mamiamjo

Overall Impressions: First of all let me say that we really enjoyed our cruise and the ship overall. The following are just some of my observations (both "good" and "could've been better"). Embarkation: When we arrived Embarkation seemed very disorganized without much clear direction given. It took us about 53 minutes from arrival to boarding (I know I said 44 minutes previously, but I just double checked the time stamps on my photos and I obviously made a math error before) 😔 While 53 minutes doesn't sound too bad if it also included a wait in the lounge to have your boarding group called, but we did not have to wait, they were already boarding Platinum when we arrived. The check in and security portion only took about 15 minutes which means that it took 38 minutes to get from security to actually boarding the ship. Part of this was undoubtedly timing but it seemed that there was a lack of direction given and people were lining up in the wrong place and others that were waiting for their group to be called blocking the line etc. Embarkation Grade- Could of Been Better.

I hope you guys had a great cruise as well 😎

Saw this on a plane. Signs saying that the water isn’t potable and do not drink, but then in the upper right of the picture you clearly see a cup dispenser 🤔😳

We had a great time! My wife is feeling a bit better, thanks for asking and following along! We really enjoyed most aspects of this cruise and are looking forward to Jubilee! I’ve thinking about how to get another cruise in before then but we still have 3 land vacations already scheduled so not sure if we can get to another cruise or not (maybe a 4 day cruise😉)

I love it when a plan comes together 🙂

How is the 11th floor hallway and your cabin AC holding up? We just got off Sunday as you were getting ready to board. We were on 17 in a Forward Spa Balcony and noticed the hall and elevator lobby was so hot that condensation was building up and dripping off the ceiling. It was like that on several of the decks in the front but we didn’t use the mid ship elevators much so didn’t see if there were any similar conditions there. Our cabin AC worked for the most part but at night I had to sleep with just the sheet as I like to sleep in a cooler room that what the cabin ever got down to. I'm not sure if this is always like that on the Excel ships in the front or if there is a maintenance issue? We have a cruise on Jubilee coming up next year and I'm rethinking our cabin location.

Someone needed to wash the blood and fingerprints off it?😁

We had them on Celebration too!

Based on our play, I'd say that yes the machines are a bit tighter than what we normally see on other Carnival ships

Debarkation was very smooth and surprisingly quick! We were supposed to report to the theater on deck 6 by 8:00 to wait for disembarkation. We left the cabin at 7:49 and were surprised to get an elevator that was only half full. 😎 Our timing was perfect, as when we got down to deck 6 they were already letting guests disembark from the theater. They had two lines going out and told the people getting off the elevators to merge with the second line which we did. The line moved pretty quickly and we were on the gangway by 8:04. We proceeded to get our luggage. I checked for signs of leaking liquor bottles, but was relieved to see that both bags were still dry 🙂 We got in the immigration line for those traveling with a passport, no issue or need to show our passports since our faces matched our profile and we were outside the terminal at 8:17 am!

When I got up, I noticed that my Carnival App had sent a notification that the Casino is Now Open! At first I figured this was sent last night some time, but looking closer I see that they sent it at 5:28 am. Don't they have enough of my money🤣

Disembarkation and Travel- As all good things come to an end, it was time to go home 😢 For the first day in over a week I was awoken by my alarm at about 6am. Looking out the window, I saw that we were already docked in Miami. (This picture was taken slightly later once the sun came up) Well, I wasn't standing on my head, but I can't seem to get this photo right side up (sorry) 😉

We usually do self disembark but DW tweaked her back while on Bonaire so we decided it was best not to risk having to carry the suitcases down 10 flights of stairs in the morning (if the elevators were full), and changed our plan to let Carnival take our luggage which means we had to pack our bags while leaving out what we needed for the morning. I always fear I'll forget to leave out something that I'll regret the next day.😬 It also included trying to pack our alcohol bottles in our checked luggage in way so they wouldn't break in the luggage getting off the ship nor on the airplane. For that purpose, I had brought a couple of double layered bubble wrap travel bottle bags from Amazon. The Grey Goose bottle fit in the bag just fine (although with it's long neck, it was a bit tight), but due to the shape of the Tequila bottle the bag wouldn't work. I was kind of afraid of that so I had also brought some separate bubble wrap with me just in case I needed it! In addition to protecting the bottles from breaking, we had to make sure our bags were still under the 50lb limit which took a little bit of shuffling items from one bag to another and also carrying some shoes and such in our carryon bags. While a little nerve racking, everything worked out just fine. We each had everything we needed in the morning, both bottles made it home in one piece and both our bags were kept under 50lbs, so no extra fees! 😀

For dinner that evening we had a reservation at Rudi's Sea Grill at 7:30. This turned out to be a great time as it gave us the chance to watch the sunset while having dinner.

Day 8- For our last cruise day we decided to spend some time on deck. We played miniature golf (spoiler alert, I lost 🥲 ). I wanted to ride Bolt but when I checked there wasn't anything available until around 5:00 so I didn't ride (Maybe next year on Jubilee). I will say however that if anyone is interested in riding they should check the app a few times as later that same day ride times became available, but unfortunately we were doing other things at the time.

Sorry the last day and today weren’t live, but we did get home a few hours ago and I plan to update the last cruise day, debarkation experience and maybe a few overall thoughts over the next couple of days. Thanks for your patience 😎

After lunch this morning came back to the cabin to find also received a carnival picture frame

Going to bed a little early (relatively) at 12:30, stopped at 10 drinks. Last day tomorrow 🥲 so don’t want to sleep in all morning. But I tell you I’ve slept the latest I have in years on this cruise! Very relaxing 😊

Watched Evolution in Center Stage for a while

Another Vodka/Starry Zero from Kadek

Casino hosts working to make it fun😎

Back to the standard Vodka/Starry Zero from casino bar

Also received an invitation to the Diamond/Platinum Gathering

I’ve eaten about 7 cookies so far. I’m glad they cut back the number though. 🤪 I’m definitely going on a diet next week 😉

Got back to the cabin to find a delivery of…. more cookies 😂