By James Coulter
Last month, my family and I went on a 7-day cruise on the Carnival Jubilee. We sailed from Galveston, Texas to Honduras to Mexico. Here’s a day-by-day travel log of my trip.
Day 1: Galveston, Texas (Fri. May 22, 2025)
First thing first. Before you can set sail from Galveston, Texas, you first have to get there. You’d assume that the first step would be one simple flight. But nope. It was a two-stop flight: first from Raliegh to Baltimore, then from Baltimore to Galveston.
Our trip started bright and early at 2 in the morning. We woke up and drove to the Raileigh-Durham Airport. Not going to lie. I am not a fan of flying. It is my least favorite part of the vacation. I hate going through airport security. I hate being crammed into an aluminum tube with a dozen or so other strangers. And I hate waiting to get on and off the plane.
Our flight from Baltimore to Galveston was nearly four hours. Needless to say, I was quite overstimulated by strangers bumping into me, children crying and screaming, and having to breathe the same stale air that everyone else was coughing and sneezing in. Oh! And a kid seated behind us vomited. Good grief! I needed a shower after all that!
We landed and took a ride share to our lodging for the evening. We stayed the night inside a train at the Galveston Railroad Museum. It is a 1949 rail car called the Bonnie Brook. In its heyday, it served the NYC New England states between Boston and Chicago. The train was even used by Jackie Gleeson to film his popular television show during his trip between New York City and Miami.
The Bonnie Brook is one of two train cars available for lodging, the other being Silver Fort. The refurbished train car certainly feels like lodging in the good old days with bunks and tight quarters, all outfitted with modern luxuries like Wi-Fi and a widescreen television. It also has a porter service. Our porter, Chris, was able to get us anything we required.
The museum itself is located in an old train station. It is right in the historic downtown district in walking distance of plenty of cafes, eateries, and shops. Best of all, it is a brisk walk down from the cruise terminal. So, we can walk right onto our cruise ship.
My group ate at the Shark Shack. I ordered drunken boneless wings for an appetizer. I had it with chili siracha sauce. It had a sweet hotness to it. For my main course, I had the Big Kahuna Dog. It had chili and relish and jalapenos. I ate the whole dog but not the bun. Or the fries. The portions were big. Reminds me of the footlong hotdogs from Casey’s Corner in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
Our room came with muffins prepared at a local bakery. They were a sweet treat after enduring a four-hour flight. Also provided was a bag of saltwater taffy prepared at a local confectionery. I did not eat them. But I’m sure they’re good.
Day 2: First Day at Sea (Sat. May 3, 2025)
Well, the vacation hadn’t even started yet and it felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation. Getting on the ship itself was quite the hassle. Especially going through security, which is always “fun.” I had to show my boarding pass and passport several times. But we managed to get on.
Our cruise ship was the Jubilee, one of the largest ships in the Carnival fleet. This ship has multiple pools, countless restaurants and eateries, and even a roller coaster. There was so much to do on the trip, and with it being a weeklong cruise, plenty of time to do it—or so I thought.
When I got on the ship, I was shell-shocked by the cafeteria buffet. There were plenty of free options, obviously, but also food items you had to pay for like wings, Mongolian grill, and Indian. Very sneaky! That’s how they get you. Spend money to get on the ship, and spend money while you’re on it.
There were some technical difficulties with my Carnival Hub app. My sister said that it was not working properly. So, we went to guest services. We met a woman along the way who said she had similar problems. She solved it by deleting her app, reloading it, and signing in again. I tried that two times. It did not work. So, we went to guest services anyway. The line there was long. One of the customer service workers approached us and asked us what our problem was. I told her my app wasn’t working, She immediately figured out what the problem was. My VPN was turned on and blocking it. So, I turned it off and it worked.
We tried to order the soft drink package, but it was unavailable. So, we went to one of the bars to order it. Turns out I had to load my credit card onto my account to order it. So, I had to get my credit card and add it to my ship key card. Finally ordered a soda. A Mountain Dew. And I needed the caffeine. Bad!
Went to dinner at the Pacific Restaurant. Had a pasta dish with braised lamb. It almost tasted like pork. And the tomato sauce was flavorful. For my main entrée, I ordered a 12-hour braised short rib, which was also very flavorful and succulent with a nice balance of spices and a melt-off-the-bone texture. And for dessert, I had the famous chocolate melting cake. It certainly lived up to its name: decadent chocolate that melts in your mouth and tastes even better when paired with vanilla ice cream. Overall, a satisfactory dinner.
I went to a comedy show later that evening at the Punchliner Comedy Club. That night was a performance by Manny Oliveira. He started strong enough. He bragged about joining the mile-high club on his way to the ship. However, he bemoaned about being an individual member. Rimshot!
His next joke was about his experience on dating apps. He said he tried eHarmony, but that he could not get past the questionnaire. One question was whether or not he would be willing to date outside his race. He replied that, given enough drinks, he would be able to date outside his species.
I took a stroll through the ship afterward. Had two slices of pizza as a midnight snack. Wanted Tex-Mex pizza, but decided to have a barbecue instead. It was good. Then went to the bar for a drink. Ordered a ginger ale with grenadine. I even had a maraschino cherry. Certainly, a nice way to end the evening.
