Riu Palace Pacifico, Puerto Valharta Mexico

As most reviews state the lobby is spectacular. Sign in went quick and we were greeted with a smile and a cold drink. Our room was ready when we arrived at 12:30 pm.. Our room was ocean view with a tub on the balcony. The room was fine at first, later it took on a sewer smell and we eventually changed rooms. This was one of only 2 issues we experienced. We wished Bianca at the service desk would have taken our desire to get it fixed more seriously. We would rather had not had to change room 5 days into the vacation. The only other issue was extremely poor service and terrible food in the steak house. Now on to the good stuff- Service at the rest of the resort was outstanding. Drink service at the pool bar, pool side, Lobby bar and anywhere in the area was great. We never had a problem getting lounge chairs at any time of day. The Guacamole Mexican restaurant was better than most we have ever been to- it was delicious. The regular dinner buffet was great and also had very good Mexican as well as a pasta station and buffet choices. Victor at the sports bar was very friendly and made sure we got to see the Packers Monday night football game, thanks again! The guests were an international mix. About 1/3 Mexican, 1/3, from the UK, and 1/3 US and Canada. It was fun meeting people from all over.

Family Cruise on the Breeze

Photo: Live current deck cam shot. Watching the baseball game on the big screen. We are doing a family cruise on the Carnival Breeze next July. There are 9 of us going from Ohio. My wife's' sister and daughter (first time cruisers) my son and his family (first time for the kids). My wife and I are excited to see the reactions of these first time cruisers. The Grandkids... "WHAT, ice cream 24 hours a day!".

Carnival Dream 25 Jan 14

We did a 7 day cruise on the Dream out of New Orleans. we flew in a day early so we could spend an afternoon in the French Quarter. We had a great rate at the Omni. Took a trolley to Jackson Square and then a mule carriage ride. Tip: Get the day pass for the trolley, it is cheaper than round trip fare. The Omni riverfront is a nice hotel. Had to try a sazerec at the lobby bar. The River Walk Mall is just across the street... close enough for coffee and beignets. The Ship? Large, we had over 4k guests. The elevators became a challenge at dinner times. This is my only negative. The larger capacity created no other issues. Other lines were never really unusually long. Cruising in Jan. meant the pools were too cold but the hot tubs were fine and we enjoyed the Serenity deck. Favorite port? Hands down Key West! We did our own version of a pub crawl. Best bars were Rumors and Capt. Tony's. The Comedy club was ok, nothing spectacular. Scott at the piano kept apologizing for not knowing songs saying, "I'm really not a piano guy." Overall the cruise was good. The waiters in the MDR busted their tails to take good care of us. Mixed drink service in the MDR does not happen (it is supposed to.) Take in your own dinner drinks.

Riu Palace Peninsula Cancun

 

There is only one thing to do when your boss takes you out to lunch, tells you they are making some changes, and gives you a severance package-  spend part of it the week before starting the new job.

Patti and I booked a last minute vacation to Cancun and stayed at the Riu Palace Peninsula.  We had an adults only villa suit.  A private villa infinity pool was part of the deal.  The room was fine and had a Jacuzzi on the balcony.  The ocean view was only so-so.  If the view is most important stay in the main building on an upper floor.

One of the highlights was the service we received in the main buffet.  Samel and his assistant made us feel like family and actually watched for us every night.  They were so good we only went to a specialty restaurant once.

The front desk was extremely helpful in trying to help me resolve a wifi issue.  The problem was with my lap top.

I highly recommend this resort.

Carnival Freedom- 8 day Southern

Carnival Freedom
‘Exotic Southern Caribbean’
18-27 Oct.

The Pirate Flag and Island Girl cruise
Sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to: Turks and Cacaos (Grand Turk), La Romana (Dominican Republic), Curacao, and Aruba.

Friday, 18 October
Dayton to Cincinnati

We drove to the Cincinnati Airport in Hebron, Kentucky to spend the night. We had a direct flight from CVG to Ft Lauderdale the next morning. This was a direct flight no connections, yeah! The cost of the flight and the ‘no connection’, and free parking made it worth the one hour drive and hotel cost. Patti and I both got off work early today (12:30 pm) and we left home about 3:15 pm.

Traffic sucked in the city (no surprise) and we finally crossed the river and got to the Cincinnati/Northern KY airport about 5:30 pm. We stayed at the Marriott about two miles from the Delta terminal. We had a stay and fly option with parking included. We had a great king room. The rate was about $110.

Checked in and went to the hotel bar and left the cruise suitcases in the car. We had drinks and appetizers in the bar. The appetizers were filling and we never ordered an entrée.

Back to the room, set the alarm for 7 am and called it an early night.

Day 1
Saturday, 19 October
Travel/Embarkation day- Fort Lauderdale

Awake at 6 am. Showered and packed up the few items we had out back into our hotel bag. The airport shuttle was running every 15 minutes. He dropped us off at the Delta terminal. We were actually able to check ourselves in at the kiosk. I state ‘actually’ not because the technology is new, only that our ability to use it has got better.

We were pre-check approved by TSA (not sure why) so we went through an express security line. We had a rushed breakfast at Max and Erma’s for about 10 bucks each. The gate area was crowded. Six gates share a seating area big enough to handle two flights. We took off on time at 9:30 and had a 2:20 minute flight to Fort Lauderdale. The taxi line was moving very slow due to some airport construction but we had plenty of time. We got our cab and drove the 3.5 miles to the cruise terminal. Fare with tip was about 16 dollars.

Most cruises we have been on will board early. This one did not. I had received an email before leaving asking us to not arrive before 1:30 pm. We got there about 12:45. We stood in line for about 30 minutes before they began security. Before the cruise we had considered paying the 45 dollars for the ‘faster to the fun’ boarding express pass. I am glad we didn’t because it looked it would have only saved about 20 minutes of line time.

Inserted the sail and sign cards into the card checker and heard those wonderful dings and walked up the ramp. First stop- the lobby bar. The Carnival Freedom was a sister ship to the Conquest we had sailed on in January. The main difference is that the Freedom did not have the 2.0 upgrades. The only bad part- No Guy’s burgers. The good part- more live music.

After finishing our drink we got some lunch at the buffet. We went to our cabin- 8304 on Veranda deck. We were docked next to the Oasis of the Seas. After lunch another drink on Lido deck. We sat and watched a drunk girl dancing in front of us. But, who can’t say that about Lido deck on the first day. Party on.

Muster drill at 3:30. It went pretty quick this cruise.

Back to the room balcony for sail away I noticed we did not have an ice bucket let alone ice. I pushed the button on the phone for the room steward. No answer and I was transferred to guest services. They said I needed to call room service. I called room service and they said I needed to call the room steward. I asked for another ‘new’ person I could try calling (sarcasm intended). They must have detected some slight irritation in my voice. A few minutes later we had a bucket of ice.

I had brought my pirate flag and got it out in preparation for sail away. Patti (my island girl) and I stood at the railing on our balcony. As you exit the port there are many locals and tourists who watch and wave as you go buy. My island girl and I held up the pirate flag.

We stayed on the balcony till we were several miles out to sea. We went to the Lido bar for a drink. We had late seating for dinner- 8:15. This cruise Patti and I wanted a table for two. We had Posh dining room (aft). We were originally assigned to a table for 4 but I went to see the Maitre D and got the table change. The best time to request a table change is 15 minutes after the early 6pm seating starts.

Patti asked our waiter for an iceberg lettuce salad (not on the menu). He had one made up and had one for her every night we ate in the dining room. Crème brulee for desert! The highlight always, for day one. After dinner we went back to the room to unpack and settle in. We did not do any shows or late night activities. We are not ones to highlight the activities in the Fun Times. We take it as it comes.

We had preloaded some cruise cash t our account and I had the guarantee rate and also had credit from that. We are drinking for ‘free’ for about half the cruise.

Day 2
Sunday 20, October
Sea day
We were up early and watched the sun rise from the balcony. I went up to Lido and got us a couple of cups of coffee. We went to the buffet for breakfast then to lido to use the hot tubs. The hot tubs were hot and the pool was just right. After awhile we went up one deck to Panorama and set overlooking Lido in a shady area behind the DJ station. This became our spot for the duration of the cruise whenever we went to Lido.

Late in the morning they had the hairy chest/sexy man contest. It was fun to watch. We had burgers for lunch from the Lido grill (missed those Guy’s Burgers) then back to the room. I read my Kindle on the balcony and Patti took a 1 hour nap. We checked out the sports bar it was packed with NFL fans so we went down to the lobby for a drink and met Inda. She was by far the best bartender we have had on any cruise.

Tonight was elegant night one, aka Lobster night. Patti wore a purple and black dress she ordered from China and I went classic black with my Tux. There were more people dressed up than I was expecting.

Bar service in the dining room was very slow. It took us 35 minutes to even place a drink order. The bar waiter for our area parked himself at a table where a couple was ordering wine. When he finally came over I asked him to check in with us a little quicker from now on.

I had my usual double order of lobster, Patti had prime rib. We were to full for the cherries jubilee. We had a few cups of decaff and then went back to the room and watched some TV.

There was a full moon over the ocean reflecting nicely on the water.

Day 3
Grand Turk

Slept in till 7 am. Our port call in Grand Turk was from 7am till 2 pm. We had our coffee on the balcony. Patti suggested room service for the coffee for the rest of the cruise and that was a great idea. It usually came a little earlier than we asked but no big deal. We had some cereal and fruit on Lido than headed out about 8:30.

We decided to explore the complex at the pier. We poked around a shop then went over to the Margaritaville complex. It has a very nice pool. We walked around it and then settled in at the swim up (wade ups allowed) pool bar. We never left. We were there from 9:00 am till 12:30. We intended to have a drink then grab a couple of beach chairs.

I was drinking Landshark beer topped off with a splash of lime flavored tequila. Patti was drinking tropical drinks called 'Incommunicado' that had at least 3 different types of alcohol. We ordered some volcano nachos. We were having a great time! The pool area got busier as fellow cruisers came in. There was a live DJ, and lots of drinking and line dancing in the pool. We did a lot of socializing with fellow cruisers. I found out it is acceptable to also chair dance from your bar stool. If you fall off at least you are in the water. Our bartender was ‘Junior’ and he was awesome. Warning- Margaritaville is not cheap (none of them are) but it is a lot of fun and I would recommend it.

After 3 ½ hours of drinking we headed back to the ship. We were not staggering… much. But we did take a nice long pre-dinner nap. We woke up, read on the balcony and watched the stars come out.

Dinner in the Posh dining room. The bar waiter never came to see us.

Day 4
Tuesday, 22 October
La Romana, Dominican Republic

Hey, I like this room service coffee. We watched as the ship came into port. We ended up turning around and backing in. We saw lots of jellyfish. There were local dancers putting on a show as we docked. I used a tray I had hidden under the bed from room service to go fix a few plates from the breakfast buffet and bring them back to the room. We were not in a rush to go ashore.

Just hung out on the balcony and read for awhile. It was about 90, in the 40’s back home in Ohio. We decided to go walk around the port area. This was a waste of time. There is really nothing to see. It did rain extremely heavy and we sat under a tin roof and tried an island beer ‘Presidente”. Other than the rain/tin roof part of it was disappointing. Others that took a taxi into town were also disappointed. Probably the best plan for La Romana is to book a tour or stay on the ship.

When the rain slowed we walked back to the ship. There was a crew member handing out hand towels to dry off with. I thought this was a nice gesture. We went down to the lobby bar and had a few pre-dinner drinks. Inda was a great bartender. She greeted us by name every time we came. The band ‘Music Boardwalk was playing. They are extremely talented and we were able to listen to them several times during the cruise.

We hade dinner in the Posh dining room. I loved the Thai soup. The bar waiter never showed.

Day 5
Wednesday, 23 October
Curacao

A very lazy morning. We skipped breakfast and ordered some room service sandwiches for brunch. Patti got a ham and cheese and I got a BLT extra bacon. Hung out at our favorite spot on Lido then tried out the Mongolian BBQ for lunch. Yes, there is a line, but it moves quickly and is worth the wait.

We booked an excursion through Carnival for the ‘Beach Break’ trip. We were in port from 2 pm till 11 pm. We were off the ship and in line by 2:15. It was hot, but eventually our guide led us to our 1960s style brightly painted ex-school bus. We had a city tour with some of the highlights being the brightly colored buildings, floating pedestrian bridge, and colonial style buildings. The tour guide also advised us we were getting to pass a Curacao 'time share'. It was an above ground New Orleans style cemetery. When you are interred you get five years than they dig up the bones, bag them and give them to relatives. True.

We left the main town and passed a lake with wild flamingos. I got some decent pics of some babies near the road. The tour took about an hour and we arrived at Blue Bay Beach. We had a three and a half hour visit. We got lounge chairs under a thatched open air frame. I walked over to the beach bar and got an Amstel Bright beer (considered a local beer on this Dutch island) and Patti had a tropical drink with authentic Blue Curacao liquor. Both drinks were very good. On my way back to the chairs Patti motioned for me to stop walking. There was a 3 foot iguana walking towards me. He looked like he owned the beach so I gave way. We got a few pics of him.

We walked out into the water. The beach was nice and sandy but underwater it was mostly rocky. Water temp was mid to upper 80s. We enjoyed the view, swam some more and relaxed as the sun went down while reading our kindles. The excursion included free snorkeling but I was happy to just chill.

The trip back to the boat was quicker- about 20 minutes. We arrived as it was getting dark. It was cool seeing the boat all lit up. What I find odd is the shops close at 6 pm. It was Wednesday and the ship was in port for another 5 hours. In seems like they lost out on a lot of tourist money.

Back on the ship and to the lobby bar we went. Inda would always make up something special for Patti. Tonight it was a BBC… a Bailey’s banana colada. I tried a drink and it was very good.

We went back to the room to shower and change for dinner. I gave it 40 minutes at dinner- no bar waiter. I went to the Maître D station to see what could be done. He was at a function. They got me the upstairs supervisor. He was not too concerned and told me to just ask our food waiter. We were not happy with that response and left.

Patti suggested that I go back and let them know that out waiter was great and that he was not the issue. When we had tried to order with him he gladly took the order but still had to give it to the bar waiter who was still at his favorite table. When I went back I got the downstairs supervisor who was in charge of our area. She was definitely concerned and promised it would be addressed.

Day 6
Thursday, 24 October
Aruba

We decided to make this a 'ship day' and stay on the boat and enjoy the fact that most of our fellow guests went ashore. We try and do this once a cruise. We had a nice breakfast of omelets in the buffet. A lady from Georgia asked to sit at our table. We had a great conversation. She was in her late 60s and she was on the cruise with her husband who was a judge. He wasn’t feeling well so she was on her own for breakfast. It did not take long for us to feel like we were life long friends and neighbors.

We went to Panorama deck and spent the day in our spot behind the DJ/Band station. Patti was drinking CC and sprite and I was drinking Bud light. For lunch Patti had sides from the Lido grill and I had Fish, Oysters, and calamari from the fish and chips place further aft on Panorama.

‘Music Boardwalk’ was playing for the last time. Their contract was up in two days and this was the last day they were going to play. They are such an awesome band. I requested ‘Freebird”. Their version was just as good as Skynyrd. People walking by literally stopped till they finished. They usually only did one hour sets. But since today was the end of their contract they kept playing. They did not want to stop. They sent away a DJ who was supposed to take over away and played for 3 hours with just a few breaks.

As the sun began to set we went to the railing and watched it go down. We went back to the room and sat on the balcony as it slowly turned to dusk. We were both talking about lost family members and were feeling a little melancholy about it. Right in the middle of this conversation a large hawk (possibly an Osprey?) swooped right by our deck. By now the ship was about 60 miles from Aruba. I am sure this is well within the range of many sea birds. What we found more than coincidental though, was the timing of our fly by. To us, it was almost like we were being told, “Hey we’re ok.”

We went to the buffet for dinner tonight. We had some really good roast turkey.

Day 7
Friday, 25 October
Sea day- A day of Rainbows

We had a great start to the day with our coffee and Danish. We saw flying fish flee the ship. I was surprised by how much air time some fish were able to get. As the sun came up a little higher we saw rainbows actually in the water as the sun light refracted n the waves. We also saw bits and pieces of rainbows in the clouds as the sun interacted with the moisture.

I made some egg and bacon sandwiches up at the buffet and we ate in our room. They had a very good guava/orange/fruit juice.

Time to go to our deck spot. We hung out in the pool and watched the morning show on the big screen starring the cruise director. Today we had a DJ playing country for most of the morning. We went back to the room to change out of our swim suits and had Italian at the buffet for lunch.

We dressed for elegant night number two. Patti wore a sage colored dress she had also ordered from China and I wore my tux with a sage bow tie and cummerbund. We went to get some formal pictures taken then we went down to the lobby for pre-dinner drinks and again Inda took very good care of us.

The staff was very happy to see us back in the dining room. The headwaiter thanked us for returning. He offered us complimentary drinks. I tried to refuse them- we never wanted anything for fore free. He insisted, and we accepted. Literally within seconds the bar waiter was over to see us. He apologized profusely over what had happened. He explained that the table he was at (the bottle wine couple) would monopolize his time.

I felt he was very sincere and we accepted his apology. The issue was behind us. Although he did keep trying to give us free drinks till the end of the cruise. One free drink was sufficient and we paid for the rest. For the next two nights he spent lots of time talking to us. I think he was trying very hard to make up for the incident. The main entrée tonight was chateaubriand. It was possible the best I have ever had. We were again very full but we were able to pick at our baked Alaska which is tough to pass up.

Day 8
Saturday, 26 October
Sea day- 2 vs. 10

Our last full day of the cruise. We woke up to a short rain storm. It passed and we sat on the balcony and our discussion was why we have two sets of luggage zone tags. We were given tags for zones 2 (early flight) and also for zone 10 (which probably were the tags applicable to our 12:30 pm flight).

We watched the video on TV covering debarkation. Nothing new from past cruises. We went to the breakfast buffet then down to the lobby. I had a Mocachino and Patti had tomato juice. We were in the lobby for a few hours. We did a trivia game then we went back to our caffeine and juice.

About two hours later a member of the entertainment staff came into the lobby and set up for men vs. women trivia. He asked for all the men on one side and the women on the other. Patti and I were not participating, we were drinking our juice and by then I had a red beer (tomato juice, beer, Tabasco). Anyway, he told Patti she needed to move to the other side of the lobby. She ignored him (again, we were not playing trivia). He got a little louder and he restated his demand. It became deathly quiet. All talking in the lobby stopped. The hum of the ships engines… the bells of the slots machines from 2 decks up… the muffled music from the DJ on Lido… all could be heard. After a short pause, Patti said, “LISTEN I HAVE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR TWO HOURS! I’M NOT PLAYING YOUR GAME AND I’M NOT MOVING.” If that guy would have backed off any quicker he would have been in the theater. You go girl.

All day long we noticed there were about 60-70 people lined up for guest services. I just found that odd. The line lasted well past dinner. We went to Pixels and made our photo choices then went to the gift shop for the two for $20 dollar t-shirt special.

Back to the room for a nap followed by reading on the balcony. Pre-dinner drinks with Inda- almost didn’t make it to dinner. She made Patti a watermelon martini layered with, hell I don’t know with what, but I think Patti has the recipe. But anyway, we had to pull ourselves away to leave for dinner.

We went back to the Posh dining room for dinner and the bar waiter was to us very quickly. We had a nice chat with him. Again, we had put it all behind us.

Finally back to the room to pack. We had not packed anything yet but we had it all ready to go in about an hour and placed our bags in the hall. With the zone 2 tags. What the hell, if we some extra time at the airport we will get something to eat.

Day 9
Sunday, 27 October
Ft Lauderdale, disembark

Patti and I both had a rough night sleeping. Not unusual, for a travel day. Our 7 am order for coffee came at 6:30. A hint to get up and get our asses moving? We had our coffee on the balcony for he last time. We were now further north so it was still mostly dark. There were 5 ships in port. We were next to the Allure (RCCL) and a Norwegian boat.

We were asked to leave the room by 8:30. We went to deck 4 and watched those who were doing self assist leave the boat. It seemed like it was half the ship. Self assist took about an hour. They called zones one and two about 9:30 and we shuffled our way out.

The final ‘ding dings’ as our sail and sign cards were swiped. We found our bags and I waved over a porter. He stayed with us for the 30- minutes it took to go through customs. We then followed him over to the cab line and we had a cab waiting. About 10 minutes latter we were being dropped of curbside at the Delta terminal. We did curbside check in. He took our bags, payment for bags, and printed our boarding passes.

It took another 30 minutes to go through security. By now it was 10:45. We got some spaghetti and meatballs for an early lunch. Out 11:43 flight started boarding about 11:15. we left the gate only a minute or two late. We could again see the Carnival Freedom as we taxied out. Two hours 5 minutes later we were back in Cincinnati.

All our bags made it, no damage this cruise. We needed a ride back to our car at the Marriott. An easy to use touch screen next to the baggage claim area made that very simple to call the hotel. We had a shuttle for the 2 mile trip in less than 10 minutes. Sixty five miles later we were home.

Hits:
Inda our bartender in the Lobby Bar
The band ‘Music Boardwalk’
Gede our Main dining room waiter
Mongolian Grill
Deli

OK/as expected:
Fish and chips
Pizza
Main buffet (all meals)
MDR

Misses:
Room steward: He would speak to me but ignored Patti.
Bar service in the main dining room
Port call at La Romana (unless you are on a tour don’t bother getting off the boat)

Bon Voyage!

This afternoon my son and his wife are off to the airport on the way to their first cruise on the Carnival Liberty.  My wife and are I are about as excited for them as they are themselves.  We know they will have a great time.  Happy 10th Anniversary!  See you guys when you get back

Another favorite travel quote...

“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.”


― Mary Anne Radmacher

On enging room fires and future cruises...

Ok, so the Carnival Triumph is being towed back to port after an engine room fire. I guess there is only one thing to do- book another cruise. We are set to go on the Carnival Freedom, an 8 day cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale 10/19/13. Some new port calls for us: Turks and Cacaos, Dominican Republic, Curacao, and Aruba.


I read reports regarding the Carnival Triumph situation. One poster on the Carnival Facebook site was aghast that cruisers were being directed to pee in the shower. She said that as if it were a bad thing… like most men have never done that before at home. Hopefully Patti does not read this.

I do think Carnival has some things to answer for. Especially if they really did have maintenance issues leading up to the event that they did not address. But, we love to cruise and will continue to do so. If my neighbor gets in a car accident it does not mean I will stop driving my car.

Carnival Conquest Jan 2013

Carnival Conquest cruise


1/13/13 to 1/20/13
Ports of Call: Montego Bay, Grand Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico

This was a reunion cruise. Patti and I were cruising with my brother Ron and his wife Nang, My Uncle John and Mary, Cousin Mark and wife Debi, Cousin Tami and husband Jeremy, John’s son Matthew and Matthew's friends John and Steven.


Day 1- Embarkation Day
1/14/13

Time to get our cruise on. Patti and I left the house at 5:15 am. Thanks to Jason for the ride. We flew Delta to Atlanta and then connected for our leg to New Orleans. We landed in New Orleans about 11:15 am local. Took a taxi to the Erato street cruise terminal. The fare- Thirty three dollars fare and about a 25 minute drive.

We got to the terminal at the same time as the rest of the family. This was coincidental and not planned, but we were all in line together. We left our baggage with the porters to be delivered later to our cabin. It took about 45 minutes to process our way onboard. The bags did not receive a physical check, they were only x-rayed. They did shake water. We heard that after shaking there is a time difference on how fast the bubbles in the water settles vs. something like vodka or gin.

I took exactly 2 steps on to the ship and was approached by a server holding a tray with the drink of the day- umbrellas included. “Why, yes I’ll take two please.” We went and checked out our room- 8308. A Cat 8D balcony room on Veranda deck midship. We dropped off our carry on bag and a little backpack provided by Ron. It contained a bottle of Canadian Club whiskey expertly rebottled to look like a ‘wine’ bottle by John’s son Patrick.

Patti and I got some lunch at Guy’s Burgers on Lido deck. Outstanding Burgers!!- they live up to all the hype. We went up to deck 10 and all the family ended up migrating there. Time for the dreaded muster drill (about 3:30 pm, still prior to sail away). Our feet were getting tired. Yeah! it is no longer a requirement to take your life jacket to the drill. [tip: don't rush to be first. You will be buried in the back as your fellow guests line up. I prefer to lolly gag a little, still on time, but closer to some open air. In the event of an actual emergency... no lolly gagging] After the muster drill Patti and I went to Panorama deck to watch sail away down the Mississippi River. After about 5 minutes the light bulb went off, “Hey why not sit with a drink on our balcony.” It was a very different departure from past cruises- being on a river and not the ocean.

Six pm time for dinner. For us, this was a change from our past cruises- first night dining is now at your assigned table, not open dining. I always wondered why it was not this way in the past. I do like the way they have expanded the menus to include ‘every day’ choices and comfort food selections as well as the daily options. The highlight of the first meal was of course the crème brulee for desert.

Our head waiter was from Thailand and supervised 2 others. They did a great job taking care of us the entire cruise.

It’s been a long travel day. Went back to the room to unpack and then sleep.

Day 2- Sea Day
1/14/13

An amazing start to the day. We were up early and sat on the balcony drinking coffee and watching the sun come up over the ocean. We went to the buffet on Lido for breakfast. Typical fare- plenty of choices.

On to the Lido pool area for some sun. We took our smuggled on Canadian club in our pool bag aka ‘portable bar.’ We booked the cruise under a guaranteed price program. When ever I saw a price drop (I checked weekly) I claimed some credit. I ended up with $153 of on board credit from price drops plus another $50 from a Carnival mastercard promotion I timed right. This gave us $203 total OBC. It was kind of like drinking for free for 3 days. We spent some time in the hot tub. They were actually 'hot'.

We tried the Blue Iguana Cantina tacos for lunch. They sucked. I love Mexican food and have had it in the US and in Mexico. I have ate authentic real Mexican as well as the US version and like most all- but the cantina food sucked IMHO. Day one the lines were long for the cantina. As the week progressed they grew much, much shorter. We ended up going to the buffet for lunch. We ran into John and Mary at the buffet and swapped stories from our childhood. Back to the room for a pre-dinner nap.

Tonight is formal night number one, or 'Double Lobster night' as I prefer to call it. A table-side magician stopped by the table. He made Mary’s wedding ring disappear. He also made it reappear. Good thing-I think Mary could have taken him down. The food was very good. Two lobsters and some cherries jubilee later we headed off for a formal pic of the ten of us. Patti wore a custom made black dress she ordered from China and I wore a white dinner jacket with a teal bow tie and matching cummerbund.

After dinner the whole group went to the theater for the show called “The Brits”. A montage of British pop during the 60’s and 70’s. I was not impressed. It was a blend of singing and dancing done against a cartoon animated electronic background. Maybe I am old school but I miss the live band. Patti and I went back to the room to change out of our formal wear and headed back out… the party animals that we are. We ended up in the “Blues” piano bar. The piano player was not playing blues (yes, I know it's only the name), but he was playing really good 'old' songs from the 70’s and 80’s. Patti and I were having a good time. John’s son Matthew and his friends saw us and asked us to sit with them. So we fifty something’s were hanging out with the twenty something’s. They are good kids- bright, polite and we had fun hanging out with them. They knew the words to all the old songs too. They even taught Patti and I a new version of the song Alice. Who is Alice? Actually… “Who the F*** is Alice?” You Tube it. That song became a running joke between us and the boys for the rest of the cruise.

Finally at about 1 am we called it a night. ‘We’ being Patti and I. They boys were still going strong.

Day 3- Sea Day
1/15/13

We were still not sleeping in. Up at 7:30 am for the coffee routine on the balcony. Today we fixed a few plates from the buffet and ate on our balcony. I never get tired of the view. We checked the balance on the sail and sign card. Still have a little on board credit to drink through before we start to accrue a balance.

Spent a relaxing morning reading the kindle on the balcony. Weather today- blue skies temps probably in the mid to upper 70s. Loaded up the pool bag/mini bar and headed to Lido aft. This was a nice area since it was mostly enclosed and a bit warmer than mid deck Lido. It was also close to the Pirate Pizza station. Good pizza. We played cards with family and enjoyed a few drinks and stories.

A group of young women and came up to Ron and wanted their picture taken with him. He got a big smile on his face enjoying the lime light. Afterwards we asked. “Why Ron?” They hesitated and responded, “We are in a scavenger hunt game and we needed our picture taken with someone having a bad fashion day.” I guess Ron’s Hawaiian shirt and shorts were tropically mismatched. Hey, it's vacation, who cares… but we did have fun teasing Ron about it.

Went to the Lido buffet for lunch then to the photo area to review pics. Back to the room to get ready for a past cruiser party. It has been changed so now  its not actually for all past cruisers. Now it is for Gold and above. We had free drinks and horderves in the theater. They had a Mardi Gras theme to the party.  It was held in the theater and they ran some video. It was more of a commercial for Carnival than anything else. We had always skipped these in the past so now we have at least we attended one.

We had dinner with the family in the Monet dining room and then back to the room. We watched a little TV and relaxed.

Day 4- Montego Bay, Jamaica
1/14/13

We had room service for breakfast. Cereal, fruit, rolls. We got most of what we asked for and got it at the requested time. Other family members said they had issues getting their room service on time.

Debarkation started at 9:00 am and we got off the ship fairly quickly even at that time. Our whole group had decided to get a day pass to the Montego Bay Sandals resort. Mary and John’s son Patrick had done this last year. It was a very good idea. We got a van/taxi at the terminal and took the 15 minute ride to the resort (8 dollars per person). The resort pass was $85 a person all inclusive including the food and drinks. We had the run of the resort including water activities. There was knee boarding, sailing, and some of us signed up for a boat snorkel trip out to the reef (no extra charge). When you factor in all that we got I think it was a good value.

Jeremy and I sat in on a Jamaican cooking class and learned how to make shrimp curry from Chef Kevin, a key ingrediant being Appleton rum.  Patti bought a wooden turtle from a vendor on the beach. This makes 2 turtles now from Jamaica.

The resort was excellent for a day pass. I would not book it for a vacation though because it literally sits right beside the airport. Noisy jets were taking off all day. We had an area in the middle of the resort for our family compound. I am not sure how I would feel if I were a guest of the resort and knew cruisers had invaded, but the resort is big and I don’t think the ten of us affected things at all.

We had made arrangements for our van driver to pick us up at 4 pm. We had tipped well that morning and he was back on time (early actually) for the trip back to the ship. Due to traffic he cut through down. Schools were just getting out and the town was very busy.

Once back on the boat we sat on our balcony for a bit then fixed a few plates from the buffet for dinner and ate in our room that night.

Day 5- Grand Cayman Island
1/15/13

The ship pulled into port  about 6:30 am. We were up drinking coffee on the balcony watching the tenders circling getting ready . This was the only port call where we were not at a pier and had to be tendered ashore. The tender boats were local contracts and they looked like they could all carry about 150-250 passengers each trip. It looked much more efficient and comfortable than in the past- Patti and I had always tendered using the ship's lifeboats.

Patti and I decided  to stay on the ship for this port. On most cruises we opt for one ship vs. port day. We had been to the Caymans on a prior cruise and thought this would be a good day to enjoy a ship day with less people. We ate breakfast in the buffet. Omelet tip- there are omelet stations along the sides of the buffet, not just in the food line. With a mostly empty ship we had no problem getting an ocean window table for breakfast.

Went back to the room to change for some hot tubbing on Lido aft. We found a shady spot and read our Kindles while having a couple of cokes.  Plain cokes... nothing added. Yeah, sad I know, but then we put the sail and sign card to work for a few stronger drinks. Ran into Jeremy. He and Ron had done a dive that morning and he was already back on board. Jeremy took off for a Guy’s Burger. I went up a deck to 10 and got fried fish and fried oysters from the fish and chips place. It was very good.

The ship started to get busier around 1 pm as guests returned to the ship. Back to the room for a nap and reading on our balcony.

Tonight was formal night number two. Patti wore a silver sparkly cocktail dress and I had a silver bow tie and cummerbund for my dinner jacket. After dinner we went to karaoke at Punch Liners. There were a few good singers. The key word here being ‘few’. One guy was so bad singing “Staying alive" he was literally sending people out the door.

The family party moved to the dance club. The music was about 30 years younger than our group but the DJ did play a few oldies for us. Tami and Jeremy were out on the floor and Tami got me to go out once with them; violating one of my primary life rules: "Never sing, never dance in public no matter how many drinks I have had". What the hell, other than family, none of those people will ever see me again. More importantly, no pictures of me dancing have shown up on Facebook.

Patti and Tami got ‘Disco ball’ drink cups. Party girls! I did take a pic of Jeremy holding two “Disco balls” low in his lap. That pic did end up on Facebook. The wild party animals that we are, we then moved to the Atrium bar. They had a live band doing songs from the 70’s. We only got there in time for their last 40 minutes. I must say Jeremy and I rocked it doing our version of John Travolta’s disco walk to “Staying Alive” (by the band, not the karaoke guy).  I know, I violated my life rule twice in one night. Matt’s friend John was giving Patti swing dance lessons. A couple of ladies were walking by and wanted to know where to sign up.

The band ended at midnight… disco balls in hand we ‘old’ people trudged off to our staterooms. The boys partied on till the wee hours.

Day 6- Cozumel, Mexico
1/14/13

It was a rainy night last night and the ship had been rocking. It all stopped about the time we woke up at 7:30. It was to wet to sit on the balcony. Patti and I had breakfast at the buffet then stopped by the room to get our bag with our day stuff. Headed off the ship about 9:10 am. It had stopped raining and the sun was out as we left the ship. It was still a bit breezy and the water was choppy. Many water excursions were canceled.

Our “Salsa and Salsa” excursion was still on. Tami and Jeremy were doing this one with us. We met with our tour guide on the pier then took a van to the Hotel Cozumel Resort (not impressed with the resort). The Salsa and Salsa event is part cooking, part dancing. It was fun and our chefs were entertaining. Not only did we make margaritas, salsa, and guacamole we ate and drank them as well. The Margaritas from the instructor table were high octane and generously shared. Chef hats aprons added to the ambiance and fun. The cooking lesson was followed by some salsa dancing. Dance directions-- bar side…sea side… ship side… tree side. The instructors were confident that after all the margaritas we wouldn’t know our left from our right. A fun way to spend a few hours. We had the option to stay and use the beach/pool there, but it was windy so we all headed back to the ship.

Back to the ship for lunch- Guy’s Burger for Patti and fish and chips for me. Patti took a nap and I read my Kindle and updated my journal on the balcony. Today Ron, Nang, Mark and Debi did a Dune Buggy excursion. John and Mary visited a National park. We had dinner in the main dining room than back to the stateroom. We were not party animals this night.

Day 7- Sea Day
1/15/13

Our last full day. Took time for some extra coffee on the balcony. I tried to ‘burn’ the view into my brain. We are heading north back to New Orleans. Breakfast on Lido. Patti liked the waffles. We went to the photo galley and made our final decisions on our formal pics.

We went back to the room and found our debarkation bag tags on the bed and the TV was on showing a video loop- “How to get off the ship”. I think they are trying to get rid of us. Damn them. Did a little pre-packing.

Tonight was our last dinner with the family in the dining room (baked Alaska for desert. We then headed back to the room to finish packing. The bags had to be in the hall before 11:00 pm.

I pulled the curtains back and looked out around 11:00 pm. I could see oil platforms. We must be getting close to the mouth of the Mississippi.

Day 8- Debarkation
1/20/13

6:30 am. We woke up at the pier in New Orleans. It was very foggy across to the south side. We had our last coffee on the balcony. Since our bags were picked up the night before all we had left to do was shower, dress and add a few items to our carry on bag. We had to be out of the room by 8:30 am so they could get it ready for the next cruise. The bastards. As we were leaving for breakfast we ran into half the family. They were heading down to the Monet dining room for a sit down breakfast. We ran into the rest of the family at the dining room so we all got to have our last breakfast together.

The dining room food was about the same as the buffet the main differences was  the addition of corn beef hash and that the toast was still warm. I liked the hash. After three attempts and much whining I finally got it. A last round of hugs and we went separate ways. Patti and I ended up waiting with Tami and Jeremy till their zone number was called. Patti and I were Zone 8 and were called about 8:30 am.

Reluctantly we worked our way off the ship. I tried a death grip on the door but it did not work. They have a crew member stationed there to pry your fingers off the gangway door. Customs consisted of a friendly guy looking at the form and waiving us through. Patti found our bags in the baggage area and we headed outside for a taxi. Thirty three dollars later we were back at the airport. We were flying US Airways- not a fan. At first they said we had to check our carry on. I think my grumpiness made them change their mind.

We had about a one hour forty five minute flight to Charlotte, NC. Since we had a two hour layover we got some take out from the Chili’s restaurant in the main concourse and took it to our gate. Due to a security check and a maintenance issue we were thirty minutes late taking off.

We landed in Dayton at about 7:45 pm. Thanks to Jamie for a pick up at the Airport.

Two bags made it ok. Our garment bag looked like it got shredded by an IED in Afghanistan. Not happy. I lost a new white Tux jacket and shirt. Patti lost a custom ordered formal dress.  Claim work now in progress. {Edit:  Claim was paid quickly and for more than I requested}

Epilogue:

A great vacation! Seeing family was the highlight of the vacation, it truly was. The tropical weather and the fun stuff we did was a bonus.

Patti thought it would be interesting to list what the major news stores were during our cruise:
1. Lance Armstrong admits to blood doping.
2. Intense gun control lobbing (following the tragic school shooting in Newtown, CT.
3. Obama’s pending inauguration.

Hits and misses: (My opinions)
Hits:
Guy’s Burgers
Fish and Chips
Main Dining room (food and service)
Blues Piano bar
Hot tubs were nice and hot, the pools too cold. Not Carnivals fault we cruised in Jan.
Ship staff was attentive and hard working.
Thirsty Frog Red beer

Ok/Average/as expected:
Buffett
Pirate Pizza
Room service
Cabin steward

Misses:
Blue Iguana Cantina food (The lines there were long the first day, much shorter as the week went on.)
Brits show (cartoon video background, no live band)

A great cruise, we would leave again this weekend.

'Salsa and Salsa' in Cozumel

My wife and I and my cousin Tami and her husband Jeremy did this last week in Cozumel. It was fun! Our chefs were very entertaining and not only did we make margaritas, salsa and guacamole we ate and drank them as well. The Margaritas from the instructor table were high octane and generously shared. Chef hats aprons added to the ambiance and fun. The cooking lesson was followed by some salsa dancing. Dance directions-- bar side…sea side… ship side… tree side. The instructors are confident after all the margaritas you won’t know your left from your right. It was a fun way to spend a few hours.

Time to get our cruise on. Ron has arranged a cruise reunion with family for Jan 2013.


We will be sailing on the Conquest 1/13/13 out of New Orleans. Patti and I will be joining Brother Ron and his wife Nang, Uncle John ( 'Uncle John' is about 30 days older than me) and wife Mary, Cousins Tami and husband Jeremy, Cousin Mark and wife Debbie.

I would like to apologize to all our fellow cruisers in advance. We just can't take Ron anywhere.

Iberostar Parisio Lindo- Cancun (Riveria Maya) 2-9 July 2012

2 July- Monday.

Off we go. Patti and I left that house at 5am. Thanks to Jason for the drop off at the Dayton airport. While checking in with US Airways they offered us what seemed to be about a 75% discount on first class upgrades for the Philly to Cancun leg of the trip. It did come with free baggage, drinks, and a meal. The cost was $450. We did opt to take it. Later on I started thinking… “Was that $450 for the two of us or $450 each? I guess we will see when we get our credit card statement.

We departed Dayton on time and made the connection to Cancun in Philly. I had been worried about the Dayton flight because it did not have a very performance history. Patti and I were row one in our first class section to Cancun. The extra leg and elbow room was nice- as was the pre take off Canadian club and coke. Lunch was not bad for Airline food either; they served us enchiladas, rice and black beans. Later, a warm wash cloth to freshen up with.

We landed a few minutes early at the Cancun airport. You gotta love the fact that the Corona banner still adorns the control tower. Patti and I were the first ones off the plane. Yeah, I know we all landed at the same time. Immigration and customs went fast enough. It did seem a little busy to me for a Monday. But we did land at about the same time as a group of five other flights from the US. The aggressive reps near the airport exit were even more aggressive than previous visits. We didn’t stop to listen to their time share pitch and that got them a little cranky. We just exited the building and found our shuttle rep. We had Best Day ground transportation for the first time and they did just fine. It was a 30 minute ride south to the resort. We were booked into The Iberostar Parisio Lindo. The Lindo was the center resort of five in the complex.

Rich, Heather, Payton and Alyssa were waiting in the lobby. They had got to the resort about an hour ahead of us. We had about an hour wait till 3pm- check in time. The lobby bar was serving. They have Don Julio tequila chilled in the lobby bar. We visited with the family, checked in and got a golf cart ride with the porter to our room.

We were in building 55 which is the building closest to the restaurants and furthest from the beach. We use the pool more than the beach so this was not an issue for us. We had a second floor room overlooking the lazy river. It was humid not being beach front. With the AC maxed and the ceiling fan on high it was ok. It took a few phone calls to get a mini fridge that worked, but that was our only maintenance issue the entire week.

We took an afternoon naps and we all met later for dinner at the main buffet. The buffet had plenty of choices. If you can’t find something you like, you aren’t looking. The buffet food quality was resort average. This was the only time we used the buffet for dinner. We did notice a decreased level of service for the buffet for breakfast or lunch service. They seemed understaffed. Sometimes you could not get seated or get a drink refill. Just an observation. Tired, we called it a day.

3 July- Tuesday.

 I woke up at 6:40 am (7:40 am for my Ohio body clock). There was a coffee maker and associated supplies in the room- coffee, tea, several types of sugar, but oddly nothing to stir with. I used the end of my toothbrush. Back to the main buffet for breakfast. They had cook to order eggs and omelets, pancakes, waffles, fruit, cereal etc. the usual stuff. The fresh fruit was very good. After breakfast we went to the pool near the swim up bar.

We got to the pool area around 9:30 am and found six chairs together under the palaypas. We never had to get up early to go reserve a seat. The pool was nice and big; the water temp was probably in the upper 80s. The pool area (and the entire resort) was nicely landscaped with plants, water features, islands and stonework. We got a few tropical drinks from the swim up bar and got our vacation on.

Later we went to check out the beach. There is a mangrove area that separates the beach from the rest of the resort. There is a deck walkway to get you there. It is a very large resort but you could walk from reception to the beach in about 10 minutes. From the pool it was about a 3 minute walk. The beach was one of the nicest resort beaches we have been to. It was very large and had plenty of chairs. There is a snack bar and beach bar for service. On the deck to the beach you will usually see families of Coatis looking for a handout. There are friendly, but that does not mean you should try and pet them they have been known to nip if you get into their ‘personal space’.

We went to the buffet near the pool for lunch. Afterwards we went to the ice cream shop above the swim up bar. The key lime sherbet was pretty good. Patti and I tried out the Lazy river. We grabbed a float and we floated the 1/10th mile circuit. It was ok.

Later that day following an afternoon siesta… Patti and I went to the theater bar and had a pre dinner drink. We saw part of a kids fashion show the staff was putting on using the kids at the resort.

We went to the Italian restaurant for dinner that night. Heather was able to make all the dinner reservations through her concierge linking the rooms. They gave a reservation ticket we took to dinner. I had read reviews that suggested you make all reservations in advance. This was not necessary. Choosing an entrée? I could not make up my mind between the lobster medallions or the filet mignon so I ordered both. Patti had the filet and tortellini.

4 July- Wednesday

Woke up about 7;30 and read my Kindle on the balcony with a cup of coffee. Patti joined me about 8:30. At breakfast Patti went healthy with fruit, I went tasty with scrambled eggs w/mushrooms.

We went to the pool and walked around the perimeter of the pool. That was quite a walk. The section next to the waterfall is slightly cooler due to the falls and all the water jets spraying from the side. After lunch we had a drink at the wave pool beach bar. We never tried the wave pool. I guess it ran for about 15 minutes every hour. They would announce the wave cycle with a short siren blast.

 Dinner that night was at the Brazilian restaurant. It was at a different resort on the complex- the Del Mar. we were able to get a shuttle ride from our lobby. They had a wide variety of appetizers. The smoked salmon was very good. I tried the caviar, but I have never developed a taste for it. The meal was wonderful. It consisted of courses of meat on a skewer- definitely Brazilian style. We had side dishes of baked potato and corn on the cob. I lost track, but there were at least 6-7 courses of meat. I was almost too full for desert. They key word there being ‘almost’. This was our favorite of all the a la carte restaurants.

We went back to the room and watched a little TV before going to sleep. We could always find something in English.

5 July- Thursday

 This morning I went to our travel rep and confirmed our shuttle ride back to the airport. The rep asked if I had forgot about seeing them the afternoon that we got there. I gave my usual response, “No, I just came when I felt like it.” I don’t book side excursions. He was friendly though.

Today was a little overcast and cooler. Patti and I spent a few hours at the swim up bar. The entertainment staff was performing poolside. After a few Blue Hawaiians I found I can sing along to “I’m Sexy and I Know it.”… I'm in a speedo' tryn' to tan my butt cheeks…” Just to be clear I was NOT wearing a speedo.

That night we went to the Hiramisu for dinner- Japanese prepared tableside at the Beach Resort next door to us. It was a 5 minute walk. It was a good show watching the chef go through his moves chopping, dicing, and flipping. Add some flames for effect. The food was very good. We were at a table of ten. The folks to my left were French Canadian. They were friendly and we talked politics and US/Canadian relations. I think we were all good ambassadors.

The resort guest list: About 45% US and Canadian, 30 % Mexican and South American and 25% British and European.

6 July- Friday

 Friday started out as usual, coffee, buffet, pool. Heather and family met up with us around 11 am. Patti read her Kindle poolside and I went down to the beach with the family for a swim. On the boardwalk back from the pool I saw a guy trying to hit a Coati with a baby stroller. I raised my voice and told him ‘No’. We did not speak the same language but I guess when I used the word ‘Polizia’ it translated well enough.

Some of the reviews I had read mentioned issues with Mosquitoes/bugs. I was never bit once, nor was Rich. Oddly it was the females of our group the insects found more tasty. Some Deep Woods Off and an anti-itch stick would be a good idea to take.

 7 July- Saturday

 It had rained during the night and was again cooler and a little less humid. We had breakfast with the family at the buffet and hung out in the waterfall area of the pool. We tossed around a football, visited and relaxed.

For dinner Saturday Rich and Heather had booked a dinner for the two of them at one of the Gourmet restaurants. Patti and I took Payton and Alyssa to the Mexican restaurant. Secret tip: One of the best places in the complex to get a lobster tail is at the Mexican restaurant. We had a great server. He introduced himself as “I’m Freddy, don’t call me Fred.” We all had our pictures taken wearing sombreros by Freddy, don’t call me Fred. I think somewhere in the small print it does require a sombrero picture.

Heather and Rich met us all there and we walked up to the reception area to check out the vendors. The vendors are there to sell but they are not overly pushy. You can talk them down on prices.

8 July- Sunday

A lazy day. Our last full day. We had room service for lunch. For a resort that bills itself as a 4.5 they had an extremely limited room service menu. Food quality was ok, just not much of a selection as compared to other Cancun area resorts that we have been to.

Dinner was at the La Marina seafood resort across the pool on the Maya side. I got the surf and turf. The sirloin was very tender. The lobster was ok, but better at the Mexican. The big plus here was the appetizer bar- shrimp, crab and many other tasty treats. Back to the room to pack.

9 July- Monday

Time to go home. We were mostly packed the night before. Woke up around 8 am and had one last coffee on the balcony. I had called the night before to arrange for porter service for the bags at 9:50. We finally left the room at 10:10 with our bags ourselves- no porters. Check out went well. We had one last drink from the lobby bar while we waited for our shuttle to the Airport.

Travel tip: At the Airport I flagged over an airport porter to take our bags in. This turned out to be a very good idea. He not only took our bags in, he took us to a kiosk, printed off our boarding passes, and by-passing the lines- he walked us right up to bag drop off. He earned his tip. I Ignored the looks from other travelers in line.

We had time for one of our Cancun airport departure rituals- some table side fresh made guacamole at Margaritaville. Our US Airways flight got off on time. We flew coach this time and did not have an upgrade… oh well, back to the real world.

We landed in Philly and cleared customs and immigration quickly. There were quit a few unhappy grumpy Government workers there. I think they needed vacations. We had to recheck with TSA to make our connection. The TSA folks were friendly and even apologized when the computer randomly selected me for a hand swab test. I am guessing they were checking for residue that ‘bad people’ might use. I told Patti they were really checking to see if I washed my hands after leaving the men’s room.

We took the bus shuttle to terminal F (under construction) to our connection to Dayton. Under construction meant not much of a selection for dinner. The flight to Dayton boarded on time then we sat on the tarmac for about 45 minutes. We were told it was the Philly airport rush hour. 9:30 pm was their busy time? Really? We got home around midnight. Thanks to Josh for the ride home.

My star ratings:
Overall: 4.5
Value: 4
Rooms: 4
A la Carte restaurants: 5
Buffets: 3.5
Drinks: 4.5
Overall service: 4.5
 Housekeeping: 4 (Note: Why replace one washcloth but not both? Did not replace  toilet paper a few days. Just observations, not major.)
Landscaping and appearance: 5+
Beach: 5
Pool: 5
Wifi: 0 (No free wifi… come on!)

Connections, delays and PHL...

I plan too much. I read too many reviews. I check vaction flight performance daily. Sad, I know. We are going to Cancun again in July. Our flight from Dayton to Philly has an on time rating of 78%. (That fact that I know that is nerdy I know.) Looking at the length ofthe delays I realized we have a 1 in 10 chance of not making the Cancun connection. It is a one hour layover and we have to take a bus across the airport. My travel agent is much more positive. "Well, that means you have a 90% chance of making it."

Hocking Hills, 35th Anniversary

Patti and I went to Hocking Hills for our 35th Anniversary. We booked a cabin through Clear Creek Cabins. The Cabin was nice, only a few minor issues that are not worth mentioning. A nice relaxing get-a-way.

Vacation Journal
Summer Bay Resort- Orlando, Fl
3/3/12 to 3/10/12


Sat. 3/3/12

We did not have an early flight so we did not need to leave the house till 8:20 am. Jason gave us a ride to the airport. Check in at Delta and security with TSA went smoothly. Once we cleared security we looked over for the Cinnibun store. It had closed since our last flight. This was devastating. After talking it over we did decide to still go on vacation.

We took off at 10:20 am. We had a two hour lay over at Atlanta and ate lunch at Chili’s. We landed at Orlando around 3:30 pm. The airport is large and spread out. We took a train to Terminal B and picked up our bags. I called Ron on the cell and he and Nang picked us up outside the baggage claim doors. Ron and Nang had left Panama City by car earlier that morning. We headed out to the west side of town. Tolls… tolls… and more tolls. Our resort was near the Disney parks. The drive to the resort took about 30 minutes. We checked in and went to our house. The resort consists of condos, villas and houses. Ron had booked an individual house through his time share.

The house was large. It had 2 master suites and a 3rd bedroom. It had its own enclosed private pool. This came in handy and we usually used it several times a day. Ron and I drove to a Publix grocery store about a mile away and got some groceries and a few essentials from the liquor store.

Nang had brought some fried chicken with them. We had got some beans and potato salad at the store. Dinner that night was that easy. Ron and I hooked up the lap tops and got signed into to the Wifi. The wifi cost $40 dollars for the week. This made Ron a little cranky. He felt that as a time share owner it should be included.

Sunday 3/4/12

We took the day to enjoy the resort. We had been having some fire alarm issues-fire alarms going off for no reason. Batteries were replaced twice, than no more issues.

I cooked breakfast for the group- fried potatoes, bacon and eggs. Ron put his pool expertise to use and raised the heated pool temp from 88 to 92. Nicely done Ron. After our morning swim and breakfast we walked around the resort. We stopped by the ‘Big Kahuna tiki bar and grill for a few drinks and lunch. It was located at one of the resort’s many guest pools. The live music was a nice perk.

We went to the main building at reception and checked out park ticket prices. Ron and Nang as Florida residents were able to get a 3 day pass for 99 dollars each. Normal one day entry fees were $86 dollars. Patti and I did not qualify, but I was advised to check out a Military discount on our first Disney park day.

A nice safety feature in the house was a pool door alarm. If you are there with children you can turn on a door alarm that will activate when ever any of the doors to the pool patio are opened. I fixed tacos for dinner this night.

Monday 3/5/12 Lego Land

Lego Land day. Everyone made their own breakfast and we headed south about 30 miles to Lego Land. It is located on the site where Cypress Gardens was located. With traffic it took about an hour to get there. We arrived a few minutes after it opened. Lego Land has only been open since the fall of 2011. We rode the ‘Island in the sky” ride. It was an attraction that had been renovated from the Cypress Gardens days. It was like an elevated Merry go round. It held about 70 people and elevated about 150 feet up into the air and slowly rotated giving you a nice bird’s eye view of the park and lake. Spanish moss covered many of the Cypress trees.

We saw a 4d movie at the Lego theater. It was kind of neat. It seemed like the characters were jumping off the screen into your seat. You could feel wind and mist.

Probably the coolest part of the park is the Lego miniature cites. They had replicas made representing The Space Center. Las Vegas, Miami, Wash DC, San Francisco, New York City, and a Pirate’s Cove.

We saw a water ski show- after all it was Cypress Gardens then did some shopping on the way out.

We had an early dinner at Denny’s on the way home. Ron stopped at Wal-Mart and got some fishing gear. Later when Patti and I were in the pool he headed to the lake right behind the house. On his way out he stated. “I’ll have a Bass in less than 2 minutes. About 90 seconds later I heard him hollering. I ran over and took his pic. To be clear though, I did not actually see him catch it with a pole. He may have been hillbilly handfishin’.

Tues 3/6/12 Epcot

We took some time to have coffee in the pool before heading out. Stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. They always do breakfast well. Love those cheesy hash browns. Since I was ‘in the south’ I had some grits. They were not bad with sugar.

We got to Epcot about 11:30. The resort was only 6 miles from the parks. Traffic adds a little drive time. We took a tram up to the ticket booths. The best deal for tickets was a 4 day Military pass. We could do all four parks for $145 each. This was cheaper than paying for 2 days.

We rented a locker for the day. I won’t complain about the 12 dollar locker fee… ok yes I will. Right after starting out we happened upon a street show. There was a trio masquerading as maintenance cleaners. It turned out they were very talented percussionists. It was fun to watch. We did a variety of rides and exhibits including:

• Mission to Mars Space simulator
• Ellen DeGeneres Energy showcase
• Space ship earth (In the big iconic Epcot dome)
• Finding Nemo
• Journey into Imagination
• Living with the land
• American Adventure Animatronics
• Michael Jackson Capt. EO 3d

The mission to Mars had 2 levels of intensity- Green or Orange. All for of us did it at the green level. We simulated the crew of a space ship taking off from Earth then crash landing on Mars. The green level was fun. Next Ron and I did the more intense Orange levels where you feel the G forces, acceleration, etc. I would restate the Green level was fun, the Orange level not so much.

Took a break about 4 pm as we started to circle the lake for the country exhibits. Patti and I got a small beer, a margarita and plate of nachos for 29 dollars. Again park prices. Some of the country exhibits we visited were Norway, China, Germany, and the USA. At the USA exhibit we saw the American adventure animatronics in the theater it was well done. Afterwards it was time for the nightly light and laser show over the lake. Time to go home- sore feet and tired bodies.

Wed 3/7/12

We all decided a day off was in order to recuperate from Epcot. Again we started the morning with coffee and a swim in the pool. Around noon Ron took Nang to an oriental market for a few hours. Patti and relaxed, relaxed some more and followed that up with just a bit more relaxation.

For dinner I BBQ’d some steaks Nang had marinated. We had a charcoal grill behind the house. Patti fixed a salad, baked potatoes, sliced tomatoes and corn on the cob. It was a tasty dinner.

Thursday 3/8/12 Magic Kingdom

Breakfast buffet at Shoney’s then we headed to the Magic Kingdom aka ‘Disney World’. We got to the park about 11 am. We took a tram to the transportation center. From there we took a monorail to the main entrance.

Just after entering the park we were at the Mickey Mouse theater. It said it opened in 2 minutes. We thought it was going to be a magic show. Instead it was a photo opportunity with Mickey and Minnie mouse. What the heck, we were big kids. We were only about the 3rd group in so we had our pictures taken. Disney characters were seen around the park through out the day. The lines for pics probably took about an hour. We waited maybe 5 minutes.

Next we headed up ‘Main street USA”. Cinderella’s Castle was at the end of the street. We started off in Tomorrow land. We did ‘Stitche’s Escape (more for little kids). The Monsters Inc. laugh factory was very cute. They had several real-life comedians working behind the scenes voicing some of the characters on screen real time. They would place pictures of audience members on screen as part of their ‘roast’. Patti was shown on screen with the caption ‘wants to be the center of attention’. So, so true…

The Walt Disney Carousel of Progress was interesting. It spanned about 80 years of technology and showed a typical American home in the 1920s, 1940s, 1960s, and 1990s.

We had to do “It’s a Small World”. And yes, we were singing as we went through. We took a lunch break and ate some sandwiches Ron and made. That saved some bucks. The Haunted Mansion was kind of fun. At the end of the ride you look in the mirror. It seemed like several ghosts were on top of our car messing with us.

Also on the agenda:
• Hall of Presidents
• Country Bear Jamboree. (I lost my sunglasses there. I bet one of the bears is wearing them now
• Tiki bird house
• Jungle cruise
• Pirates of the Caribbean

We did see the Disney Electric Light Parade. It was very colorful and lit up with lots of…lots of…. (wait for it)…. Electric lights. It was Patti’s favorite part of the day. They also did an amazing light show on Cinderella’s castle followed by a fireworks show over the castle. It was wall to wall bodies trying to leave after that. After a monorail and tram ride back to the parking lot we had a late dinner at TGI Fridays.

Again, with the sore feet!

Friday 3/9/12

Patti and I took another resort day. We got our monies worth out of the passes and wanted to just chill for our last day. Ron and Nang went to the Disney Animal Kingdom and said they had a good time.

Patti and I used the pool in the morning. Later that afternoon we found our way back to the Big Kahuna Tiki Bar and Grill. We took advantage of the happy hour prices and listened to the karaoke. Even though my Blue Moons were inexpensive and plentiful it was not enough to make me think I could sing.

We had dinner there at the bar. Just before leaving Ron and Nang joined us for a drink. Then back to the house to pack.

Sat. 3/10/12

The flight home. Time to get back to reality. We can cross Orlando and Disney off the bucket list. We had a 10:30 am flight out. We connected in Atlanta with a 90 minute layover. We landed in Dayton at about 3:30 pm. Jason, Jamie and the kids picked us up at the Airport. It was warm and sunny.

Patti and I are joining Ron and Nang at a vacation home Ron booked at a resort in Orlando in early March. Estimated temperature then in Orlando: 77 degrees, in Ohio: COLD.

Stone Mountain Ga. 2011 Highland Games

Stone Mtn, Ga Oct 2011

We had a mini family reunion At Stone Mountain. (Our 2nd annual). Me and Patti/Ron and Nang/Brandon, Jodie, and Cameron/Veronika, Dan and Adeline/ Brandon’s Father in law Rufus and his wife Susan.

Thursday 10/13/11
Patti and I left Fairborn Thursday afternoon at 2 pm. We had all our gear loaded into the Camry. We had leased a RV motor home and would pick it up the next day 6 miles from the park near Atlanta. Patti and I drove for 5 hours and spent the night just north of Knoxville at a Holiday Inn.

Friday 10/14/11
The next morning we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast- complimentary being one of my favorite things, and we were on our way by 9 am.

We arrived at our RV rental place in Tucker, GA on the west side of Atlanta about 12:30 pm. We could not check into the park until 2:00 pm so Patti and I got lunch at a little local Mexican place. After lunch we went to ‘Great Escapes’ to get the RV. It was a 27’ Class A, about 11 years old. The manager gave us a 45 minute ‘how to’ walk around. Patti followed me in the Camry and we drove the 6 miles to the campground. The drive there was easy. I was still a little nervous driving the rig.

We got to the campground fine. I got a tad cranky when I found out they had double booked my lake view site that was next to Ron’s site. The other ‘bookee’ got there before me. I made my reservation in June and confirmed it a week prior to the trip. All was good till I got there.

We ended up with a large site, not on the water but it was large enough for 2 rigs and it was a full hook up. Ron moved over and onto our site. Technically we were not supposed to put 2 RVs on one site. But I think they knew by now that ‘Clan Little’ was a cranky clan.

Patti and I made chili for the entire group for Friday night. I know- chili, and sitting around the campfire later… Blazing saddles ‘Little’ style. We did have a campfire that night and socialized and had smores and toasted marshmallows and talked… and laughed.

Saturday 10/15/11
We had a community cooking area. The next morning Patti and I had fried potatoes, bacon and fried eggs. Ron fixed omelets and potatoes for his family. I love the smell of camp cooking. Both RVs had stoves but it is more fun to cook outdoors. I have propane 2 burner stove that I used.

After breakfast clean up we took the campground shuttle bus to the other side of the park to go to the Highland games. We got there in time for the opening ceremonies. The opening ceremonies consisted of a combined mass band made up of 300 pipers and 200 drummers. The music was awesome. It sent a chill to my bones and watered my eyes.

We walked around for a bit and saw all the different family clan tents and exhibits. There was a guy holding a 50 pound mace and challenging others to hold it for a count of ten. I saw a Navy guy do it and he did ok getting wobbly about 7 seconds. I asked they guy if my Soldier Nephew (Brandon) could try it. Brandon made it look easy. I decided not to try it and did not embarrass myself or the USAF.

I got a couple of corn dogs for lunch from a food vendor. I am fairly certain corn dogs are a traditional Scottish food. I bought Patti a Scottish hooded sweatshirt and I got a t-shirt that said, “Scotch: Making white men dance since 1494”.

That night we cooked steaks on the grill and had baked potatoes (Microwaves in the RVs came in handy for the taters). ‘Camp Little’ was a little smaller tonight. Veronika and her family had to leave because her husband had to work Sunday and Jody and Cameron had left for home earlier as well.

Sleeping in the RV beat the heck out of a tent. We had a queen sized bed, fridge w/freezer, and bathroom w/shower. We were near a camp shower and bathroom but the bathroom in the RV was convenient for those middle of the nights when nature called.

Sunday 10/16/11

I cooked French toast and sausage, and Brandon made breakfast sandwiches. Around Noon, Rufus, his wife Susan and Brandon left. This left just me and Patti and Ron and Nang. I am not sure why folks kept leaving- The chili had already worked its way through Ron.

In the afternoon the four of us took a drive around the park. We found a covered bridge that was very pretty (you can see it in Nang’s Facebook album).

Sadly, we did a few chores to break camp then grilled pork chops for dinner and had some more baked potatoes. We ate a little early because we had decided to go to a story teller tour at the plantation at the park. It was fun. The story tellers were very good and the stories were post civil war era with some ghost and humor mixed together.

No campfire tonight. Ron did visit for a bit and chatted with us in our RV.

Monday 10/16/11
Time to go. Transferred all the gear from the RV to the car and cleaned it for turn in. We said our good byes with Ron and Nang and left camp around 9 am. Again, Patti was following in the Camry as I drove the RV.

Leaving the park and entering the highway we had to merge from the right during late morning Atlanta traffic, cross 3 lanes and exit left in about ¼ mile. On a fun scale that rated below having a tooth pulled. But, we made it through and across the traffic. Got the RV gassed up and then turned back in.

An 8 ½ hour drive home with a lunch stop at Shoneys.

Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise- Panama City Beach

Arrg! While in PCB we all went on a Pirate cruise. The Grandkids loved it (ok, so I had fun too). Non-stop activities for the kids, dolphins next to the ship and an shipboard bar with inexpensive Corona. The life of a Pirate is good.

Stone Mountain- Oct 2011

(In the Pic: My Nephew Brandon and me at the camp site in Stone Mountain last fall. Are the mullets real? Maybe.)

Working on the details for a return visit to Stone Mountain this fall. We are looking at the weekend of the Scottish Highland games in October. There is an RV site left near the one Ron has reserved. More to come.

Update: RV and site are reserved. See ya all there.

Majestic Beach Resort- Panama City Beach, Aug 2011

Time for a bi-annual trip back to PCB. Mom and Dean and Ron and Nang live about 30 miles north of the beach so we get to combine visiting with some sand and sun. This will be our 3rd stay at the Majestic Beach Towers. This time we booked through a 3rd party agent and saved about half the cost of what the resort wanted to charge. Our son Jason is bringing his family (separate condo, thank you) and our Grand daughter Payton from Cleveland will be coming as well.