We booked this cruise on January 29, 2024 and put it on the backburner and really forgot about it for over a year. We had several cruises between the time we booked this cruise, and the time we sailed.
We have been on every class of Carnival ship, except the Venice Class ships, so we wanted to go on that class to check it off of our list. We looked and this itinerary was great, especially considering the length and amount of sea days it included. So I got with our friends in Mississippi and found a date that worked for all of us, and we booked it.
Our original itinerary was St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk with 5 sea days. However on April 17th 2025 they changed our itinerary and removed Grand Turk and replaced it with Amber Cove. Not many people were happy with this change, including myself. We weren’t going to cancel though, so we just rolled with it. I began the planning process of booking everything for our trip to New York City pre-cruise, as well as what we’d do in each port.
So buckle up, and enjoy my 14 day blog post about this vacation. If you’re new to my blog, WELCOME! I try to be as detailed as possible in every aspect that I can, to give people who may be doing the same thing in the future, an idea of what to expect, how much to budget, etc. That’s the purpose of the details that I put in each post. As I always state in each blog post, I book everything myself. I would never use a travel agent, and would never use the cruise line for excursions. I use local companies and I am in full control over my vacation.
We were set to fly to New York on Thursday morning, so we decided to get a hotel next to the airport for Wednesday night. Normally we fly Southwest Airlines out of Raleigh (RDU) but with the recent Southwest changes, we decided to venture away from Southwest. I switched to Delta, after being loyal to Southwest for many years. One perk of Delta, is they fly out of Greensboro (PTI) so that takes an hour out of my commute to/from the airport. PTI is only an hour from our house, so it was nice to be close to home. It’s also cheaper to get a hotel for the night and keep your vehicle parked, versus airport parking.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn on National Service Road, and the cost was $180.84. If we paid to park at the airport, it would have been $195. Plus I was able to get an extra hour of sleep pre-flight. I am a Hilton Honors Diamond Member, so I am pretty loyal to Hilton. That’s why I chose the Hampton Inn.
Wednesday my wife checked my son out of school an hour early and we hit the road to Greensboro. This was his last day of school, as well as his last day of middle school. Next year he will be in high school!
We hit the road about 2pm and our vacation had officially begun.
The first thing we did was go to the hotel to drop our luggage off, so it wouldn’t be in the car all day. From there, I went downtown to show my son the Woolworth’s where four African American college students from NC A&T did their sit in at the whites-only counter in 1960. The place is still there, though the countertop/chairs is now on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. Even though Greensboro is “home” for us, he had never seen that.
From there, we went to Macy’s at Friendly Center to buy him some shorts. He only had a few pair that fit, so we needed to get him some more for vacation. I spent $144.85 at Macy’s on 4 pair of shorts for him.
After we left Macy’s, we went to Darryl’s for dinner. Darryl’s is my favorite restaurant. We eat there at least once a month, if not more. They have the best Cajun shrimp there. I had shrimp, my wife had a steak and my son had a hamburger. The total for dinner was $75.44.
Once we left Darryl’s, we went to Top Golf to kill some time. Top Golf is so much fun. I do not remember how much we spent, but I think it was around $100. We each won a game but we had the best time at Top Golf. We agreed that next year we will get the summer pass that they offer, so we can go every weekend.
After we left Top Golf, we went to Target to get some snacks and a few other things. I spent $40.94 at Target. After Target we went to the hotel to take showers and wind down. We had an early morning tomorrow as we would be flying to New York City!
We had an early flight to New York today. I booked our flights on November 1, 2024 through Delta from PTI to LaGuardia (LGA). The total cost was $937.14 for the 3 of us, round trip for first class seats. The great thing about first class with Delta is you choose your seats, each person gets 2 bags included at 70lbs each, priority boarding, free alcohol, free wifi, free food and drinks. I signed up for the Delta American Express card, which gave me $300 off our flights so the total I ended up paying for 3 round trip First Class tickets was $637.14. We normally fly free with Southwest with points, but I will now start earning points with Delta and I think that will be our new preferred airline. Southwest lost this loyal customer with their changes. However we do have enough points for more free flights with them, so I will probably use them next year, then be done with Southwest.
Our flight was to depart PTI at 6am which meant 5:30am boarding so it was an early morning. I scheduled our shuttle from the hotel for 5am. We got up, got ready and went down to the hotel lobby to grab our shuttle, and off to PTI we went.
We got to the airport without issue, dropped off our luggage and found our gate. We boarded the flight to LGA and took off and arrived without any issue.
We arrived at LGA and made our way to the baggage carousel. Since our bags were priority, they were the first off the plane and were there when we got there. We got out bags and went outside to get our ride to the hotel.
Normally I use a rideshare to get from point a to point b, but I wanted to start our vacation a little extra special, so I booked Bizzy’s Luxury Services to be our ride for the day. I prepaid $150.00 for the “Elite Platinum VIP” service, which the owner Izzy (Izzy gets bizzy!) picked us up in his new white Cadillac Escalade. He was outside of the terminal waiting on us when we arrived, with gifts and a smile. He loaded up our luggage and on to midtown we went. Along the way, he was giving us a tour, playing trivia, giving us lots of prizes & gifts, and just made us feel like family. I cannot speak highly enough about Izzy and his company. I will always recommend him moving forward and use him when we to go New York City. For price comparison purposes, I paid Izzy $150 for our ride, and an UberXXL (comparable vehicle) is $129.89. Very much worth the money to have Izzy take us.
We arrived at our hotel with no issue and said goodbye to Izzy. Last year we stayed at the Hilton Midtown, so that’s where we stayed again. It’s a short 5 minute walk to Rockefeller Center, 5 minutes to Time’s Square, 5 minutes to Central Park, 10 minutes to Bryant Park, and lots of subway stations around the hotel. It’s also across the street from Radio City Music Hall. I booked our hotel on June 26, 2024 and the 4 night total was $1,789.91. Most hotels in NYC have a resort fee, or destination charge. This hotel is no different. The destination charge here is $35/day, which include a $35/day food & beverage credit, $25 laundry credit and premium Internet. This isn’t an issue for us because with my Hilton Honors status, I get that food & beverage credit and Internet anyway but we made the use of our credits. Anyway. We dropped our luggage off at the hotel so we could go have fun in the city.
Our first stop was breakfast because we were starving. We hadn’t eaten yet. Izzy recommended Carnegie Diner & Cafe, so that’s where we went. It did not disappoint! The service was good and the food was fantastic! They have several locations around the city but we ate at the one on 8th Ave. My wife got a waffle, my son got chocolate pancakes and I got the symphony breakfast. The total for breakfast was $78.47. We really enjoyed this place!
After we left breakfast, we went to Rockefeller Center as we had Jellycat reservations at F.A.O. Schwarz at 10:30am. My son loves plushies and always has. He wanted to go to Jellycat Diner to get him a plushie. It was really busy but moving efficiently since they were holding people to their reservation times. It was a cute little ‘show’ they did to cook his pancakes, named Fran. The cost for his Jellycat plushie was $65.32. We walked around and checked out Rockefeller Center for a little bit before venturing down Fifth Ave to do some shopping. First, we went to the Vans store to buy my son some Vans shirts & hoodies. While we normally order our Vans stuff online, the Vans store on Fifth Ave has some styles that are specific to New York City. He didn’t want a bunch though, and only bought 1 t-shirt and 1 hoodie. We spent $100 even there.
After we left Vans, we walked on down Fifth Ave to Louis Vuitton where my wife wanted to do some shopping. We went to one area to make a purchase and there were 4 employees standing around on their phones, and not one acknowledged we were there. So, we left. They lost a decent sale by ignoring us for their phones. I did let the manager know, who wasn’t happy with them. Their loss, not ours.
After we left LV, we went next door to Tiffany’s. My wife loves Tiffany’s and wanted to shop there, so we did. Tiffany’s is fantastic and their customer service is amazing. My wife did purchase several items from Tiffany’s, so she was happy. We did spent quite a bit of time in here while she shopped, but it was worth it as they were all friendly and helped her in making her purchases.
Once we were finished at Tiffany’s, we ventured back toward Rockefeller Center where we went to American Girl so my wife could look there. We spent quite a bit of time in American Girl but didn’t buy anything. From there we checked out St. Patrick’s Cathedral again, then went to Abitino’s for lunch. If you followed our trip to New York last year, you know Abitino’s was our favorite pizza joint, as it was close to our hotel also.
We grabbed lunch at Abitino’s and spent $37 there for lunch. After we ate, we went to the hotel to take our Tiffany’s and Vans purchases and put them in our room. We would also take a short nap since it was an early morning. We didn’t have any plans until dinner.
After we rested a bit at the hotel, it was getting close to time for dinner, so we went to the subway and headed to the Bowery district where we had dinner reservations. We really enjoyed Ainslie last year, so we were going back there this year. I made reservations here on March 14th 2025. We got to Ainslie and had our dinner. My wife had the free range hanger steak, I had spaghetti pomodoro, and my son had a burger and fries. The total for dinner was $90.36.
We left Ainslie and got on the subway to go back to midtown. Once we got back into midtown we decided to walk into Time’s Square for a bit to end the day. We went to Hershey’s where we wanted to buy my son some new PJ pants. He got some Reese pants last year but he was ready for a larger size. He also wanted a hoodie, and we also got some candy. I spent $88.85 at Hershey’s Chocolate World. We then people watched outside for a bit then went into Mia’s Bakery where they had a large selection of French macarons. My wife LOVES macarons and it’s hard to find them around where we live. She bought a 6-pack of macarons for $20.87. Next we went to the Disney store to shop. It was a neat store but it was mainly current Disney items, and not a lot of older Disney stuff like you find in the stores on Disney campus. We didn’t end up buying anything here. We then walked over to see the National Debt Clock. At the time we were there, it was at $35,908,788,775,443 and counting. wow. Then we walked around Time’s Square a little bit more before heading back to the hotel for the night. It had been a LONG day and we were all really tired. Tomorrow is a new day!
Total Steps Walked: 22,849 / 10.78 miles
We got up fairly early today to get our day started. We hopped on the subway and headed to Brooklyn. We got to Brooklyn and walked down to DUMBO, which stands for “Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overlook”. The DUMBO area is a very popular area with a lot going on. We walked around and explored DUMBO some before going up onto the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked the 1.1 mile from DUMBO back into Manhattan. Last year was a miserable walk because they were doing some religious thing on the bridge and there were a ton of people. This year, there weren’t many people. Of course, it was early on a weekday. We got to the end of the bridge in Manhattan and walked around Federal Plaza where the P. Diddy trial as well as the Harvey Weinstein trials were both going on next to one another. There were a lot of media setup waiting on information from each courtroom. We continued to walk until we got to Chinatown. We walked around Canal Street in Chinatown checking things out, and walked over to Little Italy. By this time, we were hungry. We went to Da Gennaro in Little Italy for lunch. The food and service here was good. My wife and son split a pizza and I got spaghetti pomodoro. The total here was $73.15.
We finished our lunch and explored Little Italy a bit before walking over to the Financial District. Once we were in FiDi, we went to Federal Hall. Federal Hall was built in the early 1700s and was the seat of the American government under the newly ratified Constitution. It was here in 1789 that George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States. The First United States Congress also met here and drafted the Bill of Rights. New York City served as the nations first capital in this building from 1785 until 1790. The original building was demolished in 1812 and was rebuilt and completed in 1842. It was originally rebuilt as the U.S. Custom House for New York City and then served as the U.S. Sub-Treasury and briefly as the Federal Reserve Bank. After we left Federal Hall, we walked around the New York Stock Exchange, and saw the Fearless Girl.
When we were finished around the NYSE, we decided to walk up to the 9/11 Memorial again. This is a very somber place, and a great place to take a break! We checked out the memorial for a bit, and I walked over to FDNY 10, the firehouse closest to the World Trade Center. I bought a shirt and 2 patches from them for $40. We then walked over to the Oculus where I would check out the statues, and we went into Walgreens inside the Oculus to get some drinks. We were thirsty and hot.
We were finished in the FiDi so we caught the subway back to Midtown where we would go to Bryant Park and relax. We sat in Bryant Park for about 2 hours just people watching and feeling the breeze as we sat in the shade. It was a nice relaxing time there. Once we were done, we decided to walk back toward the hotel. Along the way, I knew I wanted to stop at Magnolia Bakery. We went in and I bought a tub of banana pudding. It is fantastic! It is $7.25 for a tub of banana pudding.
We left Magnolia Bakery and went to the hotel to put it in the fridge so we could go to dinner. Once then, we walked over to Bill’s Burgers, which is right next to Radio City Music Hall. This weekend the Tony’s is happening, so things are pretty active around Radio City Music Hall. We went into Bill’s Burger and ate our dinner. We each got a burger to eat, and 2 sides of fries. The total here was $79.71. The service here is average, but the burgers are really good as was the cheese fries.
We finished at Bill’s Burgers and went back to Magnolia Bakery to get some more banana pudding. This time, my wife and son got some also. The total for the 3 of us was $27.90. We got our pudding and went back to the hotel to put it in the fridge. I then decided to walk to 58th Wine & Liquors to get 2 bottles of wine to take on the cruise with us. For 2 bottles of Moscato was $31.37. Once I got back to the hotel room, I went ahead and ordered our 3 cases of soda on Instacart to be delivered to our hotel room. The order was from Brooklyn Fare and was $48.73 for 3 12pks of soda.
After we had our Instacart order delivered, we did go downstairs to the hotel and grab some chips and snacks for $16.88 to use some of our F&B credits. we went ahead and took showers and called it a night. It was getting late. Tomorrow is a new day!
Total Steps Walked: 24,150 / 11.36 miles
Today it is supposed to rain, so we’re up at 6am to get the day started early to beat the rain. We walked over to Central Park to see a few sights. They were having the Mastercard New York Mini 10K Women’s Race which we didn’t know until we got there. This is a historically significant all-women’s race. It was founded in 1972 and was the worlds first ever all women’s road race. Now, it has over 250,000 total finishers. This year alone had 10,000 participants. Needless to say, it was a big event. Anyway, we walked to the Alice in Wonderland statue first, then sat by the pond and watched all of the people and their dogs. From there, we walked over to Bethesda Terrace to see the fountain and tunnel. After that, we went to Bow Bridge to take photos. Bow Bridge is a very famous foot bridge that’s one of Central Parks most romantic bridges. It’s been in many movies such as Spider Man 3, Enchanted, Made of Honor, Autumn in New York, When in Rome, The Way We Were, Keeping the Faith, Highlander, Night at the Museum, Home Alone, Glee, Doctor Who, Uptown Girls, and many more. After Bow Bridge, we ventured out of Central Park to find breakfast. We wanted Carnegie Diner again but the line was out the door, so we went across the street to Brooklyn Diner. There was no wait here. This felt like a very authentic Brooklyn diner in Manhattan. The service was decent and the food was decent but not worth the price. I got the NY breakfast, my wife and son both got waffles. The total was $104.26.
We left Brooklyn Diner, and went back to the hotel as it was starting to rain. It would be a nap day and low key while it rained. We didn’t have any more plans until 3pm. At 3pm, we got up and went to the street festival that was going on. New York ALWAYS has some kind of festival going on. They had Avenue of the Americas closed, and both sides of the street were closed with vendors setup selling things. We didn’t buy anything but it was fun to check out.
At 3pm, we had an NBC Studio Tour reserved. We did this last year and enjoyed it, so I figured we would do it again. I booked this on May 9, 2025 and it was $150.25 for us to go here. I have sciatica in my back and cannot stand for long periods of time. We had a 15 minute wait, and they do not allow you to sit down anywhere. I even tried sitting in the floor in the back away from everything, nope. I was very unhappy about this. Finally we were able to begin our tour. It is cool seeing behind the scenes at NBC, despite me not liking any of their programming now since they involve politics in everything. We first went to Studio 8H where Saturday Night Live is broadcast from. It looks big on TV but it’s actually very tiny. They still have some of the lighting and props up from the 70s which is cool. The stage is very small. The door that the host comes out of, leads to nowhere. There’s a brick wall behind it. They have 3 stages in 8H, the one where you see the band, which is also where Weekend Update is at. Then there’s one for the musical guests, and on the opposite side is for the skits. It’s very complex but neat. After we left 8H, we went to Studio 6B which is where Jimmy Fallon does his show from. Like 8H, it’s a small studio also. There’s Jimmy’s desk, beside of it is where his guests sit, then to the side is where the Roots performs. It’s a nice studio. We also saw other areas which include where they do the graphics for Kelly Clarkson and SNL, as well as a pipe area where Jim Henson and other creators made Muppets out of pipes there. It was cool. We then saw a few other behind the scenes things. Unfortunately they do not allow photography, so we didn’t get to take any photos. We did get to make a fun video though!
Once we were finished at NBC, we walked up to Bryant Park where we’d sit again and just relax and people watch for a bit until dinner. When it was time, we walked through Time’s Square, back up Broadway to Serafina. I had made reservations for Serafina back on May 8 2025. We got to dinner and was sat a little early since we were early. Thankfully someone didn’t show up to their reservations so we got their spot. This is definitely somewhere you need reservations for though, they stay busy. The service was great and the food was absolutely fantastic. I ordered steak & fries, my wife ordered chicken palliard and my son ordered a pizza. The total here was $129.96. The atmosphere was very nice also.
After we left Serafina, we walked back toward the hotel, and went back to Magnolia Bakery where I’d get some more banana pudding. Same as last time, it was $7.25 for my banana pudding. We got back to the hotel and I went downstairs to stock up on snacks and spend our F&B credit. I spent $39.14 here which was free after the credits. After that, we went back to the room to shower and get ready for bed, another day tomorrow!
Total Steps Walked: 17,933 / 8.40 miles
This was our final day in New York so we wanted to make the most of it. We got up early and walked up to Carnegie Diner for breakfast. This was our favorite breakfast in New York so we wanted it one last time before we left the city. I got the Symphony Breakfast and my son got blueberry pancakes. My wife got a plain waffle. The total was $79.09 for our breakfast.
After we finished breakfast, we walked up to Fox News. We watch Fox & Friends every weekend so we were hoping that Rachel or Joey would come outside for a segment. Adam ended up coming out to do a weather segment which was cool to see live. He said he’d be back out in 45 minutes, so we went back to the hotel to gather up our laundry. We then walked back up to Fox to see Adam come back out. While I was in the hotel, I set our DVR at home to record Fox & Friends so we could see ourselves on TV. Before the segment came up we were talking to Adam and we told him we were Charlies neighbors back home. He asked how we liked the city and my son said he hated it. We all laughed and I thought that was the end of it. However, once the show went live, Adam mentioned to Charlie in the studio we were his neighbors, then asked my son on camera how he liked the city and he repeated that he hated it. Everyone laughed. Adam then did his weather segment and went off-air. As we were walking off, the security guard hollered at us and told us to “hold up”. Charlie came running out to talk to us! He thought that was pretty cool we were in New York. We chatted with him a bit before he had to go back inside to get ready for the next on-air segment. My son was so embarrassed but it was a moment he’ll never forget.
After we finished at Fox, we went back to the hotel so I could grab our laundry to go wash it. The Puerto Rican Day Parade was taking place this morning so almost every road around our hotel was closed. The Puerto Rican Day Parade is the second largest parade in New York City and draws over a million people each year to watch it, including over 4 million at its peak.
I got our laundry and requested an Uber to get me to take me to the laundry mat. Carlos picked me up and took me the 1.44 miles in 16 minutes to 102 Laundromat for $23.36. I spent about an hour and a half at the laundromat doing all of our laundry. We didn’t want to go to the ship with a bunch of dirty clothes. The laundromat was much nicer than Sally’s which is where I went last year. There was plenty of space, and available machines. Plus the machines took tap to pay. While the clothes washed, I walked around the area a bit just checking things out, while waiting on laundry to be finished. Once it was done, I requested an Uber to take me back to the hotel. Rashpal picked me up an took me the 1.55 miles in 10 minutes back to the hotel for $18.55. Actually he dropped me off about a block away on Broadway on 71st because of the road closures.
I got back to the hotel and dropped off the clean laundry, and then we hopped on the subway to head to Chelsea Market for lunch. We got to Chelsea Market and explored there a bit before going to Creamline for lunch. We all 3 got a burger and 2 orders of fries and the total was $63.16. Creamline was absolutely fantastic! Their burgers were some of the best.
We finished at Chelsea and walked up to The High Line. The High Line is an elevated park and walking trail built on a historic freight rail line on Manhattans West Side. It runs from Gansevoort St in the Meatpacking District to 34th St near Hudson Yards. It’s about 1.45mi long. We took our time on The High Line and did lots of sitting and people watching. Along the way, we stopped at Berry Stop, which is a grab and go food card that serves strawberries. You can get strawberries plain, with whipped cream (cold foam), chocolate, or however you’d like them. I got us each a cup of strawberries with cold foam, and the total was $32.63. While we were eating our strawberries, I added cold foam and strawberries to our grocery delivery order for when we return home. They were good!
We continued our journey down The High Line until we reached the end at Hudson Yards. We sat around Hudson Yards for a bit people watching until it started raining, which then we went inside the shops to sit until it finished raining.
Once it finished raining, we walked down to Pier 83 to Circle Line Cruises. We had an evening harbor lights tour, where the boat would take us on a tour around New York, on the water. I booked premier tickets on November 12, 2024 and it was $255 for this 2 hour tour. We got to Circle Line and embarked our boat with no issue. We went all around Manhattan on the water. The guide was fantastic and pointed our what everything was and the history of it. I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to tour Manhattan.
After we got back from our 2 hour cruise, we were ready for a late dinner. I booked Serafina again while on the boat and we were able to get reservations. Once we debarked the river cruise, I requested our Uber. Nasir picked us up from Pier 83 and took us the 1.80 miles in 11 minutes to Serafina on Broadway.
We were sat as soon as we arrived. I ordered Penne all’arrabbiata and my son ordered pizza. My wife ordered chicken palliard and our total was $129.92. The food and service was fantastic once again!
After dinner, we went back to the hotel to pack up some stuff, as tomorrow morning we’d be leaving for our cruise. We got to the hotel and went down to spend $43.01 (ended up being free) in the store to get snacks and stuff for the ship. We then went to our room, showered and packed up. Tomorrow is embarkation day!
Total Steps Walked: 18,614 / 8.82 miles
Good morning New York City! It’s time to get the day started fairly early, as it’s embarkation day! When I did our online check-in 16 days prior to the cruise, I chose a 10:30am port arrival time. Many new cruisers think this is a boarding time, it’s not. We were also group A01 to board which is the first group. About 10am we packed up our stuff and went down to the front of the hotel where I’d request our Uber. At 10:05am, Alexandra picked us up in her Cadillac Escalade and took us the 1.43 miles to Pier 88 in 15 minutes at a cost of $37.03. She dropped us off at the porters out front at the terminal and they took our bags, and off Alexandra went. We were at Pier 88 and ready to cruise!!
We went into the terminal and the first station is someone checking your documents to make sure you have everything. The next step is going through security. This is typical airport style security, nothing too fancy. From there, we went to the official check-in desk where they checked everything, updated a photo of us, and sent us to the sitting area. Now New York doesn’t have a diamond/platinum lounge, they just have sections with everything mixed together. There were first time cruisers sitting across from us.
They had a drill on board, so that delayed boarding. Finally about 11:45am they started calling groups to board. There were so many people in the cruise terminal who did now know their alphabet or how to count. There were people with the C group trying to board with the A group, people with high B numbers trying to board. Thankfully they were checking every boarding pass and making people turn around who were in the wrong boarding group. It was very frustrating though because those people slowed everything down, for everyone. Listen with your ears people, and remember, A B C D E F G H…… 01 02 03 04 05 06 07……. This is stuff you learn in preschool. You’re grown adults about to travel outside of the country, you should know these basic facts. Anyway..
We made it onto the ship and went straight to our cabin to drop off our 3 cases of soda, wine, and bookbags. After that, we went to complete our muster, then went to explore the ship and get some photos. When our cabins were finally ready, we went to our cabin to relax a bit and wait for sail-away. I know they had a drill which slowed things down, but this is the latest I have ever boarded a Carnival ship. Normally we’re on board before 10:30am regardless of the port, except for Baltimore which doesn’t begin boarding until after noon.
The weather was very cool and cloudy, so we couldn’t really enjoy the sail-away like on other ships. We sat on our balcony for a bit until it was time to check-in for dinner. When the check-in opened for Anytime Dining, I checked in and we went to the main dining room to eat dinner. Now if you’re following me to get info on food, you’re on the wrong blog. I have the palette of a 4 year old. I do not eat anything fancy and stick to my comfort foods. Most nights I had a steak cooked well done, or spaghetti from the kids menu. Tonight was no different. My son got chicken, my wife and I both got steak. She had a warm chocolate melting cake as did my son, and I had the “zesty orange cake”. I also had 2 shrimp cocktails, which I got every night.
After dinner, we went to the Teatro Rosso to watch the Welcome Aboard Show. This is something we always attend so we have an idea of who the Playlist Cast is on the ship we’re on. It’s something to kill time. After the Welcome Aboard Show, we stayed for mobile trivia. I REALLY like the mobile trivia as I mentioned on the last Horizon post. It prevents everyone from cheating like traditional trivia. It’s almost impossible to cheat. Once we were done with mobile trivia, we just sat around and people watched until bedtime. We capped off the night with pizza and ice cream, like we do on every cruise. Then we went back to the cabin and went to bed.
Total Steps Walked: 13,442 / 6.41 miles
Today was our first day at sea. We had a meet & greet planned in our Facebook group, which had over 1,000 members in it. It was a casual drop-in event. I stayed the full hour and met many fantastic people. From there, I went to the cabin crawl. We only had 4 cabins sign up for the cabin crawl which was a disappointment. However we went to a standard balcony, a Terrazzo interior (Terrazzo is the equivalent of a Havana), and of course our cove balcony. We’ve done this many times so it was nothing really new to us, but it gave others a chance to see various cabin types.
Once the cabin crawl was complete, I met up with my wife and we went for lunch. We both had Tomodoro for lunch, which is the same thing as Blue Iguana, just rebranded. Once we ate lunch, I went to Java Blue and got us all a milkshake. We then sat on lido and just watched people and enjoyed the ship. I did go to the “dad jokes” trivia, “mind game” trivia, and the “calling all nerds” trivia, which was fun.
At dinner time, we had reservations for Bonsai Teppanyaki. This is our favorite place to eat on any Carnival ship. We do not like the steakhouse because it’s the most overrated place on a ship. The steaks are simply not good. If you enjoy eating at places like Applebees or Ruby Tuesday, you may love the steakhouse on the ships but if you eat at decent restaurants, you would probably agree. You can get a much better steak elsewhere, save your money.
Our Teppanyaki chef was Ronaldo. If you’ve been to Teppanyaki on one Carnival ship, you’ve seen the “show” on them all. Nothing changes from ship to ship and lunch to dinner. We go for the food, not the show. The food was fantastic as always. I had shrimp, filet mignon and chicken. My wife had the filet mignon. We both had the Japanese salad, the pork rolls and the desserts. From there, we went to the atrium to watch the Playlist Cast perform in there before their main event. Once they were finished, we went to the casino before calling it a night. Today was a very relaxing day of just….relaxing. 🙂
Total Steps Walked: 12,624 / 5.89 miles
Today is our second sea day, and it’s going to be another relaxing day, I hope. We woke up and went to the main dining room for breakfast. I got bacon, hash browns and breakfast potatoes. My wife and son got pancakes. After that, we watched a few shows until lunch. At lunch, I went to Guy’s Burgers and got me a burger. After lunch, we went to Deal or No Deal. I never win but it was fun. I think I spent $60 on cards for 2 games. After Deal or No Deal, we went to dinner in the main dining room. My wife had chicken tenders as an appetizer, and I had bitter n’ blanc for dessert. That’s the only deviation from our norm.
After dinner, we went to a few events around the ship before getting ready for the 80’s Rock N’ Glow party, where the whole ship turns into an 80’s theme. I always enjoy this! We sat up on deck 11 and people watched everyone on lido.
After the 80’s party, we got our pizza and ice cream, then went to bed.
Total Steps Walked: 9,015 / 4.22 miles
Today is our first port day, but it’s a late port day. We’ll be visiting Amber Cove, in the Dominican Republic. Amber Cove is a port made by Carnival, exclusively for Carnival cruises. We were originally scheduled for Grand Turk, but the itinerary was changed, upsetting most people on our voyage. We figured we would make the best of it, though disappointed with the change ourselves. We wanted to go to a few places, so I booked our private driver through Dominican Atlantic Transfers and Barney Alverado. The cost was $150 + tip for the day while we were in port.
We arrived to the port and debarked the ship without issue. Once we got off of the ship, we walked through the port area to the exit, where we would have to walk and exit the cruise terminal. I had a map showing us exactly where Barney would be to meet him. However, his map was wrong. His map shows you making a left out of the port area, and he was actually to the right. So, we walked a little further than needed to be. Once I called him and realized we were going the wrong way, we turned around and found him. He really needs to get his map fixed as this was very frustrating on a hot day.
We met up with Barney and got our driver. Off we went for the day! We went into Puerto Plata first to do a little shopping. The first place we stopped was Teleferico to see the cable car. The cable car goes up to Isabel de Torres from Puerto Plata. This is a 2,625ft tram that offers amazing views! After we left the cable car, we went to Puerto Plata shopping area, and started at Blue Amber House which sells jewelry, cigars and alcohol. We bought some jewelry as gifts for the upcoming holidays. In the Dominican Republic you can buy many things made of larimar, which is a rare blue gemstone found only in the Dominican Republic, specifically in the Barahona region. It’s a variety of the pectolite mineral, but unlike the typical pectolite which is white or grey, larimar is colored in shades of blue, turquoise and deep blue. It’s a beautiful gem. They also sell Amber gems which is pretty but we much prefer the larimar.
Also while we were at Blue Amber House, the lady convinced me to take a shot of Mamajuana. Now we’ve been to the Dominican Republic many times and I have had Mamajuana at various places, before and it’s always tasted like a mix of rubbing alcohol and cat piss. It’s just, nasty. Reluctantly I tried it again this time. I don’t know what the difference is, but it was delicious! I ended up buying a bottle of Mamajuana from Blue Amber House. I spent $120 at Blue Amber House.
From Amber House, we’d walk down “Pink Street” to get some photos. Literally everything on Pink Street, is you guessed it, pink. It’s a great photo area. Once we finished taking photos on Pink Street, we walked over to Umbrella Street. This is a replica of the former Fortaleza Street in San Juan, which used to have the umbrellas. We walked down Umbrella Street and enjoyed it, before going into Avarcas, which makes shoes by hand. It’s a very cute store, and my wife cannot pass a pair of shoes.
From Avarcas, we walked up to the Catholic church and Central Park to see the area. We walked around here for a bit sight-seeing. We got some photos then walked back toward the car so we could go to a different area. Puerto Plata was a good day. We left Puerto Plata and went to San Felipe Fortress which my son wanted to see. San Felipe Fortress was built in 1540 and completed in 1577 by order of King Philip II of Spain. It was built to protect the port of Puerto Plata from pirates, corsairs and other colonial powers. It’s made of coral stone and brick, with thick walls, cannons and a classic Spanish colonial military design. It guarded Puerto Plata against frequent pirate attacks in the 16th & 17th centuries. It was later used as a prison in the 19th & 20th centuries, including during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Today, it’s a museum open to the public.
After we left Ocean Blvd, we went up to the highest point in the area to see a scenic overlook. We grabbed some photos here then went to El Pueblito Playa Dorada to the beach where we’d spend a little time. It was very windy at the beach and sand was blowing making it very difficult to enjoy the beach. My wife and son got in the water for a little bit. He didn’t have sunglasses, so I gave him my Oakleys to protect his eyes from the sand. This left me with no sunglasses and sand blowing in my face. I was miserable. They were finally finished playing at the beach, so we left. I did end up buying a Coke Zero while waiting on them, which was $1. We then got with our driver and decided to head back to the port. We made it back to Amber Cove and walked to the free pool where we’d hop in for a few minutes. Enough to feel semi-refreshed. We went in a few shops in the port area and I ended up buying a Christmas ornament for $8.
We went back to the ship, took showers and got cleaned up. It was a fun day in Amber Cove. We went and got ice cream on the ship, and rested until dinner. At dinner we went to the main dining room. My wife got the broccoli and cheese soup, I had spaghetti and banana cream pie for dessert. After dinner, we went to Color My World which is a show by the Playlist Cast. This has always been a show we really enjoyed, and tonight was no different.
We enjoyed Color My World, then a few other things around the ship before calling it a night. We were beat!
Total Steps Walked: 12,971 / 6.11 miles
Today is our second port day, San Juan, Puerto Rico. We didn’t have much planned for today, just walking around Old San Juan. We first walked down Rd 1 toward Plazoleta de San Juan, then turned up Ca de la Tanca and started walking up the hill. We turned on C. de San Francisco toward San Cristobal. Along this route we saw many of the colorful buildings of Old San Juan and the blue cobblestone streets. We stopped in several stores, including Mr. Weenie Waffles. We walked down to Plaza Colon where we’d rest for a little bit and people watch.
From Plaza Colon we walked down C. de la Luna down to Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista where we went inside the church. This is one of the oldest and most significant cathedrals in the Americas, both historically and spiritually. The church was founded in 1521 just a year after San Juan was established. The original structure was built from wood but destroyed by a hurricane in 1526. It was rebuilt in 1540.It is now the oldest cathedral in the United States and its territories, and the second oldest in the Western Hemisphere. One of the most famous features in the church is the tomb of Ponce de Leon. His remains were transferred here in 1913 and rest in a marble tomb near the main altar. This is a beautiful church!
From Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista, we walked down C. de San Jose down to C. de la Fortaleza St. Here, we saw the Governors Mansion and Capilla del Santo Cristo de la Salud which was built in 1753 on top of the city walls. We then made our way down Fortaleza St shopping, and stopped in at Barrachina where the Pina Colada was invented. We enjoyed several of the shops making our way down Fortaleza St before ending up back at Comercio St. Here, we went into Walgreens to replenish our soda stock for the ship. We bought some Combos, a hat for my son, and sodas. I spent $33.58 at Walgreens. We then went back to the ship to drop off our drinks. My son was tired so he took a shower. Meanwhile, my wife thought she needed to get more sodas, so we walked back over to Walgreens to buy more soda. This time I spent $18.50 on sodas, gummy bears and a bag of chips. We then made our way back to the ship where we’d take showers ourselves.
After we got cleaned up, we went to dinner in the main dining room. My son got Tiramisu and I had some piece of cake for dessert. Once we were finished dinner, we went to watch Family Feud. This is always funny to watch. After Family Feud, we went to the Piano Bar to unwind for the evening. Tomorrow was an early port day, so we called it an early night shortly afterward.
Total Steps Walked: 17,928 / 8.42 miles
This is our last port day, which is St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. I had originally reserved a car here but decided today I wanted someone to drive me around, so I booked a private driver for the day, which I booked Happy Time Limo. I booked our driver at the last minute on April 23, 2025 for $275 for the day. We were informed our driver would be waiting on us when we debarked the ship that morning to begin our day.
We woke up and debarked the ship. We never heard an announcement to debark, and I was very confused when we debarked because there were no lines, nobody walking around in port, everything was closed. Not even ship photographers. I am not sure if we were early before they made the announcement, or if we were late. It was nice though. We docked at Havensight which is where Carnival ships dock. We got with our driver and went straight to Paradise Point. Paradise Point had not opened yet, but we walked under the gate and went up to get photos. It was fantastic up there, as we were the only people and the views were fantastic.
After Paradise Point, we went to Drakes Seat, another vantage point of the island where we got some more great pictures. After Drakes Seat, we went to a beach. I told our driver we did not want to go to a tourist beach, and didn’t want to go where it’s crowded or people selling us crap. We ended up going to Frenchman’s Reef which is in Morningstar Bay. The whole morning we spent at the beach with free lounge chairs and free umbrellas. It was the perfect beach day. The weather wasn’t hot, it was a slight breeze, the waves weren’t too rough but best of all, we were the only people on the entire beach. Between the time we got there and the time we left, I maybe saw 10 people total. That made it worth it. Others went to Sapphire Beach which was covered in sargassum, and others went to Megan’s Bay, which was crowded from what I was told. We really enjoyed our time at this beach.
Once we had spent a few hours at the beach, we were ready to head back to Charlotte Amalie, which we did. We walked around Charlotte Amalie a bit and did some shopping. Once we finished there, we went back to the port area, where we did some more shopping. I ended up spending $380 in St. Thomas on souvenirs. It was mainly shirts we purchased.
We had an early “back on board” time in St. Thomas, so we got back on the ship, took showers and went to some trivia before heading to dinner in the main dining room. After dinner, we went up to our spot on deck 11 to watch the lido activities. We watched the Terracota Trek, as part of Festa Italiana. We then went to Deal or No Deal again where I’d lose even more money. When we were done at Deal or No Deal, we went to “Guess that Groove” with our friends Robin & Shelia. This is fun to watch but it was especially fun tonight because we got them to get Shelia up on stage to participate. It was funny.
After Guess that Groove, we went back to the cabin and got ready for bed. It was a fun day!
Total Steps Walked: 12,200 / 5.76 miles
Good morning, it’s Sunday, Father’s Day! The next 3 days are days at sea, so it’s going to be very laid back and relaxing. I got up at 5am with my wife. She went running, and I went to walk around the ship. When she was finished, we went to the casino together. The casino is very nice at 5am because there’s nobody else in there, and nobody smoking. We spent about 3 hours in the casino making our donations to the cause. When we were done in the casino, we went to breakfast, then to the cabin to take naps. Once we woke up, we went to lunch then just lounged around the ship until dinner. We ate in the main dining room, then went to Epic Rock. This is my wifes favorite show on any Carnival ship. We enjoyed Epic Rock, then went to the Gondola Lounge to listen to the band perform before going to the Piano Bar. When we were done in the Piano Bar, we went for pizza and ice cream before ending the night. It was a very low key day.
Total Steps Walked: 10,165 / 4.77 miles
Today is another sea day, so we pretty much had a repeat of yesterday. We woke up around 5 and went to the casino, then breakfast, then naps. We did go to lunch then watched the ship building challenge, where people build boats out of various things found around the ship. They then put them in the pool to try to sink them. The winners boat was made completely out of water bottles. We then just relaxed for the day until it was time for dinner. I got creme Brulé and the strawberry bisque. Aside from that, we had our normal. After dinner we went to Carnival Live, which had Omar Cardona performing. Omar was the runner up on The Voice a few years back. He was fantastic and had an amazing story. He gave us insight to behind the scenes things on The Voice and John Legend. During his final performance, his wife had given birth to his son that morning so he was all emotional. His son was born deaf, so he signed all of the songs that he sang. I instantly became his biggest fan. If you ever get a chance to see Omar Cardona, do. After we were done at Carnival Live, we went to the atrium for the White Hot Night, which is just the audience dressed in all white, and singing along to various 80’s/90’s music. It was fun though! Once White Hot Night was over, we went to pizza, got ice cream then went to bed. Like I said, very low key day.
Total Steps Walked: 9,588 / 4.55 miles
Today was our last day on the ship. Boo 🙁 We slept in a little bit, and I think we woke up about 8am. We went to the main dining room for breakfast then went to make our daily casino donations. Once we were finished in the casino, we cashed out and went to trivia. At lunch time, we had reservations for Bonsai Teppanyaki again so that’s where we went. We had Ronaldo again as our chef. We had the same food, which was delicious. After lunch, we went back to the cabin to pack things up. This is the saddest day of any cruise.
After we packed things up, we went to “The World Works Here” which they recognize the diversity of all of the cruise members, and how they’re from all over the globe. All crew members carry their respective home flags to the stage. My son is a vexillologist and LOVES flags and foreign affairs. This was right up his alley! After The World Works Here, we went to dinner. When dinner was over, we went to “What’s age got to do with it” where it’s kids vs adults. This was fun. We kept our seats and hung out with our friends for the hour until the “Love & Marriage” show. This is always my top show. We really enjoyed Love & Marriage. Once it was over, we went back to the cabin to sit our luggage out, then went for pizza and ice cream. It was time to wind the cruise down. Tomorrow was the last day of vacation.
Total Steps Walked: 10,020 / 4.83 miles
Today is debarkation day, how depressing. It’s going to be a busy day of traversing places though! We got our luggage tags and are in group 2 to debark. We woke up and about 7:30 we decided to go to breakfast in the main dining room. We evacuated our cabin and to breakfast we went. We finished our breakfast then made our way back down to deck 2 to debark the ship.
Debarkation went very smoothly. The line was long but moved efficiently. Once we were off of the ship and into the terminal, we grabbed our luggage and headed outside. I had booked Izzy to pick us up again, and he had sent me a message and told me where he was at. We crossed the street outside of Pier 88, walked down 1 block and there he was. We loaded up the Escalade and off to LaGuardia we went. He took the long way around to avoid traffic and to give us a tour as well. He showed us various places in the Bronx as well as Harlem. We went by the Yankee Stadium and a few other landmarks en route to Queens to the airport. We arrived at LaGuardia with no issue and said our goodbyes to Izzy.
This morning I received notification that our flight was delayed by 1hr. Figures. We stopped at Artichoke Pizza inside of LGA and grabbed lunch and then made our way to gate 65 which was our gate. We waited briefly then finally got on our flight back to North Carolina. The flight back was fast, but a little bumpy on approach. We landed at PTI in Greensboro safely, grabbed our luggage and I called the hotel to send the shuttle to pick us up. The hotel shuttle came and picked us up, took us to the hotel where we’d get our 4Runner and head home. The drive home was uneventful, and we made it home around 3pm. I unpacked everything, we took showers and called it an early night.
Total Steps Walked: 11,262 / 5.40 miles
In closing, this was a very fun, relaxing vacation. New York was full of fun and excitement, but it’s not the south. Everything is different there. It’s fun to visit, then quickly leave. The cruise itself was great. The food was good, not great. It’s what has become the norm for Carnival though (and Royal as well) but it’s good enough to keep you from going hungry. The staff was great on this ship. Mike D’Auria the cruise director was fantastic. He ranks up high on my list of cruise directors. He’s no Cookie, Dr. E, Kyndall Fire, Lee, but he’s definitely toward the top. The ship…. The ship is absolutely beautiful. This is the most beautiful Carnival ship I have been on. It’s so elegantly designed. It’s my new favorite ship. It’s very similar to a Vista Class ship, which the Horizon has always been my favorite. The Venezia is now my favorite though. The only complaint about the ship I have, is the beds were hard as a rock. They weren’t the typical cloud-like bedding that Carnival typically uses. They were very, very firm like Royal Caribbean uses. I was so excited to get back to my comfortable bed at home. Aside from the beds, everything was great. Of course you have your obnoxious passengers on every voyage but that’s to be expected. Overall, I give this trip an 8 out of 10.
Total distance walked this trip: 178,611 steps / 84.94 miles
