Spaniel Lover

One thing hasn't changed from the very first Carnival cruise we took back in 1996: towel animals!

Here's one of our favorites from this cruise:

 



Note the mints on top!

One thing that's way better now than when we first started cruising is the emphasis on comedy. We love the fact that during a 7-day Carnival cruise, we're entertained by FOUR different comedians in the Punchliner Comedy Club.

Comedian CeeJay Jones performing on the Carnival Conquest

Carnival is great about providing a wide variety of comedy onboard. I love that the four different comedians will each do a family-friendly show in the early evening, and then an anything-goes adults-only show later at night. I like to laugh, and that's one of the many reasons that I enjoy cruising with Carnival.

Speaking of entertainment...

Carnival has done something really interesting with the shows in the main theatre. They've gotten away from using physical sets and human extras... they now have a very expensive set of video screens as a backdrop, and sets are now simply videos displayed on the screen. Also, human extras (for example, extra dancers in a big production number) are gone... and have been replaced by extras on the video screen. Sometimes it's hard to tell what's real on the stage and what's just a video! I know that sounds like a bit of a cheat... and I'm sure the main motivation was to eliminate labor costs... but it's actually pretty cool the way it ends up enhancing the action on stage. Imagine things in the background that can bounce up and down with the music! Or a big dance production number featuring 60 dancers... but only the six in front are real! It's interesting to see how tightly integrated all the electronic backgrounds are with the musical numbers on stage. Take a look at

Now, we get in to some "food porn"! We actually elected to make this a totally casual cruise and never set foot in the main dining room or the steakhouse during the entire week. We ate every meal buffet-style, on Lido deck. So, instead of regular food porn, this will be "casual food porn".

Earlier this year, we cruised on the Carnival Breeze... and it was our first experience with what are known as Carnival's "Funship 2.0" enhancements. During our cruise on the Carnival Breeze, I liked the Funship 2.0 improvements so much that I pretty much decided that any future Carnival cruises were going to have to be on ships that had the enhancements. And that's one of the main things that led us to the Carnival Conquest.

My absolute favorite of all the Funship 2.0 enhancements is "Guy's Burger Joint"... I think it's a fantastic improvement over the regular hamburgers they serve at lunch time on the older ships. As soon as we boarded the Conquest in New Orleans, I couldn't wait to have one again. It had been way too long since I had one on the Carnival Breeze. (OK, in reality, I'm quite spoiled... it had only been about five months. But in those five months, I must have craved a Guy burger a thousand times!)

In the foreground, you can see my lunch choice:

"The Ringer" from Guy's Burger Joint... plus the "D.O.D."... drink of the day.

The Ringer is a cheeseburger topped with an onion ring and a special sauce. It's absolutely delicious!

 

Notice that Kellyn has ordered a much healthier meal.

This explains a lot about why I weigh in about 100 pounds heavier than her!

 

 

The burgers at Guy's Burger Joint are available in several varieties...

 



SMC = Super Melty Cheese LTOP = Lettuce Tomato Onion Pickle

During our cruise five months earlier on the Carnival Breeze, I noticed that they were really stingy with the fries at Guy's Burger Joint... sometimes literally only putting 6 or 7 on your plate. I quickly learned on the Breeze to ask for extra fries. However, Carnival must have gotten some feedback on this... as it was not the situation five months later on the Conquest. They were a lot more generous with the fries. One other note about the fries... feel free to ask for just fries (no burger) if you get a craving at some point during the day.

Another one of the food enhancements in the Funship 2.0 initiative was an improvement to the pizza. They've gone to a true Italian style of pizza (as opposed to an American style) and I really like it a lot. I've actually never had pizza like this before... it's got an extremely thin crust. With a super-thin crust like that, you have to also keep the amounts of sauce, cheese, and toppings very low in order to keep it all in proportion. Therefore, it's like "pizza lite"... there's almost nothing there! It's really kind of cool... because you can have a slice or two and not worry that you've just had a million calories. It really is pizza lite.

Which brings me to another observation of something I noticed was different on the Conquest from my cruise five months earlier on the Carnival Breeze. On the Breeze, if you asked for pizza... they would give you one slice, unless you specifically asked for more. On the Conquest, if you asked for pizza they generally defaulted to offering you two slices... unless you specifically asked for less. I think they must have gotten some feedback about the pizza being so "lite" that you really needed two pieces to equal one American slice. Anyway, I'm a fan... I think the new Carnival pizza is quite good! My one suggestion to Carnival cruisers is to be sure to sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on it, like this...

Sprinkling some Parmesan cheese on to Carnival pizza makes it even better!

While we're on the subject of food and drink... I have to tell you about another one of my favorite Funship 2.0 features. On ships that have a Blue Iguana Tequila bar up on Lido deck (for example, the Carnival Conquest) you can order a pitcher of margaritas. I'm pretty sure that this is not something offered on Carnival's other ships that don't yet have the Blue Iguana Tequila bar. It's a lot cheaper (and a lot more convenient) to buy a pitcher of margaritas than it is to buy them by the glass. Two people out on a big balcony with a pitcher of margaritas... it's a recipe for a fun afternoon, that's for sure! Including the tip, a pitcher of margaritas will set you back a little less than $30.

Speaking of drinking margaritas...

We also discovered something fun that we hadn't seen on Carnival ships before. It's probably available on all the ships now... I imagine it's new and we just haven't seen it before. Kellyn and I have a thing for parrots. We like them! In fact, years ago, we used to have a macaw as a pet. Anyway, as parrot lovers, imagine our delight when we saw these new souvenir glasses that Carnival is offering...

On a day when we felt like just one margarita each,

rather than splitting an entire pitcher,

we ordered our drinks in these souvenir cups!

I mentioned that they did a few things differently on this ship than I had seen on my previous Carnival cruises... like serving a lot more French fries, and serving two pieces of pizza instead of just one. There was one other interesting little thing that I noticed that was different on this cruise...

First, a little background. If you've ever been on a Carnival cruise, you've probably noticed that they make an effort to address you by your first name. I'm sure they do it to try to make you feel at home, and to feel welcome. They even ask about it in the little satisfaction surveys that they send to passengers after the cruise... several questions about whether or not the crew members addressed you by name, and even specifically which departments did or did not.

But it's always seemed awkward to me, because the foreign crew members did it wrong! My full name is James Zimmerlin... and on every cruise before this, I have been addressed by crew members as "Mr. James". I'm sure in their culture, the "mister" is a sign of respect... and that they don't recognize that even though all my documents say my name is James... it's a formal name, and in most situations it's inappropriate to call me that. No one at home calls me Mr. James... they call me Jim. But nobody ever clued the Carnival crew in on that. Until recently, I guess! For the first time in 19 cruises with Carnival, this time they called me "Jim" without me having to request it. It's a little thing, but it shows that Carnival continues to try to improve on all things big and small.

Kellyn loved to sit outside on the balcony and read books on her Kindle:

 



Notice the two big picture windows, which offer a great view from inside

 

 

 

 

In the hallway outside our cabin, you can see that next to our cabin door is another door marked "emergency exit" and "crew only":

 

I had read about this "crew only" door on Cruise Critic. Out of respect for the rules of the ship, I never opened it. But I understand that it leads to a stairway that goes all the way from the top deck down to the bottom of the ship. In an emergency, or if one were inclined to break the rules, you could simply go through this door and climb one set of stairs and be up on Lido deck by the aft pool in a matter of a few seconds.

That brings up a very minor negative thing I have to say about cabin 8455. It's one deck below Lido, and directly above the cabin is a dining area near the aft pool, that looks out the back of the ship. Because of the great view, it's popular. The problem is that people will scoot the chairs when sitting at the tables or when getting up afterwards. This chair scooting sound can be heard very clearly through the ceiling of the cabin.

The chair scooting noises really didn't turn out to be much of a problem for us. Each evening at around 8 PM, the staff would actually take those chairs away from the tables and stack them so that they couldn't be used. So, after 8 PM, when you really don't want to be listening to chair scooting noises in your cabin, it simply doesn't happen. The rest of the day, you're just not sitting in your cabin much to hear it! Out on the balcony, where we spent most of our time, we just didn't hear it.

The one other minor negative thing I'll say about cabin 8455 is that the wi-fi signal strength back there is a little weak. There was a signal, but at times it faded in and out. Out of all the Carnival cruises we've been on, that's the only time I ever noticed anything less than a full-strength wi-fi signal. I guess at the back of the boat, we were just a tiny bit too far away from wherever the wi-fi repeater was. As usual for a cruise ship, the Internet connection was poor at times... but that had nothing to do with the wi-fi signal. That's a whole different issue!

This picture may help you to visualize where our cabin and balcony was in relation to some other things on the ship. You can see that we were one deck below the aft pool and casual restaurant... as well as the 24-hour pizza place, and 24-hour ice cream and frozen yogurt dispensers! This was such a convenient location for us! It was an easy walk up one flight of stairs to get to any of those things. You could easily walk down a few flights of stairs (or take the elevator) to the comedy club. If you were inclined to eat in the formal restaurant (which we never did) that was also just a few flights of stairs directly below us.

Notice the mooring line storage area in the photo. The only reason I point that out is that I think it's interesting that this was the ignition point for several bad fires on cruise ships in recent memory. There was a fire in the mooring line area just a few months earlier on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur Of The Seas. You can read about that incident here. Also, I remember the spectacular fire broadcast on live TV in 1998 of the Carnival Ecstasy on fire just off the coast of Miami. You can read about that one here. Both of those fires started in the mooring line storage areas. There may have been other similar incidents... those just happen to be two I recall. I just found that interesting, since I was sleeping a few decks above it on Carnival Conquest!

The last thing I want to say about our first experience with an "aft wrap" balcony cabin is that I'm pretty sure that it won't be our last! My wife and I are sun people. We're from a California beach town. We enjoy life outside on the patio... in the sun. So, this type of cabin with the gigantic balcony was absolutely perfect for us. I'm sure we'll try to get a cabin like this again for future cruises. The problem is that there are so few of them, and they are so popular, that they are usually the first to book up. So, if you want one, you usually have to book it pretty far in advance.

Over the years, we have tried just about every type of cabin Carnival offers... starting with the cheapest cabin Carnival offered on our first cruise back in 1996, and working our way up to better and better cabins over the years.

For quite a while, we decided that the "sweet spot" for us (offering the best tradeoff of comfort versus price) was a standard balcony cabin. Later, we did several cruises in what Carnival calls "spa balcony cabins"... which is a balcony cabin located near the spa area, and which includes full access to all the amenities of the spa... and which also has the added benefit of being located in a no-smoking section of the ship.

This time, we decided to step it up another notch. It was our first cruise in an "aft-wrap balcony". That's a cabin at the aft (rear) of the ship, with a gigantic balcony that wraps all the way around the back corner of the ship. Let's take a look...

A portion of the balcony of cabin 8455 on the Carnival Conquest

 

Because the balcony curves around the corner of the ship, you can't get it all in to one photo.

In the next photo, you can see the rest of our balcony.

 

Notice that this section of the balcony has a big metal thing up above it. That's quite handy... as it provides shade. Sometimes the rear portion of the balcony can be so sunny as to be too warm... and in those times, it's nice to be able to just walk around the corner and sit in the shady side. There's also a little bit of a breeze over there, because that side of the ship is more exposed to the wind of the moving ship.

Photos really don't do it justice, though... because the balcony is so big and the shape so unusual that it won't fit in to one photo. The best way to really see what's so special here is to see it on video.

We both enjoyed just sitting out on the balcony and watching the wake trail behind the ship. When we booked this cabin, I worried that it might end up being noisy out here... because I noticed on previous cruises while taking walks around the aft of the ship that the sound of the propeller churning up the water can be quite loud. But it was not a problem this high up from the water, on deck eight. I realized that when I had heard those water noises before, it had been on much lower decks that were closer to the water.

I had also read some things on Cruise Critic about soot from the smokestacks occasionally drifting on to the aft balconies of Carnival ships... horror stories where someone wearing white pants would sit down on a deck chair and then discover that there was a thin layer of soot on the chair. It must have happened on some different class of Carnival ship with a different aft design. It never happened to us at all.

In the mornings, the sun feels great out here... and it's wind protected, which makes it so nice.

Later in the day, as things heat up, it's nice out here as long as you can find some shade.

 

 

 

 



Notice that the door out to the balcony can be propped open.

It's the first time I've ever found a Carnival balcony door that will remain propped open on its own.

 

It's my pleasure to share with you the story of our September 2013 cruise on the Carnival Conquest.

We've cruised with Carnival many times before... this was our 19th Carnival cruise! We also did one cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line... but that was significantly inferior to the Carnival experience... so we've always stuck with Carnival since then. That makes this our 20th cruise overall! We consider ourselves to be very lucky to be able to cruise so often... typically four weeks a year.

I'll be sharing with you a lot of pictures and videos that I took onboard the Carnival Conquest. Every picture and video you'll see here is my original creation... most of these photos were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel T5i camera... which is the latest camera in Canon's Digital Rebel series. A few were taken with a waterproof Olympus camera that I also carry along with me on vacations.

Before we get going, I think introductions are in order...

On CruiseCritic I'm "Spaniel Lover"...

but in real life I'm Jim Zimmerlin (everyone calls me Jim Zim)

and I cruise with my wife, Kellyn. (Pronunciation tip: it rhymes with Helen.)

We're from Grover Beach, California...

a little town on the California coast about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

 

 

Let's start with a few nice pictures of the ship...

 



The upper decks, including the waterslide, main pool area, and Seaside Theatre screen...

looking towards the rear of the ship

 

 

 



Looking in the other direction, towards the waterslide.

Sunrise and sunset provide the most dramatic lighting,

so a lot of my outdoor photos are taken during those times.

For me it is definitely San Juan, Puerto Rico.

On the west coast, Ensenada, Mexico.

Our final port-of-call was Aruba, where we went on a snorkeling excursion from the "Mi Dushi" sailboat. This was about a five hour excursion, stopping at three different snorkeling sites. I've done at least one snorkeling excursion on just about every one of the 18 cruises we've been on... and I saw the largest number of fish on this one than any of the others. They were mostly smaller fish, but very colorful and in very large numbers. The "Mi Dushi" (translation: "My darling", or "my dear one") isn't particularly impressive looking in the picture I snapped, but it was really fun to sail on her and especially fun to jump off the sides to go snorkeling. You could also climb down a ladder to go snorkeling, but jumping off the side is WAY more fun!

See that big net at the front of the boat? It was really fun for some of the kids to sit out on that net as the ship was sailing. One of the snorkeling sites we visited was the site of a wreck of a WWII-era German freighter. There were lots of fish here, and we also so an amazing eel that was about four feet long!

The shore excursion brochure said that there would be "an island lunch" provided onboard the ship, as well as an open soda and juice bar. It turns out that this was a case of under promising and over delivering! The island lunch turned out to be a really nice lunch of chicken, fish, rice, and fruit provided by a local catering outfit. It was surprisingly good. And the best surprise of all was that the "open soda and juice bar" turned out to be more of a real open bar... with unlimited alcoholic bevarages provided after we had finished at the last snorkel site. Once the booze started flowing, it changed the mood of the whole boat and we went from snorkeling mode to party mode. And when we got back onshore and took a short bus ride back to the Carnival Breeze... everyone was happy from the booze and it was one of the most entertaining bus rides I've ever been on! They played music that everyone knew, and provided maracas to everyone so that we could play along with the music. You probably had to be there... but just take my word for it that this was one of those fun cruise moments where a whole bunch of strangers came together to just have FUN. I'm going to remember it for a long time!

At 4 PM, it was time for the Carnival Breeze to set sail for Miami. Aruba is a LONG way from Florida... and we only had two days to sail back... so it's one of those days when passengers really need to get onboard on time, because the ship can't wait very long past the scheduled departure time. Of course, Murphy's Law applies, and this was the day that we had three passengers who were't onboard when the ship was ready to go. You could tell the Captain was really itching to set sail, because over the next 15 minutes he sounded the ship's horn about five different times... as a final warning to the tardy passengers that if they didn't get back to the ship real soon, they were going to be left behind. That horn is really loud... and can be heard throughout the town, I'm sure. That's not a sound you want to hear from halfway accross town if you're supposed to be on the ship!

Two of the three tardy passengers arrived about ten minutes past our scheduled sailing time... to a chorus of taunts from those of us on our balconies watching the scene on the pier below. The final passenger arrived 15 minutes late... and as soon as he got onboard, the gangway was pulled up and off we went. I actually managed to catch it on a time-lapse video that I shot from our balcony. If you look real carefully at the video, you'll see the pier runner come out of the parking lot 7 seconds in to the video and head to the little guard shack with the turquoise roof. From there he runs over to the right side of the big metal terminal building and at 10 seconds in to the video you can see him run out the left side of the terminal and head over to the gangway, which is out of view. The ship sets sail immediately after that.

The video is at

How is the noise level for that area of the ship? How much "rocking and rolling" have you felt being on that high of a deck?

The noise level is practically zero. It's a fantastic area of the ship for anyone who wants things to be serene. Last night they had one of the big deck parties and it was SO LOUD out at the deck party... but back at our cabin you could not hear any of it at all.

Also, the stateroom stewards storage area is down the hall by the elevators... so at this end of the hall you do not hear them doing their thing. I once had a cabin that was across the hall from the stewards storage area... and that was a very bad place to be.

Regarding rocking and rolling... nothing objectionable that I noticed.

The best part about this particular area of the ship... deck 11, forward... is that you have the nearby Cloud Nine elevator which can quickly and effortlessly get you to either the spa, the gym, or the serenity deck. That's really convenient.

So, you're actually taking video and letting the camera time lapse it? Or are they stills that you worked into video time lapse?

They were stills, one every second, using a very inexpensive intervalometer to trigger the shutter. I got it from Amazon.com, and it just plugs in to the side of the camera.

After you shoot all the stills, you just use Microsoft's free Windows Live Movie Maker software to put them together in to a video. It's fairly simple, with just a tiny learning curve the first time.

Another great day... this time on the island of Curacao. There were LOTS of surprises here... starting with the most beautiful infinity pool I've ever seen... at a hotel right next to the dock.

Also, I shot a time-lapse video of our arrival... which you can see at

There's more pictures, plus the funny story of the woman that fell asleep in the lounger next to us and who managed to wiggle enough in her sleep that one of her breasts TOTALLY fell out of her bikini top... at http://www.zimfamilycockers.com/CarnivalBreeze.html

We had a great day today in the Dominican Republic! The Bayahibe Beach Break shore excursion was EXCELLENT... which surprised me a bit, since the reviews on Carnival.com were not so good. But it was one of the finest beaches I've ever been to... plus a very nice swimming pool... and an open bar. I started drinking rum & cokes at 11 AM... but I'm sure it was 5 o'clock somewhere. :)

Take a look at a time lapse video of our departure from La Romana at

I've also just posted a video of the best entertainer I've ever seen on a Carnival cruise. Her name is Consuela Ivy...

In the video, shot at the VIFP party this afternoon, Consuela sings an outstanding version of the Whitney Houston (or Dolly Parton) song "I Will Always Love You". She totally knocked my socks off with her version, and the crowd gave her a standing ovation... although I was a little slow in turning around to capture it on camera. They had started to sit down around the time I finally turned the camera around on the audience.

Check out the video at

Please pardon a few seconds of camera shakiness at around 1:40 in to the video. I was sitting in the front row of the Ovation Theater in order to shoot the video during the VIFP party. As I was shooting, a waiter came by to offer me a free drink... and was just about to walk right in front of the camera. As I was waving him off with one hand, the other hand was a little shaky in holding the camera!

I've just posted a time-lapse video of our sailaway from Grand Turk this afternoon. It's at

Regarding the dogs...

We retired from dog breeding several years ago (after 15 years of breeding them as our hobby) because it truly was making it very difficult to get away on cruises. We're down to just one spoiled house dog now. We have a great deal with a close friend... we take care of her dog when she goes on vacation, and she takes care of ours when we go.

The cabin number is 11222. Yes, the balcony is completely covered and private.

Regarding further time-lapse videos... my plan is to try to get one from the rear of the ship at each of the ports this week.

Very nice! Love the time-lapse videos! Where were you sitting, or where was your camera sitting, to record those?

The camera was on a tripod on deck 11, one deck above the aft pool. I was sitting in a comfy chair about 20 feet away... just keeping an eye on things, and watching people's reactions as they walked behind the camera... which appeared to be unattended and which was making a loud click of the shutter at one second intervals.

I only had to yell at one idiot, a kid about 10 years old, who thought it would be funny to lean out over the railing and put his face out in front of the camera... with tongue fully extended!

I have a lot of other videos to share... but there's some editing to do... and that will have to wait until I get back home.

Today we are in Grand Turk... and I am writing to you from poolside at Margaritaville. Life is good!

I was delighted to discover that there's free Wi-Fi here at Margaritaville. What a wonderful world!

The review, which includes LOTS more photos, is at http://www.zimfamilycockers.com/CarnivalBreeze.html

And be aware that we are only halfway through our back-to-back cruises... so there WILL be updates to the web page in the coming days. Check it again from time to time for more photos and stories from the ship. We have four very interesting ports coming up this week... so there should be a lot more to add to the web page.

I'm on the Carnival Breeze... on week two of back-to-back cruises. Just before embarking on this vacation, I was fortunate enough to purchase the brand new Canon Digital Rebel T5i... which is the latest, greatest Canon DSLR to hit the market. I've been putting it to the test, and have come up with some pretty good photos. The most interesting thing to come from the camera, though, has been some time lapse videos of our departures from Nassau and and the port of Miami.

Take a look at the video of the departure from Nassau at

You can see both the Disney Dream and the Carnival Sensation as we head out to sea.

The Miami video is at

Carnival Liberty is visible at :11 and :22

Disney Wonder is visible at :23

Check out all the small boat traffic at :51 and 1:28

Beautiful South Beach at 1:36

Of course, I also took a lot of still photos. Here are a few of my favorites:

Carnival Breeze docked in Grand Turk

 

 



Our spa balcony cabin

 

 

The beautiful decor of the ship

 

 



The new pizza... which is hugely better than the old pizza.

Take a look at LOTS more pictures at http://www.zimfamilycockers.com/CarnivalBreeze.html

Enjoy!

I was just reading the transcript of the Carnival Corporation earnings call that occurred a few days ago. Something that Howard S. Frank said jumped out at me. He's the Vice Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer of Carnival Corporation. I'm kind of surprised that no one has mentioned this yet, as his announcement sounds newsworthy to me.

My interpretation of what he said is that all ships in the entire Carnival Corporation fleet (that's all 100 ships, including all Carnival, Princess, Costa, etc.) will be getting upgraded emergency generators capable of powering the toilet systems in an emergency. This will take years to accomplish, but it will go a long way to ensuring passenger comfort in case of a total generator malfunction in the future. (For example, a Splendor/Triumph type of incident.)

Here is exactly what Mr. Frank said on this topic during the earnings call last week: (I'm adding bold text to highlight the specific part about upgrading the emergency generator capabilities.)

A few comments about the Carnival Triumph incident that I want to make. Although there are many lessons to be learned from the incident, it is important to understand that our fire suppression systems did work and our crew did a superb job. The ship systems and crew were able to quickly respond to the fire and extinguish it, so there were no injuries to either passengers or crew. Although our emergency generator power was not adequate to provide effective passenger comfort, the emergency systems we had on board are in accordance with and, in fact, go beyond the latest regulatory guidelines. But having said that, we will make the changes necessary to provide even greater redundancies to our shipboard systems and, in the event of a loss of power, to increase the emergency generator power to provide a more effective level of comfort to the passengers and crew on the ship.

 

An assessment of shipboard redundancies and emergency generator power will be carried out on a corporate-wide basis for our entire fleet. And accordingly, enhancements will be implemented on all ships in the fleet. In this regard, our Corporate Maritime Policy Department, together with the maritime executives at the brands, have already made preliminary assessments of the ships in the fleet, and plans are under way to make the appropriate modifications. This project, of course, will take some time to complete. But I want to assure you that we will address these issues as quickly as feasibly possible.

 

Having said all this, I want to emphatically state that all the ships in our fleet are safe, and the work we are planning will add further enhancements to the safety systems already in place.

 

Given all the misconceptions about the causes of the Triumph incident, let me make it perfectly clear. Our ships are built not just in compliance with regulations, whether IMO, whatever classification society, but, in many instances, go beyond regulatory requirements. Our corporate and brand management teams will continue to focus on ship safety as their first priority.

OK, he didn't specifically say toilet systems... but I'm pretty sure that when he used the word "passenger comfort" that he was really talking about the toilet system.

I hope someone that works for Cruise Critic will "reach out" to Carnival for more details of this initiative to upgrade the emergency generators on every ship in the fleet. This sounds like important news to me, which could have a huge effect in making things better for passengers during future emergencies at sea.

I have some $$ I am willing to contribute if you will go on the Breeze when she gets to S.FL later this month and do a similar review??? :D

As a matter of fact, I'll be on the Carnival Breeze this Spring for back-to-back cruises out of Miami. So, I hope to come back with some good photos and videos and I will, of course, post them to Cruise Critic and to my web site.

I'm really looking forward to Guy Burgers and breakfast burritos... which I have not yet experienced on any of my Carnival Cruises.

Other cruise-related things on my bucket list are to do an Alaska cruise (Princess, with land tours in the Princess Wilderness Lodges) in 2014, a Panama Canal cruise (someday), and a cruise with Jaime Dee as Cruise Director (someday). I'm also quite interested to see what's coming up in the next generation of Carnival ships, starting in 2016.

Can I ask - you said the music was better at the aft pool. What kind of music did they play there?

To fully get my thinking on this, you have to understand that I'm a 55-year-old white guy that couldn't give a crap about Adele, The Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Lady Gaga or just about anything else post-1985. I'm in to Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Jimmy Buffett... and I'm also totally fine with George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, etc.

The music at the main (mid-ship) pool was provided by a DJ. Every now and then he would sneak something in I would recognize, but the vast majority of stuff he was playing sounded like it would have been something a 21-year-old college kid on Spring Break would have wanted to listen to. I'm afraid I can't tell you what the music was, because it was simply unrecognizable to me. And it was too loud.

Back at the aft pool, the music comes from an automated music system that runs 24/7. A Carnival employee told me that there are actually several independent music systems running throughout the ship to provide more appropriate mixes of music to different parts of the ship. For example, in the hallways by the cabins you want a much more neutral kind of music playing than you do out by the pool.

Anyway, at the aft pool the volume of the music was just right... and the selection was better, in my opinion. There were a lot more songs that I recognized. For example, I remember sitting in the aft pool on a beautiful sea day with "Billie Jean" playing by Michael Jackson... and it just seemed to fit. I also remember hearing a few Motown songs that fit in real nice. Now I do have to say that there were still an awful lot of songs at the aft pool that I was not familiar with... as I simply have not listened to current pop music in YEARS... but the difference between the music at the aft pool that was unfamiliar to me and the music at the main pool that was unfamiliar to me was that the style and tone of the unfamiliar music at the aft pool was not obnoxious or offensive. It seemed to fit the mood. A lot of the unfamiliar stuff I heard at the main pool was urban music and not only was I not familiar with it, but I hated it. At least the unfamiliar stuff at the aft pool didn't sound horribly bad.

Personally, if I were in charge of music onboard Carnival ships, I'd be hitting the classic hits of the 70's and 80's and "Big Chill" music a lot more than they do now. Also, on a Caribbean cruise, you'd hear a lot more Jimmy Buffett, if it were up to me! And on a cruise out of Texas... there'd be some mainstream country music, for sure!

But in spite of the fact that the majority of their passengers are Americans in the 40+ age group, I suspect that their music selection is done by a European in his 20's.

I did not see much written on the food quality/selections on the MDR.

My wife and I have a very relaxed style of cruising when it's just the two of us together... we hate to get dressed up for dinner, and we hate to spend two hours on dinner. So, we eat dinner in the buffett almost every night. Out of 14 days, we only went to the MDR for dinner twice... and that was mainly because it's the only way to get warm chocolate melting cake!

We had Your Time Dining, and got to the MDR just a few minutes after it opened... in order to avoid a gigantic line. Surprisingly, dinner only took about an hour. By the time we left, the line to get in the MDR was pretty long.

The main thing we don't like about the MDR when it's just my wife and I cruising alone is that you generally get stuck seated with or very close to a bunch of total strangers. Both times we ate in the MDR we were technically at tables for two... but the nearby tables were so close (less than a foot) that it was just like eating with another couple. Small talk with strangers is just not our thing. We tried to be as friendly as we could, but it's just plain awkward. I always come off as a know-it-all ass, and my wife managed to say the wrong thing and unitentionally insult a couple that was within earshot. Not fun! We'll stick with the buffett.

The other thing I prefer about the buffett is being able to see the food before I choose it, and also being able to control the portion sizes. Just as example... mashed potatoes. The amount they serve you in the MDR is incredibly tiny. Yes, I know you can order more, but a lot of times you don't realize how small the portion sizes are going to be until it arrives... and then it's too late, unless you want to make the server go all the way back to the kitchen for more.

Speaking of the MDR...

We did also eat there one day for the Punchliner comedy brunch. That was a new concept to us, so we thought we'd check it out. Going in to it, I expected it to be kind of awkward... it seemed an odd venue for comedy... and very tricky for the comedian since the audience would be somewhat "cold" and much more interested in their food than in anything he might say.

Surprisingly, I ended up liking it more than I tought I would. The comedian did fine. The weird part was that we couldn't see him at all... he was somewhere near the center of the room and we were way on the outskirts with walls totally blocking us. Also, he only does a few minutes... and then he's gone. So, we were in there for at least 45 minutes, but only about 5 involved the comedian. The worst part was definitely the awkward chit-chat with the other people at our table.

I will say this, though: the Texas/Louisiana/Mississippi/Oklahoma people who make up the majority of the passengers on the Carnival Magic are really quite friendly. You can definitely feel the difference from a Miami or Los Angeles cruise. After a few days onboard, after meeting quite a few really friendly passengers, my wife actually said to me: "If I had grown up in Texas, I might I have learned to like people more than I do!"

Do you happen to know what time the Casino opened after leaving the port?

Sorry, I did not notice that. We don't spend any time in casinos at all.

One subject I did forget to mention in my review was our transportation between Houston and Galveston. Deciding how to get to Galveston was something I struggled with for a long time during the pre-cruise planning. Obviously, it's too far for a cab. A Carnival transfer was out of the question since we wanted to arrive a few days before the cruise so we had lots of wiggle room to work around any weather-related problems. We looked at renting a car, but a one-way rental dropped off in Galveston is outrageously expensive. So, it came down to finding a good limo service.

I did some searching online and discovered that there are a LOT of limo services in Houston! It was very difficult to figure out which were the good ones. I ended up emailing about 10 different limo companies and asked for quotes. It was surprising that there were a few that never replied, and a few that didn't reply for days. Of course, a few replied right away.

I turned to the Cruise Critic forums to try to find advice from others who had used a limo service to get from Houston to Galveston. Based on a suggestion in the forums, I focused on Hyatt Limousines of Houston. Via email, they offered a price of $138 plus tip to drive us from our hotel in Houston to another hotel in Galveston where we would stay the day and night before the cruise. The vehicle was a black Chevy Suburban, and it worked out fine.

Speaking of Galveston Hotels... the one we stayed at the day and night before the cruise was the Moody Gardens Resort. I was attracted to this hotel because there was so much to do there. We were going to have a whole day in Galveston, and Moody Gardens definitely kept us busy. They have their own water park, an aquarium, an indoor rain forest, and a 4D theatre. If you're really in to waterparks, an even larger waterpark, Schlitterbahn, is right next door.

There is one other Galveston hotel option you might want to look at...

Right next to the cruise ship terminal at the port of Galveston is the Harbor House Hotel. You can walk from the hotel to the cruise ship on embarkation day. And if you get up early enough in the morning, you can watch the ship come in the day of your cruise!

Now that I've experienced Moody Gardens, I think that if I ever make my way back to Galveston for another cruise... I'll stay at the Harbor House.

To answer a few of the questions that have been posted...

The televisions do not have DVD players built in to them.

Smoking is allowed on the port side of the Lido deck. I'm so excited to hear that it's been outlawed entirely on the Lido deck of the Carnival Liberty! I really need to cruise on the Liberty some time!

Regarding the picture that was posted of my camera with the big long zoom lens... I didn't take that particular lens with me on this cruise. It's kind of heavy, so I left it at home. It really comes in handy on the cruises out of Los Angeles and San Diego, since you see a lot more wildlife in the water than you do on a Caribbean cruise. On this particular cruise, I used a smaller lens on the camera: