carnival – Swimming With The Rain

Pirates Privacy Act – Girl Code

August 23, 2020

In February 2020, six of us girls decided to take a cruise for Galentine’s Day and what better way to ensure that we were all on the same “page” than to create a privacy pact, similar to girl code on a bachelorette party. But, this was a cruise so we needed a fun name, plus we love themes! So, during brunch prior to boarding, we read each code out loud, then signed our names.

This agreement dated February 13th, 2020 pertains to the Carnival Fantasy Cruise. Whereas, all attendees as named, for their mutual benefit and pursuant to an ongoing friendship, which has been or may be established, can safely assume that they are able to be their happy drunk selves on this trip and are free to drink, giggle, flirt, dance, sleep in, and any other activity in similarity that may arise, without being judged.

For a period of the rest of our lives, all named above, shall hold this agreement in trust and confidence, and not disclose to others any crazy stories that will make even one of these ladies look like any less of the strong independent women that they are. If it would cause another personal embarrassment (even if you think it should not), you are held to this agreement to not disclose said matter.

The undertakings and obligations of all attendees also agree to honor the following ~

The use of Spanx or any other undergarment to manually fit our body in to a piece of wardrobe WILL not be judged or even acknowledged. As far as we are all concerned, every single one of us come by the smooth lines naturally.

The use of Poo Pourri or whatever your room has designated, will be used EACH AND EVERY SINGLE TIME. However, as a kindness to your roommates, especially for Room M199 with four people, it is highly suggested that you go elsewhere so as not to block off the use of the bathroom for an obscene amount of time.

Do NOT record anyone out on the dance floor. If they are “called up” to a stage or any platform to perform, vide os acceptable ONLY to send directly to them upon wifi availability.

There is a strong possibility that while being in close quarters, body parts may be seen. We are all women, we’ve all seen a vajayjay, rumpshaker, and boobies before. If you need to change, change away! HOWEVER, please make every attempt to not sit on your bed, “Indian style” (criss cross apple sauce) naked as a jaybird.

If someone is stupid drunk, NO photography.

If you are the one that is stupid drunk and feel the need to puke, DO NOT expect anyone to be there for you and hold your hair back.

If Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now, happens to be on this boat and you decide to go and make a love connection, please send someone a message as to the room number (in case we need to look for your dead body).

If some stranger wants to get a bit too close and you are uncomfortable, please make it obvious that you are not happy with the attention, and we will remedy this.

Should there be a group of other women and drunk happy you thinks we should all be best friends, you are the designated friend and will be the oe to break it to them that we won’t all be making friendship bracelets and brushing each other’s hair.

You are not to take offense to anything Megan or Sheila says before coffee. In fact, please do not provoke them.

No judgement on something someone does while sleeping – teeth grinding, snoring, talking. If they begin to make sexual noises, permission to throw a pillow at them. However, it will not be mentioned the next day.

No posting on Social Media of anything even possibly embarrassing. If you think it is in bad taste, it probably is.

STAY OFF YOUR PHONE!!! this is an “Electronics Free” trip. If you have international and plan to check in when we get to Mexico, please go stare at your phone elsewhere. If you feel the need to play some downloaded game on your phone, go elsewhere.

Be respectful of people! If you are cranky, go somewhere else until you are happy. Do not bring others down.

Absolutely, NO peer pressure. If someone doesn’t want to get on stage and sing an Adele song off key in front of 100 people, do not try to force them. However, if they do have the guts to get up there, cheer them on and be proud!

If you are calling it a night earlier than the rest of the group, make sure to send a message on the cruise app or tell TWO PEOPLE before you leave, so we don’t think you are taking a swim with the sharks.

As we are trying to keeps this an “Electronic Free” trip, the messaging system in the app will not be monitored like texting. If a message is sent saying, “Where are you?” because you are wandering around looking for something to do, and there is not answer, do not be upset for someone being in vacation mode and napping by the pool.

Some people take more pictures than others. PLEASE try to remember to take candid photos of those people, also, so they don’t miss out on seeing memories.

We are all adults. Find the humor in all of the above but most of all, remember that what happens on the ship, (SAY IT OUT LOUD), stays on the ship.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the attendees have execute this Agreement as of the date first above written.

Megan, Kiki, Sheila, Bambi, Donna, and Shakira

Cruising

Carnival Fantasy – Boarding the Ship

May 22, 2020June 14, 2020

Let me tell you about the Carnival Fantasy. I’m not going to go in to all of the technical jargon about the class of it, how many passengers, crew member count, etc. I’m here to tell you about this ship and the crazy things that I wanted to know about and my experience. Trust me… It was a good time. There’s other sections on this site about the food, what to do, Cozumel, etc. This one just has to do about the ship and what I thought about the boarding and first few hours.

We (a few friends and I) went in February 2020 for a four day trip to Cozumel. Well, come to find out, in January and February, along Gulf Coast, there seems to be an issue with fog. This is the type of fog that is THICK and if you have to drive a car with your fog lights, imagine being a huge ship trying to dock. The port authority takes this very serious so there are times that the ship is delayed coming in and going out. We were scheduled to board at 12:30 and due to the delay in the ship coming in that morning, we didn’t get on until around 3. But, that’s ok! If you get to Mobile early, or if you stayed the night there, check out the town! We had lunch at Spot of Tea and it is the most darling place! www.SpotofTea.com Then we headed over to a mall and wandered around to kill some more time.

I heard that with Mobile, you really don’t need to spend the extra money with the Faster to Fun pass (around $50). Since it is not as big of a ship as some that would port in for instance, Miami, things move rather smooth. Plus, I heard that if you do show up early, they’re not going to force you to wait an hour until your boarding time. One thing I will suggest, pay for parking ahead of time. We didn’t. As we were in line to find a spot, a worker there handed us a paper with instructions, so we could do it online, on our phones. That was a bit of a pain as we were trying to type in a lot of information on these small screens while pulling the registration out of the glove box to get the license plate number.

Make sure that you have your luggage tags ALREADY on your luggage.

When you pull in, there will be someone there to get your luggage and put it on a carrier. We saw so many people that did not have theirs ready, even though Carnival and every other website stresses this. I was able to jump out, grab our bags and hand them off within about 30 seconds. Make sure to tip the porter since they do not work directly for Carnival. Some sites say a dollar or two per bag… We had three bags and I was in vacation mode and so excited to finally be there, so we tipped him $10.

The lines were busy that day but not as crazy as I thought it would be due to the delay. Then again, I try to be very patient when things happen that are completely out of someone else’s control. Plus, all of the Carnival and Port Authority employees were so nice that it was hard to be frustrated, plus I really like to people watch. Things just moved along at a steady pace and we went where we were told.

Two of my friends had passports so they went to one line. (The picture on your passport, that is what Carnival will use to identify you) Since I don’t have a passport, I had my license and birth certificate out. I did have a copy of my marriage certificate as proof of my name change but they never asked for that. Personally, I think it’s a good idea to have that because it would really suck to not be able to board.

This is where you get even more excited because you are just about on board. Yay!

Once on board, there is a bar directly straight ahead of you. That is where we met our favorite bartender, Deni. More on him and the rest of the crew later. Anyways, people that have been on multiple cruises all have different traditions when they board. Some grab a specific drink like the Miami Vice, Kiss on The Lips, a shot… Some go straight to Guy’s Burger Joint. More on the food in another post. You do you! This is your vacation, so create a tradition or try something new.

Pool Side animals. You only get to see these in the morning, so make sure to go look!

This is your trip to make of it what you want. I can honestly say that on this ship, you don’t have a care in the world. You don’t have to cook, you don’t have to make your bed, you cannot possibly say that you are bored because there is plenty to do, you can sleep in, you can wake up early, you can walk around by yourself… It is your vacation! There is even a gym! I started my trip with a goal to go to it, but…. I didn’t.

Every morning, each lounge chair has an animal towel. Such a cool sight to see!

There is just the one pool on the ship and it gets CROWDED! You won’t be able to swim laps in it. In fact, I don’t think you’ll even get to swim. Most people are just standing in there keeping cool. There is a hot tub next to it, and that stays packed, too. Finding a lounger near the pool can be difficult but if you head to an upper deck, it’s really quite nice because you can watch everything going on but generally not have all the kids running around.

Area on the Veranda deck looking down on the pool

There is an Adults Only section call the Serenity. Usually, this is a quiet relaxing place but on this particular trip, it was CRAZY! They were there to PARTY and most of the people had pineapples on their doors… But, if you head back there and it’s your type of scene, whether relaxing or pineapple oriented, you do you. It’s your vacation!

Carnival Fantasy Serenity deck. This was early in the morning, while still quiet.

I know that you are super excited about seeing your room, right? Well, you won’t be able to get to them until around 1 and your luggage can take a few hours to get there (imagine all of the suitcases they have to get to the right places). Around that time, you will see envelopes on the door with your individual Sail & Sign card. This is the most important thing you will need on the ship. It is your identity! They will scan it for each drink and it also is your room key. When you go to your room and you meet your Steward, be nice to them. They are there to help you make the most out of your vacation so let them know if there is anything that you need. We had one girl that liked to sleep in late, so once we let our room steward know, he knew scheduled our room cleaning until just before lunchtime. We also left a note for him that day asking for a bucket of ice for our pre-dinner champagne. Well, he saw how many bottles were on the counter (one for each night) and made sure that every evening, there was a new bucket with cold ice. We tipped him well after our trip!

One final thing you need to know about boarding, there is a mandatory safety meeting and you are REQUIRED to go. On your Sail & Sign card will be the location you will gather for the drill and in the event of an emergency. Years ago, we had to grab our life jackets from the room (located in the closet) and then go to the muster station. Now, you just go when you hear the page over the ships intercom. This is not the time to act stupid and think you are funny by being a loud mouth. Nope. This is serious business and you really do need to pay attention.

They are not as pretty as the ones in Titanic, but there will be enough for everyone.

Well, now that you know some of the basics of your first few hours on the ship, go enjoy your vacation. Remember, go with the flow, relax and most importantly, HAVE FUN!

Pirates Privacy Act – Girl Code

Carnival Fantasy – Boarding the Ship

My favorite articles