Good Cruise Morning! Did You Say UPGRADE?!!

GOOD MORNING!!  Nothing better than waking up in the morning with Room Service knocking on the door and then enjoying a cup of coffee (tea for me) on the balcony in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico wearing the luxurious cabin bathrobes!!

This is one of my favorite pictures!  It was taken in May 2008 on the Carnival Victory!  It was my 3rd cruise - our 2nd "Family Cruise!"  My daughter, Heather, and I were enjoying morning refreshment on the balcony!!  We are truly "balcony snobes!"  We were upgraded to a balcony on this cruise - first time ever in a balcony cabin - and we LOVED IT!!  Carnival contacted our travel agent and said - we are going to upgrade the Letner's!  She called and asked "my permission" and I said no permission needed!!  Do it!!  Best thing is, they did just upgrade mine and my husband's cabin, they upgraded all 3 cabins in our booking!!  It was so cool!!   We could all look over our balconies and see each other - we had fun - even blew bubbles from our balconies!  So fun!!

You never know where  you'll end up when you first book a cruise!  As prices drop in cabins, it is totally possible to get a great upgrade to what could be a much better cabin!!  Smart for the cruise line because now that we had a taste of Balcony Life - that's all we want to sail in!!

But why do cruise lines upgrade cabins?  Many times they fill up fast on lower cabins, such as Inside Cabins, and have abundance of Ocean View or Balcony - it is easier to sell out of the cheaper cabins, so they will reward those already booked by upgrading to a better cabin so they can sell the cheaper one!!  Or the cruise price could have lowered and  what you paid is comparable to the current price of a better cabin!  A good TA will watch those price changes in the time leading up to your cruise!!  Woohoo for us!!!

I do advise, though, that when you get that magical call to upgrade to a new cabin, you take a few minutes to look online at where your cabin is to make sure it isn't a location you wouldn't want - such as right below or above the Lido or the Disco or the busy food area - otherwise you could have more noise than you'd like or even an annoying obstructed view!  So take a few minutes to be sure the location you are being upgraded to is what YOU want!!

Ahhhh - I can feel the movement of the ship and smell the sea air!  So peaceful and relaxing!!  Best way to start the day I say!!

Is It Time to Cruise Yet?!!! 

Have a CruisinFunn Day!!
Cheryl

Cruising? An Addiction?? Totally!

All my life it never dawned on me that I would ever go on a cruise!!  I heard people talk about cruising, but figured it was definitely not something we could afford.  In 2004 I lost my Mother and it was kind of a wake up call - we need to do things - fun things - have some fun!  Ya never know when it's your time!  So in essence, I owe my love for Cruising to my wonderful Mother - and if she was alive today - I know she would be just as addicted and we would be having some CruisinFunn together!!

We found out from a travel agent friend of the family how cruising could be affordable, and we booked our first cruise aboard the Carnival Inspiration out of Port Tampa - sailing to Grand Cayman and Cozumel - a 5 day cruise!  It was a little hard at first to convince my husband, David - he was not a fan of the water.....period!!  But he gave in and we were counting down!!  I was so excited I couldn't sleep the night before!!  Like a kid at Christmas!!

We set sail and it was magical!!  The ship was so beautiful!  The drinks we got upon boarding - delicious and so tropical - we felt so pampered!!  I truly felt on vacation!!  So - we ate good food, had fun exploring the ship and saw a few shows!  In Grand Cayman I swam with Stingrays and we held turtles, and even went to Hell and back!  In Cozumel we explored the beauty of the Mayan Ruins in Tulum!!  As we left Cozumel - the weather started getting a little rough - and we found we were on the tail end of Hurricane Rita!!  Can you believe it?!!  Our first cruise and we hit a hurricane!!  But we pulled out of it and before we knew it we were back in Tampa!  Where did the time go?  All we could think of  (even David!) was.....WE WANT TO CRUISE AGAIN!!

And the addiction was started!!!
Have some CruisinFunn!!!Cheryl

Let's Get Started!!

I am so excited to finally start my CruisinFunn blog!!  I love, love, love to Cruise and I can't wait to share Cruisin with you!  Where to cruise, cruise reviews, cruise tips, good cruise deals, etc., etc.!!

So be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for some CruisinFunn!!

Is it time to CRUISE yet??!!
Cheryl