Background: We traveled out of Galveston on June 2 on a five day cruise. "We" means 5 different rooms, 4 on the Upper deck and 1 on the Riviera deck. There were 11 of us total ranging in ages, 87,81,57,50,35,32,27,26,25,18,and 2. This was my 4th cruise with Carnival (first on Ecstasy)out of Galveston, however, for many of the 11, it was their first cruise. Therefore, remember that I am including all of our experiences and any negative experiences were multiplied by 5 rooms. As a whole, we had a wonderful time, it was a great way to get a variety of ages together as a sort of family reunion and there was something for everyone to do, and best of all, no one had to cook, clean, or wash dishes.

Embarkation: We left in three different vehicles from areas all within approx. 1 hour or less from the Galveston terminal. We all parked in the e-z cruise parking lot that we booked ahead on line for a good discount. I think it was $30 for five days. When we arrived at the parking lot, we were told they were moving everyone on our ship to a different parking lot?? Paperwork was completed very quickly as we had all the necessary preboarding done and went to the quicker line. (note: one member of our party packed all his travel documents in his suitcase and then.... oops--he had to go look for it in a huge pile of luggage to retrieve his passport, etc.) In my previous experience memory, after that, the walk to the ship was very short, but for some reason, this time, it was not. Dad (87 and walking with a cane) turned down a wheel chair after 3 offers, he was feeling much younger at the beginning of that very long hike through the bottom of the port. We all wished he'd accepted the wheel chair. We were all on the boat by 12:30 and eating lunch at the Panorama bar and grill buffet. It was very good.

Dining: I enjoyed almost everything I ate. We had early dining seating in the Windstar dining room. They put all 11 of us at one table. It was great, that was the one time we all got together. Rueben, our waiter, was the best. There was always something on the menu we liked and everyone agreed that both service and food were very good. If in doubt, I asked Rueben for suggestions and he had the best advice. Several in our party had the ?beef ?steak? on the last evening and it was very tough. Mom didn't like the shrimp and scallops in the sauce? I tasted it and thought it was very good. The pumpkin soup was delicious (I had read about it here, but was skeptical) Everyone had the chocolate melting cake at least twice. We were all disappointed that it wasn't on the menu the last night. We ate in the Panorama bar and grill for lunch and there was always something we liked. We really liked the day they had ice cream sundaes. We did not like the water any where we drank it. I would bring several bottles of water on board if you have room. Breakfast in the dining room was very good. I was a little disappointed in the eggs benedict. I remember loving it on a previous carnival cruise. We had breakfast one morning in the Panorama and it was good, pretty typical of a buffet breakfast. I just really like being waited on in the dining room. My daughter and husband with the 2 year old skipped one night in the dining room. They were getting a little frustrated with keeping the apple juice in the wine glass with the straw (she refused the sippy cup after seeing all of us with wine glasses) and keeping all the silver ware on the table. (way too many forks and knives for a 2 year old.) By the time she finished her bread and fruit, she was finished with dinner and playing with all the forks. After I suggested that she was really being very good under the circumstances, she became my dinner companion. Dad and my 18 year old really liked the pizza. We ordered room service a few times, Dad and Mom had their morning coffee and juice delivered every day. After a long day in port, we had sandwiches delivered twice and they were very good. I never ate in port, just ate a good breakfast and waited til we returned to eat on the ship. One daughter and husband ate ? ceviche? a fish dish at a restaurant in Progresso and loved it. The other daughter and husband ate near the ruins and were both sick after. Entertainment: Mom absolutely loved watching the shows, the music, the colorful costumes, and the dancing. I thought it was o.k., didn't think the female vocalist was very good at all, the male vocalist was good alone, but together...they were never together. However, I still enjoyed it and the dancing. One daughter and husband are musicians and they did not return after the first night. I took care of the 2 year old while my daughter and husband went to the late night adult comedy and they liked it enough to go again the second time they had it. (or maybe it was just a good excuse to get out alone) One daughter and her husband were a part of the talent show, so of course we enjoyed that. She sings, he played the keyboard with the band. Most of the talent show participants were very good. Karaoke was good the first couple of nights, got pretty boring after that. Casino--won, lost, won, lost, left. Pretty typical of my experiences. They had a movie tour of the bridge--heard it was very informative. Galley tour--bad--large group, couldn't hear anything. I asked our guide to please speak a little louder (and we were near the front) and she gave me a dirty look and kept on speaking at the exact same level. She really should have had a megaphone or something. Or, put it on a video like the bridge tour and then just a quick walk through the galley to see it. Went to the towel animal making and we really enjoyed that, even bought a book I'll probably never use. Those of us that went to the wine tasting ($10/person) thought it was very informative and worth the cost. We tasted 5 different wines, there was a short art appreciation course/sales pitch at the end. We also attended the newlywed game. Mom and Dad missed being the longest married couple by 1 year. They have been married 62 years and the couple on stage, 63 years. We got up early one morning to see the sun rise, but it was too cloudy. Sunset was usually during dinner. We played miniature golf one day and really enjoyed it. You pick up golf clubs and balls by the pool. Two year old grand daughter loved camp carnival (scared of funship Freddy) She wanted to "Go play with kids?" every morning. My sister and I tried to get up with our early rising parents and stay up late with our children. We decided that you can't really do that and last for much longer than 5 days. Read more