I hadn't originally planned on this three day Carnival excursion to the Bahamas being my first cruise. But after I booked the NCL Norway for February, I still had money left over in my budget for a quick getaway over Christmas. And at $550 for a Category 4 Inside cabin all to myself, (as a single traveler), I couldn't pass it up. (It sure beat spending time with the relatives, but I won't go into *that*!)
Embarkation
Carnival and I certainly got off on the wrong foot. Having to start the journey in Port Canaveral, nearly an hour away from the nearest airport (Orlando), gave me pause. The hop from my home in Washington DC to Orlando was a quick two hour jaunt. I arrived at noon. I quickly found my way out the terminal to the Mears bus pickup point. There was no bus there, but a Carnival representative showed me where to put my luggage and gave me a boarding pass. I sat down on the pavement and waited. Forty-five minutes. No bus. An hour. No bus. Finally our bus materialized and pulled up. About twenty minutes later, loaded with about sixty Fantasy cruisers, the bus pulled away and made it's way toward the Space Coast.