We booked the trip to just get away for a few days. We weren't going to do a big vacation this year but we needed a break and this seemed perfect. After reading the reviews I started to wonder if we made a poor choice. I'm glad we ignored them and went anyways! We've been on 2 carnival cruises in the past and this really is what I would have expected for a condensed version of a bigger cruise.

First - checking in went smoothly. The only issue we had was valet did not take credit card even though we were told they would on the phone. Not a big deal thankfully for us. We arrived between 10 and 11 and breezed through check-in. Yes, they try to sell you drink packages and such - but it was all low pressure. They stood behind tables with the offers listed on large posters. Easy to bypass them all if you wanted and if one did ask I found a smile and a "no thank you" was all it took.

We did not bother with the drink packages - and turned out there was no need as we would not have drank enough in 2 days to make it worth it and we had wine too which that would not have helped. Also did not miss soda on the trip - between alcoholic drinks and the tea, lemonade, and juice, we had plenty to drink. They let us board about 1 pm. Read more