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Catnip
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Posted: Sat Feb 24th, 2007 06:58 pm | 26th Post |
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BobBeaSea wrote:
Took another cruise in 1993 and never cruised again until 2005, 2006 and this coming May. I can't really explain the time lag.....
Bet you saw a lot of changes in 12 years!!!!!!!! I was never on SOS, but I was on Monarch and I think they were sister ships, weren't they?
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BobBeaSea
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Posted: Sat Feb 24th, 2007 08:32 pm | 27th Post |
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Catnip wrote: BobBeaSea wrote:
Took another cruise in 1993 and never cruised again until 2005, 2006 and this coming May. I can't really explain the time lag.....
Bet you saw a lot of changes in 12 years!!!!!!!! I was never on SOS, but I was on Monarch and I think they were sister ships, weren't they?
Yes, Monarch and Majesty are sisters to Sovereign. A resounding YES to the changes over time, quite frankly I was stunned  . The ships of today are really something else in terms of size, design (I can only speak for RCI), layout and offerings. One hell of a lot more people cruise today vs. years ago and that naturally leads into another element of my being "stunned".
We really enjoyed our cruises in 2005 (Voyager) and 2006(Radiance) but they were vastly different than my first two. Doing a 9 nighter out of Cape Liberty on Explorer in May. No flying this time which is OK by me. We are going to drive, only about 8-9 hours from where we live outside of Toronto.
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Catnip
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Posted: Sat Feb 24th, 2007 08:34 pm | 28th Post |
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BobBeaSea wrote: A resounding YES to the changes over time, quite frankly I was stunned .
One hell of a lot more people cruise today vs. years ago and that naturally leads into another element of my being "stunned".
I know exactly what you are talking about!!!!!!!!! 
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Next up: Last Atlantic crossing on QE 2 10-08/Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3/09
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pearl
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Posted: Sun Feb 25th, 2007 12:47 am | 29th Post |
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Bob where is Cape Liberty...no flying sounds great to me...do you leave your car at port?
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BobBeaSea
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Posted: Sun Feb 25th, 2007 11:27 am | 30th Post |
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pearl wrote: Bob where is Cape Liberty...no flying sounds great to me...do you leave your car at port?
Cape Liberty is in New Jersey, a bit south of and across the water from Manhattan. I think the town it's in is Bayonne NJ. They have a large parking area, $15.00 per day, right at the port. I've read there is a paint overspray problem from the maintenance docks close by, not sure if it's still an issue. I am going to take a car cover just in case.
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Coka
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Posted: Tue Mar 6th, 2007 03:24 am | 31st Post |
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Hubby and I were poor, hungry and freezing as we walked down Main Street back in 1992. We shivered and held each other looking into the travel agent's window display. We decided to enter in order to warm up before walking back to our tiny apartment ten blocks away. One car payment, one child support payment and a depletion of our 200 dollar savings account later, we were booked on the Carnival Holiday out of Miami that included round-trip airfare from our hometown. We finally booked a honeymoon that never occured after the 1985 wedding.
Nine days later we were enjoying our little inside cabin on deck three with the single bunk bed on one side. The air conditioner did not work and hubby slept on the floor in order to stay cool. We laughed our way through the week as we experienced new islands only before dreamt of. Cozumel, Grand Caymen and Jamaica were fabulous. We brought our own snorkel gear and seriously considered purchasing the traveler's checks at 50% discount from the Jamaica-man-on-the-beach.
I felt rich wearing my borrowed gowns as we dined on unfamiliar dishes. We giggled the first time we ordered a "second" dish or dessert. I remember thinking we had to eat a certain amount of food that week totaling the price of the trip. I was also famous everywhere I went on the ship. When you can break a Carnival record by putting 36 ping pong balls into your bathing suit, everyone knows your name.
I developed an appreciation for the elderly and realized that they have more fun and more energy than I ever imagined. Since that trip, I have ever looked forward to getting older. I also developed a mild addiction to gambling since I won the one hundred dollar bingo game. I won prizes from the stores at port because I was one of the few who actually dropped my name in the buckets. My husband won 350 dollars on the nickel jackpot.
We filled out our comment card upon receipt. We sincerely wrote how much we loved the cruise and how great a time we had. I remember writing one little sentence about the air conditioner not working. On debarkation morning I received a phone call from the purser's desk. They felt horrible about the air conditioning and told me to come up and collect 400 dollars as an apology.
We returned home with 850 dollars in our pocket. We made the car payment, made the child support payment, put the 200 dollars back into our savings and the used the remaining 50 dollars to book the Carnival Celebration for the following year.
A lot has happened since the Carnival Holiday. To find out about the following 27 cruises, you must purchase the not-yet-written book! Another option is to wait for the movie, not yet rated.
Coka :popcorn:
Last edited on Tue Mar 6th, 2007 03:46 am by Coka
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BobBeaSea
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Posted: Tue Mar 6th, 2007 11:31 am | 32nd Post |
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Coka, great story . With only 27 subsequent cruises I guess you are iffy on cruising.
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hstrybuf
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Posted: Tue Mar 6th, 2007 11:38 pm | 33rd Post |
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Great story Coka! Ahhhh, that first cruise is always memorable, but usually not profitable! LOL 36 ping pong balls eh? 
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Coka
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Posted: Wed Mar 7th, 2007 01:34 am | 34th Post |
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Yeah, I was sitting far away from the pool area in a yellow/black bikini. The top was a "push-up" and the bottom had the extra material that folds down sort of like a belt. I hear, "Hey...you in the yellow....I want you to come up here!" I refused until everyone around me made me go. There were six of us females and the CD made us get into the pool and threw in 50 or so ping pong balls. It was a race. I just stood there doing nothing feeling like an idiot. The first ball I put in floated out into the pool. So, I took another ball and put one in the cleavage and stood there smiling doing nothing else. I watched as the others could hardly keep anything in. Finally, a guy comes over and shouts for me to use the extra material belt part. Worked like a charm as something came over me and I scooped up most of the balls and put them in the band. Thank god nothing showed because an earlier contest had ladies putting vegetables in their suits (hey, it was carnival in the early '90s) and you could see almost everything. I still proudly display my gold plated ship trophy in the family room.
I wonder what they did with the ping pong polls. I wonder even more what they did with the vegetables. I made sure I did not eat any zuchinni, squash or cucumbers the rest of the week!
Coka
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TheWog
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Posted: Wed Mar 7th, 2007 03:59 pm | 35th Post |
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| Great stories Coka.
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OceanGirl
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Posted: Wed Aug 29th, 2007 04:10 pm | 36th Post |
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Coka wrote: an earlier contest had ladies putting vegetables in their suits (hey, it was carnival in the early '90s) and you could see almost everything.
I wonder even more what they did with the vegetables. I made sure I did not eat any zuchinni, squash or cucumbers the rest of the week!
Coka
I remember those contests!! I thought they were SO FUNNY! I was wondering why they didn't do those anymore?
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