Celebration! / Live! / Solo! Dec-4-11-2022...

[Greenpea2]

5 hours ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

I think one of their health benefits is to keep your sick coworkers at a distance during your lunch break 😂 

Sardines... um, well I am almost embarrassed to say I used to love sardine and mayo sammiches (on Wonderbread of course, the good stuff) when I was a kid. Those little tins with the curly key thing. They still have those? I could not really bring myself to eat them now, though. Blech idea.

[sid_9169]

[sid_9169]

 

On April 26th, I went ahead and purchased my Cheers Beverage Package online, just to try and save a few bucks from the impending price increase that was soon to come. When I went to checkout, it prompted me with the option to use $50 in OBC against the price of the package, so I clicked on that and magically saved a little more. I honestly didn’t want to shell out four hundred bucks for something I wouldn’t be using for seven more months, but every penny counts in this economy crippled by inflation… My last cruise on the Mardi Gras, I was able to cover my entire package with OBC, but that was then and this is now… Either way, it’s something that I know I’m going to buy anyway, so what the heck…

 

Fast forward a couple of months, and I was able to take advantage of a $280 price drop… I submitted my Early Saver form, and was approved within minutes. Well, little did I realize that this would trigger my Cheers beverage package to be “automatically canceled and refunded”... I didn’t know this until I received my credit card bill the following month. I called Carnival and they said that because I had used $50 in OBC to purchase Cheers, submitting the price drop form triggered the cancellation. I called a couple of weeks later to see if they would allow me to repurchase Cheers at the old price, but no dice. Either way, I had saved more with the price drop than the increase in the cost, so I just decided to let it go. 

 

[sid_9169]

 

I did want to take advantage of the WiFi price increase at the end of September, so I went online on the very last day of the month and took care of that. With my budget, I need to try and save wherever I can. If I could quit drinking I would save untold thousands of dollars per year, but that’s a whole nother story…

 

[sid_9169]

[sid_9169]

[Webecruzen]

I made it a bit late but still on day 1.  Cheers to a great vacation for you and the rest of the tribe following along.  We leave for a short four day to Cozumel from Tampa on RCI tomorrow.  Wishing you safe travels, calm seas, and awesome food and drinks in the days ahead.   Pat

[cruises42]

Glad to see you're doing another live review!

[j1d1]

6 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

And, a bit of the surrounding neighborhood. This area used to be famous for hooker's and druggies, but now great dining options are beginning to pop up left and right. Right down from Fishmonger is Atlanta's famous (infamous) Clermont Lounge, a seedy strip club, where the average age of the "dancers" is between 40 and 50... Blondie, (age 65) the most famous stripper in all Atlanta still holds court there, and crushes Pabst Blue Ribbon cans between her, eh "cans"... 

 

 

 

A few more shots from the area... The Majestic Diner and Plaza Theater have been there wayyy since before I was born, and I'm old...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never thought I'd see the Clermont Lounge on Cruise Critic.  I remember seeing Blondie when I was there a few times back in the late 90s.

[purpleally]

1 hour ago, sid_9169 said:

Switched to Casamigos Reposado... This giant bottle almost won't even fit in my freezer, but I took out a shelf to make room...

 

 

That is great stuff, I have three and a half bottles 

 

[blarko]

11 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

Last night, just by chance, I ended up catching my all time favorite Christmas show on television: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer... I suppose that I've seen it about 53 times now, but it's still great after all these years.

 

 

 

 

I watched it too!!! One of my all time favorites 😀

 

Just found this and it’s already six pages! This is gonna take me a while but I don’t mind…..looking forward to it. 

[bluetardis]

I’m along for the wild ride. Safe travels Sid!

[JandPB]

Holy cow. Page six and I'm just hopping in. Here for the shenanigans. 

 

~PB

[icft]

9 minutes ago, JandPB said:

Holy cow. Page six and I'm just hopping in. Here for the shenanigans. 

 

~PB

Me too...

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

Wait @sid_9169 is coming out of retirement for a Celebration live? I am not sure Celebration is ready for Sid after just having @Saint Greg onboard.

[EllieinNJ]

I'm following too!!!

[fethiyeden]

Love a Sid live. Have a great time.

[pe4all]

18 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

 

OMG - laughing so hard when I saw this.  My father used to eat sardine sandwiches (from the cans with the key) made with schmaltz (rendered chicken fat), with raw onions on rye bread at least 3x a week.  He lived a long, healthy life!  Loving the start to your review!

[blarko]

19 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

I can promise you an exponential improvement in the food p0rn in the coming days, but for now I'm trying to eat as cheap as I possibly can... I've gotta squeeze a whole lot out of my already battered budget in the coming days. Expensive dinners and cocktails... Who knows what kind of transportation costs once I make it to some of the islands, ect...

 

 

No

[sid_9169]

Good morning Cruise Critic family!... It's a beautiful sunrise, and I'm ready to conquer my next to last day of work before heading to Miami. With a bit of luck today's work day will go by quickly, and I made a reservation at a nice Mediterranean restaurant this evening... I've retrieved my suitcase from storage, and things are about to start being checked off the packing list. 

 

 

[sid_9169]

I've been going back and forth trying to decide if I want to bring my checked bag on this cruise... The only reason I ever bring it, is so I can bring back a couple of bottles of Pure White Hennessy for the guys at work. I decided that I'm going "carry on only" this sailing because, well, "what have they done for me lately?"... 

 

 

 

 

[sid_9169]

I miss the good 'ol days, when this was just considered regular every day cereal... Nowadays, it only comes out once a year, so I always jump on at least one box, just to try and regain a bit of my youth...

 

 

[sid_9169]

On October 26th 2022 Carnival sent out an email stating that they would be revamping their corona virus protocols. Testing would be completely abandoned for vaccinated passengers, while unvaccinated would still have to take a test prior to boarding. I had mixed feelings about this process, as it could easily allow who knows how many people on board who could possibly be currently infected and contagious. On the other hand, many of those unvaccinated passengers would finally be allowed to sail, whereas there was a lottery for them prior to this decision. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by sid_9169

[sid_9169]

[sid_9169]

The next foot to drop wasn’t as surprising… On November 2nd 2022 Carnival sent out another email entitled “Culinary Update - Voyages From November 7th 2022 Onwards”, featuring price increases for specialty dining, and even a surcharge for items in the MDR for entrees if you decided to order more than two… The price for the Steakhouse would go from $42 to $48, and Rudi’s Seagrill and Bonsai Teppanyaki would also see price increases as well on the newer Carnival vessels, although specific prices weren’t mentioned…

 

 All those months that they were out of service, as well as those months sailing well below capacity were beginning to catch up with their bottom line profits, and they needed some way of increasing revenue. Many grumbled at the higher prices, while some even vowed not to eat in those venues affected by the new increased prices. Fortunately, for me, I had already purchased my Steakhouse and Rudi’s Sea Grill reservations months ago, and those reservations would be honored…