. So we headed to the casino around 10, and I got to play roulette, and June played Craps. I actually did well... for a while. I turned my 20 into 60... and then sadly back into 20 again. June ended up quitting when he was 5 bucks ahead. We were both planning on going to the comedy club for the 11:45 show, but those casinos suck you in! The only reason I quit was because I was tired of breathing in smoke. So it was around 12:30 when we made our way to the dance club. We passed the itinerary screen and were sad to see that our loop was completed.

 

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We hung out here until about two and then headed back to the lido, to see if we could see Miami. We weren't expecting to be this close!

2011-03-02235038.jpg

After that we went to bed for the last time in our carnival bed.

 

debarkation up next

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