"A Triumphant Vacation"

[shabcruzn]

What a "triumphant" vacation. I am no cruise expert, but I can say Carnival has made my first anniversary one to remember. Our story begins... :o

7/17

We left out of our local airport arriving there at 4:30am(yes our travel day was LONG) Not to complain about our airport but it is roughly the size of a larger airport's food court. The eight of us(including my new DH and myself checked in--my sister, brotherlaw, and my niece were singled out and were searched THOROUGHLY as they were the lucky ones to be randomly picked. After that violation(although a necessary), we boarded. We did not arrive into Miami until 12:40. To anyone thinking of cruising, fly down the day before--it is so less hectic. By the time we arrived to port, it was almost 1:15. The line was tremendous, but it did move rather quickly. I do not mine lines because I understood the ship was filled to capacity--3000 people doing anything may take time. We boarded a little after 2:30--an hour wait in line. There were eight of us so our conversation helped pass the time.

 

We were on the Empress Deck--we knew that already because of the "method" (dare I say the word). The cabin was right in front of aft elevators--very convenient to get to the lido deck for food--just walked straight upstairs to pizza!!! Zanna was our steward--she was pleasant and did most things before we had to ask--she was pyschic--she knew when I needed a pillow, blanket, or ice--they would just appear in the room. Everytime we walked down the hall any steward who saw us greeted us and asked were we enjoying ourselves--several complimented us formal night!(hey we were looking good).

 

I will try to break down everything into categories so I do not ramble and people can skip to the parts they need.

 

Food--

Forgive me father for I have sinned because surely it is wrong to eat the way I did! The food on the lido was good. My family and I liked the reuben from the NY Deli--we are originally from Brooklyn and we thought the deli gave any real Deli quite a run. We of course loved the Coney Island grill( I am still wondering how they got the hot dogs so plump--injection?) The pizza was suprisingly good and being able to eat it anytime you want made it better. Find Warren in the South Beach Restaurant--he was funny and gave us dining room treatment. The actual Dining Room was great! There usually was not night I did not enjoy my food. For first time cruisers--don't try to choose if you want to try several things. If you want two entree's ask for both, and if you do not like something, they will go out of there way to bring you something else. Daniel and Natalie were our waiters. Daniel was very good and got us everything we asked for. Natalie was the asst. waitress and by the second night, she knew exactly how we liked our coffee, who drank cofee, expresso, or cappucino, and even what kind of bread you like! They made dinner very pleasurable.

 

Ports

By read CC, I knew not to expect much from San Juan. We did a brief city tour. We did not book the tour ahead or through Carnival. We grabbed on of the bus tour waiting to hound people--the tour was only $10 per person, which was just enough to let us see the city. Make sure stop at Casa Don Q--they gave us free pina coladas and they were the best I ever had. I did not do any shopping. Many stores were closed and I was waiting for St. Thomas

St. Thomas--we did the Godfrey tour--book him--he is really good and goes out of his way to make sure you see the islanda(and knows when every hurricane hit the island--lol)We decided to skip swimming as we had shopped till we dropped--I got some really good deals on jewelery and t-shirts wre 6 for $10! St. Thomas was beautiful.

St. Maarten--went to Divi Beach Resort through Carnival. We had a great time! There were beach games--crab racing, volleyball. We rented jet skis--there was also snorkeling, parasailing, jet biking and the banana boat--my nieces and nephew had quite a ride ont that! Did not shop much. If I go back to these ports, I plan to reverse it an go to the beach in St. Thomas and shop in St. Maarten to get the total experience.

 

Entertainment/Activities

I enjoyed all of the shows even though none of us are partial to such shows, we had to admit they were done well--they are a must see. Even the magic show(and I am a skeptic) was good--even I was wondering how dude made it snow?

 

In general, the ship was clean and I thought the crew did an excellent job dealing with all the people. I can't say enough, but did not want my review to be too long--so email with questions. Thank you Carnival for a super vacation!!!

[kimjoe]

Thanks for the review Shabcruzn!

We sail her 11/6/04 and cant wait. Just a question for you, Were you upgraded from your original catagory guarentee cabin. I gather you were guarentee cabin from the "M" you used to find your cabin!!

Is Godfrey a carnival tour ?

 

Kimjoe

Holiday 1/96

Fantasy 8/96

Jubilee 12/97

Voyager of the Seas 9/01

Star Princess 12/02

Triumph 11/6/04

[shabcruzn]

Hey--we did not receive a big upgrade 8A to 8b and I booked godfrey online--not carnival!