Such a great cruise celebrating our 15 year anniversary and introducing our girls to the amazing world of cruising. They were sad to leave so I told them the only cure for the end of the cruise blues is to book another one. Can't wait to do it again next year!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We had a 10:30-11am check-in time but I purchased FTTF which was beneficial as we couldn't park at the Long Beach terminal. My husband dropped me and my girls off with the luggage and headed to the off-site parking. Had to wait for the shuttle to fill up before heading back to port so it was closer to 11:30am when we checked in. We didn't need to wait at all as there was no one in the Platinum/Diamond/FTTF line.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Overall the food was good. My younger daughter loved trying new things for dinner and my older daughter loved her nightly Caesar and strip loin in the MDR. We had Your Time Dining and when we checked in before 6pm there was no wait but on nights we checked in around 7pm, it was usually a 40 minute wait. Loved Blue Iguana and the pasta place for lunch. Also had many good deli sandwiches. We had the drink package but didn't bother with the Bubbles package for the girls. My older daughter only drinks water and they never charged my younger daughter for her nightly dinner Pepsi. The bar tender at the pool bar even told me to just wait 5 minutes for her non-alcoholic drinks so we don't pay extra.
Alchemy Bar
5 out of 5
Love the Cucumber Sunrise!
Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse
5 out of 5
So much food! Everything was delicious though.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Sky Ride was so much fun. The pools and hotbtubs weren't too crowded during the day, but it was impossible to use the hot tubs at night as they were over capacity with kids. My husband and younger daughter loved the Pasta Making class and my older daughter loved her mani/pedi in the spa.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We enjoyed the stage shows, comedy shows and game shows. We did the 9:30 stage shows and they were never terribly crowded. We got in line for the comedy shows early and always had good seats. My husband loved doing trivia and was happy to win a Carnival medal during one session. Loved Sparkles and Sharrrrrron.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone we encountered was friendly and professional.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was constantly being cleaned day and night. The ship was very easy to get around. Sometimes the elevators were overcrowded because people didn't seem to understand how to use them - they see an elevator is going where they want to go and jump in without pushing the call buttons. My 10 year old preferred the stairs so she'd always beat the elevator up.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Plenty of room for all of our stuff. We had a balcony room and it never felt crowded even with 4 of us. Our cabin steward was super quick making our room up each morning. We loved the towel animal zoo in out room on the last sea day.
Ship tip
A very silly minor tip - we brought a bottle of liquid hand soap to use instead of using the dreadful bar soap and we went through the entire bottle by the end of the week. Definitely bringing hand soap again in the future.
Did the Sea Lion excursion in the morning and the entire family loved it. We did a sunset sailboat excursion in the late afternoon which was also nice but it was a bit overcast so not much of a sunset. The crew on the sailboat provided lots of snacks and drinks and information about the town.
Pirate cruise was a blast! It was cloudy and drizzly to start the day, but the sun came up once we set sail. The entire crew was so welcoming. Only downside was the jellyfish stings. Somehow I was spared, but there was quite a line of kids waiting for whatever first aid they were administering. My girls had fun despite the tiny stinging jellyfish.
We drove in from AZ the night before. Traffic in the area is dreadful but we stayed right near the port and found a nice dinner spot right up the street from our hotel.
We did the hike to El Faro Lighthouse and our tour guide Cristobal was incredible. He was fun and knowledgeable and made us all feel like family. Of course seeing the lighthouse cats made the hike uphill worth it!
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