06-15-08

By gogetter

• June 23, 2008

WHEW......................

We booked this cruise on the 13th and got an inside cabin. Not a problem.......no major discount or any cheaper price for this last minute booking.

Took about 4 hours to drive from the Daytona Beach area

Construction areas: South of Cocoa for about 8 miles. Parts of the W Palm Beach area had construction and N bound 95 just N of The port area.(595 area i think)

DO NOT SPEED IN THE WEST PALM BEACH AREA....TROOPERS EVERYWHERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Embarkation: Awesome and easy now that i am a VIP which means 10 or more cruises. When we walked up, there were 2 sides of 3 lines deep of people checking in. However right in front of us was the VIP area. Only 4 people in front of us and then off to the VIP room. Very nice. They have couches and cushy chairs and air conditioning. Nice touch. Within about 15 minutes we were on our way to board.

Carnival has changed.......you can't go directly to your stateroom. About 1:30 is when you can.

Parking: $20 a day in a covered garage. Get a ticket to enter and you can pay cash or credit card when leaving. Contrary to Carnival stating you have to pay cash up front.

Cabin: Decent and adequate. Didn't see the room steward until that night sometime. Jonesy did not do a good job this cruise. Always forgetting something. I had to remind him several times about stuff. Just disappointing.

Ship: Good overall however some furniture needs to start getting replaced. Missing screws and damaged....

Ports: Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios Jamaica

Cozumel....went to Paradise Beach, 15 dollar cab ride. Decent beach with food and drinks and water toys, trampoline, climbing iceberg and mats, snorkel equipment and rafts for a $10 charge. Beach chairs were free with NO obligation to purchase the band. Had a great time with my wife.

Grand Cayman......much prettier beach. We found a place across from a Courtyard by Marriott called Geckos. $10 charge for a chair. They also had drinks and food. Diving and snorkel equipment were also available.

2 things happened.......first my wife and i were on the beach and we heard someone in the water yelling. Couldn't distinguish what. Finally this lady was yelling for help, i throw my hat and glasses off and go to help. Another lady just beats me there, however after seeing me she let me take her into shore. As i had my arm hooked around hers and swimming in, i plowed into a large piece of coral and my knee starts bleeding. I finally get her to shore and take her fins off, she barely whispered anything and just walks away. SAY WHAT...............Apparently her little vest had deflated....whatever..

Secondly........i was in the water and i notice this lady in a small group had a pretty colored thing in her hand. I kept looking at it thinking it was a shell. Finally i ask if it was and she says no. I was about 20 or more feet away from her and she says it's a croissant../........WHAT? she brought it from the ship to feed the fish so they could take pictures. WHAT... Who in their right mind takes a croissant from the ship to feed fish.......oh well kinda funny i guess.

Ocho Rios.......

Last time we were there we did the falls, so this time we did a trimaran to the falls and beach.AWESOME....AWESOME...AWESOME....... the best time by far. While others climbed the falls, we stayed on the trimaran and talked with the crew. Got a great insight as to how it is living in Jamaica. We also got to start on the rum punch 1 and a half hours before everyone else...lol...i went ashore to swim and my wife told me to swim to the back of the trimaran, which i did. Ziggy put the ladder down for me and i got on and decided to dive off into the water. I did this for the next 15 minutes or so. It seemed so surreal, my wife and i on a trimaran with our own crew, diving into the waters in Jamiaca and swimmiing. Just made me feel so energized.

When others arrived they took us for a cruise and then to Mahogany Beach. Bought a straw bag and then got a massage.AWESOME AGAIN and then cruised back to the pier.

Dinner..........we were sat with 4 honeymooner couples. It was great to hear of their wedding stories and just being young in general. It took us back to a time of our own youth. We went to dinner 6 nights, which isn't the morm. We did sushi and cocktails 5 times during the week before dinner.

Days at sea.......just relaxed, nothing amazing.........1st time i failed to go on the slide, no worries, just didn't get to it.

All in all a great time with my wife, got energized and am now a VIP ! YIPPEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any specific questions and/or comments fire away...i will be glad to answer.

Thanks