Our Universal Resort Vacation and Caribbean Cruise 10/6-10/18, 2010

[Teknik_DC2]

After our relaxing we headed back to Ripsaw falls and only waited a couple minutes until everyone was walking out. You guessed it soaking wet. Everything at this point had a large wait. We noticed hulk and spiderman were over 40 minutes so we decided we would go watch the 4:30 showing of the Sinbad show in the Lost Contenant. We made our way thru Jurassic Park and soon first found ourselves back in the magical place of the Wizarding World. We could not believe how packed it was at this time of day. You could barely move and every single store had a line to get into it. We had a little time left to kill before the sinbad show started so we decided to stop into the Hogs Head to get a us a cool treat for the show. Some more Butterbeer.

With Butterbeer in hand we made our way out of the Wizarding World and to the Sinbad Theater. Which is litteally right outside the Wizarding World exit. This show generally gets pretty bad reviews so I wasn't expecting much. However after the show I found myself suprised that I actually like the show. It wasn't something I would recommend going and seeing especially if your pressed for time. But if you have the time check it out. You may end up enjoying it as well.

After the show was over we found ourselves to be pretty hungry. And we were very excited for our dinner plans this night. It was time to head back to Wizarding World where not only would we be spending the rest of our evening but we would also be eating dinner at the Three Broomsticks.

The food they served at the Three Broomsticks was increadble. Almost all the food they serve our related to actual british food and is very very good. The 3 broomsticks is a counter service restaurant so you pay for your stuff and then pick it up at another counter and find a place to sit. Don't expect regular drinks here ether. In efforts to really keep the Wizarding World authentic there are no mainstrem sodas sold here. so no Coke or Sprite. Drink choices included Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice, Pumpkin Fizz, Pear Cider, Apple Cider, and Lemonaid. If you have your butterbeer mug you can get a drink much cheaper by having the mug refilled. Also watch the rafters of the Three Broomsticks as you will see the occasional shadows of House Elves working or an Owl flying in the window. Kiera ordered the Rib's and I ordered the Rotissary chicken. Both were very good and very well priced.

After being filled with Dinner the Wizarding World was still fairly packed so we decided to go back and ride our new favorite ride. The Forbidden Journey. The wait time was posted at over an hour. But not for us. We hopped in the single rider line and 15 minutes later we were boarding the ride. I don't know what it was about this ride though but it was my most dissapointed ride on it. For some reason I kept catching views of the other ride vehicles and it seemed like there were background lights on that weren't suppose to be because I kept seeing into the background areas of the ride. To top it all off while in the 2nd movie screen the ride broke down momentarlly. So we sat staring at a blank screen for a few minutes. I mean I love seeing the behind the scenes stuff of the ride mechanics but for some reason it seemed to be more then normal this time around. Oh well its still a very fun time.

After the Forbidden Journey the crowds had let up some but still not enough. We made our way back thru Hogsmeade to find that Dragons Challenge only had a 15 minute wait. Since we hadn't rode the Red track yet we decided to go ride this ride again as it would likely be our last before the park closed for the night.

We had another great ride on Dragons Challenge. Again we waited for the front row cause as I said before that is the only way to get the best ride out of an inverted coaster. It also gives you the best vantage to experiance the near collisions with the other train. However my thoughts still stay the same that the Blue track is the much better ride. The Red track is still very fun though and you should make sure you ride both tracks. The red side is just much more tamer.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Shortly after we were done with Dragons Challenge the park officially closed. However we were not ready to leave yet. One thing many people don't know is that the Shops in Hogsmeade stay open an hour after the park closes for shoping. So this is when we were waiting to shop as it would be much less crowded and we wanted to experiance the Wizarding World after dark.

So we went to bathroom and with the park being closed you could hear Moaning Mertle perfectly. I did however get a text from my wife while in there that they were told the shops were not staying open late this evening. What the heck was going on. Everywhere said the shops stay open later.

I hurried out of the restroom to find everyone gone buy Kiera. This was our planned night to shop so with being told it wasn't staying open everyone ran off to get as much shopping done as possible. I was very baffled as to why the shops were closing early. So Kiera and I ran to the Owl Post to get our postcards. We collect a postcard from everywhere we go and with the Hogsmeade postmark it was a must have. While there I also picked out my wand. Yeah I didn't get to ever have one pick me but I looked thru all the birthday ones and picked the one that "felt" right lol. Kyle and Mike also bought wand but they both bought character wands (which are much more detailed) but I wanted one unique and specific for me.

While waiting in line though I overheard 2 employees talking and found out why they were closing everything early this night. Apparently some company rented out the wizarding world that night so they had to get everyone out for that and get things set up. This was confirmed when we saw many items like a stage and tables of food being set up outside.

We next ran to Honeydukes and Zonkos to get a few things. At Honeydukes we bought a Chocolate Frog, some Pink Coconut Ice, and some other candy and in Zonkos we picked up a Pigmy Puff for Kieras little sister. One thing thats kinda cool when you buy a Pigmy Puff is you adopt it and they have a naming ceremoney for it. It was really cute and kieras little sister loved hearing it over the phone. Also another tip for when in Honeydukes/Zonkos. The honeydukes line to check out was very long. However there was no line at all on the Zonkos side. You can buy your stuff your getting at Honeydukes at Zonkos. It will greatly reduce your wait.

Kiera and I were now done with our shopping but nobody else was yet. So we decided to walk around the Wizarding World now that it was getting dark and take some time delaid photos. Some of the turned out great and the wizarding world really becomes a very magical place. If you can be there after nightfall then do. It is amazing.

We soon meet back up with everyone and after a final group photo in front of the Three Broomsticks we lef the Wizarding World for the Night. We were very suprised that considering we were told everything was closing early that we were never actually pushed by anyone to get out of the Wizarding World. They handled it and took care of us very well.

Islands of Adventure as a whole is very pretty at night. Its too bad that its not often you can be in the park after dark. I could only imagine how Jurassic Park looks at night. I bet it can be a pretty creapy place. After making one more stop in the port of entry to get a Christmas Ornament (another item Kiera and I get from vacation destinations) we were on our way making the walk back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel we shared with one another all the goodies we bought at the Wizarding World. Kyle and Valisa bought a lot of cool things and instead of naming it all I just too a photo. I took a photo of our stuff too but I didn't post it at this time because we ended up buying even more stuff the following day.

For the remainder of our Evening we decided to head out to International drive. We drove around looking at many of the attractions the rode has to offer. We also stopped by a large gift shop to find additional gifts for family back home. To end our visit on I-Drive we swung by a Dairy Queen for some creamy goodness.

Upon getting back to the hotel we all headed strait for the Hot tub. We were all very beat again and by this point of the night my foot was killing me. It was very nice to relax our feet in the Hot tube dispite the obnoxious drunks that were in it as well. When the worker came to tell everyone the hot tub was closing for the night he specifically told us that we were welcome to stay and soak our feet. He just wanted the drunks gone lol.

And with that our 3rd day of vacation was over. We retired to the room where everyone was quickly asleep. We had one final day to spend at Universal and Harry Potter and because Kyle and Valisa missed much of Universal Studios the plan was set for the next morning to be in the studios early to hit the missed attractions before the crowds arrive.

 

[mickeymotto]

What a great TR! I love all your pictures and details about your trip. It feels like I was right there with you. I'm especially grateful for all the details since we are going around the same time next year.

Can't wait to hear the rest!

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 4: Final Day at the Universal Orlando Resort

The original plan for the final day in Orlando was to take it easy. By this point we planned that we would have already seen all the major attractions in both parks so there was no need to wake up early and rush around the parks like the days before. It would mostly be a day for rerides. Unfortunatly it didn't work out that way. With Kyle and Valisa missing much of Universal Studios the previous day the plan was set to once agian wake up early and get to the parks shortly after opening to beat the weekend crowds.

Everyone was soon up and going for the day. Keira and I were done first and since we had some postcards we wanted to mail we left for the parks before everyone else so that we could find the mailbox. The park map listed a mailbox being in guest services so once inside Universal Studios thats where we went. Now I have worked customer service and work in the retail buisness but these ladys working in guest services deserve a gold medel. There were 2 people complaining there ears off about the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit being closed for matenance. Saying it ruined there vacation and demanding that Universal open the Rollercoaster for them. Really it is truely rediculous the things these ladys were demanding. Yeah it sucked the coaster was closed but theres a couple dozen other attractions in the parks for there enjoyment. One ride being closed sure didn't ruin my vacation. But then again i'm sure thats the same type of people who later in our cruise complained due to the Hurricane and weather changing our itennerary.

We soon found out that the Mailbox wasn't at guest services so after being directed to where it was we went to the Beverly Hills Boulangerie for breakfast. If your looking for a good cheap breakfast this place is for you. We wished we would have found it earlier as it was the cheapest breakfast we ate and the most filling. It was only $7 for a breakfast sandwich and fruit on the side. Shortly after we ordered everyone else arrived at the park and after a filling breakfast it was time to begin.

We decided to make our way thru the park counter clockwise and opposite what the general flow was. We made our way first thru the Hollywood section of the park where we were suprised to find many characters out and about posing for pictures and no one around. So we found this and oppertune time to get some photos with the Simpsons (minus Homer), Woody Woodpecker, Mariylin Monroe, Lucile Ball, and a Menion from Despicable me.

After stoping for photos we continued on thru Hollywood admiring many of the details of the Halloween Horror Nights scare zones and soon found the Penguins of Madagascar. So of course we had to get a picture with them as well.

We continued on past the Kidzone, into the World Expo and strait to our first ride for the day. The Simpsons ride. The ride wait was much shorter then it was when we tried to ride again the previous day. The posted wait was only 10 minutes and I think we were in the preshow sooner then that. Once agian I absolutly love this ride but half our party walked off the ride feeling kinda sick due to the motion sickness the ride can cause. I also know you have no control over it but I found being in a ride vehicle on the second floor of the building makes the ride much better.

After the Simpsons we made our way next door to the next ride that we wanted to ride again. Men in Black. And this ride was pretty empty as well as we walked right into the preshow with no wait at all. It was another great ride that everyone enjoyed and I was glad it was one we got to reride.

We were making great time as Universal Studios was pretty empty. Even less busy then it was the previous day. We soon found ourselves in the Amity area and since we had already rode Jaws during HHN we just took some photos and got some drinks in our butterbeer mugs. If you have your mug on you you can have it refilled with any soda in ether park for only .89 cents. Or have it filled with water for free. So its a good thing to have with you all the time.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

We walked past disaster but with a 35 minute posted wait we decided to skip it again. Disaster is one of those rides that is good to see if the wait is under 20 minutes. So instead of riding that we made our way again to the Mummy for a 3rd and final ride. Unfortunatly the ride was kinda ruined for Kiera and I as the ride attendants freaked out about the Butterbeer mug being with us. We explained that we rode 2 previous times with it attached to our belt loop and even showed that it was safely attached to us. But they still made us remove it and get it after the ride. It was dumb because we had rode every single major ride in both parks attached to our belt loop with no problems since it was held securly to us. They do have free lockers in front of each ride to use but avoid using them as much as possible. Oh well it was still a fun ride dispite the power tripping teenagers. I've gotta say that every ride we had on the Mummy this year was excellent. They also had many effects working that we didn't recall working the year before.

With our ride on the Mummy done we were pretty much done with everything in the Studios that everyone wanted to ride. The park was also starting to get pretty packed but there was still one thing I wanted to see before leaving the park. I wanted to walk thru the Kidzone. We didn't go thru it last year and I didn't want to miss it this year ether. The Kidzone is pretty cool but there seems to be too big of a mashup of areas between E.T., Barney, Fivel (do kids even know who he is from american tale), Woody Woodpecker, and Curious George. They need to have one generic theme over the entire area. Still I can diffenitly see how kids could have a great time here. I do regret not riding the E.T. ride as it is truely one of the great classics. However with a 35 minute wait nobody else wanted to ride it. so it was skipped.

After leaving the Kidzone we made our way back thru Hollywood towards the exit of the Park. We looked in a few shops including the Nickelodion store so that Kyle and Valisa could get there daugter a Diego doll and then we exited the park to head back to Islands of Adventure for a little while.

We made our way back thru Citywalk but this time stopped by the NBA City restaurant for a moment. They have basketballs thruout the area that have pro players handprints molded into the balls. It was crazy to see how huge all of the hands are. You can see below in the picture of me palming Kevin Garnetts ball. Too bad we couldn't find any balls of past or current Jazz players though.

We were soon back in Islands of Adventure and it was very obvious that it was much, much, much busier then the Studios were. We made our way to suess landing as this was really the only area of IOA that we hadn't been yet. We had one ride in mind that we wanted to ride and that was the Cat in the Hat. I'll admit this is like my guilty pleasure ride of the resort. I don't know why but I absolustly love the ride as it takes you thru and brings to life the classic story book from our childhood. The line was long but it was worth the wait. But I gotta admit I was slightly dissapointed in the ride this year. They toned it down alot. It use to have crazy spinning action but now thats pretty much non existant. I guess thats good for those who get motion sick though. Oh well its still a good ride and shouldn't be missed. I still liked it.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

As we exited the Cat in the Hat we found the meet and greet open so we wondered back thru there to find the Grinch, Cat in the Hat, and Thing 1 and 2. So of course we got photos with them as well cause they are all pretty much Icons of childhood.

After that we wondered around the rest of Suess Landing taking in the details. This area is awesome and I can only imagine how most kids fill entering this area. You do truely feel emmersed in the world of Dr. Suess. The area as a whole is aimed for kids and as such contains all kiddie rides. In addition to cat in the hat they have a suess themed marry-go-round, a dumbo type spinner ride that sprays water that you have to navagate to avoid, and a trolley ride.

At this point in the day half of our party was hungry but half of us werent. So Kyle, Valisa, and Emily left to go back to the front of the park to get lunch at the Confisco grill while me, Kiera, and Mike made our way into the lost contanent. I wanted to go do Posidens Fury. Especially since I heard they got the water vortex working again. However once we arrived to the attraction we found a 40 minute wait. We debated if it was worth it but our decission was soon made when a man and women came off the attraction and said that it was the biggest waist of time they have ever had and the attraction was horrible. We took there advice and skipped it. We made our way instead back into a very busy Wizarding World instead.

The Wizarding World was so busy that you could barely move. We decided we would make our way Forbidden Journey and take a ride thru the Single Riders line again. On our way there though we found the Hogwarts frog choir performing so we stopped to watch for a moment.

Upon arriving at Forbidden Journey we found the Locker line to be a mile long. When we turned the corner for the single riders line we were very shocked to see the line at the bottom of the stairs. So instead of riding the ride we decided we would ask to take a castle tour instead so we could see most of the line again. They have a seperate line avalible (which i'm sure will eventually be used for Express pass as well) where you can view the castle again. You can take your time taking as many pictures as you'd like and they send you thru a different door before getting on the ride at the end. You do miss the dungions, greenhouse, and coridor with the house points though by taking a castle tour so remember to go at least thru the main line once. Most of the photos I took in the castle tour were time delayed so you can get a true feeling as to how the castle is lit up.

In the Defense against the Dark Arts room we were able to watch all of Rons mishap spells and even witnessed the real snowfall twice.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

We were soon done with the Castle Tour and exited into Felches. We made our way back into Hogsmeade to find the Triwizard prep ralley taking place where students from Durmstrang and Beauxbaton do dances similar to what they do in the 4th Movie. This too was pretty cool to watch.

By this time we were really tired. Not only that my foot that I hurt somehow was hurting worse then ever. We got ahold of Kyle to find that Valisa and Emily decided to go back to the Hotel and rest for a couple hours. Kiera and I though that sounded like a good idea as well so after grabbing another butterbeer we meet up with Kyle and we soon left the park while Kyle and Mike stayed behind.

Although we had left the parks while walking thru Citywalk we found ourselves getting hungry so we stopped and grabbed some lunch at the Panda Express. We then made the walk back to our hotel where we found both Valisa and Emily already asleep taking naps. I was going to go down to the hot tub to soak my hurt foot to see if that would help any but Kiera talked me into just filling the bathtub with hot water to soak it as that would work just as well. I also took some photos of the view we had from the 17th floor of our corner room in the Doubletree. It was an excellent view and the only thing that could have been better was if we had a Universal Resort view. Sortly after I too fell asleep for about an hour.

After our rest and naps we were all up and ready to go back to the park for a couple hours before it closed. My foot although it still hurt was feeling much better and I would be able to make it the rest of the night. Once we arrived back in IOA we went to Marvel Superhero Island as Emily wanted to ride the Hulk and I wasn't going to object that. It had a 40 minute wait posted but there was no line outside so we decided to get in line and see if it was really that bad. Valisa didn't want to ride though so she left to go find Kyle and Mike. We soon found the Hulk line to really be that long so we decided to leave and not ride it. We found the same line to be true for spiderman as well so we made our way thru Toon Lagoon and into Jurassic Park.

There was a section of Jurassic Park that I really wanted to see that we also didn't see last year. It was the Camp Jurassic section as is like a little kid play area with many slides, water canons, and rope bridges and such. There are also a bunch of caves and jungle areas that can be explored. Overall it too is a very cool area that is incredably themed that i'm sure kids love to play in.

After Jurassic Park we made our way back into Hogsmeade where we would be spending the rest of our night. We meet up with the rest of the group and with the park nearing its closing time we decided it was time to take one final ride on the Forbidden Journey. The main line was posted at an hour wait. But we again took Single Riders and we were all on the ride in about 15 minutes. Kyle and Mike even found a shortcut to access the single riders line. When you walk thru the gates look for a path that leads back into the cliffs. Follow that path and walk thru the doors and you will find yourself at the base of the single rider line staircase. This ride ended up being the best ride I had on the ride. Everything almost worked perfectly and I even got scared by a dementor.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Once we were done with Forbidden it was pretty dark outside. The park stayed open later this evening and Kyle and I planned to use that to our advantage as we wanted to get the best night shots we could of the Wizarding World. We split up and the photo taking began. The park cleared out quickly and i was able to get many great shots. This place truely is magical after dark.

While I was taking photos Kiera went and got us another Butterbeer. One that we thought would be our last of the trip. We also decided to do a little bit more shoping grabbing mostly snacks from Honeydukes like a Caldren Cake, Pumpkin Juice, and Peperment Toads.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

After shopping we made our final walk around the Wizarding World. Everyone else had already left and we told them we would meet them back at the hotel. To end our visit I wanted to take pictures of all the store front windows and they were all very cool. Also as I mentioned they all do something magical so really pay attention and look at all the store fronts (even the fake ones).

 

[Teknik_DC2]

We soon left the Wizarding World and made our way back thru the park to leave. Once agian the park was beautiful at night and once in the port of entry we turned around to bid fairwell to Hogwarts castle as we don't know yet when we will be returning. Before leaving the park though we stopped at the huge store in the Port of Entry to find some postcards of IOA and Universal Studios for a vacation book. I also wanted to try on some robes to and ended up in the Ravenclaw House.

We made our way back thru Citywalk which was hopping on a Saturday evening. The place really came alive and there were even live concerts taking place. I wish we could have taken our time and enjoyed it more but with everyone else back at the hotel we had to hurry and meet up with them.

Overall our impressions of the Universal Orlando Resort were much better then they were last year. The addition of the Wizarding World really sets the resort apart from anywhere else in the world. I dare say that Islands of Adventure even Rivals Disneyland as my favorite Theme park anywhere. If you haven't been to Universal or haven't been in a long time then take the time to go expericance it. The whole resort is awesome. My only complaint is that with the Rockit broken the studios really seem empty compared to IOA. Hopefully Universals next big project will be adding something big and new to the Studios.

We were soon making the walk back to the Hotel. We were about half way there when everyone pulled up in the Van. It was such a relief that they picked us up as my foot was starting to hurt again. They picked us up as we were on our way to the next distination for the evening. Downtown Disney. It turned out that some friends of Kyle and Valisas from Seattle were vacationing with there kids at Disneyworld prior to there Disney cruise so we were heading there to meet up with them for dinner. The drive from Universal to Downtown Disney wasn't bad. It usually only takes like 10 minutes or so. However this time we hit major traffic that turned out to be mostly people heading back to Disney from the Universal Area.

We soon made it to Downtown Disney though and made our way to go find Kyle and Valisas friends. Downtown Disney is a huge shopping and entertainment complex on the Disney Property. Its pretty cool and worth checking out if you can't go to any parks or just have one night to kill in the Orlando area. Theres alot of fun to be had and you still feel alot of the Disney Magic here. There are many Disney themed stores and also many good restaurants in addition to a movie theater, a Circ du sole show, and the Disneyquest indoor themepark. We soon found there friends and we decided to eat at the Earl of Sandwich for dinner.

Earl of Sandwich was very good. And very resonably priced. We had a good dinner and had a good time chatting it up. After finishing dinner we went outside and watched some kids play in the fountain. Everyone else decided to take the boat back to the other side of Downtown Disney where our cars were parked but Kiera and I decided to walk as there were many stores we wanted to peak around in like the World of Disney, the Lego Store, and Ridemakers. Ridemakers is a store like build-a-bear but instead of a bear you can make your own toy car. And since cars are pretty much my life I had to stop in.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

We soon meet back up with everyone else and said our goodbyes and made our way back to our hotel. It was getting pretty late and many of us would be having a very early morning as Kyle and would be taking Mike and Emily to the Orlando airport to catch there planes home while the rest of us would be starting our next adventure on our Carnival Cruise to the Western Caribbean. We took some photos of all our Universal souveniors and were soon in bed to rest for our busy day tomorrow.

And with that the Universal portion of our vacation is over. Tomorrow starts the review i'm sure your all looking forward to. Embarkation day aboard the Carnival Legend. Once again thanks for all your many replys. If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will answer them as quickly as possible.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 5: Embarkation Day

Our 5th day of Vacation started very early for Kyle and I. We awoke at 6am so that we could take Mike and Emily to the airport. There vacation was quickly coming to an end and we were about to embark on the next stage of our adventure.

We arrived to the airport shortly after 7am and said our goodbyes. We then headed back to the Hotel but not without a quick stop at Walmart. Kiera and I had bought too much stuff at the Wizarding World and would be over our baggage weight limits so I had to pick us up another bag to carry things home in. Once we got the bag we got back to the hotel and we took a short nap before we really needed to get up and ready.

We were soon awake again and ready for the day. We got all our bags packed and taken down to the car. We checked out of the hotel by 10am so that we had plenty of time to get the rental car back to Tampa on time. I can't stress enough how excellent our hotel was. I highly recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Universal Orlando. Everything was a short walk away and it was a very nice hotel. We will diffenitly stay there again. Just make note that there is an extra fee for parking ($12 a day) and internet in your room costs extra as well.

There was a Burger King a short distance from the hotel that we decided to grab breakfast at. This was a big mistake. For some reason this Burger King had to be the slowest one in the world. Seriously it took 20 minutes for us to get our food after we ordered. Then the poor people behind us in line were denied breakfast cause by the time there order was taken it was after 10:30. Really avoid this BK location at all costs lol.

After our breakfast delays we were soon on the road and making the drive back to Tampa. This is a much more interesting drive during the day then it is during the day and I was shocked to see so many roadside podunk tourist stops lol. The drive went quickly and we got the van back to the Airport right on time.

The plan once the car was returned was to walk back thru the terminal and to the taxi pickup. We chose this route because we found it the cheapest alternative then paying rental car relocation fees. The taxis have a flat rate of $25 to the cruise Terminals from the airport. And that cost is per taxi so the 4 of us were covered under that for a van. This was the first time we've ever really used a taxi before so the experiance was a learning one. We didn't know if we had to tip the kid who loaded the luggage in our taxi but we did anyways. The Tampa airport is also pretty close to the cruise terminal and in a matter of minutes we were driving thru downtown Tampa and soon caught a glimpse of our ship and the Port of Tampa. Awe it was finally time for another relaxing cruise.

The taxi was quickly unloaded. I paid our driver and tipped him $5 and then we gave our bags to the porters. Our bags were quickly on there way but our friends were still new to this. They still hasn't attached there tags (we did at the hotel) and then they didn't know they had to tip the Porters as well lol. Before we knew it we were in line to board the ship. A line that was very long as we arrived at the peak time of arrival (around 1pm).

Although the line was long it was continually moving. Besides after being in the parks for 3 days prior we were use to waiting in lines. To find it intersting enough the people next to us in line were an older couple and they too were also from Utah. Infact there were a bunch of people on the ship doing a LDS history tour thru Fun for Less tours on this cruise. So it was nice talking with them during most of our wait in line. Check in was smooth and quick but it still took around 45 minutes tell we were on the ship. Tampa had a much quicker embarkation process then Long Beach did but Port Canaveral was better then Tampa.

We soon finished checking in and got our sail and sign cards (Kyle and Valisa also got there Virgin Sail and Sign cards [as I called there blue cards]) and we were boarding the ship. Awe how I missed the spirit class ships. In my opinion they are much nicer then the Conquest class like our last cruise on the Glory. By this point we were starving so we headed strait up to the Lido deck to get some lunch. It felt so great being on the ship and being able to leave our worries behind. We made a few final phone calls and then the phones turned off for a week. After lunch we got the best thing about cruising. The free Ice Cream. Something we went back for probably 3 more times this day.

After getting our Ice Cream we decided to head down to see if our rooms were ready. This cruise we went with the cheapest option avalible for us and booked a 4A cabin on the Riviera deck. It was an inside cabin room number 1153 and was about mid ship. We had our worrys booking on the bottom floor of the ship as our previous cruises we had been on deck 7 and 8 but that was quickly gone. The room was just as nice and we didn't feel any extra rocking being at the bottom. The only bad thing was we chose to never use the elevator. We used the stairs everywhere we went. And being on the bottom of the boat that made for a very tough hike lol. We were also shocked to find some of our luggage already waiting for us when we got to our room. The rest of it arrived within about 15 minutes of us getting in. This was the quickest we had ever recieved our luggage on any of our cruises. Maybe that was a perk for being on deck 1 lol.

We decided after resting for a little bit to go wonder the ship. Ironically we found ourselves outside where the Muster stations are located when they made the announcement for the Muster drill. Being that we were already ther we decided just to stay put. It was really nice not having to bring your life vests but it was kinda sad at the same time. Kiera and I always loved the photos we would take in them but this year it didn't happen. The Muster drill was soon over and Sail away would be following shortly.

For the sail away we decided to go go to the top deck to watch. Of course we had to grab another Ice Cream first though. The views of downtown Tampa are excellent from the ship. It is a very pretty city. There was another cruise ship in port as well getting ready to disembark. I'm not sure what the name of it was but it looked to be a Holland America ship.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

The ships horns soon blew and our cruise was officially starting. We decided to watch the sail away from the Lido Deck at the Aft pool. This pool area is one of my favorite things about the Spirit Class ships as I love how open it is. It always amazes me with how precise and well the ship can munover in the water considering its size. We relaxed for a little in the sun and dipped our feet in the water and then watched the sail away some more.

The Channel we were sailing thru to get to the bay and eventually to the ocean was very interesting. On the left side you could see very big, expensive, fancy, multi-million dollar homes. Yet on the right side there were a bunch of oil refineries. I just thought that was strange. Once we were on our way Kyle and Valisa decided to head down to there room to take a nap. I wanted to watch some more of the scenery go by so Kiera and I went up to to deck 10 and walked around the ship taking in the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

After walking the perimeter of the ship we too decided to head down to our room to relax some more and to get our suitcases unpacked. I don't know if you guys do it or not but we completly unpack our bags and "move in" to the room if we are staying somewhere longer then 3 days. This includes hanging things in the closest and putting things in drawers. We figured that was the norm since we've done it every cruise. However our friends though we were odd for completly unpacking everything. They chose to just live out of there suitcases the whole week.

We intended to try to take a little nap after unpacking. However that ended up not happening. By the time we were done unpacking it was nearing the time we were told that we would be going under the skyway bridge. I'd seen pictures of it on this website before so I was not going to miss out on this amazing sight. We tried knocking on our friends door to let them know we were going to go watch the bridge. But ther was no answer. They were sound asleep. So Kiera and I headed up the highest deck we could get to near the funnel. To our suprise though we were still pretty far away from passing the bridge.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Since we still had plenty of time to kill we decided go and get (you guessed it) more ice cream. We sat in the Unicorn cafe and talked and relaxed for a little while before deciding to go back up to the funnel tell we passed the bridge. Once outside we noticed many small boats around us again and a large city in the distance. We didn't know what city it is though.

The time was finally near. The bridge was drawing closer and closer by the minute. You wouldn't think that going under a bridge would really be anything that exciting. However it is very cool. Especially once you get close and actually go under the bridge. You kinda naturally get nervous for a moment as you think the ship won't clear it. If you ever sail out of Tampa do not miss out on this amazing sight. Really it is crazy that the ship gets so close to the bridge (clearing it by only 5ft). Our friends were pretty sad that they missed it later when we showed them the pictures.

After the watching the bridge we wondered around the ship a little more before returning to our room. The decor of the ship is beautiful. Yes there are Urns eveywhere you look but they made for some fun jokes thruout the vacation. We diffenitly prefered the theme/decor of the Legend over the Pride however we liked the theme/decor of the Glory more then ether of the Spirit Class ships we've been on.

Back at the room Kiera took a little nap before dinner while I watched TV. This cruise we elected for the late dinning. We tried Late our first cruise and Early our 2nd. We decided we liked late better after our 2nd cruise but now after our 3rd we are still undecided lol. I like having it later for coming back from ports and what not. But with it being later you don't find yourself hungry later at night for midnight pizza or the mexican buffet later in the week. Oh well lol.

It was soon dinner time. We awoke Kyle and Valisa from there long nap and then went to the dinning room for dinner. Kiera and I were so excited to see that we finally were sat next to a window. Unfortunatly due to late dinning it was already dark outside so the window was pointless lol. We had 2 excellent servers for our cruise. Gaven our main server from South Africa was hands down the best waiter we have ever had on a cruise. He went above and beyond each night for us and made us feel like we were long time friends. His helper was Snezana from Serbia and she too was excellent.

What can I say about the food on the Carnival Ships. it is amazing. We have never been dissapointed by anything on our cruises and this cruise was no exception. I love the feeling of eating in a fancy restaurant and ordering things that we would never order for dinner back home. Especially when most nights I would order 2 main dishes lol. On our first night for appitizers I got a Seafood sampler thing as well as a Ceasar Saled (which I ordered every night). Kiera ordered just a Ceasar Saled. For our main Courses I ordered the Flat Iron Steak and also the Spare Ribs (the ribs were amazing). Kiera ordered the Mahi, Mahi. Dessert was Chocolate Melting Cake for the both of us. Gotta start off a Carnival cruise with one of there signatures lol.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

After dinner we headed strait to the Follies Lounge to find a decent seat for the Welcome aboard show. These shows always seem to be the same now that we are on our 3rd cruise. It is still alot of fun though and it gives you a good introduction to your cruise director. We really enjoyed our Cruise Director on this cruise and agreed that he was our best one yet. We had Wee Jimmy and he was excellent. Not only did we think he was funny but more importantly we always saw him out and about on the ship. Something we don't recal seeing on our other cruises. He also introduced 2 of the comedians that would be doing shows on our cruise. And to our suprise one of them would be doing a show late this evening. So once the Welcome aboard show was over we headed strait down to the Firebird Lounge to get a good seat.

When we were on the Glory last year they were one of the test ships for a possible "Comedy Club". This was easily one of the highlights of our Glory cruise and so we were very excited when we found out that Carnival was rolling out the "Punchliner" Comedy Club to all of its ships. We looked forward to the Comedy shows each night and once again they were one of the highlights of this cruise. We were very happy to see Carnival decided not to keep the ticket system they tried on the Glory for the comedy shows though. They had 20 shows thruout the course of the cruise. Each comedian doing PG rated shows and R rated shows. We never caught any of the PG shows though as they were earlier in the evening.

Our comedian this night was Russ Nagel and he was very very funny. He was from the south and because of such kinda had a Jeff Foxworty vibe to him. What made it more Ironic was that he actually lives currently in West Plains, Utah. A town right next to the town we live in. His show was well done and very funny and up until this night he was the best comedian we had seen on a ship. We had a good time and would end up catching one of his other shows a couple nights later as well.

It had been a long day by the time the Comedy show was over. We grabbed some pizza from the lido (much harder to late night snack with late dinning) and then we retired to our cabins for the night. This was the first we'd been to our cabin since they turned it down so we were excited to find a Whalrus or Seal or something sporting Kieras sunglasses.

We were soon in bed and our first day on the Legend over. We looked very forward to finally having a day to sleep in and relax as our first full day on the ship would be a sea day.

 

[rpbert1]

Loving your trip report, an amazing time you guys had

 

[jnjusoioa]

On the second page, there is a photo of a guy in a robe and behind him is a birthday hat laying, is that a Harry Potter item? Thank you, awesome trip report and photos.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 6: First Scheduled Day at Sea

Our first full day aboard the Carnival Legend was a sea day. I'm personally not the biggest fan of sea days but after the non-stop vacation we have had up until this point it was greatly welcomed. It was so nice to finally be able to sleep in and relax this morning. We slept until about 11am when Valisa and Kyle called up to see if we were awake yet. Turns out they were already up and going and had even already ate breakfast. So Kiera and I quickly got up and threw our swimsuits on as we'd plan to spend most of the day out in the sun.

We brought some 2 way radios with us on the trip so it was farely easy to find Kyle and Valisa. We dropped our stuff off on some lounce chairs next to them. They found a bunch of lounge chairs on the starboard side of the ship that was almost never in use. After which Kiera and I ran down to the Lido buffet to get some breakfast before they closed up to prepair for lunch.

After breakfast it was time to relax in the sun for a few hours. Kiera got us well covered in sunscreen so that we wouldn't burn (she's an estatition by profession so she has really good sunscreen), I turned on my Ipod to listen to the Geek Show podcast and relaxetion began.

While laying out the Captain came over the intercom to give his daily announcement. He started off telling us the usual current weather conditions, our location, how deep the ocean was, ect..... He then told us later in the afternoon that we would be able to see Cuba as we passed by. I got pretty excited about this as thats not a location that you get to see often. But he ended the announcement with some serious news. He said that there was a tropical storm system in the western caribbean that just turned into a Tropical Depression. He said they would be watching the storm closely but as of now our itenerary would not be changing and they would keep us update.

We continued laying out but by this point we had been out in the sun for about 3 hours and I was pretty spent. It was nice to relax but I can only take so much relaxing in the sun lol. I'm the type that constantly likes to be doing things. Plus Kyle and Valisa had already gone back to there room to take a nap.

After packing our things up we decided now was a good time to go get some Ice Cream. We made out way to the aft pool where some of the ice cream stations were located. While back there we saw that there was a Holland America ship following not too far behind us. This ship would end up following us pretty much the whole day.

After getting our ice cream I decided we should go sit in the Hot Tub. My foot was still hurting pretty badly and the heat of the hot tube would usually help it. Most of the Hot tubes were pretty full but we found one in the middle of the ship that was fairly empty at the time. While in the Hot tub we saw a guy that had a bird on his finger. We thought that was pretty interesting as we weren't near any land at this time. The bird would fly up to another deck but then would keep flying back down and sitting on this guys finger. The guy was feeding it french frys so we figured thats how he must have gotton the bird to come to him.

After spending a good amount of time in the hot tub and my foot now feeling a little bit better we decided to walk around the ship and make our way to get some ice cream again.

It was now nearing the time that we would be passing by Cuba so after eating our ice cream we headed back up to deck 10 to the Port side to see Cuba as we passed. All I can say about Cuba. Yeah its not that cool. Like we had to look really hard to be able to see it. I guess I was expecting it to be mountanous or something but it was very flat. As the time did go by you could see it better but it still wasn't that great as you'll be able to tell in the photos. Oh well still cool to see it I guess. Even though it was kind of as dissapointment.

It was now late in the afternoon and Kiera and I were getting hungry. So down to the Lido buffet we went and got ourselves some food from the Deli since everything else had closed up by this point. While eating we got a page from Kyle and Valisa looking for us so they too soon joined us for our late lunch. While eating we even ran into our waiter Gaven.

After lunch we all decided to just swim for a little bit. The pool was nice but still a little cold dispite it being a fairly warm day. So once some people cleared out of the hot tub we all went and hoped in there. It was still pretty full but it was fun. We started talking to other people in there and then the question was asked. "Where are you guys from?" We responded that we were from Utah and then this lady that was very drunk really got annoying. She started asking the whole do we have multipule wive crap and because she had seen the tv show "Sister Wive's" she assumed we all did. She was a older lady but was very immature and disrespectful with the questions she was asking and wouldn't belive that I was with my 1 wife and Kyle with his 1 wife and that we couldn't drink soda (which we can) and blah blah blah. Anyways it was nice once she left the hot tub especially when another lady (who was very nice and funny) turned to us and said "Yeah, I've been to Utah and that lady is an idiot". Basically she was saying she knows how Utah really is and knows of all the misconceptions. We had a very nice conversation with her about her travels and all the many cruises she had been on.

After finishing up with the Hot Tub we headed down to our rooms to get ready for the evening. Tonight was our first formal night and because of that Kiera wanted to actually do her hair nice for it. So we spent the next hours getting cleaned up and ready for our first Formal Night.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Before we knew it the time had come for dinner. We decided to leave the cabin a little bit early though to try and get some photos taken while were all dressed up. We headed up to the Atrium and had some photos taken by the stairs. We then hoped in the now very long line for dinner since the dinning room still hadn't opened yet for the evening.

The doors were soon opened and we quickly made our way to our dinner table where our servers were already waiting and happy to see us. As I said before our servers were excellent again this night and the best we've had. We also enjoyed the scenery outside our ocean view table lol.

Dinner was very good this evening. Infact I think it was the best menu we had the whole cruise. Because there was so much to choose from all 4 of us would end up ordering 4 main dishes. For starters Kiera got the Fruit Cocktail and a Greek Salad. I decided to get the Spaghetti Carbinara and a Ceasar Salad. Now i'm not one that likes much Italian food. But that Spaghetti Carbinara is excellent and I highly recommend it.

For our Main Dishes Kiera ordered a Prime Rib and the Lobster Tail. I ordered the Prime Rib as well and the Duck. The Prime Rib is hands down my favorite thing Carnival serves and has been since our first cruise. However in all of our cruises (and even outside of cruising) I had never tried Lobster before. Thats why Kiera ordered that as well. And wow i've been missing out. It was very good and I liked it alot. So much I think that I ate more of her lobster then I did my Duck (which is also very good).

For dessert Kiera and everyone else orderd the Chocolate Melting Cake. I was teased by my dessert selection by ordering a Fruit Plate but it turned out to be very good as well.

After Dinner we made headed back to the room to change back into normal clothes for the rest of the evening. Its fun to dress up nice but we are not the types that like to stay in those clothes the entire evening. However we stopped to take some photos in our formal clothes before changing out of them. We decided to model with the lovely vases that are eveywhere in the Legend.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

After our vase photos we tryed doing some Dip Kisses as well. Kiera and I became professionals with this on our last cruise lol. Kyle and Valisa still had some learning to do. However it was a box full of fail when both Kiera and Valisa tried to dip kiss myself and Kyle.

We made our way back to our cabins where everything was turned down for the evening and we had a new towel animal. Tonight it looked to be a dog and once again it was sporting Kieras sunglasses.

After changing we went back to Kyle and Valisas cabin to wait for them to finish. They showed us our welcome aboard photo that they took of all of us that they bought. Its too bad it turned out to be the best photo of Kiera and I that the Carnival actually took lol. We then made the long trek back up to the the Lido deck for some more ice cream. Kyle and Valisa demonstrated very well how we felt every time after that hugh stair climb from deck 1 to deck 9.

We missed the show this evening as we didn't pay attention to what time it was and left dinner very late. So since we now had our ice cream and some time to kill before the Comedy show we went and took some photos on the clear staircase above the Atrium. I gotta admit these staircases on the Spirt class ships are awesome. Its such a crazy feeling to be so high above the atrium. And I'm even afraid of heights. I guess my wife must be too cause she wasn't too excited when I was jumping on the clear stairs to show her they are very sturdy.

After the staircase we decided it was time to head back down to the Promanade and make our way to the firebird lounge for 11:45 R rated show of the Punchline Comedy Club.

When we got to the Firebird lounge we were suprised to find ourselves amung the only ones in there. The main show up above still wasn't finished and so we were able to get some excellent with a center view of the stage. The crowds soon started filling in though and the lounge was very full in little time. Our cruise director Wee Jimmy even showed up to the show and joked around with people for a little while before the show started.

The Comedian tonight was Eddie Capone. He was pretty funny but in the end he turned out to be our 3rd favorite of the 4 performers on the cruise. I would have liked to have maybe seen his PG show because the stuff he said during the welcome aboard show were much funnier then his R rated show. Still it was a comedian that was funny and a great way to end our evening.

We were all very tired after the Comedy show was over this night. So much so that we all just walked down the hall and retired to our cabins for the night. It was going to be another early morning as the next day we would be in our first Port the Grand Cayman. So we quickly got ready for bed and fell asleep to get as much rest as we could for another busy day.