To start we chose to drive from New Orleans to try out this BIG and new ship. Ive been on 2 other cruises both with Carnival and my girlfriend has been on about nine with multiple cruise lines. Let me start by saying I'm always on here reading the reviews and all I can say is all the people with the negative reviews about this ship have issues. I am in the service industry and pay very close attention to what people complain about but I just didn't see it on this ship.

We drove in the day before and stayed at Springhill Suites by Mariott. Price for room was $144.00 and the room we had slept six(2 doubles and a sofa bed). We could even see the ship from our room when we got up Sunday morning. The drive from hotel to port was only 10 minutes and we parked at EZ Cruise Parking for $45.00 for the week. They shuttled us to port and back to lot when we got back.

Getting on the ship was very smooth. We got to port around 10:30 and were on ship by 11:00. Probably the quickest I've gotten on out of all my cruises. Once on we went straight to the Lido deck for some food and of course multiple drinks of the day. Read more