At 5:15 I heard the sweetest little voice saying, “Momma, it’s time to get up. We get on the ship and have unlimited soda for the next 10 days!” E-Koog has been counting the days for the cruise ever since I told him about the ultimate bottomless soda package I got for him and B-Koog.
He was so excited about this drink package, he went through our flat to make sure everything was packed up. Emptied all the garbage and took the garbage to the curb per the check-out instructions. At this point, B-Koog was up and equally excited about soda day. He put the remaining dishes in the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen counter and set the bags up in the hall all ready for us to head out.
By 6:30, everyone was dressed and packed and the flat was ready for check-out. We headed across the street to the Costa Coffee for some tea and porridge for me and 2 cokes and freeze dried strawberries for the boys. I know this is not a breakfast that Mrs. Koog would sanction, but our Adult was on her own adventure and Koog was in charge!
We finished our breakfast at 7:15 and walked back across the street to get the bags. As we were doing our final walkthrough, I noticed our taxi had just arrived. We got our bags to the hall, put the key in the key box and said goodbye to our posh, yet totally unsleepable flat. We got our bags into the car and we were off for Dover and the 10 day bottomless soda package for the boys.
Lee, our driver, was very personable and talkative. He was very interested in the US political system and economics in general so we had a very interesting conversation. Both boys had their faces in their tablets to try to drown out the economic discourse.
We had a nicely uneventful ride to Dover and arrived at the pier at exactly 9:30. This was exactly 30 minutes before it was open! Lee stopped the meter and said we were going to breakfast. He drove a few miles down the motorway and found Beefeater's, the British version of Denny’s but less classy. It was literally the only place around! We went in and Lee remarked that there were only 2 items on the menu, continental breakfast and cooked breakfast and both were unlimited. And super cheap £6 and £7 respectively. Oh, and kids under 16 ate free.
Both Lee and I had the cooked breakfast. He had a full English Breakfast, I just opted for eggs, rashers and beans. Remembering my experience in Scotland, I was specific in the quantity I ordered, not wanting to risk a single egg, rasher and bean. Breakfast was surprisingly good and fast and hot. We finished around 10:05. Lee, not just a great driver but a generous man, bought our breakfast! After paying, we were back on the road for the 10 minute drive back to the pier.
This time, the pier was open and we drove straight through to the terminal. The boys and I have been on ~11 cruises in the past 12 years, so we were prepared for the total chaos and craziness of embarkation day. We had steeled our backs and our patience in prep for the goat rodeo of crappy human behavior, endless lines, early morning drunks and a total loss of decorum and manners by our cruise mates and port staff.
Except it didn’t happen. There were no lines. The port staff and Carnival staff had nothing but smiles on their faces and helpful attitudes. I was concerned because I was unable to print our boarding passes as I do not travel with a printer. No problem. The first person we saw at the terminal asked me for our boarding pass, I explained the printer issue and showed her the PDF I had on my phone. She scanned that and printed our passes.
We went to check-in and gave our passes and passports to the lady. Bing, bang, boom, cleared to board. What? Board? Our boarding time was 12:30 and it was barely 11am! After about a 2 minute wait, we were cleared to board. So we did! We decamped in the American Hero’s Sports pub on the ship and we watched Australian Rules Football and Rugby on the wall of televisions.
The cabins were ready at 1:30 and we made our way to our home for the next 10 days, Cabin 4175. Mrs. Koog and I are very loyal to NCL and I was very apprehensive to sail Carnival. The service so far has been second to none! The food, much to my happy surprise has been excellent in the main dining room.
Carnival uses an app called “Carnival Hub” where a cruiser can manage their day, restaurant reservations and whatnot. We were not used to the way they handle dinner reservations. On NCL, they have “freestyle cruising” which means no reservations necessary for the main dining room, you just go when you are ready. On Carnival, apparently you use the app to reserve a table when you are ready. It puts you in a queue and notifies you the table is ready.
I wasn't aware of this, so we went to the dining room NCL style and were told we had to use the app. No problem. Our wait time was 60-80 mins. No problem, we are on vacation. There was a family that was not taking their delay in stride. The Mom was literally screaming at the nice hostess lady. Really close to her face screaming. Completely unacceptable.
We waited patiently and used our time to walk a few laps around the outside deck and then preregister for tomorrow’s Art Auction. It was a little less than an hour and we were buzzed by the app that our table was ready.
The dining room has a distinctive cafeteria feel as well as the sound of dishes and silverware clanging. To be honest, I didn’t have a lot of faith in the food due to that ambiance. The food was excellent! Both boys had chicken parmigiana and I had a steak. There was not a bit of food left on anyone’s plate.
After dinner we explored the ship for a bit, but we were super tired considering we were in the unsleepable flat for the prior 5 days! We got to the room and I think all 3 of us were asleep in 10 mins!
He was so excited about this drink package, he went through our flat to make sure everything was packed up. Emptied all the garbage and took the garbage to the curb per the check-out instructions. At this point, B-Koog was up and equally excited about soda day. He put the remaining dishes in the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen counter and set the bags up in the hall all ready for us to head out.
By 6:30, everyone was dressed and packed and the flat was ready for check-out. We headed across the street to the Costa Coffee for some tea and porridge for me and 2 cokes and freeze dried strawberries for the boys. I know this is not a breakfast that Mrs. Koog would sanction, but our Adult was on her own adventure and Koog was in charge!
We finished our breakfast at 7:15 and walked back across the street to get the bags. As we were doing our final walkthrough, I noticed our taxi had just arrived. We got our bags to the hall, put the key in the key box and said goodbye to our posh, yet totally unsleepable flat. We got our bags into the car and we were off for Dover and the 10 day bottomless soda package for the boys.
Lee, our driver, was very personable and talkative. He was very interested in the US political system and economics in general so we had a very interesting conversation. Both boys had their faces in their tablets to try to drown out the economic discourse.
We had a nicely uneventful ride to Dover and arrived at the pier at exactly 9:30. This was exactly 30 minutes before it was open! Lee stopped the meter and said we were going to breakfast. He drove a few miles down the motorway and found Beefeater's, the British version of Denny’s but less classy. It was literally the only place around! We went in and Lee remarked that there were only 2 items on the menu, continental breakfast and cooked breakfast and both were unlimited. And super cheap £6 and £7 respectively. Oh, and kids under 16 ate free.
Both Lee and I had the cooked breakfast. He had a full English Breakfast, I just opted for eggs, rashers and beans. Remembering my experience in Scotland, I was specific in the quantity I ordered, not wanting to risk a single egg, rasher and bean. Breakfast was surprisingly good and fast and hot. We finished around 10:05. Lee, not just a great driver but a generous man, bought our breakfast! After paying, we were back on the road for the 10 minute drive back to the pier.
This time, the pier was open and we drove straight through to the terminal. The boys and I have been on ~11 cruises in the past 12 years, so we were prepared for the total chaos and craziness of embarkation day. We had steeled our backs and our patience in prep for the goat rodeo of crappy human behavior, endless lines, early morning drunks and a total loss of decorum and manners by our cruise mates and port staff.
Except it didn’t happen. There were no lines. The port staff and Carnival staff had nothing but smiles on their faces and helpful attitudes. I was concerned because I was unable to print our boarding passes as I do not travel with a printer. No problem. The first person we saw at the terminal asked me for our boarding pass, I explained the printer issue and showed her the PDF I had on my phone. She scanned that and printed our passes.
We went to check-in and gave our passes and passports to the lady. Bing, bang, boom, cleared to board. What? Board? Our boarding time was 12:30 and it was barely 11am! After about a 2 minute wait, we were cleared to board. So we did! We decamped in the American Hero’s Sports pub on the ship and we watched Australian Rules Football and Rugby on the wall of televisions.
The cabins were ready at 1:30 and we made our way to our home for the next 10 days, Cabin 4175. Mrs. Koog and I are very loyal to NCL and I was very apprehensive to sail Carnival. The service so far has been second to none! The food, much to my happy surprise has been excellent in the main dining room.
Carnival uses an app called “Carnival Hub” where a cruiser can manage their day, restaurant reservations and whatnot. We were not used to the way they handle dinner reservations. On NCL, they have “freestyle cruising” which means no reservations necessary for the main dining room, you just go when you are ready. On Carnival, apparently you use the app to reserve a table when you are ready. It puts you in a queue and notifies you the table is ready.
I wasn't aware of this, so we went to the dining room NCL style and were told we had to use the app. No problem. Our wait time was 60-80 mins. No problem, we are on vacation. There was a family that was not taking their delay in stride. The Mom was literally screaming at the nice hostess lady. Really close to her face screaming. Completely unacceptable.
We waited patiently and used our time to walk a few laps around the outside deck and then preregister for tomorrow’s Art Auction. It was a little less than an hour and we were buzzed by the app that our table was ready.
The dining room has a distinctive cafeteria feel as well as the sound of dishes and silverware clanging. To be honest, I didn’t have a lot of faith in the food due to that ambiance. The food was excellent! Both boys had chicken parmigiana and I had a steak. There was not a bit of food left on anyone’s plate.
After dinner we explored the ship for a bit, but we were super tired considering we were in the unsleepable flat for the prior 5 days! We got to the room and I think all 3 of us were asleep in 10 mins!
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