Well, to begin with I wanted to post this to thank all the other posts which helped immensely before we left. On Christmas morning I opened a present with all the docs for this cruise. My first thought was OMG the Atlantic in winter! NOT what I was dreaming about a cruise but being a golf professional this is the best time to get away. The good wife even arranged to go down to Baltimore a day early (normally a 2 hour drive from outside Philadelphia). So we began the adventure on Saturday only to run into a buzz saw of snow that surprised Maryland and we made the 2 hour drive in 3. The next day we went to the Aquarium to pass time before boarding. You MUST experience the 4-D theater.

We arrived at the port at 1:20 PM and began the process. LINES, LINES everywhere lines. Lines to get in, lines to go through security and lines to get on board. It went well and in less than 1 1/2 hours we were on board waiting until 3:30 to go to our room 7277. Although the "surprise" was booked in November we didn't confirm dinner times. We were "wait listed" for anytime dinning and 6 PM seating. We decided to stay with 8:15 seating anyway and found distractions to keep us awake until then. You see my wife and I retire around 8 PM each evening and get up about 4 (TIVO does the rest) so we needed to make some real changes. Our first dinner was sooooooo good we decided to keep the late seating as we had a table to ourselves and we loved Haydee (pronounced Heidi. The food was excellent and service divine.

Day 1 We were up at 6 (late for us) and made our way for coffee. Breakfast in Mermaids doesn't start until 8 so, as on our other Carnival cruise, we had pizza and coffee! Now the trouble was finding our way around. It took 5 days before we could actually get from point A to point B correctly. We'd head to Mermaids and find ourselves at the Taj Mahal at the other end of the ship. Over time we got better but every wrong guess as to which way to go got increasingly frustrating. We ate in Mermaids for lunch and I agree it is difficult to find all the stations before deciding what to eat. The food was good though and I usually went for the burgers and fries. We had lunch in the main dining room, Normandie, when we would check the menu and it had veggetarina fare for Lynn. So far the cruise was smooth and fun to watch the map to see how far we had sailed and where we were. My thoughts of the Atlantic being like "Deadliest Catch" seemed to ease a bit and it did feel warmer on our balcony. 80% of the rooms have balconies and I will never cruise without one and it was so cool to sit out and watch the ocean go by. WE were protected from the wind so could sit out with only a sweatshirt on. Lots of activities going on but we just vegged out for the morning. We did find our way to the Casino and we agreed to play a little bit before lunch. Not having been to Atlantic City in a few years I just tried to remember how to play Blackjack, 3 card poker etc. While Lynn played to penny slots. I found myself at the Caribbean 5 Card Stud table and started to take a beating. Realizing it was 10 minutes to lunch I figured I could last until then when POW! I looked at my cards and was excited to see they were all spades! Money hand! THEN I realized they all were connected as in STRAIGHT FLUSH! On the progressive that would amount to a payout of $5,500!!!!!! Well they had to do all the verification, count all the cards look at the video (which they said I looked remarkably calm) and 1/2 hour later, after signing tax withholding and other forms I was presented with a ton of chips to cash in. Lunch would be late. After calming down and a little lunch I went back to the 3 card poker table to be dealt 3 of a kind and another HUGE payout. Mark, the Casino Manager, came over to congratulate me again. It was the luckiest day I ever had. As the week went on my luck did not return until the last day where I did pretty well. All week long Lynn was playing the nickle and penny slots with mixed results until the last day. Sitting g side by side at the penny machines I hit the wrong button (max bet) and hit a progressive winner for $134. $134 on a penny machine! Almost simultaneously Lynn hit for $90 again on the penny slots! We walked away forgetting how much of my big win we had given back during the week and felt good. Read more