Okay - so here is my review from start to finish. If you have ANY questions, please feel free to ask. Like I said above, this was our first Carnival Cruise so I'm by no means an expert on everything Carnival, but I am more than happy to answer any and all questions about our experience.

On Thursday, Feb. 20th, we arrived in Galveston to check out the sights and see if the Triumph had made her appearance yet. However, due to heavy fog in the Galveston Channel, the cruise returning from a 5 day was delayed getting in and didn't arrive in Galveston until about 1:30 that afternoon, instead of 8:00 a.m. that morning. So, since we were early - VERY early - we went to breakfast at Star Drug Store on 23rd Street. It is the oldest drug store in Galveston and has a lot of neat gifts and great breakfast - all the way down to the soda fountain counter in a horseshoe shape right in the middle of the store. Anyway, after breakfast we decided to go driving down the SeaWall and see what all was there. It has a lot of great places to hang out and shop or stay the night and even to play on the beach. We will be making a trip just to hang out there in the near future. After that we went back to the pier just to hang out and have a few drinks and some appetizers to get our party started early, as well as watch the Triumph come into port. Also, we had dropped our luggage right before this about 1:15.

The Boarding Process - About 1:30 that afternoon, she finally arrived in Port. However, it was another good 2 hours before we were even allowed to start the boarding process. Thanks to someone on here mentioning the FTTF Pass (Faster to the Fun Pass) and spending the extra $50 - we were through security, got our cards and in the waiting area all in under 30 minutes. We kept saying the entire trip how nice it was that we had the pass and how much time it saved us just by having that little card. The FTTF is only $50 PER stateroom - NOT per person. It can be found under Shore Excursions in your booking info on carnival.com. They only allow so many to be purchased and they go very quick - I now know why. So... about 4:15 we began the actual boarding process and we were on the ship fairly quickly after that. - I'd say within 15 minutes max. They take the wedding parties, gold, platinum, faster to the fun first and THEN the rest of the passengers. Due to the late arrival and boarding, however, our cabin wasn't going to be ready until 5:30 that evening instead of being ready before we ever boarded (another perk of the FTTF - cabin is ready as soon as you board and you receive your luggage much quicker). So, the cokes and water we had, plus our carry on, we had to lug around for a good hour. But, since we had already met people on Facebook who were going too, we just met them at the Red Frog rum bar and put our stuff down and began to have drinks and make new friends! :) Read more