How about a free cruise!? Well, it wasnt really free, but there was no out of pocket for my wife and I on this lovely weekend cruise on the Paradise to Ensenada, Mexico. I was able to use our timeshare points to pay for the entire cruise with points to spare. Now while this was only a 3 day cruise, with some planning, Im sure that next year we will be able to take a week long for the same price: nothing!

We slowly realized during this cruise that we are cruising veterans. It seemed to come up every time we turned around; from boarding to cabin choice, from ship's staff to shipmates; from dinner to shows, from activities to shore excursions, from the casino to the spa. In fact, the only time our experience didnt work for us was on disembarkation!

This was our 6th cruise; 3rd on Carnival. We live local so I knew the drive to Long Beach would be about 90 minutes so I didnt stress it. We made the ship by 2:00pm and were onboard, meeting the room steward, and up to the Lido deck for lunch by 2:30. Carnival staff goes out of their way to recognize repeat cruisers (our sail and sign cards are a different color) and we felt kind of special. Since I booked at the last moment, I went with the lowest category outside cabin to which Carnival bumped us 2 decks. Read more