Let the Games Begin

Actually we will save this title for the next chapter, and actually call this one Home Sweet Home!

 We wanted to drop off our sweatshirts and the carry-on bag. Sooo we took a walk down to deck 7, they were still cleaning up. But we saw a room steward and asked him if we could just drop our bag into the closet. He said no prob, its almost ready anyhow. So hubby put it in and off we went to get lunch.

Once the boys found were Guys Burgers was, that's what was decided for lunch. Actually that was decided when we booked the cruise and I told them about it, they just needed to find it now. 2 piggys, 1 ringer, and a plain Jane were had. It was all delish and we knew that meant good things to come the rest of the week... like weight gain LOL. (food porn pics to come thru the week, the 1st day is always over whelming

After taking a tour of the lido buffet and just browsing as we all were stuffed, we noticed it was 1pm and we could OFFICIALLY get into our room. Which was perfect as a few needed to go potty .. in peace LOL. So back to deck 7 we went. 

I booked a balcony on our last cruise an have to say once you go BALCONY.. its hard to go back. I find thats my pleasure. No one in the family uses it as much as I do.. heck probably couldnt combine all 3 of their time on it to equal mine. Thats ok like I said its my happy time on the balcony.

Speaking of booking, in July of 2014 when I booked this cabin/cruise was $4674 and our travel agent gave us $350 onboard credit. But as we got closer to the cruise it went down down down.. in the end it was $3170. Since we had already paid $4000 of it off, that different ended up going on to our onboard credit. Words for us either way it gets spent. But since the cost of the cruise went down our onboard credit did also.. only $150. Still "FINE BY ME" (another Friends quote... the one where Rachel breaks up with Ross... again)

Bed can be put together or seperate to make 2 twin beds. I almost wanted to seperate them at times and reinact The I love Lucy Show... especially when hubby takes up my side and steals the covers.


Take a good look at this clean desk area... like at home, in a matter of a few moments... days its full of clutter. I dont know how we do it. LOL.

Still plenty of room yet I wish they had more drawers where the vanity seat area is.. maybe thats just the hoarder in me talking.







The sofa flops down to make a twin bed, then right over it they pull down the twin bunk. Take note, last time you will see the sofa lol.


or the ceiling for that matter LOL.

The only thing I wish they would do in all cabins is the split bath. I know Disney has them, and on Carnival Breeze the Ocean View rooms have them. But it would be nice in a 4 person or more room if they had the split bath. We make it work though.

Oh and a real shower... I can only take so much of the shower curtain sticking to my booty LOL

My safe haven... well for now P's haven.

When we initally booked we were on deck 6, but as I watched the price drops and special offers, they eventually offered an upgrade to deck 7 for free so I nabbed it.  Thought it would be better to put a little space between us and the Promenade deck.

Obligatory luggage mat pic.

I cant remember if J picked this up while we were out and about or if it was in our room already... either way, we never went to the orientation. But not a prob, I had pre-registered the boys and they got the sticker on their Sign and Sail Card stating they were in their respective clubs.

Upon entering our room, there were 3 bottles of water for us as returning Carnival Members... all for the boys. Soo lets recap. We have been on 1 prior 8day cruise all 4 of us. On this cruise, I get a gold card, they get a red card. They get the water with letters address to them, I get NADA. WTF? 

Playlist show schedule was in our room, I'll let you know now we dont go to the shows. Sorry, I think they suck.... guess thats what happens when your 1st cruise is Disney and they set the bar HIGH! 

I had put the door decor in my carry on and took a quick moment to do up our door. Nothing fancy. I had planned something else but it was last minute and I decided not to do it... but I will for sure on our next one. This was just a collage pic of the 4 of us,  

Our cruise group was over 200+ people (not counting their family and friends) and a tshirt was designed along with a hashtag for everyone to post their pics to all the social media sites. (the hashtag was on the back of the shirt along with everyones names under the state they are from)

Then I made us a Cruise Bucket List.... wonder how many we will cross off???  Wait and see!!

I made a photo challenge, Im sure you all have seen them on Instagram, well this was like those monthly type challenges. Sadly.. I only did like 3 lol. I kept forgetting to post them.... actually can I blame it on the alcohol. lol 

Next Up: (NOW) Let the Games Begin

Call Me Gold Member

Woke up before the alarm even went off at 7am... this will be the routine while on vacation. Funny enough I cant do this during the week for work LOL.  Anyhow I jumped into the shower and got ready, then woke up the troops to do the same. 

Ran downstairs to eat a quick breakfast, then came back up to grab our bags and head out! We dropped our rental car at the Downtown Avis/Budget agency. Then got in line for the Free Shuttle to the Port. It was awesome as the family in front of us were from our cruise thread. So we began a round of introductions and since we were the only 2 family's able to fit on the shuttle it wasnt long before we saw her....

 The excitement level got higher in the car, everyone pulled out their phones and cameras to start taking pics. We were at the port by 10:30am, not bad. Had planned/hoped for a 10am arrival. Hubby was worried they wouldnt even let us in since our boarding pass said 1pm. Oh he's so pretty lol.

Shuttle parked and started unloading our crap, we tipped him, then turned around to a porter already getting our stuff tagged. So we tipped him, then headed for the terminal. 

Yes, we all were wearing sweatshirts, it was a chilly, windy morning.

Checked in with our boarding pass, then went thru security no prob, they run your stuff thru an xray machine like at the airport. (No hand checking at least for us this time. In Ft. Lauderdale they hand checked the drinks in our carry on.) Up the escalator we went and into line to officially check in!

10mins later we were standing at the counter getting our sign and sail cards. Which was a fun but still questionable experience. Reason being, this is the 2nd 8day cruise for all 4 of us. I was watching as the boys were handed their Red Cards... then the adorable girl behind the counter handed me a GOLD card... AHHHHHHHH. Uh but why? To which the gal said, cuz your special... umm k. Not going to disagree.. didnt want to say I should be red too, who's gonna pass up on moving up a category if thats in fact what is going on. All I could think of was our travel agent had arranged something??? (Anyone have any ideas why, my card is different as I am still unsure? Haven't talked to my agent yet)

When we were done checking in, we found some seats in the back and camped out for a bit. As I went to go charge my phone at the charging station they had, I noticed a few more people from our cruise thread. Did some more introductions, I think even hugs were given lol. We were just so excited. One gal got everyone bracelets to wear with our cruise date/ship name, so she was passing those out.  

Everyone was checking in on the various media sites, and as different zones were called we would see people pass us and wave hi. We all said to wear beads so that we could spot each other, so that helped. We were zone 6... not bad, but it felt like forever as we got to hear them start from the beginning. But then they finally got to 6 and we cheered... ok I cheered, the boys just grabbed their jackets and backpacks and looked at me like I was crazy.

Had to take the obligatory Bon Voyage pic, looks like 2 of us are happy to get on board, 1's getting there, & don't mind hubby. The Marine Corps has trained him not to smile LOL.

Going thru the photo process was fast, they had 3 backgrounds going (all the same) so before we knew it, we were walking up the gangplank.. well after one last selfie in the terminal.

You will see that pose from P a lot during this trip. 

We then were in the Atrium, taking it all in. Pics dont do it justice, it really is a site. I loved that its a little more contemporary and doesnt have that old Vegas feel like the older ships.

They were passing out Fun times so I grabbed one to start planning our day.

Ship Maps are always awesome.... boys of course had it memorized within a few hours it seemed. E and I still got lost trying to get off the ship on the last day LOL. 

For months now I had been counting down via the Carnival Hub App. Since we were on board now, I decided it was the perfect time to log in. At this point only I logged in, as the guys were all in their own world trying to figure out where to eat lunch. Our cruise thread had agreed when we all got on board to log in so that when we met up at our meet & greet later we all could connect.

When you officially log in on the APP you use your folio #, so it links all your info on it, such as who you are/age/room#/table#/etc. Then it gives you another 4digit# that is yours to give out to friends & family so they can contact you thru the app. It works like sending a text message you enter the persons 4digit # in, and request them to be a contact. Once they say yes, you can send a text msg to them. Now you wont have to remember their # each time, as once they accept your request it then enters their full name into the contacts area on the app. (I should have taken screen shots but forgot in the moment). But truly it is Easy Peasy! Best part it only cost $5 per folio account/person for the whole cruise. No more having to leave post it notes on the mirror in the room. Then going back and forth to check it every now and then to meet up or check on where the kids were.

Next Up: Let the Games Begin

Stepping Up on Ocean Drive

Yes, we have watched all the Step Up movies multiple times. So when we woke up and told the boys we were going to South Beach and onto Ocean Drive, they were actually excited for once. Only due in part to that darn movie lol. Well actually they were a bit miffed, since we woke them up... teenagers. This is what I had to sleep with last night...

Once we were all up and dressed we went down to the lobby where breakfast is included in our stay. Which normally was going for $200, but found a military deal for $150 a night x 2 nights. Every lil bit helps. It was a king bed with sofa sleeper, nothing spectacular.

Didnt take pics of breakfast but it was your normal continental fair, along with they had scrambled eggs, sausage, and make your own waffles. Even though I was on my 2nd day of vacation, I was still fixing breakfast for my crew... chocolate chip waffles anyone? Thankfully they had a great coffee bar with multiple kinds of flavored creamers that kept me happy.

Once we were done we headed out to South Beach, we wanted to get there early so we could leave early. The Music Festival was going on and had heard on the news it gets crazy after dark, so we didnt want to be anywhere near that ... especially with kids. (Sad part was no seeing the Art Deco District all light up at night though, oh well always next time LOL) 

Upon driving towards the freeway we noticed we were just around the corner from the Carnival Corp. Offices. I thought that was neat... no one else in my family did.

We passed the Miami Stadium, then drove by the Port, that got everyone excited to know we would be boarding a ship tmrw!

All of the communities going towards South Beach looked AMAZING. We wanted to check them out but thought that was a bit too stalkerish, so we just did drive by's from the freeway. Oh but that there,.. thats my yacht lol

It was a slow drive into South Beach, it was a Friday so Im sure the tourist were all out by now being that it was about 11am. Eventually we made it to Ocean Drive, and were in aww of the Art Deco District. Boys kept trying to figure out where they stopped traffic in the movie to start dancing.

We drove north on Ocean and just took it in, its a great way to see everything 1st, then eventually found a parking garage. Then walked along the boardwalk checking out hotels on the beach.

We wanted to rent bikes, they had Citi Bikes (citibikemiami.com/) set up around the city but we could never find 4. Thought it would be a great way to get back to the starting point of Ocean, then walk back through it. Instead we hoofed it all the way, checking out stores along the walk that had air conditioning to cool us down. It was a hot one, being from California we are used to the heat, but the humility gets us every time. Poor J was dying, granted he was carrying the backpack full of water. 

I was able to take a few pics to check out the ol skool buildings, Im sure it looks amazing all lite up at night. 

We forgot the selfie stick (yes we have one, its the only way I get in pictures now adays.) So we took pics of the boys, which by now they were on each others last nerves. Then they took one of hubby and I. 

We saw a lot of ... umm interesting sites. Cars were just screaming LOOK AT ME... and we did. My 16yr old, well and for that matter my hubby were enjoying watching a few ladies sunbathe, run or skate by. Oh to be young and have a body again.... lol.

This one was original... and bright.

Who knew General Lee was in South Beach?

Everyone was getting hungry as it was now around 1pm-ish. I had tried to find a Groupon but the boys were all hungry, thirsty, and hot. So we stopped at the next place we saw with food that looked pretty good. (BIG MISTAKE, look for a coupon/groupon etc prior... just saying) Hubby saw a huge Beer-garita go by and said lets get one to share.. ok. He's not a big drinker (I am) so when he said get a drink for him I dont 2nd guess it. My 12yr old J, wanted a strawberry margarita (virgin of course)














One quesadilla, and 3 burgers later we were stuffed. Food was good, drinks hit the spot. Then the bill came and we about died. $204.... $30 service charge, what's that you ask... thats just for dinning on Ocean Drive. No joke we asked about it. We can cross that off our list of things to do once and never do again LOL.


After filling our bellies and emptying our wallet, we hit a few stores on the way back to the car for the usual souvenirs, shirts, coffee mug, thimble for my mom (she lives across the street from us and takes the boys to and from school). Got a few postcards but couldn't find anywhere to mail them... oh well. I'll add them to our scrapbook.

We made it back to the car just in time as it started pouring but didnt last long ....

Nor did the boys, soon as we got in the car the passed out. Really I should be the one passing out since I had the huge Beer-Garita... just goes to show you they cant keep up with their momma! 

As we were leaving we did see these signs all over the place, at 1st we though oh SHNAP Emily you go girl, telling Martin off. Then once I got back to the hotel, realized it was all a great promotional get up. #goodjobsales 

Also back in the room I filled up our rum runners (yes, we are those people too) with Rumchatta and Bacardi. A lil something for me, and for the hubby. Repacked our suitcases, and got the carryon ready for our big day tmrw. I would say that we would be too excited to sleep but thats not correct, 3 of them would have no prob snoring the night away... me I would be both excited and annoyed from the snores LOL. 

I logged into our cruise meet and chatted with everyone, reading what they did for the day or hearing about their flights/drives in. 

Couldn't wait to meet everyone finally after months of getting to know each other we all would meet in less than a few hours!

Eventually I put a pillow over my head and was able to muffle the snores enough to fall fast asleep.

Next Up: Call me Gold Member