Finally went to go get new tires today. Decided to be crazy and try to get as large of tires as a couple of Nissan sites said would fit on my Pathfinder without problems. 265/75/16.
They rubbed... just a little. Stupid message boards. Looked good on the truck though!
So, thankfully, they had no problem taking them all back off my rims and going with the 255/70/16's instead which had no problems. They're only about 1/2" taller than the stock size that I would have gotten but the A/Ts weren't available in the exact size I needed.
Anyway, here's a photo of them on the truck from this afternoon:
Back to work today and feeling much better. Not lifting tonight though - another day off is a good idea. Might start back up tomorrow.
Boring weekend, but relaxing I suppose. I did redesign the look of my Pbase photo site - let me know what you think: http://www.pbase.com/pioneer77
I think it still needs some kind of banner image or heading or title for the main entry page... if you click on any of the subgalleries they all have titles. Just haven't come up with any ideas - what do you name a photo gallery anyway?
Jealous of everyone who already has or has recently gotten snow out there. Sat around Saturday waiting for our snow to start and we got nada... very disappointing. Said the cold air missed the system from the Gulf by a couple hours or less. Honestly, this season needs to snow or get off the pot - else I'm ready for convertible weather again...
Well, it's not the Norovirus, just the regular run of the mill flu.
Been sick as a dog the last two days - 101° fever, aching, sinuses, cough, etc... Just tonight is it finally starting to break a little.
Not sure if it's a souvenir from the cruise - I don't think anyone else in our group from the trip ended up getting sick, but you never know.
There were a few other notes about the cruise I didn't include in that first post since it was long enough as is...
Bring an extension cord if you go on a cruise. One of the 6' kind with three plugs at the end. You get one outlet in your cabin and it's at the vanity in the middle of the room. If you need to plug in things like a laptop and batteries for cameras plus a hairdryer it's nice to have more than one outlet.
Also next time I will bring a laptop. Not for Internet access since that's $0.75/minute onboard, but more for downloading photos to start post-processing them and for writing down notes each day about everything you did. By the end of the cruise there were details lost. You don't spend that much time in your cabin, but there is some downtime during the week.
Getting alcohol onboard is pretty easy, but kind of overrated. Sure, the drink prices on the ship are pretty high, but in the grand scheme of things you're on vacation and having people bring you drinks in the bars and by the pool is nice. It also beats carrying your own around in a thermal mug.... which worked out okay for me on the fun-days-at-sea, but even though I only brought 12 beers with me, I left 4 or so in the fridge in our cabin. Still, it helps offset the costs a little for the cruise I suppose. Since you're allowed to bring a nominal amount of soft drinks with you, it was easy to slice open the ends of 12 packs of coke, fill with cans of beer, and hot glue the ends closed again. The vodka was even easier... we had an old Listerine bottle (vanilla mint) so the vodka went in there with a drop of green food coloring... looked just like Listerine! Oh the things you learn on cruisecritic.com...
In the end though, I could have just as easily bought drinks on the ship instead and not really cared - half of it was the fun of smuggling stuff secretly onboard.
Another tip... 1 liter of liquor per person is all you can bring back into the country without having to visit some officials on the ship your last day to pay taxes on the rest. Of course, they give you the paper telling you this the night before your cruise ends and they didn't bother mentioning it in the ship's gift shop where we bought 3 liters of liquor a couple days before then. Add that to the 2 liters of St. Martin Rum we bought at our last port and obviously we were over the limit. It gets better though - those officials board the boat at like 6:30am after getting back to Port Canaveral and you only have until 7:15am to be there and get through their lines.
Turns out though that IF the liquor is purchased in St. Thomas you can bring in 4 additional liters per person duty/tax free because it's a U.S. Territory. But there are lots of ways around all that kind of stuff since customs doesn't go through your carry on luggage...
And the prices on the ship and in the ports is crazy low. Our liter bottles of Absolut were 2 for $18.95, they had 4 bottles of Cruzan Rum for $28.95, they had a 750mL bottle of Patron that was $37.95, our 1 liter bottle of Grand Marnier was $31.95... prices way lower than even Green's discount red dot stores around here and they're selling 750mL bottles. Our 1 liter bottles of St. Martin Rum were 2 for $11.99.
A couple other kind of hidden charges is that all cruises this year starting in February on Carnival have a new $70/cabin (or $70/person, can't remember) fuel surcharge on top of the ticket price. And parking at Port Canaveral is $84 for the 7 day cruises.
Of course there are always tips too... they say $1-$2/bag for the porters, and anything you see fit over the automatic 15% for your cabin steward, waiter, and waiter's assistant. Your Maitre'D doesn't get any auto tips, but they're a fully salaried employee so it just depends on if he deserves it or not. Ours? We didn't see him the entire cruise except sitting next to us in the dining room and on the beach with his family in St. Martin. Though since his family was on our cruise and seated at the 8:30 dinner we also had, I guess I understand him not going around to the tables like they normally do.
I'm sure there are lots of other things to note, but I haven't been thinking clearly these last couple days... if they're worth mentioning, I'll post them sometime later.
So my welcome home gifts were coming back to tons of stuff at work, needing new tires for my truck, and coming down with a cold. Hope it's not the Norovirus from the cruise ship!
I can handle being sick and busy but the worst part is buying tires. It never feels like you're getting something new, it just costs a lot of money. It's not like it's a new TV or even if it's car related something like tinted windows or a new stereo or something. It's just new tires and the truck goes just like it did before only your wallet is lighter.
So, to make it more interesting, I think I'm going to get an A/T type tire for the truck and get a little bigger profile. Stock is 255/65/R16s and the A/T tire I'm looking at is a 255/70/R16 so it'll raise it up around a half an inch. Plus, it has a pretty agressive looking tread too, so I guess that's something new in a way. The tires are at Pep Boys where they do the buy-3-get-1-free deal after rebate - works out to be cheaper than even Sams Club or Sears. The few reviews I've read about the Definity Dakota A/T tires have been pretty good online, they're made by Cooper Tires, and they're not too expensive so hopefully I can get 40-50K out of them.
Now if this cough and tight chest would go away by tomorrow morning's dentist appointment, that would be even better. My theory is that I can't take this cold and my body is now used to warm tropical breezes...
We're back! Ship didn't sink, we didn't get sick - sea or otherwise. Though I still feel like I'm rocking a bit sitting here at work.
The cruise was wonderful! The weather held for us most of the time and the islands were all beautiful.
There's a lot I should have written down while on the cruise because I'm not sure I'll remember most of it, but I figure I'll try to go day by day. It'll also make the photo gallery link at the end of this post make more sense with a timeline.
And speaking of photos, I shot somewhere North of 800 of them and narrowed that down to 498 and of those I uploaded 307 to my Pbase site.
However, if you're going to sit and read this whole thing, you might want to go get something to drink first, it could take a while...
Anyway, Day 1:
We got to Port Canaveral around 11:00am or so. They say boarding is at 1:30-3:00pm, but I knew ahead of time that you can start getting on the ship around 10:30 or so. Embarkation procedures were smooth and fast and we were on the ship within 45 minutes after getting to the port and that includes the porters getting your luggage, parking in the garage, and going through the check in procedures.
Once on the ship we headed up to the Lido Deck (Deck 9) to get some lunch. We had to keep our carry ons with us for a couple hours until the stateroom was ready. Once we were able to drop off our luggage at our room, we had to go through a mandatory Muster safety drill. There's one photo of that in the gallery since I thought it was funny that Christina and I brought drinks to the safety drill. Which, we had to set down to the side once they were spotted... oops. :) The photo is blurry though because I shot it in the wrong mode on the camera.
After the Muster drill we headed back to the room to put the lifejackets back and then up on the deck for Sailaway. The rain was very cooperative, it was clear when we checked in, rained, then cleared up for Sailaway, then rained as we left the U.S. coast. But there were some folks at a bar and a park that were cheering and waving to us as we left. No sooner did we get out into the ocean and it started raining again. So, we went down to their sports bar on the Promenade Deck (Deck 5) to watch the Redskins-Seahawks playoff game. It was during the game that we realized just how much a cruise ship can rock and sway. It was only "Moderate" seas according to the information channel on the TV (4-7.5ft waves) but it's a bit unnerving if you've never been on a cruise ship before that something that big can rock like that.
Dinner the first night was the worst of all since the sirloin I had wasn't very good. But Carnival has a warm chocolate melting cake as one of the dessert selections and it was great. Each night for dinner there are probably 5 starters, 2 salads, 6 entrees, and 5 desserts to choose from for each course. And since it's all included in the cost of the cruise, you can have multiples like I did a few nights.
Day 2:
Something else I learned on a cruise is that you wake up early. I thought I would hate the couple early morning ports and the final day when you have to be up around 7:30am or so, but I really didn't. It may have been the "kid on Christmas morning" effect, but the first morning I woke up at 6:22am. Which wasn't that bad since the sunrise was at 6:32am that morning sailing into the Bahamas. The Information Channel on the TV always told you when the sunrises and sunsets were each day. So I have some early morning photos of the sun rising as the Bahamas is coming into view in the distance.
Once in the Bahamas we hit the Lido buffet quickly for breakfast and then got ready for the first excursion trip. We originally didn't know what we were going to do in the Bahamas, but everything I read online said that the port area of Nassau isn't that nice with pushy street vendors and a block off pretty poor areas of town. So, the first day of the cruise we ran into Dave and Janna walking around exploring the ship and we all decided to snorkel for our excursion. I had wanted to snorkel somewhere since I hadn't before and since I bought an underwater kit for our smaller point-and-shoot camera.
We weren't in the Bahamas very long, only 8:00am to 2:00pm, so the excursion wasn't very long. It was a 30 minute catamaran ride to the reef and an hour of snorkeling maybe, then the ride back to the dock. Snorkeling was fun, but I would have preferred scuba or snuba (the latter not having tanks or requiring certification). There were plenty of fish and coral to see and the underwater camera case didn't leak!
After getting back from snorkeling we went to eat lunch at Senior Frogs - a Mexican food restaurant/bar more known for it's parties than food. Got a free shot of some rum mix from the ballon-making clown shown in one of the photos. But no tequila, whistle, shake your head type shot that they're famous for that I've seen on TV. The real killer was the price - just the 4 of us ate lunch and it was $120. At least that included an automatic gratuity. The first yard of Dos Equis was $13 and the refill was $9.96. Who knew... tourists are such suckers! :)
Got some nice wide shots of the port area during sailaway from Nassau. The sunset that night wasn't that great because there was rain in the area - but at least the rain held off during snorkeling - it was bright and sunny then. And no rain the rest of the trip, so that was nice.
Dinner that night was formal night - suits/tuxes for the guys, dresses for the girls. We didn't have formal portraits taken on the ship, though not for a lack of photographers and photo sets... they're everywhere on the ship. Not to mention taking photos of you getting off at every port - which you learn to skip by quickly if you know you're not going to buy them. Which is why we didn't have any taken after a while, the prices for photos onboard wasn't worth it.
That night we saw the first Vegas-style show in their two level theater, the Amber Palace. The show was decent - dancing, singing, costumes, etc. It was funny how the shows were rated "PG" but the girls had on costumes with thongs and there were a couple of pretty suggestive scenes in the shows too. We also stayed around for the midnight R-rated comedian who was really great that night.
Day 3:
Our first "Fun Day at Sea". For most, it means drink and get sun, but the first one we decided to explore the ship and do a few of the activities like Bingo and make our donations at the casino. LOL. No big winners here at all.
Before dinner that day we splurged a little and booked a couple's massage at Spa Carnival on board the ship. Neither of us had ever had a massage at a spa before, so it was nice. If it would have been complimentary we'd have gone every day - very relaxing. We didn't get deep tissue but Christina still managed to get a little bruise here and there from the pressure. They also said that knots in Christina's back from stress and such probably contribute to her migraines.
Day 4:
Up early again but we had plenty of time this day because we didn't dock in St. Thomas until 10:00am. We watched us sail into St. Thomas and got tons of photos of the harbor and docks as we arrived. Since St. Thomas is a U.S. territory everyone on the ship had to go through mandatory immigration procedures on board before they could leave. Which consisted of having your passport (or in our case, driver's license and birth certificates) out and going through a quick moving line where an officer looked at it, asked where you were born, then gave it back and off you went.
Once we got off the boat we met up with Godfrey, the guy who owns the company we booked an island tour with before we left for the cruise. On both St. Thomas and St. Maarten we didn't use Carnival to book our excursions because the price is so much higher on the ship than it is via a third party. Now the drawback is if it's a ship-booked excursion and you don't get back in time, the ship waits for you - with third party bookings they just leave you. But thanks to http://www.cruisecritic.com we knew all about our ports of call and which tours to book and everything.
So the island tour was great - they pick you up just off the ship and bring you to downtown Charlotte Amalie, the capital of St. Thomas for an hour of shopping. Relatively cheap jewelry prices and open air markets basically. Then the tour drives you (quickly) up the mountain sides stopping at various spots to talk and take photos as you ascend and descend. The island is beautiful as you're driving around - very lush and the views are incredible. The tour took us up to the highest point on the island to a touristy place called Mountain Top that overlooked the backside of the island where Magen's Bay beach was instead of overlooking the Charlotte Amalie, the harbor, and the cruise ship docks. They also had "world famous" banana daiquiris that were actually pretty good.
Then the tour took off down the mountain with more facts as we traveled. We stopped every so often to take some pictures. Also stopped at a couple of beaches where if you wanted you could stay and swim and they would pick you up a few hours later to take you back to the ship. Since we had plans already for the afternoon/evening, we only took advantage of the 10-15 minute stop at the second beach, Sapphire Beach, to take a few photos and wade out into the water. The best beach was Magen's Bay, but it cost per person just for the tour bus to enter - sort of a beach preservation fee because it was so nice.... so the tour skipped that beach. Still, it was a great tour for just $25/person and the photos were worth it!
After the tour dropped us off we immediately headed up towards Paradise Point Skyride that is next to the ship docks. It's a cable car ride that takes you up to a restaurant/gift shop with a scenic view of Charlotte Amalie, the harbor, and the dock area. We knew we'd be in port for sunset and it was getting close, so we decided to get up there right away and had dinner there also. It was beautiful watching the sun set over St. Thomas and the city.
Back on the ship I was glad I took the tripod for the camera because I was able to take long exposures of the city at night. Some of them were 15 and 30 seconds long, so you can see head light and tail light trails from the cars on the roads lining the harbor.
Day 5:
The next day we were up early again to watch us come into Phillipsburg, St. Maarten - the capital city of the Dutch side of the island. Sint Maarten is the Dutch side and Saint Martin is the French half - the smallest island ever to be divided between two countries. Off the ship was an area where taxis are running continually to take you to all the different hotspots. We took a cab to Orient Beach on the French side of the island. The beach was nice, though I've seen better in some regards. It's a European-style topless-optional beach with a section on the far right dedicated as completely clothing-optional for the nudist resort, Club Orient located there. We didn't cross the rock divider to that part of the beach, but we got more than an eye full on a few occasions while walking the rest of the beach. And we had lunch at a bar/grill on the beach that was started by a guy from New Jersey 28 years ago. License plates and street signs hung everywhere and he was a hoot - funny guy and his wife was extremely nice too. Good food, but I have to say even though we were there for a little under an hour, you never do get used to the couple of topless women sitting at the table next to yours as you eat.
After the beach, we got another taxi and asked him to take us to Maho beach on the other side of the island. This is the beach famous for photos of jumbo jets that come in over the beach about 60-100 feet over your head. Basically the runway comes right up to the road and beach - they even warn you about jet wash blasting you out into the water. So we were on our way along with 3 others in the cab (they're all full sized vans on the island) but he needed to drop off the others at the cruise ships first. Then he stopped for gas after that. And on a whim I asked him if it was far to Maho beach. The language barrier took a little while to get past, but he asked us how long we had and we told him 4 hours left on ship time until departure and he said he couldn't take us to Maho. It's not a very big island, but he said traffic at that point was already backing way up because of how hard it is to get in and out of that area. He said it would be a big risk of missing the ship if we decided to go - so, after no thought at all we chose to skip Maho beach. As beautiful as St. Maarten is, I'm not ready to live there quite yet. So we shopped near the ships for a while, bought some Saint Martin labeled rum for my bottle collection and then got back onto the ship.
Day 6:
Our second Fun Day at Sea was spent mostly below deck because we got a little pink on Orient Beach. Not really burned much, we just knew we needed a day out of the sun. More bingo/casino, some sports trivia competitions, I watched a dance class in the Amber Palace, took a galley tour (the kitchens), and watched a Carnival Glory "Survivor" competition out on the Lido Deck by the pools. Teams were competing against each other and eliminating people as they go. The scavenger hunt one was pretty funny with teams locking arms and running around trying to collect a set list of things like magazines, bikini tops, left footed sandals, and hats. Then dressing up a team member in whatever they gathered. There's a bunch of photos of their competitions in the gallery too - funny stuff to watch.
Dinner that night was the second Formal night dinner and we didn't feel like the hassle of getting dressed up so we got burgers on the Lido Deck. Then that evening we played cards in the Glory's cigar bar, the Ivory Club. Each bar and area of the ship is themed and this place was nice and dark and tucked away and quiet. Had a really nice server there named Hanna from Belarus who gave me a quick refresher on a few Russian phrases I had forgotten.
Later that night we went to watch karaoke in the Ebony Cabaret at the back of the ship - and get this... Christina got up and did a song. :) I'm quite proud of her but even more surprised. Poor girl sounded nervous as hell though during the song and she chose a slower song with a lot of vocal ooohs and ahhs in it, Criminal by Fiona Apple. Still, at least she went up there. My slip filled out with Garth Brooks' Papa Loved Mama never even got submitted. ;)
Finishing off the day we saw the end of another show and stayed around for the midnight comedian - filthy, but hilarious! We saw his family comedy show the night before and could tell he'd be even better for an R-rated show.
Day 7:
Our last real day on the ship before getting back to Port Canaveral. We spent most of the day getting sun up on the top deck. Carnival has this hidden Adults Only deck where you have to cut through the outdoor sports area. The railings are covered with a canvas tarp and it's the highest point on the ship, so even though it's not officially topless-optional, a few women took advantage of no kids and the added privacy of course. The (second) best part of that deck was the no kids and plenty of chairs thing - sometimes finding a couple of chairs on the main Lido Deck can be challenging.
The sun took it out of us that last day - not to mention the whole cruise in general, so after another really good dinner we went back to the room to crash knowing we had to be up early for immigration and disembarkation.
Overall we had a great time - who knew cruising was so great. And cheaper than most vacations overall. The food was quite good and there was plenty of it. Had veal on a couple nights, lobster, duck, mahi mahi, etc... pretty much all good stuff.
We ended up going nearly halfway to the equator (below 18º latitude at one point) and I can say I've been in 3 other countries or territories now. Total trip was 2387.3 nautical miles which equals 2747.3 land miles. Amazing for a ship that only goes about 20-22 mph maximum.
So anyway, if you made it this far, here is the link to the photos from the trip:
