1/22/2006 Roll Call for Wonder Cruisers

[dzneprincess]

Hey Toni,
CJ is really into Yugio. You had it right! What we have done in the past, is he used my email address and communicated that way. So feel free to send an email to mabell75@bellsouth.net and we can get the boys rolling!
I am not very close with my MIL. We get along fine, but we are not close. SO this trip should be interesting! LOL I was trying to "sell" my DH on the idea of CJ and I taking a cruise alone, for some mommy and me time. In trying to "sell" him on the idea, he is the one that said he would love it if I would takke his mother with us. And well, hey, who am I to turn down a cruise??!?!? hehehe

 

[AlvaroLuis]

Hey Kelli, No relatives in Wyoming, at least not any I'm aware of. I can't wait to hear your comparisons between Carnival & DCL. I have only experienced Carnival so far and I had an awesome time and have been dreaming of another cruise ever since. BTW, I am also a dog lover (we have 5 total). I am definitely at my limit now with 5 dogs, 4 horses, a cat, 2 DS and a DH. Thanks for the welcome.

Toni

Same here Toni! We've only cruised with Carnival so far. This will be our first DCL cruise.

Wao! you've got a lot of dogs... we have 3 "girls" (Daisy, Winnieh and Wendy) and 1 iguana (Merlin)

 

[kellib36]

I am not very close with my MIL. We get along fine, but we are not close. SO this trip should be interesting! LOL I was trying to "sell" my DH on the idea of CJ and I taking a cruise alone, for some mommy and me time. In trying to "sell" him on the idea, he is the one that said he would love it if I would takke his mother with us. And well, hey, who am I to turn down a cruise??!?!? hehehe

Wow, not exactly the cruise you had planned, though, huh? My mil and I get along great....she and I did a 7 day cruise in Sept '03 and had a great time!

I've been thinking about how to let her know, and I wonder if you could somehow get a DCL ship's model to wrap for Christmas? If I'd bought one, I'd send it to you, but I never got one. They are about 8 inches long and made of plastic, but that would be easy to wrap and DEFINITELY start the discussion!!!

 

[num1tigerfan]

Wow, not exactly the cruise you had planned, though, huh? My mil and I get along great....she and I did a 7 day cruise in Sept '03 and had a great time!

I've been thinking about how to let her know, and I wonder if you could somehow get a DCL ship's model to wrap for Christmas? If I'd bought one, I'd send it to you, but I never got one. They are about 8 inches long and made of plastic, but that would be easy to wrap and DEFINITELY start the discussion!!!

Kelli,
That would be a cool idea. I wonder if you could get a small ship off of the internet to wrap up. Don't know if Amanda likes the idea but it would be cute.
My cousin is suprising my parents with a cruise out of California once they arrive for their visit in February. They have some other small mini vacations to San Fransisco and Disneyland planned too. What they plan on doing is making some "coupons" on the computer with images of a cuise ship, golden gate bridge etc. and assembling the coupons into a booklet with ribbon or whatever and then making a small basket with vacation items and the coupon book. They are then Mailing the gift basket to my parents for Christmas so that they will know of the suprises and what extra they need to bring along for their month long California trip!

 

[dzneprincess]

It is a great idea! If only I had thought to pick one up when I was sailing in Sept! DUH.. I also know 2 or 3 other people have have sailed that could have picked on up for me but nooooooooooooo I didnt think like that DUH!

 

[dzneprincess]

OK I sent 2 pms to people that are cruising now! We were sailing one year ago this week with them! :-( Hopefully one of them will log into their DIS account while on board....

 

[kellib36]

OK I sent 2 pms to people that are cruising now! We were sailing one year ago this week with them! :-( Hopefully one of them will log into their DIS account while on board....

Well, how handy is that?!?!?! Hope it works out!!!

 

[kellib36]

Kelli's Opinion~~Carnival vs. DCL



NO waiting for internet access on Carnival. Compare that to a lot of waiting on DCL, but coincidentally, NO unlimited internet access on Carnival!! Minimum charge is $24 for an hour. ($0.40 a minute) Most expensive is $0.75 a minute/pay as you go. I didn’t store the info for wireless, but its more expensive than any internet café price. Wireless is good in the atrium area only. (6 stories high, but lots of informal seating areas.)



One electrical outlet in stateroom on Carnival. Not a double outlet…ONE outlet.

Window in outside cabins are at least 4 ft high on Carnival. You’re not able to see out unless you climb over the bed. No hair dryer in bathroom on Carnival and the only outlet in the bathroom, my brother says, was high and difficult to use, and he’s over 6’ tall. I never saw an outlet in there, so I guess its REALLY hard to find!!! ;-) No split bath option on Carnival.



Carnival’s rooms are smaller…bath/closet area, then bed area, then the external wall.

One small chair and one small stool in Carnival’s rooms…no sofa like DCL.



They put the two single beds together for us, and whoever was closer to the window had to climb over the corner of the storage cabinet or get in bed first. Am I showing my age?!?!? The rooms are definitely set up for 2 single beds turned 90º from each other, makes it much roomier in the center of the room.



As some have already heard, we ended up in a room where the vomit smell was awful. I complained, and the purser’s office said someone would be “right down”. “Right down” ended up being during the lifeboat drill, and their solution was to spray an overpowering industrial, pine smelling spray to mask it. The main thing that did was set my asthma off big time!! We weren’t in the room much that night, spent most of it exploring the ship. As soon as we left the room the next morning, they had an ionizer in there, but that didn’t seem to help either. Later that day, right about the time I dozed off for a nap, the purser’s office called to see if I was satisfied (BIG POINTS FOR THIS!!!) but I had to tell them it really wasn’t helping at all.



She called back within a half hour to say they had another room we could move to, but it was on deck 4...the bottom deck for staterooms. We went down to get the key and she asked us to “sleep in the new room overnight and then let them know in the morning if it was OK”. She also said “some people think there’s a lot of noise”. We took the key and went to check it out. It didn’t reek of vomit, so I was sold!!! We could hear some engine noise, but we don’t know if it was that, or hallway noises that people were complaining of. And honestly, the engine noise wasn’t near as bad as the room we had in May on the Panama Canal cruise on DCL. That was the last room aft on deck 6 and the engine noise and the air intake really was worse than any room I’ve ever had. (The B. A.V. really made any complaints a no brainer!!)



Anyway, back to Carnival….we packed our stuff up that night and never went back in the first room! Every time I walked into the new room, I’d take a huge breath of fresh air and say THANK YOU!!!! My brother had the room next to the first room, and he said they were shampooing the carpet one day….but I really wonder if that was it….I smelled it when I laid down as much as anywhere else….and I did NOT walk around the room without shoes…EVER….and that’s hard for me!!! ;-)



Lifeboat drill…WOW! What a difference!!! Gotta give this one to Carnival!!! It seemed like (I could be wrong) the ship is divided into 5 groups vertically. We were at the front, so our staging area was in the showroom (think Walt Disney theater). After we got there, the similarities to DCL stopped. After everyone got there, we proceeded up to the lifeboat deck and were given more instructions. On DCL, if you’re staging area is Animator’s Palate, you just go back to your stateroom after they take a headcount. One thing, though, on Carnival, they never took a roll call. I wondered if they had people checking staterooms, though. Anyway, very different and it took a lot longer was seemed to be more comprehensive on Carnival.



Photo lab~~gee, what a tossup….it’s utter chaos on both….Carnival’s room was about half the size of Shutters on DCL, but they also didn’t take near the pics as DCL. No pool pics, just dining room and backdrop pics. The big reason I wasn’t happy on Carnival was that when they think they need more room, they take a certain set of pics and just pile them up on an end cap. So, you have to go through 5 or 6 piles of pics to, maybe, find yours. So, if you don’t get to yours quickly, you’ll have fingerprints all over yours. Getting copies was a nightmare, because the bozo working on our cruise didn’t have to listen to guests, coz he already knew what we wanted (he REALLY hosed things up!!). My brother had to get kinda nasty with them, and the girl (who knew more than the guy did) was giving her coworker funny looks, not sure if they were irritation at us or him….



One thing I really liked about pics on Carnival was that they take everyone’s pics as you get off the ship or get to a port. If you have a morning excursion on DCL, you miss all that. We got our pic taken with an Aztec and a pirate, as well as with a life preserver with Ensenada on it. Lots to pick from, but I never saw a photo package deal like DCL has either. They also don’t want you to bundle your pics like DCL encourages.



Buffet on Carnival is very limited, and basically the same fare every day. Buffet on Carnival is very scattered around a large room. (Paris restaurant on the Paradise)

Paris restaurant is VERY shabby! Chairs and booths are very worn. Carpeting didn’t show signs of wear, that I noticed. We did the buffet every day, because the dining rooms were either closed or packed each day for breakfast or lunch.



Dinner was mostly comparable to DCL, and our waiters were pretty good. The first day started off kinda bad because we didn’t know the system. Our food waiter also got the non-alcoholic drinks. Then, there was the wine server and another server for the occasional beer or mixed drink. No one ever asked if we wanted iced tea, so we only had water the first night. Second night looked to be starting off the same, so I asked. The 3rd night, we had iced tea the moment I sat down.



Tips on Carnival were different than DCL also. Carnival charges your onboard account $10 per person per day upon arrival. They say you can change that amount, but we didn’t. This covers your stateroom attendant, and both servers. The headwaiter (maitre de) is separate and they give you an envelope on the last night and you’re supposed to give it to him as you enter the dining room. So, he doesn’t EVER have to come to your table, and it REALLY backs things up at the door. They say you need to tip him because he trained all the servers in the room….busy guy, I guess…..



Debarkation on Carnival was a mess. They had said everyone would be off by 930, so we didn’t worry about getting a “special pass” to get off early. Our shuttle was supposed to be there at 10am. They were calling one color at a time, approx every 30 minutes, not sure what time they started, but at 935, they still hadn’t called 2 colors. We just got in line and left. There were still most of the luggage in the “red” area, so I know most of those people were still onboard.



All in all, Carnival was just OK. Part of it may have been that this cruise isn’t as popular as some others, and this ship is showing its age. Maybe this ship is going into drydock soon, I’m not sure. It was built in 1998, so much later than I thought by the condition of the buffet. My brother and nephew, who have never cruised before really were impressed and would like to cruise again, so I guess it wasn’t as bad as I make it out to be, I guess I’m just spoiled by the Mouse!!!

 

[num1tigerfan]

Hi Everyone!
Glad to see your report Kelli. Thanks for that. My parents have never cruised before and they are booked on the same ship/cruise for February. It will be interesting to see what they think being newbies. Maybe we will be spoiled by taking DCL first and will never want to change!

Hope everyone survived Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping. We had an interesting weekend. Since I was having all 51 people here to help out my Mom, she came in to help cook. While leaving Wednesday night, she backed into DD's (17) boyfriends car and dented in the door. On Thursday (Thanksgiving) my Dad and DD went to go pick up my son and my Dad backed into my daughters car......I don't know about these Grandparents. Maybe we should pull their liscenses. LOL
Today I have been running around trying to get a replacement headlight assembly and turnlight assembly for her car. She can not drive without a headlight so she has been driving my car to work ect. What a pain in the rear. You hate to spend too much $$ on a teenagers car that didn't cost lots to begin with. Mom and Dad have insurance but their deductable is pretty high and they are on a fixed income.

Anyway hope everyone is doing good!

 

[num1tigerfan]

bump.

 

[num1tigerfan]

here we are on p.2 AGAIN.............

 

[Tahoe]

Thanks Julie for keeping us off page 2! I finally sent that pin to you today! (I didn't pay the priority mail price for it, so you won't get it for 7-10 days because you're apparently way out in the beautiful boonies! ) I sure hope you were able to get all the cars fixed up--big big bummer! Your poor parents.

Kelli, I read your report with interest! I was wondering what you'd think of Ensenada. I was there (on a day cruise from SD) about 12 years ago, so I didn't pass judgment before your cruise, but it doesn't sound like things have changed much! Pictures??!

Alvaro, Marisel sure knows how to throw a party--shame on me for not giving HER the credit!

Amanda, glad you're back on board! Hope you found the little ship you need to surprise your MIL.

Michael--still waiting for your trip report! And your cruiseline comparisons!

Melissa--where are you???

Welcome Toni!

 

[dzneprincess]

Hey everyone! Still waiiting to her back from a fellow DISEr. I thought she was sailing this week, but they are not sailing until Saturday. So, hopefully they will pick me up a replica of the ship.

 

[num1tigerfan]

Glad to see that you guys made it through Thanksgiving!
Karin.....thanks for sending Joe the pin. He will think it is cool.
We really don't live in the boonies, just in a small town of 2000 people surrounded by a river and lots of corn fields! We did have our first measurable snow last night. 3" . We played outside today and made snow angels.
We have to go get the parts to fix DD's car tomorrow. I was a nervous wreck letting her drive home last night @ 10:30 when she got off work at Old Navy so I drove over and followed her home. The snow doesn't bother me, but we had ice first then with high winds, it just polished the ice! She doesn't drive well on wet roads let alone ice I was really impressed though, she only drove 35 mph all the way home. Only once I looked ahead and she was driving on the wrong side of the road. They hadn't been plowed so you couldn't see where the road was.


anyway just wanted to say "hi" to everyone

 

[AlvaroLuis]

DIS is doing it to me again.... not getting the messages!!! Kelli, what was that you said about "those" countries? #$%&, there might some truth to it!

Anyway, I'm back and we were at the bottom of page 1... so... BUMP!!!!!

 

[kellib36]

DIS is doing it to me again.... not getting the messages!!! Kelli, what was that you said about "those" countries? #$%&, there might some truth to it!

You're gonna have to give me a clue....how far back are you?!?!?!? Heading to work now, all I can say is TGIF!!!!!!!!!!

The crappy weather was nice enough to wait til we got back from CA....It's 33º now...highest it's been all week, and Mon and Wed we had 50-60 mph winds.....mostly steady, gusting to 70+...

Add to that my aversion to unpacking and it's been a pretty bad week in around.....oh well, a week vacation with NO travel is right around the corner.....

 

[AlvaroLuis]

And we cannot get rid of the 80° - 85° temperatures

 

[num1tigerfan]

And we cannot get rid of the 80° - 85° temperatures

SSSSHHHHHHH.....don't say that.

 

[dzneprincess]

And we cannot get rid of the 80° - 85° temperatures

thats just plain ole mean

 

[AlvaroLuis]

thats just plain ole mean

Guess it IS mean when told to someone in Georgia... or Iowa... or ... Wyoming??? Sorry!