{"id":4461,"date":"2010-11-06T01:09:31","date_gmt":"2010-11-06T08:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=4461"},"modified":"2010-11-06T01:09:31","modified_gmt":"2010-11-06T08:09:31","slug":"cruising-carnival-ecstasy-deals-magic-cozumel-chocolate-melting-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=4461","title":{"rendered":"Cruising Notes from the Ecstasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The right price\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026$626
\nNovember 14, 2011:<\/strong> 6 days\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Departure:<\/strong> Galveston<\/a>, TX, round-trip to Mexico
\nFirst U.S. cruise for Carnival’s new Magic<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\n <\/em>Bonus:<\/strong> $75 on-board credit with Early Saver Rate
\nContact:<\/strong> Carnival Cruise Lines<\/a> or 1-888-227-6482<\/p>\n

* * *
\nOn the streets of Cozumel<\/a>, we were approached this week by a cheery young entrepreneur pitching the usual assortment of souvenirs and Mexican crafts.<\/p>\n

“I got the best junk,” he smiled.<\/p>\n

“We bought junk the last time,” we joked.<\/p>\n

“Yes,” he added, “but now I’ve got better junk\u2026and cheaper!”
\n* * *
\n\"\"<\/a>The head physician \u2014 in fact, the only physician \u2014 on the Ecstasy<\/a> is Dr. Peter Greiner. Nine years ago, he was retired.<\/p>\n

Then his wife went to work\u2026on his behalf.<\/p>\n

“She was on the computer at two in the morning, and she got me the job,” he laughs. “She set up an interview with somebody at Mickey Mouse. I was sitting at home. It was not stimulating.”<\/p>\n

The job was with the Disney Cruise Line<\/a>. He was there for a year, then spent five more with Royal Caribbean<\/a> and six months with Regent<\/a> before joining Carnival in 2007.<\/p>\n

“Now she says: ‘You’ll never quit’,” he adds. “She’s probably right, because I love it\u2026and I like a one-doctor ship.”
\n* * *
\nOkay, when you go on a cruise ship and there’s a signature dessert, you have to try it, right? Well, it’s a good excuse for having dessert.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Carnival’s signature dessert is the “chocolate melting cake.” Did we mention it’s low-cal? Showing a rare responsibility in the calories department, we choose to have one. Just one. Two spoons, please.<\/p>\n

Our waiter, obviously unaccustomed to seeing such restraint on a cruise ship, was amused: “That’s so romantic.”<\/p>\n

Full disclosure time: There was a little extra ice cream on the side.
\n* * *
\nIs there a better deal anywhere than a Mexican blanket? Most places, you can buy two of them for $5.
\n* * *
\nThis weekend, the population of Galveston explodes by about 500,000 and it has nothing to do with the cruise ships that sail from the popular Texas port.<\/p>\n

They’re all bikers.<\/p>\n

Every year at this time, that’s how many of them \u2014 mostly on Harley Davidsons \u2014 attend the The Lone Star Rally<\/a>. The beaches are full with trailers and RVs, and the streets are blocked off a couple of days in advance.<\/p>\n

“There’s a tendency to think they’re all bad guys,” said our cab driver after we disembarked from the Ecstasy. “It’s not true. A lot of them are doctors and lawyers.”<\/p>\n

The population impact of half a million is about like having 150 cruise ships in the harbor \u2014 at once!
\n* * *
\nThat’s it, we’re done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The right price\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026$626 November 14, 2011: 6 days\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Departure: Galveston, TX, round-trip to Mexico First U.S. cruise for Carnival’s new Magic Bonus: $75 on-board credit with Early Saver Rate Contact: Carnival Cruise Lines or 1-888-227-6482 * * * On the streets of Cozumel, we were approached this week by a cheery young entrepreneur pitching the… Continue reading Cruising Notes from the Ecstasy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,25,31,19,15],"tags":[154,391,387,72,86,35,28,392,102],"class_list":["post-4461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deals","category-people","category-ports","category-ships","category-stories","tag-carnival","tag-carnival-magic","tag-cozumel","tag-cruise-deals","tag-cruise-ships","tag-cruises","tag-disney","tag-lone-star-bikers-rally","tag-mexico","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}