perfect quick getaway !

A short five hour drive from Atlanta and we were at Jacksonville, FL. Stayed overnight at the Comfort Suites Hotel, very clean, large rooms and I'd stay there again. They have a shuttle to the port too, with parking for your car in a well lighted lot, right in front of the main office. The port itself, is nice a small and the people extremely nice. In fact, my Husband mentioned on our last day that it was as if the Carnival people had been given a "Happy Pill" on this cruise, since every single person we met, was so very friendly and wanted to talk to us. This was our 33rd cruise and the staff was probably the friendliest we have ever met. Even the Matre' D got up and danced with the other servers after the dining service ended. We had never had that happen before. The ship itself, was older, only 70,000 tons, but has been recently redone. There wasn't a hair dryer in our outside cabin, which was a shock to me; I thought all cabins had them ! There were plenty of drawers though and we even had some empty ones. I think the cabins are small, compared to most Carnival ships, but who cares; you aren't in them much anyway. It was plenty big enough for the 2 of us. The shows were typical Carnival Los Vegas type shows, complete with the Punch Line Comedy Club offering several shows every night. there was a long line every night for the Dine Around Dining Room, but we never choose that type of dining plan anyway, so we didn't care. We never had to wait for our seating, which was the late seating. Since we have been to these ports several times in the past, we did not even get off the ship at all. So, I can not comment about them. In the past, they have both been enjoyed though. This trip, we just stayed onboard and stayed by the pool.  Getting off the ship was pretty well organized, it went much faster than on most ships, but I guess that was due to having less passengers. We were in our car by 9:45, on our way back to Atlanta. We both decided we will defiantly take this cruise again. For the cost, we could not have taken another vacation and had as much fun or relaxation as we did on this cruise. We are already booked again, this time out of LA on Carnival Miracle for my 34th cruise and I can't wait !