PRE-CRUISE/HOTEL  -- The night before the cruise we stayed at the Long Beach Costal Hotel. We booked the Park & Sail room which also included a very large breakfast the next morning. We even arrived just a few minutes before they stopped serving room service and they still accommodated us with a hot and filling "late dinner." The room wasn't a 5-star but served the purpose of us not worrying about making embarkation the next day as they shuttled us over whenever we wanted; and allowed us to keep our vehicle in their parking lot.

The morning of our cruise we took the shuttle over at 11am. Our shuttle transporter said that Carnival was trying to board a little early and the goal was to have the first guest on by 11:45am. We were greeted by the porters and ours was very helpful giving us information about where to go and what to expect the next few minutes of the embarkation ritual. We tipped the 2 bucks a bag (only had 2) and made our way towards the dome.

I was very impressed with the several Carnival employees that were positioned about the area offering information about where to go and what to do. This was a big plus in that we did not have to wonder around guessing. Read more