Background: Wife and I in our early 50's with two son's 16 and 13. Forth cruise (third with Carnival). Drove up from San Diego.
Embarkation:
The morning of the cruise we went on a tour of the USS IOWA battleship in San Pedro. It was about a 10 minute drive from the Port. Very nice tour, only thing that could have made it better was that you do not get to see the inside of the turrets.
7269 balcony mid ship. You got a very little bit of vibration from the engine below. Our cabin steward "D" was awesome. Would not hesitate to get the same cabin again. Even with the four of us it worked well.