2/6/06

By TCGgal

• February 8, 2007

Our check in was smooth at The Queen Mary. We were late bording due to the departing guests...the "superbowl" cruise was pretty wild (and not in a good way) I heard. Once we were on board, we easily found our stateroom (E49) and enjoyed walking around the ship. We had a bit of lunch(loved the deli sandwiches)and walked around some more. We purchased adult fountain cards so we wouldn't have to pay for sodas. This was a great deal at $22 pp plus $6.60 gratuity. I did notice that the bartenders(tho not all) will not hurry to help you when they see a fountain card, so best to leave it in your pocket until you order if you don't want to wait.

Dinner the first night was good (probably the best) food wise. The service was friendly, but not as "wonderful" as it has been in the past- maybe this is due to the length of the cruise, but it was fine.

Our stateroom was fine-comfy & clean! If you like to sleep in the complete dark, an inside cabin is the one for you-you could sleep forever with the gentle rocking of the ship, so if you need to be up get a wake up call or set an alarm.

We did not go to any shows the first night, so I cannot say how they were, but when we did get to the shows, they were fun. There are not many "good" seats in the Normandy Lounge, but we survived.

The art auctions are fun! I "won" a piece on the first night-in the main bar in the atrium-by the way Renate, the bartender there is GREAT, they do a mini auction. If you are the first to bid, they will give you the piece free-just be sure it is a piece that starts at like $5- don't do this on a $2000 piece-he will not give you this for free!

I did purchase a nice harbor scene at the actual auction,, which was fun!

Catalina Island was fun-we rented the golf cart and zipped around. There are many great photo ops, and be sure to watch for the dolphins on your tender trip over to the island. I enjoyed the entire experience-the shops are cute, even though I didn't purchase anything, I enjoyed browsing. We were back on the ship early, noon I think. We layed in the sun & watched the dolphins all day.

Dinner was formal this night. They served lobster-way way way overcooked. I was very dissapointed. I have had lobster on cruises in the past that was perfectly prepared.It seemed that the food went downhill from there.

If you do not want cold food, do not eat breakfast at the Paris lounge, enjoy your breakfast at the Destiny dining room. Lunch at the Paris was fine, deli & a salad or go to the Destiny for lunch too. They had a nice Mongolian Steak Salad when we went.We had dinner everynight in the dining room.

Cabin service-hmm, it was ok...Thursday my room did not get made up until 5:30 pm, and we were out of it at 9:15 that morning. I complained to the purser, got no resolution. When I saw a steward, I was told "she must have forgot". HMMMMM. I also had to ask for a wash cloth twice. This seemed like a no brainer. If the room starts with a washcloth, they should be replaced during the cruise. On Friday morning (debarktion looms) we had one last breakfast, then were off the ship bye 8:15. No waiting, they called our color, then we walked off, into customs, where we waited 1 hour. The other lines were moving quickly, ours was not-luck of the draw, I guess.

All in all, I will cruise on Carnival again-especilly since we won a a 3,4, or 5 day cruise in the raffle on board-woo hoo, and it is an ocean view room!

So, I am planning our next trip. I will pick a newer ship. I hope this had been helpful.