9/18/04

By teacp

• February 8, 2007

This cruise started out a little disappointing with a call from my TA that our itinerary had changed because of the hurricane. They changed our ports from the EAstern Caribbean to the Western. OUr TA gave us the option to cancel but we decided just being out to sea was vacation enough for us. So...........

Embarkation

Went very smoothly at Port Canaveral. Traffic was at a minimum and we were checked in and having lunch within an hour and half.

Cabin

Yipeee...we had booked an OV guarantee and were upgraded to a balcony. We were in seventh heaven. They know what they are doing when they upgrade you because now Ken and I are hooked on a balcony. The cabin was huge and there was a place for everything. The bathroom was very roomy and had three glass shelves on each side of the mirror giving plenty of room for all our toiletries. Nothing like watching the sun go down from your balcony.

Entertainment

The entertainment was great and the cruise director was the best. I am sure some of you have heard of him. His name is John Heald and we left the nightclub each night with belly aches from laughing. I was chosen to be on stage for the Welcome Aboard show and it was hilarious. We bought the tape and have watched it a few times already. My family thought it was great and they weren't even there. The two Las Vegas type shows were good. The second show "Rockin' down Broadway" was excellent as was the comedians and magic show. The "r" shows were really good if you are open minded.

Food

The food was very good as usual. I just wish Carnival would change their menu from time to time. The menu was exactly the same as it was on the Paradise in February. The lido deck food was very good as each day they had a diffferent theme Italian, Oriental, Indian and of course the grand buffet. The midnight and chocolate buffets were excellent. Of course there is the 24 hour Pizzeria and the deli where you could get a great grilled rueben into all hours of the night. The fish and chips area was also a nice plus as was the grill where you could get cheeseburgers, hot dogs and fries most all day and until later in the evening. The wait staff was great and put on a few good shows for us during dinner.

Disembarktion

We had to stay out to sea two extra days because of Hurricane Jeanne. We had to dock in Port Everglades with 9 other ships and 22,000 people getting off these ships. Carnival had arranged for busses to get us to our destination. The order of getting off was this: Guests with their cars at Port Canaveral would get off first and be bussed to the port to pick up their cars. So off they went...next would be the people that booked their airfare through Carnival and off they went...next was us who booked their own airfare and off we went.....It was a little hairy leaving the port with all the guests that were leaving at the same time but it was not a big deal. When we heard the announcement at 5 Saturday morning that we would be going back out to sea we had gotten a strong signal on our cell phone. I guess because we were so close to Miami that the signal was so strong.When I saw that I immediately called family members and Delta to change our flight from Saturday night to Monday night. Not a problem. We arrived at Orlando Airport about two and checked in. We had a leisurely lunch and meandered down to our gate about 4 ( our flight was at 5:30). Our flight was delayed until 7 and again no problem. Flight was smooth and we landed in Newark Airport about 9:30.

Overall

This was an excellent cruise and I have nothing but praise for Carnival and the way they handled this situation with the safety of the passengers utmost in their minds.