idil
-
Posts
88 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by idil
-
-
Thank you for taking the time to read my review... We really can't wait for the next one
-
You may also want to look into investing in Exofficio and Tilley's for your travel clothing (and no I don't work for those companies, but I use them)... 1 day in Toronto (connection to Barbados), 5 days in Barbados, then 7 night cruise, plus my shopping we were able fit in even at the end of the vacation ...
My spouse and I travel around the world with a half size carry on -one for each (14-15 inch height)- and depending on where/how long I'm going, I may or I may not have a purse (and my husband may or may not have his regular size backpack).
For this trip I had a purse as I had more things than I needed total of 14 days. I even had 2 books in my purse, mind you I have not opened a page... but they travelled on a cruise with me :D , and had extra medications like gravol, immodium, cold meds, extra suntan lotions etc etc ... but it was a mistake all those islands we visited had all the stores we could have purchased if we needed anything. We had our own snorkel sets etc too... But again exofficio and similar brands will be your lifesavers :) And, I'm not an XS-size woman either ... it would have helped even more :D
Of course, summer travelling is always easier than winter travelling ...
-
Half size carry on for each (not the 21 inch ones really the half size), and one small purse for me and one regular size back pack for my husband (2 of us) :):D:) And, it was more than enough, as I did a small shopping as well ;)
-
I am just curious why people cruise with Carnival. I have sailed with three different lines but tend to use Carnival most simply because of convenience. They have so many ships and out of so many ports it is easy to find something.
There are pros and cons for every line but availability seems to be the deciding factor. When I had more of a choice in Alaska I went with someone different.
We just got back from our very first cruise on Carnival (Southern Caribbean)... and I think in my review I answered the question why Carnival :)
I posted it as a forum thread, as for some reason they have not published my review as yet :mad: (I thought it wouldn't take more than 48 hours... but, hey what do I know!)
-
HI recently I've been reading that Carnival has been gifting surprise gifts for anniversaries and birthdays.ie: special occasions. Has anyone who has travelled recently seen this to still be the case? I am travelling on the Sunshine in 23 days for my birthday and anniversary. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank u in advance.:D
We just got back from a cruise on Carnival, and I posted my review ... and to answer the question in short: yes, they did do a really cool surprise!
Here is the link to my thread for the rest of the story:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2375004
Enjoy your cruise, happy birthday & happy anniversary :) !
-
Thank you all for taking the time to read my really long report on wordpress (that I use only once or twice a year) :)
I wish many years ago I opened up a website to put my travel notes in (some are on tripadvisor but not all)... but at least with a wordpress page I can put my memories in.
Thank you all again ... and please you all keep writing too, I read them, I learn from them. I probably was more prepared for this cruise than any other adventures I planned in the past.
@meatloafsfan - glad to to hear I'm not alone about my Las Vegas comment :D
@crusinpsychRN - I guess you were very lucky and/or on a different ship to have the porcelain coffee cups at the buffet ;) Although, that was not a deal-breaker for me, I kind of envy you :)
There are departures from Barbados, and they've been available for a while as we've been looking into it for several years now. And, from Canada it's easier to go to Barbados than San Juan. There are direct flights out of Toronto, but for San Juan, we have to travel to the States, and then connect (adds extra $$$).
-
First time on a cruise which has been postponed for many years, for many reasons. Then the “oh, never on Carnival” comments we heard/read from many, put a stop to our wishes to experience a cruise to the destinations we would love to go to.
If you’re impatient, or bored of reading long reports you can move to the next one, because this is long!!!
Although we are beach people, we do many of the “cultural” and exhausting sightseeing vacations too, or sometimes the two together. But, a cruise! Ten years ago it was a straight “no”, then it was a “maybe”, for the last 3-4 years “yes, but can we really do it”?…
Let me tell you: it’s a fact that we’re all getting old, and we all want our peace and quiet when vacationing, but, as much as I am not sociable, no more parties etc in my life, I thought I’d rather be on a party cruise than on a cruise where there is only elegant and quiet dining with high profile businessmen & women! And, this is what we heard about Carnival, only the partiers go on this one!!
Finally with my vacation period from work settled (Henry works for himself, so no concerns with his schedule), we only had one option for the destinations we wanted to visit, and that was on Carnival Fascination. Reading cruisecritic.com and many other websites, I was expecting a little boat, with lots of noise, a small room, terrible food, terrible staff, terrible service, and only drunk customers around…
Well …
It was about 3 weeks before the departure date, and I was able to get my work schedule, and plan/book the trip.
Arranging and organizing everything around it, we arrived at our lovely hotel in Barbados about 5 days in advance … Yes you can call it a “Vacation before vacation”.
This was not our first time visit to our little heaven Coconut Court Beach Hotel, and returning somewhere we knew, felt awesome (check my report about this place from several years ago on tripadvisor.com, but now it is even better than the last time).
Having this card waiting for us in our room upon check-in was another reason to come back to home away from home!
But the real worry on our minds was if in 7 days, were we going to find ourselves getting bored on the cruise, or really enjoying it!…
We were at the Barbados port right at 11am on the embarkation day, with some other passengers who were staying at Coconut Court as well.
The first observation: the employees at the port, who were lovely, fun & helpful, directed us to a shuttle bus between the port and the ship.
When we stepped on the ship we were in awe! My first reaction getting out of the elevator was “OMG… This is like visiting a classic Las Vegas hotel”. … So, it was a love at first sight for me! Yup, I love classic Vegas …new too…but, you know what I mean. That feel of a well established business is always cool ☺
Then we waited for our official check in, when we got our keys in our hands with tons of info, we got kind of nervous… Are we now really trapped in here? By the way, there were many employees everywhere wearing a red t-shirt, with large text on them “JUST ASK”. This was a really nice arrangement and comforting welcome.
While heading towards our room, we bumped into many other employees on duty, and all were smiling, working and welcoming us. And the second we opened our room door… Haaaaaa… Shock, a pleasant shock. The size of the room, the balcony, the view from our balcony, and the way our room was prepared.
Let me provide this info before we go on: if one finds these rooms small, and complains about them, one should never travel to Japan (my favorite, my #1 destination). The room & bathroom size together is 3 times bigger than any room in Shinjuku (except Hilton & Westin etc with CAD350+ price tags per night) ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although I submitted my review, it has not been published ... so I thought I'd post it as a forum thread to be helpful to some of you... It's a long one so you can read the whole thing, look at the pics and watch the videos here:
-
We just got back from our very first cruise ... and I tried to post a review however for some reason it hasn't been approved yet ... so here is the link if you want to read a long report, see some photos & videos ...
On board the carnival funship fascination is like living with “aladdin’s lamp”
in Carnival Cruise Lines
Posted
Thank you for reading my review ... I'm not a pro on cruising, but we were really happy with the Southern Caribbean destinations .. So, at the end of this trip we were just feeling like we had been to the moon :) LOL ...