Pirate's LIVE and Back On The Mardi Gras Sept 16-23, 2023...Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler!

[pirate4me2]

Why oh why didn't I take today off of work? My mind is already on vacation mode. Oh, that's right, I am a cruise-a-holic and hoard my PTO as much as I can to do as many cruises as possible. Darn it. I need a job with more PTO offerings! 

[ninjacat123]

31 minutes ago, pirate4me2 said:

Why oh why didn't I take today off of work? My mind is already on vacation mode. Oh, that's right, I am a cruise-a-holic and hoard my PTO as much as I can to do as many cruises as possible. Darn it. I need a job with more PTO offerings! 

I remember hearing a woman in London stating that she wouldn't take a job without 6 weeks vacation included.  Must be nice!🙃

Edited September 14, 2023 by ninjacat123

[pirate4me2]

4 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I remember hearing a woman in London stating that she wouldn't take a job without 6 weeks vacation included.  Must be nice!🙃

6 weeks? Now we are talking!!! 

[pirate4me2]

Hotel check in complete! 

[pirate4me2]

We are on the road! We got up at 3:45, fed the vampire (who gave me the worst guilt trip over leaving) and hit the road by 4:30.
 

Currently we are just north of Savannah and stopped for a quick refuel and breakfast at McD’s…who let us down. I really, really wanted a caramel mocha frappe, and Chris NEEDED his mocha frappe (he lives off coffee), butttt…their frappe machine was down. I swear, if you visit a McD’s and the frappe machine is working…it’s your lucky day, go buy a lotto ticket. I guess unsweet tea will have to get me thru. 

[princess76021]

Safe travels!

Hugs from Texas!

[zencruisers]

4 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

We are on the road! We got up at 3:45, fed the vampire (who gave me the worst guilt trip over leaving) and hit the road by 4:30.
 

Currently we are just north of Savannah and stopped for a quick refuel and breakfast at McD’s…who let us down. I really, really wanted a caramel mocha frappe, and Chris NEEDED his mocha frappe (he lives off coffee), butttt…their frappe machine was down. I swear, if you visit a McD’s and the frappe machine is working…it’s your lucky day, go buy a lotto ticket. I guess unsweet tea will have to get me thru. 

 

 

Is just me or does their machine always seem to be down we you need it the most? 

[pirate4me2]

3 minutes ago, zencruisers said:

 

 

Is just me or does their machine always seem to be down we you need it the most? 

Yes! I mean, come on, you can choose a random McDonald’s and chances are, it’s gonna be down. 

[pirate4me2]

We made it to Nolan’s Irish Pub at 1:08. Just got a black & brown (Guinness & Root Beer) and an expresso martini. 
Chris says the black & brown is ok, but he prefers his usual half & half (Guinness and Harp). My expresso martini is top notch tho…almost as good as the ones I sucked down on MSC a few weeks ago! 

[pirate4me2]

The caprese salad here is SO GOOD!! 

[zencruisers]

Safe travels. I am looking forward to following along.

[pirate4me2]

4 hours ago, zencruisers said:

Safe travels. I am looking forward to following along.

Thanks for coming along!

[pirate4me2]

We got to our hotel, Home2Suites, at 2:15ish. We dropped our stuff in the room, and Chris settled in to do some school work until 3:45. Hotel appears clean as usual, and staff are nice and friendly. The only negative I have to say is if you stay here, look out for the part of the bed frame in the last photo that sticks out, it could leave a nasty cut on someone’s leg if they hit it just right! 

[pirate4me2]

We headed to our usual pre-cruise dinner and drinks spot, Fishlips, at 3:45. I wanted to watch the ships sail out. I had the mango habanero margarita on the rocks, which

was awesome…slightly spicy, not too sweet. We had some calamari, which were good, and i had the seafood roll as my main…delish! We watched Mariner OTS sail out, and I gotta know…what’s that big yellow ball on her upper decks?

[zencruisers]

It looks like a beautiful day!

[pirate4me2]

24 minutes ago, zencruisers said:

It looks like a beautiful day!

We got lucky and since we left home so early, we missed the pouring rain others on our “site to remain unnamed” roll call hit. It sprinkled here in Cape Canaveral very, very briefly, but that was it. 

[pirate4me2]

We left Fishlips at 4:53 and came back to the hotel. Funny story: the Uber driver who picked us up looked and sounded SO FAMILIAR…so I pulled up my Uber history, and he was the driver who drove me and mom from Fishlips to the hotel a few weeks ago! Small world! 
We are now crashing hard after a good shower. I think it’ll be an early night for us, so we can rejuvenate and get ready for the week ahead. 
Tomorrow: CRUISE DAY!!!

[slavigne5577]

6 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

Yes! I mean, come on, you can choose a random McDonald’s and chances are, it’s gonna be down. 

I teach juniors and senior high school students who work at McDonald's. "Machine down" That is code for not wanting to clean the machine or the machine not being cleaned before shift change.

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, pirate4me2 said:

We got to our hotel, Home2Suites, at 2:15ish. We dropped our stuff in the room, and Chris settled in to do some school work until 3:45. Hotel appears clean as usual, and staff are nice and friendly. The only negative I have to say is if you stay here, look out for the part of the bed frame in the last photo that sticks out, it could leave a nasty cut on someone’s leg if they hit it just right! 

Hey, that place looks familiar! 😁

[edspec]

Have a wonderful time!

[pirate4me2]

1 hour ago, slavigne5577 said:

I teach juniors and senior high school students who work at McDonald's. "Machine down" That is code for not wanting to clean the machine or the machine not being cleaned before shift change.

Nice! Now the McD’s mystery has been solved. 
 

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

Hey, that place looks familiar! 😁

Lol, gee, how did I first learn about this place? Oh yeah! 😂 Thanks for the tip! 
 

5 minutes ago, edspec said:

Have a wonderful time!

Thank you!

[pirate4me2]

After passing out early last night, Chris and i were up at about 6:45 this morning. I love the pillows here, I want to sneak them home with me…I slept so good. 
Anyway, we got dressed and decided to go grab breakfast at Grill’s. We walked in at 7:08 and were some of the first customers there. Mmmm, Krabby Frank’s Benedict! It was good, except the muffin was a bit too well toasted.

With our bellies full, we headed on to Publix to pick up a few forgotten necessities. Deodorant (no, not for me, I remembered for the sake of my marriage and fellow passengers!), a loofah (seriously Chris, this is becoming a trend…you forgot it in February too!), seasick meds just in case (again for Chris, I personally loooove the rockiness of the ocean!), and some Advil (to restock my first aid kit I carry just in case). Now we are back at the hotel, awaiting our 10:45 shuttle to the port. 

[fla33023]

14 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

We headed to our usual pre-cruise dinner and drinks spot, Fishlips, at 3:45. I wanted to watch the ships sail out. I had the mango habanero margarita on the rocks, which

was awesome…slightly spicy, not too sweet. We had some calamari, which were good, and i had the seafood roll as my main…delish! We watched Mariner OTS sail out, and I gotta know…what’s that big yellow ball on her upper decks?

Big yellow ball is the Sky Pad. You jump on a trampoline while wearing VR goggles. They were out of service for quite some time.  I don't know if they're up and running again.

Edited September 16, 2023 by fla33023

[pirate4me2]

5 minutes ago, fla33023 said:

Big yellow ball is the Sky Pad. You jump on a trampoline while wearing VR goggles. They were out of service for quite some time.  I don't know if they're up and running again.

Thanks for the info!!! 

[pirate4me2]

We are checked in and ready to board! 
We opted to take an Uber to the port instead of the hotel shuttle. Figured that we could wait here as well as at the hotel. Security & check in was a breeze!