My husband and I just returned from our 7 day cruise to Montego Bay Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. This was our second cruise with carnival our first on the freedom. We arrived in Galveston Friday, which was the night before we sailed. We stayed at the Galveston Hilton Island resort. It was a great price for the night and they offered shuttling to the port. Our scheduled check in time was 10:30 but we were running late and didn't arrive until about 11:30. All the staff at the port were very friendly and helpful, the whole boarding process probably took less than 45 minutes. It was very fast!

When we boarded we grabbed a bite to eat and we were ready to get into our rooms within the hour. The cruise director Malcolm was great and was very involved with the passengers and activities on the ship, we saw him ALL the time. We thoroughly enjoyed having dinner in the dining room, some of our favorite waiters were Septa and Kelbert, but they were all wonderful. One night we were surprised at dinner with a little anniversary cake and they sang to us, we felt very special. The food was delivered in a timely manner and was always the appropriate temperature. My favorites were usually the appetizers, though nothing I had was bad.

We enjoyed the 80s show the dancing and singing was absolutely amazing. We also went to the comedy club twice and laughed until we cried both times. This being a September cruise there were not very many kids but our friends who were traveling with their two small children found plenty to do. Our first stop was Montego Bay, Jamaica. We had been forewarned about the dangers of this stop so we booked the Montego Bay All Inclusive excursion through carnival. When getting off the boat we were taken by air conditioned bus to the RIU resorted. Drinks and food were included as well as kayaking, paddle boats and hobie cats. There was a large pool and activities going on within the resort like ping pong and baggo. One issue we had was while we were in the swimming area we were approached by a man in a kayak trying to sell items, he was very pushy and at one point during the day he was yelling vulgarities from the water to a tourist on shore who had apparently taken something from him. This was very scary for us as well as the children as you can imagine. So my advice would just be to be very careful in Jamaica. The scenery and beach was beautiful but it is important to be cautious at all times. Read more