Welcome back to Byte Size Cruises! If this is your first time here, we are happy you found us. We are a small travel agency outside of Philadelphia, PA and we specialize in all things cruising. If you enjoy cruising or are interested in going on a cruise vacation, you're in the right place! Our goal is to share the best and most relevant information so you can truly enjoy cruising. Today, we are fresh off the Carnival Jubilee and we are going to give you all our thoughts since we just cruised on that ship. Let's get started!
We left out of Galvaston, TX and to get there we took a plane into Houston (be aware, there are TWO airports in Houston so if you're flying into that airport be sure you're choosing the correct one!) There's a lot to say about the Port of Galvaston so we probably will do an entire video on that port and the hotel we stayed at, the Harbor House.
We were able to walk to the port and right onto the ship from our hotel, which was great the morning of departure. We had a 12:30PM check in time and even though embarkation was a bit chaotic, it overall was smoothly done. There were a lot of people directing you where to go and there were a lot of lines that seemed to be there for no reason. We checked in and then went through security and then everyone gets checked again before we actually got onto the ship. From the time we got to the terminal to the time we actually got on the ship was only about 20 minutes, so overall the process moved along quickly especially when you consider the amount of people needing to board this ship.
Our initial impressions when we got on the ship is that it was beautiful and it didn't seem too crowded. There wasn't a big crowd when we first got onto the ship; instead people had scattered throughout different areas of the ship. We will talk more about this, but the way the ship is structured with the different zones and how people move on it is one thing that makes this ship unique and definitely on or top 5 lists of cruise ships we have been on.
Regarding the service over the week, everything was very good. We didn't really see a difference in the level of service between Carnival and other cruise lines like Royal Caribbean or Norwegian. Overall, each staff member was incredibly kind and eager to help make our cruise an amazing experience. Our room steward was in twice a day and he was fantastic. All the service at the bars, restaurants was great.
The entertainment for the production shows was also really good. We had Celestial Stings, Dear Future Husband, Soul Bound and other big shows where the staff and production itself were fantastic. Knowing music a bit, the level of difficulty of the songs they performed throughout these different shows was extremely high. A lot of the songs they choose were incredibly popular and we enjoyed all the production shows.
They had other shows throughout the ship in the Grand Central area that were good as well. Here we saw magicians, more music, dancers, etc. The space itself isn't a regular theater so they were able to do certain things there but also were limited in other ways. Overall, we thought the shows were decent even though they were very loud regarding the background volume because of where the space is located which actually did distract from the show. With the space being open to people walking through on decks 6, 7, and 8, it was impossible to contain the noise of the general crowd and that did take away from what was happening on stage.
Regarding the game shows, Family Feud was amazing. They did that game three times on the ship and each time was a lot of fun.
The cruise director and her staff were fantastic. The cruise director is Kindle Fire and she had tons of energy throughout the entire cruise and we saw her all over the ship. This is another example of how, whether you are on a large or a small cruise ship, the cruise director can be a huge part of your vacation experience. Kindle Fire was amazing at her job and her staff was wonderful.
Next topic... FOOD! Honestly, we were expecting a mediocre level of included food and we were absolutely wrong. There are tons of different options for food that are included in your cruise fare in addition to the standard large dining rooms. It was absolutely incredible. Nothing was ever too crowded because there were so many options. Specialty dining was another level up and even more amazing. We did a cooking class while we were there (and we'll do another whole video on that) as well as several speciality restaurants.
The different bars were also really fun, with different vibes and places to hang out. We never had a hard time getting a drink or a seat, which really says something about the way this ship is structured.
Disembarkation was chaotic because we had some unusual events on this cruise, so we aren't going to judge Carnival based on that. Keep in mind if you're flying after getting off a cruise ship in Galvaston that the traffic is terrible and you'll need extra time to get to the airport. It took us two whole hours to get from port to the airport.
Those are our first thoughts getting off of the Carnival Jubilee! Regardless of some travel issues, we genuinely had an amazing time while on the ship and absolutely will be cruising again on the Jubilee soon. Look out for more posts and click to subscribe to the blog to follow along and read about where we break down different elements of our experience.