Carnival cruising......good value for money

Hi everyone, 

It's been a while since my last post- my sincere apologies. I got so busy for a while and then went on vacation from work (woo-hoo!!!). I went to NYC to embark on a 8 day Carnival cruise to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands) & Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos). 

It cost US$557 when I booked 1.5 months prior- with all the taxes and travel insurance etc. Now that's a great deal, I think, for 8 days food & board as well as you get to visit three different countries. Imagine if you were to visit each of these countries individually, just the airfare is more than what I paid. Even worse if you have to stay at a hotel. 

We got to Grand Turk & another Carnival ship was docked

                      

Docked in Puerto Rico

Another advantage with cruises is that you get to visit countries and kind of 'sample' them to see whether or not it would be a place you would travel to. Now I don't really have to go back to Grand Turk. To me they have nothing on Jamaica, except a stronger foreign exchange rate which would be better for persons earning US dollars (so come to Jamaica!!! your US dollar will stretch even more ^_^). Imagine if I had paid for airfare and hotel to visit there - I'd be a little disappointed and feel like I wasted my money. 

 View of the lobby

Soaking up some sun, I need some colour

 Towel animals made by the staff

 Dive in Cinema

View as we were approaching the dock. 
St. Thomas (USVI)

Magan's Bay Beach in St. Thomas (USVI)

Oysters, prawns, scallops & shrimp- one of the fab 
dishes in the dining room. I tried frog legs
 & shark too :)

Staff performing a little show while we dined

View as we're approaching the dock at Grand Turk

It's so funny, some times it takes you not having what you are used to to appreciate what you do have. That's how I felt about Jamaica, my homeland. I've been to Mexico, Bahamas, Cayman, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas & Turks & Caicos and believe me I love my country. We take so much for granted but when you don't have it, it makes you appreciate things a lot more. I LOVE JAMAICA!!!!

                     

 


Next time I'll take a shorter cruise from Florida, that way it's less days at sea. It took three days to get to Puerto Rico (our first stop) and I got sea sick along the way.

Carnival is great. The food was good but the service was excellente!!!!!. It was about 3,006 guests and 1000 staff. The ship was spic and span. There are sooooo many activities and were they on time.