We just returned from our awesome cruise on the Carnival Splendor. Before I forget them, I would like to share all of our findings to better equip you for your future cruise. My DW, DD (2), and I had an awesome time, but there are some things that I wished I knew prior to the cruise.

We traveled to So.Cal early to take in a few days at Disneyland. We stayed a short walk away from Disneyland at the Courtyard by Marriott- Anaheim. We used the Disneyland Express to get from the airport to the hotel. We had some $5 off per person coupons that we found online that made the one way trip under $20 a person. The bus was very nice, but we just missed the 8:30 bus which forced us to wait nearly 45 minutes with a cranky 2 year old on an island in the middle of busy LAX traffic. We considered using Super Shuttle a number of times during the wait, but we were very happy with the bus when it showed up. We enjoyed 3 days at Disneyland/California Adventure.

On the morning of the cruise, we ignored (which is very important) the call from Carnival and left the hotel at 10:30. We used American VIP to shuttle our 15 people from the hotel to the port. They were very courteous and were on time. We figured out that the round trip (Disneyland to Long Beach Port and then Long Beach Port to LAX) was roughly $25 per person with gratuity included. Chartering the 24 passenger bus was well worth it though. We arrived in the port at 11:15. After the porter took our bags, we were off to check in. The line at this time was very short and after checking in just outside the dome and getting our sail and sign cards, we were placed into Zone 3. We ended up only waiting another hour or so to board the ship. There is a very nice waiting area that is covered with cement benches. At 12:00, the line to check in was very long. I cannot recommend getting into port early enough. It makes the embarkation process smooth. We were let in the dome around 12:30. The dome was simply us walking through, getting the first of many Carnival pictures, going up an escalator, getting your Sail and Sign image taken, then boarding the ship. We were on the ship before 1:00 and on the Lido deck eating just after that. Read more