No, I don’t want to buy a drink!

  

1) Our cruise saga. The cost breakdown.

2) No, I don’t want to buy a drink!

3) Jamaica me crazy!

4)  Stingrays can ruin a honeymoon

This vacation could not have come at a better time. I needed to de-blog in the worst possible way. It literally started to mess with my mind. Being without internet and email was just what the doctor ordered, or would have ordered, if I had gone to a psychiatrist.

If I had to describe Carnival cruise line in two words, it would be “unclassy fun.” Think booty shaking contests  (I didn’t participate), waiters dancing on tables to the song “Gangham style” and guys pretending to wrestle a snake, by using a rolled up towel on the deck. You probably will never see as many tattoos in odd body places as you will on a Carnival ship.

When we first got on the ship, we were instantly bombarded with staff trying to sell us mixed drinks. They make tips on them, so obviously pretty motivated. Hmm, that sounds familiar. One passenger got so fed up, he took off his shirt and taped a piece of paper to his chest saying: “No, I don’t want to buy a drink!” I’m telling you, if he was into this hobby, he would totally be an “Angry” or “Blangry” (blogger+angry).  No, I don’t want to click your link!  Drink/link, it rhymes!

I mentioned in my first part that we did run into some issues. The biggest one was with our room steward. I’m still not sure if he was obnoxious or just mentally deficient. When we go on a cruise, we usually request that our beds are pulled apart. That is because our son climbs into my bed in the morning and it wakes up my husband.

I assure you, I do my best not to burden  room stewards.  They have a very tough job. But this was just a simple, ordinary request. Yet the room steward stared at me and said: “But couples usually sleep in the same bed.” Say what? I proceeded to explain my reasoning to him, to which he said he still didn’t understand why I would ask him to do it.  So trying to keep it together, I said I just want the beds apart, please. He said he would do it right away.

When we came back from our dinner, the beds were still not apart. I told the guy we were getting ready to go to bed and needed it done. His response: ” Right now?” On top of it, the room was not vacuumed after previous guests. I asked him to please clean the floor and he said he would get on it straight away. And he  did… two days later. This is the first time I considered reducing tips, but ultimately left it alone. He certainly didn’t get any extra money from me, that’s for sure.

The food was decent, though lines in the cafeteria were pretty long. That is something we have noticed about Carnival cruises in general, which is why we usually go to the formal dining room, where we can sit and relax. Our son is a very picky eater but did amazingly well on this particular trip.

The entertainment was once again of the “unclassy fun” variety. Lots of scantily clad women doing Vegas-type variety shows.  My husband and I took our daughter to one of performances and she whispered in my ear: “Mommy, I can see their bottoms.” I thought to myself: “Yeah, so can your daddy. Just look at that grin!” 🙂

The best part was undoubtedly the kid’s club Camp Carnival. We were apprehensive to leave our son, but he did OK there and was mesmerized by all the toys. He did have problems following instructions and hit some kid on the head, but that was sadly to be expected. The club is open from 10 AM to 10 PM with lunch and dinner breaks, so you truly can get some decent rest.

The ship did have self-service laundry, which is a huge plus. Just to show you how dense I can be… It clearly said on the washing machine that it costs 3 dollars in quarters per load. Yet, I kept putting in 1.50 and wondering why it didn’t work. I literally went to 3 different floors and tried all the machines. Finally, someone pointed out the error of my ways. Clearly, I need this blog to keep my mind relatively sharp!