Travel to Port: We flew in from Seattle to Houston on a red eye, arriving at 6:30 am the day of departure. We were afraid we would have to wait for the bus to Galveston until 11 am or so, as our travel agent told us. But, we were met by a most friendly Carnival agent at the Carnival kiosk, Bob, and told that buses would start arriving around 9 a.m. We were leaving the airport by 9:30 and on our way to Galveston. We arrived a little after 11 am and starting the boarding process. Someone had suggested we watch our bags come off the bus and go onto one of the baggage carts for the ship. Two of our group of four went inside to check out the situation, while the other 2 watched to see that all 8 bags made it on the cart. We then spent about 90 minutes waiting in the line to get on board, but it moved rather quickly and we were meeting people while we waited. We had registered for our Fun Pass online the week before the cruise, and that made the waiting a little less. We were on the boat before 1:00 pm and were able to get into our room.
Stateroom: We had one balcony room for my husband and I and one inside room for our daughters, 19 and 21, right across the hall. This worked out great! Our balcony room on the 7th deck was roomy, had lots of storage and a great balcony. It was fun watching coming in to ports and even sitting outside looking at the stars at night. The room included a king size bed, full size couch with storage underneath, table, chair and foot stool. Lots of closets and drawers for everything. We would never cruise without the balcony room; it's the only way to go. The girls had plenty of storage in their room also, but they were only in their room for showers and sleep. The showers were wonderful -- not wimpy little boat showers, but nice hot strong showers. There was also a safe in every room that worked with your room key. This was great for leaving our passports and extra money that we didn't want to carry all the time.
Dining: We loved the food and our waiters. There were so many choices every night in the dining room and the portions were small, so you didn't feel guilty trying more than one thing. We often had 2 appetizers or 2 entrees, if we couldn't decide. And the desserts were wonderful, my husband always tried one every night. We also liked the 24 hour pizza and Caesar salad bar, the self serve soft yogurt machines, taco bar, Asian restaurant and deli with made to order sandwiches. So many choices! We had the late seating in the dining room which worked out great, especially days we were in port. It would have been difficult to make it back on the ship and in to the dining room by 6. We had time to shower, maybe take a nap, then head to dinner at 8. Every evening after we had finished eating, the wait staff would sing a song and perform a dance -- it was great fun and some diners would join in. If you are a wine drinker, they have a great wine list and you can order a bottle of wine for as little as $18. If you don't drink it all, they cork it and bring it back the next night. Much cheaper than buying by the glass. Also, if you like cocktails, you can order one of those Carnival glass drinks. It's $6.75 the first time, but use the same glass and it's $5.50. My daughter kept her glass for a souvenir.