Carnival Cruise Line Tests Out An All-You-Can-Drink Alcohol Package

Yes, you heard that right!  Carnival Cruise Line is currently testing out an All-You-Can-Drink Alcohol Package on the Carnival Victory, as of August 5, 2012.  The program is called: "My Awesome Bar Program." 

"In an e-mail to Cruise Critic, Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen confirmed that the trial has been ongoing since Victory's August 5 departure. 


The per-cruise cost for the My Awesome Bar Program is $42.95 per person per day, plus a 15 percent gratuity. Purchasers can partake of a wide variety of wine, beer and spirits, as well as sodas, bottled water and non-alcoholic frozen cocktails throughout their cruise. (Specialty coffee is not part of the program.) However, all included beverages, including wines by the glass, beers and individual cocktails, must be less than $10 to qualify for inclusion. Program participants who want to purchase bottles of wine and Champagne, as well as more expensive wines by the glass and cocktails will receive a 25 percent discount. 

Gulliksen tells Cruise Critic that participants can order one drink at a time.

Passengers can sign up for My Awesome Bar Program at Carnival Victory's atrium and casino bars, as well as at the main pool bar.

There is a catch: if one passenger wants to purchase the beverage package, then all passengers ages 21 years and up in the same cabin must also purchase the package. Though Carnival would not comment on the reasons behind this requirement, it does make the possible issue of two people in one cabin “sharing” a plan moot.

Gulliksen touted convenience and value as reasons the line is exploring all-inclusive beverage options. At press time, the length of the test period had not yet been determined.

Other cruise lines that offer similar types of unlimited beverage packages are Celebrity, MSC and Oceania. Of these three, only MSC also requires all passengers in the same cabin to purchase the package, making the Carnival and MSC options the most expensive per cabin of all the programs (even if some individual packages are higher priced). Royal Caribbean also offers an unlimited beverage package, though only on three of its most international ships.

Royal Caribbean and Holland America both offer discounts on pre-purchased wine bundles."
www.cruisecritic.com 


"Carnival's move comes a year after rival Royal Caribbean rolled out all-you-can-drink alcohol packages on three ships based overseas. Celebrity Cruises unveiled all-you-can-drink packages fleetwide in 2010.
A spokesperson for Carnival tells USA TODAY the line hasn't decided whether it will add the new alcohol package on its 23 other ships."  www.usatoday.com/


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It's National Rum Day! Rum Punch Recipe

It's National Rum Day.  Consumers all of the world are enjoying their rum of choice.  What is your favorite rum?

As a Jamaican I know we LOVE Wray & Nephew- Overproof Rum

So how about a nice glass of Rum Punch:

Ingredients:

1 oz Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum

2 ozs orange juice

2 ozs pineapple juice

1/2 oz Sugar syrup

2 slices of fresh Jamaican ginger

Juice of 1/2 lime

Method:

Muddle the ginger and sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add the Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, fresh lime juice and ice and shake well. Strain into a rock glass over ice and garnish with a pineapple wedge.

Wray-and-Nephew-Rum Punch

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Happy 50th Emancipation Day Jamaica!

                                           Happy 50th Emancipation Day Jamaica!

August 6, 2012, marks Jamaica's 50th independence from British rule!  Jamaican's worldwide are basking in their celebrations.  Celebrations started early this year and are likely to continue through the end of the year!  Jamaica is calling all Jamaicans, Jahmericans, Americans, Jah-(Insert your country) and all lovers of Jamaica alike to celebrate in festivities world wide!

Jamaicans are showing how proud they are by wearing their colors, waving mini Jamaican flags and decorating many buildings in the black, green and gold colors!

In the month of July, Rapper Snoop Dogg announced that he was changing his name from Snoop Dogg, to Snoop Lion, after a visit to Jamaica.  The new moniker is part of the rapper's transformation from hip hop to reggae.

                                                                                 (hiphopwired.com)
                                             
In the Olympics, Jamaica's own, world fastest man, Usain Bolt, added another reason for Jamaican's world wide to celebrate after he both retained the Olympic gold medal in the mens 100 meter race AND set a new Olympic record of 9.63 seconds!

Jamaican's world wide are CELEBRATING their achievements and invite the world to do so with them!  Jamaican's love the saying:

                                                   (From Facebook Page: I am A Jamaican)

"Wi Likkle But Wi Tallawah!"  Which means: "We're little but we're proud!"

                                           CONGRATULATIONS JAMAICA 50!!!!!

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Camera Lost at Sea and Sea Mattress Floats Away....Egad!

One of my friends and I went to Doctor's Cave beach, on Gloucester Ave, in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  We were there laying out on our inflatable beach mattresses enjoying life, the scenery and her kids loving the water.  I informed my friend that she was getting ready to cross the roped off line area for the beach and she panicked and jumped off of her air mattress.  In the process of trying to grab a hold of her mattress, she dropped her camera in the water and to the bottom it went.  Oh EGAD!!!!  We saw a couple snorkeling nearby and got their attention to see if they could assist.  They promptly swam over and dove down to see if they could see the camera.  They came back up after a good 10 or so attempts and said that they could see the camera, but as they near the bottom the sound gets too loud and they are unable to breathe, so they weren't able to assist further.......meanwhile the air mattress floated further and further away.

Well now we are feeling pretty much defeated.  My friend tells me that the camera (Yes, a water camera) was not even hers, it belonged to her aunt who strongly suggested that she borrow her camera for this trip and mind you, the aunt did NOT remove pictures that she had already saved on the camera.  So the look on my friends face was STRESS!  We looked up and saw a jet skier coming back towards us with the air mattress.  She thanked the man for returning the air mattress.  At this point she cared most about that camera.  We asked the jet skier if he was a diver.  He said that he was.  OH MY GOODNESS GOD IS GOOD!  The man dives down while the man of the snorkeling couple held on to the jet ski.  The diver came back up and said that he sees the camera and takes another dive.  After a few attempts, he was unable to retrieve the camera.  I looked at my friend whose face was now filled with fret.  The jet skier pointed out that we should go and see if the lifeguard on the beach could assist.

I swam to the shore and talked with the closest lifeguard.  He pointed to an expert diver.  I ran over to the diver, explained the situation and pointed out my friend far out in the water.  He jumped to action right away.  He swam over to her and dove down.  He came up with the camera.  He held on to the camera for her until they reached the shore as she seemed to be drained.  She thanked him and he continued on with life.  A potentially bad ending avoided.  Thank God for all of his wonderful people!

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Bob Marley Museum- Kingston, Jamaica

Have you ever been to the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica?

How did the museum come about?

This photo was taken right outside the entrance.  You'll see the statue of Bob Marley and right behind it is his home that was transformed into what we now know as The Bob Marley Museum.

The Bob Marley statue up close

Bob Marley's favorite place to sit

Although marijuana is against the law in Jamaica it is very much a part of the culture.

Make the Bob Marley Museum one of your destinations to visit while in Jamaica.  Marr Travel is available to book vacation packages and schedule tours for you.

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Jerk Chicken Almost Gone Wrong on the Hip Strip- Montego Bay, Jamaica

Nightlife in Montego Bay, Jamaica, right on Gloucester Ave, known as "The Hip Strip," you can find a number of beaches, bars, restaurants, shops, casinos, street vendors and patrolling police personnel and more. 

I invited some friends to Jamaica and they wanted to hit the Hip Strip for the famous Jerk Chicken.  Well, we ran into a situation that could have really been a costly learning experience, had two policemen not been nearby.

We were all walking down the strip and a street side jerk chicken vendor called us over to his barbeque grill.  We were on our way to one further down the street but he caught us with the "Try mine for free!"  So we stopped and my friends tried the chicken.  They thought it was pretty good.  They asked me to try it and I responded that it was "okayyyyy."  They ended up buying one piece of chicken breast (Half) from this vendor while I was busy talking to a tour guide about a trip to Dunn's River Falls and Bob Marley's childhood home. 

We proceeded down the street to the vendor that we intended to purchase our chicken from.  When  I tasted this chicken I said: "Now this is jerk chicken!"  The others quickly agreed!  Someone in our group asked how much and the vendor said $400 (That is Jamaican dollars.  $1 US dollar is currently exchanged for $86 Jamaican dollars).  At this point one of my friends pull me to the side and told me that the other vendor charged her $4,000 Jamaican dollars (Yes FOUR THOUSAND) for one piece of chicken!  At this point, I stopped what I was doing with this vendor and headed back to the previous vendor's barbeque grill, with my friend in tow, right behind me.

As we approached the location of his grill, there stood two policemen one car length away.  I informed the policemen that the vendor charged my friend four thousand dollars for a piece of chicken.  (Just so you know...... 4,000 Jamaican dollars is currently $46.50 US DOLLARS...... for a PIECE OF CHICKEN?)  When we arrived to the vendor's location he wasn't there.  The policemen asked the other vendors where he was and ALL FINGERS POINTED just a hundred feet or so to him (That was pretty funny).  The policemen motioned for him to come here.  The location of the vendor's grill was just about where the back of the burgundy Toyota Tundra is located, to the left of Margaritaville (Montego Bay, JA) below.

When the man arrived to his station, the police wasted no time with casualties, they went right into the questioning: How much did you charge this young lady for the chicken?  To which the vendor responded: "I didn't charge her anything she just gave me some money."  YIKES..... if we had tried to confront this man without the police present the response would possibly have been: "You only gave me $300."  Thank Goodness for the police.  The man pulled the four thousand dollars that my friend paid him, from his pocket and the police made him give my friend her $3600 in change!

Moral to the story: If you are purchasing goods in a foreign land and you have a local friend present, interrupt your friend who is talking about a bus tour and confirm with the friend before making the purchase.

This ugly situation was cleared up pretty easily and I truly believe that it was ONLY because the police were there.  She could have been stuck SICK over paying $46.50 for one piece of chicken.  Now that would be a story for years to come.

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Marr Travel
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Have You Ever Seen a Sand Crab?

Have you ever seen a sand crab?  I don't recall ever seeing one as a child but I saw one front and center at Doctor's Cave Beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica. 

Okay so we are on the beach and this sand crab is causing quite a commotion.  She was running around the beach and was quite entertaining.  Why did I call her "She?"  Well one of the locals picked her up and made the determination that she was indeed female.

I was taking a nap while sun bathing and I heard someone pretty near to me say: "Don't let it bite her!"  I opened my eyes and I was looking EYE TO EYE with this THING!  I couldn't have jumped up quicker.  As soon as I jumped up the crab ran across my beach mat.

If you have any question, please feel free to contact us:

Marr Travel
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