Carnival Sailabration: Day 1

By
Saint Greg

April 1, 2022

When we left off last time I had made it to the lido deck first.

I don’t know why the pool water looks green from this angle. If you look at it from upstairs it looks blue. It must be something with the tile in the pool.

First things first I got a burger from Guy’s before the pans even had grease on them.

Next I stopped by the room just to drop my bags off. Early access to the rooms for Platinum and Diamond cruisers isn’t happening right now. I have been told they will at least allow us to drop our bags off in the room. I haven’t been told I couldn’t yet. I did get lucky on Panorama and my steward told me my room was ready and I could have full access to it. No such luck today. I’m dropping my bag off and going for a drink.

I met my steward, Cindy. Apparently someone left money in the safe. She wanted to make sure it wasn’t mine.

I stopped by my muster station for my safety drill. It was the shortest one I’ve had. She scanned my boarding pass and said listen to the demonstration. The guy was on the last sentence of the life jacket demo then they released me.

I’m at the atrium bar for a fun ship special. I normally would have my own straws with me but they’re all packed.

The bartender saw how fast I drank that first one and said “you’re going to hit 15 today.”

Here is a look at the weather.

This is today’s schedule of events.

I have just under $1,000 onboard credit and with this being an older ship, there aren’t as many cool ways to spend it. For that reason I didn’t make any purchases ahead of time. I bought the Cheers beverage package from the bartender. Now I’m going to use the Hub App to purchase my premium internet package and my excursions.

This is an 8-day cruise so internet is a little more expensive than what I’m used to on my 7-day cruises.

I am a big Mayan ruins fan. This cruise is going to be heavy on those. I have already done Lamanai and Xunantunich in Belize. This time I’m going with Altun Ha. This excursion cost $75.

This is my first time to visit Costa Maya. There are three sets of Mayan ruins people typically visit from the ship there. Chacchoben is the most common since it is only a four hour excursion.

Kohunlich and Dzibanche are six hours. I will be back in Costa Maya aboard Celebration and Jubilee when they are brand new ships. I definitely want to save the shorter excursion for one of those cruises when I have a better ship to come back to.

Carnival isn’t offering Dzibanche so I booked Kohunlich which cost $110.

For Cozumel I booked a tour that includes beach time, tequila and chocolate tasting, and a taco lunch. But the main reason I booked it is because it also visits San Geriveso Mayan ruins.

It’s an expensive cab ride to San Gerivso and outside tour companies require me to purchase two tickets for their tours. This gets me there and back plus lunch for $78. Every other way is going to be over $100 without lunch.

It is 1:30pm so I can now have full access to my room.

I don’t believe they had the USB port lamps the last time I was on this ship in 2019.

This is actually a really great internet speed for Glory. I need to remember to test later in the week to make sure it isn’t just in port.

This ship has a retractable roof by the aft pool on lido deck. This pool is not only covered, it’s also adults only.

I’m heading through the casino on my way to the Alchemy bar. I believe these machines on the left side of the walkway were added during a recent dry dock.

Here are the table games.

And some more machines.

The schedule says the Alchemy was supposed to open at 3pm but it looks like it’s going to be 4pm.

While I’m waiting we can take a look at some of the nearby entertainment venues. This is the night club which is directly across from the Alchemy.

Just past the Alchemy is the Piano bar.

Across from the Piano bar is a lounge where they may have karaoke or other forms of entertainment.

There are people in the comedy club so I will skip that for now. I’m going to head down to the sports bar for a drink.

I ordered a bloody mary.

I’m switching to beer.

The Alchemy bar has opened. They don’t light the cinnamon on their Perfect Storm here but at least they have it. On Mardi Gras last year they didn’t have cinnamon or rosemary and it just wasn’t the same drink without them.

One of the “features” when cruising out of New Orleans is the Alabama fans who want to make sure you know they’re on the ship. I’m trying to order a drink and I’ve got people screaming ROLL TIDE! In my ear.

We are on the move. We’re currently turning around. You can see a couple of river cruise ships docked on the other side of the CCC (Crescent City Connection). They would normally be a the Riverwalk Mall but the NCL Breakaway is there today.

My card is starting to peel already. If you remember my Panorama cruise from October, they had a bad batch of cards and mine had to be replaced several times. Mardi Gras and Vista didn’t have that problem. It looks like we’re going to deal with it again on this cruise.

Andrea from Bosnia has been making my drinks. She could be a linebacker.

This drink was made by Jenniel. I noticed she was from Jamaica so earlier when the lady next to me was saying she was upset we weren’t going to Jamaica, I said “ why would anyone want to go to Jamaica?” just to see Jenniel’s reaction. We had a good laugh.