We drove from Minnesota to Galveston for spring break and I was a bit worried. I have been on one other cruise, Carnival Conquest out of Galveston two years ago and had a wonderful time. No complaints at all. Reading reviews before we left home was a bit discouraging. When we arrived in Galveston the weather was gorgeous and headed to the beach. We stayed at the Inn at the Water park for two nights before the cruise. This by far is the cheapest way to go if you need somewhere to sleep and parking for your vehicle. Two nights in a standard room, with free parking at the motel for our SUV, free breakfast, and free shuttle service to and from the port cost $150. This is hands down the best deal you will find. Not the greatest motel, nothing to write home about, but your real vacation doesn't start until you get onto the ship. Make sure you get everything ready to go early if you plan on taking the shuttle to the port. The manager told us 9 am, and the shuttle showed up 45 minutes early. It is a shared shuttle with a much larger hotel, so make sure you try to get on one of the first shuttles so you don't waist your whole day waiting around. If you are looking for a nicer hotel option, we have stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree directly across from the beach. More expensive, no perks, but great location, bigger rooms and nice pool. If you don't mind paying for port parking(around $ 70) then I would recommend staying here.

The morning we got on the ship we arrived at the port around 10:30 am. Carnival will tell you to show up at 1 or 2 pm, but if you do, you will likely end up waiting in lines for two hours like we did two years ago. This is not the way to start your vacation off. It took only 25 minutes total from the minute we stepped out of the shuttle to the time we were on the Lido deck. Very polite staff and very organized. Our first reaction when we stepped into the lobby/atrium area was AMAZING! The six of us headed up to the Lido deck to eat lunch. It was practically empty still in the lido marketplace area due to most passengers were not on board yet. Very good food, plenty of variety (Deli, fruits, burritos, pizza, hamburgers, cold salads, cheese, breads,Indian choices, yogurt, ice cream, chicken). If you can't find something you are happy eating here, you shouldn't have picked a cruise vacation. Here's a little tip, a great place for lunch is Cucina Del Capitano upstairs above the buffet area. You can eat here for free at lunch and has good pasta. After that we went to the pool and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and music. I would recommend bringing a small beach bag with a swimsuit and change of clothes so you can enjoy the water amenities right away. The kids loved the Waterworks area. Very nice and geared for kids ages (8 to 14). Id recommend bringing water shoes for little ones, it can be very slippery in some areas of the park and extremely hot on your feet when you are waiting to go on the water slides.

Around 3 pm we were able to go to our staterooms. We had two different staterooms on Main deck. The first was located on the very back of the ship. This was an Ocean View with two twin beds and a large picture window. Due to its location on the very back it was larger than most standard ocean view rooms. I wouldn't recommend this location however because you hear a lot of noise and feel a lot of movement. Our other room was down the hall and was a Cove Balcony room. We loved our Cove Balcony! The room just felt larger with having a big balcony we could go out on. There were two twin beds, a pull-down bed and a sofa bed that were all very comfortable. This room is perfect for a family of four that wants a little extra space and fresh air. We were very happy with our rooms. Our room steward was wonderful and always greeted us in the morning and afternoon. Here's a tip if your group likes to drink soda/Gatorade/vitamin water. Carnival allows each guest to bring on a cooler and a certain amount of beverages. This will save you about $40 a person on soda. Read more