Okay, let me start off by saying that both me and my now husband have never cruised before. We are both 24 and 25. We read all the reviews online and did our homework beforehand so we knew what to expect. We both did not have passports and used our birth certificates and had no problems. I think if you are a picky person, you can find flaws in anything but we had the best cruise ever!!
Embarkation was long but steady going. We are both pretty patient people and we expected this.
Once on board, we explored the ship. The decor is dark, like what most people said but it's not overwhelming. There are places on the ship where it's lighter. I didn't even realize this was one of Carnival's smaller ships until a nice gentleman we met at the Casino advised us of this. I think if you've never cruised before, you'll be blow away like we were. The entire ship is pristine. I never went into a dirty bathroom. The public bathrooms are enormous by the way and there are alot of them on board. Not crowded. Never been in one where there were more than 2 people in one at the same time.