Where to start... well the anticipation was killing us by the time we called the taxi to take us to the International Cruise Ship Terminal (ICST) in Sydney for our 2-2:30 pm embarkation schedule.

We dropped off our luggage and spent probably 15 minutes in a line filling out a customs declaration on the ground floor of the ICST before going up to Level 3 where Carnival had their desk setup for check-in... we waited about 5 minutes in this line and then checked in one by one (verify sail and sign cards, pic ID etc.), a brief walk through customs and x-ray and then it was on the boat - even with a 3 year old, it was painless really.

Upon walking onto the ship - we proceeded to our rooms to drop off our carry on (as the room was available) we travelled in two groups my wife, our daughter (3) and myself, with my sister and my mother and father... we had room #4231 on deck 4 (starboard side aft) and they had #4232 (aft) while the numbers are incremental if you look at the deck plan you'll see there is a few suites and other rooms between them, but pretty close and a great option for us families travelling together. Read more