Background: This is our 3rd cruise. We first cruised on the Carnival Glory in 2007 and then to Alaska on the Golden Princess in 2010. We choose this cruise because of the dates (over Christmas break and we are both teachers) but were happy it was a Carnival cruise. My husband and I are in our mid-30's and have a 2 1/2 year old son, who we left at home! This was our first vacation for just the 2 of us since he was born. I was more anxious about leaving him and planning for his care while we were gone than really thinking or planning for the trip. So, not a lot of pre-planning.

Hotel/Flight Information: We did not stay at a hotel...flew to Charleston the morning our cruise from Minneapolis.

Travel to Port Embarkation: Left home in western Wisconsin around 2:00 a.m. for a 5:00 a.m. flight out of Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. Flight was on time and took us to Charlotte, NC and then onto Charleston. We arrive at the airport around 10:30. Got directly into a taxi (did carry on only and did not need to wait for bags!) and were to port around 11:00. Port parking seems like a mess but our taxi just dropped us off at the shuttle wait area with our bags (we opted to carry these on too!). The shuttle was waiting so we got on and wait another 10 minutes and were off to the port area. Once inside, we waiting for maybe 3 minutes at security and another 3 to get our Sign and Sail card. Then it was up the gangway and onto the Fantasy!!!!! Read more