Carnival Miracle Cruise pt. 1 (Saturday 1/14)

The four of us, Donna, Fran, her daughter Christina & I, flew down to Tampa on Saturday afternoon on Delta’s Song airline. The party was supposed to number five, but unfortunately Fran’s sister injured her back only three days before and had to cancel out. The former Delta Express fleet was reconfigured to compete with Jet Blue’s very comfortable planes. Apparently their not doing as well as hoped and may sadly fold their wings. This would be a shame, as I’ve found Song to be very enjoyable, with the individual TV monitors & menu available for prepackaged sandwiches, salads and munchies. Jet Blue only offers snacks along with the usual beverage service at no cost, even on longer flights. (Pardon the commercial plug!)

We have learned that when you cruise it pays to get to your port of departure early, as you can never tell what the weather may have in store for you. As you folks know Sunday, the day we sailed, New York and much of the East Coast was having very bad weather. Better to spend a bit more for a hotel for a night’s stay than to take a chance to miss you cruise, and therefore forfeit your entire payment. That’s also why we have taken a couple of cruises which depart from New York, and may do so again next time.

I have had some real headaches at JFK, but found that this time around it was smooth sailing from the moment we handed our luggage over to the guy at the Song counter outside. As usual, being polite and slipping the guy a few dollars never hurt.

Our stay at the Embassy Suites in Tampa was pretty good. Donna and I try to book at these hotels, since they offer not only a complete breakfast buffet with omelet stations, but also what they call a ‘Manager’s Reception’ in the evenings. The first time I discovered this was while attending a convention with my ex Elayne. I think it may have been at Chicago, but those cons do tend to blend together after a while. The reception is basically an open bar, though often with limited selections, and some kind of snacks (popcorn, pretzels, etc.) This lasts from around 5:30-7:30 generally, so it puts you in the mood to grab dinner at either the hotel or some nearby restaurant.

That night I was to discover that Christina, from henceforth known as The Lovely Christina (TLC), favored Apple-tinis as her drink of choice. Personally, I’d never heard of them before but apparently they are quite popular. I’m a rum & coke man myself, while Donna likes frozen drinks and Fran’s a wine drinker. Our bar tab, at least for Donna and I, made up over a third of our final onboard bill, I’m proud to say.

We had a nice dinner at the Embassy restaurant and were all in our rooms by around 10:00pm. Not an exciting day, but then we were trying to relax a bit before Sunday when our real vacation would begin.

I'll try to post more tomorrow and cover the entire cruise in the next few days.