7 Day Western Caribbean Cruise

I have just returned from a 7 day Caribbean Cruise and what a cruise it was. I can hardly type fast enough to tell you all that went on this past week on that cruise and land excurisons. Our ports of call were Rotan Honduras, Belieze, Grand Caymen and Cozumel Mexico. This cruise was very exciting in many ways and was a nice distraction from the daily grind of life.

First of all our cruise was a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on Carnival, and the ships name was the Valor. First and foremost this was a huge ship, even after 7 day on board I was still lost when trying to find my way off the ship, it was just that freaking big. I don't want to bore anyone with the details of the ship, oh why the hell not, let me tell you just a little about this behemoth. I don't know if you will be impressed by these numbers but I sure was once I stepped on board. Well, here goes. First of all there are many classes of ships, the Carnival Valor is in the Conquest class. Here are the stats that I found so interesting.

Length : 952 ft

Total Staff : 1,150

Passenger capacity : 2,974

Speed : 21 Knots

Tonnage : 110,000

14 Decks

1 morgue

1 jail

1 Disco Open till 4 am (Way pass my bed time)

It also has a running track, a large casino, a library, an Internet cafe, two very large dinning rooms, a theater, a boulevard, yes I said a boulevard and the biggest freaking T.V. screen that I have ever seen. Get this it is outside in front of one of the pools and they have rocking chairs facing the screen so you can rock while you watch a movie, how damn cool is that? There are just to many other things to mention, I think you get the gist of what I am trying to convey here, this thing is a monster. I have never been so lost in all of my life, but never had this much fun being lost either, so it evens out some how.

So that is all of the details of the ship, now I want to tell you what I thought about my whole first experience with carnival, I am a Royal Caribbean gal myself, but here goes nothing. Over all I had a nice time. Partied till almost dawn many night's. Many of the shows and adult entertainment did not start until well after midnight. So If you were not a night owl when you came you were when you left. I mean really, how can you go to bed at a respectable hour when the disco is jumping right above you, I couldn't do it. The catch phrase for this trip was what the hell, were on vacation, can you see my point now, going to bed early on a cruise is lame, period. Enough ranting on that point.

Here is the basis on which I judge a cruise. I will list the categories and the ratings I gave to each one.

1. Service 9

2. Food 7

3. cleanliness 9

4. cabin size 5

5. comfort 8

6. entertainment 4

7. safety 9

8. Excursion 4

Now I will consider all of these and give them a number rating, and remember this is just strictly my opinion, there is absolutely nothing scientific about the way I do my rating except on how it looks and feels to me, because in the end I think that is all that really matters. So don't write or call or e-mail me about this review, remember it is a free country I can voice my opinion, and this is it.

I thought the service was fantastic, almost everyone was on their game, they were very friendly and and went out of their way to make us feel welcome in their floating city. I would give them a 8, the crew only get an 8 because we ran into only 1 smart ass crew member and he runs the Internet cafe. He treated us like we were the stupidest people on earth when we asked about the cost of wireless Internet aboard ship. So He brings the score of the whole crew down, side note ( a copy of this review is always forwarded to whom ever is being reviewed.) Moving on to the food. I was sort of disappointed in the food. The food in the formal dining rooms was OK, except on the lobster night and the last night which was prime rib night the food was out of this world on those two nights. All the others was just so, so. When I am on a cruise I expect food almost around the clock, well on carnival you had better love tasteless pizza and hot dogs after midnight, because that is just about all there was. The only other choice was room service and that food was awful, my sandwich was so bloody, I had to order a BLT instead, the room service food looked like it was just thrown together, with no thought or time taken to prepare it. After that experience we decided we would just go hungry and wait till the morning breakfast to eat. So it is a disappointing myth that there is good food all night long on a Carnival cruise, it just ain't so. The sushi bar was only open from about 5:30 till 8:30, how lame is that, sushi should be available all night long, pizza and hamburgers are for kids who don't worry about the size of their ass just yet. Adults usually will make better food choices if they are available but on this cruise if you didn't get a good dinner you were out of luck for decent food after about 10:00 P.M.

Sailing on to Cleanliness, I thought the crew did a great job keeping the ship clean. I will just simply give them a 9 on that front. No rants from me on that. (It's coming up stay tuned)

Cabin Size, I really can't complain about that, you simply get what you pay for on a cruise. we were on floor number 1, 1 floor up from the ghetto, that's what the crew called the floor they live on, so not my words so once again no nasty letters or e-mails please. So if you are thrifty and want a bargain floor number 1 is for you too.

Comfort, I felt quite comfortable on this ship and after a few days was referring to our cabin as home. This ship really does have almost everything one needs to feel as comfortable as at home. I found the bed to be more comfortable than my own bed at home, how sad is that. I left saying I have got to get a new bed.

Entertainment, I thought that the entertainment could have been much better. They seemed to hype up the shows and then not deliver on that hype. As an example they talked up a comedian named Phat Cat, they talked about all of the T.V. comedy shows that he had been on. His first performance was a complete let down, just not that funny and sort of boring. The second show of this Phat Cat that we went to was a little better, but still not that funny. I hate to say this but the karaoke nights were the best, period. Over all I felt Carnival could have done so much better with their entertainment. If I ever sail with Carnival again I will skip the shows and maybe hang out in the piano bar's a little more.

Safety, I think Carnival did a nice job making passengers feel safe. There were lots of security all around. There were a few dark places on the ship that I wouldn't go to alone, but safety on a ship really comes down to using common sense just like you do in your own city.

Excursions, there were quite a few excursions offered, a little something for everyone. You could swim with dolphins, para sail, go for a dune buggy ride, reef snorkel or even swim with stingrays. The caveat about the excursions is that they are very, very expensive. You could easily pay more for the excursions than you did for the cruise. There for if you plan on doing a few excursions make sure you add them to the total price of your cruise. On a serious note I am offering a warning if you decide to go on any excursions. On our reef snorkel tour we had an 85 year old man nearly drown, when he was pulled from the water he was blue and unresponsive. Here is the rant and warning part. The operators of this excursion did not know basic first aid and did not have gloves or mouth guards for mouth to mouth. They were totally unprepared for any type of a medical emergency and had myself and others not stepped in and took over, this man would not be with us today. I really don't know what else to say about this awful day except that it is one that I will not soon forget.

Over all we had a blast on this cruise, but there was one thing that I really didn't care for on this ship and that was the fact that there was no large pool. The only pool's were a couple of little ones at opposite end's of the ship and one was being re tiled during this cruise. I feel this was a huge over site in the design of this big ship. I will be more careful the next time I book a cruise and check out the ship's amenities very, very carefully.

General thoughts about my Carnival Cruise

On the very first day before we pulled away from the port there was a wicked thunder and lightning storm brewing on the horizon with funnel clouds and all. That was an awesome site to see several funnel clouds at the same time right in front of us. We knew at this point that maybe booking a cruise during hurricane season wasn't such a bright idea after all. The weather cleared and we were able to sail away just as we had planned. Over all I had a really nice time just getting away from it all. I would sail on carnival again but I would make sure that the next ship I sailed on had a few basic things that I felt like our ship the Valor was missing. There was no large pool only small ones scattered around the ship, and better variety of food after midnight for the night owls. If your just looking for a fun cruise at a decent price the Carnival Valor would work for you.

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Miami Round 2

Here we go again, this is our second time in the same hotel this week. we stayed one day before the cruise and the day we got off of the ship. We did this for the simple reason that our flight to Miami got in very late at night so flying in on the same day of the cruise was out. when we arrived into port on Sunday we would not have been able to make the our flight out it left at 10:00 am so we booked our flight for the day after we arrived in port. Both days on the beginning and the end our our trip we just hung out at the hotel and went for a walk in the park and took in the sights and sounds of Miami. So nothing really special about these two days in Miami, only a few interesting things. We stayed at the Double Tree Grand Hotel at Biscayne Bay. This hotel shows well on the web in pictures, but in real life leaves much to be desired. The lobby is grand and nice but that's where the niceness stops. The hotel is old and is in need of a total overhaul. I think you can get better accommodations for your money than this hotel. As part of my research of the vicinity I walked around to get a good look at the area and found it to be a little seedy and quite dirty. We didn't feel to safe in some of the area's even in broad day light. And the Burger King a couple of blocks away from the hotel was so dirty we only got soda's and left. Burger King should be ashamed at having a store that looks like this, they seriously need to check on this franchise, I say eat at your own risk there. Back to the double tree hotel. The only saving grace is the swimming pool hot tub area, it is quite nice. But since you can't sleep in the hot tub or pool I suggest that you find some other place to lay your pretty little head.

Trouble In Sin City

I just read the most interesting article on the economy troubles in Las Vegas and could hardly believe what I was reading. I seems that Sin City has hit hard times. There are deals to be had there in housing and in hotels stays that really do sound to good to be true. It seems our beloved Las Vegas has over bet and over built.

I however am a show me girl and always want to see things for myself, therefor off to Vegas we went. I must say I was quite surprised by the multitude of half built skyscrapers, towers of condos just left sitting unfinished. It really was sad to see this great city in such disarray. As we all now know Vegas is not the only city to take a hard hit at the hands of the economy in the last few years but her vacant building are very stark reminders of just how bad it is for Las Vegas.

I started to think that maybe it was just the strip it self that took hardest blow, that was not the case. I took 30 minute taxi ride out away from the strip and found that my suspicions were true, all of Vegas was indeed suffering. The building may have stopped on the strip but the casinos are still full, maybe this is a sign of positive change that our beloved city so dearly needs.

We stayed at the Hilton which was a few blocks off of the strip and got a good deal of $ 50.00 a night, great deal your thinking right? well remember the old saying, you get what you pay for? It's true, our rooms were decent enough though a bit old. This place could really use a face lift. On our second day there we had no hot water for showers and we had to towel bath as best we could before we left for the day. We did end up changing rooms that evening. My advice, skip the Hilton and spend a few more bucks, stay downtown or on the strip in a hotel that is known for it's quality, the Hilton is not it.

As for food buffets we found that the Old Golden Nugget had the very best buffet we could find, great food, awesome service, clean and crab to die for, that alone will bring me back for sure. FYI stay away from the Cesar's Palace buffet, it is way over priced and they bring your crab to you in measured amounts, So next time you are in sin city venture off the strip, head downtown to Fremont street and see what you might be missing.

Air Show Blast

I went to an airport air show two weeks ago and has a total blast. I wanted to do a little something close to home that weekend. We had a great time, I had forgotten how much I really love airplanes of all kinds. That's kind of normal when you are in the travel biz as I am. Anyhow what a day we had. Just watching the stunt pilot's warm up gave me chills. We thought that there was one truly amazing pilot that stood out from all the rest and stole the show. His name was Shaun D Tucker, wow, he was amazing. I was in awe at his skills, I mean the man has some serious skills. If you ever have a chance to check out an air show close to home I would highly recommend it. It's great fun and a totally reasonable price for a family, admission was 2o.oo each, not bad for a whole day of fun. Two important things to remember if you go to an airshow is to take folding chairs unless you purchased grandstand seats and take food for lunch. At the air show we attended the food was very expensive and gross, fair warning.

I Love Seattle

My family and I spent this past weekend in Seattle Washington which is only about a three hour drive north from where I live now. We wanted a quick weekend getaway to just go somewhere and hangout together, Seattle fit the bill perfectly. I started planning about two weeks in advance. I purchased tickets online for a city tour call Duck tours. This is not your ordinary boring city tour. What's cool about this tour is that it takes place in an old amphibious war vehicle built by women that drives on the city streets and then they drive you right into Puget Sound, which is a huge deep body of water that is in and around the great city of Seattle. I had heard about this tour from a few friends who happen to live in Seattle and it came highly recommended by all. I thought it was a fun and informative tour but the drivers were a little silly and annoying for me, but hey who am I to say that you won't love all the loud silliness of this tour. The real highlight for me was the part where they pulled you up to a boat ramp at a marina and then just drove right into the water. I must say it was kind of weird because vehicles usually don't go into water at least not the ones that I drive. But I will say for 25.00 per person it was worth it. Catch a duck tour if you can.

While we were killing time waiting for our tour we visited the rock and roll museum there at the space needle. I thought some of the exhibits we great and I learned a ton about Jimmy Hendrix and his tragic life. There is a whole wing devoted to him and his music. The rest of the exhibits were just so so. I felt they could have done so much better putting it together. So for this one I would say save your money, it cost 45.00 for admission for 3.

Vacation or Staycation

The economy is hurting every one but we all still love traveling and going places but really just can't justify it right now? well here is an idea try, a staycation, similar to a vacation except you don't leave home. Crazy you say, well sort of but let me please explain before you call me crazy. A staycation is a vacation in which you stay home and do things around home or close to home. You do things that you maybe have not taken the time to do that you always wanted to do that is close to home. Having a hard time of thinking of what to do? let me give you a few suggestions to get you started. First of all it you are going to try this staycation thing you need to do a little planning. I would start out by making a list of all of the things in your area that sound interesting to you. For example in the area that I live we have an abundance of waterfalls, hiking trails, lakes and rivers, national parks art museums and many other cultural things that could be added to your list. You should also check online to see what festivals or shows that are taking place in your area at the time of your staycation. I recently attended a jazz festival in our area that was really close to home and was free, yes free. That brings me to my next point. a staycation can be a very inexpensive thing to do. Just make sure you put all of the free things to do at the top of your list. Another thing that I like to do is make lunch my big meal of the day, we all know that lunches are much cheaper than dinners will ever be therefor you will save a bundle by adopting this practice. I really think staycations are perfect for everyone and will become very, very popular in the very near future.

Neskowin, Oregon

Just returned from our yearly 4 of July camping trip with friends and family, what fun we had. If you have never been to the Oregon coast I highly recommend it to all love the stunning beauty of a lush green tree lined coast range, That is exactly what you will find in the sleepy little town of Neskowin, Oregon. It really is a sight of awe to behold. We went for a walk on the beach and saw some of the most breath taking sites that I have ever seen. In the tide pool we spyed little tiny fish and all sorts of interesting sea creatures. I really makes me think that this earth and ocean on it truly are alive in a wonderful and fear inspiring way. Our 4 of July always include a little bit of fishing. I know, I can just hear the comments that will be coming my way about me being a fisher women. But truth be told I love fishing and really enjoy it ever chance I get. When in Neskowin we venture over to Lincoln city which is only a few miles away and fish at Devils Lake. On this fishing excursion I caught one trout and my husband caught three and we were given many more by an old crusty fisherman that was sitting next to us on the dock. I came back to camp, cleaned our catch, yes I clean fish and cooked them up. Our camping weekend was is filled with good food fun and spirits. Each night we would light a campfire and talk and play games until the wee hours of the morning. I have always loved camping since I was a little girl, funny how some things never change.

Miami Beach

Just wanted to talk about my recent trip to Miami beach, I was not impressed, that is why I have neglected to write about it. But here goes nothing. Most things were highly over priced, from old Art Deco hotels to very expensive restaurants. After leaving we concluded that we could have spent our 10 days at another location and got more bang for our buck, which is what we all want. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott and was so disappointed from the get go. Our room that was given to us was over looking the busy street and the hotels master air conditioning unit, what an ugly sight. I would never settle for such an unsightly view on my vacation (and neither should you), so down to the front desk I go. I will have to say that they were very unhelpful, and somewhat rude. They magically found me an ocean view room when I pulled out my phone and said that I would just find a different hotel. The hotel staff would then stare at me when ever I passed by the front desk after that, very uncomfortable so needless to say I will never stay there again and would never recommend it to anyone. I would give this hotel a rating of 3 out of 10, it would get a three only because of it's central location and tiki bar. The name of this hotel is the Courtyard by Marriott Miami beach Oceanfront, Address is 3925 Collins Avenue, avoid it if you can. This hotel is not nice like other Marriott's, it was purchased by Marriott and has not been brought to Marriott's standards that I know and love. Save yourself the 199.00 a night and sleep elsewhere If you can.

One thing I did love on this trip to Miami beach was the beach, it is beautiful. I love collecting sea shell and this stretch of beach did not disappoint.

While in Miami we decided to have dinner at the very famous Joe's Stone crab, can you say rip off? I don't know about you but if I am going to give a restaurant a good rating I should not feel like I got fleeced when I left out the door. Joe's is a nice place to say the least, with tuxedo clad waiters who wait in the corners for you to look their way needing something, we liked that part. The part we didn't care for was the price tag of our fairly simple meal a whopping 180.00 plus tip, ouch.The crab was good but not 180 dollars good if you know what I mean. Where I'm from I can get two pounds of Alaskan king crab for 24.99 and no tip necessary.

One of the only highlights of our Miami trip was a city tour that we took. I highly recommend taking a tour like this. Miami is a big place and to see points of interest you do need a guide. Our tour was a land and water. We were able to see where little Havana is, and went to domino park there. This is the park where you have to be 65 years old or older even play. We also visited a cigar factory there and they had any kind if cigar you could imagine. On the boat portion of this tour we were taken to see houses of famous people, dead and alive. All in all our Miami trip was ok but I don't see a need to go back anytime soon.

Treker Camping (Say What)

Yes it is true, travel treker is an avid camper also. Yes we love travel and staying in nice hotels and eating at fabulous restaurants but we realize that in this day and age this is not an option for all people. There for we will include camping under our Travel Treker umbrella because some of our very best travel times have been out camping in front of a lake with friends and family. This photo was taken this past weekend at a spot called Kingsley reservoir in hood river county Oregon. Kingsley Reservoir is a pristine beautiful lake in the shadow of Mt Hood. For a fisherman or a camping enthusiast this is a great. We tried our luck at fishing and caught just a few fish, how ever people all around us were reeling them in left and right. We were told by fellow fishermen that the lake is stocked with 10,000 trout twice a year. I guess the picky fish didn't like our choice of bait, oh well hope to have better luck next time. The beauty of this area and the views are unmatched as you can tell by this breathtaking photo that we snapped. All and all we thought our camping spot was nice, we were camped a few feet from the lake. We loved this places but there were a few drawbacks that will make us think twice before we would ever camp here again. Here are the drawback in no particular order. First there is two pit toilets for the whole camp ground, our guess is that most people that come to this camp ground are in a camper or trailer so the have their restroom with them. If you ate staying in a tent just be prepared to walk a ways to reach the restrooms. The second drawback for us was that this is a off road vehicle area. What this means is that this area is an area for 4x4, dirt bikes and quads, this means that there is alot of noise at all times of the day, morning, noon and night. If you are OK with this sort of noise or like to ride yourself you will love this place. My third drawback for Kingsley Reservoir is that there is no camp host. I know that most would think this is a great thing but when you have noisy campers playing very loud music all day long and late into the night, (unedited rap music) you long for a camp host to take care of these types of problems so you don't have to.

I think on my rating scale for camp grounds I would give this one a 3 out of 10.

News Media Ruined My Trip

Has this ever happened to you?
This is how the story goes. My 1 year wedding anniversary was fast approaching and we wanted to go back to Mexico near to where we had our honeymoon a year earlier. We proceeded to make all of our happy vacation plans for Cancun, oh we were giddy with excitement we had briefly visited there when we went to Cozumel last year and was looking forward to actually spending some time there on this trip. I am sure you can tell where this sad little story is headed by the title. We changed our plans due to all the swine flu doom and gloom we were hearing on every news channel know to man. What really put the breaks on this trip is when we heard several news anchors declare that the united states was considering closing it's borders. Oh now this really was getting interesting at this point. What if we went ahead and took our trip to Cancun would we be able to get back in our own country? That was the straw that broke the camels back for us. We agreed that our beautiful Cancun would have to wait for another time. We then decided to stay in the U.S.A. and go to South Beach Miami. We thought we made the right choice at the time, but since have come to realize we should have gone to Mexico. The morrow of this story is don't believe the media hype when you are planning a trip out of the country, go to the state department's website and get your information there and enjoy your trip where ever you end up.

What Now

Does coming home from vacation feel like a let down to you? that's kind of how I feel when I get back home and get back into the daily grind of every day life. I don't know about you but I usually start planning my next trip right away, I just feel better doing that. When you love to travel like I do being at home can feel like a waste of time. I just can't stop thinking I should be on the road, traveling. I think my love of travel came from when I was a little girl laying in my back yard with my sisters and watching all the airplanes fly overhead and wondering where are they going, and how come I can't go with them. The travel bug bit me hard right then and there. This bug bite made me travel sick, at least that's what I call it. This sickness is very similar to being love sick, you can't eat or sleep because it is all you can think about, day and night, night and day. That scenario led me to choose the travel industry as my career path. I have been very happy with my choice and never looked back, or down.

No Cancun

My plans were all made, hotel booked, flight, check. I was so ready for my 10 day dream Mexican vacation then the swine flu hype blew it all to hell. I was all ready to go to my sunny Cancun wonderland and then I saw it. Saw what you say? The T.V. news with all of the hype and gloom and doom about the swine flu. I had to laugh or I would have broke down crying. Just my stupid luck. No I was not in the least bit afraid of contracting the swine flu because in my line of work I have been thrown up on, spit upon, sat in stuff no one could readily identify, my first year on my current job I was sick for almost the whole time. So the Swine flu didn't scare me hell, I think I already had it and just didn't know it. I was afraid of getting to Mexico and then have my very own media obsessed country close the boarders and then I would be stuck in Mexico for who knows how long. So to make a long story short I changed my plans and decided to stay in the good ole U.S of A. and head to Miami, Big mistake. More on that later.

Home Sweet Home?

Is it just me or does anyone else love coming home after many day's on the road? Yes I know this is a travel blog and don't get me wrong, I love travel but, as the girl with the red slippers said so succinctly, and I quote, " there is no place like home." Yeah she had her problems with the witch and all but the girl was right on when she uttered those words. I too feel the exact same way. When I pulled up to my house today all seemed a little different from when I left 10 day's ago, For starters my grass was green and tall even though it was mowed right before my trip. And two the flowers and tree's seem to have exploded with leaves and color, all I could say is wow, wonder what my place would look like if I were gone a whole month. On the flip side of this coming home coin is all the crap you need to do and catch up on when you do get home, like mounds and mounds of dirty stinky laundry. This is not the fun part of coming home, but maybe this is your favorite part of travel, yeah right.

Travel Experiences Across America and Beyond

Have you ever been on a trip and wanted to find a good place to eat or a hot night spot to get a cold drink and made a bad decision because you were unfamiliar with the area? You hated the food the service was crap, the waiter all but forgot about you at your little table. Boy how you wish you could have gotten a good recommendation from a trusted friend, well now you can. We are creating this blog because this has happened to us over and over again, wasted time and wasted money. In this economy who really can afford either?

I will give you the low down on where to eat and what to do in the cities I travel to, I will tell you about the good service I received and the rotten service I hate. We will share photo's of our travels and journey's and we encourage you to send us your fun travel pic's too. If you have a cool story about something that happened to you on one of your trip's please tell us we are all ear's, everyone loves a great travel story.