PMLW918

Hello! I am in the middle of research trying to find a catamaran charter for about 13 people. Hopefully big enough for us to spread out but I don't want it to cost $2000 either. Any suggestions?

If you plan on drinking quite a bit I suggest buying a bottle of malibu from the fun shops online before you sail. It gets delivered to your room and you can add as much as you want to your Yeti. It is $85, so it is worth it if you will drink it all or multiple people will drink it. Just a thought! Hope this helps.

Hi everyone! I am going to be doing my first review about my first cruise on Carnival Cruise Line. I want to say that I had an amazing time and would go on it again in a heart beat. I ended up getting all the fun times and a TON of spa papers, I will upload all of those at the end. Thank you all so much for reading!

Day 1- Embarkation

April 18th Houston was having record floods, my husband and I live about 30 minutes from Galveston and actually had to take a different highway just to get into Galveston. We normally take highway 6 and had to back track and take I-45 was not flooded, we got into Galveston just fine. All was well and we were pleasantly surprised until we got off the highway and took the road that runs by the port. So much high water, EVERYWHERE. Several times we had to drive in the middle turning lane just so we could get by, and we were in a jeep. The small cars had to turn around. Our check-in time was 11:00- 11:30 and it took us over an hour to get from the main highway entering the island all the way to port.

We had prepaid and were parking at Galveston Park and Cruise which was right across the street from the Port. We pulled in and again had to go through about 1.5 feet of water through the alley, but we parked no problem. (We paid for indoor parking and we were glad today. The outdoor parking had quite a bit of standing water.) We had to walk back down the alley with our bags and wade through that same 1.5 feet of water. Where of course my bag handle broke. I told my husband "If i wasn't going on a cruise, it would be a bad day". But thankfully we were getting on a cruise, so I still had a huge smile on my face.

When we finally got to the port we dropped our bags off with the porters and waled down to the check in area. There were hundreds of people waiting underneath the awning so we were worried the line would be super long, but thankfully we just walked right in. I think that those people were the ones who showed up to early for their check-in time. They were super strict about it.

Once we got into the terminal everything went pretty smoothly, we went through security with probably 5 minutes of waiting and then on to check-in. (Make sure you have your health questionnaire filled out already.) We waited about 15 minutes in line and got group number 8. We were lucky because as soon as we set down in the waiting area they called our group and we walked right in. We were lucky and we were on the ship by 12:15.

As soon as we were on and got our bottomless bubbles sticker we went up to the lido deck and got a burrito from the blue iguana. It was delicious and the rain had finally started to lighten up. It was finally starting to feel like vacation!

After lunch, we went and took the spa tour. Hardly anyone was in there and it was a very personal experience. The spa was very nice and the staff was super nice. I ended up booking a hot stone massage for 4:30 and my husband got the shave and haircut. They were both on the Embarkation deals, and we think that we got a good deal.

We then went to explore the ship, we found the "secret deck" and went to the aft pool, and the promenade. It was pretty easy for us to get our bearing and find our way in the ship.

The other two couples we were meeting were still waiting outside in the rain, as they had the 2:00 boarding time. We definitely felt lucky to already be on the ship.

Our room was ready right at 1:30 and we were glad to relax for a while. We were in room 9261, which was a balcony on the lido deck. We thought the room was very nice and had quite a bit of storage, but it might have been cramped for more than 2 people.

At 4 o'clock the muster drill took place, we made our way down to the deck and we were put into lines and stood there for about 35 minutes. Nothing out of the ordinary.

After the muster drill we rushed up to the Spa thinking we were late for our 4:30 appointment, but of course they understood and were taking to the salon area to fill out a quick questionnaire where they ask what problems you face, your stress level... Things like that. I was then called back and taken back to the room, she sat there and asked about my questionnaire thing. One of the spaces was for do you have excess weight, as a larger woman of course I put yes. Not really thinking much of that. She was super nice but she was from another country and I couldn't quite understand every single thing she said. She kept asking about my excess weight and I kind of just went along with it. Well I guess i signed myself up for something called a BAC. Which basically tests for body fat and water retention, more on that later. Anyway, the massage was awesome. I got 75 minutes for the price of 50. She was great and I felt amazing. She ended up selling me some muscle relaxing bubble bath. When we were done I guess we were doing the BAC right that second. So she took me back to the gym where I was placed in a chair and hooked up with some wires and told how fat I was and what i needed to do to lose the weight, which of course included paying $1000+ for some algae detox. I did not do that. I kind of just avoided her and paid and left. Safe to say it was not a great end to the Spa experience. I absolutely had an amazing massage, just wish I wasn't so pressured into paying outrageous prices for more things.

By the time I left the spa, we had set sail and were on our way to Progresso!

We had late dining at 8:15 and went there about 8. Bad idea, just wait until 8:15. you don't gain anything from being there early. We were sat at a 10 top with two other couples. They did not sit us with our friends. It was the most awkward situation I have ever been put in. We ended up leaving before even putting our order in. And never went back.... I will explain more in Day 2 review. We ended up eating Pizza by the aft pool for dinner and had a great time spending some quality vacation time together.

After dinner we went to the comedy club at 11:30. His name was Chaz, apparently he has a HBO special. I had never heard of him. He was okay, made fun of people, racist jokes, sex jokes. The usual 18+ comedy bit. It was a great day and a great start to our vacation!

Day 2 coming up soon!

Thanks so much for the review! We are going on this cruise next week and I can't wait to see your fun times and the rest of your review!

Please oh please take pictures of the menus and post when you return! :-)

 

TIA,

Ashley

Will do! anything else in particular you would like pictures of?

Yes! That is the one! Super exciting!

I will be on it in about 9 days and will post a review as soon as I get back! Ill keep you posted!

Great review so far! My Husband and I are taking our first cruise together on the liberty in 20 days!:) I can't wait to read the rest of your review!

1 month from today!!

Hi all! April 18th will be my first time on a carnival cruise! :) We are getting excited and have just read about the dine-in movies. My question is what time do they normally start? We have chosen the late dining time and we are worried we will miss them! Also, I know that the movie titles haven't been released, but are they ever a few of the same from the prior month? Thanks so much in advance! :)