TravelBluebird

@msunrullieone We’ll try to hand the ship off to you in good condition—but we’re not promising anything 😂

Boarding group A06; arrival time is 10am. We are leaving hotel in a pre-ordered Ubert at 9:30; don’t care if we get there a little “late” since we don’t really want to get in line before it starts moving around 10. 3 Ubers; ours cost $37 (would be $24 today at a non-peak time) but not bad per person,

Hotel seems nice— VERY freshly renovated. Great view!

Took about 1.45 hours to get to the hotel. Just - 1 of 4 rooms was ready. We piled our luggage ( and my Goddaughter for a nap) into the room, and walked 1/2 mile to Viet Cajun for lunch. Texas is BYOB so a Modelo has been had by some. I ordered the small fried oyster basket with fried rice—some people got the Pho.

Welcome!

Bad accident huge traffic—van driver is taking us the “back way” due to big delays.

We are in the van on the way to Galveston! Took the train from Terminal A to C to meet up with some of our group. We had time to kill—very few food choices pre-gate at IAH We used Galveston Shuttle. 5 people not 7 —the kids missed their connections so will barely make it to a late dinner. Massive traffic. Welcome to Houston!

We are landed early in Houston! Plane was found for kids so won’t be in as late. United now gives MINI stroopwaffles instead of normal sized one. 😂 Flight was freezing. Can’t tell if it’s overcast or smoky in Houston

My son and my niece have very delayed flights—won’t get to Galveston until tonight now!

The plane is an Embrarer ERJ-145XR. Holds like 50 people. No entertainment or food service; maybe coffee or water and a stroopwaffle or something.

Flight showing on time. It is a miniature commuter plane. For nearly a 3 hour flight! I don’t know what United is thinking sometimes. At least all of Delta’s planes are a step up from this one.

Our airport parking garage was under construction, so we played “airport parking lotto” and drove around endlessly trying to find a spot in long term parking, so we didn’t have to go (far) outside to economy parking in the pouring rain. And we won! Found a spot just as we were about to give up. I did bring the coat, and since I was freezing on the walk to the terminal, a good decision. Also only in the low 60s today in Galveston 😭 was 70s last week. Usually our family member who house sits and stays with the cats drives us, but they couldn’t drive us today. Gosh, we appreciate them! Less than 10 minutes from curb to the gate area. And then our traditional stop at Starbucks, for 2 short extra dry cappuccinos! Let the vacation begin!

6am is TOO early! It’s pouring rain and 38 degrees.

@pe4all Yes I’m excited for that excursion!

All set for tomorrow! Other than the glares I’m getting from my cats (they hate it when I travel!), everything seems to be in order! Early morning flight, but since there is no connection, I should be on the ground at IAH airport by about 11:30. Very chilly here; in the morning will be upper 30s when we leave the house. I hate taking a coat for the plane prior to a Caribbean cruise…just gets in the way the entire trip. Any suggestions for dinner tomorrow in Galveston? Haven’t made a plan yet. We are staying at the Courtyard Galveston Island and the Town Place Suites right next to it.

Hello @princess76021 You are very welcome! Hope you are nowhere near those awful wild fires. My people from California coming to the cruise will be flying over that area.

@dctravel Wow its great to see so many Cruise Critic people cruising on the Jubilee this month! And your first cruise back since the shutdown—that is exciting! Things have changed since pre-shutdown for sure, but I still love cruising!

Thanks @tha sista! I’ve just got my preview video for this cruise up…my face is washed out which I apologize for (looked fine when I edited it!) Too late to change it…I need to wake up tomorrow at 6am for my flight!:

@rwest898 Thank you! I’m excited to review her!

Ive had them (and also Chocolate Martini’s) at the Central Stage Bar on Mardi Gras and Celebration, and also the Venezia Terraza Bar (best ones I’ve had!).

@TheLargeFamily Looks like we’ll be handling the Jubilee over to you at the end of our cruise!

Hey @Jamman54 Great to have you along!

@Love-to-ride Glad to have you along!

@Canoe62 Ooh practically right after me! 🎉 And thank you!

Yes! She’s back! After my grand adventure to Antarctica on Holland America, I return to Carnival, this time on the brand new Jubilee! I was originally booked on the maiden TransAtlantic voyage of Jubilee that got cancelled; this is the earliest I could re-book after that happened. Along the way, I’ve picked up 8 of my friends and family to cruise along with me. As you might know if you’ve read my prior LIVE! blogs, I don’t generally cruise with such a large group. And we have 5 first time ocean cruisers on this trip! It certainly is a bit like herding cats, but I’m here for it! This is my 9th LIVE! Blog here on Cruise Critic, and I just love taking y’all along with me. Things that make me particularly excited about this cruise: 1. JUBILEE! New ship. YAY! 2. Excel class ship! My favorite (I’ve already sailed on Mardi Gras and Celebration) 3. My Platinum cruise! Yep, I’m just now Platinum, as I sail with many cruise lines. But for Fun in the Sun, Carnival is my favorite. FREE LAUNDRY! 😀 4. Galveston! Last time I sailed out of Galveston, it was the Carnival Breeze in 2016! 5. Big family group! Well, I think this is good. I DO feel a bit responsible for the whole trip. If you plan the entire cruise for your family, do you feel that way? I have a cruising channel on YouTube, Cruising With Dee. You can completely enjoy this LIVE! without visiting my channel, but if you want to visit my channel and/or subscibe, I won’t complain! I write my blog (prose) here with lots of photos, and the videos and live streams go on the Channel. Link to my channel is always in my signature, and I’ll include links for any videos I upload during or right after the trip. This particular cruise is the Western Caribbean Itinerary, so ports are Cozumel, Costa Maya and Roatan. I have done all of these ports multiple times now.; I’m there for the ship, not the ports, but I do have concern that so many huge ships are really over- narrowing the port possibilities. I’m going to just chill at Passion Beach in Cozumel; go see the sloths in Roatan (haven’t done that one yet) and then just explore the port area in Costa Maya. Many on this trip will be diving; I do not dive. Thanks in advance for reading along and joining in! I don’t like my LIVE! blogs to be soliloquies; so please comment, suggest, ask questions! I’ll try my best to answer any questions I can while I’m on the ship. Let’s Cruise!