Ship sailed Sept 28th - Oct 2nd on Carnival Imagination
BOOKING - is a great experience. I would advise against travel agents or 3rd party websites. You really can get the best rate through the Carnival website and by keeping up with their promotional rates. When I initially booked, our 3 person, 4 day cruise to Catalina & Ensenada Sun. - Thurs. was $1150 after including prepaid gratuities. I paid this off within a few months. After I paid it off I had called after seeing a promotion online. They gave me the promo rate no questions asked. This brought our cruise down to $900 and the $250 off as an onboard credit. This was unexpected and quite a boost to our onboard credit prior to cruising! Sure it all went to drinks and photos, but still a great, unexpected surprise.
EMBARKATION (with Faster to the Fun) - Super Easy, had our own red roped line to go through while the rest of the regular boarding line was a mile long. Boarded right after Platinum/Diamond with our "Priority Boarding" pass.
The room was perfect for 2 adults and 1 child. We didn't see the steward once and only got 1 towel animal on the 4 night trip.