That Time That Hard Work Actually Paid Off For Me...

I did it. It only took forever three years, four months, and 16 days... but I am at last monetized on YouTube! 

I think it's actually impressive to have been able to get monetized that quickly, but it felt like so long and so much work. (SO much video editing)...

First I thought getting 4000 watch hours in a 365-day period would be hard. But then a couple of my videos did really well and I knocked that out of the park. 

So then getting 1000 subscribers became such. a. grind. There aren't really any good ways to get more subscribers than to make good content that is search friendly. Oh and by guilting your family and friends into subscribing on your birthday. 

But now it's done. And my channel brings me 1s of dollars per day. And I love it. 

Subscribe!:

That Time I Rode a Roller Coaster on a Cruise Ship...

Guest column: Riding Bolt, the First Roller Coaster on a Cruise Ship

And I also have a video on YouTube! (Watch it now! I mean it! NOW! or don't... that's okay too...)

On my cruise on the Mardi Gras, I was so excited to ride the onboard roller coaster. Until I found out that it cost $15 per person and per ride. I was ready to boycott it due to the price, but decided to do it JUST SO I COULD MAKE YOU A VIDEO AND TELL YOU ABOUT IT... and get to go on it also.

I did actually love it and just wish it was a bit more affordable. Check out my video above and/or ready about it on Cruise Radio.

More on cruising :)

That Time I Had Funtimes on Carnival's Mardi Gras...

Here are all the daily schedules for Carnivals' Modified 7-Day Eastern Caribbean Mardi Gras cruises (San Juan, Amber Cove, Nassau)....

That Time I Cruised on the Mardi Gras...

You may have noticed that I don't write in here a lot anymore... Sorry about that.

But, I did make some videos on my cruise! So that's kind of the same right? 

Click for playlist!

Enjoy!

That Time I Made a Carnival Melting Chocolate Cake

If there's one thing that everyone misses from Carnival cruises, it's the chocolate melting cake.

Carnival has the recipe online, and it always sounded easy enough, but I never took the time/effort to try it...

That Time I Cruised With A Group...

Booking multiple cabins with your friends or family is not automatically "booking as a group" on a cruise. There are additional steps, but then you get some extra stuff if you have enough cabins booked. 

The extra stuff and requirements to get it are different for every cruise line, so that's why I wanted to make this post!...

That Time I Got Married... Again...

You may recall from a previous post that I selected "Leap Day" for my wedding anniversary date, but got married on a non-leap year. With those decisions, Husband and I booked a vow renewal on the Carnival Pride for Leap Day 2020, at which time our anniversary date would officially not be March 1 and would instead be Feb 29. 

Unlike this post, we were very fortunate to not have our renewal canceled by COVID (my heart goes out to everyone who did in 2020)...

That Time I Cruised on the Carnival Paradise...

I apparently lost my ability to write about my adventures... or maybe it's more the sifting through all my photos so that I can then write about them... but I did finally edit my video footage from this cruise and got all most of them on my YouTube Channel! I posted them all below for you, or you can go to my playlist and watch them on YouTube. Likes and subscribes are deeply appreciated!

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Embarkation, Cabin, & Pizza Pirate

Tour of Interior Cabin G26

Sushi at Sea

Room Service

Tea Time

Back to Back Cruising

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That Time I Cruised at Home...

I know. I've been missing cruising too! My cruise in September was canceled. I booked a cruise in August to replace it. Canceled. Rebooked that for September. We'll see. I also booked a cruise for July because of the great prices Carnival was offering. I was so excited to go on vacation in the summer! Canceled. Harumph.

I got to thinking... that maybe, like everything else we're doing at home... we should all go on a cruise at home...

That Time I Had Funtimes on the Carnival Paradise...

Here are all the Funtimes-es for one of Carnival Paradise's 5-Day Caribbean cruises (Grand Cayman & Cozumel)....

That Time I Went on a Ferry...

Parking in New York is expensive, but sometimes you need to embark on a cruise there! I have personally cruised on Carnival and Norwegian from New York, and I believe Regent, Aida and some other lines do too. Royal Caribbean leaves from somewhere else in NJ. 

You can park at the cruise terminal for $40/day, or you can save nearly half your money by parking in New Jersey and getting a bonus boat ride - on a ferry!...

That Time I Made A YouTube...

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to put all of my YouTube videos on my blog b/c a lot of the content overlaps, but aside from my kind of crappy really amazing intro video, this is my first REAL video so I wanted to share it with everyone!

It's the first in what will be a series of videos from my cruise in February on the Carnival Liberty.  It's a little rough, but they *should* get better once I get more in tune with the whole process of making videos with basically no pre-production! Please let me know what you think!...

That Time I Cruised on The Carnival Liberty...

For Husband’s and my first wedding anniversary, we booked a little 4-day cruise on the Carnival Liberty.

This was actually the second cruise we ever booked even though it ended up being our 7th cruise. This one went to Nassau, and Freeport, Bahamas.  

We got engaged shortly after our first cruise ever on the Carnival Vista, which we loved so much that once we set a wedding date, we booked this anniversary cruise. It ended up being our 7th cruise by the time we got to it...

That Time I Had Funtimes on the Carnival Liberty...

Here are all the Funtimes-es for Carnival Liberty's 4-Day Bahamas cruise (Nassau & Freeport)....

That Time I Tried Traditional Cruise Dining...

Guest column: Carnival's Assigned Dining

Assigned dining is how cruises and resorts have been serving meals for decades. The idea is that you have a set time, and you sit at the same table, and have the same service staff every day. Large tables are used to fit in all the guests, which means that unless you are with a group, you will be eating with strangers.

Many cruise lines now offer Anytime Dining which is more like going to a land-based restaurant. There is an early and late Assigned dining time for each cruise. The early time at 6pm often fills up quickly, so for my first few cruises, I've opted for Anytime Dining over the late dining at 8pm.

On my cruise on the Carnival Inspiration, I finally got the chance to try out the traditional Assigned Dining which you can read all about on Cruise Radio.

More on cruising :)

That Time I Became a Travel Agent...

Basically. I love talking about and booking cruises so much that I decided to see if I could make money doing it!

Seriously - I start so many days asking Husband "can we book a cruise today?..."

That Time I Ate at The Chef's Table...

Guest column: Carnival's Chef's Table

Carnival's most upscale specialty dining option is the Chef's Table dinner. For the newer ships, you're going to want to book in advance to make sure it doesn't sell out. You also won't know the date of your Chef's Table dinner until the day you board and they call your cabin with the date and time.

All the food is delicious.

The cost is $75 + 18% tip on older ships; $95 + tip on the newer ships.  You get a very exclusive dining experience, but you will be eating with other diners unless you bring a large group. Once you get your assigned date, assume you'll be spending the whole evening at dinner.

Check out my experience on the Carnival Inspiration on Cruise Radio.

More on cruising :)

That Time I Was Faster to The Fun...

Guest column: Carnival's Faster to The Fun

"Faster to The Fun" is an option that cruisers can purchase for their cruise that allows them priority access for boarding, luggage delivery, guest services, tendering to ports, and disembarking. It is available in limited quantities, based on the amount of Platinum & Diamond VIFP guests that are booked on each sailing, as they get said priority for free with their status.

The cost varies by ship and itinerary so when I was on a 3-day sailing, on an old ship, I decided to give it a try. When people ask "is it worth it," well, it really depends on the people, their cruise, and their travel plans. What was it like for me? I'll let you read all about it on Cruise Radio.

More on cruising :)

That Time I Tried The Drink Package...

Guest column: Cheers! Drink Package

I'm not a big drinker. But I am a big cruiser. And I love giving advice about all things cruises, so I decided that I needed to try out Carnival's Cheers! drink package for myself.

Let me tell you, it was quite an adventure. In short, no I don't think I'll become a drink-package-person, based on how much I don't drink. I'm going to stick with the soda package. But I can definitely see the appeal and whether or not you should get it depends both on the quantity of drinks you consume and the cost of those drinks. I'll let you read all about it on Cruise Radio.

Related: Carnival Bar & Restaurant Menus

More on cruising :)

That Time I Cruised on the Carnival Inspiration...

I got to travel for business to Los Angeles which put me in a perfect position to go on a West Coast cruise. I wanted to use as little vacation time as possible so I picked a 3-day cruise on the Carnival Inspiration which has just one port stop in the Mexican Riviera: Ensenada.

We stayed in the nearby Residence Inn because I had Marriott points to get a free room, but had that not been the case, I hands-down would have stayed on the Queen Mary which has been turned into a hotel and is permanently docked right next to Carnival's cruise terminal...