Our 25th Anniversary Adventure - Baja Mexico & Hawaii on the Inspiration & Splendor

Jamman54 · May 17, 2019

Here are some additional places to eat while here…..

This is the outside of the aquarium…..

Aquarium info and pricing…..

This way to the Pike Outlets……

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · May 18, 2019

Patti is ready to go shopping so I make my way over to Hooters. These venues get high marks as Husband Daycare facilities!

There are plenty of beer choices, so I’m good…..

You can’t beat this deal. Actually, they did have a great deal with two 16 oz. Stella drafts and 6 boneless wings for $10.

Before shopping Patti wants to explore a little more. There is a ferris wheel right across the street from Hooters …..

Here is some information if you are interested in a harbor cruise or tour…..

Patti is going to take the walk over to the lighthouse on Lighthouse Point…..

To be continued……

Jamman54 · May 18, 2019

Patti has reached the lighthouse……

There are great views from there. Across the inlet is Shoreline Village…..

The marina and the jetty we walked on yesterday…..

The Queen Mary on the other side of the harbor…..

Here are a couple of views of the Carnival Splendor. See you next week!

Here are a few other random shots taken from the lighthouse…..

After completing her shopping Patti made it back to Hooters. I had amassed enough beer credits to procure 6 boneless wings for her too!

It was sometime after 4 pm when we called for the shuttle to come pick us up. They were there in less than ten minutes. Tonight, we once again had dinner at the Enclave, and by 9 pm we decided to call it a night and head up to the room.

Coming up next: Happy Easter everybody, Belmont Shores, and Bubba Gump’s.

teacher34 · May 18, 2019

Happy belated anniversary !! I have been looking forward to this review for months ! I love reading your reviews and looking at Patti’s wonderful pictures ! I can’t wait to read the rest of the review ! A cruise to Hawaii is on my bucket list, but first we are doing the TA that stops in Greenland and Iceland as well as four other stops. I really wish you and Patti were going to be on that cruise. I would love to meet you both. Thanks for doing this review !

Hooked Already · May 18, 2019

Glad I found this review in the early stages. I will be sailing o the Splendor again on 06/29/2019. This Review will help Keep me excited about my upcoming trip. Thank you for taking the time to make these reviews.

Also I was on Carnival Pride relocation cruise in 2017 from Tampa to Baltimore. That was a fantastic trip.

My Uncle and myself were on the Carnival purchased excursions that held up the departure from Limon Costa Rico during that trip.

The company running the Excursion did not understand the difference between Local time and Ship Time

heffy2 · May 18, 2019

Wooohoo! I, like many others have been waiting for this review. So glad you had a great trip. I've sailed in Inspiration twice from Long Beach, she's a wonderful ship. Thanks for taking the time to write this review.

darth frosty · May 18, 2019

Loved Meeting You and Patti on the Hawaiian leg.

Look forward to experiencing the Inspiration with you and reliving the splendor!

Jamman54 · May 18, 2019

18 hours ago, teacher34 said:

Happy belated anniversary !! I have been looking forward to this review for months ! I love reading your reviews and looking at Patti’s wonderful pictures ! I can’t wait to read the rest of the review ! A cruise to Hawaii is on my bucket list, but first we are doing the TA that stops in Greenland and Iceland as well as four other stops. I really wish you and Patti were going to be on that cruise. I would love to meet you both. Thanks for doing this review !

Thanks for reading and your kind words. We had to choose between that Legend TA or the Mardi Gras NYC to PC repo and went with the Mardi Gras. Maybe next time! 😀

15 hours ago, Hooked Already said:

Glad I found this review in the early stages. I will be sailing o the Splendor again on 06/29/2019. This Review will help Keep me excited about my upcoming trip. Thank you for taking the time to make these reviews.

Also I was on Carnival Pride relocation cruise in 2017 from Tampa to Baltimore. That was a fantastic trip.

My Uncle and myself were on the Carnival purchased excursions that held up the departure from Limon Costa Rico during that trip.

The company running the Excursion did not understand the difference between Local time and Ship Time

Glad to have you aboard once again. Have a great cruise on the Splendor. We were happy to be able to cruise on her one more time before she heads down under. 😎

14 hours ago, heffy2 said:

Wooohoo! I, like many others have been waiting for this review. So glad you had a great trip. I've sailed in Inspiration twice from Long Beach, she's a wonderful ship. Thanks for taking the time to write this review.

Happy to have you following along! We had a great time on the Inspiration. It was the perfect warm up for the Hawaii cruise. 😎

Jamman54 · May 18, 2019

3 hours ago, darth frosty said:

Loved Meeting You and Patti on the Hawaiian leg.

Look forward to experiencing the Inspiration with you and reliving the splendor!

Hey there! It was great to meet you and Carolyn on board the Splendor. I wish we could have chatted more but it seems our paths didn't cross to often. I hope you guys enjoyed the cruise as much as Patti and I did.

Glad to have you aboard for our adventure and feel free to chime in any time with your thoughts and observations of the Splendor cruise. 😎

mikayla73 · May 18, 2019

Looks like a fun day for you in husband day care and for Patty exploring. Tell her she does a great job with all the pics! And of course you with putting it all together.

We've sailed out of Long Beach many time on the Paradise, Splendor, Imagination, and Miracle. We never made it on the Inspiration. Looking forward to seeing the inside of that ship. We did one tour of the Queen Mary, but it would've been interesting to stay there sometime. Have you been on the QM before?

Jamman54 · May 18, 2019

Day # 4 (April 21^st) - Our final day in Long Beach.

Happy Easter Everyone! We awoke to another beautiful day, much like the previous two days. We decided to eat breakfast at the Café in the lobby once again.

Today we want to go check out Belmont Shore. We know that it is about three miles away, which is out of the hotel shuttle’s range. We figure we would ask the shuttle driver, Josh, the best way to get there from here. He said that he wasn’t busy and he would be happy to drop us off there. Thanks Josh! He dropped us off around 11 am and told us to call him when we wanted to be picked up.

We walked for a while on 2^nd Street which is the main street of Belmont Shore where most of the stores are located. Being that this was Easter Sunday not many of the shops were open. Patti was going to continue to explore, so it was time for Husband Daycare. Our recommendation for Belmont Shore is Panama Joe’s…..

Panama Joe’s was pretty busy this morning as they were having an Easter brunch deal. I was able to procure a seat at the bar, and as an added bonus they had the Yankee game on the television!.....

Patti took a couple block walk down to Alamitos Bay…..

Alamitos Bay seems very popular for Kayaks and paddleboards…..

Way off in the distance Patti can see the dome and a whale tail. The whale tail belongs to the Imagination which is embarking passengers for a four day cruise to Catalina and Ensenada…..

To be continued……

Jamman54 · May 18, 2019

You can rent a bike or a scooter here…..

Here are a few random views along 2^nd street in Belmont Shore…..

Patti joined me at Panama Joe’s for a drink, and then we called Josh to come pick us up. Twenty minutes later he was there and took us back to the hotel. You can bet that we tipped him well.

When we got back to the room it had not yet been made up. Within a few minutes there was a knock on the door, so while she did the room we went down to hang out at the pool for an hour or so…..

Around 5 pm we had the shuttle take us over to Bubba Gump’s for dinner. Once there we were able to see the Imagination getting ready to sail…..

Though Bubba Gump’s was busy we were able to get a table right away. Here is a picture of Patti…….

For some reason the camera got put away for the night. We both enjoyed our meals. Patti had a Caesar salad and salmon, and I had a classic shrimp cocktail and the Jambalaya.

Afterwards, Patti wanted to shop a little more so I walked across the street over to Hooters. When she was done we called for the shuttle to pick us up. We were back in our room for the night at 8:30 pm.

Coming up next: We board the Carnival Inspiration, or, floating on a sea of bluebees!

Jamman54 · May 18, 2019

11 minutes ago, mikayla73 said:

Looks like a fun day for you in husband day care and for Patty exploring. Tell her she does a great job with all the pics! And of course you with putting it all together.

We've sailed out of Long Beach many time on the Paradise, Splendor, Imagination, and Miracle. We never made it on the Inspiration. Looking forward to seeing the inside of that ship. We did one tour of the Queen Mary, but it would've been interesting to stay there sometime. Have you been on the QM before?

Thanks for reading! Patti says thank you! 😀 I toured the Queen Mary around 30 years ago, but this time was the first time that we stayed there. Get ready for the Inspiration. I'll be taking you aboard next. 😎

Jamman54 · May 18, 2019

7 minutes ago, fyree39 said:

With all this shopping, I was kind of wondering what Patti's been loading up on. Any good deals out there?

Hi...Patti here...I found great clothing deals at the Pike outlets, especially at the Columbia and H&M stores. I ended up with 2 pairs of capris, 3 tops, sunglasses, belts, a wallet and a couple of Christmas ornaments. Most of the outlet stores had good buys actually . I also enjoyed the shopping at Shoreline Village and Belmont Shore...mostly at the specialty type souvenir shops. I am usually just a window shopper but had to restrain myself this time due to the constraints of flying home with breakables

marcia014 · May 18, 2019

Glad to see this review! I was on the Inspiration in 2001, and the Splendor in March of this year. I truly enjoy following you and Patti on your adventures and am excited to read about your experiences on two ships I have previously sailed on.

Oh, and Happy Anniversary! With your wonderful detailed reviews, I feel like I know you and Patti and am happy for you both on 25 years together! ❤️

Edited May 18, 2019 by marcia014

Jamman54 · May 19, 2019

2 hours ago, marcia014 said:

Glad to see this review! I was on the Inspiration in 2001, and the Splendor in March of this year. I truly enjoy following you and Patti on your adventures and am excited to read about your experiences on two ships I have previously sailed on.

Oh, and Happy Anniversary! With your wonderful detailed reviews, I feel like I know you and Patti and am happy for you both on 25 years together! ❤️

Thanks so much for your kind words! Glad to have you back with us again. 😎

Jamman54 · May 19, 2019

Day # 5 (April 22^nd) - We board the Carnival Inspiration!!!

We were up at 7 am in anticipation of today’s cruise. It’s going to be another beautiful day. We are really excited about this cruise because we have not been on the Inspiration before, and Catalina Island and Ensenada are new ports for us. We decided to not eat breakfast this morning to save room for that first guy’s burger!

Checking out of the Hilton was a breeze. I called the bell man at 9:45 to help us with ou luggage, and by 10 am we were loaded onto the shuttle and on our way to the cruise terminal…..

The shuttle left us off at the baggage drop off where “Big Al” took control of our luggage. He was probably wondering why we had three large pieces of luggage for a four day cruise!

From here it’s just a short walk over to the cruise terminal. The Queen Mary is on the other side of the parking lot……

I’m just hanging out while Patti walks around taking pictures…..

This is the entrance to the cruise terminal. There are three lines. The long line on the left is the “Early / Late” line. The middle line is for Priority (Diamond, Platinum, & FTTF). The line on the right is for “On Time”.

To be continued……

Jamman54 · May 19, 2019

They opened the doors at 10:30, and the Priority line was let in first. Going through check in and security only took a few minutes. As is mostly the case now, your sail & sign cards will be in you cabin’s mailbox once you board and are allowed access to you cabin. You use your boarding pass to buy drinks and such until you get your sail & sign cards.

The Long Beach Cruise Terminal is really spacious and incredible. Patti and I pose by the sign…..

There is a miniature version of the Spruce Goose hanging from the rafters…..

The seating area has a park like feeling……

The Captain’s Lounge for Priority is simply huge! For this cruise there was hardly anybody in there. It won’t be that way on Saturday when we board the Splendor!

To be continued…….

Jamman54 · May 19, 2019

They began boarding at 11:10 with Diamonds first, Platinums second, then FTTF.

It is a long walk up four or five ramps just to get to the lobby area before you exit the dome. For those that need it, there are elevators that can take you up there. Once in the lobby area you can have your embarkation photo taken……

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Once that’s done you get scanned onto the ship. You leave the dome, then you have to cross the long bridge over to the ship…..

Here are some views as we crossed the bridge to the Inspiration…..

We are now aboard the Inspiration! Here are today’s Fun Times…..

Our first stop will be at our cabin since we are Priority. We encounter the generic stateroom sign and head in…..

This is the elevator lobby by our cabin. Very colorful…..

To be continued…….

Jamman54 · May 19, 2019

We have arrived at our cabin which is U181, an outside cabin on the starboard side of Upper Deck 6 aft. There really isn’t any mailbox so our sail & sign cards are wedged behind the cabin number sign…..

Here are some views of our cabin…..

Plenty of closet space and a swipe type room safe…..

Our bathroom and shower……

We have a chair!

As you probably have heard by now, no more pens!

Here is some good to know information for those that want to know…..

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To be continued…..

JAXCRUISER · May 19, 2019

Great review as always! Looking forward to more. Thank you!

Jerseygirl1416 · May 19, 2019

Wow, Patty looks great! She looks like she’s lost a lot of weight. Happy Anniversary to both of you! We’re celebrating our 25th this year too and taking a Christmas cruise on the Breeze with all the kids. Thanks for taking the time to post another great review!

Jamman54 · May 19, 2019

I’m starving, so I am going to head to Guy’s and then head over to the Red Frog Rum Bar for my first Thirsty Frog. Patti is going to take some pictures, grab her lunch, then meet me there. Patti checks out the buffet offerings…..