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Thank you, Shari!? Seawalk, fortunately, had enough solid floor surrounding the glass to make it less obvious that there was nothing between us and the ocean.?

Shari - that’s awful, and there is no excuse for the crew’s behavior, especially since you had an assigned seat. Thankfully, the other guy was a gentleman and moved over for you. What a terrible way to treat their customers!?

Joe, thanks for sharing your first cruise with NCL. Being a diehard Princess fan, Norwegian’s Freestyle cruising was a hard sell for my husband and I, but after recently returning from our 8th NCL cruise, I guess I can say the line grew on us - we love them! We are also New Englanders born and bread, and I agree - cruising out of New York is so easy, and Boston, even better!

Hi Joe...what a wonderful blog, and review of "The Norwegian Escape." It sounds like a wonderful ship. Love the pictures! I have only been on Norwegian once, and that was a few years back. I was on the older ship, "The Norway." I believe it used to be "The France." It was a very interesting ship. I really liked it. The entertainment was excellent, but we seemed to be on it at the wrong time. Some protesting with the help and all caused Norwegian to hire some new help. We did still really enjoy it. Would love to try the newer Norwegian ships, especially now after seeing your review. Thanks for the great post, great review, and great pictures! So glad that you, and family, had a great time...except for the Disembarkation.

Forgot to say WELCOME Joe...love your blog and the great pictures! We were on the "Holiday" back in the '80s and it was pretty bad, but decided to go with a group of friends on the "Liberty" in 2009. I was amazed at how much better the ships looked, and the food and entertainment was very good. Although I would love to try other ships, I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the newer Carnival ships again. Loved the melting chocolate cake with a little ice cream on top. Had that almost every night, even though the crème Brule is usually my favorite.

@Shari2 I could not agree more Carnival has come a very long way in a short amount of time! If you enjoyed the Carnival Liberty you would definitely enjoy the Horizon!

Looks like a beautiful ship! Carnival has come a long ways from years back. My last cruise on Carnival was in 2009 on the "Liberty." Although Celebrity is my favorite, I really enjoyed the Carnival Liberty.

This reminded me, when we were brand new cruisers our table mates turned us on to this dining "option". It really elevated our dining experience. Now we have 15+ cruises under our belts and share with other newbies, that we happen to be sitting with, that it's OK to order an extra appetizer or share an extra main course. On one trip our new friends took to this quite well. Each couple ordered an extra entree and we all shared them around the table. The plates were flying all over the place. It looked like a crazy family at Thanksgiving. We all stay in touch after several years.

Sarge, my prayers and thought go to you and your family in the lost of your daughter... there are never words to express at the lost of a child period! Not for you and your family nor for the family of this precious one lost in this pool on board the Carnival ship... Accidents happen... nothing more nothing less... God does always have a plan we may not know it for years to come, but He always knows... it's hardest to trust Him when these situations are fresh in our minds and the pain is fresh in our hearts. The verse that comes to my mine is: Be still and know that I am God... If we as humans can remember and rely on this one statement, we can have hope. God bless you in the loss of your baby and God bless this family in the loss of this precious six year old.. My prayers are with you all...And praying for you and your friends as well, Shon...

Oh Sarge, I am so sorry to hear of your loss, but I pray the same peace that has come over your heart will also invade the lives of all those affected by this tragedy! Thanks for sharing your kind words and thoughts - as always, they're welcomed with smiles and open arms!

Great read!!!! I sail this sat

I hope this catches on, and at an affordable rate. My wife likes to go to N.Y. twice (at least) a year to visit family and friends. I wouldn't mind doing a 3 to 5 day cruise while she's gone!!

Good post Jan. I have seen this too many times in the past on cruises to blow it off!! And, I have posted on it often. The statement "it's my vacation, I paid for it" just shows the self-centered nature of many (not all) parents. You may have paid for your vacation, but you did not pay for mine. Maybe I don't find the games of your kids pressing all the buttons on the lift, sitting and blocking the stairs or running up and down the hallways screaming to be amusing. When we brought our niece (she was 12 at the time) on the Carnival Pride with us, she was so well behaved because we discussed with her pre-cruise the importance of respecting the other passengers right to the vacation THEY paid for. I've actually had little "Rug Rats" curse at me when I asked them to move from blocking access to the stairs!! They were about 12 or 15 years old!!! No parents or adult guardians to be found anywhere. And one more thing to parents bringing their kids on a cruise, the cruise line staff are NOT your personal babysitters. Please don't board the ship on which I PAID for MY cruise and just cut your kids loose as if the ship was their personal playground!!!

When my wife and I were married (10 years ago in June) my in-laws happened to have a cruise scheduled one week after our wedding. So they generously purchased a cabin for us for our honeymoon. The embarrassment came when my wife and I landed ourselves on the newlywed game show. From the moment my new wife started planning our audition, I knew that my new in-laws would never look at me the same again. But I figured that if I'm going down it might as well be in a blaze of glory. So the peak of my embarrassment came when the other husbands and I were brought back to the stage to try to match our wives answers and cruise director pressing me for details all the way gets me to explain to the entire ship and my in-laws where the "wildest place my wife and I had ever made whoopee" was. And lets just say it wasn't on the ship during our honeymoon. Worst part is we didn't even win. My embarrassment continued to a lesser degree as I become semi-famous for the rest of the cruise, with people addressing me by nicknames like "hamburger helper" which was how I described my wife's cooking and matched her answer by the way, and "Woody" for "Woody Wood Pecker" the cartoon character she chose to describe me in the morning, we got that one right too. Overall, I embraced it all and had a great time.

Amen on the prayers. While I can totally understand people who are going through tough times like this being upset and angry, I have been there, Faith, and Prayer, will always help us to handle things the best way possible, and give us a calmer heart, and help to forgive. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

Thanks for a great entry. I think we have all been there, done that. Personally I believe the sea air shrinks the clothes in my closet. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Great story ... like a boxing match!

Welcome to the site, Shon, and I love your post. You write beautifully, you really know how to hold the interest. We loved the Imagination also, Then, again, we love every ship. And yeah, the food, isn't it something? Looking forward to your next post. Keep them coming. Your mom did a great job with you, by the way.

Hi CruiseMan ~ I enjoyed your post. Carnival Imagination was our second cruise, in 2003. We brought our kids this time - yes, mom made them do it and they loved every minute!

I love your writing style. I have always wondered about the crew quarters. Thanks for the description and the picture

$25 is so cheap... i bet its more like $100 now a days!!! crazy though!

Danny I luv reading this blog. You give us a look at the inside of whats happening which I find really interesting. I will check u out on FB. I have one question. Are ships nurses considered officers?

This is really cool Danny. I am challenged to think of any other travel site that has this sort of features. Thanks Danny and jason for creating this. Awesome!

I second all of the above! Looking forward to your next post.

Another great installment which leaves us wanting for more. I'm really enjoying your writing Stacey.

Wow! I love this! Thank you for sharing. I feel like I am right there experiencing everything with you.

Great article Jan!

I can TOTALLY relate to the T-shirt regrets, Jan! In fact, I just put a bunch of them in the Salvation Army pile, lol.

I agree - the ribs were great, and I'm not a huge fan of hand-held sticky food.?

Glad to have you back, Danny! I’m glad to see you’ve graduated from the leftovers served below decks.? Loved your video, and I agree, no matter how full I am, I can never pass on dessert!?

Great post, Jan...I can really relate to most of that. I am definitely a procrastinator. Right now, even when I should get to bed, here I sit on the computer, and then instead of going to bed I'll throw a load of clothes in or just anything else...crazy, since I really do need to sleep...LOL The packing list is a great idea...I do that also or would surely forget something, especially since I'm a senior citizen now...LOL I do like to put the clothing in the suitcases at the last minute, but then they don't wrinkle as much...right? LOL So glad David is well and he could go, and you both had a great time.

Travel has made me look at the world in a whole different way. It's a good thing.

Dear Shon: Say it ain't so!!!! I love reading your blog!!! You are always informative and entertaining... and thought provoking... I may not always comment, but I do enjoy reading what you have posted... I wish you well and hope you will continue to participate in other ways with us 'Crazies'... The best of the smooth sailing seas to you my fellow cruiser... God Bless...

We also have never met a cruise ship that we didn't like. We've been on smaller ships (in the 90's), older ships (SS Norway where you had to go up, down, around to get to different floors) and refurbished ships. And, we've been on ships that need to be refurbished! We try to steer clear of the mega-ships. But I'm guessing that pretty soon that is all that will be available. There are 2 ships that stand out: One is a Royal Caribbean where we had a bathtub and shower. The decorations of that ship were "jungle" like and the pool at the very back of the ship had cricket sounds and bird sounds. They also had a Johnny Rockets that we liked to visit. The other was a Celebrity where the stateroom interior was the most georgous wood that we had ever seen.

Like the "grab and go kit" idea. That one was new to me.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again Shon..."YOU DA' MAN"!!! When it comes to cruises, I'm more of an introvert. I like to watch fellow passengers like you bang it up. It makes for good memories of the cruise and dampens the display passengers make of themselves that spend their cruise "inspecting" the ship, looking for any failure they can find. Gotta get on a cruise with you man!! Be safe........

Thanks, Shon! I really enjoyed that. I have no excuse for not cruising from Baltimore. It's much cheaper and quicker to fly to BWI than MIA for me, and if I really wanted to, I could do the 9-hour drive. Grandeur looks lovely, and I am just going to have to hop a jet and come down!

Thanks for sharing your fun with us Shon!

Sounds like you are having the time of your life!

Bon Voyage - have a great cruise. Please be sure to post your upcoming cruises in the Who's Cruising list so we can all wish you bon voyage

Welcome to the community, man! I look forward to following along with your blog! Of my 29 cruises, only 1 has been with RCI, so I'll really be tuning in to see if you can sway be back on! I'm an NCL guy myself, but would love to get back out there with Royal Caribbean! :-)

Carnival's best room service menu item - Turkey BLT with chips!!!

Hey Shon, Bon voyage and looking forward to reading your live updates from the ship.

An excellent point from Sarge6870, a letter of praise is a wonderful thing to do!

Congratulations on your awards. With this kind of writing, I'm not surprised. Didn't know that working in the restaurants was the highest paid job.

Cool story. I remember being on the Grand Princess in 1999 in San Juan. As we sailed out, I was watching the pilot boat approach. Usually you just see the pilot and maybe someone else get off the ship, but there were several people getting on the ship before the pilot got off. Found out later these were passengers who arrived late at the pier, and managed to get on the pilot boat for $25 each. Heck, if I would have known, I would have paid that LOL.

Welcome to the site, Brian. I love your blog. You've written about something I haven't seen written about before, so thank you. I had no idea but, then again, I hadn't really thought about the sex lives of the Olympians or the crew members. That must have been one heck of a party on the Fantasy. Looking forward to your next installment.

Danny, welcome back! Looking forward to reading your weekly blog posts.

Stacey “The Accidental Cruiser” , we're looking forward to the next installment!

Thanks Danny. I have a question if you can get to it, well maybe two Do you get days off and how many hrs. a day does the crew work? Thanks! Larry