My cruise pages part 2

Check out my photos

Email me

Be sure to check my other page for cruises 1 - 8

It has been 2 years since our last cruise so I was having major withdrawals. Since our good friends Sherry and Craig Black were going on this cruise, we decided to go with them. This cruise was a bit challenging because just a couple of days before leaving we found out that the cruise right before ours had a possible Ebola patient quarantined. We were sweating it till they found out if she was positive. She was quarantined as a precaution because she was a lab supervisor at the lab where an Ebola patient had died. There wasn't any proof she had come in contact with him. So Saturday night right before we were to board the next day. we got the all clear that she had tested negative for Ebola. We were cleared to board the next day. :-)

We love the ship. Serenety Deck on deck 15 is awesome and quiet. It is only for 21 year olds and up. Only drawback is it doesn’t have a pool. I really wish it did. It does have a couple of hot tubs. It is very peaceful. Also there is no bathroom up  there, you have to go down one deck to get to the bathroom. There is a nice bar up there so that is a plus.

We also love the Red Frog Pub. I just liked the atmosphere.

The adult comedy show was also very good. We kept seeing people in the piano bar having way too much fun so we finally tried I the last night and it was a hoot. We had a great time.

I wish there was a really good nightclub on board. They had the vibe which was pretty good. We only went in one night and they were playing hip hop dance music which I enjoyed but Sherry and Craig didn’t care for it too much. It needs to play a good mix of country, rock and hip hop and be open a lot longer, like from 7 pm to 2 am or something like that.

We really liked the food. The mangolian grill was really good but I liked all of it. And the crew was always awesome!!!

We got to the parking lot about 10 am and was able to park right away. We parked at EZ Cruise parking lot and it was about $70 for the week which is less expensive than in New Orleans. We waited a few minutes till Sherry and Craig got there and then we boarded a shuttle for the Cruise Terminal. Check in went pretty fast. We were in Zone 9 and Sherry and Craig were in zone 8. We still got on about 5 minutes behind them. . We were on the ship by noon and ready for my first drink of the day – The Funship!

We were on the Lido deck 10 ready for lunch. I got the Magnolian grill for lunch. It was really good but pretty spicy. We sat there for a bit and then headed to our state room to put away our carry on and explore the ship.

At 2 pm we met up in the Red Frog Pub for the meet and greet of our facebook group. We had a great time and saw the people from the night before and some new people. Of course Sherry and Craig were there.  Some of the people we met were Jeanie, Regina, Lisa Cherry, Buffy, Mitch, Tony, and Jason. I wish I could remember everyone’s name.  We also did a gift exchange. I got some hot spices and since I wouldn’t use them, I gave them to Sherry.

After we had some drinks and visited for a bit, we headed to our cabin to get a quick nap and get ready for dinner. Our luggage came just a few minutes before we were to leave for dinner. Our dinner was in the Southern Lights dining room and we had table 563 an sat with Sherry and Craig. Our head waiter was Miguel. He had 2 helpers but can’t remember their name. They were all awesome!! I had a caesar salad and sweet & sour shrimp. It was so yummy!  Then it was on to karaoke and some partying with of course included more of the funship drink of the day. J

We got up about 8:30 and headed to the gym. It was super crowded and for this ship to be so big, the gym was pretty small and wasn’t laid out well. I started feeling clausterphobic and headed to breakfast on the Lido deck.

After changing to our swim suits we spend most of the day on the serenety deck #15which was for adults only over 21. We loved this. There was a couple of hot tubs, one on each side. The only thing I didn’t like is there isn’t a pool on the Serenity deck.

The FB group was going to do a rubber ducky party in the hot tub but it was a wash because they couldn’t find an empty hot tub,

Tonight was elegant night so we met up with Sherry and Craig to have some formal pictures taken and then headed to dinner. Tonight was lobster night and that is my favorite. It was great!!!!! The wait staff also did some singing and dancing.

After dinner we changed and met up with Sherry and Craig at the Red Frog Pub. We had some drinks and then headed to the adult comedy punchliner show. The name of the comedian was Ronnie Ballard. It was really funny. WE laughed so hard.

Sherry likes the casino so we headed there for a bit to watch her gamble. I don’t care much for gambling. We stayed there for a bit and then headed to the Lido for our frozen yogurt and people watched for a bit before heading to our cabin about 11 pm.

My choice for dink today was sex on the beach.

We woke up about 7:30 even though I had actually been awake since about 3 am but didn’t get up till about 7:30. I woke up so thirsty that I got some water and just sat outside on the balcony. I really enjoy sitting on the balcony especially first thing in the morning.

We went to breakfast about 9 am. Then we walked around to the shops and looked around. We just enjoyed walking around and people watching. We ended up going back to our cabin and sitting on the balcony with a drink.

Tonight was casual night in the dining room. I had Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail and jerk pork loin and wine. It was so good.

After dinner we changed to comfy clothes and met with Sherry and Craig at Red Frog. We stayed in there for a bit and visited and then headed to Ocean Plaza to see what was going on in there.

We headed to bed early to be ready for Jamaica the next day.

We got up early to eat breakfast and be downstairs by about 9 am to get ready for our excursion to Sunset Beach.

We did an excursion in Jamaica – Sunset Beach all inclusive resort. We caught our shuttle and got to the beach about 10:30 am. We went here in 2007 when we first met Sherry and Craig. It was fun. Jim, Sherry  & Craig snorkeled. I just sat on the beach because I don’t do oceans. We could have all the drinks we wanted so I drank a blue lagoon the entire day and it was really good.

It had changed a lot since our last time here but it was still very nice. They had just added more to it.

Jim got some coral while snorkeling for us to bring home. Sherry got some coral and a sea shell and there was something live in hers. LOL

For lunch Jim and I got hamburger and fries. The hamburger had some Jamaican spices on it and had a great flavor. After we were at the beach for about 3 hours or so, we headed to the pool.

We had more drinks and just cooled off in the pool for a couple of hours and then it was time to catch our shuttle back to the ship at about 3:30

When we got back to the terminal we did a bit of shopping. I didn’t find anything to buy.

We got back to the ship in time to dress for dinner. I had flat iron steak and it was really good. I also got a shot of some lemon something, I don’t remember the name of it.

After changing to comfy clothes we met with Craig and Sherry  at the Ocean Plaza to listen to band and visited with some friends we met on board – Trisha, Mark and Kathy.

We headed for our nightly Froyo about 10:30. It had been a long day and we wanted to be rested for the Caymans the following day.

We were supposed to go to the Caymans today but because of high winds we weren’t able to tender and there wasn’t another viable port to go to so we didn’t get to go anywhere today. We had an unplanned Sea day which was fine with me because I love sea days. Sherry and Craig were a bit disappointed because they were going to snorkel a shipwreck and didn’t get to do it.

We had a lazy day today because we knew the next day was Cozumel day and it would be busy.

We walked around and did more exploring of the ship and found things that we hadn’t see before such as the basket ball court, put put, rope course etc. We ended up on the Lido deck listening to music and having lunch and another drink. After a while we took our drinks and headed back to cabin to sit on our balcony and nap before dinner.

Tonight was elegant night at dinner. I had the broiled tiger shrimp and as usual, it was so good.  Then we headed to room to change and meet Sherry & Craig and Red Frog. After staying there a while we headed to Ocean Plaze to see what was going on and ended up in the casino. I played $20 in a slot machine and lost it so fast in the penny machine. LOL This is why I don’t gamble.

We didn’t even want froyo tonight so we headed to bed about midnight to be rested for Cozumel the next day.  

Cozumel is my most favorite place on earth. We docked earlier than originally planned because of missing Caymans the day before.We were originally to get there about10am but we docked about 8 am and we waited till crowds died down and we got off the ship about 9 am.

First thing we did was head to Wet Wendy’s. It was a bit off the beaten path down a dirt road. It was a quaint place with outside seating and it wasn’t crowded. We got a monster margarita and jim saved today as his drinking day so he had a beer. Craig and Sherry got nachos. It was fun but we didn’t stay too long. We left and did some shopping and ended up at Viva Mexico where we had gone together back in 2007. I love that play. Actually we made the party. Jim tipped the DJ so he kept playing whatever we wanted. Then the waiter handed out sombreros and the party continued. OMG we had so much fun. As much as I didn’t want to leave we needed to get closer to the ship and we wanted to go to Fat Tuesdays. We caught a cab back to the port and Sherry started getting sick from too much tequila.  We did make it to Fat Tuesdays and I got another margarita and some nachos and Jim got a beer. Sherry got water trying to sober up. We finally walked Sherry back to the ship so she could go to bed.

Last day on board and this day is always sad. We got up about 7 and headed to Lido deck for breakfast and went and bought our formal picture and our picture with Sherry and Craig on the gangplank at Cozumel. We walked around a bit and showed up at the Casino for the slot pull. I didn’t do it but I knew Sherry was going to be there and I wanted to check on her because of the night before. She was fine and even had a drink in her hand. LOL We then headed to lunch and ate with Sherry and Craig.

We headed to the Ocean plaza for some karaoke and people watching and I got another sex on the beach. About 4:15 we headed to our cabin to get ready for our last dinner on board. Tonight I had prime rib.  Also we had a BJ shot and we got to keep the shot glass. The little bar waiter was so embarrassed telling us what the shot was. WE just laughed at him. LOL

Jim just had to watch the Ole Miss game so we sat in the casino bar so he could watch it and I did some visiting with friends we met on the ship.

Then we headed to the Vibe dance club but I was the only one who liked it so we didn’t stay long. We ended up at the piano bar. This was the first time I had ever gone to the piano bar in 9 cruises and it was so much fun, I will go again.

We headed back to the room about midnight because we needed to get off the ship the next day. We had already packed and put our luggage outside so it was ready to go.

Debarkation day was a nightmare. We decided to do relax debarkation which means we had to have our luggage outside our door the night before by 11 pm which we did. The morning I got up really early and got ready and we went to eat breakfast.We went from there to deck 5 prominade deck to wait for our zone to be called. We were zone 16. It seemed to take forever. They  kept calling some woman’s name and she never appeared at guest services so they announced that they were going to fine her $1000 if she didn’t appear at guest services. Not sure what she did or what they wanted with her or I am not even sure if she ever appeared. Then they were doing some sort of service drill or something because they kept calling crew to certain lifeboats. Not sure if all of this was the hold up or not.

Our zone was finally called about a 11 am. By the time we got off the ship and picked up our luggage and got to our car it was noon. Getting our luggage alone was a nightmare. I am so glad we didn’t do self debarkation because we had trouble just getting our luggage out from the terminal, much less carrying it from our room. Next cruise I am going to pack much lighter. Of course I say that after every cruise. LOL

We finally got home about 11 pm that night. It was a long cruise and an end to a fantastic vacation. Now I am ready to book another one!!!!! LOL

Check out my Photos

Email Me

Be sure to check out my other page for cruises 1 - 8