Our Fantasy Cruise: Paradise Found

[jgmpuma]

GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT: We have been on a bunch of cruises in the past, the last one being in February of 2005, six months before Katrina turned our lives upside down. We have tried to plan a cruise since then, but there were always greater priorities and bureaucracies and insurance companies to fight, and it just didn’t happen. The closest thing we have had to a real vacation was evacuating to Gulf Shores, Alabama last summer for Hurricane Gustav. Fun, but lots of anxiety. At least the levees held this time.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED: Back in October of 2008, someone posted a thread here about a local radio station (which I never listen to) sponsoring a contest: nominate someone in the New Orleans area who deserves a cruise. Naturally, I nominated my wife. She has been through a lot since Katrina, more than I could adequately describe here. On the nomination form I was limited to 125 words, so I could just hit the high spots. I sent it in, and pretty much forgot about it. What were the chances?

 

In mid-November I received an email from the radio station. My wife was a finalist! They wanted her cell phone number to call her in case she won. The announcement would be made the next day. Nothing happened the next day, or the day after. Close, I’m thinking, but no cigar. I still hadn’t told her about the nomination.

 

Three days later she was out with her sisters celebrating a birthday when the call came. She called me, pretty much hysterical. Not the Powerball, which she always expects to win, but not bad either. True to her nature, she insists that someone else deserves it more than she does. Probably not. We would have been happy in an interior stateroom but, Carnival being the class act that it is, we were assigned a penthouse suite. VIP’s, no less, and able to keep our Balcony Club alumni status intact.

 

On the Friday morning before our cruise we were still listed as cabin “TBA” on Carnival’s web site. Not knowing what to put on our luggage tags, I called Carnival. The rep put me on hold for a minute or so, then came back and told me that our cabin was One. One? One. That’s all she knew, so I put “One” on the luggage tags and would just hope for the best. There is no cabin One on the deck plans.

 

Friday at noon we declared ourselves to be officially on vacation, and went to spend the afternoon at the French Quarter Festival. Not the best of weather, but great local music and food.

 

EMBARKATION: WE COULD HAVE BROUGHT THE KIDS, BUT WHO WOULD TAKE CARE OF THE DOGS? Not much to embarkation. We live about fifteen minutes away from the terminal. One of our kids dropped us off, grumbling about not going. The cruise we won was actually for four persons, but we kept that bit of information to ourselves. Left them on the shore, reminding them about the high-maintenance dogs, and who would care for them in our absence. More for convenience than as a financial consideration, we smuggled aboard some Knob Creek bourbon and some vodka. No problems there. We had a lot of luggage, I think, for a five-day cruise. I’m fairly sure that my wife is an illegitimate sister of Imelda Marcos. She almost needed an extra suitcase for the shoes. I, on the other hand, am on the Fashion Police ten-most-wanted list and just hope that I won’t get busted for wearing the same shirt twice.

 

We received VIP check-in and were led to the VIP lounge. The agent reviewed our docs and issued our S&S cards, then called in on her walkie-talkie, “S-1 has arrived.” This is starting to sound interesting. Another agent arrived to escort us to our “cabin.”

 

S-1 (and S-2, it’s twin) are located on the Sports Deck near the front of the ship, on either side of the atrium. You would never see them if you didn’t know where to look. Some of the crew members didn’t even know where they were. If you stand on the Lido deck and look two floors up, towards the bow of the ship, you will see a row of picture windows. The ones on the right were ours. All of them.

 

I’m not very good at descriptions, but I’ll do my best. When you enter, there is a bar on the left, about six feet long, and behind it are shelves stocked with all sorts of glasses and a small refrigerator. On the right is a dining area with a table and four chairs, and a mirrored ceiling. Further on the left is the balcony. It is almost ten feet deep and about fourteen feet wide. There are two lounge chairs, two regular chairs and a small table. The right side overlooks the Lido pool, and we could lounge on the balcony and listen to the Carribean band.

 

Further on the left is the sitting area, with a convertible sofa, two chairs, a writing table and two end table and picture windows. On the right is a big flat-screen TV. The bedroom features a king-size bed, large dresser, end tables, another big flat-screen TV and picture windows overlooking the Lido deck.

 

The bathroom has twin lavatories, a whirlpool tub (room for two, but barely) and a glass-enclosed shower. And a walk-in closet, of all things. For the first time, I didn’t have to fight my wife for storage space.

 

What I gathered is that these cabins are the equivalent of the high-roller suites in Las Vegas. They are reserved for frequent Carnival cruisers, and are not open for regular bookings. They were by far the best accommodations we have ever received.

 

Our cabin steward, Michael, was very attentive, and kept the place spotless.

 

THE SHIP: AS LONG AS IT FLOATS, IT’S OK. I’m a functional guy. If something works, looks are not all that important. Except for my wife, of course: she excels at both. We have been on the Enchanted Isle (about 800 passengers) and on the Conquest (too many to count) and some in between, and have loved them all. The only problems we have ever encountered involved my in-laws, and we left all of them on the shore. Carnival has always been our favorite line. Nothing real fancy, but nice people, good service, and good times. And since this was a free cruise, we couldn’t be overly critical.

 

Fantasy is no spring chicken, but we aren’t either. All three of us show a few signs of age, or character, as we prefer to call it, but everything was spotlessly clean and freshly-painted. The decor is subdued, at least by Carnival standards. Since we were on the Sports Deck there were a lot of stairs to climb, but then we had a lot of food to work off.

 

 

We did encounter the infamous sewer smell once or twice, mainly in the forward stair well, but we live with two dogs, and spend a lot of time in the French Quarter, with its aromas of stale beer and mule poop, so the occasional unpleasant odor is not totally foreign to us.

 

Compared to other cruises, the ship didn’t seem crowded, and we always found seats wherever we looked. No chair hogs that I saw.

 

FELLOW PASSENGERS: The usual mix of ages, shapes and sizes (tending towards the large). There were a few kids, all well-behaved, and no spring-breakers. Everyone we met was very friendly and we saw none of the offensive behavior I have read about. Maybe we were just lucky. Carnival always has a great mix of people on board. If you have ever heard that Toby Keith song “I Love This Bar,” that describes them pretty well. Just substitute “I Love This Ship.”

 

CRUISIN’ DOWN THE RIVER: As always, a wonderful way to start a vacation, waving at the poor souls left behind, and our whole vacation ahead of us. The weather was overcast and a little windy, but what the heck. We had our sailaway drinks and watched the passing scenery until dinner time.

 

SEA DAYS: BLUE SKIES (MOSTLY), BLUE WATER, BLUE DRINK. On the two sea days, after breakfast (see below), we wandered around the ship, then sat out on the Lido deck having a couple of beers (me) and drinks-of-the-day (wife). She likes blue drinks, especially ones with little umbrellas sticking out of them, and they were able to accommodate her wishes. After lunch, I usually took a short nap while my wife tried (unsuccessfully) to win at Bingo. Several years ago our family group won the black- out jackpot and each couple’s cut came to about $2,400. She expects that to happen every time. The eternal optimist, my wife. Afternoons were spent wherever there was something fun to do. Around 6:30 we picked up some sushi (not the best, but pretty good) and brought that back to our little on-board paradise as an appetizer.

 

The weather on the first day started off overcast, and then cleared up. Monday and Tuesday, our port days, were partly cloudy and the temps were in the low 80's: just about perfect for our activities. The seas were very smooth.

 

PROGRESO: A TOWN IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT. I had read all of the CC reviews of Progreso, and they were all over the place (awesome, a dump, etc.). We went with a positive attitude, and would see for ourselves. I had wanted to see the Mayan ruins, but that wasn’t going to work unless I could get my wife out of the sack at a reasonable time, and I knew that wasn’t going to happen. On a cruise she is like a five-year-old on Christmas Eve: she just doesn’t want to give up and go to bed.

 

As it turned out, we loved Progreso. At the pier where the ship docks there is a duty-free shop and about twenty others that you pass through on the way to the shuttle buses. We would come back to these later. The free (driver tips are encouraged) shuttle bus takes you from the dock down a long causeway (about three miles) to Progresso, and drops you off about two blocks from the beach in front of a flea market. There is a $2 bus tour that leaves from the same location. The tour lasts about twenty minutes and is a great way to get your bearings.

 

People seem to have a lot of complaints about the street vendors in Progresso, but once you get a block or so away from the beach, what you mainly find are locals, just going about their business. Not much English is spoken away from the beach, so I had to dust off my old high-school Spanish as best I could. Apparently I didn’t do very well because the locals usually just looked at me funny when I asked for directions, but they were friendly and helpful and we managed to find everything we were looking for. We walked all over town, exploring groceries, the local Catholic Church and a lot of small shops. We bought a few things and I didn’t try to bargain. A couple of dollars means a lot more to these people than they do to us.

 

There are police patrols along the beach area, but we saw just a few in the areas we explored. The bus tour guide told us that violent crime was rare, but to be a little cautious, just as we would be at home, and we always felt safe.

 

I’m a big fan of Bizarre Foods on The Travel Channel, and my inclination was to go to some of the hole-in-the-wall places where the locals eat but, like the trip to the Mayan ruins, that didn’t fly either, my wife preferring to be able to identify what she is eating. Instead, we went to Le Saint Bonnet, oddly named for a place in Progreso, but highly recommended, with a very interesting menu. The menu is huge since it includes breakfast items and the usual Tex-Mex items, but a lot of seafood and Yucatan specialities. We had octopus ceviche, conch salad, and grilled shrimp, all very fresh and well-seasoned. With three beers and a Margarita the bill came to about $45. Our waitress spoke very good English. She found my Spanish to be amusing. Apparently as we were getting ready to leave I asked her for a buffalo, but she seemed to appreciate the effort.

 

Le Saint Bonnet is on the main street adjacent to the beach, and there are a lot of vendors in this area, but they were not persistent at all, nothing like Jamaica. Just a “no, gracias” and they moved along.

 

We topped of the day with a massage on the beach. A good bit of mine was wasted since I feel asleep about half way through, but the part of it I remember was wonderful.

 

By US standards, Progreso is poor, but everyone we saw and spoke with seemed to be happy and content with what they are used to. It isn’t DisneyWorld, but overall we found it to be pretty clean and well-maintained. Living in New Orleans, we are used to a certain level of funk that we sorely missed during our post-K evacuation, and Progreso reminded us a little of home.

 

Someone who comes to New Orleans and only sees Bourbon Street and the French Quarter misses a lot of the rich texture of this city, and I’m sure that the same is true of Mexico. Once you get away from the tourist attractions you get to see some of the local culture.

 

Back at the duty-free shop we bought a bunch of liquor and a few other souvenirs and headed back to the ship. Seeing the local culture is nice, but that air-conditioning really felt good.

 

COZUMEL: BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, LET’S DO IT AGAIN: A few cruises ago, we discovered the east side of Cozumel, and have headed there ever since. We are not beach people. I am very fair-skinned and can burn under a full moon, so we pretty much just kick back and enjoy the views/food/drinks. In the past, we had rented a car of some sort, the last one being a stick-shift VW Beetle with iffy brakes. I never could find reverse, and we had to push it out of a couple of parking spots. Our routine in the past had been to bar-hop along the coast and stop for lunch at Chen Rio or Coconuts, but in my old age I am getting a little nervous about encountering the policia with a few cervezas under my belt, so we flipped a coin and cabbed it to Coconuts.

 

We made a deal with the cab driver to drop us off at Coconuts, return in two hours and take us downtown, for $60.00. Again, we didn’t try to drive any hard bargains (he started at $80), but I could drink all of that great Mexican beer I wanted and not have to worry about driving. The cab ride was a little hairy. Once you get out of town it is a clear shot across the island, and they fly.

 

For those of you who haven’t seen it, the east side of Cozumel is sparsely populated, with no electricity or running water. The beaches are beautiful and nearly empty. There are a few restaurants and several beachfront bars. There are a lot of laid-back tourists, but few cruise passengers.

 

Coconuts is on the highest point in Cozumel, about forty feet up, on a bluff overlooking a spectacular beach. It is touristy, but not overly so. We had chips and (very hot) salsa, guacamole to cool the fire from the salsa, shrimp ceviche, and grilled grouper, all excellent. With drinks, the bill was about $40. The cab driver showed up on schedule. In my fractured Spanish I had been trying to insure his return by offering to pay half the fare when he dropped us off and the other half when he picked us up. “Senor, please do not complicate things” had been his response. We didn’t have to pay him until he dropped us off downtown.

 

We were hoping to buy some authentic Mexican art (no velvet, please). Like just about all of the cab drivers in Mexico, our cab driver had a cousin with the finest merchandise, including art, in Cozumel, but his idea of art and ours turned out to be a lot different. We started exploring the back streets and there were a few shops that looked promising, but it was siesta time and most of them were closed, so no Mexican art.

 

Back at the pier in time for my wife to indulge her shopping jones while I enjoyed another beer. The shop keepers are fairly aggressive, but that didn’t bother us.

 

At both Progreso and Cozumel I bought a six-pack of the local beer, and had no problems bringing it back on board.

 

CASINO: My wife and I both love to play blackjack and a little craps, but it’s really hard to find a $5 table at the local casinos, so we spent a good deal of time there. We both did pretty well until the last night, when things started going south, but overall we didn’t lose very much, and the casino host actually sprung for a couple of free drinks. First time that’s happened. On the first sea day there were $3 blackjack tables, and after that, we never had a problem finding a $5.

 

My wife played the slots a little, but said they were duds, and didn’t like the process you have to go through to move credits from one machine to another.

 

FOOD: I would rate it from good to very good. Nothing was really spectacular but we never had anything that we could complain about. We live in a city with too many great restaurants to count, and are passable cooks ourselves, so our standards are a little high.

 

Breakfast: We ordered from room service every morning. When you have the kind of balcony that we were blessed with, it seemed a shame to waste it by going to the Lido deck. Delivery took about fifteen minutes. We usually ordered citrus sections, bagels and lox (wife), and pastries (me) and juices and coffee. The pastries are freshly-baked, and wonderful. Coffee has always been a weak point on our past cruises but this time it was surprisingly good. Not as strong as the coffee with chicory that we are used to drinking at home, but far better than it has been in the past.

 

Lunch: We found an area at the rear at the rear of the Lido deck that is outside but covered, with a beautiful view of the water. We grazed through the various sections, and always found good things. I love hot dogs and usually indulge myself on cruises, but they were a little disappointing. The grilled burgers were wonderful, as always. It took us a little time to figure out the Mongolian grill. You fill a bowl with assorted noodles, vegetable, etc. and then hand it to the chef. He adds chicken, pork, squid, or whatever is offered that day, adds some broth and sauce and cooks the whole concoction in a wok. Once you get the hang of it, you can come up with a very good dish. In the rear of the dining room is the pizza place and the deli. We had goat cheese and anchovy pizza (excellent) and a grilled Reuben (very good). Lots of other stuff that I can’t remember. The fruit punch is still available on the Fantasy.

 

Dinner: The highlight. We are not antisocial by any means, and our dining companions in the past have always been enjoyable, or at least tolerable, but we haven’t had a lot of time together over the past couple of years, and asked the maitre’d for a table for two. He found one that was perfect. Very little traffic, and friendly folks all around us. Our servers were Tanya (Bulgaria) and Ayo (Philippines). Those aren’t their actual names, but they use them because most people could never decipher the real ones. They were wonderful. Our servers learned our “names” (Soosy and Jeem) and our preferences on the first night. They could not have been more attentive and friendly. If we showed even the slightest bit of interest in a dish, it was brought to us.

 

We brought two 1.5 liter bottles of wine, and were charged corkage on only one.

 

By dinner time we had been doing a pretty good bit of drinking, so my recollections are just a little fuzzy, and I’ll just hit the high points. I should have taken notes.

 

The rack of lamb, the chicken pasta, the short ribs and the Indian vegetarian dish were excellent. Chateaubriand, sirloin strip, grilled shrimp, lobster and all of the other entrees were very good, as were all of the salads and appetizers, especially the escargot. We very seldom eat desserts, but Tanya insisted and we certainly could not insult her by refusing. The chocolate melting cake and fresh apple pie were great. My memory of the other dishes we enjoyed is failing me, and the wine we had each night with dinner doesn’t help, but Tanya’s recommendations were right on the money. You really can’t go wrong by following your server’s advice.

 

We tipped them very well. The maitre’d was a real character. He had been very good to us, so we took care of him too. He came around every night and asked how our dinner and our day had been, and is obviously very proud (and rightfully so) of his staff and the kitchen.

 

SHOWS: We kept losing track of time so we never got to see an entire show. What we saw was very good. The r-rated comedian on the last night (can’t remember his name, for the reasons explained above) was hilarious. Profane but not vulgar, if you know what I mean.

 

CRUISE DIRECTOR: Risa Barnes. She wasn’t anything special, but the cruise director is way down on our list of priorities, so it didn’t really make a difference to us.

 

NEGATIVES: I’m a closet fan of Spongebob Squarepants, but there was no NICK on the Fantasy. That’s about it for negatives.

 

DEBARKATION: PARADISE LOST. What can you say about debarkation? Everything is closed. All of those fine folks who were so welcoming five days ago now can’t wait to get rid of us. Masses of generally unhappy people all trying to leave at the same time, something like the end of a bad Saints game in the Superdome. We had breakfast (more of those great pastries) and just lounged around on our special area of the Lido deck drinking coffee until the next-to-last group was called. Debarkation took us about an hour from start to finish.

 

We had purchased five bottles of alcohol in Progresso (which we found to be a little cheaper than Cozumel or the ship), and figured it would be worth paying the duty on them. We declared everything on our Customs form, and they just waived us through. All they asked was whether or not we were bringing back any plants or had more than $10,000 in cash. No plants, and, unfortunately, we didn’t have anywhere near $10,000 left on us.

 

We called home and one of our disgruntled kids picked us up. We were home in about fifteen minutes. The dogs are always offended when we leave them (much more than the kids are) and gave us the cold shoulder at first, but they got over it in a day or so.

 

I spent the rest of Thursday and Friday returning clients’ calls and wading through five days of emails. Rough, but the coming weekend was Jazzfest, a big consolation.

 

This “review” has gotten to be way longer than I intended, but this cruise was such a wonderful experience that I thought it would be worth describing in some detail. We will be back in our rebuilt home in about a week. That will be wonderful. I still have photos of what it looked like after being under water for three weeks. Everything now is new and shiny, like it was when we first moved in in 1987.

 

Life is good.

[nicb08]

Awesome review!! You guys were so lucky to get such a great suite! Sounds like you definitely deserved it. Can't wait for the Fantasy June 4th! :D

[cruisingigi]

What a great review and on my fav ship!! 8 out of 19 cruises on the Fantasy...lol

And Congrats on the winning the cruise, what a awesome thing!

[cruzzza]

... Masses of generally unhappy people all trying to leave at the same time, something like the end of a bad Saints game in the Superdome....

HA!!!!!!!! You got me on that line!!!

 

Thanks for the awesome review. I've heard about S1 & S2, but never had the priveledge of peeking into one, much less actually staying there. Congrats!

[ShannonP]

What a great review. As a fellow New Orleanian (one that came out relatively unscathed in K,thank God), I can attest to the fact that both you and your wife more than deserved this getaway. Glad you had this chance to relax and recharge.

 

I'm looking forward to my upcoming cruise...though it'll be with a bunch of high school seniors.:eek: ....AND we're paying for it!!;) At least DH and I will have our own cabin and can escape for some alone time. In the meantime, I too am consoling myself with Jazz Fest.

 

Love your writing style. Thanks so much.:D

[ShannonP]

Masses of generally unhappy people all trying to leave at the same time, something like the end of a bad Saints game in the Superdome.

 

 

More like the Hornets game last night.:mad:

[AFsouth]

More like the Hornets game last night.:mad:

 

What Game, I was at the Arena and didn't see a "Game", more like a massacre!:eek:

[jbags58]

Great review! I dont know why but I kept waiting for the SHOE TO DROP! :eek: LOL Glad it didnt!

Kudo's to you for submitting your wife to the contest and WINNING!

What an amazing story and glad that you had a great time!

WE LOVE CARNIVAL for many reasons. My only complaint (and not really a complaint) is that all the ships/rooms etc seem to be the same and the menu/food is generally always the same on the ship too!

More of a variety or differences from ship to ship would be nice.

 

But all in all, we generally have a clean room, good service, fairly good food and ALWAYS A GOOD TIME! Not to mention by far the BEST PRICES!!

The "DREAM" is next and we cant wait!! :p

Wishing you and yours a NEW CRUISE coming up!!

Julie :D

[celticd1]

Love the review and the backstory!

 

Thanks for posting! :)

[madaamt]

What an awesome review.. I have seen pics of S1 and it is gorgeous. Lucky you!!! So happy to hear a good review for a change. :D

[HesitantCruiser]

Best writing in a review I've seen on this site. I can see why you won the contest!

[chasekenslee]

What an awesome story!!

Now I would like to share one with you...

Last year in July we were sailing on the Fantasy with some friends. The friends really wanted to go down a day early and then stay a day upon returning in New Orleans. My husband did NOT! He wanted nothing to do with New Orleans because he said it was nasty, dirty, and we would be robbed before we ever got on the ship (he is a police officer by the way). Well he lost the battle and we made reservations for 1 pre cruise and 1 post cruise night. We arrived in New Orleans on a Friday and found our hotel. Which he was impressed with. After freshing up, we went to dinner, which he was extremely impressed with. Then we hit Bourbon Street. He fell in love!! We had the best time that night. While on the cruise all he talked about was getting back to NEw Orleans. There was more to see, more to do, more restaurants to try!! I can not count the times that he has said when can we go back! Everyone in your area was so nice and thanked us for coming to New ORleans. We are from Tennessee and we even had one of the bars playing Rocky Top at 2 in the morning! It was AWESOME!!!!!!! We will definately be back... We both truly fell in LOVE with New Orleans!!! I just hate that it gets such a bad rap from people that have never even been there!!!

Sorry to take over your thread, just wanted to let everyone know how awesome New Orleans really is!

[jgmpuma]

New Orleans is an easy city to love, warts and all.

[BeeBeeCee]

Glad you had a great cruise

And....I know you will enjoy being back in your home!

 

I know firsthand....there is nothing better than spending that first night back in your restored home....even without the curtains...:D

[teacherme]

I really enjoyed your review.

[Cherfull815]

This is our first cruise, and we got the "majic" phone call today. I'm soooo excited....anything you wish you would have known about the room before you went but didn't??

 

What type of outlets? Is there a hair dryer in that room? Ask your wife what another wife would want to know...lol. :p

[Whimsy]

What an excellent win! I'm very happy you and your wife got the first class, all the way room!

 

Great review. I love your attitude!

[Whimsy]

This is our first cruise, and we got the "majic" phone call today. I'm soooo excited....anything you wish you would have known about the room before you went but didn't??

 

What type of outlets? Is there a hair dryer in that room? Ask your wife what another wife would want to know...lol. :p

 

Can you tell how your came about getting the cabin?

[janetlm]

Thank you for posting your review...

 

At times, I was suppressing laughter (DH is still asleep) and at other times I was suppressing tears.

 

One of the best that I have read in some time. I can understand how you won the contest.

 

I only wish that I had your gift with words so that I could post the same kind of review when we return from our cruise.

[pe4all]

Thank you for your great review! We will be heading to the port to board Fantasy in about 2 hours! We just spent 4 wonderful pre-cruise days in NOLA, and loved every minute. We were offered an upsell on the owner's suite - they wanted $1800 more on top of what we paid for our Cat. 12. Thanks, but no thanks! (maybe if we hit the lottery one day) Fantasy, here we come!

[LYNN LYNN]

You are a natural born story teller !! :D(lol, several times) what an awesome thing to do for your wonderful wife. Glad yall had such a great time. I hope we will be just as blessed with wonderful memories. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us. Only 62 more days! SeLynn

[DFritz]

Amazing writing talent. You should work for a travel magazine. Very entertaining as well as informative. Since you are a "local" can you make some suggestions about parking? We are from Ohio where we pay one cent (yes, one cent) to park at a meter and now we are faced with paying $28 per day at our hotel. Are there any other options?

[MasonsMom]

Amazing writing talent. You should work for a travel magazine. Very entertaining as well as informative. Since you are a "local" can you make some suggestions about parking? We are from Ohio where we pay one cent (yes, one cent) to park at a meter and now we are faced with paying $28 per day at our hotel. Are there any other options?

 

I'm not a local, but we are staying at the Drury and they charge $15 for the entire 5 days while we are cruising. So for $99 plus $15 plus tax we stay the night prior, they give you drinks and snacks the night before, they feed you breakfast and they keep your car. Not bad...compared to $17 or so per night in the pier parking.

 

Have fun on your cruise. OP I really enjoyed your post!

[Patneeds2cruise]

Thanks for your review, enjoyed it very much!

We will be on the Fantasy in January out of Mobile.

Still hoping to cruise from NO some day, never have.

[CeleBrat]

No wonder you won the contest--if your submission was half as good as your review!!! What a great, easy-to-read review--and FUNNY! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

 

CeleBrat