This was the first cruise for my family. We had a balcony cabin off the back of the ship. It was sold to us on the premise that we would enjoy the balcony more since wind would not be a factor and since we could see both sides of ports as we docked. The balcony was very important to us since our daughter is 3.5 and we wanted a place to relax at night while she slept. The advice proved good and we enjoyed our balcony nightly without wind. The view advice was a little off, as we often were behind the action. The only negative to the back of the boat seemed to be some engine vibration and the ride seemed a little rougher, but all very tolerable. The cabin was clean and roomier than we expected. They utilize space very well and we were able to store the contents of our luggage and move about the room without issue. Our room steward, Salvador, was top notch. He went above and beyond to make our family comfortable. I am sure they are trained to be accommodating, but Salvador embraced it. He knew us all by name and would frequently stop what he was doing to greet our family. He put a smile on my daughters face nightly with the towel animals and cookies. One night he made a special trip for her to get her a cookie...totally unnecessary, but he won her over. The food was adequate in the buffet (you could find something) but the dining room and the Golden Fleece were exceptional. Again, the staff made it here and we were fond of our service staff Emil and Valencio. One night, Emil spilled a small amount of wine on me, no big deal, but I was followed up with twice via phone and even received a letter of apology from the cruise line with offers to clean whatever. Emil of course apologized, and as I said it was no big deal, but I was VERY impressed with the follow-up to make sure everything was alright. We did not do many of the activities because of our child, but we did use Kids Club and participate in some of the family activities. Kids Club was enjoyable for my daughter and I am convinced the staff took great care of my child, but I can not say the staff is too adult friendly. I am sure they deal a lot with drunk parents who leave their child in Kids Club for hours on end. This is not what we did, but we still felt a little put off by them. The family activities were fun, the entertainment we saw enjoyable, and the idea of the "Fun Ship" seemed prevalent as activities went on all day on deck engaging young and old alike. Like other reviews, I agree the ship is showing age, but it was very clean, well laid out, and overall very enjoyable. The embarkation process was long and tiring, while the disembarking process was easy and seamless. Allow more time than suggested for getting off at ports with tenders (in fact we missed our first shore excursion despite being where we were supposed to be when required) and plan ahead of time. If possible, prepurchase your shore excursions, don't wait to buy onboard because of the lines. We went on excursions in Grand Cayman and Roatan and enjoyed both (we reconnected with our 1st excursion!). There is not much to do in Belize and Cozumel was dirty, crowded, and disappointing. As for onboard shopping, do it late...they put a lot of stuff on sale late in the cruise. The same holds true for the spa. If you want to take the chance of booking your appointment late, you can save big money. My wife and I received a $91 discount on a couples massage simply by booking late in the cruise. By the way, make sure Kids Club is open when you are booking excursions, appointments, or things you do without your kid! We learned that lesson! We were totally pleased and will most likely travel with Carnival again.