TxTeach79's Ringing in '24 LIVE - Celebration NYE!

[princess76021]

7 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Fire it up! Always needed. 😆

It's always ready and always willing, it's the able part not too sure about!!

Hugs 

[jimbo5544]

14 hours ago, TxTeach79 said:

So a bit of a special note to this whole thing.... when I was 9 years old in 1988, fifty some odd cruises ago.... this was my first... the lady that started a lifelong love..... 

 

 

So yeah, even though I had sailed on the original Mardi Gras and felt great sentimentality there, this one matters to me personally just a little more. 

Our first cruise was on this ship, have sailed the new one as well.  Looking forward to your review.  

[Knights on the Beach]

16 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Our first cruise was on this ship, have sailed the new one as well.  Looking forward to your review.  

 

Our first Carnival cruise was on the original Celebration as well so we have very fond memories of it. 

[Colorado Beach Bum]

3 hours ago, dmet0225 said:

For sure I’m following this one.  I’ll have to remember to ask you to say hello to Maria if she’s still at the Alchemy Bar.  She was GREAT when we were on the Celebration in June.

Maria’s contract was up a couple weeks back and she said she is not returning to Carnival. Too bad, she was awesome. 

[pcvtmom]

I've been anxiously awaiting this!! Here we go 😃!!

[Hogladyrider]

Ahhhhh some entertainment to go with my 1st cup of coffee each morning!

[Saint Greg]

14 hours ago, TxTeach79 said:

I found a steal on Priceline at the Radisson Red MIA...

 

 

 

We'll see. It was cheap, parking is free, people seem to like the bar, and it's next to MIA. We'll see what happens. 

 

I think that's the one I almost stayed at last year before I decided to stay actually in Little Havana. It was basically brand new and a great price.

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Saint Greg

[MeganGC1983]

5 hours ago, dmet0225 said:

For sure I’m following this one.  I’ll have to remember to ask you to say hello to Maria if she’s still at the Alchemy Bar.  She was GREAT when we were on the Celebration in June.

I believe Maria left. Her contract was up. 

Edited December 26, 2023 by MeganGC1983

[TxTeach79]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I think that's the one I almost stayed at last year before I decided to stay actually in Little Havana. It was basically brand new and a great price.

 

 

That's the vibe I'm getting. Price was a steal compared to anything else around it, so it was worth forsaking any loyalty program bias to take a shot. 

[Saint Greg]

5 hours ago, dmet0225 said:

For sure I’m following this one.  I’ll have to remember to ask you to say hello to Maria if she’s still at the Alchemy Bar.  She was GREAT when we were on the Celebration in June.

 

She's retired.

[TxTeach79]

So a quick preview on what we have planned in port... first stop is Amber Cove, and per usual we're gonna use that as a chill relaxation pool day. I like the pool and the swim up bar, it's easy to walk to and find a space. We usually just toss our stuff on one lounge chair and spend a few hours with a bucket or two in the pool. B has done a lot of traveling lately, and from business trips to her South America whirlwind to home to California for the holidays, she's down with my Caribbean preference of doing a lot of floating, drinking, and nothing. 

 

Only two ships in AC that day, we arrive at 7 and HAL Rotterdam at 8. This'll likely be a sleep in day since we really only need one chair pretty much anywhere to hold our stuff. No reason to rush off and beat the hordes. Plus, in my experience, when you're in with a HAL ship you don't tend to have to fight for space at the party pool if ya know what I mean....

[Hogladyrider]

1 minute ago, TxTeach79 said:

Plus, in my experience, when you're in with a HAL ship you don't tend to have to fight for space at the party pool if ya know what I mean....

Yup I know exactly what you mean as I am one of those HAL folks now.

 

My party all night days are in the rear view mirror.....spa all day days are more my speed now for the achy breaky joints at 71!

[Shaded Lady]

Hey guys- Shaded Lady checking in... living vicariously through you two until the Tribe cruise live reviews kick in!

 

Have fun- think of us occasionally (but not too often!)

[TxTeach79]

Next stop is San Juan, which is one of my favorite stops as far as just the ease at walking right into downtown... and the whole Old San Juan area is so walkable and pretty, I'm excited to be back. B has never been; our itinerary on MG got changed from SJ to Nassau about a month out last year, so I'm excited she gets to see it. 

 

Here, we're doing another walking food tour on our own, the Flavors of San Juan: https://www.viator.com/tours/San-Juan/Old-San-Juan-Food-Tour/d903-5584DINNER

 

 

We've had fantastic luck with these tours in Porto and Amsterdam in the past, the smaller groups are nice and it's a great way to see the city while trying out some great food. Plus it looks like there's a chance to make your own Mofongo along the way, which I'm kinda excited about. 

 

We don't sail out til 7pm (always love the evening SJ sailaway past El Morro), so we should have time to walk around on our own and maybe find a couple bevvies before sailaway.

 

We'll have some fancy company when we pull in waiting for us - Ritz Carlton Evrima and Seven Seas Mariner will be waiting for us, and then we'll have some weirdly one off top heavy company alongside us at 10a when Norwegian Epic pulls in with us (they leave an hour early).

Edited December 26, 2023 by TxTeach79

[Essiesmom]

I’ll be interested to know what you think of Evrima.  I saw her in Nassau and up close I thought her the ugliest ship Ive ever seen.  So much matte black, sort of like a sleuth sailor.  EM

[TxTeach79]

20 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

I’ll be interested to know what you think of Evrima.  I saw her in Nassau and up close I thought her the ugliest ship Ive ever seen.  So much matte black, sort of like a sleuth sailor.  EM

 

I'll definitely try to snap a photo of her! Never seen her in person before. 

[TxTeach79]

Up next is St. Thomas, which come to think of it, joins San Juan on this cruise as shared ports with my original Celebration cruise in '88 (St. Maarten was the third). St. Thomas was long one of my favorite Caribbean stops, but honestly I haven't had the chance to be in here in a long while! For whatever reason, it's been upwards of 15 years since I've made a stop here. In the past I've taken a tour or ferry over to Trunk Bay, which back in the day at least had better snorkeling and way less crowds than Magen's.... but, as years and interests change, I put this one entirely in B's hands (as she's never been here at all). She starting chatting with our Wyoming gals from the Pride and all of them settled on doing this Carnival excursion together: https://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/st-thomas/honeymoon-beach-party-cycleboat-w-open-bar-434156

 

 

It's got good reviews, wasn't particularly cheap, and seems like a fun day; party boat, some beach time, tunes, and good vibes. Fingers crossed! We're joined in port once again by Norwegian Epic, and this time it's HAL Nieuw Statendam making three. 

[Funsince1983]

1 hour ago, TxTeach79 said:

Next stop is San Juan, which is one of my favorite stops as far as just the ease at walking right into downtown... and the whole Old San Juan area is so walkable and pretty, I'm excited to be back. B has never been; our itinerary on MG got changed from SJ to Nassau about a month out last year, so I'm excited she gets to see it. 

 

Here, we're doing another walking food tour on our own, the Flavors of San Juan: https://www.viator.com/tours/San-Juan/Old-San-Juan-Food-Tour/d903-5584DINNER

 

 

We've had fantastic luck with these tours in Porto and Amsterdam in the past, the smaller groups are nice and it's a great way to see the city while trying out some great food. Plus it looks like there's a chance to make your own Mofongo along the way, which I'm kinda excited about. 

 

We don't sail out til 7pm (always love the evening SJ sailaway past El Morro), so we should have time to walk around on our own and maybe find a couple bevvies before sailaway.

 

We'll have some fancy company when we pull in waiting for us - Ritz Carlton Evrima and Seven Seas Mariner will be waiting for us, and then we'll have some weirdly one off top heavy company alongside us at 10a when Norwegian Epic pulls in with us (they leave an hour early).

We've done this walking food tour! It's a good one. 

[TxTeach79]

7 minutes ago, Funsince1983 said:

We've done this walking food tour! It's a good one. 

good to hear it! Checked out a couple YouTube vids on it and it seemed promising! 

[maxandmolly]

Looking forward to following along!  I have a long time to wait til my next one so lives will have to sustain me. 

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

Aw no MG this year? I will be on Vista. 

[TxTeach79]

1 hour ago, WhaleTailFlCruiser said:

Aw no MG this year? I will be on Vista. 

 

Mixing it up on her sister a few hours south! I'll miss waving at ya again!

[WhiteOptima]

4 hours ago, TxTeach79 said:

Up next is St. Thomas, which come to think of it, joins San Juan on this cruise as shared ports with my original Celebration cruise in '88 (St. Maarten was the third). St. Thomas was long one of my favorite Caribbean stops, but honestly I haven't had the chance to be in here in a long while! For whatever reason, it's been upwards of 15 years since I've made a stop here. In the past I've taken a tour or ferry over to Trunk Bay, which back in the day at least had better snorkeling and way less crowds than Magen's.... but, as years and interests change, I put this one entirely in B's hands (as she's never been here at all). She starting chatting with our Wyoming gals from the Pride and all of them settled on doing this Carnival excursion together: https://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/st-thomas/honeymoon-beach-party-cycleboat-w-open-bar-434156

 

 

It's got good reviews, wasn't particularly cheap, and seems like a fun day; party boat, some beach time, tunes, and good vibes. Fingers crossed! We're joined in port once again by Norwegian Epic, and this time it's HAL Nieuw Statendam making three. 

Interesting.  This wasn’t on option on our Venezia cruise but we did take a catamaran there.  They must be taking you to a difficult area because there were no vendors where we beached and snorkeled but it was beautiful!

[TxTeach79]

Jumping ahead to the post-cruise plans: despite my general marginal Marriott loyalty (honestly mostly rooted in the Southwest point sharing), I can be easily swayed by price, and even MORE easily swayed by recent gains made by @HelloItsMeB. One of her good friends now works for Hyatt corporate and has designated B as one of her "friends and family" to get great rates, and we've dived headlong into it. B has already stayed at a Park Hyatt in Mendoza, Argentina, a Hyatt House in Irvine, CA, and the Hyatt Spa and Resort on Huntington Beach for Christmas. Plus, she's gotten herself a World of Hyatt credit card to maximize the perks with. Needless to say, when traveling with her, that'll probably be the move for the time being. The only reason I booked the Radisson Red on the front end is that even with her discount Hyatts were exorbitantly more on that front end 12/30 stay. 

 

THEREFORE, with airfare being considerably less flying home on Monday instead of Sunday, we'll be staying one night post cruise at the Hyatt Centric Brickell.

 

 

The deal was phenomenal, Brickell is a great spot, and we aren't planning on getting a car or moving around much that last day, just taking it easy with a ton of food and drink options in walking distance. From the looks of it, I don't hate the idea of getting some pool time in on that last day....

 

 

So the plan in my head is to stay on the ship late, take a casual Uber a very short distance to the hotel, and drop our bags and explore until the room is ready. There's a Cuban bakery nearby I wanna try. Never stayed at a Hyatt Centric before, and we have the Hyatt Centric Murano booked for Venice on our summer Norwegian Pearl cruise (I get the friends & family rate with NCL, I do my part!), so this is a solid test run. 

[TxTeach79]

2 minutes ago, WhiteOptima said:

Interesting.  This wasn’t on option on our Venezia cruise but we did take a catamaran there.  They must be taking you to a difficult area because there were no vendors where we beached and snorkeled but it was beautiful!

 

Interesting! I've definitely never been to Honeymoon Beach before, so I'm excited to check it out. I figured it might be remote based on the fact that it says the captain basically brings a cooler of beer ashore for everybody while we're there.....