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Carnival Fascination Review: 6 Toes, Power Outages, and Snow in the Bahamas


Lady_Jag

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By request (FRANK!), I am posting my review of our 5-day Fascination cruise out of Jacksonville over Thanksgiving week in November, 2011. This itinerary included Key West and Nassau, returning to Jacksonville. Before I introduce my motley crew, let me give those who don’t care to read details or personal stories a synopsis. Please keep in mind this is just my opinion, based on my experience, and in comparison with other cruises I’ve taken on Carnival.

 

 

The Ship (Thumbs UP):

I’m usually not a fan of the smaller Fantasy-class ships like the Fascination (I prefer the Dream and Conquest classes), but I have to admit, I really enjoyed the layout of the ship this time around. It didn’t take too long to figure out, and most the public areas seemed fairly close together. The ship itself seemed to be in good shape…well, up until the engines went kaput… but overall, it seemed pretty clean and well-maintained. The little ones really enjoyed the waterworks area, and my hubby and I were happy to have the Serenity deck available for an escape.

 

 

The Staterooms (Thumbs UP):

We had three different staterooms: Interior, Porthole, and Aft Balcony, and all three were spacious enough to meet our needs. In fact, I prefer the Interior staterooms of the Fantasy class ships over the other classes, because the faux “window” opens the room up a bit and gives me a nice ledge on which to keep things.

 

 

The ledge in the Porthole cabin was HUGE! Our friend, Joann, actually used it to keep her luggage. It was deep enough, in fact, that a crib mattress could have fit on it.

 

 

My brother’s aft balcony was nice, too. It was an “extended” balcony, which simply meant our knees didn’t touch the glass when we sat down in the balcony chairs. The layout and size of the cabin itself was pretty much the same as the rest of ours.

 

 

The things I miss on the Fantasy-class ships are minor, but worth mentioning here. There are no nightstands, with that extra cabinet space to keep stuff. There are no refrigerators for keeping things cool. There are no sofas or sofa beds, except in the suites, so third and fourth occupants must sleep in a bunk or a roll-away. There are no hairdryers, unless you specifically request one from the cabin steward. The cabin bathrooms are smaller than on the other class ships, so there is less storage space there as well.

 

 

The Food (No Rating):

The food was…meh! I do not care for the new menus, although the spinach-artichoke dip was VERY yummy! For dinner, we ate in the main dining room two nights and the casual restaurant on the Lido deck the other three nights.

 

 

 

Breakfast and lunch were always on the Lido deck, and I had tea once in the piano bar the first sea day. For breakfast and lunch, the Lido deck was satisfying. I tried the Mongolian wok, which I love, the deli, the pizzeria, the sushi bar, and room service as alternative food choices. All of them were good, actually, is the reason why I didn’t give the food a thumbs down.

 

 

 

The reason why I didn’t give a thumbs up, though, was because the dinners in the main dining room and from the buffet were very disappointing. The food was sometimes warm, but often cold, dry, and unsatisfying. It was very unlike all my previous Carnival dining experiences, and I wonder if the food would have been better in the main dining room…or at least the right temperature… if our wait team did a better job.

 

 

The Service (Thumbs DOWN):

This is the first time of my 8 Carnival cruises that I’ve had bad service, and I mean REALLY bad, in the main dining room. We had Early seating, since we were a party of 11 that included 3 children under 12 and a year old baby. Our wait team was disorganized, slow and inattentive. Dinner took over 2 hours from start to finish, and we were never served everything we requested, even when we requested the item(s) multiple times. The service was so bad, in fact, that after the second night (Elegant Evening), we didn’t set foot in the main dining room for the rest of the cruise.

 

 

This was also the first time that I encountered downright rude Carnival team members. On the whole, the crew were very pleasant and courteous, but we did encounter a couple of grouches both in the terminal during embarkation, and serving in the casual restaurant on the Lido deck.

 

 

Grouchy encounters aside, I have to say that our cabin steward was wonderful and the rest of the crew, especially the folks at the Guest Services desk were very kind, courteous and respectful.

 

 

The Cruise Director, Jen (Thumbs UP):

I’m one of those people who doesn’t base my cruise on who the CD is. In fact, it’s pretty rare that I even know WHO the CD is before I first step on board the ship. As I mentioned, I traveled with 10 friends and family members this cruise, so we didn’t rely on the CD to entertain us.

 

 

Still, my few encounters with Jen were very pleasant, and I appreciate the way she held it together and kept us passengers informed when the ship stopped working (i.e., “power outage”) just off the coast. I saw Jen interacting with guests frequently, and she seemed to really enjoy her job.

 

 

The Shows (no rating):

The only shows I attended were a couple of the comedy shows (which were okay), and the guest talent show (also okay), so I can’t really give a rating here.

 

 

Camp Carnival/Kids Program (Thumbs UP):

There were over 800 kids on this cruise, so I would have expected some kiddy mayhem on a daily basis. But other than seeing the kids packed out in the hot tubs (including the one marked “adults only”), I seldom saw any kids other than the ones I was traveling with. I guess the counselors in the kids program did a great job keeping the kiddos entertained and out of trouble. My daughter and nieces seemed to really enjoy the Camp Carnival program as well, which surprised me, since over the last few cruises, my little one refused to even LOOK at the Camp Carnival area. This time, though, she ASKED to go!

 

 

 

So I think I covered the basics. Any questions, just ask. Details and photos to come.

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As I mentioned, there were a total of 11 of us family and friends sailing on this Thanksgiving cruise. Since I use their first names often throughout my review, I thought it would be helpful to give a brief introduction of everyone. Skip this part if you are just interested in the cruise itself, and don't care to understand to whom I'm referring in my recap.

 

Me (Laura)

I've sailed Carnival 7 times prior to this cruise and once on a different cruise line. I'm 30-something and have been married over 16 years. Hubby and I have only one child.

 

Alex (my hubby)

Alex has had only one less Carnival cruise than me, and is 40-something. He's a down-to-earth sort of guy with a warped sense of humor, which is one reason why we get along so well.

 

Alyssa (our daughter)

Alyssa is five years old in Kindergarten, and LOVES to cruise. This was her 5th cruise, all with Carnival.

 

Patty (my mom)

My mom is 60-something and has mobility issues. She can't stand for long periods of time, climb stairs, or walk long distances, so we bring a wheelchair for her to use while in port. This is her fourth cruise, the other three were also on Carnival.

 

Joann (family friend)

Joann is 60-something and has known my mom since the 60s. She has cruised 6-7 times before, most, if not all with Carnival.

 

Rob (my brother)

Rob is 2 years older than me and has sailed with several different cruise lines, including Costa, RCCL, NCL, Princess, and 8 other cruises with Carnival.

 

Laura (my sister-in-law)

Yes, my sister-in-law and I have the same name, which can make for some confusing holiday gatherings. For the purpose of this review, the name "Laura" will almost always refer to my sister-in-law, rather than myself. She is the same age as my brother.

 

Sandra (Laura's mother/Rob's mother-in-law)

Sandra is 60-something and has never cruised before. She also has mobility issues, so my mom loaned her a transporter/companion wheelchair for use during the cruise.

 

Kelsey and Delaney (my nieces/Rob & Laura's girls)

Kelsey is 11 and Delaney just turned 8 when we sailed on the Fascination. They're both good kids and get along pretty well together.

 

Brandon (my nephew/Rob & Laura's son)

Brandon was 13 months old at the time of this sailing. He's a very sweet baby and adores his daddy. This was his second cruise, but first on Carnival.

 

Now that all the boring introductions are out of the way, let's get to the fun part: Embarkation day!

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It’s Monday, and we got to sleep in a little bit. Already, this was turning out to be a great week! As usual, Alyssa was the first to wake up, and boy was she was excited! I think the first thing she said…or rather, screamed…when she woke up was “TODAY WE’RE GOING ON A CRUISE!!!”

 

 

Alex and I finished the last bit of packing and prep and loaded up the car. My mom was meeting us at the port because she was riding with Sandra, but to make enough room in Sandra’s car, we packed her wheelchair in our car. We planned to meet around 10:30-11:00 at the terminal.

 

 

As always, nothing goes as planned. We intended to park at the terminal, but saw a sign for a lot just outside the terminal advertising $5/day parking plus free shuttle. Sweet! The lot was fenced and seem secure, and it looked like they had plenty of shuttles. I love a good deal, and $30 instead of $75 sounded like a great deal to me! (Yes, they charged for 6 days, not 5.) A lot of people were leaving the lot from the previous cruise, so it was difficult getting into the one open gate, but I start a cruise with plenty of patience. There were also a lot of people in line for the shuttle, but as I mentioned, there were many shuttles coming through, so we didn’t have to wait very long. We even got one of the vans all to ourselves because of the space my mom’s wheelchair took!

 

 

As we were waiting in line, I heard the owner say he needed to change his sign to $8 that afternoon, because port was going up to $20. I joked about us getting the “early bird special,” and he just smiled.

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(Bringing out the ladder to change the sign.)

 

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(The sign when we returned from our cruise.)

 

 

 

Our shuttle driver was nice and dropped us off right at the terminal, so we made sure to tip him. There was no porter to be seen, so we wheeled our own luggage down the crosswalk and handed it over to a supervisor standing by a cart in the luggage loading area. Then we found our way to the passenger entrance, where we sat down on a bench to wait for the rest of the gang.

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(Waiting outside the terminal.)

 

 

 

There was a very nice Carnival employee directing people the few people who were there through the line at the terminal. I asked him about the tide and departure time, and he said the ship would be delayed until around 7:00pm. We talked about some people probably getting upset about that, and about how several weeks prior, passengers were irate because the high tide made them late getting back. The poor guy sighed and said yes they were VERY irate, and he was yelled at, threatened, and spit on! Yikes!

 

 

Joann had arrived first at terminal and received a card for zone 2. Her friend was supposed to just drop her off, but when he pulled into the lot, they made him take Joann to lot 4 wait. When they arrived in lot 4, an employee sent her right back to the terminal for drop-off! Duh! Through a couple of phone calls, we discovered that my mom and the rest of the gang also had to wait in lot 4, so I guess debarkation from the previous cruise was running late.

 

 

My mom finally showed up with my brother and his family, including Sandra in the transporter wheelchair and my nephew, Brandon, in his stroller. The employee we had been talking to directed us to the VIP line because of the stroller and wheelchairs. Unfortunately, the guy in VIP line was rather cranky and kicked me and Alyssa out of the VIP line. “Just one person with each chair,” he huffed. Sigh! So I went back to the nice Carnival guy and tattled, telling him, “well, we got kicked out.” The guy looked shocked he walked me and Alyssa to the front of the line near where my brother and Alex were with the rest of our party, checking in with a pleasant-looking lady. “Just tell that you’re with them,” he said with a wink, and so I did. Good thing too, as I was the one with the single boarding pass for me, Alex and Alyssa!

 

 

A quick pass through security, and we were next in line for check-in. Another Carnival employee at the front of the queue sent us all to desk #4, but a family of 4 stepped in front of us before we could even get my mom in her wheelchair anywhere close. So I went back to lady at the queue to wait, and then called Alex over when another rep was ready.

 

 

At the desk, I received a form letter confirming what my friend at the terminal entrance said: that tide would delay us until a 7:00 departure. I was pleasantly surprised that we didn’t have to fill out and sign the health check form – you know, the one that makes you swear that no one in your party has kissed a pig or invoked the revenge of Montezuma.

 

 

Anyway, we received our cards and were told to wait with the other passengers needing assistance at the far side of the room. Joann was sitting in one of the chairs, still holding her Zone 2 card, so we called her over to wait with us so we could chat. As we all got caught up on our family happenings, and the cousins played with baby Brandon (the three girls had already declared this the “best cruise EVER!”), I saw a man being led through a door behind us, which I can only assume was the “Naughty Room.”

 

 

The security guard standing next to me saw my look and grinned. “Is that the naughty room?” I asked. He just smiled, so I told him the story of our last cruise on the Carnival Legend, where poor little 5-year-old Alyssa got pulled into the naughty room for bringing her Easter basket, which contained colorful plastic squirt guns. The security guard made some sort of sympathetic remark about people sometimes get carried away with the security thing. Alyssa’s ear had perked up when she heard me telling the story, and Alex, seeing her staring at the security guard with a suspicious look warned her that she better behave herself, because that security guard had already heard about her. Alyssa’s eyes got really wide, and the security guard played along, “That’s right! I think I saw your picture on a poster in the back saying what a dangerous troublemaker you are.” Alyssa’s jaw dropped.

 

 

“Yeah, Alyssa,” I said, “they have posters with your picture on it all over the place saying, ‘watch out for Babyface White!” That’s when the security guard lost it and started laughing, as he repeated “Babyface White! Ha!” By then Alyssa realized we were just having fun, and she started to laugh too.

 

 

Finally, someone called VIP zone 1 boarding over the PA first, then those of us with “special needs.” All 11 of us squeezed together for the embarkation photo, then marched happily onto the ship. We were on the nearly empty Lido deck for lunch around 12:30-1:00! I went straight to deli, for me and Alyssa, while the rest of the family went through buffet. Joann wanted a burger from the grill, and Alex couldn’t wait to get something from the Mongolian wok, which was already forming a line. By the time we were all ready for dessert, the place was pretty busy!

 

 

Our cabins were supposed to be ready at 1:30, but I suppose the delay in debarking the previous cruisers caused the late delay in opening the hall doors to the cabins. Of course some people were letting themselves in through the doors anyway and ignored the stewards who were telling them, “not ready yet.”

 

 

Alex had decided to wander the ship’s public areas while Alyssa, my mom and I waited for the cabins to be ready. Unfortunately, Alex forgot to ask me our cabin number, so when he came back to find us, he wound wandering aimlessly down one of the cabin corridors. One of the stewards told him, “not ready yet,” and asked where he was going. He admitted that he didn’t know, so she kindly looked up his cabin number for him. So Alex was waiting in the cabin when Alyssa and I finally arrived.

 

 

We had an interior 4B stateroom, M45 on the second deck forward. I chose this room specifically, because the deck plans show this one as the only 3-person interior stateroom on the entire ship with an actual bunk, and not a roll-away bed, and I really didn’t want to give up precious floor space. I was surprised to see the deck plans for the Fascinations…and for all Fantasy-class ships…were wrong in this respect. Now shhhhhh! Here’s the best part of the surprise: room M45 shows a single upper, but in fact, it has TWO uppers! One of the bunks was designed to hang over our King bed, and the other bunk was on the opposite wall, and would partially cover the foot of the bed. (At this time, though, both bunks were locked in the “closed” position against the walls.)

 

 

So what, right? Well, here’s why I was so happy: In all the 3-person cabins I’ve seen that had a bunk for the third passenger, the two standard twin beds get pushed together to form a King bed on one wall, and the bunk folds down to hang at about head-knocking level on the opposite wall. So when the bunk is out, I have to hunch over and creep along to pass under the bunk and climb into the far side of the bed against the wall with the window/fake window. Inevitably, when first getting up in the morning or sneaking into bed late at night, I will bonk my head at least 3, maybe 4 times during a 5-day cruise. Ouch! But with the option of having this other bunk hanging over our bed instead of over my walk-through, I stood a very good chance of keeping my noggin injury-free! Yay!

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(I guess I neglected to photograph our entire cabin this time. Below this bunk is the king-sized bed Alex and I slept in. Notice the fake window in the back.)

 

 

 

Our cabin steward’s name was “Iwanyan,” and he was very nice. He was also the steward for my mom’s cabin, since she and Joann were just a few doors down from us in cabin M29, a porthole cabin. The previous occupants must have been heavy smokers, because their cabin still smelled of cigarettes. I was a little taken aback at this, because it was the first time I ever encountered any cigarette smell in a cabin of non-smokers. (Usually, the cabins odors have been well purged before we ever step across the threshold.)

 

 

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(My mom's and Joann's porthole cabin.)

 

 

 

Iwanyan stopped in to introduce himself to my mom and Joann and was surprised to see me there. I made a little joke about stalking him before I explained our relationship. Joann thought he said his name was “Iwanna,” so she tried to make a joke by saying, “Well, I wanna hairdryer!” I was a bit embarrassed, but Iwanyan didn’t miss a beat: “A hairdryer? Yes ma’am! I bring you a hairdryer soon!”

 

 

Joann thanked him, and I asked if maybe a little later he could do anything to lessen the cigarette smell for my mom. He said it would be no problem, so I decided to press my luck even further and ask if when he unlocked one of the bunks in my cabin that night, if he would please unlock the one over the bed, and leave the opposite bunk closed. Iwanyan repeated my request to be sure he had it right, and again told me it would be no problem. Awesome!

 

 

 

None of us had any luck receiving luggage from the first wave of deliveries, so we decided to visit my brother’s cabin, U241. It’s an aft balcony cabin one deck up from ours and a pretty long walk…(especially for my mom, who turned down a ride in the wheelchair and decided on her cane instead).

 

 

I guess it would have helped if I had known his cabin number when we got there. We knocked on the door of U239, but no one (thankfully!) answered. Alyssa thought it was some sort of “Where’s Uncle Rob?” a game, I guess, and she knocked on cabin U230. The occupant of the cabin startled her when she answered the door, and I apologized, explaining that Alyssa had the wrong cabin. My mom gave me the, “well?!? Any more bright ideas?” look, so I reached into my pocket for my phone and texted Rob. He opened the door right behind where we were standing, and muttered, “Geez! What are you people doing, banging on everyone’s door?”

 

 

“Uncle Rob!!” Alyssa greeted him, as she bounded inside. We all went straight through his room (which was the same size as ours) to his balcony, which was pretty nice!

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(Hey! This balcony was supposed to have an ocean view, but all we see is the parking lot!)

 

 

Laura had taken Brandon for a stroll, and the girls were in there IS room across the hall (U233) with Sandra, so the six of us made ourselves comfortable and took in the not-much-of-a-view-yet and nice cool breeze. It wasn’t long before Laura and Brandon came in, so we thought us parents should take the kids to Camp Carnival for their viewing. My mom and Joann wanted to go back to their cabin in hopes that their luggage had arrived, and Sandra was content to finally get some quiet time to rest in her room alone.

 

 

All three girls loved checking out Camp Carnival, but Alyssa was especially impressed with being in a room “right next to cousin Delaney’s.” I was a little relieved to hear this, as I was afraid Alyssa would be disappointed that she couldn’t be in the same group as her 8-year-old cousin, and talked up the 2-5 year-old area as much as I could. I asked one of the counselors where I could turn in the registration forms I filled out online and printed, but was turned away. She said I couldn’t turn them in until the Orientation at 5:00 that evening. Ah well! With 800 kids (yes, 800!) on board, I understood that they needed to keep everything well-organized and get everyone’s registration at one time, rather than being handed a form here and there.

 

 

Alyssa and Delaney had fun finding their name tags on the board under their respective groups. “Hey! Where’s mine?” Kelsey asked. Alyssa concentrated on the board, and when she didn’t see Kelsey’s name, touched her arm and looked up at her sadly, “I’m sorry. You don’t have one.” The counselor overheard them and explained that kids in Circle “C” don’t get name tags, and the name tags are only for Camp Carnival kids. That made Kelsey feel like a big shot, but Alyssa still looked at her sympathetically, as if poor Kelsey would be nameless henceforth.

 

 

We finally dragged the girls out of Camp Carnival, and went back to our rooms. Still no luggage, other than our carry-ons. Alex and Alyssa quickly changed into their swim suits and headed off to the hot tub. I gave Alex a cover-up for Alyssa so she wouldn’t freeze later during the muster drill. (Our muster station was in the main lounge.)

 

 

I unpacked our carry-ons, hung our personalized cruise banner on the door, and watched enviously as the people around our cabin received their checked bags. The little bit of unpacking I could do was done, so I knocked on my mom’s and Joann’s door to hang out with them and chat until the drill. They didn’t have any better luck at getting THEIR bags, either. Ah well! We would get them (hopefully) by bedtime.

 

 

Jen, our cruise director, made the announcement for the muster drill over the PA, so I pushed my mom in her wheelchair towards the main lounge. We were allowed to take the elevator to the main floor of the Palace main lounge on the Atlantic deck (deck 5). When we entered, one of the crew said to just find a place on the end of an aisle or something, but then another crew member (whom I’d later learn was named “Dallas”) waved us over to a place at the end of one of the front rows, where a handicap insignia lay on the carpet. He then got all the people in the rather long row to move down and “squeeze in” so that Joann and I could sit on the end of the row next to my mom.

 

 

Dallas was very kind and VERY entertaining, and when we sat down, he told us that the three of us should just “stay put for evacuation part.” Cool! I guess he saw some confusion on Joann’s face, because he gave her a smile, leaned in, and said, “It’s not that great of a show, trust me!” So when the evacuation part came, we three stayed in our seats and watched as Dallas and a number of other crew persons escorted the rest of the lounge out through the doors and up to where the lifeboats were. After the majority of the people left, one of the crew came along with a clipboard and asked my mom for her name cabin number, and age. My mom muttered her answers, and the woman exclaimed, “You don’t look 62!” I think my mom had just became that lady’s friend for life! LOL!

 

 

During the drill, the captain reiterated that our departure would be delayed until 7:00pm because of the tide. Joann leaned over to me and said, “Hey! The Carnival rep at the terminal told me we had a late departure because of the construction on the Dames Point bridge!” I smiled and explained to her that it was because of both – that there was a lot of stuff hanging down over the side and under the bridge due to the construction, so the bridge clearance was lower than normal. Therefore, if the tide gets to be even a little more than its lowest, the ship wouldn’t be able to make it under. Joann accepted my answer, and I had to giggle, because still looked suspicious - as if someone had just tried to pull a fast one on her.

 

 

After the muster drill, the three of us made our way up to the Lido deck. Boy, the place was PACKED OUT! Everyone was ready to get the party started! We slowly weaved a path through the crowd to get cold drinks. My mom and I stopped to say hello to Alex and Alyssa in one of the hot tubs. (It was overflowing with kids!) My mom was parched, so I cut our hellos short and pushed her into the aft Lido restaurant to cool off while I poured us each a drink.

 

 

After the crowd had thinned, we thought we’d deliver the wheelchair back at my mom’s cabin and see (fingers crossed!) if our luggage had arrived yet. I pushed my mom back out onto the open deck and walked back past the stage, where Dallas was DJ-ing. He nodded and swayed to the beat as he played “Cupid Shuffle.” There was a large crowd following the dance directions in the song on the deck in front of the stage, and a very familiar looking little girl in a pink bathing suit dancing her own version of the “Cupid Shuffle” alone in the center of the stage. Ha! I saw Alex try a few times to dance with her and show Alyssa the moves, but Alyssa just pushed him away, preferring to show off her own style instead.

When the song was over, DJ Dallas had all the people on the deck in front of the stage form a circle, then he invited people to go to the middle of the circle to dance. Of course, Alyssa was one of the first out there, feeding off all the people’s cheers. I managed to snap a few pictures of her before she went back to dance up on the stage. A lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked how old Alyssa was, then said, “She’s going to be a handful!” I smiled and replied, “She already is!”

 

We left Alyssa dancing under Alex’s supervision and made the trek back to my mom’s cabin. Alas! Still no checked luggage for anyone except Joann. We chatted a while, then I joined the large crowd of “hopefuls” along the hall and stood in the doorway to watch the luggage deliveries. I guess a watched cart never produces luggage - although the people in the cabin across the hall and all around us received their checked bags, the area in front of my mom’s and my cabins remained empty. I joked with the girl standing in her doorway across the hall that it felt like a horse race, with all of us urging the carts of luggage to arrive at our doorways first and staring wistfully as they passed us by. Then I saw one of the carts stop in front of my cabin and drop off a couple of bags. Yes! Only it was just a psych-out, as the bags belonged to someone else, and were placed in front of my door by mistake. Boo!

 

 

My mom mentioned Camp Carnival, and then I remembered I was late for the mass Camp Carnival registration! Ooops! I sped off towards the “Puttin’ on Ritz” lounge, making note of the sushi cart along the way. I had my printed pre-registration forms in hand, but still had more forms to fill out there. Laura spotted me and led me over to the table where she, Rob, Brandon, and my nieces sat on their edges of their seats, trying to win one of the give aways. (They had the same luck with that as I did with our luggage.) Well, at least all the kids each got a package of sea-themed Silly Bands!

 

 

When it was over, Laura took Brandon and Delaney back to their cabin to get ready for dinner. I told Rob about the sushi cart, which was going to open any second, so he and Kelsey followed me to some spicy tuna rolls, shrimp rolls, and asaparagus/mushroom rolls. We sat for a while at a nearby table, then since we had early seating, we thought it best if we rounded our group up for dinner.

 

 

After 7 previous Carnival cruises, I’ve come to expect the service at dinner the first night to be…well, less than efficient. I’m sorry to say, though, that tonight’s service disappointed even my low expectations! The 11 of us were crammed together at a table for ten in the front-center area of the dining room. (Side rant: I’m always annoyed when restaurants think that a baby in a high chair shouldn’t count as a place at the table. I mean, I know their babies, but they ARE people! And they take up the same space as an adult when they’re in a bulky wooden high chair!)

 

 

Because there was one more person squeezed in than what the table was meant to accommodate, mine and most of the other chairs could not be pushed in. The two front corners of my chair were wedged against the corners of my mom’s chair and Alex’s chairs. Their chairs were wedged against the other chairs next to theirs in a similar fashion, so all of us (except Brandon, who was in his high chair), were forced to sit a few inches away from the table and either sit on the front edge of our seats, or lean in so that we could still eat over our plates. The area where we sat was a few steps up and boxed in by a metal railing (which made it even more difficult to squeeze behind the chairs) so that we sat higher than the tables along the dining room walls and windows. Our table took up one corner of this area (I think it might have been a “Time-Out” corner), and on either side of us were two more 10-top tables filled with adults. The dining room roared with all the noise of all the diners trying to shout over each other!

 

 

After waiting several minutes, we finally met our servers and got our menus…well, MOST of us got our menus. Poor Alyssa never got her children’s menu or crayons, even after requesting one THREE TIMES so Delaney was kind enough to share hers. After several minutes more, we were asked for our drink orders. (Another side rant here: I realize that no one should be expected to bend over backwards to cater to babies and children, but when you are assigned to wait on a table with 2 young kids and an infant, plus 3-4 other tables of adults, wait on the children first, especially when they arrive before the people at the other tables! Honestly, you can’t expect a one-year-old to wait quietly for his food and not get cranky from being hungry and crammed in a high chair for 2 hours!)

 

 

Finally, after another very long wait, our servers came to take our dinner orders. Alyssa asked for a fruit cup as a starter and a cheese pizza for her meal. Rob and Alex both asked for soup and another of the appetizers. The rest of us placed a standard order of one starter and one entree. As we waited for our appetizers to arrive, the ship began to move. Yep! We had been there an entire HOUR, and still had not received even an appetizer. The large tables next to us were already enjoying their meals. (In fact, when our waiter was trying to serve appetizers at the table behind us, he held one of the hot plates over my head and asked me to “push in a little farther, ma’am!” I shrugged my shoulders, brought my hands up on either side of me, palms up, and replied, “sorry, but I have nowhere to go!” Then I pointed to where my chair was joined to my mom’s, but I don’t think he even noticed because he had managed to push through by then.)

 

 

The noisy engines rattled the table and the ship rumbled and churned along the St. John’s on its way out to sea. Yay! We were on our way! But then my face fell and I realized the time. 7:00pm was when we were scheduled to depart: the exact same time as Alyssa’s favorite activity, the Camp Carnival Welcome Aboard party started! I knew there was no way we would ever make it there before the end of the party, and was a little sad when I remembered Alyssa putting on my lipstick and spraying hand sanitizer on herself so that she would “look good for the party.” Boo!

 

 

The rest of dinner went just as badly as it started. Alex had to request his and Rob’s soup after they both already received their entrees. I had to ask for Alyssa’s fruit after she had finished her pizza. Alex had to ask twice for tea. Overall, none of us were very impressed with food. This was our first cruise trying out the new dinner menus, and I really missed my standard order of Carnival’s St. Louis ribs! I will say that the spinach dip was very good, and the lasagna just ok. The fried chicken was really dry, and mom didn’t like mac-n-cheese side dish, which also looked dry.

 

 

The waiters started changing out the tables for the later seating at 8:00: about the time we finally got to enjoy our desserts. I love chocolate, but I’m not a WMC fan (unbelievable, I know!) so had the diet orange cake and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Most of our group ordered WMC, and Alyssa ordered what she deemed to be “the best brownies ever!” Laura had ordered a cheesecake, but after a long wait with no sign of any dessert, she decided to take Brandon back to the cabin and put him to bed. When her dessert came, my brother asked for a cover so he could take it to his wife at the cabin, and this seemed to cause a huge commotion. There was a large discussion with the a few servers and my brother as to whether taking the dessert out of the dining room was permissible, but in the end, my brother walked out with the cheesecake in hand.

 

 

Our luggage did not arrive at our cabin until just before we went to dinner, so I didn’t get to do any unpacking until we returned from dinner. I was very pleased to see that Iwanyan had lowered the bunk above bed per my request, which made for MUCH more room and floor space.

 

 

My mom had finally received her luggage, too…well, MOST of her bag made it to her room, anyway! Her luggage looked like it had been used as a floor cushion for an elephant! The metal support inside the bag was now flopping around on the outside of her bag, and she no longer needed to unzip the bag to access its contents – all she had to do was reach in through the split seams! “Geez, Mom!” I teased her, “What did you say to the porter before you gave him your bag?!?”

 

 

There was an adult comedy show tonight that Joann and I wanted to see. Alex was going to go with us and let my mom babysit Alyssa, but after he got back to the cabin, he decided he was too comfortable to leave, so he would stay with Alyssa, who was having fun climbing up the ladder, crawling across her bunk, then climbing down from the other side onto our bed below. She completed this circuit several times, then right before I left, she climbed up the ladder onto her bunk and never came down. I peeked up there after a minute or two, and saw her already asleep across the bed. I tucked her in, kissed Alex goodbye, then walked over to my mom’s and Joann’s room.

 

 

Karoke was still going on when we arrived at the lounge for the comedy show, so Joann and I hung out at what used to be the cigar bar, which was just outside the lounge. There were very few people around, so we chatted with the bartender about his home country and his life on board until the doors for the comedy show opened. The comedian was decent and I had a few chuckles during his 30-minute show. None of his jokes were side-splittingly hysterical, but he was entertaining enough.

 

 

I was a little glad the show was a mere half hour, as it had been a long day, and I was ready to get some sleep. Joann and walked back to our cabins to retire around midnight. Alex was already asleep when I came in, so I quietly got ready for bed, felt my way through the darkness and crawled over the foot of the bed into my side of the bed near the faux window. KLUNK! Ouch! So much for not hitting my head on the bunk!

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Carnival Fascination from our shuttle van

 

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My tiny dancer stealing the stage.

 

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The hot tub was popular with the kiddos the entire cruise.

 

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Fun on the balcony

 

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There weren't enough chairs on the balcony for everyone, so Joann got comfortable on the deck.

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Thank you. I will try to post more tomorrow. I promised myself I would get to bed at a decent hour tonight. :)

 

I swear u should work for cruise critic! !! Awesome review as Allways. Pacing the house already waiting for more. Oh I think Id be pulling my hair out if my luggage showed up that late

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Your daughter is adorable. Especially with her doll in the matching dress!

 

But I started reading the review because of the 6 toes part! My uncle had 6 toes.

 

 

I think Hemingway comes into play here.....just a guess.

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I swear u should work for cruise critic! !! Awesome review as Allways. Pacing the house already waiting for more. Oh I think Id be pulling my hair out if my luggage showed up that late

 

Thanks for the confidence builder! Reviews are so subjective, I often wonder if I lose readers in the personal accounts. More to come after I finish working tonight.

The luggage wait was a bummer, but at least it arrived that day and wasn't lost. On my way to CC registration, I got to see the luggage delivery system in action, and I have to say I don't envy that job! There were bags and bags piled up in the hallways and elevator bays by the art gallery, and a few of the crew were tasked with sorting them all by deck and area (aft, bow, center) and then loading them onto the correct carts for delivery. I don't know how they managed to sort through that sea of luggage with a smile and a nod in my direction as I walked through! I would have been ready to throw myself down an elevator shaft or something!

 

Your daughter is adorable. Especially with her doll in the matching dress!

 

But I started reading the review because of the 6 toes part! My uncle had 6 toes.

Thank you! Yes, Groo is correct: Hemingway does play a role in the 6 toes, but not quite what you'd expect. ;)

 

I think Hemingway comes into play here.....just a guess.

Yes, a good guess!

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Great review!!! Thanks

Thank you! And thanks for reading it!

 

Can you share the names of your dining staff? May want to avoid them.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Alas, I think I have a mental block on their names, since it was a couple months ago, and we ate in the MDR only the first 2 nights. :o

Sorry! I wouldn't worry about it though. If you do happen to get them and your party is smaller than ours, it's easy to ask the Maitre D for a different section. We didn't even make the attempt to change sections, though, becAuse there are only so many "big" tables on the ship, and splitting up our group would have meant trying to find 2 big tables next to each other.

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Because of the late comedy show and because it was a sea day, I wanted to sleep in and catch up on my rest. So when I hung our room service breakfast card out on our door the night prior, I wrote “9:15am” in the “Time Requested” space. Only I didn’t account for my brother, the early riser, and a little before 9:00, Rob was tired of waiting for us in my mom’s room and sent Kelsey and Delaney to knock on our door.

 

 

The knocking woke Alyssa up, and she all but lept out of her bunk and sprung to the door yelling, “Room service! Room service! Room service!!”

 

 

Kelsey and Delaney were taken aback when Alyssa and I answered the door in our pajamas, hair sticking out and me still sleepy-eyed. I smiled when I saw their matching startled looks of surprise and told them we’d meet them a little later, because we were just waking up. Then I went back to bed until the REAL room service rapped on our door.

 

 

Again when I opened the door to receive our order, Alyssa bounced up and down on her bunk, announcing, “Room service! Room service! Room service!” like the ship’s crier. I set the large tray down on the desk and turned to sign the slip and hand the nice gentleman a tip. “Alyssa,” I said, reaching for the tray and the muffins I ordered for her, “I ordered you some choc…” I stopped, because the only thing on the room service tray was my hot beverage order (tea for me, coffee for my mom, and chocolate milk for Alyssa.) “Oh no!” I said, “they forgot the muffins!”

 

 

Alex was sitting on the bed and started laughing. When he saw my stupefied expression, he pointed to the bunk above him, where Alyssa’s mouth was already covered in chocolate. That little demon is FAST, and Alex had seen her zip out of the bed, grab the plate of muffins, and carry them up to the bed with her, just like a little cave spider!

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(I think she INHALED those muffins!)

 

 

 

When we were all finally dressed and ready to go, I grabbed the room service tray with the coffee carafe and cups, and walked over to my mom’s room. I knocked on the door, but no one answered. Ah well! I guess they all went to the main dining room for breakfast.

 

 

Alyssa really wanted to go to Camp Carnival, (which surprised me, because the last 3 cruises or so, she wanted nothing to do with the place) so after she finished her muffins, we brought her upstairs to Camp Carnival. There was a long line for both the 6-9 and 2-5 sides! While we waited in the line on the outer deck outside the 2-5 year-old side, we saw the entertainment host, “Dallas from Dallas,” whom I met at the muster drill the first day. He carried a Camp Carnival build-a-bear in its cardboard house out of the 2-5 year old side of Camp Carnival and said that our cruise director, Jen, would be giving it away, but the details he gave were carried off by the strong winds.

 

 

We finally made it inside Camp Carnival, and I had no problem checking Alyssa in. Before we left, I asked if we needed a phone/pager, and the counselor told me no, that they were only for the young ones because they didn’t have a lot of them, and besides, Alyssa seemed okay. I thanked her and was actually glad not to have to keep up with a big phone and its bulky charger. As a concession, the counselor gave me the Camp Carnival number to call from any house phone if I wanted to check on Alyssa, and a Black Friday sale ad for Camp Carnival stuff. “45 minutes only!” was printed in bold letters, and it listed a bunch of neat items that would make great Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. I made a mental note to be on time for the sale later in the week.

 

 

It was 10:00am by the time we left Camp Carnival, which meant that Alex and I had just 30 minutes left to grab some breakfast, from the Lido restaurant below. I started out in the line for the omelet station, but then I saw some sort of cheesy scrambled egg roll-up thingy with sausage, and couldn’t resist. (I’m glad, because that little breakfast burrito thingy was darned yummy!)

 

 

The only empty table outside was dirty, so Alex and I cleared it off ourselves and sat down. I spotted Kelsey and Delaney both wrapped in towels eating ice cream cones, so I walked over to say hello. They asked for Alyssa, and we chatted a bit about our plans for this cruise before I headed back to our table to finish my breakfast. Before I could sit down, though, I happened to see my mom and Joann sitting at a table just inside the restaurant by the sliding glass doors, so I took a slight detour over to their table for a little chat, then I invited them over to our table outside by the stage.

 

 

I sat down in front of my now cold breakfast across from Alex and offered my mom and Joann the remaining two seats. Alex said he had to be vigilant, because at least 4 crew members tried taking the rest of my breakfast. “Sure!” I said, rolling my eyes, “When this table was dirty, not a crew member in sight. But let me step away from my breakfast for a while, and then EVERYone wants to clear it!”

 

 

Not long after I finished my meal it was time for the TV Theme Song Trivia game on the Lido deck. Well, we were there anyway, so we might as well give it a shot. Alex walked onto the stage and returned with a golf pencil and small square of paper. Among the four of us, we got 11 out of the 20 songs correct, but it wasn’t enough to win. One lady sitting by herself on one of the deck chairs in front of the stage claimed that she had 18 correct. The DJ was skeptical and sort of joked around, asking her, “did you cheat?” as he handed her her prize. Ah well! We all had fun just hanging out and playing anyway, especially my mom, who actually hates most games.

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(Joann couldn't resist an after-breakfast DOD!)

 

 

 

We continued to enjoy the ocean air, sunshine and company for a little while, then headed downstairs to look around in the Fun Shops. We took the elevator, since my mom can’t climb stairs, and when the elevator arrived at the promenade area, the doors opened to reveal a HUGE crowd of people! We squeezed out and tried to get into one of the shops and out of the mass of people. The free liquor tasting was in progress in the hallway between the shops, so people were clustered all around, trying to get their souffle cup of free booze. A group of 3-4 people actually stood unmoving across one of the shops’ entryway, obliviously drinking their booze samples while they blocking everyone else from entering or exiting the store.

 

 

I looked around through all the shops, but saw nothing special that I absolutely HAD to have. We had to pick up Alyssa from Camp Carnival anyway, since they close for lunch during sea days. Alex said he would get her, and my mom and I went back to my cabin so we could order room service to take back to the Lido deck with us for lunch. I looked around for “the book.” (You know, the pleather-bound binder that lists all the general info about the ship’s services, phone extensions, and room service menu?) It was not there. There wasn’t one in my mom’s cabin either, so I turned on the TV for the on-screen menu. No room service menu there, either. How strange!

 

 

With a sigh, I picked up the phone receiver and pressed the speed dial button for room service. I explained that I wanted to order lunch, but that there was no menu in the cabin, and I couldn’t find it on the TV either. The lady on the other end of the line said that she didn’t have a menu to send to our cabin, but that she would dictate it to me over the phone. Oh boy! I really wished there was a speakerphone feature on that phone, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to memorize the menu and repeat it back to my mom!

 

 

The poor lady on the phone read off the entire menu, category by category, item by item, including the descriptions and sides. I gave my mom a brief synopsis of what I could remembered, then asked the lady if they still served my favorite steak and brie sandwich. “No ma’am. I’m sorry!” came the reply. Dang it!

 

 

My mom wanted a burger, which room service does not offer, and nothing else sounded very appealing to either of us. Ah well! I ordered a grilled cheese and chocolate cake for Alyssa, and a piece of cheesecake for my mom. We were going up to the Lido deck in a while anyway, so my mom would be able to get her burger from the grill. Alex came back to the cabin with Alyssa a few minutes later. She had a great time at Camp Carnival, but now wanted to change into her swimsuit.

 

 

Our order arrived and I tipped our server. Alex said he’d meet us up on the Lido deck for lunch, so I carried our tray out, and my mom, Alyssa and I walked back upstairs so that Alex could change into his swimsuit too.

 

 

It was around 1:30, and there were a lot of long lines no matter where you looked! We spotted an empty table inside the restaurant (my mom doesn’t like being outside much), and my mom sat down with Alyssa so that I could retrieve my lunch. I walked outside to see what offerings could be found. The longest line was at the grill, which snaked back almost to the stage, so I jumped into the second longest line – the Mongolian station. Yummy!

 

 

I wasn’t too hungry and wanted to save room for tea time later on, so I snagged 2 bowls for sharing my entrée. I left the station with a steaming bowl of fresh chicken, veggies, and noodles, then grabbed drinks for me and my mom. I returned to the table to see that Alex was not only sitting at the table with my mom and Alyssa, but both Mom and Alex were already eating food from buffet. Wow, was I really gone THAT long? I poured half my bowl of Mongolian goodness into the empty bowl and passed it over to my mom, along with her drink. My brother and his family appeared out of nowhere, so we made room and chatted over our meal.

 

 

After lunch, we split up into groups of 2-3 to partake in different activities, but not before us older… I mean, more “mature” ladies (my mom, Joann, Laura, Sandra, and I) agreed to rejoin each other for tea (one of my mom’s and my favorite sea day activities) at 3:00. Alex and Alyssa were already on their way to play mini golf.

 

 

 

My mom wanted to take her broken bag to Guest Services to file a claim, but for some crazy reason, she was afraid of getting rejected. I told her the worst that could happen was that they would tell her “too bad,” leaving her with a broken bag. She was still reluctant to file a claim, and it took a few more minutes of convincing and a promise that I would go with her before she finally agreed.

 

 

We walked along the Lido deck towards the forward elevators, and ran into Alex and Alyssa, both carrying golf clubs and golf balls. “Are you lost?” I asked Alex, “the mini golf is upstairs.”

 

 

Alex explained that they had already started to play, but then Alyssa hit her ball so hard that it went over the barrier and bounced down a couple of decks, so they were down there to retrieve it. Alyssa jumped around repeating the story to me (in case I didn’t catch all of Alex’s version), then announced that they were going to finish their golf game, and go to the Waterworks area afterward.

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(A goofball looking for a golf ball!)

 

 

 

I walked back to my mom’s cabin with her to get her bag, then over to the Guest Services desk to see if anything could be done. Only one other passenger was at the desk, so we had a very short wait. I explained the situation to the kind GSA at the desk, and he walked around to the front so he could take a look at the bag. Seeing that the GSA was being nice and non-accusatory (he even apologized), my mom told me that I didn’t need to wait with her after all.

 

 

I walked up the glass staircase to the photo gallery to look for our pictures. I saw our embarkation photo, several of my sister-in-law and nieces, and even a couple of deck party photos of Alex and Alyssa. I was just scanning one of the walls for our dining room photo when I spotted my brother, sister-in-law, Brandon and Sandra. I showed them the pictures that I found thus far, and we talked. Sandra said she was looking forward to afternoon tea, but Laura apologized and said she would have to bail.

I explained that my mom would meet us in the piano bar at tea time, and I escorted Sandra to the tea venue, which was not yet set up. No problem, we found some comfortable chairs in the library and talked a while. My mom arrived and sat down in the library next to me to wait. She said that the GSA told her they would have to file a claim for the broken bag with the Miami office, but for now duct tape would have to suffice.

 

 

At 3:00pm, I saw the doors to the piano bar across the hall open and a couple of young women walk in. I led Sandra and my mom into “Club 88” and selected a table near the piano, but on the opposite side of the room as the other guests. Sadly, the selection of tea…especially decaf tea… was not the best, but we still had a nice relaxing experience.

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(I love that the tables in the piano bar are shaped like pianos!)

 

 

The waiter tried to take my cup within seconds after I took the last sip of tea, but I stopped him and politely asked for more hot water and another tea bag. He brought me more hot water, but no tea. Ah well! I needed to shower and get ready for our elegant evening and photos anyway. I excused myself from the table and returned to my cabin.

 

 

Alex and Alyssa walked through the door just as I was getting out of the shower. Alyssa was excited from all the fun she had at the Waterworks area, and Alex said she tried the “big slide” and loved it so much she did it again and again! I smiled and help her get ready for dinner as she gave me a blow-by-blow account of her slide adventures.

 

 

We were all ready to go by 4:30, which gave us plenty of time for pictures. I tried to call Rob’s cabin, but having no pleather book, we had no phone instructions. I tried dialing his cabin number in a variety of ways, but nothing worked. I pressed the Guest Services speed dial button, but instantly got a busy signal. Well, I guess we would have a head start trying out the various picture venues.

 

 

 

We picked up my mom and Joann from their cabin and headed towards the main atrium. We stopped for pictures at the bottom of the staircase, and the photographer took a variety of shots – me Alex and Alyssa, Alex and Alyssa, me and Alyssa, me, my mom and Alyssa, etc. The last photo was of just me an Alex, so Alyssa stood next to my mom and waved. Just as the photographer took the picture, I spied a teenage girl running through the area towards the cabin hallway near the Guest Services desk. Alyssa was still standing there, watching me, and to my horror and outrage, the girl PUSHED Alyssa out of her way so that she could run through! “Hey!” I shouted, but the girl was already gone.

 

 

We walked to the back of the ship, looking at all the backdrops in hopes of finding my brother and his family. No luck. We wound up at the bar outside the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” lounge, where the bartender whom Joann and I met the previous night was pouring drinks.

 

 

Alex and Alyssa went down the stairs to check Rob’s cabin on the Upper deck. It took a while for them to come back, but they did make it back, and with the rest of our group following. Let the chaos begin! We took a few pictures with some different backgrounds and with a variety of shots: just the grandmas and grandkids, each grandma with the grandkids, parents and kids, parents only, kids only, etc. Hopefully, a few of the pictures would turn out alright.

 

 

We still had some time to kill before dinner, so we walked back to the cigar lounge to wait, then down the stairs to the main dining room. We tried changing the seating arrangement a bit tonight so that the adults could get a bit more elbow room, but we didn’t have a whole lot to work with in the first place. Still, at least the waiter wasn’t passing food and hot dishes over my head this evening!

 

 

My hopes that the service would be even a little better tonight were crushed. Again the service was slow, inefficient, and disorganized. I mentioned before that I’ve had 8 previous cruises (7 with Carnival), but do you know that in all those cruises, I never once missed dinner in the main dining room? To me the MDR experience was an absolute must, no matter how slow the service, but tonight even I conceded that we would be better off with the casual Lido dining for the rest of the cruise. Boo!

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("Hey! Where's my food?!?")

 

 

 

Tonight, Alyssa’s request for a starter was again ignored, and she didn’t get her strawberry soup until long after her pizza came. My turkey farfalle starter was stone cold and clumpy and missing the peas that the menu listed. “Hey!” I joked with Alex and Rob, “Someone took a pea on my pasta!”

 

 

 

It took a while, but I finally managed to flag our waiter down and give the dish back to him. “I’m sorry,” I said, “but this is cold and missing the peas. Can I please have the spinach dip instead?”

 

 

My favorite Carnival entrée, St. Louis BBQ ribs, was on the menu tonight. Really? BBQ and corn on the cob in evening wear?!? Oh, what the heck! I took the risk and ordered it. I’m glad I did, because I seemed to be the only one at the table who actually enjoyed my entrée! I wasn’t going to press my luck with the corn, though, so I passed it to Alex with a silly remark about “lending him my ear.” Alex rolled his eyes, but then made some sort of crack about nibbling my ear at the dinner table. His smile quickly faded after that first bite. “Ugh! It’s horrible!” he grimaced.

 

 

I’m not a fan of coleslaw, so I had ordered a side of steamed white rice instead. I don’t know what I was thinking or expecting, though, because the rice was bland and unappealing. Well, at least the ribs were tasty!

Our servers took a long time to serve us again, and Laura grew tired of waiting for her dessert to arrive. She excused herself from the table, told Rob he could have hers (“if it ever comes”) and took Brandon back to the cabin for bedtime. Our dessert did finally arrive about 5-10 minutes later…well, sort of. Most of us ordered the Bitter & Blanc, but none of us got the vanilla sauce that made up the “Blanc” part of the dessert! Kelsey and Alyssa had both ordered banana splits from the kids menu, but only Alyssa got what she ordered, as our waiter plopped a pineapple sorbet in front of Kelsey and took off. Three of us (including Alyssa) had to ask the waiter to bring Kelsey the dessert she actually ordered before she got her banana split, and we almost had to beg for the warm vanilla sauce on the rest of our desserts.

 

 

Disappointed at dinner again, we all walked back to our respective cabins to change into more comfortable clothes. I told Alex that I would stay with Alyssa tonight so that he could get a turn at the comedy. I needed to rest anyway, so I filled out our room service card, snuggled up with Alyssa in the big bed, and we watched “Horton Hears a Who” until we fell asleep.

 

 

Tomorrow would be an early day at Key West, one of my favorite ports!

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(That's Miami in the background.)

 

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"Passage To India" had two of these elephant "crashing" through the front walls.

 

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The library was a nice place to hang out.

 

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The girls were very patient during our portrait sessions.

 

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I forgot to mention the state of our TV remote: "If the batteries in your remote is held in by old duct tape...you might be a redneck!"

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Your mom sounds very cool!! There is nothing wrong with burgers!!!! Brandon will be doing the same thing with those cookies we will order for him from room service. Oh I do hope our MDR experience isnt like yours. we have friends going for there very first cruise and we so want it to be a blast for them! Wow that is pretty sad on the remote!

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experience on your cruise sounds exactly like our experience on the Dream right before Christmas. The first time I have actually complained to the Maitre De'. Never got anything/everything right, more then two hours for dinner every night...hamburgers coming after everyone else ordered desert...I was amazed at how bad it could be.

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Alyssa was up at 5:00am today…briefly. Lily, her dolphin PillowPet had fallen off her bunk, so she climbed down the ladder, rescued Lily, gave Alex a kiss, then climbed back up into the bunk to go back to sleep. I drifted in and out of sleep and felt the ship shudder as it pulled into Key West.

 

 

Today would be an early day, because our time in Key West was depressingly short. So I had set our “room service alarm” for 7:00am, so that we could relish every precious minute in port.

 

 

The three of us dressed, gathered our excursion backpack and my camera, then walked over to my mom’s cabin around 7:30 with a carafe of coffee. Whoops! We missed her again! So up to the Lido deck we went with the carafe and the last chocolate muffin from our order. We found my Mom, Joann, Sandra, and Kelsey having breakfast in the casual Lido restaurant deck, so I pulled up a couple of chairs and placed the coffee carafe in front of my mom, who smiled at me gratefully.

 

 

 

Within 10 minutes, a rather grumpy server came along and tried to take the coffee carafe. I grabbed the handle and said, “Sorry, she’s not done with that yet.” Well, Grumpy started to argue with me that we were not “permitted” to have a carafe in the restaurant! Then he made another grab for the carafe, pointed at the coffee station and said, rather rudely, “If she wants coffee, she can just go get it.”

 

 

 

I tightened my grip, and as nicely as I could through gritted teeth, explained that my mother had mobility issues, and it wasn’t all that easy for her to “just go get coffee.” My mom flashed her cane (to prove her handicap, not to whack him with it...I think!), and he reluctantly left us alone. Sheesh!

 

 

We were off the ship just before 9:00am. We took the obligatory gangway pictures, then clustered together on the pier to map out a plan of attack. Sandra was in my mom’s companion wheelchair, but despite my urging, my mom opted not to take her standard wheelchair, (“it’s too much of a pain… won’t fit on the trolley… hard to get around places… I’ll be fine with the cane…etc.”) Finally, Sandra told my mom that they could swap out when my mom needed to, so I left it at that.

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(My brother, trying to "off" his mother-in-law.)

 

 

 

We walked down the pier and stopped at the end to wait for my brother and Kelsey to catch up. (They were looking at a tour guide’s shark photos…Kelsey is really into sharks!) While we waited, Alyssa saw a little boy feeding Cheez-its to the pigeons, and somehow managed to sucker him into sharing with her so that she could feed the birds too.

 

 

 

Back to business, we walked past the art museum and its naked dancing sculptures and realistic statues. I had already purchased our City View trolley tickets online (and at a discount), so once we were past the museum, it was just a matter of crossing the street to the City View ticket site to trade my print-out in on trolley stickers. Lucky us, a trolley was ready and waiting already, so we all hopped on board.

 

 

The driver was very friendly and funny as he pointed out several sites and gave us some facts and history about the island. Our main destination was the Hemingway House, because I knew my mom and Alyssa would both enjoy the grounds and all the resident six-toed cats. Alyssa was fascinated with the idea of petting a cat with extra toes, and kept asking when we would be there.

 

 

Now here is the part of the story where Alex and I earn our MPITW, “Meanest Parents In The World” Award. About the 10th or 12th time Alyssa asked when we’d be able to see the six-toed cats, I heard Alex lean in and say, “You know, Alyssa, petting a six-toed cat can make you GROW a sixth toe!”

 

 

 

Alyssa’s eyes got really wide, then she looked at him suspiciously. “Nu-uh!” she said, “It won’t really make me grow a sixth toe, will it, Mommy?”

 

 

 

Trying hard to suppress my smile, I looked at her as seriously as I could and said, “Hmmm…I have known people with six toes. Maybe that’s how they got them!” Alyssa pondered this bit of info for a while, then smiled and told us we were just being silly and that no WAY that could happen. Still, she didn’t look very sure of herself.

 

 

The trolley stopped at the Southern Most Point for anyone who wanted to get off and take pictures or visit the butterfly museum. My brother decided to hop off with Brandon and Kelsey, get the obligatory picture, then meet up with us later. The rest of us stayed put until we made it to the Hemingway House.

 

 

Now, I’ve was in Key West years prior when we sailed on the Celebration, and before that Alex and I had spent a week there enjoying the island, and I have to say not much has changed. Traveling around on the trolley was like getting reacquainted with an old friend, and I would have liked to stay on for the entire route once before getting off, but our time was limited, and Alyssa was anxious to pet those cats.

 

 

We bought our tickets at a discount at the gate of the Hemingway House (AAA rate) and lined up for the tour. My mom and Sandra would not be able to visit the upstairs area, but they were content to tour the downstairs of the house and the gardens. Alyssa was in cat-lover’s heaven, and kept a keen eye out for kitty cats she could pet.

 

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Delaney, on the other hand, was not having quite as much fun. Delaney doesn’t really “get” cats, since she’s had only dogs as pets, and those she was used to rough-housing with without any consequences. So she didn’t really know how to identify a cat who was friendly enough to pet, and one who was p*--ed off and wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately for her, the cat she approached was of the latter temperament and scratched her hand.

 

 

It was a very small scratch, but it bled and smarted, and when I encountered her and Laura in the garden, she was still holding onto the top of her injured hand. I took a look, grabbed a Band-Aid out of my camera bag (with my accident-prone Alyssa, I ALWAYS have to have them on me), and I applied it to her wound. The magic healing power of the Band-Aid immediately made Delaney feel better.

 

 

It took us some time and a few texts and phone calls to find all of our group. Rob never made it to the Hemmingway House, so Laura and Sandra were going to meet him at the Bahama Village. Laura asked me for directions (her mistake!), so I whipped out my little trolley map (my mistake!) and pointed out the little square marked “Bahama Village.” Between the two of us, we mapped out a route. Laura, Delaney and Sandra went on ahead while Alyssa and I stood at the front gate, waiting for Alex, Joann, and my mom to find us. They finally made it out and we were on our way to the Bahama Village…sort of.

 

 

You see, the map that I had from the trolley wasn’t entirely accurate, and the Village was NOT where the map indicated. We walked for several blocks down the wrong road, Alyssa going on and on about how she petted 150…no 1000…no 5000 cats! and Joann asking everyone she saw, including school children, “do you know where the Bahama Village is? Where’s the Bahama Village?” (Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

 

 

We did eventually walk to the Bahama Village, which turned out to be on the opposite side of the Hemingway House! If we had turned right instead of left when we exited, we would have found it on the practically the very next block!

 

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By now, though, my mom was spent, having limped along so many blocks with just her cane and no wheelchair. She and Alyssa sat down on a bench outside one of the shops, and assured me she’d be okay but just need to rest. I reached into my backpack to give Alyssa a snack of dry cereal from room service and asked if she wanted a box too, which she declined. So I walked into the store and bought a couple of cold drinks for the both of them.

 

 

 

Alex, Joann and I whipped in and out of the stores on either side of the street. We didn’t see anything we just had to have in any of them, so we collected my mom and Alyssa and walked down the street to the trolley stop. We hopped on the very next trolley, and my mom said she needed to go back to the ship to rest, and could take Alyssa with her. Alyssa was happy for that, so I passed my mom her S&S card. As I did, Alyssa started to complain that her pinky toe hurt from all the walking.

 

 

 

Well, me being the uncompassionate, mean and evil mommy that I am, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tease her about the cats again. So I told her foot probably hurt because she was growing a sixth toe and her shoes just weren’t wide enough for that many toes! (Bad, Mommy! Bad, bad Mommy!!) Alyssa basically told me I was crazy, and that there was no WAY she was growing another toe! “We’ll see,” I shrugged.

 

 

We left my mom and Alyssa on the trolley to return to the ship, and Alex, Joann, and I hopped off just before Front Street so that we could shop at the off-Duval stores and Kermit’s Key Lime shop. I’m not really a fan of Key Lime pie, but Kermit’s had more than just pie, and delicious samples of almost everything in the store! I tried Key Lime fudge, Key Lime taffy, Key Limeade, and a variety of other Key Lime candies and nuts. I even sampled the Key Lime wine, which wasn’t bad, but not really a flavor I would seek. I purchased some Key Lime coconut patties for my cousin who LOVES coconut patties and Key Lime wing sauce for a stocking stuffer for Alex. When we exited, I had to get a picture with Kermit, who was standing outside the shop holding a pie.

 

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We walked a little further down the street to do some more shopping, then followed a large tour group back to Kermit’s. The group gathered around the front of the store as the guide gave a little history lesson, and then everyone gasped. Kermit had hit one of the tourists smack in the center of his chest with the pie he was holding! He held it on the guy’s chest for a few more seconds for effect, then pulled it away to reveal that it was fake! I laughed at the look of disbelief, and then relief on the guy’s face.

 

 

We continued our walk and stumbled upon “Peppers of Key West,” a hot sauce place with a tasting bar. There were a few patrons sampling the various sauces and turning various shades of pink and red. The three of us browsed the shelves of sauces until one of the employees behind the bar invited us to try a free tasting of the sauces. Um, ok. I’ll be a sport. I sat on one of the bar stools with Alex and Joann on either side of me, and the guy placed a couple of bowls of tortilla chips in front of us. Then he asked me what sort of flavors I liked, and started pouring one of the sauces into a little cup for us. He gave us an overview of the sauce and the number of Scovo Units (heat factor), cracked a few jokes, then poured another sample from a different bottle.

 

 

 

Who would have thought we’d have such a great time trying out hot sauces?!? But the guy was really funny and constantly cracked jokes and little innuendos that had Joann in stitches! Pure entertainment and some great hot sauces too! We bought a bottle of one of their most popular hot sauces, and I asked where we could get some ice cream to put out the fire on my tongue. Instead of directions, we were given spoonfuls of Pepper’s Key Lime cream cheese dessert, which was delicious and immediately stopped the burning!

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(Joann and our "host" at the hot sauce bar.)

 

 

 

We thanked our “host” and headed for the door. Alex asked if there was anywhere at all on the island where he could get a fountain drink, because so far he’s seen nothing but canned sodas. The guy at Pepper’s had to think about it for a while, but then told Alex he might have luck at a pizza place just down the street.

 

 

Well, the pizza place had fountain drinks, but too bad for Alex – they carried Pepsi. So he found a place that sold bottles of Diet Coke and then was ready for more shopping. I suddenly remembered that I wanted to visit Kinos’ shoe store, so we walked to the small strip mall a few blocks away. There, I purchased a cute pair of handmade leather sandals for Alyssa for just $10. Next door was a jewelry store with some great prices and a lady who was willing to deal. I bought two pairs of lovely black opal set in silver earrings (palm trees and butterflies) as Christmas gifts for my BFFs for less than $40/pair. I also saw a black opal necklace and earring set (geckos) that I fell in love with, but didn’t want to spend the money on myself. I saw Alex trying to covertly talk to the lady behind the counter about the set, so I thought I’d give him a little privacy and check out the other stores in the mall.

 

 

Alex completed his “secret” Christmas gift purchase, Joann bought a few t-shirts, and then the three of us moved on to the next block of stores. We came to the Toy Factory inside a mall I remembered from when Alex and I had our Key West land vacation. They had lots of great toys at reasonable prices, and I managed to knock a few more people off my Christmas shopping list. We also ran into Rob and Kelsey there. Rob said that he tried the “growing a 6th toe” thing on Delaney and had her so convinced that being scratched by a six-toed cat was a surefire way to grow a sixth toe, that she cried. (There goes MY MPITW Award!) He felt really bad, and assured her that he was just teasing her, so then she thought it was kind of funny.

 

 

Shopping bags in hand, we walked across the mall to the Nature Encounter, where two beautiful macaws let out an ear-piercing shriek at my approach. Ugh! A little backstory here: birds hate me. I don’t know why, but they do. Over the last 12 years or so, I have been attacked by ducks, charged by a chicken, stalked by peacocks, accosted by storks, and been on the losing end of a battle with a seagull over my breakfast. Alex likes to joke that the last photograph I will ever take will be an extreme close-up of a bird’s beak and/or claws. So needless to say, I was a bit hesitant to enter the Nature Encounter after the two macaws out in the mall sounded their alarm!

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(Ah, my old nemesis!)

 

We didn’t have much time left, so our trip through the Nature Encounter was blessedly short. They had a sort of tropical themed path through their very small bird exhibit, complete with an electronic alligator on a motion sensor. Joann didn’t see the gator, and when she walked by, it rolled out and snapped at her, causing her to jump backwards and scream. We couldn’t help but laugh at how high she jumped!

 

 

 

So then mischievous Kelsey ran ahead of us to hide in the faux reeds and scared Joann again by jumping out at her. (Yep, she’s her daddy’s girl alright!)

 

 

Around 2:15, the five of us left the Nature Encounter, walked downstairs, and left the mall with all our purchases. A short stroll and we were back at the art museum with a nice view of the Fascination. Rob’s phone rang, and from his conversation, I gathered it was my mom. He told her we were on Duval Street, and that he was positive we didn’t have to be back on board until 3:00. (In actuality, we were supposed to be back at 2:30 so the ship could sail at 3:00). He stuck to his story through the end of the call.

 

 

Seconds after he hung up, MY phone rang. It was my mom trying to persuade me to get us all back on the ship ASAP. I decided to play along with my brother’s little joke as I walked through the checkpoint at the pier, and insisted that we didn’t have to be back on board until 3:00, and had plenty of time to walk back to the ship.

 

 

After I hung up my phone, JOANN’S phone rang, and the joke stopped there. Joann didn’t realize what was going on, and I heard her say, “Yeah, we’re walking through security right now. Uh-huh. Alex and Laura are here. Yep, Rob too.” Ah well! It was fun while it lasted!

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Your mom sounds very cool!! There is nothing wrong with burgers!!!! Brandon will be doing the same thing with those cookies we will order for him from room service. Oh I do hope our MDR experience isnt like yours. we have friends going for there very first cruise and we so want it to be a blast for them! Wow that is pretty sad on the remote!

I'm sure your friends will have a great time! Bad service in the MDR is very rare. And yes, my mom is cool...but don't tell her I said that! ;)

 

Simply fantastic! Love your writing style. Obviously don't know what you do for a living but love the attention to detail. Thanks so much for sharing and look forward to more. Very considerate and an asset to cruise critic.

Wow, thank you! :o I'm humbled by such compliments.

I've been a technical writer for about 12 years, so I'm used to writing things that people don't want to read, like instruction manuals and online help files.

 

experience on your cruise sounds exactly like our experience on the Dream right before Christmas. The first time I have actually complained to the Maitre De'. Never got anything/everything right, more then two hours for dinner every night...hamburgers coming after everyone else ordered desert...I was amazed at how bad it could be.

I'm so sorry to hear that. Our lousy service was a big shock to me too. I'd never had poor service from a MDR wait team before, and up until now, just took for granted that we would always have a good dining experience.

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Back at the pier to board the ship in Key West, there were two very VERY long lines – one at the front of the ship, and one aft. Rob and Kelsey got in the line aft, which was closest to their cabins, and Alex, Joann and I joined the line forward.

 

Alex and I followed Joann back to her cabin, where Alyssa was napping. Joann went on an on to my mom about how my mom would have LOVED the shopping, it was so great. I tried to shoot Joann a look of “be quiet! You’re not helping!” but again, Joann didn’t realize that she was only adding to my mom’s disappointment.

 

Alyssa woke up with a smile, and I gave her a little dolphin bracelet, which she loved. “I bought you something else,” I told her, then produced the sandals I bought from Kino’s. Alyssa was thrilled. “These should be wide enough for all six of your toes,” I told her with a wink. (I know! I know! But I just couldn’t resist!)

 

“I DON’T HAVE SIX TOES!” Alyssa retorted, rolling her eyes. Then she and Alex sat on the bed and they took turns counting her toes, first with her socks on, then on her bare feet. Socks or no socks, Alex always managed to count six.

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(Toe counting)

 

It was about time for the ship to depart, and my well-rested Alyssa wanted to go to the Waterworks area. So we went back to our cabin, changed her into her swimsuit, and went upstairs to Waterworks…with a brief stop at the grill for an afternoon snack. Both Alex and I were starving! We carried our trays upstairs to the aft where the Waterworks area was, found two loungers, and enjoyed our food while Alyssa played and went down the corkscrew slide, then the down racing slides over and over and over again.

 

Being a social butterfly like her daddy, Alyssa had no problem making friends with everyone she came across. She really took to one little girl in particular, who looked to be 3 or 4 years old. The little girl held Alyssa’s hand as Alyssa led her to my and Alex’s loungers.

 

“And this is my Mommy and Daddy,” Alyssa introduced us, “Mommy, she has to go potty.” I looked at the girl, who obviously had to go really bad, but I knew better than to take some stranger’s little girl into a bathroom and remove her bathing suit. So I asked the girl where her parents were. She didn’t know.

 

I told Alyssa to take the little girl through the rows of loungers and see if she could spot them. They went past every chair, and no parents. By this time, the little girl was holding herself like Michael Jackson and looked like she was ready to cry.

 

I walked over to Alyssa and told her to take the little girl to the potty. Alyssa nodded, but before the girls took one more step, the little girl’s dad showed up. Whew! Finally! Alyssa said goodbye to the little girl, then ran off to play with some other kids. I went back to the lounger to soak up a few more rays while I watched her and her new friends play.

 

Suddenly, everything went silent. No gush of water from the Waterworks, no engines churning, everything was quiet except for the waves slapping against the ship. The engines had stopped, and we were adrift at sea. I looked up at the ship’s funnel just in time to see dark smoke billowing out. Uh-oh!

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(Ummm...this can't be good!)

 

Our cruise director, Jen, came over the PA system, indicating that the ship was experiencing technical problems, but that the engineers were working on restoring the power. In the meantime, she reminded us that some of the interior areas of the ship would be very dark, so be careful in the stairwells and hallways.

 

I looked at Alex and asked if we should go. “Why?” he asked, “She just said the ship was dark, so why not stay here where we can see?” He made a good point.

 

Alyssa came over to us to inform us that the ship had stopped (as if we didn’t notice.) Then she asked if that meant the cruise would be over. I assured her everything would be alright, and considered the possibility of the ship being beyond immediate repair. Let’s see. Key West was not too far in the distance, so it wouldn’t take long to tow the ship back there. Yeah, I could spend a couple more days in Key West, then fly back home. Sure, it would be a bummer to end the cruise early, but it really wouldn’t be such a bad deal.

 

While I daydreamed, the Carnival crew that had been monitoring the Waterworks area brought out the nets to cover the ends of the slides. Alyssa walked over and helped the crew secure the nets over the slides, and then shooed little boy away from his perch between the two racing slides. (I wondered if it was the same little boy I saw walking up one of the racing slides and who had to be lifted off the slide by one of the crew. Then I wondered where his parents were?!?)

nets.jpg

(Helping out.)

 

A little while later, Jen came back over the PA system with an update. She said the power should be back shortly, and to remember to be careful as areas of the ship were dark. We continued to drift on the water. Then the PA sounded again, and I saw Alyssa raise her hand up in the air to quiet everyone. Jen announced that partial power had been restored, and the technicians were now working on the rest.

 

“Yay! We can keep cruising!” Alyssa shouted, then high-fived her new friends. 20-30 minutes later, we heard the engines start back up, and then we were sailing again! The Waterworks, pools, and hot tubs were still closed, and there was no indication that the nets would be removed anytime soon, so we called to Alyssa and all went downstairs to our cabin to change. The stairwell was still dark, but the small emergency lights on the sides of the stairs were working. Alex suggested we take the elevators, which seemed to be working again, but I didn’t trust it. “You want to get stuck in an elevator?” I asked.

 

We walked down the promenade and bumped into Rob, Delaney and Brandon near the sushi cart on their way to the pool. When she heard Delaney was going to the pool, Alyssa wanted to go too, so Alex said he would take her and followed Rob and his two youngest back the way we came. Nearby, Sandra and Laura were sitting at table, so I pulled up a chair and sat down to talked to them. I scanned the casino behind me and noticed that only quarter-flipper machines were operational, and I wondered when all the power would be restored. Laura and I were just standing up to hunt down our husbands and children, when Jen made the announcement that the ships power was now operating at 100%. Yay!

 

I followed Laura to the Lido deck, where we spotted our guys and girls. Despite the power being back up, the pools and hot tubs were still closed, so Delaney and Alyssa were very disappointed. Oh well! It was about time we went back to our cabins to change for dinner anyway. Tonight would be my very first dinner experience at the buffet, and I hoped it was better than the main dining room. Too bad for me, it wasn’t.

 

Only one side of the buffet was open, and the selection was not so great. (Well, at least we knew we’d be finished in time for the Past Guest party tonight!) I set my plate of food in front of my seat at our table, along with a headache powder I grabbed from our cabin. Then I walked over to the drink machines to pour myself a glass of water. I was barely gone for a minute when one of the Lido servers grabbed my headache powder and plate. Alex chased her down and got both items back just in time! Well, at least the service here was faster than the MDR! LOL!

 

We ate a mediocre light dinner, and then walked down to the main show lounge for the PG party. Unlike my other cruises, where there was a party for guests with Early seating and one for those with Late seating, the Fascination had only one PG party for everyone, and it was scheduled for 7:15.

 

Delaney wasn’t feeling that great, so Laura said she would skip the party and take Delaney and Brandon back to the cabin to rest. She gave Sandra (first time Carnival cruiser) her invitation, then handed Rob Delaney’s invitation, just in case there was a drawing.

 

Our group of 8, plus 2-3 fellow passengers, hopped onto the first available elevator down to the Atlantic (I think) deck, with Sandra standing closest to the doors. When the elevator stopped one floor before where we were going to get off and the doors opened, Rob told Sandra, “Go! Hurry, before the doors close!” Sandra walked off the elevator, but the rest of us stayed on.

 

Sandra realized too late that she was on the wrong deck, and turned around just as the doors were closing. “Oh no!!!” she exclaimed, with a hilarious look of surprise and despair on her face. The doors shut and everyone, including our fellow passengers, burst out laughing. When the elevator stopped on the correct deck, Rob did the right thing, and went upstairs to fetch his lost mother-in-law.

 

My mom was still laughing over the look on Sandra’s face when Alex asked her, “don’t you appreciate me just a little bit more now?” My mom hugged him and said, “yes! Thank you, Alex!”

 

There was a large crowd gathering in front of the closed doors to the lounge. (I noted later that the party started late, but ended right on time.) As we waited, a woman in front of us asked if she had to have an invitation to enter, because really she hadn’t sailed Carnival before, but her husband had, and she was with him. Rob told her not to worry, that they would let her in anyway. Then he handed the lady Delaney’s invitation, “just in case.”

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(Funship Freddy greeted us.)

 

The drinks and hors d'oeuvres flowed freely, and the band played some lively tunes. I can always count on Alyssa to be the first on the dance floor, and tonight was no different. She dragged Kelsey to dance with her and soon, the dance floor was full of kids! But I guess there weren’t enough kids up there for Alyssa, because she walked down the stage steps and invited some other little girls from the front row to dance as well. They all had a blast!

 

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(Cheers!)

 

The music stopped, and Jen took the stage to emcee the Carnival trivia game (I was out by round 3) and raffle drawing. Then we saw the typical past guest video, got the standard Future Cruise Certificate spiel, listened to the special offer for raffle ticket sales, then we were bid a farewell. Alyssa was wound up and still wanted to dance, so Alex, Rob and I took her up to the Lido deck to see if maybe there was a deck party or something. Too bad there was no music, but we did see a crew member working on one of the hot tubs, and it looked like they were preparing to open them.

 

That was all it took for Alex and Alyssa. They rushed back to the cabin to change into their swimsuits. I chatted with my brother as we walked back to aft elevators, then traversed the length of the ship back to my own cabin. Waiting for me were a bucket of ice keeping a bottle of champagne cold, a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, a 24 carat gold plastic ship-on-a-stick, and note from cruise directors Jen and John Heald, wishing me a “lovely cruise.” What a sweet surprise!

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I freshened up, then knocked on my mom’s and Joann’s door. The three of us were going to the comedy show in the aft lounge tonight. I had a few laughs, but on the whole, I’d say the show was just okay. Joann swore the comedian was 10 times funnier the previous night, but I’d have to just take her word for it. My mom was ready to turn in, so she said goodnight and made her way back to her cabin.

 

Joann and I walked the length of the ship again so that we could see the guest talent show in the main lounge. While I appreciated the vocal talents of the participants, I was disappointed that all but one of the participants were singers; I was hoping for some variety in the show. The one act that was not a singing act opened the show: a pretty good harmonica player.

 

When the talent show ended around 11:00, Joann and I crossed ship yet again to see the second comedy show, which was an adults-only show. The comedian I saw our first night took the stage, and I thought his material was actually a little better. When the show was over, we walked the length of the ship one last time so we could retire in our cabins.

 

Alex and Alyssa were already asleep, but I was still a little wound up from the day’s excitement. So I powered up my laptop, inserted my SD card from my camera, and started backing up and cleaning up my pictures from the last few days. There would be plenty of time to sleep in, anyway, as we weren’t scheduled to arrive in Nassau until noon.

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