Review 2 Carnival four day cruise from Port Canaveral Fl. to the Bahamas( pictures will be coming)

We arrived at Port Canaveral about 11:00 AM where we checked our luggage and proceeded through our embarking procedures.Since the actual suggested time for this was 12:30,we didn't have to wait in line more than a minute or two so it worked out well. We did encounter a problem on our pass cards where Mike's and Michael's were both engraved as Michael with no Jr on Michael's like I requested. The lady at the counter told us that she couldn't fix it and that we had to go to the information booth on the ship( when we were allowed on ) and they would help me. We were directed to a mass seating area where we waited while a group of older woman played cheerleaders to entertain us. At about noon our zone(7) was allowed to board. Once on we waited in line for the information desk along with everyone who was putting a cash deposit for the cruise expenses or had any other question or problem. Finally we were able to distinguish who's card was who's but they could not put a Jr on Michael's so they put a J for his middle name. This made me nervous as his middle initial is R and this card was incompatible with his passport.( potential problem with customs) I was assured that it would be OK. At this point we were not allowed to go to our stateroom as cleaning was in progress so we were instructed to go to the LIDO deck for a buffet lunch. Just as we got to the LIDO deck ( which is open in the middle for an open air pool) it started raining, not a slight drizzle but a massive down pour.Mike and I sent the kids to a covered area with our Carry on stuff while we waited in line at the main bar to buy our pop cards ( yep $20 per person and all the pop that one could drink on the four day cruise was free, these were nonnegotiable to us !)While in line for this we seen a couple people slip and fall on the wet floors, luckily nothing serious. Next we made our way to the lunch buffet. Nothing extravagant but was nice to set and eat instead of standing and holding our Carry ons. Finally at 1:00PM we were allowed to go to our room. All five of us were in an inside cabin( I wanted an inside cabin because I thought an outside would possibly not be good for my chances of being sea sick) There was a king size bed and two beds that pulled from the walls.Our cabin steward,Picard, assured us that he would bring our roll a way shortly and that it would fit. The room was quite cold but I stayed for a while as Robby settled in with his DSI and Mike and the older kids went to take pictures.Less than an hour after we left port we had a safety meeting in the rain. This sucked royally but I guess it was necessary so we were on deck being rained on as we were briefed on emergency procedures. After the meeting bags were being delivered. All of ours but my garment bag which held MY dresses and Mike's dress clothes were delivered right away. I almost started to panic as this bag was necessary for us in the dining room. Luckily the first dining night was come as you are.Finally at about 8:00PM the bag arrived. The dining room food was not as great as I expected. The portions were small and though the presentation was impeccable, most of the foods were either drowned in sauces or contained things like Tomato gel, which I wasn't sure whether it was an editable garnish or not. Robby for instance ordered a desert that was served on a chocolate swirled plate. As he was trying to pry the hardened chocolate from the plate I whispered to him that it was not really meant to be scraped off and eaten. He looked at me like I just asked him to eat a rock and in disbelief asked" you mean that they intend to waste the chocolate ?" Yes it did sound crazy to me to but I think that it was so. We learnt to order an appropriate amount in the dining room and ate buffet style for most lunches and breakfasts. We never took advantage of room service though we did hit the twenty four hour pizzeria a few times. Unfortunately the pizzeria would not accommodate special orders ( I guess that everything was pre made)and most pizzas and calazones contained things that i don't eat I really didn't order much though the kids ate their shares. I did like the smoked salmon bagel from the sandwich counter that was open from 11-11 so I did eat a couple of these. Even though the foods were not all my style, we never went hungry so it all worked out.
We attended many shows from musicals to comedy acts but there were times that we just kicked back and relaxed.At one point Mike and I were picked for a Newlywed/ Not so newlywed game at which we did suprisingly horrible( only matched three out of 10 questions:-(. Amazingly though the couple who did the best were married 37 years. The newlywed couple did about equal to Mike and I so I guess we still have it !All three couples got a bottle of champagne at the end, which we brought home as we don't drink a lot and were working on a couple bottles of wine.( maybe we will break it open to celebrate something soon ) Michael loved his age groups club and spent a lot of time there though Robby didn't like the super organization of his so he opted out of many club activities.
We did get off the boat in Nassau to do some shopping . Cindy and I got our hair braided and we shopped for souvenirs until the heat was too much. Since I agreed to "critique" the island,we were given a golf cart ride back to our boat.
All in all I could have spent a few more days but the time ended. In the end I never got sick though I must say that I felt the boat move( I was told that since the ship was so big I wouldn't feel a thing..... Wrong !)On disembarking day we were up early to eat breakfast and wait for our zone to be called. We were off the boat by 9:00.
Would I go again??????? You bet ! Next time I would not stress as much about bags or pass cards nor even wake up times.Next time I will know the drill !