PrincessArlena'sDad

After dinner we listened (and danced) to the 80s Rock Band in the lobby. Love Shack, Baby! The Welcome Show could have been skipped, in hind sight. I would have enjoyed the 80s music a bit more. However, the Playlist preview show was a lot of fun. It’s clear we’ll be in for a treat tonight for Motown! Did I just give away the secret that I didn’t finish writing Day 1’s review on Day one? 🤣

I’m not going to compare the Horizon and Glory; instead I’ll let the two reviews stand (or float) on their own. However, I will make one direct comparison. We have quite a few allergies in the family. While our allergies have not changed, what they are able to eat has. For example: Horizon:: shrimp cocktail came with cocktail sauce. Glory: no sauce Horizon: brisket gravy came with gravy, but the Glory did not. There were some other examples as well. I have no clue whether the Horizon chef didn’t really check ingredients, or the Glory chef is really careful with ingredients. Or, the Horizon chef did a lot more to specially prepare dishes.

One of our favorite parts of the day is exploring the ship. And getting lost over and over. The outdoor decks of the Glory are very nice. The various levels of the decks flow together nicely. We didn’t spend much time out there, though. The lower public decks don’t have such a great layout. Decks 3 and 4 don’t go through because of the dining rooms, and you can’t use the outdoor decks to bypass the dining rooms, either (at least, it seemed that way; it’s possible I missed an entrance - I’ll confirm today). And deck 5 is a no-go for us, because of the smoke coming from the casino.Which means we have to go through deck 2 or 6 to get from one end of the ship to the other. At 1:30 we went down to our cabins, and our luggage was already delivered. We have connecting cabins for us and the kids, and the grandparents are down the hall. Unpacked. Checked in at the kids clubs. Relaxed. Freshen up for dinner.

Here we are, the end of our first day. Even though I’m writing this in the evening, I don’t know when it will be posted here, as the wi-fi isn’t working right now, and I don’t think I’ll be staying up waiting for it. The drive in from Hattiesburg was easy. We, of course, had the Princess and the Frog playing while we drove in. And, here I get to brag about how great my planning acumen is: “Going Down the Bayou” played while we had a great view of the Bayou out the window. Aren’t I great? We arrived at the line to get into the parking lot at 9:46. When you go to make the turn onto Port of New Orleans Rd, there are two lanes, with police directing traffic. We got into the right lane because, for one, it was a lot shorter at the moment, and, also, I knew we would have to make make a right into the garage. Well, it wasn’t long before we saw that the left lane was moving much faster than us. Orders of magnitude faster. At 10:10, we were still a block away. With the left lane now zipping ahead of us even faster, we were tempted to move into it. But, I was worried we wouldn’t be able to make that turn into the lot. So, my wife got out of the car and walked down the block to see what was going on. When she got back, she reported that both lanes turned into the garage (there were two lanes into the garage). She even asked the officer directing traffic why the left lane was moving so much faster. The officer replied she didn’t know, but thought it was rather strange. With this report, I jumped ship into the left lane, and was in the lot in no time at all. We then discovered why the left lane was moving so much faster. They have attendants helping people pay for parking, and taking their ticket. I don’t know how or why, but for every car the person working the right hand lane processed, the left hand lane attendant processed 3-4 cars. $175 paid, we drove up the ramp to unload our checked baggage. Easy enough. After tipping our porter, he told me to get in the car and follow him. He took us to where a barricade was, moved the barricade, and waived us through to a parking area right by the elevator. Everyone else was directed up the ramp to higher levels. We took the elevator to the first floor, where they checked boarding passes for times. It was just 10:30 by this point, so they sent us into the line to enter the building. Those with a 10:30 time were asked to wait a few more minutes. There was no one in front of us, but the line snaked around a few times until we actually got to the door to the building. At the door, they again checked our arrival time. We then went up an escalator, where we waited a couple of minutes for a check in agent. She took our pictures, checked our boarding passes and passports, and sent us on our way to security, where we walked by dogs who did the sniff test. There were two people in line in front of us for security, and we were through by 10:45. As we got to the seating area, they were just starting to call platinum. We quickly used the restrooms, and finished a minute before they called FTTF. A minute later they called A05, and we were on our way just at 11:05. A few minutes later we were eating lunch. I opted for the Ol’ Fashioned BBQ, which I enjoyed. Twice. The best part of the BBQ is walking up the stairs to get to it burns all the calories you get eating it. Therefore, you can eat as much pork butt as you want and not gain any weight.

Thank you! I’m really glad you enjoyed it. I initiated the claim, but didn’t submit the paperwork yet. I was waiting on the garment bag issue to be resolved with AA to see if I need to include that with the travel insurance claim. I have 15 months to do it, so I’ll submit it when we get back. I’ll post an update on a that progresses.

We all sing the entire show! My daughter was in the show in the ensemble; her HS did it. We just finished watching Mary Poppins. Now we have the radio going (1st Wave) and the kids are playing Exploding Kittens.

The vast sitter reported that our garment bag arrived today. Just in time! The box shows it's a Delsey. But I can't tell from the picture is it's a comparable size to the old one. Further bad news. The sealed box prevents the cat from using the garment bag as a bed. We are later than we would have liked driving down. We ran into a bad thunderstorm that slowed things down. Plus there was a tractor trailer fire near Chattanooga. GPS routed us through downtown Chattanooga. Very scenic and fun to drive through.

Right now we're listening to the Pekes and the Polickles. Bark bark bark bark Until you can hear them all over the park At the comfort suites they had some really nice photos of natural bridge. We went there in 2015... also when we went to Edelweiss. I was telling our 11 year old about it, as he doesn't remember going. A couple of ladies overheard our conversation and asked where it was. I told them it was about an hour north, and they got all excited as that's where they were going. They were actually going to the safari park with the grandkids that's there. Now they are spending half the day with the grandkids and half the day at natural bridge. I think I caused family strife.

Do me a favor... next time you're there try the torte and let me know how it is.

See you tomorrow!

So we're driving down I-81 and I already lost count of the number of cars in the left lane going 10mph under the speed limit. The prize goes to the guy eating while driving. With a fork. And holding the dish with the other hand. And no third hand for the wheel. Kids are watching (and we're listening in the front seats) Bedknobs and Broomsticks - extended version. Beautiful Briny Sea is currently playing. Yesterday we had Lady and the Tramp and then Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Next will be Cats. Not the weird CGI version, but a filming of a stage production starring Ellen Paige. The soccer game is starting!

Sadly, no. But, with the record heat wave they are having this week, it wouldn't be the best time to go. We'll make a separate trip to NO one day. Though, my parents and daughter are spending the day there after the cruise. I'll pass your suggestion on to them.

Thanks. Have you had the black first cake there? It was great. Rice pudding got a thumbs up from the kids.

I’m back!!!! Thanks to all of you who followed along on our Horizon adventure last month. I hope everyone enjoys this Live review and trip report as well. For those who did not see my Horizon review, it’s here: Today is the day we packed up the car and started DRIVING to New Orleans. No flights this trip! We still didn’t get our replacement garment bag for the one American Airlines destroyed. In fact, I don’t think they even shipped it yet. Maybe it’ll come while we’re gone? Anyone have a magic 9 ball they can ask? If it does manage to come while we’re away, at least we have the cat sitter to bring it in the house. The cat will be happy to have it. Hopefully our suits and dresses don’t get wrinkled. I folded them up best I could. I’ll let you know. We got a late start today, as the kids had their last day of camp. Well, most of us did. My daughter left with my parents early this morning, and made it to Knoxville today. My wife and I picked up her father before getting the kids at camp. This worked out perfectly. They got out of camp just in time for rush hour traffic. Just like I wanted! One difference between camp and school that I noticed: on the last day of school, the kids come running out the moment the bell rings, as if the building was burning down. On the last day of camp, the kids refuse to leave. They hang around taking pictures of each other. Hugging. Crying. I’m siting in the car in the car pool lane in the camp parking lot, watching our arrival time on the GPS getting later and later. It did amuse me, though, that the parking lot managed to show up as a RED traffic delay on the GPS. Impressive real time accuracy! We planned on stopping for dinner at Edelweiss Restaurant in Stauntan, VA. We had been here once, all the way back in 2015. It was as good as we remembered. I had the German Sampler so I could try a bit of everything. Great meal to start off the trip! Unfortunately, we had to wait a bit for a table, so we spent longer there than I would have liked. I wish we had thought of calling ahead to see if they take reservations or call ahead seating. Oh well. Next time. Which will be in 2031, if we continue at the same frequency of visitations. After dinner, we drove another hour to Troutville, to the Comfort Suites. Which is where I am now, as I type this. The hotel is very clean, and very comfortable. If you ever pass through here, I highly recommend this hotel, after dinner at Edelweiss. It’s time for me to get some sleep. We’re going to make it all the way to Hattiesburg tomorrow, so lots of driving. Breakfast will be in the hotel, lunch will be at Firehouse subs in Ooltewah, TN, and dinner will be in Laurel, MS at Pit Master BBQ (based on a recommendation from someone here on the Gulf Coast departure board. See you tomorrow! Maybe I’ll post an update while my wife takes a shift driving. I’ll be sure to keep an updated count of the number of cars and trucks in the left lane driving 10 mph or more below the speed limit. I would have done that today, but I can’t count that high.

You can use this link to check the balance of the gift card, and you’ll know if the problem is the gift card or the payment processing page. https://carnival.ourgiftcards.com/checkbalance

Unfortunately yes

In case anyone else needs a work around for printing docs: I needed to print a couple of luggage tags. If the page is in your history, that will work despite the site being down. This also worked for boarding passes. Just search for the booking number in your history and click the pages that show up.

14 days for most, 16 days for diamond, platinum and suites. The date will be listed on your cruise manager page. It opens midnight eastern time.

Thanks. Now I don't have to spend an hour clearing browsing data and other trouble shooting.

This is what I'm getting

When you do online check in. It's one of the categories on the right.

Is it carnival.com, or is it me?

I think there are two reasons. 1. New ships attract diamonds and platinums, so there's a lot more of them 2. New crew means lower efficiency. They need a smaller number of those with priority until they get into the groove.

Embarkation day they may be open starting at 7pm or 8pm, through Night Owls, closing at 1am.

My son is 5'9" and he was fine. But another 5" would be tight.