Carnival Cruise Experience: Louisiana to Mexico
Waiting in the “Line from Hell…”
Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico
Carnival Cruise Experience: Louisiana to Mexico
Part of our August 2017 Cruise Adventure: New Orleans - Cozumel - Progresso
We got home late last night/early this morning from our first cruise. It was a wonderful experience! Was it ideal for me? – No. Fun? – Yes. Do it again? – Not this one but will consider doing a different one. Would I recommend this cruise? – yes/no. Here’s our experience so you can decided if Carnival is for you.
The day before the cruise we flew into New Orleans from Seattle on Alaska Airlines. Great flight as usual (for flights these days). I usually fly Alaska or Hawaiian Airlines; they just seem to treat us better. From the airport we caught a Lyft shuttle to the hotel (check out our New Orleans adventures), which was only a block to the Riverwalk where the ship was going to dock. Super easy to carry our crap to the boat!
Monday morning, we all woke up, went over to the Riverwalk mall, grabbed some brunch, and waited for our 11:00 board time. Once in ther terminal, we were corralled like cattle, meandering through the gates/lines, and through MANY checkpoints to make sure were were who we claimed to be. IDs checked many times to make sure we were supposed to be there. It was a pain in the ass, but necessary for our safety and the safety of the other people on the ship. Not really something my wife nor I was used to.
After finally getting to the boat, we had to kill time ‘til after 1:30 when our rooms were ready. We found some food at the buffet and chatted. Yep, we were still hungry. Brunch consisted of pretzels and smoothies at the mall.
So that brings me to the food on the ship….. There were the more fancy restaurants with a formal night, the buffet, a pizza place, burger shop, deli and chinese food, ice cream, and bars spread throughout. The food was not very tasty though. We have had worse, but it was just edible. Even the food in the ‘fancy’ restaurant tasted like the buffet food. The pizza place was open 24 hours, but the burger and Chinese was only open a few hours, 11 to 3 or something like that. Not cool! That was probably the most depressing part of the trip was the cruise food.
The rooms were pretty decent. We only had an inside stateroom, which is smaller than most motel rooms and has no window. It was big enough for my wife and I with 2 twin beds squeezed together to make a king (though I found myself falling in the crack between more than once), a couple small closets and drawers for our things, and a small bathroom with a stand-up shower, toilet and vanity. Our kids are older and we were traveling with my mom. My son and mom shared a room where the twins were kept on either side of the room. My daughter and her husband shared an additional room. For families, there are interior staterooms that sleep up to 5, but I couldn’t see what the bed arrangement was like.
Shuffleboard
As for activities, there were plenty aboard! Mini-golf, basketball, shuffle board, arcade room, casino, music, bars, and much more. They had different events each day and offered excursions when we got into ports (Check out our excursions in Cozumel and Progresso). Our 18+ kids enjoyed messing around with the slot machines, but they were mostly entertained by shuffleboard and navigating the maze that is the ship. There were movies at night to catch and a walking track with great views. There was also multiple pools, but they were pretty crowded with younger kids and partiers so we didn’t spend much time there. I will say, walking the deck with the shops felt more like walking the strip in Las Vegas; people trying to sell everything, handing out pamphlets, not cool to me.
We didn’t realize how long it took to get out of the mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico!
Thankfully, we discovered a little-visited deck near our staterooms and spent a lot of time there as we rolled down the Mississippi River. As we cruised down the river there were lightning strikes hitting along the coastline, and off in the distance around us. It was an amazing light show! The views in the Gulf of Mexico were phenomenal, too! The stars at night were incredible. During the day, my daughter could be found reading a book in a small nook somewhere and my wife enjoying the shade (she’s quick to burn).
With this being our first cruise, the initial impression was not great, but apparently the larger cruise ships don’t feel so crowded, and offer better food. At first neither my wife nor I wanted to go on another, but after hearing about a couple of the other larger ones (and an experienced “cruiser” saying this was “a shit cruise”), we are open to testing another larger ship through another company.
Is there anything wrong with Carnival or this cruise? No. I would recommend it for anyone who has young kids they want to just let loose there, and get worn out. This ship had 3 pools for the kids to mess around in, food available for most of the day, plenty of stuff to do. There were also a lot of younger ‘partier"‘ type folk if that’s your style. It's not ours
Would I recommend this for “virgin cruisers”? Maybe – only if you are looking for a decent, cheap cruise, and not expecting a lot.
Would we take this cruise again? Maybe – only if we want to get away cheap at the last minute. Again, nothing against Carnival Cruise Lines nor the crew. They did a great job (a couple pissy workers, but that is to be expected with any place). I think we were just expecting/hoping for a little better, calmer experience, based on how things were portrayed on websites, and other places.
Will we go on another cruise again? Yes, I think so. If the opportunity comes along and the cruise looks right, sure, we will go. Even with the “disappointments” of the cruise, we still had a good time.
