Disembarkation and Final Thoughts

We were up early and went to the dining room for breakfast.  We came back and got our hand luggage and headed to the Limelight Lounge where the Platinum and Diamond people were to meet.  Since we can now access our phones and emails Teresa finds that a classmate of the twins was killed in a chain reaction crash on I-285 on Thanksgiving day.  Their family was on the way to their grandparents house when it happened.  Her 7 year old sister and 4 month old baby brother were also hurt. Very sad and our kids are understandably upset.

There was a picture of the twins that Teresa forgot to get and they were selling them this morning so we went down to do that.  I thought maybe we could get off but we were stopped and had to go back.  By the time we got back up, they had called our number and we were able to leave and we got the luggage and were through Customs quickly.  Teresa went to get the car and we waited and waited.  Finally she comes and she said the setup took her out of the port completely exiting the garage so she had to go down near the hotel where we stayed and turn around and come back.  Yikes.  We quickly load everything in and tuck and roll.  We were on the road headed home by 8:30 AM.  Just as we were about to merge onto I-75 the traffic came to a standstill and it was stop and go almost all the way to the Georgia state line before we moved at the speed limit for more than a minute at a time.  Long drive and Teresa was tired and it was dark when we got to the north side at about 5:45 PM.  We are grateful we made it home safely and the kids were anxious to see daddy and tell him all about the cruise.  The Kramer's were about 20 miles behind us the whole trip home and poor Beth and her family were the very last to get off the ship that morning.  We didn't get to see a lot of Beth.  Her children are younger and they tended to go to different activities than we did and they also had early dinner.  I met her in laws who are also Platinum with Carnival and they are very nice people.

Obviously the Kramer's were still having fun with
 Susan while leaving the parking garage

Final thoughts...

 

 

Many people have a bad impression of Carnival because of mechanical issues (although it has happened to RCL and upscale lines too but the media doesn't seem to single them out) and it has been known for drunken parties.  I am not going to argue the point but will just say that they have tried hard to make this a family line and I think they do a good job.  The ship sailed full this week so there were tons of children of all ages.  There were some unruly and I have to say that now that my grandchildren are older, I could not sit in the pool area and hear the screaming young children in the pool.  The Serenity area on the other hand was wonderful with nice thick towels, padded seating and lounges, hammocks, bar service etc.  The also don't charge to use it as Princess does.

 

I have stock in both Royal Caribbean and Carnival but again RCL and their affiliates have repeatedly not allowed you to use the shareholder credit because they claim you can't combine it with other fare discounts which they claim you already have received.  I do not have that issue with Carnival or Carnival brands and got the $100 credit for this 7 day cruise as well.  Carnival also gives their Platinum and Diamond cruisers nice perks and gifts.  RCL has cut back on the gifts and on our last cruise with them it was disappointing.  They do have a lounge for Diamond members on most of their ships but they are usually overcrowded.   On a transatlantic cruise that Debbie and I did there were more drunk and obnoxious people on that cruise than I have ever seen on a Carnival cruise.  They were able to have free drinks in the lounge prior to dinner and some would spend 3 hours in there drinking.  Some were removed from the dining room for being too drunk.  On ships that don't have the lounge you do get two free drinks daily between 5-8 PM which is nice.  Carnival does the catered party with free drinks and you get a coupon for one other free drink during the cruise.  We also got a quart bottle of water for being a repeat cruiser (the kids got them too) and I got a plate of desert canapés delivered during the cruise as well and my Platinum gift this time is a 5 x 7 hardcover notebook and pen.

 

Carnival ships are not a plush and luxurious as RCL ships for sure but they have bigger cabins in all categories.  There is also a huge difference in what the cost is with Carnival being much less expensive.  The object here is less than a seven day cruise will definitely get you a different type of crowd on any line.  The more days over seven you go, the less you will generally deal with a ship over run with children...except over holidays obviously.  Personally, I believe that the food is much better in the main dining rooms on Carnival than RCL and generally the crews are friendlier or appear to be happier employees.  Not that there isn't an exception here and there in both lines.

 

Now, this ship.  Teresa and I cruised on this ship when it was the Destiny.  Carnival spent huge amounts of money revamping this ship and it really has many nice features.  The Ocean Plaza is on deck 5 and houses the upper level of the lounge, most of the shops, the casino, coffee shop, Shake shop, Taste bar, Alchemy bar and Red Frog Pub going from front to back.  This is generally the hot spot for activity at all times but especially at night.  The Alchemy bar is like the martini bar on Celebrity without the frozen top.  There is an area between the Alchemy and Red Frog Pub with a stage where Deja Vu played most nights.  They also had the meet the officiers event in this area.  The Taste Bar was free and had different kinds of food nightly in small portions.  They Hub or internet area with computers was in front of the Shake Shop and Java Café which were both $ and you could get both with or without alcohol.  Across from there was the hostess desk where people that had Your Time Dining would come to sign in and get a vibrator to be notified when their table was available.  There was always a long line there.  I don't know how long most people waited but it appeared most had cocktails in the Alchemy bar while waiting for their tables.   The casino had a non-smoking side but that was futile.  All smokers congregated in there so they didn't have to go to one of the outside decks to smoke so it was horribly smokey and you had to walk through the middle of it to get to the atrium and front of the ship.  Another quick comparison though is that Carnival gives it's gamblers free cocktails if you have gambled on prior cruises...RCL does nothing equal.  The show lounge on this ship is unique.  Small and the chairs on the bottom are removable and can be reconfigured for different events.  It also has a bar and is used late nights  as a dance venue.  The Sports deck had racer slides complete with timers and a couple twister slides as well.  They had a children's area with bucket dump as well as small pools for toddlers.  The Ropes Course was a big thing and everyone seemed to like it and want to try.  My only complaint here is that they need to rethink the height of the people they allow to use it.  Although they have a height requirement, in some cases this was not enough.  If you had short arms, you couldn't reach the hold ropes on some of the features which caused huge backups since the crew member had to go "rescue" them or move them to the next part.  The boys loved playing in the basketball area and they played ping pong too.  Teresa and the kids played golf which was on the very top and the last hole had a feature where the ball dropped down a deck to finish the shot...very cute.  They had pool tables and a hot dog stand up there although I never saw it open....there were a couple picnic tables as well and a foosball table too I think.  The movies on the big screen were actually good ones all week.  Due to us having late seating dinner that late movie was often too late for me or the weather was not good so I missed the Minion movie...bummer!  Some of the others and the kids did go up a couple times.  The popcorn was free.  There was a bar at the back of Lido called the Havana Bar and we had breakfast in there one morning.  That was something that was different on this ship.  The buffet on Lido was really not crowded as it is on most ships.  They have breakfast in the Havana Bar where they had omelets stations, and in the Taste Bar they had Continental breakfast but also had bacon, sausage and eggs and the dining room was also open.  At lunch, the deli, Blue Iguana which served fresh made tortillas for tacos and burritos.  They had a salsa bar for dressing them....the fish tacos were wonderful!  Then of course there was Guy's Burgers which were oh so good and they had a separate area with condiments for your burgers and fries as well.  Guy's was probably the only place you had to wait for food on the entire ship and that was during the main lunch hour or when people were returning to the ship from being in port.  Of course they had the self serve soft ice cream machines which stayed busy continuously.  They were on both sides just before the doors that entered the buffet area.  I can't imagine the number of cones they go through on a cruise.  The deli was on the starboard side before the actual buffet line so as not to interfere with the flow there either.  The pizza was all the way at the back of the buffet in a separate area as well.  It all seemed to work really well and considering the number of people on our cruise, I was surprised at how well it all ran.  The music on the ship was excellent and the shows were good.  Our dining room experience was so much better than our Brilliance cruise last year.  We weren't crowded even though there were 11 of us at the table.  It was easy to get in or out since the tables were not crammed together.  Our waiters were fun and thoughtful and we enjoyed them.

 

 It was definitely a different cruise for me.  Since the kids all had friends on this cruise it presented different dynamics.  The boys (Chris) were anxious to go off  upon waking in the morning and not care if they saw the adults again until dinner.  I missed him hanging around with us.  He also was different with his sisters.  He usually loves to get dressed up and get photos done with them.  Because he had friends that didn't think this was fun, he really wouldn't participate which made me sad.  The girls stayed with us more often which was fun.  I prefer cruising with them without the distractions of friends.  I guess it's just hard to accept that they are growing up...sigh. 





 

 

 



Sea Day...Where did the Week Go?

Today is brunch day so when Teresa is finished in the gym we meet and go to brunch.  We are seated with our fun waiters again and it's good because we are waiting for Pat to come from the gym which is at the front of the ship and this dining room is at the very back.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then went to look at photos and the kids wanted to shop.  We spent lots of time looking for photos and there were so many good ones you just couldn't get them all...well you could but it would be the national debt.  I went to the casino for awhile and the kids found some jewelry they were selling at the "sale" that they had to have.  Of course Chris came later and wanted something too so he picked out a watch he liked. 

We have our luggage numbers and although being Platinum got me #1, I need to get more for Teresa and Pat to assure we all get off together.  I got tags for them and started packing and gathering up all the things we had accumulated during the week.  The girls went to the second Pamper Party held by the spa...they are really into this stuff.  After getting most of the hanging clothes and dress things packed, I took a break and took Paige and Lindsay to Bonsai Sushi. Although the service was slow, the sushi was good and we enjoyed it.  It is a pay venue but the three of us ate for $25.

The adult women have all been complaining of how swollen we are and by today it had really grown painful for me to even walk.  Didn't seem to matter how much water we all drank.   I did go to the VIP Platinum and Diamond party in the lounge.  It was free drinks and very nice.  I got to visit a few minutes with Jaime.  She is such a great gal and so good at what she does.  It was nice to see her again.  Since I am always the last to get a shower, I was late finishing up and was too late to get to the show.  Teresa, Pat, Daina, Bryan and the girls went and loved it...it was called Epic Rock.  They said it was the best show of the week..and of course I missed it.  They got to visit with Jaime after the show.  The boys did not go to any of the production shows with us but did go to the comedy shows and they loved it.  I never got to the comedy club so I can't tell you if they were good or bad.

Daina and Bryan bought the wine for dinner tonight and we enjoyed our last dinner...or wait.  Chris comes up to Teresa and said he was not feeling well and had "the look".  She took him back to her cabin this time and gave him an Rx she brought with her, gave him the trashcan and some towels along with the remote and his phone and said she would text him to check on him.  She rejoined us and we did enjoy our last dinner.  Towards the end of dinner I asked if she had heard from him and she said he hadn't answered in awhile.  We were going to go look at the final pictures but we all wanted to check on Chris so we went up to Teresa's room and his bed was empty!  The drug apparently made him feel better in short order and he went to Lido and ate a whole pizza and had a virgin strawberry daiquiri!  OMG!  This is what caused his stomach problems in the first place.  He has been overeating and drinking all these sweet drinks all week.  He doesn't get motion sick.

We went to check out the more photos and decided which ones to get.  I went back to the cabin to finish packing and put the luggage out then we went down to the pub for a short while.  The pictures here were random ones that I couldn't remember exactly when they were taken or were taken throughout the ship.  Day 7 is now in the books and the same child was sick twice albeit he didn't lose anything yet.

Bonsai Sushi

Officier and Staff we super friendly and mingled with us peons!

Andy sings in the Red Frog Pub each night and has a James Taylor type of voice.
He also entertained at the VIP event.

Our waiters Putra and Wilfredo holding stick Susan

Pat, Bryan and Teresa with Jaime

Bryan made our cabin steward Larry hold
Susan too...he had no idea what was going on!

Our last towel animal is a sting ray

Pat took this when we arrive at the port

Oysters Rockefeller and Champagne

Flash Dance...the kids had so much fun

These two beautiful ladies had so much fun together...
mostly going to the gym every morning and dancing the night away!

Our only good group photo...we loved the turkey and pilgrim

This was the ramp I walked to get to the top level in San Juan

Teresa and Pat in San Juan

Dr. Seuss Fun

Pretty sign and scenery

Dancing with the waiters

Grand Turk and Happy Thanksgiving!

It was quite rough last night but Pat and Teresa are up early as usual going to the gym and they got an awesome photo of the ship framed by a complete rainbow!  Also the Lido deck was covered in towel animals including some minions!  We apparently passed through some rain and it is still windy so by the time I got up the towel animals were soggy history and I have to be content to see the rainbow in the picture.

We are supposed to arrive at Grand Turk at noon but I am concerned it will be too windy for us to dock.  We have breakfast in the dining room and have some fun waiters this morning. They have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the big screen on Lido so after breakfast the kids went up to watch it.  We were going to play trivia but found out you had to be in this one all week in order to play today...oh well.  We went to look at photos instead and went back to the cabin to get things ready to get off.  The kids have their Flow Rider tickets for 1 PM.  Due to the wind it takes the Captain longer to dock.  It was 12:50 when we were able to get off and then we stopped for a couple photos.  When we got to the Flow Rider they sent the kids right over.  Kevin and Sam were in the group after ours.  I was irritated that Chris, Paige and Lindsay didn't really get much time since the guys running it kept trying to get them to do things to fall off.  Kevin did the best of all of them and this was his first time! 

Beth, Teresa's friend from work and her family had a cabana there.  It was really nice and great for the kind of day we had there.  It was mostly overcast and threatened rain most of the afternoon.  The adults had a couple frozen cocktails from Margaritaville and we got the kids some nachos to munch.  We went looking for T shirts in the shops there and they all found what they wanted in three different places.  By the time we waited in line at three different check outs it was time to head back to the ship.

We went to the show which was the Hasbro game show.  I thought it was more for kids.  We took the last of the alcohol which was the bottle of champagne Wah sent me.  They exchanged it for a cold one and it was really good.  Out of all the meals we had on the ship this week, this is the only one that disappointed.  I don't know why they think they need to spruce up things we have traditionally eaten, but it just was weird.  They even ruined the pumpkin pie by putting a layer of chocolate and weird spices on it...just wrong.  We were all missing our home cooked turkey and pie.

They all went to the Red Frog to listen to music and the kids to play games and I turned in early with the week catching up with me.  I left the children in their mother's care and went to bed.  I vaguely remember hearing them come in and get in bed.  Our 6th day is in the books and we didn't lose anything today!  Woot, woot!

 

I love my Minions

Awesome picture!

 

 

We just loved this sign!

Chris loving this

Paige is a pro

Lindsay's first try

Pat's Chocolate Martini

A turkey for Thanksgiving!

San Juan 11-25-15

We arrived in port at 8 AM this morning to intermittent sun and showers.  This made it very humid.  We had no definite plans for here but the Kramer's had never been here before so we got off with them after breakfast.  Everyone decided that we would go to the fort at the top of the hill known by the US Department of Parks as Castillo San Cristobal.  Daina has a brace on her ankle and walking up hill is difficult so she and the girls and I got a cab.  Teresa, Bryan, Pat and the boys were already up there when we arrived.  It was another of those you can't get there from here things.

I can't believe I left my parks pass at home so we all pay the $5 to get in.  There are tunnels that go up to the top level as well as ramps that are almost straight up and daunting.  We all chose the tunnel first and got to what was really the second floor thinking we entered on the first floor.  This fort was started in 1634 and considering it is on the water has held up remarkably well.  You do need to be careful since some of the rock is crumbling making tripping much easier than usual.  We check out this level and take photos.  Most of this level is where the officers and soldiers lived.  Everyone migrated to the next level using the straight up ramp.  I had to work at it to get up there and of course by now it is getting really hot and the humidity was high.  There was a wonderful ocean breeze when you got up to the top.  The views were 360 degrees and gorgeous.  We check out the sentry boxes and observation towers and take lots of photos.  The next park was down a tunnel to where the prisoners were held.  It was so dark and crowded in there that Paige and I decided to get out.  The others caught up to us and we continued to an outdoor area.  Teresa and the kids decided to go down this long flight of stairs that led to another level.  Daina and I were there alone.  She decided to go down too and I said I was going into the building across the lawn that had stairs that led back to the entrance.  We parted and I went down and into a crowd.  I thought I would go back outside and wait for everyone to come out.  I walked across the street and sat on some moss covered steps in the shade with a group of other people waiting for the rest of their tour.  I sat there for 30 minutes waiting for someone, anyone to come out.  I am thinking "what could they possibly be doing all this time"?  Now remembering that we passed an exit on the first level that led to the street aside of the fort, I began thinking that I had missed them somehow.  I walked down the hill to the entrance area and sat on a bench there for another 30 minutes.  I could see the square a block away with kiosks and decided I would walk down there and see if they were there shopping....no sign of anyone.  Ok at this point I decide to go back to the ship because I had to have missed them somewhere.  It is so hot and I'm thirsty.  This city is not on a grid and although you can see the ships from where I am, there are no side street to cut through.  Finally I crossed the street and cut through a parking lot of a government building and then another to get back to the port.  I took some pictures and walked to the other end to see what ship had come in while we were gone.  I came back and went through security and they were checking photo ID's and I had the kids with me.  So I again sat down on a bench right inside where I could see the people as they were coming up to the gate.  By this time I am really dehydrated.  I sat there for another 20 minutes and finally got up and went to one of the agents and asked how old the children had to be before they needed a photo to get through and he said 18.  I decided to just go on and get back on the ship.  When I got to the cabin, Larry was in there cleaning and I told him to stay that I would wait on the balcony while he finished.  Ten minutes later the balcony door opens and the girls are crying, Lindsay is having an asthma attack because they were looking all over the fort for me and I was nowhere to be found.  They had security at the fort but stopped short of calling the San Juan Police which was a good thing.  Yikes...who would have thought.  I told Teresa what I did and that I had waited and that I had been to San Juan at least 10 times and she should have known I could find my way back to the ship.  Well, after Chris hugged me, he left.  We got the girls calmed down and went and got some lunch when Pat got back to the ship.  Teresa had left her at the fort in case I wasn't on the ship that she could tell them to call the police.  Geez Louise!

Teresa and Pat went to do the ropes course which was wild.  It is on the very top of the ship and it is always very windy up there but today the wind was really blowing.  They got up there right when it opened and didn't have to wait.  Paige was first and had done it several times before.  The guy working the course had to keep going to rescue people who would either get stuck because they couldn't reach the hold rope or they slipped of and were dangling by their harness.  After the ropes they went back to the cabin and changed into bathing suits to do the water slide.  I could hear them screaming from the time they left the top until they flew out sideways at the bottom!  They said it goes so fast and turns you because you are going through so fast.  Kevin and Chris were now on the ropes and I took a few photos of them and then headed back to the cabin.  Tonight is "Cruise Elegant" night again.

Lindsay, Paige and Sam went to the Ladies Pamper Party put on by the spa.  They came back raving about all the products they had used on them.  All of the Elemis products they use in the spa are extremely over priced and it just goes to show you how gullible kids are as they were telling me they wanted this $125 Marine Face Cream.....I don't spend that much on my own!  No we are not going to get that!

I was on the balcony watching us leave.  We were there with the Carnival Valor, MSC Divinia and the HAL Nieu Amsterdam arrived in the afternoon.  MSC left first, then the Valor, then we did and it was raining off and on and extremely windy again so the ship started rocking as soon as we left the harbor.

We were all showered and dressed and met in the lounge for the show which was just ok to me but the others really liked it.  Pat bought a bottle of wine since we were out at dinner and we had a nice relaxing dinner.  They were all off going to different things when we walked out of the dining room but we were heading down to the Ocean Plaza to listen to Deja Vu and the 80's party.  They were all having fun with Pat and Teresa leading the way but there was a little boy on the floor that was loving the girls and Lindsay, Page and Sam had fun with him.  Chris was there for a short while then back to the pub playing games.  I went back to the cabin to crash and the girls went to play games with the kids in the pub.

  I remember hearing them come in and get into bed.  An hour or so later we were rocking pretty good and Chris woke me up and said he needed something because he stomach was upset.  I got up and gave him a motion sickness pill and went back to bed.  Within 10 minutes I hear him get up and run to the bathroom.   Thank heavens he made it to the bathroom although it was everywhere in there, he barfed all over the entire area.  I got him cleaned up and back to bed and then was wondering how I would manage to clean up this mess and remain standing.  It took me the better part of half an hour to get it done.  By the time I got back to bed he was sound asleep and the girls never even work up during the entire mess.  I was asleep again soon since there was lots of motion in the ocean.

Ok so by day 5 we had lost a car, a cell phone, a child and a grandmother and had one lose his dinner.....I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Coming into San Juan...I have spots on my lens I can't get off!

The is looking back down the hill from the above photo



One of the many tunnels