KLag

I'm sailing on the Gem this upcoming Saturday (10/20) and just put in a bid for a balcony (we're currently in an interior on deck 9, sail away). I put in a paltry bid of $55/pp about 2 weeks ago and was expecting to have heard back by now, even if it's a rejection. Anyone know what the timeline is for these kinds of situations, especially since I put the bid in so late?

For awhile the cruise has been shown as sold out, it wouldn't even register a result when searching on NCLs website. I checked again last night and it showed interior, oceanview, and balcony cabins available! However, a mock booking showed everything as sold out or not available - why would it show as available (with prices) but then have no availability? Checked again tonight and same thing, except it's giving the option to book ONE specific balcony cabin. No other categories or rooms. I know it's all a crapshoot, but has anyone gotten a bid accepted very late in the game?

so even though the staten island ferry is a free ride , you still have to get off and then get in que to get back on for the return ride ?

 

Yes but it's easy - you'll literally just follow the huge crowd disembarking and then just hop back on. The rule is that all riders must depart the ferry, no exceptions. Be sure to also get a view from the front (going back towards Manhattan) for a stunning view of lower manhattan.

Yep - it won't be as busy as Broadway would be, but I was recently in the area and 5th Ave is still busy at that hour. Less people than the daytime, and definitely more tourists than business people, but you'll be fine. You might find that most stores close around 9pm-10pm but that doesn't mean the streets shutter up and it becomes a ghost town. Most restaurants are open until 10-11pm as well, so there's very little, if any, dead areas. If it makes you feel better, the trains are packed until well past midnight here, so there's always people moving around.

And as far as safety , would anyone here have any reservations walking at night any place between the Times square area and the Empire state Building area.

Definitely no reservations! The entire stretch is bustling at all hours, especially closer to Times Square. The standard "don't look clueless" disclaimer does apply (keep wallet in front pocket, preferably a money belt, don't let people distract you, etc.), but you're not going to be randomly accosted just because. Times Square is crazy and always full of people at all hours - it slows down a tiny bit around 3-4am, but it's never fully dead, and it's always bright!

 

 

A big hint most people don't realize: If you're planning to do an observation deck viewing, go to Rockefeller Center instead of the ESB - that way you'll get the view of the ESB in your foreground and it looks amazing!

Ok, so I just got a call AND an email this afternoon from the Upsell Fairy - the call (voicemail) was trying to promote a balcony, and the email I got was as follows:

This is *** ********* with Carnival Cruise Lines. I am reaching out to you regarding your cruise on the Carnival SENSATION departing 8/17/2014. Carnival Cruise Lines recently came out with limited special rates for higher category staterooms on your sailing and because we believe in making your vacation fun and memorable, I wanted to give you the opportunity to upgrade at a promotional rate.

 

Please call me now at the number below for details, as this rare opportunity is time sensitive and will not last!

Space is very limited and I cannot guarantee the availability of this opportunity. Please be sure to reference your booking number ****** when you call. I look forward to speaking with you soon!

 

Is it worth it? I hate calling people, and would prefer not to if they're just going to try and sell me something for an incredibly bloated price. We got a porthole cabin for a pretty decent price, and if the "offer" is going to be hundreds and hundreds of dollars (ie more than we paid), then I wouldn't do it. Or am I possibly missing out on something good?

I do not think the Pride of America is US flagged any longer. I thought they changed that because of the ridiculous cost of maintaining it. :confused:

 

The Pride of America is still US-flagged, it's the Pride of Hawaii and Pride of Aloha that were switched over (to the Jade and Sky, respectively).

I fell hard for the prime rib with the au jus (really just a gravy, but SO GOOD). Also loved the huevos rancheros (seaday brunch), all of the fruit soups, the creamed spinach, and pretty much every dessert. Still haven't gotten to try WCMC yet though!

ATD all the way - it's often just myself and my husband cruising, and we prefer a table for two (the idea of sitting at a 10-top and making awkward small talk with people gives us both cold sweats, we're just not extroverts).

 

We've never had an issue with a table location, we actually enjoy the variety a different nightly table affords.

 

As for having the same server each night, we have little to no "preferences" that need to be carried over nightly, and every server we've had has been stellar.

 

But mostly, we enjoy not having to work around the ship's clock for meals - being able to just say "Hungry? Lets go to dinner" whenever we feel like is wonderful. We've done anything from 6pm to 8:45pm and love the flexibility. Sometimes you just have too many burgers at the outdoor grill in the afternoon :-p

You would need documentation (passport or BC/Photo ID) even though the ports are all US ports - the reasoning behind this (someone correct me if I'm wrong) is that even though the PORTS are U.S., the SHIP itself is registered to another country. This is how a purser explained it to me, when I worked as a check-in agent and had to tell passengers that their photo ID alone wasn't sufficient. I won't even go into how many people thought the ship wasn't leaving the US (it was a Bahamas cruise year round).

 

Basically, the moment you set foot on the ship is like stepping onto another country's soil, UNLESS that ship happens to be registered to the United States (such as NCLs Pride of America).

Trying to bump this post up since it's EXACTLY what I was looking for and was surprised that the last (solitary) post was from 2012, and from before that 2008 :(

 

I was looking to do a self-guided tour because I have no interest in wandering around aimlessly, going to Atlantis, or swimming with dolphins (wellll, maybe the last one but I'm not so willing to part with my $$$). I figured there might be other cruisers out there heading to Nassau that would be interested in this.

 

A bunch of the links are dead, so I did some sleuthing and found the relocated links:

 

Walking Tour, Historic Nassau (Text)

 

Walking Tour, Historic Nassau (Map)

 

Original photos and information by Zydecocruiser

Note: Sorry about the delay, this should be the last of it!

DAY 6: GRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS

 

Our anniversary! Didn't have anything planned for Grand Cayman, just walked around to take in the sights. We tendered in probably around noon or so, and had no drama or issues with waiting.

 

The view from shore

Decided to hoof it up and down the main strip, and man was it HOT! And sunny!! We are not built for sun, and my poor husband turned into a lobster, despite sunscreen aplenty. One might ask why we moved to Florida, but shush!!

 

One thing I would have done differently: PLANNING. Not even anything major, just maybe printing out a map online and looking for DIY walking tours. We thought we could do it ourselves, and I kind of had the expectation that I'd just stumble upon a historic district or something (not sure why...). Instead, we just felt lost and sweaty.

 

We walked along the road that follows the coast, and got a great view of the ship. There's a section (past the boatyard) where you can pretty much get right up to the water, but it's covered in volcanic rock. My husband and his hiking boots accepted the challenge.

 

The beautiful clear sky and water

 

After walking up and down the strip, we tired and headed back to the ship after an hour or so. Again, we had the ship to ourselves, always enjoyable. Being able to explore all the nooks and crannies without thousands of people about is severely underrated!

 

Went to do dinner in the MDR, but I felt incredibly sick - not sure why, skipped my Dramamine maybe? Go figure it was the only night I felt ill. I couldn't even order anything I felt so nauseous. Our waiter was AMAZINGLY nice, I don't recall his name but he was a large tall gentleman with huge thick black glasses, and he was so concerned when I said I didn't feel well. He kept saying "get the chicken noodle soup, it'll make you feel better!!", but I didn't think I could handle food being in front of me and so we left. Husband did the buffet instead, and all was well, but I felt lousy that we didn't even have dinner on our anniversary. Isn't that how it always works out though? Anyway, kudos to our server that night, he was so nice I couldn't bear it!

 

DAY 7: AT SEA

 

Don't recall much of this day, mostly sad that our cruise was over! Spent the evening packing and watching a movie in-cabin. Wondered about debarkation, since my husband is a green card holder and we didn't receive any information about clearing him for customs. Ended up receiving a notice at some point late that night explaining the customs process, and that we could NOT do self assist debarkation (presumably because of the time it takes to potentially be cleared).

 

DAY 8: TAMPA (DEBARK)

 

Woke up to see the Legend sailing slowly through Tampa Bay. Husband went to the Follies Lounge to be cleared by customs at 7:30am, and he was back just after 8. I know it needs to apply to everyone, but I think that if you clear customs in time for self assist debarkation (and you have minimal baggage, of course), you should be able to go out with everyone else. We still needed to be out of the room at 9, and we didn't leave the ship until almost 11am. We just hung out in the Unicorn Cafe eating breakfast as the crowds thinned out.

 

After we got off the ship, we went to the luggage area to pick up the bag we left outside the night before (no point in dragging it off if we cant self assist, no?), and after scouring our section, couldn't find it. My husband freaked out, but my prior pier experience told me to just look in the adjoining areas, where lo and behold, our bag was sitting. Went through customs (with a stone faced agent) and went to the waiting area for our parking shuttle, just missed it (they were full), then waited 30 minutes for the next one (not their fault, they had two people in wheelchairs on the way back). Got back to our car, which was safe and sound, and drove back to Orlando.

 

 

OVERALL OPINION:

 

I loved this cruise, and deny the people who automatically assume Carnival is a crazy free-for-all. The staff I encountered were every bit as professional and friendly as those I've encountered on NCL, and I had no issues with any of them. There were definitely some fellow passengers that were less than savory, but it's all what you make of it. Laugh them off, don't agonize over the riff-raff, and make your cruise a time to remember!

In response to clmsntgers, we were in cabin 5215, and loved it - it's smack dab in the middle of the ship, relatively close to two elevators, but closest to the awesome glass surround elevators that drop you right in the middle of the Unicorn Cafe. We felt minimal rocking, it was very gentle. Not too many large families/groups of partiers on our floor, it seemed to be mostly older people and couples in small groups.

Thank you everyone for reading! In response to Princessa, I don't recall a mexican buffet myself - my Funtimes shows there were 2 American, 2 Italian, 2 Caribbean, and 1 French for the "chefs choice" at the Unicorn Cafe.

DAY 4: MAHOGANY BAY, ROATAN, HONDURAS

 

Pulled slowly into Mahogany Bay early, around 7am. The view coming in was beauitful and serene:

 

There were tons of wrecks littering the coast, not sure how many were accidental or how many (if any) were intentionally wrecked for marine life/scuba diving and such. We got a great view of this one from right outside our balcony:

 

We didn't have a shore excursion booked for Roatan, and decided to just go to the beach instead. This is when the husband asks, "You remembered to pack my swim trunks, right?" Uhh, no, because we each packed our own separate bags, plus I took care of formal wear and toiletries! *facepalm* So there we are, husband with no swimsuit, in the Caribbean. I gave him the option of wearing a pair of festive bikini bottoms, which he politely declined. So we decided to make the best of it, and just have a lookie loo around the beach, and if we happened to find a pair of swim trunks for say, less than $30, we'd snatch them up. SPOILER: No pair of plain basic swim trunks anywhere is less than $40, and the ones that are less than $40 are often only in 3XL and have garish patterns. Don't be like hubby! Bring your trunks!

 

I'll say this: Mahogany Bay is probably our favorite port of all three we visited. It was clean and simple, with non-pushy salespeople and an overall less busy feel than the other ports. I know this is because it's their private island (of sorts) and it's built up entirely by them.

 

To get to the beach, you can either take the "people mover" or a 5-10 minute walk down to the beach. The people mover is (appx.) $12-15 for an all day unlimited pass! No thanks, we thought, and decided to rough it. We started out on the red brick road, but detoured onto a "nature trail" (look for signs) that is pretty much deserted, but is just beautiful - there's a swinging bench with a great vantage point, and you can wander up and down the slopes and get great views of the ship through the trees. I would highly recommend this route over the red brick main path or the people mover, though it might not be worth the trouble if you have a large party/small kids in tow, but for just two people it was perfect.

 

The people mover:

 

When you reach the beach entrance, there is a guard that checks your sign & sail card (don't think he checks ID) and waves you in. The beach was moderately-heavily crowded, but beautiful.

 

Even if I couldn't swim in it, I had to get my feet wet!

 

Wandered back off the beach and back to the ship. I insisted on getting a big ol' boots pic (husband thought I was nuts):

 

Again, we were probably back on the ship around 11 or 12. Had the whole ship to ourselves once more, which I really dig. Plus when I see everyone walking around sunburned as heck, I don't feel so bad. Left Mahogany Bay early, around 3-4pm.

DAY 3: BELIZE CITY, BELIZE

 

Awoke to passing islands, a tiny one which can be seen in the picture below. I tried a zoom in, but it looked horrible, so you'll have to be okay with sunrises as well:

 

We booked a shore excursion for Belize City, the "Belize City/Altun Ha Mayan Ruins tour. There's two different Altun Ha tours, but the other one is longer and travels by boat to the site. I heard it was great, but more sun than I wanted to deal with, plus ours was a bus tour with air conditioning. No contest!!

 

 

We gathered in the Follies Lounge with a bunch of other excursions, and were given a colored numbered sticker. This is how they organize the many many excursions, which is smart, because I could barely remember my own name by this point in the cruise, let alone my excursion name.

 

We took a tender out to Belize City, where we tried to find our excursion. My god, they don't make it easy. There were limited signs that just led you to the duty-free/gift shop area, where you walk through a maze of stores, and end up in what looks like a bus station. At this point, NO ONE knew what was happening. Approximately forty people just standing there, looking confused - no signs, no direction, nothing. We walked out to where the buses were and I gave my tickets, hoping it was the right person and that I was getting on the right bus. Thankfully we did, but MAN there has got to be better signage and communication regarding this!

 

The bus ride was about an hour and a half - it started with a tour of Belize City by Maria (with 17 Rs, as she says), where she explained the buildings and neighborhoods of the city in depth. A great look at the city, and Maria was funny and fantastic.

 

One of the many wall murals:

 

After a bumpy ride, we arrived at Altun Ha. I'm not going to lie, the ride from just outside the city to Altun Ha is a sad, depressing sight, with lots of shacks and tire yards, and emaciated animals walking around. The tour guides do a good job of distracting you enough with facts and trivia, but it's still very apparent.

 

The bus parks right outside the main gate and the guides take you on a winding walk through the site. They bring you into a center lawn area and explain the history of the ruins, before bringing you (if you are physically capable) on the long, leg-burning climb up the ruins. Don't worry, there's a rail and steps built/carved into it, so you're not rappelling up the south face of Mayan Mountain, but it's still a workout. Once you reach the top, the guide continues with the history of the site. At one point he brought up the possibility of aliens, which is where I kind of stopped listening, but the views are INCREDIBLE.

 

Ground level:

 

Post-leg-burning climb:

 

The only disappointment is that you only stay at the site for about 20-30 minutes following this. I would have LOVED more time, but I know they have an itinerary to follow. After this you can go shopping at the little vendors on the periphery (by the entrance) for trinkets or snacks. We piled back on the bus and fell asleep on the ride home - it's a long ride after exerting yourself climbing up the side of the ruin.

 

Got back to the tender and were back on the ship around 4pm. Left Belize City around 5pm. The sunset was blissful, and a nice mellow close to a wonderful day.

 

 

DAY 2: DAY AT SEA

 

So after a restful night, we woke up around 6am and explored the ship a bit more. It's so nice to just walk around the ship before everyone is awake, and the majority of people were fast asleep, after having gone crazy (and gotten sunburned) the day before.

 

What we noticed about the ship (that a lot of others say) is that even though there's so many people, it's never really crowded. Sure, some places are jam packed, but it never feels overbearing (and I hate crowds).

 

Did sea day brunch and were delightfully surprised by the variety the menu afforded. I got the eggs benedict, husband got the hey porkchop, which he enjoyed. I wasn't crazy about my dish - I've found the eggs benedict ship-wide to be sort of lacking. It always has this brown crust on the top, probably from being pre-cooked and heated under lamps. It made me really sad because if there's one thing I enjoy, it's eggs benedict.

 

The dress code in the MDR this evening was Cruise Elegant, and my husband and I breathed a thankful sigh of relief that we were not the fanciest people there. There were plenty of ladies in sparkly gowns with coiffed hair, and men in full suits, but also people tastefully and respectfully dressed. We spotted a few people in trashy tshirts and flip flops. I'm still not sure why the dress code isn't enforced. I'm no elitist, but save the tweety bird shirt and ripped jean shorts for another venue.

 

Dinner was great and service was stellar (just as it was every night following). We didn't get a chance to see the shows, and fell asleep around 10pm again. I see a theme emerging...

 

 

DAY 3: COZUMEL, MEXICO

We docked in Cozumel around 9am (foggy on this detail), opposite the Carnival Dream. She is a big lady, for sure - our lido deck was level with their mid-level balconies, and their main deck towered over us.

 

 

We disembarked and walked through Ship Canyon (always a favorite of mine):

 

We dodged all the picture takers/pirates/men on stilts and went to go explore (we didn't have a shore excursion). Walked around the main shopping area, and out into "the real Cozumel" which was both frightening and entertaining. Lots of people yelling at you on the street, trying to get you to buy scooter and jeep rentals, etc. Once you leave the cloistered, polished interior of the main shopping center attached to the port, it's a crazy world of old cars honking, people hawking wares/tours, and traffic. Lots and lots of traffic. At one point, a car came to a screeching halt at an intersection and about 200 people stopped what they were doing and proceeded to scream with abandon and clap their hands.

 

After we had enough of that, we headed back to the ship and purchased some rum at a great deal in the main duty free shop (the big long one you walk through) before boarding the ship again. Left our liquor with the attendant at the entrance inside the ship, where we got a receipt stating our cabin#, what we had, and when we would get it back (the last night aboard the ship). When we got back to our cabin, showered (again, hot & humid - hello Mexico!), and regrouped, we realized it was barely noon. We still had another 5 hours until the ship left!

 

We took the time to get lunch and walk around the ship, and made a beautiful discovery: Pretty much EVERYONE leaves the ship when it docks at a port. I haven't been on a ship in so long (and I was a kid at the time so didn't notice), that I didn't even know this was a thing. It felt like a zombie apocalypse. Everything was dead. The Red Frog Pub was open, but with no lights. The casino was deserted. The Lido dining area had about 4 people. There was NO ONE at the pool.

 

This is where the husband and I started to appreciate everything a bit more. We like to keep to ourselves (on a ship of 3,000 people, I know, SHUT UP) and this realization made us feel very relaxed. We could go into port, look around, get some pictures, then head back to the ship and (essentially) have it to ourselves for hours. Wonderful.

 

So after lunch, we wandered around taking in the view from the deck. My poor English husband was stunned by the beauty of the water. He's from Liverpool, and is used to dirty, rocky coasts, so Cozumel was a shock, even for the both of us.

 

The stunning turquoise water:

 

After awhile, the Dream took off, and left us eating her dust (waves? whichever)

 

Eventually people started trickling back on to the ship. We found a spot perfect for watching pier runners (a new delight I learned about). And there were at least 7 or 8 from what we saw. Didn't look like anyone missed the boat, but darned if it wasn't close.

 

At 5:30pm, we set sail from Cozumel. It was supposed to be 5pm, but again, pier runners *harumph*

 

Did the MDR again for dinner - again the food was wonderful. We did Anytime Dining, and had a different server each night, but it in no way impacted the service we received. Every one was so nice, funny, and kind, I could never go back to having dinner in the Lido!

 

We were hanging around on deck waiting for when we passed under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Well, I did some research and figured it wouldn't be for a few more HOURS, so we explored the ship a bit more.

 

Let me just say this - there are A LOT of decorative urns on this ship. Urns everywhere you turn. Urns for your urns, so you can urn while you urn. Is this ship gaudy? Yeah. Is it greek-inspired? Oh you betcha. But in a way, I kind of WANT that on a ship. If I'm going to be on a cruise, I want a little glitz, even if I have to wade through a sea of urns to get it. My husband is a clean lines and crisp colors kind of guy, and I thought he'd curl up in a ball and cry when he saw the decor, but he was surprisingly good about it - I told him about it ahead of time and gave him due warning of "typical ship decor" and I think he came armed and ready, which helps.

 

Not my picture, but I have to convey the urn overload on this ship (courtesy of cruisemates.com):

 

When we were about to go under the bridge, we headed back up to the uppermost deck (where the miniature golf circuit is) and staked out a spot. People, it is CLOSE. Like 20 feet close. Like you could jump off the bridge onto the ship and come away with maybe a few broken bones close. Well, maybe more, but I'd be aiming for the pool anyhow.

 

 

Au revoir, Florida! See ya in a week!

 

We made reservations at the Golden Fleece Steakhouse for 7:30pm, because you get a complimentary bottle of wine if you book the first night. This was totally fine by us - it wasn't our anniversary quite yet, but we didn't mind. The dress code for the steakhouse appears to be Cruise Elegant all the time (regardless of MDR dress code), so we agonized over that a bit before getting just a bit dressed up for the occasion. Hubby wore a dress shirt, khakis and hiking boots (don't ask) and I wore a simple black shirt dress with gold flats. I'm not explaining this because I'm vain as hell, it's just that I freaked out a bit when it came to dress codes and wasn't sure what to bring.

 

Let's just say that when we got there, we were overdressed like woah. There were about 4-5 other tables, and every guy there was wearing a polo shirt with jeans or khakis. The guy at the table next to us had a polo shirt EMBLAZONED with an american flag print (it was Memorial Day weekend, after all!). Women were wearing dress shirts and slacks, or sundresses for the most part. We felt a bit overdressed, but shrugged it off.

 

We received our complimentary bottle of wine and it was quite good! I was expecting Carlo Rossi-level malarky, but it was a serviceable white. They also give the option of 50% off a standard bottle of wine, in case the complimentary bottle isn't up to snuff. We aren't picky, so the wine on offer was perfect by us. Wine starts out at $26/bottle on the ship, so I think we did fairly well in this regard.

 

On to food: We had the caesar salad (warning: this comes as a HUGE unbroken leaf, with the dressing and croutons. Great presentation but a pain to break apart and eat!). My memory is foggy, but I believe I got the crab cake and my husband got the onion soup - both were very good. I believe I had the NY Strip steak and husband had the cowboy steak (??). Again, both were quite good. Had my steak with the creamed spinach, which was delicious. For dessert I had the chocolate sampler and husband had ice cream.

 

Overall takeaway from this? It was good, but not $35 per person good. A lot of reviews I've seen make the argument that one would pay over $100 a head for a meal of this caliber in a restaurant, and I understand the sentiment, since the food is of a great quality, but my husband and I are not the type to spend $100 each on food in ANY restaurant, so this is perhaps a moot point. That being said, I am glad we tried it, and if you are on the fence about it and want to celebrate a special occasion, I'd say go for it. I'm glad we tried it, and would have felt sad if we'd missed the opportunity. Plus, free wine, am I right?

 

The sunset, pre-dinner:

 

It seems that we may have started on the wine at Golden Fleece a bit early and waited awhile for our food, because we were good and hammered by the time we were done with dinner. And we didn't even FINISH the bottle. We stumbled back to our room after we were done (dinner takes about 2 hours) and promptly fell asleep at 10pm, because we're reckless like that.

 

 

Stay tuned for Day 2!

Our cruise was almost two months ago, so apologies in advance if I cannot recall all the bits and bobs of our journey - this is going to be more of an overall review, and VERY PICTURE HEAVY. Come on, don't deny it - you love a good set of pics.

 

A preamble, if you will (feel free to skip down to the actual review):

 

My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary on this cruise - it was his very first cruise, and probably my seventh or eighth cruise (I've cruised since I was a kid, mostly on NCL). Fun fact: I used to be a check-in agent for NCL in New York, so I got to wax poetic for days and days to my husband about cruising and pier operations, which he was *just thrilled* about /sarcasm. However, it was my first time on a Carnival cruise, so I couldn't rest too easy! I scoured Cruise Critic and picked apart everything with a fine tooth comb (a frequent statement from my husband was, "Are you reading reviews AGAIN!!?" when he'd catch me online at 2am, unable to sleep. Oops...).

 

My husband and I are in our late 20s, and NOT the partying type, so I was a little worried because I've heard about Carnival being a "party ship" and all sorts of other things. However, the price was right, and we booked ourselves a balcony room exactly one week before we set sail. Talk about procrastination, eh?

 

DAY 1: Embarkation

 

We live in Orlando, so we had a pretty easy time getting to the pier in Tampa - just a quick jaunt down I-4, which took us just over an hour. We left the house around 9:30am and were in Tampa well before 11am. We had pre-reserved parking at a place called 241 Parking Services. I think they have two locations by the pier, one is across the street and charges (as of April 2014) $8.99/day, the other is 1/2 a mile away and charges $7.99/day, but they have a free shuttle to bring you to the pier. We opted for the latter option, and figured we could always drag our stuff if something went awry and there was no shuttle (always prepare for the worst so you'll be pleasantly surprised when all goes well!) - that being said, it was so SUNNY, HOT, and HUMID that the walk would've been torture (oh, blame our New Yorker mentalities of "we can walk anywhere for miles!").

 

Well, praises be, the shuttle came, and dropped us at the terminal around 11:30am. It was just us and one other couple who told us (whispered to us, rather - SPEAK UP! The van is noisy!) that they had just driven down from Maryland. It made my husband and I appreciate out one hour drive all the more.

 

We only had a backpack apiece plus a carry-on size rolling suitcase, so we handled all our bags ourselves. We also brought a 12-pack of soda and a bottle of wine each, which made for an awkward entry, but we got her did. Security checked our sodas (poked holes in the box perforations and checked around, I guess to make sure we weren't hiding cans of beer?), but didn't check our wine, and we were quickly on our way.

 

The check-in went very smoothly, we were done inside of 5 minutes. We only needed a birth certificate/license for me, and a green card for my husband (he's a UK resident). They weren't interested in his passport, surprisingly enough, but whatevs. I found all of the staff to be courteous, but not over the top saccharine sweet, thank god. We got a number (12 or 14, I believe) and waited in the main area. They started calling Platinum/FTTF first (about 5 minutes after we sat down), then number 1 and upward. I thought we'd be waiting for ages, but within 30 minutes, they'd reached our number and we went aboard. It was a bit of a clustercoitus at that point, seeing as everyone was swarming and staff were trying to collect numbers. Strange bit: You need to have your sign & sail card checked THREE to FOUR times between the pier and reaching the ship. Seems a bit odd - there's no secret hallways and trap doors that people can enter through, so we didn't really understand the need to have our cards swiped at the beginning of the line, at the next bend, about 100 feet later, and then once more before actually setting foot on the ship. Seems a bit unnecessary.

 

With all of that behind us, we decided to head up to our room for shiggles and see if it was ready - I wasn't in the mood to drag all our luggage/soda to the Lido and try and get a meal. Thankfully it was (yay!) and we got to meet our cabin steward, Ferry, who was amazing and wonderful the entire week.

 

The view from our balcony, looking west:

Also from the balcony, looking east:

 

 

 

 

After we unloaded all our stuff, we decided to explore the ship. It was SLAMMED, as I figured, but we decided to close our eyes, think of England, and head on down to Lido for a bite to eat. I don't recall what we got, but it was decent. I will make a note here: I am diabetic, so my diet is pretty restricted. As a result, I couldn't go hogwild at a bunch of places, including the chocolate buffet, sandwich bar, dessert station, breads, etc. It was tough, and you need to question everything that's out (sauces often have tons of sugar, AND EVERYTHING IS COVERED IN SAICE). However! It is doable, you just need to be incredibly diligent (and really work them legs while out and about).

 

Afterward, we went back to the cabin to enjoy our balcony a bit more. As we sailed out of the bay, we could see TONS of people lining the edge of the water at the park that runs along the shore, waving and having fun. I'm a jaded New Yorker, but I just had to wave back!

 

Passing by a tiny airport on the peninsula:

 

After awhile, we decided not to be hermits and walked around the upper decks. We didn't join the sail-away party (lets not get too reckless now) but we did enjoy the festive atmosphere.

 

 

(continued in the next post, I've hit the image max in this one!)

Thank you!!

Tried to find answers myself, but can't seem to (and I've been reading the CC forums nonstop for the past 2 days now!):

 

1. I know that each adult over 21 is allowed to bring a bottle of wine (750ml max) and a 12-pack of soda with them as a carry-on. Now: Does the soda *technically* need to be IN a bag? Seems like it will be easier to just carry the box of sodas instead of trying to offload them into a bag where they jumble around. As an aside, my husband and I are planning on ONLY doing carry-on backpacks if we can help it (we pack light), so if we can limit it to a backpack and a 12-pack box of soda each, that would be a big help. If it helps, our embark/debark port is Tampa.

 

2. My passport is recently expired, so I will be using my original (stamped) birth certificate and valid photo ID. I believe this is enough for embark (it certainly was when I used to be a check-in agent for another cruise line many moons ago :rolleyes:), but I have read in places that it needs to be stamped AND signed? Mine is 30 years old, so the stamp isn't super crisp, but it is most certainly stamped, but not signed by a notary or anything. Also, and I assume the answer to this is yes, will I be allowed off the ship in Belize and Honduras with just a BC as my proof of citizenship? I know the caribbean and mexico is fine, but I've never gone to a port in central america.

 

3. My husband is a UK citizen with a green card. I indicated that he was a non-resident, and got an email saying he needs to have a printout of his ESTA information since the UK is a visa waiver country. However, like I said, he has a green card and technically doesn't use the visa waiver program anymore due to this, so I'm assuming this doesn't apply. Is he ok with just bringing his green card, passport, and driver's license?

 

 

 

Thank you all in advance, and sorry if there's an obvious answer that I've missed - I've cruised many times before, but it was when I was a child/teen (last time was 9 years ago), and I've never cruised Carnival before. Excited!!! :D:D