P&B Toronto

After a full day of touring and snorkelling we were wiped and decided to skip the 4:30 show. We wish we hadn't, they actually sing 4 carols and crew come in at the end with candles singing Silent Night. Later that night they had an ugly Christmas sweater contest. There mommas definitely dress them funny ;)

I didn't realize that it had gotten cloudy, the pics are a bit dark

On the outside of the reef there was a huge drop off. Couldn't see the bottom, just darkness and colder water.

I was out close to the channel markers when we got hit by a deluge of rain.

The rain ended the snorkelling. We got a body power wash on the way back to the ship. After about an hour the rain stopped. The beach at Mahogany Bay is packed! Walk over close to the pier to avoid some of the crowd. The water is completely calm, kids loved it.

I love Roatan the green hills, blue seas and the reefs! This is one of the two wrecks in Mahogany Bay.

We had a leisurely breakfast and left the ship at about 9. We took a cab to see the West End of the island ($80 for the three of us), I think this is where one of the excursions goes for beach and snorkelling. The drive is beautiful, when we got to West Bay it was too rough to swim and when we got to West End it was even rougher and it started to rain. The benefit of not being on an excursion, we left immediately and headed back along the coast to Mahogany Bay and into the sunshine. I had read really bad reviews about Mahogany Bay, in particular about the snorkelling. I had noticed from aerial pictures it looked like there was a reef offshore. There are lots of pics on cc of food porn, here is reef porn :)

No reef huh. Don't believe everything you read on cc

Cool looking lion fish

The week before the cruise I took some pictures in Toronto. The first two were taken inside an amazing greenhouse.

This picture was taken two days later outside the greenhouse, notice the guy sleeping on the park bench. I volunteer at a meal program for the poor and homeless. I had gone out to invite people to come for lunch. I have not seen the guy on the bench before or since, he declined the invitation. I'll be home for Christmas you can count on me, please have snow... The thing about Christmas is that lots of people are not home for Christmas, they are alone and lonely. Yet Christmas is about the fact that we are not alone, Immanuel - God with us, he moved into the neighbourhood. When I was young my parents always had people at our family Christmas dinners, people who had no one to be with. At times I didn't like the 'intrusion'. It wasn't until later when I got to know moms past that I understood her passion to include lonely people. Her favourite verse was -God sets the lonely in families... Psalm 68. So 2,600 passengers were not home for Christmas, but what's to complain about? The crew looked after every need and want that we had. Some of the complaints on cc really are first world problems to the max.

The most decorated part of the ship was the atrium. It was where they had the Hanukkah lighting every night and the carol sing on Christmas eve.(Btw lots of people decorated their cabin doors) The atrium was packed for the carolling.

Highlights of the carolling - an excited crowd, Carnival handed out santa hats and jingle bells, it snowed in the atrium. Lowlight - the two singers leading did not know the songs (words and tune on one), they did 3 songs, none of them were religious carols.

Luvtoeat, your handle is true of all cruisers isn't it? Attitude does determine a lot. I think that they are starting to do longer cruises. Thanks abcsteward, it was a great vacation. walkin2cure, I am sure you will have a great cruise and thy will love it.

It is true what people say about lots of vendors trying to sell you stuff on the beach, a polite no thanks worked every time. The sunset as we left was beautiful.

We were excited to see the show 88 Keys - Billy Joel, Elton John... The show was amazing - the singing, choreography, stage effects...

Sing me a song Mr Piano Man

Hagges, I am sure you will have a great time.

Jacmo 24, I agree completely, there are not a lot of activities happening on the ship and the cd was my least favourite of any of the ships I have been on. Maybe he was having a bad week, the show goes on no matter what is happening in their lives. I never once talked to George and hardly saw him around the ship. I did really like Max the assistant CD.

They seemed to have about 4 trivia contests a day, maybe a way to get people to the bars and coffee shop. I did go to one of them, lucked out and got a gold plastic ship.

Other cruises I have been on had lots of organized sports. the only organized sport on the ship was on the last sea day. There was a ping pong tournament, they stopped registration at 30 and left many others on the sidelines.

I had read terrible reviews about Costa Maya, we were pleasantly surprised with what we encountered. Here is the port with all the shops

We left the port quickly and took the shuttle in search of a beach and shopping. The first stop on the shuttle was Señor Frogs, no one planned to get out till one of the staff came out and offered unlimited booze and one plate of food for $25; 3/4 of the shuttle took the offer. Not being drinkers we stayed on. we ended up at the Krazy Lobster - Free: chairs, wifi and kayaks with no need to purchase anything. We got natural nachos (try something else if you go) for $10 and a one hour massage for $20. the swimming was good. I swam way out to the reef, it was ok, saw three rays and some fish. I talked to other people who said the swimming at señor frogs was bad and the beer was $2 as opposed to $1 at Krazy Losbster.

As we sailed away from Cozumel here was the sun set from our balcony

I had read really bad reviews about the shows. We really enjoyed the show the first night. It was the 80's music show. The singers and dancers were all really talented. I think that lots of people had also read bad reviews because the Taj Mahal theatre was only ever about half full for the 8:15 shows.

The sea lion show was fun

There were lots of fish snorkelling but not much corral

The grouper was almost 4 feet long

I swam on the outside of the dolphin enclosure one of them came over a number of times to check me out. The first time was nose to nose but I didn't have my camera ready.

The pelicans sat on the rocks for over an hour.

We didn't book any excursions with Carnival. I like the flexibility and financial savings of doing it yourself. We took a cab to Chakanaab Park. Here is a picture of the lagoon.

The food was ok to great. To be honest I was disappointed with the bitter and blanc. My brother in law and sister both make way better bread pudding. I guess the build up for the wcmc caused a bit of a let down. My favourite lunches were the 1. Caribbean lunch (not surprising seeing as I am from Jamaica) 2. Guys Burgers (I had two) 3. Burritos Breakfast was good with lots of options. My favourites were 1. Breakfast burrito 2. Oat meal with blueberries, almonds and 1/2 and 1/2 cream

This was one of my favourite suppers - jerk pork loin

DTC, the Packer fans were a blast. Kymnotkim I use my iPhone and yes it was a panoramic picture. Here is the only other panoramic picture that I took. http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k132/2cornerstone2/IMG_4851_zps57562edb.jpg

People had said that they had received a letter saying embarking would be delayed due to tests. We decided to stay at the hotel till 11:30 and then head to the ship. We got on the ship about 15 minutes after we got to the cruise terminal. We put our carry on in the room and headed upstairs to eat. Guys Burger and the burritos were really good. Here is a view of Channelside and the other ships.

We arrived in Tampa and went to our hotel Best Western Tampa. It was packed with Green Bay Packer fans, the cheese heads had a a lot of fun. The pool area and beach volleyball area were great. the views of the sunset were amazing. The food at Hogans was not great. We are not used to eating really greasy food. The next morning I was working out in the gym and the guy next to me pointed out dolphins swimming in the Bay. We went outside and watched the dolphins swim around for about an hour.

Thanks Falkcor. Yes we did cross paths a few times with your massive ship Lansby.

It asks for a url?

This was my first cruise on Carnival. I have only cruised Norwegian before. I had read a lot of reviews about the Pride before the cruise, almost everything I read was not true on our cruise or is not my opinion of things. We choose what we focus on in life.Overall the cruise was great. I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how, can someone help me out.