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.

Off to Baltimore

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 today starts our vacation, Michelle and I will be traveling to Baltimore this evening and having dinner with some good friends, people who we have previously cruised with and have maintained friendships beyond the Carnival Pride. Gone is our friend Cheryl. but she will never be forgotten.

We'll be staying at the Holiday Inn at the Inner Harbor, we have stayed here for three of our five cruises to date (make this 4 out of 6) and we really like this hotel. It's just a walk to the inner harbor and just right across the street from the convention center.

We'll be leaving Morgantown this morning and tonight, tonight my pee will be going to the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Mississippi River.

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

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.

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.

Embarkation Day

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.

Well today is Embarkation Day, this is when all of the people who are on my ship right now get off and we get to get on the ship. This is the day we go through customs and sit and wait. We'll get on the ship around 1:30 and about 4:00 we'll have the required safety briefing that you have to sit through before you go out in the Ocean. It's just the standard requirement you do before every cruise.

It's going to be a day of waiting, but this is where the fun begins.

Tonight we will have our first dinner on the ship and we will get to meet the other couple with whom we will be dining throughout the cruise. We have been blessed to have dined with some great couples on each cruise, each of which we have remained in contact with.

Bon Voyage

Travel Day and Start of Vacation

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.

Today Michelle and I will jump on the interstate and spend this evening in Baltimore Maryland. We will be staying at the same hotel we stayed at the first year, as the one we have had booked the last three is completely booked up and unavailable.

We are probably not going to run down to the Inner Harbor this year, we've seen it enough times that the excitement is gone. Guy Fieri has a Kitchen and Bar that we have reservations at Saturday Night. Caesars has a casino next door to our hotel, when we stayed there a few years ago it was an empty lot.

Wish us Luck.

Day at Sea #1

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.

One thing I have always wanted to capture and have to date failed to each time I have attempted, was to capture a sunrise on the ocean. In 21 attempts we are 0 for 21 when it comes for clear weather to see this, well how about this picture that I took on last years cruise of the moon.

Anyways, this is our first full day at Sea, we'll be in waters as deep as 21,000' as we leave the Atlantic Shelf and enter into the deeper parts of the Ocean. By the time this blog posts we should be going around Cape Hatteras, which is probably the roughest water that we typically see. If you are going to get seas sick, this is where it typically occurs. Our first cruise we were in the AFT (Back) and right above the engines, so yours truly managed to get a little bit seas sick.

Tonight will be the first of two formal dinners, that is when we get all cleaned up and they serve us Lobster Tails and Prime Rib. We will once again be all dressed up and will have a series of professional pictures taken of us as we are dressed up. We printed those pictures out last year and handed them out to everyone. We're planning on doing the same thing again this year.

The following video is from our first day at sea and formal dinner last year, please enjoy it and make sure you have yourselves a great day today. We definitely will.

Embarkation Day

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 it is Embarkation Day for Michelle and I. We will be leaving the hotel later this morning and driving right past MT Stadium when the Baltimore Ravens Play and giving our one finger salute once again as we make our way to the Port of Baltimore to embark upon the Carnival Pride.

We will be moved to the Gold Level VIFP this year, we will pass our 25th day at sea on this trip and they always advance you to the next level if you achieve that level on the cruise you are on like us this year. It's the next level where all the real perks kick in for free, but this year we purchased Faster to the Fun as we did last year and bypassed all of those long and absolutely ridiculous lines that people have to wait in.

Once we are on the boat we will be enjoying lunch somewhere on the Carnival Pride, I personally want to hit up Guys Burger Joint, but there are a number of other options for us to choose from.

One thing we will be excited to see today is the new and revamped Carnival Pride. It went to dry dock last fall and was upgraded to a Funship 2.0 since our last cruise. We are already very familiar with this ship, even though everything has changed. There will be very little time spent figuring out where everything is located.

We will be dining with one of the ladies we dined with last year. She and her husband will also be taking this cruise and we are already booked as dinner companions again. The couple we dined with two years ago are also on this cruise, but are traveling in a large group of people and we will not be dining with them, but are looking forward to seeing them.

Enjoy yourselves today, we intend to.

We are Doing It Again.

Carnival Pride

We waited long enough, I was waiting to hear something about our contract, but something tells me that there is going to be another extension and waiting so we went ahead with our Cruise 2015 booking.

We are now once again booked for our 2015 cruise which will be in 189 days (let the countdown begin) and we will be taking the same cruise once again for the fourth year in a row. We absolutely love this cruise and the ports of call, and the Carnival Pride was just updated to a Funship 2.0 this past fall, so we are once again setting sail to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport the Bahamas this September.

Dani and Roy Marsh

We are also taking a couple of first time cruisers with us as Michelle's Sister Dani and husband Roy will be joining us for this years cruise. We both booked and paid for our cruise last night and we are all set to go. We helped them through their booking  last night as we booked ours and we will be in side by side rooms, meaning we can have the partition on the deck between the two rooms opened up and we can have one big deck to all share. Because we booked this weekend and Carnival has a special going on, we already have $50.00 worth of on board credits to use.

Michelle and I are all set to go, agreed to everything and filled out all the information including our passport information and our online account. All we have to do is print out our boarding passes and luggage tags and get ready to go.

We will be assisting Dani and Roy as they prepare for their first cruise. Our dinner companions from two years ago Jim and Pam have also booked once again on this cruise and we are looking forward to meeting up with them once again.

This year the Carnival Pride has installed not one, but two deck cams for everyone to watch.

Cruise 2015 is set and ready to go and we could not be any more excited. Anyone else want to join us?

Vacation Day 9, Back in Baltimore and Back Home

Well this is my last pre-written blog that I am writing for the 2014 vacation. The next blog that you read will in all likelihood be a live blog from me as we are now heading back into Baltimore and getting ready to get back in pearl and head back home to Morgantown.

Our 2013 vacation was a whole lot of fun for us, the only problem is I am not paying for internet fees out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and I had to pre-write all of these before we left (yes I wrote them in August). I shared our vacation from last year with everyone, and hopefully you the reader were able to share with us what we were going to see each day based on our 2013 experience.

One thing that we will get to experience this morning is kind of an unexpected honor. Francis Scott Key wrote our Nations National Anthem on the night of September 13-14, 1814 by what he witnessed at the Battle of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. This is the Bi-Centennial of the authoring of that song and there will be a big celebration this morning at Fort McHenry. We will have a prime view as our balcony will be facing Fort McHenry as we pull back into Port.

We will be debarking and going through customs one final time this morning, before packing pearl up one last time to make our return trip back home to Morgantown. I hope we had as much fun on this years cruise as we had last year, we are already planning next years.

Next blog today will be a live one.

Vacation Day 7, Freeport Bahamas

During our 2013 vacation we did a video log each day. This year instead of writing about where we are or what we are doing, I thought I would share with you our previous years experience. I am on vacation this week and since we are doing the same trip and are staying in almost (next to it) the same room, I'm going to post the previous years video blog. Enjoy.

Vacation Day 6, Half Moon Cay

During our 2013 vacation we did a video log each day. This year instead of writing about where we are or what we are doing, I thought I would share with you our previous years experience. I am on vacation this week and since we are doing the same trip and are staying in almost (next to it) the same room, I'm going to post the previous years video blog. Enjoy.