Gulf Run 2017: Carnival Cruise Experience
Waiting in the “Line from Hell…”
Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico
Carnival Cruise: Louisiana to Mexico
August 2017. First cruise. Route ran New Orleans → Cozumel → Progreso. This wasn’t a bucket-list item—it was a test. We wanted to see if cruising was a viable way to travel for us.
Answer: maybe—but not like this.
Inbound
We flew Seattle to New Orleans the day before departure. Alaska Airlines, as usual, did their job without drama. That alone sets expectations.
Hotel was a block from the Riverwalk. Proximity matters when you’re hauling luggage and patience is already thin. Boarding location was walking distance. No chaos.
Monday morning we grabbed brunch at the mall and reported for our 1100 boarding time.
That’s when the cattle chute began.
Lines. Corridors. ID checks. More lines. More checks. Security layered thick. It was irritating, but it’s also the cost of putting several thousand people on a floating city. Still—this isn’t how we normally travel, and it showed.
First Impressions
Once aboard, rooms weren’t available until mid-afternoon. We killed time at the buffet. Still hungry. Brunch was pretzels and smoothies.
Food on the ship was… adequate. That’s the nicest way to put it.
Multiple venues: formal dining room, buffet, pizza, burgers, deli, Chinese, ice cream, bars everywhere. On paper, plenty of options. In reality, everything tasted like it came from the same kitchen with different signs over the door.
Pizza was 24 hours. Burgers and Chinese ran limited hours. That made no sense. Of all the letdowns, the food was the most consistent disappointment.
Quarters
We had an interior stateroom. No window. Smaller than a cheap motel room but functional.
Two twins pushed together into a “king.” The crack in the middle made itself known more than once. Storage was tight but manageable. Bathroom was a compact wet-cell: shower, toilet, sink. No frills.
Our kids are grown. We also had my mom with us. Rooms worked, but just barely. This is not a setup for people who spend time indoors.
Ship Life
Activities weren’t lacking.
Mini-golf. Basketball. Shuffleboard. Casino. Arcade. Bars. Music. Daily events. Excursions at port. Multiple pools.
Our kids spent time on the slots and shuffleboard. The pools were packed with younger kids and party crowds, so we avoided them. Walking through the shopping decks felt like Vegas—hawkers, pamphlets, sales pressure. Not our scene.
What surprised us was how long it took to clear the Mississippi and hit open water. That transit alone felt like its own journey.
We found a quiet deck near our staterooms—mostly ignored—and claimed it. That decision saved the trip.
Lightning storms rolled along the shoreline as we drifted south. Night sky in the Gulf was unreal. No light pollution. Just stars stacked deep. During the day, my daughter hid in shaded corners with a book. My wife stayed out of the sun—smart move.
Assessment
As first-time cruisers, the opening impression wasn’t great. We later learned this ship was on the smaller side and skewed heavily toward families with young kids and party crowds. That tracks.
Is there anything wrong with Carnival? No.
Crew did their jobs. Some were burned out—expected in that environment. For families wanting to let kids run wild, burn energy, and not think too hard, this cruise works.
For us? Not really.
Would I recommend it?
Families with young kids: Yes
Budget travelers wanting cheap, easy: Yes
Quiet-seeking, food-motivated, low-crowd travelers: Probably not
Would we do this cruise again? Only as a last-minute, cheap escape with adjusted expectations.
Will we cruise again? Possibly. Bigger ship. Different company. Different crowd.
Even with the misses, we still had a good time. That matters. But this trip confirmed something important: the container you choose shapes the experience.
Choose carefully.
Shuffleboard
