Beagleluv6107

Hey Jeff & Patti, I'm so happy to see you started your b2b review. A wonderful job as always. I really want to go on the Vista now!! It's nice to know that when the Hubby eventually turns Diamond, I can tag along as his guest to that lunch. It looks incredible. Thanks again for doing your reviews with all the stunning pics! Fingers crossed for pain relief after the surgery! We need our favorite Photographer! 😊

I am so happy the 3 of you can go on the cruise and your grandmom is doing so well. This sounds like an epic trip and I am here for it!!! 😎

The plan was that DH would go up to deck 9 and grab the MIL and her luggage and meet me at 7am at the Marco Polo dining room on Deck 3. He left at 6:55am and I took our luggage with me and made my way alone down to Mid-3. I got a text from him that she left her cabin at 6:50 to go for a cup of coffee. She knew he was on his way and left anyway. My rockstar just got fired from the Band. 😠 I was livid and just could not be more annoyed because there’s 5000 people on this ship and I didn’t like being separated to begin with. I was standing there looking like an idiot while hundreds of folks walked by me. Even our cruise director MarQ stopped by to see if he could usher me along. I told him I needed to wait for my people. Almost 1000 people later, MarQ comes back over and said are you sure your people didn’t leave you. I turned bright red of embarrassment. Finally, I spotted them and off the ship we went. It was smooth and easy. About as smooth as any Debark I’ve ever had. It took me about 20 miles down the highway to forgive her insubordination. LOL I was snapping this goodbye pic of the Venezia at 7:35am. Not bad at all. Now, I like to wrap up the return from a cruise with another party day… usually with some Hooters spicy garlic wings and a cold beer. It helps take the edge off!! This cruise ended on a Wednesday and we took off the rest of the week. Whoo hoo. We dropped off the MIL to my dear FIL and took off for the Phillies Game. We ate a cheese steak and drank some cold beverages and ended up watching them lose in OT. That part sucked. I always like to include a pic of my purchases but somehow I lost it. grrr We just got a magnet and a Christmas ornament. The fanny pack was for his Platinum gift. Oh wait… DH did get a shirt. Final Thoughts I liked the Venezia. I didn’t explore as much as I should have. The Terrazza was well worth the upgrade. The crew was phenomenal, and I did not encounter 1 rude person the entire trip. I was also never hot or cold anywhere I went. There is a smoky smell around the casino area and I do feel bad for folks that are sensitive to that. Regrets I had a few. As usual, this one got away from me and before I knew it, the trip was over. That’s what happens when you linger at the bar laughing for hours with your 82-year mother-in-law and your dearest friends in the world. But… I do regret not keeping an eye on our dinner time after sail away. I love going to the MDR. I don’t know if Crab Cakes made the menu on a 4-day cruise because I missed 2 nights. Ugh! That has never happened to me. I also regret not getting everyone into Sea Day Brunch. I’ll know better to make the reservation earlier. My eyes popped out of my head when it said 110 minutes. I’ve never had more than a 10 minute wait. My lack of prioritizing food was good for my diet. The trip was only 4 days but the first time I never gained weight. I did skip quite a few meals though. I wished I could have gotten into the comedy show but the long lines make it challenging. I am sorry I didn’t have one drink in the Heroes Tribute Bar. It looked cool in there. Oh, I almost forgot, I regret buying that Apple Air Tag from Amazon. What a waste! Up next for us … BUCKET LIST … Alaska cruise in 2024. That review will be more like my Hawaii review…. A lot less “party” and a lot more “content”. I’ve got 4 excursions planned and will not be buying the Cheers Package. As always CC Family, I truly appreciate each and every one of you that took the time to follow along. It means so much to me to share and have someone care. Thank you so much!! Happy Cruising!

Wednesday, August 23rd – Debarkation I think DH’s stupid alarm blared in our ears about 5:30 am. Nothing annoys me more than that sound. He jumped in the shower, and I set about packing up. I never pack the night before. I stay in denial all day and I like it there!! Luckily, with a 4-day cruise I didn’t have much to gather. Here’s a bunch of random pics from various balconies. DH ran down to the buffet to grab us some food and brought it back to enjoy on the balcony. I didn’t want much. I feel like I had just eaten a southwest chicken wrap only moments ago.

After dinner we walked around a little to try and work off some of the dinner. We ended up at a different bar right next to the Gondola Lounge. There was a band playing and they were pretty good. The Girls each had martini’s so I had to finally try a dirty martini. Yuck, that’s not for me. Good to know while I’m on the Cheers package. I quickly gave it away to my niece. She didn’t want or need another, but she couldn’t see what she called a Good Dirty Martini go to waste. DH had a very long day, and he was ready to call it quits. He got his pizza at 9. I went off exploring and found the 80’s Rock and Glow party. Yeah Me. I lingered for a while and took a few pics. Eventually, I made my way to the deli and back to the cabin to feast. After feasting on my wrap, I crawled up the bed because I was trying to avoid the “demon wall”. Well, I had my iPad in one hand and the remote control in the other hand, so I was kinda crawling on my elbows and off the side I went. Just half of me but enough to scare the daylights out of DH. Oops sorry dear. It’s all the wall’s fault and had nothing to do those drinks earlier. She says with a sly smile. Up Next – Time To Go Home 😭

Tonight, we were determined to eat in the dining room, so I never did snack on anything else. I had the Steak Ale and Cheddar Soup and Costine Brasate. I loved both but I filled up on soup and bread, so I really had to force down a few bites of the short ribs. DH got the same soup and the Penne Allo Scoglio. He enjoyed the soup and said the dinner was very good. It’s something he would normally not get. He’s not big on calamari.

I ordered a margarita and DH finally got that dirty martini. It was so weird tho... the bartender put lime instead of an olive. Very Odd. I got a Dirty Shirley for the girls and took that out to them in the hot tub. \\\\ I eventually took one up to my cabin while I got ready for dinner. \\ \\

I snapped a few pictures off the balcony to show the sun came out. It looked pretty quiet down in the Terrazza area. We talked “The Girls” into trying out the hot tub. We stayed at the inside bar and I was their bartender and just took their drinks out as they needed them. They had a blast. Sometimes they were alone or just 1 or 2 people in the hot tub with them. I think they stayed in for almost 2 hours. I had a beer at first but then discovered a dirty Shirley. I never heard of that before and now it might be my new go to drink.

We went wandering around and did a little shopping. DH is platinum so we went to the casino to claim his $25.00 free play. He put that on 13 on the roulette wheel and it was gone in 10 seconds! After that we went back to the room. The girls got the same heart on this day.

DH text me to meet him at the Burano bar, so I did and got a Tito’s and OJ. This is his Bloody Mary, but it was not sitting well with him. He’d had a lot of fun the day before and just wasn’t in the mood. Especially once he realized that he could have stayed in bed for another hour. When everyone eventually showed up for Sea Day Brunch, I made the reservation. Oh no... That was a big mistake…. waiting. I should have made the reservation for when we decided to meet and not wait for everyone to show up. My phone said the wait was 110 minutes. Big Big Oops! Only 4 of us were willing to wait. I ordered a Champagne with a splash of pineapple since I had plenty of time to kill! Our wait only took about 30 mins so we were happy with our decision. We got a perfect table with a perfect view. Our server was great, but I forgot to write down his name. I got the Huevos Rancheros. I didn’t want to eat too much because I wanted to try The Grill later, but I was told it wasn’t very good and not to bother. DH got steak and eggs.

Tuesday, August 22nd – 2nd Sea Day and Our Last Day I was up incredibly early and determined to make it a great day despite the clouds. However, we gained our hour back and of course, we never noticed the paper sitting on our desk. Shame on us!! DH ran out the door for coffee so I got my act together to go join him. Boy it sure was quiet at the Rococo bar. Too quiet so I decided to take a walk and see what I could see.

Awe, thank you so much for following along. It is taking me forever to get this finished and it was only a 4 day cruise!!! 🫠

Eventually we made our way back to the Rococo bar and someone suggested there was jambalaya in the buffet line. DH went and got a bowl. I tried a bite. Very good. Of course I forgot a pic. It was good to hold us over since we skipped dinner. A few of us did a shot. I took a pic… a very bad one. Looks like an empty cup. Sorry about that. Here’s MIL’s drink. We made it to Family Feud for the second show around 10. We walked by the comedy show and the line was exceptionally long. We had a good time at Family Feud. We were glad we went. Here's a pic of my friend's cheers count. 😲 After that it was time for the deli. The line was insanely long so I left DH standing there and went to the Burano Bar. By the time I came back he was just getting our order. I got the southwest chicken wrap. Between the comedy show and the deli line, I was finally seeing what all the complaining was about with long lines. I brought extra zip lock bags to grab a sandwich from the deli and put it in my fridge but that’s hard to prioritize during the day. No pic of my masterpiece but I’ll say it was well worth DH standing in that lengthy line while I bar hopped. Such a good husband! He got the Rueben. Up Next – Last Day

We were back onboard by 3:30 and went back to our private Terrazza Bar and hung out there. Dinner was at 5:30 and there was no way DH and I were gonna make it. We were just too stuffed! A few of our group did leave us to go to the MDR and we went outside to watch sail away.

I’m so sorry for the delay folks. I’ll try and get this wrapped up in the next few days. Grannon’s was well worth it. We had a private room all to ourselves on the second floor. DH and I split the mushroom caps with lobster and bacon wrapped scallops. Both were fantastic! One of my friends got the Seafood Bucket but I can't find a picture. It came with so much food she had to get some help from others at the table. I could see the ship from our window. Bad pic tho... sorry

That is terrible!!!

This guy came out and sang to us. He was a trip. I loved hearing old Irish songs. The place was very cool and had a huge back bar as well. They said on St. Patty’s Day folks come from miles away and there are usually a few thousand that day. We told the bartender we wanted seafood, so he strongly recommended Grannan’s. We didn’t get good directions and figured we would use our phone’s and find it. At first, we went right and that was correct, but we didn’t go far enough. We asked someone and they said go left. So, we backtracked and still didn’t find out. Eventually, someone got their phone GPS to work and we back-tracked again and finally got there. Poor MIL, that was a lot of steps for her. Here we are back by the ship. Here we are back by the ship again!!!! 😕

We walked across the street and went into O’Leary’s. I’m so glad we did. We met Kevin Ferguson who has owned the place for 33 years. He and the bartender were awesome. We had the best time. I tried a small glass of a grapefruit beer that was fantastic. Some of the ladies don’t drink beer. So, we had 6 beers and 3 mixed drinks, and the total was $55. Not bad.

After breakfast, I went back to the room to gather my stuff. Ro came while we were gone. We all met in the Atrium to get off the ship. We had just planned to wander around. We were stopped by a driver offering to take us all on a tour for $65 pp. I tried to haggle that price, but he didn’t budge so we moved on. We met some locals on the street that suggested we could go to Britt’s Pub but when we arrived, they were closed.

We met at the Rococo Bar, and they had the roof open which was surprising. The other day it was closed when it was sunny and warm and now it’s open and raining inside. I got a Bloody Mary from Kadek. He tells everyone he’s from Massachusetts and then watches their faces for a reaction. The MIL fell for it which cracked us all up. It turns out Kadek was on the Freedom cruise in 2022 when we were on board. One of my friends needed a straw to stir but all they had at the bar were these rubber things. We had nowhere to be and no hurry, but everyone decided to get burrito’s this day. I snapped this picture to show how quiet it was in here. I guess no one wanted those mid-morning drinks. A few more gloomy pictures. I'm glad we didn't have an early tour.

Monday, August 21st – Saint. John, New Brunswick We woke up to quite a gloomy day in Canada. Thankfully it wasn’t cold just rainy. This was good time to just lounge around.

Hi Puppycanducuise, Thank you so much!!! I am so glad I didn't have that in my subject line!! I would have been so embarrassed. 😳 Thanks again!

Hey Pe4all, I thought it was really good. Just a little sweetness to take away from the tart. My MIL didn't like it so I'll be anxious to see what you think.

Hi Cherries, Thanks so much!!! I'm glad your along for the ride! 😎

After dinner we made our way back to the Burano Pool bar and the kind bartender made me that Patron Peach Margarita. Yeah, I finally remembered to try something off my list. It was excellent. The rest of the gang eventually found us. I went up to deck 11 and snapped a few sunset pics. I couldn’t resist the heart hands! MIL found popcorn. Then she eventually got pizza and snapped a picture of her pizza and her towel animal. We stayed right in the same spot for another hour. It was so beautiful outside, we didn’t want to move. I think this was my #10 a Tito’s and Ginger ale. Here's my friends pizza. After seeing that masterpiece we got in the pizza line!! But we still didn't want to leave so we went back to the bar for one more. 😉 Up Next – St. John, New Brunswick