Finally my picture review Canrival Sensation Dec 9-13 2012

[MrFunInTheSun]

Great pictures and review. Good to see you still made one.

[kybluecruiser]

Better late then never. Lol thanks for sharing

[erewhon]

Sorry to read that you had the company of such rude people during the van ride.

[Rainbowfalls]

Great pictures and review. Good to see you still made one.

Thank you ^_^

 

Better late then never. Lol thanks for sharing

 

:p Your welcome.

 

Sorry to read that you had the company of such rude people during the van ride.

 

Me too, I think more than anything I was just really shocked.

[Rainbowfalls]

Because I was on a load of cough syrup and Tylenol my memory is a bit fuzzy of some things lol. But here are some more pictures this is of elegant night. I remember my dad was so excited to order lobster he stressed he wanted 2. lol.

 

 

 

Kris being annoyed at all my picture taking again. also this night right before I took his picture one of the waiters accidentally dropped some cream which got all over the back of his shirt, pants and part of my shirt. The poor waiter was very apologetic really it was almost comical but we both felt bad since I think he thought we were going to yell or cause a ruckus. Since kris works in the food industry and I work in guest services we both understood his situation and told him it was no problem. They still sent the manager over to apologize and offer free dry cleaning which we declined.

 

 

 

our next towel animal which was argued upon if it was a dinosaur or a giraffe.

 

[Rainbowfalls]

Nassau was very interesting. Kris again tried to wake me up which again I threw a pillow at him and threatened bodily harm to him and his if he didn't leave me alone. So at some point I woke up. Today was his birthday and he was so excited. The only things he wanted was a beach, senior frogs and a beer.

 

My parents decided to join us since we agreed to go to Junkanoo beach instead of the Hilton British Colonial though this year we plan on going to the Hilton and paying for day passes.

 

While walking to the beach we were approached by a lady who literally grabbed my hand and started to put a woven bracelet on it. Telling us it's free made by the children at the local school. I kept telling her no I dont want a bracelet but thank you and she kept insisting with a hold on my hand that no no these are free made by the children. So whatever free ok, great thanks. She asked my dad if he wanted one and did the same to him before he had time to respond. Kris totally just left us to this situation as he walked ahead laughing knowing what was to happen. My dad kept asking her it's free right? and she agreed. No sooner then she had tied the knot on my dads bracelet did she start talking about donations for the children needed for them. So fine whatever go with the flow people we are we grabbed a few dollars to hand to her. she counted them then said no no they are 5 dollars a piece for the children. At this point I was done, so I took off the bracelet and handed it back asking for my money. My dad started to do the same but she got mad and took his wrist and started to undo the ties herself telling him that it's not coming off and it's five dollars if damaged. She ended up scratching my dad in the attempt and damaging the bracelet then demanding her five dollars. My dad told her no and that she scratched him and demanded his money back now which she did after arguing for a few.

 

So words of advice to anyone new to nassau keep your hands away from people wanting to put items on you lol.

[Orpheo]

Thanks for sharing your review! Really nice pictures, loving them! ;)

That cheesecake looks super delicious! :D

And what a happening in Naussau with the lady, so sad that your dad got scratches on his arms..:eek:

[wrigley80]

Nice Review....we should have joined you that day at Our Lucaya but we just decided to stay onboard that day and have a relaxing day.

 

I haven't seen myself yet so keep posting more pictures :p :) ;)

[LandlockedCruiser01]

While walking to the beach we were approached by a lady who literally grabbed my hand and started to put a woven bracelet on it.

...

So words of advice to anyone new to nassau keep your hands away from people wanting to put items on you lol.

I had the same thing happen to me too. Some Bahamian woman approached me and started asking me questions, the ones cruisers ask each other, like "what ship are you from?" Then I saw her reaching toward my wrist. I quickly started stepping back, saying "thanks, but no bracelet," then turned around and walked away. She didn't follow me. Kudos to Cruise Critic for warning me about the ruse of "put a bracelet on someone, then demand money."

 

I also had a Bahamian guy, who didn't look older than 20, try to sell me drugs. He held his thumb and index finger at his lips, then made a money-counting gesture with his hands. I held up my hand in a "stop" gesture and firmly shook my head. Then we parted ways. No actual words were spoken. It was a really weird interaction.

[Rainbowfalls]

Thanks for sharing your review! Really nice pictures, loving them!

That cheesecake looks super delicious!

And what a happening in Naussau with the lady, so sad that your dad got scratches on his arms..

 

 

Thank you . I dont know if it's different then the one in room service it seemed better though in the MDR.

My dad was ok with it after it was all resolved. I am just glad he didn't loose his temper and remained calm lol.

 

Nice Review....we should have joined you that day at Our Lucaya but we just decided to stay onboard that day and have a relaxing day.

 

I haven't seen myself yet so keep posting more pictures

 

Thank you . Next time try Our Lucaya it really was a pleasant surprise at how nice it was since most people I know and also have read here do not like Freeport.

 

Lol I will though a lot of my pictures for some reason didn't come out :(

 

I had the same thing happen to me too. Some Bahamian woman approached me and started asking me questions, the ones cruisers ask each other, like "what ship are you from?" Then I saw her reaching toward my wrist. I quickly started stepping back, saying "thanks, but no bracelet," then turned around and walked away. She didn't follow me. Kudos to Cruise Critic for warning me about the ruse of "put a bracelet on someone, then demand money."

 

I also had a Bahamian guy, who didn't look older than 20, try to sell me drugs. He held his thumb and index finger at his lips, then made a money-counting gesture with his hands. I held up my hand in a "stop" gesture and firmly shook my head. Then we parted ways. No actual words were spoken. It was a really weird interaction.

 

I wish I had read the forewarning :(. though Kris did which is why he totally left me standing lol. That's why I love this site there's so much useful information that most people wouldn't know unless reading the forums.

 

lol!!! Kris was hoping for a dealer he just wanted to be approached then guess if they were a cop or not. But that's so weird that it's like some other hand signal language with dealers that seems so universal lol.

[Rainbowfalls]

So after a hot short walk we made it to Junkanoo. The beach itself was ok. The sand was beautiful though very rough due to rocks and the water nice but a bit chilly and with lots of drops.

 

My mom and dad didn't get in the water, they were such party poopers! Her and my dad instead watched our stuff and took the pictures lol.

 

 

 

 

We didn't stay long mostly because it started to get a bit crowded. So we walked back to Senior frogs to celebrate kris's bday.

 

I loved the table tops

 

Kris was so excited to get a yard drink that he was told about by coworkers. He was a tad disappointed though that it wasn't as big as he was told and that it was mostly ice instead of actual drink. He said the drink was good though I think he got the Bahama Mama ? just he wished he knew before hand it would be so much ice he would have asked instead for light ice or no ice. The drink itself you can get in the glass but to keep the glass was an additional cost. I think total it was 16 to 18 dollars for the drink and glass.

 

 

My dad got one too lol such bonding XP

 

[Rainbowfalls]

 

 

We were sitting on the patio over the water, it was actually very pretty the only issue I had was there was tons and tons of seagulls that did not fear people and I have a fear of birds :o

 

They started the conga drink line as we were sitting there. It was pretty cool my dad and kris both said this year they will jump in lol. The drink was called What the F did I do last night according to the server.

 

 

We were not that hungry so we just ordered a order of the chips and salsa which was good but hot

 

[Rainbowfalls]

After Senior frogs we decided just to walk around and take pictures then head back to the ship.

 

 

We decided not to go to Atlantis but one of my co workers who went on the same cruise a few months later did and she said it was great. So maybe we will try it sometime.

 

 

Me and kris decided just to spend some time on the Serenity deck but before we did kris just had to get himself a drink of the day which he had been eyeing forever after finding out they had the coconut monkey heads and he had to have one certain one that he saw at the bar.

 

Which was this one lol. I have like a trillion pictures of him with his monkey there were a few suvenior cups we wanted I wanted the whale tail and the disco cup which I got the whale tail (though it broke on the way home :() and he wanted the monkey, disco ball and the tiki glasses.

 

:O A SMILE!!!!!!!

 

I think that was the greatest picture I have, kris doesn't smile in most of the pictures I have of him in the last 9 years he's flipping the camera the bird or just frowning lol so this was like a hallmark moment for me.

[Rainbowfalls]

Now for some food pics ^_^ I wish I took more of them

 

crab cake I believe?

 

The study in sushi

 

 

I think this was the mahi mahi

 

steak yum <3

 

[Rainbowfalls]

 

I didn't really care for the chilled soup.

 

 

the chili relleno I had better but it was still good.

[Rainbowfalls]

On this night my dad I believe lost his mind. The waiters started to do the dance number and started pulling guests into the line my dad kept
telling us how he was going to do it. We all laughed like ha ha no you wont. Soon as my dad saw an opening he jumped up and got in. I have never before been so shocked as I was on our cruise. My dad who is about as spontaneous and into doing things that are fun as someone who well doesnt do those things actually jumped into the line and started to shake his tail feathers, get low and all sorts of things that cause me to question if i was dreaming. Though I must add my dad who has a bad knee when he got low he almost didn't get back up and almost took another table with him, recovered very well and continued to boogie woogie his way back to our table. My mom, me and kris could not contain our laughter and absolute disbelief that this was actually occurring. Thank god I have pictures cause non of my siblings believed me either when I said he was :O Dancing!


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My parents also danced during the goodbye deck party it was so cute. I have video blackmail for that one:p;)

[Rainbowfalls]

The day of departure was very sad sad sad. We all wished we would have chosen a longer cruise and agreed this was the best vacation we had had in a very very long time and that it's something we will sort of make as a tradition.

We had breakfast in the MDR then gathered our belongings and waited for the announcement of departure for our floor.

I learned a few things one hold your spot especially if you are near the elevator because people will cut in front of you and will push you to the side. There is really no line for departing just people kinda coming in from all directions to get out as soon as possible.

Departure really wasn't that bad except till we got to actually going through the line for id check and such.

I had just handed my id and kris's over to the guy when he typed in something looked at us then said I need you both to come with me. My face said it all OH Crap *** did we do. lol.

We followed him to the room straight ahead and was asked to load our luggage on the conveyer belt while him and another gentleman that was already in the room asked if we had anything in our bags they needed to know about, Where we were from, what were we doing, where were we headed.

I got even more scared when they started pulling on gloves, kris looked at me I looked at him like omg what the hell is going on.

The guy looking at the monitor of the luggage scan then says what are these two round objects in your bag. I replied basically huh? I dont know of anything in my bad that's round.

So after glancing at each other they proceeded to open our luggage and go through it all asking more questions along the way.

It ended up being kris's coconut monkey head lol. But they didnt give us a reason why we were stopped or anything it was really weird. My poor parents had I guess saw us go through the door and started freaking out and had to wait outside. In all it was a interesting though weird thing to happen.


When we got out of the building it was freezing and windy. We all headed to the drop off point and waited 3 minutes before our shuttle showed up. The driver even stated how it was unusual for it to be this cold.

After getting dropped off we all piled in to head to Jacksonville Florida.

[Rainbowfalls]

I am such a planner so I made all the hotel reservations far far in advance. At the time I was working for Marriott so I had booked at the Jacksonville Courtyard Oceanfront for $39 a night. Fortunately my sister works for Marriott so when I left for Hilton I was able to still get the same rate.

I would totally recommend this hotel for anyone staying in Jacksonville and wanting a beachfront hotel. The hotel was beautiful and the rooms very large. Our room had a balcony with street and parkinglot/ocean views.

the street view
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the ocean view.

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The Hotel had a huge outdoor pool and whirlpool, which me and kris used in the evening. The front desk attendant thought we were nuts since it was so cold out but it was actually pretty cool to be hot and cold all at once. We also got to see a cruiseship in the distance which seemed to be bobbing with the waves. The waves were high even at the beach part.

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The beach was a few steps away from the hotel

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Kris stayed up till 2 am to watch low tide which he said was amazing. I was still hanging out with my friend cough syrup so I decided to hang out in bed.

[Rainbowfalls]

The next morning we all got up grabbed some donuts from a gas station and headed on towards our next stop franklin Nc. I picked franklin because I wanted to go to Gatlinburg before going home.

We stayed at a Hampton Inn which I was able to get with my employee discount for super cheap. The hotel was great. It was only my second time staying at a hilton brand hotel the first being the one in Florida on the way down. I was always a Marriott person but now I am so torn. lol.

The hotel had a more lodge like feel and came with breakfast in the morning.

The views from the hotel are amazing though.

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After the night there we went to gatlinburg which is one of my favorite places. We had lunch at Bennettes which was amazing!

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Kris and I had the brisket sandwhich on texas toast so good. The baked beans were the best I have had besides homemade.

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My parents split the pulled pork sandwhich and a bowl of chili plus sides. They said all were really good too.


That's really all from my vacation. It was amazing more then I could have hoped. I am glad I got to see my parents in a different way. I am glad and thankful that we all went on a cruise and road trip. The sights, fun and just being with my family and the guy I guess I love XP was a great experience that I will cherish forever and eva. ^_^.

[iruser]

[quote name='Rainbowfalls']when we got out of the van we asked where to head to the resort and were told to just walk straight and turn right lol. We paid 10 per person for the use of the resort which was so beautiful. The sand was amazing and it was nice to just sit on the beach. There were maybe two guys trying to sell shirts and parasailing. But after saying no once they moved on.


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I did get hungry while were where there and we decided to eat at one of the restaurants on the resort. Just a note to anyone who decides to go there, they only accept a credit card for people who are not staying at the resort no cash whatsoever. We paid around 15 dollars for a small hamburger and small bag of chips which we just decided to split both.

The resort has many pools and the water was freezing!. Kris got in for a second and practically jumped out. We plan on going back this year since it was such a nice location.

I will post more tomorrow night :)[/quote]



Did you get the name of the resort by any chance?

[Ours91]

Nice review ; love the pictures.

[lastinga]

Looks like you all had a nice trip! Thanks for sharing!