This was my first cruise ever, also my first time to Mexico. There were just us three Michigan girls (we left the husbands/boyfriend/kids at home)! It was my sister (21 yrs. old, also 1st time cruiser), my sister-in-law (31 yrs. old, had been on one cruise about 12 or 13 years ago), and myself (31 yrs. old also). I did all the booking myself...the cruise through Carnival, the flight through NWA and the hotel through Howard Johnsons.

We flew into Tampa the night before the cruise just to be safe. We stayed at the Howard Johnson on Dale Mabry Hwy. smack between the airport and port of call. We called the HoJo, after getting our luggage, to pick us up (advertised on their website for $4 per person plus tip), but after waiting 20 minutes or so, the driver called us back and told us to take a cab (which were everywhere) and he would pay the difference which ended up being $1.34.....we waited 1/2 an hour to save a TOTAL of $1.34...But we were really happy to be there and to have our vacation started, that is until we GOT there...I knew the hotel was in a part of town with quite a few strip bars (but heck, I lived on 8 mile road for 3 years. What's a couple strip clubs?) It was only $62.00 for the room (I think about $72.00 with tax) there were a lot of reviews when I was researching it that said it was at least clean and neat....LIARS!!!! It was gross....we found a cockroach in the bathroom, garbage under the furniture (which we proceeded to turn over every single piece of once we found a roach)....An overall NASTY experience (albeit cheap compared to other hotels.) Anyways, we scrubbed our own room down and kept telling ourselves "It's only one night...It's only one night...." Their shuttle service said it would take us to the port for $9.00 each...we took the cab which cost us $5.00 each including tip.

Anyhow, the worst part of the trip being over, we went through the embarkation process which was an absolute breeze. We got there about 11:00 a.m. and it took no more than 10 minutes before we were on the ship. We were immediately guided to the lido deck where the food and liquor were already flowing strong (Thank you Susila!)! We had a couple of cocktails each and our rooms were already ready...but we weren't, so we had a couple more cocktails while exploring the ship, then finally we went to our rooms. I had booked a guaranteed stateroom and ended up in room U96 which is an inside stateroom on the upper deck right in the middle of the ship (we felt little to no movement and very little noise). The rooms were immaculate and larger than I expected. Our room steward (we love you Conrad!) promptly introduced himself and gave us the "low-down". It was then time for us to attend the safety drill which took very little time, then back to the rooms to get ready for the first dinner. Read more