MITSUGIRLY lets the BREEZE flow through her hair-Spring Break Review/Pictorial

[mitsugirly]

I LOVE this picture!

 

Sure wish I'd been with you at the beach that day. I would have been right out there in the water with Sakari Probably teaching her to body surf. You would probably think I was being a bad influence. :eek: :D Sorry, Sakari and I are kindred spirits when it comes to being in the water. I would have made sure she stayed safe. Mermaids have to stay safe in the water. :cool:

 

I do think you made a great move, though, by going to the pool after lunch. Sakari had fun morphing into a mermaid, and you got some awesome pictures. The mermaid video looked fine to me.

 

I really hope I'm not about to hear more stories about you being sick, especially after what happened to you on your Jade cruise.

 

I'm usually in there with her too, but it was not as hot out today as it had been the day before (or even at the port when we got on the ship). I wish that Carnival would put the weather info on their Fun Times like NCL does. I'm pretty sure I seen something that said like 73 degrees, but I could be wrong. It felt extremely hot when the sun was out (of course) but when it went behind the clouds, I felt a little chilled at times and had my towel on me. So, I really wasn't in to getting into the water much (although I did some).

 

love your reviews, did my first one 2 years ago on the Valor. We did the southern out of San Juan. San Juan is an awesome place (in my opinion), but you are right as to the brown sand. Check out the pre cruise pictures on my review, can see the same sand and that was in the Condado area. We had a beautiful day, and thoroughly enjoyed the beach, but the pool area where we stayed was amazing.

 

thanks again for your review, I'm looking forward to reading the rest! Also, if you ever get to San Juan again, go have a pina Colada at Barrachina's...best one I ever had ;-)

 

Yea, I just wish I had more time in San Juan to experience it. I would love to go and just hit up all the beaches and places there.

 

Is the Condado close to the Sheraton in port (since I seen pictures of it). It looked like a fun pool, especially the slide. :D

[mitsugirly]

You're one of my favorite reviewers on CC! NCL, CCL, doesn't matter. I read them all! Sakari is an absolute doll. That Little Mermaid video made my week!!

 

 

 

I've been saying that there are serious issues with food availability for a while now. Its a real problem. The 24 hour pizza is great in theory, but there needs to be more. The lines are always unbearable because its the only option so obviously theres a demand for late night food. NCL has O'Sheehan's, RCI has The Park Cafe/Cafe Promenade and Carnival has...? There absolutely needs to be a 24 hour diner/cafe style restaurant in addition to the pizza. Buffets need to be open at least an hour later during dinner hours, and during port days, the buffets should be open up until an hour after the ship has left the dock. Coming back from an excursion to little to no variety of food is so annoying.

 

Its funny because John Heald brings this topic up quite often on his FB page (more late night food options, Guys and/or Blue Iguana being open later, a mini breakfast buffet in the early am hours) and his...followers constantly tell him we don't need more food, there's more than enough food on the ship. It pains me every time.

 

The drink options are ridiculous as well. There used to be fruit punch back in the day but it was taken away with some stupid excuse about staining carpets. They could at least add Vitality's new flavored waters.

 

I'll probably make a separate thread about this lol, but yes I definitely feel your pain.

 

Exactly. I read all those comments on John's page too and wonder just what these people do for late night meals/snacks. I always put my .02 in, but I'm just 1 person. I seriously felt hungry this cruise (well, in the evening at least). I'm not sure why, but I don't recall having this issue on the Pride or Dream...unless I just forgot about it. I'd have to go back and read my review to see if I mentioned it. Did things change recently with no buffet during the evenings? Or has it always been like that? I'm definitely going to have to keep this in mind on our next Carnival and plan accordingly for dinner. :cool:

 

Hi,

 

First time posting to one of your reviews although I've read a bunch of them. Thanks for taking the time!! I have a little girl that would LOVE a mermaid tail. Can you recommend where to get one?

 

(Full dusclose I couldn't decide if I wanted to get her one And she peeked over my shoulder while I was reading your review and saw Sakari in her tail and started asking 5000 questions about is she real? How? Can I have one?) lol

 

Thank you again!!!

 

Aww thanks for coming in posting. I appreciate it.

 

You get the tails at FinFun Mermaids. (Sakari will tell you in a heartbeat..people ask her all the time and she blurts out finfunmermaid. com LMAO). She had to tell me where to go when she got her first one. :D

[mitsugirly]

Not to hijack Kim's review, but I couldn't agree with you more. Not a late night eater, but certainly think that option should be available in more than one or two venues. Also food availability on port days especially around sailaway time should be a priority. I think the "Heald"-galites, are always pooh-pooh-ing changes. He needs to pay attention to what the majority of Carnival's cruisers have to say, not the few vocal ones. Nice idea on starting a thread on the issue...go for it:)

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled mermaid review:D:cool:

 

The buffets being closed after returning from port was a biggie for me too. Guys would sometimes be open, and as much as I like Guys, I don't want it every day. I "use" to not even eat when in port and just hold off until we would get back on the ship. I can't even imagine if there wasn't anything open back then. :eek:

 

Thank you for taking the time to write such great reviews of your cruises.:)

 

Thanks for commenting and glad you're here. :)

[mitsugirly]

WEDNESDAY-ST KITTS

 

This will be our first time in St Kitts and I found plenty of options I was interested in. We were in port from 10am-8pm and I was super excited.

 

Our roll call had someone that arranged a group "tour" with the main attraction being transportation to Cockleshell Beach/Reggae Beach. Since this was one of the places on my "list", I jumped right on this tour with everyone else, hoping to save some money. With this tour, they would pick you up in either an open air bus or enclosed, tour you around Basseterre and tell you a little about the history (everyone knows I don't do "tours" but this was just a little driving by it and telling you things along the way type of tour-no stopping). Then there would be a stop at the top of Timothy Hill for 10 minutes to get pictures. Then on to Reggae Beach where they would have a reserved chair, umbrella and complimentary drink waiting on you. Then it included your ride back to the port, with the options of 2 different times to leave (early and late). This was booked using PEREIRA TOURS and the cost was $15pp. It sounded like a great deal to me and we went for it.

 

Of course, I know just from trying to get "my group" of kids and grand-kids together on any particular cruise...is quite the challenge. Our group to Reggae consisted of about 108 people. Yikes! I really wondered how it would go and several times I felt as if I should just pull out of this group tour. I mean was it really worth saving a few bucks on a taxi ride? We'd soon see.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

So I'm not even sure what time we got up today, but I do know I received my normal wake up call. Today's wake up call is brought to you by the pans and pots hockey team who will be playing right above your room for the next few hours. We have arranged a smelly aroma to the players field for your enjoyment and to enhance your senses. We want to make sure you get up on time...:D

 

So outside I went to check out the situation. It looked as if we were here and smelled as if someone took out the trash and placed it on my balcony. Let's all hold our noses while I get some pictures.

 

 

 

 

Yep, it pretty much looked like all those other "St." islands we've been to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had company

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I could eat it for any meal. The hubby was getting a little burned out on the same breakfast daily, so we decided to head to the Blue Iguana for a breakfast burrito.

 

He was super excited.

 

 

 

And they were good, just like the last time on the Pride. I just wish they offered a regular soft burrito shell instead of only wheat or jalapeno. I don't do spicy and I don't really care for "wheat" anything. But, that's pretty much my only option. Sigh. Wheat just has somewhat of a "bitter" taste to me.

 

 

 

The Captain came on to tell us that we would be a little late into port. Um...ok, we are sitting right here! He mentioned something about the wind and waves. Seriously? Where is this at? I don't see either. The Celebrity ship left after we did (from San Juan) and had been following us. But they were now going around us and docking while we waited on them. The Captain mentioned that we would now be docking around 10:30am instead of 10am.

 

Traffic jam...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This kinda reminds me of bermuda with the pastel colored houses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

It was about 10am when we started coming in.

 

 

 

I "gots prime viewing" from my loud, smelly balcony. :D

 

Sakari really wanted to know how these men got there...I told her when they didn't see any sharks around, they went for it, jumped and swam over.

 

 

 

These men were screaming and yelling at Celebrity. Like one of them was super mad about something. He would throw his hands up in the air, scream, do the "about-face" walk and then turn back to repeat.

 

 

 

I can only assume that these ropes some how got stuck somewhere because they would be pulling and not getting anywhere with them.

 

 

 

The guy finally threw his hands up one last time, slammed the rope down and walked over to our ship and tied us up instead. HA! I guess we'll be docking earlier than expected and Celebrity will have to wait to dock at 10:30 "due to the waves and wind". We were docked by 10:15am.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We headed down one flight of stairs and off the ship we went. (Have I mentioned how much I actually like being down this low?)

 

 

 

St Kitts very own rock collection:

 

 

 

Sakari has started collecting rocks lately. She thinks that every rock has some type of fossil on them. I swear she can see a "shell" or "starfish" or a face in every shell and she will convince you that it's a fossil. She is keeping them in a box and she will take them to the bus stop every morning (including this morning) to show her friends. I swear all her friends thinks she's nuts...and they are right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I'll show you around the shopping port area first (even though a majority of these were taken upon our return later that day) just to get it out of the way.

 

I know some don't like these built up areas at the port and also say that you can get better deals if you walk outside the port. But, I like them and they are convenient for grabbing something on the way back to the ship and not having to search all over town for that "deal". I'm willing to pay a little more for this convenience.

 

The one thing I really didn't like about San Juan is they didn't have this convenience...and I'll tell you why. I ALWAYS get a tee shirt and a refrigerator magnet from every port we visit. When we came back from San Juan, we completely forgot about both of these and when let off by the driver, we just simply headed back to the ship and forgot. I was heartbroken when I discovered this and now I'll just have to go back to get them...and hopefully remember.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

I really don't get the concept of having a casino right there as you get off the ship. Do people really get off the ship and go gamble? I means there's a casino on the ship for heavens sake.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Our "group" was to head outside the port and meet at the Smoke & Booze building within 1/2 hour of the ship porting. We immediately walked there and didn't really see too many people standing around. We did notice another family looking for them too and someone told them to walk around the corner and over to this parking lot. We followed.

 

We found several "groups" divided up and they were taking peoples names and their money and marking them off. It was very unorganized and people were confused. At first they were calling names off and then you approached and paid. Then it went to just having people walk up and give their information. Then it went to forming a line (which was actually some type of circle).

 

We were to have both the open air buses and regular buses, which was my understanding. I know a majority of the group said they wanted open air buses. I honestly could care less as long as I got there. My only concern was if it was going to be extremely hot out, they would have wished they opted for the regular bus with a/c.

 

I'm not sure if everyone showed up or not because our entire group only ended up with 2 open air buses. They separated us and told us which bus to get on.

 

 

 

 

We sat there for awhile, making sure that everyone that was coming had arrived, and then we pulled out. My thoughts were if you told us to meet at the Smoke & Booze, you should probably all be there until everyone arrives. But, this was very unorganized in my option and there were probably people that went there and didn't see anyone and said screw it and left.

 

I "believe" we had around 28 or so people on our bus??? My count may be off, and I didn't personally count, but for some reason I'm thinking I heard this number thrown out. So if both buses had around that many people, that means quite a few either didn't show up or couldn't find us...because we were in the WRONG meeting location (at the parking lot with the buses instead of at the store where we were told to be). :rolleyes:

 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, I'm going to stop here. Time to get ready for work. I have a short day today and will be back soon. But, I still need to gather my pictures from this day and get them downloaded. But I will be back some time today to continue. :)

[Working 2 cruise again]

 

I really don't get the concept of having a casino right there as you get off the ship. Do people really get off the ship and go gamble? I means there's a casino on the ship for heavens sake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took a cruise with some friends a few years back. My hubby and I spent the days out on the beach, in the sun and in the water. They spent the days even off the ship going to the casinos. We came back from the cruise with tans in November, they came back with sinus issues from the smoke. I like the casino but I love the sun and water so much more.

[#55worktoplay]

You're one of my favorite reviewers on CC! NCL, CCL, doesn't matter. I read them all! Sakari is an absolute doll. That Little Mermaid video made my week!!

 

 

 

I've been saying that there are serious issues with food availability for a while now. Its a real problem. The 24 hour pizza is great in theory, but there needs to be more. The lines are always unbearable because its the only option so obviously theres a demand for late night food. NCL has O'Sheehan's, RCI has The Park Cafe/Cafe Promenade and Carnival has...? There absolutely needs to be a 24 hour diner/cafe style restaurant in addition to the pizza. Buffets need to be open at least an hour later during dinner hours, and during port days, the buffets should be open up until an hour after the ship has left the dock. Coming back from an excursion to little to no variety of food is so annoying.

 

Its funny because John Heald brings this topic up quite often on his FB page (more late night food options, Guys and/or Blue Iguana being open later, a mini breakfast buffet in the early am hours) and his...followers constantly tell him we don't need more food, there's more than enough food on the ship. It pains me every time.

 

The drink options are ridiculous as well. There used to be fruit punch back in the day but it was taken away with some stupid excuse about staining carpets. They could at least add Vitality's new flavored waters.

 

I'll probably make a separate thread about this lol, but yes I definitely feel your pain.

 

I agree Kim is the best reviewer and she stays up late while writing them therefore I don't get much sleep :)

 

I started sailing with Carnival many years ago and I am one to always be starving late nights so the options on Carnival are room service only or pizza which I don't do. I then went on Royal for quite a few sailings and when I look at the next cruise options for me the Promenade Café is one of the items that keeps pulling me back to Royal. I absolutely love those little mini croissant sandwiches in the Promenade Café.

 

I am going to cave one of these days to go back to Carnival and to try a NCL cruise. I really think that NCL would be my preferred line based on Kim's reviews (as well as Yorkvillian, Suitecruiser and Doug's they all rank pretty high)..I need to bite the bullet and go on a longer sailing. The longest I have been on is 5 nights and I am chewing at the bit to get off at the end so I am leery of trying a 7 night sailing (I know most people would think I have lost my marbles).. Perhaps it is as much as Royal has great things on their ships I think the entertainment staff lack and I am getting a little bored with the same old, same old. Going a longer sailing with a different line may be just what I need to not chew at the bit to get off after 5 nights.

 

Hopefully Carnival will expand the food options for late night diners.

 

Kim this is a great review. Sakari is amazing in many ways but man does she have that Mermaid thing perfected! Way to go Kim for letting her be a free spirit within limits, she is so well rounded for such a young girl and one with many talents I must add.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[FirstAlto]

Man Kim - I am just loving your review !! ( in fact I love ALL your reviews!!)

Thank you so much for taking the enormous amount of time it must take !

I was just on Face Book and saw an ad for MERMAID SOCKS !!! - of course, I immediately thought of Sakari !

Not sure if they have kids size - but worth a look :p

Living proof dot com

When I did the questionnaire that Carnival sent me after our last cruise I told them it was ridiculous to have about 10+ options for lunch , and such a few in the evening

Looking forward to the rest of your review !!

Jane

[Riley's Mom]

Ok, I'm going to stop here. Time to get ready for work. I have a short day today and will be back soon. But, I still need to gather my pictures from this day and get them downloaded. But I will be back some time today to continue. :)

 

I am just being curious and wondering what type of work you do? Are you a Nurse or MD?

 

I used to work as a Home Health nurse and loved it because I had flexible work hours. I would set up my schedule with my patients each day . It was great for about 20 yrs then I got tired of all the driving. I work as an intake nurse in an office sertting now and love it.

 

I look so forward to reading your review. Everyday during my lunch break I am tuned into Cruise Critic and your review! Thank you.

[CAC104]

This is going to be an unusual question, but I have been reading all of your reviews and have enjoyed seeing all of your family having fun on all of your different cruises. You name all of the kids and grandkids that sail, but you always refer to your husband as hubby or Daddy. I am so curious to actually know what his name is:confused::rolleyes:

 

I have been to Puerto Rico many times and when Sakari gets older you should take her to the forts to learn about the history of San Juan. There actually are free hop on hop off buses that stop right by the cruise ships and do a loop around San Juan. It is also interesting to walk around Old Town and see the different Churches, Shops and Buildings. Of course this is something for the future because your little mermaid wouldn't appreciate this yet. San Juan is right on the Atlantic and the water is usually pretty wavy. The place you found is probably the best deal in the close in area because you would have to travel much farther to find the better beaches. The Condado beach area is another close in area with nicer looking sand, but it is still the rough water.

[WanttoCruise2015]

It was about 10am when we started coming in.

 

 

 

I "gots prime viewing" from my loud, smelly balcony. :D

 

Sakari really wanted to know how these men got there...I told her when they didn't see any sharks around, they went for it, jumped and swam over.

 

 

 

These men were screaming and yelling at Celebrity. Like one of them was super mad about something. He would throw his hands up in the air, scream, do the "about-face" walk and then turn back to repeat.

 

 

 

I can only assume that these ropes some how got stuck somewhere because they would be pulling and not getting anywhere with them.

 

 

 

The guy finally threw his hands up one last time, slammed the rope down and walked over to our ship and tied us up instead. HA! I guess we'll be docking earlier than expected and Celebrity will have to wait to dock at 10:30 "due to the waves and wind". We were docked by 10:15am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They look like miniature people like the romans and cowboys in "Night At The Museum" movies...lol

[mitsugirly]

Here's the rest of the group still trying to get checked and pay and then assigned a bus.

 

 

 

We were assigned the bright orange bus. The other group pulled out ahead of us and waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started our quick "tour"

 

 

 

We all sat outside in the "bus" of course and the driver sat inside with a loud speaker and microphone to talk to us.

 

 

 

 

This caught my eye...and no I'm not talking about my hubby...the KFC.

 

Edited April 22, 2016 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Museum

 

 

 

 

This guy was raising up the lobster and flashing them at us, pointing and trying to get our attention. What did he want us to do? Stop the bus and run over to buy one and run back?

 

I sheltered Sakari's eyes and pointed in the other direction to reduce the possibility of being scared the rest of her life.

 

 

The Circus Today Basseterre's French heritage is not nearly so prominent as its British colonial past. The centerpiece of the city's evocative Georgian architecture is its Circus, a diminutive roundabout modeled in proper Victorian patriotism after Piccadilly, in London. In the middle of the Circus stands the bright green bronze of the Berkeley Memorial Clock, an ornate, cast iron tower with four clock faces and more than a little architectural decoration.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Independence Sq-the site of the slave market.

 

These days independence Square is a very pleasant grassed park located centrally within Basseterre. There's a fountain in the centre (though not working), and eight paths radiating out in a Union Jack formation. The Square was originally known as "Pall Mall" when it was built in 1790 to hold slave auctions and council meetings.

 

 

This is the fountain in the middle...and I seriously hate that the picture didn't turn out well, but you can look it up online and see what it really looks like.

 

 

The Basseterre Co-Cathedral of Immaculate Conception. This was build around the 1700's I believe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't believe I managed to get a shot of the stained glass window, located INSIDE the church, while moving AND zoomed in. Weird. Not completely clear, but you get the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Of course I always have to take pictures of the houses around the area along the way.

 

 

 

 

The local hardware and appliance store. Good to know if I ever move here I can by a fiberglass one piece pool. These things rock. We bought one back when my 3 oldest kids were little and had it installed and it was the best purchase I had ever made. We spent every minute we could in the pool during the summer, so many pool and birthday partys, lots of games we made up (me and the kids) and these types of pool are hands down the EASIEST thing to keep clean. Prior to getting one, we had an above ground and it was always turning green and I was changing the liner once a year. Never again. Man I miss my pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our "other half" following us.

 

 

 

I think they might have said this was the local hospital? I'm really not sure but can't think of another reason I would randomly take a picture of something that wasn't just a house or something that wasn't of interest to me.

 

[mitsugirly]

The "Go Green" Solar Farm located in Frigate Bay area. The electric company has responsibility to operate and maintain. The goal is by 2020, 100% of the island will have electric produced by renewable energy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yea, um...I'll take this one.

 

 

 

You see all those houses on the hills?

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

This is the Marriott located in Frigate Bay area and it is the biggest and most expensive place on the island he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The street lights in Frigate Bay area has wind and solar lights.

 

The street lamp is capable of producing up to 380 W of power if the sun was shining and the wind were blowing, and the street lamps save excess energy generated in a battery that powers their high efficiency LEDs through the night.

 

 

 

Just so you know, I have managed to look up most of this information online myself because our guide didn't mention some of this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Singer4Him]

I believe I asked you this a while ago but I can't for the life of me remember what you said...what is the name of the font that you use for your name on the pics? I love unusual fonts and I don't think I've seen this one anywhere else.

 

I'm really enjoying your review since we did this same itinerary a couple of years ago on the Freedom and we're booked to sail on the Breeze later this year (different itinerary, though). It's always fun to cruise vicariously through these wonderful reviews! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!!

[mitsugirly]

I had no idea what "benching" meant, but would soon find out. This was about to be a fingernail biting, gut twisting, head pounding ride ahead of us.

 

 

We slowed down and the driver slammed the bus into first gear and we all had neck whiplash. From here on out, we would climb Mt Tim in first gear, sounding as if we were clanging on a roller coaster, going up the chains to the top in an ever so slow fashion. Even Thomas the train thought he could faster than this I'm sure. We were all looking at each other like "Is that all this thing has?" "Are we going to make it?" "Will we need to call for help because this guy is going to blow first gear?" I have never, in my life, ever, positively ever hear anyone run a vehicle in first gear the way this guy did. Seriously. It was almost scary.

 

The beach area at the Marriott:

 

 

 

I had no idea just how far we had to go in order to get to Cockleshell but this hill was crazy! People were going around us and giving us the stink eye. Like seriously ...EVERYONE passed us. We must have been going 5 mph if a gust of wind caught our back side.

 

The roads twisted and turned and I could see my life flash before my eyes. Then I started getting the stink eye from the hubby and I knew exactly what it was for wth.did.you.get.us.into?¿?

 

I couldn't wait to make it to the top of Timothy Hill and get out, take some pictures, and gather my throat out of my stomach.

 

It was pretty along the way...just scary.

 

 

 

 

Then we get this...our other bus passing us and laughing at us. I mean they passed and took off and was out of site before long.

 

 

 

 

Construction was everywhere. Some roads were closed. Other "parts" (1 lane traffic going around a huge curve going straight down) would be blocked and plenty of construction crew in the middle of the road. You never knew what was going to be coming at you at any given moment.

 

 

 

^^You see that orange smiley face in the mirror? I can guarantee it was the only one smiling on this trip.

 

Very beautiful but I don't wanna!

 

 

St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Large boulders block the original road over the top of Timothy Hill as the cliff above is cut back and stabilized in the first phase of a project to tackle the problem of heavy rock falls in the area. Phase One is to do benching: cut it back, and then Phase Two is to install a tunnel.