My family of six just got home from a 5-night cruise to Canada on the Carnival Victory. My children's ages are 20, 18, 14, & 11. I have also cruised Princess (a long time ago) & Royal Caribbean (4 years ago). Some things were better on RC than Carnival and vice versa as I will explain.

Embarkation: We saved money on airfare by embarking from NYC, only 3 hours from our home. We arrived at the port around 11:30 a.m. It was a bit confusing what to do with the luggage. My husband pulled the car over (like at an airport terminal) and dropped the luggage off. Since we did not have Carnival luggage tags, I needed to fill out tags for each of our bags. I recommend obtaining the tags in advance if possible to avoid this. We parked our car in the adjacent parking lot for $150 (5 nights). Very easy. The ship did not start boarding until about 12:15. There was already a long line. Before entering the ship, our passports were checked and we each received ship cards that you used for everything: payment, room keys, identification. We immediately found our rooms. Excited to check out the food, we immediately went to the Lido Deck 9 to eat. Overall, boarding went quite smoothly. Three of my children did not get their luggage until 10:00 p.m. We were starting to get a bit worried. In case that happens to anyone, go to Deck 3 near the Pursers desk to find lost luggage.

Stateroom: We stayed in 3 inside cabins on the Upper Deck on level 3. The location was perfect since it was 1 level from the thoroughfare of the ship, deck 5, 2 levels from our dining room (deck 4) and 3 from the Lido Deck (9) where the pools are as well as casual dining. I thought the cabins were roomy and larger than those on R.C. However, the decorations are rather plain. My husband and I had a king size bed with very comfortable bedding; the other 2 cabins had 2 twin size beds. Our steward was very friendly, made the room up twice a day and made towel animals each night (which the kids loved). As far as the inside room goes, I would have preferred a balcony room, but we probably saved at least a thousand bucks by getting an inside room and when you multiply that times 3 cabins...The main problem with the inside cabin is that it is soooo dark and you can't tell what time of day it is when you wake up. Make sure you bring a portable alarm clock because there are none in the room. Finally, the bathroom is equipped with many handy items, namely: a hairdryer, liquid soap and shampoo in the shower, bar of soap for the sink area, 2 small tubes of Crest toothpaste, his and her razors, and some fiber chews. Read more