We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise with Carnival. Leaving from New Orleans was great. We rented an apartment in the French quarter for the weekend before we left and got our fill of the big easy. Emeril's restaurant is a must if you can get in. Excellent food.

We got to the Cruise terminal at 11:00 am and were able to walk right up to the counter and get checked in. Embarkation was very smooth.  Once we had gotten our bags taken we waited in a waiting are for about an hour and 10 minutes before we were let on the boat. We were very happy with the size of our room and could not wait to explore the ship. Our cabin was an outside cabin on the upper deck. We went up to the promenade deck first and located all the bars and the casino with ease. We had a drink at the violins bar which turned out to be a frequent place to have a drink throughout the week. It is kind of the center of the promenade area and just outside the casino. We then made our way up to the lido deck to get a view of the city from the boat and check out the pool areas.

We then found the spa area. We went with a few other couples and my wife and a girlfriend wanted to check out the massages and spa treatments. They had a special on massages since it was a sail away day so my wife and my sister in law decided to go for it. They scheduled appointments for the afternoon. We then found the brasserie which was serving lunch so we decided to grab a bite and then go unpack.

After getting settled in,we met our cabin steward "Rudi" who was very nice and called us all by name when he saw us. I really thought that was cool that he had memorized all of our names already. All of our rooms were side by side so he took care of each of our cabins.

The girls were then off to the spa while the guys returned to the lido deck to watch us leave New Orleans and enjoy a drink. Pure Bliss as we sailed down the Mississippi. It was not a rough ride at all. I had expected a rocky sailing as I had read some other reviews that warned of the Mississippi being a bit rough, but it was smooth sailing for us the entire cruise. You would feel the boat move at times, but nothing near severe and we saw or heard of no-one who was seasick. We went on another tour of the boat in the evening, just getting acquainted with our surroundings and then went to the Mardi-Gras dining room for dinner.

We had the late seating for dinner each meal and found it to be perfect for us, as I’ll explain later. Our waiter, Mugni, was a very nice man and lots of fun to talk to. Yes you really can have anything and as much of everything you desire if you want...lol. We found the food to be very good. We had a few things that we didn't care for, but everything that we liked was excellent. I highly recommend eating in the dining room for as many meals as you can. It was always worth the trip.

Monday was a day at sea and we were eager to get poolside. We laid out and swam most of the morning and hit the casino area for a bit in the afternoon.  We checked our carnival capers, which is a daily activity sheet that you receive in your cabins each night before bed. Incidentally, I forgot to mention that our beds were turned down and we had towel animals every night when we returned form dinner or shows. Anyway, we decided on a late show and the guys decided to catch the late night comedy show. The Vegas style show was good and the comedy show was so-so this night.

Tuesday brought more activities throughout the day including a game of Carnival survivor. We put our names in to get in on it but were not drawn out. There were lots of games and activities going on each sea day. We went to some of the do's and don't in port seminars as this was our first time cruising. We met our cruise director Brett Alans who was a wonderful host and always kept us in good spirits and smiling.

Wednesday we awoke to find land in sight. We were giddy with anticipation and had purchased the wet and wild party boat excursion.  It was one of our highlights.  We boarded this small boat and were taken out to a coral reef area .During the 20 minute ride out, we jammed the reggae music and enjoyed the red stripe and the rum punch. Some girls got their hair braided while others got foot massages. The water was breathtaking. When we arrived at the coral reef area, we stopped and snorkeled for about 45 minutes.  This was absolutely incredibly awesome. It was my first time and I could have stayed there all day.  It was beautiful. Hundreds of fish and beautiful reefs. It was like being inside the aquarium you always are gawking at. Then the boat took us to Maurgaritaville. It was a madhouse.  A lot smaller than i expected and it took forever to get a drink, but we were too happy to care.  We then took a Taxi into town for some shopping before going back to the boat. This is where the late seating was nice.   We had plenty of time to shower and catch a cat nap before our dinner seating. We then caught the late night comedy show.  This comedian named Ronnie Bullard was by far the funniest guy all week. Great show.

Thursday took us to Grand Cayman where we took the Stingray city and Island tour. This was another great excursion. The tour took us to the Cayman turtle farm ,the Tortuga Rum Cake factory, and the ever popular Hell.  We sent post cards home from Hell for a laugh and then were off to the Stingrays. Again, this was an awesome experience.  The rays were everywhere and would eat right from your hand. They would swarm you at times, but were not threatening in any way.  They would often brush up against you hoping to get you to feed them.  It was an experience not to be missed. We then went back into the shopping area near the pier but only had about an hour to shop. Cayman seemed a bit more Americanized than Jamaica, and the shopping prices reflected it. Things were more expensive here. I wish we would have had more time to explore the area.  The beach that we saw on the tour was like out of a picture and i wished we had time to go back and enjoy it.  This was my only gripe about the stops.  They were just too short in port. We did find an internet and phone center near the shopping and sent email back home and also called to check in and it was not overly expensive.  This night on the ship was a formal night. There were 2 but we as a group elected to do just one.  We got dressed early and went around the boat to be photographed in various backdrops.  The pics all turned out great and we had a hard time choosing which we wanted.  This was the main gripe my wife had. All the pics were 8 x 10's and were 20.00 each.  There were no discounts or packages. We spent about 200.00 on photos and only got about half of what we had taken.  We would have bought lots more had there been some sort of price break.  Dinner was great and the waiters and staff danced and sang for us after dinner. Mugni our waiter had us dancing along....he always had a smile waiting for us at every sitting.

Friday was Cozumel and we elected to do the Dolphin encounter. My wife is a Dolphin nut and was siked up about this excursion. The experience was truly a once in a lifetime one, as you get to touch and interact a little with the dolphin, and you get a kiss from him for a photo op, but the cost was 99.00 per person and unless you are a dolphin nut like my wife, you probably will feel a bit shorted.  I enjoyed it, but it was too expensive for the 30 minutes you spend in the water and the interaction is minimal. The great thing about the dolphin encounter is that it is located in Channakaab National Park and it is absolutely stunning in beauty.  The snorkeling was tremendous. We saw an octopus, barracuda, and all the tropical fish you can imagine.  The park was picturesque like a dream. A great area to spend some time.  We did some shopping near the pier and found some good bargains after we "negotiated" prices with vendors. I bought a Hammock that was 150.00 when we started, for 30.00 when we finished.  My wife got her hair braided since we were done with the formals onboard and then we bought some bottles of liquor VERY CHEAP and headed back to the ship. We saw a great show Friday night.  Another Vegas type show and it was much better than the one earlier in the week. 

Saturday we began to realize our trip was nearing the end but refused to dwell on it. We went into the Paris lounge in the afternoon to watch a Carnival version of the Newlywed game. It was a riot and Brett, our cruise director made it even funnier.  We then spent the afternoon packing up our stuff. After dinner we spent some time in the Casino and caught another late show.

Sunday morning we awoke to see we had already docked in New Orleans. We were to be on the Lido deck at 8:45 and await our level to be called to disembark.  Our wait was about 45 minutes and we were back to our Car and ready to roll by 10:00 am. Again, another smooth transition.

I know I missed a lot of stuff that went on and that we did, but if you have any questions about an upcoming cruise, I'd be glad to help if I can.  We had a great time and will definitely be sailing again in the future and most likely will choose Carnival again!