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Live From The Carnival Freedom: Crossing the Atlantic for a New Whale Tail

jam19872016

By jam19872016,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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Four days to go. I can almost smell that sea air now. Almost.

 

I've got work today and tomorrow and I will do my best to be productive and not check out mentaly but I can't make any promises.

 

I'm still stalking Lee but nothing seems to have changed in the last 24 hours. I have stalked enough of them to know it checks a lot of boxes that other nasty storms check. The worse ones seem to start off the coast of Africa with lots of time to travel towards the US gaining strength along the way. Perhaps I have a Florida bias though. If I lived in Texas I probably wouldn't be too thrilled with the ones that come in through the Gulf.

 

I've ordered a new phone for the trip. Amazon says it will arrive by Friday but I'm not seeing any progress on the tracking information. Hopefully it will arrive by then as I leave town to my mom's place tomorrow after work. I don't think my current phone is going to live for another two months and I cannot find a phone for this cheap anywhere but Amazon. 

 

Well I guess I have to stop procrastinating now and get ready for work. Talk to y'all soon.

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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11 hours ago, d-lite-n-cruisin said:

I'm along for this journey!  Hope you have a wonderful time.  Safe travels!

Thanks for coming along!

 

7 hours ago, fair-winds39 said:

We’ll be following along. Sure sounds like an exciting trip. Enjoy.

Very exciting 😁 Thanks for following along.

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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Work day all done and just one more to go.

 

My new phone was waiting for me when I got home. Tracking never did update its location and then as soon as I opened what I suspected was my phone, it magically changed to "delivered today". Not helpful at this point lol but I'm glad it made it. 

 

Got an early day tomorrow as I pack up my last few items and load up my car for the drive to my Mom's (about 3.5 hours away) after work.

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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Made it to my mom's after a couple pit stops. Tried to wait out the nasty weather but the rain just kept going. After an hour pulled into the rest area I got back on the road and powered through it.

 

Passed three accidents on I95 all within five miles of each other. Thankfully I made it safe and sound. 

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Haljo1935 "Live from...." Rare

Haljo1935

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Coming along for the ride - thanks for doing this and inviting us. 

Gotta say it - hope your mom doesn't see your early posts - you aren't supposed to tell a lady's age 🫣

This sounds like a fabulous trip - I will try to follow along daily, but I leave Fri (wow - less than a week now!!) for B2B on Venezia out of NYC, so will have to play catch up occasionally. 

Also doing a R/T Rome late Oct that may cause me to miss a few days, but I will read it all. I know you're going to have a great time and I'm excited to read about and see the pictures. 

I'll say happy birthday now - your mom must be thrilled to spend your special day together in such a wonderful way. Definitely a birthday to remember. 🎂🥳

Also gonna say this now - be very careful in Barcelona - I hear the crimes targeting tourists are rising. There's definitely a lot for you to see there, just be smart and stay safe.

Have my first TA in late Nov (Rome->FLL) so I will be very interested in that portion of your review.

So much to learn from your trip 😊

I'd like to say I'm packed 🧳 and in "hurry up and wait" mode, but I am not, so I have work to do in the coming days while you start your amazing journey. 🚢

Safe travels  - enjoy your cruise!!

Edited by Haljo1935
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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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5 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Coming along for the ride - thanks for doing this and inviting us. 

Gotta say it - hope your mom doesn't see your early posts - you aren't supposed to tell a lady's age 🫣

This sounds like a fabulous trip - I will try to follow along daily, but I leave Fri (wow - less than a week now!!) for B2B on Venezia out of NYC, so will have to play catch up occasionally. 

Also doing a R/T Rome late Oct that may cause me to miss a few days, but I will read it all. I know you're going to have a great time and I'm excited to read about and see the pictures. 

I'll say happy birthday now - your mom must be thrilled to spend your special day together in such a wonderful way. Definitely a birthday to remember. 🎂🥳

Also gonna say this now - be very careful in Barcelona - I hear the crimes targeting tourists are rising. There's definitely a lot for you to see there, just be smart and stay safe.

Have my first TA in late Nov (Rome->FLL) so I will be very interested in that portion of your review.

So much to learn from your trip 😊

I'd like to say I'm packed 🧳 and in "hurry up and wait" mode, but I am not, so I have work to do in the coming days while you start your amazing journey. 🚢

Safe travels  - enjoy your cruise!!

I can say with 100% certainty she will not see this review. She has not come to embrace technology in any way lol. She has a flip phone which technically can access the internet, but I doubt she would know how to if she even had any interest to lol.

 

Enjoy Venezia, she looks amazing and if I can't get on a cruise from New York I want to at least do the repositioning to Port Canaveral but I'm more of a last minute booker, which is getting harder to do these days without paying an arm and a leg and a first born.

 

I'll be very careful in Barcelona I have definitely heard the stories and my mom even had her own experience with one on a Europe trip although it wasn't in Barcelona. I want to say it was somewhere in France but can't remember. Thankfully he wasn't very good and she realized what was happening and yelled which frightened him away.

 

Enjoy your trips and thanks for following along 😁

Edited by jam19872016
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ninjacat123 "Live from...." Rare

ninjacat123

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On 9/6/2023 at 12:15 AM, Gumbo4Life said:

Sounds like a great trip!  We will be on the Freedom with you but are coming back on the Pride out of Rome on Oct 28.  Happy sailing!

DH and I will be warming up Pride for you Oct 18.  We are disembarking to catch an 8:20am bus to the 8:35am train to Rome, so if you are at the port at that time, wave at me😺

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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Just ONE MORE DAY!!!

 

Helped my mom finish some packing yesterday and now today we are pretty much good to go.

 

I stopped by CVS and it brought back memories of stopping in there 48 hours before a cruise but there was no nose probing yesterday just picking up some items I forgot at home.

 

I feel extremely prepared which is still anxiety inducing because I just know I am forgetting something. Hopefully I am good I am just usually such a last minute packer (like that morning) that I am not used to being ready.

 

We couldn't find my mom's Halloween costume so we are not gonna dress up. I unpacked mine and that will make some more room in my suitcase which is already fuller than I've ever packed before. I had to make sure I had some nice clothes packed since Cunard isn't a big t-shirt kinda crowd. 

 

So unless I remember what I forgot, I'm good to go just waiting on tomorrow to get here. Hurry up Monday!

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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For parking I am trying Neighbor.com which is a site I stumbled upon while researching options since two months of parking at traditional options is a bit pricy. It's basically like Airbnb but instead of renting a vacation home, you're renting a place to park or store things. In my case I am renting a parking space in a driveway. It sounds a little sketchy and I'm definitely nervous, but it is a legitimate website and my host has all five star reviews(although not a lot of reviews so who knows). All in costs for two months including fees and insurance came out to $253. I spoke to him and most of his renters are cruisers taking extended trips and crew looking for a place to park during their contract. Its only a couple miles from the port and I will Uber in in the morning.

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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Well I am going to try to sleep. Its like Christmas Eve but I am going to try. The plan is to hit the road by 8am tomorrow although 7:30 would be better in case there are any problems. Leaving at 8 will get me to my parking spot at 9:48. Adding 30 minutes for an Uber (rough guess) will get me at the terminal at 10:18. My check in time is 10-10:30 and boarding typically begins by or right at 11. I would love to be mustered and eating by 11:15.

 

See everyone tomorrow for cruise day 🤪

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