Re: Give Me Liberty or Give Me the Big Cats 9/15/07 (or Give Me Both!)
My computer just blew up right before I could send my mini review....That drives me insane!!!!!! Okay enough venting...lol
Hi guys were back!!!!!
I am glad to see all made it back safely. I can't belive you picked up refugees, did you watch the rescue? Did it happen day or night? Fascinating!!
Sheree, it's funny you told your nieces C.P. experience, Doris ordered a birthday package for dee an has a similar story. I will let her tell you when she recovers from partying....lol
Highlights of the cruise: Movies under the star, LOVED IT!! FABULOUS!! FANTASTIC>>> can you tell how great they are. Of course the first night was football and it was a beautiful clear night. Tuesday we settled in on our Movies under the stars lounge chairs with wool blakets, popcorn and candy to watch Wild Hogs which we purpously did not see hoping to see it on board. About 3/4 through out of no where come a rain storm, we were on the upper deck with no cover in sight, so we made a run for it. lol soaking wet!!!!! But we did see a bunch of movies while in the pool during the day.
POOLS...4 of them on deck 15, awesome, a heated spa pool, a music pool, a movie pool, and the best...the back pool with chairs facing the very rear of the ship. My personal favorite, Julie and I a few nights went to the Cafe Caribe (Lido Dining) and got our dinner and they have seating outside on deck overlooking the back pool and ocean, we loved it so much. On our last night the four of us had champagne and dinner out there. It was the perfect ending. The Champagne pour, i loved that, they had a band and danicing and a big hoopla while stacking the champagne glasses in a pyramid and then you can take a turn pouring the champagne, so of course I ran up and when I got up there I did not realize I was suppose to put my hand over his so I stood there like a nut posing for the photo, it's histerical, I will post the photos when I get them developed, I am not digital yet..lol Anyway I wanted to go again so Julie came with me and the photo is fantastic.....
Okay so those were our most favorite of the ship....
Food: I thought the dining room food was much better than RCCL or CCL. Some days the lido dining was the same and some days better. I do agree that it is selective to each persons perception. Desserts just as bad as RCCL AND CCL with the exception of Dee's birthday dessert which I think was calld the love boat chocolate dream and that it was!!!!
Sabatini's Supper Club: Ambience was great, Dee and I sat on a mini sofa while the girls dined on chairs, it is advertised as an italian eatery, however the entree's ommited anything italian...lol They start you with a wonderful antipasta of olives, romano cheese, artichokes, sundried tomato, anchovies, yuk!! Then we got the most wonderful ricotta cheese flad with a dollop of roasted tomato on top, and a mini crabcake are you hungry yet..lol, then we had a soup or salad, dee and julie got salad and liked it, Doris got a tomato soup with fresh seafood, she loved that, I got a something I was not sure fit what I read, but it was like a chicken broth with mini carrots and potato with white beans, no flavor!! from there we had parpadelle with herbs and ravioli, both of which dee and I were not fans but julie liked it and dor never got to eat it because she want back to the room to get dee a beano...lol , after the pasta we got our entree's, Dee and I had what we thought was going to be stuffed chicken with herbs and butter and truffle potaotes, but what came was a chicken breast with a mini leg shaved down for presentation and skin on the chicken, while it was moist I could not eat it so Julie switched with me, she had lopster but it was overcooked, I believe doris had veal and liked it. Dessert was the best expresso creme brulee that I have ever had, it was amazing, and Dee had her love boat chocolate dream.
Stering Steak House: Julie and I opted not to go and dine outside, Dee and Doris went and I will let them tell you....
Some of the downsides: The ship was very understaded and boring in decor, they had some smaller bars that were quiant but overall BORING!! The escalator up to Skywalkers disco was very cool. There were alot of older people and we had the ship to ourselves at night because they were all in bed by 11pm...lol the two shows we attempted to see were not good and the one comedien was also not good.
The piano man in crooner's bar was great, it's a bar off of the 3 deck promenade, we frequented that place for our favorite bartender Henry and server Justin, they were wonderful to us, Dee and Doris lived here...lol
Coral Dining room, we got to dinner about 9:45pm and they were rushing us and and not friendly, the Palm restuarant, we arrive about the same time and we told them upfront we did not want to be rushed and that was much better.
They do have a lot to do, such as ceramics, bingo, games at the pool which were great, however their daily Princess Patter is very difficult to follow and frustrating.
Overall the ship was nice but we would never sail her again. I think we determined that we are Carnival Girls through and through...lol Although I really want Princess for Alaska in 2009 for the land and sea package.
St. Thomas was The best part of the trip was swimming with the sea lions...I will post photos and they will tell you how incredible it was, they broke us up in the water in two pairs, we had Franko the sea lion and dee and doris had rommie, we got to love on them and play games, and they jumped over us, we got photos of everything.
We made it back to Orient Beach in St. Martaan, we had a great day, we drank bushwackers and swam in the carribean sea.....
We loved princess cays, Julie and I got off early and it was very cloudy so we found a great little tiki bar that served drinks in a carved coconut head and tried several different ones to get the monkeys for our tiki bar at home...lol we went snorkeling and found our way back to the ship early so we could watch movies by the pool...Dee and Doris had a lounge chair cabana and vegged out and chatted with people we met on board and later met us at the pool.
We met some awesome people on this ship and hopefully some will check in on the boards and perhaps sail with us in the future.
I will check back on Tuesday and hopefully I will have all the photos back and I will post them.
George, we got your email about the Mariner next year, the "O" gilrs love traveling with you all but we can't travel on the same ship twice if we can only have one cruise a year. Dee and I need a Carnival fix, have any of you taken a look at the Freedom or Liberty? They look great, so think about it!!!! If you have your heat set on Mariner we will have to just plan for Alaska 2009.
okay I think I am stuck in the chair, the only drawback was driving home from Ft. Laud, we are all stiff...lol
I am off the the sofa to catch up on soap operas and cuddle with the dogs...
xoxoxo
