I have only been on one other cruise (Celebrity to Alaska) but Carnival was a very affordable option for our family reunion. We had ages 12-73 and a pretty wide range of types of people so I was a little worried about being able to please everyone. Also, I was extremely worried about take a Carnival Cruise during spring break.
I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience and I think it was absolutely worth the money. (It would have been better if my husband hadn't lost $150 at the casino!)
The dining room food was very good to excellent. The only thing I didn't like was the hokey announcements and wait staff dancing towards the end of the meal--you couldn't even understand the guy talking and it just interrupted our conversations. Almost everyone dressed very nicely, which was really nice and the dining room itself is very pretty.