This was my 4th Carnival cruise and the first for my two boys--ages 14 and 11. Overall, I was very pleased with it. The weather was great, the shows were fun, and the boys were happy. The ship arrived in port about 4 hours late, so we boarded 4 hours late, as well. Because everyone had to board at once, rather than staggered throughout the day, as usual, the lines were horrible. I knew when we were in line that we were in for a very different cruise than I had ever been on by the huge number of already drunk and obnoxious Texas college students in line. When we finally arrived at our cabin, it was very nice. However, we were completely surrounded by these same drunk college students. There were a few other families with young kids around us, but the rest were the most rude and obnoxiously drunk college kids (boys and girls) I have ever seen. Every night of the cruise, these kids (who were constantly totally blotto) would run up and down the hallway and scream. Every night, all night. The first night I and some of the other parents of young kids around us tried to talk to the college kids to ask them to go to one of the clubs, the pool, or anywhere except the hallway in front of our cabins to party. Their response was, "We are on Spring Break, and we are going to do whatever we want to do!" So rude! From then on, we all just took turns calling Security several times all night long every night. As soon as Security left, they would start up again. The worst was this loud, shrill Rebel yell that they would do all night long as they ran up and down the hall. They also had a stereo they would play loudly all night.
Besides this, the cruise was great. We went to Chankanaab Park in a taxi in Cozumel. I had done this twice before and knew it was the way to go. Taxi for all of us was $10 each way, and the park was $50 for all of us, which included staying all day, snorkel equipment rental, bathrooms, showers, lockers, and deck chairs (there is also a beachside restaurant, which is very good and inexpensive). The beach is beautiful and not at all crowded. Very quiet and relaxing. The water is great and the kids saw tons of sealife while snorkeling, including coral reefs, an octopus, lots of large colorful fish, crabs, etc. This was their favorite part of the cruise.
At Progresso, we went to the Dzibilchaltun Mayan Ruins Shore Excursion through the cruiseline. Kids loved it. It is smaller than Chichen Itza, so easier for kids to handle. It also has a limestone freshwater pool that the kids were able to swim in for quite a while, which they loved. The time for shopping at the port was short (only a few minutes) after the tour, but the shops all sell the same things at about the same prices. Typical Mexican trinkets. The only unusual thing was the sisal hammocks, which were $20 for a huge one.