KimmyKat

Thanks Everyone! Glad you enjoyed the pics and vids!

I am not sure if you were talking to Linda or me...but I will respond as if you were talking to me since I know Linda hasn't taken the cruise yet. The Dawn Princess looked so eerie sailing away amid all the smoke from the fires that had broken out. I ended up taking a cool shot of her as she sailed off into the smokey sunset. We also had some fun with some of the passengers of the Dawn Princess as they sailed away. They were singing the love boat theme..it was really cute. Thanks for the compliments on the pictures...feel free to use whatever pictures you like.

Hi everyone, The Links to my pictures and mini-movies of my recent cruise on Carnival's Spirit are in my signature. I have pictures of our Pride cruise there too, but the recent ones are clearly marked Spirit cruise. The Mini-movies are listed as the Spirit Cruise as well. Enjoy, and if you have any questions...fire away!

The Inspiration has a special place in my heart because she was our very first cruise. I sure love what they have done with her. She looks fantastic! I hope to re-visit her one day, but I like to do cruises longer than 5 days if we are flying all the way back east. We were one of the last that got to enjoy her for 7 day/4 port cruises right before she changed over to her 5 day Itinerary.

Thanks everyone for the best wishes!!! I have been working on getting pictures uploaded to my webshots account...and also some mini-videos uploaded to youtube. Unfortunately I didn't get shots of the Dolphins but our table mates did. I will email them and see if they can send them to me. The Dollar Coronas were for sale all along the beach in Zihuatanejo..Pacifico's too. You paid a buck and they pulled an ice cold bottle from a tub of ice and poured it into a plastic cup for you...the whole bottle was poured in, so you got the full amount. They were sooo good in the hot sun. Because of the Itinerary change we got an extra 2 hours in Acapulco (we arrived there at 10:00 am instead of noon). We rented a van/driver for a private tour..just the hubby and I..for 90 bucks. So for 45 a person we got this van for 3 hours and got to stop where we wanted, when we wanted, and he gave us a tour of the city. It was great because I was able to ask to stop where I wanted to take pictures. Then later that night we had the Aztec Dinner/Cliff Divers excursion booked. The Night cliff diving was spectacular...the Dinner was so-so, but it was a gorgeous view from the open restaurant. The Spirit - from the beach of the restaurant where we hung out all day. Greg rented a wave runner later on in the day for 25 dollars for a half hour. Acapulco Skyline at night from our table at the "Linda Vista" restaurant.

Oh My gosh! Vicky, I just saw this post! It is sooo cool that you watched us sail away and took a shot of it! We were on our aft balcony that whole time. If you would have zoomed in on Deck 4, the wrap around balcony on the starboard side, you would have probably seen us. This is soo cool. Sure makes me want to go back in time. :) So here is what is weird...I probably took this picture just about the same time Vicky was capturing the shot on the webcam. So here we are...looking back at each other.

Back from the Spirit October 21st Sailing. We got through on the I-15 right before the fires broke out in San Diego. By the time the ship left port, the whole city was enveloped in a smokey haze. I will have pictures soon. Embarkation wasn't too smooth with 3 ships in port at once. Organized Chaos is what I would call the parking situation and the whole embarkation process. We were one of the lucky ones since we had VIP boarding, too. When we went through the entrance of the terminal, we were handed an Itinerary change because of tropical storm Kiko. They took Manzanillo off our Iten. and instead, were taking us to Ensenada the very next day (I assume so we could wait out Kiko moving more west), then two sea days, then Acapulco on Thursday, then Zihua/Ixtapa on Friday. I was okay with this as I was glad we weren't going to be circling the waters of So. Cali for 8 days. Then, early morning the next day, we awake to some rockin and rolling in rough seas. Shortly after this, there is announcement that the port of Ensenada is closed because of the Santa Ana winds causing rough seas. We won't be able to stop there. The good news was that Kiko had moved west quicker than they thought, so we were going to hit Manzanillo on Wednesday, Acapulco on Thursday and Zihua/Ixtapa on Friday. We got the ports back, but they were just switched around a little. We had smooth sailing the rest of the way and a great cruise~! Greg and I were in the Legends show and had a blast! He was Elvis and I was Aretha Franklin. I also got a ship on a stick for the battle of the sexes! YAY! hehe. All in all, with the exception of the very first part of the cruise, we had a really good time. Highlights for us The Cliff divers in Acapulco at night. We got to see them with the added effect of a lightning storm. Pretty spectacular. We got lucky it didn't rain on us during the cliff diving...just lightning. Zihuatanejo was beautiful and dollar coronas...ice cold! Dinners in the dining room with our Fantastic servers...Sylvester, U Pe and Renata! Breakfast in our suite every morning...love that wrap-around balcony! Winning 500 bucks playing blackjack in the Casino. Having a party in our suite after meeting some GREAT people! Dolphins and their Babies as we left Zihuatanejo! Karaoke with all the friends we met and a great karaoke hostess, Liz! Also Armando..the best cocktail server in club cool! The Legends Rehearsal and Show! Probably a lot more highlights that I am just overlooking right now. It was a 25th wedding anniversary to remember!

Thank you everyone!!! I am soo excited, I can't sleep. Hehe. I don't even care if Tropical Storm Kiko turns into a hurricane...Hubby and I are going to make the most of this time. We will leave at around 10 this morning to head down to San Diego. I have just about everything packed except last minute stuff. Wheeeee. Thanks again everyone for the best wishes!!! I will have a coco loco for my sail away drink and think about you all!

Hmm I like that sacraficial alcohol intake idea. Because all of our cruises have been with our kids, we never bought them anything in the ports. They had their own money to spend. We have bought little things for people back home. This next cruise, since it will just be the two of us, we will probably get something for the kids. I don't see my daughter much, though, as she lives in Chicago. So maybe just something for my son. They don't expect things, so there is no pressure to find that right little souvenir. If I see something I think he would like, I will get it...if not, then I won't.

Hi Everyone, I don't mean to butt in on your roll call thread but I was having fun looking at videos on Youtube last night and came across a compilation video on Acapulco and the person used a song called "Loco in Acapulco" by the Four Tops as their theme music. You all might have already discussed this song, I don't know, but I thought I would mention it. I have already downloaded it and it is going on my iPod for our Locopulco cruise in October. Since you all have the whole "Loco in Acapulco" theme going...I thought I would mention it just in case you weren't aware of it. "I now return you to your regularly scheduled roll call thread"

*LOL* wow..that brought back memories. We did Senor frogs and Carlos and Charlies in Cozumel. We were in port from 9 am to 10 pm...and it was crazy party time! My son, who was old enough to drink in Mexico, got initiated really fast with one of those shots where they shake your head. It was crazy go nuts! Thanks for sharing the videos, Vicky...it was a great walk down memory lane.

First of all, I had this notion that cruising was only for the well-to-do and older set. I guess I got that from movies and also on the Love Boat it seemed to always be successful singles or elderly couples or heiress types. I looked into cruising because we wanted to take a family (4 of us) vacation to Hawaii. After I priced out airfare (we wanted to visit at least two islands), Hotel, and eating in restaurants for 7 nights/days, it just sky rocketed out of our budget. I had been a regular member of a Disney site that also had a travel agency...so I began to look into something that would fit into our budget but was still ocean/beach oriented. It was suggested to me to look at cruising. I was pleasantly surprised at the pricing. We opted for a Caribbean cruise with 4 ports in 7 days. Even tacking on airfare to Tampa made it cheaper than Hawaii. You sure can't beat having all your meals included. The rest they say, is history. We had one of the best family vacations we have ever had...and we took another one just this past January and it was even better. Needless to say...we are hooked. Oh yeah, I also thought I would get seasick because I do on smaller water craft. I have always come prepared, but it has never happened.

I have gone back a few times and seem to always find something new. You can make the beach a screen saver on your computer. In the Karaoke bar you can vote for your favorite singer (they are all horrible btw lol) and you can slide down the slide on the lido deck.

Here is a fun site that you can spend a few hours on. It will definitely get you Carnival cruisers in the mood for your cruise. Have fun exploring the site and be sure to order a drink at the atrium bar and try relaxing on the beach and snorkeling too. A lot of fun interactive stuff to do. The piano bar performer will even sing you a song and use your name. Have fun! Fun Ship Island

During the day we can be found on our balcony or in the Casino...unless there are some fun games scheduled then we enjoy watching and/or particpating. I love trivia and watching the newlywed game is a hoot.

Hi everyone, Hubby and I are crusing to these ports in October and we have decided on the types of excursions we want to do, but don't know which ports off the best in those. We would like to do a beach excursion. Somewhere we can not only relax but perhaps rent some water toys. We would also like to snorkel and my husband is thinking of looking into scuba diving (he is certified) too. We want to know if the cliff divers is a must see in Acapulco. Neither of us are big on "tours". We just don't go in for the 5-7 hour tours, but we do like guided excursions that give you your own time as well. Can any of you give advice as to which ports are best for these? Where is the best port to shop? Any out of the way places that were real bargains...or just some great food you found? Anything would help. Thanks.

Thanks for the compliments on my pictures everyone!

GREAT pictures! I have always wanted to go to Venice and now I do more than ever!

Definitely! Our 21 year old daughter and 18 year old son absolutely LOVED our cruise (they loved the one when they were 16 and 19 too) on Carnival. The nightclub was open until 3 or 4 am and then practically the whole nightclub would make the trek up to 24 hour pizza/calzones/salads after dancing the night away. They also loved the daytime activities (when they hadn't been up until 4am) of tournaments such as basketball and volleyball. My son really loved the scavenger hunt things like the "The Great Race" and "Survivor"...couldn't get me to do "fear factor" though. haha. They had alot of activities as well as your usual fare of swimming, using the fun slide, gambling, spa/gym...etc.

Happy Sailing! As the others have said, you can come and go as you please but you will find that in ports where you tender (use a boat to get to shore) it can be a little more of a hassle to go back and forth.

haha..thanks for the chuckle. The funny thing is..I think there may be some people out there that think this is being served on Carnival. lol I think it is rather funny that Carnival gets some upturned noses...but to be honest, I really don't want those kind of people on my cruise. If they are snobby about Carnival, I am sure that attitude bleeds over into other things as well. It just means MORE chocolate melting cake for me!!!!

Glad you enjoyed the slide show. We had a great time. We visited Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. We really liked PV and Cabo. I think if we would have taken more of an excursion out of the city we would have enjoyed Mazatlan. We did like Panchos on the beach for a great lunch though.

We absolutely love the aft wrap around balcony suites on Carnival's Spirit class ships. We had one in January on the Pride and we booked another for October on the Spirit. Here are a couple pictures. You can view more by clicking on the link below. The entrance to the suite. It turns to the right and there is a desk and a short hallway to the bedroom. There is also a large vanity area outside the bathroom which has granite countertops and a jacuzzi tub. Our wrap around balcony. We spent alot of time out here..and it was great for our sail away party too. To view pictures of the bathroom, vanity area, bedroom and much more Click Here

I have only been on Carnival twice, but I would have to say that both times the service and food were very good. OH...and the bedding!!! We absolutely love the Carnival beds and bedding.

Whats wrong with Long beach? It is a very nice terminal with convenient parking and a beautiful city as a port. To those not native to southern california it is not far from alot of things to do or even some beautiful beaches. Not the Long Beach of 10 years ago at all. They have really made an effort to clean up the City and it shows....not that it was that bad to begin with. I, for one, am very happy that we will be getting a new ship. It's about time since some have said the west coast sometimes gets treated as the red-headed step child (no offense to red headed step children, I am just quoting what others have said ) of the cruise industry. I know why and I am sure many can go into the logistics but the truth is, the west coast is the base for mex. riviera, alaska and hawaii cruises. Those really are not bad places to cruise. Besides, The Splendor won't even be "new" by then anyway. It will just be nice to have a new to the west coast ship that isn't from the older fleets.