I traveled with my mother, daughter & daughter's friend (both 17 yrs. old), leaving NYC on 7/8/04. This is about my 12th cruise, my daughter's 7th cruise and her friend's first time cruising.

Embarking the ship was extremely easy. We live on Long Island so we had an easy ride to NYC, arriving around 11:30 a.m. Prior to our departure I had called Carnival & inquired about a wheelchair for my mother since it is a large terminal for someone who has difficulty walking. They had a wheelchair available for use and started checking us in within a short period of time. Very smooth, on the ship by noon. Our room was an interior room on the Empress deck, as was the girls' room.

Room steward was very good, filing our ice bucket with ice on a reg. basis to keep the bottle of champagne we received cold, room always clean, etc. First night he did not leave towel animals so I left a little note on the bed saying we'd like them & did he know how to do them. He did so & when I saw him the morning after that & told him how much we enjoyed them he really went out of his way to impress. I guess everybody likes to know their work is appreciated. Read more