Our First Carnival Cruise

 We're back on terra firma again, having completed our first cruise on Carnival.  Was it a Disney cruise - no, but it was okay.

ACCOMMODATIONS  Our cabin was huge for a balcony - we'd picked a fine location that gave us about 50% more space for the same price as a regular balcony.  However, it took a couple of days to get the bedding arrangements straightened out - though it was what was booked initially over a year ago. [-]  And although assured that we could have bathrobes for use around the cabin, they never showed up. [-]

EXCITEMENT  Add to this that on the last night, our cabin's a/c developed a leak and the ceiling began dripping so we had to be moved to an inside cabin sometime after midnight; however, their response was quick and we were escorted to the new cabin, not left on our own to find our way on a different deck. The ships officer who responded was on his phone pronto to the plumber, joiner, et cetera! [+]

CUISINE  Food was pretty good in all the restaurants except their spiffy Steakhouse where entrees were severely under-cooked.  Michael mostly finished  his; I couldn't eat my entree. [-]  The rest of the food served shipboard was great, including a new BBQ place on Deck 10 [+]; Michael liked his burger from Guy Fieri's place [+]; mine was nothing special and very thin. [-].

SERVICE  Service was great! [+]  In sit-down restaurants they called you by name every time they addressed you, addressed you, et cetera.  And service was prompt without hurrying you along.  Whether they remembered your name after you left their table, who knows, but it was nice while you were there.

THIS 'N' THAT  The safety drill (muster) was a bit disorganized and although they don't use any sort of tracking system like DCL does, it was just plain long. [-]  Secondly, although a cast member tried to be helpful while we were in line at Guest Services, no one pointed out to us that we were entitled to use the one
'no waiting' space reserved for guests with Faster to the Fun stickers on their cards (that would be us), rather than standing in line interminably while 6 foreign students tried to get their cards changed to show that they had been on Carnival before (red rather than blue background).  Unfortunately, ships sailing from Vancouver, BC, don't offer Faster to the Fun or we'd sign up for it!.

We were trying out the Cheers program (pre-paid drinks package). [+]  We like it and we did save money using it -and we're not the big drinkers as that we used to be.  The daily billings showed both the original charge for each drink as well as the null value posted to our account.  Guess we'll be using it on our 10-day voyage from Vancouver to Hawai'i later this year!

SHORE EXCURSIONS  Our purpose in booking this cruise was the attraction of visiting Noel Coward's home on Jamaica.  It wasn't offered by Carnival, but we found an independent tour company that provided the trip from our stop in Ocho Rios.  It was great except for the secondary roads up the hills to the actual home.  Main roads are maintained by the government; secondary roads are not.  Kudos to our driver for navigating all the bumps and crevasses!  The site was turned over to the Jamaican Tourist Board [or Heritage Board?] who must be cash-strapped, as things were neat and tidy but rather plain (read bare).  Hopefully they will be making some improvements....

Still it was good to visit and such a difference it must have been for all the luminaries who would visit him there.  Of course, the visitors would be accommodated in Blue Harbor, his original house down the hill.  Firefly, the home which was built after he bought the property, has only one bedroom.

For the rest of the cruise we didn't disembark the ship, but enjoyed the less-crowded ambiance on port days.  And we're still booked on the Vancouver/Hawai'i cruise later this year followed by a few days at Disney''s Aulani resort!

Cabo and Ocho Rios

We are now in the week between our trip to Cabo to catch up with my brother and sister and our cruise to the western Caribbean to visit Firefly, Noel Coward's home in Jamaica where he is buried.

Cabo was good, though Paula and Tim only had a few days with us as they had to wait until the new show was in place before they left town.  And my sister-in-law was rather ill during most of the two weeks we were there.  As a result, we ate most of our meals - other than those we (Michael) cooked - at the on-site restaurant - all of which were quite tasty!

During the day, we followed our favorite bartender around between the two pool bars and tried a few new drinks..  Yummy!

Michael was supposed to pick up his discount card for the airline we flew to Cabo on - Calafia - but it was a comedy of errors.  They sent the card to their offices in downtown Leon - a large city - and then they offered to send it to the airport in Guadalajara - about a 5-hours trip from San Miguel.  Then they would mail it to our home; then they couldn't mail it anywhere - a pickup in person was required.  After numerous calls and a couple of trips to the office in Los Cabos - luckily not too far from the resort at which we were staying - they decided that they could send it to the airport in Leon (much  more accessible) and we'll be there later tihs week.  Let's hope the card is there!

There were several things that needed adjusting in the Luna, but they finally got them all taken care of just before we left.  Luckily - I guess - my brother and his wife had several more weeks at the resort.

In the very near future, we'll be off to Florida (this Saturday, as a matter of fact) for a Carnival cruise to the western Caribbean.  This will be our first cruise on Carnival - a second one is booked sailing from Vancouver to (and around) the Hawai'ian islands this coming September.  Once there, we'll be staying for five days at Disney's Auluni Resort.  The last time we were in Hawai'i we visited Auluni for a look-see.  They've done a really nice job of the resort!  We'd probably buy into the resort if 1) it was simpler to get there, and, 2) it wasn't so expensive!

We'll have a week there and then we fly home.  Michael managed to score first class seats for us at an affordable price!!!  Haven't flown first class since that time on AirCanada with plenty of champagne and a gift of a bottle of brandy (they didn't have any single malt scotch :( on board).  I think we were flying Economy and talked our way up to some vacant seats in First.

These will be our first two cruises on Carnival.  Hopefully not too raucous!  We have booked both The Steakhouse and The Chef's Table for both cruises.  We heard just last night that we'd scored the Table on this first cruise.  The one later this year had already confirmed our time slot.  The Table includes a tour of the kitchen and the food looks great!  The Steakhouse is very old-school and the dishes should be good, too.  I'm already picking out my meal from the on-line menu!

Disney, after twenty back to back cruises had paled a bit.  So we're branching out.  Besides the two Carnival cruises this year, we have a Disney Westbound Panama Canal cruise (through the new locks) in April 2018 [couldn't really leave Disney high and dry, eh?] and a second cruise on the Crown Princess in November.  The last-named cruise takes us from Rome around the Mediterranean with a few stops (we'll finally get to visit the Sacra Familia on foot and not just from the top of a bus in Barcelona, the Cinque Terre villages, and a few other stops) and across the Atlantic to New York City.  We're celebrating the husband's retirement of our friend and several other people we've sailed with are joining us!   If we can manage it, there might be a Broadway show or two in the itinerary, too, before returning to San Miguel.

So between the cruises and the visits to the timeshares we own at, we'll keep busy!