We had a big group going (about 120 people) and our TA rented a coach bus to take us from Centreville and Sterling. We arrived at the dock around 10:15 to find out that the ship had just arrived... We were able to drive around and unload our luggage into these big containers and then walked into the facility where we were herded into a section and given a zone number. We received zone #1. At about 11:30am we then got herded to the ticketing agents and received our sail and sign boarding cards....then we went back and sat in different chairs. Carnival gave no information, only that there were still well over 1,000 people on the ship...and that we would have to wait. That was ok...however, I wish they had given any estimated time frame....each carnival representative had different information...and dear husband and I hated that they were selling hot dogs for $3 and $4 a pop when we knew we were just feet away from the "free" food on board. By 1:30pm we were turning into very hungry people... I think we were finally called around 2:15pm to board...and that was a fairly simple process. I think Carnival did a good job in getting folks on board quickly when they finally could. (However, I don't know how the people who had driven themselves felt....we saw long lines of cars just waiting and waiting to be able to drop off their luggage). We were at the front of the pack so we probably didn't experience what other folks did.

When we got on board we went right to our cabin...#8235, cat. 9. Lo and behold I forgot to take a picture of it....there was a small foyer when you walked in....a big closet on the left and wall on the right....walk a little further and there was the sofa, coffee table, and tv set high up. Then the room opened up where there was a huge mirror both on the wall over the bed and above the dressing table.... The dressing table was huge and they had a place where they had all kinds of different glasses for drinks and a "bar" area for alcohol. It was pretty darn nice. The bathroom was your regular rinky dink size and so was the shower....no complaints, the shower was great! The balcony was huge! It was very long and wide....could have fit four chairs with room for more on it. The one complaint I did have about this room was that there were always weird smells in it....sometimes it smelled like garbage...sometimes it smelled like food being cooked, etc.

We then went up to the lido...I have never been there on embarkation day and experienced it practically empty...the food was great though I can't remember what I had...I'm a big salad person so I would appreciate the salad bar having more variety but it was still very good. I think dear husband had some kind of fish... Of course they asked you every few seconds if you wanted the drink of the day... Read more