Blogs from Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, United States, North America

We are up at around 05:30 after we have folded away the beds, and shower and dress. It is 06:30 and the train is just stopping at Barstow, it should have stopped there at 03:30, so we are approximately 3 hours behind schedule. Although the tour guide reckons there is an hour of slack in the schedule and we should be only 2 hours late in getting into Los Angeles We eat breakfast in the dining car at around 06:30. The train eventually arrives at Los Angeles Union Station at around 10:00, approximately 2-hours late as predicted by the tour guide.The guide that will take us on a tour of LA meets us. We board the coach and hit the log jam that is the Los Angeles traffic, it was even worst today as there was ... read more

I guess they are happy Nana is already here...... read more

The next morning we were awakened by what sounded like an announcement being piped into the ship. I initially thought how cool it was that the Queen Mary carried its authenticity through to making cabin announcements like on a working cruise ship. Come to find out (as I came out of my sleeping fog) it was the Carnival Paradise, docked and trying to kick this weekend’s passengers off the boat ... also known as debarkation. And boy, was she loud about it. Woo Hoo, our ship has arrived. So, up and Aft we went. Hello, Paradise! We spent some time up on deck taking photos of both the Queen Mary and Paradise. Behind us was a set of curious doorways. Hmmm, I wonder what’s through those doors? We have time to find out ... let’s explore. ... read more

The Porthole Cabins on the Fantasy Class ships are by far the best deal for the money. Not only will you pay Inside Cabin prices with an Outside view, but you can choose any of the four cabin decks without a price increase (at least that was our experience). Thus, we landed ourselves on the Empress deck (Deck 7) just a short walk to the Paradise Atrium Plaza ... and all the fun. While looking at the deck plans, hubby said to me, “I want to be in the first cabin.” Okay, your wish is my command, so I booked E1 ... which is as close as you can get to sleeping on the bow of the ship as passengerly possible. Okay, your wish is my command, so I booked Cabin E1. High above the anchor ... read more

The Lido Deck has the best of two worlds ... food and fun in the sun! Along with everyone else who just embarked, we headed up to the Paris Lido Restaurant (AKA Lido Buffet) for some lunch. Outside was the Mongolian Grill with its continuously long lines, along with hamburgers and hotdogs. Inside was where the rest of the food was laid out. Here was the main buffet, salad bar, fruit bar, dessert shrine, deli, pizza and of course 24-hour soft-serve ice cream machines. Heaven on a Lido! We ate lunch here everyday and found the staff to be both friendly and helpful. It's no wonder the food is such a large part of a cruise for us all. There is just so much there ... and plenty of choices. We can't help but be like ... read more