I am from North Louisiana and we started our trip by staying in New Orleans 2 nights before the cruise. We stayed at the Drury Inn & Suites because they let us leave our car in the fenced parking lot for free. We only paid parking for the 2 nights that we stayed at the hotel. The hotel had a free hot breakfast each morning & free drinks & food in the afternoons & the trolley stopped right outside of the hotel. We couldn't have asked for anything better. Me, my mother & another lady went on this trip.

We took a taxi to the port Saturday morning for $21.00. It did not even take 15 minutes to get checked in. We had to wait about an hour before boarding the ship at about 12:15. Lunch was waiting for us on the Lido Deck. It was crowded but we had no trouble finding a table. We went to our room at 1:30 to drop off our carry on pieces. This is my 8th cruise on Carnival & I can say that this is the only time that our room steward has not been overly friendly. We rarely ever saw him the whole trip. On all other trips, our room steward has always made a point of talking to us everyday & asking if we need anything. We just never had any contact with him.

Our room was one with the back balconies & we sure did enjoy sitting outside. With 3 women in a room is was a little crowded, but we managed. When we booked our cruise, we were told that there were 2 beds & the sofa made out into a bed. The sofa did not make out into a bed - you could remove the arm rests & put a small mattress on top of it. (It was about 5 feet long.) There was a cot in the room when we first got there, but the only place to put it was in the little hall in front of the bathroom which meant you couldn't get to the bathroom unless you folded up the bed. We told them to remove the cot & we all took turns sleeping on the sofa. With me being 6 feet tall, it was not very comfortable but we made do. Read more