Our room:
Teensy bathroom... the shower reminded me living in the dorms.
Our Seagull friend.
The infamous whale tail.
The mini golf course and walking track on the very top (very windy) deck.
The Lido deck
Hooray for life boats!!
More Lido deck... pool, etc...
Now, a quick (or maybe not so quick, only time will tell) list of my Pros and Cons of cruising. Let's start with the "Cons" first so that we can end on a happy note. =)
CONS:
1) I'll start with the most obvious and the one that really, kind of affects all of them - It was my first time cruising. I researched, got really excited, and researched some more and while I think that certainly helped prepare me... I was still a rookie and there are things I just didn't "get" until we were there. This made some things rank lower than my expectations... which granted, I had some pretty high expectations after psyching myself up for so long.
2) The food. Now before you get all wild ninja on me, I'll give you a little sneaksy peaksy and let you know that food also makes an appearance on my Pro's list. Anyway, to be honest, I thought the food was "ok". Mediocre if you will. Granted, the first couple days I was still not back to my 100%-eat-a-lot self so that probably had something to do with it but the buffets that everyone had raved about... were just that... buffets.
3) This one's simple enough... people were packed onto the sun decks like sardines. It was hard to find free lounge chairs... especially more than one or two together.
4) The boat. Was. Full. Of. Kids. Our boat was full with 2,000 guests. Of those, 850, I repeat, 850 of those were under the age of 18. I'd wager that probably well over half of those were under the age of 10. It was nuts. Granted it was Spring Break, so duh, we knew there would be kids, but oh my word it was outta control. A lot of parents just let their kids run like wild Grimlins all over the ship without any supervision. Also, they completely ruled the pool and all hot tubs (which were clearly marked "Adults Only". There might be 30 kids in each hot tub. It was wild son! I like kids and all but I think next time I'd try to go one one that had less of them milling about.
5) Without excursions and without a limitless supply of cash, Island time can be potentially lame. Sure, everything's what you make of it, but I think it's important to note, if we ever go on a cruise again, we WILL be booking excursions well ahead of time.
6) While on the boat, it seems in order to truly enjoy it, you have to truly embrace the cruise culture. I could certainly tell the seasoned cruisers apart from the rest of us. They were always very friendly, relaxed, social, and participated in the silly games and events. Sure some of that stuff is cheezier than Cheez Whiz on mac-n-cheese with cheesecake for dessert, but those people looked like they were having a blast. Plus, you can only lay out (maybe this just applies to my ultra white freckly self) for so long, so doing some other activities probably would have helped. Anyway, our family isn't exactly the "get involved" type so we really didn't much of anything.
7) The water. Oh my lawd. The water (and tea and lemonade that are made from the water) is gross. Eeewww. I will say that it seemed to get better as the week went on, I guess because I was getting used to it, but still, it was nasty. You could buy big bottles of water for like $5, which, if I ever do this again, I would totally do even though the price is no bueno. We did get tasty bottled water when we had dinner in the main dining room though... you better believe I sucked that stuff down like it was going out of style.
8) Had it not been for number 7, this probably wouldn't have been such a big deal, but the drinks (pop too) were pretty pricey. I completely expected this, but it's still a con, am I right!? They also didn't have Dr. Pepper. WHAT?!?!?
9) Dac felt dizzy off and on while on the boat... so that's a definite con but what's even worse was when were both feeling that way when we got home! Did NOT expect that. We were super dizzy, exhausted, and just felt like crap overall. It took several days for us to feel normal again and the whole time I had to ask myself if it was worth it. We were completely miserable.
10) We had to come home. =) Just kidding... of course we were happy to come home but that dang cruise got us all use to that beautiful weather... oh man was it perfect. Then, we come back here and it's 30 degrees. Boo to that, friends. Boo. To. That.
PROS:
1) Hello!!! It was vacation! Thanks to the inlaws' graciousness, it was a fairly inexpensive one, and a week away from work is always a blessing. We really did have a great time and loved the chance to rest a bit. =)
2) The food. There was a pretty big variety and more importantly, it was always there. My favorites were the french toast, chocolate milk, cheeseburgers, chicken strips, ice cream, mozzerella sticks and much of what we had in the formal dining room was real good. I also loved that you could get yogurt, ice cream, pizza and sandwiches basically around the clock... so you were never left to starve. That's a big concern. =) Oh, we didn't take advantage of this, but you could order free room service at any time also. AND you could eat anywhere on the boat. We found ourselves missing the food when we got home... maybe that's why people think it's so awesome... you just don't realize how awesome it is until it's not there anymore and you have to cook for yourself again! =)
3) The service. The guys and girls on this ship were top notch. Our steward had my name memorized from the first second and always greeted me by saying "Hello miss Alisha" when I'd pass him in the hall. Our rooms received a good tidying up at least twice a day and sometimes more. We never had to ask for anything and they never showed up while we were there... it was just magically clean when we came back to get ready for dinner and again when it was time for bed. Amazing. The drink waiters were a riot... we had a lot of fun with them. There was one in particular that was just hilarious and was always dancing around. Then there were people who, I swear, all they did was clean up after people. They were constantly carrying around dirty dishes and trash. It couldn't have been fun but they were always so nice. You've already heard me talk about the waiters in the dining room. Awesome. They made sure we had what we wanted (even if it wasn't on the menu) and they let us try whatever we wanted and however much of it we wanted. All and all, I have NO complaints about the service on Carnival. I was impressed.
4) There's always something to do. From sun-tannin', to eating, to swimming, to learning to do the Thriller dance, to trying your hand at a trivia show, to playing ping pong, to learning to make towel animals, dancing at Diamonds are Forever, hitting up a comedy show, karaoke - you get the idea... the list goes on and on... if you want something to do... you will have something to do. That simple.
5) The people are, for the most part, really nice and friendly. Let's face it, even if you're not a people person, which I am, but even if not... being surrounded by happy people who are having a good time and include you in it, helps. It just does.
6) You get the opportunity to see and do a lot in a fairly short amount of time for a fairly reasonable price. For that reason, it's almost hard to beat. I definitely see why so many people go on cruise after cruise.
7) The rooms (interior rooms) are completely pitch black inside unless you leave a light on. It made for a pretty awesome sleep atmosphere. And really, aside from a few wild elephants, I mean kids, running up and down the halls one night, it was fairly quiet too.
8) Things were organized. I was half anticipating mass chaos when it came time to board and disembark but really, things were handled very well.
9) If you're with friends and family, you'll have fun no matter what - which we did.
10) We didn't wind up in jail. Read this:
All in all it was a great trip. There's definitely things I'd do different if I went again but I really have no complaints. We'd definitely cruise again! HOLLA! =)
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