Day One - Embarkation - 06-29-2009 (Part 2)

After our refreshments and a quick lunch from the buffet (hot dogs, french fries & chicken nuggets), we set off to explore the ship. It was about 12:00 and we had been told that the staterooms wouldn't be ready until 1:30, so of course we went to see if ours was ready. Unfortunately, it wasn't so we spent time learning the lay of the land. Started at the top and found the spa/gym (never to be seen again until the last day's photo taking session), the Camp Carnival and teen Club O2 (which looked like secure enough facilities to hold all the munchkins that would be on board and keep them safely out of our way), the mini-golf course, the HUGE lido deck outdoor area with 2 pools and 4 hot tubs, the slide, the buffet, deli, grill, asian counter, pizza, ice cream, etc (all the important places), the "secret" forward decks on 9 and 10. Then we headed inside and checked out the public areas on Promenade: Rome Lounge (theater), shops, casino, coffee bar, wine bar, Big Easy Piano Bar, Club Rio Jazz Bar, Tokyo Underground (video arcade), Venzia (small club) and Hollywood Dance Club (disco).

Deck Four - Atlantic: The photo galleries, two dining rooms and Oxford (cigar) bar along with the internet cafe.

Deck Three - Lobby: The lobby bar where our meet and greet with Cruise Critic folks would be the next morning, the two dining rooms and the Rome Lounge made up this level.

At this point, we stopped by the London Dining Room to check and see where our assigned table for dinner was located. Jeff was concerned about being at too large of a table with a bunch of people we didn't know. The maitre de informed us that Paris 450 was a table for 9 on the lower level. I asked if he had anything smaller and he said he could move us to a two-top, but since the ship was sailing at over 100% capacity it would be at the later seating. I agreed and he said he would send a note to our cabin later with the new table number.

We checked back upstairs to check on the room and it was available. We were in Panorama 1035 (deck 10, foreward, starboard side balcony cabin). All of the gifts from the Bon Voyage department had arrived: a Fun Ship Freddie stuffed doll and Happy Anniversary cake for me from Jeff (he had forgotten our anniversary in April), a bottle of wine and box of cookies from me to him and a box of cookies from the mother-who-lives-in-the-basement to me.

There was plenty of storage space in the stateroom: two empty closets, one with two rods (a third closet was full of life vests, the safe and extra blankets), 3 dresser drawers, a 3 shelf cabinet and a 2 shelf cabinet plus a nightstand with two shelves. The bathroom had a huge medicine cabinet which was completely unexpected since all the CC folks had advised bringing an over-the-door shoe holder to keep your toiletries in due to lack of storage in the bathroom. It takes a lot of product to look this good at our age and there was ample space for all of it.

We didn't have our luggage yet except for our carry on, so we took a few photos from the balcony and then changed into our swimsuits to test out the adult-only hot tubs (Deck 9, aft). One had a group of 4 or 5 adults in it with their yellow Fun Ship souvenier cups and the other was empty. We put our towels and drinks down at a chair and climbed into the empty one. There was a sign by the stairs that said that food and drinks were prohibited in the hot tubs, so we left our drinks with our towels. After the other group climbed out and got refills on their drinks, we decided that it must be OK after all and I went to get our drinks. No sooner did I get back in the tub than a Carnival employee came over and very apologetically told us (and the other group) that drinks were not allowed in the hot tubs and we would have to leave. Oh boy. Not an hour on the ship and already we've gotten ourselves and another group of cruisers in trouble!

Dried off, we stopped in the Lobby bar to watch people come aboard then headed up to the room to see if the luggage had arrived (it hadn't). Our steward, Wency, stopped by to introduce himself and we gave him a $20 tip and asked him for an extra ice bucket for the wine we brought with us and an extra pillow. He said he would bring them promptly. Luggage arrived shortly thereafter and we unpacked before watching sail away from our balcony.

Friendly Tip: The room temperature is controlled by a little slide thingie on the fan in the ceiling. It took us a while to figure this out after we spent a good 10 minutes looking for a thermostat everywhere.

First we cruised past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty then under the Verazzano Narrows Bridge (about an hour after pulling away from the pier). They say the ship clears the bridge by about 14 feet, but it looked a whole lot closer. I'd be ducking if I was on the uppermost deck!

We rested for a bit (having been up since 5 AM) then dressed and headed to dinner. It took a bit of hunting to find the Paris Dining Room since decks 3 and 4 don't go all the way through the ship, but finally made our way to deck 5 (Promenade) and walked all the way aft then took the stairs down to deck 3 to enter the dining room. Our table (550) was on the upper level with booths on either side of us. Our waiter introduced himself promptly (Deni) and his assistant whose name I can't remember other than it also started with a "D" earning them the nickname "Double D". We had brought a bottle of wine with us from home and took it to the dining room that evening. Deni uncorked and poured and we were not charged the $10 corkage fee that Carnival advertises.

Appetizers: Shrimp Cocktail (ok, but consistency of shrimp definitely showed they were frozen previously) and starter-sized linguini with sausage and red pepper (spicy!)

Main: Herb crusted tilapia (very nicely done) and Sweet & Sour Shrimp (pretty good)

Desert: Warm Chocolate Melting Cake: good, but didn't see what the fuss was all about.

Went back to room after dinner (about 10:00) found our first towel animal (Lobster) and watched a little CNN (all Michael Jackson, all the time) and read a bit before falling fast asleep.

Friendly tip: If you have a balcony cabin, the hint to bring a bungee cord to prop open the door at night was the best piece of advice we got before leaving. It was beautiful weather at night (low 60's) and the sound of the ocean at night was very soothing. I hear you can use the rubber door stop that the room steward leaves under the closet doors to prop open the door by placing it in the hinge, but the bungee cord worked well too.