I think its great that Portsmouth is trying to attract tourists and locals out towards the…read morewaterside, but this festival really needed some more activities, vendors, and entertainment. There was a live band playing as I was disembarking the ferry. What a great welcome! However, that was probably the highlight of this festival. There were about 5 vendors selling trinkets and other items. Nothing really attracted my eye. The food vendors were only Jay's Barbecue, Shakey's, Dominos Pizza and Mr. Cream Cones. I ended up getting fries from Jay's Barbecue because I was starving and needed something to hold me over during the ferry ride back to Norfolk. There were two workers in the booth for Jay's Barbecue. One was cooking, the other was preparing food and taking the money. I found it quite disgusting that the hand that he wore a glove on was used to prepare food AND take people's money. So UNSANITARY. Unfortunately I was hungry, desperate for food, and already gave him my money. Not only was the food dirty, but they didnt have enough money to give people correct change. He shorted a LOT of people (including me) because he didnt have the right change. He considered this extra cash his "TIPS". Why am I tipping for dirty food? Never again!

Great day in the city!…read more It's usually super hot when this event comes to town, but good music by local artists/bands and the great outdoors makes for a great day along the Elizabeth River!! The event is free to attend and it's for the whole family! There are several food vendors...a few vendors selling novelty items and you may see one or two vendors selling desserts. This year the City decided to rotate acts between two stages which was a bit aggravating. One act would perform for about 90 mins then we'd be asked to move (lawn chairs) to a larger stage area to hear/see the next act. Nevertheless, the bands featured this year we're a hit while some were a miss. The crowd at 3pm... a minimum of 20. Perhaps the hot temperatures deterred people away but as time went on... the crowd began to increase. Seems as though the more popular the band the larger the crowd. This event is held yearly so definitely look out for it every Memorial Day weekend to take place in Portsmouth, Va. Parking is free in the garages and free after 6pm for street parking. Bring about $20 for pocket change. And if you plan to catch the ferry that's nearby remember you'll need the exact fare. Have fun and enjoy life

My family and I went to the Chesapeake Jubilee for the first time last weekend and we had an…read moreenjoyable time. Since I hadn't been to a carnival in a while, I was surprised to see that the tickets were stored digitally on a card that they give to you. I actually loved the convenience of not having tickets all over the place lol. We rode about two rides which were a lot of fun. The ride operator simply scanned the card for our tickets and that was it! Gone are the days of having to count out the tickets for the rides lol. We then decided to grab something to eat. I remember carnival food being delicious and worth every penny but we ordered a cheese burger, cheesesteak, sausage and peppers and fries and the burger was extremely small, the cheesesteak was finished in 3 bites and the sausage was the size of a hot dog. The food was disappointing for how much we paid. The funnel cake and fried Oreos were great though. The best part of the carnival was definitely the delicious Turkey leg that we all enjoyed. Since my daughter isn't a big fan of fireworks, we decided to leave before they started but overall, it was a fun family outing. Side note: To avoid paying the $10 parking fee, we parked at a nearby school but we walked close to a mile to get to the carnival so definitely where comfortable shoes if you plan on taking that route next year. :)

Great time! Great vibes! Amazing food and fun rides! Chesapeake Jubilee we had a blast!read more

Went to the Norfolk Greek festival for another year as this is a highlight event of the year, its…read morenot summertime until you've been to the Norfolk Greek Festival. Parking for the event is wherever you can find a spot on a nearby street so make sure to bring a smaller vehicle or carpool. Everything is AMAZING! The food - AMAZING, Music/entertainment - Amazing, the church - Amazing, the staff/congregation - AMAZING! I got a lamb shank, green beans, spanakopita, tiropita, and a gyro for the road. The lamb shank was seasoned and cooked to perfection, I didn't even need a knife to cut it, fork only it was so tender. The spanakopita is a side with a mixture of shredded spinach mixed with Greek cheese between filo dough, or just yummy. The tiropita is similar but with only a mixture of Greek cheeses in the middle, and also really yummy. The portions are as you would expect if you went to your Greek relatives for a feast, hence why the gyro was for the road. Music and entertainment are a combination of the various youth groups from the church performing traditional Greek dances in traditional Greek outfits. There are bands that paly traditional/modern Greek music, and the MC will even do some Greek lessons. Inside the school/gathering hall is a small fair that has vendors selling various art/jewelry items, religious works a Greek coffee stand with the best coffee you will ever have, AND the ever popular deserts to-go (Baklava cheesecake, Greek chocolate cake, breads, and cakes) the only hard part is choosing what you want, lucky they have sampler packs. You can pay with card or cash and there is an ATM on site so there is no excuse to not see you next year.

Norfolk Greek Festival is a wonderful experience. It is festive , fun, and full of great times…read more There is quite the cuisine which includes gyros, lamb shank, dolmades, Greek coffee, Greek pastries and I could go on and on. My favorite is the Greek coffee experience. There is a booth indoors with people making the coffee in a traditional style. Last year I only bought 1 bag of the coffee, this year I got 3 because it's so good. There's a little Greek store where I got a sesame treat and more. The music, singing, and dance are a blast !

There is a free section and a ticketed section…read more The tickets are for the battleship. It is a wonderful museum for all ages who can manage some stairs. This is a must do in Norfolk. The free museum inside the building has Norfolk history, battleship history, port of VA info, and naval history. There are many interactive exhibits. The building is temperature controlled with clean bathrooms. Parking at the garage across the street is free for the first 2 hours. If you do the ship, you will need more than 2 hours but the hourly rate at the garage is reasonable

i went to nauticus and did the self guided tour of the uss wisconsin battleship museum. we got to…read morego inside the battleship and walk through a bunch of different areas, which was probably the best part because it made everything feel more real instead of just looking at pictures or exhibits. the ship itself is huge, and seeing everything up close was really interesting. i liked being able to walk around at my own pace instead of being rushed through it. the deck views were really nice too, and the giant guns were honestly crazy to see in person because they're so much bigger than i thought they'd be. overall it was actually really fun and i'd definitely recommend it if you're in norfolk because it's something different and really interesting to experience. note -- it isn't handicap accessible, there are a lot of stairs you need to go up and down on.

My boyfriend and I attended this last weekend. We have both lived in VA for a while but are just…read morenow starting to step out and see all the happenings that Hampton Roads has to offer. This was our first time here, and kind of our first time hearing about this whole event. Yelp reached out to its elites giving away a few tickets. So I was able to snag one. And once I saw what the cause was for we had no problem buying one for my boyfriend. We were intrigued by the race. An easy 4 miles with a fun hop in an ice cold pool sounded pretty unique. So we went for it. The race started at 9:30AM and it was a whopping 30 degrees at that time. Im grateful it wasn't your average race that starts at 7 or 8AM because my limbs would have probably frozen solid since it was 25 at that time, haha. So I enjoyed the later race time. I also enjoyed the amount of free parking close by! I think we parked 3 blocks down on 28th and the jog to the Hilton (heck yes we were jogging- it was cold!) warmed us up just enough. Registration and pick up were seamless. No long lines. We got there about 15-20 min after it opened (it opened at 8:30). The shirts were great! They were long sleeve, the design was cute, and they were that "technical" material. My boyfriend and I both wore ours for the race! The start line wasn't too crowded. Everyone was really respectful. The route was clean and easy with just a little zig zag. There was one water stop where they were actually handing out entire bottles of water! I was surprised! Our way back to the finish was brutal. We were running against the wind. So what started off as, "We are TOTALLY getting in the ice pool after this race! That will be so awesome!" quickly turned into "Im going to punch you if we get in that pool.". hah. Cold wind has that affect on people I guess. ha. We finished, the medal was REALLY cute! And legit! and we got bananas, water, free Wawa coffee, free Wawa hot chocolate, and chick-fil-a!! It was awesome seeing the whole community come together to support such a great cause. They had a marketplace inside of a tent with beer that lead to the walkway of the ice pool. We didn't look around because I was with a male who hates that kind of stuff--shopping-- so I can't comment about the stuff they had in there, but I will say I saw a bunch of people leaving with bags of stuff. So they must have had some cool items! We saw a lot of people getting Duck Doughnuts. So we tracked down where one was (RIGHT there off of 31st) and we got a half a dozen, like typical foodies do, and just had a blast sitting on two big rocking chairs in the sun stuffing our faces with food and people watching. We left before the actual plunge but I think next year we will either 1) Dash and actually SPLASH this time or 2)Go and plunge with everyone. I saw a LOT of facebook posts and pictures with the plunge so it seems like its a pretty big deal around here! So if you're new to the area, or even been living here a while, I'd totally recommend this whole festival! Its a blast!

This year they only had one tent and that's a bit of a problem as we usually separate athletes from…read morenon athletes. The tent is heated still, so that's good. The shirts are short sleeve this year instead of long sleeve. All in all, we raised a little over one million and that's what counts. Chick-fil-a gave out sandwiches and Wawa has their coffee and hot chocolate on their truck. It's not as cold as last year and that's a plus!

This was a great event! I tend to be more of a wine drinker, so I wasn't entirely sure how much I'd…read moreenjoy a beer festival, but it was an excuse to get out of the house and mingle with people for a bit, so I took it. For the entry fee (tickets the day of were $45), you got to sample beers from over 20 different breweries plus there was live music, several arts/crafts/raffles, and food trucks. You get a small glass when you enter, maybe 4-6 oz. or so, and then you can take it around to all the stations for UNLIMITED beer samples! There were honestly so many beers, we didn't even get to try all the stations. My top three favorites came from Capstan Brewing (Cream Ale - smooth and summery), Intermission Beer Company (Abbey Ale - a liquid banana nut muffin), and the one table serving a red ale, but dang if I can't remember the name of the place! We were toting the baby with us, so I was worried when we first drove in because we were parked pretty far from the entry. But a tractor shuttle came by and picked us up, dropping us right at the gate and then back again to our car after the festival was over! Every was super nice and we had a great time chatting with folks, checking out the pigs and other animals, and of course, sampling the beer. Really, the only downer was the rain - everyone was a little soggy and muddy by the time we headed home - but we were in good spirits about it. I'd definitely check this event out again!

I already thought it was a pretty cool idea to have a beer festival featuring local and Virginian…read morecraft brews! But to have it benefit an orphanage in Haiti made it all the worth while! I really enjoyed spending the sunny afternoon at greenbrier farms, chatting it up with everyone, watching the bids at the silent auction, perusing local artists and sampling a wide variety of beers at the fingertips! My husband focused on the ipa and stouts while I stuck with the cider and ales... it was all super fun and the live music gave it a celebratory type of feel. What was nice was that you were allowed to bring plenty of water and snacks. Although if you come empty handed, food trucks serving seafood and pizza stood by to feed the masses. Definitely a fun tradition to go to every year and benefit those less fortunate. I am definitely a fan!!!

This festival is not only ideal for people like me who love the music and arts culture, but it is a…read moreperfect way to expand people's horizons and hopefully/possibly spark creativity in people. This was my first year attending the festival. Unfortunately, I have not been able to attend the previous years. Very happy that I attended. My huge thing is the music bit of the festival, that's what initially draws me in about it. I left thoroughly pleased with the musical line-ups. I am more than happy that I can now state that I have seen Electric Guest performing, they were phenomenal on stage. There were breaks I took from the music, and just breaks between music sets. I was extremely excited to see that they had set up a silent disco area. I have heard awesome things about headphone/silent parties, and how it has become a huge thing in Europe. I have wanted to make a party myself at home that way, but it's not the same thing. However, the moment person I was with and I saw it, we wanted in, but we just didn't want to leave the stage quite yet. All the other stands/booths this year were perfect for the event. I wish there were more, but like I said, I hope events like this spark more creativity in the arts. I did not get any food over there, but there was a small selection. I do like food trucks, but sadly there wasn't much selection. Please attend this event. It is worth every minute and it is absolutely FREE, except for all the things being sold (duh).

This is a great event with so much growth potential. I felt that for this being the 4th year of…read morethis event it was quite small. About 20 vendors art, jewelry, soaps and even hula hoops. I would have liked more but it was a decent variety. For the music there were 2 stages. I would have liked if they wouldve had bands playing at both stages at the same time. Instead there a different band played on one stage and then as soon as they were done a different band played on a different stage. Nice to have a continuous flow with no huge down time but I would have preferred to bounce from stage to stage. I didnt try any food but it all smelled amazing. Overall it was ok, not amazing or terrible. Im just glad it was free.

This was my first time taking a cruise from Port Norfolk and my first time on this carnival ship,…read moreCarnival Magic. I believe this ship debuted in 2011 give or take a year, but I had a great time up here! We arrived to the port at our designed time and it was a breeze to get dropped off and have our luggage picked up by the concierge. This was my husbae first time cruising, so he thought the lines were long, but actually as a 2nd time cruiser, I remember the lines being long, but they went fast, as with this ship. The ship is not the largest, but there is so much to do onboard. Things to do such as: gamble, slots, blackjack etc., activities for the kids young and older (teens), tons of places to eat from, unlimited ice cream, hot tubs, movie nights, trivia... basically it is what you make it because every day and night something was going on. The lido deck is like the party place to meet up and get in the pool. While the pool is not huge it looked as though it served its purpose for those wanting the pool vibe. I loved the gym and hot sauna set up. There is a full bball court on the ship and a water slide too. If you have not checked out this ship, please do so. I highly recommend. If you are thinking about cruising alone or with friends, family etc. you should fairly enjoy yourself onboard and if you decide to get off at any ports. During my cruise, we stopped in Bahamas - very nice! Take care, have fun and enjoy life :)

Old, crowded and dated best describes this ship. It's you and 3600 other people. There really is no…read moreplace to escape the crowds. The food is hit or miss and the best bet for lunch is the burger bar. Getting off the ship during stops is a nightmare. I've been on Holland, RC, and Norwegen in the past and this ship and experience doesn't compare to any of those. I think it's a one and done for me on Carnival.