This was our second cruise, the first one being on the Carnival Conquest in November of 2004. DH (dear husband) and I took our 2-year old daughter along with us. We were a group of 30, with about half of them being first-timers. My sister and her husband were just married that Saturday and this was their honeymoon. We live in Baton Rouge, about an hour and a half away, so we just drove to New Orleans.
Embarkation: This was remarkably smooth and easy. We left New Orleans the Monday of Mardi Gras, so we expected some traffic and were pleasantly surprised. We pulled into the garage, paid our $70, they took our luggage and 30 minutes later we were on the ship.
Having only one other ship to compare the Fantasy to, I thought it was very nice and clean. We headed up to the Lido deck for some lunch. The grill was opened and DH ate the first of many burgers he would have throughout the trip. As expected, the buffet wasn't good, but I filled up on ice cream!