Day 4 Grand Cayman Finally

I had my alarm set for 5:45 which really is just wrong on vacation! But we are scheduled to arrive at 7:00 and with 3600? People who will need to tender off this ship it could be a zoo so we want to try and get off ASAP!

I had ordered room service again, again s little late. We can tell they we for sure will make it to Grand Cayman!!!! The water continued to be like glass (for the ocean) and the sun is out!  At 7:00 the boat is cleared and we head to deck 5 to get our tender tickets, only a few people in line in front of us. The older woman right in front of us is VERY mad, fist shaking mad! She wants tender tickets even though her room mate is still in the shower, she apparently does not understand the "proceed to the 5th floor for tender tickets with All of your party when you are ALL ready  to disembark". Older lady states she has an excursion booked, not through the ship and someone from the ship called her to tell her to get off the ship now for her excursion, but her freind is in the shower who is also going on the excursion.  The poor employee kept trying to patiently explain the process and told her she can get off now but how will her freind who is in the shower know she left, so come back with her when she is ready. Older woman still unhappy and shaking and pounding her fists! Wow! Finally she left and we got our tender tickets and walked right into a tender! We were shocked that we got off so quickly!

Tender boats are arriving:

Dave on the short tender ride to the island:

We take a public bus to Seven Mile Beach, 2.50 per person. It is a short ride but too far to walk. Once at the beach we head to Calico Jacks and payed for 2 chairs and an umbrella for the day total of 15.00. We are the first to arrive here so we have our pick :)

We spent 5 hours walking the long beautiful beach, swimming, floating, eating and drinking, pure heaven! There were a couple of passing showers, then sun, but always warm, and saw a couple of funnel clouds!

View towards to beach from my floaty:

Counch fritters and fries with a very good margarita:

We took the bus back and decided to just hop on a tender back to the ship, not really interested in shopping and we were starving. Got some food and headed to our balcony for sail away.

Seven Mile beach as seen from our balcony:

After sail away we hit the promanade deck to walk some laps. Big ship means only 2.5 laps to equal a mile. After numerous laps decided it was time for some wine on the balcony! 

Since we had a late lunch we decided to go to a show before dinner, Dancing In The Streets. I enjoyed watching the cirque de sol type strength and acrobatic performers, they were amazing.

We were seated immediately for dinner, guess it helps to go late. We were seated in a section with a waiter we had two nights ago and he remembered our names and that we had a partial bottle of wine being held for us! 

I had a shrimp starter, spinach portabela mushroom salad, and black bean enchiladas, all were very good, followed by Bitter and Blanc bread pudding, normally I do not like bread pudding but I remembered having this on the Carnival Victory 5 years ago and it was good, still is!

The waiters providing a little entertainment during dinner:

After dinner we went to the 9:45 show at the comedy club. We both did not find the comedian very funny until about half way through, then we started laughing :)

 He was a bit raunchy and I did notice some women who were not finding him funny, this was an adult only show so raunchiness and foul language can be expected!

We are tired it has been a long day, we were up early. It is 11:10 and time for bed!  It was another beautiful day....and we finally made it to Grand Cayman :)

Day 3 Montego Bay Jamaica

Had set my alarm for 6:30 but woke up around 6:00, looked out our window and we were already arriving in Jamaica. Jumped out of bed and watched from the balcony, I love having a balcony room!

We had put out our order for room service last night, they were 15 minutes late in delivering it, I was about to give up and was just leaving to go get food in the buffet when it arrived. The above pictures were taken from our balcony during breakfast, what a lovely view :)

We hurried off the boat as soon as it was cleared for disembarking. I had pre purchased day passes through  Resort For A Day to go to Hilton Rose Hall and pick up was at 9:15 local time. I did not know that we were staying on cruise ship time and our arrival was 8:00. It was not an issue though because the tour operators could tell when we arrived, can't miss a giant cruise ship coming into port! I was just us and a very friendly man from Boston heading to the Hilton. It was about a 20 minute ride. It was a beautiful resort and was a welcome peaceful retreat from the cruise ship of 3600 or so people. We explored the resort grounds and choose a couple of lounge chairs with a beautiful view in the shade of the palm trees, I of course moved mine to the sun for a while :)  We were thrilled to get internet right there on the beach from our lounge chairs. Dave's office for a couple of hours:

Since it was still morning we got a couple of rum punches since they contain fruit juice :) they had a distinct chlorinated taste to them, kind of yucky, so Dave got a beer and a Dark and Stormy (ginger beer/rum) for me, still chlorinated tasting, decided it is the ice cubes. Finally decide to just go with wine for me and beer for Dave.  Went for a swim, water was very warm, saw a few razor fish swimming on the surface otherwise the water was too cloudy to see much. We had a yummy jerk chicken pizza for a snack (or lunch number 1)

Walked the beach, floated the lazy river, went down the water slides numerous times, they were a blast! 

Had more beverages and another lunch of jerk chicken, jerk pork and peas and rice , what we would fall black beans and rice.

I talked to a lady from New York who was staying at the resort, she said it had been raining and horrible weather for three days, today was sunny and beautiful, boy did we luck out! 

On our way back Richard, the other cruise ship passenger who went to the resort, told us he was on this trip in remembrance of his 17 year old son who recently passed away from fast growing testicular cancer, said young African American men have a high incident rate for this type of cancer. He told us he took the train to New Orleans because his son loved trains and they always took it to Virginia beach, the cruise was because his son had wanted to go on one, after the cruise he will go to the Dominican Republic where he owns a vacation home that was his son's favorite place all while wearing a Boston Cubs baseball cap that he had his son's name embroidered on. What a bitter sweet story.

Fun musicians entertained us before boarding the ship :)

Once on board we walked some laps around the promanade before showering and heading to dinner. Visited with a nice couple at the next table during dinner. Dave had Cesar salad, fruit and salmon, I had caprese salad, mushroom soup and an excellent fish entree:

Apple pie with ice cream for dessert;

We went to the theater to watch a game show then wandered around to listen to music before going to bed early, we arrive in grand Cayman at 7:00 tomorrow.  It has been a wonderful day :)

Day 1 Sea Day

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day :)

I woke up several times during the night thinking I was in a hotel room, there has been absolutely no movement on this ship yet. 

I went out and did my morning run on the promanade deck which worked very well and is a complete wrap around, only about 5 other people were out on it, a couple walkers and one other runner. Dave went up to the jogging track where he reported lots of people up there and of course the walkers like to walk 3 abreast so they can stroll and visit and you can't get by,  a bit  frustrating but he said he just kept reminding himself he is on vacation so all is good :)

Headed to the dining room for what Carnival calls Sea Day Brunch, the dining room is only open from 8:30 - 1:00 on sea days, line was long so we went to the buffet, usual fare but Dave did have salmon eggs benedict which the reported was excellent. 

We then found a great spot on deck above the main pool, was surprised at how filled up the outside areas already were, guess a younger crowd likes the sun more than the older crowd that we had on our last couple of cruises on Princess. 

The mini golf is located a deck behind were we sat, it was busy all day.

We both had mushroom pizza from the pizza station and Greek salad and side of hummus from tandoori for lunch, both very good. Then a few bites of key lime pie for me which was excellent, had to use a little self control to not eat it all!

Returned to our sunny spot on deck and tried to read but way too much people watching and conversation eaves dropping to pay attention to my book. The conversation I heard from a group next to us kept me out of the pools and off the water slides.... Man with horrible pink, fresh, huge scar on chest: Doctor told me I have MRSA but said salt water kills MRSA....hey buddy you really need to go down the water slide, it is a blast. We won't be going down the slides or into the pool!!!!!! Glad we heard this conversation!!!!! He was getting loud and we were tired of listening to him " hey buddy, hey buddy" he kept repeating this to his friend, and we had enough sun so decided to walk some laps after all of the lounging around in the sun, need to burn off a few calories so we can consume some more soon!

Tonight was "elegant night" we are not sure how people will dress for dinner tonight, last night was very casual in the dining room. We dressed up and headed to the captains party, no free drink just 1.00 off, decide we better take advantage of saving 2.00 and get a couple drinks :) which we take outside to watch the sunset. 

Had a table for two and got seated immediately tonight. The other passengers in the dining room are all dressed up tonight. I had stuffed mushrooms which appear the be carnival  replacement for escargot, it was served in the escargot dish, was very good.

Dave's Greek salad:

Followed by roasted pumpkin soup, yummy:

Then lobster and shrimp, guess I got excited and forgot to take a picture until I was done!

Apple pastry with Carmel sauce and vanilla ice cream:

After dinner Dave spent some time in the casino at the Craps table, I watched to help give him good luck...guess I was not good luck. But he had fun and he reminded me he had good luck at Craps the last couple of times he played! Then we went to a show in the comedy club, it was just ok. There is another comedian on board we will try his show tomorrow.

We had a wonderful day at sea :)

All Aboard Carnival Dream

FirstWoke up to a beautiful sunny morning. Dave went for a run while I got ready for the day. With the marathon going on we thought it might be a zoo at Cafe du Monde to just had the free hotel breakfast which had a lot of offerings. 

I headed out to walk while Dave showered, this little park next to our hotel was built as a tribute to Hurricane Katrina.

We headed out to find some supplies for our cruise, wine, diet ginger ale, hard part is carrying it back then carrying it into the ship, Dave does not think it is worth it! I do, so I win :)

We had discovered that it really is too far to walk to the ship with luggage and beverages decided we would need a cab but thought I would just check in with hotel desk to see if by chance they had a shuttle, yes and it's free! We schedule it for 12:30 since our check in for ship is 1:00. Hotel let us have a late check out, all is good :) 

Shuttle to ship went very quickly so arrived too early to check in, had to wait around outside until our check in number was called, after that the line moved quickly. Our room was ready so we dropped off our heavy beverages ( now Dave can stop complaining) checked out our room and balcony, nice sized room, balcony average size.

Had lunch at the Tandoor Grill, very yummy Indian food options along with a very good mixed salad (seemed Greek) and excellent hummus. We were very satisfied with our first meal :)

The  Norwegian Dawn is right behind us, I have never seen balcony state rooms on the front of ship, they are huge balconies but while cruising think all the wind would make them almost unusable!

Not sure what happened but my phone took a couple pictures I black and white we wandered around the ship to check it out, it is huge and beautiful. The crowd is definitely younger than we have seen in our last few cruises. There are lots of families and multigenerational families traveling together. I can see why carnival attracts a younger crowd so far after our first day we definitely noticed the music playing is more contemporary and the all around feel is fun, guess that's why they are the Fun Ships!, we like it! So does the crowd, have never seen so many people dancing on deck for sail away ever! We purchased our sail away drinks and found a good spot to watch as we sued down the Mississippi.

We have any time dining, had to wait in a long line just to give name and get paiger thought would take for ever so went to s bar and purchased s bottle of wine, as soon as we got the wine paiger went off,. It was nice to have the bottle before getting our table, we noticed another couple in the dining room waited forever to get their bottle of wine, we will definitely do this again!

We were seated at a table for two, I had shrimp cocktail, ceased salad, and sweet  and sour shrimp with fried rice. Dave had fruit plate, beef barley soup and talapia, we both had melting chocolate cake for desert :) yummy!!!!

We went to 80's trivia then to the welcome aboard show. The highlight were the breakdancing/acrobatic duo, they were amazing, looking forward to seeing more of them. In bed at 11:20, it has been a great day!

Day 2 Sea Day

Woke up to sunny skies again :)

Both Dave and I did our morning run on the promanade, today though there was a strong wind so we chose to turn around and avoid the front of the ship, there were a few walkers who manage to go around the front!

I went up to the lido to grab a cup of coffee and banana to take back to the room. By the time I got out of the shower the clouds had rolled in and for the first time we are starting to get s little ship movement although not bad. We decide since we might not be headed out for deck/sun  time to head the the dining room for Sea Day Brunch, the line was long but went fairly fast, we chose to share a table and were happy we did. 4 other very nice couples, 3 couples were on their first cruise and were all just loving it so far. One couple will be getting off the ship tomorrow in Jamaica and flying to Miami. They are sharing a cabin with a friend who fell yesterday and broke her hip, she is staying in the on board hospital and will have to be taken to a hospital in Jamaica where she will then be airlifted to  Miami, thankfully they all have trip insurance. They said the ship Doctor asked the captain to change our port order and stop in Grand Cayman first because the hospital is close, it will be a 3 hour ambulance ride in Jamaica, the captain tried but Carnival said no because it is not a life threatening emergency.  They did say the care is great and they have done a lot for them, such as given them phones to use to make all the calls they need and have set up ambulance/hospital in Jamaica, they just feel so bad for their friend. We all fell bad for them too! Breakfast was wonderful and had more selections and more interesting selections than offered on the other cruise lines we have been on.We had fruit starters and Dave had huevos rancho and I had blueberry pancakes and chicken sausage. It was a lovely breakfast with great company! 

I once again got excited and started to eat  before remembering to take the picture!

Some of the others had steak and eggs,omelets  with sides of cheesy grits, fruit loop crusted French toast ( they loved it I thought it looked nasty)

It had started to rain so we checked out the on board shops and bought some cards, we might want to play later. Headed back to our room to sit on our balcony and read, I got caught up on my blogs.

Carnival has cut back to room service just once a day, the steward asked us on embarkation day if we wanted him to clean our room in the morning or evening, we chose morning. We still get towel animals, they are on the bed every morning.

Forgot to finish this day befor I published it so will try and add what I forgot...if I remember so much had happened since. We went to the art auction for the free champagne :) I did like a painting so I asked what the starting  bid would be, 4,000.00, guess we will just have champagne and leave! 

The sky cleared so we headed to the deck above the aft pool to hang out.

A rain shower passed by and this was the result:

Did some laps around the promanade deck then got ready for dinner. We had to wait about 40 minutes tonight for dinner, not sure if we like anytime dining. Dinner was jerk pork for us both, was a lot of pork! It was fine, nothing special. After dinner we went to the piano bar, what a hoot! I remember we loved the piano bar on the carnival ship we took out of San  Juan 5 years ago, so far carnival wins hands down for best piano bars! We were unable to get into the comedy club, it was already filled and turning passengers away, decided it was just time for bed then.

New Orleans

We had an easy and uneventful travel day to New Orleans, full flights but all were on time. We did have a screamer behind us for one of our 2.25 hour leg! Wow that kid had lungs, didn't cry just screamed, parents seemed oblivious! Funny to watch what other passengers do to try to dissuade others from sitting next to them! Observed a lady put the tray tables down next to her, didn't work it was a full flight :)

Since we were flying SWA we took a risk and checked all  of our luggage and held positive thoughts, we have bad luck with lost luggage but it all arrived!!!!! We are off to a great start :) 

Taxi has set fare of 36.00 for two people to town, thought a bit pricy but knew ahead of time that was the going rate. Checked into Hampton Inn Convention Center, nice hotel walking distance to cruise port. Seems most everyone here is for the Marathon. The convention center is across the street and obviously it is the hub for the marathon. 

We headed out to check out how to get to the cruise terminal tomorrow, then headed to the French Quarter which is about 1.5 miles from the hotel.

A P&O ship from London is in port today.

We stopped and got a handmade praline to share :)

Loved this sign:

We had an early dinner to beat the crowds at The Gumbo Shop. I had Gumbo (voted best in New Orleans so they say) Dave had the Creole Combo ( jambalaya, shrimp creole, red beans and rice) finished with pecan pie :) yummy. We ate here on our other trips and just had to return for old times sake! 

We wandered towards French Street to hear music and happened up one this fabulous duo:

We stopped into this place for a drink and listened to some fun music:

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a few art galleries, and a few outdoor craft/art markets. 

We are tired after getting up at 2:45 AM (at least one of us did) so are calling it a night rather early. 

A Little Winter Get Away; New Orleans and Carnival Dream Cruise Feb 27- March 7 2016

When we decided to go on our early winter trip (PV in December) we thought we would need to, or I should say we would really like to, have another winter escape.  Although I must say winter really has not been too bad this year, we missed the worst of it while in Puerto Vallarta :)  I spent some time over the summer trying to find an inexpensive and easy trip to somewhere that would be warm.  Anyone who knows me well knows I LOVE to research and plan trips!  We decided on a short 7 day cruise and picked this cruise so we could get back to New Orleans, we just love it there and have not been back since Hurricane Katrina, so over 10 years.  The other perk about leaving from New Orleans, which really does not require another because it is such an amazing place, were the flights. For us it will be a few hours shorter and a few dollars less than if we were to go to Fort Lauderdale or Miami.  We have been to Fort Lauderdale enough.
   
We are also looking forward to checking out a Carnival cruise, they typically are less expensive than the other cruise lines. We have only sailed one other time on Carnival and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Granted that cruise left out of San Juan Puerto Rico, was a wonderful itinerary, and of course leaving from San Juan speaks for itself!  Originally I booked an inside porthole room, these are really great rooms, you get 2 portholes which offer light and a bit of view for the inside price.  There are very few of these rooms on a ship so they go quick.  After our PV trip I kept watching the price of our cruise and one day the balcony state rooms went on sale for a deal too good to pass up so I called and changed my reservation.  Dave has never had a balcony room, I think he will love it.

As we pack I have to keep reminding myself that I will be on a cruise ship and not in Puerto Vallarta, which means I have to keep reminding myself I don't need numerous tank tops and shorts.  What I will need is a bit more of a dressy attire, skirts, tops, dresses, jewelry, sweaters (they keep ships too cold) fancy purses (sorry good old crochet bag you stay home this trip).  I will of course take my floats since we will be spending some time on beautiful Caribbean beaches along with my new purchase, a water proof/underwater camera.  So excited about this purchase as it will also come in handy at the lake :)

I really would like to keep up this blog while on this little winter get away and will try to post when I can but it will be a challenge due to that fact I will not have internet access while on the ship, I will have access in some ports but not sure I want to take my phone with me as I hate to leave it unattended on a beach!  On the ship I can pay 16.95 a day for internet, can purchase day by day, so who knows maybe I will purchase for 1 day and publish the blogs I wrote, otherwise they might not come through until we get back to New Orleans at the end of the cruise.  But I am for sure going to write the blog every day using my phone as I have always done so they will be brief.  I have never written in a diary or journal and have enjoyed doing this for myself as a travel journal.   Wish I would have done this on our Europe trips, guess I will now have to plan another one of those so I can journal one!!!!

I wanted to end this post with a few picture from our last trip to New Orleans, but obviously it was before we had iPhoto, so no pictures.  I will end with some a list of what I am looking forward to on this trip.........

New Orleans: Gumbo, Cafe Du Monde's beignets, red beans and rice, pecan pie, jazz, street musicians, Preservation Hall, wandering the streets in the French Quarter and the Garden District, Royal Street, French Street, Mothers (debris sandwich)  Jackson Square.

Carnival Dream:  Balcony State room!!!!, cruising down the Mississippi River, walks and runs on the promenade deck, watching the waves crash along the ship, watching the sunset over the ocean, watching the sunrise over the ocean (maybe), reading on deck in the sun, chocolate melting cake with extra ice cream, wine on our balcony, coffee on our balcony, comedy club, piano bar, beaches, swimming/floating in the warm beautiful caribbean blue water, snorkeling, exploring, five course dinners and seeing Grand Cayman (we will get there yet, third times the charm)

I am looking forward to these moments along with many more :)