Sunday- April 1, 2007 ( Embarkation)

This was very uneventful, we arrived at 10 am there was only a dozen or so people in the terminal at this time, i will throw out a very good key for future cruisers, as you are standing facing the security screeners, line up on the right side of the pole near the bath rooms, this is where they will start the line and you will be the first one to go thru, besides the VIP'S, and special needs guest. The Galveston personnel made this so uneventful it was a breeze, here is a second key to getting on board faster....after you get your Sign and Sail cards, make sure you get to the back of the room in the chairs (2nd Waiting Area) they start loading the ship, from the back to the front, everyone always tries to get the front row of seats.... Today was a exercise day, due to the recent storm, somehow the gangway became damaged, so after taking a boarding pics with the Carnival Photographer, we mazed our way thru the terminal, back down to the bottom floor, were they bring the luggage off the ship for customs...anyway, we loaded the ship via the deck 0 (pier Level), was on the ship by 1145am I think!!! it was close to noon, they had instructed everyone that the rooms would not be ready till 2pm, never has stop me before! LOL went straight to my room, and to my surprise, the room was available....dropped off all items in the closet, and went straight to the Sur Mer grill ( Seafood Grill)...NO WAITING!!! I really wasn't impressed with this grill, it was ok, but after everybody had talked up this restaurant....i guess i was looking for more of a variety...the menu is the same throughout the whole cruise, it doesn't change. Spent the rest of the day touring the ship, and taking photos, before all the 35oo passengers boarded the ship. We had been assigned dining room time in the Monet Dining room - Lower level Table 320 at 5:45 pm, we had originally had requested 6:15 pm, but we notified the maitre' D that we would like to have had the 6:15 pm no problems, but we would need to keep the dining room time for the first night.... After meeting our table mates we had decided that we would stay at this table, and keep the same assigned dining room time...

I was assigned to cabin Lido # 9240, after we in the Gulf, i had already called the pursers desk to complain about the 90 degree cabin, and no one from the maintenance guys showed up, so i went on to the Welcome Aboard Show, figured they would repair the A/C while i was at the show. After the show was over, that had not been the case.....Went to check on the status of the room, and to my surprise no one had been there to correct the situation, so i then went to the Pursers desk. After speaking with Miranda...who then kindly informed me that she had already sent the maintenance staff to the room and since no one was there, it had not been repaired, i kindly informed her after sitting in the 90 degree room for over a hour awaiting the maintenance guy, i went on to the show due to the hot room, and figured they would have entered the cabin, and took car of the problem. She then kindly informed me that she was not, going to send a maintenance guy back to my room, at this time, i had to raise the bar....made sure everyone could hear the conversation that was taking place....I then requested to speak with the Chief Purser, who conveniently was not available....after standing there for 5-10 minutes arguing about the cabin temperature, she followed me up to the room, and i showed her were i had taken a water bowl, and pried back the vent to get air flow to come out of the vent, so we could get some a/c, after i removed the water bottle, and the vent was placed back in the original position, she agreed there was no air flow coming from the vent, or seemed liked it was blocked, but when the a/c guy got there he stated the cabin temperature was fine, i told her the only reason the cabin was cooler was because of me prying back the vent and sticking a water bowl in the vent to get air flow into the cabin.....I guess since i had done that enough time had elapsed from the time i left the cabin for the show, and till they came to the room it cooled off to within limits of the a.c guys thermometer, but it was still hot as hell in the room, this went on back on forth for about 20 minutes, they told me that they couldn't do anything about the a/c, i finally told them if they could adjust the flow up inside of the vent, which i have seen done on previous cruises, but for some reason, the a/c guy was not budging...so i said fine...you guys do what you have to do and i will do what i have to do to make this room cooler, I kindly informed them they will be missing a vent when and if they returned, Miranda (purser) told the a/c guy he is serious about removing the vent....is there anything you can do....after standing in the room for over 20 min. telling me there is no other solution, i watched his hand, remove the vent, adjust the vent flow restrictions somehow....wwwwwoooowww.....rush of COLD AIR!!! It was amazing....I told Miranda i would still like to meet with the Chief Purser about this situation, sometime the next day. Read more