I had a short vacation window open and needed to cruise. So the date worked for me and I checked prices for a balcony cabin. It is end of summer so prices were very reasonable. To make things even better the day before we sailed I turned 55 so it was my first time as a senior fare.

We flew to New Orleans and hailed a taxi. I tried Uber but the price was almost as high plus you never know if 5 adults and the luggage would fit. A taxi van was the way to go. $15 per person plus tip. Only a bit less than Carnival shuttle which is $23pp. We arrived early at the port. As we handed our luggage off the the porter, he said they would already allow us in the terminal at 9:45am. We breezed through the check-in process. I should note that EVERY single person from the port staff and from Carnival were delightful. Smiles all over the place and good morning and can I help you - it was so nice.

I guess my pre-cruise online check in was a big help because all we had to do was show our passports and turn in our health questionairre. No pictures - they used the passport photos. We were early so it took a while in the lounge before our group was called to board. We were group 2 right after suites and First to the Fun and group 1. We were eating a Guy's Burger in no time. Delicious I might add. We would go back a couple times over the cruise. We established ourselves with the Blue Iguana Bar staff.. Roy was so fun. He was helpful in getting our first drinks... we bought Cheers and they put the sticker on our card. We were not sure it was there until that point since we bought it online before the cruise. By the way we also bought the 12 pack of bottled water which was super nice to have in the room. Read more