Embarking on a Cruise part 5

Our family of four took our first cruise on Jan 28, 2011 for 9-days aboard the Carnival Spirit. We traveled to the Mexican Riviera, which was the first time to Mexico for all of us. We are newbies, that have decided we like cruising, I hope you find the following posts helpful. Cheers!



Thank you for stopping by this week for cruise week. Some last notes, observations and comments.


After we got home I was talking to my Mom about the cruise and how much fun we had. I had mentioned that there were people aboard who were staying on the ship for another cruise, and others that had just been on the previous trip and had stayed on. She told me some senior citizens tend to back-to-back cruises as it can be cheaper than a senior citizen home, and you get much better service cruising. I thought that was interesting.


As for the kids club - we used it a few times, if there were activities that the girls would be interested in. You could leave the kids later than 10pm (for an extra fee), but then they'd have to sleep on the floor in sleeping bags, and I can't imagine it's very comfortable for kids. So we never opted for that.


We did like the kids talent show they had on the last day. You had sign up, and be at the kids club for a rehearsal, during the week to participate. Our daughters sang "Away in a Manger" and also danced with their age group. Our girls love to perform, so that was a highlight.



I do wish there was a dance club that opened around 8pm or so and catered to families. Our family loves to dance, loves music, and that would be one thing we'd love on a cruise.


Given how great a value for the price Carnival Cruise is, we wouldn't be opposed to taking them again, to another destination. We would like to locate another line with great value and better food. We also really want to do the Disney Cruise to the Caribbean.


The girls also really enjoyed the magician who came around during dinner to entertain the kids. One night he was doing a trick when my 6YO who loves learning tricks, and knows a few, piped up with, "hey, you're using your thumb to do that trick." Needless to say the magic man made a quick exit after that.


One of the other passengers at another table thought our girls were cute and we chatted. He looked like Santa, and he said friends of his made him bring a Santa hat to take a picture on the beach with. He wanted to know if he could surprise the girls with a visit from Santa, on vacation. Adorable.


As a mother, I don't get tired of hearing how cute, beautiful, sweet, well-behaved my daughters are. I love hearing it from strangers, that make a point of telling me. It was filling my bucket and validating what I already think of them.


On elegant nights it was quite enjoyable hearing from lovely elegant ladies dressed in sequins stop what they were doing to admire our daughters in their dresses. We also got a kick out of the staff who would go get other friends who worked there to stop what they were doing to admire our girls. They were also pretty interested in seeing a mixed couple production. My husband and I could only smile and affirm that our daughters are just so easy to adore.


We're big fans of family vacations where we all enjoy it, and spend time together. We are grateful for the opportunities we have to make these memories.

What we liked:


1. Unlimited room service - My girls are room service girls. They enjoyed it to their heart’s content, since on Carnival it’s included in the price.

2. Our room steward, dining waiters and staff aboard. Some the nicest, kind, hard-working people you’ll meet. They all come from very humble countries, and work to save money for loved ones back home. They spend seven months working their tails off, and get a two month break. If you go on a cruise, please look them in the eye, and greet them cheerfully. Recognize them for the great work they do. My daughters loved them - and they all adored my girls.


3. Towel animals - it was something our fabulous room steward, Ketut did each night and the girls loved discovering what new surprise he had for them. He also dressed their Zoobie pets in skirts on one night.

4. Swimming and laying out in the warm sun - my girls are water babies. My husband obliges happily, playing with them in the pool so I can sit and read in the sun to my heart’s content.


5. Connecting interior/balcony room - perfect set-up for us. Didn’t feel crowded, plenty of storage. We could close the connecting room when the girls went to sleep and have it open so they could run in as we saw whales and dolphins right outside our balcony while sailing. Loved it.

6. On the morning we docked back in San Diego the cruise director, Stu, announced over the phone intercoms to wake us up gently, “wake up, wake up, good morning, the palm trees are waving, the sun is shining.... welcome to HAWAII!” Which made me laugh out loud as he woke me up, as that was exactly where I wished I was.


7. Embarkation was smooth. We got there about 2:30pm. You can board between 12pm and 4:30pm. We handed our tagged bags (print out the tags at home) to the porters, after the hubbies parked the cars we went through customs, registration, received our room keys/sail & sign cards (that act as payment for any on board purchases), got our picture taken, and boarded the ship. Since we boarded later in the day, we barely had any time to get some lunch, before everything had to be cleared away and then we had to be on deck for the muster drill.

8. Debarkation was also easy breezy. We got lucky with our luggage tags. We were in the first group so we were able to get off quickly, after breakfast. As we made our way off the ship - my husband mentions that he forgot his coat in the closet of our cabin. Men! So as soon as we got off and located our luggage, I found a Carnival representative and asked if I could get onboard to get it. They were incredibly helpful. I got right on, up to my room and retrieved the jacket. My hubby was ready to just leave it, he didn’t want to hassle with it. I am thoroughly impressed with Carnival’s staff.

What was okay:


1. Kids club - our daughters are 4 and 6 years old. As it’s set up the ages are 2-5 and 6-9 for the little kids. So, since my girls like to be together, my 6YO had to hang with the younger crowd. Some of the activities were a little young - for even my 4YO, granted, she is far more advanced thanks to her big sister - we didn’t use the kids club too often - it was more fun to hang out together.

We didn’t utilize their paid sitting from 10pm on - as we were surprised how tired we were in the evening. Kids club is free before 10pm.

We did have the girls in kids club one evening for dinner. That night we had reservations in their specialty steakhouse.


2. Steakhouse - for an extra 30.00 per person you could have dinner at a fancier, supposedly better food restaurant. It was, okay. It was better than the main dining room - but I’m thinking Carnival caters to the masses, and for those of us foodie lovers, it’s nice, but not quite mind-blowing.

3. Mexico - I suppose I just didn’t realize Mexico would be so dry and barren-like. Or maybe I am spoiled from my love of Hawaii. My husband said snorkeling in Puerto Vallarta was murky - whereas in Hawaii it’s crystal clear. We didn’t get off the ship in Mazatlan (due to recent unrest), La Paz, or Ensenada. We didn’t feel like shopping and the port in La Paz was not so pretty. In Ensenada, I’d heard it wasn’t a great place to bring kids. Hubby’s BFF said the city was crowded with gang bangers who happened to be superbowl fans. Apparently, every year the weekend to the super-stupidbowl they go to Ensenada, get drunk and bar fights ensue.




In Cabo we visited hubby’s BFF’s time share in San Jose del Cabo - where I had some great fish and shrimp tacos and we enjoyed the view of the beach and their infinity pools.

For me, I’d rather be in Hawaii.

The title of this "art" is "cupid and venus"... it was right at the foot of our bed. It was weird seeing this every morning.

4. Spa - they totally jack up the prices. Sometimes on port days you’ll find some great deals. They’re still much higher than on land - but the special I had put me to a dreamless, perfect sleep. Although it did seem way too short for the price. Or maybe I just wished they let me sleep a while longer.

5. Gym - I was impressed at how many of us used the gym. Sometimes it was hard to find a machine to use. It didn’t help that some of the treadmills/ellipticals wouldn’t work. Many of the weight machines didn’t seem to work either, and they didn’t have anyone around that could help you. I was glad we brought our own water bottles, as they overcharge for bottled water, but have filtered water onboard that you can fill your own bottles. It took a little getting used to running while the ship moved. I didn’t like how hot it was in the gym, due to a hot tub in the center of it.


Thank goodness there was a gym - gained 3lbs onboard - imagine how much it would be if there wasn’t one. YIKES!


What we didn’t like:



1. So we went to one revue show they put on in the evening. They need better song selection, and one of their singers liked to screech, or their sound system was out of whack.

2. The 20.00 8x10s they charge for the “professional” photos they took. Talk about a rip-off. We don’t buy souvenirs - but our photos, our snapshots of memories are what I like from a vacation. I like to save pictures of our family, just as a history, even if they’re not perfect photos. So it physically hurt to leave photos of us knowing that they would simply throw them away if we didn’t purchase them.


3. Juice is only offered on Lido deck at breakfast and then lemonade at lunch. You can’t get juice in the main dining room, because the bar folks are their hawking the drinks for you to purchase at an inflated price. You can purchase a soda card - but since we’re not big soda drinkers, it was cheaper for us to purchase a few drinks here and there for the few times we craved one.

4. “Chocolate buffet” - it was such a joke. First it was held at noon. Which, given how tired we were at night, would’ve worked to our benefit. But, the chocolate selection, was paltry and it was held in one tiny station on the Lido deck - which made the line horrendous, for this rather sad, little “chocolate buffet”.


ps. I am not being compensated in anyway to post about cruising. I like information, and am sharing information that I would want, if I were considering my first cruise.

Embarking on a Cruise part 4

Our family of four took our first cruise on Jan 28, 2011 for 9-days aboard the Carnival Spirit. We traveled to the Mexican Riviera, which was the first time to Mexico for all of us. We are newbies, that have decided we like cruising, I hope you find the following posts helpful. Cheers!

Our Shore Excursion Activities

Puerto Vallarta:

Whales are seriously awesome. I speak whale, just like Dory.

In Puerto Vallarta we purchased a 7 hour excursion through carnival- whale watching, snorkeling, beach time and lunch.

Docked in Puerto Vallarta - it was beautiful port. They had a fancy mall, Walmart and Costco across the street from the dock, which we found funny.

I had read online that Jan-Mar is prime time for whale/dolphin sight-seeing. I had seen two excursions that would work for our family - there was another excursion in Cabo - for 2 hours and the same price as the PV 7 hour excursion. Naturally, I go for the most bang for my buck-a-roos. We were pleased with the PV excursion.



The staff aboard were accommodating, and entertaining. Is it me, or do all Latin men know how to dance, and dance well? Caliente doesn’t quite do them justice.



Not only did we see whales, we saw manta rays bouncing up and down in the water. My husband did the snorkeling and said the water was extremely cold, even with a wet suit. He did say the visibility in the water was poor. It doesn’t compare to the clear snorkeling in Hawaii.



Our beach time was the part my girls most looked forward too. They love the sand and surf. My 6YO loves to run in and out of the waves, and my 4YO loves to dig, build and bury hermit crabs. Unfortunately, on my way off the catamaran into a little skiff I smooshed the back of my right heel between the skiff and the catamaran. It hurt like a *&^%.


It reminded me of when my hubby and I were heading to Hawaii on our honeymoon and we were running to get through security when I landed wrong and sprained my ankle for the upteenth time in my life.

Beach time was great, but FAR too short. We felt a little cheated out of it.

Lunch aboard was simply a sandwich and fruit buffet. After the gluttony of cruise, we were grateful for a food break.

Our girls had a blast dancing to the music aboard the catamaran and playing with the crew.



Cabo San Lucas - San Jose Del Cabo - Cabo Azul:

They had 3-4 infinity pools that hit the beach, and beyond the ocean.

We were extremely grateful that my hubby’s friend had a timeshare in Cabo. The resort was a nice break. It was nice to only have to split the cab ride and enjoy the amenities at the resort, including having a fish and shrimp taco delivered to our pool loungers.




However, due to the cold snap that was sweeping the east coast on down, the winds kept it rather chilly. My hubby was a great daddy spending most of his time playing with the girls in the pool, while I read my book, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I did join my hubby and girls in the pool - let’s just say getting out of the pool was chilly.



Note on Cabo - the ship isn’t able to dock there. Instead you tender to shore via these smaller boats. Once you get ashore people are shouting and calling to get you to take their excursion, or buy this and that (they do that in PV too). It can be either overwhelming, or really annoying. I was surprised at how dry and arid Cabo is.





We also heard that there are some areas of the beaches that are too dangerous to due to unseen, undercurrents, and rogue waves. In fact, on our tender back to the ship, we heard about grandparents who were swept off a beach and died that day we were in Cabo.

Thank you for stopping by this week, tomorrow I'll wrap up cruise week.

ps. I am not being compensated in anyway to post about cruising. I like information, and am sharing information that I would want, if I were considering my first cruise.

Embarking on a Cruise Part 3

checking out the ocean at the Lido Buffet

Our family of four took our first cruise on Jan 28, 2011 for 9-days aboard the Carnival Spirit. We traveled to the Mexican Riviera, which was the first time to Mexico for all of us. We are newbies, that have decided we like cruising, I hope you find the following posts helpful. Cheers!

Dining

Tea Time:

a spot of tea

I have been taking my oldest to tea since she was 18 months old. It’s how we roll around here. We enjoy tea, tea time and tea delicacies. I was very pleased to find out that on sea days Carnival has afternoon tea.

We caught it right on time, but should have arrived earlier as we nearly didn’t find a place to sit. The tables for tea were teeny, tiny. Luckily, my girls are accustomed to the settings and no accidents occurred.

The tea was packet tea served out of a pretty wooden box, inlaid with fabric. We selected our herbal teas and they poured the hot water. We did ask for honey, as that’s how we take our tea. They had a few folks walking around pushing trolleys with finger sandwiches, macaroons, apple tarts, cake bites, other sweet treats, and fresh strawberries.

The apple tart was delicious, as were the few strawberries they were reluctant to serve us. The macaroons and other treats were almost too sweet. Overall, we enjoyed our little girl time in the Artist’s Lounge while we let my hubby have a nap.

Empire Dining Room on the one night we let them have something off the kids menu

Empire Dining Room:
This was where we had a specified table each night and the same waiters. We sat at a table of 14.

"It's showtime!" - they did dances on a few nights. This night my daughters learned one everyone should know how to do... "Hey! Macarena!"

We selected the early seating time of 6pm, as that was pretty near to when we eat dinner at home. The Empire Dining Room also offers open seating for breakfast. We had our first breakfast onboard at the restaurant. It was nice to have the service, but we spent the rest of our breakfasts up on the Lido deck buffet. There was a broad selection that we could quickly pick up for ourselves, without waiting. We also could take it back to our room, if the girls were still sleeping, or on my way back from the gym. Room service didn’t provide hot breakfasts, just cereals, pastries, etc.


Overall, for dinner there were a few dishes that were decent. Some things were disappointing. But we recognized that Carnival was not a ship focused on providing that extra oomph for foodies. They are focused on the masses, and the massive masses aren’t all that particular about their food.

The second elegant night in the Empire dining room.

Note: they have a kids menu - but we only ordered off it one of the last nights of the trip, because the kids menu is all that crap they have everywhere - chicken nuggets, fries, pizza, etc... I found that I could order off the main menu and the girls did just fine. They are used to us exposing them to a variety of food - and I believe it is my responsibility to cultivate their palates. Sometimes there were starter sizes for the entrees so I didn’t feel like we were being completely wasteful.

We loved the kind people, and they adored our daughters.

Lido Deck:
The Lido Deck buffet worked well for lunches. Each day they had a “taste of nations” station. For folks that are not adventurous, and inexperienced when it comes to enjoying good food - the Lido Deck affords them a chance to try a variety of food. For those of us that are more accustomed to enjoying fresh ingredients, the fare is a little lacking. There were moments where a dish here or there was decent, but there wasn’t anything particularly memorable.

hot chocolate face at the Lido buffet

Options that were decent included the sandwich station. My husband enjoyed the corned beef sandwiches, and I am always keen on tuna sandwiches. They had a pizzeria that served decent pizza. There was also a grill where they had hamburgers, hot dogs, which I heard were okay.



I also made sure to get fresh fruit for our meals and there was a wealth of cantaloupe, honey dew, pineapple and watermelon.

Steakhouse:

Lobster bisque

There’s a 30.00 per person fee to eat at the steakhouse. The fare is supposed to be a step-up from the all inclusive food provided on the ship. The restaurant is more elegant and intimate, and reservations are required.

My dish - lobster

It didn’t seem like many people chose to dine there, as it never felt crowded. The ambiance was nice. The food was better than the main dining room. My husband and I were hoping to be blown away by unique flavors, but everything, while good, wasn’t anything we hadn’t had before.

Hubby's dish - rib-eye steak

I suppose the key here is, if you are a foodie, Carnival probably isn’t the right cruise line for you if you want spectacular food. If you aren’t a big food person - go hog wild.

chocolate sampler

Room Service:

4YO digging into the chocolate cake.

If dinner wasn’t to your liking, order the included room service. My daughters love room service whenever we travel, so they were tickled pink that they could get it every night if they desired. We discovered that room service’s chocolate cake was much better than the dining room’s molten chocolate cake, and you can get a big plate full of chips with any sandwich. We also loved their veggie strips, sliced bell peppers, carrots, zucchini, celery with bleu cheese. They also had a fruit bowl that we all enjoyed.

Be aware that sometimes it would take anywhere from 30min to an hour to get your order. I also made sure to get extra waters when we ordered to fill up our water bottles.

Misc.
The ship had bars aplenty. You could purchase soda cards for the week, or day for unlimited sodas, juices, etc. We're not big soda drinkers, so this didn't make sense for us. My hubby would have a ginger ale a couple times on the ship and our girls and I might get a juice, or smoothie a couple nights at dinner, so it worked out.

4YO has a strawberry smoothie and I have a virgin strawberry daiquiri...cheers!

There was also a small area where they sold coffee, pastries, cupcakes for a fee. I did also notice a sushi station onboard.


Overall, be grateful they have a gym onboard. It's quite easy to just spend every waking moment stuffing your face. I totally turned into a goldfish. It felt good to come home to a fridge empty of food, just to not feel full every moment.

Tomorrow I'll share about the activities we participated in.
I had no idea the dining would be this long.

ps. I am not being compensated in anyway to post about cruising. I like information, and am sharing information that I would want, if I were considering my first cruise.