Background: My wife and I are both 50+ and now cruise at least twice a year. We've only cruised on Princess (Platinum card), Carnival (Platinum card) and Celebrity. We're easy to please, use a travel agent and always book a balcony cabin BUT we're always on the lookout for the best deal. We tend to book an aft cabin on a deck or two below Lido and the casual buffet eateries. That way we're close to the food but always use the stairs so we do get some exercise (LOL).

Arrival + Houston: We booked our Jet Blue flight to arrive a day early (mid afternoon) to avoid any weather related "surprises" in upstate New York (Syracuse to be exact) -- ya gotta have a Plan "B" when you live in snow country. We flew into Houston Hobby (HOU) rather than Bush International (IAH) b/c that's the only Houston airport Jet Blue services. Also, the Carnival shuttle to the ship is cheaper from Houston Hobby. We stayed @ the Days Inn on Airport Blvd b/c it has free airport shuttle and free continental breakfast. The staff there is friendly/helpful, the rooms are clean and have fridges & microwaves, there's a Denny's a block away for food and a bakery & market (with a Taqueria) a couple blocks past Denny's. The Day's Inn folks took us to the airport on cruise day and that's where we met the Carnival reps - that's when the misadventure started. We were advised the ship was running late (I had read the member reviews beforehand and somewhat expected this would happen).

Embarkation: We boarded the airport to pier shuttle and were among the first to arrive @ the pier around noon to learn that the Triumph was having propulsion problems and would dock @ 1:00 PM and we would board @ 4:30. We were given a letter saying (b/c of technical problems) the ship was only going to one port and staying overnight (we surmised it w/b Progresso and not Cozumel) and that we could cancel the cruise and get our money back. If we agreed to still go on the cruise we would get $15 each for lunch credited to our sign and sail card, $50 add'l OBC for not going to Cozumel and the $9 Cozumel port charge as OBC. Some people were furious but we just wanted a cruise with warm weather so we took the deal. Because we are Platinum, we boarded first ~3:45 PM and were eating on the Lido by 4:00 PM. Being Platinum has its perks. Read more