My husband and I (early 30s, no kids, both in technology) sailed from Ft. Lauderdale on May 11 on CB. This was my 6th cruise (Carnival and RC) and his third (Carnival and RC). Our expectations were moderated by the conflicting reviews we'd read on the boards here, so we were open-minded.

We stayed at the Sheraton Plantation Inn in nearby Plantation, FL the night before. The mall next door to the hotel has closed, so it's difficult to get food, etc, without transportation. I had ordered a 'romance package' (a bottle of wine and some fruit) that they forgot to deliver until I called and asked. Apart from that, our experience at the hotel was fine.

Embarkation was easy, fast and mostly well-maintained. We did notice in line that we were in the lower 10% of the age demographic boarding. In other words, about 30 years younger than the apparent median age. Since we're not huge party people and we weren't looking to make life-long friends, we weren't worried about it, but we did make some jokes about the fiber content to expect on the menu. Read more