Background: After a wonderful experience on Carnival Conquest in March 2004, our family decided to take another cruise over the kids spring break. I decided to book the Liberty cruise because we were able to get 8 nights for about what we would pay for 7 on another ship.

Traveling to Port Everglades: I am a systems consultant and was working on a contract in Melbourne, FL, prior to the cruise. DH, DS (11) and DD (6) flew down to Orlando from our home near Birmingham, AL, on the Thursday before the trip. We drove down to Port Everglades from Melbourne on sailing day, arriving at the terminal at about 1:00 pm. The port was easy to find using the directions from Carnivals website.

Embarkation: We dropped our bags with the porters, and the kids and I waited outside the terminal while DH parked in the adjacent parking garage. That took all of about 10 minutes. After entering the terminal, we were a bit concerned at the length of the line at check-in. The line moved pretty quickly, though, and we were on board after about another 30 minutes. This was quicker than Conquest in 2006, or my girls cruise on Sensation in 2005. Read more