My wife and I sailed on the December 13-20, 2009, Carnival Conquest. Destination: the Bahamas and Key West. End Result: Fun cruise, despite the fog that delayed our departure by one day. You can read any of our 28 live posts from the ship on the CC thread under Carnival: Conquest and Voyager are Fogged-In in Galveston!
Here's our cruise story:
1. Our Background: We have cruised 18 times before this trip: 7 on Carnival, 7 on Royal Caribbean, 3 Celebrity, and 1 Princess. All were in the Caribbean, and we have never had a bad cruise. We merely want to take some time off from work, and cruising from Galveston is the closest and easiest way to accomplish this.
Our aft balcony had a beautiful view, but you did hear the sound of chairs moving above us on the Lido Deck. So bring a small fan to create enough white noise to cover up the deck sounds above the cabin.