Pnut's Experience on the "Sin"sation

[peanutprincess1977]

Figured I would get around to writing this once I got all the missed work and homework done. So in lieu of doing that, I will procrastinate and write my review of the Saints and Sinners Group cruise.

Sis and I arrived in NOLA on Thursday night. We were having some problems because sis is currently in a hard ankle brace thing. BWI sky caps got her a wheelchair, then proceeded to wheel her into the terminal and leave her there. I had to figure out how to push her, and drag her carry-ons as well as mine to the gate!!

Flew SW, as always we loved them. They let her right on with some help. We were met at the gate in NOLA and never left for a minute by their sky caps. We stayed that night at the Days Inn at the ariport. It was nice. There were no frills, but we weren't looking for anything except two beds.

Friday morning we took a cab over to the Clarion on Canal Street and were treated one of the biggest "regular" rooms I have ever seen. We ordered all our excursions and tours for when we returned from the cruise, and then set out to explore NOLA.

Met some of the gang at the Cat's Meow that night, and preceded to drink too many Hand Grenades with the Sis. We fell through a door.

Saturday morning, cruise day. Took a cab to the port around 10ish. Dropped off the luggage and walked up to Riverwalk to get some breakfast. Ran into a couple of Sinners and took some nice pictures of the Sensation.

Now I really got to give Carnival some credit here. Sis and I decided that we would stand in line like everyone else and wait our turn to get our Sign and Sail and keys. The lady at the start of the line saw sis in her brace, grabs a sea cap and insists that she use the handicapped boarding. We got right on the ship, wheeled her straight to our cabin (M143), and just shocked us. We didn't feel like we should get special treatment because of her injury, but The Reps in the Terminal were insistant. They didn't want her to have to stand in the long line (After realizing how long she would actually be standing, sis was grateful). Way to go Carnival.

We didn't really do too much while on the ship. We were both all about some major relaxation time. But we kept comparing everything to our first cruise last year on Paradise.

Our Room Steward, Jose, was AWESOME. Much better than the one we had last year, but we were sorely disappointed with our wait staff. They never introduced themselves, they never talked with us (and the one other couple at our table), they never smiled. It seemed like they were always busy and didn't seem to do anything except the bare minimum to get by. Sis and I were greatly missing our Carlos and Ercan from Paradise last year at every meal we ate.

Sunday we lounged around the Verandah deck. We really liked it back there at the aft pool. Way less people, not too many kids, really quiet and relaxing. We met the S&S group for our group picture. Had some lunch and got ready for Formal night.

Monday was Costa Maya. I wish we would have just stopped at the little tourist area and never tried to do anything else because the rest of the trip turned into a Survivor episode from H#ll! After reading about this Spider monkey farm near Majahual, I really wanted to go check it out. We took a cab to Majahual and despite the warnings from the cab drivers, we opted to go to the monkey farm anyway. Our cab driver (he spoke little english, we spoke no spanish) warned us about the mosquitos and stopped at a little market so we could get some repellent. We arrived at the farm and really wished we had turned back. There didn't seem to be anyone around. The cab driver went to find someone and when he got out of the cab, a million mosquitos got in. I have never seen mosquitos bang into glass to get at the "victims" waiting inside. To make a long story short, we saw 6 monkeys, walked through a 1/2 mile of jungle, got tore up by a bizillion mosquitos and called it quits. We didn't really like Majahual. But to be fair, at this point we were both really miserable and didn't feel like fending off the vendors who seemed to be hounding tourists. We took a cab back to the tourist village. Walked around and got a few things at the shops, then dropped everything off on the ship and went back to do some snorkeling right there at the beach at the pier. This was definately the highlight of the day. There was a ton a reef and alot of fish. We were both disappointed that we used up our underwater pics before we found this treasure trove of fish on the other side of where we started snorkling! We went back to our loungechairs and got some really good chips and salsa and some nice yard drinks. Next time we visit Costa Maya, we will stay right in the village.

Tuesday was Coz. A short day in Coz too, a little disappointing there. We didn't dock at the Downtown dock like we did last year on the Paradise and I didn't really like where we docked this year, it was much more convinient to dock downtown. Sis and I had booked a dolphin royal swim through dolphin discovery directly so we headed straight to Chankanaab. We explored the park and relaxed a little before our swim time. We were a little disppointed with the "free swim" time, but the excursion was a great experience. We just ended up feeling a little rushed. We bought the video, but I didn't like most of my pictures. I picked the best of them. My sis had some great ones taken. Really ham it up for the photographer if you do this excursion because you will be disappointed if you don't get any good pics at the end. After the swim we did some snorkeling in the area in Chankanaab. AWESOME. There is nothing more to say. We tried to find the statues but never did. But there were soooo many fish. Unfortunately our pictures didn't come out that great. Headed downtown for a little shopping. Went back to the pier and had a yard at Fat Tuesday's and went back to the ship just in time.

Wednesday was another day at sea and again we just relaxed and packed.

Food on board was good, our lobster was better than last year. Had my favorite pumpkin soup. Photographers were better and really worked with my sis to try to hide the hideous boot thing. Smoking didn't seem to be a big deal. Since we had done Paradise last year, we were interested to see the difference. I like the decor of Paradise better. While I like purple, the psychodelic shapes in the hall art really weren't doing it for me. I missed the pretty ship pictures.

Shows were awesome. I really liked them. Our comedian the first night was hilarious. I was crying in his adult show.

Our vacation continued in NOLA for a few days after. Some recommendations here. Stay at the Clarion. It was right on the Canal streetcar line, really convinient. Buy a one or three day Streetcar pass. You can use it on all the cars and all the buses. Ride each of the complete lines all the way around at least once. Do the Ghost Expedition through Grayline. It was AWESOME. We weren't happy with the New Orleans Ghost Tour (that is the company name) that we did. Wish we had used Haunted History. All of Gray lines tours that we did were great. Aquarium is cool, zoo was pretty neat. Don't bother with t John James Audobon cruise out to the zoo, take the streetcar out there instead. The cruise was long and boring, at least there were really pretty houses in the Garden District to look at on the streetcar ride. Get your beignets from the Cafe Du Monde in Riverwalk, no line and same company and food!

Walk, Walk, Walk. There is sooooo much to see in this city. So much culture, and it is beautiful. I loved NOLA the best of the whole vacation. Eat at Deanie's. Good food, good price, and a ton of food on your plate. Pass on Bubba Gumps, Deanie's was much better. Eat at the cafe right across from Jax Brewery, can't remember the name, but the foord was great and the prices were beyond compare. Try a muffalata from Central Grocery.

One night on Burbon Street is the same as the next, wild and crazy. Do it once to say you've been there, but unless you really need to get drunk and watch flashers, it is the same every night. Though the bands there are great during the day.

Any questions? Pics to come.

[peanutprincess1977]

Ok, just read Cotton's review and remember some things I forgot.

Really Like the CD Michael. He is WAY better than Jeff BROOOnson. There was ALOT of "turbulance" movement, whatever on this cruise. Way more than we had last year. I didn't get sick, but I didn't like it either.

We did notice a strong sewage smell when we got into port. It smelled like they flushed the system right outside our window, but other than first arriving in port, we didn't have that smell any other time.

Did not like the Touch of Class lounge. The piano player was good at some songs, but really stunk at others. And plus the lounge with its "hands" decor is just really gaudy.

This new Red, White, and Blue contest is really low-class and pretty dumb also. I don't think that it is something that should be included in a multicourse dining room. it kinda cheapens the experience.

But other than that, I liked everything else.