Our Marvelous Mardi Gras B2B (with pics!) - April 23rd, 2022

[canes20]

12 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I noticed the Mac n cheese and cobbler warranted a separate dish yet the beans did not. I wonder who makes those decisions…

[Megan_Strick]

17 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

You should bring a plate from the buffet down to the bbq place, put in an order, and say “can you put my food on this?”

Good idea! 😁

[Megan_Strick]

17 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I noticed the Mac n cheese and cobbler warranted a separate dish yet the beans did not. I wonder who makes those decisions…

As they should. Clearly, someone with some sense 🤣

[Saint Greg]

7 minutes ago, sthrnbll said:

As they should. Clearly, someone with some sense 🤣

 

But why do the beans get left out in the cold......metal tray?

[Megan_Strick]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

But why do the beans get left out in the cold......metal tray?

Probably because they suck 🤣

[Canadian Tyler]

Hi Jamman, I'm very late to the party. Just catching up now .

I noticed from your pictures that we were in Port Canaveral the same time - we were just a couple doors down at Rusty's. We wondered why the Elation was so quiet for its departure, until we looked it up and realized it was repositioning (and noticed the banner.) We thought it was just a really low-key bunch at first!

 

Thanks for another great review.

[Jamman54]

2 hours ago, sthrnbll said:

Probably because they suck 🤣

 

I see we're morphing into "Bean- Gate"! 

[Jamman54]

2 hours ago, Canadian Tyler said:

Hi Jamman, I'm very late to the party. Just catching up now .

I noticed from your pictures that we were in Port Canaveral the same time - we were just a couple doors down at Rusty's. We wondered why the Elation was so quiet for its departure, until we looked it up and realized it was repositioning (and noticed the banner.) We thought it was just a really low-key bunch at first!

 

Thanks for another great review.

 

Glad to have you aboard, and thanks for reading! 

[wajowander2011]

Great review as always!

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, wajowander2011 said:

Great review as always!

 

Thanks for reading! 

[Jamman54]

Day # 15  (May 7th)  -  Debarkation / Hello Orlando! 

 

We were up at 6am just as the Mardi Gras was docking back in Port Canaveral. It is cloudy out and you can see thunderstorms in the distance. Here are the last pictures from our balcony……

 

 

 

 

That‘s the Carnival Magic way over there. She’ll soon be heading north to Norfolk and New York City for the summer…..

 

 

Here is the General Debarkation Information……

 

 

 

Here is our Diamond Debarkation Information…..

 

 

At 7am, Cruise Director Lee began the Express Debark process by calling several of the muster stations. We are doing the Checked Bag debarkation, so we’re not meeting at Center Stage until 8am.

 

At 7:45am, we said goodbye to our room steward Antonius, and made our way down to Center Stage on Deck 6. When we got there, we were told that Diamond members had already been cleared, and were free to leave the ship. We were directed to the forward gangway since there was no line. We stepped off the ship at 8:10am.

 

We just followed the traffic down to the baggage claim / customs area, and got in the “Passport” line, which moved very quickly. Went through the facial recognition process and we were done! We easily found our luggage in the Zone 1 area, but getting a porter was a bit of a problem. I had to go over to the other side of the building where the porters enter, grab one, and then escort her to our luggage.

 

Once she loaded up our bags, she took them directly to our car on Level 2 of the parking garage.  She earned a nice tip for her work. Thanks! It was now 8:45am, and looking over at the entrance, we could see that people were already lining up for the next cruise!

 

It was quick and easy to get out of the parking garage and the port area. We stopped at a Raceway gas station to fill up and grab a coffee. We then began our hour long trip to International Drive in Orlando. Patti got these shots as we sped out of Port Canaveral…….

 

 

 

To be continued……..

[Jamman54]

There was very little traffic, so we were on International Drive at 10am. It was too early to check into our hotel, and since we hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning, we decided to eat at Denny’s……

 

 

 

Patti had the pancakes…….

 

 

 

After breakfast, we took a ride on International Drive checking things out, and then decided to head back and try to check in early at our hotel. We are staying at the Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando……

 

 

 

 

It’s a three star hotel, but it’s clean and only $89 a night. We will be spending the next six nights here. We stayed here during our two road trips to Florida during the pandemic. Back then, the bar and restaurant was closed, and there was very limited maid service. Now, everything is open and it seems to be business as usual. Also back are the people from the UK, who seem to flock to this place. It’s great to see them back! This is the Registration Desk……

 

 

Here are a couple of Lobby views……

 

 

 

This is the Lite Brite Snack Shop…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

This is the business Center…..

 

 

This is Zebra’s Bar & Grill……

 

 

This is the Vacation Planning Center…..

 

 

Here is the Gift Shop…..

 

 

Here is a map of the hotel property……

 

 

We are staying in room # 1312 on the third floor of Building “A”……

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have a view of one of the three pools on the property….

 

 

 

Once we got the car unloaded and settled in, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. At 6pm, we met our friends Jim and Pat (Webecruzen), for dinner at Miller’s Ale House, which is right across the street……

 

 

 

We had a great dinner and visit. We were back in the room at 9:30pm, after a stop at Walgreen’s for some drinks and snacks.

 

To be continued……

[Guest BasicSailor]

I thought you guys were Cracker Barrel people 😉

[Jamman54]

2 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

I thought you guys were Cracker Barrel people 😉

 

We do Cracker Barrel on the way to and from New Jersey. It is a Patti requirement! 

[Guest BasicSailor]

 

I am impressed with that Hotel. Great price and clean looking.

[Jamman54]

1 minute ago, BasicSailor said:

 

I am impressed with that Hotel. Great price and clean looking.

 

It is. Patti does a full property tour which I will share a little later in the review. We like it there. Good location, very near the Convention Center. 

[Jamman54]

Post Cruise  (May 8th)  -  Happy Mother’s Day!!! 

 

Happy Mother’s Day!!! This is going to be short and sweet since the camera was put away for most of the day. The morning was spent relaxing, and working on the pictures for the review. It’s a beautiful day, and around noon we hopped in the car and headed to Crystal River, Florida which is about an hour and a half away. It’s located on the west coast, north of Tampa…….

 

 

Just about every time we are down in Florida, we visit with our friends Howard and Elle……

 

 

 

Howard has been my PVP with Carnival for going on fourteen years. After walking around Heritage Village and checking out some of the shops, we went and had dinner at Stumpknocker’s.

 

 

After a great dinner and visit, we made our way back to the Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando, getting back at 9pm.

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

Post Cruise  (May 9th)  -  Disney Springs 

 

We were up early to another beautiful day. We went for breakfast at the Plaza Garden Restaurant in the hotel, where they have buffet breakfasts and dinners. We never ate dinner there, but the breakfast buffet was $12.95 plus tax, per person. They have a great variety of breakfast options…..

 

 

 

Around 9:45am, we hopped in the car and headed west on I-4. In ten minutes we had reached our exit…..

 

 

Once off I-4, we just followed the signs to the Disney Springs parking garage…..

 

 

 

Parking is free. You still have to que for a security scan, but once that’s done you can enter Disney Springs. Masks were recommended but not required. Once we exited the parking garage, Patti pulled out the camera and went to work…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…….

[Jamman54]

We continue our walk through Disney Springs…..

 

 

 

 

 

There was a boat on the lake fishing close to shore, and we watched them as they caught a nice size bass…..

 

 

 

Here are some more Disney Spring views…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We continue our walk through Disney Springs…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Gideon’s Bakery. People line up before it opens to be the first to buy their baked goods…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We continue our walk through Disney Springs……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we get to this end of Disney Springs, I head to Dockside Margarita’s and park myself while Patti continues her picture tour. They are closed now, but they will be opening soon…..

 

 

To be continued…….

[CeleBrat]

On 6/13/2022 at 7:25 PM, Saint Greg said:

I noticed the Mac n cheese and cobbler warranted a separate dish yet the beans did not. I wonder who makes those decisions…

I"m surprised that a restauranteur hasn't jumped in toi solve this mystery.  The mac-n-cheese and cobbler are cooked (baked) in those dishes individually, whereas the beans get scooped from a giant pan.  That doesn't mean that they shouldn't be put into a bowl...but for efficiency that's why that meal is "plated" like that.

Edited June 16, 2022 by CeleBrat
typo!

[Jamman54]

Patti continues on with her picture tour of Disney Springs……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Saint Greg]

8 minutes ago, CeleBrat said:

I"m surprised that a restauranteur hasn't jumped in toi solve this mystery.  The mac-n-cheese and cobbler are cooked (baked) in those dishes individually, whereas the beans get scooped from a giant pan.  That doesn't mean that they shouldn't be put into a bowl...but for efficiency that's why that meal is "plated" like that.

Really? You dont think they scooped the Mac N cheese out of a big thing like they do at lunch?