Jamman54

Patti continues on with her picture tour of Disney Springs…… To be continued…..

Patti continues on with her picture tour of Disney Springs…… To be continued…..

We continue our walk through Disney Springs…… When we get to this end of Disney Springs, I head to Dockside Margarita’s and park myself while Patti continues her picture tour. They are closed now, but they will be opening soon….. To be continued…….

We continue our walk through Disney Springs….. This is Gideon’s Bakery. People line up before it opens to be the first to buy their baked goods….. To be continued…..

We continue our walk through Disney Springs….. There was a boat on the lake fishing close to shore, and we watched them as they caught a nice size bass….. Here are some more Disney Spring views….. To be continued…..

Post Cruise (May 9th) - Disney Springs We were up early to another beautiful day. We went for breakfast at the Plaza Garden Restaurant in the hotel, where they have buffet breakfasts and dinners. We never ate dinner there, but the breakfast buffet was $12.95 plus tax, per person. They have a great variety of breakfast options….. Around 9:45am, we hopped in the car and headed west on I-4. In ten minutes we had reached our exit….. Once off I-4, we just followed the signs to the Disney Springs parking garage….. Parking is free. You still have to que for a security scan, but once that’s done you can enter Disney Springs. Masks were recommended but not required. Once we exited the parking garage, Patti pulled out the camera and went to work….. To be continued…….

Post Cruise (May 8th) - Happy Mother’s Day!!! Happy Mother’s Day!!! This is going to be short and sweet since the camera was put away for most of the day. The morning was spent relaxing, and working on the pictures for the review. It’s a beautiful day, and around noon we hopped in the car and headed to Crystal River, Florida which is about an hour and a half away. It’s located on the west coast, north of Tampa……. Just about every time we are down in Florida, we visit with our friends Howard and Elle…… Howard has been my PVP with Carnival for going on fourteen years. After walking around Heritage Village and checking out some of the shops, we went and had dinner at Stumpknocker’s. After a great dinner and visit, we made our way back to the Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando, getting back at 9pm. To be continued……

Looking forward to this one! We're sorry that we didn't have time to sail on her one more time before she leaves the fleet.

It is. Patti does a full property tour which I will share a little later in the review. We like it there. Good location, very near the Convention Center.

We do Cracker Barrel on the way to and from New Jersey. It is a Patti requirement!

This is the business Center….. This is Zebra’s Bar & Grill…… This is the Vacation Planning Center….. Here is the Gift Shop….. Here is a map of the hotel property…… We are staying in room # 1312 on the third floor of Building “A”…… We have a view of one of the three pools on the property…. Once we got the car unloaded and settled in, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. At 6pm, we met our friends Jim and Pat (Webecruzen), for dinner at Miller’s Ale House, which is right across the street…… We had a great dinner and visit. We were back in the room at 9:30pm, after a stop at Walgreen’s for some drinks and snacks. To be continued……

There was very little traffic, so we were on International Drive at 10am. It was too early to check into our hotel, and since we hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning, we decided to eat at Denny’s…… Patti had the pancakes……. After breakfast, we took a ride on International Drive checking things out, and then decided to head back and try to check in early at our hotel. We are staying at the Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando…… It’s a three star hotel, but it’s clean and only $89 a night. We will be spending the next six nights here. We stayed here during our two road trips to Florida during the pandemic. Back then, the bar and restaurant was closed, and there was very limited maid service. Now, everything is open and it seems to be business as usual. Also back are the people from the UK, who seem to flock to this place. It’s great to see them back! This is the Registration Desk…… Here are a couple of Lobby views…… This is the Lite Brite Snack Shop….. To be continued…..

Day # 15 (May 7th) - Debarkation / Hello Orlando! We were up at 6am just as the Mardi Gras was docking back in Port Canaveral. It is cloudy out and you can see thunderstorms in the distance. Here are the last pictures from our balcony…… That‘s the Carnival Magic way over there. She’ll soon be heading north to Norfolk and New York City for the summer….. Here is the General Debarkation Information…… Here is our Diamond Debarkation Information….. At 7am, Cruise Director Lee began the Express Debark process by calling several of the muster stations. We are doing the Checked Bag debarkation, so we’re not meeting at Center Stage until 8am. At 7:45am, we said goodbye to our room steward Antonius, and made our way down to Center Stage on Deck 6. When we got there, we were told that Diamond members had already been cleared, and were free to leave the ship. We were directed to the forward gangway since there was no line. We stepped off the ship at 8:10am. We just followed the traffic down to the baggage claim / customs area, and got in the “Passport” line, which moved very quickly. Went through the facial recognition process and we were done! We easily found our luggage in the Zone 1 area, but getting a porter was a bit of a problem. I had to go over to the other side of the building where the porters enter, grab one, and then escort her to our luggage. Once she loaded up our bags, she took them directly to our car on Level 2 of the parking garage. She earned a nice tip for her work. Thanks! It was now 8:45am, and looking over at the entrance, we could see that people were already lining up for the next cruise! It was quick and easy to get out of the parking garage and the port area. We stopped at a Raceway gas station to fill up and grab a coffee. We then began our hour long trip to International Drive in Orlando. Patti got these shots as we sped out of Port Canaveral……. To be continued……..

Thanks for reading!

Glad to have you aboard, and thanks for reading!

I see we're morphing into "Bean- Gate"!

Yes, we were very upset that our mac and cheese, apple cobbler, and vanilla ice cream were not scooped directly onto the plate! Killed the ambience.

Thanks for posting the height requirements. We dropped the ball on that one!

Thanks for reading! We try to make our readers feel like they are sailing along with us. Glad you enjoyed the review. Have a little more to show you, then of course our post cruise adventures! We like the Pig & Anchor for dinner. We ate there three times during our two weeks aboard.

We went back to the cabin to finish packing and relax before dinner. Tonight, we decided our last dinner was going to be back at the Pig & Anchor. We had to wait a few minutes for our table, so we sat at the bar and ordered a round of drinks…… Once we were seated, they took our order pretty quickly. At the risk of stirring up plate-gate again, here is what we had to eat. After dinner we decided to walk the Lanai on the port side of the ship. Here you will find the Pig & Anchor BBQ, which is open for lunch on embarkation day and sea days…… Walking forward you’ll find the outside seating for Rudi’s SeaGrill and Cucina del Capitano….. This is as far forward as you can go from this side….. We are looking up towards our cabin….. From here, we watched the last sunset of this cruise….. We went back inside and walked around the ship for the last time. We stopped at the Center Stage Bar for one last drink since Patti liked the way they made the Chocolate Mocha Getaways there. We decided to call it a cruise(s), and made our way back to the cabin to finish packing and put our suitcases out. Here is the final towel creation….. Coming up next: Debarkation and off to Orlando!

Here are a few more views of The Ultimate Playground…… I make my way to the Beach Pool, and though Groove for St. Jude has just ended, Cruise Director Lee is still partying with the crowd….. Back at the cabin I see Patti on the balcony soaking in the sun….. The VIFP party is scheduled today for 3:30pm in the Mardi Gras Theater…. Patti and I will not attend again this week. We will take the free drinks that they loaded onto our Sail & Sign cards, and head down to the Alchemy Bar…… We spent an hour or so there enjoying a couple of drinks, and listening to the Eureka Strings, who were playing right below us at the Fortune Teller Bar….. To be continued…….

I have made it up to Deck 18 aft and The Ultimate Playground….. Here is the mini golf course….. Here are the rules and equipment for mini golf….. Bolt is running. I finally get to see it up close….. Here is the entrance to Bolt….. Here is some Bolt information and the test car….. To be continued……

Around 10:45am I went down to Center Stage to grab our seats for the final edition of “The Wave”, hosted by Lee and Tyler….. After the show we posed for a picture with Lee and Tyler…… Here’s one of just Lee and Tyler. Tyler has since been promoted to Cruise Director. Congrats Tyler! We also posed for a picture with our Cruise Critic friends Bob and Ann. (jedi bobs)........ Patti and I went to the last session of bingo, as it was for a free cruise. The place was packed! It was a good thing that Patti had purchased the cards earlier this morning. We got seats against the railing up on Deck 7 which gave us a pretty good view….. We came close but we didn’t win. Afterwards, Patti went back to the cabin to pack, and to get some sun on our balcony. I wanted to go check out the upper decks since I hadn’t spent any time up there, so I took the camera with me. But first, I made a stop at Big Chicken. I got myself a chicken sandwich, fries, and potato salad, then took them over to the Tides Bar to eat….. After eating I began to make my way up to The Ultimate Playground. Here is a picture of the Tides Pool and hot tubs…… This is the seating area at the aft end of Deck 17, which overlooks the Tides Pool….. To be continued……

Day # 14 (May 6th) - Farewell Fun Day at Sea . We were up at 7am to yet another beautiful sunny day with calm seas, as the Mardi Gras makes her way back to Port Canaveral. For the final time, here are our views from our balcony….. Here are the last “Fun Times” of the cruise….. Once again I spent some time working on pictures for the review. Patti went to grab a bite to eat, and then made her way over to the Mardi Gras Theater for Lee’s Q & A session. Around 10am I made my way over to the Blue Iguana Cantina to get a breakfast burrito, and then took it over to the Red Frog Tiki Bar where I got a Thirsty Frog Wheat to wash it down. This is my breakfast of champions! Saying goodbye to my friends at the Tiki Bar….. Joel Joseph is playing those Caribbean sounds on the steel drums….. To be continued…….

I'm a Bacardi and coke guy, but I always make it a double, so they could use Royal Crown Cola for all I care! 😁🥃