Jamman54

Our next adventure has begun!!!

Hey Stephanie! First to the party!

We got settled in and then Patti made a CVS run. When she got back we went over to Ruby Tuesday’s for some dinner and drinks…… We went back to the hotel to relax and watch the Masters. Later on, Patti went out and took some pictures around the hotel before we crashed for the night…… To be continued……

We are now given Room #120. This was the same room we had in January….. To be continued…..

While I’m checking in, Patti gets some pictures of the Lobby and Breakfast Area….. We are given Room # 322. Patti begins to take pictures, but before we can get settled in we discover that the toilet is leaking. We call down to the Front Desk and they give us another room. To be continued…..

Hello Cruise Critic Family! My beautiful wife Patti and I have just returned from another cruise adventure. This time we were aboard the Carnival Vista for B2B cruises. The first cruise was a six day cruise to Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Amber Cove. The second cruise was an eight day cruise to Aruba, Bonaire, and Grand Turk. For both cruises we had the same Havana interior cabin # 5214. When the Vista came out in 2016, we thought that we would love to try one of the Havana Cabana cabins, but we never got a chance to book one before Covid hit. When cruising resumed, our first cruise was on the Horizon, but those Havana cabins were not available so we just booked a regular balcony aft on the port side. Much to our surprise we saw that we could look down directly into the cabana and see that there was no privacy. Also, the views of the sea from there were not very good. We decided then that those cabins were not for us, so we booked a Havana interior for our Panorama cruise. We couldn’t have been more pleased. We felt that with the Havana area itself, an interior cabin is all you need, and it is very cost effective. When we got back from that cruise we immediately booked the same for these cruises. The bonus was we received a great offer that basically gave us two weeks on this ship for the price of one. We couldn’t have been happier! We decided once again to purchase Cheers for both cruises. Since we came out a bit ahead on the Tribe Cruise, we figured that with a total of six sea days we could make it worthwhile. I calculated that with some coffees, waters, and milkshakes, collectively we would have to consume about twelve (12) alcoholic beverages a day to make it worthwhile. That’s just twelve (12) out of a possible thirty (30) alcoholic drinks a day. That seems doable to me. I know that I will have to do the heavy lifting, but like I said, I am always up to the challenge! As the review progresses I will keep track of our numbers, and at the end of the review, I will reveal if indeed, it was worth it for us. These cruises were going to be about nothing but relaxing. We didn’t book any all-inclusives since it would be cheaper to utilize the Havana Area and Cheers. We did book Pool Cabanas in Amber Cove and Grand Turk just for a change of pace, and a reason to get off the ship! Once again, we will be driving down to Florida. We must have made this trip a hundred times. Being away from home for so long it just makes sense for us to have our own car down there. We can pack as much of our stuff as we want to, since we don’t have to worry about luggage weights and car rentals. Back in the day when our vacation time was limited, we used to drive straight through in one shot which used to take about eighteen hours. Since we have the time now, we will break it up into two days. As usual, our reviews start and end at home and cover everything in between. I know that some people like to get right into the cruise stuff and I understand that, but when doing these reviews we want to re-live the whole vacation, not just part of it. Our format will remain the same as our past reviews with a day by day account. As always, there will be many, many pictures with plenty of explanations and details. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS740 HS, and our water, and back-up camera, is the Fuji FinePix XP60. Unfortunately, our water camera died halfway through the cruise. So, let’s get this party started! We strive to make you feel that you are cruising right along with us, so grab yourself a DOD, and hop on board with us and join the fun! Pre-Cruise - (April 10th & 11th) - On the road again! As always, we begin our travels around 9pm in the evening. This allows us to bypass the morning rush hours in Baltimore and Washington. Our son Ryan will be minding the house and our cats. As usual, he takes our picture as we head out the door….. After leaving the house we make a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for a large coffee. Though I took a nap before leaving, the extra caffeine will definitely help. I really don’t mind the drive at all. There is hardly any traffic, so I set the cruise control to 79 mph and listen to tunes all night. For the most part, the drive down was uneventful until we hit North Carolina where it began to rain. Between watching the lines on the road, and the windshield wipers moving back and forth, it was making me sleepy. Patti, who normally doesn’t do any of the driving, took over for me and drove for an hour and a half until we stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Santee, South Carolina….. That breakfast sure hit the spot….. After filling our bellies, and Patti getting a little shopping time, we are back on the road again. We made really good time so we arrive at today’s final destination, Kingsland, Georgia a little after noon. We are going to be staying at the Country Inn & Suites. If this place looks familiar, it is our usual stop over point when heading south or cruising from Jacksonville….. To be continued…..

Good morning Greg. Enjoy your day in Bonaire! 😎

It's not the key cards that give you access to the Havana area, it's the wrist bands that those in a Havana cabin are given. The ones booked into the Havana cabin will have access, those in the other cabin will not. Nice try. 😎

And you're on a TA Journeys cruise with a mostly older experienced crowd? Wow!

You fit in that thing? I wouldn't even try.

Beautiful! Hope you get a better sunset then we had last week!

You back on board? I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on, including your drinks!

Which I never saw the three or four times that I ate at the breakfast buffet. Was everything perfect? Of course not , but not even close to the extent that you saw. If it was I would agree with you. Also had several breakfast burritos from BI Cantina which were excellent.

It may be disgusting to you, but plenty of people do enjoy the buffets. We now prefer the buffets over the MDR because service has not been consistently good since Covid. Cold food, missing items, not getting ordered drinks, two hour meals, etc. Just got back from 14 days on the Vista, and never ate in the MDR except for the Diamond Lunch. We didn't starve. To each their own.

Nope. Didn't get either of those on both my 25th and 50th. In fact, my Milestone card on my 50th didn't even have the number 50 on it! Patti said she would put it on with a sharpie!