Cruisin' with Antsy and the Troubs to Cozumel

by David "Sumoflam" Kravetz

Page 2 - On the Boat

A Lego rendition of the boat...including water!!

Feb. 14, 2008: We finally got onto the boat at around 1 PM.  Having all of our luggage as well as much of Antsy's equipment, we dragged it all up the ramp.  I was carrying a full box of Enjoy the Ride magazines to hand out during the cruise and it pretty much wore me out.  Fortunately, by 1:30 we were able to go to our room.  This room was much larger than the one we had when we took our Alaska cruise back in 2004.  And we also had a window in the room so we could see what was going on outside.  This was nice.

We were on board the "Fantasy", on of Carnival's huge ships...much larger than the Amsterdam was.

Total Staterooms - 1,026
Private Balcony Staterooms - 54
Decks - 10
Passenger capacity - 2,056 (compared to 1380)
Total crew - 920 (compared to 647)
Officers nationality - Italian
Ship size - Large
Tonnage - 70,367 (compared to 61,000)
Ship length - 855  (compared to 780)
Registry - Panama

Glass elevators; nice deck; big boat

View of New Orleans Wharf from boat; the deck and pool

Our room was on the Empress deck, just a couple of doors down from the main lobby area.  It was nice to be so close to everything. (Thanks Kathy W.!!)

Empress Deck in Green

We were in room E61 which is 4 rooms from the Grand Spectrum Plaza near the front.

This is what our room looked like, except that our beds were put together as one bed.

I forgot to take a photo of the room!!

We got a brief nap in before we had to go to the big hall to go through the Life Vest Orientation.  Unlike the Amsterdam, we all sat down in this big room and listened to the presentation and tried them on.

After that, Julianne and I went up on the deck as the ship set sail.  We watched the ships and parts of New Orleans as we headed down the Mississippi River towards the Gulf of Mexico.

There were all kinds of boats on the river.  The little ferry in the middle had folks waving to us.

As we floated down river we saw a constant stream of ships from all over cruising up river to deliver their goods.

This bridge leads to I-10.  We took this bridge when we returned to Kentucky.

Activities on the ship are really no different than those on other ships I guess.  They had kids activities, lots of shops. a casino and photographers everywhere taking "memory pictures" which can be bought.  Indeed, the ship is really a money-making machine as everything comes at a cost.  I was actually surprised that they even pull "scare tactics" on the passengers about booking off-shore trips from companies other than Carnival.  They even pressed hard for the passengers to buy their water from the boat at $3.00 for a 1.5 litre bottle, rather than getting them onshore from unknown sources.  Obviously, many of the travelers don't know any better.

Many of the Flamingohead faithful found their way around the boat as they enjoyed the food, the casinos and the socialization.   Following are some of the folks on the cruise.  A much more extensive photo album can be seen at the Polyesterfest Home page.

Sue Wachtel (on the right) is the Troubs FANtastic Merch Lady; Sumoflam with Antsy and Uncle Fred; Popular shirts

Flamingoheads having a great time--notice the Antsy for President badges. Trying her luck on the slots is Kathy Wiles-Denis, our FANTABULOUS Cruise Director.  Email her for your cruising needs.

Uncle Fred - The King of Flamingoheads!! Eddie Mattingly, the main producer guy!!

Perhaps one of the most interesting things on the boat (besides the Troubs shows of course!!), were the towel designs we would come home to every evening as we settled down.  They were both creative and unique....in fact, they even taught a class on the boat, which Julianne took and she bought the book on how to do it...origami with towels!!

An elephant, a heart and a bat.  Those are my sunglasses and Troubs hat...cool huh?

There were plenty of good meals...lots of buffets, nice dinners, late night pizza and ice cream cones.  During one of our dinners (dress up night), all of the Flamingoheads were surprised with a special desert...a chocolate cake with a candy Airscreamer guitar on top!!  I found out later that one of the chefs from India spent the entire day making each one by hand.  This was apparently a special touch requested by our wonderful Cruise Director Kathy W.

The cake and Airscreamer, a photo of a REAL Airscreamer and me chomping on mine...music to the tongue!!

Julianne spent some of her time relaxing on the deck reading and soaking in the sun.  It seems like I was so tied up with Troubs' stuff that I neglected her.  She was a trooper none-the-less and didn't complain.  I owe her a good solo trip away from everything...including internet!!

Julianne enjoys the breeze in her Flamingo shirt; schmoozing with Antsy and playing with her new video cam

Main Page   The Band Shows  Tulum: Mayan Ruins   

 See more of Sumoflam's Trip Journals

sumoflam@sumoflam.biz