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myfamilyluvs2cruise
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myfamilyluvs2cruise

myfamilyluvs2cruise

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OK, I will finish the debarkation and our last day in Ft Lauderdale tomorrow. It has been crazy busy- so sorry for the slowness in the past few days!

 

Plus, we have only uploaded 1/3 of our group's collective pictures onto Shutterfly. So, I might have to post a bunch more pictures from the trip as I finally get to see them. There are some really cool ones that keep popping up.

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myfamilyluvs2cruise

myfamilyluvs2cruise

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Debarkation . . . BUMMER!

 

I had anticipated the bummer feeling we would all have the last day, once the cruise was over, and thought that we should have something still to look forward to.

 

So, I decided to plan one last fun event for the day of debarkation before we boarded planes for Colorado, Oregon and Washington. I had contacted several hotels about getting day passes, but was coming up fairly empty handed. Finally, I contacted the Marriott Harbor Beach about renting cabanas and getting day passes. They are situated on a gorgeous beach just minutes from the port, and feature great pools and bar/restaurant right on the beach. They didn’t seem to do this type of thing very often, but after talking with them, they agreed to $25 per person day passes. And, they had cabanas available for either $50 or $100 around a nice hot tub area adjacent to the beach. The cabanas had shower facilities in them as well, perfect for getting cleaned up for a flight. Sounded like a plan to me!

 

Incidentally, the only other luck I had finding day passes/cabanas was the Ritz Carlton- and they were wonderfully helpful, but MUCH more expensive. And you had to, in essence, rent a room at the nightly rate in order to be eligible for a cabana. Would be a GREAT place if you had a smaller group and the time to really enjoy it!

 

But, I digress . . . back to the Marriott. I had told them we needed 20 day passes ( I wasn’t sure who all would be able make it at the time I was booking it) and that we wanted 4 cabanas- figuring that we could always add more people once we were there, if necessary. They did not require any kind of room rental to use their facilities, however everything had to be paid up front and was non-refundable. I then contacted the same shuttle service to pick up our group at 9am, and we would then have until 2:30 pm to enjoy the water and the pools.

 

So, fast forward, we got up that morning, knowing we would be late to port due to the engine issues, but not knowing how late. Arriving late to port that day was putting a little hitch in our plan, as we were unsure how debarkation was going to go. My family got up early (we still hadn’t packed), and as we were finishing up our packing at 7:15 am, we noticed we were pulling in to port-which was late, but much earlier than predicted. So we all scrambled, and within 15 minutes we had our group ready to go.

 

We all tried to make our way down for self-debarkation. It was a nightmare, to say the least. The elevators were completely packed, and the stairwells were jammed with people trying to feed in from every floor. We were trapped in a sea of humanity in between floors, with all of our luggage in tow. No announcements were being made at all, there was great confusion about what to do and where and when we were able to go. Definitely the worst debarkation I have ever experienced, and everyone around us was agreeing that it was sheer chaos. I was shocked that there was zero communication or direction, it was just every man for himself! So, that was a little bit of a drag.

 

The good news is that we did, however, get all the way through Customs by 9 am, so all was well. We had a few bruises and scrapes, but were otherwise intact. J Our shuttle picked 36 of us up (we actually had a few more that opted to join us at that point), and we headed to the Marriott.

 

The resort itself is very beautiful. The bellmen were excellent and found an area for us all to drop our luggage, so that we did not need to schlep it around. We headed down to the pool, and checked in at the towel hut. They did not seem to care at all that there were more of us than originally thought- since we had already prepaid. They simply handed us our towels, pointed us towards the cabanas- and that was that. Good enough for me!

 

The cabanas were nice, had a couch, sink area, some bottled water, a TV, and a shower. There were also extra towels in each one. Outside each cabana were a couple lounge chairs, a nice hot tub area, and an outdoor shower. We were also situated right next to the path to the beach. The restaurant was just a short walk, and they had menus/phones in the cabanas where you could order food and cocktails straight to the cabanas.

 

The beach was very beautiful and was very long/deep - and it was quite a walk to get to the water. But the water felt like a swimming pool- very warm and very calm. There were multiple beach chairs to sit on, and all around us were roped off areas where turtles had laid their eggs. Very cool!

 

The kids swam and played, and we enjoyed the relaxation. We moved over to the pool area, and enjoyed that as well. The pools were spacious and clean and had a fun waterfall. At lunch time we were getting hungry, so some of us ordered food from the to-go window. But, most of us went to the beach restaurant to eat. The food was excellent, a little pricey, but definitely worth it for the quality and the atmosphere. We had a salsa made with a ridiculously large amount of lump crab served with homemade corn chips- which was awesome. They also had interesting sandwiches and burgers. It worked out perfectly because people could do whatever they wanted, and enjoy the last few hours of vacation.

 

The cabanas were handy, and really a very good price. The ones closest to the beach were $100, and the other two were $50. We had decided to rent them just to have a place to put our stuff and to shower. But honestly, in retrospect, we would have been fine without renting them, as the resort had very nice showers in the pool area. But it was nice to have our special “area”. Everyone was able to shower off and get cleaned up for the flight very easily. But, like I said, you could probably could just get the day passes and be fine! And, the chairs on the beach appeared to be free- so you could even just enjoy that area, grab some food, and skip days passes (and the shower too- although a long trip out West with sand in the pants is not a good thing, at least for my family). But, with a group our size, we couldn’t take any chances.

 

I had scheduled shuttles for three different times for pick up in order to accommodate the various flights. So, our group was slowly dwindling, but still having a great day. Then, it was time for us to go. We walked up to get our luggage, and our shuttle driver was there on time waiting. We jumped in, and headed towards the airport. As we were driving, we could see the Freedom sitting in port, waiting to sail again in a few short hours . . .

 

Our plane was on time, and all was well. We looked down as we flew over our wonderful ship, and could see a whole new set of lucky passengers wandering around on the Lido deck. We were sad to leave, but had memories that would last a lifetime! J

 

Next up, conclusions and observations, and more pictures . . . (but it will be after the weekend- have a crazy one coming up :)).

 

Have a great weekend! J

Edited by myfamilyluvs2cruise
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betta128

betta128

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Just finished reading about your trip and what a wonderful cruise/party you planned!!

 

We are trying to get a bunch of us together for a cruise but I'm not sure how to go about it. Mind if I pick your brain? If you would rather respond to my email it's betta128 at gmail.

 

Did you just put out "feelers" to see about how many people would want to go and then contact Carnival? Did everyone book themselves, or did you handle all the booking?

 

And as far as the excersions went how did that work? What exactly did Carnival do for you as a large group?

 

I'm really sorry to bombard you with all of these questions, but it seems that you are now one of the resident "group" experts!! :p

 

Thanks in advance

Liz

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myfamilyluvs2cruise

myfamilyluvs2cruise

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Just finished reading about your trip and what a wonderful cruise/party you planned!!

 

We are trying to get a bunch of us together for a cruise but I'm not sure how to go about it. Mind if I pick your brain? If you would rather respond to my email it's betta128 at gmail.

 

Did you just put out "feelers" to see about how many people would want to go and then contact Carnival? Did everyone book themselves, or did you handle all the booking?

 

And as far as the excersions went how did that work? What exactly did Carnival do for you as a large group?

 

I'm really sorry to bombard you with all of these questions, but it seems that

 

you are now one of the resident "group" experts!! :p

 

Thanks in advance

Liz

 

I would be happy to answer any questions! I have a family wedding this weekend but will be able to email on monday!

Once all the festivities are over. I learned a few things the hard way for sure and would be happy to help.

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Crusin Karen

Crusin Karen

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I think I was on page 19 when I last read this and bookmarked it since I was going to be busy with "company" at our lake house for a few weeks. Just finished reading the last 6 pages and I have tears in my eyes that it is over. What a great accomplishment! I am amazed at what you planned and especially the post cruise "last celebration." Everything sounds so perfect and I have to tell you, tho I am sure you know, you are VERY LUCKY AND BLESSED to have such a great family and friends. ENJOY and TREASURE your memories and hoping you will all have many more together! :) Thanks for sharing this with us! ;)

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myfamilyluvs2cruise

myfamilyluvs2cruise

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I think I was on page 19 when I last read this and bookmarked it since I was going to be busy with "company" at our lake house for a few weeks. Just finished reading the last 6 pages and I have tears in my eyes that it is over. What a great accomplishment! I am amazed at what you planned and especially the post cruise "last celebration." Everything sounds so perfect and I have to tell you, tho I am sure you know, you are VERY LUCKY AND BLESSED to have such a great family and friends. ENJOY and TREASURE your memories and hoping you will all have many more together! :) Thanks for sharing this with us! ;)

 

Thank you SO much! it was so fun. I still need to add about 100 pictures and write the last page- it has been crazy getting the kids back to school (4 in 4 different schools this year) and a family wedding with company for 8 days. Once of these days I will finish it up!

 

But, thank you all for your very nice comments!

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stacycakes1

stacycakes1

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GREAT review!!! So much fun to read and made me want to do something like this for my hubby one day:)

 

So the lingering question for me is if you made devout cruisers out of all those first time cruisers? I think you said some of them would never even think about cruising and only did because of the situation. I bet they are hooked now just like the rest of us!!!!

 

Thanks again for a fun read:)

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myfamilyluvs2cruise

myfamilyluvs2cruise

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GREAT review!!! So much fun to read and made me want to do something like this for my hubby one day:)

 

So the lingering question for me is if you made devout cruisers out of all those first time cruisers? I think you said some of them would never even think about cruising and only did because of the situation. I bet they are hooked now just like the rest of us!!!!

 

Thanks again for a fun read:)

 

Good question! :)

 

I think we have more than a few converts now- LOL! In fact, I think everyone might have a new found love. :) We are looking to plan a non-surprise group cruise in 2014 with the same crew- and everyone says they are in. In fact, I think we may get a few new "non-cruisers" to join us on that one that couldn't come on this one.

 

It is such a great way to vacation, and going with friends makes it all the more special.

 

My family has a Disney Cruise planned for this October, and my kids are begging to bring friends. But, it will be nice to just be together as a family this time.

 

You should totally plan one for your husband! He would love it!

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  • 2 weeks later...
gapearl

gapearl

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I have spent the last hour and a half enjoying your review! What an AWESOME surprise for your husband, and what an AWESOME wife you are for putting this trip together! You all looked like you had so much fun. I found myself wishing I knew you so I could have been a part of your group. :) Jay was a cutie, and LOL at the captain giving you the wrong information. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

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myfamilyluvs2cruise

myfamilyluvs2cruise

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Your review is great. IF you don't mind me asking, you said in your first post you had beach bags shipped down and delivered during embarkation. How did you set this up?

 

I called Carnival Groups and spoke to them. They emailed me a box shipment form, which I sent back. A truck came to my office and picked the boxes of bags up, which was one charge based on weight. Then Carnival delivered them for $1 per bag to each cabin- which was paid upfront. The bags were supposed to be in the room upon embarkation, but actually showed up during dinner- which was still great, as they were there when we came back to our rooms. It was a little confusing, but the Groups lady walked me through it.

 

Let me know if you have any further questions about it. :)

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