This was our first cruise. These are my impressions:

Embarkation: Since we got a call from Carnival asking if we wanted to upgrade from a balcony room to a suite a few weeks prior to the cruise, we went ahead and upgraded. This included VIP embarkation and it only took about 10 minutes! Easy Peasy. Oh yeah, and I wanted to add here that I took a clothes steamer and a power strip, per advice found on this site. They confiscated both of them! We got them back at the end of the cruise.

Cabin: As stated above, we got a suite, and it was pretty nice. Decor was outdated, but there were two closets, a minibar, and tons of drawers. It also had a jacuzzi bathtub. Other than the square footage (Our cabin was 235 square feet and, balcony cabin we originally booked was about 185) and the bathtub, I don't know what the difference is between this cabin and the balcony cabin we had originally booked, but we were pleased with this cabin. Read more