We were 7 first time cruisers, ages 4 to 68. The only idea we had of what to expect came from this board. My review will ramble, but I'll try to cover everything. The boarding process was very smooth. The lines looked horrible, as there were 2 ships boarding at the same time, but the staff knew what they were doing, and within 20 minutes of being dropped off we were eating burgers on the Lido deck. Impressive start! Our cabins were ready promptly at 1:30, and our steward Yohanes was right there in the hallway greeting us. Our luggage came shortly after, so we unpacked and had time to explore before the muster drill. The drill was fairly fast, and we were all done just as the ship started to pull out. The kids were eager to go play at Camp Carnival, but had to wait. We ate in the dining room the first night, and the food was very good. Everyone had something different, and we were all pleased. We all turned in early that night - I don't know why we were so tired, but we didn't get much sleep as we had to get used to the engine (?) noise that seemed to be right below our rooms. And the noise upon docking in Ensenada was jarring! After docking it got really quiet, and we slept in. Some of our group went ashore in Ensenada, but it's nothing exotic since we live in San Diego so I stayed onboard while the kids played in Camp Carnival. It was a nice relaxing day, reading on the deck. We skipped formal night in favor of eating at Tiffany's. I don't even remember what we had - probably pizza. Slept better that night, as we were more used to the droning noise. Sea day - had lots of fun. Kids in & out of CC - got to color t-shirts and make other crafts, which they loved. The 4 of us played mini-golf - lots of wind but also lots of fun. Cabo - went ashore for a while, then I left the others to visit Cabo Wabo while I went back onboard to retrieve the kids for swimming. The kids pool was COLD! I figured after sitting out in the warm sun that the water would have warmed, but it didn't. And the kids didn't care for the salt water; they want their salt water to have waves I guess. So we sat in the hot tub for a while. I noticed as we sat that the kids pool area was slowly filling with people escaping the main pool's party atmosphere. It got pretty festive, shall we say. I quickly learned to walk a lower deck when taking my kids to & from CC in the afternoon, so as not to increase their vocabulary, if you know what I mean. I found all sorts of people onboard, just as one should expect. There weren't a ton of kids, and most were well behaved. There were 2 boys running around together, probably ages 8 & 10, who weren't watching out for other people, but we always heard them coming and got out of the way. (Where were the parents? Who knows, but they obviously felt safe letting their kids be unsupervised the whole time, as I never did see them). There were the requisite drunks, but other than their colorful vocabulary they seemed harmless. Camp Carnival - my 2 boys (5 & 8) loved it! They liked that there was a schedule and they could pick and choose what they wanted to do. I never saw more than 10 kids at a time in each group, but it was the middle of October so there weren't too many kids anyway. The counselors were great with the kids - Camile in particular went the extra mile to help out, but they all seemed rather nice. Cabins - our cabins were comfortable, and Yohanes was great. I noticed that some of the beds were super-comfy, and others not. Just luck of the draw which you get! Plenty of space for our stuff (there were 3 of us in my cabin, me & the 2 kids), shower was sufficient (the one in DH's cabin was much better). The only noise we had, other than the engine noise, was from across the hall - that room had a toddler who never spoke, only cried and boy did it carry! I didn't hear noise from the hallway or neighboring cabins, but that cry just penetrated, even after I stuffed a towel under the door. But hey, if that's the worst problem on this cruise then I'd say we had a darned good time! The last night we hit a lot of wind. They closed off many of the areas along the railings, and the ship was swaying a lot. DS #1 and DH got pretty queasy despite the Bonine, and I was a bit too. DS #2 felt fine, but none of us felt up to taking him on the trick-or-treating that was being done that night. Poor little guy, but deck 12 was just too rockin & rollin for us!

Disembarkation - I felt it went pretty smoothly. We were in group 15, so we just pulled up chairs and watched San Diego wake up. Nothing like watching the Midway & the Coronado Bridge in the golden morning light from the Lido deck! When our number was called we joined the cattle lines, but they moved fairly rapidly and we were on solid ground in no time :( Food - We ate in the dining room 3 nights. Our waiters were Vigor and Iwayan. They were very nice and attentive. The only problem - one night they gave us regular coffee instead of decaf, even after we questioned them. Usually that wouldn't be a problem; we could just go dance the night away. But when travelling with 2 kids who get up at 6, even on vacation, and Grandma too, well we couldn't. Again, if that was our worst problem...The food was good. By the end I would have paid good money for some regular, normal ol' soup. When everyone was queasy, and all of their soups are spicy or heavy...They are definitely trying to have upscale food, but couldn't they have had a vat of chicken noodle at the buffet? The buffet food was all right. I really enjoyed the made-to-order omelets, never did eat breakfast in the dining room. To wrap it up (finally!), we had nothing but good service, and really enjoyed ourselves. I would go again tomorrow, but DH wants to wait just a bit til the kids are bigger. But we will be cruising again. Thank you Carnival for a great vacation!