After five (5) years of talking and dreaming about taking a cruise - my sister and I finally did the deed! We booked and took our first cruise. We are both lifelong Florida residents who travel together at least twice a year. I am a 46 year old male and she is a 39 year old female. Most of our trips are full of activities, events and dusk to dawn action. When on vacation we are go-go-go people. We wanted to try cruising as we were more than ready for a get away that was CASUAL AND RELAXED! Our cruise on the Carnival Glory (September 23 - October 1, 2006) proved to be among our most relaxing and effectively escapist trips to date. Thank you Carnival Cruise Lines! We both plan to cruise regularly - maybe once every two or three years. I offer below my appraisal of the experience - including praise and criticism (not much criticism).

Hotel Information: I live outside Orlando and my sister lives in Vero Beach, so we did not stay in Port Canaveral overnight. We did however drop by the Radisson down the road for a few drinks before Embarkation. The Radisson has a great pool bar - it set the mood well to begin our cruise.

Embarkation: Parking and boarding was a total breeze - no horror stories here. We arrived at around 2pm - waited in line for only about twenty minute to drop off our luggage and park. The luggage porter was friendly and directed us to the terminal entry line (there are two) that he said always moved more quickly. While I parked (paid $84 dollars for the week - OUCH!), my sister got in line and held our place. When I arrived at the terminal my sister was already upstairs near the front of the line. I simply told the line monitors that my party was in line in the building and they happily let me in. By the time I found my sister - the wait remaining before check-in was less than five minutes. We were on the ship about three minutes later. Grade: A+ Read more