pirate4me2

I believe Melissa may have made a few of my drinks at the atrium bar in April. I really do not hang out down there too often, but may make a special trip next week just to see.

C'mon, weekend! If only I could fast forward to then.... Setyo better still be there, I need a familiar face! I got news that Goran just left the Alchemy bar, I was so looking forward to more of his creations. 😞 Is Cape Canaveral ready for the flashes from my crazy sunglasses? 😁

Thank you!! I hope so! Thanks for following along!

Thank you for the kind words!! And for following along on my adventures. 🙂 I'm ready! Is it time yet?? Thank you!

Hey, Cruise Critic family! It’s that time again….time for Pirate (aka ME) to set sail on the high seas again. I wasn’t supposed to sail Carnival again until October, but the itinerary I had us booked on for that trip just wasn’t appealing to me (Nassau, Freeport) so I swapped the hubs and I over to the June 9 sailing aboard the Vista. There are so many great things going about the change: I get to cruise again sooner than planned (yay!), I was able to snag my favorite Havana “patio” stateroom (5239, just steps away from the pool & bar!), the itinerary goes to Grand Turk, AND the sailing takes place over Chris’s 40th birthday. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate, can you? Once we were swapped over, I quickly went to book our go-to hotel in Cape Canaveral, Home2Suites. Unfortunately their park & cruise package was already booked up, so it looks like we will be parking at the port. Honestly that doesn’t break my heart, we did it on our girls’ cruise in April, and it was nice to walk off the ship, to the vehicle, and be on our way! No waiting on a shuttle to get us back to the hotel and our car, and when you have a long-ish drive home (about 8-9 hours for us) every little bit of time saved helps. I have no excursions planned this go-round, so don’t expect any exciting adventures from me. This itinerary is catering to our inner fishes (bad grammar there, I know, but I don’t care!), it’s PERFECT for beach days. Chris has never been to Half Moon Cay, but I remember when I spent my birthday there in 2019 it was wonderful….truly like a slice of Heaven on earth! Grand Turk of course is our favorite laid back beach day stop (on Carnival anyway), I will just walk off the ship and wander down the beach that day. It also happens to be our port of call on Chris’s birthday, yahoo! I booked him a scuba excursion since he loves scuba diving and I bet there will be some wonderful things for him to see there. I MIGHT check out Jack’s Shack since we haven’t been since new owners took over, but maybe not…I haven’t heard good things since the swaparoo. As for Amber Cove, I am not a fan of this stop and plan to stay on the ship in the Havana area. We have the drink package, maybe this will be the day I hit 15. I did decide that since we have quite a bit of OBC (stock, and Milestone credit for me) to go all-out and do a bunch of specialty dining this cruise. We will eat the first night in Cucina, hoping that it will redeem itself from our Mardi Gras/Celebration trips. It just doesn’t seem to be the same quality on those 2 ships as it has been on the “pay” ships, but maybe that is a post-COVID thing. Anyway, going the first night I get a “free” bottle of wine, so if the food isn’t up to par, I’ll just drink my dinner! That bottle, combined with a Cheers package, could make for an interesting first night onboard! The second night (first elegant night) we will dine in the steakhouse, which never disappoints! And finally, thanks to @Jamman54 and his recent Vista review, we will dine the last night of the cruise in Jiji’s. We tried it years ago on the Sunshine (I think?) and were not huge fans, but his recent review looked delicious, and I believe that everything deserves a second chance. So, while we may lack in exciting port adventures and pics, be prepared for some delicious (hopefully) food pics! So, now that we have all that out of the way, who’s ready to sail? Pack your bags, and make sure you don’t forget the sunscreen or swimming attire!

Another vote for Big Chicken. I was not a fan of the biscuits at all (I like big, fluffy, flaky biscuits), but the chicken fingers and chicken sandwiches were delicious. And the fries! SOOOO much better than Guy's.

Why have i never thought of this?? GENIUS!!!!

Thanks for doing this review. DH and I sail Seashore in September for his first MSC experience. I fell in love with MSc and the YC last year, and I can't wait to have him see how awesome it is!

Yes, they do multiple peoples’ laundry together as others have said. We did the Behind the Fun tour on Vista in 2017 and got to see it.

Welcome back Sid! Can’t wait to hear the adventures you had. Hope the week “off the grid” was just what you needed.

This is absolutely perfect! But, what gourmet meal did he have? Those Ruben sandwiches he made a while back looked pretty delish! I love those posts! Hmmmm….im gonna go with some kind of pizza place they order from, and he’s going to have a crazy, unique kind of personal pizza…let’s say a bourbon bbq fig…bbq chicken, figs, bourbon bbq drizzle…something crazy like that. Oh we gotta give it cheese….lets do something fancy, Gorgonzola!

Oh my, I needed some of these posts after this day at work! I laughed so hard at @Mommapadraig's Bonaire local cusine and @figmentfreak's map. And @Roscoe13's reference to Chaka....bahahaha. Thank you all for the giggles! This is the best review yet.

Have a great vacation Sid!

Thoughts and prayers with your family today. ❤️

Oh my! I need to go to Bonaire, that water is beautiful looking!!

My letter has a raised seal on it. However, there was no “packet” when it was left…just the letter on my bed and the passport/luggage tags on top of it.

Mom and I both LOVED the butter chicken dish....I wish I could have had it another night, it was SO GOOD!

We loved the little mini sandwiches on Seaside last August! Who knew a cucumber sammich would be so delicious? LOL.

Alright, you just convinced me to try Jiji's next month. I am booking it for the last night of our cruise lol. That Kung Pao chicken looks DELISH!!!! Best wishes for a successful surgery and speedy recovery for Patti!!

I reached Diamond on my last cruise, on the last sea day. Upon boarding, waiting in my cabin, was the passport holder and the Diamond letter, and I had a Diamond card the whole cruise.

Unfortunately their hours are not working with my work hours at the moment, but thanks for that suggestion.

Thank you so much for the quick reply! That works for me. Now I can make sure I secure a spot on his bday. 🙂

Hi all! As a recent Diamond member, I received a letter that says I get a 1 time free meal for 2 at a specialty restaurant. I was thinking about using it on my Vista sailing next month to take DH to the steakhouse on his birthday. My question is....when I go to book online, I see I have to pre-pay. There is no spot to show that it is a Diamond meal or anything. If I was to pre-pay, then show up with the letter once onboard, would they refund the price to my onboard account? Or should I just try and wait and book once onboard? Thanks for any help/insight!

Awesome review, as always. Thank you for putting it together! I hope Karl can learn to SCUBA so he can enjoy it as much as you all do. I love seeing all your underwater photos with the colorful marine life!

I will absolutely love whatever you post. It’ll bring back memories of my time onboard Celebration last year. 🙂