Just Back from the Sunshine!! 1st Cruise!!

[Dreacrusingaway]

We are on 95, just got off from a wonderful cruise! I figured I'll do a little mini review while we ride.

 

We LOVED it!!

 

We used Park Port Canaveral for parking. There was a wait of about 20 min for the shuttle both ways. It was smooth, just a little slower than I expected. Today on the return, it was the bridge that delayed them. But they came with 3 shuttles back to back to deal with the line.

 

We were in 11026, a Cloud 9 Spa balcony. Loved the room. I knew cruise cabins were small, but with 2 adults and a 12 and 8 year old, it felt cramped when we were all there. I can see why folks get 2 rooms. But I would rather be cramped on a ship than at home!

 

 

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[Dreacrusingaway]

The kids enjoyed Camp Carnival and Circle C. I just wish they went there more!! I let them pick and choose when to go. My 8 year old never stayed past 10pm, she was just too tired. But she told me it was her favorite part of the ship. My 12 year old did a few things in Circle C. I kept the schedules and will post them later.

 

The one thing my family did not like was the MDR and Buffet food. They just didn't like it. We had my time dining which was great. They have you check in at the taste bar and you go to the dining room they send you too. We were in the Sunset both nights we ate there. We ended up having the Steak House which we liked the most, the Italian place which we did not enjoy and Ji Ji's which we did like. Here is some food porn.....

Lobster Bisque (did not love it)

Baked Onion Soup...hated it

LOVED the crabcake!!

Fabulous Ribeye

Cowboy Steak

Surf and Turf

 

 

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[Dreacrusingaway]

Here are some more good pics...

Short Rib at the Italian place which was good

Spaghetti Cabernera which was Meh, needed more sauce

Chicken Parm which my daughter hated, she sent it back for a steak. There was a solo cruiser next to is who only are one bite of hers. Said it was bad.

 

Then Ji Ji's

Braised Pork Belly..AMAZING

Shrimp Dumpling App

 

Okay, I just realized I was too busy eating to take pics there. LOL!

 

 

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[Dreacrusingaway]

Oh and we LOVED Guy's Burgers. Ate lunch there 3 times and I have the swollen ankles to prove it!! My husband tried the taco place for breakfast and lunch and liked it. I never ate from the buffet. It just was not appealing to me. But we did hit the omelets in Havana Bar, which is a great place to sit anytime to eat.

 

My FAVORITE thing on the ship was the Alchemy bar. It will be a top 3 factor when we pick ships in the future. Gabriel and Miro are masters at drink making. If drinking martins was a religion, they would be the gods. I went there the 1st night and every night after. There was a group of about 10 of us that were there pretty much every night. The Alchemy bar is why I did not see any evening shows. I just did not want to be anywhere else!!

 

2 rules for the bar.

1. Don't touch your drink until they push it to you.

2. Don't use the menu

 

Tell them what liquor you like, the flavors you like (sweet, spicy, sour etc..) and let them create! My cruise name was Rumdrea since I like rum drinks. Gabriel created one for me with rum, amaretto and vanilla in a glass he smoked with a Cuban cigar which became a hot commodity amongst the "regulars". They are truly fabulous!

 

 

We had cheers. I hit 11 drinks 7 of them at Alchemy the 1st 2 nights. After that I was drinking water all day and doing 6-7 at Alchemy at night. I honestly did not want the stuff at the other bars. If you are not on Cheers, it does give you the best bang for your luck, they use a LOT of alcohol. If you ask for a strong drink, you may be seeing double. Because they are "creating" and not working from set recipes, you get a lot of liquor. They are artists of alcohol. Masters!

 

 

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[Dreacrusingaway]

We did have FTTF and would use it again. Loved getting to the room early, no wait at guest services and the priority debarkation.

 

On another note we had a luggage issue when we left. We had a bag missing. Carnival was great! We quickly figured out someone took our bag in error. We had a US Navy garment bag but there was a very similar US Army one in the baggage area unclaimed. A Carnival employee confirmed the owner of the Army bag had indeed left the ship and called the number on the tag. Luckily they were still in the parking garage and we were able to get them to bring our bag and they had to go in to get theirs. So be sure to ALWAYS check the tags. Carnival was a great help in that situation.

 

 

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[Dreacrusingaway]

So, we went to Key West, Nassau and Freeport.

 

In Key West we did City View Trolly , got a great deal on Groupon, 2 for $36, kids under 12 are free. I suggest one does the southernmost point early because the line gets long fast. We went to the Eco-Discovery Center which was free, had A/C and bathrooms. I thought the kids would love it, but after 30 min they were bored.

 

We got some frozen Key Lime Pie on a stick at Kermit's and went back to the ship for Guy's Burgers. You can't really bar hop with kids in tow. It was fun though.

 

 

In Nassau we went to the Melia at Cable Beach We took the #10 Jitney and I think we had the oldest bus in the fleet. It was fun though. Melia was beautiful and they DO include towels in the day pass, though we had ours. It was $105 for 2 adults and 2 kids. The water was PERFECT! Crystal clear and very calm. A great choice for kids.

 

 

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[Dreacrusingaway]

Last day was Freeport. We booked the all day snorkeling and deserted beach with Pat and Diane's. We enjoyed it. My kids and the other approx 20 kids on the trip were disappointed we did not get the big boat with the slide and rock walk you see featured on the website. Whichever tour gets the most people gets the larger boat. We were supposed to leave at 9:30 but left closer to 10 while they waited for someone. It irritates me a bit as folks who got there on time lost some excursion time. We went out to the reef, the surf was VERY choppy. Everyone was required to use life vests. It was nice there, tons of fish.

 

Then we went to the deserted beach for beach time and lunch with a conch demo. Really enjoyed it. No beach loungers so don't forget your beach towels like we did!

 

Oh and there was a beautiful rainbow that morning in Freeport.

 

I think most of my pics are in my underwater camera which I have to upload the pics from later.

 

That's all for now. Oh and the only place I noticed any odd smell was in the spa of all places, but it could have been some aromatherapy gone bad.

 

 

 

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[Dreacrusingaway]

One more room tip! If you get a Spa balcony on deck 10, it's uncovered and folks above look right down on you!

 

 

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[Dreacrusingaway]

I would definitely cruise Carnival again. We are doing a 3 day Disney Dream in April, which I'm sure will be WAY TOO SHORT. But they are WAY too expensive. LOL! I'll be looking for a 7+ day Carnival next. This was 5 days. I really could have used a sea day between one of the ports and one at the end to rest up. We had a sea day, Key West, Nassau, Freeport then home. We are exhausted! When we do Disney we are staying on in Nassau to enjoy the expensive ship we are paying for!!

 

 

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[dukenmelo]

Thanks for the great review! Just wondering what time you arrived at the port to use your fttf?

[Dreacrusingaway]

We got there around 11am. It was very fast to get on. No lines no waiting. The room was ready. We were zone 3 for debarkation and met at 7:40 and were off about 7:55 am

 

 

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[Stone Rosey]

We just got off the same cruise. We had great time. Also, very tired. Had no real problems, just a little slow in the MDR. Do you know what happen last night after midnight?

[BIG_Steve]

We quickly figured out someone took our bag in error.

 

Ugg. Don't you hate it when they just grab and walk? I've had twice now at airports where someone took my bag, then acted like I was a criminal until I finally convinced them to look at the darn tag.

[092306]

Glad you had a great cruise. Thanks for posting and love your pictures!

[Dreacrusingaway]

We just got off the same cruise. We had great time. Also, very tired. Had no real problems, just a little slow in the MDR. Do you know what happen last night after midnight?

 

 

No idea. I was at the Alchemy bar (of course) when I heard the Brightstar announcement. I hope whoever had the medical issue is okay.

 

 

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[dukenmelo]

We got there around 11am. It was very fast to get on. No lines no waiting. The room was ready. We were zone 3 for debarkation and met at 7:40 and were off about 7:55 am

 

 

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Thank you!!

[Stone Rosey]

Yes, I happen around midnight. We were already asleep, it was a long day in Freeport. The announcement told them to go to deck 6. We were on deck 6. About a minute later a rush of people ran by the door. Then about 2 minutes later a rush of people the opposite way.

[Dreacrusingaway]

One odd thing is we got extra time in Freeport. They announced Wed night we would be there from 7am-6pm instead of our scheduled 8am-4pm. Said something about getting equipment added to the ship to allow a helicopter to land there or something. It worked out perfect because it have us some time in the Port Lucaya area after our Pat & Diane tour. We got back to shore right around 3 and would have needed to go straight to the bus otherwise. If you do the 5 hour tour with an 8-4 port time, you will be cutting it close at the end with a 3:30 all aboard time so don't dawdle. The buses only leave every 30 min.

 

 

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[Stone Rosey]

We may have crossed paths. We went to the Hotel Lucayan. It was $15 each. The beach was nice with chairs. Also gave us use of the pools and changing rooms.

[Dreacrusingaway]

We may have crossed paths. We went to the Hotel Lucayan. It was $15 each. The beach was nice with chairs. Also gave us use of the pools and changing rooms.

 

 

We shopped a bit in the shopping area, but did not go to that hotel. We did an excursion instead. If we ever go back, I plan to check it out. It was our plan B for this cruise.

 

 

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