Documenting the dream western caribbean 01/21-28/2012; the money monkey goes cruising

[radrayjax]

Before moving on, I should mention that tonight's post of the honeymoon cruise is being posted on my 3rd anniversary.

 

More of sail away, the ship has turned around at this point.

 

That evening [i think it was that evening] I took part in one of the trivia contests and won a plastic Carnival medallion on a ribbon. This was my kind of prize! However, for the life of me I’ve not been able to find it to photograph it for this write-up.

 

Tonight’s towel animal….?

 

Next: NASSAU, April 2, 2009....

[radrayjax]

nassau, the bahamas, thursday april 2, 2009:

[radrayjax]

NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS, THURSDAY APRIL 2, 2009:

 

Google Earth of Downtown Nassau and the dock areas.

 

Google Earth of Bay Street and the dock areas. The port shops in right rectangle, the straw market in left rectangle.

 

Since this was a mid-day arrival everyone on board was up and watching the approach to Nassau.

 

The pilot boat approaching the Fascination:

 

 

Photos of the approach to Nassau:

 

Hazy view of the Atlantis Resort:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[radrayjax]

Nassau sky line:

 

Another Carnival ship at the port (can’t make out the name yet):

 

 

 

Beginning to turn into the dock:

 

The port area:

 

You can see that I’m continuing to alternate between view of the port area and the dock as we approach.

[radrayjax]

Still on the approach:

 

 

The Carnival Conquest (at the time one of the largest ships of the line):

 

At the time the name Conquest didn’t register. Not until this last year and reading Cruise Critic and further studying the Carnival website did I get it. All I know as that as we docked along side this much larger ship and my neck craned up and up and up to those extra three or four decks...with all the extra goodies (such as a HUGE screen)… Well, we had a serious case of SHIP Envy!

 

The L-shaped dock leading to the port shops:

[radrayjax]

I'm blitzed. I'll finish the 2009 cruise tomorrow. It it all written up and photos are in PB but I can't keep my eyes open.

[PDXJAS]

I really enjoy the pictures of the dock on Nassau. I was there in 9/2000 on my honey moon with husband #1,and 2 Big Red Boat cruise ships where there and not leaving because of the companys bankrupcy. We had spent a few days at Disney world and it was all over the news about the bankrupcy and I remember thinking that if I was to be kicked off a ship someplace it would be alright there. I have tryed to explain it to husband #2 and now have a great visual for him.

[gelo7]

Very interesting, I'm in.....

[Cruzface]

Why do I feel like I just stumbled into an episode of "The Big Bang Theory?" Thanks for taking the time to do this. Looking forward to the Dream portion since we leave in 29 days!

[russianmom]

I LOVE this review!

[radrayjax]

Why do I feel like I just stumbled into an episode of "The Big Bang Theory?" Thanks for taking the time to do this. Looking forward to the Dream portion since we leave in 29 days!

 

Speaking of BBT, I will be making a DIRECT reference when I report on this Saturday's departure day. The report will be posted AFTER I return however. Just a hint, it concerns eating Swedish pancakes (crepes)

[radrayjax]

NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS, THURSDAY APRIL 2, 2009:

Since this was a relatively late docking we didn’t waste too much time making out way to the dock and port shops area.

 

A side note: Earlier in the day I had gone to guest services to inquire about the location of any banks on Bay Street. The person at the desk informed me (with out a question in her voice) that there were no banks on Bay Street.

 

Fran at the welcome sign at the port:

 

We spent some time going through the port shops.

 

I tried, but this get-up just wouldn’t work for me, so Fran had to be the model.

 

 

Right after the above picture my camera battery died! So I didn’t get any more pictures at Nassau!

 

We got through the port shops and headed right onto Bay Street towards the Straw Market. On the way there WAS a bank but, drat, they didn’t have NEW currency. I found out that there was another bank on Bay Street on the other side of the port entrance. We decided to continue on towards the straw market, thinking that we had until 4PM to get to the other bank.

 

These notes are from my 1990 visit:

Reverses of the notes. Note the $3 bill.

[radrayjax]

I was walking slower than I’d have like to because of my back. Nearing the straw market we stopped and a perfume shop and Fran bought Chanel #5 for her mom. I bought Coco by Chanel for Fran, and she sill has a little bit of it three years later!

 

 

Since I don’t have photos of the straw market from this trip below is a photo from my 1990 visit. At the time it was a real building, which had since been destroyed in hurricanes. In 2009 it was a large tent-like structure, which was also destroyed.

 

 

The straw market in 1990:

I wanted to get some kind of local carving and I had a great time going down the ill-lit rows of vendors in the market. Invoking Rule 1, I had no problem haggling price and quality and playing one vendor against another. I ended up with a Marlin carving, Fran paid for it. She bought some straw fans as gifts for family and friends.

 

 

After the straw market we made our way towards the other end of Bay Street and the other bank. We got there between 2:30 and 3:00 only to find out that they closed at 2:00! Se la vie!

 

Mr. Bullfrog, our towel animal on Nassau night:

[radrayjax]

FINAL DAY AT SEA: FRIDAY APRIL 3, 2009

 

This day we attended the 2nd of two art auctions. There was one piece I’d been looking at all week….During my explorations I would often return to the art gallery. Looking at the current deck plans I can’t find the gallery, or guest services for that matter.

 

Anyway, the art show and auction was in the Puttin’ on the Ritz aft lounge on the Promenade Deck (6) during the final afternoon.

 

Promenade Deck (6) aft detail:

Fran got some free prints/posters and I bid on one item. I paid $130.00 for the framed print, the carry-off price.

 

Later in the after noon or early evening I finally broke down and some decadent chocolate desert from Bogart’s Café, which is aft of the casino area on the Promenade Deck (circled on plan detail above). This was a nice relaxing area in between areas with more hub-bub. We paid $6.50 for two desserts. Or was it one dessert and one coffee for Fran (since I had my handy canteen/thermos/drink holder with iced something with me.)? Whatever, the desert was great.

 

 

In the late afternoon we attended the past guest party and I enjoyed free soft drinks. After five days of iced coffee and iced tea I was beginning to miss sodas. I’d fix that on a future cruise.

 

The vagina seals, the towel animals on the final night:

It’s near the end of the voyage and we are going up the east coast of Florida, but not in sight of land.

 

The final photos I took were a series of sunset shots…

 

 

 

[radrayjax]

The Last Sunset....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[radrayjax]

The last shot...

 

 

DEBARKATION: SATURDAY APRIL 4, 2009

 

We did assisted check-out since we didn’t have to rush anywhere when leaving the ship. We had a relaxing final breakfast on the Lido deck.

 

The settling of accounts at the purser’s desk was a breeze. If you’ve paid attention I’ve mentioned every dime that was on the final bill: $112.00!

$100.00 for the gratuities

$5.50 for the Fascination drink holder/thermos/whatchamacallit

$6.50 for deserts at Bogart’s Café

 

I was figuring that they must hate people like me as I smiled on my way out of the purser’s area!

 

We got off around 9:30 and Fran’s son picked us up about 45 minutes later.

 

SUMMATION:

 

Everybody in the crew was friendly and helpful. The only person with less than stellar marks was the girl at the “help desk” who didn’t know that she docks by two banks every week. Some people just have to rethink their priorities.

 

It was a great cruise for me and Fran enjoyed her first cruise. One thing I did know that if we were to cruise again, I wanted to go on a bigger ship.

 

LATER: It is near crunch time for the upcoming cruise and I have to decide if I have time to discuss cruise 2.5, the Circleline Cruise circumnavigating Manhattan on September 22, 2010 (along with seeing the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, Times, Square, and the Addams Family on Broadway with Nathan Lane and Bebe Newirth that evening) or go straight into the preparations/planning for the Dream cruise.

 

I’ll have to think on it…

[radrayjax]

Interlude 2:

 

Getting over my back issues after the Fascination cruise required about ten weeks of physical therapy.

 

By the time that was over it was summer, AKA, hibernation time.

 

As the beginning of not summer came around I decided, among the ways I wanted to spend less money discussed in post 2, that I wanted to get healthier and spend less money for monthly medicines. At the time I was taking the generic for Zocor, high blood pressure medicine, and three different oral prescriptions of diabetes (5 pills a day). I felt that if I could lose some weight, I could save by getting rid of or cutting down on prescriptions.

 

Yes, I know, getting healthier is good for its own sake, but I wanted to take advantage of Rule 1 and spend less money while I was at it.

 

Also in the fall of 2009 I started planning for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York City for the beginning of the fall in 2010. I hadn’t been there since 1963 when my mom gave me a ninth birthday present of a one-day whirlwind excursion to NYC just before we moved to Florida. [At the time we were living in New Jersey – BTW, I’m NOT a Jersey Boy; my life was shaped by Florida and growing up with rockets on the Space Coast.] Getting in better shape would dovetail with this because I planned to see a lot of the Big Apple from the ground (or underground).

 

In September 2009 I bought 7-day New York Passes from Fran and I and starting putting together a highly detailed itinerary on a spreadsheet. The NYPs were good for discounted admission to 55 attractions at a great discount. I had to decide which of the 55 we had time to do in seven day, and which would give the greatest bang for the buck.

 

I spent most of a year constructing a 120-line itinerary in MS Excel. This included not just the attractions we would see, but all the subway/transportation connections. Also this would be a trip to connect with relatives on both sides and, of course, this would be a BUYING trip.

 

Among the many highlights of this trip would be cruise 2.5, a 3-hour Circleline Cruise circumnavigating the island of Manhattan. THIS was a trip I wish I had blogged. I would end up taking over 1000 photos in the seven days. But, I didn’t know of an outlet at the time to blog with.

 

In October 2009 I began a walking regimen. Starting slow I gradually picked up miles per week as the weather got cooler. Over the next 10 months my walking would increase to over 24-28 miles a week and I dropped over 30 pounds. I was still obese, but at least not morbidly so.

 

I have regular blood work ups every two months. On September 1, 2010 I had my annual physical. Based on my August labs, I was able to drop the high blood pressure medicine, I was able to drop 2 of the 3 diabetes medicines (I’m now on one pill a day), and I was able to cut the simvastatin (Zocor generic) literally in half, so a 1 month prescription would last two months. Genetically I could not cut it to zero but half is good.

 

What also happened in early September, just days before my trip, is that I developed tendonitis on the inner left thigh. The Ray Curse would strike again just before a major trip!

 

Well, we went of course. I was on Vicodin and prescription patches throughout the trip. In spite of the pain I walked everywhere and accomplished about 98% of what I set out to do. I walked in all seven burroughs in the seven days.

 

Below is a detail of the Excel Spread sheet of my NYC itinerary for Wednesday September 22, 2010.

 

 

Unfortunately, with departure for the DREAM cruise just hours away, I don’t have time to put a detailed discussion of the Manhattan Cruise, Intrepid Air and Space Museum, and seeing the Addams Family in this thread at this time. So in this post and the next couple I present just a few photos to give you a feel for the day. I already posted the closest photo of the Statue of Liberty in the prior post.

 

However, I put out a moderately detailed review of a five-day cruise with many dozens of illustrations in just the last two days, which is better than most people do, and that was only an appetizer for the main cruise coming up.

 

Without going into an Interlude 3, after this trip I got a cortisone injection for the tendonitis and twelve more weeks of physical therapy. That took me to the very end of 2010.

The Brooklyn Bridge

 

The UN Building, facing the East River

Needless to say, The Empire State Building, 43rd Street.

 

The extreme northern end of Manhattan.

 

The George Washington Bridge.

[radrayjax]

Intrepid Air and Space Museum

 

 

The Concorde on display at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum

SR-71 Blackbird at the IASM - It's hard to believe this was designed 50 years ago!

 

The Lunt-Fontaine Theater - The Addams Family

 

Times Square prior to show time

 

The Tickets!

[radrayjax]

SHOWTIME!

 

Inside the Lunt-Fontaine Theater just prior to show time

 

 

The Playbill for the Addams Family

 

It goes without saying that we were not allowed to take photos of the show!

 

Times Square after the show

 

Times Square – Mounted Policeman, Final Shot of the Day

 

TOMORROW: PREPARING FOR THE 2012 CRUISE AND DEPARTURE DAY!

[vermontcruisers]

This just may be the cruise review to end all cruise reviews.

The final frontier.

Sir,I salute you!

[cjkumbaya]

Thank you so much for your fantastic posts so far...we also really love the ships. We are booked on the Dream in May of this year so I can hardly wait to read your posts after you return. Hope you have a great trip!

[radrayjax]

PREPARING FOR THE 2012 CRUISE: WHY THIS TRIP, WHY THIS SHIP.

 

Starting about a year ago I felt that it was time to consider cruising again. As for the timing of this trip it was not just a celebration of our third anniversary, it was also celebrating SURVIVING RIFing of state employees last year. I didn’t start seriously considering the timing until last June when I knew we both survived. Even if our paychecks did not survive fully intact.

 

I knew about when the cruise might occur but I also considered when it would NOT occur:

Summer is out. (May-October)

Hurricane season is out. (April-November)

Any kind of school break is out (too many to point out here)

 

That would leave January (after school is back in session) and February as the best choices.

 

This didn’t automatically have to be a Carnival Ship. I knew after the last cruise that I wanted a larger ship and started shopping around the state. Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, and Port Canaveral were all viable options, with Port Canaveral having the upper hand because it was the closest and I would not have to pay for overnight lodging there [i’ll discuss WHY] in the upcoming trip report.

 

I liked the idea of the RCL Oasis of the Seas out of Ft Lauderdale but that was at least 35% more than the Carnival Dream for a similar venue, NOT including the push for up-charge dining options. I would have had a ball exploring that monster, but not at the price. The Disney Dream, also out of Port Canaveral, was over 50% more than the like-named Carnival ship so it was out.

 

What about the itinerary: Eastern VS Western. Having done the Bahamas twice I was leaning towards the Western Caribbean route. My wife clinched it.

 

Fran had lived in Puerto Rico for about 10 years (from 1990-2000) and taught English as a second language. The ironic thing about that is that, even though she is half Puerto Rican, she did not grow up speaking Spanish because her b**tard Irish father did not permit anyone to speak Spanish in the house. Why he married two different Puerto Rican women, I’ll never know.

 

So she had to learn Spanish as an adult starting at about the age of 35. She lived in a small town near the north coast of Puerto Rico called Manati, which was located about midway between San Juan and Arecibo. She actually taught school in an even small town, reached by narrow mountain road, called Ciales. Manati means the same thing and manatee in English. Ciales does NOT mean the same thing as ******!

 

 

Anyway, tropical islands are not exotic to her and SHE told ME that tours including white sand and palm trees are out!

 

So I decided on the western itinerary because the locals were more varied and I would have a better selection of currency to bring back.

 

The guidance provided by Rule 1 would lean to the least expensive sailing of the year. That happened to be the January 7 cruise but that was up against the state coin convention, the FUN (Florida United Numismatists) and I presented my talk Other Works by Coin Designers…Up to and Including the Supreme Court Building on Thursday January 5. Doing the show and having to rush onto a cruise the next day was too much of a crunch.

 

So the January 21 Western Caribbean sailing won out.

 

Next came deciding on a room. I was booking last summer so I qualified for the early saver rate, which was better than the old fogey (over 55), past cruiser, and Florida resident rate. For this trip I was doing self booking and I wanted to control the exact room I would be booking. On all sites where I did research I took the price right to the point where I would have to input a credit card.

 

I first started looking for an interior room on the Upper Deck (6). Per Rule 1, I would not pay or an ocean view or balcony. I’m fine with a man cave. I wanted to be ABOVE the mid-ship public decks. That room was $1219.00 prior to gratuities. I kept checking rooms and decided to go higher in the ship and go with a Spa interior room on Panorama Deck (11). In all my research I did not talk to a representative at Carnival except to inquire about possible rocking on the higher deck. I did settle on the Spa interior room because it included full use of the spa facilities for a week.

 

The cost of this room was $1319.00 prior to gratuities. I intended to pre-pay gratuities to the bottom line would be $1469.00. I booked in July. I got the Carnival MasterCard and I got $50.00 off for using the card so the net price was $1419.00 fini!

 

You might ask, doesn’t paying $100.00 more for this room on deck 11 vs. a similar room five decks lower violate Rule 1? You might ask… But the fact that this room comes with $250.00 worth of Cloud 9 Spa privileges actually provides a $150.00 savings. We will definitely use the facilities. The spa pool is never crowded, no worries about chair hogs in the spa rooms. Also, using a Real Estate analogy, it is better to get the least expensive house in the best neighborhood than the most expensive house in the worst neighborhood, since your house value will be increased by the nearby homes.

 

I checked for price drops later on but there are only 20 rooms of this category and they soon sold out after I paid. My final payment was last September so I was grandfathered in before the gratuity rate went up. However, if I hadn’t missed the cusp I would not have bellyached about the change in gratuity rates.

 

Below is a screen print from the Carnival site showing the amenities of the Cloud 9 Spa interior room. This is the highest interior room on the ship. All rooms on deck 12 (Spa deck) are balcony/exterior rooms.

 

 

 

One of the problems I had with the drink holder/thermos thingy I bought on the Fascination was that your hand or hands would be occupied while walking with it. I wanted something bigger but also something with a strap so I wouldn’t have to hold it while walking, exploring, and photographing. I got the Igloo insulated 32-oz thermos/drink holder below at Sports Authority for $5.00 on sale. It is 33% larger and has a built on strap.

 

 

Top of thermos.

 

Note that the Money Monkey approves!

[radrayjax]

Preparing for the 2012 Cruise Continued...

I bought these used two-way radios at a coin show last year for $5.00. I tested them by walking away from my condo and they worked up to 1500 feet, which is more than enough for a 1000 ft ship. One of the hassles trying to find someone on a ship is that cell phone service is not available. I will be testing the radios on the afternoon of day 1.

 

We’ll also be bringing three 6-packs of caffeine Diet Cokes in a rolling cooler. That is more than enough for the soda craving and I can live without caffeine at night. I still expect to have iced coffee in the morning and iced tea most afternoons.

 

 

 

Turns out the cooler could only hold 17 of the bottles. Oh the pain, the pain…

 

As a last minute necessity, I decided to pack some chocolate in the cooler. You just never know when the heebie-jeebies will strike… It is Ghirardelli Luxe Milk assortment. This is the only Ghirardelli I like. Sad to say it appears to have been discontinued.

 

I reserved parking at the Port Canaveral Park N Cruise. It is normally $6.95 a day but they had a holiday special for $4.99/day so I took advantage of that. That amounts to only 1/3 of the cruise terminal rate of $15.00 a day. It is off the last exit on SR 528 on Banana River Drive, just before the Port.

 

Map of the Park & Cruise:

 

I will also be taking my wife’s laptop and my flash drive to upload photos and process them on the trip. Also, I would be taking my Documenting the Dream Word Document to keep a journal and sort photos during the trip. BTW, PRE-TRIP the document is already about 120 pages.

 

[radrayjax]

DEPARTURE DAY: FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012

 

Mustn’t Forget this:

Fran had to work half a day today but I took the day off to pack and also I have to board one of my cats at the vet because he has diabetes (takes after the old papa) and I can’t ask a neighbor to shoot my cat.

 

This is, Spunky, enthusiastically saying good-by to daddy. (Not knowing he is about to be put into the cat carrier)

Let’s try that again:

 

This is Spunky ENTHUSIASTICALLY saying good-by to daddy.

Well, Spunky got his name because nothing seems to faze him; he is very easy going. Some years ago when I lived with wife #2 we had a total of five cats and a cute blond cocker spaniel named Daisy.

 

Occasionally Daisy would hump Spunky. Not for sex but for dominance. It seems that Daisy would mistakenly get it in her blond head that she was the Alpha animal and decide to lord it over Spunky of all creatures. But Spunky wasn’t having it and he would just lay there and pay her no nevermind. You see, Spunky didn’t think Daisy was the Alpha because Spunky KNEW that I was the Alpha animal.

 

I can just imagine what must have been going through Spunky’s mind while Daisy was humping him:

 

QUOTE 5:

 

 

“Beige. I think I’ll paint the ceiling beige.”

 

 

--Spunky, while being humped by Daisy.

 

 

I took Spunky to the vet shortly before noon.

 

In between packing activities, I’m catching up on the last pre-cruise day of this write-up.

 

This is Gabby. She is staying home and will be looked after by a neighbor.

Packing is done. Passports, papers, pills. Anything else? Oh, yeah, the Money Monkey!

DEPARTURE AT 3:30 PM.

I hope to be able to upload tonight’s pre-cruise missive and also a few more photos to PhotoBucket.

If not, be prepared for 8 days of dead air.

I WILL pick this up briefly on the night of the 28th went we get back. I expect to start posting the journal entries and photos in earnest on Sunday the 29th.

[crewsweeper]

Dang! Just missed you on timing. Hope you see this tonight. That cooler might not fly unless it's 12"x12"x12". You might be able to clooaspe it and pack in your suitcase. You have to carry on the soda. Stop at a WalMart and buy a small travel dolly or cheap roller duffel bag for the sodas and chocolate. Either way, Good Luck and have a great cruise. We'll be waiting for your missives when you return.