Renting a Flat in the U.K.

We recently returned from a 2 week stint in the U.K. where we spent one week in Edinburgh and one week in London.  There were 4 of us and when we did the math on 2 hotel rooms for 14 nights, the numbers got scary!  So we started to look at other options.  Hostels were an option but not something my mother in law was going to go for.  So we looked at renting furnished apartments and BINGO!  A 2 bedroom, 2 bath flat in Edinburgh was a little over $1000 for 7 days.  A standard hotel ran about  $150 a night and we required 2 rooms.  Talk about freeing up some vacation fundage!  Now London was a little more expensive, but so were the hotel rooms there.  So if you are planing a vacation for a group of 4 or more, I strongly suggest you check into renting a furnished apartment.

Cruising with a Rock Band take 2

In my last post, I was talking about cruising with a rock band while also sharing one of my favorite songs by my favorite band Sick Puppies.  Since that post, they have been added to the line-up for the 3rd annual ShipRocked cruise!  That's right, I actually get to experience first hand what I was just talking about just a few months back.  The cruise itself is a 5 day, leaving on November 14th out of Port Everglades Florida, making stops at Costa Maya and Cozumel Mexico.  Along with Sick Puppies will be Queensryche, Buckcherry, Hinder, Hellyeah, Sevendust, Candlebox, Filter, Living Colour, In This Moment, Lynam, Broken Teeth, Rival Suns and 2 unsigned bands that have to win their way on.  The cruise is not only popular with the fans, but with the bands as well. Lynam is making their 3rd appearance already. 

Cruising with a Rock Band

A lot of bands and artists do this now.  If you watch VH1, they have been advertising one.  If I was to pick a band to have on a cruise, it would be Sick Puppies!  Don't let the name fool you.  They are a rock band that can energize any crowd.  And with a song like Riptide, their current single, it is just fitting.  Check out this link:  http://t.co/nhcvqXf  to see a lyrical video of Riptide.  I don't know about you but "I think I'm doing just fine"!

Ensenada Wine Tour the Second Time

So a year later and the same trip.  It was decided that we would do the same cruise and tour.  Its amazing how things change in a year.  Some for the best and some not.  We were on the Carnival Paradise again and yet at times it felt like a different cruise.  As far as Carnival and the Paradise go, everything was great and met or exceeded our expectations.  The thing that every cruiser knows and most dread is the life boat drill and even that has been improved.  Rather than make people bring their life vest from their cabins, they are tole adamantly to NOT bring them.  This was the start of what was many changes, most subtle that really made an impact with us.  I can only hope that this is something that is being done across the fleet, if not all cruise lines.

For the excursion, we chose to repeat the wine tour we did last year.  The tour consists of going to 2 different wineries with a tour and tasting.  Last year we went to 2 very large wineries.  This year, the second winery was replaced with a small family store that sold pizza, jelly, sea salts, and had a few bottles of wine for tasting.  The store was right on the edge of the property of the first winery.  We could even see the second winery from last year across the road.  We felt like it was a tourist trap.  The prices were way more Americanized and not what we expected.  All in all the first winery tour and tasting was as good if not better then last year.  The second stop I wouldn't even call a winery and would not recommend it.  To bad you can't pick your stops.  You never know what you get.  Will we do this again next year?  Not sure.  It changed once, hopefully they make another change before we decide.

You Need To Log In At Carnival If Your A Past Guest

 Carnival cruise lines is runng a new special they are calling 1 - 2 - 3 Go which includes cash back and free upgrades. But many past guests of Carnival don't log in when they visit the site and are not seeing the best prices.  After logging in you could see as much as $30 per person per night less than listed for non members.  Looking at a 3 night Mexican Baja we found it to be $80 cheaper per person for past guests.  Add to that another $30 per person on board credit and its very very tempting. So tempting that we will be booking our yearly 3 day this week.