We went on deck for the sail away party and the pictures of NY as you sailed away are breathtaking! We made friends and had a foo foo drink and toasted to new friends and great times.

     First night in the dining room is casual, most people wore what they had gotten on board in. We had chosen the late seating for dinner which worked out very well for us. We were upstairs in the dining room (table 309). This was a table for 6 and there were 6 of us. It was right by one of the big windows outside and perfect. Our main waiters were Greggory, who tends to be shyer with an odd sense of humor but likable and efficient. Sometimes people weren't exactly sure how to take him so half our group liked him, including me, and the other half really didn't. Then there was Iketut, who was fabulous. Night one he asked all of our names and after that, it didn't matter where he saw us on the ship, he stopped, asked about each of us by name and chatted for a minute as if he had nothing better to do at that moment than chat with us. The young girl who was our bartender at dinner was also great and I can't remember her name but she was young and pretty and funny and we really liked her. We ate dinner in the dining room 5 of the 8 nights and truly enjoyed it. We made a list of everything we tried through the whole week and you wouldn't believe it! Gym, here we come! The food we had was great both in the dining room, at Horatios and at Nick and Nora's. Yes, they had cappuccino, latte, espresso, etc for free after dinner in the dining room. Both our kids had the soda cards and they used them everywhere with no problem at all. As you all know, you can order all you want at dinner and believe me, my DH and DS put that to the test and the staff were happy to oblige. And I have to say, I now know what all the fuss was about with the chocolate melting cake....all I can say is OMG!

     The rest of the first evening and night we spent exploring the ship, taking tons of pictures and having a great time with music and drinks and being happy. Yes, there is a door or a "secret door" on this ship or let me say, at least one. Not as easily found as you'd think and no I won't post it on here but I do have pictures from it and if you want them, I'll email them to you if you contact me but I took over 2100 pictures through the week so give me time to locate them please. My DH and I didn't find it until day 4 actually. There were quite a few kids on this cruise but we rarely saw them and camp carnival seemed to do lots of things with them. Even though we didn't have small kids with us, I picked up an itinerary for all the age groups of kids if anyone is interested in things they do with the kids. We even walked up to the area where camp carnival and the Pinocchio club was and I looked at it and really liked what I saw. Even the teens we saw seemed to have a great time. The Welcome Aboard show the first night was good, not great. Brent, the cruise director, I really liked and he is funny. The comedian after him was also really funny. I do wish Brent was a little more visible throughout the week.

     Sat.--first full sea day---we love the sea days, unlike many others and really made the most of them.

     My DH and I had breakfast at Horatio's on the lido deck 9. Horatio's is open breakfast, lunch, dinner with multiple stations with different types of foods. Tons of selections all fantastic, something for everyone. Omelet station really good as well. We loved breakfast and lunch there and ate there for both those meals except we did do the dining room one morning for breakfast and once for lunch just so we could say we had. My DD loved the room service and had breakfast sent to her every morning and we all used it late at night (like 2 am). Selection isn't huge, about 3 pages in your book but good and filling. We tipped them when they brought it and it was delivered quickly. More exploring this day, did trivia, the ice carving expedition, our meet and greet, amazing race lunch, captain's party, formal night and the late show before going to several of the clubs for a bit. We loved amazing race and would have won had it not been for not being able to find a shirt from another carnival ship (worth 25 points) One thing I found interesting was that everyone kept saying how the photographers were constantly in your face but we really didn't find that. Yes, on embarking they were they and every night at dinner and when getting off in port, etc but they weren't everywhere. I liked the way they had photo settings set up all over the 2nd & 3rd decks so you could choose where you'd like to have them made. I usually don't like photos of me but we took advantage and had a few different poses of us done and bought some of the ones that we really liked. One in particular was great and I intend to use it on my computer for posting soon. We liked the way the captain's party was done and thought the drinks they were offering were good. We went to the 12am adult comedy show...he cracked us up. Off to bed.....BUT WAIT......here's our 1st TOWEL ANIMAL........an elephant, Love those towel animals!! I took pictures of them all and I'll be posting pictures once I can work through all 2100 and re-organize them. If in the meantime someone wants a certain picture of something, let me know and I'll try and email it to you. Today was my DS's 20th birthday and I had ordered him the cake to be delivered at dinner. It showed up right as planned with waiters and it was delicious!