The Port of Galveston has many things to celebrate this year when it comes to cruising from the port. Last year, 2014, Carnival Cruise Lines announced it would be increasing its Galveston cruise capacity to include three year round cruise ships. The Carnival Freedom is currently the newest edition to Galveston's growing selection of cruise ships and offers cruisers more Carnival Cruise options from the port. The Carnival Freedom has joined the Carnival Triumph & Carnival Magic, and will primarily sail 7 day cruises that depart on Saturdays. In addition to Carnival, cruisers can also sail Royal Caribbean International or Disney Cruise Lines (seasonally)  from Galveston in 2015.
        The Carnival Freedom first arrived in Galveston on February 14, 2015, and departed the following day on its inaugural Galveston voyage. I had a chance to travel to Galveston today (2/28/15) to get some photos of the ship. I enjoyed seeing the Carnival Freedom and Carnival Magic both docked in Galveston's port.  This was the first time I have seen two Carnival ships docked in Galveston at the same time. I have seen the Carnival Magic docked before, but I have never seen the Carnival Freedom. I can now add it to my list of ships I have seen, but not sailed on!  Here are a few photos from my visit: 
Click On Any Photo To Make It Larger!

        When the time comes for a cruise vacation to end, I am usually ready to return home and go back to the "real world". However, the days that follow a cruise's end date are usually worse for me than the day I get off the cruise ship.  
          Literally, the second I get home from a cruise I toss my suitcase aside and go to my computer to download my camera's pictures. On my past few vacations, I have averaged about 3,000 pictures. It takes my computer about 45 minutes to download my pictures and I will impatiently wait for each picture to be downloaded so I can view them on my computer's monitor. I enjoy looking at the pictures and always look at the pictures I took earlier in the day before I had to get off. I always have a strange feeling knowing that I was just on the ship a few hours earlier.  
                  The first night back home always feels a little strange. There is no entertainment other than the internet or TV. There are no revue shows, dining room dancing performances, or live music to enjoy before I go to bed because I am now back in the "real world".  When I lay down to go to sleep, I usually feel like I am still on the ship and I can easily imagine the gentle swaying motion of the ship as I try to fall asleep. 
                   Upon waking up the morning after the cruise has ended, I immediately miss the ship's breakfast buffet. On the ship I have access to omelets, bacon, and a variety of other great tasting breakfast foods. At home, I am not much of a breakfast eater and I prefer leftover dinner food compared to general breakfast foods.  On this day after the cruise I will usually stay at home to start working on my cruise review and to readjust to the real world. 
                     As time after the cruise continues I eventually readjust to my normal "real world" routine. Life gets back to normal and all I have are the memories from the cruise. In my spare time following a cruise I will write my cruise review to publish on here. This allows me to enjoy reliving my vacation experience and to help others prepare for their own cruise vacation. 

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      Many Carnival cruisers may remember the line's former ship the M/S Celebration. The M/S Celebration was a Holiday Class cruise ship and sailed with Carnival Cruise Lines from 1987 to 2008. To keep the ship's past story brief the ship sailed with Iberocruceros as the Grand Celebration from 2008 to 2014 and was scheduled to go Costa Cruises, but the ship was purchased by Bahamas Paradise Cruise Lines before a transfer to Costa occurred. The ship is currently sailing as the Grand Celebration and is owned by Bahamas Paradise Cruise Lines. 
         Bahamas Paradise Cruise Lines' Grand Celebration departs from Palm Beach, Florida every two days and sails on 2 night cruises to Freeport, Bahamas.  If you would like more information on this new cruise line please click here. 
           I am hoping to someday sail on the Grand Celebration on one of its voyages to Freeport, but until then I have some exterior pictures of the ship to share. Thank you to my family member that recently cruised on the Carnival Magic for taking these pictures! 

You may click any photo to make it larger!

      Usually when something negative happens to a Carnival ship the media will have a field day running videos, articles, and reports on the bad news. However, when something positive happens for Carnival it is much harder to find news reports from the media that promote the positive news. 
        It has not been highly publicized that the Carnival Miracle has received two consecutive 100's on its CDC Health Inspection Score. According to Carnival's press release a ship that earns a 100 must, "...receive perfect marks on all 44 items that comprise the U.S.P.H.'s comprehensive Vessel Sanitation checklist."  The Carnival Miracle was able to earn this two times in a row. 
       Congratulations to Carnival Cruise Lines and the crew onboard the Carnival Miracle for helping the ship earn a 100 two times in a row. This is an amazing accomplishment that Carnival deserves to be recognized for earning. I cruised the Carnival Miracle in June 2013 and now this ship is one my favorites. If you ever have the chance to cruise the Carnival Miracle I definitely recommend this ship. 
         If you would like to read Carnival's official press release about this accomplishment: click here. 

Congratulations to Carnival and the Carnival Miracle! 

       Although the 2015 Alaska cruise season has not come yet, cruise lines are beginning to open their bookings for the 2016 Alaska cruise season. Not all cruise lines have opened their 2016 bookings, but many will throughout the next few months.  This list is going to be updated as cruise lines post their 2016 itineraries, but for now only a few cruise lines have their 2016 itineraries available. All links on this page will open in a separate window away from RyG's Cruise Guide. Keep in mind that itineraries and ship deployments are subject to change. 
Check Out Our Alaska Cruise Guide:  Click Here To View



Here Is What We Know So Far About 2016:
Carnival Cruise Lines:
Carnival Legend


Royal Caribbean:
Explorer of the Seas
Radiance of the Seas


Disney Cruise Line:
Disney Wonder


Holland America:
ms Amsterdam
ms Noordam
ms Oosterdam
ms Statendam
ms Volendam
ms Westerdam
ms Zaandam

Princess Cruise Line:
Coral Princess
Crown Princess
Grand Princess
Island Princess
Ruby Princess
Star Princess

Norwegian Cruise Line:
Norwegian Sun
Norwegian Jewel 
Norwegian Pearl

Celebrity Cruise:
Celebrity Infinity
Celebrity Millennium
Celebrity Solstice

      The time before leaving on a cruise vacation can be very stressful, but not everything you do to prepare yourself for a cruise has to be serious and rapid paced. There are always some fun things that I enjoy doing before each cruise that help me get excited and in the mood for cruising. 

#1:  Watch My Ship On Webcams
        If my cruise ship's homeport or ports of call have a webcam, I usually watch that webcam on the days my future ship is docked there before my cruise. If my ship is docked in its homeport and the homeport has a webcam I will watch the ship depart on that webcam. Sometimes I will have a separate webpage open to You-Tube to play "Anchors Aweigh" as I watch my future cruise ship sail-a-way from its homeport. This is one of my favorite ways to prepare for a cruise vacation because watching the ship depart makes me more exciting and ready for my cruise vacation to come.

#2:  Look Through Old Cruise Pictures (Mine Own & Other's Photos)
           Reliving old cruise memories is a source of pre-cruise fun for me and looking back at many of my old cruise photos is a way to get excited for an upcoming cruise. Sometimes if I am going on a ship I have already cruised on I will look at previous pictures I took on that ship and if I am going on a ship I have never cruised on before I will search the internet for pictures of the ship I will soon be cruising on. 

#3:  Search For Sample Main Dining Room Menus
            I love eating dinner in the main dining room during my cruise vacations. Before cruising I will search for sample dining room menus from past cruises. When I find the menus I am looking for I will pretend like I am currently onboard and decide what food dishes I would choose if I were cruising. Sometimes this makes my dinner selection easy when I am actually cruising because I have already studied and looked at the menus. Typically, menu selections will stay close to the same from cruise to cruise, unless the cruise line introduces new menus or onboard eatery programs. 

#4:  Read Past Cruise Reviews Written Over My Future Ship
            Cruise reviews from others can be a source of information about a cruise line or ship. Although all cruise reviews, are biased to a degree, some reviews have the potential to teach future cruisers a lot of about their cruise ship. Don't believe everything you read in a review, but try to use what someone else says as a general guideline. I will usually read hundreds of reviews about my ship before I take a cruise on it.  When I get back from my cruise I then enjoy writing a review (click here to see my reviews) of my vacation to help cruisers who are looking into taking a cruise on the ship I just got back from.