Where do I start, My wife and I met and fell in love on a NCL ship back in 2004. We are veteran cruisers but not as passengers. We know the Miami area quite well so the embarkation process was a little long but what can you expect with 3,00 plus passengers boarding all at once. The whole process only took probably an hour but due to excitement it seemed much longer. The only suggestion I have is for carnival to have some sort of monitors or information on what to expect or promoting shore excursions.

Again being ex-crew I was prepared for the mandatory evacuation drill and mustering of passengers. I forgot just how impatient and rude the passengers can be for such an important drill. That went off without a hitch and we were on our way up to deck 9 (Lido) the heart of the ship. That is where the pools and Emile's grand buffet and other 24 hour pizza and deli stations are. The ship is clean as a whistle and is set up to be very easy to navigate for a ship this size. The food is great and I forgot just how much food is on a cruise ship. The Crew there is fabulous, I mean fabulous they exceeded every expectation and request with a smile, they made our cruise. This is the spot that I thought was going to be a headache (my wife is a vegetarian) not vegan but no red meat or chicken, the options for here were vast from Veggie burgers cooked to order to Great Fish Options every day. She was happy which means I was happy. The cruise went well except for one hiccup-someone had a medical emergency 2.5 nautical miles from the Port of Miami so we had to stop and get him evacuated from the ship-I can not be upset with that person or Carnival for that matter, I heard later that he ended up having a quadruple bypass and if he was not on the ship he would not have survived waiting at his home for the ambulance so again credit to the Crew. We were on our way to the Bahamas and Half Moon Cay. What a great port, kind of a long line to tender and some confusion on weather or not you needed photo ID but great beach with sand as soft and white as cotton and water as clear and blue as a swimming pool. Great times. Then on to a fun filled sea day and St.Thomas, My wife and I do not go to the typical tourist destinations at ports of call so here we rented a On/off road motorcycle for $64.00 US and had a blast got to see all of the island not just one or two locations with a tour or taxi. Great locals and scenery. Then San Juan PR. Was hot and humid like here in TX in July but I am used to that so we hiked up the hill into the city to check out neighborhoods and the awesome Castle/Fort that used to protect the city!! About 20 degrees cooler at the top of the hill with the breeze!! Then on Grand Turk, again great beaches and weather, had a little shower in the afternoon but was gone in 45 or so minutes and back to the beach!!! We don't do the duty free shopping on a cruise, I can do that anywhere here in the US so I believe that a port is what you make of it, not what the cruise line makes it for you.

The Crew from Captian Nagaro and Butch B. the Cruise Director went above and beyond anything I could of expected from them to make our Anniversary Cruise the best we could of asked for. Met some great people that I hope I cruise with again in the future!!! Thanks for reading my review, I hope someone I cruised with on this FEB 19th out of Miami feels the same!!! See ya again soon!!!