pirate4me2

At the moment, there isn’t a CCL ship I’m aching to book. As you can see in my sig, I’m pretty booked up, and all the ones I’m curious to sail on (Legend & Spirit to finish out the Spirit class) are there. The ship I want to book really bad is actually an MSC one, the Divina. The name is similar to my dog, and I’m a sucker for things like that. Hence why I had to sail Glory, she’s got the same name as my first horse. Like I said…I’m a sucker. 😂

Total of 28 emails here. I never get that many emails to my personal inbox in a day!

I love it! Our first one, that "we will only live in for 8-9 months while we build a house" was Salem. So original, she was a Forest River Salem travel trailer. But I love black cats, so I liked the name Salem. After we realized we were in this for a few YEARS because things skyrocketed, we upgraded to Monty. I love her, but I can't wait to eventually build our home.

Ummmmmm.....maybe of just the outfit, not me in it. That's a "treat" only for my fellow cruisers. 😝 I hate having my photo taken, and a photo in that outfit could be used as blackmail against me.

Ohhhhh yeah...the cruising angels are on my side! I found the most atrocious, obnoxious, glittery, Christmas-themed but also cruise themed (at least in my mind), ugly, eye sore of an outfit last year right before our Mardi Gras cruise. I bought it and paraded around on Mardi Gras in it one evening, much to Chris's horror. He HATES this outfit. Well, I went looking for it again a few months ago when I did my wardrobe change-out (downside of living in Monty: not enough closet space for this clothes and shoe loving girl!) and was devastated when I couldn't find the shirt that goes with the rest. I mean, the pants and jacket alone are awesome, but the shirt ties it all in and makes it work. I searched EVERYWHERE and begged Chris to tell me WHERE he hid the shirt so I couldn't do this outfit again. His response? "If I was going to destroy the outfit, wouldn't I take those hideous pants and not the shirt?" I finally gave up and figured maybe I somehow left the shirt onboard MG. Anyway....on Thanksgravy this random grey shirt appeared on the kitchen table in Monty. I left it there for a few days until I got annoyed, then I rolled my eyes and threw it in Chris's laundry....he is always leaving clothes in strange places. The next day, it reappeared, so I threw it BACK in Chris's laundry. C'mon boy, put your clothes away! Well, it came BACK onto the table and I got mad. "Chris, quit putting your dang clothes on the table! We may not eat here like a civilized family, but it isn't your personal laundry counter!" "Steph, that isn't my shirt. it's YOURS. In fact, its the one you've been looking for for ages." "Say what?" I raced over and whipped it open, and I about wept with joy. "WHERE did you find it?" "I didn't find it, you did. Do you not rememb....oh yeah, you probably DON'T remember." Chris rolled his eyes. "You had those vodka cranberries and decided that you WERE going to find that shirt in the storage no matter what. You tore that place to pieces, and found it in this random box of stuff. Then you had the nerve to blame ME for putting it there." I happily pranced to the closet and pulled out the beloved pants and jacket to pair with the shirt. "Guess what this means, honey!" "Oh gosh, please no! I don't want our friends to see you in that hideous getup! They will never cruise with us again!" The beloved hideous outfit is out to be packed. Tonight, I shall place it safely in the suitcase, and next week, I will proudly parade my shiny self around the ship. 🙂 This is shaping up to be the best cruise EVER.

Hey, it’s our home, and most island houses have names, right? So it only seemed fitting to name her. 😂 Granted, it’s not very imaginative, she’s a Montana, but I did the best I could. Haha. Safe travels to KW! I actually booked a cruise the other day for next year that goes back there, we loved it when we visited a few years ago.

Sometime EARLY Saturday morning…gotta get Monty (our RV we currently reside in) situated for the week we will be gone, and I have to shed a few tears as I hug the furry vampire (aka cat) goodbye. I’m aiming for 3 a.m. but in reality, it’ll probably be 4.

Welcome aboard! I’ll try and leave some fun onboard for you 🤪

Yes we are!! Hope to see you somewhere onboard!! Right?! Sounded like a great excuse to me. 🤩

That is absolutely HILARIOUS that both our hubbies had the same requests....and we both broke them. Have y'all done Stingray City before? If not, you're in for such a treat!! Even if you have, you know you're in for a treat. I was so apprehensive about doing it several years ago, and almost didn't go the day of. I am so glad I did, to this day it is one of my favorite excursions we have done. I hope your daughter loves it and you all have a wonderful time!

Pre Cruise Hotel: After my last fiasco with booking a pre-cruise hotel in Miami (see my Celebration review if you want the info on THAT), I didn’t waste any time in securing us a hotel right after booking. I didn’t want to end up paying an OUTRAGEOUS amount for the ONLY hotel with vacancy again! After discussing with the cruise grandparents, we booked rooms for the night before at the Hampton Inn & Suites Ft Lauderdale/Miramar, and will drive to and park at the port the morning of the cruise. The address for the hotel is 10990 Marks Way, Miramar, FL. Who knows, maybe this hotel can be the one I use for future sailings out of Miami….stay tuned to find out!

Welcome aboard! If you have any specific questions you'd like "investigated" let me know!

See you onboard!!

Thanks for coming along! Aw thank you! hugs back from NC! Thanks for coming along. Alaska! That’s worth the wait, I bet! We love Port Canaveral! I’m jealous that you live so close to such a good port! Hey Jeff! Good to have you along! Hey hey! Glad I could help out with the post cruise blues 🙂

Ah yes! We loved Wee Jimmy! He was hilarious.

Excursions/Port Info: This is the 6 day Western run for Horizon, so our ports of call are Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Sorry to disappoint you, but we are not doing anything that great in the ports. Well, I’m not anyway, Chris kinda is. Our plan is to stay onboard in Jamaica, UNLESS I get a wild hair up my tush and decide to go check out the beach at Margaritaville. In Grand Cayman, Chris is going on a scuba dive while I stay onboard and relax in the wonderful Havana area. I got some major reading (and napping!) to do that day! For Cozumel, we have the Cozumel Bar Hop booked, which I am pretty excited about. I have heard others talk about it and how it takes you to the side of the island with no electricity, and it’s something we have never done before, so I am looking forward to it. I gotta admit tho, it is hard for me to go to Coz and not go to Paradise Beach or Mr Sanchos, those have become our usual haunts! I will admit, I use to think to myself when people would say they were not getting off in a port of call they were crazy. WHY would you stay onboard? Find SOMETHING to do! I get it now tho…after you’ve been to a port so many times, and done all the “cool” stuff, it’s ok to skip it and enjoy the mostly empty ship. Take advantage of the things you normally would have lines for, sleep in, and just LET DOWN. I’ve been under a lot of stress the past few months, and I’m eager to let it all go and take naps and read.

Hello, my Cruise Critic family! I am here yet again to do my Community Service and help you all deal with either your post-cruise blues, or your “my cruise isn’t approaching fast enough” blues. How do I plan to help with those problems, you ask? By letting you live vicariously through MY cruise in this live review, of course! Sure, you have to mix up your own DOD’s, cook your own meals, and make your own bed, but seeing my crazy adventures will make you feel like you’re on vaca….right? Hubby and I had originally booked the Mardi Gras sailing the week of our wedding anniversary (November 11) as we like to celebrate our anniversary on a cruise ship. However, back in March of this year we sailed on Celebration with our “cruise grandparents” (long story, not enough time to tell) and they introduced us to a couple that we now refer to as our “cruise aunt & uncle.” In August, I got a random phone call from “cruise aunt” telling me that she REALLY wanted me and Chris to swap our November cruise to the Horizon sailing on December 3 that her and our “cruise grandparents” were on. Hmmmm…..I do love the Horizon, especially the Havana area (which they were booked in), but I HATE….no, wait, I DESPISE…Miami. I also love “cruise grandparents” and “cruise aunt & uncle”…but this sailing goes to Ocho Rios, which Chris made me swear we would avoid going back to at all costs. Also, this sailing happens to fall over the date of Chris’s college graduation, which he has worked SO HARD for. However, upon talking to Chris about it, he was fine with cruising the high seas (well, hopefully calm seas!) instead of walking the stage. In his words, “just book me the Cheers package so I can have a La Buena Vida or 5 to celebrate my graduation.” Ok, I guess I can at least do that for you, especially since you are not going to make me sit thru a long, boring graduation ceremony! He was also cool with sailing from Miami, although he rolled his eyes when I told him we would be driving, not flying (I have a MAJOR fear of flying) and he made me pinkie promise that next time we sail from there we will fly. Don’t tell him, but I had my toes crossed when I made that promise, so it doesn’t count. I still have not informed him that Ocho Rios is a port of call for us, I think I will wait until we are onboard to break that news to him. That could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back… Upon looking at the sailing, I ran into one last conundrum…. the only Havana cabin available is a Havana Cabana suite, you say? Hmmmm…..twist my arm, I supposed I can deal with the trek to Miami, and going to Ocho Rios, if I have some “suite” (see what I did there? Hehehe!) digs to make up for it. Swap me over, magical Carnival PVP! We will claim that this is our anniversary celebration AND Chris’s graduation celebration, so an awesome room is required, right? One more thing that has me super stoked for this cruise…the beginning of November, they released the Christmas decorating schedule for the ships, and Horizon will be decorated for us! YAY!!!! They also said that for the month of December, all the sailings will be Christmas themed, with special activities…double yay! I have always thought the ships would be beautiful decorated for the holidays and wished I could see it, and now I can. I also may or may not have some special decorations of my own….stay tuned for those!

Dr E made the old style muster drill entertaining! We actually hung out at Jack’s Shack back in 2016 with Steve and his assistant CD and the playlist cast. We had a table with lots of room and they arrived after it was getting crowded, so we told them they could sit and hang out. We had great conversations! Matt of course was so personable and friendly, you could tell he really cared for his guests and their experiences. We sailed during Irma and mom ran out of her meds when our sailing was extended, and he tried to help her find more and followed up to see how she was. Chris Williams and his singing talent…just wow!

Oh boy....I sailed MSC Seaside last year in YC and had the best service and experience ever. I sail Seashore next Sept with my hubby after talking MSC and YC up to him, I sure hope it gets better and more organized!

Thanks so much for doing the review Jimbo! Can't wait for my turn in 12 days. 🙂

Oh my gosh, I feel so bad for the staff that had to clean that up. Shame on the parents! On my cruise in August we had a few kids in the YC area and they were so well behaved, and luckily our fellow pax were too. Hoping that your experience going foward will get better!

Yay, another Poop Deck thread!!!

I like the variety that the Excel class ships offer, but my favorite ships to sail are still Vista class in the Havana area. Sooooo relaxing!

Following along! I sail Seashore next Sept in the YC with my hubby. It will be my second YC cruise, first one was this past August with my mom on Seaside. Hubby will be experiencing YC and MSC for the first time, I am hoping he will be hooked like I am!

Oh that water looks Heavenly!!!!!!