Carnival Splendor 11/29/08

Yesterday we got off the Carnival Miracle and got on the Carnival Splendor. There were 11 ships in the port and one of them was the Queen Mary 2. We waited until about 10:30am to get off the Miracle because we weren’t in any rush. All of the huge crowd would be gone and our luggage would be one of the few that were left. When we walked out to look at the dock, we realized that we were not anywhere near where we first got on board. Then we saw the courtesy shuttle bringing people to the parking garage. When we got off the ship, we were one of the last ones off and when they put us on the shuttle, we had the whole bus to ourselves and the bus driver dropped us off right at the Splendor.

Embarkation was a nightmare though. Since we are considered VIP, we were sent through a different line than everyone else. When we got to the end, two women were about to come to blows because one thought the other had cut in line. The man “in charge” was a grumpy old man who was quite rude to all. There was no VIP lounge like the other ships have so we stood in line forever. Finally we got on board around 11:45.

When we got on board, we found our cabin which was ready for us. A friend had sent us a box of cookies, a bottle of wine for dinner, and some photo credits. We decided to have lunch on the Lido deck and the lines were awful. I stood in line for the Mongolian BBQ for 40 minutes but since I really like it, I stayed in line. That will probably be the last time I do that unless there isn’t a line there. We walked around the ship after lunch and I bought my internet plan and then we unpacked our suitcases. When we returned to our cabin later, we had a message from our friends Penn and Ginny where were also on this cruise so we went to meet them.

At 7pm, there was a welcome board show which included a comedian and he was really good. Tonight he will have an adult comedy show so we will go see him. At 8:15, we had dinner in the dining room and our servers were Bianca and Benito, who were both fantastic. After dinner, we went dancing until almost 1am. It was a wonderful day!