To start the embarkation process was fast and easy. We were traveling with our kids ages 5 & 10. Once on board our staterooms we ready and we were anxious to start our vacation. To sum up the highlights of the cruise: Margi Gras dining room with George The Greek is fantastic. We really enjoyed his service, he has exceeded our expectations. he was the maitre'd in in this dining room and on other cruises we haven't even so much as greeted the maitre'd, so this was different. My kids loved Camp Carnival, I recommend it, they have activities all throughout the day for them and fairly inexpensive at night. The ports were Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I strongly suggest doing excursions on your own, the ship was over charging at least 30 to $60 pp on some tours. Very safe in cayman to go off on your own and cozumel was surprisingly reliable with taxi service. The shows in the paris lounge were on par with other cruises. Comedy shows were just okay nothing to brag about. My only complaint is that the pool is too small for 2,000 people. Most times we could not find a chair. Serenity area is over rated nothing there but a hot tub. This was our 5th cruise and I have to say we had no complaints on the food, whereas on some we have had to skip meals for nonsatisfaction. Everything was always cleaned and organized. As I said better than expected and if I could I would probably go on this ship again except I don;t like repeating ships :-) I strongly recommend for people with kids, plenty of them running around having fun. Lots of families with children on board. I wouldn't do this ship without kids, I would choose another.