"VALENTINES DAY AT SEA" a cruisin USA "LONG and LENGTHY" review

[LynnAnne]

I'm just loving your pictures!! Gotta say husband and I went to the info booth off the ship and met two girls and we ended up sharing a cab. They took us to a beach, that tried to turn us away but one of the girls got out and let them know we were with the ship so they let us enter. One of our best beach days. We just made it back to the ship, our taxi was waiting for us when we left the beach area. If you girls are reading this Thank You again, it was a great day!!!

[agc291]

Ahhhhhhh......cliff hanger! Your killing me! :eek:

 

Great review!

 

Haha me too...

 

glad you put that pronunciation in there! Until last week i thought it was pronounced ku rock o!! My sisters boyfriends mom (are you following?) is going a on 13 day HAL cruise that stops there & corrected me.

[cruisin USA]

.....continuing....

 

 

 

The parade kept rolling along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By now, it was feeling like background in an Alfred Hitchcock movie(Come in laughing,...Leave Screaming in Terror!!).

 

There were 2 older guys, sitting next to this stand, behind the action. We again ask if they know where we can find a cab back to our ship. Same answer....We reluctantly decided to try the drunk., since we didn't have any other options........ We made our way back to where he was standing. His friend saw us, and tapped him on the shoulder to point out that we were back. We said that if he'd take us back we'd be glad to get a ride. Just then, one of the older guys, who'd we just talked to, had followed us across the parade. He said he'd give us a ride. We gladly accepted the older(non drinking) gentleman. It was a short walk to his car. A little car, but today it was a limosine!!! He drove us back to the port. On the way, he pointed to the road that ended coming into this road. That's where the parade is going to end. The "polis" were closing off the streets. The man told us, an hour from now this road would also be closed off. He dropped us right at the gate. I gave him $30.00(all the change I had), and said "God Bless You" He was glad to get the money. He recited his telephone number. I wish I had that good of a memory. I sure would have called him to thank him again. Hopefully, this will give people a "heads up" even about people that are "ok'd by Carnival" inside the security gates. We went over to the Carnaval Casino, and the surrounding store. Mary Ann had a seat on a bench while I checked out the casino. Across the way, thad a "changes color in the sunlight" store. Didn't know that it's getting to be a big fad. Ultra violet lights are available for you to hold your item against, to see the color change. Cute, but I didn't see anything I wanted. We headed back to the ship. What an ordeal that was!!! What a sight for sore eyes!!!

 

 

 

 

We made our way over to the pier. It seemed like everyday we saw folks working on the ship. Whether it was cleaning, painting, or sanding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This observation area was "one WINDY mofo" when we were at sea.

 

 

We made our way onto the ship. We stopped up at the Serenity deck and grabbed a cool "Whale Tale" DOD. Tasted like a drink that we used to get at a place called Uncle Sam's callled a "Firecracker" Amaretto, and Sloe gin type concoction. We drank those as we headed off to our balcony for sail away. We were supposed to leave at 4pm. At 4:10 or so, we started to pull out. Once again, I got that funny feeling that the next time we'd see land would be back at Ft. Lauderdale.A funny queasy feeling knowing that would be the end of the cruise. Once again, I pushed the feeling aside. We had over 2 more days to go. We were going to enjoy those days to the FULLEST. We sat on our balcony listening to our tweekers. It would be well past dark before we lost sight of the island. We got ready, and headed down for dinner. The dining room was back to full again!!! Tonights meal?.....Proscuitto Ham with melon, Salad, and Short Ribs(you could cut them with a fork). Ever so tender and nothing but DELICIOUS. Tonights didja was sushi......(if you knew sushi, like I know sushi.....hehe). We split a piece of strawberry cheesecake for dessert. Tonights dinner was a little lighter than our previous dinners, but with all that food all week, we were slowing down. The waiters got back into the action mode, and another red hot Ricky Martin esque number was played. Waiters back on tables. The crowd really enjoyed it. Coffee/Cappucino, and we were out of there. Headed back to the room for a few “happy minutes”, and then down to the Phantom for "Film Within a Film".

 

 

 

....to be continued....

[cruisin USA]

....continuing....

 

 

 

We sat a little farther back this time. BTW On the ships channel program with Joe Farcus, the designer of the ship he was telling about the various rooms and motifs of the ship, and the thought behind their origin. The Phantom Theater was of course was designed with the "Phantom of the Opera" (Not the fireworks). But Farcus said that long before Andrew Lloyd Webers "Phantom" there was a story written by Gaston Leroux.

 

 

He said that of course there were masks(which lined the outer edge of the auditorium).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The curtain was designed with the Phantom's cape in mind. This room looks smaller than on the other ships we've cruised on. The main floor seemed about the same, but the upper level, with the "theater style" seats seems smaller. This has to be an illusion(or misobservation on my part), since the ship has roughly the same amount of passengers as all the others we've been on. Maybe the main floor seats more than the others? It would seem that the showroom should be the same size. (unless this ship has sooooooo much going on that they only anticipate so many passengers per show...This could be the case. I didn't see any shows that I would even remotely consider to be "sold out"...Then again, we WERE at the late show each night......) Great shows, and they should all be "sold out"

 

 

 

 

From Cruise Director to Movie Director

 

 

 

Tonight's show was "Film within a Film" I had no clue as to what it was about, except that FUNTIMES mentioned "Famed director Malcolm is looking for you! YES **YOU!**. Open casting call for 4 celebrities tonight. Others may bask in the limelight for a fleeting moment" So I'm thinking some kind of audience participation thing...(Good, as long as they don't call on me....hehe). Malcolm was introduced. He comes up on stage to lackluster applause. Can you blame us? This was day 6 on this roller coaster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would take a lot to thrill these people right now. Malcolm stepped up to the task. As he walked out. He started this "No No No" thing. Starts telling us that when a performer walks out onto the stage they love the sound of applause....and that we weren't doing that, "So, We're going to try this again". He steps back behind the curtain. Introduction begins again.....Now a pretty thunderous applause. Malcolm stops everybody points, and say's "You!!, You aren't applauding", to a lady in the second row. "Try again". and off he heads behind the curtain again...Toooooo Funny. This time he came out to a REALLY thunderous applause(we did want the show to continue). He sees the lady clapping, and heads over to her for a quick "hand bump". Malcolm goes back up on stage and starts doing this great stand up routine. He's a natural comedian. At some serious point, he asked how many people went to "Carnaval" and made a silly comment when only a fews peeps raised their hands. Wish we would have seen others peeps "in the same boat." so to speak, (although it could've gotten ugly if we had to fight over a cab getting back). Malcolm asks how many people are going to the disco tonight? Small applause....Then he starts talking about how hard it is for a tall guy to dance, so he started figuring out moves. One was called "mowing the lawn"...hilarious, but something you'd see any night at a popular dance spot. One, he called trimming the hedges....Just toooooo funny. After the dance bit, he asks about how people like old "silent" movies. "Charlie Chaplin? Our Gang? Little Rascals? Laurel and Hardy? He says they have a little movie they're going to show us. The screen comes down. We see this old Charlie Chaplin film, with Charlie on a cruise ship. Funny, but a little disconcerting. In this film the boat is rocking back and forth so bad that people are sliding back and forth. Charlies on this soapy floor as they rock the set to and fro. Maybe not the best thing to show people on a cruise(but better than "Titanic, or Poseidon Adventure). We see Charlies backside as he's leaning far over the side. Surely we understand that he's seasick.....until he comes up and turns around with a fish. It's only a 5 minute film, but quite entertaining. Next thing we know, The lights go up. Malcolm came out in this campy old time directors outfit. Didn't say anything for the rest of the show. Armed with a whistle, he came out into the audience, and picked a guy out of the crowd. Brought him up on stage. If you're looking at the stage. He took him over to the left wing. He then stopped the guy, and show him this walk where it looks like he's carrying an invisible food tray. The guy just starts following right behind Malcolm....WHISTLE......Malcolm takes him back to point 1. Shows him the "tray carrying" pose and starts walking toward the front. The guy follows him....WHISTLE. Finally the guy gets that Malcolm wants to show him the who thing before he trys it. Malcolm does the walk to the front of the stage he puts up his finger, as if to signal "just a second", clicks and imaginary clipboard, and then places his hands outward, as in "Hows that" The guy then trys it. Forgets the "1 moment" sign at the beginning....WHISTLE...1 more times and the guy gets it. That's his part in this movie. Out for another actor(actress). He picks a gal, and off they go to the opposite side of the stage, as the 1st guy. He shows her this frolic step up to the microphone where he does this triple sigh thing. She does a pretty good job. He did have to blow the whistle on her a couple of times. Next up is another guy, who basically gets to act like a caveman and come up and growl into the microphone and come up and hug the girl. Last, but not least is the guy who get to learn this complicated I cacatching the caveman hugging the woman. The flowers get droped the gun comes out. And he get's to step on a balloon to fake the shooting sound of the gun. He definitely got a few Whistles. It was a hard set of things to remember. Now that the players know their parts, they bring out these campy costumes for them to wear. The gal has this hilarious wig thing that keeps falling off. Then each player does his part, thus completing the movie. It was fun, and Malcolm really shined at this show. It'd been another long day, especially worrying about missing the ship. We headed back to the room. Tomorrow would really be a FUN day at sea.

 

 

....to be continued....

 

 

 

Authors Note....Well folks, that concludes day 6!!! Two more sea days, and we're done. We're almost there!!! Judging from the lack of response, I think we're ALL ready for this review to finish!....Thank you all (all 20 of you....hehe)for your patience......Gary

[IsItTime]

Keep it going Gary...you are keeping a lot of us entertained..and I am re-living the cruise thru you. Can't wait for more! (You are right though...there are so many posts on the general Carnival forum, that threads quickly move off of page 1 and I'm thinking that people generally don't go past the first page of general threads.). Those searching for Miracle reviews are in for a big treat when they find this! Thanks again for taking the time! :D

[vanislandcruisers]

Still loving it Gary!!!...and the Bus you mentioned seeing in Aruba "a little early" was on its way back to pick 8 of us up at the Port who had done other excursions during the day...The Pub Crawl started once we met up with the rest of the VD @ C Group who had done an Island Tour on the Bus that day

[WeBeCruisin']

Still loving it Gary!!!...and the Bus you mentioned seeing in Aruba "a little early" was on its way back to pick 8 of us up at the Port who had done other excursions during the day...The Pub Crawl started once we met up with the rest of the VD @ C Group who had done an Island Tour on the Bus that day

 

I would have been in on all that if my nightstand hadn't attacked me at the pre-cruise hotel. :eek:

[RCS2cruise]

Keep it going Gary...you are keeping a lot of us entertained..and I am re-living the cruise thru you. Can't wait for more! (You are right though...there are so many posts on the general Carnival forum, that threads quickly move off of page 1 and I'm thinking that people generally don't go past the first page of general threads.). Those searching for Miracle reviews are in for a big treat when they find this! Thanks again for taking the time! :D

 

I echo the sentiment Gary -- you are a master story-teller and I've loved reading your "Long and Lengthy" reviews (past and present). We appreciate the time and effort you've put into it, so please continue :).

 

Also, I agree, Mary Ann's blue dress was just perfect!

 

Mary Anne (yes another one, just with slightly different spelling...)

[beanersmom]

This review has done nothing but excite me for our cruise on the Miracle in a few weeks!!!!! Your pictures are amazing, descriptions exact and to be honest I feel like I was on the cruise with you guys :o Your time is much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!

[Ykgorbie]

THE best review I have ever seen ! Wonderful - thanks for sharing.

[vivavegas]

I would have been in on all that if my nightstand hadn't attacked me at the pre-cruise hotel. :eek:

 

How's that foot doing Allen?

[meatloafsfan]

What an incredible review!

 

You handled the situation with the "no cab" very well. Me, I would have been freaking out.

 

I would love to take this itinerary someday - it looks very different than the traditional Western (Nassau, Cozumel, Roatan, Belize) or the Eastern (St Thomas, St Maarten) itineraries.

[LynnAnne]

Like Love Love, really need a like button on CC!!! Can't wait to read the rest!! Thankyou!!!

[Celandine]

I am still enjoying your review!! :)

[WeBeCruisin']

How's that foot doing Allen?

 

Slowly, but surely, Lois. It's been 4 weeks now and they say it takes at least 6 weeks for this kind of injury. I should be "all better" by my next cruise in August.

[reginaphalange]

I'm loving this review so far; thanks so much for taking the time to post it! :D

 

Though, I have to say that I was slightly horrified by the "Conch Demonstration"! :eek:

 

I do completely agree with you about the waste that is created by all of the printed photos. What you propose could be easily done by Carnival; who knows why they choose to continue printing them anyway. :rolleyes:

[LynnAnne]

Where are you?? Have to ask did you two booked the Miracle again?? My DH and I loved her so much we booked for 2012 while we were on her in 2011. We booked the Liberty for 2013, as soon as we get off we will be on the Destiny for 5 days. I've been on the Liberty but not since the makeover. Booked the Destiny because its going to Grand Cayman and I want my husband to swim with the Rays. I have twice and loved it. I know your enjoying this great Michigan weather were having right now!! Looking forward to your review!!!

[beanersmom]

Hope everything is ok ;)

[Jifner]

Gary I just found your review today, and I have to say that I LOVE your reviews. Can't wait to hear the rest of it :)

[boaterette]

Loving this review as much as the others. Thank you for taking the time to post them.

[cruisin USA]

....continuing....

 

 

 

 

"Funday on a Funship!!! pt. II"

 

 

 

Woke up to another glorious day at sea!!! Partly cloudy(mostly sunny). By now you know that Mary Ann is the early bird and I'm the late riser.(She's a banker and is used to getting up early). For me, part of the vacation is being able to sleep in, and not having 5 things to do before I get to work. I LOVE sea days!!! Not being in any hurry to do ANYTHING!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a leisurely breakfast up at Horatio's. The place was busy. Today, we had just 1 real mission.... To use our Platinum status, and get a FREE entry into the Blackjack tournament. We made our way down to the casino cage. We showed the attendent our Platinum card, and she finds our names on a printed list. I see that many names have been highlighted. She pulls out the highlighter, and does our names, then hands us our cards for entry into the tournament. The tournament had already started. There was a small crowd of people watching. We made our way over to the guy running the tourny. We give him our cards. We're up next.

 

 

 

The tournament is run like this. There's 7 spaces at the table. Each player is given $1500.00 in (play money)chips. Regular blackjack rules apply....except.....they've got this added bet called "Fun Pairs". Basically, you can put a side bet in the FP circle, and if you get a pair you get 5, 10, or 20 to 1 base on if the pairs are just the same number/face, same colored (heart-diamond/spade-club). Basically a side bet(just like any other) that you should stay away from. Anyway....The dealer deals 5 hands, and the amount you have at the end of the 5 hands is your score. The tournament ran for a couple hours the first day. Today, it ran from noon till ,2:30 with the finals at 2:30. You could buy back in as many times as you wished. I see on the leader board that the high score is 6000, 2 people were tied for seventh at 2000. We waited till the round before us was finished, and then sat down at our assigned spots. The guy next to me had some great hands. I also got pretty lucky. When they counted up our chips. Mary Ann had 3000(Way to go honey). The man next to me ended up with a whopping 12,100!! Because of a last hand blackjack(and I splurged) at 2x payoff, I ended up with 7800!!! Not bad, Not bad. We left the casino, and headed up for a little sun on the Serenity deck. On the Miracle there's all sort of nooks and crannies to get some sun in. Always an abundance of lounges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We just really liked the atmosphere of the Serenity area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sat on the benches and dipped our toes in the water. Lots of folks out, taking it easy. I'll never forget us sitting there, when over the intercom a voice comes on and says "This is Vito Giacalone, the new acting captain of the Miracle" ????????????????????? It turns out that the captain we started this voyage with Rocco Lubrano, left the ship in Curacao, and was flying home for his vacation... In the middle of our cruise??????? "Another Carnival Captain abandons ship!!!" crossed my mind. Not another "Chicken of the sea?".......sigh. As much as we liked the Serenity area, pretty soon it was time to get back to the blackjack tournament. We stopped back at the cabin before we went back to see if we were in the finals. On the bed were our directions for the Behind the Fun tour, and an envelope with our luggage tags, tomorrows FUNTIMES, chocolates, and a towel animal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SaiJai must have the night off, and is getting our cabin done early. We had an early flight, and they gave us luggage zone "2". We'd be the second one called!!! Unfortunately, there were only 2 tags for our 3 bags. We'd go to the tourny, then down to guest services for the 3rd tag. Got down to the casino 10 minutes before the finals. Someone had gotten 12,800, knocking me into 3rd place. The seventh player had 5000. They were still finishing up the tourny. There was about 20 milling around. Not like the 100 or so the last time we were in the tournament. I mentioned that to the man who had 12,100. I told him in the last tournament. The seventh place was determined by a drawing, and that had PACKED the place. Bodies in the casino, is the name of the game!!!(if you own a casino). The guy running the show overheard me, and I did mention that it was a LOT busier for the casino last time. For example, the last time we were in Aruba, the hotel would through a nightly "free" bingo at 11:00 pm. The place would be PACKED with folks wanting to play free bingo(but would also play along the way, before and after). Good marketing ploy. Anyway, we find out a lady got the 12,800. She get pick of where she sits. She takes the 3rd seat. The 2nd place guy takes the same 2nd seat he had when we played. I took 1st base. We all sat, and got our chips passed to us. IMPORTANT reminder if you're playing in the blackjack tournament. The guy sitting at 3rd base started betting with $800. Then he got dealt 2 aces!!! He couldn't split because he didn't have enough($700 left of the 1500). You can double down for less, but you can't split for less. Fortunately the dealer ended up busting. By the 4th hand, I'm in contention with #6 seat and #7. Then "aces" puts a $100 chip in the fun pairs, and draws another 2 aces of the same color for 20-1($1900!!!). The guy next to him kept putting up a lot, and winning. I had to splurge with 2 hands left. I lost, but it knocked everyone but me and the other 2 guys off the table. I had $400 and they both had well over 2000. I asked the director if I got anything for 3rd. He said "Yes", but quickly added "But no money". So, I came in 3rd, and got a t shirt, a hat, and a carnival medal.....

 

 

 

 

 

And I didn't even have to put up an entry fee. The tournament was over. I gathered my "booty" and we headed down to guest services. Found the "Platinum" guest booth(Heck yeah I'm going to use it!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

I stood there for a moment. A young lady came up and asked me if she could help. I told her I needed another zone 2 tag(showing her our others so she knew). She did mention that we should be doing this tomorrow. (Hey we got the tags today. I don't want to have to mess with it tomorrow). She went back, and brought us up our tag. We stopped off at the room to drop the stuff off. We had mail. Another aspect of this ship I like vs. Fantasy/Destiny is the mailboxes. Every few days we'd get something announcing this or that. This time, the note was a "Revised Early Flight Notice" with some more zone 2 tags in it. It basically said to totally disregard the previous note, and that we were offering us early debarkation..... hmmmmm..................A weird feeling of deja vu came over me....Ahhh Yes, the instructions for our back to back aboard the Destiny!!! Same thing, ...told us one thing(that we'd have to pack our bags and disembark), then sent us another(saying we didn't have to pack).....

 

 

 

 

....to be continued....

[cruisin USA]

...continuing....

 

 

 

 

 

We grabbed a couple of our Coronas(we were down to a 6 pack from our case), and just walked around the ship for awhile. There were still places, and decks we hadn't explored yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In honor of Presidents day that week

 

 

 

 

Went back to the sundeck where they'd looked at us through the windows of the steakhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found the Chess Arena!!! From what I'd read and seen about this ship, there were big chess pieces on the lido deck. Now the HUGE pieces had their own arena!!! (Just wish there was more competition.....hehe).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did go down to make sure we knew where the Joker room was for our Behind the Fun tour we had to be at tomorrow. We just enjoyed our stroll. Ended up getting another one of those GREAT Ham and Cheese sandwiches at the deli. We headed back to the cabin for some balcony/rest time.

 

 

Tonight was our second Elegant night. Instead of the Tux, I had brought a more "Rock N Roll" coat for our pictures. We got out of the room early for dinner so we could get some pictures taken. The atrium area, again, was full of peeps also waiting to get their pictures taken. We picked a couple of shots, but the lines were pretty long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was closing in on 8:15. Headed for the dining room. Tonight's dinner. Well, I have to admit I was slowing down. Tonight....Corn Chowder sounded good. Chateaubriand(available as either MR or MW only) was cooked perfectly. The didja was "Escargot"......Nope. After seeing that Conch wrestled from it's habitat.........Coffee/Cappucino and Dessert tonight?!?! Vanilla Crem Brulee!!!! Should have ordered 2. SHEER, EGGY, PERFECTION!!! The lights started to flicker. Mary Ann and I turned to each other and whispered "It's showtime" right with the Matre D. Again......"Yusuf....yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr dining room matre d". He mentions "Ticket to Ride". A show I've heard a lot about, and wouldn't miss. Tonight, the waiters did this "Hey Baby" song. Up on tables the waiters went, with their colorful 'armbands" The show finishes. As usual we have plenty of time to hit the room, and make it down to the show. We ended up a little closer tonight. Second row center, all the way right. Great Seats. Malcolm comes out. At some point in his intro, he says that if you looked for the very least expensive "assisted living" quarters for retirement, that it would be cheaper to go on a cruise for the rest of your life. (Hmmmm, sounds good Malcolm, but how are your medical facilities i(n case something happens to an old guy like me) compared to an assisted living facility?, And one more important thing. Are you close to a hospital??? guess not.....hehe). Malcolm introduces the show, and off we go. It begins with the 4 lads(mop top and early Beatle suits)sitting in a double decker bus.....How did they get that bus on the ship???(found out later). There's lots of choreography as the bus rotates to reveal the "inside" "roomy area" of the bus. There's even dancers up on top of the of the doubledecker The singers did a great job with each of the Beatles tunes. They did a GREAT job in the courtroom scene with Darren, playing a lawyer defending his client, singing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". In one number, they pull out this Volkswagon Beetle(actually its the front half of a Beetle). The Darren and Tanner are singing a duet, when they get into the car. Next thing you know, he's in the car with a different gal, and is singing the songs to her. He goes through some of the "gal" songs like Eleanor Rigby(played by a lady remenicent of Ruth Buzzi old lady on "Laugh In") and Lovely Rita. They get back in the car. Next thing you know, the gal lead singer is back again. They finish off their tune and head offstage. Then Music Boardwalks comes in taking center stage, in Sgt. Peppers costumes. They go through a few songs. I know that they are actually singing, but I was kinda wondering why the bass player was strumming his bass like a guitar player would. But I could see the guitar players hands moving correctly(together) across their fingerboards....hmmmmm The singers come back and they have a grand finale. A FUN musical journey through lots of Beatles Songs. A DEFINITE "Don't Miss" if you haven't seen it before. We went back to our cabin after the show. Mary Ann was tired. I wanted to go out for a little. Ended up a the casino. The first time I saw a crowd by the craps table. Like a magnet, it drew me closer and closer. I saw Jim(vanislandcruisers), with his group over by the blackjack tables. Sorry I didn't stop at you guys first Jim, but that table was pulling me. I hadn't played all trip. Not a lot of players at any given time. Well, it turned out that 3 of the people were just watching. I stepped up to my usual spot. It was up and down for awhile. 1 gal had the best roll. But they quit pretty soon after that. Net loss $25.00. I spotted Jim and a few of his group still at the blackjack table. I went over to say hello. Also mentioned about getting 3rd place in the blackjack tournament(I quickly added "No money though"). I told them I had to get to bed soon, cause we were doing the Behind the Fun tour the next morning.....but I then did stop over to the roulette wheel and won well over $100.00. in about 15 minutes. Cashed out. I knew I had to get up EARLY Stopped off for a pizza slice before I headed back to the cabin...1 more day left.....sigh. I sure didn't want it to end.

 

 

 

 

 

....to be continued....

[cathyoo]

[

Authors Note....Well folks, that concludes day 6!!! Two more sea days, and we're done. We're almost there!!! Judging from the lack of response, I think we're ALL ready for this review to finish!....Thank you all (all 20 of you....hehe)for your patience......Gary

NOOOO, not ever ready for the this review to end. Stretch it out, wonderful review, fabulous pictures. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

[gelo7]

Excellent review and pictures.

[WeBeCruisin']

So, I came in 3rd, and got a t shirt, a hat, and a carnival medal.....

 

 

The last time I played in the tournament was on the Conquest when it was still $500 and there were no "marketing" enticements such as Fun Pairs, extra money to play with, and the drawing for 7th place.

 

It got to the point where it was just me and a woman as the last two standing in the final. She had something like $2000 and I had abotu $600 going into the last two or three hands. I was going all in and she was making minimum bets to keep her lead.

 

On the very last hand, I got a blackjack which made me the winner. Men were shaking my hand and patting me on the shoulder, women were hugging me, everyone was cheering at the "comeback kid", small children were wanting to be me when they grew up and then the dealer pulled her final card.....an ace.... blackjack for her, too! So it was a "push" and I finished second.

 

I didn't get a t-shirt. I got a floppy hat, a tote bag, a deck of cards and a lanyard.

 

I had won the whole thing on Celebrity once, so I at least I have that memory. :) On Celebrity and RCCL, they also gave a cash prize to second and third places.