ardnassac79

the cruise coming home sunday is definitely the cruise that will be rough. on the normal cruise's out of baltimore it takes 2 days to get to your first port. but they put the pedal to the metal coming home and make it back in 1 day. i have been on the pride 5 times and few of those cruises that last day is rough the combination of high speed and rough atlantic makes for a rocky ride. but if they already made the decision to skip the last port to get back in 2 days it should make a big difference.

You are right! The folks on board now will be rocking and rolling when they get into the Atlantic for sure, we also have done the Pride quite a few times and they book it back at high speed under normal conditions. Add in the storm winds and :eek: Hopefully everything goes well for them, and our boarding!

I'm extremely concerned about sailing out of Baltimore Sunday to Bermuda because of Hurricane Hermine. Anyone have any suggestions or words of comfort?

My husband and I will be on the Bermuda sailing this Sunday too... we saw last night on a different thread that they are skipping Freeport today and gonna try to beat the storm back to Baltimore. I'll be keeping an eye on her progress here: http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-76/centery:28/zoom:7

With luck, the ship will be back on time, and we'll just need to deal with a rainy day boarding, and perhaps a bumpier ride than normal leaving the Bay. We'll just have to wait and see! If you didn't already, go back into your Online Check In, and in the Guest Info where you have your phone number, you can add a mobile and check a box to get Cruse Alerts texted to you.

Hopefully it all times out well!

Thank you for doing a review! I know they can take some time and effort to do, especially longer trips! Hubby and I are sailing on this same itinerary at the end of the month (2/28) and this helped get me excited for it, it will be great to be back on the Breeze :D

Cheers!

Not to stalk you guys or anything but i saw your name mentioned in a post and was wondering where you and Chris have run off to! I am sure it's been a busy year as newlyweds, i am sure others would love to know what you have been up to!

I'm on an ipad so I'm challenged to multiquote but woo hoo props to tagging the Pretty Woman reference :D

Hi Danacat! I'll be honest we sorta stepped down from reviews, over the past year. Our last couple cruises was a B2B on the Victory in Oct 2013 and then an epic New Years cruise on the Sunshine, but we are on hiatus till this coming Sept when we are taking my younger twin sisters on a high school graduation cruise. It'll be out of Baltimore so it's a familiar trip for us but we are super excited to take them to Harry Potter World in Universal while we are in Port Canaveral and also Atlantis when we stop at Nassau. There's nothing quite like seeing the joy of a place through the eyes of someone who hasn't been there before!

Congrats on your wedding.. loved reading both reviews! Which part of GT is less crowded? Is it better to hang out by Jacks Shack and then go over to Margaritaville on way back to ship? As you know they don't dock there for very long and want to relax as much as we can.

 

Thanks

Hi Eileen! I'd say if you want less crowds, absolutely keep walking right on by Margaritaville. We were in port with 2 ships, so Jack's was actually more crowded than I've seen in the past.. but crew members from the ship go there to hang out too. The vibe is really chill and relaxed though. No loud music, etc. ... if you want the least amount of people as possible, maybe somewhere in between Jack's and M-ville would be your best bet. The entire stretch of beach is beautiful, so I'm sure you'll find something!

Here are the Fun Times for the last sea day:

Carnival Liberty - Eastern Caribbean - Day 7 Day at Sea - 4/19/13

Really enjoying your review guys! Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with us!:)

Hey Lois!! Can't wait till the Victory... w00t! :D:D

Here are the Fun Times from Grand Turk...

One last full day at sea, Chris should be wrapping that up, and our debark day in the next few days!

Carnival Liberty - Eastern Caribbean - Fun Times - Grand Turk - 4/18/13

We still had a little over an hour until we needed to be back on board, so we all packed up to make the trek back – stopping at the Crew Bar on the way for a dirty banana and then some swing shenanigans outside of Margaritaville. Sadly it was time to say goodbye and we both headed up the ramps to our different ships.

Chris went down to Sports Trivia while I got ready for the evening. It was the 2nd formal night, but I already knew we were skipping it – good choice because even after a dinner of some pizza and a few little desserts, I was still buzzed from those Jack Shack drinks from hours before… he’s gotta put something special in there!

We wandered around the ship a while and then went back to our balcony to relax a bit more and figure out what our next move was.

It was about 7:45 and we weren’t interested in any shows, and certainly not any more drinks, and I got the great idea to see if they could get us booked for massages at 8pm – I called the spa from the room, they had the open spots, and we had a great relaxing end to the night.

We got there pretty early and ordered a drink and sat down at a table to wait for our Funatics - Eva, Al, and Rob - who got there shortly thereafter, and we had a great afternoon with old and new friends. They had just spent a long weekend in Key West with other Funatics and surprised us with some awesome Bride and Groom decoration, as well as one of the best gifts ever, a personalized plate they had everyone sign earlier that week. Love you Guys!

We chatted, they told us all about their awesome Piano Bar player they had on board the Victory – a newbie to Carnival, who they were doing their best to break him in right… he ended up coming down to Jack’s as well, and we got to know Hollywood Joe (Joe Nagy) who seemed like a really nice guy who was trying to soak it all in and learn what Carnival guests want, and how to be FUN!

We got in the water to cool off for a bit, Chris decided to join a volleyball game with some of the crew from the ship. A lot of the crew came down here, and some of the ladies were taking the opportunity to sunbathe topless! They certainly attracted a lot of looks! Hey more power to them!

We ordered some food – conch and some other things (the conch was really good!) and honestly the food was a necessity at that point, because WOOOO those drinks really catch up to you after a few! Holy Cow I was probably more than a teensy bit over the legal limit if you know what I mean! We had a great time though!

Chris can't pass up a chance to play with Topher

Some more shots along the way as we walked to Jack's

We'll be back here later :p

Made it!

We got into port and docked and were cleared about 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

We rushed to make it down and off the ship before they stopped debark for the Victory pulling in… made it down to deck 0 just as The Victory was pulling up, so they stopped us to get her tied up and docked… darn. We waited about 10 minutes, and then they let us resume debark. We got off the ship and headed down to the sand to walk along the beach to get to Jack’s.

Hey guys! Sorry for the delay - like Chris said, just a lot going on... but I was able to get today all written up, just need to get it all on here... so now without delay... back to your regularly scheduled programming :p

We had a late arrival scheduled into Grand Turk, listed at 11am in the Fun Times. Chris woke up early, and was feeling energetic so decided to head to the gym. I stayed in the cabin and leisurely woke up, ran up to the lido to grab a little breakfast to bring back to the room, and watched a little of the Morning Show with Troy and the ACD (can’t remember his name). Chris brought his own breakfast back to the room and out on our balcony we could see another ship behind us in the distance – The Victory was coming in behind us! It was exciting to see her – we had friends on the ship that we were looking forward to meeting up with at Jack’s Shack!

Love the blue waters of the Turks!

Victory wayyyyy in the distance.... the photo details says this was taken just before 9 am

But Chris, it's a purse (and a mighty good looking one at that)! I just might have to drag Ron at the Coach Outlet on our way to lunch!

:-)

 

Joanne, who wishes that you & Cass would be on the Breeze May 25.

Ahh, I wish we were going on it too!! That would be awesome! Sadly, no can do with vacation time... ps... they have men's stuff in there too! Hopefully it's a day they have sales! My recommendation is to look it up on google maps first to get a general idea of where it is so you aren't trudging in circles through the streets!

Congratulations on your marriage, wishing you a life time of love and happiness.

Thanks so much for posting the pictures of the cemetery, it is beautiful. We are going on this cruise in June and this is the place in San Juan that I want to go to. I plan on using the free trolley too.

I hate for your review to end, I know there is just a sea day left. Can you get any kind of beer in that 101 oz. tube?

Actually you're in luck, we have Grand Turk left still as well, and we had a ball that day :D

You know, I'm not sure about the beer! I bet they could technically do it with anything they had on tap...

Hi, just wondering if you would post a pic of the Coach purse you bought? I'm not sure if I know which one that is? Of course, I could google it, but that wouldn't be as much fun as you "showing" it...

Wellll... since you asked :p:p

I know it's not super flashy, but I just love it... although I'm afraid I started an obsession.. I've vowed to keep it to just ones I'm cuckoo for cocoa puffs about... and so far there hasn't been any newer ones that have grabbed me... (thankfully)

They go up.....

:D:D:D

That's all for tonight... unfortunately we may not get to Grand Turk till this weekend... but it'll be worth the wait - by fortune's chance we were able to meet up with some friends that we have previously cruised with and have come to know as our 2nd family, and it was an excellent and heart-warming day in GT :D

Last but not least, Fun Times...

Fun Times - Carnival Liberty - Eastern Caribbean - San Juan - 4/17/13

After a nap and a shower, we headed down to the EA Sports Bar for trivia (missed the video game challenge), and then it was time for the past guest party. We met up with Kim and Sean, an awesome couple we met earlier from our FB group, and went into the Party and enjoyed some Funships and Apps. Chris grabbed a drink to go, and we took it back to the room fridge and then headed to the casino to play some slots before dinner.

We went a little early for dinner this night around 6:15, and there was no line, no wait for our regular table (when we left around 7:30 the line was really long to get to the hostess station). They had one of my favorite apps this night - the Tom Ka Gai soup, and Chris tried the potato soup.

I ordered the comfort food option – Beef Stroganoff, and Chris had the Flank Steak. Chris enjoyed his steak – it was a thicker cut than he’d had before, and said it was very juicy. Unfortunately I did my best to like the Stroganoff, but ugh, it wasn’t nearly creamy/saucy enough for me.

I decided instead of sending it back, I just ate less, and felt free to have dessert – bitter and blanc… I know this is a lot of people’s favorite, and I’ve had it before, but was never wowed by it. Again this time, I thought it was good, but I wished they would have let me keep the cream sauce to pour in after I made my way through the top, because then it was just bread, and not yummy vanilla saucy bread. Oh well, I ate the top off it, and stopped. It kept me from feeling like I needed to roll out of there.

The rest of the night included some room drinks for me, Chris finished his stashed party drinks while we did a movie trivia, then hit the casino. There is this thing with Chris and I where whenever we are at the same casino table, or anywhere around him, he tends to get bad hands.. go figure the one time I left to make a drink he hit a nice hand… I decided to go to roulette and floated there for a while.

We realized it was getting late, and someone may or may not have made to many drinks, so we went up so I could get some pizza, and Chris found the grill area opposite the pizza had “late night snacks” with some yummies like cookies, hot dogs, grilled ham and cheese, and in his words “a delicious buffalo chicken sandwich”. We ate, chugged down a few cups of water, and headed back to the room thankful that the next day in Grand Turk had a late arrival time.

An Oliphant!

Alert.. previous picture time now enters into some wordy bits... sorry 'bout that...

There were two other things I wanted to do while in San Juan, one of which Chris knew about… I love food shows like Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, as well as Man vs. Food.. and a few months ago Man vs Food was in San Juan! Oh yeah baby I wanted to go to Restaurant Raices, come hell or high water… I knew what street it was on from looking it up on google maps – and I was right… the bad thing about all the streets in San Juan – yeah none of them have street signs (at least visible to either of us!).. but luckily I had the general area circled on our trolley map, and I found it…

bad thing was, Chris was having a hard time with the sun, which by this point (around 11:45) was in full force at 90 degrees or so, and the humidity was rising as well… and heat + walking just kills his appetite… so I told him we could try to walk around in the shaded sides of the street for a while to check out shops, when he realized my nefarious plan….

To find the Coach Factory store and buy myself a honeymoon present (my first Coach bag!) … oh the dirty looks, LOL. Well, unfortunately I wasn’t as prepared with the location of the Coach store, and we embarked on a maze-like trek through the streets of downtown San Juan to find this place.

We asked a person with a map to if we could look at it – nada on the map, but they claimed they had been in there… they gave us directions that led us in a circle… ugh…

Seriously all these streets look the same...

Finally we took a left at the street we had already been down to the right, and found a man holding a shopping bag from – you guessed it – the Coach store!! He was talking to some people, so we waited, and then politely asked where the store was – the couple he was just talking to cracked up because they had just asked him the same thing!

Finally – we kept going in the same direction we were headed, then up a few blocks, and like a mirage in the desert, that Coach Logo beamed out at me from the storefront… I had to chuckle because there were 3 men out front obviously killing time while their ladies were getting their shopping on… Chris debated about joining the man-pack, but the AC was cranking inside, so he followed me in.

OK - alert – I’m going to get a bit “FEMALE” here now.. if purses bore you, just skip this paragraph… I looked around, meandered through the crowds to the back, and OMG! Kristen Hobo bag in Pink I had on my wish list for AGES… tag said $389, factory price $199, and a guy at the front handed me a flyer that said 50% off… sometimes that’s misleading so my hopes weren’t up.. but holy crap on a cracker my most wanted bag, first ever (real) Coach bag rang up at $92… I’m in heaven. Chris is happy to get the hell out of there, but slightly jealous there isn’t anything he wants equally as much…

Now we head back to Restaurant Raices, and got our Mofongo (mashed plantain) with Chimmichurri Style Skirt Steak on… this is goooood.

We split it, and it was enough for us both, I think we both could have eaten more, but 1 each would have been too much. Just more room for dinner and drinks later. It was about 1:30 when we were done, and decided to head back to the ship. Back on board time was 3pm, but we were tuckered out.

We spent about 2 hours in and around the fort area, and then thought about waiting for a trolley back… so we waited a bit… and then saw it but it was full… I wasn’t about to wait for the next one just knowing it would look the same… so we started walking back the way the trolley brought us, and figured if we were by a return stop on the other side of the street we could hop on… yeah no such luck and we hoofed it all the way back to the shopping area by the cruise ships… it’s about an hour walk back, but we were able to stay in some shade, luckily.

Some shots we got along the way:

Typical street downtown:

"Where do these stairs go?" - Dr. Peter Venkman

A Celebrity ship was coming into port while we were leaving

The sign points out that the little brown building to the right is where they stashed all the people with Leprosy... I guess there's worse places to be quarantined to!

And let the picture onslaught begin...

There is no exit through to the fort, so back under the tunnel we went, and hiked up the grassy hill to the entrance.

There is a small fee to enter the fort per person, and you can purchase entrance to both. I’m sure many of you reading this have been there before, but we were newbies and had a field day with the pictures! I especially liked all the informational signs that explained the history of the fort, what different areas were used for, and other informational facts. I will warn, it is a lot of walking with stairs and steep inclines, so I’d recommend sneakers or other comfortable shoes if you’re planning a visit. I saw a girl in some uber-high platform sandals and just imagined a broken ankle, or at the least blisters… but then again not everyone is as big a klutz as I am…

I want to stop for a moment and say I debated about putting some of these photos in the review, just because I didn’t want people to think we were “sightseeing” or being disrespectful by taking pictures.

In fact it was the opposite. It was simply awe inspiring, the amount of care, detail, and love that was evident. The place definitely had an other-worldly feeling about it, and I definitely got the shivers a few times, but it is clear that religion and honoring those that have passed is very important to the culture here. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves...

We didn’t get off at the first fort stop, and stayed on board till we got to stop 24, which was before the last stop before turning around, and we started our own sightseeing tour…

Chris spotted the cemetery by the fort, and being types of people we are that are intrigued and interested in the less than normal – we went in.. you have to go down a path leading to a tunnel, but it opens out onto the most beautiful and breathtaking cemetery either of us had ever seen.