This was my 7th cruise, fifth with carnival. My group consists of my husband and myself, my 2 brothers and sister in law, my nephew, my daughter and son in law. Also, my sister in law is originally from p and 7 of her family members also sailed with us. Surprisingly, all of our flights arrived on time from Scranton, Syracuse, Buffalo LAX, NYC and Hartford. We stayed at the Hilton and loved this hotel. If you can afford an ocean view room, you will love it. My sister in law took us to Angel's restaurant which served authentic island food which she ordered for us and it was delicious.
Sunday we left the hotel at noon and headed for the port. First we stopped atcvsto pick up our wine and soda. My nephew brought along a 12 pack of beer which after he went through screening they placed a yellow clip on his bag. Just bring along a pair of nail clippers and cut it off before final boarding and just keep going.
Our only excursion was in St Lucia when we did the ultimate Zip line. This was a blast.
Our cabin was veranda deck aft. Typical Carnival balcony. We were able to run upstairs to the buffet easily to grab a cup of coffee or refill our ice bucket. Would never do a cruise again without being on a balcony. Love waking up early and watching the ship come into port, or late in the evening wearing the big fluffy robes and having a glass of wine before bed and turning off all the lights and listening to the ocean.