Printable Cruise Packing List

We take tons of cruises, so I've created a standard packing list for each trip.  I just insert the number of items we need for the length of the cruise.

To access the packing list for your own personal use, click here.

What are your must haves when you're packing for a cruise?

Cruise Review: Second Sea Day

Aww...we're on to the last day of the cruise.  I didn't take too many pictures this day, so this post will be pretty short.

We started out with trivia in the morning.  Then, they did a digital scavenger hunt which was a lot of fun.  Sadly we didn't win.  

After lunch, they did a Ship 411.  They had all the senior officers up on stage and would answer any questions the guests asked.  It was one of the most interesting things I have ever seen on a cruise ship.  I learned a lot of fun facts about the ship and Carnival cruise lines.

As we were getting ready for dinner, we were able to see one last sunset through our window.  Not the best picture since the window was dirty, but still pretty.

They did one last show tonight, which was Festiva Latina.  We decided to order some drinks to enjoy during the show.  One of my favorite drinks is a Miami Vice.  It's one part strawberry daiquiri and one part Pina Colada.

We weren't too happy with the selections in the main dining room tonight, so we decided to eat the buffet.  Sadly, the selections at the buffet weren't that good either.  Here are a couple pictures of what we ate though.

We went to a couple comedy shows and then got ready for debarkation.  We had a fantastic cruise and were sad to get off.  

This ends my cruise review.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will try to answer them for you.

Cruise Review: Cozumel

We didn't have anything planned in Cozumel, so we just decided to walk around the port area for a bit and then enjoy the ship to ourselves.  There are a bunch of fun shops to visit as well as a few bars to enjoy.

When we got back on the ship, we enjoyed the pool for a little while since no one was there.  It was great having the pool all to ourselves.

We also decided to play a few rounds of mini golf.  I beat J ever time!

J wanted to putt around a little longer, so I found a nice comfy place in the shade to relax.

They were serving two of my favorite dishes in the dining room tonight, so I couldn't wait until dinner.  

For starters, I ordered the corn chowder and J ordered chicken tenders marinated with thai spices.  The corn chowder was not like I expected.  I sent it back and decided to get shrimp cocktail.

For entrees, they were serving my favorite dish, the lamb chops, so I definitely ordered that.  J ordered the black bean enchiladas.

Then for dessert, they had another one of my favorites.  The Grand Marnier souffle is one of best desserts on a Carnival ship!  Absolutely delicious!

Cruise Review: Grand Cayman 2

We were pooped when we got back to the ship, so we had a leisurely lunch and then went to take a nap.

Later that afternoon, they had the past guest party in the main lounge.  There were over 2000 past guests on the ship!  On Carnival, they serve drinks and appetizers at the past guest party.  The appetizers are disgusting, but the drinks are pretty good.

I wasn't feeling good for dinner tonight, so I was a little frustrated to be sitting at a table next to 3 loud children.  We ended up deciding to skip dessert that night.  Dinner was only okay tonight, nothing spectacular.  That sad thing was, we've had both of these dishes on Carnival before and they're been delicious.

For starters, we both had the fried mozzarella.

For entrees, we both had the jerked pork tenderloin.  This was a completely different dish than what we had last year on the Carnival Dream.

Here is the picture of what we had on the Carnival Inspiration;

And here is a picture of what we had on the Carnival Dream:

The dish on the Dream was delicious.  The one on the Inspiration, not so much.

I went back to the room and slept until the next day.  Thankfully my migraine was gone when I woke up in Cozumel!

Cruise Review: Grand Cayman

In Grand Cayman, we book an excursion to go to Stingray Sandbar and Rum Point.  I'm going to break Grand Cayman up into two parts.  The first I'm going to show pictures of our excursion.  The second I'm going to take about what we did when we got back on the ship.

We boarded a boat for our 25 minutes ride out to Stingray Sandbar.

Stingray Sandbar was one of the coolest things I have ever done.  We were able to hold, kiss, and feed the stingrays, as well as get a massage from them.

After we were done at Stingray Sandbar, we took a 20 minute ride over to Rum Point for a 2 hour beach break.  Rum Point was absolutely gorgeous!

I'll be back this afternoon with some pictures from the ship on Grand Cayman day.

Cruise Review: First Sea Day

We slept in this morning and then went up to the buffet for breakfast.

We did some trivia and attended a presentation in the morning.  At one of the presentations, they had an introduction of the captain and his senior officers.

For lunch, we went up to the buffet again.  My husband was addicted to the Mongolian Wok this cruise and ate it for lunch almost every day.

We took a nap and then got ready for formal night.  My husband always brings his dress blues for formal night and we love to dress up and get our pictures taken.

For starters, I got the shrimp cocktail again and my husband had the Greek Farmer's Salad.

I forgot to take a picture of our entrees, but we both had the prime rib and I ordered a lobster on the side.  Delicious!

For dessert, we had the cherries jubilee and bitter and blanc.

While we were eating dessert, the wait staff came out and sand Happy Anniversary to us.  My PVP knew we were sailing for our anniversary, so I'm assuming she put it on our booking.  It was a nice surprise even though our anniversary isn't for another month.

I was very happy that in the previous picture you could not see the huge stain from the butter that I dribbled on my dress.  That is why I can not have nice things.

Back up tomorrow with our stop in Grand Cayman.  Tons of cool pictures to come!

Cruise Review: Embarkation Day

I love traveling and love writing reviews of my travels, so this week, I'm going to be sharing out cruise vacation with you.  

I'm going to try to make this more of an abbreviated review in case you're not an avid cruiser like my husband and I.  If you would like to read the full review, check out my post on Cruise Critic.  My full review has more pictures and they're also larger!

We boarded the Carnival Inspiration around noon.  Our rooms weren't available until 1:30pm, so we went upstairs for lunch.  They had an Italian buffet and it was delicious!

As soon as our room was ready, we headed down there to take a look.  This was the first time we had an oceanview, so we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.

This was our first time sailing out of Tampa, so we went up to a top deck to watch us sailaway.

When sailing out of Tampa, the ship goes under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.  We went under the bridge as the sun was setting, so it was the perfect backdrop for some gorgeous pictures.

I'm a self-proclaimed foodie, so I always take pictures of the food we eat on the cruise.  The food is so gorgeous, that's it's always some of my favorite shots.

For starters tonight, we got shrimp cocktail and marinated fruit.

For entrees, we got a marinated pork chop and lasagna bolognese.

For dessert we both had the strawberry cheesecake.

After dinner that night, we went to the Game Show in the main lounge.  My husband got up there and won us a ship on a stick!

Here's a video of him up on stage. I hope this works!

When we got back to our room, we had a nice surprise from the cruise director.  She sent us a bottle of champagne and some chocolate covered strawberries.  Still not sure why, but it was very sweet of her.

I'll be back tomorrow with our first sea day.