Carnival Pride - Day 1 - Embarkation Day

May 13th - Mother's Day finally arrives. We had made plans for Joni to come to my house at 11:30AM because the earliest check in at the port time I could get was 12:30PM. After a little bit of a sad goodbye as Joni's youngest son crawled into her suitcase to try and prevent her from leaving as she was packing, Joni couldn't stand waiting any longer and actually showed up early to my house once her husband and the kids left for a baseball tournament. I rushed around finishing packing and getting ready. Thanks to an old freebie from Trip Advisor, I had a spare luggage ID tag to give Joni when she discovered that hers had fallen off. We ended up leaving my house closer to 11AM.

Even with a little bit of traffic downtown, we still arrived well before our check in time. Once we got through the employees directing traffic, it was an easy drop off with a tip to the porters who took our checked luggage. After a quick selfie outside, we showed our boarding pass (which had our check in time printed on it) to the employee manning the door. She had no issues letting us inside the terminal and after a short wait we made it through the line to have our passports checked against our boarding passes. Several lines were open to send our carry on bags and ourselves through the x-ray scanners and we had no issues or delays there. We also didn't have any beverages that needed to be checked as that did delay some others near us in line. The actual line to check in was only about 2 rows weaved among the ropes long and moved quickly. We had printed off everything from our boarding passes to our health questionnaires after checking in online. Once it was our turn to check in, all the agent wanted was our boarding passes and passports. She scanned everything, handed back our passports and boarding passes, took our photos, and handed over our sea pass cards. She told us to hold on to the boarding passes as we would still need them to get on the ship?

I had enough loyalty points to turn gold level halfway into this cruise and Carnival's policy is unique to other lines in that they'll make you your new level from the start of the cruise you're on. Most every other line I've sailed on makes you wait until you've completed the entire sailing and then you get to move up from the start of your next sailing with their line. There wasn't much difference in perks between my previous red level and gold. Joni got the first time cruiser blue card. Carnival is also the only line I've seen hand you a card already hole punched for a lanyard. Where most of my cruises lately I haven't bothered to get my card punched for a lanyard, I packed a couple old Carnival lanyards for us in case Joni wanted to use one. As it turns out she'd forgotten to pack the one she'd intended to bring so we both used lanyards on this cruise.

We followed the employees directing everyone inside and took seats at the next available row in zone 3. They packed you into each and every seat so from 11:45AM when we took those seats until 12:40PM when our group was called to board I sat sandwiched between the wall and Joni clutching my carry on bag, my card and paperwork, and my camera bag. The port employees used to be super strict about anyone using their phone inside for fear they were taking pictures but no one said a word this time. Once we were called to board, the security guard at the door only cared about seeing our cards before sending everyone through. We stopped off to do an embarkation photo and the photographers wanted us to do a bunch of hand signs like thumbs up etc. After being boxed in like a pretzel and clutching bags, my hands were not in the mood to form any sort of single finger movements. I had put my arm around Joni to pose initially so when he asked for the hand signals, Joni assumed I was making bunny ears or giving her a horn above her head.

Once officially on board we headed to the shore excursion desk and picked out cabana #12 for Half Moon Cay. Reserving online pre-cruise is simply a guarantee that you'll have a cabana. To make sure you have the best choice for which one you want (lower numbers are closer to the noise of the bar and playground) go to the Shore Excursions desk upon boarding and pick the number of cabana you want. They wrote #12 on our excursion ticket before handing it to us and had us fill out our snorkel equipment sizes and drink choices right then.

We joined the crowd heading to the buffet (known as the Mermaid Grille) and took over one of the two top tables along the bench seating. Not having seen each other in a while, it was easy to just sit and talk while we had lunch and before we knew it, it was already 2PM and time for the cabins to be open. Didn't it used to be 1:30PM for the cabins to be opened? 

Potatoes from the carvery - rest from Chopsticks. That clump of white rice was with the fried rice next to it.

Not having seen any bar staff offering to sell drink packages wandering around Lido, I discovered that you can purchase your drink package once onboard via the Carnival Hub app and it charges your onboard account. I only got the Bottomless Bubbles version since Joni doesn't drink soda and neither of us drink alcohol much so I can't speak to whether buying Cheers on board lets you avoid the rule of both cabinmates getting the package. 

I haven't cruised Carnival since they started using this Hub App but it's obvious that they do their best to encourage you to use it instead of any paper version. With only a social plan for internet, we wished for the Fun Times to tell us the next day's weather forecast. Nope, that's in the app. Little booklet with a map of the ship. Only if you know to grab one yourself at guest services, otherwise it's in the app. Fun Times used to put the schedule on its own section encouraging you to tear it off from the rest of the information and carry it around. Now the schedule in the app not only lets you sort by type of activity but you can also mark who in your cabin is interested in the event and sends you a notification that the event is coming up 15 minutes prior. You can check your statement balance, look up when dining options are open, and purchase anything from drink packages to excursions from the app all to be billed to your onboard account.

We each paid $28 for the social plan pre-cruise when it was billed as saving 15% by purchasing pre-cruise. Here's the current rate if you waited to buy until you're onboard.

When it came to our devices during the cruise, it seemed like we were the concept of yin and yang. Joni's internet on her Samsung phone wouldn't work well for the first couple days while mine worked fine on an iPhone. In contrast, my Hub app wouldn't load very well at times but it worked super fast for Joni. We did find that the internet would connect better in certain areas of the ship like the Taj Mahal.

At the cabin, my luggage was already there so I took the time to unpack. After dropping off our carry on bags and checking out the cabin, we headed back out to explore the ship until Muster Drill. It was a little confusing trying to figure out when Muster Drill was since it isn't listed on the first day's Fun Times or the Carnival Hub app schedule. We knew though that an announcement would be made just before so we wandered around to kill time until that happened.

Once an announcement was made warning that the drill would be coming up soon, we wandered closer to our muster station area and joined the crowd who'd snagged seats on the couches along the corridor. After a while I suggested moving over to where our station actually was and we were met by a standing crowd by the interior sign devoting this area to muster stations A-C. We were station C so we hung around with the crowd. Once crew members started directing everyone outside to stand on the deck, we asked about station C and were told we had to go all the way down the deck and around the corner. Turns out we should have pushed through the crowd and kept going. Once we got scanned in at station C, we were front in line for about 5 minutes until a last minute family showed up. The drill seemed to drag on forever not only because announcements had to be made due to people not showing up but also because an older lady directly behind us with drink in hand was already obviously inebriated. It didn't help that a guy next to her kept feeding into her outbursts and egging her on. I seriously feared that by the end of the drill I standing in front of her would either get covered in her drink or have to catch her when she passes out. When it reached the point of the drill where the crew models putting on the life jackets, this woman became frantic because she couldn't see what they were doing from her spot and she needed to know because this was her first cruise. The guy next to her helped her push through to the front where she watched and cheered on the male crew member with such interest I expected her to start trying to stuff dollar bills in his waistband. It took a while not only to get the all clear to leave but also to wait since Carnival takes the time to only allow certain stations to be dismissed at a time in an effort to avoid hallway congestion. This same lady definitely heard the bar calling her name and started right away petitioning to be allowed to leave. Not sure if it was by allowance or the crew simply didn't want to press the issue, she soon simply walked past them with her group and left. Thankfully soon after they let our entire station go because several people were starting to question why that woman could leave but we couldn't.

We returned back to our cabin as sailaway started and watched us pass under the first bridge. 

My 5th time sailing under these two bridges. Still looks awesome from a cruise ship every time!

Joni's suitcase had finally been delivered and she discovered that some of her clothes were wet inside. We had recently had some rain off and on with more predicted but it was weird that she got a wet suitcase and I didn't. I was out on the balcony when Joni knocked on the door to let me know that our cabin steward Purwanto had stopped by to introduce himself. 

I came back inside and he gave us the speech about his duties and asked whether we wanted morning or evening cabin service. I mentally noticed that he purposely didn't offer the option of having both but I'd read on Cruise Critic about the change and how both is still an option you can choose. I asked to have both and he agreed before handing over a checklist where I needed to mark the "both" box and sign it. I noticed that this checklist also had options like asking for more towels etc so be prepared to ask for what extra you may need on that first day. We weren't given much time to look the list over to see if we wanted anything on it before Purwanto took it back.

By now it was time for anytime dining to open and we had planned out the best time to go in order to still attend what we wanted to in the evening. Anytime dining was on the upper level of the Normandie restaurant and we soon figured out that the aft elevators a short walk from our cabin put us right by the restaurant. We checked in with a crew member at the start of the line who inputted our cabin number into her tablet, confirmed our names, and selected a table on her seating chart before sending us inside to check in at the podium. Seemed a little unnecessary to me because we still had give our cabin number to the host at the podium to look up where the first person had assigned us and then he'd print off a ticket to give to the waiter who showed us to our table. It took Joni several days to remember what our cabin number was when the host would ask because she expected to have it printed on our cards.

When you dine at a table for two, they automatically want to put you at the two top tables along the railing. This means you each sit across from each other and each have the railing to one side of you leaving the aisle clear as there are four top booths directly across from you. When we arrived at our table for tonight, there was already people sitting at the tables around it and the cruiser behind my chair had left his chair all the way out from the table while he ate leaving me no room to squeeze into my chair. Rather than letting us go to another available table or even asking the other cruiser to slide his chair back in, our waiter's solution was to have the skinnier Joni swap seats and sit there instead.

Since it was Mother's Day, a female crew member came around to the tables giving every female cruiser a pink flower. It was a sweet gesture and our attempts to take a picture with both flowers may have resulted in a quick flower sword fight like little kids. 

Look, I'm artsy!

During dinner, a photographer came around accompanied with a man dressed like a pirate. I've never liked when they come around to take dinner photos because mine have always turned out either with napkins left on my lap or I'm mid-chew. Usually a polite decline is all that is required but this night the pirate decided not to even give the option and automatically leaned over to put his fake sword around my neck. The photographer stood next to Joni to take my picture and quipped "Smile Sunshine!" but the only smile tonight was on Joni's face when she busted out laughing at the dirty look I gave the photographer for calling me "sunshine." Got my first soda with the drink package and the waiter brought me back a receipt with a small tax due to still being close enough to the port of Baltimore.

This was my first time sailing on Carnival since they instituted the American Table concept with no tablecloths. I'm now in the camp of so what if there are no tablecloths until formal night. My concern was more with how little room these two top tables held, especially with the fact that often times they didn't bother clearing our unused wine glasses and 1/5th of the table was taken up by the wine bottle, water bottle, and the usual shakers and bread with butter. 

With many cruises under my belt, we certainly had no issue trying multiple dishes but there was barely enough room for one plate each. On the flip side of that, I was glad to see the carafe of water left on the table so we could refill as needed. That's a major plus for me when cruising as we drink a lot of water especially during meals.

If you've read any of my previous reviews, you know that I'm the anomaly in my family in that I'm the only one who likes calamari. I take advantage of trying it whenever I can find it in a restaurant so tonight I was definitely trying the calamari appetizer. That smoked chicken quesadilla was also calling my name. Joni went with the Corn Chowder Maryland and the classic Shrimp Cocktail. She would joke throughout the cruise about getting this dish multiple times and how the shrimp they used would seem to grow bigger during the week. 

Entrée for me was the fried shrimp and Joni chose the grill option of the flat iron steak.

I had to start the week off right being back on Carnival and had the chocolate melting cake. Joni confused the waiter when her answer to "What dessert would you like?" was "All of them." Joni tried to explain that she wanted the top 3 choices of Caramelized Phyllo with Caramel Cream, Tiramisu, and Strawberry Cream. They went back and forth for a bit because the waiter reacted like she was just reading the list and kept asking "Yes, which one?" Finally he understood and we sampled each item. Joni liked the Tiramisu and thought that some parts of the Phyllo were better than others. We both agreed that the Strawberry Cream was not good at all.

In order as listed on the menu:

We headed down to the theater to view the introduction to the Clue game. I'd never participated in this game on Carnival before so we decided to try it. A short video was shown of how Mr. Boddy was murdered and the Fun Squad staff all dressed up as the various characters to give their introductions. Since it was Mother's Day, they gave out cake slices as you entered the Taj Mahal theater. 

Two side notes on the Taj Mahal theater, one positive and one negative. The positive is that I appreciate how they have the option of movie theater style seats on the upper levels and long open couch seating with small tables every few feet on the lower level. Some movie theater style seats in cruise ship theaters are not fluffy friendly so it's nice to have a little room to breathe. The one negative is this new to us aspect of having a sort of smoky fog piped in from the sound booth area. It surrounds the stage and the first several rows. While it may add to the ambience, from a photography standpoint, it makes every photo look blurry.

A quick visit back at the cabin found our first towel animal, my free water bottle (for being a returning cruiser), my first gold VIFP sailing pin (the idea is that you get one every sailing that is year specific), and my coupon for a free drink to use on the last day after 5PM. The last time Dad and I sailed Carnival, they had just started giving those drink coupons to returning cruisers. I don't remember if ours was last day specific but I do recall it wasn't time of the day specific back then since we used ours for blended drinks during sea day brunch. 

Not sure how but it seems upon stepping onto the ship today, I traveled back in time.

We had to return to the theater to get the first "Who didn't do it?" Clue. Throughout the week we had to be at different spots around the ship at different times to have the next suspect eliminated until the last day when only one person would be left so if you'd attended the clues all week, it was obvious who was left. They also made it super easy in that each suspect was assigned a weapon and a location so once the suspect was eliminated as an option, so was their weapon and location. As the game is probably the same murderer storyline every time, I won't reveal who got eliminated tonight to avoid spoiling anyone else's fun. Let's just say this guy couldn't commit the murder because he was too yellow bellied.

Right after the clue was given was the Welcome Aboard show. Cruise Director Leigh came out to introduce himself, warm up the crowd, and share a few jokes. He tried to get a young girl from the front row come up on stage but she refused. Instead, he coaxed another younger girl named Morley from the same group to come up. After getting her to give him a high 5, Leigh kept the joke going by calling her back up throughout the show to high five him again. You could tell she was getting tired of the joke as her time to climb up the stairs took longer and longer as the show went on. For putting up with him, Leigh gave her a certificate for a free build a bear. The older girl who'd turned him down at first was suddenly very interested in volunteering after all. Leigh called next for a couple guys to come up to participate in the next part of the show and when no one was rushing the stage, he revealed that everyone should want to volunteer at these events because they could win prizes. Soon he had a couple guys volunteering and one even pleaded his case to be picked because he was Morley's dad. They were given the task of wearing open boxes strapped to their waist and were tasked to empty the little balls out of their boxes without using their hands. One guy went the traditional route of trying to twist and twerk his way to success but Morley's dad got creative and instead did a sort of side plank on the floor of the stage so that the box was sitting up and down as he shook his body. He got the balls out so fast except for one before popping back up to a standing position that when that last one fell out randomly, Leigh and the fun squad still kept messing with him by telling him there were more balls to get out. Both guys were awarded a goody bag of cruise themed prizes, a bottle of champagne, and promised that a spot in the 3rd row lower level with reserved signs on it was their guaranteed reserved spots for show seating during the rest of the cruise.

To end the evening, we wandered up to the pool deck and grabbed some popcorn set out on the back counter by the towel station. When Joni saw that tonight's "Dive In Movie" (I keep wanting to say Movies Under the Stars or MUTS because that's what Princess calls them) was Pitch Perfect 3, she wanted to stay and watch the rest of it. The weather was windy and a little chilly so we walked back to the towel station to request blankets. I'd heard of the whole towel checking out and being charged if you don't return it situation but now we actually have to sign out blankets? We gave our cabin number and watched the crew member jot it down as he handed us each a blanket. We made a point of returning them at the end of the movie and when we asked if they needed our cabin number again to confirm, they brushed us off and said they didn't need it. Now having seen the pool deck movie experience on 3 different cruise lines, the winner for that has to be Princess. They come around just before the evening movie and outfit all the pool loungers with a padded slipcover that includes a built in pillow. Blankets and popcorn are handed out without having to give your cabin number or your first born.