On Wednesday, December 14th, my wife and I made the 300 mile drive from our home in Central Texas to the port of Galveston where we were scheduled to embark on a 4-day, 4-night "Christmas Cruise" on the Carnival Triumph at noon the following day.

Thursday morning, December 15th, the Galveston harbor was enshrouded in dense fog. Since we were staying at the Harbor House Hotel (a very nice hotel) near the dock, we walked over to speak with the Carnival personnel about what to expect. We were told the fog would dissipate later in the morning and the ship would dock by 10:00 AM. That hour came and went, but the fog didn't. Another trip, another talk, and we were assured the fog would dissipate by noon (which it finally did) and the ship would dock shortly thereafter (which it didn't).

The ship finally docked around 4:00 PM; however, we were not allowed to board until around 9:00 PM. On boarding the ship we were shuffled into our dining room ("You MUST go to the dining room!") where they tried to make us eat dinner at 9:30 PM. We declined and finally managed to get to our cabin around 10:00 PM (but only by ignoring the Carnival staff). The ship finally sailed out of Galveston around 12:30 AM on Friday, December 15th, and our luggage arrived at our cabin around 1:30 AM. Read more