This morning I woke up early and tried to watch for dolphins out our window but no luck. I think we were already too close to the San Diego port. We docked around 7:00 AM, but there’s a lot of customs and security stuff that needs to happen before people can debark. And since our flight wasn’t until 2 PM, we didn’t request early debarkation, so we had plenty of time to hit the restaurant for the last time and finish packing our carry-ons. We did tag our large luggage and let Carnival handle those. This made for much easier debarkation.
We went to breakfast and hung out with Heather’s family. We took some final pictures then we debarked and picked up our luggage when our number was called. I had heard horror stories about debarkation but went smoothly and three were no long lines. The luggage is set out in columns, arranged by debarkation number, which made our bags easy to find. We took a cab to the airport and had plenty of time to explore the other terminals, before returning to our gate at the commuter terminal. Our flight had no issues and we were back in Boise by 6 PM.
Since the ship gym was closed this morning, when we got home I jumped on the rollers for 15 minutes to spin the legs out. During our cruise the seas were mostly calm and the rocking of the ship wasn’t too bad. Once we were on land, I didn’t notice the rocking you feel when getting off a boat after a period of time. But once I started riding the rollers, I found my self “swaying” side to side on the rollers, at the same frequency as the ship did!? Funky! My legs felt fine but I was feeling a bit tired as I didn’t get much sleep last night. Between switching time zones, daylight savings time ending and all the travel, I definitely feel jet-lagged! Hopefully a few good night’s sleep in our own bed will cure that.
Overall it was great trip. I was impressed with Carnival as a cruise line and was extremely happy with the service. I was hesitant about the hole tipping thing on cruises, but after the cruise I realized how a tipping pay structure positively effects the service you receive. We ended up giving each of our staff a little extra something, on top of the gratuity that’s automatically included on your account. You could always, reduce the automatic amount, but in our case we never received poor service. Actually, it was some of the best service we’ve had, regardless of the type (restaurant, hotel, etc.).
Check out the 2007 Cruise photo album to see more pictures of our trip.