Tag: Cruising out of Galveston

Carnival Jubilee 2023 has now become CARNIVAL JUBILEE 2024!!!

I booked another cruise!!! I had intended to book the inaugural sailing, but when the dates became available on the 25th, I realized the inaugural would be the week of Thanksgiving. I do not want to leave my mother alone on Thanksgiving, so we are book for February 24, 2024.

This itinerary for this cruise is:

Galveston, leaving at 4pm.

Sea day #1

Sea day #2

Mahogany Bay, 8am to 6pm

Costa Maya, 8am to 6pm

Cozumel 7am to 5pm

Sea day #3

Galveston, arriving at 8am.

This itinerary is familiar to us as we were just at Mahogany Bay and Cozumel on our Carnival Vista cruise in August/September 2021. But we have not been to Costa Maya and are looking forward to seeing a new place.

BONUS for this cruise, my locker-mate from the beginning of middle school to the very end of high school is planning on being on this cruise as well. I’m hoping some other friends will join us too!

I do not think there will be any more blogs for this cruise until it is closer to time and the real planning has begun. But please continue to read my other blogs.

200-Day Countdown to Carnival Freedom, Patiently waiting for our 8-night cruise, issue #1

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Although this cruise was actually booked months ago, I have been in a funk, so to speak.  Typically at this stage, I would already have our hotel booked, parking reservation made, and started planning the clothes we will be taking.  But for some reason, I just have not been able to get into it like I normally do.  That is until today which is actually 198 days away!

What changed???  Well, I always look for good deals on hotel rooms and I have always been able to find good deals on Hotels.com.  But for some reason, the prices have been more than I want to pay for one night stay.  We prefer to stay at Quality Inn as we have always had a good experience there.  We have also had pre-cruise stays at  The Commodore and used bonus time at Silverleaf Seaside Resort (now Holiday Inn Vacation Club Seaside Resort… don’t get me started about this).  Since prices are more than I care to pay, we started looking at possibly staying in Kemah for the night.  I’m basically a creature of habit.  I ALWAYS stay the night before a cruise in Galveston and have dinner at The Original Mexican Cafe.  I just could not wrap my head around staying somewhere other than Galveston.  Today, I decided to check Priceline.com to see if their prices were any different and I am so glad I did.  I booked a room for one night at Scottish Inn.  The room is prepaid for and there is no cancellation for this booking.  We are locked in for our stay!!!  The best part is the price difference between the two websites was $36.00.  I try to save money anywhere I possibly can!!!!

We have friends that stay there often pre-cruise and have had no problems.  I like that it is off the beaten path yet convenient for our needs.  By that I mean that it is close to The Original Mexican Cafe and not far from the cruise terminal.

So now, all that is left is to book the parking.  I’m 98% certain that I will be booking our parking with ezcruiseparking.com for this cruise.  We used it on our Carnival Dream cruise last year and the only drawback for us was the walk to the car after the cruise.  But, for the price, we are willing to make the walk again.  We like being able to walk to the cruise terminal before and after the cruise and our preferred parking is approximately $40. more.

I also need to start making lists!!!  One good thing is that I do not need any new clothes and we do not need any new luggage.  I may have gone a little overboard last year, LOL!!!!  Hopefully this year we will not leave our 12-packs of coke at home!!!!