Background: This was our "first annual" girls cruise. No guys with us at all ... my mother, sister, mother in law, 2 teens, my 8yodd, and a friend all found a great bargain on early saver rates for this cruise and booked! We ranged in age from 8 to 73 and all of us had a fantastic time.

EMBARKATION: My mother fell off a train back in July and broke both of her ankles, so we had a wheelchair with us on this trip. We've never really had to deal with infirmities before ... our whole family is relatively healthy ... and Carnival was very accommodating. They upgraded her to a handicapped room (we called about 5 weeks out from cruising when we realized she would still be needing the chair) and assisted us with embarking in the first group of people. Port of Miami also offers FREE parking for handicapped people, so that saved us a cool $80 (which we promptly spent onboard!). We arrived early because we'd been advised that we might need to fill out additional paperwork, and didn't have to wait very long at all. We were onboard and enjoying a snack by 11am. This was probably the fastest and most well-organized embarkation experience we've ever had, and it wasn't all due to the chair. They let us know that we should go on up, but as we were rounding the corner from the elevator, we heard them calling groups 2-3 to board as well. There was barely any line at all, and plenty of seating. We were on Destiny in May and it was far more crowded, boarded later, and didn't seem nearly as well run.

CABINS: We had 4 cabins, 2 people in each. Mine was a porthole room; a great bargain if there ever was one! We had the light you get in an outside cabin for the price of an inside cabin, and the windows were cleaner than our picture windows have been in the past. We were in room U17. My mother-in-law and my friend were in room U16 on the other side of the ship (we were starboard, they were directly opposite on the port side). My daughter and one of her friends were down the hall in room U196 (interior room), and my mom and sister were upstairs in E57 (the handicapped room). As usual, the rooms were very well laid out, roomy, and comfortable. We all had robes in the cabins (even the interior), but no hairdryers. I had known there wouldn't be any and actually had one packed, but my 12yo got a last minute call that kept her from going on the cruise, and I guess when we unpacked her things from our bags, the hairdryer decided to stay home with her. Oh well, we were on vacation, not a job interview, so we made the best of it. Our cabin steward, Aurelio, was very nice. He did a great job keeping the cabin clean and my 8yo loved the towel animals. She couldn't say his name, so he told her to call him "Oreo" (her favorite cookie ... she loved that). Read more