SweetThang0629

Day 2 was also our first formal night. I had reservations to theSteakhouse this night but was told by our waiter the night before that tonightwas going to be Surf and Turf nite. He suggested I move my steakhousereservation to another nite. One thingthat was very impressive is the fact that Carnival does not charge a fee tomove or cancel your reservation.

 

The kids and I dressed for our first formal nite and left a bitearly for photos. I didn’t like my outfit however my legs were aching from wearingheels the night before and all the walking from day one and two. So, I optedfor something that I could pair with a short heel or wedge sandal. I ended up looking like a large bag of cottoncandy lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEAUTIFUL family!!!!! You are gorgeous !!

Post on facebook says that the Oosterdam is the one that hit the patrol boat.

LOL I am going to send this to my Boss, he was in St. Petersburg back in June for a cruise. I will have to ask him if he saw Putin too! LOL

*** I love to tell this story - Went on a Med Cruise for my parents 45th anniversary on Carnival. For Rome, they paid the $$$ to do the behind the scenes, private tour of the Vatican. They were there all day long. Had a blast. I opted to spend a lot less money and took another tour. At the end of the afternoon, I met up with them for a brief second in a gift shop right across from the Vatican. Said hello and went out to the main street because our tour bus was coming. Or at least we thought it was, when the street traffic quit. Next thing I know, here comes a limo and there's the Pope! Where were my parents??? in the Gift Shop! I got to the Pope and they didn't. LOL

If you are going out of IAH (Bush Intercontinental), then I would aim for mid to late afternoon. You are, from the cruise port, about 70 miles south of the airport. Then you have to figure in extra time because SOMEWHERE in Houston, there's a freeway shutdown/delays due to construction. (Trust me... on the weekend it's a PITA when they do this - Guess where I live :) )

Well Poop... we are on deck 14. I didn't realize that it was right up under the sports deck area... and no changing it now.. nothing open in our category code. Fingers crossed we dont have a lot of noise.

Well called the TA and fixed that problem! Had to pay an extra $100 total to change floors (different category), but WELL worth it to NOT have to listen to the noise of basketballs, etc.

Well Poop... we are on deck 14. I didn't realize that it was right up under the sports deck area... and no changing it now.. nothing open in our category code. Fingers crossed we dont have a lot of noise.

We did a similar itinerary (15 nights) , Dubai, Oman, Suez Canal, Israel, Greece and ending in Istanbul in 2015. It was a fantastic trip and for us the ship was secondary. We sailed the Rhapsody which was just fair. We took the Mariner in 2004 when she was new but have not sailed that ship since 2008.

 

The sights were incredible but unfortunately we sailed through the Suez Canal in the evening. Not sure if RCCL knew of the evening passage because we had several enrichment lectures on the Canal and there were many extra activities ( champagne lunch) offered. Many had taken the ship just because of the Canal portion and were upset with evening passage. We hit Egypt just after sunrise.

 

Also interesting was the portion through the Gulf of Aden. Lots of security on board, requirement to keep lights low and curtains closed in the evenings, no outside deck use for evenings and we had a special "Safe Haven" drill. Kind of the opposite of Muster. With this drill you stay inside and away from any windows. The Gulf of Aden passage was a few days.

 

Hope you decide to take the cruise

 

Enjoy

m

 

 

ps - are you sure about Jordan? We made two different stops, Muscat and Salalah, in the country of Oman

Yeah.. it's Aqaba Jordan.

Based on the fact that it appears that the travel through the canal might be at night, then I would think that it would not really be worth it. Part of the excitement is the travel through the Canal.

So we are exploring trips and stumbled across the April 2018 sailing from Dubai, through Jordan, Suez Canal, Jerusalem, Crete and ending up in Barcelona.

Has anyone done such a trip before? Thoughts? How about the Mariner. I know it's old, but I am sure it is in good shape.

Thoughts would be appreciated.

In Curacao, we did a private tour through ATV & Buggy Tours

http://www.atvbuggytours.com/?gclid=CjwKEAiAkuLDBRCRguCgvITww0YSJAAHrpf-YgxxlE2AAMjqS1kXEsJcDRZD8J_A_4xNhP8yvxFfKxoC2ybw_wcB

They picked us up, took us to get the atv's and we had a BLAST! Excellent service and wonderful people who run the show!

The ATV that I was on decided to die at the very end and within five minutes, the owner was there to swap out the machine for me so that I could finish out my excursion. We were the only two on the tour so it was a private tour and run by the owner's son.

They were awesome and I would do it again and again!!

I live in Houston and can tell you that you will probably want to book a mid afternoon flight. Galveston is 70+ miles to IAH airport. That is traversing northward on Interstate 45, through downtown Houston. You have to allot extra time for roadway shutdowns. The last several weeks, parts of the interstate going north towards the airport have been closed due to repairs, mainly an area that is almost dead center of downtown.

So I would highly recommend that if you are going to Fly out of IAH I would go for an afternoon flight.

hmmm maybe its alternating rooms lolol

We asked our Stateroom attendant and he said that they did alternate. We were in 12300 and our bed was by the balcony. Both rooms on other side of us appeared to be the exact opposites

Right next to room 12294 with a triangle. Seems the system works. :)

We were in 12300 on the 9/8 cruise; the bed was by the balcony; the room 12298 was the opposite. per the Stateroom attendant they alternated down the hallway to the aft.

SweetThang - you should try to hit a few shops this year because they are really having some nice trunk shows and featured yarns. Spring has a nice shop and we try to take a road trip that way now and then.

 

Keksie - I know the shop in Spring! That's my normal go to when I need to get more supplies! It's on my way home! I may just hit a few up; depends on what the hubby has planned. :)

We would have had fun! Our excursion in Portland took all our time so I didn't get to find the shop there. I am from Bastrop. Our yarn crawl starts Oct. 7th - 19 shops in 2 weeks. Spinzilla starts soon and I will be demonstrating spinning in LaGrange at the festival on the 15th. Are you from Texas too?

Yes, I am from Magnolia (The Woodlands). It's been a few years since I did the yarn crawl but it was super fun! I don't spin, but find it pretty interesting.

I wished I had met you!! We were on the same cruise! I hit up Knit Wit in Portland and got four hanks of Yarn; 2 made in MA and 2 made In ME.

In Saint John, I did make it to the the shop there in the market with 2 hanks of Canada yarn. My hubby doesn't understand the concept of getting yarn while on vacation to places outside of where you live. He about had a cow because it' was $60 CAD.

We missed the Yarn shop in Halifax while on the hop on / hop off and I was bummed. He was not LOL

Where in Texas are you from?

I believe the last Tender from Bar Harbor was 330pm. But we had to be back on the ship before 430 if I remember correctly.

Just got off the ship on Saturday and we were in 12300. Awesome room! Stateroom attendant's name is Noel and he's absolutely awesome!

Don't really see anything about the balcony being any smaller than a normal one. Seemed normal to me but my only comparison was to the Jewel of the Seas.

Enjoy your cruise!

Yes, there can be different prices based on ship, itinerary, time of year, phase of moon, etc.

Or whichever way the wind blows?? LOL

It should be the discounted price. Whether it is the price including tips is the question, as sometimes it is and other times it isn't. You won't see the real, total price until you put it in your cart and go to pay.

 

I will try to remember to post the on board price on Saturday, if and when we board. Waiting to see if Hermine is going to send us to Canada instead of Bermuda.:eek::p

Good luck!! We are on the Canada cruise after yours.

I would appreciate whatever you can find out. I am trying to justify the $$ to the hubby

The price for my cruise is $47 for premium.

Then this presents another question; are the drink package prices different for each ship/itinerary? Because I know I paid something like $67 for the Ultimate on JOTS back in November.

The beverage package sale comes and goes depending on your sailing. We sailed Oasis in May and the package was never on sale for our week, but it was on sale for other weeks. It has been on sale for my Anthem sailing, but they have increased the cost of the beverage package as we get closer to sail date.

 

So, if the price is good now and you plan on buying one anyway, do it now, unless you have OBC you want to use. You will have to pay for the package now but you can cancel and get a refund. The lowest I saw the premium package for our Anthem sailing was $39 per day. Not sure if I can still check now since our sailing is Saturday.

So question; they have the 20% off for our Anthem cruise. What I can't tell is that the listed price the reduced price or the before the $20%. Might anyone know?

We are headed out on the Anthem on 9/8. Does anyone know if they offer any yoga classes?

The Hubster and I will be on our first Anthem cruise Sept 8 and in that room. I can provide pictures when we return. Though our cruise is the New England Canada cruise, so won't be able to answer the Bermuda question.

I am on this same cruise and I have just about given up on booking any shows. Guess I will do the fly by the seat of the pants and hope they have available seats! It's just frustrating that we can't even book them now.

Oh, and the cruise planner says I have anywhere between 75 to 88 dinner reservations. Go figure since there's only 2 of us! Guess I am gonna gain some serious weight! LOL

I have not done this excursion, but the Visitor Center is about 4 miles from the tender dock; however, there is a satellite ranger station on the east side of the Village Green that may be able to help you. That office is less than a 10 minute walk from the tender dock.

 

As for the excursion (BY03), it is done on the Carriage Roads in Acadia. There is a CR that goes to the visitor center, but I would not anticipate that your guided tour would go to the VC. The description lists 5 miles as the approximate distance on the CR.

 

Here is the phone number listed for the VC: (207) 288-3338; give them a call.

 

Something to think about, you don't have to do the excursion. You can rent bikes, and take a free public bus to a CR entrance.

 

 

SBtS

Thanks for the information! I will give the VC a call tomorrow to ask more questions. Right now we are on the excursion, but may just cancel and rent on our own.