This was our first time to cruise Carnival Cruise Lines in quite a long time (maybe 10 years). We were surprised to find out we had qualified to become platinum cruisers (with 11 cruises in our history). We sailed out of Galveston because we live in the Houston, TX area and this was very convenient and cost effective for us. We received an email to let us know that the ship was coming in late because it had to take a different route due to a hurricane out in the gulf. We were then text-ed to let us know that embarkment was not going to be until 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. We arrived at the terminal at about 2:30 p.m. and were able to drop off our luggage with a porter. I was surprised to see passengers still debarking at this time. My husband unloaded his scooter and waited with our carry-ons until I parked the car at the Lighthouse covered parking lot which was a few blocks down the road. I learned about this lot from other cruisers on the Cruise Critic website. It was $50 if you pre-book on-line. I got right on the bus and back to the ship terminal in a matter of minutes.

We got inside the terminal and were directed to a special embarkment desk for Platinum Cruisers. We got to bypass the lines and were given our sail and sign cards from this area. We got a sign that said we were "VIP's" which allowed us to bypass all the other passengers in the terminal until we got to the gangway for the ship. This was really nice. I really felt bad for the other passengers though because they were only starting to allow them on the ship when we arrived and I'm sure some had been sitting there for hours. I did notice they had juice, water and tea plus bags of chips in the terminal if you were hungry. It was still a long wait (maybe half an hour) before we got on the ship. The rooms were all ready by the time they let the people on the ship so you could drop off your carry ons if you wanted to. Our room was on the Lido deck which was very convenient. We went over and had lunch at around 3:30 p.m. I was starving. We had early dinner but I ate so much at lunch, we never made it to dinner.

We were in "modified' inside handicapped room 9286 on the lido deck. I was used to Carnival's rooms being a lot larger on their older ships; especially handicapped rooms. The room was attractive but wow was it small. The bathroom was huge. It had a shower seat, many bars to hold onto; and, I believe the toilet was a little higher. The entire floor was flat so that one could roll right into the shower if needed. The goodie bowl contained a ladies' razor, some Suave skin lotion and a sample size of tooth paste. Of course, there is a dispenser on the shower wall that has shampoo and liquid soap in it. We brought a transport chair as well as my husband's scooter and stored it in the shower. You walk into the room and to the left is the bed with just enough room to walk around it. Straight ahead is a small desk with a mini refrigerator under one side of the desk (empty) and a vanity backless stool with trash can under it beneath other side of desk. There were 5 drawers on the right of the desk. The first drawer contains the hair dryer which is permanently attached to the drawer. It worked pretty well and cord was long so you could take dryer with you into bathroom. If you close the door to the room, behind the door, is the closet. One side of the closet was for hanging clothes (with 10 permanent hangers in it) and the other side had 4 large shelves in it. It was adequate for storage as long as you have soft-sided luggage that fits under the bed. We pulled the scooter into the room and the only place to put it was in front of the bed and desk and you needed to leap over it to reach the bathroom (that's not going to happen). Thank goodness, they told us we could keep the scooter out in the hallway the whole time and didn't need to bring it in. There is no couch or even a chair with a back in the room. This was a little uncomfortable because the only place you could sit was in your bed. There was absolutely no place for entertaining or even putting down a food tray. The TV was tilted in a position that you could just make it out from the bed. The room was on full air conditioning the whole time but seemed a bit warm. It was not terrible but we would have liked it a bit cooler. We did bring a desk oscillating fan which we could not have lived without. The room was pretty quiet for the most part. Our friends in 9285 (the modified cabin on opposite side of ship) said they heard music some of the night but we didn't. The bed was comfortable. It was a little firm but I like it that way. It was very dark also. Don't forget your multiple plug adaptors, night light and extension cords. There is only one 220 outlet in the whole cabin. From this we had to plug in two CPAP's, our fan, the night light and charge my husband's scooter and cell phones. We didn't blow any fuses or anything, thank goodness. We did love being on this deck for the convenience of being able to get to the deck at any time and the food. Our room steward was great and even went above and beyond to make up our room late when my husband wanted to sleep. Read more