Hi, I’m Julie McCoy, Your TR Director Review of the CB

[jenseib]

She took us to the Alamo drop off and we unloaded.

 

 

We then had a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to get to the check in counters. We found a bathroom and then used some elevators to go up and then down…basically we got a little bit lost. And the bags were so stinking heavy. One of mom’s bags had a broken zipper all of a sudden. We don’t know what happened there and she was annoyed with that issue. And that bag she threw her shoes in…kept flopping over because it was front heavy.

 

We finally found where to get our boarding passes and drop off our luggage…waited in line…with my stupid suitcase falling over more than once…and then made it to the counter…..only to be told we could not check our bags in till so many hours before our flight…and we had like 2-3 hours before we could. You….have…got….to …be….kidding…me!!!!!!!!

At this point I was feeling stressed…and I now hated my suitcases. They were heavy and flopping all over. Mom had issues pulling them so I took the heaviest and left her with the smaller light ones. I was sweating. Someone did tell us before we left the counter that curb check in would take the bags earlier and we could drop them off there in less than an hour! YES!

 

So we parked our rears on a bench and waited till the time approached. I opened the suitcases and rearranged stuff. I was tired of the stupid thing flopping over.

 

We did more people watching, used the restrooms, I looked up our boarding passes on my phone and finally the time came where we could head over and drop off the bags.

 

Boy did that feel good to be rid of them.

 

We then headed through security, which I don’t remember much of, but I do believe it was busy, but moved well enough…and then found our gate. Now we had hours to waste still. Our flight wasn’t till 4:50 PM. The whole airport was just crazy busy with people. I assume several ships just unloaded and now everyone was waiting for their flight.

I found a spot at a table with a plug and parked myself, plugged my computer in and worked on editing pictures. Mom found a seat off a little ways away.

A couple came and sat by me and we got to talking. They were so nice and they had just been on the same cruise. We chatted for quite a while and it was nice to pass the time with them. I now had lost Mom. She was no longer sitting where she had been and I looked all over. The guy from the couple asked if he should be looking for a lady with 2 tone hair too. LOL! I said, well hers is highlighted…so yes!

 

I never did see her and just gave up on her figuring she knew where I was and she could find me if needed.

 

After a bit she did just that. She was starving and wanted to get lunch. I hated giving up my prime seat. I knew as soon as I would leave it would be snatched. Any chair near a plug was prime real estate here.

 

We gathered our things and walked over to the burger joint. There was a line up, but it seemed like they were seating people fairly fast.

 

I got a tap on my shoulder and it was J and her husband from the ship. We chatted a bit and there was another couple waiting also who had just gotten off the ship. Both of them had also sailed Princess before and we talked about how we all felt that there didn’t seem to be a lot of activities on the ship. Now there was stuff going on most of the day, but not many choices. Both couples said this was not the norm for Princess. I am not sure why this ship was lacking…perhaps the cruise director? I can’t really say as I don’t know how those things get scheduled. Don’t get me wrong….we had a good time, but it would’ve been nice to have a few more activities to choose from during the day….especially sea days.

 

We got seated and we could tell the staff was over worked and having a hard time keeping up. We made orders, but we knew it was going to take a while.

In the meantime…every time they cleaned a table they would pile it all up on this one other table. It was kind of funny.

 

 

It got worse as time went on. A manager came out and yelled at everyone in the area for doing that…yet she made no effort to clean it up, nor did the wait staff.

I think they had to be understaffed because they were running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

 

Once again I asked for mayo for my fries and I had to ask more than once to get it and I think my fries were almost gone by the time it arrived.

 

 

The food however was very good.

 

After we ate…and we took out time with the slow service…plus there was nowhere for us to be….we went and found seats. It was still crazy busy and of course I couldn’t find a seat near a plug. After a while I went to another gate and found one and sat there and worked on pictures for a long time. As the time got closer to our flight I went and found mom. The terminal was busy all day long. The gates were all packed and it never lessoned when a flight would load. Many people must’ve been flying home today.

 

Finally it was time to board. We got in line and found seats together and settled in. We lucked out this time and got a whole row with no one else with us. SCORE!

 

The flight was uneventful and I worked on pictures on my laptop and dozed off a bit.

 

 

 

After a bit I realized that our landing time was fast approaching but yet there seemed to be no preparations….and then it hit me. We were going to Nashville to transfer and there was an hour difference. UGH! What I thought was going to be a short flight was actually an hour longer than I thought.

Oh well.

We did finally land and we bee-lined to the next gate. We didn’t have a lot of time between flights. Well no need to rush…as we arrived we heard others say our flight was being delayed. Oh good lord!

It ended up being well over an hour…closer to 2 hours. We called my Aunt to let her know since she was picking us up. Now I am one who hates to go home after a vacation. I miss my family if they are not with me, but I still don’t want to go home….they should come to me. LOL!

 

But when you are finally flying home and the fun is all done, then… I just want to hurry up and get there. We both were getting snappy a bit now. Not mean to each other, but just tired and wanted to be done traveling. I could tell Mom was really annoyed about the delay….but there is nothing you can do about it, so we just wait.

I did find a seat at the next gate that had a plug and I plugged in for some extra charge. Mom sat with me and we did some people watching as well. It seemed to be that a lot of planes were late coming in. Ironically I had a layover in Nashville in Feb of last year as well and most of the flights were delayed that day too.

 

Finally our flight arrived and they called the A group to line up, so Mom and I did. Mom and I were talking and some lady was asking why we were lining up since it was too early. I told her I thought the A’s were called and many of them were lined up, but this lady went on and on that they were not called. It started to annoy me. Why the heck did she care? I was tired of sitting and I was going to be on a plane sitting again for a good long period so I didn’t mind standing.

 

Finally we were let on the plane and it appears that another flight had been canceled so we had extras joining us on this flight. They got priority boarding before the A group. Already when we boarded the plane was getting pretty full.

We found seats, but no such luck getting a row to ourselves this time around.

 

Luckily the flight from Nashville to Detroit isn’t too long and before long we were getting ready to land again.

We found our luggage and called my Aunt. It was pretty chilly. Nice smack in the face of being back to reality. My Aunt soon pulled up and we were on our way home.

She dropped me off first and then took my Mom home. Since I had some of Moms things in my bag I told her I would get them to her in the next few days.

Of course my youngest daughter Claire was waiting up for me and super excited to have me home…..my husband was sawing logs but did wake up long enough to give me a kiss and say he was glad I was home. I must admit he has really stepped up to the plate at taking care of Claire while I traveled over the past year and I am super grateful for it.

 

So the good news is, my oldest daughter Paige did not have her baby while I was away.

She was scheduled to be induced on Oct. 7, so that day I went in around 11 AM to be with her…..and waited and waited and waited. Gracie Mae was born after midnight…I don’t remember the time now, but I think it was around 1:10 AM. I stuck it out all day, as did one of my sisters and Paige’s boyfriends mom did as well. Paige asked us all to leave the room when it was time to have her. She said she would’ve liked to have me in the room, but didn’t want others in and didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings so she asked us all to leave…which was fine with me. After what felt like forever but in reality wasn’t too long at all, Shane came and brought us all back to the room to meet our newest family member.

 

And with that, I will leave you with a picture of my granddaughter.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2015 by jenseib

[MilliesMom]

Just a note .... on our last Princess cruise we originally were scheduled to get off the ship early on the last day. We went down to the pursor's desk and asked for a later departure time. They willingly agreed and gave us new luggage tags to use. So instead of 8:30 am, we stayed on the ship till 10:30 am.

 

We weren't flying out that day and early check in at the hotel was noon.

[jenseib]

Just a note .... on our last Princess cruise we originally were scheduled to get off the ship early on the last day. We went down to the pursor's desk and asked for a later departure time. They willingly agreed and gave us new luggage tags to use. So instead of 8:30 am, we stayed on the ship till 10:30 am.

 

We weren't flying out that day and early check in at the hotel was noon.

 

Thats very good to know for the future....Thanks!

[jenseib]

Final thoughts of the cruise.

I really enjoyed the Princess line. There were some things l liked better than Disney and some things that I didn’t. Given the choice…..if money was not in play, I would pick Disney over Princess….but I am a Disney addict through and through.

The food in the main dining rooms were comparable, the buffets, not so much. Disney won that round.

Our stateroom host was the best we have ever had on Princess. I must say that I have only had one really good one on Disney so far. Princess wins that round.

Entertainment wise…Disney wins. Disney has the best shows and the talent was much better. Disney seems to have more activities in the day, but again I heard that this was not the norm for Princess to have so little to do.

I never tried the pools out on Princess so I can’t compare, but I do love the adult pool on the Disney Magic…that being said, I only used that during a girls cruise.

Décor wise, the Caribbean Princess was nice but I like Disney’s better for the most part. I was however really impressed with the Piazza. I thought it was pretty and it really was a fun place to hang out with food nearby. The atrium on the Disney ships just never seemed to have that much activity all day like it did on the Caribbean Princess. We could spend hours there watching people. I have to say Disney wins for Décor all around, but I love Disney, so I am bias. I do know the newer ships look fantastic though.

The casino….Disney doesn’t have them. I can take them or leave them. It was fun to have but not something I miss if a ship doesn’t have it. The bad part is that smoking is allowed in one half on most nights and even for a smoker I found it a bit too smokey.

I never got a chance to visit the kids clubs but my guess is that the Disney ones are a bit more magical. This particular cruise did not seem to have very many kids on it. But the kids did seem to enjoy themselves. I think my daughter Claire, who was 9 at the time I sailed would’ve had a good time, but she likes to hang out with me. And as long as she got swim time she would be a happy camper.

I do want to get back on a Princess ship. I don’t know when that will be. I really want to try one of the newer, bigger ships ideally. They look so pretty.

It was a nice vacation and my Mom really had a good time too. It was nice to get away and nice not have to take care of anyone else.

Mom wanted me (and Claire) to join her and Dad in March, but Skip wants to do a family trip so we declined. We still don’t have anything planned as of yet, but I am hoping Disneyland right now. I went last Feb. for work and they both want to see it for themselves now.

Thanks for reliving this wonderful vacation with me!

[metairiegal]

Great review! I really enjoyed reading it.

 

I am a Disney fanatic, too (I'm lucas over on the DIS and I have "seen" you over there.) While we are, of course, partial to Disney - sometimes it is nice to venture out and try something new! We are looking forward to the Caribbean Princess in a few weeks.

[scubacruiserx2]

Thanks Julie for the great review and pictures and sharing your trip with us ! :) :D

[jenseib]

Thanks Julie for the great review and pictures and sharing your trip with us ! :) :D

 

Thanks! ;)

 

Great review! I really enjoyed reading it.

 

I am a Disney fanatic, too (I'm lucas over on the DIS and I have "seen" you over there.) While we are, of course, partial to Disney - sometimes it is nice to venture out and try something new! We are looking forward to the Caribbean Princess in a few weeks.

 

Hello fellow Disney lover! You will have a good time. Just remember it's not Disney and go with the flow. Like I said some things were better on princess. :D

[jenseib]

If anyone is interested, I started a report on the NCL Jewel.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2247368