Background Information: Family of three, mom & dad in mid-forties, son 11 years old. We've cruised 4 times before, once on Norwegian and 3 times on Carnival (the two most recent cruises were on the Paradise, while it was still smoke-free, and that would still be our ship of choice if it were still smoke-free...)

Travel To Port of Embarkation: We live in central Florida and stopped at Disney World to ride on Expedition Everest a couple of times. We pulled out of the park at about 11 a.m. and headed down the Beachline. Everything went great until we hit a huge traffic jam about 11:50 at about 8 miles from the port. Not knowing the cause or extent, we got off at the next exit and took a detour (which was also crowded due to others, including Disney cruise buses taking that route). We finally got there about an hour after we planned and were onboard the ship by 1:30.

Stateroom: We had booked a balcony guarantee (our first balcony). The room we received was 8343. Unless you enjoy the sound of thunder, avoid this room at all costs. It was directly below the Lido deck tables, and every time someone pulled out or pushed in a chair, it sounded like thunder. This really bothered us the first night, but after that the motion of the cruise ship lulled us to sleep (plus we had a white noise machine that we used liberally). Other than that, it was a good room, really convenient to stairs and elevators (no problem with noise from them), and large, as we expect from Carnival. Ship Info: This cruise really skewed toward older demographics, as I guess May is not a normal time for families to vacation. (We homeschool and have just finished our year). There were about 30 kids in the 9-11 age range, more younger (preschool) kids, a fair amount of honeymooners, and multitudes of retirees. Read more