First off—the trip started off on a bad leg, when I realized that my PVP had booked me for the wrong flights (I had flight deviation) so I spent a lot of time on the phone getting the flights corrected. Even though I'm ticked at the PVP, I'm more upset with myself that I didn't notice the error until the day before I was supposed to fly out.

12/23—3 PM bus to Boston from Portsmouth. $39/rt and free parking for the entire week. Sweet deal. My flight to Houston was supposed to leave at 6:50, but didn't end up leaving until nearly 8:30 because of weather in New York. Finally arrived in Houston at 12:30 AM. Missed my flight to New Orleans, but since it was the airlines fault, they put me up at a hotel for free. 12/24—After only 4 hours sleep, I got back up to get a 7:25 flight to New Orleans. Had baggage and went looking for the Carnival shuttle by 9:15. Nobody from Carnival was there yet. So I had breakfast and came back later on. Ended up on the 10:45 shuttle to the pier, even though they weren't supposed to start shuttle service until noon according to my docs. NOLA pier is VERY easy to deal with. Was checked in and on the boat by noon. On board there were people walking around with DODs and champagne. I avoided the DODs but ended up drinking 3 champagnes as they were giving out champagne for free. Later on, I had a Fun Ship Special, while it was good, Kiss on the Lips became my favorite drink. Had lunch on the Lido, walked around the ship, checked out my room and spa, and met up with my roll call after the muster drill (very painless). Everybody from the rollcall was wonderful, and I enjoyed meeting up with them all, especially since I had missed the meet up the previous evening. Checked out the Martini party before going to dinner. I tried to go to the singles' meet up but when I walked past the lounge it appeared to be filled with couples or older folks plus by then it was 11 PM and I had been up since 5 AM and was running on only 4 hours of sleep plus 4 alcoholic drinks, so I ended up in bed snoring instead. 12/25-- Lido for breakfast. Mostly hung about and read in a chair. I got a La Therapie facial at the spa. It was a good facial, though I didn't really notice a lot of improvement. I learned a lot about my skin though and did end up buying a night cream. I had wanted to buy a good night cream for awhile though, I haven't used it yet though. Went to a seminar on "How to get a flatter stomach", which was disappointing, the two gentlemen who ran it seemed to be wanting to sell their services more than providing some real life solutions (at least in my opinion). Formal night was this night and there was a special Christmas dinner. I definitely lamented the lack of hair dryer when preparing for formal night. Skipped the talent show as once again I couldn't keep my eyes open. 12/26—Cozumel. I love this port, seriously. Passed a RCL ship to dock at Punta Langosta. Caught a cab to Chankanaab Park where I had reservations for the Royal swim. I checked in, bought some sunscreen and changed into my swimming suit. Walked around the Mayan ruins for a while and looked at the garden before settling myself under a Palapa to read. I thought about snorkeling but by the time I settled in and rented snorkeling stuff, I would have had only about ½ hour. The Dolphin swim was simply amazing, I got to hug, kiss, be pulled by the dolphins and do the superman push. Definitely an amazing experience and worth every penny. The dolphins were terrific and I swear they live for fish, people and tricks. We got to see 3 babies, including one that decided to 'perform' for us. Bought the dvd and all the pics for $90. I ate lunch at the onsite restaurant, where I had 2 strawberry margaritas and chicken enchiladas with delicious mole sauce for $18. I would definitely recommend eating there if you're at Chankanaab. After lunch I took a taxi back to the downtown area to shop. I got a henna tattoo and went in search of Tanzanite, which I fell in love with on the ship. I managed to get a piece for $331 at one of the shops (not a ship recommended one). I'll eventually have it appraised but I like it regardless. Walked around a bit more before getting back on the boat for sailaway at 4 PM. Too short of a day in my opinion. 12/27—Progresso. World's longest pier definitely applies to this port. I went to Chichen Itza so I had to be off of the ship first thing. Even though Carnival says they don't stop on the way up, we stopped at a restroom/gift shop on the way up. Our tour guide was terrific, he knew a lot about the Mayans and Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza was packed. Our bus had to drop us off then park elsewhere and getting both in and out of the ruins there was a huge backup. Let me state that this was not Carnival's fault, it just happened to be very busy. You can no longer climb the ruins, which disappointed me, but I knew that before hand. Chichen Itza is...words can't describe it...it's amazing. Packed with people wanting to sell you stuff that is, "almost free" and "only $1". I managed to barter for some stuff that I wanted. The bagged lunch was unimpressive. Only one type of sandwich was offered and it had red meat which I haven't eaten in a long time, I was starving at that point, so I just ate it without complaint. Once back on the pier I did a bit of shopping and got back on the boat. 12/28—Last sea day. Really not much to say. I Loved the towel animal folding demo and the Newly Wed game. Attended the debarkation talk, and booked a New Orleans city tour, so I went from #20 to #1. Dinner and Ticket to Ride. 12/29—Got up early to eat. I was taking a New Orleans city tour so I got off very early, right after all the self debarkees were done. The city tour was amazing but very sad, especially considering all the devastation, they gave us about 2 hrs to walk around the French Quarter. I had seafood gumbo and went to Cafe du Monde. They got us to the airport at around 2 PM, where I had enough time to check in and hang around before catching at 3:30 flight. Got home around Midnight.

Ship—Even though it's my first cruise, I noticed it's "smaller" size. Big problems with chair hogs, but I guess that's to be expected on a Christmas cruise. I found it very easy to navigate and could make my way around the ship very easily. I only used the elevators 2x in the entire 5 days, so I appreciated the easy access by stairs to everywhere. One of my favorite places to park my butt tended to be the settees (?) on the Promenade deck with a Kiss on the Lips in one hand and a book in the other. I loved Cleopatra's lounge, but then anything tastefully decorated with any kind of ancient culture theme gets my thumbs up. Read more