My husband and I are in our late 20s and have cruised many times before. We were looking for a short cruise to celebrate our first anniversary on July 2nd and selected the Carnival Destiny as it was the only cruise that would be away over the July 2nd anniversary (all other options we looked at were ending that day). We were a bit scared of cruising with Carnival, but decided to give it a go.

I have to say, reading the reviews, I was afraid of what we had gotten ourselves into. I'd say we fell into the category of "cruise snobs" as we have always cruised in balcony cabins on princess, royal and celebrity - so when I read reviews by self-proclaimed "cruise snobs" who hated it - I worried! But I was so wrong! We had a lovely time!

Check in was so quick and so smooth. We had pre-printed our bag tags at home, which seemed to help (not many people had done this). There was an organized line in the terminal (which was SUPER airconditioned). The line moved quickly and we got a happy, jovial staff member checking us in, and then we were ushered on board. I'd say the whole process, from entering the terminal, to getting on board - took 20 mins, tops. Read more