Gone and done it again, going a cruisin'


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May 13th 2013
Published: May 18th 2013
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13/5/13 Florida City to Miami to join the Carnival Victory for our 5 night cruise

Well it only took 1 ½ hours to drive the 30 miles back to Miami and then about 30 minutes to try and find the car rental place. This included going right through the airport car rental parking garage, right through the airport, back to the airport car rental shuttle bus centre, spotting the ACO (our car rental company) courtesy bus, nabbing the driver, explaining we couldn’t find the place, following the bus and finally getting there. It was actually only a couple of blocks further up the original road we had turned off!

I refused to do the shuttle bus back to the airport, train and taxi version Howard had planned for us to get to the cruise terminal and instead we got a taxi from the car rental place straight to the port and even got dropped off right by the door – all of which made a nice change.

We lined up behind a group of 8 girls all wearing matching ‘I don’t get drunk I just get awesome’ t-shirts and got ready for the FUN to begin….because if you go on a Carnival cruise it’s all about FUN!!!

So we got checked in, did the security bit, queued for our room keys, had the compulsory photo taken in front of a back drop of the ship (with our rucksacks still on) and entered the vast ship.

We found our cabin and it’s balcony – now that is fun! And then went to find some lunch. It was buffet style and a right motley collection of passengers there are on here! Ranging from hugely (makes me look slim) fat to super (makes me look huge) skinny and all colours, shapes and varieties in between.

Then we had a look around the ship, there are 3 pools, several hot tubs and a large bendy slide out on deck. There is also an outside cinema and lots of sunbeds to lounge about on.

Before sailing we had the emergency drill and lots of people just drifted about looking for their muster stations. Eventually we were all lined up, squashed together and shown how to put a life jacket on and that was it, no roll call and all very lax compared to the Holland America cruise.

After a bit more exploring we found the vast casino and the tiny library which had a few books locked away – I guess reading is not considered FUN enough and I have just found out that the library only opens twice a day for an hour!!

Then it was back to the cabin where on the tv we watched Goose (yes you read that correctly) the Entertainments Manager give us a tour of the ship and explain all the FUN things we could do. I can see us spending a lot of time on the balcony!!

We ate in the proper restaurant tonight as the dress code is relaxed on this ship – apart from the dressing up evening tomorrow night, where you will find us in the buffet area. At dinner we had our photos taken, with Howard wearing sunglasses as his eye is a mess, he said if she asked him to take them off he was going to say ‘can you do red eye reduction?’ (well it made me laugh).

Just as we were tucking into our grub another photographer came around with the pirate Captain Morgan in tow, he stuck his cutlass under my chin and arrrgggghhhddd in my ear, so I pulled my best pirate face and aaarrrrgggghhhhddd right back. The photographer looked shocked and then said ‘oh gee that was awesome’…..see I can do FUN too!

The meal was really nice so I think we will be eating here again, nice change from buffets.

Back on the top deck we watched a bit of the open air film, had a look in the buffet restaurant which was virtually empty and Howard had another two puddings! I had a couple of cubes of cheese.

Then it was back to the cabin for a FUN smoke on the balcony and read of tommorow’s FUNTIMES (the ship’s newsletter) to see what was in store for us – A FUN DAY AT SEA AND ELEGANT EVENING, gulp more time on the balcony then?!!

You are probably wondering why on earth we are on another cruise with our appauling attitude to it all and actually as I swallow another sea sickness tablet so am I! All I can say is, it was a bargain, when you take into account the cost of food, accommodation and transport for 5 nights and it gets us to the Carribean and the Bahamas. Plus the cabin and balcony are great and you can eat as much as you like ha ha! It was intended as a treat after all the bus journeys, hostels and backpacking. So I guess we will just have to get on with it and have FUN!

14/5/13 Day at Sea

After breakfast Howard took to his bed and barring a couple of food forages remained there for the whole day, giving his eye and self a proper rest. The food in the buffet isn’t a patch on the dining room meals, oh well it’s only for tonight. There are quite a few puddings but they are all bland and tasteless and there isn’t any cream or anything to help them down. We did find the ice cream machine where you can get vanilla or chocolate, no sprinkles, sauces or anything…hmm most disappointing.

The view is sea, sea and more sea.


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19th May 2013

Sounds FUN!
However, I would have picked a cruise line that caters to the over 20's. But I'm sure you will have FUN. We had a great time on both recent cruises we've been on...only take cruises to places we can't get to by land. Don't stay on the balcony the whole time!
20th May 2013

Cheers Bob, will remember to check next time!! Going to catch up on your travels when i get home (very soon now) as writing this blog takes up all my time at the moment!!
20th May 2013
1 Cruise Day One - Leaving Miami (16)

No Mel....
DJ RAM and CHIPPY does not mean dancing followed by spam fritter and chips with extra scraps.....
20th May 2013
1 Cruise Day One - Leaving Miami (16)

ha ha sadly no!

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