Carnival
This was a group cruise for 8 couples, all friends from New Orleans. We all decided to take the bus from the New Orleans terminal since we read that the transport wasn't that bad. We arrived at the terminal for 9am, loaded up on the bus and were on our way to Gulfport. The bus let us off at the Grand Casino to do our paperwork and they took our luggage straight to the ship. We never saw our luggage again until later that afternoon, which was great, we didn't have to worry about toting it. Once we completed the paperwork we were given a number and waited for them to call us for the short bus ride to the ship. Once in the warehouse near the ship we took our pictures for the sail-n-sign card we boarded the ship! We were on the boat for 1pm, in our room. We decided to get a balcony room and are glad we did. The room was awesome, lots of room, plenty of storage space and the balcony was a nice size. This is definite the way to cruise.

Monday & Tuesday at Sea: Monday was great, we all laid by the pool for most of the day, getting a chair wasn't that hard, most people actually used the chairs they were saving so no one complained. My husband and I took advantage of a couples massage and are glad we did. The girls were great, one of the best I had!

Tuesday was a rough day at sea, we hit some bad weather that lasted most of the day. One of the complaints we have about this ship is that the daytime lineup of activities was not very active. At most of the time we didn't have anything to do, if you don't like to lay in the sun, you can get easily boarded during the day.

Wednesday - Jamaica: We arrived on time and departed the boat in a timely fashion, very smooth. We didn't have a tour planned for this port so we decided to take a taxi into town and visit the craft market. Contrary to what most people are writing, the native people are not imitating and are very pleasant. They all want you to look at their stuff but if you say, "No thank you", they leave you alone. Not at any time did I feel threatened or scared. These people are very polite. We took another taxi to Margaritaville and it was filled with young kids but it wasn't so bad, they were all having fun! We decided to eat lunch there, the prices of the food wasn't bad, average prices but the drink prices were high. We took a taxi ride back to the boat and spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool. If you don't book a tour there isn't much to do.

Thursday - Grand Cayman: We tendered to the island, which took about 30 minutes. WE scheduled a snorkel and stingray city tour with Capt. Marvin's - the tour and guides were great, the stingrays were very friendly, can be intimidating but friendly. Capt. Marvin's films the tour and you can buy it for $55-$65. dollars, which they mail to you. After the tour we went to the ship area and did some shopping before we headed to the tender. The shops were pricey but not too bad. We had to be back on the ship for 3pm so it didn't leave us much time. If you wait until the last minute to get in line for the tender then you wait for a period but they won't leave you if you are in line!

Friday - Cozumel: We docked on time and disembarked timely. When you walk through the terminal area there are a ton of shops that are available to cruise passengers only. We took the Dung Buggy Jungle tour which was awesome. I highly recommend this tour, it takes about 5 hours but it leaves you with enough time to shop afterwards so that's good also.

Saturday at sea: We were tied of the sun so we all just laid low for the day - did inside activities. The only complaint we have about the boat is again, not enough activities during the day. The wait staff and attendants were not pleasant, they never smiled, looked like they hated being there. We actually sat at another table in the dining room and our waitress was Erika and sage was great. The ship was cold in some areas but not nothing too unpleasant. The casino paid well, the sushi was great and the nighttime entertainment was awesome.

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions that you think I might be able to help you with, all in all, the ship is great, so have a good time!