Pre-Cruise: We stayed at the Super 8 in La Marque for one night for about $71. I was impressed that reserving the room almost a year ago that they had taken note of my request to have a bottom floor room. It is a clean hotel (nothing fancy) and they have a continental breakfast. This was our third time staying here. We ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant (formerly Acapulco) which was in a shopping center across the street. Food was good and Margaritas were excellent. Great way to get in the mood for vacation!!

Day of Embarkation: We left our hotel around 10 am and arrived at EZ cruise parking at about 10:30 and they let us park right away. Waited about 20 minutes and they had us on our way to the ship. Once we got into the terminal there were decent size lines, but they moved very quickly. We were on the Lido deck by about 11:30am and went and grabbed lunch. Rooms were not ready until 1:30, so we just spent some time walking about the ship and getting the rooms set up at Guest Services (to have the kids in one/bf and I in the other). Once we got to our rooms they were ready to go and both gifts I had ordered were already there (bottle of wine and cooler w/ Budweiser-hat-mug). That was the biggest surprise, when I have ordered alcohol on previous trips I was always told I wouldn't receive until after embarkation due to some crazy Texas law. Maybe the rule has changed?? Not sure......

Our Cabin: Two inside cabins on the Verandah deck 8 (8303 & 8307). We were originally booked on Riviera deck 1 (1341 & 1345) but were upgraded by Carnival about 3 days prior to sailing. Really loved our location on Deck 8, it was centrally located and we were pretty much able to walk the stairs any where we went. Best thing was being a deck below the Lido deck which is where we spent most of our time either going to the buffet or hanging out by the pool. The room was VERY quiet despite some worry of being below the very active Lido deck. The only time we heard noise was the night of the Mardi Gras party when we heard crowds jumping around midnight but it was brief. The room was decent size for two people, with the exception of being by the closets and someone trying to come out of the bathroom at the same time. Strangely enough my kids had a different Room Steward in 8307 than my bf and I in 8303. Mine was Franciso and he came and introduced himself right away, we saw him often all week in the hallways and he always greeted us. He did a great job of keeping the room clean and after leaving a note the first date always filled our cooler and other container with tons of ice. He made some great towel animals, some of which I had never gotten before. One thing I really appreciated after being on Royal Caribbean last year is having clean beach towels left in our room EVERY day. RC no longer does this at all and requires you check them out by the pool now, so I appreciate that Carnival still does this. While I understand it isn't the end of the world, it's just a nice touch in my opinion. Despite being one of the first group of folks on board we got our luggage later than usual, we got them just before Muster at 3:30. Either way we were still able to come back to the room after the drill and unpack everything before our dinner at 6:00. I will say this was the first time in 3 years I have had an inside cabin and I very much missed seeing what was going on outside, but it was nice for days we wanted to sleep in as it is DARK. Read more