Jamman54

So sorry for your loss Paul. Positive thoughts and prayers for you and your family are on the way. 🙏🙏

When we went last year the earliest time was 10 - 10:30. 

Good morning Cruise Critic Family! Please excuse us as we will not be posting anything new today as we are observing a rather somber anniversary. IYKYK. We'll be back tomorrow to continue with our adventure. We hope to wrap up this review this weekend. Have a great day! 😎

7 minutes ago, rwest898 said:

Where is Lucy's?  Thanks😊

In Aruba. Once outside the port hang a right. It's about three blocks down on the right. Just past The Paddock. 😀

We sail past the Plaza Beach Resort where we did an all-inclusive day pass the last time we were here……

We say goodbye to Bonaire…..

We went back to the cabin to change for the evening. A little after 6pm I went to the Casino to pick up our $30 free play that we had won at Deal or no Deal. I then went to the Lobby Bar to hang out and listen to the String Trio. I was soon joined there by Beth & Mark.

Meanwhile, Patti went to have dinner at the Deli, and then she joined us at the Lobby Bar. Patti got these pictures of us at the bar, and of course once again we were photo bombed!

Mustafa and Melissa were taking care of us tonight…..

We hung out until about 8:30pm when Patti went back to the cabin to read. I went up to the Lido Marketplace for a bite to eat, and then I went down to the Havana Bar for a nightcap with Kiran. I was back in the cabin by 10pm.

Today’s Cheers count: Patti = 3, Jeff = 7. For the day (-2), for the cruise (+17).

Coming up next: Another relaxing Sea Day!!

We watch the sail away from the Havana Area…..

To be continued……

We continued to hang out in the Havana Area for the sail away at 4pm. Here are some Kralendijk views before we sailed away. This is my Husband Daycare, Karel’s Beach Bar……

This guy has been fishing out here all day…..

Here are a couple more Kralendijk views…..

It’s time to cast the lines…..

Will this guy have to swim ashore?

No, they come to pick him up…..

To be continued……  

Patti decides that it’s time to head back to the ship……

Once back on board Patti heads up to the Lido Marketplace for a bite to eat. I meet her there and afterwards we head back to the cabin to relax. At 2:30pm we headed out to the Havana Area for some drinks and pool and hot tub time……

To be continued……

Beth, Mark, and I hung out at Karel’s Beach Bar until around 12:30pm. They were going to check out the Market, and I was going to head back to the ship. Once back on the ship I made way to Guy’s Burger and got myself two Plain Jane’s and took them over to the Red Frog Rum Bar to enjoy them with a Thirsty Frog Wheat. Meanwhile, Patti continues with her walking tour……

This little guy is out for a stroll…..

To be continued…….

After Patti finished her drink, she was off and running to continue her picture tour of the port area. I told her it wouldn’t be necessary for her to come back and get me since it was such a short walk back to the ship. So Patti continues her walking tour…..

There’s a little concert going on…..

To be continued…..

31 minutes ago, Knights on the Beach said:

Jeff and Patti are already in Bonaire but I'm backing up to Aruba. 🙂 We had originally planned to do the trike tour but after watching some videos online, we decided we weren't that crazy about some of the stops so we cancelled it. So instead we just wandered around the port for a bit and walked over to our ultimate destination - Lucy's. There's one in New Orleans but the one we've been to many times was in Key West. We loved it but they closed it last year so we were looking forward to visiting the Aruba location.

 

But first lunch on the ship at Cucina (yes we ate all of this).

 

 

 

 

We found a lobster on our bed before we headed off the ship (lucky thing I'm not allergic to this kind).

 

 

Lucy's!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple hours later, we headed back to the port area where we bought a Christmas ornament and some pink sparkly magnets before getting back on the ship.

 

 

 

After that big lunch and then snacks at Lucy's, we weren't hungry at dinner time. I don't remember but suspect we had some pizza later on. But first we spent some quality time at Ocean Plaza Bar.

 

 

 

 

And that's where my photo trail ends for Aruba day. 😂

If I would've known that you guys were at Lucy's I would have crawled another 100 feet to meet you there! 

3 hours ago, pblack said:

I know you didn't go on this cruise, but how do you normally book the Barcelo Aruba day pass? I don't remember seeing it as an option through Carnival. My hubby and I will be in Aruba in September (Horizon out of Miami) and we love doing all inclusive days. We haven't been to Aruba before. 

Check out Shoreexcursioneer dot com. 😎

You know we'll be along for the ride! Love the Venezia. Spent 21 days on her last year and doing another B2B on her in September. 😃

1 hour ago, peterlive76 said:

Took Flavia out of Miami for 1976 senior trip. It was funny because you could not be found or seen on the bottom deck. Off limits. Women were staying on that level. You would be suspended if we were caught. How crazy is that? And your luggage was checked by dogs on the pier when we got back to Miami.

??????

57 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

Took awhile to get the crew member medically evacuated on Princess Cay.  But we are on track for an on time arrival in Puerto Rico!

 

Our favorite bartender from the Venezia, Zora, is here at the Alchemy Bar!  Makes the best Chocolate Martinis in the fleet.  Evidently no longer serving the Non-alcoholic Lyres drinks and we are very disappointed.

 

Formal night dinner tonight.  Appetizer Tuna Crudi was very good.  Extremely disappointed with the “Jumbo”  Shrimp and fish cake with a pedestrian red sauce, and not a fan of the filet mignon mixed with short rib my DH had—the filet used to be thicker and better,

 

Took some family photos and now relaxing.  Lovely sunset

 

Photos to follow,

Please tell Zora that Jeff and Patti say hello. We love Zora! 😁

I’m drinking Coronas and Patti has a frozen mudslide…..

A staff member comes by and throws some bread in the water creating a fish feeding frenzy…..

The bathrooms here are bizarre. They were across the street in a building that was clearly being renovated…..

To be continued…..

Here are a few more views of Karel’s Beach Bar…..

Our view of the Carnival Vista from Karel’s Beach Bar…..

We bump into Beth & Mark at the bar, so we move to a table in the shade by the water…..

Here are the menus…..

To be continued…..

We continue to explore the streets of Kralendijk…..

We’ve arrived at my Husband Daycare for today, Karel’s Beach Bar…..

To be continued……

We got off the ship around 9:30am and began exploring the streets of Kralendijk…..

To be continued…..

Looking at the island of Klein Bonaire in the distance…..

Here are a couple of early morning mini golf and Beach Pool shots…..

A Glass Bottom Boat sails past the Carnival Vista…..

Here are some more shots of Kralendijk from the ship…..

To be continued……

Day # 11 - (April 24th) – Kralendijk, Bonaire - (8am – 4pm). 

We were up at 7am to another sunny and very hot day. Like Aruba, we don’t have any special plans today, so we will get off the ship to explore after the initial rush is over…..

Looking at the bow and aft cameras on the television, we can see that the Carnival Vista is pulling into Kralendijk, Bonaire……

Here are today’s “Fun Times”………

As usual, I made my way to the Ocean Plaza Bar for my morning coffee from Setyo, and then back to the cabin to work on pictures. Patti heads up to the open decks to get some shots of Kralendijk from the ship……

To be continued…..

4 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

Just got the "upgrade" call for my upcoming Vista sailing. Currently in a regular Havana deck 5 "patio" as I like to call them. They were offering an upsell to the Havana suite for a total of $680. I just can't justify that. But dang, seeing that call come thru got me excited, it means the cruise really is getting close! 

Not needed back there. Use that money towards Cheers! 

21 minutes ago, TxTeach79 said:

A few notes to play catch up, because I should be a couple days into my LIVE run up to my Venezia cruise, but life, as they say, happens...

 

So Friday was the last day of school, always a benchmark kinda day, and this year was a little bittersweet with a bunch of folks I'm awfully close to moving on (including both my APs) and me moving into a new role next year (coaching)... so the traditional friday all staff Happy Hour was the usual good time, with a pool day with friends and a casino run north of the red river on deck for Saturday and Monday respectively. 

 

Then, I woke up early Saturday to calls from my mom letting me know that Dad had passed out and the ambulance was en route to the closest hospital. He came right back to, and was alert and aware by the time I got there. So I could go on for pages about all that's gone on since then, but here's the quick version as best as I can convey it.....

 

The initial hospital in our Dallas suburb (my folks live in the house i bought years ago, I'm essentially their landlord and am lucky to have them very close by to my apartment) saw dad in the ER and determined there may be a small bleed somewhere internally since his BP was very low. Suspected that's what caused the passing out. They scheduled GI tests and moved him to the ICU for that night to prep for testing. He was acting normal and his BP had stabilized. EKG was great, everything else looked good. One doctor came in and speculated it was related to a UTI, but i've been in situations before where that was an ER hailmary diagnosis that had nothing to do with anything. 

 

Next morning they performed an endoscopy and found a very large ulcer in his stomach. So the bad news is this thing is big; the good news is it wasn't bleeding much and didn't appear to be perforated.... but it would confirm the initial diagnosis and why he'd been having stomach issues and not eating much before his episode. So to complicate matters, 10 years ago we almost lost him when he had a duodenal ulcer tear right where the intestine meets the stomach. It essentially filled him with waste, he was in a coma, had to have a complicated surgery that removed a large part of his stomach and rerouted his intestines (a whipple procedure). He was in the hospital for four months but made a full recovery and has been fine and gotten into better shape in the ensuing ten years. That said, because of his complicated past with ulcers and his stomach surgery, this hospital wanted to transfer him to their big flagship facility in downtown Dallas to allow for specialists to perform the surgery. I met him at the local hospital before the transfer, gave him his phone to keep him busy, and told him I'd meet him at the new place downtown (close to where he worked for 45 years). B and I were at the new hospital waiting when he got there. (Ambulance what?)

 

So last night we got him settled in and comfortable, got his TV working how he liked it, phone charged, all is well. Night nurses came on shift, said the doctor would be by at some point, so I let him fall asleep and headed home. I canceled the casino run with my buddies, my mom headed down at the crack of dawn today to be with him, and I'm back at their house to take care of their dog. Today, the new hospital ran a ton more tests, CT scans, EKGs, etc.... and we never actually talked to the surgeon. Just kept hearing maybe they wanted to try and avoid surgery (why did we transfer him 40 miles then?)... FINALLY, in the past half hour, the surgeon appeared and she confirmed that she would like to avoid surgery because apparently the ulcer formed right at the incision from his previous major surgery ten years ago, and that could create some complications. They want to keep him a while and run medications and fluids at him to fight the ulcer and send him home without surgery. We asked questions and wanted to make sure this isn't a situation where he's passing out again the day after he leaves the hospital, and the doctor insisted that wasn't a concern, that he passed out as a result of dehydration since he hadn't been eating or drinking much and his bp dropped. My mom reminded her of the blood clots he dealt with with the previous incident and the thinner that he's on, and the surgeon said she would return and talk with her big boss this afternoon to finalize a course of treatment and then she'd be back to speak with Mom later, so obviously we're hoping for the best. 

 

Sorry to dump all this; I made the calculated decision to share because i've been essentially paralyzed with anxiety the last few days and just waiting for the phone to ring. Here's hoping the big man gets home and happy soon, because if you knew my parents, you'd know i will not be allowed to cancel my cruise next weekend under any circumstances. Sooo, I'll start the LIVE soon and I don't know yet if or how much I'll mention this, but there it is. Thanks for listening!

So sorry to hear this. Positive thoughts and prayers for you and your Dad heading your way. 

44 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Two more weeks now. Maybe another road trip in my future.

 

Thats a very specific time. 2:14pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When are they finally going to tell you that your car fell off the lift three weeks ago and is totalled. 😣

23 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Glad to hear she is recovering nicely. How long does she have to ice it for 20 minutes every hour. That would get old for me. I’m supposed to be icing my knee 4 - 6 times a day and elevating it right now and that’s pushing my limit. 
 

I went to an orchid show on Friday down in the Redlands which is south of Miami. I was there for 4 hours. It’s an outdoor orchid show and the heat was brutal. I parked my butt for about an hour total on a bench under a shade tree. I’ve been to this show yearly and never sat down for more than 15 minutes and I would be there even longer. When it comes to orchids, I can look and shop all day long. 😃

She iced it this weekend. Seeing the surgeon later today. 😎