Drove with parents from Crossville, TN to Slidell to spend the night before boarding ship. Great hotel (La Quinta). Got up Sunday morning and headed to New Orleans to board. Dad and brother chose Fulton Garage for parking, much cheaper than Carnival parking (about $8 per day) with free shuttle to port. They dropped the rest of us off at port and checked luggage, then headed to Fulton Garage to park and rode the shuttle back.

Check in was quick and easy. We are all gold members, parents are platinum. We ended up onboard about the same time. All of us were on Lido deck, inside for us and balcony for brother. Rooms were great. We put our luggage in parents room (platinum members are allowed to go ahead and place their luggage in their rooms early) and headed to lunch. Were able to get into our rooms at 12:30 and take a short rest before life boat drill at 3:45. Thank you Carnival. They no longer require you to lug your life vest up to the deck. Just show up, pay attention to the rules, and you are out in 15 minutes or less.

Luggage was pretty late getting to rooms, normally we get ours before drill, but finally got them about 4:30 p.m. Note to plat members: You are promised to get your luggage first...but we all got ours before Mom and Dad. We got unpacked and headed up to watch the sail away, which was pretty lame compared to previous cruises. Read more