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clgcruiser
Funnel Deck Cruiser
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Posted: Sat Mar 10th, 2007 02:49 pm | 1st Post |
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 Ok, guys, will TRY to keep this at a minimum, but sometimes that's hard for those of us who have babble-itis when it comes to cruising!
The trip down was an adventure in itself, trying to beat the big storm raging across the country! My friend and I left Wausau to drive to Milwaukee Friday night, as we were afraid we would not get out otherwise. Good thing-the snow started to fly about 15 minutes after we got there! Overnight, it dumped about 5-6 inches of snow, but stopped long enough for us to get a shuttle to Chicago. We were in the airport a couple hours, and it looked pretty threatening, but managed to fly out around 3:30 with no problem. By the time we got to Florida, most of the flights behind us had been cancelled!
Stayed at the Red Carpet Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. 3 words-DON'T STAY THERE!!! Very run down and dirty. In their defense, a lot of it was hurricane damage. I won't elaborate any further, but skip this place.
Embarkation would have been quite smooth, except for an incident involving ME! We got a shuttle quickly from the hotel to the port around 10:30, so were fairly close to the begining of the line! A Carnival employee was checking ID info and handing out a form to be filled out for the Bahamas. We did this and snaked through the whole line quickly to the desk to get our sail and sign stuff filled out. It was here that I discovered my birth certificate missing! I was absolutely frantic-I knew I had it when I handed it to the employee checking it. I had my driver's license, so I knew he must have given it back. A long search through the whole place did not turn it up-I was near to tears. They let me on the ship anyway, because I had ID, but warned me I might have problems getting back off without it. So, even with all of that, we were still on the ship by noon. I had to go to a separate line to open my S&S account, as I was using cash, not credit. This took quite awhile, as there was a long line by that time. Met my friends up on the Lido around 1:00 or so. Had lunch, then went to check out the cabin. Our room attendant, Imade, was there to introduce himself-wonderful, helpful guy. Bent over backwards to help us with things, and made fore a great trip. We had cabin 9274 on Lido, right by the elevators. Couldn't have been more convenient. I was concerned about noise, but it was never a problem, and was very convenient to run back to the room from the pool area-no having to use public bathrooms!
The ship in one word-BEAUTIFUL!! Very clean, decor was lovely (most areas, anyway!) All the lights changed colors continuously-the giant wrought iron chandalier in the atrium was especially pretty. I will try to post my pictures ASAP, when I can get my daughter to help me. I took a lot of the ship for those that are expecting to sail on her soon. You won't be disappointed!
We were in the Silver Olimpian dining room at 5:45. That was a little too early for my taste-I felt pretty hurried for dinner most of the time, especially with 3 women in the cabin! Leo was our head waiter, and Jorge our assistant waiter. They were wonderful beyond words-I wanted to steal Jorge to marry him off to one of my daughters, he was SO cute! However, the Maitre'D said that we must leave his "children" on the ship-bummer! Leo was very entertaining-that boy can dance! And the Maitre'D was very funny-definitely the best I've had so far. We also had great table mates, a lovely couple from South Carolina who seemed to enjoy a table of 5 women from Wisconsin! The food was ok-I am the wrong one to comment, since I am not terribly adventurous about trying things-but the desserts were yummy! Did not go to Harry's, but I heard they're fantastic.
Let's see, other ship areas: Lido Deck-I love the layout of the Conquest style ships. The chogs were out in full force-however, we never had problems finding chairs. Liberty was pretty much the same as Valor, except for the giant movie screen. I wasn't too fond of that, but the others enjoyed it. I guess I just don't care to watch movies on a cruise ship! Takes away from the tropical "ambiance", as far as I'm concerned. I like the deck musicm and I was rather disappointed about that-seemed as though they only played a couple songs, then took an hour-long break. Maybe I'm imagining it, but it seemed as though the Lido-deck bands used to play much longer, most of the day, in fact. And yes, guys, the topless signs on the F-Deck are gone! My friend and I walked up there, and saw very little but empty space. . .the aft pool area had more kids than adults, but I don't know how you can expect otherwise when the pizzaria is located back there!
Unfortunately, the piano bar was a bust-some guy named Robert in there that wasn't too people-friendly, at least when we were in there. It looked empty the whole cruise! Hope they get rid of that guy! The disco was rockin', of course, and the casino area (none of us won anything, but it was fun, nonetheless). The Captain's party and past cruiser's party were the usual, except in the past, we were greeted by the captain and crew-no one there this time! The captain made one brief appearance. The shows in the Venitian lounge were very good, especially the Broadway production, and the ventriloquist.
Freeport was blah, pretty much what I expected there. We didn't do anything there, though-just went to the little straw market, as we had excursions planned for the other two ports. Some people went to the beach, and said it was nice.
At Grand Cayman, we took the Hell, Turtlefarm, and Stingray tour. I'm glad this time that we took it through the ship, as GC was VERY crowded, with 7 ships in port! The tour, however, was very rushed-Hell and the turtle farm, anyway. We barely got time to look around! But the stingray sandbar was fun-a long relaxing ride out to it, and at least an hour in the water! We snorkeled and played for quite awhile. It was great, although I would not advise this one for kids, as the water was a little choppy-hard to hold your ground. There must have been at least a hundred stingrays out there of every size! And just as many people. Also went for a burger and soda at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville-cool place but almost dropped from the bill-$33for 2 burgers and sodas!
Was VERY unhappy that we missed Costa Maya AGAIN, the 2nd year in a row. We had a ruins tour planned for there. But the seas were a bit rough and they closed the port. The captain even tried for Cozumel or Calica, but they were closed too. I didn't think it was as rough as last year, but we just got another sea day, and they refunded the $25 port fee onto the S&S account. I just don't understand why they keep using that port when it gets missed so often. Too bad, it sounded fun. Some people were VERY ornery about it. I don't know what they think could be done if the port authorities make that decision!
So, this cruise was all about relaxing, which was fine with me, since I had my first balcony, which I LOVED! It does make the room feel bigger, and I had coffee and pre-dinner glasses of wine most nights. As much as I loved it, though, I decided I don't HAVE to have it every trip, as I like being out and about on the ship. Perhaps for an Alaskan itinerary, I would consider it a necessity. . .
Oh, on the last night of the cruise, I got a call from the purser's desk, saying someone had turned in my birth certificate! The mystery of who had it was never solved, they just told me an employee had turned it in! So, I have no idea, but to whomever- a BIG THANK YOU. . . .
Disembarkation was a breeze, and the entire trip home uneventful. Came home to several feet of snow, though! Am now in the process of fighting PCD by planning the next cruise . . .
Sorry, was windy anyway! Any questions, feel free to ask!
Last edited on Sat Mar 10th, 2007 06:12 pm by clgcruiser
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Cindy
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Brangwen
Mosquito
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Posted: Sat Mar 10th, 2007 03:56 pm | 2nd Post |
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Great job girlie, and no that's NOT too long!! =)
I await the pix.
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~I'm the root of all that's evil, yeah but you can call me cookie~
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clgcruiser
Funnel Deck Cruiser
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Posted: Sat Mar 10th, 2007 04:21 pm | 3rd Post |
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After re-reading my review, I thought it sounded a little negative, so just to add, we had a wonderful time! The ship was great! So was the staff, and Todd Whittmore and his staff were really good, very involved with people on the ship.
I guess my only complaint, and it's not a complaint, really, is the itinerary. I would not recommend this itinerary to anyone to whom ports are extremely important. Freeport offered very little, Grand Caman seems to be on all the Western itineraries, and is very commercial, and Costa Maya seems to get missed a lot. Not just with me but from several other reviews I have read. So, if ports are important to you, Don't choose this itinerary. We picked it more because of a great deal we got on a balcony cabin-gave us an opportunity to try it out. And loved it, especially our cabin's location.
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Cindy
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auntiecruiser
Cruiser
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Posted: Sat Mar 10th, 2007 05:13 pm | 4th Post |
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| I was with Cindy, and don't really have anything to add...she did a great job of covering it all...great time!!
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Laurie
Carnival Legend 10/18/09
Carnival Destiny 10/30/08 and 11/3/08
Carnival Liberty 2/25/07
Carnival Valor 3/5/06
Carnival Triumph 1/26/02
Carnival Imagination 4/6/96
Carnival Celebration 4/18/92
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kelz66
Funnel Deck Cruiser
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Posted: Sat Mar 10th, 2007 11:57 pm | 5th Post |
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Great review!!!
Glad you had a great time.
At the past Guest party did you get your ship pin?
When we were on the Fantasy in january no one recieved one. I was wondering if Carnival had discontinued this practice.
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Founder & President of the CBG
"I have flying monkeys.....and I am not afraid to use them!"
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hstrybuf
Founders
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Posted: Sun Mar 11th, 2007 12:11 am | 6th Post |
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Thanks for doing a review, Cindy! I'm betting we won't have a problem with kids in the adult pool with the S&Sers there. They'll have them gone in no time!  Didn't you absolutely love playing with the stingrays? We're really glad we did that on our last cruise.
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Deb
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/hstrycrsr
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clgcruiser
Funnel Deck Cruiser
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Posted: Sun Mar 11th, 2007 01:17 am | 7th Post |
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kelz66 wrote: Great review!!!
Glad you had a great time.
At the past Guest party did you get your ship pin?
When we were on the Fantasy in january no one recieved one. I was wondering if Carnival had discontinued this practice.
Sorry-I was right in the middle of a response a while ago and all the power went out in our neighborhood for awhile. No clue why. . .
Anyway, yes, we did get our ship pin with our invite. Seems like sometimes there's some inconsistencies from ship to ship, but definitely got 'em on the Liberty.
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Cindy
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clgcruiser
Funnel Deck Cruiser
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Posted: Sun Mar 11th, 2007 01:28 am | 8th Post |
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hstrybuf wrote: Thanks for doing a review, Cindy! I'm betting we won't have a problem with kids in the adult pool with the S&Sers there. They'll have them gone in no time! Didn't you absolutely love playing with the stingrays? We're really glad we did that on our last cruise.
I loved playing with the stingrays-they were so friendly you can't really keep them away from you! You can tell they're used to people! I am still getting shocked looks from people that I did that tour-I think people are really still convinced that they're evil, with the death of Steve Irwin. That was such a rare instance, and he was where the stingrays are not used to human presence. I'm much more afraid of sharks-now THEY will intentionally hunt you! Obviously it doesn't scare that many people-there must have been 20 boats out there full of people, and all were in the water. It was the highlight of this trip, since I missed my ruins tour! My next goal is to do a dolphin encounter.
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Cindy
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