I had never cruised Carnival before and had only done celebrity type cruises based out of Europe.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with everything. The food was amazing [and I'm a picky eater], and our waiters were so funny and helpful. They even told us what to do at all of the ports we were going to.
Our cruise had 400 kids on it, but the Camp Carnival staff did a great job of keeping them occupied so they weren't running around everywhere.