A Return Day at Sea

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

This is our third and final day at sea on the ship. We are moving up the Atlantic Coast and should be pulling into Baltimore tomorrow morning. Today is the day of big sales, when they dump all their excess cheap merchandise and people fight over the trinkets that you could easily buy on Ebay.

Sadly tonight will also be our send off dinner in the main dining room, this is the night I tip all of our waitstaff a $20 and thank them for the great service. It's also the night when you get back to your room and start packing your bags and preparing your own food. It's the saddest evening of any cruise, the last one.

Freeport Bahamas

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

Today we hit our third and final Port of Call as we visit Freeport in the Bahamas. This is the port of call when we usually get off the boat and do our shopping. Right at the Port is where all of the locals set up to sell their wares. One thing we always buy from this port is a Christmas Ornament made out of Sea Shells made by the same lady. Her name is Queenie and she does some fabulous work.

After we pull out of this port, we'll be starting our journey up the coastline and returning to Baltimore. Tonight also is the second formal night of the cruise in the main dining room. We will once again get dressed up and eat dinner, no lobster on the menu this evening though.

Half Moon Cay

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

Today we will visit our Second Port of Call, but this is my favorite port of call that we visit. Probably my most favorite place I have ever been to in the world. Today is Half Moon Cay, Carnival's Private Island that they own.

We'll tender onto the island this morning and spend the day on the Island. They will have a nice big feast for us on the island. We'll be snorkeling once again in the morning and chasing wild chickens in the afternoon.

Grand Turk

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

Today we will enter our first Port of Call which is Grand Turk. We should be pulling into port about 7:30 or so, and it's always a whole lot of fun seeing all the natives our there waiting for us to arrive. It is my second favorite port of call.

Our agenda for the day will include snorkeling and going to Jacks Shack to eat some Conch and play with Topher, the worlds coolest dog. A trip to Margarittaville's giftshop might also be on the agenda, we've eaten there a couple of times but Jacks is this awesome little hole in the wall that everyone tends to go to.

Second Day at Sea

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

Well tonight will be the first formal night, this will be the night that we dress up and get our formal pictures taken like this one. It's also the night when you can order as much lobster and prime rib as your hear desires in the main dining room. It is a formal night, meaning you need to dress up. It is one of the funnest nights on the cruise as everyone is dressed up like we're someone important...lol

Once again there is significant entertainment, comedians, gambling and just about anything you want to get into on days at sea. We will start hitting our three ports of call starting tomorrow, so we'll be relaxing today and getting a good nights sleep. Maybe even go get a late night pizza later (and ice cream).

First Day at Sea

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

Well we are in the Atlantic Ocean now and will be heading towards Grand Turk, sometime this morning or afternoon we will clear the shelf and be in about 20,000+' of Ocean. When we get past Cape Hatteras the Ocean will turn such a pretty and innocent shade of blue.

Days like this are when there are a lot of activities scheduled on the ship. Entertainment, gambling, eating or just laying by the pool and relaxing could very well be on the days agenda. It's our first full day at sea and we will have another one tomorrow, it could be a getting to know people day. We're already quite familiar with the ship.

Embarkation Day

As Michelle and I are off for a weeks vacation cruising in the Atlantic Ocean I'm going to write a series of absentee blog posts relevant to what we are doing that day. There are two deck cams on the Pride, the Bridge and the Aft where you can watch to see if you see us. Watch the Forward Cam as that is where the ice cream machines are that I tend to find.

This is the one of the longest days of the cruise, the other being when we get off. We're scheduled to arrive at the Port of Baltimore at around 1:30 for our Embarkation. We do not have Faster to the Fun this year so we will have to wait with everyone else, but I'm hearing it's a smooth process or so we hope.

At about 4:00 we will do our mandatory Muster Drill where everyone goes to their muster station for instructions in case we have problems at sea and hit an iceberg. They walk through everything like the safety flotation device and how to use it, and about everything you will need to know if there are problems.

We'll hopefully meet a new set of dinner guests this evening, we have remained friends with each and every couple we have dined with on every cruise. Looking forward to making new friends.

We're Doing it Again

We have our 2017 cruise booked as of Monday night. Carnival had a deal with $50 Deposits so we jumped on that to secure our room for next year.

I know big surprise right? We usually wait until February to book our cruise, but last year we booked this years cruise while on the ship. This year we waited a week after we got off to book the next one...lol

We will be leaving September 10th and will once again be doing the same Ports of Call as we really like Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay. Funny thing is we have never been able to book the same room two years in a row until this year, the room we are standing in in this picture will be our room next September when we depart for our 6th cruise.

Many of the same people take this cruise every year and we have made a few cruising friends along the way that we will once again be visiting next year.

Woo Hoo

Back in Baltimore and Debarkation

As Michelle and I embark upon our fifth Cruise and enjoy our vacation, I will also be taking a little break as a blogger and writing some pre-written canned blogs. You can check more of what we are into on mine or Michelle's Facebook Page.

You can follow us on either the Front Web Cam, the Aft Webcam or just simply be tracking our location.

Well today is the day that we say goodbye to the big red fin that we have come to love so much. It's a day for us to debark off the ship and get in Pearl and jump on the interstate and head back to the Mountains of West Virginia. This concludes mine and Michelle's fifth cruise giving us 35 days sailed at sea so far.

By the time this posts we will be back in the Bay and I will have cell phone reception for the first time since last Sunday evening. Hopefully you have enjoyed the pictures that we have shared on Facebook with everyone and enjoyed our vacation with us.

Take Me Home Country Roads.

A Return Home Day at Sea

As Michelle and I embark upon our fifth Cruise and enjoy our vacation, I will also be taking a little break as a blogger and writing some pre-written canned blogs. You can check more of what we are into on mine or Michelle's Facebook Page.

You can follow us on either the Front Web Cam, the Aft Webcam or just simply be tracking our location.

Well today is what I usually call the most boring day of the trip. This is after you have already hit your three Ports of Call and are on your way back to Baltimore. We'll be coming at the Atlantic Coast hugging the shelf on this return trip. Today is a day of sales on the ship. It's almost comical to watch these ladies fight for these trinkets. Today is also the Groove for St, Jude day, were they will be selling these T-shirts and all the proceeds will go to St Judes Hospital.

We will be listening to our cruise director all day telling us about tomorrows debarkation and we will get one final song and dance from our dinner waitstaff. I can't say enough about these people, they are what makes the cruise so much fun.

This is our last full day on the boat, I'll be sunning, relaxing and getting ready for tomorrow.

Freeport

As Michelle and I embark upon our fifth Cruise and enjoy our vacation, I will also be taking a little break as a blogger and writing some pre-written canned blogs. You can check more of what we are into on mine or Michelle's Facebook Page.

You can follow us on either the Front Web Cam, the Aft Webcam or just simply be tracking our location.

Today Michelle and I will be visiting our third and final port of call, Freeport the Bahamas. This year we will definately stop by the shops right outside of the port. We always go there and buy a new hand made Christmas ornament every year to add to our Christmas Tree. This wonderful woman here with my wife is the woman we buy our ornament from every year.

We are going to switch it up a little in Freeport this year. In years passed we have traveled to Port Lucia, spent time around the local shops shopping and this year we are are going to do a little catamaran snorkeling in Freeport for the first time. This will be the first excursion that we will have went on other than the Faster to the Fun we purchase every year for priority boarding and tendering.

Hope it'll be a great day, I'm excited about exploring new waters to snorkel for the first time.

Half Moon Cay

As Michelle and I embark upon our fifth Cruise and enjoy our vacation, I will also be taking a little break as a blogger and writing some pre-written canned blogs. You can check more of what we are into on mine or Michelle's Facebook Page.

You can follow us on either the Front Web Cam, the Aft Webcam or just simply be tracking our location.

Today we will once again be snorkeling, but today it will be at our second port of call Half Moon Cay, which is Carnival's private island that they own. We'll have to tender on and off of the island, as the waters are too shallow to stick a pier, but I'm hearing that may be in the future plans. I have to say of anyplace on this earth that I have ever been, that Half Moon Cay is my favorite. Michelle and I both love it here. We will be treated to a nice luncheon on the island prepared by our wonderful culinary staff and I'm sure there will be a photo op or two today.

I'll be snorkeling in the Caribbean today at my favorite spot, today is not going to suck...lol

Grand Turk

As Michelle and I embark upon our fifth Cruise and enjoy our vacation, I will also be taking a little break as a blogger and writing some pre-written canned blogs. You can check more of what we are into on mine or Michelle's Facebook Page.

You can follow us on either the Front Web Cam, the Aft Webcam or just simply be tracking our location.

Today Michelle and I land in our first port of call, Grand Turk. This is a place where there is a Margaritaville on the Island, but Michelle and I will go and visit Topher today and maybe even get our pictures taken with him once again.

One thing Michelle and I love to do is Snorkel and this year is going to be no different than before when we stopped here. The water is absolutely crystal clear and beautiful, snorkeling in these waters is almost surreal.

That'll be our day.

Second Day at Sea

As Michelle and I embark upon our fifth Cruise and enjoy our vacation, I will also be taking a little break as a blogger and writing some pre-written canned blogs. You can check more of what we are into on mine or Michelle's Facebook Page.

You can follow us on either the Front Web Cam, the Aft Webcam or just simply be tracking our location.

The image you see was from last years cruise, but this is what I will be waking up to every morning this week, hopefully it will be a little bit less cloudy.

We are once again at seas in transit to our destination. Today will be a fun day on the ship as they will probably do the Hasbro Game Show or the Couples Test on the stage today. There will be no shortness of any activities as we start to prepare for tomorrow and our first port of call.

Enjoy yourselves today, I will be.

First Day at Sea

As Michelle and I embark upon our fifth Cruise and enjoy our vacation, I will also be taking a little break as a blogger and writing some pre-written canned blogs. You can check more of what we are into on mine or Michelle's Facebook Page.

You can follow us on either the Front Web Cam, the Aft Webcam or just simply be tracking our location.

Well we are well underway on our way to Grand Turk, but it will take us a couple of days to get there. We'll be entering the deepest part of the ocean today for our trip today and tomorrow as we leave the continental shelf. We'll be in waters that range from 20,000 ft to 25,000 feet as make our way to Grand Turk.

Tonight will be the first Formal Night of the cruise, this is when we get all dressed up to eat lobster and take pictures. The picture that you see here is me and my lovely wife last year on the first formal night.

Time to go soak up the sun.

Debarkation Day and Returning Home

As Michelle and I are on Vacation this week aboard the Carnival Pride, you can track our Ship Location and watch for us on the Ships two cameras in the Aft or in the Forward Cameras. I am obviously absentee and will be writing my blogs absentee as even bloggers need a vacation.

Well here we are, by the time that this starts to post I will probably be available by phone as we will be entering the Chesapeake Bay and docking this morning at the Port of Baltimore early this morning.

Today is the end of our cruise and time for the next set of cruisers to enjoy their time on the Carnival Pride as we have.

We will be Debarking hopefully mid morning and going through customs with our luggage and everything else that we will be bringing back.  Hopefully we can get out of downtown Baltimore early this morning, but that really doesn't matter. Last year we were leaving right as everyone was trying to get to Baltimore's M&T Stadium which is right by the port.

Fortunately jumping on I-95 to return home is a very easy task for us and it should not take us too long to get out of here. I think last year we were eating lunch in Hagerstown around Noon, we'll probably be carrying our luggage off once again plus we have "Faster to the Fun" which pretty much gives us priority getting off the boat today and getting through customs.

Hopefully we should be getting home some time this afternoon.

I hope you have had as much fun following our vacation as we have had on it. We are both off of work tomorrow as well to get all of our chores done, hopefully I will put the rest of my pictures up on Facebook of this years vacation for all to enjoy.

By estimate, we have covered about 400 miles by car and about 2,600 by ship for a Grand total of around 3,000 miles during this vacation.

Wish us a safe trip home, enjoy your day and tomorrow's blog should be the first live blog that I will have written in a while.

A Return Day at Sea

As Michelle and I are on Vacation this week aboard the Carnival Pride, you can track our Ship Location and watch for us on the Ships two cameras in the Aft or in the Forward Cameras. I am obviously absentee and will be writing my blogs absentee as even bloggers need a vacation.

Well our three ports of call are now complete and we are traveling up the Atlantic Coast on our return home, we will be hugging the Atlantic Shelf unlike our trip down when we went into the deepest parts of the ocean.

This is the day when all the shops on the boat have their best deals. They are wanting to unload everything so that they can restock it again when it arrives in Port tomorrow. It's usually Bella Perlina merchandise that Michelle ends up fighting a mob of women for, but she lives for this stuff and I want to stay as far away from it as possible, especially when all the women start fighting over sale items..lol

For me, my day will probably be in the Sports Bar watching as much College Football as possible and passing the time away. The Mountaineers will be at home today playing Maryland, I'm hoping one of the stations on the boat carries the game. I've missed the game the last three cruises because it has been unavailable to the networks we had available.

Tonight will be our final dinner on the ship and we will get our little send off that they always sing at the end of every cruise.

Have yourselves a great day, we're on our way home.

Freeport Bahamas

As Michelle and I are on Vacation this week aboard the Carnival Pride, you can track our Ship Location and watch for us on the Ships two cameras in the Aft or in the Forward Cameras. I am obviously absentee and will be writing my blogs absentee as even bloggers need a vacation.

Today will be our third and final port of call before he start heading back north to Baltimore.

We are in Freeport the Bahamas and all we usually do here is a little bit of shopping. A couple of years ago we headed into Port Lucia, but they had the same shops there that we had here and they opened much later.

There are a number of small shops around Freeport, one of which is a place that makes hand made Christmas decorations that we have one made every year. Each and every one of them are different, and when we hang these on our tree as we do with many of our special place and moments and recall where we got that particular ornament as we hang it. That however is Christmas and I'm in the Bahamas right now.

One thing that everyone always seemed to ask me for was a tour of the Carnival Pride. Mind you this years Video Blog was done a year ago, a couple months prior to the Carnival Pride going into dry dock last November and getting all the new upgrades to Funship 2.0 that we are enjoying this year.

This is my second attempt to publish the video, the initial attempt was nearly 60 minutes long and somewhere there was some corruption in the file, so this is part of the tour.

As always, have yourselves a great day, a relaxing Friday and enjoy yourselves, because you know we are and we will be.

Half Moon Cay

As Michelle and I are on Vacation this week aboard the Carnival Pride, you can track our Ship Location and watch for us on the Ships two cameras in the Aft or in the Forward Cameras. I am obviously absentee and will be writing my blogs absentee as even bloggers need a vacation.

Today we are in Port at my favorite place in the whole wide world, we will be at Carnival's Private Island Half Moon Cay.

Water around the Port is very shallow, so we will have to tender (boat) out way from the ship to the island and back. Michelle and I have dined with one of our dinner companions from last year again this week, Cheryl McCann (in white) and her Husband have been dining with us all year. We would have loved to have seen Donata (Purple) make it this year, hopefully she will make it next year.

One of the highlights of Half Moon Cay is that you basically spend the entire day on the island, Carnival even sets up lunch on the island since there are no real restaurants and you don't want to keep tendering back and forth to the ship.

Once again I have prepared a video blog of our day and journey last year, so you can have a little sneak peak into the day we will have today.

Enjoy your day, because you know we are going to be enjoying ours.

Grand Turk

As Michelle and I are on Vacation this week aboard the Carnival Pride, you can track our Ship Location and watch for us on the Ships two cameras in the Aft or in the Forward Cameras. I am obviously absentee and will be writing my blogs absentee as even bloggers need a vacation.

Today we enter our first Port of Call in Grand Turk. A place that we will do a little bit of snorkeling and a little bit of site seeing. Last year we ventured to the other side of the walkway to see what was over there, and we found this NASA Exhibit over there. Amazing what you can find when you go to places other than that wonderful beach and Margaritaville.

There are always amazing things to see in the waters there. There is the Canon as pictured there as well as a huge anchor and a few other lost treasures that lie beneath those beautiful crystal clear and calm waters.

We will be taking our underwater camera with us as well today, maybe we can find a special shot or two or three to talk about next year.

Have yourselves a great day and know that we are. =)