This was our 9th cruise, the 7th on Carnival, and we have cruised with RC and Princess as well.  We drove from Atlanta and stayed with my sister in Tampa.  My wife, sister and I are in our 50's, and my mother is 80.  We arrived at the port at 10:45 and were on the ship on Lido deck by noon.  We had dropped off our luggage at the front door, a porter took care of it, and I went and parked the car in the parking deck/garage.  $98.00 for the week. Very easy.   The embarkation process is smooth and  the Carnival folks were outstanding!  They are very helpful and always smiling.  We were on upper deck, cabin 5248, with a balcony - aft- portside.  A great cabin with lots of space to store belongings and the balcony was great! Oue cabin attendant, Julia was by far the best we have ever had on a cruise.  She greeted us daily by our names, kept the ice bucket full, and told us how to put our onboard carryon drinks in the refrig so we would'nt be charged for their items.  Made us cute towel animals everynight and got very creative with some of them.  Always left us beachtowels and cleaned the room everytime we left it!The ship was a good size for us.  We have been on larger and smaller ones but really enjoyed this size.  We went to every night show except for the last one, and thought the entertainment was good.  The shows were very colorful, very quickly movings, and the music was great.  We saw one comedian,  Phat Kat, which we did not care for, but the juggler, other comedian, and the vegas style shows were good.  Marcus Anthony did a Motown show and it was outstanding.  (We had seen him on a previous cruise ) We did not do any of the midnight adult shows or the lounges/bars.  Did spend a lot of time in the casino, and they have the usual table games and slots.  It was never difficult to get a seat at the  Blackjack tables or the craps table.  Played some bingo, which was expensive, and never won!  We hung our at the adult pool area and enjoyed that.  Dinning:  We had the anytime dining and it was a very good experience.  We always ask for Anthony's section as he and his team did an outstanding job.  They learned our individual wishes and wants after the first couple nights and you'd thought we were at one of the assigned tables with our own personal waiters!  We enjoyed lobster, filets, prime rib, lamb, veal, crabcakes, and the babyback ribs.  They were by far the best food we have had on a cruise.   We ate in the speciality restaurant one night, and it was very good.  A little gourmet for me, but our party ate the lobster, leg of lamb, and filet and the main entrees were good.  The other items were to fancy for me as I like to know what I am eating!  We ate lunches on the Lido deck and the grill by the pool. Good selection of various items and the desserts were OK.  We had breakfast in the dinning room twice and was very good.  The Egg Benedict was great!Service:  The best by far of any cruise.  The staff was always smiling and saying hello when you passed them.  They were constantly doing routine maintance jobs.  The staff in the internet cafe was a little stuffy, and the cruise director, Jen, was a little loud, but they served their purpose.  Disembarkation:  They called our number, 4, at about 8:45 A.M. and we were headed out of the parking garage by 9:30.  Very smooth, customs very quick, and off you went. Summary:  Was probably the best cruise we have had on Carnival.  Food was very good, entertainment good, service, rooms, staff was outstanding.  The only thing that could have made this cruise better was a stop in Cozumel (which ours was cancelled due to swine flu) and those dang ship photographers.  Everywhere you went they had people lines up and were clogging the walkways on the ship as well as delaying folks from getting off at the ports.  If you have any questions please email me at fsufsudave@aol.com and I will answer what I can.