Cruisin'Susan
May 10th, 2004, 06:07 AM
Heeelllllloooooo...
Ok this may be long..but here goes...
We left Friday morning, 2 days before the cruise. Got in Miaimi in 5 hours. Great time!
Our first night we stayed at Deauville Beach resort thru priceline. It was nice. Was too tired to really do anything that day but walk on the beach/swim etc.
Sat. We went to south beach. Went to one of the restaurants and ate breakfast. I got 1 pancake!!
My hubby got 1 pancake, 2 eggs and 1 small bowl of fruit. It was over 30.00! Helpful hint...eat before you get there LOLWe had a nice day, we all got a little too much sun. Went to our hotel, HYATT downtown. There was graduations going on and Barbra Bush was there speaking and the place was a madhouse! We went to Bayside and of course, Bubba Gumps. OMG it was sooooo good! Went back to our room to prepare for our cruise.
Sunday got to port about 11:15, not really any lines. Was put in a holding tank for anout 45 mins then when were let onboard.
My first Impression..what a beautiful ship. LOVED the old world look, faux, Venetian plaster, Roman art, It felt as if I were in Italy in some of the rooms. I also do Faux for a living, so I picked these things out right away. LOL We went upstaires for lunch, Now I am not a picky eater and unfortuantely you will find in my review the food was NOT that great. Comparing it to the Imagination last yr.. IMag. 8- Victory 3. We did not really care for the food at all. First night we did go to dining room met our Dining team..Kenneth. He was not very personable. He acted like he didnt have time to chitchat..whatever. We ate a bit and headed off to find some fun. The cruise director we thought was soooo funny. Thats where my hello comes from, he always sez..heeeellllloooooo... hehehe anyway, we had a great time that night and my lil girl met the camp carnival staff. Monday morning bright and early my lil one was ready to go to CC. so, after stopping to get her breakfast, which we would hardly eat but LOVES at home. Then head up and drop her off for a couple hours. I played Bingo..Never won a durn thing but was fun. Went shopping on board, played in casino (roulette which I never won a durn thing on this either lol) I missed both of my cruise critic meetings because of my lil one. Im sorry for that guys. I got there 20 mins late sunday and yall musta been gone http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif
Tuesday another fun day at sea.. We layed by the pool and played bingo and caught all the shows.Oh I forgot to mention my room steward. Cant remember his name, only spoke to him a brief moment and he never spoke to us again except to say hi and a few comments about my daughter being sea sick a bit. More on that in a moment. (Last cruise we chatted with our room stewar and he was AWESOME!! This guy, I had to ask him a couple times to put ice in cooler, leave ice in room bucket, etc. He didnt even refill our drinks in our room, once we started using them. My hub had to go to bar to get coke.
The room we had was an Upper balcony room 6389. LOVED the room and we used the balcony constantly. It was really great! Room service was usually quick with my coffee in the morning but sometimes had to wait over an hour for a sandwich and cookies. Now about the weather. First night wasnt so bad..4-7.5 seas. Second night we were rockin and a rollin. Seas were up to 10 feet. My little one got sick and I had to give her dramamine, which knocked her out for several hours. After that night. we were in San Juan it was smooth sailing after that.
San Juan.. We got off the ship, leaving out lil one in CC, with the intentions of just strolling, having a couple drinks and shopping. We really didnt care for it too much, the ppl werent that friendly. We were back on the ship in 2 1/2 hours. Spent 30 mins of that sitting by the ship watching the water. Yea, its great to say Ive been there. But dont care about going back too much.
St Thomas. Now this was the day we had the MOST fun!! We took godfrey tour, he was sick and sent Timmy. Just as promised when we stepped off the boat he had a sign with my name on it. We liked him alot. He knew a whole lot about the islands too. But we QUICKLY found out that they are crazzzzzzzzzzyyyyy drivers over there. How come noone ever mention that little detail??? OMG we were scared to death going up that mountain!! He took us shopping. I liked the vendors plaza, got my lil ones hair braided (just 6 braids) I thought St Thomas was a bit pricey compared to st Maartin. The tour he gave us was awesome. We stopped several places on our way to top of the mountain and it was breath taking! Beautiful Island. We had the Famous Banana daquiri at the top which made the rest of the ride easier lol. He took us to Coki Beach, Where we snorkled and it was nice and easy! Guy on the beach brought us these mago drinks they were awesome as well and he was squirting liqor in our mouths with a squirt bottle. It was so much fun. My lil one can swim but to help her snorkle, I brought water wings with us to keep her afloat so she could wear a mask. She did awesome and they gave us dog biscuits and the fish were all over us. Way too cool! Timmy then took us back to the ship. It was a great day!
St. Maarten..not as pretty as St Thomas but...the shopping was alot better. For those of you that take the water taxi.. make sure you get off at first stop. That is where the best shopping is. Prices were so low cuz everyone else was at the second taxi stop and the shop keepers were happy to see us. Calling us first customers of the day. Even when we walked back thru later that afternoon they all remembered us as the first customers and even came down lower on thier prices. IF you are going to buy ciggarettes. Do it in St. Maarten. Marlboro in St. Thomas was 16.50 St Maarten first stop was 10.00! We had a great time. we stayed on the beach and had a great time at great bay. Found lots of seashells, my DD loved the water trampoline, and we rented beach chairs and the beer was 2 for 3.00. We had another great day.
Back at sea. We did the usual stuff, shows, bingo, pool food, etc. Now I want to discuss the Dining room. The place is beautiful but...the food was not. EVERY ceasar salad I had on that ship tasted like fish. We werent the only ones who noticed either. Formal night we had lobster and prime rib and the prime rib was wayyyy under cooked and we couldnt eat it all bloody like that so we left, Second formal night, He said he would make sure our prime rib was right. Well they cooked the crap out of it and it was tough and chewy. I only wanted it medium well... oh well. We didnt go to dining room 4 nights. My DH and DD ate alot of hamburgers and pizza. The eggs for breakfast had such a strong odor to them we couldnt eat them. One thing carnival does need on their bfast bar is biscuit and gravy. YUMMY.
Last day at sea was sad cuz we knew it was almost over.Still no cokes in our room and dh was sad about that. lol
My little girl had a great time in Camp Carnival and we especially like Andrea. What a great asset they have in her. My dd was just tall enough to ride the waterslide and she did that the last 2 sea days. She even snuck down head first one time. I told the lady she had to watch her cuz she is a little daredevil and she didnt believe me LOL After that, she watched her closely hahaha, All in all we had a grand time.We lost money gambling and bingo but it was alot of fun anyhow. Only real disappointment was the food. We are going again in Oct.to cozumel. We cant wait!!
MS.Victory 05-02-04
MS.Imagination 9-20-03
Ok this may be long..but here goes...
We left Friday morning, 2 days before the cruise. Got in Miaimi in 5 hours. Great time!
Our first night we stayed at Deauville Beach resort thru priceline. It was nice. Was too tired to really do anything that day but walk on the beach/swim etc.
Sat. We went to south beach. Went to one of the restaurants and ate breakfast. I got 1 pancake!!
My hubby got 1 pancake, 2 eggs and 1 small bowl of fruit. It was over 30.00! Helpful hint...eat before you get there LOLWe had a nice day, we all got a little too much sun. Went to our hotel, HYATT downtown. There was graduations going on and Barbra Bush was there speaking and the place was a madhouse! We went to Bayside and of course, Bubba Gumps. OMG it was sooooo good! Went back to our room to prepare for our cruise.
Sunday got to port about 11:15, not really any lines. Was put in a holding tank for anout 45 mins then when were let onboard.
My first Impression..what a beautiful ship. LOVED the old world look, faux, Venetian plaster, Roman art, It felt as if I were in Italy in some of the rooms. I also do Faux for a living, so I picked these things out right away. LOL We went upstaires for lunch, Now I am not a picky eater and unfortuantely you will find in my review the food was NOT that great. Comparing it to the Imagination last yr.. IMag. 8- Victory 3. We did not really care for the food at all. First night we did go to dining room met our Dining team..Kenneth. He was not very personable. He acted like he didnt have time to chitchat..whatever. We ate a bit and headed off to find some fun. The cruise director we thought was soooo funny. Thats where my hello comes from, he always sez..heeeellllloooooo... hehehe anyway, we had a great time that night and my lil girl met the camp carnival staff. Monday morning bright and early my lil one was ready to go to CC. so, after stopping to get her breakfast, which we would hardly eat but LOVES at home. Then head up and drop her off for a couple hours. I played Bingo..Never won a durn thing but was fun. Went shopping on board, played in casino (roulette which I never won a durn thing on this either lol) I missed both of my cruise critic meetings because of my lil one. Im sorry for that guys. I got there 20 mins late sunday and yall musta been gone http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif
Tuesday another fun day at sea.. We layed by the pool and played bingo and caught all the shows.Oh I forgot to mention my room steward. Cant remember his name, only spoke to him a brief moment and he never spoke to us again except to say hi and a few comments about my daughter being sea sick a bit. More on that in a moment. (Last cruise we chatted with our room stewar and he was AWESOME!! This guy, I had to ask him a couple times to put ice in cooler, leave ice in room bucket, etc. He didnt even refill our drinks in our room, once we started using them. My hub had to go to bar to get coke.
The room we had was an Upper balcony room 6389. LOVED the room and we used the balcony constantly. It was really great! Room service was usually quick with my coffee in the morning but sometimes had to wait over an hour for a sandwich and cookies. Now about the weather. First night wasnt so bad..4-7.5 seas. Second night we were rockin and a rollin. Seas were up to 10 feet. My little one got sick and I had to give her dramamine, which knocked her out for several hours. After that night. we were in San Juan it was smooth sailing after that.
San Juan.. We got off the ship, leaving out lil one in CC, with the intentions of just strolling, having a couple drinks and shopping. We really didnt care for it too much, the ppl werent that friendly. We were back on the ship in 2 1/2 hours. Spent 30 mins of that sitting by the ship watching the water. Yea, its great to say Ive been there. But dont care about going back too much.
St Thomas. Now this was the day we had the MOST fun!! We took godfrey tour, he was sick and sent Timmy. Just as promised when we stepped off the boat he had a sign with my name on it. We liked him alot. He knew a whole lot about the islands too. But we QUICKLY found out that they are crazzzzzzzzzzyyyyy drivers over there. How come noone ever mention that little detail??? OMG we were scared to death going up that mountain!! He took us shopping. I liked the vendors plaza, got my lil ones hair braided (just 6 braids) I thought St Thomas was a bit pricey compared to st Maartin. The tour he gave us was awesome. We stopped several places on our way to top of the mountain and it was breath taking! Beautiful Island. We had the Famous Banana daquiri at the top which made the rest of the ride easier lol. He took us to Coki Beach, Where we snorkled and it was nice and easy! Guy on the beach brought us these mago drinks they were awesome as well and he was squirting liqor in our mouths with a squirt bottle. It was so much fun. My lil one can swim but to help her snorkle, I brought water wings with us to keep her afloat so she could wear a mask. She did awesome and they gave us dog biscuits and the fish were all over us. Way too cool! Timmy then took us back to the ship. It was a great day!
St. Maarten..not as pretty as St Thomas but...the shopping was alot better. For those of you that take the water taxi.. make sure you get off at first stop. That is where the best shopping is. Prices were so low cuz everyone else was at the second taxi stop and the shop keepers were happy to see us. Calling us first customers of the day. Even when we walked back thru later that afternoon they all remembered us as the first customers and even came down lower on thier prices. IF you are going to buy ciggarettes. Do it in St. Maarten. Marlboro in St. Thomas was 16.50 St Maarten first stop was 10.00! We had a great time. we stayed on the beach and had a great time at great bay. Found lots of seashells, my DD loved the water trampoline, and we rented beach chairs and the beer was 2 for 3.00. We had another great day.
Back at sea. We did the usual stuff, shows, bingo, pool food, etc. Now I want to discuss the Dining room. The place is beautiful but...the food was not. EVERY ceasar salad I had on that ship tasted like fish. We werent the only ones who noticed either. Formal night we had lobster and prime rib and the prime rib was wayyyy under cooked and we couldnt eat it all bloody like that so we left, Second formal night, He said he would make sure our prime rib was right. Well they cooked the crap out of it and it was tough and chewy. I only wanted it medium well... oh well. We didnt go to dining room 4 nights. My DH and DD ate alot of hamburgers and pizza. The eggs for breakfast had such a strong odor to them we couldnt eat them. One thing carnival does need on their bfast bar is biscuit and gravy. YUMMY.
Last day at sea was sad cuz we knew it was almost over.Still no cokes in our room and dh was sad about that. lol
My little girl had a great time in Camp Carnival and we especially like Andrea. What a great asset they have in her. My dd was just tall enough to ride the waterslide and she did that the last 2 sea days. She even snuck down head first one time. I told the lady she had to watch her cuz she is a little daredevil and she didnt believe me LOL After that, she watched her closely hahaha, All in all we had a grand time.We lost money gambling and bingo but it was alot of fun anyhow. Only real disappointment was the food. We are going again in Oct.to cozumel. We cant wait!!
MS.Victory 05-02-04
MS.Imagination 9-20-03