Day 1 Leaving Mobile. We were a family of four travelers 4 adults with two cabins, R20 and R26. We arrived via car at the Mobile cruise terminal around 10:30am, parking easy garage parking and $85 as expected, payable prior to parking. Adequate space to unload car, and send luggage with porter. The group could have let one park car, and others proceed on to the terminal, but we chose to all stay together. Got in customs/embarkation line. Embarkation process better than previous experience because I was able to type in my own information with on-line check in with carnival that was simply verified by the gate agent (big time consumer because of difficult spellings usually takes a while). The lines were a little longer than I expected, but able to be on the ship by 11:30 - 11:45. Lunch in the Lido, very good but a little chaotic as people were learning what to do; there was adequate assistance in finding your way to the lido deck. We were well informed that rooms would not be ready until 1:30. Finished lunch by 12:30 and then spent time learning our way around the ship, and setting up cash based sail and sign accounts (could have avoided this step by using a credit or debit account). We toured the Spa and registered for free treatment drawing (we did not win lol) At 1:30 there was no announcement about room readiness, but we decided to go try. There were no staff on site to assist in locating the rooms, but very good signage so we had no problems. The rooms were set in the bed together configuration which was fine with us. Only problem was the life vest cabinet. When the beds are together the right end of the bed and this corner cabinet meet, so that the second person either must crawl over the bed to get to the other side or both get into bed from the same side. Not very conducive to looking out the portholes. It was a great relief to leave our carry-on luggage as we had sodas and a bottle of champagne we were carrying. The wine had gotten to warm to serve at that point for cast-off, so we elected to wait and have it chilled and served on one of our dinner times (more info later) Left dock at 4:10 almost on time. Ship was sailing just about 20 people less than the maximum capacity (approximately 2600 people) Our rooms were clean, adequately stocked, ice in the bucket on arrival with sodas and water available for purchase. The temp in the room was a little warmer than I found comfortable for sleeping, but I like it very cool in my room at home. The forward low position in the boat afforded a bit more movement than the men in the group could handle, and they stayed on Bonine with a low level of nausea the entire trip. The amount of ship movement was more than I remember from my previous sailing on the same sized ship in the Atlantic, and continued to toss about quite a bit the whole trip.
We attended the welcome show in the Mikado Lounge. The show was more informative than we realized, the dancers were adequate with somewhat boring music and the comedians were not very funny. The first dinner in the dining room was good, and we met our table mates and enjoyed their company we were at a table for 11. Day 2 First Sea day: Breakfast in the main dining room was great. No lines and immediate seating. The food was fresh and hot, was a very satisfying selection for all in the group. After breakfast we went to the Serenity deck. The upgraded chair cushions made the lounge chairs more comfortable, and the aft position meant the deck got plenty of sunshine. However, the only water sources were the 2 hot tubs and a single spray shower. After very little time in the 95 degree weather, something had to change lol, and it was our position to the lido deck and getting in the pool. The waiters never asked about drinks while we were on the serenity deck. On the lido, as expected there were lots of children and teens. Lunch in Tiffanys was again a bit of chaos, but food was adequate for buffet service. Mixology competition that afternoon, interesting to us because one of the group participated and won. The hairy chest competition was a little over the top, but I would imagine that varies based on the clientele of the ship but I found it vulgar and distasteful having "grown men" air humping, licking the banisters and poles, doing pole dances and stripping their shirts off and lap dancing on four women selected to be judges. I chose not to remain for the conclusion of this competition, but found to my dismay when ever I turned on the tv in my room it seemed to be playing.
We played a trivia game in one of the lounges that afternoon with one of the ACD's and finished up with a little casino time.