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What are your Dreams for the New Year

December 17, 2010 by

New Years is right around the corner. I never gave it too much thought about making resolutions and establishing goals and dreams with the new start. I just wanted always wanted someone to kiss, that was my silly superstition to ensure I had love that year. This year is different, I threw away that silly superstition and have taken hold of my own destiny. I have established a list of things I want to change within me and my life.

Live Better: this doesn’t necessarily mean exercise more or go on a diet but more of a general lifestyle change to improve me as a whole.
Love Better: my family is most important to me and sometimes they don’t know that because I don’t show it. I have to open my heart as well as my ears and arms. I have to become the person I always wanted to be and not the born out of circumstance. Experiences happened to me they shouldn’t mold me into the person I should be.
Do Better: take pride in what I do and have to offer. I may not be perfect in my actions but my attempts have to be sincere and 100% even if they aren’t successful. I will do the best I can in everything I do.
Feel Better: I’ve had experiences in life that have affected me in a negative way. I can’t use them as excuses anymore to stop me from happiness and growth. It’s time to wipe away all the darkness, anger, regret and pity and look at things with a new goal in mind.

Do you have goals, dreams and ambitions for the New Year? Share them with the world as part of the confetti drop on Times Square New Year’s Eve 2011. Carnival Cruise Lines is the official sponsor of the confetti drop this year. Did you know the confetti has been host to people’s wishes and dreams for the past 4 years. The Wishing Wall in Times Square is a place where for 4 years now people from all over the world have jotted down their biggest hopes for the New Year. When the ball drops and the clock stikes midnight those notes are dispersed into the biggest most electrifying gathering of people on the world on one the biggest days of the year.

If you can’t make it to Times Square in time to visit the Wishing Wall before NYE you can submit your own wish or dream online at Carnival’s Facebook Page. These electronic additions will be added to the confetti that rains down on the party goers who braved the crowds and cold. Think hard about what you really want from this coming new year.  What is going to make your happy? Money? Gifts? Love? Fame? Family?




Name the “Magic” Bucket

October 19, 2010 by

Carnival Cruise Lines is adding a member to the fleet family and she’s called Magic. She is the Dreams big sister and built to impress. With a newly designed WaterWorks and the addition of the RedFrog Pub there hasn’t been a detail left untouched. It sets sail for the Galveston, TX on November 14th 2011 on it’s 16-day Trans-Atlantic crossing.

To celebrate, this month Carnival is giving folks the chance to name a gigantic, 500-gallon “dump bucket” that is part of the splash-tastic WaterWorks aqua park onboard Magic. The aquapark will offer thrills with an exhilarating “Twister” spiral water slide, as well as the new Aqua Play splash park designed for youngsters and their families and a host of other wet ’n wild features. The prize-pack will also contain a digital camera, beach bucket, towel, sunscreen, and sunglasses.

Take a chance; you have nothing to lose but a cool prize pack to gain! Think hard and enter October 18th – October 29th. Names will be voted on and the winning Bucket Name will be announced November 15th.

While you’re at it, “Like” Carnival Cruise Lines Magic Page and $1 will be donated to St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital.

This is a sponsored post but the opinions and descriptions presented belong solely to LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! Your experiences and reactions may differ from ours.




Why I’m Looking Forward To Our Next Carnival Cruise

September 4, 2010 by

So it has been about a week since we have come home from our week aboard the Fun Ship Carnival Dream. This was the entire families’ first cruise and I loved it so much that is all I have been talking about. So much that Melinda told me she is sick of hearing it and not because she didn’t have a great time but because I am excessive and that is ALL I have talked about.

Here is a list of the things that make me want to go on another cruise:

  • 24/7 Food – The Carnival Dream had burgers until 1:30am, deli sandwiches until 11pm, pizza 24/7, room service 24/7, ice cream 24/7 and the daily 6pm dining in the Crimson Dining Room was to die for(the food was soooo good)
  • Non-stop entertainment – Shows in the Comedy Club, Encore Theater, Casino (which I was a few dollars at), and not to mention the piano bar and dance club. The picture below is the Fun Force (Break Dancers), they were awesome.

  • Serenity Lounge – Adults only lounge. We did get to use this once for about an hour while Sabreena stayed with Shaun and Shae but the next cruise will be just Melinda and I and this will be utilized a lot more.
  • Pools – They were salt water which I thought was pretty cool.
  • Port – What better way to get to see four different places in 7 days. We went to Cozumel, Belize, Isla Roatan and Costa Maya.
  • Relaxation – We got to do some of this but again with three kids this was hard to do. Next time we will be sure to relax to the fullest.

This past cruise we flew to Florida and left out of Port Canaveral which was very nice but next time we are going to leave from the Port of Baltimore which is about an hour drive for us. Leaving closer to home will cut down the travel time by about 80% plus we can bring more cloths without having to pay bag fees, LOL.

Even though the kids will not be cruising with us next time the highlight of this cruise for Shaun was probably Camp Carnival. Shaun enjoyed camp so much he missed dinner with us one night and went to dinner with his camp friends which I was shocked about because he loved dessert so much at the 6pm dinning. For Sabreena was probably Club O2 where she made a few friends and got to hang out a little bit and for Shae was Water Works where she spent a ton of time on the slide.

For some reason I was always scared to cruise thinking the boat would sink or get hit by a rouge wave but I must admit it was the best vacation we have ever been on. Everyone including the staff was SUPER friendly and we were never bored because there was always something to do.

I can’t wait until our next cruise on the Fun Ship Carnival Pride out of Baltimore!

Thank you to Carnival for providing the complimentary 7-day cruise as part of their Mom-bassador Program. All opinions and descriptions presented belong solely to LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! and were not influenced in anyway by anyone.




Stopping off Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Honduras @CarnivalCruise

September 1, 2010 by
This was the Port of Call during our Dream Cruise in Isla Roaton, Honduras, Mahogany Bay.  The white sand beach and clear turquoise water were the best we’ve ever seen.  I could see our feet while standing neck high in the water. Our rented cabana was a nice retreat from the sun to sip on drinks and snack on food from the on site restaurant.

With silky-sand beaches and diamond-clear seas, Roatán, Honduras, is one of the Caribbean’s hidden gems. The largest of Honduras’s Bay Islands is a real beauty, built on a backbone of volcanic rock and ringed by the world’s second largest coral reef. Carnival® cruises to Roatán, Honduras promise superb diving and fishing and swoon-worthy beaches. The lush landscape of the wildlife reserves and pristine marine parkland of Roatán awaits you on your cruise to Honduras.

 

Stopping off Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Honduras, @CarnivalCruise
Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Honduras @CarnivalCruise

mountains of honduras

Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan, Honduras @CarnivalCruise

mahogany bay, isla roatan




Need To Find My Groove!!!

August 30, 2010 by

With vacation over and school now in session it is time for me to get my groove back.

This morning at 6am reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Vacation is over and it is time to get back into the routine that is called “Real Life”. For the last seven days I have been living in what I call “Vacation/Fantasy Life”. I am sure most of you are like me and prefer the vacation/fantasy life over real life but we all know only the rich and famous live that life 24/7, LOL.

It has been nice because for the last seven days I have been eating whatever I want whenever I want and I have the waist to show it. While on the cruise I put on 7 pounds (Went to the gym Sunday to try to work it off). I couldn’t help it, the food was sooooo good and there was so much of it EVERYWHERE!!!!! I went to bed when I wanted and during the day did whatever I and the family wanted which included trips to the beach, pool and water slides.

Vacation is awesome but the after effects stink. I am at work now wishing I was back on vacation and not in the mood to do anything what so ever. I am exhausted because last night I went to bed way to late probably thinking I was still on vacation. Don’t get me wrong I love my “Real Life” but I also love “Vacation/Fantasy Life”.

Do you find it hard to get back into your daily routine after vacation?

 




Back To Reality!

August 29, 2010 by

Fist I want to start by saying Thank You so much to Carnival Cruise Lines for the BEST seven day family vacation we have ever taken!

We finally made it home last night around 7pm after 12 hours of travel. The Carnival Dream docked in Port Canaveral at 6am and started to let passengers off. We got up at 7am and headed to our last breakfast on The Dream and then waited for our zone to be called so we could disembark the ship. Believe it or not this was a super easy process. Carnival has a system down and it works perfect. We got off the ship with no problems then went through customs with no problems either. The only problem was getting our luggage from the baggage claim area. We waited probably 40 minutes before we found 2 of our 3 bags. After waiting for 40 minutes Melinda decided to check the belt next to ours for our last bag and thankfully she did because our zone tag must of fell off our bag between our stateroom and baggage claim and somehow ended up on a different belt. Other than that little wait NO problems what so ever getting off of a ship with 3,600 passengers .

After we caught our bus from the port to the airport terminal we grabbed some lunch since we were 2.5 hours early for our flight. Funny thing here was having to pay for our first meal after eating seven straight days for FREE and I’m taking about meals like lobster, shrimp, prime rib, fish and the list goes on and on.( I’ll get back to the food on The Dream later or in another post as this might deserve its own post)

The lady who took this picture cut Shae out. LOL.

After eating lunch we headed to our gate and waited for our 2:56 flight which we found was full to capacity. It was so full they were asking people to give up their seats for a $400 travel voucher on a future US Air flight and a seat on the 5pm flight to Philly. I wanted to give up our seats so we could fly to our next cruise at a later date but Melinda wasn’t having any of that, LOL, not sure why! The flight from Orlando to Philly was rough as hell as we had a ton of turbulence. So much that is felt like the back of the plane dipped down. We were the second row from the back so it felt pretty bad to me and Melinda but the kids were 100% fine. So fine they actually passed out cold which was a good thing because at this point we have been traveling for 8-9 hours already.

Dharma is on the left with Shae and Jose is on the right

After we landed in Philly we went to baggage claim and our bags were already on the belt (thank goodness for that) and we called the shuttle van to pick us up and take us to our car in long term parking. It felt good to be home but a little sad that the cruise was over. Seven days FLEW by in a blink of an eye. After we finally go to the house we needed to order dinner because there was no way we were going to cook anything so we ordered pizza. Shae heard me and Melinda say we were ordering pizza and she said “No, I want to go to the restaurant.” She is referring to the Crimson Dining Room on the Carnival Dream where every night she ate a hot dog and fries for dinner and vanilla and strawberry ice cream and hot chocolate for dessert. The kids were in heaven and this was because of our awesome servers Jose and Dharma!

We had the best seven days of our lives but it is back to reality and the kids are starting to realize they can’t eat whenever they want like they did while on vacation!! Oh well all good things must come to an end but Melinda and I are already looking to book our next cruise for next year but this time we are going alone with no kids. Sorry guys!!!




Hurry Up and Wait!

August 28, 2010 by

It’s been a long day!  Now we are sitting in Orlando airport waiting to go home.  Earlier we were waiting to get off the boat then waiting to get our bags then waiting at security……

It’s been a great week and while we are sad it’s over we are ready to go home.  Shae said she misses her toys and Sabreena is jonesing for some Facebook time.  The kids start school on Monday so we are going to be getting settled back into a routine; one that doesn’t consist of staying up till midnight, eating indulgent desserts everynight and having towel animals made for them each day.

This is a sponsored post but the opinions and descriptions presented belong solely to LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! Your experiences and reactions may differ from ours.




On Our Way Back

August 27, 2010 by

It’s been a ridiculously fun time on the Dream. We are on our last day at sea on our way back to Florida.  It’s been a bumpy/windy day since leaving port yesterday but I think we are all used to the movement.The kids have are having a blast. Sabreena and Shae have spent the entire morning in the salt-water pool or in the water park and Shaun has been at Camp with his friends playing games and hanging out.

Instead of a normal lunch of burgers, pizza or pasta today we are indulging in the Chocolate and Fruit Buffet; CAN’T WAIT!!  Maybe in the back of my mind I knew they would have a special treat because I haven’t had any french fries or ice cream this week and those are all you can eat 24 hours a day!

Thank you to Carnival for providing the complimentary 7-day cruise as part of their Mom-bassador Program. All opinions and descriptions presented belong solely to LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! and were not influenced in anyway by anyone.




a beach day on Isla Roatan, Honduras

August 26, 2010 by

Yesterday by far was the best day we’ve had on the Dream so far.. Our port was Isla Roatan, Honduras. We made our way easily to Mahogany Beach, a quick 10 minute walk. The water was beautiful blue, the sands were silky white and the beach chairs were plentiful!

We rented a clamshell hut but ended up not really using ut as we spend hours in the water. We took a break to have a snack and some drinks at Fat Tuesday but immediately headed back into the water. The kids loved the calm waters and exploring in the sand for shells and rocks. We noticed people pulling Conch shells out of the deeper end but had no luck in getting one ourselves. This beach is my absolute favorite; if it ever expands to a resort area I’m coming back.

We also got a little VIP treatment on the boat. We were give a private tour of the bridge and got to meet some of the captains crew. This was so incredible to see, the size of the bridge alone took our breath away. I was expecting something much smaller but this was set up to comfort all the way.

We learned a lot of interesting facts about the ship and the function of it. To even become a captain takes about 7 years of education and training.

I can’t believe we only have 2 more nights left. Looks like we might be booking a cruise next year for our 10 year anniversary!

Thank you to Carnival for providing the complimentary 7-day cruise as part of their Mom-bassador Program. All opinions and descriptions presented belong solely to LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! and were not influenced in anyway by anyone.




Wordless Wednesday – There is a New Sheriff in Town

August 25, 2010 by

This is one of the first few pictures we took after we got off the Carnival Dream in Cozumel. I think this is a really good picture.

Thank you to Carnival for providing the complimentary 7-day cruise as part of their Mom-bassador Program. All opinions and descriptions presented belong solely to LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! and were not influenced in anyway by anyone.

 




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