Saturday, November 9, 2024

2024 Carnival Cruise (Day one)

 (Florida Gulf of Mexico)  Hi 82  Lo 78 for the week

I'm going to do a series of blogs with pictures from the week of November 3 to 9, 2024 with the Carnival Cruise. Come along.

Day 1, November 3

Things have changed since the last cruise in 2019. There's no more muster, when you meet on the deck with the emergency boats and see how to put on life vests and listen to a talk. Now you come aboard and immediately go to the deck and listen and see how a vest is put on and you leave. It's quick and they check you in at that point with the sail card. The other thing is an app on the phone that you can do everything. The meals are all on it and the reservations, times of all the activities and the excursions can be made. It's challenging for some of our group to learn to read the app or know what's going on, it's all free so there's no problem with getting the info. We had several that didn't want to learn it, so they had to be told or escorted to get to events and activities. 

This ship had 1261 passengers. It's small enough that if you go to the aft and you should be at the forward with a brisk walk you can get there fast. My last ship had over 6,000 people so there was less waiting in lines on this one. It also took several minutes to get to each ends. I noticed on all ships, the meals are always at the other end from where you are at the time to eat.  People were so fun and friendly, it was amazing how patient and even helpful everyone was on this ship. It was quite refreshing.

Our group waiting for the bus to go to the port in Mobile, AL

My roommate, Mary
Glenn was trying to keep everyone in line, like herding cats. 
My first view of the ship, Carnival Spirit

The ramps back and forth to the 3rd deck.
There's lots of loading to do between trips. 

First there's lunch. It was a two hour trip to get to Mobile so we were hungry. Brandi (Rosie's daughter), Mickey, Cathy and Rosie
We had a short one hour wait to get to our room, this is the view walking in. 
Our view out the window from the balcony.
This is our favorite place, dancing, drinks and other activities going on. 
One of the hallways where there's always something to buy.
This is outside every elevator on every deck. We relied on it totally. 
This is looking up at the top of the ship. Glass elevators 
The party for departing the port. 

We got mail everyday in a box outside the door that had all the activities, meals, and all info pertaining to the next day.  (Click to enlarge on any of the pictures)
This is Village one (plus two) Dee, Mickey, Rosie, Brandi (out of town), Ellen, Patsy, Connie, RoseMarie (another village), Cathy, and Mary. We ate every night together. 
We loved this area called the jungle. It was quiet and it was the front of the ship covering the whole deck from one side to another. 
 
Little tables in the theatre. The ship is themed Egyptian. 
The curtain on the stage. It's Egyptian figures. 
The first night part of the entertainment was passengers were chosen to put a box on their back with a hole on each side. They had ping pong balls in the box and they had to shake the box hard enough to get the balls out. It was harder then it sounds. 
Every night eight singers did a spectacular show. 
By late evening the winds picked up and the rocking started. I've been in worse cruises, but it's unnerving on the first night till you get used to it. The winds were 39mph.
That's the first day.  Continue with the next day, coming up tomorrow.

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