TravelStream™ news feed for member kevmoley on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kevmoley en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 08 May 2008 11:09:59 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1210259220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1210259220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1210259220/tpod.html Thu, 08 May 2008 11:09:59 -0400 My First Trans-Atlantic Cruise: Miami to Rome

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Málaga, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands

After Portugal, we had another full day at sea and each night Carnival continues to provide us fantastic Broadway style shows. On Tuesday, the show was a tribute to the Beatles and it was called, "Ticket to Ride". A wonderful show that lasted nearly an hour and half long that included mind blowing dance routines and nonstop Beatle's hits. After the show it was time to go to bed because we all knew that the next day would be a long day in Spain.
We arrived in Malaga, Spain at 7:00am and once again Carnival was slow at getting people off the ship to start their tours. Our tour was a long one because we were not staying in Malaga but rather we were going to Granada. Granada is home to one of the wonders of the world. It is home to El Alhambra which translates to "The Red Palace". It got its name because it was built from a stone in this region that has a red color.

Now, our Captain made an announcement that the temperature would be around 63 degrees and cloudy while yahoo.com was reporting it to be a sunny day and around 80 degrees. I decided to listen to the Captain' advice and dressed warmly... big mistake, always listen to yahoo :)

As we left for a two hour ride from Malaga to Granada in our slightly air conditioned bus and me in my sweater, our guide, Rafael (who was celebrating his 61st birthday) pointed out all the names to the towns we passed along the way. We passed Santa Monica, San Jose, San Francisco and many others. In fact, if you forget for just a moment that you were in Spain, you might feel you were driving through California. It was not only in the names of the towns that remind us of California but also in the green hills we passed as well. Then, we would see all the olive groves and we realized we could only be in Spain. Two things really stuck out for me about Spain. The first is that all the stop signs actually read "Stop" and not "Alto" like in most Spanish speaking countries and our tour guide explained to me that most Spaniards only look at stop signs and red lights as suggestions and not the law (this must be an Italian influence as I am well aware of how they follow this rule as well). The second was the number one national pastime for the residents is not soccer but rather basketball. They love their basketball and their team as well. Malaga has one of the best teams in all of Europe.

Once we arrived at El Alhambra, it was easy to see why so many people fell in love with this beautiful palace located on 300 acres of pristine landscapes and located high on a cliff that has breathtaking views of the town of Granada below. However, this was not always the case. It was not that long ago that the palace was close to being completely destroyed because of neglect. If not for an American writer by the name of Washington Irving and his book, "Tales of the El Alhambra", we may have lost this treasure forever. A plaque now hangs on the walls of the palace with Mr. Irving's name on it to recognize his contribution to the preservation of this wonder of the world. I will not bore you with all the history of the palace because there is a lot. It was built by the Moors in the 8th century and at its peak had over 3000 residence. Then in 1492, Granada was the last Muslim city to fall to the Christian Kings. One location not to miss on this tour is the Courtyard of the Lions. It is an area that was built by the last Muslim ruler who pulled in design influences from three different religions. It is where Christianity, Judaism and Islam all come together in a calm and tranquil setting. If only all the great leaders of today could not come and see and actually learn something from this wonderful courtyard.

Afterwards, we made a stop for lunch and Katty, Dora, Robert and I all had the Paella (a mixture of seafood and rice) and it was served with some fine Spanish wine. A nice way to end a great day.

Before we knew it, we were back on board our ship and setting sail towards Italy. I enjoyed my short stay here in Spain and hope to visit again sometime in the future.

After sailing, we had a wonderful dinner in the main dining room. Tonight we ate veal parmesan served with mashed sweet potatoes for the main dish and I had the fresh mozzarella and tomato for an appetizer. The show tonight starred Penny Mathisen direct from London's West End and the Sydney Opera house. She played multiple hits from Carmen all the way to Cats on Broadway. A show I hope I will be able to show highlights of on this blog.

Tomorrow, May 9th, we arrive in Livorno, Italy or otherwise known as the gateway to Pisa, Florence and Tuscany. Until then, "Buenos Noches"
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Funchal, Portugal

It has been 10 days since we sailed from Miami to Europe and it was smooth sailing all the way. Today, we arrived in Madeira, Portugal on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) at 9:30am. After a long wait to depart our ship, we met our tour guide, Otilia, who has lived her entire life in Madeira's capital city of Funchal and has a great passion for her little island that is very prevalent in her tour descriptions. Madeira is to Portugal what Hawaii is the United States, a little paradise off the coast of the mainland. The population is around one hundred and twenty thousand with about one third living in the capital city. The island has perfect weather year round that allows it to grow all types of plants and today the temperature was around 72 degrees. There were sixty of us on this tour and we all boarded a bus that was driven by a pleasant fellow by the name of Fernando (I am meeting a lot of people with this name on this trip). Fernando's driving could give any person a heart attack. Madeira is a very mountainous island with a lot of winding turns around high cliffs. These streets were meant for traffic in both directions but really could only accommodate one way. If anyone has every done the road to Hana in Maui, you know what I mean. Now, imagine doing that same road on a big bus with a Nascar driver... Wow!.. What a rush!!

As we rode along, you get to notice that the island has a nice blend of old and new architecture. The homes are small but quite expensive. Otilia commented that the homes sell around three to four hundred thousand euro and it was very common to find more than one generation living under the same roof just to survive. Also, I was really amazed at how no land was wasted on this tiny island. Just about every homeowner was also a farmer and they would grow crops on their land to eat, trade with their neighbors and they would then sell what was left over in the farmers markets around the island. Unlike Hawaii, there is very little food imported onto this island. Thus, keeping food cost much lower than other islands I have visited before. Also, the crime is very low here as well. Thanks partially to the low unemployment rate which is below 5%. Madeira was also the very first location in Europe to actually produce sugar and we showed up on this island in the middle of their 500 years celebration to that fact.

Our first stop was in a town named, Santa Cruz. This was also the location of the islands airport. The airport is an engineering marvel in that all planes land on an airstrip that basically is a boardwalk that leads out onto the ocean. It certainly was the biggest pier I had ever seen. This was also a good 1st stop to be able to take pictures of the surrounding waters and our cruise ship docked in port.

Our next stop was in a town named, Machico. We walked around for a while until we found a little restaurant with outdoor seating. We ordered the espresso with some type of delectable pastry while we watched people go about their daily business. Afterwards, we found a small wine store and bought a couple of wines that have made this little island so famous.

Our next stop was in a small town named "Santana". It was named after Saint Ann who was the grandmother of Jesus. The island has a lot of towns named after saints because the island is mostly Catholic. It was located high in the mountains overlooking these beautiful cliffs that drop dramatically to the ocean. One person claimed that they reminded her of the Cliff's of Moor in Ireland. The homes were small cottages with straw thatched roofs that gave an old world feeling to this charming town. Katty found a small shop that made wool sweaters and she bought one. I told her that she would find a lot of use for that sweater in Arizona's summer heat and she replied that it only cost 12 euros and she would get its monies worth out of it in the end. I have to admit, for 12 euro, it was a nice sweater.

It was around 1:00pm now and we all stopped for lunch at a restaurant named "Casa de Cha" in Faial. Katty, Dora and I ordered the espada while Robert ordered some type of beef. The espada is a type of swordfish that is caught off the coast in only deep waters (around 4k to 5k feet) and only caught at night. The meal was accompanied with a potato, vegetable soup and a nice salad and all tables had bottles of red and white wines made in Madeira for consumption. Our meal was fantastic!

Finally, we reached our last stop and it was also the highest peak on the island at 1820 meters or around 6000 feet. The weather was much cooler up here and the views were breathtaking. We found ourselves high above the clouds. This was a magnificent way to end a tour and we can see why the Madeira people live the good life or as they say in Portuguese, "Boa Vida".

We have a full day at sea on Tuesday, May 6th before we reach Malaga, Spain. We are visiting Granada here in order to view the world famous palace, "Alhambra", one of the wonders of the world. Until then, Bon Dia (Good Day)!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209838320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209838320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209838320/tpod.html Sat, 03 May 2008 14:22:41 -0400 My First Trans-Atlantic Cruise: Miami to Rome

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Funchal, Madeira Islands, Portugal

Four days at sea and no land in sight... yet... but our anticipation is growing each passing hour. We are only one day away from arriving in Portugal and our journey through Europe will begin.

However, our cruise entertainment committee and our cruise director have done a wonderful job of keeping us very busy with unforgettable Broadway style shows, top act comedy shows and musical entertainers each night. While during the day, we get involved in daily events such as basketball tournaments, mini golf, bingo, dance lessons, Casino action, fitness center and Italian lessons...yes.. free Italian lessons... FANTASTICO.

Speaking about fantastic, our weather has been unbeatable averaging around 82 degrees and sunny every day. We also have had a very smooth sailing as well. I really have to tell you that I thought the waters would have gotten a little rough along the way but I was way off course on that one.

Speaking of course, our Captain is right on course and will arrive two hours early into Portugal. I can not wait to show you the pictures on Funchal.

Now, I have been on several cruises before and there is one thing I have never done on a cruise ship and that is to use their many swimming pools. Well, not only have I tried their pools on this ship, I also tried the Jacuzzis and Carnival's famous water slides. The Freedom's slide is a 214 foot spiral water slide. Now, let me tell you, we have all seen kids at water parks running up the stairs to then slide down the water slide but until you seen a 90 year old male with a walking cane do it, you have seen nothing yet!! The crowd on this ship is, as you might have guessed, well over their fifties (this will come as no shock to my brother Neil as he has been on several trips of mine in the past and I have a particular knack (call it a skill) in finding an older crowd on cruise ships).

Yesterday, Katty and I met this wonderful gay couple on their very first cruise and also there very first trip to Europe. They have been partner's for forty five years and I had to ask them what their secret was for staying together so long because I was ready to toss my wife to the sharks in the Atlantic. They responded by saying that as you get older, your hearing starts to go and you hear less and less complaints each passing moment. So, they told Katty that each day I will become more bearable :)

Well, sorry to say that it is time to say good bye. I have to get ready for dinner tonight as it is prime rib night and toasted salmon as well. I have added a few more pictures of our days at sea.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209594840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209594840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209594840/tpod.html Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:02:09 -0400 My First Trans-Atlantic Cruise: Miami to Rome

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St Maartin, Netherlands Antilles

After nearly three straight days at sea, we made our first port of call. We were the 2nd of four ships to arrive in St. Maartin. The other three ships were Royal Caribbean's "Explorer of the Sea's, on a nine night Eastern Caribbean cruise out of New Jersey, Disney's "Magic" on a seven day Eastern Caribbean cruise out of Florida and Royal Caribbean's, "Liberty of the Sea's" also doing a seven day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean cruise out of Florida as well.

Now I have seen a lot of Islands in the Caribbean and St Maartin has always ranked up at the top for me. It is less crowded then St Thomas, a lot cleaner then Puerto Rico and a whole lot safer than most of the islands you can visit. In fact, the people here are some of the friendliest in the Caribbean and they want you to leave their tiny island knowing just that. St Maartin is the only island in the Caribbean that is a territory for two separate countries. The port side of the island falls under Dutch control while the other end of the island is a French territory and there is no need for a border because everyone gets along just fine :)

There was some talk about there being a chance for rain but I am glad to report that the entire day was sunny and around 85 degrees. We also have arrived on the island's holiday, it was Carnival time and parades were going on all day today in town.

Now, earlier in the week, we had met this wonderful couple from Toronto, Ontario Canada named Richard and Marilyn Burr. They had set up a booze cruise in St Maartin and invited us to join them and of course, we did :)

We sailed out on a ship called the Lord Sheffield for a four hour cruise that included all the rum punch, beer and soda you could drink and they served BBQ chicken, salad, rice, cheese as well. While I was holding a rum punch in one hand while eating a piece of chicken with the other and hearing some reggae play out on the radio as we sailed through these turquoise waters, I had come to realize that this day could not get any more perfect.

After the sailing, we laid on the beach for a while and then we finished our perfect day with a little shopping in town. Before we knew it, we boarded back on the Freedom and we were officially on our way across the Atlantic and it would be 6 more days until we actually see land again.

That evening, I had the crab legs for an appetizer and the glazed pork loin for dinner and for dessert, a chocolate melting cake. Afterwards, we burned off the calories by dancing under the stars on the lido deck by the pool where we formed the largest conga line I have ever seen. It had to be about two thousand of us singing Hot, Hot, Hot ! 'til two in the morning..

That is it for now but I have added some new pictures for you to see how our trip is going.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209423600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209423600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1209423600/tpod.html Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:17:14 -0400 My First Trans-Atlantic Cruise: Miami to Rome

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Off the Coast, Cuba

Well, as you might have guessed, we have started our cruise. After a rough first day with red eye flights and long lines, we are now settling in quite nicely into our new daily routine and let me tell you it has been hard to find a free moment to even sit and write my blog. However, before I start a busy day again, I thought I would tell you about our day yesterday.

First, let me tell you a little about our ship. It is the newest ship in the Carnival fleet and it is also one of the largest ships as well. In fact, the ship is sold out with about 3000 passengers and 1200 crew. I have been on quite a few cruises in my days, and I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful the crew is on this ship. They may be the best I have ever sailed with before.

Yesterday was our first of many sea days we will have on this sailing. We were sailing off the coast of Cuba today and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Fidel Castro smoking a cigar and drinking a Mojito on the beach. I am sorry to report that that did not happen. However, my day did begin at 7:00am in the gym for about an hour and half and it was packed. I met an older gentlemen working out next to me from Vail, Co., and he made it extremely hard to work out. As every woman walked by, he had a comment for each one. I think in the short amount of time, he flirted with about ten women and walked away with about 4 cabin numbers. As he left the gym, he said that the ladies cabin numbers should get him through today. LOL

After the gym, we headed to the main pool on the Lido deck where we watched the Bee Gee's on the big movie screen in concert. The day was sunny and around 84 degrees. While we were sitting there and enjoying the show, we met a wonderful couple on their honeymoon from New York. This was their first cruise and I felt compelled to share my expertise with them :). In the end, I gave them my business card and told them to call me when they were ready for their next cruise.

Now, it was time for lunch and I decided to try the fish and chips. They were done just right. They were not too greasy and not over cooked to where it tasted like leather. While we were enjoying our lunch, Carnival started one of their famous contests. It was time for the hairy chest contest and it was shown on that big movie screen to give you a very close up feel to this wonderful event. The assistant cruise director chose 5 men to enter the contest and they took off their shirts. They had to give their best Tarzan scream and then the music would begin and they had to dance for 3 large women who were the judges to the contest and let me tell you that these women were not shy in any way.

It was on to Bingo from here and we nearly won $700.00 if not for this one lady who called Bingo just when we had only needed one more number. Doesn't that always happen?

It was now 3:30pm and it was high tea time. We had English tea with the little cucumber sandwiches and tiny pastries while listening to the ships live orchestra. It was held in the Posh Restaurant with an aft (back) view of the ocean. Now I understand why so many Brits love this event.

We then headed back to our cabin to get ready for tonight's 1st of 2 nights on board where we need to dress up. It was the Captain's Gala event and it always starts with the Captain's Reception. The best thing about this hour event is that all drinks are free.

After the reception, it was time for dinner. I started with the shrimp cocktail, followed by a fruit salad. Then for the main dinner, I had the Prime Rib and Lobster tail. The lobster tail was so good, I ordered a second one. Finally, for desert, I had the caramelized apple torte... fantastic!

I now wobbled to the main show for the night and this might have been the best show I have seen on a cruise. It was called "Jump, Jive and Wail" and Carnival has won several awards for this show. It had high energy dance sequences with music from the 40's.

After the show, it was time to hit the casino for an hour and once again, we did not win :(

We then went to the final show of the evening. It was an Adult Comedy act performed by an Italian comedian named, "Frank Del Pizzo". He had us all rolling on the floor.

It was now 1:30am and we finally made it back to our cabin and our room was immaculate. Our cabin steward, "Ferdinand" out did himself once again with how clean our cabin was. A very enjoyable fellow from the Philippines who has a smile glued to his face and it does not matter what you ask him for, he always replies with a "No Problem" and returns in a few minutes with the item.

Now, I know this blog is a little choppy but I hope you can get a little understanding on how a day on a cruise ship can be like.

See you tomorrow..
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1208625180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1208625180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1208625180/tpod.html Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:15:01 -0400 My First Trans-Atlantic Cruise: Miami to Rome

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Phoenix, Arizona, United States

After a large scare this week, I am happy to report that my Dad, who had a mild heart attack, is home and recovering nicely. His Doctor has advised him to stay at home and relax. Now, anyone who has met my dad, knows this is a very difficult thing for him to do, if not impossible. He is one of the most active people I know and the word "relax" does not compute into his vocabulary. However, I asked my mom to chain him to the bed and give him only access to the internet so he can read my blog. So, at least I know someone is reading my blog, even if he is being forced to read it. :)

Now, as we prepare for our journey next week, I find myself wondering where the definition for vacation ever came from in the first place. The word, "vacation", as defined in the dictionary means a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, used for rest, recreation. OK, really?.. used for rest and recreation?.. clearly the person who came up with this definition never went on a vacation before. Let me explain:

Let's start with packing, this is something I really hate doing and my wife has learned this over the years. The reality is she does all of the packing and comes to me for advice on what to pack for me. It has been going on all week and it goes something like this. She will ask me if this shirt goes with this pants, belt and shoes. What I hear is straight out of the Charles Shultz', "Charlie Brown", specials when the adults would speak. I hear "blah, blah, blahs"... and this always gets an automatic response from me of "that's great". However, over the years, my wife has caught on to my automatic responses and this has now lead to even louder: BLAH, BLAH, BLAHS.... and of course, I have come up with a new response as well of, " I love you", which always leads to more under the breath, "blah, blah, blahs, but with some more colorful words added to the end of her blahs that I will not share with this g-rated blog. Personally, I wish I was more like my brother when it comes to packing for a trip. He has it down to a science. When he goes away for a week, he packs a pair of jeans, a pair of underwear, a pair of socks, seven different colored t-shirts and a pair of sneakers that could also pass as a pair of shoes. If not for the shoes, he probably could put everything in his back pocket. Now, I never went away with him for 14 days but I think the only difference in his packing would be that he probably would add a scented car air freshener to his bag. This will allow him to then take his worn colored t-shirt off, place it in the bag and in one week time, have a minty fresh smelling t-shirt readied to be worn once more. Now, as for my wife and I, we find ourselves with 2 large bags each and one carry on as well. Also, all our bags are very close to the maximum allowable weight as defined by the airline industry. In other words, any slight change to the weight of our bags may induce a substantial increase in the cost to actually bring our bags with us on this trip.
As you probably remember, I love to plan out everything in advance with a hope that I can cover all my bases before we actually go on the trip. Well, two new things came up this week regarding our trip. First, while we are in St Maartin, they are celebrating a holiday and most streets will be closed in order to allow for a parade. Now, anyone who has ever been to St Maartin will tell you that traffic, on a normal day, is hell. I cannot even imagine how bad it will be with most streets closed. Also, most stores will be closed as well and this upset my wife considering that St Maartin is known for some of the best shopping in the Caribbean.

At last, while we are in Florence, Italy, if appears it is that time of the year where the entire country has to deal with a public transit strike. Yes, this happens nearly every year in Italy and it is best to avoid a visit when it happens. Our ship pulls into the port of Livorno, which is about an hour and half away from Florence. Since I have already been to Italy before, I got to know their train systems pretty well. Also, being a NYer at heart, I had no problem with the idea of using the public transit system in order to get to Florence from Livorno. I knew this would save us a lot of money from using a private tour company. Now, we have to change that plan and quickly as there is only one week left before we leave.

So I ask you again, do you really feel that vacation should stand for rest and relaxation. I personally feel that everyone should have a vacation from a vacation.

This week, I did call all the bank and credit card companies to let them know where we would be and they gave us the international numbers to call should there be a problem. I also suspended the mail and newspaper service as well. We received our Euro's from the bank and it appears we are finally ready for the trip.


So, the next time I write on this blog, we will be starting our adventure on our very first Trans-Atlantic sailing. Good bye till next week. (guest book is now open, feel free to leave your nasty comments :) )
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1207413240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1207413240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1207413240/tpod.html Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:05:16 -0400 My First Trans-Atlantic Cruise: Miami to Rome

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Phoenix, Arizona, United States

We are now only 3 weeks to the exact time we would be leaving on our cruise and one theme song keeps playing in my head. The theme goes like this, "You take the good, you take the bad, you take the rest and there you have, the facts of life..." and I think I know why this song played in my head all week long. Let me explain:

"You take the Good.." As I mentioned in my previous blog, we had something added to our cruise AFTER we had purchased our cruise. It is called a fuel charge and all cruise ship passengers in 2008 are charged this extra amount which comes out to $5.00 per person per day. We are going on a 14 day cruise and only paid a cruise fare of $300.00 per person and now a fuel charge that came out to an additional $70.00 per person. Well, it turned out we were not the only ones upset about this and a lawsuit was filed in Florida against the Cruise Lines for adding this charge to passengers who paid in full for their cruise in 2007. Royal Carribean, Celebrity and some other cruise lines caved in right away and gave the money back to their passengers but Carnival did not. Carnival had already in fine print with their contracts that they could add a fuel charge at any time and they were ready to go to court to prove it. However, earlier this week and probably to save face with loyal customers who probably would have booked with Royal Carribean next time, caved in and gave us our money back as an On Board Credit of $140.00.. Katty will have a great time at the slots..

"You take the Bad.." Now this week really started off great, getting the money back from Carnival, our bags nearly all packed, our banks know we will be overseas so they will not freeze our accounts while we were on our trip, newspaper stopped, L.A. Fitness account on hold for three weeks, mail stopped for the three weeks as well. It seems all the stars are lining up and it will be smooth sailing from here on end... Then, Thursday, April 3rd, I woke up like every morning (thankfully) and got dressed, had my breakfast cereal (Special K) and turned on CNN news.. the same ritual I go through every morning. However, this time my favorite anchors were mentioning how ATA Airlines had filed bankruptcy and left all their passengers in the air (so to speak) and we were one of those passengers. We had a flight set for April 26th to get to Miami on ATA and now we were left pondering on how we would get to Miami. The good news, we used our credit card to buy our tickets and our credit cards will pay us back, if you pay cash ..well ..good luck in ever seeing that money. So, here is a lesson for all of you out there, ALWAYS USE A CREDIT CARD WHEN PURCHASING A TICKET. (who said my blog would not be educational..LOL..

"You take the Rest.." Well, we now have our new airline tickets to Miami and believe it or not, they were slightly cheaper then our original tickets. We are flying on US Airways this time and there is one catch, we now have to fly into Miami the night before our cruise. So, we then needed a room in Miami and we did find one in South Beach for $155.00. Well, there goes that on board credit and the slightly cheaper price for our airline ticket. In fact, when you add our credit from the cruise line, our slightly better price for the airline tickets and the cost of the hotel stay, we only ended up gaining $1.50 back. Katty better hope for a penny slot machine now..LOL

So, my friends, I hope you learned a few things from this blog. It really does not matter how hard you plan things in advance. The BIG man up stairs will always find a way to have fun with you but in the end, if you keep a positive outlook, all will work out fine. That is, of course, until the BIG man up stairs wants to have a little more fun.. but hey..there you have it...

"That Facts of Life, The Fact of Life..."
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Phoenix, Arizona, United States

So, now we are at 49 days and counting until we sail and there is so much still to do. I am the kind of person who will run every days events through my head from breakfast in the morning till I eat my piece of chocolate on my bed at night. I need to know what we are going to do and what is our back up plan in case of an emergency (rain, fire, etc.). I guess you can say I get a little anal about these things and I drive my wife crazy as we plan out our trip well in advance. Yes, I know it is impossible to be able to plan for everything but can you really blame a guy for trying?

So, here is how I see things going on our trip:

We arrive in Miami on the date of sailing of April 26th at 9:47am and our ship leaves port at 4:00pm, a 6 hour time frame. However, homeland security requires that you board the ship at least 2 hours ahead of departure time, we are now down to 4 hours.. This is NOT an acceptable amount of time for me. What if the flight is delayed? (April, Phoenix to Miami, it shouldn't be but what if?) What if our luggage gets misplaced? What if... well, you get the point. I normally would fly in a day earlier in order to avoid any problems but we just could not get any more time off. So, therefore, I see that my blog on the 27th detailing what happened on the 26th will either say how we ran through the airport like OJ Simpson in an AVIS commercial and made the ship at the last moment or the blog may read as the last line in this blog because we missed the sailing! :)

If all goes well, we will have boarded our ship, the Carnival "Freedom" and we probably headed directly to the Lido deck buffet to have lunch and prepare for our sailing. Carnival's "Freedom" is a new ship built in 2007, weighing in at 110,000 tons and holding a max of 2964 passengers and 1150 crew members, it is the pride of their fleet (that is until the sister ship, the Splendor comes out this year). Did I mention, it is sold out too? I guess it is not too hard to understand why. Carnival took notice that Trans-Atlantic sailings usually do not sell out, so they had a sale. We paid a cruise fare of $300.00 per person (plus port charges and taxes) for a 14 day sailing to 4 countries. A Great deal! They later hit us for a fuel charge per person of $70.00 but that will have to be a whole blog on its own since we are part of the lawsuit in Florida regarding that specific charge to passengers that had already paid for their cruise and were hit later with that charge. In any case, for that price and being on a new ship, all food and entertainment included and not to mention, the number 1 cruise director in the world on this ship as well. Yes, the legendary John Heald (www.johnhealdsblog.com) is the cruise director on this ship. He was my cruise director back in 1991 when I went on the new "Ecstasy" at the time. He is very funny and really knows how to involve everyone in the daily activities on board the ship.

As you can imagine, we do have quite a few relaxing days at sea on this sailing, so Katty and I have already started picking out our books to bring along on this cruise. We also made a lot of friends on the message boards with other people sailing on our date to have planned activities on board the ship as well. Let me explain this. There is a wonderful website designed for cruise travel agents and people who love to cruise, where they can talk and share information with each other. For example, what to do in a port other than the excursions provided by the cruise line at an extra cost? Where are the laundry facilities on board the ship? Etc., etc... The website is www.cruisecritic.com and there is no cost to join. So, if you love to cruise, I highly recommend adding this site to your favorites. Well, we made a lot of friends on this site and saved a lot of money as well (going as a group on excursions when we hit our ports of call). We also planned a lot of activities together on board the ship as well. For instance, we have the following:

1- Mini-Golf Tournament ($1.00 per person /1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes)
2- Meet and Mingle Party (free)
3- Luncheon (free)
4- Door prize at luncheon ($1.00 per person)
5- Poker Crawl
6- Slot Pull ($5.00 per person.. all winnings shared)
7- Chinese Auction ($10.. max travel gift wrapped/ also called an Elephant gift)

The ship has a lot of great things to do as well. It has a basketball court, golf simulator, a giant movie screen by the main pool (12ft by 22ft) that will play movies, concerts and sporting events (basketball/hockey playoffs), water slide, mini-golf, 4 pools in total, fitness center, casino, several theatres with live performances, 22 bars and lounges, not to mention all the free food (from the main seating at breakfast, lunch and dinner, all day buffets, pool BBQ's, sushi bar, fried fish and chips bar, deli sandwich bar, 24 hour pizzeria, 24 hour room service, mid-night chocolate buffets/ midnight lobster buffets..etc., etc.). I think we will find a way to stay active. :)

Before I end for the day, I do have a few things to mention. Some items came in the mail this week for our cruise. The first and one of the more important items, Our Italian SIM card for my phone (TIM). This will allow me to avoid roaming charges while in Italy, Portugal and Spain and make calls to the US for only $0.50EUR and receive all FREE incoming calls as well. A great deal since roaming would have cost as much as $5.00USD per call. Also, I can receive calls onboard the Freedom as well. They accept service from either AT&T or T-Mobile. I have T-Mobile (HATE AT&T but that will have to be another blog J ). A new 8 GB SD card for my video camera which will allow me to shoot videos up to 16 hours before downloading to my computer. My new LINGO which translates into 12 languages, it also is a currency converter, a world time clock and a phone data bank as well.. Normally sells for $160.00 new, used on eBay was 30.00 included shipping cost as well. It works great. I found that if you do not want to get ripped off in a restaurant because you are a tourist, you will want to ask for the menu in their native tongue and not the one in English.. The prices will always be different. Now, with the lingo, I will know what I am ordering and pay the same prices as the natives. Also, take note, that European restaurants charge extra if you want to sit when you eat rather then stand at the bar, also, sitting outside costs more as well. I am already training Katty to eat while she stands... LOL.... OK, I am only kidding about that.

I am now tired of writing so Bye for now...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1201980540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1201980540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kevmoley/1/1201980540/tpod.html Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:57:58 -0500 My First Trans-Atlantic Cruise: Miami to Rome

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Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Only 83 days left before we leave for our trip and now we find ourselves trying to finalize all last minute preparations for the event. For instance, today we made payment for all the tips onboard our ship before we even go on the cruise. We felt it best to not have to worry about that cost while we are on the trip considering the daily fluctuation of the Dollar vs. the Euro.

So, now we have our cruise excursions, cruise fare, airfare, tips, hotel in Rome and Rome excursions paid for before we even board the vessel. We now have to start planning our clothes packing. Since this is a 14 day cruise, stopping in the Caribbean before headng to Europe, and an additional 4 extra days on land in Italy, we ponder what type of clothes and how much should we take with us on this trip. We know that we will need tropical wear for the Caribbean along with formal wear for Europe and nights onboard the ship. We were happy to hear that Carnival's ship, the "Freedom" does have a laundromat but we also know that these places are few and the lines can be around the corner. However, we also know that we do not want to take 10 bags of luggage as well. :)

Clothes are not the only things we need to take with us as well.. We will have to pack quite a lot of toiletry items, personal electronics and any medications we feel are important for the trip as well. Can we REALLY be able to pack one bag each for this trip? Only time will tell..

Some items I feel are too important not to take. Such as, walkie talkies (in order to communicate onboard the ship), GPS (in order to recognize islands we may pass along the way) and sanitizer wipes ( in order to wipe down items in our cabin (remote control, door handles, etc.)). Let us not forget, the hand sanitizer gel to keep in our pockets at all times. I have NEVER gotten sick onboard a cruise before and I do not want to start now ;)

That is all for now..
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