When we were preparing for our cruise, I had such a hard time finding reviews of people who had cruised with their children, so I hope that my review will be helpful to someone else thinking of taking their family along.
We truly enjoyed the cruise. This was our second cruise with Carnival and we plan to stick with them. The ship was very clean, nice layout, and the family style cabins were very efficient.
The only complaint I had about the ship was that even though it is stated not to reserve chairs on the sun deck, everyone does it so unless you get out there VERY early in the morning, you will not get a chair. We found that one place that was not as crowded was the deck where the running track was! So I would lay out in the sun while my husband ran laps. It was so nice taking our breakfast out there each morning and eating while tanning.