CarolSW

Happened in real life to me in March ‘18. Right before leaving our home in Houston to drive to Galveston, DH asked me to “show me the passports”. I took the passport pouch out of my backpack, showed him, and then promptly left them on the table. Did not realize until we approached the entrance to the terminal where they were checking if we had documents in hand. We got out of line, searched everywhere fruitlessly, then called my DD who lives 5 blocks from my house. She ran over there, found them, then graciously met us halfway. It was such a blessing we live so close to our home port. Not the case this week when we cruise out of Baltimore. You can be sure we will triple check in the car before we leave for the airport!

DH says the sign slip/and processing will cost Celebrity more than the $1.18 upgrade fee. ;p

I know.....right?!?!?!?

Welcome to Cruise Critic Mr/Mrs OP. I would call you by name but I have a feeling your first post will be your only pot. If I am wrong, I apologize.

As for the wire in your waffle.....

.....could be a valuable source of iron added to your diet.

.....the wires had to end up somewhere when all the ships went wireless.

....,you should be able to find others who have experienced this by doing a search for "wire in my food". Oh....wait...hmmmm....

Keepimg my tongue firmly in my cheek :o

For myself, I am trying to practice GRATITUDE more and DISAPPOINTMENT less. That is not to invalidate the feeling of disappointment, because it is real. What I am telling myself is that disappointment is normal and there is no way to avoid it. We all have various levels of disappointment in our lives because that is life. I am trying harder to ACCEPT disappointment while looking closer at the things I can be grateful for. I recently had a discussion with a FB friend who posted that 2016 was the worst year ever and s?cked. This person has a great job, a darling 2 yr-old princess, a loving husband, a house they own, and a wonderful extended family that is very supportive (me included!). 2016 had some very bad things happen indeed, and somehow I managed to survive all that and live to see today. I am very grateful for all that, and for the fact that I am currently on a cruise! I was ill this past summer and we had to cancel our July cruise. Now I am healthy enough to enjoy this one. HALLELUJAH! It works for me!

Whew! When I read the title of the OP, i immediately worried that something tragic had happened. So glad it was not the tragedy I imagined when I read "disaster". I guess I am accostumed to the word 'disaster' in reference to an awful event like this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

Sorry your cruise began and ended roughly, but so happy the cruise itself was what it should be!

We were on the Magic's New Year's Eve cruise 2015/16 with Dr. E and became big fans. I cannot remember but 3-4 CDs in all of our cruises, but Dr. E is the first one who was memorable enough to remember his name - Everton Bevelle. He set the bar very high for my future CDs. Leaving on the Breeze tomorrow and that CD has big shoes to fill IMHO LOL!

Just an FYI - I purchased weight loss and blood pressure meds for several years while on cruises. Most often it was in Belize, but I also bought in Cozumel several times. I was not as familiar with Cozumel pharmacies and had a hard time locating them on my own. When I asked our bartender on the cruise how to find the meds I was looking for, he told me any taxi driver in Cozumel can recommend where he could take us. THat in itself is risky I know, but the bigger consequence was to come several months later when I was randomly drug tested at work. Of course I tested positive for amphetamines (weight loss) and since I had no prescription for them, it was a violation of my organizations drug policy. I also tested positive for cocaine which I have never even been in the presence of. I was suspended for 3 days and did the hair follicle test during that time to confirm the findings. THAT test came back negative for all the substances so I was able to return to work. Of course I was humiliated by the whole situation. My point is that we have no ideas what the standards are in the manufacturing plants of these Rx. I suspected perhaps there was some cross-contamination, plus it could have been a faulty urine drug test. I just know that buying drugs on a cruise was a bad decision for me. Maybe I will change my mind when I retire (just a few years away) and living on a fixed income???

I think we are seeing why depression continues to be stigmatized and undertreated. Yes accidents happen, but most who have been on current cruise ships know how hard one would have to work to go overboard.p accidentally. It is less likely that this was an accident, and more likely that it was intentional. I am assuming here, and will no doubt be taken to task for doing so, but it is more likely that this person was suffering from a mental health issue that ended up costing her her life, and raised the rath of many who don't see mental illness as the real scourge that it can be. And so people will continue to hide it when they experience it, because who wants to open themselves to ridicule and judgement rather than acutally asking for and receiving the help these folks so desperately need. Sad all around for sure, and a blow to mental health awareness.

JULI - Thank you for the pix and info on your Journeys cruise! They were great, especially your 80's group shots!! You look like a fun bunch!

We did! My son did a brilliant job choosing the perfect gift for us this year - a Carnival gift card that we can use when we board on Sunday for our first ever New Years' Eve cruise. We had also purchased one on AARP earlier this month (with the $50 'free money' bonus!!) so we will have a tidy sum to apply to our shipboard account from the get go. Looking forward to ringing in 2016 on our favorite place - a cruise ship!!! 😀

It is a tribute to the OP that, over a year later, this review is still getting hits and positive comments. Amazing! Also, I realized that I had read this review before, in 2014, and I am enjoying it all over again. OK, maybe that says mor about my memory issues, but does not change the fact that this is one of the BEST reviews many/most of us have had the pleasure of enjoying. THANK YOU CMCSHARON for letting us come with you on your cruise! Heading over now to find your blog....

PS - Thanks also for the lesson in constraint you taught us in not engaging the 1% and instead humbly accepting the praise of 99% of the commenters here. Well done!!

Bright spot: The Tandoor Indian place. Prior to this cruise I thought I didn't like Indian food. I ate lunch here every sea day. A few things were vile and inedible (but I saw passengers from India enjoying them), but most things were absolutely delicious. Bread was awesome.

 

 

It's been four days since I got off the boat and the boat finally stopped moving last night. Ya know what I mean?

THANKS for your quick observations! Very helpful!

Regarding the Tandoor place, I too believe that I don't care for Indian food, but your comments make me want to try. Which dishes were your faves, and which did you deem not-so-good?

Yep, I DO know what you mean about the boat/ship continuing to rock after returning. Only cure for that is more frequent cruises!!!

Is there a drink station on the same level as the Fish & Chips?

Yes, there is a drink station up with the Fish & Chips, but I did note there is no hot chocolate at that one.

But that does bring me to another "don't miss" - the ceviche at the Fish & Chips restaurant. Delicious!

For a sweet FREE treat, that does not feel as frivolous as the free soft serve ice cream or forzen yogurt, try a cup of the hot chocolate that is nearby the coffee stations. It is surprisingly delicious, and while I do not know the calorie count, it just seems less decadent than the ice cream or desserts. This is true for ALL Carnival ships, not just Freedom. Hint: put your cup under the spigot, push the button once, then wait. I thought a few of the machines were not working, when I finally realized you have to wait a few seconds after one push.

Sadly, they confiscated my tower fan that I had packed in my checked luggage for our 7/18/15 Freedom cruise out of Galveston. They said they had to check the wiring. It was in the original box, we had never used it, and thought it would be perfect to take for our canin. I have a skin condition that worsens in heat and sweat, so it was necessary. When we checked back with the powers-that-be they said it had not passed and so we would not be permitted to use it in our canin. We did pick it up as we were disembarking this past Saturday.

Instead, they gave us a small fan to use, which stopped working on the 2nd day. We reported it, and then got a heftier fan to use for the remainder of the cruise. It was a very good fan and worked for my skin issue. I can understand why they could not let us use our original tower fan. If everyone brought such a device onto the ship I am sure it would cause potential power problems, not to mention not knowing if what was wired in there was a bomb or something. I am fine with the decision made about my fan, and I enjoyed the cruise very much, and Carnival staff did their best to accomodate my needs. No complaints there. I just wanted to offer my experience to help others who are thinking about fans. On our 2 past Carnival cruises before this most recent one, we were 1 for 2 on fan requests. First cruise we asked for one we got one, the 2nd cruise we did not, which was why we attempted to bring our own this 3rd cruise.

I think it makes a huge difference for the crowd if you sing a peppy fun gotta-good-beat song. It doesn't matter if you can sing or not, cause if the crowd can sing along, everyone has fun. It's not so much that slow songs are depressing, they just don't have any energy that the crowd can get into. When they are slow, they seem to go on forever. The only way slow songs are crowd favorites are if the singer is so good he/she rivals the original. Otherwise it's torture for the audience. If you have a so-so voice, do yourself nd your audience a favor and sing something with a fSt fun beat. Amiright?!?!?

The suggestions here have been fun to read....especially the tongue-in-cheek ones! Hope it all goes off like clockwork, and that it is the beginning of many many romantic memories on cruises!!

my wife ordered a case of it from st. martin. it wasn't to much for the shipping and it was here within a week.:) just get on their web site.

Are you a distributer? The list upthread says they cannot send directly to a consumer, but only a distributer. Did you find that to be not the case?

These are very helpful.

MANY THANKS!!

The Texas law applies to the Galveston cruise port, not Houston Bayport.

 

Last I saw, Bayport was located with in the borders of the State of Texas, so why would the law not apply to Bayport?

 

I am thinking it is because you can only consume alcohol SOLD in Texas while you are in Texas, which extends part of the way into the Gulf. If a cruise line chooses to sell alcohol during this time, it can only be alcohol that the cruise line bought in Texas. So if the unlimited package on NCL or other cruise ships departing from Bayport is sold on the first day, they are still bound by this restriction, meaning it can only be alcohol that the cruise line purchased in Texas.

There were 3 martini tastings on our Dec. 13 Jewel cruise - I think it was on each sea day at 4:00. It was one of my favorite things about the cruise!! Fun, educational, and tasty!!

UPDATE on our effort to pay for an upgrade from an oceanview to a mini-suite on Dec. 12 Jewel after being told NO by our TA and NCL said we had to go through the TA: SUCCESS! We went back to TA and insisted as we were coached here to do, and we got what we wanted. THANKS for the guidance here. Cruise Critic pays off again!!! 😄

Thanks for your answer bowbiter. I am thoroughly disappointed in my TA now, and we have booked ALL of our cruises through them. We will follow your advice and try to insist. If they refuse, I guess we are stuck, but will no longer book through them. Thought we had built up more loyalty than that.

We sail on Dec 12 on the Jewel out of Houston. We called our TA last week and asked about going from a oceanview to a mini-suite. TA said could not do. Called NCL and asked them directly. They said call your TA. We are willing to pay the difference. Why is the answer no? Does it have something to do with our TA? Should I try again calling NCL? I believe there ARE empty cabins, but is there a secret formula they use to determine who can get them?

I enjoyed Ben Vereen alot, but my fav was the Unexpected Boys act. Saw them twice, and they are a rotating group of performers. so it was different guys both times. The first time I saw them I loved their act so much I skipped dinner to see their 2nd show of the night, determined to plant myself in the front row to volunteer to come on stage as part of the act. It worked, and my family got a great video that we can play when I am too old to do that sort of thing LOL! It really was out of character for me to try to get in the spotlight like that, but their show was so enjoyable I wanted to be a part of it. Silly I know, but it was great fun for me! The act was a headliner on a later cruise I took, with different performers as I mentioned, but they were just as talented.