It was an enjoyable cruise, there were some ups and downs. The food of course, started tasting the same after the 3rd day. The ship was clean, no mechanical issues, great staff! Tampa embarkation went very well, no staggered boarding like we had on CCL, but we did get there at 10 and were taken right on board. This was very new to us and very enjoyable. Once on board, we hit the WindJammer, the pizza was definitely better than CCL, but there were only 2 choices of pizza. The rest of the Windjammer was nice, there was suckling pig along with your normal foods. The salad bar was good, but I liked the one on CCL Fantasy class ships better. The layout of the Windjammer was very nice with islands for different foods. We had an inside stateroom that was supposed to have a trundle bed for Kyle. We saw that there was pullman's in the room and waited for the trundle bed until after supper. We got back and a pullman was brought down from the ceiling. NO GO. Contacted Guest Services, but they said the trundle bed was against the safety rules. We advised that Kyle might fall from the bed and that was a safety issue. They offered to separate us into different rooms, still no go. We advised that we would just pull the mattress from the pullman and put it on the floor, again against the safety rules. We said we would work it out. Came back a bit later and a trundle bed was in the room. The MDR was nice, Miguel and Jose took very good care of us, we ate there 4 fo the 5 nights. The Windjammer had a great lady Lizzie taking care of everyone out there. Rockwall, Chris climbed the Easy and Medium levels. Mini Golf - we did not do. Casino- we went there one day, smoking is restricted to one area of it. You feed the machines with money, not like on CCL where you used your S&S card. There were VERY few kids or people our age on the ship, mostly an older, more laid back crowd. Kinda missed the hustle and bustle of the CCL ship. Key West and Cozumel were like Key West and Cozumel. Really enjoyed the SeaDays, even slept in a lounge chair. The Solarium was very nice, the sea water was different, this was the first time I have been in the pool on a ship. Very interesting with the extra buoyancy of the sea water. We had a great trip overall, even saying that, we will probably go back to CCL for our next cruise or try a NCL cruise. Brian

Hi everyone! Here are some thoughts I had about our cruise: • Not a fan of the long drive, nope, I cannot drive more than 8 hours anymore in a day. o The drive to NOLA was 12 hours, we decided to leave on Thanksgiving to miss the traffic, that part worked, but one thing we forgot was that the food places would be closed for Thanksgiving. We did eat at Bojangles before they closed at 2 PM. When we got to Atlanta, the few places that were open were packed, we bought subs and sandwiches from a RaceTrack store, we did not spring for the gas station sushi however. • Will not be paying for the boys and their girlfriends to go anymore. They can go on a cruise, but they will be in their own separate cabins (2 to a room on their dime). • The hotel we stayed at was nice enough for a one night. We hit the road the next morning and were off to NOLA. • Not a fan of NOLA o We were probably NOT in the best part of the city, BUT dang! We thought we had found a kewl place for gumbo and bought an online coupon for it, but when we got there, the Cajun Daiquiri and Café was just a Daiquiri shop the kitchen was closed at 4. • The embarkation process at NOLA was on the verge of controlled chaos, not really a fan. • I did like the Triumph, but I like the Fantasy class ships better o The ships I have been on did not have the upgrades, but now with most of the Fantasy class having the upgrades, I will stick with them, I did not the extra people. I know there is a trade off in the size of the ship will hold more people but just liked the smaller size for the Fantasy class. I would like to try the Magic or a member of the Dream class for comparison • Loved the SeaDay Brunch of course o Now you know I love the Steak and eggs, the steak was a bit smaller than I remember it, but it was very good. • Not a fan of the Lido eating due to the crowds and trying to get a seat for all of us. o I do understand that I have a special issue with Kyle and not being able to leave him alone of have him carry his food, but just the basic crowd in the Lido deck turned me off. They were nice, but still just a drag trying to get around. • Did not get off the ship in Progresso still had a good time on the ship. o We just did not see an excursion that we wanted to do, so we just chilled out on the ship, it was nice, even without the Casino. • Had a good time at the El Cid resort o I do recommend this excursion, it was all inclusive, the pool water was a bit cool for me, but the hot tub was great and right next to the bar. I was expecting some kind of bill at the end, but yes it was indeed an all inclusive drink and food excursion and within 2 blocks of the ship. Now, I did take a cab back to the ship with Samantha and Kyle, Kyle is not able to walk very well for a long distance, the guy at the resort got us a cab for $7. • Internet was ok, but this website hated it o The kids did not have a problem with the Internet, but they have better phones than I do. I used the ships computers, very nice HP all in one computers, not too shabby pcs. NO CRT monitors lol. • When we came back from Progresso the Internet was not happy with crossing into another Time zone and would not work. • After leaving Progresso, the ship encountered a propulsion issue and could not get above 13 knots, the ship is usually capable of 23 knots. o This delayed us getting back to NOLA from 8 AM to 8 PM Thursday evening. The ship had an information session with the Cruise Director Jess from the US (a bundle of energy, that is how she always introduces herself), then a Q&A session with the Ships Senior Management team. It started out nice, but then it got rough. Carnival is offering $200 to help with making connections for flights. There is a problem though, the people were encountering significantly higher prices to make changes in their flights if ANY were available. o Anyone who wanted to was able to stay on the ship Thursday evening without charge, but had to leave between 6 and 8 AM. We stayed on the ship, had a nice dinner and then had to disembark about 8 PM and get back on the ship, this was pretty disorganized, but we made it. o We were given credit for the extra day on our VIP status so I will be going Gold on our next cruise when Danyl does (She has one more 4 day cruise than I do) We have now crossed a cruise from NOLA off our list, unless Danyl and I get a fabulous deal on a cruise from NOLA, we will not be going back to that port. We are looking forward to the cruise in February by ourselves.