dcandme13

Well when you live in the desert...and you get to drive thru rolling hills I would consider it pretty...

Um ok...guess I didnt see it...

I did not see Lobster on elegant night on my cruise unless you ordered it off steakhouse selections which was an extra fee.

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Thar she is!!

Sorry for the small pics, not sure how to make them bigger??

Thar she is!!

Subscribing! I have done this itinerary 3 times now and have enjoyed all of them. It's such a great weekend getaway, and it's so nice that it is a short drive from AZ to LB, no planes required!

I know it was so easy too, My husband would have loved it. WE LOVE Vegas and it kinda felt that way being a weekend getaway, told him the sooner he gets his passport the sooner we can go, would be his first time also, will be so fun showing him around!

Embarkation:

We had to check out of hotel by 11am, On the wed night we were playing bingo with our mom I got a voicemail from Carnival stating our assigned check in time was between 1230-130pm, I hadn’t seen this anywhere on the forums before so I inquired…and most said this could be due to late arrival to port or the ship needing clearance etc etc…never the less we checked out about 10am and figured if we had to wait we would wander over to the Queen Mary, we were literally maybe 15 mins to the port..it was so nice to get there without having to be in the hurry, we continued following the signs to the parking garage (a little backwards I think I missed the first turn to park but made my way arou) we parked and then took our bags to the porters where I tipped 5 bucks for the 2 bags we checked (we also had backpacks we carried on with our essentials, and Wine….and Wine) and made our way over to the outdoor counters to check in. NO LINE! This was about 1030am, we literally walked up to the lady and I gave her our boarding pass, health questionnaires, passports. We got our S&S cards and we were so excited that it was so easy and smooth. She told us we were Zone 1 for boarding and that it would be about 12pm before they would start boarding…however I noticed not a lot of people “waiting” most were still collecting their families and bags and departing from previous cruise.I thought maybe people that had FTTF and upper levels of diamond/platinum may already of boarded or something?? We decided to walk over and take a few shots of the ship (so amazing) this is where it kind of set in for us…that we were doing something so cool and new and this was everything I had read about…Excitement was overwhelming. We decided to walk over to Queen Mary to kill some time, I mean how could you not. The nostalgia alone is worth the quick walk, we browsed the deck and bought a little souvineer in the gift shop, we couldn’t have been there more then half an hour, we walked back over to the terminal and I walked up to where I saw people walking into the dome and asked what zone they had called, and the nice guy said “Just Zone 1 for now” WOOOHOOO! We walked right thru to security, scanned our bags (right here I would like to say we asked if we had to take our wine or soda out of our bags, security guy watching the screens said nope just leave it in the bag so I guess my thought was how would they have known if my wine was wine or if it was rum, I had a screw top wine bottle of moscato so I could of swapped and smuggled rum but whatever, just an observation) , got a few pictures taken, head up the escalators and before we knew it we were on the glorious gangway….onto the ship and straight to guest services to address our cash acct. Come to find out our total OBC was $296 !! We both added another $100 to the acct which gave us a nice start to our little getaway. Went right to the Atrium bar for the DOD, cheers to everyone around us…and I kid you not, we were on the Lido deck at a table having lunch by 12pm. No joke. So my initial thought was YES, I will the drive the day before because basically in my mind I got a whole other day of vacation out of it.

At lunch we checked in with our families and then we discussed how grateful we were to be in such an atmosphere, I honestly get quite emotional during times like this you work hard and get in a routine of taking care of everyone but yourself sometimes, its nice to be literally off duty for a change although I couldn’t help but miss my lovies, I called my husband and thanked him for being such a great man and watching our baby (she is my first and she is 22 months so I have a hard time letting go of the reigns still) so I could have some time away to relax and spend some much needed time with my sister, he was very encouraging, told me to stop being a sap and go have fun LOL. So after lunch and a second DOD and a lot of pictures with our phones to post on Facebook (since we would be putting our phones away for the duration of the trip) we decided to go look around and just see where our room was going to be, we never heard any kind of announcement that certain levels were ready or anything like that so we just went to look anyway (our backpacks were getting annoying) Low and behold coming off the elevators on our floor we saw 2 big things full of luggage and ours was on there!! Haha after a slight thought of just swiping it and taking it down the hall we figured we better see if it was even ready yet. We found our room U223 and it was ready! Was everything I figured it would be, 2 twin size beds next to each other with plenty of space for to ladies to spend the weekend. We happened to see our room steward in the hall (Ida) and told him we would like our wine on ice to be cold for dinner, he promptly showed up with a bucket and ice, I tipped him $10 and told him thank you and we would see him soon. We changed into our swim suits and summer dresses and headed off to explore. We trampled all over this ship up and down and all around just taking it all in. I jumped in on all the line dancing for the sail away party while my sister pointed and laughed at me, possible it was due to the fact I am a master of the cupid shuffle while holding a drink in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other. I’m sure she has those pictures HAHA! Before we knew it we realized we were moving!!! Off to take pictures of Long Beach port!

We had decided on ATD for dinner, so after we were on our way we decided to head back to room and change back into our regular clothes for dinner in the MDR, when we got back we found our bags outside the door safely (Thanks porter guy) we walked into our room only to find the bucket of ice had leaked all over our stuff on the vanity YIKES! Our fun times and “Things to know” papers were ruined but nothing important. Quick call to Ida who promptly brought us a second bucket and cleaned up the mess (he was so nice to us thru out trip) Wine was cold, poured into glasses that had already been in there the first time we entered the room packed our cellphones in the safe and off to dinner we went…we were in the Mardi Gras Dining and we were seated immediately. We got seated next to 2 great ladies at the next table who kept us company and great convo talking about “Geocaching” I had never heard of this and man that is cool stuff!!

The first night my sister ordered some Italian soup, Caesar salad and flat iron steak, with a side of mashed Yukon gold potatoes she said it was just OK. I had ordered shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad and a grilled chicken with a side of the same potatoes…chicken was very dry and bland….again I am not a picky eater nor am I a foodie so it didn’t ruin my night or anything, the service was fun and fancy compared to what we are used to so the atmosphere alone had us coming back to the MDR each night, and the food got better as we went along. I finished dinner with the melting chocolate cake…with 1 scoop of ice cream. Thank you to the lady on the forums who told me to get 2…I learned why that night! SOOOOOO YUMMY!

After dinner we took in some entertainment at the karaoke club and I even busted out some Dixie Chicks..altho not my best go at it as I was suffering from lingering throat issues making me kind of hoarse, but hey…who cares if I sucked. I’M ON VACATION!!! Afterwards we decided we were exhausted from our travels and excitement (and drinks) and decided to head over to serenity to soak in the hot tub and enjoy some peacefulness from the back of the boat. I don’t know why but being on the back of the boat brought my heart down a notch as I couldn’t help but think of the poor guy that went overboard on a carnival ship out of Miami just days before we left….I can’t even imagine what this family must be going thru, no matter how or why it happened, accident or not, its still a life lost at sea and its sad. Spa was amazing and much needed and we had it all to ourselves for the most part. We called it a night after that and being in bed by 11pm on a vacation shows us we are definitely friggin mom’s LOL. More to come!

Traveling:

Originally I was planning on just driving to LB the morning of the cruise. It’s about a 6hr drive from West Phoenix where I live, I knew this was a risk and all the veteran cruisers were making that very clear… but at the time it was the only option I had because of scheduling conflicts with daycare and my husbands schedule. We then decided maybe just driving half way to Palm Springs the night before was better then nothing and I booked a quick Motel 6 with free cancellation in case things changed…that would only leave maybe a 2 hour drive to port the next morning. I didn’t want to try to get any closer as we would have been getting in around midnight as it was and driving at night is not my favorite thing…at all.

My sister flew in on Wed March 11th (her birthday) we took our mom for a night at bingo and after tons of back and forth we were finally able to make it happen that we would drive to Long Beach on Thursday afternoon after a little mani/pedi/shopping morning…I wasn’t real concerned about staying anywhere overly priced because I was literally just going to be sleeping and showering there, and having to park at the port either way. So after cancelling the Motel 6 in Palm Springs we booked the Super 8 in Long Beach, we arrived around 845pm on Thursday 3/12 and it was a typical budget motel, nothing fancy, free wine and snacks in the lobby in the evening and free continental breakfast in the morning to tide us over until we got onboard. It was easy to get to, front desk as very nice, room was clean, my only true small compliant was parking kinda sucked. We had to park pretty far away from my room. We ran over to In & Out Burger for a quick bite and settled in for the night in our room adjusting our packing to be sure we had what we needed.

The next morning we decided to run over to Ross to see if my sister could find a little dress to wear for formal night or if anything else caught her eye (she didn’t have much time prior to treat herself to something new) After a small purchase we went back to our room and got our things to head to port.

Hello!

I'm home from my first cruise ever, and wanted to give a little review. I was on this forum all the time once I booked reading all kinds of threads and reviews so thought I would return the favor for future first time cruisers!! I will add a few pictures along the way but I didn't take as many as I thought I would, and def no food porn as I'm not that picky about eating lol. I'll break it up into the comments like most do on here but I'm still trying to type it all up so be patient with me:)

First a quick background.

My sister and I were looking to do a little girls trip for ourselves, we are both in our 30s (her 32 and me 37) and we are also new moms so this is something we have never done before just the 2 of us. It has always been with friends, boyfriends, family or now our husbands and kids. So we were calling this our "Mommy is off duty trip".

She lives in Minnesota and I’m in AZ so she planned on flying here and for us to find something to do from here to get her out of the cold weather...after the usual research and thoughts like Vegas, beach weekend in Cali, theme parks or a spa resort of some sort, I decided to start looking into cruises. I had previously shyed away from this option in my younger years because it wasn't truely "all inclusive" because your soda/booze is not included like at all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico (I have been to Playa De Carmen twice now for this kind of booze-a-thon) But I thought my liquor tolerance isn't what it used to be and I'm not vacationing for the bar-tab per say, so decided to start my research and forum stalking. In order not to be away from the families to long being as she had 2 more travel days then I would with her flights here and back we decided on a 3 day cruise from Long Beach to Ensenada Mexico which also included a day at sea.

My booking process:

Booked 3 day Ensenada cruise on Inspiration online at Carnival.com back in Sept 2014 for me and my sister...had booked ES with price guarantee and had an inside porthole room on M deck that I picked.

About a month later got an email to upgrade to an OV room for $20 total. ..I took it, replied online and I picked a room on Empress deck....

Almost daily I would go online to Carnival and just see what the price for an OV room for my cruise was going for to see one, if I got a good deal with the $20 upgrade which was average so that was good, and if the price would drop which I never thought it would because its a short cruise over a weekend (Fri-Mon) in March 2015 which I figured is prime pickings for spring breaker booze cruising...why would it drop right??

Wed Feb 11th I saw the fare drop for an OV room on Carnival.com to like $189 pp....seriously??? My rate was over 300 pp after the upgrade to OV...so I called carnival and asked how I could get this rate since I had the price guarantee....I basically just asked if I qualified for the lower rate since I knew I booked an ES that I was new to the cruising thing and didn't know how this worked...I was told I had to forfeit the room I picked and switch to a guarantee OV room as a pack and go rate (which is what the lower rate was for)...so I agreed because it also gave me $270 OBC for the difference in fare...

She told me how to get online and submit the form for the ES thing and about an hour later I got an email saying they received it, but nothing had changed with my booking thru carnival.com... while I was on message boards and forums I had seen people were doing something similar and getting results like the same day??? After about 2 days I called back and said I was nervous because nothing else had happened...which was good I did because the 2nd lady told me I only qualified for a $40 price reduction....I was like WHAAAAA??? I said NOOOO...I was told I could forfeit my chosen room and switch to Guarantee OV instead...so I could get the OBC...after a few holds so she could talk to someone else she came back and said yes we could do that...I was just chancing not knowing my new cabin # until the day of sailing (UMMMM OK) it made me a little nervous since I'm an over organizer exp with something I have never done...but for the OBC I was willing to stress a little LOL

It took about 24 hours for my booking to adjust showing the lower rate and my OBC and then I got my new room assignment 2/15...Aft (like 5th room from back end of ship) on U deck...This ended up being a great location IMHO.

I was in my room by 1pm...i never heard an announcement...i just decided to explore where my room was at...opened it up and it was all ready ;)

I got a voicemail last night telling me my check in time for Friday in Long Beach on Inspiration was from 1230pm to 130pm and if we got there any sooner we would be told to wait?? Is this new?? As a first time cruiser all my forum stalking and posting and research this is the first I've heard of this...We were planning on being there like an hour prior to that. Thoughts??:confused:

We are just going to park at port in the garage...Planning on getting there by 11-1130am...seems we should be able to start the process by then. We decided against Palm Springs once I knew my hubby would for sure be free Thurs night to get my daughter from daycare, so my sister and I are going for an early mani/pedi appt in the morning, stop at a store for last min shopping and head out in the afternoon....Should get to LB maybe 7pm or so Thurs night I hope.

2 days for me!! My sister is on her flight to AZ right now and leaving for Long Beach tomorrow :) !!!

dcandme13: Good for you :) You must be so excited! Did you notify your bank about your cruise?

Actually No, because we have a good chunk of OBC to get us going and we are adding cash to it when we embark...and will use small bills while in port for souvineers...chances are unlikely I will actually bust out the credit card but if I do it will be a credit card, not my actual bank..So I will call them and make sure I won't have any issues...

Hi!!! First let me thank those of you that have helped me thru the first cruise jitters and planning!! I sail in 9 days!!! Going on the 3 day Ensenada out of Long Beach on 3/13!! It is a cruise with my sister to spend some time together and do something new and fun and have some much needed "mommy is off duty" free time...its also my sisters birthday on the 11th and I'm just super excited to see her since she lives in MN and I'm in AZ... I think I have everything down for a first timer so I will give ya a run down and tell me if I am missing anything!!??

* Passports for both of us- Check * Bottle of wine each-Check *8 pack of 16oz Dr. Peppers for our occasional caffine fix on ship- Check *Checked in online and printed all our documents and prepared luggage tags- Check * Tried on my bathing suits to see which ones I feel good in- Check Check Check * Bonine in case- Check *Outlet adapter for extra plugins (brand new belkin 3 outlet and 2 usb port adapter) - Check *Over the door storage hanger- Check * Downey Release- Check * Bringing a insulated cup thing for my arnold palmers :)- Check

All I have to do is drag out the luggage and start packing I think and maybe hit up a start for a light sweater that will go with everything to wear in the evenings...I live in AZ I am lucky I have anything longsleeves LOL

* My sister is flying in to AZ on Wed 3/11 ( her actual birthday ) and we are taking mom out to play bingo that night so she can see my sister before we leave...

* We are dropping my baby off at daycare Thursday morning and heading to the salon for mani/pedis and then driving to Long Beach in the afternoon arriving early evening, going to get some dinner and have a drink and hit some shopping for any last minute must haves or wants to start off our vacation.

* Check out by 11 on Friday 3/13 (I refuse to be worried about this date) and head to port to board our cruise!!!

Am I missing anything????

Ok so my sister and I finally were able to solidify some plans driving in from AZ the day before our very first cruise.... we are staying in Long Beach about 20 mins away from port...how early do you think they will start boarding?? We have to check out by 11 so I am assuming we can go straight there? Leaving in 12 days!!

OK!!!!!! After alot of what if's and maybe I could do this...LOL.. Here is what we have planned

 

Option 1) My sis and I have a hotel booked in Palm Springs for the night before the cruise (its a little more then half way at least) my hubby tutors in the evening most days..so we won't be leaving until he gets home since I have to be home with the baby...which would get us to PS around midnight maybe.. Then we will get up early and drive to the port. hoping to arrive like 11am or noon.

 

Option 2) BUT if for some reason he doesn't have tutoring then I am considering cancelling my hotel in Palm Springs (free cancellation up to 6pm the day of arrival) and springing to drive the whole way the day before (still not being able to leave until maybe 4pm once daddy gets home from work...and surprising my sister by staying at the Queen Mary instead (its her Birthday weekend after all)...even tho we would get in late...its the suprise that counts right?? So my question is...staying at the Queen Mary is about 50 bucks more then the hotel in PS which is fine... but would we get a better rate on the parking since we would be parking in the same terminal for the cruise???

Well I just answered my own question after looking at the pkg its $10 per day for parking instead of $17...so overall I would be spending an extra $44 to stay at QM WITH paking instead of staying in PS...I feel thats a great deal....now if I could just get the hubby to commit to not tutoring that nigh sot I can book it LOL

OK!!!!!! After alot of what if's and maybe I could do this...LOL.. Here is what we have planned

Option 1) My sis and I have a hotel booked in Palm Springs for the night before the cruise (its a little more then half way at least) my hubby tutors in the evening most days..so we won't be leaving until he gets home since I have to be home with the baby...which would get us to PS around midnight maybe.. Then we will get up early and drive to the port. hoping to arrive like 11am or noon.

Option 2) BUT if for some reason he doesn't have tutoring then I am considering cancelling my hotel in Palm Springs (free cancellation up to 6pm the day of arrival) and springing to drive the whole way the day before (still not being able to leave until maybe 4pm once daddy gets home from work...and surprising my sister by staying at the Queen Mary instead (its her Birthday weekend after all)...even tho we would get in late...its the suprise that counts right?? So my question is...staying at the Queen Mary is about 50 bucks more then the hotel in PS which is fine... but would we get a better rate on the parking since we would be parking in the same terminal for the cruise???

Thank you..I order the Belkin one on amazon just now....

I just use tape/hole punch/hair tie to attach my luggage tags. Cruise Critic store sells the clear plastic tags that you can put them in, though.

 

As far as outlets, I got this outlet that has 2 electrical & 2 usb. Worked great on Magic last month for charging iPads & plugging in flat iron. I just used the cabin hair dryer.

Where did you buy this??

Hello all!! Starting my checklists even tho I'm way ahead of schedule but I like to be organized as a nervous first timer :)

Links on luggage tags you put on bags used for paper tags? I thought about just doing the tape/holepunch/tie wrap method but I figured I may as well invest in something a little better since I'm sure I'll be cruising again...

What do you find most useful and less likely to be jacked from your checked luggage to use in cabin? My understanding is that there is only one outlet in room...Not that I would be charging alot since my phone will be off, but my sister and I are planning on bringing my ipod and little speakers to listen to music in the room when getting ready for the day and will need to plug in a blow dryer/curling iron type things at some point.... so which is better? is the outlet near a vanity of some sort? I will be on the Inspiration in 20 days :)

TIA

After a bunch of switcharoos with upgrades and price drops I'm on the U deck in an OV cabin like 5 cabins from the very Aft of ship...I feel good about this FINAL location :) We sail 3/13/15 :D

Here is my situation and I'm a new cruiser so I was just rolling with it..

Booked 3 day Ensenada cruise on Inspiration online at Carnival.com back in Sept 2014 for me and my sister...had booked ES with price guarantee and had an inside porthole room on M deck that I picked.

About a month later got an email to upgrade to an OV room for $20 total. ..I took it replied online and picked a room on Empress deck....

Almost daily I would go online to Carnival and just see what the price for an OV room for my cruise was going for to see one, if I got a good deal with the $20 upgrade which was average so thats fine and if the price would drop which I never thought it would because its a short cruise over a weekend (Fri-Mon) in March which I figured in prime pickings for spring breaker booze cruising...why would it drop right??

Last Wed Feb 11th I saw the fare drop for an OV room on Carnival.com to like $189 pp....seriously??? My rate was over 300 pp after the upgrade to OV...so I called carnival and asked how I could get this rate since I had the price guarantee....I basically just asked if I qualified for the lower rate since I knew I booked an ES that I was new and didn't know how this worked...I was told I had to forfeit the room I picked and switch to a guarantee OV room as a pack and go rate (which what the lower rate was for)...so I agreed because it also gave me $270 OBC for the difference in fare...

She told me how to get online and submit the form for the ES thing and about an hour later I got an email saying they received it, but nothing had changed with my booking thru carnival.com... while I was on message boards and forums I had seen people were doing something similar and getting results like the same day??? After about 2 days I called back and said I was nervous because nothing else had happened...which was good I did because the 2nd lady told me I only qualified for a $40 price reduction....I was like WHAAAAA??? I said NOOOO...I was told I could forfeit my chosen room and switch to Guarantee OV instead...so I could get the OBC...after a few holds so she could talk to someone else she came back and said yes we could do that...I was just chancing not knowing my new cabin # until the day of sailing (UMMMM OK) it made me a little nervous since I'm an over organizer exp with something I have never done...but for the OBC I was willing to stress a little LOL

It took about 24 hours for my booking to adjust showing the lower rate and my OBC and then I got my new room assignment 2/15...Aft (like 5th room from back end of ship) on U deck... I assume this is a good location and with the OBC I'll sleep anywhere :D we sail March 13th...so today I just reprinted all my documents and luggage tags with my new room # and info on it..as well as the email showing my OBC (even tho it shows in my booking info too...)

Hope this helps.

Booked 3 day Ensenada cruise on Inspiration back in sept...had booked ES with price guaruntee and had an inside porthole room on M deck....about a month later got an email to upgrade to an OV room for $20 total. ..i took it and picked a room on Empress deck....last wed feb 11th i saw the fare drop for an OV room on Carnival.com by like 135 pp...so i called carnival and asked how i could get this rate since i had the price guaruntee....i was told i had to forfeit the room i picked and switch to a guarantee OV room as a pack and go rate...so i agreed because it also gave me $270 OBC...i got my room assignment 2/15...aft (like 5th room from back end of ship) on Udeck...im a first time cruiser..but i assume this is a good location and with the OBC ill sleep anywhere ;) we sail March 13th

I did choose anytime dining...we didn't want to be on a schedule...we get enough schedules with having infants lol....Im on aft U deck...good location? AND i mean AFT....like 5th room from the back end lol

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