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!