Carnival Sensation - Western Caribbean

We booked this 4-day cruise in celebration of the Hub's 40th birthday (gasp!). We took his parents along with us and asked for adjoining rooms. We also bought the Cheers package for the first time ever.

Parking
For ease of getting to and from the cruise terminal, we sucked it up and paid the $20/day at Port of Miami.

The Ship
The Sensation got the 2.0 upgrades, which was great! The theatre is still large and open, and there are now the following places: Blue Iguana Cantina, Guy's Burgers, and Alchemy Bar. The Alchemy Bar is the largest I've seen, with a lot of couches and chairs to hang out. Bartenders are great as usual.

The Ports
Key West
Skipped due to Hurricane Irma.

Cozumel
I booked a private island tour with Tours Plaza Cozumel. The prices are very reasonable, and we had a nice time with Jerry, our driver for the day. He was very kind and friendly and let us decide what we wanted to do and when. Would definitely recommend this company for anyone looking to book an island tour with lots of flexibility without breaking the bank.

Comments

Germany, Poland, and Prague

The great adventure of 2024 was a trip with our friends to Europe. This post will not follow my regular pattern for travel posts, and we used a travel agent to arrange our trains and hotels Rail Bookers, but it should be helpful if you are planning a trip to these countries. Our travel agent was Pam from Unwindwithbliss.com. Preparation German Language Learning Duo Lingo - I primarily used this app because it was convenient to do during my walks with the dog. That said, if I’d been really serious about learning the language, I would use another option to supplement Duo. I spent about 7 months prepping with Duo Lingo, and while I am able to pick up on bits and pieces, I don’t feel that comfortable speaking it in general - only words and a couple short phrases. Rocket Languages - I accessed this through our public library and downloaded an app. I didn’t use it much and regret not doing so as they use native speakers and not the weird AI generated voices of Duo Ling...

Celebrity Reflection - Western Caribbean

For Spring Break 2016, the hubs wanted to do a land vacation instead of a cruise so we stayed at Couples Negril for 5 days. It was wonderful, and we got that out of our system for a while. For a couple of years we had been talking about trying a different cruise line. If you have followed by travels over the years, we have cruised Carnival (two weeks shy of Platinum after this year), Royal Caribbean, and Disney. I started researching and came across Celebrity. I had heard good things but always assumed it was out of our price range. I was pleasantly surprised that I was quite wrong. Room We had cabin 6192, obstructed view balcony (or as they call it, veranda). Please note that the hubs and I have only ever booked interior or oceanview, so this was our first balcony. The obstructed view didn't bother us. The room was spacious, and the bathroom was big (relatively speaking) as well. At first I was worried about lack of drawer ...

Celebrity Solstice - Dawes Glacier, Alaska

If you've ever booked a cruise during the pandemic, you know how frustrating it can be. In 2019, we booked our Alaska cruise for May 2021. Well, May 2022 was our make-up cruise for the cancelled 2021 sailing. Better late than never, right? Dawes Glacier - Endicott Arm Pre-cruise First, I’ll hit our pre-cruise stay in Seattle. We hailed a Lyft from the airport ($50 + tip). You need to cross the sky bridge and go down one level until you see the green barriers. The signage was actually great, but several escalators to get there were on the fritz. Our Lyft dropped us at the Fairfield Inn & Suites near the Space Needle. The hotel seems newly updated and the front desk staff were very friendly and helpful. For dinner, we took the advice of the front desk staff and visited Thomas Street Warehouse . The prices are actually really great for downtown, and they have a cool cocktail menu. In the morning, we grabbed breakfast tacos at Jack’s...

Sunshine-n-Wine

Search This Blog