This was my first cruise and my wife's third. We chose a shorter cruise since we were taking our 2 y/o son along.
We chose Carnival because of the Camp Carnival program as well as my wife's past experience with them. We had looked at several web sites, read a multitude of books and talked to friends who had cruised before and we chose Carnival after a lot of thought. We looked at doing the online booking, but someone had told me that as a military veteran, I could get much better rates. I then called the Carnival reservation # and talked to a woman named Erica who went over the military program they had for all veterans and not just retirees and active duty folks. The discount I received was substantial and was $150 less than the best Internet deal. I also had my room upgraded as well.
We arrived a day early from Arizona to the Southern CA area to see friends and have a leisurely time boarding. Boarding was very simple. We had already done our Funpass documents online a month earlier so the actual time at the counter was just a couple of minutes. We were then herded into lines to board the elevator and go onboard.