Our Cruise -Winter Break 2011 (Part 1)

Several people have asked when I was going to blog about our cruise, so I decided to go ahead and do a quick post and then spread it out over several post, so maybe I don't bore you too much with all our pictures and such! We had an amazing time, with that said we will probably never (I suppose I should say never say never) however we will probably never go on a Carnival Cruise again.  Our trip started with some "snags" some because of nature, and some to do with Carnival...We started our trip on Saturday, February 19th (we chose to drive just because we didn't want the stress of flying stand by) plus the road trip gave us extra family time together! Our cruise started in Galveston, TX, so we drove Saturday to Lafayette, LA and spent the night there at the Hilton! Apparently, they were having a bikers convention alittle scary, but we survived!! :) 

Here are a few pics from our road trip:

      

We can't go on a road trip without a Cracker Barrel Breakfast!



 

Tommy relaxing after the long drive to Lafayette!



Chase at the Hilton on the Grand staircase!



Sunday morning we got up bright and early and headed to Galveston, TX, actually... let me back up just a little Saturday night we received a call from Carnival (a recording) saying that due to fog in Galveston our ship was unable to come into port and to check their website for further details, well we are on the road with no Internet access except our blackberry's and we weren't getting all the details! Between my brother and our daughter in law, we finally found out that the ship is going to be delayed, but we are to head to the terminal between 4:00p and 6:30p on Sunday (instead of 12:30p and 2:30p) Well, this is where the "fun" begins! We actually arrived in Galveston as originally planned at 12:30p, but since we were told on the website that the port was closed and not to come to the terminal we just hung around Galveston and started heading over about 3:00p to unload our luggage and park! What a mess! We were in line forever to park the car, we had to carry all our luggage with us because of lack of signs we had no idea where to drop them off or where to park for that matter, we finally found a very nice police officer who told us where to go, we finally got parked, then again no signs, no people telling you anything (keep in mind the ship holds approx 3200 passengers, not only embark, but the 3200 debarking) What a mess!!! Anyway, after we finally found the end of the massive line, we finally boarded the ship about 8:30p that evening! (Only to find out that others came on to the terminal at 12:30p and were allowed to check in and boarded hours before us...UGGHH!) Then we find out that the fog is going to further delay our departure, this was some of Carnival's fault because they delayed leaving and by the time they did the fog was back, anyway, this meant we were going to have to miss our port call in Montego Bay, Jamaica (which is one of the reasons we chose this particular cruise) There is much more I could go on and on, but there is really no need! However with all that said...We had an amazing time! We had a great staff of people that waited on us hand and foot, we had two wonderful young women from Canada that shared our table with us in the evenings, we ate and ate and ate some wonderful food, and we saw some incredible shows, from comedians, to musicals, to an amazing Illusionist! We also enjoyed the huge waterslide on board the ship, as well as swimming in the Grand Caymans, and snorkeling in Cozumel, Mexico! Even with the rough start, we had a great time, enjoying all the ship had to offer, and as Chase said our favorite part was having Daddy's undivided attention for 7 days!!! I will share more about the port calls and our adventures on the ship in the next few posts! So stayed tuned for more about our trip and lots more pics!



Chase on the ferry!





Tommy on the ferry looking cool! :)



This is a view of our ship from the ferry headed into Galveston!



Approx 4 hours in line here, still smiling...That's a good sign! :)



Stay tuned for more post about our cruise and more pics!