I took this cruise with my parents and a friend; my parents live about twenty minutes from Port Canaveral, the friend and I flew in from out of town. It was my and my parents' second cruise, and my friend's first. Needless to say, she's a believer after her first experience!

Embarkation was the dream everyone predicted. A friend dropped us off at the port, so we didn't have to deal with parking. Our first cruise was out of Tampa, which felt a little more organized, but I have no complaints about Port Canaveral at all. Everyone was friendly and wonderful, and I have to confess I got a little thrill from the 'returning cruiser' gold Sign and Sail card they handed me. I'm just that big a dork, what can I say.

We boarded around 12:30 or so, I think? I'm not positive of the time, but it was sometime between 12:30 and 1:00. Our staterooms weren't quite ready, at any rate, so we went upstairs for less-than-spectacular buffet (not that I'm complaining). I'm never a fan of the buffets because I'm a vegetarian and the choices are always...limited. But Carnival actually does a decent job with its vegetarian selections, to give them credit. I'm just not a buffet kind of girl. Read more