On this beautiful day at sea, Melissa Mixan is getting some exercise by walking the sports deck of the Carnival Breeze. Melissa is also helping raise money for a very worthy cause – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

As a school nurse, the woman from Jefferson City, Montana, says she knows how important the work of St. Jude is and she is pleased to support it. Read more...

On a cruise two years ago, I followed a woman one morning who was wearing two sun hats with two tote bags looped over her shoulders and a bunch of beach towels in her arms.

Where in the world is she going, I wondered. I quickly discovered that she was staking out a whole line of beach chairs by the ship’s pool. Read more...

We had the opportunity to board the Carnival Splendor in New York City this past week for a quick ship tour and a nice lunch. The five year old ship just made the Big Apple its home year round and is currently sailing on eight night itineraries right out of Manhattan. The brightly decorated ship screams fun and the service and food in the main dining room was, of course, tasty as always – but the surprise in the dining room is that the wait staff do more than serve. Read more...

The library is a popular spot on the Carnival Breeze. Not only for the books, magazines and games, but also for the card-key operated wine dispensers and literary cocktails.

Maybe sip a Hemingway’s Papa Doble while enjoying a good novel?

Surprised? The Carnival Breeze does indeed have a bar in the library, along with a first for Carnival Cruise Lines – card-key operated wine dispensers. Makes sense to me. Read more...

We could hear him screaming all the way down.

When he reached the bottom of the water slide, the muscular guy with the shaved head and tattooed torso stood up with an embarrassed grin, took a sheepish half bow and walked off to the applause of onlookers. Read more...

He used to live in the forest, soaking up the rain. Now he lives on the Carnival Magic, basking in the sun.

That’s the Carnival story about the RedFrog. And they’re sticking to it.

In fact, the little tree frog has made himself so at home on the cruise ship that he has his own private label draught beer, custom-brewed specially for Carnival – ThirstyFrog Red. Read more...

A lot of people are talking about Carnival’s new pricing promotions. Starting today (December 3), Carnival is making changes to the way that they structure fares. What’s changing? Not a lot, but the change in how things price might be a little confusing – so we thought we’d help! Here’s a handy guide to the new types of fares that Carnival is offering beginning today. Read more...

The Carnival Destiny is about to get a very major transformation. So major, in fact, that Carnival has even decided to change the name of the ship – so come April of next year, say hello to the Carnival Sunshine! This $155 million top to bottom refurbishment will change virtually every aspect of this ship from top to bottom. Here are some of the highlights! Read more...

It has been a busy week for corporate offices across the cruise industry this week. Earlier this week, Norwegian Cruise Line announced its plans to build another Norwegian Breakaway type-ship in the near future. Royal Caribbean announced its plans to build another Oasis type ship for 2016, and today Carnival announced another Breeze-type ship for delivery in 2016, and a new Holland America ship in 2015. Read more...

With every new ship, there’s always something brand new to cruising. And Carnival’s latest ships, this is no exception. Starting with the Carnival Magic and continuing on to the Breeze and the Sunshine over the next few months, Carnival is introducing the Sportsquare area – which is exactly what it sounds like. Read more...