We’re sailing right now on Carnival Cruise Line’s newly remodeled Carnival Magic, a ship we saw debut not all that long ago.  Actually, it was just last month that we took a drive to Port Canaveral in celebration of year-round deployment of Carnival Magic to Florida’s Space Coast.  Here, we’re just on the ship and on a vacation of sorts.  It’s our 35th wedding anniversary and a bit of a tradition to sail with Carnival on such occasions; we do it on the five year mark.

Like other embarkations, this one too was smooth.  In priority boarding due to past guest status, we pretty much just walked right on the ship.  No heavy security screening for booze (we brought two bottles of wine, as allowed) and more of a focus on getting us on board safely.

With an itinerary that begins with a day at sea I was reminded:  this is the way all Caribbean cruises should be.  Throw a day at sea on the front and back side on all of them.  On the front end, the day at sea allows for complete relaxation, just to get the Fun rolling. At the end, we prepare to reemerge into the real world.

Follow along as we explore the Carnival Cruise Line experience from embarkation to driving home.

Right up front I can tell you a relaxing Caribbean cruise is everything it ever was, at least so far. Boarding was easy, the onboard ambiance has a whole boatload of people here to enjoy the heck out of their week’s vacation.

There is no push to dress up for dinner or down for relaxing any number of ways.  Carnival does a good job of getting the Fun started then keeping that going.  A nicely run hotel department and a highly-visible cruise director see to that.  More on them later.  For now some photos from our first day at sea and a stop by new Amber Cove cruise destination in the Dominican Republic.

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